Kuno Got Lucky

Part 2: Lady Luck Returns

by Gregg Sharp

=====

part 2 of this little unintended story. not quite satisfied
with the ending, but we'll see, ne?

still debating whether i need to take it to a chapter 3, ah
well...

----------------------------------

        note: this story was an effort to write an
Akane-less story, as everyone knows i'm not fond of the "i
like you so i'll pummel you, not listen, and not trust you
at all" philosophy of romance.
        Unfortunately, a significant number of responses
wanted to see the Return Of Akane. *sigh* (and yes, next
time i try this i'll simply kill her off which cuts down on
the guest appearances.) Hence Akane leaves a happy home life
in a distant school (Tanzania) to return to where she was
abused...

-----------March 14, 1992--------------

 Nabiki became aware of the way Ranma kept scrutinizing her
from his usual position atop the fence on the way to school.
"Something up, Ranma-kun?"

 "Well, it's kinda..." Ranma's voice trailed off.

 Nabiki knew him well enough by now. She merely smirked and
raised an eyebrow, waiting for Ranma to get around to saying
what was on his mind.

 "Errr. Well. It's this bit with the engagement," Ranma
began haltingly.

 "Oh? You want it to be a short engagement?"

 "yeah...no...I don't know," Ranma said, his voice a whisper
as he looked confusedly at Nabiki.

 Nabiki reminded herself that she had come to terms with
this over a couple of years, as opposed to Ranma dealing
with it over breakfast that very morning. She and Kasumi had
succeeded in becoming good friends with the boy, best
friends in fact.

 There had been times, though, over the past two years where
Ranma had obviously noticed that his housemates/friends had
been of the female persuasion. One of the times he'd had her
pinned demonstrating a martial arts hold had been QUITE
obvious. And had made the boy quite embarrassed and nervous
when he'd noticed.

 "Don't let it get to you, Ranma," Nabiki said, quite
deliberately not using "little brother" or one of the other
terms of endearment that she and Kasumi had used over the
past two years. He had a lot to deal with, after all, and
being gentle with him was the best approach. "You've got
some breathing room, but I suspect that'll evaporate when
Daddy gets home."

 "Oh? Mister Tendo's being released?"

 "Yeah, though they want him to continue taking Remeron."
Nabiki stopped and tried to meet Ranma's gaze. She didn't
want to force the issue, but she also couldn't leave him
ignorant of this. It was putting too much pressure on him
with the curse throwing his self-image all out of whack
*and* the idea that he'd have to get married to one of his
best friends. "Ranma, he'll be back in a week. If you
haven't chosen me or Kasumi at that time, *he* will probably
choose for you."

 "Oh." Ranma looked back into guileless brown eyes. As
Nachan had once said, she'd run scams on anyone, EXCEPT
family. After Akane's departure, family had become sacred
ground. Ranma swallowed, his world seeming to be focussed
entirely in on shining brown eyes.

 "YOU RETURN, VARLET!"

 Ranma recovered to glare at the bokken wielder. "What do
*you* want, Kuno?"

 "To defeat you, and then on to my righteous vengeance upon
the foul mercenary Nabiki Tendo, of course. Today is the day
I shall avenge the smearing of my name, reclaim my honor,
and then on to claim my bright (though tarnished) angel,
Akane."

 "Whoa," Nabiki made a time-out gesture. The disgust and
anger she still felt over seeing the kendoist was pushed
back into a corner. Time for that later. "Last I heard you
didn't want Akane after you'd gotten what you wanted from
her. What made you change your mind?"

 "Absence makes the heart grow fonder, mercenary. Besides,
once Akane has tasted of the noble Kuno loin, surely she can
get no satisfaction from lesser sources."

 Ranma frowned, the Avenging Star seemed to be getting worse
after all the poundings he'd gotten over the past year and a
half. Some of the beatings had been pretty bad, too. Maybe
you just couldn't pound sense into someone. "Actually, from
what her sisters have told me, she's just sincerely
repulsed."

 "You obviously do not understand the poor girl's heart as
well as I do, but enough of this. HAVE AT THEE!"

 Ranma knocked down the bokken wielder and kicked him into
the canal. It was far kinder than what Nabiki wanted to do.

---------------------------

 Two girls  moved from different directions, each focussing
on a single person.

 One held a newspaper clipping about a martial arts
Carpentry brawl in the ward of Furinkan dealing with two
exceptional fighters. This girl snarled slightly and made
arrangements to attend school there. Vengeance would be hers
at long last.

