[Fanfic][Ranma][FINALLY!]The Tales of Shampoo, Vol 2: The Phoenix Eye Saga (pt 11/19)

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Chapter Eleven: The War, Round Two--The Dagger, the Dancer and Destiny

Shiva stood by the door of the chamber to Nguyen's personal quarters. She was tensed, primed, and ready for combat; the golden energies of her ki gently played on her platinum blonde hair as she positioned herself. There was a dignity that she'd begun to feel now, something that she'd never known prior to the day that Saotome Ranma came into her life. There was something that she'd never had, in addition to love, that the Saotomes had given her.
That elusive quality was self-respect. She felt, that for the first time in a while, she could look in a mirror, and like exactly what she saw. She tried a name out on her lips. Saotome Shiva. It had a musical ring to it, a symphonic attribute that filled the young waif's heart with an unabashed joy. She would have her oniisama and onnesama near her. She would have a mother and a father. She would have friends and family, people who would always be there for her, people who would always love her.
There was, of course, a price to be had to this. There always was; Shiva's nonexistent childhood had drilled that fact into her world a long time ago. Fortunately, the first price was easy: leave the environs of the Crystal Temple, forever. That was not the difficult part. The second section was a bit more difficult. She would have to fight to protect her family just as much as her Ranma and Ranko were fighting for her, and for each other. She would have to dedicate every iota of her being, her will, her everything for the sake of her family.
That was a price that she would willingly pay; a price that was insignificant compared to the profits to be reaped; if she were there, Nabiki would have called the girl's decision the equivalent of a well-thought and financially sound call. Also, Nabiki would have embraced the young girl and welcomed her into the circle of the odd-yet-extraordinary clan that were the Saotomes and Tendos.
So, she stood there, ready to fight, ready to combat people who were her allies, once. Once but never again; she now had the courage to fight against them, and had a reason for her rebellion. The forces of Nguyen Tran Loc no longer had domain over the person known as Shiva, because there was something much more important now in the girl's life.
Saotome Shiva had the family name and reputation to protect.

Shiva looked towards her left, and noticed Rain wandering in another direction, towards the midst of the battle. She didn't notice the young defender, and probably would have ignored her anyway, with the apparent speed and determination at which she moved. The woman looked absolutely ready to kill. The target of Rain's wrath would be certainly be doomed, Shiva thought. They would stand no chance against the mercenary woman. Once she got her opponent in her sights, it would take a small miracle for the opposing side to survive--
*"YOU!"* a female voice screamed. Shiva instinctively cartwheeled to her right to avoid getting nailed by a fiery whip made of a silken fabric. She spun, dodging a second attack, this one being an aqua bolt of ki energy that shattered the facade of the wall behind her. She leapt back to a combat position and faced her opponents. Her battle aura flared, and the orbs of power began to orbit her, awaiting her command to loose the damaging missiles towards her foes.
It was the girl that she faced earlier in the month, back in Japan. The woman had decided that she wanted to go another round, wanting some elusive ideal like revenge. Well, she wasn't going to get it; Ranko-nesama had told her that revenge never succeeds in the end; you cannot replace what you lost.
It was clear that this woman had never heard the good advice of the wise redhead. She was standing in a combat stance, recalling her whip to the ready. She'd apparently gotten a new yellow karate suit to replace the destroyed pink one, and had gotten assistance. Not that it would matter, anyway; Shiva would defeat the woman where she stood, and issue justice--the newest word in her lexicon, thanks to her older siblings.
Her associate was about Ranma's build. He wore a yellow bandanna around his head. His clothing was a wheat-brown tunic, and forest green pants. His eyes glittered malice, and his mouth bared fangs that were obviously not the norm for a person. He looked very ready to take her apart for something.
{Could they be new elites? Maybe they were assigned to assassinate me in Japan, to make sure I never returned here,} she thought. {Maybe Mango has no more need of me, and would like to see me out of the picture.} That made sense; if one thought in the mindset of the average crony of Nguyen's, Shiva's betrayal began from the moment she first set eyes on the redhead with the light blue eyes, and was sealed with the acceptance of the raven-maned man with the baby-blue eyes and the redhead girl with the deep azure eyes. As far as the warlord was concerned, Shiva's downfall occurred upon the saving of Shiva's soul.
Shiva was not gonna let these two anywhere near her or the others. She snarled, then spun in a quick micro-dance of a kata, giving visual warning, following it up with a taunt of, "I'm ready and waiting. Are both of you so ready to feel pain?"

*"We're not the ones who'll feel pain this time, little girl,"* Kurumi snarled with an intensity that made Ryoga do a double-take. *"What have you done with your prisoner!? Answer now, or face the consequences. Last time, I was lenient. This time, I MEAN BUSINESS."*
Kurumi's eyes blazed stronger than her battle aura. she wanted this little brat taken down and taken down NOW. Just as importantly, Ranma was on the chopping block, and she was going to do everything in her skills to ensure that Ranma was reunited with Akane. Like her older sister, Kurumi couldn't envision a life without Ranma around, but obviously for different reasons. Ranma was always willing to show her a new move or kata whenever he learned it, and she in turn usually tended to run interference for him whenever Shampoo or Kodachi were around. She liked having "big brother" Ranma around, and when he was taken from Akane, it nearly shattered her heart to see her sister in such a way.
Now they were on the verge of saving him, and Kurumi was about to put the proverbial money where her mouth was. If that meant she would have to fully unload on the girl, well, then, the people here best have halfway decent medical treatment available if they wanted her to live. She was fully prepared to do whatever it would take to save Ranma.
Which is why she insisted on pairing up with Ryoga. In the time that she'd known him, he was a close friend. In a sense, their relationship had gotten as close as Ranma and Ukyo's, without the complications of unrequited love--oh, she did find him attractive, but he had Akari, after all.... Besides, Ryoga was just as willing to gain Ranma back for Akane's sake as much as she was. Ryoga had admitted to Kurumi once that he'd been in love with Akane, and despite his total commitment to Akari still cared very much for her. He also was an old friend of Ranma's, and despite their friendly rivalry, the two were like brothers. Ryoga would easily be there for Ranma.
Of course, that meant the obvious plowing through the neighborhood. But as the Western saying goes, you can't make an omelet....

Readying for another Shi Shi Hokodan blast, Ryoga grunted a non-committal response to Kurumi's words. Something was slightly out of place here. There was no malice in the girl's eyes, only determination. He'd seen that look many a time before. That look was the embodiment of confidence, of self-esteem, of a faith in one's self and in that of others. It was the power of one, magnified many a time by force of one's will.
He knew that look. It was the look of a soul that would not give up, a strength to carry on, to beat the impossible odds and sally forth towards that elusive sobriquet despite the oppressive odds. It spoke volumes of discipline and courage, of power and morality, and of something far more important than the simple equation of one.
He faced that look on the visage of another many a time. He'd struggled against that face many a time, only to suffer many a crushing defeat. He'd tried every trick in the book to hurt that face, only to lose and struggle once more in the effort to win. He challenged the look, only to see that the look was not of challenge, but of friendship. In the end, he'd learned to mirror that face, and smiled when he saw it. He knew that face, very intimately and very well.
So why did this young girl have the look of Saotome Ranma so firmly etched on her face?

Shiva stared at the pair of assassins, measuring their pluses and minuses in the way that only a trained master would. She had to discern their talents, and find a way around them if she were to survive. She knew the skills of the girl, but the man was an unknown. Unknowns tended to be fatal, unless you either familiarized yourself with them or got lucky. Familiarization would work better in the long run, so she decided to go that route.
She would have to take it easy for the first couple of engagements, then go all out once she took the measure of the man's talents and how well they meshed with that of the girl's.
It was showtime, as her oniisama once said, time to show your opponent where you stood and what you stood for. She stood for her family. She made the unassailable line in the symbolic sand, the periphery that crossing would mean conflict. She did it for Ranma, for Ranko, for a mother and father that she would soon meet, and for the love that she would be able to give and receive.
Ranko-nesama's words echoed in her mind: {Show them what you're made of, Shi-chan. Let them know that Saotome Shiva's in town, and backs down from no one.}
{I won't fail you, onnesama, oniisama,} she vowed. {I'll make you proud of me, and make sure that I never let you down.}
Shiva's ki spheres began to revolve around her in a wild, circular dance, the energy revelers that pranced around the martial maypole that was Shiva.
*"Okay, assassins,"* she barked, turning Kurumi's anger against her, *"the line is here, and you're not gonna cross it. You can't beat me, and you're certainly not getting anywhere near my Ranma-niisama!"* With that, she thrust her fists down and called out her projectile attack, *"Hino no Marui!"* She followed up with a run that she'd turn into a flying kick as soon as she got close enough to her opponent.
The first engagement had begun.

