Ki Cutters: 37

The Pestilence II

Inside the terminal, Amaterasu staggered and crouched, her lips peeling back in a rictus of pain. Urudu, who was closest, caught her. "What's wrong with you, Ami?" she exclaimed.

"My replicate was destroyed!" she gasped out.

"Destroyed?" gasped Baradandya.

"Then they're in trouble," Keiichi said grimly. He plucked a wand of wood out elsewhere. A light hand caught his wrist.

"Don't be too obvious, Kei," his wife warned.

"Better obvious than obliterated," he retorted as they ran forward. As they moved, a fine mesh spread over Keiichi's skin under his clothes. They broke swiftly around the wall between the gates and blanched.

"You twisted… little weasel!" Ranma was screaming as she slammed a limp form repeatedly into the wall. "You're not… gettin' away… from me… this time!"

"Ranma! What's happened?" Keiichi shouted, vaulting a row of chairs to reach her.

"I'm not sure," Ranma admitted, "But I can be sure this sucker's involved, if he's not at the heart of it." She glanced down then let her eyes snap up again. "Watch him, and make sure he stays out. He might be every bit as dangerous as I am." She bounded down the jetway.

"Who's this bozo?" Urudu inquired. She continued to support Amatras who, while pale, seemed to be recovering.

Kasumi glanced over and nodded, her suspicions confirmed. "That's Copycat Ken."

Urudu grunted and peered closer. "You're right, Kasumi-chan. He was the latecomer to that mob at the Temple last year. I didn't recognize him with his face so puffy."

The red haired goddess grimaced and nudged him with her toe. "This is that Akanami person I heard about on the news?"

"So Ranma says," Keiichi supplied.

"Damn!" Amatras found a seat and slumped down. "This will make things more difficult."

"Why, Amatras?" Baradandya inquired.

The redhead pointed at the young man. "He may be a dangerous martial artist, but he's not a demon." Her head turned toward the jetway as a curse echoed in the tube and the slam of a door sent a cold breeze up the mobile corridor.

Ranma paused at the sheet of flame boiling out of the maintenance corridor. She could sense Akane and the others within shielding themselves from the heat. In the distance she could hear the wail of sirens as emergency crews were mobilized. A plane was pivoting, its nose swinging away from the terminal, some fifty meters away. Ranma took quick note of the plane's appearance and the numbers on its fuselage. Then she turned back, set herself and began to absorb some of the ki freed by the conflagration. She shivered in anger. She was too weak at this point to unleash a Mouko Takabisha, but given enough time… She also questioned whether Akane and Shampoo could maintain their shields long enough for help to arrive even if they thought to duplicate the environmental drain. So far, all any of them could manage was to assimilate loose ki, and that only carefully. Her senses turned to the vanishing aircraft. Damn! They were getting away!

"Ranma!" The martial artist's head jerked up at the faint wind-driven shout. The roar of the flames and sharp popping sounds indicated chemicals igniting. "How can we help?" From the access stairway landing, Baradandya and Urudu looked down.

"Can you douse the flames?" Ranma shrilled back. She watched the two chant and sway, fingers tracing patterns in the air. The flames gave a sort of uncertain waver and died down. With a mournful burp, they suddenly went out. The goddesses staggered against one another. They hadn't used any ki that Ranma could detect but, apparently, there were limits. Ranma peered through the smoke. Deciding she had enough energy to shield, she dove in, using her inner eye to guide her.

She met Akane threading her way out with a form slung over her shoulder. "Ranma!" Ranma returned the kiss Akane mashed against her lips, glad the dark-haired girl was safe. "You're safe!"

"Who's the guy?" Ranma asked.

"I don't know. He was tied up next to Shinzoo."

"Shampoo and Naga?"

"Back there with Shin." Akane indicated them with a nod of her head.

"I'll get them out. But we've got more problems."

Akane blinked as Ranma disappeared into the smoke. "Ranma!" she yelled after him, "You better explain that!" Grumbling, she turned and hurried into the clean air.

"Hey, Shampoo," Ranma said, merging her shield with the Amazon's. "Need a hand?"

"Aiya!" Ranma blushed as the girl hugged her. "Yes! Very much! Sword-girl's airen very heavy."

Ranma glanced at her sharply. "I've seen you lug as much as he weighs. What's wrong?"

"Twist leg when bomb explode," Shampoo admitted. Ranma glanced along the leg and winced. That would slow her up for a while. The redhead tried to evaluate her reserves and how they could be used to best effect even as she smoothly moved to take over from the Amazon.

"Naga, help Shampoo. I'll carry Shinzoo." Ranma grabbed the meaty arm of the man and grunted, ducking to get her shoulder under his, then grunting again as she rolled, shifted and threw most of his weight across her shoulders. "Let's move," she wheezed.

"You don't sound good either, Ranma," Nagasameru said as she tucked her own shoulder beneath Shampoo's.

"Nothin' that not slammin' into a concrete wall at a hundred kph, wouldn'ta helped," Ranma joked weakly. She staggered a little as Shinzoo groaned and shifted. "Dammit, man, either wake up and walk, or stay unconscious!"

Akane burst through the smoke. "Ranma, let me help you!"

"Thanks, tomboy," she husked. She hated the dizziness that swept her as Akane took part of her load. "Yer doin' pretty good fer a girl…"

"Jerk," Akane growled. "Look in a mirror."

"Hey! All things considered, I'm doin' pretty good for a girl," the redhead insisted. They were nearly knocked down as high-pressure foam blasted into the smoke. "Dammit!" They staggered to one side and ducked out of the ragged opening. If they hadn't been so exhausted, they might have enjoyed the looks of astonishment on the firemen's faces.

"Better late than never," Shampoo said philosophically as the rescue crew directed the stream of fire-fighting foam away from them. They welcomed the hands that came to help them. They ignored the storm of questions and sought for the kami with their eyes. Amaterasu joined Baradandya and Urudu, and they hurried down the steps. They pushed past the protesting crew chief and the newly arrived security personnel.

"Ken?" Ranma asked Amaterasu.

"He's not the Ravener, Saotome."

"No," growled Nagasameru, "That monster is over there!" She pointed off into the dark where blinking lights revealed the position of a plane.

"The hijackers," Ranma snarled.

"What hijackers?" exclaimed the senior security officer there, his eyes popping. He boggled at the huge sword one girl was waving around but couldn't quite get up the nerve to object when she was this close. They uniformly ignored him.

"We need know what their plans are," Ranma added. Her eyes flamed. "Where's Ken?"

