Waters Under Earth

A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic by Alan Harnum 
-harnums@thekeep.org
-harnums@hotmail.com (old/backup)

All Ranma characters are the property of Rumiko Takahashi, first
published by Shogakukan in Japan and brought over to North
America by Viz Communications.

Waters Under Earth at Transpacific Fanfiction:  
http://www.humbug.org.au/~wendigo/transp.html
http://users.ev1.net/~adina/shrines2/fanfics.html

Chapter 11 : Hammer and Anvil

     There hadn't been much to say, in the end.  Soun had bid her
a solemn, polite farewell, Akane and Kasumi had hugged her 
goodbye, Nabiki had lifted a hand while munching on a bag of 
chips.  Ryoga had stood in the background, looking uncomfortable, 
but had then carried her bags out to the taxi and told her that 
he hoped he'd see her again soon.

     And Genma had stood in the doorway of the Tendo house and
watched her leave, his face blank, as the cab had pulled away 
into the light of the early morning and made its way through
narrow streets to the new house.

     Now she stood, watching as he had, a cab pulling away from a
house.  Her bags were in a pile outside the gate of the house,
which looked much more welcoming and pleasant than it had last
night, when the rain had fallen down upon her and her husband as
they stood looking at it, and talking, as they should have done
long ago.
     
     It was a nice house.  The yard needed some work, and perhaps
the house could use a little paint, but it was certainly big 
enough for two people, even more.  She'd been inside it, had 
arranged for the furnishings.  It was almost a nice enough house 
to give her some sort of hope, here amidst the disappearance of 
her son and the growing realization that her husband had become 
something in the time he'd been gone that she could no longer 
tolerate.

     Almost enough to give hope, but not quite enough.  Nodoka 
peered around at the neighbourhood, at the few people walking the
streets; the rush hour hadn't even started yet, but it would
soon.  There was the sound of birds, the soft muting of voices of
people walking together, and the gentle hum of the occasional car
passing.

     "Hello there.  Are you the new owner?"
     
     She looked up from her bags at the sound of the voice, and
saw a tall man who looked to be in his fifties.  He was pleasant
looking, even handsome, the lines around his eyes and the grey in
his dark hair giving him a dignified appearance.  Dressed in dark
slacks and a buttoned white short-sleeve shirt and with a
newspaper held loosely in his hand, he looked as if he were just
getting ready to enjoy the day.  

     "Yes," Nodoka said with a slight smile.  "I'm Nodoka
Saotome."

     "Taikazu Ongaku," he said, returning the smile and giving
her a small bow.  "I live next door."

     He indicated the house on the right with a wave of his
newspaper; it was a virtual duplicate of the one she'd bought,
from what she could see, with the same style of wall and gate,
with the tile-roofed, two story house rising in the background
behind a few trees, which admittedly looked to be more neatly
kept than the ones that adorned the yard of her new house.

     "It's nice to meet you," Nodoka said.  
     
     Taikazu nodded.  "The pleasure is mine.  May I help you with
some of your bags?"

     "Really, I'll be..."
     
     "Nonsense.  It'll only take one trip instead of two if I
help," Taikazu said, carefully tucking the newspaper under his 
arm and reaching down to grab a suitcase in each hand before
walking through the gate.  Nodoka picked up the last remaining
suitcase and followed behind him.  

     He stood, holding the bags by the front door, and waited for
her to unlock and open it.  She walked into the front hall and
found the lightswitch, turning the room from being dimly lit by
sunlight streaming through the thin curtains over the windows to
an illumination bright as the day outside.

     "I'll just leave these here, then," Taikazu said, putting
the bags down in the hall and bowing to her again.  "I'm sure
you're anxious to get unpacked, and I won't intrude any more."

     "Thank you very much for your help, Mr. Ongaku," Nodoka
said, bowing to him in turn.  

     "Call me Taikazu, please, Miss Saotome."
     
     "Mrs. Saotome."
     
     "Ah."
     
     He opened the door and stepped out, glancing back at her as
he did.  "If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask me.  I'm
home most of the time."

     "Thank you," Nodoka said again.  "I'll keep that in mind."
     
     Taikazu nodded and smiled, then headed down the walkway and
out the gate, whistling something softly under his breath.  
Nodoka closed the door and looked around at the front hall of the
house, and then at the bags.  

     At least the neighbours were friendly.  That was something,
although perhaps next to all else it was a little something.

     Gently sighing, she began to unpack.
     
**********     

     "Genma."
     
     Sitting by the back pond of the Tendo house and staring into
the clear depths, Genma Saotome looked back to see Happosai 
standing behind him.  The master now looked to be in his forties, 
his dark hair streaked with grey, his movements easy and loose.  
The reversal of his aging didn't seem to be slowing down at all.  
He'd be Ranma's age in two or three days at his current rate.

     "I'm rather occupied at this time, master," Genma said as
respectfully as he could.  It was true; he was occupied with
staring into the pond and trying hard not to think about the cab
with his wife in it pulling away from the house a few hours ago.

     "It's about your son."
     
     That made him turn his head.  "What about him?"
     
     Happosai walked across the grass of the backyard, under the
shadow of the sweeping branches of a tree, and sat down next to
his former student.  "I think I know where he is."

     Genma frowned.  "Master, are you serious?"
     
     Happosai nodded and stirred his fingers in the waters of the
pond, breaking the stillness.  "I am."

     "Where is he?"
     
     "Somewhere in the Jusenkyou area.  Most likely in the 
Joketsuzoku village."

     "What makes you say that?"
     
     "I know Cologne, and I'd sooner believe the sun had plunged
into the sea than that she went insane.  She wanted us to believe
she'd gone mad, but I think she wanted whoever or whatever was
responsible for those two women we fought to believe it more.
She wanted him out of here, and wherever she's going, she'll
likely end up with the Joketsuzoku."

     Genma nodded.  "Unless she's dead."
     
     "Which means your son is in the hands of those two," 
Happosai said.

     Genma closed his eyes and said nothing for a moment.  "I 
wish..."
     
     "That you had been there?"
     
     "Yes."
     
     "Well, you weren't."
     
     "Master, I-"
     
     "You weren't, Genma, and the sooner you acknowledge that the
sooner you can start dealing with it."

     Genma looked at the other man and raised an eyebrow.  
"That's about the wisest thing I've heard out of you since I met
you, master."

     "Strange what youth brings back to you," Happosai said,
shifting his position slightly to sit cross-legged by the edge of
the pond.  "You know I don't even need to touch women anymore to
keep my strength?"

     Genma sighed.  "How nice for you, master."
     
     "But even if those two did get their hands on him, I still
think our best chance is with the Joketsuzoku," Happosai said.

     "Why?"
     
     "Because the woman who attacked me and was last seen 
fighting Ranma was using one of the most powerful artifacts the
Joketsuzoku possess," Happosai said after a moment, staring up at
the morning sky.  "There's no way it could have been snuck out of
the village without the knowledge of one of their leaders.  
There's a connection somehow between the Joketsuzoku and those
two."

     "But we don't have time," Genma said.  "If we go in the
wrong direction..."

     "Genma, if your son is alive, it is likely he will remain
alive," Happosai said.  "They wanted him alive.  And we have no
lead but that."

     "It will take at least a week, probably two, going as fast 
as we can," Genma said.  "The boat trip alone..."

     "We will take a plane," Happosai said.  
     
     Genma laughed.  "Right.  Where will we get the money?"
     
     "I have the funds," Happosai said.  "Lots of them."
     
     "How?"
     
     "A hundred years of treasure-hunting tends to net you the
occasional gem or piece of jewelry," Happosai said with a slight
smile.  "I can part with a few."

     "Master, you would do this for..."
     
     "I want my student back," Happosai said shortly.  "And I
want Cologne to tell me what's going on.  I don't like being in
the dark about things like this.  Something very big is
happening, Genma."

