Disclaimer: I don't own the Ranma 1/2 casts but I do own the fanfic.
This fanfic is a little dark and it's serious, contain violence and
blood shed and it's a little graphic about it, too. If you can't
handle that, please do NOT read this. Also, please don't say I didn't
warn ya! ^_^

Night Owl
Part One
By: Silver Star


Akane twist and turned as sweat covered her whole body. Her
knuckle turned white from holding the bed sheet so tightly. Her head
went right and then left on her white pillow and sweat matted her short
hair onto her forehead.

"No..." she whimpered, her hands tightly clutching the bed sheet.

Suddenly, her eyes snapped open and she started to breathe in
small, short gasps. She clutched her throat as if she couldn't breath.
She struggled to breathe but she couldn't as if something or someone is
strangling her.

Then, with one short breath, her body went slack and her hands,
which were clutching at her throat, went limp onto her chest. Her eyes
rolled to the back of her head and she passed out.

A blood red sign pulsed on the center of her forehead...



"It's late, granddaughter, go home and sleep." An old man said
to a young girl in a dusty room piled with old boxes and junks.

"But-"

"No buts, Meiling. You need the sleep."

"Alright, grandfather. But don't work too hard, alright?"

"Yes, yes, now go." The girl took one last look at her
grandfather and walked out the room. The old man looked at the dusty
boxes and sighed. Suddenly, a shadow passed over the only open window
in the room. The old man looked up sharply but nothing was there.
There was a small noise behind him and he looked back.

He screamed.



"Morning, Akane." Nabiki greeted her little sister as Akane made
her way to her seat at breakfast table. "Hey, you okay?"

Akane nodded but her face was deathly pale almost as if she has
seen a ghost. She was also up later then usual and she's walking as if
she's having a stomachache with her arm over her stomach. She sat down
but didn't touch her food at all while Ranma and his pop ravaged their
breakfast.

"Are you alright, Akane?" Kasumi asked worriedly. "You are not
eating anything at all. Are you sick?"

"I'm okay, Kasumi." Akane said softly as if she has no strength
to talk. She lifted her chopstick and took a few bites of the
scrambled eggs but stopped after that.

"Hey, listen to this." Nabiki said behind the Newspaper she's
reading. "Last night an old man was murdered. According to the press,
he was torn to bits! Yuck!"

"How awful!" Soun exclaimed.

"Here's what they say." Nabiki added and started to read from
the paper. "'Last night at around midnight, the 64 years old Urusume
Tagashi was murdered in the storage room of this newly bought store.
According to his 14 years old granddaughter, Meiling Tagashi, they were
clearing out the boxes in the storage room. At around 4 minutes after
midnight, he told her to go to sleep but stayed to clean the room
himself. He begin to scream about 2 minutes later and when Meiling
came back, he was dead.'

"It said here that it looks as if a beast fed on him. Now THAT'S
disgusting!" Nabiki exclaimed and put down the paper.

Akane threw-up.



"Hey, Akane." Ranma called down to the pale girl below him.
"Are you sure you are okay? I mean, it's not too late to go back."

Akane glared at him. "What are you hiding today? Do you have a
date with one of your fiancée and doesn't want me to see her pick you
up?"

Even in this weak condition, her chi was still high.

"No! No! Of course, not!" Ranma quickly yelled and dodged just
in time. He gulped as he saw the dent Akane created. "Oh, man, I'm in
BIG trouble!"

"Come back here!!!" Akane screamed, her mallet held high in the
air. "RAAAAAANNNNNNMAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!"



A shadow flitted from roof to roof quick as a lightning and quiet
as a cat.

Ukyou sighed and wiped her forehead of sweat with her arm. Her
restaurant is filled with broken wood and splinters from the last fight
between Ryouga and Ranma. One of the walls was cracked but not much
damaged. Most of the chairs and tables were either totally destroyed
or have at least one leg whacked off.

"I wish Ranchan choose me now so Ryouga doesn't have to fight him
all the time over Akane." Ukyou muttered to herself. She had stacked
all the tables and chairs that are either still repairable or not
exactly touched and there aren't a lot of them. Thankfully, most of
her plates, glasses, and bowls were not broken but she can't say the
same for the next time, which will be a while, at least with Ryouga,
anyway.

Ukyou looked at a clock. "Gosh, it's past midnight already? I
didn't know I worked that long." She said to herself. She thought and got
out a broom, shoving some of the broken dishes and splinters of wood
together.

She gathered them together in a small pile and then put them in a
bag so she could take it to the dumpster. She was just a few steps out
the door of her restaurant when she felt a very fait whoosh of air.

So faint that if she wasn't a martial artist, she'll never
detect. Years of battle and sneak attacks, and especially now in
Nerima, made her always very cautious.

She snapped around but all she saw was a blur shadow. She
frowned, looking around cautiously. She thought to herself, never letting her guards down.

She suddenly detected a rush of air and jumped out of the way
just in time to watch a black blur made a dent at the place she had
been a few seconds ago. It disappeared back into the shadows before
she could take a look at her attacker.

"Who are you?" She said in a loud voice, but not loud enough to
wake everybody else on the street. "And what do you want?"

It didn't answer nor did it move. They stayed like that for a
few more seconds and then it attacked her again. Ukyou jumped back to
avoid what seemed to be a punch only to be hit on the right should by
it's other hand. Ukyou raised her left arm to block a blow and raised
her leg to kick her opponent.

It seemed to know what she's planning and did graceful back flip
to avoid Ukyou's foot. Now it's in the light and Ukyou took a look at
her attacker.

It's a girl around her age with short black hair. Her face is in
the shadow of her bangs and hood but Ukyou thought she looked familiar.
Around the girls neck is a solid gold collar-like necklace with a big
oval shaped onyx in the center of it. She's wearing a loose long-
sleeved black shirt with loose Chinese pants. Around her wrists were
two gold cuffs. Black heel-less shoes covered her feet and two gold
cuffs covered her ankles.

The girl blurred over to Ukyou without a sound and uppercut her,
ending her to the center of the road. Ukyou quickly got up and took
out several sharp spatulas, throwing them with a lightning speed at the
girl. Several of them missed but one found its mark and embedded
itself into the girl's right forearm.

"WRRREEOOWWW!!" The girl screeched. The sound was almost like a
cat or a lion. Ukyou started and realized for the first time that the
girl has sharp cat fangs.

The girl took out the spatula and threw it away, blood spill out
of her wound but not much. She jumped up and placed a kick at Ukyou's
chest. Ukyou brought her hands up and grabbed the girl's foot just
before it connects and twist it. The girl took the chance and twists
her other foot up, hitting Ukyou on the side of her face.

The girl back flipped and put several feet of distance between
them. A thin trickle of blood came down Ukyou's chin and she wiped it
away.

Ukyou tho