"Keiichi and Kasumi are watching him," Amaterasu replied. When Ranma began to object, she added, "He's not going anywhere. I can tell you what he knows and more." Her hand reached out and gripped Akane's shoulder.

"Y-you can?" Akane blinked. "How…?" She glanced at the milling airport personnel. "Ahhh…"

"Never mind that." Amaterasu gazed into the dark. "It's worse than I thought."

"What's wrong, Ami?" Urudu asked quietly.

"That man Akane rescued is tainted. So is everyone who touched him."

"Tainted?"

"A sickness of some kind." They all turned to look at Nagasameru. "The sword confirms it." The blade gleamed in the artificial lights. To ki vision it seemed to twitch and writhe in the girl's hand.

"That's not all, is it?" Ranma demanded. Inside, her heart felt like it was freezing solid. Plague, and Akane had been carrying the guy!

"In Ken's mind, I saw them load something that wasn't jet fuel into the center fuel tank of a big jet plane. He didn't know what it was, but I suspect I do."

Ranma nodded, remembering the tanks of something almost alive on a shopping mall roof. "If Ken's not the leader…"

"Akanami is their leader," Amaterasu assured her twin. The ignored security chief paled. That name he recognized. He hurried aside and yanked out a radio.

"But Ken is Akanami!" Akane protested.

Amatras face was grim. "No. He's not."

"What?" Ranma exploded. "But he has to be! He can change his appearance and skill just like Ken…" Ranma broke off, suddenly thoughtful. "Or was Ken pretending to be Akanami for some reason?"

"Ken and Akanami are two separate individuals, Ranma," Amaterasu confirmed. "But that wasn't always the case. About a year ago, Copycat Ken was soundly defeated by one Ranma Saotome. Believing that the critical difference was your Jusenkyo curse, he went searching for the Nyanniichuan. He found the spring of Drowned Twins, instead."

"Then Akanami is Copycat Ken?" Urudu suggested.

"At one time, perhaps, he was. But now his curse-twin is truly cursed!" The Japanese goddess glared at the distant lights. They narrowed and swung as the plane made a turn. "I think he must be the demon, the Ravener, Nagasameru senses through her sword."

"We have to stop him. We can't let him get airborne," Nagasameru stated. She ran over and snagged a man in a security uniform who had arrived and begun issuing orders. "You have to keep that plane from lifting off! It's the terrorist Akanami and he's got plague on board!"

"We'd love to," the man said breaking free of her grip. "But it's too late. He's already forced his way past the waiting traffic. He'll be lined up with the runway in just a few minutes. I've called the Defense Force..."

"To shoot it down?" Akane demanded. "There must be over a hundred people on that plane!"

"That's not my call!" the man complained nervously. He eyed the huge sword. "They'll probably try to force it down…"

"They'll fail," Amaterasu said. "Akanami is perfectly willing to die if he can accomplish his goal. If that plane gets airborne, they will have to shoot it down; and by then, it may be too late."

"Then we're gonna hafta stop it on the ground, ain't we?" Ranma recaptured the man. The much bigger man struggled astonished in the tiny girl's grasp. "We need a car!" She looked around and saw a white jeep not far away. "That one! You have keys?"

"But-but-but…"

"I hope you're a good driver and I don't mean cautious," Ranma growled.

"I'll drive." They stopped and boggled at Baradandya. "I've raced with the Nekomi auto club for years, Ranma. Kei's the only one better."

"Let's go."

Akane grabbed Shampoo's arm and supported her to the jeep. "I'll heal you as we go," she said.

"Akane?" Shampoo protested. "You too weak…"

"I have enough," Akane said. Ahead of them, Nagasameru suddenly took the canvas roof off the vehicle with a swipe of her sword. The dark-haired girl picked Shampoo up and poured her into the backseat, jumping in beside her. 'I hope,' she added silently as she began tracing the healing lines.

Ranma's stomach lurched as the jeep charged down the slope, through the standing water and up the other side of the greenway to launch into space. The springs protested as it landed on the taxiway and skidded between two slow-moving planes. "The engine is in perfectly frightful condition," Baradandya complained conversationally as she put the jeep into a skid that delicately corrected the alignment as it soared off the opposite side of the tarmac. "The motor pool really should take better care of their machines."

Ranma grunted and braced himself in the passenger seat. He had taken advantage of a thermos of coffee on the front seat. The goddess drove like a maniac. Behind them, Shampoo and Akane braced themselves against the sides of the car and buffered Nagasameru as she muttered over the sword as it stuck up into the night sky like a great silvery antenna.

Shampoo's eyes were huge. She had seen both flat track racing and motocross on TV. This was like a frenetic combination of the two. She could cheerfully have lived out her life without this experience. She glanced across their obsessive comrade to Akane.

Akane returned an outrageous grin that sent chills up Shampoo's spine. She was enjoying this! Akane had never thought much about driving, though she had considered getting a license some day. This was wild! "Can't we go faster?" she screamed at Baradandya.

"Now, now, Akane," the kami replied in a calm voice. "We must be careful. We can't help anyone if we crash or slide into a ditch."

Shampoo shuddered. The goddess was being careful? An inarticulate squeak escaped her as they shimmied and slid onto the runway. Their quarry was now two hundred meters away. The jeep accelerated. Shampoo gulped at the gleam in Akane's dark eyes. "What you doing?" she screeched.

"We're catching a plane, Shampoo!" yelled Akane. "Are you up to doing the Megami Hamaya on the tires? It won't be able to take off if the tires are flat or gone!" She stood up and began the opening gestures of the technique.

Shampoo gulped, but Akane's example stiffened her spine and reminded her that she was an Amazon. She rose lithely to her feet, more confident now that they were accelerating on smooth pavement. Her hands stroked the air, calling on her ki reserves. Twin arrows of energy sparkled out to strike the outermost tires under the belly assembly. The explosion of the tires went unnoted in the roar of the engines. The big plane shuddered as its load shifted and the pilot had to fight the sudden unresponsiveness in the controls. The engines roared as the pilot put everything the big jet had into getting away from the dangerous fleas pursuing it, its wing surfaces extending for greater lift.

"Faster!" bellowed Ranma. "Hit the tires all on one side!" Akane and Shampoo sent bolt after bolt into the tires, but still the plane accelerated, pulling smoothly away. The front wheel began bounce lightly, threatening to lift off the runway. He could see that Baradandya was struggling with the wheel, trying to keep the jeep straight and level despite its less than aerodynamic outline. A single shake of her head told him the machine had nothing more to give.

