Ranma stared at his opponent, one of the hardest he’d ever had to face.  Unlike so many that Ranma had faced off against before, there was no fathoming the mysteries of this new foe.  Like a monolith, the other waited there, taunting the martial artist with its presence and refusing to budge, refusing to go away – even dojo-yaburi, the dreaded “dojo breakers”, weren’t as fear-inducing as this adversary was. 

The martial artist took a deep breath and focused, ignoring his nervousness and the rivulets of sweat that poured down the front of his face.  He wasn’t going to show fear.  He was Saotome Ranma, a famous martial artist and one of the world’s best, if not the best.  Why should he let something as small as fear bother him?  It wasn’t as though his new opposition was as anything as terrifying as, say, a cat.  He was more confident than that.  He had to be in his line of business, for if the sensei of the dojo showed weakness, how could he exude the power of martial strength?

At once, he rushed in, deciding that if his opponent would show no mercy, neither then would he.  His arms twisting in familiar patterns, Ranma rushed in with his right, grabbing his foe by the neck and lifting said adversary off the perch.  With his left hand, Ranma began to jab his finger, Bakusai Tenketsu style, against his opposition, repeatedly, over and over again.

With that merciless attack, Ranma’s opponent fell into submission.  The phone dialed the number entered, the familiar buzz of NTT’s tones filling Ranma’s ears.

I shouldn’t be doing this, he told himself.  I should not be doing this.  This isn’t fair to Akane.  Yet it felt so right, so natural.  He felt ashamed of himself.  He felt giddy.  He didn’t know what to feel.  Part of him wanted to go ask Nabiki for advice, but as much as she was his sister by marriage and feeling, she was Akane’s by blood.  How could he explain it?  Would he be hurting them if he….  There was a world of difference between moving on with life after the death of a spouse and…what he was doing.  But he’d been happy last night, talking to her.  There wasn’t anything wrong with things that made you happy, right?  Hey, even Kasumi and Nabiki told him that.  But, he could be potentially hurting his family, those he loved most….

He should hang up, right now.  This minute.  Put a stop to this before he made a mistake that could cost him the respect and maybe love of his sisters and parents, an—

[[Hello, Shidou residence.  Hikaru speaking.]]  There.  That voice.  That sweet siren’s voice, the one that called to him and grabbed his heart and didn’t let go.  He’d only known her for a scant few hours, but no one had ever made him feel like that in what seemed like a million infinities.  A person that in the first second he met her, seemed to be the mirror of his soul, but somehow, in the hours after that, seemed like the perfect match for it, instead.

Shidou Hikaru.

And that was part of the shame.  He was a married man, dammit – he shouldn’t be fooling around like this!  Okay, technically, as a widower, he was allowed to.  Then again, there were a lot of things that were technically right and wrong by every other measure.  This was one of those, it had to be.  What about his vow to Akane?  Didn’t that stand for anything?  She had been gone for two years now, was he as bad as his friends had said back then – a philandering adulterer who was dropping his loyalty to his wife now that she was no longer amongst the living?  No, this is wrong, wrong!  I need to hang up, right now.  Now, Saotome!

[[Hello, is anyone there?]] the voice on the other end asked, and whatever iota of resolve he had melted away at the sound of that dulcet voice.

“Um…hi, Hikaru?”  His voice came out squeaky and shaky, as normal and twisted as the day he finally admitted his love for Akane; the irony of the situation, fortunately, did not settle in his mind.  Taking a second to focus, finding what shambles of his inner peace there were and continuing on as only he could, he started.  “Hi, um, Hikaru?  This is um, Saotome Ranma and I—”  

He heard some commotion on the other side, followed by a [[Sorry.  I, uh, slipped.  But it’s, um, nice of you to call me.  That is, ah, how are you today?]]

“I’m um, fine.  Thanks for, ah, asking.  Well, uh, the reason I called is um, well, I….”

[[Sure!  I’d love to go out with you!]]  Apparently more in control of herself than he was of himself, she’d figured out what it was he wanted to say.  [[In fact, since it’s a day off, how about we spend the day together?  That is, if, ah, you don’t have any plans for today….]]

“I, uh…sure!  I’m totally free!”  As though something clicked into his brain without his being aware of it, he had his normal personality back.  “Um, I’ll meet you in an hour, okay?”

[[Great!  I’ll meet you at the Shinagawa JR, Yamanote platform, okay?]]

