"TATE!" Shampoo shouted joyfully, as she ripped herself from Maria's grasp and happily leapt onto him, embracing him fiercely.
"Hey, if I knew I was going to get that kind of reception, I would visit more often," he joked.
"What are you doing here? Where's Nabiki?"
"She stayed behind for a medical appointment; sends her regrets. I figured since someone had to come up to meet with the manager of the SF branch on this issue, and double-check the contracts with Libby, I thought I'd come personally. Since I also owed you some information, I thought I'd drop in on family."
"Sure!" she chirped. "But I thought that the information was going to take a couple of days or so."
"Well, to tell you the truth," he explained, scratching the back of his head, "so did I. I guess Mike thought I needed the info now, so he pulled some of his favors in to cut through red tape." He paused, then continued, noticing as the cop closed the door. "By the way, why's the cop here? And all of you? Where's Mousse, Libby, and Pigtail?"
"It's a long story, Tatewaki," Gil answered. "I hope you have the time-and temper-to deal with it."
Five minutes later, they were all seated by the coffee table. Shampoo was no longer depressed or angry, only absently noting that she might have to place another order for another one. It seems like we go through seven or eight a month.
Kuno was livid. "So you're saying then, that you have zero information on the ninjas? No markings, no symbols, nothing at all?"
"Nothing, I'm afraid. Our Organized Crimes unit usually deals with the Tongs and the Triad, not ninjas, Mr. Kuno," the officer replied. "The only reports that we received indicated that there were several teams involved. One team wearing light gray, one wearing dark blue, a third wearing black, and a bunch of them disguised as ordinary people. There were two ringleaders as well, wearing purple, and a black with a red-green design. Other than that, no."
Kuno's eyes flashed for a hint of a second, but he said, "That's not enough for me to go on. Damn!" Shampoo, however, had caught his glance. He sent her the briefest of looks that seemed to say, "I'll tell you later." She in turn, responded with a minimal nod.
Changing the subject, Shampoo said, "I need to get my mind off this. Tate, do you have that info on you?"
"Of course." He reached behind his back, and from somewhere, produced a small attache case. He tossed it on the table, where it landed on the table with a large whump. "Enjoy. According to Mike, most of it's been translated into English, although there are some parts that are still in the original Chinese."
Owwww...genki ja arimasen, were the first words that came into Ran-chan's head as she stabbed towards consciousness. I feel like Akane slammed me with the biggest mallet she could find. Ouch. Think I'll go get a glass of water and some aspirin. She began to move.
That's when the pain seared into her mind again, coming from her extremities, letting her know that she wasn't at the dojo, nor in her room at home.
She snapped her eyes open only to see an extremely dim light. She couldn't move her arms or her legs; they were bound like the four winds. She tried struggling to break the bonds, and felt them cutting into her wrists. Guitar strings, she knew from "experience". She closed her eyes and concentrated, trying to channel her ki to her wrists. If she could do that long enough to stand the pain, she could break the cords. Assuming she didn't sever her wrists first.
"I wouldn't do that, if I were you," a voice said in the darkness. "You wouldn't live through the drain."
A bright light flooded the room, and Ran-chan squinted, the luminescence stinging her eyes. "Who...who are-"
"Don't bother, Ms. Saotome. That's something you don't need to know." A hazy shape approached her, and if she remembered the voice, it was that ninja with the cardiac hand trick.
"Where are my friends?!" she rasped.
She could see the woman quite clearly now, a lot closer. "Don't worry, they're nearby." The woman did look a lot like her friend, as if Shampoo lowered her voice an octave, dyed her hair dark green, got Nabiki's haircut, and became an antisocial thug as a result. "Personally," the woman cooed, "I'd be a lot more worried about you."
"Actually," Ran-chan replied nonchalantly, "I'm just worried how long it's going to take for me to get up and turn you into a stain on the ground."
"Fairly difficult to do that when you're dead," the woman commented. "You're not going to live out the hour. To be honest, you're half-dead already. Your ki-and it is an unusual ki, too; I'd almost say it's not totally human-has been drained from you. What you would do if you tried to tap it is simply damage your soul. See for yourself."
Ran-chan went within, searching for her ki, and found...
...nothing.