The words weren't lost on the pair, although interpreted differently.
Dodging the multiple fireballs, Kurumi cried out, *"What the hell did you mean by 'Ranma-niisama?' How dare you call him your brother, you little brat? Ranma-kun would never accept a person like you an' your kind! What have you done to him? If you've hurt him, I swear I'll make you eat those words...ALONG WITH A FEW OF YOUR TEETH!!!"* She leapt towards the girl, then dashed forward in her rushing punch.
Ryoga, on the other hand, was paying a bit more attention. {She called Ranma her older brother. What the--? Maybe we'd better hear this girl out. Assuming that I can get Kurumi to listen!} He called out, "Kurumi, hold your puncch!"
Kurumi, unfortunately, didn't hear him. She was too busy trying to tear apart Shiva. She got close to the young girl, then using her momentum, cartwheeled into an axe kick that squarely nailed Shiva, throwing her back. Shiva in turn took the hit and as she fell to the floor, she dashed forward, feinted a rushing kick, then rapidly spun and flipped Kurumi, elbowing her in the groin as she did so. Kurumi was jarred back, but recovered in enough time to counter with a fierce uppercut that smashed against the girl's jaw. Shiva fell back, but as she hit the ground, she maneuvered into a position to return a sweep kick.
Leaping to her feet, the silver-haired girl rushed forward, ducked under a roundhouse kick by her opponent, and landed a painful rising uppercut on the Japanese girl. Kurumi blocked most of it, but was tagged at the last end. She went flying back, sprawling against a wall. As Shiva raced in for a second strike, Kurumi leapt to the air, over the girl and as she landed, slammed her elbow into the back of Shiva's neck, sending her to faceplant against the same wall. As she peeled herself from the wall, she noted that Kurumi was coming in once more in an air assault. So, Shiva leapt up to meet that challenge.
The pair collided in mid air, Kurumi's ki-charged flying kick canceled out by a similar one performed by Shiva. The forces of the collective blow threw both fighters back, although they landed safely. The pair went aerial once more, and in the an extended period, traded punches back and forth while airborne, throwing as much ki as possible into the force of their blows. However, they also managed to block each others' attacks successfully, and thus stalemated each other again. They returned once more to the ground, then decided that a ground skirmish would be better suited.
Both looking at each other with daggers, they plunged once more towards the other, Kurumi in her tried-and-true dashing punch, while Shiva bolted forward, readying for an aerial spin kick.

Finally, Ryoga decided he'd had enough. Doing something very stupid, he bolted ahead of and in between the girls, thrusting his hands out in order to block the attacks, shouting out, "Everyone stop! Let's take the time to listen to each other!"
Kurumi was able to successfully pull her punch before it connected with the side of Ryoga's face. Unfortunately, she tripped over his feet and plunged to the ground. Fortunately, he was able to catch her. the problem was, he caught her in the grand sweeping gesture that all couples do. This unintended move placed them very close to each other, and staring deep into the other's eyes, subconsciously probing for something that could (but shouldn't) be there. Their faces were very, very close to one another's, and growing closer still, millimeter by millimeter....
The girl they were fighting cleared her throat impatiently, calm but ready to resume the fight as needed. Thus, the drama ended as both blushed furiously and skittered out of arm's reach. Ryoga absently scratched the back of his head, and while smiling nervously, stammered, "Um, feeling okay, um, Kurumi?" {Oh, man, I'm so embarrassed, I'd like to crawl under Tokyo Tower,} he thought. {*Akane's little sister,* of all people, and with me *engaged!* Man, I'm starting to act like Ranma!} He turned his head and cleared his throat, readying to say some sort of apology, but decided not to open his mouth for fear of blurting out something accidental. Still, she is kinda sorta cute, he thought objectively.
Kurumi looked down towards the ground as her face flushed as red as an apple. "I, um, I'm fine. Um, thanks, Ryoga." {Che! Baka baka *baka BAKA!*} Kurumi self-cursed. {You just had to trip over his feet, didn't you? Just had to land in his arms, just like that? He's already spoken for, and as shy as Ranma-kun to boot! Why the hell did you have to do that to him? What, were you expecting a kiss or something?} She ventured a quick peek at him, hoping he wasn't mad at her. She noticed he was turned away from her. {Look. He's pissed at you. Great going, Kurumi. Class act all the way.} She sighed. Life was never easy for her, especially, with the next line in the train of thought. {Still, I kinda wish he would've....}

Meanwhile, Shiva didn't get airborne, but instead applied the brakes on her run, turning it into a skidding halt. She moved to her right just to avoid getting nailed by the couple as the guy swept the girl off her feet, then as the pair stared longingly and lovingly.
Shiva reflected on it, noting that this had to be what Ranma explained as love of a spouse, the love he had for Akane. Not the sick, icky things that Jack was always telling her about, but a sweet and tender emotion that Ranma told her that she would experience when she was older and found the right person. Just like these two had.
One other thought also entered her mind. {As hired killers, they appear to be fairly useless. Either that, or they're so good, that they don't have to have their guard up. But the guy told me to stop, called a parley. I wonder what he could want? Only one way to find out.}
She coughed to get their attention, then realized what they were about to do, and broke off from their expression of love. As the pair relaxed and came back into a more presentable stance, Shiva relaxed somewhat and looked at the man. "Okay, you called break. What is it?" She looked at both with an air of mistrust, and kept her hands ready to form her Wheel of Fire attack if required. "Don't think that you can stop me 'cause I'm younger. I'm well trained, and very dangerous."
The man spoke clearly, and something in his voice reminded her of Ranma. "That's rather obvious, miss. However, there's something else, as well: for starters, I'm impressed. Kurumi and I maneuvered into a comprising situation, and were easily sitting ducks. One cycle of your fireballs could've ended it right then and there."
Kurumi stared at the girl with a daggered glare. "Oh sure, Ryoga," she grumbled, never once taking her eyes off her target, "give the girl tips, why dontcha?"
Shiva shook her head. "Ranma-niisama said there was no honor in attacking a unprepared opponent, and--" she stopped her words immediately. "She just said your name was Ryoga; hers is Kurumi. Is that as in Hibiki Ryoga and Teendo Kurumi?"
Both combatants looked at each other uneasily, then back at her. "H-how do you know that?"
To their surprise, the girl raised her hands. "I give up, I surrender. I won't fight my family."
{Family?} The question easily registered on their faces, even as the ever familiar bead of perspiration formed upon their brows. Nani? Kurumi's eyes flashed another thought as well: She's lying. Ranma would never do anything that oddball, even for him!
Shiva reached into her pocket and handed Ryoga a letter. "Ranma said I should give this to my--his--family should I run into them. It was in the event that he didn't survive the combat that he's currently in." She helld back the rest. Ranko had explained that if they survived, she would tell the family about her existence. If they didn't, they were never to know about her--it would hurt the family even more so than just Ranma's loss. Therefore, the letter had to come from Ranma, and Shiva was to tell them as little as possible.

Ryoga opened the neatly folded letter--kinda unusual for Ranma--and began to read, Kurumi looking as well. the handwriting was definitely Ranma's but there was soomething a little different about it; it was, well, kinda feminine.
"You noticed it too, huh," Kurumi said. "It does look a bit more curved than Ranma's usual." She glanced at the young girl standing there, not trusting her for a moment. "Think she forged it? Could it be a trap?"
Ryoga commented, "He could've just as easily written it as a girl. That would explain it." At least I hope so. "Let's at least read the letter before we make a decision, ne?"
"Wow. You're actually not jumping to a conclusion," she teased.
"Ha ha," he deadpanned, then spoke no further as he read the letter.

Mom, Pop, Akane, or anyone who receives this letter,
If you've gotten this letter, chances are, I didn't make it. Gomen ne sai, from the depths of my heart; I tried to get home, but there are things in this world that apparently even I can't beat--a hard admission, but a clear one. Since these are my last words, I'd like to get a few things off my chest.
For starters, to everyone else: you were a family to me, no doubts about it. Kurumi, Natsumi, Kasumi, Nabiki--I couldn't ask for a finer set of sisters, and friends. Shampoo and Mousse, take care, and I hope you two find the peace inn life that you deserve. Father Tendo, Hinako: I hope it works out for you; I wish I could've seen it, and be there as the son-in-law that I cannot be now.
Mom, Pop: though it was hard and difficult, we finally became a true family at the end. I wish I could've seen my newborn brother or sister, but that won't come to pass. The bearer of this letter, this girl named Shiva, was there for me in my last days, the ray of hope in my darkest hours. She needs a family, and I have grown to love her as a sister. Take her into our home and our lives; she is a Saotome at heart, she only needs the name. The newborn will need a sibling to watch over him or her, and Shi-chan will do that without fail.
Uc-chan and Ryoga: my best friends, the ones that were there for me when I needed it. I hope that you find happiness with Konatsu and Akari. We've been through a lot, and it seems hard to say that the good times are now done and over. But they were times that I liked lots, and hope that they'll never end in your hearts and minds.
Akane-chan: my dear heart, I was never able to say this in person, and I'll never get to say this now, but I won't say good-bye without letting you know the truth.
I love you.
Since the day I first set my eyes on you, I knew that there was something special. Throughout the good times and the bad, it was always your smile that made my heart feel all mushy with love and all. I wish I could've had the chance to kiss you, to love you, to marry you and have a life with you. Akane-chan, please know that I have always loved you, even when I couldn't say it.

