All right. I discovered the hard way that I somehow got kicked off the list
again. After many problems (and I flawed address) I think I'm back on. Since
there's no way I'm rewriting the entire C+C. I shall send forth this copy
and hope it doesn't turn out too screwed up.

Yay! Another chapter, and so soon after the first.

*****************
* Illuminations *
*****************
                   **********************
                   * Chapter Twenty-One *
                   * Run-Around         *
                   **********************


   Nabiki groaned softly and let her eyes slit open.  {Dammit.
I'm getting a little sick of waking up to open windows.  If it's
Ranma-kun again....}  Letting the many possible revenges for
disturbing her beauty rest simmer on a back burner, the middle
daughter of Soun Tendou rose and went over to her window, the
source of the offending draft.

   No one was there.  Sliding the window shut, she turned to see
if P-Chan had perhaps left, but no, the cursed boy, still in his
porcine form, was on a pillow, sleeping off the effects of
massive exposure to nude Tendou daughters.

Hehehe. I wonder how fast he can replace the blood loss.

   Nabiki smirked in the darkness.  {If we'd had Kasumi there,
he'd have probably slipped into a full-blown coma.  Sweet, in a
pathetic sort of way.}

Pure Nabiki.

   She shook her head.  She'd been having that sort of thought
an awful lot, just lately, and was really not sure how she felt
about it.

What sort of thought? Ryouga being pahetic? Seeing Kasumi naked?

   {Oh well, time fo--} her thoughts slammed to a halt as she
saw them.  Roses.  Blood red and midnight black, the bouquet sat
on her desk like an imp waiting for an unwary moment when it
could steal her breath.

How foreboding. The roses are a nice touch.

   Hand trembling, she reached for the card, prepared to dive
away at the first sign of traps or gas bombs.  She removed the
small slip of cardboard without incident, then stepped away
quickly.

   In the glint of moonlight coming through the window, she read
the words over and over, shaken by a nameless dread:

      [Nab-chan, hope you feel better.  Can't wait to hear
    from you again.  In the meantime, I'll keep the photos
    from our last get-together.  Unless, of course, you'd like
    me to send them to your family?
    P.S.--You really should wear a bra at night--you never
    know who might come slipping into your room.]

Argh! it's been so long it took me a while to think of who this was.

   Suddenly overcome by nausea and a feeling of violation, she
raced out of her room and down the hall.  She barely made it to
the bathroom, where vomit and bile blended with tears of bitter
shame.

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

   Akane tried to remember how she had gotten tangled, and
couldn't.

She was really hung over and had come onto Mousse?

All she knew was that the cat's cradle of ropes
holding her also kept her from plummeting into the nameless
horrors shrouded by the mist that writhed underneath her.

   Looking into the darkness above her, she made out a monstrous
figure, a figure which radiated both hunger and compassion.  She
cringed instinctively as the figure drew out a huge knife and
started cutting the ropes, one by one....
rope, and now Akane hung by a mere thread over the reaching fog.

   Akane looked about helplessly.  She peered, first at the
mists, then at her... savior?  captor?

A captor that wants to play the role of savior?

... and finally at the
knife that held her fate.  And her answer rose up, the only
answer she could have given.

   "Go to Hell!"

Voice: And what would your response be if I told you I had already been
there? Shall I go to Heaven instead?

   And so the blade cut, and she fell, screaming, into the
mists.

   Only to land, unharmed and on her feet, a moment later.

How disappointing. All that fear wasted. Tsk Tsk. ^_^

   As she stood trying to catch her breath, she realized there
was a noise coming from behind her.  She took a moment to
process this information simply because the noise was so out of
place here, wherever "here" was.  It was the sound of clapping.

One hand or two?

   She turned, and nearly facefaulted at the sight of Cologne,
smiling and applauding gently.

Hmm. I don't know. The 'nearly facefaulting seems a little out of place
here. The mood is all wrong for it.

   "Now I begin to see why Son-i--why Ranma always chose you, in
the end, Akane.  You have a wonderful spirit."

That and she's probably the only fiancee that stands a chance of getting out
of this alive makes her the best choice all right.