     "It could be difficult, getting in by air," Genma said after
a moment.  "Tourist visas can take a while to get, and..."

     "Let me handle it, Genma," Happosai said.  
     
     Genma shook his head resignedly.  "I was afraid you'd say 
that, master."

     "Nothing to be afraid of," Happosai said as he stood up.
"I'll take care of things, Genma."

     The master turned and strode quickly and surely back into
the house, a sense of purpose in his walk.  Genma sat by the pond
for a while longer and stared into its clarity, and remembered
watching his son turn from him, disgust on his face, and head up
the mountain to save his mother.  That had been the last time he
had seen him.

     He thought also of his wife, remembering rain falling 
outside a house.  He thought of a cab pulling away into the
morning air.

     There was little to hope for.  His son had made his own path
for some time now.  It appeared that his wife and he must now do
the same.  He hadn't wanted it to end like this, truly he hadn't.

     Perhaps, though, it did not have to.  The thread of hope
offered was slender, but it was hope.  

     And sometimes, no matter how slim it might be, hope was all 
that you were left with.

**********

     Ryoga shifted slightly in his seat and watched the houses
and people rolling past beyond the smudged viewpoint of the 
window of the bus.  Here and there puddles still lingered in the
edges of the streets, remnants of the rain of yesterday.  

     He sighed, and then turned his head at feeling a touch upon
his elbow.

     "We'll be there soon," Akane said, and smiled at him.
     
     "Thank you for doing this," Ryoga said.  "My sense of
direction is so bad, I don't like to trouble people with..."

     "Would you stop thanking me?" Akane said.  "You've been
doing it since we left my house.  You need to get back home so
you can get some clothing."
     
     Ryoga nodded.  Kasumi had done some of his laundry yesterday
when they'd arrived back, but a lot of his things were in fairly
ragged condition.  He hadn't been back home in a long time 
anyway.
     
     Although it had seldom felt like home.  It was a house, a
stopping point in his travelling like any other.  He hadn't seen
his mother or father in years.  He wasn't sure what he would say
to them if he did.

     Home had been wherever he might lay his head down.  The
night sky and stars had been his roof more often than not, the 
grass his mattress, his backpack his pillow.  His home had been
the world, and was he not then homeless?

     "You okay?"
     
     "Just thinking a bit," he replied, and went back to staring
out the window.  The bus turned ponderously around the corner at
a bit too high a speed, and Akane was, just for a moment, thrown
against him.  She gave him an apologetic smile and shifted over a
few inches in the seat, one long leg sticking out off the edge of
the seat into the path in the centre of the bus, pale blue skirt
stretched slightly tighter than usual by the movement.

     Ryoga pulled his eyes from Akane's legs, blushing, and went
back to the more innocent pastime of staring out the window.  
After a few more minutes of silence, of sitting constantly aware
of her presence, of listening to the muted chatter of the other
passengers, he began to see familiar sights.  The grocers where 
his father had taken him to go shopping for food, or had at least 
tried to take him to; they'd somehow ended up Hokkaido.  The 
clothing store which his mother had taken him to, and which she'd 
then promptly disappeared from for eight months, leaving him in 
one of the changerooms.

     The long stretch of the canal, with sloping cement sides,
and the wooden pegs rising up from the water.  The fifth one was
broken off.  He remembered how it had happened, and closed his
eyes at that memory.  Everywhere, you saw the traces of that
which had vanished, the fragments of the lost.

     The bus rolled on, and finally ahead he saw a stop that
looked familiar.     

     "This is where we get off," Akane said, touching his arm
gently.

     Ryoga looked over and stood up, as the bus pulled to a halt
in a gentle hiss of brakes.  He and Akane made their way to the
doors, past row after row of unfamiliar faces, past a driver who
they thanked without even quite thinking about why they did it.

     They stood on the sidewalk, as behind them the bus pulled
away into the city sprawl.  The day was cold for summer, although 
the sun was warm.  Cars passed by behind them, and people walked 
around them.

     "You remember the way, right?" Ryoga asked after a moment.
     
     Akane nodded.  "Sure.  Once I go somewhere once, I can
always find my way back there."

     "You're lucky," Ryoga said in a soft voice, looking around
the streets at the life passing by.  "I wish it were that easy 
for me."

     "Everyone has strengths and weaknesses," Akane said, 
beginning to walk.  He followed her as they paced down the narrow 
sidewalks, past houses and fences and people passing by.

     "I think it's around this corner," Akane said after a few
more minutes of walking.  "I seem to remember..."

     She lifted her head from seeming contemplation of the ground
at the sound of a dog barking.  A shaggy shape came bounding from
behind the edge of a building, black and white fur split evenly
across the body.  Ryoga's face lit up in a smile, and he bent 
down in time to receive the happy attentions of his dog.  Behind
her came a trailing pack of a half-dozen or so smaller dogs,
half-grown and tumbling over themselves as they hurried after
their mother.

     "Hello, girl," Ryoga said to Shirokuro as he stroked the
aging dog's head.  "Where'd you come from?"

     And then a last stepped around into view, a smile on her
face, a blue ribbon in her dark hair.  "So that's why you got so
excited.  Hello, Ryoga.  Hi, Akane."

     "Akari," Ryoga said, his smile fading slightly. "What are 
you doing here?"

     "I thought I'd come by and see if you were around," Akari
said as she approached.  "I don't really know why.  Shirokuro
sure seemed glad to see me."

     "I'm glad to see you too," Ryoga said, glancing to Akane to
see any reaction.  She was busy attempting, it seemed, to pat all
of the puppies at the same time.  There was a smile on her face
that looked bigger than any he'd seen since Ranma had vanished.

     Akari was in front of him now, reaching up to touch his
cheek with one slim hand.  A pert frown appeared on her face.
"How did you get those?"

     "What?"
     
     "Those little scars."
     
     And as he reached up to touch them and brushed his fingers
against hers in the process, he remembered the hideous voice of
Yamiko, and the shadows rising around her like smoke, and 
razored edges of her nails scoring down his face and arms and
shoulders and chest.

     "What's wrong?" Akari said.  "You look all..."
     
     She sighed.  "I don't know.  Funny."
     
     "Long story," Ryoga said, looking to where Akane was
laughing in that way he remembered as Shirokuro's brood darted
about her.  "Long story.  I'll tell it to you when we get back to
my house, okay?"

     "Alright," Akari said, smile returning as she slipped an arm
through his and began to gently lead him along with her.  Akane
got up from where she knelt and began to walk after them.

     "We'll tell you everything there," Akane said, smile gone
now, sadness in her eyes as she gently rubbed her shoulder with 
one hand.
     
     Ryoga nodded, but he knew that he could no more tell Akari
everything than he could tell Akane anything.  He wasn't even
sure what he'd want to tell either of them anyway.

**********

     Ukyou sat at the kitchen table and poured herself another
cup of tea before she read the note again.  Konatsu's handwriting
was neat and elegant, although the ink was spotted in places by
small splashes of dried liquid; it looked like he'd been crying
when he wrote it.

     Dearest Ukyou-
     
          I have to go away for a while.  There are some things I
     have to do, things I can't tell you about.  I'm sorry.  I 
     always meant to tell you more about Clan Kenzan, things that 
     might help you understand why I am the way I am.  But I just 
     couldn't.
     
          I don't know if I'll see you again, or if I do, whether
     it will be any time soon.  These past few weeks have been the
     happiest I can remember since my father died.  I've never 
     met anyone who was as kind to me as you are.
     
          I hope Ranma will be okay, and I hope you and everyone
     else find him soon.  I hope you'll be happy.  I love you,
     Ukyou.  Don't forget me.
     