 One held a Chinese-Japanese dictionary and wondered where
the heck her airen had fled to.  She could remember it, just
like it was a flashback!

 Shampoo posed atop her log, having defeated Dowel handily.
The big woman was strong, but Shampoo was nearly as strong
herself and faster. Now, at long last,  the moment she had
been waiting for. As Champion of the Nichieju, her first
prize awaited. She would share, as was customary, with her
shield maidens and proteges. Once she had, the feast and
festival proper could begin.

 Except that there seemed to be a panda chowing down on the
prize. And a young girl was trying to buy some tea at one of
the stalls.

 Shampoo had become furious. Years of study and effort, and
now - her moment of glory had been tarnished. She stalked
forward, yelling at the girl to control her  panda.

 And the girl had poured hot tea over her head. And a BOY
had stood there, looking thoroughly befuddled and hadn't
understood a thing that Shampoo had said. The boy had
challenged Shampoo, and had managed to defeat her! He was
cute, so he had gotten the Kiss Of Marriage. The boy had
been puzzled by the whole thing, and he looked even cuter
while confused.

 The boy didn't realize it but the village being the way it
was right now, with most of the males having moved out or
away, he would have been dogpiled by teenage Amazons if she
hadn't moved quickly. Even if he'd remained a girl, there
was an excellent chance that upon defeating Shampoo that
someone else would have challenged and captured the prize.
(Some Amazons *did* bend that way, after all. And no doubt
some of the males would have challenged to get a cute
Outsider bride - what a surprise THEY would have gotten!)

 So Shampoo watched the boy (any proprietary gleam in her
eye was pure coincidence) try to barter for a thermos while
the Guide had spoken to the father about dowries and the
like. Then the panda-turned-human had told Shampoo to go
pack her things. Shampoo had left, happy that she'd go on
her honeymoon so soon! Once the marriage had been
consummated (even now the thought caused Shampoo to blush)
they could live anywhere, but the village would be their
technical home.

 The villagers had later told her of the father beating the
son over his head with a mallet and running out of the
village a moment later. Why? This "Ranma" had seemed nice
enough. The father, (Ginsu or something), had called out
over his shoulder about Ranma having a terrible...

 Everyone had heard a different last word. Of course, the
old man had been running out the village gates at the time.
Discus? Dis Tease? Discourse? So her airen had a speech
impediment AND a curse. There were worse things. (He could
be nearly blind like Mousse.) Everybody had been so busy
trying to figure out what he had said (diving for
Chinese-Japanese dictionaries, except for Azure who had
picked up a Chinese-Norwegian dictionary) that the panda-man
had made it to the gates without being stopped.

 They'd noted his direction. And at one place (the Short Wok
in Cloudgate Pass), Shampoo had learned that the panda-man
was telling her airen that Shampoo had just promised to kill
him! Shampoo's fist clenched as she considered the
possibility. Stupid panda! All Shampoo needed was to explain
things, then everything would be fixed.

 Now if she could just catch up with him.

------------------------------

 Kasumi knew that Mister Saotome would be gone for some
time, so she left off her reading to get the phone, setting
down the copy of "Lawson's Guide to Cursed Springs Of The
Far East" in the process. It gave more detail than the
"Lurker's Magical Site Tourbook" or the "Curses For Dummies"
book.

 "Hai, moshi moshi?" Kasumi was still pondering what she had
been reading when the voice penetrated. "Akane?! Where are
you?"

 "Sis, you wouldn't believe me if I told you." Akane
snickered. How could *anyone* believe she'd been through
adventures like this? First the Karate championships, then
one foul-up after another. Honestly, getting on the wrong
bus had been enough of a problem.

 "I don't know about that, Akane," Kasumi thought about the
panda that had arrived yesterday. "I've run into some pretty
strange things myself."

 "Anyway, I heard Dad's getting released in a week, so I'm
heading back for a visit." Akane shook her head, Kasumi
would *never* believe some of the neighbors. That disgusting
Andre kid and what he did with that sheep... Not that all
boys were revolting perverted low grade morons. An awful lot
of them were, and it was a good policy to pummel first and
ask questions later.

 "Oh good, it'll be nice to see you again." Kasumi smiled.
It had been so long.

 "So what's the status of The Plan?"

 Kasumi paused, how to prepare Akane for the situation?
"He's coming along nicely, Akane. He's a sweet boy, once you
get underneath all the mental baggage that his father loaded
him down with. Very nice young man, though recently he's
gotten a rather unusual problem."

 "Kasumi? It sounds like you actually *like* him!" Akane sat
back in her chair at Aunt Beru's and tried to picture her
sister. Akane could just picture Kasumi blushing as she
stammered out a denial.

