A Ring Of Ki's

Echoes of Intentions

A faint chiming accompanied each step as she approached the table in the corner. The music came from the two golden ornaments that adorned the young woman's violet hair. Beneath the tight weave of sheer white silk and its pattern of orchids bounced and swayed the proud evidence of the figure's femininity. Unrestrained, the whisper of friction between silk and flesh made a subtle counterpoint to the chiming of her ornaments. Visually and audibly, to any human male, the effect would have been mind freezing. Her appearance and body language said, 'I am desire; I am life; I am death.' There was nothing servile in the way X'ian Pu brought steaming bowls to the table for her sometime rivals, sometime allies.

A faint growl emanated from one of the figures at the shadowed table. Ukyo Kuonji found the display vaguely threatening and simply wasn't in the mood to put up with X'ian Pu's little games. Her audible challenged the message of the other woman's appearance and attitude. Light glinted from the highly polished surface of a long, leather-wrapped metal shaft that leaned within easy reach of its owner. Her long brown hair was contained by a red silk bow. Her dark jacket with its patterns of white kanji shifted like an inverted leopard's pelt. Though seated, her balance was above the balls of her feet. She didn't trust her hostess and certainly didn't trust the other guest.

A silently arched eyebrow was the only immediate response from the third form seated there. Gowned in black, her raven hair gleamed, starkly framing her pale face. Her violet eyes reflected cunning and self-assurance. Finally, she laughed as her tablemates glared at her. "Oh, ho-ho-ho-ho…" Kodachi Kuno seemed vastly amused by the other women. She ignored the hot food before her and snapped out a fan, ostensibly to hide her amusement. "Why, pray tell, the serious faces? That obscenity of a ceremony is over and the tart's intentions unrealized."

"That obscenity should never have happened!" snapped Ukyo. "He's mine!"

"There many claims on Ranma," X'ian Pu's clear tones cut over Ukyo's deeper voice. She blinked slowly, her gaze and presence speaking volumes. Taking her time, she sampled the food in front of her before nodding in satisfaction. Kodachi sampled her dish in much the same manner, her critical gourmet and poison-trained palette looking for unusual spices as well as quality tastes. Ukyo played with her noodles until Kodachi showed no ill affects. Even then, she knew she was taking a risk with the volatile Amazon. She barely hid her confusion as X'ian Pu quietly continued the conversation she had started moments before. "But Ranma," the purple-haired young woman added, "not belong anyone if obstacle stand in way. China change things. Kitchen Destroyer become too-too close."

"You said that before," grumbled Ukyo remembering the conversation only moments before they had bombed a certain wedding. "Why don't you just cut the melodrama and tell us what happened?"

X'ian Pu looked away. "It not concern you."

"It sure as hell does concern me," Ukyo retorted heatedly. "If it resulted in… in that," she snarled, flinging her arm in the general direction of the Tendo dojo and its ruined decorations, "I think I need to know!"

Kodachi chuckled throatily. "Oh, my… The little bitch isn't expecting, is she?"

Ukyo gaped, unprepared for such a conclusion then gasped and paled at the thought.

"No, no…" X'ian Pu made a faint gesture of negation. The others waited for further information. "Nothing happen on way back, except they no fight. But…" She shook her head. "…that trouble enough." She scowled darkly at the surface of her bowl. "Also, Mousse tell X'ian Pu; Akane offer Nanniichuan to Ranma as bribe for marriage." In his cage in a dark corner, a white duck quacked sadly at lost chances.

"So that's why…" Ukyo growled.

"Oh, please!" Kodachi sneered. "And what would Ranma want with 'Boy-water'?" She ignored how the Amazon and the chef rolled their eyes at the blindness her fixation caused.

"Let's just say it's something he might want and can't get anymore," Ukyo said dryly.

"So much so that he would marry to gain it?" Kodachi laughed wickedly. "So perhaps the resources of the Kuno fortune might gain me Ranma's attention? How… interesting."

"No way, Airen go for loony girl!"

"In your dreams, Kodachi!"

"Indeed, in all of our dreams," mused the gymnast with a shrug. "And perhaps it was not this Nanniichuan at all, hmmm…?" She did not smile as the others cursed. In their thoughts was one Akane Tendo. The faint tick of the ceiling fan and the wafting of air were easily heard in the following silence.

