Guest Ki: Chapter 50

The Cutting Edge

Nagasameru charged. "AI-I-I-I-YA!" (THWOCK!)

Marller frowned. These martial artists were always fighting. From the information she had gleaned from Kodachi, there were any number of opponents who might be after Ranma or Akane, or one of the boy's other fiancées. Who was it this time? As she peered through the leaves, she felt the tree shift. What had that 'thwock!' sound been? The tree's base slid off the diagonal cut and dropped more than a meter with a bone-rattling thump. Then the tree toppled.

"Aaagh!" (CRASH!)

As Marller began to extract herself from the branches of the tree, a steady 'thwock-thwock!" came to her ears. As a matter of fact it sounded almost like some one using… "Waaaah! An eff-ing big sword!" Marller scrambled out of the branches. As she burst away, she put everything she had into a Hellfire Thunder-blast and fired it off.

Nagasameru grinned maniacally and slashed.

Marller screamed as the sword shredded her Hellfire Blast. The backlash of the spell almost finished her. As she writhed and staggered in pain from a massive migraine, the girl with the mega-sword cut at her. If she hadn't dropped to her knees, her head would have been neatly removed from her shoulders. The blond came to herself then, and rolled quickly away from the strike and reach of the huge curved sword.

"Da!-da!-da!-da!-da!-da!-da!-da!-da!-da!-da!"

Marller rolled from side to side, trying to come up with a strategy to break away. The nodachi gleamed in her sight like a huge temple charm, with an edge! Immediately she sensed it could kill her. Permanently! She managed to stagger to her feet.

"Come back here, demon," Naga snarled. Marller discarded her cloak and threw it at the oncoming demon hunter. It delayed Naga only one step. Marller fled, unsteady and too weak to fly, but still strong enough to run like hell! Especially with a Godzilla-sized sword swinging at her split-ends. She dodged around the corner and past the front gate of the Tendo compound. Nagasameru pursued. In the yard, Genma, having left the dojo to his daughters for a well-deserved breather, heard the sounds of conflict. Curious, he opened the front gate just after Marller ran past.

Nagasameru put on a burst of speed and swung the nodachi over her shoulder for a decisive blow. The demon had been fast and tricky. She'd have to check with her control, but the marks on the demon's face might be significant. She'd worry about that after she made her—! (WHAMMM!)

Genma stared at a sword blade as long as his body and as wide as his palm quivering centimeters in front of his nose. Having had long experience with swords being aimed in his general direction, he did what he always did at such close encounters. He fainted dead away.

Nodoka, coming out to see what was keeping Genma, found the supine martial artist and Nagasameru out cold from running headlong into the open Tendo gate. Marller was long gone.

Barry was feeling weaker, yet the speed of passage was growing no less. There seemed to be fewer mirrors, though. He had a sick feeling he was reaching the very edges of the universe. He kept rehearsing in his mind what he was expecting to see on the other side of the mirror.

…A big shiny piece of stainless steel, polished and bright, hanging above a drafting table festooned with paper, pens and mechanical pencils, beneath a hanging lamp. A swivel chair, newer but well used, before the table, a coffee cup with more writing implements and a white eraser, its tip rubbed down and gray from use resting on a small side table…

He thought about the time of day and how the light might come in through the windows. He tried to keep his musings as a comprehensive whole, trying to narrow down the expectations. Was there anything else? Ah! Beldandy and Keiichi's wedding picture would be visible on the wall when he was looking out of…. Of course! How stupid! How did it look from inside the mirror? He imagined the mirror itself; the reflections cast upon it were what it saw! He cut out the foreground and tried to fill in areas that he couldn't see by speculation. Finally, he cut out himself. This left a hazy sense of recollection, as the center of the mirror didn't quite…

Suddenly he was zooming past mirrors, arrowing to a particular surface that shot at his senses with all the speed of a high-powered bullet! He braced for the crash! Even ki wouldn't—!

He floated at rest behind the window of a mirror that looked out on a study that was so like Keiichi's that he dared to hope. How he had come here, or how he had come to that abrupt, forceless stop, he didn't know. He tried to pass through, but the mirror was like a windowpane. Either he couldn't pass through mirrors from this side, or, more likely, the goddesses had a way of preventing outsiders from intruding. As he looked out, he noticed some minor differences, probably simply items moved from their accustomed places, or items temporarily placed in the room for a variety of reasons. He wondered if Beldandy had children… or if a goddess could. There were two ninja action figures on Kei's drafting table that were exquisite, their equipment so finely detailed that Konatsu would have been jealous. They were cute, too, in a doll-like way, their heads a little too large for the bodies.

The action figures suddenly shifted into action. Swords cut in lightning swift blows, hands dipped into sleeves and hidden pockets to drag out specialty throwing weapons that they hurled with abandon. Several tinged off the surface of the stainless steel mirror with pings that made Barry shudder.

"I did not!"

"You did!"

"I did not!"

"You did! If you let your shoulder lift like that and let your stance go that wide you lose three-tenths of a second recovering from that extension."

"I did not! Besides, you were almost out of weapons! If you tried to stay in contact five more seconds, you'd be helpless!"

"You're a tub!" sneered the other, "Slow as molasses!"

"You are a weak little pansy. Nyah!"

Barry blinked. 'What…?'

