-------------
LOS Website at: http://www.humbug.org.au/~wendigo/los.html
-------------
Other works by Susan Doenime, Mike Loader, and Alan Harnum can be found
at: http://www.humbug.org.au/~wendigo/transp.html
----------------------------------------------------
* Last One Standing * by Mike Loader *
----------------------------------------------------
* All R1/2 characters and situations are the creations
and Property of Takahashi Rumiko, and are used without
her knowledge or permission, either explicit or implied.
No challenge or claim can or should be percieved to the
validity of any copyrights from the posting of this work.
Please do not reproduce this work in a public forum
without permission from the author. *
----------------------------------------------------

Canto 2 - Dancer With Bruised Knees

 Hello darkness, my old friend,
 I've come to talk with you again,
 Because a vision softly creeping
 Left its seeds while I was sleeping,
 And the vision that was planted in my brain
 Still remains...
 - Paul Simon

	It was evening, and the sun was already beginning its 
slow retreat from the sky. A quiet, serene sort of sunset; the 
beauty of nature enhanced by the effects of air pollution from 
the teeming city. It cast a faint crimson tinge of light upon the 
short, purposeful figure standing in front of a Nerima medical 
establishment.

	Staff in hand, Cologne strode up the clinic steps.

	She stopped at the door, frowning slightly in 
concentration. A string of syllables escaped her lips, and there 
was a flash and a sound like ripping silk. Smiling grimly, she 
tapped the wooden portal with the tip of her staff; with a roar, 
the door burst inward in a shower of broken wood.

	Cologne stalked calmly into the dimly-lit room, eyes 
slowly moving back and forth, senses extended. The words to a 
half-a-dozen incantations hung at the edge of her brain, ready 
to be spat out with speed and force.

	The clinic seemed deceptively mundane, except for the 
shattered bits of door marring the sterile expanse of floor. A 
desk, a low table, the skeleton dangling limply from a pole... 
nothing that wouldn't be found in any doctor's office in Japan. 
Neat, tidy, and utterly ordinary.

	Ordinary to her eyes, at least. Her other senses told a 
different tale.

	"Hello, Cologne."

	She felt the presense a split second before he spoke, and 
she was already in motion, spinning around to face him. "Ono."

	The doctor glanced about the room in mild bemusement. "I 
never will understand the Amazon inability to use doorknobs. 
They're not very complex pieces of machinery, you know."

	"It's a quaint ethnic custom," Cologne replied evenly. 
"You've broken our compact, Ono. I thought you were brighter 
than that."

	Tofu chuckled. "Goodness, is that what's gotten you so 
upset?"

	"I will not be the only one who is upset in a few seconds. 
You were warned of what would happen if you..."

	"...broke our most solemn agreement, yes, I know." He 
smiled, and shrugged slightly. "You would have every reason to 
be upset if I had broken it."

	Cologne frowned, noticing the turn of phrase. "If you had? 
Don't try to play innocent, Ono. I heard the reports of that 
battle this afternoon, and I know very well who taught her."

	"Our agreement covers Saotome Ranma," Tofu said, a 
slight smile playing across his features. "I am not to talk to, 
teach, or influence him in any way, aside from providing him 
with medical help upon request. Fine. I've abided by that, and 
will continue to. But our agreement says nothing at all about 
Tendo Akane."

	"I think it has become abundantly clear how greatly 
Ranma values her," Cologne said, reining in her anger with 
some effort. "Using her to influence him is a breach of our 
covenant."

	He laughed. "You stretch the bounds of our agreement, 
Cologne. But even granting you that, I challenge you to show 
even the flimsiest evidence that I've used Akane to steer him 
to me."

	"I don't need evidence, _dybatuk_." The final word was 
practically spat. "I know the uses you have for Saotome, and I 
know how much you wish to break our covenant. Did you really 
think I would abandon him simply because he will not join the 
Joketsuzoku?"

	"You forget yourself, mortal." Tofu's voice grew soft, and 
the dim light in the room suddenly seemed to grow fainter, the 
shadows moving pools of ink. A yellow glow leaped up to fill 
the lenses of his glasses, casting shafts of ruddy light before 
him. "You stand on my ground now, not in that fortress 
masquerading as a restaurant. Do you really presume to come 
to my place of power, and threaten me, and seek to dictate to 
me what I can and cannot do? You go too far, Joketsuzoku."

	"I will go farther still," Cologne replied, the steel never 
leaving her voice. "I can send you howling back to whatever pit 
you call home, dybatuk, back into darkness for a hundred years. 
I'm sure there are hundreds of magi who would love to see you 
bound, helpless, confined to your own realm..."

	"Try it, mortal crone," Tofu hissed. "Even if you survive, 
no Joketsuzoku will dare leave the Waking World for the next 
five hundred years for fear of what they will find waiting for 
them. I'm sure there are hundreds of beings who would love to 
see _that_."

	Slowly, purposefully, Cologne touched the tip of her staff 
to the floor. A dim orange glow flickered from it, and with a 
single, unbroken stroke she inscribed a circle around her, the 
outline glowing against the clinic floor with a blazing 
radiance.

	The doctor stared at the circle, at the staff, and then 
smiled. A friendly chuckle escaped his lips. 

	"I do believe you would," he said, seeming to relax 
slightly. "You'd really destroy us both. Fortunately, you've taken 
an oath not to. Remember that part of the covenant, 
Joketsuzoku?"

	"On the understanding that you leave Saotome Ranma 
alone," Cologne replied. "One is conditional upon the other."

	"Well, then?" An amused look appeared on Tofu's face. 
"Exactly what have I done to Ranma of late? I hardly think 
teaching Akane a parlor trick qualifies as interfering with 
him, does it?"

	"It is the first step towards interfering with him, and we 
both know it."

	"Foolish old woman." Tofu's voice grew cold. "I am not 
responsible for your paranoid delusions, Joketsuzoku. When you 
have a nameable way in which I have tried to influence 
Saotome, you can return and we can destroy each other. Until 
then, do not bother me with 'first steps' and 'I think you wills', 
because you know as well as I that such speculation is not 
what is specified in our covenant. Actions are."

	Cologne fixed him with an icy stare, mentally cursing. 
Much as she hated to admit it, the dybatuk was right; Akane 
was not covered by their agreement. As long as he did not 
actively use her to influence Ranma, she had no technical 
grounds for complaint.

	Worse, she had taken an oath not to interfere in any of 
Ono's dealings that did not involve Ranma or the Joketsuzoku. 
And warning away Akane would definitely qualify as 
interfering. Her hands were tied, for now.

	"I will be watching you, Ono," she finally said. "And 
Akane. And Ranma. If you so much as teach him a new technique 
for tying his shoes, I shall return and banish you from the 
Waking World for as long as humanly possible." Cologne favored 
him with a cold smile. "Humanly possible covers a very, very 
long time. Even for one of your kind."

	"I tremble before your righteous fury," Tofu said 
sardonically. "Not that I expect you to believe me, but I really 
have very little interest in Saotome. I suspect he'd be more 
trouble than he's worth." He chuckled. "Hard to find good help 
these days."

	"So, of course, you decided to initiate his girlfriend," 
Cologne replied. "Yes, your lack of interest certainly shows."

	"Do I need a reason to teach Akane a... thing, or two?" 
Tofu smiled, and the glow brightened, turning his lenses into 
dull lamps. "I have whims, you know. Your prohibition makes 
this place fairly boring most of the time. Besides. I like her."

	Cologne snorted. "Poor girl."

	He laughed. "Poor? Your kind and mine are natural 
enemies, Joketsuzoku, but I have often worked with humans. To 
mutual benefit, I might add."

	"I suppose that would depend on how you define 'benefit'. 
You use them, Dybatuk, like toys or chess pieces."

	"And you do not?" Tofu raised an eyebrow, the dull glow 
in his eyes fading somewhat. "You, of course, are always 
honest and straightforward with your pupils. You would never 
dream of manipulating them, of using them as pawns of your 
Council, of even sacrificing them when the occasion seems 
fitting..."

	"Sometimes," Cologne replied evenly. "But we do not revel 
in it."

	The doctor laughed. "And that makes a difference? Did 
you know, old woman, that I once met Byen Tai? I spoke to her 
at some length. What do you suppose she told me?"

	Cologne was silent, shock and fury warring within her.

	"She told me how a great and respected matriarch had 
trained her, prepared her, and sent her on a vital mission." Tofu 
shook his head sadly. "Vital mission. Do you know, she actually 
believed it? Almost to the very end, she refused to believe 
that her elders had thrown her away as a feint, a distraction, a 
minor point on a vast and intricate plan." 

	"A plan that left the Abomination Visandrax chained for 
another thousand years, and which cleansed the Sea of Dreams 
for hundreds of miles." Cologne shrugged. "People would have 
died in greater numbers had we not acted."

	"You see? We all have our justifications." Tofu chuckled, 
stroking his chin with his hand. "She was almost dead when she 
stumbled into my realm, and she knew quite well what I was. 
She told me her story anyway, because by then she hated the 
people who sent her to die far more than she could ever hate 
me." He shrugged. "Her last moments were comfortable. She 
fought the Abomination, and deserved to die in peace. It might 
have destroyed us all, which was why I made alliance with 
your Council and the rest of the Sealers."

	"So that was you. I thought you were destroyed in the 
final battle at Mount Teidi."

	"One of my vassals, and a valued one." Tofu frowned 
slightly. "He, at least, knew what his real mission was."

	"It was necessary. Any doubts on her part would have 
revealed the feint for what it was." Cologne turned to leave, 
suddenly feeling very old. "It is good to know she died in 
peace."

	"In peace? She felt no physical pain, at least. I saw to 
that. But the hatred, ah, that did not leave until her spirit did." 
She could feel him watching as she stepped though the 
shattered doorframe. "You are a fine one to accuse me of using 
people, Joketsuzoku. I doubt I would ever manage to use Akane 
as cruelly as you did your own grandniece."

	Cologne descended the steps, and vanished from sight.

	Whistling slightly, Tofu bent to examine a fragment of 
door. "Bakusai Ten-Ketsu. Interesting toy, that."

	"it can be more than interesting. she is very powerful, 
ono. do not become overconfident."

	He chuckled. "She has an edge here, yes. But I don't intend 
to give her an opening to use it. That foolish oath will bind her, 
so long as I am careful."

	"you will have to be subtle indeed, ono. i doubt she will 
stand idly by and watch."

	"Oh," the doctor whispered, "I certainly hope she doesn't 
simply stand by. That would complicate things."

	"one of these days you will go too far. destroy her now, 
while you can. i will..."

	"My agenda. Not yours." He smiled. "Don't worry about our 
most honorable Matriarch. She will have her day."

***

	Akane winced as she opened the front door. The walk 
home from the clinic had been a little uncomfortable; Dr. Tofu 
had stitched up her side wound and applied a compress bandage 
of some sort. While the cut itself didn't hurt much any more, 
the bandage chafed a bit. 

	Plus, she thought sourly, whatever was in it was ice 
cold.

	Things hadn't gone quite as well as she had hoped. Instead 
of handing Tetsuko a solid defeat, she had instead been forced 
to retreat, taking a nasty gash in the process. A very nasty one; 
probably the worst injury she'd ever managed to acquire.

	In a way, it was a bit sobering. For one thing, it was a 
reminder not to get too cocky. If she hadn't put a bit more 
caution into that last jump...

