Destiny

By Arun Prabhu <arun2110@sancharnet.in>

Chapter#03 <Completed on 18/05/2003> <Revision#2>

A Ranma One-Half - Sailor Moon crossover with a pinch of Ramayana.

Disclaimers:

Ranma one-half and Sailor Moon belong to their respective owners. I do
not own them.

Author's notes:

This one's a biggie, but I think it's tasty. It is palatable and I hope
you can consume it in one sitting. Oh, and I hope you can keep it down,
too. ^_~

Refer to the numerical index at the bottom. I'm sure you'll find it
very helpful.




There was light. There was light and there was darkness that surrounded
the light.

    Inside the light, there was a table. Dozens of chairs circled the
table. Ashura lords occupied those chairs. They were dressed
resplendently in silken clothes of green, blue and saffron.

    Raja Chola stood at the head of the table. He looked around, his
head held high and proud. He wore archaic clothing and shadows veiled
part of his face. He was dressed in a single long strip of silk, very
much like a toga, beneath which he wore a sarong. The folds of his
stole dropped sinuously from his hand to the floor. A pigtail tied from
his matt-black hair stretched to his shoulder blades. A gold earring
inlaid with a single diamond hung from his left ear.

    "Vengeance is at hand," he said. His eyes swept across the table.
"The Betrayers will pay."

    The seated Ashuras nodded and murmured among themselves in
appreciation.

    "Ashura," Chola said in a majestic tone, "thy time is anon. The
Walls that have bound us for so long are weak and fragile. They shall
crumble to dust soon and when they fall, we will take what is
rightfully ours. The blood of our brethren will be avenged."

    The Ashuras did not murmur this time. Instead, they contented
themselves with little nods of acquiescence.

    Chola shifted on his feet. His saffron stole brushed against the
table as he did. He fixed his gaze upon the Ashura nearest to him and
spoke.

    "Indira, wilt thou do my bidding?" he asked. His words were soft
and there was not a hint of an order in them.

    "Yes, Milord," Indiran [1], the Ashura sitting next to Chola, said.
He rose from his seat and knelt before his liege. The gold emblem of
his house, which he wore around his neck, reflected the light shining
down on it off the jade dragon carved on its center and shone brightly.
"My soul is thine. Mine heart is thine. My body is thine... Thy every
word is my command, Son of the Earth," he said, and as he spoke the
last words, the emblem flashed once a shade of iridescent green.

    Chola smiled and looked down at Indiran as he extended the Ashura
his arm. When Indiran grasped hold of the proffered hand, light
fluorescent green motes blossomed from the insignia on Chola's
forehead. Command had been given and accepted. Indira would carry them
out - at all cost.

    "Arise, Indira. Arise and be seated."

    Indiran nodded. He straightened up and sat down. His eyes never
left his lord, however. Like a child's, they shone with unconditional
love for his emperor.

    "The task I give thee is perilous, Indira. I have sensed the Senshi
on the mortal plane. When the wall falls, they will assuredly try to
defend the Betrayers from our righteous wrath. I want them
neutralized," Chola said. His eyes met Indiran's and delved deep into
his soul, "Wilt thou kill them for me?"

    It was not a command, but a request and Indiran was more than
willing to oblige his liege.

    "It will be done, Milord."

    Chola nodded once.

    "It is well then. Take Suryan with thee."

    "Suryan, Milord?" Indiran asked. There was hesitation in his words.
"Art thou sure it is wise to use that animal, Milord?"

    "No, it is not," Chola admitted, "But he is our best tracker and I
trust that thou'lt be able to control his vile urges."

    "Very well, Milord, it will be as thou wishest."

    "Thou shalt set out at the earliest opportune moment. The tear in
the wall is stable enough that you shouldst arrive safely at your
destination. Once on the other side, should Surya's base emotions take
rein of his dark soul and cause him to break The Code, thou mayst kill
him. But wait until he locates the Senshi."

    Indiran nodded and rose from his seat. As he rose, his stole, which
was wrapped around his waist, and arranged in such a way that the folds
drooped from his shoulders, slid off his arm to drag against the floor.
Indiran did not seem to mind getting his vestment dirtied and paid no
attention to it, as he bowed to Chola. The tiny trees and figurines on
his stole seemed to come alive as the light struck them. No poet could
have done justice with his poems to the tiny forest of gold, nor could
any artist with his painting. It was beauty - pure, simple and majestic
beauty - in all its glory.

    Chola bent at his waist to bless Indiran and the sigil on his head
glowed brighter than normal as he did. He gave Indira his blessings and
whispered a few long forgotten words of power and wisdom in his ears.
Finally, after receiving Chola's wisdom, Indiran left.

    Chola turned his attention to the rest of the Ashura lords. His
chest was heavy with the massive burden he had placed on Indiran's
shoulders, but he bore it with a stout heart. The Senshi of the past
were anything but innocent. Their loyalties had always lain with the
enemy and they posed a small but significant threat to his plans. As
such, they had to die. He would tolerate no obstacle that stood between
him and his ultimate quarry, the Gods.

    "Tamil Selva, arise!"

    Tamil Selvan, the Ashura at the far end of the table, stood up. He
paid his respects to his lord and stood still, awaiting his orders.

    "Go beyond the wall and gather the surviving Righteous Ones
together. Learn the changes that the mortal plane hath experienced
since our banishment and report back to me."

    Tamil Selvan nodded.

    "Do you not trust Indira to return, Milord?" he asked.

    "Son of my heart, how little dost thou trust me," Chola replied,
"Indira will be sufficiently hard-pressed controlling Surya and
eliminating the Senshi. I dare not overburden him with this task. It
would be most unwise of me if I did."

    There was a pause.

    "I send thee, for thou art the most experienced scout in mine army.
Wilt thou obey me and do my bidding?"

    In response, Tamil Selvan bowed low, prostrating himself before his
lord. His sin was unpardonable and he deserved a fate worse than death.

    "I offer my profound apologies for my presumptuous speech, Milord!
Ask and my life is thine."

    Chola shook his head, refusing Tamil Selvan offer to make amends.

    "Arise. Thou art forgiven, Selva."

    Tamil Selvan rose to his feet once again.

    "I shalt set out at the earliest, Milord," he said.

    "Very well, Selva. You hath my blessings for the journey ahead,"
Chola said, a small indulgent smile on his face.

    Fade.

***********************************************************************

    It was not easy being the heir to one of the rulers of the
Joketsuzoku-Musk nation. You had to be the best in everything. You had
to beat your nearest competitor by seven miles and six yards, and you
had to make the effort look easy. In other words, you had to be
perfect. Throughout her life, Shan Pu, the great, great, great
granddaughter of Guu Long, Matriarch of the Joketsuzoku, trained to
reach that elusive point of perfection that marks the heir of one of
the Elders. She pushed herself farther, faster and harder, until she
was the best in her age group. Indeed, she was easily one of the best
in the village. Incredibly long hours had been devoted to perfecting
her manners, her social and her language skills. Thank God, she had
learned them well, for without them, she would have reduced Ranma into
a pile of broken and bloodied bone and flesh a long time ago.

    Not two weeks had passed since Ranma entered her life and she
already hated him with a passion. In addition, to make matters worse,
she had also fallen in love with him. The man was a bastard, she knew,
whose one pleasure in life came from taunting her and acting like the
pompous twit he was all the time. Yet, despite his numerous
shortcomings, he had one thing going in his favor. He had the cutest,
tightest butt in the whole world and to Shan Pu's hormone crazed
teenage mind that alone was enough to offset all his other
deficiencies. Like his rudeness, his lack of manners, his
pretentiousness, his pomposity, and his ego. In short, her emotions
were unnecessarily complicating her life and increasing her sense of
insecurity, making her more miserable than she already had reason to
be.

    It had not been that long ago when her life was simple - simple and
uncomplicated. She trained and guarded the Wise Ones, as one of the
Elite. Sure, there were intrigues aplenty, but she loved her job and
more importantly, she enjoyed it. Her venerated grandmother took all of
it away in a single stroke on her much awaited return from Phoenix
Mountain, when she came bearing news about The Dragon. Guu Long called
an emergency session of The Council on arrival. At the end of several
hours of secret deliberations, she abdicated to her most hated rival,
Lian Qiao and announced her plans to set out on a quest in search of
The Dragon. Moreover, with the entire village as her witness, the
former Matriarch requested The Council to allow her the company of her
heir-in-training, Shan Pu, on her holy journey. They granted her
request, and both grandmother and granddaughter set out. Still,
disappointed as she was to leave her job, Shan Pu had been overwhelmed
by the honor and trust bestowed upon her by The Wise Ones. She had
idiotically looked forward to the hajj, and adventures ahead with
unbridled hope and joy. Not anymore.

    The exuberance lasted not three days into the journey when she
found out the truth. As it turned out, Guu Long did not even have the
faintest notion of where they should start looking for The Dragon. All
she had was an informant who may or may not have been telling them the
truth. Even though she had been disappointed, Shan Pu could have lived
with this letdown - when they set out on the pilgrimage, she had looked
forward to meeting The Dragon within weeks of setting out of the
village - and might have actually enjoyed the search were it not for
Ranma, that well-off pompous scum of the earth who just happened to be
their informant - may the Gods be thrice damned. He forced them to pay
for his stay in the expensive penthouse suite in Crowne Plaza Chengdu,
and he taunted Shan Pu every waking hour. He insulted her without
pause, and seemed to take pleasure in pissing the young Joketsuzoku off
in just about everything and anything. She had made up her mind to
reduce the bastard to a pile of broken bones within hours of meeting
him and would have done so were it not for her grandmother, who ordered
her to be on her best behavior around Ranma. Thus, like the dutiful
granddaughter she was, Shan Pu bore all the insults, the ridicule and
the taunts in silence, and even managed to put on a polite act.

    It did not help. Her grandmother's advice did not help at all. The
more politely she acted, the more he provoked her. The incident that
took place minutes after their arrival in Tokyo was a great example of
their uselessness, but there were others, too. After exiting the
airport, they had just boarded Ranma's 'cab,' a stretch limousine, when
he asked Shan Pu about her opinion on Tokyo. When she responded in the
negative, he launched into a rude speech that not only insulted her,
but also her ancestors, their children, and the pigs in their sties.
She almost killed him then - almost. Ranma seemed to notice the barely
controlled anger in her eyes and he did not provoke her any further for
the rest of the journey, though he shot a queer smirk at her every now
and then. Soon afterwards, they reached his home, which really was a
mansion, and he became the epitome of manners and grace. It puzzled her
to no end, this sudden transformation of his. She wanted - needed - to
know which one of his masks was the true Ranma. Was it the rude,
obnoxious one, or was it the polite, courteous one? The suspense was
killing her.

    After showing grandmother and granddaughter around the house,
Ranma, acting well the part of the gracious host, excused himself to
the kitchen to prepare their meal, while they retired to their rooms to
freshen up. It took Shan Pu an hour and Guu Long, half an hour longer
to finish their toilette, and when finally they both walked into the
dining room, a feast - a very expensive and tasty looking banquet -
awaited them. Ranma sat calmly at the head of the table with a small
expectant smile on his face. He bade them sit in as courteous a manner
as possible and even though the change in his conduct was a big
mystery, Shan Pu found herself intrigued by an even bigger one. How in
the world had he prepared such a meal in the space of an hour? There
were no servants around the house and no single man could have prepared
such a meal by himself. Or could he?

    "Lobsters, Shan Pu?" Ranma asked, interrupting Shan Pu out of her
reverie.

    His voice was too polite and Shan Pu immediately suspected his
motives. Something was definitely up.

    "Yes, thank you," she replied. She tried to hide the curiosity and
the distrust in her voice. She succeeded, mostly.

    Ranma noticed her concern in the minute fraction of a second that
it was visible and smiled inwardly. His granddaughter was very good at
masking her true emotions for someone her age. Even though she still
had a way to go before she could satisfy him in the department - her
recovery from that last slip had taken a little too long for his liking
- she was definitely Matriarch material. He smiled briefly again in
spite of himself and served her a monster of a lobster. Then, he turned
to Guu Long.

    "How about you, Honored One, do you want one, too?"

    Guu Long shook her head.

    "No."

    Ranma nodded.

    "And what about Tokyo, Honored One - do you like it?"

    "Yes, I think I do..." Guu Long paused with just a hint of
hesitation in her eyes, "It makes me wish that I were not born a
Joketsuzoku."

    Ranma raised a questioning eyebrow. Shan Pu simply gaped in
disbelief. Had she heard her grandmother correct? Those words could not
have come from Guu Long's lips, could they?

    "Regrets, Wise One?"

    Guu Long shook her head.

    "Everyone has regrets - some more than others. But no, my regrets
are not nearly enough reason."

    "But you say..."

    Guu Long took a sip of water while she formulated her answer. The
subtle inflections in Ranma's voice indicated that she was under
scrutiny; that he was examining her with a microscope. She felt sure
that her answers were going to influence him a great deal in the way he
saw her.

    "My life has been long, and it has brought joy and sorrow in equal
measures to a great many people. I regret the sorrow I caused and I
rejoice the joy my presence brought others. My life itself, I do not
regret.

    "If I were given the chance to go back in time and relive my life,
I would not change anything - not even a single mistake, or error in
judgment. If I did, it would dishonor all my friends and loved ones who
respected me and gave me a place in their hearts.

    "Still, a small selfish part of me cannot help but wish that things
had been different in my life... That I was not the all-powerful
Matriarch of the Joketsuzoku; that I was wiser than I was in my younger
days; that I had not lived to see my children, my grandchildren and my
friends die," she said and paused.

    Ranma nodded, as if in understanding, which Shan Pu noted out of
the corner of her eyes. It mystified her that one such as he could even
understand the complex issues her grandmother chose to address. The
only way he could understand Guu Long was if he were as old as her
grandmother himself and although there was a faint chance that he was
older than he looked, it was remote. And even if he had aged well, he
could not be that old. No one could age that well, could they? She
focused her attention completely on Ranma and watched, as he chewed on
his supper thoughtfully. The silence in the room, as he pondered his
answer, was palpable.

    "I understand," he spoke at length, "It is a curse and a blessing,
duty."

    Guu Long nodded.

    "One should not survive one's loved ones," he continued, "It is the
worst curse possible."

    As he spoke, his eyes lost their focus, and for just a moment
became impossibly ancient and wise. Mirrored in them were ancient pain
and wisdom the likes of which Shan Pu had never seen in her life - not
even the Wise Ones looked that old. She observed every minute detail of
his eyes, his face and most of all, his eyes, and filed them away for
future reference. His haunted voice, too, spoke a great deal about the
pain he felt in his heart. She looked even closer at him, now more
curious than ever. 'Who is he?' she wondered. The abrupt change in
manner and those impossibly ancient eyes - they were all pieces of a
gigantic puzzle that she had every intention of solving. Only she was
afraid that it might prove too complex for her - that she might have
bitten more than she could chew.

    Abruptly, Ranma's eyes regained their focus. He turned them towards
both his granddaughters, a small smile on his face.

    "But I digress. Will Shan Pu be attending school while she is here,
Honored One?" he asked, steering away from the painful subject.

    Shan Pu looked at her grandmother, her eyes pleading no, but Guu
Long ignored her.

    "Yes, she'll be attending school. Perhaps you can suggest one,
Ranma?" she asked.

    Ranma swallowed the mouthful of deliciously cooked prawn meat he
was chewing and carefully laid down his chopsticks on his plate. He
clasped his hands in front of him as he leaned on the table, took a
deep breath and spoke.

    "Perhaps she could attend Juuban High. I have applied for a job
there and we can enroll her when I attend my interview tomorrow."

    Guu Long nodded in acquiescence.

    "But I do not want to attend school, Honorable Grandmother," Shan
Pu objected. The school in the village had been bad enough and she had
no intention of attending school in Japan, ever. However, before she
could continue with her objections, Guu Long turned on her and glared
her down with unusual sharpness.

    "I have made my decision and it is final, Granddaughter. You will
attend school for the duration of our stay and that's that."

    "But..."

    "Hush! Did I give you permission to speak? Do you presume yourself
my better?" Guu Long hissed, angry that Shan Pu was behaving like a
toddler in the presence of their venerable grandfather. The ex-
matriarch wanted very much to impress Ranma with Shan Pu, and her
granddaughter was making her job unduly hard.

    Shocked by the venom in her grandmother's words, Shan Pu felt
sufficiently reprimanded to forego her tantrum. She shook her head,
squeaking only a small "no" in reply.

    Still, Guu Long was not mollified. She stared long and hard at Shan
Pu, until the girl flinched under the stern gaze. Then, with her eyes
still focused on her granddaughter, she addressed Ranma.

    "Please, forgive Shan Pu her folly. She's usually obedient, but
needs to be shown the error of her ways sometimes."

    "Young people sometimes need guidance. It is the duty of their
elders to give them that direction," he replied, shooting Shan Pu a
knowing smile. He had been in his granddaughter's position many a time
in his olden days and his sympathies were entirely with her for Guu
Long had ridden the girl very hard; perhaps harder than she deserved.
Shan Pu did not pay attention to Ranma's reaction, however. She was too
busy licking her wounds to pay attention to the world at large.

    Guu Long smiled, nodding in agreement and returned to her meal. The
conversation slowly drifted onto other topics from there and by the
time they finished their meal, Ranma had both his granddaughters
laughing with one idiotic tale of his misadventures from earlier days
after another. He was careful, however, to leave out the dates - he did
not want Shan Pu to discover his identity just yet. Afterwards, Guu
Long retired to her room, and Ranma and Shan Pu got down to clearing
the dishes. The leftovers and the china on the table disappeared fast.
With all the dirty dishes put in the dishwasher, Ranma excused himself
and stepped out into the night for a little stargazing from the comfort
of his favorite seat - a small boulder by the koi pond. It did not take
long to lose himself, and he almost did not sense Shan Pu open the
front door and watch him from the porch - almost, but not quite.

    "The stars are beautiful, aren't they?" he observed, intentionally
keeping his eyes focused on the stars to avoid her gaze.

    Shan Pu recognized his question for what it was - an invitation to
join him in his lazy pursuit. She mulled over her decision but only for
a moment, before her curiosity got the better of her and she stepped
forward, a wee bit nervous in her mind, but a great deal inquisitive.
She halted a few feet from him and flopped down on the ground, leaning
back until her back was flat on the grass and her eyes were staring
into the depths of the night sky.

    "Yes, it is... Who are you?" she asked and as she did, turned and
focused his eyes on him. It was not one of her better opening moves,
but it served her purpose. The question was something she had been
meaning to ask ever since she stepped into his house and came face to
face with the polite Ranma.

    He smiled, his teeth sparkling in the moonlight.

    "Who do you think I am?" he asked in return. His voice was cheery
and playful.

    "Don't kid with me," she warned, narrowing her eyes a little. She
meant to find the truth even if she had to kill him for it. With the
way he had infuriated her ever since she had known him she might kill
him just out of spite even if he did.

    Ranma's smile only grew larger.

    "I'm no one," he replied, then turned slightly to face her,
"seriously!"

    Shan Pu gritted her teeth. It looked like the bastard in him was
back. Maybe she had been wrong, after all. Maybe this was the real
Ranma and the polite one was just a mask worn to confuse people. If
that were true, she did not want anything to do with him.

    She stood up to leave.

    "Don't go," he said. His voice was soft, almost longing.

    It made her pause. She could not fathom the depth of suffering in
his voice and the pain in it called out to her.

    "Why shouldn't I?" she asked.

    "Because I ask you politely," he replied in a haunted tone. He did
not add anything more to his argument.

    Her resolve weakened.

    "Very well," she said. She turned and flopped down beside him once
again.

    Thus seated, they remained silent for a few minutes. During that
time, he gazed absently at the stars and she, too ill at ease to speak,
remained silent.

    "Why do you hate school?" he asked, finally. He did not take his
eyes off the star-studded sky.

    She did not reply.

    "There is no need to fear, you know. A smart girl like you can
easily ace the courses if you put just a little effort into your
study."

    Shan Pu did not reply immediately. She took several moments and
even then only because Ranma cleared his throat rather impatiently.

    "It is not the work I'm afraid of. God knows I'm not a shirker."

    "Then what are you afraid of? Surely, you aren't afraid of the
students..." Ranma began and fell silent. "You're afraid of children
your age, aren't you? Why?"

    Shan Pu muttered something under her breath, thinking that he would
not hear her reply. Apparently, his hearing was much better than she
thought, for he turned and his eyes focused on her.

    "Children are like that, Shan Pu. You have to trust me on this. If
they think you're different then them, they'll be mean to you. It
happens to every other kid around the block. The important thing is
whether you learn to ignore them or not. You need to realize that you
can't satisfy everyone at once. That's an impossible task. There's
always someone who'll hate you, no matter how nice you are to them. The
sooner you learn that, the happier you'll be."

    Shan Pu turned towards him.

    "Oh?" she asked. "And why should I listen to your advice? You're
hardly older than me."

    Ranma smiled and propped himself on his hand against the ground,
facing her.

    "Don't trust your senses. Trust your heart. It never lies."

    She raised an eyebrow.

    "And what's that supposed to mean?"

    His smile grew even wider.

    "That's for me to know and you to find out."

    "Argh! I hate you!" she exclaimed.

    He raspberried her playfully.

    "Yes, I got that feeling."

    Pause.

    "Listen. I meant what I said. You can't let them get to you. It'll
only make your life miserable."

    "I know," she replied with a sigh, "It's just that..."

    Ranma nodded as if he understood her unspoken comment.

    "I realize that growing up in the competitive atmosphere in the
village wasn't conducive to forming friendships, but I want you to put
the past behind you. I want to let you know that the situation and the
children are very different here. All I ask is that you give up that
defeatist attitude and try. Who knows, maybe by the time you leave,
you'll have a large number of friends who'd judge you for what you
truly are and not by your political standing in the village," he said,
solemnly.

    Shan Pu thought about Ranma's suggestion for all of three seconds
and then took a deep breath.

    "I suppose. Ah, what the heck, I'll give it a try!"

    Ranma smiled in response. 'As if my granddaughter would choose
anything else...'

    "You'll make a good leader," he observed after a pause.

    "Huh?"

    "I said you'll make a good leader."

    "I already know that," Shan Pu snapped, peevishly. As if she could
be anything else!

    "You are confident. Good. I saw the way you controlled yourself
when I goaded you on. You demonstrated excellent control for someone
your age."

    Shan Pu raised an eyebrow. 'So, that's why he was such an obnoxious
bastard before! Well, that takes care of one mystery. Now, for the
other one...'

    "How old are you?" she asked.

    "Old," he replied. His smirk did not falter any. If anything, it
grew larger.

    "No, I'm serious. Tell me how old you really are. Are you thirty?
Forty? Fifty? C'mon, you can tell me."

    "Forty. Fifty. I'm a combination of those two," he replied. 'And
I'm not lying... At least, not technically - after all, forty times
fifty is two thousand.'

    She smiled.

    "Forty-five."

    He smiled.

    "You could say that."

    "Oh?" From the way he spoke, it was clear that he was having a
laugh at her expense, but she did not care. As long as he was not
lying, she was not going to give a damn about what he did or did not
do. All that mattered was that he was not The Dragon, which was the
best news she had heard so far. It would be bad if she were to develop
a crush on her own grandfather, not to mention the thoughts about
pounding him into a bloody puddle. "So, you know where The Dragon is,
huh?"

    Again, Ranma flashed his ever-present smile. She was beginning to
think it was a disease or something that contorted his face and made
him seem as if he were smiling.

    "Theoretically, yes."

    "Theoretically, yes - what is that supposed to mean?"

    "I ain't telling you."

    She narrowed her eyes.

    "Why not?"

    "'Cause if I tell you, I'd have to kill you."

    "Hmph! As if you could - I bet that you couldn't even lay your
hands on me."

    "You don't want to find out what I can and cannot do, Little Widdle
Girly."

    "Little Widdle Girly? I'll show you a little girl." 'Did he just
threaten me?'

    "There's no need to. I'm already seeing one in front of myself."

    "Argh!" How dare he mock her? 'I'll show him a little girl, the
jerk!' she screamed mentally, all thoughts of the 'threat' forgotten.

    "Is widdle Shan Pu-chan losing her temper, already?" he teased,
jumping up on his feet before she could hit him on the head with her
bonbori. Two thousand years of constant pummeling by friends and
acquaintances had made him an expert at diagnosing symptoms of the
dreaded 'Die, Ranma, die!' syndrome.

    Shan Pu jumped to her feet, close at Ranma's heels and gave chase
around the front yard. Try as she might, she could not catch him,
however, and by the end of the first half an hour, she dropped in a
heap on the ground, her endurance at an end.

    Ranma sat down beside her, just out of the reach of her bonbori. He
could not help himself and laughed at her plight. She, even as she
suffered, noticed absently that he had not even broken a sweat while
she was all but dead.

    "How," gasp, "did," gasp, "you," gasp, "do," gasp, "that?" Gasp.

    Ranma looked around, feigning ignorance.

    "Do what?" he asked.

    "That!" she gasped, "You ran," gasp, "just as hard," gasp, "as I
did," gasp, "without," gasp, "tiring."

    He acted comprehension.

    "Oh, that! I've had training - lots of training."

    "You practice The Art?" she asked, surprised. She panted heavily,
as she spoke. She had not noticed anything about him that indicated he
practiced The Art before, but now that she thought about it, it was
obvious. She realized now why his movements had always seemed to remind
her of a predator. It must have been because he practiced The Art. That
subconscious realization must have contributed to her uneasiness around
him, too.

    "Yes," he nodded, "As a matter of fact, I do."

    "Oh! I hadn't noticed before," she admitted honestly.

    "Well, I try to keep all my cards close to my chest, if you know
what I mean."

    She nodded. She understood, yes.

    He clasped his legs with his arms and tucked them into himself,
leaning a little forward to rest his chin on his knee.

    "There are a lot of things that people don't know about me. Even my
close friends are really not that close," he said, "I'm the kind of
person who keeps what I know to myself unless I feel there's a good,
profitable reason to reveal it."

    "In other words, you prefer to let others think of you as a
mysterious and wise figure, just so that you can satisfy your ego's
need to feel important."

    He smiled.

    "You're correct, partly."

    "So," she drawled, scooting a little closer to him for warmth, "Why
tell me all this?"

    "Ah, we've come full circle. Have you ever considered a career as a
diplomat? You'd make a great one."

    "I would?"

    "Yes, you would. You have their penchant."

    "Oh!"

    Pause.

    "Hey," she accused indignantly, raising the tempo her voice a
little, "You are avoiding the question, again."

    Ranma laughed and jumped to his feet.

    "Yes, I am. Catch me if you can and I'll answer your questions."

    "Come back," she shouted and straggled to her feet to chase after
him. This time around, the chase did not last nearly as long and Shan
Pu collapsed within ten minutes. As she lay gasping, Ranma approached
her with a pout on his face.

    "You're no fun."

    "This," gasp, "is," gasp, "fun?" Gasp.

    He raised an eyebrow.

    "It isn't?" he asked, dubiously.

    "Of," gasp, "course," gasp, "it," gasp, "isn't!" gasp.

    "Oh, I'm sorry then. So, what questions do you want me to answer?"
he asked, propping himself against the old chestnut tree not five feet
from where she lay.

    "You're," gasp, "going to," gasp, "answer," gasp, "my questions?"
Gasp. "I," gasp, "thought..." Before she could continue any further,
Ranma placed a finger on his lips, and she fell silent.

    "Hush. I'll answer your questions. You tried your best to catch me
and that's all that matters. I'd say you earned the right to ask me
whatever you want."

    "Oh!" gasp, "Who are," gasp, "you?"

    "I'm Joketsuzoku."

    Her eyes widened. She definitely had not expected that answer.

    "How come," gasp, "I have," gasp, "never seen you," gasp, "before?"

    "That's because I don't live in the village," he replied with a
smile.

    She stared at him.

    "Hey, you asked me the question and I gave you a valid answer."

    "Name someone," gasp, "from the village," gasp, "and I'll believe
you."

    He shrugged.

    "I'm Joketsuzoku by adoption. I haven't visited the village in a
long time, though I used to live there once."

    "Oh! So, you really are old."

    "Yes, I'm older than you," he replied, 'Much older than you, but
you don't need to know that - yet.' "I aged well. So, I look young."

    "Are you old enough to be my father?" she asked, curiously. If he
was older than that, then her crush was most probably doomed.

    "Older."

    "Um... My grandfather?"

    He smiled. At the same time, his eyes twinkled with mischief.

    "You could say that."

    'Damn!' "You will not tell me your real age?"

    He laughed.

    "No, I will not. I'm sensitive about my age - just like you are."

    "Hey!"

    "Honest. It wouldn't do to let cute, adorable bombshells like you
think that I'm an old geezer, now, would it?"

    Her shoulders drooped. 'He is a Casanova, all right! And to think I
thought he was a cute and adorable angel just now!'

    "I suppose," she said with a sigh, and then inexorably brightened,
"Does grandmother know how old you are?"

    "Yes, she does. However, she wouldn't tell you if you asked her.
She knows that I like to be all mysterious and stuff."

    "Oh!" 'Damn, again!'

    "Anything else?"

    "Nah!"

    "Good. Now, I know that you think I'm rude and everything, but I
want you to know that it wasn't the real me you saw before. I was
testing you."

    "Testing me - what for?"

    "To see how far along you were in your training."

    "Oh!"

    Pause.

    "Did I pass?" she asked after a while.

    He smiled.

    "Yes, you did - with flying colors! That's why I said you'll make a
fine leader someday."

    "Oh!"

    Pause.

    "You married?"

    "Ah, the dreaded question session continues."

    "Haha! Are you going to answer my question or not?"

    "Yes, I was. My wife has been dead for sometime now," he said, his
eyes focused on the far distance.

    "I'm sorry."

    He shrugged.

    "Don't be. It was her time..."

    Silence.

    "Where did you learn to cook?" she asked finally, trying to break
the awkwardness that had crept in, after she began to bore of staring
at the sky.

    "I've been around the block a few times and I picked up a thing or
two."

    "Yeah, right! A thing or two, he says! I'd say you learnt a lot
more than that. Supper was delicious."

    "Thank you," he replied with a bow, "We live but to please."

    "I bet."

    He burst out laughing at her remark.

    "Friends?" he asked.

    She nodded.

    "Friends," she said and unconsciously hugged herself as the first
pangs of cold hit her. Tokyo was not hot at its hottest and the night
was anything but hot. The cold was almost as bad as in the village and
to make matters worse, she wasn't wearing anything to protect her from
the environment, as she would have if she were in the village either.

    Ranma noticed his granddaughter's discomfiture and came to a quick
decision.

    "Why don't we go in?" he asked, diplomatically, as he pushed
himself off the tree trunk. "It's getting late and we have an early
appointment to keep in the morn."

    She shot him a grateful glance. With his offer and his excuse, he
made sure she would not come off as looking weak.

    "Yes, let's," she said and looked up.

    He waited by her side whilst she got up and then the two of them
trudged inside, he beside her. At the porch, he turned around to look
at the night one last time and then followed her into the house. The
door closed and the lights went out soon after.

***********************************************************************

    It was early morning in Juuban, Tokyo, and Rei Hino, always an
early riser, was up and running before her grandfather had even
stirred. She woke up earlier than usual - at three O'clock to be exact
- as she suffered from nightmares all night long - frightening visions
that she could barely recall. They made her queasy, these half-
remembered dreams. Wisely, she decided that they were important enough
to explore with a Fire Reading. She instinctively knew that they had
something to do with the Silver Millennium and if a new enemy had come
to haunt them, they - she and her friends, the Sailor Senshi - needed
to know who it was and what they wanted. Their very lives might depend
on the information.

    'Let's see. Focus your ki and clear your mind,' she thought, after
she made herself comfortable in the standard lotus position. She took a
cleansing breath to balance her pranayama and to clear her mind, and
once her breathing regularized, grabbed her Kundalini Chakra with her
mind. Like a seething serpent, ki rose through her system in
retaliation, reaching her Sahasrara Chakra a tiny fraction of a second
later. Energy flooded her veins and she felt invigorated - as if she
could run a marathon and not break a sweat.

    "Rin, pyou, tou, sha, kai, jin, retsu, sai, zen," she whispered,
her voice filled with ecstasy. Never before in her life had she felt so
alive and invigorated.

    Ki gushed out of her in a torrent into the Sacred Fire. There was a
violent flash, as the flames surged forth. The heat of the unnatural
flashover singed her hair, her face and her hands, but Rei did not feel
the pain. She was too lost in the world of dreams and visions to feel
anything in the real world, and her astral form transcended the mortal
plane and entered the next - the dream plane.

    Flash.

    She flew through the air. The sky was pale red and the ground was,
too. There was a huge mountain in the distance. The mountain looked
vaguely familiar and after a few seconds of introspection, recognition
flashed across her mind's eye. She started as its name hit her. It was
Ares, the tallest mountain in the solar system. She was on Mars.

    Flash.

    Without warning, Ares exploded, spewing out an incandescent cloud
of super hot dust and ash that reached to the utmost reaches of the sky
above. The blast, the flash that she saw, was bright enough to blind
her astral form. When her eyesight returned, she saw she was in a
different place.

    More importantly, she was looking through the eyes of another
person. It was the person of Queen Serenity the First, she realized
with another start, and before her raged a battle between a strange and
powerful looking six-armed monster and Silver Millennium soldiers. It
was a one-sided fight - the monster was too powerful a foe for the
soldiers to overcome - and bodies of those who had not survived contact
littered the grounds.

    She, the Queen, looked at the monster and then, at the soldiers
fighting it. 'My people,' she thought and whatever hesitation there was
before in her mind about a very critical, but unremembered decision
disappeared. She reached into herself and released the energy pent up
in her body. There was a flash.

