Ranma and Ukyou sat in Saonji's. Ranma sitting at a table, Ukyou behind the griddle, serving customers. Both made small talk with the people eating around them. One topic that came about was their martial arts prowess that had been seen regularly since their arrivals. Many were interested and hoped the couple would help to protect the town. Others were worried. They thought that they would attract bad attention, and even though they were capable of looking after themselves, would they be able to look after others at the same time?

Ranma was sitting at a table not far from the door, eating an Okonomiyaki. Greeting new visitors and welcoming the frequent, he enjoyed socialising with the crowds. It bought him a sense of fulfilment and happiness. Some even turned to him for advice on family feuds, money issues and even relationships. Ranma replied honestly each time, and they were always thankful. The tips from those customers were always fairly generous.

However, Ranma didn't know what to say one day. That day, he'd had a confrontation with the Akane girl, that his father had stupidly tried to engage him to. The meeting wasn't pleasant.

"Hello, welcome to Saonji's. Oh, Hey. It's Akane, isn't it?" Ranma asked politely, as Akane Tendo walked in.

"Yes. Ranma, I need to talk with you." Her reply had been tense. Ranma decided to watch his senses, that girl had a mean uppercut.

"Sure. Sit down, what is it?"

"Your father."

Ranma groaned. What had the stupid panda done now? "What did he steal?"

Akane looked at him as if he was an alien. "What're you on about? He hasn't stolen anything. No, I came here to talk to you about the relationship your father and mine had."

"Oh? Well, I'm more than happy to talk, but you'd still better watch your possessions. He's rather money-hungry."

"Thanks…" Akane grunted. "Have you ever heard of the Yama-sen-ken?"

Ranma rested his elbow on the table, placing his chin in the support his palm provided. "No, I can't say I have. '1000 Mountains,' eh?"

"Yes. It seems that it's a very powerful fighting style that rips your defence apart. And there's someone running around, using it."

"Well, OK. I can't see why you think I should know that." Ranma said.

"Well, my sister, Nabiki, is very good at finding information. She looked into any martial artists using such a style. Several reports came back. She got a name."

"OK, I take it you want to tell me the name. What is it?"

Akane paused. "Are you sure you want to know? I don't think you'll be very happy."

It was Ranma's turn to pause now. What could she say that'd make him worry? If it was anybody that used to chase after Ukyou, he'd rip them apart. She'd had many suitors before they came to Nerima. "Tell me."

"This guy calls himself…Ranma Saotome."

"That's weird. I don't know any styles like that."

Akane's face hit the table, drawing a few stares, and Ranma a cautionary glance from Ukyou behind the counter.

"You idiot, there's someone out there calling himself Ranma Saotome!"

Ranma froze. "Are you telling me the truth, 'cause I swear to all the Kami that if you're not, I won't be happy."

"This isn't a joke, Ranma. There's somebody using a violent style pretending to be you. He's even destroyed Dojo's so as to get money to travel."

Ranma sweatdropped. This was bad. There were people out there looking for somebody with his name. Any inquiries would lead them here.

This wasn't good.

Ranma needed a plan of action.

::::::::::::::

Hitoshi Onodera and Susan Brown travelled through the cemetery in Tokyo's Minato ward, paying their respects. Their thoughts were with the dead. Hitoshi's were with whoever his parents were. Susan's with her brother, who had been killed in the American war in Vietnam by friendly fire. Danny Brown had been a private, of the same parentage as Susan. The soldiers on his team were not the brightest in the world, and they had mistaken his eastern asian appearance for the enemy. Susan was against war because of that. She wasn't against fighting though.

Leaving the cemetery, they took a train to the Nerima district. Inquiries had led them to a registry office where a Saotome and Kuonji had gotten married. After gaining the general area of where they lived, they asked no more, for fear of the office calling up this couple and telling them. They didn't want to give the bastards an early warning.

Arriving in Nerima, they started looking for a place to stay. Seeing a hotel near the train station, they booked in and left their stuff in their rooms. They then left and went to search. They agreed to meet back at the hotel at 8PM. The time now was ten to two. There were two towns in the ward that were active in chaos, so they decided to split up and check them out. Susan went to a town called Furinkan, Hitoshi to one called Tomobiki.

