Misery Loves Company

by Ryan Erik

Twenty years after Ranma Saotome vanished into the night after his bachelor party, Nerima has moved on without him. The common struggles that his friends endured brought them together as family, as the chaos Ranma embodied no longer caused endless conflict. Now, after every last person gave up hope of his return, a familiar looking redhaired girl steps off a plane into their lives.

10. Part Three: Sayonara (3 of 8)

Misery Loves Company
A Ranma 1/2 Fanfiction
by Ryan Erik

Part Three: Sayonara
(3 of 8)

The gates to the Tendou residence inched open, revealing the dark man, his clothes stained by dirt, blood and time. He ruffled his black hair, matted with dirt and sweat, and then took his first step onto the brick walkway in several weeks. It seemed to remember him, he thought, as the echo of his footsteps announced his return.

Ryouga felt truly glad to be home.

He crossed the walkway, his eyes intent on the front door. He approached it, about ready to open it, but stopped. Pausing for a moment, he looked over his shoulder at the bright sky. His return home had taken far too long, even thought it was quicker than usual.

After his bout with Ranma, or whoever the girl had been if she was even real, he needed something solid. Ever since the other man had defeated him, Ryouga had found himself more able to pay attention to his surroundings and find his way home quicker than usual, as if the strange chi attack had knocked the beast loose from his mind.

Trying the door, Ryouga found it locked. His spare key was hopelessly lost somewhere between here and Kyoto, so he settled for wandering around the back of the house, finding the backdoor after another few minutes of concentration. He had to keep his focus so that he could see his family before he inevitably had to leave.

He found the sliding door locked as well. With a sigh, he walked to the dojo and sat on the floor. Feeling safe at his own home, the exhaustion that he had ignored for so long began to creep up from his feet until it reached his eyes. Fighting it off, he stood, leaving his pack and walking towards the locker room. Ryouga found his son's locker after a few tries and appropriated a clean training gi that he decided to borrow until he could enter the house and get his own clothes.

Stripping out of the dirty ones he had on, Ryouga entered the showers and cleansed away a week of traveling and fighting from his exhausted body. He closed his eyelids tight as he felt a wave of nausea almost take him. Slipping against the tile, Ryouga held onto the shower head as his head spun, when a strange image appeared before his eyes: a muddy cliff broken by a circular blast, with him at standing at its center.

The image floated through his head as he regained his composure and continued his shower. Dimmed by time and repression, he mentally waded through the rough in the way of recollection. Only a shower of sensations came back to him as he pondered the image: depression, fear, pain and relief. Everything but the relief was easy to place, as the very image looked like a bomb had been placed in the spot in which he stood. A blast of depression, a Shishi Houkoudan, could have easily made such a mark, a spiritual attack he had long ago stopped using. It all seemed to lead...

"Ryouga," he heard a voice whisper.

Spinning, Ryouga found an empty shower room staring at him. His heart raced as he watched the walkway to the lockers.

"Who's there?" he demanded of the emptiness.

Shutting off the water, he slipped a towel around his waist and quickly ran through the lockers, searching for anyone. After eliminating his anxiety, Ryouga returned to his shower, at a loss as to what he had been thinking about only moments before.

---

They sat in the crowded train in silence, he on the aisle seat next to her. The conversation of the couple in the seats in front of them more than made up for their lack of words. People throughout the train spoke just as loudly and rapidly as Mayako and Rintaro did, but they continually flung one insult after another at each other, like starting with their hands gripped at the bottom of a baseball bat, groping upwards until one had their hand on its very top.

The latest line of banter centered around an action that Mayako claimed Rintaro had done to her while they rode the bike to the train station.

"I did not pinch your butt!"

"So you say."

"Not like I'd want to pinch your butt anyway."

"Oh, so there's something wrong with it, then? Is that what you're trying to say?"

"Yeah, it belongs to you."

Kenichi put his head in hands, rubbing his temples in preparation for his sister to turn to him and demand that he should defend her bottom. He knew it was coming: her unavoidable deflection. Whenever she lost verbal combat, she would try to throw the football to someone else and let that person be tackled.

It had only been a few days since Mayako and Rintaro had patched up their makeshift friendship and they were already fighting over nothing. This fact further made Kenichi glad that Kimiko behaved nothing like his sister, who, for all her good points, acted like a spoiled child half the time. Looking over at the redhead, he observed her as she looked out the window, her hands against the metal window seal, her head leaning against the seat and her back towards him.

"Kenichi, tell me," Mayako said, her face peeking through the seats at her brother. "My butt is pinchable, isn't it?" Her voice carried that sisterly advice that read: Agree Or Die. Unfortunately, Kenichi also knew that Rintaro would only turn on him with an incest remark or something equally embarrassing. Sometimes, he wondered if it would be better to jump out of the speeding train than to try to come out unscathed in a conversation with anyone.

To his surprise, Kimiko came to his rescue.

"Well, he doesn't really count, does he?" she asked as she turned her body forward, her eyes suddenly meeting his wide ones. In those beautiful baby blues he could not miss the mischievous glint of light. "But I think it's very pinchable." That followed with a yelp from Mayako, who jumped forward in her seat. Although he had missed the quick movement, Kenichi watched Kimiko return her hand from between the seats in front of them.

With a laugh, Kenichi awaited more.

"So what," Rintaro asked. "So she likes girls and boys. What's so funny?"

"No, Saotome-san," Kimiko told him, her voice like velvet. "Since we've both already kicked it, I felt it wasn't fair if we both didn't pinch it, too."

At that, both Kenichi and Rintaro burst into laughter. When he heard a growl from Mayako's side of the train, Kenichi nearly spit he laughed so hard. After he gained control of himself, he wiped his eyes and face with his shirtsleeve.

"Well said, Nishiyama-san," Rintaro saluted, his voice cracking with chuckles.

After a few minutes, a few stops and a few repeated chuckles, they arrived at Kenichi's stop.

"I guess this is goodbye for now," Kenichi told Kimiko, setting his hand on hers with a pat. She blinked as she looked at him, and then smiled. Leaning toward him, she put her right arm over his shoulders and patted his back affectionately.

"We'll meet you for lunch, okay?" she said, still smiling.

His face and body warmed at her touch as Kenichi nodded. "I'm looking forward to it."

Standing, he felt Kimiko's hand slide down his back. With a parting glance, he caught her hand waving a quick goodbye.

"See ya, lover-boy," Mayako teased, batting her eyelashes at him. Rintaro merely acknowledged his exit with a nod.

Kenichi stepped off the train and exited the station with a light heart.

---

A few rows back, five teenagers tried their best to look inconspicuous, one sitting by himself reading a newspaper, two talking quietly amongst themselves and two sitting quietly. Masami darkly sat at the back of the train next to Kojiro, trying focus on anything but the two girls and one young man that he and his friends followed. A knot had been growing in his stomach for the past half-hour that he had been shadowing the group.

Earlier that week, the redhead sitting next to Kenichi Tendou had pulled a Bruce Lee, taking out three of them: Seiko, Michio and himself. She had aided Ryosei in his duel with Shoji, and had bested all of them. Briefly glancing at Kojiro as the bleach-blonde stared at the window, Masami pondered the wisdom of challenging the girl again.

"I swear, Masami," Seiko began, looking at him from her seat in front of him, "if you don't stop brooding, I'm going to kick your ass right now." The diagonal scar across Seiko's right eye seemed to curve as she glared at him. "I'm serious. We have to be ready to beat those bitches to a bloody pulp. You know how hard this is going to be without you acting like a baby."

"Shut the hell up, Seiko," Masami heard Jotaro, the eldest of them, hiss from his seat on the aisle next to Seiko. "You know he's always like that."

Masami kept silent, as Seiko always snapped at people when she was anxious. He caught an apologetic look in her eyes as she bowed her head to Jotaro.

"There's no reason to be worried," Kojiro said, ruffling his spiky blond hair with his fingers. "Saotome will not help them. He owes you one, Jotaro. If he's good for anything, it's his word, right?"

"We still have to be cautious," Jotaro replied softly. "Even though Rintaro may not help the girls, this will still be a close fight. We have to stick to the plan. No exceptions."

Masami reviewed the plan in his head that they had decided several days ago in at his brother Michio's hospital bed. Once the teens left Kenichi at his workplace, Seiko, Jotaro and Kojiro would confront the three. He and Shoji would remain further back in order to surprise Kimiko, a little bit after Seiko would challenge Mayako. That would be when Jotaro and Kojiro would jump Kimiko together, as the two had been planning their moves the last few days. After they engaged Kimiko, he and Shoji would wait to see if Seiko needed help, and then aid her. If not, they were to stay out of the fight altogether, as surprise attacks might set off Rintaro.

Hopefully, their plan would throw a wrench into any team tactics the two could have in their heads. And again, it all depended upon Rintaro's non-involvement. If he joined the fight for any reason, they would have no chance to win, unless Kimiko and Mayako were already out of the picture.

Masami quietly sighed to himself, reaching up to finger his glossy black bike hanging above his head.

"Don't worry, bro," Kojiro whispered in Masami's ear. "All you gotta do is kick back with loud-mouth and make sure he doesn't jump the gun."

At that moment, the train stopped, and Masami's heart leaped as he prayed that the trio did not exit the train. He wished that they would never leave it, so he would not have to fight the redhead or Mayako. When Kenichi alone stood up, he sighed, happy that at least Kenichi would be out of reach should they have looked to him for help.

