Family Reunion 2

by Michael The-Zorch Haney

Complete! Tenchi goes to Nerima to attend college when a newComplete enemy arrives to threaten the world.

3. Part 3: The Resurrection of Hikaru Kuno

DISCLAIMER: "Tenchi Muyo! Ryo-Ohki" is a registered trademark and copyright of AIC Inc. and Pioneer. "Ranma 1/2" is a registered trademark and copyright of Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Communications and Kitty Productions.
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T E N C H I 1 / 2: FAMILY REUNION II

By Michael "TheZorch" Haney
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PART 3: The Resurrection of Hikaru Kuno

A cool summer breeze wafted into the back yard of the Tendo residence causing the hair of a one Kasumi Tendo to dance about. She stood before the tall granite statue of the noble warrior, a samurai standing in at attention with a proud, regal expression on his face. The elder Tendo sister did not seem to notice her surroundings as the breeze kicked up her dress and her long lustrous hair. Indeed, she was in an entirely different place altogether.

Sakumi tended to the fire in her kitchen hearth. It was small and modest. Indoor cooking was a rarity in her part of the country for few could afford to build an indoor hearth for the kitchen. Since this region of the country did not suffer cold winters a larger one was not needed to heat the house. She smiled as she worked her culinary magic, her beloved was coming to enjoy her cooking. He's been away on business concerning the Emperor and his continued efforts to unit a land divided by senseless civil war. The sound of a horse's hooves outside caught her attention. Sakumi moved the cast iron pan away from the more intense heat and quickly went outside. She slipped on her wooden sandals and moved as quickly as possible without loosing her womanly grace.
The horse was brought to a halt by a man in a broad cloak. He swung down from the saddle with practiced grace. He smiled when he saw her, a vision of beauty for which he was almost unworthy to behold with his eyes. He walked forward and received her embrace.
"Sakumi, my love."
"Hikaru, my dearest."
The world around them blurred.
Sakumi struggled to her feet, she was tired and her body worn. The flames of what had been her ancient family home scorched her back. She looked up at her tormenter with a look of disgust and fear. He was a tall man with almost immaculate features, handsome yet also frightening with intense eyes, and his hard was pulled back into a long braided pony tail. He was a dressed in fine silk robes which no doubt hid many weapons and other items that Sakumi dare not even imagine. He looked down at her with a look of contempt with just an inkling of lust in his intense eyes.
"Here you decided yet, Miss. Hayawara?" he asked. His voice rang clear like a bell, he was young, almost as young as she was.
"Never, my love is for another!" she spat.
"You speak of the ronin, why waste yourself by showering someone as worthless as he with our affections." The man said coolly.
Sakumi struggled to her feet, not giving this man the satisfaction of seeing the pain in her face. "Hikaru is no longer a ronin, he as earned a new name for his clan from the Emperor."
"The Emperor, he is almost as worthless." The tall man scowled. "His pitiful claims at being the all-powerful ruler of this land are laughable."
"He will one day unite all of Japan." Sakumi returned.
The tall man laughed, throwing his head back. "Only if I allow him to my dear!" The sound of an approaching horse running at a full speed caught their attention. The man on horseback stood up in the saddle and leveled a bow at the man standing before Sakumi. He loosed the arrow, it sang as it tore through the air. The tall man barely moved from where he stood. His hand moved with such speed that Sakumi didn't see the gesture. With seemingly little effort the tall man caught the arrow in his bare hand. The man on horseback leapt to the ground as his steed ran by and drew his katana.
"Kun Lao! You monster, step away from my iinazuke!" Hikaru shouted.
"Well, I was wondering when you were going to show your face, ronin." Kun Lao sneered.
"Sakumi, I shall deal with this beast. Go to the village and summon the volunteer bucket brigade." Hikaru told her.
Sakumi was about to move when a hand reached for her. Kun Lao pulled her to his side and with the other hand he drew a jeweled dagger. Sakumi was terrified, the weapon seemed to gleam with an unholy light. She did not know at what depth Kun Lao would go to see his plan come to completion.
"Harm her and I swear to my ancestors I will hunt to the ends of the Earth." Hikaru said menacingly.
"Interesting, let us see how strong your love for this flower truly is, ronin." Kun Lao smiled. "If you can reach my citadel and defeat my guardians I will return his beautiful creature to you."
Sakumi could feel a tingling around her body. Her father has been a wizard and she remembered feeling such sensations whenever he practiced his art in her presence. Kun Lao was preparing a spell. She witnessed first hand how destructive this monster could be when he destroyed her ancient ancestral home. With sudden realization Sakumi realized she was no longer on the ground, that they were floating in the air and slowly rising.
"Return her to me now, and I will make your death painless, oni!" Hikaru shouted as he advanced on this with his sword at the ready. A battle cry left his lips as he sprang into the air, concentrating his chi to achieve the height he needed. With practiced skill Hikaru swung his sword, an ancient family heirloom, but instead of cutting a swath through the body of his foe the blade was effortlessly defected by the dagger in Kun Lao's hand.
"Such admirable qualities, ronin, but please save your strength for the guardians of my citadel are quite formidable." Kun Lao smirked.
"Hikaru!" Sakumi cried, trying to reach out to her beloved.
"Sakumi!" the samurai cried out helplessly as he watched her and her captor vanish from sight.

Kasumi blink her eyes and the world of the Tendo dojo fell back into place around her. She looked up into the face of the statue and the only a faint though of recognition entered her mind.
"You were called, Hikaru." She whispered.
At that moment Kasumi heard sounds of life inside the Tendo home and realized everyone was waking up and she hadn't started breakfast yet. She looked up at the statue one more time before heading to the house. As she turned away she did not notice a small tear form in the eye of the statue.

One thing Tenchi Masaki, Ranma Saotome, Ukyo Kuonji, Nabiki Tendo, and Akane Tendo found was the worst thing about going to college was 'class registration'. The college was holding early registration for the Fall classes in order to keep the lines down during regular registration days, but they didn't count of the huge summertime turnout they got. The five spent nearly the entire day waiting in line only to find out some classes were already full and had to settle for other classes instead. Yes, they were classes they would have to take anyway, but they wanted to save them for last. Nabiki was happy, she got the Business Economics and Ethics class that she wanted. Everyone was surprised Akane wanted the Broadcast Arts, because she wanted to become a reporter for a major network someday. Ukyo, with no surprise, chose cooking as her major. For Tenchi, it was mathematics and architecture. Ranma was the one who had the hardest time finding what he wanted. As he walked around the different booths he came upon one for a class hardly anyone was signing up for. Philosophy, or more accurately the class that studies the finer points of higher thinking and understanding. This choice shocked everyone since they knew "thinking" and "higher understanding" weren't Ranma's strong points.

After the grueling battle to obtain a full schedule of classes the collegiate warriors returned home to the Tendo dojo for a well deserved victory feast courtesy of Kasumi and Sasami. Tenchi had officially moved into the Tendo home only four days prior and already Aeka and Ryoko seemed nearly permanent fixtures in the dining room. Mihoshi was, to her infinite sadness, away on patrol in Yokonojo. To Ranma's terror Ryo-Ohki was in the house.
"Miya!"
"KIYYYAAAA!"
Akane sighed as Ranma climbed down off the ceiling when the Cabbit left the dining room. "Honestly, I almost think she gets a kick out of doing that to him." She said.
"She does." Ryoko smiled.
"Can't you put a leash on that thing or something!" Ranma growled in annoyance.
"She's just phase out of it." Ryoko smile, her grin widening.
"I can't believe we're finally out of that damn high school and we're going to go to college." Said Ukyo.
"No thank to Principle Kuno." Akane spat. The week of final exams for the graduating seniors turned into the week of living hell. Principle Kuno had taken the completed tests, hidden them in his basement jungle, and gave the students only forty eight hours to locate them or they have to take the entire senior year over again. Of course, Principle Kuno knew better than to issue a challenge to Ranma Saotome, and he also greatly underestimated the intellect of a young girl named Washu. Not only that, but she wanted to make sure Tenchi's cousin left Fureinken High leaving a really big impression. So you can imagine the immense joy of the Freshmen and Sophomore student when a padded van arrived driven by four burly men in white scrubs arrived at the school and dragged Principle Kuno out of the building in a straight jacket. Somehow, by some strange method, Principle Kuno had been committed to the Kyoto Institute for the Criminally Insane. Nobody, including Tatawaki and Kodachi, bothered to find out how or why. Miss. Hinako gave Ranma her own kind of send off. While his fiancés looked on in dismay, the diminutive teacher hit Ranma with her Five Yen Satsu, filled out her overly tight clothes, and gave him a kiss so deep she could have literally felt his tonsils. It was her way of repaying him for helping to kill the monster that attacked her several months before. The teacher made a fast recovery and returned to work only two weeks after her ordeal. The students, including the young boys, were all sympathetic to her situation and made her return to Fureinken a happy and joyous experience.
"No more Kuno." Said Akane.
"No more Miss. Hinako." Said Ranma.
"No more Hikaru Gosunkugi." Said Ukyo.
"No more of that old freak who runs the secondary school store." Said Ranma.
"No more shake downs, betting on Ranma and Kuno's fights, and loan sharking." Nabiki sighed.
"Eh?" everyone else said at once.
"Did I say that out loud, sorry." Nabiki smiled sheepishly.
"Know what I won't miss?" Tenchi asked.
"Nani?" everyone asked.
"Amagasaki pestering me to get Ryoko and Aeka to date him." He said.
"GACK!" Ryoko stuck her finger in her mouth and pretended to gage herself.
This elicited a laugh from everyone at the table. "Does my heart proud to see our family so happy." Soun said, looking over his newspaper.
"Now if we can just get rid of Happosai and the Panda we'd be just perfect." Akane laughed. Genma, in panda form, growled something and held up a sign. "Ha, ha, ha! What a comedian!"
That was when Kasumi and Sasami made their entrance with the first trays of food. The smell was overwhelming, making everyone think they had suddenly gone off to the heavens to dine with the Kami.
"This smells awesome you guys." Said Ranma.
"Hehe! Thanks." Sasami giggled and blushed.
"She's so cute when she does that." Said Ukyo.
"Reminds Shampoo of baby sister when she that age." Shampoo smiled.
Aeka laughed a bit. "Sasami has always been pretty chipper."
"I wonder how much of it is Sasami and how much of is Tsunami." Said Ryoko.
"Don't know, but I don't mind at all." Tenchi added.
"Tsunami?" Ukyo said looking puzzled.
Ranma gave her a very brief description of Sasami's relationship with the Goddess Tsunami. When he was done Ukyo looked at him in a mixture of shock and surprise. "She's, uh, a real goddess." She said.
"Not yet, but one day she will be." Washu told her.
"Oh wow." Ukyo said softly. When Sasami returned to the table with more food Ukyo regarded her with a great deal more respect that usual.

What an interesting concept this summer break., thought Kun Lao. He sat in his bedroom at the Gosunkugi house reading the many tomes the foolish boy owned. So many powerful tomes of magic, and the baka knew nothing of the immense power he had to his fingertips. Nothing in these books, however, has what he was really looking for. Only special tomes, ancient tomes, would hold the knowledge he sought.
"I must find the location of the first key." He said softly.
It had taken many weeks to finally locate the hidden sacred shrine deep in the wilderness of Japan. Kun Lao noticed that there was very little wilderness left in this land that had once been so beautiful. Now, vast cities of concrete dominated the landscape with only small regions of greenery called "Parks" providing an oasis in a desert of manmade stone. The shrine was in a very rural region of Japan in the north just miles form Kyoto, the old capital. Within its walls was a chamber locked by four hidden keys. In the center of this chamber it is said there is a fountain of light descending from the heavens. He who baths in that light will become a god, gaining eternal life, and immense powers beyond the wildest imaginings of mortal men. In his time before his untimely demise, Kun Lao has three of the four keys. He would have ascended had it not been for, for a certain someone whom Kun Lao was certain he'd never have to worry about again.
It had been some time since his last excursion out into this place called Nerima. The incident with Rakshaza proved that the young Saotome and his kin, someone named Tenchi Masaki, were not to be taken lightly. Without any of the sacred keys in his possession it would not do to have them on his heels. This Ranma was a powerful fighter with a grasp of chi techniques, but the other boy commanded the awesome power of the Light Hawk Wings. Despite even his formidable knowledge of chi magic, Kun Lao knew even he could not stand up to the might of such power. That is, until he finds the four sacred keys and baths in the sacred fountain. Then, he would be all-power, and even the Kami in heaven would all tremble at his might.
The keys were once protected in sacred shrines, separated by hundreds of kilometers. Keeping them in one place was dangerous, also in these modern times few people understand the true nature of certain objects. The fact that the device of his imprisonment was no longer in its place of concealment was a testament to this. It was possible that the keys could now be anywhere in the world, collecting dust in someone's collection of trinkets without them even knowing the true power of what they possessed.
The Chi Sorcerer was certain that the trail of evidence leading to him concerning the demon at Fureinken High School was now very cold. He had been questioned by the police and the lovely creature who had been the investigator. He decided not to tempt the fates and make her one of his conquests. Taking liberties with women who just laid there and did not move was not as satisfying as when he'd taken the one named Hinako. By this time the spell that held her in adult form has worn off. To him it was a pity, she was so much more interesting in adult form. While in class he had to suppress his lust for her. She would look at him without any recognition in her mind, since her memories were tampered with. Tempting as it was to go and visit her again, Kun Lao had to concentrate on the task at hand. He needed the first of the four keys.
With practiced precision, the boy who was no longer Hikaru Gosunkugi, drew a circle on the floor. Within that he drew a second circle, and between the lines of each he drew runes. It was an hour before he was finished with his work and stepped back to admire his creation. Kun Lao raised his arms and a brief gust of air fluttered his clothing around his body. Immediately, his clothes began to shimmer then morphed into the form of elegant silken robes. When the transformation was done he stepped into the center of the circle, clasped his hands together and began to softly chant the arcane words of magic. Midway through he moved his hands drawing complex patterns in the air. The complex sigils glowed with an unholy light, then the Chi Sorcerer pressed his palms to the magical constructs causing them to flare brightly. The runes on the floor began to glow and slowly began to fly up into the air, swirling around the Chi Sorcerer, the two lines of the circles on the floor sent a shower of blue light around him. Kun Lao's robes danced as if he was within a stiff breeze.
"I call upon the dark forces of fate, shadows in the night." He spoke aloud. "Your humble servant calls upon you to aid me in my search. Take me to the place where I might find the first key to the Holy Fountain of Ascendance."
The space where Kun Lao stood was immediately engulfed in bright light. He could feel the fabric of space and time beginning to fold, taking him somewhere else. Within the space of a few seconds, the light dimmed, the flying runes vanished, and the sigils disappeared. The boy who was no longer a boy was gone. All that was left was a curious pattern burned into the surface of the bedroom floor.

