Characters and/or themes within the story are from the Anime Series,
Ranma 1/2 and are property of Rumiko Takahashi, and whoever else may
own the rights. I write without permission and do so with no attempt
to profit off of the marvelous works. Rather, I do so for everyone's
benefit. Please enjoy and tell me what you think.


A ray of light beaming from the heavens shines down upon her, though
she cannot see it. Unfortunately, time runs short for the boy turned
girl, and not even she can fight it. With truth for a sword and fate
as armor, Kimiko Nishiyama is at the top of the summit, one eye blue
and the other green, and that is where she must face her past. There
is only one obstacle between her and the desire of her new life with
her old friends, but is it one she can face? Or will she say the one
word that will forever severe her from the ones she loves? The heart
she breaks is not her own as she utters, "Sayonara..."

Warning: The fanfiction has themes, situations and language that may
be offensive to some people. Viewer discretion is advised.

            **********************************************
            *A Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction: Misery Loves Company*
            **********************************************
             Chapter Three of In Search of the South Star
                             by Ryan Erik


                         Part Three: Sayonara

    Sweat glistened on the young man's brow, although his blankets had
been kicked off hours ago. The window's dark shades fluttered in the
wind, but the air in the room was strangely humid. Kiyoshi Nishiyama
breathed softly, rubbing his face in his sleep. His hair was scattered
against his white pillow, like long splashes of black ink. Curled up
in the fetal position, he slept, only one step in the world of dreams.
    Pulling his hand away from his face, Kiyoshi rested it beside him
and sighed as he slowly became conscious. Light from a building across
the street shone into the room, just enough to cover his face, just a
slit over his shut eyelids. Squinting in displeasure, he blocked the
light with his hand, realizing the layers of sweat covering his body.
He wondered about it for a moment, his thoughts fragmented by the
confusion of the newly awakened.
    He considered staying as he was, ignoring the habit of his body to
wake slightly before dawn. The strange feeling of waking up soaked in
sweat was one he had not experienced for years, and was enough to
persuade him to get up. Blinking but once afterward, Kiyoshi snapped
his eyes open. The sliver of light from the window caused him to
wince.
    Warily turning to his clock, he read, "5:58," two minutes before
he had set his alarm to sound. With a trick he used to orient himself
in the morning, he watched the colon between the two fives blink
steadily with each passing second until 5:59, when he reached over and
turned off the alarm.
    Yawning deeply, Kiyoshi slid to the side of the bed and sat,
firmly planting his feet on the ground. The coolness of the
floorboards felt good under his uncomfortably warm feet. With his
right hand, he cupped his jaw and rubbed it, regarding his morning
stubble.
    A breeze from the window chilled his bare arms and legs, and he
narrowed his eyes in thought. If the window was open, and the air was
cold, should the room not be at least slightly cooler? It felt as if
someone had left a humidifier on in the room all night long, and he
had enough sweat soaking the bed and his body to prove it.
    The evidence did not add correctly. When Kiyoshi found such things
out of place, it almost always meant something was wrong. He had no
clue what it could be, but decided he would be better served checking
his sister, Kimiko, before getting prepared to meet his colleagues.
    Stripping his sodden underclothes off, Kiyoshi tossed the garments
into a small pile of dirty clothes in the corner of his almost tidy
room. He then walked to the adjoining bathroom and grabbed a towel,
wiping most of the sweat from his body. After collecting an outfit, he
put on fresh underclothes and a pair of black pants, then slipped his
arms into the sleeves of a white shirt, leaving his socks, shoes and
his tie behind for later.
    Kiyoshi pulled his long hair out from the back of the shirt,
letting it fall down on his shoulders, coming to a rest on his back.
His short walk through the living room and to the other side of the
hotel suite took him to the door of his sister's room. He rapped his
knuckles against the door and began buttoning his shirt up from the
bottom.
    When he reached the last three buttons, he paused and knocked
again, waiting patiently for an answer, but still received no
response.
    "Kimiko, are you awake?" His voice was strong, hopefully loud
enough to stir her out of bed.
    But he heard nothing.
    "I'm coming in," he stated, taking the doorknob and turning it.
The door creaked open slowly, revealing an empty room. He frowned,
looking at the messy state of the room. Clothes were scattered about
the floor, the sheets on the bed were all twisted and the comforter
had been thrown to the floor. After a quick check of her bathroom, he
shook his head and went into the living room.
    As he pressed the button to turn on the speaker phone, he knew
something was wrong. It was a feeling in his gut, a premonition
perhaps, or maybe last night's dinner...Akane was said to have been in
the kitchen...
    "There's no reason to be alarmed," he told himself, fighting the
slight shake of his right hand as he released the button. "She's
probably at the Tendous'." Taking a deep breath, Kiyoshi spoke into
the microphone. "Front desk, please."
    A moment later, a voice responded. "This is the front desk. How
may I help you Nishiyama-san?"
    "Did my sister leave a message with you?" he asked, leaning on the
table in which the speaker phone stood.
    "Yes," the voice replied. "She said to tell you that she would be
out on a jog this morning. Is something wrong, sir?"
    "No, of course not," Kiyoshi replied, fidgeting nervously. He
closed his eyes, wondering what he had felt earlier. It was a mixture
of anxiety and dread, he thought. I never feel like that unless
something is wrong, he thought.
    "Sir, will that be all?"
    Kiyoshi started, having forgotten leaving the phone on. "No, have
a car prepared for me as quickly as possible. Thank you." He pressed
the disconnect button on the phone and quickly walked to his room,
snatching his shoes and socks. Somehow he knew there was little time
to spare, barely remembering to close the door behind him. The hotel's
halls were empty this early in the morning, he realized as he ran down
them barefoot. He probably looked like a fool, he thought, as he
entered the elevator and pressed the button for the lobby.
    "I am a fool," he whispered to himself as he fumbled with his
socks, barely managing to get both of them on before the ride was
over.
    Running over the coarse rugs of the hotel's lobby, Kiyoshi quickly
found the front desk. The well-dressed concierge stood and bowed from
behind his desk. He did not even look the least bit fazed by Kiyoshi's
disheveled appearance.
    "Your car is waiting for you, Nishiyama-san," the man said with a
smile. "Will there be anything else?"
    Glancing out the glass doors to the street, he saw a limousine
waiting for him. He then looked back at the concierge. "My sister
didn't happen to say where she was jogging to, did she?"
    The man shook his head. "I'm sorry, sir, but she did not. She did
head west down the street, though, if that is of any help."
    Kiyoshi nodded. "Thank you." He was about to turn but paused. "You
wouldn't happen to have any string lying around, by any chance?"
    "String, sir?" The concierge looked confused, but looked around on
his desk. A second later, the man actually found a small length of
pink string on his desk. "You are in luck, sir." He then handed it to
Kiyoshi.
    "Thank you," Kiyoshi whispered. "Please, credit yourself a tip of
ten thousand yen for your help." Kiyoshi missed the man's greedy smile
as he jogged out the door. The chauffeur, a large balding man dressed
in an undersized tuxedo, opened the door for him. He slid onto the
leather seats and the door was closed for him.
    "Where to, Nishiyama-san?" The deep voice of the chauffeur asked
after he settled in.
    Kiyoshi thought for a moment as he slipped his shoes on, then
replied. "West down the street, where would be a good place to jog?"
    The chauffeur hummed in thought. "There's a park no more than a
few miles down the road, and it should be open by now."
    "Take me there," he told him, looking at the pink string in his
hand. The car lurched forward, catching him off-guard slightly. After
pulling the string to its length and gathering his hair, he tied it
into a ponytail. Taking a deep breath, he wondered why exactly he
decided to play overbearing big brother, again. Kimiko would probably
roll her eyes at his concern, but it was more than worth receiving
that then not listening to his gut if she was actually in trouble. If
he was not careful though, he could end up pushing her away.
    The limousine contended with very few cars as it drove silently
down Tokyo's streets. Only a few moments passed, leaving Kiyoshi in
utter silence. The tint of the windows kept the car's interior dark,
but Kiyoshi could see with unnatural clarity, and he noticed a
crumpled note carelessly left on the floor by his right foot. He
hesitated, sensing something wrong about the paper's message. Closing
his eyes, he reached down and took it with his outstretched fingers.
    The note was not crumpled as much as it was folded carelessly. He
curiously held it up against the light to read its message.
    "Kiyoshi Nishiyama," he began reading aloud. "This is the last
warning. If you do not resign, drastic measures will be taken against
you to make sure that you do not undermine the superiority of the
company. Do not take this threat lightly, for it will determine
whether or not you and your sister live much longer." He stopped at
the end of the message, then looked at the typed letters, recognizing
the print as the same used in the messages written before this one.
    He cursed under his breath, clenching his right fist. Closing his
eyes and taking a deep breath, he held the paper tightly in his left
hand, and then stuffed it into the left pocket of his pants. He
wondered how he could have been so careless to let Kimiko become
involved.
    The car then pulled over to a stop in front of a large gated area.
Kiyoshi turned his head and exhaled deeply.
    A wave of nausea washed over him with his first step out of the
limousine. His attempt to stand was abruptly halted as he felt
something force him back into his seat. It was as if someone had
shoved him back into the car with a heavy hand. He coughed as he
jerked and slid back, across the smooth leather seats and fumbled with
the opposite door. Without even turning, he pushed himself through the
door and rolled out of the car onto the street, then somersaulted to
his feet.
    Turning on his heels, he felt a chill rush down his spine as tears
nearly blinded him. He heard the chauffeur's door click open, and he
watched it slam close as the driver began to exit the vehicle.
    Something was trying to stop him from getting to Kimiko.
    Kiyoshi catapulted himself over the limousine and onto the
sidewalk on the other side. He rushed towards the gate of the park at
full speed, feeling something just an inch behind him, breathing down
his back, trying to catch him. Not even an Olympic sprinter could have
caught him then, but whatever was behind him did, smashing into his
back like a battering ram forcing down the gates of a defending
castle.
    The force of the blow sent him sliding on the concrete sidewalk,
and as he tried to roll to his feet, he felt a hand holding him down.
    "Damn you!" Kiyoshi growled, gathering a quick pool of energy. It
only took the briefest of seconds, and his fists began to glow white.
He spoke no name nor gave any further cry, but simply turned and
unleashed the fiery white blast of his searing white chi energy upon
his attacker. The pure energy blast cut through empty air, surging
towards the heavens as a beam of light. Unfortunately, he detected
that no enemy was there to receive it.
    Jumping to his feet, he tried to reach out with his senses, to
locate the form and mode of his attacker's assault. He heard a cackle
right before he felt the power. Somewhere nearby, someone was
expending an awful amount of chi energy, for the very feeling of it
was so strong that it made him want to vomit.
    Kiyoshi turned back to the gate, but could not lift his feet. As
if glued to the ground, the rubber of his shoes seemed to have been
fused with the concrete sidewalk. He struggled to lift even a single
foot but could not. He looked around for an explanation, and saw it
then. A shadow cast by no figure around lay gathered around his foot.
It had taken the shape of a humanoid, and its hands wrapped around
Kiyoshi's feet.
    He felt the hairs rise on his neck as he gathered himself for
another attack.
    "Bakusai Tenketsu!"
    The concrete shattered, spraying bits all over the surroundings as
a cloud of dust shot up around of Kiyoshi. Feeling no pain as the
chips of shrapnel ricocheted off him, he wasted no time and emerged
from the blast site, launching himself through the gates and speeding
down the pathway into the park.
    "Nooooo..." a horrible voice cried as he made his way towards the
origins of the energy, and hopefully towards his sister.

                          *       *       *

    Unadulterated rage seethed through Ryouga as he stood waist deep
in the icy cold water. In a haze of confusion, he stared down at his
victim's wide blue eyes. The answer to his problem was within his
grasp, and all he had to do was defeat the demon here and now. He
watched as the girl's hair floated around her head in waves. Free of
all binding, it flowed around her so gently, so much unlike the
violence of their earlier battle, and its conclusion. Never had he
remembered Ranma's female body possessing so much hair.
    With both of his hands pressed tightly against her throat, he
struggled to hold her under the water. So far, she had refused to
vanish as most of the specters had before this one. It continued to
fight, though it was beginning to slow.
    "That's right," he muttered, shaking in the fierce cold. "Die."
    Her body slowly grew limp until she stopped resisting all
together. He looked down and met her glassy gaze, suddenly shaken by
her beautiful blue eyes. Although he still held her underwater with
all of his strength, he wondered for the first time if he had been
wrong.
    Did he just kill someone?
    No more thoughts passed through his mind when he felt a strong
hand grab a hold of his. He shot his glance down at Ranma's hand,
clenching his more fiercely than before. Her other one reached across
and stopped over his fingers. Ryouga howled in pain as she forcibly
wrenched his fingers back, three in her small hand, until he tore his
hand out of her grasp and jumped back a half dozen feet.
    She gracefully rose out of the water, as if sitting up on a bed;
he had never seen such a terrifying sight. Her face was blue and her
eyes were strangely peaceful, as her long red hair clung to her
shoulders and the tatters of her shirt. Though he was probably just
shy of a foot taller than her, she now towered over him, her feet
limply dragging over the surface of the water as her torn sweat pants
rippled in the wind. Most frightening of all, the aura of chi glowing
around her was so bright that he had to shade his eyes with his
uninjured hand.
    Quiet as death, Ranma began her counterattack.
    Ryouga jumped away from the first chi blast's impact as it
evaporated the water in a circle, six feet wide. Landing on the edge
of the lake, he threw himself out of the way of the second, which cut
through the air he had so quickly vacated.
    "You're not him," Ryouga stated with a dead voice, readying
himself for another chi blast.
    "You are correct," the strange, hollow voice echoed from Ranma's
slightly parted lips. Her arms did not even raise as a third chi blast
formed of her aura, then spiraled towards him straight out of her
body. The speed of the spherical chi blast took him off guard, and the
end of it caught his foot as he tried to roll out of its way.
    Scrambling to his feet after his failed dodge, he was unprepared
for the fourth blast, which caught him square in the chest. Tendrils
of excruciating pain rippled down his body, and he crumpled to the
floor in a heap. He struggled with his unresponsive limbs to stand and
fought back for all he was worth, managing to pull himself into a
sitting position. All of his muscled felt cramped, but he forced
himself to stand and face Ranma head on.
    "What the hell are you?" Ryouga asked, struggling with his stiff
fingers to form his hand into a fist.
    Her image blurred and vanished in response, reappearing to stand
directly in front of him. She blinked, and in that moment, he saw
himself reflected in the glassy surface of her eye.
    "Eternal Vengeance," she whispered so softly, it tickled his ears.
    He took an awkward step backwards, tripping under the pressure of
his own weight. Crashing downwards, he tried to brace his fall with
his arms, but they slipped in the wet grass, and his head swung back
and collided with the ground. He feverishly looked up, fully aware of
his loss.
    Ranma leaned over him, and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt,
lifting him above her. His feet dangled above the earth, skimming the
grass.
    "I do not want you," her hollow voice whispered.
    Her image blurred in his eyes again, but this time he saw double.
Her sickly pale, whitish-blue face danced before him as he tried to
comprehend her words.
    "I don't understand," he said, allowing his body to fall limp, all
but for his neck. He held his head up firm, wanting to keep at least
that much dignity before his death.
    "Of course, you do not," she patronized, gritting her teeth at
him. "I'm waiting for your demon." Fear paralyzed what was left of his
awareness as she turned her head and looked over her left shoulder. A
half smile creased on her pale lips. With her right hand, she turned
his head the direction she had been facing.
    "He's come for you," she told him, her voice full of anticipation.
"At last."
    Her words sealed his fate as he felt fingers, cold as ice,
dragging against the skin of his neck. Shivering as they slid against
his back, under his shirt, Ryouga stared at his captor. The nightmare
was back, reaching into his heart, making him think things he did not
wish to even conceive. The voices began whispering into his ears
again, telling him to calm down, that all would be fine, but he knew
they were lying. They always lied about everything.
    Struggling to pull himself free from Ranma's iron grip, he fumbled
in his attempt to pry her hands from his collar. Numbness reached up
his body to his fingers, making even gripping her hands difficult. It
was so easy to lose, to give up, roll over and let go. Cold, tired and
weakened by the fight, Ryouga fought to keep his head straight enough
to face her.
    "Please, Ranma," he begged, pleading for his very sanity. "Don't
do this. I've made mistakes. We've...all made mistakes. Let...me...go.
I swear that I'll change."
    Tears freely streaked down his face, though he hardly noticed at
that point, fighting just to stare his captor in the eyes. And then,
when he finally pieced it together, his jaw crept open as horror froze
what was left of his body.
    He stared into the eyes of a stranger, horrific green, shining
like rounded emeralds, hard and empty but for stone to the very core.
He would find no mercy from her as he helplessly dangled in her strong
grip that held him steady. Somehow the look on the girl's face was
familiar, from another time. Maybe it was the maniacal determination
he recognized, or the uncaring wrath. Whatever it was, he knew that he
would no longer even care in another moment.
    Turning his head one last time, his arms fell slack to his sides.
Even as Ranma released him, allowing him to stand once more on his
own, he knew it was too late. Day and night seemed to be fused
together, for he was neither back in the park, nor in the field of
endless green. Somewhere between worlds was where he stood, somewhere
in the emptiness of his own existence.
    Countless horrific memories of ages long past mixed with his own
again, making him want to shiver. In fact, he wanted to do anything
but stand in front of Ranma, staring as he was now, but it did not
matter what he wanted.
    His nightmare renewed. The dream was reality. It was not phantom,
but true menace. When Ryouga's fist clenched and was sent towards
Ranma with blinding speed, he smiled. Free again.

                          *       *       *

    He stood on the edge of reality, of day and night, of light and
dark. A rip in the air floated before him, its edges swirling around
the center. Kiyoshi had followed the path for a few minutes. His sense
was a compass, and it led him right here, right now. This was the
north, the direction the pin pointed towards, as Kimiko was its
destination. It shrieked madly, like nails across a blackboard,
shredding eardrums. Something tore a hole through the very fabric of
space, and that someone had to have a reason.
    Why here? Why now? Why her?
    Violet energy around the tear crackled in response, calling his
name with words unspoken. Between two trees, merely infants in a
fledgling forest, the paradox of his knowledge expanded violently,
knocking him back with a shock wave that quaked the very earth.
Kiyoshi blocked his eyes as it burned intensely bright for an instant,
but held his ground.
    "Oh God, what the hell is this?" he asked, voice muted by the
horrible screech. If this were the work of an assassin in his
opposition, then he would renege his company the very moment he found
a phone. Neither he, nor any hundred of his equals together could have
accomplished such a feat, bending the very cosmos to the will of a
mortal soul.
    On the fringes of the portal, hands formed out of the misty violet
energy. Kiyoshi stood entranced, unable to move, paralysis creeping up
his spine with growing the apprehension, a fear beyond which words
could describe. He did not know exactly what beckoned him forward, but
even as outstretched fingers wrapped around his body, he did not
respond, simply allowing the force to reel him into the gap in space.
    A hundred images flashed in Kiyoshi's mind, times of pleasure,
times of rejoice, every good moment in his life repeated before his
eyes. Then it slowed, and stopped, on one brief instant in time...

    She sat by the well, under a bright, almost full moon. The pale
light washed out all but a few stars, and she glowed underneath it.
The illumination only enhanced the remarkable beauty she possessed.
Her full, red lips, sullen on the spectacular night, should have been
blasphemy, for it would have to any other been a sin. Somehow, her
dark, pensive mood undermined the beauty of the night, dimming it to
become only a background in a portrait of a woman.
    Her hands clenched the bricks of the well and she tilted her head,
looking up at him for a moment, sending his heart aflutter. She
noticed him, for the first time perhaps, or maybe not. A young
Happosai stuck his hands through his short, unkempt black hair, daring
not to look at her a moment more. But something drew his eyes back,
and something willed him to approach her.
    She did not look up as he took a few nervous steps forward,
testing not only his right to be there, but his courage as well.
    "You can sit, if you like," she offered, meeting his eyes without
reservation. Her brown ones reflected the moonlight.
    "Thank you," he whispered, bowing his head as he meekly took a
seat next to the woman of his dreams.
    They sat in silence sitting on the edge of the brick well, merely
enjoying the night and the warmth of each other's presence. She
scooted towards him, close enough for him to smell her perspiration,
and a faint scent of spring flowers. She was the only thing on his
mind as he turned his head to face her, to see her face again. Longing
for her filled his every pore as he examined her closely, running his
eyes down the pale features of her delicate jaw line, down to the
scant cleavage of her chest, only revealed because of his proximity
with her. He brought his eyes back up, and drank of her essence,
merely sitting close with her.
    "Come away with me," she said in her subdued, light voice. "Just
you, me and the moon! We can run far, far away from this place, with
nothing to hold us down. No fathers, no reputations, no money,
nothing. Let us leave here together tonight, right now, and forever!"
Her eyes pleaded with him as tears ran down her eyes, smearing the
makeup on her face. "Please?"
    In everyone's past, there is at least one moment in time which the
person wishes that they could change the course of history, to alter
one set of events that could potentially make all the difference in
the world, to set things right, to ultimately make that individual
happier. To purchase such a thing, many would do just about anything,
but the reality of it was different than the fantasy. Happosai knew
that as he stared at his eternal love's outstretched hand and the
glistening tears streaking down her cheeks.
    Who would not say yes in his situation?
    That second he could have chosen his re-occurring fantasy of over
a hundred years, to get that chance he had so wished for that he might
have sold his very soul to get, but he did not.
    Too many good memories were mixed with the bad and the ones that
could never be. People, places, lives and histories all flashed before
him. Lives he saved, lives he ruined and others he simply enriched all
mixed together into one elixir, from Kimiko to Tarou. Would things
have been better for them? Would they have been worse? Could he risk
all of that on one unfulfilled wish of his distant past? He closed his
eyes and made his choice.
    "I can't," he whispered, and instantly knew he would regret it
forever. When he opened his eyes, he drew back in shock. Her face
began melting. With wide eyes, he watched in horror as his entire
world faded, growing into one collective dark body of shadow. He threw
his hands out to grab her, to perhaps save her from whatever fate
awaited her, but met nothing as he passed through where she had sat,
and then fell forward through what had been a well and solid ground.
    The sudden gravity made nausea collect in his stomach as he tried
to concentrate on what was. He was Kiyoshi; he could not forget that.
That was the name of his new life. He barely held onto himself as he
fell through an empty black void. He then reeled, unbalanced as he
found hard ground beneath his feet, and a sky over his head.
    He stumbled and fell to his knees, disoriented and nauseous,
struggling to collect his scattered wits and fighting his blurred
senses. A surreal pink glow encompassed him as a light breeze played
with his long ponytail, pushing locks of black hair into his face. The
muted rustle of trees in spring tickled his ears in his otherwise
silent environment. Not adjusted to such sudden shifts of reality, and
not entirely sure what had just occurred, Kiyoshi concentrated on deep
breathing, regaining control of himself.
    The bright pink light filtered through the back of his hair, and
when he brushed the locks out of his face, what he saw made goose
bumps rise on his arms. As far as his naked eye could see, endless
rows of cherry trees in full blood were ordered in a perfect line. A
glance around him proved that they surrounded him. It was as if God
had lifted him with His enormous hands and tossed him into the center
of a sea of brilliant pink cherry trees. It would only take one gust
of wind, and a tsunami of neon flowers would drown him.
    Looking down at his clothing, he remarked at the sky blue jacket,
with matching silk shirt and pants. His loose clothing swished with
each fruitless step he took, never approaching anything but trees.
Everywhere they swayed in the light breeze that trickled past him,
caressing his face, as if it tasted him, savoring every inch of his
exposed skin.
    Was this any more real than the vision of his lost love, once
again asking him to throw away his responsibilities and join her? The
thought resonated in his mind as he looked about the land. Drawing
close to the nearest tree, he reached and plucked a vibrant pink leaf
from a branch. When he held open his hand, he blinked in surprise. The
leaf's color had smeared across his hand, as if he stood in an oil
painting that had yet to dry. He dropped the leaf, allowing it to sail
to the ground.
    At a moment's whim, Kiyoshi licked the stain on his hand,
marveling at its sweetness. Reaching for another leaf, he plucked
another and then bit into it. The taste reminded him of cotton candy,
but mixed with some artificial fruit candy. He let the remains of the
leaf fall to the ground.
    "Where are you, Kimiko?" he demanded of the forest, vainly staring
in a direction. A sharp pain exploded from the inside of his head in
reply. He groaned, falling back against the tree with a hand to his
head and his eyelids tightly shut. The pain vanished as quickly as it
had struck him, leaving him light-headed.
    The rustle of the trees died instantly and he stood up straight,
looking about him for a reason, as the breeze still lightly played
across his skin, leaving him in utter silence. The swish of silk
clothing other than his own met his sound-starved ears, and he
searched for an answer, finding one.
    "I'm here, Kiyoshi."
    Kimiko stood a few yards away from him, dressed in a stunning silk
dress that swayed at the tips of her heeled shoes, and every inch of
her clothing was as pink as the trees. A matching ribbon loosely bound
her beautiful red hair over her left shoulder. Shiny pinpoints of
light gleamed at her ears, though he had not even known her ears were
pierced. As she approached him, holding her dress at her hips to keep
it from brushing the ground, her sparkling sapphire eyes blinked so
slowly, amplifying the surreal quality of her appearance and her very
presence there.
    "Do you know where we are?" he asked, walking forward to meet her
half way.
    "I do not," she gravely replied, stopping inches from him. She
looked up and met his steel-gray eyes. Her flawless features had never
been so beautiful, under the soft glow of the pink shade. "But I am so
glad you are here."
    "I'm just glad that you're okay," he told her with a smile,
clasping his hands in front of him. "You really had me worried there."
    "Worried about me?" she inquired, tilting her head slightly. The
oh so soft tone of her voice sounded strange coming from her pink
lips, fragrant with so much femininity.
    "Well, I did get this note," he began, but promptly wished he had
not. The last thing he wanted to do was worry her with empty threats
of those who would see him ousted from his position as CEO.
    "Note?" she asked softly, blinking in confusion.
    "Nothing, forget it," he prompted her, turning his head to look
out over the endless grove of cherry trees. "God, where are we?"
    He heard her gently sigh, then felt her hands take his and lift
them up to her face. As he turned his head to address her, he felt the
warm lips gently kiss the back of his left hand, and for a moment her
hot breath before she let it go. Kiyoshi watched her in wonder as she
took his other hand and led him from their place under the trees.
    Bringing his free hand to his face, he looked at the imprint her
pink lipstick left upon his skin. It was bright, like her lips, like
her dress, like the trees...
    "Come this way," she urged him, taking him towards a spot in the
grass that was warm with the gentle rays sunlight. It warmed his skin
when they stopped beneath it. The halo of light made a perfect circle,
a small clearing in the wood that existed nowhere else he had seen in
his inspection of the place.
    "What is here?" Kiyoshi wondered aloud as she sat, gently tugging
his arm for him to follow suit. He did, crossing his legs and pressing
the palms of his hands to his thighs.
    "We are," Kimiko cryptically told him, smiling sweetly.
    Her answer was so simple, yet it meant something, leaving him more
puzzled than when he had asked her. Something about her behavior made
him uneasy, something about the way she had walked, the way she
talked...
    "Are you feeling all right?" Kiyoshi leaned forward, pressing the
back of his hand to her forehead, but her temperature felt regular.
She gently caught his hand before he could return it to his side, and
then pressed it to her cheek, sliding it past her chin and onto her
bare shoulder. He was embarrassed to notice how much cleavage was
exposed by the circular curve of her dress. He would have immediately
returned to sit back, but for his hand.
    "I am now that you are with me," she whispered, drawing his hand
towards her lips again. He held his breath as she kissed his hand,
once and twice, then turned it over, caressing his palm so gently it
tickled. As platonic as he wanted to see her gesture, not one bit of
it felt that way to him. Everything she did defied reality.
    "You are acting very strangely," he told her, taking his hand from
her, eliciting a small sigh. "What is going on here? Why are you being
so forward with me?"
    Kimiko looked up at him like a scolded puppy, her lip quivering
and eyes watering. "Don't hate me." She sniffled and turned from him,
clasping her hands tightly. "I've missed you so much. I thought I'd
never see you again. I-I thought I'd be alone forever."
    This time Kiyoshi moved forward, gently catching her chin in his
hand. A confusing wave of sensation flooded his body, but he tried to
keep his mind clear, for her distress was real.
    "I only saw you a few hours ago, Kimiko-chan," he said with a
smile, fondly rubbing her cheek with his thumb. "Why did you think it
feel like forever?"
    Her eyes glazed slightly as she cocked her head in thought, as a
crystalline tear sparkled down her cheek, leaving a trail of salty
wetness. Kimiko bit her bottom lip, and then closed her eyelids as
more tears flushed her eyes. Fighting sobs, she fell forward and
tightly wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her face on his
chest.
    "I don't know!" she exclaimed, losing her voice to uncontrolled
sobbing.
    Just as confused as she, Kiyoshi slowly brought his arms around
her, and then cooed to her, like he would a child. "Shush, honey. I'm
here for you; there's no need to worry anymore. Please, don't cry."
    What had happened that could bring her to this state of being, his
strong adopted sister, his once rival, and his forever love? He gently
held her, unsure what he could say to ease whatever fears she might
have. He would definitely need to discern the source of her angst, and
then destroy it.
    "How did you get here?" he asked, soothingly rubbing her back. As
her sobs died, and her breathing slowed, he slowly pulled her back to
face her. She looked up at him, her wide, red eyes glittering. "Or do
you not remember that, either?"
    She closed her eyes and shook her head, frowning so that he
thought she might begin crying again.
    "What do you remember, then?" He held her by her thin shoulders,
and could both hear and feel her heart beating rapidly.
    "Water," she whispered, opening her eyes to stare at him, as if
fascinated with his eyes. "And eyes. Evil eyes. They hated me, hated
me so much. I'm scared of them, Kiyoshi." She paused to sniffle,
fighting to keep as calm as she was. "And there were kind eyes, too,
that saved me from the other eyes. They didn't hate me. They love me,
but I'm scared of them more. I don't know why, but I am."
    "Neither of those are my eyes, are they?" Kiyoshi asked, smiling
warmly as he tried to piece together any sense from her hysterical
puzzle.
    "No," she emphatically stated, hurried as if scared he would run
had she said yes. "Not yours, Kiyoshi. Your eyes look cold, but
they're not. I can see through them, to you. Those other eyes are
mirrors, reflecting me, not the people behind them. I love your eyes,
Kiyoshi. So honest, and they love to see me for no reason." She weakly
smiled, and then stretched her arms to her hands on his shoulders.
    She spoke with childlike innocence, it seemed to him. Her words
were heartfelt, flowing with pure, unfiltered emotion, but they were
not checked by her rationality. It was as if he were talking to a
child that could not lie, speaking wholly from her heart. That was the
impression her speech and actions gave him. She had been like this
after waking from her comma over a year ago, babbling her fears and
insecurities as freely as her love.
    "Those other two aren't around here, are they?" He asked, trying
to put her fears to rest completely.
    She slowly blinked, shaking her head. "Just us." Sliding her hands
to his neck, she slowly leaned forward. Kiyoshi opened his eyes wide,
surprised and unnerved as she scooted up against him, propping her
body close.
    "Just us, Kiyoshi-kun," she whispered once more. Paralysis crept
up his body as she completely encircled him with herself, and then
passionately kissed him. He was completely at her mercy. Her lips
tasted like the leaves, so sweet that his mouth watered for more of
her, and she was only too willing to comply. Her kiss became more,
taking advantage of his defenselessness, drawing him in deeper,
draining away whatever resistance he had.
    She moaned as she fervently probed his mouth, tantalizingly
bringing her hands down his back, as if searching. They stopped for a
moment as they still kissed, then reached back up, taking the collar
of his strange silk jacket, dragging it back.
    Breaking the kiss, Kimiko stared at him, drinking of his eyes.
Kiyoshi stared back, mouth ajar, in shock. His head spun as she
reached her hands underneath the jacket, drawing it back to his
wrists. His cheeks began to burn when she released him and then
brought her hands to his waist, catching the end of his shirt.
Slipping her hands beneath it, Kimiko slid her hands up his brick
chest with a half-smile. Lifting even that, she pulled it up until it
barely obscured his nipples, then took her hands out and took the
ends, tugging it over his head, sliding it to his wrists.
    With his hands bound by his clothing, Kiyoshi took a deep breath
and released it, his naked chest shaking with a mix of fear and
anticipation.
    As if the process had taken every bit of restraint she had, Kimiko
flung herself on him, knocking him back to lay flat on the grass,
where she sat on his lap and began kissing every inch of his face.
Kiyoshi only closed his eyes, unable to comprehend this, fighting his
hunger for her. Her lips met his once more, amplifying his need a
hundred times. He closed his eyes, allowing himself to drown under
her.
    Kimiko stopped the kiss prematurely, cutting him dry. He blinked
his eyes open and helplessly watched as she began to unbutton the top
of her dress. Somehow he knew he had to stop her, but that thought
slowly evaporated as she reached the end of the rift of her dress,
just above her belly button. Every last thought in his head vanished
when she slid one shoulder out of her dress, exposing her perfect
right breast.
    "I love you," she whispered, leaning down to kiss him again,
pressing her chest against his. He gasped in pleasure as she brought
her kiss lower, to his chest, dragging her breast against him. She
stopped, sitting up. "You love me, don't you Kiyoshi?" He could hear
the strain in her voice, her struggle against the promise of pleasure,
and her loss to it.
    "With all my heart," he managed to tell her, pulling his left hand
from the binding clothing. He sat, freeing his other hand, and then
drank of her lips again, marveling at the exotic flavor. He slipped
his right hand around her waist as she reached around his neck, and
then brought the left side of her dress, and pulled it down. Although
he gently took her left breast in his hand, she gasped in pain in
spite of their kiss.
    He quickly retracted his body from her, shocked to awareness.
    "Are you all right?" he asked, catching his breath. She nodded,
and then slid forward on him to continue where they had left off, but
he stopped her by taking her shoulders.
    "What?" she whispered in disappointment. "Don't stop. Please,
don't stop!"
    "Wait," he replied, realizing the source of her pain. Her left
breast was still blemished from her fight with Rintaro, where she had
taken a punch to the nipple. Remembering it was enough to restore at
least a semblance of his self-control.
    That's it! He thought, suddenly understanding her behavior.
Somehow, she was id without superego, left completely in its mercy and
carnal desire. Much like a child, she was guided by the immediate
satisfaction of a tryst with him. Wherever and whatever this place
was, it was doing the same thing to him, empowering his id.
    "Don't you want me?" she asked of him, her naked skin quivering
with the loss of his touch. "Please, I want you to take me. You have
to. Please don't deny me."
    "I can't," he whispered, shying his face from her. "It's not
right. We can't do this."
    A sob escaped her lips and she took his face with her hands,
roughly turning his head. "Don't look away! Am I that ugly to you?
Please, don't leave me." Tears coursed down her cheeks, becoming a
river of her sorrow.
    "You are very beautiful, Kimiko-chan," he told her, taking the
shoulders of her dress and pulling it up to cover her. "You are more
beautiful than anyone I know, and it takes every bit of self-control
I have to not do what you wish." He then started to button it up.
    "Why deny me, then?" she asked, whether confused over his answer
or with her own desire.
    "Because I love you too much for this," he answered, somehow not
able to back up his words as well as he would have liked. Why not? He
asked himself. Why not, indeed. "It may not make much sense now, but
trust me on this. You do trust me, right?"
    "More than anyone," she assured him, watching his hands intently
as they finished buttoning her dress. Catching his them before he
could retract them, she pressed them against her breasts. "But why
not, if we love each other? I don't understand. Everything's so
confusing."
    He nodded, turning his hands, interlacing his fingers with hers.
Why not? He could not, at least not like this, not here, not now.
"That's why. We're drunk here, in this beautifully dangerous place.
And we have to find a way out."
    "But there is no way out!" she exclaimed, leaning forward and
hugging him tightly.
    "There has to be," he argued, resting his arms around her. "Every
prison has some escape."
    She shook her head against his chest. "There isn't! I've tried!
The trees go on forever and ever, like the grass in the park."
    "What park?" Kiyoshi asked.
    Kimiko sat back and stared up at him, hard in thought. "The park!
I remember it! I saw someone there. We fought, but everything was all
wrong. I couldn't fight back, then I fell in the water, and he burned
me." When she spoke the last, he watched in awe as the shoulder of her
dress melted, revealing lightly burnt skin. She groaned in pain
grabbing a hold of her shoulder.
    "Don't stop remembering," he urged her.
    She nodded warily, cautiously looking down at her shoulder. "There
wasn't much after that, though. I just remember him choking me under
the water, then nothing. When I woke up, I was here. I don't know how
long I've been here, but it seems like I've been here for years."
Glancing up at her brother, Kimiko pouted. "Really, I don't know
anything else."
    Leaning forward, she rested her head on his shoulder, and wrapped
her arms around his neck. He could feel her heart beating as she
pressed herself to him. As he contemplated, her story made a strange
amount of sense, as his own observations of her behavior seemed to fit
together with it. The way she clutched him now did not alert him as it
had formerly, but rather the fact that she actually thought she had
been in this fantastic world for such a time did, and she was actually
scared he might disappear should she let go of him.
    Trying to get her to recollect anything was like asking her to
remember a nightmare that the little redhead had been desperately
trying to forget already. Her murder that she had described was
something similar he remembered dreaming once...so long ago he could
not discern when that had been. Drowned, choked, murdered, those were
a horrifying theme, and something he had hoped had not happened to her
in reality.
    That thought brought a sliver of fear into his mind. What if the
assassin, the writer of the note had already murdered her? Would he
not then have to be dead as well?
    "What do you think we should do, then?" he softly asked her,
whispering the words into her ear as he held her. "Do you know any way
out, or anywhere we can go?"
    Kimiko drew back slowly, a puzzled expression echoing the
confusing she had emoted in her earlier conversation. "Do? Go? Haven't
you tried walking? There's nowhere to go! There's nothing to do! I
thought I would be here by myself forever, until you came. I walked so
far that I collapsed, and when I woke up, it seemed as if someone had
put me back where I started from." Her words grew more hysterical with
each uttered syllable, as if the very question he had asked was so
ridiculous that it barely merited an answer.
    "I'm sorry," he apologized, bowing his head. "I just want to get
out of here and get back to the hotel before it's too late, if it
isn't already."
    "Don't leave me here!" Kimiko cried back, throwing her arms around
him again. "Please, I love you! Don't go!"
    "I'm not leaving you behind," Kiyoshi replied, massaging her back.
"You're coming with me, of course."
    "But-but-" she sputtered, pulling her head back to look up at him.
"He said I couldn't leave! He said I had to stay here forever!"
    Kiyoshi blinked, stunned by her response. "Who said that? You
didn't mention meeting anyone here."
    She started to respond back, but her reply caught in her throat.
Gasping for breath, she grabbed her throat, looking into his shocked
eyes with a horrified expression on her face. Then, as she struggled
to stay upright on his lap, her eyes rolled back in head and she
limply fell into his arms.
    "Kimiko!" he exclaimed, shaking her gently. "Oh, God!"
    Her heart, he realized, had stopped.
    And then, as he held her in his arms, the world began to wash
away, as if it were but a painting, and the artist had splashed it
with turpentine. He closed his eyes, holding onto his little sister
for dear life, unwilling to lose her in the transition. Her body's
weight suddenly became insignificant, as if she had been replaced with
a bag of feathers. Opening his eyes, he gasped, staring at her
transparent form. He could see his hands through her insubstantial
body.
    Matters suddenly felt totally out of his control, leaving Kiyoshi
feeling stranded, naked, and utterly vulnerable. Rarely in his life
had he been trapped as he was now. Now, as he looked out over the
endless green countryside, his eyes settled to look at the clear lake
far in the distance. Manipulated, the earth shuddered beneath him.
    "Oh Kimiko," he whispered, crouching as he held his sister in his
arms, hugging her tightly.

                          *       *       *

    A cool breeze caressed Mayako's cheek as she slowly woke to a
bright, sunlit room. The glow encompassed her, shining directly on her
face. Drawing her arm to cover her eyes, she groaned in annoyance.
There was a reason she preferred her curtains closed in the morning.
Whoever designed the house must not have realized how perfectly the
morning sun shown into this room. Although she chose this room because
it had an extra window, as the other two bedrooms only had one each.
    She inhaled the chilly air, realizing the window was open as well.
Strangely enough, she could not remember the last time she had left it
open for any reason. Throwing aside her blanket, she sat up, and then
found that she had slept on the floor.
    "Huh?" she whispered in confusion, the morning fog still clouding
her brain.
    Mayako shrugged, then stood and turned towards the window. Rintaro
sat on the edge of the bed with his eyes closed, relaxing in the warm
sunlight. He almost looked peaceful. Then he opened his eyes and
turned towards her with a blank face, and she realized what she had
worn to sleep.
    "Eep!" she exclaimed, dropping back to her makeshift bed, a few
piled up blankets, and covered herself with them. A shirt and panties
were not something she wanted to be seen in by someone whom she
considered a creep, most of the time.
    He did not even blink, but simply turned his head and closed his
eyes. Mayako watched him as he weakly lay on his back.
    "I lost," he mechanically whispered, just loud enough for her to
hear.
    "It was close," she consoled, tightening her grip on the blanket
covering her. "I honestly thought you were going to win."
    Rintaro responded with a tired shrug, and continued to bathe in
the sunlight. He still wore his uniform, as he had during his fight
with Kimiko, but the front was open, and his pants were still laid out
on Mayako's desk by the end of the bed. She was thankful he wore
boxers, and not briefs. Seeing anymore of his body could not have been
good for her now carefully maintained libido. The tireless exercise he
endured made him into a hunk.
    "You're welcome," she said, in response to his unspoken thanks for
letting him stay the night in her bed.
    "Thank your mother for me, too," he told her. She could not help
getting a little angry over his ever-commanding tone.
    "Why can't you thank her yourself?" Mayako indignantly asked.
    Sucking in a deep breath, Rintaro did not answer. He merely
continued his sun bathing on her bed. His tanned chest slowly fell as
he exhaled the breath.
    "I'm not talking to a wall here," she snapped, dropping her
blanket down to her waist. "You can respond once in a while, you know.
It's not like you have to keep up that rude facade of yours all the
time. I am your friend when you're not being a jerk off."
    Without even opening his eyes, he whispered, "I don't need
friends," in a stale tone.
    She snorted, glaring at him. "Oh, you think you're too good for us
now? Is that it? Or maybe now that you're a better fighter than all
the rest of us, you're going to move on and find stronger friends.
Which is it, huh tough guy?"
    That did provoke some action from him. He turned his head and
opened his cold blue eyes to stare at her. "What makes you think
either is the reason?" He then sat upright and bound his gi shirt
closed. His bare feet found the floor, and he stood and walked over to
where Mayako sat, stopping to glance down at her. "Just back off." He
then started walking towards the door to her room.
    Angered at such a quick dismissal, she stood, abandoning her shame
to lunge and grab his arm. "I'll have you know-"
    Rintaro's incredibly swift back kick cut her off as her instincts
jump started an adrenalin rush, enabling her to dodge his foot as it
skimmed her messy hair, but forcing her to release his arm. He
recovered from the kick just as quickly, planting his foot out in
front of him, then shot his other knee towards her stomach. Mayako
jumped back across her room to avoid it, unable to say a thing as he
opened the door and furiously stamped down the hall.
    "Hey!" she yelled, a little too loudly for such an early morning,
and then took off after him, stopping in the hall just in time to see
him start walking down the stairs. Mayako blinked in confusion. She
had actually struck a nerve with that? A display like that from
Rintaro was like squeezing water from a rock. Turning her head, she
spotted his pants still neatly folded on her desk. He had to have been
very upset to not remember to pick them up before leaving. That, or he
decided he was going to be a shame show--as if she could talk,
entering the hall without her pants on.
    "Wait up," she whispered, running down the hall to catch up with
Rintaro.
    Mayako found him by the koi pond, going through the motions of a
very basic kata, on hyper-drive. His punches and kicks tore through
the air at each interval, so quickly she could barely see his arms and
legs.
    "You didn't have to be such a dick," she told him, staying far
enough back to not be in his way. "It's just that these last few years
you've been keeping to yourself a lot, and shrugging us all off."
    Cutting the kata off abruptly, Rintaro paused with his leg fully
extended, and then turned it in the air towards her. After setting it
down firmly, he stood facing her, not saying a thing.
    "At least I know you heard me this time," Mayako said quietly,
turning her head from his intense stare. "What happened to our leader,
the guy who stuck up for his friends every time they needed help?"
    "You don't need help anymore," he stated, sitting down cross-
legged on the grass.
    "Help isn't always physical," Mayako countered, walking up to
kneel in front of him. The cold grass sent shivers up her bare leg.
"Sometimes help can mean just listening when a friend needs to vent,
or being a shoulder to cry on."
    "No thanks," he said, turning his head. "I have my own problems to
worry about."
    "What happened to you, Rintaro Saotome?" she asked, resting her
hands on her knees. "You were like my third brother ever since I knew
you, and then you just wandered off one day. You don't realize how
much that hurt. You used to be so cool. You even took that stupid
engagement thing those old bags thought up that once without even
flinching. Veins were bursting on my forehead, and you just laughed,
like it was the funniest thing you'd ever heard."
    "I grew up, okay?" he said defensively, putting his hands on the
grass, nervously gripping handfuls. "None of you guys like me anyway.
It's better for everyone if we keep our distance."
    Clutching her arms around her legs to stave off the cold, Mayako
shook her head. "It's only recently that they don't like you. It's
because you've been such a cold ass to us. They'd all give you a
second chance to hang with us again." Starting to shiver, she brought
her knees up and held them to her chest. "Please, Rintaro? I miss
little Rin-chan backing me up when we got into scuffs. Now I have to
rely on Kenichi to get his pacifist ass into gear before we can fight,
and he's more likely to try to talk us out of the fight. You always
jumped with me at first chance. I miss that."
    "You miss getting suspended over spilt milk?" he asked, with half
amusement and half suspicion.
    "Yeah," she replied, smiling through chattering teeth. When her
adrenalin rush ran off, she certainly got cold all of the sudden.
    "It's not like anyone challenges me now, anyway," Rintaro quipped,
turning to face her. "They just bow and run the other way if they even
come within ten feet of me."
    "Not Jotaro Saito," Mayako said with a smile. "And the rest of his
friends don't either when he's backing them."
    "You can even take Saito," Rintaro shot back. "You can probably
take any two of them on a good day."
    "Thanks for the vote of confidence," she told him. "But Jotaro
with anyone, even Shoji, could probably beat me. I'm a much better
team fighter than I am at solo fights. That's where you used to come
in."
    "And what's wrong with Kenichi?" Rintaro asked, as if wary for
some verbal trap. "You two always fought well together, better than
you and I ever did."
    "He's too serious about education and college, and that whole dull
bit," Mayako complained, suddenly feeling very naked outside in the
cold, across from a boy who was not dressed any more than she. His
eyes were on her now, meeting hers with candid emotion, however mixed
it appeared. He looked confused, like he stood on the line between
friendship and being her enemy. She could not give up this chance to
win him back to her side.
    "Why aren't you?" Rintaro asked, almost rhetorically, as he stood.
"School isn't something you can just mess around in, not with so many
students all competing for the same jobs." He then walked up to her
and offered his hand. Mayako could not refuse it, and he lifted her to
her feet.
    "I don't care about school," she firmly answered, releasing his
hand. He smiled at her as she continued, "And neither should he. If he
doesn't have fun once in a while, he'll become even more uptight than
he already is."
    It was one of those moments where Mayako had no clue whether
Rintaro would kiss her or punch her. So far, his relatively good
behavior was a little unnerving, but when he leaned forward, as if it
whisper in her ear, or kiss her cheek, she had a sneaking feeling that
he would choose the first one. Unfortunately, when his smile turned
into a grin, she knew it was the second. Bringing her foot down hard,
she managed to kick his foot before it struck her bare ankle.
    As Mayako dropped back into a defensive stance, Rintaro merely
chuckled. She regarded him curiously, still maintaining her defense.
    "What's so funny?" she asked, wary of any more tricks.
    "You saw right through me," he said, not even bothering to fall
into his guard.
    "Like glass," she agreed sarcastically, lunging with a punch. He
dodged the attack rather slowly, and she caught a bit of his shoulder.
    He groaned, taking a few cautious steps away from her. "No need to
hit so hard. I'm rather sore already."
    "You should have thought about that before you tried to kick me!"
she exclaimed, charging at him. She was rather surprised when he did
not move, and she smacked into him, knocking him to the ground. He
looked up at her a little dazedly, and then started rubbing his head.
    "That wasn't very nice," he told her, before wrapping one leg
around hers, and using the other to trip her.
    Mayako fell forward on top of him, elbowing him to stop her fall.
    "Ack," Rintaro complained, and then tried to push her off, but she
resisted, head-butting his chest. He coughed as the air was knocked
from his lungs.
    Resting her knees around him on the ground, she brought them
inward, squeezing his sides quite hard.
    When he caught his breath, Rintaro looked up at her passively. "I
never knew you were into S&M, Mayako Tendou." He gasped again as she
brought her knees into his sides again. "Christ, woman. Let go!"
    "I thought we were having a nice little chat, and you go and ruin
it!" she growled at him, holding his shoulders down with her hands.
"Are you going to be my friend again, or do I have to beat you some
more?"
    He looked up at her, and she caught something in his face,
something she had not expected: fear. It was as if for a split second,
all the blood had suddenly drained from his face, and his eyes widened
in surprise. Then, as if it had never happened, he regained his blank
stare, and turned his head.
    "Rintaro, I'm sorry!" Mayako released her pressure on his sides,
and stared down at him with more than a little concern. "Did I hurt
you?"
    He responded by turning to glare at her, but still made no mood to
knock her off him.
    "Really, I didn't actually mean to hurt you," she said sadly,
sitting back and removing her hands from her shoulders. She still sat
on his stomach, but without threatening him. "Honestly, you're so
tough, half the time punching you doesn't even get you to notice me."
    Merely shrugging in reply, Rintaro stared up at her silently.
    "If you are going to molest my sister, could you take it
elsewhere, Rintaro?" Both Mayako and Rintaro turned to Kenichi's
sudden appearance in surprise as he continued. "I'm trying to eat
breakfast, and you're ruining my appetite."
    Two and two clicked together, and she realized what a compromising
situation she was in. Well actually, it only had to be one and one
clicking together for that picture, but she jumped to her feet anyway,
blushing furiously. Rintaro did not budge, keeping his head laid back
on the cold grass.
    "Aren't you cold, Mayako?" Kenichi asked, giving her legs a
curious look. "Oh right, who needs pants when you've got Rintaro?
Silly me."
    The red of embarrassment quickly transformed into the red of
anger. Mayako suddenly had the need to beat the hell out of her
brother. But then again, she was a master of verbal fighting as well--
at least she thought she was.
    "Yeah, and who needs a blanket when you've got a naked redhead on
top of you, right Kenichi?" Mayako added to level things out a bit. In
spite of her, he just wagged his finger at her, and smiled.
    "Hey, at least I didn't have to beat her up to get her in a
position like that," Kenichi quipped, grinning smartly.
    Oh, now she felt like beating him up again. But that would mean
that he won their verbal sparring? No way, she swore that she would
never lose to him in any match.
    "Yeah, Rintaro beat her up for you," she said, tugging her shirt
to completely cover her panties. Boy, it really was cold out there. At
least Kenichi reeled a bit from that one.
    "Well, my date isn't a brutal psychopath," Kenichi he challenged,
putting his hands on his hips. He then added, "No offense, Rintaro."
    "None taken," the tall young man, who now stood uncomfortably
close behind her, said. She did not realize he had approached her
until he had spoke. Sometimes it was a pain being in a family of
martial artists.
    Mayako turned with a wry face. "Thanks for the backup."
    "No problem," Rintaro said. Obviously, her sarcasm did not get
past him.
    "I've had enough chatting for one day," Kenichi said, turning
towards the house. "Really, running around in your panties, Mayako.
You should be ashamed of yourself." He turned to her with a wink.
"Next time try to wear more clothes. It must be forty degrees out
here."
    Mashing her teeth, Mayako watched him walk away and enter the
house. At least anger made the cold go away, somewhat. Her legs were
covered in goose bumps.
    "Where were we?" Rintaro said suddenly, as Kenichi disappeared
into the house.
    "We weren't anywhere," Mayako said, clenching her fists. "You were
getting your butt kicked, and I was done kicking your butt, and
planning to go inside." She started for the door when he stopped her
with a hand on his shoulder. Turning in askance, Mayako blinked.
    "He is wrong about one thing," Rintaro said, leaving his hand on
her.
    "Oh, and what is that?" she asked, letting the impatience slip
into her voice.
    "I'm not brutal," he said with a grin.
    Mayako chuckled as the two of them walked inside, and went back up
to her room. Kenichi, for his part, was quiet about the whole mess, at
least while they passed him at the table and walked into the hall.
    When she entered the room, closing the door and locking it, Mayako
gathered clean clothes from her dresser, ignoring the sounds of
Rintaro slipping into his pants.
    As he went to leave her room, she stopped him. "Rintaro?"
    He did not even turn back, but paused at the door.
    "Tell me something."
    "What?" he asked, turning his head to face her.
    "What are you going to do about your loss?"
    He looked down at the ground for a moment, and then looked her in
the eye again. "What you would do?"
    Mayako contemplated that as she changed her clothes.

                          *       *       *

    A bright face stared down at her, contrasted by long black hair.
It looked terribly familiar, but she could not think straight. Strong,
handsome features prominently set him apart from other faces she could
recall, but it sparked no memories. Concentrating on anything was
becoming increasingly difficult.
    His lips moved, but she heard nothing. His eyes were wild,
desperate, as if craving an answer only she knew. She tried to speak
back, to tell him she could not hear him, but her lips uttered
nothing, though she felt the air exhale from her mouth. Sadness crept
over her like rust, slowly but surely. It tickled what sensations her
body still felt.
    Staring back at the young man's face, Kimiko started to remember,
when he closed his eyes and gently pressed his lips to hers. It was an
explosion of vitality that he gave her, and her eyes bulged with the
recollection, feelings and sound.
    "Listen," Kiyoshi whispered to her, his face so closed she could
feel his hot breath on her cheek. "I don't think you have much time.
The chi I gave you won't sustain you long, so I have to find out what
is holding you here. I believe something has your body."
    "What...meaning?" she asked with strain.
    Kiyoshi quickly clasped his hand over her mouth. "Do not try to
speak. You will only waste energy. You must meditate to the best of
your ability, and conserve your strength. As I said, I am going to
recover your body, and then I'm going to get us home." He lifted his
hand, staring down at her for one more second before lowering her to
the cold grass, and running off.



    Deadly intent drove him across the blank landscape towards what he
knew to be his destination. On the horizon, two shapes were locked in
ferocious battle, like stags, fighting until one fell in exhaustion,
or death. He knew neither of them, for no one in his acquaintance had
such power. It was beyond human. It was that which brought him here.
    With his entire focus on running, Kiyoshi cut the air like a
knife, shredding reality with his speed. Never before had he been able
to run as fast as he did then, coursing across the wasteland like jet
fighter. He would not have been able to do so, but something enabled
him here, as if his body no longer suffered the torment of physics.
    As he slowed his mad dash, sudden fear filled his heart to the
brim, spilling over into his legs. He fell, unable to stop his body in
time as he flew headlong into the fray. With little time to react, he
merely selected his target: Ryouga Hibiki.
    Kiyoshi's new opponent only managed to turn his head in time to
see the berserker frenzy in Kiyoshi's face. Barreling into him,
Kiyoshi felt a sudden loss of balance as he continued soaring mere
feet above the ground with Ryouga flinching under him. As if in space
with nothing to stop their trajectory, Kiyoshi and Ryouga fought in
motion.
    Kiyoshi knew something was wrong with Ryouga's aura as he struck
the man in the chest with a deluge of punches, rivaling Chestnut Fist
speeds. Ryouga did not even flinch as he brought his arms in to block
his chest, simply defending with a sinister glare.
    "You will pay for interfering," the distorted voice calmly
promised Kiyoshi. "I warned you, and now you shall die."
    Black energy gathered around Ryouga's body as Kiyoshi pushed off
him with his feet, sending him soaring into the sky. Arching his back,
Kiyoshi flipped himself around, stopped in midair for a brief second,
and then gravity found him once more, driving him towards the ground.
    As he landed on his feet, Kiyoshi dodged a fiery, black blast of
twisted chi by scant milliseconds. The energy stole the heat around
his body as it ripped past him harmlessly.
    "You are fast for a human," the distorted voice yelled. "But you
are human, none-the-less."
    "I've summoned and killed stronger demons than you before,"
Kiyoshi boasted, stalling to gather his strength.
    "I am no demon," Ryouga replied, slowly walking towards him. "I am
the blessing, the madness, the hatred. I am your worst nightmare, and
your fantasy. I am forever, and yet I live from moment to moment,
ready to kill all that oppose."
    A spherical translucent shield of violent chi energy flickered to
life around Kiyoshi as he brought his fists together. The energy
swirled around him, humming like an engine.
    "And you are knowledgeable!" The possessed man cried out with a
laugh. "We shall see how strong you are." Kiyoshi watched as the black
energy gathered in the palms of his opponent's hands. "DIE NOW!!!"
    Another blast of the sickening energy shot towards Kiyoshi, but it
disappeared as it struck the shield. Reeling back as if struck, he
felt the tainted life force wash over him, then heard it reform behind
him and continue past.
    "Astounding!" The demon yelled, standing inches from the edge of
the shield. "That is some trick. It really is too bad I can do that
forever, is it not?"
    With a half-hearted chuckle, Kiyoshi prepared his counterattack.
    "Oh, so you think that this little shield will hold?" Ryouga
challenged, walking around him. "You will not be so jovial as I crush
your bones into pulp and gnaw on your meaty flesh while you watch."
    "Is that so?" Kiyoshi asked with a grin. "What if I told you that
I could finish you with one strike that you could not possible dodge?
What would you say then, as your pathetic existence ends in this
mockery of a world?"
    "That I could not dodge?" The demon asked, suddenly intrigued.
"You would have to drop your shield before that, and as soon as it
fell, I would rip open your throat."
    "That is where you are wrong," Kiyoshi said with a lot more
confidence than he felt. In one more moment, his attack would be
ready.
    "Show me!" Ryouga demanded, disappearing to materialize just
outside of Kiyoshi's defensive sphere, poised and ready for the
attack.
    "Spirit Lance!" Kiyoshi screamed, and the shield around him
collapsed inwards. As the demon rushed forward, a violet lance formed
in Kiyoshi's hands, and Ryouga impaled himself in his haste.
    A horrific scream ripped from the Ryouga's lips almost at once,
sending a wave of sound energy crashing through Kiyoshi, though he
held his grip and pressed the chi weapon further into the demon. As
his ears protested with a loud ringing, Kiyoshi stood his ground as
Ryouga thrashed around on the point of his lance.
   "Does that taste good?" he asked of the dying beast. "How would you
like more?" Concentrating against the violent fighting of Ryouga's
body, Kiyoshi manipulated the weapon to expand outward, as if to
create a shield again, coursing up through Ryouga, until it totally
consumed him.
    "You...are...dead..." the thing whispered one last time, before
Ryouga's body fell through the lance, no longer afflicted by the
spiritual weapon. Kiyoshi watched it hit the ground then lifelessly
slump over. Before he had a chance to check Ryouga, the body vanished,
leaving an imprint in the wet grass. Testing the empty space with his
foot, Kiyoshi was not expecting an attack.
    A blast of white energy punched Kiyoshi right in the back, sending
him sprawling on the grass. Rolling straight forward, he quickly found
his feet and spun in time to dodge a follow up blast, which cut by him
like a bullet.
    "What the hell?" Kiyoshi demanded, realizing the identity of his
attacker.
    "Hello Kiyoshi," Kimiko said in a voice that reinvented the
meaning sinister. "You just blew an opportunity that I've been eagerly
awaiting the past century and a half." Another pool of white energy
gathered around her as spoke. "May she forgive me for this."
    Taking a step back, Kiyoshi knew he could not summon his spirit
shield a second time.
    "Who are you?" he asked, hoping to stall her a few moments while
he regenerated his strength.
    "I am your darling sister, of course," the possessed girl said,
hovering inches above the grass. "Who else would I be?"
    "A vengeful spirit, perhaps?" Kiyoshi answered, suddenly in awe of
the power Kimiko gathered. It was far beyond what he could draw in and
live.
    Waving a finger, Kimiko gave him no more time to recharge. The
next bolt gathered in front of her like storm, spinning and shrieking
around her hands. Simultaneously, the siblings released chi bolts, a
white one meant to kill, and a blue one meant to deflect the other. In
a bizarre twist, Kimiko's blast redirected itself around his and cut
back towards him.
    Two bolts struck two bodies. The white blast lifted Kiyoshi off
the ground like a doll slapped by its owner, and he desperately fought
to remain conscious while his world flipped and rolled in an
uncontrolled spin. He crashed onto the earth, wishing for nothing more
than a moment's rest. His body ached in a hundred places, but he
willed himself to sit none-the-less.
    Scanning for his sister, he saw Kimiko far across from him, lying
face down on the grass.
    "Playing so dangerously with her life?" the girl asked, her body
still against the earth. Lifting up in spite of gravity, Kimiko hung a
few feet in the air, her arms and legs limp.
    "Damn you!" he cursed, thrusting his body up to stand.
    Kimiko's body flipped over then righted itself, setting her down
on her feet, though her legs were not supporting her. The way she
stood looked as if she were being held upright, as if someone were
behind her with their hands gripped around the back of her neck.
    "I've already been damned!" she retorted, straightening out her
torn clothing. "I spent many centuries in a watery grave, staring
upwards at the ever changing sky, always knowing I would never escape.
But I did, and now I want my revenge! You will not stand in the way of
that when he appears before me once more, or you will die." Like a
puppeteer bowing through the puppet, Kimiko bent at the waist, a final
gesture before falling over in a heap.
    He stood, frozen by her chilling words. In the time it took him to
blink, he regained his senses and rushed to his sister's side,
pressing his fingertips to her neck. Gulping in a panicked breath, he
slid his hand down her bare arm, to her wrist and held it in his palm.
    "What?" he asked himself as his arm started to shake. He
understood as he saw her face, blue as the beautiful water sparkling
in the middle of the grassy plain, like the blue of her eyes. Oxygen,
part of the lifeblood, the staple of the brain--the house of the
soul--faded. Cold as the lake, her wet skin felt dead to his warm,
bruised fingers.
    "Damn you, Jusenkyou!" Kiyoshi cursed as he tilted his sister's
head back, drawing close. "Damn you, Seiichi!" Filling his lungs, he
closed his mouth over the redhead's, forcing oxygen into her deprived
lungs. He pulled back, shivering with rage and fear. "Damn you! Not
like this! Not again!"
    "You're forgetting something," an ice cool voice whispered in his
head. "A body without a soul is a turnip, waiting to rot. Find and
revive the soul and the body will remember life."
    "Soul?" he asked, suddenly remembering how he entered this plane.
"Please God, help me."
    Scooping the lifeless redhead into his arms, Kiyoshi pulled his
sister close to his body, resting her head against his chest. With
every final ounce of energy remaining in his soul, he pushed off the
ground and leapt towards his goal. Barely skimming the ground as he
crossed the grass, he made his way to his goal.
    Almost completely transparent, she lay as if dead, her arms
crossed over chest, her legs stretched out together. Green grass
stained the pink of her dress, the pale white of her skin, and even
the red of her hair. Kiyoshi looked between the corpse in his hands
and the faint image of his sister on the grass, then without another
second passing, he joined them.
    And as she began to cough, the world fell out from underneath him
once more, and again he held onto her tightly. This time, she held him
back. Finally, he allowed the sweet darkness to envelop him.