     Goodbye,
          -Konatsu
          
     There was a lipstick print next to his name, ruby-red, 
rose-red, blood-red.  Faded too; he'd been gone for some time.
She'd slept since she came home yesterday afternoon until early
this morning, and discovered the note at her bedside table when
she awoke.
     
     She gently sighed and sipped her tea, then read the note
again.  Nothing new revealed itself to her.  Only that one line;
'I always meant to tell you more about Clan Kenzan.'

     There was only that, only that slight hint of something
wrong.  She remembered Konatsu's sisters and mother; they'd been 
dangerous and stupid, and not to mention ugly as hell.  They
didn't seem the types to come back after they got beaten once,
and Konatsu wouldn't have just left with them without a fight;
she hoped he wouldn't have, at least.

     Today was a school day, but there were some things that had
to take precedence.  She supposed that this was one of them.  
Wherever he was, Konatsu was probably in trouble.  

     And of course, there was Ranma, but, then again, when hadn't
there been, in some way or another.  He didn't love her.  That 
had been made explicitly clear, both by his words and his 
actions, after what had seemed a very long time of half-truth and
deception.  

     Not that she didn't miss him, or worry for him, or wonder
where he was.  But she couldn't deny her own heart; she still
loved him, but knowing that he didn't love her turned that love
into something else, something angry inside her.  

     She remembered something Shampoo had said, and the Amazon 
usually would have been among the last people whose words she 
would have taken to heart.  But they'd been true, and, in their 
own way, wise.  Everything was changing, and so fast, and 
everyone was changing with it, whether they wanted to or not.

     There was only one person she could think of who might know
something about Clan Kenzan, and although she had no desire to
talk to or even be around them regularly, these circumstances
were exceptional.  Exceptional circumstances had started to
happen very frequently lately.

     Ukyou walked out of the tiny kitchen at the back of the
restaurant, through the curtain that divided it from the main
area, and into the dining room.  She stepped behind the unfired
grill and grabbed her huge fighting spatula from where it rested
on the wooden counter.  Knowing who she was going to have to talk
to today, she suspected she was probably going to have to use it
at one time or another.

**********

     Nabiki paged through the financial section of the paper and
frowned intensely at what she saw.  The numbers were not good; 
the numbers were not good at all.  The bears appeared to be
getting the drop on the bulls right now, as they had been for
some time.  Nabiki could measure her mood by the stock index;
when it was good, she was in a good mood.  When it was bad, she
was in a lousy mood.  Right now, it was a combination of the low
numbers and other things that had put her into the foul mood she
was currently in.

     However, if there was one thing that was guaranteed to push
her back towards a good mood, it was a meeting with Kuno.  He
would not only provide a boost in finances, if she baited him
well enough he might do something amusing as well.

     "Coffee refill?"
     
     She looked up from behind the shelter of the newspaper at
the waitress and inclined her head in a slight nod, then
immediately dismissed the presence of the girl from her mind as
she continued to scan her eyes down the rows and columns of
letters and numbers.  

     The coffee was refilled and a few minutes passed before her
attention was again drawn away from the paper.

     "Hello."
     
     The voice was not Kuno's, but it was familiar.  Again she
looked up from behind her paper and made a calculated raising of
her eyebrows.  "Kodachi."

     Kuno's sister was dressed in an elegantly simple white
blouse that buttoned up to her neck and a long black skirt.  She
took the seat across from Nabiki in the booth without saying
anything else.

     "I was supposed to meet your brother," Nabiki said, letting
a mild frown grace her face.  "Not you."

     "He will be here in a moment," Kodachi said, and, moments
later, he was, striding in through the door with his usual tall,
rigid walk and approaching the booth with his face set into one
of its common expressions, one which had always reminded Nabiki 
of someone who had just eaten a lemon and was trying not to show 
the effects of it.

     "I don't like other people sitting in on meetings unless I
know about it, Kuno-chan," Nabiki said, allowing the frown on her
face to increase slightly in size.  "I gave up my lunch break for
this."

     "Forgive me," Kuno said with what almost sounded like
sincerity.  "My sister is a last minute addition.  It should not
alter the topic of our conversation in the slightest."

     "Hey, I know what you want," Nabiki said, folding her paper
and putting it out the seat beside her as Kuno sat down next to
his sister, who appeared to be seeing how close she could sit to
the wall.  

     "You know what I want?" Kuno said in a voice that would have
been called deadpan from anyone else.  
     
     "Sure," Nabiki said, pulling the wide manila envelope from 
her bag and passing it across the table to him.  Five each of my
sister and the pig-tailed girl."

     Kuno picked up the envelope and opened it up, then carefully
extracted the photos and fanned them out in his hands, peering at
them intently.  "Ah, such beauty," he whispered quietly.  "The 
shots of sweet Akane..."

     Nabiki allowed herself a quiet smirk.  It hadn't been hard
to get the camera hidden in the room while Akane changed into her
wedding dress.  Maybe one of these days, she would see what she
could get from Kuno for some of the shots of her little sister
that she wouldn't sell him.  Maybe, if he was lucky and she had a 
combination of a particularly good mood and a particularly
pressing need for truly large amounts of cash.

     "Usual price," Nabiki said.  "Six thousand yen for all ten."
     
     "Accepted," Kuno said immediately, pulling the bills from
his wallet and holding them out.  Kodachi sat silently and stared 
up at the ceiling beside him.

     Nabiki reached out and pinched the money between two
fingers, then sighed.

     "You need to let go before I can take them, Kuno-chan," she 
said gently in the same tone of voice she might have used to talk
to a particularly slow child.

     "One condition," Kuno said.
     
     "I don't do conditions," Nabiki said.  "Unless there's some
more profit in it for me."

     "Perhaps there will be," Kuno said quietly.  
     
     He turned and looked at Kodachi.  "Sister, if you would?"
     
     Kodachi produced two photos and laid them on the table next
to each other, facing towards Nabiki.  They were both of Ranma,
one each of male and female.  The poses were almost identical;
right fist pulled back, left fist thrust forward, balancing on
the ball of the left foot with the right knee raised up to the
chest.  There was sunlight defining half the body, shadow taking
the other; in the background, the Tendo pond sparkled.

     "Explain," Kodachi said softly.  "The eyes... the eyes..."
     
     She trailed off, mumbling something, and looked over her
shoulder out the window at the people passing by.  

     "My sister and I have noticed remarkable similarities 
recently between the villain Saotome and the sweet pig-tailed
one.  Modes of dress, manner of speaking, other things.  We have
wondered if they are related somehow."

     As before, Nabiki would have called his voice deadpan had it
been from anyone else.  She smiled slightly and took a long
swallow of coffee before speaking.  It looked as if perhaps the
long game might finally be over.

     "You could say that," she said.
     
     "You could, perhaps," Kuno said.
     
     There was a moment's silence.
     
     "Just tell us," Kodachi said with something like weariness
in her voice.  "Just tell us the truth, Nabiki Tendo."

     "Do you really want to hear it?" Nabiki asked.
     
     There was another moment's silence.
     
     "Yes," Kuno said.  "We want to."
     
     "Ten thousand yen."
     
     Kuno pulled four more bills from his pocket and handed them
across, along with the other six he would have used to pay for
the photos.  "It is done."

     "Right," Nabiki said.
     
     "And I would say one thing to you, Nabiki Tendo," he said
slowly.  "You have your own brand of honesty, but you are most
adept at the twisting of words for your own ends.  This time,
speak plainly."

     "Very well," Nabiki said.  "You want me to speak plainly?"
     
     Kuno nodded and fixed her with a gaze that might have been
penetrating had it come from anyone else.

     "Ranma and his father wandered around for over a decade
before they came here," Nabiki said.  "A few weeks before they
came to town, they went to train at a place in China, in the
Qinghai province.  It's called Jusenkyou, the training ground of
the cursed springs.  According to legend, whoever falls in a
spring takes on the form of whatever creature drowned there.
When you pour hot water on them, they turn back to their normal
form.  When you pour cold water on them, they turn into their
cursed body."