"We've got to do something," Ukyo sighed unhappily. There was a murmur of agreement. "The kami know I tried setting Akane up with Ryoga."

"My brother would be glad to have her," Kodachi offered with a smirk. "Unfortunately, she does not return the sentiment."

"Maybe Mousse do favor?" X'ian Pu glanced toward the unfortunate's cage.

"Kwa-wak!" the duck turned its back on her, huffing at the thought of such a betrayal of his feelings for his loadstar.

"What good, you, duck-boy?" sniffed the violet haired warrior.

They all then tried to ignore his noisy impassioned quacking as he attempted to recount his good points in duck. Annoyed by the squawking, Shampoo hit him with her half-finished bowl. The hot broth did its work and suddenly a young man was scrunched into the tiny confinement, his legs and arms explosively bursting out of the bars and his hands quickly trying to cover his nakedness.

"Look what you do! Now Great-grandmother must get new cage! Go get dressed and leave X'ian Pu alone!" she snapped. Mousse blushed and waddled out of the room, the edges of the broken bars biting at his flesh and his body unnaturally humped to fit in the cage's confines. What was worse was that none of the girls seemed to react to his embarrassment at all. Much put upon, the near-sighted hidden weapons master made himself scarce. The click and creak of a door opening in the shadows of the kitchen told of his departure. After a moment, X'ian Pu nodded. "He gone now. He go away and sulk for time."

"You intended to do that?" Ukyo asked.

"We were talking about the Tendo girl," prompted Kodachi smoothly.

"It past time for stupid, ugly, kitchen-destroying pervert girl to go," suggested X'ian Pu with feeling.

"Too True," Kodachi drawled. "But what would be the best way to accomplish that?" There was another long silence as they eyed one another.

"Need look like accident," the Amazon gritted, clenching her fists.

Ukyo frowned. "You're not actually thinking of killing her are you?" Akane may have been her rival but murder…?

"For long time we think Akane hate Ranma. Now we know truth."

"If Akane Tendo lives, you can kiss Ranma one last time, dear chef, when you kiss him goodbye," Kodachi said in saccharine tones. "Whatever happened on the mainland, the result was an altogether unhealthy situation for our chances." Her violet eyes grew hard. "She must go." She leaned toward the chef and Ukyo shivered. Kodachi's looming approach had reptilian undertones. "And we must be in accord in our intentions or else…"

Shampoo joined Kodachi in leaning threateningly toward the okonomiyaki chef. "Spatula-girl throw bomb like X'ian Pu. Why you think this different?"

"I… I…" Ukyo gripped the shaft of her mega-spat. She didn't like her chances fighting against both of them if she refused their plan and admittedly, some part of her really didn't want to refuse. Ranchan was hers, dammit!

"Come now, little girl," came Kodachi's patronizing tone, letting her fingertip trail along Ukyo's shoulder. "The Tendo trollop is only getting what she deserves for trying to out-maneuver us." Her eyes gleamed, half-lidded. "There must be consequences…" she began to add.

"Akane is her own worst enemy," snapped Ukyo desperately. "We're better off just waiting for her to get violent again." 'Hey! I'm right!' she thought, surprised at her own evaluation.

"That too-too true," X'ian Pu mused. "But, Akane first choice for Ranma for honor." The Amazon looked thoughtful. "She break engagement many time. She always hit husband when wife come visit…"

"He's not your husband, bimbo!" shouted the two other girls.

"And she hits him whenever any of us get close, cat-girl," Ukyo added darkly. "And I have some call on his honor, too, you know," she added in a mutter.

They sat arguing in the shadows of the closed ramen shop, while potential customers came and went.

"Yoo-hoo!" caroled a new voice brightly. "You really should invest in better locks for your back door, Shampoo." Nabiki Tendo smirked as she sauntered into the room from the dark shadows at the back of the restaurant. "It only took me half a minute to card the thing." She waved the bit of plastic money airily. "Though I suppose anyone stupid enough to try to rob martial artists gets what he deserves." Her smile turned predatory and her eyes narrowed as she saw Kodachi and Ukyo. "Oh, good! You're all here!" From beneath her arm she took an expandable file and browsed through it unconcernedly.

"What you…!" X'ian Pu snarled as she leaped to her feet. "Why you think I treat you any different from thief who break in?" she snapped.