A bit of fear crept into her voice, but she remained defiant. "So? You've found a way to use me like a 'Double A' battery. Big deal. I can still take you out." All I have to do is tap into-
"-this?" The woman held Ran-chan's ruby pendant by its leather thong. Ran-chan wondered how psycho-bitch knew what she was thinking, but said nothing. "I think you've lost, Ms. Saotome. Both your chance, your life, and soon, your soul. I have been promised great power, and I mean to take it."
"From the Phoenix Eye?" Ran-chan scoffed. "I doubt it. Only I know how to use it and its secrets. You're not getting that info from these lips, girlie."
"Such hubris, from a little whore like you, will not be tolerated!" The woman clawed Ran-chan's cheek, tearing the flesh. The redhead winced, then continued to give the woman her defiant stare. "And the funniest part, the most amusing part, is that you've been used for years and never even known it."
"What?" Looney-Toon in the Sasuke getup was making no sense now.
She laughed harshly. "You don't even know that in truth, the ruby pendant you have been carrying is actually-"
"-The Heart of The Demon," Shampoo finished dully, translating the passage from an illustrated manuscript in the file, detailing the mystical ruby and its true being. "I'm such a stupid ass. For nearly a decade, I loosed an unholy creature on my best friend. She was possessed by an unspeakable evil and it's all my fault."
They were looking at the file, obtained from the State Department. At least, that's how the story went. In actuality, the portfolio had the crest of the Central Intelligence Agency on it with the words "Top Secret" crossed out, and declassification stamps hastily placed on. The pages and photos within all bore the same markings. All the documents also bore the markings of the Intelligence Directorate of the Peoples' Liberation Army, and some of the documents looked centuries old. For a second, Shampoo considered asking Kuno about it. Then she decided she'd be better off without the answers.
"You didn't know, Shampoo. You couldn't have known," Ronnie said, also reading the untranslated text. "I don't think even your great-grandmother knew when she gave it to you in the first place. If I'm reading this correctly, the mix up between the Heart of the Demon and the Phoenix Eyes occurred centuries ago."
"What do you mean?" Shampoo said. Oh, Grandmother, I truly hope you're innocent...
"Let me read out loud," she replied, translating. "This scroll seems to be from about the time of Marco Polo, if not earlier! This is absolutely amazing! If I had time to study this manuscript, I cou-"
"SHUT UP AND READ!" everybody roared at once.
"Okay! Okay! You guys don't have to be so offensive about it," Ronnie muttered. "Here goes:
"Back in the time of the great philosopher Sun Tang Kun, in the farthest reaches of the Chinese region of Qinghai, there was an unstoppable demon, a fierce creature that terrorized the entire Empire. It was so large that whole villages trembled and shook under its wrath, that a section of the Great Wall was destroyed by its monstrous evil.
"The people of the land cried out for help. The very earth cried out for help. But no one could save the land from that which would destroy all of China and all of humanity. Troubled by this, the Emperor called upon his mightiest warriors and heroes to go to the land of Qinghai and defeat the unholy demon.
"Men by the thousands, more names than the ancestors can count, struggled against the demon to no avail. Many a brave man went to face his doom, and many a life was ended, a family destroyed, a clan undone. Fathers, sons, brothers, husbands-all were slaughtered by the mighty power of the evil demon. There was no way it could be stopped.
"The Emperor had just given up all hope of defeating this menace when his sage told him that no man could hope to defeat this creature. This monster must be defeated by a being just as powerful, just as fierce, yet kind and just to all. The only creature capable of defeating this monster was the legendary Phoenix of the Heavens. But to get to the Phoenix, one man must risk all to go to the highest reaches of the great twin mountains of Quanjing and Chochuanshan, in the distant Biayan-Kala mountains, to ask of the Phoenix' help.
"And so the call went out across the land, to find a man brave enough to climb to the top of Chochuanshan mountain. But it was no easy task. There were tales of strange pools, where people and animals would drown and never come back, pools whose natural chi absorbed the very bodies into the waters themselves. Many a man feared the Springs of Chochuanshan, fearing that he would never return if he fell into one of the pools. So the Emperor grew sad for his people, for there was no man brave enough to fight the demon, and his mightiest warriors were gone.