 "R-r-r-eally? It's not as if, Akane. I mean, he's young. I
mean, oh my."

 Akane gave a soundless whoa. It sounded like some emotional
high-risk investment. She *had* to meet this boy and pass
her own judgement. How could a Japanese boy NOT be a
disgusting filthy pervert? "He must really be something to
get to *you*, Kasumi. What about Doctor Tofu?"

 Kasumi sighed, this was at least more familiar ground.
"Doctor Tofu No Baka. He still insists on acting silly
whenever I'm trying to seriously get to know him. I can't
get anywhere with him. Are you sure about him?"

 "He loves you a lot, Kasumi. Or at least he did. It *has*
been over two years now and that may have changed. What
about Nabiki?"

 "Nabiki likes Ranma as well." Kasumi didn't realize what
she had confessed. "He had a lot of rough edges, but she's
been his friend and confidante for a couple of years now.
It's amazing how affection starved the boy was, Akane. He'd
do almost anything for a friend's sake. Now he's a lot more
'rounded' than when he arrived. Still, he has to choose
myself or Nabiki to be engaged to. Otherwise Father is
likely to choose for him."

 "Not while he's on Prozac, one hopes. Oops, the bus is
here. See you next Tuesday."

 "Next Tuesday, then. Mata ne, Akane."

--------+-March 15, 1992-+----------

 "AIREN!"

 Nabiki noted that Ranma had quite abruptly vanished. A
purple haired girl raced past her a moment later.

 Nabiki blinked. "'Airen'?"

 Ranma zoomed past. "SorryNabiki!Gottarun.Gottahide!"

 The girl from earlier shot past Nabiki again. "Ranma! You
wait!"

 "Excuse me," said Nabiki, running after the girl. "What did
you mean by calling Ranma  'Airen'?!"

 The girl turned, suspiciously, towards Nabiki. She already
put together that this stranger knew Ranma. Therefore, if
she kept track of this girl, she'd be able to find Ranma.

 "Ranma is Shampoo's husband."

 "No he's not. He's my fiance!" Nabiki clapped a hand over
her mouth. Oops. Might as well have put it over the PA
system as yell it in the schoolyard. Yes, there was Ryonami
rushing off to sell the news...

 "Ranma is Shampoo's husband. He defeat Shampoo when visit
Amazon village. Shampoo ready to formally marry Ranma when
stupid panda-man interfere." Shampoo paused and started
going over the events in her village from a few days
previous.

 Nabiki grimaced. It was Genma's fault, she was sure of it.
Not that Ranma would be completely blameless, but the lion's
share of guilt would be on the father. At least that was
*her* opinion. "Well, then. Let's go find out what
'panda-man' has to say for himself, shall we?"

---------------

 The explanations had gone on for perhaps a half hour
before:

 "It wasn't my fault! Besides, the path of a true martial
artist is fraught with peril and hardship!"

 "Yeah, your choice of path, my peril and hardship!"

 "Stupid panda, take airen from Shampoo when Shampoo give
Kiss Of Life to Ranma!"

 "Excuse me," Kasumi interjected, "but Ranma has prior
engagements."

 "You explain already to me." Shampoo frowned. (Well, they
are not warriors and they are also being reasonable, so
maybe there's an alternative to killing the obstacles. Xi
Fang? No, looks like there's real feelings both ways and the
Xi Fang Gao shiatsu attack doesn't seal emotional memory.)
"Shampoo have to kill female Ranma or marry male Ranma."

 "Your village laws don't hold much water here in Japan,"
Genma began haughtily.

 "No, Uncle Saotome, but they *do* effect her and limit her
options." Kasumi cocked her head as if considering
something. "Pardon me, Shampoo, that book of Chinese Amazon
law, might I borrow it?"

 Shampoo thought for a moment, but these outsiders didn't
seem to be the self-important idiots she'd expected. Except
for the panda, and she'd already known he was. She handed
the book to the elder girl, noting again the other girl's
hands as she did so. (Both of them have the long fingernails
and lack of callouses that marked them as non-martial
artists even if their movements indicate a basic familiarity
with the Art. Healer maybe? Priestess? Outsider women are
supposed to be either slaves of brutish men or vicious
gossipy sorts, but neither of them seem to be intent on
giving me a lot of hassle. Maybe, just maybe, I can make
some friends here when they understand my laws. That would
make staying in this land a lot easier.)

 Kasumi set the book between her and Nabiki so that they
could both study it.