	Akane shuddered. If she hadn't, she might have impaled 
herself on that pole instead of simply getting her side cut 
open.

	No, she decided as she walked up the stairs to her room. 
The whole thing had been a fiasco; all except for the very end 
of it.

	Tofu had been clearly dismayed to see the wound she had 
taken. And, while patching her up, he had reluctantly agreed to 
give her another lesson the following day.

	Akane smiled slightly. Tetsuko had foiled her first attack 
by means of luck and quick thinking. Her second try, though, 
with  yet another new technique behind it... well, they would 
have to see.

	She was surprised to realize that even in her current 
state - bandaged, in mild pain, and just coming from a defeat - 
she actually felt better than she had in several months.

	Well, not entirely. There were those rare moments with 
Ranma... but that's all they were, rare moment. And they caused 
her as much pain as enjoyment.

	"How'd your fight go?"

	Blinking, Akane turned. Nabiki was standing in the 
doorway of Kasumi's room, a neutral expression on her face.

	Akane shrugged; very slightly, trying to avoid shifting 
the bandage. "What makes you think there was a fight?"

	"Well, you were gone all day, for one. And there's a bit of 
a bulge under your shirt, which I'm going to assume is a 
bandage or something similar. Did you win?"

	"I retreated," she admitted. "Tetsuko came up with a 
counter unexpectedly, and got in a fairly good hit. I didn't want 
to risk continuing the fight, so I up and ran."

	"Surprisingly intelligent of you," Nabiki commented dryly. 
"Did you shout 'Saotome Secret Technique!' as you beat a 
retreat?"

	Akane flushed slightly.

	Raising a eyebrow, Nabiki gave an amused chuckle. "You 
did, didn't you! You _have_ been learning from Ranma, after 
all."

	She nodded, a little sheepishly. "Well, it makes your 
opponent brace herself, expecting to receive some sort of 
powerful attack. Which makes a perfect distraction for running 
away."

	Nabiki smirked. "Not as stupid as it sounds, is it."

	"Harder than it sounds, as well." Akane shook her head. 
"You know, I was pretty incredulous to hear Mr. Saotome talk 
about it like it was some kind of real martial arts technique. 
But I bet Ranma had a harder time mastering it than any other 
move in his arsenal, Hiryu Shoten Ha included."

	"With his ego, it's a wonder he manages it at all," Nabiki 
replied. "I have trouble reminding myself that he's not as dumb 
as he sometimes acts."

	Akane shrugged. "He's brilliant, in some ways. In others..." 
She sighed. "I don't know. It's hard to tell what he does on 
purpose, and what he does because he's just a moron."

	"Well, you could always ask him."

	Yeah. Right. "I don't think so," she said a little sadly. 
"Where is he, anyway?"

	"Oh, Ryouga showed up while you were gone, and they 
went off to have another one of their duels. Kasumi politely 
asked them to do their property damage somewhere else."

	Akane laughed. "And they're not back yet, huh?"

	"Not yet. It's been a while since they've beaten each other 
to a pulp, and I think they were looking forward to a nice long 
session of mutual abuse."

	She shook her head at Nabiki, smiling. "I think it's sort of 
nice that Ryouga stops by. They really are good friends, at 
least when Ranma isn't picking on him."

	"Thank you, Kasumi-Oneechan," Nabiki said sarcastically. 
"While they both do seem to get a kick out of it, I don't think 
the 'picking on' is all that one-sided."

	Akane shrugged, slightly uncomfortable. She did sense 
that there were things about Ranma and Ryouga that she wasn't 
aware of, and that their wandering friend might not be quite as 
blameless as he usually appeared. But considering the fact that 
Ranma was willing to pick on her without a second thought, 
why should it be any different with Ryouga?

	Was she, in fact, a sort of vaguely female Ryouga to 
Ranma?

	She forcefully pushed the thought out of her mind. No 
point in getting depressed tonight.

	"Well, I'm going to get some sleep," she told her sister. 
"I'm a bit worn out."

	"Good idea," Nabiki said. "If Ranma and Ryouga get back in 
today, I'll tell them to keep it down."

	"Thanks, 'Neesan. Night."

	Closing the door to her room, she undressed for bed, 
shivering slightly from the cold of the bandage. Probably some 
sort of ointment coating it, she supposed. Climbing beneath the 
covers, she absently spun the shadows cast by the lamp, 
watching them spin and bounce about the room. 

	She chuckled, thinking of the shadow-puppet show she 
could do if she wanted. Even if it wasn't much use against 
Tetsuko, it was still sort of neat.

	Flicking off the lamp, she nestled down in the blankets 
and drifted away into sleep.

***

	Ukyou slowly spun, showing off the wedding kimono. "Do 
you like it?"

	Ranma smiled and nodded. "It looks great. I can hardly 
wait to see you in it at the ceremony."

	She giggled shyly. "I can hardly wait either."

	Laughing, he strolled over, slipping his arms around her. 
"You know, you'd look pretty good out of it, too."

	"You think?" she said, letting one shoulder slip free of 
the cloth. "You can always check..."

	She felt his hands, confident and sure, hike up the obi 
belt and open the kimono's folds. Smiling, she ran her own 
palms along his bare chest, kissing him as she did.

	Pulling away, Ranma sat down on the bed - not hers and 
not his, part of her mind noted - and beckoned to her. "C'mere, 
Ucchan."

	Slowly, letting the kimono fall away from her shoulders, 
she walked over to stand before him. "Should we, Ranchan?"

	He nodded.

	Slowly, she moved into his lap, her legs straddling his. 
The kimono was now only a loose draping of cloth around her 
upper waist, and she eagerly pulled away Ranma's black pants. 
He lifted her slightly, positioning himself, and then she 
moaned with pleasure as he slid into her.

	They began to slowly move, and Ukyou kissed him 
fiercely. "I love you..."

	"I love you too," he whispered.

	And then, a figure stepped into the room behind them.

	Ranma's eyes widened in terror. His mouth opened to say 
something, and then a sharp, glinting axe flashed down over 
Ukyou's shoulder, splitting his skull.

	Ukyou screamed, terror and grief and horror suddenly 
shattering her bliss. She tried to turn, but Ranma's arms were 
still locked around her and he was still buried in her, thrusting 
spasmodically even as his bloody, ruined face stared blindly at 
her.

	Shrieking, blood cascading into her eyes, she tried to 
stand. The corpse seemed to stand with her, lifting her off the 
ground as it rose, and then they toppled backwards onto the 
carpet. Her head hit the floor hard, Ranma's split, bloody mouth 
coming down to kiss her as his lower body continued to 
convulse. Above him, through the crimson staining her vision, 
she could see a dark figure raising the axe.

	Ukyou gave one last scream of terror, and then the axe 
came hurling down towards her face. There was a sharp, 
agonizing stab of...

	Shrieking, sobbing, Ukyou bolted upright in bed. For 
several seconds all she could do was sit and scream, and it 
was only slowly that she realized that she was alone in her 
own bed, not lying on the floor embracing a corpse.

	Her cries faltered, replaced by slow sobs. Only a dream, 
she frantically repeated to herself. It hadn't been real. It was 
just a nightmare...

	Her bedroom door exploded open and a dark figure burst 
through, a sharp, glinting steel blade raised high.

	Ukyou screamed again, shrinking back, hands frantically 
reaching for the combat spatula by her bed.

	"Ukyou-sama? Ukyou-sama? What's wrong? What 
happened?"

	She shrieked again, then stopped, the voice registering. 
"Ko..Konatsu?"

	The figure stepped forward, lowering the sword, and in 
the dim light Ukyou could make out the concerned, somewhat 
wild-eyed features of her waiter/waitress. "Ukyou-sama? 
What happened? Did someone attack you? I heard you scream, 
and you kept screaming, so I..."

	"J..Just a nightmare, Konatsu. A bad dream." She was still 
crying, she realized. Somewhat self-consciously she pulled her 
sleeping kimono a bit tighter around her, trying not to let it 
remind her of the blood-spattered wedding kimono... "Just a bad 
dream."

	"Are you sure?" he said anxiously, scanning the room 
warily. "You sounded..."

	"I'm sure, Konatsu." There was no corpse mounting her, no 
psychopath with an axe. It was all a dream.

	Somewhat sheepishly, Konatsu nodded. "I'm sorry if I 
scared you, breaking in. I just thought..."

	"It's okay," she said dully, trying to take in the room. She 
was home, in her own room, not in whoever's room that had 
been...

	"Sorry to have disturbed you, Ukyou-sama. I'll let you get 
back to sleep..."

	"No!" she said with a force that surprised her. "I mean... if 
it's okay, could you sit up with me for a bit?" Scrambling, she 
reached over the side of the bed to turn on the table lamp, 
squinting a bit as it flared to life. "I'm.... I'm just going to read 
for a bit. Until I feel..." She trailed off, unsure what to say. 
Until she felt safe? Until she was completely sure that it had 
been a dream?

	Nodding sympathetically, Konatsu sat down in her desk 
chair. "I'll stay for as long as you like, Ukyou-sama."

	"Thanks, Konatsu. I really appreciate it." Ukyou grabbed 
the mystery novel on her nightstand, flipped it open, and began 
to determinedly read. It was a cop story. The body in it had 
died from a gunshot to the chest, not an axe to the head.

	She shuddered. Maybe it was the fact that it had been 
such a good dream before it turned horrible, but it had scared 
her more than anything she could remember since she was 
young. 

	Maybe it was Akane's challenger. Someone with a hook 
had come to get Akane, so now she was dreaming that someone 
with an axe had come to kill Ranma and her.

	Hadn't she dreamed about something like that before?

	With an effort, she forced her mind back to the mystery. 
After a time, the shock and horror began to fade, and the 
mystery's plot became blurry, and she leaned further and 
further back in bed...

	Gently removing the book from her sleeping hands, 
Konatsu pulled the covers up, turned off the light, and quietly 
left.

***

	Cologne stared at her teacup, the morning sun streaming 
in to cast sparkles in the pale green liquid. She had spent much 
of last night thinking on what to do, and was only now reaching 
a decision.

	Ranma was far too important to be allowed to fall into 
the hands of a dybatuk, even one as relatively benign as Ono. 
She wasn't even sure the 'relatively' applied; he was a saint 
compared to the Abomination, but that was no great praise. 
Creatures of his sort were anathema to the Joketsuzoku, who 
had hunted down and destroyed more than one of them in their 
history.

	And now, one of them was attempting to steal her prize 
pupil out from under her nose.

	His use of Akane to lure in Ranma was a particularly 
galling point. Win Akane, and Ono could easily subvert him; 
Cologne had no illusions about how important the Tendo girl 
was to her 'son-in-law'. Even worse, she feared that Ono might 
attempt to steer an overconfident Akane into a serious fight 
with Shampoo - Akane would be badly injured, and the incident 
would be used to distance Ranma from the Amazons. Or she 
might simply urge Ranma to listen to Tofu, to trust Tofu...

	Cologne almost swore. So many possible angles to his 
game, all leading to the same thing. The ownership of Ranma by 
Ono.

	The news about Byen Tai had shaken her. Perhaps Ono had 
meant it to taunt her, but it had only strengthened her resolve. 
She would not allow Ranma to be taken. She would kill him 
herself, first.

	And before that...