The other figure mooned the first, darting away as the other swung what would have been a stinging slap across its posterior. "Missed me! Nyah!"

"Uh! Excuse me," he said a bit self-consciously. What he saw looked like a cross between martial arts, childish insults and foreplay. Remarkably like what Ranma and Akane were doing just before Ranma left. He grimaced. It wasn't like they would hear him.

Faces with huge defenseless looking eyes turned toward the mirror. "Eeek!" The pair fled.

"Hey, wait! You mean you can see me! Come back! I… Oh, shit!" He realized that in this form his image was essentially Barry-in-the-buff. "Jeez! He tried to sink low enough in the mirror's surface to be decent. "I didn't mean to scare you! I need to talk to one of the goddesses! Hello?" He hung there, embarrassed and increasingly worried. He wasn't certain how long he could stay. He looked back and saw the silver thread of his projection. He had come a long way.

Suddenly two heads poked around the corner. They moved in so competently, that he didn't recognize them at first. Skuld and Urd broke left and right and scanned the room.

"Kodama said she saw a shinentai in here," Skuld said. "Funny that one would show up now, after all this time."

"That's why I don't think it's a yearning ghost," Urd told her. "With Marller around, who knows what she's got in the works! I still can't figure out why she's after Barry. It's not like he's important to what we're doing here."

"Maybe she thinks he is," suggested Skuld. "He does get into a lot of trouble, and we have spent a lot of time around him and his friends."

"Come on, pip-squeak," Urd drawled, searching behind drapes and scanning for something with a glowing hand. "She's not that stupid."

"You keep saying that," Skuld said. "But I think it's because you want to shine by comparison." She held something that looked like a calculator on steroids. Several moveable items swung and beeped and blinked on its organic looking surface. "And don't call me pip-squeak!" she added.

"Hello!" Barry said relieved. Then he was not so relieved as they didn't seem to hear him. "Hey, guys!"

"You know, I keep thinking of Barry-san," Urd remarked, straightening.

"You would," snickered Skuld, "or at least Ranma's body!"

"Hey! I wouldn't do that! Not anymore!" Urd was affronted. "He's in love. They're both in love, actually," she added more quietly.

Skuld snickered in disbelief.

"Well, I wasn't the one making googly-eyes at him because he praised your scientific notation," Urd said slyly. "That isn't even really yours! It was Yggdrasil system code! But you stood there and giggled like any brainless girl."

"How did you—? You weren't even there! You have no idea what I do or do not think! So what if he's cute! The one's still a meathead martial artist. The other's married with a kid. There's no way—!"

Barry winced as he listened to an argument erupt. He had had hopes, when Urd had mentioned him, that on some level they might become aware. Now… Well, he had heard his own sisters argue like this. This could go on for hours until both stomped off to separate sanctuaries to sulk.

"Hello?" He jerked. That voice had come from behind him. He slowly pivoted around, eyes wide. He gulped and covered himself.

Vibrantly alive, Beldandy hung in space behind him, clothed in robes of light. Her head tipped to one side and her gentle smile was evident, forgiving him his dishabille. "Barry?"

He gulped again and nodded. "S-s-sorry 'bout this."

"You must have had a serious need to try to reach us this way!"

He nodded. "Marller nailed us pretty good, yesterday. Kodachi and her brother are in the hospital. Kodachi's probably gonna be transferred to the psych ward for a long time. She's also got a Jusenkyo-style curse now." Barry summarized what had happened. Beldandy shook her head sadly and promised to bring her sisters to the Nekohanten in an hour, as Cologne requested.

"I've gotta go back now. This astral projection stuff has its limits. Say… How do you keep your clothes like that?" He nodded at her clothing.

"Well, for one thing, I'm not an astral projection. This really is me. But you could try using your ki techniques to create a malleable shield about your body. With a little practice, it could seem to be clothing and would distort your image like clothing would."

"Umm… Thanks." He tried to imagine how he would go about doing that and still have energy to spare for projecting.

"Multitasking can be important," Beldandy added.

"Uh… right," he said slowly. She was telling him something, but what?

"You better leave now, your astral strand is getting thin. Follow it home and everything will be fine."

"Give my regards to… and uh, apologize to the two little ninja types that I saw from the mirror. I didn't mean to frighten them."

"I'll speak with them." Beldandy shook her head wryly and sighed. "They're not supposed to play in Keiichi's study." She looked up. "Go! Hurry home and meet us at the Nekohanten in an hour. Bring everyone who is under the Tendo roof when you arrive."

Suddenly, Barry felt himself hurled back along the line of his former flight. He hurtled on at greater and greater speed until a single silver dot grew like an onrushing mountain. He saw himself. He hit—! "Waugh!" He came to his feet in a rush, as air filled his lungs like an internal explosion. He quickly, automatically, scanned the house.

Coming up the stairs were Akane and Shampoo. Kasumi and Nodoka were downstairs with… Barry could tell the signature was familiar, but… Nagasameru? Nabiki had gone out by the koi pond to fetch her father. It seemed Nagasameru's presence was unexpected. He scanned for Marller, but she was gone. So much for his big risk in reaching the goddesses by astral projection. If he'd just waited long enough…

The girls banged on his door then peeked in. "Are you up, yet?" asked Akane. "Nabiki said something about phoning the Temple. Did she mean Mrs. Morisato?"