Splitting up, both had the same thoughts on their minds.

Find them kill them find them kill them find them kill them find them kill them find them kill them…

::::::::::::::

Soun carried Genma back to the Tendo Dojo. After placing him in a spare room to recover, he went downstairs to read the paper.

20 minutes later, Genma came downstairs. "Soun?"

"Ah, Genma, my old friend. Are you okay? You collapsed in the park."

"Yes..Yes, I'm fine. Just a small shock." Said Genma. "Say, why did I collapse again?"

Soun frowned. Was it wise to tell his friend of the details? Of how this boy had learnt the Yama-sen-ken?

Sighing, Soun decided he may as well. Genma had created the styles, he should be informed of who is using them - and how. "You found out that...1000 Mountains is still being used."

"Ah."

Soun remained silent, waiting for his old training partner to say something.

"How old is this person?" Genma asked finally.

"I'd say no older than 17 or 18. He's rather skilled. He nearly tore through my defence."

Genma sat down, cross legged, placing a fist underneath his chin. He stayed that way for 5 minutes. Soun started reading the paper again, unnerved. He could see the words in print, but he couldn't read them.

Genma scared Soun. No doubt the Saotome was a skilled martial artist, but to create two techniques - no, two SCHOOLS of techniques, just for....what he did. Soun stopped himself thinking. Such memories are not fond. How would Kimi-chan feel if she knew your friend had made such dangerous styles?

"What did the boy call himself?"

Soun snapped out of his reverie. "My apologies, Saotome. I believe he called himself 'Ataru Takahashi.'"

Genma cursed. No doubt it was a fake name. Takahashi was one of the most common family names in Japan, The number of Ataru's there would be with that family name would be...tiresome to track down. No, they would wait.

"We shall wait for this...Ataru," Genma spat the name, as if it was poisonous to his very being. "And we shall subdue him. If one of the schools has not been locked, it's twin shall not be either."

"What shall we do, Saotome?"

"It is not 'what shall we do,' more 'what shall I do?' You should never have allowed another person to set eyes upon that scroll." Soun quivered with fear. The powerful battle aura that Genma was creating was enough to scare demons.

"Nevertheless," Genma said, his aura fading now, "What has happened has happened. I shall teach my son and his wife the schools. They shall find this boy, and they will make him lock it away. Those schools should remain inclusive to Anything-Goes. If they do not, theives and robbers will learn them. This, I do not want."

Soun shook his head slowly. But, Genma my dear friend, you created the schools to do just that. How can you stop others from performing what the schools were intended for?

::::::::::::::

Shampoo screamed.

All the water, then the fire, then the dangling off a cliff.

It was too much.

Shampoo wanted no more.

What can I do, though? For as long as I am an amazon, I must withhold the laws of the tribe. For as long as I am an amazon, I must do as the elders say. For as lo--

"Of course..."

Shampoo smiled. She could win.

Notes:

Finally wrote number 10. YAY! A decade of chapters, in the non-timeline sense.

As you can probably tell, epic shit is gonna go down. During the writing of said epic shit, I may have major nervous breakdowns in trying to orchestrate the epic-ness that will happen. Hopefully, though, I'll manage with about 20 cups of tea, some beers and food on trays. Toilets? Pah! Toilets are for weaklings!

On a side-note, two things. One - My hard drive with all of my previous work has self-destructed. I now have to scrape it to recover everything - presuming I can. Wish me luck, it's 80GB and my machine is as slow as.

Two - I've started a side-project, posting as I write it, called Saotome Siblings. Find it on my profile page. Please review that, as well as this. It'll make me happy and want to write more.

Reviews!

chm01: Looking at this chapter, I'm not even sure "OH SHIT!" covers it.

TheLordOfPages1692: Yes, it was an original curse. I got the idea from smoking... various substances. As for Akane and Ranma's relationship, they've called a bit of a truce. I didn't explain it in this chapter, but as long as Ranma avoids changing in front of Akane, she won't hit him. Sounds a fair deal. Just avoid water when you're a water magnet. No problem at all!

Slade2.0: Funny? Perverse. More has come and more will come.

DumbleDork: I'm glad you find them interesting. =]

Well, that's all from me for now. Take care!

Much Love, SOTG.