Converging Series

by The Altered Destinies

The tale that started it all. A magic locket that has the ability to move people through dimensions gets loose. Havoc time! Crossover of quite a few fanfic worlds, the major ones being Ranma 2096, The More things Change and Ranma Nibunnoichi. This continues after the events of Descents and Inversions as Ryo Saotome attempts to return home. Things never work out right

5. Chapter 5

Act 5

The story so far...

ACT I:

In an alternate reality where Ranma married Shampoo, their

daughter had somehow obtained a magic locket that allowed her to cross

dimensions. A few accidents later, several of Ranma's 'children' from

various realities ended up in one reality, where Ranma was still a

teen-age youth. One among them, Ryo Saotome (son of Ranma and Ukyou)

managed to get a hold of the locket before Cologne was about to do

something devious with it. Following his victory, Ryo sent all the

children of Ranma & company to their proper realities, and then

prepared to go home himself. Something, however, went wrong. He ended

up in a bizarre version of Tokyo in 2096 and accidentally dragged

along Ratiko Hibiki and Childra Jansen in his attempt to fix this

mistake. That attempt dragged him to two other realities with amazing

speed. From them, he accidentally brought Miyabi, daughter of Ranma

and Akane, and Ishido, a mysterious amnesiac hunted by a shadowy

organisation. Finally, they stopped in a reality where Ranma & co.

were still teens, but had never met them before. And now...

ACT II:

Childra, curious as to what caused their dimensional/reality

shift, watched Ryo Saotome closely, and discovered that the locket is

the source of their troubles. She tried, and succeeded, in stealing

the locket from him without his noticing. Ratiko schemed to make sure

that the history of his world takes place, and began a plan to kill

Ranma and frame Miyabi for the murder. He succeeded in getting a blood

sample from her and a torn piece of her clothing, but was interrupted

before he could go through with his plan. In a talk with Ishido, he

found out about a certain umbrella-wielding maniac threatening to kill

Ryouga in Ishido's reality. In a panic, Ratiko rushed to Childra, and

accidentally triggered the locket. The three of them found themselves

on a bridge somewhere. Before they left, they accidentally dragged

along Ryo Muhoshin, a person that looked amazingly like Hikaru

Gosunkugi, but in truth was a bit more devious. Bringing him along,

the four crossed several realities, narrowly escaping danger, capture,

and death. Then they returned to the Nerima they had left from, with

an irate Ryo Saotome waiting for them. Meanwhile, Miyabi had put up

with the antics of her grandparents (Soun and Genma) who were

overjoyed at her existence, distressed at the way her parents were

fighting, greatly annoyed at her trans-dimensonal half brother Ryo

Saotome, and had decided that a talk with Grandmother Nodoka was in

order.

ACT III:

Miyabi went to Nodoka's to talk, unaware that Ranma's life was in

danger due to the promise Genma made to Nodoka regarding manliness and

Ranma's upbringing. The end result was that Nodoka was invited to

dinner, expecting to see her son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughter.

Miyabi's age, almost that of Ranma, was, unfortunately, not forseen as

a major problem by Miyabi. Upon returning from her accidental trip

through time, Childra surrendered the locket to Ryo Saotome once

again. Meanwhile, the extra passenger they picked up along the way,

Ryo Muhoshin, passed himself off as 'Ryo Gosunkugi, son of Gosunkugi

and Ukyou' and had everyone fooled. Nabiki got a hold of the material

Ratiko was planning to frame Miyabi with and used it to blackmail him

into buying her dinner, among other things. They end up at Ucchan's,

where he washed dishes to pay for things. He eventually got drunk,

hit on Ukyou, and was knocked out by a blow to the head. Childra and

Ishido became more... intimately attached. When his guard was down,

Ryo Saotome was knocked out by Ryo Muhoshin, who then accidentally

triggered the locket and disappeared into times and places unknown.

Ryo Saotome woke up much later to find the locket gone, an image of it

burned in his hand, and discovered what was inside the locket:

A picture of him and Bell-chan, his fiancee.

ACT IV:

Ryo Saotome began making plans to assemble the locket that he was

apparently destined to create (the photo from the locket being proof

of that). Meanwhile, Ratiko spent the day with Nabiki, buying her

food and treats while also beginning to feel somewhat attracted to

her. Ishido and Childra sorted through their fears and anxieties, but

in the end came together in a happy reunion within the local

graveyard. Miyabi & the Tendo household held a dinner for Nodoka, who

was expecting to see her son at last. What happened instead was that

she had an interesting experience with a time traveler (Happosai) and

realized that Miyabi was, in fact, Ranma's daughter from the future.

She also assumed that 'Ranko' was Genma's daughter from an affair.

Soun briefly assumed Akane was Genma's child from an affair with his

deceased wife. Things got ugly, but got better again as they usually

did (although Nodoka still thinks Ranko is Genma's illegitimate

child). Meanwhile, Under the distrustful eyes of Childra and Ishido,

Ryo Saotome used the arcane resources within Happosai's room to create

the locket.

And then he vanished.

Jade fire engulfed Ryo, and he burned. _Green?_ he thought.

_It shouldn't be green. And I don't remember this much pain._

Ryo concentrated, fighting past the agony, willing his way

back to reality, or the local equivalent thereof. The emerald flames

thinned. He found himself lying on a cold surface, smoke rising from

his clothes. And he heard someone crying.

There was something familiar about those tears, something more

painful than the fires that delivered him to this world. "Bell-chan?"

he whispered.

The crying stopped. "Who are you?" the girl asked. "What are

you doing here?" There was hysteria in her voice, trapped within the

sobbing. "I thought they were going to leave me alone."

Ryo rolled to his feet. "Bell-chan, don't you know me?" They

were in a room no more than three paces wide on a side, but the

pig-tailed boy held back, afraid of her answer.

"No, I don't know you. Is this another test? I thought you

were through with that." The girl looked up from where she sat curled

up on a bench, the cell's only furniture. "I thought you were ready

to decide my fate."

"I've learned you make your own fate," Ryo mused. A more

frantic mind would have accepted only one possibility, that something

had happened to his one true love, but Ryo knew the perils of

traveling between realities. _So close!_ his mind screamed at him.

_So close!_ But now he saw the differences, the slightly darker eyes,

the more pouting lips, the subtle nuances of body language that told

him this woman was not his fiancee, and that this was not his world.

Still, she was _his_ Bell-chan's doppelganger, and she was in

distress. Ryo had promised himself he wouldn't hold the crimes of one

duplicate against another reality's counterpart, but the inverse held

as well. He could not help but give credit to the face of someone he

respected, and that went a hundred times over for Bell-chan.

"Of course you make your own fate," the faux Bell-chan said.

"That's the purpose of these new 'Consistency Courts,' isn't it? To

judge you by the rules you've made yourself."

"Consistency Courts? Judge?" Ryo took a step back in

confusion, bumping up against the cell door. "I don't understand. I

know someone like you enough to be your twin, and I can't imagine her

ever being tried for _any_ crime."

Bell-chan laughed. Ryo shivered; there was no levity in that

laugh, only mockery and self pity. It reminded him of Tachi's aunt.

"Of course you can't imagine me on trial. Who would ever have

imagined that sweet, innocent Belladonna would kill her own mother?

Not even to ease her suffering? And since no one would believe it,

they'll find me guilty." She swallowed. "A year ago I wouldn't have

believed it. A few months later, though..." The tears started up

again, drowning out any other words.

_Belladonna?_ Ryo's sleep-deprived mind whirled. _She killed

Kasumi?_ He backed himself into the corner, trying to get far away

from the monster wearing his beloved's flesh. _What hell have I

damned myself to? This is not my world. This is not my fiancee.

Belldandy is a goddess on earth, not a matricide._

In answer to his unvoiced plea, the locket hung around Ryo's

neck blazed with bright green fire and tore him from the cell.

Ryo Muhoshin was ABOUT to send Ryo Saotome to some place

unpleasant.

About to.

Except just when he was about to do the deed, the locket suddenly

came to life, engulfing him with azure flames and blinding him with

the sudden brightness. He felt the ground beneath him shift slightly

and the world around him was consumed in a blinding flash of azure

flame.

"Eh?"

He stumbled forward, unsure of his surroundings and still blinded

by the flash of light. At this point, he discovered (the hard way)

that he was at the top of a modest skyscraper.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagggh..."

Fortunately, there was a dumpster below.

*WHAM*

Unfortunately, the stuff inside wasn't that soft.

"OW!"

Fortunately he was spared an hour of pain by being knocked

unconscious.

The nighttime sky in Tokyo was fairly nondescript, mainly

because it was gray and drizzling for a day now and looked to be going

on for the next several weeks. Detective Ed Ryouga Marlowe, homicide

division, Ministry of Sanitation looked up into the night sky from his

vintage 1996 Hyundai. He thought he saw a flash of light up there in

the clouds...

"Now my eyes are going bad," he muttered to himself, and drove

on.

In a trash bin, hidden in the shadows of the skyscrapers, a

loud scream of horror and frustration boomed out as someone suddenly

landed from a 90 floor drop and into a trash bin. Nearby, something

metallic sounding bounced along the pavement and finally settled on

the sidewalk.

A vagrant, hungry, tired, and weary, saw all this and merely

shrugged. Must've been one of the old faithful of the Nabiki regime

gone suicide after the downfall of their leader. Sorta thing happened

often enough nowadays.

He blinked.

There seemed to be something on the ground.

Something shiny.

Something silver.

Looked nice. He figured he could get a pack of MacNougets for

it. Not very tasty, but cheap.

The fall into the dumpster was bad enough to leave him sore

all over. Muhoshin limped out into the dim light of a streetlamp and

leaned on it warily.

He blinked.

There was definitely something wrong here.

Something... missing?

He checked his right pocket, then his left. He checked his

shirt pocket. He checked his back pockets.

"Nooooo. Not fair! NOT FAIR! NO!"

The locket was gone. He immediately fell to his knees and

began looking for it.

A group of construction workers walked by as he frantically

searched the ground. Someone tapped him on the shoulder. "Hey, you,

get outta the way, people are walking through here."

Not in the mood for snide remarks, Muhoshin looked up, ready

to break the offender's nose.

Then he saw his face.

And his friend's faces.

And a few dozen faces walking by.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

Ryouga shook his head sadly as he watched the strange guy run

off like a maniac. "Jeez, more sanitarium escapees running around the

streets these days. Ministry of Sanitation oughta see about that."

"No kidding," said the other Ryouga.

"C'mon, let's get to work," said yet another Ryouga. "The

construction site was around here somewhere..."

The city was bleak. Bleak, ugly, modern, and busy.

Normally, Muhoshin wouldn't have minded this, might even have

approved. That was a Ryo Muhoshin with a purpose in life, money in

his pocket, and a locket in his hand.

Most importantly, it was a Muhoshin who didn't see hordes of

Ryougas everywhere

The way things were at the moment, he hated the city and everyone

in it. Especially the logically-certainly-probably nonexistent

Ryougas. The place was in desperate need, he thought, of urban

renewal. The thermonuclear kind.

His stomach growled, and he winced. He'd been wandering the

streets, doing a little scouting, waiting for his head to clear and

the Ryougas to vanish. He was beginning to realize that he'd been

doing this for almost two days. Time to get some food, sit down for a

second, and...think. He had passed a tiny bar and grill a few blocks

back, that should do nicely.

He turned around, and strode off, his step going from an aimless

stumble to a purposeful stride. Yes, this had been a good idea. Just

the knowledge that he was going _somewhere_ picked him up a bit, began

to ease him out of his depression.

He reached the bar, opened the door, and there was Ryouga. And

Ryouga. Ryouga was there as well, as were Ryouga and Ryouga.

The whole place was one big Ryouga-fest.

His temples began to throb, and he slowly forced himself to close

his eyes and slow his breathing. They weren't really there.

It was JUST a hallucination. Had to be.

Be steady, just stay calm...

"Either come in or get out!"

That was Ryouga's voice, all right.

"Yeah, yer letting in a draft!"

And that one, only from a different part of the room, was his too.

No.

Calm, calm, must stay calm.

He opened his eyes and walked slowly across the room, nervously

eying the patrons. Odd, really. Why was he imagining Ryouga dressed as

a horde of bikers?

"Whadda ya want?" asked Ryouga, from his position behind the bar.

Your severed, bloody head on a platter. "I'll have some tea."

"We got beer."

Die slowly and painfully. "Aheh. Water. And a sandwich."

The bartender grunted, and Ryo slumped against the bartop. They

weren't really Ryougas. His addled brain was just making them look and

sound like them. Why, by this time Hibiki would have...

Wait a minute. Why was there a hand on his thigh?

"Hello, big boy," said a Ryouga.

Outside, the sound of horrified screaming was heard, quickly

replaced by the sound of extreme violence.

o/~ CRAZY...from the things that I can see

YOU CAN'T HEAR THEM...only talkin' at me

LIVING ON THE OUTSIDE...looking inside to

Be free...o/~

Ryo Muhoshin distractedly smashed the ghetto blaster over the

cranium of its owner. He looked like Ryouga, so he had it coming. The

song was annoying. Aimed at him. He wasn't crazy. No, no, no, no, no

not very crazy, even if the RYOUGA HIBIKI(s?) WERE EVERYWHERE

EVERYWHERE EVERYWHERE no, no, despite that he was sane.

Ryouga...

Muhoshin shuddered, and firmly reminded himself that that _hadn't_

been his hated enemy. No, Ryouga wasn't like that (please, please,

please) it had just been someone who his rather concussed (NOT CRAZY

NOT CRAZY) mind had made to look like his hated enemy. No, Ryouga

wasn't like that (please) it had just been someone who his wrath...

With an effort, he pulled his thoughts from the circular track they

had been wearing in his brain.

A low growl from his stomach reminded him that he still had his

initial problem. Namely, he had no food, he hadn't slept in hours, he

was unbearably tired, and his immediate goal seemed to be wandering

aimlessly.

Wandering aimlessly was far too Ryouga-like to be tolerated.

There. A diner. It was grimy and small and full of neon light and

glare, but so was everywhere here, including the street. And the

street didn't have a special on coffee and donuts.

The street did, however, have a cash machine. He was named Sean

Ryouga Izigawa. Muhoshin, of course, never learned this tidbit of

information. All he knew and cared about was that he looked like

Ryouga and looked almost wealthy.

He had a ATM card. It was called an umbrella.

He used the blunt end to make a withdrawal.

[A Hibiki and his money are soon parted.] Ryo thought, walking

inside the diner. [If that's not a proverb, it should be.]

Unlike the Hibiki bar, the diner was almost homey.

Formica, a rather odd clock shaped like a cat with swinging eyes

and tail, a jukebox which obviously hadn't worked in years, his

mother, and a long row of Men In Gray Suits.

He blinked. Item four on that list did not match his admittedly

shaky notions of reality.

Oh. It wasn't his mother, it was only Kasumi.

There _did_ seem to be an awful lot of Kasumi about too. And

Akane. And that other Tendou sister. Odd, that.

Still, he could think of worse people to see. Making his way over

to a free table, he sat down and began to relax just a bit.

Glasses clinked. Silverware rattled. The Men In Gray Suits made

murmuring noises and watched TV in between bites of dinner. Diner

noises. Normal, blessedly Hibiki-free sounds.

"Are you ready to order?"

He looked up, startled. Kasumi was smiling down at him, an order

pad in her hands. Of course, she was the waitress. The apron normally

would have tipped him off, but aprons were standard issue with most

Kasumis.

"Er, sure. I'll have...one moment..." He thumbed rapidly through

his new wallet; not nearly as much as he had hoped. "I'll have the

coffee and crullers."

She smiled, a warm, sincere thing that differed dramatically from

the plastic variety waitresses normally handed out. "Okay. Back in a

bit."

He watched as she walked off, and he felt, oddly, a little better.

/And in today's news, another store was hit in a

smash-and-grab robbery. Several suits were stolen, and the store's

safe was emptied. This is the fourth of a rash of.../

"Terrible, isn't it?" asked Kasumi.

"Oh, certainly," agreed Muhoshin, brushing a little lint off

of his newly acquired clothing. "So, do you like my new suit?" He

stood up from the counter stool and posed a bit, showing off the gray

Armani.

"It's nice! I like it a lot," said Kasumi.

"Thank you miss," said Muhoshin with a grin.

"But I'm not sure about those black leather gloves. And no

need to be formal. You've been coming to this diner so much now it

seems like you belong here, Ryo-kun."

"Oh, aheheh, sorry, Miss Kasumi, it's just the way I am."

"My name," she replied, poking him in the nose gently, "is

Ami. A-mi. We've been through this already, ne? And here's your

coffee."

"Thanks, and sorry, sorry." Ryo unfolded his newspaper and

sipped his coffee with a smile. "I ever tell you how much you remind

me of my mom?"

"Oh, stop that," she replied with a giggle. Ami the Kasumi

Extender Waitress patted him on the arm and went around to serve the

other customers.

She sometimes wondered about Mr. Muhoshin. The first time he

came in to the diner, he looked so _poor_ and just ordered an endless

refill of coffee whenever he visited.

But as the days passed, he seemed to have gotten some good

fortune, and lately he'd been leaving generous tips. The one thing he

always did since the start was come around on her shift. She sensed

that he was looking at her sometimes, and she couldn't help but blush.

Did he like her? She looked over at him briefly, and caught him

looking at her again. She smiled.

Muhoshin mentally stumbled as the Kasumi extender caught him

staring at her. He'd been hoping that this odd little vision problem

of his would go away, any minute now, but it wasn't. Muhoshin had

been stuck for two weeks now, stranded in this strange sort of

reality. He was still seeing hundreds of Nabikis, Akanes, Kasumis,

and annoyingly, Ryougas.

He did what any person trying to hang on to their sanity would

do.

Ignore it.

At least, he _tried_ to ignore it. He'd occasionally trip a

Ryouga or shove one into traffic, but it was by reflex. They

_couldn't_ all be Ryougas, and if those _weren't_ Ryougas he was

looking at, then getting them killed might draw the wrong kind of

attention.

It wouldn't be worth the trouble he'd get if he killed a

Ryouga and it turned out to be just a hallucination. It'd be a sick

tease.

This, he felt, was one twisted world.

Despite that, he felt content to hang around at this cozy

diner. Maybe the waitress looked quite a bit like his mom (as well as

several thousand other girls in the city), maybe she was just a

hallucination of his, but she was nice, polite, and friendly. And

there was that... that... that _something_ about her that made him

feel... well... odd. But not in a bad way, certainly not.

The Men In Gray Suits laughed silently as a comedian made

admiring fun of Ukyou Kuonji on the TV. Ryo was surprised to find that

the sound didn't irritate him. In fact, he was actually smiling a bit.

Some of them might have money, but he would never hurt them. The

diner was Ami's.

The streets were his, though, and business was good.

The sun rose.

The birds warbled.

Ten thousand Ryougas marched through the city.

It was a normal day for Ryo Muhoshin.

He woke up, walked a bit, mugged a few people, and walked a bit

more.

Then he had lunch. If he had done particularly well, he allowed

himself a second espresso. Today was one of those.

Then came the afternoon robberies. Jewelry stores had jewelry and

armed guards and alarms. Pawn shops had jewelry. He emptied three

different shops, then called it a day.

He whistled his way into the diner, cheerfully called a greeting to

the Men In Gray Suits, dropped a dime in the broken jukebox out of

pure whimsy, and chatted with Ami as she brought him his club

sandwich.

Being stranded here, he was beginning to realize, wasn't so bad

after all. Sure his little vision trouble was still there, but he was

beginning to look at it as something nearing an asset. After all, he

got to beat up Ryouga, take his money, spit in his face, and walk away

chuckling. Every day. Multiple times.

He had been worried about the police catching him. Then he realized

that the police here were under-funded, overstretched, and on occasion

incompetent. They had as much chance of catching him as they did a

microbe.

And he had Ami to talk to, which was undeniably nice. He had

forgotten that simple conversation could make one feel good.

No, this really wasn't that bad.

It was a normal day for Ryo Muhoshin.

"Hey, Muhoshin," asked Ami.

"Hm?"

"What'cha doing later?"

"A little business, I guess you might call it. Why'd you

ask?"

"Oh, nothing." Ami smiled. "Just thought we might want to go

somewhere later, I dunno." Ryo looked at her oddly, then resumed

reading the paper.

"Hm... tell you what," said Muhoshin. "I'll treat you out to

dinner tonight, okay?"

The night was a rather whirlwind event for him, entirely

unused to being in the company of a woman, much less making a woman

smile. Much to his alarm, she had led the way, bringing them to THIS

cafe and THAT club and THIS scenic view of the city in the park... he

just wasn't used to it at all, but was enjoying himself rather

immensely. And without having to beat the hell out of someone else,

too.

It was an entirely alien feeling for him.

As was the concept of a romantic stroll 'round the city, which

he was doing now. Although he wasn't doing too bad, strolling

casually with Ami's arm entwined with his. Fortunately, he didn't

realize he had a somewhat awkward and goofy grin on his face.

"Ryo-kun?"

"Hm ah er uh wha? Y-yes, Miss Kasumi?"

"Thanks for taking me out tonight."

Muhoshin laughed. "Ah, I think it's you that's shown me the

town tonight... yes?"

Ami laughed with him. "I guess so, but still... I had a

wonderful time with you. See you tomorrow?" she asked.

"Hrm? Wha? See me tomorrow? Oh! Yes, of course."

"Well, there's my apartment," sighed Ami, pointing to an

apartment complex nearby. "Good night." Then she did something that

drained Muhoshin out of any sense at all, sent his mind reeling, and

made him forget all the old memories that made him the stylish little

bastard that he thought himself to be.

She kissed him.

Only on the cheek, but again, all this was something entirely

new to him.

As she walked away, Ami couldn't help but giggle a little at

the silly grin that was plastered to his face. She couldn't wait till

tomorrow.

Ryo, meanwhile, was looking at his Ami, hearing really nice

violins and birds with ribbons flying about and all that other odd

romantic special effects nonsense. He wasn't entirely sure, but he

thought he could be in love, which was all at the same time an

unbelievable high and a truly horrifying possibility.

