Chapter 8: The Circle Closes
Toshio Kuno ordered his driver to get him to the airport as fast as possible. Tatewaki had to be stopped quickly. Three of the ninjas on his staff had been supplying the younger Kuno with information regarding what was going on back in Nerima. Tatewaki knew before Toshio did that Ranma Saotome was in custody. What the youngster didn't know was that Ranma was in protective custody. The young martial artist was ill due to something his idiot sire had done and the rest of the lad's family was out of town. Tatewaki thought Ranma was going to be locked away for life, so he was on his way to tell Akane and insist that they be married.
"She will finally kill him," Toshio thought. "If Ranma is missing and Akane thinks Tatewaki is responsible, it's all over. He's no match for her anymore; she's several orders of magnitude beyond him. I have to get my nephew back to Muroran before the police bring Akane back to Nerima."
Fortunately, things were moving slowly in Nerima and he had Sanu to thank for that (of all people). The busybody judge was (unknowingly) preventing the police from ordering a boat out to get Mrs. Saotome and Akane. Sasuke was still keeping tabs on the Saotome and the Tendos, so Toshio knew where everyone was. Everyone except Tatewaki that is…
Grimly, he reflected on the three ninja traitors and the orders he left regarding them. "People can be for me or against me," he thought. "My employees better be for me, but I tolerate divided loyalties – someone's got to have the families. I expect them to be declared though – I want to know what and when I can count on people. I even tolerate divided loyalties among my ninjas – I know Sasuke is fond of the kids and he's fond of the Tendos, and he's not the only one with favorites. But if you say you're with me and then work to undercut me, that's a whole other matter…"
His phone rang while he was reflecting. A glance told him who it was: "Speak to me, Sasuke. And please give me some good news…"
Sasuke responded: "I have mobilized all the Nerima ninjas. They are ready to waylay Master Tatewaki should he go home, approach Ranma, or approach Akane. One of Ranma's friends has left to get Akane and Nodoka via a private airplane – we know how they will return to Nerima, so we know exactly when and where to start tracking Akane. I am frustrating any other attempts to contact or reach the women that we cannot control, or at least monitor. If we can get our hands on Genma, we will, but he's not a priority right now."
"Good," Toshio responded. "While I'd like my money back in the right hands, I want Tatewaki returned to the Hokkaido estate as fast as possible. Anything else?"
"Yes, sir. The bug I placed in Soun Tendo phone became active a few hours ago," Sasuke told him.
"What?" Toshio asked with surprise. "I thought he was at that conference – no outside contact allowed."
"He is, sir. But he lent the phone to his daughter Kasumi," Sasuke answered.
"What?! Well out with it, man! Where is she?" Kuno demanded.
"She's on her way to the Muroran airport to hop on a puddle jumper to take her back to Nerima," Sasuke said. Kuno could hear the smile in his voice.
"Will I beat her home or not?" Toshio asked.
"It's a slow plane, sir," Sasuke told him. "You'll be hours ahead of her."
"Then call the airport and delay the flight. I'll take her on the jet and get her there faster. Call Judge Kato and make sure Kasumi is listed as a guardian of Ranma."
"It's already done, sir. Inspector Ojima has already twisted his arm and had Soun and Kasumi made guardians."
"What?" Kuno yelled in shock.
"Oh, he did one better than you, sir." Sasuke laughed. "Once Imia radioed him that Genma's print was on the potion bottle used on Ranma, Ojima also had the judge issue a restraining order and pre-date it to last week. Officially, Genma has violated the restraining order and assaulted Ranma. Ojima has also declared Genma armed and dangerous."
"Hah!" Kuno laughed amazed. "I never knew he had it in him. If Ojima ever found out he did me a favor, he'd have a coronary."
Kasumi moved quickly through the small airport as she asked about any flight going towards Nerima. Tomo had arranged for transport on a small airplane bound for an airport near Nerima, but the airplane had suddenly developed engine trouble, and would be delayed for six hours. Kasumi had been hoping to be home before that. Unfortunately, she wasn't having much luck. She had managed to sweet talk the airport manager into checking the filed flight plans, but none of them were passing close to Nerima. She had been told that if this wasn't the weekend, there would normally be a number of flight plans booked in that direction.