"So it came to pass that a young widowed peasant girl from the village of Siar Tzu named Zhao Jiu Kiu decided she would face the task. The young woman had a brave heart and a strong will, a desire to only do what was right for her people, and save her only child-her only memory of her husband. She left her child in the care of her sisters, then bravely went to the deepest valley of Tsim Yuan and asked of the Leung of the Earth to give her power to accomplish her task. The dragon was impressed by her bravery and honor and she was given the ability to master the inner strength that no person before she could ever hope to master-the power of the chi. The Leung also decided that her clothing and knife did not suit her, and gave her weapons to protect herself and armor to defend herself. With this momentous change, her name did not suit her anymore. So the Leung decreed that the girl Zhao Jiu Kiu would henceforth be the mighty warrior Lao Jiukiu Tsesao. And to prove his faith in the woman's courage, he put his mark on her.
"So, sword in hand, the warrior woman petitioned the Emperor for the task. The Emperor was truly moved by the nobility and strength this woman had, so he assigned her with the task of finding the Phoenix of the Heavens. At this, Lao Jiukiu Tsesao agreed to the challenge and promised her Emperor that she would serve in the best way she could.
"Thus, Lao Jiukiu Tsesao climbed to the top of the mountain of Chochuanshan, facing many great dangers that would make many a man afraid. But Lao Jiukiu Tsesao was no man, and she was not afraid. She fought with the heart of a great warrior and defeated many a foe to face the mighty Phoenix of the Heavens. She petitioned him for many a day and night, and answered all his challenges without a moment of hesitation. All but one. The Phoenix said, 'Would you be willing to sacrifice all for your people? To die once your task is complete and to come again when needed?'
"The brave Lao Jiukiu Tsesao answered truthfully, 'I do not claim to understand you, great lord. All I know is that I wish to save my people and my child.' After a time, the Phoenix said, 'That is the correct choice. To be as brave as you and die for the sake of your people, for the love of your child, there is no other.' The phoenix gave her three stones, telling her when she faced her opponent-for it must be a mortal to fight and defeat the demon-she would know what to do with these stones. And to show his faith in her great heart, the Phoenix of the Heavens put his mark upon her. She returned to the land of Qingxai, to battle with the demon. It also came to pass that day that the great mountain of Chochuanshan was swallowed up by the earth, to become a valley in the shadow of the its brother mountain, and to change again if the power of Lao Jiukiu Tsesao was needed.
"And so, near the newly formed valley of the Springs of Chochuanshan, on the face of the great mountain Quanjing, the warrior woman faced the demon in horrendous battle. For many a day and many a night they fought with tireless strength, and a determination to defeat their foe. Finally, the woman began to tire, and the demon began to win. Just when all seemed lost, the woman used the mighty power the Leung gave her, and cast her chi into a mighty bolt-with the strength of all the heavens and the ancestors and the spirits-at the demon, defeating it.
"But the woman was dying, having given her last strengths to defeat the demon. She took the last two stones, blue opals of true beauty, and changed them into precious jade, declaring that should the Heart of the Demon awaken its inhabitant, the Phoenix Eyes would regain their true color and that her power would return to do battle. With that, she left the three stones to sit near a glade between the mountains, and walked to the Springs of Chochuanshan. With her dying breath, she sank into one of the springs, blessing it with the name Nyannichuan-'Spring of Drowned Girl.'
"The Emperor, in gratitude for the woman's sacrifice, took the gems and built a village around it, a village dedicated to teaching young girls to fight for the Emperor's name, and the protection of the stones. And he named the village Jukusetso, in honor of his mightiest warrior, and made it the most favored of the villages.
"And it is said that if the demon's curse should ever come to pass, and a soul is lost, the spirit of Lao Jiukiu Tsesao will rise again to fight her eternal foe, and the lands named Chochuanshan will change to a new form."
They were all silent after hearing the tale, impressed by the deeds and sacrifice of Lao Jiukiu Tsesao. Ronnie was the first to speak, her dry throat rasping, "See? Shampoo, there was no way your great-grandmother could've known, even though she was the village elder. I'll even bet that the reason Lao Jiukiu Tsesao's grave is called the 'Spring of Drowned Girl' is because somewhere along the way, someone forgot that it was once the 'Spring of Drowned Chinese Amazon', only remembering that a young woman died there."