 "Hmmm," Nabiki hmmmed. "Shampoo, do you have any place to
stay while you're in Japan?"

 "No..." Shampoo began uncertainly.

 "Well, why don't you stay here, Shampoo?" Nabiki said,
schooling her face to calm.

 "WHAT?!" Ranma was a little alarmed.

 "Certainly not!" Genma felt it was time he put his foot
down.

 "And you can help teach classes while you're here, I'm sure
some of the female students will be fascinated by the
concept of martial arts Amazons."

 "But..." Genma said as the thought of more students
penetrated. "I'm sure she'd rather sleep under the stars,
back to nature and all."

 Shampoo frowned. Panda man wanted her gone? This was even
more reason to stay. "You have Japanese style soaking tub?"

 "A furo? Yes," Kasumi said, a little puzzled.

 "Good. Shampoo spend way too much time out in rain lately.
Nice long hot soak sound really good to Shampoo." (Besides,
I can spend more time getting to know my fiancee- then maybe
figure out what to do about these girls. Attacking people
who don't know how to fight is against the Code.)

 "That's good, Shampoo, I'll just read through this and see
what I can figure out," Nabiki said with a smile at the
Amazon. (Besides, this way I can keep an eye on you and
'interrupt' anything you might try pulling on poor Ranma.)

 Ranma looked back and forth and swallowed. (Nabiki's got a
plan. That means more work for me. How do I get myself into
these messes?)

----+--March 18, 1992 --+----

 Akane opened the door to her home, kicked her shoes off at
the appropriate place and took in the changes. A poster from
some martial arts competition was taped to the wall over the
phone, and there were a few plaques showing in the entryway
of martial arts tournaments won. "Tadai---ma?"

 "If you is here to challenge dojo you have to wait."
Shampoo put the sword down and bowed. "Sorry, sometime
Shampoo forget odd custom Japanese have of entering house to
use phone. Is very strange."

 "I... who are you?" Akane tried to remember anything Kasumi
had mentioned about strange pidgin-speaking purple haired
girls in the house. Nothing. However this girl wearing one
of Kasumi's aprons didn't seem that threatening.

 "Uhm, if you here to challenge dojo, should use rear gate.
If you here to sign up for classes, Shampoo is sorry but you
no can do right now."

 "You're one of Kasumi's friends, aren't you?" Akane nodded,
mystery solved.

 Shampoo blinked. "Oh, you is 'Akemi'?! Kasumi tell Shampoo
about that."

 "Akane. So where's my sisters?"

 "Kasumi and Nabiki go take panda man to get shots. He be
bitten by dog, want to make sure he no catch anything."
Shampoo started walking back to the kitchen. "Me is Shampoo.
You pardon please, but Shampoo making too too delicious
dimsum for airen and family."

 Akane frowned and wondered who 'panda man' was. (So
Kasumi's friend has some kind of speech impediment. Figures,
Kasumi always could attract weirdos. At least she seems
nice.)

 "You study martial arts?" Shampoo's voice carried from the
kitchen above what sounded like something frying.

 "Yeah, I'm runner-up in the InterSchool Karate circuit back
home." Akane paused as she realized that this wasn't home
anymore. A small farm in Tanzania, a small school, the Break
game room, these were all home now.

 "Ah. So, your sister never tell me why you have to go away.
They always say you tell story because it your story to
tell. You tell Shampoo?"

 Akane pushed aside the curtain to the kitchen, and took a
deep breath of many wonderful aromas. This "Shampoo"
certainly knew her way around the kitchen! "Uhm, it's kind
of a long story.

 "Well, it all started with this guy named Kuno, who started
harrassing me and wouldn't take no for an answer." Akane
tried to keep the anger and bitterness from her voice and
was mainly successful. She'd learned a measure of control
recently.

 "Aiyaaa. Sound like Mousse." Shampoo gave a look of
sympathy over her shoulder at Akane before returning to her
preparations. "Shampoo know what is like to have obnoxious
pushy boy try to be more than friends!"

 "Yeah well, I went out with him once because I thought that
would get it over with, then he'd lose interest."

 "That not sound like it would work."

 Akane frowned a little at the memory. "It didn't. Well,
there was some sake and, well..."

 Shampoo turned partially towards Akane, stopping what she
was doing. Idle comments and evasive answers had clicked
into a picture. "He rape you?"

 Akane shuddered. She hadn't planned on actually saying what
had really happened. She had been planning on using the
typical story of  'moving away to escape from the rich boy's
influence' but for some reason the other girl's red eyes
seemed to fix her in place. Akane nodded.

