A/N: The characters Othan, Banner, Jacobs, Pauls, Wales, Noa, and Lady Hoshi were introduced in "The Bachelor Party". The first five are mercenaries and friends of Tofu. The last two are Kunoichi. If you want any more info, feel free to read the story.


Chapter 5: The Second Wave (Wednesday Morning: January 1st, 2003)

The assassin watched the street below. The sun wasn't long up. A small number of people were already moving despite the holiday. That didn't bother him. They wouldn't hear or see him. His rifle was already set up on its mount, and he had set the mount resistance to his liking. He watched the few people on the street while waiting for his target to come by. The rest of his team was searching for the girl, but they had no solid leads since the first team vanished last night. However the boy was easy; he was well known in the town. It hadn't taken any effort to locate the dojo he was attached to. It was also easy to ask around about him. After all, who would ever think an 18 year old was a hit man's target?

Finally, he saw the boy running in his direction and there was a girl with him. A quick look through the binoculars showed the girl was not the one the team was looking for. Both of them were wearing their running clothes and maintaining a strong pace, despite having to dodge the occasional foot traffic. Their breath steamed in the air. The couple waved to passersby and seemed to be laughing about something, but the assassin couldn't hear anything from his position. Occasionally, they would bump shoulders and their faces would take on mocking expressions, but the expressions always dissolved into laughter. It was easy to see they were in love. A weaker man might have decided to kill them both and spare the girl the agony of seeing her love die, but the assassin felt pity was a characteristic of losers - or worse, dead men. He'd kill the boy quickly and get the hell out of here.

The assassin dropped down next to his rifle and prepared to take the shot. The sight was designed to focus precisely at the touch of a finger - the very latest technology. The target continued to come to him, so he waited patiently. It would be a head shot; as long as he hit the skull, the bullet would take care of the rest. Now the boy was in the arc of the rifle. He focused and followed the young man to the kill zone. Then he squeezed the trigger ever so gently.

There was a shattering sound as the bullet struck the pavement - it sounded like pottery breaking. The bullet immediately broke apart like it was suppose to, but there was no brain-matter for it to chew through. The pieces just got lost in the street. "No!" the assassin whispered harshly to himself. He didn't bother to try and figure out what went wrong. He immediately abandoned the gun and mount and jumped up. As he turned, he was surprised - actually surprised (which never happened to him) - to see the boy in front of him with his girlfriend next to him. That was the last thing the assassin remembered seeing…


Othan looked down at the assassin he found on the roof - right where Banner said the man would be. The dark mercenary lay there trussed up like a deer caught in the hunt, but aware and in a good deal of pain. All four limbs were broken in two places each. The sniper's limbs had been tied using what was left of his rifle. He was also unlikely to father children until after some very painful surgery to restore some important organs to their proper locations. Othan took at a cigarette and lit it. "Now, what am I suppose to do with you?" he wondered out loud.

The standing mercenary looked at the downed man. "The problem is," Othan said. "That you're not very useful to me." He 'tisked, tisked' at the assassin. "Children, children…" Othan continued. "They sometimes lose their tempers and forget that you can't question someone with a smashed jaw." Othan took out his handgun and the eyes of the man on the ground widened. "Oh, don't worry my friend," Othan told him. "While I have very little patience with assassins, the local police inspector gets very excited when dead bodies start showing up. Despite everything, he's not a bad chap and I'd rather not tick him off. Besides, while you're not useful to me right now, there are people who'd like to talk to you - very important people in the Japanese and Chinese governments. I think I'll give them a call. Do you have a preference for which one? I promise they'll both be accommodating - if you are." The mercenary's voice dropped to a warning note on the last three words.

The assassin mumbled in incoherent pain.

"The Japanese?" Othan asked brightly. "Excellent choice." Othan fired his gun. The weapon soundlessly (almost) fired a tranquilizer dart into the assassin's neck. Then he called Banner and after the greeting said: "He was right were you said. Tell Kantei's boys to come get him. He'll sleep for a bit. I'll clean up the evidence and move on. How's our couple doing?" He listened to the reply. "Damn. Get Wales to intercept them and tell them to stop breaking jaws. We need to know how large this group is. If they don't listen, tell Jakaro - he'll make them listen."