	Yes, before that she would kill Akane if necessary. She 
was only a tool to seize Ranma with, but she was a vital tool. 
Eliminate her, and...

	Cologne sighed. There were options to be explored before 
she considered such a step. The thought of murdering the girl, 
even for the best of reasons, made her soul shrink.

	Then, too, there was Ranma's response to any hurting 
Akane. She had no doubt that attempts by her or Shampoo to 
eliminate the Tendo girl would result in Ranma turning 
violently against the Amazons, making Ono's task even easier.

	Unless...

	Ono had taken advantage of the arrival of Akane's rival, 
seizing upon the opportunity to snare her. The bits of power he 
gifted her with, while insignificant, would both set her under 
his control and protect her from the very person who had given 
him his reason to act.

	Unless, of course, someone were to do the same to 
Tetsuko.

	Cologne smiled grimly. She could teach the gaunt 
newcomer a few minor tricks... nothing spectacular, but enough 
to give her an edge over Akane's minor gifts. If Akane needed to 
be neutralized - either temporarily or permanently - Tetsuko 
would make an untraceable catspaw. Two could play the game 
of using tools to control Ranma.

	Ironic, she thought. The very thing that had helped push 
Tofu to this plan would become the means to snuff it out, if 
necessary. And only if necessary. She had no desire to sacrifice 
Akane without great need to.

	On the other side of the room, Tetsuko was absently 
perched hunkered over on a countertop, a newspaper in one hand 
and a cup of tea in the other. The gaunt fisher was dressed in 
the same thing she had slept in; a grey, rather wrinkled 
sleeveless top. The arms were open enough to reveal a bit of 
her ribs, and even from where she sat Cologne could plainly 
make out the scars on her torso.

	It bothered her slightly to use Tetsuko like this - the 
thin girl seemed to be human wreckage, and this obviously 
wouldn't help matters. At the same time, it was better than 
allowing her to continue to take Akane on without assistance.

	"Girl."

	Tetsuko looked up, eyes holding the usual expression of 
bland disinterest.

	"Akane has been taking lessons. She will undoubtedly 
have something to use against you on your next meeting."

	Frowning slightly, the fisher girl shrugged.

	"I may be able to help you there. There is a trick or two 
that you may find useful..."

	After a time, Tetsuko put down the newspaper and 
walked over to sit across from her at the table.

	"Tell me."

	Cologne spoke, and a spark of interest began to appear in 
Tetsuko's eyes. After a time, she smiled slightly.

***

	The door to the Ono Clinic was broken, Akane noticed 
with alarm.

	Hastily, she dashed up the steps and through the ruined 
portal. "Dr. Tofu? Is everything all right?

	"Just fine, Akane."

	She yelped, spinning around to face him. "How do you DO 
that?"

	The doctor chuckled slightly. "It's another simple trick, 
one which I might teach you later on. Have you come for your 
lesson?"

	Akane nodded. "What happened to the door?"

	"Oh, a patron became a bit unruly. Nothing to worry 
about." He smiled. "I expect the dojo takes worse damage on a 
regular basis."

	"You could say that." Kasumi and her were almost 
professional carpenters by now. Not that she really could 
complain; far too many of the broken bits of household were 
brought to that condition by her own fists. "So, what's the 
technique?"

	"Come with me, and I'll show you." Striding forward, he 
led her down a short hallway to one of the back rooms. "This 
won't be quite as easy to learn as the last one, I'm afraid."

	"No one said it had to be easy," Akane replied, glancing 
around as she entered the tiny room. In the dim light, she could 
make out bookshelves, several oddly-shaped candleholders, and 
a blocklike table of some sort of black stone in the very center 
of the room. "What is this place? If you don't mind me asking," 
she hastily added.

	He gave a short shrug. "It's something like a dojo, you 
could say. My Art requires different surroundings than the 
Tendo or Saotome-Ryuus."

	She gave a slightly nervous chuckle, her eyes adjusting 
to the darkness. She couldn't make out many of the books very 
clearly, but several of them had titles in Chinese characters or 
other, more sinuous scripts. There were other objects as well, 
of less obvious purpose... she noticed that Betty, the skeleton, 
hung from a set of ropes by one wall. "It looks more like a 
sorcerer's den than a dojo, to be honest."

	"The line between the two can be thin, in many cases," 
Tofu noted mildly. "Cologne is a good example of that, and so 
am I. To a lesser degree, at least. I deal more in ki and human 
energy, and less in potions and spells."

	Akane nodded, glancing at the table with curiousity. It 
almost seemed multicolored - except that the different hues 
were all black. It didn't make much sense, but... it was the best 
explaination her brain could return. Just different _kinds_ of 
black.

	"That table is giving me a headache," she said.

	"It does that at times, yes. You'll get used to it." Walking 
over to one of the shelves, he lifted a candlestick and set it on 
the blocklike table. A pale white taper was taken from a box 
carved with wooden roses, and inserted in the holder's twisted 
neck. "I assume you remember how you learned the last 
technique?"

	Akane nodded. "Staring at the flame, changing it to 
monochrome. Do I do that again?"

	"Sort of." He touched a fingertip to the candle's wick, and 
ignited it. Where had the spark come from, she wondered? "You 
need to fade out only the area immediately surrounding you, 
then swirl it around you, as if you were the center of a 
hurricane. It's like moving the shadows, only instead of a real 
shadow you're moving the monochrome version of the real 
world. Do you understand?"

	"Probably not," she admitted, mind furiously trying to 
conceptualize what he had asked her to do. "But I'll try."

	Tofu nodded, the candlelight making flickering mirrors 
out of his glasses. "Try, and we shall see."

	She approached the table, focused on the flame. Unlike 
the previous time, she almost effortlessly slid into the 
monochrome vision, a white-grey flame flickering and leaping 
against a layered black background.

	Too much, though. She was only supposed to remove the 
color from the areas right around her...

	With effort, Akane let the muddly hues of the room leak 
into the edges of her vision. It was harder than she had 
expected; while it was easy to slip from color to black to 
color, a mixture of the two was hard.

	Finally, after what seemed like a short eternity, she was 
a island of grey in a sea of deep tones and hues.

	Carefully, uncertainly, she tried to 'swirl' her vision. 
Nothing happened. A second mental prod, and still nothing.

	Damnit, she thought despairingly, what if I can't learn 
this?

	Irritated, she pushed harder. Nothing. The scenery 
wouldn't budge.

	The shadows had moved easily enough, but real objects 
seemed to be beyond her.

	An idea suddenly presented itself, and she tried a mental 
pull insyead of a push. There was a tangible ripple, and she 
smiled slightly. Gathering up her will, she pulled her vision 
clockwise, pushing from the other side as she did.

	The room seemed to melt and swirl, as if it were a 
child's watercolor picture washed by liquid. The area outside 
her focus, the part she had returned to color, stood as still as 
a rock. The greys began to rotate about her like a cyclone, 
faster and faster...

	"Very good, Akane," someone said, and she spun to see 
who had entered. The swirling greys formed a wall obscuring 
her vision, and she quickly cleared a potion of it out of her 
way, a window appearing in the monochrome maelstrom 
revolving around her.

	A tall, featureless, humanlike form stared back at her, 
looking for all the world like a mannequin dyed ebony. It had no 
eyes, but somehow she could still feel its gaze.

	Fear suddenly gripping her, Akane hurriedly dropped out 
of the monochromatic vision, the hurricane of grey vanishing. 
Backpedaling, she slid into a defensive stance.

	Dr. Tofu looked at her curiously. "Is something wrong?"

	Akane blinked, trying to sort out what had happened. 
"You... you looked all black. Not like a African, but like you'd 
been carved out of black marble or something."

	"Your vision changes a bit when you slip into that state," 
he said. "Most people will look a little featureless. People like 
myself, who know a good deal about such matters, will 
typically look... different." He chuckled, looking slightly 
amused. "What you saw was actually fairly tame. I wouldn't 
advise looking at, say, Cologne unless you want screaming 
nightmares for weeks."

	She nodded uncertainly. "What is it that I'm doing? I 
thought at first it was just a mental trick, but you make it 
sound like something more..."

	"You're phasing slightly out of the real world, and into an 
analogue of it. You exist in both at once, but you're completely 
present in neither." Tofu adjusted his glasses, voice taking a 
lecturing tone. "Everyone, to some extent, exists in the 
analogue. That's one of the reasons why people have shadows. 
But it's very difficult to go beyond the normal balance of what 
world you exist in, and only a very few people ever actually 
learn to put themselves completely in one or the other."

	"So I'm partialy putting myself into some other world?" 
she asked, suddenly apprehensive. "Isn't that... I don't know, 
dangerous? Is there stuff over there that can hurt me?"

	"Good questions," Tofu said approvingly. "You're largely 
safe in Nerima; this area is fairly clean of dangerous pests. I 
would advise against using shadow near the Ooni Temple or 
Shiningen'ya; both of those are..." he paused, seemingly trying 
to pick his words right, "not safe places."

	She nodded, mouth slightly dry. This was turning out to 
be nothing like the punching set or ki blast she had expected to 
learn. "So. How do I do this technique?"

	The doctor smiled slightly. "You just did."

	She stared at him incredulously. "Obscuring my vision and 
putting bits of myself into another world is the technique?"

	Tofu shook a finger at her chidingly. "Allow me to show 
you what it looks like on the receiving end."

	Without warning, a curtain of swirling black leaped up 
around him.

	Akane took a step back as the conical pillar of ebony 
moved towards her, looking like a tornado devouring an oil 
well. She couldn't see through it, and it looked awfully solid...

	It arched into the air, seeming to expand as it did, and 
then hurtled down at her.

	She frantically raised her hands to block, and then it 
engulfed her. To her horror, she found that she couldn't see; it 
felt as though the air had become almost as thick as water. 
Someone tapped her on the shoulder; when she tried to turn 
around, another tap registered on her head.

	Closing her eyes, she summoned up the monochrone 
vision. Then she opened them.

	Instantly the air seemed to return to being just air. The 
spiralling funnel of black still surrounded her - but, somehow, 
she could see through it. The figure of midnight black stood at 
its center, arm raised to tap her again.

	Smiling slightly, she reached out to tap it back... and then 
her concentration faltered, and her vision was once again 
blocked.

	The funnel evaporated, and Tofu crossed his arms. "You 
see? Anyone who can't phase themselves is going to have a 
great deal of difficulty fighting you. The trick is learning to 
keep yourself partially phased while still being able to keep 
your mind on the fight."

	She winced. "Is that even possible? I lost it just by 
moving my arm..."

	"The more you practice, the more natural it becomes," he 
replied. "Your... aura isn't used to phasing, and keeps trying to 
snap back into the state it's lived in all its life. The more you 
phase, the less resistance it'll put up as time goes by."

	"Okay. Makes sense." She supposed that it was just like a 
workout; the more you pushed yourself, the more you could do, 
over time. "Is there anything else I should know?"

	"It doesn't work very well in direct sunlight. In fact, it 
can even be somewhat painful. Artificial light or dim light will 
work fine, and complete darkness will make it almost too easy. 
You might have a hard time narrowing the focus enough." He 
looked at her speculatively. "Try again."

	This time she forced her eyes to stay open. With a 
slightly disoriented feeling the world snapped into grey, and a 
second later she restored the color on the edges. A command 
sent the maelstrom whirling, becoming slightly transparent to 
allow her to see.