    Now, she was in a tropical forest. A river roared down its age-old
course somewhere in her background. A man stood to her right and to her
left were two strangely dressed Gods. An aura of palpable hate radiated
from the man. It was targeted at the Gods, who knew they were the focus
of that bone-chilling hatred just as she did. The Gods did not do
anything, however. They were too afraid - afraid of him. So afraid she
could sense their fear. The scene shifted and the man was now much
closer to the Gods. He asked for immortality, and they granted it to
him. Then, as per his request, they also crowned him king of the
Ashuras. She did not know what an Ashura was. Who are they, she asked
herself, racking her mind for references. Her search was unfruitful.

    Flash.

    Now, she was inside a house. She was in a room with two children
and their mother. The youngest had brown, curly hair. She played on her
mother's lap while her like-haired big brother sat beside mom. The
mother was narrating a story - perhaps a fable, or even a fairytale -
to her children. All three of them were dressed in the finest silk, but
their clothes were of the queerest make. Rei had never seen the likes
of such clothes before in her life.

    The atmosphere in the room was peaceful and tranquil. In fact, the
room was the epitome of peace and tranquility. Suddenly, without any
warning, chaos broke loose. Screams from beyond the door startled the
mother and her children out of their reverie. The anxious woman drew
her children together and rose, meaning to hide them somewhere safe,
just as Rei would have if she were in the other's place. Cruel fate had
other ideas, however. The front door exploded with a deafening bang
before the mother and her children could exit through the door on the
far end of the room. Flying shrapnel buzzed through the air and the
concussive blast slammed into the woman, knocking her rudely to the
hard ground. The blast picked up the little girl as well and sent her
screaming through the air. The child hit the ground hard, flipped like
a rag doll a couple of times, and lay crying, her face, hands and body
bathed in blood. The mother tried to reach for her daughter, but both
her legs were broken and she was pinned to the ground by a large piece
of dry wood that had once been part of the door. It had torn into her
right thigh and impaled her against the floor. Blood flowed freely from
the wound and try as she might, she could not extend her reach to her
daughter. She was completely helpless. And then, there was the son. He
lay by his mother's side, senseless. He bled copiously from a gash on
his forehead. Otherwise, he appeared to be in good health.

    Someone laughed from behind the cloud of smoke that filled the room
and veiled the doorway. The acrid smoke made it hard to breathe. The
mother tilted her head and so did Rei's astral form. The smoke parted
and as Rei watched with disbelieving eyes, the mother's eyes widened in
terror at the creature that came out of the smoke. It was a God.

    A mean-looking man with a moustache - the God - stood by what
remained of the door, laughing. He was dressed in blooded green silk
and in his hands was a wicked looking cutlass of the purest white
crystal - the same crystal as the Ginzuishou. Blood dripped down the
razor sharp edge of the blade to splatter in a growing puddle on the
ground.

    "Please!" the mother pleaded, her pain forgotten. Her eyes were
filled with a terrible horror that none but a mother about to lose her
child can feel, "do with me as you wish. Don't hurt my children."

    The God laughed in reply. There was no mercy in his eyes - only
cruelty and perverted joy shone in them. The doom of mother and progeny
was in his hands, and Rei saw - knew - that he would show no mercy.
Mother and children were about to die and it pained her that she could
do nothing to help them. Time slowed down and rendered her senses
unbelievably keen as the fateful moment drew closer. Overcome by horror
and helplessness, Rei watched his hands rise ever so slowly into the
air. The mother - Rei felt true pity for her - too, watched in numbed
horror, as a gout of purifying flame gushed forth from his palm to
incinerate the sobbing daughter where she lay. The flames consumed the
child, and as her flesh burned and she was roasted alive, she screamed
and wailed in raw terror and agony. Thanks be to God, the screams did
not last long. They died almost as soon as they began, but to Rei and
the unfortunate mother, they might as well have lasted an eternity. The
mother, Rei saw in her eyes, was alive and yet dead. Her soul had not
left her body, but her heart was dead. She would never be alive again,
not in the true sense of the word - certainly not after watching her
daughter burn to ash.

    Rei's senses returned to normal. The cruel God's laughter echoed
across the hallways and Rei felt sickened by his very presence even as
his voice violated the sorrowful, never to be forgotten moment. He must
have known that his laughter was vulgar and unnatural, and still, he
laughed. It made her stomach lurch, his laughter, but she could not
make him stop and neither did he pause. It was a game to him she
realized too late, killing innocent mothers and their children.

    Finally, Rei overcame her hatred and anger, and focused her
attention on him, as did the mother. The terrible fate that awaited her
son - her life, her soul - had brought the mother out of her grief-
induced stupor. She did not cry, however, as the situation demanded.
One needs a heart to cry and hers was dead - dead and gone, never to
return.

    The God's laughter grew merrier, if that was possible. 'How can a
God be so cruel? How can anyone be so cruel?' Rei asked herself and
even as she did, he swung his hand across the room to point at the boy.
The mother crawled to her son, having somehow wrenched out the wood
that had impaled her to the floor, and drew him to her breast. She was
going to shield the boy with her body, as if that mattered. The God
waited until he safely was cocooned in his mother's grasp. Then he
spoke a few terse words of hatred in some strange tongue and without
another thought, torched both mother and son.

    Flash.

    Now, she floated a thousand meters in the air. The sky was crystal
blue above. It was speckled with snow-white clouds. Her astral body
felt a faint breeze in the air. The afternoon sun shone upon her. She
looked down. Below her, she saw a huge, sprawling city that seemed to
stretch forever in all directions. No mortal hands could have crafted
such beauty, she thought. Not even the majesty of the moon capital in
its heyday could compare to this city and without a shred of doubt, it
was the single most beautiful thing she had ever seen - she would ever
see - in her life. She felt like she could cry at the sight of all that
beauty.

    There was yet another blinding flash. It seemed to stretch for an
eternity. When finally the light faded and disappeared, a huge fireball
and mushroom cloud rose into the air. It was ugly and revolting, the
cloud, and it was a blemish on the world. A powerful shockwave hit her
and hurricane force winds buffeted her. It lasted for nearly a minute
and then, it was over. Just like that.

    When the thick veil of dust parted, she looked down again. Beneath
her, there was nothing left standing in the city. Everything was gone
and nothing survived. Where the city once stood tall and proud, there
now was a crater of prodigious proportions. In one cruel blow, the
blast had destroyed the city and its people. Rei felt sick. Who could
have done such a heartless thing? Who could have destroyed such a thing
of wondrous beauty?

    She looked around in search of the culprit. She got the answer. Her
eyes fell on a God who floated on air. Beside him, also floating in
midair, was a woman. She wielded the Ginzuishou in her hand, but Rei
had never seen her before. Both had smug expressions on their faces and
the horrifying truth dawned to Rei. They were the ones who did it. They
were the ones who destroyed the city.

    Flash.

    Now, it was nighttime. Before her was another God. He was choking
the life out of a dragon and he was gloating as he squeezed its life
out of it. She could not understand what he said, and neither could she
see their faces for the dragon's face was shadowed and so was the
God's. There was another blinding flash. Suddenly, an aura of power
unlike any she had ever felt or seen exploded around the dragon. It
literally threw the God away. Such was its intensity. The God was as
surprised as she was. However, as great as his surprise was, it was
exceeded by his fear of the dragon. The dragon, even though he now had
the advantage in the battlefield, did not take it immediately. Seconds
passed before it raised its head and its eyes met the God's. It smiled.
The God cringed fearfully, but there was no escape. He was going to
die. The dragon was going to kill him.

    Flash.

    She floated in front of a king. It was the man from before - the
man from the forest. Whereas before, he was dirty and grimy, now he
looked majestic as he sat on a throne of gold and jade. On his rightful
seat, he was as beautiful and fair as the golden sun. Six-armed
monsters - his subjects - littered the throne room. They were dressed
as resplendently as he was and she knew that he was their king. She
knew that he was just. She knew that he was fair. She knew that he was
hope. She knew that he was forever. She knew that he was her enemy. She
knew that he was her worst nightmare - the one adversary she could
never hope to destroy. He was her - no, their - nemesis.

    Flash.

    She and the other Senshi were facing one of the six-armed monsters.
Its eyes met her. There was no mercy in its eyes, she saw, and yet,
even though it was going to kill her and her friends, she knew
instinctively that it was not evil, unlike the God from before. It
could not be, for she did not see the cold, calculated cunning and
madness, which was evident in the God. Instead, she observed something
that was almost akin to sorrow. She realized then that even though it
was acting out of its own free will, it did not want to kill her. The
realization confused her. Why would it kill her when it did not want
to? she asked herself. However, before she could explore more of those
soulful eyes, they parted contact with her and as it moved away, she
felt a numb pang of pain. She looked at herself and saw that blood
splattered her clothes. It was hers and she was seriously hurt. Her
eyes wandered around and she saw that all her friends, except Ami, were
badly hurt, too. Some were hurt more and some less. Mamoru lay
prostrate by a shop. He was dead. Someone had ripped his heart out of
his body, she saw. A pool of blood coagulated in his ripped open chest
cavity. Beside him lay another six-armed faceless monster. It face had
been ripped apart by something, or someone and in its hands was
Mamoru's heart, still beating feebly. A man - or something that vaguely
resembled a man - stood over the monster. Its form was a black blur
that even her spirit sense could not penetrate. As a result, she could
not tell whether it was the murderer, or would be rescuer. Usagi lay
propped up against the wall of the store beside Mamoru. From where she
lay, she could not see him and she had a terrible wound on her chest.
Minako had not fared any better either and neither had Makoto. They
were all badly hurt - all close to death. Only Ami stood between them
and the endless infinity of nothingness, for the monster would surely
kill them. He had that look, which promised death, in his eyes. He did
not want to, but he would kill them without a thought. In fact, he was
going to kill them.

    Flash.

    It was...

    Flash.

    There now stood...

    Flash.

    Swoon.

    "Rei!" she faintly heard her grandfather calling her. His voice was
distant and desperate. "Rei, are you all right?"

    She opened her eyes, her astral form having once again returned to
her body. She was staring at the ceiling, her view partly obstructed by
grandfather Hino's face. She felt incredibly weak.

    "Rei, are you all right?" he asked, again. He looked very concerned
and unbeknownst to her, had every reason for feeling so. Her clothes
smoldered, and there were first-degree burn marks on her face and her
hands. Singes were prominent on her much prided tresses, too, and her
body was burning to the touch.

    "I'm okay, Grandpa," she replied, her voice faint - almost
inaudible - before her eyelids slammed shut. She had succumbed to
exhaustion and lost consciousness.

    Grandfather Hino picked her up, even though her body was hot enough
to scald him on contact, and carried her to her room. He removed her
clothes, laid her in her tub and poured as much ice as they had over
her. Within minutes, he had an IV hooked to her and running. Then, he
waited, praying to the Gods and hoping that he had not been too late to
save his granddaughter. He would never forgive himself if she died on
him now - on his watch.

***********************************************************************

    Meanwhile, at the Qin residence...

    Guu Long stood facing her toughest opponent ever, her grandfather.
Until now, they had kept their spar free of ki. Yet, even with that
concession on his side, she was losing badly. Simply put, he was
faster, stronger, better and more experienced than she was.

    'There is as much chance of me beating him as old decadent
Happousai himself turning into a saint overnight,' she thought to
herself, as she stood gasping for breath. Ranma, she noted, on the
other hand, did not appear even a little fazed from the workout.

    "Ready for another round?" he asked.

    "Give me another minute," Guu Long replied between gasps.

    He nodded.

    "All right," he replied, relaxing his stance just a little.

    "So," she asked, "what happened last night? Did you two make up or
what?"

    "Yes, we made up and yes, she definitely has a crush on me."

    Guu Long laughed.

    "That's sweet. So, tell me, dearest grandfather mine, what are you
doing to do about it?"

    "Don't tease me, Child," he replied, mock-seriously, "I'm your
grandfather and I'll not be mocked at. Understand?"

    "Yes, O' Wise One."

    "I see that your body begs for a few bruises. I'll just have to
oblige you then. Oh, and don't go calling me grandpa just about
anywhere. I haven't told Shan Pu I'm her grandfather, yet."

    "Oh! Why?"

    He shrugged.

    "This old man does not feel like it. I'm sure that she'll find out
on her own, without your help."

    "Is this another test of yours?"

    "Yes, you can call it that if you want to."

    "And what do you call it?"

    "Um... A test," he replied, sheepishly.

    Guu Long eyed him for a moment with narrowed eyes, quite forgetting
that he was her venerable grandfather, The Dragon. She knew that it was
not proper, her wanting to bash his skull in with her staff, but the
idea did not appear completely unappealing and without advantages,
either.

    "Yeah, right!" she retorted, sarcastically.

    Ranma appeared not to notice the sarcasm in her voice. His mind had
already moved on to issues of greater import, like the disturbance he
had sensed last night on the lawn.

    "So, did you feel 'it' last night?" he asked.

    "Huh?" she asked, clearly confused. He had not done the deed with
their granddaughter last night, had he? If he had, she would never
forgive him for taking advantage of his innocent granddaughter, the
pervert. "Feel what?"

    "The changes to the Lung Mei - don't tell me you did not feel
them."

    "No, I did not."

    Ranma nodded, thoughtfully. She must have been very tired not to
sense such far-reaching changes in the spirit lines.

    "I felt it around midnight," he explained for her comprehension,
"Right about the time Shan Pu and I turned in. It was very powerful,
but it was completely natural. I don't know what to make of it and I
don't know what to do about it, either." He did not add that 'it' came
from Fuji-sama. It would probably spook her more than he cared. That
mountain was home to more Gods than he cared to remember.

    "Do you think it's dangerous?"

    Ranma tapped his lips thoughtfully. After a moment, he shook his
head.

    "No. It was positive, almost like a healing touch, but it was so
very powerful."

    "Anything or anyone you know that could have caused this change?"
she asked.

    "No."

    "So, let me guess. You don't know who caused the disturbance, how
he, she, or they did it, or even why they did it."

    He smiled.

    "Yes. You're correct on all accounts. You forgot to include
worried, however. Shall we continue?"

    "Huh?"

    "The spar - we can't let you get away with mocking your venerable
grandfather, now, can we?"

    "But..."

    "Just to even the playing field a little, you can use your ki this
time. En garde," he said and leapt at her.

    Guu Long summoned her ki and tried to defend herself, but
unsurprisingly, he was still faster. She feigned a pressure point
strike to his legs and he fell for it. Utilizing his imbalance to her
own advantage, she threw a very small ki attack at the back of his
head. He seemed to sense her attack even before she tapped into her ki
and somersaulted from an impossible position to evade the attack with
inches to spare. The ki ball slammed into the grass behind him and dug
a small crater in the ground, detonating harmlessly. As for Ranma, his
somersault easily carried him over and behind her. She turned to defend
her exposed flank, but was too slow. A blur, his outstretched leg,
rocketed towards her as soon as he hit the ground. She threw up her
arms to block the kick and she did, but the force of the blow was too
great. It carried her, skidding across the dewy grass, for a dozen feet
before she could stop herself. He was upon her immediately, and she
struck him with a ki-enhanced punch. He bent back at a nigh impossible
angle and again, her blow missed him, whereas, his retaliatory strike
to her solar plexus did not. The kick, even from the cumbersome
position that he was in, was powerful enough to push lift her off the
ground and send her sprawling against the ground.

    She rolled end over end a couple of times on hitting the grass and
using her ki to slow her skid, halted upright. She got into a stance by
pushing her right foot forward, noting that he had not pursued his
advantage, and summoned her ki once again.

    "Bring it on!" she said, a Cheshire cat grin on her face. She had
not enjoyed a battle this much in one and a half centuries, when last
she went full tilt against an opponent.

    "As you wish," he replied and shot forward.

    Thinking that she was ready for any attack he could make, she made
a mistake. She committed to a defense and was therefore completely
unprepared for the fistful of dust that he hurled at her eyes from out
of nowhere. She threw herself backwards, her arms forming a barrier to
protect her eyes and he struck not less than thirteen pressure points,
ten of which she did not know existed, on her body. When he withdrew,
she staggered drunkenly for a couple of steps and collapsed. Her muscle
clusters had frozen on her.

    "Hey, no fair!" she complained.

    "All's fair in love and war," he replied with a shrug, "If you had
truly been prepared for my onslaught, you'd have sensed that one coming
from a mile away. Honor can only protect you in a spar. It amounts to
something less than nothing in a battle to the death if your opponent
is desperate enough."

    Guu Long opened her mouth, a hot retort in her lips, but before she
could, the front door opened and a drowsy looking Shan Pu stepped out.

    "Good morning, Shan Pu," Ranma said, gaily, "Want to join us in an
early morning spar?"

    Shan Pu yawned, stretched her limbs and nodded, like a mindless
automaton. Obviously, she was still sleepy and had not even understood
his words.

    "Not a morning person, are we?" he asked.

    She simply grumbled under her breath in return and joined her
grandmother in the grass.

    "Hello, Granddaughter."

    Bleary-eyed Shan Pu looked down. Only she did not find her
grandmother at the usual elevation, though she did find Guu Long's
staff. Obviously, her head was not at the correct inclination, her
subconscious told her. Her autonomous system compensated for the error,
and her eyes drifted further down. They did not stop until they fell
upon Guu Long's paralyzed, comical-looking form that lay prone on the
ground.

    "Honorable Grandmother, what are you doing on the ground imitating
a roasted pig on a bonfire?" she asked, blearily, making it clear to
the other two that her mental faculties were not quite up and running,
as she would never have spoken aloud what she did if they were.

    "Hehehe! Real funny, Shan Pu. Want to join the Honored One?" Ranma
asked in between laughs. He was clutching his stomach, as he spoke. The
interaction between the sleepy and the paralyzed granddaughter was
proving to be priceless and he wished he had a Kodak camera with him -
it was, after all, as great a Kodak moment as there ever had been.
Moreover, he had not had such a good laugh in a long while.

    "Huh?" Shan Pu asked. Her befuddled faculties had still a long way
to go before they reached peak efficiency.

    "Here, let me help," Ranma offered.

    Shan Pu focused all her mental faculties on the 'offer,' but given
the condition they were in, it was a lost cause. Before she could
interpret its semantics, Ranma disappeared and reappeared before her.
She felt pinpricks all over her body and then, peace.

    "Boo!" he shouted into her face.

    Her mind having awoken from its sleepy stupor by Ranma's sudden
inexplicable behavior as well as shout, Shan Pu tried to react, but
found that she could not move a muscle in her body. Something had
completely paralyzed them. All she could do was use her brains and even
her thought processes were not performing as well as they usually did.
She realized that somehow, Ranma had paralyzed her body and adversely
affected the efficiency of her thought processes, and she had not even
seen him move. The revelation was mind-boggling and under ordinary
circumstances, she would have prostrated herself on his feet, willing
to do just about anything to learn the technique and its counter.
However, as things happened, circumstances were anything but ordinary
and Mother Nature, who has a knack for intruding into even the most
private of conversations at importune moments, took it upon herself to
intrude upon Shan Pu's thought conversation with self. The nerve
clusters in her ears - her physical gyroscopes - kept on sending
signals to muscle groups on her legs and thorax to constrict and relax
so that she may balance herself, but the muscles did not respond.
Naturally, when a somewhat strong wavefront from the refreshingly cool
morning breeze hit her, she toppled. Shan Pu, great, great
granddaughter of Guu Long, the most respected of all Wise Ones in the
Joketsuzoku village, tumbled onto the ground with a rumble, as if she
were a great, heap big tree.

    Having anticipated such an eventually, Ranma, in perfect
synchronicity, shouted "Timber" at the top of his lungs as his
granddaughter hit the ground.

    He noticed that the girl hit the ground, awkwardly. There was the
slightest thud, as the ground broke her fall and if one looked closely
enough, one might even have seen a small, imaginary dust cloud racing
to meet the dark clouds in the sky above. Shan Pu, from her prone
position on the ground, did not see the cloud and she did not much care
for it either, seeing that she was now imitating a frog in mid leap. It
was easily the most humiliating moment of her life and as the shock of
the fall faded, her eyes narrowed and her cheeks reddened. Ranma, if
ever he were unfortunate enough to find himself at her mercy, would
suffer a fate worse than death. Then, perhaps - after he had spent an
eternity in the emergency ward - she might consider forgiving him, but
not before. No, never before!

    Ranma, for his part, took his own sweet time appreciating the
fantastically artistic postures of his granddaughters. At long last,
his quest for spiritual mana satisfied, he then cast a mischievous eye
at them and appreciated the silly exhibition even further. The more he
looked, the funnier his labor of love appeared and he collapsed in a
heap beside them, clutching his stomach and roaring with laughter. In
riotous enjoyment, he struck the ground with his fists as he laughed,
and he laughed so long and so hard that tears cascaded down his eyes.
Guu Long and Shan Pu did not appear much pleased with his reaction, but
they were helpless to do anything about it.

    However, their ire did not go completely wasted. Ranma saw the look
that promised a slow and very painful death in their eyes, and it
sobered him some. The pressure points he used on them were relatively
short lived, and he did not want to be anywhere near grandmother and
granddaughter when they regained control of their musculature.

    "Well, lookit that," he quoth nervously. "It's time for little old
me to fix breakfast. I'll go make us some toast, ramen and omelet, and
then come to get you two 'animals.' Hahaha! That was a good one.
Hahahaha!"

    "Ranma, come back here and set us free!" Shan Pu shouted; screamed
indignantly. She was now wide-awake and very, very pissed. Her
grandmother felt inclined to agree with her, too. It was a mean thing
to do, the stunt that their grandfather just pulled.

    Ranma did not reply. In fact, he pretended not to hear their cries
and implorations. Tucking his fingers into his pant pockets and
whistling a cheery tune, he kept walking, looking hither and thither,
but never under, where his poor, dear grandchildren lay helpless, on
the dew sodden, cold hard ground.

***********************************************************************

    Rei woke up with a start, the screams of the daughter, as she was
burned alive echoing loudly in her ears. She immediately regretted
moving her head. It hurt like hell. 'This is how purgatory must feel
like,' she thought to herself, as a wave of nausea hit her. Bile gushed
up her esophagus and she had to bite back the overwhelming urge to
puke.

    "Easy now," she heard grandfather Hino say, "You are still too weak
from the Fire Vision."

    "Fire Vision?" she asked in a weak voice. "What happened? Ow! My
head hurts." Her memory of everything in her immediate past, except for
her vision, was patchy at best and a complete blank at worst. She half-
remembered that her amnesia had something to do with the sacred fire,
but that was that.

    "I bet it does. You have to promise me, Rei, that you'd never
attempt to duplicate what you did today. As it is, you almost died this
time and I might not be there next time to save you. I fear to think of
what would have happened if I had been even a few seconds late."

    "Huh? My throat feels dry, Grandpa."

    Grandpa Hino rose up and checked Rei's temperature and pulse. She
noticed for the first time the IV that was connected to her hand.
Patches of carefully applied burn salves littered her whole body.

    "What happened to me?" she asked, as he fetched her a glass of
water.

    "Hush!" he whispered, soothingly. He took her in his hands and
cradled her head in his lap, as he introduced the glass to her lips.
She drank the water greedily.

    "Better?" he asked.

    She nodded.

    "Now, lie down and don't speak. Just you hear what I have to say,"
he said, drawing his chair near to the bed.

    She nodded, again.

    "Suffice to say that I was woken up in the wee hours of this
morning by a large discharge of ki. You were not in your room, and when
I looked outside, I noticed that the light from the Sacred Flame seemed
to be stronger than normal. It did not take me long to put one and one
together, and the conclusion so terrified me that I instantly rushed
downstairs, hoping fervently that I'd make it in time to save your
life.

    "Fortunately, thank the Gods, by some miracle, I did. If I had been
even a couple of seconds late, you'd most probably be dead. Rei, what
I'm sure happened is this. You attempted a Fire Reading, but
accidentally, stumbled upon an age-old forbidden technique known as the
Fire Vision."

    Rei tried to speak, but grandfather Hino stopped her before he
stood. He was not yet finished with his tale.

    "No one knows who created the Fire Vision, or even when it was
created. Ancient lore tells us that it is as ancient as time itself and
that its creators have long since disappeared from the face of the
earth. The technique itself is relatively simple. The Sacred Fire is
sacred because it taps into the mana lines in the area, thus providing
a direct connection to the Gods. When you feed a little ki to the fire,
you get a Fire Reading. When you feed enough ki to the fire to shift
the source from mana to ki, you get the Fire Vision.

    "This change results in incredibly clear visions, but there is a
catch. Only Masters can safely hope to use the technique, as it needs
living ki. What this means is that only the user and not the
environment fuels the fire, and thus, the visions. Since, no modern man
has a huge cache of expendable ki, active use of the Fire Vision even
for only a few seconds would drain their reserves dry and in the
process, kill them. However, there was once a time when this technique
was as common as the Fire Reading. In those distant times, there were
highly skilled practitioners of the ki arts and most of them were apt
at using this technique. However, times changed and Masters became an
endangered species. Still, the popularity of the technique did not wane
and increasing numbers of unskilled or semi-skilled people began to
attempt to use it. All those who did died.

    "You have to remember that what I tell you happened a long time ago
- before the start of the civil wars that plagued ancient Japan for
centuries. Priests everywhere tried to put a stop to the practice, but
no one paid them any heed. Eventually, they passed an edict, declaring
the technique as dangerous and forbidding the use of the Fire Vision as
a technique for divination. The edict has remained in force for
centuries...

    "It is now seven O'clock. You have been out for nearly three and a
half hours and your ki reserves have only barely recovered. You will
not attend school until you're completely recovered," he said, quietly,
but firmly.

    Rei tried to protest that it was the start of a new semester and
that she did not want to miss the first day, but he stopped her.

    "Don't try to argue with me. I will not permit you to attend
school. Not until your health has sufficiently recovered. Nothing you
can possibly say can change my decision, so you might just as well
accept it. Now, I'm going to call your friends now and tell them that
you're not well - that you won't be attending school for a week or
more. If I'm lucky and if I hurry, I'll catch them before they leave
for school," he said and moved to the door.

    "Grandpa!" Rei called, faintly.

    Grandfather Hino stopped in his tracks and turned around.

    "Anything you want, Child?"

    She nodded and he approached her.

    "Can you call Usagi, or any of the others, and tell them that I'm
sick? They'll want to see me."

    He nodded.

    "I'll do that. Now, go to sleep," he said, patting her head
affectionately. Then he turned and stepped out of the room.

***********************************************************************

    "So..." the Principal drawled, adjusting his glasses. His voice was
grave.

    Ranma leaned forward expectantly. Obviously, this was the moment of
truth.

    "You aren't a trained teacher and you have no diploma, but you have
experience teaching martial arts. Am I correct?"

    Ranma nodded.

    "Yes, that is correct."

    The Principal's eyes narrowed, slightly.

    "What assurance do we have that you won't quit?"

    "None," Ranma replied, "save my word of honor as a martial artist."

    The Principal allowed himself a small smile. He looked almost
relieved at the answer. Years of experience had taught him that martial
artist types usually valued their honor, which meant that there was a
good chance that Ranma would not renege on his words. Still, he was
curious. Ranma had to be aware of what he was getting into. The
government might firmly deny the existence of the Senshi and the
monsters, but everyone in Juuban knew the truth. There were monsters
and worse, there were their enemies, the Sailors. 'He must be very
brave or very stupid to put himself at this huge a risk and I'm willing
to bet that it's most probably the latter... Twenty years on the job
and the morons still continue to amaze me!'

    "It'll suffice for our purpose. However, before I can hire you, I
must ask you this: Are you aware of our school's reputation?" he asked,
just to be on the safe side. As desperate as he was for a replacement
for the old P.E. Trainer, the Principal was not a man without
conscience. Ranma would not survive for long in Juuban - Not with the
rampaging monsters, the Sailor Senshi and other weirdoes - and the
Principal wanted to enjoy his beauty sleep at night without his
conscience bothering him. To do that, he had to be sure that he had
done all he could to dissuade Ranma.

    "Yes," Ranma nodded. He had thought that it would be a whole lot
tougher than this to land the job, but he was wrong. They were
practically handing it to him on a silver platter. 'I wonder why...'

    "You know about the ghoulish monsters, the evil, supernatural
villains, and the Senshi that run amok in this prefecture?" the
Principal asked, unconsciously shuddering at the mention of the last
group. The monsters and the villains, he could stand, but the Senshi's
crappy speeches and their hidden agendas, he could not. They almost
made living with the monsters bearable.

    Ranma nodded.

    "Yes, I do, and I'm set on this job."

    The Principal nodded, gravely. Ranma was a fine young man. He would
have made a good husband to some girl someday. Too bad, he was going to
die soon. 'And at such a young age, too!'

    "You do?" he asked, not hiding his mild surprise. "Despite all the
dangers and the risk to your life, you want to work here. Why?"

    "Because this school is close to my villa."

    The Principal's mouth slammed open, and then slammed shut.
Obviously, he was too stunned to speak. 'What kind of stupid answer is
that?' he asked himself. 'What kind of stupid, idiotic answer is that?'

    "Run that by me again," he asked, taking a deep breath to calm
himself down. 'Of all the stupid reasons...'

    "I said I want to work here because this school is close to my
house."

    "Okay!"

    If there was one thing that the Principal had learnt over the
years, it was this: Humans are inherently stupid. The man standing
before him was a prime example of that axiom. He had mainly asked Ranma
to repeat himself just to make sure he had not heard his answer wrong
the first time. Apparently, he had not. Moreover, if there was one
golden rule the Principal followed in his life, it was this: Leave an
idiot to his folly. 'Well, if the idiot wants the job, he is damn well
going to get the job, for there, sure as hell, aren't going to be
anymore applicants aching to throw their life away just like that.'
"You have your job. But I'm still not sure whether you appreciate the
dangers involved." The last bit was nothing more than token resistance.
His conscience had to be fully satiated lest it bother him at night.

    "Oh, I do realize the dangers involved, and still, I want to teach
here," Ranma confirmed, again, "And as for the monsters, I think I can
defend myself against them just fine."

    "Oh, really?" 'And now he's showing signs of being a delusional
schizophrenic. Why, God-Almighty-in-Heaven, why? What did I ever do to
deserve this?'

    Ranma nodded.

    "Yeah, if they show up, I'll flash-fry them," he added, summoning a
small ball of ki in his hands.

    The Principal's eyes widened to the size of large saucers. He had
seen a great many things in his life, but he had never seen that
before. Whatever it was, it felt and looked powerful as hell. And in
light of this new information, Ranma did not look like such an idiot
anymore.

    "Wh... What is it?" he asked. His voice was a peculiar mixture of
fear and curiosity.

    "Ki," Ranma replied, offhandedly, "Like I explained before, I
practice The Art."

    "Oh!" The Principal was too startled and awed by what he had just
witnessed to say anything more. He did not need to. Ranma perfectly
understood how he felt, having experienced the same reaction in others
numerous times.

    "So, when do I join?" Ranma asked, when he felt that he had given
the Principal sufficient time to recover control of his mental
faculties.

    'Today would be great, but I don't want you to think that we are
that desperate,' the Principal thought to himself. Obviously, Ranma was
one of the famed masters of The Art and if that were true, then the
school was in better hands that he would have ever believed possible.
Still, he had to come off not looking desperate, even though he was.
He, and thus, the school, would lose face if he did.

    "How about tomorrow?" he asked-replied after a few seconds. He put
every effort into trying to sound casual about it and he succeeded for
the most part.

    Ranma noted the effort the Principal made to look nonchalant, and
found himself in complete agreement with him. He made up his mind then.
Juuban High was now his school. He nodded in acquiescence and stood up.

    "You have made me a very happy man by accepting me into Juuban
High, Sir."

    "The pleasure is all mine," the Principal replied, "Is there
anywhere else you need to be, Ranma-san? You appear slightly ill-at-
ease."

    "Yes, Sir, you are correct. I have an urgent business meeting to
attend and..." Ranma said, making a move to stand up.

    The Principal nodded, though he signaled Ranma to remain seated
with a wave of his hand. There was still a little, though important,
matter to attend to before the affair could reach a successful
conclusion.

    "Please remain seated, Qin-san. There is the matter of finalizing
your contract, which I believe won't take more than a moment and once
we come to an agreement on your salary, this meeting would be
concluded."

    "I'm pretty well off, Sir," Ranma replied, humbly, resuming his
seat, "And I have no need for the money. I applied for this job because
I missed teaching the children."

    "And..." 'What's he driving at?'

    "I teach The Art for its own sake, Sir. I could never live with
myself if I charged for it."

    "I have to pay someone," the Principal objected, comprehension
dawning on his face. Noble as Ranma's goals were, he still had to show
something to his higher-ups. Juuban High was a state run school headed
by a bureaucratic council, after all.

    "Very well, Sir. Draw up a standard contract, if you must. I'll
sign it and as for the salary, you can donate mine to charity. Can that
be arranged?"

    "Yes, it can."

    "It is settled then. By your leave, Sir..." Ranma said, standing
up.

    The Principal stood up disbelievingly and nodded. Sure, the pay was
paltry, and most teachers struck to their jobs because they loved their
work and nothing else, but seldom had he met anyone with truly
altruistic goals as Ranma. He bowed at his waist in deference to the
master before him and Ranma exited after giving a slight nod of
acknowledgment. He closed the door behind him as he did, and walked
briskly across the hallway, the corridors, and the classrooms, making
his way to the registration area. Finally, after rounding his fourth
corner and crossing his third corridor, he found himself at his
destination. A brief survey confirmed what he had pictured in his mind.
Shan Pu and Guu Long were alone in the great hall with no one to keep
them company.

    "How is it going?" he asked, noting Shan Pu's sagged shoulders
through the corner of his eyes. It looked like they had run into some
trouble enrolling her.

    Guu Long shook her head.

