Guest Ki: Chapter 44
Hell to Pay
Barry placed the last of the deceptively heavy meteoric stones in the pattern outlined by the scrolls. Soon the three Weavers would march in a peculiar dogleg spiral to their places in the pattern and begin the procedure to release Shampoo, Ling-Ling and Lung-Lung from the bonds inhibiting their projective ki. The center pattern, laid out in a milky green crushed stone, was precisely drawn in a hexagon with points off three sides. In the center, three Amazon maidens nervously waited for the preparations to end and the ceremony to begin.
"Why all three go at once?" asked Lung-Lung.
Shampoo touched her shoulder, making her jump. "Barry-baka find we three bound together, as well as ki bound," she explained. "If not all done at same time, very dangerous." She paused and thought a moment, then shrugged. "Is very dangerous anyway." Lung-Lung gulped.
"What they do there, big sister?" Ling-Ling pointed at Cologne painting symbols on Akane's face, a large oval mark with a gold center and triangular marks with golden centers on each cheekbone.
"It symbology for Akane, Barry-baka and Grandmother to represent powers of rite, many-many analogies. Grandmother represent knowledge and totality of knowledge, we Joketsuzoku call Sorceress or Bearer of Wisdom. Akane is Guardian or Scout. She watch trends and forecasts, gives information to Barry to spin into spell. She also act as Warrior if trouble come. Barry balance-point between what IS and what MIGHT BE." Barry's face already bore a vertical slash of blue on her forehead and triangles on her cheekbones. Not happy that Cologne was adamant about the ceremony requiring three women, she seemed to ignore the Amazons in the center of the pattern as she nudged at the stones until satisfied with the pattern of their ki-signatures. "Barry is Weaver. Weaver in this case, correct mistakes in pattern, remove ki-blocks. Barry one actually fixing ki."
"Akane must remain with you three in the innermost ward," Cologne graveled, finally satisfied with the results of her artwork. "Barry may move only between the wards, and I must remain outside, acting as Warden and resource." Barry moved over and picked up the brush to apply marks to Cologne's face. In nine strokes of the brush, Cologne had blue triangular marks on forehead and withered cheeks. "Not bad, Barry. I can see now, how you had the skill to complete the work on Ukyo's yatai so quickly."
"Ling-Ling not understand. Why warrior on inside and leader on outside? Is backwards."
"If this were a physical threat, you would be right. But any threat here will most likely come from you three," Cologne answered the twin. She carefully walked around the patterns they had laid out, nodding satisfactorily. "We'll begin at midday and probably finish by moonlight."
"What!"
"How long?"
"Aiya!" Lung-Lung, in particular, was distressed.
"What's wrong, granddaughter?" asked Cologne.
Lung-Lung looked embarrassed. "Grandmother, I've got to go."
"I thought there are four elements in rite?" Shampoo asked carefully. Cologne nodded in reply as Lung-Lung picked her way carefully across the crushed stone to the house. Kasumi and Soun were visiting Aunt Makiko, mostly to get Soun out of the way.
"That's correct child. Mousse is the fourth in the rite. You might say his place is to support the women, as is only fit in a ritual like this. It is actually a difficult place to be and requires considerable social skills. Still, we had no one else readily available."
"Oh, that makes me feel so valued," growled Mousse as he practiced stepping around the inner wards. He had bound his long hair back in a ponytail to keep it out of the way. Like Barry, this was his primary operating area. He was stepping carefully over and around the pattern on the ground to familiarize himself with its intricacy. If he had to move fast, he could not afford to break the lines.
Barry picked her way to the porch and reread the translation of the Amazon scroll she and Mousse made…
The Sorceress T'Zeah came to Di Pli Te and bespoke her. "Why have you done this? Where there had been unity, you have divided us like a roast chicken to be eaten by our enemies."
The Accursed shook her head and spoke with pride. "I have saved our people. Where a rock stands alone in the waters, the rock is tumbled about and soon is washed away. Where rocks stand together, they stand against the flood."
T'Zeah struck the ground with her staff in righteous anger. "Rocks may stand, but pebbles are soon washed away no matter how many they are!" She struck the ground again to silence the Accursed. "You acted without permission of the Elders and without permission of the Matriarchs! You are too strong to confine, yet you believe you act in the interests of the People. Your challenges have been lawfully delivered so you may not be slain. Therefore, you shall be bound. Bound in body and in spirit. With ropes of hair, your sisters' fingers will bind you. With ropes of spirit (ki), your Elders' hands of shadow will insure you may not escape."
"I would rather you killed me," replied the Accursed.
"Your skills and experience are needed by your people," T'Zeah reminded her. "You chose this path." The prisoner agreed that she had and met her fate as a warrior for the good of her people.
To bind the hands of power and limit the reach of the spirit, must the spirit be guided to the place of the dark-that-eats-all. There must the darkness be entwined in the wings of the eye. The wings will be weakened and the eye may not rove. Fingers of the spirit must pass through to find the rainbow rope that binds the worlds apart in all living and weave a weakness between light and dark.
This shall be found near the circles of renewal and the center of the world. The roots of the tree of life are always endangered, but life is strong and the guardians will provide protection. The guardians are provoked by such action, for it attacks their power when the waters of life are denied the tree...
Eventually, everyone took the assigned places. Shampoo and her sisters drank a cup Cologne provided, a sedative to prevent them from unintentional movement during the rite. Then, Cologne sealed the outer wards. With stately steps, the four strode to their positions, weaving in between one another like some intricate dance of planets about a triple sun.
