Insertion: Reflux!

by ContraBardus

Ranma Saotome has voices in his head once again. However, you might know these voices yourself this time...heh.

4. Insertion RE4

Insertion Reflux

Part 4

Things get sticky...

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Genma Saotome stood at the customs office at the port in China. His son would probably try and catch a boat home, neglecting his training. He didn't need such training any longer after all, so why should he suffer when the boy wasn't learning anything?

"Do you have anything to claim?"

"Thirty evil minions," said Genma.

The customs officer craned his head around the man's shoulder and saw two rows of robed bald men with big dark hoods standing behind him. They all glared forward ominously.

"Oh. Also an Ancient sword, I have the paperwork right here." The minions had proved themselves quite useful when they obtained these things for him. They weren't even forgeries.

"Say. Why didn't we use forgeries? You are evil minions after all." Genma ignored the customs official as he looked at his minions for a moment.

The lead minion spoke up. "Master, evil is evil, our purpose and our ways. It is, however, much more inexpensive to acquire proper paperwork."

"Oh. Good work then."

"Fill out these forms," grumbled the man as he hefted a large stack of forms onto the countertop.

"Allow me master," said the evil minion as he took the pile and scurried back to the others. All of it was dumped on the smallest evil minion. He had glasses, incredibly squinted eyes, and large bucked teeth. It truly was an evil sight to behold such an awful stereotype.

"Make sure to use a red pen," said Genma firmly. "These are business forms right?"

"Yes, Master. Most evil indeed," agreed his new personal lackey. Genma kind of liked him. The others followed his orders, and he didn't have to deal with them directly. As they were evil minions, they were quite unpleasant.

+++++++++++++++++++

A small suburb, somewhere in Southwestern China...

"Wha?" said Ranma as he peered at something he'd not seen for a very long time. "Paved roads!"

"Yeah. No way those crazy bitches will follow us into a city!" said Gai cheerfully. Things were finally looking up for them. The place in front of them was little more than a more modernized village.

"I would not count on that," said Sesshoumaru. "They still chase us even now, though we left them behind long ago. I can feel them moving towards us, but it is faint and distant. At best, they are three days behind us."

"Are you kidding? They way they've hounded us?" snapped Faye. "These women have connections."

"How do you figure? They're hunting us aren't they?" muttered Ranma. He'd never killed one, but a few had come dangerously close to meeting the demon's powers a few times. Sesshoumaru had taken to surprising him in the middle of a fight. He'd barely kept himself from taking out several more since that time. It was growing less difficult to escape them as well.

"They remain as strong as they are under the government I've seen here? That tells me these humans have connections. It is a pity they are so hostile. The might have been of some use to us. They seem to have been useful to them in keeping track of our movement," commented Sesshoumaru.

"I hate you, Fluffy," said Ranma.

Small red dots of light began to light up the street all around them. Ranma Saotome froze in place as he looked down at himself. "Oh shit." They were all over his chest.

"Run!" screamed Gai as he dove for the ground and rolled. The place where they had been standing was torn to shreds as leaves and foliage was sent flying in every direction. They crawled to their feet and ran

"A trap?!" cried the boy as he bounded over a small chain link fence and into someone's back yard.

He rushed out into the street by hopping the fence on the other side. No one else was firing at him, and he started jumping across the rooftops and further into the suburbs.

"Where the hell are we?" asked Gai.

"Somewhere in China. This is just a residential area," grumbled Faye. Scores of tiny identical homes littered the landscape for a long way into the distance. "We need to get out of here."

"I'm all for that," agreed Gai. He jumped off the edge of the building they were standing on and into the yard below. They had lost their tail. The men lying in wait for them were all snipers set up around the edge of the road.

"Someone told them we were coming? Who though?" asked Faye.

"Probably those Amazons. We have not seen them, but they have had scouts following us rather closely. A pinpoint strike like this was not surprising. I could sense them...but..." His voice sounded slightly off for some reason no one but him could understand. "These were not women though, male assassins."

"You knew about this?" screamed Ranma at the top of his lungs. He wasn't even bothering to notice that his body was climbing into a rather ragged looking pickup truck.

"What the hell?" said Faye suddenly.

Everyone's attention went to what they were doing. They were sitting in the cab of someone's vehicle. It was parked in front of one of the homes. It was nothing more than a very old and ragged pickup truck. "What the hell is this?" Muttered Faye as her eyes searched around the cab.

"What are we looking for?" asked Gai suddenly.

"The ignition! I don't see a data input device or anything!"

"I'm driving," said Gai as he calmly reached under the steering well and pulled out a few cables. He calmly ripped two of them off and began to twist the ends. After a moment he hit them together a few times and the vehicle started immediately. He shifted and started chugging down the road. "It's just really old, that's all."

"Oh," said the woman dumbly. She paused for a moment. "You're serious aren't you?"

"Yup. We're way in the past, remember?" said Gai with a small shrug. "Don't have much hope of finding anything really interesting. No giant robots or nothing, I bet we can't even find a little robot." He sounded somewhat wistful as he said this.

"We don't need this crate," growled Sesshoumaru. "We need to become stronger. Staying on foot would be much better for that."

"You've never seen guns before have you?" asked Gai. "If you have, I'll bet it was nothing like the things they have here. Some of them can fire hundreds of rounds in only a few seconds. Bullets can kill from a lot farther away now, and you don't have to load after each shot. We should probably find some guns for ourselves actually." He was driving the truck with an almost lazy familiarity.

"That's a good idea," agreed Faye.

"Why? My magic will be more than enough," said Sesshoumaru coolly.

"I agree. I don't like the sound of a weapon like that," grumbled Amelia.

"We're being hunted. I agree with those two," said Ranma calmly. "Martial arts isn't the way you fight these kind of people. I was taught to avoid them if at all possible, strike quick and hard. You don't want them to remember your face if you have to fight them."

"That's good advice," said Faye.

"Pop told me that," replied the boy simply.

"You know kid, given infinite time, you could sit a monkey at a typewriter and it would write the entire works of Shakespeare."

"What the hell does that mean?" asked Gai and Ranma at the same time.

Faye sounded disgusted. "Even a complete ass can give good advice if he constantly spews bad advice. Sooner or later he's got to screw it up accidentally."

"Pop tells me lots of useful stuff. I've gotten lost a couple of times, and learning all that stuff made getting by a lot easier."

"He is his father," grumbled Amelia.

"I suppose we're going to Japan anyway. We're gonna have to start some kind of rules about clothing. Do you have any idea how loose this shirt is? I'm bouncing all over the place here!" She frowned and adjusted the mirror on the vehicle to see her face.

"Cut that out! This thing is old and we need to watch the road. Even in this time this thing is old," snapped Gai.

"He is correct, there may be threats in our path. Even in this...thing, we must be cautious. I do not think it will offer us much protection, though it is fast. I am surprised at the progress we've made so far."

"You call this fast? We're doing like ten kilometers an hour!" snorted Gai distastefully. "This thing is a heap. We need to find a better car, something we can outrun our problems with."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Three hours later...

"Augh! You piece of junk!" screamed Faye as she forced them to kick the broken down truck. They were in them middle of the city now. It wasn't a very large city, just a little nowhere place in the middle of China. There were several tall buildings, and a few large government complexes. As it was, they were in the middle of the street in the middle of the night.

There were a few cars parked about, but not many people on the streets. In fact, they hadn't seen a soul since their arrival.

"Can we just find a place to crash? I'm tired," grumbled Ranma.

"So go to sleep," replied Faye calmly. "We can all sleep while you're awake you know."

"What?" he said dumbly.

"Ranma. Didn't you notice that you'd wake up sometimes already walking and miles away from where you were?" asked Amelia in confusion.

"Huh? No, not really. Pop does that to me all the time."

"Ranma. Your father isn't here," said Faye irritably.

"Oh. Oh yeah," said the boy dumbly.

"Now what?" asked Gai. "I don't think I can fix this heap."

"We start walkin again," replied Ranma. "We need to lay low for a while. Let's find an out of the way place to crash. I don't want to get stopped by the cops for bein out so late."

"We will lose some of our lead," said Sesshoumaru.

The area seemed somewhat seedy. Dark alleyways and a misty haze over the street gave the place a sort of presence around them. Not that any of them were all that impressed.

"Wow. Scary," muttered Amelia.

"Huh? Really?" asked Ranma in confusion. "Why?"

"This isn't the best of neighborhoods, but I've handled worse kid," said Faye with a reassuring tone.

"I am not a kid! I'm just not used to this sort of thing," she replied in a sharp tone that quickly drifted into embarrassment.

"Great. What the hell is that supposed to mean?" muttered Gai. They had started down the street again and a small strip of bars lined the road on either side of them. It was early enough that they were still open, but probably not for too much longer. "Hey, can we..."

"That's not a bad idea," agreed Faye. "Maybe we can sit down and think about our little mess for a little while."

++++++++++++++++++++++

No one said anything or even really noticed as Ranma stepped out of the bathroom wiping his wet hair out of his eyes and back. He shook his head a few times and put it back into place. There were still quite a few patrons in the place. Mostly men, but there were a scattered few women sitting around the room as well.

He looked around for a moment and walked up to the bar. "Whiskey, on the rocks."

The man stared at her and she produced a few bills and pointed to a picture of what he wanted on the menu in front of him.

"What's that?" asked Amelia. "Um. I'm not so sure about this..."

"Relax kid, I'm sure most of us have done this before," said Gai cheerfully.

"We are not getting drunk. We don't have a place to stay right now remember?" grumbled Faye. "One drink, and then we have to leave."

"You seem out of place," said a voice from beside them. A Chinese man with slicked back hair walked up to him as he puffed on a cigarette.

"I'm just passing through," he replied calmly. "Don't want no trouble."

"I understand. Tell me, what business brings you to this remote place?"