The train picked up speed and the city blurred out the window, though Kojiro's bleach-blond hair blocked Masami's view afterward. Picking himself up, he quietly walked past Jotaro and Seiko's seats and sat next to Shoji, who had been curiously silent the entire trip. Clenching a newspaper tightly in his hands, the boy who had sworn undying vengeance against his foes read the comics with an enthralled look in his eyes.

Turning after a moment, Shoji glanced at Masami, setting the paper on the floor of the train.

"Almost time, huh?" he asked in a whisper. "Good."

Masami looked at him meaningfully.

"I know," Shoji replied to Masami's unspoken meaning. "I'm not to fight the bitch at all unless Jotaro calls for us." A glare later, he added, "Okay, and I only help Seiko if you jump in first. You don't need to get so pushy."

"That's not it at all," Masami whispered. "How can you read the comics still? Those are kid's manga." All Masami received for that was a glare and Shoji picked up his newspaper, continuing his reading while ignoring anything further from the boy.

The train stopped at its next destination, and this time, Mayako stood up quickly, beginning to take down her bike.

"That's our cue," Jotaro hissed from behind them. "Once they start walking out, grab your bikes and follow quickly. We don't want to lose them. You know your job, Masami."

Yes, Masami did know his job. He was to follow closely. Going down the aisle to his former seat, he quickly took down his bike and exited the train through a door the trio was not using. Catching a glimpse of the three making their way out of the station, he followed them as inconspicuously as possible, faking as if to check this station's message board. His heart beat quickly as he reluctantly followed the orders of his leader.

---

Riding on the seat of Mayako's bike, Kimiko closed her eyes as the reckless teenager steered the light, aluminum-framed, red bike through the scattered bicyclists as fast as her two legs would push her. The girl's black hair obscured what little vision Kimiko would have had opening her eyes anyway. Clutching Mayako so as not to fall off, Kimiko almost yelped as her friend hopped up the curb from the bike path, onto the sidewalk and straight into a crowd of people.

To ride a bike like this would not have scared her. What did was the fact that she was not in control of it! She almost felt like pulling her hair at their ends in frustration every time Mayako nearly struck a pedestrian. With a glance over her shoulder, Kimiko stole a glance at Rintaro, who followed close behind on Kiyoshi's black bike, not giving Mayako much more than a few feet of a lead.

"Do we have to go so fast?" Kimiko asked as Mayako blindly turned a corner, nearly crashing into a couple, who had to jump in opposite directions to not be smacked.

"I have to prove I'm a better on a bike than Rintaro!" she shouted back over her shoulder.

For some reason, Kimiko thought of Sally in the light of Mayako's reckless driving, although driving ninety in an empty residential zone was a bit different to riding a bike through a crowded street. Neither of them, however, made Kimiko feel any easier about the girls.

"Stop the bike, Mayako," Kimiko sternly told the girl.

"Ahh," Mayako whined as she slowed the bike and hopped the curb back onto the bike trail. "We're almost there anyway, Kimiko."

Rintaro pulled up beside them and matched their pace. The redhead watched him and noticed the line of sweat at his brow a moment before he wiped it with the sleeve of his borrowed shirt. She still remarked at how amazingly similar he looked to her now-lost male-half, although the small cleft in his chin gave him necessary separation from it. For some reason, she realized that she had not paid his appearance very much attention.

Damp with perspiration, Rintaro's short cut, black hair flowed in the wind as he peddled next to the two girls. The clothes he had acquired from Kenichi fit him awkwardly. The black pants were a bit too long, and probably a notch too wide as they seemed to hang at the boy's hips with slack to spare. His untucked green shirt rippled like a flag in the wind.

As Kimiko examined him, he turned his face toward her for a moment, catching her eye for an instant. His blank expression and cold blue eyes made her shy away from him. Tortured was the only adjective she could think of to describe the soul behind those eyes.

"Let's take a shortcut," Rintaro suggested as the two bikes pulled up beside an alleyway that cut through the shops. He then pedaled into the alley.

Kimiko noticed that Mayako tensed up for a moment, before following Rintaro. Kimiko held on tightly as the girl sped down the dimly lit alley. They met a ninety-degree turn to the left, passing the backdoors of all the shops of their destination, which a chain link fence guarded down its length on their right. Rintaro followed it closely, lightly brushing his fingers against the fence as he coasted to the end of the alley, and then cut right sharply in another ninety-degree turn.

A few moments later, Rintaro slowed as they entered the shopping market Kimiko sorely missed after spending pocket-burning cash at the identical malls of California. Colorful banners with Kanji characters hung from all the light poles, swaying in a light breeze that cooled the market's customers.

"How about food?" Rintaro suggested as they dismounted their bikes and began walking down the walkway through the market.

"Sounds good to me," Mayako replied.

They spent the rest of the afternoon eating at all the street vendors.

---

Jotaro Saito watched with bated breath as Masami greeted him on the corner of the alley with his bike in toe tow. Looming over the smaller young man, Jotaro grimaced at his friend, scanning the crowd for their victims. Masami looked a little out of breath as he stopped in front of Jotaro.

"Well?" Jotaro demanded, propping his hands on his hips.

"Don't worry, man," the dark young man replied softly. "They stopped at an ice cream parlor. They parked their bikes just up that way." Masami paused for a moment, looking up at his superior, waiting for something.

Jotaro grumbled in reply, glaring at the kid for stalling. "Get to it, Masami. We don't have all day."

"Yeah, all right," Masami whispered, pushing his bike down the alley and around the bend where Kojiro would be waiting with Seiko and Shoji. A few moments later, Seiko and Kojiro walked toward him. Seiko grinned off her usual bad mood, winking at him when she approached. Kojiro rubbed his spiky blond hair when the two stopped in front of him.

"All right, are you two ready?" Jotaro asked of the two a moment later. "You better be, because once things are set in motion, there's no stopping them. It's do or die."

Seiko was quick to respond, her eyes burning. "Damn right! I'm ready to kill that bitch!"

"Whatever," Kojiro said with a yawn. "I just wanna get this over with. Nothing like a brawl to make you miss lunch."

When the three entered the lunch crowd, an avenue through the people opened immediately. Whether Jotaro's size or Seiko's look of pure murder threw them off, it did not matter as it served Jotaro's purpose.

"You sure he won't help her?" Kojiro asked, rubbing a hand through his hair again.

"Yes," Jotaro replied, glaring at the blond. "Trust me. I'm sure he won't help."

"How can you be so sure, Jo? There's bad blood between us. Even if he doesn't like that redhead ho, don't you think he'll smack us out of spite? That's what I'd do."

"That's why you're little league compared to him," Seiko mocked, elbowing Kojiro.

"Shut up, the both of you," Jotaro fumed, ready to smack the both of them. Slowing his step, he picked it up and walked in the middle of them. "He won't help, and that's that. What, you want me to whip out the storybook and read to you exactly why? Just take my word for it. In fact, I have it on good authority that not only will he not help, but he might even just help us."

Kojiro shrugged, speeding his step as they neared the bike rack where they found the twins' bikes locked up tightly. They peered across the walkway at the dessert parlor, seeing all three of their victims with their backs to the window.

"Do it," he told Seiko as the three of them crowded the bike rack. A pocketknife appeared in the black-haired girl's hands as she made quick work of the two bikes' tires.

---

"If I eat another bite, I'm going to explode," Mayako complained at the second half of her ice cream sundae. Her stomach ached under the pressure of a large lunch and the ice cream. She looked down at the last few bites.

"Oink, oink," Rintaro squeaked at her, pushing his nose up like a pig. She laughed in spite of herself, especially after seeing the chocolate moustache he sported as well as the pig nose. He had not been this playful in a while.

"I'll finish that for you," Kimiko interjected, managing to dump the contents of Mayako's bowl into her empty one.

"Hey," Rintaro protested, peering past Mayako who sat in the middle of them. "You're supposed to eat dainty portions so I get all the leftovers." Mayako smirked at him as she watched his expression turn from annoyance to surprise.

Turning to Kimiko, Mayako watched with wide eyes as the girl devoured the remains of the sundae. She suddenly had the image in her head of a vacuum cleaner.

"Wow, Kim-chan," Mayako whispered. "You eat like my brother."

At that, Rintaro barked a laugh, spitting the last portion of his ice cream back in his bowl. "Close, but no one can match Kenichi."

Kimiko shrugged in reaction as she polished off the sundae, spooning the sides of the bowl for every last drop.

After they paid and exited the restaurant, Mayako grabbed Kimiko's bare arm, dragging her towards the shop next door.

"Hey, where are we going?" she protested, stumbling in her heels.

"Right here!" Mayako exclaimed, followed by a smile at the store next to the ice cream parlor. She pointed through the window of a clothes store with a front display of headless mannequins in various stylish fashions for both men and women.

Releasing the redhead's wrist, Mayako flashed a smile at the suddenly troubled-looking Rintaro who exited the parlor a bit slower than she and Kimiko had. As she crossed the threshold of the store with the unintelligible English words scrawled all over its windows, she pondered Rintaro's odd mood swings. From his normal cynical self, he had taken the time to flirt with her all morning, and then play like he had not renounced their friendship to the whole school. The few dark moments she had caught him sulking, he seemed to be drowning in a shadow in the corner of the room.