To say that Matriarch Cologne of the Nyanchiczu was worried was an understatement. Ever since the battle with the higher demon Rakshaza she has courting some suspicions. Slowly she pulled out the ancient tomes and scrolls from the package her fellow elders back home sent her upon request. The items within were ancient and delicate, so she treated them as such. She found the volume she was looking for and slowly turned the fragile pages. It was a tome that revealed secret knowledge about demons. She studied the tome for hours until she found what she was looking for. The page concerning the one specific demon was before her, written in the ancient language of the Nyanchiczu which to her was a second language.
In the many ranks of the pantheon of the underworld, Rakshaza was one who fought, lied, cheated, and killed to get where he was. He was a higher demon, very powerful, but had one limitation, he could only effect the mortal realm indirectly by effecting the thoughts of the weak minded. He did not possess the ability to break beyond the bounds of hell and enter the mortal realm. He was a higher demon, but unlike the Dread Lords he could not come to the mortal world under his own power. Which could mean two things, both of which were equally unpleasant contemplations. First, a demon of higher status than him could have made it possible for Rakshaza to come to the mortal plain, but why specifically Fureinken High School, and what of the demon or Dread Lord who brought him here. Second, he could have been summoned by a magic user. However, if a magic user had summoned him here it would mean the mage was very powerful, possessing an above average enough knowledge of the arcane arts and possessing a strong enough will to control a demonic force of Rakshaza's magnitude. Combined with that was the uneasy feeling in Cologne that something horrible was on the horizon. Her sensitivity to the ebb and flow of magical chi energies told her something was very amiss in Nerima. She felt a desire to suddenly seem out council concerning this issue, and she knew exactly where to find him.

Haggret sat in his small cabin tending his fire. A small kettle was suspended above the flame and from it came the most delicious of aromas. It was one of his mother's best stew recipes. He stirred the kettle a bit with a wooden stew and tasted the results briefly. His home, a rustic cabin, was small but served his meager needs. He was a man who desired none of the higher luxuries of the big city. All that he even needed or wanted was right there in his little home. From time to time he'd get inkling to get himself an exotic pet to two, like the baby dragon that they made him give up, or the giant spider that got him into real hot water once. The only pet they didn't complain about was Fluffy, the big two headed dog that guarded the chamber that once secured the Sorcerer's Stone.
"Ah, mom's best stew, takes me back." He said in a distinct British accent.
The big, floppy eared dog that lay on the floor nearby made a low noise. "Don't you be worrying Fang, it'll be done in a jiffy."
He nearly dropped the spoon into the kettle when someone knocked on his door. He sighed, wondering who could be visiting him at this hour of the night. It was curfew, so if it was some of the students, two of which he could easily name, they had to have a good reason for coming here. The towering man turned around, smoothed out his thick, black beard and walked to the door. The door was heavy and made by his own hands many years ago. With a hefty pull of his strong arms Haggret opened the door and peered out into the night. At first he didn't see anything, just the inky darkness of the night. He was about to dismiss it as more fairy pranks when he heard an ancient voice coming from below. Haggret let his gaze drop a bit and he saw her perched on the side of a crooked, old walking stick that she was balanced upon almost perfectly. She was an old woman, diminutive in statue, but also possessing a continence about her that seemed to demand respect and awe.
"Hello, what can I do you for?" He asked.
"You're certainly grown, taller, Haggret." The person before him smiled.
"Do we know each other?" Haggret asked her.
The ancient woman smiled up at him. "It has been a great many years since one of my kind has graced the halls of Hogwarts."
Haggret's eyes went wide with recognition. Quickly he beckoned for her to enter and quickly closed the door. "Miss. Cologne, its been ages, but you know you aught not to have come here." He said in a whisper.
"It is unfortunate things have to be this way, it was not our intention to make relations between us so, difficult." Cologne replied with a serious expression.
"It is still nice to see you again." Haggret smiled.
"Myself, I've though of you often since my premature departure." Cologne smiled back.
"So, what bring a Warrior of the Nyanchiczu back to Hogwarts?" Haggret asked.
"I must speak with an old friend on a matter of great urgency." She told him. Haggret sat up and looked serious. "That's a mighty tall order, Miss. Cologne." He said. "If the council heard that I took you into Hogwarts.."
"That won't be necessary." Came a voice from another side of the room. Cologne and Haggret looked up with a startled expression. Standing off to one side of the small cabin was an ancient man adorned in fine robes and brandishing a long slender cane. He wore a long white beard and his eyes shone with ancient wisdom and immense power.
"Ah, Professor Dumbledour, sir, I can explain..." Haggret began.
The ancient head master of Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry slowly walked his way over to Cologne and the two looked closely at one another.
"Maybe I should do out and check the grounds." Haggret said getting up.
"You do that, Mr. Haggret, so that I and our distinguished guess may make use of your humble home for a short while." Professor Dumbledour smiled.
Haggret made for the door quickly, turned and replied, "I'll be back shortly, come Fang." The lazy dog pulled itself off the floor and loped slowly out of the door.
When they were alone, Dumbledour turned back to the ancient Matriarch of the Chinese Amazons and sat down where Haggret had been seated moments before. He studied her a short time longer before she spoke. "It has been a while."
"It certainly has." He replied.
"I came seeking your, advice." She said.
"Concerning recent events in the city of Nerima, nestle outside of Tokyo, Japan no doubt." He smiled.
"How did you?" Cologne looked surprised, but knew she should have known better. She had to remember who it was she was talking to.
"I make it a point to look in on my former pupil from time to time to see how they are doing." He told her.
"That is interesting, particularly since I never graduated from Hogwarts." Cologne smirked.
"That was unfortunate, at least the Wizard's Council could have allowed you to finish your studies instead of insisting you leave." Dumbledour said with honest sadness in his voice. "You were a most promising student."
"Is that all I was to you, a student?" she asked.
The ancient wizard looked into his eyes, while the rest of her has changed so much over the centuries, he could still remember those eyes. Those lovely eyes. The memory of those days brought an obvious expression of pain to his face.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause you distress." Cologne told him seeing his expression.
"It was a very trying time, something I would not want to relive." He said.
"Nor I, Airen." She replied.
After taking a moment to rein in his emotion, Professor Dumbledour asked, "Does your arrival have anything to do with the demon?"
Cologne nodded. "I am concern, the demon was Rakshaza, but he does not possess the ability to enter the mortal realm of his own accord."
"And, you were wondering if one of us had summoned him." He added.
Cologne nodded. "To my knowledge, none have been foolish enough to call upon such a malevolent creature." He told her. "If any had I can assure you he would have been dealt with quickly."
"Yet, there is a force like a great fog covering Nerima preventing anyone from divining the reason for his arrival." Cologne said coolly.
"The lands of the Nyanchiczu and much of China are off limits to us, by the dictates of the treaty, but Japan is within our jurisdiction." Came a new voice in the room. This time neither of the people inside the cabin was surprised. The man who stood by the door was tall with black hair, an all black suit, and a scowling expression.
"Well, if it isn't 'Snaipes in the Grass'." Cologne smirked as she used the man's old nickname. Professor Snaipes, the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher and head of Slitherin House, frowned deeply.
"It took Professor Snaipes nearly ten years to finally kill that nickname after you created it." Professor Dumbledour chuckled.
"Thank you for giving us all a brief glimpse into the past, Miss. Cologne." The sour man replied. "What are you here?"
"It appears she is having a dilemma in Nerima, Japan." Dumbledour told him.
"I thought the Nyanchiczu didn't need assistance of us males." Professor Snaipes said with obvious loathing.
"Since, as you said, Japan is your jurisdiction, this matter concerns the Wizard's Council just as much as it concerns the Nyanchiczu." Cologne said back with a scowl.
"We have noticed a pall over that region of Japan of late, in fact it has within the past few years become a place of interest for us." Professor Snaipes explained.
"Then you have no idea who or what is causing this." Cologne said in a matter-of-fact tone.
"At this time we do not, and this is of great concern to the council." Professor Dumbledour replied seriously.
"There is something evil there, evil and powerful." Snaipes said quietly.
"But it is not one of us, or 'Him'." Dumbledour told Cologne.
Cologne smirked. "Meaning that wizard who's name you won't utter our of fear for him." She said. "He came to Amazon lands many years ago."
"Did he could you a lot of trouble?" Dumbledour asked.
"He didn't get very far into our lands, he encountered certain resistance that proved too much for him to continue." Cologne replied slyly.
"Resistance?" Snaipes asked curiously.
"Your most feared enemy encountered Herb of the Musk Dynasty and was stopped in his tracks." Cologne laughed. "His presence also attracted the attention of the lord of Phoenix Mountain, after that he fled China."
"Not many wizards can face Lord Saffron of Phoenix Mountain and survive, not even a wizard of his caliber." Dumbledour smiled.
"Getting back to the subject, who could it be doing this?" Cologne asked.
"It's not one of our kind, I can certainly tell you that." Snaipes grunted. "If you'll excuse me, Professor, but I have matter to attend to."
"Certain, Professor Snaipes, thank you." Dumbledour said in parting.
"So, he's the head of Slitherin House, now." Cologne said in a level tone.
"Cologne, I am much closer to the Wizard's Council than he is, and I can tell you none of us are responsible." Dumbledour told her.
"Then, the wizard who did this is a rogue." She replied.
"Unfortunately, and there are a number of known rogues in the world, but none with the temerity to summon a demon so powerful." The old wizard replied.
Cologne sighed. "This leaves me in the save condition I was in when I cam here."
"I am sorry you did not find what you were looking for." Dumbledour said, honest worry in his face.
"It's alright, there are still other ways with which I can find the information I seek." Cologne replied.
"Due to the status of the Nyanchiczu I am not permitted to interfere in anything that is an affair concerning your people." Dumbledour explained. "Or we would have given our assistance during the incident with Saffron and the young Muggle your training named Saotome Ranma."
Cologne smiled at him with a sly expression. "You've been checking up on me quite often."
"It disturbed the council when they learned a Muggle destroyed the lord of Phoenix Mountain." The old wizard smiled. "Of course, their view of the world between those with and without the aptitude for magic is as basic as black and white."
"While the distinctions are more of varying shades of gray." Cologne continued. "Ranma is a Chi Master, it isn't magic per se he is using, but the Chi energy that flow throughout the universe."
"The incident, as well as a few others, did throw the council into chaos when he and the other 'Martial Artists' were discovered to possess superhuman abilities." Dumbledour explained. "Then, there is the presence of the Juraians."
"Who are not even from this world, so they are not under the jurisdiction of the Wizard's Council." Cologne told him.
"True." The wizard replied.
Cologne stood up and balanced on her walking stick. "I dare not leave Nerima unattended for long, I must continue my search for all of our sakes."
"Once again you must leave us." The wizard said.
"It is what had to be done, or there would have been a civil war between the council and the Nyanchiczu, and no one wanted that." Cologne said softly. "I was very sad when I left Hogwarts, not because of my studies, but because I had to stop seeing you, airen."
"A war fought with magic would have been nearly impossible to hide from the Muggles. Dumbledour said. "Besides, the culture of my people and the Nyanchiczu in contrast are so different."
"At its root, the council is male dominated, and you know my people would never allow a body such as that dictate the way she should live." Cologne told him.
"I realized this the moment I was you for the first time." Dumbledour said, his expression turning wistful as he remembered their first meeting. She was a young new student, looking like a teenager, and he barely in his late twenties at the time. She was very beautiful, he handsome, and it seemed almost fated that they would fall in love. But, then the current Matriarch of the Amazons refused to obey the rules set by the Wizard's Council and that was when the trouble started. The female dominated society of the Nyanchiczu refused to obey the rule of a male dominated Wizard's Council, tensioned built, some battle were fought, but a treaty was written up and signed that put an end to the conflict. All the lands of the Amazons, most of China, and major portions of South East Asia were off limits to the influence Wizard's Council. In these lands the Amazons, Musk, and Phoenix people ruled. People from either side could come and go, but they were effectively on their own if they did. Also, none were allowed within Hogwarts to learn the secrets of the wizards, and so Cologne's education and budding romance was tragically cut short.
"I will look in on you from time to time, but I cannot interfere." Dumbledour said.
"I understand, I will find a way to deal with this matter in my own way." She told him.
"You always do." He replied.
Cologne pogo sticked towards the door to the cabin. As she reached the door the man who was once the love of her life said three words that nearly brought a tear to her eyes. "Wo ai ne." You I love.
"Wo ai ne, airen." She replied softly before bounding into the night.

Tenchi had hardly ever lived away from home for more than a week at a time in the past, and none during the most recent years with his unique houseguests. That was more out of a fear that there would be no house when he came back if he didn't keep an eye on them all the time. Tenchi trusted them now more than ever, especially after the Goddess War. His thoughts went back to that day when the girls were about to sacrifice themselves for him. The thought of losing them, of being alone again without them, it was almost too much for him to bare and in that moment of desperate despair Tenchi unleashed the full force of his Light Hawk Wings destroying the evil Goddess Tokimi. Little did he know but that incident would herald his engagement to all of the girls. In the past he never imagined he every having all of the girls as his iinazuke, he knew one day he would have to choose one of them, but in a way this felt right somehow. Not because he was the Prince and could marry all wives he wished, but because they had been through so much together. They cried together, they laughed together, and they came a hair's breath from death together. So much changed after that year of hell Juraian historians call the Goddess War.
The Masaki youth relaxed in the Tendo onsen, a near replica of Ryoko's construct back home, and reveled in the fact that for the first time in a long time he had no cares or worries. Yes, he was living in Nerima with his cousin, but the girls were only as far away as the closet door, or Washu's lab. They came to visit often the first week of his stay at the Tendo home. Sasami came to help cook dinner and everyone had a good time together. After the first week the girls didn't visit that often, but they still missed him just the same. They had business to attend to at the house, the usual chores, helping his grandfather at the shrine, tending the carrot fields, and other such things. They still came every night for dinner, bring foot from the house through Washu's link to the Tendo's closet.
Tenchi ceased in his musings when he suddenly perceived a presence nearby. He could barely hear whomever it was who just entered the onsen stealthily. It wasn't Ryoko, she flies and made hardly any sound, he could hear very soft footfalls like bare feet on wood. Tenchi didn't turn around waiting for whoever it was to make the first move. He surmised it must be a girl, the person was very light on their feet. That broadened the list of potential suspects a bit, as he was living in a house where the girls outnumbered the boys five to three, and he didn't even want to factor in his girls who visit from Ohkayama from time to time through the closet. Likely it wasn't one of Ranma's girls, they were devoted to him almost as much as his iinazuke were devoted to him. There was one possible option, Ranma was sneaking up to him in girl form possibly to play a prank. There were advantages to being able to turn into a girl, for one you could really get in touch with your feminine side, and two you could disguise yourself quite easily. But, after living with Ranma for a week he could see how a Josenkyo curse would be a problem eventually. Ranma was a water magnet, it was as if the curse deliberately leads you to water or it leads water to you. It was so uncanny how many times he would get splashed by people dumping wash tubs, splashing water on the pathways to their homes, etc., etc., etc.
Whoever the person was they were right behind Tenchi. His sense from training with his grandfather were so fine tuned that he could feel them standing there.
"The water is nice today, you going to come in?" he asked.
The person gave a slightly startle gasp, as if not expecting to be caught. Tenchi turned around and looked up at a wondrous sight. The person was Aeka, but seeing her like this was like looking at an angel. She was not wearing her customary towel, so all of her womanly attributes were in plain sight. Her face was plastered with a smattering of red from embarrassment, but curiously she made little effort to cover herself.
"Uh, Lord Tenchi, I..." she tried to say.
He saw in her eyes the things she wanted to say but her modesty would not let her. Tenchi climbed out of the water, still wearing his usual white bathing shorts he wore sometimes in the onsen, and walked up to her. Aeka stepped back once, but the Masaki youth reached out for her and when his hand touched her skin all thought of resistance drained from her mind.
Tenchi looked into her eyes and was the things she wanted to say to him there without her putting any of it into words. They embraced, the Princess' soft round mounds pressed into his chest. He knew what she wanted and was a bit surprised that she had the courage to be this bold. Her skin was so soft, he never realized how soft she was until now, and there was such a wonderful fragrance from her body as if she bathed in a bath of flowers. Slowly, Tenchi guided her to the waters and they sat down together in its warmth.
To Tenchi's surprise it was Aeka who made the first tentative move. She must have conjured up a great deal of courage to do this, he surmised as the princess leaned towards him and kissed him. Tenchi returned the kiss, soon their kisses deepened and grew more intense. Something inside of Aeka burst like a dam that had been near collapse, or a barrier that had weathered many storms but was unable to withstand any more punishment. All of her repressed desires for the man she loved came flooding out drowning her fears, her shyness, and her modesty. All that was left was a ravenous hunger like no other. She felt the nipples on her breasts grow hard and the flames in her loins grew to blast furnace intensity.
Akane, Ukyo, and Shampoo paused at the entrance to the onsen in their room when they heard a sound within. It didn't take a very talented imagination to know what was happening in there and the perked up nipples on all three girls was all the evidence that was needed. From the cries of ecstasy within they could tell it was Tenchi and someone else, one of his iinazuke. They didn't mind at all, after all Tenchi was helping out paying rent, and provided some of the food. Clearly someone was having the best sex of their life in there from the intensity and pitch of the girl's screams. It was enough to make the three girls decided then and there to corner Ranma later today to extinguish their own roaring fires.

