A Scary Thought

by Derekloffin

What happens when Kasumi is the one coming back from a training trip rather than Ranma? Well, read on to find out. Chapter 33 new content not on my webpage yet.

33. Chapter 33: Enemies on the move

Ranma ½

A Scary Thought:

For those not aware, AST has been undergoing an on going edit as I change it to a compatible format with . Most edits are not that important, the usual spelling, grammar, word choice stuff, but here's some of the highlights:

All chinese dialog is now in italics. All English dialog is now in bold+italics. Thoughts are still in square brackets, but those are being filtered so you won't see them.

I've switched over to paragraph spacing rather than simple indentation.

Shampoo's real name has been changed to Shan Pu from Xian Pu. Everything I've read on this says Shan Pu is more correct so I changed to that.

Kin Tofu was corrected to Kin Ono. I mixed up Tofu's first and last names originally which caused this error.

Corrected various contradictions Kasumi made, mostly in reference to her previous relationships which originally omitted Haruka because the Haruka relationship hadn't been thought up at the time.

Kuno rejected the name Blue Thunder, but then started reusing it. I intended him to keep to this rejection, not ignore it, but some slipped through and have now been removed.

Did a bit of scene switching in the intro chapter for Herb and company to better emphasis the time that past while looking for the kettle. This is basically a reordering of the scenes with nothing major added.

Also with Herb and company, corrected various inaccuracies in description and such for related elements (Lime and Mint's look, Lime not using a sword, the ladle having an inbuilt tracking mechanism, etc).

Added a scene with Kodachi at the Kuno estate in Frost's intro chapter. This was simply to make her, Kuno and Ranma's appearance at the mountain later not seem so sudden.

Altered a reference Herb makes to his dragon ancestors. He basically says the same thing but notes that his knowledge of history is iffy, and some of the tales are contradictory and therefore untrustworthy.

Made it clear that C-chan was the cat that scared Kasumi at Jusenkyo which resulted in Ukyo's curse. Also made clear that C-chan is the result of two curses, not a single mixed one. You probably could have guessed both of these, but I decided to make it clear.

Corrected the conditions of C-chan's order not to reveal her identity. It was incompatible with later scenes where Cologne calls C-chan Mousse and she acknowledges this.

Made note that Garnet (Herb's father) was originally named Garlic, but he rejected this name since it was given to him by Sorora.

There are some minor other edits in dialog and such, but nothing overly substantial.

Chapter 33

Ranko was doing something very uncharacteristic for her in a fight, sweating. Not only that but she was gasping for breath, and every muscle ached. It wasn't that she was losing. No, she was in fact holding her own, but that was all she was doing, holding her own. But, despite all the aches, and the bruises, and extreme strain on her body, she was invigorated. It had been a very long time indeed since she'd had such a capable opponent.

That opponent was none other that Kasumi. The two had began sparring matches together not long after Ranko had come to the school. To be honest, Ranko had not expected much when Kasumi first offered. She knew Kasumi was well trained, but she also knew Kasumi had been beaten by Ukyo, someone Ranko was quite easily capable of defeating in her home world. Such was not the case here though. Her first sparring match against Kasumi proved that.

It had started rather clumsily in Ranko's opinion. It was her own fault really, underestimating her opponent. After the usual feeling out stage, Ranko had rushed in to put a quick end to the fight and had found herself instead quickly tossed to the ground and pinned there, helpless. That had been very demoralizing. Ranko had had enough of facing off with superior opponents, particularly girls, lately, and was worried Kasumi would end up being the latest to do so. Fortunately, their next match proved not as unbalanced as Ranko had not taken Kasumi for granted that time.

Since that day, they had steadily been testing the limits of each others abilities, and now Ranko was confident that Kasumi was a very surprising equal to her own ability. It was a very interesting change. Up to now, her opponents fell roughly into 3 categories. The first were those that just weren't a match for her. Oh they could try, but the likes of Kuno, or Kodachi, were too far below her to pose a serious challenge. Then there were the ones like Ryoga, capable fighters but too dependent on 1 or 2 key skills or abilities and they would soon fall once Ranko figured a way around these. The last were those like Cologne, just flat out better fighters who Ranko could only barely manage to challenge. All three groups were unsuitable sparring partners. Too weak and she couldn't learn anything. Too strong and she just couldn't make any progress. Too specialized and they became too easy once the specialty was countered. Kasumi was none of these.

No, in fact, Kasumi was just like Ranko. They both possessed an incredible diversity of skill and ability. There were no major gaps in defenses. There was no over dependence on a small number of techniques. And, she would adapt just as quickly as Ranko, so every time Ranko thought she was getting the advantage, Kasumi would turn around and neutralize it. Even her own father had fallen behind in skill and ability long ago. Ranko had not fought such a perfectly matched opponent in ages.

Thus, the two women faced each other on the beach side, both tired and at the end of their respective endurances, each examining the other intently for an opening. For Ranko's part, she knew Kasumi fairly well now. Although she was a master of many styles, she had a strong philosophical preference for Aikido, a style meant almost entirely for defense. This meant she was unlikely to initiate an attack and most often forced Ranko onto the offensive where Kasumi felt comfortable. However, knowing this did little to help Ranko. Kasumi could seamlessly switch styles and objectives as circumstance dictated.

Not seeing any obvious openings, Ranko decided at last to try one final assault. With two quick steps she was in striking range and kicked out, but had it diverted to the side. No less was expected, so Ranko pressed on through a combo of various kicks and punches, each designed to create an opening for the next, but each was skillfully defused by Kasumi with a precise counter move. It was exactly this that Ranko most admired about Kasumi's ability. She was nearly flawless in execution, perfectly moving from movement to movement, never wasting energy or time. Ranko had discovered she had a slight advantage in speed on the older girl, but Kasumi's perfect efficiency made up for it, forcing Ranko to become more efficient in her own actions to have a chance at getting through. However, just when she thought she was getting that edge, Kasumi would speed up just that little bit more to make up for Ranko's improvement. It was the perfect deadlock every time.

On the other hand, Ranko had also found out the hard way that Kasumi was actually stronger than her. Part of that was no doubt due to Ranko being stuck as a female, a very small female at that, but she also suspected that Kasumi's age helped in that regard too. Still, it was not a huge advantage as long as Kasumi stayed a woman. On top of this, Kasumi natural defensive manner meant she rarely applied that strength to its fullest and this left Ranko room to compensate with her speed.

Getting nowhere with conventional attacks, Ranko poured on the speed and began to attack in a flurry, but Kasumi compensated immediately, using her own speed to counter. Damn, she's good, and all the while keeping her aura cool. Couldn't use the Hiryuu Shouten Ha even if I wanted to, Ranko thought as they broke for an instant. Of course, I have to keep my aura cold too or she could use it against me. Very near to the point where she would collapse from exhaustion, Ranko was about ready to declare it a draw when she noticed Kasumi had misstepped. With just a hint of a small opening, Ranko pounced. A sweeping kick threw Kasumi further off balance and leaving her wide open for quick punch to her chest.

However, just as Ranko moved to exploit the opportunity and punched out, a column of sand intercepted her attack. Ranko had seen this before. Kasumi would use it in desperation when she couldn't properly move to defend, but it was just that, a move of desperation. Ranko compensated, kicking into the root of the sand column. As its structure collapsed, she would press her attack and land the final blow of the match. But, just when Ranko thought she had this match in the bag, she found her leg trapped in the sand. "What the-?" was all Ranko could get out before she realized she was now open, and Kasumi did not waste her opportunity, grabbing Ranko by her two entrapped limbs, and began leveraging her to the sand. Instincts took over as Ranko twisted as she fell over and grabbed a handful of Kasumi's gi. Mustering all her remaining strength she managed to partially unbalance the older girl and the two ended up falling in a heap rather than Kasumi controlling her in a pin. Neither girl had any strength left to continue the fight, and instead only pulled themselves free and recovered.

"You nearly had me there," Ranko conceded.

"You assumed my control of the sand had not improved since last time I did that."

"And it had," Ranko concluded for her.

"Yes, but you compensated," Kasumi replied.

"Barely. I think that's it for me today. I'm totally exhausted," Ranko said as she laid herself out on the beach, staring skyward.

"Me too," Kasumi echoed and mirrored Ranko's position to rest.

"You know," Ranko said after a moment, "We should think about exchanging techniques. There seems to be a fair amount we did end up learning differently."

Kasumi nodded. "I would suspect so. Uncle Saotome may have taught us both, but I was a girl, and older as well. That would definitely affect the specifics of our training over the years." Kasumi paused in thought then looked over at Ranko. "You never speak much about the world that everyone went to."

"That's because I don't know much about it, to be honest," Ranko replied. "It's different again from my world of course. There, for instance, I was engaged to Shampoo instead of Akane. Weird bit was Shampoo was part of your family."

"Shampoo was engaged to you?"

"Yeah... well, the other me of course."

"Ah," Kasumi said with an understanding nod.

Ranko expression turned more serious. "I figure that's why I couldn't merge with him. I mean, nothing against Shampoo, but I just didn't feel that way towards her."

"You felt that way towards Akane." Caught off guard by Kasumi's insight, Ranko cringed but then reluctantly nodded. "I've seen you, during class, looking at her a lot. You said you were engaged to her as well. It wasn't hard to figure out."

"No, I guess not," Ranko agreed and the two fell into a moment of silence.

Kasumi sat up and looked over at Ranko, prompting the redhead to do the same. "You haven't said much about Ken. If we have to fight him, I would like to know as much as possible."

Ranko frowned and looked off at the ocean, silent for a moment. "Actually, there is a problem with that," she said at last.

"Oh?"

Ranko hung her head. "I know I said my world was ahead of yours, and it was, but... You see, ever since Ken showed up I've been racking my brain to remember my fight with him, but it's a big blur. I can... feel it there... I know I fought him, I just can't get those memories to surface."

"Perhaps it was simply too long ago for you," Kasumi suggested but Ranko shook her head.

"No, that's not it. Once I had problems with him, I tried remembering other fights I had, other people I met... Nothing. It's like those memory are locked away. I have vague memories, and flashes, but no details at all. The really weird thing is I remember my last battle absolutely clearly. I thought it might have to do with this weird aura thing I have, but certain really old memories are also clear to me. It is like I just have this huge gap there." Ranko paused and sighed. "I guess that guy didn't want me knowing the future after all."

"Perhaps that is for the best."

"Hmh?" Ranko said as she looked back over at Kasumi who was now looking at the ocean herself in thought.

"You faced many challenges yourself, and they helped you become stronger. This may be a sign that I must face those challenges myself. Besides, I am certain with foreknowledge of these events or not, I will manage to muddle my way through," Kasumi said with a smile that after a moment Ranko shared.

A moment more passed and Kasumi turned to Ranko. "Can I ask you a personal question?"

"Sure, I guess."

Kasumi hesitated, considering how to phrase it. "Have you ever... been with a girl?"

"Sure, lots of times," Ranko replied easily.

Kasumi looked at Ranko in shock, though the other girl's attention was on the sky. "R...really?"

"Yeah, sure. Been with Shampoo, Ukyo, Kodachi, Akane, Nabiki, even a weird spirit or two. Like I said, I don't remember much about the various times, but..." Ranko continued on for a moment then looked over at Kasumi to see her in total shock. "OH! Been with... nononono... I thought you meant like on a date or something. Nono, I've never gotten that far with a girl."

"Oh," Kasumi said in a mix of relief and disappointment.

"Uh, why?"

"Well... I haven't... been with Shampoo yet, and frankly I... I'm nervous about it," Kasumi answered, turning away as she began to blush.

Ranko shifted uncomfortably at the subject matter, having avoided that particular mental image since she got into this dimension. However, she now stopped and let herself absorb it. "It's... not exactly like we come with an instruction manual, Kasumi. Heck, I'd say, being a girl yourself you'd probably be better suited to it than most guys. At least you know the other side."

Kasumi nodded in understanding. "Still, I just... I guess I'm just worried I won't meet her expectations. I managed to buy myself some time on the matter, but I know she's eager to be with me. It's the last thing we haven't done since we got married."

