I DID NOT MAKE ANY OF THESE CHARACTERS, NOR DO I HAVE ANY CLAIM TO THEM IN ANY WAY. THEY ARE BEING PERVERTED TO MY WILL AND FORCED TO DO STRANGE THINGS IN THE STORY I WRITE BY VIRTUE OF MY (SORELY INADEQUATE) TALENTS, IF NOT MY CREATIVITY (IF I HAD ANY, I'D MAKE MY OWN CHARACTERS.) THE CHARACTERS ARE THE PROPERTY OF RUMIKO TAKAHASHI-SAMA AND MANY OTHER PEOPLE; SO DON'T GIVE ME CREDIT FOR ANYTHING I DIDN'T DO. THAT WOULD BE SILLY. AND ILLEGAL.

Everything Goes Martial Arts

Chapter 6: Things go Missing.

A fanfiction by Frictionx42

Words in italics are thoughts

"No, no, no! You must heat the grill to the correct temperature before you pour the batter on! That way it crisps the outside, but leaves the inside nice and soft." "Yes, Ukyo-sensei." The children chorused as they paid attention to their lessons. Ukyo glanced about her kitchen, at the half dozen young children there who were to study the Kuonji School of Martial Arts Okonomiyaki. Since Tsutarou had been a disciple of her grandfather, the school was still in Ukyo's family name. At least, until I marry Rancha- STOP THINKING ABOUT HIM!!!! She went through this at least twenty times a day, if not more. She really had to give up on him. She'd drive herself nuts if she didn't… All right then, I'll do this for my school, for my students, and for me! And she spent another hour relentlessly pushing herself to train the children and make excellent chefs out of them. She felt exhilarated, and loved this training, this lifestyle, and the children. This was only her first day, but she felt something that she had not felt in a very long time: that she was doing the right thing.

Later that day Ukyo soaked in a warm bath that had been built as an addition to Tsutarou's small cottage. As she bathed herself, enjoying the feel of the warm water soothing her tired body, she reflected on how the day with the children had gone. After a day in which she had to treat only one small burn, Ukyo considered it a great success. She seemed to have bonded well with the children, and she had helped them out a lot by teaching them all the techniques that had helped her remember how to do things right when she was a child. It also helped that she was able to show them a few tricks and promise that she'd teach them those things soon. If only she could stop thinking about Ranma all the time! Oh well, I'll get over him with enough time… maybe I should go see what there is to do around here after classes are over for the day? There are a lot of people here that are just about the same age I am, I wonder what they all do for fun? She wondered as she climbed out of the warm bath, donned a robe, and walked to the small, cramped room that she called her own. It had one bed, a small closet, a dresser with a mirror on top, and a trunk for her to keep her personal things. Her bed looked very inviting, but Ukyo felt that she had had enough sleep to last her a while.

Ukyo sighed, remembering her thoughts as she had bathed. She was exhausted. But, nothing ventured, nothing gained… she thought to herself, and began dressing in casual wear. She opted to clothe herself in a slight modification of her usual cook's outfit. Hesitantly, she left her family's battle spatula behind. Comfortably clad in her skintight black pants and blue top with spatula bandolier, she quietly left the small cottage that she and Tsutarou shared, and began walking toward the center of the small village that she now considered 'home.'

Shampoo smiled. It wouldn't be very long now before she and her great grandmother would go back to Japan and collect her husband. The smile quickly went hollow, however, as she realized to what depths she had stooped to in order to get the job done. She was playing with Ranma's dreams to get what she wanted, and it just didn't feel quite right to her. It wasn't much different than things she'd tried before, but for some reason she felt different about it this time. It felt sneaky and it felt like she was cheating to attain her dream. She was willing to do it to keep the tribe's traditions, however. If it came to it, she would die to protect the tribe's honor. Just before falling asleep, she wondered idly if what she was doing really was honorable, because sometimes it sure didn't feel like it. But if Shampoo get Ranma, it all worth it.