The sound of a body hitting the floor of the Tendo Dojo rang out. Nabiki Tendo climbed to her feet with a audible groan of both discomfort and exasperation. She was wearing a brand new Gi she had recently purchased just for this occasion. The last time she had ever sparred with anyone or even trained in the Tendo Clan's martial arts style of "Indiscriminate Grappling" was when she was a child. This was before her mother's death, before her father fell into depression and stopped accepting students at the dojo, which prompted her to take the initiative and use her cunning intellect to help bring money in to keep the family from being thrown out onto the street. Now back onto her feet, Nabiki took a fighting stance while facing her opponent. Ranma-chan came at her quicker than Nabiki's eyes could follow but the girl tried to dodge the kick as best she could. She wasn't fast enough and the kick, which Ranma-chan pulled at the last minute to keep from knocking Nabiki 'through' the far wall, clipped her side sending her spinning to the floor.
"Ouch, this is brutal, Ranma honey I think we've proven your point." Said Ukyo.
Nabiki sat up panting trying to catch her breath and recover her wits. "Ok, maybe I do need to practice more."
"If your gonna hang with us, sugar, you're going to need to pull your own weight." Ukyo told her.
"What Ukyo means, is if we get into a spot it would be better if you can hold your own with the rest of us rather than us being handicapped with having to protect you and fight at the same time." Said Akane.
"They do have a point." Ranma-chan agreed. "I can't be in two places at once, and what happens if Pantyhose Taro decides to go after us or some space menace decides to attack."
"I get the point, so what do we do about it?" Nabiki ask as she struggled to stand and rubbed her sore spots.
"We start training, everyday, here in the dojo." Ranma-chan gestured with her hand at the room. "You've got all the basic down, that's a start, but you need to develop stamina, speed, and most of all control. Don't put all of your strength into your thrusts and kicks, save it for when you actually connect, and don't think about your movements just let yourself move with the flow of the battle and you'll find it will be easier than you think."
Akane blushed slightly when she said, "That was my problem when Ranma started training me."
"Aiya. Nice Tendo girl Kasumi zoning out at statue again." Shampoo said from where she stood at the entrance to the dojo.
Everyone went to stand next to her and looked where she was pointing. Sure enough, Kasumi was looking up into the face of the samurai statue once again. It had become a matter of great concern for the family as it was becoming a more frequent occurrence. Only recently had to been starting to effect Kasumi's usual pattern of activity in the house. With the other girls and Tenchi's iinazuke visiting it wasn't like they didn't have anyone around to help out with chores, but it was unnerving to think that Kasumi would actually abandon some of her duties to stare blankly at a hunk of rock all day.
"I'm really getting worried about her." Said Akane, the worry evident in her voice.
"You think maybe that thing might be cursed or something?" asked Ukyo.
"I've been feeling something weird from that thing, but it's not a bad weird, you know." Said Ranma-chan. "Like, not something evil."
"How do we know its not sucking away Kasumi's life force or something." Akane frowned deeply.
"She seems ok to me, when she's not doing that zombie impersonation." Ukyo replied.
"I think it's really weird that she doesn't remember at all what she sees when she does that." Nabiki said evenly.
"What does she see when she's like that?" asked Ranma-chan.
What happen after she asked that question frightened everyone in the Tendo household and filled them all with a sense of dread when ever they looked at the statue. Kasumi stood before the statue of the samurai as she had many times before, looking up into its face, motionless without blinking for hours on end. Suddenly, she threw her hands to her face and screamed. The sound of Kasumi screaming out in a manner that was like a scream of horror made the hairs on back of everyone's neck stand up on end. The eldest Tendo girl stumbled away from the statue crying out as if in agony or as if something true horrific had just happened. Everyone at the dojo rushed towards her, none of them really knew what to do to comfort the girl. Kasumi ran into the house, crying as she ran. Ranma-chan and the girls followed her into the living room where they found her curled up on the floor.
"Kasumi?" said Akane as she kneeled down next to the sobbing girl.
To see Kasumi like this, a girl who was harbored no fill feelings towards anyone, who never spoke a single swear word in her life, who never lashed out in anger at anyone, tore their hearts asunder.
"Kasumi?" Ranma-chan said as she put a hand on the girl's shoulder trying as best she knew how to comfort her. Kasumi moved fast, very fact, grabbed Ranma-chan arm, sat up, and lashed out with her other hand.
"LET ME GO, GET AWAY, NOOOOOOO!" she screamed as she lashed out but Ranma-chan instinctively caught the slap with her other free hand and held both of Kasumi's arms as the girl struggled hysterically.
"KASUMI ITS ME RANMA!" he shouted.
That snapped the young girl out of wherever her mind was at that moment. The girl looked at Ranma-chan and her arms, and all she could say was, "Oh my!"
"Kasumi, are you like ok?" Ukyo asked her in a concerned manner. "You were freaking out pretty bad there."
"I was?" Kasumi gasped, and put a hand to her face after Ranma-chan released her arms.
"You act like somebody attack you." Said Shampoo.
"Do you remember anything of what happened?" Ranma-chan asked.
Kasumi shook her head. "I'm afraid not."
"That's it, I'm gonna get dad to get rid of that damn thing." Akane said with a determined expression.
"DON'T YOU TOUCH HIM!" Everyone turned to Kasumi suddenly in surprise, the girl's mouth fell open, her eyes went wide, and she put her hand to her face with an expression that almost beyond kawaii. "Oh my, where did that come from?"
"That thing is doing something to you Kasumi, how do we know there isn't an Oni in there messing with your head." Akane said to her.
"Don't be silly sis, I feel fine." Kasumi replied as she stood up as if nothing had just happened. They all watched with worried expression as she walked past them and went into the kitchen.
"This is beyond weird." Ranma-chan said.
"I'll have a talk with dad, by this time tomorrow that thing will be out of your lives." Said Akane.
"Something tells me it won't be quite that easy." Nabiki said. She looked out into the yard at the statue. In the distant sky behind it and the wall that surround the Tendo home were dark menacing clouds. A peel of thunder reached the open doorway. Nabiki wasn't sure why, but she had this sudden feeling deep down in her gut that something very profound was about to take place.

Jiro Tagamagi, keeper of the Tagamagi Shrine on the outskirts of Nagasaki,, kneeled in prayer before a large shrine adorned with incense burners, candles, and photo graphs of his deceased ancestors. Several people, mostly older women from the outskirts of the city, kneeled with him in silent prayer. The great bell of the shrine rang out, it's deep bass like tone filled the room and reverberated off the walls. Those who sat in silent prayer stood, bowed to the shrine and slowly let the room at a dignified pace. Jiro slowly struggled to his feet, it was getting harder and harder to perform his duties in the shrine, but the ninety-five year old would never think of abandon his important work until it was his time to join his ancestors. It warmed his heart that his nephew desired to be the next shrine keeper. Jiro sighed when he looked at the picture of his deceased wife, Makoto, very soon he would see her once again. His marriage to her caused a rift in his own family for it was known that Makoto was baron due to radiation from the bomb. It was ironic, as a child Makoto survived the horrors of the bomb, it was the radiation that stole her ability to have children and ultimately took her life in the form of acute leukemia.
The old priest came out of his revelry when his acute senses told him he wasn't alone. He slowly turned around to regard a young boy of perhaps fifteen or sixteen years of age. He had short, dark hair, his limbs were thin and wiry, and his eyes were the most peculiar of all. Jiro was about to say something in greeting when his senses warned him of danger, screaming at him from deep down within his soul. Despite the non-frightening appearance of the young boy's appearance it was his eyes that were unnerving. They had the look of absolute malevolence upon a scale the ancient priest had never seen in his life.
"Who are you?" Jiro demanded. "What do you want?"
"You know what I want old man." The boy replied, his voice was young and high pitched, but tinged with malice.
"This is a Shinto Shrine, we don't have any money here but what is left in the donation box." Jiro told him.
"Petty theft is not my motivation for being here, I am more interested in what is behind there." The boy said and pointed to the shrine of photographs on the wall.
The gray hairs on Jiro's neck rose up on end as he stepped back in horror, he know what was kept behind the shrine. It was the reason the Tagamagi Shrine even existed. The story of the object secured there was handed down throughout the generations. "NO!" Jiro gasped.
"I will have it, with or without your cooperation." The boy threatened.
"Uncle, I heard you call out, are you alri....ACK!" a young man in the robes of a shrine apprentice entered the room at a quick pace, but suddenly grabbed his throat as if he was being chocked. The young boy held up his arm, his hand clenched in a fist. As he raised his arm the shrine apprentice rose into the air, his legs kicking, and gasping for breath.
"Open the vault or I will snap his neck as easily as I would a twig." The boy threatened with a sneer.
"Please, he is my nephew, he knows nothing of the Keys." Jiro pleaded as he walked to the shrine against the wall. He produced a key on a chain, slid it into a hidden lock and the entire shrine cabinet began to move to the side revealing a sealed stone vault.
The old priest then removed three small gemstones and placed these into fitted groves on the stone that sealed the vault. The gems clicked into place and then the stone lowered into the floor. In the darkness beyond as an astonishing artifact, it was he size of a large dagger and made of gold. Jewels and ancient Japanese pictographs covered it surface. The Key seemed to radiate a soft light. Kun Lao made a thrusting motion with his hand, opening his fist at the last second and Jiro's nephew went flying into the far wall. The young man slumped to the floor knocked unconscious. He walked past the old priest and took the object from the vault into his hands. It had been so many centuries since he'd hand this object in his hands, so many centuries. He turned to leave when the old priest spoke, "I know who you are, and there is only one who knows of the Keys, Kun Lao!"
The Chi Sorcerer turned to regard the priest with a look of indifferent malevolence. "You will not possess the other Keys, they are well hidden from your grasp, I do not know by what means you have escaped your prison but you shall never open the seal to the Spring of Ascension!" Jiro shouted.
Kun Lao turned around and stalked up to the old man. The ancient priest held his ground, determined now to allow this monster to frighten him. He was on sacred ground, and to spill his blood here would incur the wrath of the Kami upon the Oni's head. The Chi Sorcerer reached out with his powers and grasped the old priest's mind. Jiro felt the presence of the monster in his head and he cried out in pain. Kun Lao rifled through his memories for the locations of the other Keys, but found nothing. With disgust he released the old man and turned away just as the old man's nephew was covering. Jiro felt spent and tired, he slumped to floor just as his nephew was back on his feet.
"UNCLE!" the nephew cried out and rushed to his side.
Jiro's nephew, Taro, turned to rush after the boy who attacked them in his holy place but was stopped when Jiro grasped his arm.
"No, do not challenge that one." He said in a wheezing voice.
"But uncle, he attacked us in our most holy of places..." Taro reasoned.
The young man looked up just in time to see the boy toss coming over his shoulder as he left the building. It was a small glass ball with many arcane runes engaged all around it in an intricate pattern. Curiously, it did not shatter when it hit the floor and rolled towards them. The ball came to stop next to them and Taro examined it for a moment until he noticed a strange glow emanating from within.
"Uncle, we must run!" Taro cried as he struggled to get his uncle to his feet.
Kun Lao smiled with satisfaction as the shrine building exploded into a towering pillar of flames as he reached the bottom of the stairs. He deposited the newly acquired Key into one of his many magical pockets designed to hold many more objects than should be physically possible. In the distance could be heard the sound of sirens which would herald the arrival of those infuriating police and the modern day fire brigade. Before anyone could notice, Kun Lao pulled forth the scroll with the recall spell and softly chanted the words written upon it. The scroll burst in flames in his hands, a bright aura surrounded him, and his vanished into the folds of time and space.