"Then they're in big-time danger!" Tyler squeaked. "If that demon gets out, they're doomed!"
Kuno turned to Shampoo. "About right now, I would tell you to pick up the phone and call everybody in Japan now, but the truth is they might not get here in time. We have to figure out how to save her, Libby, and Mousse by ourselves. But we don't know where to begin."
"I think we can handle it," Shampoo returned, grimacing. "I don't think we have much of a choice."
"Well, at least we know that she'll be okay in the short run," Gil said. "From that conversation we had last week, she's anything but innocent. And the stone requires an innocent soul to be sacrificed."
"Then we-and she-are in serious trouble," Ronnie breathed, still reading the scroll. "For one, there are plenty of Chinese fables of innocents being possessed by evil and returning to their innocent state when the evil is gone. Besides, I know it-the demon, I mean-is after Ran-chan specifically, and more than anything in this world wants to kill her."
"Explain! Why would this creature desire to harm Pigtail?" Kuno thundered.
Ronnie held the scroll up for all to see. "Look."
There was a drawing in the corner, a depiction of Lao Jiukiu Tsesao, the Emperor's greatest warrior, the first Chinese Amazon, Shampoo's ancestor, the favored and marked of the Phoenix of Heaven and the mighty Leung of Earth...
...a Chinese woman with red hair and cobalt-blue eyes.
"No! You're lying!" Ranko Saotome screamed.
Jade laughed. "Oh, am I? Let me ask you this, since I can read the power of your awesome gem here, and all that it tells me. You nearly murdered your sister-in-law."
"It was a fair fight! I never meant to hurt Natsumi!" I didn't!
"But you did. She was your rival because of who you are, because you defeated her once before. And your anger at that rivalry fueled the fire for the Demon's Heart to take over your mind and destroy her. You're lucky that your willpower resurfaced, or you would have executed your entire family."
"You bitch!" Ran-chan spat. "When I get my hands on you, I'll-"
"Let me share another of your life's little secrets with you. There was a time when the gem needed sexual energies to continue the building of its power. Did you ever wonder why you were so fiercely attracted to-" she paused for a split-second, "-Mikado, who was married to-" another pause, "-Kodachi? Why, on a mission to rescue your mother from the Ishihara Yakuza, you two made like rabbits nearly every step of the way? Why that attraction suddenly died away, to be replaced by your current disgust for him? Let me tell you why: it was because the Heart of the Demon needed a sexual slave to charge its energies. You would have seduced your own brother if he had gone in Mikado's stead. In fact," she replied sweetly, "the gem informs me that you have tried to once already!"
"That wasn't me!" Ranko screamed. "That was the 'Ranma-chan' clone!"
"Ranko, Ranma-chan, Ran-chan. You're the same thing, you little incestuous, promiscuous, sociopathic sex toy. I really bet that right now you'd just love to have your dear brother go between your thi-"
"ZAKKENAYYO!" Ran-chan screamed at the top of her lungs, a rage of Japanese.
"I'd appreciate it if you didn't shout profanities in a language I don't understand," Jade said, punching Ran-chan in the face so hard her neck snapped back with an audible crack! "Doesn't matter anyway. It is time for you to lose your soul."
"I doubt it!"
"Oh yes, you will. Either that, or they will." Jade snapped her fingers, and a second light came on in the distance.
From what Ran-chan could see, she was in a barred cell of some kind, strapped to a wire-frame bed. Her clothing was still on-she hoped she hadn't been violated while she was unconscious; she didn't think she would have been, but after that wench's last comment, nothing was a definite. She looked at the ninja; the woman had a look of mad glee in her eyes. To her horror, that wasn't all she saw.
In the distance, suspended by ropes, were Mousse and Libby. Mousse looked pale from his earlier injuries, and the sleeves of her sweatshirt were still bandaging his head, but otherwise he was okay. Libby, on the other hand, had some small device strapped to her arm that was giving her an IV feed. She looked completely buzzed, which meant they were keeping her sedated, which meant they considered her a true threat. Ran-chan had to smile at that...and got another shot to the jaw for it.