Akane dreamed as she slept, a fitful dream in which Ranma rejected her over and over, despite her protests and her reminders of the promise their fathers made to each other that their children should wed. She kept chasing after him, trying to get him to listen, but she could never catch him. The landscape was nothing but a bleak white, with nothing in it save Ranma and Akane. It seemed that no matter how fast she ran after him, he inexorably drew further and further away, until she could barely see him on the horizon. Then he turned and spoke in a voice that seemed to come from right next to her, saying, "Akane, it's too late. I never wanted to hurt you, but it seems that we can't get it together no matter how hard we try. I'm leaving you now so that you can get on with your life. I will not be back. Good bye." Akane tried to yell out at him, to tell him to stop, that they could try again and this time it would work, it would be right, but then he disappeared in a bright flare of blue light and Akane screamed. She was left in the glaring white light, alone.

As she looked around the whiteness, images from her past, mostly about Ranma, but some about her more distant past began to flash in front of her. As she watched, the images began to travel by her faster and faster, until she realized that she was watching her life from the present moment backwards. She wondered what this meant for a moment, and then she started nervously. Suddenly she realized that she could not remember any of the things she had seen only seconds before. It was like her mind had been wiped clean, leaving only emptiness and confusion. She knew somewhere that she had a fiancee, but she couldn't remember his name, and that he had come from a far-off place with his father, who turned into a- something. Then she couldn't remember anything about them at all as she was confronted with her mother. The fast-paced movie of her life slowed to a crawl and then stopped suddenly as she drank in the sight of her mother preparing lunch for them, Kasumi at her side, helping her with the sandwiches. Akane burst into tears as she thought of the memories of her mother being stripped away from her, but could do nothing as the images began to speed up again. The tears flowed freely down her face as she watched the rest of her childhood fly by her in a rush of events. Bitterly she bit back the pain, vowing to find her memories again somehow. But now she was left with only the white light of the place where she was, where she had to watch… someone, someone who was very important to her had left, but she couldn't remember where he had gone to or why, or even who 'he' was. All she could remember was that her name was Akane something-or-other, and that this place was very white. She sat down and let her sorrow consume her, bawling as she mourned the loss of the things that she knew were precious to her, but she couldn't remember what they were.

Like his daughter, Soun Tendo was currently bawling his eyes out. Nabiki's contact had been able to find where Akane was, only to lose her because Akane had been hit by a car. Kasumi just went back to the kitchen and continued cooking, but she no longer smiled and she didn't hum as she worked. Genma-panda went out into the yard and attempted to do some practicing, but since his son had left the night before he didn't have anyone to practice with. Genma settled for working on some katas, but it left him unfulfilled. He sat down at the shogi table that he and Soun played on, and started thinking. It wasn't long before he fell asleep. Nabiki frowned, and headed upstairs. I'll find her, I've got to find her...There was no way she could be lost for long, even if it was a kidnapping. Nabiki had contacts that would have made the Prime Minister green with envy. With all of her contacts working overtime to try to find her sister, Nabiki turned her attention to the reason Akane had run away in the first place. Her instincts told her to keep looking in places she'd looked before, even if it didn't make sense. She pulled up the information she had on the Nekohanten, as as she went through the newest information, she frowned deeply. Nabiki wasn't absolutely certain, but she had noticed the Nekohanten starting to do a lot more business all of the sudden, and could sense a sort of urgency about the way that Mousse moved when he thought people weren't looking.

Nabiki had had the Nekohanten tapped and bugged more thoroughly than the Kremlin building almost since Shampoo and her Great- grandmother moved in and tried to shoulder her way in on Ranma- for her sister's sake, of course. She had immediately begun looking into who could be the culprit to his disappearance, and after looking in on the Nekohanten, had been very upset to learn that the amazons had been away at the time. Now, however, things were looking quite a bit more suspicious.