                          *       *       *

    Suspended somewhere, beyond reality, is where I find myself again.
Sometimes my cruel subconscious tortures me with horrible realities
here. Other times, it slights me by ending pleasant ones. I never had
trouble with sleep and dreams before, when everything was as it was
supposed to have been. In the chaos, nothing could faze me. With no
time to think, I never did. Once the chaos settled, perhaps I had too
much time. That could be the reason I lost everything.
    Or perhaps not. I always think here. My reality shapes this place,
I find, as new characters are introduced to the drama of my mind.
Kiyoshi, Amanda and Sally burned themselves into my dreams once I met
them, and now I wonder if the twins, my new brothers and the rest of
my new acquaintances will work there way here, to either tempt, harass
or join me in my misery.
    "Good afternoon, love," a voice from the abyss of the back of my
eyelids greets.
    I now sit cross-legged in a Japanese garden, perfectly
proportionate, as my adopted father had preferred in his life. Though
I never met him, I truly like his tastes. The immaculate grass on
which I sit is cool against the bare skin of my legs, and as I look
up, I know my reality has crept into my dreams again.
    "Hello, Kenichi," I reply to the young man, standing to meet him.
My sandals crunch as they move from grass to the gravel path that
leads to the house. He wears the stripped blue shirt I bought for him
around the time when we first met, and he still looks as handsome as
he did wearing it then.
    Passively, I realize it is going to be one of the dreams with
memories I never experienced, and with circumstances not yet possible.
Though, whether I would control myself in the dream was another
matter. Sometimes I could gain it, and others I would have to just
watch and see how the dream played out.
    As I stand and greet him with a tight embrace, I know I will have
little control over my body. I smell his clean skin, and pull deeper
into his hug, sighing in complacence.
    Who am I this time? I wonder to myself. Kenichi's future wife?
    "How was your day?" he whispers into my ear before sliding back to
look into my eyes. He smiles warmly as a reply begins to form in my
mouth.
    "Wonderful," I tell him, feeling an alien urge to hold him close
again. "Michael and his sister both completed their tests with flying
colors! I couldn't believe it when I saw them perform their katas. I
couldn't have even matched the heart they put into it." The pride I
feel for two people I have never met blossoms goose bumps on my arms.
    Kenichi laughs, embraces me again, kissing my face sensually. I
moan softly, sliding my hands across the flat of his back.
    He pauses his caresses and whispers, "What can I say? You are a
spectacular teacher, and the kids love you. They'd fly to the moon and
back for you."
    "I'm not that good," I reply. I draw away from him, turning my
back.
    "You're better," he says as he presses his body against my back,
wrapping his arms around my waist. "You don't give yourself enough
credit. Michael and Tanya were a tangle of arms and legs before you,
and now they're up there with your best students."
    "Well, maybe," I say, twisting in his arms to face him. "How was
your day?"
    Kenichi grins, then slides one hand up my arm and rests it on my
shoulder. "I sold the rainbow...and the jumper!"
    My mouth opens wide as he stands in front of me, smiling.
    "No way!" I shout, practically hysterical. "Without my brother?"
    He nods his head, bringing his other hand to rest on my shoulder,
and then smirks. "You didn't think I could do it."
    Laughing, I playfully slug his shoulder, extracting a chuckle from
him. "I knew you would, but I didn't want to pump up your ego by
saying so." He turns his head, looking towards the house, which I just
begin to notice. It is a carbon copy of Nobukazu Nishiyama's house in
California. The garden seems very similar, now that I think about it,
but so many seem to be in America. This one probably has the same
landscape artist as Nobukazu's.
    "I think we should celebrate," Kenichi suggests as he looks into
my eyes again with a wink.
    "Like you need an excuse," I tease, taking a step backward.
Turning around, I quickly leap over the grove of small trees and to
the path on the other side. "But you'll have to catch me first!"
    Listening to his feet, I know he is now running after me.
Wondering about their references to celebrating, I wish only to close
my eyes and go into a dreamless sleep. Even as I am fully in this
world, I feel the distant pain from another, so faint that I wonder
how my real body fairs. It is difficult to concentrate on other things
than what my host feels: warmth, happiness and probably too much love
for Kenichi.
    Sliding to a halt as I approach the perimeter wall, I turn to face
Kenichi. He stops a few feet from me.
    "You'll have to beat me next," I tell him, dropping into a
fighting stance.
    Even in a dress shirt and pants, Kenichi fits the martial artist
profile. I love the way he slowly adopts a stance, suggesting that his
opponent is hardly worth his time of day, without even realizing it. I
must have taught him that.
    Like a choreographed maneuver straight out of a movie, I announce
my spin kick with a showy twirl of my body, and the spin of my foot,
telegraphing my move for Kenichi. Without fail, he pushes into me,
stopping my kick mid-spin. My other leg is swept up into the air as he
lifts me into his arms.
    "I win," he whispers, walking across the gravel with me, his right
arm supporting my upper back, and the other just below my rear.
    "Round one of twenty," I reply slyly, slinging my left arm over
his shoulder.
    I may be a bit naive in many things, but I understand what they
suggested in oh-so low tones, and I do not like it one bit. My host,
on the other hand, feels the need to flood me with anticipation.
Hoping the dream cuts to the end with both of us dressed, like a movie
made during the production code of the early years in American film, I
dread where Kenichi takes me. This is my phobia, being trapped, unable
to control my own destiny, and is only second to my fear of cats,
although I think they are the same, too.
    My dreams have slowly become a trap for my consciousness, where
any technique I learn is rendered useless. I have been raped and
murdered; I have watched friends and family die right in front of my
eyes, and I have literally lost myself, but I overcame those,
realizing the conflict within myself tears me from within. I did not
need the spiritual essence of a drowned victim of Jusenkyou to tell me
that.
    I learned the Blast Fist to compensate for my loss of strength,
but what I accomplished through it was a back door out of situations
that get out of my control. Here, within my dreams, there is no quick
escape, eject or stop buttons, nor even a control pad. I am a scared
child watching my father beat my mother. I am mute when I am asked to
tell the court why they should not order my death by lethal injection.
Ignored, taken for granted, imprisoned, I watch helpless, my legs and
arms bound, a gag for my mouth, a spear through my heart, and yet I
can hear and see perfectly.
    Once more thrown into a pit of starving cats, I feel the madness
creeping in. There is nothing I can do but cover my face during the
perpetual wait for their ravenous frenzy to cease. Here they come
again, the claws, the teeth, that horrible hissing, the one that I can
always hear in the back of my head, the other me, the frightened
little boy who begs for his father to let him out.
    I am trapped again, but this time, no one can hear me scream.
    Feeling the soft, silky covers against my legs brings me back to
Kenichi and his lover. Lying still on the bed, I close my eyes as I
feel his soft lips brush against my thighs. Warmth floods me as my
heart races. He arouses a part of myself I can usually ignore, or put
aside.
    My host moans as Kenichi touches me, as if searching desperately,
his warm, wet mouth caressing my body. I want to hate him, close my
eyes, scream, or fight. Instead, I take his hand from my stomach and
interlace our fingers, squeezing his hand to tell him of my pleasure.
    As the wave of sensations of emotions deluge me, I try to
concentrate, to find my center and block out everything, however
impossible. Try as I might, I cannot help but enjoy it as my host
forces her sensations on me, as Kenichi slides my shorts down to my
knees.
    Oh God! Find the center, my safe place, away from the cats, away
from Kenichi, away from...no, please stop! Oh it is so cold now, as my
garments are being removed. Oh God! It is dark. I hate myself for not
being able to stop this. Please stop! Pleasure courses through me, not
stopping, pain and pleasure, like one, wanting, hating, wanting,
hating, too much...stop...stop...stop-stop-stop-stop!
    "STOP!!!" I scream, shocked, my mind numb, confused at my own
words. Her confusion, not my confusion, hers!
    Then everything stops, leaving me breathless and aching. My vision
clears as Kenichi sits upright, his back arching quickly as he draws
close. My heart thumps so loudly in my chest, fear coursing like
poison through my veins.
    "What's wrong?" he asks, as confused as I. His eyes furrowed in
concern as I breathe deeply, barely hearing him under the strain of
somehow taking control from my captor.
    "I-I don't know," I stutter, drawing my legs together, and pulling
up the panties that had still clung to my ankles. As I cross my legs
and shiver, I realize that I can fight back, end this nightmare, stop
it all, stop him, stop the cats and wrest my dreams from everything
that wishes to hurt me.
    "Did I hurt you?" Kenichi asks, drawing the covers over my legs.
"Please forgive me."
    Shaking my head, I reply, "It wasn't you, Kenichi." I pull the
comforter up to my shoulders, gripping my knees to my chest.
    "What was it, then?" he demands, firmly resting his hand on my
right shoulder. "Please tell me what is wrong."
    "I don't know!" I scream back, knocking his hand off me. As my
host starts to calm, I know it is my chance again, and try to seize
Kenichi, to throw myself at him like a wild animal. I picture a cat in
my mind, injecting terror into my heart. I conquered her with fear
once; I can do it again.
    "Jesus, are you all right?" he insists, but I feel my host
starting to convulse already.
    "No," I whine, but the damage is done. Instead of one, a dozen
cats are now locked in my mind, two dozen, fifty, one hundred...
    Mine.
    An elbow strike to Kenichi's face warns him that I mean business,
but as I try to follow through and grab for his neck, he seems to
dissolve into the bed. Jumping to my feet, I catch the scent, a trail
of fresh blood. My prey wants to be chased. I am only too happy to
hunt him.
    "This isn't funny!" the young man shouts from the doorway of the
room, appearing as if he had been standing there the whole time. He
holds his nose to stop the blood flow, but I want it to stream freely,
everywhere. I want to break this toy.
    Sanity sneaks up behind me, like a stream of cold water splashing
across my back. She wants back in. She loves him. But I show her what
is there: claws, blood, and darkness. She hides again.
    I leap across the room at him, slashing with my claws. Missing his
head as he throws himself back into the wall, they cut only air.
Slash. Miss. Slash. Miss. He runs again, and I give chase. Wood floors
give way to gravel, which then leads to grass.
    "Nice kitty!" Kenichi yelps as I scratch his shoulder, missing my
original target: his chest. "Kimiko, it's me! Please stop!" I have my
prey against a wooden wall. He is stuck; he is mine. Mine. Mine. Mine!
    As I swipe, meaning to knock him down, I miss. He ducks very low,
throwing me off balance. I try to recover, but he throws his weight
into me, hitting me so hard that I groan and fall back. I step across
the grass as I stumble, and I began to regain my poise, my foot meets
rock.
    The pain wakens me some, but it is the coldness that arouses a
sanity within me that brings her back, that brings me back. The
blanket of water that rises up around my face, burning my eyes and
filling my mouth, muffles Kenichi's cry to me. I hear his voice again
as pain shoots through the back of my head, covering me in sheet of
blackness that obscures my vision further.
    Now I begin to drown, unable to move my limbs, sinking into the
infernal darkness. The water is cold, but I no longer notice. I cannot
help but wonder, why water? It has always been the source of my
troubles, from Jusenkyou's pools, to the trigger of my curse, to my
final imprisonment in another's body.
    Under the water, unable to breathe, I cannot help but fight
against the paralysis, to push through the dark cloud to air. A scream
of utter frustration escapes my lips and the icy water fills my mouth.
Gagging the liquid out, I know my time runs short, but do not even
conceive of dying in the koi pond.
    Frantically struggling against my weakness, I almost fail to
realize the strong hands grabbing my shoulders. Kenichi, as warm as
the sun itself, easily lifts me into his arms, so quickly that the
sudden change in environment shocks me. The next moment, I convulse
into a fit of coughs, unable control myself as the water I had
swallowed spills from my lungs.
    "Kimiko, are you all right? Oh God, you're blue."
    Dazed and unable to answer him, I sink into his arms. The
exhaustion of almost drowning in a pool the size of a Jacuzzi has
drained me so that I can hardly remember anything past it. Kenichi
lifts me for a second time, only he runs as quickly as he can, nearly
breaking a glass coffee table in his haste.
    He sits me on the end of his bed as I only numbly watch him,
shivering so that my teeth chatter. With look of absolute terror,
Kenichi quickly strips me of my wet clothing. A funny ringing noise
like the hum of a television set, only much louder, fills my ears, as
tendrils of pain shoot through my head.
    "You didn't fall in the pond long enough for this," Kenichi
protested as he lifted my naked body and carefully placed me under the
thick comforter. "What is going on?" I listen to the sound of him
disrobing as I clench myself for warmth, unable to process anything
but the cold.
    As he climbs into the bed, I feel his gloriously warmth, and the
numbness begins to fade from my limbs as I wrap them around him.
Clouds clear from my mind, and the fear returns. I was seconds from
drowning before he saved me. I had been so positive that this was a
dream, but now I wonder, am I only just now waking from the a long
nightmare? This feels so real: Kenichi's warm skin against mine, the
wet sheets and my aching head. I only want to sleep and rest my aching
body, but I have to discover what is real, unless I should just fall
back into another dream.
    Kenichi is whispering in my ear, but I cannot understand what he
is saying as the ringing in my ears blocks him out.
    "Where am I, Kenichi?" I ask him, completely in control of my
voice, though I can only whisper as faint as he had.
    "You're home," he answers, stroking my back with his hands.
"You're in bed with me. Do you...do you remember anything that
happened before?"
    I think for a moment.
    "I think so."
    His hot breath burns my chilled face as we lie in silence. I can
feel the steady beat of his strong heart, even as mine begins to race,
so close to someone, like lovers. I suppose that is what we are in
this place. Though I do not like it, I feel ashamed for my earlier
behavior. How can I not? Kenichi thought I was someone else, no more
than I thought he was Akane twice. I guess I am guilty, but who would
not be after using the Cat Fist against a friend.
    Then again, who would have known I could utilize the unpredictable
technique, and remember the subsequent events as well, even if this
should only be a dream? It had felt more debilitating than alcohol, a
complete surrender to whatever it was that drove my cat-self. Whatever
had happened, it was my fault for using the Cat Fist, and Kenichi had
not deserved it. My fight was and has always been with myself.
    I blink, trying to clear the blur from my vision, and notice large
brown eyes, ones he could not have gotten from anyone but Akane. They
blink as I stare at him for an eternity. His serious face breaks into
a weak smile, and then he takes his hand from around me and puts it on
my head, brushing his fingers through my hair.
    "I'm sorry," I whisper, closing my eyes.
    He closes his eyes as he shakes his head, the smile lingering on
his face. When he blinks his eyes open, they glitter with tears. I
draw a breath to say something, but he speaks first, his voice
relieved and a little bit unsteady.
    "Don't be sorry," he said, lightly caressing my cheek with his
hand. "I know you can't help it, but it's been so long since your last
attack that I thought we'd put them behind us."
    "Last attack?" I ask, not understanding.
    He raises an eyebrow, as he answers, "Yeah, don't you remember?" I
shake my head, and he continues. "Last year, a week before we were
married, I had to get you down out of a tree." He pauses, pressing his
palm to my forehead.
    "We're married?" I whisper, more than a little shocked. Of course,
the question was rhetorical, but Kenichi answers anyway.
    "Yes, are you sure you feel okay?"
    The fact that I begin to remember, like stream water gathering at
a dam, slowly building to become a lake, is probably what begins to
scare me more. Foreign memories fill in the blanks, and suddenly I
remember waking in Kenichi's arms that warm day, certain that I was
making the right choice to marry him. He had replaced Akane, not
merely filling her position, but creating a new one for himself. I had
found myself drawn to his charm, his immense heart, but most of all,
his selfless love for me. Although I seem to remember that never
happening, the longer I lie here, the more solid it becomes.
    "I must have hit my head when I fell in the pond," I tell him, as
I begin to doubt myself. I then turn onto my other side, facing away
from him.
    "I'll call the doctor in the morning," Kenichi says, and slides up
against my back. Although we had been close before, I only now
comprehend more, and feel every inch of him pressed to me. It sends my
heart racing faster as he adjusts to the contours of my back, draping
an arm around my waist.
    Though I am still chilled, I wish he would stop. Although hard to
think, I try to block his presence out completely, but it is simply
impossible.
    "You're tensing up again," he whispers, drawing back slightly. "I
know something is still wrong, but I can't help you unless you tell me
what that is."
    I answer him with silence, unable to correctly answer his question
verbally. How can you tell someone you are not the same person they
fell asleep with the night before, when in reality, it is as close to
a lie as possible? Remembering clearly, she did go to bed with him the
night before, and the night before that, and on.
    "Please, honey," he pleads with such hopelessness in his voice,
that I can barely believe this is the same child I sparred with days
earlier. "I love you so much that it hurts when everything isn't
right. Please tell me what it is so that I can fix it."
    I draw away from him, and then turn to face him. He does not
attempt to snuggle against me again, as I prepare my reply. With one
deep breath, I close my eyes and answer his despair. "You can't fix
me. No hug, or kiss, or anything is going to make everything right. I
don't even know where the hell we are, or how long I've lived here
with you."
    The hurt on his face is like red paint splashed against a white
wall, so visible that I cringe at bringing it to him.
    "We've lived here at your brother's house in Monterey for a year
and a half," he says sadly, sliding his hand to rest in the space
between us.
    "When I woke today, I was in the garden, right before you came in,
but it wasn't quite me. I didn't know what was wrong until we began to
talk."
    "When you asked me how my day was?" he asked, some of the sadness
in his voice replaced by curiosity.
    "No, when I told you about my day, but that's irrelevant. Whoever
I was then, it wasn't me. I'm not who you think I am."
    Without a trace of sarcasm, he asked, "Who are you, then?"
    With a gulp, I say, "Ranma Saotome."
    Kenichi shakes his head in protest, though the hand between us
grips the bed sheets.
    "Yes, I am," I insist, lightly resting a hand over his. With the
truth at the tip of my tongue, I began to realize how badly I have
wanted to tell someone other than Kiyoshi, the only other human that
knows my secret.
    "No, Kimiko," he says firmly, taking my hand in his. "Ranma is
just a name, a name that you used once and have no need for any
longer."
    Had I been shocked before, I would have seemed normal compared to
how I felt now. As if I had jumped from a building, my heart leapt and
I felt disoriented.
    "I already know who you were," he says with a look that speaks his
yearning for me. "I can remember the day you told me as if it were
yesterday, it's so clear in my head." He pauses, narrowing the
distance between us slightly.
    He knows, and yet he still married me? I could not quite believe
that.
    "We had wandered so far out after..." his voice seems to fade out,
though his lips still move. I hear a few mumbled words in the midst of
his story, so drained by the day, "...in the water...was so
shocked...didn't care..."
    The last thing I feel is his hand, firmly grasped in mine, and his
absolute acceptance of me within my heart. Then, as the world just
seems to melt away, I fall asleep once more.

                          *       *       *

    Kiyoshi Nishiyama had not felt as sore and as stiff as he did now
for at least six years. The legion of doctors had applied a stiff cast
to his arm, and it itched. Being unable to scratch it was very
maddening, and he could not take his mind off it.
    After a visit by a half-dozen lawyers, a fleet of doctors and more
than a few company guns, Kiyoshi felt exhausted as well. Entertaining
them while injured proved to be a difficult task. Fabricating a story
to encompass everything that had happened to sate the lawyers had been
even worse. Once he convinced them that they did not need to press
charges, he had to reassure them that he did not need to prepare for
any possible allegations of child abuse. Although he did not think
they would be so effortlessly persuaded, the police bought his story
much faster than the lawyers, as they only requested that Kimiko make
a statement when she regained her health. As for the armed sentries
outside the door of the private hospital room, Kiyoshi reluctantly
agreed to allow their presence to keep the lawyers from having a fit.
The compromise did purchase him a few hours to quietly watch over his
injured sister without being disturbed, however.
    With her brows furrowed, Kimiko squashed her angelic face in a
pout, as she lay asleep on the bed provided by the hospital. He could
not help noticing how cute she looked, twisted in the single sheet
placed over her. With the lamp dimmed and the shades together, she
seemed to glow in what little light filled the room. Although he could
not help remembering the years he spent watching her in a coma, he
took comfort in the fact that the doctors said she would wake after
she rested a while.
    Now, he was only left with his thoughts. The deeply disturbing
place he had visited the night before remained as one of the most
reoccurring things he wondered about. After fighting a Ryouga who did
not appear much older than when he left, meeting Kimiko twice under
completely different circumstances and nearly watching her die in his
arms, he was ready for some all-knowing avatar to come explain
everything to him. If over a hundred years of experience was not
enough for him to even have a rough explanation of what had happened,
then nothing was.
    Lying his head back against the cool plastic chair in which he
sat, Kiyoshi took a deep breath, sucking in air until he felt his
chest burn under the strain of the attempt, then held it in. After a
minute, he began to savor the growing ache in his chest and the light-
headed rush that filled him. He then slowly exhaled. His body urged
him to speed his release and quickly inhale, but he did it as slow as
he could, letting only a bit of air out at each short interval. He
controlled his breathing like this for several minutes until Kimiko
stirred.
    When she woke up, she shot up so quickly that he coughed in
surprise, and then began choking on the saliva he inhaled. As he
brought his breathing under control again, he watched her carefully,
planning to assess her mental state before engaging her in a
conversation.
    It mattered little when she turned her head and focused her eyes
directly on him. The glint of the pale lamplight reflected off her
sapphire blue eyes as she blinked her eyes once.
    "Where am I?" she asked nervously, glancing about the room.
    Kiyoshi stood as he answered, "A private hospital room. Do you
remember what happened?"
    With a reflective frown, Kimiko bowed her head, staring into her
lap. After a few seconds of absolute silence, she raised her head and
shook it.
    "What's the last thing you remember, then?" Kiyoshi asked,
disappointed that she would probably not be able to shed much light on
their experiences in the dream. He needed to talk about it, to bury
what had happened, rather than let it fester like an open wound.
Perhaps she thought it to be a dream, and nothing more than that. Did
any of it really happen? Could he have hallucinated the whole night?
The only two things keeping him from answering yes was that his broken
arm, and his injured sister.
    Her eyes sparkled and her mouth dropped open with some sudden
realization, giving him a little hope. She stared through him, as if
she were watching her memories on a screen behind him.
    "Ryouga tried to drown me," she finally answered, drawing back to
rest herself against the head of the bed. "I really didn't know how to
approach him, so I just sort of started a fight. But he's very strong
now." She paused, catching Kiyoshi's concerned look. "I'm all right
though, aren't I? He didn't kill me after all."
    "Right," Kiyoshi replied quietly, furrowing his brow. "Can you
remember anything else?"
    Looking at him puzzled, Kimiko slid across the bed to the sit on
the side closest to him. "Why, do you know something you aren't
telling me?"
    "Only if dreams count," he told her, resting his uninjured arm on
top of the cast. "You have to try and remember, because anything you
may say could help us tremendously."
    "I don't understand what you mean," Kimiko said sharply,
apparently not liking his answer one bit. "And how did you break your
arm? I've never even seen you with a stubbed toe before, let alone a
broken bone."
    "Your attacker is responsible for my injury as well," Kiyoshi
said, concealing the truth from her.
    "Oh jeez," she whispered, looking at him with wide eyes. "Is
Ryouga in the hospital, too?"
    "He disappeared right after our fight," he told her, relaxing in
his chair. "I have a feeling that we won't be seeing him for a while."
    Kimiko stared off into space, her expression confused.
    "I'm sorry things didn't work out as you expected," Kiyoshi said,
sitting up straight, preparing to stand. "What are you going to do
about it?"
    Looking up at him, Kimiko narrowed her eyes. "I don't think I ever
want to see him again."
    Pushing himself to his feet, Kiyoshi glanced down at her. "I'm
surprised you don't want revenge."
    She did not answer, looking at her feet instead.
    "Do you think you can get me something to drink?" she quietly
asked, avoiding eye contact. "I'm really thirsty."
    "Of course."



    After Kiyoshi left the room, Kimiko collapsed to the bed and her
body seemed to sigh in relief. Every muscle in her body ached, and
pretending otherwise had required enormous energy. Muscles she did not
know existed burned with every wiggle of her body, but the fact that
she was still breathing with all body parts intact was a tremendous
relief.
    "What happened to you, Ryouga Hibiki?" she asked of the empty
room. A dull weight burdened her eyes as she tried to concentrate on
the last moments of her fight, right before everything went black. She
recalled the pressure around her neck, the few swallows of the putrid,
cold water, but little more than images.
    Before that, she remembered jogging through the park, the old man
who had greeted her at the gate, the shadows, but not much else. She
had dreamed about Akane, a memory of hers gone awry. What else was
there? Grilling her mind for more, a bead of pain began to develop in
her forehead.
    The door opened and Kiyoshi entered, two glasses of water in his
hands. The light from the outside shown into the room, hurting her
eyes. He quickly closed the door with a push of his foot, and then
walked to her bedside. There was a look in his eyes that she expected,
stressed concern, but something else lurked there as well. She
wondered what new skeletons he added to his closet.
    "Sorry for the wait," he whispered as he handed her the glass. She
took it and took a few large gulps as he talked. "You wouldn't believe
how many people I had to ask to find where I could get some water."
    She thanked him with a warm smile and set the glass on the counter
next to the head of her bed.
    "A doctor is probably going to check up on you in a few," he said,
and then sipped his water. "When you were brought in, there might have
been some serious injuries, but every test they ran on you showed up
negative of whatever. This one really old doctor was still worried,
though. I asked him what he thought could be wrong, but he just said
'Nothing, yet.' I honestly think you just need some rest."
    "Yes, Doctor Nishiyama," she quipped, sticking her tongue out at
him. "Any other orders?"
    "Yeah," he said, setting his water on a table she could not see in
the dark. "Think back to what happened after you went unconscious."
    Taking a sip of her water, Kimiko looked at him with a raised
brow. "But I just woke up."
    Shaking his head, Kiyoshi appeared to close his eyes.
    "You mean like dreams and stuff?" she asked suspiciously. She
never knew him to be a big analytical dream person.
    "And stuff," he said, adding to her curiosity. "Whenever you feel
well enough, meditate on it. And don't give me that face, I'm being
serious here."
    "Sir, yes sir!" she exclaimed with a mock salute that sent a lance
of pain through her arm.
    "Now go back to sleep."
    She did not need any persuading to follow that order.
    "What are you going to do in the mean time?" Kimiko asked, setting
the glass of water down.
    "I'm going to sit right here until morning," he answered, fighting
a yawn. "And sleep if I can ever stop thinking about the itch under
this stupid cast."
    With a giggle, Kimiko laid back, her mind already beginning to
drift. Hopefully tonight, she would not dream. Her eyes slowly slid
shut as the darkness swallowed her.

                          *       *       *

    With her face pressed deeply into a pillow, Nabiki Tendou barely
heard the telephone ringing. The sweet smell of her herbal shampoo in
her hair from the shower she had taken last night brought her around a
bit, as she wondered what horribly early time it could be. Usually the
sun would wake her up, since she left the shades on her high-rise
apartment open enough to shine in on her.
    Sitting up, Nabiki rolled her eyes, trying to buy time before
picking up the phone. It inevitably would be her secretary, or one of
her employees, in need of help or alerting her to some great crisis.
    Looking at the flashing button on her nightstand, she pressed the
"Voice Only" one next to it. There was no need for any of her staff to
spy her in the clothes she had gone to sleep with, considering she
wore none.
    "Hello?" she said as dignified as she could, following the word
with a yawn.
    "Tendou-san, this is Ju. This one has that data you requested."
    Blinking her eyes several times, it took her a moment to remember
exactly what she had requested. He must have taken the silence for not
recalling, so he answered.
    "This one is sorry to wake you, Tendou-san," he said
apologetically. "But you said to call as soon as this one learned of
Nishiyama-sama's whereabouts. He has such information now."
    Ju, as everyone called him, was what one might call an
investigator, not quite separate from Nishiyama Inc., but not quite a
part of it either. She had only talked to him in person once, and that
had been enough. The man was neither handsome nor ugly, and something
about his neutral appearance sickened Nabiki. Perhaps she simply did
not like the way he could move around without being noticed. She had
often caught herself not detecting his presence, even when she had
been trying to do just that.
    No, she corrected herself. The creepiest part about him was how he
talked about himself in the third person.
    "Yes, thank you, Ju," she told him.
    "It is too sensitive a matter to speak over the phone," he said,
sparking her curiosity. "This one wishes to meet ASAP."
    This is going to cost me, Nabiki thought, scratching her forehead.
    "How soon can you meet him, Tendou-san?"
    "Meet me in thirty minutes at the coffee shop across from my
building," she told him after a moment of thought. The clock read
4:36, so it should be open by the time she got there.
    "This one thanks you," Ju said in his monotone voice. "He shall be
there in exactly thirty minutes. He will not delay."
    Without another word, Ju cut the connection and the static that
remained was quickly replaced by the silence Nabiki had known before
his phone call.
    "This better be pretty damned good."

                          *       *       *

    Another day passed without word from her. Kenichi Tendou had come
home from work, praying for a message from her, but his mother had
none to relay to him. He felt rejected and poured those feelings into
his painting of her, the flame of his passion. Although the main body
of the work had been finished already, he merely added touches of
sadness: a sort of despair in her eyes that put tears in his.
    He bit his lip as he began cleaning up the details of her clothes,
which he had neglected until now. For almost twenty minutes he sat on
his stool, working on the canvas until he finished it. Smiling sadly,
he remained still, tired from his long day at work and putting so much
effort into one picture.
    A knock at the door took his attention from the painting.
    "Come in," he said.
    His sister slinked in the room, her arms crossed over her chest, a
disapproving look meeting his eyes. He could already tell Mayako meant
to nag him about something.
    "What?" he asked as she closed the door, and then walked over to
him.
    "Nothing," she answered, turning her head away from him,
pretending to examine his painted wall.
    "You never bother me while I paint for nothing," he replied,
resting his hands on his thighs.
    "I was just bored," she said, turning to face him, and the
painting. "You finished it?"
    Kenichi nodded, standing up. He lifted the canvas from the easel
and placed it atop his dresser, out of harm's path so that it could
dry unmolested by the elements and nosey siblings.
    "You make her look so sad, little brother," Mayako observed,
walking up to him and putting a hand on his shoulder. "Why'd you do
that?"
    With a shrug of his shoulders, Kenichi left her touch behind for
his bed, practically collapsing on it.
    "Ah come on, Ken," she whined, pulling his stool to the side of
the bed and sitting on it. "You can tell me anything. I promise I
won't tell anyone anything you say."
    He thought on his sister's apparent sincerity for a moment, not
finding any holes in her speech at which to be suspicious. The concern
in her eyes, which he had mistaken for disapproval, became evident as
she drew in close to him. He decided to lower his defenses, for now.
    "I guess it's a combination of things," he told her, following
that with a yawn. "When she's not absorbed in training, or talking
with someone, she seems to get this look in her eyes. That's what I
hoped to show. I don't know quite how to explain it, other than that
it seems she puts on a show for us, and then retreats back to whatever
sorrow she can't get away from. She just looks lost, and hopeless.
    "You don't see that, Mayako?"
    "I guess I'm not looking as closely as you," Mayako replied,
staring at her bare feet. She raised her head to face him and looked
into his eyes. "Maybe you shouldn't either."
    "What's that supposed to mean?" Kenichi asked, sitting up
straight. "Why shouldn't I?"
    "Her problems are none of our business," she answered, crossing
her legs. "I think it's great that you really like her, but don't
think that just because you hit it off so fast she's Miss Right or
anything."
    "Maybe she isn't perfect," Kenichi admitted, suddenly not liking
where the conversation was headed and too tired to care what she
thought. "But what I do isn't your business, either."
    "Little brother," Mayako whined, giving him a full on puppy-dog
pout. "I'm just trying looking out for you."
    Disengaging himself from their conversation, Kenichi closed his
eyes, and it felt as if lead had replaced his eyelids. His sister said
something to him, but he ignored her and laid himself back on his bed.
The dim light of his room shone down on him, but he ignored that as
well, suddenly uninterested in anything but sleep.
    "Okay, ignore me," Mayako told him, rising from the stool. He felt
her lean over him and her hot breath as she whispered in his ear.
"I'll try not to say 'I told you' when she leaves the country."


    Kenichi's door clicked shut as Mayako softly closed it. She had
not meant to put her brother on the defensive, and felt sorry about
it. His sulking over her disappearance from their lives, though she
had only appeared in them, grew on her nerves. If she could not
prepare him for her exit from the country, he might grow another layer
of scar tissue around his heart.
    Downstairs, Mayako shuffled through a drawer and located a pad of
paper and a pen, and then lifted the phone and dialed information.
    "Information, what city, please?" a male operator asked.
    "Tokyo," she told the operator.
    "Prefect?"
    "Tokyo city," she replied. "The Hilton."
    "Which one, ma'am?"
    Which one? Mayako thought back to her trip to the hotel, but could
not remember much in the way of the roads they had taken. It had been
dark and they passed countless stoplights.
    "All of them," she answered.
    "One moment, please."
    She held onto the receiver for a moment, staring at the wall, and
then received three different numbers and wrote them on a notepad. She
thanked the operator, and then hung up.
    "Okay, Kimiko Nishiyama, where are you?" she asked of empty room.
    Dialing the first number, she watched as her mother entered the
room with Eiji on her shoulders jabbering about something to do with
plants. Mayako glared at the munchkin whose voice cut through the air
like a blade. Akane quickly shushed him with an over-exaggerated
motion of putting her finger to her lips and squashing her face. Eiji
copied his mother as a man on the other line picked up.
    "Thank you for calling the Hilton, Tatsuyama speaking, how can I
direct your call?"
    "I'm calling for Kimiko Nishiyama," she told the person, and then
watched her brother pretend to zip his mouth shut and throw away the
key. She repressed a giggle as he almost fell from the moment of the
key throwing.
    "I'm sorry, there is no listing for a guest under that name. Is
there anything else I can do for you?"
    Mayako thought. The room might be under Kiyoshi's name.
    "How about a Kiyoshi Nishiyama?" she asked, holding in her breath.
    "Hold one moment, please," the person said.
    "Mayako, tomorrow I need you to go into town for me," her mother
said, placing Eiji on the floor. Akane approached her daughter,
whispering her request. "Your grandfather needs a few dress shirts,
and..."
    "May I ask your name, please?"
    "Mayako Tendou," she said, speaking more loudly than she needed.
    Her mother continued as boring classic rock played on the phone,
"...a new tie. Also, ask Kenichi if he needs any dress clothes, not
his school or work clothes, mind you. I want him to look nice for the
dinner we're going tomorrow night. Oh yes, pick something for
yourself, too. I'll leave the money on the table for you after I make
breakfast.
    "Am I forgetting anything?"
    "Yes, that I'm on the phone," Mayako said dryly.
    "Oh, right, we're having dinner with the Nishiyamas tomorrow
night. I forgot to tell you."
    Mayako blankly stared at the woman, and then shook her head. As
her mother scooped up Eiji, who had been stumbling around the kitchen,
searching for the imaginary key, so he could unlock the imaginary
zipper, the man on the phone said he would patch her through to
Kiyoshi.
    Suddenly, her heart started to pound in her chest. Not realizing
that she had asked for Kiyoshi, she now had to speak to the god-like
man without a chance to prepare herself. She almost squeaked when he
answered.
    "Hello?" Kiyoshi answered, his voice weary.
    "Hi," she answered back, dumbly.
    "What can I do for you, Mayako?" he asked, his voice a bit more
cheery.
    Unable to answer, she tried hard to say his sister's name, but
nothing came out. When she heard a chuckle from the other end, he
said, "I'll put her on."
    Sighing in relief, she began to wonder if her cheeks were burning
red. They certainly felt like it.
    "Hi, Mayako," Kimiko's light voice sounded in stark opposition to
her brother's deep, manly voice.
    "Hi, Kimiko," Mayako said, feeling her confidence levels begin to
level rise back into place. "How are you feeling?"
    There was a slight pause on the other end, but Kimiko answered.
"I'm okay, just tired."
    "Oh, I'm sorry, did I wake you?" Mayako asked, furrowing her
brows.
    "No, no," Kimiko replied, shuffling something on the other end of
the line. "I was just resting."
    "Good," Mayako said, sitting on the counter. Then once again,
Mayako realized she had no clue what she was going to ask. She had
called intending to ask many things, such as asking Kimiko of her
intentions towards Kenichi, but that would be inappropriate. Plus, the
phone was an impersonal way to talk about matters of the heart. She
needed to talk to the girl in person.
    Then inspiration struck her.
    "I just called to see if you'd like to go shopping with me
tomorrow afternoon," Mayako stated, watching her mother exit the room.
Kimiko stayed silent for a moment, though she heard something in the
background click. "I mean, if you have other things to do, that's
okay."
    "No," Kimiko answered. "I'm free tomorrow. Where would you like to
meet?"
    "Why don't you come here?" Mayako proposed, twirling her bangs
with her finger. "At say, ten or eleven? I'll show you around. We can
have lunch in the city, and check out a lot of cool stores. Not the
massive malls like you have in the U.S., but real specialty shops.
Sound okay?"
    "Sure," Mayako heard the reply. "Is Kenichi coming?"
    "No, just to two of us," Mayako replied quickly. She thought for a
second, and then decided to play a hand. "Unless you want him to
come?"
    "Oh, no, I mean, I don't mind if he comes," Kimiko verbally
stumbled. "What about Mai or Reiko?"
    "Mai works tomorrow; it's Tuesday, and you do not want to shop
with Reiko. She will get you to spend all your money on her, and you
won't even realize it until you open your purse and realize it's
empty."
    Kimiko's laughter loudly echoed on the phone.
    "So I'll see you here at ten?"
    "I'll be there."
    Mayako hung up with a satisfied smile on her face.

                          *       *       *

    "What do you mean he's unavailable?" Nabiki demanded, her eyes
fixing on the file cabinet in front of the phone in her office. "I've
been trying to contact him the past few days, and he's always
unavailable." The business suit she had dressed in the day before
seemed wrinkled in every place possible. She had lost one of her
heeled shoes the night before, and promptly through the other one out
a window on the top floor. The past few days had not been kind to her.
    "All right, I hold this last time, but if I..." she started,
pinching her forehead. Then the horrible elevator music switched on
and filled her office with the distasteful sound. "Son of a bitch!"
    Information she had acquired the day after the Nishiyama's
supposed accident confirmed a sneaky suspicion she had for a while.
Kiyoshi Nishiyama had his share of enemies from his days as a
corporation enforcer, and his past seemed to be catching him to him.
Nabiki looked out the window from her rotating chair, and then
childishly spun her seat, contemplating the intelligence she had
received from a lead in another company.
    "Tendou-san?" her secretary spoke over the intercom. "I'm sorry to
bother you, but there is a Ju-san here to see you. I told him he
needed to make an appointment but he insisted."
    "Let him in," Nabiki said, turning down the volume of her speaker
phone. Opening a drawer, she lifted a small mirror to examine her
appearance. Bags, check. Smeared make-up, check. Dust covered clothes,
check. Messy hair, check. Everything seemed in place to make a great
impression on her subordinate, she mused sarcastically. Planting her
feet on the ground, she put the mirror away and sat up straight in her
chair.
    Ju entered the room quietly, turning to close the doors behind
him. He wore black pants and a black shirt with a maroon tie, but no
coat. He carried a plain, black briefcase in with him. She expected
the slowness of his step as was so customary for him. Nabiki employed
him so long because of his methodical nature, not for the speed of his
results, which were just as satisfactory to her.
    "Tendou-san," he said, bowing ninety-degrees in a casual show of
respect. Nabiki nodded and he found a seat.
    Nabiki put her finger to her lips and pressed the intercom button.
"Suu-chan, please wait on the phone line for me. They put me on hold
again."
    "Of course," her secretary responded.
    Nabiki closed her eyes as the speakers died down and the detested
music stopped filling the room. She opened them again to look at Ju.
He sat patiently, waiting for his turn to speak. "Now, I really hope
there's a good reason that you're visiting me in person, Ju. I don't
know how much patience I have in me today. As you can see, I've been
busy the past twenty-four hours."
    "As there always is, Tendou-san," he replied, opening the locks on
his briefcase. "It seems a friend of ours came through yet again,
actually providing us with a little evidence of the plan in question."
    "You can speak the details," Nabiki informed him. "This office is
secure."
    "Very well," Ju said quietly. "Frankly, I'm dissatisfied with the
quality of the documents I procured, but they are better than
nothing." He then pulled a manila envelope out and slid it across
Nabiki's desk.
    She stared at it a moment and then lifted it off the table and
opened it. As the contents fell into her hands, a click resounded in
the room from her office speakers.
    "I have Nishiyama-san on hold, Tendou-san."
    Then, she told him everything.

                          *       *       *

    An engine growled somewhere down the street from the plain house.
The young man stood at his porch, one arm extended and level with his
face, and the other clutched at his hip putting him in a defensive
stance. He tried to ignore it, to lose himself in the kata he had been
performing for to hours on his small porch, but he had not been able
to keep his mental balance. While his body betrayed none of this, he
felt himself lost, somewhere else. The engine's roar merely
represented everything in his life he could not change, like the sun's
ascent in the sky as it began the morning so brightly.
    His mother had approached him an hour before, but he had ignored
her at the time, trying to find himself in the Art. Something had been
on her mind, he realized now, something she had wished to discuss. His
mother rarely even talked to him in the past few years, for which he
assumed she was disappointed in him. It had always been like that
between them though, for he always seemed to live in the shadow of a
shadow, an heir to a non-existent legacy of perfection in body, mind,
soul and the Art.
    Rintaro Saotome hated his family, not because they mistreated him,
not because his father had the tendency to hurt him, and definitely
not because he could never please them. Everything he hated about them
reflected exactly opposite in the Tendous, their love, closeness and
charity towards one another. He did not hate his family because they
were not the Tendous; he hated them because he was not a Tendou.
    Reasoning like that did not make much sense, even to himself. He
felt as if somehow he was a mistake, and that he belonged somewhere
else.
    "Rintaro?"
    This time, he stopped at the sound of his mother's empty voice,
and turned to face her, a neutral expression on his face. She stood in
the doorway.
    "Yes, mother?" he asked, correcting his posture to stand straight
and stare her in the eyes, his back arched slightly, his head cocking
slightly to the right.
    "You are distracted, my son," she said, something in her voice
resonating as she said the word 'my.'
    Even his mother could recognize the tear in his heart now. He had
to be slipping. In silence, he stood. He would wait for her to come to
the point so that he could train somewhere else, away from the engine,
away from the oppression of his family.
    "Please tell me what troubles you," she said simply, expressing
about as much emotion as he showed her, making the request almost as
silly as he felt it to be. But if she really wanted to know, he had
little reason to hide it.
    "You are aware of my loss to the daughter of Nishiyama-san," he
stated, remaining as still as a cat watching its prey.
    "Defeat is merely a stepping stone, not a finale," Nodoka sagely
replied.
    "Is it really?" he patronized, reflexively tightening the knot of
his belt.
    She placed her hands on her hips, a warning to behave himself.
"But of course you know that, coming as far as you have in your
training. So I will ask you what bothers you again."
    Withholding another smart remark, Rintaro looked away from his
mother. "Why do you care what it is?"
    A bit of hurt surfaced in his mother's brown eyes as she looked at
him. He could almost read her pain from her eyes. "How could you not
know my feelings for you?" They seemed to ask.
    "Why do you push us away, Rintaro?" she did ask, looking away from
her son.
    "I'm not the one who did the pushing," he replied coolly, turning
away from her, towards the gate at the edge of the porch. "A few years
ago, I might have welcomed you into my life and my affairs, but you
were deaf then, as you are blind now."



    Nodoka Saotome helplessly watched as her son continued his
training, rougher than before, full of anger. He was the son she swore
she would never allow out of her household, to raise him properly and
carefully. This child had been her life, until she realized the
imbalance of this, far too late.
    Her oldest son was a nightmare to even himself, and her husband
was a bitter old man, forever lost with their first child, having
never found anything but scorn from his wife for years of neglect.
Rintaro was as gifted as Ranma, but he lacked the heart. In the year
she had come to know her first child, she recognized the generosity of
his spirit, and accepted him immediately, with all of his flaws
attached. This was the same spirit that Rintaro did not have.
    Entering the house, Nodoka untied her hair, letting it fall to her
waist. Although it had started graying years ago, it still contained
the tinge of red from her childhood. She stared at the lock of hair in
her hands, and then let it fall back to her waist.
    On Monday, Genma had been so excited that he actually took her out
to dinner. It had been nothing fancy, but mere thought that anything
could bring them together without any of hardship during their years
of separation being brought up once during their date left warmth in
her heart. He had told her then that he suspected that the child
Kiyoshi Nishiyama brought with him could possibly be the daughter of
their most beloved first son.
    Looking at Rintaro through the kitchen window that had a view the
patio, Nodoka wished some of Genma's renewal of spirit could affect
the heart of her treasured son.
    Attending to the breakfast she had preparing, Nodoka barely
noticed her youngest son, Shintaro, enter the room.
    "That smells good, mommy," he said softly, smiling sweetly.
    "Thank you, sweetness," she replied, happy that one member of the
family still had heart enough to share. It was truly too bad he did
not have Rintaro's ambition, because then he would have been perfect.
    Rintaro stopped his kata and approached the kitchen window.
    "I'm leaving," Rintaro called from outside.
    "What about breakfast?" she futilely yelled back, but he already
turned without a reply and was making his way out of the residence.



    After arguing with his mother, Rintaro had left through the gate,
but instead of leaving, he immediately turned around the side of his
house and climbed the wall. He quickly sneaked through the open window
of his shared bedroom with his brother, who had just entered the
kitchen. He located a pair of worn tennis shoes and slipped into them.
    Once he had left the premises, he quickened his pace, eager to be
away from his house. It was still fairly early morning and he had yet
to eat, so he decided to go to Ucchan's. His Aunt Shampoo would be
there this early in the morning, and Rintaro did not mind her as much
as he did her children. Mai was much to hyper a lot of the time, and
way to sad the rest, while Ryosei's lecherous tendencies and pure
spite for Rintaro were enough to draw the line at hanging out with
him.
    A few customers entered the restaurant before Rintaro, a few
teenage girls that he thought he recognized from Furinken High School.
Except for the three that had entered before him, the place was
practically empty. Rintaro slowly pulled the glass door and entered.
    Mai sat on a stool, talking with the girls that had entered.
Wearing the usual Ucchan's getup, a white blouse, blue skirt and an
apron, she swung her feet like a child as she chatted merrily,
completely missing Rintaro's entrance. Preferring to keep it that way
until Shampoo made an appearance, he sneaked into a booth at the back
of the store.
    Slipping out of view, Rintaro stayed perfectly still, resting his
head on the back of his headrest. Closing his eyes, he ignored the
girl's mundane chatter. He sat their for a few moments, wondering what
he could do that day. Although he still ached from his fight, he
wished he could somehow sit Kimiko Nishiyama down and get a million
yen worth of her thoughts. He had spent the last couple of days since
then focusing all of his attention on his memory of the event. Bits
and pieces blurred together after he had lost consciousness, but for
the most part, it remained intact.
    At first she had performed quite inept, sluggishly responding and
nervously retaliating. What Kimiko had done after that simply took the
words out of his mouth. She opposed his every move as if they had
trained under the same master, with two major differences. Rintaro was
in much better physical condition, and yet she was ten times his match
in speed and skill. Her tactics changed as often as he altered his,
turning the friendly match into a duel. He had been so eager to test
her that he completely forgot he could lose.
    One after another, they had traded blows. The fight raged in his
head again, his victories, and then hers. Then something struck him.
He knew something had been funny when she countered his "Dead Man's
Takedown," but it had completely slipped his mind until now. How had
she known its counter? How?
    Then other irregularities began appearing. Something very odd
about her entire networked style mirrored his incredibly. Combination
after combination became increasingly familiar to him as he thought
about it. It had been obvious before that she had been versed in the
Anything Goes style, but the he only just began to grasp how well.
Although very modified, her style was Anything Goes in its core.
    "Mind if I join you, Rintaro-kun?" Shampoo asked, unnoticed by him
until she was already sliding into the seat across from him. She
looked exactly the same as she always did, except somehow even more
beautiful, moving with as much grace as she did in her cursed form.
    "Not at all," he said as she rested directly in front of him. Her
genuine smile unsettled him a bit and he looked over at her daughter,
who happily served her friends at the grill.
    "I told Mai to make you some breakfast okonomiyaki," Shampoo said
softly, resting her chin on her clasped knuckles. He looked into her
brown yet almost maroon colored eyes, not giving up an inch in his
stare.
    "How are you, Auntie?" he asked, not dropping his eyes from hers.
She blinked slowly, and then smiled.
    "I am very well," she said warmly, patting his left hand with both
of hers. She left them on top of his as she stared into his eyes,
squinting every so slightly. "You know I will always listen if you
want to talk."
    Rintaro looked down at her hands, still soft and smooth, her
trimmed nails cut short, but colored to match her hair. The warmth of
her hands felt relaxing on his cold one, and so he gently pulled it
from under hers and jammed beside him. He could feel her eyes
examining him so closely, finding everything without even needing to
hear his voice.
    "I know," he replied, staring at his lap. "I think that's why I'm
here."
    As he looked up, she nodded, her eyes unchanged and yet somehow
more comforting and less judgmental than before. She related a silent
message to him: I understand.
    "Ah, here comes your breakfast," she whispered as Mai walked from
around the counter. The girl held the tray with the food and a mug of
steaming tea balanced in one hand as she approached.
    "One breakfast special and tea," Mai announced, her voice flatter
than usual as she looked at Rintaro, somehow accusing him of
something. "Good morning to you, Rintaro-san."
    "Good morning, Mai-chan," he said as nicely as he could muster
without sounding fake. "Thank you."
    She looked vaguely surprised as she walked back to her position.
    "I don't know who I am anymore," Rintaro said after Mai left
earshot, his voice very low.
    Lying back against the parlor's cushions, Shampoo listened
earnestly, not speaking a word. He had only talked to her like this
once before, about a personal matter he no longer remembered much
about.
    "I've been doing a lot of thinking," he said, trying to figure out
what he was going to say. It all seemed so much easier, thinking that
he would simply unload his feelings then go back to kicking ass. When
it came down to it, was that what he wanted?
    Right about this point, his mother would have said something like,
"Thinking is good as long as you are not over-thinking. Considering a
matter too much with too little action is for cowards, those who avoid
conflict by never deciding. But considering too little is for fools
and vagabonds. Find your balance." Then he would have been too angry
to talk anymore by her over-simplifying everything.
    "When I was younger, I didn't think about it," he continued. "Then
for a while, I tried hard to create myself from scratch, to be who I
wanted to be." He paused, scratching his forehead. "Am I making any
sense?"
    "Yes," Shampoo answered with a slight nod. "Go on."
    "Well, last Sunday, before we all got together, I was so angry. I
kept mulling everything over in my head, and I wanted to make everyone
else miserable, because that's how I felt, too." Rintaro bowed his
head, closing his eyes as he the words came to his mouth. "Everything
bad inside me was building up and up and up, and I felt like I was
going to snap. Then when I got there, I met that redheaded girl."
    When Rintaro looked up, the expression in Shampoo's face was
different, a slight color in her cheeks. Stumped, he did not
understand that reaction to his words, and so he continued on.
    "For the few minutes that the fight lasted, I felt alive, free and
I didn't think about anything except the fight."
    The confusing look on her face changed as she smiled slightly,
recognition that she felt the same.
    "I woke up in Mayako's bedroom," he whispered, looking over at
young Mai as she chatted with her friends. "And everything was
different. My head was clear for the first time in so long. Everyone
looked different, and I felt strangely good. I mean, I technically
lost a fight, but I didn't care." The slight smile turned into a
comfortable one as Shampoo listened to his words, giving her attention
to no one but him.
    "That whole day, my training was perfect. I was sore, but it was
as if everything was in place. I harnessed my chi as if it was solid
and I could hold in my hands. And then, the next day, I was myself
again. I saw everything in the same light, the age-old decay that's
everywhere that disappeared for a day. I kept thinking all those same
thoughts, all that anger.
    "I don't want to do it all over again, Auntie," he said with a
sigh, pressing his head into his hands. "I'm tired of hating everyone.
I'm tired of being alone here."
    Shampoo sat in silence for a moment, her eyes still on him as they
had been since he started talking. He wanted to reach out and take her
hand, to feel its warmth again, to know she was really there, but he
held himself back.
    "You have never been alone," she began, a faint touch of her
Chinese accent sweet on her breath. "That day you saw clearly, you saw
us there. When you went home and woke up the next day, you closed your
eyes again. But you are here now, and Auntie is here now, too. You
have made one step, and if only you can take the next. I cannot make
it for you."
    Trying as hard as he could, he tried to understand, tried to take
that second step, but nothing came to him. He looked up, pleading with
his eyes. Where would this take him? He sought clarity when he entered
the restaurant, and he wanted to take that step so badly.
    "Your Auntie thinks you are trying too hard," she said in reply to
his silence. "Why not take very small steps?"
    "I don't understand," he whispered, looking down at the meal in
front of him. His tea still steamed and the aroma of the okonomiyaki,
he realized, had been making his mouth water for a few minutes now.
    "Yes you do," she said, beginning to slide out from the parlor
table.
    Small steps, he thought. Taking the chopsticks at his plate, he
took a bite of his food. Even he had to take bigger steps than that,
he knew as he savored the flavor.
    "Auntie," he said as she stood up straight. She stopped as he slid
out from the table as well. "Thank you." He bowed as low as he could.
    His heartbeat quickened when he felt her fingers touch his cheek.
Lifting him from his bow, she very lightly pressed her lips to his
forehead, and then released him. Straightening his back, he looked at
her in wonder.
    "Thank you," she replied, putting her small hand on his shoulder.
"You eat now, and if you have more to talk about, I am always here. I,
too, must take my next step and serve my customers."
    As she walked around the counter, he realized a smile had
comfortably planted itself on his face. He let it remain as he ate his
breakfast, allowing the steady chatter of Shampoo's customers drowned
out his thoughts.

                          *       *       *

    A warm summer breeze, so late after the cold spring, lightly
kissed his exposed skin, as Kenichi lay asleep. A smile touched his
lips as he groped with his hands for the covers of his bed, but found
them nowhere. Someone spoke, her voice so light that he did not
realize that it addressed him until he heard his name.
    "Kenichi, wake up," his mother's voice chimed over him as he
struggled to awake completely. "Your alarm has been ringing for five
minutes. Wake up."
    His eyes slowly opened and he saw his mother's shining smile.
    "Morning, honey," she greeted, and then he watched her walk to his
window and open the shades, flooding the room with the bright morning
sun.
    "Ack," he groaned, sitting up against his own wishes. Morning fog
clouded his brain and he could not even remember the day. "What's
today?"
    "Wednesday," Akane said as she opened his closet. "Go take a bath.
Your sister and her friend are finishing breakfast as we speak, so you
might want to hurry while it's still warm."
    Kenichi yawned. He had to work today. Nothing could put a funk
into any morning easier than knowing you have to work.
    A thought entered his mind. "A friend?" He looked at his mother
with an odd expression.
    "Yes, Kimiko Nishiyama is going shopping with Mayako today, and
she came a bit earlier than expected." His mother smiled, shifting
through the shirts in his closet. "She's such a nice girl."
    "Uh-huh," Kenichi replied, sliding his feet over the side of the
bed and planted them on the floor. "How soon are they leaving?"
    "I'm not sure," she answered, taking out one of his work shirts.
"I'll set all of your clothes out. Why don't you go take a bath now?"
    "Okay," he said, rushing out his door and downstairs towards the
bathroom.
    He paused at the door to the dining room, peeked in, and took in
the sight of his heart's desire. The two girls sat with their backs
toward him. His sister, still eating breakfast, laughed about
something as Kimiko sat with Eiji on her lap. He still wore his Sailor
Moon 4200 pajamas, kicking his legs out over and over.
    "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Kimiko asked of Eiji as
his little arms grabbed for a cup.
    "I want to be like big brother!" Eiji exclaimed before he drank
from the cup.
    "You want to be a dope, too?" Mayako said with a laugh.
    "He'll beat you up for saying that, big sister!" he said between
sips cheerfully.
    "If he ever wakes up," Mayako commented smugly.
    Kenichi held his tongue as he began to walk towards the bathroom,
a small smile on his face.
    "I'm glad you look up to your big brother, Eiji-chan," Kimiko said
just before Kenichi walked out of earshot. Stopping in his tracks, he
walked back to the door, just out of view.
    "Oh really?" Mayako said with a giggle.
    "Sure," Kimiko said warmly. "Kenichi's a fine role model for this
little goblin."
    "I'm not a goblin!" Eiji shouted, his little voice piercing
Kenichi's straining ears. "I'm a martial artist and I challenge you!"
    "Better put down your water first, silly head," Mayako said.
    "I accept, sir goblin," Kimiko replied.
    With a wide smile, Kenichi walked to the bathroom, changing the
sign outside the bathroom door from "Available" to "Occupied." He
undressed and threw his undershirt and boxers into the dirty clothes
hamper. With a yawn, he stretched his stiff muscles.
    Quickly he entered the bathing room and slid the door closed,
noticing the floor covered in watery footprints.
    "What a slob," he muttered, knowing his sister to be behind the
mess. With a towel from the dirty clothes hamper, he quickly mopped up
the water before starting a bath. His mother quickly entered as he
returned the towel to the dirty hamper, dropping off his clothes and
his work shoes, nicely polished. Warm water coursed into the large
basin, and he let it fill halfway, in order to save on water.
    As he tested the water with his fingers he heard the door to the
bathroom open.
    "Kenichi?" A male voice asked.
    "What? Who's there?"
    Whoever had entered the room ignored his question, closing the
door and by the sounds of it, had begun undressing.
    "Grandfather?" he asked, though he could have sworn his
grandfather would be still asleep. The old man liked to rest at least
until nine in the morning. His clock had read eight twenty when he had
exited his room.
    "Wrong," the man said again. "Think of someone ten times more
intelligent than you, ten times stronger and ten times better
looking."
    With that tone of voice, it could be none other than Rintaro
Saotome.
    "So intelligent that you couldn't find the bath at your own home,
Saotome?" he asked. The door slid open in response, revealing a
Rintaro. He frowned in disdain as he entered, closing the door behind
him.
    "I assume your sister bathed before you," he stated, as he
approached the bath. "You really should beat her until she cleans up
after herself."
    Kenichi turned and began to add more water into the tub. "What'd I
miss?" He turned back to Rintaro who entered the shower quickly,
turning on the water.
    "Besides the smell of her?" Rintaro quipped with a smirk Kenichi
imagined to be on his face. "There were some clearly feminine items
carelessly left in the linen room."
    Kenichi soaked in silence as the sound of the shower drowned any
other noise Rintaro made. Sometimes a friend, sometimes a foe, Rintaro
always presented himself as a cynically arrogant person with little to
no manners. He could not imagine entering someone else's bath without
even bothering to ask.
    When the shower turned off, Kenichi asked, "What brings you here,
anyway?"
    "Your mother insisted I bathe before I go with your sister and
your girlfriend to the city," he answered as he toweled off.
    "How'd you get lured into that?" Kenichi wondered aloud.
    Rintaro answered with silence. Kenichi turned to see him gazing at
himself in the mirror.
    "My mom," Kenichi answered for him. The only person that Rintaro
would ever be swayed by was his mother. She always acted extra nice to
him, but Kenichi could never figure out why.
    "Smart boy," Rintaro said dryly as he slid the door open, exited
and then closed it behind him. "Mind if I borrow some of your
clothes?"
    "No, go ahead," Kenichi replied, deciding he better hurry if he
wanted to see Kimiko before she left. After grabbing a towel, he
started to dry himself off when he began to hear Rintaro dress. "Hey,
there's spare set of clothes there?"
    "No," Rintaro said cynically.
    Sliding the door to the linen room open, he saw Rintaro begin open
the door to the hall, dressed in his work clothes.
    "Hey!" Kenichi exclaimed, losing his towel somewhere between
jumping to catch Rintaro and missing him. Losing his balance on the
slippery wooden floor of the hall, Kenichi caught himself on the wall
opposing the door. "Come back here, Rintaro!"
    Almost running into his sister, Rintaro slipped past her,
chuckling.
    "He took my clothes," Kenichi said, his cheeks steaming with
anger.
    "I can tell," Mayako said with a giggle, quickly glancing down to
motion towards his lack of towel.
    As one can imagine, the source of her laughter caused more steam
to redden his cheeks. He fled to the bathroom quickly, grabbing his
towel. As he did so, he noticed that Rintaro had left his work shoes.
At least he had that much tact.
    "So, hot water causes some shrink, too?"
    With a towel firmly wrapped around him and clenched tightly with
his right hand, and his shoes in the left, Kenichi gathered as much
dignity as he could, pushing past her and sneaking down the hall, but
he was stopped by the sight of two people there.
    To his horror, Kimiko stood in the hall, talking to Rintaro. She
turned and smiled, her lips hiding more than a bit of mirth. She
looked different today, as if more relaxed. Unlike the very sexy red
dress she had on when he first saw her, or the other times when she
wore sweats, she somehow seemed more happier in a mini-skirt and a
midriff exposing, sleeveless blouse, showing much of her tanned,
beautiful skin. He could not resist following her skin with his eyes,
from her tennis shoes to the thighs, and then to her trim stomach,
jumping to her face (the area between would have almost certainly
caused a nosebleed).
    He almost did not give Rintaro a second glance as the older boy
stood wearing Kenichi's tan collared shirt and black slacks, although
the guy did seem to stand taller in it.
    "Yes, I am that good." Rintaro spoke with a wry grin as he watched
Kenichi. "I took the clothes right off him, then dressed before he
even had a chance to notice."
    "Uh-huh," Kimiko replied dryly.
    Flashing Rintaro an obviously fake smile, Kenichi walked past them
without comment, though he did meet Kimiko's eyes a moment before she
looked away with a slight flush to her cheeks. He wondered what it
meant as he passed them in the hall.
    "That's easy," Mayako said to Rintaro from behind Kenichi. "I bet
you Kimiko here could do that, then get Kenichi to thank her for it."
    Kenichi listened to their laughter as he exited, though he did not
hear much more than a hiccup of a laugh from Kimiko. He wished he
could go back and drink the sight of her again.
    After finding another outfit in his room, Kenichi heard voices
outside, and decided at least to watch them leave. He slipped into the
shirt and pants, and then ran back down stairs with his shoes and
socks in his hands. He turned the corner on the stairs at full speed,
not expecting anyone to be there.
    The moment he ran into Kimiko going down the stairs, he did not
even know what hit him.



    With a cry of surprise, Kimiko tried to step aside from Kenichi's
path, but she reacted too late and he crashed into her at full speed.
His shoulder caught her as she angled sidewise, knocking her around to
face him. She fell after him as they stared at one another, and sudden
panic filled his face. The weight of her body violently slammed into
Kenichi as they struck the middle of the stairs. Instinctively, she
tried to absorb some of the blow by twisting Kenichi around and
beneath her, but he stopped her. With his arms encircling her, he
protected her as they bounced slightly, and then slid down the
remaining stairs to the bottom, where they stopped.
    Stunned as she lay out flat against Kenichi, Kimiko stared dazedly
at the floor just above his shoulder. He did not stir as she tried to
regain her focus.
    "Are you okay?" she managed to ask, pushing herself up and off
him. His eyes were closed as she sat beside him. "Kenichi?"
    "That hurt," he stated after a moment, rolling his eyelids open.
He blinked several times as his pupils dilated.
    "Oh man," she whispered, looking over him a moment at the door,
expecting someone to come in and pronounce "Ranma, you idiot!" right
before punting her into orbit. In a position like that, anyone could
walk in and assume the worst.
    "I'm okay," Kenichi said softly, rubbing eyes as she realized he
had caught her staring.
    "Oh, heh, good," she replied, helping him sit up with a hand to
his shoulder. "Wouldn't want you breaking a leg or anything."
    Kenichi turned his head to look at her, keeping his expression
even.
    "Can you stand up?" She asked.
    "I think so," Kenichi whispered as he slowly began to stand,
borrowing from her strength as he straightened his back. "Yeah, I'm
fine."
    "You really can take a beating," she told him, mechanically
straightening his shirt as they stood together. "I admire your
training."
    "Thanks," he replied quietly, watching her hands adjust smooth out
his shirt. "I'm really sorry about that." He bent down and picked up
her purse, which had been knocked aside when they fell.
    Stopping herself as she looked up at him, Kimiko smiled,
embarrassed by the whole situation, accepting her purse. "Thanks, and
don't worry about it. No harm, no foul, right?"
    "I guess," he said, hanging his head, downcast. "I was just in a
hurry to catch you before you left."
    When he looked up at her again, something about his expression
suddenly looked very familiar, as if she had seen it before. With his
eyebrows furrowed and he looked at her with real concern, and he
frowned slightly.
    "Now are you sure that you're all right?" he asked, his eyes
hanging about her waste a bit longer.
    Looking down, she found her skirt had ridden up her thighs quite
high. A flush of embarrassment warmed her cheeks as she quickly fixed
her mini-skirt and checked the rest of her clothes.
    "Sorry," he whispered, his eyes suddenly fixed upon the floor.
    "Little jostled, but I'm peachy." She looked over his clothes. He
was dressed similar to when she first met him in the airport, a shirt
and black slacks, and it was a look she liked, as most of the guys she
ever hung out with wore training uniforms. Putting that thought
elsewhere, Kimiko changed the subject quickly. "So, did you want to
talk to me about something?"
    "I was just going to say bye," he said, looking away from her,
suddenly bashful.
    "No need," Kimiko told him, taking his arm. "I just came back to
see if you wanted to hurry and come with us. Your sister said that
we'd be going by your work place anyway, so you can ride the train
with us. Plus, we have to take your bike, and your sister didn't think
it was a good idea to put Rintaro on a bike behind you."
    Kenichi chuckled, collecting his shoes and socks before they
entered the courtyard. As he quickly put them on, Kimiko found his
bike on the wall and walked it over to him. She watched him as he tied
his shoelaces on his right shoe. As he began to tie the other, he
looked up at her with a smile.
    The door creaked open and Akane came out in a yellow sun dress and
a matching hat, followed by three children including Eiji, and her
father. As Akane walked up to say goodbye, Eiji rushed past her and
attached himself to Kimiko's leg.
    "Oh, I'm sorry, Kimiko," Akane told her as she looked down at her
son with her eyes mildly scolding.
    "I don't mind him," Kimiko said, kneeling down to lift him up and
propped him on her hip. "He just wanted to say bye to me, too. Right
Eiji-chan?"
    The little boy nodded emphatically and pleaded, "Take me with
you."
    She and Akane shared a laugh as Kenichi took a hold of the bike.
The comfortable mirth in Akane's demeanor warmed Kimiko to the heart.
She smiled at the older woman who reciprocated it.
    "Well, you better be off," Akane said, taking Eiji from Kimiko and
setting him on the floor. She turned to address her older son. "Take
care, Kenichi-kun. We're going on a walk."
    "I will, Mom," he said as Akane began to compel the children
towards the gate. Soun waved at them before exiting with his daughter
and the children.
    Kimiko and Kenichi were left alone on the brick walkway. When
Kenichi began to walk towards the gate, she followed. When he walked
through and had closed the gate, Kenichi swung a leg over it and then
turned and patted the back of the seat. She approached it warily,
realizing that her short skirt would make the journey unpleasant.
After nimbly propping herself upon the seat, she pulled her skirt as
low as possible. Only for balance, she gently clasped her thighs
around Kenichi, causing a stir from him.
    "Ready?" He asked of her as she put her hands on his back.
    "Yeah."
    Riding down the street against the wind, they traveled in the
direction of Ucchan's and the train station.

                          *       *       *

    A few day's old, the yellow police line left around a blood-
splashed area of grass had been left to rot in the warm sunlight,
forgotten by the people who had left it there. A tall man in an
overcoat stared at it, even as nervous couples gathered around the
lake stared at him. It was the first warm day of summer after all. He
stood next to a short, elderly gentleman whose age could have been
sixty or eighty, who wore light colored shorts and a short-sleeve
shirt. Even in the hot weather, not a drop of sweat touched the man's
brow. He was not the one wearing an overcoat.
    "Apparently, the police stopped looking into the incident the day
it happened," the caretaker of the park told the man.
    "Could you possibly recount what you remember from that night?"
The tall man asked of the old man.
    "Of course," the gardener told the stranger. "You say you are
hunting for the man who did this to the poor girl?"
    "If he is the one I have been following," he responded, his eyes
taking in the older man's eagerness to tell. "Why don't we sit on the
bench over there?"
    "Good idea," the gardener said.
    They two walked over to the unoccupied bench that overlooked the
lake and sat down.
    "Well, I was opening the gates on Monday morning when a young girl
appeared at them. She seemed nice and I walked with her a bit before
she began her jog. It was still dark, but it's very difficult to get
in at night, and the police run through the park before I close so
that all the transient people are ejected. After Monday, I do not
disagree with that policy.
    "So I let her in and walked with her partway to the lake. After
opening the gate, I always walk through my flowers. They smell so good
in the morning, fresh with the night's dew."
    Growing impatient, the stranger reached down, lifted a rock from
the dirt ground around the bench, and threw it across the lake, half-
listening as the old man continued.
    "It wasn't until later that I heard anything out of the ordinary.
I began to walk towards the lake to watch the sun come up when I heard
people being very loud. I really hate when people are loud in my park.
It's so peaceful in the morning, so you can easily tell where
disturbances are coming from. When I got to the lake, I saw two people
in it. A man stood over a small girl, drowning her."
    "Drowning her, you say?" he asked, taking more interest in the
conversation. "The police did not tell me that. But he did not drown
her?"
    "No, no," the old man assured. "After I had called the police, I
came back to see if I could do anything. By that time another man was
crouched over her. It turned out to be her brother. He saved her, and
when the paramedics came, they had to patch the both of them up. I
heard that brother of hers had to fight her attacker off before he was
able to resuscitate her."
    "Interesting," the stranger remarked, cupping his chin with a
hand. "It does not sound like the man I am looking for. Did you see
him at all?"
    "I only saw him that once in the lake," the gardener said, shaking
his head. "He had short black hair and wore a dark shirt, but it was
hard to tell anything else, since he was waist-deep in water."
    "How about the girl? What did she look like?"
    The old man looked up at him curiously, but he answered in spite
of his suspicion. "She was short, ponytail, red hair. She looked
Japanese or Chinese. Didn't you talk to her yourself?"
    The tall man did not answer right away, pondering the gardener's
answer. After a cough, the man replied, "No, I am not investigating
this crime in particular. I'm following a predator that might be the
assailant here."
    The gardener bowed his head in apology. "Oh, forgive my curiosity.
Is there anything else I can help you with?"
    With a nod the stranger stood. He supposed he would not find
anything that would prove this to be the work of the man he hunted. A
thought occurred to him as he considered leaving.
    "You wouldn't have happened to see any evidence that the other
officers collected, or found anything out of the ordinary after the
incident?"
    Considering this, the old man turned and looked over the lake, his
old, sharp eyes shining in the light of the mid-morning sun. "Why,
yes. I believe I did find something unusual. I showed the police, but
by that time, they said the case was closed."
    "Hmm," the man thought aloud. "So they caught this villain?"
    "I would not know," the gardener replied. "But if you want the
piece of material I found on the grass yesterday, I can give it to you
if you come by my office."
    "That would be very helpful."
    After a walk along a path through trees and flowers, the old man
showed him into his office, which consisted of a one-room cabin with
enough room for a bed, small kitchen unit and a desk. He picked
through a drawer and produced a small piece of fabric, which he
offered to the stranger.
    "Oh yes, you have been very helpful, sir," the tall man said,
staring at the piece of the headband that he knew belonged to his
target. "Most helpful indeed."
    "Oh?" the gardener asked.
    "My prey has returned home."
    Pausing, the ex-florist took in the man's eagerness. "What station
did you say you worked for?"
    With no response but a smile, the man simply exited the cabin and
never looked back.