She ducked down a side hallway and whispered "Tomo!" With a pop, the young boy was back again. "What is going on?"
"Some human with a lot of power is in a hurry," Tomo told her. "He's eating up a lot of resources, delaying everything."
"Well, find out who he is! We may need to push him out of the way!" she told him hurriedly. "But check in with me before you do anything." With another pop, Tomo vanished again.
Kasumi left the hallway and stood in the main terminal trying to think. At this rate, she may have to get on the train/ferry tomorrow as originally planned, but she wasn't giving up yet. Suddenly, a voice rang out behind her. "Miss Tendo! Someone just filed a new flight plan!" Kasumi turned to see the airport manager running toward her. "I told him that you were on a canceled flight and were trying to get to Nerima. When I mentioned your name, he said he knew of you, and was willing to help if you hurried. He's also in a terrific rush!"
"Oh my. Thank you Mr. Endo! Please, let's go meet him," Kasumi responded. She followed Mr. Endo into a cordoned off section of the airport. Looking around, it was obviously a private waiting area. As they turned a corner, Kasumi was surprised to see a man who looked a lot like her old High School principal, but older and without the tanned skin. This man was also very sure of himself and did not suffer from the delusions Principal Kuno did. As she took in his appearance, the man noticed her and smiled. "Miss Tendo, I presume?" he asked. At her nod, he continued: "I am pleased to finally meet you. I am Toshio Kuno, also of Nerima."
"Um…found him," Tomo's voice sounded in her ears.
"This is so *not* a coincidence," Kasumi thought.
Hideo pulled the van out into the street again. At least this consultation had given him some new info. He had already figured out that the potion had used mandrake and ginseng for a base as well as about a half-dozen other ingredients. The big issue was the small silver flakes in the mixture – they were animal in nature and not plant based, so he was a little out of his league. They had to be what gave the potion its "charge" – none of the other ingredients would provide a unique characteristic to give the potion a purpose. It had been his last stop at the home for the curator of Tokyo's National Museum of Nature and Science that had started to unravel the mystery – the woman (a customer of Hideo) had identified the flakes as reptile scales – but couldn't tell him what the species was no matter how many references she checked.
"It's got to be a rare or a magical animal," he thought. "C'mon! Think! What sort of animal could be powerful enough to mess with a Jusenkyo…" Suddenly he pulled over to the side of the road and banged on the steering wheel. "Duh! Idiot! They are dragon scales. That's why she couldn't identify them. That's why none of the other practitioners could identify them – most modern magics don't mess with dragons – they are either protected or revered. I need an older practitioner which means…."
He grabbed the phone and dialed the dojo. Shizuka answered on the third ring. "What's up, love?"
"Can you tell Sergeant Imia that I'm on my way to the Cat Café? I need to see Cologne and I promised I keep him abreast of what I was up too," he told her.
"If that bitch is involved in this mess…" Shizuka started.
"Whoa!" Hideo told her with a sharp voice. "Slow down! I have no proof of that! The Amazons cannot profit from Ranma getting stuck as a girl or stuck in the Cat Fist! Neither would make him easier to control!"
"This could be one of their famous screw-ups," Shizuka returned just as sharply.
"Maybe, but let's get the facts first," he replied.
"So why do you want to see her?" his wife asked.
"I think the potion involved dragon scales – either ground up or from a young dragon. That's frowned upon in our circles, so I don't have a lot of info on it. I'm hoping Cologne will since Happosai is out of town," he answered.
"She may not want to answer you. We put the hurt on her restaurant for a while there," Shizuka said. (1)
"But we stopped when she began helping the town. Hopefully, that lesson is still in her head and she'll help us," Hideo responded.
"Optimist," Shizuka snorted.
"We'll see," he said.
"Sergeant Imia," Cologne said wearily. "I didn't have anything to do with what happened to young Ranma last night." Cologne sat in her kitchen grateful that this was the slow hour between lunch and dinner. Otherwise, things could have been messy – she didn't want to be involved in anymore town gossip. People were just starting to forgive and forget with Kasumi's prompting.
"Now, how can I be sure of that?" the Sergeant pressed.