Cologne reached her position first and stood within a circle near the pond. "Hearken ye! Here stand I, she who is written in stone, confirmed and unchanging. I am what has passed by and is within the grasp of all who seek. I am the fountain by which life is sustained, the knowledge by which all life is strengthened, the experience through which all life is known. The wisdom with which all life is enriched."
Barry took her starting position beside Shampoo. She met Cologne's eyes, nodded and spoke. "Hearken ye! Here stand I, she who must decide, she who balances knowledge and inspiration, experience and experiment, wisdom and research. What gnaws at the roots of these trees? Least these trees of life die, we three must hearken to our tasks. The worm that draws life from the root must be expelled."
"Hearken ye!" intoned Akane as she paced a pattern around and between the Amazons who lay with heads to the center of the inner circle. "I am she who seeks, who wanders where she will to seek the truth, discover wisdom, and add to knowledge. What force is laid to warp the growth of these lives? Destiny is denied by this force. Hear ye all! As sisters, let us to this work begin!"
With the proximity of Shampoo's sisters, the block was clearly visible to ki-vision in great detail. To the inner eye, it appeared as a segmented worm with three heads, shifting and alive, in and of itself, woven around the sisters like Lacoon and the serpents. Hooks of otherworldly substance anchored it in the girls' auras. Barry examined the linkage, looking for a starting point.
"There!" said Akane suddenly, as she moved in the pattern of her station between their patients. "If we try to attack the heads first, it will become active and do damage like the gaki-oni did to us." Barry shuddered at the thought. Akane glanced up at Barry. "Is there some way of keeping it from latching back on?"
"That's my job," Mousse interrupted. "Hidden weapon technique applies. I came prepared." He pulled a heavy earthenware container with a thick lead cap from his right sleeve.
"Let's do this..."
As the shadows grew, the claws of each segment were gently and delicately disengaged from their grips in the auras of the three girls. Akane shifted back and forth, moving around the immediate action in the tight confines of the inner ward like a hyperactive ballerina, unconsciously displaying the balance and poise she gained since the lake. She delivered a running commentary of what she observed. From time to time, Cologne would suggest a course of action, based on her experience. Some segments of the block were more difficult to extract than others. Occasionally elements of the auras needed to be deliberately broken, then gently reconnected, to remove the interloping presence. Some elements and connections simply could not be disrupted. In these cases, Cologne was absolutely required, as her interpretations of Akane's observations spelled the difference between life and death.
As the moon rose, Mousse's face grew increasingly haggard. He observed that, while the weight of normal substances was mostly negated by his technique, this substance retained substantial weight. He strained, as Barry gently spread the ki apart and extracted the looping horror revealed. Clouds zipped across the stars, speeding on high-altitude winds, which indicated a front coming through. Barry kept reminding herself to breathe. She was well aware of Mousse's strain, as she was the failing energy of Akane and Cologne. Akane's voice was becoming hoarse, her words slurred. Cologne had been maintaining the wards, which served ultimately to contain what they worked on and prevent outside influences, drawn to the working, from interfering. Twice, energies had clashed at the corners of their vision, indicating an interloper repelled.
The more she worked on this... this thing, the more it resembled some horrific spiritual tapeworm. She reached with her ki and lifted free the last segment before the division to, for lack of a better word, the heads. The triple necks protruded from the mouth of the jar. She paused and looked at Akane and Mousse then called across to Cologne.
"We're to the final stage, Granny."
"Impertinent whelp," she chuckled from her position by the pond. "What's the delay?"
"The three heads are attached directly to the wheel of the reproductive ki, Cologne," Akane husked, her voice warbling a little. "This thing is all connected. If we take a head off, the other heads may react violently, because its nourishment will be threatened. If we simply cut the heads, which Barry might manage with Nekoken, I get the feeling it will simply re-grow."
"Barry?" Cologne queried.
"I agree. We have to get all the heads off."
"Please, hurry," croaked Mousse.
"Barry," Cologne said suddenly. "Do you remember how you imitated Kodachi?"
The redhead shuddered. "All too well, thank you."
"Can you can generate a ki ball that imitates the ki of one of the girls?"
Barry considered. "I think I see where yer goin'," she frowned thoughtfully. "Make a sort of pacifier or baby-soother for each head while we lift it out?"
"Exactly."
Barry bit her lip, peering from one to the other of the heads, wondering where to start.
"Do the twins first, Barry," suggested Akane. "While everyone's ki is unique, theirs has more similarities than not. You could maintain the imitation longer and have time to work on Shampoo."
There was a long silence as Barry considered. Wind whipping the tree branches was not felt within the wards. "Let's finish this!" Barry straightened and held out her hands, palms toward the sky. Light blossomed and spun into balls of energy visible only to the inner eye. The colors shifted and changed, and changed some more. The balls drifted off her hands to sink into the younger Amazons' bodies. At Barry's urging, they drifted through the auras of those young bodies to come to rest at the 'mouth' that sucked upon their life forces. She moved to Ling-Ling and gently disengaged the mouth, which shifted sleepily then settled again as she maneuvered it into the mouth of the jar. She moved to Lung-Lung and, as she worked, became aware that Akane was hefting her mallet, ready on some instinctive level to respond if the thing became active. Carefully, the second head was shifted to the jar. The largest and, she supposed, the oldest of the heads remained.
Barry labored to produce another ki ball tailored to Shampoo, and let it drift against the sucking mouth. Tooth by tooth, the mouth was disengaged from Shampoo's ki. Straining from maintaining three separate illusions and projective ki manifestations, Barry shifted the heavy head toward the jar. With a muffled groan, Mousse let the jar rest on the ground. Barry paused, winked at him in support and slowly poured the last of the thing into the containing jar. As the head slipped into its prison, four unholy burning eyes opened around the gaping mouth.