She wanted to believe his candid attempt at refreshing their friendship, and possibly taking it a step further, but deep down, Mayako knew her heart to be too fragile for such an enthusiastic approach. She did not consider Rintaro a safe bet, but more like a one-in-ten gamble in a horse race.

Putting her concerns aside momentarily, Mayako lifted her chin and strutted down the red carpet of the large American chain clothes retailer, ready to spend her allowance as she always did, frivolously. After all, how many days as an adult would she be able to spend working two jobs in order to still run the dojo and pay the bills? She could save now and pay it all into something just as stupid later, but she could enjoy new clothes now.

She turned and met Kimiko's wide blue eyes with a wink.

"Why don't you buy yourself something that'll cover that trim belly of yours? You're making all the mortal girls jealous."

Kimiko blushed and managed to disappear down an aisle on the men's side of the store. Mayako shrugged and picked the aisle closest to the window where they put all the newest stuff imported from America. Rintaro followed, obviously an illiterate in the world of fashion in his borrowed clothing from her equally trend-challenged brother.

It did not take her long to find a couple of outfits to try on. Rintaro merely watched her with faked interest and glanced out the window every once and a while. Anytime she asked his opinion on a particular skirt or blouse, he shrugged indifference or nodded with feigned satisfaction. Engaging him in clothes shopping, apparently, was not possible. He even declined an offer for her to buy him an outfit.

"I'm going to try these on," she told him. "Have you seen Kimiko?"

"No," he said, quickly glancing around. "She's too short to see her head over the aisles." He then grinned smugly. "Need her to help you try them on? If so, I volunteer my services."

"Let me guess," she started, putting her hand on her hip. "You'd also offer your gracious service helping me try on new bras and panties? Oh, you're so wonderful, Saotome-san." Flashing her teeth, she turned on her heels and began her search of the aisles for Kimiko.

"I'm going to wait outside," he said to her back dryly.

"Big loss there," she whispered as she found Kimiko empty-handed at the back of the women's side, thumbing through some of the bargain clothing.

"Ah, come on," she said, rolling her eyes at Kimiko. "I can pick you out something better than these rags." Kimiko looked as clueless as Rintaro as she smiled haphazardly, placing a hand behind her head.

"Uh, thanks, I think," the redhead replied, biting her lip.

After a few minutes of browsing, she found pulled a peach Chinese-styled blouse from the rack in the middle isle, where all the most expensive stuff, supposedly marked down ten percent or more, usually appeared. Kimiko could afford it, Mayako knew. From the look of her hotel room, Kenichi had to be worth a few million at the very least. Mayako could only imagine her credit line.

"What about this?" she said holding the garment up to Kimiko's chest. It felt like silk in her hands, so she flipped the tag to see the price, coughed, and started to put it back. Her little trick worked.

"Hey, I liked that," Kimiko protested. "Price doesn't really matter."

"Yeah, but buying it at that price would be a sin," Mayako said, goading her new friend into it. "Just look at it!" She showed Kimiko the price tag. The girl's eyes bulged.

"You're probably right," Kimiko said after a moment.

Mayako sensed her reverse psychology failing and put it into overdrive. "Yeah, your brother would have a fit if he saw you buying stuff like that." Kimiko's eyes narrowed at the remark, so she continued. "Probably put you over his knee and spank you in front of company. I don't blame you being scared of him and all."

"What?" she nearly cried back. "Hah, even if he did get mad, I'd just blow him off. The punk has enough money to pay off all of the American government and still buy a new tux." She then began rifling through the expensive rack with fresh interest.

Her manipulation had worked much better than planned. Kimiko even offered to pay for her clothes, too! She could blow the rest at the arcade tomorrow!

They went into the women's dressing room and found one stall unused.

"Why don't you go first?" Kimiko happily offered, opening the stall for her.

"Don't be silly," Mayako whispered, pulling the redhead in with her. "That'd just be a waste of time." The raven-haired girl pushed the door closed. She saw a bit of unease on the other girl's face. "I'm not going to bite."

"That's not it," Kimiko said bashfully, looking meaningfully at the pile of clothes in her hands. "Oh, never mind."

"Never figured you for the shy type," she said, starting to strip out of her outfit. "I mean, you didn't bat an eye in the locker room."

"I'm not shy," she said defensively, turning her back and quickly slipping out of the very little bit of cloth that made up her outfit.

"No kidding," she told the redhead, looking down at her skirt and blouse. "Don't you feel naked dressed like that? I know I would. I can wear a skirt, but nothing that short, and definitely have to have my stomach covered." The thought of running around in anything as small as Kimiko's outfit made her arms grow goosebumps.

"I don't have much choice, anyway," she replied, pulling the peach blouse over her head. It fit well and looked great with her red hair splashed down across it. "My nanny didn't pack anything but outfits like that except my gi and a few pairs of sweats."

Boggling at the idea of having a nanny, Mayako wondered what kind of life the redhead led in the States. She did not seem to be like rich kids at her school, but at the same time she was probably richer than all of them combined.

"I didn't used to have it this good, you know," Kimiko said, turning to Mayako a little rosy-cheeked at first seeing Mayako in her underwear, as if she had not showered in the locker room with her, though she did remember the girl paying a lot of attention to the wall.

"Go on," Mayako urged her slipping into a skirt. "Oh, I like this one."

"Until I was adopted by Nishiyama-san, I didn't have much more than a few yen to my name. I guess I'm still not used to it all. The simplicity of the road makes a lot more sense. All you worry about is where your next meal is, not this where will I buy my next outfit bull—" She cut herself off and looked up shamefully. "I didn't mean—"

"Don't apologize for your feelings," Mayako said, suddenly liking Kimiko a bit more. The girl added more depth to her personality at every turn. "I really don't come here that often, unless you count once a month a lot?"

Kimiko chuckled in response.

"Hey, a girl's got to look good to lift her spirits sometimes, all right?"

"I had a friend in America who would have cheered along with you," Kimiko said lightly with a wide smile. "Do what'cha like, she'd say to me. Screw the consequences, because it's not tomorrow yet. I don't get it, but it made people at my school cheer."

"It is a good saying to live by," Mayako said, trying on her last outfit. "I think I'd get along with this friend of yours."

Kimiko tried on a cute button-up blouse that she had picked out. It looked a bit dressy for Mayako, but she had to admit it did look good on the redhead.

"Looks good," Mayako told her. "Let's buy it all." With a chuckle, Kimiko agreed.

"Hey, is it OK to wear these out?" Kimiko asked, gesturing to the pantsuit. "Short skirts and bikes don't match."

"Yeah, just rip off the tags and show them to the cashier.

Mayako led her friend to the counter and placed it all up there, grateful that Kimiko could afford the clothes. She could not even have afforded the peach-colored blouse.

With her back to Kimiko, she let herself distantly browse the aisles for anything, when she stopped her eyes in the men's side. Kenichi had not bought himself clothes in a few months, and needed a new shirt for work, with Rintaro's 'borrowing' and unlikely to return of one of his few work outfits. One shirt caught her eye.

A mannequin wore it with a pair of matching pants. The striped blue shirt and dark blue pants fit Kenichi's conservative style and was marked down fifty percent. Who could beat that...plus she did promise her mom to bring back something for Kenichi. She would pay Kimiko back for it.

"Hey, Kim, mind if I throw something on the tab for Kenichi? I'll pay for it after. It's just that he needs a new outfit badly, and who knows if he'll ever go to the store on his own."

"OK, grab it."

She found the pair on a hanger below the display and returned to Kimiko's side, placing it on the counter. The cashier took the garment's tags and ran them through her register, taking the credit card from Kimiko's outstretched hand for the final price.

"Think he'd like that one?" Mayako asked.

"Hmm, sorry?" Kimiko said with her eyes a little glazed. "Like what?"

"The outfit I just put down on the counter. You know, the one for Kenichi."

Kimiko looked around, but the cashier had already put it in the bag.

"Oh well, you can see it on him before you leave for China."

The girls began to walk down the red carpet towards the exit with Mayako failing to see Rintaro outside. Their bikes still sat at the bike racks across the street. Shrugging, she took Kimiko's empty hand and as they approached the glass door. As she put her hand on the door handle to open it, Kimiko pulled her slightly back.

"Huh?" Mayako asked, cocking her head sideways to look at the redhead. Her eyes danced back and forth between two spots, one most likely the bikes, the other most certainly not. She turned and saw Rintaro approaching the bike rack quickly, sitting on it as he waited for them.

"He just came out of that alley," Kimiko said, pointing to the one they used as a shortcut to the plaza. "And look. The bikes are wrong somehow."

"What?" Mayako said in disbelief, looking closely at them. Rintaro pointed at his bare wrist as if he had a watch on. "Are you sure? What's wrong with them?"

"I think someone slashed the tires," Kimiko whispered. "And Rintaro knows about it."

"Miss Junior Sleuth, how can you see all this?" Mayako chuckled, trying to pull the girl forward, but met resistance. "You're serious?"

"Dead serious," the redhead replied. Mayako turned and saw her eyes, sharp blues sapphires. "I don't like the look of his aura. Something's really wrong."

"So the tires are slashed, and he didn't tell us, huh? What the hell could he get out of that? I doubt he slashed our ride."

"Mayako," Kimiko leaned in and whispered. "I think he means to jump us."

"Hah!" the dark-haired girl exclaimed, elbowing her friend. "Jump me and you together? He'd never stand a...he came from that alley? The one he took us through?"