And as his Ami was a block away, in the doorway of the

apartment complex, she turned back, smiled at him... and then there

was a Ryouga blocking the view.

And it looked quite upset.

Isamu Ryouga Daimon was not having a good day. He'd been

'activated' just a month ago, and there was an error in shipping. The

persons he was sent to were apparently expecting a fiancee for their

son. Needless to say, he was promptly rejected. Due to a problem in

the paperwork, he couldn't be returned to the MoD, so he was SOLD

instead to a factory. A sweatshop, really. Lousy pay and a real ass

of a boss. Despite all this, he managed to scratch out a meager

living, barely keeping up with payments for the ultra-tiny apartment

of his.

Then he was fired.

Then he lost his apartment.

Then he was just mugged. Ten minutes ago.

Isamu held his head in his hands, rubbing his temples.

[Dammit, this is NOT a GOOD day.] He wanted to go out there and KILL

his boss, KILL his landlord, and KILL the punks that mugged him. KILL

KILL KILL. He had this throbbing headache...

Then a car drove by, splashing him with mud and water.

Somewhere in his mind, something burned away.

"I'M NOT TAKING THIS ANYMORE!"

The maddened extender suddenly felt a massive headache, and

his anger surged to a berzerker peak. He looked around for someone to

hurt, someone to PAY for the lousy day he was having. With reckless

abandon, he tore a streetlamp down and flung it into the street. The

extender stomped away as cars swerved and the beginnings of a massive

pileup began. He swung his fists wildly, striking randomly at people

passing by. A man was flung through a window, a woman felt her ribs

crack from a wild punch, and then another woman was flung against a

brick wall, her head hitting brick and blood trailing from her mouth

as she slumped to the floor.

Ryouga swung wildly again, but this time his fist was caught.

He found himself flung into a dark alley.

A skinny figure paced angrily towards him, twirling an

umbrella.

"Damn you," the figure said, "damn you to hell."

There was a flash of metal, a gasp for air, then silence.

In a dark alley a dead body was being dragged. It was being

dragged by a very incredibly upset person, who had just had his first

love killed before his eyes.

Muhoshin was feeling week and feeling lonely and feeling angry

and this feeling was just TOO familiar and he was feeling generally

belittled by the world and REALLY felt like lashing out at it for just

daring to continue existing after Ryouga... damn Ryouga...

He sighed, tossed Ryouga's body into a dumpster, then slowly

sank to his knees.

For the first time in a very long time, he started to cry.

A Week Later...

"More coffee?" asked the waitress.

"Yes, please." Muhoshin smiled unevenly as the Kasumi

refilled his coffee mug. He felt as if he had passed a major point in

his life. He had been, in the past, somewhat underhanded, somewhat

dishonest, but now he had blood on his hands.

Ryouga had killed her.

No reason, no reason at all.

He just came out of nowhere and killed her.

So what else was there to do? He killed Ryouga. An eye for

an eye, right? It was, at first, somewhat shocking, and a sick

feeling almost began to overwhelm him. He'd hurt people before, even

crippled them... but to actually kill was... it was just different.

But in the end, a peculiar calm overcame him. He watched

Ryouga's dying twitches with fascination, wondering what was going

through his mind. Fear? Hate? Regret? The mysteries of life?

Murder wasn't so bad, or so hard. In fact, it was easy too...

But Ryouga wasn't dead.

Wasn't dead.

He was evERyWHeRe.

The question of the hoards of Ryougas, Kasumis, and others

wasn't really in his mind anymore. It didn't matter. Were there a

thousand Ryougas walking the streets? So be it! He did it again,

Ryouga did. Just strolled into Muhoshin's life and took away

something that was important to him. He took away Kasu... Ami. That

was her name. Ami. Maybe there was a thousand other Kasumis in this

city, but they just weren't quite the same. The were a row of Men In

Gray Suits here, but they weren't his. None of them knew his name.

None of them told him the latest joke. They didn't know him, and

neither did the Kasumi who had filled his cup. None of the Kasumis

were players in his play, save as props in the background.

But... they still were the innocent ones in this Hibiki

infested city, and someone had to keep things in line, right? He owed

it to Ami to clean out the Hibiki infestation.

His logic, after a few more anxiety attacks of confusion and

paranoia, was shortened and simplified to this: Ryouga-] kill /

Kasumi-] defend. Not much else to think about. Why were there a

thousand Ryougas out there? Why ask why? That only leads to a

headache.

As he finished his drink and left, he left the usual fairly

big tip to the girl. She was a Kasumi, so she had it coming.

Especially when that cash was from a few Ryougas he killed. He hummed

a little tune he heard once, somewhere, somewhen...

o/" Once that you've decided on a killing, o/"

o/" First you make a stone of your heart. o/"

o/" And if you find that your hands are still willing, o/"

o/" Then you can turn a murder into art. o/"

If that was the case, he thought, then he decided that he

would be every bit as great as Da Vinci, Bosch, and even Dali.

He really liked Dali.

Somewhere, in a small pawn shop, a small, battered, silver

locket was laid out under a glass counter. It was a fairly plain and

ordinary locket, next to necklaces and bracelets of gold in good

condition. With such trinkets around it, who would even want to buy

it? The owner of the pawn shop bought it from the street bum out of

kindness... but he didn't think that anyone would really buy it from

him.

Although...

Sometimes he'd swear that it flickered.

[Meanwhile, somewhere else...]

An explosion rocked the temple. Keiichi looked up from his

textbook. "Urd?" he asked.

Belldandy set her knitting down and cocked her head to one

side, listening to echoes of magic. "No, that was Skuld." A second

explosion shook the walls, filling the air with the tang of ozone.

"That one was Urd."

Pictures rattled in their frames and glasses threatened to

leap from their coasters as the goddesses of past and future continued

their argument. "Why don't we go outside?" Keiichi suggested.

Belldandy nodded, so together they gathered their belongings and

tiptoed out to the patio. Dust and smoke followed them out the door.

"It looks like we got out just in time."

Belldandy didn't answer; her eyes had a glazed, faraway look.

"Is something wrong?" Keiichi asked.

"Someone just gated in."

"Who!" Keiichi demanded. His textbook fell to the ground as

he interposed himself between Belldandy and the temple. "Is it

Marller?"

"No, it's a-"

"Hey, Belldandy!" Urd called. "You'd better come take a look

at this."

"He seems familiar," Keiichi declared.

"Yeah," Urd agreed. "He looks like one of those guys I was

sharing a house with a couple months back."

"What do we do with him?" Skuld asked.

Belldandy returned with a pillow and a blanket. "We make him

comfortable until he wakes up, of course." She studied the large bump

on his head and noted how his hair, particularly the braided pigtail,

was standing on end. "I wonder how he managed to get hurt."

"Uh, good question, Belldandy," Urd stammered. Skuld

whistled, trying her best to hide Mjolnir 2.0 behind her back.

"Bell-chan," the boy whispered as Belldandy tucked the blanket

under his chin. He thrashed, tearing himself free, then settled

again.

"He seems to know you." Keiichi possessively stepped closer

to his significant other.

"I've never seen him before." She reached out again, her palm

cupping a glowing ball of energy. Green fire flared from the locket

around his neck. Startled, she pulled back.

"Pretty hot stuff," Urd commented.

Skuld produced a pair of goggles from Hammerspace. "Do that

again, Oneesama. I want to get some readings."

"Are you sure that's safe?" Keiichi asked. In his mind he saw

visions of the temple exploding.

The look Skuld shot him would have burned through steel, if

her glasses had been configured to do that.

Belldandy reached out again. Emerald energy poured from the

silver heart, fountaining around her like a transformation effect.

"Fascinating," Skuld declared. "The power is similar to yours,

Oneesama, so it's producing a harmonic wave amplification increase.

It's just slightly out of synch, though, and that's what's causing the

pyrotechnics."

"So what you're saying," Keiichi surmised, "is that it needs a

tune-up."

Skuld huffed. "In layman's terms, yes." She pushed her

goggles to the top of her head. "It's really much more complicated

than that."

"Well." Urd cracked her knuckled. "When do we get started?"

The three goddesses clustered in the kitchen, leaving Keiichi

to watch their newest visitor. "I still think it needs more salt,"

Urd complained.

"Nuh uh!" Skuld countered as she stirred the steaming

cauldron. "That would make him explode. We're already close to the

limit as it is."

Urd smirked. "What's life without risks?" Skuld stuck out

her tongue in rebuttal.

"Enough!" Belldandy demanded. "It's ready." She set the

stove to "simmer," then stretched her arms wide. The goddess markings

on her face began to glow, and a wind from elsewhere caught her hair.

Bend, oh Time and Space,

listen to wishes, answer dreams;

the Worlds That Are beckon.

Skuld took up the incantation next; her face shining like an

LCD screen in the growing light of the spell.

Bend, oh Time and Space,

follow patterns, obey rules;

the Worlds That Can Be are fragile.

Urd stood straight, letting the wind whip her dress as she

composed her stanza.

Bend, oh Time and Space,

remember fantasies, revisit memories;

the Worlds That Were will not be forgotten.

The room darkened; all the light was drawn into the cauldron.

It began to hiss, and steam rolled over the sides, but the surface

became still as glass. The three goddesses could see their

reflections; the images spun round and round as they continued

chanting.

A strong heart holds the key.

A clever mind solves the puzzle.

A burning love sets the stage.

We command this in the name of the goddesses of

Present

Future

and Past.

"And may you have an interesting time of it," Urd added.

"No!" Belldandy and Skuld shouted as one, but it was too late.

The cauldron exploded in a shower of bright blue light, blinding

everyone in the kitchen and washing away all sounds.

The mystery boy hadn't moved since Belldandy and the others

went into the kitchen, so Keiichi recovered his textbook and tried to

study. His grades were precarious enough with all the local zaniness;

he couldn't afford to let today's events distract him too much.

Thin beams of cerulean fire slipped between the cracks in the

door jam. Keiichi ignored them; as long as there wasn't an explosion,

everything was fine.

Then there was an explosion.

"Belldandy? Are you all right?" he called. Dense green smoke

poured from the ruins of the kitchen door, but he paid it no heed and

rushed into the room. "Is anyone hurt?"

"We're *kaff, kaff* all right," Belldandy assured him. "Let

me open a window."

"It's all *kaff* Urd's fault, anyway," Skuld announced.

"I was *koff* just trying to *koff* to liven things up."

"Um, excuse me," a new voice asked. "Does anyone need any

help?"

"Well, well, well." Urd struck a pose. "Look who's up." She

sauntered over to where Ryo stood and poked him in the chest.

"Feeling any better, Mystery Man?"

"I-" he stammered, "that is, yes. Um." He scratched his

head, gathering his thoughts. "This may sound strange, but what world

is this?"

"Midgard!" Skuld replied promptly.

Belldandy noticed Ryo's puzzled look. "That wasn't the answer

you were expecting, was it?"

Shock erased Ryo's next few words. Instead he stared at

Belldandy, unable to take his eyes away. Keiichi took exception to

this and moved closer to his goddess. "How do you know Belldandy?" he

demanded.

"Bell... dandy?" Ryo said her name slowly, tasting it. His

head bowed and his shoulders slumped. _Not so close this time, at

least, not in form._ He looked up again. "I think I know where I am,

now, and how I ended up here." He shrugged, palms up, then quickly

hid the brand behind his back. "I'm sorry I dropped in unexpected

like this. I'll be going now."

"Not so fast, hot stuff," Urd countered. "You can't just pop

in and pop out without an explanation." She gave him a full, crooked

smile. "And I just bet there's a lot more to your story than meets

the eye."

Ryo met her challenge. "How long do you have?"

"You'd be amazed," Urd answered.

[A brief explanation later...]

"I thought you looked like Ranma!" Urd declared, slapping the

table with her free hand. "So, did you inherit his... magnetic

charm?"

"No, thank God." Ryo held his teacup with both hands. "Just

his ability to attract disasters. But this transdimensional jaunt

rivals anything I ever heard him doing, at least in scope."

"And your Belldandy..."

"Sound just like yours, Keiichi." Ryo frowned. "You both act

alike, too," he told the goddess, "but you don't really look like each

other. The last Bell-chan I saw, though..." He shivered.

Belldandy poured Keiichi more tea. "So now you want to go

home."

"After I clean up the mess my fellow travelers have made."

"That's easy," Skuld declared. "You find the bugs

responsible, then you hit them." She demonstrated on a hapless

section of floor with Mjolnir 2.0.

Ryo shook his head. "It's not that easy. Finding 'Gosling'

will be like looking for a needle in a haystack." He toyed with the

locket. "I'm not even sure I can find the right farm."

"Oh, we fixed that," Urd said offhandedly. "Just think about

where you want to go, concentrate, and, 'Poof,' there you are."

"You... fixed..." He wobbled dazedly. "It took me all night

to create and cast the spell to empower this cursed thing, and even

then I still didn't get it right. The three of you just 'fixed it?'"

"I'm good with mirrors," Belldandy said proudly, "and we're

all used to magic jewelry."

"What, are you goddesses or something?"

Ryo didn't understand why everyone around him burst out

laughing.

"Remember," Skuld lectured. "Focus on where you want to go,

then activate the portal." She stood on tiptoes and poked the locket

hard; it sparked blue. "And don't let it get damaged! It's fragile

enough as it is. What made you use _silver_ of all things? Plastic

or ceramics would have worked just as well."

"Don't mind her," Urd advised. "She's always this picky."

Skuld gave her oldest sister a raspberry. "Just go with the flow.

You'll have more fun that way."

"At this point, anything that works would have to be more fun,

just by definition." Ryo took a deep breath. "All right, all of you

stand back. I don't want anyone getting caught up in this by

accident." He gave them all a wry smile. "I've had enough of that to

last a lifetime."

"Good-bye, Ryo-san"

"Good-bye, Belldandy," There was a catch in Ryo's voice; those

were two words he never liked to see in the same sentence. "I wish

you and Keiichi more happiness than I've had of late."

He closed his right hand around the locket. Blue fire burst

from between his fingers and engulfed him, then spun around him to

form a glowing azure gate. "Ryo Muhoshin, you're mine."

It was more than a month into his stay when Muhoshin decided

to explore a few nagging questions that had been on his mind before he

was unceremoniously dumped into this surreal world. It required a

little bit of research, some experimenting, and, of course, a test

subject.

In an empty warehouse, Ryouga extender awoke strapped down to

a table. Actually, he was nailed to it. He screamed in pain and

weakly tried to escape.

Sitting across from him, and watching like a spider watches a

fly, Ryo Muhoshin gazed, as if he was studying.

"LET ME GO!" screamed Ryouga.

[First things first... what did Ishido say? "punching people

with glowing gloves," yes?] That, he felt, was easily solved. He

actually wondered why he didn't think of it earlier. He put on the

leather gloves and fastened them tight, flexing his fingers. Then he

focused his ki, channeling them to his hands... and to the gloves.

They flared with bright yellow energy. He tightened one fist and

punched at one of the Ryouga's arms. There was a sickening *snap* and

more screams as the arm became horribly bent out of shape.

"And that," he mused quietly, "was with me holding back."

[What else... the one called Ishido also said something about

a needle umbrella attack... making bones explode... let's see...]

"WHAT DO YOU WANT?! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?!" The extender

struggled more, and more blood began to flow from the spikes that ran

through his arms and legs.

Muhoshin paused for a moment, as if thinking about that

question.

"Well, you see... you LOOK like a Ryouga to me, a lot of you

do."

"OF COURSE I DO, I'M A RYOUGA EXTENDER!"

Muhoshin frowned. "So... you _are_ Ryouga?"

"YES I'M A RYOUGA!" screamed the extender.

"Well, that's about it then."

"What are you talking about?! HEY!" ranted Ryouga, but

Muhoshin just ignored him and continued studying his victim.

[Exploding bones. Exploding. Hm. Wait, the bakusai ten-ketsu?]

The exploding point technique, or bakusai ten-ketsu, was a

technique that came close, but it did _not_ work. He poked Happosai

and the little troll didn't explode a bit.

He thought again. Needles. Why did Ishido mention a needle?

Muhoshin gave a quick glance at the Ryouga extender, examining the

breaking points on his body. When the breaking point is learned, the

person 'sees' breaking points. The curious thing was that people who

learned it saw the breaking points in a lot of places... trees, rocks,

other people... but it seemed to work mostly on rocks, and never on

people.

Why didn't it work on people?

"A-HA!" Muhoshin stood up with an evil smile. It was so

obvious now, the secret to the technique. The reason that the

breaking point had never worked on people was that the creators of the

technique never thought to compensate for all that flesh that got in

the way...

"Stay right there," said Muhoshin as he walked away, ignoring

the screams of pain from the pinned Ryouga. "Need to get something."

An hour later, Muhoshin returned with a metal spike sharpened to a

needle-sharp tip. "Stand still," he said, grinning. He saw the

point... a very precise point, much more precise than those found on

stone, but still...

The screams of pain would've been heard, if it weren't for the

noise of the traffic and construction of the city around them.

The weeks passed on, and soon two months had passed. Muhoshin was

fairly settled in, occupying the apartment of a fairly isolated

Ryouga. He'd picked this one carefully. Had no frequent visitors, and

had been recently unemployed. As he expected, nobody'd been around to

bother his privacy.

Muhoshin made a mistake on a previous Ryouga, and that

resulted in the police ousting him from his temporary abode. He had

been shot at - not in a very effective way, but still enough to make

him wish to take precautions. Hence the lightweight kevlar vest he was

wearing underneath his shirt.

He'd held back his war on Ryouga to a once a week affair. Any

more, and the pressure from the law enforcement people may become too

much. Even with only one strike a week, it was enough for the moment.

At the moment he was mulling over the month's killings as he

watched the flashing lights and heard the sirens heading his way.

_They take quite a while to get to the scene of a murder_ he mused.

It is said that criminals always return to the scene of the

crime. In Muhoshin's case, he just stayed a while longer. He'd just

finished off another Ryouga and was relaxing in the after-glow of

murder high atop the rooftops. He watched carefully as the police

arrived on the scene of his last workout. He thought he saw something

interesting last time, but was too far away. Now he was observing

from a safe and good vantage point, with some binoculars. As usual,

the police arrived far too late, taped off the area for investigation,

called in other police, examined the body... ah.

There it was.

Ryouga Hibiki.

Ryouga Hibiki AS A COP.

Tsk, corruption in the law enforcement agency. How could they

let RYOUGA into the police? No, no, no. This would have to be fixed,

and soon. He strolled away upon the ledges of the building for

several blocks, unseen by all, then jumped off, opening his umbrella,

and floated into an empty alley.

Moonlight, a cool breeze, only a few clouds in the sky.

It seemed like a good night for a stroll, and to plan future

recreational ventures with glee.

Meanwhile... a little later...

High atop the Daitokuji Towers, a circle of fire suddenly

flared into being, then transformed into a swirling column, with the

outline of a man within. Then, the fires flickered out, leaving a boy

with a pig-tail standing there. Ryo Saotome looked around carefully,

wondering if he'd finally made it to the right destination.

"Now, where am I."

Whatever reality this was, it looked to him to be an

industrial/corporational world gone wild. Skyscrapers were all around

him, with interconnecting tunnel tubes linking the buildings. Video

screens flickered everywhere promoting governmental ideals.

Ryo froze a moment as he stared at the screen in disbelief:

there, larger than life, was an image of his mother, Ukyou Kuonji.

The subtitles under her name read /Ministry of Finance/ and it

seemed that she was saying something about the state of the economy.

[Mom? A government leader? Wow.] Ryo was speechless. He

knew his mother could run a business well, but an entire national

economy? He found himself wondering if there was another Ryo Saotome

around here, and maybe even another Bell-chan. He shook that thought

off quickly. Even if there was a Bell-chan here, it wasn't _his_

Bell-chan. Besides, there was another person he was looking for.

Ryo looked down at the street below and saw a familiar figure

standing by a storefront window, gaping at something. [There you

are,] he thought. [Time to end this].

Muhoshin stood in front of the store, his jaw dropping in

disbelief. It was, he thought, amazing what one finds during a

leisurely stroll.

It was HERE.

The LOCKET.

In a simple pawn shop display case!

This changed everything. Now he could go anyWHERE, anyWHEN.

The plans to toy with that Ryouga cop would have to be put on hold,

there were bigger fish to fry.

He held back the urge to laugh, twirled his umbrella happily,

and walked into the store.

Why, with it he could go to what was _surely_ the source of

all his woes, Ryouga from _his_ world. He didn't know why that would

be, but he was sure Ryouga was to blame somehow for all this mess,

especially Ami's death.

Ami.

He could go back and...

No.

It would be Ami, but it wouldn't be _his_ Ami. She'd be some

other Ryo Muhoshin's Ami, and the one thing he didn't care to do is

get him angry or envious over himself.

Wait.

That didn't sound quite right.

"Damn, I have a headache," he muttered.

No, enough of this. He was going back to where he belonged,

and he'd put an end to Ryouga once and for all. Even if he had to

kill him a hundred times over.

He strolled casually into the pawn shop, smashed the display

case, took the locket, and ignored whatever prattling the store owner

was saying.

The proprietor was Hibiki. He thought about it. Muhoshin

calmly grabbed Ryouga's face and rammed his skull into the wall.

Ryouga's lifeless body slumped to the floor, leaving a trail

of blood on the wall. "Art happens," said Muhoshin as he looked at

the red and white masterpiece that had been Hibiki. "If that isn't a

T-shirt, it should be."

Pausing only a second more to admire his work, he raised the

locket up in his clenched fist, feeling a euphoric sense of triumph.

"Bring me home."

Nothing happened.

Muhoshin stared at the sputtering, sparking locket.

"BRING ME TO MY REALITY!"

Nothing. He wondered what the hell was going wrong, but

someone else managed to interrupt that train of thought.

Ryo looked down and watched as Muhoshin lingered in front of

the storefront window. He had to get down there as fast as possible.

