Tendo Nabiki Enterprises, Incorporated Presents:

A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic side-story

Careful Destiny

Part Eight
"The Cost of Apprehension"


by:
Todd Hill


Inspired by the "Ranma 1/2" Manga and Anime by Rumiko Takahashi

Ami Nakato yelped in surprise as "Pen-pen's Theme" blared from her pocketbook. Pausing her movie, she got up from the couch and reached into her purse to fish out her cell phone, then flipped up the Hello Kitty-covered top and held it to her ear. "Hello?" she muttered distractedly.

"Ami-chaaaaan!" came a shrill cry from the receiver. "Guess where I am!"

Ami winced and yanked the phone away from her ear. 'Damn! I think I just lost an eardrum,' she complained as her left ear started aching. "Kin-chan, is that you?" she asked as she tentatively placed the phone against her other ear.

"Yes, it's meee!" Kinuko replied with a joyful tone, her voice now thankfully much lower in volume.

"Why are you talking like that?"

"Because of where I am! Can you guess?" The sound of a gentle breeze blowing through trees could barely be heard coming from the receiver, but that alone gave no clue as to where she was.

Ami put a finger in her other ear and concentrated on listening to the phone. "I dunno, Kin-chan. I can't hear anything. Are you at the park or something?"

"No, silly! I'm at Upperclassman Kuno's family farm in the mountains." Kinuko sighed wistfully into the phone. "It is *so* beautiful up here, Ami-chan."

"Wait, wait, wait! You're WHERE? With WHO?" Ami demanded suddenly, her emerald-green eyes reflecting the astonishment she felt. "No way!" she shouted into the phone after Kinuko reiterated her location. "You're trying to play around with my mind, aren't you?" she huffed.

"No, I'm not, Ami. I promise!" The muffled noise of a phone being moved obscured her friend's voice for a second before things cleared up again. "Say hi, Kuno-chan!" Kinuko was heard to yell.

"Hello there," Kuno's voice came across steady and clear despite apparently being far away from the phone.

Stunned, Ami dropped the phone in her lap and stared blankly at the wall. "Hello? Are you there?" Kinuko's muted voice issued from the cell phone's tiny speaker. "Ami-chan?"

Ami quickly got a grip on herself and picked up her phone. "Yes! Yes, I'm here, Kin-chan," she said as she placed the cell phone against her ear once more.

"Can you believe it?" Kinuko asked in a giddy voice.

"I don't understand. What happened to your 'Giving the tiger some tail' mission on Friday?" Ami asked with a touch of distaste.

"I don't want to talk about that right now," Kinuko hissed urgently. "Let's just say that I graduated to a Lion instead."

Ami's cheeks reddened as she heard the capitalization of that word and understood what it implied. "So you're telling me that you and Ranma are through. Again."

"Yes," Kinuko hissed in exasperation. "Can we not use the 'R' word right now? I've got more important things to think about than that loser."

'Loser?' Ami repeated to herself incredulously. "I don't understand, Kin-chan. What's happened between you and Kuno?"

"It was a *magical* night, Ami-chan," Kinuko said quietly, her voice possessing a dreamlike quality. She ran down the details of what happened to her from the moment she'd left Ranma's house, without telling her the freaky stuff that happened *at* Ranma's place, to the moment she'd arrived at the mountainside retreat. "And I'm not even wearing any of my makeup or any wigs," she confided in a near-whisper.

"WHAT?" Ami fairly screamed. "You're with him and you're not wearing any of your makeup?"

"Yes, and he says that he likes my natural look better than the wigs. I might even stop using them, Ami."

Flabbergasted, Ami once again went mute. 'How could she NOT use makeup? She always told me that a girl stayed just a girl until she learned how to use makeup. This is... spooky!' Ami quickly went through a calming regimen she'd read about in a recent issue of the Japanese edition of Cosmo, but it wasn't helping any. "Ami, Ami? Are you there?" Another pause. "Ami, I swear I'm okay. I'm not yanking your chain, honest!"

Ami shook herself out of her trance. "But it's so drastic for you, Kinuko," she admitted in a whispery voice steeped in awe. "Until now, I was the only one besides yourself who knew what you really looked like right out of the shower."

"I know! Isn't it wild?" Kinuko said enthusiastically.

"So... Does this mean that... That is, are you and *Upperclassman Kuno* together now?" Ami asked in a near-whisper.

"Yes, Ami, we are," Kinuko declared in a giddy voice. "It'll be announced at school on Monday, but I wanted to tell you first since you're my best friend. Last night I became Tatewaki Kuno's new fiancee!"



****



At the first hint of dawn Akane awoke from a blissful dream featuring herself and Ranma entwined in a very warm and passionate embrace. The remnants of that tender moment lingered tantalizingly in her mind, causing her to greet the morning with a jubilant smile on her face. Feeling indulgent, she remained in bed drifting in and out of sleep with her pillow hugged close to her, wishing fervently the whole time that it was Ranma that she held so tightly in her arms. The events of the night before, which were most certainly *not* a dream, swelled her heart to near bursting with joy and heralded the promise of many happy days with Ranma in the future.

Espying the time on her alarm clock, she reluctantly put the pillow under her head once again, kicked off her covers and lay on her bed in a sprawl to stare up at the ceiling. 'Ranma really likes me,' she told herself for the tenth time this morning and again resisted the temptation to pinch her arm as a reality check. 'You wanna go out on a date with me?' Ranma's voice from last night echoed in her mind. She clenched her fists in triumph at those recalled words and uttered a whispered "YES!" Giggling, she sat up and ran her fingers through her long hair. "A real date. God, I've wanted one of those for such a long time."

Akane also celebrated the fact that, with just a few words, Ranma had neatly and completely negated Kinuko as a competitor for his affections last night. Not only was the girl no longer a factor in dating Ranma, Akane now had something substantial in her arsenal to help keep the clingy psycho bitch away from her for good. That in and of itself was cause for celebration in Akane's mind. Topping it off was Ranma's earnest attention to her and his obvious concern for her well-being.

When the touchy subject of her sexual activity with Kuno had come to light during the walk home last night, Ranma had acted as if it were his fault entirely, which Akane thought was both sweet and foolish at the same time. On one hand Akane couldn't help but be touched by his concern and the very personal way in which he cared for and about her welfare. On the other hand she did feel a bit annoyed that he'd set himself up as her protector and defender of her honor without her even so much as asking him to do so. Akane shook her head, chiding herself for being irrational. 'After all, it's not like he's the same kind of person Kuno is,' she told herself.

She appreciated the fact that he didn't consider her to be a pariah for her past actions. Just knowing this brought a considerable sense of relief and allowed her to focus her mind and her heart on the future. 'A wonderful future that could be spent with Ranma,' she told herself gleefully.

Akane's contemplation was broken by a timid knock at her bedroom door. "Akane, are you in there?" Kasumi's muffled voice asked from the other side.

"Yeah, I'm here," Akane said as she got out of bed and opened the door, inviting her sister inside. "What's up, Kasumi?" Looking down at herself, Akane grimaced as she realized how bad she looked to her oldest sister. Expecting a lecture for staying in bed so long, she quickly offered a chair to Kasumi before darting back to her desk and putting away her clutter of schoolbooks and notebooks left over from the morning before.

"I was wondering if I could talk to you for a moment," Kasumi asked as she closed the door and sat down on the desk chair. She placed a cloth-covered bundle on the desk and pointed at it. "Things with Nabiki have gotten worse." Kasumi frowned uncharacteristically at the bundle and gnawed nervously on one of her fingernails. "Possibly a whole lot worse."

Concern and worry crossed Akane's face as she sat down on her bed facing her Kasumi. "What do you mean, sis? Is she hurt?"

Kasumi shrugged her shoulders. "Well, Nabiki did trip and fall last night, but she didn't look like she had a mark on her when I examined her."

Akane's brow furrowed as she puzzled over where her oldest sister was headed with this. "What time did she make it in last night?"

"About three in the morning," Kasumi said worriedly. Her hands were active in her lap and her eyes belied her distraction.

It was obvious to Akane that her oldest sister was plainly fretting over something bigger than the late-night arrival of her middle sister. Anxious to get to the bottom of things, she reached out and stilled her sister's hands. "Kasumi, what's wrong? Did she say why she was so late to get home last night?"

"It's because of this," she said sadly as she unwrapped the bundle and exposed an empty sake bottle. "I found this in Nabiki's book bag last night while she was taking a bath."

Akane's eyes widened as she regarded the Otokoyama bottle with a gasp of surprise. "No way! She drank all of that?" she hissed, incredulous.

"I believe so," Kasumi remarked. "I can't think that she's just been collecting empty sake bottles by carrying them around in her bookbag."

"*I* can't believe Nabiki's drinking! How could we have missed this, Kasumi?"

"Neither of us were looking for something like this to happen to her," Kasumi admitted sadly. "The only thing I can think of that explains this is that Nabiki has handled the family finances and taken care of a lot of daddy's purchases for many years now. That includes being able to buy sake for him, which means that she could've been drinking since she was twelve."

Akane pursed her lips pensively as she considered Kasumi's words but eventually she had to shake her head in disagreement. "I don't think it would have been that long, sis. In fact, I would almost bet that she started drinking after the attack on the house last week."

"Oh, that poor dear!" Kasumi exclaimed softly. "No wonder she's been so moody lately!"

Akane nodded. "It does seem to explain why she's been acting so differently."

"I'm not sure what I should do about it, Akane," Kasumi confessed. "Nabiki obviously has taken the attack on our house very hard if she is drinking because of it. I don't know if punishing her would solve the problem."

"I know, sis. But she needs to have *something* happen to her. After all, she totally trashed a friend of mine at school on Friday. I mean she completely ripped his heart out and ruined him in front of everyone." Akane folded her arms beneath her breasts. "If Nabiki was drunk when she did that then she definitely needs to be punished, otherwise she could do it again."

"Oh my! That does sound bad," Kasumi admitted as she considered that additional bit of information. "So you think we should go tell Daddy about this?"

Akane shook her head. "No, I don't believe that would help her. Nabiki would probably resent us for going behind her back and telling him about this. Besides, if daddy confronted her about it she wouldn't accept any blame for what she'd done."

Kasumi looked at her youngest sister helplessly. "So what do you think we should do, sis?"

"Well, I think she needs to be spanked, honestly," Akane said flatly, her anger overriding her compassion. "That or something else to grab her attention and make her face her fears. All she's doing right now is running away from everything and hurting other people in the process."

Kasumi nodded at her youngest sister's train of thought. "You're starting to think like me, Akane."

Akane laughed at that. "I could never be that wise, sis."

"Awww," Kasumi said as she reached over and quickly hugged Akane from the side, then sat back down on the chair. "I appreciate that, little sis. So, since we agree that something needs to be done, I guess the best thing *to do* is to talk with her, right?"

Akane sat up straighter on the bed. "That would be wise. She needs to at least know that we found her out and that she needs to stop before she does something worse."

"I would think that she needs to hear that we care about her, too," Kasumi amended. "After all, she's bound to be very fragile."

"Sounds like you have your work cut out for you, then," Akane concluded seriously.

"Actually," Kasumi began as she pat her younger sister's knee. "I think that you would be the best one to talk to her, Akane."

"ME?" She blurted out in shock. "Why me, Kasumi? I'm too young to be the mothering type of person that Nabiki needs right now."

"That is exactly my point. You're not seen as a parent in her eyes, so she would be able to open up to you in a way she wouldn't with me."

"You c-can't be serious," Akane stammered. "I can't punish my older sister!"

"I'm not asking you to punish her, Akane. Just be a friend to her and listen."

For a very long time Akane looked down at her hands and debated in silence the pros and cons of Kasumi's request. Not seeing any way out of it, she sighed and nodded reluctantly. "Okay, I'll talk to her." She looked to her bedroom door. "You think Nabiki's awake yet?"

Kasumi shrugged her shoulders. "I'm not sure."

"Well, I really just woke up myself," she admitted. "I was feeling lazy this morning, so I haven't even gotten a bath yet. Still, I guess I'll talk with her in a little bit." Akane sighed in resignation.

"You don't have to do it right now," Kasumi demurred. "I don't want you to wake her and confront her about this right out of the bed. That's the wrong way to do it." She stood up and placed a hand on Akane's shoulder at seeing the frustrated look on her sister's face. "Hey, don't look so glum. I'm grateful that you're doing this for your sister."

"I know," Akane said with a smile for her older sister's benefit. "It's just that I'm not sure how I'll approach the subject with her."

"I'm sure you'll think of something," Kasumi offered cheerfully. "I'll leave the bottle here for you to use in case she tries to deny anything."

"Thanks, Kasumi," Akane deadpanned. "I appreciate it." She stood up from her bed and took off her PJs, leaving herself clad only in her panties. "Let me take a quick bath and then I'll get right on that."

"Okay, sis," Kasumi said with a smile as she stood up and opened Akane's bedroom door. "Let me know if you need to talk to me afterwards, okay?"

"Okay," Akane said with a false smile. As soon as Kasumi was out of the room she flopped down on her bed and groaned. "I'm too young to be my older sister's second mother," she groused. "It's bad enough that I have to talk to her on Sato's behalf. That's going to be a difficult discussion by itself. Now I have to tell her to stop hitting the bottle at the same time?" Akane cursed her luck and, standing up, grabbed her robe and headed to the bathroom.

Closing the door to the changing room behind her, Akane took off her robe and tossed it in the clothes hamper. "Oops, dammit!" she swore as she quickly fished the garment back out. "I didn't mean to throw that in there." Akane took the garment in hand and was about to put it on the counter when she noticed a rather distinctive scent emanating from it.

Her eyebrows shot up quickly as she recognized the odor for what it was. "How the hell did *that* smell get in here?" Akane muttered as she sniffed her robe closely. Nodding to herself once she'd confirmed that her nose wasn't lying, she looked the garment over carefully. "There's no way *I* got this robe dirty, and I'm the only one using it. That means..." she let her spoken thoughts trail off as she eyed the hamper suspiciously.

Akane reached inside and pulled out a wad of clothes. "These are Nabiki's!" she thought urgently as she shook the bundle. Three pieces of clothing hit the floor, one of which caught Akane's eyes immediately. 'Holy crap! That's a pair of boy's underwear!' Thunderstruck, she stared at the pair of briefs as if they were of alien origin. 'How did those get mixed in with Nabiki's clothes?'

Akane scrutinized the underwear as it lay helpless on the floor. 'Could they be daddy's?' she asked herself with a touch of revulsion. She toed the garment to expose the tag and realized that they weren't big enough or old enough to be her father's. In some ways that news made her feel a bit better, but it still didn't answer her bigger question.

A moment later she gasped as she began putting the pieces together. 'Arrives very late at night, drinks a lot of sake, and carries home a pair of boy's underwear that smells funny.' Akane closed her eyes sadly as the facts pointed to an unavoidable conclusion. "Now I really *do* need to talk to her. I just hope it was a guy she knew and not some stranger that took advantage of her."

Akane fished a dry washcloth out of a cabinet and used it to pick up the soiled briefs. With a look of pure disgust on her face, she held the underwear away from herself at arm's length as she carefully placed it on a used towel. Folding the towel up, she placed the bundle on the floor next to the doorway and tossed the washcloth in the hamper. Filled with a sudden sense of urgency, she bathed herself quickly, driven by the need to get to her sister before things got any worse.



****



Ranma swore to himself as he heard a knock at the front door. For the past hour and a half he had made several failed attempts to talk to both Sato and his sister in order to lessen the damage caused by Hikaru Gosunkugi's bombshell visit earlier in the morning. Sato, who was currently in the attic, was still too heartbroken to pay attention to anything he had to say. The only thing Ranma's attempts at conversation had elicited was louder crying from Sato.

He was encountering resistance from his sister as well. Ranko, who hadn't said a word since Sato went upstairs, was too pissed off to do anything but practice forms in the training hall. The few attempts he'd made to stop her and talk to her about what had happened had been met by very painful punches or kicks and a furious glare that gave him pause.

"I'm coming already!" Ranma yelled as another knock came from the front door. 'I was just about to get Sato to calm down this time and now some jerk comes over and messes everything up! I'm gonna have to start over from scratch! If it's Gos again I'm going to kick his sorry little ass regardless of what I promised Ranko,' he thought to himself furiously. "What?" Ranma shouted irritably after he unlocked the door and yanked it open.

Dr. Tofu stepped back from the threshold with a look of shock on his face. Ranma blanched as he realized just how rudely he'd greeted the doctor. "Have I come at a bad time, Ranma?" Tofu asked hesitantly.

"Uh, I- I'm not sure, Dr. Tofu," Ranma answered honestly, scratching the back of his head in embarrassment.

The two men stood looking at each other awkwardly for a few seconds before Dr. Tofu peeked over Ranma's shoulder. "Is your sister around?" the doctor asked, finally breaking the uncomfortable silence.

"Oh! Yeah. Yeah, she's here." Ranma stepped away from the door to admit Dr. Tofu. "So, what brings you here, doc?"

"Your sister missed an appointment with me yesterday morning and I wanted to see if she was okay. I have some follow-up medicines that I had intended her to take home after her appointment." He held up a bag for Ranma's inspection as he stepped into the house.

Ranma briefly glanced at the bag in Dr. Tofu's hands before turning his attention to the front door, closing and locking it securely. "She's in the training hall out in the back yard, doc."

"Oh? Is she taking it easy on her ankle?" Dr. Tofu asked, an expression of concern gracing his features. Noticing the glass door that lead to the back yard, he started to walk in that direction before Ranma held up his hands to stop him.

"Uh, doc. Before you go in there I should warn you. Ranko just broke up with her boyfriend today and she's really pi- uhh, I mean mad right now." Ranma didn't like talking about his sister's misfortune to someone she barely knew, but he also didn't want Dr. Tofu to walk in unannounced on her and not have the man aware of his sister's mood. Someone trying to comfort or care for his sister while she was as mad as she was right now would be about as crazy as someone trying to cuddle a rabid wolverine.

"Thank you for the warning, Ranma," Dr. Tofu said with a smile and a nod of his head. Walking around Ranma's outstretched arm, Tofu cradled his package in one arm while he reached out with the other to open the glass sliding door. Stepping outside, he paused a moment to take in his surroundings. "This is a very nice yard your parents have," Tofu commented lightly. He focused his attention on the training hall and could easily hear grunts and shouts coming from within indicating that a rather vigorous workout was underway. Resuming his unhurried pace, he crossed the yard and stopped inside the doorway of the training hall with Ranma at his side.

"I haven't seen her this mad before in my life," Ranma admitted to the doctor in a low voice. "I've tried to stop her and talk to her, but Ranko's so upset that she got violent with me every time." He shrugged his shoulders helplessly as he watched his sister go through a twelve-point form that took her across the length of the training room floor in under four seconds, her fists a blur the whole time. As she ended the move with a killing blow to her imaginary foe's throat she yelled a piercing "Kyaaa!" that had him wincing.

Ranma blinked in surprise as he realized that Dr. Tofu was no longer standing to his side. His eyes widened as he saw that the doctor was now standing behind Ranko with barely an inch separating them! 'Is the man crazy?' Ranma asked himself. 'I only hope that he's just as good here as he was where I came from,' he thought as he watched the two. His sister still seemed unaware that Dr. Tofu was standing right behind her. Ranma's suspicion was confirmed a moment later by the doctor.

"That was a very impressive display, Ranko," Dr. Tofu said in his placid, friendly way as he placed a hand on her shoulder.

Ranko jumped nine stories. "Holy SHIT!" she yelled as she turned in the air and landed on both of her feet to face the doctor. "When did you get here?" she asked irritably once she'd gotten her breath back.

Dr. Tofu smiled to her and bowed politely. "I apologize if I scared you just then, Ranko."

'Yeah, right,' Ranma thought with a snort.

"What're you doing here?" she demanded. "My brother didn't call you here, did he?" Even as she gave voice to the question she fixed him with an accusatory glare that he felt as if it were a slap.

"NO!" Ranma retorted hotly. "I wouldn't do that to you, sis! I respect you, even if you don't give a damn about me right now."

Ranko's anger deflated noticeably at that and a rosy blush bloomed on her youthful face. "Ranma, you know that's not true," she said in a sad voice. "I would never feel that way about you, bro."

"I think I have come at a bad time," Dr. Tofu muttered uncomfortably, although he made no effort to leave. He held his gaze on Ranko unwaveringly as if he were diagnosing something that was wrong deep within her.

Ranko held up a shaky hand and apologized. "I'm sorry, Doctor. I shouldn't have been so rude to you. You're obviously here for a reason and I had no cause to snap at you like that."

Dr. Tofu nodded his acceptance of her apology and held up his package. "I came here because you missed your appointment with me yesterday. I also brought more medicines, salves and vitamin supplements to help you speed the healing of and diminish the prominence of the scar on your face and the bruise on your-" He paused to rephrase what he was about to say. "Your bruise."

Ranko's mood shifted to one of gratitude. "Thank you for coming to check on me, Dr. Tofu. I appreciate it," she said as she bowed formally. She wavered a bit as her tender ankle nearly gave way. The doctor didn't miss the slip and Ranko knew it the moment she looked into his eyes.

"I think you may have overdone your workout somewhat," Dr. Tofu said blithely as he knelt on the floor, placing his package behind him. "Sit down and let me have a look at your ankle, Ranko."

Without saying a word, Ranko obediently sat down on the floor and extended her leg out to the doctor so that he could examine her. After a few moments of silent poking, prodding and twisting of her ankle during which Ranko grit her teeth uncomfortably, Dr. Tofu gently placed her sore ankle down and sat back from her a bit. "You're a very lucky girl, Ranko."

"Lucky?" Ranko spat. "What makes you think I've had anything *lucky* happen to me today?"

Tofu spared her a knowing glance. "Well, to be more correct, your *ankle* was very lucky. You could've broken it if you'd kept on straining it the way you were doing just then."

Ranko's eyes widened. She'd barely felt any pain during her workout and had no idea she'd been hurting herself. "Just how bad is it? Did I sprain it again?"

Tofu shook his head. "Fortunately not, Ranko. It seems you've done a good job of taking those medicated baths like I'd recommended. The blend of herbs and medicines I'd prescribed for you were intended to help increase the blood circulation within your sprained ankle and encourage the stretched tissues around it to heal at a slightly faster rate." He touched her ankle gingerly as if testing the sensitivity of her skin. "Based on what I see here, the soaks did their job. Had you not soaked your ankle as you did and then proceeded to go through the workout you just endured, you would've been in a cast for at least three months. In fact, even with the advantage of having soaked your bad ankle, had you continued as you did for another hour or two, you would've still done extensive damage to your ankle," Dr. Tofu proclaimed severely.

"Gah! Three months in a cast?!" Ranko asked. She turned to look at her brother who was giving her a very stern 'I told you so' glare. "Were you really serious when you said that if I'd kept on going... I- I could've ruined everything I've worked for?" Tears welled up in her eyes as Tofu's nod answered her question and before she knew it she was crying openly in front of both of them.

Ranma's anger at his sister's bull-headed attitude vanished and he quickly moved to sit next to her. Enveloping her in a comforting hug he said nothing as she wrapped her arms around him desperately, then buried her face in his chest and cried loudly.

Ranma ran his fingers through Ranko's long raven hair, tenderly stroking her head in an effort to comfort her and calm her nerves. "It's gonna okay, sis," he murmured softly, breaking his silence. "You didn't mess yourself up, the doc says so." He reached down and took one of her hands in his. "Hey! Don't let what Gos did beat you down, Ranko," Ranma said in a near whisper. "If you let that son of a bitch hold you back then he'll win and you'll lose. You don't want that, do ya?" He smiled as she squeezed his hand with what he thought was determination.

Ranma let go of her hand and placed a finger underneath her chin so that he could tilt his sister's face up to look at him. "You're better than that dickhead is and you know it. I know you're mad and I know you feel like he did you wrong, but he's nothin' to you now." He looked into her eyes and caressed her cheek tenderly. "Don't give him that kind of power, sis. Please promise me that you won't let that punk bring you down." His gaze intensified. "Be strong for me. Okay?"

"Okay," Ranko said in a shaky voice. She gave her brother a tender kiss on the cheek and smiled at him through tear-filled eyes. "I promise, bro." A throat clearing caught both of their attentions and suddenly they remembered that they weren't alone. The Saotome siblings blushed in absolute embarrassment and both of them gazed intently at the floor.

Dr. Tofu somehow managed to affect an air of ignorance despite the fact that he sat less than a foot away from them. "Ah, yes. Well, as I was about to say, your ankle is strained somewhat, but it will be okay if you don't exert it any further today. Keep following your prescribed soaking regimen for the next week *AND* take it easy during that time and any ankle problems will disappear completely." He produced his package again and placed it in her lap. "There are instructions in here along with the vitamins and medications, etcetera I spoke of earlier. Simply follow the instructions and I think you'll be pleased with the results."

Ranko nodded wordlessly and, feeling a bit self-conscious at sitting in her brother's lap, moved away from him a bit. Both Ranma and Dr. Tofu stood at the same time. "I think I'll be going now. I have other patients I have to see today," Tofu announced as he bowed slightly to Ranko.

"Sis, I'll be right back," Ranma said as he walked with Tofu out of the training hall. "Uhh, Doc," he began uncomfortably as they entered the house and closed the glass sliding door behind them.

Dr. Tofu held up his hand to forestall Ranma's apology. "No need to say anything, Ranma. She's a spirited young girl. I don't blame her for reacting as she did or how she acted towards me. I believe you got to the crux of the issue just now and helped her get past it fairly well." He smiled at the young man. "I could tell the day you first came into my clinic that you cared deeply for your sister. You've confirmed that for me again today."

"I would do anything for her, doc," Ranma said soberly. "She's my sister." 'She's my life,' he added to himself.

Tofu nodded. "I don't doubt it, Ranma. You take good care of her and see that she follows my advice, okay?" he said as he reached for the knob and opened the front door. "And tell her I will expect to see her at my office next week."

"Sure thing, Doc," Ranma said with a smile, waving to the doctor's departing form. As soon as Dr. Tofu was out of the front lawn and down the sidewalk, Ranma closed and locked the front door, then dashed back to the training hall.

Ranko was on her feet, stretching her arms and legs. She smiled up at her brother as he entered and walked over to him, favoring her ankle slightly. "I'm sorry I was a bitch to you earlier, bro."

Ranma hugged her close to him. "It's okay, sis. I'll just get you back when we spar next time."

"Ha! You wish! You'll only lay a finger on me when I let you," she taunted, sticking her tongue out at him for added effect.

Ranma's eyebrow swept up in surprise. "You're not supposed to be sniffin' those drugs Tofu gave you 'cos you're obviously on somethin'."

Ranko snorted and stood a couple of paces back from him, then brought her arms into a ready stance. "Oh really? Well let's find out who spanks who."

Ranma held up a hand. "Nuh-uh, sis. I ain't gonna spar with you until you heal that ankle up. Don't be ignorin' what Dr. Tofu just said."

"Aww, you're no fun," she said with a pout although the smile in her eyes said she didn't really care. "Thanks for setting me right, bro." Ranko walked up to him again and kissed him gently on the lips. "I would've been a mess for a few days if you hadn't pointed out the truth the way you did."

"So are you good?" he asked as he wrapped his arms around her again.

"Yeah, I think I'll be okay." Ranko sighed as she thought about the other victim in this situation. "But what about Sato?"

Ranma groaned. "He's not stopped cryin' since he first heard about Nabiki this mornin'."

Ranko frowned. "He's got a reason to cry, bro. I can't really fault him for it."

"You don't think he's takin' it too far, sis?"

Ranko shook her head. Stepping out of his embrace, she walked to the doors of the training hall and sat down on the steps. Looking up in the direction of the attic, she shrugged her shoulders. "After what I just went through, I'm not one to judge. He's the kind of guy who happens to cope with things by having a good cry."

Ranma masked an uncomfortable grimace as he moved to sit next to her. "I don't think it's right for a guy to cry like that."

Ranko looked over at him and favored him with a grim look. "When you lose the love of your life, you never really know how you're gonna react, bro. You should step back and give him some time. Also, don't judge him because he's not afraid to cry where people can see him."

Ranma was about to tell her that he'd never cried and never saw a time when he would, but digressed. "Okay sis, whatever you say."

Ranko turned to look at the bundle sitting on the floor behind her. "I think I'd better get the bag that Dr. Tofu gave me and look through it. Besides, I stink. Even *I* smell it. I sense a bath in my immediate future"

Ranma laughed at that. "I won't argue with you, sis. I think I'm gonna head up and check on Sato one more time. He may be ready to talk now."

"Don't push him, bro. I think he trusts you enough to talk to you when he's ready, so just be patient."

Ranma nodded his agreement and followed her lead as she walked back to the house. He paused long enough to close the glass sliding door and was about to join his sister when he heard another knock at the front door. Puzzled, he stepped to the front door and began unlocking it. 'Maybe the doc forgot to tell her something?' he wondered as he opened the door.

Standing before him was a young man dressed in the standard uniform of a package delivery service. The man bowed slightly and produced an electronic clipboard from atop a stack of tape-sealed boxes that were secured to an upright dolly standing beside him. "Is this the Saotome residence?" he asked as he pulled a stylus out from the top of the clipboard.

"Uhh, yeah," Ranma said with a questioning glance as he stepped outside.

"Could you sign here, sir?" the courier asked as he handed the stylus to Ranma and showed him where to sign.

"What is all this?" Ranma asked unsurely as he held the stylus in his hand.

"I do not know the contents, sir. All I can tell you is that this is an express delivery of nine packages for this residence. Please sign here." Shrugging, Ranma signed his name where indicated and returned the stylus to the courier, who bowed politely and put the clipboard and stylus back atop the stack of boxes. "Where would you like these, sir?" he asked as he nudged the dolly in the direction of the front door.

Ranma grimaced and looked behind himself. Leading the courier inside, he pointed to a wall next to the dining room table. "Just stack them up against the wall right there."

The courier bowed and unloaded the dolly where Ranma directed. He then watched as the courier dashed back outside and returned with two more loads of boxes. By the time he was done, Ranma goggled at what was left behind. Eight large sealed cardboard boxes dominated the far wall of the dining area, atop which the delivery guy placed a large sealed manila envelope. "That is everything, sir," the courier stated before he folded up his dolly and headed towards the door. "Have a good Sunday, sir."

Ranma closed the door behind the departing courier and for the fourth time that day made sure the door was locked securely. He turned to look at the boxes again, searching in vain for a shipping label or some other kind of identification on them. Unable to determine whom they were for; he picked up the manila envelope and turned it over in his hands. "Oh!" he exclaimed as he saw a large label affixed on the other side of the envelope with text in bold print. "Mr. and Mrs. Saotome. Personal."

Feeling his parents' eyes on him, he quickly placed the envelope atop the boxes and stepped back from the stack. 'What the hell could be in all those things?' he wondered as he walked towards the staircase and headed up to his room. Opening the door, Ranma stepped inside his bedroom and closed the door. Taking off his t-shirt, he tossed it away and fished out some clean clothes in preparation for a bath. "Oops! Shit, I'd better wait for a bit," he told himself as he remembered that his sister was already in there and likely not done yet.

Putting his clean clothes in a neat stack on his desk, he turned around to where he threw his t-shirt and went to pick it up so that he could put it in the downstairs hamper. He froze in mid-bend as his eyes caught glimpse of a dark stain on his wall about the size of his fingertip. Bending closer, he scrutinized the smudge and to his horror he realized that it was a streak of smudged black and orange body paint that could only have come from Kinuko's nude body. "Oh, hell!" he swore as he stood up straight. "I thought I got rid of that idiot's stains yesterday when I washed the sheets and tossed out that coat."

During his cleanup early yesterday morning, the long black overcoat had been a surprise find. Ranma had stumbled across it while he had been going through his room looking for anything that would betray the fact that he'd had a naked girl slathered with body paint trying to fool around with him. Not expecting to talk to Kinuko ever again, he'd dismissed the idea of returning the coat and simply thrown it in the trash.

Following that he'd turned his attention to getting the black stains out of his sheets and pillows. Ranma thought he'd won the battle of the girl-stained bedroom once he'd made his bed using some just-cleaned sheets and verified that the floor and closet were clear of anything that would've hinted at what Kinuko had tried to do on Friday night.

But now that he'd found that one smudge mark on the wall, his eyes were suddenly re-examining every surface in the room. After ten minutes of searching he'd identified about forty paint marks on the walls and furniture. Disgusted at having missed so many stains during his initial cleanup, he went downstairs to retrieve a couple of dampened towels and a small bowl of soapy water. Hurriedly returning to his room, he bent down to clean everything thoroughly this time. As he tackled one of the stains on the wall, he shuddered to think what would've happened if either his mom or Akane had found any of the dark smudges and begun asking questions.