Ranma growled in frustration and rose suddenly, bracing himself against the windscreen. At first they thought he was about to ki blast the wheel assembly. Then, streamers of ki soared away from him. The ribbons of energy wrapped around the wheels and surged up into the plane. "KI-YAHHHhhhhhh…" Ranma screamed as electricity arced along the ribbons. His battle aura surged out like a bonfire, lighting the tarmac they hurtled over like an arc lamp. Sparks flew. Loose ki billowed like a cloud. Akane and Shampoo took advantage of the bounty as best they could.

The bright lights of the plane suddenly went dark. The roar of the engines was suddenly replaced by the decelerating whine of the turbines, spinning without power. The jeep shot past the plane as it bumped and rumbled powerless down the runway. Baradandya braked carefully and the plane caught up with them and passed them, still decelerating. Slowly, its path moved to the left across the tarmac. As the outer wheel assembly struck the verge, the plane swung heavily off the runway and came to an abrupt halt. Baradandya pulled up just behind the tail and everyone jumped out.

They could hear the screams of frightened passengers.

"We need to get them off," Baradandya advised the four teenagers. "You have to work fast."

Ranma nodded, eyes a bit wild, his hair arcing and sparking from static electricity. He had gained little advantage from his maneuver and, while Shampoo and Akane were marginally better off, they were nowhere near their optimum. Akane had used precious energy healing Shampoo's leg. Ahead of them was a martial artist capable of fighting them to a standstill. "I'll take the loading door at the nose. Akane, you and Shampoo go in over the wings. Look for an open space and slice it apart with Nekoken. Stay alive. Okay?" They nodded. He turned to Nagasameru. "I'm betting that once we come in, he's gonna disguise himself and try to slip out with the passengers. That's where you come in. Get under the plane and take him when he comes out. He usually tries to psych his opponents out by turnin' inta a mirror image of them. But if he does, you've got that." Ranma nodded at the sword. "Let's do it," he said and began to run.

Akane and Shampoo clasped hands and leaped forward, arcing up onto the left wing then up on top of the fuselage. The glided back, seeking with ki vision, looking for clues as to the numbers and the position of their opponents. Shampoo signaled near the tail. "Here! Cut open and take three holding flight attendants. Then, we move forward."

"Right."

"Now we wait for Ranma."

Ranma, to the left of and below the cockpit, was taking a few moments to catch his breath and absorb a little more ki from the grassy slope the front wheel assembly had sunk into. Living things produced more loose ki than energy sources, though he wasn't sure why. He hoped briefly, that someday he'd have the time and peace to find the answer. He glanced back, nodded and leaped. As he did, he forced himself into a state of near frenzy. Fumblingly, he accessed Nekoken and slashed through the hinges and latches of the door. He sank the ki claws into the door of the upper level and jerked, using the movement and momentum to swing himself in through the opening as the door crashed to the ground.

Ranma swung left toward the cockpit, noting the section had been cleared of passengers at some time and was empty. Though the crew had no lights or power available, they were wasting valuable time trying to get the controls to work, even after nearly two minutes. He didn't want to risk them deciding to dump the center tank manually. The door took a heartbeat; he dodged the fire ax and took out three men with three blows. Grabbing one body, he hurled it ahead of him back down the corridor, following in a rush, waiting to see if his opponent knew Umisen, took the bait and attacked. He wasted brief seconds creating a storm of shrapnel using Bakusai Tenketsu and the axe head. He swept the space below and sliced through the floor, dropping in behind two men waiting at the bottom of the steps. He kicked the falling section of floor into them and then finished them off with three more blows.

Turning he began to charge up the right hand aisle of the wide-bodied craft toward the tail. Closing his eyes and switching completely to ki vision, he fired off harmless balls of energy that burst like camera flashes with the power of military floodlights. Somewhere ahead of him, Shampoo and Akane were neutralizing the terrorists who were guarding the flight attendants.

Akane sliced into the hull above the bathroom and both girls dropped down, flattening one of their opponents. Their quarry had been covering the hatchway. Four more men with handguns fell, one imbedded upside down in the inner hull. The passengers from the upper level lay on the floor between the seats and created an obstacle course that the two young women breezed over with deceptive ease. As they rushed forward, each taking her own aisle, the attendants followed to throw open hatches and release the inflatable ramps to evacuate their charges. An armed man stood up and leveled a gun toward the escaping passengers only to have Shampoo's arm snap forward to hurl one of her hair ornaments. Far heavier than they looked, the round ball smacked into the man's temple, disorienting him long enough for Shampoo to reach him and put him down. Two more fell as they passed Ranma moving the other way. "Akanami?" Akane yelled.

"Haven't seen him!" Ranma shouted in passing. He rushed to the tail, running over the backs of seats as passengers surged toward the exits. Nothing. He reversed and moved more slowly back, ignoring the alarmed cries of the escaping passengers, trying to watch for the girls as well as their opponent. Still nothing. The three martial artists roamed over the backs of the seats. "I think he's sneaking out with the passengers, Akane," he said. "Cover things here. I'm gonna check forward, then outside." They could hear the sirens of the security and emergency vehicles beginning to congregate on their position.

He moved swiftly away from the confusion. His original opponents were still out, courtesy of ki manipulation and tsubo point strikes. He took time to secure them more traditionally with strips of fabric, tying their thumbs together behind their backs. He glided up the steps this time searching strongly ahead. He restrained the men in the cockpit in a similar fashion.

He exited through the severed hatch, swung up over the fuselage and then ran back to the wing, scanning for anyone trying to leave the area. On the ground, the flight attendants were herding their charges to a safe distance. A quick check of Nagasameru showed her holding her position. He looked up as the airport vehicles began arriving. If Akanami was going to make his move, Ranma suspected he'd do it after security arrived. Disguised as one of the passengers, he would try to bluff his way out.

"Ranma! See anything?" Akane called out from the front hatch.

"Not yet. I think he wants to get more people here before he makes his move," he yelled back. An idea came to mind. "Akane! Check out the crowd. Try checking out the ki signatures of as many people as you can, then use your locating technique to see if any are doubled. He might try ta sneak out as somebody's favorite Uncle Jiro in the confusion."

Akane nodded. "I'll try." He pulled her up and watched her run back toward the tail to get closer to the crowd. Over one hundred passengers and crew would have to be examined. With Akane safely above the action, Ranma leapt to the wing and then to the ground. He ducked under to check on Nagasameru.