Were he as fit as his father, he'd have merely done a few jumps, floor

by floor to get down there.

He looked down apprehensively, and slid down a long pipe,

somewhat cautiously. Not the fastest route down, but faster than the

elevator. Then he cautiously entered the store. Fortunately, the

door was still open, so he entered quietly...

And saw Ryouga's head smashed violently into the wall.

He was speechless.

Ryo Saotome looked in horror at the streaks of blood running

down the wall and the body lying on the floor.

[He KILLED him. Oh God, he KILLED him!]

He'd known many a martial artist in his life, and seen a few

fights. His father had too. But nobody ever got hurt.

Not seriously, anyway.

Nobody got killed when he managed to stop all that madness

that Cologne had started with the locket that first time. Now it

looked like Ryouga was paying for Ryo's failure.

The game had just gotten very serious.

[He'll PAY for this!]

Muhoshin finally noticed something was wrong in the air. He

heard... breathing. Turning around, he saw a familiar looking figure

with a ponytail, and a peculiar little locket around his neck.

"You," he growled. "INCONCIEVABLE!" Wasn't that the locket?

Didn't he TAKE the locket away from him? But then he's got a locket

too? What was this?! What the _hell_ was this?!

Ryo took a small second to collect his thoughts, then looked

Muhoshin straight in the eye. In a calm, level, and threatening

voice, he said, "Muhoshin, hand back that locket."

Muhoshin scowled. "Well, give back the locket, give back the

locket... hm... hey Ryouga, what do you think?" He reached over and

turned over the dead Ryouga, and moved his jaw up and down in a

macabre puppetry show, ignoring the bloodstains he was getting on his

hand. "Give back the locket? No way!"

"I'm serious, hand it over now," said Ryo, having the distinct

feeling he was being mocked.

"Oh, he's serious!" said Muhoshin to the dead Ryouga. He

moved Ryouga's jaw up and down, saying, "Oh no! What're we gonna do,

Muhoshin?" Muhoshin replied, "Well, Ryouga, I _just_ _don't_ _know_."

"STOP IT!" yelled Ryo.

"Feh, no sense of humor, you. Ja ne Saotome." Muhoshin

concentrated on just LEAVING the area. He had yet to gauge Ryo's

abilities, but if he was anything like the other Saotome, he was

formidable enough to warrant caution.

Much to his alarm, the locket _still_ didn't work. It

sputtered even more violently, flickered a bit, but did nothing else.

Meanwhile, Ryo Saotome noticed his locket was behaving in the same way

too.

[Old fashioned escape it is, then.] He slashed out with his

umbrella, making Saotome back away, then tapped a side wall, yelling

"BAKUSAI TEN-KETSU!" Suddenly, the wall exploded with a deafening

boom, sending dust and debris everywhere.

Ryo Saotome instinctively covered his face protectively as the

explosion hit, while Ryo Muhoshin quickly scrambled out of the hastily

made exit. He bounded out into the street, looked around, then sprang

up to the second floor ledge of an adjacent building. He cursed as

the sounds of sirens echoed in the air and got closer. Muhoshin shook

his head and frowned. He did _not_ want the direct attention of the

authorities, not like this.

As he was about to make his escape, Muhoshin was tackled.

"I'm leaving and you're coming with me!" yelled Saotome, who began to

concentrate on bringing Muhoshin back to the reality where he

belonged.

To his surprise, nothing happened, although the locket was

still sparking and sputtering.

"Get... OFF!" Muhoshin squirmed, then managed to sling

Saotome over his shoulder. Ryo flailed in surprise, and managed to

get a grip on the ledge before falling off, and flipped himself back

up. He and Muhoshin eyed each other warily.

The two Ryos observed each other, and both silently took note

of something: both of their lockets were flickering much more than

usual.

Muhoshin took an experimental step forward, and the flickering

became more erratic. Ryo noticed too, and they both realized the

implications of this at the same time. The lockets interfere with

each other. Nobody was going anywhere unless one of them gave up

their locket. Exactly why this was so was a mystery to both.

"Nice nice nice niiiiice looking locket you've got there, oh

Saotome of the same name as I. You found another one of these?" asked

Muhoshin. "Wherever at?"

"I didn't-" said Ryo before he was cut off by a sudden slash

from Muhoshin. He dodged the blade, then came in with a punch of his

own. It hit solidly with Muhoshin's chest, but the only thing that

happened was a light wheeze.

Muhoshin sent a punch of his own towards Ryo, charged with ki,

and slammed into Ryo's shoulder. Saotome stumbled back from the force

of the punch and clutched his shoulder while Muhoshin looked at him,

puzzled. The force of that punch should have been enough to severely

hurt him, and especially a solid punch like that should have snapped

some bones. Saotome seemed to have taken it like an ordinary punch.

He mentally took note: Ryo Saotome - high stamina levels.

Down below, several police cars parked and spotlights were set

up. They turned them on and the two figures above blinked in reflex

and stepped away from each other.

"We do NOT have time for this," said Muhoshin, glancing at the

police down below.

"Then give that locket back and we'll all go home," replied

Saotome.

Muhoshin scowled. "Love your name, admire your obsession, but

you are REALLY beginning to bother ME."

"I'm the owner of that locket, and you're giving it back."

"Not gonna. Nonono."

"It's not right," replied Ryo.

"Not right to who?" sneered Muhoshin. "Fate has put this

little trinket into MY hands. I'm not one to argue."

"It didn't belong to you!"

"It does now."

"I can't let someone as evil as you roam free with that, you

know."

Muhoshin blinked. "Evil?"

"I'll hunt you until the end of the worlds if I have to," said

Saotome, "you're not killing another Ryouga."

"Feh! You don't understaaaand don'tdon'tdon't." Suddenly,

Muhoshin's demeanor snapped into a cold, sharp, intelligent one. "You

call me evil? Very well, I return the favor. Evil is a label we apply

to those who's goals do not walk in the same direction as ours do."

Then he snapped back into his deranged look and muttered, "some gaijin

named Vennering said that once, I think. BAKUSAITENKETSU!"

Ryo was taken by surprise as Muhoshin stabbed into the

concrete and set off another Bakusai ten-ketsu. The explosion flung

them both away and into the air as a gaping hole was left in the side

of the building.

Muhoshin used the shockwave of the blast to propel himself to

the building ledge across the way, then ran into the night.

Saotome was flung away by the blast, but landed on his feet on

the street below, where a mob of policemen immediately grabbed him.

He struggled to get free, yelling, "LET ME GO! HE'S GETTING

AWAY!"

Muhoshin looked back from a distance, smirked, then raced off

into the night.

Ryo Saotome fumed, angry at himself, as he occasionally tried

to break free of the handcuffs. He found Ryo Muhoshin, but he failed

to get the locket back. He failed, and now the element of surprise

was gone. Muhoshin knew that he was being chased now, and that's when

things get dangerous.

[What if... what if he goes after Bell-chan?] A cold fear

washed through his heart. If Muhoshin did anything to her, he'd never

forgive himself. [No, I can't start getting depressed now, gotta

think... gotta think...]

What DID he learn today? Ishido had said that while Muhoshin

had often _tried_ to kill Ryouga, and a few others, he'd never really

succeeded. Obviously, that has changed. He was a killer now,

definitely. And he had plans for that locket. Whatever those plans

were, he didn't know, but they couldn't be good. The lockets...

He smiled as he found one thing of interest that would be VERY

helpful in the future. It seemed that the locket reacted violently to

being near another locket (actually, it was the same locket but looped

back in time, so technically the locket reacted violently to being

near itself) which meant that the locket could be used as a sort of

Muhoshin-detector. Not only that, but once he was near enough, the

lockets would cancel each other out and they'd be stuck in the same

reality. That eliminated the possibility of ridiculous cross-reality

chases. He hoped.

Now, if he was far enough from Muhoshin, he just might be able

to get free of this reality...

"Who's the nut in the back?" asked one officer to another as

they drove the Law Offender Containment Vehicle (i.e. a reinforced

van) towards downtown. The driver eyed the narrow slit that looked

into the containment area, where an angry young man with a pigtail was

sitting and brooding, occasionally trying to get out of his handcuffs.

"Dunno, claims he's Ryo Saotome but he don't show on the

records."

"He doesn't? That's odd. Must be an illegal immigrant or

something, eh?"

"Hey, what was that flash?"

"What flash?"

"Thought there was a flash'a blue for a moment there."

Muhoshin continued springing from skyscraper to skyscraper,

making sure that he'd not been followed. While he saw the 'other Ryo'

get dragged away by the police, he doubted that he would be held for

long, especially if he was as formidable as Ranma Saotome. He stopped

along a fairly large ledge, across from a clock tower. From here he

liked the view. Maybe it was the great view of the clock tower, or

the unobstructed view of the lands around the city. It was,

inarguably, a nice view.

He hadn't a clue as to what was _in_ the building, but then he

wasn't of the peeping-tom sort. So long as they didn't bother him,

things were fine. As he relaxed and focused on nothing in particular,

he sensed movement below and peered. A car pulled, up, a somewhat

beaten up one. Looked familiar too.

[Oh, it's one of those police cars from earlier tonight.] He

pulled out his binoculars, peered down below, and grinned. A lone

figure was dropped off, a Ryouga. The police car didn't stick around,

so they certainly weren't after him. Or were they? He walked around

the building to make sure, and spotted no trap. The Ryouga cop turned

slowly to walk into the building, paused, and started chatting with

the doorman. Muhoshin took this moment to jump off the ledge, snap

open his umbrella, and drifted down below.

Soon, the Ryouga extender entered the building, oblivious to

the footsteps behind him.

Ed Ryouga Marlowe, Detective, Ministry of Sanitation, was

tired. It was just one of those days. They had the suspect right in

their sights, but somehow he got away again. The explosion site again

had zero traces of any sort of explosives, and the suspect displayed

ridiculous jumping ability.

Add to that the involvement of someone claiming to be a

Saotome. The only Saotomes on record were a Genma and Ranma Saotome,

and Ranma was the fiancee of the Head of the Ministry of Peace, Akane

Tendou. More links to the higher powers in this case, again. It

smelled like DNA experiments and government cover-ups to him, and that

meant they'd probably shut the door on the case.

He stood in front of his door for a moment, feeling very

tired, and muttered, "What a hellova day." He reached for his keys,

then lapsed into unconsciousness as a somewhat lanky figure suddenly

appeared behind him and slammed his head into the door.

Muhoshin grinned as he dragged Marlowe's unconscious form

inside the apartment. He was ready to leave this particularly strange

reality now, but not before leaving the endless others of Ryouga

something to remember. He whistled happily as he took some duct tape

and bound Ryouga's arms and legs together, then eyed the tower clock

up above. [This'll be nice] he mused.

Today was a Thursday. He met Ami on a Thursday. He planned

to mark the occasion, that wonderful anniversary, before he departed

from this wretched reality, with a bang.

Muhoshin gleefully smiled as this latest reincarnation of

Ryouga woke up groggily. It seemed the blow to the head was heavier

than he thought it'd be. He'd soon be dead again in a few minutes

anyway. Muhoshin wondered if the symbolism would be entirely lost on

the citizens of this city. Ryouga, strapped to the minute arm of this

rather large clock tower. It was almost a good replica of London's

Big Ben clock... except that the rest of the building aside from the

clock was decidedly modern.

Minutes away 'till fun began... minutes...

That was the problem. A few minutes. Muhoshin laughed

silently as he stared at the clock, glanced at the locket, then looked

over to Ryouga once more. [Might as well kill a little time.]

"Hello again," he said calmly, "Nice view, isn't it?"

Muhoshin watched with some amusement as Ryouga tried to struggle out

of his bonds. Originally, he'd wanted to crucify him on the clock

arms, but that lacked a certain... pizazz. This was, after all, his

last kill before leaving this world, and he wanted to leave with a

bang, so to speak.

"What the hell is this? Who are you?"

Muhoshin sighed. Why did Ryouga forget who he was with every

reincarnation? It was becoming somewhat insulting.

"Ryouga, Ryouga," he said, sounding genuinely tired, "if you

STILL have to ask," he added, tightening the bonds on Ryouga's feet,

"then you are dense beyond belief."

"I'm warning you, I'm a MoS officer! Crimes committed against

officers of the law will get you SERIOUS punishment! Do you hear me?!"

yelled Ryouga.

Muhoshin decided to play a little game of intimidation with

Ryouga. That was always fun. He walked over and locked eyes with

him, their faces inches away. "Policeman, plumber, delivery guy, ALL

your little disguises, Ryouga, they don't matter to me."

"My name is Ed Ryouga Marlowe, NOT just Ryouga, and you'd

better untie me NOW, Gosunkugi." At the mention of the name

'Gosunkugi', Muhoshin flinched.

"WHY you keep on adding on names to your own I've never

figured out, Ryouga," Ryo chidingly informed him, "and I most

certainly am not Gosunkugi." With that said, he punched Ryouga in the

nose. There was a muffled snapping sound and Ed grunted in pain.

"Offend me again and I'm do more than break your nose."

Muhoshin glanced upwards, where the hour hand of the clock was

up high. "You see that hour arm up there? You notice the time? It's

about... 12:17am right now." He paused, looking a bit meditative.

"You know, I've never talked to you much before... in all those times

I've killed you, that is," mumbled Muhoshin. "But now... you see...

I'm leaving. And I wanted to make a statement before I left. You see

up there? There's a bomb in that arm. I know, I know, I've never

done bombs before, not really my style... but I wanted to stretch my

wings a little. Artistic growth, you see."

Ryouga opened his mouth to say something, but a quick punch to

the jaw ended that attempt. "Don't interrupt, I'm ranting. Now,

where was I... oh. The bomb. When next the minute and hour arms

touch... there should be a big red spot on the clock face for all to

see." Muhoshin peered at Ryouga, as if thinking things over. "Oh...

I almost forgot, you could still call for help. Must fix that." He

stopped twirling his umbrella and brought the blade tip up next to

Ryouga's throat.

"Any last words before I momentarily disable your ability to

speak?"

"Yeah... why?"

"Why? Why what?"

"Why me? Why Ryougas? Why'd you do it?"

Muhoshin's face darkened. "Oh... oh oh oh... there's too many

reasons... you were first just a thorn in my side... then you became a

REAL PAIN... and then... and then you JUST HAD to kill her, didn't

you? But... butbutbut... I cut you I stab you I choke you I beat YOUR

BRAINS OUT and there should be only ONE of you... only one of you

HERE, anyway, but you STILL WON'T GO AWAY! WHY WON'T YOU STAY

DEAD?!" His face turned red with anger, and then after a deep breath,

the mask of calm and order returned to his features. "And there you

have it."

"What... what the hell are you?"

"Sorry, I've wasted enough time. Good-bye."

Muhoshin reared his arm back, intending to make a nice clear

impalement of Ryouga's throat where the vocal chords were. He'd

probably bleed to death after that sort of cut...

Instead, there was a gunshot.

Time slowed down. He saw the flash of light coming from the

muzzle of a gun, in the darkness of the upper ledge. He felt the

bullet slam into his left shoulder, splattering itself against the

kevlar with incredible force, pushing him to the edge. He felt his arm

go numb, dropping his umbrella. And then he was over the edge.

He was in free fall, spinning helplessly downward. His

shoulder had been badly bruised, if not dislocated - but the fact that

he was about to become one with the pavement below was of far, far

greater concern. He had only one hope left, the locket. Muhoshin

closed his eyes and concentrated.

Ami...

...no, safety, escape...

Ami...

...have to save...

Muhoshin became a blue streak of fire, a plunging comet, a

falling being of light...

And then he was gone.

The rays of the tropical sun shed their gentle warmth upon the

face of Akane Tendou, while a moist, warm breeze brushed against her

lips and cheeks, and a firm hand shook her shoulder.

In her dream, Akane blinked. She liked to be in control,

especially of her fantasies, and something wasn't quite right.

She ran a mental checklist.

Beach?

Check.

Palm trees?

Check - no Principal Kunou along with them, she was happy to

note. (That had been a quirk of the beta version of this reverie.)

Breeze?

A bit moist, and it smelled funny, but there. Check.

Hand.

Her shoulder was shaken again.

Hand.

Hand was not supposed to be there.

Hand was alien.

Hand was bad.

Wherefore was there Hand?

With a sigh, Akane concluded that the problem did not lie in

her dream, which only meant that Real Life must be intruding on her

fun, and she'd better check it out, just in case she was being mugged

in her sleep, or something.

She felt her shoulder being shaken again.

With an air of resignation, she bid adieu to the tropical

setting and opened her eyes.

"Eeeew! Ranma! Don't you ever brush your teeth in the morning?

Your breath is TE-" Akane blinked. Ranma's face was above her.

That, she was used to. But... She followed the line of his eyes.

Ranma blushed. Akane pulled her sleeping back up to her neck. "What

are you doing staring at my CHEST, you PER-"

Ranma caught the mallet before it could hit him or the ground.

"Quiet, will ya?" he whispered, and pointed to Akane's bed.

"You'll wake our ki-" Another blush. "You'll wake Miyabi up."

Akane's angry scowl melted into a smile. He actually... cared

about their future child's proper sleeping patterns? Maybe he wasn't

such a barbarian, after all...

"Oh, Ranma..." she sighed contentedly.

"Man, if she goes to school, I'm TOAST. You know how Hiro 'n

Dai react to every li'l thing - not to mention Gos an' Kunou. I'll

NEVER hear the end of it."

"Why, you self-interested, hypocritical..."

"Ssssshhhh!"

"Oh. Right."

Ranma stood up from his crouch and helped his fiancee out of

her sleeping bag. Once up, they tip-toed out of the room and shut the

door quietly behind them.

A day later, they would regret not having drawn the curtains,

as well.

Miyabi yawned and stretched her arms as the morning light woke

her from her slumber. She'd been having such a pleasant dream, about

a picnic in the park with Mum and Dad, back...

Home.

She opened her eyes, then promptly closed them again.

[Too bright.]

A few squints, blinks, a couple of yawns and her vision

finally adjusted to the new photon density.

She looked around.

It was her mother's room, of course, but not as she knew it.

The 'feel' was the same, it had the same touch, and some of the same

items, but...

It lacked something.

No, that wasn't right. It was complete; it just wasn't _her_

type of complete. There were a few pictures on the dresser, but none

of her. There were no wedding photos either, no portraits of all the

other happy couples - just a few group shots of rivals thrown together

by circumstance.

There was no room for _her_ here.

Miyabi grinned.

[Not yet, anyway.]

She just couldn't understand why all these people made such a

big deal about hiding what they felt about each other. Wasn't it more

fun to get along, to... to...

To be in love?

Words to an old song came unbidden to Miyabi's mind.

o/~ To be in love, is the greatest feeling that a girl can

feel o/~

That was every young girl's dream, wasn't it?

To find true love?

And here these silly people were just looking the other way

when _it_ found _them_.

She'd show them how to get it right.

Oh, she'd show them.

Miyabi stood up and stretched.

Considering what she'd been through, she felt remarkably

refreshed.

The girl giggled. She hadn't slept in her mother's bed since

she was a baby. Then it'd seemed so big, so comforting, and now,

fifteen years into the past, she could barely fit into it - or into

the pajamas she'd borrowed from Mum. They were too tight in front and

loose in back. But it still WAS comforting. She had no doubt that it

was the maternal aura that infused the room that had refreshed her.

Which reminded her, as he noticed the empty sleeping bag lying

on the floor - where WAS her mother?

"Oh, my! Ranma, aren't you going to finish your breakfast?"

"Nah, that's all right." Ranma flashed his patented 'I'm

actually doing this for an ulterior motive but want you to think

everything's fine and dandy' smile. "A martial artist has to watch

his calories, you know."

"Since are YOU worried about eating too much?" growled Akane.

Ranma jerked a finger at a nearby panda, who was busily

inhaling a bowl of rice.

"Since I saw what happened to HIM."

"Oh."

"'Sides, I've gotta get to school on time."

"Are you sure you're feeling well, Ranma?"

A rather large bead of sweat formed on the boy's forehead and

trickled down his cheek.

"Yeah! Everything's swell!" He grabbed his lunch, not

bothering to sniff it in the usual way. "C'mon, Akane! We're gonna

be-""

"Otoosan! Okaasan! Are you actually going to school without

me?" shouted Miyabi from the top of the stairs.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaawww, man!"

"Growf?"

"Sorry, Miyabi, but we don't 'ave time. Maybe some other-"

"Oh, but I'm already dressed!"

The girl grinned and stepped into the dining room. She was

wearing one of Akane's school uniforms, and it fit her perfectly.

Well, almost.

"L'il tight around the chest, ain't it?" observed Ranma. "An'

flabby in the back, an' the sleeves are-"

"How come you know so much about Mum's dresses, Dad?"

"Hey, it ain't like that!"

"Oh, but it IS," said Akane, in her let's-kill-a-diabetic

voice. "Ranma ENJOYS wearing my clothes, except he usually finds them

too BORING, don't you?"

"WHAT?!"

"Why don't you tell her about that time you dressed in a bunny

suit and went exposing yourself to all the guys in Nerima?"

"Bunny suit? Expose?" Miyabi felt her stomach churning. There

were some things she did NOT want to know. "So..." she interjected,

"When do we go to class?"

"How about now?" suggested Akane.

"Waitaminute! You can't let 'er come!"

"Why not, Ranma?"

"I mean, she's our _daughter_! What'll everyone SAY?"

*sniff* *sniff*

"Waaaaah! My own parents don't want me to get an education!"

"Wait a minute!"

"Who knows HOW long I'll stay here... If I don't go to school,

I might suffer irreparable damage to my learning!"

"Hey, look, I-"

"She's going," pronounced Akane. "Why are you so against it,

anyway? It's not like there hasn't been gossip about us _before_, and

I... I..." Her cheeks reddened. "I kind of _want_ Miyabi to meet all

our friends."

"Well, I-"

"Thanks, Mum!" The girl beamed. "See you in class!" With a

hop and a giggle, Miyabi grabbed her father's lunch from his hands and

bounded out the door.

