Chapter 4: Complications

Shampoo snuck into the lab proper and checked her position against the lobby map that she had taken a picture of using Mousse's phone. She didn't understand technology, but she was a warrior – she could adapt. She had paid attention when Mousse was showing off his gadget, discarding some of the features as useless, but noting others like the camera and the Japanese-to-Mandarin application that she was using to make sense of the lab signs. However, she was getting a sinking feeling about the mission – the lab was large, very large. She had about twenty minutes left until the guards would start to wake up and she needed to re-enable the cameras before then.

She followed the map until she was in the processing area. It took another five minutes to find the sample cold storage unit, but after she disabled the monitoring sensor and opened up the room, her feelings were confirmed; there were thousands of samples in here. She didn't have time to try and find Ranma's. She was also wise enough to know that this might be one of several storage units – there may even be a smaller unit where new samples were held. She closed the door and re-enabled the sensors. "Think!" she told herself. She had about ten minutes left before she had to start backtracking.

She looked at the lab map and decided she'd have to try again later. She used the remaining time to scout the territory. Moving quickly she noted the conveyor system encased in glass and the storage rooms at various points. This was not an overnight procedure she noted. Ranma's sample might already be in process – good thing she had decided not to start searching the samples. She continued to move, stopping every so often to check the flow of wires in the ceiling by moving a ceiling tile. Definitely not good. She found the central control room (the IT room Mousse had called it) and followed a large knot of cables away from the room "Five minutes left," she noted. "Let's hear it for fast movement and Amazon tracking skills." Finally she found a bay of offices. One of them was labeled "Post-Processing". An idea began to form in her head as she checked the door for an alarm. Finding none, she let herself in and scanned the room, noting the printers and the testing forms that were already complete. There was a stack in a bin marked "For Analysis". She took pictures of several of them and then took more pictures of the room.

Finally, time was up and she need to start backtracking. She retraced her steps back to the guard room and checked their pulses. "Good," she thought. "They're fine and will be waking up shortly." When they woke up, their brains would fill in the missing time by themselves – it was a very reliable drug. She re-enabled the cameras and ran the loop back to mismatch exactly one hour. Then she reset the timers. Anyone looking would find the discrepancy – but only if they looked. On the off-chance that they did, the anomaly would be traced to the wrong time, throwing off any investigation. She quickly cleaned the area to remove the dust she had disturbed from the vent and let herself back out as she came in. She would need to do some research on this 'DNA testing' thing and see if she could make sense of the sheets she had copied. Nailing the timing of the processing would be important too…

Kuno had just finished debriefing the squad commander who was in charge of hitting the DNA testing facility. He had reviewed the footage with the man and went over the layout of the plant. He also snapped several images from the footage and sent them to his industrial espionage team, requesting as much detail as possible regarding the timing and backlog at the lab. He already knew that the lab was a secure facility that kept their post-processing facilities off-line. Data was sent to analysis via hardcopy reports and the post-processing machine was backed up manually. He counted on the espionage team to determine who created the machine and to steal its schematics.

Kuno had also started to generate a CODIS profile on himself. While it was impossible to shrink the three day processing time, he could use money to jump to the head of the queue and start the processing on a Saturday. He should have the CODIS profile by Tuesday late and be ready to act by Wednesday. Ranma's new profile would not be ready until Thursday at the earliest. The plan was to intercept the profile that would link Ranma to Genma and link Ranma to Toshio instead. Toshio was already working on a story with witnesses that would suggest Genma had decided to make a move on the Kuno fortune by breaking into a sperm bank that Toshio was registered at (or at least would be).

While Ranma showed no signs of being a fiscal genius, he was stable (mostly – or at least more stable than most of the Kuno family). More importantly, he was very intelligent. Also, Akane Tendo was sisters with Nabiki Tendo and Nabiki did show signs of fiscal genius. Both girls had inherited their mother's intelligence and Toshio was willing to bet intelligence was a dominant trait that would be passed to Ranma's and Akane's offspring. While he was sure all of the couple's children would have an interest in martial arts, not all of them could (or would want to) inherit the dojo, especially if Kuno was offering an alternative to his "grandchildren". Kuno could bypass his brother's mad children and leave the Kuno fortune to someone more responsible – not that he was planning on going anywhere for a long time. He was certain he'd have time to shape a worthy heir. And with any luck, he could pursue the courtship of Nodoka and make the grandchildren truly his.