"Yeah... well... ah... I wouldn't worry about it so much. I'm sure she's new at it too. I mean, if it makes you that nervous as a guy, you could always... you know... go as a girl."

"No," Kasumi replied quickly. "You probably wouldn't know this, being that you were more interested in Akane, but with Shampoo I know she really doesn't want that, at least not right now. With my male side Shampoo will go as far as I let her, but with my female side it only goes so far then she just... stops."

"Oh," Ranko replied with an understanding nod.

"I don't want to push her away she isn't comfortable with. And besides, honestly I'm not sure I'd be any more comfortable that way. At least in my male form, it seems... natural."

"Right," Ranko agreed.

"And how about you?"

"Hmh?" Ranko asked in confusion.

"I mean, what do you plan to do about your relationships? Do you plan on trying something with Akane?"

Ranko grew quite nervous at this. "I... ummm... haven't really thought much about it."

"I would not object, if that is what you are worried about," Kasumi explained. "But, I do hope you have some sort of plan. I would not wish to live my life out alone, and neither should you despite your current circumstance."

"Of course not," Ranko said as she stood up. "I'm just... not ready for that sort of thing yet."

"Of course," Kasumi echoed as she too got up. "But, do give it some thought. I know you likely still feel some attachment to your old self. If you truly wish to embrace your new self, you may wish to... try things out."

"Try things out?" Ranko repeated, not quite understanding.

"Yes... things... you know..." Kasumi squirmed.

Ranko sighed as she realized what Kasumi was hinting at. "Yeah, umm... I'll consider that."

"It's not normally something I'd recommend, but you're a special case," Kasumi added with a nervous smile. "I should get home. Shampoo is probably waiting for me," Kasumi said at last.

Ranko quickly mirrored the action. "Yeah, me too. Home work and all. Same time tomorrow?"

"Sure," Kasumi replied with a smile.

XXXXX

Late that evening, within a dimly lit room at Dr. Tofu's Clinic, Sailor Mercury sat at a table, her hands holding either side of a large softly glowing orb sitting at the table's center. Opposite her, Frost sat, watching the progress of the energy transference. For the past several nights, Mercury had visited Frost and began helping her collect the necessary energy for the Kaisuifu's repairs. Although there were some suspicions still circling about Frost having ulterior motives, Mercury was confident that such was not the case. The only ulterior motive Frost seemed to have been to get to talk with a Senshi.

"So, this Moon Kingdom of yours, how long was it around for?" Frost asked.

"Honestly, I'm not sure. We have little memory at all of the Moon Kingdom. Sailor Moon has the most, but she rarely talks about it," Mercury replied. "I have, however, found many references in history that could be interpreted as relating to the Moon Kingdom."

"You mean, like Atlantis and stuff?"

"Well, yes, but not Atlantis in particular. The fall of Atlantis was said to be some nine thousand years ago, and even when the story was first recorded it was nearly three thousand years ago. It seems highly unlikely that such tales refer to the Moon Kingdom. But, there are other stories that do fit much better. Using some of those, I'd guess the Moon Kingdom has been around for some five thousands years or more, but that is just a guess."

"Five thousand years..." Frost echoed in some measure of awe. "That's pretty old. Amazon lore only goes back about four thousand years, and our written history barely over a thousand."

"Well, it is just an educated guess. Most references are vague, and I could easily be misinterpreting," Mercury explained. "Actually, I have even uncovered some evidence that the Moon Kingdom may have had contact with your village."

"Really? Funny, I haven't read anything like that..."

"Again, it's only vague. Something about people from the heavens or the stars."

Frost thought about this for a moment. "Oh yeah, I remember that... that was the time of Queen Tranquility."

"Queen Tranquility?" Mercury echoed in surprise. "I thought your village only had Matriarchs."

Frost nodded. "Now we do. Hold on a sec, be right back." Frost quickly left the room for a minute, returning with a large old looking tomb. "Here it is, the entire written history of the Amazons." In a strange gesture, Frost lifted the tomb to her mouth then softly spoke in a tongue Mercury could not understand. However, she could feel a slight surge of power from the book as Frost opened it. "This is it here, the time of the last Queen."

"That's a strange book. Is it magical?" Mercury asked.

"Yeah. Siren gave it to me as my 'graduation' gift. Really, she just wanted to get rid of me."

"Siren?"

Frost looked up from reading. "Uh, she's our village's highest ranked Magus. Anyone who studies magic at the village has studied under her at one time. I'm supposed to be a full fledged magus though. She's supposed to still be teaching me."

"So, why doesn't she?"

Frost looked nervous for a second then sighed. "I... kinda blew up her house."

"Oh."

"It wasn't my fault!" Frost protested quickly. "She told me I could use any of the items there for some research. She didn't mention she had a high level artifact there. If she had I wouldn't have disassembled its magic field."

"I assume that is what caused the explosion."

"Yes," Frost said with another sigh. "Anyway, this book holds magical copies of all our history. You can ask for anything you want, you can even get it translated."

"That's amazing."

"Not really. It's a pretty common magic, just takes time as you have to manually add everything," Frost explained. "This is the part about Queen Tranquility. She lived over a thousand years ago and ruled the Amazons for over a hundred years. She's also the Queen who started the effort to record our history."

Mercury nodded and looked thoughtful. "It doesn't seem like a normal Amazon name. In fact it reminds me of our own Queen's name, Serenity."

Frost looked over at Mercury, considering this. "It does... Hmm..." Frost quickly leafed thru the tome and stopped at one particular page and turned it so Mercury could see. "She look like this?"

On the page was a drawing, a simple one that was scarce on details, but even still Mercury nodded. The silvery blue hair in Usagi's double long pigtailed styled along with a dress that seemed very similar to Usagi's own when she assumed the form of the Moon princess. If that weren't enough, the old luna-wand she held confirmed it. "Most definitely."

Frost nodded and turned the book back so she could read it. "That woman was supposed to be Tranquility's... err... hmmm..."

"What is it?" Mercury asked curiously.

"Ah... ummm..." Frost mumbled as she seemed to puzzle over the book. "Maybe this is a translation error..."

"Translation... what does it say?"

"Well, it says here that woman was Tranquility's... wife."

Mercury could not contain her shock at this. "WHAT?" she exclaimed.

"Er... hold on a moment, let me try another language. Sometimes it messes up," Frost quickly said, bookmarked the page, closed it and spoke again to the book. After reopening it, she took a moment to read then nodded. "This is a bit confusing. It's not wife, it's something else, but there doesn't seem to be a modern term for it. Now it's calling her sister."

Frost gave up and closed the tomb. "I wouldn't worry about it. Sometimes when dealing with really old stuff like that it can get confused. Anyway, if she really is related to Queen Tranquility somehow, I guess that means you're right."

Mercury took a moment to collect her thoughts, still trying to understand the strange new information. "Yes. So, what happened to Tranquility?"

"She died in battle. It fact it was supposed to be the battle where... well I guess it's your people now... um... died out."

"The invasion of the Dark Kingdom," Mercury concluded aloud and nodded. "That would make some sense. So, the Amazons decided to use a council after that?"

"Well, Queen Tranquility didn't have a proper successor apparently. I'm guessing she did have some successor, but either she was too young, or maybe there was some dispute over the position, but either way before she went to this battle she created the council to rule in her place in the event she died, which she did. The council has the authority to name a new Queen, but never has. Actually, if the tales are true, Elder Cologne's family is of Tranquility's line, which is a good part of the reason why they've held the position of Matriarch for most the last thousand years."

Mercury nodded. "I see. Does it say how our two peoples met?"

Frost reopened the tomb and looked back a ways. "Yes," she said with a sudden frown. "Figures it would be about them."

"Them?"

"The Musk. Says here that was about the time the Musk started using Jusenkyo to make their sick animal hybrids. Apparently your people warned them to stop, but they refused."

"Warned them?" Mercury echoed. "That would imply we had some connection to Jusenkyo."

Frost nodded in agreement. "Yeah, but it doesn't say what exactly. Just says that to prevent a war between the Amazons and the Musk, your people allied with ours. Not much detail after that I'm afraid. This is really old stuff, pre-Tranquility so there isn't much there."

Mercury nodded once more and felt a familiar surge in her power, a notification that she had reached her quota for the night. Removing her hands from the orb, she took in a long breath and smiled at her companion. "Another day done."

Frost quickly took the cue and moved the orb over to examine it. "Yep. Almost there. I'd say less than a week to go. Guess I have to finish up my calculations for the spell."

"Are they difficult?"

Frost rolled her head side to side in thought. "Sorta, but I can handle it. I'm doing it as a formal incantation so it'll be safe enough. Don't want to waste all this energy on a failed attempt."

"Yes," Mercury agreed as she stood up. "I should be off."

XXXXX

"Beautiful, isn't it?" The Doctor asked with a large smile but his companion was not so impressed.

"It's a giant rock," the woman beside him responded as she examined a large stone, inscribed with some form of ancient, undecipherable runes. The stone had just been placed at the corner of the building's foundation, deep underground, the last of a set of four.

"I would have thought someone of your background would have more appreciation of such things."

The woman scoffed. "I might, but my current situation demands a bit more attention."

The Doctor nodded. "As you say... In any case, this is not just any giant rock. These stones, when configured correctly can completely neutralize magics and Ki use. Effectively, once caught in their pattern, even the strongest of individuals is rendered little more than an ordinary human. We only bring these out for very special people. You should be thankful. Without these, Kasumi Tendo would make very short work of my facility here."

"Is that so?" The woman asked, looking at the doctor with an almost threatening gaze.

"You need not worry. The room key I gave you earlier contains a special material itself. As long as you carry it, not only will the building's computer identify you as a non-target, but it also makes you immune to the effect of these stones."

The threat left her eyes and she turned away. "I take it then you are finally ready?" the woman asked.

"You're very impatient, but yes, this was the final piece to put in place. Now all that is left to do is collect Ms. Tendo and bring her here."

A satisfied smile crossed the woman's face. "Finally, I can be rid of this pathetic body."

The doctor looked over at his companion, curiously. "And what of that body. Will she revive after your departure? That could be... a nuisance."

"Don't worry, Doctor, Rose's soul is merely a part of mine. She'll be leaving with me, unfortunately. My last attempt to part with this body failed because I attempted to separate myself at the same time. I won't make the same mistake twice. As for this empty shell... I think I might keep it around for a time. It amuses me."

The doctor shrugged. "Whatever you say. I do have one final thought though, before we collect our subject. I've been working with the formula. I believe I may have found a more effective mixture. I'd like to test it out."

"In the open, I assume you mean."

The doctor nodded. "Yes. Succeed or fail we will collect Kasumi either way, but success will make this process much quicker. Once she is in here, she will naturally be very resistant to our influence."

"Of course," Rose conceded. "Very well, do as you wish."

"One last thing, about that extra 'muscle' I requested..."

Rose smiled and gestured off to the side into the shadows where a new figure came out. "This one is Shadow. He's actually the prototype. Not as advanced as Shadow Lady, but sufficient I think."

The doctor examined the man for a moment, approvingly. "He'll do quite nicely," the doctor replied.

XXXXX

"I am going insane here!" Ukyo exclaimed emphasizing the point by tossing the book she was holding across the room. "Haven't you guys got rid of that jackass Ken yet?"

Ranma shook his head sadly. "Sorry. He's proving very annoying," he said, and rubbed his ribs.

Ukyo looked at Ranma sympathetically. It had been about a week since her first encounter with the so called 'Copy-cat Ken' and since that time Ken had apparently been making many appearances. Kuno, Ryoga, and Takeshi had all had their encounters with the shape changer and all had lost. There was also talk that he had fought several others successfully, but they were not willing to admit to it. Ranma had been his most recent conquest, having challenged him the evening before and despite Ranma's best efforts he proved no match for the newcomer. All the effort had gained him was some bruised ribs.

This all infuriated Ukyo. She was forced to hide herself here at her family shrine because of this injury she had suffered. She could not retaliate against Ken and that most of all was burning her up. Being stuck out in the middle of nowhere with only a bi-daily visit from Ranma to keep her company wasn't helping. She was going stir-crazy on top of being generally angry at the situation to start with. Only a great force of will on her part kept her from activating her burning soul and working out her anger by shattering the nearest solid object.