****



"Are you insane!?" Kodachi shouted as soon as Kinuko was out of earshot. Somewhere in the back of her mind, the young ninja realized that she was making an odd spectacle of herself as she gestured wildly and yelled at her brother in imperiously stern tones all while wearing a maid's outfit; but knowing that did not deter her in the slightest, however. "You're actually going to marry that half-witted little weasel? Akane Tendo I could understand, but *this* is asinine!"

Kuno smirked at her, obviously enjoying his sister's discomfiture. "I didn't think you'd be jealous of her, Kotchi."

"Jealous!" she scoffed. "Incensed is more like it! You have only known this girl for the better part of a weekend and you're ready to add her to the Kuno heritage?! Have you spent any time at all investigating her?"

A lecherous smile momentarily flitted across Kuno's features. "For your edification, I spent a goodly amount of time investigating Miss Amagi last night." Kodachi colored at that and she glared at him angrily. "Indeed, that girl gave better sport than she received, which frankly impressed me," Kuno added with a pleased smile. Whether he was pleased with himself or his situation, Kodachi was not sure.

"I don't care how often you mate with someone or with whom, as long as the family is not adversely affected by the affair," Kodachi said matter-of-factly. "But handing her the keys to the family fortune is hardly wise-"

"Patience, my sister," Kuno interrupted in a calm voice. "For the moment I need to keep this girl close to me, and in order to make that happen in a manner most expedient, efficient and enjoyable, especially given how pressed we are for time, an engagement seemed prudent."

"You're not seriously considering following through with it, are you?"

Kuno looked over his left shoulder to make sure Kinuko hadn't yet emerged from the sake brewery's lavatory before answering. "For the moment, yes," he replied in a lower voice. "I intend to exhaust myself with her physically, while at the same time exhaust her as a source of information. Not to mention taking advantage of several other potential benefits that can be wrought from her. Once that's all done with, I might let her go."

Kodachi's demeanor barely changed, although she seethed inside. "Oh? Exactly what other benefits do you believe can be had from this girl?" she asked coolly.

"Hold out your hand," Kuno directed as he reached into the pocket of his shorts. Prizing an item into his hands, he laid it in her outstretched palm and closed her fingers around it carefully. "Take care that she does not see you with that in your possession," he admonished.

Kodachi pulled her hand close to her face and peeked into her palm. "A key? To what?"

"I believe that it will gain you entrance to Saotome's domain, my sister," Kuno proclaimed proudly.

"That little girl somehow managed to keep hold of a key while she was completely naked?" Kodachi asked incredulously. "I'm not sure I want to know where she was hiding it," she added with a grimace.

"Not quite, my dearest sister," Kuno replied smugly. "One of the things Kinuko brought up last night after our fifth round concluded was that she despaired at the loss of her overcoat. She gave great detail about the supposed cost and quality of it, in her mind anyway. She was a bit vague as to where she thought it had been lost, however."

"How exactly does an overcoat link with this key?"

"I'm getting to that part, sister," Kuno replied crisply. "To allay her fears, I told her that I would have Kei look for the coat on the estate grounds and, if found, have it cleaned and returned to her."

"Obviously it wasn't on the grounds of our home, brother dear."

"Quite so. Nevertheless, that is what she believes since she now has the coat in her possession."

"And where was the coat found?" she asked irritably, wanting him to admit what she already suspected.

"Kei found it last night in one of Saotome's trashcans. If I were to make a guess, someone in the household found the garment and discarded it, likely because of whom the owner was."

Kodachi's eyes narrowed dangerously. "You sent your *butler* out to retrieve something from Ranma Saotome's house?"

"You would rather I had sent you?" Kuno asked with a tolerant smile.

"Indeed!" Kodachi snapped.

"And if they had happened to open a window or a door while you were rummaging about the place? Ranma Saotome has already admitted to knowing you exist. There is no need to add anything to fuel his speculation or confirm his beliefs."

"And so you feel your butler's skills surpass my own, do you?" Kodachi grappled with a wave of pure rage. "You impugn my abilities one more time and I'm going to drop-kick you down the side of this mountain!"

Kuno's mirth vanished at the threat. Squaring his shoulders, he stood from his lounge chair and looked her in the eyes. "I only did it to protect you, sister dear. I don't need one of the biggest assets in the Kuno family compromised on a trash rummaging expedition."

"*Potentially* compromised. Stop talking as if such a thing is a certainty! Do not assume for an *instant* that I require your protection. I am not some waifish little girl to be coddled and fretted over. I am *very* capable of taking care of myself!" Kodachi folded her arms beneath her breasts and eyed him challengingly. "This key may help me with my investigation, but you know I could have retrieved it much more readily than your butler," she spat.

"I do believe that your anger is misplaced, my dear sister-"

"What you believe is immaterial," Kodachi cut in angrily. "You asked me to follow up on this, meaning that this is *my* investigation. I do it my way, with my tools, at my schedule and with my skills. All you would've had to do was tell me about her concern over the missing coat as soon as you knew about it and I would've had the garment in hand in very short order. Without compromising a *thing* in the process!"

Kuno's jaw worked for a moment as he considered what to say in reply. Withering under the intensity of his sister's gaze, he bowed formally and offered a sincere apology. "I apologize to you, sister, for insulting your abilities. Such an act was... regrettable on my part. It will not happen again."

Mollified by his response, Kodachi released the grip she'd had on her anger. "When we lose trust in each other, we lose everything. Never forget that, Tatewaki." She held the key up and inspected it closely. "This key was in her coat pocket?" Her brother nodded wordlessly. "If this is indeed a key to Ranma Saotome's house, this confirms our suspicion about her level of access to him and how much he wanted her to be with him. Until recently, anyway."

"Indeed. This bit of information will be quite useful to me when the time is right."

Kodachi looked at the key again. "I think I will let you determine when that time is. I'm more interested in what this little gem will get for me."

Kuno nodded his agreement as he resumed his seat. "Did you have anything of your own to report?" he asked, wanting to deflect her attention to anything other than him.

Kodachi slipped a hand inside the top of her maid's uniform and secreted the key to Ranma's house in her bra, then nodded in response to her brother's query. "The delivery of the packages to Nabiki Tendo was completed a little before noon."

"Ah, splendid. I hope she's able to get the truth regarding the source of Saotome's financial windfall. I need to know exactly what I'm dealing with if I am to make any headway against that upstart." Kuno smirked again. "Did Miss Tendo seem upset when you informed her that the investigation of Ranko Saotome had been cancelled?"

"Somewhat, yes," Kodachi affirmed. "She professed to have a notebook half-full of information on the Saotome girl and seemed to be a bit put off at having all her efforts go to waste." She waved a hand dismissively. "Personally I think she's overreacting. After all, she was paid for her time."

"That is Nabiki Tendo in a nutshell, my sister. It is that stubborn drive that I depend on to get the answers we need. The money commits her to the task, but once she's committed to something she's nearly unstoppable until the task is completed."

Kodachi debated telling her brother about the recent earth-shattering revelations concerning Nabiki's sexual exploits and the effect that those events would have on the girl's efficiency, but decided that the information would not be well received by him. 'The fool would probably mention it to her and only wind up humiliating the poor girl,' she concluded soberly. 'Best to let sleeping Tendos lay, as it were' "Speaking of incomplete tasks," Kodachi began, picking up on what her brother had just said. "I still haven't found out who is leaking information about us to the Saotomes."

Kuno's expression darkened noticeably at her admission. "That is most troublesome, my sister. How far into your investigation have you gotten thus far?"

"I talked to all of our personal contacts, brother dear. I regret to say that my resources are completely exhausted where our connections are concerned; none of them have said anything about me to anyone."

"I assume your interrogations were rather... vigorous?"

"Quite so. All of them were rather eager to absolve themselves of any blame from the start. But I continued to dig deeper with each person until I came to the unavoidable conclusion that all of them were telling me the truth. It seems that none of them have had any direct involvement with the Saotome family." Kodachi sniffed in vexation. "In fact, the only thing that I had discovered during the course of my investigation was that one of the people in our confidence has gotten a bit cocky of late."

"Oh? How so?"

"He actually had the *audacity* to tell me that my 'ass looked much sexier' in my ninja uniform than it did in my business attire."

Kuno snorted at that. "Is the poor fool still alive?"

"I only slapped him half as hard as I should have," she said with a playful smile as she rubbed the back of her right hand. "He is right after all; my darling derriere does look quite firm in that uniform. Even I have to admit as much."

Kuno's first impression was to roll his eyes at her tone, but instead he laughed to avoid having to endure another angry tirade from his younger sister. She was quite sensitive about her appearance. "So what is your next option, Kotchi?" he asked, anxious to move the conversation along.

"Well, since I can't find out what we need from our own resources, I'll have to resort to other means to get at the bottom of this."

"Oh? And what means would this be?"

"Why I'm going to get the information straight from the horse's mouth," Kodachi replied blithely as she batted her long eyelashes.



****



Hours after having been awakened by 'Kodachi the Wonder Ninja,' Nabiki was still frantically working her way through the stack of paperwork that had been left behind. The copious notes that she had taken thus far were all pointing to *someone's* family being worth billions and billions of Yen. In fact, Nabiki was having a hard time containing both her enthusiasm and her greed as the tally continued to climb.

"Stock holdings for industries on the west coast as well as technical consulting firms in Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto," Nabiki mumbled to herself as she wrote. She whistled appreciatively when she arrived at the grand total. "Ninety eight *billion* yen." Nabiki repeated the words twice, smiling to herself as though merely saying the words made her extremely wealthy. 'And that's only the documented funds. Someone with holdings this diverse is likely to have hidden assets as well,' she thought with an avaricious smirk.

"Damn, Kuno-chan," Nabiki said with a touch of awe. "Whoever it is you're investigating has enough money to buy your whole family out fifty times over." She was more than a bit frustrated at the lack of information regarding the actual holder of the funds, however. "Whoever does the books on this portfolio is a pro at concealing identities," she admitted grudgingly. "I probably would do a better job of figuring it all out if I wasn't still suffering from this hangover."

As if giving name to the condition caused it to intensify, Nabiki fought hard to ignore a sudden twinge of pain that flared up behind her eyes. Massaging her temples and cursing the name "Otokoyama" for all it was worth, it took a couple of minutes before she was clear-headed enough to review the property-holder's personal details sheet that she had cataloged earlier. On it had been two things of note, one of which was a post-it note with the words "Ranma Saotome's family" written on it in Kodachi's handwriting.

Nabiki had originally believed that to be the case because of Kodachi's reliability, but upon further review of the documents she was surprised to discover that she could not validate Kodachi's assertion. In fact, the only name that she could find at all in any of the documents was a one-word reference to the name "Iwamoto."

Her brow furrowed as she thought hard about the name. 'It is a name of some historical significance if I remember correctly,' she thought as she reached for a manuscript entitled "Heritage: A Comprehensive Catalog of Japanese Surnames Before the Meiji Era." She flipped through the worn pages of the large publication until she came upon the entry that she sought.

"Iwamoto," Nabiki read aloud in a quiet voice. "Origination and definition: One who lives near the base of the stone. This name is most common in the west-central region of Japan as well as throughout the Ryukyu Islands. It is possible that persons possessing this surname are descendents of Minamoto no Yoshimitsu, who was an ancestor of several well-established samurai families that rose to power during the era of the Tokugawa Shogunate."

Wide eyed, Nabiki sat back and blew out her breath in surprise. "Kuno's dealing with someone who is not only filthy rich, but whose lineage could go back several hundred years to a group of samurai families that governed parts of western Japan with an iron fist." Nabiki didn't think that her respect for the target of this investigation could grow anymore, but the hint of ancient Japanese nobility underpinning the riches she'd cataloged had changed all of that.

"The post-it note that Kodachi left in the first folder must have been placed there by accident," Nabiki concluded. "There's absolutely no way at all that someone like Saotome would have any linkage to a family this respected and wealthy. Ranma may be cute and look really good with his clothes off, but that boy is just too common to be part of a family with the legacy of someone like an Iwamoto. Still," she added, fanning herself with a hand, "whoever this person *really* is, I definitely want to meet him."

Nabiki's musings came to a crashing halt as she heard another knock at her door. Paranoia taking hold of her again, but for different reasons than earlier, she quietly closed her notebook and tried her best to cover up the piles of papers she had strewn over her desk. "Nabiki, are you awake in there?" came Akane's voice from the other side of the door.

'Maybe if I stay still and don't say anything she'll just go away,' Nabiki hoped. 'Right now I don't need Akane bothering me, especially not after everything I've been through.' She grimaced as her mind revisited both troubling and exciting images of her sexual activities with Hikaru Gosunkugi. She shivered as a mixture of revulsion and sexual excitement hit her, and it was only with a supreme effort on her part that she was able to squelch the latter reaction before it came into full bloom. Disgusted with herself, she barely had time to compose herself when Akane knocked harder on her door. "I know you're in there, Sis. Open up!"

Her hopes of being left alone were now for naught, so Nabiki quickly covered the paperwork with some innocuous notes from class and hid her project notebook from sight. Smoothing out her pajamas, she stood up from her desk chair and walked towards her bedroom door. In a grumbling voice she broke her self-imposed silence. "Alright, Akane. Come in," Nabiki said irritably as she opened the door.

Not waiting for her sister to get out of the way, Akane grabbed a large plastic bag that had been sitting on the hallway floor and charged inside, then quickly closed the door behind her. "I need to talk to you," she began urgently.

"Obviously," Nabiki shot back sarcastically while Akane sat the bag down and reached up to adjust a towel that was wrapped around her hair. Having just come out of the bath, her sister looked down to make sure that her robe was covering everything since she hadn't given herself much time to put it on in the first place. Disgusted by what had been smeared on her original robe back in the changing room, Akane had tossed that one back in the hamper and walked naked to her room to get her older one. Grimacing at the memory, she quickly tightened the fabric belt around her waist and looked up at her sister intently.

"Okay, what's this about?" Nabiki asked, eyeing her younger sister suspiciously.

"Sit down, Nabiki," Akane ordered. "We have a lot to talk about."

"I will not sit down!" Nabiki countered defiantly, crossing her arms and scowling at her sister. 'How *dare* she interrupt me while I'm in the middle of something important? ' she fumed. "And what makes you think that you can to talk to me in that tone? What makes you think you can order me around in my own bedroom, runt?" She felt an undercurrent of worry worm its way into her thoughts despite her anger as she glanced twice more at the opaque plastic bag.

"Don't argue with me, sis," Akane commanded. She frowned inwardly at herself for treating Nabiki so brusquely, but one look at the plastic bag was all it took for her to dismiss her misgivings and forge ahead.

"You're not my parent, Akane," Nabiki snapped. She pointed an accusatory finger at her younger sister. "You don't have any reason to speak to me that way!"

Akane angrily thrust her hand into the bag and pulled out the empty sake bottle. "I do now, sis. So sit your ass down before I smack you in the face with this!"

Nabiki paled. "You wouldn't dare!"

"Try me," Akane snarled as she took two steps closer to her sister, bringing them nose-to-nose. She held the bottle higher, acting as if she was about to bring it down on her older sister's head.

Nabiki reluctantly sat down on her bed as her sister ordered. "Why do you have a big empty bottle in your hands?" she asked, affecting an air of innocent curiosity.

"I should be asking you why this was in your book bag," Akane shot back acidly as she loomed over her older sister.

Nabiki unsuccessfully tried to mask a look of surprise. 'Shit, how did *that* get in my book bag? What the *hell* was I thinking?' "What were you doing going through my book bag, Akane?" she demanded, shooting her sister an accusatory glare.

"I'm in here because *Kasumi* handed me this bottle. She told me that she found it in your book bag last night after you got home from wherever you went. She asked me to talk to you because she was too heartbroken to do it," Akane spat. "I promised her that I would talk to you about this even though I don't want to. I absolutely *hate* doing this, but I'm going to keep my promise to her, so drop the attitude and explain yourself."

"But-"

"NOW!"

'Damn she's pissed,' Nabiki thought in shock. "What the hell do you want me to say?" she snapped defensively.

"You could start by admitting that you're a drunk."

"I am not!" Nabiki retorted defensively.

"Oh, bullshit," Akane shot back angrily as she tossed the empty bottle in Nabiki's lap. It landed with a muffled thump against her sister's pajama-covered legs and threatened to roll off. With a startled yelp Nabiki reached frantically for the tumbling bottle and sighed in relief when she managed to take hold of it before it shattered on the floor. "You either drank all of this or at the very least a whole lot of it. Either way, you're a drunk," Akane concluded flatly.

"Okay, fine. I do drink a little bit, now and again," she admitted reluctantly. Nabiki favored her sister with a challenging glare. "What makes you think I started off with a full bottle in the first place?"

"You really shouldn't be drinking anything at all."

Nabiki sighed. "I do drink sake now and again, but it's not out of hand, though," she confessed.

"I don't believe you," Akane said as she turned to look at the bag she'd carried in with her. "There's something else that makes me think otherwise," she said in a softer voice as she opened the bag and reached in. Gingerly she took out a towel and sat it in her lap. Akane's face contorted in disgust as she opened the towel to display what it was covering. "This is the real reason I decided to come talk to you, sis."

"Oh my God!" Nabiki said in a panicked whisper, recoiling from her sister with a look of sheer terror on her face. "Where did you get those?" she asked as she pointed a trembling hand at the boy's underwear that lay atop the towel in Akane's lap. "Are those Ranma's?" she asked breathlessly.

"You know better than that, Nabiki," Akane said crossly. "I found these in the hamper this morning when I took a bath. You'd better be glad that *I* was the one who found them instead of Kasumi. If she'd found them first she probably would've had a heart attack on the spot."

"You don't really think those things are mine, do you?" Nabiki asked incredulously, trying her hardest to deflect Akane's suspicions away from her.

Akane favored her older sister with a very serious look. "The reason that I know that these are yours is because they were wrapped in with your sweatpants and sweatshirt in the hamper. I wouldn't have even noticed them at first if it weren't for the smell."

"Smell?" Nabiki repeated with a hint of confusion in her voice.

Akane lifted up the towel so that the suspect underwear was aimed directly beneath Nabiki's nose. Her older sister shied away from the offensive garment and covered her mouth suddenly. "Oh God! I think I'm gonna be sick." She stood up and walked to the other end of the room and eyed her trashcan urgently.

"Take deep breaths, Nabiki," Akane counseled as she wrapped up the towel and placed it back in the bag along with the bottle. "Like I was saying, that smell got my attention. It's the first time that I have ever smelled that on anything that wasn't my own or Kuno's."

Nabiki spun around, her eyes and mouth wide with surprise. "You know what that smell is?" she hissed.

Akane nodded grimly. "Do you really think that Kuno wouldn't have had his way with me after the engagement was announced?"

Nabiki gasped in shock. "Akane. I'd suspected, but ... Ohmigod... I'm so sorry."

"You're never to talk to anyone about this," Akane said seriously. "But to answer your question about the smell, you have to have had sex in order to know what that smell is."

Nabiki looked shamefacedly at her younger sister. "Have you told Kasumi?"

Akane shook her head. "She doesn't even have a clue about this. All she thinks is that you've been going out late and getting drunk. She doesn't know that you're fooling around also."

Nabiki scandalized expression spoke volumes. "Don't say that so plainly! Besides, I'm not fooling around, Akane," she denied weakly.

"Don't insult me by trying to be evasive about this. Who did you have sex with, Nabiki?"

"I don't want to say," she said in a small voice. "Besides, it's none of your business."

"Fair enough," Akane admitted after a moment. "He didn't get you drunk and rape you, did he?"

Nabiki shook her head. "It was consensual. It was also my first time last night."

Akane winced, recalling her own first time and the trauma that followed. "It does get a little better after the first time," she admitted. "A little..."

Nabiki looked up at her sister. "It didn't hurt me much, sis. It just wasn't what I'd expected."

"There's something else that you need to know," Akane said, wanting to divert Nabiki before her older sister tried to pry into her own sexual past. "I was over at Ranma's house yesterday afternoon. Sato was also there."

"Sato?" Nabiki's eyes flew open in alarm. "What does he have to do with anything?" she asked defensively.

"Don't play childish games with me, Nabiki. You know exactly what you did to him after school on Friday."

"Yeah, well..." Nabiki began, but her resolve crumbled in the face of her sister's ire.

"Yeah, well *I* had to apologize for what you did to him!" Akane snapped.

"What?!" Nabiki's expression was one of both shock and anger. "Where do you get off apologizing for me? And what makes you think that there was anything to apologize for in the first place?"

Akane ignored her older sister's bluster. "I stood right there and watched as you destroyed Sato in front of everyone at school. It was probably the single cruelest thing I have ever seen in my life."

Nabiki flinched as Akane again told her the truth of the matter in stark terms. "He wouldn't leave me alone, sis! I got fed up with it and let him have it," she protested weakly. "I had to do something because he was really creeping me out!"

"You let him have it, alright." Akane repeated angrily. "Do you realize how badly you shamed us when you went off on him like that? You were completely out of control and you were probably drunk besides!" She gave her older sister a disappointed frown. "By the way, I didn't apologize for you. I apologized on behalf of our family. Right now I don't care how shamed you are personally, but I won't let your drunken childish rants stain our family name in the process."

Outrage shone clearly on Nabiki's features, but the truth of it hit her so hard that she was speechless. Twice she tried to respond to Akane's words but her retort died in her throat each time. Tears of frustration welled up in her eyes and her lower lip trembled. Nabiki forced herself to get a grip on her emotions which were currently so out of control that a single sympathetic word would've turned her into an absolute sobbing wreck.

A tentative rap at her bedroom door forestalled any further comment on the matter, however. Akane quickly tied the bag closed before standing up and opening the door. "Oh, hello!" she said in startlement as she opened the door all the way. "What brings you here, Dr. Tofu?" Akane asked with genuine surprise.

Nabiki shot up out of her seat and did her best to tidy up her pajamas. She quickly wiped her eyes with the sleeves of her top before offering him a timid wave. "Yeah, what's the occasion, doctor?"

Dr. Tofu stepped inside her room. "Your father let me into the house on the assumption that I was here to see Kasumi." He closed the door behind him and stepped around Akane. "In actuality, I'm here to see you, Nabiki."

"M- Me?!" Nabiki stammered. "What for?"

"Well, to tell you the truth, Kasumi called me yesterday afternoon to voice her concern about your late nights and odd mood swings of late. Since I was in the neighborhood I figured that I would take the opportunity to talk to you myself."

Akane took that as her cue to leave. "Nabiki, you and I will have to finish our conversation some other time. I think I'm going to go downstairs and get something to eat." She bowed to Tofu. "Doctor."

"Take care, Akane," he said as she exited the room, closing the door in her wake. The moment they were alone Tofu gave Nabiki an almost accusatory stare. "Nabiki, I've never heard your sister so upset before in my life. In fact that phone call from yesterday bothered me so much that I was going to come over immediately afterwards, but Kasumi told me to wait." The doctor took a seat on Nabiki's bed next to the closed plastic bag. He placed his hand on it and could easily feel the outline of the sake bottle that lay within. His eyebrows rising in surprise, he looked at Nabiki as if seeing her for the first time. "I think you and I do have a good deal to talk about, young lady," he began as he directed her to sit down in her chair.

Nabiki sighed, knowing that there was absolutely no way she was going to be able to get out of this situation. Surrendering herself to the worst, she fished a small box of tissues out of her top desk drawer and then sat down to face him.



****



Ranma stepped out of the shower and toweled himself off, having decided that a bath would've taken too long. Dressing in the changing room in shorts and a T-shirt, he emerged with a towel draped over his shoulders and headed downstairs to get a drink from the fridge. Popping open the beverage, he flopped down on one of the couches in the den to think about the day's events. 'Sato still isn't talking to anyone, although at least he's not crying anymore.' Ranma grimaced again at the thought of his friend blubbering like that; it was a terrible weakness in his eyes to be that emotional.

"Maybe Ranko can get him to see reason," he murmured to himself. 'She's been up there for ten minutes now, so maybe she's getting somewhere with him.' Ranma frowned. 'I guess there are some things that I just ain't all that good at.'

Ranma took a long pull from his bottle of Pocari Sweat and propped his feet up on the coffee table. He craned his neck to look at the clock on the far end of the wall. 'Damn, it's almost three in the afternoon. Any chance the rest of the day will wind up being calm?' he wondered to himself.

As if in answer to his unspoken question, he heard a knock at the front door. "Shit, what is this? Narita Airport or something?" he grumbled as he yanked the towel from his shoulders and tossed it on the floor. Finding a coaster, he placed his drink down on the coffee table and got to his feet, sprinting for the door. Unlocking and opening it quickly, his eyes widened and he smiled broadly when he realized whom it was that stood before him. "Hey Akane," Ranma said in a soft voice.

His breath caught as he took a good look at her. Akane was quite an eyeful in her painted-on blue jeans that were becoming a standard item of clothing for her on the weekends. Added to that was a form-fitting baby blue t-shirt that showed off every curve of her upper torso. He was so taken by her that he had to remind himself to step aside so that she could come in.

"Hey, Ranma," she replied with a shy smile. Without any preamble, she walked right up to him and hugged him tightly. Feeling almost none of the reluctance that he would have prior to last night's conversation, Ranma returned the embrace gratefully.

He buried his face in her long hair as he held her close, his nose detecting the soft, fragrant smell of shampoo, indicating that Akane was recently out of the shower as well. The delicate scent along with the soft, warm feel of her body in his arms were like salve for a savage wound. Ranma took respite in that and felt some of the weight from the day's events suddenly lift from his shoulders. He looked down at Akane as she loosed a contented sigh and rested her cheek against his chest, and for the first time that day Ranma could honestly say that he felt happy.

"I've been looking forward to that all day," Akane admitted breathlessly.

Ranma laughed softly. "Me too," he replied. Even as the words left his mouth, he was pleasantly surprised to realize that he really had been looking forward to holding her in his arms! "How're you doing?" he asked as he gently caressed her back.

Akane stood away from the embrace and looked up at him with a troubled expression. "Umm, is Sato here?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah, why?" Ranma answered with a puzzled expression. He couldn't figure out why she'd start out a conversation with him by asking about his friend. "I thought you and he already talked yesterday."

"Do you think we could talk outside, Ranma? I need to tell you something but I don't want it to go beyond us."

"Uhh, sure. I guess... " Concern replacing his earlier good humor, Ranma wasn't sure of what to expect as he led her out to the training hall. He closed the door behind them and watched as Akane stepped into the center of the room. Fretting over what she wanted to say, she gnawed her lower lip and cast her gaze around the training hall. Hating seeing her so upset, Ranma stood in front of Akane and placed his hands on her shoulders. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked her softly.

"Well, I need to talk to someone about this, but I don't really want to betray a family confidence," she began unsurely.

Ranma frowned. 'Geez! What *else* could'a happened to her family yesterday? Gos and Nabiki should've been bad enough, but she probably doesn't know about that.' "Is there anything I can do to help?"

Akane smiled and caressed his cheek. "You're so sweet, Ranma. I feel I can tell you almost anything at all."

Ranma blushed at that and fought to conceal his discomfort. "Well..."

Akane steeled herself, now sure in the fact that she could trust him with what she wanted to say. "I found out something about Nabiki last night," she began in a trembling voice. "This is something that could hurt Sato a lot if he ever found out about it. That's why I asked you if he was here."

Ranma's stomach tightened the moment Akane had mentioned her sister's name. 'She knows! Damn! Somehow she knows!' "Found out what, Akane?" A chill crawled up his spine when she answered him.

"She- Oh, she's been fooling around with someone, Ranma! Last night in fact, she-" Akane cut off as she glimpsed Ranma's face. At first she couldn't figure out why he was avoiding her gaze, but as she thought more about it, the truth dawned on her. "You already knew about this?" Ranma nodded tightly in reply to her question, his discomfort over what he knew being quite plain. "How did you find out?" she asked with a hint of anger. "Ranma, if you know something you have to tell me! She's my sister!"

He too was reluctant to betray a confidence given him by his sister and Sato, but his resistance nevertheless crumbled under his girlfriend's relentless stare. Sighing, he held her gaze as he began his explanation. "I found out just a few hours ago, Akane. Gos came by looking for an excuse to give his parents so he wouldn't get in trouble for being away from the house all night long. That's when he told me that he had been with her."

"What!? Are you trying to tell me that my sister had sex with Hikaru Gosunkugi last night?" Akane asked, mortified. "Ranko's boyfriend and your friend? This isn't a good time to make jokes, Ranma. Especially since we're talking about Nabiki doing something that could hurt Sato even worse than he already is." Akane glared at him, hurt plain on her face.

'Oh, shit... She didn't know *who* Nabiki had done it with and I just spilled the beans!' Ranma backpedaled slightly, holding his hands up defensively. "Waitaminute! I wouldn't lie to you like that, Akane. Especially not now!" He pointed towards the house. "You can also ask Ranko and Sato if you don't believe me."

" Oh, Ranma! You told *them* about this?"

"What? No! I didn't tell them anything. Gos did."

"Huh? What do you mean?" she asked, a sickly look forming on her face.

"I was trying to tell you that just now. When Gos came by this morning looking for an excuse, I saw that he had a pair of panties hanging out of his pants pocket."

Akane's sickly look worsened. "Are you telling me that he has a pair of Nabiki's panties?"

Ranma nodded and spoke quickly. "At first I accused 'em of stealin' a pair of Ranko's, but when I threatened him about it he admitted who owned 'em. He also told me everything he did with Nabiki before I could stop him. Ranko and Sato were both standin' right behind me and they heard it all."

Akane buried her face in her hands. "Oh no! I had no idea just how bad this whole situation was!"

"I was shocked too," Ranma admitted. "I didn't even really believe all of it until just now."

"You had some doubts about what he said?"

"Some. I didn't think Nabiki would do somethin' like that, but at the same time I don't think Gos was lyin' about what he said he did with Nabiki. After all, he had to know that Ranko would kick his ass if he ever got caught foolin' around."

"Wait. Why don't you start at the beginning and tell me everything he said to you, word for word." Akane's look became one of determination. "I want to get to the bottom of my sister's behavior. I also don't want to be uninformed where your sister and Sato are concerned. Neither of them is bound to like me at all after what Nabiki did last night."

Ranma nodded reluctantly and rattled off what he knew, hoping that in doing so he could help Akane get the answers she needed.



****



"Well, if you feel like talking to me, I'll be right here," Ranko said softly as she clapped Sato on the shoulder and walked away from him. For a long while he'd been sitting on one of the couches in the back of the attic just staring off into space. The only positive thing her talking had managed to accomplish thus far was to end his weeping, but beyond that she'd made no progress at all.

Not yet willing to admit defeat, she decided to take a pause and give him some more time before she tried again. Ranko could sympathize with him since she was still fairly upset about the whole thing herself. The difference in their situations was that Ranma's words to her in the training hall had kept her from succumbing again to tears. She simply refused to give the scrawny little bastard the satisfaction of knowing that he ever had her bawling like a baby.

Sitting down in front of the beanbag pile, she aimed the remote at the equipment rack and started everything up, then activated the tuner and selected a local channel where a news brief was playing across the screen. For about twenty minutes Ranko had barely paid any attention to the screen until she heard Sato get up and *run* across the attic to sit next to her. "What did she just say?" he asked insistently as he reached over and pressed the volume button on the remote that was still in her hands.

"What do you mean, Sato?" Ranko asked, puzzled.

"Look!" he said as he pointed at the projection wall. Displayed on it was live footage of a traffic jam on an expressway. Cars were blocked in all lanes in both directions and at the center of the stoppage were a car and a cargo truck that were both aflame. The whir of a helicopter engine could be heard along with the voice of the reporter that was covering the accident.

"For those of you just joining us here at the top of the hour, an accident on the Kan-etsu expressway has had traffic snarled ever since noon today. Details are still somewhat sketchy regarding the cause, but we do know that a Mazda RX-8 came over the traffic barrier and collided head-on with a Mitsubishi-Fuso cargo truck traveling in the opposite direction; there were no survivors."

The news anchor's face appeared on the screen again alongside a still image of the smoking car with a caption underneath it that said "Deadly noontime collision on the Kan-etsu expressway." "As we reported just a few moments ago, law enforcement officials have now released the identity of the driver of the Mazda. The woman, a twenty-eight year old named Kumiko Yoshida, was one of several junior level student counselors employed by Tamagawa Contract Staffing who serve all schools located in the Nerima, Suginami and Toshima wards here in Tokyo. She was apparently the only person in the vehicle but, as you can see from its condition, it would be difficult to tell if someone else had been in there with her," the reporter concluded dourly.