"I will be fed!"
Barry winced at the volume of the voice that echoed in her head. Desperately she slammed the lead lid down on the roaring toothy face. It launched her skyward with a surge of power.
"I will be fed!" The head reared up, eldritch flames beginning to light its surface.
"Ki-yah!" (BAM!)
"Owie!" The head looked rather flattened by Akane's mallet. It sank back into the jar, apparently concussed, and Mousse scrambled for the lid, snatching it up and clapping it down as fast as he could. Using the fire-claw technique, Barry hurriedly sealed the lid in its slot, and incised the sealing symbol on its surface. The demon was contained.
"Nice shot, tomboy," Barry commented shakily. She watched amused as Akane tried to retort and whispered ineffectively. After a moment, she brandished her mallet at the redhead.
"Is it over?" asked Mousse shakily.
"It looks like it," Cologne said from beside the koi pond. Cologne paced her outer wards and negated the walls that had protected them. She hopped over to the jar and placed a hand against it, wincing at the raging voice that could be heard faintly when in contact. She turned to her descendants and felt the ki of each girl, as they lay immobile, still under the influence of her drug. After a moment, she looked up at Barry with the first honest, open smile Ranma's memories or his own could recall. "They're already recovering," she said shakily. "The blockage is totally gone." Barry looked away from the tears she heard.
"Heh! Well... me for some hot water! Thanks, Mousse." She accepted a thermos Mousse pulled out of a sleeve. "Does the hidden weapons technique conserve heat, Mousse?" She poured. "Yowtch! I guess it does," he finished.
(SPANG! SPANG! SPANG! SPANG!) Hoops of dark metal plummeted from the sky to drop over the heads of the martial artists standing in the Tendo garden. As the loops passed their shoulders, the hoops made the odd sound of stressed metal and expanded vertically as they contracted horizontally. Almost instantly, four individuals were cocooned in metal coils.
A dark form dropped from the eaves of the roof to crouch in the shadows of the porch. "Well, that went as well as expected." Jean Koile pulled off his mask and moved into the light. The Master of Slinky-fu verified that they were immobilized then sat on the sealed ceramic container. His thin cheeks puffed out comically and he shoved his wire rim glasses back up on his nose. "Better actually," he added, nudging Barry with a toe.
"Koile! What the hell do you think you're doing?" growled Barry, glaring at the thin figure.
"Earning my three-squares, Saotome," the man said simply. "And indulging a bit of curiosity. What were you people doing?"
"None of your business," Barry snorted. "And just how is wrapping us in steel earning you anything?"
"I'm an assassin," Koile admitted. "Freelance. Don't bother asking who sent me." He stood again and tried to shift the jar. With some effort, it toppled sidewise, then rolled a few centimeters, leaving a track like a rolling pin. "Hmmm… If you're wondering, I already checked your house and pumped some nice soporifics into your neighbor's houses; so go ahead and yell if you want. Very heavy! Tell me, just what is in this?"
"If you're an assassin, I presume we're the contract," Barry said. "What's in it for us?"
"A quick death, as well as having the honor of being my one-thousandth job." Koile put his foot on the jar and rocked it back and forth. "I use Slinkys to subdue my targets and various substances to interrogate and finish them. Why opt for more pain than necessary?" He leaned over and, exerting considerable strength, managed to upright the jar again. "Oh, well. As heavy as this is, it's almost got to be one of the noble metals. Am I right?"
"It's a demon container, Koile-san. Open it, and you're dead." Cologne's voice grated in the darkness and left Koile standing stock still in the shadows near the pond. He snorted. He laughed hysterically. Barry had a sinking feeling Koile was going to do something really stupid. The only question was whether he would do it before or after he killed them.
The man walked over to the three Amazons. "Pretty. Too bad I can't keep one, but I have to make certain I remain unobserved. Such is life." He picked up Lung-Lung by her hair and waved a hand before her eyes. She murmured in protest. "Nope, can't risk it." He dropped her onto the ground and walked back to his captives.
"Now you are a surprise," he said to Barry. I would have sworn you were a girl just a few minutes ago." He took out a small penlight and shined it on Barry's face, then the others. Hmmm… Saotome Ranma, Tendo Akane and Mousse, right? Good! And those girls are Shampoo, Ling-Ling and Lung-Lung. And you," he kicked Cologne, "are the Matriarch of the Joketsuzoku." He seemed to check off some mental list. "I should be all finished up in just a few more days then," he said complacently.
"Huuuu, hehhh," rasped Akane's voice. Koile looked at her puzzled.
"Who else?" Barry interpreted.
Koile smiled, but didn't answer. He snapped his fingers and walked to the koi pond. Cupping some water in his hands, he moved back over to Barry and splashed him. The change occurred and metal coils shifted, as he became she and shrank in size. "Damn! I really didn't believe it." He walked around Barry. "I may just keep you. I can think of five or six governments who would love to do research on you."
Barry just scowled. The coils that wrapped her still contained a lot of potential energy. While she and Akane could escape using the shield technique, Mousse and Cologne would be helpless and the girls, woozy from the drug, were also at risk. Then inspiration dawned. "If ya think I'm special, ya should see what Mousse is like." Koile eyed the curves that bulged behind the tight-wrapped steel bands that cocooned the redhead and raised an eyebrow.
"Saotome," snarled Mousse, "how could you betray me like that?"