                          *       *       *

    The gates to the Tendou residence inched open, revealing the dark
man, his clothes stained by dirt, blood and time. He ruffled his black
hair, matted with dirt and sweat and then took his first step onto the
brick walkway in several weeks. It seemed to remember him, he thought,
as the echo of his footsteps announced his return.
    Ryouga felt truly glad to be home.
    He crossed the walkway, his eyes intent on the front door. He
approached it, about ready to open it, but stopped. Pausing for a
moment, he looked over his shoulder at the bright sky. It had been far
too long since his return home, even thought it was quicker than
usual.
    After his bout with Ranma, or whoever the girl had been if she was
even real, he needed something solid. Ever since the other man had
defeated him, Ryouga found himself more able to pay attention to his
surroundings and find his way home quicker than usual, as if the
strange chi attack had knocked the beast loose from his mind.
    Trying the door, Ryouga found it locked. His spare key was
hopelessly lost somewhere between here and Kyoto, so he settled for
wandering around the back of the house, finding the backdoor after
another few minutes of concentration. He had to keep his focus so that
he could see his family before he inevitably had to leave.
    He found the sliding door locked as well. With a sigh, he walked
to the dojo and sat on the floor. Feeling safe at his own home, the
exhaustion that he had ignored so long began to creep up from his feet
until it reached his eyes. Fighting it off, he stood, leaving his pack
and walking towards the locker room. Ryouga found his son's locker
after a few tries and appropriated a clean training gi that he decided
to borrow until he could enter the house and get his own clothes.
    Stripping out of the dirty ones he had on, Ryouga entered the
showers and cleansed away a week of traveling and fighting from his
exhausted body. He closed his eyelids tight as he felt a wave of
nausea almost take him. Slipping against the tile, Ryouga held onto
the shower head as his head spun, when a strange image appeared before
his eyes: a muddy cliff broken by a circular blast, with him at
standing at its center.
    The image floated through his head as he regained his composure
and continued his shower. Dimmed by time and repression, he mentally
waded through the rough in the way of recollection. Only a shower of
sensations came back to him as he pondered the image: depression,
fear, pain and relief. Everything but the relief was easy to place, as
the very image looked like a bomb had been placed in the spot in which
he stood. A blast of depression, a Shishi Houkoudan, could have easily
made such a mark, a spiritual attack he had long ago stopped using. It
all seemed to lead...
    "Ryouga," he heard a voice whisper.
    Spinning, Ryouga found an empty locker shower room staring at him.
His heart raced as he watched the walkway to the lockers.
    "Who's there?" he demanded of the emptiness.
    Shutting of the water, he slipped a towel around his waist and
quickly ran through the lockers, searching for anyone. After
eliminating his anxiety, Ryouga returned to his shower, at a loss to
what he had been thinking about only moments before.

                          *       *       *

    They sat in the crowded train in silence, he on the isle seat next
to her. The conversation of the couple in the seats in front of them
more than made up for their lack of words. People throughout the train
spoke just as loudly and rapidly as Mayako and Rintaro did, but they
continually flung one insult after another at each other, like
starting with their hands gripped at the bottom of a baseball bat,
groping upwards until one had their hand on its very top.
    The latest line of banter led to an action Mayako claimed Rintaro
did to her while they rode the bike to the train station.
    "I did not pinch your butt!"
    "So you say."
    "Not like I'd want to pinch your butt anyway."
    "Oh, so there's something wrong with it then? Is that what you're
trying to say?"
    "Yeah, it belongs to you."
    Kenichi put his head in hands, rubbing his temples in preparation
for his sister to turn to him and demand that he should defend her
bottom. He knew it was coming: her unavoidable deflection. Whenever
she lost verbal combat, she would try to throw the football to someone
else and let that person be tackled.
    It had only been a few days since Mayako and Rintaro had patched
up their makeshift friendship and they were already fighting over
nothing. This fact further made Kenichi glad that Kimiko behaved
nothing like his sister, who for all her good points, acted like a
spoiled child half the time. Looking over at the redhead, he observed
her as she looked out the window, her hands against the metal window
seal, her head leaning against the seat and her back towards him.
    "Kenichi, tell me," Mayako said, her face peeking through the
seats at her brother. "My butt is pinchable, isn't it?" With her voice
carried that sisterly advice that read: Agree Or Die. Unfortunately,
Kenichi also knew that Rintaro would only turn on him with an incest
remark or something equally embarrassing. Sometimes, he wondered if it
would be better to jump out of the speeding train than to try to come
out unscathed in a conversation with anyone.
    To his surprise, Kimiko came to his rescue.
    "Well, he doesn't really count, does he?" she asked as she turned
her body forward, her eyes suddenly meeting his wide ones. In those
beautiful baby blues he could not miss the mischievous glint of light.
"But I think it's very pinchable." That followed with a yelp from
Mayako, who jumped forward in her seat. Although he had missed the
quick movement, Kenichi watched Kimiko return her hand from between
the seats in front of them.
    With a laugh, Kenichi awaited more.
    "So what," Rintaro asked. "So she likes girls and boys. What's so
funny?"
    "No, Saotome-san," Kimiko told him, her voice like velvet. "Since
we've both already kicked it, I felt it wasn't fair if we both didn't
pinch it, too."
    At that, both Kenichi and Rintaro burst into laughter. When he
heard a growl from Mayako's side of the train, Kenichi nearly spit he
laughed so hard, . After he gained control of himself, he wiped his
eyes and face with his shirtsleeve.
    "Well said, Nishiyama-san," Rintaro saluted, his voice cracking
with chuckles.
    After a few minutes, a few stops and a few repeated chuckles, they
arrived at Kenichi's stop.
    "I guess this is good-bye for now," Kenichi told Kimiko, setting
his hand on hers with a pat. She blinked as she looked at him, and
then smiled. Leaning toward him, she put her right arm over his
shoulders and patted his back affectionately.
    "We'll meet you for lunch, okay?" she said, still smiling.
    His face and body warmed at her touch as Kenichi nodded. "I'm
looking forward to it."
    Standing, he felt Kimiko's hand slide down his back. With a
parting glance, he caught her hand waving a quick good-bye.
    "See ya, lover-boy," Mayako teased, batting her eyelashes at him.
Rintaro merely acknowledged his exit with a nod.
    Kenichi stepped off the train and exited the station with a light
heart.

                          *       *       *

    A few rows back, five teenagers tried their best to look
inconspicuous, one sitting by himself reading a newspaper, two talking
quietly amongst themselves and two sitting quietly. Masami darkly sat
at the back of the train next to Kojiro, trying focus on anything but
the two girls and one young man that he and his friends followed. A
knot had been growing in his stomach for the past half-hour that he
had been shadowing the group.
    Earlier that week, the redhead sitting next to Kenichi Tendou
pulled a Bruce Lee, taking out three of them: Seiko, Michio and
himself. She had aided Ryosei in his duel with Shoji, and had bested
all of them. Briefly glancing at Kojiro as the bleach-blonde stared at
the window, Masami pondered the wisdom of challenging the girl again.
    "I swear, Masami," Seiko began, looking at him from her seat in
front of him, "if you don't stop brooding, I'm going to kick your ass
right now." The scar diagonally across Seiko's right eye seemed to
curve as she glared at him. "I'm serious. We have to be ready to beat
those bitches to a bloody pulp. You know how hard this is going to be
without you acting like a baby."
    "Shut the hell up, Seiko," Masami heard Jotaro, the eldest of
them, hiss from his seat on the isle next to Seiko. "You know he's
always like that."
    Masami kept silent, as Seiko always snapped at people when she was
anxious. He caught an apologetic look in her eyes as she bowed her
head to Jotaro.
    "There's no reason to be worried," Kojiro said, ruffling his spiky
blond hair with his fingers. "Saotome will not help them. He owes you
one, Jotaro. If he's good for anything, it's his word, right?"
    "We still have to be cautious," Jotaro replied softly. "Even
though Rintaro may not help the girls, this will still be a close
fight. We have to stick to the plan. No exceptions."
    Masami reviewed the plan in his head as they had decided several
days ago in at his brother Michio's hospital bed. Once the teens left
Kenichi at his workplace, Seiko, Jotaro and Kojiro would call confront
the three. He and Shoji would remain further back in order to surprise
the Kimiko, a little bit after Seiko would challenge Mayako. That
would be when Jotaro and Kojiro would jump Kimiko together, as the two
had been planning their moves the last few days. After they engaged
Kimiko, he and Shoji would wait to see if Seiko needed help, and then
aid her. If not, they were to stay out of the fight all together, as
surprise attacks might set off Rintaro.
    Hopefully, their plan would through a wrench into any team tactics
the two could have in their heads. And again, it all depended upon
Rintaro's non-involvement. If he joined the fight for any reason, they
would have no chance to win, unless Kimiko and Mayako were already out
of the picture.
    Masami quietly sighed to himself, reaching up to finger his glossy
black bike hanging above his head.
    "Don't worry, bro," Kojiro whispered in Masami's ear. "All you
gotta do is kick back with loud-mouth and make sure he doesn't jump
the gun."
    At that moment, the train stopped, and Masami's heart leaped as he
prayed that the trio did not exit the train. He wished that they would
never leave it, so he would not have to fight the redhead or Mayako.
When Kenichi alone stood up, he sighed, happy that at least Kenichi
would be out of reach should they have looked to him for help.
    The train picked up speed and the city blurred out the window,
though Kojiro's bleach-blond hair blocked Masami's view afterward.
Picking himself up, he quietly walked past Jotaro and Seiko's seats
and sat next to Shoji, who had been curiously silent, the entire trip.
Clenching a newspaper tightly in his hands, the boy who had sworn
undying vengeance against his foes read the comics with an enthralled
look in his eyes.
    Turning after a moment, Shoji glanced at Masami, setting the paper
on the floor of the train.
    "Almost time, huh?" he asked in a whisper. "Good."
    Masami looked at him meaningfully.
    "I know," Shoji replied to Masami's unspoken meaning. "I'm not to
fight the bitch at all unless Jotaro calls for us." A glare later,
"Okay, and I only help Seiko if you jump in first. You don't need to
get so pushy."
    "That's not it at all," Masami whispered. "How can you read the
comics still? Those are kid's manga." All Masami received for that was
a glare and Shoji picking up his newspaper, continuing his reading
while ignoring anything further from the boy.
    The train stopped at its next destination, and this time, Mayako
stood up quickly, beginning to take down her bike.
    "That's our queue," Jotaro hissed from behind them. "Once the
redhead they start walking out, grab your bikes and follow quickly. We
don't want to lose them. You know your job, Masami."
    Yes, Masami did know his job. He was to follow closely. Going down
the isle to his former seat, he quickly took down his bike and exited
the train through a door the trio was not using. Catching a glimpse of
the three making their way out of the station, he followed them as
inconspicuously as possible, faking as if to check this station's
message board. His heart beat quickly as he reluctantly followed the
orders of his leader.

                          *       *       *

    Riding on the seat of Mayako's bike, Kimiko closed her eyes as the
reckless teenager steering the light, aluminum-framed, red bike cut
through the scattered bicyclists as fast as her two legs would push
her. The girl's black hair obscured what little vision Kimiko would
have had opening her eyes anyway. Clutching Mayako as not to fall off,
Kimiko almost yelped as her friend hopped up the curb from the bike
path, onto the sidewalk and straight into a crowd of people.
    To ride a bike like this would not have scared her. What did was
the fact that she was not in control of it! She almost felt like
pulling her hair at their ends in frustration every time Mayako nearly
struck a pedestrian. With a glance over her shoulder, Kimiko stole a
glance at Rintaro, who followed close behind on Kiyoshi's black bike,
not giving Mayako much more than a few feet of a lead.
    "Do we have to go so fast?" Kimiko asked as Mayako blindly turned
a corner, nearly crashing into a couple, who had to jump in opposite
directions to not be smacked.
    "I have to prove I'm a better on a bike than Rintaro!" she shouted
back over her shoulder.
    For some reason, Kimiko thought of Sally in the light of Mayako's
reckless driving, although driving ninety in an empty residential zone
was a bit different than riding a bike through a crowded street.
Neither of them, however, made Kimiko easier about the girls.
    "Stop the bike, Mayako," Kimiko sternly told the girl.
    "Ahh," Mayako whined as she slowed the bike and hopped the curb
back onto the bike trail. "We're almost there anyway, Kimiko."
    Rintaro pulled up beside them and matched their pace. The redhead
watched him and noticed the line of sweat at his brow a moment before
he wiped it with the sleeve of his borrowed shirt. She still remarked
at how amazingly similar he looked to her now lost male half, although
the small clef in his chin gave him necessary separation from it. For
some reason, she realized that she had not paid his appearance very
much attention.
    Damp with perspiration, Rintaro's short cut, black hair flowed in
the wind as he peddled next to the two girls. The clothes he had
acquired from Kenichi fit him awkwardly. The black pants were a bit
too long, and probably a notch too wide as they seemed to hang at the
boy's hips with slack to spare. His untucked, green shirt rippled like
a flag in the wind.
    As Kimiko examined him, he turned his face toward her for a
moment, catching her eye for an instant. His blank expression and cold
blue eyes made her shy away from him. Tortured was the only adjective
she could think of to fit the soul behind those eyes.
    "Let's take a shortcut," Rintaro suggested as they two bikes
pulled up beside an alleyway that cut through the shops. He then
pedaled into the alley.
    Kimiko noticed that Mayako tensed up for a moment, before
following Rintaro. Kimiko held on tightly as the girl sped down the
dimly lit alley. They met a ninety-degree turn left passing the
backdoors of all the shops of their destination, which a chain link
fence guarded down its length on their right. Rintaro followed it
closely, lightly brushing his fingers against the fence as he coasted
to the end of the alley, and then cut right sharply in another ninety-
degree turn.
    A few moments later, Rintaro slowed as they entered the shopping
market Kimiko sorely missed after spending pocket-burning cash at the
identical malls of California. Colorful banners with Kanji characters
hung from all the light poles, swaying in a light breeze that cooled
the market's customers.
    "How about food?" Rintaro suggested as they dismounted their bikes
and began walking down the walkway through the mark.
    "Sounds good to me," Mayako replied.
    They spent the rest of the afternoon eating at all the street
vendors.



    Jotaro Saito watched with held breath as Masami greeted him on the
corner of the alley with his bike in toe. Looming over the smaller
young man, Jotaro grimaced at his friend, scanning the crowd for their
victims. Masami looked a little out of breath as he stopped in front
of Jotaro.
    "Well?" Jotaro demanded, propping his hands on his hips.
    "Don't worry, man," the dark young man replied softly. "They
stopped at an ice cream parlor. They parked their bikes just up that
way." Masami paused for a moment, looking up at his superior, waiting
for something.
    Jotaro grumbled in reply, glaring at the kid for stalling. "Get to
it, Masami. We don't have all day."
    "Yeah, all right," Masami whispered, pushing his bike down the
alley and around the bend where Kojiro would be waiting with Seiko and
Shoji. A few moments later, Seiko and Kojiro walked toward him. Seiko
grinned off her usual bad mood, winking at him when she approached.
Kojiro rubbed his spiky blond hair when the two stopped in front of
him.
    "All right, are you two ready?" Jotaro asked of the two a moment
later. "You better be, because once things are set in motion, there's
no stopping them. It's do or die."
    Seiko was quick to respond, her eyes burning. "Damn right! I'm
ready to kill that bitch!"
    "Whatever," Kojiro said with a yawn. "I just wanna get this over
with. Nothing like a brawl to make you miss lunch."
    When the three entered the lunch crowd, an avenue through the
people opened immediately. Whether Jotaro's size or Seiko's look of
pure murder threw them off, it did not matter as it served Jotaro's
purpose.
    "You sure he won't help her?" Kojiro asked, rubbing a hand through
his hair again.
    "Yes," Jotaro replied, glaring at the blond. "Trust me. I'm sure
he won't help."
    "How can you be so sure, Jo? There's bad blood between us. Even if
he doesn't like that redhead ho, don't you think he'll smack us out of
spite? That's what I'd do."
    "That's why you're little league compared to him," Seiko mocked,
elbowing Kojiro.
    "Shut up, the both of you," Jotaro fumed, ready to smack the both
of them. Slowing his step, he picked it up and walked in the middle of
them. "He won't help, and that's that. What, you want me to whip out
the storybook and read to you exactly why? Just take my word for it.
In fact, I have it on good authority that not only will he not help,
but he might even just help."
    Kojiro shrugged, speeding his step as they neared the bike rack
where they found the twins' bikes locked up tightly. They peered
across the walkway at the dessert parlor, seeing all three of their
victims with their backs to the window.
    "Do it," he told Seiko as the three of them crowded the bike rack.
A pocketknife appeared in the black-haired girl's hands as she made
quick work of the two bikes' tires.


    "If I eat another bite, I'm going to explode," Mayako complained
at the second half of her ice cream sundae. Her stomach ached under
the pressure of a large lunch and the ice cream. She looked down at
the last few bites.
    "Oink, oink," Rintaro squeaked at her, pushing his nose up like a
pig. She laughed in spite of herself, especially after seeing the
chocolate moustache he sported as well as the pig nose. He had not
been this playful in a while.
    "I'll finish that for you," Kimiko interjected, managing to dump
the contents of Mayako's bowl into her empty one.
    "Hey," Rintaro protested, peering past Mayako who sat in the
middle of them. "You're supposed to eat dainty portions so I get all
the leftovers." Mayako smirked at him as she watched his expression
turn from annoyance to surprise.
    Turning to Kimiko, Mayako watched with wide eyes as the girl
devoured the remains of the sundae. She suddenly had the image in her
head of a vacuum cleaner.
    "Wow, Kim-chan," Mayako whispered. "You eat like my brother."
    At that, Rintaro barked a laugh, spitting the last portion of his
ice cream back in his bowl. "Close, but no one can match Kenichi."
    Kimiko shrugged in reaction as she polished off the sundae,
spooning the sides of the bowl for every last drop.
    After they paid and exited the restaurant, Mayako grabbed Kimiko's
bare arm, dragging her towards the shop next door.
    "Hey, where are we going?" she protested, stumbling in her heels.
    "Right here!" Mayako exclaimed, followed by a smile at the store
next to the ice cream parlor. She pointed through the window of a
clothes store with a front display of headless mannequins in various
stylish fashions for both men and women.
    Releasing the redhead's wrist, Mayako flashed a smile at the
suddenly troubled looking Rintaro who exited the parlor a bit slower
than she and Kimiko had. As she crossed the threshold of the store
with the unintelligible English words scrawled all over its windows,
she pondered Rintaro's odd mood swings. From his normal cynical self,
he took the time to flirt with her all morning, and then play like he
had not renounced their friendship to the whole school. The few dark
moments she caught him sulking, he seemed to be drowning in a shadow
in the corner of the room.
    She wanted to believe his candid attempt at refreshing their
friendship, and possibly taking it a step further, but in her heart,
Mayako knew her heart to be too fragile for such an enthusiastic
approach. She did not consider Rintaro a safe bet, but more like a one
in ten gamble in a horse race.
    Putting her concerns aside momentarily, Mayako lifted her chin and
strutted down the red carpet of the large American chain clothes
retailer, ready to spend her allowance as she always did, frivolously.
After all, how many times as an adult would she be able to spend
working two jobs in order to still run the dojo and pay the bills? She
could save now and pay it all into something just as stupid later, but
she could enjoy new clothes now.
    She turned and met Kimiko's wide blue eyes with a wink.
    "Why don't you buy yourself something that'll cover that trim
belly of yours? You're making all the mortal girls jealous."
    Kimiko blushed and managed to disappear down an isle on the men's
side of the store. Mayako shrugged and picked the isle closest to the
window where they put all the newest stuff imported from America.
Rintaro followed, obviously an illiterate to the world of fashion in
his borrowed clothing from her equally trend challenged brother.
    It did not take her long to find a couple of outfits to try on.
Rintaro merely watched her with faked interest and glanced out the
window every once and a while. Anytime she asked his opinion on a
particular skirt or blouse, he shrugged indifference or nodded with
feigned satisfaction. Engaging him in clothes shopping, apparently,
was not possible. He even declined an offer for her to buy him an
outfit.
    "I'm going to try these on," she told him. "Have you seen Kimiko?
I'm going to try these on."
    "No," he said, quickly glancing around. "She's too short to see
her head over the isles." He then grinned smugly. "Need her to help
you try them on? If so, I volunteer my services."
    "Let me guess," she started, putting her hand on her hip. "You'd
also offer your gracious service helping me try on new bras and
panties? Oh, you're so wonderful Saotome-san." Flashing her teeth, she
turned on her heels and began her search of the isles for Kimiko.
    "I'm going to wait outside," he said to her back dryly.
    "Big loss there," she whispered as she found Kimiko empty-handed
at the back of the women's side, thumbing through some of the bargain
clothing.
    "Ah, come on," she said, rolling her eyes at Kimiko. "I can pick
you out something better than these rags." Kimiko looked as clueless
as Rintaro as she smiled haphazardly, placing a hand behind her head.
    "Uh, thanks, I think," the redhead replied, biting her lip.
    After a few minutes of browsing, she found pulled a peach Chinese
styled blouse from the rack in the middle isle, where all the most
expensive stuff, supposedly marked down 10% or more, usually appeared.
Kimiko could afford it, Mayako knew. From the look of her hotel room,
Kenichi had to be worth a few million at the very least. Mayako could
only imagine her credit line.
    "What about this?" she said holding the garment up to Kimiko's
chest. It felt like silk in her hands, so she flipped the tag to see
the price, coughed, and started to put it back. Her little trick
worked.
    "Hey, I liked that," Kimiko protested. "Price doesn't really
matter."
    "Yeah, but buying it at that price would be a sin," Mayako said,
goading her new friend into it. "Just look at it!" She showed Kimiko
the price tag. The girl's eyes bulged.
    "You're probably right," Kimiko said after a moment.
    Mayako sensed her reverse psychology failing and put it into
overdrive. "Yeah, your brother would have a fit if he saw you buying
stuff like that." Kimiko's eyes narrowed at the remark, so she
continued. "Probably put you over his knee and spank you in front of
company. I don't blame you being scared of him and all."
    "What?" she nearly cried back. "Hah, even if he did get mad, I'd
just blow him off. The punk has enough money to pay off all of the
American government and still buy a new tux." She then began rifling
through the expensive rack with fresh interest.
    Her manipulation worked much better than planned. Kimiko even
offered to pay for her clothes, too! She could blow the rest at the
arcade tomorrow!
    They went into the women's dressing room and found one stall
unused.
    "Why don't you go first?" Kimiko happily offered, opening the
stall for her.
    "Don't be silly," Mayako whispered, pulling the redhead in with
her. "That'd just be a waste of time." The raven-haired girl pushed
the door closed. She saw a bit of unease on the other girl's face.
"I'm not going to bite."
    "That's not it," Kimiko said bashfully, looking meaningfully at
the pile of clothes in her hands. "Oh, never mind."
    "Never figured you for the shy type," she said, starting to strip
out of her outfit. "I mean, you didn't bat an eye in the locker room."
    "I'm not shy," she said defensively, turning her back and quickly
slipping out of the very little bit of cloth that made up her outfit.
    "No kidding," she told the redhead, looking down at her skirt and
blouse. "Don't you feel naked dressed like that? I know I would. I can
wear a skirt, but nothing that short, and definitely have to have my
stomach covered." The thought of running around in anything as small
as Kimiko's outfit made her arms grow goose bumps.
    "I don't have much choice, anyway," she replied, pulling the peach
blouse over her head. It fit good and looked great with her red hair
splashed down across it. "My nanny didn't pack anything but outfits
like that except my gi and a few pairs of sweats."
    Boggling at the idea of having a nanny, Mayako wondered what kind
of life the redhead led in the States. She did not seem to be like
rich kids at her school, but at the same time she was probably richer
than all of them combined.
    "I didn't used to have it this good, you know," Kimiko said,
turning to Mayako a little rosy-cheeked at first seeing Mayako in her
underwear, as if she had not showered in the locker room with her,
though she did remember the girl paying a lot of attention to the
wall.
    "Go on," Mayako urged her slipping into a skirt. "Oh, I like this
one."
    "Until I was adopted by Nishiyama-san, I didn't have much more
than a few yen to my name. I guess I'm still not used to it all. The
simplicity of the road makes a lot more sense. All you worry about is
where your next meal is, not this where will I buy my next outfit
bull-" She cut herself off and looked up shamefully. "I didn't mean-"
    "Don't apologize for your feelings," Mayako said, suddenly liking
Kimiko a bit more. The girl added more depth to her personality at
every turn. "I really don't come here that often, unless you count
once a month a lot?"
    Kimiko chuckled in response.
    "Hey, a girl's got to look good to lift her spirits sometimes, all
right?"
    "I had a friend in America who would have cheered along with you,"
Kimiko said lightly with a wide smile. "Do what'cha like, she'd say to
me. Screw the consequences, because it's not tomorrow yet. I don't get
it, but it made people at my school cheer."
    "It is a good saying to live by," Mayako said, trying on her last
outfit. "I think I'd get along with this friend of yours."
    Kimiko tried on a cute button up blouse that she had picked out.
It looked a bit dressy for Mayako, but she had to admit it did look
good on the redhead.
    "Looks good," Mayako told her. "Let's buy it all." With a chuckle,
Kimiko agreed.
    "Hey, is it ok to wear these out?" Kimiko asked, gesturing to the
pantsuit. "Short skirts and bikes don't match."
    "Yeah, just rip off the tags and show them to the cashier.
    Mayako led her friend to the counter and placed it all up there,
grateful that Kimiko could afford the clothes. She could not even have
afforded the peach colored blouse.
    With her back to Kimiko, she let herself distantly browse the
isles for anything, when she stopped her eyes in the men's side.
Kenichi had not bought himself clothes in a few months, and needed a
new shirt for work, with Rintaro's 'borrowing' and unlikely to return
of one of his few work outfits. One shirt caught her eye.
    A mannequin wore it with a pair of matching pants. The stripped
blue shirt and dark blue pants fit Kenichi's conservative style and
was marked down fifty percent. Who could beat that...plus she did
promise her mom to bring back something for Kenichi. She would pay
Kimiko back for it.
    "Hey Kim, mind if I throw something on the tab for Kenichi? I'll
pay for it after. It's just that he needs a new outfit badly, and who
knows if he'll ever go to the store on his own."
    "Ok, grab it."
    She found the pair on a hanger below the display and returned to
Kimiko's side, placing it on the counter. The cashier took the
garment's tags and ran them through her register, taking the credit
card from Kimiko's outstretched hand for the final price.
    "Think he'd like that one?" Mayako asked.
    "Hmm, sorry?" Kimiko said with her eyes a little glazed. "Like
what?"
    "The outfit I just put down on the counter. You know, the one for
Kenichi."
    Kimiko looked around, but the cashier had already put it in the
bag.
    "Oh well, you can see it on him before you leave to China."
    The girls began to walk down the red carpet towards the exit when
Mayako failing to see Rintaro outside. Their bikes still sat at the
bike racks across the street. Shrugging, she took Kimiko's empty hand
and as they approached the glass door. As she put her hand on the door
handle to open it, Kimiko pulled her slightly back.
    "Huh?" Mayako asked, cocking her head sideways to look at the
redhead. Her eyes danced back and forth between two spots, one most
likely the bikes, the other most certainly not. She turned and saw
Rintaro approaching the bike rack quickly, sitting on it as he waited
for them.
    "He just came out of that alley," Kimiko said, pointing to the one
they used as a shortcut to the plaza. "And look. The bikes are wrong
somehow."
    "What?" Mayako said in disbelief, looking closely at them. Rintaro
pointed at his bare wrist as if he had a watch on. "Are you sure?
What's wrong with them?"
    "I think someone slashed the tires," Kimiko whispered. "And
Rintaro knows about it."
    "Miss Junior Sleuth, how can you see all this?" Mayako chuckled,
trying to pull the girl forward, but met resistance. "You're serious?"
    "Dead serious," the redhead replied. Mayako turned and saw her
eyes, sharp blues sapphires. "I don't like the look of his aura.
Something's really wrong."
    "So the tires are slash, and he didn't tell us, huh? What the hell
could he get out of that? I doubt he slashed our ride."
    "Mayako," Kimiko leaned in and whispered. "I think he means to
jump us."
    "Hah!" the dark-haired girl exclaimed, elbowing her friend. "Jump
me and you together? He'd never stand a...he came from that alley? The
one he took us through?"
    Rintaro waved at them. The distance was not far enough for Mayako
to miss the tension in his face. He did look uneasy. He must know
about the tires. How could he miss it? If so, he would have told them
right away, unless he had something to do with it.
    "Oh hell," she whispered back. "Let's see if there's a back way.
Can't be too cautious with freaks like Rintaro."
    With Kimiko's hand held tight, Mayako rushed them to the cashier's
counter.
    "Is there something wrong with your purchase?" the cashier asked.
"Is everything all right?"
    "Do you have a back exit, or anything?"
    "No, sorry," the cashier replied. "Only the store manager can open
the lock, and he's not in the store right now."
    "Can I please use your phone then? This is an emergency."
    "This phone does not call out of the district," the cashier
informed her as she pulled a phone out from underneath the counter.
    She quickly dialed the number to Kenichi's work, the only number
in range, if the cashier correctly informed her. She turned to the
door to see Rintaro crossing the avenue to the store, and so she
quickly handed the phone to Kimiko.
    "Tell Kenichi to come to this store as fast as he can," she told
the redhead as she took off to intercept Rintaro. "If he asks why,
just tell him Sailor Moon sucks. He'll understand."
    "Is that a stupid code phrase, or something?"
    "Yeah, because he knows if it's from me, I'm lying."
    Her heart rate sped up drastically as she rushed out of the store
and met the young man before he could enter the store.
    "What's taking you so long?"
    "Why do you care?" she rebuked him. "Kimiko had to...use the
bathroom. She'll be right out."
    Rintaro hummed aloud, as she turned him around for them to walk
toward the sabotaged bikes.
    "She probably has to puke out lunch now," he said a bit more
bitterly than the supposedly cynical comment called for. "No one holds
a figure like that eating as she does."
    Keeping her reply to herself, which would have been something
like, "Oh, so you already puked out your portion?" but she was too
nervous. If Kimiko's eyes spoke truth, Rintaro was definitely messing
with her. He almost positively would have mentioned the vandalism by
now.
    "Hey," she said halfheartedly, pointing towards the bikes.
"Somebody slashed our tires! What the hell?" All her tease play-acting
started to pay off.
    "Yeah," Rintaro said solemnly. "I would have told you earlier, but
you looked like you were having fun. Didn't want to spoil that." She
caught his glance as it quickly brushed the alley. She might have
accepted his reply if she thought him a considerate person.
    A spike of trepidation ran through her spine as she noticed
something in the alley.
    "Oh God," she whispered as three recognizable faces appeared from
it.


    "Hello?" Kenichi's voice asked on the other side of the city.
    "It's Kimiko," the redhead informed him, watching Mayako and
Rintaro walk to the bike racks together.
    "Hi," he responded, his voice uneven. "What's up?"
    Mayako and Rintaro disappeared from her line of sight as Kimiko
nervously held the phone to her ear. She fought the urge to check up
on Mayako. Although she felt something really bad coming on, she
wondered if Kenichi could even get there in time to help them if
anything did occur.
    "Kimiko? What's wrong?"
    "Listen, Kenichi," she told him, trying to remain as calm as she
could. "Mayako and I need your help now." A shiver shot up her spine.
She had to get out there now.
    "It's busy here at work," he replied, his voice edgy. "Tell me
what's wrong."
    "No time, listen. Get to the Rave Underground ASAP. I don't care
what you have to do. Just get here." She held onto the phone only to
make sure he understood, hoping he would just agree. Goose bumps
formed on her arms as she stared at the unoccupied space by the bikes.
    "Where?" Kenichi said confused. "Why? What's the matter?"
    "Argh, Mayako said you'd know it. It's the clothes store across
from the ice cream parlor that we stopped at."
    "Oh, I know that place. Never could read the name though."
    "Whatever," Kimiko impatiently replied. "Mayako said some stupid
thing like, 'Sailor Moon sucks.' Now get your ass over here now."
    "All right," he said after a moment. "This better not be a joke. I
could lose my job. I'm coming though."
    Hanging up the phone, Kimiko picked up the bags Mayako had left
and her own, quickly marching towards the exit. Everything in her body
shouted for her to sprint, but she ignored it. If traps had not been
sprung yet, she did not want her behavior to set them off.
    The walk to the glass doors felt long, though the store was not
very large. She pushed the doors open sharply, nearly knocking someone
over as they tried to enter. Without muttering an apology, she shifted
past the customer and onto the sidewalk. At the edge of the alley,
Rintaro stood beside two strangers, with Mayako nowhere in sight.
Their eyes focused on her immediately.
    "Oh shit," she whispered, stopping in mid-step. The two young men
that now approached her were serious. They walked toward her
determined, their eyes trying to pierce the armor of her self-
confidence. Rintaro remained at his spot at the entrance of the alley.
    "Well look who we have here," the one on the right said, the
taller of the two. He stood quite tall, probably six feet or so. Aside
from his stature, he was unremarkable. The broad soldiers suggested he
worked out, but he did not have the shape of a body builder. His walk,
his movements suggested some sort of martial arts training.
    The spiky-haired, bleach blond on the left did not respond, his
glassy black eyes reflecting focusing on her reluctantly. Like his
friend, he shaped his body through some form of training, but unlike
his friend, he looked nervous. Kimiko considered whether the twitch in
his cheek, the drop of sweat on his brow and his cautious step meant
that he planned to jump her. The dark-haired one stopped in the middle
of the avenue, his fists clenched.
    "I don't know what you have besides a lack of common sense,"
Kimiko retorted from her spot near the entrance of the store. "You
should know better than to jump me out here in the open."
    "Who said anything about us jumping you?" The dark-haired one
asked suspiciously. "I have a few questions for you."
    "No, I don't sell drugs, so scram," she replied mockingly. She
looked across at Rintaro who passively stood by the entrance of the
alley, turning his head only once to peer in it.
    "Funny," the man replied. "But in all seriousness, I have to ask
why you interfered in a fight that involved an acquaintance of mine."
    "Why'd you have to mess his brother up like you did?" The blond
one demanded, his hand starting to shake, not with fear, but with
outrage.
    Kimiko looked between the two of them, considering her options.
She assumed he meant the fight in the alley a few days ago, when she
stopped the thugs from picking on Mai and Ryosei Ono.
    "Oh, so you're with that brat Shoji and his friends," Kimiko
stated. She smiled at them smugly. "Are you some sort of Yakuza
wannabes? Should I pay restitution?"
    "Though you insult me, you venomous bitch," the dark-haired one
began, taking a step closer to make him only ten feet away. "Yes, I am
his friend, but it is my brother whom you injured that brings me here.
And yes, you will pay restitution. How that will be settled depends on
you, though."
    "Oh shut the hell up," Kimiko said setting down the shopping bags.
"Threatening may make you feel nice and big, but it's hardly going to
make me do anything but kick you and your surfer friend's ass back to
the lowly shit hole you were spawned in."
    "I suppose that means you consider my colleagues and myself lower
than scum? We do not belong in our country, when whorish American
spoiled brat bitches visit our 'lowly' communities? We cannot settle
our own disputes, without little gaijin sluts sticking their white
little noses in our business?"
    The primal fear or flight adrenalin flooded into Kimiko's veins as
she, too, recoiled from an unexpected insult. She knew now they
planned to goad her into a fight from the start. Although she had not
tangled with either of these rogues before, Kimiko knew their combined
skill could not compare to her and Rintaro's.
    Her heart felt as if it had dropped from her chest the moment she
realized the truth. The only way they would approach her in this
manner, would be if Rintaro Saotome, the brother that had no clue of
their relation, would not assist her in this fight. Her eyes went to
Rintaro. It was true.
    Fighting the urge to start the battle prematurely, Kimiko, as
calmly as she could manage, knelt down and began to pull off one of
her pumps.
    "What the hell are you doing?" The leader asked, his eyes flashing
his confusion and intent.
    Not responding, Kimiko removed the second shoe. Kimiko could feel
their burning eyes on her as she quietly removed her right shoe. She
then placed them next to the bag beside her feet. She then placed her
purse in one of the bags.
    "I am Kimiko Nishiyama of the School of Anything Goes Martial
Arts," Kimiko told them loudly, her voice echoing over the quiet
street.
    "I'm Jotaro," the leader said informally, his voice muted. "This
is Kojiro. I would say it is a pleasure to meet you, but you would
have been better suited to stay in America to become a prostitute."
    She assumed they would attack her immediately, but something held
them back. Was it the possibility of Rintaro's interference? No, she
saw it in their eyes. They were too nervous to fight out in the open;
hence, the two fights they had participated in were in alleys. Kimiko
Nishiyama feared the authorities about as much as she feared losing to
these two.



    With a careful look over her shoulder, Mayako stared at the spot
had stood before he left Seiko and her alone. She knew he betrayed
her, even though he swore he would defend her should any others
attempt to assist the girl in front of her. The figures of Jotaro and
Kojiro, two people she most particularly did not like, remained in her
head. Something had gone down between them. That was the only
explanation.
    "I hope you're ready," Seiko, the girl Mayako sincerely hated,
said as she stood near the end of the alley. "I've waited a long time
to duel you again."
    Mayako confidently watched as Seiko began to circle her the moment
their friends left the alley. She had not been surprised that Seiko
would want to fight, but the fact that she wanted to duel her alone
did. Everyone, including Seiko herself, should have been aware of the
fact that Mayako could wipe the floor with the scar-faced girl. After
all, it had been Mayako who gave Seiko her scar.
    Fingering the line across her face, Seiko scowled at her nemesis
with equal confidence. She held her hands up defensively, despite her
aggressive movements. Mayako merely stood still, watching her from the
corner of her eye, spinning only when the girl completely left her
view. She knew that the girl had skill, but did not have much beyond
that. Seiko was not very fast, was not very strong and became very
sloppy when angry. Mayako knew this because they were in Kendo
together in junior high, when Seiko had been the ascending star
athlete, and Mayako merely the newcomer.
    Mayako had not liked Kendo and she never would, as using a sword
stood for everything she disliked. She believed that one's body was
the ultimate weapon, and when used correctly could overpower even the
finest of weapon masters. When her mother forced her, she had been
resistant to any teachings, but still excelled beyond the average
student. Mayako Tendou had her father's stubbornness.
    Like they were now, Mayako and Seiko dueled over who would be the
captain of the Kendo team, because Mayako would be damned if she would
be pushed around by a punk like Seiko. The scar was a reminder of
Mayako's superiority with the sword, or perhaps her recklessness in
her desire to succeed without listening to her instructors. Either
way, Mayako was now sorry about cutting the girl, but no apology would
ever make that scar go away.
    "I know I can't beat you like this," Seiko told her, her voice not
even hinting at weakness. "That's why I brought this." A blade flashed
in her hands, not a training sword like they had dueled with the first
time, but a real katana. How sharp the blade could be, Mayako did not
know and did not plan to find out.
    "I hope you don't expect to equal the playing field with that
toy," Mayako replied, her confidence growing in her opponent's
weakness.
    "I've been preparing for this for a while, Tendou," Seiko said
coolly. "Once I'm done with you, everyone will know I won. It doesn't
matter if I'm at your feet in a heap."
    Mayako knew the girl meant to disfigure her the same way, if not
worse than she had done to Seiko. It did not matter.
    Seiko brandished the weapon skillfully; she had been practicing.
Mayako watched her, dancing with the cobra this time, changing her
entire approach to this fight. No longer could she just overpower her.
The blade danced, too, the sharp blade glittering in the sunlight
filtering in through the overhangs of the buildings they stood
between.
    The first strike came quickly, beginning with the twitch of
Seiko's face, her eyes focusing a little bit more upon Mayako and her
grip tightening against the leather-wrapped hilt of the katana. Mayako
read her movements, flowing between the girl and the blade, remaining
defensive until she could discern the girl's current skill. Three
years was enough for anyone with a little conviction to improve.
    Seiko's wrist twisted as she slashed out, divining the exact angle
the blade would take. Mayako could still read her every move like a
children's book, easily dodging the attack. Her following thrust was
also expected, as Mayako caught the blade with her bare hands. In her
moment of triumph, so easily conquering her opponent, she let her
guard slip the tiniest bit.
    A handful of white dust powdered Mayako's face as she held the
blade, surprising her enough that she jumped backward in order to wipe
it out of her eyes. The substance stung terribly, flooding her eyes
with tears.
    "Laundry detergent tastes wonderful, doesn't it?" Seiko mocked
before she came in low with a slash. Luckily, Mayako did not need to
see her to determine where it would be, and she flipped over Seiko's
head and as she landed, twisted quickly with a backwards spin kick.
    The kick caught Seiko by surprise, Mayako knew, for the girl
stumbled back to defend herself, only managing a half-turn before
Mayako's attack landed. Luckily for the scar-faced girl, Mayako did
not have nearly the momentum she needed to pack it with any punch. It
did buy Mayako enough time to wipe some of the soap from her face,
though her vision still blurred with tears and pain.
    Again the two squared off, their bodies locked in the deadly dance
of combat. Only this time, Mayako realized how dangerously close she
stood to the wall, reducing her ability to evade. Seiko rushed, giving
her almost no room to dodge her incoming slash. Her heart leapt as she
did, into the brick wall to her right. She rebounded off the wall,
pushing as hard as she could into her opponent with a horizontal kick
of her right leg.
    Seiko's slash, although it missed her targeted area, lacerated
Mayako's left leg. Mayako Tendou barely felt the sharp blade's tip rip
through a layer of her skin as her foot connected squarely into
Seiko's right temple. They collided so hard that the blade clattered
loudly against the street as they their bodies tangled.
    There was a moment of uncertainty as Mayako fell on top of her
opponent, quickly broken by the flicker of a shadow coming from above
her. In one second, her momentary victory turned into a panicked
revelation that she might not win this duel after all.



    Wasting no time after putting her good pair of shoes away, Kimiko
took one step and leaped at the blond, catching him completely off
guard. He backpedaled only once in surprise as she hurtled into his
chest, knocking him over. Rebounding off Kojiro, Kimiko head butted
Jotaro's chest. Although he had raised his arms to protect himself,
her fierce blow sent him reeling towards the opposing sidewalk.
    Regaining her balance, Kimiko landed on her feet, no worse for
ware.
    "You stupid bitch!" Jotaro hissed at her, still keeping his voice
low. "You'll get us all arrested!"
    Her body ached for the battle as she took a few steps back,
waiting for the two to recover. She slowed her breathing methodically,
fighting her own body as much as she engaged the two before her in
combat. Pain seemed to pour through every ounce of her blood, as if it
had passed into her veins. Her depleted body stripped every last shred
of energy for her to fight for what seemed to be the hundredth time in
the same week. First there had been the exertion of the fight with
Rintaro, and then her near death in the fight with Ryouga.
    Jotaro shot to his feet, brushing himself off as Kojiro gathered
himself to his feet slowly, clearly stunned by her attack.
    "That wasn't cool," Kojiro said after he righted himself
completely.
    "Boohoo," Kimiko mocked, thumbing her eye at him. "So go find a
corner and cry, why don't ya?"
    "I'm ready for her, Jotaro," Kojiro said, gritting his teeth at
her remarks.
    "As we planned." Straightening his back, Jotaro was easily the
tallest person there. Cracking his neck as he rotated his head, the
man leveled himself into an offensive stance that looked like a basic
black belt Taekwondo.
    The two wasted little time in retaliating, converging on her
quickly. With Jotaro on her left and Kojiro on her right, Kimiko kept
them both in view as they attacked. She hooked her right arm under and
around Kojiro's punch, pulling back just in time to evade Jotaro's
sidewinder.
    "Bakufuuken!" Kimiko cried, generating a burst of calm chi energy
in her fist, blasting Kojiro towards his friend. To Kimiko's surprise,
Jotaro rolled out of Kojiro's way. The bleach-blonde, on the other
hand, rolled face-first into the asphalt as Jotaro snapped up to his
feet.
    The simple maneuver left Kimiko more drained than she had
expected, giving Jotaro an opportunity to attack her. He performed an
exceptional spin kick, which Kimiko blocked with her arms. The force
of the kick sent Kimiko stumbling to the side. Jotaro took advantage
of that fact and threw himself at her.
    Cleanly knocked off her feet by his tackle, Kimiko nearly lost
consciousness as her head struck the concrete sidewalk. Jotaro began
to pummel her, but Kimiko recovered enough chi energy and pushed
herself up as hard as she could. Her opponent flailed in the air as
she tucked in her body and channeled her energy at him.
    "Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken!" Kimiko shouted, barraging Jotaro with
punches. Their positions reversed, Kimiko pushed off of Jotaro, who
lay beneath her, his breath and senses temporarily knocked out of his
body. Even as she stood, Kimiko realized the fight had hardly even
begun.
    "Get off him!" Kojiro shouted, surprising Kimiko with the speed of
his attack. Unable to react in time, Kimiko's vision blurred as the
blond struck her across the cheek. She reeled back, fighting to stay
balanced. Although she found his strength admirable, she knew he
lacked the skill necessary to follow through against her.
    Leaping over his head, Kimiko fell to her knees behind him and
spun, sweeping his legs from beneath him. Quickly standing, Kimiko
turned and found Jotaro regaining his lost senses. Backing away from
him and Kojiro, she put some distance between herself and the two of
them in order to regain some strength.
    "I guess I underestimated you," Jotaro told her, holding his hand
to his chest.
    "What you did was wake a sleeping lioness," she muttered in
response, falling into her stance. "Didn't your mommy ever tell you
not to bite off more than you can chew?"
    Kimiko took a step towards them, looking up as she calmly took a
breath. Be like the air. Tire your opponents. She could hear the voice
in her head. Be right in front of them, but unable to be touched.
    The two rushed her again, attacking with a combination of low
kicks and high punches, which she easily avoided with step backwards,
just close enough to feel the breeze as they over-extended their
attacks to reach her. Kojiro stumbled as his friend continued their
rush, but even then Jotaro continued to meet air in every attack as
she felt herself willed to avoid every attack, bending like grass in
the breeze, not breaking like the tree.
    She timed his heavy breathing as he stopped and pulled back
defensively, his breath rapid after the missed barrage. That was when
she counter-attacked. Striking his retracting arm after his last
punch, she threw herself in close, bringing her closed fist across his
face. She then slammed her elbow into the space just below his
shoulder, and finished the combo with a head-butt to his chest. Jotaro
fell hard to the asphalt.
    Enraged at his friend's defeat, Kojiro attacked Kimiko again only
a moment after Jotaro fell. He struck at her hard with a storm of
punches. She blocked them, but her arms stung after she pulled out of
his range. He pursued her like a bloodhound, his teeth caught in a
snarl. He swung wildly and Kimiko used that to her advantage, ducking
under his punch and sharply pulled up one of her own, a vicious
uppercut that met his chin with a bone-jarring crunch.
    Like his friend before him, Kojiro fell to the asphalt, out cold.
Only this time, Kimiko fell to a knee as a strong pain ripped through
her right hand. Nursing it under her left armpit, she pushed herself
to her feet and stumbled towards Rintaro and the alley. Her head and
right cheek ached as she noticed the few people who had gathered from
the local stores and the scattered shoppers who watched the fight.
    "I didn't think you'd handle them this badly," Rintaro remarked as
she came close enough. "I thought for sure you'd take them out with
your left hand tied behind your back." Even partially beaten, she did
not miss the biting sarcasm. He glanced up her body and shook his head
in feigned disappointment.
    "Yeah whatever, ass hole," Kimiko retorted, straightening her
posture as she stood in front of him. "Now where is Mayako? What did
you do to her?"
    "Nothing," he said with a casual shrug. "Someone had business with
her that seemed pretty urgent."
    "What does that mean?" Kimiko demanded, gritting her teeth. "Is
she back there in that alley we came through earlier?"
    "Yes." He tilted his head to look her in the eyes. "But that
doesn't concern you right now. Your business is front of you."
    Kimiko narrowed her eyes at her blood brother. "Oh? And what would
that be?"
    "I have a few questions that you're going to answer," Rintaro told
her coldly, looming over her as he approached. "You better be candid,
or I'm going to show you what happens to bad little girls. You don't
look like you could beat much more than my little brother right now,
so don't even put on that false bravado."
    "I still have a few surprises up my sleeve, little boy," she told
him soundly, yet knowing that he probably would beat her right now.
    He proceeded with question number one, which he asked her as soon
as they stood in the entrance of the alley, away from they prying eyes
of bystanders. "I heard that story about that brother of yours
teaching you the Anything Goes style, but who taught him? You even
knew all the little techniques my father taught me. I'd assumed most
he created himself. And you used the chestnut fist, too. That's an in-
house thing that not many know about."
    "Kiyoshi is self taught," Kimiko answered truthfully. "His style
isn't any one brand, but a variety of different ones. The Anything
Goes style just happens to be one he taught me mostly. He was in
contact with both your father and Soun Tendou, as well."
    "You avoided my question, still," Rintaro said in a low voice.
"What about the chestnut fist? I thought you were fast before, but now
I know why. Who taught you that?"
    "I had a little guidance, but I learned on my own. What's it to
you anyway?"
    "Let's just say it's not exactly a well-known technique in martial
arts circles worldwide. There are only a few people outside of a
certain place in China that know of its existence."
    "Well, one of the people who taught me knew it," she replied,
trying to get him to move on. She did not care to tell him the truth
to that question.
    "Okay, but I'm going to find out who taught you eventually."
Rintaro's piercing blue eyes seemed less like hers, and much more like
a predator's. "But still, I want to know exactly what interest my
father has in you. He seemed rather eager to meet you on Sunday, and I
want to know why."
    The question took Kimiko aback. She wondered if he could have
figured out her identity so easily, but have been unwilling to
confront her. Had that been the case, should he not have been furious
instead of eager? She regarded Rintaro with interest of her own as he
awaited her answer, even as her head and hand ached worse.
    "What did he say?" Kimiko asked, hoping to glean some information
from Rintaro without giving anything away.
    "You know something," he said staring at her strangely. "Yes, you
know exactly what I'm talking about, don't you? The way he talked
about you was as if you were the solution to all his problems."
    "I wouldn't know anything about that," she replied, taking a step
back.
    "Of course not," Rintaro growled menacingly. "Neither he nor my
mother had even seen you before, and yet they talked as if they knew
you." Pausing, he stared hard at her again. "He did mention your
father though."
    "My father?" she repeated, furrowing her brows. "Nobukazu-san?"
    "No," Rintaro said gravely. "Your biological father."
    Blinking, Kimiko knew she had no response that Rintaro was looking
for. "Why would he talk about my biological father?"
    "That is what I want to know as well, Red," he insisted, backing
her into a wall as she took a step away from him. Only a few inches
lay between them.
    Genma and Soun had not figured out her identity if what Rintaro
hinted at was true. She looked into his blue eyes, which nearly
mirrored her own. She could feel his slow breath upon her face,
because they stood so close. Her head spun a bit as he hovered in
front of her.
    "No fainting now," Rintaro said, holding her still by the
shoulders. The unexpected contact sent a chill down Kimiko's spine. He
easily held her upright, gently pinning her to the wall. "I'm not done
with you."
    "If your father mentioned mine like that," Kimiko began weakly,
"then I don't have an answer for you. I don't know why he even cares I
exist."
    Rintaro looked away from her, considering her words aloud. "Well
he does and so does my mother, and even Soun for that matter. The only
answer I can think of is if you were either related to my family or
Mayako's."
    Putting her hands on his shoulders, she felt her knees start to
buckle. "I think I need to sit for a second." She wondered how much of
the spinning was from the realization her family might learn her
identity, or already knew it. Kimiko did not think she could handle
the questions that would come about with such an incident, at least
until she found a way to turn into a guy again.
    As he softly lowered her to the asphalt ground, Rintaro regarded
her with more care than she expected him to show. "Listen, my father
and Tendou-san have been scheming for ages to join their families.
There was some tragedy that united everyone together a while ago that
no one talks about. One day my mother and Akane-san get this crazy
idea to unite the family by arranging the marriage of Mayako and
myself."
    "Mayako told me about that," Kimiko said with a yawn, suddenly
very exhausted. The thumping in her head started to make her feel
nauseous. "What's that got to do with me?"
    "Well, if you were a Saotome or a Tendou, then you could marry a
member of the other family and finally unite it with shared blood."
    Kimiko could not help but scoff at the irony of his statement.
"Wouldn't that be laughs? The stranger out of the red, white and blue
just happens to have the right blood to lift the problem off your
shoulders." She laugh dryly, resting the back of her head against the
brick wall behind her.
    In the silence, Rintaro probed her with his eyes. He lifted his
hand to her head and pushed his fingers through her hair, feeling
along her scalp until it reached the point that struck the concrete in
her fight with the two thugs.
    "You've got a concussion," he whispered, pulling his hand away to
look at the small drops of fresh blood on his hand. "Hey wait, now
that I think about it, you look do familiar."
    "We've never met before Sunday, Rintaro," Kimiko told him, wincing
as he brushed his fingers lightly against her cheek. His touches began
reminding her of Kiyoshi's medical probing. She hoped he meant nothing
more.
    "I know," he replied, releasing her face. Pausing, he took her
cheek gingerly. "Smile." The perpetual neutral look on his face did
nothing to show her whether he was joking or not, though she could
only guess what sick joke he meant to play.
    "Smile?" she asked, confused with his command. "What do you
mean--?"
    "Just smile," he told her, dropping his hand to his side. "I'm
serious."
    In a lame attempt at a smile, Kimiko flashed her teeth and nearly
laughed at the ridiculous request.
    "That's what I thought," he said seriously, drawing himself up.
"You're a bit more solid, but you look like my mother when she was a
child."
    "More solid? I don't--" she began, but he put his finger to her
lips to shush her. As he pulled it away, she saw a bit of her lipstick
remained as if she had kissed his finger.
    "You know more than you're willing to admit," Rintaro said
solemnly, resting a hand on her shoulder. "And I will have the answer,
whether your kin or not, girl or not, hurt or not. That much you
should know. I don't joke around when it comes to stuff like this."
    A loud scream stifled any possible response she could have had for
him as they both turned towards the alley.


                          *       *       *

    The moment they had fallen, Seiko shouted for help. It arrived
faster than Mayako could have anticipated. A red-tinted, shiny steel
Louisville Slugger smashed Mayako's left arm as she lay stunned after
the collision. She screamed as the pain overwhelmed her senses, but
she caught the second half of it caught in her throat, and miserably
rolled away from her attacker's second swing. Quickly somersaulting to
her feet, Mayako nearly buckled at the knees and fell as her first
wave of pain tore at her consciousness, even as her eyes brimmed full
of tears.
    Through the haze of agony, Mayako backed herself into the corner
of the alley, barely able to stand, as she confronted not two, but
three people. The grin on Shoji's face showed no ounce of discomfort
in using the Slugger, which rested in his fists. Seiko still lay
behind him, silently trying to pull herself together as a dark young
man helped her stand. Although she could not remember his name, the
dark one posed less a threat than the bat in Shoji's hands.
    Breathing steadily as she fought to remain upright, Mayako warily
wedged herself into the corner between brick building and the fence.
She watched Shoji like a hawk as he cautiously stepped toward her.
Mayako was not prepared to let him gather into another attack without
hurting Shoji really badly. She grit her teeth as she made her move.
The attack must have caught Shoji by surprise, as he only managed to
pull his arms back into a swing before Mayako bounded off the corner
and charged him. Punching him directly in the Adam's apple with a
right, open fisted strike, she put every ounce of her strength into
the attack. The man dropped the bat as he grasped his neck, falling
backwards on his heels.
    The dark man caught Shoji from falling, but wasted little time in
turning the move into an attack. In a surprise move, he roughly pushed
Shoji back at Mayako who had no time to dodge. Instead, she channeled
Shoji's energy backwards and rolled with the hapless teenager, kicking
him off her in midair as she flipped to her feet. Dizzy from the
effort it required to perform the maneuver, Mayako fell to her knees.
    When he drew close enough, Mayako caught sight of Michio's boyish
face a moment before he drew his leg back. The splintering pain in her
arm quelled for a moment as new agony registered on her face. The
bottom of Michio's foot caught her in the eye, spinning her around
like a top to land on her back. She nearly lost consciousness again as
the tears began to pour down her cheek. Mayako did not even have
enough energy to cry as she looked up past the swelling of her right
eye into the face of Michio.
    He seemed to say something above her, but his voice sounded as if
he shouted from one length of a football field to her on the other.
Suddenly feeling inexhaustibly tired, Mayako closed her eyes and
lapsed into unconsciousness.

                          *       *       *

    The cry shook Rintaro as he crouched near Kimiko. Kimiko tried to
push herself up even considering the pain she must have been
experiencing. He stopped her by pressing his index finger against her
shoulder. The weight made her fall back to her butt, catching her by
surprise.
    "Mayako could be hurt!" she protested, glaring up at Rintaro with
her deep blue eyes.
    "You sit here," he told her and stood. "I'll make sure she's all
right. It might have been the girl that Mayako was fighting.
    "I don't think so," she replied, starting to stand. "I don't trust
you."
    "Fine," Rintaro agreed, briskly walking deeper into to alley. He
felt a tingling on the back of his neck as he turned the left corner
into the portion of the way that opened up into a parking lot. He
heard the shuffling steps of Kimiko behind him as he passed the
opening and followed the chain link fence to the dead end that Mayako
and Seiko had been fighting.
    The sight that awaited him caught him by surprise. Mayako lay on
the cracked concrete floor of the alley, her torso twisted around
facing away from him, as her legs laid spread eagle in front, where a
small pool of blood began to form. Seiko stood, supported by the
loudmouth Shoji, while a young man whose name Rintaro could not recall
stood in front of her. None of the teenagers saw him as he approached,
and he would not give them the chance.
    The one standing over Mayako fell to a quick shoulder lunge. His
nose exploded with blood as he flew into the corner of the alley.
Seiko and Shoji barely reacted before Rintaro caught the male in the
chest with an open palm, which sent both of them into the chain link
fence. The clatter of metal rang loud as he looked down to see a
bloody katana, most likely a family heirloom, falling from the hand of
Seiko. He eyed it suspiciously before sweeping his gaze over Mayako.
    "Mayako!" Kimiko yelled with the pitch of her voice, sending a
chill down Rintaro's spine. The wounded girl rushed to the aid of her
friend, quickly checking the Tendou child's condition.
    With Mayako in good care, Rintaro turned toward his prey. The
unknown one had already started jumping over the brick wall, so
Rintaro allowed him to leave. Shoji did not react quickly enough, for
he climbed the fence to slowly to evade Rintaro. Kicking the blade up
into his hands, Rintaro struck the pest in the side with the flat of
the blade, sending the teenager reeling to the concrete. Seiko faired
less well, as she was barely able to lift the baseball bat that had
been hidden behind her.
    "I hope you don't think you can win with that," Rintaro said
evenly.
    Seiko did not respond, but merely held it in defense. Her eyes saw
not him, but the weapon held in his grasp. Something about the look
made him wonder. She did not seem so frightened about her safety as
she eyed the blade in his hands with trepidation and yet some hint of
jealousy. After the briefest moment, she looked up into his eyes and
then he knew she started to feel the dread.
    "I suppose this is your family's blade?" Rintaro asked, resting
his arm by wedging the tip of the blade into a crack in the concrete.
"I wonder what brought it all the way out here to a duel between two-
oh sorry-four people."
    Her eyes never left the blade as she responded, "What do you
want?" The look of concern grew to outrage as she stared at his use of
her sword.
    "An eye," he replied, watching Shoji as the boy pushed himself to
his feet. Rintaro smiled sinuously at the two, as they stood petrified
with fear from his answer. "For an eye. I mean to hurt you for hurting
my friends here. I let the lot of you get carried away, and now I am
going to make regret breaking your word."
    "Damn, Saotome, she's not gonna die!" Shoji shouted at him,
holding his side. "Give me that bat, Seiko!"
    Seiko tossed Shoji the baseball bat, which he caught effortlessly.
The two looked like trapped wolverines, but Rintaro considered them
nothing more than cornered squirrels. He nonchalantly watched them,
feigning disinterest in them as he rested the weight of his body on
the katana, testing its strength.
    "Just let us go, Saotome," Seiko nearly whispered, holding herself
up with one hand on the chain link fence behind her. "I swear I won't
come near her again."
    "I don't believe liars," he retorted.
    "Believe this, ass hole!" Shoji shouted, swinging his bat rather
accurately at Rintaro's midsection.
    Parrying with the flat of the blade, Rintaro channeled Shoji's
energetic swing high and into the katana's hilt. The tremendous blow
jarred his hand a bit, but the maneuver produced the desired effect.
The force of Shoji's swing smashed the blade right above the hilt,
rending the sword in half.
    "No!" Seiko screamed as she watched the bat bludgeon the katana
into two pieces. With all of her pain forgotten, she rushed through
Shoji and launched the desperate attack that Rintaro had hoped to
provoke. Not even giving her a chance to swing, Rintaro sidestepped
her charge and struck her in the back with the pummel of the katana.
She fell to the concrete like a discarded toy.
    Shoji stared at his partner as she fell, his eyes wide with
terror. As Rintaro approached him, he took a step away from Rintaro,
the bat held loosely in his shaking hands. He looked towards his
attacker with desperation in his stance.
    "Shoji Watanabe," Rintaro said with disdain. He approached the
cornered teenager with the pummel of the katana still held in his
hands. Anger started bubbling up in him as he thought of the teen
striking Mayako with his bat. He continued threatening Shoji. "I
should kill you for what you did to Mayako."
    "Do it then," Shoji bluffed, his knees knocking together slightly
as he held himself into the wall. "Do your worst, Saotome."
    "This is unlike you," Rintaro replied, forcing a smile. "I thought
you'd have tried to climb away, squealing like a piglet. But it seems
you've simply traded swine for the likeness of a cornered rabbit. So,
rabbit, what will be your first move?"
    "Just finish him and help me, Rintaro," Kimiko urged. "I think
Mayako needs to see a doctor."
    Almost catching Rintaro off guard by the oddness of his attack,
Shoji took a giant step forward and swung his bat with all his might.
The arc of the swing angled towards Rintaro's head, which the martial
artist simply ducked underneath, redirecting his energy forward into a
ferocious head-butt. The blow sent Shoji stumbling back into the
fence, knocked completely out of breath. He fell to the ground gasping
as Rintaro threw the broken sword at the teen. It struck him in the
forehead, knocking the boy out.
    "That was pretty brutal," Kimiko commented gravely, her eyes not
even staring up at Rintaro as she applied pressure to Mayako's neck.
"While you were playing around, I think I figured out what's wrong
with her. Her left arm's broken, and she has a concussion. The cut on
her left leg is shallow, but could use some bandaging.
    "Can we move her?" Rintaro inquired, kneeling by Mayako. He
grimaced at the purple bruise across her face.
    "We'll have to split her arm somehow," the redhead said looking
around. "Grab the broken katana and dull the edge. I'd use the bat,
but it'd be too hard to tie to her arm to it with just scraps of
clothes." Her brows furrowed and she looked at him strangely. "Wait,
why don't we just call an ambulance? They can handle this better than
I can."
    "Yeah, but then we'd all be spending a month in juvenile hall,"
Rintaro replied quickly, looking around at the two people next to him.
"I'll call it if their friends don't collect them first."
    Kimiko only nodded. He thought he would have to explain himself
further, but apparently she did not wish to spend a month behind bars
any more than he did. "Damn, I wish they wouldn't have popped the
tires. It'd be a lot easier to move her with a bike."
    As he grabbed what was left of the blade, he noticed that Seiko
stirred, trying to force herself up. He ignored her this time, and she
paid him only enough mind to avoid him as she stumbled over to Shoji,
slapping his face repeatedly until he woke. As Rintaro began to saw
the blade on the concrete, the two staggered away.
    "Hey, wait!" Kimiko yelled after them, jumping to her feet more
sprightly than he thought she would have been able. She took off after
them, without explanation. Rintaro merely continued with his task,
ignoring her exit.



    When Kimiko saw Mayako's attackers start to flee the scene, the
thought occurred to her that one of them might have a bike she could
'borrow' to transport Mayako. She felt light-headed as she tried to
catch up to the pair, but as she turned the corner, she stopped dead
in her tracks. Five figures stood in front of her, though the two she
chased would not be putting up much of a fight. Michio, Kojiro and
Jotaro had gathered at the point where five bikes rested against the
brick wall near the entrance of the alley.
    Kimiko spun on her hills, but could not reverse her motion in time
to avoid their first attack. A small object struck her in the lower
back, hard enough to send her stumbling into the brick wall in front
of her, striking her head. She fell backwards, barely managing to
perform a half-roll to break her fall.
    "You're going to pay!" she heard someone shout through a haze. "Oh
shit, let's get out of here!" sounded off next as she heard her
enemies escaping. Kimiko felt too dizzy to even try to stand, or even
sit. She merely lay there.
    "Not smart, Nishiyama-san," Rintaro said softly in her ear. "Now
you're the one with a concussion."
    Not feeling inclined to respond, she ignored him, fighting off the
daze in her head.
    Something from behind him caught Rintaro off-guard as she felt him
spin to meet the new challenge. The newcomer's voice shouted out in
anger, but the words failed to make sense. She tried to will herself
to see who approached, turning sidewise. Akane seemed to stand there,
limned in her bright red aura.