 There came a loud 'chunk'  as Shampoo's knife went through
the cutting board. "Amazons have cure for man who do that to
woman who no can fight back, then abandon! Change from boy
to girl with no trip to Jusenkyo! If woman use love spell to
bring out true feelings in man, is different story. Much
precedence. For man to take pleasure from woman then drop.
Kuno boy come dojo challenge next time, he not leave with
all parts!"

 "The legal system tends to frown on that, you know." Akane
still harbored some bad feelings towards Kuno, but she was a
forgiving person at heart and it had been almost three
years. Of course she'd been able to come to terms with what
had happened to her, and to forgive Tatewaki Kuno for the
impetuousness of youth. "I'll just break every bone in his
body a couple of times accidently during a challenge match."

 "Ah, you is very kindhearted person!" Shampoo wondered if
she could be THAT forgiving if Mousse had tried something
like that. Probably not.

 Akane shrugged and looked over the tray of stuffed
dumplings that Shampoo was finishing up. She wasn't going to
bring up the therapy she'd been under after beating that one
boy nearly to death after he'd asked her out. "So what's
your story?"

 "Shampoo great fighter, best in village. Spend many years
training in village style of martial arts. No have many
friends. Just have annoying boy name Mousse act much like
your Kuno, I think. Shampoo winning big tournament when
interrupted." Shampoo then went on to describe how she had
met Ranma, and that the panda had taken Ranma away from her.
"But now Shampoo find you sisters interested in Ranma, much
tangle of honor, yes?"

 Akane frowned as she considered the girl happily chatting
about her troubles. "So what are you going to do?"

 "Shampoo still working on that. You sisters know little bit
about fighting but neither warriors, you know? Warrior Code
say no attack, no bully. Amazon saying is that 'obstacles
are for killing', yes? Kasumi and Nabiki very nice to
Shampoo, not give her excuse to pick fight, give 'Kiss Of
Death'. Shampoo not sure." Shampoo turned to face Akane, her
hands covered in flour from where she was making the outer
wraps of another tray of dumplings.

 "Shampoo not used to have people be nice to Shampoo, try to
understand Shampoo. Shampoo... kind of like this, they make
Shampoo feel welcome. Not happen much in Shampoo's life.
Shampoo like Kasumi. She very nice girl, good cook. Would
make excellent husband if she boy. Shampoo also like Nabiki.
She very smart, she explain many thing to Shampoo. Shampoo
love Ranma. Ranma very strong, very nice, much honor.

 "Also have problem if Shampoo take action against obstacle
because obstacle friend of airen. Nabiki and Ranma very much
like each other. Kasumi and Ranma also very much like each
other. Shampoo can tell Ranma like Shampoo. Kasumi and
Nabiki also act like they like Shampoo." Shampoo sighed and
turned back to making dumplings. "So Shampoo figure out
other angle maybe work better."

 "Another angle?"

 Shampoo pointed at a small tray of dumplings off by
themselves. "Special dimsum. Doctor person very interested
in Kasumi. He no can overcome problem act funny around
Kasumi. This help him no act funny. Kasumi interest in
Doctor, Doctor interest in Kasumi. Everyone happy and is one
less obstacle."

 "Does anyone else know about this?"

 "Shampoo not tell. Shampoo tell you because maybe you want
give special mushroom to Kuno. Is okay?"

 Akane pictured Kasumi and a non-spastic Doctor Tofu having
a long and serious talk. "Actually, it doesn't sound bad at
all."

 The thud of an arrow striking the front door brought an
interruption to their conversation.

-----------------

 An hour later, Ranma read the note, then handed it to
Kasumi.

"To: Ranma Saotome, foul lowborn cretin who is not fit to
lick my sandals.
 From: Tatewaki Kuno, noble samurai and heroic legend in
these Dark Times.
 Re: Letter of challenge
 Lest you try your usual trickery, I have taken the
foulmouthed mercenary Nabiki Tendo as a lien on your
behavior. Come to the old children's park on Higai street.
None of your tricks. Today is the day I reclaim my
reputation, the soiled dove Akane Tendo, and end your lucky
streak.
Tatewaki Kuno/dk"

 Kasumi looked up. "It's a trap."

 "I know. Kuno is so wonderfully obvious about such things."

 Kasumi read the note again. "It's the crowd he's running
with now, you know. Hardly a good influence."

 "It was his choice. He didn't have to keep coming back to
challenge the dojo so he could get back at Nabiki. He didn't
have to get your sister drunk. He didn't have to associate
with Yakuza wannabes and thugs. He did, he does, and now
he's crossed yet another line." Ranma frowned at the second
note. "That's your sister's handwriting?"