Rintaro waved at them. The distance was not far enough for Mayako to miss the tension in his face. He did look uneasy. He must know about the tires. How could he miss it? If so, he would have told them right away, unless he had something to do with it.

"Oh hell," she whispered back. "Let's see if there's a back way. Can't be too cautious with freaks like Rintaro."

With Kimiko's hand held tight, Mayako rushed them to the cashier's counter.

"Is there something wrong with your purchase?" the cashier asked. "Is everything all right?"

"Do you have a back exit, or anything?"

"No, sorry," the cashier replied. "Only the store manager can open the lock, and he's not in the store right now."

"Can I please use your phone then? This is an emergency."

"This phone does not call out of the district," the cashier informed her as she pulled a phone out from underneath the counter.

She quickly dialed the number to Kenichi's work, the only number in range, if the cashier had correctly informed her. She turned to the door to see Rintaro crossing the avenue to the store, and so she quickly handed the phone to Kimiko.

"Tell Kenichi to come to this store as fast as he can," she told the redhead as she took off to intercept Rintaro. "If he asks why, just tell him Sailor Moon sucks. He'll understand."

"Is that a stupid code phrase, or something?"

"Yeah, because he knows if it's from me, I'm lying."

Her heart rate sped up drastically as she rushed out of the store and met the young man before he could enter.

"What's taking you so long?"

"Why do you care?" she rebuked him. "Kimiko had to...use the bathroom. She'll be right out."

Rintaro hummed aloud, as she turned him around for them to walk toward the sabotaged bikes.

"She probably has to puke out lunch now," he said a bit more bitterly than the supposedly cynical comment called for. "No one holds a figure like that eating as she does."

Mayako kept her reply to herself, which would have been something like, "Oh, so you already puked out your portion?" as she was too nervous. If Kimiko's eyes spoke truth, Rintaro was definitely messing with her. He almost positively would have mentioned the vandalism by now.

"Hey," she said halfheartedly, pointing towards the bikes. "Somebody slashed our tires! What the hell?" All her play-acting started to pay off.

"Yeah," Rintaro said solemnly. "I would have told you earlier, but you looked like you were having fun. Didn't want to spoil that." She caught his glance as it quickly brushed the alley. She might have accepted his reply if she thought him a considerate person.

A spike of trepidation ran through her spine as she noticed something in the alley.

"Oh God," she whispered as three recognizable faces appeared from it.

---

"Hello?" Kenichi's voice asked on the other side of the city.

"It's Kimiko," the redhead informed him, watching Mayako and Rintaro walk to the bike racks together.

"Hi," he responded, his voice uneven. "What's up?"

Mayako and Rintaro disappeared from her line of sight as Kimiko nervously held the phone to her ear. She fought the urge to check up on Mayako. Although she felt something really bad coming on, she wondered if Kenichi could even get there in time to help them if anything did occur.

"Kimiko? What's wrong?"

"Listen, Kenichi," she told him, trying to remain as calm as she could. "Mayako and I need your help now." A shiver shot up her spine. She had to get out there now.

"It's busy here at work," he replied, his voice edgy. "Tell me what's wrong."

"No time, listen. Get to the Rave Underground ASAP. I don't care what you have to do. Just get here." She held onto the phone only to make sure he understood, hoping he would just agree. Goosebumps formed on her arms as she stared at the unoccupied space by the bikes.

"Where?" Kenichi said confused. "Why? What's the matter?"

"Argh, Mayako said you'd know it. It's the clothes store across from the ice cream parlor that we stopped at."

"Oh, I know that place. Never could read the name though."

"Whatever," Kimiko impatiently replied. "Mayako said some stupid thing like, 'Sailor Moon sucks.' Now get your ass over here now."

"All right," he said after a moment. "This better not be a joke. I could lose my job. I'm coming though."

Hanging up the phone, Kimiko picked up the bags Mayako had left, as well as her own, quickly marching towards the exit. Everything in her body shouted for her to sprint, but she ignored it. If traps had not been sprung yet, she did not want her behavior to set them off.

The walk to the glass doors felt long, though the store was not very large. She pushed the doors open sharply, nearly knocking someone over as they tried to enter. Without muttering an apology, she shifted past the customer and onto the sidewalk. At the edge of the alley, Rintaro stood beside two strangers, with Mayako nowhere in sight. Their eyes focused on her immediately.

"Oh shit," she whispered, stopping in mid-step. The two young men that now approached her were serious. They walked toward her determinedly, their eyes trying to pierce the armor of her self- confidence. Rintaro remained at his spot at the entrance of the alley.

"Well, look who we have here," the one on the right said, the taller of the two. He stood quite tall, probably six feet or so. Aside from his stature, he was unremarkable. The broad shoulders suggested he worked out, but he did not have the shape of a body builder. His walk, his movements suggested some sort of martial arts training.

The spiky-haired, bleach blond on the left did not respond, his glassy black eyes focusing on her reluctantly. Like his friend, he had shaped his body through some form of training, but unlike his friend, he looked nervous. Kimiko considered whether the twitch in his cheek, the drop of sweat on his brow and his cautious step meant that he planned to jump her. The dark-haired one stopped in the middle of the avenue, his fists clenched.

"I don't know what you have besides a lack of common sense," Kimiko retorted from her spot near the entrance of the store. "You should know better than to jump me out here in the open."

"Who said anything about us jumping you?" the dark-haired one asked suspiciously. "I have a few questions for you."

"No, I don't sell drugs, so scram," she replied mockingly. She looked across at Rintaro who passively stood by the entrance of the alley, turning his head only once to peer into it.

"Funny," the man replied. "But in all seriousness, I have to ask why you interfered in a fight that involved an acquaintance of mine."

"Why'd you have to mess his brother up like you did?" the blond one demanded, his hand starting to shake, not with fear, but with outrage.

Kimiko looked between the two of them, considering her options. She assumed he meant the fight in the alley a few days ago, when she stopped the thugs from picking on Mai and Ryosei Ono.

"Oh, so you're with that brat Shoji and his friends," Kimiko stated. She smiled at them smugly. "Are you some sort of Yakuza wannabes? Should I pay restitution?"

"Now you insult me, you venomous bitch," the dark-haired one began, taking a step closer to make him only ten feet away. "Yes, I am his friend, but it is my brother whom you injured that brings me here. And yes, you will pay restitution. How that will be settled depends on you, though."

"Oh shut the hell up," Kimiko said setting down the shopping bags. "Threatening may make you feel nice and big, but it's hardly going to make me do anything but kick you and your surfer friend's butt back to the lowly dirt hole you were spawned in."

"I suppose that means you consider my colleagues and myself lower than scum? We do not belong in our own country, when whorish American spoiled brat bitches visit our 'lowly' communities? We cannot settle our own disputes, without little gaijin sluts sticking their white little noses in our business?"

The primal fear or flight adrenalin flooded into Kimiko's veins as she, too, recoiled from an unexpected insult. She knew now they had planned to goad her into a fight from the start. Although she had not tangled with either of these rogues before, Kimiko knew their combined skill could not compare to her and Rintaro's.

Her heart felt as if it had dropped from her chest the moment she realized the truth. The only way they would have approached her in this manner, would be if Rintaro Saotome, the brother that had no clue of their relation, would not assist her in this fight. Her eyes went to Rintaro. It was true.

Fighting the urge to start the battle prematurely, Kimiko, as calmly as she could manage, knelt down and began to pull off one of her pumps.

"What the hell are you doing?" the leader asked, his eyes flashing his confusion and intent.

Not responding, Kimiko removed the second shoe. Kimiko could feel their burning eyes on her as she quietly removed her right shoe. She then placed them next to the bag beside her feet. She then placed her purse in one of the bags.

"I am Kimiko Nishiyama of the School of Anything-Goes Martial Arts," Kimiko told them loudly, her voice echoing over the quiet street.

"I'm Jotaro," the leader said informally, his voice muted. "This is Kojiro. I would say it is a pleasure to meet you, but you would have been better suited to stay in America to become a prostitute."

She assumed they would attack her immediately, but something held them back. Was it the possibility of Rintaro's interference? No, she saw it in their eyes. They were too nervous to fight out in the open; hence, the two fights they had participated in were in alleys. Kimiko Nishiyama feared the authorities about as much as she feared losing to these two.

---

With a careful look over her shoulder, Mayako stared at the spot Rintaro had stood before he'd left Seiko and her alone. She knew he betrayed her, even though he swore he would defend her should any others attempt to assist the girl in front of her. The figures of Jotaro and Kojiro, two people she most particularly did not like, remained in her head. Something had gone down between them. That was the only explanation.

"I hope you're ready," Seiko, the girl Mayako sincerely hated, said as she stood near the end of the alley. "I've waited a long time to duel you again."

Mayako confidently watched as Seiko began to circle her the moment their friends left the alley. She had not been surprised that Seiko would want to fight, but the fact that she wanted to duel her alone did surprise her. Everyone, including Seiko herself, should have been aware of the fact that Mayako could wipe the floor with the scar-faced girl. After all, it was Mayako who had given Seiko her scar.