    "Not well. They say that they need Shan Pu's papers before they can
sign her on. The papers are in the village vault back in China and
it'll be another month at least before those papers can be transferred
here."

    "Oh, is that so? Have you tried explaining our rather delicate
situation to them?" he asked.

    "Yes, but they still insist on those papers."

    "Legal red tape?"

    Guu Long nodded.

    "Any other reason?"

    "No. At least, he's offering none."

    "Come with me. Paperwork is not nearly reason enough to stall you,"
Ranma said and shot a glance at the counter. He espied a middle-aged
man sitting there, who looked as if he was glaring at the two Amazons.
Ranma nodded to himself at the sight of paper pusher and moved toward
the counter followed closely by Shan Pu and Guu Long.

    "Good morning, I'm Ranma Qin," he said, smiling politely, to the
man behind the desk.

    "Good morning, can I be of any assistance to you?" the man asked.

    "I'm here to enroll this girl into this school. Her name is Shan
Pu, pronounced S-H-A-N-space-P-U."

    "Do you need an application form?"

    "No, I think we have one already filled in. Shan Pu?"

    The girl produced the said application form. Ranma scanned it and
noticed that Shan Pu had taken painstaking effort to fill in the
details correctly in neat kanji. He made a mental note to praise the
girl about her handwriting later and handed it to the man behind the
counter. The man took it, absentmindedly scanned it for a scant few
seconds, crumpled it and threw it into the waste bucket.

    "Was there anything wrong with the details we had entered?" Ranma
asked, innocently. He had an inkling of the true reason for the
rejection, but he wanted to hear it from the man himself.

    "Yes."

    "Can you point it out? And I'd like another form, please, if you
don't mind."

    "I thought the mistake was pretty obvious and we ran out of forms."

    "Is that so? What's that I see on the tray to your right? Maybe I'm
wrong, but from where I stand, it sure does look like another
application form to me."

    The man looked Ranma in the eyes, and as he did, took the tray in
his hands. He moved it out of Ranma's line of sight, never once
blinking his eyes.

    "I said there is no form. Can't you get the hint and get lost?"

    "No, I don't get the hint and no, I won't get lost. The form, if
you'd please."

    Ranma's voice had dropped from warm to artic cold during the course
of the conversation, until it reached the completely controlled tone it
held now. Guu Long recognized the signs for what they were and took an
involuntary step back, fully fearing what was about to happen next. She
also pushed Shan Pu behind her, hoping that her ki shield would be
sufficient to protect the two of them. If the man behind the counter
had even an inkling of the danger he was in, he would have apologized
and made himself scarce before Ranma vaporized him. Unfortunately, he
did not, and to make matters worse, he continued to meet Ranma's level
gaze with an arrogant one of his own.

    "Well, if you want me to spell it out for you, I'll do that," the
man said, narrowing his eyes, "There's no place in this school for
gaijin whores, and the friends of gaijin whores. Get lost."

    Ranma narrowed his eyes in return and focused them on the man's
identity card. Obviously, killing the man was out of the question, even
though, in all probability, no one would make a fuss over the bastard's
death, and as much as he was tempted to blast the son of a bitch to a
million pieces, he did not feel that it was necessary, yet. There were
many fates worse than death and the piece of fecal matter before him
was going to get an up close and personal introduction to one of them.

    "Well, since you put it that nicely, I'll just have to enroll her
in spite of you," he said, pulling out a cell phone, "Oh, and if I were
you, I'd make myself scarce. I have friends in pretty high places, Mr.
Toshida, and they are going to make your life hell if they get hold of
your sorry ass," he added, punching in a number and waiting patiently
as the phone rang at the other end. He did not have to wait long, for
at the end of the second ring, a woman answered. Hers was a voice that
Ranma recognized.

    "Hello?" the woman spoke.

    "Hello, Yanagi-chan, this is Ranma Qin. Can you get me the Minister
of Education, please?" Ranma asked, courteously.

    "Just a moment, please, Ranma-kun," the woman replied in a clear,
crisp and sweet voice, before she put him on hold.

    She came on again a few seconds later.

    "The minister is in the bath, Ranma-kun. He'll be out in a minute.
How are you doing by the way?"

    "Excellent as always, thank you. And you, Yanagi-chan? How are the
husband and kids? Do you still have that Bonzai tree?"

    "They are fine, thank you. Yuki-chan called just last night from
the States. She said that she was fine and reported that she was doing
great in her studies. Incidentally, so is the tree."

    "That's wonderful, Yanagi-chan. Tell Yuki-chan that I wished her
happy birthday. Tell her she has to have faith in herself and to study
hard, and get good grades."

    "I'll tell her that, Ranma-chan."

    "I..."

    "Hello?" The voice that interrupted before Ranma could continue was
deep and had a rich, masculine tone to it. A wry smile appeared on
Ranma's lips. He had missed talking with the fat slob.

    "It appears that the Honorable Minister has finished his bath -
hello, Kaneda-san. Talk to you later, Yanagi-chan."

    "See you, Ranma-kun."

    "Goodbye, Yanagi-chan. Hello again, Kaneda-san."

    "Hello to you, too, Ranma-san. To what do I owe the pleasure of
this phone call?" he asked. He sounded truly happy at the pleasant
surprise. It was not everyday that Ranma called, either at work or at
home and he missed speaking to the fat slob.

    "A business matter, actually. I'm trying to enroll a very close
friend of mine into Juuban High, Kaneda-san. She's a foreign national.
Her name is Shan Pu and the man at the desk here - his name is Toshida,
serial #429-89A-87ABE - is trying to stall us. In fact, he positively
refuses to enroll her. Apparently, he's of the view that gaijin whores
and the friends of gaijin whores do not have a place in Japanese
society."

    "Is that so?" the Minister replied grimly. "Can you put him on
line, Ranma-san?"

    "My pleasure," Ranma replied. He covered the mouthpiece of the
phone with his right hand and turned to face Toshida, who was just
beginning to realize that he might have bitten off more than he could
chew, "A gaijin whore is she? Well, the Minister of Education wants to
talk to you, Asshole, and he begs to differ... I'm going to enjoy
watching you, as you squirm and try to crawl out of this deep grave you
have dug for yourself," he said and handed the instrument to Toshida,
"Speak."

    Toshida took hold of the instrument, his hands shaking
uncontrollably. He had a very bad case of the shivers already.

    "Hello?" he spoke into the instrument. His voice sounded timid to
even his ears.

    "What's your full name?" the Minister asked, harshly. Ranma might
consider it poor form on his part if he were to conduct a polite
conversation with a racist-nationalist. Even worse, Ranma might take
offense and God knew he had enough trouble without having to contend
with a very bad case of one of the most powerful men on earth
permanently on his back.

    "Kentaro Toshida."

    "Your serial no?"

    "429-89A-87ABE."

    "Your social security number?"

    "Mr. Minister..."

    "Your social security number?"

    "I can explain, really," Toshida persisted.

    The Minister took a deep breath at the other end and made up his
mind. He would fry the idiot after hearing his excuse. It was only
fair.

    "You want me to hear your excuse and agree with you, you mean?"

    "Er..."

    "Well?"

    "Yes... No... I thought..."

    "That just because you were native Japanese, you were one step
above the rest, right?"

    "I..."

    "If you are prudent, which I doubt you are, you'll shut up and hear
what I have to say first. Now, are you going to prattle on, or are you
going to listen to what I have to say?"

    Silence.

    "Well?" the Minister asked, impatiently. "I'm waiting."

    "I'm going to listen, Minister Sir."

    "Good choice. Means you aren't a complete idiot. Means there might
be hope for you yet...

    "Now, before we start, I want to ask you this. What do you think of
your Emperor? Is he virtuous? Is he all-powerful? Is he just?"

    "My answer is yes to all the questions, Sir," Toshida replied,
confusedly. What did the minister hope to achieve with this line of
questioning?

    "Good. Ranma - the man you just pissed off - is as powerful,
virtuous and just as the Emperor is. This country, and thus, her people
- that includes both you and I - owe our livelihoods to him. As a
result, he enjoys special favor with our nation's elite. You get what I
mean?"

    "Yes, Sir," Toshida stuttered. He was sweating bullets and was
looking like a prime candidate for a heart attack. He would have had
one if he had not found the narration slightly unbelievable.
Unfortunately, even with the doubt, he was stumbling very close to the
edge.

    "Now, Ranma is very loyal to his friends. He is also one of the
least forgiving of all people when he wants to be. When he is angry,
you get exactly one chance to appease him, and if you fail, that's it.
Even the Almighty is less vengeful than him. Do you understand that?"

    "Yes, Sir."

    "Good. Now, if what he tells me is true, you insulted one of his
friends. As I told you already, Ranma is very loyal to his friends and
companions. You can be sure that he'll take offense when you insult one
of his friends and whenever he takes offense, bad things happen to
whoever offended him. Are you still with me?"

    "Yes, Sir."

    "Excellent. Now, if you remember correctly, you made the fatal
mistake of offending one of his friends in his presence. Naturally,
Ranma 'has' taken offense. To put it short and sweet, you are neck deep
in it and still sinking, and you have as much chance of getting out as
there is of hell freezing over this very day - that's the kind of
trouble you are in... Now, what are you going to do about it?"

    "Sir..."

    "I'll not be lenient on you. Ranma's one of my friends and frankly,
I'd rather hang myself than act in any way, which makes me look like
I'm betraying the trust he has placed in me."

    "I... I did not know, Sir..."

    "Won't work - you were not doing the right thing in the first place
to plead such."

    "My wife and children..."

    "I'm sure they'll manage to scrape by after we banish you. Oh and
if I were you, I'd think twice about emigrating to another country.
Most of them think of Ranma in much the same way as Japan does and many
of them will not be quite as lenient as we are. You aren't listening to
me any more, are you?"

    Toshida, whose face had turned ashen, mumbled something
incomprehensible and shook his head. He seemed to have forgotten that
he was speaking to a phone and not to a person. Such was his fear.

    "No," he added, wiping the beads of sweat from his face with his
hanky. Like all bullies and nationalist animals, he, too, was a coward
at heart, and was easily cowed whenever someone stronger stood up to
him - a fact that Kaneda had been well aware of and exploited.

    "Well, I'm going to say this only once. So, you'd better listen
good," the Minister continued, "I can't do anything unless Ranma-san
forgives you. Kiss his shiny behind, or kiss the ground he walks on...
Frankly, I don't give a rat's ass what you do, but if you can't produce
a letter from him addressed to your supervisor that says he forgives
you for the intentional insult you dealt to his person by five this
evening, there'll be hell to pay. I'll do my part and make sure your
head rolls. You should be thankful that I'm going to leave your family
alone. Unfortunately, that status quo will not last long. If the others
get wind of this news, which they most certainly will do, you can wish
your family and perhaps even your clan goodbye, for the others are
completely capable of doing that and a whole lot more. Understand?"

    "Yes, Sir."

    "Remember, five O' clock at the latest. A second later and you are
history. Now, give Ranma-san the phone. I want to talk to him."

    "Y... Yes, Sir," Toshida blubbered. He stretched out his hand,
looked fearfully at Ranma and murmured, "The minister wants to talk to
you, Ranma-san."

    Ranma smiled unpleasantly at Toshida and grabbed hold of the
instrument.

    "Hello yet again, Kaneda-san."

    "Hello, again, Ranma. I think he won't bother you again. How does
he look, by the way?"

    "Like he's seen a ghost," Ranma replied, shooting Toshida a glance.
The man was on his knees already, rummaging through his wastebasket.
Ranma smiled unpleasantly at his plight. "Yeah, I think he'll come
around."

    "Good. Call me if he bothers you again. I'll make good on my
threats and throw the book at him if he so much as raises an eyebrow at
you."

    "I will, Kaneda-san. Thank you. I'm much indebted to you."

    "Just doing my job and helping out a friend, Ranma-san. I'll talk
to you later. Right now, I have to prepare for a meeting with the
Emperor."

    "Goodbye, then. Tell the Son of Heaven I wish him and his family
well."

    "I'll do that. I'll also get back to you later."

    "You do that," Ranma said, and closed the line with vastly
exaggerated flourish before relinquishing the instrument to his packet.

    "Shan Pu, I believe that the man has some questions to ask you.
Come, Wise One, we'll retire to yon sofa and catch a breath or two," he
said and moved off, shooting a disarming smile at Shan Pu, as he did.

    Shan Pu looked at his retreating back for a couple of seconds and
turned towards the now very nervous Toshida. Doubts were already
forming in her mind about her new friend and she did not like the
things they implied.

    Guu Long, for her part, shot a quick cursory nod to Shan Pu before
joining Ranma at the couch. There, they began to talk, keeping an eye
on Shan Pu and Toshida as they did.

    "Will he carry out his threats?" she asked, quietly, once she had
made herself comfortable.

    "Nah! He won't if the bozo behaves to Shan Pu's satisfaction. If he
doesn't, well, let's just say that his future has very few bright
spots, if any at all."

    "Oh!"

    "Shan Pu should be enrolled in a few more minutes. Once she is, you
two head off to the house. I have an important appointment to keep. Oh,
and tell the idiot that he had better behave in the future. He's on the
watched list, now."

    "I guess we can do that. Business matter, I suppose?"

    "Yes. Financial affairs, to be exact, though there are some other
matters that needs attending to, too."

    "All right."

    "And I might need you in the afternoon - if you are free, of
course."

    "Of course."

    Ranma nodded, and focused his attention on a year old copy of
National Geographic. He began flipping through the pages, and Guu Long,
realizing that the conversation was over, began to browse through some
magazines on her own. Neither of them was remotely interested in the
articles, but the pictures were very good, and it was enough to keep
their minds occupied for the few minutes that Shan Pu spent answering
Toshida's questions. Finally, he was done, and they set out, Ranma to
his meeting and the other two to his house.

***********************************************************************

    One expects peace and quiet in a respected teahouse, and one gets
it. One expects excellent service in a respected teahouse and one gets
it, too. The Matoki Teahouse, one of the most respected in Tokyo, was
no exception to these golden rules. Well over three hundred years old,
it existed when Tokyo was little more than a small, insignificant fleck
of dust on the Shogun's map. The establishment grew as the city did,
and was easily the most respected teahouse in modern Tokyo with a
clientele that rumor-mills said included the emperor himself. And as
all the truly good teahouses, it was never empty.

    "Tomoyo-sensei?" Junko spoke, putting as much respect as she could
into her voice, as she sat seiza before the dame. Tomoyo-sensei, who
was a geisha and one hundred and ten years old, ran the Matoki
Teahouse. She was also Junko's sensei, and thus, was treated with the
respect and accolades reserved for such, even though Junko was anything
but young herself at fifty-six.

    "Yes, Junko-san?"

    "Ranma-san's come."

    Tomoyo nodded.

    "Is his spot ready?" she asked. Ranma used only one room in the
establishment and used no other. The room was reserved exclusively for
him and was kept closed at all other times.

    Junko nodded.

    "Yes, Tomoyo-sensei."

    "And his guest?" Ranma, for personal reasons, scarcely visited the
teahouse and that too, only for business. Even then, he kept his visits
short and he often visited alone. His guest, on those rare occasions
when he brought one, was usually a high-ranking Japanese government
official, or a gaijin. In this particular instance, the guest was an
American.

    "He is being shown to Ranma-san's personal room even as we speak."

    Nod.

    "Good. Make sure they want for nothing, Junko-san... Can you
request an audience with Ranma-san after the meeting? I'd like to have
a chance to speak with him if he can find the time."

    Junko nodded.

    "As you wish, Tomoyo-sensei," she said, "I'll go and ask him right
away."

    Tomoyo's eyes glittered for a fraction of a second with gratitude,
but she quickly overcame herself. Her mask slid back into place and she
nodded.

    "Go then."

    Junko bowed, until her forehead touched the ground. Then, she stood
up and gracefully exited the room. Once the door closed behind her, she
abandoned all grace and decorum and ran across the building, praying to
the Gods above that Ranma had not left. Fortunately, the Gods must have
listened to her prayers, for Ranma was still entertaining his guest
when she stepped up to the rice-paper door of his pad. She silently
thanked the Gods, took a moment to regain her composure and regularize
her breathing, and then knocked on the wooden doorframe.

    "Yes. Who is it?" Ranma's voice questioned from the other side of
the door.

    "It's me, Junko, Ranma-san."

    "C'mon in, Junko-san."

    Junko slid open the door and stepped in. Hopefully, her breathing
had returned to normal and Ranma would overlook the signs.

    "Junko-san," Ranma asked, looking her over and allowing a tinge of
curiosity to leak into his voice, "What is it?"

    "I beg pardon, Ranma-san," Junko replied; apologized and took a
deep breath as she bowed, "for disturbing your meeting."

    Ranma smiled. He looked at his friend askance and the man nodded.

    "You're forgiven, Junko-san," he said, turning his attention back
to Junko.

    "Thank you, Ranma-san. I'm here to request an audience with you in
Tomoyo-sensei's stead. She wishes to speak with you."

    For a miniscule fraction of a moment, the mask that Ranma wore
fell, just as it had with Tomoyo. Then, he composed himself, just as
Tomoyo had, and he nodded, his face once again emotionless. Junko saw
the brief change in his features, but did not say anything. It was not
her place to comment, after all.

    "Tell her that I'll visit her in her room once this meeting is
over."

    "I will, Ranma-san... Thank you."

    Ranma gazed at her long. He saw in her place the child he raised.
He remembered the little girl he fed, bathed, clothed, and cared for.
Finally, he nodded. Their business concluded for the time being.

    "Thank you, Junko-san."

    Junko nodded and quietly exited the room.

    "Shall we continue, Johnson-san?" Ranma said, turning back to his
partner when she closed the door behind her.

    Johnson, for that was the American's assumed name, nodded.

    "Yes, well... Mind if I ask you a personal question, Ranma-san?"

    Ranma smiled, gently. Even though Johnson and he met at least twice
a month, their relationship was strictly professional. Only rarely did
they discuss their personal life with one another. It looked like this
was going to be one of those rare instances.

    "No, I don't mind at all."

    "Who is she - the girl who interrupted the meeting just now?"

    "She's the daughter I never had, Johnson-san."

    "Oh?"

    "Her parents were killed when Truman dropped the second bomb on
Nagasaki. She was pretty close to death herself when I got my hands on
her. I nursed her back to life and raised her as my own for the next
fifteen years."

    Johnson remained silent, not knowing what to say or do. This was
not the first time he had heard stories about the destruction caused by
the A-bombs, but this was the first time he had been confronted with a
real-life victim. It affected him in some strange implacable way.
Before he thought that President Truman was right when he ordered the
bombardment - after all, the order saved hundreds of thousands of lives
- now, he was not so sure.

    "I'm sorry," he said, eventually.

    Ranma nodded. He had a faint smile on his lips.

    "Thank you," he replied and fell silent, his eyes focused
elsewhere. 'Looks like we have observers,' he thought, eyeing the wall
to his left. "Anyways," he continued, "I wanted to talk to you about
that truckload of tuna you promised to ship to my business partners?"

    Immediately, Johnson straightened. Tuna was the codeword used
whenever he or Ranma spotted someone observing the meeting. 'It's most
probably the Chinese.' With the fall of the Berlin wall, the Russians
had ceased to be a superpower, and their intelligence community had
still to recover from the massive budget cuts and layoffs that had
paralyzed it more than a decade before. Only the Chinese, with their
massive HUMINT resources still plagued Ranma regularly.

    "Yes, what of it, Ranma-san?"

    "I'd like it delivered early the day after tomorrow, if you
please."

    Johnson nodded. He scratched the back of his left ear as he did,
asking for non-verbal clarification on the direction of the said
observer. Tuna business was one of the fronts he used to cover his real
line of work.

    Ranma tapped the left side of his nose. Yes, the interlopers are to
our left, it said.

    "I'll see to it, Ranma-san, that you get your shipment at the
earliest."

    "Thank you, Johnson-san. It's been a pleasure doing business with
you."

    Johnson frowned, slightly. 'The peeping toms must be getting
suspicious. That's why he's ending the meeting so soon,' he thought.
Over the years, he had taught himself to trust Ranma's judgment calls
implicitly. They were always correct.

    "Pleasure's all mine, Ranma-san. Gidday to you."

    'In another week, huh?' Ranma thought with a smile. This, too, was
part of their agreed upon code and he nodded.

    "See you soon."

    Johnson bowed and stepped out, leaving Ranma alone to drink his tea
in peace. Once outside he patted his shirt, as if looking for his
lighter and checked his pockets. Sure enough, the CDs he brought for
Ranma were missing, exactly as he expected. 'How does he do that? Ten
years and I still haven't caught him picking my pockets even though I
know he's going to... Still, he got the disks and that's all that
matters,' he thought, as he cheerily exited the teahouse and walked
into the street in a random direction, seemingly unaware of the two
Chinese spooks shadowing him. All he had to do was find some poor sod
to bump into in the middle of a busy street and the Chinese would have
their hands full investigating the man for the next week or two.
'Serves the bastards right!'

    'The idiots never learn,' Ranma thought, looking out through the
window on the second floor of the teahouse. 'But then they can't let
themselves relax - not when the stakes are this high... Hmm... Better
go and see what Tomoyo-chan wanted to talk to me about,' he thought,
placing his now empty teacup on the table.

    "Junko-chan?" he called.

    Junko arrived a few seconds later. She bowed, as was wont and
approached Ranma.

    "Yes, Ranma-san."

    "You can speak freely, Daughter. They can't hear us."

    Junko nodded.

    "I know, Poppa."

    Ranma raised an eyebrow.

    "Then why the formal speech - you aren't angry with your poor
father, are you?"

    "I might be..."

    "Can I at least know the reason for your anger?"

    "You rarely visit us and when you do, you don't spend time with us.
In addition, this last month, you did not even care enough to pay us a
visit or make a phone call. How do you plead to that?"

    "Guilty as charged. I beg forgiveness. Can you find it in your
heart to forgive this old man?"

    Junko pouted. It was childish and immature, her anger, a little
part of her mind told her, but she paid it no heed. She had every
reason to be upset and petty. After all, being petty is part and
package when you neglect your family, as Ranma had done for many years.

    "I might. It depends on momma, entirely."

    "Very well," Ranma replied, resignedly, "I'll do everything I can
to appease your mother, then. Lead the way so that I may see her,
Junko-chan."

    Junko smiled in spite of herself and led Ranma to Tomoyo-sensei's
room. She showed Ranma in and remained by the door, ready to respond to
their wants at a moment's notice.

    Ranma, for his part, entered the room and bowed slightly, before
kneeling in front of Tomoyo.

    "It's good to see you again," the old dame said, her eyes
glistening with tears. She served two cups of tea, one for herself and
the other for Ranma, and waited for his reply.

    "It's good to see you, too, Tomoyo-chan," he replied, allowing his
mask to fall. Few had unfettered passage to the innermost sanctums of
his heart and Tomoyo was one of those precious few. "I... I'm sorry. I
have neglected you and Junko-chan too long."

    Tomoyo did not say anything. Rather, she took a sip from her
teacup, her eyes firmly focused on Ranma.

    "Gods," he continued, "I missed you, but I couldn't bear to see you
wither away. Not you, not her."

    "I understand."

    Her tone was not accusing and the acceptance in it only made Ranma
feel worse. He told himself that she had not forgiven him, and that
made him feel somewhat better. He did not deserve forgiveness - not
after what he did to both mother and daughter.

    "But you do not forgive... Not that I have come to beg forgiveness,
Tomoyo-chan. It'd be too much to ask - not after I broke your heart...
Not after..."

    "Drink the tea, Ran-chan, before it goes cold," Tomoyo interrupted,
her voice quiet and serene.

    Ranma looked at her for a long moment and finally nodded. He took a
prolonged sip of tea and set it down gravely. The tea tasted just as
good, if not better than the best brew he had ever tasted. It came as
no surprise, though. Tomoyo was easily one of the best tea makers he
had ever met. In fact, it was her tea, which snared his heart and made
him fall in love with her in the first place.

    "I understand and forgive you, Ran-chan. You risked your heart when
you fell in love with me. I accepted it and resigned myself to this
fate when I chased you in my younger days. I do not blame you for
leaving me. I never have. I never will."

    Ranma nodded. Tomoyo was too much of a traditional Japanese woman
to demand anything for herself. It was his duty to see to her wants, as
it was his duty to care for her through sickness and health. He had
failed on both counts. He had abandoned her in her old age because of
his cowardice.

    "But you came, Tomoyo-chan. But, you came and what did I do for
you? Look around you. Look and see where I've abandoned you - this is
not the least of my crimes. You have no one but Junko to keep you
company in your old age. And as much as I loved you, I did not, could
not bring myself, to give you your rightful place by my side as my
wife. I had you as my mistress. Then come old age and I left you, for I
was too much of a coward to watch you while you grew old and died. I
have dishonored you and my shame knows no bounds. I've been egregious
as your lover and provider. Yet, you forgive me. You have borne all my
sins against you without complaint and still, you love me. Just like
that. Why?"

    Tomoyo smiled, gently.

    "Because you are who you are. I fell in love with you the day I saw
you and I'll never fall out of it. Not while I'm alive and not when I'm
dead."

    "I..." Ranma began, his voice laden with emotion. Words failed him
and he stared at the woman before him, his mouth hung open as tears
cascaded down his face in torrents. They were of remorse and of love.
Finally, he spoke, "Forgive me my sins, Tomoyo-chan... I..."

    "Shh! It's all right, Ran-chan. Don't worry about me. I'm fine.
Really. Take courage and be strong. I'll be all right."

    "All right?" Ranma croaked. "Look at you, Tomoyo-chan. Don't tell
me it's all right," he said, his voice full of anguish. Tears fell anew
and his face contorted in self-inflicted misery and pain, "I remember
the day when first I saw you like it was yesterday. You were so young
then - so young and beautiful. I remember your laughter, so sweet and
lovely it was. You did not have a care in the world, for you were her
mistress. But now... Now, look at you. The years have passed and you
are nothing more than a shadow of your younger self. You have fallen
from your throne and what a fall it has been. You lost everything and
it was all because of me. Only your physical shell remains with you and
it, too, has lost much of its former glory. Soon, that, too, will fail
you. You will wither and die, and then, you'll be no more. You'll be no
more and I'll live. How can I bear that? How can it be all right? Where
is the justice, Tomoyo-chan? How can it be all right when everything
that I have ever loved is doomed to wither and die?"

    Pause.

    "Seventeen times I have loved and seventeen times I have lost," he
continued, passionately, his tears unrelenting, "Must I always lose? Am
I cursed to lose? Lose to the beast of time. Lose Lein, Anita, Amala,
Casandra and so many more... I have lost them all, Tomoyo-chan. Lost
everyone and everything that I ever loved - and while they withered
away, I could do nothing but stand by and watch them die, whereas I
stand alive, unbroken like Methuselah, the great tree. Even now, the
beast is not satiated. It comes to take you away, too. How can
everything be all right when I know you're going to die and there's
nothing I can do to stop it?"

    Tomoyo smiled, gently and wiped away his tears. She, too, was
crying herself, but hers were not of pain. They were of love requited.
She gently laid a hand on Ranma's shoulders.

    "Death is a part of life, Ran-chan. You have to accept it and move
on. I have lived a hundred years and I have known happiness through
most of them - first with my parents, then with you and finally, with
Junko. I have lived life to the fullest and I have enjoyed it like no
other, and now, it's time for me to go. I'm not sad or angry about my
fate. It's just my time and I gladly accept it, just as I gladly
accepted everything else. I did not resist when I fell in love with you
in those days on yon forests of India and I'm not going to resist it
now.

    "You must accept and resign yourself to my fate, too, for you see,
I'm like a flower. I budded and blossomed in spring. Beauty, youth and
love were my names. Now, the season's changed. Autumn is come and like
the trees that shed their leaves, I, too, must fade. I may whither and
disappear, but my beauty will never be lost, nor my love's labor lost.
For I leave behind me you and Junko-chan. I'll live in you and her and
my grandchildren and their grandchildren for as long as the sun rises,"
she said, drawing Ranma into a hug and consoling the immortal. Finally,
after what seemed like hours, they parted. [2]

    "I need to go, Tomoyo-chan. I'll come and see you again before... I
promise," Ranma said, standing up.

    Tomoyo nodded. Her face, as usual, did not complain, even though
her heart did.

    "Goodbye," he whispered and without another look, opened the door.
He met Junko's steady gaze and nodded to her. Then, he stepped outside
and closed the door behind him.

    "Will you stay for lunch?" Junko asked.

    Ranma shook his head.

    "No, I have to go, Junko-chan. I'm sorry."

    Junko nodded.

    "I understand. Visit us often, Poppa. Momma's time in this world
will not be long now."

    "I... I know. I'll drop by twice or thrice every week. Take care,
Junko-chan."

    "You, too, Poppa," she said, giving him a hug before escorting him
out.

***********************************************************************

    Knock. Knock.

    Pause.

    Knock. Knock.

    "Who is it?" an old muffled voice enquired from behind the closed
door. The muffled clap of running feet against wooden floor followed
its wake.

    "It's me, Usagi, Grandpa."

    The door opened.

    "C'mon in, Children. How was school today?"

    Usagi, who had so studiously knocked the door until then, smiled
brightly at the elder Hino and entered the house. She idly rubbed her
sore knuckles, as she surveyed the place. The wood was hard and her
knuckles hurt from the knocking.

    "It was great, Grandpa," she replied, flashing a smile.

    "You were not sent out to stand in the hall, I infer," old man Hino
commented, an indulgent smile on his lips.

    Ami, Makoto and the other assorted animals - Minako included -
broke into snickers. Usagi turned and glared balefully at them.

    "You're a mean person, Grandpa," she replied, then abruptly changed
topic before he could embarrass her further, "How is Rei doing?"

    Grandfather Hino immediately sobered at the mention of his
granddaughter.

    "Yes, well, she's regained consciousness and is fully awake now."
'She's probably reading one of them mushy mangas, I bet.'

    "Regained consciousness? You did not tell us that she was
unconscious when you rang us this morning!"

    "She was conscious then, but was very weak from the exertion. She
fainted right after breakfast and woke up only an hour later.
Apparently, eating bread and cheese was too great a stress on her body
in her weakened state."

    "Is she all right?"

    He nodded.

    "I guess. Physically, she's fine - just a handful of burns to worry
about. Her spirit is badly hurt, however, and her ki reserves are very
low." 'And recovering very fast - that's one more mystery to add to the
ever growing list of mysteries that surround her. How can she recoup
her ki reserves so quickly when she does not have the necessary skill
and training in the area?'

    "Can we see her?" Ami asked, timidly.

    "I suppose, but you have to be careful around her, especially you,
Usagi. Her ki reserves have improved somewhat since she regained
consciousness, but she needs her peace and quiet, not to mention rest.
You must be very careful not to excite her too much."

    The girls nodded as one.

    "We'll be careful, Grandpa. We promise," they said in unison.

    Grandfather Hino nodded. A small wry smile flashed on his face as
he did. He knew they were going to break their promise, but their
presence would go a long way in cheering his granddaughter up. The
experience would certainly tax Rei's overstressed ki reserves and maybe
even make her faint again, but it absolutely guaranteed to make her
feel better in the end, which made it the obvious choice to him. After
all, was it not true that the 'shaman' had to tend to the body as well
as the mind for a proper and speedy recovery?

    "All right, you girls have your visitor's passes. Remember,
however, not too much excitement."

    The girls nodded as solemnly as they could and raced up the stairs,
followed closely by the two cats. They knocked on Rei's door, as it was
only proper that they do so, only a muffled curse greeted them.

    "Damn it, Grandpa. How many times do I have to tell you that I'm
all right?" Rei growled from behind the door.

    Makoto and Minako snickered.

    "It's only us, Rei," Usagi replied, "We've come to see you."

    There was a few seconds of frenzied scuffling inside the room. Then
silence.

    "Come in, Guys. The door's open."

    They entered as a solemn possession with Minako leading them. Rei
lay stretched out on her bed. She was dressed in a red pajama that
looked more than a few years old. Her hair looked mussed and she looked
pale, but none the worse for wear. The burn salves and the IV by the
bedside made her look sicker than she was.

    "Sit," she said.

    They sat down. The room plunged into awkward silence.

    "How are you?" Ami dared to ask. "We were worried about you. Usagi
said that grandpa sounded very upset on the phone when he called her
this morning."

    Rei laid down the Revolutionary Girl Utena manga copy she was
reading, carefully and focused her full attention on her friends.

    "Yes, grandpa was pretty upset this morning. He said I came very
close to dying - that if he had been a few moments too late, I would
have died."

    The girls' faces paled. The elder Hino had left out that little
detail out of his explanation.

    "How? What happened?" Makoto asked. Her voice was laden with
concern.

    "Apparently, I happened upon some ancient forbidden technique
called the Fire Vision while attempting the Fire Reading early this
morning. It nearly killed me."

    "Fire Vision - it sounds dangerous," Minako commented.

    "Believe me, it is," Rei replied, "I don't ever want to try that
technique again. Not in this life or any other, thank you."

    "Thank God, you're okay. I'm glad that nothing bad happened."

    "Yeah!" Usagi said, nodding in acquiescence. She picked up Rei's
manga absentmindedly; completely unaware of what she was doing, and
briefly scanned the page Rei had been reading. She saw what was on it
and blushed crimson. She had not known Rei was into that kind of thing.

    She surreptitiously looked at Rei and found the girl glaring at
her.

    "Not a word," Rei mouthed, silently.

    Usagi nodded. She was too shocked to do anything else. She could
have replied verbally, but she did not trust her mouth just yet.

    "Not a word about what?" Minako asked, curiously. She looked at Rei
and then at Usagi for an answer.

    "Nothing," Rei said as hastily as a wearied person could. She felt
like an idiot. 'Warning Usagi like that in a crowded room, especially
with everyone's attention focused solely on me. God, how stupid can I
be?'