"It's nothing," Ranma said in an effort to calm Ukyo. "Doctor says I'll be all better in a couple days."

"That..." Ukyo growled but calmed and started pacing the room. "Has he used any of my techniques yet?"

"Nope. Hasn't used your form either. But, really, he hasn't had any need to. He's beaten us all using our own techniques."

"And what about Kasumi?" Ukyo asked, apparently accusing her of something.

Ranma sighed. "He has avoided her. Actually, he's avoided her and Ranko. Ranko is convinced she can beat him, but he hasn't tried to fight her yet. He doesn't seem to have fought any of the girls, actually. Maybe he doesn't want to."

"Fought me easily enough," Ukyo replied, and Ranma could only nod in agreement.

"How are you feeling, anyway?" Ranma asked.

Ukyo stopped her pacing to look at her arm. "The shaking has mostly stopped, but I still feel off. The doc said I had to give it time, wish he could be more precise though. I feel like a total burden like this and I don't like that."

"You're not a burden, Ukyo. We all get banged up a bit sometimes. You just have to deal with it," Ranma said in an effort to cheer the chef up, but it seemed to do little. Thinking for a moment, another idea came to him. "Say, when this is all over with why don't you and I... go on a date."

Ukyo looked at Ranma in shock for a moment then blushed and looked away. "You... mean that? I mean, you're not just saying that because-"

"Of course I mean it," Ranma cut her off to say. "Look, we're supposed to be engaged... however twisted this whole arrangement is. I said I'd give this thing an honest shot and so far that hasn't amounted to much. A date seems like as good a place to start as any."

Ukyo turned back to Ranma with a shy smile on her face. "Okay, I'm all for that. But, you have to beat this Ken jerk quick."

Ranma banged his fists together in defiance. "Don't worry, we will. Kasumi's got some kind of plan cooked up. She doesn't want to tell anyone, but she and Ranko figure they can get rid of him. It's just a matter of him challenging her or Ranko I guess. And, I got an idea of my own too." Ukyo nodded in understanding, and for the first time in a very long while, the mention of Kasumi did not ruin her mood. "Anyway, I should get going. Anything you need?"

"No, nothing but the usual."

Ranma nodded and bid Ukyo a quick goodbye before heading back. She escorted him as far as the shrine's entrance and watched him leave with a smile before heading back inside. Ranma cast one last look back then hastily ran up the path, eager to get back to town. However, he pulled himself to a stop when an out of place crack of a twig caught his ear. He paused and scanned his surroundings cautiously. Damn, please don't tell me that jerk followed me here, he thought nervously. Finally, he decided to test the hypothesis. "Okay, whoever you are, come on out."

A moment passed with no response. "I said-" Ranma started to repeat then noticed a small animal come out from the foliage. It looked at him briefly then dashed into the foliage again. A fox? Ranma thought with surprise. Didn't know there were any foxes around here. Ranma shrugged off the minor mystery. Ken couldn't do animals according to Ranko, so the canine was unimportant. Concluding there was nothing left to see here, Ranma continued on his way.

As he left the fox eyed him from the grass and had anyone been nearby to listen, they would have heard it let out a very human like sigh of relief.

XXXXX

Makoto stretched as she left her room at the girls' dormitory and headed downstairs. Today was their day off from school and so far it had been rather dull. Normally she'd be occupied with cooking at the restaurant, but with the San Cheng Huang still in the midst of being rebuilt days off were a rather lazy time for her. She stopped by Ami's room and peeked inside to see Ami immersed in one of her school books as usual.

"Hey, you want to get something to eat?" Makoto asked

"No thanks. I had a sandwich earlier," Ami replied, her attention still not taken from the book. "I think Usagi is free."

"Okay, see you later," Makoto said as she left, but Ami only replied with an absent wave, never looking up. Couldn't get me to stick my nose into a school book for that long, but it must be interesting for her, she thought as she headed down the hall to Usagi's room, but heard her voice in the TV room. She walked over to find Usagi on the phone, deeply engrossed in a conversation. Listening for a moment it became plain that she was speaking with Mamoru. "How long you been on there?" Makoto asked, gaining some of Usagi's attention long enough to be waved off. "You do know long distance costs by the minute and that phoning North America isn't cheap, right?"

Usagi looked up at Makoto in shocked realization then looked at a nearby clock. "AH! I got to go Mamo-chan... Yeah... yeah... Love you too," she said in quick conclusion of the conversation and hung up the phone and sighed. "I'm so dead."

"How long were you on there?"

Usagi winced as she thought about it. "About... 20 minutes. How much do you think that costs?"

"Let's just pray the school has a good long distance plan," Makoto replied jokingly. "Come on, I need some food and I hate being by myself." Usagi nodded and joined Makoto. "So, what's Mamoru up to lately?" she asked as they headed out.

"Oh, this and that. University stuff. He says he has a break coming up soon and thinks he can come back for a visit," Usagi said with a very hopeful tone.

"That's good," Mako said with a nod then gained a devious look. "So, did you tell him about your little 'kiss'?"

"What kiss?" Usagi asked in confusion and nervousness then looked angry. "Not that again! I said it didn't mean anything!" Makoto couldn't help but laugh, forcing Usagi to realize she was being teased and had fallen for it. "You're getting as bad as Rei, Mako."

Makoto laughed again. "Just picking up her slack," she joked then noticed Usagi had a far off look. "What you thinking about?"

Usagi's glanced back at Makoto then diverted her eyes to the ground. "Do you think... I should have said something to him?"

"To Mamoru?"

Usagi shook her head. "No, I mean... Seiya. I... I feel like I just ignored his feelings. I mean, I love Mamoru, but maybe I should have talked to him about it. I never really did, not properly I mean."

Makoto shrugged, the joking mood of a few seconds earlier gone. "I don't see what you could have said. I mean, he knew you and Mamoru are together. He didn't seem angry or confused about that. Besides, he's the one that took off so quick afterwards. He had his reasons and all, but it's not your fault if that's what you think."

"I guess not," Usagi conceded, but still seemed deep in thought.

Makoto looked at her friend for a moment, and decided to change the topic. "Say, want to come down to the beach with me afterward. A bunch of us are going there to do some martial arts training."

"I suppose," Usagi replied, finally looking up.

"Great, I can show off my new trick!" Makoto said proudly.

"New trick?" Usagi asked curiously.

Makoto nodded and stretched her hand out in front of her. Concentrating for a moment a soft greenish glow filled her hand. "Pretty neat, huh? Kasumi's been helping me with my Ki control. I could do bigger than this too."

"Wow!" Usagi said in awe as she watched. "You don't even need to transform to do that? That's great."

"Yeah," Mako agreed, and closed her hand, dispelling the energy. "I really think I'm getting the hang of it too. It's almost like second nature. Shampoo's kinda jealous because she's still having trouble getting her Ki stable outside her body, although she's still way better at using it internally than I am. You know, if this works out, you guys should train too. It could be a big help, especially if you can't transform for some reason."

Usagi smiled nervously. "I don't know. You guys probably could do that sort of thing. I've never been really good at that martial arts stuff."

Mako shook her head. "That's because you pay about as much attention to martial arts as you do to your homework. Maybe we should sic Kotori on you. She seems to improve your school grades, maybe she can help your martial arts too."

"She can sure help me learn how to dodge," Usagi joked back and the two girls shared a laugh.

XXXXX

Yeah, great idea Ranma. This scroll will solve all my problems... IF I COULD READ THE STUPID THING! Ranma yelled in his mind as he puzzled over the ancient scroll Happosai had given him. When he had first received the scroll he had dismissed it as just a bunch of gibberish that the old man had intended merely to use to distract him. However, when his father had spotted the scroll he nearly had a heart attack. After a bit of questioning, Ranma had discovered the truth, that the old man for once had been telling at least a partial truth. This scroll did contain a very devastating technique. Of course, that did leave the problem that it was totally illegible.

At first, Ranma had thought he just had to put his mind to deciphering it. Even the worst handwriting could eventually be read with enough effort, he had thought. However, after nearly an hour and having no progress, Ranma was about to just give up.

"What you looking at?" Akane asked suddenly, shocking Ranma out of his concentration.

"Hey, don't you knock?"

"Your door was open!" Akane complained back.

Ranma frowned at her, but let the intrusion slide. "It's some scroll the old pervert claims has some technique on it. Thing is, it's... well, as near as I can tell it's gibberish. Even when you get past the terrible handwriting, it still doesn't make any sense." To emphasis his point, Ranma showed Akane a paper he was using the record his translation. "Does that make any sense at all?"

Akane took the paper and began reading aloud. "Rubber... Sun... Toilet... what the...? You sure you got this right?"

"As sure as I can get with his terrible handwriting. Look for yourself."

Doing as bidden, Akane confirmed the translation with the original. "I think that Happosai is having a joke with you... though this does look like that scroll he got from that rock at the springs. Hmmm..."

As Akane continued to puzzle over the scroll, Ranma looked over at his clock. "I promised to meet Kuno soon."

"Can I try?"

Sighing, Ranma nodded. "Knock yourself out. But, if you do get something out of it, I want to see."

"I assumed that," Akane replied as Ranma got ready to leave. She waved him a quick goodbye as she headed over to her room. Inside she found Selene laid out on her bed, muttering to herself about something Akane couldn't make out. "Hey C-chan... ooo, sorry, Selene."

"You can call me C-chan, if you prefer, Akane," Selene replied, her mood suddenly improving upon seeing Akane.

"You sure?"

"Of course I'm sure," she replied. Besides, I hate being called Selene, she thought to herself in annoyance then noticed the scroll Akane was holding. "What's that?"

Akane headed over to her desk and spread the scroll out. "It's an old scroll Happosai found at some hot springs I went to. You remember?"

"Yeah," the cat replied as she jumped onto the desk and examined it.

"He claims there is some kind of technique written on it, but Ranma is having no luck deciphering it. I was going to give it a try."

Selene nodded but as she did she became aware of an odd sensation from the scroll. Examining it closer she could see a faint aura, not a ki aura but the more distinctive magical type. "It's magical."

"Magic?"

"Yes. I see this kind of magic on a lot of Frost's written stuff. I think it's a type of magical encoding... although it looks poorly written to start with."

Akane looked at the scroll in puzzlement. "I didn't know Happosai knew magic. You sure?"

"Positive. I think it's a pretty simple magic, so he might not need to know much to make such a scroll. He certainly is old enough to know at least some basics."

Akane pondered this for a moment. "So, can you read it then?"

"I can read standard magical script, but this is a type of concealment magic. I can't read that," Selene explained then sighed as she realized where this was leading. "But, I suppose Frost could probably do something with it."

Akane seemed equally displeased with that. "Hmm, I guess there is no choice then. I'll just have to ask her, unless maybe Cologne could do it?"

"You'll have to wait if you want to ask her. Cologne is out of town on some business, at least according to Frost."

Akane sighed and shrugged in defeat. "Oh well, Frost it is."

XXXXX

A short time later, at Dr. Tofu's clinic, Akane arrived to find Frost alone in her room, deeply engrossed in a book. "What do you want?" Frost asked as Akane entered, not looking back.

"I sorta need a favor," Akane replied as she peered over Frost's shoulder at the book. However, as she expected, nothing within made any sense to her. A large circular diagram was drawn out, and Frost was in the process of making notes to the side. "What's that?"

"The restoration spell, part of it actually," Frost replied, and finished her notes before closing the book to look back at her guest. "So, what's this favor?"

Nodding, Akane showed Frost the scroll. "Selene says this scroll-"

"Selene says lots of things," Frost replied in irritation at the cat's name, taking the scroll from Akane and examining it. "Hmm, a scrabbling spell. Child stuff."

"So, you can read it then?"

Frost scoffed. "Of course I can. I was breaking pitiful enchantments like this ten years ago," she said as she walked over to a nearby desk and spread the scroll out to examine in greater detail. "What's on it?"

"Some sort of martial arts technique," Akane answered as she joined Frost.

"Martial arts... hmm, kinda silly to magically encode something like that," Frost observed as she removed some supplies from the desk drawer. "How's anyone suppose to use it?"