	Experimentally, she took a careful step forward, 
maintaining her grip on the phase with effort. She could see 
the basalt shape of Tofu watching her, unnaturally tall... seven 
feet, at the very least. His hands, large and smooth, seemed to 
twitch slightly.

	Even knowing that it was just Tofu, the sight still made 
her nervous.

	She slowly walked around the room, punching in slow 
motion at the air, trying to get used to it. An unpleasant 
feeling, as if something were watching her, seemed to be...

	Two glowing red eyes were staring at her from a 
shadowed corner.

	With a yelp, Akane jumped backwards, her vision flashing 
back to normal. "Something's STARING at me!"

	Tofu frowned. "Nothing should be... oh." Walking over, he 
took down a strangely-carved mask that hung on the wall 
between Betty and a bookcase. "This is a Kadath Geth-Thool 
headpiece. If you're phased, the eyes seem to glow. It's 
completely harmless; I had forgotten it was in here, in fact."

	"Oh." Breathing a slight sigh of relief, Akane tried to 
relax a bit. The technique certainly was powerful... but it was 
also more than a little unnerving. Unlike most techniques, she 
wasn't sure she wanted to practice this at all.

	Of course, nothing was making her. She could just let 
Tetsuko win.

	Like hell, she snarled at herself. She was not a little girl 
anymore, jumping at shadows. If even Dr. Tofu said this was 
safe, then it was most assuredly safe.

	Right?

	"Why don't you practice this at home?" Tofu suggested. 
"It's a bit too easy to do in here, and I expect that your room 
would be more comfortable than all this." He made a motion 
with his hand, taking in the various bits of arcane 
paraphanalia.

	That sounded like a good idea, Akane thought. "Okay. I'll 
let you know what happens - she doesn't stand a chance against 
this!" Which was true. If she could only get used to it, Tetsuko 
wouldn't even know what hit her.

	Tofu smiled slightly. "Just be careful, eh? I seem to 
remember having to sew up a very large gash in your side... how 
is that, by the way?"

	"It feels like it's almost healed," she said, somewhat 
surprised. Tofu had given her strict orders not to remove the 
bandage - but the discomfort from under it seemed minimal. 
"When can I take it off?" 

	"Tomorrow should be fine. Good luck, Akane. Be careful."

	He watched as she left, waited for her footsteps to 
clatter down the clinic stairs, and then turned in irritation. 
"That was clumsy. I had expected better from you."

	"she saw nothing. your glib tongue covered the lapse 
easily enough."

	"I told you to stay out of sight! She's going to acquire the 
vision as she practices. What then?"

	"perhaps you should have thought on that before teaching 
her something of that magnitude! i shall probably have to work 
with this mortal before our objectives are met. i wished to see 
how she performed the phasing."

	Tofu shook his head. "She did well enough, for the first 
time. It should keep her alive."

	"touching, the sentiment in your voice."

	"We NEED her," Tofu snarled. "The Abomination is stirring! 
Those fools on the Joketsuzoku Council and their Sealer allies 
botched the damn job! Unless she's used correctly it's going to 
be Mount Teidi all over again, and this time we might lose!"

	"perhaps you should have thought of this before?"

	Tofu grimaced. "You have no idea how long I've waited to 
snare Saotome Ranma. I almost had him, and then..."

	"cologne. kill her, ono. kill her and simply take the boy."

	"I'm not strong enough in the Waking World, and Cologne's 
not stupid enough to match her strength against mine in the 
Gloaming. On the Sea of Dreams..." He shrugged. "Hard to say. 
The balance of power is too closely drawn, and she won't 
willingly give up the boy. Using Akane is the only way."

	"cologne might still object."

	"Cologne can object all she wants," Tofu said, smirking. 
"She's made an agreement, and I'm going to hold her to it. 
Besides, she's saving her own skin by letting me do as I will in 
this matter. Her withered sense of ethics might be bruised by 
it, but the simple fact of the matter is that unless the 
Abomination is stopped, there will be another Gateway War, 
and I don't think anyone wants that. Especially the 
Joketsuzoku."

	"i can still hear the screams of their council as the 
abomination shattered their avatars. it was good to hear. a pity 
cologne was not among them."

	"A pity indeed." He chuckled. "I wouldn't worry. You dwell 
too much on death. There are other ways of torment, and much 
more satisfying ones."

	"i am aware of this."

	He laughed. "Yes. I suppose you would be."

***

	Breathing heavily, Ranma slumped into a sittng position 
against a wall. "Not a bad fight. You've been workin' on your 
speed, I saw."

	Grinning, Ryouga sat down next to him. "Just wait. Next time I come by, I'll be stronger AND faster than you."

	"Heh. That'll be the day. I ain't too worried about someone 
whose mightiest attack is based on the fact that his life 
sucks."

	"Better than it being based on obscene amounts of ego."

	"It's not ego," Ranma said with wounded dignity. "It's 
self-esteem."

	The Lost Boy laughed. "If you say so. You make Madonna 
and any ten actors look modest."

	"That's only 'cause I'm better than them."

	Ryouga laughed, and Ranma eventually joined in. He 
wasn't sure exactly when Ryouga had actually stopped trying to 
kill him... they were now more or less friends, although he 
doubted they would ever really get along. Akari was making 
things a lot easier, though.

	"Look, are you sure Akane isn't in any danger?"

	He sighed. "I told ya, it's not that she ain't so much as 
that there ain't nothing I can do about it. She's at least an even 
match for this chick, and aside from putting Tetsuko in the 
hospital, what can I do?"

	"Maybe you should," Ryouga muttered. "I mean, she _is_ 
trying to hurt Akane."

	Ranma sighed. "Look, I don't hit girls. Well, not unless 
there's a good reason. And besides, she ain't really done nothing 
yet. She challenged Akane to a fight, Akane showed up and 
fought. What's wrong with that?"

	Scowling, Ryouga kicked a small rock. "I still don't like 
it."

	"Neither do I, but Akane'd be incredibly ticked if I ever 
did anything about it. And this really is the same old thing. 
Kodachi's tried to get Akane, Shampoo's tried... I was worried 
about 'em for a bit, but nothing ever came of it. Hell, I think 
Akane might actually be better than this chick, if you can 
believe that. She won that battle two years ago, and she was 
doin' real well til Kuno had to butt in."

	"Hmph. Have you at least been helping her?"

	Ranma stared at his rival. "Are you kidding? If I jumped 
in on a fight between Akane and this chick, Akane'd kill me!"

	"Not like that," Ryouga snarled. "I mean practicing with 
her! Giving her pointers! You know, like I did with her before 
her match with Kodachi?"

	He blinked, the idea coming as a surprise. "Sparring with 
her, you mean? I dunno..."

	Ryouga rolled his eyes. "Why not?"

	"Well, she usually gets pretty angry whenever we spar."

	"You probably deserve it, then."

	"Feh. If I deserved it every time Akane went off on me," 
Ranma groused, "I'd be some sort of monster. She's just 
incredibly sensitive about the stupidest things."

	"And you're incredibly insensitive about the stupidest 
things," Ryouga replied. "Show some feeling!"

	Ranma shrugged. The whole sensitive thing wasn't his 
field. The way he had grown up, you fought, insulted, and played 
jokes on the ones you loved. He was gradually coming to realize 
that this was not the way normal people handled relationships, 
but old habits died hard...

	"Okay, okay, I'll fight with her."

	"SPAR with her, idiot! You fight with her enough as it is!"

	"All right! All right! Geez, don't get so hung up on 
semantics!"

	Ryouga stood. "We should probably get back to the dojo. 
I'd like to see Akane at least once before I get back on the 
road."

	Ranma raised an eyebrow. "Plannin' on leaving soon?"

	"Well..." Ryouga flushed slightly. "I never exactly _plan_ 
on leaving. It just sort of happens. You know how it is."

	"We should just get you a long, long leash," Ranma said, 
smirking.

	"Why you..!"

	A running battle ensued, eventually terminating at the 
Tendo home. The two slowed in their combat as they entered 
the gate, and had stopped completely by the time they walked 
through the front door.

	Predictably, Kasumi came out to greet them. "Welcome 
back, Ryouga-kun. Did both of you spend the night at your 
house?"

	Ranma shook his head. "We got kinda caught up in our 
fight." He yawned. "Didn't get any sleep at all."

	"Sleep makes you weak," pronounced Ryouga.

	"Well, Akane's upstairs doing... something," Kasumi said 
vaguely. "Lunch will be ready in a few minutes, and I expect 
she'll be down for that. Have you already eaten?"

	"Nah." Ranma's stomach rumbled. "Food would be great."

	Kasumi gave a knowing smile. "I thought you'd say that. If 
you don't mind, could you go up and get Akane?"

	"Sure. Be right back."

	He strolled up the stairs, Ryouga trailing behind him. 
They were almost to the door to Akane's room when Ryouga 
suddenly pulled to a halt. "Do you feel that?"

	Ranma blinked. "Feel what?"

	The Lost Boy shook his head, confused. "I'm not sure. It 
almost feels like someone was using the Shishi Hokudan... the 
same basic quality.." He frowned. "Ranma, is there anyone else 
in the house?"

	"Not as far as I know," Ranma replied, a tiny thread of 
worry beginning to form. Quickly walking over to the door, he 
knocked loudly. "Akane? You in there?"

	"Just a minute!" There was a pause of several seconds, 
and then the door opened. Akane smiled out at them, looking, to 
Ranma's eye, somewhat tired. "Hi, Ryouga-kun. Are you back for 
long?"

	"Only for a little while," Ryouga said, blushing. "I'm 
supposed to meet Akari in a month."

	"In a month?" Akane asked.

	"Well, we sort of have to give each other plenty of time 
to show up," Ryouga sheepishly explained. "I still might be a 
little late."

	"Eh, what's a week or two?" Ranma commented. Ryouga 
absently took a swipe at him, sending the pigtailed boy 
sprawling. Akane chuckled.

	"Jeez, some people," Ranma grumbled, struggling to a 
sitting position. "Anyway, Kasumi said to tell ya that lunch is 
gonna be on the table in a few minutes."

	"Okay," Akane said, wiping a bit of sweat from her brow. 
"I'll be right down. Were you two going to eat with us?"

	"Yeah." Ranma frowned slightly. "You been exercising or 
something?"

	He noticed the moment of hesitation she gave before 
nodding. "Yes, I've been working out a bit. Getting in shape for 
the next match, you know."

	Odd. Why wasn't she in the dojo? "Think there's going to 
be a second one?" he asked. "Maybe she gave up and went home."

	"Third one," Akane corrected. "We got into another fight 
yesterday. Nothing much came of it."

	He blinked. "What, another draw?"

	Akane looked slightly embarrassed. "Another draw. Next 
time will be different, though."

	Ranma elbowed Ryouga. "Heh, remember that? Took a 
couple duels before I proved I could beat ya to a pulp."

	"In your dreams," Ryouga said. "I just had a few minor 
setbacks, that's all."

	"Heh. Right." Ranma shook his head. "Well, you don't look 
too beat up, so I guess you musta done okay."

	"I held my own," she told him. "Next time will be 
different."

	"That's what Ryouga here keeps saying," Ranma said, 
smirking. "Just be careful you don't tear the poor girl in half by 
mistake. C'mon, let's get lunch."