"Any luck?" he asked. Naga crouched, her hands lightly encasing the hilt of the nodachi. Her stillness was almost inhuman and creeped him out rather thoroughly. Her eyes seemed to glow into the dark. As he settled down to wait, once again, he tried to absorb more ki for the fight he was sure would come. He didn't have any confidence that the demon-hunter would be able to do more than point their elusive adversary out. The sword had special powers and she was a decent martial artist, but Akanami could theoretically call on the skills of anyone he had ever observed.

And Akanami had, in the past, observed Ranma, Akane and Shampoo.

The emergency vehicles moved in thick and fast now. Ranma really wished they could just clear out before things got public, but he didn't see how. Without the martial artists, there were none here capable of stopping Akanami. "Naga! Snap out of it!" he growled. "Mr. Rubber-face is gonna come outa the plane looking like a flight attendant or somethin'. You can't just run in and do the slice an' dice!" Nagasameru growled. Ranma reached out and grabbed her shoulder. Then he caught her arm as the sword started around. "Naga! Snap out of it!" He struggled; startled to find that the girl, nearly as tall as he was, apparently was as strong as well.

For a dozen heartbeats, they strained against each other. Ranma debated slapping her but felt that might aggravate the situation. "Do I look like a demon to you, Naga?" he asked. He met her eyes dead on. Carefully he reached out with his aura to touch hers.

"Ah!" The sudden lack of resistance from the girl let him push her away. "I… What?" She stared at him pale.

"Tell your sword to 'heel', Naga!" he snapped as he saw sanity return to her eyes. "Control it. You can't let it control you, or you'll be worse than any demon."

She gulped in air and swallowed. "Sorry, Ranma."

"It's okay, Naga. Just don't lose sight of yourself chasing this creep."

Naga nodded then scowled and looked up. "He's making his move." She stood and shuddered. "Goddess help us if I had gone after him like that."

"Keep that in mind. Where's he coming out?"

"The left side, across the wing, I think." They moved to intercept.

Akane and Shampoo joined them at the bottom of the ramp. "I haven't found him yet," Akane complained.

"Naga says he's coming down over here," Ranma explained. "Check out the passengers as they come down the ramp." He dropped a hand on Nagasameru's shoulder. "You can do it. Just keep it on a tight leash…"

"I'm trying, Saotome." Her face lost a bit of its humanity. "He's at the top of the ramp."

"I'm checking," Akane said. They spread out. "Hey! I see two people coming down."

"Get ready."

An old woman and a toddler slid off the bottom of the escape ramp. The flight attendant pointed them in the direction of the milling passengers. Several medical personnel came to intercept them, careful of the old woman's fragility. Suddenly, bodies flashed between them and the people they were trying to help. "These?" Akane asked briefly but doubtfully.

"One of them…" Nagasameru had the huge blade cocked over her shoulder like a baseball bat, her weight resting on her back leg.

"What are you doing?" exclaimed an outraged medic. "These people have been traumatized…"

"Hello, Akanami," Ranma said quietly.

"Leave my grandma alone!" the child said, huddling closer to the adult.

"Which one?" whispered Shampoo.

Shishinu slowly came off the demon-hunter's shoulder and pivoting like some great curved claw, came down to point its silvery length at the bridge of 'Grandma's' nose. "This one."

Grandma trembled in fear and blinked myopically. "What? Why are you threatening me?" She stumbled back from the threat, taking her grandson with her.

"Hostage," Akane observed. Shampoo swept a hand in a cutting motion. Though exhausted, the two girls cut the old woman off from the deeper shadows.

"Hey! Hey!" The flight attendant, joined by her associate who had just evacuated, took hesitant steps forward, their eyes fearful, but unwilling to see harmless passengers threatened. Ranma glanced to one side at the approach of a group of armed men. He burst forward as his focus, unaffected, detected the beginning of the intent that initiated action. He still wasn't quite fast enough.

Grandma reached out impossibly long and snagged a pretty flight attendant. The frail elderly figure used her as a club to lash at Ranma as he leapt forward. He had the choice of smashing through the young screaming woman or cushioning her impact. He snap-kicked at the bony wrist, disarming their opponent. Shampoo and Akane leaped in. As they did, Granny changed, and it was Akanami using Ranma's male form that went inverted, grasping the screaming little boy as their attacks hit air. Nagasameru's initial attack was aborted as the child was held up to block the massive blade like a bo-staff.

Akane closed in, dodged a feint and received a purse to the face. It wouldn't have been bad except for the jar of cold cream. Somehow, Akanami solved her shields even as he struck, and Akane went spinning to the ground. Shampoo didn't give him an instant to recover and struck around his blocks, trying to take his hostage away from him. He laughed out of Ranma's face as he raced backwards toward the panicking crowd.

His laughter evaporated and his eyes went wide as the boy vanished out of his arms. His head snapped over as Ranma handed the boy to one of the medics. "Match that, sucker," he growled. He smirked as Shampoo got in two hard hits simply because the madman was gawking at him. With a snarl, Akanami retaliated with a thundering back fist that knocked Shampoo down despite her block and then leaped desperately for the crowd.

Nagasameru screamed in rage. "Ranma! Get him!" She took heart from the confident smirk on his face; right up to the moment he toppled onto his face like a tree. "Ranma!" Her voice compounded rage and fear.

Moments later, a security car screamed away, lights flashing. Akane staggered over, as did Shampoo. They glanced at one another and winced. They were going to have matching shiners. Akane fell to her knees beside Ranma. "He's tapped out. Help me load him in the jeep, Shampoo. Naga! Let's go!"

"Where do you think you're going?" bellowed an official and surprisingly, familiar voice. Akane turned and looked into the uncertain light.

The face looked familiar too, especially under the circumstances. "Hi, Captain," she said trying to conceal her weariness. "Sorry we can't stop to chat, but Akanami just went that way." She pointed. The captain had been their de-briefer after the mall incident, but she couldn't quite remember his name.

He remembered hers. "Tendo!" he roared. "What's going on? And Shampoo… Is that Ranma?"

"It's Akanami again, Captain." They hefted Ranma between them. "The center tank of that airliner is full of the crap they tried to dump at the mall," she added. "He's escaping." They ran toward the waiting jeep. The captain followed close behind, protesting.

"You people are beaten to a pulp," he objected. The captain, one Jiro Hamaguchi, could tell that both girls had eyes that were swelling shut. And if they were carrying Ranma, he must be worse. "Let our special unit take care of this!"

"You couldn't track him, Captain. Also, Akanami is not exactly Copycat Ken. Copycat is unconscious back at the terminal." Shampoo entered first, dragging Ranma's shoulders. "Talk to Urudu Kamiko and Amatras Kamisora for details." Akane tucked his feet in and stepped in after him. "There's also about ten of Akanami's gang tied up on the plane. We have to run," she finished unnecessarily. They did.