   "Wait a minute!  Cologne?!  Ranma said something about--you
mean this is all a dream?  None of it's real?"

   Cologne allowed a grumpy look to cross her features.  "Of
course it's a dream--but who's to say it's not real, too?  You
continually deny your feelings for your fiance, as he does for
you, and yet those feelings are still real.  So what difference
does it make that this place exists only in your mind--maybe the
metaphor is still true, and maybe we can each construct our own
realities by force of will.  Or maybe you have just been eating
too much of your own cooking before bedtime."

Akane:*BURP* Looks like you were right. And here I thought this was some
wierd message you were trying to send to save all of our lives. Thanks
anyway.

   Caught between at least four different competing reactions,
Akane settled for gaping like a fish out of water.

   "Bah!  We don't have enough time for me to instruct you in the
mysteries of the Universe, and most of my lessons wouldn't make
any sense to you at this time.  I need to communicate with your
group, and Ranma's dreams are... inhospitable right now, and I
don't know when I shall get another chance."

   Finally, her instincts took over.  "Well, good!  Maybe a few
bad dreams will teach that idiot not to run when things are
getting tough!"

   "Oh, come now, Child.  You don't really believe that, do you?
Has Ranma ever shown himself to be a coward?

When it comes to revealing his feelings, yes.

Can't you think of
any other reason why he might have removed himself?"

   "But he said--"  Cologne cut her off with an imperious wave.

   "Feh!  'He said,' indeed!  I'll tell you what, Child, I am
not going to hit you."  She promptly rapped Akane over the head
with her staff.

   "Hey!"

   "Now, which was more important:  what I said, or what I did?"

Hehehe. I like that demonstration. Very nice.

   Akane grimaced.  "What you did."

Cologne rapped her in the head again.

Cologne: Wrong! It was what I said. See. I tricked you. How do you ever hope
to survive if you can't get a 50/50 question right?

   Cologne crowed in triumph.  "There is hope for this
generation after all!  Now, why might Ranma have left, and why
might he have lied to you about it?"

   "Ummm... Because he wants to keep me out of trouble, and
because he thinks I won't follow him if I'm mad?"

   "Yes!  Congratulations.  Now, what are _you_ going to do
about it?"

Akane: Keep out of trouble and stay mad?

   "I'm gonna find him, I'm gonna help him--whether he wants it
or not--and then, when this is all over with, I'm gonna kick his
ass into the next week."

   "Excell--"  The crone's praise was cut off as she burst into
a pillar of flame.

Ah, Spontaneous Combustion Technique. A very powerful one known only by the
most powerful of martial artists.

   Akane sat up in bed, breathing heavily.  She whispered to the
shadows of her room, "Ranma, you'd better let me find you...."

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

   Sergeant Abe Hiroyuki

Abe?

sat at his desk, shaking his head
sadly.  It had been a rough way to start off the morning.  The
young boy had seemed so sincere.

   Sgt. Abe's sympathy had been genuine when he had told
the young man--what was his name?  Oh yes, Happousai--

Allow me to say, oh dear. I forgot about him still being around.

when he
had told Happousai that he couldn't release any information at
all about the bombing of the Maiden's Luck.  After all, the boy
was obviously just looking for some solace in knowing how went
the investigation of the explosion which had killed his fiance.

fiancee. Unless Happi's claiming to be engaged to a man.

   If it had been up to him, the sergeant would have just let
the boy have a quick peek at the file while his back was turned.

That may yet happen.

Orders from high up, however, were quite clear.  Under no
circumstances was any member of the public to be given
information pertaining to the investigation.

   The official line was that this was to preserve the integrity
of the investigation.  Sgt. Abe's

Should probably be using his last name here instead of his first.

opinion was that this was to
preserve the reputations of the officers in charge of the
investigation, who had turned up nothing of relevance, at least
as far as Abe knew.

   He sighed.  Covering the Brass' Asses

Should that be capitalized?

was one of his least
favorite chores, especially when it meant he couldn't even
reassure a teenager mourning his fiancee.  Instead, he had been
forced to try to console the lad as best he could, without
actually telling him anything.  It was a shame, really.