"I think the point was to make sure no one did," Akane replied.

"Then why record the stupid thing... ah, never mind. I bet it's one of those 'forbidden techniques' everyone is always going on about. I mean, really, if you're going to forbid a technique, do it properly!" Frost complained as she set to work. "And Selene, stop hiding over there! It's not like I didn't feel you come in."

Off at door, Selene sighed in defeat. She had been hoping to avoid the Magus but Akane had asked her to come just in case Frost didn't wish to help. Of course, Selene knew she had little influence with Frost, but couldn't really convey that to Akane. Caught, she decided she might as well join them and see what was happening up close.

"Hope she's not being too much of a nuisance, Akane," Frost said as she set several reagents around the scroll.

"Not at all," Akane replied in her own irritation. "Maybe if you actually treated her with some respect..."

Frost paid Akane no mind, instead making several hand gestures then finally slapping both her hands down on the scroll. In that instant the characters on the scroll seemed to shift around. "There," Frost proclaimed triumphantly as she picked up the scroll, but then scowled. "What the... it's..."

Akane looked at it as well, and noticed despite the breaking of the spell, the handwriting on the scroll was still horrible. However, despite this, what had been a jumbled mess of incoherent symbols was now making at least some sense. "Don't worry about it. It's just his terrible writing is all. I can make out some of it now."

"Whatever," Frost said dismissively, folding up the scroll and handing it back to Akane. "Look, I got stuff to do. If that's all..."

Akane frowned but turned to leave. However, she stopped at the door and turned back. "You know, you could try being nicer to people."

"What do you want from me? I broke the spell for you!" Frost protested in anger.

"You ever heard of courtesy? I mean, you always make it seem like everyone's a burden to you, even Dr. Tofu."

Frost growled and turned away. "Not this again. Look, if you want to marry the doctor, be my guest. I don't really care."

"That's not what I meant!" Akane exclaimed angrily, but quickly checked her temper. "What do you have against men anyway?"

Frost huffed. "Why don't you ask Selene? She can tell you all about it. Can't you Selene?" Selene cringed, but Akane was too focused on Frost to notice. "Look, if this is about Kasumi, what do you want me to say? I'm sorry? Well fine, I'm sorry, but you try having someone close to you come to you like that and then tell me you would act any different."

Akane continued to frown, but decided it was time to drop the matter and left. Selene took the opportunity to also escape before Frost decided she had something for her to do.

The cat caught up to Akane at the exit to the clinic and started to walk along side her. "How can you stand being with her?" Akane asked after a minute.

"It's difficult to explain," Selene replied.

"Hmh," Akane muttered then stopped and picked up the cat before continuing on. "So, just what is her problem with men?"

"Uh..."

"You don't know?" Selene buried herself in Akane's arms, hoping she would change subjects. "Well?"

"It's... kinda difficult to explain."

"Everything is difficult to explain with her, but try anyway," Akane replied.

Selene paused, trying to find the right words. "It was just a misunderstanding, but she refuses to let it go."

"What kind of misunderstanding?" Akane asked, her curiosity peaked.

Selene thought for a long moment, debating how to answer. Akane is far more reasonable than Frost. I bet if I told her the truth she would understand, Selene thought, but doubt nagged at her. Finally, she decided to risk it. "It's to do with Mousse, actually."

"Hmm, why am I not surprised?"

"You see, a while back, Mousse thought that if he could get Frost to fix his eyesight that Shampoo would stop ignoring him."

"Is that it?" Akane asked in disbelief.

"Uh... no. He went about it in a bit of a short sighted way. He really didn't mean to hurt her, he just... Well, he sorta acted interested in her."

Akane moaned as she put together the puzzle. "And I guess she found out he was deceiving her."

"Yeah, that's pretty much it... Well, actually, not quite. She found out in a rather bad way. You see, he was talking with some of the other boys and... He didn't really mean those things he said. He was just trying to... you know..."

Akane groaned in annoyance. "That's just stupid. First he's lying to her then he is bad mouthing her behind her back. That's low!"

Selene cringed at the criticism. "It's not like he meant it."

"Like that makes it any better," Akane countered then sighed. "I mean, she's not the most likeable of people, but still. You don't go around doing that sort of thing. No wonder she can't stand the guy." Selene sunk lower into Akane's arms, feeling like a first class heel. "Why's he so hung up on Shampoo anyway?"

"Because he loves her, of course," Selene replied, regaining some of her vigor.

"I don't buy that."

"What?" Selene exclaimed in surprise.

"I mean, Kuno was always going on about how he loved me, but I don't buy that either. Just saying it doesn't mean it. If a person can't listen to you that's not love... at least not the kind of love I want anything to do with."

"Mousse listens to Shampoo," Selene countered.

"Didn't seem to when I saw him. Practically all she told him to do was leave her alone and he didn't listen to that."

"Uh... but..." Selene tried to reply but words failed her as she thought back to her last talk with Shampoo and how she had said much the same.

"Do you even know how that thing started?" Akane asked after a moment of Selene's silence.

"It happened when they were both young. Shampoo said she'd marry Mousse... err, so I heard."

"Marry him? Somehow that just doesn't sound right."

"It's true... at least I think so," Selene said, trying to not to give out too much inside info. Even Akane would probably get suspicious if she did that.

Akane frowned in thought. "It's just... Shampoo doesn't seem like she likes him much at all either. Why would she say she would marry him?"

"That's because Cologne told her not too," Selene explained, some of her bitterness slipping through.

"She did?" Akane asked in disbelief. "You sure?"

"Why else would Shampoo change her mind that way?"

"So, you don't know for sure. You're just guessing that?"

Selene wanted to say no, but in truth it was just speculation on her part. "But then, why would she change her mind so suddenly? That doesn't make sense."

Akane shrugged. "I don't know, I wasn't there. When did all this happen, a few years ago?"

"Oh... about... 13 years ago," Selene reluctantly answered.

"13?" Akane exclaimed in shock. "Why would the subject even come up... I mean, they would have both been... what... 3 years old? Do guys really propose to girls at 3 years old in that village?"

"Normally... no," Selene conceded.

"Then... how would he really know if she meant yes?"

"Huh?" Selene asked in confusion. "What else would it mean?"

"They were both 3 years old. You barely know how to talk at that age, let alone understand what a marriage is," Akane explained. "I bet you that she didn't even realize what he was talking about if he really asked her to marry him. I mean, I know I wouldn't have at that age." Selene once more buried herself into Akane's arms as Akane's logic seemed all too reasonable. "And why would he even ask such a thing in the first place? Sounds like someone put him up to it."

"His... mother may have said something," Selene conceded. His mother had said something at the time. Not 'ask Shampoo to marry you', but rather she said 'it would be wonderful if you could marry Shampoo one day'. Of course, even all those years ago Shampoo was someone of great importance in the village, being the probable heir to Cologne, while Mousse's family branch had been weakened considerable over the last several generations due to their issues with vision. No doubt his mother had thought at the time that a marriage between them would have been a great way to overcome this. As Selene thought back to this, she realized it was those very words that cause her to make the proposal.

"I see," Akane said after a moment. "You know, you sound like you know a fair bit about Mousse."

Selene panicked for a second, but quickly recovered. There had been no suspicion in Akane's tone, merely curiosity. "A bit... I like to hear both sides... as it were."

Akane nodded in agreement. "I can understand that. Frost isn't exactly the most unbiased source of information. But, I'm getting the impression that Mousse is more in love with the idea of Shampoo rather than her."

"Huh?" Selene asked in puzzlement.

Akane paused a moment in thought. "It's kinda hard to explain. You ever been told about something that sounded really neat to have then you got it and you were really disappointed because it wasn't really what you thought it would be?"

Selene shook her head, failing to understand.

Akane sighed as she thought of a better way to put it. "It's like... You have this idea in your head about something, and idea is about something, but it is not really that thing... Ugh, that's awful. Um... Maybe an example would be better. Say you never had vanilla ice-cream. Your friends have told you all about it, but it's not the kind of thing you really know about really until you have tasted it yourself. But, your friends like it so much that you have this really overblown idea of what it tastes like and you think it's the best ever. But, you've never tasted it. It's kinda like that. You have an idea in your head about something, but it's that idea that you like, not the thing itself. You understand?"

"I think so," Selene said after a bit of thought. "But I don't really see how that applies to Mousse and Shampoo."

"You said it was probably the mother's idea. I think Mousse fell in love with the idea of being married to Shampoo, rather than Shampoo herself. It is sorta like with Kuno and me. Kuno barely knows anything about me, but despite that he wanted to marry me. It was the idea of being married to me that he liked, not really me... Well, at least that's the way I see it. To really be in love with the person and not the idea, you should really know about that person, and somehow Mousse doesn't strike me as knowing a whole lot about Shampoo."

Selene opened her mouth to protest but found she lacked a good argument to back it up. Akane was, as difficult as it was to admit for Selene, right. Thinking hard, there was not much Selene knew about Shampoo other than the basics. "But, how are you supposed to find out about a person if they don't let you know anything about them?" Selene asked after a moment.

Akane shrugged. "Maybe that's a clue. If a person doesn't want you in their life, there is only so far you should pry until you should just leave them alone. They obviously don't want you there."

Selene's face fell as she considered this. "So... what kind of things should a person know about then? I mean if they are really in love with the person."

"All sorts of things, like what is their favorite things, their least favorite things... what are their opinions are of various things... you know, that sort of stuff."

Selene frowned. "That's awfully... general."

Akane's shoulders sank a bit. "Um... yeah. But, you know, stuff like what is their favorite food, what kind of movies do they like, what's their goal in life... that sort of thing."

Selene's confidence was somewhat restored by this as she thought, I know those things about Shampoo. Shampoo's favorite food is... is... ramen? Come to think of it, I'm not sure she likes ramen all that much. Okay, but she really likes... um... we never went to the movies. But her goal, that's of course... hmm... With each thought Selene's optimism left her. I really don't know anything about her, do I? she thought at last in despair.

This is silly, she thought in frustration. How would I know those sort of things about any girl? I mean, take Akane. How would I know... she doesn't really have a favorite food, but she does love cooking even though she's lousy at it, but she practices almost every Thursday without fail... And she really likes romance movies... And she really wants to carry on the dojo and marry Tofu... Selene's thoughts continued as she remembered all the various little things she knew about the youngest Tendo sister. One thing in particular stood out most in her mind, how to date she had never mistaken Akane for anyone or anything else. She knew Akane so well that merely her scent, or the way she walked was enough to identify her without fail.

Considering this, she snuck a glance up at Akane and found herself blushing. "Um... so, Akane," Selene said after a moment. "I guess you really don't like Mousse, then, huh?"

Akane shrugged. "I barely know him, but so far, I'd say, he hasn't made the best of impressions."

"Oh," Selene said in disappointment, but pressed on. "But... if he say... changed a bit?"

Akane looked down at the cat curiously. "That's rather open ended... but I suppose I could like him, I suppose."

Selene went into deep thought at this. You're being silly, Mousse, she thought to herself. Akane wants to marry Tofu, and she barely knows you. Despite the observation, Selene couldn't help but ponder the possibility.

XXXXX

Sitting in a meditative posture in his training room, Kuno regarded a large photo of Shampoo. He had recently acquired the photo from Nabiki to place alongside his giant photo of Kasumi to remind him how interconnected the two were. Kuno never found it particularly difficult to admire one of the fairer sex, and when he regarded Shampoo he could certainly appreciate her beauty. But, something was missing, and that was troubling Tatewaki.

As he continued to think on this problem his sister, Kodachi, walked by the open door. She paused, peeked inside and smirked. "Hello, brother dear. Once more drooling over the ladies I see."

Kuno's meditative posture was quickly replaced with anger. "Go away woman! How dare you interrupt my rumination." Kodachi laughed off her brother's annoyance and turned to leave. "Sister, wait. I... I would speak with you."

Kodachi looked back in surprise, seeing a sudden shift in her brother's attitude from anger to uncertainty. "Oh?"

"I seek your... wisdom."

"Wisdom? Me?" Kodachi asked in a mocking tone, but found Tatewaki was serious. "Hmh, this is new. Okay then, brother dear, what wisdom do you seek? And this better be good."