"Do you mind?" Jade screamed. "I can't have you die happy. Not good for form." She directed Ran-chan's attention to the plight of her friends. "If you know anything about evil, then you know that there's something in that manner in which they're hanging. You cannot see it, since we're the second floor, but there's a huge vat on the first. In that vat is...well, let me say that it's not something good.
Jade snapped her fingers again, and the ropes began to lower Mousse and Libby to their doom. Jade then maneuvered Ran-chan to a position where she could see her friends doom below, a huge vat of bubbling sulfuric acid, the wafts of acid rising up with its nauseous smell, a very visual and tangible source of death and unbeing. Her friends were being lowered into it, and there was nothing she could do about it, nothing at all.
"I know something about you, Ms. Saotome, that when unaffected by the Heart of the Demon that you're a very honorable person. And you must hate the fact that your friends will die in a matter of minutes, and there is only one thing that you can do to stop it."
"No. I don't hate that fact at all. You win. Let them go." Ran-chan spoke softly, now, as if knowing what she had to do. "Let them go, and take me, instead." There was no hesitation in her voice, only determination in her eyes. "Release my friends and I will die for them."
Jade snapped her fingers again, and the ropes stopped their descent. A smile crossed her lips. "Are you ready to lose your soul?"
"I will never lose my soul completely. I am a Saotome, a part of my family and my brother. But I give you this last warning: once I am dead, my brother will know. And once he knows, there will be nowhere on earth you can hide, nowhere on earth you can run-and no chance that you will live once he gets a hold of you." Ranko said this completely, honestly, and solemnly. "There is nowhere in this world that you can hide from Saotome Ranma."
For a second, a shadow of hesitation crossed Jade's mind. "Another Saotome to kill, then." The instant of hesitation was done, the fleeting humanity in the Chinese woman's eyes gone. "I suppose I will be a master of it by the time I am done with you."
With no further words, she placed the Heart of the Demon directly over Ran-chan's heart.
The ruby began to beat like a heart, doing the action of its namesake.
Ranko Saotome screamed, not in anger, but with the pain of someone whose life was being ripped away.
"Do you have a moment, Shampoo?" Kuno asked. "I'd like to ask you something in private."
"Of course. If you'll excuse us," she said as they rose from the table.
She walked to the back door, and headed outside, sitting on the patio bench. "Okay, Tate. What was it you wanted to tell me?"
He sat down beside her, pausing for a second to listen to the choir of crickets and compose his thoughts. Glancing at the door long enough to see that they were not being spied on, he began in Japanese, "I recognize that gi."
She nodded, slipping into her crappy Japanese. "Shampoo thought so. Who they?"
"You have to understand that what I'm about to tell you is a dirty little Kuno family secret, obviously just another one of many that haunt my family," he half-smiled, more out of trying to reassure himself than her. "The clothing are the trademark of the ninja clan Kaguro."
"Kaguro..." she seethed, a glint of rage flashing in her eyes.
"You know them?" he asked, incredulous. She in turn explained the events of the previous week and her combat with Yujiiro Kaguro. He simply laughed and said, "Damn Yuji. And you all thought I was pompous and arrogant when were were kids. Yuji still thinks he's entitled to the shogunate nobility, never bothering to realize that it was over and done with a long time ago."
"How you know him?" she asked.
"It's simple, really. He's my cousin." Seeing her dubious glance, he elaborated, "The Kaguro clan is an offshoot of the Kunos. During the earliest days of the Warring States period, a man named Kuno Kaguro was expelled from the family by his brother, the Shogun Kuno Yoshiaki, because he abandoned the way of the samurai for that of the ninja. In turn, he kept only his name of Kaguro and founded a clan of ninjas. When the brothers both died, the son of Kuno Yoshiaki, Shogun Kuno Morisato welcomed Shinobi Lord Kaguro Masami back into the fold, offering his sister as Kaguro's bride.
"Since then, the Kaguros have always been the shadow warriors of the Kunos. Oh, they occasionally take contracts for other people-I suspect that it was Kaguro ninjas who kidnapped Mrs. Saotome for the Ishihara Yakuza-but they always have their loyalty with the Kunos above all else. My mother was a Kaguro. Some of Kodachi's gymnastics training is a variant of Kaguro shadow arts; someday she will complete her training and become a full Kaguro ninja. Remember our servant, Sasuke? He was no relation, but he was a Kaguro ninja; an inept one, which is probably why he was assigned servile duties.