                          *       *       *

    Sweat dripped into Kenichi's face as he peddled through the lunch
hour traffic. He borrowed the bike from a friend that he had worked
with up until ten minutes ago when his employer fired him for leaving
early. As fast as he could, Kenichi rode to the train, barely catching
it and exiting the vehicle on the next stop. The ride nearly cost him
his life several times already at the speed he traveled through the
pedestrians and cars.
    He only required another minute to arrive at his destination, his
adrenalin rush had faded and his body began to ache with fatigue. The
thought of the most important woman in his life and his heart's desire
both needing his help drew him to peddle harder. Kimiko's rushed phone
call had set his heart racing. What kind of trouble could make his the
two capable martial artists require his help?
    Suddenly the crowd parted, giving him a wide girth of area. At the
same moment, he realized he found the boutique with the
incomprehensible English words that Kimiko mentioned in her phone
call. He scanned the street, noticing two bags in front of the shop
next to a pair of familiar pumps. Fairly close to those, a few
bloodstains painted the otherwise white walkway. The lack of
pedestrian traffic made sense. No one would wish to be caught up in a
fight, nor would they like to be arrested for being too near. He
scanned around a bit more and spotted his and Mayako's bicycles
tethered to a bike rack.
    His skin turned to goose flesh as his eyes followed the logical
place for a brawl to take place: the alley. After placing the pair of
heels in a bag, Kenichi carried them and walked his bike towards the
alley. The walk seemed eternally slow as he crossed the emptied street
to the other walk.
    A siren lifted into the air like a mourning child at the death of
a parent, signaling Kenichi's need to quicken his pace and find his
sister and Kimiko. The tap of his shoes against the concrete sidewalk
at the edge of the alley began to echo as he passed the buildings on
either side of him.
    He walked to the end of the alley to a scene he could not have
expected, dropping both bags beside him and leaving his bike against
the alley wall. The shards of a broken sword lay scattered amongst a
few small pools of blood. Beyond that, his sister lay immobile,
sprawled out on her back. His heart fell into his stomach as he ran to
her. A buzzing noise in the back of his head filled in the silence
that surrounded him.
    Feeling his sister's neck for a pulse, he found one to his utter
relief. Her chest rose and fell rhythmically beneath her bloodstained
blouse as well, giving him a second to take in a deep breath. Lifting
back her eyelids, he saw her reddened and tear-stained eyes and the
tops of her dilating pupils. Taking in the rest of her, he wondered
could have hurt her so badly. Bruises covered her petite face,
accented by a giant black eye.
    Kenichi tried to slow his breathing, but he felt anger simmer in
his blood. Rarely did he let his emotions take control, but finding
Mayako as she was infuriated him beyond his breaking point. No one
short of Rintaro and Kimiko could have ever taken her fairly, and even
then he doubted either of them could possibly do this to her. He
needed to find someone to blame, NOW.
    As if picking up to the pace, his heart beat like a drum as he
heard noise from around the next bend in the alley. Fury slowed his
awareness to a crawl as he left his sister and rounded the corner
looking for her attacker.
    Adding insult to injury, someone left Kimiko lying nearly face
down on the concrete, her elbows keeping her head from the ground. Her
short skirt climbed embarrassingly high on her thighs, and her blouse
looked ruined. With the alley empty but for her and the figure
kneeling beside her, Kenichi burned to fight someone. Rintaro turned
and stood to face the young man, his dispassionate face even more
infuriating.
    "What the hell happened here?" Kenichi swore, squeezing his hands
into tight fists.
    With a nonchalant shrug, Rintaro met his question with cool
indifference. "They weren't careful. It doesn't matter now, though.
It's over."
    Kenichi did not care that he had never beaten Rintaro in his life,
nor that the Saotome probably was not the one who hurt two of the most
important people in his life. All that mattered to him was that
Rintaro was here, standing, unhurt and a big target.
    "Damn you!" Kenichi caught Rintaro off-guard, barreling into him
with a quick elbow jab. Rintaro fell over Kimiko, who responded grunt.
He would apologize to her later. Right now he had a jerk off's ass to
kick. Hate swelled through him, and he liked it.
    "What the hell?" Rintaro shouted, outraged as Kenichi leapt over
the redhead and tried to pounce his former friend. Rintaro rolled out
of the way and quickly got to his feet.
    Kenichi did not let up a second, pushing off the wall and into
Rintaro with a quick front kick. Having just stood up, Kenichi's
target had a scant amount of time to react. The blow caught Rintaro's
right hip, spinning him to the side as Kenichi kicked through him.
Showing him the back of his fist, Kenichi caught Rintaro in the lip,
causing a splash of blood to splatter his fist.
    Rintaro stumbled back in retreat.
    "Stop being so smug, you ass hole!" Kenichi shouted, his blood
cooling slightly at the sight of his friend's blood.
    "Okay, I guess I deserved that," Rintaro admitted, rubbing his hip
with his left hand and his lip with his right. "But if you try
anything else, I'm going to rip your arm out of its socket."
    "How could you let someone hurt them like that?" Kenichi demanded,
threatening him with a step forward.
    "It wasn't any of my business," Rintaro replied seriously,
crossing his arms over his chest. "They had an argument with the
girls, and it wasn't mine to interfere."
    "Was it Jotaro?" Kenichi asked, his anger rising again. Rintaro
had no right to let them fight in an alley by themselves. Jotaro and
his friends were notorious for back stabbing in the middle of a duel.
Rintaro would have known that.
    "Kimiko beat him and Kojiro pretty well, but took a hard lick.
She's only feint right now because she tried to chase down the lot of
them. She'll shake it off in a few."
    "And?"
    "Seiko did a real number on your sister. She had a blade. Even
then, she needed two of her friends to take Maya-chan down. I think
Shoji broke her left arm with a bat. She might need a doctor, but
she's okay at the moment. But that's the least of our problems."
    Kenichi rushed back over to Mayako who seemed ok, but for the
bruising and a torn pant leg with a shallow cut along her left leg. He
shook her gently, and she stirred, but her eyes still remained closed.
He sighed softly, sadly pressing the back of his hand to her bruised
cheek.
    "The enforcers are going to tear us one if we don't get out of
here quick," Rintaro warned from around the bend. "I know it's not
good to move your sister and all, but I'd rather she see a family
doctor than a Gen. Med."
    Although he hated to agree with Rintaro, he had to. In addition to
a General Medical doctor treating his sister and Kimiko, they would
get the unwelcome bonus of a fine for disturbing the peace. Plus,
General Medical doctors were not the friendliest of people, paid out
of the pockets of taxpayers at a general rate for their less than
enthusiastic service.
    "Aunt Kasumi's house is the closest," Rintaro instructed, rounding
the corner with a conscious redhead supported on his right arm. Kimiko
looked confused with her eyes unfocused and dancing between Rintaro
and Kenichi. She walked with a slight limp, but looked well enough to
continue on.
    After positioning her hurt left arm on her chest, Kenichi gingerly
put his forearms underneath Mayako's backside and neck, gently lifting
her. Mumbling softly, she nuzzled her head into the nape of his neck.
Kissing her forehead, he carried her to where he had left his borrowed
bike.
    "You good to walk to the train, Red?" Rintaro asked of Kimiko as
he passed Kenichi. Kenichi saw her nod after a moment. "Nichi, our
bikes have flats. You ride on ahead with Maya-chan. Think you can do
that?"
    Kenichi considered it. He had ridden with people before, but did
not know if he could take his sister without hurting her more. He knew
he definitely could not carry her the whole way. He looked at his
sister's face, torn between staying for an ambulance and attempting to
ride her all the way to their Aunt's house.
    As he turned to Rintaro, he saw the two of them walking their
bikes over to him briskly.
    "Well?" Rintaro asked impatiently. "We really need to get a move
on it."
    "I don't think I can do it, Rintaro," Kenichi said solemnly,
watching his sister sleep in his arms. "You two get out of here. I'll
wait here with Mayako for an ambulance."
    "Oh, just give her to me," the impatient young man said leaving
Mayako's bike up against the wall. "I can do it."
    "Are you sure?" Kenichi asked, reluctant to give his unconscious
sister to someone who let her down once already. "I don't know."
    "I swear I'll get her to Aunt Kasumi's no worse than she is now,"
Rintaro promised with a sincerity Kenichi rarely heard in his voice.
He looked over his shoulder to Kimiko. She held her head in her hands,
but appeared mostly all right now.
    Kenichi nodded, holding Mayako out to the young man. Rintaro took
her gently into his arms and then walked over to the borrowed bike,
and sat down on it, resting the girl on his lap. With one hand he
gripped the handlebars and with the other he held her. In an amazing
feat of dexterity, Rintaro kicked off and rode at a quick pace down
the alley and out of sight.
    The sirens were almost upon them as Kenichi appraised Kimiko, as
she covered her face. He walked up to her and softly took her arm,
pulling a hand from her face. She straightened her back as he did
this, squinting her eyes at him. The girl had escaped the brawl
without a black eye, but a dark bruise painted her right cheek.
    "Are you okay?" Kenichi asked her.
    "Yeah, let's just go," she whispered, turning her head from him.
Grabbing one of the bikes, she walked barefoot down the alley.
    Kenichi picked up the shopping bags and hooked them over his left
shoulder. He followed her, walking briskly with Mayako's bike to catch
up to Kimiko. As she walked ahead of him, Kimiko limped less than she
had before, moving quickly through the alley.
    The wail faded from his ears as the clear sky and radiant sun
warmed Kenichi from his foul mood. Reminding him of his empty stomach,
street vendors lined the walk as the couple briskly marched in single
file. It did not seem to peek Kimiko's interest as she calmly walked
by them, the limp in her step having faded as they kept moving.
    They came to a wide intersection, where Kimiko stopped. She did
not turn to face him, but he understood she meant him to lead now.
People passed her on either side and he waited until they cleared
until he walked his bike beside her. She looked over to him now, her
bruised right cheek shining next to him.
    "Thank you, Kenichi," she whispered, and then reached up and put
one of her small hands on his left shoulder.
    Placing a hand on top of hers, he patted it, even though he did
not know what she was thankful for. "You're welcome, but for what?"
    "For coming," she replied quietly, her tired eyes staring into
his. "I hope it wasn't too much trouble for you." Her lips curved
somewhat into a smile as he shrugged.
    "That doesn't matter," Kenichi replied, squeezing her hand gently.
He liked the feel of it on his shoulder. "What matters is that both of
you are okay." His concern really stuck with his sister, though as her
condition seemed much worse. Kenichi could do nothing for her at the
moment, except to hope she was not too hurt. He trusted Rintaro would
get her to Kasumi's house. Aunt Kasumi would know what to do. After
all, she was a nurse at a local doctor's office.
    Kimiko's hand lingered for a moment more, and then fell, sliding
down his sleeve heavily until she broke contact.



    Kenichi's cheeks reddened a bit when she released her hand. He
bowed his head, staring down for a second. She ignored the crowd
around her, staring at his face. It still amazed her how much he
reminded her of Akane. For a second time, she mistook the boy for her
former fiancée. Given the fact she had been dazed during that moment,
she wondered what could cause her to see him as the woman he lost to
the sands of time.
    Kimiko took a deep breath, reclining her head. The sun warmed her
cheeks as she closed her eyes and enjoyed the light. She exhaled and
looked back at Kenichi who held her pumps in his hand.
    "Do you want your shoes?" he asked her.
    Kimiko shook her head. She would be better off without the
balancing act today. She still felt a bit dizzy from striking her head
on the brick wall.
    "I'm better off barefoot at the moment," she replied, looking
forward. The street seemed less crowded than it had before. "Let's go
to your Aunt's house."
    Her young friend led the way, taking a right at the intersection.
He had a vigor in his step that made Kimiko think. His image blurred a
moment, so she rubbed her eyes, realizing nothing around him seemed as
fuzzy as he did. Something about him made her feel not quite herself,
though she imagined he felt the same way, but for different reasons.
    The walk calmed her as the pleasant sensation of warmth from the
sun heated concrete traveled up her legs. Her mind focused on Kenichi
as she watched him walk ahead of her, trying to figure him out. He did
not act like the usual boys who fancied her, but she knew that he at
least had some not quite so platonic feelings for her. The kiss they
inadvertently shared in the koi pond proved that much. She still
regretted that, though it did not bother her as much now.
    She did not want him to get the wrong message of her intentions
for him, but at the same time, she did not know what those were.
Conflicted at the center of her heart, Kimiko hated to admit she felt
something more than friendship. It was not love, she knew, nor
attraction. Could his likeness of Akane be giving her this feeling?
After all, Kimiko still loved the woman fiercely, though that feeling
changed to one of concern.
    With a sigh, Kimiko shook her head a bit downcast. What were her
intentions towards him? She found her own feelings a mystery to
herself. Ever since she had arrived here, mistaking him for Akane,
something had been developing between them. She remembered the first
night they shared together no matter how brief, under the stars as she
waited for her taxi. That beautiful night she spent thinking of Akane,
while her son warmed her body with his presence.
    Get a hold of yourself! she thought fiercely. How could she think
about him as if that dream she had of him could possibly come true?
She had a date with Jusenkyou that would reverse this curse over her,
returning her to her proper form, though something in her mind nagged
her. What if she could not become male again? What then?
    Maybe she should have a sincere conversation with him and clear
some things up, like his feelings for her. Even more importantly, she
had to crystallize her feelings for him.
    Kenichi held his bike on the left of himself, as she did, so she
walked around the bike she led and stepped up her pace. After a
moment, she walked beside him. She caught his glance, and his smile.
Her heart skipped a beat and she swallowed in preparation. How direct
should she be? she wondered.
    "Something on your mind?" he asked, his face less serious then it
had been before. His thoughts must have been on his sister's
condition. Kimiko hoped the girl would be fine. Mayako seemed to have
taken a beating, but if she had a fraction of Akane's resilience,
Kimiko knew she would okay.
    "Yes, as a matter of fact," Kimiko returned, her biting her lower
lip after she said it. "I was thinking about the last few days I've
spent here with you--and your family." She added the last part
quickly, her nerve fading a bit.
    "Very interesting times, huh?" he said grimly. "I'm really sorry
about all the fighting. Between Rintaro and those bastards in the
alley, I'm surprised we haven't all been to the hospital."
    You would be surprised, she thought, remembering her less than
cheery meeting with Ryouga and the day she spent in a hospital bed.
    Straying from that line of thought, she pushed their conversation
further. "It's not your fault, Kenichi. Trouble finds me wherever I
go." She paused a moment, looking over at him, her heart beating
quicker. It felt like someone was holding her jaw shut as she quietly
spoke. "But that's not what I meant."
    They stopped at a crosswalk. Kenichi put one arm up in the air to
stretch. "What did you mean, then?"
    Kimiko had almost wished he did not hear her, but gritted her
teeth. Why should she bring it up? It was not like she would see him
again for a long time, if ever. As they started to cross the street,
she realized she probably would not be able to tell him anyway.
    "Nothing, forget I said it."
    As they stepped over the curb and walked down the sidewalk
further, Kenichi brought the subject up anyway. "You can't keep me in
suspense like this!" She watched him grab his chest and cough with
exaggerated motions. He added after a moment, more seriously this
time, "You can tell me."
    With a deep breath, Kimiko mentally prepared herself. She exhaled
slowly, looking away. "Well, what I meant was...was that I've been
thinking...about..." As her face grew warm, she felt her jaw clench as
she tried to mouth the word, but Kenichi finished it for her.
    "About...us?"
    The moment he said that, a lump formed in the pit of her stomach,
as she felt her face flush. She figured that she probably looked like
a lobster right about now, and Kenichi's warm brown eyes did not help
matters. A glance at his face showed he did not look embarrassed at
all. Rather, Kenichi smiled at her.
    "Do you want to stop somewhere and talk about this?" he asked her,
looking about the area they were in.
    "Let's just keep walking," Kimiko said, regaining a bit of her
spine. Just suck it up and say it, she commanded herself.
    "If it's about agreeing to just be friends," Kenichi began, his
voice seemingly calm in the face of the subject matter. Kimiko
wondered how much of it was him putting on a happy face to make her
feel better. "You don't have to worry. I know you want to take your
time. So don't sweat it, okay?" A bit of irritation did surface in his
voice, though he hid it well.
    "Why do you like me anyway?" Kimiko said a bit exasperated. He had
taken the wind out of her with the last, making her wonder just how
much had she hurt him by rejecting his feelings for her.
    They quietly walked for a few moments before Kenichi replied to
her question. Kimiko felt her face growing warmer as he looked into
his eyes, an expression of deep thought on his face.
    "Believe it or not, Kimiko Nishiyama, you are a very intriguing
person."
    "How so?" she replied, her brows furrowing. Intriguing could mean
too many things for her comfort. She had wondered what he saw in her,
because she doubted she would see it in herself.
    "You show up one day out of the blue and beat the best martial
artist our age," Kenichi started, looking forward down the street.
There were no longer any other pedestrians on the streets. Sidewalks
had already disappeared as they entered a very residential area of
this ward.
    "And yet you seem so a little fragile for such a strong person."
    Kimiko frowned and turned away as he said the last, but she let
him continue without interruption.
    "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that," he apologized. She turned
back to face him again. "But when you sat down with us at Ucchan's the
first day, you seemed so hurt that I couldn't help but wonder, you
know? And then you proved yourself to be such a powerful martial
artist, despite your appearance. I mean, I saw the black belt in your
suitcase when it fell out, but I never imagined how strong you could
be. There just aren't that many who can stand up to some of the people
around here.
    "Don't look at me like that," Kenichi said with a chuckle.
    "Like what?" Kimiko asked, perplexed. She had just been listening.
    "You're making cute faces at me," he replied, still giggly. "If I
had a mirror, I'd show you."
    "Cute faces," Kimiko muttered. "Okay, so I'm a yin yang. What's so
special about that?"
    "Hey, everyone has to balance out somehow," Kenichi returned.
"Believe it or not, lots of people have a soft side, even that hard
ass, Rintaro. Most people don't show it to complete strangers,
though...not that it's a bad thing that you did!" He added the last
part after a moment. He seemed to be walking over eggshells the whole
time he talked to her.
    "Anyway, all of that is why I like you," Kenichi finished.
    "Hah, I was expecting you to talk about my eyes while staring at
my chest," Kimiko remarked, lightening up a bit. His admission
affected her. Even though she hated showing weakness, he actually
seemed to admire it beyond all reason.
    "Well, your baby blues are gorgeous, too," he snickered, putting
his free hand on her shoulder. "I'd rather not stare at your chest and
test just how much butt-kicking you have left in you." They shared a
laugh at that, but the mood quickly changed.
    As his hand fell from her shoulder, Kenichi's attitude sobered
after a moment, signaling his intention to dive back into deeper
water. "I want to apologize for kissing you in the koi pond the other
day."
    "Don't," she told him. The thought grounded Kimiko, making her
seriously consider the situation again. He really had nothing to
apologize for, because she was at fault for that incident. "You have
nothing to apologize for. The cold water got to my head, okay?"
    "Then I'm sorry for enjoying it so much," he said quietly, his
eyes a bit distant as he looked away from her. She could see a bit of
the hurt bubble up again.
    "If I hadn't of led you on like I did, we wouldn't even be having
this conversation." She watched his face carefully after saying the
words, hoping to gauge his reaction. She felt as if they walked
further and further onto dangerous ground. Her heart felt like it
would explode it beat so hard.
    "I just really thought," he began but shook his head. "No, forget
about it." He kicked a rock on the sidewalk, sending it shooting down
the street.
    "Hey, now who's the person leaving the other in suspense?" Kimiko
quipped, a smile forming on her lips. "Mentioning things and then
leaving me dirt dry."
    "No really, it's okay. I can tell you don't want to talk about
this." He had not returned her look for a few moments now, as if he
tried avoiding her eyes. He wanted to tell her, she could see, but he
did not want to press her.
    "I wouldn't have brought it up in the first place, if I didn't
want to talk about it. So tell me what you thought."
    "All right," Kenichi said after a moment, finally turning back to
face her, his eyes still downcast. "I just thought that there was
something there. Between us, I mean. You really surprised me when you
said you don't feel the same way. I kind of understand why you said
you wanted to be just friends, but I had thought we both felt some
kind of spark. You know, chemistry or whatever. It's just really
frustrating trying to figure out what's going on, you know?"
    "Yeah, I know. It's really not that I didn't feel anything,"
Kimiko whispered, her voice gaining volume with each word. "I just
don't want you to get attached to me or anything. I'm leaving the
country in a few days, and I don't even know if I'm ever going to come
back!"
    Kenichi's eyes grew wide before he replied. He must have been
breathing hard, for his chest expanded and fell quickly. She must have
stung him, for his eyes looked a bit watery. Wiping away whatever was
there with his sleeve, Kenichi asked, "I guess that would be a bit of
a problem, but is it because you don't want to come back?"
    "I don't think I can come back," she said, trying very hard not to
turn away from him. It hurt her watching the pain in his face. How
could she do this to someone as dear as the child of Akane and the
nicest young man she had ever met? It felt like plunging a knife into
her own heart.
    "It's something from your past, isn't it?" he asked, the pain in
his eyes still showing, but much less. He moved closer to her as they
walked, up until their shoulders touched.
    "I don't think my heart is ready for this," she said, the feeling
of him so closer to her that she winced. "I told myself to get over
it, but every time I think I'm okay, it comes back at me in full
force."
    Kenichi stopped, gently linking his arm with hers. She stopped,
looking back at him as he stood there, anger distorting his face.
Thinking it directed towards her, she pulled away from him, but he
caught her wrist as his hand slid down her arm.
    "I knew it," he said, his eyes softening as he pulled her closer.
Their bikes and the shopping bag fell to the ground as she stared at
him almost panicking. "Someone hurt you. Someone hurt you so bad. I
have felt it since we first met and I can't stand it. How could anyone
do something to you? You're one of the kindest, sweetest people I've
ever met."
    She almost gasped as he took both of her hands in his. They stood
together with scant inches between them. "I...I..." she stuttered,
unable to pull away, or unwilling. Feeling so overwhelmed, she could
not even figure out her own emotions anymore.
    "I could never hurt you, Kim-chan," he told her fiercely, meeting
her stare with such emotion.
    Blinking back the tears that threatened to form in her eyes, she
looked away. "I know you wouldn't, Kenichi-kun. I never thought in a
million years that you would. That's not what I meant at all. I'm
afraid of hurting you!"
    She met his bewildered eyes with all the compassion she could
muster. Her heart ached almost as it had when she first realized that
she had lost Akane after recognizing the sudden truth that all of this
would vanish in a matter of days, if not hours. She knew that if she
regained her male body that she could never return. If she could not
cure herself of the Jusenkyou curse, could she even consider returning
anyway? What if it meant losing herself so fully to the curse that she
fell in love with Kenichi.
    "Hurt me?" he whispered, not able to comprehend her words.
    She knew that falling in love with him would be inevitably if she
came back. His soft manner, so very like Akane, showed through more
than Akane's had. The anger she had harbored for so many years took so
much time for Ranma to whittle away at, but Kenichi already at sat on
the stage Akane had when they finally decided to get married.
    "How could you hurt me?"
    She did not want to hurt him as she had Akane. Her life left
little room for making engagements with people anchored in one place.
Fate seemed destined to carry her away in a fiery chariot anytime
something good remained in her life. Kenichi intrigued her just as
much as she must have for him. Unlike Akane, he seemed so ready to
open himself up to her. She looked into his warm, brown eyes, which no
longer seemed to belong to Akane at all.
    Kenichi was worth all the unconditional love that anyone could
offer him on his own merits. She could never slight him with her poor
alternative for the love he deserved.
    "When I leave, I won't come back," she whispered to him, his
warmth seeming to surround her. She felt a tear slip through her
defenses and down her cheek, but quickly wiped it up. Blinking away
more before she turned into a sobbing mess, Kimiko gritted her teeth.
She had to be strong, and she could not lie to him. "I couldn't do
that to anyone here. I'd hate myself for that."
    She tried to pull away, to flee, but he only pulled her closer. He
held shoulders firmly, not letting her escape as she wanted to. She
did not try hard, deeply wanting it all against everything. In another
moment, he held her gently in his arms as she tightly wrapped hers
around his waist, her head against his chest. Held as closely as she
was, she never wanted to move.
    "I know I don't understand what you're going through," he began,
his eyes looking down at hers. "But whatever it is, I'll always
welcome you no matter what happens. I swear it."
    "You wouldn't say that if you knew what I can't tell you," she
refuted, angry with herself more than him.
    "If your leaving is so painful that you couldn't come back, why
don't you just stay here?" he suggested, his eyes too serious for his
own good.
    "I wish I could," she said, fearing that she would cave in and
agree. "But I can't. My trip to China isn't a vacation. It's a journey
that I have to take if I ever want to feel peace in my life. I can't
explain it any better than that."
    "Then take me with you."
    The intensity in his voice caught her off guard and she pulled
back slightly. She stared up at his face with a mixture of shock and
fear. He seemed determined to not let go. Why did he have to make this
so hard for her? "What?"
    "To China. I could go with you."
    Confused she looked down. He offered to go with her. Almost
stunned by the proposition, she hoped he joked. "Don't kid like that,
Kenichi-kun. It's not funny."
    "I'm serious. I have a little money saved up, and I won't be
missing any school since it's summer."
    And he was serious. Suddenly the vision she had of them together
flashed before her eyes. Could she allow that to happen? Was that an
omen of the future? Was she supposed to make some kind of choice? The
entire thing scared her. She knew she had to try to scare him away,
but lying to him would be out of the question. Another lair of guilt
would be too much.
    "I couldn't ask you to go with me," she told him softly.
    "I'm the one that asked," he whispered in response, rubbing her
arms. "I promise I won't be a bother to you. I need a real vacation
anyway."
    "What about your job?" she asked quietly.
    He shrugged at that, releasing her arms. "That's really not an
obstacle anymore."
    "What do you mean?" she wondered, furrowing her brows with
confusion.
    "I was fired when I left to help you," he replied, his head bowed.
    "What?" Kimiko said, her eyes opening wide. Because of her, he
even lost his job! The very thought tore at her. She could not even
visit people without ruining their lives. "I'm sorry, Kenichi. I had
no idea you'd lose your job over this."
    He shook his head. "Hey, I'm the one who chose to leave. No one
put a knife to my throat or anything." He broke into a wry smile, if a
bit forced. "Don't worry about it. It's not like I that was a good job
or anything." His smile faded as he began to frown. "Not that you owe
me anything, but I'd much rather go with you to China than make a few
extra yen and slave over a fruit store. I mean, if your brother is
okay with it, and everything."
    "It's none of his business," Kimiko told him, wondering if she
could even think about letting him come with her. If she ever did
manage to transform herself back, she would betray him worse than he
could ever imagine. "But I don't know about this. Let me think about
it, okay?"
    He nodded, his always-ready smile back on his face, making her
feel a little better. It had to be for show, though, because he seemed
about as happy as turtle rolled on its back. "Sure thing. There's no
pressure or anything, even if you decide against me coming. It's just
a stupid idea, after all."
    "It's not that stupid," she whispered, trying to make him feel
better. If only Kiyoshi had never told her that Jusenkyou had
recovered, then she could consider staying here without the voice in
the back of her head demanding upon her honor that she go back to that
wretched training ground. She would not have to hurt him anymore
either.
    "You think?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
    "Well, it would be a little weird having you along," she told him,
Jusenkyou appearing in her mind. "But it's not a stupid idea."
    Kimiko looked around the nearly empty neighborhood as if people
stared from the nearby houses at her. He seemed to take notice of this
as a sign she wanted to move on, which of course, she did.
    "We're only a few blocks away from Aunt Kasumi's house now," he
informed her, collecting the shopping bags and the bike. Kimiko lifted
the bike she had been walking and set it on its tires. He weakly
smiled at her.
    "Give me some time to think about this," she quietly said.
    "Every moment between now and when you leave."

                          *       *       *

    Two things weighed down Rintaro on his flight from the scene of
the crime. The weight of Mayako's body on his lap made the ride more
difficult than he first imagined. He made balancing her possibly by
positioning her seated in his lap, her unhurt left arm around his
waist, while sitting on her hand as lightly as he could to keep it
from falling. He cradled her with his right arm, encircled around her
to keep her right arm from moving. Her breath tickled his cheek as he
leaned slightly so that she lay against his chest and her head on his
shoulder. With incredible effort on his part, he still managed to
steer the bike with his left hand.
    Unlike her physical weight, the other thing that weighed him down
did not affect the ride. Instead, his heart tried to balance the guilt
of letting his friends down yet again. Before the consequences had not
been so strong. The constant smell of blood and sweat in Mayako's hair
drove the feeling deeper within him so that he could barely tolerate
it. Unlike her physical weight, this he could not balance alone. He
never considered his conscience much of a friend before, and he
supposed it did not make much of an ally when he tried to shut down
all roads to his heart. His conscience held the only key to the closed
gates.
    Rintaro remembered the scene outside the clothing store, frowning.
How could he have been so stupid as to think Jotaro would not take
advantage of him? Rintaro had walked over to sit down on one of the
benches nearby the store. It only took a few moments for Jotaro to sit
down next to him. His manner betrayed him. His old enemy Jotaro had
been nervous.
    "We need to talk, Saotome," Jotaro had told him, his eyes a bit
shiftier than usual.
    "So talk, Saito," he had replied coolly, though Rintaro had wanted
to smash the brute's face until it caved in for good measure. The
thought was fleeting, though.
    "I have a score to settle with this redhead of yours." The words
still burned in his ears. Rintaro knew Jotaro was going to play him,
but he listened anyway.
    "So why should I care?" he replied, giving an air of indifference,
pushing his hand through his bangs, affording him a scan of the area.
A spiky bleached blond head caught his attention momentarily before he
looked back at Jotaro.
    "Isn't she some kind of friend of yours?" the dark-eyed boy asked.
    "Not really," Rintaro had replied. "She's Kenichi Tendou's though,
so I wouldn't play too hard. You know his friends are."
    "So then, you won't mind if we rough her up a bit?" Jotaro said
with a smirk on his face. The look doubled Rintaro's urge to smash the
boy's face. One thing kept him back though.
    "Like I said, Saito, play at your own risk."
    "How about Mayako?"
    "You touch her, and I will personally deliver your spleen to your
grandparents." It had been half threat and half bluff. He might not
have ripped out his spleen, but hair ripped from his skull might have
suited.
    "Come on now," Jotaro had smoothly said, playing whatever hand he
thought he held. "Seiko wants a piece of her, one on one. She has a
legitimate beef with your woman. You wouldn't want Mayako to know
certain things about you that you've kept from her."
    Two inches separated Jotaro from his death had he spoke a word
more. His eyes contained a cool confidence that Rintaro would have
made sure did not last long.
    "Your lease on life would be over, should your lips spill that
which you shouldn't know," Rintaro had stated simply, meaning it
implicitly. "Not many would bat their eyes over your missing persons
report."
    "Don't be like that, Saotome," Jotaro said, a crack forming in his
armor of coolness in the form of big droplet of sweat sliding down his
forehead. "We both know I'm not going to say a word, because Seiko is
going to have the duel she wanted. And you won't interfere in either
fight. Neither girl will be hurt too bad."
    And so that had been that. With his lips sealed and his hands tied
behind his back, Rintaro watched Kimiko beat the living daylights out
of Jotaro and his blonde friend. Unfortunately, in the selfishness of
his desire to make nice with Mayako once more, he put her safety aside
for a secret he should have never kept from anyone. One too many
drinks at a party he should never have attended put him in a position
he never should have been in.
    At the time, Mayako and he had been an item. At the end of ninth
grade, before he went to high school, their relationship started to
snowball into an avalanche of distrust and hurtful words. His guilt
had built to the point he did not want to hold it in any longer, and
when they had broken up, it disappeared for a time. He never wanted to
betray her, and never planned on fading away from his friends. It just
happened that ignoring feelings was easier than dealing with them.
    Breaking up with Mayako meant severing his friendship with
Kenichi. The twins were two sides of the same coin. Once he fell out
of grace with them, Ryosei joined suite, his desire for Mayako
overshadowing his friendship with Rintaro. Mai followed Kenichi, and
Reiko...was well, Reiko. She never got the whole thing and still
treated him fairly, though more warily than she had before.
    Who needed friends? he constantly had to ask himself. Self-
delusion was a powerful tool for the weak. Rintaro knew himself to be
the weakest link in the friendship between the Saotome and Tendou
families.
    He never meant to be crass.
    He never meant to hurt her.
    Or let her get hurt.
    Sometimes things work out like that.
    "Ah, no, please!" Mayako woke with a start, her head flying back
and striking Rintaro in the jaw. He almost lost balance on the bike,
but quickly regained his balance.
    "Good morning," Rintaro said softly, weaving around a few
pedestrians the moment he had the bike under control again. "Try not
to move around so much or we'll both fall."
    He glanced down at her black and blue face and felt a spike of
guilt shoot up his spine. Her wide brown eyes sparkled with alert
confusion as they darted back and forth.
    "Rintaro?" she whispered, adjusting herself against him.
    "Yes," he replied, helping he proper her back up straight with the
hand that held her.
    "Where are we?"
    "About three blocks from Aunt Kasumi's," he responded, slowing his
pace to keep easier balance as she wiggled in his grasp. "How do you
feel?"
    "Like someone mistook me for their punching bag," she said
followed by a hiccup. "My arm is killing me. What happened? My heads
all fuzzy."
    "You fought Seiko in the alley," he told her. "Don't you
remember?"
    "Oh hell!" she exclaimed trying to lift her right arm with a small
yelp. "My face! Did she cut me up?"
    "No, I stopped them from play plastic surgeon with your face,"
Rintaro said, feeling miserable. "But you have a really nasty black
eye."
    "That's nothing compared to what Seiko promised to do to me,"
Mayako whispered, pressing up against him tightly, enabling him to put
both hands on the handle bars. His heart betrayed him and started
beating like drums in a rock song. "I knew you wouldn't let them."
    His stomach seemed to flip around as he gritted his teeth. He
wished he could have stopped them before they hurt her as they had.
God, how he wish for a time machine to take back everything, to not
have slept with that little bitch who took advantage of him while he
was drunk, to tell her he loved her.
    "You shouldn't be so serious all the time," Mayako said, snuggling
up to him. "You saved the girl, after all."
    In a burst of conscience laced insanity, his mouth opened to
confess everything. He could no longer accept her blissful ignorance
of his evil. "I have to tell you something, Mayako. Please wait until
I finish before you hate me, okay?"
    "It's not possible for me to hate you, Rin-chan," she said with a
purr, her hand finding a comfortable point just above his left hip.
    He started at the beginning, his eyes growing misty with the
memories. "You remember that party we went to right before we broke
up? Where we had that fight about me having too much to drink?"
    "Oh, don't bring up all that old baggage," she said, pouting with
her puppy dog eyes staring up at him. "I don't care about any of that
anymore. We were just dumb."
    "Not about that, about what happened afterward." He looked down at
her. She looked away, her brows furrowing with displeasure. He had to
continue and tell her all. "You were right after all. I woke up next
to Yusa not remembering anything. I could never tell you no matter how
hard I tried. The words just never came."
    Mayako remained silent, but she still held him tightly, which was
a good sign.
    "I didn't watch over you today, because Jotaro threatened to tell
you about it. I let you fight Seiko without any backup, because I
didn't want you to know. I did exactly what I was trying not to do:
hurt you more. But it was all just my selfish desire to get you back
again.
    "I threw everything away, because I didn't have the guts to tell
you. It all came back down to me not being able to live with myself.
I'm so sorry, Mayako. I never wanted any of this, but it all just
spiraled out of control before I knew it." Rintaro paused and noticed
she had been silent the entire time. He looked down to make sure she
still was awake. Her eyes were closed, but she still held onto him. He
spotted a tear glistening on her cheek.
    "Are you still awake, Maya-chan?" he asked, praying for it. He
doubted that he could ever build enough nerve to say it again.
    "I am," she said in a small voice.
    "Aren't you mad?"
    "A little," she said, opening sparkling eyes.
    "Just a little?" he said almost shocked. He was certain she would
be too furious to ever speak to him again.
    "I'm mad you didn't ever tell me, but it's not like I didn't
know."
    That gave him a second's pause. How could she have known? She had
never brought it up before in any of their fights after the incident.
Had all of this been for nothing? he wondered as she continued.
    "But what we had, I wouldn't have thrown our relationship away for
you being a stupid baka one night with that slut. I was angry for a
while, especially that you didn't trust me enough to tell me, but I'd
invested too much just to let everything go."
    "I'm sorry," he repeated, stopping in front of their destination.
    Reiko's house seemed like a mansion compared to the Tendou estate.
There had to be at least ten rooms in the place, with an equal amount
of bathrooms and studies. The front gate stood slightly ajar, so he
stopped in front of it, juggling Mayako against his left arm so that
he could kick it open.
    "Like I said before, it's old baggage that we can put behind us."
    "How can you be so forgiving?" Rintaro demanded, hating that she
was not angry enough to sate his guilt. "I've spent two years trying
to break away from your family completely, never giving you the time
of day. And all this time, you've known? And you still can forgive me?
I don't understand."
    Mayako remained silent as he peddled to the front porch of the
house and stopped at the door, managing to reach and press the
doorbell with his free arm.
    "My heart isn't for you to understand," she said cryptically.
"Don't go spoiling your second chance with your self pity."
    Lifting her into his arms, he still managed to knock the kickstand
in place with a swift strike of his right foot.
    "You shouldn't forgive me," he said, still unable to accept the
fact that they could get back together.
    "Don't tell me what I should and shouldn't do, Rin-chan," she
commanded him with all of her queenly power. "I'm not a doll here to
please your every desire. I chose to forgive you a while ago, but
you've been too blinded to see it. You need to learn to forgive
yourself."
    Her last words, he imprinted upon his heart as Reiko opened the
door.
    "What happened?" she nearly shouted, immediately swinging the door
open for them to come in. "Oh, my poor Maya-chan. Are you okay,
honey?"
    "I think so," Mayako unconvincingly said as she clung to Rintaro
with her left arm. Having brought her all this way made him feel
slightly better about everything, but not good enough to forgive
himself, yet.
    "She's pretty beaten up," Rintaro informed the brunette. "Her
right arm is probably broken, and she has at least one concussion. Is
Aunt Kasumi home? She really needs to take a look at her."
    "She's at the hospital right now," Reiko answered as she rushed
ahead through the foyer and into the hall that split the bottom floor
of the house. Rintaro followed her into the guest bedroom, where she
cleared about a half dozen pillows from the bed onto the floor. He
walked around to the right side of the bed and set Mayako down on it
gently.
    "I'll go call my mom," Reiko muttered, looking distracted by all
the bruises over Mayako's body. "I'll be right back."
    Reiko then left the couple alone. For all of the pain she had
suffered today, Mayako still grinned at Rintaro. He shook his head,
and he could not help but smile back.

                          *       *       *

    Reiko dialed the hospital where her mom worked as soon as she
picked up the receiver. As it rang, she walked back towards the guest
room where Rintaro had carried Mayako. Her heart beat quickly as she
entered the room. Rintaro had drawn a chair up to the right side of
the bed as he leaned over Mayako. He withdrew the moment he saw her
re-enter the room.
    She stood in the doorway, resting her back against the wall as she
navigated through a sea of automated questions, finally just pressing
the 0 key to talk to an operator.
    "Nerima General Hospital," the female operator said in a cheery
voice. "How can I direct this call?"
    "I need to talk to my mother, who is a nurse at your hospital. Her
name is Kasumi Tendou." Reiko waited as she heard a click on the line.
    "Front desk, what can I do for you?"
    Reiko took a deep breath and repeated herself. This time the
operator checked up on her mother. After a moment, the voice returned.
    "I'm sorry, but your mother has already left for home. Do you want
me to leave her a message?"
    "No, but thank you," she whispered into the line and then hung up.
    "She not coming?" Rintaro asked after a moment.
    With a shake of her head, Reiko dialed her mom's cell phone
number. It rang three times before someone picked up.
    "Kasumi Tendou?" Her mother's voice said from the other side of
the line.
    "Mom!" Reiko exclaimed, her heart picking up speed again. "We need
you home quick. Mayako's been hurt! She's at our house right now!"
    "Oh my!" her mother replied. "I was already on my way home, from
the train. How bad is she?"
    Reiko walked over to the left side of the bed, sitting down next
to Mayako. "Rintaro said he thinks her left arm is broken and she has
some concussions. She seems to be asleep now, but she was awake when
he brought her in."
    "Hmm, okay, just keep her comfortable," her mother told her. "Be
careful not to move her arm unless you have to! I should be home in
five minutes. I'll catch a cab. Call me again if anything happens.
Bye-bye."
    "Okay, mom, bye-bye!"
    She hung up the phone and set it on a table beside the bed.
Leaning over the hurt girl, Reiko pushed Mayako's raven bangs out of
her face, and then wiped the tears from her cheeks.
    "She's coming?" Rintaro sat on the edge of his seat, staring at
Mayako with more concern in his face than she had seen in a long time.
    "Yes, she should be here very soon," Reiko said, looking at
Mayako's injured right arm curiously. Mayako had it angled away from
her body slightly, yet it appeared odd. "It is broken, but it seems
funny somehow. Could she have dislocated it, too?"
    Furrowing his brows, Rintaro leaned over to look at her arm. "Huh,
I don't know. I didn't think to check. Check to see if she has a bump
just behind her right shoulder."
    Already on top of it, Reiko pulled Mayako's collar back and looked
at her naked shoulder. "Hmm, I don't see anything. It could be on the
inside, though."
    "That's possible," Rintaro whispered, cupping his face in his
hands. "We should wait for your mother before we do anything. I hate
seeing her like this."
    "How did this happen, Rin-chan?" she asked as nicely as she could,
despite her nearly overwhelming outrage at what had been done to her
cousin.
    "Do you remember Jotaro Saito?" Rintaro asked her, sitting back in
his chair, He seemed tired, his eyes still lingering on Mayako's face.
Had they made up? she wondered. She certainly hoped so. If anyone
could save Rintaro from himself, certainly Mayako could.
    "Yes, I do," she replied, remembering specifically all of the
trouble he caused at Furinken High while she had gone there.
    "He and his friends attacked Maya-chan and Kimiko Nishiyama while
they were shopping," Rintaro informed her, bowing his head. Whatever
transpired seemed to have rattled the nearly unshakable young man. "I
didn't realize that they would go back on their word and jump Mayako
as she dueled Seiko Nomiya."
    Vaguely, Reiko wondered why they had not invited her to go with
them, but she filed it away. After all, look at Mayako now! Reiko
would have been little help against anyone that could do something so
terrible to her friend. She frowned, only wondering why the Tendous,
Onos and Saotomes constantly had to fight Jotaro and his friends. It
seemed so pointless.
    "I hope you learned your lesson," Reiko admonished, hating to be
that way to someone her own age. Then again, Rintaro had the maturity
of a pubescent child. "You can never trust the lives of your friends
and loved ones to people who are just as likely to take theirs. Honor
be damned, if it means saving them from being hurt."
    "I-" Rintaro began, but stopped as they heard the front door open.
He stood expectantly as Reiko thanked the heavens. Her mother had
finally arrived.
    "We're in here, Mom!" she yelled, almost about to cry. If anyone
could put the world back on its axis, Kasumi Tendou would be that
person. Like the eye of a storm, the woman brought calm to everyone
she touched.
    Kasumi entered the room, still wearing her maroon work scrubs, her
long hair draped like a mantle around her shoulders. Although her
ready smile not visible, a frown of concern occupied her face as she
entered. The light in her eyes, the soft beacon of hope for anyone who
could see them, focused on Mayako who still lay still on the bed.
    Reiko moved out of her mother's way, quickly finding a seat on the
bed next to the injured girl.
    "You would think in sixteen years, she would realize she's too
precious to run around beating people up," Kasumi said idly,
maintaining her mysterious calm. "Hello, Rintaro. You're dressed nice
today."
    For the first time, Reiko looked at what he had been wearing.
Usually the boy wore a gi or something really tacky, but today he wore
a collared shirt and slacks.
    "Hi, Auntie," he whispered with a smile. "Thank you for coming so
quickly."
    "We'll talk about this later," Kasumi replied, a motherly
sternness she rarely expressed resonating in her voice. "However,
right now I need you all to help. Rei-chan, please find me a pair of
scissors." Reiko immediately followed her mother's directions,
managing to hear her mother say as she exited the room, "Rintaro, you
know where the kitchen is, right? Please get me a bag of ice and some
paper towels. Also get the first aid kit. It's above the fridge."
    Warmth radiated from her body as she ran into her father's study.
The mess that surrounded her immediately overwhelmed her. Where would
he keep scissors? Searching the top drawer, she immediately struck
success. A pair of large paper cutting scissors stared back at her.
    Returning to the room quickly with the utensil clutched in her,
Reiko found her mother hovering over Mayako.
    "Maya-chan," Kasumi whispered. "I need you to wake up, honey."
    "Here are the scissors, Mom," Reiko informed the older woman,
stopping to stand beside her.
    "Thank you, darling," Kasumi said warmly, taking them from her
daughter's hand. "Go around the other side of the bed, and try to wake
her."
    The brunette did just that as her mother began to untuck Mayako's
blue blouse from her white trousers. Sitting where Rintaro had before,
Reiko leaned over Mayako and examined her black eye. It looked so
hideous on the pretty girl.
    Moving her head close to Mayako's ear, she exclaimed quite loudly,
"Mayako!"
    The raven-haired girl jerked as her eyes shot open. Immediately,
her teeth grit together and tears started flowing down her cheeks. She
looked to be on the verge of sobs, fighting it as her jaw clenched.
    "Hi Mayako," Reiko whispered softly, taking her hand. Mayako
squeezed back as soon as Reiko touched it, somewhat surprised by the
strength she had. "Not too tight now."
    "Sorry, Rei-chan," the girl apologized between sniffs. "My arm
hurts so bad!"
    Kasumi leaned over Mayako as Rintaro returned with a plastic bag
full of ice and several sheets of paper towels. The frown on his face
lightened as he quietly placed the supplies on the nightstand next to
Kasumi. He then walked over into the corner of the room and sat on a
knee-high dresser next to a lamp.
    "Mayako, I need you to concentrate for me, okay?" she asked of the
injured girl. Mayako nodded her affirmation. "I'm going to cut away
your blouse and then look at your arm. Please try not to move at all."
    "Yes, Auntie," she whispered, taking quick, shallow breaths.
    As Reiko's mother started cutting Mayako's blouse up the center,
Reiko took the girl's hand and clasped it with both of her hands,
interlacing their fingers. Mayako turned her head to the side to
weakly smile at her cousin. Returning it with one of hers, Reiko
prayed the pain would not last much longer.
    Pulling away the scraps of Mayako's shirt and only leaving her bra
for modesty, Kasumi gasped. Reiko's eyes bulged as she put a shocked
hand to her mouth. The skin from her stomach to her shoulders was
covered in a multitude of bruises and welts. Reiko reasoned that they
must have knocked her down and kicked her.
    "Maya-chan!" a whimpered cry came from behind Reiko, causing the
brunette to turn. She had not recognized Rintaro's voice, as it
sounded to be more of a sob than anything. He did not cry, but she
knew he must have been torn inside, seeing someone he cared for so
hurt. His next oath did not come as a surprise, but Reiko had to
strain to hear it. "I swear I won't let anything ever happen to you
again."
    "Rintaro," Kasumi called softly to the boy who seemed to be in
shock. She called his name again, louder this time to get his
attention. "I need your help."
    "My help?" he skeptically asked walking over to the woman. "What
can I do?"
    "You must have noticed her arm is dislocated," she replied,
beckoning for him to stand by her. "You've had more than your share of
them, from what I've heard."
    His face flashed crimson, but whether in anger or shame, Reiko had
no idea. As he drew closer, he did not seem to be so angry as hurt.
    "You can say that," he replied, turning his head and closing his
eyes after getting a closer look at her arm. "Yeah, it's dislocated. I
hadn't realized until we brought her here." He turned back to face
Kasumi. "What is it that you want me to do?"
    "You've had more experience with these than I have," Kasumi
admitted, rather abashedly. Her eyes wandered down to the poor girl
under her care.
    "Well yeah, but the last time I helped anyone with one of these, I
was thirteen," he stated, sitting next to Mayako. "It hurts so bad
popping them back into place. You have to put something in her mouth
so she doesn't bite her tongue or hurt jaw. Then you just pop the bone
back into place. It's not hard, but you have to know what you're
doing."
    "Yes, that's why I need you to do it," the woman replied. Reiko
looked at Rintaro with a new light. She did not know he knew anything
about healing. "I've never done this before."
    "You haven't?" Rintaro asked almost shocked. "But I can't do it!
Doctor Tofu always watched over me to make sure it was okay. Even when
I had to pop my own arm back into place, it was always just mine. I
can't take a chance with Mayako!"
    Kasumi shook her head. "The longer you wait, the longer she has to
suffer. I could do it, but I think you need to."
    Reiko watched the color drain from Rintaro's face before he nodded
gravely. What could her mother have meant by that? Reiko wondered.
    Her eyes followed the boy with interest. He unbuckled his belt and
then removed it, as Kasumi stood and walked to the other side of the
girl where she retrieved the first aid kit. Reiko then watched the
nurse, as she pulled out a bottle and some gauze. With the scissors,
she started cutting away Mayako's pants around her thigh, where a
thick gash
    "Mayako," Rintaro said softly into her ear. "I need you to bite
down on this. Go ahead and bite as hard as you need to." She nodded as
he put the belt in her mouth. "I'm going to put the joint back in
place. It's going to hurt really bad, so bad you're going to want to
scream. Just bite down on the belt. You can scream all you need to
after. It will only take a second."
    Still holding Mayako's hand tightly, the girl fidgeted as Reiko's
mother applied something to her thigh. Her eyes as tears started
flooding her eyes again.
    "Rintaro, go ahead." Kasumi stopped cleaning the wound to watch
the young man.
    "Forgive me, Dr. Tofu," Rintaro sighed as he gritted his teeth.
"On the count of three, I'm going to do it, okay Mayako?" The girl
nodded tersely and already biting down on Rintaro's belt. Reiko turned
her head as he counted. One, two, snap! The sickening pop of bones
sent a chill down Reiko's spine.
    Mayako's chest surged up, squealing through the belt. Reiko
strained to keep the girl from throwing her with her good arm, and she
was lifted out of her chair. The belt slipped from the girl's mouth
and she screamed, her voice piercing Reiko's ears. After a moment, she
quieted down and merely sobbed into the pillow beneath her head.
    Rintaro already had the bag of ice in his hands, and he propped it
up against her shoulder, protected by the paper towels. His eyes
looked suspiciously red as he knelt on the ground, putting his head by
Mayako's ribs. The dark-haired girl turned to her healer, and then put
her hand through his hair.
    Reiko felt helpless, as she realized she could neither protect nor
heal her cousin in the way that Rintaro could. He possessed the
ability to cause so much pain as Reiko had witnessed on Sunday when he
fought Kimiko. She had never known he worked with Dr. Tofu, though she
did know he was always close to Shampoo and Tofu Ono. The doctor
seemed to be a mentor to anyone who came along.
    "Mayako, I'm going to put an anesthetic in your leg so that I can
stitch this cut. You'll only feel a prick."
    Just then Reiko caught a glimpse of a needle and looked at the
spot where her mother planned to inject it. A sudden dizziness filled
her head as she wobbled for a moment.
    "Reiko?" she heard Rintaro say, but her eyes had already darkened.
As the room begun to spin, she fell backwards, caught by the chair.



    As Reiko fell backwards into her chair, it seemed a bit ironic to
Rintaro that he would have laughed had her mother not been present.
Ever since she had been young, Reiko talked the talk better than
anyone he knew, but she had one fatal flaw. When reality came to
close, she broke down. Everyone had tried to include her in their
circle of martial arts, but she did not have the nerve to even think
about using her fists.
    That was not what made Rintaro dislike the brunette, rather far
from it. In a perfect world, he imagined that sort of peaceful nature
might have been widely considered ideal. Not her though, she suffered
from something much different than pacifism. He thought of her as
having a sort of crass disregard for everyone and everything around
her.
    Her entire life, she had been sheltered by family. Everyone at
school knew that behind her stood the entirety of the Tendou, Saotome
and Ono families, but more so since she had no ability to fight. With
that shielding her, she had the mouth of someone who felt herself
superior to that way of life, far too mature to require the martial
lifestyle that all of her cousins and friends lived. She lived without
caution like they did, as if someone would always be there to defend
her, but she never acknowledged them for it.
    Rintaro did not really like anyone's personalities in his family,
but Reiko the least. It had nothing to do with any menial vendetta, or
anything she did to him. His dislike for her was completely because of
her useless, arrogant nature. Not even a healer's lifestyle suited
her, as the mere sight of a syringe caused her to faint. Significant
amounts of blood probably had the same effect on her.
    He only gave Reiko a moment's regard as he held Mayako's weak
right hand. Her tears had begun to stop, but she seemed to be falling
asleep again. Rintaro did not blame her, and he wished he could
collapse next to her, as he recalled the pain of having his joint
knocked out of place and having it put back.
    The dark-haired young man suffered his first dislocation at the
age of eleven, when his father did not care for his performance in a
junior martial arts freestyle competition. His father had not
purposely hurt Rintaro, but the fatigue of having competed and lost in
the tournament, mounted with his father's need for him to be the best
resulted in a grueling training session that lasted the better part of
two weeks. It only ended when Rintaro failed to block an easy kick,
which resulted in a loud pop and intense pain.
    Doctor Tofu did not even ask how it happened when he arrived on
his doorstep. It must have been some unspoken pact between the martial
artist families that everything was an accident as long as it was
curable. After expressing a deep curiosity, even with the pain he felt
in his arm, Doctor Tofu showed him how to pop his own joint back into
socket, though he did have the doctor's guiding hands to help. The
idea that he could cure himself amazed him to no end that any thoughts
of his father hurting him vanished.
    Unable to do anything for a month as his arm healed, Genma allowed
his son to informally apprentice with Doctor Tofu and stay with the
Onos during that time. A bit of medical knowledge never hurt, the old
man reasoned to his son as almost a disclaimer that Rintaro could not
become a doctor, even if he wished it. He did not care, as it allowed
him to learn something new and get to see what other families were
like. Shampoo and Tofu shared more love with him in one month than
Rintaro experienced in a lifetime with his family.
    After the four weeks ended, Rintaro managed to convince his father
to allow him back a few times a month, in addition to more time during
breaks. His father agreed, working with the Tendous and the two Ono
children during those times. His father even began teaching at the
Tendou dojo after that. It was strange how bad things ended in good,
but eventually he stopped going to help Doctor Tofu, when High School
started, competitions became much more intense and he found someone he
would rather spend his free moments with.
    As much as he liked working with the doctor, he loved Mayako.
    Just thinking of the "L" word made him shiver. He took that back.
He really felt obligated to her safety, and that was all, or at least
that was what he told himself.
    "I'm done here," Kasumi stated, head drooping a bit as she shook
her head. "We should cover her up before she gets a chill."
    Rintaro remembered Mayako's lack of a shirt and colored slightly
as he stood. Mayako still clutched his hand as he rose, so he bent
over as to not move her arm much.
    Kasumi walked around and up to her daughter. "Help me pull this
sheet over her?"
    The two of them covered Mayako and stood for a moment, looking
down at the injured girl.
    "I really don't want to know what happened," Kasumi told him, her
tone very serious. He almost did a double take to make sure it was his
Aunt Kasumi talking. "But Akane will once she finds out what happened
to her daughter. Do you want to be the one who explains it to her?"
    Rintaro closed his eyes, gritting his teeth. She must have blamed
him for this; otherwise, she would not nearly have been so straight
forward with him. She always had a subtle way of getting people to do
things, as Reiko did, but now she seemed a bit out of balance.
    "I will," he whispered, opening his eyes to see his Aunt kneeling
by Reiko. "And I will make it up to her, Auntie."
    "I know you will," she replied, her voice returning to normal.
"Could you also carry my daughter upstairs to her room? She's gained a
bit of weight since I last picked her up."
    Trying to catch the giggle in his throat, Rintaro only have
succeeded at the thought of Kasumi making a joke, rather than the
content of it.
    "No problem," he told her.
    Kasumi nodded, took one last glimpse of Mayako, and then walked
over to the end of the bed to pick up all the first aid supplies.
    "Don't put them all away yet," Rintaro said as he walked passed
her to stop near Reiko.
    "Are you hurt?" she asked skeptically, her eyebrows furrowing.
    "No, but Kenichi's girlfriend is," he replied as evenly as he
could manage, though he imagined he sounded pretty snotty. He
certainly would not apologize for Kimiko's injuries. Those were
entirely of her own creation. He only considered Mayako to be under
the realm of his protection at the moment.
    Kneeling in order to lift the brunette, Rintaro slid his hands
under her slight body. He lifted her, but put too much power into the
motion and nearly fell over. Taking a step back to catch his balance,
he realized she must have only weighed a bit over a hundred pounds.
The woman needed to eat more.
    Leaving with Reiko in his arms, he wondered when the next woman
would fall over, who he would have to carry around all day, realizing
this would have been a pervert's dream day. Too bad for him, he could
care less about Reiko. As he entered the house's foyer, he heard
footsteps on the porch outside. Pausing in his step, Rintaro turned
and watched the door open.
    Light flooded the foyer, stopping at Rintaro's feet as he stood,
watching Kenichi and Rintaro enter. Their shadows stretched forward as
they entered the house, their footsteps echoing in the wooden house.
    With a smug grin, Rintaro ignored them and walked up the stairs.



    Kimiko and Kenichi shared a quiet glance at one another the moment
after Rintaro walked up the stairs with Reiko asleep in his arms.
Kenichi's brown eyes looked just as confused as Kimiko felt. He
shrugged and called out.
    "Aunt Kasumi?"
    "I'm in the guest bedroom," they heard from somewhere down a long
hall that hid beneath the staircase. Kimiko felt the need to tug her
ponytail at the sound of Kasumi's voice. If anything had changed, she
doubted Kasumi to be a part of it.
    Following Kenichi into the hall, Kimiko marveled at all the
pictures that lined the wall. She stopped at one, a group photograph
of the entire Tendou family with the Saotomes and the Onos. Someone
seemed missing from the picture, for some reason. However, she could
not figure out who it could have been.
    The next picture was of Mousse with short hair and without his
glasses, holding a small girl, whom Kimiko imagined was Reiko. She
still wondered how that could have happened. The last Kimiko
remembered of the duck had him following Shampoo back to China.
Something had crisscrossed two couples that seemed more or less
destined to be together. Kasumi and Tofu would have been a no-brainer
a week ago, and beneath it all, Shampoo seemed to have some level of
care for Mousse. The chance that the two would have switched partners
struck her as odd.
    Though now that she thought about it, something strikingly similar
connected the two: blind confusion. Mousse did not act as insane as
Tofu could be when with Shampoo, but both men shared a relatively
ridiculous attitude in the presence of their former significant other.
If it could have happened anywhere, it would have been in Nerima.
    "Kimiko?" she heard Kenichi ask from the doorway to the hall.
    "Coming." Barely catching glimpses of other pictures as she walked
toward Kenichi, she did notice one of all the children that she would
go back and take a closer look at afterward.
    Kasumi sat on a bed next to Mayako, who from under the covers,
looked to be asleep. The older woman seemed to be adjusting the
position of a bag of ice on the girl's shoulder.
    Unlike everyone else, Kasumi looked so similar that it was almost
shocking. Having slept through a good portion of it, Kimiko had missed
meeting Kasumi or Mousse on Sunday. The older woman's long chocolate
hair lightly rested upon her shoulders, freely down her back. Time had
been very generous to the woman, who looked much younger for one well
into middle age. Even in boring blue work scrubs, Kasumi held a regal
stature about her soft exterior.
    She rose from the bed and turned to face Kimiko, dropping her jaw.
The look could not have been explained any better than by calling it
shocked recognition. No sooner than Kimiko witnessed the lapse in
Kasumi's calm did it reappear on the woman's face.
    Kasumi whispered something to herself. More audibly this time, she
said, "You must be Kenichi's girlfriend." At her mention of the word
'girlfriend,' Kenichi, who had been preparing to sit next to his
sister, missed the bed and fell straight on his butt.
    Ignoring her nephew for a moment, the woman introduced herself
with a bow. "I am Kasumi Tendou." Her gaze then turned to Kenichi who
stood, rubbing his rear end.
    "Oh my, are you all right, Kenichi?" the woman asked, helping the
boy up. "Will you introduce me to her?"
    "Uh, yeah," he replied, sitting back on the bed. His eyes found
Kimiko for a moment, looking speculative, but then turned back to
Mayako. "I'd like to introduce you to Kimiko Nishiyama, but we're not
dating."
    "Hi," Kimiko said, glad the tension did not make anyone burst a
brain cell.
    "Oh, I'm sorry," Kasumi said, her eyes finding Kimiko's face
again. "Rintaro said Kenichi and his girlfriend would be coming, and
that the girl was hurt. I had no idea there would be more guests. Is
she still on the way?" Kimiko felt it best just to remain silent.
    "Err, uh, no," Kenichi said, looking rather uncomfortable. "I, uh,
that is to say..."
    "Saotome-san must have just been mistaken," Kimiko said quietly,
half returning Kasumi's stare, while feeling quite out of place. "I'm
sorry, Tendou-san, is something wrong?" Though she already knew the
reason, she had to ask the question to keep up her ruse, which thinned
by the moment.
    "So, you're not hurt?" Kasumi asked slowly, approaching Kimiko a
bit warily.
    Put off by Kasumi's shock and strange manner, Kimiko just stood
like a doe in the headlights of an oncoming car.
    "Kimiko?" Kenichi asked, looking over at her.
    She weakly smiled at him. "Well, I took a few hard knocks to the
head, and one to the cheek. But I think I'm okay now."
    "I should take a look at you anyway," Kasumi said. Close enough to
touch her, the woman gently did, tilting her head downwards slightly.
Kasumi did not have to do it far to see the top of her head, as the
woman towered over the short redhead.
    "Hmm, I think I'll need some better light than this," she said,
turning around to grab a white first aid kit from the bed. "Will you
follow me to the bathroom, Kimiko? The upstairs one has a really
bright light."
    Nodding to the older woman, Kimiko felt a bit of panic creep into
her chest. Would not have any place close to a lamp have suited? she
wondered, but followed the woman into the hall anyway.
    "So you're Kiyoshi Nishiyama's sister?" the woman asked as they
made their way down the hall.
    "Yes," Kimiko replied, and then grit her teeth.
    "Your brother is very nice boy," the other stated, exiting the
hall to turn onto the staircase that stood in directly to the right in
the foyer. "He visited my father a few times when he was younger."
    "He did?" Kimiko asked, a bit shocked by that. She did not know he
had that much contact with the Tendous.
    "Oh yes, but that was before Nishiyama-san adopted him into his
family. Several years before it in fact. He trained with father and
Uncle Genma, before taking a job out to the east. But you probably
know much more about it than me."
    At the end of the stairs, Kimiko said quietly, "Not really."
    Kasumi paused at this and looked back, but then continued past a
few more doors until she entered a large bathroom. Switching on the
light, the woman beckoned Kimiko in.
    One thing about the bathroom was that Kasumi had been right. It
was very bright and spacious. The floor space occupied the room in a
square, with a double set of shiny white sinks on the counters ahead
of her, a giant bathtub filled the left half of the room and a shower
to the right. Several stools stood against the counter, one of which
Kasumi pulled back and then patted.
    Obliging the woman, Kimiko sat down on the stool, nervously
pulling her skirt lower. Sitting with a miniskirt tended to leave her
panties unnecessarily exposed. Kasumi walked over and closed the door
before returning.
    "I'm really sorry you got involved in their little battles,"
Kasumi told her, gently tilting her head again. "Wherever those ones
go, they bring trouble in droves." She then started to look through
her hair, pulling it aside in patches.
    "I can handle my own," Kimiko stated, looking down to avoid
looking into Kasumi's breasts, especially since she exposed quite a
bit of cleavage at the angle she sat across from her.
    "You practice martial arts?" the woman asked after a moment. "This
might take a while. Your hair color makes it impossible to see if you
are bleeding or even cut."
    "Yes, I'm about as good as Rintaro," she mumbled.
    "Really?" Kasumi asked, drawing back a bit. "That's surprising.
You don't seem to be any older than fifteen."
    "Yeah, people always think that," Kimiko responded. "Sometimes
they tell me I'm thirteen or fourteen, but I'm actually a lot older
than that."
    "If you're lucky, everyone will always be a few years behind in
their guesses." Kasumi continued probing her head.
    "If I ever need any tips at how to stay looking so young," Kimiko
began, hoping to ward further discussion of her age, "I'll most
certainly ask you."
    "Why thank you," the woman said, seeming to glow a bit afterward.
"That's sweet of you. Where about do you think you hit your head?"
Kasumi's fingers combed locks on the right side of her head.
    "One of those guys knocked me onto the street," Kimiko answered,
thinking hard to remember the fight. "I think it was probably on the
back of my head, since I fell backwards. The other was into a brick
wall, but I don't remember where I hit my head exactly. Somewhere near
the front, or a side. My whole head hurt by then anyway."
    Walking behind Kimiko, the woman started picking through her hair
on the back of her head.



    "Consider avoiding fights in the near future," Kasumi advised the
redhead, as she found what she had been looking for. "There is an
abrasion here that could have been a lot more serious if you fell any
harder. I'll clean it for you, but you need to be a lot more careful."
    As Kasumi bent over and opened a drawer below the left sink, she
waited to hear an excuse. Kimiko made none, merely remaining silent as
the woman found a bottle antiseptic. She applied it to a piece of
gauze from the first aid kit and then touched the edge of the scrape.
Kimiko yelped and jerked her head.
    "Hold still."
    "Sorry," Kimiko apologized softly.
    Picking through strands of crimson red hair to find red lines
across a possible cut scalp had been a chore for Kasumi. A few traces
of blood dried together some clumps of hair on the back of her head.
Kasumi cleaned it thoroughly and then examined the small mark that
remained.
    "You're really lucky," she told the redhead. "You said the other
bump was on the side of your head?"
    "Yes, but more like the front right side, I think. It doesn't
sting anymore, so I don't remember."
    Clearing through more clumps of the bright hair, Kasumi wondered
about the girl. When she first saw Kimiko, Kasumi almost swore she saw
a ghost. If not for the roughed up, but very feminine clothing, she
would have immediately knew that to be Ranma. Her manner was all wrong
though. If Kasumi remembered anyone from so long ago, it was the boy
who caused so much trouble for her family.
    Finding nothing, Kasumi shook her head. "Other than that one
scrape, you look okay," Kasumi told the redhead. "You probably damaged
the concrete wall more than the surface of your head. Although, you
probably lost some of brain cells."
    "Wouldn't be the first time," the girl said with a chuckle.
    "When you see Rintaro," Kasumi began, looking at the girl's pretty
face, marred so by the bruise on her cheek, "tell him to get you a bag
with ice. It will keep your cheek from swelling more than it has." She
paused a moment, cupping the girl's chin with her hand. Aside from
looking like Ranma's female side, Ranma's mother as a teenager, and a
female version of Rintaro, she really did not know what all the fuss
was about. Akane had called her to tell her what she suspected, but
Kasumi would not accept the fact that the Ranma she knew would ever
become pregnant. It was trying to mix water with oil as far as she was
concerned.
    Ranma could have very well been this child's father, but thinking
that the girl could have been born from the womb of Ranma's female
side was ridiculous. Certainly Jusenkyou magic did not pervert people
that much, she reasoned.
    "Well, you should be okay, but if you experience any dizziness or
losses of consciousness, be sure to talk to me or a doctor. Aside from
your face, does anywhere else hurt?"
    Kimiko blinked and then looked down towards knees. When she looked
up again, she shrugged helplessly. "I think my clothes took the worst
of it."
    "Speaking of your clothes, did you fight dressed like that?" One
of Kasumi's eyebrows peaked as she looked at the girl. A miniskirt and
a cut off blouse hardly seemed adequate for fighting. She must have
though, considering the state of the apparel. The beige skirt and
white blouse had black streaks and dirt smeared about them so randomly
that it might have been a piece of artwork.
    "Yeah," Kimiko said, looking down at herself. "Martial artists
have to be able to fight wearing anything."
    "I understand that," Kasumi returned, but could not help wondering
if the girl had any modesty at all. "But you must have done some high
kicking. Wouldn't that be giving everyone around a peek at your
panties?"
    Crossing her legs mechanically, Kimiko's eyes bulged as her face
took a particularly dark flush. "I didn't think about that when I
dressed this morning. I just didn't want to look all trashy shopping
with Mayako, and I didn't expect to get in a brawl today. How I'm
dressed just doesn't come to mind when I am fighting for my life."
    "Next time consider shorts," Kasumi told her with a shake of her
head. "At least you wore modest underwear. Some girls these days wear
practically nothing underneath the tiniest skirts. It's so shameful."
    Kimiko smiled at her haphazardly. The pink in her cheeks gave
Kasumi the sense to move on.
    "Would you like a change of clothes?" the woman asked. "I could
get some of Reiko's clothes for you to borrow."
    "Oh no," Kimiko said with a quick shake of her head. "I just
bought some outfits today. I can wear a new one."
    "Okay, but consider showering first."
    "Ah heh, okay," the redhead replied. "Make sure Kenichi does, too.
He must have traveled across half of Tokyo today at light speed."
    "Will do," Kasumi said. Considering she probably would not have
another moment alone with the redhead, Kasumi figured she should be
straight with the girl. "Kimiko, do you mind if I ask you something
personal?"
    With wide eyes, Kimiko looked up at her after a moment and nodded
slowly.
    "Was your father named Ranma?"
    Still sitting on the stool, the girl nearly fell off as the stool
wobbled. "Whoa!" she exclaimed before clattering to the ground on her
side. "Damn."
    "Are you okay?" Kasumi asked, moving to help Kimiko to her feet.
The girl accepted her hand and stood up straight, dusting herself off.
    "Uh, yeah," the girl said, still a little flustered. "My birth
father is what you mean, isn't it?" She did not give the impression
like she wanted to talk about this.
    "Well, I know who your adopted father is," Kasumi told the girl,
speculating on her reaction. "I only ask, because you're the spitting
image of him. My sister, Akane thinks you have to be, considering
everything."
    "What's everything?" Kimiko asked.
    Kasumi realized her error in letting the redhead naively lead the
discussion with her question. Now she had to tell her about what she
hoped Kimiko would tell her in the first place. Her evasions were
truly first class.
    "He disappeared a long time ago, child," Kasumi said, lifting the
stool back up. "We don't talk about it, because it's a very painful
moment between the families. Everyone loved him very much."
    "What happened to him?" Kimiko asked, another question which
Kasumi was starting to get tired of. Here she was, giving away
everything for nothing.
    "I was hoping you could tell me," Kasumi whispered, sitting down.
"You can tell me while you clean yourself up, if you wish."
    "It's been a very long time since I've talked to my birth father,"
Kimiko told her, walking past her to the shower. "I was in a coma for
a long time after an accident. All I know is that he wasn't with me
when I woke up."
    Even after revealing so much, Kasumi realized she still knew very
little. The girl had not even confirmed the name of the man she spoke
of, though Kasumi did realize she purposefully avoided telling her.
    Starting the shower, Kimiko looked back at the woman. "A
significant portion of my life, I traveled the countryside with my
father. We never stayed in any place longer than a few weeks, and
tended to move on quickly. I knew he was running from something, but
he never told me what."
    That sounded more like Genma than the Ranma she remembered.
    "He taught me almost everything I know," Kimiko reminisced as she
removed her tiny top. "He never told me about my family or where we
came from. I never learned much about my mother during that time with
him on the road, just because we had left her when we were so young.
He always kept me at a distance, never letting on too much and always
putting things in terms of training."
    The more she talked, the more her life sounded like Ranma's.
Kasumi wondered just a moment if she were Ranma himself, instead of a
child. Aside from a major discrepancy in age, the girl's story could
have very well been told by Ranma. Her martial arts, according to
Akane, might have been taught directly from Ranma as well. Akane had
mentioned the girl knew things only a Saotome could have known during
her spar with Rintaro.
    Kasumi averted her eyes as Kimiko removed the rest of her clothes
and stepped into the shower. A quick glance proved that this could not
have been Ranma. Steam rose from her body as she showered behind the
glass that encased the shower. Heat quickly changed the clear glass to
the hue of peach that colored the bathroom. She did not change into a
boy.
    "Whoa!" the girl exclaimed from within the shower. "Didn't know it
would do that."
    Now that Kasumi thought about everything Kimiko told her, it could
have applied to Ranma also. Ranma would not have told Kimiko about her
mother if that were him. Considering how long Akane searched for him,
running away would have been the only way he could have escaped
unnoticed. Perhaps the reason it sounded so much like Genma was
because Ranma had in essence become the old man in his flight from
Akane, as the elder Saotome had fled from Nodoka.
    "You haven't seen your father since you woke up?" Kasumi asked,
cleaning up the few items she had used to examine Kimiko. She heard
the girl pause in her scrubbing.
    "He wasn't there when I woke up," she replied barely loud enough
for Kasumi to hear over the water. Her voice sounded more sad than
angry. "After all the crap he put me through, if he didn't want to be
there for me, why should I look for him?"
    "I understand," Kasumi responded, although she did not mean it.
    The sadness in her voice made Kasumi realize it must have really
hit a soft spot beneath the girl's formidable armor. "I'm sorry I
brought up those memories for you, dear. I didn't think it was such a
touchy subject for you."
    The girl continued her scrubbing, but did not respond to Kasumi's
apology. The older woman knew when she no longer was welcome to ask
questions. Kasumi gritted her teeth as she stared at the peach glass
that hid the shattered remains of Ranma's suspected child. She really
wanted to get to the heart of the mystery and she knew Kimiko had an
answer to a twenty-year-old question.
    "I'll have one of the boys bring your clothes up. The towels are
underneath the right sink. You can bathe if you want as well. Take all
the time you need."
    "Thank you, Tendou-san," Kasumi heard as she exited the bathroom.
No sooner did she slide the door open in front of her did she regret
confronting the girl. Ranma had proven to be unpredictable in the
past, but never when it came to his family. If Kimiko were truly
Ranma's daughter, where was he? Dropping the name had at least
confirmed she knew it.
    Kimiko's answers bothered her, even though she should have been
sympathetic for the child. Somehow, her return seemed to not be so
much by chance as by design. Kiyoshi or Nobukazu Nishiyama must have
had contact with Ranma early in his life to know who his daughter was.
That gave her a chill. She had not even known of the two Nishiyamas
until after Ranma's disappearance. Why would they not say anything?
Could the truth of what had happened been that bad?
    She temporarily put it out of her mind as she went in Reiko's room
to check on the poor girl. Between Mayako's dislocated arm and the
syringe, her daughter must have shorted a few brain circuits.