Ranma shook his head.

"I've gotta bad feelin' about this..."

Flames snapped and hissed around him. He felt himself

tumbling downwards in this endless azure flame, then suddenly slammed

into earth. He would've screamed in pain, except that he was too

surprised.

Muhoshin blinked.

Apparently, it was the suburbs, at night. He'd landed in the

back yard of someone's house, and it seemed nobody noticed his

entrance. He winced, gingerly touching his shoulder. Bruised badly,

maybe dislocated slightly. Moving it didn't feel good at all.

He turned his attention to the house, attracted by the sounds

of violence like a moth to flame. Making his way slowly inside, he

found where all the noise was coming from.

Peering in from the entrance, he spied upon several suspicious

men beating and mauling someone on the floor. Next to the toaster

there were a pair of fingers.

He wondered what this was all about, and who was on the floor.

As the noisy and violent men shifted around, he finally saw the

victim's face.

What he saw made his blood run cold.

She was being torn apart, the men just kept laughing...

...the world was red and whirling, a rioting dance of pain,

and the laughter went on...

...She felt something break inside, and the pain moved in a

different direction and the laughing speared through her and she

couldn't reach the pan for some reason...

...Howling laughter, as the blows and boots and fists rained

down into her haze of self, she heard someone scream in agony and

realized it was her, and the silly pan was just out of reach, how

would she make dinner without it? And they were so hungry, and she had

the work still to do so that nothing bad would happen...

The laughter changed, going from cruel to gentle. "Kasumi?

Kasumi dear?"

Mommy wanted her. She ran over, and Mommy tucked her into bed.

"You sleep now, Kasumi. You've had a long day."

...The blows rained down, somewhere, and someone's ribs broke

and speared deep, sending a wrench of...

They were beating her to death. Damn them. HOW DARE THEY?

Ryo advanced silently, thinking things through. One arm

useless, and he didn't have his umbrella either. This would have to

be quick and lethal. He smiled grimly as he spied what was available

on the countertop.

There was a knife. A rather big one.

He had one good arm.

This was going to be messy.

But... then again... mess could be artistic too.

Slide behind the first one, unsuspecting... *slice* the

throat.

One down, two to go.

The other two noticed. One reached into his jacket.

Must be a gun. Can't let that get out. *Slash* and there

goes his wrist. One more... *slash* gracefully raking across both

eyes just to make sure. Two down.

He winced as the other one landed a solid punch to his injured

shoulder. If it wasn't dislocated yet, it was _now_.

No time to waste on anger. Had to finish this fast.

With an audible grunt, he tossed the knife at the last one's

throat. It impacted quietly, imbedding itself in his throat with a

slight squishy noise.

Time to check on Kasumi. He strode towards her quickly,

massaging his injured shoulder, when someone grabbed his shoe.

Ah, the gunman. Still alive.

Muhoshin sighed, went back to the other dead fellow, -yanked-

the knife from his throat, then planted it in the gunman's chest.

That should take care of that. He wouldn't be needing the knife any

more, after all.

He finally turned to her, lying on the floor. Savage cuts

across her body and face, blood coming out from her nose and mouth, an

eye swelled shut, and her fingers...

Apparently, it was her fingers that were on the kitchen

counter.

Muhoshin removed his bloodied suit jacket and wrapped it

around her. "Hold on, Miss Kasumi... don't die, please, don't die

again..." He kissed her gently on the cheek, then focused, as the

locket awakened once more to its master's will.

Kasumi was tired, and snuggled down beneath the cool sheets.

"But the work, it's not done..."

Mommy smiled, and kissed her cheek. "Tomorrow we'll do it

together, you and I." Kasumi gave a sigh of contentment, and held

Mommy's hand.

...Pain, somewhere somewhere distant...

The clock hit 9:30, and Kasumi fell asleep.

The doctor sighed and leaned against the desk, taking a small

moment to catch his breath and organize his jangled nerves. Being

part of the emergency room staff was never easy, but it was his

career. Trying to catch your breath and get your bearings in the

middle of the emergency room wasn't easy either, but he didn't have

time to step outside.

"Hectic day, isn't it?" asked one of the nurses.

"Yes, it has been," answered the doctor. "I don't think I can

take another surpr-"

*FWOOSH*

The entire emergency room screeched to a halt as everyone

stared at the two sudden newcomers.

"Excuse me," said one, a lanky boy holding a very battered

girl in his arms. "Is there a doctor in the house?"

The talk of the Mendou Plaza Hospital in Osaka was of the two

mysterious visitors that had arrived in the middle of the emergency

room in a flash of light. The hospital staff figured it was one of

those mysterious super-hero things, and that they'd get answers soon

enough.

Until then, they decided to just treat the girl and leave the boy

alone. After all, he seemed like the jittery, disturbed hero-type

anyway. It was probably a better idea to ask the girl what was going

on.

Probably.

She was.

She could feel her heart beating, and there was a horrible pain in

her side.

After a while, her name came to her. Kasumi Tendou.

And after that, the rest fell on her like an avalanche.

Somehow, she had survived. Which meant the bomb hadn't gone off,

because there was no way anyone could have survived the blast. The

monsters were alive and well and laughing, and would kill her family

and there was nothing she could do to stop it and they had cut off her

fingers and they were killing her Akane and Nabiki and Daddy and she

rotted here like poor Ukyou as they killed them to corpses again and

again and again...

In his seat by the bed, Ryo Muhoshin was jerked awake by the sound

of Kasumi screaming her lungs out.

Every Kasumi he had ever known had given off an aura of

tranquillity. The first one had. His Ami had, pouring coffee, laughing

at something funny, even as the life had faded from her eyes. Even

then, peace.

To see Kasumi scream like a damned soul was somehow the most

obscene thing possible, even in a universe of infinite Ryougas. It was

like spitting on God. It made him want to run.

But she needed him.

...and again and again and again...

"Please Miss Kasumi, you're safe, please stop, they won't hurt you

any more, please stop screaming..."

The voice was pleading, desperate. Was she screaming? It looked

like she was. What did it matter. They were dead, burned, broken, gone

forever. All her fault.

"Please, you're all right now..."

They had done things to her, done them with the things she had

thought were good. You cooked things on stoves and you sewed bright

yellow scarves with needles and you chopped vegetables for stew with

knives and they had beat her

and cut her

and burned her

and taken her hands

and pierced her

and killed them

and nothing mattered but them

deadAkaneRanmadeadDaddyNabikideadDEADEADEADE

"Please, they won't hurt anyone any more, please..."

The world stopped.

"Please," the voice sobbed.

With a supreme effort of will, Kasumi spoke. "The...men..."

"They're dead," the blessed voice replied.

They were dead. Her family was safe. She hadn't failed. It was

finally over.

Oh God, what had happened to her? What had they done to her?

Slowly, painfully, Kasumi began to cry, and something black and

dreadful fled. She cried, as relief and horror and pain coursed

through her.

Arms enfolded her, and she heard the voice weep as well, heard the

pain in it, too. Her good hand reached out and found his, and together

they drowned the rest of the world in their tears.

And as the world left, so did she, a wave of nothing rising to

swallow her.

Muhoshin gently eased Kasumi back into bed as she once again fell

asleep. He took a deep breath, stepped outside, then gripped his

shoulder and stomped around while muttering foul language.

He really had to have that shoulder looked at.

The people who walked by the room paused often and looked around at

the occasional sound of minor construction. Muhoshin didn't mind them

at all. While waiting for Kasumi to recover sufficiently, he'd taken

it upon himself to go out and scrounge up parts for a replacement

umbrella. A quick trip to a hardware store and a department store got

him all the equipment necessary.

It was while he was putting together his weapon of choice that he

meditated over the current situation.

It wouldn't do.

The situation, that is.

Time was the enemy and his current position did not bode well

strategically if his enemy in time, Ryo Saotome, somehow appeared. It

was miraculous enough that the locket brought them to a hospital that

had, thus far, asked no questions. But he needed Miss Kasumi on her

feet, up and mobile, or else _they_ might catch up with them.

As if that wasn't enough, his shoulder was still aching badly. The

doctors looked him over and did the best they could, but he was in no

condition to defeat anyone he considered an enemy.

And if that Saotome showed up...

No, no, no, couldn't allow that.

He took the magic artifact in his hand as he paced back and forth

at the foot of Kasumi's hospital bed. She was in no condition to go

anywhere, no, no, no, too many bruises, too many broken bones, DAMN

RYOUGA FOR THIS HE'S ALWAYS TO BLAME, she just wouldn't heal in time!

"Must leave," he muttered, "must leave soon get better fast hm?"

His words went unheard, as Kasumi slept on.

We're panicking again, thought Muhoshin. Mustn't panic. Nooo, not

going to panic. Think it through. Yes. What was called for was a

cure. A miracle. Surely there was something out there. After all,

there was the locket, a miracle in itself. Maybe there was some sort

of... hm... healing water, mayb-

*FWOOSH*

He was blinded by the azure light, afloat in the air, not knowing

WHAT he did to set off the locket THIS time, and it really made him

mad. He held the locket to his face and screamed at it, "YOU DAMNED

PIECE OF SHI-"

*SPLASH*

He thrashed around violently in the water, angry and furious at

the chaotic set of events and really unhappy that he'd been dumped in

the water in a good suit YET AGAIN. With much thrashing, splashing,

and occasional cursing, he made his way to the shore, where he spent a

few seconds on his back and breathing.

When he stood up, he finally saw his surroundings clearly. It was

a forest, an incredibly thick forest, the kind of forest that reeked

of mystery. Not because of the large tacky billboard that read

'Ryugenzawa Springs: The Natural Healing Waters'. Definitely not.

Partially because of the dense fog, partially because of the really

large spring he'd just finished getting out of, and partially because

of the ten foot tall garden variety lizard that was staring at him.

He blinked. That couldn't be right.

He looked again.

Yes, a ten foot garden variety lizard.

Damn.

*CHOMP*

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"

Muhoshin pounded on the creature savagely with his umbrella at a

frantic pace as it casually munched on his hand. After a few seconds,

he realized what he was doing wrong, switched to the blade end, and

blew its brains out with a bakusai-ten-satsu.

His hand was a bloody mess, with cuts everywhere and one or two

holes as well. Fortunately, no fingers were missing, but still, it

was an ugly sight. He knelt down to the spring and put his hand in,

hoping that the cold waters would ease the pain.

"Stupid locket! Stupid locket! My HAND chewed off! STUPID

STUPID F*#% % PIECE OF S#!* LOCKET! Erh?"

His angry ranting disappeared as he noticed his hand had somehow

been healed. No cuts, no holes, it was... well... a miracle.

Wait... if his hand was well...

He tested his shoulder, moving it around slightly.

Hah. Hahah. He was surprised he didn't notice it earlier. His

shoulder was _perfectly_ recovered.

"Oh ho." Muhoshin grinned. This... this would do perfectly.

Now all he needed was something to hold the water in. Hmm.

He snapped open his umbrella and plunged it into the waters,

letting it fill with liquid. A bit leaky, but for now it would have

to do. Right then, this should do wonders for Ami.

He held the locket, glaring at it. "No surprises, understand?"

The locket made no reply, staying silent and awaiting the will of its

master. "Back to the hospital, now."

*POOF*

It was a terribly disappointing day for some in the hospital. The

mysterious duo that had been staying there had vanished, leaving some

in an irritable mood and the accountants really grumpy (who, after

all, was going to pay the bill?).

Then Ultraman crash-landed in the parking lot and everyone felt

better again.

The island was small as islands go, and rather isolated. Not to

mention pretty. White sand beaches, a waterfall gurgling down a gentle

slope, a cozy little house; it was like something out of a second rate

"trouble-in-paradise" style cop show. Only without the annoying cast

and tacky shirts.

In fact, Ryo mused, the locket had behaved itself pretty well

during the last few jumps. He had gotten everything Miss Kasumi

needed, and hadn't come across a single Ryouga. "Take us somewhere

safe and peaceful," he had said, after soaking the hospital bed. This

place seemed to fit the bill nicely.

Not that he would really mind killing Ryouga again. But killing in

front of Kasumi wouldn't be right. Not right at all.

She was still sleeping peacefully, slumped in the hammock on the

porch where he had put her. Now and then she cried out, and sometimes

it was in fear and sometimes anger.

The water, whatever it was, had done wonders. Her bones had

knitted, the gashes healed, the abused organs brought back to health.

But it had taken a lot out of her in exchange.

And you couldn't heal some things, it seemed. A long scar ran down

from beneath her eye, surrounded by pink-white tissue where the skin

would never quite recover from the burns. Much of her chest and back,

he knew, was the same.

Her poor fingers...well, they looked as if they had been severed

years ago. But they were still missing, all three of them.

He saw, in his mind's eye, the gang of Ryougas beating her. He had

killed them, and he would wipe out the rest of the whole stinking

person if it took him...took him...well, a very long time.

A tiny corner of his mind tried to remind him that the men really

hadn't looked at all like Ryouga, but he ignored it.

He looked at her poor, maimed face. It didn't hold peace, but it

wasn't in agony either. Maybe she would be better later. She was

better now than the way she had been, after all...

Her eyelids fluttered for a few seconds, and then opened.

She woke to a surprising absence of pain. It no longer hurt to

breathe, and the drugged, nightmare quality of the painkillers was

gone as well.

A breeze blew across her face, and she smelled the salty tang of

the sea. A seagull was crying somewhere, the sound lonely yet somehow

pleasing.

It all reminded her of that island Kunou-san had managed to

shipwreck them on. She had secretly rather enjoyed that.

Maybe opening her eyes would be in order? Yes, she decided it would

be.

The visual aspect was pretty nice too, it seemed. She was in a

hammock on a porch, with waves lapping at a beach in the distance. And

a concerned-looking young man in tidy clothes, carrying an umbrella.

Wasn't he one of Akane's friends?

Akane. She had to save her family, what was she doing in this

lovely place when her family was...

Or had she saved them?

"Miss Kasumi?" said the nice young man. "How are you feeling?"

The voice. He was the one.

She forced herself to sit up, feeling a bit stiff but otherwise

sound. "The men, please, are they really dead?"

The young man nodded, his hand clenching around the handle of his

umbrella. "Those...things...will never hurt any of you ever again.

Never. Ever."

Relief and gratitude flooded over Kasumi like a wave. "So the bomb

did go off." But then how had she lived through it?

The young man just looked puzzled. "What bomb?"

A cold feeling crept down her spine. "The bomb in the kitchen, the

one that was going to go off at 9:30, I thought you said they were

dead!" Her voice rose, hysteria leaking in.

Face pale, the young man shifted nervously. "I don't know about a

bomb, but the men are dead. I took care of that myself. They can't

hurt you."

He had killed them? He looked like a nice boy, but he was so

thin...

Then she looked closely, and saw the way he fidgeted, and knew him

for a martial artist, and martial artists were good. Daddy was one,

and Akane, and Ranma, and Ukyou and Ryouga-kun, and funny, wonderful

Dr. Tofu, and she herself had been one too, long ago, before Mommy

went away. Sometimes they took Akane on trips, and acted funny, and

then Ranma would have a match with them. And then everyone would go

back to the dojo and Kasumi would make them lunch.

They never blew people to corpses, or took away fingers, or did

horrible things. You could trust martial artists. You could trust them

to hit people, for one thing.

And they could be awfully silly at times, and that's why they

needed Kasumi. To cook and clean and help and keep the men from

hurting them.

"Where are we?", she asked. This certainly didn't _look_ like

Tokyo.

"I'm not sure," he replied. "I told it to bring us to a safe place,

and it did." He gave her an anxious look, and she almost smiled. "I'm

Ryo Muhoshin. Or did you know that?"

She shook her head. "I'm Kasumi Tendou. Pleased to meet you." It

was always important to be polite.

But she also had to find out what was happening, and if her family

was truly safe. "What's 'it'? Where's Daddy and Akane and Nabiki?"

He pulled out a piece of jewelry, and Kasumi shrank back. She knew

what it was. She had seen it in the Nanban Mirror, in the tumbling

maelstrom that lay outside of time. It was an aspect of the mirror,

and there was something wrong.

"You're a time traveler." It was said flatly.

Ryo's eyes widened in surprise. "How did you know?"

"I used the Nanban Mirror," she said, her voice a monotone. "I went

back to save them, to stop the men, to change things. And I did,

didn't I? And I'll get home from Osaka and everything will be all

right..." She trailed off in horror.

The men were dead. Why wasn't she home from Osaka?

"...but I'm still here...," she whispered.

Ryo sat down beside her on the hammock. "The locket moves through

reality. Possible timelines. Universes."

She listened numbly. A Kasumi had gotten home from Osaka and made

dinner. But it wasn't her. It was happy happy Kasumi, who didn't see

that there were men who wanted to kill and bomb and shoot.

Kasumi had come home, but she wasn't the right Kasumi.

"Am I Kasumi?" she asked the ocean.

"The last time I met you, you were Ami," Ryo said helpfully.

She would have to get home. She would have to get home and

protect her family, because the old Kasumi couldn't see that there

were bombs and guns and needles that didn't make scarves. She'd start

on the way home, and she'd make it. And then everything would be like

it was. And she'd bake cookies.

On the way home.

"Kaeri," she said. "My name's Kaeri."

He looked at her. "Are you sure you aren't Ami, Miss Kasumi?"

"No," Kaeri said, kindly. "I'm not."

The rest of the day passed in silence.

Kaeri slept, dreams of cookies and washing mixing with nightmares

of explosions and knives. It wasn't a very pleasant sort of rest, but

her body demanded it.

Muhoshin stood guard, umbrella clenched tightly in one hand,

waiting for the Ryougas to jump out from the shadows behind the door.

Eventually, he concluded that the Ryougas where just as bushed as

he was, and went to sleep at the foot of the hammock. His dreams were

just as unpleasant as hers, though much more original.

...He was back in the hospital with Miss Kasumi, only for some

reason he was the one in the bed. And there was Ryouga, damn him, in

the bed across the way! He tried to leap up, to put the damn Hibiki

out of his misery, but for some reason he had to finish the crossword

first...

...Ryo Saotome strolled past, a smug grin on his face. "Clumsy!

Inept!" he sneered. "I'm better than you. I'm the best Ryo. Everyone

follows me. You're a joke, Gosling. A real..." Muhoshin swung,

intending to give his detractor a second mouth below the overly loud

first, but Ryouga blocked with his own umbrella, laughing as he did...

...Miss Ami shook her head sadly at him, and walked away, not

seeming to notice the unnatural angle her neck was bent at..

There were other bits, chock full of imagery and precognition, but

he didn't remember any of it when morning came.

Kaeri was up at dawn. Sleeping in was something that happened to

other people.

Muhoshin-san was curled up at the foot of the hammock, clutching

his umbrella and making muffled snuffling noises. She permitted

herself a smile; he really was rather adorable like that.

The floor of the house was covered with the dust of years, and

Kaeri searched for a broom. Sadly, the former resident had neglected

to stock basic cleaning equipment, and she was eventually forced to

lash palm fronds to a pole. Makeshift broom completed, she sunk into

the bliss of housework, humming to herself as she did.

Muhoshin woke up in a odd mood, dark circles around his eyes.

This was perfectly normal, as dark circles around the eyes are one of

the more noticeable traits of Gosunkugi look-alikes. He vaguely

recalled something about Ryo Saotome and crosswords, which struck him

as being both silly and disturbing.

The floor now more or less clean, Kaeri turned her attention

towards her rescuer. Leading him over to the table, she began to

rummage through the pantry while Ryo stared in sleepy fascination at

the patterns in the formica top.

The owner had been fond of Spam. Spam and rice.

Five minutes later, Ryo was presented with roast rack of spam on

rice, a cup of coffee, a yellowed newspaper, and a dead flower in a

chipped shaving mug.

Kaeri stared at nice Mr. Muhoshin as he ate. He reminded her of

Ranma, in that he was only half awake and grumpy in a inoffensive sort

of way.

Ryo, for his part, gulped the spam, drank the coffee, and

mechanically scanned the newspaper. Apparently some sort of alien

invasion was occurring, with the paper rather hysterically insisting

that something called the RDF was capable of handling the threat.

That had been some time ago, judging by the age of the paper. Not

that he cared. Reality seemed to be like Kleenex these days;

disposable, easily ripped, and often filled with all sorts of

unpleasant snot.

Finally, Kaeri decided to ask the big question. "Muhoshin-san,"

she began hesitantly, "do you know how to get me home?"

His face crinkled in concern. "Yes, but don't do that, Miss Ami..."

"Kaeri."

"...Miss Kaeri, it's not safe for you there."

Her heart skipped a few beats. Not safe? But what about Akane and

Nabiki? Were they in danger? "Why is it not safe?" she asked, worry

seeping into her voice.

Ryo's face contorted for a second. "Saotome," he muttered. "Him

and the others, from the other realities. Dangerous." He unconsciously

twirled his umbrella in a tight circle, muttering as he did.

Kaeri felt confused, and her worry grew. "Saotome? You mean

Ranma-kun?"

He shook his head emphatically. "Ryo Saotome. Ranma and Ukyou

Kuonji's son. He's an arrogant, self-righteous..."

Ranma and Ukyou's son. Not Ranma and Akane's. Ukyou's. But Ranma

loved Akane and he only liked Ukyou and he was going to marry Akane,

because that was the way things would be.

Unless something happened to Akane...

"Miss Kasumi? Are you okay?"

Unless someone hurt Akane, and killed her again, in which case

Ranma might marry Ukyou.

"Miss Kasumi?"

She forced herself to look at him. "I'm fine, Muhoshin-san. This

other Ryo...is he nice to Akane?"

Muhoshin shrugged. "He doesn't like it when Ranma and Akane are

together. It makes him very unhappy." He scowled. "And he hates me.

Hate hate hate."

Kaeri's eyes narrowed.

"Then there's the Ratiko boy, who says he's Ryouga and Ukyou's

great grandson..."

"But you said Ranma marries...!"

"Different realities. And he's an idiot." Ryo shook his head

slowly, an almost sad look on his face. "To think the architect of all

my misery could produce such an utter fool."