	"Okay. Let me just change, and I'll be right down." The 
door shut.

	"Still feel that thing you were talking about?" Ranma 
inquired?

	Ryouga shook his head. "I must have been imagining 
things."

	Ranma nodded, a uneasy feeling still nagging at him. "I 
guess. Look, you and Akari are pretty much a couple now, yeah? 
You've mostly given up on Akane?"

	"Well..."

	"Good. Could you, I dunno, talk to Akane sometime? Go for 
a walk or something? I wanna know how she really feels about 
this rival thing, an I get the feeling she ain't being completely 
straight with me." He sighed. "I dunno."

	"My pleasure," Ryouga said, smirking. "This is rather 
funny. I never thought I'd see you try to get me alone with 
Akane."

	"Shut up, P-Chan."

	"Don't joke about that!"

	"Sure thing, pig."

	"Will you be quiet!"

	"Oink. Oink."

	"RANMA..."

***

	Cologne casually circled her latest pupil. Tetsuko stood, 
blindfolded, in the middle of the dining hall. The hooked pole 
slowly spun back and forth, whipping in unpredictable patterns 
in a rough coverage of the area.

	Noiselessly, Cologne hefted a chair and threw it at her.

	The pole blurred to the right, sending it crashing into a 
table. Less than a second later, a thrown butter knife hit the 
fisher girl squarely in her skinny chest.

	"Akane just got you," Cologne said chidingly. "You've been 
stabbed in a vital organ. If you hurry, maybe you can get to a 
hospital before dying."

	Tetsuko scowled, then suddenly lashed out with her pole. 
Cologne nimbly leaped straight up as the pole shot through the 
place she had occupied a second before. The hook stabbed 
upwards, and the matriarch narrowly avoided a nick as she 
vaulted over her student's head.

	As Cologne landed, Tetsuko swung the pole in a low, 
scything arc, her left foot coming up and forward in an axe 
kick as she did so. The old woman easily ducked under the kick, 
casually poking Tetsuko in the side with one finger as she did 
so.

	Tetsuko blinked, and then froze.

	"Can't move m'legs," she said after a few seconds.

	"It will wear off in a few minutes," Cologne said. "You're 
improving, child."

	"Would hope so," the fisher muttered. "Full day's work, 
this." The scowl came back. "Akane bain't going t'paralyse me, 
old one."

	"Won't she? She is being taught by someone whose grasp 
of shiatsu approaches mine. To assume such things is unwise 
at best."

	"Think you just like t'see me stand here."

	Cologne chuckled. "Think of it as an object lesson. Take 
the time to do the exercises you've been taught."

	Tetsuko made no reply, and the scowl never wavered.

	Shaking her head slightly, Cologne strolled out and into 
the kitchen. The training was going well.

	She knew, to some extent, what was going to be taught to 
Akane. Ono was a being of shadow and shade, and that's what 
his tool would learn. So the first order of business was to 
make sure that Tetsuko could fight in darkness, fight without 
seeing her opponent.

	Blindfighting was something every Amazon learned. 
Extend your ki outward, use it to feel the room, to be aware of 
the ki of others. Make yourself a pond, alert to the slightest 
ripple.

	For a person with the necessary amount of internal 
energy, it wasn't difficult. The trick was in keeping it going 
during the heat of combat.

	In the process, she was also building up the girl's speed 
and reaction time. It was much like what she had done to 
Ranma, when she had first taken him under her wing...

	Of course, Ranma learned much faster and was further 
along the path. Cologne was beginning to suspect that the gaunt 
girl was largely self-taught. There were some habits that 
would need to be unlearned.

	It was a pity more couldn't be done, or that she didn't 
have time to proceed more slowly. Tetsuko turned inward far 
too much for Cologne's liking; brooding, looking at things only 
she could see. Normally, Cologne wouldn't dream of teaching 
someone like that anything.

	But the situation was far from normal. With any luck, 
Ranma would realize quickly that something was wrong. And if 
he didn't...

	Well, then there was always Tetsuko. As a last resort. 

	The gaunt girl was progressing well. She was more than a 
match for Akane, now.

	Cologne raised a teakettle up to the stove, lit the fire, 
and then heard the knocking.

	Three delicate, evenly-spaced raps. 

	Cologne frowned, a slight chill working its way down her 
back, and peered intently at the door of the stove.

	And, again, three knocks.

	"You're invited in," Cologne said slowly. "But only once."

	The oven door fell open, the fire behind it blazing redder 
than any gas-powered range should. There was a chorus of 
snickers, of giggles, of muted laughter.

	Slowly, with infinite grace, a delicate figure decked in 
white stepped out of the mouth of the stove, daintily brushing 
bits of flame from her gown.

	Cologne gave a short bow. "Lady."

	The Lady smiled back. It was, part of Cologne thought, 
the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

	The rest of her, though, knew exactly who she was 
facing, and wasn't pleased about it.

	"Young Cologne. I remember you."

	"I'm flattered, Lady." She was, in a way. She knew all too 
well how little importance the Lady attached to humans.

	"You were in my service."

	"I was, Lady."

	"And then you left it."

	"It was time to move on."

	"You could still return, you know. There is a seat set 
aside for you." The Lady smiled gently. "Age doesn't matter, in 
my house. You might turn around and find yourself young."

	All true, Cologne knew, and then she felt the entire force 
of the Lady's will upon her.

	She could go back. Go back and practice her Art, 
unfettered by her creeping mortality. No need to worry about 
her great-granddaughter, or the tribe, or Ranma. There would 
always be another Matriarch. She could go back, and be young, 
and beautiful, and irresponsible when she wished to be. She 
could...

	...could go back and be a slave.

	"I think I'll decline your offer, Lady."

	The Lady shrugged petulantly. "As you say. I didn't really 
expect you would."

	"Is this just a courtesy call, then?"

	"Not at all. I've come to warn you, Young Cologne."

	Cologne's eyes narrowed. "I am no longer young, Lady. 
What sort of warning do you bring?"

	"The dybatuk will try to neutralize threats to his plan. 
Including you and yours. And perhaps others. Mortals break so 
easily."

	"I am aware of his enmity," Cologne replied dryly. "None 
of his servants are strong enough to do me harm in the Waking 
World."

	"True, Young Cologne, but he does so like to play with 
mortals." The Lady smiled. "There are so many of them, 
scurrying here and there. Like frightened lizards. Some of them 
bite, and if you look too closely at a pair of them... why, 
another might sneak up behind you and bite your toes off." She 
gnashed her teeth for emphasis, and Cologne noted with only 
mild surprise that they were long, narrow, and filed to razor 
points.

	"I'll keep that in mind." It was cryptic, but that was the 
Lady's way. Perhaps it was because she didn't think in exactly 
the same way as humans. Perhaps it was because she enjoyed 
seeing things bewildered and confused. Probably it was both. 
"Kind of you to give some thought to me, after all these years." 
And highly unlikely.

	"I have always loved islands. Green and black, and such 
playthings..." The Lady licked her lips, beautiful in the gesture. 
"For servants past and present, Young Cologne. And because it 
amuses me."

	Cologne nodded. "I imagine it does, Lady. I keep that in 
mind often."

	Laughter rose, and the flames from the stove roared. And 
then Cologne was alone in the room, and the oven was cold and 
dead.

	Servants past and present.

	Her eyes widened slightly. Did she mean...

	She probably did.

	Cologne swore. Bad enough that she had a dybatuk to 
worry about. Now the Lady had to rear her beautiful head. Ally 
or enemy? Impossible to be sure, and hard to tell which was 
worse.

	Turning, she walked to the door of the kitchen, and stared 
for a long time at the brooding girl in the center of the room.

	Japanese didn't contain the term that was rising in her 
mind. Chinese did, but it was too broad and only hinted at vague 
shadows.

	"Leanan Sidhe," she muttered.

	"What, Great-grandmother?"

	Cologne noted with worried approval that Shampoo's 
presence hadn't registered until seconds before she spoke. 
"More complications, child." She turned, then, to study 
Shampoo's face. "Have you met a beautiful woman recently, or 
in the past?"

	Shampoo looked confused. "Beautiful? Are many, Shampoo 
supposes."

	Cologne nodded, satisfied. Anyone who had met the Lady 
knew exactly what was meant by beautiful woman. It was 
burned into their brain. "Someday soon, child, a lady in white 
may offer you your heart's desire. Do not accept."

	"She offer me Ranma?" Shampoo raised an eyebrow 
curiously. "She lie then, of course."

	The matriarch hesitated for an instant, and decided on 
the truth. "No. She won't be lying."

	Shampoo looked confused. "Then why you say not accept?"

	Cologne sighed. "She always tells you what you'll 
receive." She glanced into the dining room. "She never tells you 
what she'll take."

***

	Ukyou stood behind the counter-grill, doing what she did 
best. Okonomiyaki.

	There was a good crowd today; there usually was, around 
lunchtime. The Ucchans had become a sort of unofficial hangout 
for a sizable portion of the Nerima teenage population; mostly 
the part that didn't mind the occasional fight between high-
powered martial artists. 

	Usually she'd be feeling pretty good about now, and 
truthfully she didn't really feel that bad. It was just that damn 
dream...

	It had faded in her memory, thankfully, but the specter of 
it was still throwing a shadow over her day.

	Well, she told herself, what else do you expect? She 
couldn't remember the last time she'd been so frightened; after 
a scare like that, it was no wonder she was a bit down.

	The door opened, and Ukyou heard the natural rhythm of 
the restaurant's chatter falter, skip a few beats, and turn into 
a low mutter.

	She kept her attention on the frying okonomiyaki, 
pointedly refusing to look up. She needed to prove to herself 
that her emotions were firmly back under control.

	Footsteps slowly walked up to the grill, with the thump 
of a walking stick or cane accompanying them. Biting her lip, 
Ukyou finally glanced up, fairly certain of what she'd see.

	Anjin slouched her way slowly up to to the counter, the 
end of her hooked pole thumping along the ground behind her. 
She opened her hand, letting a collection of coins rattle onto 
the counter.

	"What'll you have?" Ukyou said neutrally. Konatsu was 
just on the other side of the room, and she herself could 
almost certainly take on Anjin and win.

	"Okonomiyaki. Octopus."

	Ukyou nodded, and began to prepare it. "In Nerima for 
long?"

	Tetsuko gave a dour shrug. "Dunno. On business."

	"Akane, you mean?"

	The thin girl nodded. Ukyou deftly spread the toppings 
with one hand, flipping the previous customer's order onto a 
plate with the other. Konatsu silently glided over, took the 
plate, and moved off to serve it. They'd become a pretty good 
team.

	"So you're going to do something to Akane and leave?" she 
asked, manevering the okonomiyaki over the grill.

	Tetsuko stared blankly at the grill. "Yeah."

	"Don't talk much, do you?"

	"Not much t'say."

	Ukyou chuckled. "Fair enough." She flipped the 
okonomiyaki, and eyed Anjin speculatively. "Akane's a friend of 
mine, you know."

	Tetsuko shrugged, still watching the okonomiyaki with 
bored interest.

	"I'd prefer it if she didn't get hurt."

	"Too bad."

	Ukyou scowled. "Look, don't you think you're going a little 
overboard?"

	Tetsuko looked up, a mix of disinterest and sullen calm 
in her face. "Challenged her. Doesn't have t'accept."