                          *       *       *

    For Mayako Tendou, the darkness of sleep was not filled with
dreams. She felt and saw nothing pain, and never even knew it had a
face. Though it was dark, obscured by shadows, she could see a pair of
eyes watching her, like black orbs darker than night, a spot of
nothing against a plain of stars. They never blinked and they saw her
as she lay in someone's arms. Daring not to move, even the slightest
bump shot a dull pain through her body.
    When she woke, the darkness and the eyes vanished, but the pain
did not. Her body ached as a whole, no spot free from pain. She heard
a voice as she opened her eyes, unable to understand the words. But
she recognized that voice, but could not put a name to the sound for a
moment, and then she recalled. Her brother, Kenichi. He must have come
to take away the pain, or at least she hoped.
    "Can you hear me?" he asked as she tried to focus.
    She lay on a bed. Her right arm felt terribly cold, and her left
leg felt numb. Her eyes focused on Kenichi's face, and she tried to
smile, but that only made her eye hurt.
    "You had me worried, butterfly," he whispered so softly in her ear
that it tickled. Butterfly. He had not called her that since
elementary school. She did not even remember why he called her that.
She did like butterflies back then...
    "Hi," she whispered back, aware of her whole body now. The pain
was not as bad as it had been in her dream, or when Rintaro had helped
her. The pain then almost caused her to black out, but she had held on
to show Rintaro she was made of tougher stuff. It had not lasted long
as she fell fast asleep from the exhaustion of so much pain.
    She felt his soft lips kiss her forehead, one of the few places
that did not hurt.
    "My body hurts," she whispered to him, not feeling energetic
enough to lift her head. How long was I out?"
    She felt Kenichi's fingers intertwine with hers, making her smile
weakly. His voice tickled her ear as he spoke. "Not long. A few
minutes or so."
    "Who's here now?"
    "Here now?" he asked. "Well, just me right now. Rintaro left to
carry Reiko to her room. She seemed a little out of it. Aunt Kasumi
took Kimiko to another room to clean her up, too. She had some nasty
looking bruises. The question is, how are you feeling?"
    "Did you catch the license of the speeding bus?" Mayako joked,
though her jaw felt a little raw. She must have bitten a whole in that
belt. Her blur in her vision started clearing, revealing Kenichi's
worried face.
    Kenichi chuckled lightly, kissing her forehead again. "Don't ever
duel one of them again, okay? They always pull something funny. They
even tried to gang on Ryosei last week, before Kimiko jumped in."
    "I didn't think Seiko would sink so low," she admitted, wincing as
she tried to move her leg a bit. "The katana I could handle, but the
surprise attack caught me off guard. It shouldn't have."
    She looked up at her brother, focusing on his face. He looked so
tired. Red stains marred his pretty brown eyes, even as his lids
seemed to droop a bit. Then she noticed a speck of blood on his
forehead. It seemed out of place against his tanned skin. No cuts or
abrasions ruined his smooth skin.
    "You have a little blood on your forehead," she whispered. She
laughed a bit as he scrubbed his head with his sleeve.
    "That get it?" he asked.
    "Yeah," she replied, smiling. It did not hurt as bad this time.
    "Rintaro's lip must have splashed me," he muttered, seemingly to
himself. He smiled back down at her. "No worries."
    A little confusion crept over her. Rintaro's lip? she wondered.
How could that have splashed him unless he...
    "Did you get in a fight with Rin-chan?" she asked suspiciously,
trying to glare at him, but the effort of hurt her eye.
    Kenichi lifted the bag of ice from her shoulder as she watched.
The paper towels covering it stuck with the bag as he balled it up and
then leaned over her. "Close your eyes."
    She shut her lids and felt him place it over her right eye.
Opening the other, she poked her tongue out at him. He laughed back as
he stood.
    "Don't evade my question," she admonished, using her open eye to
glare.
    "Yes," he said simply with a shrug. "I was so mad when I saw him
standing, not even injured with both you and Kimiko lying on the
concrete that I just snapped. I didn't even care that he didn't do
anything. The fact that he LET you get hurt..."
    "He saved me, you know," she interjected as his voice trailed off.
"Seiko meant to cut me up. He didn't let her do that."
    Kenichi nodded, bowing his head.
    "It's okay, though," she muttered. "I think you knocked some sense
into him."
    "How so?" he asked. "If he had any sense at all, he wouldn't let
people who care about him get hurt."
    "He respects my abilities," she responded, turning her head
slightly to look away from Kenichi. "And he wasn't too far off. I just
didn't get a chance to alert him until it was almost too late.
Afterwards, he carried me all the way here and popped my arm back into
place."
    "It wasn't broken?" Kenichi asked, poking her arm. It did not hurt
her at all, she realized. Only the throbbing in her shoulder really
hurt.
    "Kasumi said it was just dislocated."
    "HE fixed it?" Kenichi said, the shock clear in his voice. "What's
he a part time doctor now?"
    "Don't criticize him," she said with a scowl. "He did a lot for
me, and I'm thankful. Can't you be happy that he's finally coming back
to us?"
    "I'm not so naive to think he's just suddenly cured from being a
jackass."
    Mayako replied with a humph, but knew that Kenichi could not
easily forgive Rintaro. She hoped he would try for her sake though.
Mayako felt that she could fall in love with him again, if he would
let her.
    "You don't have to make that face," Kenichi said coyly. "I'll give
him a chance, but if he messes up like this again, I don't think I can
ever forgive him."
    "He won't," she said, sure of it. "I know he won't."
    At that moment, the creak of the door caught her ear, but she did
not hear anyone enter. She felt Kenichi's body stiffen as his grip on
her hand right hand tightened. Rintaro must have entered.
    "She's not dying," Rintaro's voice echoed from across the room.
"Let her breath a little or she won't wake up at all." The ever-
present ice in his voice emotionally chilled the air. Kenichi's grip
loosened from hers as he straightened and stood. His body no longer
blocked her view of the doors as she stared past his legs where the
eldest Saotome stood.
    Mayako knew this was where the bucks had to butt heads, and
decided to figuratively interject herself between them. She figured
that the best way to do that was to start making fun of people.
    "Oh Rin-chan, I didn't hear you come in. The usual clucking of the
hens didn't announce your presence." Kenichi seemed to lighten up as
she spoke up.
    Rintaro blinked as he looked down toward Mayako. His grimace
cracked slightly into a grin. "But, you just did, right?"
    Mayako's brows involuntarily crooked as she bit her lip at his
remark. The tension in her face lessened in  even though she could not
think of a retort, turning into a smile. She missed having people who
could figuratively go toe to toe with her.
    "Do you think I could have a word with her alone?" Rintaro asked
of Kenichi. Kenichi involuntarily rubbed his arm as glanced back at
Mayako..When she nodded to him, he shrugged and brushed past Rintaro,
knocking shoulders with no love lost.
    Mayako knew that Kenichi did not like Rintaro before, but it never
ceased to amaze her how deeply he resented the Saotome boy. She did
not even know the entire story behind the break in their story
together. They had been friends enough in junior high school.
    Not left to her thoughts any longer, Rintaro seemed happy that
Kenichi had walked far enough away and then closed the door to the
room with a sleepy motions. He did not seem as physically tired as he
seemed weary with the empty motions his life seemed to be from
Mayako's perspective. He did nothing but train, study and pick on
people for all she knew, but there was something about him that she
could never deny.
    The moment he walked toward her, his tender blue eyes staring at
her with a hopeless kind of sadness, she knew exactly why she could
never deny him what he wanted. Even when they had been platonic
friends and rivals, she had been inexplicably drawn to him. Back then,
she challenged him.
    He took her bother's place on the bed, sitting next to her. As he
sat she shifted her knees to brush up against his lower back. He
shifted slightly, not away from her, but closer to her lower thigh.
Without the use of one arm, she still managed to sit up and place a
pillow against the head board for her back.
    Rintaro did not turn to look at her right away. His black bangs
dangled in his face as he stared at the bottom of the dresser across
from him.
    "So..." Mayako queued, hoping to get something more than a little
contact out of him before her brother came storming back in.
Hopefully, he would admit he loved her the whole time they were apart,
and that he could not live without her. Now that was the type of ego
booster Mayako have loved to hear. She had to admit the chances were
poor, but she could always dream.
    "I'm sorry about your arm," he said quietly, not with usual spunk.
Kenichi's leaving seemed to have deflated his defenses somewhat.
    "I'm glad it was you who pushed it back in the right spot," she
told him, hoping he could get past the apology without her having to
shame him by acknowledging it. She wanted to lift his spirits, not
accept an apology for something of which he had no part.
    "I knew that Seiko was going to challenge you before it happened."
    Mayako blinked, wondering if she heard him right.
    "I swear I didn't know they'd play cheap like that, though," he
insisted the next moment, turning to look her in the eye. His eyes
looked a bit misty, but it could have been the low lighting in the
room.
    "How?" She asked him, still boggling how he could have known.
    "Jotaro confronted me while you and Nishiyama-san were at the
boutique. He asked me not to interfere." He wet his lips the next
second and turned his eyes downward. He did not seem the valiant
warrior king of her dreams and more like the sullen puppy expecting to
be struck for its behavior.
    "Why on earth would you do such a thing?" she demanded of him,
clenching her teeth at the very thought that he might have intended
her to be hurt. Pulling her hand from his, she looked at him, not sure
if this was the same person she knew as a child. Kenichi might have
been right after all.
    "I..." he began, drawing back into his shell by physically
distancing himself from her and becoming emotionally distant. She saw
it happen before.
    She would never get anything out of him if he felt she would cut
him off as he had her. She took his hand before he could slide
completely out of contact with her. He looked back up at her with
shocked eyes and his mouth ajar. It was not quite as gaping as she
might have preferred, but it would do.
    "I owed Jotaro a debt of honor from a few years back. It's hard to
explain to make it sound serious, but back then I thought it would be
the end of me. I prided myself on keeping perfect grades and perfect
behavior record." Rintaro furrowed his brow as he looked at their held
hands. "Jotaro covered for me once, when he shouldn't have. I never
expected him to take the heat that was mine. And so I look the other
way once and a while when he asks me to."
    Something stirred in Mayako's head as he told her his vague debt
to Jotaro, someone who had plagued the existence of not only the
school, but everyone in the Nerima ward. He had been expelled from the
junior high they all attended at the time, ruining his chances of
entering any type of esteemed colleges. It had been a slight loss to
Jotaro who probably would never get beyond preparatory colleges.
    However, the loss would have been severe to Rintaro, who almost
always scored insanely good grades and had high aspirations for
college. He managed to avoid many close calls with the authorities in
the past for fighting, and other prankster activities that some would
consider vandalism.
    "I didn't think Seiko would have the guts to pull a blade on you,
and even bring help once she lost. I didn't think, and I know I'm
totally responsible for your pain." He grimaced, adding, "And
Nishiyama-san's, too."
    His clammy hand showed more emotion than his rock face, shaking
ever so slightly as she reassuringly gripped it. "Rintaro, if you want
to be with me, you have to look out for me before anything else. That
means you have to think what's more important to you."
    She gladly welcomed his half-smile and solemn nod.
    "Now that we have that clear, go get me a drink, slave."
    He barked a quick laugh and quickly obeyed.

                          *       *       *

    After his brief conflict with Rintaro, Kenichi had retreated into
his Aunt Kasumi's perfect kitchen, where she somehow had time to scrub
every surface, and still work full time as a nurse for the local
hospital. The kitchen was much like his at home, except it did not
have a separate door leading into it, but rather swing doors that an
American western might have for a saloon. The place was at least twice
as large with a few modern appliances that the Tendou house lacked,
like a dishwasher and dish dispenser that automatically sorted and
stored dishes for the user.
    Standing in front of the refrigerator, Kenichi held his hand
outstretched with an empty glass in his hand in an attempt to acquire
a glass of water. A solitary ice cube fell into the glass, but none
followed the first. He heard the rumbling of the refrigerator trying
to pour ice from the hole above his glass, but his glass still
remained nearly empty. He closed his eyes, shook his head and felt the
day had a whole slough of torments before he could get to his bed and
put it all behind him.
    Ducking his head, he turned his head to look up at the facet and
saw the ice suspended above his face, heavily clogged with the small
cubes. He stood up straight once more, and then replaced his glass
underneath the device. Using his right index finger, he pushed it up
and felt the pieces of ice. With one good push, he released the clog
and filled his glass very quickly.
    Removing his glass to stop the flow of ice cubes, he watched in
dread as the ice kept falling, and falling and falling until he put
his glass in the way to stop it.
    "Damn it, you stupid piece of shit!" he cursed, kicking the base
of the refrigerator door.
    "That's not going to stop it from filling the kitchen and your
empty head with ice cubes."
    Kenichi cocked his head to the side to see his cousin staring at
him with a grin. He glared at her with all the spite he could muster,
but that only made her laugh out loud.
    "My hopeless, hopeless cousin, I hope your future wife can make up
for your utter lack of common sense." Reiko walked up to him, pushed
him aside and lifted the release button out from its position, stuck
against the glass. She then pushed another button and filled his glass
with water. She put the glass to her lips and took a long draft before
offering it to him.
    "Thanks, but I'm not thirsty anymore," he quietly said, not able
to think of anything witty with which to reply. Why did Mayako get
that gene? He could have said something about her fainting spell, but
that was more cruelty than comedy.
    "Oh, you can use the towel over there to clean this up now." With
that said, she left as quietly as she entered, sipping his glass of
water on the way out.
    It took him a few minutes to gather all the ice that had spilt
onto the floor and empty it into the sink. As he finished and started
wiping the water from the floor, he heard someone enter the kitchen.
He looked up and saw his aunt standing above him. She crouched down
beside him.
    "The ice machine?" she asked.
    "Yeah," he replied. His eyes still glanced about the floor,
scanning for any shine that might be the a pool of water he missed.
    "I've been meaning to have the fixed, but something always comes
up." Kasumi stood and looked down at him with a smile. "Are you hungry
at all? I could make something up."
    His mouth salivated a bit hearing this, but she had just come home
from work and he did not want to impose on her. "I'm okay, but thank
you, Aunt Kasumi." His stomach grumbled at his mouth's betrayal.
    "I'm going to go check up on Rei-chan then."
    As she turned to leave, he told her, "She's up, but she's probably
in her room anyway." Kasumi nodded and left him alone in the kitchen.
    The thought of getting another glass of water sounded bad, so he
took a second glass down from the cupboard, which he had left open in
the first place and filled his glass with tap water. As he put the
glass to his lips, he heard the door to the guest room where Mayako
had been resting open. A few moments later, Rintaro stepped in.
    He cooly regarded Kenichi in silence at the entrance of the
kitchen, but quickly broke his stare and passed Kenichi to acquire a
glass from the cupboard as well. As he went to fill the glass with
ice, Kenichi considered telling him that the button for the ice
sticks, but decided Rintaro deserved to clean up the mess of ice cubes
that would result from his ignorance.
    Unfortunately for Kenichi's mood, Rintaro did not have that
problem and easily filled the glass with ice and then filtered water.
He turned and did not drink from the glass, but regarded Kenichi again
with his hard blue eyes.
    "Enjoy your walk?" the boy asked of him. Kenichi could not tell if
that was supposed to be an insult or some sort of valid question.
Rintaro did not betray anything from his face or body. He simply stood
there calmly.
    "It was okay," Kenichi replied, taking a sip of the tap water. He
grimaced, realizing they did not have a filter on their tap. The water
tasted like it had been used for boiling something greasy and then
simply returned to the faucet.
    "They probably have soda pop, you know," Rintaro said. Apparently
he noticed the face Kenichi had made. Kenichi only afforded the boy a
shrug in return. He would not engage in any conversation with him
unless he had to. "Probably some beer, too."
    "I don't drink," Kenichi said, glaring at Rintaro for the
implication.
    "Maybe you should look into it," Rintaro said, betraying the
beginnings of a smile. "I know I would if I had your brain. Not much
to lose there."
    "Yeah, take up the bottle and end up like you," Kenichi retorted,
not entirely jesting. "That would make us twins. We could roam the
countryside challenging cows. What a manga that would make."
    "Imaginative aren't you? You gonna draw that manga with your sub
par artistic ability?"
    "It's a good thing I'm a better artist than you are martial
artist, or I might be stuck training babies how to slap crayons
against paper, like you'll be teaching them to crawl the rest of your
life."
    Rintaro chuckled and shrugged. "Hey, someone's got to teach you."
    Kenichi nearly spit his wretched tap water but forced himself to
swallow it before joining Rintaro in a laugh.
    "Jeez, do I have to teach you how to swallow, too? I mean, your
shirt is soaked already. Back to the training cups for you."
    "Okay, okay," Kenichi said with a wave of his hand. "Just don't go
around being a complete baka just because you're strong."
    Rintaro nodded and then turned, leaving Kenichi alone in the
kitchen again. He quickly dumped the remainder of his glass of water
into the sink, and then put the empty container into the dishwasher.
He stood around for a moment, contemplating going back to see what his
sister and Rintaro were up to, but nixed that idea after another
second. Mayako would just send him out again.
    Exiting through the swinging doors, he walked into the adjacent
dining room, which immediately led to the front door the stairs. He
stopped and looked up the stairs, his mind suddenly back on the
redhead that walked him here. It had not felt right, asking if he
could go with her to China, but he needed to get it off his chest.
From her tone, he honestly did not believe she would invite him, but
he had to ask for his own sake.
    She must have come here with a closed heart, and nothing he could
have done would have opened it for anyone. The look on her face when
he had asked if she would let him go with her made him feel guilty. He
was not quite sure how she felt about his request, or him for that
matter, but it did not match his enamor for her.
    Kenichi shook his head and decided to wait in the family room,
where he would wait for Kimiko to finish her shower.

                          *       *       *

    The tall man in the shabby, beige overcoat examined a ripped
yellow piece of paper clutched tightly in his hand. Nodoka Saotome
watched him closely as he stood outside the gate to her family's home.
Methodically chopping the carrots for the salad she was making for
later, she divided her attention between food preparation and watching
the stranger.
    After another moment, the man reached for the latch to the gate
and opened it, creating a loud squeak. He entered her property,
closing the gate after him. She made a mental note to oil the gate as
he walked through her modest garden in the patio. She examined him
more closely as he neared her. His eyes hid in the shadows of a wide-
brimmed, American hat. He might have been an American businessman or a
cliche detective, but Nodoka did not like the look about him. His
shadowed face concerned her only slightly less than his mud-caked,
rough brown boots.
    Yelping in surprise, Nodoka looked down and realized she had
lightly sliced the nail of her thumb, gouging it but not cutting any
skin. Looking through the window again, she realized the man would be
at her door in a few seconds. Removing her apron, Nodoka hung it on a
peg next to her refrigerator as the man solidly knocked on the door.
    She walked through the right portal from the kitchen into the
living room, and then walked directly to her left where the front door
stood. She checked her hair with her right hand as she reached for the
knob with her left.
    Opening the door as far as the chain would allow, Nodoka revealed
the stranger, but still could not see the man's face in the shade of
her covered patio. He seemed even taller than he had when she saw him
through the window.
    "Good afternoon," the man said with a slight bow of his head.
    "Yes, it is," she replied sternly with a stiff incline of her
head.
    "I hope I'm not interrupting anything," he said, though she
doubted he meant it. He had an impetuousness to his personality that
she mistrusted. She could see through the overcoat to his rough
interior.
    "No, what can I do for you, sir?" she asked as demurely as she
could, resisting the urge to snap and tell him to leave.
    "Would I be correct in assuming that you are Nodoka Saotome, wife
of Genma?"
    Her eyes narrowed suspiciously as he said this, but she nodded in
spite of herself.
    "Would your husband be home at the moment?" the man asked a moment
later, his head cocking to the side.
    "No," she curtly told him, taking the door in her hands, ready to
close it at a momentary misstep from the stranger. "He isn't. If you
leave your number with me though, I can relay it to him when he comes
home."
    He slowly shook his head. "Would you happen to know where he is,
Saotome-san?" The unsavory nature of his question made her shiver from
behind the door. Nodoka Saotome knew a predator when she saw one, and
knew that this man had no good intentions for her husband.
    "I'm afraid I do not, sir," she replied as calmly as she could.
"Now if you'll excuse me, I have a meal to prepare." She pushed the
door closed, but something obstructed it and it unexpectedly inched
inward at her.
    "If you will forgive me, I do need to locate him," the man said so
calmly that it chilled Nodoka.
    Firmly pushing the door with both of her hands, Nodoka felt her
heart pounding quickly in her chest. "I don't know where he is!"
    "I merely wish to question him about another person, Saotome-san,"
he factually stated, blocking the door with the toe of his foot. "Do
not hide his whereabouts from me. He will not be harmed."
    Nodoka did not believe that for a moment, abandoning the door for
the katana at the mantle of the living room. Adrenaline already
coursed through her veins as she nearly tripped over the coffee table
that lay in the way of her path. Quickly taking the family blade down
from its place at the mantle, Nodoka unsheathed it in one quick motion
and discarded the scabbard onto the floor.
    The man had not tried to force his way into her house yet, but she
had little doubt he would try if she did not answer him.
    "Leave the premises of my property immediately," she shouted at
him. "I'm calling the police now." Although she did not make good on
her threat, she gauged his reaction.
    "That won't be necessary," he replied solemnly. The four inch
shadow he cast from what little light outside disappeared from the
ground inside her house. She quickly rushed to the front door and
closed it, locking it. After that, she hurried to the kitchen window
to make sure he departed.
    However, the gate still stood closed with no sign of the man, and
yet she had not heard the gate squeak. Panic that had already touched
her, began to well up in her stomach, turning it over as she scanned
for him. She decided to call the police after all, just in case he
decided to try in break in.
    Unfortunately, the only two phones in the house were in the
parlor, near the back of the house and in Rintaro's room, which
usually stood locked. The parlor was adjacent to the living room.
Hurrying through the living room, she still held the katana tightly in
her hands.
    Making her way past the couch in the living room and into the
parlor, she stopped in front of the cordless phone recharger, but did
not see the phone in sight. Thinking hard, she tried to remember where
she used it last. As the memory of where she left the receiver came
back to her, the shattering of a window somewhere in the kitchen sends
her in a dead run for the stairs.
    A slight ringing developed in her ears as she charged up the
single flight of stairs and into the small hall that led to her room.
The door was open and she rushed to the side of her bed and quickly
lifted the receiver. Pressing the "talk" button, she pressed the phone
to her ear and waited for a dial tone, but heard nothing. Glancing at
the digital display of the phone, it read "Batteries low."
    Her jaw fell slightly ajar as she heard heavy boots thudding up
the stairs.
    Pushing out of her room, still clutching her katana, she quickly
cut at the lock of Rintaro's door. The clink of metal on metal hurt
her ears that already strained to hear her attackers approach. A
second slash brought the lock from the latch on the door. It fell to
the floor as she caught a glimpse of the stranger approaching her from
the other end of the hall.
    Throwing Rintaro's door open, she rushed in and then closed and
locked the door behind her. Unfortunately, it was only one of the
flimsy doorknob locks that could be easily picked open with any small,
thin object. His room was incredibly neat, and she quickly found the
phone, grabbing it and glancing at the receiver for the memory button
that would dial the police.
    Unfortunately, Rintaro did not have a single item listed under his
memory keys. She tried the first one anyway, but nothing happened. He
must not have entered any numbers on his memory key. In fact, it
occurred to her the moment before the man kicked down the door to the
room, that she had never noticed any outgoing calls from Rintaro's
room on the phone bill since they had installed it two years ago in an
attempt to get him to be more social.
    The sound of the man's heavy boot crashing against the door was
only shortly followed by a thick crack and the sight of the flimsy
wooden door crashing down onto Rintaro's hardwood floors.
    Not one to back down, Nodoka dropped the phone and readied her
katana.
    "I warn you, I am learned in Kendo and I'm not afraid to use my
family's blade." Nodoka's threat seemed hollow to even her own ears,
as she had hardly practiced in the last fifteen or twenty years, ever
since she had her second child.
    The man rushed her in spite of her outstretched blade. She raised
the blade above her head and then brought it down in a forward slash,
but the man was too quick, knocking the blade to the side and drawing
far too close for her to strike a second time. She attempted to jump
over her son's bed in order to get away from the man, but he caught
her leg. She came down face first into Rintaro's pillow.
    "Where's Genma?!" the man demanded, raising his voice for the
first time.
    Nodoka barely managed to scream before he lifted her by the back
of her shoulders and spun her around.
    "I will not ask a second time!" He struck her across the face,
knocking her across the room. She tumbled across the bed as the
strength of his slap sent her sprawling. Her head spun and her eye
stung terribly.



    After a few more slaps, the stubborn woman divulged her husband's
whereabouts to the man in the overcoat. He smirked at her face as she
stared at him, still dazed by the attack. Genma Saotome would soon be
in his hands, and then he would ring his neck, right after acquiring
the information he needed to complete his task. No one would stand in
the way of his honor.
    His new destination worked out well, killing two birds with one
stone.

                          *       *       *

    Wispy white clouds twirled ever so slowly in the beautiful blue
sky above the head of the Ryouga. He lazily stared into the heavens
above him, enjoying the rare cool breeze that caressed his half-nude
body. Stripped to the waist, he enjoyed his afternoon more with every
breath he took, lying back on the reclining chair he had found in the
back of the house near the dojo.. He felt his body warming from flesh
to bone. The weather trends of late, from north to south of the island
had kept him dodging rainstorms and bundled up to avoid freezing.
    Locked out of his own home, Ryouga no longer felt so annoyed as he
had when he arrived to an empty house. Akane, her father and the kids
could be anywhere, doing anything, and he not right to feel any
animosity for them. He had been gone for weeks, or even a month this
time, but he was not quite sure, which was longer than usual. On such
a beautiful day, his mood improved substantially.
    After what seemed like hours, someone had returned home. The
opening gate alerted him and he sat up, quickly putting on the uniform
he borrowed from his son's locker. By the position of the sun, he
guessed it would probably be three or four in the afternoon. After a
moment, Soun and Genma walked through the gate together, seemingly
arguing about something. They looked as they usually did, older than
when he had first met them, but still ageless in their retirement and
wearing their familiar gis that Kasumi and Nodoka must have many a
fine day repairing the heavily patched garments.
    Their words tapered off when they saw Ryouga waiting for them.
Ryouga tried to gauge their moods by their faces, but that was only
possible with Genma, whose face lit up like a street light in welcome.
Soun seemed a bit pensive in his expression, perhaps angry at Ryouga's
longer than average disappearance. The old man had never come down on
him before about it, but he obviously would sympathize more with Akane
than his directionally challenged son-in-law.
    Ryouga approached the two men and stopped a few feet from them.
Genma closed the space and reached his hand forward to shake Ryouga's
firmly.
    "It's good to see your back, Hibiki-kun," he said jovially, his
mood must have been good previous to Ryouga's arrival, for Genma never
greeted him this warmly, shaking his hand with a merry vigor.
    "I'm happy to be back," Ryouga replied with a smile. He turned to
Soun who extended his hand a moment later. "Good day, father Soun." He
bowed his head respectfully to his father-in-law and smiled.
    "It's been a while, Ryouga-kun," Soun said a bit warmer, smiling
after he shook his hand. "I'm glad you have returned. Much has
transpired since you left."
    The three men walked to across the brick walkway to the front
door, where Soun reached into his
    "I'm afraid I'm locked out," Ryouga stated as Genma and Soun
stopped at the front door. "I must not have brought my keys with me
when I left."
    Soun and Genma chuckled at his remark as Soun bent over and pulled
a key out from a flower pot near the door of the house.
    Ryouga passively watched the old men open the door and enter. For
a brief moment, he felt compelled to turn around and lose himself. A
shiver ran down his spine as he walked through the doorway after them.
He rarely ignored his gut, but time away from his family was becoming
unbearable.
    His hunger started to growl as he crossed the threshold. He
traveled many days without anything but his own meagerly prepared
meals. Although he knew she was no cook, Akane could make some ok
basic meals. They tended to become leftovers quickly, even when she
made them properly.
    To his surprise, the fridge was empty.
    "Oh, I forgot to say," Soun said to him as he stared at the empty
refrigerator. "Akane, Shintaro and Eiji went shopping. They'll be back
later."
    From the other room, Genma added, joining them in the kitchen. "If
you know what's good for you, boy, you'll be full by the time she gets
back!"
    Soun coughed in a unconvincing rebuttal.
    The thought of Akane exciting and cooking for him sent another
chill down his spine. Maybe his gut could sense death in his next
meal. "Where did you two eat then?"
    "With my wife," Genma said with a smile on his face. "She made far
too much, I'm afraid to say."
    Ryouga tried to picture Genma's house in his head, but his mind
came up blank. He would just get lost trying to get there.
    "I'll take you there, Hibiki-kun," Genma offered, quit out of
character for him, Ryouga thought, until the old man added, "I just
found another spot to fill."
    "If you need help getting back, I'll send one of the kids to get
you." Soun warmly patted Ryouga's shoulder. "Good night to you,
Ryouga-kun and Saotome-kun. It is time for me to practice before
dinner." He left the kitchen.
    To Ryouga's relief, he would not be alone for this trip.

                          *       *       *

    The walk home took so much longer than Kenichi was used to. His
aunt's house was only a train stop and a half away, which took almost
no time on bike, took the better part of an hour on foot. With one
bike slashed, the four decided to walk both of the bikes home
together. Since his cousin offered to take the borrowed bike back to
its owner at the fruit stand he used to work at the following day,
they had two bikes to four people and only one worked.If only Reiko
owned a bike, Kenichi would have almost assuredly been able to have
Kimiko as a passenger. The idea of being so close to her again made
his heart race.
    Now, the four of them walked separate, except for Rintaro who
hunched as he walked to support Mayako's good shoulder as they walked.
She probably did not need it, Kenichi reasoned, but something was
happening between them, and he did not want to interfere, lest he
evoke his sister's anger.
    Both he and Kimiko walked bikes like they had the earlier in the
day. He felt eager to get her alone again. Everything came back to
her. His entire focus felt lost around her. He used to be the most
grounded person in the group. Now he felt like he could fly if she
asked.
    Kimiko had Mayako's bike on her left arm, placing it in between
him and her. She had only shot one glance at him the entire time, and
now she seemed to be avoiding both eye contact and a conversation. Her
clean red hair, still damp from her shower, lay freely on her
shoulders, leaving damp marks on her sky blue tank top. He watched the
red locks bounce with each step.
    "Watch it," Kimiko told him, looking at him quickly.
    Surprised by her sudden words, he looked back at her. She merely
looked ahead of him. He almost walked into a lamp post in his
obliviousness to everything but her.
    "Thanks," he sheepishly replied. As they continued their journey
home, he still kept his eyes on her. "So that's what it takes to get
you to talk tonight."
    "Huh?" she said, furrowing her brows, but keeping her eyes forward
"What do you mean?"
    "It took me almost walking into a pole to get you to talk. You've
been avoiding me ever sense we left."
    She finally turned to look at him, her piercing blue eyes looking
tired. They stared at each other for what seemed an uncomfortably long
time before she moved to put the bike to her right side, but she
merely resumed their shared stare.
    "So, what do you want to talk about?"
    Kenichi shrugged, not holding back his smile. "I don't know. I
just want to walk with you."
    She blinked slowly staring at him as if he spoke in tongues.
"Isn't that what we're doing?" She seemed more determined to keep her
eyes on his, making him even feel a little uncomfortable, and he was
the one who enjoyed staring contests.
    "Walking beside me doesn't me you're walking with me," he said
quietly. She still look confused. "Two people can walk next to each
other for twenty years and never walk with each other. They're merely
sharing space. Walking with each other means acknowledging the other's
existence and sharing words or a feeling."
    Kimiko finally broke her stare, her baby blue eyes glancing up and
down his body. "I acknowledge you, Kenichi. That mean we're walking
with each other?"
    His smile broadening, Kenichi nodded.
    "Good, because it's the least you deserve," she said mysteriously.
"I didn't mean to ignore you. I was just thinking. You know, deep
stuff." She smiled back. "I have a lot to decide before I go back to
the hotel tonight."
    Kenichi's heart picked up with his next thought. "What if you
stayed tonight? Don't go to that lonely hotel. Kick it with us. We can
tell stories or watch a movie, or something."
    With a shrug of her shoulders, Kimiko looked forward with unease
in her face. "I don't want to burden your family anymore." He would
have immediately answered her and said she was not in anyway a burden,
but the way she said it carried more weight than he could interpret.
    "Why do you think you're a burden?"
    She walked a bit closer, nearly touching him with her free left
arm as they traveled in step. "Trouble follows me wherever I go."
    Kenichi followed her thought to its logical conclusion. "You can't
blame yourself for Mayako's injury. That was something brewing before
you even came here." He put his free right hand on her shoulder. The
contact made his heart jump again. The butterflies in his stomach
wreaked havoc on his mouth. He wanted to say more, but felt unnerved
by his own move.
    "You might not think it, but this type of thing happens a lot
around me."
    The street lights suddenly turned on as they walked. He watched
her eyes glance up at them, fall to meet his and then look down at his
hand on her arm.
    "What?" she looked a little bewildered, meeting his stare again.
    "You're beautiful," Kenichi risked, unable to look away. She
almost stumbled, but holding her, he was easily able to correct her
imbalance. "Are you okay?"
    "Why do you think I'm beautiful?" she asked, ignoring his
question. Their conversation began to mimic the earlier one they had
with him explaining his feelings for her.
    "I kind of answered that already," he said, trying to wiggle his
way out of the catch-22 she asked him. "Let me reverse this one on
you. What do you think about me? Your real, honest, dead-hearted
truth."
    Kimiko's eyes widened when he asked her. "You answered already?"
She turned to stare at her hand that held the bike. "Oh. Right. But
seeing beauty in someone is different than why you like them."
    "Scared to answer my question?"
    "No!" She looked at him, her cheeks red. "I'm not scared. I just
don't know how to answer that."
    "Let me help. You start like this: Kenichi, I think you're blah,
blah, blah, and I like blah, blah, blah about you, and don't like
blah, blah, blah about you."
    She narrowed her eyes for a moment, but then giggled at him.
"Kenichi no baka. You know that's not what I meant."
    Looking out ahead of him, Kenichi watched the front wheel of his
own bike flop around. "Well, okay, how about this. What do you look
for in someone you would date?"
    "Why do you want to know something stupid like that?" Kimiko
demanded, the tone in her voice betraying her agitation. When Kenichi
looked at her, he saw the tension in her eyes. Quieter this time,
Kimiko spoke again. "What do you want from me, Kenichi Tendou? I'm
just a homeless girl with no future." She turned to face him again
with those eyes.
    Kenichi fell back, more than a little surprised at her anger. Her
eyes softened when she saw his reaction.
    "I'm sorry," she quietly apologized, bowing her head slightly.
    "No, I'm sorry," he replied quickly. He wanted to touch her arm
again, but felt it might be inappropriate. "I was only asking in play.
I'm sorry if I offended you."
    She shook her head. "You didn't. I don't know why I reacted like I
did. I'm just feeling a little off today."
    The four of them arrived at the train station. The commuter train
to Nerima was already there as they walked up the stairs to the
station. They hurried and piled into the last compartment. Rintaro and
Mayako took the corner seat at the read of the train, while Kimiko and
Kenichi gave them some space and sat across from them and a few chairs
down. The empty train gave them plenty of privacy.
    With the bikes hanging on the rack above them, the two finally
found the place for the rest of their conversation. He watched her as
she slid to the end of the row nearest to the window. He noticed that
her navy blue Capri pants matched the color of the cushioned chair.
    Before Kenichi began to speak, Kimiko quickly cut him off.
    "Before you say anything, I want to tell you something."
    He nodded.
    "I don't date much," she began, scooting in so close that her left
thigh ran into his right. The contact made his heart beat just a bit
faster. "I don't even consider people for dating. I never really did.
The first person I ever loved sort of fell on me.  I didn't even want
to go out with her for the longest time."
    Her? Kenichi thought, his mind bewildered. As she continued her
story, he could not help but be confused at the details. She spoke as
if she might not ever get a chance.
    "Before I knew it, we were going to be married by the end of high
school. I didn't think it would ever happen like that, but it did."
She put her hand on his shoulder fondly, her smile marred only by the
pain in her eyes. "One day I was just traveling around Japan and
China, and the next I was engaged. I focused on my training so hard
that I almost took her for granted. Now, I see you look confused, but
please just bear with me. I didn't tell you this on a whim."
    Kenichi tried to digest what she said, but from the feminine
pronoun of her significant other to the part about being engaged, he
really did not know what to think.
    "What I'm trying to say is that my past is really screwed up. More
screwed up than you can possibly believe. And I've lied about my past
and who I am since we first met. But before I say anymore, I want you
to swear on your honor, your family and your very life that you won't
repeat to anyone what I'm about to tell you."



    "I swear by my honor, my family and my life that I won't ever
speak a word of what you'll tell me." The serious tone of Kenichi's
voice spoke volumes about his nature. Kimiko knew she could trust him
with her secret, but she wondered how much he could accept. She smiled
in spite of herself.
    "Well, since we don't have much time until the train arrives, I'll
give you the brief version. It all starts in this place you might have
heard of: Jusenkyou." Kenichi's eyes widened when she said the name.
She continued. "I thought you'd know it, with your family's history."
    He cocked his head and stared at her. "Everyone knows about
Jusenkyou."
    It was Kimiko's turn to be surprised. "Everyone?"
    "Yeah," Kenichi simply said. "Well, at least everyone in Nerima.
All kinds of people from there got cursed, including the principal of
my high school, my aunt Shampoo and a few others."
    With the steam of her story all released, Kimiko felt a little
disappointed, although that made it easier for him to at least believe
her story.
    "Hey, how do you know about it?" Kenichi asked, cutting right back
into her story. She had to tell him about her past now. She could not
help entertaining the thought of bringing such a great person with her
to China, even though she knew it would be out of the question.
    "That's what I was going to tell you," Kimiko began when Kenichi
put his hand to his mouth.
    "Did your brother get cursed? I heard he goes to China a lot."
    Kimiko shook her head at his question. "I did."
    Hearing that, Kenichi furrowed his brows and looked at her
skeptically.
    "I'm serious here," she told him. "I'm not trying to tell you
anymore lies. I swear."
    "Okay, I'm sorry," Kenichi said waving his hand in deferment. "Go
on."
    "Alright," she began again, watching his mouth to make sure he did
not have anything left to say. "My pop and I went there some years
back. He took me out of school a few months early so we could travel
around the country. It wasn't long before some guy convinced my dad
over a sake to go with him to China, to make out on some investment.
The guy was full of B. S., but my pop didn't know that. He told me it
was some training trip that we were going on.
    "Anyway, when we got to China, we went to this place where they
had guides to all the remote training grounds. Jusenkyou wasn't close,
so we took a bus part of the way and walked the rest. When we got
there, we didn't listen to the guide who was yelling at us half in
Chinese and Japanese. Well, we both fell in good."
    Kenichi looked at her in wonder. He then put his hand to his chin
and squinted his eyes in thought. "Wait, but we fell in the koi pond
together on Sunday. You didn't change."
    She nodded in response. "I know, but that's the kicker. The curse
stuck, so hot water doesn't work anymore."
    With a half-smile, Kenichi stared at her. "You mean you beat it?"
    Shaking her head, Kimiko could only say, "It beat me."
    Kenichi frowned, looking her up and down. He thought about it for
a few moments. She could tell he was trying hard by the strained look
on his face.
    "I'll make this easy for you," she told him solemnly. "The way you
see me now--it's my cursed form."
    His jaw gaped open.
    "Yeah," she agreed, turning her head to look towards the front of
the train car. "I looked a lot different than I do now."
    "What, did you get shorter?" Kenichi asked, poking her arm in fun.
"I don't see what else could have changed."
    "Well, yes, that among other things," Kimiko quietly replied.
    "Be blunt with me," Kenichi said to her back. "I don't know what
you're getting at. If this is your cursed form, you got off easy.
Everyone else turns into an animal. My aunt Shampoo turns into a
small, purple cat."
    Hearing the word cat sent a shiver down Kimiko's spine. She turned
back to face the youth. He no longer looked at all like Akane to her
eyes. Although they shared the same eyes and chin, his cheeks looked a
bit wider, and his hairline was a little higher. The longer she came
to know him, the less he seemed Akane's child and the more he seemed
like a peer.
    Kimiko took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Pressure felt like
it was building in her chest. She felt like crying, but held it back.
This was not a place for that.
    "I need you to promise one more thing," Kimiko whispered. She kept
her eyes closed. She took in another breath. "Promise you won't get
mad when I tell you?"
    "I can't promise that," he said with a wry grin. "Short of you
being an animal and falling into a person pool, I can't think of
anything that would throw me for a loop."
    "I was a boy," she said a moment after he spoke, unable to look at
the reaction on his face. She could not bear it. The admission felt
wrong now, as if she had been lying to herself as well as him. She
looked back at the things that felt wrong that she had felt
comfortable with before, such as using the girl's locker room, the
girl's bathroom, not to mentioning kissing Kenichi. If she had been in
his place at the same age, she would have been sickened to her
stomach.
    It was in realizations such as that which made her uneasy with her
decision to tell him. She was jeopardizing only her momentary
friendship with the son of her ex-fiancée.
    "I take it back," he whispered.
    The unease in her chest became unbearable and a tear slipped past
her defenses and out of nowhere. She gasped suddenly, unaware she had
been holding her breath. She slit her eyes open to view his face. He
harshly stared at the seats across from them.
    "So it changed your gender?" he asked, gritting his teeth. He
seemed unable to look at her. Kimiko could only imagine the pain this
was causing him, but she had to tell him. He was the closest thing she
had to a real friend here.
    "Yes," she whispered back, trying to hold back more tears. She
thought telling him would be freeing, but all it felt was like she
betrayed him.
    "Wow, I didn't see that one coming," he said quietly, putting his
hands on his knees.
    When she saw his reaction, she had little doubt that she just lost
a friend. He pressed his fingertips to his forehead, his mouth open
and his eyes fixated on his knees. Another tear dripped down her
cheek, but she barely noticed it until it reached her lips. She wiped
it away and turned to look out the window of the train. She recognized
their location. They were close to his home.
    "Do you understand what I told you?" she asked quietly, observing
him closely. He still did not look at her. She wondered if he ever
would again.
    "Yes," he replied, his voice strained. "I understand the words,
but what am I supposed to say to them? It's not something you hear
every day, you know?"
    He looked up and out through the window as the train's breaks
engaged, slowly bringing the car to a halt. She could feel the tension
in the air as he obviously avoided looking at her. As he stood up, she
copied him, trying to calm herself down. Looking away from everyone
herself as the other two joined them, Kimiko occupied herself with
retrieving the bike she carried.
    The four youth piled out of the train as the doors slid open.
Mayako walked out on her own with Rintaro right behind her. They did
not seem to notice anything, too preoccupied with each other. Kenichi
followed them, his step slower than usual. He glanced back at Kimiko
as she followed him out, but turned to face forward quickly.
    The walk home seemed like it was going to be one of the longest of
her life.

                          *       *       *

    A resounding knock on the door startled Soun awake. He had fallen
asleep on the back porch, cooling off after performing a few katas. He
no longer had the stamina of his middle age. Shaking the drowsiness
from his head, he stood, entered through the back and walked into the
living room when he heard the door open.
    "Ryouga-kun?" he asked aloud, suddenly curious why he would knock.
He glanced down at his wrist watch and noticed only an hour had passed
since Ryouga had left.
    Half-way through the dining room, he heard a reply.
    "Wrong, old man," a thick, masculine voice informed him.
    In another second, he stood face to face with a tall man in long
trench coat and hat. Beneath the disguise, Soun recognized an old foe.
    "I told you not to come back!" Soun shouted at him, furious that
the man before him had returned. "We do not have the answers you
seek!"
    "You have this one, old fool," he said, cracking his knuckles.
"You will tell me where your son-in-law is."
    Suddenly, Soun felt his heart beat quicken as perspiration ran
down his cheeks and forehead. The last time this man had come, Soun
had much of his family to fight with him should this villain have
attacked. Unfortunately, no one was home to protect him this time. He
would have to fight or surrender.
    Wiping the sweat from his brow, Soun figured Genma and Ryouga
could handle themselves against this fiend, so he conceded. "They
retired to Genma Saotome's house."
    Removing his hat, the man revealed his scarred features. It had
been at least five years since he had come here looking for an answer
to the question Soun and his family had sought themselves. The villain
seemed to consider his answer for a moment before tossing his hat
aside.
    "You know what I can do to you," the tall, dark man simply stated,
closing the distance between him and Soun. "There's no reason to hide
his location. I will eventually find him."
    Soun's eyes opened wide. He had not considered the man would not
believe his answer. He had nothing else to tell him.
    "I do not lie," Soun told the man, his voice starting to break. "I
swear, he left here not an hour ago."
    The angry features of the man alleviated and changed into a smirk.
Apparently, that answer pleased him very much.
    "Good, that will save me the trouble of hunting him down. Unless
of course, you lied to me. Then I'll have to turn this beating into
murder."
    Soun's blood turned cold the instant before the man pounced.
Relying on his instincts, he managed to avoid the villain's charge,
which crashed through the area he stood a split second after he left
it. Retreating to the deck in the back of the house, Soun pushed his
body to run, but the exhaustion of his walk across town, the meal and
his light work out made it more difficult than he imagined. His old
body could not flee that of his pursuer.
    He ducked into the dojo moments before the man caught him. Soun
tumbled to avoid the blow intended to knock him in the back of his
head. He sprung back up across from his opponent, now facing off with
him. Falling into his style of Anything Goes, he felt oddly
comfortable.
    "I'm just going to bruise you a little, old man," the villain told
him, stopped scantly six feet from him. "I just want to give your
family more reason to answer my questions. Your son-in-law got the
best of me before, but that was when I was injured. Now I'm whole and
he's not."
    Soun did not respond, saddened at this turn of events. He had
taken up training with his daughter again after Ranma had vanished, if
only to ease the pain of his disappearance. What was a simple means of
alleviating their pain had become a new purpose. He had felt renewed
by his training, even if he could never come to the level he had been
under his old master's training. Even then, he was no where near the
level Ranma had been at his peak, and scant fractions below his
daughter and the most impressive Ryouga.
    However, he would go down fighting, even if it cost him his life.
No longer would he be the fool who watched from the corner, tears in
his eyes and fear in his face. Soun would prove his manhood, even in
his old age.
    The fight did not last long. The last rays of sunlight from
outside the dojo shone on his face as he slumped back against the far
wall of the arena. The sky was as nearly red from what he could see.
He imagined his blood joining that of the angels, but it only poured
from his nose and down the side of his face.

                          *       *       *

    The entourage of the four teenagers neared the house moments
before Soun's defeat. The talkative nature of their journey ended
after the train ride. It suited Rintaro just fine with Mayako hanging
on him, but Kenichi insisted on helping on the other side though he
still walked the bike. He obviously intended to ignore the redhead
that trailed behind them sullenly. Mayako seemed to notice it as well
as she had cast a few long glances between her brother and Kimiko. It
even bothered the thick-skinned
    If the tiff they had in the train led to anything, Rintaro hoped
Kimiko would leave to wherever she had come from and leave him
undisputed champ of Nerima, a title that slipped into ambiguity once
this usurper arrived. He turned his head and caught a glimpse of her
walking about six feet behind them.
    Something about her just seemed so familiar.
    The redhead brushed passed them suddenly and pushed the gate open
for the three, having left the bike she walked against the wall. She
waved them in and they obliged her, entering the Tendou's grounds. As
he walked passed her, Rintaro felt gooseflesh rise on his arms. He
exchanged a look with the girl before continuing his way to the house.
    "I think I'm going straight to sleep," Mayako announced to them.
    As they approached the house, Rintaro stopped. Someone had left
the front door ajar.
    "What?" Kenichi asked. Rintaro saw the boy looking across his
sister at him.
    "The door's open," Rintaro informed them, glancing around the
visible perimeter of the house. "Isn't that strange?"
    Kenichi shrugged and pulled his sister up to the door, pushed it
open and walked in. Rintaro stared after them for a moment, when
Kimiko joined him.
    "Are you staying?" she asked quietly. Her pretty blue eyes
sparkled in the dying light of the sun.
    "Of course," he said, looking after the twins, who had disappeared
into the house. "Never mind, let's go in."
    The two walked through the front door and into the house. He heard
Kenichi and Mayako walking up the stairway. After discarding their
shoes, they walked to the foot of the stairs.
    "Hey, I'm going to go hang out in the dojo," Kimiko said to him as
he approached the stairs.
    In response, Rintaro shrugged.
    She narrowed her eyes and rested her hands on her hips. "If anyone
asks," by which he was sure she meant Kenichi, "let'em know, okay?"
    "Whatever," he replied. "Just don't steal anything."
    The black look she shot him made him feel good about himself. She
stormed passed the stairs and into the living room. He walked after
the twins.
    Rintaro jogged up the stairs and walked towards the end of the
hall where Mayako's room lay. He steeled himself to go there again,
where his life seemed to begin anew after waking up in her care. That
moment made him realize he needed her. He intended to enter the room
when he heard whispered voices from inside. The twins talked.
    "That's no excuse for treating her like that," he heard Mayako say
loudly. What she said next escaped his ears, but he could guess what
they were talking about and stepped away from the door. He did not
want to overhear anything about Kenichi and Kimiko's pseudo
relationship.
    Rintaro slouched against the wall in the wall, when about a minute
later Kenichi exited the room. He sternly nodded at Rintaro who took
his place.



    Pushing the door open to his room, Kenichi sighed deeply. He had
enough of today. He wanted to go to sleep, wake up and forget it
existed. It started badly in the morning, with his sister embarrassing
him and drew to a close with his sister getting beaten up and the girl
he wanted more than anything dropping a stranger story on him than he
could have imagined.
    He flipped on the light and looked at the mural he had painted on
the wall. He drew it when he was twelve and filled with that type of
inspiration. Now he despised it. He had just seen an Anime with his
friends and came up with this image. He drew the world people wanted,
the pristine earth, in a myriad of earthy colors. The line threw the
center represented the cross between dreams and reality, separating
the beautiful dream of the natural from the reality of the mechanical
world, drawing it with metallic, shiny colors.
    It made him angry that he could be that imaginative then, and not
have a shred of that now. Everything felt so clear when he drew that.
The dichotomy of it seemed so simple. Cut the world into two. One was
evil; one was good. He did not have to sift through grays to find that
he was a baka and his perfect match was supposedly a boy.
    He shook his head. He did not want to start moping. Although
tempted to sleep through everything and sort it out in the morning, he
doubted he would ever see Kimiko again in that case. A guilty part of
him asked if that would be so bad. He knew hardly anything about her,
and did not know if he could believe what little she had told him in
their conversations.
    She carried a lot of emotional baggage, he knew, from how she
guarded any information about herself, especially regarding her love
life. Now, he wondered if it came from whatever curse inflicting her
body, and affecting her soul.
    He knew he had to talk with her at least once more, to get the
whole story and make a decision then about whether to pursue her. He
had no idea what he was getting himself into anymore. Before it made
since, charming her with his life here, convincing her little by
little that she belonged.
    She fit into his life like a lost piece of the puzzle. She knew
the Anything Goes style of martial arts, somehow, through her
mysterious brother. She liked his friends and even seemed to like him
somewhere in her heart, even if she avoided getting too deep. And then
there was that feeling of having met her before that made him wonder
if fate brought them together.
    Maybe Kami-sama had plans, but Kenichi certainly could not figure
them out. This piece of the puzzle had been left in the weather too
long, and seemed to not stick in its slot tightly enough to stay.
    Kenichi stood sharply, suddenly knowing his place. He had to
continue on the path he started and find out where it would end.
    But before he could take a step towards the door, a noise from
outside caught his attention. His room, his mother's old room,
overlooked the dojo in the koi pond and the dojo in the back. He
peered out. It would have been too dark to see anything, but the light
in the dojo covered the area in light and shadows. He wondered if that
was where Kimiko went. He certainly had not looked back before helping
his sister to her room.
    He watched for a moment when he saw Kimiko tumble out of the dojo
door's as if thrown. He furrowed his brows and stared at her dumbly
for a moment, not understanding the situation. She did not immediately
get up as she might have if she were training. He wondered who she
could be training with as the three she arrived with were upstairs.
The only other people would have been his mother or his grandfather,
but both options seemed so unlikely.
    As he put his hand to the handle of the window seal to open it,
she started pushing herself to her feet. Kenichi watched in stunned
horror as a tall man in a suit exited the dojo, walking towards
Kimiko. His stomach turned in circles as he watched the spectacle.
    Kimiko wobbled as she stood there, unable to defend herself.
Kenichi's thoughts sharpened to a fine edge as adrenalin rushed
through his body. He wasted not a single second more, only slowing a
moment to open his door on the way out.

                          *       *       *

    Minutes before Kenichi watched the incident, Kimiko had made her
way through the house to the back, where she found the sliding door to
the back wide open. The room she stood in remained strangely dark. She
approached it cautiously, moving quickly to the door.
    She peered out, her eyes catching a flicker of movement from the
lit dojo. However, the door to the dojo was closed, though she could
tell the light remained on. The light on the inside was linked to the
ones on the outside. She shrugged, leaving the house and walking into
the backyard.
    When she had made the decision to go to the dojo instead of
upstairs in order to avoid feeling awkward around Kenichi, she did not
consider that Akane might be training at her destination. Just being
around her felt like emotionally walking across hot coals. The woman
was no longer the Akane that was engaged to Ranma. Seeing her reminded
her of the years she lost.
    She took a deep breath as her bare feet stepped onto the wooden
planks of the dojo. Standing at the door, she calmed herself, brushing
her hands through her ponytail, which felt tight. She pulled out the
tie and let her hair fall to her shoulders.
    Seemingly moving of its own accord, her left hand jerked out, and
slid the dojo's door open. What she saw confused her. Someone lay at
the end of the mat, as if asleep. She took a few steps in, forgetting
to close the door behind her.
    Suddenly, she knew who it was.
    "Tendou-san?" Her voice sounded strange, the height of its pitch,
the tremor of fear. He did not look asleep. He looked dead. Everything
shut down as she rushed to his side, dropping to her knees early and
sliding to a stop at his side. His face looked smashed: his nose
broken and his puffy eyelids matching the dark blue of his bruised
cheeks.
    "Tendou-san?" she asked again, more loudly, her voice teetering on
the edge of panic. She put one hand under his head and pressed the
other to his neck. His pulse beat regularly, but he looked like hell.
She breathed out a sigh, pulling her hands back gently, when she
noticed the blood on the hand that touched the back of his head. Her
eyes opened wide.
    "Head wounds bleed a lot, do they not?" A deep voice asked from
behind her.
    The fear vanished just as quickly as it appeared the moment she
saw a man whom she could have been her father-in-law had circumstances
not led her to this moment in time. She felt it then, the new power
she cultivated in America. The calmness poured through her, the
powerful white chi that always amazed her with its foreignness.
    She took her time standing, drawing up in one motion, gliding to
the position in which she would spin. With one step, she faced Soun's
attacker. A tall, unfamiliar man stood at the exit of the dojo. He
wore a brown trench coat and stood so tall, he must have been a head
taller than she was when she could still return to her male form.
    "I don't think we've met," the man said calmly, twirling a hat in
his hand, which he placed over his short, black hair. "You must be one
of the rug rats' friend." He smiled, walking slowly towards her.
    "Why did you do this?" Kimiko asked calmly, subtly placing her
right foot behind her left as she looked down towards Soun. He lay so
still.
    "No," the man said, stopping in the middle of that mat. "That's
now how this works." He cracked his fingers, one at a time, his eyes
glaring at her from the depths of the shadows gathered under the bill
of his hat. "I ask the questions, and you answer. Otherwise, I might
have to bruise your pretty little face."
    The smallest tendril of anger rippled over the surface of her
calm. He did not seem to like her reaction, as she had not even
remotely shook her, and so he took another step.
    "So, you think you can take me?" His voice asked darkly, though
she could hear a vain mirth behind it. "You probably weigh half my
weight and you have no more than a quarter of my skill. Nothing short
of Ryouga arriving could save you now."
    The name of her rival spoken from the lips of a total stranger
startled her.
    "And how is that?" Kimiko soundly asked, trying not to let anger
cloud her mind. It took almost all of her willpower.
    "I should give you a black eye for asking a question," the man
told her, shaking his head. "But since that's why I'm here, I'll tell
you. Ryouga is why I'm here. I don't care about anything but finding
him."
    Kimiko stared at him in disbelief. She could not connect how
beating Soun would bring him any closer to Ryouga. "So why this?"
    "He's merely a way of getting what I want," the man explained
quickly. "This is the time you shut up and listen. I'm gonna ask you a
few questions. You answer. It's that simple. If you don't answer or
your answer doesn't satisfy me, I may add you to K. O. pile."
    His threat did not scare her, but she wanted as much information
as she could about his movements, his skills and his background before
she took him on.
    "Who are you?"
    "Kimiko Nishiyama," she answered, no more than a second before he
asked the second question.
    "How do you know the Tendous?"
    "Friend of the children," she answered, sizing him up. He looked
like he could back up his words. He had stayed out of her awareness
until he spoke. He could have been somewhere else, but she had a
feeling, he had been hiding in plain sight.
    "Who's your master?"
    Kimiko narrowed her eyes. "Wouldn't you like to know."
    This drew a loud crack of the knuckles from the stranger. "That
will cost you one bloody nose. Now, answer my question."
    "No more questions," she replied, ready to test his skills. "I
have one for you, though. Who are you?"
    The man shook his head, removing his hat and tossing it aside.
"You have guts, girl. I'm not sure if you're just stupid, but I'll
play your game if you play mine. Tell me who your master is, and I'll
tell you my name."
    Suddenly, it dawned upon Kimiko that she knew this man. The
combination of his cocky attitude, his face, his mannerisms and his
stance all added up to a conclusion of familiarity. She knew him
somehow. The memory of his name would not come to her, so she decided
to play his game.
    "Past or present?" she said back.
    The man threw his arms up in the air. "What are you, fourteen? I
don't care. Who do you consider your primary teacher. Who taught you
your basics?"
    Weighing her answer, she thought for a few seconds about how to
answer it. "Those are two different people. I learned the basics from
my father."
    The man rolled his eyes. "That's not a good enough answer and cost
you a broken arm. Tell me all of your masters and I might consider not
breaking one of your legs, too.
    He took another step closer when she noticed something strange
about the man's clothing. As his coat opened, she noticed something
irregular. Although he wore a dress coat and pants underneath his
trench coat, a dark spherical object was strapped to his hip. This
also seemed strangely familiar. Her memories, unfortunately, no longer
sparked as quickly as she would have liked.
    "Well, it's the best you'll get from me," she replied. "My father
taught me the basics. When I surpassed him, I found training among
various masters. My current trainer is my step-brother."
    "That cost you a leg and some broken ribs. I'm afraid, I don't
have that much more I can break without killing you." The man spoke
with such confidence, she knew she could play him. "I admire your
spunk, though, and will give you one more chance to tell me something
interesting."
    "You're pathetic," she replied, holding back her adrenalin from
wasting her precious energy.
    The man stopped mid step and raised his brows in surprise. "I
think I'll start with your face. You're entirely too cute to leave it
as is. A few scars will do it some good."
    Kimiko fell into the most basic stance as regularly as she could,
evenly dividing her weight between her legs. Concentrating as hard as
she could, she weaved her chi around her tightly to absorb the shock
of his punches.
    He darted forward, his opening move a sucker punch designed to be
the beginning of her end. Although his move was remarkably quick, it
felt like a minute before he reached her with a quick jab. The strike
struck her squarely in the cheek. She felt a twinge of pain as the
force knocked her over the unconscious Soun and into the wall. It
would probably leave a bruise, but it did little damage.
    "Just as I expected from a girl," the man said, almost sadly as he
stood near her.
    Kimiko kept her eyes closed, ready for his next move. Kimiko
flexed her neck muscles as she felt one of his hands grasp it. Easily
lifting her, he held her face up to his.
    "You get cheeky with me, and I break you cheek bones," he told her
with a tone he might have used in any other situation. He wound back
his arm back and she prepared her chi again. This time, it smashed
into the other cheek with so much power that it actually shook whole
body, but she still managed to go forward with her plan, striking his
arm several times after it struck her face.
    She fell back into the wall, feigning to be pained by his attack.
He threw another punch towards her face, but this one she dodged,
feigning a fall straight to the floor. His fist struck the dojo's wall
the just before she hit the edge of the mat with her body. She lay
still at his feet, holding her energy back. It was not time yet.
    "Yes, you're eating your words now," he said smugly, picking her
up by the back of her shoulders. She pushed off the dojo wall with a
lot of force, pushing into his stomach as hard as she could. The move
caught him off guard and he fell back, bringing her with him. They
both collapsed onto the mat in a heap, she on top of him. She struck
him numerous times, both in the air and on the ground.
    She rolled off him slowly pushed herself to her hands and knees.
She knew he had gotten to his feet quickly and reached her only a
moment after she had reached her current position. Just as she
expected, his foot appeared beneath her as he kicked towards her ribs.
She subtly blocked each kick with the palm of her right hand, which
she held close to her stomach as if guarding herself, each time
striking his foot and leg.
    On the last one she fell to her side and rolled over to her back.
She looked up at him pitifully, the color of his punches decorating
her cheeks.
    "You absorb punishment well, girl," the man said, almost as if a
compliment. "But by now, I bet your whole body hurts. I really
wouldn't even have done much more than knock you around if not for
your mouth."
    She heard him crack his knuckles. "Hmm, it's a bit warm in here,
yes? I think I'll finish the job outside.
    With that, he lifted her with one hand on her left breast and the
other under her stomach. He then threw her hard towards the dojo's
entrance. She flew most of the way and then rolled with the throw and
managed to generate enough energy to tumble her way out of the dojo
entirely, finally resting on the ground just below the wooden porch of
the dojo.
    The rouse had worked better than she could have planned. All of
her strikes went unnoticed. A couple more would give her a significant
advantage against his size. He might have been as skilled as she was,
but she wondered about his lack of awareness about her counterattacks.
    She slowly got to her feet, but as she rose, her legs wobbled,
drawing a chuckle from the man.
    "Just stay down girl. I don't need you standing to break your arm
and your leg."
    That was close enough for her. Without even lifting her head to
look at his location, she took a couple lightning quick steps forward,
leaping into him with all of her might. The blow knocked him straight
back into the dojo. This time, he rolled to a stop, though at the
middle of the mat.
    All while he tumbled, she had followed, so that when he halted in
the middle of the mat under his own volition, she pounced the next
second, jumping onto his back. The sudden blast of her weight landing
on him knocked him back down.
    She fiercely struck four pressure points on his back, making no
attempt to be subtle about it this time, the moved down his legs and
struck two more.
    A moment later, he pushed himself up, leaping to his feet. She
pressed off him towards the side of the dojo. He stood a bit shaky
this time, his body shuddering slightly.
    "What the?" he asked, moving his limbs slowly. "Damn it, what the
hell is this?"
    "A trick my pops taught me," Kimiko informed him casually,
cracking her knuckles. "Hurts, huh?"
    He raised his head to look up at her, the strain in his face
apparent. "So you're another Saotome. I should have known. You look
just like the lot of them."
    She stared at him coldly, letting the adrenalin course through her
body freely, inviting the jitteriness through her body. It felt good,
readying all of her techniques to fully lay into this guy. She wanted
to hear lots of cracking bones.
    "It's going to take more than pressure point tricks to win this
one," the man informed her stretching his arms back. "Though, I really
admire your endurance. You obviously endured some Bakusai Tenketsu
training, or am I wrong?"
    Before she could reply smartly, Kenichi burst into the room and
barreled into the man faster than Kimiko imagined he could move. The
smacking sound of their bodies colliding made Kimiko grimace. They
slid on the mat a second before Kenichi rolled off the man and rushed
in with a brutal kick to the man's chest.
    Kimiko's surprise increased when the man caught Kenichi's foot
with ease, throwing the boy straight at her. Kimiko braced herself and
caught Kenichi, only taking a few steps back to balance the two of
them.
    Kenichi's berserker state seemed to wane a bit as he looked back
at Kimiko, his eyes still burning with rage. At that moment, he
reminded her of Ryouga so much that she put her hand to her mouth.
This time, however, the look was not for her.
    "Are you okay?" he asked, his mouth unclenching just enough to
allow him to talk.
    She nodded and then motioned towards Soun with her head.
    "Grandfather!" he cried out, making a move for the old man.
    Kimiko caught him with one arm and pulled him back quick enough
for him to avoid the stranger's amazingly quick axe kick. As she
stumbled back, trying to balance both her and Kenichi's weight again,
she marveled at his recovery from her pressure point technique. Anyone
normal would have been unable to move much if any. She had used a
lesser version against Kunou in their first match at Furinken High
School.
    Without the disabling technique, Kenichi would probably already be
knocked down on the floor, instead of stumbling back in her arms.
    Both teenagers dodged back, putting space between them and their
attacker.
    "Why?" Kenichi demanded, his voice trembling. "What did my
grandfather ever do to you?"
    "He associated with a villain so despicable that he makes me look
like a saint." The man seethed with anger now, glowering at them. The
look of his rustled around in her memories, stirring more things she
could not recall of a past she no longer could even consider relevant.
    "What?" Kenichi asked, but the man did not answer with words.
    He approached them quickly, though this time he attacked Kimiko,
his leg shooting out at hers so swiftly, his foot brushed hers as she
jumped back. It stung, though it missed. She knew he had to have been
holding the strength of his blows back before she showed she could
manage them.
    He followed up with a lunging sidekick that she blocked with her
hands, unable to dodge anymore as she was too close to both Kenichi
and the wall of the dojo. When he pulled back his foot to repeat the
kick, she felt the stinging added to her hands as well. Kenichi did
not waste anymore time talking, punching at the man while he attacked
the redhead, but Kenichi was deflected.
    The block enable her to counterattack. She used her chestnut fist
against him, now that he was within range, raining dozens of blows
against his arm and lower side. The rest of his body had been brought
forward towards Kenichi to block.
    Unable to shield himself from Kimiko's barrage, the man leaped
back, drawing something from his coat pocket. Kimiko's eyes widened as
he threw a shuriken at Kenichi. Kenichi had no chance to catch the
first, which struck his arm, burying itself in his flesh as he used it
to guard his face. The second he did catch, however, in a testament to
his training under Akane.
    The third one Kimiko caught, throwing low at the man's leg, which
stopped the fourth from leaving his hand. He leaped aside out of the
shuriken's path.
    Kimiko put her hand against Kenichi's chest, pushing him back. He
understood the gesture and took the time to take care of the shuriken
while she occupied the brute.
    "I recognize your fighting style," Kimiko said, her energy waning
more than she thought it should have. "It's a version of Anything
Goes, isn't it?"
    The man grinned, quickly retrieving the third shuriken from he mat
and then placing it back in his pocket. He watched Kenichi patch
himself up, strangely allowing them time to recover.
    "It's not a pure form, so I think you got it form a third party."
She ran some of his movements through her head again. It definitely
reminded her of her own style, however altered. "You've definitely met
the founder."
    This caught the man's attention. He looked at her with a new
intensity that he had not shown before. "You've studied under him."
The emphasis he placed on the pronoun startled him. It sounded like a
paranoiac using the catchall "they" to refer to a conspiracy group.
    "Huh?" she asked, truly confused. She wondered if he referred to
Happosai, her now strangely beautiful step-brother.
    "You trained under the beast," he said, licking his cracked lips.
"You had to have to know of him. Yes, you did. I know it. You're too
young to have trained with him before he disappeared."
    "What the bloody hell are you talking about?" Kenichi demanded,
his eyes never leaving the man.
    Kimiko shot him a look that meant for him to shut up, but the man
gladly answered.
    "I'm talking about the missing link of your treasured little
school."
    Kenichi would not understand that answer, Kimiko reasoned.
    "He's talking about someone who's long dead," Kimiko said as
evenly as she could. She could feel her calm energy draining from her
body slowly, but certainly. The fight she had earlier today left
little of her usual energy reserves. She had fought so many fights
recently that the exhaustion common to her early days after the coma
felt as if it were returning.
     "What?" the man asked, his voice higher than she had ever heard
it. "Dead? That old bat? Impossible."
     He did mean Happosai. She connected the dots, putting the mental
mug shot of him together with his hatred of Happosai, the canteen on
his hip and everything else about him. Twenty years changed this man
more than anyone else. He was so twisted by his curses that she no
longer recognized him.
     "You're still hunting him?" Kimiko said, amazed by the one part
of the man that had not changed over the ears. "I can't believe it."
     The time he had given them ended when she spoke last. He rushed
at her with so much purpose that she realized a bit too late she would
not be able to avoid his charge in time. Luckily, Kenichi had
recovered, doing her the favor of pulling her back and jumping in her
place.
     The two men collided again, but this time Kenichi was thrown
back. Kimiko moved in and struck the man's ribs with a dozen blows of
her chestnut fist before he started to block her attacks. He countered
with a subtle kick that Kimiko barely noticed in time. It struck her
on the back of her knee, which she had rolled just in time to avoid it
striking her squarely and breaking her kneecap. Instead it knocked her
to a kneeling position.
     Kenichi countered the charge finally, but the man swatted his
attacks aside and still managed to kick Kimiko in the ribs. Unable to
roll with it or block it, Kimiko absorbed the full of the blast
without the protection of her chi. She released a quick shriek before
the blow sapped her breath and the bone crunching blast knocked her
back three feet before she fell over backward.
    Stunned, it took her a few moments to recover. The pain of the
kick did less than her loss of chi. All the energy she had accumulated
in preparation of the fight had evaporated. The exertion of so many
fights in such a short period of time hurt her so much more than the
kick, though several of her ribs felt broken. Luckily for her, Kenichi
had been able to hold the man back from attacking her, though she had
not been able to spare any energy to notice how he fared.
    Ten seconds in a fight could easily mean victory or defeat, and as
she rose to her feet, Kenichi looked to be near the latter. The man
savagely attacked him. Her friend could do little but defend himself.
    She knew she had to divert attention to herself, and quickly.
    "I know your secret, old man!" she yelled as loudly as she could
will herself.
    Shoving Kenichi to the ground, the man she recognized to be a
figure out of her past stopped and turned his attention to Kimiko for
a brief second. He smiled and then lifted his leg to crush Kenichi.
For his part, Kenichi looked okay, but the attack seemed to leave him
dazed.
    "I'm talking to you, Pantyhose!"
    Taro's foot paused above Kenichi for a moment before falling
beside his other one. His aura started to burn around him, rippling so
quickly that it began to hurt her eyes. Anger literally coalesced down
his body as the veins on his neck pulsated.
    "You will die for that," Pantyhose Taro promised slowly, his body
rigid with fury. "I'm going to tear you apart!" As if to make good
with his words immediately, the older version of the same tall,
feminine young man that challenged Kimiko in her other life so well
turned to glower at his new opponent.
    As Taro turned, Kenichi rolled away, gathering himself together.
Kimiko realized one other thing that could hurt her plans to win this
fight. If Taro had grown in skill and size, she wondered how might
this affect his monstrous form. She seriously started to doubt her
ability to defeat him.
    Taro left a trail of chi in his wake. The fiery red aura around
him began to gather around his fists. Without her chi shield, Taro
would easily do as he promised.
    "You're still looking for Happosai, aren't you?" Kimiko speculated
aloud, hoping to stall him.
    Again, Taro's narrowed eyes opened wide, his anger flowing even
more strongly upon her speaking of the name.
    "You DO know him!" He shouted, his chi ripping around him
violently. Even Kenichi should be able to see that aura.
    "Yes, I know everything about him," she said, backing towards the
door of the dojo.
    Taro stared at her, his eyes transfixed. "Tell me where he is."
    Kiyoshi could handle himself. Surely, he could fight this monster,
she hoped. If Rintaro and the rest of the family's martial artists did
not aid them soon, she might have to tell him what he wanted to know.
    "Will you leave if I do?" Kimiko asked, feeling the breeze from
outside. A few more steps and she could make a run for it. Taro would
certainly follow her and ignore Kenichi. Soun could get the help he
needed.
    Taro matched each step she took, but did not approach. His anger
did not wax nor wane, but the greedy look on his face knew her lure
worked.
    "You have to promise not to hurt this family ever again."
    "Done," Taro agreed, grinning in such a way that she knew he did
not care about anything else. "I won't hurt them."
    "Then follow me!" she shouted, and then turned and fled.
    "No, wait!" Kenichi yelled after her as she ran across the
backyard.
    "Get help for Soun, Kenichi-kun!" she shouted back before leaping
the perimeter wall in one bound.