"Already done, Akane," Barry replied. He decided not to say anything about his unconventional attempt to contact the Temple. "They'll meet us at the Nekohanten in one hour. Mrs. Morisato said to 'bring everyone under the Tendo roof'."

"Everyone?" asked Shampoo. "Is okay! Grandmother not mind mid-afternoon crowd. You know Godzilla-sword girl is here?"

He nodded. "She's under the roof, so she comes." He frowned. "I wonder if she meant everyone on the property or everyone in the house when I got back?"

"Where did you go?" Akane looked curiously at him. "I didn't notice you leave your room."

"It was only for as long as it took to reach Mrs. Morisato. You and Shampoo were probably too busy flooding the bath to notice." He grinned as his conjecture brought blushes to both their faces. As Akane's blush began to go florid, he added, "You missed a lot of girl-buddy fun the last two years Akane, and I'm sure Shampoo was just as badly off." He kept his smile warm and innocent and his tone as cheerful as possible… and watched the anger fade, to be replaced by a shy smile.

"So, if she meant literally 'under roof', who would we need?" Akane asked, going back to his question.

"You, me, Shampoo, Kasumi, Nagasameru and Nodoka," he said.

"Kasumi?" the girls exclaimed. They looked at one another.

"Aw, heck!" he grumbled. "Let's just bring everyone along. We'll sort things out once we get there."

At the Nekohanten, there was a council of war. But first, the goddesses got to look at and were looked over by, the Chinese, the Saotomes and the Tendos.

Urd stared from her sister to Kasumi. She listened to the voice. She almost went up and looked at Kasumi's teeth. Kasumi took it placidly as always. Urd then hugged the other woman, just pulled her close and hugged her, as if she wanted all the cares in the world to go away from the other; which, frankly, she did. She was joined by Beldandy then by Skuld. Urd blinked back tears. She had read much of Kasumi's life, both in her inspection and in the hug. The girl was so naturally sweet, yet her years had been filled with silent worry and hardship that she took away from others and 'gave to the wind'.

Urd and Nabiki circled one another for a while, then left well enough alone. Nabiki accepted a hug from Skuld and an apology for not being able to do anything about her kidnapping.

"What's Nikki been doing?"

"No one has seen him since we deposited him in front of his place Friday morning," Skuld said. "He didn't learn anything from the experience," she added in disgust.

"It would have been easier if you'd have left him alone," Nabiki told them pensively. "After all, technically you kidnapped him." She shrugged. "We'll have to wait and see what happens. They refused to talk to me."

"The Yakuza? Why did you feel you had to?" Akane growled. "They kidnapped you, first!"

"Akane, the Yakuza have a lot of resources. They could technically have Ryoga, Akari, Sakurida, Kurumi and Konatsu arrested for kidnapping, assault, terroristic threats and a variety of other charges, completely ignoring what Nikki tried to do to me."

"But—!"

"Oh, I'm not complaining. If you had called the police, I'd be dead or on a little boat to a mainland brothel before they could have done anything. We really have no evidence that I was kidnapped. But messing up his bodyguards and smashing his car was a bit much."

Skuld frowned and glanced at Urd. They nodded. "Trust me," Urd said. "We have some connections that will take care of the kidnapping business." After all, what good was it to know when a sparrow fell, if you couldn't use the information? "Give us the details of where and when you were taken and I can find the proper evidence and witnesses. With that in hand, they'll leave you alone, I think."

Nabiki's eyebrows rose and a thoughtful look crossed her face. "Really?"

"Just this once!" Urd warned her, waving a finger. "And because the real problem here is Marller. It was part of her work."

Beldandy sighed. "She's really been so very naughty this time."

Nagasameru had been nodding. She didn't know who these women were, but they had a powerful presence and were enemies of the demon as well. At Beldandy's words, however, she eyed the gentle goddess with a look that questioned the other's sanity.

"This is a demon, here," she snapped. "They aren't merely 'naughty'!"

The others looked at her with inquiring expressions.

"Okay. You already know I'm heir to Japanese Steakhouse Martial Arts. But I'm also a demon hunter. Law doesn't recognize demons as anything more than particularly bad criminals, and to be honest, some normal humans exceed a demon in their excesses." She stroked the long hilt of her sword reflectively. "But demons spread more than mayhem. They spread a malady of insanity and spiritual sickness. Sometimes, they spread real sickness as well and magnify the effect by association. We demon hunters have to deal with the demons." Her grip tightened and Barry felt the increased flow of energy between Nagasameru and her sword. "I've been assigned to this one."

The three sisters looked at one another.

"Nagasameru," Beldandy gently spoke, "she's not that type of demon."

"What do you mean she's 'not that type of demon'?" demanded Naga. "What other type is there?"

"Onin and gaki for certain," Barry said. "Hundreds, actually if what I suspect is correct. Even ghosts of various types may be classified as demons… or kami."

"You've met some of them, I suppose," Naga spoke sarcastically.

"Yes," he answered her simply. "I've fought them and won."

Naga blinked then her lips firmed. "Touch the hilt of my sword," she said. It was not a suggestion.

