A/N: This is a repost and rewrite of my previous story, "Nerima in the Dark", taking away most of the palagrism.

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or Sailormoon.

CHAPTER II

------Two years ago------

"Well, here we are P-chan. I sure hope they got what we need here." The 14 year old red headed Ranma-chan said to the young bandannaed boy standing next to her as they stare at the old rundown building in front of them.

"Are you sure this is the right place? And don't call me P-chan!" The dark-haired boy said as he swatted the back of the red-haired girl's head rather strongly.

Ranma looked at the flyer on her hands before looking at the building and then looking at the flyer again. "Shou Exorcisms and Curse Breakers Ltd. Number 34 Kowloon St., East Side, Hong-Kong. Well, this is the right address."

"It sure doesn't seem like a reliable place to find a cure. I mean, look at the place. It seems ready to be demolished soon."

"Let's go in. Maybe it looks better on the inside." She said as she walks towards the front door followed by the still doubtful Ryouga.

What they saw inside wasn't far from the outside. There is only two usable room there and the rest were covered with condemned signs. One room even have a yellow police lines on it. Both the unfurnished concrete walls and walls have several cracks on it. There was only one desk there, and there was a giant black man sleeping on it who looks like a punk rocker reject with his spiky purple hair, several gold chain medallions, and gold nose and ear piercing (think of Mr. T and Birdie combined).

"Looks better inside huh?" Ryouga smirked.

"Shut up." Ranma-chan said quietly as she went over and tried to poke the big guy awake. "Hey, big guy, is this the place where they cure curses?"

Groggily, the man opened his eyes, looked at the girl, and said, "Applicants goes right through there, missy.", before falling asleep again.

Getting the information they needed, the two of them went to the said door, opened it, and came in. Inside was a 35 years old Chinese woman wearing simple looking priestess clothes, sitting behind her desk, which was full of unfinished paper works and several ancient looking objects, all of which have certain Chinese wards on them. She was talking heatedly on the phone and by the looks of it, she was arguing over the cost of something.

"Yes, I guarantee the removal of the entity on your son . . . Of coarse not. A thousand only covers its removal, nothing else . . . Yes, that does sound a bit too much but I assure you your son's life is worth more . . . Yes, okay. Me, and my associates, would get there right away. Just have the cash ready. Bye." Putting down the phone, she then turned towards the two teenagers as she opens her drawer and pulling a small briefcase from inside. "Good. You must be the new applicants. You're hired." She threw the briefcase towards Ryouga, who caught it easily before heading out the door.

"Actually, we're here for," Ranma-chan begun as she followed the woman along with her friend.

"No time to talk, hon. We need to get downtown fast before our new client decides to cancel on us. Just follow my lead and don't talk. Maybe we could cash in more if we manage to keep the kid alive." She went out the backdoor where her car, a rusty, busted, old model Corolla. "Well, what are you two waiting for? Get in so we could get paid sooner!" She said when the two just stood there staring at the car.

"No offense lady, but are you sure that thing could run?" Ryouga asked.

"It looks quite ready to be taken to the junk yard." Ranma-chan supplied, which earned her a dashboard to the head when Mao Lin ripped it off in anger.

"Just get in, you brats." And they complied silently.

"Let me get this straight. You want US to go IN THERE, subdue the demon-possessed kid who is currently torching the entire place, stick this spirit ward on his forehead thus releasing the demon inside him, and try to trap the demon inside this small tiny box before it manages to kill either of us?" Ranma-chan asked as she, Ryouga, Mao Lin, and the kid's parents watch as the blazing kid, who is about seven years old boy with several red marks on his face, floats around inside the house while throwing fireballs left and right.

"Yup. That's it." Mao Lin clarified at her hiding place behind a street lamp just outside the one story house. She knew she should have demanded they got paid in advance so she could have left during the ensuing chaos but the possessed kid burst through the room and started throwing fireballs before she could harass the parents for it.

Both teenagers just shrugged their shoulders and simply said, "Okay."

"I know that such actions could probably get the two of you killed but as your boss I assure you your families will get 20 of what we earned today and," Mao Lin had obviously been prepared to give this speech at the event her new helpers shows any sign of common sense, like the ones before them, whom decides to think they're lives are more important than they're jobs, so it took a while before their answer finally reach her brain. "What?"