Good, Mousse picked up his cues. Of them all, other than Ranma, only Mousse, as master of hidden weapons, was still dangerous in his cursed form. If he could keep Koile busy long enough, Barry and Akane could escape to gang up on the man. Between them, they could put any martial artist alive down in seconds.
Oh, please don' t'row me in dat briar patch, Br'er Fox! Koile mocked them in English as he knelt beside the pot. "Nice try. I'll just check out this pot. Then you can all try to convince me to give you a quick send off."
Barry cursed. "Don't open the pot, you fool!" Koile began to pry at the seal with a small knife. She sensed power surge from Akane and winced; not nearly enough power to shove the coils wide enough to escape. Akane must be more exhausted than Barry had thought. She boggled as the shorthaired girl blazed past them, heading for the assassin with deadly intensity. 'What?'
(SPANG!)
The sound of Akane's former prison collapsing in on itself alerted Koile to his danger. He leaped back in time to avoid Akane's initial attack. Barry blazed power into her shield and, as she gained swinging room, ripped apart the huge Slinky with the neko-claws. She spared a glance for the other captives. They'd have to wait. Koile implied he used poisons and no way was she going to let Akane face that alone. Koile kept Akane at bay using a version of his Slinky Chinese yo-yo weapon. It moved in strange patterns and, to ki-vision, it reeked of death. As Barry blazed in, she noted that it cut through the privacy fence as well as any katana and suspected the edges were coated in poison. Koile saw Barry coming and threw what looked like several balls of heavy-duty steel wool at her. Expecting the worst, Barry tried to place herself between Koile and the prisoners behind her, throwing up full shields. "Akane! Hit the dirt!"
(SPANgerOWwowWowow!) The 'steel wool' expanded and ripped apart like shrapnel grenades, sending sharp threads of metal everywhere. Behind them, the ceramic pot holding the demon toppled over. Koile leaped between them as they recovered and came to a stop beside the pot. He held up a small box in one hand and turned back to his opponents. "Stop right there or your friends are dead. I don't know how you two got out, but if I press this button, the magnetic fields keeping their bonds from crushing them will collapse. I want you two to back off and sit down over there." He smiled nastily.
Barry frowned. 'Magnetic field?' She realized, then, that Akane had recognized the prison's controls and expanded her prison enough to escape, whereas Barry had gone the brute strength route. How could she take advantage of this? She saw Koile start and glance down. She tensed but hesitated; there was too much distance, even for her or Akane...
"Wha—! Why is this glowing?" demanded Koile shakily.
(KRACKT-TOW!) The demon pot split and fell in pieces.
"I will be fed!"
The assassin was knocked off his feet by contact with unseen substance. He stared at the smoking pieces of the empty pot and babbled. "Where's the gold?"
Barry and Akane were already beside Mousse and Cologne, and the former watched how Akane expanded Mousse's prison before releasing the Matriarch. "Incoming!" rapped Cologne and Barry snapped up shields. The demon went right through them.
"I WILL be fed!" shouted the soundless voice whose existence rasped like a file on a blackboard tuned to bass notes.
Barry gasped in shock and pain, as her aura began to shred away under its onslaught. Desperately, she reached for the only weapon available that had been effective before, only limiting it to the shields she armored her arms with. Her pain redoubled as the effect of the technique tore at her psyche and the mere presence of the modified shield caused the worm to recoil with a shriek. She struck and the demon's segments smoked and cracked under the blow. It was not decisive this time, however.
The head darted in again like a cobra strike. "I WILL BE FED!" Fortunately, cobras are not that fast and Barry dodged the hit and struck again. As it screamed, Akane laid into it with a mallet. The toothy maw was slammed into the ground. This time, however, it rose up and oriented on the other girl. "YOU! I WILL PUNISH YOUR IMPERTINENCE!"
Barry felt threat and dodged. Koile's Slinky-sword whipped by, passing through the space the demon apparently occupied without affecting it at all. "You fool! You released a demon with your greed," Barry shouted, eyes tearing with the pain. It was a good pain however, compared to the agony of the worm's maw.
"What have you done to my arm?"Koile screamed The arm that had held the remote control was limp and boneless at his side. Startled, Barry paid closer attention and noticed a feeding head, previously anchored to Ling-Ling or Lung-Lung, attached to the arm. Koile's ki was being rapidly consumed as the thing worked its way into his torso, devouring the aura as it went. Barry dodged again as the sword wow-wowed past, and struck with a ki-encased fist aimed, not at Koile, but the thing that was eating him.
Koile screamed. The worm-head screamed and released its hold on Koile. The main head was distracted from its attack on Akane and was bashed again by her mallet. It seemed to lose the edge it had earlier and Barry suspected that without a body to feed from, it exhausted its energy quickly. She drove in at the worm, smashing with ki-clad arms, trying to summon up the neko-claws and combine that technique with this one. Koile staggered, his affected arm withered and dry looking, the displaced arm of some ancient mummy hanging incongruously from his shoulder. He stumbled and drew back his good arm, aiming at the redheaded girl that caused him such agony. Barry moved between the demon and her friends and herded it away from them. Behind her, she heard Akane croak painfully at Cologne, asking if there was some way to imprison it again.
"I WILL BE FED!" it shrieked and suddenly dodged away.
Koile, his arm already moving forward to strike, screamed in agony as the demon turned its full attention on him. Mouths seemed to sprout from all three heads like the tentacles of a jellyfish, and Koile went down under its flashing mass. The demon quivered as it fed, its presence becoming more solid by the moment until, with a sense of horror, Barry realized the beast was becoming visible to the naked eye.