A crash of thunder shook the Tendo home startling Kasumi from her sleep. Her body was covered in sweat and she gasped in fright as she peered into the darkness of her room as if fearing something would emerge from its depths to attack her. Slowly she reined in her fear and slipped under the covers. She quietly made her way out of her room and down the stairs to the first floor hoping not to wake anyone. She was still in her nightgown, the thin fabric did little to conceal her voluptuous features or the near perfect form of her breasts.
She slid open the shoji doors and looked upon the statue. She felt compelled to step off the porch and despite the fury of the thunderstorm outside, the lashing wind, the bright flashes of lightning, and the heavy sheets of rain she ventured forth. Kasumi felt frightened, she remembered everything that she had seen earlier that day, she hated lying to her sister about it, but she felt somehow that she should not reveal what she saw. At least not yet. It was still vivid in her mind, she saw herself, no Sakumi, within the walls of a strange castle or building made form heavy stones. The man Kun Lao was forcing himself on her, she struggled and fought as best she could but he was too strong for her, he ripped away her clothes until she was naked and took her again and again. Night after agonizing night for six days he brutally raped her, taking her on the stone floor, or forcing her to do unspeakable things to his loins with her mouth. Though the vision, to her perceptions, was only brief, she felt all of it. She felt the pain of his slaps and punches, his hands holding her to the floor as he grunted with the exertion of stealing her virginity. She screamed out, her mind refusing to believe what was happening to her, and despite it all she felt known of the ecstasy she should have felt as the took her. This monster was not her love, she refused to give him the satisfaction of thinking his action were giving her pleasure.
Kasumi fell to her knees, the memory of the vision making her knees weak. She looked up at the statue and cried, "What do you want with me?! Why am I having these visions, these memories?!"
Kasumi felt something inside of her she had never felt before...rage. She jumped to her feet and pounded her fists against the statue.
"ANSWER ME DAMN YOU!!!!"
"SAKUMI!"
Sakumi looked down from where she stood upon the protective wall of Kun Lao's citadel only miles form the dreaded Cursed Springs of Josenkyo in Mainland China. Down below, standing at edge of the moat that surrounded the citadel was a single figure holding a katana in his hands. Blurry though her vision was from lack of sleep she knew she could recognize that person even if she were blind.
"HIKARU!" she cried.
"Well, ronin, I am impressed." Came Kun Lao's voice to Sakumi's right. "You've accomplished in one day what not even ten thousand Mongols could do in a month. I do hope my guardians gave you some excellent sport."
"Release my iinazuke!" Hikaru demanded.
"You want this." Kun Lao said, and Sakumi could feel the man's detestable hand slide up her body and over her breast. "She is a fine woman, a very fine woman."
"RELEASE HER!" Hikaru shouted.
"You can have her, I've had my fun already." Kun Lao replied. In Sakumi's blurred vision she saw the quick flash of steel, then a piercing pain in her chest. It was suddenly very difficult to breath as she felt blood pouring into her lungs. "Here, I return your iinazuke to you, ronin."
"SSSSSAAAAKKKUUUUMMMIIII!!!!!"
Sakumi felt herself falling, tumbling out into mid air, she hit the ground and felt her leg break. The pain was great, but the burning in her chest was the worst.
"WHAT HE YOU DONE!!! SAKUMI! OH MY DEAR SAKUMI!" she heard Hikaru's cries next to her. She could no longer see but she felt herself being pulled into his arms. They were the loving arms of her iinazuke, the man she loved, the man she would marry, but...
"Sakumi."
Sakumi looked up and saw a vision descend upon her that brought tears to her eyes. The woman was shrouded in flowing robes, her light brown hair hung low down her back and flowed as if tossed about by a faint breeze. She was a vision of beauty beyond mortal description, strange blue markings adorned her lovely face, her vary radiance brought tears to Sakumi's eyes as she looked upon her. For she was looking upon pure love personified in physical form. The apparition reached out and Sakumi felt compelled to do likewise. As the woman's hand touched hers Sakumi felt a warmth pass through her and a sense of peace.
Sakumi looked down and saw herself, cradled in the airs of her love who was sobbing as he held her close to his bosom.
"Hikaru." She sighed sadly.
"Why are you so sad?" the lovely visage asked.
"I loved him so, and wanted to be his wife, but now it will never be." She said.
"Are you certain?" the woman asked her.
Sakumi looked at her in surprise. "It is the desire of Kami-sama that you should one day marry Hikaru Kuno." The woman told her.
"But, how, I am dead, am I not?" Sakumi asked hesitantly.
"Look." The woman gestured towards the ground. Sakumi watched in silent agony as Hikaru kissed the lips of her dead body and lowered her slowly to the ground. He took up his sword and stood then looked up at her murderer who stood upon the wall.
"You have stolen that which is most precious to me, I swear on the name of my ancestors that my sword shall taste your blood before the setting of the sun!" Hikaru shouted.
"Then, by all means." Kun Lao bowed then assumed a fighting pose. Hikaru seemed to literally glow with unseen power and leapt into the air. With superhuman agility he reached the top of the wall and came at the Chi Sorcerer with his katana. Kun Lao deflected several possibly fatal blows with his bejeweled dagger. The combatants leapt from the wall, alighting on the ground as if they'd only fallen from a short distance and continued their furious duel across the field and through the shallow moat. The fight was furious, neither side giving ground, neither side giving their opponent an opening. Hikaru deflected several blows form Kun Lao's flashing dagger, but his foot fell upon a patch of mud and he slipped just an inch. It was enough to give the Chi Sorcerer a small opening. Hikaru saw the attack and know he could not avoid the blow complete, so he move enough to escape most the wicked blade and suffered only a minor cut across his left shoulder. When he saw the blood come up from the wound on the samurai Kun Lao smiled with Cheshire cat.
"Too bad, and you were such a challenge, it's a shame you won't be able to finish this fight." The Chi Sorcerer smiled.
"What?" Hikaru gasped, then felt the tingling in his arm that immediately warned him that the blade must have been poisoned.
"Though, the poison is slow acting, so you might still have enough strength in you give me some sport before you die." Kun Lao laughed.
"NO! IT IS YOU WHO WILL DIE!" Hikaru cried, and his entire body erupted with a fearsome aura of golden flame.
"WHAT IS THIS?" Kun Lao gasped.
The samurai attacked with a serious of furious movements that were inhumanly fast. It was all Kun Lao could do to deflect the menacing blows from his attacker. Even the sword in the samurai's hands had begun to glow with that same golden flame.
"FOOL! YOU DARE TO CHALLENGE ME IN MY OWN CITADEL!" Kun Lao shouted as he leapt away from the samurai and unleashed his spells. Flaming balls of green flame streaked across the field towards Hikaru, but he deflected them with his flaming katana with almost leisurely ease.
"IMPOSSIBLE!" the Chi Sorcerer cried as he loosed more spells, balls of lightning, screeching demonic apparitions, arrows of ice, and several other unspeaking things. Each met the flaming sword and was vanquished.
"For your crimes you have incurred the wrath of the Kami, and it is their righteous power that gives the strength to end this nightmare now!" Hikaru shouted. Within a space of only a second the samurai was on top of Kun Lao lashing out with his katana. The Chi Sorcerer in great desperation knew he had only one chance. He had prepared for the off-chance that he might fall to the ronin samurai and prepared a special potion just for this eventuality. With his free hand he reached into his robes, pulled forth the small vial, and drained its contents into his mouth even as he deflected Hikaru's sword thrusts.
"Fool! I have just taking a potion made from the blood of a phoenix." Kun Lao taunted the samurai. "Even if you kill me and my body is still intact I will return to life. But, you will not be able to dispose of my body when I am dead for the poison will take full effect very soon."
Hikaru could feel his limbs become heavier and harder to move, but he was determined to succeed and avenge his love. He could see the sun starting to set and made his move. He swirled his blade around forcing the Chi Sorcerer to leap back out of his reach. Kun Lao pulled off his sash and threw it towards the samurai, as if it were alive the sash wrapped around Hikaru's waist and pulled with incredible force. Hikaru came flying towards Kun Lao's waiting dagger, but the samurai let his body bend and sway like a blade of grass in the wind. He landed on his feet just inches from the Chi Sorcerer with is back to him, leaning backwards until his upper body was almost parallel with the ground and the blade of the dagger was just inches from his body. With the last of his strength Hikaru thrust with is sword, the power of the Kami flowing through is body gave him the extra force he needed, and the flaming blade of the katana pierced Kun Lao's chest. The samurai had little strength left, he slumped to the ground and watched as Kun Lao struggled to remove the flaming sword from his chest as his body was consumed by holy flames. The Chi Sorcerer staggered across the field screaming in agony, then as the last of his strength gave out he fell to the found and remainder of his body burned until all but bone and ash was left.
Sakumi watched as a dark, sinister form rose from the ashes of Kun Lao's body. A face morphed into shape upon this unholy apparition and sneered at the dying samurai.
"Even with my body gone, with the power of the potion I drank I can take over any body I choose and make it my own." The thing that was Kun Lao said in a deep, hallow, unholy voice. "Seeing as how I know the spell to counteract your poison, I think your body will do."
The thing raced towards the samurai intending to take over the body and cure it of it's poisoning. But, what the thing did not anticipate was what Hikaru did next. From his tunic he produced an object that looked like a small triangle or pyramid. At its apex was a dark opening. With a shacking, weak hand, Hikaru hold up the object with the hole pointed towards the monster.
"NNNNOOOO!!!! NOT THE SOUL PRISON!!!" it cried.
An invisible force drew the specter towards the opening in the pyramid like a vacuum. Kun Lao tried to pull free but the force was too strong, and in this form he could not use his magic. The thing that had been the vile Chi Sorcerer Kun Lao, scourge of China and Japan, vanished into the blackness of the small opening. Hikaru dropped the item as his hand fell to earth. The pyramid fell to the ground, but on its journey down it quickly rearranged itself into the shape of an ornate cube.
"Hikaru." Sakumi said softly.
With surprise she watched the beautiful woman, Goddess, drift down to her beloved. She kneeled down next to him and kissed is forehead. A bluish light surged through the samurai's body starting from his head and sending at the end of his extremities. Hikaru groaned and opened his eyes. In his blurred vision he beheld the lovely vision that Sakumi had seen and sat up quickly.
"You have passed your greatest test, Hikaru Kuno, and Kami-sama smiles down upon with much pride." The lovely vision smiled.
Hikaru fell to his knees before this vision of inhuman loveliness. "What have I done to receive such praise and blessing from the Kami?" he asked. "I am but a humble man."
"You are a warrior, yet you raise your sword only in the name in justice to protect the land you love, and those who are in your heart." The woman replied. "You are a kind and gentle man with a pure heart and an even purer soul."
"But I am now a man who is alone, my beloved...she is..." He looked done at his hands.
"She is well, and loves you so much." The Goddess told him happily. "It is our will that you are to one day marry her."
"But how can this be, she has gone to her ancestors." Hikaru said as he stood up.
"You will sleep, precious one, you will sleep until the appointed time that you will be reunited with your love." The Goddess explained. "Be strong and proud, precious one, for you have our favor and our eternal gratitude." With that the Goddess floated up to him and kissed him again on the forehead. The samurai felt a strange sensation flow through him but he was not alarmed for an immense feeling of peace flowed through him. His entire body shimmered with a sparkling light. As the light faded away, the proud samurai stood instinctively in a pose of regal honor, then his skin suddenly turned gray, then his clothes, and soon his entire form transfigured into solid stone.

The real world fell into place around Kasumi, and like the pouring rain around her the memories of her past life came flooding back to her. Memories of another time, another era, her happy life, her loving family, her first encounter with the man she would fall in love with, their first kiss, the day he proposed marriage to her, the pain of several month without seeing him as he fought in the war. She remembered all of it, she was still Kasumi Tendo, but now she was just a little bit more than that, for a part of this other woman, Sakumi, was now a part of her too.
She looked up into the face of the statue and reached up to cup its face in her hands.
"Beloved, it is I, return to me beloved, return to me my Hikaru." She whispered.
It began with several small cracks as the stone began to crumble. Slowly small pieces of stone feel away revealing living flesh beneath. Kasumi watched with fascination as the face of the statue began flesh, and then the man beneath too his first breath in nearly six centuries. He feel forward into her waiting arms, his weight was almost too much for her but her love for him gave her strength she needed to hold him.
"S-sa-k-ku-mi." he breathed softly.
"Rest my love, we're together now and nothing will tear us apart again." Kasumi whispered softly into his ear.

Tenchi yawned deeply as he came down the stairs from his room. This was his second week at the Tendo home and already the place was starting to feel less alien to him. Alien, heh, that was an interesting choice of words., he thought to himself. He already had his morning bath in the onsen and knew the others were already awake. He saw Ranma being dragged by his own harem of girls into the room as he was leaving. Though they were dragging him in, the expression on the Saotome youth's face was anything but unhappy.
"Good morning, Tenchi."
"Oh, good morning Kasumi."
The eldest Tendo sister literally danced across the room as she took platters of food to the table. She seemed to be glowing with an incredible radiance of absolute joy. Tenchi didn't know the girl had a boyfriend, so naturally he assumed she'd been doing something interesting the night before with whoever she might have been with. Little did he know how, almost, correct he was at that moment.
"Take your seat at the table, I'll get you some tea, breakfast is almost done and everyone should be down very soon." Kasumi said cheerfully as she danced back to the kitchen.
"What's up with Kasumi this morning?" came the voice of Ranma. Tenchi looked up and saw him and his harem of beautiful ladies appear at the bottom of the stairs.
"I don't know, she was like that when I got up." Tenchi shrugged.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd say somebody nailed her last night, and pretty damn good from the way she's glowing." Said Nabiki.
"Nabiki!" Akane scolded her. The thought that anyone would 'nail' her pure and sweet as the Kami older sister was foreign to her.
"Something's got her all happy." Said Ranma.
"Oh, there you are, breakfast is almost done." Kasumi said sweetly, with sugar on top, as she came out of the kitchen with Tenchi's tea.
"Ah, Kasumi, are you feeling ok?" Akane asked with concern.
"I'm feeling fine, why do you ask?" Kasumi flashed a smile that could have been one hundred million miles away. "Do be a dear and wake Hikaru, he's in the dojo."
"Hikaru?" every said at once.
"She mean weird boy with voodoo dolls at high school?" asked Shampoo.
"Gosunkugi and Kasumi." Ranma mused. "Couldn't be."
"Ya, like he's the biggest of all dweebs and then some." Ukyo added.
"Besides, he's still in high school," said Akane, recalling how Kasumi wasn't interesting in boys younger than her. "He doesn't graduate until next year and Kasumi would never date someone that young."
"Then, who's in the dojo?" asks Ranma as he heads in that direction.
Ranma slid the door open the door to the dojo and went inside. His eyes immediately fell upon a figure laying on a futon in the far corner. Resting against the wall was an honest to goodness katana sword, and an outfit that looks much like what Kuno usually wears hung on wire hangers from a hook on the wall. Ranma walked up to the figure who slept on the floor and peered at his face. A chill ran up Ranma's back when he saw the face and he walked slowly away and headed back to the house.
"Who is it?" Akane asked him as he pushed his way past her and headed for the dining room. The others followed him and arrived just as he threw open the shoji doors. They gasped upon seeing the statue, or absence there of.
"The statue's gone." Said Ukyo.
"But there's no way dad could have gotten rid of it so early." Said Akane.
Shampoo pointed at something on the ground. "Shampoo think he no get rid of statue." They all looked at the fragments of stone littering the yard.
"Uh ho." Nabiki said.
"Ranma honey, what did you see in there?" Ukyo asked him seeing the haunted look on his face.
"Come on." He said and led them to the dojo. They filed in behind him and he pointed to figure laying on the futon. A collective gasp filled the room.
"It-it-its him." Akane said after they retreated back into the house.
"We could see that, sugar." Ukyo replied.
"But how?" Akane wondered.
"Let's ask Kasumi." Ranma said and made for the kitchen.
Kasumi was humming something that Akane recognized as "My Heart Will Go On", that song from the American movie from a few years ago about the sinking of the Titanic, as she made the finishing touches to breakfast. Her moves were like a graceful dance and her joy radiated from her as if she were almost glowing with a battle aura.
"Kasumi, who is that guy?" Akane asked her.
The eldest Tendo sister smiled up at her sister and the others with a smile that could have defrost the heart of the vilest demon from the depths of the Nine Hells. "That's Hikaru, he's been sleeping for a very long time." She said. "Better hurry and get him up for breakfast."
"Sakumi?"
Everyone turned towards the voice, it as a male voice, young sounding, and sounded a bit like Kuno's but slightly higher in pitch. The man who had been sleeping in the dojo stepped through into the house yawning. Ranma noticed the guy was wearing pajamas, 'his' pajamas. The young man, who was the striking likeness of the statue that had been standing out in the yard, looked up at the assembled group with a wide eyed expression not unlike what a deer does when caught in the light of oncoming traffic.
"Oh, you're awake, how wonderful." Kasumi cheered as she gracefully floated past the assembled group and latched onto the young man's arm. "Breakfast is ready, so I hope you're hungry darling."
The man, Hikaru, scratched the back of his head and said, "I am a bit famished, but first could you please tell me what is this place?"
"It's my home, silly." Kasumi told him with a smile.
"That I realized, but what manner of palace is this?" he looked around at the walls and ceiling with a bewildered expression.
"It's just a typical home, Hikaru dear." She laughed.
Akane stepped forward and made a "T" motion with her hands. "Hold on, I think you owe us an explanation here Kasumi."
"Yeah, you're like acting weirder than usual." Said Ranma.
"Definitely out of character." Nabiki added.
Kasumi turned to them, leaned forward with a smile and said, "I'll talk, but only if you promise to be good and go sit down because breakfast is getting cold."