   Sgt. Abe went back to the file room to retrieve some
paperwork on a missing-child report.  When he entered, a sharp
wind cut across his face,

nearly making him drop his coffee.

   {Odd.  That window isn't supposed to be open.}  He closed the
offending portal, then went over to the cabinets.  And froze.

cabinets, and

   The top file drawer was open--not by a lot, but enough that
he knew there was no way it could have been left that way by
accident.  Capt. Hino was a bear when it came to order in the
records areas, and numerous reprimands had drilled into his
underlings just how vital it was to their careers to keep him
happy in this regard.

   On a hunch, Sgt. Abe opened the drawer.  He found himself
unsurprised to see that the file on the bombing was sticking up
the tell-tale half inch.  Only the greenest of recruits under
Hino would have dared to leave a file looking like that, and all
the men on the bombing case were double-digit veterans.  Sgt.
Abe had no doubt about what had happened here.  He was just
uncertain what to do about it.

   On the one hand, he had a break-in that had lead to no theft
or property damage.  On the other, he had a superior who would
ream him and every other officer in the building for allowing
unauthorized civilians into his precious filing room, and who
would turn the city upside down in a manhunt for the
perpetrator.

   Looking at it in that light made it clear that there was not
decision

not a decision

found?"

   "Yes, and I know why, I think.  I also think you can guess
the real reason he took off, too."  Akane pressed on, not
guessing the real reason behind Nabiki's guilty flinch.
"Nabiki, I know... I know I'm not in his league as a fighter...
But if he and I are going to have any chance together at all,
then I have to know that I can stand by him when things are
tough--otherwise, I'll... I'll wind up like Ukyou, not around
him when I really need to be.

Well being dead makes it pretty damn hard to be at anyone's side! I suppose
you could come back as a ghost, but that is asking a lot.

And I don't want that."

   "Akane, I don't know....  This is pretty big, you know."

   "Yes, I know that, Nabiki.  That's why I want you to take
this--it'll help you set up a cover story."  With those words,
Akane shoved a large wad of bills into Nabiki's hands.

   Unbidden, the words from the note her "admirer" left came
back to Nabiki:  "Can't wait to hear from you... unless you'd
like them sent to your family...."

   Aloud, she said, "Akane, congratulations.  You've just made
me an offer I can't refuse."

   She pushed the bills into her purse, and as her sister took
off down a side-street, Nabiki prayed she wasn't making the
worst mistake of her life.

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

   Akita Sakue sighed.  The boredom she felt threatened to
totally overwhelm her.  The life of an office girl in the bowels
of the Immigration Department was not all wine and roses;  more
like vinegar and thorns.

   She was so lost in her thoughts on the injustice of it all
that she failed utterly to

I'd drop the 'utterly'

notice the styrofoam panel in the
ceiling over her head rise up into the space between her floor
and the one above.

   She did notice the faint sound of feet landing behind her,
but before she could even think about turning around, her head
was caught in a vise-like grip that ended with a hand sealing
her mouth shut.

   She was still trying to grasp her situation when an arm--a
woman's arm, no less--was thrust in front of her field of
vision.  The whispered question, "Understand?" seemed to come
from impossibly close to her ear.  She nodded.  How could anyone
in Japan fail to understand the threat implicit in that
tattoo-covered arm?

   Yakuza.

When did they become involved, or am I forgetting something?

To deviate from whatever she was told would mean
death, she knew.  The arm was quickly removed from her sight.

   Then the voice whispered again, and she began to understand
what was required of her.  A few quick moments of typing secured
the information she was asked for--records on the immigration
status of the owner and employees of a Chinese restaurant in the
Nerima Ward.  She had no idea why her unwelcome visitor wanted
the information, and she didn't care.  Although given the name
of the place, she figured it was probably a prostitution
front--maybe one that had failed to pay proper dues to the
oyabun.

   A few more whispered commands, and some more records were
called up.  Her captor seemed to pore over this screen for a
long time, then uttered a few final commands.  Nothing
unexpected:  "Don't turn around.  Tell no one what has happened.
You will not be harmed."  Nothing unexpected, that is, until the
hand had released her, and her assailant had retreated back into
the buildings innards.  Faintly, as she sat trying to hold back
her sobs, she heard a voice say, "I'm sorry...."