    Minako gave her friend a once-over. The hasty reply alone made
Rei's reply suspicious.

    "Are you sure?" she asked.

    Rei nodded quickly, hoping and praying to the Gods to help her
avert disaster. Unfortunately, the 'concealed' glance she shot at the
manga was much too amateurish, and both Minako and Makoto caught her.
Rei realized her folly and moved to intercept the manga before it fell
into the wrong hands, but she was much slower than her friends. Minako
got to the manga first. Simultaneously, she jumped out of Rei's reach
and opened the manga.

    Her mouth fell open. Her cheeks turned red in embarrassment.

    "What?" Makoto asked. Her curiosity had reached its apex.

    Minako flipped the manga and held it open for the entire world to
see.

    Makoto flushed.

    "Oh, my!" That was Ami, commenting on the manga.

    "Rei..."

    "Just shut up!" Rei snarled, glaring at them, "So, what if I'm a
fan of children's manga? I think they're funny." [3]

    Everyone chose wisely to keep his or her mouth shut - everyone
except Usagi.

    "Okay, Rei," she snickered, "Whatever you say."

    Rei glared at her best friend.

    "Shut up, Meatball Head," she said, angrily. Her voice sounded
weary. God, she felt sleepy.

    Usagi opened her mouth to retort then remembered grandfather Hino's
words. Rei sounded tired and for once, Usagi did not whine.

    Rei looked smug at having won the argument. She looked to the
others challengingly. None dared oppose the dead tired but majestic and
sexy sailor suited soldier of mars.

    "Um... Can I ask you a question?" Artemis queried, a little
fearfully. He knew he was treading on thin ice with the short-tempered
Rei, even though she was exhausted, could still fry him at a moment's
notice, but it was a risk he had to take. Such were the perils that an
advisor of his position faced.

    Rei's head snapped around at him. He winced and she regretted her
hasty action. God, her head hurt.

    "Yes, what is it?"

    "What were you doing up so early? Your grandfather told Usagi that
he found you unconscious besides the holy fire in the wee hours of the
morning."

    Rei nodded, her anger forgotten. Her head hurt a little, however,
and she was grumpy.

    "I was coming to that. I think we're about to face a new enemy?"

    "That's not possible, Rei," Ami said with a shake of her head,
"Pluto assured us that Pharaoh 90 was the last threat that we had to
face."

    "Yes, well, Pluto was wrong."

    "Can you tell us anything about this enemy?" Luna asked, pushing
her way through the crowd and speaking for the first time since the
start of the conversation. Playtime was over and now, as regrettable as
it was, it was time to get down to work.

    "I saw a lot of things in the Fire Vision. I can make neither head
nor tail out of most of them. What I saw is," she trailed off with a
shudder as she remembered the immolation of the mother and her
children, "I don't know what I saw."

    The others began to murmur amongst themselves.

    "Just recite what you remember and we'll take it from there," Ami
said, helpfully.

    Luna shot the blue haired sensei a grateful look. Come hell or high
water, you could always depend on good old Ami to keep a cool head. She
was the lone voice of reason amongst the Senshi, most of the time.

    Rei nodded and began to recount. Her eyes lost their focus and
became haunted, as she remembered the individual details and
experiences from the early hours of the morning. The girls listened
with rapt attention throughout her narration and did not even once
interrupt her to venture a question. Normally, they would have, but Rei
was weak and they did not want to push her more than was strictly
necessary. There would be plenty enough time for questions when Rei
finished, after all.

    "And that's that. I don't know who or what the Ashura are, just as
I don't know anything about what motivates them. I also don't know
whether the part about The Dragon has any relevance at all to the
coming fight. As I said, I can make neither head nor tail of it."

    Silence.

    "Well," Makoto commented, "That was certainly different."

    The girls nodded.

    "Yeah, whoever heard of an evil God? There is no such thing,"
Minako added.

    "Um... Actually..."

    "You know something, Artemis?"

    Artemis opened his mouth to reply, but Luna hushed him. He,
however, paid her no heed.

    "Gods have been known to do some decidedly evil stuff from the
human point of view. Of course, they did things for the greater good,
but in our narrow two dimensional perspectives, their actions might
appear evil."

    "So, a God could have committed those crimes?" Usagi asked. Her
face bore a frown.

    Artemis nodded. Luna tried to silence him again.

    "Stop it, Luna. They need to know. We owe it to them to tell the
truth," he said to the she-cat in a rather forceful voice that
surprised the girls. They had never seen Artemis adopt such a tone with
Luna. He was usually compliant to her wishes.

    Luna nodded, reluctantly, and Artemis turned towards the girls
again.

    "The Silver Millennium is a relatively small island of peace in the
otherwise chaotic ocean that is human history. Even during the time of
the Silver Millennium, there existed pockets of chaos that resisted the
majesty of the Golden Path offered by House Serenity. There were those,
in whose point of view, the Silver Millennium was the worst evil that
ever existed. The armies of the Silver Millennium were usually enough
to wipe these pockets out, but there were exceptions. Some had mighty
armies that even we could not crush, even though the Gods were our
allies. We held them at bay, but every now and then, one of them grew
powerful enough to pose a serious challenge to us on the battlefield.
The army dealt with these aberrations rather harshly and wiped out
these states, exterminating their people."

    "We killed all their sons and daughters?" Usagi asked, her voice a
whisper. Her face had lost its color.

    Luna nodded.

    "Yes, it was regrettable, the loss of so many human lives, but it
had to be done for the greater good. We could have shown them mercy,
Usagi, but most of those people would have refused to comply with the
high moral and ethical standards set by the ruling house, and would
only have disturbed the peace. It was our duty to protect our citizens
and for that, we had to do away with these aberrations."

    Usagi opened her mouth to say something, but stopped herself before
she did.

    "But isn't that mass murder - a form of legalized genocide?" Ami
asked.

    Luna shook her head.

    "So is killing daemons, if you look at it from a certain
perspective. Trust me when I say it had to be done for the greater
good."

    "Greater good? The end does not justify the means."

    "Philosophy and reality mix not in the real world," Luna retorted,
"You have to make hard decisions on the field. They aren't always easy
on your conscience, but you have to make them. I remember one bastion
of resistance that was essentially a religion of cannibals. They raided
their neighbors - and that included us - for 'food and sacrifice.'
Their army was large enough to be a problem and governors of our
provinces did not want a war with them - they thought they could make
peace with the barbarians. They thought in their own politically
correct way that wiping out a people was bad because of the
expenditures involved, you see and therefore, they ordered our
commanders not to act. Our commanders on the field, with their hands
tied behind their back, could do nothing. The barbarians grew bold and
they sacked a major city, slaughtering millions of its citizens. Only
then did we act. The war was long because we had not prepared for it
and they were, and the cost in human lives was great. If we had acted
earlier, we could have avoided the whole mess, but we did not. As a
result, millions died. That's just an example of what happens when you
sit on your behinds and do not act. If you look at things from the
post-slaughter perspective, destroying their nation was the lesser of
the two evils.

    "Look at me, all of you, and pay heed to my words. This is a lesson
that all of you have to learn, but one you sorely lack. The world is
not made of white and black. It is made of different shades of grey.
There is no white and there is no black - only shades of grey."

    "So," Makoto said, steering the conversation in a new direction
before the argument got out of hand and devolved into a fight - as much
as she wanted to berate Artemis and Luna for their callous attitude,
she could not with a sick Rei nearby - "How are we going to deal with
this new enemy?"

    "Is there a new enemy?" Artemis asked. "I'm still not convinced."

    "Nevertheless, we'll assume there's a new enemy. Accordingly, we'll
plan for him."

    Again, Luna shot Ami a grateful look. That girl was worth her
weight in gold.

    "That's an astute suggestion. How do we suppose we go about doing
that?" she asked. She looked at Minako, who shrugged and looked at Ami.
Luna sighed. Good luck getting ideas from me, Minako seemed to say.

    "Ahem. We don't know much about the enemy, except he's six armed
and uses cutting weapons. As such, we can't create any specific plans
and tactics. We can, however, review the records of the past enemies
who used bladed weapons against us and refine the tactics we used
against them," Ami suggested.

    The girls nodded. The idea seemed reasonable to them. Ami produced
her computer and produced fact sheets on everything from Daemons to
Droids that had used bladed weapons and the tactics they employed. The
girls began to bounce ideas and in no time at all, the brainstorming
session was in full bloom.

***********************************************************************

    Ranma rode to his house on a cab. Guu Long, who had been awaiting
his return, met him at the gates.

    He lowered his window and stuck out his head to her.

    "There's no time to waste," he said, urgently, his voice brooking
no argument, "I want you to come with me. Inform Shan Pu that we'll not
be back until late in the evening and get in."

    Guu Long nodded and without a word, hurried into the house. She
returned barely a minute later, trailed by Shan Pu.

    "Find something to pass your time for the rest of the day, Pu-chan.
The Honored One and I have important business to attend to," Ranma said
to the girl, as he opened the door for Guu Long.

    Shan Pu nodded silently and waved them off, as the cab sped away.
Then she rushed inside, praying that she had not missed anything
important on TV while she was away.

    The cab, meanwhile, sped to its destination, and its two passengers
immersed themselves in a serious discussion.

    "So, where are we going?" Guu Long asked when they turned the
street.

    "To Nerima - it's another one of Tokyo's prefectures. We're going
to visit Ryuuken Saotome."

    "Oh... Why are we going there?" she asked, dubiously. What did her
grandfather want of the Saotome kid? The boy was skilled and had a lot
of potential, but he definitely was not worth the trouble her
grandfather was going through, was he? Or did her grandfather know
something that she did not?

    "Because he's my brother," he replied, producing a sleek looking
Apple laptop from the folds of his shirt and booting it. Then, he
opened a graphics file. "See, this is the Saotome clan's register and
this line is Genma Saotome's. As you know, Genma Saotome is Ryuuken's
father. Now, as you can see here, Genma had two sons - a Ranma and a
Ryuuken. According to this register, Ranma has been dead for over ten
years," he said, opening another document, "This is his death
certificate. Note that the cause of death is unfulfilled. That's
because they never found his body. Also, note the comment section,
where the coroner places his comments. Read what he had written, 'The
victim's father is a delusional maniac. He claims that the boy
disappeared, vanished, in front of his very eyes. I find that hard to
believe not to mention the fact that such is scientifically impossible.
It is my sincere opinion that the victim's father is not completely
forthcoming with the facts - that he is intentionally hiding something.
What it is I don't know, but I don't think we'll ever find out!' See?"

    "So?" Guu Long asked. "Just because he named his son Ranma doesn't
mean that he's your father."

    "But he is," he insisted, "You're familiar with the flavor of
Ryuu's ki, or more specifically, his soul-hook, right?" [4]

    She nodded.

    "Well, taste mine and tell me how much of a difference there is."

    Guu Long remained silent for a short while, a look of the utmost
concentration on her face. Finally, she nodded.

    "I accept there's a resemblance, but..."

    Ranma shook his head. He opened another file. This one was an old
black and white picture.

    "There's much more than a resemblance," he replied, "Mine and his
are nearly identical. I have other proofs, too. For example, see this.
This is a photo of Ranma Saotome, the son of Genma Saotome, taken two
months before his 'death.' I looked like that when I was his age. Do
you remember the name of Ryuuken's school? It's Musabetsu Kakutou Ryuu
- the same school as mine.

    "There's no doubt about it, Granddaughter. Ryuuken and I are
siblings."

    Guu Long nodded, at last accepting Ranma's argument, Weird
coincidence could explain one or two similarities, but not this many.
Ryuuken, her student, was almost certainly Ranma's long lost family.

    "So, what are you going to do?" she asked. "Are you going to tell
them?"

    "No," he replied with a shake of his head.

    "Why? Is this another one of your tests?"

    Ranma shook his head.

    "I wish things were so simple. Unfortunately, they are not. As it
turns out, Genma is a known felon and crook wanted in much of the
civilized world for petty thefts and numerous other charges. Not one of
the charges is of grave consequence, mind you, but he is a felon all
the same. As such, I'm most disinclined to call myself his son and I
will not do so, until such a time comes when he proves himself worthy
of the title."

    "Oh? So, what are you going to do?"

    "Obviously, I can't let my brother be influenced by his father's
dishonorable ways any longer. I simply will not allow it. I'm going to
have to separate the two of them. I can accomplish my goal in two ways.
I can take him out of Genma's hands by exercising my powers as the head
of the Saotome clan - I'm clearly the oldest Saotome alive. As such,
I'm the default head of the clan - but I don't think that particular
choice is prudent. They'd write me off as crazy if I were to claim that
something transported me back in time, and it'd attract a lot of
unwanted attraction from some real unfriendly quarters. Moreover, I'm
not that keen on revealing to Ryuuken that I'm his dead brother... At
least, not yet.

    "So, after serious deliberation, I've decided to challenge his
father to a duel. I'm going to insult the elder Saotome in such a way
that he'd have no choice but to do battle with me. We'll see what
happens after that and improvise, as things develop."

    Guu Long nodded, understanding the logic in Ranma's argument. She
shifted her gaze to the window on her side and fell silent. Her face
assumed a thoughtful look, as she brooded how this new revelation would
affect her and the Joketsuzoku's near future. She was still debating
the pros and cons when they reached their destination.

    "So this is Nerima?" Ranma asked none in particular, as he surveyed
the streets and buildings of the said prefecture. 'Hmm... This could
work out for the best.' "Can you take us to the Tendo Dojo, please?" he
asked of the cabbie.

    The cabbie nodded and drove on, now looking even more silent and
pensive than he had been throughout the entire trip. He had good
reason, too, for he was a Nerimian himself and knew about the weird
things that went on at the Tendo dojo. He also knew that there was a
tendency for innocent bystanders to find themselves mired in the chaos
that reigned in the house, and was willing to do everything in his
power to stay out of the mess. His life and his livelihood might very
well depend on it. Therefore, intent on getting rid of his passengers
as quickly as possible, he floored the accelerator and reached the dojo
in record time. He did not step out for a breather either, waiting just
long enough for his two passengers to disembark and pay his due, before
he hightailed out of the street. It was only after he put three blocks
between himself and the dojo that he managed to breathe freely. He did
not even realize that he had been holding his breath until then.

    Ranma and Guu Long, for their part, stood still in front of the
dojo and tasted its wa before they stepped into the property. With
Ranma in front and Guu Long following close behind, they went up to the
front door, where he knocked thrice.

    The door opened nearly a minute later. It was a woman who opened
it. She was dressed in a homely fashion and wore an apron. She had a
gentle, welcoming smile on her face.

    "Good afternoon. Can I help you?" she asked, first looking at Ranma
and then Guu Long. She became politeness personified when she bowed to
them.

    The twosome responded immediately by returning the bows themselves.

    "Yes, I believe you can," Ranma responded, flashing a polite smile,
as was wont, "We're looking for a boy... Ryuuken Saotome is his name."

    Kasumi returned Ranma's smile with an earnest one of her own.

    "You must be friends of Ryuu-kun then. Welcome, come into the
house."

    They stepped in, taking care to leave their shoes outside. Their
hostess escorted them to the hall and after they made themselves
comfortable on the sofa proffered to them, she retreated into the
kitchen, only to return moments later with a tray laden with cookies
and a steaming pot of tea.

    "I'm Kasumi Tendo," Kasumi said, introducing herself, as she set
the tray and the goodies on the table, "And you are..."

    "Guu Long. We're friends of Ryuuken."

    "Ranma Qin. You wouldn't be related to Soun Tendo by any means,
would you, Kasumi-san?" Ranma replied; asked.

    "I'm his daughter. You must be the one who rescued my sister in
China, Ranma-san."

    "It is I. How's she doing by the way?"

    "She's recovered. I wish to thank you on the Tendo clan's behalf
for saving my sister's life."

    "She played an even bigger part in the incident than I did," Ranma
replied, "If it was not for her inner strength, my task would have been
a whole lot tougher and I might even have failed."

    Kasumi nodded in approval. By speaking what he did the way he did,
Ranma managed not only to save the Tendo clan's face, but also
maneuvered himself out of coming off as cocky and impudent.

    "Is your father at home?" he asked.

    "No. Father and Saotome-san are out. They'll be back within the
hour, though. Did you come by to check up on Akane?" she asked.

    "No, unfortunately, I did not," he admitted, a wee bit abashedly,
"I'm afraid that I had all but forgotten about Akane-san. I came with
another person in mind - Ryuuken to be exact."

    Again, Kasumi nodded. She appreciated his honesty, and his
straightforwardness. It showed good upbringing on his part.

    "Is Ryuu-kun in some kind of trouble?" she asked, subtly changing
the subject so as not to embarrass him any further.

    Ranma and Guu Long smiled, gratefully. It looked as if their
hostess was an accomplished disciple of an important branch of The Art
- the art of house keeping - herself.

    "By no means. Do you know where we may find him?"

    Kasumi nodded.

    "Ryuu-kun's at school, right now," she said and shot a quick glance
at the cuckoo clock, a very ancient piece mounted on the near side of
the wall, "Why don't you make yourselves comfortable? The school must
have closed by now and Ryuu-kun will be back any minute."

    Ranma nodded.

    "Thank you for your generous offer. We'll take you up on it. And is
Akane at school, too?"

    "Yes. Both Ryuu-kun and Akane attend the same school, as do Ryouga
and Nabiki, who is my younger and Akane's elder sister."

    "She'll be returning with Ryuuken, then."

    "Yes."

    "Excellent. We're very fortunate, then. I'll give Akane-san a
checkup after my business with Ryuuken concludes and then we'll be on
our way. Is that acceptable to you, Honorable One?"

    Guu Long nodded.

    "Perfectly."

    "Wonderful," he said and turned to Kasumi, "By the by, these
cookies are absolutely delicious."

    Kasumi's cheeks colored.

    "Thank you," she replied.

    Ranma smiled, and so did Guu Long.

    "Perhaps you can share your recipe with me. I'd like to think that
I'm something of a chef, too."

    "I'd love to."

    "Thank you... Ah, I think our young friends are come. Would you,
please, excuse us, Kasumi-san? I think I'll need you, too, Honorable
One."

    Both the women nodded.

    Ranma stood up, dusted a couple of crumbs off his shirt and
followed Kasumi to the front door. She opened it, and in stepped Akane,
Ryuu and Ryouga. Young Saotome looked as healthy and vigorous as ever,
whereas Akane looked a little peeved. Ryouga looked embarrassed.
Obviously, Kasumi noted, they had been having one of their extremely
vocal verbal arguments in the street. Nabiki's absence went unnoticed.

    "Welcome back, Ryuu-kun, Ryouga-kun, and Imouto-chan. How was
school today?"

    "Fine, Oneechan," one replied.

    "Great," the other intoned.

    "Okay," the third replied.

    "Hello, Ryuu, Akane, and hello, Ryouga," Ranma piped,
mischievously. He had an indulgent smile on his face.

    "Ranma, what are you doing here?" Ryuu asked, noticing Ranma for
the first time.

    Ranma smiled. His appearance had startled Ryuu and therefore, the
teenager's rude reaction was excusable.

    "I came to see you... And to check up on Akane-san."

    "Please, call me Akane."

    Ranma nodded.

    "See me? Whatever for?" Ryuu had still to get over his surprise.

    "Have you been practicing the ki exercises I taught you?" Ranma
asked, dodging the question.

    Ryuu nodded. As startled as he was over Ranma's sudden arrival, he
was glad that Ranma chose to visit him. The advice he received during
their walk out of Jusenkyo had been priceless and he could not wait for
more pointers on The Art.

    "Yeah, I've been practicing them."

    "Good. It's nice to hear that you haven't been slacking off. Want
to go outside? I want to talk to you in private."

    Ryuu nodded.

    "Okay."

    Ranma turned to Akane and Ryouga.

    "I'll conduct my checkup when we return, Akane. If you're willing
enough, the Honorable One can do it for you. Which do you prefer?"

    It was clear that Ranma preferred the latter, but Akane had her
doubts about the elder. Could the old woman really be that skilled in
The Art, she asked herself.

    "I assure you that the Honorable One is more than qualified, Akane.
She's very formidable, despite appearances to the contrary."

    Akane looked thoughtful for a moment. Then, she nodded.

    "I guess. No offense meant to you, of course, Elder," she said,
addressing Guu Long.

    "None taken, Child," Guu Long replied.

    Ranma nodded.

    "It's settled then. Come, Ryuu, lead on."

    With that, Ryuu and Ranma left the company of the others and headed
to the dojo. They halted in the center of the structure and Ranma
cleared his throat.

    "While we were in China, you asked me to train you. Do you still
wish the same?"

    Ryuu nodded.

    "It won't be easy. You're very skilled for someone your age and you
have a lot of potential. If I teach you, I can promise you that you'll
reach the limits of that potential, but it won't be easy. The road will
be tough and hard, and you'll not be able to recognize yourself when
you reach its end. You'll cease to be an artist and you will become a
warrior. You're aware of the differences between the two, aren't you?"

    Ryuu nodded.

    "Yes, I am."

    "Tell me."

    "An artist practices The Art. A warrior lives The Art. An artist
don't have blood on his hands. A warrior does. An artist is without
responsibilities. A warrior is. An artist don't have to make hard
decisions. A warrior does and he has to live with them. An artist is
just that - and artist and nothing more. A warrior is a protector of
life and innocence. His honor is impeccable and his courage infinite.
His spirit is indomitable and he is fearless."

    Ranma nodded.

    "You're correct, except for the last part. A warrior fears. He
fears the demon within himself, and he fears the demon within others.
However, he is courageous enough to wage war against his fears and
master them. Do you understand?"

    "Yes, Sensei."

    "Then you accept me as your teacher?"

    "Yes, Sensei."

    "I'm glad. However, I have one more thing to ask of you before I
can accept you as my student."

    "What is it, Sensei?"

    "I want you to leave your father and the Tendos. I want you to live
under my roof while I train you."

    "I... My family's honor would be tarnished if I walked away and
broke my promise to the Tendos, Sensei."

    "I'm not asking you to abandon them. There'll come a time when I
feel that you're skilled enough to live on your own without me to watch
over you. At your present skill level, you must undergo several years
of rigorous training before you reach that level. I'm asking you to
stay with me until such a time comes. Will you?"

    "I... I accept."

    "Fine. Go pack your things. We leave immediately."

    "What... But?"

    "No arguments," Ranma said, firmly, "We'll await Tendo-san's and
your father's arrival. It'll be best if they hear your decision face to
face from your lips. Come, there's no need for us to remain here any
longer," he said and lead the way into the house.

    As it happened, they did not have to wait at all, for they found
Genma and Soun in the living room with the rest of the crowd, Nabiki
and even Happousai included. Whatever conversation had been going on
terminated abruptly and the room fell into thunderous silence. Everyone
looked at them with expectant eyes. It was as if they felt that
something important had happened.

    "Saotome-san, Tendo-san," Ranma said with a little bow.

    "Welcome to my abode, Ranma-san," the Tendo patriarch replied. He
stood up and returned the bow with one of his own.

    "Thank you, Tendo-san. How is Akane?"

    "She's fine. The Elder says that she's fully recovered."

    Ranma nodded.

    "Will you sup with us, tonight, Ranma-san?"

    "No, thank you for your offer, Tendo-san, but I'm afraid I must
refuse. As it happens, the Honored One and I are in a hurry today.
Speaking of which, I believe Ryuu has something important to announce
to all of you."

    All eyes in the room focused on Ryuu. The silence and the tension
was even worse than before.

    "Uh," the boy said, tugging at his collar. He was obviously ill at
ease, "I... Uh... Ranma-san's agreed to take me as his student. I'll be
leaving with him..."

    "What?" Genma exploded, interrupting Ryuu's ill-rehearsed speech.

    "I said..."

    "Boy, I heard what you said," the elder Saotome shouted, "I won't
allow it."

    "I did not ask for your approval. My student has consented and that
is approval enough for me," Ranma interrupted, stepping in between Ryuu
and Genma.

    It was the worst kind of insult possible. Ranma was challenging
Genma's authority as Ryuu's father openly in front of his friends and
family, which given the already estranged relation between father and
son was equivalent to rubbing salt on an open wound. Genma did not like
it one whit and naturally, he turned red with fury. Ally or not, a line
had been crossed and the insult could neither be forgiven nor
forgotten.

    "How dare you?" he began.

    "I don't have to dare at all."

    "Why, you..."

    "I think he'll progress far better under my tutelage than he'd do
under yours. It'd be an insult to his skills if he were to train under
someone like you."

    Seconds passed. Silence reigned in the room. It was obvious now to
Genma that Ranma had intentionally goaded him to trap him in a catch-22
situation. He had two choices now: Either he could back away, which
would result forever estranging Ryuu to him, or he could challenge
Ranma, lose big-time and still lose Ryuu forever. Genma was no fool,
even though there was much evidence that pointed to the contrary, and
he knew that there was no way he could win a battle against Ranma on
Ranma's terms. However, his hand was forced and he had to act. Act to
gain the boy's trust and respect. There was only one choice for the
cornered father and that was...

    "I see. You wish to challenge my authority as Ryuu's teacher,
guardian and father. Well, I will not stand for it."

    Ranma's lips curved into a smile. The encounter was going almost
exactly as he had expected. Genma's show of spine was a revelation,
though, but other than that, everything was proceeding according to
plan. He had thought that it would take a lot more before Genma
challenged him to a duel.

    "I challenge you to a duel," Genma continued, "I challenge you to a
duel of honor."

    Ranma's smile grew even wider. It must now be obvious to everyone
in the room that he had intentionally maneuvered Genma into a corner
and that the duel was what he strived for from the very start.

    "I accept."

    "Tendo?" Genma asked, looking questioningly Soun. He wanted to use
the Tendo dojo for the duel, for which he needed Soun's permission.

    Soun understood immediately.

    "I'll be honored, Friend."

    Genma nodded, immensely grateful.

    "Fine. Step outside. We'll fight in the dojo."

    "I agree. I choose him," Ranma said, pointing to Happousai, "As the
judge."

    Genma shot his master a glance and shrugged. It did not matter who
officiated the match. All that mattered was regaining the son he had
lost. The odds were stacked against him, but he would not, could not,
fail.

    They stepped out, the whole house close at their heels, and took
their position in the center of the dojo. Ranma looked relaxed, not
even bothering to slip into a stance of his own, whereas Genma was the
very epitome of concentration and focus. A fierce aura burned around
him and though it was invisible to the naked eye, Ranma and the others
could sense and feel it. It impressed everyone, Ranma most of all.

    "Shall we begin?" Ranma asked, nonchalantly.

    Genma nodded again and dropped into a stance. Happousai signaled
the fight to begin and immediately, Genma leapt into the attack, hoping
to catch Ranma by surprise. His attempt failed.

    Against the power, speed and grace of Genma's attacks, Ranma wove
like the skilled artisan that he was, evading everything that the stout
martial artist threw at him. If Genma was the mountain, the desert and
the glacier, Ranma was the wind, the rain and the fire. His opponent
outmatched him in everything that mattered in the field of battle,
Genma knew and yet, he attacked out of a need borne out of desperation.
Valiant as his attacks were, they were doomed to failure, for he could
only sustain such a blistering pace for so long. He faltered finally
after what might well have been eternity - for time lost its meaning to
both of them - and Ranma was upon him like a raging tsunami in an
instant, striking at will, exploiting the holes that no one else could
see in his father's defenses.

    First one, then another and finally a cacophony of blows sent Genma
flying through the air and into the wooden wall of the dojo on the
other side of the dojo. The structure creaked, threatening to fall, but
it did not. There was an audible sigh of relief in the room when the
shaking stopped and Genma stood up. He wiped the blood dripping from
his lips across the back of his hand and dropped into a stance. He knew
that Ryuu's respect was lost to him forever. He knew...

    The small crowd of spectators gasped in surprise, as Genma made a
set of ingei - the set of hand gestures used to invoke a technique -
and became invisible. Of all the people in the room, only Happousai and
Soun were familiar with the technique, and yet, even they could not
believe their eyes. Genma had sworn on his as well as his clan's honor
never to use his forbidden techniques, after all.

    Ranma, too, was surprised by this sudden and unexpected turn of
events, and his respect for his father grew manifold. He had
encountered a cruder version of the technique a long time before and
had been instrumental in hunting down its only practitioner - a
murderer for hire. He knew its one fatal weakness, as such, and looked
forward to giving the old man a rude awakening, especially since Genma
seemed to have dropped all pretence of a defense.

    Genma saw Ranma's apparent inability to see him from behind the
haze that was the distinguishing mark of the Goshin Dai Ryü Sei Fu
Superior. He developed the technique to overcome the one obvious
disadvantage of the Goshin Dai Ryü Sei Fu in his younger days - the
need to have within arm's reach a large piece of cloth to cover
oneself. He ran in a wide circle, hoping to catch Ranma unawares from
behind. He planned to knock Ranma unconscious with one blow and secure
the duel. His plan seemed to work fine until the last moment when his
hand was inches away from delivering the winning blow to the base of
Ranma's skull.

    With mere inches to contact, Ranma suddenly became a whirlwind of
motion. His speed was such that Genma could not track him and even
before the unexpectedness of Ranma's reaction registered in his mind,
Ranma had dropped to his knee and commenced his attack. Perfectly
balanced on his knees, he delivered a devastating retaliatory strike,
The Claws of The Demon Snake, with the knife-edge of his right hand to
Genma's diaphragm. The attack, when delivered right, was usually fatal,
but Ranma pulled it at the last moment deliberately to spare Genma's
life, though the elder Saotome would remain bedridden for another week
or so. The force of the attack and its suddenness threw Genma into the
air. He crashed on the floor and lay writhing as he clutched his ribs
and his throat. He was in a great deal of pain and his heart's rhythm
shot to hell, thanks to the damage it suffered from Ranma's attack.
Breathing was a labor, too, and his throat burned as the strike
temporarily took the ability to breath from him.

    Ranma slowly rose to his feet, his eyes firmly focused on Genma.
Lesser mortals would have died from the blow, but as he was beginning
to realize, his father was no lesser mortal. He stood there silent,
ready to step in should Genma's heart fail. It did not and when a sense
of normalcy began to return to Genma's ki, Ranma cast a glance about
the room, and found everyone's attention firmly focused on Genma.

    Genma's body slowly stopped struggling and writhing in agony. After
a few shallow breaths, he made to get on his feet. Ranma stopped him
before he could assume a stance.

    "Yield, Saotome-sensei, you're incapacitated. If you're intent on
having satisfaction, we can continue this duel after you're recovered."

    Genma shook his head, wincing in pain, as even that movement cost
him a sharp twinge of agony. How could he make Ranma understand that he
had to fight, whatever the cost? How could he tell him that he had to
fight so that he may regain his son's respect? How could he tell him...

    Ranma nodded. Obviously, there was more going on then he
understood. Perhaps it had something to do with the estrangement
between father and son. He shot a quick look in both their directions
and he saw that he had assumed correct. The young Saotome's face shown
with surprise, and in his eyes, there was a new and profound respect
for his father. He was rediscovering the hero he knew in his early
years.

    "Very well, Saotome-sensei, we'll continue this battle."

    Genma nodded gratefully. He attacked, favoring his left leg, which
surprised everyone in the room even more. None expected him to regain
his feet after Ranma's devastating attack, least of all launch into an
attack, feeble as it might be. They expected him to give up and walk
away, as he had done so many times in his past, but this Genma, they
had never seen before. This one was cornered and fighting for his honor
and his family. This one had to fight lest he lost the only thing he
cared for anymore - his son.

    Watching Genma, Ranma's eyes blurred for a moment, before he
regained his composure. He stepped forward himself to meet his father's
challenge and just before the two of them made contact, he dropped to
the ground and kicked Genma's legs from underneath him. Genma fell. His
head hit the ground hard, but he did not even so much as utter a yelp.

    Ranma withdrew and Genma stood up again. He stood on his wounded
right leg and assumed a stance. Bent at an unnatural angle, his left
knee was useless.

    Ranma chose to attack this time and Genma blocked clumsily a punch
meant for his jaw. Ranma caught Genma's arm in a vise-like grip and
grabbing hold of his father's shoulder, twisted and pulled
simultaneously.

    Genma gasped and fell, his arm dislocated. Tears cascaded down his
face and his lips bled freely where he bit them, but still, he tried to
rise up.

    Ranma, seeing no other way, grabbed Genma's head by his nose and
pulled it back rudely. He raised his other arm, his fist poised to
strike the fatal blow and crush Genma's throat.

    "Yield."

    Genma shook his head. He was a broken and bloodied mess, but he
refused to accept defeat. He could not, for it would cost him his son.
He made to get up again.

    Watching Genma's struggles, Ranma sighed. He unclenched his fist
and grabbed hold of Genma's ear with the fingers of his free hand. He
relinquished his hold on the Saotome patriarch's nose and struck the
base of his skull hard enough to render him unconscious. He looked at
Happousai, who nodded. He had won the fight. He was...

***********************************************************************

    The smell of gas was overwhelming in the room. He inhaled it deeply
and smiled, looking contendedly at the shredded gas main - his work.
Even though he was not physically present in the room, he had enough
control over the lookalike 'apparition' to feel and influence
physically the objects around him. The technique required the utmost
concentration of his mind on his ki and soul, and was lost to the ages,
but he, too, was a remnant of the past that was lost to time. With but
a thought, he altered the ki flows around his specter, increasing its
temperature by twenty odd degrees.

    A stray molecule of fuel gas and several stray molecules of oxygen
collided inside the hot zone. Already on the brink of decomposition,
the collision gave the complex of carbon and hydrogen the energy needed
to split. Chemical bonds shattered and the molecule split into its
individual atoms, as did the oxygen molecule. The nascent hydrogen and
oxygen, and carbon and oxygen combined, releasing heat energy and light
energy into the surroundings. The heat energy induced several nearby
molecules of fuel gas to react with even more molecules of oxygen.
They, too, released heat energy and light energy as they reacted and
they, too, induced others to burn. The reaction grew exponentially and
quickly ran out of control. It was barely a fraction of a second after
the initiating event when the energy released attained explosive
density.