Kaeri giggled in spite of herself. "You sound like Ranma and Ryouga

always do."

"I'll kill Ryouga, and then he'll see, again, that..."

She giggled again. "Just like them."

Ryo tried to decide whether to be angry at that, but the good mood

was infectious. "If it weren't for his habit of blowing up in a

ki-explosion, he'd be nothing."

She paled. "Ki explosion? Explosion?"

"Big ones."

The good mood vanished as she contemplated a mental picture of a

huge Ki explosion blowing apart the dojo. She began to shake, and

hugged herself.

"Are you cold, Miss Kaeri?"

She shook her head. "No. Is there anyone else?"

"A delusional madman named Ishido, a lady of questionable morals

named Childra." He snorted in disgust. "'Gosling' indeed."

"Questionable morals?"

"Goes after anything male with a pulse."

Kaeri blushed. "Oh my."

"Disgraceful," Ryo muttered. "Oh, and there's some girl from the

near future. Harmless. Miko... Miki... Miya... something like that."

"That's everyone?"

"Yes. May I have some more coffee?"

"Certainly."

"Thank you, Miss Ami."

"Kaeri."

"Thank you, Miss Kaeri."

"You're very welcome, Muhoshin-san."

As she set the coffee pot back down, she mentally ran the list of

time jumpers through her head. A anti-Akane, anti-Ryo son of Ranma. A

Hibiki who occasionally detonated. A madman. A whore. And some girl.

Her family needed protection, that was certain. But how was she

supposed to give it to them? Any son of Ranma's would be a formidable

martial artist, and the same was probably true of the Hibiki bomb.

Ryo absentmindedly batted a fly out of the air with one fingertip.

"Muhoshin-san, are you a martial artist?"

He nodded an affirmative, his mouth full of coffee.

"Could you teach me?"

Coffee sprayed across the table. "M-Miss Kasumi," he stammered,

"It's not really something you can pick up in a few days, and it's not

really you, and your wounds..."

"I have a black belt in Tendou-Ryuu kempo."

"Hmm."

While there's no rule that states martial arts training should take

place on a white sand beach with surf gently lapping at the shore,

it's definitely one of the better places. It just _reeks_ of

atmosphere.

The fact that the budding student was wearing a frilly white apron

made a slight dent in it.

He had begun by attempting to pass on a bit of Muy Thai

kick-boxing

"Okay, Miss Kasumi. I take these two coconuts...toss them in the

air like so..."

*snapCRACK*snapCRACK*

"...And break the first one on the upswing with my toe, and the

second while bringing my heel down."

"Oh my!"

"Now, why don't you try it with just one...that's it, throw it up,

and then..."

*thunk*swoosh*BONK*

"Oh dear...are you all right, Muhoshin-san?"

"...urgle..."

Five coconuts, three broken windows, and two mild concussions

later, it became apparent that kick-boxing wasn't something Kaeri took

to easily.

He decided to make a stab at teaching her the umbrella. So to

speak.

And indeed, she seemed to pick up many parts of it with almost

uncanny speed. Her thrusting and swinging was excellent, requiring

only a good teacher to put the finishing polish on. But in other

areas...

"No, Miss Kaeri, you can't stab with it like that, it's the

umbrella handle. You have to stick people with the sharp end,

otherwise they just look offended and rip your head off."

"Oh dear...I'll try to remember, Muhoshin-san."

But she didn't, not very well, anyway. She kept trying to use the

umbrella like...hmm, like...like a staff.

Muhoshin squinted at her. If he didn't know better, he would say

she had some sort of bo training.

"You keep practicing, Miss Kasumi. I'll be right back."

He quickly jogged back up to the house, and entered the kitchen.

Sure enough, the palm-frond broom was propped neatly in a corner.

Snatching it up, he trotted back down to the beach.

"Here you go, Miss Kaeri. Try using this." It probably wouldn't

amount to much, but you never knew. Things sometimes just fell neatly

into place, round holes sucking in square pegs.

Kaeri took the broom with a certain amount of trepidation. After

all, you used this sort of thing to clean, not to hit people with.

But monsters used knives to cut and stoves to hurt and they had put

needles _there_ and twisted the good things like jagged pain...

*swishSWISHswishSWISHswish*

The broom spun. And wove. And danced.

*swishSWISHswishSWISHswish*

It didn't look like a broom. It looked like a fast-moving blur of

brown air. And it was rather hard for the eyes to track; one second it

was above her head, the next behind her back, the next in front of

her...

Ryo stared in amazement.

"Miss Kasumi...have you ever used a bo before?"

"No," she answered. "But I use a mop and broom all the time."

"I see."

"The house has some rather hard to reach corners."

"Does it?"

"And I have to swat a spider on occasion."

"Really?"

"Oh yes."

Ryo considered this. "Must be really big spiders."

"No, just tiny ones. Except when they get into Akane's cooking,

then they swell up and grow spikes and fangs. And glow a little."

He idly twirled his umbrella, trying to focus. Umbrella and stick

work had many common points, and Ryo had taken the basic UWSMA Long

Blunt Things course. But most of his techniques centered around the

fact that he had a razor-sharp piece of metal at the tip of his

weapon, a curved hook at the other, and, of course, the rapier point

for the Bakusai-Ten-Satsu. He wished he had a pole kind of that...

Cerulean fire flared.

San Wei was in an interesting position.

On the down side, he was in the middle of the mightiest fortress in

Ni, surrounded by legions of the Imperial Guard, and presently number

one on the Emperor's list of People-I'd-Like-

To-Kill-In-Interesting-Ways.

On the up side, he had the tip of his staff pressed to the throat

of the Imperial Princess Akane, favored daughter of the Way of Heaven.

And his finger on the button that would send several inches of

razor-sharp steel through her throat.

"Back off," he suggested to the guards.

The guards considered this, and did.

Slowly, keeping his eyes moving about the room, San Wei led the

Princess towards the door to the great hall. His plan was actually

pretty simple; get out, demand and get a ransom, rape and kill the

Princess (just on general principles), and flee this pesthole of a

nation a wealthy man.

The snipers in the hidden alcoves in the roof watched his progress.

Some considered putting a few arrows in him, but decided that he would

probably be able to press the button before keeling over. The Way of

Heaven would then congratulate them on their fine shooting, and order

a tub of boiling oil as their reward.

Just then, the rather unpleasant-looking runes etched along the

side of the staff began to glow with a crimson light.

San Wei frowned. Normally it only did that when the blade was

immersed in human blood.

There was a flash of blue light, and the *hisspop* of air rushing

in to fill a roughly staff-shaped hole.

San Wei's position suddenly got a lot more interesting. But not for

very long.

Muhoshin looked around, wondering where the locket had brought

him this time. It took a few seconds to realize that he hadn't gone

anywhere.

On the beach in front of him, however, lay a staff of dark-brown

wood.

"What was that?" asked Kaeri.

He picked up the staff, noting the squiggly markings running the

length of it. And the two buttons in the middle of it.

Let's see what pressing the first one does, he thought...

*SWHINK*

One end of the staff sprouted fifteen inches of wickedly sharp,

silver-gray steel.

Another push, and it retracted.

And the other button...

A long metal needle emerged from the other end.

Ryo grinned. Oooh. Nice.

"Miss Kasumi? Why don't you try using this for a while..."

Kaeri eyed the staff with distrust.

She had used it to practice for over a week now, thrusting and

spinning and swinging it at empty air and crude practice dummies of

palm fronds. It was perfectly balanced. The weight was just right for

her. So was the length. Using it was effortless.

But something about it _felt_ wrong. Nothing she could put her

finger on, but the weapon made her uneasy. Perhaps it was the carvings

along the side. Because if Evil had a separate alphabet, this was how

it would look.

Her nightmares had begun changing as well. The man-monsters still

came, but instead of letting them beat her, she fought. The blade

would sever heads, the needle pierce organs, the wood crack skulls.

And then the bodies would shift, and become Akane and Nabiki.

The last time the dream had happened she had felt a deep

satisfaction after seeing the corpses change, and had woken up

screaming, horrified at herself. And she thought..she wasn't sure, but

she thought...she had seen a fading crimson glow from where her staff

hung on the wall.

Kaeri shook her head. She was letting her imagination run away with

her.

And besides, she had been doing well. She always lost her sparring

sessions with Muhoshin-san, but she had almost had him the last time.

Even if he was pulling his punches with her, he was still very

good...not in Ranma's category, but then _no-one_ was in Ranma's

category.

Without the staff as a weapon, she would be beaten in a matter of

minutes by Akane. With it, she could conceivably hold her own against,

say, the Kuonji girl.

She needed to protect her family, and the staff would allow her to

do that. And, just in case she ran into someone who she couldn't take

using martial arts, a Ryouga or a Shampoo...

Well, something would come up. There was more than one way to skin

a cat. Martial arts was just the most direct and physical way.

Bombs, Kaeri had found, worked well. So did projectile weapons.

You didn't need years of training and discipline to use them,

either. Just cash and a dealer.

Muhoshin sat slumped in his armchair, a cup of cocoa rapidly

congealing next to him. He was Pondering.

Miss Kasumi was very insistent about going back to Nerima. Ryo

didn't like that much; the place was crawling with Hibikis and

Saotomes of the worst sorts. But she was adamant on the point, and he

knew he'd give in and take her.

The training had gone well. She had a knack for both the stick work

and that form of Kempo she used; he wondered what she'd have been like

if she hadn't stopped training.

That's _not_ a command, he mentally snarled at the locket, glaring

at it with narrowed eyes. For a moment, he thought he sensed a wave

of disappointment coming from it.

Ryo wanted to make her the best martial artist she could be, so the

Ryougas wouldn't find her easy prey. And, given her weapon, the

Bakusai-Ten-Satsu would be perfect. Problem was, he didn't feel like

throwing her at boulders, which was the normal training method.

Ami entered, put a fresh mug of cocoa and a spam sandwich on the

side table, and quietly left.

It was enjoyable, really, living like this. She took care of him

and he taught her. And when the dreams got too bad - which seemed to

happen frequently - the other was always there.

Sometimes he even felt content.

But she had to go, and he had to put an end to Ryouga and Ryo

Saotome. Because if he did, the dreams would stop.

There had been many of them, lately. Odd ones. He had commanded

something called a Super Dimensional Fortress, crewed by a group of

brain-dead, beautiful women (weird, huh?). He had dialed a wrong number

and wound up living with some sort of deity. He even had the normal

falling dream, only in his someone kept screaming "PARNNN!" as he

fell.

He didn't mind them very much. It was kind of interesting, in fact.

Except that Ryo Saotome and Ryouga always put in an appearance.

Ryouga, a giant wearing a metal eye-patch, commanding a fleet of

cucumber-shaped battlecruisers. Ryo Saotome, female with marks on her

forehead, hitting him over the head with a mechahammer. Ryouga,

carrying a red-glowing umbrella, tossing a boulder down after him.

It was bad enough that they polluted his waking hours. But to have

them invade his dreams...how dare they? How DARE THEY?

"Muhoshin-san, please don't charge your umbrella with ki inside the

house. You're scorching the carpet."

"Oh. Sorry, Miss Kasumi."

"Kaeri."

"Sorry, Miss Kaeri."

"That's okay, Muhoshin-san."

His train of thought, momentarily derailed, moved back onto the

subject of the Bakusai-Ten-Satsu. Actually _doing_ it wasn't hard at

all. The main trick was learning to _see_ the breaking points.

Preferably without killing yourself in the process.

It had to do with the fact that everything was connected to

everything else, and if you pushed something like SO, it would knock

something else out of line, and that would knock something else out of

line, and so on. Of course, no human had the jeweler's touch required

to do that physically. In essence, the jab was the conduit for a

stream of ki.

Muhoshin grinned. He had an idea.

Kaeri stood, staff held loosely in one hand, listening to

Muhoshin-san explain this new technique.

She had seen Ryouga-kun do something like it many times. In fact,

she was normally the one who cleaned up after it. No matter how you

used it, it was guaranteed to make a mess.

"Now," he said, "see this rock? I want you to put the needle of

your staff against it and try to push a little bit of ki down it."

Do what? "But I don't know how to do that! No-one ever taught me

any ki attacks..."

"Don't attack. Just try to push yourself along the staff into the

rock. Imagine...the rock is dirty somewhere, and you need to find out

exactly how the surface is so it can be cleaned.

"All right, Muhoshin-san," she hesitantly replied.

The needle snapped out and was placed against the rock. Kaeri

stared at it for a second, and then reached into herself.

Kasumi Tendou, through a curious accident of genetics and mindset,

was a natural ki masseuse.

She radiated calm. It was almost impossible to summon up fighting

spirit in her presence. It was like trying to sunbathe in a blizzard.

Of course, Ranma, Ryouga, and Akane managed it anyway; the first

two being insanely powerful walking ki sources and Akane having

developed a slight immunity over the years.

But when Kasumi turned her full attention on them, even they found

it hard to keep fighting.

That was Kasumi Tendou. Kaeri Tendou didn't radiate anything.

But the thing that had done the radiating was still there, and it

was that which got forced down the staff.

Muhoshin watched hopefully. Something was happening; the carvings

on the staff were glowing with ki.

Funny, that. Normally the glow was blue, not this rather unpleasant

shade of red.

Her ki flowed down the staff, into the rock...

...There was someone else in here with her, but never mind that for

now, oh my, the rock...

...Who would have thought a rock could be so complex? It was like

a building, a spiderweb, a concerto...

...And it was covered with weak spots. She didn't understand how

she could have missed them before...

...Carefully, she pulled herself back up the staff, feeling the

other person vanish...

She opened her eyes, and looked at the world.

There were breaking points in the rock. There were points in the

house, in the staff, in the trunks of the trees.

In Muhoshin-san's bones. In her bones.

She twirled her staff, and in one swift motion thrust it at the

rock.

Ryo watched as the staff flared with red ki energy. The point

struck...

Oh yeah. Maybe it would be a good idea to duck.

The rock burst apart in a flash of crimson light, sending fragments

flying everywhere. Kaeri stood, staring at the small crater in front

of her. Her apron was covered with dust, and she seemed to have

acquired several small cuts.

"Was that the right way, Muhoshin-san?"

"Um. Normally it's a good idea to learn how to control the

direction of the shrapnel before blowing up large rocks."

"Oh dear. I think there's some bactine and Band-Aids in the house."

Learning how to control the way in which huge boulders detonate is

a rather tricky thing. On the one hand, practice is vital. On the

other hand, the practice itself can be rather hazardous.

Kaeri had the good fortune to be using a rather long pole to

perform the Bakusai-Ten-Satsu, and was thus able to put a makeshift

shield (composed of a card table and several bits of palm frond and

bark) between her and the rocks. As a result, she got through her

training period with no more than a few shallow gashes.

Ryo insisted on supervising her. He neglected to build an

improvised shield, being used to showers of small bits of rock.

While he hadn't lost _too_ much blood, Kaeri reflected, that really

was a nasty lump on his head. It was hard to get used to fragments the

size of an eggplant.

At the end of another week, she was able to send a devastating

shower of rock fragments in any direction she desired, with minimal

injury to herself. It was a potent form of attack, and had the

additional advantage of surprise. After all, the most common form is

done using the finger, not a weapon.

She just wished it didn't make such a horrible mess.

And that was it, really. She had dusted off her old training, added

a weapon, and picked up a technique that even Ranma didn't know. It

was time to go. Her family was waiting.

Poor Muhoshin-san. She sometimes got the feeling that something was

bothering him. He ranted about Ryouga-kun all the time, but that was

normal enough. Ryouga did the same about Ranma, Ranma did it about

Akane, Akane about Ranma...loudly and melodramatically vowing to kill

that fiend insert-name-here was a sign of affection.

But Muhoshin-san _brooded_, which was a new thing for Kaeri. None

of the Tendous brooded. Akane hit things, Daddy cried, and Nabiki

brought international markets to the brink of ruin. It was a good

thing to have people let out their feelings... well, unless you were

the person Akane hit or the company Nabiki gutted.

Ryo didn't just hold things in. He compacted them, squeezed them

tighter and tighter and tighter...

But he was a nice young man, which is why she worried about him on

occasion. And a large part of her wished she could stay and look after

him. And have him look after her.

Kaeri shook her head, flustered. That wasn't who she was. She was

the caretaker of the Tendou family, the only one who SAW the horrible

things bearing down. She was the adult among children. And she didn't

need anyone at all, because they needed her. If she showed weakness,

it would drag them all down.

But it was hard to remember that in the early part of the morning,

rising shrieking out of a nightmare.

Who would tell Muhosh...Ryo that it was only a bad dream? Who

would tell her that?

Her jaw tightened. She didn't matter. It was nothing that they had

cut her and disfigured her and taken her fingers. There was only the

Work, and the Work was her Family, and she would Finish It. And maybe

then she could rest.

It was time to go.

It had to happen sooner or later, he reflected. Miss Kasumi was

nothing if not determined.

"So you'll take me, Muhoshin-san?"

Ryo shifted uncomfortably, fiddling with his tie. "Yes...yes, of

course. Yes. But...you have to promise me to be very careful, you see?

Of the Ryougas. And the other Ryo, the domineering one. Watch them,

don't let them sneak up behind you. Yes?"

The *snapSHWINGswish* of the staff's blade extending and retracting

was Kaeri's response.

He laughed, the sound slightly thin. "And don't tell them about me.

Hate, yes, Ryo hates me. Of course, that's fine, I don't love him like

a dear lost brother either, no, no love there. Brother. Heh heh, ha.

No, say your Mirror brought you there. Yes?"

She looked confused. "Lie?"

Ugly word, that. He leaned forward, eyes glinting. "No, just

reordering events. Reality is flexible, modeling clay for words." An

odd, almost giddy feeling was welling up in him. Hard to say if it

was enjoyable or not. "Sequence and order, time and stress - they are

most important in this matter. Saotome wishes to Brand me a traitor,

and my allies with me, yes, turn them all against me. Rewrite reality

in your words, for both our sakes."

She nodded, a determined spark in her eyes. Poor, poor Miss Ami. He

hoped the Ryougas stayed away from her. But if he killed them

all...and their little dog Ryo, too!...she'd be safe, and that was

important. He didn't know how many times you could die before you

stayed dead.

"I'm ready, Muhoshin-san."

He'd kill them just as fast as he could.

Ryo grinned. [Thus, with imagin'd wing our swift scene flies, in

motion of no less celerity than that of thought! Miss Ami is set on

her course, and the stage is now transported, gentles, to Nerima!]

Blue light took them.

End Act 5

Annotations for Act 5

" There was something familiar about those tears, something more painful than the fires that delivered him to this world. "Bell-chan?" he whispered. " Not quite the Bell-chan he's thinking of. This is Belladonna Ono, of Ranma 2096 continuity. - "The nighttime sky in Tokyo was fairly nondescript..." Ryo Muhoshin has returned to the continuity of Stefan "Twoflower" Gagne's "Ministry of Confusion". - " An explosion rocked the temple. Keiichi looked up from his textbook. "Urd?" he asked. " "Ah My Goddess!" by Kosuke Fujishima. - "I thought you looked like Ranma!" Urd declared, slapping the table with her free hand. "So, did you inherit his... magnetic charm?" In addition to this being an "Ah My Goddess!" section, Ross McKenzie, on a whim, also decided to tie it into "The (sur)Real World" by Rod M. - " "You," he growled. "INCONCEIVABLE!" " A tip of the hat by Rod M. to the story "The Princess Bride", in which a villain in the cast often says "INCONCEIVABLE!" - " Ed Ryouga Marlowe..." Tip of the hat to Philip Marlowe, a detective made famous as portrayed by Humphrey Bogart in several movies. - " Flames snapped and hissed around him. He felt himself tumbling downwards in this endless azure flame, then suddenly slammed into earth. He would've screamed in pain, except that he was too surprised. " This scene is the start of the crossover with Mike Loader's "Smoke and Mirrors". - "Kaeri," she said. "My name's Kaeri." Kaeri ni = on the way home. - " Apparently some sort of alien invasion was occurring, with the paper rather hysterically insisting that something called the RDF was capable of handling the threat. " RDF = Robotech Defense Force. Yes, we went there. - " San Wei was in an interesting position. " San Wei & his reality are entirely creations of Mike Loader, made explicitly for this story.

Ranma 1/2 Characters by Rumiko Takahashi.

Story "Ministry of Confusion" created by Stefan Gagne.

In in infinite universe, there's an alarming amount of possibilities.

It was a rainy Thursday night in the city. The grey skies seemed to

be a reflection of the people down below as they moved emotinlessly

through the alleys and streets that made up the great big rat race called

Tokyo. It was raining hard enough to make seeing difficult, and there

were quite a few wrecks already in main street.

In some darkened alley, a Ryouga was dragging some trash, grumbling

about the injustices of life in general and ticked off at a certain

customer that really ticked'em off. Ranma Saotome was the kid's name.

Just looking at his face got Ryouga irritated for some reason. Ryouga

sighed, took in a few deep breaths, and decided to forget the matter. He

knew he had quite a temper, and he really did try to control it.

"You there," a voice said, from somewhere nearby.

Ryouga turned around, looking for the source of that voice. It had an

echo to it. Whoever it was must've been on the fire escapes.

"Hello Ryouga," the voice said in a cold, flat tone.

Ryouga's temper flared. He didn't like being messed with like this.

No Ryouga ever did. "SHOW YOURSELF!" he yelled, "COWARD!"

"Coward? No." There was a sound of movement in the darkness. Ryouga

looked up to see, but the rain poured into his eyes.

Suddenly there was a dark form in front of him. He heard several

swishing noises and suddenly there was a burning sensation on his chest.

Ryouga looked down at the gashes that were there. The stranger's fist

suddenly glowed and Ryouga was struck in the jaw with incredible force.

He crashed to the floor, bleeding and dazed. His jaw was probbably

broken too, it definitely was in pain.

The stranger sighed. "Not much of a fight."

He looked up and wondered what he did to deserve this.