The report then returned to a live feed from a helicopter-mounted camera that showed the current situation on the expressway. Ranko and Sato stared wide-eyed at the close-up image of the vehicle, which was mangled so badly that it was barely recognizable as a car. "RANMA!" Ranko yelled loudly, standing up and throwing the remote on the beanbag pile. "RANMA!" she yelled even louder.

The sounds of footsteps pounding on the staircase a moment later announced the arrival of a wide-eyed Ranma with Akane charging in right behind him. Both of them had their arms up in defensive stances as their eyes scanned the room for potential threats. "What is it, sis? God, I heard you from all the way outside in the back yard!"

"Look!" she shouted as she pointed at the wall.

Ranma and Akane walked towards the wall and stared at the scene of the wreckage, neither of them comprehending why Ranko was so agitated. "I don't get it, sis. It's just a news story about a wreck."

"That's Ms. Yoshida's car," Sato said grimly. "She was killed a couple of hours ago in that accident."

"WHAT!?" Ranma and Akane chorused, both of them gaping at the wall incredulously. The anchor began another rehash of the details as the four youths watched in stunned silence as they sank down on the beanbag pile beside Ranko, with Ranma putting an arm around Akane's waist.



****



"Hey!" Yutaka protested as the TV in his hospital room suddenly went dark. "I was watchin' that!"

"You should be thinking of other things, my nephew," a business-suited man commented in a crisp, commanding tone as he set the remote on a nearby tray. Adjusting his position in an uncomfortable reclining chair situated next to the boy's hospital bed, he regarded the youth critically. "Such troubling images would only serve to agitate you further and delay your healing. You need your rest, young man."

"I toldja before! I don't need you babysitting me, uncle," Yutaka said with a sneer, which was made to look even more sinister by a large bandage that covered his broken nose. He glared at his uncle with his good eye. "I can take care of myself!" he declared proudly from his hospital bed.

"Yes, that's quite obvious, Yutaka." The man's voice dripped sarcasm as he eyed the knee-to-ankle cast on his nephew's left leg and the wide swaths of bindings and bandages that were wrapped around the boy's torso to restrict movement of his ribs; all of which had been broken in multiple places by Ranma Saotome. "Nevertheless, you should rest."

"But they were about to go to the replay. I wanted to watch that bitch die again," Yutaka protested in a wheeze. "You realize who was in that wreck, don'tcha?"

His uncle smiled tolerantly. "I was right here with you and saw the same news as you did, Yutaka. Ms. Yoshida's demise is regrettable."

"How can you say that? I don't regret nothin' about that bitch dyin'. She had it out for me from the start and was gonna have me sent to prison. Now that she's kicked I don't have much to worry about." Yutaka gingerly moved his arms so that he could tuck them under his head, then gave his uncle a smug grin.

"Understand this clearly, my nephew. You are still in a great deal of trouble." Yutaka's grin collapsed at that. "Jail will be in your immediate future unless you can acquit yourself with a great deal more contrition than you have shown to date."

"What does that mean? Dammit, uncle, stop talkin' over my head! You know I hate it when you do that."

Sighing loudly, he favored his nephew with another tolerant smile. "This means that no matter how happy you may feel about Ms. Yoshida's demise, you should not gloat about it. Celebrating the death of your prosecutor is only going to make you harder to defend. You have to appear innocent, which means that you cannot be seen as enjoying the ill fortune of others."

Yutaka gave his uncle a sour look. "So I can't dance on her grave?"

"Hardly."

An uncomfortable moment of silence passed between the two men before Yutaka spoke up again. "Do you really think I'll be goin' to jail, uncle?" the youth asked in a troubled voice.

The man paused for a moment before answering. "It will depend on several factors, but I suppose that your chances of conviction have diminished somewhat given today's events."

Yutaka glowered. "Well, that don't help me much."

His uncle stood up from the chair and walked towards the door. "I understand that, Yutaka. However, your trying to rape one of your classmates hasn't helped matters much either. Keep that in mind when you begin to get too smug, my boy."

Yutaka spluttered indignantly as his uncle walked out of the room and closed the door behind himself. The business-suited man regarded a similarly attired but much bigger person who was sitting in a chair across the hall from the door. "Are you ready to go back to the house, sir?" the bigger man asked in a gruff voice.

Yutaka's uncle nodded wordlessly to his driver, sparing a small but polite wave for the police officer that stood guard next to his nephew's door. The bigger man stood up and donned a pair of sunglasses, then followed the other man towards the exit. Once they were beyond earshot of the policeman, the driver spoke up. "You heard?"

"Yes, I saw the event happen on television. Are we fully insulated?"

"Yes sir," the driver said in a hoarse whisper, his head turning about suspiciously despite the fact that they were alone in the corridor. "Apparently all of the transcripts were in her car." He snorted. "The fire and the physical damage should have destroyed everything, so there's nothing left but some ambiguous pieces of evidence in police hands along with the victim and the boys."

The businessman nodded in agreement. "A veritable he-said, she-said stalemate. I want a sweep of Yoshida's house to be sure," Yutaka's uncle commanded in a very low voice.

"That's already been taken care of, sir. There is nothing of value to us at her home. We're quite sure."

"Excellent. Still, it's a shame that one as pretty as she had to die in order for her to learn her lesson." Yutaka's uncle laughed softly. "No one betrays me and lives for long."



****



Nodoka Saotome walked through the back door of their cabin and stepped onto the veranda. Well, "sauntered" would have been a more accurate description of how she moved. To Genma, she looked just as she did when they were married some twenty years ago, albeit with a slightly fuller bust line. He wasn't about to complain about that particular detail, though, since Genma considered himself to be a breast man. Clad only in a bright-green two-piece bikini that left very little to the imagination, her slender and recently tanned body had him short of breath. In fact, her presence was enough for Genma to completely forget about the stunning ocean views that were set out before him.

"Beautiful sunset isn't it, panda-bear?" Nodoka asked as she put one hand on the railing and another around his waist.

At her urging Genma managed to glance out at the horizon. This evening the ship's captain had turned the vessel so that the starboard side faced the setting sun. "Almost as beautiful as you are, dear," he confessed.

"You are the *sweetest* man," Nodoka said with a blush. She sighed wistfully as she gazed out at the horizon. "I'm so glad we had the chance to get away, dear. I'd almost forgotten what life was like without constantly worrying about the children."

"I agree. It's given us a chance to think about other things," Genma said with a grin worthy of the randiest schoolboy. He patted her on the bottom and kissed her quickly, then winked at her once their lips had parted.

"Again?" Nodoka asked in mock incredulity as she put her arms around his neck. "I swear! Who is this man that I'm with and what have you done with my husband?"

Genma roared with laughter. "He's right here, gorgeous," he said as he scooped his wife up in his arms and carried her back to the bed. "Fortunately it won't take long for me to get you undress-" The chime of the cabin's doorbell interrupted him, causing them both to scowl. "I'm gonna go tell whoever it is to take a hike," he said angrily as he tugged a Hawaiian shirt on over his bare chest and checked his shorts to make sure they were buttoned up.

Nodoka stood up from the bed and quickly threw a robe over her bikini-clad form. She just did have the garment tied closed around her when she looked up to see her husband open the door. A nervous ship's purser stood in the doorway bearing two envelopes. "I have two messages for a Mrs. Nodoka Saotome."

"I'm Nodoka Saotome," she said as she walked to the door and took the proffered envelopes. "Did these arrive just now?"

The purser nodded. "Yes ma'am. They arrived via secured satellite email. The first one arrived twenty minutes ago and the second one arrived less than two minutes ago. That one was marked urgent." He put his hands behind his back. "When the urgent notice came, I felt it was too important to trust to a page."

"Thank you," Nodoka said absently as she walked away from the door and examined the contents of the envelopes.

She walked away from the door while Genma scrambled to find his wallet so that he could tip the purser. "Yes, thank you for bringing this up yourself," he added. As soon as the door was closed he turned to face his wife. "Why couldn't the guy have waited another hour?" he grumbled under his breath. His ire disappeared as he saw the look on his wife's face. "Honey, what's wrong?"

Nodoka looked at her husband with a troubled glance. "We have to get home, Genma!"

"What? Why?" Genma asked, alarmed.

She folded one of the letters up and pocketed it but handed the other to her husband. "Read this, dear."

Genma took the letter in hand and studied it closely. It consisted of only three lines. "School counselor investigating Ranma killed a few hours ago. Successor for the investigation is uncertain. Recommend immediate return. MS" He looked at his wife askance. "Is this talking about the woman who was handling that Motoko girl's rape investigation?"

"Yes," Nodoka said distractedly, her mind a swirl of conflicted and troubled thoughts. "I thought this whole thing was over and done with."

"So did I, honey," Genma said as he ran a hand over his bald scalp. He favored his wife with a knowing look. "Don't upset yourself, Nodoka. We had no way of knowing that this was going to happen, so you shouldn't feel guilty about going on this trip."

Nodoka nodded unsurely as she turned to peer out of the back door of the cabin, looking at the vista of the ocean at sunset without really seeing it. "I know, dear. But I agree with what the note says," she replied. "We should get back to the house as quickly as possible. The children have to have heard about this by now and the news is probably going to hit them rather hard."

"You're right," he said as he picked up the phone to page the bridge. "I'll call the captain-"

Nodoka held her hand out. "I don't think that we have time for making a standard ship-to-shore connection, honey." She eyed her husband reluctantly as she strode towards the closet. "I guess you can never really leave it all behind, no matter how hard you try," she muttered softly as she opened up the closet, reached inside and fished out a cell phone from a seldom-used compartment in her suitcase. With a resigned look on her face, Nodoka flipped open the phone and powered it on. "I hope we're close enough to shore for this thing to work."



****



Once he'd heard the whole story directly from his patient, Dr. Tofu looked at Nabiki with a mixture of sympathy and frustration. "I'm not supposed to be so personally involved with a patient, but I can't help but ask: Why didn't you come to either Kasumi or your father about your feelings concerning the attack on the house? A lot of what happened to you afterwards could've been prevented if you had."

Nabiki grabbed another tissue from the nearly empty container and dabbed at her reddened eyes. "I figured everyone was having a hard time dealing with the same thing, so I didn't want to be a burden on daddy or sis."

"You could've talked to me."

"Yeah, but you would've charged me money," Nabiki said with a weak laugh.

Tofu snorted. "Now's not the time for jokes, Nabiki. I'm trying to help you out here." He pointed at the plastic bag Akane had left on her bed, which was now open once again. "You've been drinking and you've been promiscuous. That combination is seldom healthy and is usually fraught with regret and worry." He put a hand on her knee. "That stress, added to what you went through last weekend, will only perpetuate the cycle of drinking and cause it to eventually worsen."

Nabiki nodded. "I understand that, doc. I'm actually kinda glad I can talk to you. You see... I- I think I need to be tested. For -, you know," she said reluctantly.

The young doctor nodded soberly. "At least you're thinking about the consequences."

"Well, we were both virgins," Nabiki said defensively, hoping to take away some of the sting from Dr. Tofu's serious expression.

"Still, you understand that it's a possibility that you could have contracted something from that boy," he pressed.

Shivering, Nabiki nodded in agreement. "Yes. That's why I'd like to know *for sure* if I'm okay."

Dr. Tofu picked up his small bag and fished around inside it. "You're lucky I thought to bring a phlebotomy kit with me." He pulled out all the necessary instruments and ordered her to roll up her sleeve. "You'll feel a slight stick," he said after he'd swabbed and prepped her arm. Nabiki winced as the steel pinched her skin and then slid into her vein. She watched wordlessly as the doctor drew two vials of blood and then pulled out the needle and placed a bandage on her arm.

"You'll have the results in three days," he muttered as he labeled the vials and placed them carefully in his bag.

"Uhh, doc. You think you can keep this to yourself?"

"I won't say anything to your father, Nabiki. I promise."

"What about Kasumi?"

"She doesn't know?" he asked with a hint of surprise.

"About me having sex? Not at all. I would prefer to keep it that way."

"Very well. I will not talk to her about it, but in order to keep your secret safe I will not be able to come by or call to give you the results of the test. This means that you're going to have to come by my office on Wednesday to find out."

"Okay, doc. I'll remember that. *Trust* me."

"You should get a pregnancy test as well, Nabiki. I will make sure your blood is checked for that as part of my tests on the samples you've given me. Keep in mind, however, that it may be a bit early to know for sure. That boy's sperm can live inside you for up to ten days," he explained clinically, intent on underscoring her level of risk. "This means that, technically speaking, you could wind up getting pregnant any time between now and the end of next week." Nabiki blanched at that, despite knowing that she had taken a morning-after pill.

"Get one of the home tests and take it within the next week or so," Dr. Tofu counseled. "They're fairly accurate. If it shows a positive result then come back by my place and I will run another test to confirm it."

Nabiki maintained her silence about the pill she took earlier but the worried look she gave him was still quite genuine. "I don't think I am, but I will do as you say."

"That's wise. I would also think it wise if you were to see a psychiatrist about your nightmares and your drinking. I'm afraid I can't prescribe anything to fix that."

Nabiki looked at him uncomfortably. "I don't think I need to see a shrink."

"Don't forget who the doctor is here, Nabiki. If I say you need to see one, then you really need to see one."

"But-"

"Please don't argue with me Nabiki," Tofu said as harshly as he could. "I promised you that I wouldn't speak to your father about your sexual activity, but don't think for a minute that I will refrain from telling him about your other problems."

"You wouldn't!" Nabiki protested.

"If it turns out that you're not acting in your best interests where your health is concerned, I am bound by my oath as a doctor to tell your father. Don't forget that in some respects you're still a child." Tofu gave her a meaningful look. "You've grown up a lot in the past week, and none of it was in a good way. It's hard for a mind as young as yours to process all of it so quickly, and the results of that can be a bit unpredictable. In your case you turned to drinking to try to cope with sudden changes. Since that's not good for you, I want you to *promise* me that you'll go to the psychiatrist, Nabiki."

"Okay! Okay," she said finally, defeat evident in her tone and her features. "I guess I am crazy if you say so. I'll go to the shrink..."

"I'm not saying you're crazy. Just overwhelmed," Dr. Tofu retorted. He looked at the clock on Nabiki's nightstand and began packing everything in his bag. "You'll be okay. Just take things slowly and don't worry. Your sisters and your father and I will all be there for you."

"Okay," Nabiki said through a cascade of sniffles, her tears returning once more. "I appreciate it, doc."

He stood up from the bed and headed for the hallway. "See you on Wednesday."

"Sure thing, doc," Nabiki said with a weak smile. As soon as the door closed and she was sure she was alone, Nabiki gave in to the flood of emotions that she'd barely held in check the entire time the doctor was in the room. Lying on the bed, she buried her face in her pillow and cried like a lost soul.

She hated herself for being weak, for letting a stranger terrorize her in her own home, for allowing the school dweeb to put his hands all over her, for letting herself really enjoy having sex with that same dweeb, and for possibly getting herself pregnant or worse. All of it washed out of her in a cascade of tears that she didn't even try to stop.

A good twenty minutes passed before her despair started to lessen and her tears dwindled to nothing. Nabiki then slowly began to pull herself together as she considered her situation in a more analytical way. Amidst all of the bad news were the small reassurances that Dr. Tofu had given her. She had her family available to help her through anything. Also, the doctor did give her a faint hope that she might not be pregnant or infected with anything. All of that plus the little chemical present Kodachi had given her this morning had allowed Nabiki to shore up her shattered confidence.

She slowly got up from her bed and grimaced at what she saw. Piled on the floor next to the chair she'd occupied earlier were all the tissues she had used to wipe away tears as she'd confessed her activities to Dr. Tofu for over an hour. Getting her wastebasket, she dumped its contents into the plastic bag containing the sake bottle and the underwear. Into the bag she also collected all of the wadded tissues from the floor and the now-empty tissue container. Tying the bag closed, Nabiki left it on the floor next to the bed, vowing to toss it out as soon as she could without being noticed.

Gathering some clothes in preparation for a bath, Nabiki checked herself in the mirror to see if her face betrayed any hint of her emotional state. Satisfied that she wouldn't draw anyone's attention, particularly her father's, she headed downstairs to the bathroom. 'Gotta get this done quick if I'm gonna be able to put more work into Kuno's new project,' she thought to herself urgently, welcoming any kind of distraction that helped her to keep her mind off of her worries.



****



Sunday Evening



An hour after the news of Ms. Yoshida's demise first broke in the Saotome household, everyone was still engrossed in the tragic scene playing out before them on the projection wall. Ranma and Sato in particular were staring at the display with an odd mixture of curiosity and disbelief. "What'cha thinking?" Akane finally asked as she regarded Ranma with a great deal of concern.

"Well, I'm really shocked, Akane," Ranma understated.

"I think we both are, man," Sato said soberly. "Ms. Yoshida may have been hard on us during the interviews on Friday, but I don't think she deserved that fate." He shuddered as a chill worked its way down his spine.

Ranma nodded his agreement. "I hope she wasn't in any pain when she died."

Ranko wrinkled her nose. "This is getting awfully depressing, guys."

"Yeah, I agree," Ranma said as he stood up. "I'm gonna go downstairs and lock up the training hall before it gets dark."

"Oops!" his sister said with a frown. "Sorry, bro. I forgot about that."

"It's not like you didn't have a lot on your mind," he said with a fond smile.

Akane stood up from the beanbag pile and walked with him to the top of the attic staircase. "You need any help down there?" she asked, rubbing his arm gently.

Ranma looked back to Ranko and Sato who were both chatting to each other in low tones. Neither of them even glanced his direction, for which he was somewhat grateful given how openly affectionate Akane was being with him at the moment. "I wouldn't mind the company," he began with a smirk, but the mirth was short-lived as he redirected his attention to his sister and his best friend. "But I think someone needs to stay up here with them."

Akane's eyes widened. "You really want *me* to stay up here with them?" she whispered intently. "What if they're mad at me?"

Ranma shook his head. "If they were mad at you, Akane, they would'a already said so. I think you're gonna be okay. Right now I'm worried about 'em being more upset over Ms. Yoshida dyin' like that." Akane shivered, prompting Ranma to put his hands on her shoulders in an attempt to comfort her. She looked up at him and covered one of his hands with her own. "Please?" he prompted softly.

"Alright, Ranma. Just don't take too long, okay?" Akane's large brown eyes looked up at him expectantly.

"Don't worry," he replied simply. "This shouldn't take but about five minutes anyway." With that Ranma let go of her and headed downstairs. 'Thank God!' he thought in relief. 'It was gettin' really bad in there.' Closing the door to the attic staircase, he walked downstairs to the first floor and headed in the direction of the kitchen to get a drink. The moment he rounded a corner in the hallway, his eyes caught a glimpse of something dark moving around in the dimly lit space.

Turning on the lights, he blinked as his eyes adjusted to the brightness level. In that instant of transition he barely made out a dark shape running from the kitchen as it headed towards the glass sliding doors at the back of the house.

Ranma angrily gave chase to the dark figure by jumping over the furniture as he scrambled through the den. He swore when the intruder desperately yanked open the glass door and dashed outside. On his way Ranma bent down to grab hold of a bookend from a nearby table, all the while never breaking his stride. As soon as he was outside he let fly with the sturdy brass object. The figure in black grunted as the item collided solidly with its back.

In an effort to avoid being pelted by anything else, the person, now clearly identifiable as a ninja, dove sideways into the opened doors of the training hall. Its attempt to close the doors of the hall was for naught, though as Ranma caught hold of them before they could be completely closed. Gritting his teeth, he forced the doors back open and stomped inside with the ninja backpedaling slightly.

"Who are you and what the HELL were you doing in my house?" Ranma thundered as he directed a furious glare at the intruder.

The ninja didn't speak but instead held a guarded pose in the center of the training hall. Ranma advanced on the intruder angrily. The wariness in his presence would've normally given anyone a considerable amount of pause, but because he couldn't see the ninja's face, he had absolutely no idea whether or not the guy was even worried about what Ranma could do to him.

"If you don't tell me what the fuck you're doing here I'm just going to have to beat the information out of you," Ranma said flatly as he balled his hands into fists and cracked his knuckles ominously.

"You'll have to catch me first," the veiled figure's muffled voice taunted. With that a loud *snap* echoed in the confines of the training hall followed by a puff of thick white smoke that made Ranma's eyes water. Despite having his vision temporarily obscured, however, he could still clearly feel and hear his foe move around him.

"Not fast enough, jackass!" Ranma snarled as he grabbed one of the ninja's arms. He smiled in satisfaction as he heard his foe elicit a gasp of surprise. Holding on for all he was worth, Ranma got a firm grip on the intruder's uniform with his other hand and plowed the guy face-first into a nearby wall with his full weight bearing down on the ninja's back.

Regardless of the fact that Ranma clearly heard a loud groan of pain, the ninja was barely fazed! Having difficulty maintaining his grip on the ninja's forearm, Ranma yelled in pain as the sharp point of a shuriken suddenly found itself embedded in the back of the same hand that Yutaka had injured two nights ago.

Wincing, Ranma yanked out the wickedly sharp throwing star and tossed it at the roof where it embedded itself in a rafter. Nursing the re-injured hand, he watched as his foe backed away from him in an effort to get to the door. Pre-empting another escape attempt, Ranma got to the doors first and slammed them shut. Working the lock, he made it so that someone would have to use a key outside or fumble with the lock inside to get the doors opened again. The ninja growled angrily at seeing that it would have to fight its way out.

"You have to be one of those pet ninjas from Kuno's house," Ranma taunted. "That asshole's the only one I know of who would send someone else to do his dirty work." He spat on the floor in the direction of the ninja. "I guess I understand, though. After all, I've already proven that I can beat that wimp's ass whenever I feel like it."

"Watch your tongue child, lest I cut it out," the ninja warned ominously. It produced a throwing knife from its belt to underscore the threat. "Don't pretend to be something you're not. You'll only get yourself hurt."

Ranma snorted at that. "Tough talk from someone too frightened to show his face." He gave his opponent the once-over. "Who are you anyway? You're too tall to be that fat bastard, Sasuke."

"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL HIM?" the ninja thundered angrily. It launched itself at Ranma in a blind fury, throwing knife at the ready. Ranma steadied himself and charged at his foe with as much speed as he could muster. Not expecting to close the distance so quickly, the ninja swerved suddenly to avoid the punch that Ranma threw its way. "Aggh!" the intruder shouted an instant later as Ranma's follow-up spin kick to the back of its head caught it by surprise and knocked it to the ground. The ninja's throwing knife clattered uselessly on the training hall floor and Ranma ensured that it would remain useless by kicking it far out of reach.

He then attempted to get the upper hand again by pinning the ninja to the ground, but unfortunately he didn't get the full press of his weight down on it in time and his foe managed to wriggle free and bound to the other end of the training hall. 'Shit, I almost had the bastard!' Ranma cursed, angry at himself for being slow and at his injured hand for causing his slowness.

The two studied each other carefully from the far ends of the training hall. "How did you learn of my late master's name?" the ninja demanded.

Ranma was taken aback by the question. "I- uhh, I just know, is all," he spat, realizing that he had no way to answer the ninja. "Why don't you tell me why you broke into my house like a worthless thief?"

"I am *not* a thief, you simpleton!" the intruder protested. With that it launched itself at Ranma again and this time forewent any weaponry in favor of its fists. The two danced a very deadly tango in the middle of the training hall, each of them throwing lightning-fast punches and kicks that would've easily immobilized any other opponent.

In any other circumstance, Ranma knew that he would've been able to hold his own with little effort. However his injuries from his fights with Yutaka and the Kendo squad over the past eight days had compromised his speed, which kept him from landing any sort of effective punch or strike. Still, he was grateful that he had just enough mobility to block all of his opponent's strikes.

With a frustrated growl the ninja struck out full-bore with a punch that was meant to take Ranma's head off. Instead of being there to receive the punch, however, Ranma ducked under the ninja's arm and countered with a two-fisted blow to the sternum. Screaming in pain, the ninja backpedaled three steps and went down on all fours, clutching its chest. Ranma, likewise, was down on his knees cradling his left hand, which was now throbbing so badly he couldn't even flex his fingers.

With effort, the ninja stood up and turned around to face Ranma. To him it appeared that his foe was having a hard time moving its arms and legs. Furthermore, its breathing was labored and its stance seemed unsure. "The things I've heard about you seem to have been completely wrong," the ninja concluded in an agonized voice. "You- you are far more experienced and far more *dangerous* than your reputation had led me to believe."

"You've only gotten a taste so far," Ranma spat. "If you don't tell me why in the hell you were in my home to begin with, I'll have to give you some more." It took all of his effort to ignore the pain as he slowly curled his left hand into a fist. Bringing himself into a ready stance, he faced off against the ninja again.

"I'm here to find out how you know what it is that you know."

"Huh?" Ranma's confusion showed clearly on his face. "What the hell are you talking about?"

The ninja reached up and tugged at the black cloth that covered its face. "I'm talking about me! I want to know how you came to know about me!" Kodachi shouted as she dropped the black strip of cloth to the floor.

Ranma couldn't believe his eyes. "Kodachi Kuno? What the hell?" He watched her warily for signs of paralysis-inducing black roses or deadly rhythmic gymnastics equipment.

"HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT NAME?" she shouted angrily. "I've searched through every part of my past and I do not recall ever meeting you. Everyone I have questioned, to the point of *pain*, swears that they have never talked to you before in their lives. As far you're concerned, I'm supposed to be dead!" Kodachi stomped closer to him. "Now tell me! How did you know that I - WAS - STILL - ALIVE?" she demanded, biting off the last words angrily.

Ranma's mind was frozen in panic. Despite his efforts, all of his cautious footwork in this existence had suddenly been compromised and he didn't even know how or when it had happened! He tried desperately to find a way out of this situation, but nothing came to mind because he was trying to answer a question to which he had absolutely no answer. 'What the hell has happened to her anyway? She's *nothing* like her other self,' he thought incredulously. "Dead?" he said, forcing the words out in an effort to keep her from getting some sort of upper hand. "What do you mean?"

"Yes, dead, dammit!" Kodachi snarled and drew her namesake sword from its saya and pointed it at him challengingly. "After Sasuke-sensei's untimely death over five years ago it fell to me to become the master ninja of the Kuno household. In order to fulfill that obligation I had to die so that I could fade into the shadows and be unencumbered by the familial responsibilities that my brother endures on a daily basis."

"Responsibility? Your brother's an idiot," Ranma snapped, although inwardly he was quite grateful for the change in topic. "I'm surprised he can wipe his own ass, much less handle 'family responsibility.' "

"Careful with your tongue, Saotome. My brother would not take kindly to such remarks if he were here."

"It's a good thing he's not here," he shot back nastily. The cold stare that Ranma leveled at Kodachi bothered her so that it caused her to move back from him a step. "Akane and I have had a long talk, and while I don't know everything about their 'relationship,' I do know that he abused her." His gaze grew even colder. "When I get my hands on him again I will pay him back for every moment of pain she's ever felt."

"Whatever personal vendetta you have against my brother is none of my concern," Kodachi retorted dismissively. Firming her resolve, she pressed her own agenda. "I want to know how you found out about me and I also want a list of everyone to whom you have mentioned my name."

Ranma shook his head, buying more time while he tried to put together a suitable answer. 'Damn, she's really hung up on me knowin' about her.' Finally he decided to take a chance on telling her the truth. Well, some of the truth, anyway. "I won't give away any of my secrets about how I know of you, Kodachi." That earned an irritated hiss from her, but he ignored her and continued. "But on my honor as a martial artist, I swear to you that the only persons I mentioned you to was Ms. Yoshida, my friend Sato and your brother. If it makes you happy, I never even used your name. And now that Ms. Yoshida's dead, I don't think she'll be spreading word about you to anyone."

The short sword dropped from Kodachi's hand with a loud *thunk* and for an instant her eyes reflected a look of total shock. "She's been killed?" She schooled her face to stillness and looked Ranma over as if reevaluating him. "By your hands?"

"Hell no! She was killed just a couple of hours ago in a traffic accident. It even made the news." Deciding that it was safe enough to take another chance, Ranma dropped his arms to his sides and relaxed his hands.

"I didn't know her, but my brother had made mention of her." Kodachi walked slowly towards him, eyeing him warily now. "You said on your honor that you did not mention me to anyone other than Sato and her. Given that I cannot currently beat you in combat, I will have to accept that." She grit her teeth in frustration even as she admitted it. "Still, I must ask one thing of you."

"What is it?" Ranma asked suspiciously.

"I want you to swear on your honor that you will not mention my name to anyone, except to affirm that I am dead. Since I cannot tame you, I want to bind you to your word. If you are the honorable martial artist you seem to be, your word should be sovereign," Kodachi declared challengingly, her dark eyes now burning coals stoked by the fires of grim determination.

It was all Ranma could do to not gape at her like an idiot. 'Just like that?' he asked himself incredulously. 'What kind of game is she running here?' "I don't know-"

"If it will ease your suspicious mind, I will swear on my honor as the Head Ninja of Clan Kuno to acknowledge your word as true and to foreswear violence against you, your family, and your friend for as long as our pact holds."

Still stunned, Ranma nevertheless nodded his agreement. "On my honor."

"On my honor" Kodachi affirmed. She nodded and at that she picked up her sword and sheathed it in its saya. "I will not press you further on the actual source of your information." Inwardly Ranma sighed relief, but on the outside he maintained a determined and ready stance. "But," she continued. "I want to make sure that your sources aren't linked to anyone within my circle of confidence, nor will your sources, or your little friend Sato make mention of me to anyone else."

Ranma nodded. "I'm pretty sure I haven't met or even bumped into anyone you know except for your brother. My 'source' will not talk about you, I can promise you that much."

Kodachi bent down and picked up her mask. Donning it, she walked swiftly towards the door. "Our pact is affirmed, Ranma Saotome," she declared as she unlocked the door and disappeared into the darkness.



****



"I can't believe what just happened in there," Ranma muttered a few minutes later as he threw the bolt on the training hall's lock and headed towards the house. 'For a moment there I thought the wish was over because of the way she kept pushin' me about how I knew her damned name.' Breathing a sigh of relief at having successfully dodged the issue, he concentrated on Kodachi herself as he wandered back towards the house. 'She's so different, it's scary.'

In his mind he expected her to be the same St. Hebereke School for Girls nutjob with the sadistic mentality as he'd always remembered. Instead he'd found himself looking at a driven, determined fighter with respectable skill and an obviously honorable bearing. In short she was an exact opposite of her former self. 'How'd this happen? What did or didn't happen in my life that changed her so much?'

He cut short his musings as he entered the house and made a beeline for the kitchen. Espying the clock, he gasped in alarm. "Thirty minutes? Geez, I'm surprised it took that long."

"So was I," Akane said with a smile as she appeared behind him.

"Yikes!" he fairly shouted as he jumped. He quickly turned around and regarded her with wide, wary eyes.

"Aww, I didn't mean to startle you, Ranma," Akane said with a giggle. "What kept you so long in the training hall?"

Ranma juggled a dozen different responses in his mind. "I- uhh, well I didn't think it would take as long as it did, so I started doin' some workouts of my own. I swear, I thought I was only in there for like five minutes."

Akane stepped closer to him and could see damp spots of sweat that were just starting to fade from Ranma's T-shirt. "Wow, it does look like you had a pretty intense workout." She reached out and took his left hand in hers, but jumped in surprise when he hissed in pain. "Oh, Ranma! I'm sorry. Did you hurt yourself?" she asked as she turned his hand over and saw the bloody wound from where Kodachi's shuriken had found its mark.

"No," he lied. "That's the hand that Yutaka stomped on while we were fightin' on Thursday. It just broke open when I was doin' reps in the training hall." He looked down at his bloody hand as Akane held on to it and grimaced. It was a mess no thanks to that ninja's little escape attempt.

"Oh," Akane said softly as she let it go. She followed him into the kitchen as he turned on the hot and cold water and put his injured hand under the faucet to wash it clean. He winced as the water ran over it, but despite the pain he cleaned the wound until all of the blood was gone. "I hope it feels a little better soon," Akane commented as she handed him a napkin taken from the dining room.

"Thanks," Ranma muttered as he pressed the napkin against the wound. He pulled it back a moment later and was satisfied when it didn't show any traces of fresh blood. Fumbling around in the kitchen, he found a first-aid kit sitting atop the refrigerator and applied a bandage to the cut. As he was throwing away the bandage wrapper and used napkin, Akane favored him with a captivating smile and held up a piece of paper for his inspection. "What's this?" he asked as he returned her smile with one of his own.

"Dinner order from Sato and Ranko. While you were outside I got the chance to talk to them. You were right; neither of them blame me for what Nabiki did." Akane's smile slipped somewhat. "I am getting tired of having to apologize for her, though."

