((Warning this is quite different from the spamfic I
wrote.  For one thing, cut down the number of
different types of animals, so now there are two
mutant cheetahs, two foxes, two wolves, and Kodachi
still looks mostly human, but I think she's going to
be a third fox...Nodoka isn't in it at all...their
mentor is someone else...^_^...and this isn't exactly
a fusion anymore))

       A large black raven swooped quietly into the
room surrounding Mimir's well, flapping black furred
wings as it started to settle into a landing.  Before
it touched the ground it began to grow.  First into a
wolf wearing a pelt of black feathers, and then into a
man with a thick black cloak, like wings and feathers
mixed in his thick black hair.  The being's mouth
curled into an amused smirk under wolf-yellow eyes.
       "Gabriel," one spirit muttered, resulting in a
more pronounced smirk from the man.
       "That is one title," he admitted in a quiet
voice that growled but was neither rough, nor hostile.
 "How long I remain in that office, however."
       Most shrugged that off.  Lycanus's opinions
concerning divine office were fairly well known, at
least the ones he wanted people to know.  The
archangel smirked at the faces trying to determine
what he was there for.  What move in his cosmic chess
game he was making now.
       He brushed lightly at the horn that was the
mark of his office and strode to the well.  He reached
down and scooped up a handful of water, carried over a
few feet to another part of the well, and dropped it
back in.  The water was turbulent and rough for a few
moments and then it accepted the mix and settled
calmly into a smooth surface again.  Sometimes all it
took was a small, meaningless appearance, and people,
even great and powerful demons and "gods" started
leaping to conclusions.
       Besides, now that the matter with the Lord of
Nightmares was cleared up, he had some freetime before
the next of his plots started developing.

******

       "Much more than just a series of small,
isolated incidents," the newswoman announced to the
city streets.  She was a woman of Japanese descent,
somewhere between twenty five and thirty five.  Her
brown hair pulled back in a thin ponytail, that could
only occasionally be seen from behind her back.  Her
bangs curled into a helmet like frame around her face.
       Few people were paying attention to the street
TV as they walked along on their business.  "It is now
apparent that there is an organized criminal element
in the streets, and for the moment, business is good. 
So good in fact that there are no eyewitnesses to any
of these crimes."
       As the television continued a man stood reading
a paper emblazoned with the headline "City Crime
Escalates."  As he read he unknowingly had his pocket
picked.  It was immediately passed off to another
teenager, and then another.  Until it reached a girl
with short auburn hair who leaned against a wall
holding the wallet.  A gauntleted hand reached out and
took the stolen item.
       "With complaints ranging from purse snatching
to breaking and entering, the police switchboards have
been swamped with the angry voices of more and more
citizens that have fallen prey to the surge of crimes
that continues to plague this city.  Instead of
getting better, things have actually gotten worse."
       Elsewhere a delivery man took a box off of his
truck and walked the twenty feet to the door to hand
it off to the recipient.
       "Even more alarming, is baffling and often
bizarre nature of these crimes," the reporter
continued.  "Merchandise ranging from skateboards to
stereo systems have been disappearing from store
shelves and storage areas at an alarming rate."
       When the delivery man returned to the truck a
few moments later, it had been completely emptied.
       "Even the victims themselves," an old woman
waved dismissively at her television and reached to
grab some more yarn.  While she was bent over the TV
was grabbed.  "Rarely catch a glimpse of the thieves,
in fact the police have been unable to come up with a
single eyewitness.  Only a few vague reports of young
boys or teenagers at the scenes have been filed."
       "But whoever is behind these crimes," the
reporter continued.  Meanwhile a van occupied by men
in black jumpsuits with bug-eyed goggles was filled
with various boxes by a virtual stream of teenagers. 
"One thing is certain, these are much more than just a
series of random isolated incidents."
       "Crimes without criminals?" the reporter
continued.  At a warehouse on the edge of the city a
man in an ornate karate style gi watched over a horde
of teenagers sorting through a collection of boxes. 
"An invisible gang at work?  Who we gonna call?"
       The short-haired girl that had finally ended up
with the wallet tore open a box and pulled out a set
of head phones.
       "Unfortunately the police are the only ones
available to combat what some are already calling the
silent crime wave.  But perhaps the most disturbing
silence is the one coming from city hall.  Nabiki
Tendo, signing off."