That's all then. We'll all see one another again someday.
Love always,
--Ranma


    Tears welled in Kurumi's eyes, while Ryoga's heart felt heavier than any stone he'd ever hefted.  Were these the last words of Saotome Ranma?  Were their noble efforts to end in vain?  Was it all to end this way?  What about the others?  What about Akane?
    Kurumi looked at Ryoga as she wiped a tear from her eye.  "What do we do, Ryoga-kun?"
    This was a troubling quandary for the young man.  Ranma, once his deadliest enemy, now his closest friend.  He was thrust into the situation of being the one to calmly decide the fate of what would transpire here.  He, whose motto usually ran as "My mind's made up; don't confuse me with the facts," now had to think things out.  He was a man of action; intellect was not usually his stock in trade.  But he had to make the call, here and now.
    He looked at Kurumi.  She was taking this very hard--Ranma's abduction; it was obvious how she felt about Shiva here--he could tell.  No idea of whether this was truth or not, aand she felt Ranma's loss like a knife in the heart.  How would *Akane* react?  They feared they'd lose her once, when this adventure began; what would happen if the ugly truth set in?  Kasumi as well--the gentlest of the Tendo daughters would be nearly as devastated by this as Kurumi and Akane.  Even the family's ice princesses, Nabiki and Natsumi, loved Ranma as one of their own.  He'd become a centerpiece of that family, and his loss would do as much emotional harm as when they lost their mother.
    Mother.  The word chilled him.  Saotome Nodoka had only really known her son for about a year.  To finally have him back in her life, and then for fate to take that away, was too cruel.  It would be just as painful for Ukyo and Shampoo--both girls genuinely loved him, no matter how he felt about them.
    About the only person who could care less would be Saotome-san, and--{oh, who am I kidding.  We all cared about him.  Every one of us.  Apparently, this little girl, too.  Ranma has a way of geetting to people, sooner or later.}
    "C'mon, Saotome-san," he said, addressing Shiva, "We have to get you to your parents."  He looked at Kurumi, then Shiva in turn.  "Unless you ladies have a problem with that...."
    Kurumi looked at the girl--really looked at the girl.  She looked into the emerald eyes, and in them, saw the familiar spark of cheerful life that was  usually contained within a pair of light-blue eyes from another face.  The girl was her opponent, her obvious foe.  But if the girl spoke true, if Ranma really did trust her, what did that say about Ranma?  {Or myself, for that matter?} she thought. "He really wrote this?  He meant every word he said about you?"
    Shiva looked at Kurumi and Ryoga both.  Looking at both of them with a bemused expression that could only be described as pure Ranma, she solemnly commented, "I wish I could have been by his side.  I didn't want to leave, but oniisama insisted.  He said the danger was too great, and that since they knew you were coming--"
    *"They what?"* Kurumi cried, her voice climbing the octave ladder at a rapid pace.
    "He said they knew you were coming.  The army out there was to whittle down the forces, but they have the elite ready to fight inside, just in case."
    She turned to Ryoga, frantically, *"They knew!*  Ryoga, we've walked--"
    "--into a trap," he snarled.  "We've gotta find the others before it's too late."  Turning on his heel, he turned his head and  commented to the girl, "Shiva--it is Shiva, right?"  The girl nodded agreement, "Lead the way!  We gotta get to the others before it's too late!"
    She looked frantically at the door at which she told Ranko-nesama she'd guard for them.  But their family and friends--her family and friends, now--were in deep peril.  This changed everything.  What to do?  Would they die if she didn't safeguuard the door?  Were they dead already?  Was there a chance to save them if she went in?
    She was about to turn away from Ryoga and Kurumi, when a word fell into Shiva's mind, one name.  Akane.  That person was just as important to Ranma and Ranko as she was.  That means that they would give their all to save Akane; as their sister, so should she.  If she left to help Akane, they would understand.  More importantly, it would make them proud.
    She gazed at her newfound associates with a countenance that would freeze the sun.  "No one hurts my family.  No one.  Let's go."

                           *   *   *

    The Kunos moved very slowly and surely throughout the confines of the Crystal Temple.  Events had transpired that separated them form the rest of their crusading allies, and now they were walking on the fifth deck of the building.  The pair were taking no chances in the quest to obtain the holiest of grails, the enigmatically exotic Pigtailed girl and the wretch Saotome Ranma.  The moment had come where the enemy would feel the justice that carried the noble name of Kuno, a title that carried with it all the legacy and glory that--
    {Okay, who am I trying to fool?  This is a slugfest, not an ordered war.  These people are no noble enemy to be honored, but vermin that even Saotome would look at with disgust.  The fact that they've taken the lovely Pigtailed maiden only proves it!}  Kuno thought about this a second, realizing that his was not a battle that a Kuno would normally be found in.  It was too dirty, too, well, too common.  But the fight was just and needed, so it was only right that he should be here.  But if that was that case, did that mean that he had sunk that low in the last couple of weeks from the values that he was raised?  Or had his clan forgotten the truth, the crux of the code of the samurai?  It would be a difficult truth, and one he'd have to explore more when he had the chance.  {Maybe I should even ask Nabiki's advice on the issue.  She wouldn't steer me wrong.  Charge me by the hour, perhaps, but not disillusion me.}
    Kuno looked around, then at his sister.  Kodachi was moving around with a style that could only be described as that of a predator stalking a prey that it didn't know.  She was using her so-termed AGMA Rhythm Gymnastics, but Kuno knew what it really was: the near-completion of Kaguro ninjitsu.  Her own adaptations, culminated with Sasuke's occasional input and that of a few (actually) respected Kaguros.  At the moment, she moved softly and stealthily around the amethyst-like columns, ready for the next sign of impending danger.  She would be able to react fast enough to counter the attack, possibly even subdue the opposing combatant.
    {Maybe, if fortune beams her wondrous countenance upon me, he mused, my psychotic sibling will even *warn* me.}


    Kodachi listened for the first sign of possible conflict.  She trained her ears on a section of breathing, only to dismiss it as that of her dearly dense older brother.  She breathed out very quietly, but sharply;  a small gesture of her own anxiety.  In the normal course of being just an AGMA gymnast, things were easier, and she could afford the minor mistakes--even someone as stupendously glorious as the Black Rose had been known to make errors every now and then...after all, how ellse could the damnable Pigtailed Girl have won?  She who called herself Saotome Ranma, the same name as her beloved Ranma-sama.  The girl would pay for that.  She and the rest of the other shrews to follow.  Then she would have Ranma all to herself.
    Which led to an entirely new problem.  Ranma was no longer the only man in her life.  Oh, there was no denying--nor would ever be any denial--her Ranma-sama was her night and day, the sun in her eyes and the moon in her heart, that calmming, besetting, coolness that was her enveloping love for the master martial artist.
    But there was a new factor in the equation: Sanzenin Mikado.  He was a burning flame in her heart, a roaring pillar of sensual desire that made her heart yearn to be touched.  She couldn't deny it.  She wanted him.  She really wanted him.
    But what of her love for Ranma?  Did that not count for something?  Did that not count for anything?  She loved him with every iota of her being, and was sure that he loved her and would be with her, were it not for the tricks of Akane and her cronies.  She loved being in his arms, the day they kissed, the day they made love.  Admittedly, they were all fantasies, but she knew they would come soon enough.
    Perhaps she could have both.  Her brother had always had it that way, and though she thought him a fool for many a while because of it, perhaps he was not as much the buffoon as she had thought him to be in this issue.
    She was so preoccupied by her derailing train of thought that she was almost nailed by a flight of hand grenades.


    The first thing that Kuno saw was his sister moving at an incredibly high speeds behind the nearest pillar, screaming, *"BOMB!!!!"*  The next was the wave of flame rushing towards him, shattering and cratering the crystal as the shockwave thrust forward.  He had just enough time to rapidly swing behind the safety of a crystalline pillar.  As the flames of the weapons fire raced past him, he could hear the high-pitched while of the gem-like construction slowly shatter under the explosive force pouring onto it like a twig caught in a sudden geyser.
     As the blast and its percussive boom died down, a low-pitched voice laughed, then waited as the dark sound replaced the ringing in the ears of the Kunos.  "My dearest apologies, Tatewaki-kun, Kodachi-chan.  I hadn't any tea to offer, so in the spirit of the traditional meeting, I prepared the finest plastic explosives that my dwindling funds could supply."
     Both of the siblings stopped in absolute surprise at the sound of that voice.  As the hallway ceased the echoing, there was nothing but an uncomfortable silence occasionally disturbed by the impact of crystal shards upon the floor.
     Kuno spoke softly, but there a malice unlike any other that had ever been uttered from his lips:  "Hagane...."
     Kodachi's voice on the other hand, was a bit more odd.  She sounded like a person torn between love and fear, and neither Ranma nor Mikado had entered into the equation.  "Hagane-chan...." she said, softly, lowering her guard, and beginning to move forward, unconsciously, and certainly of her old volition.
    "Actually, I prefer the name Roland, now, my pet.  Hagane is a name dead to me...and the clan, I assume."  Roland stepped into the clearing, a light coming into view.  It was soft, and gave just enough luminescence to show his features.  He was dressed in his usual battle gear, and brandished his katana in one hand, a pair of contact grenades in the other.  His battle scarf drooped lazily around his neck, like a boa simply awaiting it's masters order to launch forward and attack its foes.  Roland smiled slightly and said, "Are you still angered, Tatewaki-kun?  I see that Kodachi bears no ill will towards me."
    "And I never shall, my beloved Hagane-chan," she said, her voice subtly altering to the tone of love she used for Ranma.
    *"Give me a reason why I should, knave!"* Kuno spat, stepping between him and his sister.  He looked at Hagane...Roland...whatever.  He looked into his sister's eyes, seeing the view she usually reserved for Saotome...or that Sanzenin fellow, as of late.  To see it in her eyes, now, for this wretch, this hellspawn, who....  It was madness, even for his sister.  *"Stay away from her, whatever you name yourself.  I intend to make sure no two get no closer."*
    "Defending your sister?  You two have always hated each other, Tatewaki-kun.  I'm absolutely impressed," the ninja said, a trace of amusement in his mocking tones.  "Perhaps you've grown up."
    Kodachi was equally adamant about it.  *"Get out of my way!   Let me go to him!"* she cried, then in a softer voice, "I...I still love him."  
    

