DISCLAIMER: Ranma and co. belong to Rumiko Takahashi.
I'm only borrowing them for the purposes of this
story.

A/N: I posted chs 1-6 a while ago on FFML, but now I'm
posting the next few chapters for any comments that
might help me. Each chapter is fairly short. Please
send any comments privately. Thank you.

___________________________________________


"Akane..." Ranma shook his head. His eyes held that
shuttered look again. He sat up and was about to say
something when the phone rang.

I ignored it. I'd been waiting to hear Ranma's take on
my sordid little story for so many years that one
phone call wasn't going to make me wait any longer.
Ranma was staring at me. The phone continued to ring.
It stopped halfway through the third ring. The
receptionist must have picked it up, I thought, all my
attention focused on Ranma.

"I think..." he said, and something, a vast hand,
simply pushed me off the bed. I fell on my butt, the
sheets wrapped around me. 

A loud explosion rattled my ears, and debris and bits
of ceiling fell down on me. I was scrambling for the
side of the bed, for my gun and my bag, before it even
stopped.

A bomb! I swore to myself in shock. Someone had bombed
us? THAT had never happened to me before. Had the
telephone triggered it? I crawled on my stomach and
elbows to the outer wall of our room.

A blast of warm tropical air hit my skin, making goose
pimples rise in a rush. With automatic modesty, I
clutched the silk sheet to my chest while scooping up
my gun in the other. The bag was also a priority,
however, so I finally dropped the sheet. Modesty be
damned.

Ranma had crawled up behind me and was now trying to
push me behind him. I fought him only briefly. I'd
peeked outside the huge gaping fifteen feet wide hole
in our wall and all I could make out were a lot of
gaping tourists and shopkeepers.

Leaving my hero to scan for any further danger, I
crawled to the wardrobe and pulled on shorts and a
t-shirt in record time. I gathered our money and
papers, watching as Ranma, finally deciding it was
safe enough, followed my lead and began to cover up.
Shame, I thought to myself.

There was some frantic knocking on the door. The
concierge was calling out in English as well as
Chinese, checking to see if anyone was still alive. I
snorted in amusement. How polite of him to knock. Any
second though, the police would burst their way
through the door like it was matchsticks, and then my
bodyguard and I would have some fancy dancing around
to do.

Ranma apparently was thinking along the same lines,
because as soon as we pulled on sneakers, he tucked
his gun away and yanked the door open, sending the
concierge sprawling into the room.

"Thanks for the hospitality," Ranma drawled in
Chinese. "The food was great."

He stepped out and I was quick to follow. Out in the
hallway, the concierge's assistant stood wringing his
hands.

"We'll be leaving now," Ranma declared.

The assistant bowed, a quick, nervous dip. "Thank you.
Come again. Thank you."

Ranma grinned and set off down the hallway. Puzzled, I
followed him.

"Ranma! Where are we going?" I hissed, mindful of the
other tourists in the hallway, some peering sleepily
out of their doorways, most in bright floral
nightwear. "The entrance is the OTHER way!"

"Where they'll no doubt be watching for us, Akane you
baka," he replied. "Here we are!"

We were at the kitchens. Oh. Delivery door. I flushed.
Ranma ignored the startled cries of the chefs and led
us to the swinging doorway. He carefully scanned the
area and finally beckoned me over. We stepped out into
the night air with our guns raised, safeties off.

We were in a smelly alley, stinking of fish and curry
and other scents I did not want to identify.

"Akane! Someone's coming!" Ranma whispered. "This
way." He put up his gun and began to climb a rusty
fire escape set into the grimy brick wall. After the
third rung, the ladder gave way almost silently,
sliding down the wall. Ranma landed on the balls of
his feet, clutching the section of ladder without
allowing it to clang anywhere. He propped it against a
dumpster.

The sound of footsteps was growing louder.

"Nothing for it!" Ranma muttered and walked towards
me. Before I realized what he was going to do, he had
scooped me into his arms and was running towards the
dumpster. I gasped as he jumped, landed on one foot on
the dumpster and leapt off it again to soar five feet,
fourty feet, higher and higher, and over the edge of
the rooftop. He landed smoothly on both feet, though I
could hear his heart beating faster.

The jump had me awash in memories, but this was not
the time to indulge. Ranma set me upright and I ran to
the edge to peer over the stone lip of the roof. Four
men in black clothing were scurrying around vainly
searching for something or someone.

"Time to make a move, Ranma," I said.

"We'll have to jump across roofs," Ranma said. "Want a
lift?"

In response, I turned and began to run towards the
opposite end of the roof. I could see the vague
outline of the other building. I arced over the space
between the buildings easily, and ran for the next
one, hearing Ranma behind me. Together, we crossed ten
blocks before Ranma signaled a stop.

"This is enough for now," he said, panting slightly.
"You've improved some."

I smirked. My blood was pounding from the workout and
I was high on adrenaline and confidence.

"I've been practicing, you know, Ran...." I stuttered
to a stop. A shadow had risen from the shadows of the
pipes that wreathed the rooftop of this particular
building.

"Thank you for stopping," the figure hissed in a
sibilant whisper. " I was getting bored of chasing you
around the city."

"Your goons didn't keep up," Ranma said, frowning.

"True. You knew I was there," the figure said
thoughtfully. Ranma shrugged.

"You know what I want." It was a ninja, I realized.

Ranma simply took up a fighting stance. The ninja
shook his head.

"If that's how you want it to be..."

"Akane, look out!" Ranma yelled. A net came out of
nowhere and slammed into me. Ranma had his hands busy
with the ninja now, and I was struggling to reach my
gun. Another ninja attacked me and tried to crawl down
my blouse. I kicked him and rolled backwards, trying
to free myself.

Then, Ranma was there, pulling the net off me.

"What happened?" I gasped.

"They left," Ranma said grimly. "Are you ok?"

"I...I'm fine," I murmured, wishing I could have saved
him for a change. I fumbled in my bag, and then froze.
I looked up with dread clawing at my belly.

"Ranma....the diamond is gone."



______________________________________________________________________ 
Post your free ad now! http://personals.yahoo.ca

             .---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----.
             | Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com |
             | Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com |
             |     Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject     |
             `---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'