Kuno remained silent a moment, collecting his thoughts then returned to the photos of Kasumi and Shampoo. "You know well my desire to marry Kasumi Tendo. I now know that the key to Kasumi's heart is the fair Shampoo, yet... I find myself unable to find my path. Never before has this happened to me. I feel as though I am overlooking an important matter."

Kodachi thought about this for a moment. "You mean, you don't think showering her with affection, like you always do, will work?"

"Perhaps so."

Kodachi frowned in thought and walked over to her brother. In a move that would surprise any outside observer familiar with the pair, she sat next to her brother of her own choice. "You're right, it won't work. I'm quite surprised you would even realize that, it's not like you at all," she noted, looking at her brother but he continued to stare at the photos. "In any case, you're right. Kasumi strikes me actually as being quite open in her relationships. Don't overwhelm her and she'll be quite open to you."

Finally Kuno turned to his sister. "And you would know this how?"

"Have you forgotten so quickly brother? I did at one time pursue Kasumi myself, although I wasn't fully aware of it at the time. I must admit, my method apparently did little but push her away, which is perhaps fortunate," Kodachi replied, thinking back to that time and feeling some of the embarrassment anew. "But, back to the matter at hand. As I said, Kasumi is quite open. It is Shampoo, as you say, that is the key. If Shampoo accepts someone, you can lay good money that Kasumi will as well."

"This I well know," Kuno replied with some annoyance.

"I'm getting there. Now, as for Shampoo, she strikes me quite differently. She's head strong. She doesn't like guys to be pushy. Perhaps it's that Amazon upbringing, but whatever it is, get too pushy with her and you'll run into the same barrier that this Mousse fellow no doubt did."

Kuno nodded in satisfaction. "So, a more subtle approach is required."

"Don't get ahead of yourself, brother. I'm not finished. Winning Shampoo's heart is complicated by the fact that her heart is already taken, by Kasumi. So, in a sense, you have to win her heart away from Kasumi."

Kuno stood up in anger. "What nonsense do you speak? You would have me steal the affection of Shampoo from Kasumi? I may not be fully aware of their relationship, but that would seem the surest method of losing the heart of Kasumi."

"As I said, brother, I'm not finished," Kodochi replied calmly and after a moment Kuno sat back down. "Now, as I was saying, in a sense, and only in a sense, you have to win her heart away from Kasumi. Even though you desire a cooperative relationship with both of them, there is still a competition there. You have to show her that the time she spends with you more than compensates for the time she loses with Kasumi. So, you need to prove to her that her heart can be open to more than just Kasumi, for at the moment it's dedicated solely to her."

Kuno frowned and crossed his arms in thought. "Hmm, what you propose is a difficult task."

"More difficult still, you have to be sincere. Don't waste those girls' time by 'faking it'. They'll find out sooner or later that your feelings are untrue and none of you will be happy."

"Of course," Tatewaki said with an understanding nod. "I would never dream of using such base deceptions. Only with the truest of feelings will I accept Kasumi and Shampoo's hands in marriage." Nodding once more to himself, Kuno stood up. "Thank you, sister. I will consider your words well." Without waiting for a response, Kuno left the room.

Kodachi looked off at one of the empty portions of the wall and leaned her chin on her hand. "Now, if only I could think up some good advice to give myself in regards to Ryoga," she thought aloud.

XXXXX

In a change from his usual pattern, Herb wasn't brooding. That was not to say that he was happy at the moment, as he wasn't, but he did find his thoughts of late intriguing.

Currently he was at the beach, asked to join the others for an afternoon training session. Kasumi and Ranko had already arrived, and the latter was currently demonstrating a chi technique she called the Moko Takabisha. By Herb's standards it was a rudimentary technique, a simplistic explosive discharge of energy which one gathered via concentration on a powerful emotional state. Despite this it had its certain charm as unlike most chi techniques at its level, this one had a rather high threshold of energy making it quite potent. Unfortunately for Kasumi, the mechanism for bringing that energy out was not very capable with her. Kasumi just didn't concentrate on one emotional state all that much, at least none that were useful in using this technique.

All that was interesting, but not what was occupying Herb's thoughts. His mind was instead still dwelling on her conversation with Sorora of some days ago.

XXXXX

"This Kasumi seems to have caught quite a bit of your interest," Sorora said as she seemed to float away in thought.

"So, you understand my dilemma?"

"Hmm, you know, your predecessors have come to me for many things: military strategy, complex diplomatic negotiations, social reforms, legal issues, and various questions on the martial or mystical arts." Herb hung his head, realizing how insignificant his request must seem but was surprised when Sorora laughed. "Now that stuff was child's play. This could be tough."

Herb big-sweated then grew angry. "Are you just playing with me or what?"

"Calm yourself young prince. Although I do mean that in some jest, in a sense it is true. The consequences may not be nearly as broad as any of those matters, but the complexity of dealing in a human relationship is actually remarkably high," she said as she floated back to him, on seeming sitting on an invisible wall. "So, I hope you weren't hoping for me to just twiddle my fingers and make everything work out."

"I did not expect such from you," Herb replied cautiously.

"No, but you desire it nonetheless," Sorora countered, her eyes narrowing dangerously. "You should know that I do not approve of those kind of means to matters such as these. If you truly wish to win this woman's heart then you had best plan to do it the old fashioned way or we can end this conversation right now."

Herb nodded his head vigorously. "I understand."

Sorora examined him for a moment, clearly determining the truth of his words, and then smiled. "Very well. For starters, you're going to have to forget everything that moron Garnet has taught you, particularly about women."

"My recent experiences have already made me question much of what he has taught me," Herb said.

"Good, but I mean for you to completely throw it aside. Your father has a completely distorted view of women, and I don't simply mean by the current atmosphere of Musk society. No, his views on them are beyond extreme, so extreme that even I don't know the true depths to which he has sunk. So, just forget it all right now. And once you've done that, you may have to consider giving up something far more precious to you."

"What?" Herb asked in confusion.

"I've seen into your mind and I can see this Kasumi and Shampoo thru your mind's eye. Unfortunately you have taken an interest in someone and her partner who are going to demand that you change quite a bit of your outlook. Kasumi strikes me as an idealist, and one who expects those she is close to, to at least minimally respect those ideals. Meanwhile, Shampoo is of course an Amazon, and they, as you well know, have a long history with the Musk. Whether she is personally shaped by the history or not matters little as she has no doubt been shaped by the Amazon culture she lives in."

Herb shook his head as he tried to understand this. "I still don't understand."

"Oh, you'll know it when the time comes, or at least you should if you really are up to the task of being married to these two," Sorora replied and stood up from her invisible perch, clasping her hands together eagerly. "But, in the meantime, I'll give you a little homework. For starters, for pity sakes, stop calling her 'Amazon'. It's Shan Pu or Shampoo, whichever she prefers which you should figure out. She's a person not an ethnic group."

"Uh... right," Herb quickly said with a nod.

"Good. Now for the hard part. Next time we talk I expect you to be able to tell me why those two love each other."

Herb blinked. "What? How am I-"

"Oh, you'll muddle your way along, I'm sure," Sorora replied, gaining a frown from the Prince. "Don't get me wrong, you need not be 100% correct. This is more of a mental exercise and a directive to get you observing them. After all, I have only your own mind's information to go on. However, do put some effort into it. Consider it something of a test. If you truly wish to marry these two you'll have to show me you're up to doing what is necessary."

After a moment Herb nodded firmly. "I will do as you ask."

Sorora smiled. "I'm getting to like you, Herb. Don't disappoint me. Oh, and don't bother calling me. You've caught my attention and I will be monitoring you. You were fortunate to catch me at a good time and I could respond immediately. Normally I have my own matters to deal with. In any case, I will contact you when I feel the time is right."

XXXXX

Why do they love each other? Herb repeated in his mind. His training in life left him ill-equipped to answer such a question, yet still he was confident in Sorora's reasoning and that learning that would be valuable. He had little considered the issue up till now.

However, her other words were troubling. Give something up? What could she really have meant by that? Coming to no easy answer, Herb dismissed the thought and refocused on the more important question.

As he sat on the beach wall, deep in thought, Shampoo finally arrived. Seeing the prince she huffed and decided to turn the screws a bit on him. "And here I thought you were starting to like wearing dresses," she teased as she approached. Herb's only reaction was to eye her briefly, but he otherwise did not rise to the bait.

Shampoo frowned as her effort failed. In truth, she hadn't expected it to work. In the last week the prince had seemed to become far more resistant to her usual jabs. I guess it's because he gets to turn back to normal, she concluded and decided not to waste any more time on the man. Heading over towards Kasumi, she could see her wife uncharacteristically struggling with the technique Ranko was attempting to teach her. I suppose she isn't perfect at everything, Shampoo thought.

"I don't think this technique is all that compatible with me," Kasumi said as Shampoo walked up. "Hello, Shampoo."

"Nihao, Airen," Shampoo replied, restraining the urge to grab onto Kasumi happily. She had been getting a good feel for Kasumi's limits of late, and although she had made great improvements in the relationship, there was no need to push things too far. "Kasumi, you finished training with Great Grandmother's new technique?"

"Take a look," Kasumi said in reply and stretched out her hands. After a few seconds the sand before her started to come together and start forming a large pillar. As it rose higher, it took on greater form until, after about twenty seconds a perfect sand replica of Shampoo stood before them. Shampoo smiled happily at the display. "I still can only really do static shapes, but I think I'm ready to proceed to the next stage of the technique," Kasumi said as she relaxed.

"Hey, that pretty good, Kasumi," Ranma said as he appeared, the interruption causing Shampoo to frown.

"Hello Ranma. I thought you would be coming with Tatewaki. He said he wished to come," Kasumi said.

"Oh, he'll be along soon enough, I'm sure," he said as he looked back at the beach wall. Suddenly a devious smile crossed his face and in a flash of motion he grabbed Kasumi. Before Kasumi could think to react he spun he slightly into his full grasp and kissed her. The shock of this unusual behavior from her fiancé was too much for Kasumi, so she just let him kiss her.

Off to the side, Shampoo had a sudden fit of eye twitches, but Ranko frowned and quickly grabbed Ranma by the shoulder. A second after she did so, Ranma's form disappeared, replaced with a boy in an orange bandana and red shirt. "KEN!"

Realizing he'd been found out, Ken released Kasumi and fell back to a defensive position as Shampoo started to glow in anger. However, he seemed unworried and relaxed. "Sorry, couldn't help myself. Just wanted to see what all the fuss was about," Ken said with a teasing smile.

"You!" Shampoo exclaimed angrily, pointing her finger threateningly at the boy. "You is one you try get Frost kill Kasumi!"

"What?" Ken replied in confusion. "Hey, I had nothing to do with that."

"Shampoo no believe you," she said, and tossing aside her restraint rushed Ken. However, she pulled up short by Kasumi.

"Shampoo, that's enough, we'll deal with this," Kasumi said.

"But..." Shampoo began to argue, but Kasumi and Ranko had already moved into position to confront the boy themselves. She glowered for a moment, but conceded. In truth, she knew she had little chance of beating the boy and was more interested in simply venting some anger on him.

"So, finally decided to show your face, huh," Ranko said, taking a moment to stretch out a few muscles in preparation.

"Yeah, I guess it's true that it's the ladies that are the tough ones around here. Say, you wouldn't happen to know where Ukyo Kuonji has gotten off to, would you?"

"Her whereabouts are none of your concern," Kasumi answered.

Ken shrugged. "Too bad. Doesn't matter though, I'm here to see you anyway, Kasumi Tendo."

Kasumi opened her mouth to respond, but found Ranko suddenly in front of her. "Hey, you want to fight someone, fight me."

"No way," Ken replied dismissively.

"What?"

Ken looked at Ranko seriously. "Hey, it's not that I don't want to embarrass you, it's just that with that goofy power of yours, you can cheat."

"Cheat? What do you call changing into people?" Ranko countered, but Ken was unimpressed.

"That's my style. Unfortunately, it is magical, which means you can cancel it out. Doesn't prove you're better. All it shows is you got some goofy power. Big deal."

Ranko frowned. "Pah, you're just scared to face me."