Ranma put his good hand on her shoulder. "You don't need to be doin' that, Akane. She's a big girl and should be doin' that on her own."

Akane shrugged. "Nabiki's not as big a girl as I thought she was, Ranma. I only hope Dr. Tofu got through to her today. I felt like I wasn't getting anywhere with her regardless of how hard I'd tried."

"I think he will. He helped me get Ranko through her problems with Gos today, so maybe Nabiki will be doin' better by tomorrow," Ranma concluded optimistically. "Anyway, what're we eating tonight?"

"Pizza!" Akane announced with gusto. "We put together an order for a couple of large ones, but Ranko wanted me to check with you before anyone called it in."

Ranma nodded his thanks for his sister's wisdom. He picked out a medium pizza with his preferred toppings and then called in the order from one of the flyers stashed in the kitchen. "They say they'll be here in about twenty minutes," he said as he hung up the phone and walked with her to the living room.

"So, what do you want to do until the food gets here?" Akane asked playfully as she slipped her arm around his waist and rested her head against his right shoulder.

Ranma laughed nervously as he led her to the couch. "Well..." he began as he sat down on the couch. He watched, spellbound as Akane made a show of sitting down in his lap. Giving him a heavy-lidded look, she caressed his face and then tickled the back of his neck as she bent forward and kissed him softly on the lips. They kissed in that manner for just a few moments before Akane introduced something new to the equation. Ranma, who had really been getting into things, nearly flinched out of the kiss when he felt the tip of her tongue tease his upper lip, but his hesitation was only momentary.

'Oh, damn! I've never done anything like *this* before,' Ranma admitted to himself helplessly. 'I hope I'm doing it right.' He lost track of his thoughts however when Akane deepened the kiss and held him tightly. He returned the favor by wrapping his arms around her petite waist and, driven by all the stress and excitement of the day, he let go of his self-restraint. Like a madman possessed, Ranma kissed her with all the fervor he could muster.

Akane gladly accepted his more passionate response, and as such their simple affection quickly transformed itself into raw lust. Kissing now with abandon, their lips pressed together roughly and their tongues danced in a torrid display of ardor. In fact, neither of them realized just how far things had gone or how long they had been at it until they heard a knock at the front door.

Snapping out of their trance with a jolt, their lips separated and they pulled back from each other enough to see the other's face. Their eyes wide and their mouths gaping open in shock, the two could only stare at each other in surprise. For an instant the only noise in the room was the sound of the two of them panting loudly.

"Akane, I- " Ranma said in a ragged whisper, his breathing coming in quick gasps. "Oh, geez! I'm sorry! I don't know what-"

Akane put a finger against his lips until she could find her voice. "I didn't expect this to happen, but whatever you do, please don't apologize," she said in a whisper. She stared at him with an almost wild look in her eyes and he wondered for a moment if she was about to pick up where she left off. Ranma actually felt a flicker of disappointment when she stood up. "You did nothing wrong, Ranma-kun," she said in a deeper-than-usual voice. "Don't ever apologize to me for something like what we just did unless you hear me complain first. It's bad manners," she added with a wink.

Ranma's heart beat like a jackhammer on speed. "So, you're not pissed?" he asked with more than a little surprise. 'What, no punch from hell?' he asked himself.

"Mad? No, I'm not mad at you at all." She stood there for a moment catching her breath and forcing herself to calm down.

Another knock at the door took Ranma's attention away from Akane's flushed face. Quickly he stood up beside her, not realizing that he was tenting his shorts as a result.

"Damn!" Akane mouthed as she took note of his condition, almost gasping when she espied his shorts-covered erection. 'I guess he REALLY REALLY liked what we were doing.' She felt a powerful twinge from deep inside herself that let her know that he wasn't the only one who felt that way.

Ranma did just get to the door and had it unlocked when he realized he was broadcasting. He turned to look over his shoulder at Akane and was about to ask her to get the pizza instead when he saw that she was sporting a pair of erections through the baby-blue fabric of her T-shirt. Since she had him beaten two-to-one, as he saw it anyway, he bowed to the honorable thing and faced the pizza deliveryman on his own.

An awkward moment passed as Ranma opened the door and quickly accepted the pizzas, fished out money for the bill and the tip, and then closed the door behind the pizza guy. "Okay, *that* was embarrassing."

"That has got to be the quickest payoff for a delivery that I've ever seen," Akane said as she laughed behind her hand. "I guess we'd better get upstairs."

"You think we're gonna give ourselves away?" Ranma chanced asking as he looked pointedly at her chest.

Akane looked down at herself and then at Ranma. "Think about something else. That'll help," she said for her own benefit as well as his.

Ranma nodded at that and turned his attention back to the unexpected visit by Kodachi almost an hour ago. In less than a minute's time his amorous flames were thoroughly doused. He looked at Akane and saw that she was also cured of her telltale signs and wondered what she thought of that had killed her arousal so quickly. "If you could get a six pack of drinks out of the fridge for me, I'd appreciate it," he said as he walked towards the staircase with the two pizza boxes stacked on his good hand.

"Here we go," she said as she hoisted the cans up for Ranma's inspection. He nodded to her and held open the door to the attic. "Thank you," Akane said as she bounded up the stairs. Ranma followed close behind her, but averted his eyes when he caught himself staring at her ass. 'No need getting that started up again. My sister would never let me hear the end of it.'

"It's here!" Ranko cheered as she witnessed her brother cresting the steps with pizza boxes in hand. "I was beginning to think you were gonna let us starve up here, bro," she said while glaring at him suspiciously. Ranko took the boxes from her brother's hand and placed them down on the coffee table, a satisfied sigh coming from her as she flipped up the lids on each of the boxes and bathed her face in the steam that emanated from them. Eager to get at the food, all four dove for the pizza and drinks with hungry looks in their eyes.

Minutes later both of the boxes were empty and all four of the youths were lounging around on the floor in front of the beanbag pile. "I think I ate too much," Akane groaned as she held a hand to her belly. She looked over to her right and saw that Ranma wasn't having any such problems. He smiled at her as he patted his own belly with satisfaction.

"Ugh," Ranko added from her left, her hand also on her belly. "Same here. It was sooo good, though."

Sato stood up a bit unevenly and headed to the DVD rack. "I still have enough time to watch a movie before I have to go home," he announced as he reached for a few titles. After everyone decided on what to watch, Sato sat down and handed the remote to Ranko.

"Thanks, Sato," Ranko said absently as she turned the lights off and hit play. As the feature played on the wall she paid less attention to that than she did to her brother and Akane. They were lying together on the floor just as they had been the night before, but this time she saw something more caring and affectionate in how they treated each other.

Ranma's arm was curled around Akane's waist as her head rested against his chest. Akane's jeans' covered left leg was draped over her brother's bare legs in an unprecedented show of *brazen* intimacy from the two. From what she could see of Ranma's face, he looked absolutely blissful. When she thought Ranko wasn't looking, Akane moved her head up and snuck a kiss from Ranma. The romantic image stabbed mercilessly at her heart and for a moment Ranko felt an intense flash of jealousy hit her between the eyes. It soon became more than she could take and Ranko had to turn her head to avoid looking at them any further. 'Dammit,' she cursed herself mentally. 'I promised myself I wasn't gonna cry again.' She closed her eyes and tried to force herself to remain calm.

Meanwhile Sato was also having trouble reconciling his troubled emotions in light of the very sweet and loving act his best friend and Akane were currently engaged in. 'God, how does he do it?' he despaired. 'Ranma makes it look so damned easy.' He glanced quickly at Akane, who was currently presenting her backside view in Sato's direction. Looking at Akane's denim-clad rump reminded him of Nabiki's shapely body and how well she had looked to him the day of the dojo repair party when she wore those dangerous short-shorts and the clingy tank top.

Revisiting those memories, however, only served to intensify the sense of loss he'd been feeling ever since Hikaru admitted to screwing Nabiki last night on the quad. 'I really thought I had a good chance with Nabiki. After the way she took care of my bloody nose when I tripped and fell, and the way she'd been holding on to me when I carried her away from that attacker, I could'a *sworn* that she wanted me.' He felt like crying again, but he told himself that he had run out of tears. The only things he allowed himself to feel now were bitterness over his failure with Nabiki, anger at Hikaru for betraying their friendship, and rank jealousy over Ranma's current situation with Akane. 'No, I can't feel like that about Ranma. If it weren't for Ranma and Ranko, I don't think I'd have any friends at all.'

He was tempted to look past Ranko at Ranma and Akane again and immediately berated himself for it. 'I can't keep doing that, either,' Sato told himself sadly as he redirected his attention to the projection wall. 'It'll only remind me of what I don't have.' He crossed his arms and sighed forlornly. 'What I'm not allowed to have, I mean.'



****



A loud noise from the receiver's speakers roused Ranma from his slumber. He looked up at the projection wall and saw that the movie had ended and in its place was the DVD's intro menu. He moved his right arm to prop himself up but stopped when he felt it brush against something coarse. Looking down, he saw that a blanket had been draped over him while he was sleeping. Turning to his left he saw that his sister and Sato were both gone. 'He musta left while I was asleep,' Ranma thought as he moved his head and scanned his room. 'I wonder where Ranko is.'

He jumped a moment later when he felt something rub against his chest. Pulling the blanket down slightly, he espied Akane lying next to him on the attic floor, fast asleep with her head resting in the crook of his arm and a smile gracing her lips. Ranma gazed at her as she slept and marveled at how much things had changed between them in the past few days.

Compared to his memories of the 'past', they were getting along like ... well, like a couple should get along. With this realization came an unexpected feeling of protectiveness both for Akane and for what he now seemed to have gained with her. Yet at the same time those contrasting images of past and present brought forth a lingering twinge of guilt that permeated his thoughts.

'Akane says that she doesn't blame me for what happened between her and Kuno, but I still know better.' He tightened his embrace of her slightly, which was difficult with her current position and had to remind himself that she didn't want him to blame himself, although deep inside he wasn't sure that he could keep that promise to her.

Akane seemed to read his troubled thoughts as she slept. She nestled herself closer to him and slid her hand down his belly to rest at his hip. The feeling of protectiveness for her grew within him again, but along with it was an impression of something else that he couldn't quite put a name on. The sensation was so new to him, so profound and intense that it almost overwhelmed him. It was unlike anything he'd ever felt about Akane before, and any word he tried to come up with to describe it simply wasn't adequate.

Akane sighed in her sleep, which brought him back to the here and now. Her hand moved beneath his T-shirt to gently slide from his hip back up to the pectoral muscles of his chest, and that served as a stark reminder of the potential physical opportunities currently available to him. Daring to even imagine it made Ranma's heart race.

Desperate for a distraction, he focused his attention on his left arm, which was now numb from being trapped in one position for so long. He thought about moving it around to regain circulation but he was loath to awaken her. Despite his discomfort and his extreme anxiety, Ranma couldn't deny that he was enjoying the moment and didn't want to spoil it. 'She's so pretty,' he thought as he traced the outline of her jaw and her cheekbones with a fingertip. His tender ministrations were rewarded with a pleased sigh and another movement of her hand across his chest.

He ground his teeth as the simple movement of her hand against his bare skin caused him to nearly lose control. 'I can't be takin' advantage of her like that,' he told himself as he moved his hand away from her face. 'If I do then I'm no better than that bastard, Kuno.' Despite that, however, Ranma had to admit to himself that avoiding temptation with Akane was extremely difficult right now. 'This ain't good. I gotta get my mind out of the gutter.'

"What time is it?" he mumbled. Ranma cast his gaze about in a vain attempt to find a clock or something else that would've given him the time. Neither he nor Akane were wearing watches, but he assumed it was pretty late since the movie was over and his sister wasn't up there with them. His movement awoke Akane, who sat up with him and yawned loudly.

"Hi," she said with a sleepy smile. She planted a quick kiss on his cheek and then slipped her arm out from underneath his T-shirt. "Did we miss the end of the movie?" she asked as she hugged him closely.

Ranma nodded. "Yeah we did." He stretched his arms and groaned loudly, then wrapped an arm around her waist. "I'm not sure when we fell asleep, but it seems pretty late."

"It's got to be at least ten o'clock," Akane surmised as she calmly reached into one of the front pockets of her jeans and pulled out her watch. "Oh SHIT!"

"What is it?" Ranma asked in alarm.

"It's almost six in the morning!"



****



Monday Morning



Sato was standing impatiently at the front gate to the campus when Ranma and Ranko finally arrived at the school. Ranma, dressed in what had become his standard Chinese outfit, seemed to Sato to be even more confident and happy than usual. Ranko on the other hand didn't look anywhere near as cheerful as her brother. Still, she looked particularly fetching to Sato in the standard green and white girl's uniform of Furinkan High. Both of them waved to him as they realized who it was that was waiting for them.

Inwardly Sato was surprised that they weren't mad at him for just leaving like he did the night before. Halfway through the movie he'd gotten up so that he could get something to drink from the kitchen. Unfortunately, standing up had only afforded him a perfect view of Ranma and Akane as they slept together on the floor, and that was more than Sato could take.

The blissful smiles on their faces as they lain in each other's arms had pushed him past his tolerance level. Without saying a word to Ranko, he just went downstairs and walked right out the front door to rid himself of that loving and romantic spectacle. Sato was grateful that no one had taken notice of him as he'd wept the whole way back to his home.

As he had readied himself for bed that night, Sato had once again been tempted to blame Ranma for all of his woes. It was as if they were taunting him by lying together like that! They had to have known how much it hurt him to see them so very much in love while he was sitting alone and heartbroken! At that point a more rational part of Sato's mind took control before he completely lost it. Almost harshly, he reminded himself that he couldn't blame his best friend for his emotional problems, regardless of how tempting it was. Inside he knew that Hikaru and Nabiki were mostly to blame for what had happened and in a sense, so was he. 'If I'd never gotten close to her to begin with, none of this would've happened.'

Sato had awakened this morning with a cloud of depression hanging over him like a gloomy autumn fog and as he had glanced out of his bedroom window he cursed the rising sun for looking so damned cheerful. He then went through all of the motions of preparing himself for school with an almost mechanical emotionlessness. Given his past experience with these sorts of things, Sato expected to be numb throughout the day today. That was how things had been going until he had gotten to school and first noticed the crowd.

The surreal display he'd happened upon at that moment snapped him out of his funk and had him darting back to the street, anxious to meet up with Ranma and Ranko when they arrived. He waved them down as they approached the gates and ushered them over urgently.

"Hey Sato, what's up?" Ranma asked brightly.

"They've delayed the opening of the school for an hour," Sato replied.

"Huh. I wonder why."

"Probably because of Ms. Yoshida, bro," Ranko guessed.

"Yeah," Sato affirmed. "The faculty is having a meeting with the principal about what happened to her, but that's not why I called you over here."

"What else is going on, Sato?" Ranko asked, peering around him.

"The 'queen of the school' is taking advantage of the delayed opening by holding court out on the quad," Sato announced sourly. He led them through the gate and pointed at a rather large group of students out in the distance. "She's been at it for the past fifteen minutes."

"What're you taking about?" Ranma asked while Ranko blinked in surprise at the size of the group. Not waiting for an answer, the three quickly found themselves wandering in the general direction of the crowd.

"What happened to cause such a commotion?" Ranko asked as they drew closer.

"It's Kinuko," Sato said with a shake of his head. "It's like she's finally gone off the deep end."

"What?!" the Saotome siblings chorused. 'She'd *better* not be sayin' anything about that shit she pulled on Friday,' Ranma thought as he broke into a run, making it to the crowd in short order. He peered around the shoulders of several bystanders but couldn't see to the center. Not satisfied with that, he began elbowing his way through the throng with Sato and Ranko right behind him. As he emerged from the mass of students he stopped short, grunting as Ranko collided with him.

"Could you move over, Ranma?" Ranko asked as she attempted to get by him. She stepped forward and looked at her brother curiously, taking note of the fact that his face was almost a sickly white. "What's going on?" she asked him softly.

Ranma looked over at his sister and put an arm around her shoulders. "I dunno, sis. That idiot's just waving her hand around and pointing at it. That weird smile of hers is really startin' to creep me out, too."

Ranko turned to look at the ditz and saw that Kinuko was pointing at one of her fingers while wearing an absolutely beatific smile on her face. "It looks like she's pointing at a ring on her hand."

"What's that got to do with anything?"

"It may be an engagement ring," Sato clarified. "If she's following American tradition, then it's on the correct finger and besides, I don't know of any other reason why she'd be acting *this* weird."

"Holy shit! I think he's right, bro." Ranko regarded the other girl warily as she continued to point at her hand and smile. Fortunately Kinuko hadn't noticed any of them yet.

" If she thinks she's marrying me she's got another thing comin'," Ranma said angrily.

"Has she said anything about the ring?"

Sato shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing at all about that, Ranko. The only thing she's been blabbing about is how her life's changed and how everyone was going to be in for a big surprise."

"Stupid bitch has probably been declared a biohazard," Ranko said venomously. She put her arm around her brother's waist protectively and waited for the airhead do something stupid or worse, say anything about what happened in their home on Friday night.

Kinuko finally noticed them and waved majestically in their direction. "You come to see what you've walked away from, loser?" She gave her head a toss, causing the long blonde hair of her wig to move in a style worthy of a Hollywood starlet. There was some muted laughter from nearby students that caused Kinuko to beam triumphantly.

"Loser?" Sato repeated. "What the hell is her problem?"

"Hey, Ranma. You think she went insane after you told her to get lost at the end of last week?" Ranko muttered, giving her brother a knowing look.

"Kinuko, if you think what happened this weekend made *me* a loser, then I'd like to hear what your idea of a 'winner' is," Ranma taunted her in a low voice.

Sato and Ranko looked at Ranma in shock. So did Kinuko. Recovering her balance quickly, she glared at him from her position at the center of the crowd but didn't say anything in response. He looked at her with a smug grin, his posture almost daring her to respond.

Ranko then broke into a fit of body-shaking laughter, which only intensified at the deep scarlet blush that seemed to cover Kinuko from feet to forehead. Sato meanwhile looked at Ranko as if she was every bit as mad as Kinuko.

"Ah, there you are, milady," came a cultured voice from the back of the group. The crowd grew hushed at the unexpected interruption and parted to let the newcomer step inside.

"Hi, Kuno-chan," Kinuko said shyly, her anger and her embarrassment over Ranma's quip all but forgotten

A chorus of whispered "Kuno-chan?" echoed through the crowd. "Where does she get off calling Upperclassman Kuno that?" a girl standing near Ranma muttered angrily.

"Oh yeah, Kinuko's definitely nuts," Sato concluded.

"Absolutely," Ranko concurred.

"Has to be," Ranma absently, no longer caring about what that nutbar said. The focus of his attention had shifted to Kuno the moment he'd stepped out from the crowd, and Ranma's blue eyes reflected the rage he felt.

"I apologize for not meeting you at the gate this morning, Kinuko-sama," Kuno said with a bow. "I had to talk to the faculty about some urgent matters." The Blue Thunder of Furinkan High placed his hand on Kinuko's shoulder and stood behind her proudly. He lifted his eyes to scan the crowd and seemed satisfied by the size of it. His confident smile grew as he found Ranma standing among the multitude of students. Kuno raised his voice so that all the students could hear him. "Given certain ongoing investigations, I cannot yet discuss the particulars concerning the events of two weeks ago. However, I have decided that, regardless of their findings, I am going to let the result stand."

Another gale of gasps and whispers erupted from the stunned crowd. Kuno nodded and held his hand up for silence. "Yes, it is true that my engagement to Akane Tendo is forever terminated." He looked down at Kinuko who had been gazing up at him expectantly from the first moment that he'd addressed the students. "I expected to suffer greatly for the loss of someone who had been so close to me for so long. However a fortuitous event occurred when Kinuko-sama walked into my life. Thanks to the compassion that this woman has shown me along with her caring words of comfort, I was able to weather the storm of emotional loss much more easily and find my balance once again." Kinuko showed a pleased smile as she toyed nervously with the large diamond ring on the third finger of her left hand.

Ranma rolled his eyes and was considering throwing something heavy at the jackass to shut him up when he felt a hand press against his back. Looking over his shoulder he saw Akane standing behind him. "Long time no see," he said in a whisper as he quickly ushered her forward.

"Yeah," Akane replied with a wink and a smile. "It's been a whole two hours," she added under her breath as she moved to stand on the other side of him from Ranko. "Looks like Ole' Blowhard is pontificating again," Akane quipped as she noted Kuno's presence in the center of the crowd. "What's he doing with the bitch?"

"I dunno, Akane," Ranma said with a shrug. He placed his injured hand on her shoulder and stood closer to her. He smiled when she responded by gently covering his hand with her own.

"It is with great pleasure that I am able to announce my engagement to Miss Kinuko Amagi." Kuno announced grandly as he slipped his hands beneath her arms and embraced her from behind with his fingers interlocking over the girl's slim belly.

"What!?" all four of them shouted in unison while the rest of the students cheered.

"Why are all of the students so happy for them?" Ranko added.

"You ask me, those two deserve each other," Akane said with a pleased smile.

"It's probably because everyone likes him again. After all, they believe that shit about him being drugged when I whipped his ass," Ranma commented sourly.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about that," Sato added.

Kuno smiled; pleased at the reaction he'd been getting from the crowd thus far. "She is to be treated with all the respect due to her. Furthermore, she has requested of me to ask your indulgence as she makes an announcement of her own." He waited for the buzz of the crowd to die down again before urging Kinuko to speak.

"This is going to be fun," Ranko muttered sarcastically.

Kinuko forwent any preamble as she reached up and tugged her wig off of her head. "Kin-chan, NO!" a shrill voice came from the opposite end of the crowd, audible over the mix of gasps and few cheers. Kinuko smirked as she tossed the wig into the crowd and then ran her fingers through the raven locks of her short, smartly coiffed hair. "I will no longer hide my true self," she announced proudly. "This is who I am and my fiancé loves me for it."

Some of the gasps from the crowd transformed to 'awws' and a smattering of applause, which grew in intensity when Kuno took Kinuko in his arms and kissed her deeply. Their lips parting a moment later, he took her by the hand and led her towards the front door of the school while the crowd dispersed. The newly engaged couple's path took them right by the four stunned youths.

Kuno stopped and favored Ranma with a smug grin while Kinuko glared daggers at Akane. "I see that my declaration of love for Kinuko has left you speechless, Saotome. No doubt you see the undeniable truth that your loss is my gain." Kuno eyed Akane with disdain. "However I am afraid that, for you, the same cannot be said."

Rage flared anew on Ranma's face and, if he'd been looking at her, he would've seen that Akane's expression was nearly identical. "Watch your mouth, asshole," Ranko ground out, speaking before her brother could. She dropped her bookbag to the ground next to Sato's feet and stepped closer to Kuno. Kinuko stepped back to gain some distance from Ranko and clutched Kuno's uwagi desperately.

"Still having your pet sister fight your own battles for you, Saotome?" Kuno said with a condescending tone.

Ranma shot him a quizzical look and leaned forward so that their faces were very close. "Interesting that someone like you would ask me about gettin' help from a sister, isn't it dipshit?" he said in a near-whisper, punctuating his comment with a smirk.

Kuno's composure cracked like an iceberg in the Sahara. "What did you just say?" he demanded hotly.

"You should'a been payin' more attention," Ranma replied with a smug grin of his own as he stood back from the irate kendoist, relishing having the arrogant bastard on the run.

"We need to talk, Saotome," Kuno commanded. "Now."

"I'll talk to you *if* I feel like it, and there's nothin' you can do to change that. You don't order me around, punk." Ranma's posture reflected the contempt he felt for the buffoon. "Last week you and your little harem of sword swingers had their fun at mine and Sato's expense, but that ended on Friday. If you or any of your little girls come my way, my sister's way, Sato's way or even *think* about bothering Akane ever again, I'll stomp *your* ass so hard you'll be laying in a bed next to Yutaka in the hospital! Got it?"

Kuno grit his teeth and was about to press the issue by wielding his bokken, but before he could get that far the school bell rang and the doors to the school opened. A multitude of faculty members then stepped outside and began ushering the students in.

"Guess you'll have to get your ass whipped later, huh?" Ranko taunted with a smirk.

"Macho bitch," Kinuko muttered under her breath.

"Oh, give it a rest, you loose whore," Akane growled right as Ranko raised an arm to slap Kinuko silly.

Kinuko squealed and kept close to Kuno as he led the way to the front doors again. "We will continue this discussion soon, Saotome," the kendoist vowed hotly.

Ranma glared at Kuno until the lummox disappeared from view, then slipped his arm around Akane's waist and held her close to him. His other hand went around his sister's waist to hug her as well. "None of you are angry for me speakin' up like that, are you?"

Sato shook his head, having remained silent throughout the exchange. "I don't mind at all. After the write-up last Thursday I didn't really want to give the teachers another reason to add to my troubles." He gave Ranma a grin "Still, I'll be there to help you turn him into dog food whenever you need it."

"Thanks, Sato," Ranma replied with an almost wolfish grin of his own.

Ranko shook her head and smiled up to her brother. "I'm not complaining any, bro. I kinda liked the way you handled him."

"I'm sorry about that, Ranko," Akane said with a hint of worry as she faced her boyfriend's sister. "It's just that I got so mad at what she called you I couldn't hold it back."

"Don't worry about it. You said what I was thinking," Ranko said with a devilish grin. The two girls laughed at that and then Ranko clapped a hand on Akane's shoulder. "To tell you the truth, I would've given you equal time with her," she added with a conspiratorial wink.

"Hey, Ranma. Why did Kuno get so pissed off right there at the end?"

Ranma looked at his friend with a smirk. "He's probably just mad that I'm not afraid of him, Sato." With that he led both Ranko and Akane towards the front doors with Sato following right behind.



****



Monday Afternoon



Ranko stepped lightly on her sore ankle as she descended the stairs and walked outside. Despite the fact that she felt like crap, she concluded that a little exercise after lunch would do her good. 'The doc said not to overdo it, but he didn't say that I couldn't do anything at all,' she thought with a sneaky smirk. She also hoped that exercise would help her to clear her mind. Notwithstanding her brother's pep talk from the day before, she still felt the sting of Hikaru's betrayal. "At least that bastard hasn't shown his face to me today," she growled.

Preferring to eat lunch in the shade, she headed towards a bench on the campus. Seeing that someone was already sitting there, she almost turned away before she realized who it was. "Hey, Sato. You mind having some company for lunch?"

Sato, who had been finishing off his dessert, looked up at hearing Ranko's voice and motioned for her to sit with him at the bench. "Sure thing, Ranko," he said with a weak smile. "How're you doing?"

"I'm getting along," Ranko replied with a sigh. She sat her bookbag down on the ground and pulled out her bento. "How about yourself?"

Sato covered his bento and set his chopsticks down on the lid. "About the same." He gave her a quick once-over as he placed his bento behind him on the bench. "You're looking good in any event," he said with a wink.

Ranko blushed. "Thanks, Sato. It's good to be appreciated."

"Anything for a friend," he replied with a smile.

Ranko set her bento down on the bench between the two of them and regarded him coolly. "Speaking of friendship, why did you just up and leave last night? I thought you were only going downstairs for a moment to get something from the kitchen."

Sato's smile collapsed. Turning his head to avoid her gaze, he mumbled something that Ranko didn't quite catch. Eventually he just shrugged his shoulders and went silent.

"Sato, I know you're still upset about what happened on Sunday. So am I." Ranko reached out and cupped his chin in her hand. "Look at me!" He turned to look at her, his eyes widening. "I was worried about you last night when you didn't come back upstairs, dammit! Do you realize that I searched the house twice before I figured out that you'd left?" She put her hands on her hips and scowled at him.

"I'm sorry, Ranko. I didn't mean to be a bother."

"You're not a bother, Sato. You're just inconsiderate."

Sato's skin turned bright red at that. "I don't know why I didn't tell you I was leaving last night. All I know is that I had to go. I just couldn't take it anymore, Ranko."

"Take what? You're the one who chose the movie."

He snorted at that. "Not that, Ranko. Watching Ranma and Akane sitting together like that. It really bothered me to see them so happy together. It just kept reminding me that I'd failed. Again."

Ranko sighed and nodded her head. "I figured as much." She moderated her tone and put a hand on his shoulder. "You could've talked to me about it, Sato. After all, you weren't the only one who was feeling that way."

"What?" Sato whispered. "You felt the same way I did?"

Ranko nodded, her lips pressed into a thin line. "Yeah, I did."

"How did you deal with it?"

"It wasn't easy. I love my brother and I think of Akane as a good friend." Ranko put her hands in her lap and held Sato's gaze. "It was obvious to me last night and today that they're falling in love with each other." Ranko felt her composure slip at seeing the wetness in Sato's eyes. "Being reminded of what you and I both went through yesterday wasn't easy to take, but I had to force myself to deal with it."

"But how?" Sato asked almost desperately. "God, I'd LOVE to be able to just forget that Nabiki ever existed."

"I know what you mean," Ranko commiserated. "I think the best way I've dealt with Hikaru's betrayal is by reminding myself that life can be worse." She almost smiled to herself. 'There, I've said his name and I've admitted out loud that he betrayed me. Atta girl!' She propped her feet up on the bench and, wrapping her arms around her legs, rested her chin on her knees. "If Ms. Yoshida hadn't been killed in that car accident yesterday, I don't think I would have the same perspective on things that I do now."

Sato nodded soberly. "Yeow! You've got a point, Ranko," he admitted, wiping his eyes with the sleeve of his uniform shirt. "I hadn't thought of it that way."

Ranko nodded. "Yeah, it hurts that we both got betrayed, Sato. But at least we're healthy, alive, and have friends there to help us through this."

Sato smiled at her again. "I'm glad to have you as a friend, Ranko. I think you understand me better than just about anyone, besides your brother that is."

"Awww," Ranko said with a smile on her face. She leaned over and hugged him. "I feel the same way. You're a good friend, too. *And* a good sparring partner."

"Don't you mean 'tackling dummy', Ranko?" Sato quipped.

Ranko giggled uncontrollably. "Don't be silly. Tackling dummies don't hit back." She stuck her tongue out at him playfully.

Sato laughed through his nose and felt a smile growing on his face, Ranko's giggling becoming infectious. "Well, yeah." He looked up at the big clock on the front façade of the school. "I've got about twenty minutes left before I have to be back in class. I'm gonna go take a quick walk." Picking up his bento, he stood up and bowed to Ranko. "Thanks for the chat. I appreciate it," he said as he stashed his bento in his book bag and zipped it shut.

"Anytime," she replied with a wink.

Slinging his book bag over his left shoulder, Sato walked away from the bench and headed for the perimeter fencing of the quad. Ranko watched him until he dwindled into the distance. 'It's a damned shame that he got such a raw deal from Hikaru and Nabiki. That boy's been through enough.'

She turned her attention to her bento that, since her mom wasn't at home, consisted of a box of Almond Pocky and a large can of Pokka. Polishing off the less-than-nutritious meal in record time, she packed away her things and headed to the locker rooms so that she could change her clothes.

She emerged five minutes later in the standard blue shorts and white T-shirt that all girls wore during gym. Her few accessories included an ankle brace that Dr. Tofu had given her on Sunday, along with a bottle of water and a towel. She cinched tight the rubber band that was holding her long hair in a ponytail to ensure that it didn't slip down and turn her hair into an unruly mass. 'I'd better try walking on the track first to see how well my ankle is,' she thought as she headed towards the oval. Ranko was just about to reach the front bleachers bordering the track when she heard someone run up behind her.

"Ranko!" Hikaru Gosunkugi's voice called breathlessly from behind.

Any good humor within her fled at the first sound from Gosunkugi's mouth. Stopping in her tracks, Ranko turned and leveled her most dangerous glare at him.

"Whoa!" Hikaru said, backpedaling slightly. He came to a quick halt about two paces away from her. He was close enough for her to touch, but about the only thing she wanted to touch him with right now was a baseball bat. Ranko actually debated the merits of that before deciding that getting into the same trouble that her brother was in last week would be counterproductive.

"What the hell do you want?" she snarled, her face flushing red with fury.

"Wait! Don't get mad, I just wanted to explain-"

"Don't waste my time, Gos. There is nothing of yours that I want to ever see or hear again! You're a useless piece of shit as far as I'm concerned and you will never get anywhere near me as long as I can help it. In fact, I would have to be out of my mind to even consider it!" She took one menacing step towards him and was pleased when he took two steps backward. "Final warning; don't bother me anymore." She stared him down until he lowered his head and turned away. Watching his departure, she wasn't satisfied that he was gone until he disappeared from view far beyond the bleachers.