    Mayako raced down the stairs, only taking care not to jostle her
arm. She and Rintaro had been getting intimate in her room when they
heard some noise from out back. They tried to ignore it, but Rintaro
got curious and opened the window in time to hear Kimiko's yell.
Rintaro had wasted no time and jumped out the window. She watched him
a second in awe before running through the house to follow.
    She reached the living room where she tripped over Kimiko's bags.
The door was closed, but as she opened it, she caught sight of Rintaro
at the entrance of the dojo. He remained there for less than a second
and took off into the shadows. Mayako ran to follow, but he leaped to
the top of the perimeter wall, glanced back and then jumped into the
darkness.
    She turned toward the dojo, running to peek in. She saw Kenichi
standing above the body of someone who looked seriously injured.
    "Mayako," her brother said in a small voice. "Call the police. I
have to go help Kimiko." He ran towards her and she barely had time to
move out of the way before he left her there, standing at the entrance
of the dojo.



    Taro followed the redheaded girl closely, wondering what she had
up her sleeve. The girl fought her with remarkable strength for
someone her age. As he stripped his suit from his body, he held her
image in his head, trying to decipher why she looked so familiar. Her
relation to the Saotomes was obvious, but in reviewing the images in
his head, he recalled seeing no pictures of a redheaded girl in any
photos at their family home.
    In fact, he had never seen anyone with such a head of hair short
of...
    He knew why he was having such a difficult time with this whelp of
a girl. Fem-boy had returned. He and Happosai must have left together
somehow, but there had never been love between those two. The reason
why they had left escaped him. However, Ranma would not.



    Rintaro instinctively followed trail of burning red energy. His
eye for auras paid of today as this one left in the wake of whatever
villain had hurt his sensei. He would punish this criminal severely.
When he found Kenichi wounded, his Sensei brutally injured and blood
spatters on the mat of the dojo, he knew this is what he had to do. He
had even recovered a couple shurikens from the floor of the dojo.
    It took him a few minutes of running through the streets of
Nerima, but he knew he gained on his prey. He knew exactly where this
man was going. They were on a path directly to Furinken High School.
Knowing this, he cut through an alley. He would get ahead of this
scoundrel and ambush him at a place before the school where there
would be no escape.



    Kenichi followed Rintaro as long as he could, but he turned a
corner and his former friend had vanished. He stared at the empty
streets in front of him, knowing that enforcers would close in on this
space soon if he did not keep on the move. So he did what any
untalented person could do in that situation. He just kept running.

                          *       *       *

    Instinct alone ran her body down the streets of Nerima. It never
occurred to Kimiko to lead her assailant to a police station, or any
place of authority that might aid her. If it had, she would have
probably ignored it. The call of the martial artist to protect loved
ones did not involve police, but only oneself and her desire to defend
them on her terms. Tarou wanted only her now. That was how she wanted
it. With no one to protect, she could unleash everything that
remained.
    So when she found herself on a familiar path, she knew that the
school's recreation grounds would be the only place she could fight
without notice that she could recall. At this time of night during
summer vacation, no one would be on the premises. The run was
relatively short, but had a few obstacles. Water would be dangerous on
her trip. If any water triggered Tarou's cursed form, she might not
have a chance to defeat the beast.
    That meant anywhere near the river or the bridge on the way to
Furinken would be disastrous. She would have to quickly disarm him of
the flask once they arrived at the school.
    She also considered diplomacy. With her knowledge, she could avoid
combat, but that would involve betraying her adopted brother. He would
not be pleased to hear his identity revealed to an unstable and
dangerous opponent. Certainly, Kiyoshi could defeat Tarou, but the
revealing of his identity would be disastrous for him. If anyone then
did the math, they could figure out that her identity as well.
    This felt like playing shoji to her. She had to weigh each move
carefully, or she would regret the smallest slip of her tongue for the
rest of her life.
    "Where are you going?" Tarou demanded, betraying his distance from
her. She had possibly gained a few yards since they left the dojo.
    She did not respond, but continued running down the street
adjacent to her old path to school. She did not want to risk falling
into the water, so she kept a street away.
    "Damn you, girl!" she heard a moment later. This time it sounded
as if he were a bit closer, but without turning her head, she could
not be sure.
    If she went a street over, she would find herself near the place
Akane used to like to skip stones into the river, just before the
bridge. She made good time in arriving here.
    Kimiko turned the corner to the right and ran straight for the
bridge. Strangely, no traffic filled the road. On a week night, she
would have expected someone to be driving home. Barely considering the
road, she flew across the street and onto the bridge. Luckily for her,
no boats crossed the bridge, so the crossing remained lowered for her
to cross. She had not considered that when choosing this path.
    Picking up the pace, Kimiko hoped to make it across the bridge
without incident. The walkway across the bridge was narrow and often
filled at night with any combination of homeless and young couples.
The many nooks of the bridge enabled people to hide both underneath
and along the raised suspension. She had once climbed over the side of
the bridge in a dare from her friends and found a nice place to sit
while having pretended to fall.
    She almost made it halfway across when the most unexpected thing
happened. Her pursuer stopped. Slowing, Kimiko turned her head and
looked behind her. Nearly twenty feet behind her, Tarou engaged a new
opponent, the echoing of their feet creating vibrations along the
metal walkway.
    The image of her genetic brother fighting Tarou took her aback.
His attack looked chaotic in the way Anything Goes always did, as a
high level black belt of the art, she could see the pattern and
recognized the moves that her father had taught her so long ago. If
not for his moves, she might not even have recognized him in the dim
light. The two fought in between two sets of lamp posts, obviously an
ambush point that Rintaro had chosen for this moment. How he got ahead
of them was anyone's guess.
    Rintaro came close to achieving Chestnut fist speeds with his
barrage of punches and kicks. He still wore the clothes he had nicked
from Kenichi, but they would need replacing now. She watched the torn
sleeves and pant legs from her position and marveled at how much
damage Tarou caused in only his defensive blocks.
    "What the hell is this?" Tarou demanded as he did a move Kimiko
just missed analyzing. He knocked Rintaro without hurting him much,
but the blast seemed quite powerful and sent the boy tumbling. Kimiko
lowered her center of gravity and pushed into his fall, softening his
roll and catching him.
    Kimiko lifted Rintaro to his feet as quickly as she could. He did
not seem to notice the help as he quickly regained his balance. He
rushed forward without even consulting her, but she quickly grabbed
him by the shoulders.
    Rintaro shot her a glance, but she ignored him.
    "You've made enemies, Tarou-san," she said carefully, not wishing
to enrage him anymore. On the bridge, he had the advantage. They could
not avoid his attacks here and he could no doubt absorb more damage
than they.
    "Well then, after I beat him, tell me where the old man is," the
tall man said cooly.
    "Who the hell is this, Nishiyama-san?" Rintaro asked, his voice
sharp. He was mad. She could hear his heart beating, the violence in
his voice. She could not blame him after what he did to Soun, but she
had a few more things to worry about.
    "Never mind that," she said quietly, but a bit too loud. Her body
still flooded with endorphins from the run, felt light, and her ears
rang slightly. "We need to get moving."
    "No!" Tarou shot back. He took a few steps towards them. "This
ends here! I will not allow you to escape again."
    "We're not going anywhere, whoever the hell you are," Rintaro said
in a near growl. "I am going to rip you apart."
    The laughter of response Rintaro received sounded like the
maniacal laughter of a villain from a silly movie.
    "A boy after my own heart," Tarou said, cracking his knuckles with
such a pop that Kimiko could imagine someone across the bridge hearing
the echo. He approached them in a slow walk, but their distance was so
little now it made her nervous. She pulled her brother back, stepping
away from their attacker.
    "I think it's about time I got my answer girl," the violent man
said. "If you prolong this, you and your little friend are going to
both lose limbs. I'm sure you don't want that. Now tell me!"
    "What's he talking about?" Rintaro asked, his voice filled with
something Kimiko did not want directed at her.
    "She knows something about the man whom I am sworn to kill."
Tarou's statement even drew a bit of wonder out of Kimiko. He seemed
to want not just a name change, but the death of Happosai. She
supposed the twenty odd years he spent hunting the old man had twisted
him, but still felt weird hearing how far he had gone for his revenge.
    "Who is this person?" Rintaro demanded. His bloodlust seemed
temporarily abated, but she knew he must have seen Soun. She did not
know if they were close, but Rintaro's hatred seemed to suggest it.
    She did not have much time to consider her answer, but nothing
short of a half-truth would do for this occasion. She could not risk
letting something slip that would jeopardize her brother's identity
with a real Saotome nearby.
    "A very old man who stopped living a long time ago," Kimiko said
mysteriously. "He's gone, Tarou-san. You will find nothing but his
remains any longer."
    "Wrong answer, girl," Tarou said ominously, close enough for her
to make out the details of his appearance. He no longer supported the
shirt and coat, having lost them somewhere on the road, but sported a
modified version of his green scale vest that now encompassed his
bulk. It left nothing to the imagination, as it conformed to his body.
Luckily for her eyes, he still wore his pants, though they looked like
someone had run the bottom of it through a shredder.
    "I don't have any others for you," Kimiko said, hoping he could
come to accept that Kiyoshi no longer was the same person that Tarou
searched for.
    "What old man is this?" Rintaro demanded again, to her alone this
time. "Tell me, Kimiko."
    "This isn't the time," Kimiko replied, glaring at him. She wished
she could have gotten to the school where it would be safer to fight.
With Rintaro, they could win with enough room. Here, she could neither
use a chi blast, nor the move she knew would render this easily
angered fool to a pulp.
    "Yes it is!" Rintaro yelled. His voice echoed throughout the metal
bridge, but the horn of a boat obscured his voice from traveling too
far. "My sensei is nearly dead and this man is to blame. He's here to
find some guy and you just happened to know him? It's too easy. I
don't know whether I should be fighting him or you, Nishiyama!"
    In the middle of his words, she sensed something amiss. Neither
Tarou nor Rintaro had moved, however, so she ignored the feeling.
    "It is, isn't it?" Tarou said loudly, the anger in his voice
transparent. "I came to the Tendou school looking for Ryouga, but
instead I find someone I never thought I'd see again. The most
infamous--"
    "Shut up!" Kimiko yelled, interrupting Tarou. She moved to charge
passed Rintaro and attack, her secret almost exposed, but Rintaro's
hands stopped her. He grabbed her by the right shoulder and left hip.
He held her with a surprising amount of leverage.
    "No, I want to hear what he has to say." Rintaro's words stunned
her. He had turned against her again. This time, he would expose her
identity.
    Tarou stood closer now, his eyes shining in the darkness.
    "Rintaro Saotome, no?" the viper of a man asked of the boy who
held Kimiko. Rintaro did not immediately respond, but Tarou seemed to
not need a verbal answer. "I'll take your silence for yes."
    "So you and Nishiyama know each other?" Rintaro offered.
    Kimiko opened her mouth, but felt the hand on her shoulder reach
and cover her mouth. She had about enough of him when she felt his
left hand strike a pressure point on her side that sent her sprawling
to the floor. She knew the technique as it had been used on her by Dr.
Tofu before a while back. Her legs felt like jelly and would feel like
that for the next twenty minutes.
    She did not fall, as Rintaro grabbed her by the shoulders and
gently set her on her knees.
    "What the hell, Rintaro?" she demanded, twisting her torso to hit
his thigh with as much force as she could muster. He took a step back
after that.
    "Be quiet for now," he whispered to her.
    She silently fumed at his words. Not only did he completely take
her out of the fight, but he now it seemed like he might blow her
identity, and possibly even her brothers if they compared their notes
enough.
    "You were saying?" Rintaro asked of the villain.
    "You can say that we are somewhat of rivals, he and I," Tarou
said. He looked down at Kimiko with such violence in his expressions.
"A long time I have hunted for his master. Our ways have crossed many
times before."
    "You say 'he' referring to whom?" Rintaro asked, the wonder in his
voice overtaking his anger.
    Her heart beat so loudly in her chest, that Kimiko was sure that
they both could hear it pounding away madly as if accompanied by a
symphony, her heart striking the beat in a rhythmic manner.
    "Rintaro," Kimiko said smoothly after pulling his hand away from
her mouth. "I'll explain more later. Please, trust me. Don't listen to
him. He just hurt your sensei badly. Not me! You have to believe
that!"
    "But I understand his reasons," Rintaro replied. His words would
have scalded her if they were moistened. "You, on the other hand, seem
to be the cuckoo in my nest. I knew you were bad news since I first
laid eyes on you, bringing all the pain with you, stirring up bees
from their hive."
    Tarou laughed again.
    "What are you laughing at?" Rintaro demanded, his eyes once again
baring into the villain.
    "You, dear Saotome," Tarou replied. "You don't even know your own
kin when you stand on top of it."
    "What?" Rintaro asked, his voice pitched.
    "Meet your older brother," Tarou began...



    "Ranma Saotome."
    The name chilled Rintaro to the bone. His parents never told him
of another sibling, but not everyone was as tight-lipped about the
secret as they. He learned from old acquaintances of the family that
his parents had a child before he and his brother, but learned very
little other than his name. However, all of that information hinged on
one key fact that did not match.
    "Ridiculous," Rintaro shouted back, his anger boiling up again. He
wanted to smash the fiend before he could lie more. "I should have
known you'd just lie to me." He now regretted using the disabling
technique on Kimiko. He would need her to defeat this man.
    "And how is that?" the evil man's mirth had vanished, replaced
after Rintaro's response.
    "This is a girl, you fool!" Rintaro said, putting his hands on
Kimiko's shoulders to help stabilize her sitting posture. She had been
trying to regain use of her legs during their exchange, but the effect
of the technique would last a bit longer (for how long, he had no
clue).
    "So sure, are you?"
    Rintaro considered it. Even if this girl below him hid male
genitalia beneath his clothing, Rintaro knew that his brother would
have been at least as old as his Aunt Akane. The man, however, did not
seem to be lying.
    Kneeling, Rintaro did what he never though the would do to a girl.
He surprised the redhead beneath him by putt his hand directly on her
crotch, receiving a fierce strike to his wrist in response.
    "Ouch," he hissed, pulling back a bit. "Hey, I had to make sure."
    "Baka," Kimiko shot back. "You're lucky I can't move my legs."
    "Well, even if you were right about her gender, which you're
obviously not," Rintaro started, but never finished.
    "Shut up, boy," the man growled. "Have you never heard of
Jusenkyou? Have you never seen the remarkable change of the body that
those people your parents call friends undergo with water?"
    Immediately, Rintaro knew he referred to his Aunt Shampoo.
Jusenkyou was the explanation for her transformation into a small cat.
    "You're saying that she--he, whatever--changes in the water?"
    "Exactly, boy," Tarou said. "Not only that, but Jusenkyou has been
known to change the age of its victims, so you can never truly know
what they are until you see their true form. This girl is really an
old guy like me, and a shape changer."
    The idea was preposterous, considering how much time she had spent
with the Tendous. They would have certainly noticed something. Kasumi
even helped the girl before she took a shower. However, he could not
help shaking the feeling that this man Tarou spoke the truth. Kimiko
had not spoken in her defense, either (though he did tell her to be
quiet).
    "What do you have to say about this, Kimiko?" Rintaro asked in her
ear. "You're awfully quiet."
    "You're the one who said you wanted to listen to this ass."
    Rintaro put his hands on her shoulders again. He knew that she had
not regained use of her legs and was buying time until she could run
again. He did not understand how he knew it, but the sense of her
intentions just rushed through him.
    "Listen," he said quietly, rubbing her shoulders once. "I don't
believe him, but you're making it harder to throw away." Now that he
thought about it, she did look familiar when he first met her. His
senses seemed particularly sharp around her, magnifying beyond his
regular experience. He could not explain it.
    "I'm not going to deny something I cannot prove either way," she
told him neutrally. Her statement was so evasive.
    Suddenly, the bell on the bridge rang so loudly, that he nearly
jumped back. The bell only rang when the bridge controller intended to
lift the middle of the bridge up to allow ships to pass underneath. He
took a quick glance around and realized that they were on a section
that would be lifted. Lights around them lit up, emergency lights
spinning yellow light around it.
    "Don't even think about moving," the man warned, taking another
step closer. Less than a six feet remained between them now. "I want
to know the truth, Fem-boy."
    Rintaro felt Kimiko tense after hearing the slur used against her.
Whatever the truth of the matter was, these two had a past together.
No matter how unlikely, the sixteen-year-old under him and the thirty
to forty year old man knew each other. Sliding his hands down beneath
the short sleeves of her blouse and felt the skin on her arms. He felt
her heart beat through the veins in her arms, the vital pulse quicker
than normal.
    Before Rintaro heard the sound of echoed footsteps running across
the metal bridge, he heard Kimiko take in a sharp breath. Before he
could ask her anything, she whispered Kenichi's name in a sigh.
Rintaro quickly stood and stepped in between Kimiko and his sensei's
attacker.
    "I don't plan on running," Rintaro told the man, subtly drawing
the shurikens he collected from the dojo before leaving. He drew
himself into a stance, hiding his right hand behind his hip where the
three shurikens remained in between his fingers. The one pressed
between his forefinger and middle finger felt slimy. He imagined it
had found a target earlier, still coated in that person's blood.
    The man Kimiko had called Tarou looked like he meant to reply, but
the echo of footsteps along the metal bridge signaled Kenichi's
arrival so obviously that Rintaro wanted to hit the idiot. If he had
used even the smallest amount of caution, he might have caught the
stranger by surprise.
    Rintaro drew lower, poised, ready for this moment, expecting the
slight hesitation on Tarou's part. That would be his opening.
    "Kimiko!" Kenichi shouted, not slowing his charge towards them.
    Rintaro's eyes widened. He hoped that Kenichi did not plan to run
straight through to the girl. If he missed Tarou, he would likely hit
Kenichi with his throwing stars.
    The moment arrived. Tarou turned his head and shifted his feet
away from Rintaro, his attention for that brief second tuned on the
new arrival. It was all Rintaro needed.
    One moment, Tarou moved in anticipation of Kenichi and the next,
three shurikens left Rintaro's fingertips. He kept his movements so
slight that no one but a trained martial artist would have noticed it.
The first struck Tarou's right shoulder, just missing the soft spot
between his collar bone and his neck. The second caught him directly
behind his right armpit. The third would have struck him in the ribs,
but it struck his hand instead.
    All of this took place in an instant, but Rintaro clearly saw
everything, taking notice of the blood of the damage before blood
splattered out of his target. His timing had been perfect, leaving
Tarou open for Kenichi's rush and Rintaro's follow up attack.
    Kenichi did not slow even for a moment, to Rintaro's surprise. He
was always the cautious Tendou. Rintaro drew even lower before he
kicked his legs into motion. His muscled tensed right before time
rushed back up to speed and he flew at his opponent.
    The shuriken attack did not stun Tarou as much as Rintaro had
wanted, as he drew his arms back and sunk into a defensive stance. The
two boys moved towards him quickly, and as Rintaro timed, they both
struck at their opponent at the same time. Kenichi leaped like an
Olympic jumper long and came crushing forward with a massive jump
kick. Rintaro, on the other hand, moved in low striking forward with
kick toward the side of the man's knee.
    Had they struck him, he would have been crippled and defeated.
However, the man did something impossible. He contorted his motions,
counterattacking both of them at the same time. His left leg kicked
backward and struck Rintaro at the very same moment he caught
Kenichi's kick.
    Even briefer than the instant Rintaro found his opening, he saw a
brief flash of chi energy from Kenichi travel through Tarou's
outstretched arms, down his body and through his outstretched leg.
Somehow, the chi of Kenichi's force found Rintaro unprepared for the
energy.
    One instant, Rintaro imagined victory through his subtle
offensive, and the next, he quickly tumbled head over heals backwards.
He had no chance to see how Kenichi faired in the fight, his senses
spinning even as he stopped rolling.
    The force transferal did not hurt as badly as it stunned him, but
the small hands of Kimiko quickly had him sitting upright.
    "Are you okay?" she asked quietly.
    He immediately damned his decision to use Dr. Tofu's leg disabling
pressure point strike against her. His perception of the events tagged
her as a conspirator originally, and not as a victim, which he
suddenly realized was most likely the case.
    "Go help Kenichi then, baka!" she hissed at him, pointing forward.
    He looked up at his friend for the first time since his
uncontrolled tumble. Apparently, he had absorbed Rintaro's attack,
because he seemed to have gone the exact opposite way. However, Tarou
had decided to make his target the Tendou twin.
    Mockingly saluting Kimiko, Rintaro got to his knees and pushed up.
He wasted no more time in coming to help Kenichi. The man attacked the
boy, who also was just recovering from the tumble. He kicked at
Kenichi as the Tendou tried to stand. His vicious assault only lasted
a few seconds, as Rintaro quickly arrived to the boy's aid.
    Rintaro attacked with a series of quick punches that Tarou
blocked, but the move worked as Kenichi managed to roll away from his
attacker. Tarou replied with a quick kick that would have crushed
Rintaro's shin, but he foresaw the move and lifted the target leg and
brought it down on Tarou's foot.
    The counter backfired when a chop to his forward shoulder sent a
jolt of pain through his body. He grit his teeth, absorbing it and
attacking with a punch of his own. Tarou blocked that as well,
catching his wrist. Rintaro broke the intentioned throw by breaking
his wrist lock at the man's fingertips, the weakest point of his hold,
bringing it back ever so slightly and the chopping his wrist. This
strike came down soundly, wrenching a grimace from the man.
    However, Rintaro did not match Tarou's sheer strength and was
quickly knocked back by a violent volley of punches. Rintaro managed
to block the strikes, but felt as if he were blocking a cactus. He
leaped back and examined his arms. They hurt badly, though he saw no
visible wounds.
    Tarou looked no worse for ware, but now Kenichi rejoined the
fight. The two faced down the much older and more experienced fighter.
Rintaro wished he knew more about this strange man, but his moves were
far from ordinary. He fought like a completely original fighter, and
seemed to be holding back something. Rintaro did not want to find that
particular part out before he managed to beat this guy into a bloody
pulp. Tarou was hard enough as he was now.
    The bells that he had heard earlier began again, and this time
Rintaro realized they were the final warning. The bridge would
commence opening very near where they fought.
    "Uh, should we take this somewhere else?" Kenichi asked nervously,
looking down at the bridge. "The bridge controller can't--"
    The stranger cut Kenichi off before he could finish. "I don't
think so."
    "But-" Kenichi started.
    "Let's end this, Kenichi," Rintaro interrupted, suddenly realizing
how they could create a nice long delay of game that would give them a
better place to fight. When he chose to the bridge for the ambush, he
had not considered that his opponent would be far superior to him.
    "What?" Kenichi asked, but would not receive a response verbally.
    Tarou delayed not a second more, attacking Kenichi. Rintaro tried
to move in and attack the man's back, but Kenichi surprised the both
of them.
    "Bakusai Tenketsu!"
    Metal did not react the same as stone or earth did to the
remarkable move. Instead of completely shattering, leaving monstrous
ruins behind, it snapped one of the thick suspension cords that held
the bridge together. The one would not hurt the bridge much, as it
just under a hundred holding it up, but the wire was not meant to
crash the bridge.
    It caught the villain directly in the right arm and then
ricocheted off and struck him in the face. The blow sent him falling
backward with a cry of pain. His voice echoed.
    Rintaro did not let up his attack, but as Tarou moved towards him
and he lost his leverage, Rintaro struck Tarou in the back with a head
butt. The blast sent Tarou stumbling back.
    Just as Kenichi moved in to continue the beating, the siren came
on announcing the beginning of the bridge's ascension. The lifting
bridge did not catch Rintaro off guard, but he had not realized
exactly at which point the bridge would open. He turned his head back
as his feet began to slide forward as the squealing of the bridge
stung his ears. It lay just behind him.
    The movement of the bridge gave Tarou enough time to move. He
regained his poise and barreled into Rintaro. Although Rintaro managed
to strike the man multiple times across the chest and stomach, he
ignored the attacks and pushed him aside with a stiff arm. Rintaro
watched him take a few more steps away when Kenichi yelled.
    "He's going for Kimiko!" Kenichi shouted at Rintaro against the
loud sound of shifting gears.
    Rintaro redirected his momentum and chased Tarou, but did not pick
up speed quick enough, as Tarou attempted to pick up the disabled
redhead.
    "No!" Rintaro heard Kenichi yell from behind him. He felt
Kenichi's frustration as he saw the villain scoop up the girl with a
surprising lack of resistance.
    The exact moment he felt the bridge separate in two pieces, he
crossed the point at which it split. His foot narrowly missed landing
in the split. The elevation of the bridge gave him enough leverage to
push against it towards his enemy. He might have reached the two in
time, but a sudden rush of chi energy caught him off guard.
    One moment, Rintaro's body moved forward in a frantic attempt to
save Kimiko from abduction, and the next he hit a solid wall of energy
that sent him backward. As a blue wave of chi knocked him off his
feet, he caught glance of Tarou flying toward him. The brilliant
energy shook Rintaro as he tumbled over toward the now-gaping
separation in the bridge, he felt the body of his opponent crash into
him.
    The sudden pull of gravity took Rintaro as he ran out of bridge on
which to tumble. He threw his arms out in an attempt to grab the edge
of the bridge, but his tumble left him dazed in his mid-air
summersault. As he fell off the bridge, he closed his eyes,
concentrating his entire existence into one move. He twisted his body
completely around and grabbed onto the only object left in his range.
    Regaining his senses, Rintaro found himself dangling off the leg
of the man he had hoped to knock off the bridge from which he almost
fell. He felt his ascent as the insanely strong man pulled himself up
the bridge. Looking up, Rintaro saw this and self-sacrificially
directed his weight down in a solid tug. He heard a grunt as the man
lost his momentum and fell back down to the length of his arms.
    "Stupid boy!" he heard from above him right before the man kicked
out his legs.
    Rintaro resisted the attempt to knock him off by reaching up and
grabbing the man's belt. He then strongly wrapped his knees around the
man's ankle for support and looked up. He could see the man losing his
grip, his fingers slipping off the edge of the bridge of which he
barely had a hold in the first place.
    It all came down to one movement. Rintaro yanked once more, this
time using his strength to rebound off the man and make a grab at the
edge of the bridge himself. In that instant he felt exhilaration as
Tarou lost his grip and fell, and then the sudden redirection of his
inertia as his hands came fractions within the top of the bridge's
edge. Instead, his hands uselessly slapped the side of the bridge and
slid off.
    His heart skipped a beat as he began to fall. He looked up in
futile effort to will himself up but only watched as the bridge
started to move away from his grasp. He could only gasp when icy cold
fingers reached around his extended right wrist. He swung back and
forth a moment at the sudden loss of movement.
    As he reciprocated by grabbing the wrist of his savior, he looked
up to see her face. Kimiko grimaced down at him, as he noticed her
other arm extended back, likely held onto something as well. Without
the counter-force of her legs to hold him out of the water, she could
only use her arms.
    "Hold on," she said with a strained look in her eyes. Her hand
suddenly began to glow blue, just like the burst of chi energy he had
suffered earlier. He suddenly felt the burst of strength that pulled
him up. She groaned and lifted him up the bridge.
    Just as he reached the edge himself, he grabbed it with his other
hand and between their strength, pulled himself to kneel at the ledge
for a moment, only to realize the bridge's raising had reached a
critical point, and he fell again, this time tumbling down the bridge
instead of off it.
    He took hold of his inertia and moved into a controlled roll,
softly landing on his back. He looked up only a brief second before he
realized Kimiko could not control her roll and plummeted at him. He
considered a second whether he should move, but instead braced himself
and attempted to catch her. The effort was only slightly better than
being crushed while unaware. The only thing he could do before was
release his breath to not have it knocked out.
    After a ragged breath, Rintaro coughed and then moaned. Kimiko lay
face down on top of him, her face landing on his chest. All he could
see of her was her thick mane of red hair splashed all over him. Even
after all of the day's exertion, it still smelled of soap.
    "Are you okay?" he asked of her, putting one hand on her back.
    It took a moment for her to respond. She lifted her head and
looked up at him, and then nodded.
    "Who was that guy?" Rintaro asked, not ready to move yet. He felt
dizzy as if he had been spinning around in circles for a few seconds.
He trained his eyes on hers. Her blue eyes sparkled under the lamp
post on the bridge.
    "Old rival," she whispered to him. She tried to push herself off
him, but did not seem to have much energy left after whatever she did
to both defeat Tarou and pull him up. Though she had seemed to weigh a
lot when she had fallen, he felt comfortable with her lying on top of
him now. Somehow, that disturbed him.
    "I didn't think he'd ever turn out like that," she elaborated.
"His name is Tarou. He used to be on this journey to get his
name changed by the man who named him, but now I think he just wants
to kill someone."
    Her answer mystified him. She could not be more than sixteen, and
yet she spoke as if she knew him for years. It made about as much
sense as her being a Jusenkyou victim. She obviously did not change in
cold water, as he had seen her before and after a bath in the Tendou's
koi pond. His Aunt Kasumi would have noticed something if she had
changed in the hot water of the shower as well. It left him clueless.
    "You're probably thinking about what Tarou was saying before," she
said, as he realized he had just stopped talking. "I don't blame you,
but we better get moving unless we want to fight him again."
    Rintaro looked at her. "He just fell off the bridge."
    "You don't know him like I do. He'll be back, and he'll be
stronger. He fell in Jusenkyou, and it made him into a monster."
    Now all Rintaro wanted to do was scream. All she could do was make
him more confused.
    "Well?" he asked, waiting for her to get off him.
    "You disabled my legs, baka," she told him, almost fondly.
    "Sorry, I forgot," Rintaro replied, planting his hands by her
shoulders. He lifted them up together, holding her up by her armpits.
"It should wear off soon. I didn't realize it would last this long."
    Kimiko grasped his shoulders, but her legs obviously could not
move, as they just dangled.
    "Well, we gotta get out of here," she said.
    "Shouldn't we wait for Kenichi?" he asked, looking back to the
bridge, which had lifted up diagonally. "I mean, he's probably going
to be on the other side waiting for us."
    Kimiko shook her head. "He doesn't want Kenichi."
    Rintaro nodded. "I guess you're right. Want me to carry you?"
    She said yes, but her eyes looked quite displeased with the
notion. He turned his back to her and pushed back onto her. She
reached over his shoulders and grabbed onto his chest. He knew this
was going to be the longest piggyback ride of his life.
    "All right, you explain while I run," he told her. "This better be
good, because whatever you're involved in has my master Soun injured
badly."

                          *       *       *

    The phone rang at the Tendou house, but no one immediately
answered it. The night had been a scare for the family. Ryouga had
been the first to arrive home to find his daughter and father-in-law.
Apparently, she had carried him into the house after someone had
beaten him badly. The ambulance had arrived later, with police who had
a million questions for his daughter.
    Ryouga only had one question: who did he need to kill? Whoever did
this to one of his family members would pay dearly. After it was clear
he knew nothing, the police had given him space. So when the phone
rang, only he was available to answer it.
    He let it ring for a moment, still lost in thought about who would
hurt his family. When he had arrived at the Saotome's home with Genma,
he found it thrashed, and Nodoka injured. Genma had called the police
and stayed with his wife, while Ryouga received the attacker's message
and rushed home.
    Picking up the receiver, he answered the phone, annoyed. "Hello?"
    "Dad?!" he heard on the other side of the line. It was Kenichi's
voice.
    "Nichi-chan?" Ryouga asked, a bit surprised. "Where are you?
Mayako said you chased the man who did this to Soun."
    "Yes," his son replied. "We chased him to the old boat bridge near
Furinken. But the bridge lifted and we got separated. I'm not sure
where Rintaro and Kimiko are."
    The name of the girl visiting the Tendou family was not unfamiliar
to Ryouga. She was all Genma talked about on their trip to his house.
Ryouga did not know exactly who she was, but it seemed obvious to
Genma that she bared some resemblance to Ranma. However, he had not
been sure. Ryouga knew that her appearance and the appearance of Ranma
back in Nerima was no coincidence.
    "Is that man still there?"
    "I don't know," Kenichi replied. "But we need help badly."
    That was all Ryouga needed to hear. "I'll be there shortly. Stay
where you are. Hide if you must."
    Ryouga told his daughter of his plan and left her to deal with the
police and her mother, who would return home shortly. He then left the
house and ran as fast as he could. Not even his bad direction sense
would get in the way this time. His mind was finally clear.
    It took him barely five minutes to get there at full speed. He
arrived at the bridge, where Kenichi appeared from a phone booth.
    "Are you alright?" Ryouga asked as ran up to his son. "Did he hurt
you?"
    Kenichi shook his head, but the blood splatters in his white work
shirt were visible even under the dim lamplight in the night. Ryouga
pulled his son to him and examined him. He noticed several cuts in his
skin, some a bit deep, but none seemed particularly bad.
    "Where are the other two?" He looked around but saw them no where.
    Before Kenichi could reply, the bridge lit up with yellow lights
and began to make noises. It obviously was lowering once more. He
watched it for a moment.
    "We were separated. The bridge lifted when we were fighting that
guy. I don't know what happened to them."
    Ryouga nodded. He would search the bridge and the nearby area, but
his primary concern now was his son and his father-in-law.



    Tarou had watched from the shadows as Ryouga arrived to rescue his
son. He could not know how close he had been to losing a child. If not
for his approach, Tarou would have used him to bait Ranma back to
fight. However, as it stood, he would need to retreat. He did not want
anything to do with Ryouga. He obviously had nothing to do with this
plot any longer. It was all Ranma's doing. Happosai and he left the
country somehow. He had to find them.
    So he waited, watched and followed.

                          *       *       *

    Carried by her real brother, she felt torn by her fate never to
have known him, or to have guided him to become a better man. Being in
Nerima and finding more family than she knew what to do with was a
surreal reality. This was another life, a dream, a nightmare, anything
that was not twenty years in her future. She hated feeling sorry for
herself, but her world had tumbled on its head and now she was left
with reversed gravity.
    Rintaro carried her away from the bridge. He had disabled her like
Dr. Tofu had when he had first arrived in Nerima to teach him to rely
on others. Her brother had used it to keep her talking. This was the
second underhanded thing he had done to her, as if he had no honor to
simply confront her.
    As they left the bridge, she peered over his left shoulder,
looking for any sign of the monster Tarou would turn into. She had
hoped to avoid water, but instead sent him falling into it. He would
be much stronger than the two of them now, and they needed to move.
Whether or not that fall hurt him, he would be back.
    "Not to sound ungrateful for the present on the bridge, but could
you hurry it up so he doesn't have a chance to follow us?" She added a
thick lair of cynicism for motivation. It always worked with Akane.
    He responded by picking up speed. She turned her head and watched
him soar down the sidewalk. He ducked down an alley as soon as they
reached the houses and ran for another block before slowing.
    "See anything?" He asked, not taking his eyes from the road.
    Kimiko had been watching but saw no sign of their opponent. She
whispered in the negative and fell back into her thoughts. It was
getting hard to suppress her day dreamed concerns. One moment she was
celebrating her upcoming wedding to Akane, and the next she's awakened
in a hospital somewhere in the United States.
    How she had gotten there, the betrayal she suffered from Ryouga
and the loss of her entire family always ran thick in her blood.
Kiyoshi had so many things to tell her when she regained her memories,
so much bad news. She examined Rintaro's face closely as one would
look in a mirror to search for flaws only we see. Every time they
passed underneath a street lamp, his face lit up brightly, and when
they would pass into the darkness, she could still see it in her
mind's eye.
    The simple reflection she had missed so much and taken for granted
for her entire life. Nothing seemed real anymore.
    "I think I've lost him sufficiently." Kimiko heard his whisper and
felt his breath against her face, heavy with exertion. It drew her out
of her self-reflection.
    "Yeah, go that way," she said, pointing down a road that would
lead to Furinken. It would be quiet there this time of night. Staying
too long outside on the streets might bring about unwanted attention.
    "Why?"
    "Just do it. We can talk easier there."
    He did as she asked without further protest. Shadows and light
crossed his face once more, but this time he returned the stare.
    "I don't believe what that man said," he told her after a moment.
"But you look like you could be my sister, Nishiyama-san. I can't tell
you how disconcerting that is."
    "Please call me Kimiko," she requested of him. She hated the
formality he used with her.
    "Where to now?" he asked, stopping at an intersection. "Or just
tell me where we're going."
    "Straight ahead," she told him. "Just keep going. I'll tell you
when we're there." She did not know why she just did not tell him to
go to his own school, but she really did not need to.
    "We're going to the school, aren't we?" Rintaro asked, as if
reading her mind.
    She nodded her head, rocking her body slightly so he would feel it
even if he did not see it.
    "That's where I thought you'd go," he said confidently. "I don't
know why, but that's how I got to the bridge faster."
    "I was meaning to ask about that," she replied, still unsure how
he got there so fast. "Did you go through people's yards or
something?"
    He did not reply, but he did accelerate his pace. They neared
their destination.
    "I was a bit curious how you knew where our school was," he
admitted, shifting her in his arms.
    "Getting tired?" she asked, but he just shook his head. She
answered his question after another few seconds. "I've been there
before."
    "Oh?" he said, voicing his curiosity as they arrived at the
school. "Now what? It's locked."
    She turned her head and looked over her own shoulder to see the
gate closed. "Come on, Rintaro, just jump it."
    He muttered something that sounded more like a grumble, and then
approached the gate. He took a few steps back and then burst into
action. She felt light as he jumped to the top of the gate. Now she
knew how Akane felt all the times she ran with her cradled in her own
arms.
    Their airtime lasted a lot longer than the vibration of the gate,
but not longer than the descent from the gate. Her heart beat rapidly.
The entire experience of being carried around made her feel uneasy in
that she could not control the movements she was easily capable of
making herself.
    Rintaro landed firmly and then began to walk towards the deserted
building.
    "Just go to the gym," she ordered again. He looked at her
curiously. "There's a phone there we can use."
    "When did you come here last?" he asked, shaking his head. "One of
the kids here broke that thing a couple years ago. They put the new
one inside the gym."
    She decided not to respond, wondering where the nearest available
phone was. The landscape had changed so much, she barely recognized
any nearby locations and certainly did not notice a phone the entire
distance. At least, that was when she had been looking at something
other than his face.
    "Well, where's a phone we can reach then?" she asked.
    "I didn't say we couldn't reach it," he said, going towards the
gym anyway. "I 'tee-ay' for the P. E. teacher there."
    "You do what for the teacher?" she asked.
    "T. A. means teacher's assistant. I supervise the school athletes'
training. There's a window in there without a lock that we can use. It
will give us access to the pool and the phone."
    "You work with Dr. Tofu, you train all day and you're a T. A.?"
she asked rhetorically. "Busy guy."
    He stopped, halfway to the gym, when she spoke.
    "Who told you I trained with Dr. Tofu?" he asked suddenly, his
eyes piercing the shadows and reaching her with suspicion.
    She mentally yelled at her mistake. She knew from his pressure
point techniques. No one she knew but Tofu Ono could have taught him
moves like that. His skill far exceeded anyone in the area by far.
    "That technique you used on me," she admitted truthfully. She was
going to have to tell him the truth. However, this time she was
telling the unpredictable Rintaro.
    "Your recognized it," he finished for her. "You recognized a move
that my one-time mentor taught me last year. You also know where my
school is and the location of the phone barely after I started going
here, and I know for a fact that you're younger than me."
    "Fact? So your eyes never lie to you??" she refuted, grinning at
his observations. He must have been suspicious of her from their first
meeting.
    "Come on," he said, continuing his walk again. "I might escape
being carded once in a while, but if your bust was smaller, you could
pass for fourteen."
    His remarks really stung. If anything she shared with from-birth
women, Kimiko hated when people misjudged her real age. She considered
herself nineteen or twenty, even if her body said sixteen and Ranma's
birth certificate said thirty-six.
    "Don't make faces," he said, stopping at the side of the gym where
the pool must have been located from the outside. "I'm going to need
you to hang onto my back so I can climb up to the window. Can you
climb through and tumble down ahead of me?"
    She grumbled, which he must have took for a yes, because he knelt
and set her down, turning his back to her.
    "The pool's indoor, huh?" she asked. Last time she had fallen into
that stupid thing, it had been outside.
    "I thought you had been here before," he said sarcastically. "Now
grab onto my back."
    She reached around his neck and used her elbows for leverage to
keep herself having to hold onto his neck. She felt her lower body
dangle against his back as he stood. Color rose to her cheeks at so
much body contact with her brother. It felt indecent.
    "Okay, hold on," he said as he lifted their bodies above the
ground. He crawled up the wall like a spider, up to the top of the
building where a row of long windows sat.
    "How are we going to do this together, exactly?" she asked.
    "I'll push you through, so just hang onto the edge. I'll go
through and help you down afterward."
    It made sense, but that meant he would have to somehow help her
through the window while still maintaining their position about a
story above the ground. She did not look down, but would not have saw
anything in the dark anyway.
    In a marvelous show of dexterity, Rintaro reached one hand up and
put his fingernails in between the window and the window seal.
    "Damn, I shouldn't have cut my nails so short," he complained.
"How are your nails? Mind opening this window?"
    Kimiko dug one of her nails into his chest. She had not cut them
in a while, and had made a bad habit of letting them grow out like a
girl would. It annoyed her that people thought long nails were
attractive--not that she wanted to look attractive. She rationalized
that she just got lazy about cutting them sometimes.
    He pulled her up closer and she reached out, wedged her nail in
the same place he did and managed to pry the window open. He then
opened it the rest of the way.
    "Grab onto the window seal," he ordered, pulling himself up so her
hands were close to it again.
    She grabbed onto the ledge and immediately pulled herself up,
sliding along his back until she got her head through the window. That
was about where her lack of leg movement made it seriously hard. She
groaned, lacking the leverage to pull herself through the tight
window.
    "I got you," Rintaro whispered, right before his head
embarrassingly pushed against her buttocks. She suppressed it and
pulled as hard as she could to get her arms and upper body through.
His head helped and he enabled her to get in most of the way where he
stopped pushing.
    "Okay, this is where the gymnast in you has to go a little crazy.
These windows aren't tall but they're long. I'm going to push you
around so you can fall with your chest to the glass."
    She groaned again as he grabbed her thigh and her arm and man-
handled her parallel to the window. She felt like action figure.
However, she did as he said and positioned herself, ready to fall.
    "Can you do that?" he asked, his face closer to hers where she
rested her chin against the window seal, her legs dangling on either
side of the window.
    "Yes," she said bitterly. "Just push my leg through."
    He once more lifted her thigh and push it up over the glass. She
used that momentum to fall over the side and just managed to grab the
window seal again. Rintaro wasted no time in squeezing himself through
the window and falling so that he landed on his feet. With working
legs and a lack of breasts, he had all the advantages.
    She then felt his fingertips brush her ankle, so she let go. He
caught her in mid-air and managed maneuver her body to cradle her
again.
    "I'm sorry, by the way," he told her after he caught her. The
light in the pool reflected wavy blue shadows against his face that
gave it an eerie look. He later added, "About the whole pressure point
thing."
    "You should treat me as an ally," she told him, her eyes looking
to bore through his skull with such a piercing look. "I don't know
what I did to earn such distrust."
    "Hey, you show up, my teacher gets smashed, and you seem to know
the guy who did the smashing. I'm not the most trusting person in the
world, either."
    "I couldn't tell," she shot back.
    "I have good reasons not to be," he replied.
    They did not talk for a bit after that. He carried her around the
pool and to the area where the girl's and the boy's locker rooms met.
There, just as he had promised, the phone sat.
    Unfortunately, there was no seating anywhere near the phone. He
would have to hold her the entire time. She felt really uncomfortable
in his arms. He did not feel like a brother, but a captor. She could
not explain why that was, but it probably was due to the fact that he
had all the power in this situation.
    "I'm sorry about everything, okay?" he apologized, positioning her
so she could grab the phone. "Who you going to call, anyway?"
    "My brother," she said, which sounded strange to her ears. She had
referred to Kiyoshi as her brother for a while now, but with her
actual brother in the room, it felt wrong. Everything seemed to feel
that way these days.
    "Your brother is that guy who took over the Nishiyama fortune,
right?"
    The question just sounded strange. "Yeah, you know of it?"
    Rintaro nodded. "His passing was a bit of a story, with Nishiyama
Nobukazu being a former Nerima local and a multi-millionaire."
    She stopped talking and lifted the receiver, and then dialed the
number to Kiyoshi's cell phone. She would have dialed the room's
number, but she forgot it.



    "Hey Kiyoshi," Kimiko said into the phone as she started talking
to her brother. Rintaro could not understand whatever her brother said
on the other side of the line, but he could hear the tone of the
voice. He sounded mad, or scared, or both.
    "No, I'm okay," she replied into the phone. "No, just bruised.
I'll be fine. Not like last time."
    Rintaro wondered if she meant his exhausting match with Kimiko the
time before. He doubted it, as they really did not hurt each other
much.
    "Well, to be honest, I got in another fight before this one," she
said. "Hey, I'm sorry, I didn't exactly pick either of these."
    The other party sounded angry for sure this time. He spoke for
another ten seconds.
    "No, I said, I'm just bruised. Give me a break. I'll be as good as
new in an hour."
     She paused and looked at Rintaro. The pool reflected off her face
and he suddenly knew why she looked like family. She could have easily
posed in his mother's place for all her photos as a teenager. He
marveled at their likeness.
    "No, I left that at the Tendou's," she said after her brother
finished talking, and then engaged in a quick succession of question
answering. "I'm on a pay phone. Yes. Uh-huh. Hey, I'm not a kid
anymore. Yeah, but I can take care of myself just fine. You don't have
to mention that anymore--I get it. Yeah, I know the guy. It was Tarou.
Yeah, he's still on that revenge trip, but now I think he's completely
lost it. You need confront him. I don't think it'll stop unless you
do."
    She paused for a while after that, apparently receiving a lecture.
It sounded more like her father than her brother, but he knew some
older brothers to be that, especially with younger sisters.
    "You don't give me enough credit. I didn't say anything." She
paused for a moment, listening and nodding. "I don't think so." It
sounded like a silence, and Rintaro felt his hands slipping. He
readjusted her, apparently breaking her concentration, because she
yelped slightly. He realized his mistake and brought his hands down
her thigh, away from her buttocks.
    "No, I just got startled. No, not really. Rintaro. Yeah, him."
    Hearing his name mentioned, his ears perked up, but he could not
hear anything. Kimiko seemed like she was intentionally leaving her
answers brief to let her brother do the talking.
    "Yeah, he saved me back there. He's good like I used to be--
probably better. No, we knocked him into the river near Furinken.
Yeah, I'm on the payphone next to the pool. Get this, it's an indoor
pool now."
    Rintaro filed her comment away. She obviously knew about the pool
before it became indoors, which was way before his time. Perhaps she
had grown up near here. It seemed unlikely, but possible.
    "No, please Kiyoshi," she said, this time her voice lifting a bit,
almost to a whine. He had never heard her talk like that. It must have
been a sibling thing. "Just send a cab, please. It's really better
that way. Okay...Okay...I will...I love you, too. Bye...No, bye." She
then hung up the phone.
    She looked at him for a moment and then looked away. She looked
really sad for some reason.
    "I need to set you down for a second," he said suddenly, realizing
that they had not been in contact with the Tendous a while. She nodded
and he did so, then lifted up the receiver, dialed in his caller id
number and then his house code.
    "Hello?" he heard his Aunt Akane greet on the other end. She
sounded shaken, her voice rather pitchy.
    "Hello, Auntie," he said as sweetly as he could. "It's Rin-chan."
He almost grimaced at his own use of her nickname for him.
    "Rin-chan!" she shouted on the other end. "I'm going crazy over
here! They hospitalized my father and Maya-chan's all beaten up! Who
did this?"
    "I don't know, but we trashed the guy good," Rintaro told her.
"We're all okay, but we lost contact with Kenichi. Is he there now?"
He assumed he was not since Kenichi had not informed Akane of what
happened.
    "No, his father went out to get him though," Akane told him.
    That sent a warm feeling through him. Ryouga was seriously one
tough bastard. If anyone made him feel better about psychos being on
the loose was that Ryouga could trash any of them.
    "Tell him we're okay if he checks in," Rintaro said. "We're at
Furinken."
    "Why are you there?" Akane asked. "Are you calling from that old
payphone near the gym?"
    The question through him back a bit. Apparently, Akane knew about
the payphone's old location, too. He had to figure out when they
changed it.
    "Yes," he lied, not wanting to let her know that he broke into the
school. That would not look good.
    "Is Kimiko Nishiyama there with you?"
    "Yes."
    "Is she okay? Mayako said that guy hurt her."
    Rintaro looked down at the girl at his feet. She was staring at
the pool, but had probably just been looking at him. Her eyes looked
too focused on the water.
    "She's fine."
    "That's good," Akane said. He heard another voice talking to
Akane. "Mayako says she left all her stuff here."
    Keeping his eyes focused on the girl, he repeated what Akane told
him. She looked up at him, staring for a moment, and then nodded.
    "Can you put her on, Auntie?" he asked politely.
    "Of course, honey," she said and then he heard rustling on the
other side.
    "Rin-chan!" Mayako exclaimed the moment she must have put her lips
to the receiver. "I'm so glad you're both okay. I've been so worried!"
    He changed his voice with Mayako, covering over the emotion with
confidence. "We're just fine, sweetness. I'm sorry I had to leave you
out of all the fun."
    "It's not your fault," he heard her say; although, he knew she was
wrong.
    "If your dad calls, just tell him we're at or around Furinken," he
told her calmly. "I think a cab is coming for Kimiko, though, so he
might just find me here."
    "Yeah, she always takes cabs," Mayako laughed on the other side.
    "Anyway, take care of your mom," he said seriously. "Don't let
this get to her."
    "Easier said then done," Mayako replied. "Well, you should go."
    Rintaro nodded, even though it was obviously a fruitless gesture.
He felt like he should say something special to her, but just could
not.
    She seemed to understand his silence, responding with a light
giggle. "I'll be thinking about you. Take care and come back in one
piece. Bye, Rin-chan."
    "Will do, good-bye," he replied warmly and then hung up.
    "Mayako's dad?" Kimiko asked the next moment, surprising him. She
had been silent the whole time, resting her back against the wall near
the phone.
    "Yeah, the cavalry is on the way. Between him and your brother, we
should be pretty safe now."
    She seemed to look perplexed by his answer, but he was beyond
explaining her weird responses to things. She seemed to know
everything at times, and then would come back and not know something
so simple.
    "Speaking of being safe now," Rintaro began, sitting down in front
of her. The tile felt cool on his hands, and a bit damp. The two of
them probably had wet bottoms now.
    "Yes?" she asked after he delayed his question.
    "Since we now probably have a few minutes to talk, I'd like you to
explain a few things to me." She turned her head, probably
subconsciously, as she gazed out over the pool.
    "Will you?"
    She turned back to face him and did not look pleased. He felt bad
about disabling her legs now. It had turned out to be the stupidest
thing he had done in a while.
    "Do I have a choice?" she asked, crossing her arms under her
breasts.
    "I can't force your tongue to move, or the wind to make the words
in your throat."
    "Let's get out of here first?" she suggested, pushing herself to
her knees. Apparently the effect of his technique had not worn off.
"It's already been a while. Why isn't this thing wearing off?"
    Rintaro shrugged. He really had only managed to use it with any
effect once before, and it had lasted only a few minutes because he
had not hit the pressure point fully. In fact, Dr. Tofu never taught
it to him directly, so he never got it to work properly.
    "Well, I'm not worried," she told him, gesturing for him to stand.
"Pick me up and let's get out of here."
    "Okay." He followed her suggestion and stood. After a quick
stretch, he scooped her up. She put her left arm around his neck and
looped her thumb under his collar. "It's a good thing I know the
security codes to the pool, or we'd have to go out the way we came
in."
    He walked through the door that led to the gym and followed it
until he walked into the main corridor. The security panel on the wall
started flashing as soon as he walked near it. He used his right hand,
leaning Kimiko back so it would be free. After disabling the code he
walked out.
    "Break into the school often?" she asked, a bit of mirth creeping
into her voice.
    "Not for a while," he replied. "Plus I know the P.E. director." He
paused for a moment. "She...likes me."
    He walked with her in silence until they reached the entry
courtyard.
    "Just set me down by that tree," she whispered, pointing at the
one near the path that lead directly to the school's main gates.
    Rintaro obliged. His arms were beginning to feel sore. After
another few moments, they sat under the tree together. He gauged her
condition for the first time. She looked cold, as she only wore a sky
blue tank top and blue Capri pants, and completely lacked shoes. Of
course, he had taken a random pair of slippers from the dojo before he
left.
    "So you want to know about how I know Tarou?" she offered,
breaking their silence. He nodded and she continued. "Well, we kind of
crossed paths a while back. We were never really enemies or anything."
    "Your brother knows him, too," Rintaro threw in.
    "Well, yeah," she said. "Martial artists are kind of the big fish
in the little pond. We always seem to cross paths. When I lived in
Japan, we crossed his path once or twice. I guess he never settled his
score with the old man who named him."
    "Explain more," Rintaro said.
    Clutching her arms to her chest, Kimiko met his eyes without
looking away to let him know she told the truth. "I learned from a lot
of different masters in my time. There was this old man who taught me
some, but fought me more often. He named Tarou, his full name being
Pantyhose Tarou."
    She looked at him as if expecting him to laugh.
    "That's it?" Rintaro asked, bewildered. "He's looking for some guy
who named him? Why not just change it himself?"
    "That's the thing. It was an honor issue. He wanted Master
Happosai to change it."
    Rintaro's eyes opened wide. Grandmaster Happosai was the founder
of his school, but he died a long time ago. No one spoke his name
anymore in fear of him returning from the grave (again). His father
had told him horror stories of the evil man many times to scare him as
a child.
    "What an idiot!" Rintaro exclaimed, obviously taking Kimiko aback.
"He's looking for a dead guy? What the hell?" His thoughts suddenly
focused on one fact that he just realized. She knew Master Happosai,
but he was supposed to have died years ago, when she could have been
no older than Eiji.
    "Yeah, that's why I think it best if I left town," she said sadly.
"He's just going to look for me now, because he thinks I know where he
is. I only led him on to get him away from the Tendous."
    Rintaro looked hard into her eyes. It was dark, but the light from
the street was enough to see her eyes.
    "What?" she asked, rubbing her nose.
    "How long ago did you meet the Grandmaster?"
    She looked at him curiously, cocking her head slightly to one side
and then her eyes opened.
    "I heard he died a long time ago, when I was little," Rintaro
informed her. "And I'm older than you, so you must have met him when
he was in China."
    She did not immediately respond, obviously trying to develop an
answer for him. She looked as confused as he felt.
    "Tell me what you heard about him last," Kimiko said probably as
diplomatically as she could. "I met the old man a long time ago, so
the details are fuzzy."
    "That's not going to fly," Rintaro told her. "You're in a hole
now. You said you crossed paths with this Tarou guy, but if you did it
anywhere near the Grandmaster, then it must have been recently, or the
old beast is still alive."
   Kimiko looked at Rintaro, completely speechless.
   "I met him when I first came here," she said softly. He knew he had
her now. Her eyes were downcast and her hands were trembling.
   Rintaro felt like a jerk for doing this to her, but he needed to
know everything.
   "If it helps you tell me the truth," Rintaro began, "I won't tell
anyone else what you say here."
   She looked up at him with relief in her eyes, but she still
shivered. "Thanks."
   "I don't really care about what the rest of them know anyway," he
bragged, right before he moved in closer to her. She drew back, but he
clasped his hands on her icy cold, bare arms. He rubbed his hands up
and down them.
   "I met him when I was sixteen," she told him, staring at the tree,
her eyes avoiding his again. "I fought him on and off for a year or
so. He left on some crazy trip to China right afterwards."
   Rintaro looked at her bewildered. "Wait, I thought you were
sixteen." She shook her head briefly as her shoulders drooped. He
narrowed his eyes. "Seventeen?"
   "Would you believe I'm thirty-six?" she meekly asked. It did not
sound like she was joking, but he assumed it.
   "Of course not," he believed as surely as he knew the fact sat next
to her at Furinken. "I'd believe you were nineteen or twenty at the
most, but that's really pushing it. I mean, you're in high school,
right?"
   She licked her lips and looked at him. "Well, I was in this
accident when I was eighteen." Her words cut off as she readjusted
herself on the grass. She began again after placing a hand over his.
"I woke up last year."
   His mind struggled but found one detail missing: how long she was
in the before said coma.
   "My brother tells me he had me transferred from a hospital to my
house like six years ago."
   That meant she was at least twenty four years old, if she was
telling the truth.
   "I'm as good as math as the next guy," Rintaro told her firmly. He
did not like being toyed with. "But you're skirting around this.
When's your birthday?"
   She gritted her teeth and answer, "1980."
   He rolled his eyes.
   "You asked," she said dryly. "I may look young, but this stupid
curse did something funny to me when I was in the coma. I don't think
I aged any the whole time." She mentioned the curse again.
   "Jusenkyou, you mean?" he asked. Debating her age seemed pointless,
so he went with it. "So it's some sort of youth curse?"
   She shook her head. "I was cursed when I was fifteen to look like
this. I used to be able to turn back to normal with hot water, but it
stopped working after I woke from my coma."
   "So what that Tarou guy said was true?"
   Kimiko nodded.
   "God, I don't know what to say," he admitted, stumped by her story.
"I mean, my own family mentioned you must be Ranma's kid, but not even
they imagined you were Ranma Saotome."
   "Pretending for a second I am Ranma's daughter," she began, her
tone so soft, he could not make out any sarcasm or even deceit. "I'd
know all this stuff through my father, and telling people I'm him
would be pretty stupid."
   Rintaro could not help but breathe a laugh out of frustration.
"Yeah, why would you say that? If you're his daughter, why hide it
with such a silly story?"
   "I'd have to be hiding something," she said with a sigh. "You won't
believe my story, because it's easier to just say I'm your niece,
instead of your brother."
   That would be right. If she were Ranma's daughter, she would be his
niece. The sudden thought occurred to him that he knew why she looked
familiar. She looked much like his mother did when she was young, but
her hair was more vibrantly red than his mother's had been.
   "I was taught to accept the simpler truth," he admitted, trying to
catch her eyes. "Please look at me."
   She had been crying, for how long, he did not know.
   "It's okay if you think I'm Kimiko," she told him, looking him
directly in the eye.
   In a moment of compassion he was really not used to showing,
Rintaro moved the final inch that separated them and pulled her into a
hug. She did not fight him, but did not hold him back either.
   "Your dad's grave is near here," he told her, which made her back
go rigid. "Akane took me there once to show me his grave. She told me
all about him, but would never let me talk about him again, especially
around my mother. She wanted me to know about my big brother."
   His words elicited a sniffled giggle from her.
   "What's funny?" he asked.
   She drew back, pushing with her hands on his shoulders. "Nothing,
it was just nice of her."
   "Well, my parents weren't about to even talk about him, but I
gathered enough information on my own. He apparently was quite the
local celebrity. Everyone over the age of thirty seemed to know about
him. Apparently he disappeared before he could graduate high school."
   Kimiko nodded in response.
   "So that much is true?"
   She nodded again. "Right before he married Akane."
   Rintaro's eyes opened a bit. He never knew Akane had been the one.
That part everyone disagreed about. Some said he was with Shampoo.
Others said it was Kasumi, Nabiki or Akane. There were even a few
other names mentioned that did not make any sense. Like the Furinken
High School P.E. director (from her own word) and Ucchan of the
restaurant in the same name.
   "What happened to him?" Rintaro asked, looking at her seriously
now.



   "I don't know," Kimiko told Rintaro, telling him the strange truth
of the matter. Her alter ego, her true self, had been mysteriously
absent since the discovery of her inability to transform back. She
could barely even remember how she acted differently as Ranma. Even
Kiyoshi remarked how different she was since her awakening.
    Kiyoshi said he would have a cab there in fifteen minutes, but it
was entirely too long for her taste. She wanted to tell him the truth,
but he only grew more and more suspicious of her when she told it.
Anything she could have said to verify her identity could be countered
in the fact that her 'father' could have told her all of it. She also
did not want to lie too blatantly, as that could cause her problems if
he ever did find out the truth for himself.
   Rintaro nodded at this, sliding his hands up her forearms. His arm
hands sent a shiver down her spine. She was so cold from not being
able to move much and the wet tile of the pool. She imagined he was
trying to comfort her now, because her 'father' was gone, but it
seemed so silly. Ranma had died in a way, and was also somehow lost.
   "When I woke up after the accident, he was just gone. I haven't
seen or heard of a word from him since."
   "Oh God, I'm sorry," Rintaro whispered. He looked truly sad from
this news. "I'm glad you survived it though."
   "I'm not," she replied honestly. If anything, she could tell the
truth about her feelings. "I wish we had both died back here in Japan.
It would have made things so much easier."
    "Maybe," Rintaro said with a shrug. His hands seemed to idly rub
her arms. He was being so different know that he at least believed her
to be family. "But without you, Ranma would disappear forever. You can
at least tell everyone what you know about him."
    "No way." Kimiko gritted her teeth and shook her head. "No, I
can't do that."
    "Why not?" His hands stopped caressing her arms. He then took her
by the cheeks. "Why not?"
    "They wouldn't understand," she told him. She intended to knock
his arms off, but felt a surprise burst of strength from her legs
respond instead. She jerked forward from her knees and her forehead
landed on his collarbone. He caught her from falling face first in his
lap.
    "Hey, you're legs moved." His tone was so much lighter now. He did
not seem to be demanding nearly as much now, as if he had become more
satisfied with her answers.
    "I think it's better to let the past stay where it's been," she
said after recovering back to her knees. "Help me get my legs
stretched out?"
    He did just that, lowering her back to her bottom so she could
move her legs.
    "Thanks," she said, forcing her legs out straight. They finally
started responding again, however weakly. It was like waking from that
awful coma again, only to realize she could barely move.
    "I suppose you're right," Rintaro whispered after another moment.
"I mean, my parents have always been really hurt by his disappearance.
As much as I don't like them, I wouldn't wish them to relive all
that."
    Flexing her thighs, Kimiko rolled onto her back and lifted her
legs into the air. Her muscles seemed to be recovering fast now, as if
whatever block had been created by the technique was removed. She then
dropped her legs and rolled forward, generating enough momentum to
push up to her feet. She wobbled a second, but steadied herself by
grabbing the tree.
    "Guess you're okay now," Rintaro said from behind her.
    Kimiko turned around and then squatted next to him. "I'm going to
go sit on the wall to the school so I can see when the cab comes to
pick me up."
    Rintaro nodded and stood up. The two of them walked a few yards to
the wall, where Rintaro knelt and offered her a boost up. She humored
him, though she was pretty sure she could do it herself. She stepped
on his linked hands and he pushed her up the wall. She grabbed onto
the edge and pulled herself over.
    After another moment, he was sitting next to her.