"We said okay." Ranma-chan said simply as she starts to walk towards the house with the ward and the tiny wooden box on her hands.

"Y-you mean you'll do it?" Mao Lin asked astounded.

"Yeah, sure. We hadn't had a good fight in a while." Ryouga said in the same tone as Ranma-chan as he follows his friend while cracking his knuckles. He kicked the door open and immediately jumped in, thus avoiding a fireball that incinerated what was left of the said door.

At the same time, Ranma-chan leaped through the broken window and kicked a chair towards a fireball heading towards her and caused the aforementioned chair to explode.

"FOOLS! DO YOU MORTAL THINKS YOU COULD STOP ME? MY FLAMES WILL TORCH ANYTHING THAT TOUCHES THIS BODY!" The kid shrieked in a tone that was clearly not his own. The voice was like the sound you make when nails scratched through the surface of a blackboard.

"We wouldn't know if we don't try." Ranma-chan smirked as she threw another chair towards the kid, who floated away to avoid it. After that came a mini table, a love couch, a flower vase, anything she could grab in that room and lastly, a fire extinguisher.

Most of the stuff thrown at him was torched, the bigger ones which could not be burned to ashes immediately was dodged lazily. The demon inside the boy laugh at her puny attempts hit him. "YOU CANNOT DEFEAT ME WITH SUCH POOR METHODS! THE CHILD'S SOUL IS MINE TO CONSUME, AND IN A MOMENT, SO WILL BE YOURS!" It taunted.

"Think again, baka." The redhead smirked as she just stood there looking at him confidently.

The demon noticed that it wasn't only him that she was looking at. Looking up, it saw the fire extinguisher had a hole in it and it was releasing enough cold carbon that was slowly diminishing its flames. It was floating out of the way when Ryouga grabbed him from behind in an arm lock, preventing his escape. "YOU INSULENT FOOL! I SHALL BURN YOU TO ASH!" It said as it concentrated all its remaining flames on the boy holding it down.

The burning form of Ryouga was blasted out through the wall, but the power exerted was too much to retain the flames on its host's body, which gave Ranma-chan the chance to place the Demon Vanishing Ward on the boy's forehead.

The demon screamed as it was forcefully ejected out of the boy's body. It didn't even get the chance for a vicious threat when the red head shoved the box on it, where it was absorbed and then trapped inside with another demon seal.

As soon as the seal on the box was placed, the fire around the house burned out immediately and the boy, who had lost all the demon mark on him, fell on the floor unconscious.

Outside, both Mao Lin and the boy's parents were looking over the burned corpse of the bandanna boy, who was now sizzling on the front yard. 'What a waste of a perfectly good employee. At least we got the job done.' Mao Lin thought before turning her eyes towards the parents. 'Maybe I should get a higher pay from them for the tragedy of losing an employee for saving their son?'

Mao Lin's trail of thoughts were put on hold when the redhead came towards them with the young boy on her shoulder and the demon sealed box on her hand, and started kicking the other boy's corpse while saying, "Get up, pork breathe. How long are you gonna be lying there?"

Mao Lin was about to give the girl a sermon about respecting the dead, thus allowing her to hassle more of the payment for herself later, when the corpse suddenly started regenerating himself. When it was done, the boy simply coughed a few times, stood up, dusted himself off, glared at his friend, and said, "Shut the hell up, Ranma! Why don't we burn YOU alive and see how you do!"

"Maybe later. Here you go." She said as she carefully put the kid down on the ground. Both parents forgot the earlier shock and went to see they're now demon-free son.

"Mommy, I'm hungry." Was the first words that came out of the kid's mouth as soon as he woke up.

Both parents were ecstatic and were crying with joy as they hugged their son. "Thank You! Thank you so much! How could we ever repay you?" The mother said.

The word 'pay' immediately jerked Mao Lin out of her shocked state and addressed the two parents with a sly smile as she said, "We would require double the agreed amount as hazard pay for my top employees."

"Done." The father said immediately before the others, particularly Ranma-chan and Ryouga, could protest.

"Please, please, please, please, PLEASE WORK FOR ME! All of my field agents are either dead, missing, or sueing me for attempted homicide and almost having their soul eaten by demons. PLEASE, YOU ARE MY LAST HOPE TO GET A DECENT CHANCE AT THIS BUSINESS!"