"As I said, I'm just passin through. I'm on my way back home, from a long training trip."

"Martial artist?" asked the man calmly. He noticed Ranma's eyes were searching up and down his body carefully. "Got a name?"

"Gai, Daigojii Gai." The boy frowned at him as he studied him a bit longer. "Did you want something?"

"You speak our language very well," said the man calmly.

"I didn't get your name?"

"I didn't give it," he replied. "I find your story interesting Mr. Daigojii. I've always been somewhat interested in your culture, so similar, yet so different from our own. I'm wondering if you might be interested in an offer I might make you? Should you choose to stay around for a few days."

"I'm afraid not. I'm in a bit of a hurry. I'm separated from my father. The stupid trip was his idea. I'm leaving, right after I finish this." He downed the glass, dropped a bill on the counter and turned away from the bar. He walked outside and into the street and looked around the area.

"It is a trap," said Sesshoumaru.

"Thought so," grumbled Ranma.

"The triads are after us?!" cried Faye. "Shit!"

"Who the hell did you think shot at us before?" asked Gai.

"I dunno, amazon trained assassins working for the Triads maybe?" replied the woman with a little fading hope still in her voice.

"These are men, around twenty of them. Poised for a chase if the marksmen fail to hit us."

"Where are the marksmen?" asked Faye.

"On the rooftop above us, we won't be in their line of sight until we walk into the middle of the street. He turned them into an alleyway and crashed their hand through the driver's side window of the black car that was parked there. He calmly lifted the man inside at the wheel out of the car by his throat and tossed him over his shoulder. "I trust you can operate this?"

Gai grinned as he took the wheel. "Wow. An air conditioner! Sweet!" He turned the key in the ignition and backed out of the alleyway. Three other cars were already pulling out of hiding after them. Five more men on small motorcycles blasted out of the smaller alleys at top speed.

"Please," muttered Faye as she reached over to pop open the glove compartment. "Oh wow! This is great! I think we stole that guy's car! This one was probably waiting for him." Two forty-five millimeter handguns and a shoulder harness for them fell out onto the seat.

"He wasn't there when we went into the bathroom," said Ranma. "They must have spotted us going in."

"Why would he know to talk to us then?" asked Faye. "We were a girl when we walked in there."

"As I said. Amazon connections, they will use the city's underworld to hunt us, and the authorities will ignore it. If they happen to arrest us..." Sesshoumaru was growing quite impressed with the methods these humans hunted them. They were quite merciless.

"We'll be sitting ducks in jail," growled Faye.

Bullets started to hit the trunk of the vehicle and Gai squealed around a corner. "Damn thing. It's automatic!" he growled.

"That's good right?" asked Faye.

"Not in a car this old, no," he replied lamely.

"What is this thing anyway?" asked Faye.

"A Ford," said Ranma. "That's what the little blue circle said anyway. Gaijin word I think."

"Well it's not Chinese," said Faye flatly.

"It's American," said Gai. "The guy invented cars."

The glass in the back window shattered as two of the bikes pulled up on either side of their vehicle.

"How stupid are these jerks?" asked Gai as he simply swerved from side to side and took them both out easily.

Faye grabbed the gun and started firing.

"What's this?" grumbled Sesshoumaru as he watched the front windshield of the vehicle behind them crack as it spun out of control suddenly and flipped over in the air a few times. It landed on top of one of the other cars chasing them and both exploded in a huge ball of flames.

"Wow! I can't believe I made that shot," gasped Faye.

The men behind them were hanging from the windows with automatic rifles in their hands.

"Where the hell are the police?!" cried Faye.

"Are you insane? You want the cops to show up?" cried Ranma.

The flashing lights of a Chinese Police cruiser began behind them. Two others just like them appeared moments later.

"Shit," growled Gai. He started to slow down and pull over.

"What the hell are you doing you asshole!?" cried almost everyone else. Amelia left out the last part. Faye jammed her foot into the gas as hard as she could. They squealed away once again, actually gaining a few moments over the confused police.

The triad vehicles had turned away once the police had arrived, turning off one at a time down different roads as soon as the lights had started flashing.

The man from the bar was sitting in the front seat of the back car. He narrowed his eyes and glared down the road the boy had taken as he turned away. "I'll remember this." He puffed on his cigarette angrily and focused on where he was going once again.

"Do something!" snapped Ranma as he tried playing with some of the buttons. All he accomplished was turning on the radio. The song, 'I ran so far away' by A Flock of Seagulls started blaring through the speakers.

"Gah! Quit playing with things if you don't know what you're doing kid!" snapped Faye. "You're gonna get us all killed!"

Gai was nodding his head as he rolled down the windows. "This is so awesome! It's just like that video game! Cruisin 1987! I used to love that game! It had every car ever produced throughout the year! The physics engine was awesome! They handled just like the real thing, I used to live for it before I discovered my true destiny in Gekkiganger!"

"Yeah. So you know what you're doing?"

"Heh," Gai narrowed their eyes as he shifted the gears and slammed his foot down on the gas. "Player one! Please insert coin!"

"Oh shit," said Faye.

"What?" asked Ranma and Amelia.

"We seem to be in for a most interesting ride," commented Sesshoumaru. "Judging by her reaction to that. I do hope we aren't damaged too badly. Then again, a bit of time in prison might do us some good? I'm sure we'll have plenty of fun killing their assassins while we grow stronger in relative safety."

"I ain't goin to jail for no one!" cried Ranma as he focused his attention on steering the vehicle. Anything he could help Gai do to keep them alive and away from the cops.



"Wait a minute," grumbled Gai. He turned into the opposite side of the road and into traffic, skillfully weaving back and fourth as he navigated the panicked drivers in front of him skillfully. "That guy said something about work?"

Faye seemed to light up suddenly as she realized what he was talking about. "He's right! If we're useful to them, then they won't kill us."

"It's a trap stupid!" snapped Amelia.

"Yeah, it is," said Gai.

"Wait a minute, what the hell are you doing!?" cried Faye.

Their car swerved under the back end of a gigantic semi trailer. Sparks flew off the top of the roof as it became slightly dented. The police squealed to a halt on the other side of the braking vehicle as it completely blocked off the off ramp he had just taken. "There. We need to ditch this car," said Gai. He quickly turned off the main road and into a back street. He turned into a large park and stopped the car in a parking space near the edge. He quickly hopped out of the car and jerked at the edges of his collar reflexively. "Come on. We need to get away from here."

"Do this sort of thing often?" asked Faye.

"Never anything like this," said the man. "I've gotten into my fair share of trouble though. It is required to have the dramatic back story needed to become a pilot worthy of Gekkiganger itself!"

"What?" muttered Faye. "Look. I have done this sort of thing before all right? So why don't you curb the macho crap and let me do the thinking all right?" She turned them around and reached into the back of the car to pull out a long black coat from the back seat. She quickly put it on and grumbled as she adjusted it so that the guns hanging off of their shoulders were hidden from view. "Idiots."

"Huh? Is it over?" muttered Ranma. "Are the headlights gone?"

They were about to turn away when something thumped behind them.

"What was that?" asked Faye.

"We don't want to know," muttered Ranma.

"What was that?" asked Amelia in confusion. They were looking back and saw nothing but empty parking space and the park itself. No people were anywhere to be seen. It was getting later, and he had little choice but to guess where the noise was coming from.

The sound happened again, this time their eyes turned to the source. It was coming from the trunk. "No. No. No," muttered Ranma in horror.

"We should go," said Faye with a slightly nervous sounding laugh. "We don't have keys anyway. I can't pick a lock with anything we've got on us either."

"What do you mean?" asked Gai as he took over and walked over to the driver's side door. He calmly popped the trunk with the lever under the dashboard. "It's easy to open. See."

Muffled sounding noises started in the trunk behind them. It sounded like a person. They slowly turned towards the trunk and hung their heads further and further as they grew closer. It was increasingly obvious what was inside.

Why, a young and pretty Chinese girl of about sixteen years in age, of course! She was dirty and tied up, with duct tape covering her mouth. She stared up at them fearfully and shied away from them by backing further into the trunk. They just stood there and looked at her.



"I don't think that was a trap for us. It was some sort of pickup, and we screwed it up," muttered Faye. "This is bad."

"How bad? I mean, we saved her," said Amelia.

"It depends on who she is," answered Faye. "If she's important, then we might have started some kind of war. It's not all bad, because they had snipers in place. It was probably a double cross."

"It likely would have happened anyway," agreed Sesshoumaru. "We should destroy her and leave the body. That will lessen the blow to us if she is found dead. Only one of the parties will be offended. It was fairly obvious she was meant to die with whoever was supposed to meet that human."

"No!" cried Amelia firmly. "She needs our help! Right Mr. Yamada?"

"Gai. Damn it. Gai!" he snapped. "Otherwise you're right."

Ranma wasn't happy to see her, but he wasn't about to leave her there either. "This sucks. I hope she knows somewhere we can take her that's not too far from here."

The girl was around his age, and she didn't look very happy to see him either.

He reached down at her face and she tried to scream as she backed away. He calmly ripped the tape off her face and glared at her. "Who the hell are you?"

The girl stared up at him in silence.

"Please, tell me you speak Japanese?" muttered the strange boy irritably.

"A little," she muttered dumbly. "Who are you? Did my father send you?"

"Who is your father?" he asked as his head hung down again. "Tell me what he does also please. Don't lie either, don't forget where I found you."

"My father is Li Shao. He is the leader of the Golden Tigers..."

"Triads, damn it," muttered the boy as he conked his head against the open trunk.

"You do not have anything to do with this do you?" she asked him as a sly looking smirk formed on her face.

"No. I've got a hit on me. I thought it was a trap," he grumbled dejectedly.

"If you help me, my father will reward you," said the girl as her smile grew wider. She grabbed his shoulders and looked deep into his eyes.