Setting her mind on her goal once again, Ranko put her towel and bottle down on the paved surface of the track and then stepped forward. Staying on the number five ring, she began a fast walk. Blanking her mind of everything, she concentrated solely on counting laps. When she hit five laps she felt confident enough to try jogging for one. 'Wow, that brace is holding my ankle tighter than I expected. I can barely feel anything,' she thought triumphantly as she completed that lap and decided to switch to jogging. Dismissing her anger, Ranko happily surrendered herself to a runner's high and let the world run on cruise control for awhile.



****



"Uhh... What is it?" Ranma asked suspiciously. He regarded Akane warily from his seat beneath the 'lunch' tree in the quad.

"It's good, trust me," Akane said with a smirk as she hoisted an unrecognizable morsel of food up to his face with a pair of ornately decorated black-lacquered chopsticks. "You have eaten western food before, haven't you?"

"Well, yeah. We had pizza last night, remember?"

Akane laughed at that, her eyes crinkling. "Yeah, but this isn't anything like pizza."

"I can tell," Ranma muttered as he eyed the bit of food warily. It looked a little like that thing they served before the dojo-repair party over a week ago. Actually, in this case it was a thin and very flat 'pie' type thing with some odd-looking stuff as the filling. The 'stuff' was some sort of fluffy substance that resembled scrambled eggs with pink chunks and green leafy bits mixed in.

"Hey, I made it myself. I swear it's good!" Akane nudged the chopsticks closer to Ranma's mouth and held her other hand under the chopsticks to catch any potentially dropped food. "Please? Try it for me?" Her lower lip extended out slightly in an extremely cute pout.

'Oh, now that's just *not* fair!' Ranma thought in consternation as he squeezed his eyes shut. Despite Akane's success at cooking the last time he tried it, he wasn't sure he wanted to risk getting sick. After all, it could've just been a fluke! He looked at her once again and felt the pressure from Akane's sweet display continue to mount.

Soon it was too much for him and, relenting, Ranma nodded his head and opened his mouth. His stomach tightened nervously as he feared a poisoning that would have him laid up for days. Feeling the tips of the chopsticks touch his tongue, he closed his mouth and forced a smile as Akane withdrew the eating utensils from his mouth.

"Do you like it?" she asked expectantly. Akane's brown eyes shimmered with anticipation as she awaited his response.

Unable to delay the inevitable any longer, he chewed the morsel slowly. A burst of flavors spread across his tongue. Savory hints that he couldn't identify accompanied the taste of pork and egg and a light crust, which combined to form a delicious culinary medley. 'Holy crap! It's edible!' he thought in shock as he swallowed. "Whatever it is, Akane, I like it."

Akane put her chopsticks down on her bento and clapped her hands triumphantly. "Really?"

"Yeah, really!" Ranma nodded. "It was very good."

"Yes!" she cheered, hugging Ranma tightly and giggling happily. "I made a small thing of it on Sunday morning before I came over to your place and this was what I had left over."

"What is it?"

"It's called 'quiche.' It's one of the French dishes that I was taught by- Thierry." 'Sheesh, I was about to say 'Kuno-chan's chef,' Akane thought with a near-grimace.

'Kee-chee?' Ranma thought to himself. 'What the hell kind of name is that for food?' "It tasted good, Akane."

Akane put a hand on Ranma's shoulder and, leaning forward, kissed him quickly on the lips. "Thank you, Ranma-kun. That means a lot coming from you." She packed away her now-empty bento and chopsticks in her bookbag and sat closer to him.

Ranma put his arm around her and reclined against the trunk of the large tree to watch the students wander hither and yon during the lunch break. He lifted his head up as something occurred to him. "Hey Akane?"

"Yeah, Ranma. What is it?"

"You didn't get into any trouble with Kasumi or your pop for staying at my place last night, did you?"

Akane shook her head. Changing positions, she scooted forward to lay down on the grass, crossed her legs and smoothed her skirt demurely before resting her head in his lap. "Nope. I was lucky that Kasumi was still in her bedroom when I got home," she said as she looked up at him. "I went straight for the shower and then went back to my room. By the time she came in looking for me I was already dressed for school. She didn't even know that I hadn't been at home all night. Thank goodness."

Ranma ran his fingers across her forehead, brushing away a stray lock of her hair as he looked down into her eyes. "That's cool. I was worried that you were gonna be in deep trouble for stayin' at my place for so long."

Akane smiled up at him. "I don't think I would've been in much trouble even if I had been caught. Right now Kasumi is concerned about Nabiki's well being, so she's focusing on getting things straightened out with her." She winked at him. "But since I didn't get caught, I'm not about to tell anything to daddy or her."

Ranma laughed at that. "That's good. Don't volunteer for trouble 'cos it'll find you easy enough." Several minutes passed as the two lounged around together alternating between looking at each other and looking out at the quad. Ranma was enjoying the respite and Akane's company almost too much to even consider going back to the classroom. "Hey Akane, what time is it?"

Akane lifted her arm up so that she could study her watch. "We've still got about thirty minutes left."

He was about to ask her if she had an alarm on that watch and subsequently suggest taking a nap when he caught sight of two students just within his line of sight. Turning to glance at the students directly, he was shocked to see a look of fear on one of their faces before the pair hustled out of view. "What was that about?" Ranma wondered.

Akane tilted her head up for a moment to look in the direction that Ranma was staring. "What was what about, Ranma-kun?" she asked as she rested her head in his lap again.

"I've been gettin' a weird vibe from this place all day long, Akane," he began as he described what he'd just seen. "I don't think it has anything to do with that crazy show that Kuno and Kinuko put on this morning, either." Ranma shrugged. "I dunno. It's almost like everyone around here is afraid of me or somethin'."

Akane shrugged. "Well, just about everybody heard what happened on Thursday night. Chances are some of what they heard has been exaggerated."

"Yeah, I guess that could be it."

"You want to go talk to them about it? You could explain it to them if it bothers you that much." Akane ventured.

Ranma shook his head and ran his fingers through Akane's hair and toyed idly with her right earlobe. "Naah. It's not that important. I care what you think and what Sato and Ranko and my folks think more than anyone else."

Akane blushed at that. "That's sweet of you to say, Ranma. But you aren't worried about a bunch of rumors spreading around the school about you?"

"Not really, unless someone's steppin' on my honor. Actions speak louder than words, Akane, and I know I can control my actions a lot better than I can control someone else's words." Ranma pinched the tip of her nose playfully. "I'd get more upset if they started spreadin' a lot of rumors about *you* though."

Akane giggled at the gentle pinch and swatted his arm away lightheartedly. "You don't have to worry about that. Enough's been said about me in the past this year that any new rumor would probably sound just like an old rumor." She stuck her tongue out as if mocking her past.

Ranma gazed out at the quad as a warm spring breeze lifted him away from his contemplation of Akane's smiling face. "You know, it's a shame we can't just stay out here all day."

"No kidding," Akane concurred. "Days this nice don't happen too often."

"You think we should cut?" Ranma asked with an arched eyebrow as he looked down into her eyes again.

"Don't think I'm not tempted," Akane replied with a conspiratorial wink. "If I could find a way to do that without getting us into trouble, it would happen."

Further thoughts of leaving the school fled from his mind. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I don't need anymore writeups or nothin' like that."

Akane nodded her head and reached up to caress Ranma's cheek with an outstretched finger. "You and Sato have both been in enough trouble this year. I don't want to be the cause of any more trouble for you here at the school."

"Ah, we can take care of ourselves," Ranma said dismissively. Still, he began to wonder how Sato and his sister were both doing. Given last week, he had begun to think that trouble followed him around all the time with a big chip on its shoulder. He also wondered if that idiot Kuno had taken his advice and left his sister and his best friend alone. Looking out into the distance, his eyes fell upon a familiar face walking past them. "Well, speak of the devil."

"Who is it?" Akane asked as she sat up suddenly.

"Hey, Sato!" Ranma yelled as Akane scooted back to the tree trunk and slipped an arm around her boyfriend's waist. "We missed you at lunch."

Sato, who had been completing his orbit of the campus boundary, came at his friend's summons. He waved at Ranma and closed the distance between them quickly. "Hey Ranma. Akane." He nodded to Akane as she smiled at him.

"Hey Sato."

"Sorry I missed lunch with you," Sato said with a forced smile. "I caught up with Ranko and ate with her earlier."

"Well, that's okay. In fact I was about to ask you if you'd seen Ranko."

"She was eating lunch at the bench on the other side of the campus when I saw her about five minutes ago"

Ranma nodded. He stood up and offered his hand to Akane. "Thanks for eating with me, Akane." As an afterthought he added, "and for lettin' me taste some of that kee-chee stuff. I really liked it."

Akane giggled at him. "It's 'quiche' and I'm glad you did." She took his hand with a smile and stood up. "See you back in the classroom?"

Ranma nodded. "Yeah, I'm gonna catch up with Ranko and then I'll be right there."

Akane hugged him quickly and then stepped away. "I'll take your bento in for you," she offered as she bent down to pick it up.

"Oh, you don't have to do that!" Ranma replied as he reached out to stop her.

"No, it's alright. You go find Ranko, okay?" Akane smiled at him as she stacked his bento atop hers.

"Okay," Ranma said with a nod of thanks. "Lead the way, Sato. I need to talk to Ranko before class starts back. I want to see if that jackass or his 'fiancee'," they all grimaced at that word, "have been messin' with her any since school started."

Sato nodded and walked in the direction of the bench he'd left a short time ago. "She's probably done eating by now, but she could still be sitting there."

"How about yourself, man? Kuno or Kinuko been botherin' you any?"

"Naah. The only thing I've been bothered by today was my math test."

Ranma snorted at that. "I think that would bother anyone, dude."

Sato laughed and nodded his agreement. Rounding the corner of the school building, they stopped in front of the empty bench. "Sorry about that, Ranma. She may have gone back inside already."

Ranma frowned slightly. He wasn't about to admit it to anyone else, but the real reason he was looking for his sister centered around the fact that he'd been worried about her emotional state ever since they left for school this morning. He hadn't seen her so moody before and he wanted to be *absolutely* sure that she wasn't getting depressed again. "I think I'm gonna take a look around, man. You know she likes to hang out on the quad during lunch."

Sato nodded. "I'll look around, too. If I find her first I'll let her know that you're looking for her."

Ranma clapped his friend on the shoulder. "Sounds good, man. Let's meet back here at the bench in about ten minutes, okay?"

"Right," Sato said as he returned the friendly gesture.



****



Ranko came to a stop in front of her towel and bent over with her hands on her knees, breathing heavily. "Shit, those last two laps almost killed me," she groaned, frowning at the state of her physical conditioning. 'I hate the limits the doc's placed on me. It's causing me to get out of shape fast.' Ranko would have pushed herself for yet another lap if her ankle hadn't started aching. Remembering Dr. Tofu's admonition about overdoing it, she forced herself to stop at seven laps. Reaching down, she uncapped her small bottle of water and chugged it down in a rush.

"Nothing beats a good cold drink after a run," she told herself as she wiped sweat from her face and put the cap back on the empty bottle. Placing her towel on the metal bleacher, Ranko sat down on it and looked out at the track. 'I was lucky to have the place to myself. I guess most of the kids wanted to do basketball or something today.' Feeling tired, she propped herself up by resting a hand against the bleacher seat. 'I hope I didn't overdo it anyway,' she thought with a yawn. A sharp pain in the pit of her stomach soon accompanied the dull ache that Ranko had been feeling in her ankle. 'Oh crap. I don't need to be getting sick now.'

Dropping the water bottle, Ranko put a hand to her belly and winced as the pain grew. 'Dammit. I should'a eaten more food before I took those pills the doc gave me. I bet that's what's making me feel so bad.' Her exhaustion grew and soon she was having a hard time staying upright. "Shit," she slurred. 'I hope I don't pass out.' Looking about, she despaired when she saw that she was still the only person at the track. Her panic increased when she slumped over on her side on the bleacher and couldn't move her arms to any great effect.

Just when she thought she was going to be left out there on her own, a pair of hands gently pulled her back up to a seated position. A wave of relief hit her as she realized that someone had found her and had taken note of her condition. She tried to make her mouth move, but found that it was hard for her to speak. Ranko could still think normally and see what was ahead of her, but she couldn't turn her head to look at her rescuer or thank him or her for the assist. Trying to walk, she leaned heavily on her savior's shoulder as she was led away from the bleachers and back towards the gym.

Their slow journey continued through the doors of the gym and seemed to be headed in the proper direction as they wound their way through the maze of corridors that led to the PE offices and locker rooms. Then, for some unexplained reason, the person guiding her opened the door to a storage closet. Angry with her body for not cooperating, Ranko tried to ask what the hell was going on. Her vision started to blur right when she felt her would-be rescuer let her go of her.

Ranko fell to the floor in a heap, although the concrete that she expected to hit was instead a couple of long, rectangular foam mats that were used for gymnastics and wrestling training. She heard a click and in the back of her mind she realized that whoever it was had just locked the door to the storage closet. Trying to scream for help, it only came out as a dull moan. That's when her 'assistant' spoke up for the first time.

"That's what you get for being such a bitch, Ranko," Hikaru sneered as he reached down and turned her over so that she lay on her back. "I tried to talk to you about what happened with me and Nabiki, but noooo. You just had to go and be all high and mighty. If you had only let me explain, you would'a understood why it happened. I didn't want to do it with Nabiki; she just came on to me. What was I supposed to do when she told me she wanted to fuck? I had to say yes or else she would've told everybody that I was gay or somethin' like that."

Ranko tried to shout out again and again nothing intelligible came out. Unable to move anything, she lay there frustrated and staring up at the old stained ceiling tiles of the storage room. To her horror she felt his hands on her hips and then herself being moved about on the mats.

"Very nice," Hikaru sneered as he ogled her body for a good minute. "You owe me this, Ranko. You and me were good together, you know? If you hadn't led me on before then I wouldn't have had to go and do this. Besides, you don't have any right to be mad at me for doing this in the first place. When Ranma banged Kinuko that first time, your brother used the same thing I'm using on you right now. That means that you'll have to be just as angry with him as you probably are at me. Come to think of it, if you manage to tell him about this he wouldn't have any right to say anything to me at all."

Straddling her at the waist, he grabbed hold of her T-shirt and yanked on it until it was bunched up at her shoulders. He slowed down and took particular care not to bruise her as he moved her arms. Ranko's vision blurred even worse as she felt the shirtsleeves of her T-shirt brush against her arms, and to her dismay she realized to her that she was crying in front of him. If only she could move around so that she could whip his ass!

Frustration turned to outright fear as Hikaru produced a small pair of scissors from his pants pocket. "Not even gonna waste any time tryin' to slip that sports bra off of you, Ra-chan. Just hold still." He snickered as he began cutting away at the last piece of clothing that covered her chest. Ranko mentally screamed with rage as she felt him cut away the bra, leaving her nude from the waist-up. "Now, don't you worry about a thing, Ranko," he assured her. Hikaru pocketed the scissors and brushed away the last remnants of black fabric from her sports bra that lay between her breasts. "When I'm done you'll be dressed up and back out on the bleachers. You probably won't even remember a thing."

Ranko desperately beat at the walls that had closed in around her mind and kept her from moving her arms, legs, mouth, ANYTHING that would help her to get away from the bastard. Unfortunately her body betrayed her completely as she lay there on the mats unable to move anything but able to feel *everything*. Not even able to close her eyes, Ranko focused on the ceiling and tried to blank out what was happening to her.

Hikaru looked at Ranko's body with a most decidedly hungry expression. "Fuck! I didn't know your body was *that* sweet, Ra-chan," he declared, drooling. "It's a shame you drank all of that water, though. Half a bottle would've kept you awake enough to enjoy what I'm gonna do to you. As it is you're gonna wake up completely clueless with one helluva hangover." He reached out to touch her red nipples when suddenly the handle on the storage room door jiggled.

Tensing, Hikaru kept himself as still and quiet as possible and hoped that whoever it was would just go away. After a few seconds had passed the handle's movement stopped. Not wasting any more time by remaining idle, he began kissing every inch of her body that he could reach while remaining crouched over her. The flames of his sexual desire now white-hot, he sat up and eagerly unzipped his school uniform pants. "I know you're gonna hate hearing this, Ra-chan, but now that I've seen 'em both, Nabiki's tits really are bigger and nicer-looking than yours," Hikaru taunted as he reached out and thumped her left nipple savagely with his index finger. "I just hope that you feel better on the inside than Nabiki does, otherwise this'll be *really* ironic."

She felt a flush of rage subsume her feelings of helplessness the moment she heard that needle-dicked weasel compare her body to Nabiki's and declare the other girl's to be better! Channeling that rage into a motivating force, she tried to move her arms again, but was still unable to get anything to respond. To make matters worse, she felt herself slipping out of consciousness. Fighting that for everything it was worth, she prayed fervently for her nightmare to end before the worst could happen.

As if in response to her plea, the door to the storage room flew open with a loud crash. Someone stepped forward and took Hikaru by the throat. In the back of her mind she registered the lessening of pressure against her pelvis where that jackass had been sitting on her and knew that Gos had been pulled away. Wearing a smile on the inside, Ranko cheered on her anonymous savior. At least, she hoped he was a savior this time. Focusing her attention on the newcomer, she felt a momentary burst of joy as she guessed who it was. 'Ranma, yes! I love you so much!' She held on dearly to that blissful thought as she finally lapsed into unconsciousness.



****



"Look, I said 'no comment' jackass!" Bokuyo Shimizu barked into the telephone before slamming the receiver back down on the cradle. Propping his feet up on an old and battered metal desk, the aging police officer scowled at the telephone as if he knew it was about to ring again. "I swear, the next reporter that calls me about that damned wreck is gonna get it!" He turned to look over his shoulder at a large tarp-covered mound that sat in the center of the garage and wondered why of all the impound lots in the district, that piece of garbage got dumped into his.

"Who was it this time?" a much younger officer asked blithely from his own desk at the other side of the cramped office. He was too engrossed in his game of solitaire to look at his office mate, although that didn't stop him from exercising his curiosity.

"It was 'Tokyo Today' again. Those people just don't know when to take 'no comment' for an answer." Bokuyo put his feet back on the ground and leaned forward in his rickety office chair. "Yemon, I want you to promise me something."

"What's that?" Yemon Nakamura asked as he drew another three cards from the deck.

"If you ever decide to become a reporter, don't."

Both of them guffawed at that before Yemon surrendered to solitaire and threw his cards down disgustedly. "Great, another round lost. I suck at this game."

"Why don't you try something else?"

"Like what? Pachinko?"

Bokuyo raised an eyebrow. "You know what happened last time you snuck out of here to play that during work hours."

"Yeah, yeah," Yemon said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I know. I won't do it again."

"Good. Because I don't-" The older police officer paused as he saw someone walking towards the impound yard from across the street. "Oh great," Bokuyo groused. "Look who's here."

"What is it now?" Yemon asked as he looked over his office mate's shoulder.

"It's Yoko," the older officer answered with a resigned sigh.

"The crime junkie?" Yemon shifted his attention away from the deck of cards and watched as a young woman approached the outer gate surrounding the police complex's impounding yard. She was a petite thing, from what he could tell. It was hard to get a grasp on just how well shaped she was due to the layers of baggy clothing the girl wore, and that also made it difficult for him to determine just how old she was.

Scrutinizing her from his faraway position at the desk, he figured that the diminutive girl was somewhere between the ages of sixteen and thirty. "I don't see what your beef is with that girl," Yemon commented distractedly. Scuttlebutt said that she was a fixture in many of the local offices, and it was widely known that Yoko was the unofficial mascot for the district.

"This ain't no place for a little girl to go runnin' around in," Bokuyo grumbled, unaware of his co-worker's ogling of the young lady. "I got a kid that's around her age and I wouldn't let her anywhere near this place."

"What's wrong with a little curiosity?" Yemon asked as he stared at Yoko openly. She waved to them cutely as she stepped through the gate and walked in their direction. Decked out in a pair of faded blue jeans that were at least one size too big for her, a smudge-covered white T-shirt and a pair of dirty white sneakers, Yoko looked to him like a typical kid from the street. In fact, if it weren't for the oversized red book bag slung over her left shoulder and the thirty-five millimeter camera she had hooked to a strap that dangled between her diminutive breasts, she *would* be a typical kid.

Bokuyo looked at Yemon suspiciously. "*Your* curiosity will get you in trouble, especially if you try to investigate *her.*"

"Why not try? Is there something about her that I should know?" Yemon asked in a low voice.

"How many guys do you know that would want to date a girl that gets off on bloody crime scene photos, mangled cars and nasty stories about criminals?" the older officer shot back sarcastically. "She may be legal, but she's definitely too strange for you."

Yemon held up his hand as he looked at Yoko again. She looked damned cute with the two long raven pigtails hanging from either side of her head. That, combined with an oversized baseball jacket from the local Dragons minor league team, gave her such a sweet and innocent look that it contrasted sharply with her apparent desire to be a law enforcement groupie. "Hey, if they all looked like her, I would go out with 'em anytime."

Bokuyo shook his head and sighed as Yoko made a beeline for the receptionist's window. "Now stop right there, girl," he said gruffly, holding up a hand as the girl came up to their office door. "You know better than to try comin' in here like that. We've got a case goin' on."

Yoko batted her eyelashes coquettishly and put on an innocent smile. "Why not Mr. B?" she asked in a high-pitched voice. "You know I'm harmless. Besides, you can trust me! That story I saw on the news about the big wreck got my attention, so I had to come on over. Weren't you expecting me?"

Yoko stood on her tiptoes to look past the officer at a tarp-covered lump in the center of the vehicle bay. Squinting, she just did catch a glimpse of metallic blue paint coming from a mangled piece of sheet metal dangling beneath the tarp. "Is that it?" she asked, bouncing excitedly on the balls of her feet as she pointed at the misshapen lump. "Is that the Mazda?" she asked as she took her camera in hand and photographed the tarp-covered object.

"Hey!" Bokuyo shouted, waving his hands frantically. "Don't be takin' pictures where everybody can see you doin' it!"

Yoko let her camera dangle on its strap again as she adopted a chastened look. "I'm sorry Mr. B. I didn't mean to get you in any trouble."

The older officer leaned forward to bring himself to eye level with the young woman. "The press has been buggin' me since the crack of dawn to get a photographer in here for some close-ups of the car," he hissed. "I haven't been lettin' 'em so far, but if they see you takin' pictures they're gonna raise all kinds of hell with my boss." Bokuyo eyed her carefully. "If they do that, I won't be able to let you hang around here anymore, Yoko. You don't want that, do you?"

Yoko shook her head vigorously, her pigtails lashing her cheeks. She espied Yemon sitting at his desk in front of a bunch of playing cards. "Hi there," she said with a wave and a cute smile.

Yemon smiled back at her and quickly adjusted his guess about Yoko's age to somewhere at or just under nineteen. "Hi yourself," he said with a friendly smile as he gave her body another once-over. "So you're the infamous Yoko, huh?" 'I'd like to get a close-up of her,' he added to himself with a lecherous glint in his eyes.

"In the flesh!" she declared. "I didn't know I was infamous, though." Yoko stuck her tongue out playfully. "What's your name?"

"Oh! I'm Yemon. They assigned me to this impound lot two weeks ago."

Yoko "oh"ed and smiled at him. "Well, if this big fella will let me in, I'd like to talk with you some more and maybe get a look-see at the wreck?"

Bokuyo looked at her sternly. "Now I can't be seen-"

"Pleeeeease?" Yoko begged in an almost childish voice. "You've never turned me down before, Mr. B." She bounced on her heels again, looking as if she were about to burst at the seams with pent-up energy.

The older officer looked around for signs that anyone was watching and, at not seeing anyone, ushered the young girl inside and quickly closed the office door in her wake. "Now you gotta promise us that you won't touch anything," he admonished.

Yoko crossed her heart and gave him a winning smile. "I promise, Mr. B. You can trust me. You too, Mr. Yemon."

"Just Yemon, is fine," he replied. Smiling as she giggled, he stood up from the desk and opened the back office door that led straight to the vehicle bay. "I'll keep an eye on her for you, boss," Yemon volunteered.

"I'm sure you will," Bokuyo replied sarcastically.

Two hours later Yoko was bouncing her way down the sidewalk in front of the impound lot with a carefree smile on her face. Turning to wave flamboyantly at the two officers, she blew Yemon a kiss before turning around again and heading down the sidewalk away from the building.

When she was sure that she was not being watched, Yoko snapped some pictures of cars that were parked along the curb near the impound lot. Looking at her watch, she frowned and increased her pace. Two blocks went by before she came upon a long black vehicle sitting by itself in the parking lot of a vacant building.

Unburdening herself of the bookbag, the young girl unzipped it and carefully placed the camera inside. Yoko knocked on the driver's side window of the limo and smiled when she heard the trunk latch pop open. Lifting the lid of the trunk, she stuffed the bookbag and her coat inside. Slamming the lid shut, she opened the back door and got in to the expensive car.

"Where to now?" the driver asked as he touched two of his fingertips to the brim of his hat in a salute. He then passed a hairbrush and a small mirror to her before locking the doors and starting up the car.

She winced as she plucked the rubber bands out of her hair. "I've always hated this disguise," she muttered as she shook the pigtails loose. Attacking her shoulder-length hair with the brush, Kodachi looked urgently at the driver's reflection in the rear-view mirror. "Take me back to the estate as quickly as you can!"



****



"I'm glad you're here, Sato," Ranma said soberly. "It's a good thing we went lookin' for her."

Sato nodded his agreement. "No kidding. I can't believe how lucky we were."

The nurse looked down at them with a scowl. "You two boys should be back in class."

"But she's my sister," Ranma countered angrily. "My parents are out of town so she's *my* responsibility.

"Yeah, and she's one of my best friends. I can't just leave her here."

The nurse sighed somewhat impatiently. "I don't know what the problem with you boys is to begin with. This is the second time this month that I've had this girl lying ill in my ward, not including all the times I've had to administer medicine to her after lunch because of her prior injuries."

Both Ranma and Sato glared at her angrily. "Hey! Don't go makin' it look like this is *my* fault," Ranma fumed. "Does it look like she got beat up to you? This ain't the same situation as last time."

"Yeah. Last time a mob of kendo novices ganged up on her and beat on her with their practice swords," Sato added. "If I remember correctly they got their hats handed to them."

The nurse dismissed their arguments with an impatient wave of her hand. "Regardless, this poor girl is back here under my care once again when she should be in class." The nurse turned to Ranma with her hands on her hips. "You say your parents aren't at home. Where are they?"

"They went on a cruise around Hawaii for six days," Ranma admitted. "They're probably still there."

The nurse pursed her lips. "Your sister obviously passed out for a reason. She appears to be completely exhausted and she's feverish besides. I cannot give her anything to counteract the fever without approval of a responsible adult or her doctor. And even if I did, I'm not sure that breaking the fever would change her condition."

Sato avoided the nurse's gaze while Ranma studied his hands. "You said she's been takin' drugs that the doc prescribed for her. Stuff for her ankle, I mean. Do you think they caused her to pass out?" Ranma asked.

"We'll have to find out," the school nurse said as she flipped open a white binder that contained the names and phone numbers of pediatricians in the Nerima ward. "Ah, here it is," she said as she reached for the phone and dialed Dr. Tofu's office. Covering her mouth with a hand, she engaged in a whispered conversation with the doctor. Five minutes elapsed before she hung up the phone and regarded the boys warily. "You two don't cause any trouble. I'm going to the front office to wait for Dr. Tofu to get here.

Ranma and Sato nodded soberly. "Yes ma'am," Sato added politely.

Satisfied, the nurse turned and verified that all of her cabinets were locked before walking out of the room. As soon as the door to the nurse's office closed, Ranma turned to look at Sato closely. "Hey, now that she's gone, do you think you can tell me what the hell happened to my sister?"

Sato's eyes bulged slightly. "I wanted to tell you, honest! But out of respect for Ranko I didn't want to say anything in front of the nurse." Ranma nodded impatiently and urged Sato to tell his story. "Well, after we split up to look for her, I headed towards the gym. I didn't see anything outside except for this towel sitting on the bleachers." He hoisted the towel for Ranma's inspection.

"This is one of our towels alright," Ranma nodded as he took the towel and placed it in his lap.

"Well, I wondered if it might have been hers when I found it. Anyway, that led me to the gym. I looked around the basketball court but didn't see her anywhere. Then I started wandering through the hallways in the back. I think I'd been looking for about five minutes when I heard something weird coming from one of the storage rooms."

Sato's brow furrowed as he attempted to recall the exact details that led him to that spot. "At the time, I thought it sounded like Hikaru was talking to himself. I couldn't tell what was going on in there, but it was almost like he jerking off or something in the gymnastics class' storage room. Anyway, I tried the door handle but couldn't get in, so I waited a minute to make sure I hadn't been hearing things. Right as I was about to step away from the door I heard him clearly. He said, 'I just hope that you feel better on the inside than Nabiki does, otherwise this'll be *really* ironic'."

"That bastard actually said that?" Ranma asked, his face reddening rapidly.

"He sure did." Sato angrily balled his hands into fists. "That pissed me off so much that I kicked the door open."

"What happened next?"



<*

"WHAT THE-?" Sato roared as he picked Hikaru up by his throat.

Hikaru made a startled strangled sound and eyed his assailant fearfully. The next moment found him whimpering on the concrete floor away from the mats after having been *thrown* against the back wall of the storage room.

Sato looked down at Ranko and couldn't believe his eyes. Hurriedly he closed the storage room door behind him and knelt down by her side. "You let him do this to you? You actually wanted him to do this?" he asked her in disbelief. "Ranko?" he asked worriedly when he didn't get a response from her. "Ranko!"

Driven by his concern for her, Sato temporarily put aside the fact that he was kneeling before the half-nude body of a living goddess. He put his ear to her chest and sighed in relief. 'Thank God her heart's still beating!' He sat back up and eyed Hikaru dangerously. "What the hell did you do to her?"

Hikaru trembled as he sat slumped against the wall. Blood coursed down his face from where his head had collided against the aged concrete. "Don't hurt me, please!" he begged.

Sato stood up, taking care not to step on Ranko. "I asked you to tell me what the fuck you did to her! Tell me, you bastard!" When Hikaru wasn't forthcoming in replying, Sato reared back and punched his former friend brutally. Hikaru slid down the wall until he was lying on the floor whimpering and cradling his abused ribs. "Tell me now or I'll do it again."

"Okay, okay! It's nothing dangerous, just a mix of harmless herbs that acts like roofies. It's the same thing I gave Ranma when he bagged Kinuko months ago, alright!"

Sato didn't think he could've gotten any angrier. It was bad enough what the bastard tried to do to Ranko, but now he wanted to drag *Ranma* into this? Sato's rage burned so bright that the only thing he had on his mind at the moment was turning Gosunkugi into surimi. "You KNOW she's taking medicine for her injuries. Did you stop to think about that? Your little rape drug could have killed her!" Sato looked down at Ranko's nudity and then back at his foe. "Did you rape her?"

Hikaru shook his head vigorously. "No, I *swear!* All I did was take some of her clothes off. The stuff I gave her is harmless, honest! It'll wear off in a couple of hours. She's just asleep right now. She took enough of the stuff that the only thing she'll remember is passing out."

Sato said a small prayer of thanks that Ranko wasn't in mortal danger. Glaring at Hikaru again, he stood up and stepped closer to his former best friend. Hikaru cowered meekly as Sato loomed over him menacingly. "First you take away my chances with Nabiki by screwing her behind my back. Then you try to ruin one of my best friends by fucking her against her will. Plus I hear you comparing the two of them like they were FARM ANIMALS!"

Hikaru didn't have time to react as Sato lashed out with a full-force kick that caught him right in the gut. Sato watched with grim satisfaction as Gos hunched over and threw up on the floor. Rage overtaking him, Sato kicked him three more times, twice in the gut, and then a glancing blow to the head. He stopped short when he saw Hikaru slump lifelessly to the floor. In that moment his rage vanished. 'Oh shit!' Sato thought with mounting panic. 'What have I done?' Kneeling next to Gos' body, Sato sighed with profound relief when he heard him breathing normally.

"Thank God, I only knocked him out!" Putting his back to Gosunkugi, Sato knelt at Ranko's head and flushed in embarrassment. Still unnerved by the adrenaline rush caused by the minor beating he'd just given Hikaru, he didn't think he would've been of a mindset to ogle Ranko, but he surprised himself by examining her body momentarily. Shaking his head to snap himself out of his trance, Sato began locating all of her clothes.