Fingering the line across her face, Seiko scowled at her nemesis with equal confidence. She held her hands up defensively, despite her aggressive movements. Mayako merely stood still, watching her from the corner of her eye, spinning only when the girl completely left her view. She knew that the girl had skill, but did not have much beyond that. Seiko was not very fast, was not very strong and became very sloppy when angry. Mayako knew this because they were in Kendo together in junior high, when Seiko had been the ascending star athlete, and Mayako merely the newcomer.

Mayako had not liked Kendo and she never would, as using a sword stood for everything she disliked. She believed that one's body was the ultimate weapon, and when used correctly could overpower even the finest of weapon masters. When her mother forced her, she had been resistant to any teachings, but still excelled beyond the average student. Mayako Tendou had her father's stubbornness.

As they were now, Mayako and Seiko dueled over who would be the captain of the Kendo team, because Mayako would be damned if she would be pushed around by a punk like Seiko. The scar was a reminder of Mayako's superiority with the sword, or perhaps her recklessness in her desire to succeed without listening to her instructors. Either way, Mayako was now sorry about cutting the girl, but no apology would ever make that scar go away.

"I know I can't beat you like this," Seiko told her, her voice not even hinting at weakness. "That's why I brought this." A blade flashed in her hands, not a training sword like the ones they had dueled with the first time, but a real katana. How sharp the blade could be, Mayako did not know and did not plan to find out.

"I hope you don't expect to even the playing field with that toy," Mayako replied, her confidence growing in her opponent's weakness.

"I've been preparing for this for a while, Tendou," Seiko said coolly. "Once I'm done with you, everyone will know I won. It doesn't matter if I'm at your feet in a heap."

Mayako knew the girl meant to disfigure her the same way, if not worse than she had done to Seiko. It did not matter.

Seiko brandished the weapon skillfully; she had been practicing. Mayako watched her, dancing with the cobra this time, changing her entire approach to this fight. No longer could she just overpower her. The blade danced, too, the sharp blade glittering in the sunlight filtering in through the overhangs of the buildings they stood between.

The first strike came quickly, beginning with the twitch of Seiko's face, her eyes focusing a little bit more upon Mayako and her grip tightening against the leather-wrapped hilt of the katana. Mayako read her movements, flowing between the girl and the blade, remaining defensive until she could discern the girl's current skill. Three years was enough for anyone with a little conviction to improve.

Seiko's wrist twisted as she slashed out, divining the exact angle the blade would take. Mayako could still read her every move like a children's book, easily dodging the attack. Her following thrust was also expected, as Mayako caught the blade with her bare hands. In her moment of triumph, so easily conquering her opponent, she let her guard slip the tiniest bit.

A handful of white dust powdered Mayako's face as she held the blade, surprising her enough that she jumped backward in order to wipe it out of her eyes. The substance stung terribly, flooding her eyes with tears.

"Laundry detergent tastes wonderful, doesn't it?" Seiko mocked before she came in low with a slash. Luckily, Mayako did not need to see her to determine where it would be, and she flipped over Seiko's head and as she landed, twisted quickly with a backwards spin kick.

The kick caught Seiko by surprise, Mayako knew, for the girl stumbled back to defend herself, only managing a half-turn before Mayako's attack landed. Luckily for the scar-faced girl, Mayako did not have nearly the momentum she needed to pack it with any punch. It did buy Mayako enough time to wipe some of the soap from her face, though her vision still blurred with tears and pain.

Again the two squared off, their bodies locked in the deadly dance of combat. Only this time, Mayako realized how dangerously close she stood to the wall, reducing her ability to evade. Seiko rushed, giving her almost no room to dodge her incoming slash. Her heart leapt as she did, leaping at the brick wall to her right. She rebounded off the wall, pushing as hard as she could into her opponent with a horizontal kick of her right leg.

Seiko's slash, although it missed her targeted area, lacerated Mayako's left leg. Mayako Tendou barely felt the sharp blade's tip rip through a layer of her skin as her foot connected squarely into Seiko's right temple. They collided so hard that the blade clattered loudly against the street as their bodies tangled.

There was a moment of uncertainty as Mayako fell on top of her opponent, quickly broken by the flicker of a shadow coming from above her. In one second, her momentary victory turned into a panicked revelation that she might not win this duel after all.

---

Wasting no time after putting her good pair of shoes away, Kimiko took one step and leaped at the blond, catching him completely off-guard. He backpedaled only once in surprise as she hurtled into his chest, knocking him over. Rebounding off Kojiro, Kimiko head butted Jotaro's chest. Although he had raised his arms to protect himself, her fierce blow sent him reeling towards the opposing sidewalk.

Regaining her balance, Kimiko landed on her feet, no worse for wear.

"You stupid bitch!" Jotaro hissed at her, still keeping his voice low. "You'll get us all arrested!"

Her body ached for the battle as she took a few steps back, waiting for the two to recover. She slowed her breathing methodically, fighting her own body as much as she engaged the two before her in combat. Pain seemed to pour through every ounce of her blood, as if it had passed into her veins. Her depleted body stripped every last shred of energy for her to fight for what seemed to be the hundredth time in the same week. First there had been the exertion of the fight with Rintaro, and then her near-death in the fight with Ryouga.

Jotaro shot to his feet, brushing himself off as Kojiro gathered himself to his feet slowly, clearly stunned by her attack.

"That wasn't cool," Kojiro said after he righted himself completely.

"Boohoo," Kimiko mocked, thumbing her eye at him. "So go find a corner and cry, why don't ya?"

"I'm ready for her, Jotaro," Kojiro said, gritting his teeth at her remarks.

"As we planned." Straightening his back, Jotaro was easily the tallest person there. Cracking his neck as he rotated his head, the man leveled himself into an offensive stance that looked like a basic black belt Taekwondo.

The two wasted little time in retaliating, converging on her quickly. With Jotaro on her left and Kojiro on her right, Kimiko kept them both in view as they attacked. She hooked her right arm under and around Kojiro's punch, pulling back just in time to evade Jotaro's sidewinder.

"Bakufuuken!" Kimiko cried, generating a burst of calm chi energy in her fist, blasting Kojiro towards his friend. To Kimiko's surprise, Jotaro rolled out of Kojiro's way. The bleach-blonde, on the other hand, rolled face-first into the asphalt as Jotaro snapped up to his feet.

The simple maneuver left Kimiko more drained than she had expected, giving Jotaro an opportunity to attack her. He performed an exceptional spin kick, which Kimiko blocked with her arms. The force of the kick sent Kimiko stumbling to the side. Jotaro took advantage of that fact and threw himself at her.

Cleanly knocked off her feet by his tackle, Kimiko nearly lost consciousness as her head struck the concrete sidewalk. Jotaro began to pummel her, but Kimiko recovered enough chi energy and pushed herself up as hard as she could. Her opponent flailed in the air as she tucked in her body and channeled her energy at him.

"Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken!" Kimiko shouted, barraging Jotaro with punches. Their positions reversed, Kimiko pushed off Jotaro, who lay beneath her, his breath and senses temporarily knocked out of his body. Even as she stood, Kimiko realized the fight had hardly even begun.

"Leave him alone!" Kojiro shouted, surprising Kimiko with the speed of his attack. Unable to react in time, Kimiko's vision blurred as the blond struck her across the cheek. She reeled back, fighting to stay balanced. Although she found his strength admirable, she knew he lacked the skill necessary to follow through against her.

Leaping over his head, Kimiko fell to her knees behind him and spun, sweeping his legs from beneath him. Quickly standing, Kimiko turned and found Jotaro regaining his lost senses. Backing away from him and Kojiro, she put some distance between herself and the two of them in order to regain some strength.

"I guess I underestimated you," Jotaro told her, holding his hand to his chest.

"What you did was wake a sleeping lioness," she muttered in response, falling into her stance. "Didn't your mommy ever tell you not to bite off more than you can chew?"

Kimiko took a step towards them, looking up as she calmly took a breath. Be like the air. Tire your opponents. She could hear the voice in her head. Be right in front of them, but unable to be touched.

The two rushed her again, attacking with a combination of low kicks and high punches, which she easily avoided with steps backwards, just close enough to feel the breeze as they over-extended their attacks to reach her. Kojiro stumbled as his friend continued their rush, but even then Jotaro continued to meet air in every attack as she felt herself willed to avoid every attack, bending like grass in the breeze, not breaking like the tree.

She timed his heavy breathing as he stopped and pulled back defensively, his breath rapid after the missed barrage. That was when she counter-attacked. Striking his retracting arm after his last punch, she threw herself in close, bringing her closed fist across his face. She then slammed her elbow into the space just below his shoulder, and finished the combo with a head-butt to his chest. Jotaro fell hard to the asphalt.

Enraged at his friend's defeat, Kojiro attacked Kimiko again only a moment after Jotaro fell. He struck at her hard with a storm of punches. She blocked them, but her arms stung after she pulled out of his range. He pursued her like a bloodhound, his teeth caught in a snarl. He swung wildly and Kimiko used that to her advantage, ducking under his punch and sharply pulled up one of her own, a vicious uppercut that met his chin with a bone-jarring crunch.

Like his friend before him, Kojiro fell to the asphalt, out cold. Only this time, Kimiko fell to a knee as a strong pain ripped through her right hand. Nursing it under her left armpit, she pushed herself to her feet and stumbled towards Rintaro and the alley. Her head and right cheek ached as she noticed the few people who had gathered from the local stores and the scattered shoppers who watched the fight.