    There was a terrible crack and a huge, expanding wall of hellish-
blue flame that quickly became a shade of devilish-yellow. Gas
molecules were suddenly imparted great amounts of energy and
accelerated in all directions. Wood, iron and plaster became as paper
under the onslaught, and they shattered into innumerable bits,
scattering everywhere and tearing everything in their path.

***********************************************************************

    Boom!

    The earth shook and the wooden walls of the dojo were as paper in a
tornado. Shredded into thin slivers by the explosion, the wood whistled
through the air at lethal velocities in all directions and a pillar of
flame burned everything in its path. Only Ranma's, Guu Long's and
Happousai's timely reaction in raising their ki shields saved the
Tendos and the Saotomes from instant immolation and death. Then, as
suddenly as it began, it was all over. Peace descended upon Tendo-ke,
or rather, what remained of it, once more.

    Ranma's ki shield faded into nothing and he looked around. The
Tendos and the Saotomes were all right physically, as was Happousai.
The Tendo house was in ruins. As far as he could tell, the kitchen was
ground zero for the explosion, which pointed to the gas mains as the
most plausible culprit. It had essentially reduced the house to so many
tons of useless and burning rubble.

    As he watched, the neighbors arrived. Some of them - the calm ones
- even came bearing buckets of water. The women headed straight to the
Tendo girls, trying to console them. Genma was still unconscious and
Guu Long was already attending to his wounds. She would stabilize the
elder Saotome. Happousai, Ryuu and Ryouga stood in one corner, looking
helpless. Ryouga looked far worse than the other two.

    Soun stood paralyzed, gazing forlornly at the burning ruin. He did
not go to his daughters to console them and he did not help fight the
flames. He was easily the hardest hit of the lot and he just stood
there staring at the flames, as a man lost. His face was ashen and his
eyes without hope.

    Sensing Soun's plight, Ranma walked up to him. Soun did not stir.
He did not notice Ranma's approach even when The Dragon was within
striking distance of him.

    "Tendo-sensei?" Ranma began, uncertainly.

    Soun did not respond immediately. It took him several seconds to
register Ranma's words.

    "Huh?" He turned to face Ranma.

    "Are you all right, Tendo-sensei?" Ranma asked.

    Soun nodded, mechanically.

    "Yes..." he nodded, and then added, "Yes, I am. Congratulations on
your victory, Ranma-sensei."

    Ranma nodded.

    "Thank you, Tendo-sensei."

    Pause.

    "I'm sorry about your loss."

    Soun nodded again, this time even more mechanically then before.
His mind was in a whirl. Never quite on their feet after his wife's
premature death, the destruction of their home was a deathblow to the
Tendos. There was no well-invested financial net to help him and his
daughters get through this hardship. There were no living relatives to
help them, either. Worst of all, the house was insured for a paltry sum
because the premium rates were high. The money from the insurance
company would not be enough to rebuild the house, let alone buy the
furniture and everything else that was lost. Simply put, the Tendo
clan's days were numbered.

    When Soun did not answer, Ranma continued.

    "As one practitioner of The Art to another, I'd like to offer your
family my home. You and yours can stay with me until Tendo-ke is
rebuilt."

    Soun looked up. He realized what Ranma was trying to do. He was
offering help to the Tendos. However, as much as he needed such a
gesture, Soun could not accept the offer without losing face, which
meant that he must refuse. Face was all-important, after all, for
without it, life was not worth living.

    "I..."

    Ranma held up his hand, forestalling Soun's refusal speech.

    "I beg you to accept my offer, Tendo-sensei. Do not take away my
chance to repay a debt of honor long owed."

    Soun looked questioningly. What debt could Ranma possibly owe the
Tendo clan?

    Ranma's eyes became dreamlike, as he remembered his own distant
past.

    "I, too, lost everything once. My friends helped me get back on my
feet. I owe them a debt of honor that I could never repay. By helping
you, I repay some small part of it."

    Soun was not convinced. Kasumi, too, joined him to refuse Ranma,
now.

    "Father, I implore you," she said in a voice full of raw emotion,
"Do not accept his offer. Do not take away our honor when it is all we
have."

    "If not as a stranger, then accept my help as an ally, Tendo-
sensei," Ranma implored, relentlessly. He was determined to help the
Tendos and was willing to do whatever it took to make them accept his
help.

    As soon as he heard Ranma's words, Soun's eyes widened in surprise.
Kasumi's reaction was not much different, either.

    Ranma noted their reactions. He continued as before.

    "If clan Tendo would not accept my offer as a stranger, I implore
her and pledge myself to her as an ally. Would she still refuse my
offer?" he asked.

    Soun shook his head, slowly, once, twice, thrice.

    "No, she would not. Thank you, Ranma-sensei. She is honored to have
in you an ally, just as she is honored to have your help."

    Ranma nodded, sighing in relief. For a moment, he feared that the
Tendos would still refuse his help.

    "Thank you," he said.

    Soun forged on ahead, seemingly unaware of the world around him.

    "However she'll repay her debts, I know not, but someday she will.
Woe is her if she does not." His eyes refocused. "Thank you again,
Ranma-sensei. My - clan Tendo's - gratitude knows no bounds."

    The firefighters arrived then. The yard descended into organized
chaos and it was all the spectators could do to stay out of the way of
the professionals while they tended to the fire. The police arrived
soon after, and the Tendos and the Saotomes had their hands full
answering the questions the cops posed them.

***********************************************************************

    Once assured of his comfort, Ranma leaned back in his seat and
sighed. It was about ten O'clock and they - he, the Tendos, the
Saotomes and other assorted animals - were on a train, headed to his
house in Juuban. It took a fair amount of talking to convince the
police detectives that no intentional mischief was done to set Tendo-ke
on fire, but when finally, they were convinced, they let Ranma and the
others go, free to do what they pleased. Immediately, Ranma herded the
group to the subway station where they boarded the last one to Juuban.
Now, five-odd minutes into the journey, Ranma allowed himself to relax.
The day's work was more than satisfactory, as far as he was concerned.

    Slowly, with practiced ease, Ranma released his ki a little and
probed the carriage. Sure enough, there was Genma, who sat a little
ways off. His ki was heavy with depression and Ranma could not help
sympathize with him. Genma did not know that he was the true winner of
the duel and probably assumed that he lost his son forever.

    'Looks like my work for the day is not yet done,' Ranma thought and
rose up. He approached the elder Saotome and announced his presence in
a quiet, polite voice.

    "Saotome-sensei?"

    Genma, who was mentally torturing himself over the loss of his son
- after all, it was his second time and the reasons for this one were
as inexcusable as the other - looked up slowly. His eyes met Ranma.
There was no trace of anger, or resentment in them, Ranma saw, only
resigned acceptance. His face was pale. His eyes were devoid of hope
and full of self-loathing.

    "Is the seat taken?" Ranma asked.

    Genma shook his head. As much as he yearned to hate the man before
him, he could not. He lost Ryuu because of the mistakes he made and no
one else was to blame. Moreover, how could he hate an opponent who
behaved as honorably as Ranma did in the field of battle? He could not
- not while he was in his right mind.

    "Please, do, Ranma-sensei."

    Ranma nodded and sat down. He hesitated for a moment then made up
his mind.

    "I came to apologize, Saotome-sensei. My words at Tendo-ke were
rude and uncouth, and ill-befitting form of address to a Master such as
thyself."

    Genma looked at Ranma long and hard. Finally, he nodded.

    "Apology accepted, Ranma-sensei."

    Silence. It was painfully clear that Genma was not in the mood for
conversation and Ranma did not know where to start, but he was not
about to give up.

    "You're very skilled, Saotome-sensei," he said finally, breaking
the silence, "I was honored to do battle with you."

    "As was I," Genma replied, 'Not that my skill mattered in the end.
O' what a fool I was!'

    "Yes," Ranma continued, speaking more to himself then to Genma,
"You impressed me a great deal during the duel. I can see a number of
uses for one as skilled as you."

    Genma raised an eyebrow. 'Where is this conversation going? Why do
I feel like I'm in the middle of an interview? And why is he sounding
more and more like a Yakuza thug by the minute?' he asked himself.

    "I wish to offer you a job as a tutor in the dojo I plan to start.
Will you be willing to take it?"

    Genma sat in thoughtful silence. He was essentially ronin now that
the estrangement between Ryuu and himself was unbridgeable. Sure, he
had Nodoka, but he had not seen his wife in ten years and he knew she
would choose Ryuu if she had to choose between husband and son - that
is assuming she did not kill them both first. It was her way. On the
other hand, if he were to get a job and somehow patch up his
relationship with Ryuu, Nodoka would be much more willing to spare the
two of them. Personally, Genma did not think himself deserving of
another chance in life and more then looked forward for his tryst with
the family blade, but Ryuu most certainly did. 'If not for me, then for
Ryuu!' he thought, making up his mind, 'I will not fail him again. I
swear!'

    "I accept," he said.

    Ranma nodded.

    "A wise choice... Would a starting salary of six hundred thousand
yen be enough?"

    Genma nodded in acquiescence with wide eyes. The sum was more than
enough. In fact, he had never, ever in his entire life had six hundred
thousand yen in his hands at a time.

    "Of... Of course!"

    Pause. Ranma, a little unsure of where next to take the
conversation, drummed a tune on his seat for a while. Then, he spoke.

    "You must feel lucky to have a son who is as proud of you as Ryuu
is."

    Now, Genma was befuddled. What was Ranma saying? Ryuu hated and
detested his father.

    "I'm afraid I don't quite follow you, Ranma-sensei. My relationship
with my son hasn't been the best," he admitted.

    "Well, I'm not sure if I interpreted it correctly, but I caught a
glance of Ryuu during our duel and he seemed enthralled by your
performance. It is possible that I could be mistaken, but I think I'm
not."

    Hope flared in Genma's eyes. Joy and exultation danced across his
face, but Genma himself was reserved.

    "Are you sure? Are you sure that is what you saw?" he asked, his
voice crackling with barely restrained emotion.

    Ranma nodded.

    "Yes, I am sure."

    "Oh, thank you! Thank you! You just made the happiest man in the
world."

    Ranma smiled.

    "Oh, good, am I to assume that everything's going to be all right
with your son?" he asked.

    Genma nodded vigorously.

    "There was once a time when I thought that I had lost my son's love
forever and it was all because of several stupid actions on my part.
Your words have given me confidence that the holes in our relationship
are patchable. It is a hope that I have not had for quite sometime."

    "A wise man is he who accepts his mistakes, Genma-san... Can I call
you that?"

    Nod.

    "Only if you let me call you Ranma-san, Ranma-sensei."

    Ranma smiled. His initial estimation of Genma from the report had
been wrong. The man was formidable once you got past the rough outer
shell he had crafted for himself.

    "Judging by that axiom, you're a wise man, Genma-san. I'm thankful
I have hired you as a teacher. Under your guidance, the dojo will
become a force to be reckoned with and her students will learn much
more then The Art - things that only the gifted master can teach them."

    "You're too kind, Ranma-sensei. If only I were as deserving of them
as you make me look."

    Ranma waved Genma's words aside.

    "Pshah! We all have our demons. You have to be really strong here,"
he said, pointing to his heart, "to defeat them - like you."

    "Huh?"

    "I know about your record. It impressed me the wrong way. My
insults were calculated and there was one reason for them. I wanted to
remove a future Master from the clutches of a ruffian and a thug. I
have since realized that I made a mistake. I apologized because of it.
It is clear to me that you're no thug. Your strength of character is
phenomenal. To fight as you did required great valor and inner
strength. So what if you have a few failings? I'm not perfect. I've
long realized that 'perfect' is a relative term and have long stopped
looking for it in others and in myself. It is not to say that I do not
endeavor for perfection. I strive to be perfect, but perfection is a
goal too lofty for anyone to reach. One can only work toward it, and
your courage and determination show your heart's heart. I'd be honored
to work, fight, or die beside you."

    'So that's why he was so hostile at Tendo-ke. It also explains why
he's been so accommodating since then.'

    "Am I to assume then that I'll be allowed near my son?" Genma
asked.

    Ranma smiled.

    "I wouldn't dream of withholding him from you. Ryuu has as much to
learn from you as from me."

    "You don't know how much that relieves me."

    "To the contrary, I think I do."

    Pause.

    "Please, forgive me, Genma-san, but can we continue this
conversation later. I just remembered something that needs my immediate
attention."

    "Oh?"

    "Yes, a famous, or rather should I say, infamous Grandmaster with a
fetish for female undergarments and mop wielding angry women."

    Genma's eyes brightened in understanding.

    "I understand perfectly," he said.

    "Thank you. Now, if you'll excuse me," Ranma said and rose to his
feet. He made for Happousai and Genma's eyes followed him, waiting
impatiently for the fireworks to start. For a start, he knew that Ranma
was much stronger than Happousai and it was high time someone taught
the Master a lesson he would never forget.

***********************************************************************

    Happousai was suspicious. For the first time in years, his mind was
alert and focused with all his hackles raised, thanks to Ranma.
Happousai found Qin's arrival at Tendo-ke suspicious. He knew of
Ranma's skill from Ryuu and the others when they returned from China,
but he had not suspected how skilled he truly was. To defeat a Master
of Musabetsu Kakutou Ryuu was no mean task and to defeat Genma with
such ease indicated power and skill that were nothing to sneeze at. A
powerful God might have been able to defeat the elder Saotome, with
might being the operative word. Of course, the God would also have
turned the greater part of Tokyo into a steaming crater of molten rock
in the process and that was assuming Genma did not use his forbidden
techniques. If he did, the chances that the God would lose were about
even.

    The point was, in the duel, Genma did unseal his forbidden
techniques and he still lost. 'More like blown aside, as if he were
cannon fodder.'

    Happousai did not like the implications of such a defeat. Who was
this Ranma, who was so powerful that he could brush aside a warrior as
powerful as a God? What did he want with the Tendos and more
importantly, what did he want with Musabetsu Kakutou Ryuu's hope for
the future? Happousai would never accept it in public, but the day he
saw the young Saotome in action, he knew his many decade long search
for an heir was over. It was the determination in the boy's eyes that
convinced the diminutive Grandmaster. The boy was strong - stronger
than his stubborn oaf of a father ever was.

    Somehow, Ranma must have realized the boy's untapped potential,
too. Nothing else explained his sudden appearance and interest. Perhaps
he had been watching the boy from afar for years, waiting for the right
time. If so, was this the right moment and if it was, what factors made
it so? There were so many questions and so few answers.

    Happousai realized that Ranma was more powerful than he was. The
speed with which Ranma created the ki shield to protect the bystanders
in the dojo spoke of reflexes so fast that Happousai was not sure he
could match them even if he lived to be a thousand years old. The power
he sensed, too, put Ranma in another league. For the barest of moments,
when he reached into his ki reserves to power his shield, Ranma
loosened his controls on it, allowing Happousai to sense a virtually
untapped ocean of ki. 'If...'

    "Good evening, Grandmaster."

    "Huh?" Happousai articulated speaking as eloquently as a startled
man could. His ki senses had been on the alert and still, he had not
sensed Ranma creep in on him.

    "You wouldn't mind if I sit next to you, would you?" Ranma asked,
flashing a toothy smile.

    Happousai's jaws worked feverishly, but no sound escaped them.
Ranma had caught him completely askew with his little performance.

    "You look like you have seen a ghost, Grandmaster," Ranma said, and
then leaned closer still, "Or is it because you have seen The Dragon?"

    Happousai's jaws kept working overtime without producing any
returns for the energy expended. Finally, he got a few words through,
but not without a stutter.

    "You... You..."

    Ranma made a show of looking about. He was clearly enjoying
himself.

    "What about me? Is there a monkey on my head - a monster with
writhing tentacles behind my shoulders, perhaps?"

    Happousai goggled. 'This is The Dragon? This young fool is the
epitome of martial perfection?' he asked himself. Somehow, he was
disappointed.

    Ranma smiled.

    "Relax will you and stop having those thoughts about strangling me.
You know you really don't want to," he said with a wink.

    Happousai snapped out of his stupor.

    "Argh! You... You..." he shouted-stuttered.

    Ranma's face finally shed the carefree expression and became
serious.

    "Hush, Grandmaster. Get a grip on yourself. I don't much care for
eavesdroppers learning the truth about me and your blabbering is bound
to attract unwanted attention."

    Happousai nodded. His lips were still, however. He did not trust
himself enough yet to speak.

    "My 'slip' was intentional. You're one of the few with both the
lore knowledge and the skill to divine my identity. I was a little
surprised that you had not figured it out until now and my little
performance back there was merely to set you on the right track."

    Again, a nod.

    "I could have let you figure it out on your own, but I could not. I
had no way of knowing what you would do with your knowledge - whether
you'd reveal it or not. Thus, I had to act fast. I had to show you my
true identity. I fully intended to take the process slowly, but seeing
you, I couldn't help myself. You looked ripe for the plucking, sitting
there with your wrinkled forehead and that thoughtful look on your
face.

    "By revealing my identity to you, it is my hope that I'll be able
to influence you into keeping the secret to yourself. Was I correct in
my assumption?"

    "Yes, you were."

    "Excellent. I knew that I could trust you," Ranma said, flashing
another toothy smile, "Now that that's done and over with, we can
discuss the less important topics. We'll start by addressing your
concerns about Ryuu."

    Nod.

    "Yes, let's. I have but this to say about Ryuu: He's my heir. You
aren't taking him away from me. I'm not going to let you, Dragon or
not."

    "Not one to waste words, are you? Very well, you have my word. I
don't intend to steal Ryuu from you or anyone else. I see his
determination and I wish to teach him. When I'm done, you can have him
back. Will that work for you?"

    "Yes, it does. However, my question is, what can you teach him?
Musabetsu Kakutou Ryuu is the most powerful school there is."

    "I knew you'd see things my way. As for the power for Musabetsu
Kakutou Ryuu, yes, it is one of the two most powerful of the surviving
schools, but do not delude yourself, it is not and has never been the
most powerful ever. That claim belongs to schools that have long since
been driven to extinction."

    Happousai snorted.

    "If they were so powerful, why were they driven to extinction?"

    "Times changed. People changed. The needs weren't the same. Have
you ever heard of the Touch of the Mad God, or for that matter, have
you ever heard of the Claws of Death? Developed during a time when
chaos was the order of the land, Masters of both these schools would
have had you for breakfast. That power, believe it or not, was the
reason for their downfall. With the restoration of order that came with
the rise of new civilizations, there was simply no reason for such
powerful fighters, and so, their practitioners abandoned them for
lesser ones that were more in touch with the times."

    "Um... Does this mean you're going to teach Ryuu these forgotten
schools?" Happousai asked, his eyes lighting up.

    "No. Why would I do that? As I said, there's no need for such
deadly schools today. I always thought that the Joketsuzoku philosophy
in the Art of War was the most balanced. Theirs did not waver between
the two extremes. Rather, they struck a balance, which they have never
disturbed. Your school, too, is remarkably like theirs. Both the weak
and the strong can practice it, only they'd do it on two completely
different levels, and therein lies the strength of Musabetsu Kakutou
Ryuu, not in its fancy attacks and maneuvers."

    Happousai smiled, blissfully.

    "At last," he announced joyously, "A man after my own heart."

    Ranma chuckled.

    "I'm delighted you agree with me. Next."

    "Does Guu Long know?"

    "Yes, she does. Surely, you did not think that I could hide the
truth from someone such as her?"

    It was now Happousai's turn to chuckle.

    "Yes, she was always snooping around intruding into other people's
business - business that often did not concern her - even in her
younger days."

    "A little rascal, aye?"

    "A big rascal and a spoiled brat would be more like it, but you're
correct. Umm... She's your granddaughter, isn't she?"

    Nod.

    "Damn! You won't tell on me, would you?"

    Ranma raised an eyebrow and smirked.

    "Is this fear I sense? Grandmaster, have you been a naughty boy?"

    "Oh, shut up! That woman can sure hit, you know. I'm merely looking
after myself."

    "Sure, sure!" Ranma replied with a hearty laugh, "Do not be afraid.
I'll not tell on you."

    Happousai heaved a breath of relief.

    "That's a relief."

    "Heh. I bet it is. Next."

    "You, sir, are looking at one completely satisfied Grandmaster. I
have nothing more to ask of you."

    Ranma chuckled.

    "All right then. Friends?"

    "Friends."

    Nod.

    "Umm... You wouldn't be cross if I were to leave you all alone and
lonely, now, would you?"

    Happousai shook his head.

    "Be my guest. I'm looking forward to a few minutes of peace and
seclusion. My old bones need their rest."

    "Right... Oh, I almost forgot. We have yet to discuss perhaps the
most important item on my agenda. You wouldn't mind putting a temporary
halt to your, er, hobby now - as a favor, of course - would you?"

    "Hobby?" Happousai asked, curious. What particular fad did Ranma
want him to abandon? God knew he had a lot of them.

    "Yes, your hobby - your most favorite one to be exact."

    Happousai's face dropped and he pouted, which did not help Ranma
any in holding the tuna sandwich he ate just before boarding the train.
Finally, the founder of Musabetsu Kakutou Ryuu nodded.

    "I suppose..."

    "Thank you. See you later."

    With that, Ranma bowed once and was off. Happousai leaned back on
his seat and closed his eyes, trying hard to get the feel his silken
darlings off his mind. It was very hard and thrice he almost succumbed
to the temptations. Ranma had not been kidding when he called it the
most favorite hobby.

***********************************************************************

    Soun was the lone occupant of the carriage. He sat by a window,
seated on one of the seats in the carriage's center. His face was drawn
and haggard. His eyes were thoughtful and unfocused, as he reminisced
about his life.

    He knew he had not been the father he could have been. By
abandoning his daughters during the greatest crisis of their lives, he
became a coward and lost all the moral authority a father has.
Moreover, the Tendos, never well off to start with, lost what little
savings they had in the months of apathy following his wife's death. In
a way, he knew he was directly responsible for the current situation -
that had he acted more like a man, the Tendos would have been better
off both financially and as a family. However, he had not and that was
the problem.

    By abandoning his responsibilities and his daughters, and not doing
anything to improve their finances, Soun knew that he forced his
daughters to grow up before their time. Kasumi, whose smile was ever
present before her mother's death, had to take control of the house
lest it fall apart. She had to grow up and don the robes of an adult
literally overnight. Nabiki reacted to her mother's death and her
father's subsequent desertion by associating with elements of the local
yakuza. Having no one to show her the difference between right and
wrong, Akane became a brat of sorts, throwing temper tantrums more
often than not.

    He grieved Kasumi's loss of childhood, as he grieved Nabiki's loss
of honor and he grieved Akane's parentless childhood, but he could do
nothing to rectify the situation. He was no more than a figurehead in
his home now and sometimes, he doubted whether he was even that. It
hurt him to see his daughters bear stoically the weight that was his to
bear. It hurt him to see his daughters look lost in those rare moments
when they thought that no one was watching them. Most of all, it hurt
him to be a burden on their shoulders.

    The way things were, Soun, the useless 'father,' was better off
dead. At least, that way, he would not be a burden on his children
anymore. He had come to that conclusion a long time ago, but had not
been strong enough to take his life. Now, he was.

    For Soun, watching Tendo-ke go up in flames was the last straw. The
way he saw it, there were two possible courses of action for him to
take. He could either become more active in running his family, which
he doubted would work since there was nothing to do around the house,
or he could remove himself completely from the equation, reducing the
burden that his daughters bore. The more he thought about it, the more
attractive the second option appeared. Seppuku gave him an honorable
way out of the mess and his insurance policy ensured his family's
financial security for the near future. It was, to put it simply, in
everyone's best interests that he passed away.

    "Tendo-sensei, is this seat taken?"

    Soun started at the sudden intrusion. It took him a moment to gain
a perspective of his environment and when he did, he noticed Ranma
standing respectfully to his left. Soun stood up.

    "Please, Ranma-sensei," he said with a little kowtow bow.

    Ranma bowed as was wont and sat down at the same time Soun did.

    "I could not help but notice that you looked alone, Tendo-sensei. I
thought I'd keep you company."

    "Thank you. It was very thoughtful of you."

    "You're welcome. You trained with Saotome-san, Sensei?"

    Soun nodded.

    "Yes, I did."

    "You must be as skilled as he is, then."

    Soun shook his head.

    "Genma is a prodigy. I could never compare to him in The Art."

    "But you don't deny you're one of the few serious practitioners of
The Art alive."

    Soun smiled.

    "I haven't trained seriously in a decade, Sensei. I might have been
a serious artist once, but I doubt you could classify me in that
category anymore."

    "The spirit remembers what the body does not, Sensei," Ranma
replied, "So what if you lost your touch a little. You can regain the
edge easily."

    Soun nodded.

    "I could... Forgive me, Sensei, but I'm not sure where we're going
with this conversation."

    Ranma smiled.

    "A little while ago, I offered Saotome-san a post as a teacher in a
martial arts dojo I plan to start. He accepted. Now, I offer you a post
as his co-teacher. Will you accept?"

    Soun became thoughtful. He was still inclined to take his life, but
if - if - he were to find a well paid job, then his salary would solve
the financial problem and he would not be a useless burden anymore.

    "We'll be teaching Musabetsu Kakutou Ryuu?" he asked.

    Ranma nodded.

    "Of course, it'll be Musabetsu Kakutou Ryuu. We want to give only
the best to our students."

    Nod.

    "Then I accept your offer."

    Pause.

    "You mustn't consider me rude, but what'll be my starting salary."

    Ranma smiled.

    "Not at all. I'd have been amazed if you did not ask. You'll
receive the same starting salary as Saotome-san and that's six hundred
thousand yen per month. We'll sign the binding contracts tomorrow -
after you read through them, of course."

    "Of course... I... My gratitude knows no bounds, Sensei. You've
helped Tendo-ke repeatedly during our most dire hours when you have no
moral or binding obligation. I sincerely hope that we'll be able to
satisfy the debt of honor someday."

    "Forgive my insolence, Soun-sensei, but you're wrong. I do have a
moral obligation and a binding one. As a practitioner of The Art, I'm
morally bound to help you, one of its last great practitioners. I'm
also honor bound to help you, for a long time ago, I was in much the
same situation you're in today. I would not be here were it for the
kind souls who took me in and made a man out of me."

    Soun nodded.

    "Even so, clan Tendo owes you a debt of honor I fear can never be
repaid."

    "Then repay not. I ask but this of her: should Clan Tendo find
someone in dire straits, she must help that poor soul just as I help
her today."

    Soun nodded, solemnly.

    "It shall be done."

    Ranma smiled.

    "Then consider the debt paid, Sensei."

    Soun found himself nodding again. Suddenly, he had a reason to
live. With a well-paid job under his belt, he now had the authority to
do something about the family mess. Things were going to change in
Tendo-ke and for once, they were going to be for the better.

    "I'm glad, too. I was able to help you get out of your rut," Ranma
continued, adding before Soun could form a reply, "I bid you adieu for
now, Sensei. Mayhap we can continue this conversation later."

    Then, he left.

***********************************************************************

    Meanwhile, in the next carriage...

    "Long time no see, Guu Long."

    Guu Long, former Matriarch of the Joketsuzoku, Grandmaster of
Joketsuzoku brand of Wu Shu and thirteen other martial arts, skilled
politician, master chef, mother of two, and wisest and most learned of
all Joketsuzoku, sighed in frustration. It was nearly three hundred
years since last she saw Happousai and for Guu Long, the meeting was
three hundred years too early.

    Happousai pouted.

    "Oh, c'mon, you old hag. You aren't still mad at me for that little
practical joke, are you?"

    "Mad?" Guu Long asked, coldly. "Now, why would I be mad? After all,
you only used me as a whore to get into the village and then stole one
of the tribe's most sacred artifacts. Now, I ask you, why would I be
mad?"

    "But it was just a harmless prank!" Happousai whined.

    Bonk!

    "A harmless prank, was it? I ought to kill you right now and be
done with it, Happi."

    Happousai pouted and rubbed his sore pate.

    "Still grumpy after all this time, I see. Oh, well, at least you're
talking now and hitting, too. You still hit as hard as you ever did."

    "Dry up and drop dead, you old fart."

    "Old fart? Well, I suppose I am."

    Silence.

    "What do you want?"

    "I want to be your friend again, if you'd have me as one. Existence
as a very, very old man in a nation of children is lonely and the time
for our rivalry is long past, especially since you're one of the few
people still alive who knew me in my younger years."

    Guu Long gave him an onceover. He was serious and his offer was
attractive. She did not have many friends in the village herself.

    "Very well, but on one condition: You must return the Nanban mirror
to the Joketsuzoku."

    Happousai smiled.

    "Done. How's old man time treating you?"

    "Old woman, you mean. She's been treating me well, thank you."

    "That's good to hear. And this Ranma, who is he?"

    "He's a paid informant. He's helping me track down The Dragon."

    "Oh! I'm surprised you people still believe that stupid old
legend."

    "You take that insult back, Happi. The Dragon is not a myth."

    "Jeez, calm down, will you? I was just kidding. Ranma told all."

    Guu Long's eyes grew to the size of saucers.

    "What? Why would he do that?" she asked, heatedly.

    "'Cause I'm skilled enough to discover the truth myself if left to
my own devices."

    "Oh... You better not tell anyone, or..."

    "Chill, Woman. I promised I won't and you know I always keep my
word. It's not as if I can go around shouting, 'I found The Dragon! I
found The Dragon!' now, can I? For one thing, people might think I'm
crazy."

    "I suppose, but you still better had not."

    Happousai shook his head.

    "Whatever! Are you staying with him, too?"

    Guu Long nodded.

    "Yes, I am; and my great, great granddaughter, too."

    "Is she a beauty?"

    "I'm warning you..."

    Happousai threw up his arms, as a sign of supplication.

    "Just kidding, just kidding. Jeez, you're acting like a bomb with a
lit fuse. You'd better learn to ease up, or you'll get a heart attack
or something."

    Guu Long sniffed, contemptuously. Still, Happousai was right. She
was acting like a bomb with a lit fuse. Something about him made her
act this way around him, always.

    "Her name is Shan Pu. She's... Our terminal is come."

    Happousai nodded.

    "Oh, damn! There are things I still want to talk to you about, too.
You know, reminisce about old times and that sort of thing."

    'I bet. Thank God your tirade was cut short.'

    "Come, let's join the others," she said and stood up.

    They proceeded out of the carriage and found the others already
assembled outside on the platform. They joined the group and whilst
chatting amongst themselves, began the slow march out of the station.

***********************************************************************

    He was old. He was dressed in only a loincloth and he was just over
two and a half foot tall.

    Age clouded his eyes and made him blind. His ears, too, were
failing, as were his other senses. His skin was dry, wrinkled and
discolored. Years of use bent his back and joints, making even a simple
walk a very painful experience, not that his numbed senses felt it. His
beard was long and well maintained, and reached almost to the ground.
It was the only thing he wore that looked even remotely respectable. He
was not dirty, but his appearance suggested otherwise to the casual
observer. At first glance, he looked very much like an archetypical
beggar from the Indian subcontinent, but he was not. His steps were
self-assured and his gait was slow, but confident. Each step oozed of
power, dignity and character, and the Japanese security, always on the
lookout for troublesome characters, spotted him immediately, but dared
not approach him, even though his presence was a blot on the otherwise
pristine station. Perhaps their unconscious minds sensed the corona of
power around him that shone like the sun. Perhaps they felt pity on the
old soul. Whatever the reason, they left him alone, while he patiently
stood waiting on the platform.

    The last train from Juuban - the last for that day, in fact -
pulled up. A large group of people got out. They waited while still
others joined them and then began their march towards the station exit.

    The old man stepped forward. Even though he was blind and deaf, he
had true sight and he walked toward them with steady, well-paced steps.
The station descended into pin drop silence.

    The group stopped when they saw him, or rather, their leader and
several others did. They sensed the power in him. The rest followed
their leader's example soon after.

    The old man continued to walk toward them. Finally, when he was
less than a couple of feet from the leader, he stopped.

    "O' wise and ancient Lion of the Sky [5]," he sang in a singsong
voice. None but Ranma understood him, for they knew not the language he
spoke, "I'm come as messenger."

***********************************************************************

    Ranma was the first to exit the train. Immediately, he spotted Ryuu
coming out with Akane and Ryouga. The little Saotome was fooling around
with his two older friends. Ranma joined them and engaged in small talk
with the group while they waited for the others to come out. The rest
of the group took their own sweet time and finally, the mob began its
slow walk just as the last subgroup trickled out.

    Laughing at one of Ryuu's accidental slip of tongue, Ranma spotted
an old man approaching them and stopped short. The more observant
members of the crew noticed his reaction and taking Ranma's cue as an
example, the assembly ground to a halt. The old man, for his part,
continued walking and did not stop until he was only a few steps from
Ranma. His eyes - his blind, opaque eyes - met Ranma's steady gaze and
he spoke.

    "O' wise and ancient Lion of the Sky, I'm Boomi Pithan. I'm come as
messenger." he said in archaic Tamil.

    "Welcome, Honored Messenger," Ranma replied in cultured Tamil,
"What message dost thou bring?"

    "I bring tidings of war, O' Blessed Beast [6]," the old man
replied, "I bring tidings of a war terrible. I'm also come to warn
you."

    "Warn me?"

    "You must side not with the Betrayers! The King of Righteousness is
come to punish them and he will brook no interference."