"W-why..." Ryouga said. "W-why me..."

There was a pause.

The figure bent down. He whispered into Ryouga's ear...

"If you have to ask, you'll never know."

And with a final stab, Ryouga was dead.

Converging Series Prelude: Deviations from the Norm.

The time: a future near you.

The place: Tokyo, Japan.

There was a time when revolution, disaster, and radical change had hit

Japan. There was a change in the very face of the nation. With

earthquakes, floods, and typhoons, the casualties were alarmingly high.

There was a labor shortage in Japan. And so, to solve this problem, the

ministries selected various persons and themselves for cloning. Basically,

there were some very familiar faces out there, mostly because there were

several thousand copies of those faces.

With such drastic times came drastic changes in the government of

Japan. The democracy was replaced eventually by a system of four

"Seperate but Equal" ministries. The Ministriy of Economics, which

controls the financial parts of govornment. This branch was governed by

Nabiki Tendo until recently, when a government scandal revealed illegal

operations which she had overseen. Then there was the Ministry of Data,

headed by Minister Mousse, which regulates information. The Ministry of

Peace, which handles military affairs, was until recently overseen by

Kodachi Kuno, until her demise. And then there's the Ministry of

Sanitation, operated by Kasumi Tendo. It cleans, maintains, and recently,

it upholds the law in Japan.

This is a story of one of their cases...

ERM Case file 6902.6991.04.01

It was another lazy red-tape Monday. He was at his desk, as usual,

filling out forms instead of doing his job. God only knows WHY they make

fill out all these nonsensical paperworks. The coffee wasn't helping

much either. There's just something not right about coffee beans grown

in Japan, he really believed. Has to be from Colombia or France, or it

just wasn't right.

Hiroshi walked by his desk, carrying a box of his own little paperwork

hell to fill out. "Hey, Ed, how's it going?"

"Not much. You?"

"Prowler suspect. Some guy's hopping across the skyscrapers at

night. Woo-hoo, how danerous," he said emotinlessly.

Then the phone on the desk rang.

"Ed Ryouga Marlowe, Homicide," he answered.

"Marlowe? S'me, Taro. We've got another one."

"Ryogua murder?"

"Ryouga murder."

"Damn. Alright, where's it at?"

"1135 Tai, in the alley."

"Any-"

"No witnesses, sorry."

He hung up the phone, angry. This case case always got him mad. It

had been happening for the past four weeks now, SOMEONE out there was

killing Ryougas. Sometimes it was just one, sometimes it was a damn

bloodbath of Ryougas. They had nothing in common, except for the hansome

face and that ever-so-classy middle name.

He sighed, got up, put on his Ministry of Sanitation uniform (Ministry

of Sanitation? Why on earth did they ever move us to their jurisdiction?

he often wondered) and headed out.

It was raining.

"Great," he muttered. I hate rain.

The crime scene was just like all the others, an isolated place where

no witnesses would be likely. Down on the floor was the unlucky man of

the day, carved up severely. If he didn't die of those cuts, he probbably

died of blood loss.

"Marlowe, what're you doing here?" This was Shinnosuke Sawada. Ed's

partner.

"It's a crime scene, Shin."

Shinnosuke still looked a bit clueless.

"I'M A COP!" yelled Marlowe.

"Oh! Oh yeah! Right, right. Sorry'bout that."

Ed sighed. Shinnosuke was a part of the price for the police moving

from the MoP to the MoS. He was one of the 'new breed' of cops: kinder,

gentler, and more suited to being a social worker than a law enforcer.

Marlowe looked around and found his partner, 'Pantyhose' Taro, who was

at the moment gloved and examining the crime scene.

"Hey, Pantyhose..."

"Call me that again and I'll break your nose," moodily replied Taro.

He'd acquired the nickname after a sting to bust a rampaging pervert

backfired and Taro ended up tied up in, bound by, and wearing pantyhose.

It was a hillarious sight to the officers who rescued him, until he got

free and let them know how much he appreciated their sympathy. From that

day was born his unfortunate nickname. It was also how he became infamous

for being a bit short-fused when people were joking about it. The only

one that ever got away with teasing him was his partner, Ed.

"C'mon, just joking!"

"I'll kick your butt later for that," grumbled Taro.

"Ah... right. Is there ANYTHING we can get outta this?"

"No fingerprints, no witnesses, nothing under his fingernails, no

signs of a struggle. We do have footprints."

"Better than nothing. Must've been a tough guy to have been

slaughtering up Ryougas like that. We're a pretty strong bunch."

"Actually, the shoe size is kinda average."

"What?"

"And by the depth of the impression of his footprints... I'd say he's

a little on the light side. No guarantees, but looks like a man's shoe.

We'll run a match down at the lab later."

"Alright then, a fast punk with a thing for razors."

"Possibly."

Marlowe sat at his desk, looking over the evidence gathered so far.

The case had them stumped. Either the perpetrator... or perpetrators were

damn lucky, or they were professionals. No witnesses, no clues.

What did they have so far?

The first Ryouga that was found... the first one that they think

the perp did, it was a sloppy job. Blood everywhere. Looks like he put

up a struggle. It was obvious that the murderer took time to cover his

tracks, wipe off prints, all the little things. Clean enough to leave no

clues, but definitely a sloppy kill with signs of panic. But after that,

the murders got more savage. Well, not so much savage as... well...

sadistic. Lately, he'd been really carving up his victims, cutting where

it'd definitely hurt. As if he was intending to inflict some serious pain

before they died. Not only that, but he's been damn clean about it.

Getting almost clinical now.

It was as if he was practicing.

This new one though... something was different. The perp always

slashed his victims to death. This one had a busted jaw. Significant?

To add to the weirdness, a few of those Ryougas had a funny burnt spot,

right in their brain. Once our forensic man reported it in, a squad from

the MoD came by and took all the corpses. What did the MoD have to do

with this case?

The police put out an alert about the Ryouga situation to all branches,

and Ed's group became a task force dedicated towards finding the serial

killer. Any situation that may have anything to do with the Ryouga

killings was referred to them.

One day a call was sent to their department. Apparently, a Ryouga in

an apartment complex had been late several weeks for the rent. The

apartment was a dark, cramped, with unreliable hallway lights and the only

bright sources of illumination being from the ends of the hallway. It

looked, quite literally, like the lights at the ends of the tunnel. Ed

stepped in front of the apartment door while Taro backed him up.

"Ready?" asked Taro.

"Of course." With a little hesitation, Ed unlocked the door and flung

it open. They immediately looked for a target to shoot as they carefully

made their way into the apartment.

The place was clean. No mess lying on the floor. There was a pleasant

smell coming from the kitchen. Apparently, someone had been here within

the last hour, smelled like yakitori.

They finished walking around the rooms, finding each one empty.

"Looks like nothing," muttered Taro.

"Yep. Seems like it." As they walked out the door, Ed muttered,

"Let's lock this place up and put it under sur... uh-oh."

"Uh-oh?" wondered Taro.

Ed nodded his head down the hall, where a dark sillouhetted person in a

raincoat was standing there, seeming to watch them both. They couldn't

see his face, hidden in shadows, but they could sense he was surprised to

see them.

"You think that's..." whispered Taro.

"Got a feeling," mumbled Ed. "Take a step towards him."

They stepped towards him.

He immediately bolted down the stairs.

"FREEZE! THIS IS THE POLICE!" they yelled, chasing after him.

As they came to the stairs, they heard a strange gutteral yell of some

sort, and suddenly there was a loud explosion. Dust and debris flew out

and they ducked for cover. Once the debris settled, they peered over to

where the staircase used to be.

"Damn," muttered Taro, "he's packing bombs!"

Ed pulled out his portable phone and dialed in to the station. "Get

the bomb squad and analasys boys down here. We've got the perp's abode."

Days later, much to the bafflement of everyone, the analasys showed

nothing. There was no traces of explosives or ammunition on the

staircase. There were fingerprints all over the apartment, but they

didn't match anything on the MoD records. However, they did find the

Ryouga that owned the apartment.

"Hey, think we found the missing Ryouga," said Taro, looking at the

shelf above the small fireplace.

"Oh? Where?"

Taro held up an urn and opened it. Bits of bone and ashes rattled

about. Either there was a heavy smoker in the house, or the resident

Ryouga had become incinerated.

It was after the fifth week that they finally got a significant lead as

to the identity of their suspect.

Four Ryougas, working on underground systems, all killed and buried in

some massive explosion, were the latest victims. The crime scene, as

usual, yielded nothing much, except for more footprints, but there was an

automated teller nearby, and THAT had a camera.

The police had taken the surveilence tape and bring it over to the labs

for examination. Ed and the others of the squad at the station watched

with serious intensity. They all wanted to nail this guy. Of course, a

fair amount of them were Ryougas, so the feeling was understandable.

The image was all fuzzy, and off to the corner, since the ATM wasn't

built for anything but near-distance visuals, but in the background was

the manhole where the four Ryougas went in.

1:35 A.M. unknown subject enters the manhole. Carrying some object,

maybe a crowbar, maybe a long sword. Can't say for sure.

Between 1 and 2 in the morning was the coroner's estimated time of death.

1:50 A.M. mysterious explosion occurs.

2:00 A.M. subject leaves manhole. And looks -right- into the camera.

"No way," muttered Ryouga.

"Whoa," said Taro.

"Haven't I seen this guy before?" asked Shinnosuke.

"It's Hikaru Gosunkugi! That guy that brought down Nabiki Tendo and

set off that big Ministry shakeup!" said Taro.

The other officers mumbled their agreements as to WHO was on the

screen, and their various paranoid theories on the matter.

"Alright, so our suspect is probbably one Hikaru Gosunkugi. Anybody

know the whereabouts of this guy?" yelled Ed.

"Dunno," said one officer, "heard he went into seclusion after the

media attention died down."

"So... where is he?" wondered Taro.

"Okay guys, get out there," barked Ed, suddenly taking the leadership

role, "get in contact with his former employers, his neighbors, get into

the MoDnet, I wanna know where he is!"

"Um... Ed..." said Taro.

"C'mon, people, LET'S GO!"

"MARLOWE!"

"What?!"

"The, ah, prints? remember those?"

"The fingerprints? What about'em?"

"They don't match, remember?"

Ed paused. "Ah... he could've altered the records at the MoD. He

used to work there, y'know."

"His motive?" wondered Taro.

"I DON'T KNOW! JUST GET HIM!"

"Okay, Ed. But I dunno..." Taro shrugged and went off to his desk

terminal.

"SHINNOSUKE, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" yelled Marlowe.

Shin blinked. He looked around. "I dunno, what am I doing?"

It took several officers to hold Ed back, while some others ushered

Shinnosuke out of the room. A Ryouga extender with a temper tantrum was a

thing to behold indeed. Afterwards, Marlowe took massive dosages of

headache medicine. Lately, when his temper flared and he was about ready

to hit someone, the nagging headaches would come back strong.

Price of the job, he always thought.

Somewhere within the offices of the Ministry of Data, a computer alert

beeped. Another program activated, sending a signal across Tokyo's

telecommunications lines. And finally, in an office somewhere, where a

computer screen flickered to life. A pair of eyes twinkled with glee.

"Well well well, they're looking for _him_?"

Data scrolled across her screen.

"For murder? Oh, this is rich."

There was a malicious grin.

"Ah, he's on vacation right now, 'tired of the constant questions and

the price of fame' he says. The little rat! Well... I know where you

are, DT, and so will the police. After an anonymous tip..."

Taro stared suspiciously at his screen. After four hours of searching

through the net and contacting former associates, he'd drawn a blank.

And then someone e-mailed him an anonymous tip.

GOSUNKUGI FIVE_SEASONS_

An incredibly bad pun on e-mail adresses, but a tip was a tip.

Warrants were drawn up and the squad headed to Okinawa, where they

unceremoniously dragged Gosunkugi out of his penthouse suite and had him

behind bars in a matter of hours.

"W-what's going on?!" yelled Gosunkugi from behind iron bars.

"Why'd you do it, Gos," asked Taro.

"We've got video placing you at the scene," Ed followed.

"No use denying it," said Taro.

"Might as well confess," Ed suggested.

"Who's this guy?" asked Shinnosuke. He was quickly thrown out of the

questioning room.

"I didn't do anything!"

"C'mon, Gosunkugi, we've got camera footage and everything," I added.

"Nabiki's behind this isn't she," accused Gosunkugi, "I'll get her for

this."

Ed punched at the cage, next to his face. He was ready to tear his

lungs out. There goes that headache again... dammit. Ed winced and

rubbed his temples, wondering if he had any tylenol lying around amongst

the lint in his jacket.

Something weird is up thought Ed as he thumbed through the report.

The sixth week, the sixth set of murders.

And they had Gosunkugi under surveilence the whole time. He was behind

bars while the murder occurred. Either Gosunkugi was innocent, or he had

a partner in crime out there somewhere.

With much embarrasment, he released Gosunkugi, who was threatening to

sue for wrongful imprisonment. With that lead gone, the search went on.

He sighed and took a sip of the freshly brewed coffee.

And frowned.

Something wasn't right. He had PERSONALLY ordered and paid for several

cans of COLUMBIAN coffee, the real stuff, with REAL creme and REAL sugar.

This... swill... whatever it was, was NOT the coffee that he had been

using lately.

"ALRIGHT, who's been screwing with the coffee brewer?!"

"Hey, wasn't me," said Taro. 'Pantyhose' had a bad temper about his

nickname. Ed was even worse when it came to someone messing with his

coffee.

"WHO THE H... WHO MADE =THIS= COFFEE?!" yelled Ed, holding up the

offending pot of coffee.

"S'cuse me, Ed, gotta refill the coffee machine," said Shinnosuke,

apparently oblivious to Ed's mad rant. Upon digesting this request, Ed

became deadly quiet, then opened his mouth.

"Did you say... _refill_?" asked Marlowe.

"Yeah, we were out this morning and I had to put in some more grinds."

Ed was beginning to look a little more capable of violence than usual,

seeing as how apparently Shinnosuke had as much talent with making coffee

as an Akane extender did with cooking. Before he could begin to start

violence on the unsuspecting and absent-minded officer in question,

Shinnosuke turned to Ed and said, "y'know, this weird coffee stuff tastes

awful. Where'd you get this stuff?" He lifted the can up high.

Ed looked at the odd looking canister. "I didn't buy anything in a can

like that." He looked around. "Hey! Who bought this coffee?!" After a

while of silence, Ed asked, "Shin... where'd you get this stuff anyways?"

"I got it at the... I got it at... y'know, I forgot."

Meanwhile, in Evidence Storage...

"Hey, where'd those Ryouga ashes go?"

Another week, another murder. The murderer had some variety in his

technique this time. One Ryouga beaten to death, one bled to death, and

one was killed by internal explosion. The forensic team was baffled.

Apparently, there was an explosion _inside the Ryouga's body_, and bits of

bone tore through his organs. However, there was no trace of explosives of

any type on the body. The fourth one was hit repeatedly with some sort of

energy. Again, the forensic team was at a loss as to exactly what it was.

Ed, Taro, and Shin lounged at the Hollywoood Diner, mulling over the

case. Ironically, everyone forgot why Shin was along for the ride.

"Well, obviously," said Ed, munching on a donut, "this guy hates

Ryougas."

"Obviously," agreed Taro.

"Certainly," added Shin. "Ah... who?" They managed to ignore him.

"He's a skinny young man, with black hair and large eyes."

"He's Hikaru Gosunkugi."

"Or looks like him."

"Um... did I order something yet?" wondered Shinnosuke.

"Oh COME ON! We've got his face on camera!"

"But Ed..."

"It was HIS face on the film, and you're saying it's not him?"

A Ryouga extender passed by and asked, "need anything else?"

"Refill on the coffee," said Ed Ryouga Marlowe.

"Okay, sir." The Ryouga waiter walked off.

"AHEM." Taro smirked.

"Ahem? Ahem what?" asked Marlowe.

"Think I've got an idea of what's going on. Call me crazy, but...

well... hear me out."

"Go on, I'm listening..."

"Gosunkugi extender."

Ed blinked. "It... would explain a few things... wouldn't it."

"C'mon, the Ministries have done illegal extender production before.

We had Gosunkugi under surveilence and STILL someone gets killed. I

think... I think..."

"Go on..."

"I think they've made another line of extenders. Supposed to have

been secret, like, I dunno, assasin extenders, or something. I mean,

who'd expect a wimp like Gosunkugi to be able to kill you? Anyways, they

made a bunch of assasin extenders, let'em loose with us citizens, and

were planning to use'em later, for, y'know, dark ops."

"Dark ops?"

"Undercover operations and such."

"Riiiight."

"Yeah, anyways, something must've gone haywire. The extender

freaked. And maybe now his designated target was a Ryouga."

"Taro."

"Yeah?"

"Start drinkin' decaf."

Ed turned away from his partner and took another deep sip of coffee.

Despite his words, Ed had a look of doubt in his face.

"Um, hey, did I order anything yet?" asked Shin.

Ed dropped Taro and Shin off at their apartments and headed back to his

own little cube-in-the-tower for some well-deserved rest. He parked the

car in the garage, stepped out, and got clubbed in the back of the head.

Hours later, he woke up, tied to a chair and with a damn lamp in his

face. He reacted as any Ryouga would...

"You're gonna PAY for this!" They were, if he ever got free. Ed

Ryouga Marlowe fueled by donuts and coffee was a nearly unstoppable force.

"Listen up, Marlowe, and listen up good," somebody said, "Lay off

Gosunkugi, alright?"

"Ah... right."

"Trust us, he isn't. He's got an airtight allibi, understand?"

Ed understood. No matter what, Gosunkugi wasn't to be touched. He was

beginning to think that maybe Gosunkugi was innocent anyways. Although at

the moment, after being kidnapped, bound, and put under a spotlight, his

opinion was swinging the other way again.

"Why the big fuss over him?"

"Let's just say that if something unfortunate happens to him, it'll

cause a rather unpleasant chain of events. Everybody loses. Got it?"

"And... even if he IS somehow connected to these killings?"

Someone sighed.

"He ISN'T the killer, you thickheaded moron."

"Well, there's this footage..." baited Ed. He just wanted to see how

they'd respond to that.

"You ever think that he might've been cloned?"

There was a fairly tense pause.

"The MoE, they used to have cloning tanks, you get my drift?" said the

voice.

"Are you saying the MoE is doing illegal ops?"

"Just maybe. Or... you know where Nabiki Tendo is nowadays, right?"

"The former head of MoE? Heard she was running some small time

company."

"She's running TENDOM now. Modest factory on Tanuki and 84th street.

High tech stuff she's working on, we all hear. High Tech. Y'know? Be

sure to check for hidden spots now. See ya."

"Hey! Wh-" was all Ed managed before he got hit by a spray and took

another quick nap.

Somewhere in town...

"Did you get it done?"

/Yes, Mr. Mousse. He oughta be looking her way about now./

"Good. Last thing we need is Gosunkugi raising hell. We all know what

happens if he ever gets in trouble..." Mousse frowned. Gosunkugi had

lots of information on lots of people, and Mousse was one of them. As

'insurance' he'd told all the current heads of Ministries that if he was

hassled in retaliation for his part in uncovering the scandal involving

Kodachi Kuno and Nabiki Tendo, he'd need, no, demand their assistance in

getting out of whatever trouble was sent his way.

Mousse really regretted hiring Gosunkugi.

/You want me to keep an eye on Marlowe?/

"No. That's alright."

/Alright then. G'night boss./

"See you tomorrow."

/And good luck with Shampoo, boss./

"Shut up."

Ed and Shin headed down to the TENDOM corporation building, a

relatively small tower in the sea of buildings that was downtown Tokyo.

Once they went beyond the steel doors, the high level of taste that the

former director of the MoE had was showing. There was quite alot of

mahogany and wood decor, and nowadays that sort of thing was expensive

nowadays.

A Nabiki extender greeted them. "Do you have an appointment?" she

asked, making sure they didn't feel welcome.

"Marlowe and Taro, MoE Homicide," said Marlowe, flashing his badge.

"I see." With frigid calm that could only be done by a Nabiki

extender, the secretary turned away from Marlowe, as if he was Just

Another Person, and had a brief talk with someone unseen through the

vidphone, then turned her attention back to them. "Through those doors,

please."

Marlowe and Taro made it a point to ignore the secretary as they

passed. They weren't in the mood for snooty secretaries, and had to blow

off steam somehow.

"Marlowe and Taro, MoE Homicide," said Marlowe. Taro just stayed quiet

and tried to look tough. It seemed to be the appropriate thing to do.

"Gentlemen, have a seat," said Nabiki, "what seems to be the problem?"

"Miss Tendo," began Marlowe, "do you recognize this man?" He pulled

out a photo.

"Who that is," said the unamused Tendo, "and what connection he has to

me are public knowledge, Mr. Taro. Please don't waste my time with

redundant questions."

"I'm Marlowe, he's Taro, and there's no need to be rude." Reminding

himself that he doesn't hit girls, Marlowe continued. "I'll be blunt,

Miss Tendo, do you have equipment to generate extenders here?"

Nabiki looked somewhat insulted. "Please, officer, it'd be foolish of

me to make the same mistake twice. I'm out of the extender business,

thank you."

"Oh? So... what's TENDOM about then?"

Looking a bit more relaxed, Nabiki said, "TENDOM is just this little

company, as you see, a project to get me financially back on my feet."

"And TENDOM is in the business of...?"

"We're developing replacements for extenders. No offense meant."

Nabiki smiled, pleased that the statement had mildly offended the present

company.

"Replacements for extenders? WHAT can you use to replace extenders?!"

"Why, robotics, of course." She leaned back, a look of

self-satisfaction on her face. "Imagine, no more extender rampages! No

more questions on morality of labor conditions! Lower production costs!"

"We're obsolete now, is that what you're saying?" asked Marlowe, his

Ryouga fangs becoming a little prominent.

"Not so much obsolete but morally questionable."

"You sayin' I've got bad morals?!"