"I didn't think you'd handle them this badly," Rintaro remarked as she came close enough. "I thought for sure you'd take them out with your left hand tied behind your back." Even partially beaten, she did not miss the biting sarcasm. He glanced up her body and shook his head in feigned disappointment.

"Yeah whatever, dirtbag," Kimiko retorted, straightening her posture as she stood in front of him. "Now where is Mayako? What did you do to her?"

"Nothing," he said with a casual shrug. "Someone had business with her that seemed pretty urgent."

"What does that mean?" Kimiko demanded, gritting her teeth. "Is she back there in that alley we came through earlier?"

"Yes." He tilted his head to look her in the eyes. "But that doesn't concern you right now. Your business is front of you."

Kimiko narrowed her eyes at her blood brother. "Oh? And what would that be?"

"I have a few questions that you're going to answer," Rintaro told her coldly, looming over her as he approached. "You better be candid, or I'm going to show you what happens to bad little girls. You don't look like you could beat much more than my little brother right now, so don't even put on that false bravado."

"I still have a few surprises up my sleeve, little boy," she told him soundly, yet knowing that he probably would beat her right now.

He proceeded with question number one, which he asked her as soon as they stood in the entrance of the alley, away from they prying eyes of bystanders. "I heard that story about that brother of yours teaching you the Anything-Goes style, but who taught him? You even knew all the little techniques my father taught me. I'd assumed most he created himself. And you used the Chestnut Fist, too. That's an in- house thing that not many know about."

"Kiyoshi is self-taught," Kimiko answered truthfully. "His style isn't any one brand, but a variety of different ones. The Anything-Goes style just happens to be one he taught me mostly. He was in contact with both your father and Soun Tendou, as well."

"You avoided my question, still," Rintaro said in a low voice. "What about the Chestnut Fist? I thought you were fast before, but now I know why. Who taught you that?"

"I had a little guidance, but I learned on my own. What's it to you anyway?"

"Let's just say it's not exactly a well-known technique in martial arts circles worldwide. There are only a few people outside of a certain place in China that know of its existence."

"Well, one of the people who taught me knew it," she replied, trying to get him to move on. She did not care to tell him the truth to that question.

"Okay, but I'm going to find out who taught you eventually." Rintaro's piercing blue eyes seemed less like hers, and much more like a predator's. "But still, I want to know exactly what interest my father has in you. He seemed rather eager to meet you on Sunday, and I want to know why."

The question took Kimiko aback. She wondered if he could have figured out her identity so easily, but was then unwilling to confront her. Had that been the case, should he not have been furious instead of eager? She regarded Rintaro with interest of her own as he awaited her answer, even as her head and hand ached worse.

"What did he say?" Kimiko asked, hoping to glean some information from Rintaro without giving anything away.

"You know something," he said staring at her strangely. "Yes, you know exactly what I'm talking about, don't you? The way he talked about you was as if you were the solution to all his problems."

"I wouldn't know anything about that," she replied, taking a step back.

"Of course not," Rintaro growled menacingly. "Neither he nor my mother had even seen you before, and yet they talked as if they knew you." Pausing, he stared hard at her again. "He did mention your father though."

"My father?" she repeated, furrowing her brows. "Nobukazu-san?"

"No," Rintaro said gravely. "Your biological father."

Blinking, Kimiko knew she had no response that Rintaro was looking for. "Why would he talk about my biological father?"

"That is what I want to know as well, Red," he insisted, backing her into a wall as she took a step away from him. Only a few inches lay between them.

Genma and Soun had not figured out her identity, if what Rintaro hinted at was true. She looked into his blue eyes, which nearly mirrored her own. She could feel his slow breath upon her face, because they stood so close. Her head spun a bit as he hovered in front of her.

"No fainting now," Rintaro said, holding her still by the shoulders. The unexpected contact sent a chill down Kimiko's spine. He easily held her upright, gently pinning her to the wall. "I'm not done with you."

"If your father mentioned mine like that," Kimiko began weakly, "then I don't have an answer for you. I don't know why he even cares I exist."

Rintaro looked away from her, considering her words aloud. "Well he does and so does my mother, and even Soun for that matter. The only answer I can think of is if you were either related to my family or Mayako's."

Putting her hands on his shoulders, she felt her knees start to buckle. "I think I need to sit for a second." She wondered how much of the spinning was from the realization her family might learn her identity, or already knew it. Kimiko did not think she could handle the questions that would come about with such an incident, at least until she found a way to turn into a guy again.

As he softly lowered her to the asphalt ground, Rintaro regarded her with more care than she expected him to show. "Listen, my father and Tendou-san have been scheming for ages to join their families. There was some tragedy that united everyone together a while ago that no one talks about. One day my mother and Akane-san get this crazy idea to unite the family by arranging the marriage of Mayako and myself."

"Mayako told me about that," Kimiko said with a yawn, suddenly very exhausted. The thumping in her head started to make her feel nauseous. "What's that got to do with me?"

"Well, if you were a Saotome or a Tendou, then you could marry a member of the other family and finally unite it with shared blood."

Kimiko could not help but scoff at the irony of his statement. "Wouldn't that be laughs? The stranger out of the red, white and blue just happens to have the right blood to lift the problem off your shoulders." She laughed dryly, resting the back of her head against the brick wall behind her.

In the silence, Rintaro probed her with his eyes. He lifted his hand to her head and pushed his fingers through her hair, feeling along her scalp until it reached the point that had struck the concrete in her fight with the two thugs.

"You've got a concussion," he whispered, pulling his hand away to look at the small drops of fresh blood on his hand. "Hey, wait, now that I think about it, you look do familiar."

"We've never met before Sunday, Rintaro," Kimiko told him, wincing as he brushed his fingers lightly against her cheek. His touches began reminding her of Kiyoshi's medical probing. She hoped he meant nothing more.

"I know," he replied, releasing her face. Pausing, he took her cheek gingerly. "Smile." The perpetual neutral look on his face did nothing to show her whether he was joking or not, though she could only guess what sick joke he meant to play.

"Smile?" she asked, confused with his command. "What do you mean—?"

"Just smile," he told her, dropping his hand to his side. "I'm serious."

In a lame attempt at a smile, Kimiko flashed her teeth and nearly laughed at the ridiculous request.

"That's what I thought," he said seriously, drawing himself up. "You're a bit more solid, but you look like my mother when she was a child."

"More solid? I don't—" she began, but he put his finger to her lips to shush her. As he pulled it away, she saw a bit of her lipstick remained as if she had kissed his finger.

"You know more than you're willing to admit," Rintaro said solemnly, resting a hand on her shoulder. "And I will have the answer, whether you're kin or not, girl or not, hurt or not. That much you should know. I don't joke around when it comes to stuff like this."

A loud scream stifled any possible response she could have had for him as they both turned towards the alley.

---

The moment they had fallen, Seiko shouted for help. It arrived faster than Mayako could have anticipated. A red-tinted, shiny steel Louisville Slugger smashed Mayako's left arm as she lay stunned after the collision. She screamed as the pain overwhelmed her senses, but the second half of it caught in her throat, and she miserably rolled away from her attacker's second swing. Quickly somersaulting to her feet, Mayako nearly buckled at the knees and fell as her first wave of pain tore at her consciousness, even as her eyes brimmed full of tears.

Through the haze of agony, Mayako backed herself into the corner of the alley, barely able to stand, as she confronted not two, but three people. The grin on Shoji's face showed no ounce of discomfort in using the Slugger, which rested in his fists. Seiko still lay behind him, silently trying to pull herself together as a dark young man helped her stand. Although she could not remember his name, the dark one posed less a threat than the bat in Shoji's hands.

Breathing steadily as she fought to remain upright, Mayako warily wedged herself into the corner between brick building and the fence. She watched Shoji like a hawk as he cautiously stepped toward her. Mayako was not prepared to let him gather into another attack without hurting Shoji really badly. She gritted her teeth as she made her move. The attack must have caught Shoji by surprise, as he only managed to pull his arms back into a swing before Mayako bounded off the corner and charged him. Punching him directly in the Adam's apple with a right-handed, open-fisted strike, she put every ounce of her strength into the attack. The man dropped the bat as he grasped his neck, falling backwards on his heels.

The dark man caught Shoji from falling, but wasted little time in turning the move into an attack. In a surprise move, he roughly pushed Shoji back at Mayako who had no time to dodge. Instead, she channeled Shoji's energy backwards and rolled with the hapless teenager, kicking him off her in midair as she flipped to her feet. Dizzy from the effort required to perform the maneuver, Mayako fell to her knees.

When he drew close enough, Mayako caught sight of Michio's boyish face a moment before he drew his leg back. The splintering pain in her arm quelled for a moment as new agony registered on her face. The bottom of Michio's foot caught her in the eye, spinning her around like a top to land on her back. She nearly lost consciousness again as the tears began to pour down her cheek. Mayako did not even have enough energy to cry as she looked up past the swelling of her right eye into the face of Michio.

He seemed to say something above her, but his voice sounded as if he shouted from one length of a football field to her on the other. Suddenly feeling inexhaustibly tired, Mayako closed her eyes and lapsed into unconsciousness.

---

The cry shook Rintaro as he crouched near Kimiko. Kimiko tried to push herself up even considering the pain she must have been experiencing. He stopped her by pressing his index finger against her shoulder. The weight made her fall back to her butt, catching her by surprise.

"Mayako could be hurt!" she protested, glaring up at Rintaro with her deep blue eyes.