Baradandya peeled rubber and threaded through the people and vehicles with preternatural skill. The captain was left sputtering in anger. He still had enough presence of mind to stop a subordinate from opening fire on the receding jeep. "But, sir!" the man protested lowering his weapon, a compact machine gun. He was waved down.

"Owl-One, Owl-One, do you read me?" Captain Hamaguchi had activated his radio.

"We hear you, Captain." There was very little crackle in the device.

"There is a jeep leaving the scene here. Somewhere ahead of them is a security car, Unit 103. That vehicle is stolen. It was last seen heading for the west gates. The driver may be the terrorist, Akanami. Find him and follow him."

"Yes, sir."

"Kagawa! There's a terrorist who was knocked out at Gate 59. Take a detail and retreive him. This guy is extremely dangerous. Use the new protocols on him."

"Yes, sir." He hesitated. "Sedate him, sir?"

"I want him so far out that only a doctor in an ICU unit can tell he's not dead. Now move." He punched on his radio again as he ran for his own car. "Masani! Chouba! Patch into Owl-One and provide support to our team of martial artists. Whatever you do, stay out of their way unless they are neutralized. This guy is worse than dangerous. Tokei…" His teammate nodded and slid into the driver-seat. "Listen up! Lieutenant Fusei is taking site-command. Lieutenant, I want you to secure the area. I'm told there are nearly a dozen terrorists tied up on the plane. Take precautions. I want everyone under quarantine. We're dealing with a maniac with a history of bio-terrorism. And whatever you do, don't let anyone empty the center fuel tank on this bird. Cite 'National Security'."

His lieutenant paled as he heard the orders. "Yes, sir!" He barked into his radio as he took command. "Alright, people! Teams blue, red and yellow, secure the plane. Teams green and orange; police the passengers. They're not going to be happy about the situation."

"Where will we take them, sir?"

"I'm working on that." He punched in a separate channel. "Get me the airport manager. We need a hanger emptied and made up with cots and cooking facilities. We've got probably two hundred people, including JSDF personnel, who will have to be held in quarantine for at least a month…"

The jeep launched through the fence and skidded onto the street. "This will be faster," Baradandya explained. "We don't have the speed he has on paved roads. But, he has to be more careful because his car does not have the clearance or the suspension capable of moving across obstacles or unpaved areas at high speed."

"You try to cut him off?" Shampoo asked. "How you know where he going?"

"I don't. I'm guessing; that's all I can do at this point," the goddess admitted.

Shampoo pointed out the window. "See light?" Baradandya glanced at the cone of a spotlight cutting down from the sky. "There helicopter in sky. Maybe they look for Akanami, too?"

"But I don't know anything…"

"Shampoo take care of it." She leaned over the seat, took the mike and fiddled with the controls. She frowned as the roar of the wind over the windscreen made it difficult to hear. "Ah!" She found a headset and donned it, plugging into a jack on the front of the radio. She listened for a moment, and pulled her composure together for her best Japanese grammar. "Owl-One, Owl-One, this is unit…" She stood up, glanced at the number on the jeep's hood and sat down again. "…0-7-3. We are attempting to cut Akanami off. Will you confirm his location?"

"This is Owl-One. We have orders to cooperate with you," Shampoo heard. "We are following suspect unit 1-0-3, which we are informed is being used by the target. He's broken through the fence to the service area. He's moving south now… Oh!" There were several seconds of silence. "He hit someone. They're down. Somebody get an ambulance to Row Seven-Dee." Cursing followed.

Shampoo cursed herself. "He hit someone with his car. I don't think still alive."

Akane's eyes went cold. "There's a car at the south gate. Call the south gate. Don't let him out!" They saw the cone of light from the sky not far ahead of them.

"Hurry, Baradandya! He try get out gate ahead."

"It's floored, Shampoo. You better be ready to use your ki techniques. If he reaches the highway, he can outrun us." A security car, similar to the one Akanami was driving, roared past them. "Perhaps he can help." Then they could see the gate. The security car ahead of them began to turn in to block the exit.

There was a flare to visual as well as ki senses as the car crashed through the concrete wall and struck the rear of the other security car. The force was enough to rip the quarter panel and tire off the side of the car. Akanami's vehicle seemed unharmed, and veered back and forth as it tried to turn onto the exit ramp. Shampoo ripped the headsets off. "Hit him, sensei! Force him off road! He load car with ki, but weak now! Shampoo do same with jeep!" She grabbed hold of the frame of the car.

"Can I help, Shampoo?" Akane yelled as Baradandya floored it once more.

"No! You take Akanami once we stop him. Ranma still out of it!" They glanced at the lolling head of the martial artist.

"Right," Akane said with a hint of doubt. They watched as Akanami made heavy going with the verge of the road. Baradandya inched the jeep forward, coming level with the car. They could see him now, Ken's twin, his face twisted in concentration, glaring back at them with hate-filled eyes. To their ki vision, they could see power surging through the car.

"I'm going to try to send him into the ditch there," Baradandya warned, pointing with her head. "Hold on!" She eyed the car as it came off the verge and turned the wheel over hard. Their bumper impacted the car just behind its rear wheel.

Lightning flickered as the cars touched. It arced to lick at the nearby metal fences and clashed against road signs. Shampoo, prepared though she was, screamed as the powers clashed. They could tell that Akanami had not expected the opposition, but amazingly, his vehicle resisted the maneuver. Nagasameru suddenly held her sword against the exposed frame of the car.

Power thundered as Shishinu attacked the demonic nature of Akanami's aura. Suddenly, the car pivoted across the bumper of the jeep and dove off the side of the road into the ditch. Baradandya boggled at the side panel welded to the front of their jeep. "Shampoo?"

"Get moving, Akane!" the Amazon husked. "Beat him up, violent-girl." Akane leaped out of the jeep and hurried toward the grounded vehicle.

An uncooperative door was kicked out of its frame. Akanami stepped out of the car in the tall compelling form Akane remembered from the mall. "Akane Tendo…"

Akane nodded. The lighting was stark, but reasonably good. "Akanami. I really regret not pulverizing you back at Christmas."

He spat at the ground. "A foreign holiday not fit for our people." He glared at her. "And you have that ineffective bimbo with you." His eyes flickered to one side as a second security team drove up and spread out. The first, from the damaged car, limped over, weapons drawn. "Such weaklings…"

"They know you're stronger than they are," Akane said quietly. "Yet they're here ready to protect those they've sworn to protect."