Toshio laughed at himself. Maybe the plan was a little off-the-wall (O.K. it was a lot off-the-wall), but what the heck! You only lived once, and sometimes you had to do something for yourself. Even so, he gave it only a 10% chance of working. As he thought about the odds, he noted with amusement that his brain was already working on fall-back plans…

Tomo was once more sweating up a storm in front of the Kitsune Elders. "Come on! Can't I catch a break here?" he thought.

The North Elder looked down at the small Kitsune. "How goes your work for Lord Ono?" the Elder asked.

"Umm…Fine, Lord Elder. He has me running odd tasks as he deems necessary. I was allowed to safeguard Lady Kasumi for a week as well," Tomo answered.

"Very good, young one," the North Elder acknowledged. "While you are in the humans' world, we have a small task we would like you to do. It is complementary to Lord Ono's tasks, so there is no need to trouble him with it. In fact, we rather insist you didn't."

"Ah, crap. They're asking me to cross Lord Ono," Tomo thought. "And I don't get a say in the matter." Out loud he answered formally, "I am pleased to aid my Elders in their tasks."

"You seem reluctant, little one," the South Elder noted.

"May I speak bluntly since I already agree that I am going to do what you tell me, Elders? Without ending up in Absolom?" he pleaded.

The South Elder smirked. "I suppose the condemned has a right to a last meal."

"I don't want to cross Lord Ono. I gave my word I'd help him. My word to you outranks that promise, but I'd rather not end up in a conflict. All right, I said my peace. What do I have to do, Great Sirs," Tomo said with a sigh.

"Relax," the West Elder said. "You don't have to work against Ono. We are not asking you to spy on him either. This task is more or less parallel to his." Tomo just nodded, not really trusting the answer.

"All you have to do is enter a test facility and swap one piece of paper for another, then bring the other paper back to us. Nice and simple," the East Elder told him. "You're already in the right area – Nerima. You must do this on Thursday night. We will give you a map of the facility and where the paper has to end up. We will also arrange for a suitable power outage to aid you. The outage will start at 7:51PM."

"Bull," the little Kitsune thought. "But I'm stuck." Out loud, he said, "It is a pleasure to help my Elders." A few pieces of paper appeared in his hands. He read the heading on one of them. It said 'Ranma Saotome.' "Of course it does," he thought.

"Very good, Tomo," the North Elder said. "You are dismissed." Tomo bowed and took his leave.

"Think he'll do it?" the West Elder asked.

"The guards are not armed. He'll get the job accomplished despite his worries and doubts. He's a survivor. Besides, if we send anyone else, Ono will detect the extra Kitsune in the area and know something is up. We need to avoid that. Ono's loyalty to Ranma is pretty strong – let's not test his loyalty to us by creating a possible conflict," the South Elder added.

Late Sunday morning found Ranma sitting on the house roof thinking. Akane was off with Yuka and Sayuri somewhere. If he closed his eyes and concentrated he could pick up her location (felt like Yuka's house). Ryoga and Akari were sharing some "alone" time somewhere (Ranma did not want to know). Maomolin and Chiyoko were playing tourist. The cat had checked on Ranma before he left, which Ranma appreciated, but also felt was unnecessary. The couple would be back for dinner. Tofu was off on clinic business at Nerima Hospital, but would be back by 3PM for the Sunday lesson. Nodoka and her father had gone for a long walk and were not expected back for lunch. Hayato and Soun were playing Shogi (Hayato had been warned). Nabiki was at the town library researching stocks.

Last night, Ryoga, Akari, Maomolin, Chiyoko, Akane, and Ranma had gone out on a triple date enjoying a Nerima nightclub. Ranma and Akane had never had a chance before, but with the Fiancée Brigade fragmented and demoralized after the First Date incident and everything that had happened since, they felt they could get away with it (not that they were giving up the Complex). The farm couple didn't have much chance either. Surprisingly enough, Maomolin was very knowledgeable about the city night life, a fact that Chiyoko teased him about by wondering out loud how many other girlfriends he had. The cat assured his significant other using the utmost debonair persuasion that she had no competition. Ranma had remarked to Akane that maybe the bakeneko had learned a few things over the past millennium. The human feline certainly knew more dance steps than anyone else in the club. Even more interesting was his ability to share the knowledge on-the-fly to his foster sons via telepathy. Ranma had to admit that having a fairy godfather made life interesting. The evening had ended with the three couples splitting up for romantic walks, eventually ending at the dojo.