     She steepled her fingers and leaned forward with her elbows
on the table edge, preparing the final blow, the final test to 
see if this time they might get it.

     "Ranma fell into the Nyannichuan.  The Spring of the Drowned
Girl."

     She had expected, of course, disbelief and denial.  What she
got was unexpected, which was something she was not used to.  The
Kuno siblings were, if anything, predictable, even if Kodachi 
tended to be a tiny bit more erratic than her brother.  Kodachi 
put her head down into her hands on the table and began to 
silently make a sound like weeping.  Kuno nodded as if he'd 
always known and had just been waiting to hear confirmation.  He 
put a hand up and gently rubbed his sister's back with a neutral 
expression on his face.  Nabiki forced herself into a small 
smirk, and waited.

     "So... the pig-tailed one and Saotome are the same, then?"
Kuno said finally.

     "Bingo," Nabiki said, and slouched back slightly in the
seat, letting the smirk break into a grin.  "Good for you.  It
only took you... oh, quite a long time to figure it out."

     "I suppose it did," Kuno said, looking up at the ceiling and
still rubbing his sister's back, a gesture that reminded Nabiki 
of someone trying to calm a nervous animal.

     "By the way," Nabiki said.  "You interested in knowing the
current whereabouts of your pig-tailed girl, or the lack 
therein of any knowledge of them?"

     "She is missing, then?" Kuno said.  "And thus, so is 
Saotome?"

     Nabiki said nothing, only waited.
     
     Kodachi put her head up from her hands, revealing eyes dry
of tears and a strange, disturbing smile.  "She calls to him as
well.  She calls to all, in the end."

     Then, eyes beginning to glimmer with that first signature of
tears, and she buried them again in her hands.

     Nabiki rolled her eyes at the two of them, than put a more
serious expression on her face at the sight of Kuno's scowl.  
"Another ten thousand yen ought to cover it."

     "Done," Kuno said, tossing the money onto the table.  Nabiki
took it and tucked it into her purse, then told them the 
bare-bones version of what Akane had told her about Ranma's
disappearance.

     "An intriguing tale," Kuno said when she was done.  "Is
there aught else you have to tell us?"

     "Not really," she said with a shrug.  "Just that the price
of the Akane photos has gone up to six thousand yen for five."

     "And if I still wish the photos of the pig-tailed girl?"
Kuno said.

     Nabiki smiled at him.  "You know, because we've had such a
good business relationship for so long, I'll give them to you for
three thousand."

     "Then so be it," Kuno said with a shrug, passing her another
nine thousand yen with a casual expression on his face.  He took
the envelope and tucked it into his gi, then rose up from his 
seat with a hand on his sister's arm.  "Come, sister."

     He half-led his sister to stand to her feet, then looked at
Nabiki with a flat expression on his face.  "Quid non mortalia
pectora cogis, auri sacra fames."

     "What's that?" Nabiki said.
     
     "I will see you later, Nabiki Tendo," Kuno said, beginning
to walk with his sister to the door, a hand on her elbow.  
Nabiki shrugged and picked up her paper again, then finished her
coffee.  By the time that was done, she'd put whatever it was
Kuno had said from her mind, as she usually did any time he quoted
something, in whatever language he did it in.

     When the bill came, she paid without leaving a tip and
walked out of the restaurant, feeling rather contented at being
nearly thirty thousand yen richer.  

     She walked down the street that led back towards Furinkan.
Akane might have skipped off today to take Ryoga back to his
house, but she had both business to conduct and an education to
gain.  

     Passing by a garbage can, she paused to stuff her newspaper
into it, then found her eye caught by the slight edge of a manila
envelope sticking up from the can.  She plucked it out between 
two fingers, then frowned as she opened it.  The pig-tailed girl
photos were all inside, but the Akane ones were gone.

     She snickered.  "You bought them just to throw them away?
Kuno-chan, you're even dimmer than I thought."

     Still laughing, she tucked them into her bag again and 
walked off back down the street.  Knowing Kuno, she could
probably sell them to him again next week, after he managed to
rationalize this new development.  She might not have been 
laughing if she'd looked in the next garbage can she passed, 
where the five photos of Akane lay carefully buried under the 
refuse of the day.

**********

     "Then we have a deal?"
     
     Shampoo nodded and looked across the desk at the florid
faced, heavy man in the cheap blue suit across from her.  "We
have deal."
     
     "Excellent.  If you'll just sign your name there, and
there..."

     She did as the man said, then gave him back his pen.  
     
     "What made your great-grandmother decide to sell all of a
sudden?" he asked, putting the pen back into his pocket and
carefully shuffling the papers in his hands.

     "She have business elsewhere," Shampoo said.  "We done now,
yes?"

     "Yes, yes.  You'll be off the property within a week, then?"
     
     "Yes."
     
     "Thank you.  The money should be in your accounts by...
tomorrow evening.  It's been a pleasure doing business with you."

     "Yes."
     
     Shampoo tucked her copies of the documents under her arm and
walked out of the office, knowing the man was watching her 
intently as she did.  He'd spent more time staring at her chest
than at anything else while they were working out the arrangements
to sell the Nekohanten, but she could not have cared less, 
considering that his distraction had made him pay a bit more than
the value the property had been assessed at.

     She walked down the stairs and out the front door, into the
streets of early afternoon.  It was the lunch hour, and most any
other time would have found her serving as a waitress at the
Nekohanten.  Not now, though, and not ever again.  

     People passed by on the streets as she unchained her bicycle
from the lamppost and stood it upright, carefully putting the
papers into the basket and then swinging a leg over the seat and
putting her feet on the pedals.

     Then she was off, hair whipping behind her in the breeze of
her passage, weaving through the streets and darting around
corners, the glorious feeling of freedom, of almost seeming to 
fly she was moving so fast.  She became the wind, or a part of
it, and for a time there was nothing beyond the beauty of speed.

     As she turned into another street, she saw someone waving to
her from where he swept the sidewalk in front of the small, 
two-story clinic at the corner.  She slowed to a stop, hair 
falling down against her back as she did.

     "Hello, Shampoo," Tofu said as he leaned the broom in the 
crook of his arm.  "Haven't seen you in a long time."

     "Nihao, Doctor Tofu," Shampoo said, resting one foot on the
ground to steady herself and the bike as she talked.

     "How has everything been recently?" Tofu said with a smile.
     
     She looked at the ground and sighed.  "Not very good."
     
     "I'm sorry to hear that," Tofu said.  "What's wrong?  I
heard Ranma's in some kind of trouble."

     "Not sure about that," Shampoo said quietly.  "I..."
     
     "Would you like to come in and have a cup of tea?"
     
     "I busy.  Sorry."
     
     "You sure?  It wouldn't take more than a few minutes.  You
might feel better if you talked to someone."

     "Really, I very..."
     
     He stepped over and laid a hand on her shoulder gently, the
expression on his face one of concern.  "It really helps,
believe me.  I don't have any appointments for the next hour, and
I can spare the time if you can."

     She slowly nodded, realizing it probably would feel good to
talk to someone.  Tofu had always seemed a good man; he'd hired 
her when she first came here and given her a place to stay, for a 
little while.  

     She wheeled her bike inside the gate and parked it against
the wall, then followed Tofu into the clinic and through the
waiting room and clinic into his small office, where he offered
her a wheeled desk chair and went into the attached kitchen to
put on the kettle.  When he came back in, he was carrying a small
plate of rice crackers that he put down on the desk before taking
his seat.

     "Now, what's happening?" Tofu said, taking a cracker and
munching on it.  His brown eyes were warm behind the round frames
of his glasses.