"Could you stop that?" he muttered as he frowned at her. "Look. Traveling with me is not a good idea. I've got a hit out on me."

"If you take me back to Hong Kong, my father may be able to help you."

"No," he said flatly. "Across town maybe, but Hong Kong?" He started walking.

"Wait! You can't leave me here! I'd never make it home before they stopped me!"

The boy's arm raised and she screamed as the weapon in his hand reported. She slumped to the ground as blood sprayed through the air.

"Now you can make it home," he said simply as he put his weapon away.

The wound on her shoulder was little more than a very messy scratch, but the bullet had lodged itself inside the trunk, and splattered the entire interior with blood. She looked back at it in horrified shock as blood flowed down her arm.

The boy tore pieces off of her skirt and wrapped them around the wound firmly, making sure to clean the blood off her arm before too much could drip onto the ground. He calmly closed the trunk lid and turned away from her.

"When the triads in this area find this car. They'll assume you died. He opened he passenger side door and pulled out a pair of sunglasses from the visor. He tossed them to her with a few bills folded between the rims. "Buy a coat like this one first thing, and don't tell anyone who you are until you're safe. By the time they figure out you're not dead, you'll be home."

He turned away from her and left her sitting on the pavement.

"But...but..." she muttered in horror.

"Look. You'll be safer on your own than you will be with me. They're hunting me too you know."

The girl looked very frightened as she stared down at the glasses. She paused for a moment. They were high mark bills, and she had more than enough to make the trip relatively comfortably sitting in her palm. Taking the bus would be unwise she'd have to hire a long distance taxi instead. They were close to the city, but it would still be about a two-hour drive though. She glanced up at him as he stood there staring off into space a few yards away from her. Having cash made things easier. She didn't have to give her real name, and could keep to herself for the ride. Trying to bribe someone into taking her safely home in this area with just her name would have been risky.

"Are they?" asked Sesshoumaru coolly. "Amazon trained assassins maybe. The triads are after us now regardless. We do not know which of these Triads are hunting us. I've gathered this term is used for several groups."

"He's right. We don't know who is hunting us," agreed Faye.

"If we help her, we can get back at them," pointed out Amelia. "I don't like leaving her here. We should help her!"

"That's a bad idea," said Ranma simply. "We need to leave China. It's too dangerous here. We've got to get back to Japan."

"I don't think you realize just how dangerous that will be," said Sesshoumaru. "This is nothing to what we will face on an open sea."

"So we'll go by air then," grumbled Gai.

"The skies will not be any kinder to us. Yokai of this world seem to remain hidden for some reason. If given sufficient reason, they will emerge from hiding. We are sufficient reason."

"We aren't taking her with us, that's final," snorted Faye. They turned to see the girl had already vanished from the parking lot. "See?" She paused. "How much did we give her anyway?"

"Enough," said Ranma with a final sounding snort. "I couldn't just abandon her ya know."

"It took a week for us to make that much!" snapped Faye angrily.

"We got plenty," grumbled the boy.

"The hell! I'm going shopping when we get back!" she snapped at him.

"That sounds nice!" agreed Amelia.

"What!?" cried Gai. "No! Ranma! We can't escape!"

"Escape what?" asked the boy dumbly.

Gai gasped. He would have to be strong for the boy. "I cannot prepare you for what we must face. You must be ready. You must not be afraid."

"I ain't afraid of nuthin!" snapped the boy in retort.

"Oooooh! You will be. You will be," replied Gai ominously.

"Cut it out you two," grumbled Faye.

"What the heck did I do?" asked Ranma impatiently. "Jeez. I'm getting yelled at for nuthin."

They found themselves standing in the middle of the street with no idea where they were. It was becoming a bit of a problem for them. "Hey. You don't suppose that Hibiki kid..." said Gai dumbly.

"Where are we?" asked Ranma lamely.

"Oooh!" Faye felt a little weak kneed at what was sitting before her.

A polished red sports car was sitting in the parking lot of a nightclub. The glare of the neon lights above the hole in the ground club reflected off the surface of the vehicle. A lone bouncer stood at the single tiny entrance to the building a good distance away. Otherwise, the street was vacant.

Gai was licking their lips as he stared at it.

"Why are we looking at that thing like this?" asked Amelia in confusion.

"Hey Faye. I figure we've already done it once tonight."

"I'm with you. This is more my style."

"Hey! Where the heck are we going now?!" cried Ranma irritably as they walked over to the shadows around the vehicle.

"Damn. An alarm," she grumbled as she noticed the blinking light inside the windshield.

"What are we doing?" asked Amelia innocently.

"We're going to steal this car," said Gai. "Might take a minute to think around it though." He scratched their head as he peered into the window.

"No! Stealing is wrong! I won't allow this!" she cried.

"Hey. Fluffy, got any ideas?" asked Ranma.



The demon seemed surprised at the inquiry. "I suppose we could try using magic to get past this...alarm you speak of. What is it?"

"It's security. If we hit the car too loud, it sounds a loud alarm. Attracting lots of attention to us," said Gai. "I think we should leave it for now."

"We ain't doin this crap in Japan!" snapped Ranma angrily.

"Whatever. I do not see how this hunk of metal will make any sound. Is there some sort of creature inside we need to destroy?" Sesshoumaru seemed particularly interested in what might be hiding inside this strange thing before him.

"Naw. It's just electronics stuff. Electricity."

"That should pose no problem. Human control of such energy is extremely limited, even in this time."

"Sure. Tell me what to do!" Ranma was a healthy sixteen-year-old boy. When faced with the might of such a vehicle, even he could not resist the temptation. The vehicle before him was sleek, and well over the hundred thousand dollar range. Not that he was aware of that, it just looked fast.



"Focus your attention on the device you wish to get past. I will do the rest."

"Okay," the boy stared down at the blinking light and focused on it.

A few seconds later sparks began to shoot out of the alarm as the light bulb shattered.

Gai smiled as Faye skillfully started picking the lock. "All too easy!" she said as she opened the door and slid into the seat. "Hey! This is real leather!"

"Duh," grumbled Gai. "The ignition on this thing is a bit more complicated..."

"It should pose no problem," snorted Sesshoumaru. The vehicle started as he and Ranma simply twisted the ignition without a key. "The device is similar to that alarm. I only needed to overpower it, supplying enough energy for this simple task poses no problems. I must simply direct it to the correct points within this monstrosity. We do not need this vehicle, where we are going, it could become a dangerous trap for us."

"Heh. You thought that truck was fast?" Gai revved the engine as he pulled out of the parking lot at high speed. "Wait till you get a load of this."

"I don't like this! Stealing is wrong!" muttered Amelia uncomfortably. "We'll be fine on..."

The engine roared and the boy calmly shifted gears. "Ah. Manual transmission." He shot into the air over a small hump in the road and came down ten feet further down on the road.

"We need to find a place to stop and rest," grumbled Faye.

+++++++++++++++++++++

Ranma sat alone in a small abandoned building. The car was parked underneath a small overhang in the back of the building. The place was boarded up and he'd be leaving early in the morning. They could stay up as long as they wanted, but his body did need rest from time to time.

"We can only stay a few hours," grumbled Ranma.

"We have plenty of time then. Those weapons we obtained. Take them out. I wish to take a look at them."

The boy did as instructed and pulled out one of the guns.

"Both of them please," said the monster coolly. "I would like to check something."

"These weapons, are both of the same mold?" He switched the weapons in his hands. The boy was surprised to find that it felt better to hold them that way.

"They are mass produced. A certain amount of handwork goes into it, but mostly they're just stamped parts made by machines."

"Yes. These two weapons were made by the same hands, with the same mold. It is enough to suit our purpose."

"What's that?" asked Faye.

"I think I know," said Amelia. She actually seemed pleased with the idea. "If he's right, then we can put magic into them easy! I haven't learned anything about doing it though. I'm not sure if it will work."

"These weapons are nearly identical, the younger one, in our left hand, is the perfect vessel for my power. The older weapon will take light power more easily. Such weapons are very rare, for obvious reasons. They are quite powerful though, and will give us an edge in battle."

"Enough to go home?" asked Ranma hopefully.

"Possibly. I do not yet know the answer to that question. I've got something in mind for those projectiles of yours as well."

"The bullets?" asked Gai.

Amelia seemed somewhat pensive. "I don't know if I can do this."

"You can trust me with this task. I shall need your power, and a balance must be maintained. I cannot overpower the dark weapon or it will be useless to us."

The girl sighed. "I know he's not lying to us. I'm not sure what he's going to do to them exactly either."

Sesshoumaru placed both weapons on the floor in front of them and put his hands over both of them. "I must concentrate. This is not an easy task. Girl, give the boy some of your power, I will do the rest with his help. You must pay attention boy. We must get this right the first time."

Ranma nodded firmly and they closed their eyes.

A soft glow formed around each one on the floor. He could feel the light against his skin. Slowly, writing began to engrave itself into the framework of the weapons. One of the auras died down and actually began to feel cold; the other seemed to grow warmer.

After about ten minutes Ranma opened his eyes and looked down at the floor. The weapons had changed in appearance and now had runes covering both of them. The metal of one had taken on a red tint, and the other had become almost blue. He picked them up and stared at them for a moment.

"I liked the old colors better," said Ranma.

"It is too late to do anything about it now," snorted the Demon. "I had no particular preference, so I allowed the magic to do as it wished with them."

The boy sighed and put them both away. "Right. Are we done?"

"No," said Amelia. She reached into their pocket and pulled out the clips of the weapons and a pocketknife. "We need to carve some runes into these little metal things."

"They're called bullets," said Gai.

"Whatever," said the girl irritably. "Fluffy has to do some, and I have to do some. If I use certain symbols I can put spells into them. Kind of like enchanting arrows. Nothing too fancy though. Mostly I can add an elemental effect of some kind; fire and ice are the easiest two. It's remedial magic to add runes to things though, so I can do it no problem."