   Akita Sakue sat long enough to be sure she had retained her
composure, and then very quietly fled the building, praying with
all her soul that the rest of her life would be dull and
lifeless.

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

   Soun carefully drew back the door to the outer bathroom.  He
knew it was a foolish risk, but even after his somewhat
accelerated healing from the onii, he was still too stiff to make
the jump up to the attic, and the stairs were still unrepaired.

   Kasumi had left about an hour ago, and Nodoka had just
announced her intention to bathe.  He couldn't resist the
opportunity.

   Pausing long enough to make sure there had been no reaction
to the door's slight movement, he carefully peeked through the
small slit he had created between the door and the frame.

   And met the eye of Nodoka Saotome.

Busted!

   He struck the wall opposite the bathroom door with enough
force to reform some of the bruises on his back.  As he tried to
stammer out some kind of rational excuse for his behavior, Nodoka
reached out and firmly placed a hand over his mouth.

   And smiled.

Hmm.

   "Oh, you don't have to explain, Tendou-san.  I understand."

   "Y-you do?"

   "Of course.  It's been many years for you, Tendou-san...
almost as many as it's been for me."

Oh ho! Shame on Nodoka. Not that with Genma as her husband I truly blame
her.

   Soun's heart began to drown out his hearing.

   "In many ways, it's a relief, actually.  While I know my
husband is truly a manly man,

<Insert Derisive Snort>

it has been long since I believed
he was honorable in all ways.

And just how gullible were you to ever believe that in the first place?

It is good to see that Ranma has
another role model, one who is manly, and who does not shirk his
obligations."

*Giggle* Oh yes, the manliest of men.

   She slid closer to him; he would have sworn he felt the
warmth of her body across the slight gap between them.

   "I want you to know, Tendou-san, that-that I want this, too.
When Genma and I are back together, we can't ever speak of it
again,

Unless you cry out 'Soun! Soun!' in the heat of passion.

but... but for now, I want to-to--"  Her voice failed her
with a sharp sob.

   He looked at her, and realized there was no doubt in his own
mind, or his own heart.  He knew there would be problems,
ramifications;  it didn't matter.  He would care for her, and
take her in, and deal with all the rest later.

Ah, a Soun and Nodoka lemon. How long I've waited to see one of those...not.

   As that final frustrating inch between them closed, their
robes fell to the floor.  Neither of them noticed the other
occupant of the hallway, who had entered only a moment before.

   At least, not until its oversized incisors sank into Soun's
ankle with much more force than would be expected for such a
small pig.

So Ryouga interferes.  Lets see if he  ends up bacon bits or not.

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

   Isihiyama Oda stared dumbfounded at the battered dockworkers
in front of him.  He tried to make sense of their ramblings, so
that he could begin to file the paperwork (paperwork, the bane
of every dock foreman in Tokyo) on the assault.

   The part that stopped him cold every time was when they tried
to describe their assailant.  If he understood them correctly,
nearly a dozen of his burliest workers had been taken down by a
sixteen-year-old girl.  Not only that, but she was asking all
sorts of strange, one might even say incomprehensible, questions
about purple cats and ducks with vision problems.

Oh? And just who could this be? An Amazon?

   Just as they began to get the story straight, Ito burst in
and started blabbering about _another_ sixteen-year-old girl,
who apparently was looking for someone, and Oda noted glumly
that the second-hand description of her quarry was a pretty good
match for the first teen terror.  Just as he was beginning to
absorb that piece of delightful news, Ito explained that the new
arrival had evidently taken umbrage at some of the gentle
flirtations of the dockhands.

Two Amazons? Curiouser and curiouser.

   At first Oda was afraid that she was going to contact the
police, but then Ito explained that, no, the young lady was
quite happy to take care of the problem, with the aid of several
large crates that were currently being reduced to kindling over
the laborers' heads.

Heh. Sounds like one all right.

   Oda slowly lowered his head into his hands.  He knew, just
knew, that his fingers were going to be lost to writer's cramp
before this day was out.

Heh.