Barry reached out and smoothly grasped the hilt she extended to him. He stiffened as he felt a distinct presence. He had the feeling the sword guardedly 'sniffed' at him. It felt almost like greeting a strange dog. He sent back a wash of emotion; friendliness, curiosity and a sort of 'would you like me to scratch your ears' kind of feeling, back along the link. Seeing Nagasameru's expression, he pushed it a bit, adding a catlike 'bump and rub' memory. The girl shivered oddly. As he released the grip, he looked at Nagasameru expectantly as she stroked the hilt and whispered to herself.

"You pass," she said finally. "You're very odd, though; you know that?" She scowled. "You're not possessed; and if you're infected, it's minimal." She turned and looked at Akane and Shampoo. "I don't even have to test them to see what's wrong."

Shampoo and Akane looked startled. "Possessed?" Akane squawked. 'Not again,' she thought. 'The doll at the inn, and that stupid oni Happosai set free.'

"No, infected."

Skuld pulled out a device that looked like an instrument a proctologist would use to make a really unpleasant internal exam. She waved it at the two girls, making them flinch and crowd closer to one another for mutual support. "She's right! Look at this!" she said to Urd and Beldandy. At their nods, she fiddled with something. "Eeek! There are supply foci springing up all over Nerima, maybe all over the city!"

"She can't do that! The Sunari Protocols strictly forbid it!" Urd exclaimed, then looked at the others guiltily. "Ummm… but that's nothing that concerns you. All of you, that is, you people…" Urd ran down and Barry had a brief feeling of glee that someone else could put their foot in it.

"Don't mind my sister," Skuld said with a sad sigh. "She's like that sometimes. She's the oldest of the three of us… and you know the mind is always the first to go!"

"Hey," Urd snapped. Skuld smiled sweetly.

"To get back to the point, Nagasameru dear," Beldandy picked up the explanation, "Marller is an elemental spirit. She isn't within your jurisdiction, though I can understand, if supply foci are springing up, why it might seem to be so. Because of what she is, destroying her would be a dangerously unbalancing act. She would eventually be replaced, but in the meantime, the world could suffer greatly."

Nagasameru scowled. It was obvious she was having trouble believing it.

"What is Marller, Mrs. Morisato?" Barry asked.

"Discord, Ranma," she answered. "A small amount is necessary for free will. Uncontrolled or unbalanced, it is incredibly destructive."

"What are these foci?" Nodoka asked.

"They are like shrines. It is where people worship her." Beldandy looked very concerned. "Except that she's not supposed to be able to set those up."

"Under those protocols mentioned?" rasped Cologne. Beldandy nodded unconcerned.

"What if it weren't deliberate?" Barry asked suddenly. "What if someone took her picture, and distributed it widely without her consent?"

Urd opened her mouth and then got a wide-eyed look of understanding. "Those little weasels!" she blurted. "Okamisama! That might work. It would certainly be a loophole!" She looked at Barry. "Do you have any idea how many copies they made?"

"Why ya askin' me?" he blurted. "I don't have one of the things! And it wasn't because it wasn't offered."

"Over ten thousand," said Nabiki. "At fifteen universities, five businesses and two magazines."

They stared at her.

"It was a good picture."

"Well," Beldandy huffed. "I can see what our job is going to have to be." She looked at her sisters. They nodded. "Ranma will be the bait for Marller. Kasumi, Akane and Shampoo shall be one team. Nodoka, Nagasameru and… Oh, my!" Kasumi giggled faintly at hearing her own voice and oft-used phrase. "We're missing someone." Beldandy looked around.

There was a knock on the door. A familiar feminine silhouette could be seen through the glass. "Hey, you guys!" came a voice with a distinct Kansai inflection.

Cologne let Ukyo in and re-locked the door. "You're late!" she said.

"I'm—! Wadja mean late? My grill went on the blink and I've been messing around all morning with it! The repairmen won't be coming till Monday, dammit! So I went looking for Akane and Ba— Ranma." She looked at the other folk who were not 'in the know' about Barry. "When no one was home, I decided to come here."

"Very good, Ukyo," Beldandy smiled. "You will be part of the grounding triad."

"Excuse me?" the okonomiyaki chef said.

Barry, in Ranma girl-type, moved through the marketplace. It served two purposes, as Kasumi had shopping that needed done and Barry had to be out anyway as the bait for their trap, 'Yep, I'm doin' double duty again!' she thought. On her face were marks, the triangular symbols of Beldandy's divinity. There had been a few raised eyebrows but Ranma got into enough garbage that most people didn't dare ask questions. As she moved about, she kept her senses peeled for telltale signs of Marller. As it was, she almost missed another foe that came in fast from her left and behind.

The blur slid in and out of the crowd, sliding past people who had baked goods or ready-made food. As it passed, individuals began to cry out in anger and surprise. Barry sensed movement and chose to challenge rather than dodge.

(Th-PLOwk!) "Eeuw!"

Barry and Ranma had both stuck their feet in their mouths 'up-to-the-hip', so to speak, but this was the first time Barry had done so in someone else's mouth. Picolet Chardin stared up the distended mouth that engulfed her right leg almost to her groin. His lips seemed to smile.

"M'msle'," Chardin mumbled, as Barry's hair stood on end.

"You even think of usin' that tongue for anything other than talkin' and I'll rip it out at the roots!" Barry snarled. "Let! Go! Now!"

"I beg your pardon', Mademoiselle Ranma," he said, as Barry looked over the released leg to see if it was slimy.