                          *       *       *

    Kenichi waited while his father made a phone call home to let his
sister know everything was okay. He still felt jittery from the fight
with the man on the bridge and the dojo, though he imagined a lot of
it had to do with it being cold out tonight. It was warmer earlier,
but once the sun went down, the temperature had dropped significantly.
    "You say he called in?" his father said to someone on the other
side of the phone. "Okay, we'll go there and see if we can find him.
The bridge just lowered, so we'll go right now. Okay, I love you too,
good-bye." Ryouga hung up the receiver.
    Kenichi looked at his father expectantly, waiting for an answer.
    "They hid in the high school," Ryouga said simply. "Let's go see
if we can find them and then all go home together."
    "Okay," Kenichi replied.
    The two of them jogged across the bridge without incident. After
his initial hug, Ryouga had barely acknowledged his son. Kenichi
always felt like a child around his father, who never seemed to see
his son for his age. He treated Mayako much better, always saying that
she impressed him. Ryouga never said that to Kenichi, but rather, told
him he disappointed him and that he had to be stronger to survive.
    The differential treatment always confused Kenichi, who had to
work twice as hard as his sister to do the same thing.
    Ryouga followed Kenichi as he always did, never leading the way
though he must have been to the school hundreds of times. He became
lost easily, as almost everyone knew. It was really embarrassing, as
his father never arrived on time to any social function (if at all),
and had to be led to them. If anyone deserved to be demeaned, Kenichi
figured it was his father.
    It took them a few minutes, but they soon neared the school. As
they approached, Kenichi noticed two people sitting on the wall just
past the gate to the school.
    The pair slowed to a walk as they approached. The people sitting
on the wall must have noticed them, because they jumped down onto the
sidewalk. Kenichi quickly recognized Kimiko and Rintaro. Kimiko limped
toward them. She looked rather worn down. Her unkept red hair seemed
wet in parts as it clung to her head on one side, while frizzy on the
other. Rintaro looked a bit worn as well, as his clothes ripped in
places. This angered Kenichi as those were his clothes he borrowed in
the morning.
    When the both pairs arrived in front of each other, he saw
Kimiko's tired mannerisms quickly change. It was like watching a cat
prepare to pounce on a small creature. She stopped quickly and all but
fell into a stance, her bare feet gripping the concrete sidewalk
tightly. The strangest part was that her eyes were focused on his
father.
    He looked to his left where his father stood next to him only to
notice much of the same reaction. The two knew each other somehow. He
could not explain it any other way. The pair faced off for another
second before Kimiko spoke.
    "What are you doing here?" Kimiko asked of Kenichi's father. Her
voice trembled slightly. From anger or fear, Kenichi could not tell.
    "That's Kenichi's dad, Kimiko," Rintaro said quietly, but loud
enough to be overheard. He seemed a bit perturbed by their reactions.
    "Say what?" Kimiko asked with her body rigid. She looked at
Kenichi this time, as if she had never seen him before. "He's your
father, Kenichi-kun?"
    "I am," Ryouga said, stepping forward so that he stood in front of
the girl. "And you're Kimiko Nishiyama, of whom I've heard so much."
    "Shut up, Ryouga!" she yelled so quickly, it caught everyone off
guard. Kenichi moved to his father's side, just out of the circle of
light that the street lamp near them provided.
    "I'm sorry?" his father said apologetically. "Do I know you?" He
looked bewildered.
    "Do you always forget the people you try to drown?" she demanded
violently, pushing him back so strongly that Ryouga almost lost his
balance.
    "Excuse me?" Ryouga said, his voice sounding as mystified as
Kenichi felt. "I don't even know you. What are you saying?"
    "Oh no," Kimiko said, falling into an offensive stance. She raised
her hands as if ready to fight. "You can't play coy with me. You
nearly killed me in the park Sunday. You think I'd forget something
like that?"
    "What the hell is going on?" Rintaro demanded. He grabbed one of
Kimiko's hands. "Are you crazy? This is Kenichi's father. Did you hit
your head or something?"
    Kenichi walked around the three of them to gauge his father's face
better. He examined him thoroughly, but all he saw on his father's
face was confusion.
    "Let me go!" Kimiko snapped at Rintaro, pulling out of Rintaro's
grasp. "I spent Monday in the hospital because of this guy. You think
I would make something like this up?"
    "Ranma?" Ryouga asked, his voice raising an octave as he took a
step back. "Is that you?"
    It only took a half-second, but Kimiko answered him with a kick to
the thigh. Ryouga stepped back and the kick missed its target, but
struck his foot anyway. So close to his opponent, Kenichi knew his
father would beat the tar out of Kimiko, but he did not. He simply
tried to push her back.
    Kimiko deflected his arms and chopped Ryouga's side with her rigid
hand. It must have had some force, because it made Ryouga fall back.
Kimiko did not want to stop there, but Rintaro quickly moved and
grabbed her by the back. Ryouga recovered so fast that Kenichi did not
even notice until Kimiko and Rintaro both went flying across the
street.
    Kenichi's jaw dropped as he watched Kimiko and Rintaro land hard
into the back of the wall. Ryouga began to run across the street
towards them, but Kenichi got in his way.
    "Stop!" he yelled, putting his hands out. His father ran into him,
but slowed down in time and merely knocked him back a few feet into
the street. "What is going on with you? Why'd you hit her?"
    Ryouga looked down at his son with eyes full of deep sadness. He
did not even look like himself with such tragic eyes. Taking Kenichi
by the hands, he shook his head.
   "What?" Kenichi asked before Ryouga lifted him up and set him to
the side.
    Kenichi thought that Kimiko had started to recover at this point,
but it was Rintaro who lifted her off himself. He held her tenderly,
looking down at her. She looked really hurt.
    When Ryouga reached them, Kenichi watched in fascination as Ryouga
separated the kids and lifted Kimiko up in his fists. Kenichi rushed
towards them as Rintaro stood up.
    "Please don't hurt her, Hibiki-sensei!" Rintaro pleaded, carefully
maintaining his distance from Kenichi's father. "I think she's just
confused!"
    "She...is not," he snapped, emphasizing the pronoun. "This is just
same game that he likes to play. Isn't that right, Ranma? You're fine,
so snap out of it."
    Kenichi approached them from the side. Ryouga had lifted Kimiko by
the collar. Her tiny tank top stretched upward so that Kenichi could
see her the bottom half of her torso. His eyes opened wide when he saw
the huge welt that Ryouga had put on her right rib bone with his
strike. Kenichi feared that it broke a rib. She seemed to weakly be
holding onto his wrists, unable to fight back.
    In response to Ryouga's question, she spat blood in the man's
face. Her eyes shined with hatred.
    Kenichi did not know what was going on, but he made a decision
early. No one treated his friends like that, not even his father.
    He caught his father completely off guard by striking him so hard
in the ribs that Ryouga not only dropped Kimiko, but also fell onto
the sidewalk. Rintaro caught the girl quickly, his arms reaching
around her shoulders and supporting her.
    Kenichi rushed to her, taking her from Rintaro so that he laid her
out on the ground. She did nothing to resist, as she seemed to be
catching her breath. The hit must have struck a lung. She whispered
something, but it came out more as a cough.
    "Do you know what the hell this is about, Kenichi?" Rintaro asked
Kenichi as he stood near the two of them. He currently had his eyes
focused on Kenichi's father, who seemed fine enough to stand on his
own.
    "Not a clue," Kenichi replied, lifting Kimiko's shirt to examine
the bruise. The black and blue shape a fist resided just under her
left breast along her ribs. The strike would have definitely broke a
rib and would also explain why she spit up blood.
    "Damn it, Kenichi," Ryouga swore from where he stood up. He had
not moved towards them, which probably meant he was seeing a bit of
reason now. "You don't know who you've got in your arms there."
    Kenichi looked down at the girl in his arms. No matter what crazy
story she told, he did not care what his father had to say in his
defense. No one deserved the kind of thing he did to her. The three of
them stood leagues below Ryouga in a match of strength, speed and
skill. He would be surprised if the three of them together could even
take Ryouga if he was being serious.
    "You called her Ranma," Rintaro said sharply at Ryouga. He seemed
angry, but Kenichi could not tell, as his voice rarely changed tones
and he faced away from Kenichi. "Even if she was Ranma, that would
make her my brother. So you have a lot explaining to do."
    "Me?" Ryouga said, his voice furious. "He should be answering it.
He's the one that attacked me in the park! He's lucky he's still
breathing."
    Kenichi could hardly believe his father. By referring to Kimiko as
'he' and reinforcing Kimiko's story of being cursed by Jusenkyou,
Kenichi wondered exactly what he should do here. He felt like he was
in the middle of something ages old coming to a conclusion.
    "Well, I don't think she's going to tell us much for a while now,"
Rintaro said dryly, looking back at her. "So why don't you try to
explain why you just hit a sixteen-year-old girl hard enough to kill
her?"
    "That's not a girl," Ryouga said, more calmly this time, but still
full of determination. "That's a thirty-six year old martial arts
master who can take punches just as well as I can." He dusted himself
off, his eyes fixed on Rintaro. "He was cursed by Jusenkyou years ago
and likes fooling people to think he's a little girl. And yes, he is
your brother, but not one who should deserve your protection."
    Kenichi looked down at the girl in his arms. Her eyes were open
now. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she weakly sobbed. Her mouth
trembled as she cried. She did not look thirty-six or male, but she
did look like a Saotome. He was surprised he had not thought about it
earlier, but his mind had been elsewhere. Now that he thought about
it, he was sure that she looked a lot like Rintaro's little brother,
Shintaro.
    "She doesn't change shape," Kenichi told his father sadly. "She's
not like Aunt Shampoo at all. She doesn't change in cold or hot
water."
    Ryouga's face changed from one of anger to one of shock. He looked
down at his son and the girl in his arms with disbelief in his
squinted eyes.
    "You know that for a fact?" he asked slowly.
    "I fell into the koi pond with her," Kenichi informed him as he
stared at his father. He suddenly hated him so much. "Mayako showered
at the dojo with her. I'm sure she would have mentioned if she changed
into a boy."
    His father seemed to consider his words, as he cupped his chin
with his hand.
    Kenichi turned his attention back to the girl, who took in a
ragged breath and tried to sit up. Kenichi did not try to stop her,
but between her jerky movements and her wince, he knew whatever his
father did, it hurt her badly.
    She sat up with his help and then surprisingly pushed herself to
her feet.
    "If you're not Ranma, then why did you attack me in the park?"
Ryouga demanded. To Kenichi, it seemed like he was trying to justify
action, which he now questioned. Ryouga staggered back, his hands on
his face. He looked suddenly like he was growing ill.
    Kimiko did not look like she was going to respond anytime soon,
and simply walked over to the wall. She leaned on it, facing Ryouga
with a scowl.
    To Kenichi's surprise, she did speak. "Stop acting the victim,
Ryouga. Yes, I did attack you in the park, but I didn't try to kill
you! You're the one that held me under the water until I passed out!
If my brother didn't get there in time, I'd be dead right now."
    Once again, Kenichi's eyes widened as he stared at his father as
if seeing him for the first time.



    As hard as Ryouga tried, he could not recall if she ever claimed
to be Ranma during their brief scuffle in the park. He had thought her
a figment of his imagination, because it would not have been the first
time. His attempt to drown a ghost left a black hole in his memory of
the night. He had woken up the next day across the other side of the
park under a bench, and his body ached so badly he stumbled to a
nearby hotel where he stayed a few days recuperating.
    He thought the whole thing might have been a dream or a part of
whatever curse befell him at Jusenkyou all those years ago when he
thought himself cured. He merely traded one curse for another. He knew
he did not get the better end of the deal.
    After the redheaded girl had stood and yelled at him, he realized
his error. He had assumed this girl had been Ranma, because she looked
like him and knew his name. Now he was slowly beginning to realize she
was probably exactly who Genma and Soun thought she was and only knew
him because of Ranma.
    His son now stared at him like he was some kind of monster. Even
Rintaro looked at him slack-jawed. They now took this girl's side
without a doubt. His actions made him seem the less reliable point of
authority. He wondered whether he should agree with them.
    "I-I'm sorry," he apologized, bending his body into a deep bow. He
did not know what else he could do to at least take it back. He
straightened out and looked at the girl.
    "You're sorry?" she incredulously asked, her tone making it quite
apparent it was not forgiveness she sought. "You think that takes back
everything you've done to me...and Ranma." She added his former
rival's name tentatively, as if trying it out.
    He could not even believe he thought she was Ranma at any point in
time. She was many years too young, and far too inexperienced a
fighter to match what Ranma would be like now if he had survived the
fall. That drew Ryouga back. Ranma must have survived the fall if he
could have had a child, though he wondered what kind of shape it left
him in.
    She looked to be his son's age, like she was fifteen or sixteen at
the most. She did not have the body of a martial artist either, as her
muscles were smaller. Ranma would have taken that blow and walked it
off. The person he had fought on Sunday seemed tougher than this girl,
who looked like she had been beaten a few times in between now on the
time in the park.
    "I can't explain my actions," Ryouga started to say, but cut off
his words as the headlights of a car turned onto the street in front
of him. It drove down the narrow one way street towards them.
    "Are you insane?" Rintaro asked, his voice trembling slightly.
Ryouga hoped he did not think that he would attack the young Saotome
boy. "You tried to drown her?"
    "It was a mistake," he said as the car slowed and stopped next to
them. The sudden arrival took all of their attention away from the
current events. "I thought you were Ranma."
    The three kids looked away from him at the car. It was a small,
black luxury sedan that probably cost a mint. Although he could not
tell the make, it looked foreign and expensive. The driver turned off
the engine and opened the door and stepped out onto the street.
    Although the man that exited the vehicle was a complete stranger
to Ryouga, he had the sudden feeling of deja vu. The man was tall,
probably a few inches taller than Ryouga. He was dressed in a suit,
but had long black hair down his back that was longer than even the
redhead's. One other thing that made him seem familiar was the look on
his face. He shared the same look of anger that the three kids on the
sidewalk sported on their faces. The man looked at Ryouga strangely,
as if he had not expected to see the him here.
    Just before the stranger spoke, he slipped his arms out of his
coat and rested it on the hood of the car. "So you didn't get enough
last time, eh?" He then rolled back the sleeves of his white dress
shirt.
    Ryouga struggled for words, but somehow could not answer. He
merely felt confused. He took a step back. "Who are you?"
    The man walked over to the redhead and Ryouga's son, appraising
her injuries.
    "Her brother," he said simply. He sounded cool. Ryouga knew this
man was more powerful than he looked. He walked with pure confidence.
    "Kiyoshi," the redhead said almost as a hiss. "Why are you here?"
    "Not taking any chances," Kiyoshi responded with a glance Ryouga's
way. "Are you okay? You look a lot worse off than you mention on the
phone." He took the girl from Kenichi and examined her arms.
    Before Kimiko responded, Ryouga suddenly got the impression that
this was not the first time he saw the dark man in the suit. Ryouga's
memory refused to divulge any details, but Kiyoshi definitely met
Ryouga before.
    "I just want to go," Kimiko said after a moment of silence. Her
eyes met Ryouga's. She seriously looked injured though, as she still
was being supported by her son. Ryouga intended to knock the wind out
of Ranma, not injure a teenager. He gritted his teeth, feeling guilty
for hitting a real girl half his age.
    "What's the pig doing here?" Kiyoshi said, his eyes turning to
meet Ryouga's for a moment. It was in that moment, Ryouga knew the
night would not resolve peacefully between them. He hoped the man
packed more punch than beauty, because he would need it all to best
him.
    "I think there's been a misunderstanding here," Rintaro said
loudly, his voice echoing down the empty street. "Let's all go
somewhere and explain what the hell is going on so I'm a little
clearer on the subject."
    "Before we make any mistakes," Ryouga began, unable to let them
talk over his head anymore. "Let's do as the boy says. I deeply
apologize for what happened and really want to clear this situation up
before we go any further."
    Kiyoshi did not seem to hear. He walked Kimiko over to the car,
where he opened the back seat and sat her down and closed the door.
Ryouga could not see her behind the darkly tinted glass. He had an
ominous feeling about this.



    Rintaro watched in shock as Kiyoshi leapt at Ryouga so suddenly
that the two adults had already begun to fight when his brain
recognized that Kiyoshi had made the first move. His eyes opened wide
at the speed of their attacks. Kiyoshi moved with such fluid speed
that Rintaro doubted that Ryouga could even keep up with his storm of
attacks.
    It ended before anything even seemed to happen. One moment,
Kiyoshi leapt at his opponent, the next their arms were a blur of
attacks, and then in the finale, Ryouga slid to the ground with
Kiyoshi standing on top of him. Rintaro could only watch with his
mouth gaping.
    "What's this?" Kiyoshi said atop his fallen foe. "Where's the man
I fought the other night?"
    Ryouga seemed to stir as if to answer, but Kiyoshi kicked him in
the gut. It was about that time that the two in the car came out.
Kimiko stumbled and fell, but held onto the door as she did so.
Kenichi seemed to run for his father, but strangely did not get far.
Rintaro did not see the boy and assumed he must have stopped on the
other side of the car.
    "Don't do this, Kiyoshi," Kimiko in a voice that did not even hint
at pleading. It was almost as if she was angry with him. "Let's just
leave. I can't take it here any more."
    Kiyoshi did not seem to pay attention to her. With his jaw set, he
drove his foot into Ryouga's abdomen. For his part, the older man did
not seem to fight off the attack or even challenge it. He seemed to
want to answer, but obviously could not with the force against his
lungs.
    "I'll deal with him, Kimiko," Kiyoshi said, dismissing his sister
casually. His words seemed cruel as his eyes never left the man he
punished. "Stay in the car."
    "You can't tell me what to do," she responded angrily, stabilizing
herself. Rintaro walked across the street to help her, but she waved
him off. She had the look of a time hardened warrior. Rintaro was
surprised she was still breathing after Ryouga's attack.
    Rintaro felt guilt for his placing the blame on the girl. She
seemed to have enough problems that his trials would be too much to
pin against her as well. To find family as strong as or stronger than
he really felt like an honor now.
    "Kiyoshi, he's Akane's husband," she said fiercely, walking to the
end of the car. Kiyoshi stood over Ryouga in the middle of the street,
and he did not even stir.
    "Did you hear me, Kiyoshi?" Kimiko demanded as she reached the end
of the car, keeping her hand firmly over the hood of the car.
    "I can hear you just fine," he snapped. He turned his head to face
her with violent eyes. "Go sit in the car."
    "You knew," she said with shock in her voice.
    It was about this time that Rintaro looked around, not seeing
Kenichi anywhere. The boy had not turned up since he exited the
vehicle.
    "You knew, didn't you?" she asked, much louder this time.
    Rintaro approached the car and went to the other side, where the
rear passenger's side door remained open, but he was not in the
vehicle nor standing beside it. Rintaro bent over and looked
underneath the vehicle. He then righted himself and looked over at the
trio.
    "Why didn't you tell me?!" Kimiko shouted in demand. She now stood
close to the car.
    "Kenichi?" Rintaro asked of the darkness, looking about.
    "I told you more than you should have heard," Kiyoshi finally
replied. "You were barely able handle what I did tell."
    Rintaro took one step forward towards them when he felt something
slimy slip around his neck and tighten like a noose. The sudden shock
of it caused him to hiccup as he was about to yell Kenichi's name. It
took less than a second and he was yanked off his feet and over the
wall. He could only mutely dangle his feet and grab at the slippery
tentacle around his neck.
    "You should have told me!" Rintaro heard someone shout as he fell
hard onto the grass on the other side of the wall. Then something
sharp dug into his back. He would have yelled, but the cord around his
neck kept him from speaking. He mutely gasped as whoever held him
choked the breath from his lungs.



    "Told you what?" Kiyoshi demanded of Kimiko. He looked angrier
than she had ever seen him before. She did not know how much of it he
directed at her, and how much of himself. "That the scum under my feet
ruined your life? You knew that much without having to know the
details."
    In one quick move, Ryouga threw Kiyoshi's feet off his body and
rolled to his feet. He backed away from Kiyoshi, warding the man back
with his hands. "I would like a chance to defend myself." His flushed
face sported a footprint on his face and he breathed heavily, but did
not look much worse for wear.
    "By all means, try to block as I rip you apart," Kiyoshi said with
such emotion, Kimiko stared at him in confusion. It was almost as if
he had suffered under Ryouga, and not she. Something did not make
sense. Kimiko's memories of the event that lead to her coma were
fractured at best, and she really did not even know for sure whether
Ryouga was behind all of it.
    One part of Kimiko wanted Kiyoshi to do just as he promised, but
she knew deep inside of her, that was not what she really desired. For
a year and a half they practiced, fought, but never had she ever
wanted to hurt Kiyoshi. He made life possible for her. He offered her
safety, not pity. She owed him so much, but she could not let him do
something that she would regret.
    She felt like hell, but managed the few strides to Kiyoshi. With
his back turned to her, Kiyoshi never saw her coming. She quickly
struck a few pressure points on his back and then reached around his
waist and pulled him back. He did not struggle much as he fell back
against her. The strikes on the inner armpit disabled his arms
temporarily and the strikes along the spine made his feet wobbly, but
she did relatively little to him in terms of damage.
    "What?" Kiyoshi said as he fell into her arms. He seemed
completely caught off guard by her move. "Kim-chan?"
    "Ryouga, you have a minute to explain yourself before he recovers.
If you want to walk tomorrow, you better make it quick."
    Kiyoshi did not fight his position, even though she knew he could
easily have done something to reverse his situation. She had hoped he
would accept her decision to listen first.
    Ryouga looked about to speak, when a look of absolute horror took
his face. He only took one step back as his arm rose and his finger
pointed above her head. Kimiko turned to look where he pointed.
    Standing on the perimeter wall of the school stood one of the most
terrifying things she had ever seen. Whatever he had been before, he
no longer was recognizable. The beast that stared down at them stood
so tall that the wall doubled his height. His hairy legs were
mountains of muscled flesh and the least distorted part of his body.
His upper body no longer looked at all human, or even mammal. Two arms
were almost obscured by the flailing tentacles that covered his chest
and sides. At the top of the beast rested the head of a bull.
    "What?" Kiyoshi said, his back still slumped against Kimiko.
    "Tarou," she said faintly, but then saw what scared Ryouga the
most. She turned the two of them to face the creature.
    The beast jumped down from the wall, extended his wings and landed
on the roof of the car, crushing it with his massive weight. From
behind him, he showed the two boys that Kimiko had failed to notice
disappear. Both Rintaro and Kenichi were held high above the ground,
now shining in the light of the nearby street lamp. Tentacles held
them at the neck and waists. It was obvious he could strangle either
of them without much trouble.
    "What in the name of God?" Kiyoshi whispered, his voice expressing
his surprise. "What has he become?"
    "It's been twenty years," Kimiko reminded him. "We've all
changed."
    The last time Kimiko had seen Tarou's cursed form, he was half the
size and was not so gravely distorted. Kimiko suddenly wondered if she
would see a friend die tonight because of her thoughtless wish to
return home.
    "Tarou?" Ryouga demanded, his voice tight with anger. "Let go of
my son."
    The beast did not say a word, but merely stared down at them,
almost dispassionately. He shook his head once with a grin that
displayed a mouth of narrow, sharp teeth that might have resided along
the jaws of an alligator more so than a human or even a bull.
    "What do you want?" Ryouga said, each word pronounced slowly. "I
told you everything I know already. When will that be enough?"
    "When I find him!" Tarou hissed back, his voice so distorted by
the changes to his body, that Kimiko barely understood his words to be
more than a low growl.
    "Stall him while I recover," Kenichi whispered to her. "I'll deal
with him after that."
    "Okay," she said, setting him on the ground. She then stood and
looked down at Kiyoshi. He pulled himself into a kneeling position and
closed his eyes.
    "I have your friends, girl," the beast growled, waving Rintaro
with a tentacle on his left side. Rintaro immediately began to choke
as the tentacle holding his waist released pressure, merely binding
his hands and legs instead.
    "Stop!" Ryouga shouted. "What's she have to do with the old man? I
thought you were after me."
    Kimiko looked around for anything she could use to cut the
tentacles, trying her best to ignore her brother's pain. The only
thing on the street was the car. Shattered glass laid around the
vehicle in shards. She noticed a particularly large piece on the side
of the vehicle closest to the sidewalk.
    "Only he matters," came the guttural words from the mouth of the
monster. Kimiko could not help but shiver.
    "Stall him for a few minutes," Kiyoshi whispered in her ear. He
still felt like dead weight in her arms. "Your technique was
excellent, I'm afraid."
    Casting a glance over at Ryouga, she suddenly realized they were
allies again. The only time that ever occurred was when the odds piled
up against them and their causes were the same.
    Glancing down at the shards of glass, she had to get Tarou to move
off the car without jeopardizing the life of her brother and her
friend. When the plan came to her, she wondered if she could pull it
off without losing her life.



    Ryouga trembled slightly as Tarou held his son by the neck. He
knew first hand the strength of the beast, but that was not the
revelation tonight. He had fought Tarou on several occasions, but
never did he imagine that he could assume such a form. The last time
they did battle, he was smaller and lacked the sheer amount of
appendages that he sported across his back and sides now. Ryouga could
only imagine what changed with the man's curse.
    Glancing down at the redheaded girl and her brother, he began to
panic. He doubted either of them could fight right now and Ryouga
would not be able to save both children alone. His heart racing, the
man grit his teeth.
    "I thought you were after me," Ryouga said again, the growl he
received before not really explaining anything. "Why are you after
her? She can't know anything about him."
    "Yet she does," the thing said with its horribly distorted voice.
"Speak or I break this one's neck."
    Kenichi, who dangled over the beast's right shoulder, suddenly
dropped a foot. His eyes bulged as the tentacles wrapped around his
waist no longer held him. He began to choke loudly.
    "Stop it!" Kimiko yelled as she stood up quickly. "I will tell you
anything you want to know. Please, just let them go!"
    "Talk now or he dies!"
    Kimiko took a few steps forward as she spoke. "I haven't seen him
for years, I swear it! It's been so long I barely remember what he
looked like!"
    "Come closer and I crush their necks," Tarou threatened, lifting
Rintaro forward. Unlike Kenichi who struggled, Rintaro seemed to
limply hang by his neck. He did not fight, which really worried
Ryouga, who felt totally powerless to help the children.
    "Tarou," Kimiko began with her palms turned up with her arms
stretched out. "Take me instead. I'll tell you everything if you
release them."
    The beast seemed to entertain the notion as he regained his grasp
on the waists of the two boys. Ryouga let out a deep sigh of relief,
exhaling the air he inadvertently held in.
    "Although it's true that I haven't seen him in a long time,"
Kimiko said quickly, "I know someone who is closer to him than anyone.
I'll lead you to him if you just let them go. Please."
    "No, Kimiko!" her brother yelled helplessly from his slumped over
position on the street. His face burned with anger. Ryouga began to
walk towards him when the girl walk forward towards the crushed car,
her bare feet walking over the glass on the street. With each step she
left behind droplets of blood. She seemed to complete ignore her
brother.
    "If you even think about fighting, someone will die," Tarou said
simply in his raspy, torn voice.
    Ryouga reached the young man who glared up at him. "What did she
do to you?"
    "A crippling pressure point technique I taught her," the man
replied. He seemed to regard Ryouga more neutrally now that more was
at stake than the past. The older man still wanted to know who this
young man and his sister were, and why they hated him so. He assumed
Kimiko was related to Ranma, who must have passed on his grudge to
her. He was not so sure he could accept Genma's rationalization of her
appearance, though. It was still bizarre. After the accident so many
years ago, he thought Ranma almost certainly perished from the fall.
    "How long?" Ryouga whispered at him.
    "She pushed too hard. A few minutes, I think." He seemed to strain
to move as Ryouga examined his back with his hand. "Wait for me to
take him out. I'll make sure it's his last." The way the man he heard
called Kiyoshi sounded quite calm for a man who just said he would
kill another man. "Don't let Kimiko risk her life. Please, if she
tells him what he wants to know, I'm sure he'll kill her."
    Ryouga looked up at the girl who bravely risked her life for his
son and Rintaro Saotome. He felt torn between his selfish need to
allow her to be taken for his soon, and his guilt over Ranma's
disappearance. He owed both of the children life. He only wished he
could trade his own for theirs instead. He wished he could find
Happosai and hand him over, dead or alive to the beast so this would
end once and for all.
    Kimiko stood defiantly at the side of the car, so close to the
beast that he could easily attack her now. "If you kill either of
them, I'll never say a word. I'll kill you, or you'll kill me and
you'll never get your revenge." She then knelt, bowing and extending
her head in offering.
    "God no!" Kiyoshi screamed, his eyes focused in on the event. He
started babbling in his panic. "Ryouga, stop her and I'll forgive you
everything. Please, don't let him have her! He'll kill her!"
    "If you move, only your son dies, Hibiki," the creature said as he
deftly waved Kenichi in the air. "I think I'll take you up on your
offer girl, but I'm keeping one of them. Who shall I release?"
    Kimiko looked up, her face calm, her eyes strange. She looked
stronger, like she did when she fought Ryouga in the dream. "Release
them both or you will never get what you want. One way or another."
    "You're in no position to demand anything," he said a free
tentacle on his left side, just below Rintaro, reached down towards
her slowly, caressing her face. "I can take all three of you if I
wanted."
    Kiyoshi started to twitch out of the corner of Ryouga's eye. "Buy
another minute. Please." His eyes were focused in on Ryouga as he
turned to the man.
    "Even if you regain your strength in time, you cannot move quick
enough to stop him from breaking my son's neck," Ryouga said,
confident that even remarkable as this young man's skill was, he could
not match the speed at which one of those tentacles could snap the
boys' necks.
    "I can and I will," Kiyoshi replied.
    Just at that moment, it seemed too late for Kiyoshi's plan.
    "Fine," Tarou began, his voice low. "We have a deal, but I will
drop this boy off after we leave here. I do not want his father
thinking he can keep his child and still kill me."
    Ryouga's eyes opened wide as the tentacle carrying Rintaro drew
back and then whipped him around and released the child. The eldest
Saotome child flew across directly at Ryouga. He barely managed to
catch the boy before he realized he was too late to do anything. He,
Kimiko and his precious son were all gone.

                          *       *       *

    She did not struggle when the tentacle grabbed her by the waist
and the beast carried her off, so quick it left Ryouga sprawled on the
asphalt street with Rintaro on him. After the disorienting sprint,
Tarou grabbed her with two other tentacles, around the neck and legs,
but still left her hands free. As he carried her around, she felt the
piece of glass she smuggled in her waist band dig into her hip as the
tentacle around her waist tightened.
    Ignoring the pain and the blood, she focused on her goal. She
needed a moment when they stopped so she could severe enough of his
tentacles to free herself and Kenichi. With only one person to focus
on saving, she could possibly do it. She could buy time with half
truths if he questioned her, but his tolerances for them seemed to
dissipate since their last confrontation by the car.
    Kimiko decided to test to see if Tarou had nerve endings in his
tentacles, by digging her nails into the one along her waist. What she
found was the tentacles were harder than flesh and resisted her
piercing nails like Kevlar. Using her nails like a saw, she brought
them across the tentacle, bringing slightly more success. The cutting
motion did more and pierced the outer lair of thick skin, but still
brought no reaction from her captor.
    As the tentacle around her neck began to tighten, she took in a
deep breath and began to concentrate. It slowly cut off her air, but
she could last several minutes without it. If it squeezed tighter and
cut the blood from her brain, she would lose consciousness quickly.
She wondered how well he knew that threshold.
    They traveled on, which meant little since as soon as Kiyoshi
regained his strength, he would track them down fast. The longer they
traveled, the less she would have to buy time, and the more quickly
she would be safe on a plane out of here, bringing her misfortunate
luck with her.
    She began to get dizzy as the tentacle around her neck did not
release after a few minutes. Her vision began to darken and her senses
faded. However, moments later Tarou released her neck. At the same
time he released her, she heard Kenichi coughing and wheezing. He must
not have been paying much attention, treating them both the same way
as he traveled.
    Kimiko took the time to properly breathe, catching her breath and
preparing for more. That did not happen as Tarou stopped in front of a
motel room. She watched entered the door, which had been left ajar. He
threw Kenichi across the room, where the boy rolled to a stop against
the wall. He did not immediately start moving, which worried Kimiko.
    He did not release her, instead grabbing her around the ribs with
his overly large hands. When he removed the tentacles from around her
waist and replaced them with his hands, the piece of glass fell from
her waistband down her right pant leg, cutting her along the way.
    "Where did you see him last?" The beast asked as he walked her
into the room. "Your friend does not have time for stalling. I know
Ryouga will find us soon, so don't play around. If you don't know
anything, I will kill you." That was the most he said since
confronting them in his beast form. When he turned her around to face
him, she marveled. His body remained the same but his head returned to
normal.
    "How did you do that?" she asked, her breath caught.
    "What? This?" He then performed another remarkable feat before her
eyes. If she had not known better, she might have mistaken him for an
angel, with wings growing out the back of his back, and expanding the
entire width of the room.
    "You seem interested, little girl," Tarou said smugly, grinning
through his yellowed teeth. "Perhaps I'll tell you, release you and
your friend, if you tell me everything I want to know." He laughed at
his own words. "Don't let anyone tell you I'm not generous. All I want
is that wrinkled old man and you will never see me again."
    She considered his offer. Kiyoshi could handle the fallout, but
she did not want that information in the wrong hands. It could tear
him down from his very roots. On the other hand, he could probably
kill her if he chose to. She had to buy some time and recover the
weapon that now felt like it lodged itself in her thigh. With all the
pain from all over her body, it was difficult to pinpoint what was
hurt.
    "When I said I haven't seen the old man in a long time, I wasn't
lying." Before she could say more, he stunned her with a slap across
the face. The sting remained as she noticed his hands had reverted to
human ones, even though tentacles still held her by the neck and legs.
She shook off the blow.
    "That's not what I wanted to hear," he said plainly, without any
emotion. "What I do want to hear are names, locations, new identities,
anything I can use."
    "How do you know I won't just lie to get you off my back?" she
asked, doubting his offer for their safety if she tattled.
    "I'll know," he said smoothly. His eyes bore into hers. "I'll
know, because that is what I do best. You will tell me the absolute
truth, and I'll feel it."
    "He's here in Tokyo," she said, teasing him with the truth,
testing his ability.
    Hook. His jaw cracked open and his eyes narrowed. "Interesting. Go
on."
    "After you attacked us, I called him," she told him. "He will
probably find you."
    Line. He jerked and then began to shake her, whipping her back and
forth. "How aren't you lying? That's ridiculous! Why would he evade me
for so long only to come now? What are you to him?"
    After he stopped shaking, she regained her composure and stared
him directly in the eyes. He looked almost frantic. "I don't know what
I mean to him, or why he trained me. I bet you can guess why, though."
    Sinker. Tarou softened and released her completely. She fell
backwards against the bed he had been holding her over. His laughter
pierced her eyes.
    "All this time," he said softly, almost belligerent. "All this
time and he's coming to me for some puny girl. For some girl, he'd
confront the monster he created, trained, cast off. I can't believe my
luck."
    Kimiko took the opportunity to try and recover her weapon. She
slid the weapon up her pant leg and into her shirt. As she began to
drag it up, she felt the tentacles grab her arms. Before she could get
a hold of the shard of glass, it ripped upwards slicing through the
tank top she wore under her shirt, and lacerating her stomach. The
other end tore her shirt from both of its sharp ends. She struggled
for only a moment, and the piece of glass fell to the side of her
shirt as he took her by the hands.
    "What does he know?" His eyes looked hungry as the maniacal grin
extended from his lips across his face and his intentions. He looked
capable of anything at this moment.
    "Everything," Kimiko told him.
    "Well, he can't know about my new abilities yet," Tarou reasoned.
"So I can surprise him with that. I'm sure the old man doesn't have
too many new tricks up his ragged sleeves." Kimiko said nothing, but
he noticed the expression on her face. He scowled. "He knows. Somehow
he knows."
    He brought his fist back and punched her across the cheek so hard
her head whipped back. He still held her right hand, so she fell back
onto the shard of glass. It felt oddly warm as the edge sliced along
her side. Stars swam across her vision as she tried to right herself.
She did not know how much longer she could hold out. The day had been
long and full of pain. She held onto consciousness with all of her
will.
    "Did I hurt you?" Tarou mocked, releasing her hand to allow her to
drop back against the bed. "Getting a bit bloody, are we?" She felt
him grab her by the ankles and pull her back to the edge of the bed.
He then lifted her by grabbing the front of her blouse. As it became
untucked, she felt the shard of glass slide out beside her.
    Her left eye refused to open, but her right one saw his face
clearly. Entirely human now, Tarou held her tightly around the wrists.
The look in his brown eyes displayed nothing more than absolute
control. He believed he would get what he wanted and that he would win
out over her. She wanted that look to be there.
    "Saotome," he said. "You can't fall asleep yet. I haven't even
begun to have fun yet. The night has only begun."
    Kimiko put her hands down and managed to palm the shard of glass,
hiding it behind her wrist. "He's going to kill you." Her words echoed
for a moment and she braced for another punch, but it did not come.
    "I didn't ask." He glared at her but then squinted his eyes. "That
man who arrived in the car. The one playing with Ryouga is somehow
involved with the old man." A change overcame his face. His lips
curled into a vicious grin.
    Kimiko did not reply. She readied her arm. She would only have one
chance at it.
    "Good," he said with a grin. He eyed down at her blouse. "Did you
cut yourself somewhere? You're bleeding more than I expected."
    "Let Kenichi go," she whispered. She had intended to speak firmly,
but her lungs wheezed as she tried, coming out tiny. It dawned upon
her that she might not have the strength to fight any longer. She
silently cursed her training, Kiyoshi, herself, Ryouga, and every
flighting image that went through her scattered mind.
    "Alright," he said, chuckling right afterward. "Hey, Kenichi, your
girlfriend bought your freedom. Leave before I kill you."
    Kimiko looked over at him. He still lay face first on the ground,
his arms haphazardly laying beside him. He looked unconscious and did
not respond to Tarou's words.
    "Looks like he wants to die," Tarou said wryly. "I'd be only happy
to oblige the little bastard."
    He released her and she felt her final opportunity had arrived. In
her mind, she fell back so slowly as he turned to go hurt Kenichi. Her
back fell back, but her eyes did not leave her captor. She felt her
energy return to her as she bounced back against the mattress beneath
her. Her eyes focused on his unprotected back as the energy sprung her
back up. She strengthened her abdomen and pushed forward, using every
ounce of will to force the rebound.
    It happened slowly, like the fiercest of fights she experienced.
Her analytical mind saw the opening, the unprotected right side he had
turned to her. The shard of glass slipped through the cracks of her
fingers as she surged forward, until her hand held it like a dagger.
    As her left arm thrust forward, her legs flexed and the resulting
energy carried her toward her opponent. Several feet lay between them
as she rose to her full height and continued forward. Her arm extended
as her left foot took one careful step, directly at Tarou.
    The shard began to enter Tarou's side when something smashed into
her blind spot. The strike felt like a brick across her already
swollen eye, knocking her sprawling. Pain shot to her face and then
the room grew dark.
    She thought she heard something distantly in another room, or
another floor. It sounded vaguely like clapping, but only one person
cheered. As her mind focused again, she realized it was the sound of
slapping and the pain in her cheeks meant she was its recipient.
    She came to as if doused with cold water, but she remained dry.
Her right eye opened wide as another slap crushed her cheek. A sob
escaped her lips, freed quicker than she would ever be. The sudden
pain of her entire body roused her and the room grew dark again, but a
sudden jerk in moment woke her.
    "Not yet," she heard. "Open your eyes."
    Kimiko complied, not totally sure who was asking. Her eye slid
open to look at her captor once more.
    "Good, don't fall asleep just yet. I'm not through with you."
    She hated him so much now that she willed a deep breath and then
spit as much fluid from her mouth as she could, covering his face with
splatters of blood.
    "I suppose that means you're going to fight me?" he asked, almost
as if bored. "You are definitely a Saotome. However, I don't really
care. I know you're still withholding information from me."
    His words swam circles in her head, coming to no destination. She
felt him place tape against her lips.
    "Alright, rest then," he said. His words, softer now, tickled her
ears. He must have whispered them in her ear, for she recognized the
sensation as his breath.
    She remained awake, but lay immobile. Her arms felt like gelatin,
and her legs felt bound by a heavy weight. She peaked her eye open and
realized he sat on them.
    "Not tired? I don't blame you. You're probably eager about your
boyfriend's health. I didn't hurt him, if you must know. He woke up
for a bit, but he didn't seem to want to leave, so now he's asleep
again."
    Kenichi could not escape him either. Kimiko could barely think,
but she regretted missing his awakening. It would have been a better
opening than a simple turning of Tarou's back. She still did not
regret her choice to go with the vicious man, even though she realized
she would probably not survive.
    "Pretty piece of glass you found, by the way," Tarou taunted.
"Let's see what art it created on your body as you hid it away from
me."
    Kimiko heard the sound of tearing and managed to peak her eyes
open to see him shredding the remains of her blouse. He tore it open
and looked down on her exposed stomach.
    "Beautiful," he whispered, tracing one his finger over what must
have been a cut, because it triggered a ripple of pain that made her
hiss. "Not the safest place to hide it. You're lucky you didn't hide
it in your bra, or it'd have shredded your breasts."
    Energy she might not have had, but anger she had plenty of. It
rose within her, quickening the beat of her heart as she strained
against him. He merely slapped away her hands. Her lips fought the
tape binding them as she felt a sudden pain in her hand. He stabbed it
with the piece of glass. Tears began to freely flow down her cheeks.
    "Tears, at last" he whispered in her ear. "You hold out well for a
skinny whelp of a girl. I think you're still hiding things from me as
well."
    Kimiko felt the familiar feeling welling up within her tired,
exposed chest. She first experienced the helplessness when Cologne
trapped her as a girl during her first year living with the Tendous.
However, she had learned ways around her innate handicaps and rose to
meet the challenge. Fortune had been with her that she had not needed
the Phoenix pill, because she would never compromise her integrity or
honor. Again the helpless feelings nearly buried her alive in her
forced seclusion to the United States, where she had to overcome
difficulties she would have never dreamed about in old life.
    She neither liked reflecting on the past nor did it often, but to
learn from her mistakes in the past, she would have to focus on the
future. She had to leave this hotel room with Kenichi. There would be
no compromises and no more deals. She had to do whatever necessary to
insure both of their safety.
    She breathed deeply, focusing on her emotions rather than the
pain. Reflecting had a way of drawing her somewhere else, away from
reality. The crying, the tears, they were not her. Those were the
natural reactions of someone she could be if she followed a course.
They were an appearance of a weakness she did not have. She let her
body cope with the pain as it needed to, putting her opponent off his
guard with every tear sliding down her cheek.

                          *       *       *

    Kimiko had not even realized she had fallen asleep, when she awoke
to bright sunlight. The Thursday sun woke her gently, but the stinging
pain in her body were not as gentle. Her head ached and her skin felt
cut in a million places. A shade fell back into place, allowing her to
focus her tired eyes. Tarou sat in a chair by the window of the motel
room, leaning against the adjacent wall. He listlessly peered out the
window.
    She felt the bindings around her wrists, tied behind her back as
she realized her ankles were similarly bound. Although the air in the
room was warm, she felt chilled because most of her clothing had been
stripped from her body. She wondered about the material used to tie
her, and realized it felt a lot like shoe laces. In addition to the
bindings, she also felt strips of material wrapped around her,
including her right hand, which Tarou had stabbed the night before.
    The man was not without a sense of pity, she supposed.
    Tarou did not notice she had woken up, so she decided to play
asleep and hope for a chance at escape. Keeping her breath rhythmic,
she did not want to betray anything to her captor.
    Closing her eyes, Kimiko crept her arms back, feeling at the soft
sheets of the bed. It was an uncomfortable feeling, being on a bed
again. She had one in California, but since she had arrived in Japan,
she had slept on futons as it was meant to be. Even the slightest
movement could bring about the slightest squeak of the springs under
the mattress.
    What she felt a foot away from her stopped her hand. The backs of
her fingertips gently brushed a soft body behind her. Inching her arms
back, she pushed the palms of her hands against what felt like
Kenichi's abdomen. His stomach muscles flexed in response to her
touch. She almost felt like crying in realizing he was okay.
    Minutes seemed like hours as she concentrated on keeping her heart
rate slow and her breath controlled. With each exhale, she worried he
would see through her rouse and begin to torture her again for answers
she would never reveal. The longer she lay in wait, the more tired she
became. The warmth of the room and the fatigue of the night before had
drained anything she could have used to stay awake.
    She was about to slip into slumber land again when she heard a
voice.
    "Kimiko," a girl's voice called, startling her awake. The chair by
the window lay empty. She listened carefully, but heard nothing but
Kenichi's slow, rhythmic breathing. She curled into a ball,
aggravating the cuts along her abdomen and her side. Looking over her
legs, she did not see Tarou anywhere.
    Her heart skipped a beat.
    "Kenichi-kun, wake up," she said quietly but firmly.
    "He's angry," Kenichi said in a small, far away voice. She wished
she could hug the poor boy. "Don't talk or he'll hurt us again."
    "He's gone, Kenichi," she said more firmly. "I need your help. I'm
not strong enough to break these ties."
    "Okay," he whispered. "What can I do?"
    "I need you to turn over so I can untie your wrists," she told
him.
    She felt the bed bounce as he flipped around in the bed. She felt
his hands clasp hers, leading them to the restraints. She felt the
rough laces wrapped so tightly around his wrists, searching around
them for the note. She reached around them and found it on the inside,
but realized it would be impossible to untie the tightly wrapped knot.
    "There's no way I can undo that." She took in a deep breath.
"We're going to have to find a way to break the ties on our legs so we
can at least run out of here. Think you can break your legs out?"
    "Yes, I think I can," he said after a moment of shifting on the
bed. He then grunted and made a low growling sound as he strained
against the bonds on his legs.
    As he struggled with the ties, Kimiko slowly sat up. Even as her
weary head spun, she kept her mind focused. She looked down at her
exposed chest. Cuts and scratches covered her skin. She still wore her
bra, though it had shifted up and over her right nipple. Her pants had
also been removed during the night, as she lay there in only her
underwear. Although she did not feel modest because of the situation,
it brought a rush of anger back into her body. She needed to ready
herself for a final fight.
    Then a thought struck her. In the haze of last night's events, she
almost completely forgot about Tarou's miraculous ability to change to
and from his cursed form without the catalyst of water. It brought a
moment of clarity to her situation. Vaguely, she recalled someone
telling her that she could control her curse through will power, but
her memories before her coma still were unclear. If that were the
case, she contemplated whether she unconsciously controlled her curse
to bind her in this form. In fact, she even remembered fighting Ryouga
in the park as Ranma.
    The entire thought process almost completely took her mind off her
and Kenichi's predicament. As she turned around, she saw Kenichi's
strong legs break the thin rope binding them.
    "Got it!" he said, his voice high with enthusiasm. He then stood
and walked around the bed to face Kimiko. "I'm going to kill him."
    She paused at his statement, then realized he was looking at her
injured chest. He blushed and turned his head when he saw her noticing
that he was looking there. She then noticed the black bruise around
his neck and had to fight a gasp. He had been strangled repeatedly
that night, so much that it left such a mark. It hurt her deeply to
see him injured so, but she fought the anger back in hope to use
logic. Anger could not help them now. She had to get Kenichi far, far
away from that man. "That will have to wait, Kenichi. Right now I need
you to go run for help."
    His eyes stared down at her in shock. "I'd sooner die than leave
you here."
    "Then break your hands free and help me out of these ropes."
    He nodded and fell into a horse stance by bending his knees to
lower his center of gravity. It would not help his arm strength as
much as it would allow him to focus more energy into his arms without
falling over. As he strained against the ropes, he grit his teeth and
strained his face.
    "Relax your face and breathing," she instructed him. "It will
allow you to focus all of your energy."
    The red left his cheeks and his jaw relaxed as he followed her
advice. She watched him strain against the ropes, even though it
obviously pained his wrists to do so.
    As he did this, Kimiko stood and looked around the room. The
sudden shift to her legs made her feel wobbly. She widened her feet to
the extent that the rope would let her and hopped past Kenichi and
around the bed to the low dresser. She searched the room, and then
locating the shiny object, glinting in the bathroom mirror. She had
hoped it would still be here. With a grin she hopped over to the
bathroom.
    Stopping at the sink, she turned around and found a familiar
jagged piece of glass. Tarou had obviously cleaned it the night
before, because it retained none of her blood. Turning the torture
weapon into a tool, she used her uninjured left hand to begin slicing
the rope binding her hands. The glass was not sharp, so it took her a
minute of slice with her less coordinated hand.
    After freeing her hands, she bent over and quickly cut through the
ones binding her feet. She then shook her arms out to relieve some of
the tension from having laid on them for so long. Her body felt like
the sheath of many needles, unable to pinpoint one particular pain
over another, almost like it washed her skin from head to toe. Her
right hand strangely only ached terribly when she tried to use it.
     As she walked into the other room, she saw Kenichi still
struggling with the rope.
    "I almost got it," he said, his face purple with strain.
    "Stop and hold still," she commanded, walking around him. The rope
binding his hands was threadbare, the might of his arms pulling it
within a thread of breaking. She easily cut his hands free.
    "Thanks," he said, smiling with closed eyes. He looked as tired as
she felt.
    Without wasting time, Kimiko walked to the front door and tried
the knob. It opened without any trouble. A thought occurred to her as
she peeked out, finding the way clear, except a woman walking by in a
robe. She closed the door and turned her head back at Kenichi.
    "Do you think he's letting us go?" she asked Kenichi, who hovered
a few inches behind her.
    "Why would he do that?" Kenichi asked, furrowing his brows. "It's
not like we have a choice, anyway."
    Kimiko looked down at her bare feet and thought about it. They
really did not. She imagined they would be playing bait for Kiyoshi,
but if she wanted to get Kenichi out of this, they would have to take
any opportunity that presented itself. He was far too important of a
person to risk in order to keep their secret.
    As she put her hand on the doorknob, Kenichi put his hand on her
shoulder. She turned her head back to look at him.
    "You can't go out like that," he said, his face blushing slightly.
    She looked down at her nearly naked body and suddenly felt really
warm. "Yeah..." It felt strange, flushing over such a silly situation.
    Kenichi started unbuttoning his white work shirt, watching his own
hands intently. Kimiko looked into his eyes, so much like his
mother's. She watched as he exposed his hairless chest, slowly
removing the garment and then slipped it back over his arms. A moment
later, he held it forward.
    "Kenichi-kun," she whispered, blushing more now than just being
exposed before him. He did what she had done for Akane in China, after
saving her life on the mountain, offering his shirt, too large for the
girl before him, to cover herself. It was so simple action, but she
recognized the complex kindness driving it.
    It was in that moment she knew how it felt to be loved. As she
took the white shirt that smelled of Kenichi and slipped her slight
body into it, she felt protected. She was now on the receiving side of
what Akane must have felt with her. Kenichi and Kimiko shared a
different dynamic of skills and strength than Ranma and Akane, the
similarity overshadowed the difference in her mind.
    Kenichi turned around and picked up her pants from the floor.
Unlike her shirt, they had been slipped off her legs, instead of torn
from her breast. He handed those to her as well, and she quickly
slipped back into them.
    "What do you think we should do now?" he asked, putting his hand
against the black bruise around his neck and rubbing it cautiously.
    "I think this is something Kiyoshi must deal with alone," she said
sadly, dropping her eyes to the floor.
    "Of course, we'll call my family. They'll bring everyone, and that
monster won't have anywhere to run." Kenichi sounded triumphant, as if
the gods had already granted them victory.
    Two outcomes formed in her mind as Kenichi said that. She knew
Kiyoshi was protective of their identities, but she did not know
whether or not he would kill the monster. She did not want that for
him. At the same time, she did not want to be exposed to the entire
family that she was Ranma after all.
    The lie felt heavy on her chest. Even though she had told Kenichi
the truth, it was not he who deserved the truth. The woman who he
spent two of the best years of his life with was that person, but
seeing her the few times in the Tendou home was crushing enough, as
with the knowledge of Ryouga being her husband.
    "Are you okay, Kimiko?" Kenichi asked as he touched her arms in
concern.
    "I don't know what to do," she said quietly. Her mind felt like it
was racing, her blood suddenly hot. "I can't stop thinking about
everything."
    Kenichi put his hand to her forehead and gasped. "Kimiko, you're
burning up!"
    Unable to stop the images, she saw the dream of her and Kenichi as
a couple once again. Her she saw how happy they were in that dream,
but also felt betrayed by it. It reminded her too much how little
control she had over her own fate. She tried to focus on the mission
ahead of her, but it almost seemed impossible.
    "Kimiko!" Kenichi yelled, his voice shocking her out of her
reverie. "Hold on!"
    She tried to comprehend his words, when she realized she had
fallen, but her body felt tingly and she couldn't tell where she was
any longer.
    Unable to focus, she saw the mists of Jusenkyou, the fog that
covered the valley of lost souls one of the days she had stayed there.
It looked the same as the first time she had arrived there with her
father, before the floods destroyed the cursed training ground. She
saw someone in the distance waving at her. A woman with long black
hair stood at the edge of a pool, her naked, wet body shining in the
light of the day.
    "Kimiko," the woman said, with a voice that sounded so far away.
"Don't fight it..." the voice she vaguely realized was Kenichi's
trailed off along with her consciousness.



    Kenichi's heart nearly stopped in his chest when Kimiko collapsed.
He had taken her arm to help her stand moments before when she stopped
responding, and realized she was burning with a fever. Bending over,
Kenichi scooped her up into his arms and gently placed her on the bed.
    Wasting not another second, Kenichi burst out of the room running
directly into someone. With a sudden redirection of his energy, he
felt a jolt and flipped head over heels backward into the room. The
surprise of it left him reeling on the floor, his head spinning.
    "I see the sleeping children have woken," the deep voice said over
Kenichi. He knew exactly who it was and rolled back away from the
beast.
    "What did you do to her?!" Kenichi demanded, his own voice
shocking even him at the volume.
    "In searching the world, I've come across many people with grudges
like my own. You have to understand how paramount these things are in
our minds. We do anything to accomplish our goals." Tarou passively
stared back at him. This was the first good look Kenichi had of the
man. He had short, straight black hair, except for some of the ends
that naturally curled around his ears. He wore a brown trench coat,
tied closed even in the warmth of the day.
    "I don't understand," Kenichi replied, unable to comprehend the
words. He could not understand what grudges had to do with Kimiko's
condition.
    Tarou looked quite pleased to answer. "You see, I heard about this
Chinese woman, who among other things, knew a great deal about ancient
Chinese medicines. It took me a while to find her, as her village was
hidden so deep, I found it by accident, while visiting another site
with which I am fondly acquainted."
    Kenichi half-listened, backing towards Kimiko's still form. He
checked her pulse, counting to fifteen while counting the beats of her
heart.
    "When I told her of my plight, she seemed all too happy to help.
It turns out, she has a grudge against the same man I do. Who could
have guessed?" The man had been out of control, and now he seemed calm
and collected. Kenichi wondered if he was completely mad.
    Her heart beat remained healthy for the time being, but she looked
pale and her face was covered in sweat. Kenichi's heart raced as he
looked between the villain and the girl on the bed.
    "To make a long story short, she gave me the poison that I
injected into this girl's body." Tarou seemed incredibly pleased with
himself, smiling as if he had just announced the birth of a child.
    Kenichi's jaw fell agape and his eyes opened wide. "Why? Why did
you do this to her?" He could barely bring his voice above a whisper.
Anger built up in his head as he stared at the man. He had never known
anyone so treacherous in his life.
    "I had to," Tarou said, with a little less pleasantness in his
voice. "It's the only way I can be sure he won't evade me this time. I
could keep her, but she's too dangerous to hold prisoner. She'd end up
killing herself somehow."
    "WHO IS IT?!" Kenichi yelled.
    Tarou leveled his head at Kenichi and stared him directly in the
eyes. Kenichi swallowed, staring back, his heart still racing.
    "The Grandmaster of your school of martial arts," the violent man
said calmly. "He has many names, but mostly known as Happosai."
    Kenichi remembered talk of such a man, but his mind was too
scattered at that moment to recall. All he was certain of was that
this man was not someone he ever met. "What does she have to do with
him?"
    "I'm guessing Happosai trained her," Tarou said with a half-smile.
"I'm gambling that he cares enough to seek me out. Should he seek me
out, I'll make sure she's cured, regardless of my victory." He paused,
as if waiting for a reply.
    Kenichi took a deep breath to slow his breathing, feeling a slight
rush to his brain. "What if this Happosai doesn't show up at all?"
    "Then her blood is on his hands," the villain replied.
    "Damn you!" Kenichi yelled, unable to hold back. "Give me the
cure!" He fell into an aggressive stance, ready to do anything to stop
the man from leaving.
    "I don't have it on me, kid," Tarou said casually. "Even if I did,
you'd never get it from me. You might have a chance if she wasn't
incapacitated. Alone, you're a fly, buzzing over her rotting carcass."
He turned and then took one step towards the open door. "Contact her
family, or whoever she's with. Tell them to tell Happosai to meet me
at the last place we saw one another. He'll know the spot. You have
about four hours before her heart stops, so you might want to hurry."
    Kenichi took a step forward to hopefully stall Tarou, but it did
nothing, as Tarou vanished without a trace. He could only stare in
horror at the situation left to him. He turned to Kimiko and sat by
her side.
    "I'm sorry," he whispered in her ear. "I'll save you. I swear it."

                          *       *       *

    The location where Tarou's life ended would be the same for his
mortal enemy. All that remained of the man's old life was the cement
foundation of an empty property he still owned. A flourishing
neighborhood a decade ago, the land where he lived with his wife and
child now resembled a black eye in the prefecture. Nothing grew where
the houses once existed, as if the land itself had been cursed by the
atrocities committed there.
    Through his eyes, he still could see the modest patio that he
would have been standing on, while facing the small, but comfortable
two story structure that had been his home briefly. Five years ago, he
might have come here to mourn the loss, but the last of his tears
dried long ago and so did the pitiable feeling he had for himself.
    He was no longer the youth he had once been. His eyes no longer
looked forward to the future, as his head now turned backwards, unable
to see beyond that moment fifteen years ago. Everything now hinged on
Fate's fickle coin toss. The dichotomy of his outlook made the world
easier to understand and the whims of the power a simple matter to
discern.
    It was a matter of good and evil to Tarou. Everything could be
explained by the two sides of that one coin. He might have wondered
upon which side he now stood if he cared any longer. His reason to
live was another's reason to die.
    He waited patiently for the end to come. He would die no matter
what happened this day. The only thing left undecided was who would be
joining him in hell.

                          *       *       *

    Akane stared and the still form of the redheaded girl that now lay
unconscious in her bed. An hour had passed since Ryouga arrived with
the small girl in his arms, and her precious son in tow. The vicious
bruises around Kenichi's neck startled her. Although she heard what
had happened from her husband the night before, seeing the damage
inflicted upon Kenichi in person was almost too much to bare.
    Her son had been the lucky one, as the pain he suffered was
nothing compared to that Kimiko did. She was a mess. Cuts lined her
body top to bottom, and a deep wound pierced her hand straight
through. It would be a long time before she would be able to use it
again properly. Although messy as her appearance was, all of those
injuries were fairly topical.
    It was the source of her unconsciousness that brought Dr. Tofu to
her house early in the morning, when they realized the extent of her
poisoning. He still remained at her house, although he had fallen
asleep in the living room an hour ago. The doctor could not do
anything for her and advised that she be sent to a hospital
immediately, and Akane agreed.
    Kiyoshi Nishiyama, the boy she met as a child before he
disappeared in China, had disagreed, the one who should have been the
quickest to seek help. He seemed to know something that no one else
did about the mysterious poison, and insisted that his adopted sister
stay at the house until he returned with an antidote. The pretty young
man with long black hair was calm in the face of his sister's peril.
There could be no telling whether Tarou would even have the cure. But
the young man had been resolute. He also had a reason why she would
not go there.
    Akane looked at the syringe in her hand. It was the last resort.
Kiyoshi promised it would save her if he did not return in time. He
said to keep it secret. She did, but felt guilty from keeping anything
back from her trusted friend, Dr. Tofu. She knew not what chemicals
filled the small, plastic syringe, but she wondered if she should
trust the young man with the life of a girl that quite possibly might
have been a child of hers in another life.
    The look of strain on Kimiko's face almost made Akane tear up as
she looked at the sick child's sweat-covered face. The toxins steadily
poisoned her heart and mind even as the girl calmly slept deeply. The
towel covering her forehead absorbed copious amounts of sweat, even
though an ice pack sat on top of it. Nothing could keep this girl
cool. Her temperature had not yet reached a critical point, but it
rose nearly a tenth of a degree every hour or so. Soon, she would have
to inject Kiyoshi's mysterious chemical or give in to Tofu's wishes
and call an ambulance.
    She examined the child's beautiful face, gently playing a finger
across the girl's smooth cheeks. The girl looked exactly like she
remembered Ranma, even though he had almost faded from her mind.
Twenty years dimmed her memory dramatically, and she knew that wishes
could alter the fragments to be what the heart wanted. She reached out
her left hand and cupped the girl's chin. It felt the same as the time
she had willingly kissed his female lips for the first time.
    The image remained firm in her mind, though now instead of seeing
the girl's face, she imagined Ranma's male face. Closing her eyes, she
remembered the last time they had spoke. Three days had remained
before she would have married him in a small ceremony, unlike the
previous fiasco that left a fog of flour and smoke in the air. Ranma
had spoken to her about children, how he wanted a son to carry on the
Saotome legacy of martial arts.
    The words she recalled now were when she brought up her wish to
have a daughter. Ranma had looked at her with one of his suave smiles,
and carried on about how great a martial artist his son would be.
Akane had let him talk, because she had known better than to interrupt
a Saotome when talking about the greatness of their male heirs when
speaking to Genma. However, without prompting an answer to her
previous question, it seemed he had heard her after all.
    "If we do have a girl," he had told her quietly. "I want her to be
like you, Akane. As much as I care for your sisters, no kid of mine is
gonna ever be soft. She'll fight with the best of them. But still,
I'll protect her with everything I've got."
    When she recalled those words, she knew this child had to be
Ranma's. He would have raised her to be strong, but still left her
protected. She would administer the syringe as per Kiyoshi's request.
Her ex-fiance would never have left his daughter's life in the hands
of a person who did not have her best interests at the top of his
priorities.
    The whole situation felt like a bad nightmare from which Akane
just could not awaken. She looked down at her daughter and then turned
to face Kimiko.
    "Are you okay, mom?" Mayako asked, resting her injured arm on her
mother's lap. "I've never seen you like this."
    "I don't know, sweetie," Akane replied sadly. "She's the daughter
of a dear, old friend that I haven't seen in a really long time."



    Mayako turned her head and looked carefully over at the sick,
sleeping girl on the bed behind her mother. Her red hair lay splashed
out against the white of the green of her mother's pillowcase. The
mesh of colors had a hypnotic quality that irritated Mayako's eyes.
    She focused on the girls face, and wondered. Kimiko's hair always
threw Mayako off. She spoke perfect Japanese and looked Japanese, but
had bright red hair like a foreigner. It was so distracting she never
really paid attention to the girl's face.
    "But I thought she was Grandfather Soun's old friend's daughter,"
Mayako protested. "You barely know her."
    Akane shook her head and sat further back on the bed towards the
sleeping girl. "She was adopted by him. "
    Mayako shrugged. She had a sneaking suspicion she was about to
have be surprised. She took her mother's left hand with hers and sat
down beside her on the bed. Her mother's hand trembled as she looked
down at the girl.
    "When I was your age, my father promised me to Uncle Saotome's
son." The trembling stop as Akane kept telling her story. "Well, not
me in particular at first, but one of his daughters. I just happened
to fit the bill when Genma brought his son, Ranma."
    Mayako stared at her mother, her eyes wide. She had never heard
this story before. She had known that Genma and Soun wanted to marry
the two families before now, but she never knew that Genma had older
son. It made a strange sort of sense in her own predicament.
    "Ranma was my fiance for two years before he disappeared. We were
going to be married a week before he vanished, and I haven't seen him
since."
    The words soaked into Mayako's head as she held her mother's hand
tightly. It was a lot to take in all at once. Her mother was supposed
to be married to a Saotome. She wondered where that left her father.
    "I'm almost certain this is Ranma's daughter," Akane told her
daughter. "I almost thought that she was him when I first met the girl
last week. They look so much alike, I could hardly believe my eyes."
    Furrowing her brows, Mayako kept silent.
    "I'm sorry I never told you, darling," her mother said softly,
turning to her.
    "But that would make her..." Mayako began, drowning out when she
realized who was laying in the bed.
    "A Saotome," Akane finished for her daughter.
    "She's almost like family," Mayako whispered, her eyes brimming
with tears. She barely realized how much this information hurt her. "I
thought she was just some girl, and I was so glad that it was her and
not Nichi-niichan that was hurt so bad." She grit her teeth to hold
the sobs at bay.
    "Oh, Mayako-chan," her mother whispered as she enveloped her
daughter with her warm arms. Mayako felt slightly relieved in her
mother's bosom and released her tears.
    "Why did this happen to us?" Mayako managed to say between sobs,
releasing all of the stress of the last few nights.
    "I don't know, love," Akane said softly. "But we have to be strong
for her. If she's going to pull out of this, she's going to need all
of our love and support."