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

   Ryouga pulled on his clothes hastily.  After he had spoiled
the mood,

You mean they didn't consider using him as a sex toy? Oh wait, this isn't an
Oscar fic. Never mind.

Soun had pursued his cursed form into the bathroom.
Soun called out to Nodoka to go on downstairs--he would join her
in a minute.  P-Chan, understanding that the Tendou patriarch
desired that she not be in hearing range of the upcoming
discussion, had nodded and slipped into the furo, emerging as
himself.  They had gone down to Nabiki's room to discuss the
matter further.

   "Alright, Son, say what you have to say."

   Ryouga looked a little awkward.  "I--I'm sorry, Tendou-san,
but I couldn't stand by and let that happen.  Ranma would never
forgive me, and neither would Akane."

   "I see.  And so you sought to 'protect' her?"

   "I don't know.  I heard what she said, but, damnit!  We're
martial artists!  We're not supposed to-to--"

   "To take advantage of others' weaknesses?"

Soun finished for
him.

   "Yes!  And frankly, I didn't care for what it would mean for
Akane's honor, either.  You are the head of the clan, after
all."

   "Hmmm... We'll return to the subject of your concern for my
daughter's honor in a minute."  Ryouga gulped nervously.  "But
first," continued Soun, "let me make one thing perfectly clear.
Nodoka is a widow.  Granted, a recent widow,

As in the body's stopped being warm about five minutes ago.  Geez. Soun's
moving faster than even D'Amour would. (Now that is a scary thought)

but it follows a
prolonged separation.  There is no dishonor in the two of us
seeking solace in one another's arms."

   "Ummm... Maybe not, sir, but have you considered the fact
that she doesn't _know_ she's a widow yet?  From what I know
about her, once the... passions had burned down, I don't think
she would have been able to handle the guilt.  I don't like to
think of her with that katana in easy reach...."

Good point.

   Soun paled visibly, then sighed.  "You're right.  But does
that mean neither of us can find the happiness we deserve?"

Depends on your definition of 'deserve'.

   Ryouga looked at the older man and felt a surge of sympathy.
{Ten years... In some ways, he's been alone longer than I have.}

   "No, sir, but it does mean that you'll have to be patient.
I've been thinking while we've been talking, and I have a
possible solution."

   Soun adopted an interested look.  "Proceed."

   "Well, what if she never learns the whole truth?  I mean, we
could tell her that Genma died in the jungles of Vietnam, or
something like that.  We could even tell her he was cremated.
Do you know what happened to... to his remains?"

I know. URK!

her way through the rooms to the little campsite she had made in
the middle of what had been the waiting room.

   The day had been a total wash-out, other than relieving some
of her tension in that fracas at the docks.

   Still, she had a few tidbits of negative information, and she
supposed she could make some kind of pattern out of those in the
morning, when her mind was fresh.

   She stepped into the receptionist's area, and stopped dead
just as a kerosene lantern came alive, basking the room with a
dull orange glow and giving a sinister underlighting to the
room's other occupant.

   "Hello, Saotome.  It's about time you got here--I've been
waiting for over an hour."

   "Heh.  Uh, hi, Akane.  How's things?"

At last. Things appear to be moving along with the introduction of some new
players.

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

                         End Chapter 21

Author's Notes:

Whew!  Kept it all in there.  Even managed to follow my outline,
although a few of the specifics got altered in the translation

>from mind to print (Ranma's activities were originally more

light-hearted, and Soun and Ryouga's confrontation was supposed to
be much more harsh, for instance).

Seemed pretty good to me as is.

The use of one-shot characters was kind of a new thing for me, so
I'd really like your opinions on that--was it too much, should I get rid
of it here, but maybe use it for another story, did it
work for this chapter but not for most others, should I go back
and write the whole story from strangers' perspectives (mind you,
I'm not saying I'm gonna _do_ everything you suggest, but I'd
still like to hear about it).  ^_^

There were a lot of them in this one. Maybe one less would have worked. As
to rewrite it from a bunch of strangers perspectives, nah. It would just
break the flow if it was overused.

The outline for 22 is already written, although it will probably need
more tweaking than this one did.  Two, maybe three weeks.  Really.

Can't wait. Nice work, as always.

D.B Sommer