"Can the M'msle, Chardin," she growled again. "Ya sound thicker 'n Kuno ever was."

Chardin straightened his tie and let his head tilt to one side. He saw the symbols on cheekbone and forehead and reached familiarly, as if to rub them off. Barry slapped his hand away. The Frenchman's eyes flashed, then he laughed in a depreciating manner. "Indeed," he smiled. "But of course! It is a most intriguing affliction you have, Ranma Saotome."

"So they tell me." Barry scanned around. This idiot might just be a diversion for Marller's real attack, but nothing came. "Wadja want, Rubber-face?"

"That is hardly the attitude one should take for having missed their appointed time of combat," Chardin chided.

"Buzz off!" Barry glared. "About the time our little match was scheduled, I was being dragged outa Furinkan swimming pool, soggier than Antoku's shorts!"

"So you say." His flippant attitude implied complete disbelief. "Perhaps you are afraid I will win again?" He withdrew a slip of paper from his coat. "By my calculations, you now owe me…762,940 yen. Or… you could agree to become my bride."

Barry snorted. What a pervert! He even beat Mikado, in her opinion. "I never agreed to double or nothing you contemptible thieving frog!" She snarled, being as insulting as possible. "We never agreed to interest on the original debt!" she screamed in his face. "I would rather commit seppuku than offer you or your pustulant family myself or possible daughters yet to be born!" She hauled off and slapped him, then face-faulted as his lips and jowls wrapped around his head like plastic wrap.

His lips pursed a moment. "Does that mean no?" he mumbled.

She stalked away, trying to hide her snickers at his mutterings and ineffective attempts to unwrap his face. He was a stubborn pervert, though and he followed her the rest of the way through the market and back to the Tendos. What a moron! If he got caught in the crossfire, Barry wouldn't be too sorry.

"Hey, Pops!" Barry yelled as she came into the yard. Genma, again training with Kurumi and Natsume and looking a bit the worse for wear, turned and looked questioningly. Off to one side, Ryu Kumon crouched impassively. "Remember this moron?" She pointed over her shoulder at Chardin.

"Growf!" Genma said, despite being very human at the moment.

Chardin stopped at the gate. He had finally un-wrapped his face and was again his impeccable self. "May I come in?" he requested in a formal tone.

Barry eyed him. "Sure! Why not? Come on in, Picolet Chardin. I can't say you're particularly welcome… but I can't very well leave you mopin' on the street, either." She smiled, not in a friendly manner. "What would the neighbors think?"

Chardin crossed the threshold, hesitantly, then with greater confidence. As he did, Ryu stood up and walked over, checking him out. He jerked his thumb sidewise. "This is a martial artist?"

Barry shrugged. "In his own specialty, he's as expert as you or I, Kumon." A shudder worked up her leg she shook it as if to get rid of some disgusting bit of garbage. "Remember what I said. Don't challenge him to eat, ever!"

Barry turned away and Ryu jerked his thumb after her. "Wadja want with him?"

"Her," Chardin corrected.

"At the moment, but not normally," Ryu countered.

"Yes but perhaps soon, permanently. I will have her for my bride."

Ryu looked sick, as did Natsume and Kurumi. "That's disgusting, man!"

"Au contraire! Ranma, as a woman, is non-parallel. Any man would beg for such a one's favor!"

"Beg a favor, maybe!" Ryu said. "Climbing into bed with is another matter." He stood there shaking his head as Chardin minced around the side of the house after Ranma. "Eeuw! That guy is creepy!" Ryu concluded.

"You don't know the half of it," Genma muttered. He wondered where Nodoka was. She had been adamant earlier about supervising the training of his daughters. He shrugged. "Perhaps you girls would like to learn the revised version of the Cat-Fist. "

He dropped as three martial artists struck like lightning with ribbon, rug beater and elbow. "No!"

Around the side of the house, Chardin walked in on a scene of domestic and neighborly conviviality. Kasumi, Nabiki and Akane sat on the porch and chattered. Akane and Nabiki frowned at the Frenchman's presence, while Kasumi merely lost her smile. Along the edge of the garden, Nodoka was trimming a few dead stems from the plants, while Ukyo and Shampoo argued over some difference of opinion in culinary technique. Ranma stood about a meter from the water's edge.

As Chardin's eyes met Nabiki's he faltered. 'Something in those eyes.' He recovered and paced to where Ranma waited. The petite redhead stood, hands on hips, eyes hooded as he approached.

"Make no mistake, ma cherie, I will claim you for my own."

"Not even when hell freezes over." Ranma gazed at the Frenchman with a secretive smile. "And who would know about that better than you?"

"Really?" There was a distinct smirk as Chardin took another step closer. "I find that hard to believe." Behind him, Nodoka rose from her pruning and took a few steps toward the garden. Ukyo and Shampoo stopped talking and separated. Akane and Kasumi stepped off the porch and Nabiki retreated within the house. Suddenly, Nagasameru came out of the shadows, her nodachi gleaming in the afternoon light.

Chardin's lips writhed in an ugly grin that revealed his teeth back to his molars. "Hello, demon hunter," he said pleasantly.

"Hello, demon," she replied evenly. Kasumi and Akane broke further apart and now Chardin was surrounded. Clockwise from the demon hunter stood Akane, Nodoka, Shampoo, Ukyo and Kasumi. "Are you ready to die?"