"No, I'm saying that it's become morally questionable to continue

the production of human beings merely to fit in as a gear in the clockwork

of society. We've created a slave class, and that's becoming unacceptable

to society. You can't tell me that you've got all the same rights as

'naturally born' people, even if you are an officer."

"Maybe not now, but things are changing," grumbled Marlowe.

"Yes, things are changing! There's going to be no more POINT in making

extenders, now that they're going to eventually get the same rights as

humans. What's going to stop an extender from refusing to do the job that

he was bought just to do? Nothing, if the extender rights movement keeps

going the way it is. Robots, on the other hand, don't have any desires,

no dreams, no complaints, no demands, and if you're cruel to a robot then

who's going to complain? What's so immoral about kicking around a

robot?"

Marlowe was about to say something in an angry response, but a quick

kick on the shin by Taro reminded him of the matter at hand. "So... have

you had any success so far?"

"Oh, we're doing very well, in the mechanics phase. We've got a

humanoid frame that's capable of mildly complex movements. Probbably find

a niche in the construction industry."

"Are these robots strong?" asked Marlowe.

"Very strong." Tendo didn't like where these questions were headed.

"And their AI?"

"They do what they're told. Nothing more."

"Can they handle complex tasks?" he asked, giving a slightly accusing

look to Nabiki.

"That... depends. Is there anything else you want?"

Marlowe gave a slight grin. It didn't mean anything but he hoped it'd

make Tendo a little nervous. Looking at his watch, he said, "Well... I

think I must be going now, Miss Tendo. Thank you for your time."

As they were striding out of the building, Taro pulled out a small

portable phone and started talking. "We're out, guys. Find anything?"

/We scanned the place as best as we could./

"And?"

/No extender tanks around here./

"How about the ministries?"

/The places with the tanks are the only ones that have'em./

"Thanks. Well, Marlowe, looks like that one's a miss. What do you

think?"

"What do I think? Well... let's see... someone was trying to line up

Miss Tendo for a fall."

"Incredible lack of evidence, though, isn't it?" asked Taro.

"Yeah... but... think on this. Maybe we aren't looking for an

extender."

"Oh. You think it's a robot?"

"Maybe. If Miss Tendo's being modest about how advanced their robots

are, then yeah, could be a robot. OR... it could be someone with an

interest in extender sales that wants to put an end to her project."

"Oh yeah... there is that. Say, I've been meaning to ask, but, how's

it feel to be an extender?"

"You mean the feeling that you're not an individual, and are in fact

one in every twenty faces out there?"

"Yeah."

"We all deal with it. S'no big deal. We get a manual to read when

we're bored. Coping with clonehood. Wanna read it?"

"No thanks."

Meanwhile, somewhere else...

*RIIIING*RIIIIING*RIII-

"Hello?"

/They just searched TENDOM, thoroughly./

"And?"

/They're clean./

"WHAT? But... but it has to be them! Who else could it..."

/Just telling you what happened./

"Did they scan the place?"

/From top to bottom./

"There... there has to be another lab somewhere... that's it..."

/Want me to start looking around?/

"Yeah, thanks."

/Don't worry, Gos, you've got an airtight alibi./

"And I'm innocent too."

/If you say so./

Somewhere, on the rooftops, it was a quiet, dark, neon & moonlight lit

night.

There was a shimmer.

A small spark of blue light.

Suddenly, the spark exploded into an oval shape, hovering in the air

for a secod... then dissapearing. In it's place, a young pig-tailed man

stood, gripping a flickering locket and wearing a grim expression.

Meanwhile...

The pawn shop owner sat in his small, crowded shop, watching the

rain drizzle by his storefront window. It was a slow day, like every

other day.

A few old computers sold here, some actual wood furniture sold

there... profitable, but slow.

The front door opened, slowly. A pale, gaunt individual walked in,

his eyes looking somewhat shifty.

"Hello! May I help you?"

The person glanced at him. "I'm... looking for jewelry... you might

say."

a few minutes later...

As Taro drove back to the station, Ed mulled over the case. Seemed to

be getting awfully political for a simple case of serial homicide. Ed

pushed those thoughts aside and decided to try out some of those zen

mental excercises to relieve some stress. He was finally getting into a

nice, quiet, zen-like state of mind when...

#All units, all units, head to 82nd and Main, the MHI building, repeat,

all units head to 82nd and Main, the MHI building, first floor pawn shop.

Two suspects, possibly armed and dangerous involved in street riot.

Repeat...#

"Oh well, let's see what's going on," said Taro.

So much for meditation thought Ed.

They arrived on the scene somewhat late. In front of a small pawn shop

on the first floor of the Meiji building there were already several squad

cars.

"What've we got?" he asked a passing officer.

"Looks like petty theft, assault, property damage, and murder," he

answered, pointing to a gaping hole in the side of the building. "There's

a dead Ryouga extender in the building and we've got one guy in custody

now. Says he's a Saotome, but he's got no identity on the MoD files."

"What's he look like? Skinny? Pale?" asked Ed.

"Nope. Kinda average, black hair, about five-seven, ponytail."

"Damn."

"But," added the officer, "the other guy was skinny."

"Other guy?"

"About five-six, black hair, short, skinny, pale.

"WHAT?!" Ed pulled out his cellular phone and started yelling...

From the rooftops nearby, a figure in the shadows grinned, spinning a

cane-like object in his hands briefly, then ran off into the night.

The prisoner transit vehicle rolled silently towards the station, a

solitary figure locked in the back. From a narrow slot, one of the

officers looked at their prisoner. The resemblance to the fiancee of

famous MoD head Akane Tendo was close, but it definitely wasn't Ranma

Saotome. While he put up quite a fight when the officers had tried to

apprehend him, at the moment he was looking extremely docile.

Satisfied that the prisoner would try nothing, the officer was about to

turn away when a sudden blinding flash of light struck. By the time his

vision cleared, the prisoner was gone.

Thirty minutes later...

"Great... just great," Ed muttered, sulking in the passenger seat of

Taro's car. "BOTH suspects got away clean."

"What d'ya think of the other guy we caught?" wondered Taro.

"The guy that dissapeared while in custody? Yeah, that was suspicious.

The guy matched the description and claimed to be a Saotome... although he

got the first name wrong, and the iris scan didn't match at all."

"Think someone's trying to set Akane Tendo's fiancee up for a fall?"

asked Taro.

"Could be... they tried to set up Nabiki Tendo already. Thing is...

WHO is behind all this? Is someone really out to scandalize the heads of

them Ministries? Are they working with the killer? Or was it just a case

of one bunch using another event to their own advantage?"

"Lotsa questions, Ed. Hey, we're at your place." The squad car pulled

over to a nondescript towering apartment complex and slowed to a stop.

"See ya tomorrow, Ed."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow, Pantyhose."

"Right, whatever, coffee-boy."

Taro drove off, leaving the Ryouga extender to stand out in the

sidewalk momentarily. Ed stopped for a moment to have a bit of idle

chit-chat with the doorman. A little about the weather, some talk of that

baseball pennant race, and a bit of politics. After a short while, he

said goodnight to the doorman and walked up the stairs (he was enough of a

health-minded person to make a point to use the stairs as often as

possible).

Finally, he reached his apartment, some floors up. Later, he would

criticize himself for allowing this to happen, especially with him being a

policeman and such. As he unlocked his door, Ed sensed something behind

him. He turned, but not quick enough as a severe blow to the back of the

head knocked him unconscious.

A lean figure, his features obscured in the shadows of the doorway,

grinned. "Hello again, Ryouga," he hissed. "Let's make some art."

Marlowe woke up groggily, feeling a throbbing pain in his wrists and

legs. His back seemed to be a bit stiff as well.

"Hello again," said a calm, cold voice. Ed opened his eyes and was met

with a sudden attack of acrophobia. "Nice view, isn't it?" asked his

captor, currently out of sight. Ed found himself tied to the minute arm

of the grand clock across from his apartment and many many floors up.

"What the hell is this? Who are you?" asked Marlowe.

There was a sigh.

"Ryouga, Ryouga," sighed the figure, sounding genuinely tired, "if you

STILL have to ask," he added, tightening the bonds on Marlowe's feet,

"then you are dense beyond belief."

"I'm warning you, I'm a MoS officer! Crimes committed against officers

of the law will get you SERIOUS punishment! Do you hear me?!" yelled Ed.

The figure finally came into view, putting his face right next to

Marlowe's in an angry scowl. "Policeman, plumber, delivery guy, ALL your

little disguises, Ryouga, they don't matter to me." In the glow of the

dim light, he could see clearly it -was- Hikaru Gosunkugi, or an

incredible imitation of him. There was something different in his manner,

however. The way his eyes bore down on him, the way he sneered, the

nature of his movements was, for lack of a better descrition,

somewhat snake-like. Also, he couldn't see exactly, but from the corner

of his eye, Ed could see that the stranger was twirling a cane of some

sort in one of his hands.

"My name is Ed Ryouga Marlowe, NOT just Ryouga, and you'd better untie

me NOW, Gosunkugi." At the mention of the name 'Gosunkugi', the

Gosunkugi-ish figure flinched.

"WHY you keep on adding on names to your own I've never figured out,

Ryouga," said the Gosunkugi lookalike, "and I most certainly am not

Gosunkugi." With that said, he punched Ed in the nose. There was a

muffled snapping sound and Ed grunted in pain. "Offend me again and I'll

do more than break your nose."

The Gosnkugi-like figure glanced upwards, where the hour hand of the

clock was up high. "You see that hour arm up there? You notice the time?

It's about... 12:17am right now." He paused, looking a bit meditative.

If this was a robot thought Marlowe, it had incredibly advanced AI.

It's either that, or an extender gone wild.

"You know, I've never talked to you much before... in all those times

I've killed you, that is," mumbled the Gosunkugi-ish person. "But now...

you see... I'm leaving. And I wanted to make a statement before I left.

You see up there? There's a bomb in that arm. I know, I know, I've never

done bombs before, not really my style... but I wanted to stretch my wings

a little."

Ed opened his mouth to say something, but a quick punch to the jaw

ended that attempt. "Don't interrupt, I'm ranting. Now, where was I...

oh. The bomb. When next the minute and hour arms touch... there should

be a big red spot on the clock face for all to see." The person peered at

Ed, as if thinking things over. "Oh... I almost forgot, you could still

call for help. Must fix that." Whatever was twirling in the

Gosunkugi-twin's hand came to a stop and was lifted. Marlowe felt cold

steel touching his neck.

"Any last words before I momentarily disable your ability to speak?"

If he managed to survive this experience, he'd want to know one

thing... and he asked. "Yeah... why?"

"Why? Why what?"

"Why me? Why Ryougas? Why'd you do it?"

The Gosunkugi-person's face darkened. "Oh... oh oh oh... there's too

many reasons... you were first just a thorn in my side... then you became

a REAL PAIN... and then... and then you JUST HAD to kill her, didn't you?

But... butbutbut... I cut you I stab you I choke you I beat YOUR BRAINS

OUT and there should be only ONE of you... only one of you HERE, anyways,

but you STILL WON'T GO AWAY! WHY WON'T YOU STAY DEAD?!" His face turned

red with anger, and then after a deep breath, the mask of calm and order

returned to his features. "And there you have it."

"What the hell are you?"

"Sorry, I've wasted enough time. Goodbye." The Gosunkugi-thing raised

it's arm back, and the cane-like object became somewhat clearer... it was

something black, with a curved handle... but the most obvious feature was

the two inch blade at the end. Everything else was unclear in the dim

light.

Not a good way to die thought Marlowe with much gloom. He shut his

eyes and braced for the impact of metal on flesh.

Instead, there was a gunshot.

He opened his eyes and turned his head as far as it could go. He

managed to see the Gosunkugi lookalike stagger back, clutching his

shoulder, then falling off the edge of the ledge.

"Hey, Marlowe, that you?" came a voice from above.

"Hiroshi?!"

"Heya, Marlowe! Small world isn't it?"

Det. Hiroshi, on the ledge above the clock, looked down. He'd been

waiting here on a hunch that the rooftop vandal would show up near here.

In the process, he'd fallen asleep for a short while. But after a while

the sounds of ranting woke him up. He peeked over just in time to see

someone about to stab a Ryouga extender. Remembering about the case from

talk in the office, Hiroshi realized what was going on and took a shot

just before what appeared to be an attempt at murder took place.

"Get down here an' untie me!" yelled Marlowe.

"Hold on, I'm watchin' the guy drop!" Maybe it was sadistic of him,

but Hiroshi couldn't help but watch as the body flew through the air

towads unyielding pavement below.

Down below, Ed's temper was ticking. "CUT THE CRAP AND GET ME OUTTA

HERE!"

Meanwhile, Hiroshi was keeping track of the descent. "60, 50, 40

floors...whoa! Somethin' weird Marlowe," said Hiroshi.

"Yeah? What?"

"Your guy's glowin' blue!"

"What?!"

Far below, as the Gosunkugi lookalike plunged downward, he began

glowing blue, then became a bright blue comet blazing towards the street.

And then...

"What the hell?!" yelled Hiroshi.

"WHAT? WHAT? UNTIE ME ALREADY SO I CAN SEE WHAT'S GOING ON!" roared

Marlowe.

"Your guy just dissapeared."

Down below, a street urchin heard something clatter. He picked up a

large, black stick-like object. Seemed to be relatively unscratched. The

pawn shops oughta give him a decent amount for this...

A couple of days later, Marlowe was back in the office typing out the

report for the case. His nose was bandaged up, getting him unwanted

glances. To add insult to injury, Taro inked a piggy nose onto the cast

while Ed was asleep. It wasn't a good start to the day. However, the

coffee was good, and Shinnosuke managed to remember to get more plastic

cups.

He took a sip of coffee and thought the case over. It started out as

just another serial murder... then got messy when the name Hikaru

Gosunkugi was dragged into it. After some anonymous tips, things were

getting damn political.

Whoever the killer was, it was confirmed that it was definitely not

Gosunkugi. While Ed was held captive, Gosunkugi was a guest at a very

public party. His alibi was airtight.

Who was the killer? From blood samples at the clock tower confirmed

that it wasn't likely to be a Gosunkugi extender... unless the DNA was

altered in his growth stage so that he wouldn't be exactly like Gosunkugi.

If they had the patience to alter blood and DNA, why not just make him

look like a non-celebrity... unless they wanted Gosunkugi blamed for the

murders.

Which lead to the revenge factor, and Nabiki Tendo. Her robotics,

perhaps? No... robots don't bleed. Although... cyborgs do. A little

plastic surgery, some robotic enhancements. But what would Nabiki Tendo

gain by slaughtering Ryouga extenders? Nothing, really. She'd benifit by

causing extender rampages, not killing them off.

The Gosunkugi lookalike mentioned a 'her' that was killed. Ed began

wondering who. The only dead woman of any importance he could think of

was Kodachi Kuno. Maybe this was a post-death arrangement she made just

in case she met a premature end? But then what did she have against

Ryougas?

And what about the way that Gosunkugi-thing dissapeared? Big blue

glow, then nothing. Teleport technology wasn't a reality, unless the

government was hiding something (and considering their past behaviour,

that was a possibility). Self destruct, perhaps? It could've been. The

wind was a bit strong that night, and if he'd burned himself to ashes,

they'd be scattered all over the city. Even the weapon he was carrying

wasn't found.

"Screw it, screw it screw it screw it." He closed the file on his word

processor and took another sip of coffee. Ah... a good brew today.

Marlowe had a feeling that this case was over and there'd be _no_ answers

from the Powers That Be. Might as well close it out.

He took another sip of coffee, then stared at it... and then started

glowing an intense red.

"SHINNOSUKEEEEEEEEE!"

Meanwhile, down at the lab...

"Hey, where'd those urine sample cups go?"

-end prelude-

What seest thou else

In the dark backward and abysm of time?

-W. Shakespeare

Time to live

Time to lie

Time to laugh

Time to die

Takes it easy, baby

Take it as it comes

Don't move too fast

And you want your love to last

Oh, you've been movin' much too fast

Time to walk

Time to run

Time to aim your arrows

At the sun

-The Doors

Converging Series Web Site: ~rpm/converging_series/

Ranma 2096 Web Site: .ca/~

Childra Jansen's subpage: .ca/~

Hibiki Zannen's subpage: .ca/~

ConSer Editor's Preface:

Well now, what to say...

Trisha's always been on my to-read list, and having her write up a story for

Converging Series was something that pleasantly surprised me (and had me

worried, remind me to tell you kids about the Converging Series Curse some

time).

As for the subjects she writes, wella...

Every 'epic' story usually has the hero, the villain, the crisis, and the

romance.

Ishido and Childra are that romance.

Readers of Converging Series often ask us what we plan to do with the pair,

since there is a distinct possibility that these lovebirds may be torn apart

by the ol' sea of time.

Well, this story answers that, I suppose.

It also meets the base needs of man in several ways.

1) It features a lesbian relationship. A lot of men, myself included, find

that sort of thing darn irresistible.

2) It's got the younger man/older woman angle going. You folks ever stop

and think about how old Childra really is? Or how young Ishido is? Slight

oedipal complex on his part? Mmmmmmmmaybe.

3) It's got the older woman/younger woman angle going. See (1) for any

further notes.

Ah. Right. Okay, by now I guess I've set you all up to think that this is

one big lemon orgy-fest.

Aheh, sorry, no. n.n;;;

But it's about people, folks. It's about the heart of the matter, when all

the fighting and adventuring and all that are done, and you're faced with a

future of question marks.

I just love those kinda stories, don't you?

-rod

R2096 Editor's Preface:

This story already has its opening and ending quotes, but I'll add my own

'Editor's Preface Quote':

"Never fall in love with a bisexual. It will only give you indigestion."

-From the movie 'Costa Brava'.

Words to live by, especially if the one falling in love is monosexual and

unaware of the other's inclinations. Childra Jansen has had it rather easy

so far, as romantic triangles go. She's popped into another dimension,

found a young (VERY young) lover, and had a few enjoyable moments, but

nothing lasts, and sometime, soon, she's going to have to make a choice.

In 1996 ConSer Nerima, she's found Ishido Takashima - young, sweet, straight

and occasionally psychotic. In R2096's 2096, she's left Zannen Hibiki - the

swashbuckling head of the Exploratory History department at U of Tokyo, and

a lesbian. Both her lovers are intensily monogamous and monosexual, and

unaware that Childra is neither.

How to make the choice? Or must there be a choice? Trisha deals wonderfully

with the inner workings of Miss Jansen's mind in the following short story.

Enjoy!

Childra & Ishido: In Her Wildest Dreams

A Converging Series side story

by

Trisha L. Sebastian

[Childra Jansen, Zannen Hibiki and the Exploratory History department are

creations of Chris Willmore. Ishido/Lobishomem belongs to Kevin Eav. They

are being used with permission.]

[The Ranma Universe is being used without permission. Please don't sue me.

In addition, this side story goes between Act 5 and Act 6 of the Converging

Series.]

"Blimey. I'm shagging a lesbian."

"..."

"Do I get a prize?"

-Garth Ennis

Childra and Ishido turned away from the window that Happosai flew out of and

the blue blaze of light that burned into their retinas.

"Do you think he's gonna make it alright to ... wherever he's going?" Ishido

asked, his eyes scanning the scattered magical instruments and the women's

underwear around the room.

Childra shrugged, "It doesn't matter right now." She threw her arms around

Ishido and hugged him tightly. "What matters is that now that he's gone, we

can concentrate on us!" She gave him a seductive look and her lips closed

in on his-

"What in the world just happened here?" Childra and Ishido whirled around

guiltily.

Miyabi stood in the doorway, her hands on her hips. At the moment, she

looked so much like the Akane she remembered from the future that Childra

couldn't help but grin. She hugged Ishido tighter to her. "I was about to

give my Lobishomem a great big hug for saving my life!"

Ishido turned bright red and Miyabi couldn't help but beam at seeing at

least one couple who could get along together. Childra tugged on Ishido's

arm and drawing Miyabi aside with the other, she firmly closed the door on

the old lech's room. She gave a knowing wink to both of them. "We best not

stay too long; he might come back." Ishido frowned and Childra inwardly

shuddered, remembering Happosai's grimy hands all over her breasts.

"So," she asked, walking arm in arm with them down the stairs, "have we

missed dinner?"

Childra snuggled up comfortably against Ishido's shoulder as they walked

down the street back to Ucchan's. She had finished her dinner with a

satisfied sigh. No matter what kinds of technology the twenty-first century

had to offer, nothing, just nothing could beat Kasumi's cooking. She would

have to remember to tell that to Zannen when she got back-

Childra frowned. Go back? Did she have to go back? She was having a

wonderful time in the twentieth century, finally figuring out if her

theories about this era were correct. She loved talking to Akane, seeing

her instead of seeing right through her. She loved eating at Ucchan's,

loved wandering around Nerima, loved everything. She could do what ever she

wanted to do in this timeline and when it was all over, she could go back

home without any ill effects to the time stream.

Ryo Saotome had no clue about what he was talking about. Even though he was

the one who had brought them all together in this parallel time stream, he

had no clue about how the actual mechanics of time travel worked. She, on

the other hand, knew everything. She was taught by the best.

Childra thought back to the first time she came back from a trip through the

EH's 'time machine'. She was studying Darwin's voyages through the

Galapagos, hoping to finish her research on him for her thesis. She came

back flushed and excited. What a darling man he was.

Happily, she floated out of the changing room. Her notes were tucked away

in her bandolier, her *private* notes. Her new insights on Darwin would

change everything they knew about him. She was so lost in euphoria that she

didn't notice the woman blocking her path until it was too late.

"Oh, I'm sorry, ma'am..." Childra's voice trailed off when she noticed who

the woman was. "Director Hibiki, I didn't mean to run into you like that."

The woman nodded her head in a regal fashion. "No harm done. Tell me, Ms.

Jansen, did you enjoy your trip?"

Childra grinned. "I loved it! The clothes, the people, Darwin... Every

thing was so fabulous. I only wish that I could have had more time there.

There's so many things I left unfinished." Like her tryst with Darwin.