"ALRIGHT ALREADY JUST WATCH THE FREAKIN' ROAD!" Ranma-chan shouted as she tried to steady the car's steering wheel when they nearly hit another incoming bus.

Mao Lin was currently driving them back to the office when they were finally given the chance to tell her their story. With the prospect of losing these two as employees, she immediately started begging both of them (particularly Ranma-chan since Ryouga is in the backseat) to work for her, letting go of the steering wheel as the car was moving at 40 miles per hour through downtown Hong-Kong, grabbing Ranma-chan by the shirt, and sobbing pathetically fake tears.

"You're pathetic, Ranma." Ryouga snickered.

"Shut up, porky. I don't see you complaining when we almost hit that truck."

"Perks of being me now. I don't need to worry about such things anymore." He said with a smirk.

"Someday I gonna kill you so bad not even your Wu status can regenerate you back." She said hotly.

"I'd like to see you try, femboy." He said laughing his heart out for having the upper hand over his friend in this fight.

"D-did you just say he's a Wu?" Mao Lin asked, her face set in shocked, unknowingly letting go of the steering wheel once more.

"I SAID WATCH THE ROAD, LADY!"

"Well, I'd say you two were quite lucky for having the Spring of Drowned Men drained during the time." Mao Lin said as she reads a scroll that contains the details of Jusenkyo curses, which, at the moment, is laid out on the desk of her office.

"What is so lucky about that?" Ranma asked hotly, who is in his male form, from his seat in front of Mao Lin's desk.

"Bwee!" Ryouga, in his cursed form added.

"For one thing, the pools aren't what makes Jusenkyo so dangerous but the spirit of the place itself." Mao Lin said as a matter of fact before continuing. "You weren't cursed by accident. The spirits trapped in the springs had drawn you to be cursed."

"You mean, we would eventually get cursed no matter what?"

"Yes, unless you're familiar with the essence of Jusenkyo. If not then you are doomed to be cursed the moment you set foot on the place."

"But could you get us cured?"

"Sure. All you need is a bucket of water from the Spring of Drowned Man once it is able to produce enough water for both of you. I'll have someone to check Jusenkyo periodically until we could get some of that water to be brought here. But you must be in the right state of mind and spirit to get cured or else the curse will mix instead of curing you."

Both Ranma and the little black piglet shuddered at the thought of having their curse mixed. "Right state of mind and spirit?"

"That's right. It's a bit different with every curse. You see, when you got your curses, part of the spirit of the thing that had originally drowned on the pools are transferred to you along with the curse itself. The spirit usually tries to fight for dominance against another curse thus creating a mixed curse. The spirit must be willing to leave the body of the cursed individual for the cure to work."

"You mean, part of the person that drowned in the pool is living inside me? Are you telling me we're possessed?"

"Yes and no. You do have part of the spirit of the drowned person inside you but not in the sense it could take over your body since it doesn't possess a consciousness of its own." Mao Lin said before turning towards the piglet. She was staring at it, particularly at the mark of 'void' on its forehead, which signifies that he is indeed a Wu, an immortal being who has the ability to regenerate himself. "Your second curse, on the other hand, is a bit easier to solve. I just don't know how you managed to do a soul transfer by yourself."

"Trust me, it wasn't pretty. Me and him managed to come across this group of occults that was trying to resurrect a guy named Kayanwang or something with a jar with an insignia of three eyes on it. We crashed their little ceremony and this guy managed to get impaled in the middle of their ritual. The jar was destroyed and he ended up like that since then."

"But where did his soul go? The end of his immortality is centered on the destruction of the object holding his soul."

"That would be me." Ranma said evenly.

"Well, there you have it. All you need to do is kill him if you want to die." Mao Lin said cheerfully before producing two sets of papers and pen. "Please sign your signature on the dotted line of this contract which states that you two would be working for me for at least a year and a half."

"I don't know about this." Ranma said mostly to himself.

"B-b-but you promised!" Mao Lin was already beginning to shed tears.

"Bweee!"

"You're right, Ryouga. It would be easier for us if he have descent jobs while we wait." Ranma said taking the contract and signing it.