"As for my cousin, Yuji-he hates being called that, by the way-and I never really got along; the last time I saw him was eight years ago, during the Vietnam crisis. He always felt I wasn't proud enough of the Kuno family honor. Admittedly, I was a strutting peacock when I was younger. Still am," he said, grinning. "But Yuji would try to restore the family shogunate and give it to my grandfather-my dad by no means is worthy of it, even by my 'relaxed' standards. While you're at it, he'd probably give the Emperor's throne to grandfather, if he could.
"I had no idea that he moved here. I'll also bet he doesn't know about our relation to the Tendos, and thus, to the Saotomes. In fact, the events of three years ago most likely prove that."
"Shampoo understand. Thank you for sharing with. Shampoo promise won't to tell."
"Thanks. You have no idea how hard it is keeping that from Nabiki. Our family's already gone through enough grief with our teenage years, then Mikado and Pigtail's 'indiscretion' while hunting down the Ishiharas. I don't know what would happen if this got out." He looked at his watch, then sighed, switching back to English. "I guess we'd best go back inside. They're probably thinking that we're plotting to tear apart the city looking for them."
Shampoo looked at Kuno, no mirth in her eyes. "I don't know about you, but that's my plan."
The pain was unbearable, too ungodly intense. Ranko bit off another scream and stared at her killer with a look of complete hatred. She could see the Heart of the Demon glowing like an ember in the woman's hand, could see a reddish stream of gossamer energy float away from her body and into the evil talisman. She was losing her very life, her soul; she was growing weaker and would be dead within minutes.
She focused her fleeting, tattered mind as hard as she could to prevent Ranma from feeling her death throes. She knew that he would feel it, but she was afraid that if she didn't block as much as possible, she might send him into shock.
Ranma. Akane. Mom, Pop, Shiva, and all the rest back home in Japan. Shampoo. Mousse. Nabiki and Tate, Libby, Tyler, Maria, Gil and Paolo, and all the people I know here in America. I'm going to lose them all, everyone I love, all my friends. She would have shed tears at that moment, but she was too weak to, and besides, she didn't want her murderer to have the pleasure of seeing her cry. I'm sorry I never got the chance to day good-bye. I'll miss you all.
The pain washed away the last vestiges of her soul, her memory, who she was, uncovering who she had been. She began to forget what she was doing. She was forgetting who she was. She had forgotten. Ms. Ranko Saotome was gone.
Saotome Ranma-chan still had a look of hatred on her eyes, directed at the person who she knew instinctively, was killing her. You'd better hope I don't get out of this soon, or I'll destroy you. Once that's done, I can change back, she thought. Then I can get back to Akane.
Finally, the pain took over that persona, and ripped away all. All was left was a young Japanese woman with red hair and blue eyes and no more defenses against the pain that spelled her death.
Stop. Stop! Stop! she screamed, the last words of English she could remember. She tried to remember Chinese, but that was long since gone. And soon, her English was gone. Yamate. Yamate! Yamate! With her last thought, she screamed the last words she could remember:TASUKETE! TASUKETE! TASUKETE! TASUKETE! RAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
Then there was nothing.
"wOW," Jade said. "wHAT A RUSH." Her eyes glowed like an inferno as she placed "her" gem around her neck, and then ripped off the useless, false Heart of the Demon from her ears. These are the Eyes of the Phoenix, and what trivial baubles they are, she thought, feeling disgust that she had ever worn the items. She threw them into the darkness.
"kaguro!" she screamed.
In an instant, he was there. "Yes, Jade?" He saw her blazing eyes, the red gem glowing with an unnatural light. He also saw the lifeless body of the Saotome girl strapped to the bed, her hair frost white, her open, unblinking eyes ice-blue, her skin albino white. Just what the hell happened? I heard the screams, but... In fact, the dying screams of Ranko Saotome continued to echo throughout the facility.
"hAS THE LETTER BEEN DELIVERED TO lao'S HOME?" Jade spoken in an unearthly voice.
"Yes, it has; my man should be on location this very minute." What happened to Jade? "What about the prisoners?"