    Kodachi saw her wildest dream come true.  Hagane, her fist love, from so long ago, from her past, had come back to her.  Her one forbidden love, the man that she was never allowed to see again, the man that her grandfather said was no more, had come back to her.
    His eyes, she saw, still had that gleam of love in them.  He still wanted her, after all these years.  He was 25, if she remembered, and she was 18.  She was an adult, now.  She would go with him.  Nothing would prevent them from marrying, raising a family, from being the lovers they were so long ago.  The childhood love she had for him was hidden away for so long, she'd never thought she ever use it again., never thought she'd love again.
    Her love for Ranma had surfaced those hidden feelings, betrayed her to the world.  Her feelings of love for Mikado were opening the wound even more.  And now here was Hagane, he whose departure had caused the wound, he whose return would herald the healing of the wound.  she would be with him, and never let him go.
    Now, if she could only remember why her grandfather said that they couldn't be wed....


    Kuno was suddenly at a rare, total loss of words.  He had come to rescue the Pigtailed Girl and to assist Akane in regaining her worthless iinazuke; he had hardly expected to find himself defending the family honor.  Indeed, he thought, if there was any left.  Over the last few days, he'd begun to realize that his family, the "noble" samurai clan called Kuno was about as emotionally bankrupt as the Tendos were financially.  To make matters worse, the Tendos had true honor, the kind that money could and would never be able to afford, where the Kunos, with all their wealth and luxuries, wallowed in emotional poverty and slumliness.  Now, the ultimate example, one that he'd hoped that the Kunos and Kaguros had bid a not-too-fond farewell to.
    This, in front of them, was Hagane.  A person that was once close to Kuno, one of the few that he could easily call a friend.  Hagane had also had the honor of being Kodachi's first love, a person whose loss had driven her to the madness that currently posed as her personality.  It was Hagane who guided her to the melding of gymnastics and ninjitsu, Hagane who had taught him a great deal of his own kendo skills.  Hagane who had taken Kodachi as his lover, who had taken her maidenhood when she was only of thirteen years.  He who had been made anathema...
...he who now stood before them, five years later, the man they were supposed to kill, the man who was also most likely assigned to kill them.     
    He knew no words that would make this situation better.  No haiku he could quote would soothe his soul, no verse by the Bard could ease his mind.  He was in a roiling sea of chaos, and adrift without a compass.  Perhaps Hemingway, Steinbeck, or some other adventurer-scribe of this century could describe the turmoil best, but he rarely read any of those.  If he survived this, he'd have to correct that deficiency, someday.  Nabiki had once said that....
    {Nabiki.  My friend, someone I have learned to trust, someone who has learned to trust me.  A month ago, you would never have seen us in the same spot, except to have our usual arguments, or for her "consultations."   Now, I can't imagine for the life of me why I ever did fight with her.  When one gets to know her, she's very sweet and kind, the type of person I could grow to love, were it not for that pigtailed woman I am set on.
    {Her family.  They are what's real, what's noble, what's right.  The Kunos are hypocritical bastards with no sense of honor, the Kaguros are worse, our lackeys when we do not want to soil our non-existent honor.  I can't like that way, anymore.  I can't live...I can't live like...like a Kuno.  I'm not one in spirit, anymore.  I don't know what I am, but whatever it is, I think my grandfather would approve of, and Nabiki wouldn't mind.
    {"The times, they are a'changin',"  I think an American singer once said.  Maybe he was right.  No, I take that back.  He *was* right, in every way.  The times have changed, and so have I.}
    "I don't want a part of this, this family, except my grandfather.  I would even accept my sister; it's not her fault that she's become the way she is.  It is yours, Hagane.  I no longer want a part of what the Kunos stand for.  I want out.  I want to be myself, Kuno Tatewaki, and find out who I am really destined to be."
    "Really, dear brother, you are beginning to bore me," Kodachi said, in her ever waspish tone, exacerbated by her current and certainly unexpected emotional turmoil.  "Even your non-soliloquies are dull.  Would you keep your thoughts to yourself, if you would?"
    He turned to her, speaking as evenly and calmly as possible.  "Kodachi, please.  I'd like to be reasonable right now--"
    "And doing quite a commendable job," Roland commented.
    *"--if he would only shut up."*  Kuno glared, baring his teeth in what was definitely not a smile.  He'd just been embarrassed,  both by his verbal slip, and by Kodachi's treatment of him.  "Kodachi, I would have a word with you in private, if I may," he glanced mistrustfully at Hagane.
    Roland gestured impassively.  "Be my guest, Tatewaki-kun.  You and I both know why we are here, we can delay the inevitable."  With that, he began to walk a respectable distance away from the two.


    Fearing that Roland was leaving, Kodachi began to push her brother away, to move closer to Roland.  *"Hagane-chan, take me!  Please!  Let us wed and become lovers once more, my dearest of hearts!"*
    "And what of your dear Ranma-sama?" Kuno grumbled.  "Or Sanzenin?  Do they suddenly mean nothing to you?"
    Kodachi stopped moving, the look on her face becoming a visage as though she were rocked by a physical blow.  She turned and slapped him, screeching, "How can you say that?  How can you...?"
    "Because your actions have proved it, Kodachi.  You are blowing them off.  Unless you intend to have them all...."
    *"YES!!!  And why not?*  You've coveted both Tendo Akane and the Pigtailed Girl, why can't I do likewise in my stead?"  Her voice was not mocking, Kuno noted.  It was the sound of a woman losing the fragile echoes of her sanity.  To his surprise, her eyes began to tear.  Not the crocodile tears she used on her opponents, or the histrionics she used on Saotome, but actual tears of sadness and pain.  "They are all so dear, I can give up none!  Do you call it 'deceit' that I should openly wish them all?"
    Her words rang in his ears: {"They are all so dear, I can give up none!  Do you call it 'deceit' that I should openly wish them all?"}  He knew those words all too familiarly.  Her comment was near verbatim as to what he'd told Nabiki two years ago.  Almost word for word, the past had slapped him in the face again.  He remembered Nabiki's retort.  And she was right then, as he would be right now. 
    {Thank you, once again, my friend.  I truly owe you more than any monetary sum could equate to.}   He spoke the words that she told him once, so long ago.  "No, I call it two-timing."
    *"Two-timing?!?!"* she snapped.  *"Then what do you call you and Tendo and that red-haired cretin?"*
    "There is no 'Tendo and red-haired cretin', if you would pay attention," he barked.  "My dearly demented Kodachi--"


    He then realized what was going on.
    Hagane...Roland...whatever...was trying to defeat him in the psychological arena.  To destroy Kodachi, to destroy him by letting them destroy themselves.  His physical presence had instantly destroyed the wall that she built around that pain that she'd squirreled away, tried to hide it.  His presence would normally have caused Kuno to go into an unthinking, uncaring creature bent on Kunoesque honor and nothing else.  
    Kodachi's forbidden love for Hagane, buoyed by his reappearance, would have pushed her over the edge.  Her hatred of Kuno would easily allow her to attack him as he attacked his one-time comrade.
    {I would have then turned my hatred on her, and we would have tore each other to shreds.  Absolute shreds, and without Hagane lifting a finger.  The bastard.  He'd planned this all along, right from the first moment he recognized us.}
    There was one flaw in Hagane's attack: Kuno Tatewaki had grown up over the last couple of weeks.  He was no longer the blind, willful, pompous strutting rooster he was so many days ago.  He was a normal person, now, one capable of making a reasonable decision.  More importantly, one who saw through the gossamer threads of this spider's web, and knew the way out.