    Ranma frowned. The old man spoke as per the ritual cited in The
Code. There were precious few mortals alive who had even heard of The
Code and not one of them knew it intimately enough to use it as the old
man did, which meant that the warring factions were very old and very
powerful, and had access to archaic powers. 'Could this King of
Righteousness be a God, I wonder.'

    "I'm afraid that I do not know this king of yours, Honored
Messenger. Is he a God?"

    The old man laughed.

    "Gods are as insects to Milord. He is come to smite them like the
vermin they are."

    Ranma's frown deepened. There had been wars between Gods and Demons
before. They were very destructive and the cost in human lives was
always high. 'This war grows more and more distasteful by the minute.'

    "He is a demon then."

    "Demon, he is not."

    "Neither Demon nor God, and not a human, either. Who thy master
might be, I wonder."

    "He is the first son of the earth - her most beloved son. He is the
heir to the Throne of Heaven."

    Ranma's frown deepened even further. He had never heard of any of
those titles, which meant that the 'king' that the old man spoke of was
very, very ancient. 'And if he still hates the Gods enough to want to
exterminate them after all this time...' Ranma shook his head. This did
not bode well for anyone.

    "Um... Okay."

    "Farewell, O' Blessed Beast. Thou hast been warned," the old man
spoke, ominously and left.

    "Um... Ranma?"

    Ranma looked down and met Ryuu's curious gaze.

    "Who was that old man?"

    Ranma smiled, enigmatically.

    "He was a messenger."

    "A messenger?" Guu Long and Happousai asked, simultaneously.

    "That old geezer?" Ryuu added.

    "Yes, that old geezer - that centuries old geezer, who just happens
to be a Lore Master with extremely well focused ki - was a messenger."

    "Oh!"

    "What message did he bring and what language was he using? I could
not understand a word of it," Happousai asked.

    "He spoke in the First Tongue, Tamil. As for his message, it was a
warning. He told me that a war is coming and that I must not side with
the Betrayers."

    "Betrayers - who are they?"

    Ranma shrugged.

    "Beats me."

    "And their leader?"

    "Beats me."

    "Some messenger he is. His message raises more questions than
answers."

    "He followed The Code to the word, Grandmaster. The vagueness was
deliberate on his part. The Code does not require you to reveal your
master's identity in situations such as this. He can, but he did not."

    "Why?"

    "Perhaps he thinks I might unwittingly reveal his hand to his
enemies."

    "And they are?"

    "The Gods. Come, it's getting late and I'm sure that we all want to
turn in," Ranma said, taking a stride forward.

    Happousai opened his mouth, but thought the better of it. It was
obvious that Ranma did not want to continue this conversation in front
of the others. Perhaps he feared that further conversation might give
away his identity. Therefore, he kept his questions to himself and
silently followed Ranma.

    Once outside the station, Ranma hired a couple of cabs and took
them to a restaurant, where they dined. After they were well fed, he
took them to his house and acted well the part of the gracious host
until all turned in for the night. Then, after making sure they were
all asleep, Ranma crept downstairs and walked out into the night. He
stopped in the middle of his front yard and spoke.

    "Show yourself. I know you've been watching me."

    A shadow separated from the wall and approached Ranma.

    "Your skills are as good as ever, Dragon."

    "I wish I could say that I was happy to see you, God, but I'm not.
What do you want?"

    The God laughed. He stepped into the moonlight. He was dressed
immaculately in a suit and had a little goatee. He had his hair drawn
back in a ponytail and wore a golden ring embedded with nine little
diamonds on his right ring finger.

    "It's good to see you, too."

    Ranma allowed himself the luxury of a little smile.

    "It's been a long time, Yama-O."

    "It has, has it not?" the God replied. "I come with important
tidings, Ranma."

    "Of a war, I suppose?"

    Yama-O did not quite succeed in hiding his surprise. He had so
grown used to his omniscience that it shocked him and threw him off
balance to have it taken away in such a rude manner.

    "Yes, how did you know?"

    "I have my means. What news do you bring me, Yama-O? I'd like to
hear it, if you don't mind."

    The God nodded.

    "A prison created at the very beginning of time has been broken.
Its inmates have escaped. They plan to wage war on Gods as well as
Humans. I'm come to secure your allegiance for the war against this
evil."

    "And if I do not ally myself with you?"

    "The Gods are capable of handling this mess, but humans aren't -
not when they have lost and forgotten all the old wisdom. If you refuse
to ally yourself with us, humanity will fall."

    Ranma shrugged. His dealings with the Gods had taught him much
about the supposed infallibility of the Gods and their 'altruistic'
goals. Even the most benign of them held humans in little less than
utter contempt and their plots always contained devious subplots,
which, in turn, contained even more devious subplots. Nothing was ever
what it seemed with them.

    "Thank you for your generous offer, Yama-O, but I must humbly
decline to take you up on your offer. As you know, humanity may have
forgotten the old wisdom, but they have discovered new ones that are
just as powerful. They have me on their side, too. Therefore, you'll
forgive me when I say that we humans can take care of ourselves; you
don't need to worry about us. Farewell."

    "You dare dismiss a divine messenger so lightly?" Yama-O asked,
taken aback by Ranma's reply. The Gods choose him as their
representative because he knew Ranma best. If Ranma was willing to
dismiss a friend so casually, it did not bode well for the Gods. Either
Ranma was supremely confident in his abilities, which he had every
reason to be, or he knew something that the Gods did not. Either way,
it did not augur well for Yama-O and his race.

    "Yes, I do. Face it, Yama-O, your time is long past," Ranma
replied, before switching to Tamil, "As they say, a cow needs but a
single caress of the solder to learn its lesson, where an ox needs
many. We humans may not exactly fit the description of a cow, but we
have suffered more than our share of burns under the Gods' 'wise'
guidance. We have learnt not to trust the Gods implicitly, and as such,
we're loath to take part in any of your machinations."

    "Very well, Ranma, I will leave now. I only hope that you realize
your folly before it's too late."

    "I much doubt that, but if I have, I'll call you. Until then,
toodle-doo," Ranma replied and without sparing his former friend
another glance, turned his back on the God. He walked into the house
and slammed the door shut behind him, rudely.

    Yama-O stood in the yard watching the now closed door long after
Ranma disappeared behind it. Finally, he, too, turned and walked away.

***********************************************************************

    The Chamber of Time...

    Pluto stood gritting her teeth before the Gates of Time. Alarming
eddies of chaos were appearing all over the Stream and all her efforts
to find their source were as naught. The situation was beginning to
'irritate' her and heads were going to roll when she traced the ripples
to their source.

    For the glory of the Silver Millennium - that was the only oath
that a Senshi of Time had to uphold. They dedicated their lives to the
survival and glory of the Silver Millennium. The oath had been
different once, but three generations before her birth, it was changed.
Other senshi followed a myriad of rules, but not Pluto. She had but one
clearly defined role to play: Destroy the enemies of House Serenity
outright, or weaken them enough for the regular forces to finish the
job. It was a job that no Pluto had ever failed - none except the
current one - which explained her fanatical attention to the security
of Crystal Tokyo at the cost of all else. She had failed once, but
twice, she would not. Crystal Tokyo and with it, the new Moon Kingdom,
would arise in all its glory, and she would do everything in her power
to ensure its creation.

    "Hello, Guardian?"

    Pluto swerved around, gathering power and focusing it into the Time
Key for an attack. She caught sight of the intruder at the very last
second and instant recognition flashed across her face. At once, she
dropped to her knees, releasing the energy she had gathered for the
attack.

    "As you were," the man said.

    "Milord, this visit is most unexpected," Pluto said, not daring to
look him to his face.

    The man chuckled.

    "This visit is unplanned, Guardian. However, there is a reason for
my coming. I'm come as advisor with a word or two of wisdom."

    "What insight does the master bring the servant?" she asked.

    "A terrible war is coming," he said, "Serenity is not strong enough
to win it on her own."

    "Milord?"

    "I'm come to honor an alliance - a compact - made between our
people in times long since forgotten. We will face this threat as one.
Together, we will be strong enough to defeat the enemy." He waved his
hand and the pristine image of the Gates of Time clouded for a moment.
It solidified again into a close-up of Ranma's face. "Look at this
face, Guardian. Do not forget it for he is the fulcrum. The life of
every man, woman and child hangs on him. Should he fall, should he ally
himself with the enemy, then the world and all that you have worked for
will fall."

    Pluto studied Ranma's face. She filed every curve, cut, nook and
cranny of his face in her mind. Hatred for him grew in her heart,
clutching it like a vise, for he had the power to destroy her dreams,
her splendid, long dreamt dreams. And Pluto could hate.

    "The following few days are crucial to the outcome. We will not
tolerate your meddling with the Well of Time during that period. As
such, we forbid you to use the Well for divination on pain of
everlasting death. Remember, should you fail, you will fall, as will
Serenity."

    Pluto bowed until her forehead touched the ground.

    "Yes, Milord. Your word is my command."

    "I doubt that, Guardian. Do not use the Well of Time until I return
to remove this bond. Farewell."

    Pluto remained kneeling for several more seconds. When she finally
raised her head, he was gone.

***********************************************************************

    The Juuban ward of Tokyo had a very small population of street
thugs, who knew well the price of messing around with civilians with
the senshi around. As such, they normally kept a very low profile and
did not attempt such risky heists as accosting old women in dark alleys
and such. The rewards of such crimes were simply not worth the risks
involved. The citizens of Juuban, too, were well aware of the situation
on the criminal front and were particularly grateful toward the senshi
for getting rid of these social pests. They exercised their newfound
freedom and security by wandering about the dark alleys at all sorts of
odd hours, with the senior citizens being the most enthusiastic of the
whole lot.

    The state of affairs being as such, no one, neither the odd
policeman nor the insomniac that was awake and staring at the street
well into the late hours of the night, found anything strange with the
lone six foot something man who turned at a dark alley. Particularly
since the man looked as dangerous as death himself. He walked, no,
glided across the street with a carefree gait that reeked of power and
self-confidence. He negotiated well-maintained thrash bins in the
darkest corners of the alley, and even the wildest of the stray cats
abandoned their spots and shied away from him out of fear. He came to a
stop in front of one of the said trash bins and tapped his cane
impatiently. A shadow slithered up to him from behind.

    "Hello, Yama-O," a sinuous female voice whispered in his ear.

    "Cease these games at once, Seductress."

    The shadow pouted.

    "I do have a name, you know."

    "And I have warned you to stop playing these games with me."

    The shadow stepped into the light. The woman was extremely
beautiful, but her beauty was spoilt by her distasteful makeup, and she
was dressed as a whore. It was obvious to even the most casual
observer, however, that she was not a practitioner of that profession.
She was working undercover and she was very bad at it. Still, her
incompetence did not stop her any from frowning at Yama-O.

    "If that's the way you want it, very well, it'll be as you wish...
I don't like donning the mask of a whore, you know. I find the stares
of human-vermin lewd and uncomplimentary."

    Yama-O nodded.

    "It is regrettable that we have been reduced to begging these
humans. We have fallen far indeed!" he said.

    It was now the woman's turn to nod in agreement.

    "Very. Tell me, how did the reunion go?"

    "As bad as it could. He was very rude and refused even to consider
allying himself with us. Has Pluto been warned?"

    "Yes. We warned her explicitly against tampering with the Stream.
We judged the woman too narrow-minded and too fanatical to pay heed to
veiled threats, so we had to take the direct route."

    "Does she agree?"

    Smile.

    "Yes, she does, but only because we made it clear that Serenity's
safety depended on her forbearance. She all but groveled when our
'messenger' dropped in on her."

    "That's nice. What do we intend to do with The Dragon?"

    "We must have his support. Without it, we'll fall before Raja
Chola's might. Even with him on our side, victory is a long shot, but
at least there's a chance we'll survive if we play our cards right. You
know that."

    Yama-O nodded.

    "The Council has authorized me to do whatever is necessary to
secure The Dragon's support for our cause. I intend to follow their
orders to the last word," she added.

    "He's powerful beyond measure and as dangerous as a krait, too," he
replied, "He can kill you without a second thought."

    She shrugged.

    "If I fail, we'll all die anyway. At least, death in his hands will
be quick and painless."

    Yama-O shook his head.

    "Don't count on it. The Dragon is no saint. He's an accomplished
torturer with two thousand years of experience under his belt."

    "I'm sure he's given up his uncivilized ways. After all, as the
humans say, these are civilized times."

    He laughed.

    "Yeah, right, don't tell me you believe that. Our people are much
more civilized than these human-vermin, but have you forgotten what
started this mess in the first place? It was a God whom Chola trusted
as his friend that turned betrayer and killed his family, earning the
immortal's eternal wrath toward our race. Don't assume that there are
no barbarians amongst us, because there are, just like there are
amongst the humans. The Dragon is one such barbarian. He's a predator
hiding in a mass of sheep. You have to keep that in mind and you can't
let his perfect diction, finesse and etiquette fool you. If he thinks
it is needed, he'll unveil his true colors and I know from experience
that they aren't pretty. If you'd only remember, you'd recall that this
is the same man who struck fear into the hearts of the Mongols with the
depths of his cruelty and barbarianism. That is no mean task, I remind
you."

    "Yes, well..."

    "Believe me when I tell you that you don't want to risk his ire,"
Yama-O added, cutting her off, "There's no place to hide from him and
The Council will just as easily turn you over if it meant protecting
their sorry behinds from his wrath."

    She nodded, after a moment of thought.

    "I'll try to keep it in mind. Thank you for your advice."

    "You're welcome. Good night and best of luck in your mission."

    "You do your part well, Diplomat. It'll ease the pressure on me a
little."

    "I'll do that, but I don't think there'll be any dividends worth
the time and investment."

    She nodded and turned her back on him. She had suspected as much,
but had hoped that her guesses were wrong.

    "Good night," she said.

    Fade.

***********************************************************************

    The ever vigilant crow sang its morning wakeup call to the people
of Juuban in the wee hours of the morning. A blast of mana reduced it
to ash and fine fluff two seconds later. Ranma slept little, but
whenever he did, he hated being disturbed.

    "Damn thing," Ranma growled underneath his breath, cursing stupid
crows, as he negotiated the stairs on his way to the kitchen. A cup of
tea was just about the perfect remedy for a bout of morning grumpiness.

    To his surprise, he found Kasumi already up and perky in the
kitchen. She was boiling milk and humming a little ditty to herself
when he slid into a chair.

    "Morning, Kasumi-san," he said with a yawn.

    Kasumi jumped a little. She had not sensed Ranma walk into the
room.

    "Oh, it's only you," she said, clutching her heart. Once she
relaxed, she realized her faux pas and quickly made amends, "Good
morning, Ranma-san, please, forgive me my rudeness, but I was startled
by your sudden greeting. You're up already?"

    "The crow woke me up - stupid thing!"

    Kasumi smiled, ignoring her grumpy host's complaints for the
whining it was.

    "Would you like some herbal tea?"

    "Yes, would I ever? You're up awfully early."

    "Practice, I guess. In our house, I had to get up early to cook
breakfast."

    Ranma noticed the way Kasumi's face fell when she alluded to clan
Tendo's now destroyed ancestral dwelling.

    "You miss your house?"

    She nodded and poured them two cups of tea.

    "We lived there long before my birth. It had a lot of memories."

    "I understand," he said. He accepted his cup with a little nod and
took a sip. "Hmm... This is very good. Thank you, Kasumi-san."

    Kasumi blushed. She took a sip herself, to hide her blush. She did
not succeed completely.

    "You're welcome. Please, call me Kasumi. All my friends call me
that."

    "Only if you call me Ranma."

    She chuckled.

    "All right, Ranma."

    "See, it wasn't so hard."

    Kasumi chuckled again.

    "Yes, it wasn't."

    Ranma smiled.

    "So, Kasumi, do you want me to help you out?"

    Kasumi's eyes widened. No one had ever offered to help her in the
kitchen except Akane, but that did not count. She knew Ranma for less
than a day and already he was well on the way to gaining entry into her
favorite persons list.

    "You really mean that?"

    "Um... No..."

    Kasumi's face fell.

    "Just kidding, just kidding. What's for breakfast?"

    Pout.

    "I don't know."

    "We'll start with the menu and proceed from there."

    Kasumi nodded. During the next few minutes, the two 'chefs'
discussed the advantages and disadvantages of various breakfast courses
and after careful deliberation finalized the menu. Then, it was time to
get down and dirty - prepare the curry, dice the vegetables, the
onions, the meat and stuff. Ranma surprised Kasumi with the depth of
his knowledge regarding the kitchen world. She was in for even greater
surprise when he showed her his overstocked freezer.

    "This is surprising," she said, giving the freezer full of frozen
fish and meat a onceover, "Were you preparing for a Nuclear winter?"

    Ranma laughed.

    "No, no, no," he said, "You got it all wrong. The stuff's for my
guests," he said with a wink. "You might not have noticed it, but my
house is crawling with them."

    "Yes, but this much? You did not know that we'd be coming
yesterday. Yet, this," she said, pointing to the freezer, "seems to
have taken into account both the Tendos and the Saotomes. How is it
possible?"

    "I ordered the stuff last night. They delivered it after you were
all asleep."

    "Oh?" Kasumi had not heard any truck pass through the street last
night. She was a light sleeper and she would have noticed a truck
pulling up into the street. "I did not hear them."

    "They were silent," he replied with a twinkle in his eyes, "My men
always are." 'Especially since they have been dead for centuries.'

    Kasumi nodded. Something strange was going on here and she felt
like she was being left out, but there was nothing she could do, was
there?

    Ranma caught her baffled look and chuckled.

    "It's a long story. I'll tell it to you someday. Want to rescue the
tuna and the chicken now?" he asked, jovially.

    Kasumi smiled.

    "Yes, they've been prisoners of this cold cage for too long. Come
to me, my Darlings," she said, doing a fairly good imitation of
Happousai.

    Ranma shot her the look.

    "Grandmaster Happousai, I suppose."

    She nodded.

    "Grandfather Happousai is funny, isn't he?" she asked.

    Ranma chuckled.

    "Aye, I suppose he is if you look at his antics from a certain
perspective," he said, before slipping into his Englishman imitation,
"Aye'll get me old trusty axe. We'll slay our enemies and rescue the
fair tuna from their prison."

    Kasumi laughed and suggested an outrageous thing of her own, much
to Ranma's amusement.

    Thus, laughing and bantering like very old friends, the two
prepared breakfast. It was the most fun thing Kasumi did in a long time
and she found herself enjoying every moment of it. By the time the rest
of the house was up and about, breakfast was ready and Kasumi
discovered that she had found a good friend in Ranma.

***********************************************************************

    Most of the denizens of Tokyo were yet to awaken. A light mist
covered the city from one end to the other. They had yet to turn off
the streetlights and the sun yet to rise. Not many people were out in
the streets. It was cold, and only the foolish dared to brave the
elements in the wee hours of the morning. Unsurprisingly, of the few
that were out, there were quite a few joggers, huffing and puffing on
their daily runs through the streets.

    Boomi Pithan stood in a clearing in the center of one of Tokyo's
numerous parks, located on the south-west corner of the city. The
centurion wore only a loincloth as before. He seemed unmindful of the
bone chilling cold. A dozen armed men armed with axes, scythes, spears,
swords, and bows and quivers full of arrows flanked him. They wore
cotton clothing. Their weapons were made of primitive materials, such
as obsidian, copper and such. They looked relaxed, but were not. Any
man who made the mistake of attacking these warriors would not live
long to realize what hit him, lest alone live to tell the tale.

    Presently, a man dressed in rather primitive clothes walked into
the clearing.

    Boomi Pithan and his men knelt before the newcomer.

    "Milord, you're come," Boomi Pithan said in old Tamil.

    "Yes, so I am. Arise. There's no need for respect between equals."

    "Milord?" the centurion asked, confusedly.

    "My name is Indiran. Please, stand up."

    The centurion stared disbelievingly. The legends spoke of the
uprightness of the Ashuras as a race and he was prepared for their
integrity, but this was unexpected. Actually, the old lore told him to
expect such, but experiencing it in actual reality still came as a
surprise.

    "As you wish, Mi... Indira. I'm Boomi Pithan."

    "Thank you, Boomi Pitha. As you can see," Indira said, throwing
open his six arms in a bare all gesture, "I'm no different than you and
I'm certainly not your better. I have as much to learn from you as you
have from me. Respect to the Lord is one thing, but there's no need for
you to kowtow to any of his followers. We're all the same before his
eyes," he lectured. His eyes scanned the rank of lined up men in armor.
"Are these your men?"

    Nod.

    "They're well trained and well motivated," Boomi Pithan said to
Indiran's benefit.

    "Excellent."

    "Is The Wall fallen, Indira?"

    "It will soon. My partner and I are come as assassins to eliminate
the senshi. Do you have information on them?"

    "Our spies have been observing them for years now. We know their
identities, their tactics, their addresses and everything else that is
even remotely worth knowing. I have also warned The Dragon. If he's
wise, he'll stay out of the battles to come."

    "Is he ascended?"

    Boomi Pithan shook his head.

    "He's in the plateau, but he's not ascended. We believe it'll be a
while before his ascension."

    Indiran nodded. The only threat to Chola's plans was The Dragon
predicted by the ancient prophets and even he could not hope to defeat
Chola before his ascension.

    "Still, he is a threat. I commend you for your presence of mind,
Boomi Pitha. If we warn him not, he would have taken offense at our
show of disrespect."

    Nod.

    "Are there more of your men?"

    Boomi Pithan nodded again.

    "Inform them I'm taking command for the duration of the mission.
When the senshi are dead, you and your men will integrate with the
scouts that come behind me. Be forewarned, however, this is but a
skirmish. The war will begin within the month."

    "As you wish, Indira."

    Fade.

***********************************************************************

    "Breakfast's ready," Kasumi announced, happily, the sorrows of
yesterday already forgotten.

    The crowd trickled into the house and assembled around the table.
Ranma came in last, together with Ryuu. He was busy advising Ryuu on
some of the finer points of The Art. Kasumi served the meal and
immediately, the food fight between the two Saotomes began. Only when
Genma's chopsticks searched his plate, there was not a grain of rice to
be found on it.

    "Who took my food?" the elder Saotome asked calmly with narrowed
eyes that glared at everyone at the table but Kasumi.

    "Yeah, who stole Genma-san's meal?" Ranma asked with an impish
twinkle in his eyes.

    No one answered. The food fight had been the center of attention on
the table, but they had not seen the thief. One second the food was
there and the next, it was gone. There were three, who could move that
fast on the table and Genma did not want to confront any of them. Not
when there was still plenty of food around.

    Having decided upon the course of action, it took another couple of
seconds for Genma's slow brain to work out the solution, but in the
end, he divined correctly that Ranma was the culprit. He shot him an
evil glare and asked for a second serving without having eaten a
morsel. Kasumi served him a bowl of rice and the fight started as
before. It ended the same way, too, with Genma's food disappearing
mysteriously.

    "This is getting old, People," Ranma said, in a mock grave voice,
"Stop stealing Genma-san's food."

    Kasumi's eyes twinkled with laughter, as did everyone else's in the
table. Everyone, but Genma, that is. He shot a pleading look at Ranma
and asked for a third serving.

    Kasumi served Genma for the third time and the fighting began for
the third time. Again, the food disappeared.

    "Ye Gods! Who's the knave that dare steal in my house when there's
so much to go around?" Ranma said, striking a comical challenging pose
with his chopsticks over his head. "Show yourself, for if I find you,
I'll kick you from here to Okinawa!"

    There were snickers aplenty this time around. They were not fooled
by Ranma's display.

    Genma looked at the rapidly disappearing food by Kasumi's side and
then at Ranma. He was starving. He felt like he had to eat or he would
die. Tears came unbidden to his eyes. He did not want to starve to
death if he could help it. It would be a fate worse than death. He
understood Ranma's message, now, though. The food fights had to stop or
his meal would keep on disappearing before his eyes. Train his son or
eat - if anyone had asked him only two days before, Genma would have
replied that the decision was a tough one; that he was not sure whether
there was even an answer, but now that he faced the situation in real
life, he found the choice unsurprisingly easy to make. Especially,
since he faced either death by starvation or a tasty meal resulting in
a well-fed, content stomach.

    "More, Kasumi-chan."

    Kasumi served the Saotome patriarch another serving. This time,
there was no food fight and as a result, Genma's food did not seek to
imitate Houdini. The meal continued quietly as it started and when it
was over, Kasumi sent Ranma, her sisters, Ryuu, Ryouga and Shan Pu to
school.

***********************************************************************

    Meanwhile, in another corner of Juuban...

    "Yawn! Good morning, Luna," a sleepy Usagi said, happily. She was
perky this morning.

    "Good morning, Usagi. It's seven. You're late for school."

    Usagi jumped out of bed and into her uniform in record time.

    "Wha?" she said, looking at the clock. "Why didn't you wake me up?
Now, I'm going to be late for school."

    Luna shrugged.

    "Who said I didn't try to wake you up? You simply refused to wake
up."

    Usagi spared a moment to glare at her cat before scurrying about
the room in a mad rush to get ready in time for school. It would be a
cold day in hell before Usagi Tsukino was late for class this semester.

***********************************************************************

    The hallowed premises of yon Juuban High...

    "Usagi's late!" Makoto observed, after consulting her watch for the
umpteenth time.

    Minako checked her watch for verification and bobbed her head.

    "Yes, she is."

    "Perhaps she overslept..."

    "Most probably."

    "I thought she swore an oath to not be late for class this
semester."

    "She did. But you know her..." The rest went unspoken. Even though
it was true, they did not like to admit that their kind and beloved
leader was a dumb ditz at school. "Ami-chan, what do you think?"

    Ami, with a small internal sigh, put down the hardcover she was
reading and titled her head to meet Minako's gaze.

    "What do you think about Usagi being late for school?" Minako
asked.

    Ami shrugged.

    "Why don't you ask her?" she replied, gesturing to the school
gates.

    Sure enough, there was Usagi at the gates. She had run all the way
from home to school. She pulled to a stop in front of her friends and
keeled over breathless.

    "Good," gasp, "morning," gasp, "all!"

    "Usagi, you're late."

    The leader of the senshi nodded in-between breaths.

    "I overslept," gasp, "sorry."

    Wry smiles bloomed on all three of her friends' faces.

    "Don't let it happen again lest you break your oath. Come," Makoto
said, "Let's go to class."

    Usagi nodded, but signaled a time out. She was in no condition to
walk. She could still feel her heart thumping wildly inside her chest.

    "I," gasp, "need time," gasp, "to," gasp, "regain my," gasp, "my
breath." Gasp.

    "Here," Ami said, offering Usagi her place on the wall, "you can
lean against the wall while you regain your breath."

    Usagi gratefully slumped against the wall and wiped the sweat off
her face.

    "Thanks, Ami-chan."

    "You're welcome."

    A minute later, the penultimate school bell rang and they had to
run for class. They made it barely in time.

***********************************************************************

    The short walk to Juuban High was anything but eventful. Nabiki
kept to herself at the back of the troop, and the rest of the gang were
silent most of the way. Ranma tried to get a conversation going, but
the teenagers were uninterested in such a mundane activity and finally,
after several failed attempts to strike up a conversation, he gave up.

    During registration, Mr. Kentaro was much more forthcoming than the
day before. He registered Ranma's wards with the least bit of fuss and
even went so far as to clear the bureaucratic red tape as best as he
could. It did not help improve Ranma's opinion of the man, but it did
save them a lot of time. Afterwards, Ranma sent his wards off to their
respective classes and he went searching for his office himself.

    Of the four, Ryuu had the least trouble in finding his class. He
gave the teacher his registration papers and waited patiently as she
pored over the documents.

    "Class," she said, finally, "This is Mr. Ryuuken Saotome. He'll be
joining us from today forth. Mr. Saotome, please introduce yourself to
your classmates."

    Ryuu turned to face the class. He bowed slightly and spoke.

    "Hello, I'm Ryuuken Saotome," he said, strictly adhering to the
standard Japanese that his new sensei demanded he use. "I'm your new
classmate. I practice the Saotome branch of Musabetsu Kakutou Ryuu. I
lived in Nerima and I studied at Furinkan High before moving here."
There was nothing left to say and Ryuu looked to the teacher for
guidance.

    "Thank you, Mr. Saotome. Please, take the free seat in the last
row. I'm well aware of your former school's reputation and I want you
to know that Juuban High is nothing like it. I expect you to pay full
attention in my class. I'll be all over you like a Kansas tornado if
you give anything less than your best. Ms. Aino, would you be so kind
as to share your textbook with Mr. Saotome today and show him what's
been taught and what's not." The teacher had taught a couple of years
in America and had picked up a little of the local culture there.

    The blonde was only too happy to acquiesce, much to her friends'
and her classmates' envy. They wanted a piece of the new boy, too. He
had the tightest buns they had ever seen.

    "Thank you. Mr. Saotome?"

    Ryuu bowed as was wont and took his assigned seat. Minako leaned a
closer to Ryuu then propriety demanded and made a show of showing him
the text. Not accustomed to getting such attention from a girl, Ryuu
shifted uncomfortably in his seat, hoping that Minako would get the
message and ease off his case. Minako did not.

    The teacher noted the interplay and shook her head in resigned
acceptance - some people never changed. She turned her attention back
to the problem on the board and droned ad nauseum about exponentials,
integrals and other equally vague stuff. Listening to the lecture, Ryuu
knew it was going to be a long, long semester math-wise before hour's
end. He could make neither head nor tail of half the stuff written on
the board.

    The rest of the morning proved much the same, and between his
hunger, the never-ending torment and the boredom, Ryuu could hardly
wait for the lunch interval, which took forever. Finally, the bell rang
signaling the end of the morning session and he filed out of the class
zombie-like, shell-shocked by the tedious rigmarole of school life.
Furinkan had been so pleasantly different from other schools that he
had forgotten what a real school felt like.

    It was not long before he located Akane and the others sitting
under the shades of a tree. Shan Pu waved to him enthusiastically and
he waved back as he trudged up to them.

    "So, how did it go?" Akane asked as he plopped down beside her.

    Ryuu made a face at the youngest Tendo.

    "That bad?" Shan Pu asked. She, for one, thoroughly enjoyed her new
school.

    "Worse," he replied, wearily, "I think I'm going to need a tutor if
I'm to pass this semester."

    "Oh! Sorry."

    Ryuu shrugged.

    "A man's got to be stoic in the face of adversity. Only I wish
things weren't so adverse most of the time," he said, doing a good
imitation of the self-righteous tone that came naturally to his father.

    This evoked a round of giggles from the girls and a wry chuckle
from Ryouga. The giggles stopped suddenly as did the chuckle, when the
culprits espied a hitherto unknown blond girl approach their group.

    "Hi!" the girl said and waved nervously at them.

    "Hello?" Akane, the de facto leader of the gang, replied, a
questioning look on her face. The girl was obviously the feeler, for
her three friends stood in waiting not too far away.

    "I'm Minako Aino. I'm one of Saotome-san's classmates."

    A disheartened Ryuu, who had been uncharacteristically poking at
his bento, turned around to face the new arrival for the first time. He
knew the voice and dreaded the encounter with its owner. The girl's
three companions moved forward and joined her as he did.

    "Hi, Aino-san, whaddya want?"

    "Yes, um..." Minako hesitated. The new kids were sitting at the
senshi's traditional spot and her original intention was to get them to
leave, but Ryuu was with them and she did not want to endanger her
budding 'relationship' with him. Thinking quickly, she improvised. "We
were wondering if we could join you for lunch..."

    "Um... Okay, I guess," Ryuu said agreeably, scratching the base of
his head in a way that made him look cute and cuddly.

    Minako nodded gratefully. A major social blunder averted. She and
the senshi took their seats around the circle, and opened their bentos.

    "Hi, I'm Akane Tendo. My friends call me Akane," she said,
introducing herself when everyone was comfortable.

    This prompted a round of introductions. Everyone bowed and shook
their hands, and introduced themselves to their new friends. Shan Pu
introduced herself last, and the new and much bigger gang sat in
silence, staring curiously at the strangers sitting in front of them.

    "Are you Chinese, Shan Pu-san?" Ami asked, finally. She had just
about enough of the damnable silence.

    The Joketsuzoku warrior nodded.

    "That I am. I was born in the Bayankala Mountains of my country."

    "That's in central China, right? You're a long way from home!"

    Shan Pu narrowed her eyes. She could be wrong, but the question had
all the hallmarks of a racist. Was Ami one of those fucks?

    Ami noticed her slip and the glares directed at her by her new
friends, and flushed.

    "I'm sorry," she apologized, "I should have phrased my words
differently. It came off not in the way I intended."

    Judging that the girl was telling the truth, Shan Pu nodded.

    "Apology accepted. As for your unspoken question, my grandmother
and I came to Japan searching for The Dragon."

    "Dragon?" Usagi gasped. Having read too many Western folktales as a
child, she was a firm believer in the evil dragons of the West. Not
even her oriental upbringing had been able to snap her out of it. "Do
they really exist?"

    Shan Pu nodded again. She introduced a pickle cucumber to her mouth
and eyed her companions with a critical eye. Sure enough, everyone was
looking at her with expectant faces. News of her little quest had made
her an instant celebrity, it appeared. Not that Shan Pu hated it or
anything. The attention was a welcome change to the hateful glares that
girls her age shot at her in the village.

    "Yes, they do exist. In fact, the one we search for is the sacred
guardian of my people. He lived with us once some two thousand years
ago."

    "Wow!"

    Pause.

    "Why don't you tell us more about yourself, Ryuu-kun?" Makoto
asked, smiling apologetically at Shan Pu. The dragon was interesting,
yes, but Ryuu was more interesting and he was here now, as in right
with them.

    The Joketsuzoku warrior chuckled to herself and nodded. Makoto
breathed a little more easily and returned the smile.

    "It is a long story. Do you want to hear it?" Ryuu asked. He had
completely missed the non-verbal exchange between Shan Pu and Makoto.

