All hail mighty Ah-rin and his shadows, the only characters I own. The rest of the Ranma cast are merely puppets to my whim Mwahahaha.

Sorry, I couldn't help it.

Yay, I got more reviews.

To answer a few of them. Yes I am probably very sick, but then again I'm trying to avoid as many cliche's as possible (with the exception of Ryouga).

Yeah I know that my chapters are fairly short, but It's the best I can do and besides, I update very frequently and I end each one with a cliffhanger. Mwahahaha

Sorry, thought I had gotten all of that out of my system.

*----------*


Nabiki.

It was Nabiki.

She was laying on her side, the handle to an all too familiar blade was poking out her back just below her ribs. A growing pool of crimson slowly expanded from the middle of her back creeping along the fabric of her shirt and the wood paneling on the floor.

Though not as adept at reading the ki of others like Cologne, Happosai, Tofu, or possibly even Ranma. Ryouga, like many of the other martial artists of his caliber was capable of sensing the intensity of it. Hers was weak and getting weaker by the moment.

"Nabiki. Nabiki. Nabiki are you awake?"

The only response that was a weak mumbling.

"Nabiki, I'm going to get help. I'm going to get Kasumi."

"No!" a hoarse rasp, accompanied by a thin spray of blood escaped her lips. She began a series of weak coughs whereby more blood trickled out the corner of her mouth. A crimson puddle outlined her figure, clinging to her clothes and sticking her to the floor.

Damn! It was in her lungs. If he didn't get her to a doctor soon, she'd drown before she even bled to death.

"Look!" she wheezed again.

Looking around, he noticed nothing out of the ordinary. The room was unnaturally clean, possibly indicating that if this was the Tendo home this was Kasumi's room. The multitudes of brown dresses in the closet seemed to confirm that suspicion. No, nothing out of the ordinary, aside from a bloody Nabiki and two hacked up bodies in the closet.

Waitaminute.

Two hacked up bodies in the closet?

Slowly the lost boy bent down, kneeling above her figure. Placing his umbrella to the side he eyed her figure, trying to think of something he could do. What could he do? She was so frail, so fragile. Compared to him, practically everyone was.

He had to get her out of here without killing her. Whatever transpired since his last visit was something he didn't care to investigate.

"Nabiki, if you can respond please tell me. Who did this to you?"

"Kasumi" she croaked, or at least tried to but it only came out as a series of gurgles.

She tried to say more. She needed to say more, but it was getting harder and harder for her to speak. Her vision was still blurry, her senses still dulled. Gradually it all faded to a deep welcoming blackness.

The bandanna clad boy gently scooped her up into his arms, cradled her like a baby, and ran like hell.

*----------*

All her life, she had been a slave. A servant bound to do whatever her family needed, even at the expense of her happiness and her freedom. This was something she never realized until she met her new master of course. He taught her to free herself, showed her the way. Told her how much nobody really loved her and how she was better off without them.

She met him just after her sister Akane almost died. His first appearance was after their return from China. Every night before the failed wedding they would talk. Alone in the darkest hours of the night they could share each others company, discuss their bondage, and dream of their freedom. Alone, they could not achieve what they wanted, together they just might have a chance.

He was nameless, the only name he ever gave was that of his master Ah-rin. He was quite the polite one too, his attitude and nature was one that reminded her of herself. There were many things that he said he wanted to give her, he had offered her power, he had offered her freedom. All she had to do was make sure Akane stayed with Ranma, that if they left to find him, that they both went together. It was a strange request, but then he was her friend and she would gladly help him.

Shortly after the wedding he disappeared. It was quite sudden, he just vanished without a trace. After that she could only mourn late at night, mourn for her freedom, mourn for her friend, mourn for her missed out life. The only person who had ever understood her and had tried to help her was gone.

She went on as best as she could without him, she filled in her part of the bargain. Ranma and Akane were together now and would be going to China together and find him. The only thing left to do was to free herself. The follower of Ah-rin had showed her the way, he had told her what to do. She had to kill those that enslaved her.

Her father was dead now, Akane was off-limits, promised to Ah-rin, all that was left now was Nabiki.

One down, one to go.

All she had to do now was finish the laundry and then take a bath. Nabiki had gotten her so messy. There was blood all over her dress, this just wouldn't do.

