Author's Note: Once again we've reached the end. I do hope you are enjoying these stories of mine. They took a while to finish, and I hope that that effort shows. Legal crap regarding characters. Technical crap: This note done in 14 pt. Grants Hand, the chapter in 14 pt. HansonsHand. In all honesty, I think I did a better job on the first episode. Maybe character mods are the direction I should take. Speaking of which, there are two mods in this chapter, One real ref, and two others I would hesitate to call refs. I notice that with the change in font and size, these stories look a helluva lot smaller on here than they did on my compy.

Maru was still tying his belt as he rushed into the dojo. "Sensei! Sorry I'm la-" He looked around. "Where's Sensei?" A rather busty woman with long brown hair, one of the senior students, answered. "He hasn't shown up yet. He probably got lost again." He smiled. "Thank you, Ms. Lockheart." The sensei –whose name was known by no one- was an accomplished Black Belt. He had supposedly been on some huge journey man years ago, but this seemed doubtful, due to one of his bigger flaws: He had absolutely NO sense of direction. It was rumored that he had once gotten hopelessly lost in the dojo, just trying to go in a straight line from the entrance to his office. "He could be anywhere, then. And that means we don't have any clue when he could show up." Tifa smiled at the elf, and assumed a basic stance. "In that case, shall we spar till he gets here?" He returned the smile, dropping into a similar stance. "Gladly. Care to start us off?"1

She leapt at him then, quickly closing the distance between them. She threw several punches, which Maru twisted his body to avoid. He kept ducking and weaving, then dropped to the floor, sweeping at the back of her knees. She leapt over his leg, and launched a kick at the now prone Maru. He pulled up onto his hands, dodging narrowly, and sprang up into an upright position. Tifa threw another kick, but Maru was ready, and grabbed her leg. He threw her, and she went to the ground, causing the elfin man to smile. "You're getting rusty, dahlin'2" She returned to her feet, and smiled as well. "Don't get too cocky, Maru. I've still got a few years on ya." She feinted high, then tackled his legs, taking him down easily. He yelled, grabbed her and flipped over, straddling her belly. Maru grinned, and launched a wicked spearhand3 at her filtrum4. He stopped just short, contenting himself with poking her nose with an index finger. "Gotcha, Tifa." He smirked. "Okay. Let's see just how much you've been practicing, my dear elf." She grabbed his wrist, and chucked him over her head. He landed behind her, and she grabbed his neck with her legs, pulling herself up to trap him under her thighs. She smiled, sitting on him. "What was that you said about being 'rusty'?" "I can't remember, but I do know something you might not." She frowned, twisting to look at him. "Whazat?" He winked. "This view ain't too bad." She flushed, causing him to laugh... at least, until she clamped down with her thighs, making it hard to continue. "What was that?" "Glah... sakle." He replied eloquently, and she laughed. "That's what I thought." She stood up, releasing him, and allowed him to get up. The two of them chuckled, and straightened their gis, and leapt at eachother. One of the other students, who had one by one started to watch the two spar, did a double take as he saw sensei standing in the back, chuckling at the combatants. "S-Sensei!" The other students noticed him as well, and soon it was only the two sparring partners who were unaware of their master's appearance. Maru got a grip on Tifa's gi and hurled her over his shoulder. It was then that he saw the master, and realized that Tifa was going to hit him. 'This can't be good.' He winced as the two collided, and a low murmur went through the crowd of students. Sensei stood up and dusted himself off. "Excellent toss, Maru. But you may want to work on your aim." Maru smiled and bowed. "Thank you, sensei. I will... keep that in mind."

The rest of the session went off without a hitch, and Maru dragged himself to his van. It could have been entirely unrelated to his faux pas of chucking a fellow student into the master, but Maru had the feeling that Sensei had worked him especially hard. The sensei would rarely spar with his students, and it was a somewhat dubious honor. One who sparred with Sensei would often wish to be poured into an ice cold shower afterwards, as he would leave you feeling like jelly. He managed to find his way home, and slipped into a shower for a quickie. He rinsed off all the sweat, then hopped out, dressing quickly. Naru still wasn't back, and he cursed. "Now what. I can't make a dish without stuff!" He rooted through the pantry, but couldn't find anything he could make in the limited time he had. He sighed, and left for the party.

"Maru! How are you? Alone? I would have figured Naru would have come with you." Maru looked up, still nibbling on one of the cookies Jesse had made. "Sephi? Yeah. I'm here alone, but how'd you know about Naru?" The silver-haired one laughed. "Aeris told me. How she knew, you'd have to ask her." Maru looked around. "Where is she anyway? I don't see her." Sephi smiled. "She's taking care of the kids, back at our apartment. She really makes a great mother." Maru eyed the rest of the party. "Yeah, I'll bet."

The rest of the potluck was rather uneventful. He talked to a family of catpeople, and noted that he had yet to see any adult males. 'Why is that? Do they like eat the men or something?'5 Roger Smith was being his usual friendly self, lurking in a corner. Maru didn't know him very well, but then again, no one else really seemed to either. 'He's got a nice car, and some great taste in clothes... but how does he get his eyebrows to do that?' Nothing else too interesting. The party wound to a close, and he left.

He got back to the apartment, and was unhappy to see that Naru still hadn't returned. "God dammit, how long does it take to- Hey I have a message!"

Beep

"We know that Narusegawa is staying with you. You will be interested to know that we have her. She will be kept safe, as long as we get $50,000 in small, unmarked bills before next Saturday. If the police become involved, we won't hesitate to kill her. Come to Pier 13 alone with the money. We will be waiting."

Click

Maru was stunned. "They... they kidnapped Narusegawa."

-To Be Continued-

Author's Note 2: Surprised? A lil bit of Drama to spice things up, combined with the three words that I came to hate most when Star Trek: The Next Generation was on. But now I get to use them! Bwahahahaha! - evil laugh. Anyways. You'll find out what happens, but only if you read the next chapter. Such a dirty trick, I know. Stay tuned. Love and Peace

Mally-kun

1 For the record, It's an anything goes style of martial arts, and Maru is a black belt. Not as high a grade as Tifa or the sensei, but he's sufficiently advanced.

2 Should be obvious that he's saying "Darling" with an accent. No, Maru does not have an accent of his own.

3 Hand flat, thrusting

4 Between the nose and the mouth, where a mustache would be. It hurts like hell if you get punched there, but people are usually stupid and go for the jaw or nose.

5 One of many things I've noticed and wondered. If you have seen an adult male catperson, please let me know, and point me in the right direction.