Everyone looked around the breakfast table and was not quite sure how to react to Kasumi's fantastical tale. Aeka, Ryoko, Sasami, and Washu were present at the breakfast table with Tenchi. Again, Mihoshi was gone on patrol to Tenchi's disappointment, he hoped to be able to speak more time with the girl since she was gone most of the time due to her work. The story that Kasumi wove for them was fascinating to say the least. She was the reincarnation of a woman name Sakumi Kirokimesha, daughter of a rich spice trader, and she was engaged to marry the man beside her who was Hikaru Kuno. That very name made alarms go off in everyone's heads. The fact that he was a Kuno and a Kuno who was pretty lucid unnerved them. What was worse was the tragic tale of their separation, of how she was kidnapped by a monstrous man name Kun Lao and taken to his citadel in China, violently raped by him several times, and killed right in front of the man she loves. Hikaru fought this man named Kun Lao and was turned to stone by a Kami who wished to see him reunited one day with his beloved so they could eventually marry. Simple as that, or so they thought.
"Hmmm. According to these readings she's carrying at least ten or twelve full lifetimes worth of memories in her little head." said Washu as she examined her translucent computer.
"Ten or twelve lifetimes!!!!" everyone exclaimed at once. Soun looked as if he were about to faint instead of hose the room down in tears.
"I've been reborn several times for finally meeting up with Hikaru again." Said Kasumi in a manner that oh so casual.
"And, you remember all that?" Akane asked her.
Kasumi smiled and nodded.
"It would explain her modified behavioral patterns, all those new memories have adjusted her personality quotient a bit." Washu explained but all she got in response were a bunch of blank expressions and blinking eyes.
"It means she not gonna act like the Kasumi we all know and love for the foreseeable future." She said with a sigh.
"What does the sorceress mean, Sakumi?" Hikaru asked.
"I'm know as Kasumi now, and Washu isn't a sorceress." Kasumi corrected him.
"Ah, then she's a conjurer." He said. Kasumi shook her head.
"A mystic?" she shook her head again.
"A witch?" he got a negative response once more.
"I am most confused." He sighed.
"You're a Kuno what else is new." Ranma grumbled.
The samurai looked at him with a strange expression saying, "Eh?"
"No doubt many of our ways will confuse you for a while, Hikaru." Kasumi explained. "You will find Japan a strange and foreign place, so much as changed while you slept."
"That much is evident, the noises I hear beyond the walls of your family home are alien to my ears." He replied with a sigh then reached up and touched her cheek. "But, it is comforting to find that not everything has changed." Soun Tendo dropped his chopsticks when he saw the two at the end of the table sudden steal a passionate kiss.
"You mention Kun Lao, yes?" Shampoo asked.
"Yes, the Chi Sorcerer Kun Lao." Kasumi replied.
"At Joketsuzoku we have ancient legend about Kun Lao." Shampoo continued. "He was cruel man, burned Amazon fields, rape many of Amazon warriors, he ruled by fear and no army dared to face him."
"You are of the Nyanchiczu?" Hikaru asked her. The young samurai had almost for a short time suspected that he was in the company of many Kami, for there were so many visions of loveliness at the table. He was surprised to learn that all of them were quite mortal, with the exception of Sasami, but they didn't think to spring that knowledge on him just yet.
"Hai! Shampoo is Village Champion and heir to great grandmother who is village Matriarch." She smiled in reply.
"I am honored." Hikaru nodded towards her.
"Gee, you'd think a guy would that would be in the history books or something." Ranma commented.
"He was a Chi Sorcerer, its likely today's historians would chalk him up as being just a myth and legend." Genma told him. The old man's appearance at the table was quite a rare occurrence.
"What exactly is a Chi Sorcerer?" Akane asked.
"Amazons have Chi Sorceresses, but none as strong as Kun Lao." Shampoo explained. "They no use magic, but chi magic."
"Chi magic, you mean there's a difference to real magic?" Ukyo asked.
"Yes, a Chi Sorcerer weaves spells but his power comes form the natural chi that flows throughout the cosmos." Hikaru explained. "They have no need for spell components when casting spells that normally require them, and they use magical scrolls, tomes of magic, I dare say they are much more powerful than an average mage or wizard."
"Wow, this guy must have been really tough." Akane observed.
"Legend say he was great fighter too, defeat many Amazon warriors." Shampoo pointed out.
"He also possessed a deeply perverse and diseased mind that drove him to seek out and violate the purity of every young girl he encountered." Hikaru explained in a low tone. "No matter how young."
"You mean he..." Akane started to say but her face suddenly turned white as a sheet.
"He took liberties with many women and young girls, the Nyanchiczu suffered the worse for their lands were so near his domain and they were a society dominated by women." The samurai added.
"Oh my." Aeka said doing a near perfect imitation of the 'old' Kasumi.
"Sounds like him and Kagato would have gotten along just fine." Ryoko snorted.
"If I might say, you speak very fluent modern day Japanese for someone supposedly six hundred years old." Said Soun.
"That's the universal translators I gave you guys when you were all back at our place last year." Washu told him.
"Oh, it is?" the Tendo patriarch said with a confused expression.
"I understand all of you, but I dare say I comprehend only a fraction of what you are saying." Hikaru admitted with a look on confusion on his face.
"In time, Hikaru dear, you'll understand everything in time." Kasumi told him.

Ranma and Tenchi left the dojo with their entourage of iinazuke in tow. They had about another month and a half of fun in the sun before college started so they were going to make the best of it. Hikaru sat at the table where they had breakfast and sipped some tea Kasumi made for her. The patriarch of the Tendo clan, Kasumi's father in her new life regarded him from across the table.
"Hikaru Kuno is it?" Soun asked.
"Yes, sir." Hikaru replied with a nod in the man's direction.
"What are your intensions towards my eldest daughter?" Soun eyed him for the slightest hint of deception.
"Sakumi, I mean Kasumi, is the love of my life, I adore the very ground she walked upon, she is like a vision of the Kami personified in mortal form." The young samurai said wistfully. Soun had to agree with him on that part, Kasumi was certain special.
"I love her, sir, with all of heart and soul, I would battle all of the denizens of the Nine Rings of Hell itself to protect her." Hikaru went on. "My life has no meaning unless she is with me, in her past life we were promised to one another, and sir I still feel this bond between us today."
"Then, you're asking my permission to marry Kasumi?" Soun asked.
"Hai! When I saw her die by that monster's hands a part of me died also, it is only by the blessings of the Kami that I am alive today to be with her once again." The samurai replied showing no hint of a falsehood.
"And to think he's related to the Kunos." Genma commented from where he sat next to Soun.
"You are a very bright and intelligent young man, polite, with good manners," Soun said. "Kasumi seems quite taken with you, and since you are technically already engaged I don't really see any reason why that should change."
"Oh father, thank you!" Kasumi cried as she ran into the room and hugged him.
"To separate you two after all that you've been through would be cruel and unusual punishment in my way of thinking." Soun smiled. "Besides, I seem to recall the name Hikaru Kuno listed in the Kuno family registry."
"My family name was not always Kuno, sir." Hikaru explained to him. "I am ashamed to admit that my family was stripped of their name and status for the actions of my great grandfather. He committed a terrible act of treason against the Emperor and for that he was executed and our family punished. I was a samurai serving his majesty, he could, should have had be stripped of title and beheaded but he allowed me to live so that I could continue to serve him. When I lead his army against an invading army he gave my clan a new name, Kuno."
"Incredible, and none of this in anywhere in the history books." Said Soun.
"Likely it was covered up, keeping a ronin, and a highly dishonored ronin in service as a samurai would have look pretty badly upon the Emperor." Genma explained. "It could have lead to rebellion against him within his own ranks."
"He took an exceptional risk when he did do so, for which I am eternally grateful." Hikaru said.
"Hikaru darling." Kasumi called.
The samurai turned to regard her and was stunned into silence by what he saw. She was dressed in a beautiful flower print kimono dress with her hair done up on a bun. Her face had only the slightest touch of makeup to accentuate her already lovely feature. This beautiful vision captivated him to the point to where he forgot to breath. When he recovered he said, "Yes, beloved."
"I'm going out for a while, this would be a good time for you to see some of our world fro the first time." She smiled.
"Ah." He was on his feet in less then one second. Kasumi offered him her arm and the two headed for the door.
"They do look good together." Said Genma.
"And, he's a Kuno, which means..." Soun whispered.
"...he's filthy rich!" both men cheered quietly.

The two lovers made their way to the front gates of the Tendo property and Hikaru Kuno got his first glimpse of the outside world. What he saw both astonished and frightened him. There were so many dwellings spaced to close together, and what sort of stone was that on the ground, it was flat and smooth.
His first encounter with a 'car' was a frightening experience. When he came barreling down the street the samurai instinctively pushed Kasumi behind him and went to draw his katana. Kasumi lightly grabbed his hand saying, "Hikaru dear, its bad manner to slice people's cars in half."
"Cars, what are cars?" Hikaru asked.
"A machine used for transportation, almost everyone has one nowadays." She explained.
"Why not use horses and wagons instead?" he asked.
"Because they're not economical anymore and they're slow." She smiled showing infinite patience with his total lack of understanding concerning the modern world.
"You say this city is called Nerima." The samurai said. "I do not remember hearing the name of such a city."
"It is a recent addition dating back to the early Industrial Revolution stage of Japanese history." Kasumi explained. "It's usually referred to as a prefecture of Tokyo, but many gaijin call it a 'suburb'."
"What is that?!" the man pointed into the sky as he watched what could only be described as a great silver bird fly overhead. Its passage was followed by a low roar that sounded somewhat like thunder.
"That, dearest, is called an airplane." Kasumi told him. "Like a car its is a man made machine, but that one carries people through the air."
"People, fly?" he asked wide eyed.
"Thousands every day so I'm told by the statistics." She smiled.
"Incredible."

The shopping trip to the market district of Tokyo had been one very interesting experience for a six hundred year old samurai warrior. All of the alien sights and sounds of the place nearly gave him sensory overload had it not been for the presence of his dearest beloved. All sorts of incredible things he'd seen were so fascinating, like the magical boxes with moving pictures called 'televisions', the talking boxes called 'radios', the strange metal horses some youths were riding called 'bicycles', the noisier and faster versions called 'motorcycles', the incredibly fascinating devices called 'cellular phones', the list went on and on and on.
Hikaru carried several shopping bags full of groceries fro the family and new clothes for himself since his present wardrobe consisted of his battle torn samurai outfit and a pair of Ranma's pajamas. It was about mid day and the two lovers were getting hungry.
"I know of a good place, this way." Kasumi smiled and Hikaru followed her until they eventually arrived at an establishment with the name "Nekohautan" written in Kanji on large banner above the front door.
"Cat Café." He repeated the name.
"This is own by Shampoo's great grandmother." Kasumi explained.
"The Matriarch of the Nyanchiczu?" the samurai's curiosity was peaked a bit.
They place was packed. This no doubt was likely due to the presence of so many lovely waitresses, all Amazons, working in the place. One lovely vision guided them to their table and left them some menus.
"I see the Nyanchiczu have not changed much, they are still as beautiful as I remember them." Hikaru observed. He felt a slight kick against his leg and looked up at Kasumi's smiling face.
"Fear not, not even the lovely visage of the loveliest Kami could draw me away from you, my dearest." He told her reassuringly.
"Just as long as we both understand that." She smiled.
"Kasumi dear, who is this lovely creature accompanying you?" asked an ancient sounding voice. The two turned towards the speaker and Hikaru thought for a moment they were meeting a sprite or some other strange spirit. She looked like a woman, only she was incredibly old and wrinkled, and of diminutive size. She stood perched on the side of a crooked old wooden walking stick that was perfectly balanced as if it were fixed permanently to the floor. Her manner of dress identified her as an Amazon immediately, her age identified her as an elder.
"Oh, Cologne, this is Hikaru, my iinazuke." Kasumi introduced her. "Hikaru this is Shampoo's great grandmother Cologne, Matriarch of the Nyanchiczu."
"I am most honored to meet one of your status and station, milady." Hikaru nodded.
"Cute and polite, better keep a tight hold of this one with Rouge and the other warriors wandering Nerima." Cologne smiled. Kasumi already noticed many of the lovely Amazon waitresses giving her man appraising glances, with approval in their eyes.
"What is your name, my boy?" Cologne asked.
"Hikaru Kuno." He replied.
"Kuno?" Cologne said with a strange expression on her face and she looked at Kasumi. Hikaru Kuno, where have I heard of that name before?, she thought to herself.
"Kasumi informs me that you established his business after your great granddaughter was defeat in battle by Ranma Saotome." Hikaru said.
"Yes, he was such a stubborn one fro a while." Cologne laughed. "Though the present situation he is in isn't exactly the outcome I was looking for it is far better than what could have occurred."
"I can imagine, I remember encountering a warrior name Ambrosia who challenged me to a battle." Hikaru laughed. "At that time I was ignorant of your laws, but thankfully the current Matriarch, I think her name was Rose Petal, made an exception for me."
Rose Petal, Ambrosia, he could not have known them, unless..., Cologne told herself. She regarded him with her chi sight and what she saw was most interesting. His aura was very strange, it possessed none of the contamination of erratic patterns that most modern day people possessed. Kasumi's patterns changed most of all, as if she were a different person altogether.
"Rose Petal was our Matriarch over six hundred years ago." Cologne said out loud.
"Oh, yes, well about that..." Hikaru began but Kasumi interrupted him. "Cologne, can we talk in more, private surroundings?"
"Certainly."