     "Don't know where to start," Shampoo said with a sigh as she
took a cracker.

     "The beginning is always good," Tofu said with a shrug.
     
     Shampoo laughed despite herself.  "You hear about Ranma and
Akane wedding, right?"

     Tofu nodded.  "Yes.  I guess it must have slipped their
minds to invite me."

     "Funny, Kasumi and Nabiki send out invitations..." Shampoo 
said, then winced.  Tofu's face broke into a grin, and his eyes 
went a little unfocused.

     "Ah, Kasumi..."
     
     "But anyway, that no matter," Shampoo said.
     
     Tofu seemed to snap back to reality.  "Yes, yes.  Go on."
     
     So she began to tell him, everything she was willing too.
He was a good listener; somewhere in the space of time that
passed she found a cup of tea in her hands, and after that was
done she found another.

     And he listened.  He didn't interrupt, he didn't question,
and he never seemed to disapprove of anything she said.  And
finally, when she finished, he only leaned back in his desk chair
and steepled his hands carefully under his chin.

     "I'm sorry to hear about all this," he said sadly.  "I'm
sorry to hear you're going back to China too.  I'll miss you."

     Shampoo blinked.  "I miss you too, doctor."
     
     "Well, I have a patient soon," Tofu said, standing up.  
"Come on, I'll walk you out."

     Shampoo nodded and followed him back through the clinic and
waiting room to the front door, which he opened for her and stood
beside as she prepared to walk out.

     "So long," Tofu said.  "Come by at least once before you go,
to say goodbye."

     "I try," Shampoo said.  Then, impulsively, she leaned up and
kissed his cheek.  "Thank you.  Kasumi going to be very lucky."

     Tofu giggled, and patted her on the shoulder as she walked
out.  "Bye, Shampoo."

     She grabbed her bike at the gate and got ready to ride off,
then glanced back at Tofu.  He was staring off blankly into 
space, a pleasantly dazed expression on his face and a small 
smile gracing his lips.

     "Kasumi very lucky," she repeated softly to herself as she
peddled off.  

     She was gone before she saw the dazed expression vanish, and
the brown eyes go hard and cold.  The small smile, however,
remained, teeth showing slightly, but it never reached the eyes
at all now that there was no one to see.

**********

     "I think he's out back, Ukyou."
     
     "Thanks, Kasumi."
     
     "He's been in a funny mood since he got back, you know.  I
think he's changed a bit."

     "I kinda noticed."
     
     Ukyou walked out onto the back porch and watched the 
dark-haired man go through a complex kata by the pond.  There was
the powerful sense of strength in the looseness of his movements
that marked him as a master.

     "Happosai," she called after a moment, getting a firm grip 
on the handle of her spatula.

     He finished the movement, looked back and smiled at her.  He
was younger than when she'd last seen him by about ten years, and
she'd last seen him yesterday.  He was a plain-featured man, 
short and slender, with an easy, fluid grace to his movements 
rather than his former scuttling speed.

     "Ukyou my dear," he said as he approached, smile growing
with each step.  "What a pleasure.  You look beautiful today."

     "Back off, lecher," Ukyou said.  "I wanna talk to you."
     
     "No need to be so hostile," Happosai said with a shrug.  
"How about a kiss to say hello?  I like them on the lips, long,
and maybe just a little bit of the-"

     Ukyou pulled the spatula from her back, gripped it in both
hands and swung in one motion as he took a step too close and
intruded within her personal space.

     Happosai blocked it with one finger and smirked at her.
     
     "Now that wasn't nice at all," he said.
     
     He was shorter than her, but you wouldn't have known it from
the way he carried himself and the way he somehow managed to 
stare down at her.  "You obviously came prepared to defend 
against being molested by me, didn't you?"

     Ukyou opened her mouth to speak, then closed it when
Happosai continued.  "Think about this for a moment, dear girl.
Do you think you, or Akane, or even Ranma, could actually stop me
if I ever really wanted to do something to you?  And that goes
double given what's happening to me now."

     With that, he somehow plucked the spatula from her fingers,
whirled it through the air above his head one-handed, and then
put it back into her hands before turning and walking towards the
pond again.  "If you want to talk, come over here."

     Resisting whatever urge she had to shudder, Ukyou followed
him to the pond, although she declined to sit down when he did.

     He looked up at her.  "What is it?"
     
     "I want you to tell me about kunoichi," Ukyou said.  
"Specifically, about Clan Kenzan."

     Happosai licked his lips slightly and looked into the water
of the pond.  "Why do you want to know?"

     "You're the one who took Ranma to that tea shop where 
Konatsu lived with his step-mother, right?"

     "I was," Happosai said.  "But... that cute little ninja
girl.  How unfortunate that she turned out to be a man."

     "You wanna tell me about Clan Kenzan, or what?"
     
     "Kenzan is pretty much legendary," Happosai said.  "They
supposedly died out during the Meiji Restoration.  But some
people believe they're still a powerful force, even today."

     "Do you?"
     
     Happosai nodded.  "They're ninja.  They hide in the shadows.
You can wield a lot more power behind the scenes than people 
would expect."

     "So what's the big deal about them?"
     
     "Well, they're ninja.  What else needs to be said?  They're
honourless dogs for the most part, loyal only to themselves."

     "But Konatsu's not like that."
     
     "I'm speaking of ninjas in general.  They began as assassins
and spies, and most of them haven't changed much.  The clans
still exist, but they hide even more than they did when they
began.  There's always unscrupulous people in power who will pay
a lot of money to see things done.  Sometimes they go to the
Yakuza; when they really need something done, they may go to one
of the ninja clans, if they have the right connections."

     "Okay, but what's the deal with Kenzan?"
     
     "Kenzan is entirely made up of women.  They kill powerful
men, and they do it in such a way that it looks like an accident.
They're all femme fatales of the highest skill, good at
seduction and killing, not necessarily in that order."

     He shuddered.  "With the exception of those three 
monstrosities at the tea shop."

     "Do you know anything else?  Konatsu's gone, and all I have
is this note," Ukyou said.  She produced it and handed it to him,
then stared around the Tendo yard at the trees as he read it with
an intent expression on his face.

     "I think it might be best if you just forgot about this,"
Happosai said after a moment, very softly.  He crumpled the note
into a ball and tossed it into the pond.

     Ukyou snatched it up before it could sink completely and
smoothed it out against the hem of her blouse, wincing at how the
ink ran.  "I need that.  And I'm not forgetting about this.  He's
my friend, and if he's in trouble then..."

     "What about Ranma?"
     
     Ukyou's face tightened.  "Ranma can take care of himself.
He showed well enough he doesn't need me, at least."

     "And Konatsu can't take care of himself?"
     
     Ukyou sighed.  "Konatsu's... different from Ranma.  Ranma's
independent.  He does what he thinks is right.  He doesn't let
people push him around."
 
     "He doesn't bow to anyone, that's for sure," Happosai said 
after a moment.  "The boy is stubborn."

     "Konatsu folds like a house of cards if someone pushes him,"
Ukyou said.  "His step-mother and step-sisters treated him like
dirt, and he took it, because he didn't know what else to do.  
He's... it's like he doesn't know how to think for himself a lot
of the time."

     "You seem awfully protective of him."
     
     Ukyou grimaced helplessly.  "I don't know.  He's... he's a
good guy.  His life just went the wrong way somewhere along the
line, and he does the best he can..."

     "No matter how pretty the bauble, if it rolls into the
tiger's den it's best to leave it be," Happosai said quietly.

     "He's not a bauble," Ukyou said just as quietly.  "He's my
friend."

     The wind scattered on the surface of the pond in miniature
waves as Happosai stood up, brushing dust from his pants.  He
looked at Ukyou intently for a moment, then sighed gently.  "I
remember when I was like you once.  I was young, I didn't believe
anything could stop me..."