----Present Time-------

"Sorry, young miss, but the item you are looking for has already been sold a month ago to someone else." The old man who owns the antique shop said.

"ARE YOU INSANE? Don't you know that that thing is CURSED? How could you sell something so dangerous, and to a high school girl?" Ranma-chan shouted as she grabbed the owner's shirt and shook him a couple of times.

"Do master want Naomi to kill human trash?" Naomi said hopefully as she morphed into her two meter demon form, complete with bat-like wings, razor-sharp black claws, glowing yellow cat like eyes, two yellow thick ram-like horns, deadly fangs, pointed ears, a tail, and a dominatrix suit that barely covers the essentials.

"NO! Please! The other girl was very persuasive in purchasing the item and had threatened me with bodily harm if I didn't let her buy it. I was forced to sell it because she said she needed it to whack some sense into a bokken-wielding schoolmate of hers. I didn't even managed to tell her about it being cursed." The old man begged as Naomi begun to step to his direction.

"Naomi, could you tell me if he is lying?"

"Yes master." She said as she started sniffing the air around the old man. "He is lying master."

"What? H-how could that creature,"

"Shut up, old man. My demon has the ability to smell lies on people like you. So tell me the truth."

"O-Okay, okay! I-I sold her the item because sales was low and I never told her about the curse. Please don't kill me!"

"I want the address of the girl you sold the item to, NOW! And I want you to mail every single cursed or magical items you got to a friend of mine in Hong-Kong. After that, you got one week to find a new line of work or I'll send my demon after your miserable hive and she will have my full permission to make your death as painfully LONG as possible. Do you understand?"

"Y-yes, ma'am!" The man said, wetting himself as he rush to find the other girl's address like his life depended on it, which, ironically, it is.

"You sure know how to pick them, sugar."

"Thank you Ukyo-sama." Konatsu said at Ukyo's praise as she checks out the three story building, which they would be using to open up an okinomiyaki restaurant here in Nerima. "I managed to rent the entire building for at least six months. There are three rooms each on the second and third floor, and the basement is large enough to accommodate all of the professor's work. Gas, electricity, and water would be operational within the week. All we need to do now is set the grill, tables, and chairs inside and Ucchan's could start taking in customers by next week. I'll be scouting the area later today to find the best place to buy groceries we would need for the restaurant."

"Konatsu-honey, I know I don't say this much often, but what would I ever do without you." Ukyo said, giving the feminine ninja a sincere smile, making Konatsu blush so red it put ripe tomatoes to shame, before heading inside the building, where Professor Ikamura was having a cup of coffee.

"Well, what do you think, Kuonji?" The old man asked as he gave her a sheet of paper.

"It will definitely do." She said. "What this?"

"Your application form for school. I've already enrolled you at Furinkan High so all you need to do is fill that out and give it to the school's admission office when you get there." The professor said before sipping his coffee.

Ukyo sighed in resignation. She knew arguing about school to the doc was futile since she is underage. Besides, it's not like she isn't used to transferring schools everytime their operation moves to another location. All she had to do is try not to make any friends that she could end up hurting once she disappears all of a sudden when she relocates later. "Fine. I just hope I manage to finish the end of term before we move again."

"Don't worry. I have the feeling we'll be here for a while." The professor said cryptically.

"WHERE THE HELL AM I NOW?" Shouted Ryouga once more as he finds himself in an alley surrounded by tall buildings every where. Adjusting his pack on his back, he begun to roam the place once more in hope of finding either his house or Ranma, whichever comes first.

He had barely walked ten steps when he heard several voices and a crash nearby. Thinking of asking where he is, he started running towards the voices. When he turned on another alley, he saw a beautiful lady in a blue floral kimono surrounded by at least a dozen large men in black suits. The woman has a sheathed samurai sword in her hands and one of the men in black is sprawled down on the concrete floor by her feet.

"I told you before, Oda, the only way to relinquish this sword is by having it removed from my dead hands." The woman said quietly but no one can refuse to acknowledge the threat behind her voice.

"Come now, Nodoka-chan. Grandfather has ordered me to take the sword. Are you denying our clan leader's order?" Said the smallest of the men surrounding her. The guy, whose name is Oda, seems to be a few years older than the woman. He was wearing an expensive white suit with a blue polo shirt underneath it, a large gold chain necklace, and several gold rings on his fingers. Overall, a typical mob.