The Sensei of the Miyazaki dojo looked out on the bright winter morning from his doorstep. He was a fit man who had seen sixty-five New Year's mornings and he always greeted each one with a spring in his step at the promise of a New Year. Things weren't always perfect, but he always felt the good outweighed the bad, even this year with its rumblings of trouble. He had a good wife, three healthy children, a number of grandchildren, lots of good friends, and even a number of beloved enemies - one of which he felt coming down the street just now. He turned slowly and gracefully to see the Dojo Destroyer coming toward him bearing a tray of mochi and tea. "Greetings, my Nemesis," he said to Doe with a smile.

Doe never really smiled, but there was something 'content', maybe even 'welcoming', in his stance. Without a word, the moon-faced giant bowed to him and extended the tray. After a return bow, Miyazaki took a cup and a piece of mochi. Together, they sat down on the stoop and shared their New Year's tradition silently.

After they had finished, Doe stood up and shook the Sensei's hand. The giant picked up the tray and turned to go home when he stopped. There was a puzzled look on his face as he studied the roof-top of a nearby building. "What is it, my friend?" Miyazaki asked him. Wordlessly, the giant pointed and Miyazaki saw it - there was someone with a gun settling in on a rooftop. "I don't think so," Miyazaki stated grimly. Doe nodded in agreement, and the two started toward the building.


Othan listened as Banner relayed the news. "Ah hell," he sighed. "That makes three we lost now." He paused for a second and said: "Look, put the word out among the Martial Artists too. We need these jokers able to talk. It's going to be tough for Ono to get married if we can't nail them down."


Noa stood in the shadows up high spying on one of her favorite quarries. Ranma and Akane ran through the morning sun on their jog. Noa had enjoyed herself last night out on the town with her sister Kunoichi, and now she wanted to see something from the quieter side of life - young love qualified, especially these two. She admired their forms as they jogged through the streets of Nerima. "Maybe I'll sneak into Ono's wedding…" she thought. "It might be fun to see the two of them cleaned up. Lady Hoshi was planning on going to the wedding, so maybe I'll join her."

The Kunoichi leaped across to another building and continued to follow the couple discretely. After a few minutes, she noticed a black van trailing the couple. "That's odd," she thought. "People usually leave them alone when they run. Challengers go to the dojo." She slowly worked her way down to street level and shadowed the van. A lone man got out of the passenger-side and Noa dropped him immediately with a dart. The automatic weapon that clattered to the ground betrayed the assassin's intent. The driver of the van floored it and drove away before Noa could throw a bomb.


Ranma and Akane turned and saw the van speeding away from them. There was no sign of anyone else. "Do you think Othan's people did something?" Akane asked.

"Doesn't feel right," Ranma answered. "They don't Shield. This feels more like a ninja."

"Toshio?"

Ranma just shrugged his shoulders.


Othan held his head with one hand as he spoke on the phone. "What do you mean a Kunoichi snatched him?" He listened for a moment and said: "No, I don't think it's Konatsu. He would have immediately stopped Ranma and asked what the hell was going on. Just to be sure, have someone go and talk to him - politely! There's no reason to be rough - the kid's very polite and tends to tell the truth. Besides, if you threaten him, you'll have to unzip your pants to talk…"


Toshio Kuno sat in the living room of the Kuno estate reading the morning paper. The markets were closed today, and business was quiet, so he was indulging in the peace of the morning – especially after the excitement of last night. "Excuse me, Master?" one of his ninja asked. Kuno looked up at the man. "I think there's something on the surveillance cameras you should see." Kuno nodded, so the ninja walked over to the control panel on the wall. A wall panel slid up revealing a large television screen. The billionaire watched as his servant brought up a video and played it through. When it ended, Kuno sat quietly for a few minutes.