Ranko's shoes were still on and, gratefully, so were her shorts. After a short search, he found her T-shirt wadded up into a ball and stuffed underneath the mats. Working deliberately, Sato forced himself to ignore every graceful curve of her body as he dressed her. Despite knowing that she wasn't in any danger, he was taken aback by her lack of response when he moved one of her arms. "Geez! She's as limp as a rag doll."

Sparing another moment to glare at an unconscious Hikaru, Sato forced himself back on task as he picked up her sports bra. "Oh, you son of a bitch!" Sato swore as he saw that instead of her bra being wadded up like her shirt had been, Hikaru had sliced and diced it into so many pieces it was completely unwearable. Dropping the cut up bra parts in a pile on the floor, Sato straddled Ranko and began sliding the T-shirt down her arms.

As he did that a strong flashback from his rescue last week of Motoko bubbled up from the depths of his memory, which caused him to freeze. His rage, which had dimmed somewhat while he'd concentrated on dressing Ranko, returned anew. 'This is the second time I've had to save a friend from a Goddamned rapist. What is it with this place all of a sudden?' Forcing himself to concentrate, he grabbed the tail of her T-shirt and pulled it the rest of the way down her arms. Cradling her head carefully, he slipped the T-shirt around it and gently settled the collar around her neck.

Another few minutes passed before he had the shirt completely down and the tail tucked into the waistband of her shorts. "Ranko, I'm gonna have to pick you up now. Can you hear me?" She didn't budge, but at least she continued to breathe. Still straddling her, he picked up the tattered pieces of her bra and stuffed it all in his pants pocket. "I'm not gonna let that bastard have a souvenir this time."

Reaching down, he lifted Ranko up by her shoulders and moved her to a sitting position. Reaching down the back of her shirt, Sato tugged her long ponytail out until it was free. Standing to her side, Sato then knelt down and looped one of her arms around his neck. Placing his left arm beneath her legs, he picked her up and held her closely. Using his foot, he pushed down on the door handle. Cursing when it closed back on him, he shifted his burden and used the pinky of his right hand to pull down on the handle and open the storage room door.

"You'll be okay now, Ranko," Sato swore as he stepped awkwardly into the hallway, careful not to bump Ranko's head against any of the walls. Thankfully devoid of students or faculty, he made it through the maze of corridors and outside the gym quickly. With a purposeful step and mindless of who might be watching, Sato made a beeline for the nurses' office.



*>



"It was right after I got her here and signed her in that I went back to get her towel from the bleachers and went looking for you," Sato added.

Ranma quivered with rage. "That slimy bastard tried to rape my sister." He clenched his hands into fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white. "Are you sure you didn't kill him?" Ranma asked darkly.

Sato nodded. "I realized that I hadn't hit him all that hard on the head. He was breathing when I left him alone in that closet." He stopped when he caught a glimpse of Ranma's clenched fists. "Hey, man. Your hand's bleeding!"

"Huh?" Ranma asked in surprise as he unclenched his left hand and looked at the back of it. "Oh, crap! That's the hand that Yutaka tried to mess up." He reached up to the nearby paper towel dispenser and pulled out a couple of them. Pressing the paper against his bleeding hand, he looked at Sato with renewed anger.

Sato regarded Ranma with an almost guilty look on his face. "I hate to bring it up, but this has been bugging me since I got back here. Before I knocked him out, Hikaru told me that you'd used the same stuff on Kinuko that he used today on Ranko. Thinking back on it, I do remember him saying a long time ago that he'd given you something to help you out on your first date with Kinuko. Plus, I'd also heard other rumors about that same thing in the past, but I didn't want to believe that any of it was true." As if forcing the words from his mouth, Sato continued. "Was he telling the truth?"

Ranma moved about uncomfortably on his chair, a bit surprised that his friend would even pose the question. Of course he had no way of telling Sato the truth about this since he didn't know himself. Still, he felt he owed his best friend some kind of answer. "When Hikaru handed me that stuff I thought that all I was getting was some kind of cheap booze." Ranma frowned at the disappointed look that came across Sato's face. "Hey, I'm on the level here when I tell you that *I* would never, ever drug a girl to have sex with her. If it turns out that it was the same stuff that Gos used on my sister, then I'm just as upset as you are." 'Well, at least those last two sentences are completely true.'

Sato nodded, mollified. "I believe you, man." He sighed sadly. "I've seen how you and Akane get along, and you don't seem like the type of guy who would need to get a girl drunk or stoned to get her interest."

Ranma flushed with embarrassment, although he was inwardly grateful that his friend believed him. Friendship here was in short supply, which caused him to value Sato's company in a way he'd not been allowed to in his other life. Back then, any other male within a mile of him had always been a rival to one degree or another, so he'd never really had a chance for a friendship to flourish. Ranma understood that what he shared with Sato was rare, and just like his success with Akane; he wasn't about to lose this friendship. He looked down at the sleeping form of his sister and breathed a sigh of relief that she wasn't injured or worse. 'After today, I think I could trust him with Ranko's life, too.'

Sato laughed bitterly. "You know, it's almost funny that Nabiki did have to get drunk before she'd hump that loser. I guess it's different strokes for different folks."

Ranma clapped his good hand on Sato's shoulder. "Hang in there, man. I'm gonna go hunt down that little shit and hurt him bad. I'll try to get back here before Ranko wakes up. Keep an eye on her until I return."

Sato nodded. "Will do, man. I've got you covered." Ranma nodded to him and stepped out of the nurse's office. Alone with Ranko once again, Sato turned his chair so that he could look at her face without having to crane his neck. He caressed her cheek lightly and was happy when he heard her moan in her sleep. "Please wake up, Ranko. I *have* to know for sure that you're gonna be okay."



****



'Geez, she's not sparing any expense,' Genma thought when he saw the limo awaiting them as they walked out of the main concourse at Tokyo International. He didn't blame Nodoka for splurging, however, given the reasons behind their motivation. The past eighteen hours had been a whirlwind of activity for the both of them with almost no pause at any point along the way.

It had all started shortly after his wife had shown him the cell phone she'd had stashed in the luggage. Suspending his questions at the time, including why she couldn't have made the call from their room, Genma had said nothing as he followed her to the deck of the boat and watched from a respectful distance as she'd made a short but rather animated phone call.

As soon as she'd hung up the phone, Nodoka took him in hand and led him back to the cabin. "We've got to pack, honey," she'd said urgently as she ripped open all of the closets and drawers. He'd matched her urgency as they'd both started cleaning out all of the storage units in the cabin and packing everything into their luggage.

From there it had been a stomach-roiling helicopter ride from the ship's helipad to Oahu. After that they had boarded a chartered jet that had been awaiting their arrival and sped off for Tokyo with only one stop for refueling at an island of which Genma didn't even know the name.

During the flight, sleep had been difficult for both of them despite the fact that the small airplane was extremely quiet and they'd had it entirely to themselves. Genma spent the time shooting concerned glances at his wife and had twice tried to engage her in small talk. When he'd finally accepted the fact that his wife wasn't going to say anything to him at all, that had only made *his* anxiety worse. He'd hated watching her worry herself that way and hated worse the fact that he wasn't able to do anything about it.

Their journey finally ground to a halt when the limo pulled up to the curb in front of their home. Nodoka looked as if she was about to jump out of the vehicle and run for the front door when Genma took hold of her hand. "Honey, they're still at school. No-one will be home yet," he reminded her.

Nodoka sighed and nodded wearily. "You're right, dear. I've just been worried about them ever since we got that message." She smiled at him wearily and squeezed his hand affectionately. "At least the trip's over with."

'At least you're talking to me again,' Genma thought with relief. The two opened their doors and stepped out of the limo at the same time. Genma walked around to stand next to his wife again and slipped his arm around her waist affectionately. In the glare of the afternoon sunlight he looked at her closely and got a sense of just how tired they both were. "I think the first thing we're going to do after we get our luggage inside is take a nap. You look exhausted, Nodoka."

She nodded wordlessly as they walked to the front door and unlocked it. Stepping inside, they headed towards the living room while the limo driver started placing their luggage on the floor in the foyer. "Looks like they kept their promise," Nodoka said tiredly as she surveyed her surroundings slowly. "The place is clean."

"Thank goodness. I would hate to have been greeted by a big mess as soon as we walked inside," Genma said with a chuckle.

The limo driver cleared his throat as he stood in the front doorway. "Everything has been unloaded, ma'am," he said with a tip of his hat to Nodoka.

"Please tell Uncle Kiyoshi that I greatly appreciate all he's done for us," she said with a formal bow. The driver returned the bow and accepted a tip from Genma before leaving. Nodoka turned to look at the pile of luggage with disdain. "Well, I guess we'd better start unpack-" Her voice trailed off and her eyes widened in shock as her gaze shifted to what lay behind all of their baggage. "Damn!" she swore angrily. "They're being awfully insistent."

"What is it?" Genma asked urgently. He stood before her with his hands on her shoulders as he looked into her eyes. "Honey, what's wrong?" he asked again.

"Look past the luggage, Genma," Nodoka said as she pointed at the far wall of the dining room.

Whirling around to look in the direction she was pointing, Genma's eyes almost fell out of their sockets. "Holy crap! Where did all of *that* come from?"

Nodoka walked over to the stack of boxes and picked up the large manila envelope that lay atop them. "I think the nap will have to wait."



****



Taro looked up from his computer console glumly. The pimply-faced fifteen year old was just starting his second week of extended detention and he dreaded the next four weeks to come. 'If they're all gonna be like this, I'm gonna puke,' he groused as he sat back in his chair.

The assistant principal for the school had decided to come up with an inventive form of punishment for the young boy, and at first Taro hadn't minded it all that much. During the last period of the school day, which happened to be his study period, he was supposed to report to her office. During that hour he was required to help them sort through all of the daily footage from the new video security system that they'd had installed three weeks ago.

Taro snorted at the irony of his situation. *He* was one of the reasons that the cameras were being installed all over the school in the first place, and now he had to help them comb through the tapes for signs of intrusion or misbehavior by other students. 'I don't know why they picked on me,' the boy groused as he logged into the computer system. 'Other kids are gettin' in here after hours and they're not being picked on the way I am. After all, I didn't do anything really bad and they *know* it.'

"Not doing anything" in this case entailed screwing shut the big wooden doors that led to the principal's office. Taro snickered at the recalled image of the maintenance guys removing the sixty-odd screws that held the doors shut so tight that nothing could get through short of destroying them or taking hours to unscrew them. 'And then they discovered the construction adhesive,' he thought with a rebellious grin. That was right before they had figured out who had done it.

Taro nyuk-nyuked to himself as he keyed up the security footage that had been stored on the hard drive starting with the end of school on Friday. When he first started his detention, he had expected to be watching the front gate feed. The opportunity to do some captures and zooms of the prettiest girls in the school had him almost eager to serve his time.

Unfortunately for him the assistant principal had anticipated this and had given his account access to a camera that monitored one of the least-occupied portions of the quad. Blowing his breath out in a sigh, he initiated a fast scan through the footage. Yawning, he settled in for what was sure to be another hour of watching birds nesting in the trees at ten-times speed and scrutinizing the lonely image of a seldom-used bench that sat in the center of the frame. 'This is *really* gonna suck because I have to watch three days of footage this time,' Taro fumed.

He was just halfway through his scan when his eyes widened noticeably. "Holy shit!" the boy whispered as he used the mouse to click on the program's 'pause' button. Catching himself before he could laugh triumphantly, Taro quickly looked over his shoulder to make sure no one else was glancing in his direction. Doing his best to make his scrawny frame block the view of the monitor, he inserted a memory stick into one of the server's USB ports and started capturing the footage as quickly as he could.



****



Monday, end of school



"Thank GOD this day is finally over," Nabiki muttered angrily under her breath as she headed for the shoe lockers. She'd spent the bulk of the day waiting for word about her escapade with Gosunkugi to be mentioned within earshot of her in the hallways and classroom. Blessedly, however, that had not occurred all day long and she was starting to feel that perhaps her luck would hold and her reputation would remain intact.

She reached the shoe lockers and jostled for position amidst the crush of other boys and girls eager to get their shoes and leave the school. Not wanting to hang around in case someone felt like asking her about her outburst on Friday, she flipped up the door on her locker, grabbed her shoes and stuffed the others in and sprinted for the front doors of the school while only wearing her socks.

It wasn't until she arrived at the front gate of the school property that she stopped walking and knelt to put her shoes on. She just had put the left one on when one of her 'confidential informants' walked by. "Everything alright?" the girl asked as she watched Nabiki fumble with the laces of her shoe.

Nabiki flinched at the sudden intrusion and glared at the other person angrily before hurrying to tie her shoelaces "Yes, I was just in a hurry is all," she said as she stood up to face her informant.

"I could tell," the girl replied with a smirk. When she was sure no one was looking at them, the girl handed an envelope to Nabiki. "You moved so fast that I couldn't get this to you before you left the building." She put her hands behind her back and stepped away from Nabiki. "I'm risking a lot handing that to you here, you know."

Nabiki looked at the envelope curiously. "Obviously. What's so important that it has you giving this to me in public?"

"It's a copy of a report that I got from the nurse's office this afternoon," the girl whispered. "Along with some other notes that I took when I talked some kids afterwards. You will definitely want to read it. By the way, I'll expect to be well paid for this one!" With that hissed reminder, the girl turned and walked away at a casual pace, leaving Nabiki alone.

Nabiki propped herself against the gate and looked at the envelope again, her curiosity piqued. It had a bit of heft to it, indicating that there were several pages of material contained within. She was tempted to open it right there and read it, but figured that she should get further from the school to avoid prying eyes. Hurriedly tucking the envelope in her satchel, she reached down and shoved her right foot into her shoe. "Ow!" she shouted as her toes struck something that had been stuffed deep into the shoe. Wincing, she pulled her right shoe off again and held it up to look inside it.

Puzzled, she pulled out a wad of paper that had been stuffed deep inside it. "No wonder my toes felt like they were being folded backwards," she grumbled. 'I wonder where you came from,' Nabiki wondered of the ball of paper as she held it in her hand. Too curious about the envelope from her informant to worry about the paper in her hand, she stuffed the ball of paper in her satchel as well and put her shoe on. As if adding to her sense of urgency, Nabiki looked up from tying her laces just in time to see Ranma, Sato and Ranko walk out of the school building. 'Shit! I don't need to deal with them right now,' she thought as she quickly walked from the school grounds.

Meanwhile, someone several paces away from where Nabiki had been standing also took note of the trio's emergence from the school. Holding up his cell phone, Kenji Kurosawa surreptitiously snapped yet more pictures until the phone signaled that its memory was once again full. As the three approached the front gate he turned and crouched so that he wouldn't be seen. While he was out of sight, Kenji sent the latest batch of pictures to the email address provided to him by that business dude.

In what had wound up being a very interesting day, Kenji had managed to take close to a hundred photos of the three in various locations and situations. He'd almost celebrated at lunch time when he saw Sato dragging that half-pint butch whore Ranko Saotome to the nurse's office and had fervently hoped that the girl would simply die in there so he could finally get on with his life. Unfortunately, he saw her wandering the hallways a couple of hours later with some doctor-looking dude talking to her. He'd made sure to get pictures of those moments for the old fart in the suit just in case they wanted to see her up and around.

Also, he had managed to get more pictures of Ranma Saotome and Akane Tendo than he could stomach. How that girl could've left Upperclassman Kuno's side was baffling to Kenji, but even worse to him was seeing the open affection that she obviously had for that loser Saotome. 'I guess the rumors were right after all. Those two did conspire to drug Upperclassman Kuno and beat up on him.' Kenji stood up again and glared at their departing figures. He was about to comment aloud about their subterfuge when the cell phone rang in his hands.

"Uh- hello?" Kenji said uncertainly.

"I see that you have had a very productive day of picture taking, Mr. Kurosawa," the person on the other end of the line said by way of introduction. "Is the timestamp on this most recent set of images correct?"

"Yeah, it is. They just left the school."

"Is that their normal time of departure?"

"Yep. Just about this time every day. So were the pictures good?" Kenji asked with a hopeful tone.

"Absolutely splendid work, Mr. Kurosawa. I do have some questions regarding two of the images. One shows Ranma Saotome's sister walking with a tall man in glasses. Do you know who that person is?"

"Umm, I think that was her doctor. She fainted or something at lunch today and had to be brought to the nurse's office." The skritching sound of pen on paper was heard for a moment before the guy asked his next question.

"Who is the boy that was walking with the Saotomes as they left the school just now?"

"That's their loser friend, Sato."

"Such open contempt for a boy as unassuming as he," the businessman commented. "What do you know about him?"

"He's a geeky friend of Ranma's who has been taking to hanging around with them and the Tendo girls just about every day."

"Tendo girls?"

"Yeah. One of them is Akane. That's the traitor who was with Ranma at lunch today."

"Ah, thank you! Now I have a face to put to that name. I assume that the other Tendo girl you mentioned is not in the photos you took today?"

Kenji blanched at the question. "No, I'm sorry. Nabiki Tendo stayed inside all day long, even for lunch, so I couldn't get pictures of her. If it helps any, Nabiki Tendo embarrassed Sato in front of the entire school late on Friday because he kept asking her out on a date, so I don't think those two hang out much anymore. Anyway, I swear I didn't know that you wanted pictures of her, too, otherwise I would've tried to get some for you."

"That is unimportant for the moment, Mr. Kurosawa," the man said crisply, dismissing the issue. "One more question. Do you happen to know Sato's given name?"

Kenji shrugged. "I don't know. He's only ever been called Sato, as far as I remember."

"Very well, I think we have enough images to go on for now, so you don't need to take any more pictures. I would, however, like you to call me back at this number tomorrow to let me know if they change their schedule in any way. Can you do that for me?"

Kenji smiled. "Sure, this has been easy so far."

"Until tomorrow, then," the businessman said before ending the call.



****



"God, this headache's going to kill me if it doesn't let up soon," Ranko complained as she pressed her hands to her temples.

Ranma and Sato, who were walking on either side of her, exchange concerned glances. "You need me to carry you, sis?" Ranma chanced asking.

Ranko shot him an irritated look. "It's a headache, not a broken limb."

"Well, what did the doc have to say to you?" Sato asked tentatively. "So far you've only told us that he'd met with you after I'd gone back to class."

Ranko blew her breath out in an exasperated sigh. "Both of you, I'm sorry I'm being so snappish." She looked up into Sato's eyes. "To answer your question, he told me that the stuff I swallowed was nothing more than a strong herbal concoction that was used a long time ago as a way to help someone fall asleep. Dr. Tofu was surprised that I was up so quickly given how much of it he thinks I drank down. He told me that this damned headache is one of the side effects of the crap that Gos gave me. Other than that, he says I'll be perfectly fine."

"Well, since the house is straight ahead, we can get you inside and you can put up your feet and relax."

"Actually, bro, I think the doc said that it would pass through my system faster if I walked it off or did some other form of exercise. I just need to drink lots of water while I'm working out."

Ranma paused and took hold of Ranko's arm. Sato stopped one step ahead of them when he realized that his companions had halted and turned around. "What's going on, Ranma?" he asked his friend warily.

"Sis, did you leave any lights on at the house when we left for school this morning?"

Ranko's eyes narrowed as she examined their house. "No, I didn't. But I can see what you're talking about. It looks like the kitchen lights are on."

'I have a feeling I know who it is,' Ranma thought as he met his friend's gaze. "Sato, I want you to stick here with Ranko until I give the all clear." He held up a finger to forestall his sister's protests. "No! You two stay where the hell I tell you. If there's someone in our house, I don't want either of you in there. I'll take care of this by myself and that's that!" Steeling himself for another battle with Kodachi, Ranma headed for the house at a trot.

"Hothead," Ranko grumbled, a mixture of affection and irritation tingeing her voice.

"Ranko, I frankly can't blame him. There was a chance today that we could've lost you and that's something that neither of us could've survived if it had actually happened," Sato admitted. "Ego be damned, I'd rather play it safe where you're concerned."

"Thank you, Sato, both for saying that and for stopping that freak before he could've done anything to me," Ranko said as she turned and hugged him closely. "In fact, I don't think I'd told you yet how much I appreciate everything you've done for me."

Sato returned the embrace hesitantly. "Hey, that's what friends are for, Ranko. I'm - I'm sure you would've done the same thing for me."

Ranko looked up at him and wrinkled her nose in distaste. "Eww, I don't even want to think of Gos doing that to you."

Sato shuddered visibly. "Geez! That's not what I meant, and thank you SO MUCH for that mental image."

Ranko giggled, although her mirth was short lived as she turned to rest her cheek on Sato's chest so that she could watch the house. "Looks like Ranma's going in."



****



Cautiously, Ranma crept into the house, closing the door behind him silently. 'Shit, the front door *was* unlocked, and I know for a fact that I locked it before we left!' he thought urgently as he did a quick scan of the foyer and den areas. Tip-toeing his way through the house, he ears picked up muffled sounds emanating from his parent's bathroom. Knowing that they were still out of the country on their cruise, he grabbed the same bookend that he'd used yesterday to subdue Kodachi and prepared to do the same thing today to whomever it was that was in his home.

As he stepped into his parents' room he saw that their clothing drawers and closet door were open and all manner of clothing was strewn about on the bed, as if someone had been searching for something in a hurry. Fairly certain that it was not Kodachi who was intruding, Ranma walked calmly towards their bathroom and opened the door. Hearing the shower running, he angrily stepped into the bathroom and holding the bookend over his head with one hand, yanked open the shower curtain with the other.

"Who do you think you are to- to-" Ranma demanded before he realized what he was seeing, and at that point his voice failed him. The brass bookend clattered to the tile floor as he froze in shock. "Oh my God, I think I'm going to go blind!" Ranma whimpered as he quickly turned around and picked up the bookend. He flinched at the sound of a throat clearing.

"Ranma!" Nodoka shouted quickly as she yanked the shower curtain closed. "I am so glad to see that you're home safe! Is Ranko with you?"

"Uh, she's home too, b- but she's still outside," Ranma stammered. "We thought there was a burglar in the house when we saw the lights on."

"I understand-"

"Umm, Son, do you think you could get out of here and let us finish our shower in peace?" Genma interrupted gruffly.

"And don't forget to close the door behind you, son. We'll talk in a little while," his mother added.

"I guess we lost track of time, dear," was the last thing Ranma heard his father say before closing the bathroom door behind him.

Ranma ran out of their bedroom, making gross-out sounding noises all the way. "Gack! I can't believe I just saw my parents making out in the shower!" With the image still fresh in his mind, he walked into the den and placed the bookend back on the table. Then he sprinted outside to let Sato and his sister know that it was fairly safe to come inside, all the while wondering why the hell his parents were home so early.



****



"I was wondering when you would be getting home," Kodachi said as she greeted her brother in the foyer. Wearing her maid's uniform, she looked past her brother before closing the front door. "Your plaything is not coming over this evening?"

"Why I'm just fine, Kotchi, I appreciate you taking the time to ask. Did you have a pleasant day as well?" Kuno snapped. "No, she is not coming over this evening! She told me that she has some obligations that she must attend to tonight."

"Brother-dear, why are you so irate?" Kodachi asked as she gratefully doffed her maid's outfit, revealing a black a-frame undershirt and matching panties along with a pair of fishnet stockings. "Knowing her, Kinuko Amagi will most certainly be here with you tomorrow." With a sigh of relief, she removed the heels that went with the uniform and wriggled her toes. "Thank goodness I don't have to wear those horrid things anymore tonight," she muttered under her breath.

Kuno paid no attention to his sister as she rid herself of her disguise and instead busied himself with putting away his bokken and books on a small table on the opposite side of the foyer. "I am irate because that damnable Saotome made mention of you to me again!"

"What?!" Kodachi said as she stood up straight, her eyes wide. "He mentioned my name in public?"

"No, he didn't say your name," Kuno admitted. "In fact he was barely loud enough to hear when he spoke to me, and I was standing right next to him. I swear it was as if he was taunting me."

Kodachi breathed a sigh of relief. 'At least he is keeping his promise to me.' She propped herself against one of the walls in the foyer, peeled her tight-fitting fishnets off and tossed them on the floor. "If he didn't mention my name directly, why are you so upset?" Kodachi asked as she stretched to work out the pain in her calves caused by wearing those damnable uniform shoes.

"I am upset because it is a reminder that we have yet to find the source of the leaks regarding you. You know well that I detest unresolved issues of such import."

"Well, that was why I had wanted to talk to you so urgently last night, my brother," Kodachi chided as she reached into a duffel that was sitting on the floor in the cloakroom, fished out some baggy black pants and then tossed in the uniform and stockings. "Had you not been so intent on depleting yourself with Miss Amagi last night, I could've put your fears to rest before you went to sleep." She quickly slipped the pants on and tied its black sash at the waist.

"What do you mean? Did you learn of something new?" Kuno snapped, whirling around to look at her.

"Not exactly. I did manage to defuse the situation, however," she replied as she tied her long, dark hair in a ponytail.

"How?" Kuno demanded.

"Like I said yesterday, I got the information directly from the horse's mouth," she said simply.

Kuno blinked his eyes in confusion, then he thought it through. As comprehension dawned, his face purpled in fury. "YOU TALKED TO HIM?"

"Quit yelling, Tatewaki. Of course I talked to him! It was the only way to get the information we needed. Besides, him already knowing that I exist made our attempts at secrecy moot." Kodachi folded her arms over her breasts and stared at him defiantly. "Still, he wouldn't give up the information concerning his source," she admitted after a moment's hesitation.

Kuno gave her a smug grin. "So you basically wasted your time, exposed yourself to our nemesis and eliminated any doubts that he may have had regarding your existence. Well done, my baby sister," he mocked.

"Shut up, brother! I'm not done yet. One of the things that you and I need to get straight right now is that I do not like being lied to," Kodachi announced as she marched right up to her brother and poked him painfully in the chest with her index finger. "You had me believing that Saotome was a weakling who managed to get the upper hand on you during your fight simply through sheer luck!"

Kuno crossed his arms to cover the now sore spot on his chest and stared down at his sister, his face as neutral as he could make it. "I did not lie to you, my junior sibling. My skills are unparalleled; therefore the only viable conclusion any reasonable person could draw is that luck was obviously the only way in which that scoundrel could have gotten the best of me. I seriously doubt that he would be able to repeat his performance."

"You need to get your head out of your ass, Tatewaki," Kodachi said bluntly. "That so-called 'scoundrel' is far more powerful than you'd led me to believe!"

"Watch your tongue. I have tolerated your insubordinate tone for now, but I shan't for much longer," Kuno warned ominously.

Kodachi waved her hand dismissively at him. "Your threats have no effect on me. You know I'm a better fighter than you are anyway, weapon or no, and I won't be intimidated by you." She glared at him angrily. "I'm trying to help you, you fool, if you'd just shut up long enough to listen to me."

Kuno's anger mounted with every word she spoke. "Help me? How could you possibly help me when you're being so patently unrealistic?"

"Perhaps we should adjourn to your sitting room instead of hashing this out in the foyer? I'm sure Kei would prefer to serve you your evening meal there instead of holding it up for you in here," Kodachi shot back acidly.

Kuno ran his fingers through his hair and grumbled angrily as he led her to the library. Taking his customary seat, he motioned for her to continue. "Please, continue to entertain me with your mad ravings."

Kodachi rolled her eyes. "As I was saying, you cannot best me in a straight-up fight, Tatewaki. We've sparred before, so there's no sense in arguing the point."

As much as it galled him, Kuno was in no position to counter her since she was speaking the unvarnished truth. "However?" he shot back.

"However, yesterday Ranma Saotome beat me fairly." Kodachi shivered as she recalled the epic fight from the day before and, despite herself, the young ninja found herself rubbing her bare arms vigorously. "In fact, I should admit that I have never been so soundly beaten since my first days as a ninja trainee."

Stunned, Kuno stared at Kodachi openly. "My sister, this is distressing news. However, while I understand that this has the potential to change the complexion of the duel that I had with him recently, I do not see what bearing it may have on his knowledge of your existence. Nor do I see how you were able to use this momentous revelation to 'defuse' the situation regarding his possession of that knowledge."

"I was about to get to that part, you self-important popinjay!" Kodachi sat down in a chair facing him and gave him a level stare. "I didn't just say that Ranma Saotome beat me. I quite clearly said that he beat me *fairly* when we fought yesterday. During our battle yesterday, there were times when he obviously could've taken the advantage and either disabled or killed me outright, yet in *all* cases he chose not to do so. And despite all of my ninja trickery, he was able to fight me at more than an equal level."

"So? That just means that when it comes to his fighting technique, he is clearly inexperienced," Kuno retorted. "He obviously lacked the experience to know when he had the advantage and as a result he failed to capitalize on it." He spared his sister a sympathetic glance. "Kotchi, surely you remember what damage Saotome inflicted on Yutaka. He beat an unskilled street brawler with nothing more than pure savagery. No skill was necessary to do what he did."

Kodachi's face flushed with rage and it took every amount of self-control that she could muster to keep her seat. Still, her hands flexed involuntarily as she imagined throttling her disrespectful older brother. "Don't you dare compare me to Yutaka! By implying that Saotome fought me exactly the same way as he fought that brainless lickspittle of yours, you're missing the big picture." 'If he won't pay attention to me, I may have to beat some sense into him after all,' she added to herself.

"And that is?"

"And *that* is that Saotome was holding back against Yutaka when he beat the stuffing out of him!" Kodachi paused to see if he was actually listening to what she was saying. "I read the reports of what happened to Yutaka and you're refusing to accept the simple truth of what I'm trying to tell you. Despite the fact that your hired hand most likely fought without any honor whatsoever, Saotome kept himself in check because he knew that he could've turned that thug into a *corpse* in under twenty seconds!"

Kodachi nodded as her brother's eyebrows raised again. "So you see, the major point here is that Saotome is a *very* skilled fighter who possesses a high degree of honor. My guess is that both he and his sister live their lives by that code unless they are pressed by extraordinary means." She leaned back in her chair and propped her feet up on a nearby Ottoman. "Once I understood this about Saotome's character, I felt comfortable in striking a bargain with him."

"A bargain? With that scoundrel?" Kuno scoffed. "As well to donate money to a gambler as to-"

Kodachi shook her head with what was almost pity. "The fact that you continue to refuse to see what is right in front of you speaks volumes about your own lack of experience, brother-dear." She ignored his indignant spluttering and pressed on. "I felt comfortable in striking a bargain with him and I fully expect him to adhere to it. In doing so, I made a counter bargain that I am honor-bound to uphold."

Kuno's eyes narrowed. "You made this bargain on the family's behalf?"

She shook her head. "No, I made a bargain with him on my own behalf. Specifically, I promised him that if he would keep my secret, I would not harm him, his sister, Akane Tendo or his friend Sato. He was agreeable with those terms, and your name never came up as a party to that discussion. Besides, somehow I get the impression from Ranma Saotome that he does not consider you to be a serious threat."

Kuno growled angrily. "I am tired of your impertinence!"

"Frankly, I don't care what your emotional reaction is. I did what I had to do in order to complete the mission to *my* satisfaction. You and he can continue your little spat for all I care, but understand this; regardless of what you ask me to do, I will not in any way harm him, his family, or his friends."

"Damn your so-called sense of honor!" he shouted, pointing at her. "You're a ninja, my sister, *not* a samurai. You fight and kill in the shadows and use tactics that have no place on the battlefield of honor." Kuno crossed his arms over his chest and glared at her. "Whatever points you think you're making about Saotome's skill and bearing *might* be valid, but they don't excuse your insubordination! Remember whom you serve!"

"I will not tolerate this disrespectful tone from you any longer!" Kodachi thundered as she stood up. "I am indeed a ninja, but that does not excuse me from carrying myself with honor. Furthermore I am *not* a servant for the family; I AM the family!" She loomed over him as he sat in his chair, her eyes boring through him. "Apparently I have allowed you to believe for too long that you can order me about at-will as if I were in actuality the maid that I portray whenever your brain-dead sex toy is in our presence. If you need me to disabuse you of that misapprehension, I will *gladly* do so."

Kuno shrunk back slightly in his chair as his sister leaned in on him. "Perhaps we should take a moment to catch our breaths, my sister. Decisions made in the heat of the moment are most often regretted in the future."

"Perhaps," Kodachi repeated sarcastically. She walked back to her chair with a deadly grace and sat down, never taking his eyes off of him all the while. "Now that we have that behind us, do you have any questions?" She crossed her arms beneath her petite breasts and awaited his reply.

Kuno wearily rubbed his throbbing temples with his fingers, hoping to ward off a migraine before it took hold. "Please correct me if I am wrong, but it appears that you are telling me that the person who defeated me to win Akane Tendo's hand did so strictly on the basis of skill. Furthermore, I am to understand from your analysis that this person possesses a more honorable bearing than I."