Cologne was quite sure what to think. The legendary savior of the Nyanchiczu was sitting right there in the back office of her restaurant flesh. There were so many legends told about the great warrior. Some spoke of a roller coaster romance between him and the mighty Ambrosia, who was the greatest Amazon warrior in Nyanchiczu history. Some said the great warrior who destroyed Kun Lao was an Amazon with a Josenkyo curse so she turned to a man, but Cologne chalked that up to Nyanchiczu bards romanticizing the story a bit to impress young warriors. Needless to say, meeting the man in the flesh was both an honorable and sobering experience at the same time. He wasn't this larger than life character nor was he a disappointment either. He was indeed a powerful warrior in own class, he defeated a man who even Ambrosia could not beat, and he was here, alive and well in the 21st century. Hearing Kasumi's side of the story was also astonishing. The concept of reincarnation wasn't foreign to her, and the thought that Kasumi was Hikaru Kuno's iinazuke from six hundred years in the past was quite amazing. For the two of them to finally meet again like this to renew their romance had all the earmarks of Kami influence all over it. If that were true, these who were doubly blessed.
"It is indeed a rare honor to meet a legend in the flesh." Cologne smiled.
"I never realized you knew so much about my battle with Kun Lao." Hikaru was just a bit impressed with how much she really knew, but he did touch over the parts that appeared to be exaggerations. Like the one of him and Ambrosia being lovers or the story of him shattering a stone golem with one hit....when it was actually two.
"Of all the enemies we faced in the past, the Huns, the Mongols, the Romans, the Hittites, the Greeks, the Chinese themselves, or the more recent Communist government, none have ever caused us such destruction as the Lord of Josenkyo." Cologne said.
"The Lord of Josenkyo?" Kasumi said curiously.
"He called himself that, he did not create the curse springs if you are wondering about that, but he did lord over that land for many centuries." Cologne explained. "When he discovered the nature of the springs he used them to his own ends to punish his enemies. His sadistic nature knew no bounds for he would deliberately curse his prisoners in the Spring of Drowned Girl, then either he or his underlings would torture the would-be prisoner by repeatedly raping them."
"Oh my!" Kasumi gasped in shock, even she didn't know about this.
"Which is why the monster deserved death." Hikaru said in a cold tone. To his perceptions the battle with Kun Lao had only happened yesterday, for he had no memories of what occurred when he was a sleep as a statue.
"For that we Nyanchiczu are most grateful." Cologne bowed.
"Only, he isn't quite completely dead." The samurai explained. "He drank a potion of phoenix blood, but I destroyed his body, so his evil soul became an Oni and he tried to possess my body. That was when I used a Soul Prison, a rare artifact."
"A gift from Ambrosia no doubt, since was a magical device of Amazon design." Cologne smiled. "Rose Petal found it and the statue that was you at his citadel. She ordered the Soul Prison to be sealed in a chamber within the citadel and your statue was placed there to watch over it."
Something suddenly clicked in Cologne's mind just then. Didn't Kasumi say her father bought a statue, and that statue turned out to hold Hikaru with in it?, she realized. There was only one way that could have happened, someone managed to get passed the booby traps set by her ancestor Rose Petal and retrieve the statue. But, what if that isn't all that was retrieved. Oh, by all that is holy, please don't let it be so!, her thoughts cried out.
"Yes, and he still trapped." Hikaru said. "It would a tragedy unspeakable if he were to ever escape."
"Indeed." Cologne replied, but she was already working up some way to make sure. Indeed, a being with the power of Kun Lao could have easily summoned up a demon like Rakshaza without much effort, being a Chi Sorcerer. There were only two practicing Chi Sorceresses among the Amazons, and they were both back at Joketsuzoku in China. It was time, she realized, to call upon their services to aid in this dilemma. She hoped beyond hope that the enemy she could feel, the one who blocked even the prying eyes of the highly vaunted Wizard's Council, was not indeed the Lord of Josenkyo. If it were, may the Kami have mercy upon the world.

The sun was setting over the dreaded land feared for thousands of years who's origins were only the subject of countless myths and legends. Two figures darted in and out of the shadows as they gave the hundreds of natural springs a wide, and decidedly wise, berth. They stopped, hiding in the shadows of a huge boulder and examined the ancient papyrus map they retrieved from the library in Joketsuzoku. The location they sought could not be reached on foot by normal means or by air. It hung in limbo within a pocket of folded space to deter attackers. But, that didn't stop the Mongols from trying a few hundred years ago. The two were identical twins save for the fact that one had black hair and the other had white. Hence their names, Salt and Pepper, no relation to the female rap group from America.
Both girls were no more than sixteen years of age in appearance, their actual age was more like twenty-five, and they were blessed with Amazon good looks. They dressed the same, wearing leather outfits in two pieces like a medieval version of the string bikini that had white and black fur tufts in just the right places matching their hair color to make them look even more kawaii than they were, if that were possible. Early developers, they already had generous attributes. Large breasts were the pride of Amazon warriors, a status symbol, and a way to attract a descent mates. Their outfits, which nearly weren't there at all, left almost nothing to the imagination, and combine that with their height of only five foot three. If any self-respecting boy from Fureinken High School were looking at them now they would have died of blood loss from their massive nosebleed.
"Do we really gotta do this?" Salt asked her sister.
"The Matriarch was adamant about it, she wants us to make sure the chamber has not been breached." Pepper told her.
"I know, but that place gives me the willies." Salt shivered. "If half the stuff I've heard about that place is true..."
"Look, the scumbag who used to live there is long dead." Pepper reassured her.
"Then, why are we risking our necks going into that accursed place?" Salt asked her.
"Because the Matriarch asked us to." Both girls spoke at the same time.
They found their way to the place they needed to be, if one didn't look hard enough it was easy to miss. The entryway into the fold space was hidden behind a waterfall. It wasn't a gigantic waterfall, only about twenty feet high, and the pool at the bottom was shallow enough to walk through. Two girls went hand in hand through the water and encountered the gateway, a swirling tunnel of light. After a brief journey through the gateway they found themselves in the domain of the feared Lord of Josenkyo.
A huge crumbling fortress at the top of a small mountain was all that was left of his once great empire. The two girls cautiously made their way up the winding road that lead to the front gates to the place. Anywhere a powerful Chi Sorcerer or Sorceress dies they leave a peace of themselves behind, like a shadow of their former selves as a spirit to haunt the place. Neither girl wanted to encounter that spirit if even half the stories they heard about Kun Lao were true at all. Even though his shadow was nowhere as powerful as the real thing he would still be formidable, and it was doubly worse for two good reasons. One, they girls, and two, they were excessively cute girls.
They reached what looked like an old dried up moat that has seen better days. To one side was a curious pile of bleached human bones. The girls knew what that was, and maneuvered around it. Never, never, never ever mess with the bones of a deceased magic user. You never could tell if he were a Lich or something, that would be bad. Very bad.
Salt and Pepper penetrated the protective wall of the fortress through one of many massive holes that formed when some it fall due to decay. The two young Chi Sorceresses could feel the resonating backwash from all of the immense chi magic once released in this place over the centuries. It would take millions of years for it finally dissipate to any reasonable level. The fortress itself, in the day when it was still in good condition, must have looked frightening. It still had that look, but in a decayed sense. The girls ventured within, their chi senses searching for any presence of the shadow they knew had to be lurking about somewhere. They came to a room that reverberated with a peculiar feeling in their senses. The floor was smooth and unmarked save for the four chain and manacles connected to iron rings embedded in the floor.
"What was this room for?" Salt asked.
"What do you think." Pepper told her pointing to the four chains.
The white haired Chi Sorceress envisioned a hapless victim trapped by those manacles on the floor as a man grunted and groaned on top of her. She banished that 'chain' of thought quickly, such thoughts could attract the shadow.
"Oh!" Salt said and blushed furiously.
"I wonder if this is the room where he got our ancestor Ambrosia." Pepper said.
"No way! He couldn't have, she was the greatest warrior in our history, and she's related to us." Salt objected.
"You need to reread your history scrolls, sis." Pepper told her. "Our ancestor was a 'guest' of Kun Lao's at least once and she was pretty pissed off about it too when she finally killed her guard and got away."
"I would be to if a male force himself onto me like that." Salt snorted.
"Unless he was cute." said Pepper.
"And had dreamy eyes, like that one guy, what was his name, who came to the village about a year ago." Salt said.
"Uh, Ryoda, Ryufa, Ryuga, or something like that." Pepper shrugged.
"Now that's a male I could fall down and worship on." Salt smiled coyly.
"Too bad we chased him off, he was really cute, but I think we were coming on too strong." Pepper sighed.
"Do you think ambushing him while he bathed wearing swimsuits made of whipped cream was a little much?" Salt asked her sister.
"Hey, worked on that other cute boy, what was his name?" Pepper thought.
"Quest, Johnny Quest." Salt smiled.
"Yeah, him, cute dog too."
Finally, after hours of searching the girls finally reached the entrance to the chamber where Kun Lao was imprisoned. They noticed the shallow depression the floor where the statue was supposedly placed, which was now vacant, and the stone door that sealed the chamber shut was now out of place.
"This doesn't look good." Pepper said uneasily.
The two entered the chamber and looked towards the stone pedestal where the object was supposed to be, but wasn't any longer. "No, this is bad, worse than bad." Pepper gasped.
"Oh, no, what are we going to tell Great Aunt Cologne?" Salt whined.
"Exactly what we've seen, and we call her Matriarch." Pepper corrected her.
Eager to be away from the place before the shadow arrived to 'try' and have his way with a pair of deliciously beautiful Amazons, Salt and Pepper ran from the citadel and back to the gateway. They didn't really mind the journey past the springs of Josenkyo now especially after being in that awful place just a while ago.

Kun Lao was returning to his home, he had the first key, and it was well hidden. He wanted to find the second but the call of his other needs was getting too demanding. He wandered into the Fureinken Financial District and then saw her. She was a beauty beyond compare with the perfect body, nice breasts, and athletic build that denoted a possible martial arts background. All good attributes for some interesting playtime. This time he'd allow his next fortunately victim have some limited free will, just enough to give him the flight that drop his loins into a frenzy. He walked up behind her and stretched out with his mind, the first thing he noticed about her was that she was in fact an Amazon, one of the Nyanchiczu which explained her incredible good looks. It also meant controlling her would be harder to do. He remember that one Amazon, Ambrosia, had been near to impossible to control, and it made indulging his pleasures with her all the more satisfying. Slowly he encircled this girl's mind with his consciousness and attacked from all sides at once. The Nyanchiczu were taught from a young age to recognize a psychic attack when they felt one, and they had the ability to fight back. It took a few seconds to rein this one in, this Satin, great grand niece of Cologne, Matriarch of the Nyanchiczu. He found a nice place for them to spend some quality time together. It was a place controlled by the Yakuza, a band of thugs who existed during his time, but the fools were so weak minded that didn't even see them walked right through the entrance.
He took her on a mattress laying on the floor of a back room, allowing her to have enough will to fight back a little but not giving her too much leverage. It was the best session he's had in a while since Miss. Hinako who had been a real pleasure to service. He cleaned her up and wiped her mind of the incident, but had he known of the resourcefulness of a certain Amazon Matriarch he would have left well enough alone.
Kasumi and her new iinazuke were long gone, and the twins have only just called with the disturbing news Cologne did not want to hear. On top of that, Satin, her afternoon help, was late. The Amazon beauty finally entered the Nekohautan with a cheerful, "Nihao!"
"You're late, Satin." Cologne frowned.
"What you mean, Satin leave on time, she look at sun in sky." The girl put her hands on her shapely hips.
Cologne was looking at the girl with her chi sight and saw something odd about the girl. "What have you been doing?" she asked her.
"What you mean, Satin come to work." The girl replied.
Her aura is reverberating as if she'd just made love, but I sense she has no memory of doing such thing., Cologne thought.
"Come here, child." Cologne beckoned to her and Satin approached without question.
"Sit," the Matriarch gestured to the chair. "Now clear your mind and open to me the pathways of your thoughts."
The girl did as instructed and Cologne concentrated. Her senses reached out and she felt into the girl's mind. After a few minutes she withdrew. She is missing nearly an hour's worth of time from her memory, but how?, she thought.
"Anything wrong Matriarch?" Satin asked.
"I am not sure." She replied, a growing sense of dread began to fill her heart. So wrapped in her musings she nearly jumped when the phone rang. The diminutive Amazon pogo sticked to the phone on her staff and picked up the phone.
"Nekohautan, is this for pickup or delivery?" she said.
"Great grand aunt?" came a voice on the other end.
"Salt, where are you, what's that noise in the background?" Cologne asked as it was hard to hear the soft spoken girl over the din on the other end.
There was a sound then Pepper came on the line. "We're on the west coast of Japan, we followed some leads and it brought us to this shipping dock, or more accurately a warehouse operated by the Yakuza for the purpose of pandering in price artifacts."
"The Soul Prison is in Japan!" Cologne gasped.
"And the statue." Pepper replied. "We found out that a grave rob...I mean archeologist named Laura Croft was the one who original went into Kun Lao's domain and retrieve the items in question. We followed that trail to a Hong Kong crime boss who specializes in antiques, he sold the items to a rather shady American businessman named Lexx Luther, he traded them for illegal computer components here in Japan, so now we're trying to find out who had them next."
"Good work girls, keep on the trail and call me as soon as you found that item, the statue is already accounted for, but the other item must be located." Cologne told them.
"No problem, Matriarch." Pepper said then she hung up.
"Who was that Matriarch?" Rouge asked.
"Your nieces Salt and Pepper, I have them investigating an important issue for me." She said.
"Oh, well hopefully they don't have to come to Japan." The lovely Amazon relaxed.
"Uh, they are in Japan." Cologne replied dubiously.
The Amazon woman exploded. "WHAT, YOU LET THE HENTAI TWINS LOOSE ON THE SUSPECTING MALES OF JAPAN!!!!!"
"Opps, I forgot that about them." Cologne winced remembering suddenly her major blunder. "I'm certain they're concentrating on their mission, they seem to be making good time so far."
"You seem to have forgotten Beijing so soon, great aunt." Rouge frowned deeply.
Cologne groaned, "I'll never be able to forget Beijing, but they are the only ones suited for this important task."
"I pray to our ancestors you are right." The Amazon replied before stalking away.