"Because," Nabiki smirked, "You're already in deep trouble from this afternoon." She found what she was searching for and sailed three thick spiral-bound documents across the table with exceptional accuracy. "Ladies…"

"What you do, mercenary girl?" growled X'ian Pu. She paled. It was a legal document and while most of it was in kanji, X'ian Pu was quite literate.

Kodachi made no move to touch the paper, but instead glared at the interloper. Ukyo struggled with the unfamiliar symbols. She was quite handy with the more common kanji as taught in the schools and the interlocking meaning of the strokes, but these were hardly common. Instead it reminded her of the documents she had signed when leasing the space for her shop… Wait… Legal documents? "What is this, Nabiki?" she choked out. Too much was happening, too fast.

Nabiki shrugged and slid an unoccupied chair over between Ukyo and the Amazon. For a moment she and X'ian Pu had a staring match from which the violet-haired girl reluctantly pulled back. "Good choice, Shampoo," Nabiki smirked. "There are several people who know I'm here; and to be frank, the sword is hanging over all of your heads." She nodded pointedly at the Amazon. "Any more violence and you will be lucky simply to only be deported to return home in shame." The Amazon's growl was surprisingly deep given the normal pitch of her voice. She remained seated and physically unthreatening, however. Nabiki turned to the others. "And I understand that jail is particularly unpleasant." Ukyo shuddered.

Nabiki glanced at Kodachi. "I believe there is a Rhythmic Gymnastics tournament in Hawaii next week. I suggest you get a head start. If you do, your penalty will only be monetary. If you don't, you will be joining your brother for psychiatric evaluation."

"Oh, ho…" Kodachi was less than impressed. "How dare you?" She smirked. "Have you any idea how much influence we have, little Tendo?"

"Money isn't everything, Rosie, old girl," Nabiki smirked but her eyes were hard. "Take it from somebody who knows." She shrugged. "One of the guests, an old friend of Daddy's, is very well placed in the Diet. He found your performances less than amusing. You might say we're 'staying the blow' to see if things can be dealt with more rationally and less publicly. Daddy's friend only has so much patience, however." Kodachi didn't move nor did she reply to this information. She sat, lounging in her chair, her eyes glittering.

Ukyo flinched as Nabiki turned to her. "It was a western wedding that Daddy and the panda threw together. The Nanniichuan was my father's idea, not Akane's." Ukyo flinched again at Nabiki's almost gentle tones. "Did it ever occur to you that there is a place for an objection in western ceremonies without flinging explosives about?" X'ian Pu blinked, nonplussed, then shrugged at lost opportunities. Ukyo looked pained.

"How is Ranchan?" the okonomiyaki chef whispered finally.

Nabiki's eyebrow quirked up. For a long silent moment, her audience watched her tally up just how much she would ask for. Then, shockingly she answered. "Last I saw him, he was still unconscious, female and lying with his head in his mother's lap."

Shampoo and Ukyo flinched. Some of Ranma's injuries had surely come from their explosives, even if it was Happosai who had finished things off with his own bomb. Kodachi fanned herself unconcernedly. She had only shown up in the black wedding gown she presently wore. Ranma was tough. It was one of the things she loved about him.

"Husband mother not thinking about manliness, is she?" inquired the Chinese girl quietly. Ukyo stopped breathing, drawing a frown from Kodachi.

"If she is, none of you helped the matter," Nabiki said matter-of-factly.

"Amazon no roll over and die because is convenient to sister of mercenary-girl."

Kodachi sniffed. "How insane." The remark drew stares. "All this talk of Ranma's manliness. He is obviously the manliness man alive." She laughed softly. "And if you don't see that, stand aside for someone who truly appreciates him."

While the rivals growled, Nabiki rolled her eyes.

"Moving on…!" grated the Tendo girl. "Concerning the costs of the acts of vandalism that occurred a few short hours ago on the Tendo property, and the damages done last month to the Saotome home." Her audience immediately grew quiet. They were all guilty in that. "You broke it; you bought it, folks," Nabiki said grimly. "The documents I've given you detail the damages. I'll give you, and any legal counsel you chose to retain, a week to go over them. Then we'll discuss terms of payment." Her cold glare stopped any objections. Finally, she nodded as all of the young women began to pay attention to the papers before them. "I'll be going now. Oh… and do I need to remind you girls that none of you should show up on Tendo or Saotome property without an invitation?" She stared them down again, before turning to leave. The fiancée's eyes dully followed her as she took one step, then another.