"Spare me your taunts," Ken replied and pointed at Kasumi. "It's Kasumi I want to fight."

"Alright," Kasumi replied, shocking Ranko.

"Kasumi?" Ranko said in shock.

"It's alright, Ranko. If Ken wants to fight me, let him. After all, if he can't beat me, there is no way he could beat Ukyo."

Ranko frowned, but there was nothing to be done about it. Ken was not likely to accept her challenge so that left it to Kasumi. The red head stepped aside and joined Shampoo, letting the two martial artists face off.

XXXXX

"So, you believe these techniques might just be the key to this Ken's defeat," Kuno asked his companion as the two headed towards the beach to meet Kasumi.

"Maybe," Ranma replied with a shrug. "The old man may be a pervert, but I have to admit he's got some interesting moves. I may be able to use of few of them. Besides, the old geezer also made me a promise."

"A promise?"

Ranma nodded. "He said he could fix Kasumi if I could become better than her."

"You mean to challenge her?" Kuno asked with a frown.

"Nah, not after what the old lady said. I figure I can prove I'm better other ways other than challenging Kasumi directly. All I have to do is convince the old man."

"Somehow, Saotome, I do not trust him to keep to his end of the bargain."

"Hey, you're not the only one," Ranma said. "But, I don't see the harm in at least trying. I want to... Hmmm," Ranma paused his thought as he noticed a commotion up ahead. "What's up?"

"Difficult to say," Kuno replied and the pair quickened their pace.

"Hey, what's going on?" Ranma asked a bystander as they neared the commotion at the beach.

"It's some kinda fight. Two twins apparently."

"Twins? Ken!" Kuno said angrily and together with Ranma they rushed the remaining distance to their meeting place with Kasumi. There they found Kasumi standing ready to fight Kasumi. From merely examining the pair, neither boy could discern which was the real Kasumi and which Ken. Only by looking over at Shampoo and Ranko could they finally tell the two apart as they stood on the side of the real Kasumi. Ranma grabbed Kuno by the elbow, directed him towards the two girls, and the two boys moved to join them. Not long after, Herb moved from his position on the beach wall to join them as well.

"You know, Kasumi, you were wasting your time learning those new techniques. I already copied them too," Ken-kasumi said she readied herself.

"I expected nothing less," Kasumi replied, mirroring Ken's actions. "That training was for my own benefit, and not meant to be used in challenging you."

"Oh?" Ken-kasumi said curiously. "Hm, whatever. Now then, let's not disappoint the crowd, shall we." So saying, Ken-kasumi went onto the offensive.

The initial exchange was nothing fancy, just a simple back and forth of physical attacks. The more interesting part for those observing was trying to keep track of who was who. It wasn't long before most the crowd was lost, while even Ranma and party were finding it difficult.

"They seem to be quite evenly matched," Kuno commented as the exchange continued.

"This means nothing. They are simply testing the limits of each other," Herb countered, but then frowned. "Still, this Ken is quite adept. He is perfectly matching Kasumi, move for move. I did not think it possible to so completely copy another's style."

"I would have thought you would have fought him. He's taken on pretty much everyone else around here," Ranma observed.

"Everyone but me and my men. Apparently he does not feel himself equal to our natural abilities," Herb concluded. "There must be limits to the magic he uses to transform."

As Herb said this, the preliminary stage of the battle ended with Ken-kasumi suddenly firing off a dragon fang strike attack. Kasumi countered with her own, canceling it out, and rushed in for a Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken. Ken-kasumi countered with her own Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken and once more there was a stalemate. The pair broke the exchange of blows, and both activated illusions, creating overlapping images of themselves in an effort to confuse the other.

"This is ridiculous, he knows Kasumi's every technique," Ranma exclaimed with a frown. "How's she supposed to beat him?"

"There is more to beating someone that knowing a fancy technique," Ranko replied, gaining the attention of Ranma. "You have to understand the techniques and be able to utilize them properly, even adapt them to your needs at that moment."

As Ranko said this, the two Kasumi's finished defeating the other's illusion only to both blast the sand to create a cloud of sand particles. Both used the distraction to turn invisible in an attempt to catch the other off guard. Those watching moaned at seeing yet another technique copied perfectly, but in an instant were surprised to see one Kasumi reappear for an instant and hit the other, knocking her clear of the miniature sandstorm.

Even Ranko and the others couldn't be sure which Kasumi was which as the second reappeared, arms crossed and appearing confident. "Just as I thought," the one standing proclaimed.

"Is that Ken, or Kasumi?" Ranma asked but gained only shakes of the head from the others as they couldn't tell.

Recovering, the other Kasumi rubbed her cheek and frowned in anger at her counterpart. "How did you see thru my invisibility?" she asked.

"I didn't. It was a perfect copy. However, you could not hide your hostility from me. I sensed you out using that," the real Kasumi replied.

"Hostility?"

"Yes. I've trained my battle sense very well, and in particular I can pick out a person's hostility very easily. You clearly can't copy this as your levels of hostility are too high to detect mine which I can also keep very low."

Ken-kasumi stood up, and huffed dismissively. "You got lucky."

"I don't think so. Oh you've copied my techniques very well, but you use them very mechanically. You lack a fundamental understanding of them."

"Yeah?" Ken-kasumi replied skeptically. "Prove it!" Ken-kasumi, once more rushed in.

Kasumi only smiled, and created another storm of sand dust, disappearing into it. Ken-kasumi once more mirrored the action, but after a few seconds was once more forced from the cloud by the real Kasumi with another punch. This time, however, Kasumi did not stop there and pressed her attack. With a shout of, "Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken," Kasumi assaulted Ken with a barrage of fists. Ken-kasumi tried to counter with her own, but punched thru nothing but air.

Ken-kasumi realized too late that she had been tricked with an illusion and found Kasumi had slipped in behind her. She quickly twisted around into a spinning backhand punch but this too passed thru yet another illusion. She's making a fool of me, Ken-kasumi thought as two more illusionary Kasumi's frustrated her.

Finally the real Kasumi showed herself, barraging Ken with another Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken paired up with her overlapping illusion. Ken-kasumi was caught off guard by the combination and most of the blows hit true, sending her to the sand. As she tumbled, she tried to counter with a dragon fang strike, but Kasumi fired back her own and this time overwhelmed Ken's version.

As Ken tumbled down the beach from the blast, Kasumi relaxed herself and ceased her attack. "This battle is pointless. You can't beat me with my own techniques. Your understanding of them is too limited."

Getting up, Ken-kasumi finally nodded. "Guess you're right, so let's try this instead." Pulling a kerchief from nowhere and quickly passing it in front of her, Ken-kasumi disappeared and in her place Ken-sakura stood. "Let's see how you do against Sakura."

Kasumi's confidence diminished quickly at seeing this and she took up a defensive posture. This isn't good. I've never seen Sakura fight. I have no idea what to expect, Kasumi thought.

Ken-sakura laughed and placed her arms into a disturbingly familiar position. Rotating them, ki began to gather. "How about this, Ha..."

"Oh no," Kasumi mumbled, recognizing the technique, and crossed her arms in front of her in an attempt to fend it off.

Off to the side, Herb did as well, but there was no time to move to help Kasumi. Within only a second, Ken-sakura finished her gathering and pulled the ki to her side. "Do... KEN!" she shouted as she thrust her arms forward and a great blast of light bathed the area.

Seconds passed as everyone shielded their eyes from the light, but once they could see again, all they found was Kasumi unharmed and Ken-sakura looking confused.

After a second, Kasumi peaked out from behind her guard as Ken-sakura held the back of her head sheepishly. "Oops, forgot she hasn't finished learning that yet. It has no range." The entire crowd face-faulted as Kasumi just sighed in relief, but Ken wasn't finished. Another transformation later and Kasumi faced off against Ken-happosai. "Now, let's see you take... THIS!" Ken proclaimed as he tried to hit Kasumi with his pipe, but Kasumi simply stopped the pipe with a finger.

"You should know that Master Happosai's point strike techniques are useless against me," Kasumi said to him. "I learned to defuse the force of such attacks long ago."

"Ah, I see," Ken-happosai replied and withdrew to think.

"Are you going to surrender now?" Kasumi asked.

"Not quite, I have one more thing to try," Ken replied and changed forms again. This time Kasumi's confidence truly did take a hit as Ken appeared as Ukyo before her. "I've been dying to give these techniques a try. Guess now is as good a time as any," Ken-ukyo said and with burst of energy she activated the burning soul.

Kasumi had no time to react and found Ken immediately on her. The Ukyo doppelganger slammed her with several supercharged punches and kicks, sending her flying thru the air, barely clinging to consciousness.

Ranko watched this in amazement. Unlike the others, she had yet to see the burning soul, and for the first time she truly appreciated why Kasumi had lost the battle to Ukyo. "That's inhuman!" she exclaimed as Kasumi crashed to the beach and Ken-ukyo slowly approached, grimacing slightly but otherwise tolerating the pain.

"Indeed. This could be very bad. Kasumi has no real way to counter the burning soul, copied or not," Herb observed.

Kasumi had come to much the same conclusion herself, taking every second Ken gave her to recover. I can't hope to face that technique. I hoped that Ukyo was right and Ken couldn't learn it, but clearly he could, she thought as she tried to come up with some kind of plan.

Ken-ukyo did not give her that opportunity, and once more turned on the burning soul and rushed her. Once more Kasumi guard was defeated, and once more she was sent flying and tumbling to the ground. "Hah, guess you are no match for Ukyo after all. I guess to get a real match, I'll have to wait for her to show her face," Ken said in confidence.

Shaking the stars from her head, Kasumi got back up, thinking. Just then, her mind flashed back to the talk between Ranko and Ken. Of course... she thought, and looked out at the water. Wasting no more time, Kasumi ran for the water.

"What are you doing, Kasumi? Changing forms won't... huh?" Ken-ukyo started to say, but stopped short of revealing Kasumi secret when instead of getting wet, Kasumi walked right out onto the water's surface. That's new, she thought as she tried to puzzle out Kasumi's strategy.

Kasumi continued further out onto the water's surface until she was a good twenty feet from shore. Satisfied she had enough distance she turned back to look at the confused Ken-ukyo. "Aren't you going to come and get me?"

Ken-ukyo frowned. "Fine," she said and started to give chase but less than a few feet into the water, the press of the water slowed her down to a crawl. Kasumi took advantage of this and fired off a dragon fang strike. Ken-ukyo could not evade and was force to merely guard the attack which knocked her over and into the water. A moment later, Ken-ukyo resurfaced and quickly made her way back to shore.

"As I thought," Kasumi said aloud.

"Now what?"

"I was wondering why exactly you refused to fight Ranko earlier. After observing you fight, I figured it out. It wasn't that you couldn't copy her form, it was that you can only copy techniques while in that person's form. In a sense, you copy them too well. Since you don't really understand the technique's basis you can't use them in your natural form, or anyone else's for that matter," Kasumi explained. "This means that although you can copy my techniques in my form, or Ukyo's in her form, you can't copy Ukyo's in my form, or mine in her's. Since Ukyo can't use the matter control technique, you can't walk on water while in her form, and we already know you're no match for me in my form."

Back at the beach Ken-ukyo glowered at this, but could not argue. "And I can't chase you into the water in Ukyo's form because it slows me down and makes me a sitting duck," she concluded for Kasumi.

"Correct."

Ken frowned. The analysis was mostly correct and it was a deficiency Ken was well aware of. For the last year he had been trying to correct it by using a sort of hybrid transformation, but he had yet to stabilize the magic. Attempting it under combat conditions was pretty much a guaranteed defeat for him. "Fine, nice trick, but you can't stay out there forever," Ken-ukyo observed but Kasumi shook her head confidently.

"I don't need to," she replied and stretched her hands out in front of her. A sphere of water lifted out of the water and hovered in front of her. "You see, I can attack you from here," she said, and with a quick thrust of her hand, the sphere of water shot towards Ken-ukyo.