Barry and Akane leaped forward, one armed with ki, the other with a mallet that had proved at least partially effective in hurting the monster. They hammered at the beast, driving it away from the whimpering and now limp assassin. It thrashed and roared, its struggles beginning to interact with physical substance as well as ki. It threw them back twice, attempting to reattach to the feebly moving Koile, then...
(KKRRAACKKK!)The mallet head rose from between two of its now dimly glowing eyes. Its body shuddered and lost its flame and substance. Suddenly, it looked like nothing so much as a jumbo-sized Cecil the Seasick Sea Serpent puppet.
"Wow! Another good one, tomb—!" began Barry, then stopped, shocked. It wasn't Akane at the other end of the mallet.
"You don't belong here, Nidhugg!" cried Sakurida, glaring. Her hands still firmly grasped the grip of the mallet.
"Owie!" The beast quivered as if trapped in stone. "Not fair. I'm hungry." Its whining voice was a whisper compared to what it had been.
"You get fed all the time, worm." Sakurida suddenly brandished her mallet and glanced sidewise at her audience. Her next words were incomprehensible, but tickled at the edge of recognition. For some reason Barry was reminded of Sakurida's engineering notations. She caught the word 'Nidhugg' again and the demon burst like a string of bubbles, starting with the tip of the tail segment and working rapidly up to the heads.
"It's… not... fair," the last head whimpered plaintively just before it popped.
Koile's groans broke them all from their shocked contemplation of Sakurida. Barry sank down beside the man and scanned him deeply. She shook her head. "I really don't know what we're going to tell the police."
Barry sincerely wished Nabiki were present for this session. She managed to convince the police, with some help from the others, that Koile had identified himself as an assassin intent on carrying out a contract against them. Individually and as a group, they assured the authorities that they were unaware of anyone who might particularly want them dead and assured them that Sakurida was an innocent bystander, a friend that had gotten caught in the action.
They were relieved when the police reported back that all the neighbors had been rescued. They responded well to treatment by the emergency medical personnel and, aside from hangovers from whatever Koile used, were unharmed.
The story that Koile had been cut with his own equipment had the police gingerly collecting every shred of metal left by his weapons. Koile now looked like he was eighty years old with a sort of dry rot starting in his extremities. Only his identification and the fact that when the police had arrived he had looked only sixty with massive bruising kept them from questioning his condition. Barry walked around with the police, using ki-vision to locate every scrap of poisonous shrapnel and assuring that they were particularly cautious with the Slinky-sword.
It was dawn by the time they finished and everyone was sitting exhausted in the Tendo main room. The silence at first was deafening. Then Sakurida giggled, looking at Cologne. She snickered and the sound was incredibly contagious, except everyone was nearly too tired to care.
"What's wrong, child?" Cologne grated. The old woman was in a noticeably good mood as her repeated scans of her great-granddaughters continued to show healing of the projective levels. Had she been asked, she might have admitted that she was nearly as nervous and excited as the day they had been born. Still, having a young chit like Sakurida laugh at her...
"Your face... Those marks!" She giggled again as Cologne reached up to touch the paint on her old cheeks.
"Oh." The Matriarch fixed Sakurida with a glare. "If I guess correctly, you are very familiar with the significance of these marks?"
"Well, yeah," Sakurida stopped laughing and looked a little defensive.
"How did you just happen to arrive at so critical a time and recognize exactly what to do?" Cologne pressed. Her gaze sharpened. She wasn't certain just who Sakurida and her sister were, but she decided that the mental lethargy she normally felt when questions like this came up just wasn't going to cut it this time. Sakurida sweated and gulped. Anyone in the focus of this old woman's gaze would. Barry felt sorry for her and just a little amused. She had saved them and, for just a second there, he had thought...
"You know, I thought you were the tomboy when that hammer came down," he chuckled. "Didn't think anybody else knew how to wield a mallet like that!" He ducked as Akane threatened him again. She was silent, however, her throat too sore to speak. "You knew what that thing was, too. Are you and yer sister part of some kind of religion or something that fights these things? What?" Barry blinked at Cologne as she glared daggers at him.
"Well, yes... sort of," Sakurida offered, "And it's all three of us. We have an older sister, Urudu Kamiko. That's why I recognized the symbols you have drawn on your faces. My oldest sister has long white hair and is very vain about her looks."
"Bit of a shock to see those marks on the mummy, huh?" Barry offered. (Thwack!) "Ow! I had that coming. Sorry, Granny."
"No stranger than seeing Baradandya's marks on yours, Barry," Sakurida giggled.
"I got hers? I'm honored. Appropriate, I guess, since I was using her technique to fight that thing." He nodded to the mallet. "Is that part of the costume?"
"This?" She clutched her mallet protectively. "Well, sort of."
"That means you and Akane are even closer than I thought," Barry grinned. "Malleteers of the world unite!"
"Baka," drawled Sakurida. Akane nodded emphatically in agreement.
"So, what brought you by last night?" Cologne demanded again, shushing Barry.
"I was hoping Barry and Akane hadn't gone to bed yet," Sakurida said. "I mean, it's not as if they go to sleep when the sun goes down."
"Jeez, Sakurida," Barry said blushing. "Watch how ya say that!"
"Shut up, Barry-baka," Cologne grated. "And you are practitioners of a cult of the Three?"
"I wouldn't call us a cult!" Sakurida looked hurt. "The symbology of the three sisters is recognized across Europe and Asia. Past, present and future personified in…"
"The Greek Fates, the Scandinavian Norns — there are others, but those are the best known today," Barry injected, his face lighting up. "Lachesys, Clotho and Atropos, or Skuld, Beldandy and Urd. It would have been nice to know the deeper meaning." She glared at Cologne with a hint of pique.