The Hentai Twins Salt and Pepper sat onboard one of the main bullet trains that was headed for a place called Nerima. The two wandered into the Yakuza owned and operated warehouse and suddenly found themselves surrounded by a dozen well armed men. Of course, the men didn't have a prayer. After about an hour the girls had the info they wanted about the item they were tracking and left a warehouse of unconscious young men laying on the floor half naked, with stupid happy expressions on their unconscious faces.
"Why did they have to pass out so soon?" Salt sighed.
"Yeah, I wasn't done." Pepper groaned in frustration.
"I guess they don't make men too resilient in Japan." Salt breathed.
She looked at the piece of paper with the address for a pawn shop she had 'coerced' our of one of the young men she was 'interrogating'. It was in the city of Nerima, just on the outskirts of Tokyo, and just so happened to be where the Matriarch was. Go figure.
"This thing is fast, but it'll take us forever to get to Nerima like this." Salt said as she looked out at the passing landscape.
"Yeah, lets fold." Pepper said.
The two girls stood up, grasped each other's hands, then stopped forward and literally vanished into nothingness. Hundreds of miles away to the east, the pair emerged in a back alleyway. Their arrival and appearance caught the immediate notice of the local riff raff who though a good thing had just fallen right into their hands. About twelve young, streetwise, street toughened boys surrounded the two scantly clad young girls and literally drooled at the idea of partaking of their usually well developed attributes.
"Oh my." Salt said in a perfect imitation of Kasumi.
"Boys." Said Pepper.
"Cute boys." Said Salt.
"COOL!" They chorused.
The two girls seemed to literally glow with energy before the boys could even make a move. Very quickly they discovered these were no ordinary pieces of fluff that they could have their way with. Very soon they learned a new meaning to the phrase "Rock Your World!"

That was much better., the girls thought as the left the alley leaving in their wake a trail of unconscious bodies. They had folded through the fabric of time and space just short of their intended destination, but the two weren't complaining. The address was for a pawn shop, and there it was nestled between a Japanese McDonalds and a kimono shop. Women gasped when they saw the young girl walk by, wearing next to nothing, and many of the men could not help but admire what they saw. The girls reached the business without incident, a fat tub of lard sat behind the counter. Upon seeing them walk in his eyes went wide for a moment then he asked them, "How can I help two cute little things like you?"
Salt felt the greasy man's eyes on her body and it made her skin crawl. "You can help by shutting up fatso." She waved her hand at his face and it immediately went slackened and his expression was like that of a zombie.
"I'll check his records." Said Pepper as she went behind the counter.
Salt didn't want to have to touch this toad of a male, but she didn't have to in order to probe his memories. She rifled through several items that made her wince and gag at few times but found nothing of any real interest. It wasn't until she looked at his memories as a whole that she discovered something was a miss.
"Hey, somebody wiped some of his memories, and whoever did it is good because this guy is none the wiser." Salt announced.
"All evidence at the warehouse says the item should have come here, but then the paper trail ends." Said Pepper.
"As if a place like this would keep a paper trail, I've seen stink holes like this all over Hong Kong." Salt spat.
"I don't know, they seemed to have a pretty thorough filing system back there." Said Pepper. "I think somebody has deliberately gotten rid of the paperwork concerning the item."
"Can you conjure it up?" Salt asked her twin.
"Does a panda shit in the woods?" Pepper smiled.

Around the time Tenchi, Ranma, and the girls gathered at Ucchan's Cologne was sitting in the Cat Café' looking over the books. She was very good at numbers and accounting and had no need for new fangled devices like calculators or computers. The rest of the Nyanchiczu at Joketsuzoku might want to modernize and get with the modern times, but she still thought a simple life was still the best. The phone rang in the office and Rouge picked it up. The woman's piercing cries made Cologne snap her pencil in half.
"GIRLS, WHERE ARE YOU, YOU'RE NOT CAUSING TROUBLE ARE YOU?"
She listened to the other end and sighed with relief. "Oh good." she said. "Cologne is here, hold on." She handed the phone to the Matriarch who snorted derisively in the woman's direction and asked, "What have you found out?"
"Matriarch," Pepper said on the other line. "The item came to a pawn shop right in Nerima, about a mile from your place. It was sold to a Hikaru Gosunkugi, Salt is divining the location of his home right now."
"Excellent, get the item and bring it straight here." Cologne cheered.
"Yes, Matriarch." The girl on the other end said before hanging up.
Soon, very soon, the whole damn thing will be over and done with., thought the Matriarch. Or so she thought.

Kun Lao was happy, the Amazon has given some interesting sport and he was satisfied until the next time. He found is way to him home when he felt a presence, or two presences for that matter. In the growing darkness he could see who petite figures lurking in the shadows. He was of a mind to reach out and grab their minds, but something about these two told him that would not be a good idea. There was a sense of real danger about these two, and never felt that unless he was near someone of great power, like Ranma Saotome, or another Chi Sorcerer. Or Chi Sorceress.
Kun Lao focused his chi energies for the "Cat's Eye" spell to give him the vision of the cat at night. He felt the spell take effect and his vision immediately cleared and the area brightened up as if he were in early twilight. The two figures skulking around his house were two of the most curious creatures he ever seen. They were both girls, that much was most evident, and quite exceptionally beautiful. They wore next to nothing but a thin leather two piece bikini outfit with little tufts of fur to enhance their features and make them look cuter than sexier. They were twins from their looks, and the only obvious difference was that one had snow white hair and the other had black hair. All in all they were something to behold indeed. Kun Lao wondered if he could control who girls at the same time to have a threesome but those thoughts were banished the girls phased through the wall of his house and slipped into his bed room.
"Chi Sorcery!" he gasped, sensing their power. "But, how?"
The girls remerged and one of them had an object in her hand that he recognized as the Soul Prison. No, I must get that back, I need it!, his thoughts cried.
"This was too easy." The white haired one said.
"Yeah, but didn't the Matriarch say it was supposed to be a cube?" the black haired one asked.
"Well, it's a Soul Prison, and that's what we came to get." The white haired one said.
"Please hand that back to me." Came a voice from across the yard.
"Huh?" the girls both said at once and turned to regard the boy. He was much too thin for their linking, had a dweebish quality that certainly turned them both off quite fiercely. Yet, their senses warned them to now underestimate him.
"It's a boy." Said the white haired one.
"And he's not cute." the black haired one frowned.
"Pretty sad." The white haired one replied.
"That belongs to me, return it, now!" the boy insisted fiercely.
The white hair girl snorted in anger. "Sis, maybe we should teach this male his place."
"Not a bad idea." The black haired one replied and the two girls launched to attack. That was when the wave for force struck them and sent them flying into the wall of the house.
"Ouch, that hurt!" the white haired one groaned.
"This guy's got Chi Sorcerer abilities." The black haired girl said as she decided to him more seriously in a fight.
Something profound suddenly came to their minds as they looked at the object in their hands. The object that should be a cube was no longer in the shape of a cube, and they knew what was held within it. The two as one looked up at the young boy stalking up towards them and could literally feel the malevolent energy radiating from him.
"Oh shit, we're so screwed."

Cologne anticipated the arrival of the twins any minute with the valuable item. What was most important was that it contents stay where they are, inside the Soul Prison where it belongs. She was not certain what would happen if the vile Kun Lao somehow escaped, but it would ultimately prove to be very bad for both the people of Japan and her own. A sound at the front of the Nekohautan drew her attention. The twins in question bust through the front door scaring several customers.
"Matriarch!" Salt and Pepper called.
"What is wrong with you two, what is with the distress?" she asked them as she and Rouge came running up to them.
"This." Pepper handed the item in question to the Matriarch and her face drained of all color.
"No." Cologne breathed.
"He's...free?" Rouge stammered in a frightened tone.
"According to the receipt I was able to conjure, it was sold to the boy many months ago." Pepper explained.
"We think he opened it." Salt added.
"How do you know it was him?" Cologne asked.
The two girls pointed outside and then Cologne noticed a young man she recognized as Ranma's would-be rival for Akane from his high school. The young lad was involved in the dark arts, but was so dim witted that he didn't know how to properly use the magical forces he had just beyond his fingertips. Now, this young man no longer had that stupid grin on his face, but a malevolent sneer that sent a chill down her spin. She looked at him with her chi sight and what she most feared was confirmed.
"I only have one thing to say." She said. "RUN!"

Hikaru Kuno watched his iinazuke happily work in the kitchen. Or at least that is what it was called but the place looked like no other kitchen he ever remembered seeing. This thing called "indoor plumbing" was truly a miracle, the box that stayed cold without ice called a "refrigerator" was a marvel, but the "stove" was most amazing. How fire could be so easily harnessed in such a way that a huge hearth was no longer needed for preparing meals was truly a marvel. Other things like the "microwave oven" and the "food processor" were still beyond his understanding for now.
She was exactly as he remembered her, Kasumi was always so happy when she was making dinner for the man she loved. The woman, a vision of loveliness, glided from one end of the kitchen to the other as she did the work of ten women in less than a space of one hour. Indeed, some things about his Sakumi were different in the form of his lovely Kasumi Tendo. Her grace and polite manner was still there, but she also had a different quality that appealed to him. No long was she the submissive little housewife she had been when he knew her original self, she had a fiery spirit in her, probably due to one of her many past lives. This made him love her even more.
The ways of this modern Japan were indeed foreign to him. No longer was there a need for "real" samurai. He would not have to present himself to the current Emperor, for he was only a figure head in a government that was now controlled by elected officials chosen by the people in a vote. How all that came about was just as confusing, and Kasumi had given him a book on the subject of a historical event called "World War II". That was not the end to his confusion, piled on top of confusion, for it was learned that the young Ranma Saotome was a prince of a far away empire called Jurai, and that Kasumi's two younger sisters, the lovely woman named Ukyo Kuonji, and the beautiful Amazon name Shampoo were all his iinazuke. The same was said for Tenchi Masaki, Ranma's kinsman, and the young visions of beauty that had been at his side were his iinazuke. Worst yet, Jurai was not an empire on the surface of this Earth but an empire in the sky no less. This lead to the "Earth" shaking discovery that the Earth was "round" and not flat! The whole idea that the Earth was a small spec floating in the ether of a vast and immensely large universe nearly gave him a brain embolism.
A loud commotion outside drew his attention as Matriarch Cologne and several of her fellow Nyanchiczu came running into the Tendo home. They all had expressions of great fear and anxiety on their faces. He didn't notice at first, the nearly dressed twins standing behind the Matriarch or he would have developed a nosebleed.
"Where is son-in-law?" she demanded.
"Ranma and the girls stepped out some time ago." Kasumi told her.
"Wonderful, right when we do need him son-in-law decides to skip out on a date." The Matriarch sighed heavily.
"What is your distress Lady Cologne?" Hikaru asked.
She held up the opened Soul Prison in her hands and was his eyes go wide with shock and surprise. Immediately, his katana flashed into his hands and his face took on a hard expression.
"Where is he?" he asked.
"Right behind us." Cologne pointed.
Hikaru Kuno stepped out into the Tendo's back yard as a small, thin figure leapt over the wall and alighted in the yard. "Take Kasumi and the others to safety, I will deal with him." Hikaru said in a stern voice and felt into a fighting stance.

Kun Lao was loosing patience with these Amazons. He should be done away with them a long time ago, and he could have obliterated them by now but where was the fun in that. Besides, he wanted to give those two delicious twins his full attention later on, perhaps several times, over and over for several days until he was satisfied. The old wrinkle crone, the Matriarch, would have to go. She no doubt knew arcane knowledge that could be threat to him later on, and from the memories of the boy he now inhabited he knew she was training the Saotome boy in Amazon techniques. Keeping his existence now was a moot point, they knew about the Soul Prison, and thus knew he was free once again. What he wasn't counting on was what met him in the yard of the Tendo home.
He hadn't been expecting to see him ever again, believing the samurai has fallen pray to his poison dagger over six hundred years before. Kun Lao fought this man before and knew he was formidable. It was fortunate that he'd been conditioning this new body with special magic so that it was up to par with his old original body. So, he alighted in the back yard of the Tendo clan home and stared across the yard at a man he thought long dead.
"Now isn't this interesting." Said Kun Lao. "I thought you were dead."
"I've been asleep with the aid of the Kami." Hikaru replied as he raised his sword in preparation for the battle that was about to erupt.
"The Kami, eh, I will make a note to punish them for their temerity to interfere in my business." Kun Lao snarled.
"You dare to speak of the Kami in that fashion!" Hikaru shouted at him.
"Believe me, ronin, if you were to ask any of them you'd quickly learn that they are terrified of me." Kun Lao sneered.
"That was when you possessed the three Keys, but now you have none." The samurai smiled.
"I have recovered one of them, the rest will be found soon." The Chi Sorcerer replied. He fell into a fighting stance. In his outstretched hand his trusty bejeweled dagger materialized into existence. "I do have one thing to be thankful to the Kami for, since you are still alive I have a second chance to kill you."
"As do I." Hikaru replied slowly with a smile.
Both mortal enemies let fly a battle cry as they raced from ends of the yard to middle. Both men concentrated their chi energies for their attacks, and when katana struck dagger the burst of energy was overwhelming. The two combatants hold their ground as their opposing chi forces warred with one another, then exploded sending the two men flying towards opposite side of the yard once again.