"You sit here," he told her and stood. "I'll make sure she's all right. It might have been the girl that Mayako was fighting."

"I don't think so," she replied, starting to stand. "I don't trust you."

"Fine," Rintaro agreed, briskly walking deeper into to alley. He felt a tingling on the back of his neck as he turned the left corner into the portion of the way that opened up into a parking lot. He heard the shuffling steps of Kimiko behind him as he passed the opening and followed the chain link fence to the dead end where Mayako and Seiko had been fighting.

The sight that awaited him caught him by surprise. Mayako lay on the cracked concrete floor of the alley, her torso twisted around facing away from him, her legs spread-eagled in front, where a small pool of blood began to form. Seiko stood, supported by the loudmouth Shoji, while a young man whose name Rintaro could not recall stood in front of her. None of the teenagers saw him as he approached, and he would not give them the chance.

The one standing over Mayako fell to a quick shoulder lunge. His nose exploded with blood as he flew into the corner of the alley. Seiko and Shoji barely reacted before Rintaro caught the male in the chest with an open palm, which sent both of them into the chain link fence. The clatter of metal rang loud as he looked down to see a bloody katana, most likely a family heirloom, falling from the hand of Seiko. He eyed it suspiciously before sweeping his gaze over Mayako.

"Mayako!" Kimiko yelled with the pitch of her voice, sending a chill down Rintaro's spine. The wounded girl rushed to the aid of her friend, quickly checking the Tendou child's condition.

With Mayako in good care, Rintaro turned toward his prey. The unknown one had already started jumping over the brick wall, so Rintaro allowed him to leave. Shoji did not react quickly enough, for he climbed the fence too slowly to evade Rintaro. Kicking the blade up into his hands, Rintaro struck the pest in the side with the flat of the blade, sending the teenager reeling to the concrete. Seiko fared less well, as she was barely able to lift the baseball bat that had been hidden behind her.

"I hope you don't think you can win with that," Rintaro said evenly.

Seiko did not respond, but merely held it in defense. Her eyes saw not him, but the weapon held in his grasp. Something about the look made him wonder. She did not seem too frightened about her safety as she eyed the blade in his hands with trepidation and yet some hint of jealousy. After the briefest moment, she looked up into his eyes and then he knew she started to feel the dread.

"I suppose this is your family's blade?" Rintaro asked, resting his arm by wedging the tip of the blade into a crack in the concrete. "I wonder what brought it all the way out here to a duel between two—oh sorry, four people."

Her eyes never left the blade as she responded, "What do you want?" The look of concern grew to outrage as she stared at his use of her sword.

"An eye," he replied, watching Shoji as the boy pushed himself to his feet. Rintaro smiled sinuously at the two, as they stood petrified with fear from his answer. "For an eye. I mean to hurt you for hurting my friends here. I let the lot of you get carried away, and now I am going to make regret breaking your word."

"Damn, Saotome, she's not gonna die!" Shoji shouted at him, holding his side. "Give me that bat, Seiko!"

Seiko tossed Shoji the baseball bat, which he caught effortlessly. The two looked like trapped wolverines, but Rintaro considered them nothing more than cornered squirrels. He nonchalantly watched them, feigning disinterest in them as he rested the weight of his body on the katana, testing its strength.

"Just let us go, Saotome," Seiko nearly whispered, holding herself up with one hand on the chain link fence behind her. "I swear I won't come near her again."

"I don't believe liars," he retorted.

"Believe this, traitor!" Shoji shouted, swinging his bat rather accurately at Rintaro's midsection.

Parrying with the flat of the blade, Rintaro channeled Shoji's energetic swing high and into the katana's hilt. The tremendous blow jarred his hand a bit, but the maneuver produced the desired effect. The force of Shoji's swing smashed the blade right above the hilt, rending the sword in half.

"No!" Seiko screamed as she watched the bat bludgeon the katana into two pieces. With all of her pain forgotten, she rushed through Shoji and launched the desperate attack that Rintaro had hoped to provoke. Not even giving her a chance to swing, Rintaro sidestepped her charge and struck her in the back with the pommel of the katana. She fell to the concrete like a discarded toy.

Shoji stared at his partner as she fell, his eyes wide with terror. As Rintaro approached him, he took a step away, the bat held loosely in his shaking hands. He looked towards his attacker with desperation in his stance.

"Shoji Watanabe," Rintaro said with disdain. He approached the cornered teenager with the pommel of the katana still held in his hands. Anger started bubbling up in him as he thought of the teen striking Mayako with his bat. He continued threatening Shoji. "I should kill you for what you did to Mayako."

"Do it then," Shoji bluffed, his knees knocking together slightly as he held himself into the wall. "Do your worst, Saotome."

"This is unlike you," Rintaro replied, forcing a smile. "I thought you'd have tried to climb away, squealing like a piglet. But it seems you've simply traded swine for the likeness of a cornered rabbit. So, rabbit, what will be your first move?"

"Just finish him and help me, Rintaro," Kimiko urged. "I think Mayako needs to see a doctor."

Almost catching Rintaro off-guard by the oddness of his attack, Shoji took a giant step forward and swung his bat with all his might. The arc of the swing angled towards Rintaro's head, which the martial artist simply ducked underneath, redirecting his energy forward into a ferocious head-butt. The blow sent Shoji stumbling back into the fence, knocked completely out of breath. He fell to the ground gasping as Rintaro threw the broken sword at the teen. The hilt struck him in the forehead, knocking the boy out.

"That was pretty brutal," Kimiko commented gravely, her eyes not even staring up at Rintaro as she applied pressure to Mayako's neck. "While you were playing around, I think I figured out what's wrong with her. Her left arm's broken, and she has a concussion. The cut on her left leg is shallow, but could use some bandaging.

"Can we move her?" Rintaro inquired, kneeling by Mayako. He grimaced at the purple bruise across her face.

"We'll have to splint her arm somehow," the redhead said looking around. "Grab the broken katana and dull the edge. I'd use the bat, but it'd be too hard to tie to her arm to it with just scraps of cloth." Her brows furrowed and she looked at him strangely. "Wait, why don't we just call an ambulance? They can handle this better than I can."

"Yeah, but then we'd all be spending a month in juvenile hall," Rintaro replied quickly, looking around at the two people next to him. "I'll call it if their friends don't collect them first."

Kimiko only nodded. He thought he would have to explain himself further, but apparently she did not wish to spend a month behind bars any more than he did. "Damn, I wish they wouldn't have popped the tires. It'd be a lot easier to move her with a bike."

As he grabbed what was left of the blade, he noticed that Seiko stirred, trying to force herself up. He ignored her this time, and she paid him only enough mind to avoid him as she stumbled over to Shoji, slapping his face repeatedly until he woke. As Rintaro began to saw the blade on the concrete, the two staggered away.

"Hey, wait!" Kimiko yelled after them, jumping to her feet more sprightly than he thought she would have been able. She took off after them, without explanation. Rintaro merely continued with his task, ignoring her exit.

---

When Kimiko saw Mayako's attackers start to flee the scene, the thought occurred to her that one of them might have a bike she could 'borrow' to transport Mayako. She felt light-headed as she tried to catch up to the pair, but as she turned the corner, she stopped dead in her tracks. Five figures stood in front of her, though the two she chased would not be putting up much of a fight. Michio, Kojiro and Jotaro had gathered at the point where five bikes rested against the brick wall near the entrance of the alley.

Kimiko spun on her heels, but could not reverse her motion in time to avoid their first attack. A small object struck her in the lower back, hard enough to send her stumbling into the brick wall in front of her, striking her head. She fell backwards, barely managing to perform a half-roll to break her fall.

"You're going to pay!" she heard someone shout through a haze. "Oh shit, let's get out of here!" sounded off next as she heard her enemies escaping. Kimiko felt too dizzy to even try to stand, or even sit. She merely lay there.

"Not smart, Nishiyama-san," Rintaro said softly in her ear. "Now you're the one with a concussion."

Not feeling inclined to respond, she ignored him, fighting off the daze in her head.

Something from behind him caught Rintaro off-guard as she felt him spin to meet the new challenge. The newcomer's voice shouted out in anger, but the words failed to make sense. She tried to will herself to see who approached, turning sidewise. Akane seemed to stand there, limned in her bright red aura.

---

Sweat dripped into Kenichi's face as he peddled through the lunch hour traffic. He'd borrowed the bike from a friend that he had worked with up until ten minutes ago when his employer had fired him for leaving early. As fast as he could, Kenichi rode to the train, barely catching it and exiting the vehicle at the next stop. The ride had nearly cost him his life several times already at the speed he traveled through the pedestrians and cars.

He only required another minute to arrive at his destination; his adrenalin rush had faded and his body had begun to ache with fatigue. The thought of the most important woman in his life and his heart's desire both needing his help drew him to pedal harder. Kimiko's rushed phone call had set his heart racing. What kind of trouble could make the two capable martial artists require his help?

Suddenly the crowd parted, giving him a wide girth of area. At the same moment, he realized he'd found the boutique with the incomprehensible English words that Kimiko mentioned in her phone call. He scanned the street, noticing two bags in front of the shop next to a pair of familiar pumps. Fairly close to those, a few bloodstains painted the otherwise white walkway. The lack of pedestrian traffic made sense. No one would wish to be caught up in a fight, nor would they like to be arrested for being too near. He scanned around a bit more and spotted his and Mayako's bicycles tethered to a bike rack.