	"So if Akane doesn't want to fight, you'll just go home?"

	"Akane conceeds, I go home." The gaunt fisher shrugged 
again. "Here t'win."

	Ukyou frowned and flipped, somewhat taken aback. 
Granted, she was on Akane's side... but Tetsuko was sounding 
pretty reasonable. You certainly couldn't blame someone for 
issuing a challenge...

	"So what happens if you win?"

	"I win."

	"But what happens to Akane?"

	"She loses."

	Ukyou glared at her in exasperation. "I bet you're real 
popular with librarians, aren't you."

	Tetsuko smiled slightly, her slouch deepening as she 
leaned against her pole. "Don't read much anymore."

	"That's a pity." With a final flourish, Ukyou neatly flipped 
the finished okonomiyaki onto a plate and handed it to her. 
"From Hokkaido?"

	Tetsuko nodded. A curved knife emerged from her sleeve, 
and flashed three times across the plate before disappearing 
back into the garment. Picking up one of the pieces of 
okonomiyaki between two callused fingers, she popped it into 
her mouth.

	"What's it like up there? Ukyou asked.

	"Cold," Tetsuko mumbled, chewing. "Wet."

	A real sparkling conversationalist. "There many Ainu near 
where you live?" She'd heard that there was Ainu blood in the 
Kuonjis, though her father had discounted it as a vicious rumor.

	"Couple. We fish, they fish."

	"What are they like?"

	Anjin shrugged. "People."

	A sparkling conversationalist AND a fount of information. 
"You were pretty good, that day in the park. Family school?"

	Tetsuko's face locked up, cool boredom suddenly flooding 
it. The coatrack shoulders shrugged again, and she popped 
another piece of okonomiyaki in her mouth.

	Either a sore or secretive point, Ukyou silently thought. 
"Mine is. Kuonji-ryuu; martial arts okonomiyaki."

	Tetsuko idly poked at her food. "Strange."

	"No stranger than martial arts fishing."

	"Bain't fishing. Fishing is fishing. Fighting bain't."

	"Yeah, but if it's developed from fishing techniques..."

	"Bain't fishing."

	Ukyou held up her free hand. "Have it your way."

	Tetsuko continued to eat, and Ukyou began preparing 
another okonomiyaki.	

	"Did someone recommend this place to you?" she asked 
after a while.

	"Wanted t'see what sort of ship you ran."

	"Oh?" Ukyou wasn't sure how she felt about the interest. 
"Do I pass?"

	"Yes." Then, unexpectedly, Anjin smirked; the expression 
making her look a bit less ominous. "But you talk too much."

	Ukyou snorted. "I'm talking for both of us. You should 
thank me for doing all the work."

	"Maybe." The gaunt fisher wiped her sleeve along her 
mouth, straightned a bit, and tossed a coin on the countertop. 
"Goodbye, Kuonji."

	"Goodbye, Anjin."

	Ukyou watched as the other girl slouched out the door. 
Interesting, that, and a bit of a relief. Akane's opponent 
seemed more human when she wasn't trying to beat the crap 
out of the Tendo girl.

	Heck, maybe the two of them could even work something 
out. After all, Ranchan and Ryouga had started out with a 
serious feud, right? And Ukyou herself had originally come to 
Nerima to punish Ranma...

	She giggled. Not that Tetsuko was likely to suddenly 
forgive Akane and seek her hand in marriage. Now there was an 
interesting image.

	Whistling slightly, she glanced out the window.

	"Konatsu?"

	"Yes, Ukyou-sama?"

	"Were we supposed to have rain today? It looks a bit ugly 
out there."

	"I don't believe so."

	"Huh."

***

	"Were we supposed to have rain today?" Akane asked, 
looking at the sky. "It was sunny just a minute ago."

	Ryouga looked glumly up at the sky. "I don't know. If it 
does, we've got my umbrella."

	Akane nodded, glancing around as they walked. She was 
pretty sure they were still in Tokyo... somewhere...

	It was odd. Ryouga had asked if she wanted to come with 
him on a stroll around the city... and Ranma had enthusiatically 
seconded the idea, on the grounds that someone would need to 
keep him from getting lost.

	She hadn't thought much of it at the time, but now... why 
had Ranma been so eager to have her go along with Ryouga?

	Still, she had to admit that the stroll had been pretty 
pleasant so far. They had found themselves in parts of the city 
that Akane had never even heard of, and Ryouga always 
seemed to know an interesting fact or legend about the area. 
When he figured out where they were, anyway. He had been very 
surprised to learn that a favorite cafe of his was located in 
Tokyo, not Osaka, and had quickly corrected his map 
accordingly.

	Currently, they were making their way up a large, 
misshapen hill, green with grass. A rough ring of trees had 
encircled it on the way in, blotting out the city skyline.

	They passed an old wooden fence, white paint flaking 
from it. A raven sat atop one post, blinking curiously at them. 
Akane blinked back at it, and eventually it took to the air with 
a raucous cawing.

	It was almost difficult to believe that they were still in 
the city, not the countryside.

	"So how did your fights go?" Ryouga asked politely.

	"They went fine," Akane told him. "I got a little mauled, 
but nothing serious." Which was the truth. Her side felt fine 
today...  cold from whatever was in the bandage, but fine. She 
was actually a little surprised at how quickly it had healed.

	"Do you think you can handle this girl?" Ryouga asked. "I 
mean, really handle her?"

	"Of course! She's good, but she's not that good. I nearly 
won both of the two fights."

	"I nearly won my first two fights with Ranma," Ryouga 
said ruefully.

	"And he's never completely beaten you, ne?" Akane said, 
surprising herself with her vehemence. "You and he keep 
fighting. You've even won once or twice..."

	"But never for good." He sighed. "Sometimes I feel like 
it's all I can do to catch up to him."

	"But you have caught up, so far."

	"Have I?" Ryouga rubbed his head absently. "Ranma's a 
real bastard, Akane. He doesn't treat you very well, and the 
things he's done to me..." His face grew angry, resentful, and 
then softened. "But the one good thing I'll say for him is that he 
never really tried to hurt me. Not really. If he had, he could 
have killed or crippled me."

	They walked on for a bit, the wind ruffing the grass.

	 "Have you?" Akane finally asked.

	Ryouga gave a curt nod. "At first. I was really angry with 
him. I can't tell you why."

	Akane sighed. "I guess I knew that, but..."

	"I'm sorry. Things are different now." He glanced at her. 
"But my point is that your opponent might... really want to hurt 
you. And no-one always wins all the time, not even Ranma."

	"I can handle Tetsuko," Akane repeated. "I just need to 
really beat her once, and then it's over. For good."

	"I hope so." He was silent for a time. "Have you thought 
about asking Ranma to train you? He is good, and he's in your 
school..."	

	She snorted. "Ranma's not much of a teacher. He wants to 
show off more than he wants to instruct. And he's good at 
showing off."

	"Still..."

	"Doctor Tofu's been teaching me a trick or two," Akane 
told him. "Nothing huge, but useful. It should get me through 
this."

	They crested the hill. A dilapidated old wooden church, 
spire half-collapsed in on itself, stood there at the summit, 
board creaking slightly in the wind.

	"Kind of pretty, isn't it?" Ryouga said. "In a old sort of 
way." 

	Akane bit her lip. Actually, it wasn't very pretty at all. It 
was a bit disquieting.

	A fox appeared in the doorway, eyes bright in the 
darkness. She stared at it. "What is this place?"

	"It's an old Christian church. They abandoned it a long 
time ago, but because of the graveyards they couldn't build 
over it. So it's sort of an unofficial park now."

	Akane watched as the fox grinned. A raven swooped down 
to land on the ruined spire, followed by another. And another.

	She shivered, and pulled her jacket a bit tighter around 
herself. There was a bit of a mist along the ground. "It was 
such a nice day a few hours ago."

	Ryouga nodded. "There's a fireplace inside the church, and 
a table and chairs. If you like, we could go in and dry off.

	"I don't think the fox..." The fox seemed to have left. 
"Okay."

	They walked into the creaking building. As Ryouga had 
said, a hearth stood towards one end of the building, and the 
old altar had been moved towards the center and covered with 
a checkered cloth. Two stone teacups and an empty pot stood 
on it.

	Ryouga walked over to the hearth. "Let me start a fire. 
I've got some tea in my backpack, and the water in the pot is 
clean."

	Akane nodded, looking about uneasily. There was 
something odd... "Did you set all this up? The cups and the 
cloth?"

	"Nope," Ryouga said, striking a flint. Flames leaped to 
life with a roar, filling the hearth.

	"So you camp here often?"

	"Actually, I..." Ryouga frowned. "I'm not sure I've ever 
been here. That's odd."

	"But you knew there was..."

	"I must have read about it somewhere." He looked 
sheepish. "I think I would have remembered camping in 
Shiningen'ya before..."

	"What?" Akane said, a deadly cold feeling running down 
her. "What did you call it?"

	"Shiningen'ya. Because of the graveyard, I guess, but 
that's what it's called. At least I think it is."

	<"Good questions. You're largely safe in Nerima; this area 
is fairly clean of dangerous pests. I would advise against using 
shadow near the Ooni Temple or Shiningen'ya; both of those 
are... not safe places."> That's what Tofu had said.

	Not safe places.

	"Ryouga, we've got to get out of here," she said, fear 
suddenly pouring through her. "We've got to leave right now."

	Ryouga glanced up sharply, catching the edge in her voice. 
"Akane? What's wrong?"

	"I'll explain later," she said, glancing nervously around. 
The shadows suddenly seemed more numerous than before, 
more ominous... "Come on. We've got to go, quickly."

	Nodding, Ryouga tossed a handful of earth on the fire. It 
flickered for a second, and then leaped up higher.

	Akane walked to the doorway, and turned back 
impatiently. "Ryouga, come on!"

	"The fire needs to be put out..."

	There was a low rumbling from outside, ending in a 
echoing that sounded vaguely like distant laughter. The fire 
blazed up, almost overflowing the hearth.

	"Ryouga, hurry!" Panic welled up in her; glancing out the 
door, she could see that the mist on the ground was now a 
thick white curtain, obscuring the treeline from view.

	Swearing, Ryouga dashed over to her. "There's something 
wrong with the fire..."

	"Come on. we've got to get off this hill while we still 
can."

	They made their way out of the old church as quickly as 
possible. Akane glanced around, disoriented for a second, and 
then saw the gravel path they had taken up the hill. "We can 
follow this down."

	"What's going on, Akane?" Ryouga glanced nervously 
around at the fog. "Is there something out there?"

	"I don't know. I think so."

	He nodded. "Well, don't worry. I'll protect you."

	Akane just nodded and kept walking, following the path. 
Normally she didn't like being protected... but this once she felt 
she could let it slide.

	A white-grey shape slipped aross the path ahead of them. 
Ryouga tensed for a second, and then relaxed. "Just a fox."

	Akane nodded, watching as another shaped darted past a 
ways off the path. "Two of them."

	They kept going, the path curving somewaht as they 
descended. Around them, foxes would glide out of the mist, 
stare at them, tongue often lolling out in a silent laugh, and 
then vanish in the swirling white.

	Akane suddenly stopped. "Something's wrong. We should 
have reached the bottom by now."

	"I was thinking the same thing," Ryouga said grimly. "And 
we certainly should have passed that fence midway up the 
hill."