Desperately, Ken-ukyo tried to block the sphere using her chopstick defense, but the water simply passed by the chopsticks, unhindered and bowled her over. Ken-ukyo rolled out, and took aim at Kasumi. "Aerial Strike of a Thousand Chopsticks," she shouted and fired off the attack, but Kasumi anticipated this. Water sprayed up in a fan like structure, blocking the attack. On top of this, as the attack smashed against the wall of water, it created a spray that Kasumi used to turn herself invisible. "Darn it, where is she," Ken-ukyo complained as the sphere of water made another attack run on her.

A minute passed and Ken-ukyo futilely tried to attack out into the water, while at the same time avoiding the bowling ball of water as it tried to hit her. The full extent of Kasumi plan of attack was clear. Ukyo could block a ki attack, or any normal physical attack with a combination of her chopstick defense and skillet touch, but this was neither. The water, although manipulated by ki, was not ki itself, and it was not solid either rendering both of Ukyo's normal defenses quite ineffective. This left only one avenue to defend herself, dodge, but even that was proving quite difficult. At last, her endurance slipped away and the water attack got several good hits in, sending her crashing to the sand.

Off shore, Kasumi watched as Ken laid in the sand for a long moment, holding back. Maybe he's finally decided to give up, she thought as Ken-ukyo shook out the stars and slowly rose from the ground, rubbing the back of her neck.

With the tide seeming to have firmly turned in Kasumi's direction, much of the crowd on onlookers was cheering Kasumi on, or jeering Ken. Ken-ukyo looked back at the crowd, clearly angry. Ken had expected an easy victory here today, not to be outmaneuvered so badly. The humiliation of it was getting to him.

As Kasumi watched this, she sensed Ken wasn't going to give up until he was knocked unconscious. Perhaps if I just give him some avenue of escaping this fight with some of his pride intact, she thought but suddenly felt something new. It was a familiar sensation, like something just barely detectable by her battle sense, and it wasn't coming from Ken.

Kasumi scanned the crowd quickly, while keeping Ken in her view. I felt this before, at Pierre's, she thought anxiously but could see no threats other than her opponent. And when I felt this... I can't have that happen now. Kasumi doubled her guard but had no idea what to guard exactly against.

Back on shore, Ranko and the others noticed Kasumi sudden shift in concerns and also began scanning the crowd in puzzlement. "What's Kasumi worried about?" Ranko asked as she could detect nothing out of the usual.

"I'm not certain, but something does feel just... wrong," Herb replied as he too sensed something. "Like something is here that doesn't belong... but I can't pin it down."

"Is trick of Ken's?" Shampoo suggested but the others could not say.

"Alright Kasumi, I've had enough of you pulling a stunt like this!" Ken-ukyo shouted, almost enraged, forcing Kasumi to refocus her attention. "Get in here and fight me properly! Stop being a coward!"

"I don't mind being called a coward," Kasumi calmly replied. "Perhaps in the mind of some I am. But, I'm also not foolish enough to toss away an advantage to my opponent."

DAMN IT! Ken-ukyo practically screamed in her mind. Her blood was practically boiling over with fury, so much so that her sensibilities were starting to be ignored. Kasumi calm at this situation was infuriating. The crowd jeering was even more infuriating. And this damned bug bite... ARGH! Finally losing control, Ken-ukyo turned on the burning soul and made a mad rush for Kasumi.

Watching this, Kasumi was a bit puzzled. Although Ken-ukyo made it the first few feet over the water, inevitably gravity won out and she sunk in about 10 feet short of Kasumi. He has completely lost his calm, Kasumi thought as she swept up the water and created a powerful wave to wash Ken-ukyo back to shore. Is he really this easily- "Ow!" Kasumi cut her own thought off to say as she felt a bug like sting on her arm. "This happened at Pierre's too," she thought aloud as she rescanned the shore for anything but nothing revealed itself. But, after only a few seconds she started to feel off. Oh no, not now, she thought in irritation.

Back at shore, Ken-ukyo smashed her fists into the sand in uncontrolled fury. Had she bothered to analyze the situation, she would have realized that she was far beyond any normal anger levels she regularly felt, but such was of no concern to her at the moment. She was enraged past the point of all reason. When the crowd once more started to jeer her, she looked up at them in a dangerous glare.

"Stupid boy, why you no give up?" Shampoo called out in taunt, gaining Ken's attention and suddenly she felt she didn't want it.

That girl... Kasumi likes her, doesn't she, Ken-ukyo thought with an evil smile. Rising fully to her feet, a plan formed in her mind. "If you won't come in here, I'll force you to come in." So saying, Ken-ukyo rushed towards Shampoo.

Around Shampoo, the others were caught off guard by Ken's sudden switch in targets. Shampoo managed only to back off a single pace before Ken-ukyo was on top of them, knocking the others quickly aside before grabbing the shocked Shampoo by the wrist. Finally, Shampoo's and the other's battle instincts kicked in, but not before Ken-ukyo once more activated the burning soul. She pulled violently on Shampoo wrist, causing the Amazon to yell out in pain before being tossed to the sand. In the same instant, she kicked out at Herb, hitting him in the chin. The hit was hard enough to send the prince into unconsciousness. The other two boys faired no better as Ken-ukyo turned on them and easily bypassed their guard to strike them both and send them flying away with the force of the blow. Ranko was last, managing to barely block the kick meant for her, but even blocked the force was so strong to knock her off her feet and out of position.

Finished with possible interference, Ken turned backed to Shampoo and quickly moved to pin her to the sand, wrenching her already injured wrist behind her. Shampoo grimaced in pain, but found she could do little. She was in a completely helpless position against an opponent who was, as difficult as it was to admit, quite a bit superior to her.

"What to you think you're doing?" Kasumi yelled out in a rage of her own.

Ken-ukyo looked up at Kasumi, making sure to keep the others in her awareness, and smiling tauntingly. "If you don't come in here, I may be forced to do something... nasty," Ken-ukyo replied, emphasizing her point by twisting Shampoo's wrist just enough to cause her to scream out.

XXXXX

Nearby, Makoto and Usagi were finally arriving at the beach, unaware of what was happening. However, at seeing the crowd of onlookers gathered, they quickly made their way over. "What is going on?" Makoto began to ask the crowd, but the answer became obvious once the pair made it thru the mass of people. "What the..."

"What's Ukyo doing to Shampoo?" Usagi asked urgently, but Makoto shook her head.

"A hundred to one says that isn't Ukyo," Makoto analyzed and decided to see how she could help. "Stay here, Usagi." Jumping down to the beach, Makoto rushed toward Ken, just as the Ranko and the others started to recover.

"Stay back!" Ken-ukyo quickly ordered as she looked over at Makoto. "Any closer and I'll do more than twist her wrist!"

"Why you... you cowardly jerk! Let her go!" Makoto ordered, but came to a halt nonetheless.

"Not until Kasumi does as I say," Ken-ukyo replied, and looked back out at the water and Kasumi. However, what she saw there gave her a moment of pause.

Kasumi's eyes were closed and her fist clenched at her sides, as she fought for control of herself. Around her a dark aura was manifesting itself. Finally, after a few seconds she opened her eyes to reveal they too had changed, and were red throughout, almost glowing. "Let... her... go..." Kasumi warned dangerously thru clenched teeth.

The sight of this was almost enough to shake Ken free of his anger, but not quite. Ken-ukyo restored her confidence and replied, "Make me!"

By this point everyone else had now noticed Kasumi's change as well. While Herb was still unconscious, for Ranma, Kuno and Shampoo, this was all too frighteningly familiar. "Oh boy, not this again," is all Ranma could say before with a cry of outrage, Kasumi rushed into shore.

Ken-ukyo quickly released Shampoo and jumped to her feet to meet Kasumi. However, any confidence she had quickly faded when Kasumi smashed her with a punch that sent her flying. Having fought the real Ukyo, Ken was familiar with the force the burning soul could output, and this felt every bit as powerful. Recovering in mid air, Ken-ukyo turned on the burning soul to meet Kasumi's next attack, but found herself once more beat, as if only in mere seconds Kasumi had sped up yet again.

Not knowing quite what to do, the others could only watch this confrontation in shock. Herb finally came back to his senses to see Kasumi and Ken exchanging blows, but despite the burning soul, Ken was being overwhelmed. "What the hell happened?" Herb asked as he struggled to his feet and noticed what was going on. Makoto was helping Shampoo to her feet, while the others stood stupefied by the fight between Ken and Kasumi.

"I know not, but Kasumi has surely succumbed to this 'Ha Do' once again," Kuno replied.

"Ha Do?" Ranko asked in confusion.

"It's a technique that Kasumi knows, sort of the same thing Ken tried to use earlier as Sakura. But, this is no energy blast. She's totally out of control," Ranma replied as the battle was clearly against Ken.

"Unlike Ukyo, I do not believe Ken can win this. His level of use of the burning soul is significantly weaker than Ukyo's. He cannot match this level of attack," Herb analyzed as he rejoined the others.

The analysis was correct. Despite her every effort, Ken-ukyo was being overwhelmed. In less than a minute, she had given up any hope of offense and was concentrating purely on defense, but even this was proving futile. Even worse, Kasumi had lost all control. She was far beyond wanting to merely defeat Ken; she wanted to hurt him, badly. In fact, she was so incensed that her objective was to beat him to the point that he could never threaten Shampoo ever again.

XXXXX

Observing all this over the monitors in his room, the Doctor chuckled in triumph. "You see, what did I tell you. A complete success. She is totally under the power of the Dark Ha Do."

"I'm impressed, Doctor," Rose replied from the side. "What did you do?"

"I figured that a more gentile dosage, meant to activate more slowly, over a minute or so, would be more effective. The combat conditions helped as well. The combined stress and the effect creeping up on her caught her off guard," the Doctor explained, and again chuckled at his own ingenuity.

"And you gave this Ken a dosage as well, I see."

"Yes, it wouldn't have served us if the fight ended too quickly. Even without the potential for the Dark Ha Do, the stimulant is still quite good at enraging anyone who it is administered too."

Rose nodded in approval. "Very well, Doctor. I think it is time we collect her."

"Yes, I agree. I think we may wish to grab the Amazon as well. She could be useful," the Doctor replied and moved over to a microphone. "Shadow, Shadow Lady. Restrain and retrieve Kasumi Tendo and that Amazon, Shampoo. Neither are to be seriously harmed, but you may deal with any interference from the others as you need."

Two replies of, "Affirmative," came out the speakers and the perspectives on the screens began to change as those providing the images moved into position.

XXXXX

At about the same time, Ken-ukyo started to crumble under Kasumi's onslaught. Punches and kicks became merely a blur as she just curled up in a vain effort to protect herself, but even this did not stop Kasumi. Seeing this, Ranko finally decided it time to act and she grabbed Ranma by the elbow. "Come on, we have to stop her!" Ranma nodded and followed, as did the others soon after.

Ranko was the first to reach Kasumi and try to restrain her. She grabbed one of Kasumi arms, but Kasumi reacted quick, striking back with that arm and knocking Ranko back, then returned to her attack on Ken. However, Ranma and Kuno arrived next and this time held both her arms and wrenched her back.

"Kasumi, quit it!" Ranma called out.

"Let me go!" Kasumi ordered in fury, fighting against the two boys' strength and was nearly overwhelming them. Thankfully, Ranko recovered and along with Herb joined the effort to restrain her. A second later, Makoto came in as well, grabbing Kasumi by the waist. "Let... me... ugh..." Kasumi protested but finally the dark aura around her started to fade, and with it her strength. With a suddenness that surprised those restraining her, all resistance left Kasumi's body and all of them collapsed in a heap.

With a sigh of relief, Ranko and the other disentangled themselves and noticed Kasumi had passed out. "What the heck was that?" Ranko exclaimed, taking a look over at Ken. Sometime during the beating, Ken had lost his transformation and was now in his true form, quite clearly unconscious and badly beaten, but still breathing. "Geez!"

"Shampoo, are you well?" Kuno asked, noticing Shampoo finally walking up. Her attention was on Kasumi, a look of deep concern on her face, but she nodded, wincing as she held her wrist.

"Come on, let's get these three to the clinic. They need it," Ranma said as he started to get to his feet. However, as he did so, he noticed something very odd. Coming up the beach, the sand was flattening out and being scattered as if pairs feet were running across it. He managed only to say, "What the-" before an invisible hand knocked him aside.