The demon laughed and Chardin's features melted into a smaller feminine form. "Are you ready to be damned, little girl?" She turned to Ranma. "You think you've trapped me, don't you?"

"Yep!"

"You pitiful worm. I was once known as the Goddess of Discord! Do you think you can stand up to my power?" Suddenly, a stunning aura rippled off the demon's body, swirling the air like a pocket tornado. Everyone shielded his or her faces from the flying debris. "And thanks to a couple of horny teenage pukes I am in the midst of my worshipers!" Her voice was in sharp contrast and far nastier than Picolet's light disdainful tones and no longer had an accent. She started to laugh.

Hiroshi and Daisuke suddenly paused. One picked up his chemistry book and opened it; the other pulled a tube from his book bag and pulled out a large rolled color picture. They gazed at the simple shrines of their regard. Slowly, men and some women across Tokyo found private places and began unknowingly to worship.

The Blonde 'Biker-Babe' looked down her nose at Ranma who crouched, eyes slit and arms up protectively. "You little fool!" she intoned. "To think you could, even with the goddesses' help, match me now. Have they worshipers? Have they, save that pitiful little worm Bel keeps as a pet, a single follower? I have thousands, and thousands more yet will come unbidden to my altar."

"I gotta try, Marller, I gotta try." Barry faced off against the figure that glowed before her and offered up a prayer for guidance and strength for the effort ahead. "Ground!" she yelled. "Throw the switch!" she added.

Nodoka, Ukyo and Nagasameru thrust their metal weapons into the earth. Kasumi, Akane and Shampoo suddenly blazed with visible auras. They reached down and, from places by their feet, picked up sticks of ash wood. Their arms reached heavenward. "By the power of earth below, metal purified and the water that gives us life! By the branch of the tree of life and by the fire of our spirits, do we contain thee!" rang out their voices.

Silver shot forth from Nodoka with her katana, Ukyo with her spatula and Nagasameru with her nodachi. Gold shot forth from Akane, Shampoo and Kasumi. The lines formed a pair of triangles superimposed on one another. From above they made a perfect hexagram. From the side, they seemed to be two three-sided pyramids whose points met directly above the demon. From every junction, lines of power shot inward to blaze against Marller's suddenly wrought shields of shadow. Only Barry stood slightly off to one side, smiling faintly at the guarded expression on Marller's face.

Beyond the garden, Genma was already flat on his back in a faint. Natsume and Kurumi were both taking advantage of Ryu's presence and were clinging to him like limpets. He wasn't in much better shape and held them more for reassurance than to reassure.

"Time to go home for a while, Marller," Barry said.

"You people are pathetic," the demon said acidly. She flung her hands out and screamed a quick chant. Her aura started burning the light black, eating its ways up the lines of power to snap at the fabric of the pyramids, themselves. "How can you ever hope to match me?" She was obviously not exerting herself. "How long can you mortals keep this ridiculous effort up?"

And somewhere else:

"Are you certain?" came a soft voice.

"That's all of them." The voice was confident and young. "Well then: If A and B are a part of the class of objects known as C…"

"I really wish they'd let us go back to chanting poetry for something like this," an older drawling voice expressed a wearied sentiment.

"They do say time marches on," came the soft voice.

"That is so-o-o true, sweetie."

"Oh, my!"

Marller was laughing, playing with them really, and then, between one moment and the next… (Cracka-BOOOM!)

"That hurt!" Marller gasped, as she stood blackened within the imprisoning hexagram. Barry had been affected as well by the close strike of back-lashing power and laid scorched and blinking not far away.

"Marller dear?" Kasumi's voice rang across the garden.

"B-Beldandy?" Marller turned.

The other girl walked across the grass to the demon's side. She knelt. "Marller, you made a mistake. Ranma was not our project. You've been very bad, you know," she scolded gently.

"But, I thought you were Kasumi Tendo."

"We're very much alike, it seems. I do hope Kei likes shorter hair. But Kasumi is with Urd and Skuld. They just finished replacing your image in all those nasty photographs."

"Oh, is that what happened." Marller seemed dazed.

All the other participants of the little drama were slumping to the ground, except Nagasameru. She gritted her teeth and yanked the point of her sword out of the ground. Getting her feet under her was a project, but do-able. 'Now,' she thought, 'to finish that demon.'

"I have to send you to your room, now," Beldandy said. She spoke six words in a language no one except Marller understood. "Good-bye, my old playmate."

"You always were sweet, Beldandy," Marller sighed, slumping.

Steel rang in the silence.

Barry lay, face black and smutty, coughing from the smoke rising from her clothes, but arms extended and eyes hard as she held the huge nodachi caught in the shields she had erected. Its glistening edge was mere centimeters from the bowed neck of Marller. A wind seemed to blow across the garden.

Marller shimmered and was gone. In her place, Picolet Chardin wove back and forth on his knees, his mind foggy and his stomach nauseous. The last thing he remembered was the beautiful blond woman who had glided against him like a cat, her smile beguiling him into the alleyway. He felt a clean cool breeze and realized he was kneeling in his good white trousers on grass! It would stain! He staggered to his feet… He tried to stagger to his feet, and felt something keener than a razor part the back of his collar as he rose. Instantly he ducked and looked behind him. A beautiful young woman with an enormous sword seemed poised to decapitate him. Where was he? The Tendo dojo? As she seemed disinclined to complete her strike, he rose to his feet and bowed rather shortly.