 "Yes," Kasumi admitted. "I expected her later this week but
that's her luggage too."

 "So she and Shampoo are probably already on their way."
Ranma's frown intensified. "You going to be okay here by
yourself?"

 "Who's staying here?" Kasumi looked momentarily puzzled.
"What if this is some sort of feint, and when you go rushing
off to the rescue they come back here?"

 "Good point," allowed Ranma. "Stay with Doctor Tofu, he can
help."

 "Doctor Tofu," repeated Kasumi, dubious. "This is the same
Doctor Tofu that dances around with a skeleton and eats
chinaware?"

 "I'm sure that if Kuno's goons try anything he'll snap out
of it." (I hope!)

 "If you say so." Kasumi wondered how obvious she had to be.
(He's being more dense than normal. Probably stress, but
it's going to get a lot worse before it gets better.)

 "Please, Kasumi." Ranma cracked his knuckles. "Looks like
that lesson I taught Kuno before the trip to Jusenkyo didn't
learn him. I'll have to *further* his education, ya know."

 Kasumi considered pointing out that Kuno and his little
group of hangers-on had been "taught lessons" repeatedly by
Ranma and his father. They hadn't learned. Well, except for
that Jinpai person.

 "I need to get going, Kasumi, your sister and Shampoo are
likely already en route. Will you go to Dr Tofu's? Just
leave a note for Pop, that way he knows where you'll be."

 Kasumi nodded, not happy with the situation but if this was
what was required, she would do it.

--------------------

 "Okay Kuno, I'm here," Ranma spent a precious few seconds
regaining breath from his run. Fortunately, it looked as if
he'd somehow gotten here before that "Akane" girl or
Shampoo. Fortunate in that Shampoo would probably be
deported if she hospitalized some of the would-be warriors
here. Also fortunate in that he didn't know how much of Kuno
would be left if that Akane girl got ahold of the kendoist,
and the police might not take a high view of the youngest
Tendo killing the rich boy.

 Seven figures in the playground, not counting Nabiki. Ranma
knew most of them, having encountered them on occasion
before. The two new faces, a guy and a girl, were guarding
Nabiki. The guy had a pair of butterfly knives. The girl had
a wooden baseball bat where nine inch nails had been pounded
in so that roughly seven inches of pointy were sticking out
the other side.

 Nabiki was chained to an oil barrel against the far wall,
between a tree and a set of similar barrels.

 Construction supplies had been neatly stacked around, but
that wasn't unusual. A few vacant lots and playgrounds were
used for such things all the time.

 "Sorry, Ranma, I guess I shouldn't have gone off to check
on that sale." Nabiki frowned, she well knew that if it
sounded too good to be true it usually was. Liquidation,
Everything Must Go, Final Day Of Sale, from a girl's
boutique she'd never heard of. And finding that flyer had
been *too* convenient.

 "Indeed. The most obvious of traps but sufficient to draw
in a foul sorceress and her pet servitor." Kuno drew his
bokken. "And it has had the desired objective. Now I shall
defeat your Champion without your trickery, and you will be
forced to recant your scurrilous allegations."

 "Two extra fighters gonna make you that much better, Kuno?"

 "A rival group was folded into my own after being persuaded
to see reason." Kuno smirked. "My forces are now a dozen
strong!"

 Ranma's frown turned thoughtful. Five unaccounted for?
"Where's the rest then? Afraid they'll get hurt?"

 "Not all of my new warriors are what you would call
frontline fighters. But enough of these unpleasantries."
Kuno made a gesture with his bokken, and two figures
appeared behind Ranma.

 "Ninja?!" Ranma dodged as a stream of shuriken erupted from
the squat little fellow while what looked like baling hooks
and barbed wire came from the other.

 "Indeed, Saotome, one fights fire with fire. Your base
trickery and the foul wench Nabiki..."

 "WHO'RE YOU CALLING A WENCH?!" The middle Tendo daughter
began a streak of invective that would have done a sailor
proud. She was intelligent, she was verbose, and she wasn't
repeating herself at all. She had also turned the air blue
by the time one of her captors started gagging her. It was a
pity, as everyone was so focussed on the fight at front that
they were completely neglecting the talented verbal
performance.

 The captor in question finished gagging her captive then
noticed that her partner was missing. Blinking in confusion,
she managed to take two steps before a pair of arms reached
out of the tree and hauled her up. By the neck. A brief and
muffled sound of violence escaped from the branches shortly
thereafter.