"I felt you would have enough difficulty dealing with the foreign symbology, Barry," the old woman said. "Your background in Christianity tends to make you suspicious of magic, and I really wanted you in the ritual."
Barry rubbed his forehead. "You're saying that this was magic?"
"Of course. Magic is a word used to describe that which is unknown. Ki manipulation and the existence of the Immortals is unknown to most and, therefore, magic."
"Old ghoul," Barry said, without much heat.
"Are you really upset that you represented an Immortal in the ritual, Barry?" Sakurida seemed almost in tears at the thought.
Barry glanced at her then at Cologne. "Just so ya all understand, it's not worship," he said finally. "That's only for the One, for me. How are the girls?" he asked Cologne, putting it all behind him.
Shampoo spoke for herself. "I am fine, Barry. Thank you."
"Feel any different?"
"I... don't know. Maybe. Will you still teach how to use ki?"
Barry suddenly grinned. "You bet! Even the One expects us to use our talents, cat-girl." He looked out the window. "But first, I think we all better get ready for school." He frowned and looked across at the pond. "Then we need ta find out who's using assassins these days."
"I think I have some contacts who can help there," Cologne offered. "But someone like this had to have money behind him."
The phone rang. They looked at one another. Barry nodded to Cologne. "Nodoka," she said.
Barry pointed to Akane. "Nodoka, no bets," Akane husked. "She's going to be wondering where you were last night." She walked over and picked up the phone. "Moshi, moshi," Akane smiled painfully and gave them a thumbs-up. "Hello, Aunt Nodoka. Yes, I know I sound terrible. Barry?" She made a face and looked at Barry who made a throat-cutting sign. "Could you talk to Cologne, please? My throat is sore; I've been talking all night."
Sakurida looked at the paling skyline and sighed. "I have to be going," she apologized. "I have a morning class. Tadiama!" She flitted to the door and was gone before Cologne could disengage from the phone to further question her.
"You going to school today, Shampoo?" asked Barry.
The Amazon smiled and hugged herself. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."
Barry made a point of looking for Mrs. Morisato before class. He found her in the teacher's lounge and bowed to her respectfully. "Ranma," she acknowledged. As soon as the other teachers were gone she leaned forward. "Barry-san, how did your working go?"
"Thank you, Baradandya Morisato. We would have died if it weren't for your technique and your sister showing up when she did." Barry remained in the formal supplicant's position.
"Please, Barry-san, that is not necessary. I'm not Japanese either. I'm glad it went well." She indicated the coffee machine and a tray of rolls on the side table. "Would you like something?"
"Only more sleep," he replied. He took a roll, however. "Now, I can work on getting home."
"Yes, you must be pleased." She smiled like the sun coming out. "What was that you said about my sister?"
"After the... ritual was over and the wards were dropped, we had a visitor. We had trapped the demon in a jar and sealed it, like so." He drew the symbol on the desktop with a finger. "Our visitor wanted to kill us, but when he realized the jar was so heavy, he decided it was a treasure of some kind and opened it."
"Oh, my. I take it the creature was unhappy with you?" Mrs. Morisato poured tea and offered it to Barry, so much like Kasumi that he smiled.
"A little. Kept yelling 'I will be fed!' and all. I ran your technique through my shields, and used those to punch the thing. It didn't like that at all."
"Oh, dear. You really shouldn't use it that way. Wasn't it painful?"
Barry nodded. "Ranma taught me, pain can always be endured if it's for the right reasons."
His audience nodded in understanding. Then with a smile, she took a tissue from a box and wet it with her tongue. She leaned forward and scrubbed at his forehead. "You missed a spot," she said. He grinned and ducked away, embarrassed. The paint from the markings was devilishly hard to take off.
The door banged open and a gorgeous woman with platinum blond hair glided in, stopping and evaluating them as soon as she was aware of their presence. Barry was immediately conscious of the fact that on one level, Mrs. Morisato was delighted to see this person. On another level she was, by turns, annoyed, dismayed and just a little defensive. The woman smiled, waved breezily and gave Barry a once over that would have earned Ranma a pounding had any of the girls seen it. It evaluated and invited, with no expectation of refusal, to romp. Barry blushed, wondering why he was thinking of chocolate mousse, low lighting, furo and satiny cloth sliding... He shook his head to clear it of the unwanted distraction. "Hi, there," the woman said. "I'm Urudu. Who might you be?"
Barry shook his head again. He focused on her face and tried to think. "I'm..." Suddenly he realized who this must be. "You're Skuld and Beldandy's older sister, Urd?" He used the original pronunciations, as a distraction for both of them. Fortunately, it seemed to work. She stopped dead in her tracks as if she found herself in the sights of an automatic weapon. He saw her pushiness withdrawn and sensed a preparation for battle. "I'm Ranma Saotome... at least for the moment."
She blinked, reassessed and looked at him in an odd way. She was much more restrained as she slid past him to receive a hug from her sister. Some form of nonverbal communication passed between them. She turned back to Barry and smiled less hungrily, but with a teasing look in her eyes, which told him that, if she wanted to, she could get him in real trouble and he'd probably guiltily enjoy it. "So you're Ranma?" The way she said it, Barry almost looked down to make sure nothing embarrassing was showing and he had matching socks. "Pleased to meet you," she added. She frowned suddenly and looked closely at his face. He felt a shock, as she seemed to turn off the pushy sex appeal once more and become instead a competent, concerned young woman. She touched one cheek and his forehead before he could draw back and looked puzzled.