"It seems…" He looked around. Close by was the eldest Tendo daughter, he was sure. Not far away were other lovely ladies. Akane Tendo by the corner of the house, Nabiki Tendo stood on the porch. A gorgeous Chinese girl with punk hair knelt by the pond. Another pretty woman who dressed in a manly fashion leaned on a huge spatula. An older woman slipping a katana into a silken cover looked familiar. His eyes swept down and suddenly he realized the charred heap at his feet was the lovely redhead he had once wooed. "Sacre bleu! What happened to you, ma cherie?" Who has done this? I shall thrash them as befits a gentleman of la belle France'!"

It seemed Marller had possessed him soon after she first arrived. She had delivered the challenges and added on the interest in an effort to gain a hold over Ranma. It was her last act of this performance.

And Picolet really was thicker than Kuno!

Nagasameru stood at the gate and pondered where her life would lead her. After the demon had vanished, she had screamed and ranted at Ranma, angry beyond all measure of being deprived of her first kill. He had looked at her and simply said, "When you kill, the world is never the same again."

It had struck something in her. She realized, then, that Ranma had at sometime crossed that line… yet she was a demon hunter. If she were called again, she knew she would take up the sword and go. But meanwhile, she would study. If Ranma were right, she would have made a terrible error. She had the responsibility of the sword. She needed to acquire the discernment to use it properly. She would be back with Shinzoo to train.

Barry escorted Beldandy back to the Temple. She preferred to walk, she said. She had learned to love it as she had learned to love Keiichi, the kind, complex man who had wished for a goddess. She could have flown, she could have stepped through the mirror; her most common mode of transportation when in a hurry, but walking suited her for now.

Barry had not yet changed back to male. Her clothing still stank a bit from the power she had only partially deflected. "Why is Ranma's life so confused, so difficult, Beldandy?" the redhead asked. "Why can't circumstances leave him alone?"

"Barry," she sighed. "You know that's not one of the questions I can answer. I know too much. And if you did, it would change everything."

They walked on for a while. Barry realized she had not rebuked her, merely stated the facts as she saw them. "Why is it necessary?"

"The question to ask is never why, Barry," she told him. "'What am I going to do about it?' That's the proper question to form." She glanced sidewise and smiled. "About what you've been doing so far, in fact."

"What about the people infected because of the photo?"

"They'll be all right, now," the goddess said. "They'll focus on the new picture and absorb the qualities of the subject. Urd and Skuld arranged things so that, eventually, the photos will fade and be forgotten." She turned a corner suddenly.

"Any reason to come this way?" Barry asked. "It's not the direct route."

"Oh, I have my reasons. So, what will you do next?" she asked. Beldandy stopped to look at a pet shop while she thought about it.

"Well we've got some promising leads concerning diffractive projection - actually that's what I was doing the first time I tried Astral projection - but the problem is we don't know which layers of ki are mine and which are Ranma's. If we're wrong, we'll possibly be worse off than we are. Maybe dead. Yet we won't know till we try."

There was a loud burring noise, and a motorcycle and sidecar hove into view. Beldandy waved, and Barry realized why she had walked this way.

"Hi!" Keiichi yelled as he came to a stop. "Is it all right if we just trade places? I want to get Bel home."

Barry smiled as Beldandy got her first kiss of the afternoon before Keiichi got another word out. In the sidecar, Kasumi smiled and blushed at this very public display of affection. Barry gave her a hand out of the sidecar and helped Beldandy in. Then Kasumi handed Beldandy the helmet.

"Barry?" she called out over the roar of the cycle's engine. "Consider what can happen when too many people fish to close together along a stream bank." She smiled and waved. "See you in school Monday!"

Barry waved and shook her head. She really liked Beldandy. Beside her Kasumi waited patiently to begin the short walk to the dojo. "You will take a bath when you get back, won't you?" Kasumi asked with a stern look.

"Yes, ma'am," promised Barry. 'Fishing? Fish played an important role in the Gospels… But that wasn't what she meant, was it?' And with a small corner of his mind, Barry wondered whose picture had been substituted for the demons? They hadn't used… hers, had they?

After Keiichi zoomed off with Kasumi Tendo, intent on picking up Beldandy in time for the weekend rally of the motor club, Urd and Skuld found the Temple unusually quiet. Then…

(Brrringg! Brrringg! Brrringg!)

Urd and Skuld looked at the phone. "You gonna answer that?" asked Skuld.

"Ummm… If I must," Urd said uncomfortably. "Moshi, moshi? Oh! H-hello, Peorth. Why are you calling?"

Skuld grimaced. This could be bad.