Finally, Toshio said: "Those mercenaries belong to the Council last I knew - they may belong to the Kitsunes now. Several of them are Tofu Ono's friends. At the very least, they've obviously teamed up with Ranma and Akane to draw the assassins out. That puts them on our side, but I don't like them putting the couple in danger - even if Ono and Tendo would tell me to 'shove off'. I want you to get a protection squad on those two - Sasuke is still off duty. Have the squad try not to interfere, but don't let anything happen to the couple. No permanent damage to the mercenaries under any circumstances."

"Yes, Master," the ninja acknowledged.

"Also, get another detail to the Tendo dojo." Toshio checked his watch. "Get Sasuke moving at 9AM. Tell him what's going on, and let him know I want him to be on top of this."

"What about the assassins, Master?" the ninja asked.

Toshio's gaze became bleak. "They are another matter altogether. Capture them and bring them in for questioning - I don't care what shape they are in so long as they can talk. If it's a choice between letting them escape and killing them…"

The ninja got the point immediately: "Yes, Master Kuno."


"Answer your damn phone," Othan growled. After a few more rings, he gave up. Instead, he called Banner. "Banner! Call Jacobs and have him bang on the doors of the Kuno estate. His ninjas just took two of the assassins. Go tell his bloody majesty that I need a fragging head count and I want to know who ordered the hit!" After a pause he yelled: "Yeah, I know if was probably Henna, but I don't want 'probably' - I want 'definitely'! Out!"

Othan muttered curses to himself while he thought. The Martial Artists were not cooperating. They thought of Ranma and Akane as their own, and they took care of their own - outsiders not welcomed. At least they agreed to share info - the problem was they were not exactly organized. Nor were they skilled at interrogation. Best guess is that they had three assassins, but none of them could talk (or walk for that matter). Toshio had two, which Othan was unlikely to see - ever. Othan had turned his two useless ones over to the Japanese. One more was in the hands of a Kunoichi by all accounts - and not Konatsu (of course, now he was involved after hearing of an assassination attempt on his friend). There was also a matter of an abandon van on the south side of town. Othan suspected the Kunoichi was responsible for that - there had been a similar van where she had snatched her first one. He sighed again. An assassins' squad was usually five to ten people. There were three at large from last night (if they were lucky) and another possible one now. So he was hunting for zero to four people.


Lady Hoshi sat on her divan, but she was not accompanied by her normal morning ennui. Usually, her world was neat and orderly – and terribly predictable. When she was younger, she had thrilled at the cloak and dagger games as she pit herself against the government, the Yakazu, and local corporations. Due to hard won battles, she was respected (and even feared) by all of them. Her successes had allowed her to found her own order of Kunoichi and then fight for a place among the existing houses. She arrived at the pinnacle as a Kunoichi Lady and Master, and gloried in it. However, as time went on, she came to a startling revelation – there was nowhere left she wanted to go. She had no great urge to continue the domino of business conquests, legal and otherwise. If challenged, she would destroy her Opponents, so they stopped challenging her – they left her and hers alone religiously. Hoshi became bored.

However, that had all changed recently. Because of her boredom, she was doing something that was utterly unthinkable a few years ago: she was letting her underlings get involved with Nerima. Several of her women had become fascinated with the place for one reason or another, and Hoshi had not forbidden them as she should have. Enough women were involved that the House of the Fallen Star had managed to inadvertently do something the Yakazu had failed at; the House had established a monitoring presence in that confounding Ward. The results were not what one would call profitable, but they were extremely interesting. Interesting enough that Hoshi herself was now involved.

She got up and wandered over to her desk to look at the reports from last night. Somehow, one of Toshio Kuno's buildings had collapsed on itself and no one was talking. Even stranger, Kuno wasn't showing any reaction despite the fact he must have known by now. There were no investigative crews from Kuno Enterprises, no building inspectors, and no police about the place. One of Lady Hoshi's women had managed to sneak a peek at Nerima's Martial Artists Book/Log and found no mention at all. Normally, Kuno's people would have insisted on reparations, but not this time.