"Fire and wind should be simple enough for me. I'll allow you to handle the others," said the demon.

"Oh. I'm not very good with water..." grumbled the girl.

"Whatever, can we get this over with?" muttered Ranma. He started plucking bullets out of the clips and placed them in two separate piles. With a small sigh he picked up one of the positively charged bullets. "We're alternating. I don't feel like writing the same thing over and over." Ranma glared down at what he was doing a little harder. "Don't cut us."

"We will need to make more bullets with my runes on them," said Sesshoumaru calmly.

"What? No!" snapped Amelia angrily. "It has to be balanced!"

"The weapons yes. However, I can overpower your magic in these, bullets, as you call them. My spells will be much stronger. We will need that strength. I have no intention to waste them on mere human filth. My magic will be far more potent in dealing with other demons."

Amelia made an unhappy sounding grunt and decided to pout about it. She didn't try to argue with him any more though. "My life is over. I'm nothing but a common criminal."

"You didn't steal the car, we did," said Faye cheerfully. "Don't feel bad. You couldn't have stopped both of us."

"Yeah. Ranma helped too, so it was all three of us," agreed Gai.

"Fluffy got us past the alarm, and he started it," pointed out Ranma.

"Well I didn't want to give him any credit," grumbled Faye.

"That's not the point!" snapped the girl irritably as she gave up. She'd done her very best, that was all that really mattered at the moment. She'd just have to keep trying to convince them that the path of light really was the best path.

"Cut that out!" snapped Ranma as he shook himself out of a disgustingly cute pout.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

Ranma frowned as he gripped the steering wheel of the sports car and drove down an empty stretch of road. He was heading for the coast and home. It had been almost three hours since his last stop, and nothing of interest had occurred.

His fingers had several bandages on them as well.

The road behind him was long and dark, and the moon was still hanging in the night sky. Soon, the sun would rise on China again. He saw the lights of Hong Kong in the near distance and smirked to himself.

"Civilization!" cried Faye in triumph. "Real civilization at last!" She seemed very happy to see the city.

Ranma was somewhat relieved to see it himself.

"Don't let it fool you, this is a dangerous place," said Sesshoumaru. "We are still being hunted, and they can hide in the numbers as well as we can. I would advise caution. There will be other dangers as well, those women are not the only ones who hunt us."

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

Ranma Saotome walked through a set of rotating doors with a frown on his face. He found himself standing in the lobby of an expensive looking hotel.

"We ain't spendin all our money!" snapped Ranma angrily.

"Oh please. Like we won't make more," said Faye as she strolled into a hotel and leaned against the counter. She smiled at the man behind the counter cheerfully. "I'd like a room please."

"I need a bath," said Amelia impatiently. She was growing weary of Ranma's whining about the stop. Even Lina Inverse, the world's greatest cheapskate, would stop at an inn occasionally. She found herself feeling slightly homesick as she remembered the time Lina had proudly displayed the award she'd won at a meal once. It all seemed so long ago, and a good night's sleep would do her a world of good anyway.

"I could use some sleep in a real bed myself," said Gai.

"All right fine," growled the boy irritably.

None of this was noticed as Faye concentrated on keeping them collected and calm. She accepted the key and placed the money on the counter. "See. We've still got plenty left."

++++++++++++++++++++

Deep in the shadows, somewhere far beneath the city's darkest underbelly...

"He has come master," hissed the thing as it bowed deeply to the creature sitting on the throne of fire and skulls in front of an endless sea of flames. The creature had massive horns that rose high into the cavernous interior of the inferno. Gigantic wings rested folded at its back as it peered at the cowering demon before him.

"Destroy it."

"As you wish," the monster cocked its head in a small bow and scurried away quickly.

"This one could be annoying if not dealt with quickly. I sense he is already very strong. Most unusual for one so young." The beast didn't seem too concerned with its newfound problem. It would probably be dealt with in a few short hours.

++++++++++++++++++++

The streets of Hong Kong were teeming with life as lunch rolled around in the city. Ranma Saotome stepped out of the hotel in a bright red Hawaiian shirt. He had a pair of sunglasses on, and a pair of faded blue jeans. He looked quite irate as he found himself surrounded by hundreds of people. They hadn't let him leave the hotel until now. Sesshoumaru was complaining as well, but the others ignored them and spent most of the morning relaxing around the room.

"I feel so stupid," grumbled the Japanese boy irritably.

"We look good," said Gai irritably.

"Definitely handsome," agreed Faye. The boy had actually been forced by the girls to put gel in his hair that morning. Now it was slicked back and neat looking. A short visit to the small shop in the lobby had supplied them with their new wardrobe, and a few toiletries for cleaning themselves up a bit.

He still had the staff strapped across his back, and both handguns were hidden in the back of his pants. He strolled towards the garage building nearby where he had parked. A small screwdriver was shoved into his pocket. He pulled it out and flipped it around his hand a few times while whistling cheerfully. He walked to the back of his car and switched license plates with the car next to him. "We should get to the docks," commented Gai as he calmly opened the door. Sesshoumaru's power easily bypassed the tumblers in the ignition switch and the vehicle came to life.

"I am not certain that is wise. We are stronger, but strong enough to face what waits for us out there?"

"This had better not be a let down, Fluffy," grumbled Gai. "If we go through all of this, and have a nice peaceful ride home..."

"I assure you that will not happen," replied the demon calmly. "If we venture out into the sea, we will be destroyed. I said only that we would return to Japan. There are ways of doing that, and this place is a good way to get started in finding such a way. Come, we have a lot of work ahead of us, this will take a bit of time I imagine."

"What?" muttered Ranma dumbly.

"We will return to your home before the year is out," said the Demon calmly. "There is much to do before then."

"Like what?!" snapped Faye angrily.

"Staying alive long enough to find a way," replied the demon coolly.

They all stopped and glanced around. A ring of men in suits and ties surrounded them. He had been about to shift the car into gear, but turned off the engine as he glanced around at them. The window was open and he popped his head out to speak with them. "What the heck do you want?"

"Li Shao, wishes to speak with you," said one of the men.

"All right," replied the boy with a smirk forming on his face. He opened the door and stepped out in front of them. They weren't acting very hostile yet.

"What?!" cried Ranma inside their mind.

"Are you crazy?" agreed Gai.

"I don't think this is a very good idea," muttered Amelia. "I mean..."

"We saved his daughter, he owes us." Faye pointed this fact out quickly.

"She didn't seem to happy with us when she took off," grumbled Gai.

"I see no problems for us. We are more than strong enough to escape if need be," replied the demon calmly. "I imagine if the situation was dire enough, you would allow me out for a moment or two. Wouldn't you?"

The boy calmed considerably. "I guess you're right."

"This way," said one of the men as he opened the door of the vehicle that had just pulled up in front of them.

The men all piled in around him. He could see they were all armed.

"You will have to give up your weapons when you meet him," said one of the men.

"Why? I'm just as deadly without them," replied the boy calmly. "I take it Li Shao's daughter has returned safely?"

The men all stared at him at once for a brief moment. They turned away from him and stayed silent while they drove through the streets of Hong Kong.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

Ranma found himself standing in the middle of a rather nice looking restaurant. He glanced around the room quickly as he walked in and spotted three more guards besides the three that had brought him. All of the men had pistols poorly hidden on them. They wanted him to know they were there.

A rather old man was sitting at the table. He looked far to old to be the father of a girl that age. He was the man they were sent to speak with though, they were certain of that much.

"You helped my daughter. She told me of what happened."

The boy sat down across from the man and glanced around the room. "I did what I could. I'm in a bit of a mess, so it wasn't safe to bring her myself."

"I understand. Living with a mark like the one you've got isn't easy. The Jade Dragons do not show mercy with any of their contracts. I am not prepared to oppose them for your sake. Though I am grateful for your help. It does not hurt that my daughter is now dead in the eyes of my enemies. I could use that to my advantage."

The boy simply nodded.

"I take it you want the bounty I posted?"

"Bounty?" Faye was suddenly very interested in this man.

"Five million American, to the man who got my daughter home safely to me," replied the man simply. "You are a very talented man. Got a name?" The man was eating and seemed to only be half interested in his conversation.

"Gai," replied the boy simply.

"Heh. Well, Gai, if your interested, I can offer you a bit of work. I've got several contracts you might be interested in. We're always looking for new blood."

"I am not a mercenary," replied the boy simply.

"Oh? What is it you do then?"

Sesshoumaru cut off all the lies and stated it quite simply. "I hunt demons."

The man stopped eating and slowly looked up at the serious glare the boy was giving him. "I see." He glanced around the room. Calmly taking his napkin off his lap he wiped at his chin. "Everyone leave, now."

The men all stared at the man in shock.

"The Jade Dragon would not touch a hair on your head if that is the truth. I think Mao Sheng will be most interested in knowing about this. Those foolish women are overstepping their bounds. These are matters that are far too dangerous for our kind to deal in. We skirt the line between light and darkness far closer than most."

The boy kept silent and simply watched the man. His surprised underlings reluctantly obeyed his command.

"No one as serious as you would make such a claim if it wasn't true. If you had wanted me dead, I would never have known you were coming at all. I've seen eyes like those before."

"What's going on?" asked Ranma to the panel.

"Got me," muttered Gai in confusion. "I think this is good though."

"I'm not so sure I like this. It's too complicated, and the Triads are really deep into this. We shouldn't trust them this much," said Faye.

"Maybe he really wants to help us?" asked Amelia nervously. The man seemed more indifferent than anything else; he hadn't so much as arched an eyebrow since Fluffy let the beans spill.

"Fools. Families and organizations such as these are always involved with the occult on some level. If you want to return home, we will need the help of this city's underbelly."