    "Dachi-chan," he said, saying the long unused childhood term he called her from so long ago.  From a simpler time, from years before their world crashed upon themselves.  A childhood when she trusted and looked up to him.  Before he betrayed Hagane to their grandfather, the only one who would listen to him.  Neither parent cared, and thus were useless.  Only their grandfather would have the courage to do what he did, that day.
    "Hai, oniisan," she replied automatically, as he'd expected.  The look in her eyes echoed the days when she trusted, maybe even loved him.
    "Listen to me.  There are a couple of things I must tell you.  For one, I longer hold a claim on Tendo Akane.  She and Saotome Ranma were meant to be together.  For this reason, you must let go of him, as well.  It is fortunate, though, that we have others that will fulfill our lives: I have the osaga no onna, and you have Sanzenin.  They are who we must focus our lives on.  It is *not* wrong for me to love Akane, nor for you to love Ranma.  It *is* wrong, however, for both of us to try to separate them when it is clear that they love each other.  Do you understand this, Dachi-chan?"
    "H-hai," she said, her voice thick and sorrowful.  Kuno, for once, felt no more animosity towards Kodachi.  This woman he was talking to was not the hated Black Rose; it was his caring little sister, who she was before her breakdown so long ago.
    "Secondly, you can never have Hagane.  Grandfather said so, and our grandfather, unlike our parents, is a wise man.  Do you remember why you cannot have him?"
    "No," she said, in a child's voice.  The voice of an innocence long destroyed, thanks to Hagane.  "Why, oniisan?"
    {Do I dare throw that blow?} he asked himself.  {Do I hurt my sister, push her off the precipice of control?}  He looked at his sister.  She had regressed inside, frantically building up walls in a desperate attempt to shunt the pain of so long ago.  {The pain will only grow worse if I don't,} he admitted.  {Though she may hate me, though we can and will never get along, she is still my sister.  Nabiki would do this for Akane.  I must do this for my own kin.}
    He looked at the ninja.  the ninja returned the gaze, a taunting glare that said it all: {I *dare* you.  Do you have the guts to destroy your own sister, or will you fight me and lose?  It is your move, Tatewaki-kun.}


    Perhaps fortunately for him, she answered the question.  "Do not answer, my brother."  It was the voice of the Black Rose, heavy and filled with unimaginable pain, of an age-old horror and childhood shame.  "I know why.  I cannot marry Hagane, even though we love each other, even though we would marry at a moment's notice, regardless of my feelings for Mikado-sama, regardless of the claim I have...I had...on Ranma-sama.  I cannot marry him, despite how I remember his gentleness, his warmth.  I cannot marry him.
    "I cannot have a family with him.  I cannot, though I would have a boy and a girl by his design.  I cannot, though I would like in peace with him and our children, in a place where my heart would be at peace.  I cannot, though if I had, I would name the boy Hikaru, the girl, Momiji.  I cannot bear his children."
    Kodachi looked up at Tatewaki's face.  She was in pain, and crying.  Truly crying.  His heart ached for her pain, but he remained stoic, letting her feel the sadness.  {She knows this must be done.  And she is damning herself for it.  She is damning herself for you, Saotome Ranma; for you, Sanzenin Mikado; for you, lovely Akane.  She is damning herself for me, for her, for all of us.  She is damning herself because it is the only way to win this battle.}  
    "Dachi-chan," he whispered.  "You've said enough.  You don't have to continue."
    "Yes I do, oniisan.  Yes, I do."  She turned and looked at Roland, the man who had swept her off her feet, who had been one of her brother's closest friends.  She remembered the day that she had given up her virginity for him, and every day that they had been a couple, and lovers.  The day that he asked her to run away with him and elope, the day of her greatest joy.  The day Tatewaki discovered their tryst and told their grandfather, shattering her heart, and damning him in her eyes, forever.  The day Hagane was beaten to within an inch of his life, and cast out from their society, and with him, her soul.  The day he vowed he'd be back for her, and that he would destroy the Kunos and Kaguros, they day she hoped would come.
    That day, Kodachi the Black Rose in name, became Kodachi the Black Rose, period.  That day, she shut herself off from the rest of the world, becoming insane as others saw it, so she wouldn't truly go mad.  That day, her heart had died, only to be resurrected by another forbidden love, that of Saotome Ranma.  And with that love, came the strength to heal and find another, the man she now loved, Sanzenin Mikado.
    She spoke, and destroyed herself, damning herself utterly, to save Ranma.  The last act she would ever do for him, her last act of selfless love.  In completing her phrase, she would debase herself, ensure that she would never have him.  But she loved him, and it must be done.  In the end, it was better than she be shamed and he alive, than she secretive and he dead.  In the end, she truly loved him enough to give him away.
    "I cannot bear his children and start a family with him because I would give birth to deformed monsters.  I cannot marry the man I love because the family honor--such as it is, as you said, oniisan--would be destroyed.
    "I cannot ever complete my love for this man...
...because he is our older brother, Kuno Hagane."


    She turned and collapsed into Tatewaki's arms, crying uncontrollably.  Kuno, in turn, did something that a month ago, would have been absolutely unexpected.  He hugged his sister to him, stroking her hair, and whispering, "It will be okay, Dachi-chan.  I promise.  I won't let anything hurt you.  I love you, little sister."
    "I-I lo...arigato, oniikun."  It had been the first time in years that she acknowledged that she actually cared for her older brother.  Even if she couldn't say it, the fact that she returned his embrace confirmed it.


    "So, you've won, little brother," Roland said.
    "No, *she* won," Kuno replied.  "She's defeated you.  Leave now."
    "And if I don't?"
    "Then I shall destroy you, Haga...*Roland,"* he said, his voice and eyes smoldering as he held the heartbroken woman in his arms.  "The incestuous relationship that you and she had had took away her innocence and her sanity.  When he was cast out, it nearly destroyed her.  It certainly placed her in a pit of despair that she has only been able to reemerge from in the last two years.
    "Now you are here, Roland.  You are not my--or her--brother anymore.  You are anathema, outcast.  I'll be *damned* if I let you hurt her again.  Admittedly, the Kuno faamily honor means nothing to me anymore, but my personal honor does, and that includes my sister's.  *I will destroy you if I have to.*
    "I'm giving you a chance because of what you once meant to her, to me.  If we meet again, there is nothing but enmity, and only one of us shall walk away."
    "Then I am gone.  I am loathe to have you Kunos sic your trained Kaguro pets on me," he said, semi-nonchalantly.  He turned and walked away, his footfalls clattering on the floor of the room they were in, each footstep falling in unison with each of Kodachi's tears.  But when he was several meters away from them, he turned slightly and said, "You know, I did love her.  Not just as my significant other, but also as a sister."
    "Oh, I don't doubt you loved her," Kuno said.  "I don't doubt it at all.  But you never *cared about her.  I do.  I always have, even though we rarely get along.  I care about her.  That's what makes us different.  Good-bye, Roland."
    "Good-bye, Kuno Tatewaki."  And with that, he stepped beyond the light, into the shadows, and was gone.
    

    Kuno held his sister, then picked her up, heading in the direction from which he came.  She snuggled up absently in his arms, finding comfort and solace, though still crying.  It would end soon, and with it, her scars.  He believed that she'd crossed the line, become sane once more.  Both he and she had crossed the boundary and changed forever, returned to innocence.
    Kuno was now, like his former sibling, someone else.  He was no longer of the Kuno clan, and would leave the ancestral home once he got back to Japan, no longer caring whether it was repaired or not.  He had no desire to live in that abomination of a home, that repository of hypocrisy.  Furthermore, he had a responsibility to take care of--truly care for--his little sister.
    Today, she'd sacrificed all for Ranma.  Her pride and honor, her deepest darkest secret, her claim on him.  It was the deepest expression of love that she could ever give the other man she could never have.  He'd suspected once that she claimed him, if only to annoy her brother, and because of some warped need for someone in her life, even if that love could never be returned.  He was wrong.  She had fallen in love once more, and had found the key to her sanity.
    Kuno walked out of the chamber, carrying Kodachi.  Today, he'd expected to shed blood in a truly gruesome fight against a superior foe.  Instead, he'd fought a battle which he could've never have prepared for, against a foe which meant losing everything.  In the end, he and Kodachi had come out on top and sane, and with a chance to save Ranma and the Pigtailed Girl.
    Never was there more a time when he was more proud of the Black Rose.

                           *   *   *

    Janeiro felt the power of the Dance coming to rise within him.  He was soon to face his opponent, the one that could be the Usurper, the one who would try to take the Dance away from Janeiro.  {That, of course, would never come to pass, but it would be an interesting performance by the Usurper.  No,} he corrected, {it would be a grand performance.  A grand performance, indeed.}
    After all, one who had the skill able to call the Dance, to try to lure it away from Janeiro, well, the Usurper must be powerful, he reasoned.  Still not as good as the Man of the Carnevale, but still dangerous nonetheless.  {Well, I'll take care of that; no one shall take my Dance from me.  No one.}
    He double-checked his ensemble to make sure that it was acceptable.  Not a strand of his hair, dyed Day-Glo orange today, was out of place. His new earrings, a combination of gold, emerald, and ruby, were twinkling like a pair of binary stars.  His new vest, done in an Arabic style, was a jade and gold-lam� vision of splendor, as was the burgundy pants.  To top this vision of majesty, a pair of golden suede shoes were added, to more properly guide Janeiro through the rigors of the dance that would call him to his utmost.  To complete the vision, he added a golden sash, fastening it by an opal cloisonn� peacock broach.
    He looked magnificent.  He looked wonderful.  He looked ready to kill.  Which, of course, he was.
    Janeiro stepped out of his personal quarters, letting the feeling of the Dance guide him to the Usurper.