"Because, I'm not dead," she said bluntly. "And neither is Shampoo nor Mousse. Ranma's had enough. If I attacked him last night, he wouldn't have held back. I'll admit Ranma is not really a killer, but you would find me in a hospital at the very least. I couldn't defend myself against the Cat Fist normally, and what I felt last night wasn't close to normal."
"Any idea what happen to him?" Imia asked.
Mousse walked in to the kitchen just then and answered: "Yeah, his idiot sire did something and ended up running for the hills with Ranma chasing him."
Cologne bonked him on the head for butting in. "You're suppose to be tending customers, Part-Timer!"
"Elder," he address her firmly. "Ranma's not a killer. Genma's still alive somewhere. There's no need to protect Ranma and we certainly don't have to protect Genma."
Cologne bonked him on the head again. "I have no interest in protecting Genma, idiot. I'm just hoping son-in - I mean Ranma didn't do anything irrevocable last night."
"Son-in-law?" Imia said while cocking an eyebrow.
"Don't read anything into it, Imia," she told the Sergeant. "Old habits die hard. Ranma's not my son-in-law and never will be. Besides, I doubt the village would let me drag him back now anyway. He's too dangerous. But he's still one of my students and I'm sort of fond of him. I have no interest in helping you put him away."
Imia sighed then, and sat down in an empty chair. "I'm not trying to put her away, Elder," he said. "I'm trying to get her back to us. She's still stuck in the Cat Fist."
"Ah hell," Cologne sighed. "Where is she?"
"She's at the hospital, surrounded by police. Dr. Ando figured out how to move her safely. Even in her current state, she won't touch a cop, so we have officers at the door, in the room, and on the floors above and below her. Once you add in the fact that she's in pain, and that Akane is not in the city right now, she doesn't really want to go anywhere anyway," Imia told her.
Cologne held her head for a moment, and then looked at Mousse. "All right, Part-Timer, tell him what you saw last night when I sent you to retrieve Shampoo," she said. "I'll go tend to the customers." With that, she got up, and left the two men alone.
"I already know Genma did something to Ranma last night. It had something to do with a bottle with Genma's fingerprints on it. Is there anything you can tell me, Mousse?" Imia asked.
"Not much," Mousse started. "Shampoo and Ukyo were at the Tendo house last night – or rather outside the house trying to get Ranma to talk to them. At some point, he left the house, probably to get away from them. I know he's pretty tight with Doctor Ono, so he probably went to the clinic to get some peace. Shampoo and Ukyo had no idea they were banging on an empty house until I arrived. I'm welcomed at the house now, so I have a general feel for the place. I could tell it was empty. It took me a couple of minutes to convince them he was gone. Shampoo wanted to find him immediately, but I told her Cologne had ordered her back to the house. That's when we heard the explosion over in the direction of the clinic."
"Give me what your five senses told you first – save the Other stuff for off-the-record," Imia requested.
Mousse nodded. "With the loud noise, there was the sound of someone screaming – a male voice in terror. The voice was coming our way, so I urged the women to hide behind the wall of a property neighboring the Tendo Dojo. I hid myself in a tree that allowed me to see the street. Genma Saotome came running up the street in a great panic. While he was running, a great wind started blowing hard and the street lights started to dim, throwing everything into shadow. Genma ran up to the gates of the Tendo Dojo, but they were shut and he could not open them. He banged on them fiercely, but they stayed closed. At that point, Ukyo and Shampoo moved to watch him from the top of the wall as well. We kept low so the wind didn't blow us away."
"Did you three close the gates of the property when you left?" Imia asked.
"No, Sergeant. Am I still limited to my five senses?" Mousse asked. At the Sergeant's nod, Mousse continued: "The wind must have blown the gates closed. It was fierce enough to do that. Then there was an explosion from somewhere in front of us and the street lights failed all together. I heard Genma scream in agony and yell 'Get it off! Get it off! Please!' over and over again, but I couldn't see anything. Finally, the screaming became whimpering and the street light came back on. Genma was leaning against the dojo gates, but he was covered in deep scratches and small bites. His clothes were a bit shredded too. Then there was a growling sound from all around us – Genma screamed and ran up the street out of sight."
"Did you actually see what attacked Genma?" Imia asked.