"I say we see what this is about," said the boy firmly. "Fluffy's been real interested in keeping himself alive. Besides, like he said, we can handle it."

Ranma looked at the man evenly and nodded. "All right."

"I'll be able to tell you more later this evening. No doubt this is a surprise to you. Until then, you are my guest. I'll have one of my men escort you to a room in a safe place."

"I don't think so. I'll find my way to you thanks. Just give me a time and place, and I'll be on my way."

"You are very distrusting," said the old man without looking back at the boy. He had started walking towards the back door already.

"I still don't have my weapons back yet," said the boy calmly. "Not that I'd need them to beat all your men anyway."

"Confident too, the fiercest fires die the quickest boy. You'd best remember that advice. Be here, tomorrow night, at twelve. You can bring your guns, but you will not need them. I'll take care of that car of yours. It belonged to Mao Sheng's son. I will have it returned, it will do a lot to help you in their eyes if it is returned. I take the vehicle has not been damaged?"

"Those guys that we fought. They weren't Jade Dragon were they?" asked the boy as he ignored that line of questioning. He could give a rat's ass who the car belonged too at this point.

"No, those were Black Lotus. Filthy assassins, cowards, and thugs, all of them; they control the area east of Hong Kong. They kidnapped my daughter in an attempt to persuade me to deal with them. I want no part of what they are into."

"What's that?" asked the boy with a demonic coolness about him.

"The reason you were drawn here I imagine. I'll tell you what I know when we meet tomorrow night. I imagine you'll need a day to rest. You will be safe if you remain in this area of the city tomorrow. I promise nothing more than that to you though."

"I'll be going now, your men won't be able to tail me anymore. I know you're going to try and keep an eye on me anyway though."

The pair parted ways and Ranma found himself standing on the sidewalk.

+++++++++++++++++++++

Shu ho frowned as she overlooked Hong Kong, she was certain that the boy had come this way. He was powerful, but arrogant and pig headed. She was having serious doubts about him. He didn't seem strong enough to resist the will of the demon inside him completely. That made him dangerous. If properly trained however, he would become quite powerful, and a very strong ally.

She needed to consult someone in the city, and would no doubt cross paths with him at least once. "I just hope I don't find him first. I've got no idea what to do about him." With her head hung down in thought she started walking towards her destination. "I knew I should have taken a bus," she grumbled as she realized she was completely filthy. It had been almost a week since her last bath.

+++++++++++++++++++++

Ranma was walking through the streets of the city with no particular destination in mind. As it was, he was in the middle of a marketplace, vendors screamed and held their wares out to the pedestrians and shoppers.

He ducked out of the way as someone shoved a duck into his face and snorted.

"I take it we have some purpose to be wading through such filth?" growled the demon.

"Not really, we just haven't got anything better to do," said Gai.

"We've got all day," agreed Amelia cheerfully. "Maybe we should take a little break and relax a bit?"

"That's not a bad idea," agreed Faye. "We're not poor after all!" Faye was quite pleased with the reward they had been given. A briefcase hung from their grip as they walked through the streets. One of the thugs had handed it to them when they exited the restaurant.

"We should find a place to put this," growled Gai. "This place is crawling with thieves."

"I would not worry about that. Still, it could be bothersome to carry this thing. I take it what is inside is valuable?" A group of street urchins was swatted away, sending small dirty children flying in every direction. It was a common tactic for pickpockets, so everyone ignored the hostilities of the demons.

"It's full of money," said Ranma. He seemed quite pleased with himself as well. He'd never even seen that much money before.

"Someone should teach those poor children that stealing isn't nice," muttered Amelia with a fretful tone.

"Yeah. Someone who isn't us," said Gai. "Come on. We can get a bank account!"

"That's a bit of a walk," grumbled Faye.

+++++++++++++++++++++

Ranma smiled as he walked out of the bank and put his leg back over the bike he'd stolen. It was a nice bright red street bike with lots of power. Gai had told him all about it. It was stronger than a whole herd of horses supposedly. He didn't really see how something so small could be, but it was definitely fast. Ranma liked fast. He'd always been that way. It was a good trait to have with his style of martial arts.

"Well now what?"

Faye smirked. The boy was very open minded about this sort of thing. "I think we should go shopping."

"No!" cried Gai in horror.

"No, that comes later," grumbled the woman with a dramatic sigh. "We've just got to find Ranma a woman remember? We should pick something nice as its his first time."

Gai grunted his approval in surprise.

"Huh?" said Ranma in a very small voice.

"But, I've never..." said Amelia quietly.

"We're next, don't worry," said Faye cheerfully.

"Huh?!" whimpered Ranma.

"That's not what I meant! Ranma and I aren't ready for this!" cried the girl defensively.

"It's not that big a deal, trust me. You're not losing anything so much as gaining a new pastime. Not that we'll just pick anyone mind you. You've got to wait for the right ones to show up, and then learn how to catch them."

Ranma felt his face flush incredibly red. He wasn't sure if it was him or Amelia causing it. Truthfully, it was both of them, but he jumped on the chance to lay blame elsewhere.

"Are you sure?" muttered Amelia nervously. "I don't know about this..."

Ranma stopped at a red light and adjusted his sunglasses. No one was looking at him, but he felt like the whole city was watching him blush. "Can we talk about this some other time?"

"No. You'll always try to duck out of it this way," said Faye flatly.

"I'm all for this idea. Trust me Ranma. You should be too. We're not asking them to help us find a wife after all. Just a good lay!"

"You can't do that?!" cried the boy in horror. "Little boys who cheat on their wives get their heads cut off by their mothers!"

"..."

"What the hell?" said Gai dumbly.

"Genma again," said Faye irritably.

"Huh? Naw, Mom told me that a long time ago when she was mad at pop. She used to ask me why I didn't have a girlfriend yet too sometimes."

"Your mother?" said Amelia in shock.

"Sounds perfectly normal to me," said Sesshoumaru.

"Well, that's crap. No way are we gonna let some lady cut our head off! No sir!" exclaimed Gai.

"I can't kill my Mom!" cried the boy in horror.

"Well, let me put it this way. What mother doesn't know, won't hurt her," replied Faye calmly. She had pulled up to a flashy looking bar. Bright neon signs proclaimed this from the windows.

"An excellent place to find attractive, loose, and easy human females? How absurd. Who would want to find such a thing?" muttered Sesshoumaru in wonder.

"Me," said Gai as tears of joy started to form in his eyes.

"I expect we'll find a most excellent assortment of the finest stock then. This place has the taint of Yokai upon it. I imagine it will suit our needs nicely, if the demon running it wishes to allow us to use his facilities freely that is."

"Darn," muttered Gai as he hung his head.

"Well, so much for this place then," said Faye as she started the bike up again. The engine was just as quickly flicked off.

"What the hell are you doing?!"

Amelia jumped off the bike and started walking towards the door. Ranma was helping her do it.

"You guys wanted to come here. Well, we've come, and now we're going in. This is what you get for trying to corrupt us! All of you, lie, cheat, steal, and do whatever you want! I can't stand it any longer! If I don't do something heroic, I'm going to explode! Even Miss Lina did heroic things, so she could get away with all the other bad things she does!"

"Can't argue with that," said Gai as he helped the forward movement. "Besides, rescuing a bunch of naked girls will probably do Ranma some good."

The boy tried to reverse their course, only Faye was helping him, and the rest of the group overpowered them. "Naked girls? As in more than one?"

"Lots probably," said Gai with a short nod.

"I see no point to stop here. However, the demonic force within is not very strong. It should not be much trouble to remove it if need be."

+++++++++++++++++++++

Thirty pairs of naked breast stood waiting inside the lobby of the building. It was a large traditional looking structure. It was a gigantic mansion in one of the more upscale areas of town. It looked somewhat out of place within the modern architecture. Inside was a small reception desk, with rows of women sitting on cushions in an adjoining room.

"Hello, how may we serve you this day?" asked the attractive receptionist.

"I wish to speak with your master, is he available?" said the boy calmly. His features had gone quite cold instantly.

The woman standing behind the desk smiled at him. "He will see you. At the moment he is unavailable, and invites you to enjoy yourself. He will see you when you are finished."

Sesshoumaru merely smirked at her. "I'll wait thank you." He calmly strolled over to the corner and stood within view of the waiting prostitutes.

They all giggled and whispered things to each other as they watched him.

"Wha? I thought you had permission!" cried Gai.

"What gives?" snorted Faye. "Getting cold feet?"

"I told you of the taint on this place, it is better to be cautious. We will speak with the master of this place, and then decide our course of action. I assure you, his schedule is quite clear. There is nothing of significant power to distract him from us around here."

Ranma was quite relieved that his pants hid erections so well. He was also relieved that something had shown up to delay their plans for him.

"I suspect you have something to ask me?" said the woman as she frowned at them.

"Not particularly," said the boy as he glanced at her. "I said I wanted to see your master and I meant it. You're not the one I'm looking for."

The woman nodded, her scowl never left her face. "You may regret that. He does not like visitors." Her eyes had changed into catlike slits.

"He will make time enough to see us. I wish to have an explanation for this place. To be left alone with so little power on this place, there is little doubt he is here to serve some service to others of his kind. I suggest you tell him quickly, as I am not patient. Tell him, that I, Ranma Saotome, would speak with him."

"Maybe we should stop letting Fluffy talk," growled Faye.

"I've got it under control," replied Ranma. The woman gasped as she realized what their hand was doing. It had a sickly green glow around it and his fingers were flexed like claws.

"What the hell?"

"Wow," muttered Amelia in a sort of horrified wonder. It was powerful magic, bad magic. She'd never seen such a force coming from what appeared to be her own hand. She wanted very badly for it to go away.