	"I think we're on the wrong path," Akane said slowly, the 
cold feeling of dread in her stomach building. There had only 
been one trail; she was sure of it. "We'd better just move 
down."

	Ryouga nodded, catching her meaning. "Take the direction 
that slopes downward. Right."

	They dashed downward, not quite running, not quite 
walking. The foxes darted to and fro ahead of them, and the air 
was as thick as treacle.

	"Ryouga!" The voice was female, oddly familiar to Akane...

	"Akari?" Ryouga called back, worry entering his voice. "Is 
that you?"

	"Ryouga? I can't see..."

	"Hold on! We're coming!" He shot Akane an agonized 
glance. "We've got to go get her. I don't dare leave her alone in 
this place, and I don't want you alone here either..."

	"Yo, Akane!" A figure slowly appeared in the mists below, 
red Chinese shirt not completely obscured by the fog. "C'mon! 
Let's get out of here!"

	"Ranma! Get Akane out of here!" Ryouga gratefully yelled. 
Turning to Akane, he winced slightly. "Stay with Ranma until 
you're safely out. "I'll follow with Akari as soon as I can."

	"Ryouga!" There was a note of fear in Akari's voice. "I 
can't see anything!"

	"I'm coming!" he yelled back, dashing off into the fog 
before Akane could stop him.

	She swore. Ryouga couldn't find Akari under the best of 
conditions, let alone in this fog... now she and Ranma would 
have to find both of them.

	She ran down the hill to where he stood... paying no 
attention to her, she saw resignedly. He stood looking off into 
the fog, facing away.

	Pulling to a halt, she grabbed his shoulder. "Come on, 
we've got to find Ryouga..."

	Ranma turned to look at her.

	The face under the familiar bangs was white, and narrow, 
and had a mouth of needlelike teeth bared in a foxlike grin.

	Akane shrieked, and stumbled back as a long, silvery 
dagger flashed by her. The being laughed, a giggling, tittering 
sound, and pounced at her.

	She responded with a axe kick, the blow catching the 
thing solidly in the shoulder. It barely noticed, and she felt it 
crash into her, bearing her to the ground. The glistening blade 
arced up, and she punched the thing as hard as she could in the 
jaw. The impact felt as if it had broken her hand, and the thing 
just kept grinning as it positioned the dagger to bring down...

	Shrieking in terror, Akane kicked and clawed impotently 
at the thing. And then, almost instinctively, she reached out 
with her mind and pulled up the shadows.

	It was almost frighteningly easy, despite her lack of 
focus. The blackness swirled up around them, and suddenly she 
felt the thing wince as one of her efforts to get free pounded 
against it.

	As the knife descended, Akane's hand shot up to close 
around the thing's wrist, trapping it. She tightened her grip, 
and heard the thing give a hissing cry of pain. Its eyes flared, 
and then, jaws opening, it lunged for her neck.

	Akane twisted the wrist around, hearing the bones in it 
snap as she did so, and pulled the dagger in front of her 
breastbone, point away from her.

	Needlelike teeth bit into her neck, and she knew she was 
dead.

	Then there was a gurgling scream, the jaws went slack, 
and the thing jerked and went still.

	Trembling, she pushed the thing off of her. The leap had 
driven its throat upon the dagger even as it had lunged for her 
own. It lay on the grass, still twitching slightly, the red 
Chinese shirt and pigtail looking hideously wrong attached to 
the pinched, angular face.

	There was blood running down her neck, but not much. She 
guessed that the puncture wounds were only a few millimeters 
deep...

	"Ryouga! Help!"

	Akane froze. That was her voice, calling out of the 
mists...

	"Ryouga!" her voice called again. "They've got me! Help!"

	"Akane! Where are you?" Ryouga's voice bellowed in the 
distance, faint and far away.

	"Help!"

	"No!" she desperately yelled. "Ryouga, over here! It's a 
trap!"

	"I see you, Akane! I'm coming!"

	"No!" Akane shouted again, almost crying. "Don't, Ryouga! 
Run!"

	"Down here, Ryouga! Hurry!"

	"But Akari..."

	"She's in here with me!"

	"NO!" Akane screamed. "Don't! It's a trap!"

	"I'm coming!"

	"Ryouga!" she yelled, tears of frustration coming to her 
eyes. For a several minutes nothing answered her, and then a 
fox slipped out of the mists up the hill, grinned, threw back its 
head, and barked with all-too-human laughter.

	Akane turned and ran, stumbling and racing down the hill, 
letting gravity guide her. The old white fence loomed up and 
she burst through it, sending rotting boards flying to the 
ground. It had been only halfway up the hill, she thought 
frantically, she she was halfway down...

	Something caught at her foot and she tripped, sprawling 
painfully to the ground. She struggled to get to her feet, and 
then realized that there was something tightly grasping her 
ankle. Pulling herself to a almost sitting position, she saw a 
bony white claw hooked around her leg, and shrieked.

	The earth exploded next to her, and a decaying arm ripped 
out of the soil and clamped a rotting hand around her mouth, 
pulling her head down. As she struggled, twisting and kicking, 
two arms of yellowing bone erupted from below to wrap around 
her waist, pinning her down. The earth beneath her began to 
crumble, and she could feel clawlike fingers tearing at the 
back of her shirt, sending razorlike flashes of pain down her 
back as she slowly began to sink. The grey earth bubbled around 
her, and she screamed and kicked as rotting arms tore at her, 
pulled her down...

	And then, through the pain and surging panic, a 
realization flashed through her frenzied mind.

	She was still in the monochrome vision!

	With a singlemindedness driven by raw terror, Akane 
desperately pushed away the blackness, snapping the world 
back to muted colors.

	The corpse limbs seemed to suddenly melt and vanish, 
save for a single pair that remained clasped around her waist, 
dead and unmoving.

	For a unmeasurable time she lay and madly screamed, 
struggling feebly at the earth that held her. Slowly, gradually, 
her shrieks faded, and some amount of rational thought 
reasserted itself. She was half-buried in the soil, but it was 
loose, and she forced herself up to a sitting position. With a 
cry of disgust, she pulled the dead arms away from her, 
sending the bones tumbing across the grass.

	With effort, she dug herself out. A skull tumbled away as 
she withdrew one leg, savage bite marks slowly oozing from 
broken skin. Her back was on fire, and she could feel the slowly 
trickle of blood along it. 

	Demons and ghosts, she thought hysterically. And to think 
she had been worried about Anjin...

	Silently, a vague sense of unreality numbing her, Akane 
stumbled to her feet and ran downhill. The trees loomed up, 
black and dark, and she charged into them. Branches tore at 
her, whipping along her face. She didn't slow.

	Something caught her foot and tripped her, and she spent 
almost two minutes on the ground, thrashing and kicking and 
screaming, before realizing it had only been a rock. With a 
ragged laugh, she lurched to her feet and ran on.

	Finally, with a low cry, she burst from the trees and ran 
out onto a road. Headlights approached, and Akane stood, 
staring numbly as they grew closer and closer.

	There was a squeal of brakes, and a car slid to a stop 
barely a foot away from her. Akane smiled foolishly, and 
stared at the lights.

	Someone asked her if she was all right.

	"I'm fine," she replied, voice shaking slightly. "I need to 
go to the Ono Clinic."

	Another voice asked her what had happened. Akane tried 
to laugh, shrieked instead, and then the lights of the car 
seemed to grow brighter and brighter as she fell to the ground. 
There was a murmur of concerned voices, and something pulled 
her deep beneath the earth into blackness.

***

	"Akane?" the corpse with the pigtail said, leering down 
at her. "How are you feeling?"

	She stared at it, unable to run away for some reason.

	"Akane?"

	Her eyes shot open.

	She was in the Ono Clinic, with Doctor Tofu's concerned 
face leaning over her. There were bandages around her neck, 
and torso and legs...

	The memory of what had happened suddenly washed over 
her, and she began to tremble slightly.

	"Akane?" Tofu asked. "What happened? Some motorists 
brought you in, saying you'd run out in front of the car, and 
collapsed after telling them to take you here..."

	"Shiningen'ya..." she slowly said.

	Tofu sucked in his breath. "You used the phasing in 
Shiningen'ya? Do you know how..." He shook his head angrily. 
"Why?"

	"It was going to kill me!" Akane snapped, tears coming to 
her eyes. "I couldn't hurt it, and then I thought that if I was 
partly in the same plane as it maybe I could..."

	"You'd better start from the beginning," Tofu said sternly.

	"I went for a walk with Ryouga," she said slowly. "He 
took us up the hill, and inside an old church... it seemed odd, so 
I asked him if he'd been there before, but he hadn't, and he 
knew all about it... then he told me where we were, and I told 
him that we had to get out..."

	She closed her eyes. "We ran out, but the path didn't lead 
down anymore, and the fog was too thick... we followed gravity 
down the hill for a bit, and then Akari's voice lured Ryouga 
away from me, and someone who looked like Ranma came up..." 
Her voice broke. "It tried to kill me, Doctor Tofu. It had this 
thin white face and a mouth full of needles and this knife..."

	Tofu frowned. "And you hadn't used the phasing up until 
that point?"

	"I didn't use it until the thing had me pinned to the 
ground," Akane told him. "I... I killed it."

	The enormity of it hit her. She had just killed someone. 
Something. Something horrible and inhuman, but something 
that looked like a man...

	"I killed it," she repeated.

	"Then what happened?" Tofu asked quietly.

	"Something with my voice lured Ryouga away, and then a 
fox came and laughed at me," she said numbly. "I ran, and broke 
through a fence, and then these arms..." She shook her head, 
forcing down the urge to shudder. "They tried to pull me under, 
and then I realized I was still phased, and I pushed it away. 
And they vanished. I don't remember much after that."

	Tofu frowned. "This isn't right."

	"Really?" she said, somewhat shrilly. With an effort, she 
composed herself. "Sorry. But that seemed fairly obvious."

	He shook his head. "You don't understand. The Jikininki 
haunt the lower hill, and will attack anyone who they can 
reach. Since their ability to break into our world is limited, 
no-one is in any real danger unless they phase, or unless 
something else weakens the barriers. You should have been 
perfectly safe."

	"Is that what tried to pull me down?" she asked weakly. 
"Jikininki?" She had heard stories about the evil dead; every 
schoolchild had... but no-one believed in them anymore...

	He nodded. "It's in their nature to attack any living thing 
they can. You were very lucky to snap out of the phasing in 
time."

	"What... what would have happened if I hadn't..."

	"You would have been pulled under the earth, your heart 
and liver would have ripped out of your living body and 
devoured, and then you would have become one of them."

	"Oh," she said faintly.

	"But again, that was normal behavior. What concerns me 
is the Kitsune you killed."

	"The fox people don't exist," she said, feeling stupid for 
saying so even as the words left her mouth.

	Tofu shook his head. "They don't show their faces much in 
the Waking World anymore, but they exist. Nogitsune Kitsune, 
Unseelie Sidhe, Demolo, the Fair Ones, Xigongfan... whatever 
the name, it means the same thing." He frowned. "It also makes 
no sense. The Kitsune aren't like the Jikininki, who aren't very 
bright and kill to feed their hunger. The fox people are 
intelligent, and they rarely go out of their way to attack 
mortals. Especially ones who hadn't done anything to them." He 
looked at her sharply. "You haven't, I assume?"