    Azusa raced through the dim, barely lit hallway, Mikado easily pacing at her side.  They had absolutely no idea where they were going, nor any concept of what was going on.  Mikado knew only that he had to cover Azusa, Azusa knowing that they had to defeat their assigned opponent, thereby buying time.
    This wasn't fun, she realized.  None of this was.  They were fighting, really fighting.  Not any of the AGMA Skating that she used.  It was a violent sport, admittedly, but it was just that--a competitive sports.  That's what she was used to, in addition to traditional skating.
    {This is different.  I saw people trying to kill me and my friends.  I saw some of the ninjas and Amazons actually kill people.  If I wasn't so busy trying to keep my mind on the situation, so busy in trying to assist Akane, I would stop somewhere and hide from all this.  This isn't what I like.  None of it's kawaii. None of it at all.}
    Of course, there was the flip side to this.  She promised Akane that she'd help, even if that meant that she had to fight.  She promised Ryoga that she would do what she could.  Now the stakes were here, and that meant that she would have to put away her ability for AGMA skating, and use her skills in its purest form.
    Capoeira.  The Brazilian martial art, a powerful, rapid, agile art that looked very much like dancing.  In its basic form, it used mostly kicks, like kickboxing, but Colombo-sensei had taught her his very own variation, the style he'd called Carnevale in his native tongue.  It was capoeira mixed in with some kickboxing, shootfighting, and a bit of savate as well.  She could move like a dancing demon, as fast as any whirling dervish and twice as deadly.  But it wasn't a source of pride to her.
    Nor to him.  Colombo-sensei had never said where his skills had come from, nor what he used them for.  He simply told her that he had moved to Japan to study the oriental dances, and had become a dance teacher, himself.  When her parents hired him to become her dance teacher when she began to show some interest in it, he'd shown her that dancing skill, and unintentionally shown her capoeira, as well.  When Mikado had introduced her to his hobby, skating, she asked him to help them train, which he readily agreed.  Eventually, the Golden Pair had become a force to reckon with, not only for their unequaled skill in the art of traditional skating, but also in the relatively new arena of AGMA skating, as well--what some called an oriental version of roller derby.  In any event, the Golden Pair were the best in the world, having sufffered only one defeat, and were excellent martial artists, to boot.
    Somewhere along those lines, in between the life that was Azusa's skating talent, and the fact that her family life was non-existent, Colombo had become a surrogate father to her.  He'd taught her a few things that he knew, introduced to other items, nurtured her various skills and talents, telling her where she could go with them, but letting her decide.  Over the course of those many years, he unintentionally taught her Carnevale AGMA capoeira, as well, finding that she was very capable at it, it showed that there was a force stronger in her, more imbedded in her that was her true skill.  Still, he taught her the AGMA, and Mikado the basic, until he had no more to teach them.  That was when fate intervened.
    When Columbo-sensei was on his deathbed last year, succumbing to a disease that he said he'd been fighting all his life, he'd called in his disciples.  To Mikado, he'd told him to use the skating skills to the best of his abilities, and he would get everything he deserved in the end.  However, to Azusa, he'd told her that he had no intention to teach her the ways of Carnevale, that he'd intended to take it with him to his grave; that didn't happen, it seemed as if the Art would ensure its own life, hiding under a disguise.  He only asked her that she would only use the Art when needed.
    She didn't understand when he told her.  She didn't understand when he died two weeks later.  She didn't understand when she began to grow uncomfortable with Mikado's attempts to mimic Colombo-sensei's style of training, without any of his charm or wit.  she didn't understand when she began to grown jaded of her skating skills, preferring to develop her fashion design skills--design art, her other great love.  She didn't understand when Akane and Ryoga--her best friends in the world--told her to taake a chance in her life, to try to improve it.  She didn't understand when she was accepted to a university in a foreign land, far away from her family and friends.  She understood not a single wit of it.
    But here, on the verge of true combat for the first time in her life, with the happiness of one of her best friends on the line, and the vow that she'd made to the other, she knew that this is what Columbo-sensei meant, that the Art, as he named it, could only be used to protect, not to destroy, as he seen so many times before.  The dance was a defending force, not a killing force, as he had seen it once corrupted.  His legacy was hers now; she was the master of Carnevale, and it was her responsibility to do what was right.  What was right meant saving Ranma, ensuring Akane's happiness, and keeping her promise to Ryoga.
    She looked at Mikado.  He would never understand.  She would never let him understand.  She loved her cousin dearly, but she knew he'd had an aloof attitude towards life for years, one that she also had--it ran in their family.  Although she'd learned to prioritize over the course of her friendship with Akane and Ryoga, he haddn't.  This meant, that although she would never let him down when needed, she was no longer sure about him--the events of two weeks ago had proven that, even though he had changed his mind and come to her side.  That was why she needed to quit skating, to move away--so she could advance her life...
...and become more apparent each day, so he could advance *his.*


    Mikado glanced at his cousin momentarily.  What he saw was something that he never saw before.  The girl that he knew was physically there, and yet there was another layer just below the surface of the woman named Shiratori Azusa.  She was not the overly kawaii teenager that he knew; she was now something else.  Something that reminded him of Colombo, their old dancing, martial arts, and skating instructor.  Azusa took his death pretty hard, certainly quite harder than he did.  Could she be thinking of him now, like a benevolent kami looking over them, granting her his strength?
    She looked at him, and he could see something ancient in her eyes, something far older than the girl named Shiratori Azusa.  Something that said it belonged there, because it was in her care, something that was sure she would do right by it.
    {Okay, Mikado, you've certainly begun to look at ghosts today.}  He turned his head away from hers, hoping to shake the image of his mind.  {Maybe I'm just freaking out.  Azusa's being affected more and more each day by Tendo and Hibiki.  She's not the sweet little innocent girl I could manage.  It's like she's growing up, or something.  Fortunately, that's not possible--the girl is absolutely incapable of making any adult kind of decisions, whatsoever.  That's why I'm here; she needs someone  to control her life.}
    It was part of the reason why he chased so many girls--he knew he'd be stuck with his cousin his whole life.  He did care about her of course, but for him to have her at his side  in perpetuity just so she'd have someone to look after her was absolutely stifling to him.  She was a *girl,* not a *woman.*  He needed someone in his life that would make it worthwhile.
    Like Kuno Kodachi.  She was a girl that, under the prime circumstances, would be ideal.  She'd been halfway convinced; now to begin to lay in the trap for the beautiful bird....


    Both parties were so absorbed in their thoughts, threat they almost ignored the lanky man screaming for their attention.  He waded in between the midst of them, shrieking at a frantic, almost fanatical tone, *"You shall not have the Dance, Usurper!  You shall not have the Dance!"*
    This was it, both skaters realized.  Time to go at it, and not at the standard artistic pace that the Golden Pair were used to ; this was true combat and thus, something not entirely comfortable with either of them.  Not that it was entirely foreign to Mikado; he did do quite a bit more fighting than Azusa did, of course; he firmly believed that he was even capable of beating Saotome if it wasn't for the fact that Ranma was so damn lucky.
    So with no further notion, he charged towards the bizarrely-costumed man, moving in a syncopated step, a rhythmic turn, then rocketed out a foot to attempt to nail the opponent, putting him out of the picture as soon as possible.
    It did no good; the man was simply not there a millisecond after the attack had been initiated.  The fighter had simply cartwheeled out of the range, did an acrobatic twist, then followed it up with a cartwheel kick that slammed Mikado into the nearest wall, knocking the breath out of him and rendering him temporarily harmless.
    "Hmmm..." the little man mused, rubbing his chin gently, the dancing Rodan.  "You are of no talent, eh?  No skill and no Dance.  You cannot be the one that expected, but that would mean that--"
    *"MIKKI!"* a female voice said in frightful surprise, followed up by a blast of energy.
    Janeiro and Mikado looked at Azusa, who had just emanated a battle aura for the first time in her life.  Even more impressive was the fact that she was not moving in the fighting style that Mikado had grown so used to, but instead was moving in a rhythmic motion that he'd never seen before.  He was not seeing the AGMA skating that they'd been taught, nor the sideline of capoeira that they also had learned, but instead the high energy mixture of savete, shoofighting, kickboxing, and capoeira that made up the Carnevale AGMA Capoeira.
    Clad in a shimmering battle aura that flickered with royal, gold, burgundy and jade streaks of color, reminiscent of a Mardi Gras, the young woman had stepped forward to use a never before used talent, her second most powerful skill.


    "An' there you are, my Usurper," Janeiro said, giddy as any child.  The Usurper, was nothing but a mere child.  He could defeat her easily.  "This is gonna be some grand show, your final performance.  Are you ready for your grand finale?"
  Swaying to a beat that only she could hear, Azusa musically intoned in a voice that Mikado had never heard before, "The Art survives, the Dance carries on.  I see you've corrupted the dance, have moved it to an incorrect rhythm.  You've hurt my friends and family in doing so.  You will have no encore for this performance."
    There was something in Azusa's voice that disturbed Mikado deeply.  That was not the voice of Shiratori Azusa--not *his* Azusa, not the one he expected to know his entire life.  The voice was that of an adult, a woman firmly in controll of her destiny, who knew where she wanted to go in life, even if she wasn't still sure as to what she desired.  This was the Azusa that Tendo and Hibiki knew, the one that was their friend, not his.  This was the girl who Azusa would become.  He *knew* his cousin.  He *didn't know* Shiratori Azusa.
    "Are you ready then?" Janeiro asked the young girl.
    Still swaying to a 4/4 jungle rhythm, the girl smiled impishly and said, "On with the show."