******

       "Don't you think you're pushing a little hard,
Nabs?" a tech asked as Nabiki packed up her things.
       "You're kidding right?" Nabiki asked.  "This is
the story of the decade."
       "You bought stock in some security firms,
didn't you," the other asked.
       "Of course," Nabiki said.  "But I can always
get money, now recognition, that's another matter." 
She glanced around and frowned.
       "Oh, your neice said she'd meet you at your
apartment," the tech said.
       "She's twelve years old," Nabiki said
irritably.  "When this cultural education thing ends
I'd like to return her to her parents in one piece."
       "Come on," the tech said.  "She's been a city
rat since she first got off the plane a year ago,
she'll be fine."
       "She better be," Nabiki said seriously pointing
at him.  She hmphed and started walking out of the
building.  The parking lot was darkened as she headed
for her BMW, and took out her keys.  Suddenly New York
was seeming a lot like her home town.  That put her in
famliar territory, with the exception that she didn't
know the players.  
       She was considering this as she turned the
corner toward the driver side door.  The sound of
someone dropping a tire iron alerted her to the fact
that she wasn't alone.  She frowned and turned around
her car with a straight kick sending the would be
thief sprawling back to the blacktop of the parking
lot.
       "Find somebody else's..." Nabiki stopped
berating the thief and noticed the small crowd of
thugs that was waiting in the darkness.
       "Nice legs, lady," one of the young toughs
said, flicking out a switchblade.  Nabiki didn't waste
time talking or trying to convince herself that she
could take them with some barely remembered childhood
training.  She turned and ran down the streets.
       "Get her!"
       "Great," Nabiki muttered as she found herself
cut off from the news building.  "I'm going to get
killed by gang of punk kids."  
       She caught sight of a possible escape in the
form of a pile of junk next to a fence in an alley. 
If it held she could knock it down on her way up and
block the path off to her.  As Nabiki made her attempt
she began to seriously regret her decision to stop
studying the family art.  Especially when the junk
caved in under her weight and sent her tumbling hard
to the ground amidst a lot of trash.
       "Now we got you," one of thugs said, smiling
and playing with a rod he had picked up from
somewhere.
       Nabiki stumbled painfully to her feet and
struggled to remember a stance, kata or anything that
might get her out of this.  A flash of metal caught
her eye and she smirked as something struck the light
illuminating the alley.  As darkness covered
everything Nabiki heard the familiar sound of flesh
and wood striking flesh and stayed very still.  She
was crossing her arms and smiling superiorly at the
thugs sitting there tied up when the cops approached
and headlights replaced the broken street lamp.
       While the cops were collecting the thugs she
quietly slipped what appeared to be a handmade dagger
into her bag.  She tapped her fingers against her
elbow and took in her surroundings, noting a slightly
raised man-hole cover lowering shut.  Yes, things were
beginning to get more and more like old times.

******

       "That was great," a feminine voice declared
happily.
       "Null sweat," a guy answered.  The two speakers
were rather unusual, very unusual in fact.  Not
because they dressed in matching dark red outfits. 
Nor because they were blond with the occasional black
or white stripe or spot.  Nope, they were unusual in
that they had fur rather than hair, and that it pretty
much covered their body.  Then there were those
pointed ears, and the long tails swishing excitedly
behind them.
       "They didn't stand a chance," another girl
added coming up behind the two cat people.  She had a
very bright red color to her fur with white
highlights, and was showing off a very foxy smile. 
Her long bushy tail was revealing just as much
excitement as the cats' were.
       "I could have finished it quicker," another guy
said coming up behind them.  He stood taller than the
others, with thick grey fur.  His arms were crossed
and he was frowning.  A long tail swished behind him.
       "Yeah, and caved..." the cat guy started.  The
cats both started circling the very wolfish fellow,
moving quickly.
       "...the alley in..." the girl continued.
       "...on us!  Come on..."
       "...you just don't want..."
       "... to admit you..."
       "...actually had fun."
       "Could you quit that!" an irritated voice
demanded behind them.  The second wolf had her arms
crossed and her tail flicked angrily as she stalked
past everybrody growling.
       "We followed her plan right?" the fox asked.
       "All she said was what we were going to do
anyway," the bear said.
       "So there's no reason..."
       "...for her to be mad right?"  Everybody
shrugged and followed after the wolf.
       "She left her dagger behind," somebody said
coming up behind them.
       This speaker was another fox, wearing a pair of
glasses that had probably been scavanged and didn't
much help his eyesight.  He was folding a bit of robe
into his clothes, and watching the she-wolf worriedly.