    Minako and Makoto looked at each other, and nodded
enthusiastically. Both Ryouga and Ryuu were cute, and they would have
made great boyfriends. There was a catch though. Ryouga was unavailable
as he already had a girlfriend in Akane, which meant that only the
early bird, er, girl, would get a boyfriend this day.

    "We don't mind," they chimed in unison. They smiled at Ryuu then
turned to glare at each other.

    Ryuu felt a sudden unease. It felt as if a herd of elephants had
stampeded over his grave. Unconsciously, he shivered.

    Ryouga, who was all too familiar with the sudden feeling of
impending doom, recognized the shiver for what it was. Ryuu was a dead
man and he did not even know it, yet. He was convinced, however, that
he owed it to Ryuu to push the little guy headfirst into the melee and
make him face it like a man.

    "Don't be rude, Ryuu," he said, smiling predatorily, "Tell them the
story."

    Ryuu glared at Ryouga, all but forgetting the strange queasiness in
the pits of his stomach. Then he turned to the girls.

    "Are you sure?"

    The girls nodded.

    "Jeez, would you get to the story al... oof!" Akane's elbow,
judiciously applied to Ryouga's midrib with élan, cut off the rest of
his speech.

    "Take your time, Ryuu-kun," she said, affably. She, too, wanted
Ryuu to suffer, but unlike Ryouga, she had the patience and the
presence of mind to wait. Ryuu was dumb enough to walk into this trap
on his own without their helping him. Vengeance was sweet, yes.

    Shan Pu snickered. This was going to be fun.

    Ryuu, mistaking Akane's punishment as a gesture of goodwill, shot
her a grateful glance and turned to the senshi. He cleared his throat
and began his tale.

    "Like I said, I'm the heir to the Saotome branch of Musabetsu
Kakutou Ryuu. Only two families practice it - the Tendos and the
Saotomes. Anyways, I've been on the road most my life with my pops,
practicing The Art. That is how I met Shan Pu. She's a Chinese
Joketsuzoku and we wandered into their village one day. Her
grandmother, the Honorable Elder Guu Long, took me as a student and
taught me for three years.

    "At the end of those three years, pops came for me, and he and I
returned to Japan - to Nerima and the Tendos to be exact. We went to
them 'cause there's an honor pact between the Tendos and the Saotomes.
I'm to marry a Tendo and unite the two schools. Our fathers agreed that
I would decide whom I would marry on my eighteenth birthday, and that
we should stay with the Tendos so that I could get to know Akane and
her sisters better."

    "Have you decided?" Makoto asked, her fingers crossed behind her
back.

    Ryuu shook his head.

    "Nah! Anyways, we have been staying with the Tendos for the past
year. I went to Furinkan with Ryouga and Akane."

    "Excuse me," Usagi interrupted, "Sorry for interrupting you, but
are all the rumors about Furinkan true?"

    "Um... Which one are you talking about? There are a lot of rumors
about Furinkan, aren't there, Akane-chan?" Ryuu asked, looking at Akane
and Ryouga for clarification.

    Akane nodded, as did Ryouga.

    "The ones about the Fierce Goddess and the Were-magicians..."

    Akane's face dropped. Ryouga paled and inched slightly away from
Akane. He was feeling that sudden unavoidable impending sense of doom
himself. Ryuu snickered.

    "Have I got a tale to tell you, or have I got a tale to tell you?"
he said. "You wouldn't mind if I tell the story, would you, Akane-
chan?"

    Akane muttered something incomprehensible under her breath.

    "I'll take that as a yes," Ryuu said and turned to the senshi, "It
depends on what you have heard. For example, I wouldn't call them Were-
magicians or anything like that. In fact, I happen to know that they
are very good people."

    "But the rumors..."

    "Are just that... Kuno is a crazy idiot. He thinks that the Fierce
Goddess - that's Akane here by the way - is in love with him when the
whole world knows she hates him. Do you love Kuno, Akane-chan?"

    Akane shook her head, vehemently.

    "See? What did I tell you?" Ryuu said, victoriously. "I think you'd
better continue from where I left, don't you?"

    Akane nodded. The girls turned to her.

    "A little over a year ago, Kuno began lusting after me. Ryouga and
I were going steady even then, but that little fact did not bother
Tatewaki. He's that kind of a man. Anyways, he announced one day that
no boy could ask me out on a date unless he'd first beaten me in
combat. Ryouga could have put a stop to the idiocy fast, but he was on
a 'sightseeing' trip."

    Ryuu snickered.

    "Sightseeing trip - I suppose you can call it that if you want.
Oof!"

    Ryouga skillfully extricated his fist from Ryuu's abdomen. He had a
very satisfied smirk on his face.

    "Watch it, Punk," he warned.

    "Or what, Lost Walker? What are you going to do?" Ryuu retorted,
jumping to his feet in preparation for the coming fight.

    "Stop it, both of you," Akane said, getting between the two boys
before the argument devolved into a fistfight. She did not want to play
nursemaid to Ryouga again.

    The boys glared at each other, but resumed their seats.

    "Thank you. Please, excuse these two Neanderthals. They're always
testing the other's skill by starting slugfests. Anyways, as I was
saying, Ryouga was on a sightseeing trip and Kuno took full advantage
of his absence. He cajoled most of the boys in school into attacking me
en masse and things steadily went downhill from there. I was able to
protect myself from the idiots, but the situation was driving me crazy.

    "That's when Ryuu came into the picture with his father. Our
parents enrolled him at Furinkan and on his first day, he saw what the
boys were trying to do to me. He stepped in and beat some sense into
them. The boys learnt their lesson well, but Kuno continued his
attacks. He declared war on Ryuu and refused to accept defeat even
though Ryuu punched him out at least a dozen times before the entire
school - he claimed that Ryuu was using dark magic to aid him in battle
and that Ryuu was trying to bed me. He called me Fierce Goddess and
Ryuu Were-magus. It must have spread from there."

    "I'm sorry, we didn't know," Usagi apologizing, realizing now that
they had touched one of Akane's tender spots.

    "Thank you. Anyways, in a way I'm glad we transferred here. I don't
have to deal with Kuno anymore."

    "Did you have any other reason for transferring here?"

    Akane nodded.

    "Yeah, our house was destroyed yesterday. We're currently staying
with a family friend in Juuban until it is rebuilt."

    "Destroyed, how?"

    "We don't know. We think it might be a leaky gas main, but we can't
be sure."

    The senshi gasped. Tokyo and fire did not mingle well. The very few
instances the two met for a cup of coffee, the city had burnt, as it
did during the allied bombings in WWII.

    "I hope no one got hurt."

    "Oh, no one did, thank you. We were very lucky as we were in the
dojo at the time. Even then, we might have been hurt but for Ranma-
san," Ryouga replied.

    "Ranma-san - who is he?" Makoto asked. If this Ranma was anywhere
near as cute as Ryuu and Ryouga, she wanted him.

    "Ranma's my new sensei. He's a very powerful martial artist and
we're staying with him."

    "And..."

    "And I don't know anything else about him. Why don't you ask Shan
Pu? She knows him best."

    Makoto turned enthusiastically to Shan Pu. The Joketsuzoku smiled
at her and spoke.

    "I don't know much about him either. I've known him for only a
couple of weeks and he was taking me on a ghost chase for most of that
time."

    "What do you mean?" they asked.

    "Well, Ranma is hard to understand. One minute he's polite and the
next he can as obnoxious as hell. Said he was testing me by acting
obnoxious and stuff, but you don't learn to be that snotty in a single
day. It takes years of practice. Anyways, he's extremely skilled in The
Art and he's got a weird sense of humor," she said, remembering the
morning before, "He's a good cook and he's the new PE trainer here."

    "He is?" the senshi crowed.

    The Nerimians and the Joketsuzoku nodded.

    "Yes, he's also helping us search for The Dragon." She did not add
that she suspected he might be The Dragon.

    And thus, the conversation continued, drifting from one topic to
another until the bell rang, signaling the end of the lunch break.
Having idled away their free time until then, the Nerimians as well as
the senshi had to scamper to class lest they be late.

***********************************************************************

    Ranma walked into the middle of the dojo. He bade the students, who
had stood up at his arrival to sit and cleared his throat.

    "I'm Ranma Qin. I'm your new coach. I've gone through your records
for the last couple of years and I must say I'm very disappointed in
your performance. I think it is shocking that this school has not won
any prize worth a damn in nearly a decade in the sports department. It
is a record that I intend to change. If it means that I have to drive
you harder than you have ever driven yourself before, then that is what
I will do. If any of you fail to meet the standards I'm going to set -
may God have mercy on you if you don't - I'll have your stinky carcass
carved up, sauteed and cooked for dinner. Am I clear?"

    Silence.

    "When I ask you a question, you will give me an answer, preferably
'yes, sir,' 'no, sir,' 'three bags full, sir.' Now, I asked the whole
lazy lot of you a question. Where are my answers?"

    "Yes, Sir!" some of the students replied sulkily.

    "I did not hear you!"

    "Yes, Sir!" the entire student body shouted.

    Ranma nodded and pointed to a boy in the third row.

    "You, what's your name?"

    "Yuji, Sir!"

    "Well, Yuji, step up front. C'mon, I ain't got all day to dick
around. Is there something wrong with my mouth, Yuji?"

    Yuji shook his head.

    "Then why are you staring at it. You, there, what's your name?"

    "Kenji, Sir!"

    "Kenji, step up front beside Yuji," Ranma said, threateningly. As
Kenji stepped forward, Ranma continued addressing the class, "Now, Yuji
and Kenji have volunteered to demonstrate their knowledge of The Art.
When I say go, the two of you will perform all the katas you have
learnt. Is that clear?"

    "Yes, Sir!"

    "Good! What are you five doing here? Why aren't you in your class?"
Ranma barked at Ryuu, Usagi, Ami, Makoto and Minako. He had spotted
them as they stood panting at the entrance of the dojo in their gym
uniforms.

    "This is our class, Sir!" Minako replied.

    Ranma smiled a wicked smile.

    "Oh, tardy, are you? Well, what have you got to say for yourself?
Yuji, Kenji you may begin your demonstration. Go."

    "We lost track of time, Sir!" she replied.

    "Lost track of time, she says," Ranma repeated, "Next you'll forget
your name, I suppose, Ms. Smarty-pants."

    Minako did not reply.

    "And you, what's your name?"

    "Ami Mizuno, Sir!"

    "Well, Ms. Mizuno, do you have an excuse for being late?"

    "No, Sir!"

    "That's right. Nothing can ever excuse your being late for my
class. All five of you will do ten laps around the track after close of
school this evening. What're you smiling at, Shorty?"

    "Nothing, Sir!" Ryuuken replied. He was asking himself whether this
hardass was the same soft-spoken Ranma who walked him to school in the
morning?

    "Well, just for thinking nothing, you earned yourself a further
thirty laps around the track. I figure that'll give you time to think
and provide ample exercise to your ill-used brains."

    "Yes, Sir!"

    "Come in, the five of you. You can sit at the back and watch your
classmate's performance. Yuji, what the hell are you doing?"

    "I... I..." Yuji's eyes began to water. He was trying very hard to
put a good performance and yet, he was going to get his ass chewed off.

    "Oh, Jeez, you're a crybaby! Put a sock in it, will you? I will not
tolerate boys who cry in my class. That's better. Now, do you really
need me to tell you that with the way you reinvent The Art, you're a
danger unto yourself and the world around you, Boy! Stand straight,
tuck in your flabby belly, lower your center of gravity, breathe right,
and put some force into those punches. The way you perform them now,
you'd be better off blowing air at your opponent. And you, Kenji..."

    "I don't like our new coach. He's rude, he's mean, and he's
obnoxious," Minako muttered to Ami as Ranma continued barking in the
background.

    Usagi nodded in acquiescence, but Ami was not so sure. Their new
coach actually seemed to know what he was talking about. Before she
could voice her doubts, however, Ryuu interrupted them.

    "No, he's not."

    "Are you kidding me?" Minako retorted. "He told you to run forty
laps around the track. Do you know how long that is?"

    Ryuu shrugged.

    "No problem. He knows I can do that."

    "Huh?" Usagi and Minako asked eloquently. Ami just shot him a
questioning look. He probably likes to boast about his endurance and
strength, they thought. And they were not wrong. Ryuu did like to boast
a lot.

    "He's the Ranma we were talking about. Don't tell me you've
forgotten about him already. He knows I can do sixty-seventy laps
without breaking a sweat if I wanted to. He probably thought he was
letting me off easy."

    "But..."

    "Smarty-pants, what are you yapping about?" Ranma barked from the
front.

    Minako went red with embarrassment and indignation, but she stood
up.

    "We were discussing Kenji's moves, Sir!"

    "We? Who are we?"

    "Me and Ryuuken Saotome, Sir!"

    "Oh, is that so? Shorty, get your ass up front."

    Ryuu shot in Minako's way a sarcastic 'thank you, I'm very grateful
to you for getting me into trouble' look and made his way to the front
of the class.

    "So, you think you can do better, huh, Shorty?"

    "Yes, Sir!"

    "Prove it."

    Ryuu nodded, and Ranma halted Yuji's and Kenji's performance. Ryuu
slipped into a stance and began one of the Musabetsu Kakutou Ryuu's
katas. Ranma watched him with an upraising eye without saying anything
until Ryuu was halfway through the kata. Then he called a halt.

    "Come again with the last throw," he said.

    Ryuu nodded and started again from the throw under question.

    "Hmm... Attack me using nothing but the moves in that kata."

    Ryuu nodded again, and both he and Ranma moved to the center of the
dojo. They bowed to each other and Ranma took a second to speak to the
other students.

    "I want all of you to watch the coming exchange closely and tell me
what you think about it at the end. Is that clear?"

    "Yes, Sir!"

    "Excellent. Shorty, attack."

    Immediately, Ryuu leapt at Ranma, his fists flying. Ranma stood
where he was, and blocked the punches and the kicks. He did not take
the offensive until Ryuu attempted the throw. When he did, Ranma hit
him on his chest with a powerful open palm strike that sent Ryuu flying
a dozen feet. Gasps of disbelief echoed around the room and one girl
screeched hysterically, "Oh, my God, you killed him!" Only Ryuu was not
killed. He stood up and bowed to Ranma.

    "Can you see now where you left your defenses open?" Ranma asked.

    Ryuu nodded vigorously.

    "That's good then. You can go back to your seat," Ranma said. He
waited until Ryuu was seated and then turned his attention to the rest
of the class. "As you can see, your fears that I had killed Ryuu were
unfounded. As his teacher, both inside school and out - that's right,
I'm one of his senseis in The Art - I'd have been seriously
disappointed if he died from such a puny blow. In fact, I bet he did
not even feel that blow. Do you feel pain where I hit you, Mr. Ryuu?"

    Ryuu shook his head.

    "See, Ryuu does not hurt. That's because he's a martial artist,
unlike the rest of you. The blow that he did not feel would have
collapsed your ribcage and killed you on the spot if I had used it
against anyone else in this room. Then, how, you ask, did he survive?
The reasons for his miraculous survival are simple. One, he knows how
to take a blow without taking too much damage. Two, his ki absorbs most
of the energy of the blow and dampens the impact. Three, his body is
incredibly tough, thanks to the years of rigorous training he's been
through. Am I correct on all three counts, Mr. Ryuu? You don't have to
stand and answer."

    "Yes, Sir."

    Ranma nodded.

    "Now, ideally, I'd have liked the whole bunch of you to be martial
artists, but we are a dying breed and... Yes, Miss..."

    "Aino Minako."

    "Yes, Ms. Aino Minako. Do you have a question?"

    "Yes, Sir."

    "Well, what are you waiting for? Shoot."

    "It's not exactly a question, Sir."

    "Any contribution is welcome, Ms. Aino and that goes for the rest
of you, too. I'm not really the hardass I pretended to be at the start
of the class. I was having fun at your expense by acting like the coach
from hell."

    "I think you're full of crap, Sir."

    "Oh," Ranma asked with a twinkle in his eyes, "What makes you say
that?"

    "I have a friend who is a shrine maiden and she tells me that what
you say is impossible. No one alive has deep enough ki reserves to do
the things you said."

    "You're correct, yes, but you're wrong at the same time, too. The
average Joe and Jane does not have enough ki to do the things you see
in Dragonball, but with enough training, you can do some pretty
unbelievable things. You don't believe me, Ms. Minako?"

    Minako nodded and Ryuu, who was sitting next to her, just shook his
head.

    "It's not that hard, believe me," Ranma continued, shooting her a
smile.

    "If it's so easy, Sir, then why don't you show us, say, a ki
attack," Minako retorted.

    "That's easy. In fact, producing a ki ball is so easy, that I'm not
going to waste my time proving it to you. I leave that task to your
classmate, Ryuu. He's going to show you a chi-attack he created. Mr.
Ryuu, please, step before the class and show your classmates your
attack."

    Ryuu walked to the front of the class once again. He extended his
right hand in front of him and closed his eyes in concentration. Within
moments, a swirling ball of confidence fueled chi formed in his hands.
It grew in his hands until it was the size of a beach ball.

    "That's enough. How do you feel, Mr. Ryuu?"

    "I feel fine, Sir."

    "How long can you hold that ball for me?"

    "As long as you want, Sir," Ryuu replied, puffing his chest
proudly.

    "Over confident, isn't he?" Ranma asked the class. More than half
of them - the entire boy population, to be exact - nodded agreeably.
"That's because his ball and he are currently supercharged with
confidence. Take that confidence away from him and his ball will
sputter out and disappear. This, my dear students, is what we call chi
- impure ki produced by using polarized emotions. Learning to control
chi is relatively easy. You need only two basic ingredients: Enough
skill and experience to access ki, and your strongest emotion. The more
emotionally unstable you are, the easier it should be to learn to
control chi.

    "Ryuu, here, has an ego the size of Tokyo. He'd be the first one to
admit it, though he'll call his ego confidence, self-belief or some
such nonsense if you ask him. He's currently learning to control his ki
without his emotions as a channel, a job that is much tougher for adept
chi users like him for reasons I'll not delve into. However, with
enough training, he can overcome his bad habits and become a skilled ki
adept. This is because ki is the pure form whereas chi is the impure,
diluted form. For this reason, forming a ki ball is much harder. You
have to be highly skilled to produce one such as this," Ranma said,
producing a small ki ball the size of a dime that hovered centimeters
above his palm, "This might appear puny to the big one that Ryuu has in
his hands, but believe me, mine is much more powerful. Ryuu would have
to tax almost all his reserves to produce one as powerful as the one I
have in my hands, while I have to expend very little. That's because
raw ki is much more potent than chi. And that ends today's lesson on
ki. Shorty, you may return to your seat. Do you believe me now, Ms.
Minako?"

    Minako, who had expected everything but the little performance she
just saw, nodded mechanically. Already, interesting questions were
beginning to form in her and her fellow senshi's minds. If Ranma was
really the ki Master he claimed to be, then perhaps he could help Rei.

    "Do you have any other questions?"

    Minako shook her head. What else was there to ask? She did not want
to be embarrassed in front of her classmates again.

    "Thank you, Mr. Ryuu. You may return to your seat," Ranma said. He
waited until Ryuu was seated and cleared his throat. "Now, I'm not
asking you to become ki masters literally overnight, but I want you to
learn more than the mere posturing that you called The Art until now.
I..."

    And so continued the rest of the class. By the end of the hour,
Ranma had everyone listening intently to the program he proposed to
implement to better their martial skills. Not that they needed the pep
talk or anything, for half the class had made up their minds about the
new coach as soon as they saw his tight buns when he turned his back on
them. His demonstration of a ki attack helped a little, too. Of the
other half - the ones that weren't overtly interested in their new
coach - the boys joined to impress the girls and the girls joined to
impress Ryuu, the new school hunk.

    When the bell rang at the end of the hour, Ranma dismissed the
class, and returned to his desk, where a huge pile of papers awaited
his perusal and signature. Only, the senshi did not plan to leave him
alone to work in peace. They 'recruited' Ryuu and dragged him to
Ranma's desk to plead their case.

    "Um... Sir?" Usagi asked, hesitantly. Still traumatized by their
encounter with hardass Ranma at the start of the class, she was half
afraid that Ranma would blast her to smithereens with his ki attack.

    Ranma shot the fivesome a quick glance. He sighed at the look on
their faces, and laid down his pencil. He would have to wait until
later to fill the requisition form.

    "Yes, do you require my assistance, Miss... What did you say your
name was?"

    "Usagi Tsukino, Sir."

    "Yes, Ms. Usagi, can I do anything for you and your friends?"

    "I... Well... You tell the sensei, Mina-chan," she said, suddenly
losing what little courage she had. She pulled Minako, who had been
standing at the back till then and pushed her to the front.

    Ranma chuckled at Usagi's nervousness and shook his head.

    "Yeah, you tell me, Mina-chan."

    "Um... We need your help, Sir."

    "Help?" Smile. "Looks like you did not hear me when I said this
before, Children. So, I repeat my words ad verbatim for your benefit.
Do you require my assistance?"

    The three senshi nodded vehemently, but Minako still looked at a
loss of words. She did not have the faintest clue as to how she was
going to approach him. She confirmed Ranma's suspicions about the state
of her mind seconds later.

    "Oh, I don't know where to start. Ami-chan, you tell sensei."

    Ranma grinned and turned to Ami, who was fidgetting.

    "Now, don't tell me you're going to give up and let your last
remaining girlfriend do the talking."

    Ami shook her head.

    "Well, that's a relief." Pause. "You can start anytime you want,
you know."

    "Yes, Sir," Ami began hesitantly. She drew little circles with her
fingers on the desk. "We've a friend who is sick. We were hoping that
you could help her."

    "Oh, you've come to me for advice, have you. I'll give it to you
free of charge this time," Ranma said, winking mischievously at them,
"Take your friend to the hospital. That's where they take sick people
who want to get better."

    "The hospitals cannot help her, Sir," Ami pleaded, a note of
desperation creeping into her voice, "The problem's with her ki."

    The expression on Ranma's face turned serious. He leaned forward on
his chair and nodded.

    "Go on."

    "She's a shrine maiden and she accidentally performed a technique
called the Fire Vision while attempting a Fire Reading..."

    "Hold on. When did the accident happen?"

    "Two nights ago."

    "Interesting. Is this friend of yours trained in The Art?"

    The girls shook their head as one. Rei practiced Karate, yes, but
her training would not fit whatever Ranma defined as training in The
Art.

    "And you say she survived the Fire Vision. Very interesting,
indeed. How did that happen? Untrained hands and that technique do not
mix well."

    "Her grandfather, the temple priest, recognized what was happening
and saved her before she could die," Ami said, honestly.

    Ranma nodded, accepting the explanation.

    "She's very lucky to have such a wise grandfather. What do you want
me to do?"

    "We were hoping that you'd perform a ki transfer and replenish her
ki reserves..."

    Somehow, Ranma managed to look thoughtful while glaring at Ryuu.

    "Where did you learn I can perform a ki transfer? Did you tell
them, Ryuu?"

    Ryuu shook his head vehemently in refusal and smiles bloomed on all
the senshi's faces.

    "Does this mean you can perform a ki transfer, Sir?" Minako asked.

    "Perhaps I can. I'll need to examine this girl as soon as possible
before deciding upon an appropriate course of action. Tell me, where
does your friend live?"

    "We can take you to her this evening, if you want, Sir," Ami
replied quickly.

    "Very well. I'll meet the four of you at the track as soon as
school is over. You'll do your ten laps - forty laps in your case, Ryuu
- and then, we'll visit your friend. What class do you have now?"

    "History, Sir."

    Ranma nodded and scribbled a nearly illegible excuse slip on a
small scrap of paper.

    "Take this to your teacher. I'm sure you don't want to be punished
for the second time in the day for being late for a class. Now, leave
me in peace. I've a ton of paperwork and less than an hour to do it."

***********************************************************************

    Indiran was one pissed Ashura. Despite all the threats and warnings
he had issued to Surya, the latter had broken The Code. Worse yet,
after committing the murder, he devoured the heart of his victim - a
flabby middle-aged businessman - even before it stopped beating. He had
been in high spirits since then and was currently having a pleasant
conversation with a group of Righteous Ones as if he had not a care in
the world. Perhaps he thought his crime had gone unobserved and was
celebrating a job well done.

    Breaking The Code was bad enough in Indiran's opinion, but eating
the victim's heart was just about the worst thing that anyone could
ever do to another living being. Only demons did that, as the act
enslaved the victim's soul to one's own. It broke the Cycle of Life and
kept the victim's soul from ever attaining nirvana, dooming him to
wander the planes as a restless ghost forever. And Surya had done just
that. His crime went beyond unpardonable. Surya had broken the Cycle of
Life that all Ashura were sworn to uphold, and that made him a traitor.
There was only one punishment for all traitors and only Lord Raja
Chola, as the first son of the earth, had the right and the authority
to bestow it on the deserving. The Code was clear on the subject, and
as much as Indiran wanted to skin Surya alive and tear his heart out,
he could not do it. That was Lord Raja Chola's job.

    "Boomi Pitha."

    "Yes, Indira?" the old timer asked.

    "How goes the work on the trap?"

    "It goes well. The men should have it completed within the hour."

    "Good. We'll spring the trap today itself then. Lady Justice has
waited too long a time for her tryst with the mass murderers of the
House of Serenity and she should not have to wait any longer than is
absolutely necessary."

    "As you wish."

    "Tell your men it is imperative they do their job well."

    "They know the importance of their mission, Indira. We need not
remind them."

    Indiran nodded.

    "You have more experience with your men than me. Do as you see
fit."

    Pause.

    "Detail some of your men to keep an eye on Surya in secret. I fear
Surya's broken The Code."

    Boomi Pithan nodded silently, not trusting himself enough to speak
just yet. Had he heard right? Could an Ashura really break The Code?
Everything he read in the old lore indicated that the Ashuras were the
paragon of perfection - that they could do no wrong. But the proof
stood right before his eyes mocking them. 'Glad to know that they are
as fallible as we are,' he thought to himself.

    "I regret wasting our meager resources on a traitor, but it must be
done. Only the Lord has the authority to punish Surya for his crimes,"
Indiran said, his voice filled with regret.

    Boomi Pithan could not help uttering a gasp of shock. There were
four forbidden crimes in The Code. Only Chola had the right to punish
those four and they were easily the most despicable things anyone could
ever do.

    "Do you understand the import of your orders, Pitha?"

    "I do. I will put my best five on the job immediately."

    "Thank you. Inform me as soon as the trap is completed. I'll be in
this room preparing for battle until then."

    Fade.

***********************************************************************

    Once they were sure that their new coach was going to help Rei, the
four senshi became much more casual towards Ryuu. By the end of the
school day, all four were chatting away with Ryuu as if they had been
friends all their lives. For Ryuu, it was a pleasant change from
Furinkan, where he had been avoided by most of his schoolmates like a
pariah for his martial skills, and he grasped the extended hand of
friendship like his life depended on it.

    Thus, when the final bell of the day rang, the five left the class
together. They met with the neo-Nerimian gang sans Nabiki, bade them
goodbye and proceeded to the school grounds, where they found Ranma
waiting for them. He put them to their punishment immediately without
allowing them the luxury of stretching their bodies first and goaded
them with insults as they ran.

    For Usagi, the first three laps were a breeze. The fourth and fifth
were uncomfortable, but the last five were the stuff of nightmares.
Somehow, she ran her quota, and collapsed on the ground beside Ranma,
Ami, Minako and Makoto, wheezing like an asthma patient. Ranma patted
her on the shoulder, a very annoying, self-righteous smirk on his face,
and spoke.

    "It's all right, Ms. Usagi. Not everyone is cut out for this kind
of physical punishment. I bet your muscles feel like raw mush now."

    Usagi managed to nod a yes, barely. Her legs were mush, her lungs
burned with the lack of oxygen and the blood vessels in her head
thudded loudly enough to be heard miles away. She just knew she was
going to die from overexertion before the end of the semester.

    "You just lie there now and catch your breath. Ryuu's got another
twenty laps to go and he's going to take another thirty minutes or so,"
Ranma said, kindly to her.

    Usagi groaned, rolled onto her back and closed her eyes. She lay
thus, with her arms and her legs spread-eagled. She sighed in relief
and the other senshi, quickly followed her example.

    Ranma shook his head at their sight and turned his attention back
to Ryuu.

    "C'mon, Shorty, you think I'm going to spend all of eternity just
standing here and looking at you while you drag your sorry ass around
the field. Speed up, or do another forty laps. Now!"

    Ryuu, who had been lapping twice as fast as any of the sailors,
heard Ranma's threats and sped up, all the while muttering curses about
his new sensei under his breath. Finally, all forty laps were run and
he doubled over, laboring for breath, which came in shallow gasps.
Ranma patted him on the shoulder, and handed him a towel and several
bottles of gotorade, all of which Ryuu emptied.

    "That feel good?" Ranma asked. He had a wicked glint in his eyes.

    "Yes, it did," the younger Saotome replied, sarcastically.

    "I bet it did," Ranma replied, grinning even madly than before,
"All of you go and freshen up fast. When you're done, come back here.
We have to visit your sick friend, yet," he said.

    The fivesome nodded and trudged into the school, where they took a
quick shower. They returned a quarter of an hour later squeaky clean
and freshened up. They rendezvoused with Ranma and all six walked to
the Hiwaka shrine, chattering like only four teenage girls, a teenage
boy and a very, very, very old geezer can. In no time at all, they were
standing in front of the Hiwaka shrine and Minako looked at Ranma
questioningly. He nodded and they stepped onto the holy grounds.

    "Well, what are you waiting for?" Ranma asked the girls, as they
stood fidgeting on the veranda of the Hino house. "Knock on the door."

    All four swallowed the lumps in their throats - they did not know
how Rei would react to their bringing two complete strangers into their
secret - and knocked simultaneously.

    "Coming, coming!" came the muffled shout of the elder Hino from the
direction of the kitchen in reply. Moments later, the front door
opened. "Hello?" the old priest articulated uncertainly when Ranma's
taller frame caught his eye. Then, his eyes fell on the senshi and a
smile blossomed on his face. "Welcome, Children. Come in."

    Makoto smiled and stepped in.

    "Grandfather, this is Ranma-san, our new coach at school, and this
is our friend Ryuuken Saotome. He's a classmate," she said by way of
introductions.

    "Hello, Ranma-san, Saotome-san," the priest said with a bow.

    "Hello, Hino-san," the two brothers said, politely, returning the
bow. Ryuu's bow was deeper, but Ranma's was slightly shallower than the
elder Hino's, a fact that did not escape the observant priest's
attention.

    "Welcome to the Hiwaka shrine," he said, warmly, eyeing Ranma with
ill-concealed interest. Who was this young man who thought that a
priest was beneath his station?

    "Thank you, Hino-san," Ranma replied with the same warmth, "I
consider it a boon to have my feet tread on such holy grounds as
these."

    Hino's eyes nodded approvingly at Ranma. Apology accepted, they
said. He shot a questioning glance at Usagi and cleared his throat,
when she did immediately understand his non-verbal question. Still,
Usagi did not get it, but the ever perceptive Ami did.

    "Oh, excuse me," she said, "I forgot to tell you the reason for
sensei's presence, Grandpa. He's here to give Rei-chan a ki transfer."

    Hino looked dubiously at the girls and at Ranma. True, the lore
said that ki transfer from one person to another was possible and that
at one time there had even been Masters who were skilled enough to
successfully pull off such a transfer, but he was loathe to believe
that there were martial artists skilled enough to perform one alive.
The skill of the practitioners had nosedived considerably over the
years and the current crop of 'Masters' of The Art were jokes compared
to those even fifty years before.

    "Um... Perhaps you've made a mistake, Ami-chan. Ki transfers are
practically impossible to perform and mistakes during the procedure can
be fatal. You girls are well-meaning, I know, but I have to refuse - no
insult meant to you, of course, Ranma-san."

    The senshi appeared dejected by this outright refusal. More than
one opened their mouths to argue their case, but Ranma beat them to the
punch.

    "You're correct, Hino-san. Ki transfers are hard to perform and
there is an inherent danger involved in them, but they are not
impossible and as Ryuu here can tell you, I have successfully performed
them before," he said.

    Hino's eyes practically began to glow with joy.

    "You can help my granddaughter?" he asked.

    Ranma nodded.

    "Yes, I can."

    "Oh, thank you, thank you!" the priest gesticulated excitedly,
losing all vestiges of self control. Oh, how he had prayed in the
nights for just such a miracle!

    Ranma bore the 'thank yous' and the 'I'm so gratefuls' good-
humoredly, and waited until the priest had regained some measure of
self control.

    "Perhaps you can take me to the patient's room, Hino-san. I'm very
anxious to examine your lucky granddaughter," he said.

    Light dawned at the end of the tunnel in Hino's eye and without
wasting another moment he nodded and took them upstairs to Rei's room.
The door was closed, as usual, and he indulged in a little explanation.

    "She's probably sleeping," he said to Ranma as he knocked on the
door, "Rei?" Ranma made sure to nod agreeably.

    A few seconds passed before Rei replied. The interval was filled
with the muffled sounds of scuffling.

    "Yes, Grandpa?"

    "Can I come in? I have visitors who want to see you."

    "Okay, the door's open," came the reply.

    At that, Hino opened the door and showed them into the room. Rei,
who was lying on top of the bed wearing a thin bare pajama that showed
everything underneath, yelped at the sight of the two strangers and
quickly scrambled under the covers. She felt that the situation
demanded such an action, even though she knew that the exertion would
leave her weak for another couple of hours.

    "Grandpa!" she shouted indignantly from below the covers.

    Hino, truly embarrassed by the experience, did the only thing he
could. He shot a 'you squeak, you die' look at the senshi and Ryuu, and
cleared his throat for some serious kowtowing.