    There was a flash of light, and the semi-darkened hall roared to life.  It was a cross between a dancefloor and a combat ring, but the truth of it was plain and simple.  It was the place where they would fight.  The ring itself was a raised platform, about a meter or so above the floor.  There was a mirror ball the size of a small car above the ring, and the floor of the ring looked like something out of _Saturday Night Fever_.  John Travolta would have been very much at home here.
    Janeiro hopped up to the edge of the ring, pirouetted as he bounded off it, and landed in the far corner of the ring, ready to fight.   "Whenever you are ready, Usurper," he crooned.
    Azusa didn't take the bait.  She leapt up and landed clearly in the ring, somersaulted back to her corner, then arched forward, going to an offensive stance that looked more like she was doing the Charleston.  "Whenever you're ready," she called back.
   Softly but surely, a music began to fill the room, a music that Janeiro had played for his entire life.  The music that he had learned under his father, and his father's father before that.  Generations upon generations had been using this special music to train for the dance.  It was a 3/4 to 4/4 beat mixture of African tribal rhythms, crossed over with calypso and samba.  It was a swaying, infectious tune that anyone could move easily to, even those who were said to have two left feet.  It was erotic and chaste, angelic and demonic, it was a syncopating parallel of crossing tangents and ideals.  It was the Western yin and yang.
    It was also, unknown to anyone else, the exact same music that Azusa worked out to when in private.  Only one other had known about this music.  Colombo-sensei had given this tape to her when she was younger, and she loved it enough that it was the only part of her collection that had no name;  it was that precious to her.  How this man before her could have known it, or any other aspect of the Carnevale art--that was obvious, for the way he seemed to mirror her moves--she neither knew nor cared.  She only knew of her promise to Ryyoga, to her promise to Akane.  Their friendship was probably the paramount item in her mind, and that was more than enough to carry her through to the inescapable conclusion:  she would defeat them and defeat them well.
    Janeiro danced forward, stopping long enough to place himself in a stance vaguely reminiscent of the monkey attack.  "I am Janeiro, the Master of the Dance, and you are the Usurper.  For that, you will die."
Azusa slithered forward like a panther, then began to snap to in a speedy kata in front of Janeiro.  She stopped in a position that Mikado recognized as the starting point for his very own move, the Dance of Death.  In a voice that sounded far more serious than her years, she replied with equal gravity, "I am Shiratori Azusa, of no titles that I care to bother with.  You've hurt my friend Akane by taking what was most important to her.  I don't like that, because it's not kawaii, and not fair."
   The two bowed to each other.  Janeiro's battle aura lit up, and it was not really a surprise that it was a mirror image of Azusa's.  Hers still held, and as the music hit a drum sequence, the pair lunged towards each other in full attack.


    Janeiro spun, snapping a kick at Azusa's head.  Azusa leapt up, bounded off the leg, and did a flying kick towards Janeiro.  Janeiro ducked under and as Azusa landed, threw a backhanded slam to her head.  She spun out of the way, catching the arm and flipping him.  Janeiro circled through the motions of the flip, and landed on his feet, then tried to elbow Azusa.  Azusa caught the elbow, thrusting his fist back to him.  Janeiro leapt back momentarily, then did a cartwheel kick.  Azusa countered with one of her own, and both combatants landed at the same time.  Azusa rushed forward with a punch, but Janeiro arced a kick over it.  Azusa ducked under in time, rolling behind him, then leaping to the air and rocketing out a kick.  Janeiro dodged under this and performed a leaping step kick.  Azusa, on the way down caught it, and yank him out of position long enough to throw a nasty punch that not only connected but rocked his head back with a air-splitting *thwack!*
    Both combatants landed on the ground: Azusa on her feet and Janeiro on his back, knocking the air out of him.  So far the first round was pretty much a stalemate, with Azusa able to land a last-minute hit.  It had gone on for five minutes, with both fighters able to read the other's moves like nothing ever imagined, Mikado surmised.  Neither combatant was telegraphing their moves, and at the speed they were moving at, it was fairly difficult to keep up with that kind of movement, anyway.  Azusa's punch was simply a successful roll of the dice.  He contemplated moving into the battle, but then stopped short once he realized that the two were fighting at a level above his own skill.
    That in itself was a difficult admission.  Azusa was obviously far better than he'd ever imagined...far better than he.  He'd always thought of himself as Colombo-sensei's prize student, but he'd been proven wrong.  Azusa wasn't moving like she'd been a student of the Brazilian instructor, she moved as if she *was* the instructor.  Likewise, her opponent moved like if he was trained by the same master.  An impossibility, of course.  No one was capable of picking up that skill except for the Golden Pair.  But then, shouldn't he be better than Azusa?
    A stalemate was clear here, and that wouldn't be good, considering how much other combat was occurring at the same time as this was.  In order to avoid getting swept up in a something of that magnitude, they'd have to end this, fast.  He'd have to think of a way to end this block, and throwing himself into the fray, where he'd be so-much lesser the agility of these two was not the answer.  There had to be something else.

    *"Shockwave Split!"*  Janeiro leapt up, then rocketed back down in a ki-flaming split legged slice kick.  The energy discharge spiderwebbed the quartz flooring, but easily missed his opponent.  She had nimbly flipped back, out of the range of the epicenter.  Of course, what she hadn't expected was the energy racing in trails along the floor, and one of those slammed into her.
    She screamed as her body was encased in a pillar of jade green flame with streaks of gold, then the sound ended as she fell to the floor like a sack of rice.  Her face registered no movement, and she looked down for the count.  Janeiro leapt up into the air, then rushed down in a flying kick aimed for her jugular.
    Her eyes flew open, and with an absolute surprise, Janeiro was blasted back into one of the obsidian pillars, pounding into it, then sticking there for a second of two before sliding off.  He groaned, then slowly stood, shaking his head in absolute wonder.  What Azusa had done by all means was *impossible.*  From a prone position and unconscious, she'd executed a flash kick, sending him back in a blast of golden and burgundy energy.  No way that that could have happened.
    Janeiro heard a stony rumble behind him.  As he quickly turned, he saw the support pillar break away, a huge pole of a heavy stone break off and fall to the floor, crush the tiling beneath.  The amount of power delivered to make that kind of impact damage was nearly breathtaking.  Nearly, only because he hadn't had the wind knocked out of him.


    Azusa stood up, gently slapping the back of her head to clear the dizziness from her mind.  She'd been nailed by a decent enough blast that definitely rocked her silly.  She had been expecting a shot of some power; he was after all capable of some skill if he was serving in this position, but his skill was far too equal to hers.  They'd been mirroring their attacks and reading them a little too equally for her comfort, and that meant that they must have had some training in common.  Could this person have been the incident that Colombo-sensei said was the time she'd seen the Art fail, seen the Art corrupted?  It would certainly make sense.
    Of course, that also meant that she could not defeat him in that manner.  Likewise, she couldn't be beaten by him.  Therefore, there must be one other way to stop him, one that would be unexpected by his mindset, as well as unstoppa--

    "Hey, Azusa!"  Mikado called out, pointing at Janeiro, hoping that this would do it.  He may not know this Azusa, but he did know his cousin very well.  "Isn't that sash he's wearing so cute?"

    Janeiro looked completely confused.  What was the guy doing, expecting her to attack simply because of his sash?  The fool obviously knew nothing about the Dance, and the way it took the person, Usurper or no.  
    Then he saw the Usurper--the girl named Azusa--and watched her eyes glaze over in some kind of psychotic glee.  That was extremely discomforting....


    Azusa looked at the sash that Mikado pointed out.  {What is he up to?} she wondered.  The sash was no big deal.  It looked like one that Ranma used as a belt.
    The peacock broach however....
    Azusa liked it.  She really liked it.  *She really, really, really liked it.*

    *"Oh, that peacock broach is sooooooo CUTE!!!!!   Alice!  Alice!  You give Azusa back her little Alice!  Gimme, gimme, GIMME!!!!"*

    Uh oh.

                  *   *   INTERMISSION   *   *

    "'Uh oh' what?"  Libby asked, not really wanting to know what was going on.
    One thought went through Ronnie's mind: {Other than Mousse, is there a reason why I want to know these people?}
    Maria simply nodded sagely.  After all, fashion is important to a girl....
    Tyler and Gil said nothing.  This was nothing new of course.  They both of course silently agreed that they somehow had obtained lifetime memberships in the Shampoo & Ranko Anything Goes Martial Arts Globetrotting Full Contact Disaster Circus.
    Shampoo answered, absolute mirth creeping into her voice.  "Azusa using her martial arts skill to the fullest is difficult to beat.  On the other hand, Azusa, when faced with something she wants, is unstoppable."  She then found herself on the losing end of a battle to not laugh hysterically.  Finally, she raced up the stairs, rounded the corner and exploded in a burst of hyena-like giggles.
    Mousse simply looked at Ranko with a glance that said, {Hey, don't look at me.}
    Ranko shrugged her shoulders and sighed.  {At this rate, I'm never gonna finish my story!}  She patiently waited until Shampoo returned, then cheerfully thumped her on the head and continued.