"No, I didn't, Sergeant. All I can tell you was a human doesn't inflict damage like that, even if he is deranged. And the growling sound didn't come from a human throat. The damage to Genma didn't match anything I've seen from Ranma's Cat Fist – all the marks were way too small. Genma looked like a small wildcat attacked him, but that didn't match the growl I heard."
Imia closed his book with a snap. "O.K. lad, add in the missing pieces now."
Mousse nodded and spoke: "Whatever attacked Genma last night, had a lot of sympathetic magic surrounding it. The folks around here have a word – 'Kami'." At the Sergeant's nod, Mousse continued: "Well the Kami were out in force surrounding Ranma. It was like he was the eye of a hurricane. Ranma never touched Genma, but the Kami did, and that's what tore into Genma. I've never felt Power like that before – it was like Nerima itself was tired of Genma. I know the Tendos certainly were."
"But the Tendos weren't home last night," Imia said.
"The Tendo property has been in the family a long time, hasn't it?" Mousse asked.
"Yes," Imia answered slowly. "But, what does that have to do with anything?"
"Despite the fact I cannot see in this world well, I can see into the Next one very well, Sergeant. The Tendo property was crawling with ghosts. They are the ones who closed the gate on Genma and held it fast against him. There must have been six generations of Ancestors there last night, not including the Unborn I saw. Whatever Genma did ripped reality last night – the magic he used must have been very strong, because it backfired in a nasty way."
Cologne was cleaning up in the dining room while Mousse talked to the Sergeant. It was 3:30PM and she only had one set of customers left when Hideo Jouda ran into the restaurant. He was a very tall man with a handsome, but weathered face – a little too weathered for a man who supposedly spent all his time inside his shop. What surprised Cologne was the aura of magic that surrounded him. She suspected that there had to be mages among the local populace, but they had always hidden well from her, and she certainly never suspected that this man was among them. "His wife is probably gifted as well – like often calls to like," Cologne thought. "That's why they are involved with the Tendos and Ranma."
"He's here for a consultation," she continued to herself. "That's why he's showing his power. Normally, I'd give him a hard time in return for the trouble they gave me by driving the customers away, but I can understand their point of view after the attack on Kasumi – I would have done the same thing. Besides, there are witnesses right now, and I'm trying to not make enemies. And this is probably about Ranma..."
He scanned the restaurant and spied Cologne. Before he could say anything, she spoke sternly: "Sit!" she commanded (She was determined to have a little fun). His eyes tightened a little, but he did as he was told. "Show me!" she barked out as she sat down at the table with him. Wordlessly, he opened a sealed leather organizer that obviously served as his spell kit. He took out an index card that had two pieces of tape pressed to it. There were small silver flakes trapped in the tape. Cologne picked up the card and looked carefully at the flakes, then dropped the card with a hiss of revulsion. "Give!" she commanded again. Wordlessly, he pushed a folded piece of paper toward her. She was starting to see twitches of a smile playing about the corners of his mouth. "He obviously has a more developed sense of humor than his wife," she thought. She opened the paper and read the list of components, noting that he had ordered them in importance.
"Wait…" she said, not as harshly. She got up and pogo'ed upstairs to her room. Cologne unlocked a small chest, fished around, and then took out a set of scrolls referencing dragons. She went back downstairs to where Jouda was sitting and sat down without a word. After a reading through several scrolls, she spoke up: "Well, the good news is he's probably not stuck permanently."
"I'm listening," Hideo said.
"The dragon potions are extremely dangerous to use – enough so that my tribe hasn't made use of them in over five hundred years. This particular potion enslaves a young dragon's spirit. Killing a young dragon would normally grant the slayer a curse, but the brewer captured the curse and modified it to reinforce an existing curse; that's what the mandrake and ginseng was for."
"What if the victim didn't already have a curse?" Hideo asked. Imia had walked out of the kitchen and saw the two of them.
"Then the potion would fail and the person pouring the potion would gain the young dragon's death curse," Cologne told him. "The thing is – Ranma has two curses: the Cat Fist and the Jusenkyo magic. The potion would try to modify both curses, but again, it would fail – eventually. Dragon potions are like scrolls – they follow the exact letter of the intent since the dragon's spirit is caught in the potion. The potion was made to only modify one curse, and it cannot choose which curse."