                          *       *       *

    Kiyoshi Nishiyama walked exited his vehicle a block away from his
destination. As he stepped out onto the asphalt, still in the dress
shirt and slacks he had worn from the night before, he felt the warm
summer's sun beat down on his shoulders and face. The pleasant
sensation of warmth was one he did not feel more than skin deep. His
eyes did no look beyond his destination, his rage barely in check.
    He saw nothing as he walked through the scarred neighborhood, left
to ruin years ago. Some of the residents in the neighborhood rebuilt
their homes, but the majority left, as the area seemed cursed never to
recover. It still smelled of burning ash, although the fires had been
extinguished over a decade ago. He seemed to remember the fire only
vaguely, not quite sure why it made a difference in the mind of Tarou.
He knew he saw him in this place the night of the fire, but could not
recall any event that occurred that night.
    Beneath his sunglasses, his eyes focused on the empty lot that
seemed remarkable to his memory. The only parts of his memory that
remained were of that shriveled man fighting the beast-like Tarou, and
even that was more like the negative of someone else's picture. He saw
the image but did not remember actually being there. He would have
thought it strange, considering his microscopic memory of techniques,
enemies and women, but he did not. It was another stain in a ruined
shirt used for painting.
    The middle-aged man standing in the center of the lot made no move
as Kiyoshi approached him. He wore brown slacks and a matching brown
trench coat with a white dress shirt underneath. This was the first
time Kiyoshi saw the boy he created from an urchin and cursed water.
He wondered how he came to be the man he was today.
    The man watched his entrance onto the property with little regard,
as if he expected nothing less than Kiyoshi Nishiyama to appear, as if
he knew the entire time exactly who he was.
    "You're late," Pantyhose Tarou, the closest thing that the
shriveled old man had to a nemesis told Kiyoshi as the much younger
man stopped twenty paces ahead of him.
    "Give me the antidote," Kiyoshi replied curtly, holding back
everything, enveloping himself in his calmness. He felt his invisible
aura strengthening through his technique. The beast man would not be
aware of it until it was too late.
    "You being here means one of two things," Tarou said, ignoring his
opponent completely. "You either are conspiring with Happosai, or you
are Happosai."
    Kiyoshi did not respond, remaining still, and invoking more of his
chi energy. He would not risk the antidote to a street fight. He would
snuff out his opponent immediately.
    "So you are Happosai," Tarou said with a smile. "I've been waiting
so long for this moment. You've changed."
    "Give me the antidote," Kiyoshi said as a final warning. He would
not spare even the progeny his old diabolical machinations.
    "Tell me, Happosai," Tarou said calmly. "Tell me why I shouldn't
destroy it right now." He reached into his trench coat and produced a
small jar filled with a clear liquid.
    "This has everything to do with the two of us, not the girl you
poisoned." Kiyoshi stared nervously at the vial. With it in Tarou's
hand like that, he could not attack without breaking the thing. All he
needed was a split second with the vial back in his coat pocket and
Kiyoshi could render the beast unconscious.
    "So that's how you think it is," Tarou said wistfully. "I wish it
was so. There would be no fight between us, and I would be eating
lunch with my wife and child right now. The three of us, or four if
another child blessed our marriage, would be happy, or not. Perhaps my
wife and I would have separated and my children would be sharing their
time between the two of us. I really don't know, and can't tell you. I
don't play with the words 'what if' and 'should be' anymore."
    Kiyoshi listened to his words, but he was missing a piece of the
answer. He had to have done something to Tarou, beyond the name and
abandoning the boy after he taught the boy enough to survive. Kiyoshi
remembered very little of his dealings with the beast man before
leaving Japan.
    "You look confused and yet you found me," Tarou matter of factly
stated. "It's not as if I'm asking you to recall the turn of the 19th
century. You should recall the evils you commit against others."
    "Shut up," Kiyoshi said, his control slipping. "Give me the
antidote and I'll spare your life."
    "Rewarding me with my life, eh?" Tarou replied, holding the vial
up. "If that was what I desired, I would not have sought you out,
devil." He then proceeded to crush the glass container, causing its
contents to spill between down his fingers and onto the dirt.
    Stunned by the move, Kiyoshi took a step back to balance himself
as his heart skipped a beat.
    "All I want is to hurt you as much as possible," Tarou said so
calmly that Kiyoshi knew there was nothing left but to kill him.
    "You have only delayed my plans," Kiyoshi said trying to regain
his composure. He had to play this one safely. Without the antidote,
she would still be okay. He would just have to wait a few months until
he could find another source. He kept telling himself it the result
would be the same in the end, but somewhere along the line, a part of
his mind broke.
    "So your machinations have yet to cease," Tarou said still calm as
if he was not staring at the last face he would see.
    "You have no idea," Kiyoshi replied, before bringing his immense
chi into place. "I only wish you could see the day after so you could
hate me more."
    Finally, Kiyoshi words affected Tarou. He saw the man mouthing the
word 'what' right before he collapsed his chi around his opponent. The
air caught in Tarou's throat as he was struck by Kiyoshi's power. His
eyes bulged as he fell to his knees, as if severely beaten. He then
wretched, coughing out the contents of his stomach.
    Kiyoshi watched his opponent suffering impassively for a minute
before the man recovered enough to stand. It took the man several long
moments of labored breath to find the strength to stand.
    "Yes, it is you," Tarou said as he weakly pushed himself off the
dirt. "I'm glad I could hurt you enough to make you this angry. I
wanted to see your true fury before I died. I knew it would be
satisfying to kill the person dearest to your heart."
    "You've killed no one but yourself," Kiyoshi replied, approaching
Tarou calmly. "You're bleeding internally by now, so even if by some
miracle you defeat me, you'll already be dead."
    "No doubt," Tarou said with a bloody smile, the red fluid dripping
down from his eyes. "You killed me when you killed my family. Now I've
killed yours."
    "Didn't I tell you?" Kiyoshi asked with a smile, standing next to
his opponent who was already finding it difficult to stand. "She's
going to be fine."
    "Somehow I doubt you have the antidote," Tarou said smugly, his
eyes meeting Kiyoshi's with unflinching resolve.
    "That is true," Kiyoshi said with a shrug. "But I will soon enough
to revive her from the coma that Akane Tendou has no doubt
administered. It may take some time, but I'll find it and abolish the
poison before it can harm her."



    "Maybe killing her would be a mercy," Tarou told his nemesis in
the guise of a young man. He wondered what manner of brainwashing he
did to get the Fem-boy to accept Happosai as a brother of all things.
He knew it was about time to change. He had no choice, for Happosai in
this form was far beyond his strength as a human.
    The change was not as quick as a splash of water would have
administered, due to his injuries, but he transformed his legs first,
growing nearly two feet. He watched young Happosai's face change from
one of victory to irritation. He pushed his body further, watching the
man's eyes grow wider and wider.
    "How did you...?" Happosai asked with a voice full of awe.
    The pain of the young man's attack was disappearing from Tarou's
body as the change carried itself further than he had ever taken it.
Unlike the swift change of water, his manual change was slow and
painful, erasing the memory of his old body as he became the Bull, the
Yeti, the Eel his personal addition to the curse, the Bat. He extended
his wings out to their fullest extent and let out a roar. His mind
begin slipping as it always did when he became the Beast.

                          *       *       *
    Sweat dripped from the girl's pours as she slid her hands blindly
along smooth, wooden surface. The steam in the room heated her to the
point of exhaustion, but she could not find a way out of the small
cell within which she lay imprisoned. She had tried yelling for help,
but her voice remained muted. She felt the air pass through her lungs
and felt the words, but her ears failed to hear them.
    Time passed slowly in the madness of the darkness. She wondered if
someone brought her here while she slept. Her mind searched for
answers in her indefinite imprisonment. She felt nothing beyond the
heat and disorientation of her situation. Her name had slipped away
sometime in the hours, though she could not remember ever having one.
She wondered if she had ever existed outside the hellish existence
inside the dark sauna.
    The boy woke up from a nightmare in a dark room. His eyes searched
for the night light his mother had left on for him. Not seeing it, he
started to cry. A few minutes later, the door to his room opened,
shedding light into his small room. His mother's shadow loomed over
him as his arms lifted up to his beloved mother. She approached him
and lifted him into a warm embrace. The nightmare he could no longer
remember still troubled him as he cried into his mother's chest.
    She started singing a lullaby that defeated his sadness. His tears
stopped and his cries silenced. His mind entranced by the harmonic
sound of his mother's voice. He listened until he fell back into the
dark room, his sweat soaked existence of suffering.
    The despair of his last visit to the sauna was not there as his
mother had reconciled this out to be nothing but a nightmare. As bad
as his chest and stomach hurt, he knew it was just a dream. He knew
his mother was real. The fragrant, soapy smell of her soft reddish
brown hair lingered in his nose, even as he recalled the warmth of her
bosom.
    As unfathomable amounts of time passed, he began to wonder if this
was the truth, and the boy and the mother were the dream. He knew she
was real, but could not remember seeing her for a long time. He tried
to recall her name, but could not. The only name he knew her by was
mother. She scolded him when he used her proper name once, he recalled
weeks before he left with his father.
    The remembrance of his father and their training trip sparked more
memories, as if he regained some form of cognitive abilities denied to
him earlier. His name still escaped him, but he did remember he had
black hair. The length varied in his memories, but it was always
black. He remembered wearing his white gi often, when he was not
wearing a school uniform. The uniform reminded him of the lost boy, a
friend of his in junior high. He wondered how old he was now. He
remembered fragments of junior high school, the all boy's school in
the city.
    Then he remembered China. The trip was fun for a while. He
remembered he was fifteen when they left for China. He had his
sixteenth birthday in some weird forest, which was long after he knew
better than to ask for gifts from his father.
    "You're almost there," a voice said clearly through the heat and
the darkness. It startled the boy badly. He gasped and started choking
on air. It spoke again. "You don't have much time, so I'll help you."
    The next instant, lights startled his mind as his eyes began to
function again. As if the light had always been on, his did not have
to adjust to the sudden change of brightness.
    He was in his bedroom where his mother had sung him the lullaby,
except in place of the door was a full length mirror. A girl in the
mirror stared back at him. Although she looked like his mother, he
knew she was not. Her image was blurry, but he could see her well
enough to know that. She was too thin and too young.
    "Now you see," the girl in the mirror told him.
    He tried to ask her who she was, but his mouth still spoke empty
words. His mouth would open, but soundless air would only pass
through. Panic filled him as he held a hand over his lips.
    "It's okay," she told him. "You don't have to speak out loud for
me to hear you." He looked at her strangely as he wondered how that
could possibly be. "Because I'm you." That made little sense to him.
She was a girl. He was a boy. Simple. "Of course it makes sense. Think
about it. Before the dream in this room, you dreamt that you were a
girl, before you remembered the boy underneath."
    His mind still felt foggy, but Jusenkyou crystallized as if he had
never forgotten it. He could picture the valley of a thousand springs,
where he had been cursed.
    "Yes, Jusenkyou." He looked at her with intensity, trying to make
out her image better, to maybe remember it. He wondered what happened
to make him forget. "I don't really don't know, kid." He saw an image
in her head for the first time. She could not hide one simple,
disturbing fact from him. She thought she was dying.
    "So you can see my thoughts too, huh?" she said as she stepped out
of the mirror and into his room. "You going to lie there forever?"
    He sat up in the bed, realizing for the first time that his body
had been prone. He looked down at himself, remarking at his familiar
blue pajamas. It had been a long time sense he had worn those. He
looked up at the image in the mirror with tears rimming his eyes.
    "It's okay, I'm sure we'll pull through this. We always do, don't
we?" He knew she was lying. "Can't I be confident about it?"
Confidence and acting were two different things. "I guess not. So we
might be dying. I get that. What I don't get is why we're all
splintered up in our head. I mean, why am I apart from you? We're the
same person, aren't we?" The curse. "It just changed our body, not our
soul. Right?
    "And why are you so small? I don't get it at all."
    He looked at his body and found it still small, like in the dream
with his mother. However he should have been, the body felt right. He
did not want to go to China and leave his mother. Six was the perfect
age. He missed her so badly it ached in his heart.
    "Hey at least you can remember her well," the girl said, sitting
down on the child's bed. Her body brushed up against his thighs. It
felt so real he could scarcely believe this a dream. "Yeah, it's
pretty weird. I wish we could remember our name."
    The child focused on his memory of his mother. What did she call
him, he wondered.
    "Ranma," she said in his mother's voice, the voice ringing harmony
in his small ears. The image of the girl suddenly looked like his
mother, her hair darkening and her body filling out. "Hey, did you do
that to me? That's really messed up." It comforted him, though.
    He reached out for her and she hugged him.
    "You really are a kid, aren't you? I guess your the me that Pop
erased." She held him for an undeterminable amount of time while he
went through stages of cries and sobs. Her confidence slowly worked
its way into his mind after his tears slowed and his mind grew calm.
    "I'm scared," he said, his own voice shocking his ears.
    "Hey, you talked," she said warmly, pulling him back to look at
his face. "My voice was getting hoarse doing all the talking for you."
    "I remember being older," he said softly, unable to look at her in
the eye. "But it's a dream, isn't it?" He looked at the image of his
mother that he held in his arms. She was beautiful to him. Her short
reddish hair and blue eyes, his eyes. He smiled.
    "I wish this was real, kid," his mother said in a voice that was
not his mother's. "But this is the real world and it sucks sometimes.
We have to remember what happened so we can get the hell outta here.
The question we have to figure out is why do you think you're a little
kid?"
    "Because I want to be!" he forcibly replied.
    "Because it's safe," she said in a near whisper. "I can see that.
You're scared and you're hiding. I get that now." The feelings of her
understanding him felt strange, as if someone else were borrowing his
thought space.
    The image of his mother began to fade, replaced by a crystal
clear, younger version with redder hair and a younger face. Her eyes
were blue like his mother's, but she looked different somehow. Her
nose was smaller, and her cheeks a bit thinner. He stared at her as
she stared back.
    "So that's what I look like. It's weird seeing myself through your
eyes, kid."
    He frowned, missing the image of his mother. The thought of her
presence comforted him.
    "Hey, you got something better," she told him. For some reason, he
could not understand what she meant.
    "What?" he asked, confused. "Better than mommy?"
    "Me," she simply replied, her smile wide.
    He looked at her dubiously.
    "Hey, don't look at me like that. I'm not kidding. I'm pretty
tough. I can handle whatever comes our way."
    He glowered at her. Whatever made him split, fragmented and
trapped in his own mind, she was not able to handle.
    "What? I can't hear your thoughts anymore."
    "Why am I hurt then?"
    She looked at him seriously, contemplating his question. "Well,
maybe I had to take some hits to save someone, like Akane."
    Akane. The name rang through his head like a bell and instantly he
felt his body growing. It did not hurt, but it was disconcerting as
his arms filled out and his mind began to mature again. Akane. Akane.
Akane. He kept thinking the name over and over again in his mind. It
all began to rush back, from the curse to the fights to the crazy
years he spent at Furinken.
    "Whoa, what did I say?" she said as he now outsized her
dramatically. "Was it the taking hits part?"
    "Akane," he replied.
    She looked him deeply in the eyes and then nodded. "We do crazy
things sometimes for people we love."
    He loved Akane. It felt strange admitting that to himself, but it
rang true as her name. He looked down at the girl he held in his arms.
She looked smaller now, like he had outgrown a parent.
    "This curse is really doing a number on me," he said to himself
and she nodded. "I guess we still haven't answered why we're all split
up. Any ideas?"
    "Why should I have all the ideas if we're the same person?" she
asked. "It's not like I have different memories or anything."
    It was then that he realized something. The color of his pajamas
had faded from a royal blue to more of a washed out sky blue. He
looked down at the relics of his past strangely.
    "What?" she asked.
    "I'm fading," he said with a bit of panic filling his mind.
    "It's your clothes, who cares?" she told him, but he shook her off
and stood up. "What's wrong? Clue me in here."
    "You don't get it," he said, realizing the reason he couldn't
remember past one particular night. "I'm dead."
    She squinted her eyes, cocked her head to the side, and then after
a moment, laughed. "What, we in the afterlife then?"
    He shook his head. Somehow, he realized it the moment she spoke
Akane's name. He loved Akane, but she somehow did not--not the way he
did. That name broke them apart, splintering their thoughts. She
remembered quicker than he did and did not draw from his mind as she
had before. She knew more than he did, remembered further into his
past. He could not remember him and Akane marrying. He remembered
planning a second wedding attempt, but it always froze weeks before.
Something broke.
    "So do I have to talk to myself then?" she asked. "I mean, I am
doing that already, but a little return talk from myself would help."
    "I think you're on your own," he said as he noticed his pajamas
faded completely white. "You're forgetting me."
    She looked at him blankly. "Are you okay?"
    "Obviously not," he said as his pajamas completely faded, leaving
him bare.
    The girl turned her back quickly.
    "Since when did your own body embarrass you?" he asked sadly,
already knowing the answer.
    "That's not my--" The words stopped as quickly as she responded.
She then winced as if she had been struck. "I don't get it. I remember
being Kimiko. That much I remember, but what's in a name? I use it
because it helped me get through the recovery from being bed ridden
for like twenty years. It let me pretend that Ranma was safe while
Kimiko was weak and could barely walk and needed to be fed sometimes
because her fingers were too weak to hold chopsticks together.
    "I just haven't seen myself in a while, okay?"
    He put his hand on her shoulder. She still wore the clothes his
mother had worn in the dream.
    "You're not dying," she whispered. He did not hear with his ears
this time, but through her heart. "You're fine. Ranma isn't
disappearing. He's still where you left him. Once you get your manhood
back, you can go back to being normal. Everything's fine. You're not
really a girl. It's just something that true right now. Nothing's
wrong. You're not dying; you're just knocked out or something. You're
just in one of that woman's head trips or something."
    Ranma remembered the face of the pale faced Chinese woman drowning
in the pool. He remembered her face as he fell into the pool. He
remembered her and she appeared before both of them.
    "Wha-?" Kimiko exclaimed, falling to the bed.
    "We're meeting together for the last time," Lily whispered, her
melodic voice that of Ranma's mother.
    "Hey, you're that girl from the dream. I felt that whole thing at
Jusenkyou. What happened there?"
    "I drowned," she replied sadly.
    Ranma took a step back as he always did, deep into the recess of
the darkness where he lay for years. He would lay there again until
she needed her past again. He watched sadly, wondering how much longer
that would be.
    "So, I like have some of your memories from the curse?" Kimiko
asked, her clothes shimmering out, replaced by the clothes she had
been wearing the day Tarou beat her to a pulp. The tears in her
clothing turned red with blood, even though she did not even notice
them.
    "The curse doesn't give you memories, honey," the woman replied.
"Herb fell into the same spring you did, but he doesn't have my
memories."
    Kimiko shook her head. "I guess not. Maybe you chose me, since
you're a ghost and all."
    "I'm not a ghost," Lily replied.
    Kimiko took a step back. Ranma thought she recalled the pain of
her wounds, but she did not reach for them. She looked over at Ranma
and he felt his body fade into focus. He wore his favorite red shirt
and black pants this time.
    "Not a ghost?" She stared him in the eyes for a long moment before
turning to see for the first time.
    "You mean?"
    And at that very moment, their surroundings changed and they stood
on the edge of an adult's bed with three new occupants. An middle aged
woman embraced a teenager at the edge of a bed, while another lay
asleep in that bed.
    The two memories and the girl stared at the older woman.
    "Akane," Ranma said before anyone else could. Perhaps he
recognized her first, or perhaps last. He could not tell how much
older she was since he last saw her before their wedding, a beautiful
young woman at the age of eighteen.
    "Oh my god, mom, her eyes opened," the teenager in Akane's arms
said, pointing at the girl in the bed.
    "Call in Dr. Tofu right now," Akane said with a deeper voice. He
could see the goose bumps raised on her arms and he could almost feel
her fear seeing her face. "Kimiko-chan?"
    "Is that me?" Kimiko asked, leaning over the bed to look at her
face. "I look weird." Ranma noticed that the girl in the bed did look
odd, her face pale, sweat-covered and sickly. Her hair needed a
haircut, covering all of the pillow as it splashed out like a fan.



    "So is this some kind of weird dream?" Kimiko asked of her
memories, but they did not respond. She turned to look at them, but
they had vanished. In her mind, she fumbled with the idea that this
was real, but it seemed surreal, like something out of a movie. She
never had an out of body experience before, not counting dreams.
    "Can you hear me?" Akane asked of the girl in bed.
    "I can," Kimiko responded, but the girl in bed made no indication
of being able to hear.
    Not receiving any response, Akane looked at something in her hand.
Kimiko missed what it was, as the next moment Dr. Tofu walked through
the door. He looked upset, though Kimiko had no clue why.
    "I think she's awake," Akane told him, laying a hand on the prone
girl's leg.
    Dr. Tofu adjusted his glasses as he took a few steps over to the
bed and sat beside it. He leaned over her and waved his hand.
    "Her eyes are open, but I don't know if she's aware of us being
here."
    Kimiko watched them almost in boredom. She did not feel sick, let
alone sick enough to warrant this much attention. She remembered
feeling sleepy, and hot, but she figured it was probably just a cold
from not sleeping enough and being out at night too much.
    She wandered through the open door and stopped dead in her tracks.
There was nothing beyond the door, besides darkness and a warm fog. If
she had taken one more step, she would have fallen straight into some
place. Her eyes opened wide as she peered over the edge into the void.
    "I think we have no choice but to take her to the hospital,
Akane," Dr. Tofu said seriously. "She's burning up, fighting something
we don't know anything about, and I really can't help her in anyway."
    "No, but maybe I can."
    The two adults on the bed looked to the door where Shampoo
materialized through the void. Kimiko fell backwards in surprise. The
purple haired woman took a few steps towards the bed with a bag held
in her hands.
    "What do you mean, honey?" Dr. Tofu asked, adjusting his glasses
to look at her.
    "Rintaro came by the restaurant and tells me what happened last
night," she said. "He say that Pantyhose Tarou poison her and now she
running a fever?"
    "That's right," Akane said quickly. "Do you know something,
Shampoo?"
    Their voices became muted to Kimiko as she stared at Shampoo. She
looked down at her hands and saw the ground through her skin. That
translucence occurred all over her spiritual body. Like Ranma and
Lily, her body began to fade into the background of her life. Her life
did not flash before her eyes; it merely faded away.

                          *       *       *

    Kiyoshi balanced on a wall that the Beast had yet to crush with
his enlarged fists. The wizened man stayed back from the creature's
grasp, as it had nearly knocked his head off a moment before. He
watched the Beast carefully. Every movement it made seemed unnaturally
accelerated with inhumane speed and power. Nothing in his later years
had ever posed as much of a challenge as Tarou did for him now.
    His arm still bled where the Beast's tentacle had stung him. It
had melted through his shirt and caused a fairly nasty burn on his
biceps. It was more of a topical wound, but if the Beast managed to
grab hold of Kiyoshi, he would not survive long. He needed to find
this thing's weakness.
    The Beast furiously roared, rushing at him again. Kiyoshi waited
until it leveled its longer ranged tentacles at him and jumped,
grabbing onto it as he leapt over the Beast. Pulling around back of
the Beast tied up half of the tentacles from reaching around to defend
the Beast's back, giving Kiyoshi an opening. His arm shot out and
struck a pressure point on the Beast's back that should have crippled
it.
    It merely roared as it turned, swinging two tentacles at him.
Kiyoshi deflected the strikes and attacked the Beast's unprotected
flank with a side kick. It struck the beast hard, but did not even
faze the monster.
    Kiyoshi half expected the result and rolled out of the way of the
incoming swing of the Beast's fist. Unfortunately, he had mistimed the
backhand strike. The back of the thing's hand grazed Kiyoshi's
shoulder as he haphazardly rolled to his feet. The shock of the wound
stunned him a half second longer than he should have remained in the
spot. Tentacles reached out, stinging his arm again before he could
leap back out of the Beast's reach.
    The strange sting felt more painful than the last. He looked down
at his arm and realized that the graze had nearly ripped his sleeve
off and had cut his skin. The stinger had struck the exact same place,
leaving the gash burned and marred, possibly now a permanent scar.
That did not bother him so much as the pain that flooded his already
overworked brain.
    He tore his hanging right sleeve off and then tore off the left
sleeve as well, as it already had the hole in it from his first sting.
Kiyoshi hoped the cool afternoon breeze would calm some of the more
persistent pain.
    Without his tools, Kiyoshi doubted he had much of a chance against
the beast straight on. If he had his katana, he could take the
creature down relatively quickly, but he had not expected to need it
and left it in the trunk of his car. He earlier had attempted to reach
his car, but the Beast had anticipated something and crushed it under
his heel. Now Kiyoshi would have to pry the trunk open against the
twisted metal of yet another destroyed rental vehicle. He was glad he
paid the extra for the insurance this time.
    He could pry the trunk open, but it would take extra time that he
did not have.
    The Beast shouted something that sounded like a taunt, but its
voice was so heavily distorted that it was unintelligible. It had
lured him into a sense of superiority and he had let his guard down.
He could not let it happen again, for the sake of Kimiko's life. He
wondered if she would already be in the catatonic state that saved her
life once before. He wondered if he would have to wait another twenty
years for her body to recover on its own.
    He drew upon that wish for someone else and found his strength.
His heart slowed as the energy drained from his body to power his
attack. The Beast charged Kiyoshi as he anticipated it would. It
rushed forward with its tentacles flailing ahead of hit. Kiyoshi arced
his arms in defense, clipping the tentacles with his chi empowered
chops. The defense kept the tentacles at bay, but did little to stop
the offensive.
    The Beast roared as it barreled forward, threatening to stampede
Kiyoshi as he passively defended. At the last moment, Kiyoshi focused
the cold energy into his body as he absorbed the Beast's blows. The
resulting energy knocked them both flying. Kiyoshi, having been ready
for the collision, braced himself as he ricocheted down an passage
between two houses. He had been completely thrown across the street
from the empty lot, crashing into a neighborhood fence.
    The entire fence collapsed under the force projected by his body.
Kiyoshi felt okay nonetheless. He knew this would be his only chance
to find his blade before the Beast recovered and found him.
    Picking himself off the dirt, Kiyoshi sprinted to the crushed
remains of his vehicle. He looked at the trunk. I large footprint
crushed into it, making it impossible to open it normally. He would
need something to pry it open, but he realized the jack had to be in
the trunk as well.
    Kiyoshi closed his eyes and did the next best thing. He put all of
his remaining chi into his finger and used his Bakufuuken, the blast
fist, pressing it at an upward angle in between the trunk's lid and
the metal attached to the car itself. To his amazement, the car's back
end lifted into the air as the trunk went flying off its hinge like a
projectile into the sky.
    Just as the car climaxed in its trunk-over-hood arc, the Beast
lashed out with a surprise aerial attack, its immense black wings
carrying it downward like a falling kite. Kiyoshi barely dodged as
both the Beast and the car fell to the asphalt street. The car
screeched as its top scrapped the street.
    Kiyoshi rolled to the side as the Beast followed up his strike
with a tentacle attack that stung Kiyoshi ankle as he barely dodged
the majority of the attack. The pain was minimal as the blood rushed
to his feet for another quick sprint.
    He heard another roar as he ran to the other side of the car, but
the Beast anticipated this and jumped over the vehicle, landing on the
lopsided vehicle, sending the other end up in the air like a seesaw.
Out of the corner of his eye, Kiyoshi saw the box containing his
weapons fall out of the trunk, dislodged from its hiding spot by the
immense weight of the Beast.
    "No toys," growled the Beast as swung downward at him with its
giant fists.
    Kiyoshi dodged the attack, countering with a blast fist to the
Beast's right wrist. The counter knocked the Beast's arms to the side,
exposing its tentacle laden side as Kiyoshi followed it with what
anyone but a user of the Amaguriken would call a Chestnut fist attack.
His strike was much different, as it relied on precise strikes rather
than random blows to the enemy's body. His strikes struck the base of
each of the tentacles on that side.
    The Beast roared, this time in pain, as it leaped off the vehicle
and onto the sidewalk. The car's back end lifted up significantly as
the Beast's weight no longer held it down. It left Kiyoshi with just
enough time to slide his hand under the vehicle and retrieve the long,
relatively unscathed box from the car.
    Kiyoshi rolled backwards as the car once more fell downward, the
Beast's body once more landing on top of it. It clipped Kiyoshi's
hand, knocking the wooden box out of his hand as he rolled out of the
way. Kiyoshi cried out as he rolled to his feet. He looked down at his
red right hand, crushed between the box and the car. He surmised his
finger were probably broken in the attack.
    "You take my weapons," the Beast said carefully as it lifted the
box with its good left tentacles. "I take yours." It proceeded to
crush the box with its huge paws.
    Kiyoshi smiled and performed a maneuver he would have never
attempted without the urgency he required. It would tax his body
beyond anything he attempted before.
    The Beast looked down at what remained in its mitts. An undamaged
katana sheath. However, the blade no longer remained in the lacquer
casing.
    Back about twenty feet behind the Beast, Kiyoshi held the blade in
his left hand, extended behind him. The technique had sent him
straight from his position across the street, through the Beast's
tentacles and back to the lot behind him, all in a split second. He
only had time to grab the blade from its sheath as he flew through the
space faster than an eye. All the Beast would have heard was a crackle
as he broke the speed of sound.
    Kiyoshi nearly collapsed under the pressure of his maneuver. His
whole body felt exhausted, beyond what he expected from earlier
attempts. Trying to press the advantage, he managed to right himself
as he turned his body to face his opponent.
    The Beast must have caught on at the same time Kiyoshi turned, for
he roared, throwing down the remains of the box and turning to
continue its attack, heedless of Kiyoshi's acquisition.
    Bringing the blade to bare, Kiyoshi's chances fluctuated between
better and worse as he was only able to defend himself from the
Beast's attack as he tried to gain a second wind.
    "Die!" hissed the Beast as he crashed into Kiyoshi, warding off
the blade and striking him in the shoulder with a fist.
    The punch sent Kiyoshi flying. He barely managed to catch his
flight and roll with his blade as he hit the wall in the back of
Tarou's empty lot. He felt the stone wall that separated the empty lot
and the neighbor's houses collapse as he crashed into it with the
force of a bulldozer. Splintering pain ripped through his left arm as
he fell to the dirt.
    He coughed liquid out of his lungs. The sickly salty flavor of
blood tickled his tongue as he regained his senses. One was never too
old to outsmart oneself, Kiyoshi thought.
    The Beast wasted no time to follow up his attack, giving Kiyoshi
two seconds from the time he looked up and saw the creature to the
time he had to be far away from his attacker. Kiyoshi knew he could
not and did the next best thing.
    Just as the Beast came down with a gigantic stomp to the ground,
Kiyoshi pressed himself upwards at it with his broken hand and legs,
propelling himself over the kick and into the creatures belly. Using
the sharp end of the blade he still nursed with his broken arm, he
managed to aim it directly at the Beast.
    The blade met flesh as Kiyoshi repelled off the creature, his body
again struck by the Beast's powerful strike. He crashed into the back
of the house, this time, his body taking little damage but for the
strike to his right shoulder that would bruise horribly. Catching
himself on the wall, Kiyoshi bounced off and landed on his feet.
    To Kiyoshi's good fortune, the Beast's right side of tentacles had
yet to recover from his strike earlier. He held the blade out in front
of him again, ready for the charge this time. With his broken arm
behind him and both hands firmly gripping the katana's hilt, he
grimaced as the creature neared him.
    Not much kept him going as he prepared to resist the Beast's
attack. Taking a giant step forward, Kiyoshi met the Beast's charge
with a series of lightning quick slices to his left side, severing all
but one of the tentacles from the creature's side. He heard the roar
sound from its throat about the same time he fell to his knees, the
shock of the remaining stinger wrapped around his broken arm, jabbed
deep into a pressure point.
    The Beast fell back, pulling Kiyoshi with it as it teetered back
from the pain of its injuries. Kiyoshi tumbled forward, unable to stop
as the blade fell from his hands and his arms was yanked from its
socket. His left arm sent unbearable spikes of pain through his body
as he landed haphazardly on the Beast.
    With his right hand, Kiyoshi unwrapped his right arm from the
tentacle and dislodged himself from the Beast, who lay fairly still
underneath him. He fell back onto his bottom and looked at his
opponent. No longer did the ghastly form of the Beast consume Tarou's
shape, but replaced was a nearly naked man, whose left side bled
readily. Kiyoshi's blade remained in his side.
    True to his survivalist nature, Tarou already began to come to his
senses as Kiyoshi stared at the bloody wound in his former student's
side.
    "You lied to me," Tarou whispered, his looking Kiyoshi straight in
the eyes. He barely regarded the wound in his side, dislodging the
blade from his ribs and holding it out in front of him. He twisted it
in the afternoon sun, examining the blood in it.
    Kiyoshi did not respond. He merely stared at his opponent, gauging
what he would do next. His entire body ached with exhaustion he never
remembered feeling before. He was sure he must have pushed his body to
its limit like this before, but of late, he could barely remember past
the twenty years he spent working his way up the Nishiyama Inc.
ladder.
    "You're not Happosai at all," Tarou said, standing up with little
effort. His eyes glared down at Kiyoshi with such strength that
Kiyoshi wondered if Tarou would finish him with his own blade.
    "What makes you so sure?" Kiyoshi asked, his mind shuddering with
the pain.
    "I knew him well," the man replied, grinning down at Kiyoshi. "You
are anything but the Master of the Anything Goes Martial Arts. You
perform the moves as if you watched someone else perform them. Your
body doesn't know the moves your brain does."
    "Jusenkyou does wonders," Kiyoshi shot back with contempt in his
voice. He angrily glared at Tarou.
    "You really think you're the old man, but you're not him." Tarou
looked at the blade held in his hand again. "This is a family blade.
Your father's?"
    Kiyoshi stared at the man, his mind unable to find an answer to
the question. He almost said yes, but to say such would admit his
awkward situation to assuming the identity of the Nishiyama prodigy.
    "Yes, this is your father's," Tarou said knowingly. "I know of the
Nishiyamas, through reputation. I even checked them out before, due to
their odd relationship with the Tendou family."
    "I made that connection," Kiyoshi said. "I put my Nobukazu in
touch with Soun and Genma, as he was quite interested in training
bodyguards with authentic Japanese martial arts."
    Stalling for every moment possible, Kiyoshi looked around, unable
to see a way he could escape alive.
    "You know what?" Tarou began rhetorically. "You look more like
your mother than your father. You have his eyes, but her face."
    This made Kiyoshi's eyes narrow and forget about his escape plans.
    "What the hell are you talking about?" he demanded, throwing his
hands down to his arms discomfort. Although it hurt, he knew he had to
make his last stand a strong one.
    "I met your mother before she passed on," Tarou said with a grin,
his eyes drifting up and down Kiyoshi's body. "She was tall like you.
Your father was from a short breed, but not you. You're of your
mother's strong genes. I'm not surprised he chose you."
    No longer the puppet master, Kiyoshi had no idea what to say.
Tarou held some information or something that Kiyoshi did not. The
younger man's mind could not concentrate after all of the fighting.
His chi had been depleted, all but for the bit keeping up conscious
and alive. His arms had been rendered useless in a fight and his legs
would not get him through to the next day. He could run, but he
doubted he would escape the much healthier Tarou, who could possibly
even fly to catch him.
    "I'm done with you, Kiyoshi Nishiyama," Tarou said softly. He
turned and threw the blade on the dirt in front of Kiyoshi, who
quickly snatched it up.
    "Wait!" Kiyoshi yelled, his teeth clenched tightly.
    Tarou, bare to the waist, turned around. The new blood blended
with his burns, cuts and scars of old. He stared at Kiyoshi, his eyes
piercing deeper than Kiyoshi could stand.
    "What about that antidote?" he nearly screamed. His teeth
chattered with the aftereffects of so much adrenaline and fear.
    With a laugh, Tarou turned and walked away. Kiyoshi would not
follow.
    "When you wake up, seek me out. I could use an apprentice like
you." The man's voice would echo in Kiyoshi's mind for days.

                          *       *       *

    A caustic silence permeated the Saotome household as it often did.
Everyone knew better than to stay in it longer than they had to,
finding other locations to spend their time. Genma spent most of his
time at the Tendou home, playing Shoji, eating and otherwise making a
nuisance of himself. Nodoka took solace in the classes she taught in
flower arrangement and cooking at the local adult's school. Shintaro
usually played at his friend's house, as their family had money and
could spend thousands of yen on electronic entertainment. Rintaro
often trained about town or picking fights with local toughs. Today,
however, he was doing something he rarely did during the day.
    Every member of the household sat in the sitting room, where a
television set might have lit their lethargic faces. However, they
owned no such object. Nodoka's household usually remained pristine,
like a sterile museum of family artifacts and shrines, though that
also was not to be today.
    Rintaro had arrived home late in the evening to find the usual
silence, but not the usual parents. His mother, attacked by the
vigilante, whom Rintaro had fought that very night. Both the Tendous
and Saotome seemed interconnected by past hatred, so deeply that they
suffered for it together. He realized what he had to do at that
moment.
    "If you leave this house today, do not expect to come back in
defeat again." Genma said across from Rintaro, his legs crossed over a
large pillow. He stared up at his eldest remaining child, a frown of
disgust on his face.
    Rintaro said nothing, looking at his mother. Her bruised face was
hard to look at, but it did not bother Rintaro so much. She was alive
and healthy. He could hardly ask for more, considering the shape that
Soun Tendou was in.
    His mother did not yell at his father as another might, declaring
some kind of favor for her child. Instead, she sat quietly, a look of
quiet disappointment on her face. She did not need to say a word. He
knew what she wordlessly communicated.
    Shintaro, on the other hand, sniffled through his tears. He
exchanged one look with his brother and took off out of the room,
sliding the door shut behind him.
    Swallowing his pride, Rintaro knelt and bowed his head to his
parents.
    "I will not return until I have proven myself worthy of the
Saotome name, and worthy successor to our school. I realized I thought
too much of my abilities and shamed my family with my behavior over
the years. I will not return until I am a man amongst men. I will not
return until you are proud to call me son."
    He heard his mother gasp toward the end of his statement. Whatever
it was, he stood with his eyes closed and turned towards the door.
Although neither tried to stop him, he heard his mother whisper
something. He ignored it and walked out the front door, a traveler's
pack on his back.
    It was much easier to walk out the door than it was to make the
initial decision to leave the safety of his existence in Nerima.
Rintaro planned for several years to leave, but never really could
solve a few of the major problems that would arise because of his
choice. One would be his scholastic state. Since he was now eighteen
and graduated from high school, it no longer stood in his way.
    The second problem was more of a lingering one. He had to finance
his trip somehow. Although he had a little money saved away from his
more illicit activities in street brawls, it would not last much more
than a month. So he decided he would have to find small jobs wherever
he went. He figured the more rural communities would be able to
support this sort of travel more readily than the ones he lived in, as
Tokyo had no need for transient workers who would only stay a week in
any one place (barring illegal jobs, of course).
    The final problem was the one he was on his way to hopefully find
a solution for on the first destination with his newfound freedom. It
was a more recently acquired problem, and as such, he hoped his heart
would freely accept his choice as his mind did. On his way to the
Tendou house to both check on the family after the vicious attacks
made by the beastly creature and see Mayako, Rintaro wondered how his
journey would hold up in the light of his feelings for the girl who
forgave him.
    The trip took him several hours because he refused to take the
train. He never understood why his family insisted he attend Furinken
High School, even though he it was so far away. He could have just as
easily attended the local high school and still remain friends with
the Tendous and Onos, but the extra traveling between his house and
the school limited his time to spend with the others outside of
school.
    Now he realized how much of that time he wasted. Before his call
to leave had been the outrage he felt over his treatment at the hands
of his father. However, he eventually realized at least a portion of
that was because Rintaro was not the man that neither he nor his
father wished he would be. He lived in the shadow of his deceased
older brother. He knew enough about their shadowed past to decipher
that his sole comparison for his accomplishments.
    Realizing the impossibility of competing with his dead brother, he
came to the conclusion that he would have to be someone else. That
person isolated himself to become a perfect fighter, but that
backfired and alienated his friends and family. At one point he was
merely a disappointment. He became the black sheep and shame of his
family.
    Two people shook him out of his dark place. Mayako, his primary
savior, used love and the promise of friendship to bring him around.
It had been several years since his friends had even talked to him at
any length, mostly because he shut them out. Even when they were on
talking terms, he had been aloof from them, keeping to himself during
training, which took up the majority of his free time even then.
    Mayako re-opened the door he had begun to close years before they
had become estranged. Her selfless enthusiasm reawakened his need for
others. Her forgiveness restarted his dormant heart.
    Just thinking about it made him feel sappy.
    His path lead him to his first stop on his zigzag way to the
Tendou house. He looked up as a dark mass of ash colored clouds
swallowed the afternoon sun. The thick must of moisture in the air
even smelled of rain, as he realized he had not brought an umbrella of
any kind. He would probably have to rest at Ucchan's, rather than be
caught in a downpour. He could get lunch there while he was at it.
    A low, cool breeze lifted his bangs out of his face and refreshed
him. He concentrated on walking and silenced his thoughts. The hairs
on his neck raised as a man approached him, walking along the road. He
wore a dark trench coat and a wide hat that a detective in a manga
might have worn. The man stared back at him as they crossed paths, his
eyes betraying not even a hint of recognition.
    For some reason, Rintaro thought he knew this man, but could not
place him. They passed each other without incident and Rintaro put it
behind him. The strange sense of deja vu passed as he neared Ucchan's.
    The first drops of rain began fall on the asphalt street as
Rintaro looked up to the heavens. A thin mist met his eyes and caused
him to blink. He quickly moved to the overhang of the shops to avoid
getting damp as he continued towards Ucchan's. He saw the sign of the
shop as he approached.
    A few moments later he pushed the glass doors open and entered the
warm restaurant. He took a deep breath in to let the delicious smell
of okonomiyaki fill his nose and wet his appetite. A smiling Mai Ono
greeted him with a wave.
    "Rintaro-kun," she said with affection as she walked around the
counter and latched onto him with a hug. The force of her hug knocked
him back a step as he countered the weight of his pack.
    "Hello, Mai-chan," he replied, giving her a quick squeeze so she
would let him go. He noticed her heart was beating quickly. She pulled
back and looked up at him with doe eyes, and he knew she wanted
something from him. He forced a smile as she talked.
    "I'm so glad you came," she began, her wide eyes blinking slowly.
"My mother is in trouble."
    Something snapped in Rintaro as he looked down at Mai. He recalled
the suspicious man walking in the opposite direction, and remembered
what that man reminded him of. Tarou.
    "Did he hurt her?" Rintaro demanded as he took Mai's arms. She
looked startled for a moment before shaking her head.
    "She left without her umbrella!"
    Rintaro's jaw became unclenched and fell wide open. "You scared me
there Mai."
    "Well, I can't leave the store until Ryo-kun comes back."
    "Shampoo can find her way back here fine if she needs hot water,"
he whispered. "We can get her clothes later."
    "No, you don't understand," Mai said, grabbing his hands. "This
man came by and left something with her. I didn't hear what he said to
her, but she knew him and took it and told me to stay here while she
went to the Tendou house for some reason. It seemed really important."
    "You say a man?"
    "She called him Tarou."
    That was all she had to say. Rintaro handed Mai his pack and
grabbed the umbrella and the pot of hot water she offered. It would be
difficult, but he would find her.

                          *       *       *

    For the second time in her life, Shampoo found herself attempting
to save the life of a Saotome. Only her youth and strength evaporated
through the years since she approached middle age. The life she once
devoted to fighting, she now focused on her husband and children. Her
family grew healthy and strong in her presence at the neglect of her
training. She had not regretted a single moment of it until now. Her
heart beat heavily, and even though she stayed in shape, she could no
longer travel as she once did.
    She gasped for breath as she sprinted to the Tendou home, but
still she kept up with Rintaro, his black hair matted with the rain.
She pushed her body, keeping the umbrella firmly in front of her, to
shield herself from the rain. If it had not been for Rintaro's
interference, she would have had to return home to change back from
her cat form and then once more find her things and hurry to save the
life of an innocent.
    When the two finally arrived at their destination, Shampoo was so
out of breath, she nearly collapsed at their front door. Rintaro
pushed the door open and helped her through the threshold. The
umbrella caught on the door frame and jerked out of her hand as they
crashed into the Tendou's home, leaving soaking foot prints with each
step they took.
    "I'll look upstairs," Rintaro told her, looking back at her with
his blue eyes. "You check the bottom floor."
    The purple-haired woman nodded as Rintaro sprinted up the stairs.
She took a few deep breaths to calm herself before she walked down the
hall towards Akane's bedroom. What she saw startled her.
    At the doorway to the room, Kenichi held himself against the door
frame, tears shining on his cheek. She heard a soft crying from the
inside of the room. She approached, taking heavy steps to make her
presence known, but Kenichi did not notice. In fact, he did not even
turn his head when she stopped to stand by him and peer into the room.
    "I think we have no choice but to take her to the hospital,
Akane," Shampoo's husband said in a voice that broke the strange
silence that haunted the room. Shampoo saw him next to Akane, who held
the redheaded girl in her arms. "She's burning up, fighting something
we don't know anything about, and I really can't help her in anyway."
    In the moment after Tofu spoke, Shampoo pushed passed Kenichi at
the exact same time Akane did something that shook the doctor. She
tried to see what, but Akane's back was to the door.
    "No, but maybe I can," Shampoo said aloud, her own voice sounding
like an intrusion. She held out a small bag that she had used to carry
the antidote given to her by Tarou.
    "What do you mean, honey?" Dr. Tofu asked, adjusting his glasses
to look at her.
    "Rintaro came by the restaurant and tells me what happened last
night," she said. "He say that Pantyhose Tarou poison her and now she
running a fever?"
    "That's right," Akane said quickly. "Do you know something,
Shampoo?"
    "He poisoned her and gave me this." Shampoo then proceeded to
remove a small vial from the bag. "He say it will cure the Saotome
girl and he says he's sorry."
    There was a moment of silence as Tofu stood and retrieved the vial
from her. He stared at it, adjusting his glasses to his head. "Why
would he poison her and then give us the cure? What would be the
point?"
    Akane's gasp erased all thought that everyone in the room might
have had. Shampoo startled in surprise, walking toward the woman, as
Tofu did as well.
    "She's not breathing!" Akane shouted, her voice panicked.
    Tofu rushed to her side and put two fingers against the girl's
throat. "Her pulse is faint. I'm going to need to perform CPR, Akane."
The collected calm of Tofu's demands shook Akane out of her stupor and
she slid the unconscious girl off her lap and onto the bed. Shampoo
watched as her husband leaned over the girl and started to perform
mouth to mouth resuscitation.
    "He said it would help her," Akane intoned with shock in her
voice. "He said it would keep the poison from killing her." She held
something tightly in her right hand. It had been concealed beneath the
girl, but now Shampoo saw what she gripped so tightly.
    An empty, ejected syringe with a needle attached shined in the
light of the room between her fingers. Akane stared at it with horror
in her eyes.
    "What is that, Akane?" Shampoo asked, mystified by Akane's
actions. "Who said it would help her?"
     Tofu took notice of this and when he started to pump Kimiko's
chest, he demanded, "What did you do, Akane?"
     "I gave her this, like her brother said to. He made me promise
that if she was dying that I'd inject her with this."
     "What was it?" Shampoo demanded, but Akane's attention and
slipped through the cracks of the floor.
     "I heard him say it would save her if he failed to get the cure,"
Kenichi's voice echoed from behind Shampoo. "I didn't know what he was
talking about, though."
     Tofu stopped and looked at the vial in his hands. "Give me that
syringe, Akane."
     When Akane did not respond, Shampoo took the needle from the end
of the syringe and handed it to her husband. Tofu took it and attached
it to the syringe that Shampoo received from Tarou.
     "God help me," the tired doctor whispered, his red-rimmed eyes
staring down at the dying girl as he injected the serum.

                          *       *       *

    In the back seat of a company car, Kiyoshi Nishiyama stared at the
palms of his hands. He barely felt the pain in his arms and his broken
right hand, trying to focus his thoughts on too many things at once.
He faded in and out of consciousness on the ride to the Tendou house
where he had left his sister. Although the company men that had picked
him up urged him to go to the hospital, he had to check on Kimiko
first before he could rest.
    As he started to lapse back into unconsciousness, he heard a
familiar voice.
    "You failed."
    He stared through the darkness at the back of his lids, but his
eyes saw the old drowned soul from Jusenkyou, the one who made
everything clear. The way the ghost appeared now, Kiyoshi barely
recognized him. His gaunt appearance suggested the breakdown of his
spiritual presence.
    "I trusted you with her," the voice spoke without the ghost's lips
moving. As Kiyoshi's mind digested the words, his body called him to
awaken, but as his eyelids began to flitter open, the old soul grabbed
him with diminutive hands. "Ignore the Beast and listen to me again."
    The darkness around the being seemed to become a funnel around
him, as if he were pulling everything into himself. Waves of nausea
swept through Kiyoshi as events outside his mind called his attention.
However, whatever hold that the being Kiyoshi had come to know as
Seiichi had over him would not allow his consciousness to emerge from
the trance.
    "Let me go," Kiyoshi whispered, his voice lost in the sea of
darkness.
    "Never," the curt response hissed in his ear.
    Through his eyes, Kiyoshi saw the car traveling through a
neighborhood, but he could not move his limbs. The paralysis of sleep
seemed to have overcome him.
    "She will die because of you."
    The words shredded his heart. His sole light in the world needed
his help and he had failed. As much as Kiyoshi did not want to face
the truth, he was almost certain there would be nothing he could do to
stop the poison from destroying his love. The guilt seemed to strangle
him so much so that it affected him physically. He started coughing
for hair as he choked on his emotions.
    He vaguely heard the driver's panicked voice, but it did not
register.
    "You sorry excuse for a disciple," the ghost berated, ripping at
him from the inside out. "Why do you think I chose you? Why do you
think I spared your life?"
    Kiyoshi's head begin to throb so suddenly that he vomitted a
mouthful of acid down his chin and onto his shirt. After a moment of
dejectedly lying on the car seat, the car door opened.
    "Sir, are you okay? I'm going to call an ambulance."
    Kiyoshi's focus suddenly became as strong as his guilt. He sat up
and stared directly at his driver.
    "Keep driving. I don't care what it takes, just get me there now!"
    The driver looked shocked, his eyes looking over the younger man.
    "If you want to keep your job, you will do as I say!"
    The glare that Kiyoshi shot the driver bowing. He closed the door
and went back to the driver's seat and continued the drive to the
house.

                          *       *       *

    A cold, damp brightness woke the girl from a deep slumber. Her
mind awakened slowly, as if she had been asleep for a long time, like
a bear hybernating through the winter. However, from the cold that
penetrated her flesh, this bear had not slept long enough. She opened
her eyes, but only white light met her tired eyes. As she reached up
to wipe her them, her fingers ran through what felt like thick, damp
cobwebs. When she rubbed her eyes, her warm hands thawed the cold
around her face, and water dripped down her cheeks. She thought to sit
up, as the fog around her mind began to clear.
    Cold air brushed her face as her head poked through to blanket of
snow that had fallen on her overnight. Ranma's eyes widened to the
spectacle before her. Laid out before her, a deep layer of snow
covered the forest that looked green the night before. She had also
gone to bed male, but apparently even snow could initiate the curse
that she hated so much. The change did not diminish the beauty of the
forest, for even the newly turned girl drew a deep breath in
admiration.
    She turned to where her father had gone to sleep the night before,
in the hallowed out stump of a long dead tree. She walked over to the
stump, but it had been covered in a deep blanket of snow, completely
obscuring her father's form, which was almost assuredly the shape of a
panda by now.
    "Hey Pops," she called out to her father, standing up. The chill
of the morning air caused a shiver to escape down her spine. Shaking
snow off her small body, she reached her arms in the air to stretch.
    A moan from under the snow nearby caught her attention. She
approached the lump of black and white fur poking out of the snow.
    "Pops, wake up," Ranma stated as she gave a kick to her father's
side. A low growl escaped from the panda's mouth before he rolled
over, ignoring his child's attempt to wake him.
    "Come on, old man! I'm hungry!" she shouted, attempting to kick
him again, but her foot met nothing but snow, causing her to lose her
balance and slip on her behind.
    "Is that anyway to treat your father?" a voice spoke in a deep,
guttural voice from behind her.
    The very words shocked Ranma as she had not heard her father speak
since they had gotten lost in the mountain forest since their escape
from certain death at the hands of the amazons.
    Ranma rolled to her side and looked up at her father. The old man
still remained a panda, yet somehow he spoke to her.
     "You've been holding out on me, grunting this whole time? What
gives?"
    The panda merely growled in response, as he had the entire time
since they had fallen into the horrible cursed springs.
    "Must have been my imagination," Ranma said as she stood to dust
the snow off her pants. "Stupid pandas can't talk."
    The panda stared off into the distance, his eyes lost in the white
of the forest. Ranma growled and then kicked some snow in her father's
direction.
    "Well? What are we going to do about breakfast?"
    The panda shook its head and pointed forward. Ranma turned in the
direction of his paw. A bright red and yellow bird sat perched on the
branches of a giant tree, staring down at the pair on the forest
floor. Ranma exhaled in surprise and delight of the visage of the
bird, which looked to be the biggest bird she had ever seen in her
life.
    "What kind of bird is that?" she reflexively asked, knowing her
father could not speak.
    "A phoenix, of course," the response came, surprising Ranma.
    "You can talk!" she yelled as she turned around to face her
father, who no longer bore the shape of the panda. "Hey, where'd you
get the hot water?"
   "We need hot water anymore," the middle-aged man told his son-
turned-daughter. "You should know that by now."
    A sudden pain shot into Ranma's head as she stared at her father,
wide-eyed. With every oddity, her reality began to tear apart at the
seams. One moment, she was on a training trip with her father on their
way home from the misbegotten Chinese adventure, and the very next
moment she realized she had to be dreaming.
    The face in front of her changed, so quickly Ranma suddenly stared
at a young man who appeared familiar. His steel gray eyes blinked as
he stared into her blue ones.
    "Sister," the man with long black hair said softly.
    A gentle haze clouded Ranma's mind as her eyes, as the minutes of
her waking in the snow slowly evaporated from her mind. She fought to
remember, but the reality she perceived in the next moment began to
overwrite the memory.
    "Kiyoshi," she whispered as a disorienting, sinking feeling sat in
the base of her stomach. "I feel sick."
    She felt his gentle grip take her in his arms and guide her to her
knees. He held back her hair the sinking feeling turned to nausea and
came rushing out her throat.
    After she vomited the contents of her stomach, she fell exhausted
against her brother and started to fall unconscious. However, the
moment her eyes closed, she felt a jolt in her spine.
    "We're almost there, Kimiko," a voice urgently said in her ear.
"We're so close, if you can just try harder."
    Regaining some of her senses, Kimiko looked up and saw something
amazing. Her eyes had longed to see the place below them for so many
years. The valley of a thousand springs lay beneath her, but her legs
felt like jelly and her arms hurt, as if cut by glass. The pain
combined with the taste of vomit made her feel light-headed.
    "It's okay, we'll rest a few more minutes," Kiyoshi whispered in
her ear, pulling her tightly into his lap. "It's okay."
    Her mind ached from what she did not know, but it was becoming
clearer, as her senses were sharpening.
    "A little color came back to your cheeks," her brother said
softly, pushing his fingertips gently through her hair, massaging her
scalp. She slid into a deep sleep, ignoring the voice in her head
crying out for her attention. Quietly ignoring her better judgment,
Kimiko fell into a gentle sleep.
    She woke hours later, as her eyes met the warm orange sky above
her. The color of the sun painted gently across the landscape, softly
illuminating her brother's sleeping face. His long hair lay splashed
across his face, masking one of his eyes and crossing his nose. She
pushed it back with her finger.
    Sitting up, Kimiko felt immensely better, unsure why she had been
sick in the first place. Her eyes lingered on him for a moment. She
rested her head against his chest for a moment, listening quietly to
the sound of his strong heartbeat. She gently wiggled out of his arms
and pushed up with her feet. Her body felt miraculously recovered from
earlier.
    Taking a deep breath of the August air, Kimiko greeted the evening
with a smile. She looked down across the valley, knowing her time
would soon come when she could become herself again. A thought
suddenly struck her in the midst of her day dream. If Jusenkyou had
recovered from the terrible floods that nearly destroyed it so many
years ago, why did it look exactly the same as the first time she
encountered it?
    Her eyes gazed across the untainted horizon, covered in the cursed
pools. It appeared exactly as the first day she saw it with her
father.
    "You're trying too hard to rationalize everything," Kiyoshi spoke
warmly, his body suddenly against hers. She felt his hand fall gently
her shoulder. "You finally have your wish. You should just forget your
doubts and go meet your destiny head on. It's what you wanted ever
since you changed for the first time. Don't you still want to be
normal?"
    "Yeah, but..." she began, but her voice trailed off.
    "You're so difficult," Kiyoshi chastised as he pulled away. "Soon
you're going to be too proud to accept more than a handshake, let
alone an embrace." The hurt in his words were hard to bear. Kimiko
loved him like a real brother. Somehow the year and a half they spent
together stretched to an eternity in her mind.
    "I'll still be me," Kimiko told him, her eyes falling down to
stare at her feet. "You're still the closest thing I will ever have to
family."
    "You forget," Kiyoshi said quietly. "Once you become Ranma again,
you will no longer be my sister. You will have to extinguish that side
of yourself forever. You will have to remember your life as Ranma,
even if you never go back to Nerima."
    A tear slipped from her blue eye down onto her cheek. Catching it
with her finger, she wiped it away and turned her head.
    "When you go into the spring, you'll never be a woman again. Every
friend you've made will no longer know you. Your body will grow old
and you will be even older than me."
    Kimiko looked down at her hands, opening her palms face up. Her
life lines seemed to glow along the base of her hand, stretching all
the way to her thumb. She wondered if it would suddenly uncoil from
her hand, withering until only a sliver remained. The thought that
this curse hold her hostage with youth made her head hurt a bit.
    "Let's at least get closer, shall we?" Kiyoshi said, offering his
hand.
    Kimiko felt strange as she took his hand. The guide before her was
not of Jusenkyou, nor her original life. He was neither Happosai nor
her brother. As they drew closer, the warmth of his hand kept her mind
focused amidst the confusion in her soul.
    With each step she took towards the goal she had sought for all of
these years, a piece of Kimiko fell to the earth and shattered. Like
pieces of clay that made up who she had been, she felt each fragment
come loose, wiggling away from her grasp. Fear began to replace each
piece. The last time she had come here, she had lost her childhood.
The time before, she lost her manhood. She knew this time would be no
different. This time she would lose something more dear than the two
of those things combined.
    "We're almost there," Kiyoshi said, his voice oddly serene as he
lead her to the base of the mountain they had stood upon.
    "Kiyoshi," she said, pulling him to a stop.
    He turned to face her, their arms crossing their bodies, his left
hand to her right.
    "Why are you crying?" He asked, pulling in close.
    Kimiko took a step back, releasing his hand.
    Kiyoshi's eyes left her gaze and gazed to her hand.
    "I don't know what lies beyond for us," she began, the tears
sliding down her cheeks freely now. She had not noticed them until he
mentioned it. "This is something I have to do. If I don't at least
try, I can never rest, or be happy. As pleasant as you made my life, I
am not whole without him."
    "Him?"
    The word sounded foreign, although Kimiko had spoke it. "I mean,
my manhood of course."
    "No, you mean Ranma." His eyes were on hers again, this time
peering sharply.
    Her eyes widened. Suddenly she felt the weight of her seperate
identities crushing her. A disturbing thought coursed through her
body, sending a shiver down her spine. Her sanity suppressed it deep
with herself.
    "Stop!" Kiyoshi yelled, catching her attention.
    Kimiko saw herself outside of her body, running towards the basin
where the cursed pools lay for a millenia. Horror took her as she once
more became a spectator of her own life.
    A flash of deja vu overcame her.
    The transluscent body of a young, dark-haired woman ran across
this same path. Kiyoshi hand grabbed hers, stopping her at the same
post that she had stopped him in the dream.
    "This is madness!" he yelled at her, grabbing both of her wrists
as she struggled in her grasp. "If you're not careful, you could fall
in another spring and curse yourself even worse than you are now."
    "We have to run!" The girl cried frantically. Kimiko heard it and
felt it from her mouth, but it still did not sound like her voice.
    "What?" Kiyoshi bewilderdly asked.
    It was then the scream tore through the air, as if a cat had been
ripped in half, its lungs still able to deliver one last cry. The
noise burned a hole in her, for she knew what it was. Fear paralyzed
her limbs as she stared, wide-eyed at her brother.
    Kiyoshi's eyes widened as he turned to look behind them,
frantically searching for the source of the sound. He released one of
her wrists, but refused to let go of another.
    "If it something indigenous, it would know not to go into
Jusenkyou." He pulled her into the cursed valley.
    His words would have made sense if she had not known what made the
noise, the shadow from her dreams, the beast that stalked her even
now, a millenia later, to tear two new souls asunder. She tried to
speak, to say anything to Kiyoshi, but she could not even keep her
legs moving forward.
    Kimiko fell forward as the momentum of Kiyoshi's weight pulled her
off balance. She would have struck the ground face first had Kiyoshi
not been swift enough to turn and grab her. He lifted her into his
arms and ran so fast, she wondered how anything could keep up. She
wondered if he should be slowing because of her weight, but it merely
seemed to accellerate his run. He flew across the poles, high above
the ground now, suspended above the pools.
    "I think we'll be..." his words trailed off as something caught
his full attention. "What the hell?"
    Whatever caught his attention, Kimiko could not see, whether or
not she actually wanted to. Only darkness met her eyes as the
moonlight became her only lumination.
    For a brief moment, she saw two faces above her instead of one.
Kiyoshi's eyes reflected the moonlight strongly, but so did the eyes
of one other, someone who also held her in its arms, someone who could
have been holding her all along.
    "I need to set you down for a moment," Kiyoshi said, his eyes
trained on something beyond her vision. She clung to him tightly as he
jumped down, her hands encircling his neck.
    She felt him lower her body and touch it softly to the ground, but
she did not release her grip.
    "It will take but a moment," he whispered in her ear softly. The
words tickled. "Please trust me."
    "It can't take us together," Kimiko replied, her hands shaking as
she pulled back to look him in the eyes. "Stay here and it can't hurt
us."
    A wave of desperation filled her as he pulled her grip apart and
stepped back.
    "Trust me," he said confidently. "I won't let them have you." His
words began to bleed together with the ghost. Suddenly his face looked
like Ranma's, his eyes blue instead of grey.
    Like a book spoiled by reading the last page, the outcome played
itself over in her mind. He would die in her arms, but she would not
die in his. She would be lost to the darkness again.
    The shadow appeared once more, playing its part, charging forward.
A shimmering spear appeared in Kiyoshi hand to ward off the blow of
his attacker. She recognized the weapon somehow, though for the life
of her she could not remember in this horrible moment. It glowed with
his life force, his pain and joy. Her soul felt the weapon, forged of
his will to save her.
    A bright clash of weapons blinded her.
    "You!" Kiyoshi yelled, his voice tempered with rage. "I destroyed
you!"
    The shadow knocked Kiyoshi back, his boots ripping through the
dirt as he held his balance.
    "You displaced me," the shadow bellowed, its voice the scream of a
thousand dying felines. "But here, here I shall displace you! That old
soul of yours will die as he choke it with my hands!" The last word
cut Kimiko's ear drums so much so that she fell to her bottom, holding
her deafened ears in pain.
    Bright flashes of light followed, but Kimiko could not follow the
battle from her place in the dark. Each time the two weapons met, she
was blinded again by the intense shock of light. For a brief second,
she caught a glimpse of Kiyoshi's face, but it promptly disappeared
into the darkness.
    The fight drew closer. As her ears began to recover, she could
hear the sounds of their fight to the death. The noise grew louder by
the moment, so she forced herself to stand and be ready. One moment,
she heard the loud crash of static, as she saw a flash of light that
blinded her again, and then the next it grew strangely silent.
    She waited for what seemed like forever before opening her mouth
to speak. "Kiyoshi?" She dreaded not seeing his face, but moments
later he stood before her, illuminated valiantly in the light of the
moon.
    "I-I-I," he stuttered, his voice cracking. He fell to his knees,
but did not collapse. Kimiko broke fear's grip over her and ran to
him. He breathed heavily, but seemed alright, short of exhaustion.
    "Are you all right?" she asked, taking him by the shoulders. He
looked up at her and nodded, but his eyes looked troubled. She looked
over his shoulder, but her eyes could not penetrate the darkness of
the valley.
    "Not until you're free," he said cryptically, his eyes looking
past her.
    She turned and saw nothing but the moon's reflection in a pool of
water.
    "That's it," he told her, his voice crackling. "Please...bathe..."
    Kimiko looked at him in curiosity. "What do you mean?" She looked
over at the pool he identified. "What..."
    "Please!" he begged, looking into her eyes. "Please, for your own
sake, jump in, free yourself of all of this!"
    She stood, releasing his shoulders, and turned to the pool of
water directly behind her. It took ten steps to reach the edge of the
cursed pool. She peered down into the water and gasped. While the pool
should have reflected her image, instead the ghostly visage of a woman
lay beneath its hellish exterior.
    "Lily," she whispered, her voice clear and resonant.
    The ghost merely waited, passively locked in her watery cell. Her
eyes glowed a dull green beneath the pool, the intelligence still
present even in death. She wore a tattered white dress that was so
bright, it almost hurt to look directly at it. Kimiko ignored
everything, knowing exactly what she had to do.
    "I'm here to save you," she told the ghost as she reached down and
pushed her hand through the surface of the water. However she tried,
Lily did not reach back. "Take my hand!"
    She stared through her own transluscent image to look at the
ghost, only, the face that reflected in the water, suddenly was no
longer one she recognized, It was older, rougher and wider. She stared
in shock and realized what Lily had been waiting for.
    Her hand met the cold one beneath the water, and so she pulled the
ghost. Kimiko had not anticipated the distance that Sun Li's spirit
lay beneath the water, as it felt like she had to pull her many yards
before the woman's head poked out of the water. The eyes stared wildly
for a moment before she began to vomit a thousand years of water from
her transluscent lungs.
    Seconds later, she heard the scream again, this time sounding like
thousands of metal sheets being ripped apart in unison. Reacting on
pure instinct, Kimiko covered her ears, releasing the hand of the
spirit, who immediately began to sink beneath the pool once more.
    Kimiko released her ears and waded into the pool to catch Lily's
body, which began to rapidly sink back into the depths of the
underwater prison. She grabbed onto the woman's leg arm, digging into
the dirt beneath the pool. Although she could feel the bottom of the
pool with her feet, it was definitely deeper for the spirit, of which
only that arm Kimiko held still remained in sight.
    Kimiko pulled with all of her strength, which was amplified by
muscle she had long forgotten. Every inch of her knew she had returned
to being a man, but she also knew it would only last so long as she
saved the woman in the water.
    Another screamed tore her ears, but this time Kimiko recognized
Kiyoshi's voice. She pulled harder, the urgency of the moment fueling
her adrenalin. With all of her will, she pulled the spirit back to the
visible water. First Lily's head came back from whatever hell she had
been sucked into, and then her torso.
    When her face once more pierced the surface of the water, her
mouth spit not water, but words.
    "I've missed you so much, my love," her voice sounded as soft as
Kimiko remembered it from the dream. "I dreamed of you all this time.
I went to you and saved you all those years ago, so that one day you
could remember me and finally save me as you promised."
    Kimiko heard fighting behind her, but chose to ignore it,
concentrating everything on pulling the spirit completely out of the
water. When Lily's waist became exposed to the air, Kimiko's mind
became splintered. One moment there was nothing there but saving the
trapped woman, and the next she realized this was it.
    She knew what she would lose this time.
    In that moment, she sadly looked into the loving eyes of Sun Li,
the woman who haunted her and yet saved her.
    "What is wrong?"
    "I'm sorry," Kimiko said, tears beginning to pour down her cheeks.
    "Why? I will give you everything back!"
    "I already have everythnig," she whispered.
    Lily's hand fell from hers as Kimiko stood and turned. She could
not bear to watch the woman sink back into the watery grave, so she
ran in the direction she last heard Kiyoshi, bawling every step of the
way.
    It took a moment for her to reorient herself, but she quickly
found what she was looking for. Above a pool, a shadow stood as she
had moments before, have submerged in the water. Only this time, the
person above the water was not saving the person below, but drowning
him.
    Urgency like she had felt only a few times in her life raged
within her. She tore across the space and ripped at the shadow with
her fingers. They slashed it like daggers, sending it back to the
nether.
    She turned to face down beneath the pool where she saw the young
face of Kiyoshi Nishiyama. For a brief instant, his face was that of a
child of about ten years of age. His face spoke of agony like none she
could imagine, his features distorted in the wavy depths of the pool.
    Kimiko quickly attempted to jump in the pool, only to find it
frozen over. Although it did not feel cold to the touch, a hard layer
of ice stopped her from saving him. She recognized the glassy touch as
she fell forward onto it. Her face hit the glassy surface of the
water, but her eyes remained fixed on the boy's face.
    She pushed herself back, centering her right arm in the pool,
focusing on the weakest point of the barrier. She stood, but kept her
arm aimed straight down. Opening her palm, she felt her life's energy
pouring into the center of her hand. If she could have taken a step
back to observe herself, she would have witnessed the final act she
made as Ranma Saotome, the most magnificent thing she could have done.
    Rimmed with blue light, her arm came down with a hiss of air
before the earth shook from her blow. The icelike surface of the water
shattered all at once, causing her to fall straight through it. She
wasted no time in bringing her brother's body out of the water. It was
more difficult, as her body had shrunk in the water, the curse
reactivating for perhaps the final time.
    Pulling him completely out of the water, Kimiko shivered as she
rested her hands firmly on Kiyoshi's chest. She pumped it several
times before she paused a moment and took a deep breath. Adjusting his
head back, she opened his mouth with her hand and then kissed him,
exhauling with all of her strength. His chest rose and fell, so she
continued for what could have been an hour, but only occupied the
spawn of a minute.
    The fifth time she leaned over and touched her lips to his, her
breath sparked something in him. A gargling sound came from his throat
as she pulled back. Righting him on his side, he quickly coughed out
the water from his lungs then enhauled without her assistance.
Although it was ragged and lead to a series of coughs, it was the most
beautiful noise she had ever heard.
    She collapsed her head to the ground as sobs racked her small
body. Crying left her immobilized as she fell over to the wet dirt.
Both happiness and grief flowed through her so strongly that she could
only cry herself to sleep.
    She awoke the next morning, dry in Kiyoshi's arms. She knew it
would have to be enough. The price of salvation had been far too
steep.







Ryan Erik
ryanerik99@gmail.com
http://www.geocities.com/ryanerik99/

    Source: geocities.com/ryanerik99