******

       Nabiki walked into her apartment and stretched
out.  She checked the time and frowned.  Just what she
needed, to get bogged down with the police for the
night.  She walked into her kitchen and set her bag
down on the counter and opened the fridge.
       "Freeze, kiddo," she said, frostily.  She
turned around and looked at her niece's hands in her
bag.  She arched an eyebrow and crossed her arms. 
"Have you been taking lessons from your grandfather,
Midori?"
       "Ah come on, Auntie Biki," the girl whined.  A
girl with short auburn hair.  "You have lots of
mon...what's this?"
       "I figured the daughter of two great martial
artists would recognize a dagger when she saw one,"
Nabiki said, grabbing the weapon out of her hand. 
"Now where did you go today?"
       "Where were you for the last few hours?" Midori
snapped.
       "I was at the police department," Nabiki said
distastefully.  "You weren't here or else you would
have known that from the answering machine."
       "Like you care," the girl hmphed, crossing her
arms.  "You just dump me off like Mom and Dad did."
       "I work," Nabiki said.  "I can't watch you ever
moment of every day.  And your parents didn't dump
you.  The version I got was that you virtually pleaded
to come live over here for a couple of years."
       "They didn't tell me that you were a
manipulative, tight wad, old maid," Midori complained.
 "Why were you at the cops?  Chasing your story?"
       "Some people tried to mug me," Nabiki said.  "I
was giving a report.  And some of the cops aren't
exactly friendly with me right now."  Midori stared at
her in surprise.
       "Are you all right?" her niece asked.
       "What do you think?" Nabiki asked.  "Do I look
hurt?"
       "Umm," Midori looked suddenly nervous.
       "And then I come home to find my niece lying in
wait to pick my pocket," Nabiki said.   "Its been a
lovely day, Midori, please let me relax before I
decide whether or not to call your parents."  
       "Sorry, Auntie Biki," Midori said, wincing. 
She drifted off to Nabiki's guest room.  Nabiki looked
at the dagger in her hand and thought over her
encounter in the alley.
       "What do we have here?" she whispered, smiling.
 She traced the kanji on the blade and chuckled. 
"Yamasen, Umisen."  A dagger marked with the symbols
of a thieving martial art in the midst of a city-wide
crime spree.  She frowned at the next few Kanji. 
"Tendo Anything Goes."
       The frown vanished in the face of an amused
laugh.
       "It's good to be back in the game."
       In the guest room, Midori's eyes were wide as
her aunt listed off the Yamasen and Umisen.