His skin turned to goose flesh as his eyes followed the logical place for a brawl to take place: the alley. After placing the pair of heels in a bag, Kenichi carried them and walked his bike towards the alley. The walk seemed eternally slow as he crossed the emptied street.

A siren lifted into the air like a mourning child at the death of a parent, signaling Kenichi's need to quicken his pace and find his sister and Kimiko. The tap of his shoes against the concrete sidewalk at the edge of the alley began to echo as he passed the buildings on either side of him.

He walked to the end of the alley to a scene he could not have expected, dropping both bags beside him and leaving his bike against the alley wall. The shards of a broken sword lay scattered amongst a few small pools of blood. Beyond that, his sister lay immobile, sprawled out on her back. His heart fell into his stomach as he ran to her. A buzzing noise in the back of his head filled in the silence that surrounded him.

Feeling his sister's neck for a pulse, he found one to his utter relief. Her chest rose and fell rhythmically beneath her bloodstained blouse as well, giving him a second to take in a deep breath. Lifting back her eyelids, he saw her reddened and tear-stained eyes and the tops of her dilating pupils. Taking in the rest of her, he wondered who could have hurt her so badly. Bruises covered her petite face, accented by a giant black eye.

Kenichi tried to slow his breathing, but he felt anger simmer in his blood. Rarely did he let his emotions take control, but finding Mayako as she was infuriated him beyond his breaking point. No one short of Rintaro and Kimiko could have ever taken her fairly, and even then he doubted either of them could possibly do this to her. He needed to find someone to blame.

As if picking up to the pace, his heart beat like a drum as he heard noise from around the next bend in the alley. Fury slowed his awareness to a crawl as he left his sister and rounded the corner looking for her attacker.

Adding insult to injury, someone left Kimiko lying nearly face down on the concrete, her elbows keeping her head from the ground. Her short skirt climbed embarrassingly high on her thighs, and her blouse looked ruined. With the alley empty but for her and the figure kneeling beside her, Kenichi burned to fight someone. Rintaro turned and stood to face the young man, his dispassionate face even more infuriating.

"What the hell happened here?" Kenichi swore, squeezing his hands into tight fists.

With a nonchalant shrug, Rintaro met his question with cool indifference. "They weren't careful. It doesn't matter now, though. It's over."

Kenichi did not care that he had never beaten Rintaro in his life, nor that the Saotome probably was not the one who had hurt two of the most important people in his life. All that mattered to him was that Rintaro was here, standing, unhurt and a big target.

"Damn you!" Kenichi caught Rintaro off-guard, barreling into him with a quick elbow jab. Rintaro fell over Kimiko, who responded with a grunt. He would apologize to her later. Right now he had a jerk-off's ass to kick. Hate swelled through him, and he liked it.

"What the hell?" Rintaro shouted, outraged as Kenichi leapt over the redhead and tried to pounce on his former friend. Rintaro rolled out of the way and quickly got to his feet.

Kenichi did not let up a second, pushing off the wall and into Rintaro with a quick front kick. Having just stood up, Kenichi's target had a scant amount of time to react. The blow caught Rintaro's right hip, spinning him to the side as Kenichi kicked through him. Showing him the back of his fist, Kenichi caught Rintaro in the lip, causing a splash of blood to splatter his fist.

Rintaro stumbled back in retreat.

"Stop being so smug, you asshole!" Kenichi shouted, his blood cooling slightly at the sight of his friend's blood.

"Okay, I guess I deserved that," Rintaro admitted, rubbing his hip with his left hand and his lip with his right. "But if you try anything else, I'm going to rip your arm out of its socket."

"How could you let someone hurt them like that?" Kenichi demanded, threatening him with a step forward.

"It wasn't any of my business," Rintaro replied seriously, crossing his arms over his chest. "They had an argument with the girls, and it wasn't mine to interfere."

"Was it Jotaro?" Kenichi asked, his anger rising again. Rintaro had no right to let them fight in an alley by themselves. Jotaro and his friends were notorious for back stabbing in the middle of a duel. Rintaro would have known that.

"Kimiko beat him and Kojiro pretty well, but took a hard lick. She's only dizzy right now because she tried to chase down the lot of them. She'll shake it off in a few."

"And?"

"Seiko did a real number on your sister. She had a blade. Even then, she needed two of her friends to take Maya-chan down. I think Shoji broke her left arm with a bat. She might need a doctor, but she's okay at the moment. But that's the least of our problems."

Kenichi rushed back over to Mayako who seemed OK, but for the bruising and a torn pant leg with a shallow cut along her left leg. He shook her gently, and she stirred, but her eyes still remained closed. He sighed softly, sadly pressing the back of his hand to her bruised cheek.

"The enforcers are going to tear us a new one if we don't get out of here quick," Rintaro warned from around the bend. "I know it's not good to move your sister and all, but I'd rather she see a family doctor than a Gen. Med."

Although he hated to agree with Rintaro, he had to. In addition to a General Medical doctor treating his sister and Kimiko, they would get the unwelcome bonus of a fine for disturbing the peace. Plus, General Medical doctors were not the friendliest of people, paid out of the pockets of taxpayers at a general rate for their less-than-enthusiastic service.

"Aunt Kasumi's house is the closest," Rintaro instructed, rounding the corner with a conscious redhead supported on his right arm. Kimiko looked confused with her eyes unfocused and dancing between Rintaro and Kenichi. She walked with a slight limp, but looked well enough to continue on.

After positioning her hurt left arm on her chest, Kenichi gingerly put his forearms underneath Mayako's backside and neck, gently lifting her. Mumbling softly, she nuzzled her head into the nape of his neck. Kissing her forehead, he carried her to where he had left his borrowed bike.

"You good to walk to the train, Red?" Rintaro asked of Kimiko as he passed Kenichi. Kenichi saw her nod after a moment. "Nichi, our bikes have flats. You ride on ahead with Maya-chan. Think you can do that?"

Kenichi considered it. He had ridden with people before, but did not know if he could take his sister without hurting her more. He knew he definitely could not carry her the whole way. He looked at his sister's face, torn between staying for an ambulance and attempting to ride her all the way to their Aunt's house.

As he turned to Rintaro, he saw the two of them walking their bikes over to him briskly.

"Well?" Rintaro asked impatiently. "We really need to get a move on it."

"I don't think I can do it, Rintaro," Kenichi said solemnly, watching his sister sleep in his arms. "You two get out of here. I'll wait here with Mayako for an ambulance."

"Oh, just give her to me," the impatient young man said leaving Mayako's bike up against the wall. "I can do it."

"Are you sure?" Kenichi asked, reluctant to give his unconscious sister to someone who had let her down once already. "I don't know."

"I swear I'll get her to Aunt Kasumi's no worse than she is now," Rintaro promised with a sincerity Kenichi rarely heard in his voice. He looked over his shoulder to Kimiko. She held her head in her hands, but appeared mostly all right now.

Kenichi nodded, holding Mayako out to the young man. Rintaro took her gently into his arms and then walked over to the borrowed bike, and sat down on it, resting the girl on his lap. With one hand he gripped the handlebars and with the other he held her. In an amazing feat of dexterity, Rintaro kicked off and rode at a quick pace down the alley and out of sight.

The sirens were almost upon them as Kenichi appraised Kimiko, as she covered her face. He walked up to her and softly took her arm, pulling a hand from her face. She straightened her back as he did this, squinting her eyes at him. The girl had escaped the brawl without a black eye, but a dark bruise painted her right cheek.

"Are you okay?" Kenichi asked her.

"Yeah, let's just go," she whispered, turning her head from him. Grabbing one of the bikes, she walked barefoot down the alley.

Kenichi picked up the shopping bags and hooked them over his left shoulder. He followed her, walking briskly with Mayako's bike to catch up to Kimiko. As she walked ahead of him, Kimiko limped less than she had before, moving quickly through the alley.

The wail faded from his ears as the clear sky and radiant sun warmed Kenichi from his foul mood. Reminding him of his empty stomach, street vendors lined the walk as the couple briskly marched in single file. It did not seem to pique Kimiko's interest as she calmly walked by them, the limp in her step having faded as they kept moving.

They came to a wide intersection, where Kimiko stopped. She did not turn to face him, but he understood she meant him to lead now. People passed her on either side and he waited until they cleared until he walked his bike beside her. She looked over to him now, her bruised right cheek shining next to him.

"Thank you, Kenichi," she whispered, and then reached up and put one of her small hands on his left shoulder.

Placing a hand on top of hers, he patted it, even though he did not know what she was thankful for. "You're welcome, but for what?"

"For coming," she replied quietly, her tired eyes staring into his. "I hope it wasn't too much trouble for you." Her lips curved somewhat into a smile as he shrugged.

"That doesn't matter," Kenichi replied, squeezing her hand gently. He liked the feel of it on his shoulder. "What matters is that both of you are okay." His concern really stuck with his sister, though, as her condition seemed much worse. Kenichi could do nothing for her at the moment, except to hope she was not too hurt. He trusted Rintaro would get her to Kasumi's house. Aunt Kasumi would know what to do. After all, she was a nurse at a local doctor's office.

Kimiko's hand lingered for a moment more, and then fell, sliding down his sleeve heavily until she broke contact.

---

More to come soon! Check my profile to see the status of my writing. I update it daily.