"You and I both know that no one ordered you to do this. All you want is to present this sword to grandfather's vile mistress to get yourself further up the clan."

"That may be the case. But I would still get that sword from you. And the Family Blade comes with me today whether you like it or not." Oda said as he signaled his men to attack. It was then that Ryouga decided to attack.

Nodoka was about to draw her sword when a young man, wearing a yellow and black bandanna jumped between her and the rest of Oda's goons. With several lightning fast swipes of his bamboo umbrella, the young man managed to decrease their number in half.

"Who the heck are you?" Oda asked hotly at the young man attacked half of his men, who were mostly part of the alley wall at the moment.

Ryouga ignored him as he studied the rest of the goons and thinking of the fastest and most effective way to bring them down if they step even an inch closer. Most of them are set in a fighting stance so he knew most of them have at least studied martial arts. "Dishonorable morons! Ganging up on a single opponent is an act of cowards. As a true martial artist, I, Ryouga Hibiki, of the Hibiki School of Wanderer's Martial Arts, shall not allow it!" he declared as he begun to attack.

Oda was shocked as all of his best men, who were at least a second dan black belt, were beaten by a single opponent barely half their age and size with an oversized umbrella. Just before the last of his men went down, he took out a 9mm hand gun from his pocket. He was about to shoot the boy while his back was turned when a slashing sound forced him to back off.

After beating down the last of the goons, Ryouga turned to finish off their leader, only to see him fleeing away with half a gun in his hand. The other half, which was cleanly cut down by Nodoka's lightning fast slash, was resting on the floor by her feet. He also saw the guy named Oda running away as if chased by a couple of lust demons.

Nodoka wrapped the sheathed sword once more with a beige colored silk. Placing it on her shoulder, she then turned towards the boy and bowed to him formally as she said, "Thank you, young man, for saving me."

"N-no problem, Miss Nodoka. I was just glad putting down this jerks." He said with a laugh while scratching the back of his head. He was blushing a bit. The woman might be older than him by, at most, a decade, but her natural beauty is quite noticeable despite her age.

Nodoka gave a graceful laugh herself. This young man proved to be quite a gentleman, as well as a skilled martial artist. And he isn't bad looking either with that fanged smile, black messy hair, and his broad, rough physical attributes, a man among men.

Ryouga noticed the sudden change of facial expression on Nodoka's face. She seems quite sad all of a sudden. "Is there something wrong, Nodoka-san?"

Nodoka immediately set aside that trail of thoughts and gave the young boy a smile before saying, "No, Ryouga-kun. I just thought of my son for a moment. If he was alive today, he'll be about your age."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Please accept my condolence." He said sincerely.

"Don't worry, Ryouga-kun. He and my husband had been gone a long time. And I have a wonderful twelve years old daughter to keep me busy. Would you like to have tea with me?"

"Sure. I was just looking for directions to Shinjuku but I guess I could spare a few hours." He said at the woman who reminds him greatly of his own mother. "Oh, ah, would you mind leading the way? I, ah, kinda have this problem with directions. And I've only been in town for a day."

Nodoka gave him another smile as she said, "It would be an honor, Ryouga-kun. And please call me Aunt Nodoka."

Nabiki sat in class, watching the morning drama as it played out in the schoolyard. On the left, her sister Akane was engaged in fierce combat with the various members of Furinkan High's sports' clubs. This had become such a typical sight that it was boring to watch. The fight was so repetitive that she could tell which moves her sister was going to use even before she used them. Boy attacks, Akane dodges, counterattacks, knocking the boy unconscious. Repeat until you run out of boys. It was even made easier now because of her sister's physical upgrade due to being half demon.

Nabiki had been planning on leaving Nerima as soon as she graduates from high school. Using her mercenary tactics to earn enough money to leave her family to make sure they wouldn't need to worry financially until she manages to graduate from college. She had also opened an account for Kasumi's college funds, which would allow her to enter a middle class university if they choose to pursue being a nurse like she always dreamed of. And as soon as she gets a job, she'll be working on Akane's college fund. But her younger sister's accident with a cursed hammer dampens her plan of ever leaving. She had to make sure that if she ever decides to leave, her family would be there for her to come back. Now she only have a year and a half to figure out how to solve those problems. And to make this worse, the local Yakuza was starting to sniff around on her operations.