“Sounds wonderful.  It’s a date, then.  Gotta drop off my kid with my sister now; I don’t think she’ll mind.  Ja mata!”  A part of him felt horrid for hanging up on her so suddenly, but another part of him didn’t want to blow this moment, this—

Oh Kamisama, what have I done?  Reality hit him like a ton of bricks.  He had just set up a date, the first date for him in ages.  He was now obligated to go through with it.  Not that he didn’t want to, mind you, it was that: how was he going to explain all of this to Nabiki?

“Sounds wonderful.  It’s a date, then.  Gotta drop off my kid with my sister now; I don’t think she’ll mind.  Ja mata!”  Coming out of the bathroom, Nabiki heard those words.  Coming from Ranma’s mouth, no less.  Ranma on a date?  After yesterday’s events, she wasn’t sure that she heard him right.  Yet he had come home pretty late last night, whistling a tune and far happier than anyone had seen him in months.  So maybe, just maybe, he was going on a date.

So then, who was it with?  He had to explain that he was leaving Akama with his sister, so that ruled out Ukyo as she would have loved to have Ranma bring the baby along; Ukyo was also ruled out because Ranma would never see her as anything more than his coincidentally female best friend.  So it would have to be someone else, but who?  Nabiki ran several names through her head, and only one fit the bill.  However, while Ranma’s kenpo student Yoshiko had eyes for him badly and she was a wonderful girl, she was still in her mid-teens and too young for him.  So it had to be someone else.  But who? 

Well, only one way to find out.  Rounding the corner, she smiled knowingly as he set down the phone.  Giving him a hug, she said, “I’m happy for you, Ranma.  It’s about time, if you ask me.”

Ranma jumped with the shakiness of someone having heard meowing behind him.  “Na-na-na-Nabiki!  Um, hi!  What, um, what’re you doing here?”

Nabiki let go of him and smiled.  “Well, it’s my day off and I figured that since you don’t have any classes scheduled for today, we could take Akama to the zoo at Ueno Park.  But since I heard that you have a date, I’ll be more than happy to take Akama alone or with Ukyo or something like that.”

“Wh-wha-what makes you think I have a date?”  Though Nabiki’s gaze was even, inwardly, she was smiling.  Ranma, after all these years, had still never learned to be a convincing liar, so she let him continue.  “Oh.  Th-the phone.  I, um, it was a figure of speech, sis.  I, ah, talked to Hikaru…um, Gosunkugi Hikaru called and he, uh, he asked if I could help him out with something.  Just for old times’ sake, y’know.”

Nabiki, again, grinned eagerly.  Hikaru.  So that’s her name.  One of the interesting things about the Japanese culture was that it tended to have more gender-neutral names than most other languages.  In any case, last time she heard, Gosunkugi was in Europe, working on a doctorate in archeology or something like that.  But she again let it drop, as she formulated a plan in her head.  “Oh, that’s nice of you.  Well, maybe we can go somewhere else tomorrow.  And don’t worry about Akama.  He and I have a date of our own with the zoo animals.”

“Thanks, sis, I appreciate it.”  He leaned over, giving her a peck on the cheek.  “Now, I gotta get ready to go, and I’m sure you’ve got some stuff of your own to take care of.”  With that, he headed for his bedroom, trying to look calm, yet filled with a nervous energy at the same time.  Nabiki knew Ranma well enough to know when he was making one of his usual disastrous attempts to hide something, like now, for example.

That’s okay; I’ll let him have his little game at the moment.  Just for the moment, though.  The minute he was out of earshot, Nabiki picked up the phone and dialed Kasumi.  “Hiya, sis.  I was wondering if you could do me a favor and watch our dear nephew today.  Ranma’s up to something, and I’m going to find out what it is.”  She then explained about Ranma’s date, and his hesitancy to tell her.  Once Kasumi understood and agreed, the woman grinned to herself.  This was going to be an interesting day; that was for sure. 

The question remained: why was he so eager to hide this new girl he met?  Was it because he was afraid that finding another meant forgetting about Akane?  Fat chance of that, considering he loved his deceased wife more than life itself.  Was he afraid that his family – her and Kasumi, especially – and friends wouldn’t be happy with the fact that he was finally moving on?  Again, he had nothing to fear from that – hell, she was planning to fix her little brother up with a few of the single girls she knew from where she worked.  Although she was touched that he kept a flame eternal for her departed sister, she still wanted him to live his life and be happy.  Besides, this was probably just the first, maybe the second, date – it wasn’t like he was going to marry this Hikaru girl.

As Ranma dashed past her, she had just enough time to count to five to let him get out of immediate earshot.  That done, she locked up the house and leapt to the roofs on her own, determined to follow him to his destination.