"Idiots, then," Akanami conceded. "Fools."

"Oh? Is your definition of those unworthy to live expanding?" Akane sneered.

"The strong will ultimately survive." He leered. "You could…"

"Do me a favor and don't offer to father my children, Akanami," she spat out. "Ranma is plenty strong enough and far less offensive."

"Where is he, then?" Akanami demanded.

Akane smiled sweetly as she drew his attention with a Shampoo-esque hip-roll as she clsed the distance between them. She stopped just out of reach and held her nose. "He didn't like the smell after he took your hostage, wave-boy. He told me you might need a diaper change. Isn't that just like a man?" Akanami's jaw dropped as his eyes stopped watching her hips and chest to snap up to her face. His ki disguise actually flickered. She attacked.

She began with linear strikes, hoping to end the fight swiftly. Akanami responded with attempts at locking throws and circular sweeps to try to drive her off target and go for a clinch, which, theoretically he could win by strength alone. She countered with a series of softening low snap kicks to avoid his locks and attempt to damage the joints of his knees. His altered his stance to stay light, refusing to allow her strikes to break against a braced leg and peppered back with what appeared to be Amiguriken-speed open palm strikes at her body. Her shields buffered the first fifty and then he made a brief solution to her shields.

The strike that got through sent a cold chill across her ribs. She stepped back and her hand sought her side. It came away bloody. "So you've figured out Nekoken?" She staggered. He had scored the bone with those ki claws.

"Certainly. Why waste a perfectly good lethal technique on someone unwilling to utilize it?"

"I'll make an exception for you, pervert," Akane growled. She launched forward again. The blows flew thick and fast with raking claws hurling up sparks from modulating shields. Akane focused down till Akanami was her entire world. She got through with a blow to his shoulder. Her smile turned feral. Her next strike ripped across his thigh. She had applied the ki claw technique to a kick. He stumbled back, aura flickering. Akane suddenly realized that the monstrous creature's ki reserves had also been pushed to the limit.

She was caught flat-footed, however, as he suddenly turned and charged at the security team only ten meters away. They gaped at the foaming madman and opened up on him. Akanami used his speed and remaining ki to slam into the ground revealing Akane behind him. She dove for cover, her shields attempting to reconfigure for high-speed projectiles. By default she went to the almost useless body armor Ranma had stumbled across all those months ago. She clattered as she fell, ricochets screaming into the night sky.

Akanami burst forward as the security men shouted in astonishment and brought their weapon muzzles up to avoid shooting Akane. He had their submachine guns an instant later and turned just beyond them with thick satisfied laughter to observe her return to her feet. "Throw down your weapons!" he roared at the other security teams. He glanced at Akane as bullets whined off his shields. "You might stop this but your friends and these fools cannot. Back off or see them all die." To emphasize his determination, he shot one of the men through the legs. The security teams fell back and ceased fire, superstitious fear in their eyes. "Last chance."

"It's already too late for you, Akanami." Akane glanced over nervously. Akanami frowned. Nagasameru stood firmly her sword ready. Ranma was there as well, and though his words were strong, he looked worse than before, standing as if the hand he rested on the demon-hunter's shoulder was all that kept him on his feet. "It's over," Ranma added.

"Really?" Akanami grinned. He negligently tossed one of the guns aside. "You don't look too good and your friend is totally out of my class. She is my hostage as much as these fools are." His smile turned nasty as Baradandya stepped into the light. "My! More come for the slaughter."

"Oh, Akanami," she said sadly. "Your heart has hardened and you have made choices that cannot be unmade. Heaven itself weeps for such as you."

"Oh, poor me," he replied sneering. "Don't think I've wasted so much power that I can't do to you what I did for that little creature back at the terminal. Was it important to you? Oh yes, I can see what you are, gaijin whore!"

Akanami laughed and, as he did so, he subtly changed. Physically growing larger and bulkier, his teeth seemed almost shark-like and the 'horns' of his forehead seemed to develop rough ridges and become horns indeed. The downed security men shook with dread as, either from lack of care or a desire to conserve power, Akanami revealed his own nature. "I'm going to kill you all." He smiled nastily, his voice now a raspy purr. "But I think I'll start with you." Baradandya Morisato was suddenly staring at a brilliant point of light forming in his outthrust palm.

Ranma said quietly, "Go," and released Nagasameru's shoulder. He fell to his knees as a windstorm swept across the space between himself and the monster that was Akanami.

Akanami blinked. The girl with the sword had vanished. He blinked again. He heard a clatter and looked down to see the machine gun he held in his other hand on the ground… and still in his grip. The spark of light in his palm flickered uncertainly. His shirt was turning dark and wet… Confused, he tried to look behind himself where he could hear now, the heavy breathing of the girl with the sword. He tried…

And fell apart, as the single strike of the huge sword, Shishinu, revealed its results. The stroke had traveled suritsuke across the monster's mid-body. After a tremble, the body was still, but a huge stain oozed through the short grass.

Ranma fell on his face even as Nagasameru dropped to her knees. Dropping the sword and retching, she turned away from the body of her first kill.

oOo

A week later, Ranma grinned nervously and held the handset at arms length as Akane's stepmother chewed him out for getting Baradandya and Urudu involved in the Akanami mess. "How am I supposed to run a school with my best teachers in quarantine?" she yelled through the phone. "And you and Akane are missing classes again! Was this really necessary?"

"I'm afraid so," Ranma sighed. "At least Akanami is…" He grimaced and didn't finish. "Baradandya and Kasumi have been doing a lot of the cooking. Urudu is socializing and matchmaking. Akane's ribs are healing real good. She and Shampoo set up a sort of daycare. The kids call them the panda sisters. Beautiful black eyes, they've got! We had two pregnancies come to term…"

"What about Nagasameru? The poor girl seemed so upset, when she was the heroine..."

"I've been where she is, Tendo-san," Ranma said softly. "It's horrible to take a life, even when it's justified. She needs time. Everyone agreed it had to be done." Baradandya was counseling her and Shinzoo stayed by her side as much as possible. He turned at a tap on his shoulder. Captain Hamaguchi stood there an envelope in his hand. "We'll call you back, Tendo-san." He hung up and turned expectantly.

"Saotome-san." The captain gave him a short but respectful bow. "I've been told that everyone here is in good health and that we will be released in a few more hours."

"That's great!" Ranma began.

"I'm also told, that you and your friends have been invited to a brief ceremony."