"What? That..." The woman creature backed away slowly in an animalistic way. The boy was using Yokai magic, very powerful Yokai magic. "As you wish," she replied as she bowed deeply and scurried away.

Ranma found himself blinking as he let the power die down and glanced at the frightened naked girls beside him. They all cowered away from him, but none had dared to run. The strangest thing had just happened; the woman from the counter had turned into a rather cute looking demon monster. She had changed from a very attractive Chinese woman, and into a cute looking demonic thing. It looked like a young girl, except for two tiny horns, two small bat-like wings, and a pointed tail. Her hair had actually changed into an almost blood red from black. She glanced back at them and growled as she vanished through a door.



"What the hell was that about?" asked Ranma dumbly.

"I dunno," said Gai in confusion. "Say. Those chicks are lookin at us funny now."

The prostitutes had actually started scaling the walls around them with evil leers on their faces. Fangs had grown out over their lips as they all hissed and screeched angrily. The front door slammed shut quite suddenly and all the lights outside went out, with the exception of a small sign that now hung in the window. "Sorry. We'll be back to serve you in a few minutes!"

"Shit," growled Ranma. "What the hell is this?"

"I am not sure, they appear as human souls, but those bodies are not human. I fear we may have stumbled onto something more than I originally anticipated."

"So we get the heck out of here?" cried Amelia nervously.

They were still standing calmly, watching the women crawl around the room on all fours. Every muscle in their body appeared strained now as they moved about, small claws had grown from their fingernails and toes as well. It was anything but attractive to watch.



"Heck no! I said I wanted to see that guy, and I'm gonna see him!" snarled Ranma as his hands flew behind his back. He produced both pistols and the women on the walls all froze in place, they looked quite nervous suddenly.

"I don't think this is a guy we're going to see," said Gai. "It's another monster, you know, like the one that almost killed us!"

"We're much stronger now," was the boy's simple reply. "I got no idea what this is about, but I already know I won't like it when I find out."

"I suggest we attack then, our captors are growing brave. Not that it will last." Sesshoumaru leveled the handguns forward at one of the creatures. "I am not certain of how this weapon operates."

"Pull, the trigger," replied Gai as he demonstrated.

Everything in the room froze as both weapons reported. Two bullet-sized balls of energy shot out of the barrels at the same velocity as a normal shot. They left tracer like trails of light behind the shots, one was a fire like orange, and the other was a pale blue.

The creature took both rounds in the chest and flew back roaring painfully as it stopped moving quite suddenly.

The creatures around them screamed angrily as they charged forward all at once towards him.

The boy holstered the red weapon and pulled his staff off of his back. He spun it skillfully around his arm and knocked three of them back before thrusting it forward and driving another four back into the wall. He twirled the weapon around his finger and fired two shots over his back, sending both of the monsters behind him crashing to the ground as they jerked violently. The bodies of the monsters on the floor quickly began to dissolve into a bubbling pile of pink and red goo.

The creatures were relentless and single minded.

"The things I go through to get laid!" cried Gai angrily as he belted two more of the monsters upside their heads with the staff.

"Not bad man," said Ranma approvingly.

"We should end this," said Sesshoumaru as he used the butt of the firearm to knock away one of the things as it tried to latch onto his shoulder. He fired at another and sent it to the ground.

Ranma swept the staff up quickly and caught the jaw of another monster, sending it flying into a group of others. He put both weapons away and stood in a combat ready stance. "Come on. I don't want to be here all day."

"It is time to teach how to use the attack I just taught you boy." The demon made their lips turn up ever so slightly, and the remaining twenty or so monsters jumped back slightly. His fist began to glow with a sickly green light once again.

"Ranma. We shouldn't use that attack..." said Amelia nervously. "I don't like the way it feels."

"Got a better idea?" he asked quickly. None of the monsters had yet grown brave enough to do more than lunge forward threateningly.

"I've got spells that will stop these things," she said firmly.

"No time to decide boy! Act now!" snarled Sesshoumaru forcefully as he drove them forward.

Ranma charged with him and slashed his fingers as he jumped through the scattering demon women. They seemed to pass through whatever he struck unharmed and he stopped on the other side of the crowd unharmed. Each and every one of the remaining prostitute demons squirted blood from a small wound as they fell to the ground screaming. In an instant they began to melt away as the toxins of Sesshoumaru's magic took effect.

"Cool," said the boy in wonder.

"Gross!" cried Faye in disgust.

"Well, we killed them, so now what?" grumbled Gai. He wasn't expecting to be attacked by the beautiful women he was rescuing.

"Now, we follow that little demon's trail. Stay on guard, this place is probably swarming with the creatures we just defeated. They stand no chance against Sesshoumaru's power. We are not far from achieving most of my power." He flexed his fingers experimentally for a moment and strolled forward towards the door the demoness had gone through.

+++++++++++++++++++++

The little demoness gasped for breath as she rushed through the massive doors of the inner temple within the mansion. "Master!"

A withered looking spindly demon slowly turned to glare at her angrily. His gigantic wings spread wide as he turned his rage onto her. The pathetic creature suffered on the ground in agony. "I told you never to disturb me Sai. Now you learn the price for disobedience."

He did nothing but watch her suffer coldly with a deep frown on his face for almost ten minutes.

"Now, what is it that is so important that you forgot to obey my command Sai?"

"Someone has come to see the master. Someone too strong for Sai to stop!" cried the demon fearfully. She didn't seem to bothered by the torment she had just received, but obviously feared another incident. "Sai didn't know what to do, so she came to warn the master!"

The creature stomped over to her. It was almost nine feet tall and plucked her off of the ground in its claws. The hooked talons on his fingers easily penetrated her skin as she was lifted into the air and thrown back at the door. "Go and stop him then. I won't be bothered with such filth."

The little demon nodded her head and got a firm look in her eyes. She stood up as the Chinese woman again, but two jet-black wings protruded from her back now. She was also wearing a very tight leather miniskirt. "As the master commands then." She walked back into the doors and strolled boldly into two handguns as she opened the door to leave.

"Damn it," she muttered as she flew back as both weapons reported, one of her wings fell onto the ground and she did not move again.

Ranma Saotome walked into the room with a deep frown on his face. "You're sick!" he cried as he pointed at the demon. He wasn't happy with his trip through the palace. After he'd gotten about halfway up the building with no trouble, the women actually started ripping their limbs off and putting them back onto different places. It was slightly more difficult to deal with, but not by much. He just had to adjust his aim a bit more often when going for a headshot. That had become especially difficult for them when they started shoving their necks into their crotches.

"Hello," said the demon as he ignored his fallen servant and glared at them. "You did not enjoy my wonderful pleasures? Anything a man can want, all he has to do is ask, anything at all. I can fulfill any fantasy, no matter how dark, for a price. "I do nothing more than that. Why are you here to bother me about this?"

The boy chuckled as he strolled forward. He was twirling the handguns around his fingers lazily as he walked. "All these human souls? Surely you don't expect me to believe they willingly submitted to you?"

"Such is the price of pleasure," responded the demon coolly. "I am merely the keeper of this cursed place."

The boy looked around at the temple he was standing in. That was indeed what it was after all. "Defiling a temple, by turning it into a whorehouse?"

"Of course, it had become particularly bothersome a few hundred years ago. So we bought it, and made good use of it. We are quite successful, as business is thriving."

"This is a soul well then," said Sesshoumaru coolly.

The demon narrowed his eyes at the boy. "Who are you? How would you know of such things? I sense the power of a demon within you, but it is unfamiliar to me, that is strange indeed."

"I'm Ranma Saotome," replied the boy with a cocky looking grin. "What's a soul well?" he asked the demon in confusion.

"It is a place to hold souls for demons to feed on. They are not taken by means of judgement either. This place would be well hidden from any servant of the light. It is one of the reasons hunting demons is so pointless."

"Pointless?!" cried Faye in horror. "Are you nuts?"

"Taking people's souls? We've got to stop it!" agreed Amelia.

"I'm all for that," said Gai as he readied the handguns.

+++++++++++++++++++++

Shu ho frowned as she sat across from an old woman on the outskirts of town. It was a small temple that was nestled in the back of a traditional home. "I do not know what to make of him."

The old woman calmly poured tea as she glanced over at the girl. "You were wise to seek guidance then. I do not know how much help I can be though."

"He was young, only about sixteen or seventeen by the look of him," said the girl as she gripped her cup a little tighter. "He's got no self control that I've seen, but he did kill that demon. He did it using power I know a demon can't use."

"Most unusual indeed. You saw him as a demon though?"

"That's what bothers me. I've never seen anything like that before, it shouldn't even be possible."

"Troublesome, but perhaps not as much as we had thought. I am not gifted with the sight, but I have no ill feelings about this."

"I just don't..." She paused as a bright blue light flashed in the city. It was bright enough to see even in the middle of the day as smaller balls of light shot into the sky from out of a gigantic pillar.

"You see something child?" asked the old woman with a smirk on her face.

"That light?"

"That light, is a wondrous thing indeed. It is a pity only those like us may see it."

"What?" asked the young woman in confusion.

"I think this boy, may be something we have awaited for many centuries my child. That light was something I had not even begun to hope I might see in my lifetime."

"What's that?"

"Freed souls, more than any demon hunter has seen in centuries I imagine. Probably more than you've seen in your entire career."

The woman blushed slightly at this and turned back towards the old woman again. "I guess that settles it then, we've got to send word to Cologne to back off."

"That would seem wise, but I fear her pride will not make that will be an easy task for you."

The woman simply nodded and put her tea down. "Thank you."

"Any time Child. You come visit your old Auntie Lather any time you wish."

"Yes," she replied with a small blush. It had been some time since she last spoke with the old woman. She owed the old woman quite a bit of gratitude for some of the things she'd done for her. Her training was a good example of that. While not directly involved, she had known whom to speak too about it. She still wasn't sure of the relationship the woman had with her mother.