"That Kun Lao guy sounds like he's another Happosai, on steroids." Ranma-chan said before taking a bite of her fruit sundae. She and the girls were in her favorite place near the old Fureinken Hospital, where she encountered a certain old man who could do Soul Traveling. They and Tenchi's own bunch parted ways at the movie theater and were going to meet back up at Ucchan's for some okonomiyaki later. This trip was just a detour after Ranma had a close encounter with a street cleaner, which is why he was a she at the moment. Fortunately, Shampoo had jumped just in time, or they would have a kawaii little kitty with them.
"At least Grandpa Happosai does actually try to do it with out, he just gropes." Akane shuddered. It was difficult to imagine the old freaking trying to do anything like that, of course he certainly had the physical strength to do it.
"I wonder, Ranma honey, if that Hikaru kid and those chi blasts you've been feeling are related at all." Said Ukyo.
"I got no idea." Ranma-chan confessed.
"Shampoo think he and Kasumi look kawaii together." Shampoo smiled.
"But, its scary how Kasumi's changed in personality overnight." Said Akane.
"Its better than her usual airhead Mihoshi act." Nabiki interjected.
"Nabiki!" Akane scolded.
Ranma scratched the back of her head and said, "Kasumi can be flighty, but not at that an extreme."
"Hey, look who's here." Came Tenchi's voice as he and his groupies entered the ice cream shop.
"How was the movie?" Akane asked.
"Pretty good, but what's with that J.R.R. Tolkein anyway," Ryoko snorted. "You'd almost think that Arrigorn guy was a Tenchi wannabe."
"Its just a movie, Ryoko." Tenchi sighed.
"What did you guys do?" Washu asked.
"We went all over the place, we even went to Tokyo Tower." Said Ranma-chan.
"It was fun until that weird boom box monster attacked us," Nabiki frowned. "Before anyone could fight it though these wacky girls in sailor foku showed up and blew it up."
"You think that's weird, when we left the theater we saw this green haired girl in a yellow tiger stripped bikini chasing this teenaged kid down the street and she was giving him electric shock treatment." Washu laughed.
"You meet the weirdest people in this city." Aeka sighed.
"We still gonna hang at Ucchan's later?" Ranma-chan asked as she finished off her sundae.
Ryoko laughed, "Thinking with your stomach as usual, Saotome."
"Look who's talking." Aeka teased her playfully.
"Sounds good to me." Tenchi says.
Tenchi buys the girls what they want from the man at the counter and they join Ranma and others taking a table right next to theirs.
"It'll be a nice change eating something I haven't prepared myself." Said Sasami.
"You do enough work for all us put together, Sasami." Tenchi beamed her his best smile, the kind that melts a girl's heart as fast a Hershey's Kiss under a blow torch. With immense joy she hugs him, on the other side of her link her other half thinks other thoughts. It is a real struggle for the Kami Tsunami to keep from finishing the assimilation right there and then so she could have her own crack at him later on that night.
An hour later they were up in Ukyo's old room at Ucchan's. She kept the place for just in case, like this sort of get together. A stack of several dirty dishes sat in the corner. Ranma and Ryoko alone ate five okonomiyaki, and they were still chowing down on potato chips. While Tenchi and Ranma were doing their male bonding thing by talking out on Ukyo's upper floor balcony, the girls were all gathered around a specific book Washu discovered.
"Let me see!" Sasami groaned with impatience. The girls literally created a wall with their hair as they surrounded the item in question so she couldn't see.
"When you're older." Aeka told her.
"That looks painful, I didn't know the human body could bend like that." Said Akane.
"These guys can't be human, only invertebrates can bend like that." Ryoko snorted.
"You're wrong there Ryoko, this is an ancient book from the Hindu in India, a country in South Central Asia, on Earth." Washu explained.
"That one looks like fun, but Ranma honey and I would be pretty sore in the morning." Ukyo commented.
"That girl's gotta be double or triple jointed!" Akane gasped.
"I wanna see!" Sasami whined again, still unable to get around the other girls.
"NO!" the girls all relied at once.
"Tenchi and I could easily do this one." Aeka point to one of the pictures.
"Sorry, Princess, beat ya to it." Ryoko sneered.
"Damn." The Juraian princess snapped her fingers.
"Hey, you could try that one." Ryoko pointed.
Aeka looked at the picture and gasped, "What do I look like a Juraian pretzel?"
"Who knew there were so many different ways to screw a guy." Nabiki commented with a wide eyed expression.
"Shampoo could teach vaginal muscle techniques." The Amazon smiled.
"Vaginal muscle techniques?" Akane inquired.
"You use that on Ranma yet?" Washu asked with a coy expression. The Amazon answered with a nod and a Cheshire cat smile.
"Airen say he saw stars." Shampoo told her.
"How's it work?" Akane asked.
"You flex your vaginal muscles in just the right place to engage pressure points on his, you know what, and he's suddenly soaring through la la land." Washu explained.
"OOOOHHHH!" the girls all chorused at once then giggled like they were school girls.

"Wonder what's got them so happy?" Ranma, now a boy, asked hearing the laughter from inside.
"I stopped trying to figure them out a long time ago." Tenchi replied.
"Girls, can't live with them and can't live without them." Ranma sighed. "I sometimes wonder how I got roped into this hold harem thing, but when I look back I guess this is the best way to go."
"Oh?" Tenchi looked up.
"Yeah, I mean, I love Akane, very much, I really like Shampoo, who wouldn't, I mean look at that body, and Ucchan and me have been friend for so long." Ranma went on. "Nabiki, I'm trying to figure that one out but she's really nice once she stops trying to sell you or blackmail you, and besides she's a terrific kisser."
Tenchi sighed, "Do you know how hard it's been trying to keep my virginity all of this time. Let me tell you it was near to impossible."
"You mean you haven't..." Ranma was surprised.
"I was going to say near to impossible until a little before you guys felt the house last year." Tenchi smiled.
"Ah." Ranma smiled.
"You know, making it with Ryoko wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, I mean knowing her I thought she was into that rough stuff, but in fact she loves it slow and soft." Tenchi sighed wistfully. "Aeka, now she surprised me, that girl has the most violent orgasms I've ever seen, and my dad has a huge collection of orgasm scene tapes at home."
Ranma laughed hilariously compelling Tenchi to ask, "What's so funny?"
"Listen to us, if we tried to talk like this last year we'd both die of blood loss from our nosebleeds." Ranma chuckled.
"Getting nailed by our iinazuke a couple a dozen times in a week tends to do that to you." Tenchi smiled.
Suddenly Ranma grabbed his head and cried out. Similar cried issued from inside the building. Akane and others stumbled out onto the balcony looking like they were undergoing intense pain.
"What the hell is that?" Akane groaned.
"Its skull splitting whatever it is." Ukyo said wincing from the pain.
"I don't hear a thing, do you Aeka?" Ryoko asked.
"No, Sasami?" Aeka asked her little sister.
"I don't hear anything, but can certainly feel it." The little princess replied. "Miya!" Ryo-Ohki added.
Washu called up her computer and checked the local region. "WOW! It's a humungous blast of chi energy, like nothing I've ever seen before!" she gasped.
"Its source is at the Tendo place!" she added.
Without hesitation the entire group raced from the okonomiyaki shop and headed for the Tendo dojo as fast as their legs would carry them. Ranma carried Nabiki and he and the girls bounded over the rooftops, Ryoko carried Aeka and Tenchi while Sasami clutched her around the neck hanging off her back. They made good time and arrived at the dojo just in time to see a massive explosion of energy.
The blast he made a mess of the Tendo property, demolishing the dojo and badly damaging the house. Everyone watched a Hikaru Kuno struggled to his feet and fell into a fighting stance with his sword at the ready, on the other side of yard was a most unlikely sight. Hikaru Gosunkugi stood up wielding a bejeweled dagger as if he knew how to handle the weapon. Before everyone's eyes the battle was renewed as the two combatants went at one another but gave no ground, allowed no opening, and seemed to be almost even matched in fighting prowess.
"Is that Gosunkugi?" Akane asked in surprise.
"I didn't know the little twerp could fight like that." Ranma gasped as he watched the thin boy perform complicated dagger thrusts, flips, and blocking maneuvers which moved almost too fast for even him to follow.
"AIYA!" Shampoo watched in amazement.
"Its always the quiet ones." Nabiki commented.
"Do you see the look on his face, scary." Ukyo shuttered.
"SON-IN-LAW!" came Cologne's call as she bounded towards them with the rest of the residents of the Tendo home behind her.
"What's going on, why is Gosunkugi fighting Hikaru?" Ranma asked her.
"I fear, we are all in grave danger, the one you call Gosunkugi is no more, and apparently has not been himself for some time." The Matriarch replied.
"Huh?" everyone replied.
"What do you mean, not himself?" Akane asked.
"Through dealings with the Yakuza and the Hong Kong mafia he obtained an artifact that has been hidden in the mountains around Josenkyo for six hundred years." Cologne explained and held up the item in question. "The boy you knew as Hikaru Gosunkugi is no more, and never will be again, for now he is someone else. He is the Lord of Josenkyo, scourge of the Nyanchiczu, the Oni Chi Sorcerer Kun Lao himself!"
"WHAT?!" Tenchi, Ranma, and everyone else all cried out at once.
Their eyes turned to regard the young boy as he unleashed a devastating blast of chi energy that knocked Hikaru Kuno across the yard.
"HIKARU!" Kasumi cried and ran to him despite the efforts of everyone to stop her. She kneeled down beside her beloved then looked up at the malevolent Chi Sorcerer in his new body.
"You?" he said.
"You monster!" Kasumi spat.
"Now I know the Kami had something to do with this." The Chi Sorcerer laughed. "Oh, this is just too delicious, not only do a get to kill that worthless ronin all over again, but I get to relive some good times you and I had together, my dear Sakumi."
"Over our dead bodies!" came the shouts of several voices to the side. He turned and watched several people run into the yard and place themselves between him and the two lovers. They were, of course, the boys Ranma Saotome and Tenchi Masaki, and the most incredible gathering of the world's most beautiful creatures he's ever seen.
"Tempting as it is to oblige you at the moment I have other pressing matters to attend to." Kun Lao said. He was not about to tempt fate and face these super-powers just yet, not while he only possessed one of the sacred keys. He was a patient man, but the fact that they know he is alive complicates matters. They will be after him to stop him, unless he gives them sufficient distraction, and he knew just the source for such a distraction.
"Consider this a rare act of mercy on my part, for when next we meet Ranma Saotome and Tenchi Masaki, it will be the last time." And with that the Chi Sorcerer stepped forward and vanished into thin air.

"Matters are most grave." Cologne sighed.
Everyone was inside the Tendo home now gathered around the dinner table. Sasami and Ukyo brought them all refreshments while Kasumi tenderly saw to Hikaru's many wounds.
"That's a really big freaking understatement!" Ranma growled.
"All I have ever known of the great and powerful Kun Lao are the legends told to me when I was young." Said Rouge as she sat with her nieces, Salt and Pepper.
"Most of the worst stories about him are true, the man is most vile and deranged." Hikaru said in a tired voice.
"This feels like facing Kagato all over again." Ryoko sighed and Tenchi put his arm around her to reassure her.
"If we had killed him today his Oni spirit would have sought out a new host." Cologne explained. "The phoenix blood potion he took transformed him into something most foul six hundred years ago."
"Then how the hell do we stop something that can't be killed?" Ranma asked.
Cologne tossed the Soul Prison onto the table. "Alas, I fear this will not help us, for in my research while waiting for the twins to find out what happened to the artifact I learned it can only be used once on the same entity."
"You mean we can't trap him again like Hikaru did six hundred years ago!" Tenchi exclaimed.
"I'm afraid not." Cologne shook her head.
"Aiya. Legends of him are most foul, he is a terrible man." Shampoo said trying to keep from crying.
"We're sorry we disappointed you Matriarch." Salt said looking downcast.
"It wasn't your fault, Kun Lao was free long before you began your investigation." Cologne reassured her.
"So, he's the one who summoned the demon at Fureinken High, and I bet he's the one who really rapped Miss. Hinako." Said Ranma.
"A Chi Sorcerer can manipulate the thoughts of the weak minded and even effect memories." Pepper explained. "His will is especially strong."
"Speaking of memories, you Rouge have a gap in yours." Cologne told her.
"What?" Rouge said in shock.
"You have about an hour's worth of memories missing from your mind, that I can tell." The Matriarch told her.
"But, that would mean," she hugged her arms to herself and made a degusted expression. "No, no, he didn't, he couldn't!"
"I could tell it from your aura, he controlled your thoughts, had his way with you, and erased all evidence of it from your body and mind." Cologne said calmly.
"Ewww! He, he had his hands, no ME!" the Amazon cried. "Oh, I gotta wash, is there such a thing as sandpaper soap!"
"There's no tell how many young girls in Nerima fell victim to him already." Aeka spoke up.
"Likely he underestimated the tenacity of the local police when he took that teacher, so he summoned the demon to take us off his trail, and kept a low profile ever since then." Washu surmised. "This guy may be a nutcase, but if history is any lesson we know that insanity and stupidity do not always go hand in hand."
"I hear that sugar, like Hitler, he was a real nutball but also a certified genius." Said Ukyo.
"He will be after the other Keys." Hikaru spoke up.
"A Shinto shrine in Nagasaki was blown sky high by some powerful force just this morning." Genma informed them. "Could that be one of the places these Keys are hidden?"
"It was the location of the first Key." Cologne nodded.
"Where are the others?" Tenchi asked.
"One of Hikaru's fellow samurai who traveled with him to Josenkyo brought the first key back with him." Cologne explained. "His line started the shrine at Nagasaki, the other Keys were scattered around the world, stolen by antiquity thieves, sold in auctions, lost in natural disasters and wars. It is almost impossible to tell where they keys are located without using divining magic to locate them."
"That's our department!" the two twins cheered.
The girls regarded these two for the first time and their eyes narrowed. The Amazon Chi Sorceresses were just way too kawaii. They were voluptuous girls with flowing hourglass figures, enormous busts that made them seem extremely top heavy, and a pair of faces that were more child-like than pretty. It made for a look that was a devastating combination of kawaii and sexy at the same time. Added to that is their choice of dress, iddy biddy little leather string bikinis with tiny balls of white and black fur for additional kawaii-ness. The girls hated them on sight, especially when they looked at Tenchi and Ranma with those wide eyed expressions of delight. If looks could kill the collective stares of all the girls should have vaporized the twins within seconds.
"The twins are right, they're the only ones who can find the other keys before he does." Rouge said.
"The Keys that open that fountain thing that can make him into a god." Said Tenchi.
"Yes, the very one." Cologne nodded. "But the chamber can only opened when using all five Keys during a full-moon."
"Then we've got some time to spare then." Said Ranma.
"Not too much, the twins will need to do most of the work trailing the other keys for us." Cologne explained.
"The Keys work to boost Kun Lao's powers, so right now he's not strong enough to beat all of us together." Salt explained.
"So finding them before he does should be priority one." Said Washu.
"Well, here we go again, Ryoko." Aeka sighed.
"Hey, it beats moping around the house with nothing to do." The space pirate replied.
"Do not underestimate him, with us together he can't defeat us, but on a one to one basis he could, as they say, mop the floor with us." Cologne warmed them.
"Now that he's exposed he's gonna be keeping an even lower profile, so tracking his movements will be very hard." Washu sighed.
"We must remain sharp and weary." Said Cologne. "He has many resources at his disposal, many powerful underlings who still live today whom he could call upon. The worst of all being the Lich, and the creature known as Gaal."
"He could strike at us, at many moment." She continued.

The city was called Hiroshima, in Kun Lao's time it was a small village, and now like Tokyo and other major cities in modern day Japan it was huge and bustling with activity. It amazed the Chi Sorcerer how much technology had advanced since his day. From Hikaru Gosunkugi's memories and from modern day tomes he read, Kun Lao knew this city was all but totally destroyed in the last global war. The country called "America" has used a new weapon that harnessed the power of natural forces they were only just beginning to understand and created a terrible weapon called a Nuclear Bomb. The city was rebuilt on the ashes of the old, but the scars of that terrible weapon could still be seen.
Kun Lao wasn't concerned with such things, however, he was interested in his goal. His destination with a cemetery that sat near the edge of the city, an ancient burial ground dating back to the feudal era. Many of the grave markers bore the scars of that terrible day when the "Enola Gay", a flying machine belonging to the American's, changed the history of the world and started a serious of events that would result in something historians called "The Cold War". It was out of necessity that he expended the energy to come here, he did not realize he would be needing the assistance of his ancient servant so soon. The return of the "ronin" made this a necessity, not only because of his return, but because he threw in his lot with the Saotome boy and his Juraian cousin. Now they will learn what happens to those who dare to oppose the will of Kun Lao. They will face the horrors of his greatest servant...The Lich.
__________
To be continued...

Next time...
Part 4: Enter Ranko
Washu devises what she hopes will be a cure for Ranma's curse, but it has unexpected results that changes everything at the Tendo house forever. Meanwhile, Kun Lao has acquired the first key to the Chamber of Ascension. His servant The Lich has awakened to create a distraction, now Ranma, Tenchi, and now the family faces their most challenging threat yet. The Undead!