"A… ceremony?" Ranma looked puzzled. Then he looked pained. "Um… I'm not very keen on…"

"Please don't refuse, Saotome-san. No one can force you, but…" The captain shrugged. "It would be to your benefit to go. I cannot guess as to the consequences if you do not."

"Yer tryin' real hard not to threaten me, ain't ya?" Ranma looked puzzled.

The captain looked uncomfortable. "Let me assure you that no one, in my hearing or to my knowledge, has suggested threatening you." He shrugged helplessly. "It would be a great honor and… Please, just… come."

Ranma didn't commit. He scratched his head. "Who all is invited?"

Hamaguchi nodded. "Yourself and Akane Tendo, Xian Pu, Nagasameru Mirotomanya and her fiancé, Shinzoo Tamanaki, Baradandya and Keiichi Morisato, Urudu Kamiko and Amatras Kamisora," he said. He paused a moment then added, "Also invited are your friends, Ryoga Hibiki and Ukyo Kuonji, Tatewaki Kuno, and Shampoo's compatriots, Mu Tsu, Ling-Ling, Lung-Lung and Ku Lon."

Ranma whistled. He had a bad feeling about this. Months before, he had defended his right to teach and practice ki techniques. He had been warned. Now someone was taking official notice of everyone who was capable of the new techniques. His face revealed his disquiet.

"You suspect this is a bad thing?" Hamaguchi asked gently.

"Maybe," Ranma answered. "Only one way to find out, though." Finally, he nodded. "We'll be there."

"You won't regret it," Hamaguchi reassured him, a relieved smile appearing.

oOo

The invitation brought them to a large conference room in downtown Tokyo during the celebration of Shumbun-no-Hi, the first day of spring. The weekend would be filled with festivities. Ranma looked gloomily out the window. Their invitation had included a larger invitation to their families to view the ceremonies that included seeing the Emperor, himself. Father Tendo had been thrilled, as had Ranma's mother. Ranma would have preferred to be at one of the carnivals.

At the door, a dark-suited man tapped his ear as he received a message. He nodded and stepped forward. "Will everyone rise, please? Your host has arrived."

Ranma turned from his perusal out the window and stepped over to join Akane. All were dressed in their best. He was wearing one of the shirts she had given him for Christmas, the red one with its orange, green and gold kirin racing over his shoulder and down across his chest. Akane wore a deep gold kimono and beaded slipper-socks with her sandals. Ukyo and Ryoga dressed in blue and Ryoga occasionally felt at the unfamiliar blue silk headband that circled his brow. The Chinese wore silk, Shampoo in a floor-length form-fitting carmine number with slit sides, her sisters in green and pink respectively. Cologne was in a dark green robe edged in gold thread. Mousse wore black robes. Ranma found it strange that he'd not been searched, and if he had been, where they would have put all the weapons.

Shinzoo and Nagasameru were there. Naga looked wan. Her sword had been confiscated after Akanami's elimination and she seemed somehow incomplete. Both were dressed in western-style clothes. Despite his size, Shinzoo filled his suit nicely.

Tatewaki Kuno looked uncomfortable. He had gotten very used to having Nabiki by his side but this event was strictly 'invitation only'. She was enjoying herself shopping with his credit card while he was occupied. He stood talking quietly with the Morisatos, Urudu and Amaterasu, who had also honored the request. Amaterasu was at her most formal and had Ranma suddenly changed, no one would have suspected the resemblance. They were all escorted to their seats. After a moment, several more men in suits came in and took up nervous positions around the perimeter of the room. A small neat man in an exquisitely tailored suit entered. Ranma noted the focus of the room shifted. This was their host. While fit, he was not athletic. Though not young, he wasn't that much older than His or Akane's fathers. Ranma felt sudden tension from Tatewaki and Nodoka. He glanced and saw that both were wide-eyed and just beginning almost panicky bows.

'Huh! This guy must be big stuff!' he thought. He wondered who the hell would warrant that kind of reaction from them!

One of the men stepped forward. "I am honored to announce the presence of his most Royal Highness, the Crown Prince…"

Oops… Never mind.

Afterward, when the 'distinguished person' had left, they quietly discussed what had happened with one another. Ranma was sulking by the window again, very unsettled by the gathering and their host's identity.

"Oh, Ranma, relax," Akane cajoled him. "Everything worked out alright…"

Ranma sighed. "If you say so."

"The dojo has official recognition and permission to continue our research on ki, doesn't it?"

"I guess," he sighed. "But now we're attached to some unofficial agency connected to the Imperial Household." Akane giggled. "What?" Ranma growled.

"Yuka got a copy of a show from the U.S. called 'X-Files'. It's about a man and a woman who are part of a secret special service in America that takes care of supernatural phenomena." She giggled again and laid a hand on his arm. "I think you make a sexy paranormal agent."

"Hell! I could play both parts," Ranma jibed. He sobered quickly. "I just don't like the idea that they expect me to be their muscle when somethin' weird happens."

"You heard the Prince, Ranma. That's not necessarily what he's looking for. He's giving us portfolio so that when we deal with police or other government agencies, we're official. Nothing irritates a bureaucrats more than 'unofficial solutions'." She let her hand creep up to play with his hair. "He even gave Naga's sword back."

"I'm not sure that was a good idea," Ranma said grimly. "Though who woulda thought that there was an active Office of Imperial Demon-hunters?"

"Well, the way the Prince described it, the secular government takes care of the threats to life and limb and the economy, while the Imperial branch handles the spiritual matters."

"What's so spiritual about cuttin' a man in half?" Ranma said flatly. It was also a little too loudly. He flinched as he saw the look Naga shot him and how she tucked herself into Shinzoo's arm. He sighed. Saotome sticks foot in mouth again. He walked over and bowed nearly as deeply as he had to the Prince and held it. "I'm sorry, Naga. I didn't mean to hurt ya. I just have trouble with people tryin' to sweep this kinda thing under the rug by claimin' it was somethin' it ain't."

"That makes two of us," she said quietly. "I felt so focused when he was threatening to kill everyone. Then you did something that made me faster."

"Sorry 'bout that," Ranma said. "I didn't have anything left so I showed yer ki how to do that special speed thingy."

Naga frowned. "About that; why can't I still do it?"

Ranma shook his head. "Yer aura isn't trained well enough. Between you and the sword, ya have plenty of ki, but ya don't know how to use it." He sought for an analogy. "I sorta put ya on a bicycle and gave ya a push in the right direction."

"I see. It was a rush," she admitted, "but if I never had to do that again…" She stroked the purse that the sword had again become.