Up close now, the others could finally just barely make out what appear to be two human-shaped distortions. Herb decided this was not the time to ask questions and instead immediately went onto the attack, firing a bolt of ki at the nearest one. It hit true, causing whatever was keeping the figure from being seen to malfunction and fade, revealing a dark skinned man wearing military fatigues and a dark flight jacket to come into view. However, despite the dark skin, he was clearly not of African descent, appearing to be American or European.

The second figure had made a rush for Shampoo, but this time it was Ranko who blocked it, kicking out and catching the invisible attacker on what appeared to be its arm. This time, the invisibility field simply shut down revealing the second attacker to be a dark skinned woman in what looked like a decorative Chinese dress designed more for combat. Like her companion she too was clearly not African, and looked to be Asian.

However, any questions about their strange appearances were unimportant at the moment. Both attackers wasted little time pressing their assault. The man drew back his arm then sliced it forward. Before Herb knew what was coming, a slice of air slammed into him, sending him sprawling and giving the man a clear shot at Kasumi. Both Kuno and Makoto made an attempt to block him, but he was simply too quick for the pair and grabbed the unconscious Kasumi from the ground and without delay rushed for the beach wall.

"Damn it! Get back here, you jerk!" Ranma exclaimed as he regained his footing and made chase. Herb quickly followed as well.

Meanwhile, having seen the other rush off with Kasumi, Ranko quickly deduced that Shampoo was the second one's target and moved to defend her. "Stay behind me, Shampoo," she cautioned as she faced off with the intruder. Shampoo reluctantly nodded, feeling the need herself to give chase, but having come to the same conclusion as Ranko felt it best not too.

Wasting no more time, the woman made a rush at Ranko, at the last instant sliding in on one leg, while kicking in a blur with the other. Ranko clenched her teeth and intercepted the attack with her own version of the Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken, minus battle cry. "You're not going to get by me that easily, lady!" Ranko taunted and to emphasize such, grabbed her leg and prepared to toss her.

Unfortunately, that proved to be a bad maneuver as electricity suddenly covered the woman's body, shocking Ranko and sending her crashing to the sand. The woman quickly regained her balance and moved on Shampoo once again, but this time Kuno and Makoto blocked her path.

"Back, woman. You shall not pass!" Kuno pronounced as she threatened her with his bokken.

Undaunted, the woman stood up straight, placed her hands together in a prayer like gesture and bowed to them. Confused by this strange behavior both were surprised when two, what looked like missiles, flew out of the woman's back and turned directly on them. Both defenders barely managed to guard themselves before the projectiles hit and sent them flying.

Satisfied, the woman once more moved on Shampoo. Shampoo withdrew, thinking to herself, What is this woman? However, before that could be answered a shout from the side was heard and Ranko jumped in, kicking the woman to the side, and once more positioned herself between her and Shampoo.

XXXXX

Watching this back in his room, the Doctor frowned. "This girl is quite persistent."

"Yes," Rose agreed, and on the monitor Shadow Lady turned to notice Kuno and Makoto recovering and readying themselves to re-enter the fight. "Enough, withdraw her. It's taking too long."

"I agree," the Doctor said with a nod and moved to the microphone. "Shadow Lady, cancel last order. Rejoin Shadow and ensure Kasumi is brought here."

XXXXX

At the beach, Ranko looked over her opponent fiercely. I don't know what this thing is, but it is not normal. Nobody shoots missiles out of their back, she thought.

"Affirmative," the woman suddenly said, turned and ran away, quickly turning once more invisible.

"What the hell?" Ranko exclaimed.

"Affirmative?" Makoto echoed in confusion. "What just happened?"

"You got me, but stay on your guard. She could be planning to take us by surprise again."

Makoto and Kuno nodded in agreement, moving to surround Shampoo. As they did so Makoto scanned the crowd. Where did Usagi go? she wondered.

XXXXX

Now several blocks away, and on the roof tops, Ranma was racing to catch up to Kasumi's kidnapper, with Herb close behind. Thankfully for them, the man was forced to stay visible as he was carrying Kasumi across his shoulder, but he was still proving to be an exceptionally good runner even carrying the extra weight. It was taking every ounce of speed they had but Ranma and Herb were slowly making up the gap.

As the chase continued, Herb took careful aim, and fired off a blast of chi, but as with his other attempts, the man noticed it well before it hit and easily evaded. "Damn it!" Herb cursed.

"Can't you control those things?" Ranma asked irritably.

Herb scowled. "Shut up! That takes a great deal of concentration, especially at this range. I can't do it while we're moving this quick. We'll just have to get closer. Just be sure, we cannot lose him, Saotome!" Herb called out from behind.

"Don't worry, there is no way this jerk is getting away from me!" Ranma replied.

Up ahead, Shadow took a glance over his shoulder at his pursuers then back ahead. Seeing a gap in the rooftops, he calculated a plan and jumped down into the gap.

Un-phased by this, Ranma and Herb jumped down after him blindly only to see the man doing a flipping kick, creating another slice of air directed right at them. Both had nowhere to dodge so were forced to merely guard against the attack which sent them flying in different direction. Both boys were stunned only momentarily and quickly recovered, but not quickly enough. By the time they regrouped at the man's last position, he and Kasumi were no where to be found.

"DAMN IT!" Ranma exclaimed in anger, knowing he had failed. Herb shared much the same sentiments.

XXXXX

Minutes later, Shadow scanned behind him, and confirmed he had indeed done away with his pursuers. His energy reserves beginning to be taxed he slowed his pace, opting for a more stealthy escape. However, unknown to him, another figure was jumping from rooftop to rooftop in an effort to catch up.

That figure was in fact Sailor Moon. Back at the beach, she had quickly concluded there was little she could do in her normal form. When Shadow had made a run for it, she had pursued and transformed at the first opportunity. There was little doubt in her mind that whatever had possessed Kasumi, these two were somehow involved and she wasn't about to let them succeed.

Finally getting ahead of her quarry, she called out, "Stop right there!" Shadow stopped as ordered in an alleyway to look up and see Sailor Moon pointing down at him from above. Seeing she had the man's full attention, Sailor Moon jumped to the ground and confronted him.

"You kidnapped the best home room supervisor in all of Tokyo! I won't forgive you! Agent of Love and Justice... pretty Sailor Soldier... Sailor Moon! In the name of the Moon, I'll punish you!" Finally finishing her usual intro, Sailor Moon looked over at the man confidently. It's a good thing Kasumi is unconscious. Last thing I need is for her to recognize me, she thought with a smile.

Shadow blinked several times at seeing Sailor Moon's prolonged introduction, but then slowly lowered Kasumi to the ground. Sailor Moon fell back into a guarded posture, ready for anything, but was shocked to see the man slowly raise his hands into the air as he stood back up straight. "What... are you doing?"

"Surrendering," Shadow replied without emotion.

"Surrendering? Oh, right, of course, surrendering," Sailor moon said with a nervous laugh. You know, I don't think anyone has ever surrendered to me before. I'm not sure what to do, she puzzled.

As Sailor Moon stood momentarily in thought, she did not notice the true reason for Shadow's surrender. Behind the senshi a human shaped distortion had also entered the alleyway and sneaked up behind her. Before she was even aware of the danger, a hand charged with electricity sharply connected with the base of her skull. If the force alone was not enough, the electricity added to the effect and Sailor Moon collapsed unconscious. A second later, Shadow Lady shut down her invisibility and stood over the fallen Senshi.

"Now this is interesting," Rose's voice said over the communication channel.

"We should have them leave, now. The others-"

"Nonsense, doctor. They have been outmaneuvered. And besides, I think I have some use for this Sailor Moon. Shadow Lady, collect the young do-gooder."

"Affirmative," Shadow Lady responded and picked up Sailor Moon.

"She could be unnecessary trouble. What if her companions come-"

"Doctor, you worry too much. No, I think she could be of some use to us," Rose replied, chuckling slightly.

XXXXX

Oblivious to all the happenings in Nerima was Ukyo. No, Ukyo was the near the point of offering up her right arm for a bit of excitement, in fact. However, the most exciting thing for her was the food she was currently cooking for herself over a fire.

Ukyo sighed as she checked her dinner one more time. "This is so dull!" She complained as she decided her food was done, but the sound of footsteps caught her ear. Ukyo quickly placed her dish on the stone floor of the shrine and hid to the side of the door, waiting for the intruder to enter. In her current condition, her only real hope was to catch whoever it was off guard as they entered.

"Ukyo?" Lemon said as she entered the room, but the chef failed to identify her before tackling her to the ground. "HEY!"

"What the...? Lemon?" Ukyo puzzled then frowned. "You really are Lemon, right?"

"Yes! Now get off of me! That hurts!" The Musk lady cried out.

Ukyo's suspicion remained. "What are you doing here? And how do I know you're really Lemon?"

"Of course I'm Lemon," she complained. "How else would I know how to get here? I just came because I thought you'd like some company."

Ukyo hesitated but decided she had little choice but to risk it. Releasing Lemon, she stood up and looked her over. "Company?"

"Well, yeah. I heard you were here all alone, so I figured you'd want some," Lemon explained as she maneuvered herself into a sitting position. "Who did you think I was?"

"That jerk, Ken. He can make himself look like anyone apparently," Ukyo replied, and feeling no danger decided to return to her food.

"Oh. Well, nope, that's not me."

"Where's Sississ... um..."

"Sissy? Oh, he's back in Nerima. He is such a stick in the mud I decided I'd just slip away," Lemon explained.

"Won't he be worried about you?" Ukyo asked, but Lemon only shrugged, unconcerned. "Okay, whatever, I suppose you can stay for a while. It's too late for you to head back anyway."

Lemon smiled at Ukyo innocently. Good, she doesn't suspect a thing. Now all I have to do is wait for the right moment, Lemon thought deviously. I should thank you, Ukyo. You were right, this is an opportunity and you're that opportunity.

XXXXX

Kasumi moaned as she sat up. Her mind was a complete mess, and her memories hazy. "What happened?" she mumbled as she opened her eyes and found herself in an unfamiliar room, on an equally unfamiliar bed. "Where am I?" Standing up she scanned the room, finding it to look like one that you might fight in a hotel. "How did I get here?"

"Ah, you're awake," a male voice from the ceiling said suddenly, gaining Kasumi's attention.

"Who are you? Where am I?"

"Who I am is not all that important. But you, that's quite a different matter. We've been watching you quite a while, Kasumi Tendo. You're probably the last person we would have thought would have what we seek, but you do."

"What are you talking about?" Kasumi asked, quickly assessing her points of exit from the room.

"Ah, but we'll discuss that as we go along, but first I should welcome you properly." Suddenly a steel panel fell over the nearby window, and several very discomforting mechanical noises could be heard all around. "Welcome to the hotel La Bac."

Oh my, I have a feeling I won't be enjoying my stay, Kasumi thought with a frown.

End Chapter 33

Next time in A Scary Thought: Everyone is scrambling to figure out who took Kasumi and where they have her. And, with Sailor Moon in the clutches of the same mysterious enemy, what exactly are our heroes in for? It falls to the local Sukeban Deka, Saki, to piece the clues together before it's too late.

For those a bit confused on the crossovers: Usagi, Rei, Minako, Makoto, Ami, Haruka, Michiru, Hotaru, Setsuna, Luna, and Artemis are all from Sailor Moon. Kitsune has her ties to the X-files, but only in that she's a fanatic of similar interests rather than appearing in said show. Saki and Sampei are from Sukeban Deka. You may also notice Frost borrowing a spell from here or there; in particular Gargoyles and Illusionaries are two prime targets. New to the scene are Rose, Shadow Lady and Shadow, and the previously shown Karin and Sakura which come from Street Fighter series (Rose, Karin and Sakura from Street Fighter Alpha 3, Shadow and Shadow Lady from Marvel vs Capcom). As for Ranko, well she's from my other major fanfic, Most Unlikely of Friends, although you can largely consider her standard Ranma trapped in female form for most purposes.

If you wish to check out my other works, or those of some other authors I know who write other Altered Destines, check out my Fanfiction website at:

.com

All the previous chapters of this series can be found there.

Well, that concludes things for this chapter. Later.