"But is the Cat Fist really a curse?" Imia asked approaching them. "I thought it was a psychosis?"
"There are spirits trapped inside Ranma that take control when the psychosis occurs," Cologne said. "As long as it is involuntary, it counts as a magical curse. I think if Ranma could snap out of it, he would have." She shrugged her shoulders. "One day, he may master it and be able to summon it at will without having to force a panic attack – until that day, it stands as a curse. Same with the Jusenkyo magic."
"So, what happens now?" Hideo asked.
"Normally, I'd say that in a month or two, Ranma would shake the potion and the person who used the potion on him would receive the backlash," Cologne answered.
"Normally?" Imia asked.
"Ranma's Cat Fist is extreme – he was subjected to the banned technique at least four times that I know of. Jusenkyo curses are some of the most powerful curses I know. Between both of them and the dragon potion, this is a clash of the titans. It's not going to go a month – I doubt it will go more than a couple of weeks. From what Mousse told me, Genma may be already experiencing the backlash. But, Ranma's in for a world of hurt – you'll need to keep giving him as many pain killers and sedatives as his system will accept. Unfortunately, his body will reject the stronger pain killers, and the Cat Fist will fight the stronger sedatives. You'll just have to make do with the milder ones. The good news is you can probably double up safely – Ranma's built like a tank in either form."
Imia looked at Cologne and said: "I'll get the info to Ando, but I need to ask you something off-the-record." Cologne nodded. "Do you know what became of Genma Saotome?" he asked. "I want to find him quickly and get Ranma in the clear of any possible murder charges. I don't know what this new judge is going to do next."
"Ranma chased him into northern Nerima. I doubt very much Ranma killed Genma, so I'd check the hospitals in that direction. I doubt Genma was able to heal himself once Ranma was done with him, so Genma's definitely in a hospital by now."
Akane sat in the hot spring pretending to listen to Sayuri and Nabiki banter, but her mind was far away. The feeling of something wrong was growing. She felt Ranma was in trouble, but she had no justification for the instinct. She wasn't the only one though – Nodoka was definitely out-of-sorts too, and even Nabiki was off her game (Sayuri was scoring way too many points). Yuka was quiet, but then Akane's friend was always the quiet one. Suddenly, Akane decided she needed to take a walk and excused herself abruptly.
"Hold on Akane, I'll go with you," Yuka said also getting up. Akane never saw Nabiki put a hand on Nodoka's shoulder and stop the elder from joining them.
Once the two young women were out of sight, Nabiki turned to Nodoka. "Leave them be for a bit," the short-haired young woman said. "Maybe Yuka can help Akane sort out what's up. Yuka can read people very well."
"That's Yuka," Sayuri agreed. "I don't think we are going to finish this retreat though.
"You don't think this is some sort of separation anxiety?" Nodoka asked the two.
"You're a lousy liar, Auntie," Nabiki told her. "You know something's up, just like we do. A few times now I had to stop myself from walking into the Main Office and having them page a boat to come get us. Since we don't have any cell phone service, I cannot come up with a good reason."
"I can fake being ill," Sayuri suggested.
"Not yet," Nabiki said. "There's nothing to prove this isn't a separation anxiety from Akane that's just affected us as well. Akane is able to project her emotions quite well."
"Yeah, but usually she is projecting anger or something else sharp. She's never been this vague before and I have always been able to sort out my emotions from her," Sayuri countered.
"I agree," Nodoka said. "But Nabiki is right. We have no justification for demanding a boat come and get us. I've had the Main Office radio their Base and had the Base call the dojo. No one's answered, but I did have them leave a message for Ranma to call the Base and leave an "All clear" message. If we don't hear from Ranma by tomorrow morning, we may need to take you up on your acting skills, Sayuri."
Footnotes:
(1) The ward's boycott of the Cat Café started in Chapter 2 of "Brothers" and continued through "To Serve and Protect in Nerima". Cologne's actions in the latter story (and Cologne allowing Mousse to associated freely with Ranma and the Tendos) convinced the ward (with Kasumi's prompting) that Cologne was not at odds with Nerima.
A/N: Next up: Ukyo's Decision