"I should be going now, I've still got to find him," she bowed and rushed away.

+++++++++++++++++++++

It wasn't that big a deal really. All he had to do was beat the snot out of the demon standing in front of him. Sesshoumaru had explained the particulars of what he was standing in. He had looked into some of the magic and seemed surprised, if only slightly by what he had discovered. It was a net for souls it captured those freed from demons by demon hunters and held them on earth until they could be weakened enough to drag to hell.

The monster looming over him angrily hissed as his wings spread wide. "You fool. You cannot defeat me here! This place was created to destroy your kind should they be fool enough to enter! Why do you think it has not fallen in thousands of years?"

"You've kept it well hidden, unfortunately, your lapse in security will cost you." The boy calmly loaded a clip into both weapons and spun them around his fingers.

"Wait. You mean we haven't been using bullets?" asked Gai dumbly. He had apparently just realized they hadn't reloaded the weapons yet.

"It is a bit weird," grumbled Faye. "I'd almost forgotten myself a few times back there." She had been counting shots out of habit and had finally given up at around nine hundred.

The monster stomped in a circle around them as they paced into the room and kept themselves facing it.

"This should pose no problems for us. He is old and weak. His service to others is the only reason he is allowed to exist. We need stronger opponents if we are to better ourselves. We should be on the lookout for something that can suit our needs."

The demon roared and lunged forward. Ranma merely chuckled as a blaze of flame formed around his body just before he pulled the trigger. A massive cannon shot of fire roared out of the end of the weapon.

The demon screamed as it slammed into its face as the boy spun around to avoid the claws that landed where he was standing. Before he even turned completely around he fired the sister weapon into the monster's mouth just behind the back of his head by resting the weapon on his shoulder. The same effect was repeated, but with blue energy this time.

The demon's head exploded in a rather spectacular display that rained down pieces and chunks of skull and brain all around them. The boy was untouched by the mess though and calmly stepped over the monster's body. He fired two more of the shots into the defiled temple and twirled his weapons around his fingers as he turned away from the resulting explosion. Flames raced up the walls as he calmly walked through the massive temple doors and into the hallway. A blast of blue light tore through the rooftop and sent a shockwave of power into the stairwell. The boy didn't seem bothered by any of this as he continued his path towards the exit.



"Wow! That was cool!" cried Gai as he realized he wasn't dead.

He paused as he found himself surrounded by ghostly images of beautiful women. Hundreds of them were all around them, all smiling at him warmly.

Sesshoumaru growled and tried to ready themselves for a fight.

"They don't look angry or nothin," said Ranma as he forced the demon to calm the body a bit.

One of the ghostly spirits spoke to him. "Thank you. You cannot understand what you have saved us from." She bowed deeply and smiled at him again. Most of the spirits appeared to be crying. There were men appearing around them as well. All of them looked young and healthy as they stood around the pigtailed boy and bowed.

Finally, one of the ghostly women rushed forward and planted her lips right on his face. A few others decided to join her and Ranma staggered back as happy female ghosts passed through his body towards the pillar of light. He felt light headed and stumbled about a bit. It was an immensely pleasurable feeling they gave him when they passed.

They all just stumbled back onto the stairwell and ended up sitting on the stairs as the ghosts all finally passed. He blinked and found himself alone in the palace. "Woah."

"Is it just me, or did we just get gang raped by fifty dead women?" muttered Faye.

"They were just thanking us!" snapped Amelia. "I'm sure it wasn't anything like that at all!"

"Actually, it felt a lot like it," muttered Gai. "I'm not sure about that though, so don't go getting no ideas about this counting or anything."

"It was definitely a strange feeling," grumbled the demon irritably.

"You're one of those dogs that pretends he doesn't like getting his ear scratched aren't you?" said Faye in a teasing tone.

"Don't speak to me as if I was some pet. I'll make you regret those words woman."

"Do ghosts get pregnant? Cause if they do, it was all Ranma. I had nothing to do with it," said Gai as they finally stood up.

"HUH?" cried the boy fearfully.

"He was kidding," said Faye.

"We should get moving. The power of our other shot should be catching up to us soon."

"It is starting to get a bit smoky in here," said Gai. "Wait. Smoke? The building is on fire and we're just standing here?"

Almost in answer to that a huge chunk of flaming debris crashed through the ceiling above them just as they started dashing down the stairs towards the exit. Luckily, it was only a five-story building.

As they rushed down the stairwell another giant timber crashed down in front of them.

"Shit!" cried Faye as they turned to look back up. A thick cloud of smoke was quickly making its way down to them.

"The wall," growled Sesshoumaru.

A simple swiping motion with their hand ripped a huge gash into the side of the building and they dove out the side of the building as a ball of flames rushed down towards them. The cursed temple was attempting to take them with it.

As they flew across the street in the air the building shattered into a massive ball of contained fire. None of the nearby buildings were effected by the mysterious blast. They found themselves clinging to the side of the building across the street precariously from one of the windowpanes.

"That was interesting," said Ranma nervously.

"How do we get down?" cried Amelia.

"We go up. Climbing to the roof should pose no problem," Sesshoumaru ran his eyes along what looked like a way to climb up the side of the building from where they were. It would be fairly easy to do along the pipes and ledges on the building's side.

Ranma looked at the burning building from the top of the six-story apartment building with a deep frown on his face. The fight was his, but he was just starting to realize what the change had done to him. "I am, Ronin." He would return home, but only to break his ties. He could not stop moving, or everything he feared would catch up to him and destroy him completely.

"What?" asked Faye in confusion as they all watched the fire below.

"I'm ronin. A wanderer, I'll never have a home to call my own, at least not for a very long time. Sort of like before, but now I can't go back. At least, not to stay anyway."

"I'm glad to see you are beginning to understand boy," commented Sesshoumaru.

"Yeah. I don't like being here," grumbled Ranma. "At least at home I'll be able to relax a little bit."

None of them saw the tiny shadow hiding in the darkness just behind them. It did nothing but watch them carefully from the darkness, with two bat-like wings poking from its back. One of the wings looked somewhat ragged and pathetic compared to the other one." The master...will not be pleased with failure. Sai does not like failure. Sai must be punished by the master." Her eyes stared at the one who had come and destroyed the master.

"Sai..." Tears of rage began to form in her eyes as she snarled at him viciously. "Sai...must be punished." She spread her wings as she stood up tall and glared at him. "Who will punish Sai?" She was confused and afraid. It was the first time in her existence she was really alone. She glared at the boy as he watched her master's magnificent designs burn. How dare he have such insolence as to destroy such a thing? She would...what? She couldn't kill him, that much was certain. "Sai is very angry. What should Sai do? Sai must serve the master."

"Hey!" snapped Ranma as he turned around while she was thinking. She was standing in plain sight and gasped as she realized she'd been spotted.



"Uh oh," she muttered as she hung her head. "I guess Sai is destroyed then."

"I remember you! You tried to trick me!" snapped the angry boy as he pulled his weapons out and frowned at her. It was clear he was expecting a fight.

"Go ahead and destroy Sai. She will be destroyed anyway," she responded quietly as she sat down and pouted angrily.

"Huh?" it was clearly something the boy wasn't expecting.

"This thing doesn't have a will of its own. It was created to serve the demon within the temple." Sesshoumaru seemed quite uninterested in the whole affair. "It is best to kill her now. If we do not, the stronger demons will do it for us later. It matters not. If you wish to waste some of your power to be merciful, I will not stop you. Nor will I aid you."

"What?" cried Ranma as he lowered his weapon slightly. "But..."

"She will die either way," insisted the demon. "It is better to leave her here."

The little demoness was watching the boy in front of her nervously. She appeared to be having second thoughts about letting him kill her. "Please do it quickly before Sai loses her nerve. She would rather be killed quickly by you, than be found by the others."

"You're a pitiful servant, you should have died before your master," snorted Sesshoumaru coldly.

Sai flinched at the tone; it was almost familiar to her. She got an odd look on her face as she peered at him.

"Why is she alive? I thought we shot her," asked Faye in confusion.

"We shot her in the shoulder and the wing remember?" said Gai. "I thought she bit it when the temple went really."

"She's like us now though. Those things are after her," muttered Ranma as conflict started to form within him.

"She is the personal servant of a demon we destroyed. She cannot be trusted."

Finally the demon girl backed away fearfully from him as she hid behind a nearby wall. "Sai does not know how to ask..."

"What? Where do you think you're goin?!" snapped the pigtailed boy as he noticed her hiding. "I ain't sure about you yet."

This seemed to put a bit more into the demon girl and she poked her head out a bit more. "Sai was wondering, if you would let her be your servant. Then you can trust her. Sai's old master is gone, her bond is broken."

Sesshoumaru turned them away from her. "Bond? You wish to bond with me?" His tone had changed, and become very sinister quite suddenly.

"Yes. Sai must have a master, or Sai has no purpose. If Sai is bonded to you, she must do everything you command of her. She cannot resist you master!"

"What?" asked Gai. This was suddenly a bit interesting. "That sounds good."

"Pervert!" snapped Faye angrily.

"That's not a very nice thing to say Mr. Yamada! We don't need a slave like that!"

"I didn't mean it like that!" cried the man irritably. "Jeez."

Ranma ignored all of this and spoke to Fluffy. "Is she lying?"

The demon snorted in amusement. "No. She speaks the truth. She will not be able to disobey us if we allow this bond. I recommend it in fact. She may be useful, even if she is pathetic and weak."

"We might be able to get some useful information out of her," agreed Faye.

"She would have to tell us anything she knows. All we must do is ask," agreed Sesshoumaru. "I have not had a pet in some time. This one will probably live a bit longer than the others. I've never taken the time to fashion my own servant. This one is quite extraordinary, especially if it has survived without a master for even this long. I'm sure, I, Sesshoumaru, would do better of course."