Ranma appreciated that his friends were trying to distract him. He also appreciated that they did not press him after Maomolin's initial questioning Friday night. They all made it quite clear that they were available for any conversation Ranma wanted (even Chiyoko), but none of them pushed him – not even Akane (although it was killing her). However, Ranma knew this was something he'd have to deal with himself.

The dominant thought in his head was that he wanted the freedom to make his own choices. That included choices about Honor. On one hand, he knew he was descended from Genma (no matter what Ranko's CODIS test said). Anything Genma taught him about Honor was wrong – his Sire had no Honor, plain and simple. He had put Ranma in an impossible situation Honor-wise, and the only way out of it was to admit this was Genma's fault and declare all agreements "null". He had done that in a Court of Law, and all the petitioners had accepted this except Tanaka, who was obviously insane and didn't count. Still, it bothered him to be associated with Genma.

Unfortunately, his Mom's side was just as bad if not worse. Putting it very bluntly, his Mom had no Honor until very recently. That sounded harsh, but the truth was she didn't have to mental capacity to fully understand right or wrong before she started to take her medicines. It wasn't her fault; this was just the way it was. She *had* limped along as well as she could, and none of her decisions from that time were irreversible (Thank Heavens!). Admittedly, Ranma was sort of impressed by that, but it was not something you wanted to shout to the world. Basically, his Mom had not added or subtracted from family Honor.

That left Shigeo as the main carrier for family Honor. Ranma cringed. It wasn't that Shigeo was about to become "ronin". That happened in the past to Samurais through no fault of their own, especially when it was no longer traditional to kill yourself at the death of your master. When it did happen, you were expected to redeem yourself (sometimes by finding a new master). The reason for Shigeo's new status was cringe-worthy though. Shigeo had destroyed True Love, and driven three people insane. He engaged in kidnapping, torture, and deliberate marooning of an innocent man and had never been punished or even admitted true remorse. He was sorry for the outcome, but had Airi lived and married well, Shigeo would never have given Tanaka another thought. This was not someone with whom Ranma wanted to admit kinship.

Even if Shigeo didn't have such big stains on his honor, Ranma would not have wanted the old man calling the shots in Ranma's life – the old man was obviously a dictator. Ranma wanted to choose his associations, not have Shigeo (or any of the Saotomes) do it for him. He wanted to marry Akane of his own free will (damn, he had changed, hadn't he?). He wanted to stay in Nerima and not move up North to Hokkaido. In some weird way, he belonged here, even though he had seen better places in his travels (although not better people). And he wanted to choose his career, which was to be the best martial artist in the whole world.

That list made him stop and think. "Whoa, I really have changed," he said to himself. "There was a time when all I thought about was martial arts." He reflected on that a little more. There was no question that he had improved as a martial artist since Jusenkyo. In exchange for carrying the lost girl's genes, Jusenkyo had gifted him with more Chi paths in his spirit. The Chi generated from the cat spirits inside of him had filled the pathways, upping his power reserves tremendously. His speed had increased as the cat spirits became more and more incorporated into his own. Not only that, but the power leeched into Ryoga, given Ranma a sparring partner that required no quarter. Ryoga's own power reserves matched his own. When they fought, it was skill against skill for the most part – Ryoga was a bit stronger, but Ranma was a bit faster.

Even then, Jusenkyo wasn't done. The Pools of Sorrow had tweaked his spirit and opened Ranma's eyes to those around him. With that thought, Ranma looked deep inside himself and examined his soul. What he found surprised him; even before Jusenkyo, he wasn't a total bastard like Genma. Oh, he wasn't the greatest person in the world, but he wasn't the worst either. He did seek company of children along the way, even if he was to only know them for a day before moving on. He didn't cheat them of their victories in the games they played together (unless it was martial arts). When someone was obviously upset – like someone with a kite stuck in a tree – he helped out, even if he did have a tendency to showboat while doing it. Admittedly, he liked the admiration; he wanted someone to pay attention to him even then, but he was also content that they were no longer sad. All Jusenkyo had done was to make him notice others more. How he reacted was still up to him.

"But why would Jusenkyo do that?" he wondered. "Why was that important? My goal at the time was to be the greatest martial artist of all time. If Jusenkyo was trying to grant me my wish in exchange for Ranko, what did that have to do with anything?"