 Nabiki blinked as the face of a purple haired warrior girl
briefly appeared and gave her a Cheshire Cat grin before
vanishing into the leaves again. Nabiki blinked again, not
sure how the Amazon could conceal herself, much less the two
guards, in such a small tree.

 In the front part of the playground, Ranma was leaping and
twisting as streams of deadly missles were tossed his way.
He managed to get one of the thugs wrapped in one of the
tangles of barbed wire thrown by the farmer-ninja, but
doubted that trick would work more than once.

 He spun inside the farmer-ninja's guard, then knife handed
the boy's Adam's apple. This was followed by a knee smash
into that ninja's face. As the farmer-ninja dropped, Ranma
leapt up above another set of shuriken.

 "How many of those things ya got, anyway?" Ranma asked
before scooping up a convenient rock and throwing it at the
traditionalist ninja. The pudgy boy wasn't wearing a night
suit, and had just opened his mouth to answer when the rock
proved to be just the right size to become lodged.

 "Jiro, Tatsuyuki!" Kuno pointed with his bokken as he
ordered his two best fighters forward.

 Jiro drew his bokken. Tatsuyuki started twirling one end of
his kusarigama.

-------------------

 Kasumi saw the three coming and acted appropriately. "Oh
dear, Doctor Tofu?"

 "Oh, he-heh-heh, Ka-Kasumi, you're looking a bit thin."

 Kasumi smiled, stepped back, and avoided the punch sent in
her direction. "Doctor Tofu, I could really use some help
now!"

 "Wh-wh-why, Kasumi, you you..."

 Kasumi blew out an exasperated sigh. There was no help for
it, then. She was a sweet, demure, kind-hearted girl.
Hurting another human being was something that she usually
went to extremes to avoid, the very thought of hurting
someone on purpose just seemed so WRONG. Still, she *had*
been taking lessons from a very talented sensei, who had
recognized some of her limitations and had made adjustments
as a result.

 The broom stabbed out, point first, and caught her first
assailant by surprise as he stepped forward. The loud
cracking noise that resulted was followed by the dull thud
of a stunned body hitting the floor.

 "Sorry," Kasumi apologized as she twirled the broom again,
bristle-side slapping the second one in the face.

 "Pardon me." <Crescent Kick> "I'm so sorry." <Elbow spike>
"Please don't think I'm rude." <Soccer foul> "Oh dear."
<Crane kick>

 Kasumi turned tearful eyes to the groaning threesome as
they picked themselves off the ground. "PLEASE, please don't
make me beat you up any more!"

 Doctor Tofu's glasses cleared. (There are three boys in my
waiting room? Three boys with weapons? Three boys with
weapons cautiously attacking Kasumi?)

 Doctor Tofu's glasses began to fog again, but this looked a
little different. Said fog had a reddish tint to it for some
reason. (Three boys attacking *KASUMI* with weapons?!)


"At-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta
-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta. Wah-tah!"

 Kasumi blinked at the sudden change in the Doctor. Maybe it
was the way his shirt and lab coat had exploded off him.
Maybe it was the way that he had struck bodies hard enough
to leave little fist shaped indentations in their bodies.
Maybe it was the reddish battleaura surrounding him. This
was a side of Doctor Tofu Ono she'd never seen before. "Oh
my."

 "Hokuto One Hundred Strikes," remarked Doctor Tofu,
unfortunately to his skeleton Betty. This was unfortunate in
that it caused Kasumi's "impressed" to fade to "well, darn."

---------------------

 Ranma leapt, dodged, twirled, rolled, and in general made
himself as difficult a target as possible.

 Jiro and Tatsuyuki had limped back to guard the
playground's entrance, Kuno had moved to attack.

 Something was up, though, Ranma could see that. There was
Nabiki in the back, still chained to the barrel.

 Kuno didn't seem to be aware of it though, he was counting
on the roughly chiseled bokken to kill his opponent. It was
coming close, as Ranma couldn't seem to get close to the
kendoist.

 Ranma frowned and raced across the playground. He'd get
Nabiki out of here. Something was definitely not right, and
he needed to get the noncombatants clear.

----------------------

 Daishiro Kitsune smiled evilly and lightly fingered the
button. Jiro and Tatsuyuki were clear, but he still didn't
see any sign of Tomoe and Kirano. Everyone else but Kuno,
Saotome, and the hostage were out of the killing field. With
a certain regret, he pushed the button anyway. He'd have to
replace the two later.

 Now he, Daishiro Kitsune, would be the leader of this
little band of thieves. No longer to play second fiddle to
the laughingly stupid Tatewaki Kuno. NOW they could be a
force to be reckoned with instead of playing at samurai and
court.