******

       "The police collected them," the speaker was a
dark skinned girl, with a prematurly gray hair. 
"There was something familiar about that woman,
Mistress Kurumi."
       "Is that so?" the speaker was a red-haired
woman leaning on a cane.  Her eyes glowed bright red,
bright enough that she wouldn't even be able to hide
it behind shades.  
       A loud clattering sound announced the opening
of the trap door to the rest of the sewers, and soon
two blonde blurs were circling the woman, who laughed
and sat down in her chair.
       "Kurumi!"  they shouted in one voice.  "We had
a battle, a real battle!  It was cool!"
       "Calm down!" the wolf shouted coming up from
the sewers.  "Show the Mistress some respect."  The
wolf travelled irritably to a corner of the basement
and picked up a sword and a sharpening stone.
       "Is something wrong, Shampoo?" Kurumi asked.
       "She lost her dagger in the fight," the fox
explained, joining them.  "That reporter lady picked
it up."
       "Reporter lady?" Kurumi repeated, curious.
       "She's been making a lot of reports about all
the thieves recently," the fox-boy said as he entered
the room ahead of the wolf-boy.  "But you don't watch
TV much so."
       "Yeah, she has the same family name as you,"
the cat-guy said.
       "Weird, huh?" the cat-girl added.
       "Do any of you know this reporter's given
name?" Kurumi asked.  "Ukyou?  Ryouga?"
       "Becky?" the cat girl suggested.
       "Beaky?" the male cheetah added.
       "Ranma, Ranko.  You never listen," the male
wolf grumbled sitting down.  "It was Nabiki." 
Kurumi's eyes widened.
       "Something wrong, Mistress?" the gray-haired
girl asked.
       "Nabiki Tendo is my sister," the woman said.

******

       "Moshi moshi," Akane answered the phone.  "Oh,
hello Nabiki.  Is there something wrong with Midori?" 
She said the last worriedly.  Nabiki's rather dry
answer did not reassure her.
       "She's healthy," Nabiki assured her.  "She
thinks I have enough money that she can borrow from
me, without saying anything."
       "What?"  Akane snapped.  "Let me talk to her."
       "Yeah, and then I need to talk to Ranma,"
Nabiki said.  Akane waited irritably for Nabiki to put
on her daughter and then proceeded to lecture.  Ranma
picked up another line to add his own say so for a few
minutes.  
       Nabiki watched satisfactorily as the girl
winced and cringed at her parents lecturing, and
waited patiently to be given the phone again.  Midori
wandered off to bed feeling like she had just done ten
rounds with one of the Hibiki's.  She kept her ear
open to listen to her aunt's conversation with her
father though.
       "Sorry 'bout that, Nabs," Ranma said as Nabiki
came back to the phone.  "Sometimes she can drive you
crazy.  You wanted to talk to me."
       "Yeah, that letter Kurumi sent us," she
started.  "About sixteen years ago?"
       "The one about Ryuu and Natsume getting killed
by a renegade student?" Ranma asked cautiously.
       "It was posted marked New York, right?" Nabiki
said.
       "There was no return address," Ranma said. 
"But that's what the stamp said.  You think you found
out more about that?"
       "I got rescued from a mugging today," Nabiki
said.  "Didn't see by who, but one of them was
carrying a handmade dagger, nice one too, and its
marked with the kanji for Tendo Anything Goes,
Yamasen, and Umisen."  There was silence for a moment.
       "Those arts are sealed," he said angrily.  "No
one besides me and my Pop should know them now that
Ryuu's dead."
       "There's also a crime wave in the city, Ranma,"
Nabiki said.  "Pickpockets, break ins, lots of
thievery."
       "You're saying somebody's using the Yamasen and
Umisen," Ranma said.  "The way it was supposed to be
used?"
       "That's what it looks like," Nabiki said.  "Of
course, I could be wrong.  I got this dagger from
people that may have saved my life."
       "Do you want us to come help?" Ranma asked.
       "No, no," Nabiki said.  "I think I can handle
this.  Who knows what craziness will happen if you
come over."
       "Thanks for the confidence," Ranma muttered. 
"Don't do anything stupid, Nabiki."
       "I don't plan to," Nabiki promised, smirking. 
She turned toward the guest room and saw the door
close shut.  Nabiki shook her head amused.  "Don't
worry, kiddo.  We weren't talking about you."  Nabiki
sighed and shook her head, chuckling.  "I'm never
having kids."
       "You don't have to worry about it old maid!"
Midori's voice called out.

=====
"Caffeinated Kender?  What's that, a berserk spell?" - 
Tribble, Kender Warrior of the Celestial Kingdom
"God has to have a sense of humor, it's the only explanation for sex." - my father
"I have to write a how-to paper for class, so I'm writing a paper on how to be psuedo-evil." - my brother

http://members.aol.com/thrythlind/snake.html

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