Her halt was abrupt and startled. "Akane?" she stuttered. This hadn't been in her plans. "What are you doing here?"

Akane Tendo had obviously taken time to change. Her wedding gown of that afternoon had been smudged and torn in the course of events and was hardly suitable for a confrontation. Instead she wore a simple jumper and blouse combination in shades of brown. While she looked angry – no surprise – she also seemed unusually focused. She nodded briefly to her sister, though her eyes were fixed upon the three around the little table.

"Akane, this isn't a good idea!" Nabiki flinched as Akane brushed past her. Her rivals met her eyes with a mixture of doubt, anger and curiosity.

"I'd ask if you were happy, but I see my sister has given you some bad news," Akane said, almost calmly. Her eyes flickered to Ukyo then Kodachi. "I would have been here sooner but I stopped at Ucchan's and then your place, Kodachi, before I came here." She took a deep cleansing breath. She didn't mention the unconscious Tatewaki Kuno lying half in, half out of the front door at the Kuno Estate. His joy at seeing the 'fair Akane' had been short-lived. "We need to talk."

"X'ian Pu finished with talk," the Amazon said haughtily, as she rose to her feet. She hesitated, reluctantly, at the sight of a hard-eyed Nabiki glaring over her sister's shoulder, a police whistle at her lips. "Maybe talk little bit," she conceded sinking back to her place at the table.

Akane nodded, ignoring the woman's suppressed threat. "This has got to stop," she said quietly but firmly.

Ukyo slapped the table, the sound echoing like a gunshot. "You're darn right, girl," she snarled. "Ranma's mine!"

"No! He belong X'ian Pu!"

"You low-bred cretins! The delightful Ranma-sama will be mine…"

"SHUT! UP!"

Akane's aura flared hot and bright, the light of it illuminating even her eyes. The fabric of her dress fluttered in the updraft it caused. Unconsciously, although she was hardly a threat to all three of them, they cowered back, startled. Nabiki backed against a wall and muttered under her breath. She had her own reasons to be wary of her little sister. Akane took a deep breath and slowly regained control.

"This has got to stop," she repeated quietly. When no one interrupted, she added, "We're killing him." She had their attention more firmly now. "Ranma… can't take much more of this." She took the chair Nabiki had so recently vacated and sat down, her hands in her lap. "Ranma must choose…"

"Me!"

"X'ian Pu!"

"Only I have the breeding and wealth to be a proper setting…"

"What did I say, earlier?" Akane ground out, glowering at them. Akane didn't perform her father's trademark 'demon-head' but looked like she might attempt it soon.

"You only want Ranma for self," X'ian Pu accused, pointing at her. "You think he choose you…"

Akane emitted a short unpleasant snort. "I wish…" Her face twisted and she seemed to push the thought away. "Little chance of that," she muttered, continuing. She ran a hand back through her sooty hair. "I thought…" She shook her head refocusing on them. "Look, you… I want what's best for Ranma." She swallowed harshly. "And maybe that's not me." she added crossly as her rivals prepared to object. They subsided, suspiciously. "Every day it gets worse. There's more pressure on him to choose one of us over the others." She smoothed the fabric of her jumper where her fists had rumpled it. "If this keeps up," she said softly, "I don't think he's going to survive."

"Maybe you should lose that mallet of yours," Ukyo snarled. Her jaw closed with a snap as Akane nodded and lowered her head, hands clenching so hard the popping of tendons was clearly audible in the room.

"You're right, but…" Akane took several deep breaths, almost gasping. "But when I see you all… When I just can't… If our fathers hadn't tried to force us…"

X'ian Pu and Ukyo frowned and glanced at one another. Kodachi laughed, apparently misunderstanding. "Ho, ho, ho! I pursue Ranma-sama because of the depths of my love for him. Not some out-dated tawdry bit of obligation. Surely love will conquer this foolishness."

"Hey! We love Ranma, too, wacko-bitch," snarled Ukyo. X'ian Pu nodded firmly.