Mrs. Morisato smiled and said, "Jusenkyo. Actually, Ranma has several interesting problems, sister."
Urudu glanced from her sister to Barry and back again, as she nodded in understanding and stepped back. "Is he why you and the shrimp were reassigned from the Relief Office?" she demanded.
Barry frowned. 'Relief Office?'
Near the front gate of Furinkan, Hiroshi, Daisuke and Gosunkugi were toweling off after a morning run. Gos only did half the number of laps the others had, but was well satisfied. The two had adopted Gos after the flag football game and convinced the spidery youth that there was more to life than cameras, spells and voodoo dolls. Though he still carried his camera everywhere, he discovered more normal activities as well. He knelt and snapped some pictures of the people using the early morning track, while the other two snickered or pointed to this or that girl that they might want to get to know. As yet, they were unaware that they were, in turn, increasingly a source of interest among the young ladies who watched the track watchers.
"Pardon me, boys."
They turned and stopped dead. Behind them was a gorgeous blond woman in some of the most exotic leather clothing they'd ever seen outside of their skin magazines. Hip-high boots studded with heavy buckles encased long slender legs. The costume covering her body seemed to be nothing more than a confusing array of leather belts armed with metal spikes that bristled every which way. The belts hugged the body in a way that suggested bondage to their fevered brains. Fingerless leather gloves covered her arms past the elbow and became crisscrossing straps that eventually buckled at her shoulders. A huge black cape with a red and gold design swirled slightly in the morning breeze. The temptation to reach out and release that firm body from its leathery prison was offset by the threat an embrace against those spikes created. On her cheekbones and forehead, marks in crimson stood out. Gosunkugi, peeking between them from his kneeling position, paled and snapped a photo, his last for that roll. Every sense he had was screaming 'danger' at the sight of this woman. Dropping in a fresh roll of film, he continued to snap frame after frame.
"Wooo-fa!" murmured Daisuke with glazed eyes.
"Yeah, leather-clad Bad Biker Babe!" Hiroshi murmured back, referring to a particularly striking photo they had in their collection.
The woman smiled hungrily, showing some fang. Such morons, these little boys... Mere snacks if she troubled herself to taste them. But she was after bigger game.
"Ummm... You wouldn't be related to Ryoga Hibiki, would you?"
The woman blinked. 'Who?' She shook her head. Mustn't let herself get distracted. "I'm looking for someone, not you boys, and wondered if anyone around here had seen her? You fellows look like you wouldn't miss someone who looks like her." She pulled a photo from somewhere and showed it to them. It was of a well-tanned woman in a skimpy string bikini, her long platinum blonde hair billowing out in a cloud, her eyes closed as if sleeping. The picture had been taken from a high angle, with excellent focus. She snickered as their jaws dropped and they drooled. Truth to tell, she was a bit miffed. They didn't have to drool so much over the slut, with her, dressed the way she was, standing right in front of them! She yanked the photo away.
"Well?"
Daisuke shook himself and blinked. He thought a moment. Where had he seen the woman in the photo before? It was really too bad the woman before them was so distracting. It was hard to think clearly when all your glands were going, 'Heh, hah, huh, huh, heeeee!'
"Hee, hee, hee! Swee-to!" (GLOMP!)
"Aaugh!" The blond woman backed up two steps from the impact and stared horrified at the wrinkled thing attached to her chest. Her fingers twitched as if she were unsure whether she might catch some disease by touching the thing. Any girl around Furinkan would have sympathized. Happosai was like that.
"What are you?" she snarled, showing more of those Hibiki-like fangs.
"Just an old man, enjoying the pleasures of his declining years," burbled Happosai happily. "My, what an interesting costume you have."
"Get lost, you decrepit freak!" she snarled, punching down in a very authoritative manner. The wrinkled old fool somehow slipped her blow and danced away, holding... holding her...
"My, what an interesting costume you had," murmured Hiroshi, holding his nose. Dai was already down and Gos was frozen in mid-snap of his camera.
"Aaugh!"
Purple lightning gathered around the enraged and revealed woman, who had been left with her boots, cloak and gloves, but nothing else. Maybe she didn't believe in underwear? She launched bolt after bolt at the dodging pervert who laughed and moved away, the woman's 'liberated' costume flapping behind him. Bellowing, the blond rose in the air in preparation of pursuing her tormentor. She spared a glance at the three boys, noted the camera and blasted it out of Gosunkugi's hands with some kind of energy bolt. Raging, she vanished rapidly after Happosai.
Barry left the teacher's lounge and smiled. Mrs. Morisato had a very nice and, he had to admit, very beautiful sister. Funny, though, he felt as if he were forgetting something. His thoughts were interrupted by the sudden appearance of Hiroshi, Daisuke and Gosunkugi, dressed for the track.
"Ranma! Ranma!" Hiroshi shouted, excited. "You should have seen it!"
"Yah, you shouldb hab seend idt!" agreed Daisuke, holding his nose.
Gosunkugi just held his ruined camera and cried.
"There was this... leather wrapped Biker Babe, like right out of 'Rolling Seduction', and she was lookin' for some gal in the smallest bikini I've ever seen," Hiroshi exclaimed. "Then Happosai came by and stole her costume. Wow, was she mad!"
"Wow, was she beautifully butt-nekked!" Dai added, beginning, finally, to recover.
"Except the boots and gloves," Hiroshi corrected. Dai held his nose again and grimaced. Gosunkugi held his ruined camera and cried.
Barry groaned. "The girl in the picture, she didn't have red hair, did she?" God! Was this yet another nut looking for Ranma? He could remember a few times when a bikini figured in Ranma's ploys.