"That is correct," she answered patiently.

"I find it hard to believe that he *truly* possesses the skill of a seasoned fighter given how handily I had beaten him the very first time he issued a challenge to me." Kuno sat upright in his chair and folded his hands in his lap. "That is why I have maintained all this time that the boy had used unnatural or unfair means to defeat me when he challenged me the second time. I do have precedent on my side, sister."

Kodachi had to concede his point. "It does seem puzzling that one who is as obviously gifted as he would have allowed you to defeat him in such a humiliating fashion on that one day." The crafty ninja thought further on the issue and recalled another event that had occurred the same day that her brother had been defeated by Saotome. "What about how handily he defeated your Kendo initiates? Repeatedly in fact. Wouldn't you think *now* that his ability to defeat you AND the Kendo team on the same day would make him more of a viable threat?"

Kuno scoffed at her reminder of those shameful events. "I had ascribed those victories of his as mere luck winning out over undisciplined trainees, nothing more than that. After all, those who were defeated by Saotome were newly added to the Kendo squad. Their skill with the sword was poor at best and non-existent at worst. Besides, he did have help with those fights."

Kodachi hated to admit that her brother was right, especially in light of his unabated arrogance. "I agree that it does not add up, brother-dear. The differences in his fighting levels between then and now are too disparate. I do believe, however, that it can be explained."

The Blue Thunder of Furinkan High paused for a moment. "If, as you say, luck was not involved in his victory, perhaps Saotome knew ahead of time that he was going to issue a second challenge to me. That would make the ultimate purpose of that first event to lull me into a false sense of security."

"Your conclusion seems logical, Tatewaki, however it does not fully agree with Ranma Saotome's character as it presented itself to me," Kodachi countered. She held up her hand as she ticked off her points. "It is more likely that you did defeat him on that day for whatever reason, be it illness on his part, a severe case of nerves or simply his poor judgment in underestimating your skill. Any of these conditions would seem to more accurately reflect his character in light of his prior reputation."

Kuno nodded along, albeit grudgingly. "Yes, I had known at the time that he was an introverted pacifist, preceding the day that we fought anyway. It is conceivable that Saotome possessed the skills to fight for quite some time, but until the moment of our second duel he had lacked the will to fully employ those skills in actual combat."

"Exactly so," Kodachi concurred. "So now that you understand this, do you realize why I risked having a conversation with him?"

"I suppose so," Kuno admitted. "And now that I know all of this about him, what do you suggest I should do with this information?"

"Now we're getting back to the original reason that I was so anxious to talk with you this evening," Kodachi said urgently as she leaned forward in her own chair. "I have news about the demise of Kumiko Yoshida that may have a direct bearing on Ranma Saotome and those within his sphere of influence."

"What news? Everyone at the school knows that the woman died in a dreadful car accident on the expressway. How could that tragedy bear on Saotome, other than the fact that it may have some effect on the outcome of the rape investigation against Yutaka."

Kodachi wore a thoughtful expression for a moment before continuing. "I hadn't quite figured that part out yet, so I'll need to factor that datum into the equation. In the meantime, to answer your question, I can say with absolute certainty that Ms. Yoshida was murdered."

Kuno's eyes widened once more and he shot up out of his chair. "Murdered? How?"

"I went to the impound yard and studied her vehicle. It wasn't easy for me to see at first, but the power steering had been tampered with and the braking system had been compromised. Given that combination, the poor woman probably didn't even have time to scream when she slammed headlong into that truck."

Kuno grimaced in distaste. "Do you believe she was eliminated by Saotome?"

Kodachi shook her head. "I seriously doubt that, Tatewaki. It would not help his cause at all to have her killed since Ms. Yoshida had already exonerated him where the incident was concerned. Furthermore, he told me to my face that he did not have her killed and I believe him."

"That leaves only one other primary participant to consider," Kuno said carefully. "Do you believe that it was *Yutaka* that had Ms. Yoshida killed?"

She nodded. "That is merely a suspicion on my part, but yes, I believe that she was eliminated by Yutaka or someone closely tied to him in order to get rid of a major threat to that buffoon's freedom."

"Once again, I am missing something. What makes you believe that this knowledge will have an effect on Saotome?"

"Think it through, my brother. If Yutaka or someone else in his family has the means to order the murder of a lower-level government official, it is quite possible that they could do the same for someone as unknown and relatively exposed as Ranma Saotome, despite his nebulous financial backing. That is why I say that Ms. Yoshida's demise bodes poorly for him."

"Personally, I don't care if he does come to harm," Kuno snapped, waving his hand dismissively. "Besides, since you only have a supposition and no direct information, of what can you possibly warn him?" Kuno reclined in his chair once more and returned her steady gaze with one of his own. "I strongly suggest that you not approach him about this." He held up his hand to stop her from arguing with him again. "This time you are the one who needs to stop and think things through. Despite what you may believe of me, I am not without honor, my sister. I am, however, a pragmatist and as such would not allow you to warn him of a potential threat when you lack enough information to be clear or certain."

The ninja glared at him balefully. "I thought I just told you-"

"Consider this carefully, Kotchi," Kuno interrupted, his tone remaining calm. "Should you warn him with only what you have at hand, and should an accident happen, such an incident could be blamed on our family just as easily as it could be blamed on Yutaka, even when it is quite plain that we are not at fault." He leaned forward again and propped his chin on his hand while regarding his sister. "We cannot afford such a risky exposure to our reputation or to our coffers."

Kodachi grimaced. "While I follow your reasoning, I do not like the idea of withholding such potentially critical information, sketchy as it may be. An apprehensive stance is far from honorable, and I do not need to tell you what the cost of apprehension could be in a case such as this," she countered.

"Then I strongly suggest that you intensify your investigation. If your honor as well as mine are to remain intact, it is something you must now do." Kuno gave a beleaguered sigh. "Now that you have enlightened me to the true nature of my foe, I must change tactics. Hence, as much as I detest that boy, I cannot be who I am unless I begin to match him honor for honor. Therefore if you find out something specific which points to a threat against Saotome's kith and kin, by all means you *must* inform him of that risk."

"That is an acceptable alternative, brother-dear." Kodachi stood up from her chair as Kei entered with her brother's meal on a tray. "Enjoy your meal, Tatewaki. I have work to do," she said as she hurriedly left the room. Balling her hands into fists, she stared ahead with grim determination. 'I alone will assess what qualifies as a specific threat and I will spare no effort to find that threat,' Kodachi vowed. '*My* honor depends on it.'



****



Monday Evening:



"Okay, I have to stop," Ranko said wearily as she held up a hand to stop their onslaught. "I thought I could go longer, but my ankle's starting to give out on me."

Standing at either end of her, Ranma and Sato halted their charge in mid-step and watched Ranko closely. "You okay, sis?"

Ranko nodded as she sat down on the floor against the far wall of the training hall. "Yeah, bro. I'm okay. Just doing what Dr. Tofu told me." She took off her ankle brace and massaged her foot, trying hard not to wince as she did so. "At least the headache is gone."

Sato sighed relief. "That's good to hear. I was afraid that you were still feeling weak because of what Hikaru had slipped you at lunch," he added as he gave her a quick smile. He walked over to her and handed her a towel while Ranma started collecting pads and other items from the floor to stow them away.

"Thanks, Sato," Ranko said as she aimed a weary smile at him.

"You're welcome," Sato replied warmly as he gave her body a once over and then, with a guilty look on his face as he recalled an image of her nudity from this afternoon, he suddenly turned to avoid her gaze as he walked over to retrieve his own towel.

Ranko's smile collapsed as she watched him walk away from her. 'What the hell was that about?' she wondered silently.

"Hey, sis. I'm gonna hit the can. I'll be right back," Ranma announced before dashing out of the training hall.

"Okay, Ranma," Ranko said distractedly, her attention still on Sato's back. She watched as he quickly donned his uniform shirt and waited for him to turn around. After a few seconds elapsed it was plain that he wasn't going to, so she cleared her throat to get his attention. "Hey, Sato?"

"Yeah, w- what is it, Ranko?" Sato stammered over his shoulder.

Gingerly, Ranko managed to stand up again without causing any harm to her ankle. With slow, deliberate steps she quietly made her way over to where Sato stood. "What's going on with you?" she asked as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "You're acting funny all of a sudden."

Sato's heart raced the moment her hand touched him. He didn't reply for a moment, unsure of what he should say. Then he chanced reaching up and placing his hand atop hers. "Nothing's going on, Ranko. I just-"

"Just what?" she asked as she took his hand in hers. She then walked around to face him and was shocked when he wouldn't meet her gaze. Ranko lowered her voice. "Hey, it's just the two of us in here, Sato. If something else happened today that you don't want Ranma to know about-"

Sato shook his head. "It's not that, Ranko," he said in a shuddering breath, his eyes staring hard at the floor.

"What is it, then?"

"Well," he began as he lifted his eyes to look her in the eyes. Sato shifted his gaze to the floor again and stepped away from Ranko. "It's just that-" He cut off in frustration as he tried to put together what it is he wanted to say.

Ranko looked at him in consternation. "Let's have a seat, Sato," she insisted as she took him by the arm and led him to the steps of the training hall. Sato followed wordlessly, his eyes focusing on the yard past the open doors of the training hall. Upon reaching the stairs, Sato put his arm around Ranko and helped her to sit before sitting down next to her. He then seemed to realize what he'd done and suddenly put both of his hands in his lap as he stared straight ahead again. Ranko growled when she saw him try to surreptitiously inch away from her as they sat next to each other on the stair. "Sato, dammit! What's your problem? Have I grown a third arm or something?"

"What? No! It's nothing like that, Ranko," he stammered as he continued to inch away from her.

"Well, stop moving around like that and tell me what the hell's going on. All of a sudden you're treating me like I'm diseased." Ranko looked at him sternly with her fists planted on her hips, her eyes daring him to move a micron further away from her.

Sato stopped and looked down at his hands. "It's just that when we stopped training and I handed you your towel, you stopped being Ranma's sister for a moment and-"

"And what?" Ranko demanded.

"And I started thinking about you like a girl."

Ranko's face reddened. "Well, shit. I should hope so, Sato. After all, I am one," she spat.

"Wait!" Sato blurted, waving his hands defensively. "That's not exactly how I meant to say it."

"Why don't you try again, then," Ranko growled.

"Well, it's just that I was thinking about you just now and after what you went through today, I didn't think it was right to think of you like that," he said in a rush.

"Huh?"

Sato forced himself to look into her bright, blue eyes. "Ranko, when I saw you sitting on the floor just now it reminded me of how you looked when I found you in the gym today."

"You'll have to remind me, Sato. I was unconscious at the time, remember?"

"You weren't wearing anything then, Ranko."

Ranko's eyes widened in shock. "Waitaminute! I thought you told me that you'd managed to stop Hikaru before he could take advantage of me."

Sato nodded quickly. "I did, Ranko. I did. But he had managed to get your shirt and your bra off before I caught him."

Ranko nodded her understanding. "So you got to see my boobs, huh?" She wrapped her arms around herself and blushed bright red. "Did I look that bad to you?" she asked in a small voice.

"Oh God, not at all!" Sato said. "Ranko, you're-" He flushed guiltily. "You're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen in my life, and I'm not just saying that because we're friends."

Ranko gasped and looked at him wide-eyed. "Sato!"

He forced himself to go on before he lost his nerve again. "You're the first girl I've ever seen undressed in real life, Ranko. I have to say- Well, that is ... I have to say that I could probably go the rest of my days and never see a body that's as close to perfect as yours." He regarded her with a hangdog look. "And I shouldn't have been thinking of you like that, especially since you'd just been through such a big ordeal- oof!" Sato cut his speech off abruptly and his eyes widened as he found himself suddenly enveloped in a desperate hug from his friend. He looked down at her in stunned silence, not sure why she reacted the way she did. The air grew thick between them as she held onto him.

"Do you really mean that?" she whispered a moment later.

"Yeah, Ranko. I'm being honest with you," he stammered unsurely.

"Thank you," she said softly.

He tentatively returned her hug, as difficult as it was while sitting side-by-side on the stairs. "I- I never realized that you had a six-pack either, Ranko. You must've worked out a whole lot harder than I'd thought to have muscles like that."

Ranko blushed anew at the praise and sat back from him. "Well, yeah, I've been working out almost every single day from the moment Pop started training me." She lifted her shirt up with one hand to expose her abs while smacking the taut skin with her other. "I consider these my trophies for years of hard work," Ranko added as she poked her abdominal muscles with a finger, obviously proud of herself.

Sato blushed the moment her shirttail had slipped up to expose her abs and grew redder the longer he stared at her bared skin. "Ranko! You keep that up and I'm going to faint!" he protested helplessly.

Ranko sat back from him and giggled at his hapless expression. She clapped her hands together as she laughed, his embarrassment fueling her mirth. Blessedly her shirttail fluttered back down to the waistband of her workout pants, which allowed Sato to breathe normally again.

"That wasn't fair," he said with a touch of irritation.

Ranko stuck her tongue out at him playfully. "Oh, I'm just playing with you, Sato."

"Yeah, well you're not a guy, so you don't know what it's like to see something that wonderful and know that you can never have it," he groused.

"Who says you can't?" Ranko asked him with a playful wink.

"Huh?!" Sato stammered, his eyes wide as saucers. He suddenly avoided her gaze and studied his hands instead. "I'm not lucky enough to find someone like you who is the personification of the perfect girl. I'm just- I don't know..."

Ranko blushed again. "Sato, you'll never have a perfect girl. They don't exist."

"Ranko, you're sitting right here," Sato reminded her.

"Sato, stop it. I appreciate your opinion of me, I really do. But perfect girls don't let themselves get into situations where they could be molested by their ex-boyfriends," Ranko argued, not allowing herself to be distracted by his words, welcome as they were. "And anyway, my point is that you're setting your standards too high. Also, you could have a happy relationship with someone if you didn't try so hard to get into a relationship in the first place."

"I dunno. After what Nabiki did to me on Friday and Saturday..."

"Oh, forget about that bitch!" Ranko spat in frustration. "She's got a lot of problems and you're just wasting your time by continuing to chase after her. Quit dwelling on it, Sato. It's only causing you more hurt."

Sato grimaced. "But Ranko, she was the only person who showed any interest in me at all, recently anyway." He looked into her eyes again, a hint of sadness gracing his features. "It meant a lot to have a pretty girl show me that kind of attention, brief as it was."

Ranko nodded and rested her head on his shoulder. "I know what you mean. Despite that, however, you should take a step back and look at Nabiki without thinking of her as a potential girlfriend. If you look at her just as a person, you might be surprised at what you see." She sighed and rubbed Sato's back. "After all, that's what I went through yesterday when I broke up with Hikaru."

"Really?" Sato asked with genuine surprise.

"Yeah, I was shocked at what I saw when I looked at him from that perspective, Sato. The guy's a complete asshole." Both of them broke out laughing. "It's almost a shame that Ranma couldn't find him today and finish what you started," Ranko added as she took Sato's right hand in both of hers. She traced the bruise marks on his knuckles with her index finger.

Sato nodded soberly. "I wanted to hurt him worse than I had, but I was more concerned about getting you to safety. I was worried because you wouldn't respond to me whenever I'd try to wake you up, so that's why I let him be and took you to the nurse's office instead."

"Hey, you're a classy guy, Sato. You could've beaten Hikaru, no *Gos* to a pulp and just left me on the floor awhile longer. Also, you could've been a typical guy and taken advantage of me back when I was unconscious, but you didn't do that either. You're a much better person than anyone else I know, except maybe for my brother," she says. "Thank you again for being there when I needed it." Before he could react, Ranko bent forward and kissed him soundly on the lips.

Sato's heart raced so intensely that he felt faint; it was his second kiss from her in a week and in both cases they were completely unsolicited. "Uh- You're welcome, Ranko," he said as he hesitantly touched her cheek with a hand. Unsure of what he should do next, he chose the safer option of leaving before he wound up making a fool of himself in front of her and ruining the moment. "Well, I'd better get home. Mom's been cranky because I've spent so much time away from home recently." He stood and buttoned up his shirt, then helped Ranko to her feet. "See you at school tomorrow?" he asked with a giddy smile before walking down the steps.

"Yeah, you will," she replied with a smile of her own. "Take care, Sato."



****



"Holy crap! I can't believe that someone tried to take advantage of Ranko Saotome during school today!' Nabiki thought incredulously, thunderstruck by the revelation presented to her by her informant. 'The nurse's report confirms that she was groggy, but it says nothing about an assault occurring. The school appears to be ready to play this off as a case of exhaustion.' She shuffled through the notes and her eyes narrowed when she caught mention of Sato's name. "So, their scrawny little tagalong was the one who brought her in to the nurse's office. Why am I not surprised?" she asked herself with a hint of resentment and anger.

"I wonder who the supposed guy was that-" Nabiki's thoughtful mutters cut off as she reached the last page of handwritten notes. 'Hikaru Gosunkugi?' She threw the papers down on her desk and put her face in her hands. 'That idiot! If he's the one who tried to force himself on Ranko Saotome and they ever find out about his ties to me, tenuous as they may be... Oh, this is *not* good...' Nabiki groaned and tried to figure out how bad her exposure was and how badly this could play against her sister's current relations with Ranma.

Not wanting to deal with further complications to her life, Nabiki's mind quickly retreated to the one spot of good luck she'd had this afternoon, which had come from the pregnancy test she'd administered as soon as she had gotten home. That was one test she had hoped to fail with flying colors, and to her delight the results had indeed come back negative. Wary of Kasumi finding the box or the wand, Nabiki had folded up the packaging and sealed it along with the wand inside a small box that she then discarded in a neighbor's trashcan.

Tired of thinking, Nabiki decided to shelve the issue of Ranko, Hikaru and herself for now and instead lay down for a much-needed nap. Folding the papers and putting them back in the envelope, she placed the information back into her satchel. Her fingers brushed against the large wad of paper that she'd fished out of her shoe after school and, curious, she pulled the paper ball out and began to straighten it out. As it unraveled, she began make out handwriting done in pencil in a very neat hand, but as she read what was written there, her face lost all color and her hands began to tremble. Barely managing to stifle a bloodcurdling scream, she turned the piece of paper over and, immediately upon seeing its contents, turned it over again and slammed it down on the desk.

Nabiki cried in despair, wishing with all her might that it were merely a figment of her imagination. When the paper refused to vanish, she again picked up the note with a trembling hand and looked at it critically. As she re-read the note, Nabiki forced herself to focus on the style of handwriting more than the content to see if she could recognize it and puzzle out the author's identity.

"Hey Nabiki, those are some of the sweetest tits I've ever seen in my life! Who knew that a babe lurked under the school uniform of the campus gambling queen? If you want to keep that information just between us, though, you'll have to pay me a LOT of money. Otherwise this picture of you will find its way online. Isn't the internet a wonderful thing?"

The note went on to list the blackmailer's demands and how she was to meet them, including a 'discount' if she'd sleep with him or her. The other side of the page was a printout of what had to be a capture from a video camera. It quite clearly showed her nude and passed out on a bench on school grounds with her legs spread wide open for all to see, along with a time and date stamp in the lower right-hand corner.

Knowing there was only one thing she could do, Nabiki placed the paper on her desk again, scrubbed her tear-filled eyes with a shaky hand and then reached under her desk for her private phone list. "This had better work," she grumbled.



****



From her seat on the couch Nodoka watched as her son descended the stairs. Standing up, she held a hand out and touched her son's shoulder before he made it past the couches. "Ranma, wait a moment. I need to ask you a question."

"Uh, yeah, Mom?" Ranma asked as he came to a halt. "If it's about earlier... in the bathroom, I mean- I'm sorry I walked in on you two like that," he offered uncomfortably.

Nodoka blushed furiously and grimaced. "Um, that's not what I wanted to talk about, but I still accept your apology."

Ranma regarded his mom warily. "So, what's up?"

"I need to know, from you, what's been going on this weekend." Nodoka looked into her son's eyes as if searching for something. "It seems that a lot has happened since your father and I left on Friday."

Ranma did his best to keep his face neutral, but inside he was feeling panic mounting inside him. "What do you mean? We kept the house clean and didn't throw any parties or nothin' like that."

"Now, son. Don't get defensive," Nodoka scolded lightly. "I'm not talking about anything that mundane. I'm referring to things like the death of Ms. Yoshida. Plus, your sister told me that she broke up with Hikaru over the weekend." Ranma saw by the expression on his mom's face that shared his opinion about Hikaru. Although, by the way she was talking, he figured that she didn't know anything other than that they had broken up.

"Poor Sato looks like he's a walking poster boy for clinical depression," Nodoka continued. "In fact, it seems that all of you have had to deal with some fairly difficult things in the past three days. Your father and I came home early because we were concerned that Ms. Yoshida's death would have had a bad effect on the both of you. Frankly, I'm now concerned that several things may have hit you all at once and you could've been overwhelmed by it all. What's happened here that I don't know about, son?"

"Nothin' really, Mom," he evaded. "You should've called us before you came back home. We're all doin' okay, so you didn't have to go and ruin your vacation like that."

Nodoka pursed her lips as she once again regarded him carefully, annoyed that he dodged her question so neatly. "Well, you're probably right, son," she sighed reluctantly. "It was the first time we have ever left the two of you alone for an extended period of time and in hindsight we probably should have called you before rushing back to the house. However, what's done is done."

Ranma put a hand on his mother's shoulder. "I promise you, mom. There's nothin' that happened this weekend that we couldn't handle. I mean- Sure Ms. Yoshida died, but I didn't really know her all that well."

"Can you tell me what happened between Ranko and Hikaru?" Nodoka asked suddenly. "The breakup seemed to come out of nowhere. That boy didn't hurt her, did he?"

Ranma swallowed an uncomfortable look as his mother's gaze bored into him. He took away his hand and shook his head slowly. "I'm sorry, but that's between the two of them. I won't say anything about Ranko's life behind her back, Mom." He held up a hand. "Please, Mom. I looked after her this weekend and made sure she was safe. I can't tell you anything more than that, though."

Nodoka nodded grudgingly, although she seemed satisfied with his answer. "Very well, Ranma. I will ask her when she's ready." She studied her hands for a moment before continuing. "By the way, since your father and I are back early, I think I'm going to use the extra time to attend to some chores that I have been putting off for a very long while. Over the coming week I may need your help with some of them, okay?"

"Uh, yeah. Sure thing, mom," Ranma said hesitantly. "I'm not sure what I can do, but I'll help you any way I can."

Nodoka smiled. "Thank you, son. Now, go get your sister. It's time for dinner and both of you have school tomorrow."

"Okay," Ranma said as he headed outside to get his sister. "Hey! Where's Sato?" he asked a moment later as he approached Ranko as she stood at the foot of the stairs to the training hall.

"He left a few minutes ago. I think he worked himself too hard today," Ranko replied as she locked the doors and stepped down onto the lawn.

"You're one to talk," Ranma quipped as he stood next to his sister and put his arm around her shoulders.

Ranko stuck her tongue out at him. "Well, it's true. He pushed himself harder than he should have."

"Well, I guess it's a good thing he left. Mom was askin' me a lot of questions just now, and the way she was talkin', I didn't want him around here."

Ranko raised an eyebrow. "What's this about, bro?"

"I don't know, sis," he shrugged. "She was askin' a lot of questions about Ms. Yoshida and about your breakup with Gos."

"Really?" Ranko stopped and put her hand atop his. "I don't want her or Pop to know about what happened today."

Ranma grunted in surprise. "You sure, sis? Pop would be glad to tear Gos' head off for you."

"Yes, I'm sure he would, too. Still, I think Sato got his attention and Gos' fear of you will keep him away from me for good. Besides, I don't want either of you, or Pop for that matter, getting in trouble because you hurt Gos."

Ranma's hands balled into fists, and he angrily ignored the twinge of pain he immediately felt from his injured hand. "I still want to beat the shit out of him, and the moment I lay eyes on him that's exactly what's gonna happen," he grumbled.

"No!" she said insistently. "I'm tired of telling you this, Ranma. I don't want you to touch him at all! I mean it, bro! I won't have you getting in trouble because of me."

"But he deserves it!" Ranma exclaimed.

"I love you for being so protective of me, bro, but you need to let it go." Ranko gave her brother a look that underscored her seriousness.

Ranma let his breath out in a huff. "Okay, okay!"



Tuesday Morning



"Kids, I need you downstairs now!" Nodoka's voice called from the base of the staircase. "I swear! The two of you are going to be late for school if you don't hustle!"

The thunder of footsteps hurrying down the stairs announced the arrival of the Saotome siblings. "Sorry about that, Mom," Ranko offered as she grabbed her bento and her satchel.

"Yeah, sorry," Ranma echoed as he followed his sister's lead.

"What, no breakfast?" Nodoka asked, eyebrows arching. "Wait just a moment! Stop where you are, young lady!"

Ranko groaned as she skidded to a halt just shy of the front door. "Mom, you said we were going to be late!"

"You still have time to come here and give your mother a hug," Nodoka chided as she walked up to her daughter and opened her arms. Ranko hurried into her mother's arms and returned the hug tightly. "You take care, young lady."

"Okay, Mom," Ranko said quickly as she reached for the doorknob and opened the door.

"Son," Nodoka said just before he reached the threshold. "I need you to hand this to the principal," she commanded as she handed Ranma a sealed envelope with Principal Kuno's name on it.

Ranma looked at the envelope as if it were a snake. "What is it, Mom?"

"Now, don't you worry about that. I'll talk to you about it when you get home this evening," his mother chided lightly.

Grimacing, Ranma tucked the envelope in his satchel and hesitantly gave Nodoka a hug. "Okay, Mom."

"Take care, Son," Nodoka said as she saw her children out of the house and closed the door behind them.

The two walked a few steps in silence before Ranko looked up at her brother. "You look like someone just told you that you owed them a ton of money, bro."

Ranma snorted. "A letter to the principal from Mom? What the heck could it be about?"

"Bro, you should be more worried if you carry notes home to Mom *from* the principal."

"I guess you have a point."

"Don't worry about it," Ranko added with a pat on the back.

"You tellin' *me* not to worry?" Ranma said with a laugh.

"What do you mean?" she asked defensively.

"You had me wait upstairs with you until the last minute so that Mom wouldn't be able to give you a lot of grief over the fact that you're not wearin' your school uniform today."

Ranko giggled and spun for her brother, her newly tied pigtail lashing her cheeks as she came to a stop. "Hey! I happen to like this better than that uniform!"

Ranma shook his head at her antics. "But I know better, sis. You and I both know that Mom would be yellin' at you right now if she found out that you never washed your clothes the entire time they were away on vacation."

Ranko stuck her tongue out at him. "Whatever! Let's get to school before we get into trouble. Besides, Sato's probably already there and waiting on us."

Ranma put his sister in a headlock, albeit gently. "You're a troublemaker, you know that."

"Trouble's my middle name, Ranma," Ranko said as she pushed out of his grip and gave him a sassy smirk. Sticking her tongue out again, she ran away from him before he could reach her, giggling all the while.



****



Tuesday Afternoon



'Thank GOD this day is over,' Akane declared wearily as she stepped towards the front door of the school. 'That math test just about ruined me.' She quickly retrieved her shoes and was about to head for the exit when she felt a hand touch her arm.

"Akane, we need to talk," a voice suddenly announced from behind.

A cold chill worked its way up her spine as she turned to glare at the person speaking to her. "What do you want, Kuno-ch- " Akane cut herself off angrily as she realized what she was about to say. Her temper flared even brighter when she caught a hint of a satisfied smirk gracing her ex-fiance's features.

"We have things to discuss."

"We have nothing to discuss. You and I are done." Akane gave him a smug grin of her own. "Besides, you and Kinuko make such a *darling* couple."

For a moment Kuno regarded her unsurely before dismissing her comment with a wave of his hand. Calmly he led her away from the front doors of the school and into an empty classroom. He closed the door and then turned to look at her with a touch of disdain. "The status of my bond with Kinuko Amagi is indeed the primary cause of my need to speak with you."

"Please cut to the chase," Akane huffed impatiently. "I have to get to Ranma before he leaves. We're going out on a date tonight and I need to talk with him about where we're going."

Kuno just did manage to mask his irritation at hearing his foe's name spoken so familiarly by his ex-fiancee. "Then it is fortuitous that I managed to make contact with you before you departed the campus."

Akane was sure that steam was starting to vent from her ears. Balling her hands into fists, she stood her ground and looked him in the eyes. "You have five seconds before I leave."

"There are things about that scoundrel of which I am quite sure you are unaware."

"Are you going to stand there and just insult him in front of me?" Akane sighed. "Let it go. Whatever you and I may have had is gone now and I do not regret that at all!"

"This is not about our past, Akane. This is about your current ... interest, shall we say. I have learned things about him that trouble me greatly. Things that, should they be repeated aloud, could affect you in a most dire fashion."

"Are you threatening to *blackmail* us?" Akane hissed incredulously. "You unbelievable bastard!"

Kuno held up his hands. "I ask that you indulge me for a moment. My intent is not to blackmail, nor to unfairly disparage. I merely offer to inform for your protection as well as that of your family."

"Huh?"

"What do you know about Saotome's past with Kinuko?"

"What has that bitch told you?" Akane demanded. "No, nevermind! She's got nothing to say that I'm interested in hearing."

"I would ask you to treat my future wife with more respect, Akane." He held up his hand again to forestall her angry retort. "As I was saying, what Kinuko told me about Saotome troubles me greatly. I have to admit, however, that I would have held her words as suspect given how outlandish it all sounded, were it not for the fact that I had incontrovertible proof of her claims in my possession."

"Oh, you're so full of it!" Akane retorted, albeit a bit unsurely.

"I would not lie about something such as this. Allow me to cut to the chase, as you said." At her curt nod he continued. "Were you aware that Saotome was carrying on a physical relationship with Kinuko as recently as last week?"

"What?!"

Kuno nodded gravely as he continued. "Indeed. What happened between the two of them only four days prior was quite disturbing to hear, inasmuch as his treatment of her is concerned." He went on to tell Akane everything that he'd learned from Kinuko about the Friday night romp she'd had with Ranma. "I know for a fact that Saotome had planned in advance to engage in this sordid conduct with Kinuko at his house," he concluded gravely.

"You haughty, arrogant, self-righteous son of a bitch!" Akane said as she slapped his face with as much strength and anger as she could muster. "How could you say something so blatantly dishonest to me?"

Kuno calmly rubbed his violated cheek as he regarded her with a piteous expression. "As I said, I was informing you of this as a courtesy to your family for past considerations. Furthermore, I did say that I had proof of my statements." Reaching into his uwagi, he pulled something out and held it firmly in his grasp. "Produce your hand, Akane," he commanded.

Without thinking, Akane obeyed and held her hand out for him. She watched with suspicion as he placed a key on her outstretched palm. "This is a key to Saotome's house; a key that I got from Kinuko. As she and I are together now, she no longer has need of it. I initially appropriated that from her with the intent of placing it in the refuse, however Kinuko's confessional from Sunday night prompted me to keep it." He crossed his arms over his chest and frowned at her. "I knew I would have to inform you of this and that key would be necessary to validate my claims. You may keep that key, as I have no use for it."

Akane stared at the key lying in her hand, dumbfounded. "How could you?" she said in a soft voice, her lower lip trembling.

Kuno nodded in understanding. "I realize that this information is troubling for you to hear, therefore I will forgive your imprudent behavior. Your emotional outburst, as juvenile as it was, is understandable." He rubbed his cheek again to underscore his point, unaware of the harsh red imprint of Akane's hand that was beginning to appear.

"Go to hell, Kuno," Akane growled in a voice thick with emotion. Her fingers curled around the house key until her knuckles turned white. She glared at him hatefully as she turned and walked away. "Don't ever talk to me again," she warned him as she walked towards the front doors of the school.



****



"Hey, Ranko!" Ranma shouted as soon as he caught sight of his sister walking across the quad. He and Sato both waved to her from their position beneath the lunch tree as she trotted in their direction.

"Hey guys!" Ranko said as she dropped her book bag and plopped herself down between the two. "What're you two doing here? I figured you would've already headed to the house."

"We skipped the last class of the day and just hung out here," Sato admitted. He gave her a playful smile to answer the questioning look she gave him. "What can I say? I needed a nap."

"How'd your day go, sis?" Ranma interjected.

Ranko turned to look at her brother with a raised eyebrow. "I didn't have any problems with Gos, if that's what you mean, although someone was following me around the school all day today."

"Really?" Sato's eyes rose in alarm. "Did you get a look at the person?"

"Oh, I'd say he was about that height and that build," Ranko smirked as she pointed at her brother. "Come to think of it, he was dressed like that too."