    "I'm sorry, Rei. Please, forgive me. I did not know you changed to
that pajama."

    Rei did not reply, nor did her head emerge from under the sheets.
She was one seriously embarrassed girl, who had made up her mind about
living under the sheets for the rest of her life and dying under them.

    Hino started to apologize again, but before he could, Ranma laid an
arm on his shoulders and nodded once at him. Accordingly, Hino stood up
from where he was kneeling beside the bed and Ranma took his place,
though he did not kneel like Hino had.

    "Rei-san, my name is Ranma Qin and my little accomplice is Ryuuken
Saotome. I'm a Master of The Art and he is my student. We came here
today because I heard of your condition and wanted to help you. I
apologize for not announcing our presence before we came into the room.
Can you forgive me?"

    Rei did not reply. She suddenly became utterly still under the
sheets and even stopped breathing. It was as if she was hoping that
Ranma would disappear if she ignored him long enough.

    "Rei, please, come out," a soft voice scarcely identifiable as
Usagi's said, "You know we did not mean to walk in on you."

    For a moment, Rei appeared to consider her friend's words. Then,
the blanket slowly slid down, revealing her face one inch at a time.
She was very careful to not lower it any lower than her chin.

    "Hello, Rei-san, how do you feel?" Ranma asked without further
adieu.

    "Fine," she replied in a slightly squeaky voice.

    Ranma nodded.

    "Do you feel tired when you exert yourself physically, like when
you did just now?" he asked.

    Rei's head bobbed up and down ever so slightly.

    "That's acceptable, I suppose," Ranma muttered, "Your friends tell
me that you performed a Fire Vision. Is that true? Blink once for yes
and twice for no. I don't want you exerting yourself too much in
answering my questions."

    Rei blinked once.

    "You're a very lucky girl, you know that? Not many who attempt the
Fire Vision live to tell the tale. Precious few, in fact."

    Again, Rei blinked once.

    "Where did you learn the technique, anyway?"

    Pause.

    "Oh, nevermind, it does not matter where you learnt the accursed
technique. Wherever you learnt it from, you must promise me you will
never use it again, for next time, you might not be so lucky."

    Blink.

    "Good. Now, I need you to lower the blanket to your knees. I can
send your friends and Ryuu out of the room if you want, but your
grandfather will remain. Will you lower the blanket for me?"

    "Can I change into something else before you examine me?" Rei
asked, her face blushing several shades of crimson.

    "I think it'll be better if you remain in your present clothing,
Child. One, changing clothes will sap your strength, and two, even if
it did not, you'll have to remove the top and your pants for the coming
examination."

    "Oh!"

    "So, do I send them out?" he asked.

    Rei looked at her friends and the boy who stood in their midst.
They nodded at her unspoken question. They trusted him. And Rei, who
felt much stronger with her friends near her, decided that if Usagi and
the others had no qualms about Ryuu's presence, neither would she. She
took a deep breath and blinked twice. She would think of them as doctor
and nurse.

    "All right," Ranma said with a nod. Next, he turned to the crowd
and addressed them. "Ryuu, you and the girls are not knowledgeable
enough to help me in what I'm about to do. Therefore, you will move to
the other side of the bed. Girls, I think Rei feels strengthened by
your presence and you can provide that strength from that side of the
bed as well as you can from this side. Ryuu, you can sense ki, but you
do not know the theory well enough to help me. I'm sorry. The best you
can do is watch and learn, that is, if Rei-san wants you to stay here."

    Rei blinked once. Now that she thought of Ranma as a doctor and
Ryuu as his helper, she did not feel so uncomfortable anymore.

    Having got the patient's approval, Ranma continued with his
instructions.

    "Ryuu stand where you have a clear line of sight for the duration
of the examination. You'll not learn much if you cannot see what I do."

    Ryuu nodded and thoughtfully moved to the foot of the bed. This
way, he would have a clear, uninterrupted line of sight and her four
friends could be closest to Rei-san.

    "Hino-san, I need you by my side to help me."

    Hino moved closer to Ranma.

    "Thank you. Now, Rei, I'm going to unbutton your shirt and pull
down your pant. If you're embarrassed, as I'm sure you are, feel free
to close your eyes and cover them with your hands. I'm told it helps a
little." Of course, Ranma would have preferred to have Rei's eyes open
for the duration of the procedure, but with her being embarrassed the
way she was, he felt that it would be better if she had her eyes
covered. Strong emotions such as embarrassment threw the chakras off
kilter and made his job that much harder.

    Hino smiled at Ranma's advice and shook his head. Rei, who did not
find Ranma's advice amusing in the least, blinked once and followed his
words to the letter. He, for his part, waited patiently while she
prepared herself mentally for the coming psychological ordeal. Finally,
she took a deep breath and Ranma spoke.

    "If it helps, you can imagine that the others are not really here,"
he said, as he unbuttoned the pajama and exposed Rei's chest. Next, he
went to work on her pants and released them without the slightest bit
of fuss. He pulled the garment to her knees before he spoke again.
"Now, I'm going to examine your chakras. I need to touch and prod them
with my fingers. I need you to remove your hands from your eyes briefly
so that I can examine your Ajna Chakra, though you can keep them
closed. You can cover them again after I've finished the examination.
You will probably feel slight discomfort at first and I will be
touching you near some really awkward areas. We can make do without
this part of the procedure, but then, any cure I give you will only be
skin-deep. It will take weeks, possibly months for your chakras to find
their balance themselves and during that period, you'll need to be
careful to not exert yourself physically or psychically. I can
administer the simple cure if you want or I can examine you now and
determine the exact remedy for your sickness. The decision is really up
to you."

    Rei temporarily unsheathed one of her eyes and looked to the elder
Hino for advice. Hino, who had a fairly good idea of the treatment from
the scrolls he had read on the subject the previous two days, knew that
Ranma was doing the procedure by the book. He gave his seal of approval
with a slight nod, and Rei closed her eyes again after blinking once.

    "Thank you," Ranma said, heaving a little breath of relief. Even at
first sight, he could tell that Rei's ki was badly askewed. That being
the case, the simple cure would only have been a very temporary
preventive measure and she would have reverted back to the sick state
anytime. He started with the Sahasrara Chakra, moved down, to the Ajna
Chakra, the Visuddha Chakra, the Anahata Chakra, Manipura Chakra, the
Svadhisthana Chakra and finished with the Kundalini Chakra. The
examination took perhaps five minutes and during most of that time, Rei
was very thankful to have her face hidden from the rest of her friends,
for it would not do to have them see her with a very pink face, which
was what her face must have looked like with all that blood gushing on
it.

    "Is she all right, Sensei?" Hino asked. After watching the expert
manner in which Ranma conducted the examination, he was sure that it
was a Master who stood before him.

    Ranma looked thoughtful for a moment.

    "Mostly, yes. Her Ajna is severely imbalanced and her Anahata only
slightly so. With the exception of those two, you have a very healthy
granddaughter here, Hino-san."

    "Can the imbalance be rectified?" Hino asked, fearfully.

    Ranma took a moment to answer the question.

    "Yes, yes, of course. Forgive me, Hino-san, but I was lost in my
thoughts. The cures for the imbalances are easy enough to administer. I
was just wondering about Rei-san's impressive affinity for mana and
ki."

    "Oh!" Hino quoth, curiously. He had known about Rei's ki affinity
from practically her birth - one of his senseis informed him of her
gift during an informal visit in her first year - but this was the
first time he had heard anyone comment about her mana affinity.

    "Then she will be well?"

    Ranma smiled.

    "Yes, she will. Rei-san, I need you to keep your hands off your
eyes for just a few more minutes. I need to manipulate some pressure
points and you know what that means. Can I proceed?"

    Rei nodded a yes with her eyes closed.

    "Thank you. Tell me when you feel a tingling sensation in the area
of contact," he said and went to work, skillfully manipulating a
plethora of pressure points and infusing them with ki.

    "It tingles," Rei reported after Ranma had prodded her for the
better part of a minute, biting back a laugh. It tingled bad.

    "Do feel free to laugh if you must," Ranma said, a smile on his
face.

    Rei did exactly that, and her friends and grandfather laughed with
her. Her laughter sounded weak to their ears, but still it succeeded in
bringing tears of joy in all their eyes. Rei was cured.

    "How do you feel?" Ranma asked when the last peals of laughter
faded away from Rei.

    "Fine," she replied. She still had her eyes closed, but her muscles
were relaxed and she had a smile on her face.

    "That's great. Now, I need to do the ki transfer and we'll be done.
Can I proceed?"

    Nod.

    Ranma looked to Hino, too, for the go ahead and after receiving it,
introduced his hand to Rei's forehead. His hand glowed translucent
white for a few seconds before it became opaque again. He removed his
hand and sighed in relief. The whole procedure had gone better than he
had hoped it would.

    "Ryuu, you go stand guard outside the door. Rei-san, you can cover
up. Hino-san, can I have a word with you in private?"

    Hino nodded, and Ranma and he moved to the corner of the room. The
senshi - all five of them - whose hackles had been raised by Ranma's
very strange request, tried to eavesdrop on their conversation, but
could catch only a word or two. Ranma and the elder Hino spoke in extra
quiet voices for whatever reason and during the whole time, Hino's head
kept bobbing up and down as if he was agreeing with whatever was being
said.

    "Rei," Hino began when he and Ranma had both returned, "I'm
concerned that you'll use the Fire Vision again and so is Ranma-sensei.
I know you promised me to stay away from it, but he assures me that the
technique is addictive - that once you perform it, you'll want to
perform it sometime again in your life. Therefore, he's asked me to
give him permission to put a restraint on your ki reserves limiting the
amount of ki you can spend in one outing. He assures me that the
procedure is painless and I think you should let him do it."

    Rei, who had her eyes closed, even though the blanket covered her
body once again, opened them, and looked at her grandfather and then at
her friends. Usagi, who had taken Rei's hand in hers, pressed them
lightly and Rei nodded.

    "Okay, Grandpa, you can do it."

    Hino looked to Ranma, who stepped forward. He pulled the blanket to
her waist, and put one hand on her Sahasrara Chakra and another on her
Manipura Chakra. Next, he closed his eyes in concentration and tweaked
them both with a little ki.

    "It's done," he announced, opening his eyes, "Why don't you try
accessing your ki?" he asked her, removing his hands and restoring the
blanket.

    Rei did exactly that. Her eyes narrowed as she concentrated on her
ki, but she found that even though she could access it, she could not
increase or decrease the flow at her will. It remained constant no
matter what she did.

    "I can access enough ki to write tofudas, or do a Fire Reading, but
even that is pushing the limit," she said.

    Nod.

    "That's good. How do you feel physically?" Ranma asked.

    "I feel enlivened," she replied.

    Ranma nodded, again.

    "Your ki level's back to normal and physically, you're in a very
good state of health. Still, I want you to take it easy for a couple of
days. Will you do that for me?"

    Rei's head bobbed once.

    "Your granddaughter's cured, Hino-san," Ranma announced to the very
grateful looking elder Hino.

    "Thank you, Sensei," the priest replied, his voice dripping with
gratitude. He bowed deeper than he ever had in his life to Ranma as he
did.

    "You're welcome," Ranma replied, returning the bow, "Come, let's go
downstairs. I think Rei-san wants to spend time alone with her
friends."

    Hino looked at the pleading looks on all five girls and shook his
head in mild amusement.

    "You know what? I think you're right," he said, as he led Ranma
out. He paused at the door and called, "Remember what Ranma-sensei
said, Rei. Don't exert yourself."

    With that, they - Ranma, Ryuu and Hino - made their way downstairs
and there, Hino offered his guests some tea. Ranma graciously accepted
the priest's concoction and for the next half an hour, they spent their
time chatting about this and that, until finally, it was time to leave.
Hino saw them to the shrine entrance, where they parted ways.

***********************************************************************

    The road had a Y-fork at one end and a T-fork at the other. At the
head of the T-fork was a multi-storeyed building - a skyscraper, really
- with hundreds and hundreds of panes of glass facing the road. Indiran
stood on its roof. He had his true hands on his hips. The other four
were clasped behind his back. He was dressed in traditional Ashura
battle dress - a white sarong tied tightly around his waist and folded
into a katcham, and an intricately stitched malleable armor of wooden
plates made from an ancient Neem tree on his chest. He had a sickle
tied around his waist over his dhoti and a long, cutting sword that was
curved inwards at its head - a veecharuval - on his back. Both his
weapons were grown from the tusks of two very long-lived mammoths. His
face was completely serene and pacified, and was devoid of even the
slightest hint of indecision, as only those who had wholeheartedly
committed themselves to an action can have.

    At the other end of the road, stood another multi-storeyed building
at the head of the Y-fork. It was not a true skyscraper, unlike its
brother on the opposite side, but its windows were made of glass and it
was tall enough to suffice for Indiran's purposes. Boomi Pithan and
Suryan were on its top. They were dressed in battle garb, too, and were
armed in much the same way as their compatriot on the skyscraper. The
other buildings on each side of the street were tall enough to make it
practically impossible for the senshi to jump over them and they were
close enough to each other to make the handful of alleyways killing
fields. It was in essence a fairly good trap. The only weaknesses were
the four exits in the form of the roads leading in and out of it, and
if Indiran's plan worked the way it was supposed to, they, too, would
be sealed.

    From his vantage point, Indiran examined the battlefield with a
critical eye borne from experience and nodded unto himself. He released
a little ki into the air and passed final orders to his subordinates
using ki battle language. Then, he stepped up to the edge and leapt
with casual grace to the street below.

    He landed and...

**********************************************************************

    It was evening in Juuban, Tokyo, and Hitoshi Tameda was one dead
tired, but extremely satisfied engineer. He had been working his tail
off for practically the entire week to get his firm's software project
completed in time to meet the management's deadline, and had slept
little, if at all, the whole time. Early this afternoon, the final
glitches had been sorted, and the recompiled software package when
installed on the test systems ran better than the programmers had hoped
it would. The rest of the afternoon was spent celebrating the
successful completion of the multi-million dollar project and now, he
was taking a leisurely stroll home - the first one in months - enjoying
the smell of the evening air and the feel of the breeze in his hair.

    Everything appeared and felt faultless, and Hitoshi was thinking
that the evening could not be more perfect when a six-armed monster
armed to the teeth with deadly looking weapons and dressed in armor
landed in front of him. It had fallen from God-knew where, and Hitoshi
back pedaled thrice in quick succession as he tried to put as much
distance as he could between it and himself, and finally fell flat on
his back. The monster's eyes fell on him then and he scrambled, or
rather, tried to scamper away from it, but it did not let him run away.
It closed the distance between itself and him, and leaned over until
its face was inches away from his. Scared out of his wits, and silently
praying to the Gods to make his death a quick and painless one, Hitoshi
vaguely heard a woman scream monster at the top of her lungs and cars
screech to a halt all along the road, but paid no attention to the
commotion. His attention was sorely focused on those razor-sharp blades
and the terrifying glint in the monster's eyes that promised a very
slow and very painful death.

    "Hello," it said with a throaty laugh, "I'm Indiran of the Ashuras.
I'll let you live if you'll run fast enough screaming loudly at the top
of your lungs. What do you say?"

    Hitoshi did not have to think twice before accepting the offer. In
fact, he made the decision even before it asked the question - never
had he reached one so fast in his entire life - thus proving whoever
said that the Japanese cannot make a fast decision even if their life
depended on it wrong. He scrambled on all fours for another couple of
feet, then got on his feet and ran the hell out of there, screaming
incoherently until his voice was hoarse. In fact, he did not stop
screaming until he reached his house and even then, only because his
neighbor, a practicing physician, shot him with an extra large dose of
sedative.

    Indiran watched Hitoshi run screaming with his wet pants - Hitoshi
had wet himself early into his ordeal - and fought hard to keep a
straight face. He summoned his ki again, and blasted a few objects here
and there, taking care not to hurt anyone accidentally until all the
humans had run off. When the last of the civilians had escaped, he
signaled his subordinates to set fire to both exits of the T-fork with
ki-fire and returned to the entrance of the skyscraper, where he stood
still, awaiting the arrival of the senshi.

***********************************************************************

    After leaving the Hiwaka shrine, Ranma took Ryuu on a circuitous
route home. He wanted to have a long talk with his younger brother and
the walk home was as good a time as any to have it.

    "Sensei, what is the Fire Vision?" Ryuu asked. He had been meaning
to ask Ranma the question all afternoon.

    "It is a very accurate method of divining the future and exploring
the past. Sadly, people began misusing it and it was abolished a long
time ago."

    "Divining? As in telling me when I'll die and stuff?"

    Ranma chuckled.

    "Something like that, yes. Fire Vision is useful in exploring the
hidden meaning of dreams, and since dreams are gateways to both the
past and the future, the Fire Vision is useful in divining the past and
the future."

    "Oh! Why did they banish it if it was so useful?"

    "You're really hooked, aren't you?"

    Nod.

    "The technique was banished because a lot of unskilled people -
like your friend, Rei, for example - started using it."

    "So?"

    "Using the Fire Vision without the proper know-how is equivalent to
committing suicide. You have to have complete control of mind, body and
ki to use the technique properly, and if you were found lacking in even
one of those three, you'd die a very gruesome death."

    "Oh!"

    "Yes. Are you satisfied now?"

    Nod.

    "Good, you can then tell me what you learnt today at the Hiwaka
shrine, the part about the proper way to ogle a half-naked female body
notwithstanding."

    "Sensei!"

    "C'mon, Ryuu, admit it. You liked what you saw, didn't you? There's
no use lying to your sensei," Ranma teased.

    Ryuu's cheeks, which had already reddened at the mention of Rei,
reddened even further.

    "I'm not a pervert."

    "I'm not saying you're a pervert. It is perfectly natural to
appreciate the beauty of the female body, unless, of course, you're a
doctor and your patient is a woman. In fact, it would have raised
doubts about your sexuality in my mind if you had not appreciated
today."

    "But Akane..."

    "Akane is a tomboy... I hear she's got quite a temper, so don't
tell her I told you that. She'll probably try to bash my head in for
suggesting such."

    Pause.

    "Does this mean that you accept having ogled Rei?"

    "It does not."

    "It does, too."

    "Not!"

    "Too! Oh, bother, I'm acting like a toddler. You're a bad boy, you
know that?"

    "I'm not."

    "See, you're throwing a tantrum."

    "Argh!"

    Bonk!

    "First lesson for the evening: Do not lose your temper at your
sensei. He is infinitely more experienced and powerful than you," Ranma
said, skillfully retracting his extended arm with a stylish flourish.

    Ryuu glared at his sensei, as he rubbed his now very sore pate.
Ranma, it seemed, was an expert boxer, skilled in the ways of the fist
and the hardhead.

    "Come now, my dear Student, let bygones be bygones. We'll start
anew and stray away from embarrassing truths and aphorisms in the
future. Is that acceptable?"

    Ryuu nodded, while at the same time muttering that he had nothing
to be embarrassed about under his breath, that is, he had not acted
like a pervert at the shrine. Ranma chuckled at the display and patted
him on the shoulder.

    "So, what did you learn at the Hiwaka shrine?" he asked.

    "Um... Let's see," Ryuu said, ticking off his fingers, "I learnt a
little about the seven chakras and the importance of inter-chakra
balance."

    "Very good."

    Silence.

    "Senshi, when are you going to teach me to ki shields and such?" he
asked.

    "When you get the basics right. That's when. Why would you want to
learn such an advanced application of ki so soon in your ki training?
You haven't even mastered the basics of ki yet."

    Ryuu shrugged.

    "I just want to," he replied.

    Ranma thought for a moment.

    "Does it have anything to do with the blast at Tendo-ke?" he asked.

    Ryuu nodded.

    "Yeah. I have never felt so helpless in my life. I mean, if it
weren't for you, the Elder and the old goat, they'd be having my
funeral right now."

    Ranma smiled, slipping into parenting mode, and patted his little
brother on the shoulder.

    "Well, we were there, and you aren't dead. So, don't bother."

    "But what if something similar happens again?"

    "What makes you think I, the Grandmaster or the Wise One won't be
there when it happens again?"

    "I..."

    "One step at a time, Ryuu, remember that. You have to learn to
stand before you can learn to walk and you have to learn to walk before
you can learn to run."

    Ryuu nodded.

    "Good. Now, what is this with the name calling? I hope you weren't
referring to the Grandmaster. If you are, you better stop it. I will
not have my students insulting their elders."

    "Yes, Sensei," Ryuu replied, even though he did not want to.
Happousai deserved that and a lot more for sullying the school's name
so.

    Nod.

    "Anything other doubts or questions?"

    "When are you going to teach me to manipulate the chakras directly,
Sensei?" Ryuu asked.

    "When I think you have earned the right, Ryuu."

    "But why?"

    "Because manipulating the chakras is very dangerous. Even more so
than the Fire Vision. At least, when you play with the Fire Vision, the
worst that can happen is you'll die, but infinitely worse fates await
those who mess around with the chakras."

    "Huh? What can be worse than death?"

    "How about being doomed to be a wandering ghost forever? How about
the complete and utter destruction of the soul? Are those two good
enough for you, or do you need more?"

    "If they are as dangerous as you say they are, then why aren't I
dead already? I have been hit more times than I can count on the
Manipura Chakra."

    Ranma smiled pensively.

    "When dealing with the chakras, brute force will accomplish
nothing. Gently prod them with your ki and the results will surprise
you..."

    "Oh!"

    "I recognize that look on your face, Ryuu, you can't wait to
practice what I have told you, can you? Well, don't. At least, not
until I give the go ahead. If you try it now, you'll kill yourself or
whoever consents to act as your guinea pig."

    "But..."

    "I said no and I mean it. Don't make me erase your memories of the
technique forever. I don't want that and neither do you."

    Ryuu looked like he might argue, but Ranma stopped him with a
glare.

    "If you don't have the commonsense to follow your sensei's advice,
I don't see much point in training you. Either you abandon all thoughts
about the chakra manipulation now, or you can start searching for a new
teacher."

    Faced with such a daunting prospect - after all, where else would
he find someone as skilled as Ranma? - Ryuu decided that there were not
many paths left to choose and selected the wisest one. He would not
tinker with his chakras, for the time being.

    "Yes, Sensei."

    Ranma stared long and hard at his student, and finally nodded once.

    "That's better. Made any progress yet on your ki technique?" he
asked.

    Ryuu shook his head.

    "That can't be helped. You're trying to circumvent several steps in
the learning process as it is. Do you need advice?"

    "Yes, very much."

    "Okay! First, you have to..."

    Just then, a madman ran by straight at them screaming at the top of
his lungs. The man's hair was disheveled and his pants were wet. Ranma
moved two steps left to let the man pass and after he passed them,
stood watching his back until he disappeared.

    "What do you think that's about, Sensei?" Ryuu asked when another
one came running from the same direction. He looked only marginally
better off than the first one.

    "I don't know," Ranma lied, even though his ki senses had told him
the truth seconds before, "But let's go and find out."

    Ryuu started toward the direction the two men had come from, but
Ranma pulled him back.

    "Let's go this way," he said, taking a side alley. He did not want
to walk directly into the 'trap' if he could help it.

    The two of them negotiated a maze of alleys until they came upon an
oddly dressed stranger, whom Ranma recognized as Indian.

    "You don't want to go this way," the stranger said in perfect
Japanese.

    "But we'll be late for my son's class," Ranma lied, timidly.

    The stranger shrugged.

    "Not my problem."

    "It is, now," Ranma replied, grabbing the stranger's throat and
strangling him, "What's going on here?" he asked.

    The man made choking sounds and clawed at the air for air, but when
Ranma released him hoping to get his answer, the man tried to scream a
warning to his compatriots.

    "Ignorant fool," Ranma spat, knocking the stranger unconscious. He
turned to Ryuu, an angry, half-murderous look in his eyes. This was his
city and they dared start a war in his backyard without informing him
first - the vague warning given by Boomi Pithan did not count, of
course. "Find something to tie this one up and hide him somewhere. I
think that dumpster might help. I'll go and see if I can find out
what's going on."

    Ryuu nodded, silently, fearful of saying anything that might upset
his very pissed-off looking sensei. He watched Ranma use something
similar to the invisibility technique Genma used during the duel before
setting off to God knew where and set about his task. He knew they were
neck deep in trouble, but he trusted his skills and his sensei enough
to get him out of a tight corner should it prove necessary. For now, he
would content himself with following Ranma's orders.

***********************************************************************

    Rei stood at the window, watching her grandfather send Ranma and
Ryuu on their way. After the two visitors had left and they disappeared
around the corner, she turned around and looked questioningly at her
friends.

    "So," she drawled in her usual, healthy voice, "Who's this Ryuu?"

    "He's a new student at school. He's cute, isn't he?"

    Rei nodded. She had a slight blush on her cheeks. She had caught
him checking her out the few times she had her body exposed and her
eyes opened simultaneously.

    "Yes, he is. Ami-chan, have you discovered anything about the
Ashuras?" she asked, changing subjects. Cute as Ryuu was, she was more
interested in the Ashuras. The dream was only too vividly imprinted in
her memory.

    Ami shook her head.

    "No, I'm sorry, Rei-chan, but there's nothing in the records that
survived from the Silver Millennium. There's a chance that there might
have been a reference in the files that were lost, but I think that
possibility is far-fetched. There's no way every file relating to a
particular subject was wiped out."

    Rei sighed. Her friends did not understand her fixation with the
Ashuras and thought she was needlessly obsessed, but she knew the
truth. She was the one who looked into those soul-captivating eyes, not
they. She was the one who saw the resolve in them, not they. No, they
could not understand her fixation until they experienced, firsthand, an
encounter with the Ashura from her dreams and by then, it would be far
too late.

    "Take your mind off it, Rei. If there is a new enemy, we'll deal
with them, as we have dealt with all the others that came before,"
Makoto said.

    Rei shook her head. Why could they not see the quiet desperation in
her eyes? Why did they refuse to believe that things were going to be
different this time around?

    "No, you don't understand, Mako-chan," Rei replied, a bit sharply
than she had intended, "None of you do. This time, it's not going to be
like any of the other battles we have fought so far. I can't even begin
to describe what I saw, but I can tell you for sure that we aren't
going to be fighting mindless monsters. That Ashura I saw in the vision
was intelligent and it had the most expressive eyes I had ever seen in
my life. Oh, how can I explain what I saw? It was going to kill us all,
but it was not without a conscience as all the other monsters we had
fought so far were. It did not want to kill us, but it was going to
kill us, you understand what I'm trying to say?"

    The others shook their heads. Even now, they did not understand,
Rei saw. She opened her mouth to explain further, but Ami's computer
beeped, cutting off her explanation ever before it started. Ami excused
herself and took the machine, which had been resting on the bed, in her
arms. She switched on the display and the other four sailors crowded
behind her to catch a glimpse of whatever it was that was going on. Of
course, they did not understand a shred of the jargon that scrolled
across the screen.

    "What is it?" Usagi asked.

    Ami looked at them and took a deep breath.

    "You know I hacked into the police emergency radio channel some
months ago and set the computer to monitor the traffic on it. All the
work paid off today and I think we hit pay dirt. In the past five
minutes, there have been a hundred and twenty calls from people
reporting a six-armed monster on the rampage in the business district
and less than a minute ago orders were sent out to patrol cars to take
part in the evacuation and the containment of the monster. No
casualties have been reported so far, but the figures are tentative and
not reliable," she announced, and turned to Rei, "I think your
nightmare came true, Rei. We're about to have our first encounter with
the much vaunted Ashuras."

    Rei did not utter so much as a single word. On hearing Ami's
announcement, she slumped against the bed, a hopeless look of
desperation painted on her pale face.

    "We are going to die today," she said, quietly, shifting looks from
one beloved friend to another, "It was nice knowing all of you. I hope
and pray that we'll be reborn again as one family in our next
reincarnation."

    "Nonsense," Usagi retorted, passionately. Usually, Rei was one of
the more optimistic of the senshi, and this sudden pessimism on her
part was affecting everyone of the senshi in a negative way. As team
leader, it was up to Usagi to discount Rei, as much as she hated to do
it, and rebuild their confidence. "You're wrong, Rei. The Deathbusters,
the Daimons, Wiseman, and Beryl - they all looked undefeatable at one
point or another, but we beat them in the end, just as we will beat
these Ashuras."

    Rei shifted her gaze to her leader, her eyes dull without the
faintest shred of hope in them. She had seen the future and knew what
was going to happen. Usagi did not.

    "I wish it were true, Usagi," she said with a forlorn sigh. She
stood up, seized her transformation pen in her hands and addressed her
friends, "Come, let's transform for we have a tryst with destiny to
keep and innocents to protect. We'll go and face our enemies as one."
Even now, she bore no hope that anyone would survive the coming battle,
but at least they would die saving civilians, which would give some
meaning to their deaths.

    Usagi sighed and shook her head at Rei's defeatist attitude, as she
took out her transformation pen, and transformed. There was no changing
Rei's newborn pessimism, was there? The others followed Usagi's example
and transformed themselves, and the senshi raced out into the evening
to meet the Ashuras and do battle with them face to face.

    "How far away are they?" Makoto asked well into the second minute
of their hop across the rooftops.

    "We are at most a minute away from the scene of the commotion," Ami
hollered back. She had her computer out and was operating it even as
she ran. "There," she shouted, pointing to a greenish wall of fire that
burned right across a road.

    "What is that?" Minako asked, eyeing the towering flame with wide
eyes.

    "I don't know," Ami replied, running a scan through her computer.
The flames did not seem to be fed by any fuel that she could see and
they did not give off any smoke or any other chemical signature that
could be examined. "But I don't want to get close enough to find out.
The core temperature is nearly seven hundred degrees centigrade."

    "Who do you think put it there?" Makoto asked. All five sailors had
now stopped in their tracks and were staring at the fire.

    "The Ashuras, who else," Rei remarked, staring unflinchingly at the
flames, "They wish to control our movements so that we will walk into
their trap."

    "Nonsense, Sailor Mars," Minako said as daintily as ever, but Ami
appeared ill at ease. Rei's arguments had a measure of commonsense in
them.

    "If they have set a trap, then we'll walk into it. Only we will not
allow them to dictate the terms. I'll try to put out that fire using my
Shabon Spray attack," she announced, making everyone take their eyes of
the fire to look at her. So saying, Mercury stepped forth before the
fire and banished her computer for the time being.

    "Shabon Spray Freezing!"

    The fire continued to burn - the attack had no visible effect on it
and it continued unabated. Mercury tried repeating the attack, but it
did not work. After her fifth attempt, she gave up and returned.

    "I can't put it out. My attack has no effect at all on the fire."

    Usagi nodded, grimly. A part of her had suspected that this would
happen.

    "Are there any other entrances to the area?" she asked.

    "There are three possible entrances. The third one's too dangerous,
which means there are only two entrances available and we can be sure
they are being watched," Ami replied.

    "Define dangerous," Usagi asked, stepping into her role as the team
leader.

    "We can climb over those buildings on the side of the road and jump
into the road unannounced, but it won't make any difference. The only
path that is guaranteed to secure us the initiative is if we jump over
that skyscraper and I think we can discard that. We'll not survive to
speak of the experience and even if we could, we'd be disabled and in
no condition to fight, which brings us to the other buildings. The
thing is, I don't think we can safely jump them, too, and if we're hurt
from the jump, we'll be that much weaker."

    "Then we have no choice, do we?" Usagi asked.

    The others nodded.

    "Mercury, choose either one of those two entrances. We'll take that
one."

    Ami chose the left one and grim-faced, the sailors made their way
across the rooftops to it. They found a relative short building a
couple of blocks from the entrance and used it to get back to terra
firma before retracing their steps to the entrance of the trap. They
found their entry into the road unopposed and sure enough, there was an
Ashura standing at the other end of the road. Slowly, with extreme
caution, they walked into the street and stopped halfway. Immediately,
the two open entrances burst into greenish flames, effectively sealing
them off from the rest of the outside world. The senshi stared a couple
of seconds at the new conflagrations with a vague sense of premonition
before turning to face the Ashura. They had known they were walking
into a trap built specifically for them. So what if it was sprung?

    He smiled at them from afar in an almost cordial manner and stepped
up to them. As he drew closer, the features of his face became clearer
and Rei gasped as she recognized him. It was the Ashura from her
dreams.

    "My name is Indiran, Lord General of the Ashuran Army. I'm so glad
you accepted my invitation," he said.

***********************************************************************

Notes:

1. All the Indirans, the Indiras, the Suryans, the Suryas, the Boomi
Pithans and the Boomi Pithas are correct. They satisfy the syntax and
semantics of Tamil.

2. Yes, Junko, Ranma's adopted daughter, has children of her own. I'm
not going to bring them into the story, however, and complicate it
further. It is too long and too complicated as it is.

3. Thought it was an adult manga, didn't you? Well, belated April
fool's greetings. Heh!

4. A new term of my own creation. The soul hook is the bridge that
connects the soul and the ki together. It fades when the balance
between the ki and the mana reserves in the body tilts too greatly in
either one side or the other. And when the soul hook fades, you die.

5. There is no word for Dragon in Tamil. This is another invention on
my part.

6. This is another of Ranma's names. He got it by virtue of what he is
- a true dragon.

And thus ends the chapter. It is a cliffhanger, isn't it? Will Indiran
follow his orders and kill the senshi, or will he try to negotiate
peace with them? Who is Boomi Pithan? Why are his men and he helping
the Ashuras? What will Ranma's reaction be to this battle? Will Ryuu
have perverted dreams of Rei? Who is the strange apparition that blew
up Tendo-ke? What will Pluto do? All that and a lot more in the next
exciting chapter of Destiny.

Heh. I have always wanted to do that. And now that I have done it, I
see that it is all that it is cooked up to be. Yay!

And finally, I wish to thank my pre-readers. They have been of great
help and this chapter wouldn't nearly be as polished as it is without
them.