"Does it have to do with the wedding today?" she wondered out loud. "If so, what?" Hoshi was very aware of the Tofu's and Kasumi's (second) wedding. After all, the House had hosted Tofu's Bachelor Party, which had proved very amusing. Amusing enough that Lady Hoshi had also managed to wrangle an invite to the after dinner party. Her phone rang; "Yes, Noa?" she answered.

"You may want to take a few weapons to the wedding today, Mistress," Noa answered. "There are assassins after Ranma and Lady Akari. The witch Henna has sent them. I'm taking steps, but there are apparently a lot of them."

"I'll notify your sisters," Lady Hoshi said.

"But I don't…" Noa started only to have Hoshi cut her off.

"I didn't say I was dispatching anyone, I just said I'd notify them," Hoshi said firmly. "You're not the only one with an interest in Nerima – or in the mercs. I suggest you pool your resources though."

Noa took the hint: "Yes, Mistress."


Othan's phone went off again. He glanced at the screen and saw it was an emergency beacon from Pauls. He jumped into his pickup truck and slammed the phone into a slot on the dashboard. Immediately, the dashboard lit up and pointed the way to Pauls. Othan stepped on the gas and flew down the street. In less than two minutes, he turned a corner and saw Pauls running toward him carrying a man. Just behind Pauls were a couple of ninja and three Kunoichi. The five would have caught Pauls, except both teams were trying to trip each other at the same time. Othan gunned the engine and sped to Pauls side. He fish-tailed the truck wildly, causing the five pursuers to leap aside. Pauls threw his prisoner in the truck bed and hopped up himself. Othan raced away with his two passengers.

Pauls came forward and slid in the open passenger window - some of the mercs could be just as nimble as the ninjas. "He's alive and relatively intact - a broken arm and leg. I took him off of a Martial Artist before the dude did serious damage," he said without preamble.

"How did you manage that? What happened to the Martial Artist?" Othan demanded.

"He's fine. I shot him in the leg with a tranq dark. It caused his leg to go to sleep and slowed him down enough for me to snatch our boy and run," Pauls replied. "The dude was cursing me as I ran away. I checked from a distance - he healed within two minutes. Unfortunately, I picked up company on my way back. Screw-ups dodged my darts and would have caught me except that they were too busy getting in each other's way. What the hell is going on?"

"Let's just say our couple is well liked by the locals," Othan replied.

"And Kuno," Pauls answered. "Who the hell's supplying the Kunoichi? Ranma's friend is a solo."

"I've got a guess - you should too," Othan told him.

"You really think it's the House of the Falling Star?" Pauls asked.

"Ranma attracts allies like honey attracts bears - people can't help following along just to see what happens…"


"You're getting soft," Pauls told him as they left the prisoner.

"Shove it," Othan shot back with a raised eyebrow. "And torture is overrated. It only took 25 minutes to break him."

"That's because assassin's have an inflated opinion of their own skin," Pauls said. "You're going to follow through and let him go?"

"Eventually. A merc's only as good as his word," Othan said carelessly. "Otherwise, who'll hire him? Besides, he gave us the truth - you know he did."

"It was either that or have you drive him nuts with your drugs and your double talk," Pauls agreed. Then he asked quietly: "How are we going to hunt down three squads?"

"We don't," Othan said with another raised eyebrow. He told Pauls his plan.

Pauls shook his head. "You're as nutty as Ono." Othan just grinned at his man.


Kasumi looked around her room one last time. She wouldn't be back for two weeks and she didn't want to leave a mess that long. "Out!" Nodoka sighed impatiently as she watched the bride check everything again.

"I just don't want to forget anything," Kasumi replied.

"Bull," Nodoka stated. "You're hoping that I'll leave just so you can run the vacuum around the room."

"I'm not that…" Kasumi started only to stop once she looked at the knowing smile on Nodoka's face. "Oh, all right. Let's go."