Quickly piecing things together, it started to make sense… Mousse was bringing in massive quantities of customers, and as Nabiki could watch through her specially installed cameras (it was good to have people in the construction business who owed you a few favors…) he seemed to be pocketing the extra money for… something…

That was where it stopped making sense. Unless… Maybe Mousse had an idea of where Ranma had gone. I'll have to go find out directly from him. Ordinarily, this would have seemed an easy task, and the silly blind fool was as transparent as could be. Lately, however, as Nabiki watched him, Mousse seemed to have an air of caution about him. Every now and then, he let his act slip and he looked more worried than usual. Most people would be unable to pick up on the minor differences, but Nabiki was more perceptive than the normal person; she was a professional. And her professional 'sights' had just found themselves a target. It's time to go make the kill…

The letter had come a couple of days ago, but Mousse was unsure of what to do with it. The letter that had enclosed this one gave specific instructions to give this one to Ranma without delay, but Ranma had disappeared without a trace almost three full days before Mousse had received it. He wasn't sure if he wanted to open it; he was terribly curious, but he figured that with all the crazy things that Shampoo and Cologne had tried on Ranma before, it would probably be a bad idea.

And so there it sat: mysterious, alluring, tempting him at every turn. There was a letter for him too: one that the other letter had come as a part of, but it was nothing more than a facade, a nicety that was engineered to make certain that he didn't feel left out and a command, phrased nicely to make him think it was 'a favor', to give the other enclosed letter to Ranma. It also contained a thinly veiled threat to him not to open the letter.

Mousse had been left alone in the Nekohanten for almost a week, and was beginning to feel that maybe things were finally going his way. He had made more money than the restaurant usually made in about two weeks, mostly due to the outstanding 'magic shows' that he put on constantly to attract customers. He let everyone know that he wasn't allowed to do the shows when the two women were around due to the strange customs they kept as amazons. He also told the customers not to mention his shows around the amazon women. This, in turn kept customers coming back for more magic, since he was only allowed to put on his shows when the women were away.

Every night, however, he had to sit and wait, wondering if his plan was working, whether or not Ranma had made it to where he was going, and the doings of Shampoo and Cologne, which were bound to be more nefarious than ever. Every night, he had to make contingency plans in case one of his other plans didn't work. Every night he had to stare at this stupid letter that his beloved Shampoo had sent his most hated enemy, the source of all his problems: the vile Saotome.

Hmm, the letter… what to do about it? If shampoo comes home and finds it unopened here, she will know that Ranma is missing and will try to go after him. That cannot be allowed to happen, since Cologne knows of the very place where I have sent Ranma to, and will eventually look for him there. If I open the letter, then I have to deal with any spells that they've cast on it, which could be dire, indeed. It might have information I could use, so I won't get rid of it… I guess that means I have to read it, then. Right, here goes!

Mousse sat up and with much timidity, ripped the envelope open. He then gasped and held the letter at arms length as if it would bite him. After a second or two, when the letter didn't make any menacing advances on him, he opened his eyes and stared at the letter. It didn't stare back. Always a good thing, Mousse reasoned, and then proceeded to remove the letter slowly from the envelope. It slid out with ease, and he hesitated before opening it. As soon as he touched the parchment that had the letter on it, a small trickle of sparkling lights wound up his arm from the letter and Mousse found himself thinking of how much he detested okonomiyaki all of the sudden. Shampoo's trying to break Ranma from Ukyo, too!

"Hello! Is anybody home?" A young lady's voice, instantly recognizable to anyone in the Nerima District who cared about money at all as none other than the voice belonging to Nabiki Tendo. Mousse dropped the letter to Ranma to the floor in surprise. The new-found hatred of okonomiyaki did not leave him.

What's she doing here? Mousse suddenly panicked. He quickly began to move toward the front room, but stopped as he saw Nabiki's head enter the room he was in. She had that look in her eyes, the one that Mousse could have sworn was specially reserved in nature for a cat's prey as the feline hunter moved in on it. It always made Mousse feel quite uncomfortable indeed. That gaze fell directly upon the letter that lay on the floor in front of him. Oh, crap…

Author's Notes: Sorry about this chapter being so short. Yarr. That's all I have to say on that subject. Rather than suffer everyone through an entire rewrite of the whole thing (which is about what I'd have to do in order to fix the problems) I'm just going to push on and try my best to plug the holes as I can. The story made so much sense back then, but now...On the plus side, I'm getting to see just how much my writing has improved over time. At the very least, I make a lot more sense now and don't contradict myself constantly, and most of what I write now is in some kind of logical order. Sadly, the first of the newer stuff is Chapter 9, so you have to muddle through the older stuff that doesn't make much sense until then.