Kyoko was feeling a little worried for her boss at the moment. She had been acting a bit strange the past couple of weeks, but Nabiki did have the occasional mood swing. No one else
noticed them, but Kyoko did. Rumor has it that she and her sisters got caught up in something strange that almost killed Akane but they were quite tight lipped about it, that and the Yakuza seems to be starting to get involved. Kyoko ran off a mental checklist on her boss. Staring out the window before class to watch the fights: normal. Besides, no one really needed to watch Akane's fights any more to know how they end up.

That was the pronounced change, the one that anyone could have noticed. Nabiki hadn't called for any bets. Her factors had taken care of it anyway, but for her to not even ask about it this far into the fight was unprecedented. Nabiki also seemed to be concentrating on subjects pertaining to mysticism a bit much lately for Kyoko's liking.

"Sempai," Kyoko called out to her, but Nabiki continued to stare and didn't respond.
"Sempai?" Kyoko said again and tried tugging at her boss's arm to get her attention. She liked how her boss always preferred to wear silk blouses. Kyoko had started wearing them herself
because of it.

Nabiki's eyes seemed to snap into focus as she turned around to face her factor. "What is it, Kyoko?"

Kyoko blinked a little in surprise. No 'Kyoko-chan?' Nabiki called everyone who worked for her '-chan', partly as a closeness thing and partly to show who was the boss. She called Kuno 'Kuno-chan' mostly as a private joke with her factors, since the bokken-wielding nutcase was practically working for her the way she made so much money off of him. Anyone who worked for her usually called her 'Nabiki-san', though he younger factors preferred 'sempai.' No one called her 'Nabiki-chan,' except her older sister, who was such a sweet person that she could get away with anything. Kyoko didn't think that even Nabiki's father called her 'chan.'

"I thought that you'd like to know how the betting is going today, since the fights are almost over."

Despite being a year younger than Nabiki and about half the staff, Kyoko had been recently chosen as the boss's chief assistant. Nabiki had said that it was due to Kyoko's scores in math, which were the highest in the school, and the fact that she was in the same class as the boss's younger sister, who she liked to keep an eye on, and not always as a source of revenue. Kyoko liked to think that there were other reasons as well.

Nabiki took the clipboard her assistant had handed her and started going over the numbers, pushing all thoughts of demons out of her mind. The betting on Akane vs. the idiots -- as Nabiki liked to call the boys who actually listened to Kuno -- had gone steadily down, even after they had changed it from 'who will win' to 'how fast will Akane pound the boys into the pavement.' Those fights just weren't exciting any more. Nabiki shook her head. Morons like that didn't deserve to get allowances.

Nabiki handed back the clipboard with a smile. "Looks like my sister's fights aren't that popular any more. We'll have to make sure that the picture sales keep coming."

Kyoko noticed that the smile was forced. It has been a while since her sempai gave anyone her true smile, but she remembers it with crystal clarity. Just thinking about that smile made her blush. She just wished her sempai would grant her that smile again one of these days. That is why she took all her courage and asked the one question that everyone else wanted to know but no one dared to asked. "Sempai, what's wrong? You've been different these past few weeks. Does it have anything to do with your sister?"

Nabiki starred at her trembling factor for a moment. She knew it took every ounce of her courage to ask that of her since the last person that tried to meddle in her personal business got the 'cold-shoulder', which, in Nabiki's book, meant an act of mutiny against her. But still, she couldn't really blame the young girl for being concern about her. Among all others, she considers Kyoko as her protegee, her heir in the Furinkan High Underground Organization. If she wanted to trust anyone, it would be her.

Calming herself for a moment, she asked, "Kyoko, do you believe in demons, angles, magic, and other supernatural beings?"

Kyoko let out a breath she hasn't even realized she was holding before answering truthfully, "I-I don't know, Sempai. Should I?"

"Yes, you should." Her answer was cold but certain. Kyoko doesn't know whether to panic or be awed by her boss' certainty. Surely, such a realist modern woman like her sempai would regard the supernatural as nothing more than overactive imagination of certain people. But why does Kyoko feel her boss is so sure it isn't?