"Not this time," Hiroshi reassured him, grinning in understanding. "But that's not all. This chick was so pissed she started throwing ki-blasts of some type around. The pervert lit out laughing like a... a pervert, and she flew after him!"
"She flew? Like with wings?" Barry had visions of Phoenix Mountain folk back in town with their damn mind-control eggs. He glanced at Gosunkugi. 'Poor sap! Did the camera mean that much to him?'
"No, she just hovered up into the air and zoomed off, like Goku in Dragonball Z!"
Suddenly, Hiroshi boggled and gasped and Dai did the same.
"That's her!" they shouted in unison, "The one in the picture!" Barry whipped around.
Urudu Kamiko jerked to a stop and boggled back at the two. Behind her, Mrs. Morisato waved to the two students. "Hello, Hiroshi, Daisuke. Is something wrong with Hikaru?" Hikaru held out his camera. "Oh, dear," the teacher said sympathetically, looking at the mess.
Urudu moved to one side and along the lockers, still caught in the gaze of Hiro and Dai. "Um... I don't remember you two from anywhere," she said, darting glances back and forth.
"But you're the babe that other babe was looking for!" exclaimed Hiroshi. There was intensely puzzled silence from the other side of the hall. "Happosai glomped her and stole her suit." At her blank look, he added, "Happosai? He's a little gnome-like freak, steals panties…"
"That was Happosai!"Urd's hair lifted and swirled. Power ran across her shoulders and she seemed to rise off the ground, herself. Barry backed away, remembering what Mrs. Morisato could do, even though she seemed much less obvious in her power. The others backed away as well. Even Gos forgot his camera for the moment.
Principal Kuno walked by, stopped, backed up and observed the heat rising off the woman as well as the attitudes of the students around her, especially Saotome. He grinned wickedly as he came to a decision.
"Hey, hey, hey! Aloha, beautiful wahini!" he said, in as near to a suave manner as he could manage. He ignored the blazing look Urudu sent his way. "Yo look as if you hab seen de warm suns and gentle breezes of de islands, yah!
Mrs. Morisato bowed. Amazon Month or not, there were some situations where respect, as little as it was deserved, must be offered. "Principal Kuno? This is my older sister, Urudu Kamiko. She was stopping by to visit..."
"But I suddenly realized I have a good reason to stay in the area," finished Urudu tight-lipped. She took several deep breaths to calm herself, which did anything but calm her male audience.
"Yo wouldn't happen to hab any teachin' experience, yah?" Kuno asked slyly. Mrs. Morisato's sister nodded slightly, obviously suspicious. Barry bit back a groan. The idea of Ms. Kamiko teaching at Furinkan left him with a feeling of dread.
Urudu Kamiko, better known as Urd, Norn of History, suddenly grinned. This would solve her money and housing problem while she sought out that little creep Happosai. "You betcha!" she said strongly.
"Yatta!" the Pineapple Fruitcake exclaimed. "It settled then. You start today."
"How wonderful for you, Urudu!" her sister exclaimed.
"What class?" Urudu was suddenly uneasy. Didn't she need her references checked? Who was weird looking man anyway? She asked him.
"I be de big kahuna, Headmaster Kuno, and you, sweet wahini, be da new teacher of History fo' de senior class."
"Doesn't Mrs. Morisato teach senior class History?" Barry reminded the ebullient principal.
"No more," Principal Kuno said smugly.
"Ex-cuse me?" Barry retorted, eyes narrowing in horror as everyone face-faulted. He grabbed the man by his violently violet shirt collar.
Kodachi Kuno retouched her makeup in preparation for school. She was going to be late this morning, but it had been worth it. There was some validity to Ranma's 'duty of a martial artist'! Yes, she had a real feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment from this morning's extra-curricular activity.
Hanging from a ceiling hook, a partially cooked Happosai swung in his martial arts rhythmic gymnastic ribbon cocoon and muttered. 'Pretty ladies' seemed the main topic of his monologue. He cried as a door opened nearby and a blond woman emerged, adjusting the straps of her leather costume. She paused, sending a crackle of energy his way. He twitched spastically. "Is he always like this?" the blond asked, finally satisfied with her gear.
"Sometimes he is worse," admitted Kodachi. "He is a veritable plague upon womankind. No matter our station, truly are we joined in our common condition, to aid each other in frustrating his twisted perversions."
"Uh… right." Actually, Marller was impressed by Happosai's game, irritated that he included her in it, but otherwise impressed. The old fart gained power and a type of immortality from the energy he stole. Now that she had her clothing back, she'd need some way to turn him loose so he could create more havoc. With any luck, he could even be a pawn to irritate those goddesses.
"If you wish, feel free to make yourself at home while I am gone," Kodachi offered with unusual largess. "Sasuke!"
The little ninja appeared as if from nowhere. Marller frowned. She'd really had enough of ninja in her time. "Yes, mistress!"
"Please see to my guest's comfort, Sasuke," Kodachi said, picking up her bookbag. "Happosai has discommoded her; and in sisterly spirit, I feel compelled to insure that… Mara?" The demon shrugged. "...Mara suffers not from the experience." With a flourish she made her exit.
Sasuke maintained his fawning posture until the door closed behind Kodachi before rising smoothly to his feet. "If you will come this way, Mistress Mara, I can— Wowza!" Sasuke stared, sweating, at her garb. He swallowed. "Uhhh... please forgive me," he stuttered. "May I get you anything?"
Marller smiled. "Mistress, eh?" She sauntered closer, sensing fear.
Elsewhere, students muttered angrily. Soon, there would be hell to pay.