For some reason, Akane flashed into his mind just then. He thought about his Tomboy and how she fought. Before he started sparring for real with her, her sparring never showed what she was capable of in a fight. When she fought for real, her true potential showed though. Attack her for real, or even worse, attack her friends, and all hell broke loose. "I guess she fights harder when something important is on the line," he thought. "I suppose that's true for everyone. Me too. Jusenkyo made me notice people more so I'd have something real to fight for – them."

Ranma meditated on that last thought trend for some time. Finally, he stood up and looked over his city. He would be the greatest martial artist of all time. He knew that in his soul. The funny thing was; it really was no longer the most important thing to him. He belonged to her. He belonged to them. He belonged here. That was what mattered most.

That resolve demanded action, even if it was symbolic. In answer to something deep inside himself, he opened up his mind and gathered his power. He pushed his awareness out to the utter limit, encompassing most of the city. He could feel the life of the city even if the resolution was a little weak (he could feel the crowds more than the individual people). Then he pulled his awareness back to himself, drawing a light gentle breeze from all around him, across the entire city. The Wind brought him the scents of the city, the good and the bad. He had it flow around him and spiral up into the sky to spread back out again, making sure to keep the balance between the old and new weather patterns. The effort exhausted him completely. The masses of air involved were tremendous, but the end result was somehow deeply satisfying as he let things return to normal and collapsed back into a sitting position.

"You won't be any good for this afternoon's lesson now," Kasumi's voice scolded him.

Ranma turned to see the young woman standing about four meters away on the roof ridge line, holding her hands clasped by her chin, and looking at him thoughtfully. He returned her gentle smile as he said: "Ah, he's having me do more reading these days anyway. He's convinced I won't look at the texts unless he's standing over me."

Kasumi raised an eyebrow at the exhausted young man as she said "And he's wrong how?"

'Didn't say he was wrong," Ranma smirked. "What's up?"

"Oh, I just wanted to see what you were up to with that little display. You realized that you just shouted to the entire city, 'I am here,'?" she said.

"That was sort of the point. Besides, they already knew that," he answered.

"True. You've made your decisions then? That sort of felt like a victory yell," she prompted.

Ranma sighed. "Yeah, Mom won't be happy, and Genma would be in utter shock if he still gave a damn, but I have."

"And how about Ranma?" she asked with the eyebrow raised again.

The smirk came back as he answered: "Ranma will be just fine." The expression faded as he said: "I need to talk to the judge before court starts again tomorrow. I'd like to go over everything with him first, and I think he'll have to help me."

Kasumi gave a light laugh as she said: "And how will you do that? It will be three days until you have to energy to get up after your bit of magic there."

His expression became positively impish as he teased: "Watch and learn, Big Sister!" Ranma stretched out a mental hand and lightly brushed the edges of the Nexus at the heart of Nerima. The Nexus echoed power deep into his soul, somehow recharging Ranma without wiping him away.

For the first time in his life, Ranma saw Kasumi's serene smile lost in awe. "You can consciously draw directly from the Nexus now?" she whispered.

"Not quite," he said with the same impish expression. "But I can skim from the edges. I can feel the ebb and flow of the power so long as I am quiet. It won't help in the heat of battle, but I can heal even faster now – at least spiritually."

With that, Ranma stood and spun, covering the distance and snatching Kasumi up, cradling her in his arms. "Ranma!" she protested.

"C'mon sis! Akane will be back shortly. I'll make lunch today. You can keep me company!" With that he leapt from the roof and carried her inside.

The old woman, Mrs. Ohayashi, walked down her hallway to the shrine that she kept at the end. A small picture of a young man topped the shrine, the picture draped with black cloth. It had been ages since he died in the traffic accident, but she still missed her son. She opened a drawer of the shrine and pulled out a CODIS profile sheet.

She had always been interested in genealogy. When the CODIS tests had become cheap enough, she had many of her family members tested, even though some of them were deceased. It was traditional in her family to keep some of the hair, and it usually had a bit of root still attached – a family peculiarity. After all, she couldn't take her money with her, and it was interesting to see how the genes were passed down, especially in her family. She noted with amusement that there had been some 'wandering' across the branches of the family tree, but she made no effort to draw attention to it. She liked her family as it was.

She decided she would talk to Judge Sanu tomorrow evening. He needed to know there was a new player on the field…

A/N: 9/16/2014 - I've assigned the Ladle Lady a formal name because the phrase "old woman" wasn't carrying between the chapters well (actually, I assigned the name in Chapter 7 for when she talked to the judge - now I'm just using it earlier). Thank you to Flameraven1 for pointing that out.

A/N: Next up: The Judge and the Assassin