"tHROW them IN HERE WITH THE CORPSE. iT WILL REMIND THEM THAT IT IS FUTILE TO RESIST me. pLUS, they WILL SERVE AS BAIT FOR WHEN lao CHARGES TO THE RESCUE."
Kaguro bowed, then motioned to his men, giving them orders in Japanese.
Jade smiled. Soon she would be able to grind Lao's body and mount her head on the front door of the Golden Dragon Palace.
From within the ruby, the Demon smiled. Soon it would eat away this Chiang woman's soul and take over her body. Soon it would be free.
There was a knock on the door. The police officer answered it again, only to find no one there. However, that same no one had left a note, scrawled in blood red ink, with the cheerful opening, FOR THE DAMNABLE CHINESE WHORE SHAN FU LAO.
"I believe somebody left you a note." He handed it to her. She in turn ripped it open, and read it, all her friends standing behind her. The letter appeared typed in actual blood, not the blood-red ink used on the outer envelope:
To the Whorish Slut Shan Fu Lao,
By the time you read this your friend Ranko Saotome will be dead. If you care to rescue your other two friends, please come play with me. Bring as many friends as you like, but no police, or your friends will suffer the same fate as your dear Ranko. You will find me where only freedom can be achieved.
-The Demon of the Gem
PS-Should you believe that this is false, this was written using Saotome's own blood.
Shampoo said nothing. She wouldn't, couldn't cry now. She felt nothing inside but an emptiness and an icy rage. "Okay, that's our cue. Tate, I can tell you're ready," she said, noticing in his eyes that a cold, merciless hatred had enveloped him as well. She pointed to Maria and Ronnie. "Get warmed up. I've got to as well. Maria, I can lend you Libby's ninja gi if you need it."
The normally brain-dead Maria became a steel-eyed young woman. "I have my stuff in the car."
"Ronnie, you're about my size, so I'll lend you some of my stuff." Ronnie nodded.
"Where do you think you're going?" the police officer said. "If you think that you're going to go on some reve-"
"KUNO!" Shampoo screamed.
There was a flash, a blur, and the motion of Kuno replacing his bokken back in its carrying case. The officer was horrified, that in a manner of seconds, his mustache had disappeared, shaven by Kuno's Lightning Sword attack without feeling so much as a scratch. Under those circumstances, the police officer felt there was only one thing to do. He fainted.
"Where do you think you're going withou-"
"No, you're not going." Her eyes blazed, every word a feline snarl. "Gil, you and Tyler are novices. Ronnie and Maria have mastered ki, as well as Tate an' me. We'll be fighting off ninjas and their masters, who are also ki trained. We may actually even fight a demon. We may not stand a chance. You won't."
"But Shampoo!" Tyler pleaded.
"No. You'll stay here and take care of the officer." That was all that she had to say on the subject. "Ronnie, come with me. Tate, see if you can get a hold of a boat."
"Why?" he asked, more out of informative request than puzzlement.
"You really should read more often," she said as she began to ascend the stairs, Ronnie in tow. "That line is from a book called The Sonnet of The Birdman of Alcatraz." She stopped. "That demon killed my best friend, and has my boyfriend and other best friend hostage. It's going to die." She clenched her fist, then punched through the wall. "You know, the demon should be thankful that it's we who will rip its head off and shove it somewhere really nasty."
"Why's that?" Gil said.
Shampoo gave her friend her most piercing stare, speaking in an emotionless voice. "Because somewhere on the other side of the world, there's a 26-year-old Japanese man who just went ballistic. And there will be nothing on earth that will protect that demon from Ranma."
An idyllic summer afternoon, on the island of Bali, Indonesia. A beautiful sandy beach, with the palm and cork trees softly moving in the slight breeze. A Japanese couple walking on the beach, holding hands, clearly in love. The man wore a "Hard Rock Cafe - Bali" T-shirt, swim trunks, sandals, his long hair done up in a Chinese-style braided tail. The woman wore a white summer dress, holding her sandals in her other hand, preferring to go barefoot on the beach; her hair a shorter cut than the man's. They walked peacefully, blissfully on the sands, occasionally taking a second to gaze fondly at the other, as if that other person was all that mattered in the world at this moment.