"Okay, okay!" Ranma held up his hands in surrender while Sato laughed at the two of them. "I was worried about you is all, sis."

Ranko put her hands on her hips. "I don't mind you being concerned. I do mind you stalking me like some kind of weirdo, though."

"Hey! I wasn't stalkin' or nothin' like that! I just wanted to make sure that Gos didn't get anywhere near you today."

"I don't think he showed up at school, Ranma," Sato interjected. "I'd kept an eye out for him all day and never saw him. I think he's too afraid to show his face."

"Oh," Ranma replied with a hint of disappointment.

"Remember what I said last night," Ranko admonished. "Neither of you are to lay a hand on him. If anyone's going to beat the shit out of him from now on, it'll be me. Understand? I can fight my own battles."

"Whatever," Ranma snapped. "I don't like it, but I'll do what you say, sis."

"Thank you, bro," Ranko beamed as she put one arm around her brother's shoulders and another around Sato's. "So, are we sparring tonight? I feel much better than I did yesterday, so I figure I can take both of you on fairly easily."

Ranma snorted at that. "The doc wouldn't like it if he heard you were training that hard. Besides, you think that takin' on both of us is gonna be easy? You shouldn't be livin' in a fantasy world, sis."

Ranko stuck her tongue out at her brother. "Yeah, yeah; whatever. Still, we are going to practice tonight, right? I need to keep at it, otherwise I'll go soft."

Ranma looked down at the ground. "You and Sato can spar if you want, but I'm doin' somethin' else tonight," he said evasively.

Ranko and Sato both raised their eyebrows. "Oh?" they chorused. "What's going on, bro?" Ranko added.

Ranma squirmed a bit under their scrutiny. "I'm goin' out with Akane tonight, okay?" he said defensively.

"Hey, that's great!" Ranko said enthusiastically as she pulled her arm away from Sato and wrapped her brother up in a big hug. "I hope you two have a wonderful night," she whispered into his ear. "After everything you've been through, you two deserve a night out," Ranko added as she sat down and put her other arm around Sato again.

"Yeah, man. That's cool," Sato added, though with much less cheer. "Have a good time."

Ranko turned to look at Sato. "Looks like it's just you and me in the training hall, then."

"And your dad," Sato amended.

"Oh, that's true," Ranko said as she stood up. "That being the case, I need to get home soon 'cos you know how he likes to practice early." She shouldered her book bag and looked down at them. "I'm going to head home and get changed. See you in the training hall?"

Sato nodded. "Yep. I'll be right behind you." Ranko nodded and waved before heading for the front gate of the school. As soon as Ranko was beyond earshot, he turned back to his friend. "Man! She's really insistent about us not going after Hikaru. That's the second time she's warned me against doing anything to him."

Ranma nodded angrily. "Yeah, you know she doesn't want us goin' to jail or anything for messin' him up." He stared after the departing form of his younger sister with more than a little concern. "She really doesn't remember anything about what that creep tried to do to her. If she did, I bet she'd feel differently."

"That's what I was just thinking. In fact-" Sato cut off what he was about to say as he saw Akane approaching the two of them. He quickly stood up and dusted off his uniform pants. "Well, looks like Akane's heading this way. I'd better catch up with Ranko."

"Sato, wait!" Ranma began, his hand outstretched. "You don't have to be leavin' on account of Akane showin' up."

"It's not that, Ranma. Akane and I get along fine. I'm just guessing that she's going to want to talk to you in private about your date tonight and I don't want to be a third wheel." Sato smiled wanly as he turned and walked away in the same direction Ranko had headed.

Ranma nodded to Sato and absently waved as his friend walked away. He then watched with mounting expectation as Akane approached. However, as she drew closer he saw something familiar in her pose. His hackles rose as he realized with a start that she was mad. Really mad, in fact! From the expression on her face Ranma was fairly certain that it was *he* with whom she had a problem. 'Uh oh, this doesn't look good,' he told himself as he braced himself for the worst.

"Hi, Ranma-kun," Akane said stiffly as she plopped down on the grass opposite him. She fumbled with something in her hands and, to Ranma, seemed a bit unsure.

"Uh, hi Akane. What's up?" he asked tentatively.

"We need to talk, Ranma." Tears suddenly filled her eyes and she bit her lower lip to keep it still. "I learned something just now and I have to hear the truth from you."

"Truth about what?" Ranma asked as his paranoia mounted.

"How did Kinuko get this?" Akane demanded as she thrust the key in his face. "I was told that this is a key to your house."

Ranma's eyes went wide and he suddenly fought to keep down a rising wave of panic. 'She knows about Friday night. She has to!' His eyes took in the key that Akane was holding out to him. "Akane, I-"

"Did you have sex with Kinuko last Friday?" Akane blurted out, tears streaming down her face. Not waiting for an answer, she continued through sniffles. "You told me that you were through with her!" She stared at him with her large brown eyes as rage, indignation and disbelief warred for supremacy within her.

"Akane, wait! I didn't have sex with her on Friday! I *am* through with her." Ranma searched his mind desperately for any hint of how Akane had found out about that surreal evening. "You believe me, don't you?"

"But this key!" Akane's hand shook with anger as she held the key before him. "It is a key to your house, isn't it?"

Ranma hesitantly took the key from her hand, pulled his keys out of his pocket and compared hers to the house key on his ring. The two were a perfect match. "Yes, it is," he admitted numbly. 'That's how that bitch got into the house that night! Damn, how did she get a hold of- no, I had to have given it to her in my previous life. That's the only explanation. I can't believe this! Just when things were startin' to go well with Akane, too! DAMMIT!' Ranma raged inside even as he tried to keep his face calm.

"So it is true," Akane cried. "You've been playing with me all this time, haven't you?"

"No! I'd given her this key a long time ago when I was too stupid to understand what an idiot she is."

"But what about Friday night? Body paint? Animal sex?" Akane spat, a disgusted look on her face. "How could you?"

"Akane, I *swear* to you that I didn't have any kind of sex with her at all that night," he insisted.

"But she was there in your house on Friday night, wasn't she?"

Ranma nodded reluctantly. "Yeah, I think she snuck into the house while Ranko and I were watching movies in the attic."

"I can't believe this!" Akane cried. "You should've told me about this, Ranma. I would've listened to you! I shouldn't have had to hear about this first-hand from my ex-fiance!" She took a handkerchief out of her purse and wiped tears from her eyes. "Kuno took great delight in telling me about how bad you were for me, and then he told me everything that you and Kinuko had done together that night."

'Kuno told her this?!' Ranma thought furiously. 'That fucking jerk! I'm going to rip him a new one!' "I'm sorry, Akane. I didn't tell you anything about Friday night because nothing happened. That's the truth."

"Huh?"

Ranma dropped the key on the ground and reached forward to place his hands on Akane's shoulders pleadingly. "Akane, please! I'm tellin' you the truth here! When I caught her in my room, I ran her out of the house. Ranko saw it happen, so you can ask her about it too. I didn't want Kinuko in my house, or in my life. I *swear!* I didn't tell you about this because I didn't want you thinkin' that I invited that weirdo to my place that night. You have to believe me! Nothing happened." 'She *has* to believe me,' he thought urgently.

Akane looked at him unsurely. "Ranma, I don't know. This is all too-" A screech of tires in the distance cut her off in mid-sentence, grabbing the attention of both of them.

"RANMA!" a male voice screamed in the distance a moment later. "RANMA, get here QUICK! For the love of God, hurry!"

Ranma bounded to his feet in an instant. "That's Sato's voice!"

"What is it?" Akane asked in alarm from her seated position.

Ranma's face paled as he realized exactly why his friend would be yelling so frantically. "Oh my God! Ranko!" With that he took off at a sprint and made for the front gates.



****



Sato looked over his shoulder and watched as Akane sat down on the ground next to Ranma, then returned his gaze to his intended path. 'I really do hope they have a good time tonight,' he thought with a wan smile. Seeing Ranko passing the front gate on her way home, he quickened his pace. 'Maybe I can catch up with Ranko and walk her back to her house,' he thought as he began to close the distance between them. His smile brightened as he saw her turn in the crosswalk and, as soon as she caught a glimpse of him, she waved for him to join her.

Sato's smile quickly turned to a look of abject horror as the sound of squealing tires announced the arrival of a beat-up white compact car that was aimed directly at Ranko. He barely had a chance to yell or even raise his own hand in warning before the vehicle slammed into her from behind, catapulting her body across the road to crash into the fencing of the school before landing face-up on the sidewalk. Not even wasting breath on screaming, he darted for her as fast as his legs could run. "Out of my way!" he shouted as he mindlessly shoved gawkers out of the way.

Sato's throat tightened the moment he got to her. Her legs were bent at an odd angle and her eyes seemed to be staring at nothing. Also, blood was starting to pool around her head on the concrete sidewalk. "Ranko!" he shouted as he got on his knees next to her and put his ear to her chest. 'Thank God her heart is still going,' he said as he heard its strident beat.

Sato sat up again and scanned the crowd, all of whom were staring at the gruesome spectacle in stunned silence. "Someone call the police now!" he shouted when no one moved. "Someone has to have a goddamned cell phone or something. Call the fucking cops now!" he thundered. 'I gotta let Ranma know about this!' Standing up, Sato cupped his hands to his mouth. "RANMA!" he screamed as loudly as he could. "RANMA, get here QUICK! For the love of God, hurry!"

Kneeling again, he took Ranko's hand in his and held it tightly. "Ranko, do you hear me? Ranko!" Tears stung his eyes, as he got nothing in reply. "Dammit, Ranko, don't you leave me like this. Of everyone I know here in this town, you and Ranma are more like family to me than my own parents. Please let me know that you can hear me!"

A light squeeze of his hand brought relief flooding to him. "That's it! Don't give up. Whatever happens, you hold on to me for all it's worth. I won't leave your side, I swear!"

"RANKO!" Ranma's voice bellowed as he leaped over the gathering crowd and landed next to Sato. "NO! God, NO!" He knelt next to her and cradled her head in his hands.

A student approached Sato and held his cell phone up. "I called the cops. They said that an ambulance is on the way."

"Thanks," Sato said absently as he watched his best friend frantically try to get Ranko to respond to him.

"Sis, please!" Ranma said desperately. His heart ached as he took in the horrible condition of his sister. Both of her legs were broken and possibly her left arm was as well. And while her eyes were blinking slowly, she wasn't saying a word to either of them.

"Ranma, she's squeezed my hand, so she can hear me. Take her other hand, man. You'll see what I mean," he said, hoping that he sounded encouraging.

"What the hell happened to her?" Ranma demanded even as he gingerly took his sister's other hand in his. He sighed in relief when she immediately squeezed his hand. He kissed her hand and then gently caressed her cheek. 'That's it, sis!' he thought urgently.

"A car hit her while she was crossing the street. It hit her pretty hard-" Sato said, choking up as he looked back down at her broken body. "Dammit, why did this have to happen?"

"Hit by a car?" Ranma repeated, mortified. 'Shit, she's bleeding like crazy.' "Has she said anything to you at all?"

Sato shook his head sadly. "No, she hasn't said a word."

The sound of wailing sirens approaching caught their attention. "Sis, you hold on. Help is on the way." Trembling with fury, Ranma looked at his friend squarely. "Did you see who was driving?"

Sato shook his head. "No. Their windows were down and I could see two people in the front. I think I heard one of them talking, but what they said didn't make any sense."

"What did you hear?" Ranma demanded.

"It sounded like he said 'That's not him.' After that, they took off."

Ranma's fury boiled over, yet his voice was ice. "When I find them, I'm going to kill them."

As aggrieved as Sato was over Ranko's condition, he couldn't help but feel a bit scared by his friend's avowal. "Ranma, you think this wasn't an accident?"

"No, Sato. I think they meant to do this, but I think they were hoping to hit me instead."

Sato looked at his friend, thunderstruck. Then he looked at Ranma and Ranko's clothing. With the exception of her slightly smaller stature and expansive bust line, they could've been identical twins from a distance. "Holy shit, Ranma!"

The ambulance arrived and medics quickly got out and gathered around Ranko. "She's barely breathing," one of them commented as they braced her and prepared her for a trip to the hospital. Ranma and Sato both choked up at hearing that.

"I won't lose her!" Ranma vowed. He put a hand on Sato's shoulder. "Sato, I want you to ride with Ranko to the hospital."

"But Ranma, you're family. It should be you-"

"No, Sato. I have to go let my parents know what's happened." He pointed at Sato and gave him a look that brooked no contradiction. "I consider you to be family and I trust you with my sister's life. She does too and you know it. Go with Ranko so that she sees someone that she trusts to see when she wakes up."

"But-" Sato looked helplessly at his friend, then he swallowed what he was going to say and simply nodded. "I'll look after her, man."

The student who had made the emergency call offered his phone to Ranma. "You can use my phone to call your folks if you want."

Ranma put his hand up to refuse the offering. "Thanks, but this is something I have tell them in person." He looked to his friend again as the medics hurriedly loaded Ranko into the ambulance. "Watch after her, Sato!" With that, Ranma mustered all the strength he could and leapt for the rooftop of a nearby building and then vaulted out of sight.



****



Kodachi watched in awe as Ranma Saotome leapt from rooftop to rooftop almost effortlessly in his desperate bid to get to his parents in time. 'He truly is a marvel,' she thought with genuine admiration. She looked back in the direction of the departing ambulance and felt guilt jabbing at her conscience mercilessly. 'I told Tatewaki that something like this was going to happen!' Kodachi grit her teeth as she felt the resultant stain on her honor. 'I should not have let my brother restrain me so! I promised Saotome that I would not do anything to let his family come to harm, yet this has happened.'

She pocketed her notepad after jotting down everything she'd heard transpire between Ranma and his little friend Sato. 'I owe Ranma an explanation at the very least.' Caressing her sword, she stared out in the distance. 'And if Ranko Saotome dies, I will owe Ranma my life as well,' she added grimly.

Just as she was about to leap down from her perch in the trees, she espied one of her brother's initiates standing at the base of her tree talking into a cell phone. Her eyes narrowed as she heard what he said after closing the flip-top phone. "Yes, two points! I don't care what that old guy says. The bitch got what she deserved."

Without hesitation, Kodachi donned her facemask and silently climbed down the tree. Grasping the boy by the shoulders, she whirled him around and shoved him against the trunk. She put a hand over his mouth when he attempted to scream, then she drew her namesake sword and held it against his throat. "You will give me your name very quietly or your blood will nourish the ground upon which this tree sits. Do you understand me?" she asked in a soft voice drenched with menace.

Terrified, the boy nodded vigorously. "K- Kenji Kurosawa." He trembled so that he dropped the cell phone on the ground, yet he was so focused on the sword at his throat that he paid it no mind.

"What did you mean just then when you said that you didn't care what the old guy said?" Kenji went white at that and, unable to control himself, he peed all over his hakama. "I see I've struck a nerve," the ninja said as she espied the growing damp stain in the boy's kendo uniform. "Tell me, now!"

"I- I can't," the boy croaked. He looked desperately at the ninja as the sharp edge of its kodachi pushed harder against the skin of his neck.

"Piffle," the ninja said as it yanked the sword away from him and then, turning it around, clouted him on the head with the hilt. Kenji went down like a sack of rice and then Kodachi, mindful of catching anyone's attention, knelt down in the shadow of the tree and shouldered the unconscious youth effortlessly. She grimaced as she felt dampness start to seep into her uniform at her shoulder and realized what it was. 'You don't know it yet, boy, but you're paying the dry cleaning bill for my uniform,' she thought sourly. Bending down to retrieve Kenji's cell phone, she climbed over the fencing of the school and headed for her house.



****



Not even wasting time with the lock, Ranma kicked in the door of the house and darted inside. "Mom! Pop!"

"What's going on, son?" Genma said irritably as he stood up from one of the couches in the den and tossed the TV remote on the coffee table. He espied the ruined front door jamb angrily and put his hands on his hips. "Haven't you ever heard of a Goddamned doorknob?"

"Where's Mom?" Ranma shouted desperately, causing Genma's expression to change instantly from one of ire to one of concern.

"I'm right here, son," Nodoka fairly yelled as she quickly stepped out of the bedroom. "What's the matter?"

"Ranko's been hurt," Ranma announced urgently. "In fact, she's on the way to the hospital right now."

Nodoka's face went white; her eyes wide with fear. "My baby girl! What happened to her?"

Genma was immediately by his wife's side. "Quickly, Ranma. Tell us what happened!"

"She was hit by a car while crossing the street at school." Ranma swallowed his own feelings of despair and forged ahead. "It looks like she may have hit her head."

"NO!" Nodoka shrieked. "Please tell me that she's still alive!

"Yes, she's alive, Mom," he replied quickly, much to the relief of both parents. "Sato and I stayed with her until the ambulance arrived. After they had her ready to go to the hospital, I told Sato to stay with her," Ranma said breathlessly. "I knew you'd want to hear the news directly from me instead of over the phone." He showed them both a hangdog look. "I'm sorry I wasn't there to protect her. I've tried so hard to keep her safe."

"Don't worry about that right now, son. The fact that you stayed with her until help came is all we could've asked for at the moment," Genma declared flatly as he got his keys and both his and Nodoka's coats. "Come on, then. We should all be by her side at the hospital. That's the best thing we can do for now." Nodoka followed her husband numbly, unable to say anything over her trembling sobs.

"Pop, you and Mom go ahead. I'm going to get some of her things and carry them with me to the hospital."

"Son, we don't have time-"

"Pop, go! I can run there quickly, so I'll probably make it there ahead of you anyway," Ranma insisted. "Go!"

"Let's go, Genma," Nodoka said amidst sniffles. "Now is *not* the time for an argument." Genma looked at his son hesitantly for another moment before clenching his keys in his hands and heading out of the house.

The moment he heard his father peel out of their garage and head off, Ranma went into his bedroom, closed and locked the door, then pulled the old brooch from its hiding place. 'Return trip be damned, I'm going to save my little sister!'

Forcing calm and focusing his thoughts, he carefully worded the wish in his head and then spoke it aloud. He completed the ritual by placing the brooch beneath his pillow and then, because he was too wired to sleep, Ranma rammed his head against the wall as hard as he could. 'I love you, Ranko,' was the last thought he had before his body hit the floor and darkness claimed him.



****



Sato cried openly as the medics worked on Ranko within the confines of the ambulance. He didn't understand much of anything that had happened since he'd climbed into the vehicle, but he did know that Ranko's heart had just stopped.

"Flatline!" one of the medics shouted as he released the straps holding her arms immobile. Sato watched wordlessly as the medics hurriedly cut away Ranko's shirt and bra and administered CPR in a frantic effort to get her heart beating again.

"Still nothing!" the medic growled in frustration as another pulled out the paddles for the defibrillator. Ranko's tiny frame leapt up time and again as they administered shock after shock to her stilled heart.

"Ranko! Please hang in there," Sato pleaded. "PLEASE!"



****



Ranma found himself walking around in a formless mist and was fairly certain that he'd arrived at his intended destination. His thoughts were confirmed when a familiar voice spoke behind him.

"What are you doing, Ranma?" Roarke chided.

"I'm saving my sister, Roarke," Ranma responded matter-of-factly.

The wish giver shook his head. "You shouldn't be using that wish in this fashion. Instead of saving her and stranding yourself in this alternate reality, you should return home and be who you were once again. That would be the right thing to do."

Ranma scowled. "I can't believe you're saying that!"

"It is the way we have always done things," Roarke said with a sad shake of his hand. "I know that you have only been in this existence for a short time, but you have progressed much farther than I had hoped. You shouldn't sacrifice your effort in this way." The wish maker spread his hands out in an almost pleading gesture. "You have to see the right in what I am saying."

"You're not makin' any sense!"

"What I'm saying, boy, is that you either have the choice of accepting your sister's death and continuing to live in this world with the second wish in your back pocket as a key to an eventual return to your former life. Or you can wish yourself back to your original life right now." Roarke looked at Ranma levelly. "Those really are the only two responsible choices you can make in this situation."

Ranma looked at Roarke angrily and cut off the wish-giver's response with a swipe of his hand. "Look, I don't care what rules you have here or whatever. This is the way it's going to go down. I've made my wish and you will make it happen."

"But what about your future? Don't you understand that your life will only get harder from here on out if you strand yourself?"

"She is my life!" Ranma insisted. "If I can't say anything else about my time here, I can say this for sure; Ranko is my best friend in the world. She makes my life worth living in a way that I never felt before. Without her I won't live! If she dies, I'll die because I couldn't go on in a world where she doesn't exist!"

Roarke was taken aback by the vehemence of the youth's words. "Do you truly mean that, Ranma?"

"Yes! Every word of it!" Ranma insisted. "I don't care what might happen to me in the future, as long as Ranko is alive, healthy, whole and safe. If I return to the life I had before now, I might as well be committing suicide."

"Oh dear... This was not what I had intended at all," Roarke muttered, abashed, as he ran his fingers through his gray hair. "I did not even the slightest *inkling* that such an outcome was possible. Oh, what have I done?"

"Hey! Quit stallin', Roarke. We don't have time!" Ranma shouted impatiently.

Roarke waved his hand dismissively. "Time doesn't work the same way here, boy. We could talk for eight years and only a second would pass in your world."

"So what does that mean? You gonna hold me hostage here for years until I change my mind?" Ranma shot back acidly.

Roarke nodded. "I hadn't considered that, but it is something I should probably do to give you time to calm down."

"You bastard!" Ranma thundered as he advanced on the wish maker. "I'm gonna-"

With no effort at all, Roarke extended his hand and suddenly Ranma found that he was floating above the "floor" with his arms pinioned uselessly at his sides. "Hey!" he protested. "What's goin' on?"

"I told you that you cannot harm me, and I meant it. I have powers that you cannot even imagine, boy. Do not antagonize me while I'm thinking," Roarke admonished lightly. "I need you to see reason, Ranma. If you do this, you will throw away everything. You've worked too hard to just have your efforts rewarded with only a figment of a real life."

"I don't care! I love her," Ranma shouted defiantly.

"Yes, I think a year or two here in an enforced purgatory may be just the thing to make you see reason..."

"Put him down, Roarke," a disembodied voice commanded. "The boy has made his wish."

"But he doesn't know what he's doing!" Roarke insisted. "He has no idea of the consequences of his actions!"

"All decisions have consequences, Roarke," the voice warned ominously. "The boy's request has been relayed and his covenant *will* be fulfilled. Release him immediately."

Roarke looked up at Ranma regretfully. "Oh what fools these mortals be."



****



"Ranko!" Sato shrieked helplessly as he watched the medics continue to fret over her to no avail. "Hey! What are you doing?" he demanded when they sat back from the gurney with regretful looks in their eyes. "Don't stop now! She needs your help!"

"Okay, let's pronounce it. What time is it?" one of the medics asked over the monotone sound of the monitor displaying Ranko's flatlined heartbeat as another consulted his watch.

"No! She can't be dead! NO!" Sato shoved one of the medics out of the way and flung himself at Ranko's body desperately. "RANKO! NO! You have to live, dammit! RANKO!" Wracked by sobs, his tears fell to her bare skin as he lay his head down on her chest and wrapped his arms around her. "Don't leave us, Ranko! Ranma and I couldn't stand life without you!" Sato hugged her firmly. "Please, live for me!"

Unable to kiss her on the lips because of the breathing tube, Sato placed a tender kiss on her cheek and then laid his head on her chest again and hugged her fiercely. "Ranko, PLEASE don't abandon me!" he said with a heart-wrenching wail. "I- I love you."

The outpouring of emotion from him had all of the medics weeping silently behind their facemasks. Everyone in the back of the ambulance jumped in shock a moment later when a loud *woosh* came from Ranko's breathing tube. All of them turned to look at the monitors in elation.

"She's breathing!"

"I have a heartbeat!"

"Yes!" Sato exulted, grateful that she had won the fight to stay alive. He looked over at Ranko's face just in time to see her open her eyes and return his gaze tiredly. "Thank you, Ranko," he cried. "Thank you for not leaving me behind."



****



The grinding drone of cicadas from just outside his bedroom window roused Ranma from his state of unconsciousness. "Oh, shit! My head's killin' me," he slurred as he sat up from where he'd collapsed on the floor. He grimaced a moment later when his hand slipped in a small puddle of drool that lay near where his head had landed. "Yuck!" he grumbled as he wiped his hand on his pants. Standing up, Ranma weaved a bit and had to lean against the mattress of his bed to keep himself upright.

His head spinning, Ranma looked across the room and forced himself to focus on the alarm clock sitting on his nightstand. 'Well, that's good at least,' he thought as he realized that only about thirty minutes had elapsed since he'd knocked himself out. 'I coulda' been out all night long.' Ranma's mood lightened significantly as he suddenly realized that his sister was very much alive and well. He took a deep breath and ignored the throbbing pain on the right side of his head as he made his way out of his bedroom.

'Got to get her clothes like I told 'em,' Ranma told himself amidst the haze that permeated his thoughts and vision. Reaching his sister's room, he began rummaging through her dresser drawers, plucking out one item after another and carelessly tossing them on the floor. While he was sorting through her items, he took deep breaths and focused on regaining his strength. Settling on a baggy T-shirt, some jeans, a bra and pair of panties, he cradled her garments in his arms and forced himself to walk faster. 'I have to get to the hospital before she wakes up,' he told himself as he carefully navigated his way down the stairs.

He stopped in the kitchen long enough to retrieve a plastic bag with which he could carry Ranko's clothes. While there, he also grabbed a glass of water and three aspirin, which he downed in a single gulp. Ranma tensed right as he sat the empty glass in the sink. "Kodachi, is that you?" he chanced asking.

"I won't even presume to know how you realized I was here," the stunned ninja said as she stepped out of the shadows near the foot of the staircase and walked up to him. "The front door of your house was ajar, so I hope you don't mind if I let myself in."

Ranma turned around to face her and leaned against the counter in order to keep his balance. "How long have you been here?"

"Only a moment or two. I came in just as you were walking down the stairs."

"You saw what happened?"

"At the school? Yes." Kodachi frowned as she examined him. "You're hurt?"

Ranma winced as he reached up and touched the sore spot on his head. "Yeah. I was in a real hurry and didn't look at what I was doin'. I tripped and hit my head against the wall."

"That explains why you look as if you need crutches. You're barely keeping yourself upright," Kodachi commented idly.

Ranma's tension grew as he realized just how vulnerable he was to her in that moment. "I don't have time to fight with you, Kodachi. I need to be at the hospital to check on my sister."

Kodachi held up a hand. "I am not here to fight you, and I would not fight you in such a condition in any event."

Ranma inwardly breathed a sigh of relief and he relaxed his stance somewhat. "So what-"

"I realize that you are pressed for time, Saotome, but I momentarily ask your indulgence." Kodachi stepped away from him and headed towards the back door of the house. "Please?"

"I don't have time."

"I can carry you to your training hall if you wish."

Ranma colored at that and, leaving his sister's belongings on the countertop, he reluctantly nodded and followed the ninja as they walked towards the training hall. He unlocked the door and opened it for her, then waited for her to enter. "Please make this quick, Kodachi. I'm worried about Ranko."

"I understand, Saotome." She turned to look at him with a pained expression. "I am here now because of the vow I made to you in this hall," the young ninja announced. Tears ran down her cheeks unbidden and she was biting down on her lower lip to stop it from trembling. "I have a confession to make." Kodachi steeled herself and looked Ranma in the eye. "I had in my possession compelling information that pointed to the possibility of an event of this magnitude happening to your sister."

Ranma, who had been stunned at the sight of Kodachi *weeping* in front of him, suddenly found himself trembling with rage. "You knew this was going to happen?" At her nod Ranma stomped towards her angrily. "WHO DID THIS?" He gripped Kodachi's arms furiously and shook her. "TELL ME, GODDAMMIT! WHO WERE THE FUCKERS THAT TRIED TO KILL RANKO?"

"I don't know!" Kodachi shouted, although she did absolutely nothing to fight him off. "The only information that I had been able to obtain was that a threat was pending. I did not know when, or how or even who."

Ranma let go of her and grunted disgustedly. "I don't believe this! I trusted you, ON YOUR HONOR, to stand by your word! You should have told me what you knew!" He glared at her balefully. "I would've done that much for you."

Kodachi crossed her arms and looked down at the floor, shame plain on her face. "Saotome, I wanted to tell you but I didn't have enough information! I swear to you that if I'd had more concrete information regarding this horrible incident, I would have let you know immediately!"

"Dammit!" Ranma growled in frustration. "You'd better pray that my sister is okay."

Kodachi knelt before Ranma and pulled her sword and saya free from her sash. "I do indeed pray that she is, Saotome." She looked up at him urgently and offered her kodachi to him. "By my actions I have brought shame upon myself. I have failed you and your family in doing so and I accept full responsibility for those actions. Therefore-" She took a deep breath. "Therefore, I offer you my life, Saotome. I am yours to kill or command for as long as I live."

Ranma took a step back. "Kodachi!"

"Do not shame me further by refusing this offering, Saotome," Kodachi pleaded. "If you do not take this sword from my hands then I will bare its blade and use it on myself right here!"

Ranma stared at her wordlessly. 'This is all too much!' he thought as he reached out and snatched the sword from her hands. "I- I accept."

Kodachi pulled her hair away to bare the back of her neck and then she bowed her head. "I await your judgment, Saotome."

Ranma gripped the saya with his good hand until his knuckles went white. He stared at Kodachi's bared neck and fought hard against the urge to yank the blade out of its sheath and sever her head from her body. Yelling in rage, Ranma threw the kodachi on the floor in front of her. "God DAMMIT!"

Kodachi flinched at deafening sound of his wordless roar. She then looked in shock at her sword as it landed at her knees on the floor. "I do not understand," she said softly.

"Get up," Ranma snapped. Kodachi picked up her sword, replaced it in her sash, then stood obediently. "You swear to me on your honor that you had nothing to do with what happened today?"

"I do so swear, master," Kodachi said instantly.

Ranma's eyebrows rose. "Master?"

"I have sworn myself to you, master. I am yours to command in any fashion, at any time, for any purpose."

Ranma's headache wasn't being helped by this sudden development. While he was still angry at her for not telling him what she'd suspected, he couldn't punish her for her failure to speak up given how far she was willing to go to absolve herself of the shame. Furthermore, it unnerved him to have her calling him 'master' like that. "Okay, I can't deal with this right now."

"Do you require medical attention, master?" Kodachi asked as she immediately rummaged about the many pockets of her ninja uniform for an analgesic.

"Kodachi, wait. I don't need pills or nothin' like that. And don't call me master, okay? That's freakin' me out."

"How should I refer to you?"

"I was fine with you callin' me Saotome," he offered tiredly.

"As you wish, Saotome." Kodachi stood before him expectantly. "What do you need?"

Ranma sighed. The emotional roller coaster he was currently on showed no signs of stopping, and the ride was starting to exhaust him. "If you wanna set things straight, then I want you to find out who was behind that attack on my sister."

"And when I find them?"

"You let me know. Their asses belong to me."

"Understood," Kodachi replied, nodding her approval. "I have some potential leads that I need to follow."

"You- Look out!" Ranma shouted as he watched a bottle sail past them to land on the floor in the center of the hall. He wasted no time in body-tackling Kodachi just before the bottle burst into a massive fireball.

"That's him!" a large man shouted after he peeked his head inside. "We got the right one this time!" He screamed in pain an instant later as a shuriken found itself stuck in his neck.

"Toss another one in and button it up!" another voice shouted urgently as a pair of hands grabbed hold of the large man and dragged him out of the doorway.

Another lit bottle crashed to the floor and burst into flames close enough to their position that Ranma's clothes started to smoke. He and Kodachi quickly scrambled to get as far away from the flames as they could. Finding temporary respite in a corner, they noted grimly that the fire had intensified such that they were unable to get to the door before it slammed shut. Ranma stared in vain at the barred exit and wondered if he would live to see his sister again.



****



Author's notes:



(8/9/05):



Began writing Part Eight.



(3/21/07)



Damn, this thing took forever to write! It was originally over 100 pages, but I had to pare it down to something closer to 70 pages. Unfortunately for us, by reworking the story in this way, the only clean break point I had was the above scene in the training hall. Sorry for the cliffhanger. I'll do my best to write Part Nine much more quickly than I had Part Eight.



This part of the story is not fully fleshed out, as there are some scenes that I will likely restructure or add information to in order to improve the flow. But, overall, this part's structure is complete.



(3/27/07)



My collection of pre-readers has diminished significantly, although that is to be expected considering the age of Careful Destiny and the Ranma franchise in general. By the time I finish this thing I may be the story's only avid reader. However, that's fine with me since I want to see this story reach its conclusion. I will continue to write, and if you continue to read, then we'll both have a good bit left to look forward to.