"I-I'm not sure, Sempai." She cringed when Nabiki actually glared at her. Her stare was so cold Kyoko felt she was going to freeze right there and then. "I'm sorry, Nabiki-sama! Please forgive me for my insolence!" She said doing a great imitation of the Saotome's School final technique: 'Crouch of the Wild Tiger', bowing low enough that her forehead touches the ground.

"Insolence is easily forgivable. Ignorance is not." Nabiki cringed at sounding so much like Kuno. But she feels the situation calls for it. Then, with a genuine smile, she said, "I think you should start considering their existence, because, believe it or not, it is the root of my problems."

Kyoko felt Nabiki patting her gently on the shoulder before she left to get to her own classroom. They always watch the fight from Akane's classroom since it got the best view of the ground.

Her talk with Nabiki didn't really got Kyoko the answer she was looking for, but it was so much more than she thought she would get from her. It wasn't much but she knew it was a start. Her sempai had told her something that might be considered a weapon against her and she trusted her enough to reveal it to her. To show Nabiki that she could trust her, Kyoko swore to force herself to believe what her sempai thinks is real, even if it means consulting with the freaky Gosunkuji. Maybe it's time she started talking to her grandmother's old maid sister, who everyone in her family says a crazy, self-proclaimed medium.

"Damn that woman! I swear I'll get her for this, one day! And I'll get that punk too!" Oda cursed as he steps out of his car and went inside one of the exclusive elevators of the huge office building in the middle of Shinjuku. The Himura Tower is one of the many major establishments owned by the Himura Clan and is considered as the trade center for most of the family's businesses.

Getting of at the 40th floor, he went straight into his office and groaned as he saw one of the last persons he wanted to see sitting on his desk with a smirk on his face. "By the scowl on your face, I assume things didn't go as planned?"

"Kuznite," He really wanted to snarl the name but he knew it wouldn't be good for his health. ", it wasn't my fault! There was this punk that got in the way and . . ."

Kuznite didn't let him finish and lazily wave his hand. Oda was hurled across the room with an unseen force and slumped pathetically on the floor. "I don't take kindly to failure, Oda." Actually, Kuznite wasn't really angry at all. In fact, he was rather enjoying himself. Getting that sword isn't really that important. He just likes humiliating the pathetic man to ease his boredom.

"F-forgive me. I-I shall get that s-sword very soon." He said under gritting teeth as he struggles to push himself up the floor. He knew it wasn't fair. He was a nephew of the head of the Himura Clan yet this man, along with several other people, act as if he was a mere trash, unwanted garbage.

Kuznite just smirked at him and said, "Nevermind about the sword. I have another job for you. It would be much simpler than taking a silly little knife from one woman, so I hope you won't disappoint me this time." He dropped a picture on the floor, which Oda grudgingly picked up.

"What's this?" Oda asked as he looked at the picture of a brown haired girl in a school uniform.

"She runs the local gambling pool down at Nerima Ward. I want you to convince her to . . . buy our protection."

"B-but this is just simple muscle work! Any of our paid goons on the street can do this kind of job!" He said indignantly.

"Which is why I'm sure you could handle it." He smiled at the look at Oda's face. It was priceless, especially at how well he managed to imitate a gaping fish out of water. "And just to make sure you don't screw this up, I'm sending you one of my lackeys to supervise."

Oda never even realized there was somebody else in the room when a huge black man wearing a suit and tie stepped out of the shadows. He was almost seven feet tall, lean and full of muscle.

Kuznite smiled when he saw Oda almost wetting his pants at the sight of one of his disguised youma. It was one of his weakest creations, having only it's strength as its asset, but it was still far stronger than any normal human alive. "His name is Vhan and he would be making sure you finish the job. Do I make myself clear?"

Oda gritted his teeth but nodded nonetheless.

"Good." Kuznite said cheerfully before leaving.

Oda really wanted to scream curses right about now but was afraid of Vhan manhandling him if he hears him cursing his boss behind his back. So he settled for glaring at the picture of the girl with a boy-page-cut hair style. Maybe he could bent his frustrations on her once he gets his hands on her. Turning the picture around, he saw the name of the girl written on the back.

He snarled as he read the name, "Nabiki Tendo."