*----------*

Running along the streets of Nerima with a bloody body was not a good way to make friends. Crashing randomly through walls and whatnots while screaming for help was definately not helping either. People were panicking in the streets watching what appeared to be a superhuman psychopath holding the bloody body of one Tendo Nabiki while he left an irregular trail of destruction.

Tofu was not at his clinic, if that was his clinic, but then why would he bother to leave a note saying he would return on the front door. Ryouga had no idea who to turn to, what to do. All he knew was that she was going to die and he was acting like a scared little girl.

"Halt!" A familiar arrogant voice called out to him. "Whoso ever charges through my fair city residence causing such unwanted destruction must answer to the righteous call of justice."

Oh hell no. Not him. Not now.

"It is I Tatewaki Kuno, the Blue Thunder of Furinken, and you my dear sir are causing quite a havoc." Strange, that face was familiar to him. It was the face of one of the many people he often saw while in the presence of his beauteous goddesses and that cursed Saotome.

"Listen Kuno, I don't have time for this." The panicked lost boy replied.

"Put down the fair Nabiki Tendo and let us settle this disturbance like gentlemen."

Ryouga wasn't going to win this with a fight. He could easily defeat Kuno but then the delay might just mean the difference between life and death for Nabiki, then again, even if he could defeat Kuno in time how would he be able to find a hospital for her? For the first time since his recent revelations, he realized that perhaps there are more ways to win than fighting.

"Wait. Kuno. Perhaps you can help me. Nabiki is injured and I cannot find a hospital. She may die if she does not get help soon."

"Hmmmm. I see now why you might be distressed then. Come. Follow me to my home. I shall arrange for her treatment. The house of Kuno though rich in wealth is not without it's generosity."

Kuno was going to help him, Kuno was actually going to help him. All he had to to was ask, and this pompous ass took the rest from here. Sometimes it was easier to handle things with talking than fighting. If Ranma was here he'd never hear the end of this, but with somebody's life in the balance his pride could wait.

*----------*

Kasumi had just left the furo, with nobody else around, she saw no need to bring a change of clothes with her and instead walked around the house in nothing more than a large towel. Her hair was still damp and beads of moisture clung to her figure with an almost immodest tenacity. Before today, she would never have thought of walking around like this, she would be scolded by her father or gawked at by one of the Saotomes, but the house was hers now.

She was free.

It felt so good to think that. There was even a noticeable bounce in her step. Nothing, nobody would stop her now. She could live the life that she had always dreamed of living. Do the things she always wanted to do but was afraid. She would never have to play mother for anyone else ever again.

Bounding lightly down the hallway back towards her room, she felt the need to hum an happy tune to herself. She would ask Nabiki what she would like for dinner first, that is if her sister still had enough blood in her body to eat, or talk for that matter.

As she arrived at the entrance to her room, she felt a cool breeze rush past her. Perhaps the fan was on, but she didn't remember doing that. It didn't really matter though, the air was cool and refreshing against her skin. It had been so long since she had ever been able to feel the air against her bare flesh like that. It was almost exciting.

Turning from the hallway and entering her room she noticed why she felt that breeze. A large human-shaped hole went straight through the wall. Debris and a crater now marred the immaculate landscaping of the backyard that she spent so long doing. There were only a few people who were capable of doing this, but most of them wouldn't have left such a bizarre pattern of rubble in their wake. Besides the red umbrella on the floor was a dead giveaway.

Ryouga.

She gritted her teeth and snarled. If Nabiki lived then she would tell others what had happened and she would once more be held in bondage. This would not be tolerable, she had to get rid of them both.

There was no way that she could fight Ryouga, she hadn't done any martial arts training since her mother died. She could try to track him, but that would take to long to follow him. One thing that she did have that could work for her was her reputation. She could work this out to her favor.

His umbrella at the scene of the crime, bodies in the closet, and a path of destruction that almost nobody else would be capable of making. Not to mention the fact that his knife was the murder weapon and he was seen in the area during the times she killed the old men, tried to kill Happosai, and now Nabiki.

All she had to do was call the police. Everyone would believe whatever the good Kasumi Tendo had to say.

A smile crossed her face and she began to get dressed, she had a lot of phone calls to make today.