     "I doubt you were ever like me," Ukyou said.
     
     "I doubt I was as well, to tell the truth," Happosai said, 
with something almost like regret.  "I've heard Clan Kenzan has 
their headquarters somewhere in Okinawa.  And that's all I know."

     "Thank you," Ukyou said.  
     
     "What are you going to do now?" he asked.
     
     "I don't know," she said.  "I really don't.  I... I've got
some money stored away.  I could go there, try to..."

     "Okinawa is not a small place," Happosai said.  
     
     "I know that," Ukyou snapped.  "But..."
     
     She shook her head.  "I don't know.  He's in trouble.  I
know he's in trouble, or he wouldn't have left like he did."

     "I see," Happosai said.  "I'll likely be going to China 
within a week or so, but if you're going to go to Okinawa, tell 
me before you leave."

     "Why are you going to China?"
     
     "I think Ranma's likely somewhere around Jusenkyou," 
Happosai said.  "Genma and I will be having a look for him."

     "You mean you know where he is?" Ukyou said.  "Why didn't
you tell me right away?"

     "I don't know that he's there," Happosai said.  "It's little
more than an educated guess.  But it's all we have to go on."

     "I've got to go too, then, even if it's just..."
     
     She trailed off.  "But Konatsu..."
     
     "Do what you feel you have to," Happosai said.  "That'll
probably be the best thing."

     He stepped by her, patted her on the rear lightly, and was
gone into the house too quickly for her to even attempt any kind
of retaliation.

     Ukyou stood in the backyard for a few minutes before she
left through the front gate, staring at the pond, and then at the 
waterlogged note in her hand.  The ink dripping down the page had 
mingled with the colours of the lipstick print Konatsu had left, 
and now the two swirled upon the page in red and black, a pattern 
like a rose with a dark heart at centre.

**********

     The sleek red car turned the corner and eased smoothly up
the driveway.  A press of a button rolled the garage door at the
end open, and another press when the car was through closed it.

     Motion sensors kicked in at the entrance, and overhead the
banks of fluorescent lights rolled on, the darkness outside the
windows peeling back, the inside of the car illumined.

     "We are home, sister," Tatewaki Kuno said from the front
seat.  He glanced into the back of the car, where Kodachi was
half-huddled against the passenger-side door.  

     "I know, brother," she murmured.  
     
     "How are you feeling?"
     
     "A little better.  Confirmation... confirmation is good, I
suppose."

     "Yes, I suppose it is," Kuno said drolly as he unbuckled his
seatbelt and stepped out of the car.  He walked around it to the
other side, casting an admiring glance at the lines and colour of 
it; he regretted that he couldn't drive it more often.  
     
     He opened the door for his sister and watched her warily as 
she stepped out, carefully placing one foot on the cement floor 
of the garage, then another.  She stood up and made a deep 
sighing sound, blinking in the lights from overhead.

     "Brother, did you ever have the feeling you had to do
something, despite everything that you knew telling you not to?"
she said after a moment.

     "I am unsure what you mean."
     
     "This place Nabiki Tendo mentioned, this Jusenkyou.  I..."
     
     She trailed off.  "Nothing.  It is foolish."
     
     "There is no foolishness in faith, unless one has so much of 
it that it becomes blindness," Kuno said, laying a hand on her 
shoulder and gently guiding her into a walk towards the door that 
led into the house. "What is this thing you wish to do, sister?"

     "I want to go there.  I don't know why.  I have never had
the desire to travel.  But I want, I need to go there."     
     
     Kuno nodded his head.  "And you believe you have to go there
because?"

     "I already said I don't know why," Kodachi murmured softly
as they walked into a side room and started towards the foyer.  
"I only..."

     "Have you considered the size of Qinghai?" Kuno said.  "It 
is huge.  It is mainly mountains.  There is a small population.  
Do you speak any Chinese at all?"

     "I may be able to find a guide," Kodachi said.  "And if I
can't I'll survive somehow."

     The next words were filled with bitterness.  "And you and I
are both very good at surviving, aren't we brother?"

     "Aye," Kuno said after a moment, as they stepped into the 
foyer of the house.  "That we are."
     
     Kodachi laughed, a strange giggle, the bitterness gone.  "I
can't believe you fooled that Tendo girl for so long.  She's a
cold one, alright.  She should have seen through you."
     
     "I do not know what you are talking of, sister," Kuno said.
     
     "I saw what you did with those photos," Kodachi said, and
laughed.  "Why?"

     "People believe a thing far more easily if it is what they
want to believe," Kuno said.  "Sister, I think it might be best 
if you rested for a time."

     Kodachi nodded.  "I... I think I would like that too.  I
have been so very tired lately."

     "Then rest," Kuno said, giving her a gentle prod on the back
to direct her towards the stairs, a soft smile on his face.  "I
shall wake you later."

     He watched her climb the stairs and disappear around the
corner when she reached the landing of the second floor.  A
moment longer, he walked into the kitchen and ran water into a
glass, then drank it back.  It was cold and refreshing going down
his throat.
     
     He put the glass down with a slight clink on the tiled
countertop, then looked about the kitchen for a long moment.  
Upstairs, he vaguely detected the sound of his sister's door
opening, and the sound of footsteps padding through the ceiling
above his head.  Her room was directly over the kitchen.

     After a while, he heard the soft sound of weeping coming
down from above, and that set his heart slightly at ease.
Silence would have bothered him much more.  Weeping, weeping was
good, if it was a time to weep.  

     He decided his sister would, for now, be alright.  This was
fortunate, as he felt the great and pressing need to spend a few
hours in the training hall.

**********

     The sky was scarlet and purple, cradling the last dipping of
the sun as it fell below the horizon.  Ryoga, Akari and Akane sat
on the back porch of the Hibiki house, watching it fall.  

     Ryoga was sitting on a padded bench next to Akari, holding
her hand in his.  Nearby, Akane was leaning back in a chair, her
hand lightly stroking Shirokuro's head as the dog contentedly
dozed next to her.  On the spacious if slightly ill-tended back
lawn, the puppies romped around the mountainous form of 
Katsunikishi, the immense pig enduring their attentions with 
patient good nature.

     "I should really be heading home soon," Akari said softly,
leaning her head against Ryoga's shoulder and sighing.  Her hair
brushed against his cheek.  "It's getting late."

     "Akane and I ought to be getting back as well," Ryoga said,
squeezing her hand gently and trying to make his pulse slow down
a little.  He could feel the warmth of her cheek against his
shoulder, even through his shirt.  "I'm probably going to be
staying with the Tendos, seeing what I can do to help out if 
need be."

     "I understand," Akari said.  "I know Ranma's your friend."
     
     Ryoga exhaled gently and leaned his head against hers for a
moment.  Being with her like this, it was almost as if Akane
didn't exist in his mind at all.  But she was always there, even
if just a little, right upon the edge of his comprehension.

     "The sky's beautiful tonight," Akari commented after a
moment.

     "It is, isn't it," Ryoga responded in a quiet voice.  Out on
the lawn, one of the dogs barked, breaking the stillness.  Far
away, he heard someone calling out softly, words he couldn't make
out.

     The sun edged down further, and somewhere off in the grass
the chirping night-song of cicadas began, rising gently upon the
slight evening breeze and carrying throughout the neighbourhood.

     "I guess it's best to get going before the sun sets," Akari
murmured, raising her head off his shoulder and slowly standing
up from the bench.  Ryoga followed her a moment, as Akane turned
her head to look at the two of them.

     "Are you going now, Akari?" she asked, still patting the 
two-coloured dog where it lay.

     "I'm just going to walk her to the door," Ryoga said.
     
     Akari nodded.  "I'll see you, Akane."
     
     She turned and called to the pig on the lawn.  
"Katsunikishi, wait for me out front."