----------------------

 It was the work of a moment to snap the thin chain linking
a girl to a large barrel. Ranma slung Nabiki over the block
fence in the next moment, ignoring her squeal of protest,
and turned to face Kuno as the would-be samurai charged. The
tingle of danger was increasing, but from where?

 Then the world turned to flame and noise as most of the
large barrels placed around the playground exploded.

----------------------

 Nabiki struggled out of the darkness with the realization
that the thick blocks of masonry whose remains surrounded
her had absorbed enough of the force that she was still
alive. Cut up, bruised, and with ringing ears, but still
alive.

 Shampoo was there, looking bruised and cut up herself. She
was asking Nabiki something but all that roaring seemed to
drown it out. Nabiki shook her head, then realized this
wasn't a terribly bright thing to do.

 A girl in a sweatsuit was leaning against another wall,
looking in slightly better shape. Nabiki thought that there
was something familiar about her. Then the girl's eyes
caught Nabiki's and it clicked.(Akane? But she wasn't due
back yet.)

 Nabiki looked around and her gaze fell upon what was left
of the playground. The roaring noise was definitely fading
at least. Finally she found what she was looking for, a pair
of legs sticking out of another section of wall.
"R-r-ranma?"

 "In there," Akane said with a jerk of a thumb. "Looks like
he was right next to one of the barrels when it exploded."

 "No," Nabiki said, staring. "You can't do this to me,
Ranma!" She wasn't aware of crossing the burning ground in
between where she had been and where he was, but she was
there nonetheless. With the presence of Shampoo right
alongside her the entire way.

-------------------

 Ranma wasn't, despite the opinions of a few people, an
idiot. He was quite focussed on a single activity/goal, and
tended to discount anything that wasn't in keeping with that
goal, but not stupid.

 Floating in a void, with a bright light beckoning him in
with feelings of peace and love. Big boom, then he's here
and not hurting at all. "This MEANS something," muttered the
martial artist, knowing damn well it meant that he was a
deceased martial artist.

 "Come into the light, there is peace and warmth in the
light."

 "Yeah, yeah, I know the drill," grumbled Ranma. "Looks like
I blew it." He glanced back, though, wanting to know if he'd
at least saved Nabiki.

 There was Nabiki cradling his body. Shampoo really looked
upset too. Hmmm. Looked like Kasumi would eventually get
together with Doctor Tofu, though she wasn't completely
satisfied with this.

 Ranma's attention went back to the scene behind him. He was
a little surprised by Shampoo. Shampoo's expression was a
combination of rage and sorrow, framed by tear tracks. Maybe
he'd been wrong and it wasn't just some weird law, and she
actually cared about him. Who'd have thought?

 Nabiki, though, was really surprising. The often-playful,
frequently intellectual, sometimes moneygrubbing "buddy"
he'd had over the two years was... crying. Ranma stepped
closer, wishing that he could wipe those tears away. Wasn't
that her sister over there, calmly breaking the bones in
Kuno's hands and taking the bokken away from the kendoist?

 "I never got to tell you," Nabiki was saying to the broken
body in her arms. "I never got the chance."

 "Hey, he was just a boy," Akane shrugged. "There's plenty
more." It wasn't like she could feel much compassion for any
member of their gender.

 "Ranmaaaaaa!" Nabiki howled despair from the broken wall.

 Ranma glanced at the warmth of the light, then back at the
scene there. Over there was: eternal peace, answers to all
the questions he'd ever had, oneness with the Universe
maybe. Behind him was: a lot of pain if those wounds were
any indication, probably months of recovery and physical
therapy, uncertainty and questions that weren't answered. It
would be far easier to just move into the Light, where he
would know Love Eternal.

 And also, apparently, behind him were also people who
genuinely cared about him.

--------------------

 Nabiki was wracked with sobs, holding the limp figure to
herself when she heard the corpse in question gasp. Her eyes
shot open to stare at the fluttering eyes that tried to
focus on her.

	"Nachan? Don't cry, you gotta be the strong one and pr'tect
investments, y'know." Ranma's voice faded out as he tried to
speak.

	Nabiki glomped him, but very very gently.

end chapter 2
-----------------------------------------
web: http://metroanime.home.mindspring.com/
mail: metroanime@mindspring.com
"Shampoo going to have nervous breakdown.
Shampoo has worked for it. Shampoo deserve it.
Shampoo going to get busy on that right now."
          -The Bet: Lovestruck
thanks for reading.gregg-san