It was quite clear that Ranma and Akane Saotome were enjoying their first vacation alone in years.
The woman came to a stop, her husband following suit. She looked up at him fondly, the sense of love showing as clearly in her eyes as it was in his. "Ranma," she began, "I think it's time we talked."
"Um, about what, Akane?" he said.
"Ranma, we've gone through a lot in the last six years. The constant theatrics caused by those still chasing you, the incident with your mother, the constant training, helping my Dad run the dojo, the martial arts tournament fiascoes in London and Sydney, Kurumi's constant boyfriend problems and Natsumi's healing process, Nabiki and Tate, helping Ukyo with Sakura, Kasumi's marrying Tofu followed by our newborn nephew, Cologne's funeral, Happosai's disappearance, Dad getting married to Hinako-never thought he'd ever do that!, Ranko's constant anti-" his baby blue eyes clouded for a second, and Akane stopped, knowing that last topic was a delicate subject for him. "You remember how difficult it got-to the point that we had to move out of the dojo and get our own apartment."
"Yeah, I'm glad, though. It gives us some peace for a change." When the Saotomes moved out of the dojo, they moved to Kamakura, a small town several kilometers away from Tokyo. They were also lucky in the fact that Ukyo lived next door, leading to what Nabiki had called the "Tendo Dojo Annex".
She paused for a second, collecting her thoughts, searching for the best way to say the words she needed, wanted to say. "I think that it's time we thought about our own family. Ranma, I want to have a child." She began to walk again, not holding his hand, not looking at him as she spoke. "Did you know Akari asked about arranged marriage for our children? It's not something that I tho-" She stopped. "Ranma?"
Ranma had dropped to his knees, his eyes wide in shock.
Didn't think he'd take it that badly. She walked back, smiled, placed her hands on his shoulder, and softly laughed. "Honestly, Ranma, sometimes you-" She stopped in mid-sentence, her breath taken away.
Ranma was holding his head and grimacing in pain, as if it were about to tear it apart. "A...ka...ne..."
Ranma's mind was a maelstrom of pain and confusion. In the back of his mind, he could "hear" a voice screaming out in pain and fear:
Stop. Stop! Stop!
He knew that voice instantly. Ranko! Are you okay, sis? What's wrong? he sent back.
His mind boiled with an overwhelming sensation of pain, confusion and sadness. He felt like his skull would detonate. The pain was excruciating, overpowering, and he couldn't think clearly. Images of his sister's life raced through his mind, her private thoughts-experiences and thoughts they kept to themselves. He could see through her eyes as she made love to Mikado. He could see the blast that felled Natsumi. He could see Mousse and another woman beaten to within an inch of their lives, suspended on ropes, and a woman that looked sort of like Shampoo shouting that she would die. He could see all those and more. And more. And more.
Yamate. Yamate! Yamate!
Ranko, talk to me! Tell me what's wrong! he "shouted". The soulstorm of her life continued to buffet his mind and his own soul. Something sent a chill up his spine; instinct told him that his sister was dying.
A final vision of the Shampoo wannabe laughing, sucking away all of her life into a red crysta-Wait! That's the Phoenix Eye! That's the pendant that Shampoo gave Ranko! Sis! Hang in there! HANG IN THERE!
A great surge of everything that was Ranko Saotome hit Ranma at once, along with words that echoed in his soul, burning there, leaving a mark, and chilling him to the very marrow of his bones: TASUKETE! TASUKETE! TASUKETE! TASUKETE! RAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
Then there was nothing. For the first time in eight years, he was totally alone in his mind.
"Ranma! What's wrong?" Akane looked at her husband, concern slipping into her voice. What's going on? "Ranma, I..."
"Ran...ko..." he murmured. He looked to be in serious pain.
What was going on? "What about Ranko? Ranma?"
Without warning his head snapped back as if he'd been shot, falling backwards like a dying man.
"Ranma!" Whatever he was up to, it wasn't funny.
"No, Ranko, no..." he sobbed.
Akane dropped to her knees, stunned. "Ranma! What's wrong? Sweetheart?"
Without warning, he bellowed to a clear Balinese sky, as if its beauty mocked his grief: "RAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNKKKKKKKKKKKKKOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"