     The pig made a rumbling sound and stood up, walking slowly
around the side of the house, with the half-grown dogs following
in his wake, yapping and nipping playfully at his heels for a few
moments before they ran back onto the lawn in a tumbling mass of
fur.

     Akane got out of the chair, Shirokuro making a soft bark in
her half-asleep state as she rose.  She stepped over and took
Akari's hands in hers.  "I'll see you around too, Akari.  It was
really nice to see you again."

     The other girl bowed her head slightly.  "It was really nice
to see you."

     She took her hands from Akane's, then abruptly drew the
other girl into an embrace.  Ryoga looked away, a bit embarrassed,
but still heard Akari speak.

     "I hope things will be okay.  Call me if you want."
     
     "Thank you."
     
     And such a strange feeling rising in him, such a love for
both of them.  For different reasons, and a different feeling it
thus was.  But it was, most likely, love.

     Akari put her hand on his arm a moment later.  "I'm going
now.  Walk me out?"

     He nodded, and let her take him by the hand and lead him
back into the house, as Akane sat back down and stared off into
the sunset falling over the city.

     He walked her to the front of the house, and stood with her
on the porch.  Out in the street, Katsunikishi sat on his
haunches, still and patient as a mountain.

     Akari paused, one hand upon the swinging half-gate that led
out onto the street, one hand in his.  The remnants of the 
sun that still reached them in the shadow of the house cast
vaguely crimson highlights in the dark of her hair.

     "Ryoga, you be careful, okay?" she said.
     
     "Careful of what?"
     
     "Anything that might hurt you.  I... I don't want to lose
you, okay?"

     "I'll be alright," he said gently, looking into her eyes and
wishing he could himself believe it.  "Really, I will be."

     Akari nodded, then sighed gently and closed her eyes.  She
laced the fingers of her hand through his and took a step back
from the gate, placing her other hand on his shoulder and resting
her head against his chest for a moment.  "I just hope..."

     She sighed again, and snuggled closer.  "I just hope Ranma
will be okay.  Akane... Akane's going to be really sad if he
isn't."

     Ryoga stroked her hair with one large hand and held her
against him with the other, feeling the warmth of her back
through the pale green fabric of her blouse.  "I really hope he's 
okay too."

     A car rolled past, the windows open, music rising soft and
sad from the inside.  The only sign of the driver was a hand
tapping in time against the door through the open window.

     "I told Akane that we would find him," Ryoga said after a
moment, to Akari in his embrace.  "Mousse thinks he may be in
China.  I might have to go there.  I might be gone for a long
time."

     "I know that," Akari said.
     
     "Goodbye, then," Ryoga said slowly.
     
     "Goodbye," Akari said, just as slowly.
     
     There was silence.
     
     From far off, there came the sound of a siren rising, and
then slowly fading off into the distance, ocean waves receding on
the shoreline.

     Akari pulled back from him, then leaned up and kissed him,
just to the side of his mouth, lingering, sweet, somehow
innocent.  Then, too soon, she was away from him, smiling in the 
lengthening shadows of sunset.

     "I said it before, Ryoga," Akari said.  "But if you didn't
get it the first time, I'll wait for you.  For as long as I have
to."

     And then she turned, pushing open the swinging gate and
whistling sharply.  Katsunikishi moved towards her with lumbering
grace and she swung up onto his broad neck and positioned herself
just behind his ears.  She turned back and waved to him, then
whistled again, and the pig began to move down the street at a
pace that would have made a fast horse envious.  Soon, she was
out of sight.

     Ryoga stood on the porch for a moment longer, then walked
back inside the house, to go and sit out back with Akane and
watch the last fragment of the sun setting, and then, perhaps, 
the slow and subtle rolling out of night.

**********

     Yoko stared at the reflection in the mirror, a pale face
with black-lensed glasses that let no light through.  She
carefully gave the brush a last stroke through her dark hair,
then gathered up the still-damp length of it and thrust the
silver pin through it to hold it up.

     She grabbed her robe from the back of the door and pulled it
on, black silk whispering across her skin, then opened the door
with the robe still loose about her body.

     She yanked the belt of the robe tight around her slim waist
and stepped out of the bathroom, steam swirling out of the 
now-open door into the hallway of the second floor in a thick 
cloud before it began to quickly dissipate in the open air.  The 
bath had relaxed her somewhat, but she was still tense from all 
that had taken place today.

     She made her way into the small but elegant living room, and
from there to the sealed, handleless door that led into her
study.  A quick word and the touch of her hand sent the bolts
clicking back, and she pushed it open and stepped inside,
swinging it closed behind her.

     There was a small wooden desk and a padded chair on wheels.
Papers were neatly on one side of the desk in a pile, next to a
rack of pens and pencils.  The other side was occupied by the
compact but expensive computer.  The wall opposite the door was
taken up entirely by a bookshelf, and there was only a small
window, the curtains drawn.  There was a light on the ceiling,
but she didn't bother to turn it on.  She saw just as well in the
darkness as she did in the light.

     She walked over to the small wet bar in one corner and 
poured herself a glass of white wine, then took a seat at the 
desk while gently sipping it.  She began to sort through the 
papers, glancing at reports on the finances of various shell 
companies, handwritten papers from informants, neatly cribbed 
notes in her own precise hand from phone conversations.  

     She glanced to the side, where a large framed print hung on
one wall.  Done in stark black and white, the centerpiece was a
pale man, wrapped in a cloak like a funeral shroud and riding
upon a pale, wild-maned horse that rode across a night sky with
dark clouds rolling above and below.  Behind the rider followed
things that were not quite men and not quite serpents and not
quite bats, but had a little of all three within the definitions
of their forms.  From the folds of the cloak around the rider's 
right arm a scythe that seemed an extension of his body was 
visible, blade long and curving and pointed straight up at the 
sky.  The lower left-hand corner bore Dore's signature, the lower 
right-hand Pisan's.  She cared little for European art usually, 
but she had found something of a fondness for certain of Dore's
biblical illustrations.

     "And I looked, and behold a pale horse, and his name that 
sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him."

     She was moving before the speaker finished, hand coming up,
power exploding through her, a wave of pure force, invisible to
any other eye and moving faster than sound, blasting from her 
hand in the direction of the voice even as she turned to see who 
had dared to enter here without her permission.

     The blast was not invisible to her eyes, of course.  Which
was why she felt herself grow cold when it touched the tall
figure and then simply ceased to be.  

     "That is not the welcome I had expected," Ritter said, very
quietly, walking silently across the floor, his blue eyes flat 
and hard.  He was dressed the same as the last time she'd seen
him, charcoal suit looking freshly pressed, pale blond hair
neatly combed.
     
     "You might have warned me you were coming," Yoko said,
taking a long sip of wine and trying to act casual.

     "Why?  Are you afraid of me?"
     
     Yoko looked at him levelly.  "I would be a fool not to be
wary of you, Ritter.  If that is being afraid, than I suppose I
am afraid of you."

     "Is there anything new that I should know of?" Ritter said, 
walking over to the bar and opening it up.  He poured himself a 
shot of whiskey, and then stood there holding it as if not quite 
sure what to do with it.

     "A few things," Yoko said, which was an understatement.
     
     "Go on."
     
     She took another sip of her wine, as Ritter downed his shot
and poured himself a second.  "Some of them are making 
preparations to leave for China.  They are going to Jusenkyou, no
doubt."

     "And what are you intending to do?"
     
     "I am not sure," Yoko admitted.  

     "Do you have connections with the Chinese embassies?"
     
     She nodded.  "I could block their passport applications, or
alert the government to the presence of foreign nationals in
Qinghai if they choose to sneak in, as they have before."

     Ritter shook his head.  "It would do no good.  If they are
meant to go there, they shall go there."

     Yoko scowled.  "Unless they do not leave here alive."
     