"How do we do this?" asked Ranma.

"Simple, you must follow my instruction again. It should not take more than a few moments. Especially since she offered this to us."

"Anyone else get the feeling things are going a little too well?" asked Gai.

"I don't know if this is such a good idea Ranma," said Amelia cautiously. "I mean, it's hard enough controlling one demon."

"She's like a slave right?" asked the boy.

"Yes. She can not willingly disobey our commands," said the demon.

"Let's do it then," said the boy firmly.

He glanced down at the demon girl and smirked at her. "All right. I'll let you bond with me. Doesn't feel right to just leave ya here this way."

The little demon looked quite surprised to hear this and bowed deeply. "Thank you master! Sai swears that she will serve your every need for eternity! She expects to be firmly punished for a very long time for attacking you in such a cowardly way!"

"Are we sure about this?" asked Faye nervously. She didn't fail to notice the demon girl's cleavage push forward a bit as she begged and bowed before them.

"Not really, no," said Ranma as he held his hand out over her.

She smiled and jumped up to her feet, chomping her teeth firmly into the side of his hand. A bit of blood flowed from between his fingers as his face ignored the pain.

"Mine," said Fluffy.

"I don't think so," growled Ranma as he suddenly cut the demon off just as something started to happen.

"No!" cried the demon as he found himself unable to stop it as Ranma Saotome became bonded with the little demoness. "You!"

"Heck. Even I ain't that stupid," said the boy as he shook off his hand after she had released him. "I ain't givin you no help out here. You're stuck, and I like it that way for now. I ain't lettin you out till you start behavin."

The demon girl looked quite cheerful and didn't really care what he was saying. "What does Sai do for the master now?" she asked him cheerfully.

"Huh? I dunno," replied the boy. "I guess you can go now. You're safe right?"

The demoness got a blank look on her face. "Master? Sai is very sorry, and perhaps she is not used to your diction yet. She does not understand your instruction."

"Ranma. You dope. She has to come with us if she's our servant," growled Amelia. "I told you not to do this."

"Servant?" muttered the boy dumbly. "We just did that bonded thing right?"

Sai stood patiently while her master seemed to think about something. He seemed to be much slower at it than her older master. She would not dare voice such an observation though.

"What?!" cried her master suddenly.

"Congratulations on your new pet Ranma," said Faye lazily. "I've got to say, you're definitely the first person I've ever met with their own pet demon."

"This pathetic creature is no demon. She is merely a servant, created to obey without question" growled Sesshoumaru.

"So, I gotta keep her?" said the boy in confusion.

"Yeah. You gotta keep her," said Gai cheerfully. "Maybe she can bring us a beer or something?"

"Should we go Master? Do you have a lair?" asked Sai quietly. She seemed confused by him so far.

"I guess we should go to the hotel or somethin," grumbled Ranma. "We got that meeting later anyway."



"Sai will follow then," said the demon girl cheerfully. She turned and started walking after them as they started to make their way off the rooftop.

+++++++++++++++++++++++

It was early still; they had about four hours before they had to meet with the Triad boss again. As such, Ranma Saotome sat in his room with the demon girl he'd picked up a little over an hour ago. She was kneeling on the floor in the corner quietly waiting for a command from him.

The boy was laid out on the bed with his arms spread out as he stared at the ceiling. The little demon was trying her best to look miserable and it was driving him nuts. He looked up at her as she tried to push herself into the corner. She was quite dirty and pathetic looking at the moment.

"What's with you?" he asked her as he hopped off the bed and came to rest on the top of the back of a chair. He was having trouble sitting still while she was brooding.

"Sai is wondering when she is going to be punished for failure," muttered the demon quietly. "She failed, and must be punished."

"What? I ain't punishing you," he grumbled as he frowned at her.

The demoness gasped in shock. "But...but...Sai must be punished!"

"No!" snapped the angry looking boy as he turned his head away from her. "What the heck are you doing in the corner anyway? Go sit in a chair or something."

This absolutely horrified the demon girl. "Master? Sai is to sit...in a chair?"

"Yeah," said the boy in confusion. He had no idea it was a bad thing apparently.

"Shall Sai sit on her tail uncomfortably?" she inquired hopefully.

"If you want...I guess," said the boy. She sulked off her spot on the wall and gently laid out her tail on a nearby chair. With a small jump she heaved her entire bodyweight on top of it.

"This is too weird," grumbled Ranma as he shook his head. Finally, he turned towards the bathroom. "I guess we can take a shower while we're here." The women had started to complain about the smell since they had gotten back, but he'd been more interested in keeping an eye on Sai. Fluffy seemed quite irritated with the boy, but kept telling him that the creature could not disobey them.

"Why does she look like that still? I thought she could look like that older chick too?" He put a towel over his shoulder and walked towards the bathroom.

Sai watched this from her chair and seemed utterly confused by it. "Is the master going out?"

"No, the master is going to take a shower," grumbled the boy as he pushed the door open.

Sai craned her neck to see, the room was a dead end with no other exit. She'd never really given much thought to such a room before. She'd seen them of course, but most demons ignored rooms like those. She had no idea what humans needed so many different water sources in one room for.

Her master seemed to know though. She looked down at the chair and then back at the door again. Her master had yet to give her specific instructions about anything. She hopped off and walked carefully over to the door of the bathroom. It was closed, but not locked.

She opened it and peered carefully inside. Steam filled the room now as her master stood behind a curtain in a stream of hot water. "Sai is confused." She walked into the room leaving the door wide open and stood watching him for a long time as he bathed. "What is the master doing? What is the purpose of this?" She would probably be punished for asking such questions. Still, a punishment would be something. He'd had her for a few hours already and had yet to do anything with her at all. Her old master had started giving her commands as soon as she opened her eyes.

The boy was staring at her from the other side of the curtain. "Humans need to keep themselves clean to keep the odor down to a bearable level. He opened it calmly and stepped out in the nude while drying his hair.

He looked like he wanted to jump back behind the curtain and hide again for the briefest of moments.

"Sai's master is not human though," pointed out the little creature cheerfully. "Sai could not become bonded with him if he was."

"That is only partially true," responded the pigtailed boy as he calmly dried his hair.

"Oh," said the demon girl. She didn't know a whole lot about that sort of thing. The bond was there though, if only she could get him to command her now. "If the master doesn't have a command for Sai, what should she do?"

"I dunno, relax a bit? I ain't got nuthin for ya ta do anyway." He shrugged as he seemed to realize she was neither bothered, nor interested in his nudity much.

"Sai...relax?" The words sounded so wrong to her. She simply stared at the floor. "How does Sai relax?"

Ranma glanced down at her for a moment. "What?"

"Sai does not know how to relax. Sai only knows how to serve the master."

"This is getting repetitive," grumbled Gai.

Ranma ignored him and tied the towel around his waist. "How the heck would I know? Look...I ain't got nothin for ya ta do. What kind of stuff did ya do before?"

"Sai carried out the masters commands! She was told to keep the store running and tempt any who entered with whatever they desired. Sai was to make sure the customers were pleasured enough to sell their souls to the master. She was also in charge of making sure the Well was kept up. She had to perform rituals for the master to keep the spell strong. Sai usually sacrificed a few customers. She was also in charge of training new souls for an eternity of misery and slavery to the dark master."

"What did you do when you weren't doing that?" asked Ranma.

"Sai was punished," said the demon. The look on her face told him that she thought he should be punishing her quite harshly.

The boy hit his head on the wall a few times. "Anything else?"

"Oh! Sometimes Sai would pleasure the master!" She seemed quite proud to remember that. "Not for a very long time though. The master does not care for pleasure much."

"What the heck does that mean?" muttered Ranma in confusion.

"With that thing? Eeew!" cried Faye in horror.

Amelia looked quite sick. "I'm so glad we have rescued her from such a horrible..."

"Did she like it?" asked Gai.

"I dunno, let's ask her," said Ranma. It was quite obvious he had no idea what anyone was talking about. "What kind of stuff do you do for fun? What about this pleasure thing?"

Sai stared up at the boy for a moment in shock. "Sai cannot feel pleasure! Sai is to suffer!" She paused for a moment. "Pleasuring the master is not bad, but she does not enjoy it. No, Sai does not enjoy pleasuring the master. He is very rough, and Sai is very delicate. She was intended that way." She nodded to herself and seemed quite proud of that fact.

"What? He hit you?"

"Would you like to hit Sai?" asked the demon hopefully. Her tail started wagging in anticipation of the punishment.

"Not really no," said the boy flatly.

"Oh." The demon was running out of options. If something didn't happen soon she would have to relax with no punishment. "Shall Sai pleasure the master then?"

"What the heck does that mean?" inquired the boy again.

The girl seemed to think about it for a very long time. She'd never been asked to explain so much before. It was getting frustrating, and her new master was incredibly stupid to not grasp such simple concepts. He was the strangest demon she'd ever met.

In the back of Ranma's mind. Faye had enlisted Gai's help in explaining things to the boy in as simple a manner as possible. The man was quite happy to help with a simple explanation of what the little demon meant.

"What?" cried the boy in horror.

The cute little demon was looking at him. He seemed upset by her question. She repeated it, hoping to be punished for insolence. "Would the master like Sai to pleasure him?"

The towel-clad boy was frozen in place with a shocked look about him.

"Just get it over with." The boy's face had taken on a rather serious looking frown. Her master had quickly shifting moods, and it was the most evil she'd seen him look so far.

Sai simply shrugged and pulled his towel off his waist before falling to her knees. As she was unable to speak very quickly after that occurred she thought to herself as she worked. "I hope the master is displeased with Sai's performance and punishes her harshly for not being good enough for him. That was how things usually went after all.

++++++++++++++++++++++

TBC...

Next Time: Housetraining.