"Ha-ha! Ha-ha! Ha-ha! Yeah, we had a little problem with Marller. She got confused, poor thing, and went after the wrong people. Um… She sorta got involved in a loophole in the Sunari Protocols." Urd's eyebrows went up and she grinned as the other voice sounded surprised. "Oh, no! I'm not kidding! That's what Legal said, 'If the party involved is unaware of the procurement of an image, they cannot be held responsible, provided they were acting in good faith and did not deliberately invite procurement, distribution or circulation of said image." Urd broke off her explanation. "What's that?" There was another short burst of words. "Let's face it, Peorth! It would take some pretty unusual circumstances for one of us, or one of them, to pull a stunt like that. Especially since Legal would be looking down their necks for some excuse to call a quid pro quo." There was another burst of words, suspicious, inquiring. "Well, yes. These were unusual circumstances! We had to replace Marller's image through a similarity clause and it had to be someone of similar natural power or the replacement wouldn't have restored the balance. And we couldn't exactly ask permission ahead of time, or that would violate the Protocols." The voice became more suspicious still, demanding and accusing. "Oh ho ho ho...! I suppose it would be uncomfortable to have the regard of several thousand perverts focused on you. Oh! Didn't I tell you? It was one of those kinds of photos, and I just happened to have that marvelous one of you from the last party that was so-o-o similar." There was a very angry burst of sound and Urd moved the phone back a few feet. She started talking past the angry accusing remarks of her caller. "We all serve the forces of good and light, Peorth! I couldn't very well use myself, the Protocols worded as they are, so I thought… Well, I wouldn't mind having the power the worship of several thousand people would give me! No, I am not a pervert!"

Skuld fought a snicker. It was pretty obvious what Peorth thought of Urd's substitution of her picture for Marller's.

"Would I like a taste of that power?" Urd repeated Peorth's suggestion. She was becoming incensed by the other's attitude. "You bet I would! Why…"

CRAACKKKKA-THOOOOOOOOOOM…!brum…brum…bumbarumm…

Urd hung up the phone and turned to Skuld, her hair straight out from her skull and crackling, her outfit smoking, her features not improved by the carbon of the lightning strike. She puffed out a tiny smoke cloud. "Actually," she coughed, "she took that rather well."

There was a knock on the smoking door. Marller opened the metal plate with barely the requisite amount of groaning and griping expected of a demon of her level. She would reside in 'her room' for the space of a season, then she'd have to go back up and irritate the goddesses again. Why couldn't they just leave a practiced troublemaker get her beauty sleep?

Because it wouldn't be Hell then.

"Yeah? Wadja want?" she snapped. She vividly remembered that sword coming down. It could have killed her. Would have, had it struck, but the redhead girl who was actually a boy blocked it, her eyes full of understanding despite what Marller had done to her friends. She could've puked! But she had been too frightened and too damned… grateful.

"Speak up, dammit!" she snarled at the little messenger demon. "I'm in a really foul mood!"

"That's g-g-g-g-…"

"You say that word around me, I'll blast ya to atoms," she growled. "Just deliver your message and scram."

"You are ordered to see her Supreme Frightfulness, immediately," it said. It scrammed.

She stood leaning against the wall, feeling her hand singe on the hot iron of which it was composed. So the bigshots wanted to see her, hmmm? That was decidedly not good. Perhaps she should consider her options. If she was in real trouble, she might even have to resign and try to start over from the mortal plane again. Suddenly, a sly smile crept across her face. She wondered if Keiichi and Beldandy wanted a daughter. Snickering, she sauntered toward the throne room. Sometimes the best way in was the door least looked for. Her laughter grew, and was totally inappropriate for Hell.

Barry picked at his dinner.

'Fishing, fishing….' In the distance, thunder rumbled. 'Great!' he thought. 'More time as an inadvertent girl.'

He sat on one side of the table at the Saotome's. Kurumi and Natsume sat to his left, Genma was across from him and Nodoka was across from Ranma's sisters.

Genma, eating quietly due to Nodoka's controls, sat up at the rumble and winced. "Here goes more time as a panda," he said to his wife apologetically.

Kurumi giggled. "Can I have another panda ride?" Nodoka's eyes twinkled at Genma's pained look.

"Aren't you a little old for…"

"But I didn't get a chance when I was younger," Kurumi mumbled throwing puppy dog eyes at him. "Besides, it's cheaper than a pony." She glanced at her sister for support. "Isn't it?" She elbowed Natsume.

"Wuff! What? What is it?" Natsume grumbled and rubbed her side. Kurumi grinned.

"You're thinkin' 'bout Ry-uu!" Kurumi snickered.

"I… I am not!" Natsume growled. "Besides! What if I am?" Thunder rumbled louder and lightning flashed and the sky grew dark. "Can't I think about having a boyfriend?" Barry grinned slightly at the teasing. Life went on. Ryu seemed an honorable sort these days. Kurumi adored Nodoka and Natsume at least liked her. Genma was behaving himself lately. Idly, he drew out two threads and tied them to the ends of his chopsticks. Now he had simlulated fishing rods. He 'cast' with them, watching the lines fall neatly side by side.

Thoughtfully, he reminded himself of the goddess's description. Too close! Ah! Right! He held the toy rods between his index and ring fingers and cast the lines. Ranma's superb control allowed both lines to stretch out neatly on the table surface. Barry scowled. He was missing something. Then lighting banged almost directly over the open doors to the pond and wind burst down to ripple teh waters and kick debri up in its path. It caught up Barry's strings, entangling them hopelessly. He held the chopsticks up and regarded them in disgust. Then he stubbornly sat down to begin to untangle the mess. The strings were so looped about and tangeled it was hard to tell which belonged to which. In fact...

"Wadja think, Ranma?" Kurumi said with a grin at her scowling sister. "Hey! Where did he go?" Kurumi complained.