     "You will leave them," Ritter said.  "In fact, if they are
trying to get tourist visas, do what you can to speed up the
process."

     Yoko put her wine glass down on the desk with a clink and 
stared at him.  "What are you talking about?"

     "I said I would be going to China soon," Ritter said, and
smiled, although like all his smiles, it never reached his eyes.
"I intend my arrival to coincide with theirs."

     "What for?" Yoko asked.
     
     "You don't know me, Yoko," Ritter said slowly, as if he were
talking to himself.  "You don't know what I am.  You have no
comprehension."

     It was very true, she realized.  One of the reasons she was
afraid of him was that she did not understand him.  She 
understood many things, but she could not even scratch the 
surface of Ritter's nature.  

     "I want the names of those agents you have among the
Joketsuzoku," Ritter said abruptly.

     Yoko paled.  "I have no idea what you are-"
     
     His smile vanishing, Ritter took a step towards her.
     
     She told him, as quickly as she could, shamed at how easily
the words fell from her tongue.     
     
     He laughed when she was done.  "Oh, they have fallen far 
indeed.  How did you do it?"

     "Many of them leave for the cities," Yoko murmured.  "We
watch carefully, go after those we think might be willing to
serve.  They go back to their village.  We get few, of course.
But we have some.  They tend to advance quickly.  Many of their
rivals are prone to accidents."

     "Excellent," Ritter said, and his smile came back again, a
very cold smile.  "Is that all?"

     Yoko shook her head.  "No.  Three of the Children were
killed last night.  Someone cut them into lots of little pieces
and sent them in two dozen packages to one of our drop points."

     "Strange," Ritter said.  "Has anything like that happened
before?"     
     
     "We had a large group killed about three years ago," Yoko
said.  "Two men whose trial we'd fixed and four others they were
with at the time.  They were killed with a sword, but not like
this.  Whoever did those three last night started with the 
fingers and toes and moved on, while they were still breathing.  
This was after they had skinned them alive, of course."

     "How inefficient," Ritter said, shaking his head.  "They are
dead in the end anyway.  Why take so long?"

     He sighed.  "Did you know Hako was still in town yesterday?"
     
     "What?"
     
     "I met with her.  Lovely woman.  Very charming."
     
     Yoko turned her head so Ritter wouldn't see her frown.  Hako
was a sadist and bloodthirsty beyond reason, but she was also a
senior member of the Circle Eternal and powerful in her own right
as the head of Clan Kenzan.  "She was supposed to be gone the day 
before, like all the others."

     "Was she?" Ritter said, and shrugged.  "I wouldn't know.  I
don't concern myself with the politics of your little sisterhood,
Yoko.  I do the master's will.  It is enough."

     "There is a third thing," Yoko said after a moment.  She'd
saved this one for last.  "We found the eldest of the traitors,
after all this time."

     Ritter stepped across the floor in an instant and grabbed 
her by the collar.  "You lie."

     "I do not," Yoko said.  "I do not, Ritter."
     
     He let her go, and the expression on his face was pure rage.
"Where?"

     "There's a forest, up in the north-"
     
     "It doesn't matter.  She is not important, not yet.  Leave
it alone for now.  When the time comes, you shall know."

     "You can't do anything about her, can you?" Yoko said
softly.  "So Jusenkyou is beyond us, so she too is beyond-"

     The flat of his hand knocked her from the chair to the floor
in a quick, brutal second.  "I said I would kill you if you spoke
to me disrespectfully again.  You are on the verge, Yoko."

     His blow had cut her cheek open against her teeth, and the
blood tasted sweet in her mouth as she stood.  "I am sorry,
Ritter.  I meant no disrespect."

     "I would hope that you did not," Ritter said.  "Otherwise,
you are far stupider than I thought."

     "Why are you going to China, Ritter?" Yoko said, wanting
both to know and to turn the conversation away from where it was
going.

     He looked at her flatly.  "What business is that of yours?"
     
     "Ritter, we must work together," Yoko said.  "We cannot pull
in different directions.  The master does not wish it."

     Ritter smirked.  "And how should you know his wishes?"
     
     "Tell me or tell me not," Yoko said.  "I do not care.  It
only may help me, that I do not hinder you in some way."

     "Very well, then," Ritter said.  "I go to prepare the way
for you and yours."

     Yoko held back her surprise.  "How?"
     
     "That is not for me to tell or you to know," Ritter said
cryptically.  "You said I was only one man, and you are right,
Yoko.  Even I cannot fight armies by myself.  But I can go to
Jusenkyou, and that is something you cannot do.  I can break the
power that holds you out, and that I shall do."

     "Will that not be difficult, even for you?"
     
     Ritter shook his head.  "Would you like to know a name I was
called once, Yoko, one that I have never myself liked very much?"

     He went on before she had a chance to answer one way or the
other.  "I was called the Serpent.  I am most subtle when I need
to be, but my fang is far deadlier than you could ever imagine."

     He walked towards the door, in total silence.  "I do not
think we will meet again for some time, Yoko.  I shall send a
call to you if need be.  Farewell."

     The door opened as soon as he was a few steps from it, and
then closed behind him as soon as he walked out.  

     Yoko waited a few minutes.  She poured herself another glass
of wine.  When that was done, she poured herself a third.

     Then she began to laugh.  
     
     "Ritter, you fool," she whispered quietly.  "You think I
need you to gain me admittance to Jusenkyou?"

     She leaned back in the chair, and finished the third glass
of wine.  Setting it down with a clink, she took off her glasses
and stared up at ceiling.  Slowly, slowly she let herself drift,
almost as if she were going to sleep.  The wrinkled flesh of her
hands plucked almost unconsciously at the air, as if she were
working some invisible loom.

     Minds floated past her vision, the vague feelings and
emotions and locations of those she'd bound her spells to.  They
were all complex things in one way or another, coloured in a
thousand different shades, dancing like flames.  Picking out Galm
was easy enough; he was like a razor amidst dull blades, a black
flame among bright torches.

     By the position, he was crossing the ocean now.  It would
take him at least a day after he reached land to come to 
Jusenkyou; he was fast, but not that fast.  

     Things were slowly, slowly falling into place.  Hako would
pay for her trangressions.  Ritter would learn that he was not 
invincible.  She had seen it, and though she did not quite know 
how, she hoped that somewhere amidst the threads her hand would 
be found.

**********

     Ritter laughed as he walked down the street, and did not
stop laughing for a long time.  It had worked perfectly, almost
better than he might have hoped.  She had believed him about
Hako, and, not only that, she had honestly thought he did not
know about the hound she'd set upon the trail.

     She thought she could see what would be, but he heard 
another voice whispering inside his head, and it told him what
must be.  There was still something for him to fear in
Jusenkyou, even with all he was.  The hound would deal with it.
He had been promised that.

     He remembered the couplet, vaguely.  He had a lot of 
memories to deal with these days.

     *He needs fear not the touch of night*
     *Until is drawn a blade of Light*
     
     There was only one who he believed could possibly do that
thing.  Until that one was dealt with, truly dealt with, he would
have to watch himself, and be careful.

     But once he knew that one to be gone, then no force of
heaven or earth or the waters under the earth would stave his or
his lord's fury.  He had waited for so long, but his time was a 
mote in the eye of his master's waiting.  

     And yes, coming back to him from deep within, another 
couplet:

     *And once the golden heavens fall*
     *Then wakes the Oldest One of All*

     One more thing now, from much later in his memory than the
first two.  He thought it was Goethe.  This one, he said out 
loud, relishing the brutal sound of it.

     "Amboss oder Hammer sein."
     
     He would be the hammer.  Yoko and her sisters would be the
anvil.  And in between would lie Jusenkyou and her people, 
smashed like toys, and he would see his long desire fulfilled at
last.