The two women walked downstairs to see Akane waiting for them. The youngest Tendo sister was holding the bride's dress and her own dress protected in garment bags. "The taxi is here," Akane said. The women were getting ready at the wedding hall.

"All right, Akane" Kasumi answered. "Let me say goodbye to Tofu." She walked down the hall to find Tofu talking on the phone in the family room.

"You have to find him quickly," Tofu was saying with a worried look on his face. "As I told you, we can only delay so long. Once the window closes, it won't make a difference." After a pause, he said. "All right, but you should call her directly. She's already at the hall directing the setup." There was another pause and Tofu finished "And Luck to you too. See you shortly."

"What's wrong?" Kasumi asked.

Tofu blew out a breath. "They lost Tatewaki. He broke his restraints about two hours ago and fled."

"Oh my. What do we do?"

"We do nothing, but go forward. We're the Center right now - or at least we will be. We can only hold that for a few hours past the time the wedding is suppose to start," he said. "If we delay, we lose it, and Tatewaki can't afford that. Kuno's looking for his nephew now. He's going to ask Nabiki to help since she knows Tatewaki the best." He stopped and yelled down the hall toward the kitchen. "Nodoka! Help!"

She came out hurriedly. "What's wrong?"

"Nabiki has to help with a search and rescue - Tatewaki Kuno. We need you to go to the wedding hall and take over," he told her. "Can you grab your stuff and leave with Kasumi and Akane?"

"Of course - my outfit is all set. Let me throw it in a bag and grab some makeup." She turned and ran back down the hall.

Ranma strolled in from the bathroom hallway in pants and a sleeveless T-shirt with a towel around his neck. "What's up?" he asked noting the concerned faces. Tofu told him, but before Ranma could respond, the young man's phone buzzed. "Hold on a second," he said as he glanced at the screen.

"Is everything all right?" Kasumi asked. "You look worried."

"Oh, everything's fine," Ranma said waving a hand dismissively. "Mousse is just bitching about me using all the hot water. I've got to go put on the kettle for Duck Boy. Excuse me for a second." With that, he walked down the hall.

Tofu's eyes narrowed thoughtfully. Then he pulled out his phone and texted something.

"What's up?" Kasumi asked him.

"I'm making a note to call that contractor that installed the shower in the dojo," he answered. "There's no way that should have run out of water, even with the crowd staying here."

"Father can…" Kasumi started to say. Then she finished: "Never mind."

Tofu just nodded. "I'll copy Nodoka. She'll take care of it." He pressed a few more buttons. While he was doing that, Nodoka walked in and said that she was ready. "C'mon," Tofu encouraged. "Let's get this show on the road." He kissed Kasumi thoroughly and guided her toward the door.

Ranma and Akane were discussing something hurriedly. As Kasumi got closer, Akane glanced at her and then turned and kissed Ranma. "Don't be late!" Akane scolded him.

"Yes, Tomboy," Ranma sighed. She kicked him in the shin (lightly) and walked out the door.

Kasumi followed Akane out the door and Nodoka was right behind them. "What's going on?" Kasumi demanded quietly on the way to the taxi.

"We're going to the wedding hall," Akane answered smoothly. "But you already knew that."

"Akane…" Kasumi said warningly.

"We're going where we need to be - and we're going now. Inside, big sister," Akane ordered as she opened the taxi door.

The driver was a Chinese man - Kasumi recognized him from Akane's and Ranma's first date. Before she could say a word, the man spoke: "I have the address, good lady, but I'm running late for my next fare. Please hurry." The driver addressed Nodoka: "Ma'am? Why don't you sit in the front seat?" Nodoka nodded and opened the front door.

Kasumi hesitated. She was trying to figure out how to get Akane to explain things, but she had to admit she was coming up short - her little sister really wasn't that little anymore. "No time for nervous brides," Akane scolded. The big sister was so caught off guard by that false assessment, Akane managed to get her into the taxi as Kasumi tried to insist that wasn't the case. "I'll explain once we're on our way," Akane whispered.


A/N: Next - Dojo Battle