Ranma nodded understandingly. "If you need back-up or advice, I'll be there." His head came up and he smirked. "If ya need trainin' — and ya do — I'll be there, too. You talk to your dad and find an apartment near the dojo till we can get you up to speed." He turned to Akane. "Looks like we'll have a trainin' trip later this summer if everything works out." She nodded, remembering her own special trip.

"I'll talk to Dad," she promised. "I hope Ukyo and Shampoo are up to the challenge of having the best teppinyaki place in the world competing with them."

Ukyo laughed and swung her hair. "We'll probably stop in to take a break from okonomiyaki and ramen."

Shampoo shrugged but smiled. "Good teppinyaki in different price range. You no really in competition." She shook her finger. "You better stick to Shinzoo, though. Ranma no need more fiancée!"

Naga stuck her hand out. "Sounds good. Deal?"

Akane, Ukyo and Shampoo joined theirs with hers. "Deal," they chorused.

"What was with you Amazons?" Shampoo flinched and looked nervous.

"It have to do with Amatras and with our role in PRC eyes," Shampoo admitted. "Let say we allies so long as not conflict with duties to home." She shrugged. "Is like Sister of Heart, but between nation of Joketsuzoku and nation of Japan."

"Are you allowed to do that, Shampoo," Akane exclaimed.

"Nothing say Shampoo can't," the other shrugged. "Life not always go easy way."

"We won't tell," the other girls said. They glanced at Ranma.

"I didn't say nothin' about P-chan, did I?" Ranma snorted.

"Hey!" growled Ryoga. Whatever retort he was going to supply to the P-chan comment was derailed by Amaterasu's movement toward the group. Their friendly jibing silenced as she gave a slight friendly bow that indicated she was about to leave.

Her words confirmed this. "It's time for me to go."

Ranma glanced over. "Off to Europe, eh?" He wasn't certain how he felt about all this yet and Amaterasu was, technically, the root of the situation. Even she had been unaware that the Imperial family had kept track of her for at least the last three hundred years.

"I've changed my mind." Amaterasu's eyes twinkled as she stood there, holding a secret and waiting for them to try to weasel it out of her.

Ranma shrugged and turned back to the window. "Stay, go… whatever," he said.

"Ranma!" He ducked as nearly everyone around him growled.

"There's no need to be rude, Ranma!" Akane complained.

"Yeah? Whatever." He turned back to the goddess. "It's just that things are back outa my control and I'm supposed to be happy about it? Personally, I'd rather have problems than owe favors."

"That's because you have an idiot for a father who loaded you up with a lot of stupid obligations," Ukyo growled. She hadn't yet forgiven Genma for his past stupidities.

Ranma smirked his agreement, even if he had mostly forgiven the man. "You were sayin' ya changed yer mind?" he said refocusing the discussion. "Why didja decide to stay?"

"I didn't," she replied. "I'm just not going to Europe."

They looked at one another before gazing at the kami. "So where?" Ranma asked.

"America."

"What?" The exclamation was universal in the room. "But we thought… With what happened in the War…"

She held up her hand. "I never said I was forgiving them." She sighed. "But it's time I stopped obsessing about it." She looked out the window and smirked. "I was wondering whether you knew anyone in America who might like an in-house Jusenkyo expert who's also willing to be a nursemaid?"

Ranma snorted in surprise while Akane, Shampoo and Ukyo began to laugh. Suddenly, Amatras' new direction made sense. Ryoga looked clueless till Ukyo whispered in his ear. His eyes went wide. "Kodachi's having twins? Why doesn't anyone tell me these things?"

oOo

Weeks later, Copycat Ken sat in his cell and pondered his fate. He would be lucky if he was ever released from prison. He and his Jusenkyo-curse 'brother' had done a lot of harm. That redhead that looked like Ranma had made that very clear to him. How in hell had he ever thought that they had the mandate of Amaterasu Omikami, Mother Goddess of Japan? It seemed so… unreasonable, now. He had felt his twin's death, a terrible burning, snapping sensation. He even had a weirdly frightening afterimage of a young woman wielding a huge sword.

It was over and he was glad. He wondered if he had ever truly believed the line that Akanami's proposed biological culling was for the good of the Japanese people. That Ranma… He had to be the focus of Akanami's defeat. Ken shook his head. Damn, but he was good! If things had gone differently, would he have managed to attain Ranma's level of skill? He sighed. Probably not without cheating. And those fiancées of his; were they hot! That was something he'd lack from now on – feminine company. That he'd definitely miss! He sat down on his bed and pulled out the tiny section of plastic mirror he'd managed to salvage from the exercise area. It was his most prized possession. With it, he could catch a glimpse of the outside world. He placed his hands between the bars and opened the window to his room set high in the prison. It was merely an air vent, too small to escape through, and the frame all around inlaid with sensors that would release soporific gasses should he try to enlarge it. Yet with the mirror, he could see the people walking in the street or if he angled it right, see the stars on a clear night.

He felt the moisture as droplets wet his hand. He smiled. That was another thing. Early on, he had controlled Akanami by threatening to splash them both with warm water. The spring twin would be reabsorbed if both were wet that way and re-divided when cold water did its thing. They had even used that method to carry out robberies. After all, if the number out matched the number in, who would know that an intruder was inside the walls? Now, though, it was over. With his twin dead, he had several times been dampened to no effect. He let his hand soak in the cool spring rain.

He squawked as weight suddenly bore down on his wrist. It felt as if someone was trying to tear his hand off! He shouted for the guards and then squawked again. Whoever it was knew painful tsubo techniques. His scream whistled into silence as the fingers bore down. He struggled to hoist himself up and at least meet his attacker's eye. What he saw shocked him.

"I'm ba-ack," his own face sang quietly. "Note to self: Death is not the end. Eventually the curse will try again." Suddenly, his wrist was released. He gasped. Had the other fallen to his death again? He hitched himself up. Akanami smirked as the imprisoned man gazed out at his curse. "Wonderful thing, Nekoken. How much more wonderful, if it is unique?" There was the crunch of masonry as ki claws sank deep in the stone.

Ken watched the darkness pass his window and travel toward the prison roof. He looked at his hand. It was gashed from the piece of mirror, dripping blood everywhere. He began to shake then giggle uncontrollably. A little later, the guards came to see what was so funny. After a day of observation, the psychologist that reviewed his file came to a decision. "Put Ken-san in a padded windowless room. He's had a nervous breakdown and may injure himself if not treated symptomatically."

Ken was much happier in his room. He had tried to warn everyone, but they hadn't listened. This time, though, he was safe. No one could blame him for what his brother was planning. He was on his own, and safe.

Even if no one else was.