	"Aside from killing the one who tried to kill me?" Akane 
gave a shaky laugh. "I didn't even believe in them until today." 

	Frowning, Tofu began to pace. "It makes no sense. The 
mere fact that you can phase isn't something that would upset 
them. I can't think how they would know about it in the first 
place."

	"I don't think they did," Akane said. The one she had 
killed... SHE had killed... had seemed almost shocked that she 
could suddenly hurt it... "They're... they're just evil, right?"

	Tofu hesitated, and then shook his head. "They're not 
truly evil, the way the Jikininki or some men are. They just 
don't think in the same way we do. 'Good' and 'evil', 'right' and 
'wrong' are concepts that don't mean anything to them."

	For some reason, that made her feel even worse. She 
forcibly reminded herself that it had been trying to kill her... 
would have killed her, if she hadn't caused it to stab itself. It 
had been hunting her and Ryouga, and it was its own fault...

	Ryouga!

	"Oh no!" she blurted, sitting straight up in bed. "Ryouga! 
What happened to him?"

	"I don't know," Tofu said, his brow crinkling. "It sounds as 
though they led him Underneath. Why, I couldn't guess."

	"Underneath?"

	"It's where they live, part of a realm called the Gloaming. 
Usually it's pretty hard to reach, from one side or another, but 
there are some places where the barriers are weak; especially 
in island nations. Certain graveyards, mounds, lonely roads or 
fields..."

	"What will they do to him?" Akane softly asked. 

	"I don't know. They can be very cruel."

	"Is there any way to follow them? I can get Ranma and..."

	Tofu shook his head. "Ranma would be helpless. He's male, 
and men who enter Underneath are in the Lady's country. She 
could order him to break your neck, and he'd do it with a smile."

	"But he turns into a girl," Akane said, inspiration 
suddenly striking her. "Wouldn't that..."

	"No. His body becomes female, but his soul stays male. 
You know that."

	"So what can I do?" Akane said helplessly, despair 
beginning to well up inside of her. "I can't just let those... 
things have him!"

	Tofu rubbed the back of his head. "There is something," he 
said slowly. "But it would be very dangerous."

	Somehow, she had known that it would be. "What?"

	"The Kitsune are cunning, and have many tricks. As you 
undoubtedly know by now. But they also are very weak, if one 
knows how to deal with them." He walked across the room, 
opened a low chest, and rummaged around in it for a second. 
Finally, with a pleased noise, he withdrew a sword.

	It was ugly. The blade looked pitted and dull, slightly 
curved, and with an edge badly in need of sharpening. The hilt 
was wrapped well, but with leather instead of cords. 
Something had left rust-colored stains near the guard.

	Akane watched skeptically as he returned to the side of 
the bed. "Is it magical?"

	Smiling, the doctor shook his head. "No. Fighting Kitsune 
with magic is a bit like fighting a forest fire with a 
flamethrower. This is made of cold-forged iron."

	"Is that good?" she asked dubiously. It was probably the 
worst-made weapon she had ever seen outside of a mail-order 
catalog.

	"If you so much as touch a Kitsune with it, it will die," 
Tofu said flatly. "Its blood will boil in its veins, and within 
five seconds it will be a smoking corpse. Iron is death for their 
kind. It's one reason they aren't seen much any more."

	Akane examined the sword with new respect. "Can I hold 
it?" The blade was quietly passed to her, and she gingerly 
stood. Slipping into a kendo stance, she executed a slow 
hidari-kesa-giri cut, converting it to a migi-joho-giri at the 
apex. The balance wasn't great, and it was too heavy... but it 
was usable.

	"When you say touch..."

	"They'll be uncomfortable anywhere near it. It will cut 
through Underneath-forged armor and blades like a hot knife 
through butter, and even if it fails to break the skin it will 
kill." Tofu smiled grimly. "They will... respect it."

	She nodded. "So I can hurt them now."

	"Yes." He began to pace. "As you may or may not know 
from stories, there are two main branches of Kitsune. The 
Myobu serve the Rice God, Inari-no-Kami. While they are no 
more 'good' or 'evil' at heart than their kin, they do serve the 
god faithfully. And Inari is a benevolent being. It's safe to say 
that they are not the ones who have taken Hibiki. Which leaves 
the others."

	Akane dredged up memories of old tales, told to frighten 
or amuse her. Most of them had depicted the Kitsune as 
benevolent spirits, or simply cruelly playful. She remembered 
someone, Nabiki perhaps, telling her the story of the Kitsune 
Genkuro, who would track down Tokyo women, cut off all their 
hair, and break their pans. But there were other stories, told at 
night, about Kitsune met at twilight along a lonely road... "The 
Nogitsune."

	"Yes. Some are Ronin of sorts, serving no-one. Most of 
them, though, dwell Underneath, and serve the Fair Lady."

	"Who is she?"

	Tofu shrugged. "Who can say? Some think she's a Kitsune 
herself. Others say she created them. Either way, fear her. I do 
not know what that blade would do to her, but I wouldn't rely 
on it."

	"All right." The information didn't reassure her. "What 
else can you tell me about them?"

	"If they give their word, they cannot break it... but they 
are cunning, and will try to twist the meaning while remaining 
true to the letter. They are playful, often in a malicious way, 
and love to exploit a person's weaknesses. They cannot bring 
themselves to harm a maker of music. And they are easily 
flattered." Tofu sighed. "If you want to see Ryouga back, you 
will have to go after him. It will be dangerous at best. You 
might not find him, and you might not return."

	Akane swallowed, remembering the grinning face and the 
jaws lunging for her throat. She didn't want to face that again. 
She wanted to go home and forget about it.

	But that would mean leaving Ryouga in whatever pit the 
Kitsune had lured him into.

	"They were after me, weren't they," she said slowly.

	"It sounds that way," Tofu said. "They somehow lured you 
and Ryouga onto the hill, and then steered him away from you 
so that you would be helpless. They just weren't expecting you 
to be able to hurt them."

	Akane closed her eyes. They would probably try again, 
then, unless she showed them that they couldn't. And next time 
it might be Kasumi or Nabiki who was taken. Or Ranma.

	She could go home and be afraid, or bring the fight to 
them.

	"How do I get there?" she asked him?

	"You will have to phase all the way into the Gloaming," 
Tofu said. "After freeing Hibiki, you must then return to the 
surface and phase back."

	She nodded. "Is it hard?"

	"No." He took a scalpel and cut away her bandages. White 
scar lines showed along her back and legs, looking long-healed.

	"I accelerated your healing," Tofu said. "I suspected you 
would wish to go after him, and you don't need injuries slowing 
you down. Speed is going to be of the essence."

	"What do I have to do?"

	"Pull up the blackness, as I taught you." She did, the 
monochrome vision coming effortlessly now. "Can you feel 
something keeping you from fully entering it?"

	She could, she realized. A skin, a film, like a soap bubble 
around her... "Yes."

	"Break it."

	Without knowing exactly how, she did.

	Inky blackness spilled in upon her, flooding her, seeming 
to stain her very flesh. Akane gagged and sank to her knees, 
vomit rising up to splatter against a dark floor. She could feel 
something seeping through her, like water slowly soaking a 
towel...

	"It's always hard, the first time," something said. Weakly 
raising her head, she saw the thing that Tofu appeared as in 
this world, a giant figure of featureless ebony.

	"I don't feel... very good," she rasped.

	"It will pass. Your ki is not native to this plane, and will 
need several minutes to adjust."

	Akane nodded, letting her head slump back down. After a 
time, the feeling seemed to subside.

	No, she realized, not subside. Just... became less 
offensive.

	Slowly she got to her feet, taking the sword from its 
position on a jet-black bed. "What now?"

	"When you are ready to leave, close your eyes. Force color 
back into your mind; slowly paint the area. Then, when that is 
done, restore the barrier. " The dark titan seemed to pause. 
"But do not do so in, for example, a place corresponding to 
somewhere beneath the earth. You would end up buried alive."

	Akane nodded. "Where do I go from here?"

	A black finger pointed towards a doorway. "Follow that 
hallway to the end, and you will be at the border of the land of 
the Nogitsune Kitsune. I do not know where they would have 
taken Hibiki."

	She nodded. "I'll come back as soon as I can. If I don't..." 
she paused, and shook her head. "If I don't, tell Ranma that I 
want him to be happy."

	"Be careful, Akane."

	"I will be."

	"And good luck. I suspect you will need it."

	Akane chuckled slightly, and walked off through the 
doorway. The blackness faded her, dimmed her, and finally 
swallowed her from view. For a time her footsteps echoed in 
the chamber, and then there was nothing.

	"the Lady has gone too far."

	"She always does. This is a risk."

	"i do not like her, ono. she is not like us. i do not know 
how she thinks, and i do not like kitsune."

	"There are a lot of things you do not like."

	"true, true that is. the girl is in for an uphill struggle. 
even with the game rigged in her favor..."

	"She has a hard road to walk. But not alone."

	"no, not alone. no-one should have to go to hell by 
themselves."

	Tofu chuckled. "Cologne has taken Anjin as her pupil."

	"as her pawn."

	"As her pawn, then."

	"does she know that the pawn is already taken?"

	"I don't know."

	"any more strings and she will resemble a marionette."

	"They all do," Tofu said, amused. "They all do."

***

	Tetsuko stared into the water of the pond.

	Tai Park had become her favorite spot to be. The docks of 
Tokyo were dirty and crowded, more machine than ocean. The 
little pond, with its toy dock, was more suited to her needs.

	The water rippled softly, and she continued to study it 
with an inner fascination.

	She had used to go out to the sea to escape, in a rowboat 
or up on a long tidal outcropping. It was quiet there. Just the 
gulls and the waves. She could read her books in peace.

	It was peaceful there. No harsh voices, no fists or boots. 
No knives. Just the sea and a world of her own, one so much 
better than the real one.

	Damn Akane.

	Let it be over, so she could return. She hated this place.

	The old woman was nice, and so was Shan Pu. Hard but 
nice. That was how it should be. They wanted something, but 
that was the way of everyone in the world. It was a decent 
place to be, and decent enough people to be with, if she had to 
be with people at all.

	Let it end...

	The water rippled, and she felt her arms tense.

	"Hello, my Fisher."

	"Fair Lady," she replied.

	"You are far from your waters."

	"I follow th'catch."

	"It has left, and is now in my domain."

	Tetsuko scowled. "Is that th'way of it, then."

	"You are displeased?"

	"You know th'answer, Fair Lady."

	"You are hard to satisfy, my Fisher."

	"Bain't much I ask," Tetsuko whispered. "Bain't much 
atall. Let me be."

	"You wished to be..."

	"I know, Fair Lady." She stood. "What is she, then?"

	"Who can say?"

	Tetsuko smiled dourly. "My hook is iron, Fair Lady. My 
knife as well. Not seen a fire, nor will they."

	"Then spread your nets as you wish, my Fisher."

	I shall," hissed Tetsuko. Standing, she gave a mock bow 
to the figure in white, and dove into the pond.

	Minutes passed, and she did not surface.

	The Fair Lady smiled, and admired her flawless beauty in 
the mirror of the lake.


 Well I left there running like a thousand
    devils were on my trail
 Leanan Sidhe let me be
 I left them clutching shadows;
    Left my curse unsaid
 Leanan Sidhe let me be
 - Boiled in Lead