"Then let him go," Akane insisted quietly. "Let him choose for himself." She slumped as she saw the obstinate looks; it was too close to the expression she saw in her own mirror.

"Men's minds are too easily led, Tendo," Kodachi sneered. "He lives at your abode…"

Akane shook her head. They weren't listening! "At least try to treat him like a friend, first?" she entreated. "Kodachi, can't you understand that your drugs and flowers scare him? Shampoo, I know he admires your martial arts skills. But he hates being forced. The harder you push, the harder he'll fight; I know." She turned from those two gaping mouths to Ranma's oldest friend. "Ukyo, you have the least to change. I know he cares about you, loves your cooking… And at least he talks to you..."

"And what do I hear?" growled Ukyo under her breath, "Akane, Akane, Akane…"

"What are you trying to pull, you uncouth little savage?" snapped Kodachi. "Who are you to give us advice when you abuse him so?"

"Yes! You hit husband all time, violent girl!"

Ukyo did not respond but gazed intently at the dark-haired girl who sat so… hopelessly before them.

"He's mine!" Amazon and aristocrat chorused before turning on each other.

"He's not a possession!" screamed Akane. She sobbed suddenly, tears pouring down her face. X'ian Pu and Kodachi didn't seem to hear. They were shouting at one another. "He is his! Why can't you understand that?"

"What do you mean, Akane?" Ukyo asked quietly under the fishwife imitation the other two were doing.

"Oh, kami! The wedding was a mistake," Akane sobbed. "I went along with it because…" She shook her head at the painful memory of Ranma's denial of his love for her. "I thought… (that Ranma cared for me…) …that if we went along with our fathers, he could get cured at least. I should have realized that made me no better than anyone else chasing him. It was a mistake." She shook her head in anger and frustration. "Nothing's changed. Nobody's listening. Why did I even try?"

She stood up suddenly, and with a primal scream, summoned forth her mallet. The innocent table was the casualty as all three of her rivals dodged back. Akane whipped about and left, leaving the splintered disc as her calling card. Nabiki caught at her shoulder as she passed but was shrugged off. Nabiki was forced to run after her sister, leaving the Nekohanten behind.

"You stupid, loony girl!" snarled X'ian Pu, as she finished using a chair to pull away the razor-edged ribbon that Kodachi had attacked her with before the interruption. "She getting away!"

Kodachi snarled in turn but backed off to re-orient on the door. "Like a broken clock, even you can be correct twice a day, I suppose," she sneered, bitingly. X'ian Pu sneered back and leaped behind the counter to catch up a pair of bonbori.

Ukyo started, awakened from her joint shock that Akane's words and actions had given to her system. She saw the other two girls head for the door. "Hey! Wait a minute!" she shouted, alarmed. "You can't just…" Her words trailed off as X'ian Pu and Kodachi abruptly backpedaled from the chill aura of the third visitor to the Nekohanten that evening. A kettle from the kitchen stove went clattering, empty of its contents.

Ranma took a single stride into the room. He was still garbed in his ruined tux. His feet were bare. They tallied the bruises and burns, the cut and tattered clothes, the black eye and swollen jaw. He should have looked weak, on his last legs, but he had the presence of a mountain, its slopes heavy with snow, waiting for the incautious to shout, to sneeze, to unleash the fury of an avalanche. The moment stretched.

His blue eyes held the chill of permafrost. His aspect was menacing in the extreme. X'ian Pu met his gaze and blanched. Backing up, her legs tight together to restrain her loosening bladder, she collapsed into her seat. She recognized that look. "Jusendo..." she whispered. Into the sudden almost violent silence, his single word dropped like a stone into a faraway deep cave pool.

"Don't!"

The word struck them all to their knees. Straining, Ukyo tried to find the words to apologize, to say something, anything to restore herself in his eyes. She sobbed in relief as the icy regard altered briefly, then sobbed again as she saw the hurt and disappointment that replaced it. Nor did her sobs move him as they once might have. A page had turned and there was no going back, no matter what their regrets.

Silently, Ranma glided back into the shadows of the kitchen and only the click of the latch sounded to tell them he was gone.

Nerima was unusually quiet the following week.


This scene could be placed immediately between the prologue and chapter 1 of Guest Ki, or for that matter in many Ranmaverses in the hours immediately following the famous 'Destroyed Wedding.