                     *   *   STORY   *   *

    Azusa raced for the Brazilian at full speed.  She was holding her arms out, and had a determined look on her face, targeted on one thing and one thing only. 
    As she came forth, Janeiro huffed.  {So this is the truth about the Usurper,} he noted.  {She distorts the Dance, trying to take it from me.  She of course, has buckled under the strain and lost it.  Not as good a performer as I thought.}  As she came within range, he let loose with an ax-kick, charged with enough ki to crush a mid-size sedan.
    So, he was absolutely shocked when she swatted it away, with nary a thought; instead lunging for the broach, shouting all the while, *"You give Azusa back her little Alice or you'll be sorry!  Gimme my Alice!  Gimme, gimme, GIMME, GIMME!!!!!!!!!!!!"*  She matched the moves that he made, easily, blocking every strike he threw at her.  What made it worse, she wasn't even really attacking, just blocking aside his attacks if they were simply nothing but brushes of a feather.
    Janeiro leapt back for the sake of his life.  This was entirely unreal.  This girl was taking his hardest attacks and brushing them aside as if they were nothing but a gentle breeze!  The power of the Dance was strong, but this enemy was no longer using the Dance!  The Usurper was using something more powerful than the Dance.  But that was impossible!  *NOTHING* was stronger than the all-consuming force that was the Dance!
    He began to power up his battle aura.  It was time to unleash the ultimate fury of the Dance.  Nothing the Usurper could do would stop it.  He crouched low, then as she rushed towards him once more, he dodged out of the way, then called out *"Ultimate Momentum Technique!  Somersault Samba Shell!"*
    As Azusa's back was exposed to him, he turned and did three immediate Flash Kicks to her back, the energy discharge slamming into her, shredding her shirt, cutting her hair ribbon and several clumps of her hair.  She was thrown back, several meters, to land in a heap by the broken pillar, where she looked absolutely down for the count.  There would be no coming back for an encore performance this time.
    Janeiro smiled with a maniacal glee.  The Usurper was defeated.  The Dance was once again all his.
    Mikado raced to her side, heedless of the threat that Janeiro could potentially pose to him.  He had to see if Azusa was okay.  Then, weaker party or not, Sanzenin Mikado was going to have a nice little "chat" with the fighter who injured his cousin.  A chat entailed by fists and punctuated with kicks.


    He didn't have to.
    She slowly got up, and reached a hand back to her hair.  It wasn't there anymore.  It was shredded off, as Akane's had once been, only less clean.  Her shirt was absolutely gone in the back, and she could feel lances of pain racing up and down her back.  She felt the stickiness of some crawling down her back; she touched it, and brought it to her face.  Blood.  Hers.
    The bad man was actively trying to keep her little Alice from her.  Worse, he made her look very kawaiikune.
    Of course, this meant war.  For the second time in her life, Azusa went hard-core.
    She got up and grunted, the anger firmly etched on her face.  She looked around for some simple object of persuasion to use upon the offending party.
    Like the pillar.  The rough dimensions of a sizable section from a telephone pole.  Weight, circumference, the works.
    She simply picked it up, no not so much as a thought, and charged after Janeiro, shouting her battlecry of *"YOU GIVE AZUSA BACK HER LITTLE ALICE!!!!!!!!!  AND AZUSA WANTS AN APOLOGY FOR RUINING HER KAWAII LOOKS, TOO!!!!!!!!!!"*
    She raced towards him at full speed, brandishing the pillar in both hands held over her head.  Truth be told, she looked like a Japanese Valkyrie in jeans and ripped polo, after a serious overdose of adrenaline, steroids, amphetamines and Nutrasweet.


    Simultaneously, both Mikado and Janeiro completely facefaulted, absolutely stupefied.  There was no way in hell that Azusa could've picked up that pillar.  *No.  Way.  In.  Hell.*  They rubbed their respective eyes, making sure they saw what they saw.  Oh, they saw it, all right.  Here she was, all 45 kilos or so of her, racing towards her opponent carrying something exponentially heavier than she.  They chose to react to this in the most acceptable manner: their eyes practically popped out of their sockets, growing large enough that for a minute they looked like characters from a typical anime.
   Mikado looked at her as she raced past him.  At once, he was glad that he was not on the receiving end of one of Azusa's attacks for a change; certainly, he'd lived through many a situation where he unfortunately stood between Azusa and her little Charlotte (Frances, Josephine, Martina, Babette, Usagi, Enya, Holly, Tanya, Mitsuko, Emeraude, Shiko, Lita, Amy, Elizabeth, Danielle, Cammille, Nadia, Rei, Jewel, Brenda, Sofia, etc. etc. etc.), and he was glad he wasn't on this one.  The bad guy, well....
    Janeiro, on the other hand, didn't look so well.  {*SHE GOT UP FROM A FINAL ATTACK!  SHE...GOT UP...FROM A FINAL...FINAL...F-I-N-A-L...ATTACK!*}  By all accounts this was impossible.  Final attacks were blows meant for killing; once you committed, there was no simple maiming in the equation; you were going to kill and going to kill outright.  By all means, she should be dead.  But here she was, chasing him down with something that no person should be physically capable of lifting, much less carrying!  A scarier concept entered into his mind: she was no longer Dancing.  Therefore, there was something more powerful out there than the Dance.  And she was using It.
    Which made her very dangerous.  As the realization of this a statement he heard once came into his mind:

    Be afraid.  Be very, very, afraid.

    Janeiro looked at Mikado with an abject sense of fear.
    Mikado simply tossed his hair back in that special way of his, saying, "She's *your* problem.  Good luck, you'll need it."


    Azusa swung the pole with all her might, crashing it nearly over Janeiro's skull.  A last minute dash by Janeiro saved his neck.  It however, didn't matter as she simply picked it up and began chasing after him again, running around the dimensions of the hallway, the music of his victory now mocking him, the glittering disco ball above shimming taunts down upon him.  Here he was, in the place of what should be his crowning victory over the Usurper, and she was on the verge of turning him into a huge smear on the ground, the Crystal Temple equivalent of the bug on the windshield.
    He ran around the place in an absolute panic, concentrating on survival, not even thinking about where the nearest door would be or if there was some way of stopping her.  Not that Mikado would have allowed it; he was enjoying the odd scene way *too* much, mostly due to the fact that he was not on the receiving end of the conflict.
    Azusa turned to Mikado, out there in her own world, saying in her most kawaii voice, "Oh, Mikki, is there a place around here we can stop for lunch?  Azusa's getting a bit hungry."
    "Not that I know of," he deadpanned.
    "Oh."  As if suddenly remembering what she was doing in the first place, she continued her bizarre attack.  *"Are you going to give Azusa back her little Alice?  Azusa still wants an apology, too!!!"*
    *"Leave me ALONE, you DEMONESS!!!!"* Janeiro was pure lost in nothing but panic.  There was nothing there but an overriding fear.
    *"No!  You give Azusa her little Alice!!!  Gimme, gimme, GIMME!!!!!"*


    It was then that disaster struck.  For Janeiro, that is.
    Meredith, the gun in Azusa's pocket, was jostled out of her pocket from the combined effort of her running and all this action.  It hit the floor and went off , the bullet flying wildly.  It blasted upwards, angled just enough that the round snapped through the support struts that held the disco ball.  The ball fell to the floor...
...pinning Janeiro under it. Still very much alive, still very much in pain by the weight of the huge ball crushing him.
    Instantly Azusa tossed the pole away, reached for and grabbed her war booty--the elusive peacock brooch.  She hopped up and down in a twisted victory dance, giggling all the while like the schoolgirl sshe was.  "Don't worry, little Alice, Azusa will take good care of you."  She placed Alice in her pocket, then went over and retrieved Meredith, fully apologizing to the gun for having dropped it.  A second later, Meredith was returned to Azusa's inventory.
    Janeiro, however, was trying to breathe...and not doing quite a good job, considering he had the weight equivalent of a Dumpster on him.  "Can...someone...get this...thing...off me?"
    Mikado ran over to her, pulling his shirt off.  Now that things were normal, he had to look at her wounds.  He guessed that adrenaline had kept her from noticing them, and sooner or later, the pain would kick in.  "Azusa!  How...how in the world did you do this?" he said, pointing to the downed sphere and referencing the room in general.
    Azusa looked at him, all kawaii and Bambi-eyed.  "Azusa did no such thing."
    "Oh, and I suppose this happened all by itself," he replied, his tone dropping absolute sarcasm.
    She replied in her sing-song tone, her kawaii mode set on overload: "Don't look at A-zu-sa!"
    He groaned.  "I should've known better than to ask you."
    Janeiro groaned from his spot below.  "I...can't...breathe...."
    Gentlemanly as ever, Mikado slipped his shirt around Azusa; it was fortunate that he was wearing a button up and had a T-shirt beneath.  "Daijobu da, Azusa-chan?  You really had me worried for a few."
    She looked up at him, eyes smiling and filled with laughter.  "I'm okay."  She then hugged him.  "But thanks for caring, Mikki."  To his own surprise, he returned the hug.  Things were different, now.  His cousin was her own woman, and would always be so.  He no longer had to deal with the burden of taking care of her, because she could now care for herself.
    Mikado broke the embrace.  "Well, our job is done, isn't it?"
    "Hai," she returned.  "Akane will be able to breathe easier, now that one of these guys are no longer her problem."
    The pair left the dance floor combat arena, walking this time, Mikado taking the lead this time, in order to ensure that no one would get in their way...lest they suffer the kawaii consequences.


    Two minutes later:
   "Will...*SOMEBODY*...please...get this...ball off of...me?"  Janeiro wheezed.  "I'll...even...apol...o...gize...."

                           *   *   *
    
Twenty miles above the earth, locked in geosynchronous orbit, an American KH-11 observation satellite, code named "Harbinger" by intelligence authorities, fired its thrusters and began to slowly move from its location, designed to monitor activity in Polyyarny, USSR.
    The satellite's new location: a densely jungle area of northern Vietnam, near the borders of Nekonron and China.  The reason: to determine if the Windham team had destroyed the Crystal Temple as guaranteed...
...or if the world would fall into nuclear Armageddon.
    Time was running out....