"The twenty-minute limit *is* a pain, isn't it?" There was a hint of a smile

on the director's lips. "Nonetheless, I've found time can be quite

flexible... in the right hands."

"Directress?"

The smile was now full-grown, lazy and feral. "Call me Zannen, and we can

discuss this some more tomorrow when you report to my office."

"Yes, Dir- Zannen."

Zannen. Funny, for all the time that she had spent in the past (or an

alternate version of the past) she had not thought of her lover once.

Childra used to be scared of her. The technicians and all the other EH

operatives called her "the ice queen" and other names that referred to her

antecedents and sexual preference. But after that meeting in her office and

dinner later on, she realized that the icy facade hid a tender woman, who

had to keep up the facade to get her way in the world.

Zannen wasn't an ice queen. She was the pirate queen without a ship. She

once wore a costume one Halloween, a red silk blouse knotted at the waist,

tight black shorts slashed at the knees and calf high black leather boots.

She was the hit of the EH party, with her gold hoop earings and a real 15th

century Spanish cutlass she had belted to her hip. She was all fire that

night, charming all the male executives, then laughing in their faces when

she had rebuffed their advances. Her Zannen. And later that evening, when

they had tumbled into bed, Zannen was all ice, raising goosebumps on her

flesh with her cool kisses driving her insane with her methodical slowness

until she couldn't take anymore. Zannen had undone her completely that

night. Much as Ishido had with his shy tenderness...

Ishido stopped and stared down at her. Childra was completely silent, her

eyes drawn and her mouth twisted into a sad smile. He blessed the heavens

every moment when he saw her. Ishido felt that if she asked him to run a

marathon, then fight a hundred warriors, all while balancing an egg

vertically on a spoon held between his teeth, he would cheerfully ask where

they kept the eggs. He didn't think that there should be anything in this

world that should hurt her. But she seemed so strong, so self-sufficient

that he didn't think that there was anything wrong. She told him that she

was

his; she told him that she would stay. So when he nudged her with his

shoulder and asked her what was wrong, he was expecting to see her smile

brightly at him, assure him everything was alright and banish the small well

of fear that started to spring up in his stomach.

Childra turned towards him with a smile and said, "Hey, Lobis, I've got a

good idea. Instead of going to Ucchan's tonight, why don't we go someplace

else? Somewhere secluded and romantic." She smiled again, grabbing onto

his arm tightly. "Let's try one of those love hotels that I used to read

about."

Ishido gulped. "Love hotels?" He blushed to his eyebrows and Childra

laughed. She pushed against his shoulder and gave him a quick kiss on the

cheek. She fluttered her eyelashes and smiled, "For me?"

Ishido swallowed back the lump in his throat. How could he ever refuse her?

He nodded and Childra smiled, pumping her arm and shouting, "Yatta!" She

dragged him off to a phone booth. "There's this one I read about when I was

back home. It's supposed to be near here..." Ishido smiled as Childra

yammered on and on about the hotel, not noticing the brief flare of pain in

her brown eyes.

Ishido was still blushing by the time they reached the hotel. He stared at

the menu of choices. Each room had a picture of what it looked like, with a

key box underneath. He recoiled in horror from the picture of a certain

room with pink frilly sheets, a heart-shaped bed and a disco ball. Childra's

eyes followed his gaze and she laughed. "Is that you're style, Lobis?"

He shook his head rapidly and she gushed, "But it's so cute! And I just

adore that disco ball!" He gave her a stern look and intoned, "We are not

going there."

Childra shrugged. Then her eyes fell on a room with dark paneling and a

Victorian bed. She tapped it thoughtfully with her forefinger. "Do you

like that one?" she asked him.

Ishido shrugged. Now that they were actually here, he was starting to feel

uneasy about the idea. "Whatever is fine with you is fine with me. I trust

you, Childra."

Childra beamed at him. She grabbed the keys out of the hole and tugged him

in the direction of the hotel. Laughing, she tugged him up the stairs,

briskly opened up the door and shoved him in. Locking it behind her, she

leaned back against it dramatically and said huskily, "Now, finally, we're

alone together." Slowly and deliberately, she pulled out the neck- line of

her shirt and dropped the key in.

Ishido gulped. "What are you doing?"

"Well," she said, stalking towards him with a predatory gleam in her eye, "I

get the distinct feeling that you don't want to be here. So, I'm gonna let

you go."

"And?" Ishido knew by now that with Childra there would always be some sort

of condition attached to any offer that she had to make. Especially if it

concerned him, her, and a private hotel room.

"Well," she said, drawing the word out and trailing a finger up his arm,

"you can leave *if* you can get the key."

"The key?" Ishido gulped again, looking down at her chest, then back up at

her face.

"Yep." There was a whole lot of meaning placed into that small little word.

Childra laughed as she saw Ishido reach for her arm, then pull away

hesitantly.

"What's the matter, Lobis? Afraid of a little cleavage?" she taunted him,

circling him like a shark does a bloody hunk of meat in the water.

"I'm not afraid," he said, watching her out of the corner of his eye.

"Oh, really?" she stated, hugging him from behind. He could feel her

breasts press up against him, and the metal of the key digging into his

back.

Ishido grinned. "Really." With a lightning quick motion, he reached over

his shoulder and bending slightly, he flipped her over his back and into his

arms. Surprised, Childra saw the wolfish grin on his face as he carried her

off to the bed. He tossed her onto it and pounced next to her.

Childra's eyes glittered with excitement as he kissed her, his passion

burning into her lips. He quickly made short work of her clothing and his

and dropping the key onto the nightstand, they made love under the Victorian

canopy.

Childra awoke with a start, and found herself alone in the large bed. Zannen

was nowhere to be found. Blinking back sleep, Childra swung her legs out of

the bed, nearly hitting her head on the canopy, and got up, searching for

her slippers. She pushed back the heavy drapes that concealed their

apartment windows and blinked out at the morning sun. All of Tokyo lay

spread out in front of her, the university a large white span of land to her

right. If she squinted, she could see the EH offices in the distance. Is

that where Zannen had gone?

She dressed quickly, gulping down a glass of orange juice from the

refrigerator and took the stairs down two at a time. People jostled about

her as

they went to work, to school. Getting her bearings, she pushed her way in

the opposite direction of the stream of commuters and towards the EH

offices.

The fact that Zannen did not wake up beside her bothered her a bit. Usually

Zannen was loathe to wake up when she could sleep in. Usually, while

Childra dressed and showered, Zannen would have prepared breakfast for the

two of them before they went about their business, Childra to classes,

Zannen to... whatever. But Zannen was not in their bed. Childra had woken

up alone.

In no time at all, Childra found herself in the lobby of the EH building.

The receptionist who usually greeted her with a smile was replaced by a dour

young man who bore a strange resemblance to Ryo Saotome. Ryo Saotome? Where

did that name come from?

She found her way to the Directress' office, and knocked hesitantly. No

answer. She yanked hard on the door latch and it wouldn't budge. Panic

rising in the back of her throat, she clawed and hammered at the door, until

it finally opened from the inside. A man looked down at her with familiar

green eyes. "Childra!" he exclaimed.

Childra stumbled back, and the man grabbed her by the arm and pulled her

inside. The man dragged her to a chair and pushed her into it. Then,

turning slowly in front of her, he asked, "Well, what do you think?"

"Huh? What do I think of what? Who are you?"

The man smiled a feral grin. "What, don't you recognize me? It's me,

Zannen."

Zannen? Childra could only stare as he strutted up to her and sat on the

edge of the desk. "You're the one who wanted me to do this, remember?" he

smiled, legs swinging back and forth.

"Do what?" Childra whispered in a small voice.

"Be a man, after all, that's what you really want, isn't it?" Suddenly his

(her?) voice turned cold. "I know about him, I know all about him, your

little play toy in the 20th century."

Childra's heart stopped, and Zannen continued, his wide smile reminding her

of shark's teeth. "So, I took the liberty of going back to wherever he was

and killing him. I stopped at Jusenkyo, too." He placed a hand on her,

squeezing her bicep painfully. "Now you can have your cake and 'eat' it

too." Laughing softly, he moved in to kiss her, pointed teeth dripping with

blood-

Childra awoke with a start. Ishido still slept beside her, his breathing

deep and regular. Impulsively, she latched on to him, hugging him deeply.

He stirred and slowly sat up.

"Oh, Ishido, I'm so glad to be here with you!" she murmured into his back,

pressing kisses against it. Ishido said nothing, but instead swung his legs

out of bed and gathering his clothing, he went to the bathroom and locked

the door.

Childra stared after him in amazement. What was wrong with him today? She

dressed in silence, her fingers fumbling with her blouse and bandolier.

Settling a dagger on her hip, she rapped on the bathroom door. "Come out,

Lobis? Don't you want to play with me?"

The door slammed back open and Ishido stalked out. "Ready." It was less of

a question than it was a declaration. Confused, Childra followed Ishido out

the hotel and back down towards the Tendo dojo. Childra tried to grab his

arm, but he shook her off and continued on. "What's wrong?" she asked, a

worried expression on her face.

"It's nothing you can fix..." Ishido's voice trailed away into a word

that sounded like...

"What did you call me?" Childra placed both hands on his chest.

"Nothing more than what you deserve." Ishido walked on resolutely towards

the dojo, Childra following in his wake.

When they got to the dojo, Ryo Saotome was there, a jubilant expression on

his face. "I finally figured it out!" he crowed. "We can all go back

home!" He held up the locket, and a blue portal sprung up in front of them.

As if from nowhere, Miyabi, Ratiko and Gosling emerged from the house and

disappeared into the portal, and Ishido stepped forward as well.

"Ishido! Where are you going?" she cried as she grabbed his arm. "Don't

leave me!"

"I have to," he said in a dull tone. "I can't stand to be near you any

longer."

What? Childra recoiled from him and he shook her hand free. From the

portal, Zannen appeared, her green eyes smiling at Childra. She crossed to

her and enfolded her in a loving embrace.

Ishido turned away. "I know, I know all about her, your dyke lover. She

came to me and told me all about you two. She told me that we could all

live together happily. I'd rather kill myself first. I'm leaving."

"But Ishido! I thought you loved her?" Zannen called out, Childra squirming

in her grasp.

Ishido stalked towards them, his eyes turning black and soulless. "After

she lied to me? Used me as a sex toy? And you has the nerve to suggest I'd

want to be the third member in a twisted threesome?" He spat in her face.

"You make me sick, you whore."

No! Childra screamed as he ran into the blue-black portal, the mists

swirling around him as Zannen held her tightly, Childra's tears streaming

down her face, remembering the look in his black, black eyes-

Childra woke up with a start. Immediately, she felt the bed to the right of

her, then to the left. She was not alone. Sitting up, she breathed a sigh

of relief, then bent over to her right. Pushing back the covers, she leaned

over and breathed softly, "Time to wake up, Ishido."

He mumbled something, then went back to sleep. "Alright, time to bring out

the big guns," Childra said aloud. She reached under the covers and gently

raked her fingers over Ishido's left flank. He sat up abruptly, captured

her hand in his and pushed her back onto the bed. "No tickling," he

murmured to her. "You promised."

"That was last night," she giggled. "This is tomorrow!" Pouncing on him,

she brought both hands to bear, arrowing for his sides, as he tried to keep

her still against the bed. Together, they rolled over to the left and

bumped into something.

"Whazzzat?" Zannen muttered to herself, and lashed out with a kick, sending

Childra and Ishido flying off the other side of the bed. Of course every

action has its equal and opposite reaction, and Zannen learned this the hard

way when she crashed onto the floor. She crawled to the Victorian bed, and

pulling herself up, she angrily stalked over to the giggling, wriggling heap

at the other end of the bed. "Keep it quiet! I'm trying to sleep!"

"Well, I think it's time you woke up then!" Childra grabbed Zannen by the

ankles and tugged downwards, overbalancing her and toppling Zannen onto

Ishido. Then, she leaped onto the pile, one hand tickling Zannen's back, the

other Ishido's flank. They giggled and wrestled, tag-teamed and

double-teamed, until they were tired, sweaty and flushed with happiness.

Finally, Zannen got up off the floor to make breakfast, Ishido took to the

bathroom for a shower and Childra was left making the bed.

It was so good to have them all together like this. It was a good idea to

bring the two loves of her lives into the same century and dimension so they

could get a chance to meet each other and get to know one another. Frankly,

Childra was afraid at first that Zannen would want to kill Ishido, or that

Ishido would want to leave her when he found out, but things turned out

alright in the end. "Everything is perfect," Childra mused to herself.

"That's why you can tell this isn't real."

Childra whirled around, and her face turned hard. "You."

Childra Jansen sighed, and stepped out of the blue swirling portal. "I hate

to be the bearer of bad news, honey, but none of this is real. It's just a

dream."

"It may just be a dream, but it's the dream that I want!" Childra glared at

her doppelganger, and the doppelganger stared back amusedly. "Why can't you

leave us alone?"

"Because I'm you, sweetheart. I know just as well as you do what you want.

You want things to be perfectly happy, but it's not gonna happen." The

doppelganger waved a hand, and an image of Ishido appeared. "It's true.

He'd hate you forever if he learned that you lied to him about your past."

Her other hand waved, and Zannen appeared. "And she *would* kill anyone who

got between her and you. And then, she'd kill you." The double leaned

against a bed post. "You've got a tough choice to make."

"But why do I have to choose? Why can't I have both?" Childra wailed, her

eyes darting from Ishido to Zannen and back again.

"That's not the way the cosmos works. Usually, you only would have met one

of them. You're cheating by having multiple lives. You have to choose."

The doppelganger looked at her watch. "Come on, time is slipping away."

Childra looked at Zannen, her first lover, the first one to truly trust her

capabilities, to see her potential. Then, she saw Ishido, the man who

showed her that she was a real woman, not a pale imitation of someone else.

Torn, between the two, she fell to the floor. "I can't."

"Too bad. Looks like I'll have to make the choice for you." In her

double's hand glowed a wicked Tibetan dagger, a twin to the one Nutkin used

to exorcise ghosts. She hefted it by the handle, then hurled it towards

the two flickering images.

Childra screamed, then time seemed to slow down, as she rushed to intercept

the dagger. She could see her double laughing, eyes glowing red, as her

teeth became fangs. The dagger sliced through the air, charged with

mystical energies, homing in on its target. Childra flung herself into the

air, trying to push Zannen's shade aside, and felt a burning pressure in her

chest. Looking down, she saw the dagger embedded in her chest, her heart

pulsating around it, making the dagger twitch. She turned to see Ishido's

shade look at her reproachfully as Zannen put her arms around her,

supporting her as she slumped to the floor and everything went black-

Childra woke up with a start. "No no no no noooooo!" she wailed, lurching

up out of bed. Beside her, Ishido turned in his sleep, exposing a shoulder.

Impulsively, she kissed his shoulder, hugging him fiercely. "I'll never let

you go," she whispered to him.

"Never let who go?" a voice questioned from the darkness. Childra whirled

around and narrowed her eyes at a shrinking circle of blue light. "No, this

is just a dream, this is just a dream," she muttered, still clutching

Ishido's shoulder. He stirred in his sleep.

"Is it?" Zannen emerged from the darkness, wearing a severe business suit.

Her eyes glittered as she sat down next to Childra, who was shuddering on

the bed. "You've been gone for a long time, love. Didn't you think I'd

come looking for you?"

"But I saw you... you said you killed..." Childra gibbered, blinking through

the tears that filled her eyes.

Zannen reached out to the younger woman, gathering her up in her arms and

rocking her. She put one hand on her hair and kissed Childra's forehead.

"Me? Kill someone? You know I'd never do that."

Childra pulled back and her eyes narrowed. "Truly?"

Zannen laughed. "Okay, maybe I'd kill someone, but only if I had good

reason. You know me, Childra, better than anyone. I need probable cause if

I'm going to go on one of my rage sprees." She frowned when Childra pulled

back and stood up. "What's wrong?"

"This is only a dream, I might as well tell you," she muttered. Childra

gathered up her courage and took a deep breath. "What would you say if you

found out that I was cheating on you?"

Zannen blinked. "And you're asking me this, because...?"

"Because I am."

Zannen took a look at Childra, peering into her eyes. "They're brown. Your

eyes are brown."

"Of course they are, you've always known they were," Childra said

impatiently.

"No, I mean they're brown *now*. Why did you take out your contact lenses?

I've always liked them on you." Zannen perused Childra's face, cupping her

chin with one hand, turning her head from side to side.

"Stop it! This is serious. I'm having an affair... I've had affairs,"

Childra continued. She gestured to Ishido next to her.

Zannen chuckled. "If this is your idea of a joke..." Her voice trailed

off as she realized that both Childra and the boy next to her were naked.

Childra gulped. "This is not a joke." She watched as a dozen emotions

flitted across Zannen's face. Her lips tightened in anger, her jaw

clenching as she stared at Ishido, her dark green eyes boring into hers.

"Why."

It was not a question. Childra pulled up the covers over Ishido and got up

from the bed, Zannen following her to the window seat.

"I suppose you've been wondering where I've been." Zannen sat in stony

silence. "Well, since you've found me, then I guess you know both where and

when I've been and-"

"Why."

"I had just met up with Rat- Reiraku and we were going to go see if we

could find another friend of ours, Kim Thompson." Childra peered at Zannen,

who was fiercely silent. "Then, out of nowhere, some boy appears in a flash

of blue. He bumped into Reiraku and the both of them started to disappear."

"And you followed him."

Childra threw up her hands in disgust. "What else could I do? Did you

honestly want your nephew to disappear in a time portal? Especially with

how much he gets around on his own?" She watched Zannen's eyes soften when

she mentioned Reiraku. "So I followed them, and met up with other time

travelers, and we ended up here, in a universe where Ranma and Akane are

still alive."

"And the boy."

"I'm getting to that part." Childra looked over at the bed where Ishido

lay. "When I met him, I was just teasing him, trying to make the most of

the time adventure I was going on. I mean the others were so concerned

about time and its consequences, especially that Ryo Saotome." Zannen's eyes

widened. "Yeah, he's a son of Ranma's from an alternate future. So while

Miyabi was worrying about getting her parents together, and Reiraku was

worrying about ensuring his future, and Ryo was worrying about repairing the

time stream, I met Ishido."

"Who's he, another son of Ranma's?" Zannen asked, her voice cold.

"No, I'm not sure what place he has in his universe. He is in no way

related to any of the Prime Mover families, as far as I can tell. He was

just caught up in this mess, and I thought I could..." Childra's voice

faltered.

"You thought you could have a good fuck with him, and screw whatever

relationship you had back in your own time." Zannen said flatly.

"No! That's not it at all!" Childra cried. She grabbed Zannen's cold hands

in her own. "I love you, Zannen."

Zannen laughed harshly. "You have a twisted way of showing it."

Childra clutched at Zannen's hands. "When I first met you, I was dazzled by

you. By the idea of you, the power you held, your solitude, your

compassion. And most importantly, by the trust you placed in me." She

stared into Zannen's eyes, hoping to see a spark of sympathy, of pain, of

anything but this dead coldness.

"You took me in, you soothed my fears, you taught me love, you gave me

life... all the things that I've always wanted." She looked down at

Zannen's hands. "All the things I've always needed. But never once did you

let me show those things to you." Zannen inhaled sharply and Childra

continued.

"Have you ever been so thoroughly frightened by anything? So frightened

that you need to find someone to comfort you, to take you in her arms and

hold you, and tell you everything's going to be alright?" She reached up a

hand to Zannen's cheek. "So many times you've done that for me when I wake

up from those nightmares I have. But I've never done that for you."

Zannen moved her lips and Childra placed a finger against them. "What about

when we make love? Always you stalk me, tease me, thrill me... When do I

get to do the same to you?"

Childra sighed. "In Ishido, I see very much the same person I used to be

before I met you. Alone, afraid, lost. I wanted to give him what you give

me and gradually I fell in love, both with him, and with the person I became

in order to do it. I became you."

"Zannen, I don't know what's going to happen to me when I go back home, and

I am going back home. I've changed so much since you've last seen me. I

don't know if you're ever going to love me again, much less trust me after

what I've done to you." She pulled her other hand out of Zannen's and

cupped her face. "Zannen, I *do* love you, and I always will."

Zannen's green eyes softened, as she leaned forwards to kiss Childra.

And Childra woke up.

Ishido woke up with a start. He sensed that he was alone in the bed. A

small panic rose in the back of his throat. "Childra?" he called out

hesitantly. A small murmur answered him and he rose out of bed to join her

at the window seat. "Is there anything wrong?"

Childra took a deep breath and smiled. "No, nothing's wrong. Everything's

great." She hugged him closely to her, clinging to him. Tenderly, he put

his arms around her and caressed her cheek. Her eyes were puffy, like she'd

been crying. Ishido felt a shiver of alarm. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Childra nodded, and buried her face into his shoulder. Ishido patted her on

her back. "Come on, let's get out of here," he said, and sniffling, she

nodded. As he pulled back, he noticed something different about her. It

bugged him while she made the bed, and when they checked out of the hotel.

It wasn't until they reached the Tendo dojo that he realized what it was.

Childra's eyes were green again.

"It is very stupid, really, to run off and leave a perfectly

kind and sympathetic man. ...to run off with no understanding

at all of his true feelings, with no purpose other than to

attract attention and hope to upset him-it is an unplesant sort of

memory to have to live with."

-Lady Murasaki, in 'The Tale of Genji'

THE END

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

8-5-98: For some strange reason I like Childra Jansen. She intrigues me.

How did a woman with so much spirit, so much lust for live end up with a

namby-pamby like Ishido? Not that I don't like him, but frankly, I'm too

much of a Zannen fan to like him. I'm instantly drawn to strong female

characters, (being female myself ^_^) and Chris Willmore's visions of strong

women fascinated me so much that I decided to risk the Converging Series

curse and get involved in this little enterprise. Any comments about this

story can be sent to me at sebast5228 and all flames will be

sent to Skeride, so she can hunt you down and exorcise your ghost.

Trisha L. Sebastian tls Proud Member of the BML Productions Crew