Shidou Hikaru sat on the floor for a few more minutes, not able to move, not able to think.  It had been, quite honestly, the first time that she’d ever experienced such a feeling.  The old statement meant that when you felt something about someone, you went weak in the knees and fell for them; hence the term “floored”.  Both Eagle and Lantis had floored her in that way.  But never before had she ever been floored in such a literal manner.  Never before had she literally found herself on the ground, heart racing, body weakened from emotion and mind glazed over the thought of someone to the point where all other body functions had taken a back seat.

Ranma.  Ranma, Ranma, Ranma, Ranma, Ranma.  The name repeated in her mind over and over again, like a song on a CD player set to repeat over and over again.  But it was a song she liked, a catchy tune that hooked right into the brain and didn’t let go.  Without realizing it, there was nearly an impossible large smile on her face, the kind that figuratively threatened to split one’s head in half, that rare kind of smile that hinted at a grand happiness that was so beautiful because it was so rare.

“Hi-chan?  You okay?”  Hikaru looked up and saw her sister-in-law Chidara, staring right at her with concern.  Shidou Chidara, having recently married the redhead’s older brother Masaru, happened to be staying with Hikaru and her oldest brother Satoru while Masaru was out on a business trip – apparently Chidara hated to be at home alone. 

Hikaru looked up at Chidara, and the presence of the other girl was just enough to break Hikaru out of her reverie.  The two girls did not get along well; Hikaru not only hated the fact that the girl was entirely too sweet and cuddly for anyone to stomach, but also the fact that only Chidara called her “Hi-chan,” a nickname she despised; Chidara merely thought that Hikaru was too wound up and needed to relax a bit.

Fortunately, Hikaru was in a good enough mood that not even Chidara could break it.  “I’m fine, Chidara.  Just fine.”  Picking herself off the floor, she said, “Everything’s wonderful, everything’s great.  Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get ready for a date.”  Practically dancing to her bedroom, Hikaru neither noticed or cared about the stupefied look that Chidara was giving her.  Waltzing into her room, she shut the door to get ready.

Chidara looked at the phone, then back at the door to Hikaru’s room, then back at the phone again.  Hikaru was acting, well, she was acting as though….  Could it be?  Chidara thought about it for a second; she’d heard from Hikaru’s friend Kuu about how Hikaru’s breakup with her last boyfriend had been.  The young woman knew the look of attraction on the face of her sister-in-law, as it was the same look of any girl who had been touched by the greatest of emotions.  Apparently she had it bad, as well; Hikaru was usually such a serious and dour girl and for her to be, well, bouncy like that meant that this guy had a serious effect on the redhead, one that was enough to make her change her ways.  Chidara gave a small smile.  Maybe if Hikaru finally found someone, she wouldn’t be so crabby.

Stepping out of the JR station, a young man walked down the streets of Kawasaki, a small suburb wedged in-between the cities of Yokohama and Tokyo.  To him, the walk allowed him clarity and definition, as though the mere stride cleansed the soul as one would read the Hagakure.  He was of average size and slender build, with hair the color of sea green and eyes the color of the blue sea, all complementing a classically melancholy bishonen face.  He wore a simple aviator’s-style leather jacket, jeans and a gray sweatshirt, looking more like a gaijin than a citizen of the nation he was in.  Lastly, strapped to his back, as though it were a lethal weapon, was his own iconic instrument, what appeared to be a stringed guitar-like musical tool.  After walking a few more meters away from the JR station, he stopped on the boardwalk and faced the expanse of Tokyo Bay, taking in the scent of the ocean and the vista of the clear sky above.

Hard to believe he was home for the first time in years.  Hard to believe that he’d spent so long overseas that he scarcely felt that this place was once his whole world; the changes in his life had made that moot.  To tell the truth, only the outward appearance he had, the facial and structural feature that proclaimed him as Japanese gave any indication that he was once from this place.  In all other respects, he was no longer of his home country.  Fancy that – he, like a wandering martial artist, although you wouldn’t catch him dead wearing a gi. 

And now he was here, ready to see her, after all these years.  Admittedly, it had been a while since he’d talked to Hikaru, but he was sure she’d remember him.  After all, much of what he did was for her.  So much of his excellence, his moving onwards, was due to her, his muse, though he’d never told that to her.  The fact was, he’d kept his love for her silent for so long, but that was okay, since she obviously was just as silent in her reciprocation.  Her family was an old and venerable one, dating back from the samurai era; it would not do for them to live like the modern people did.

He remembered when they were children, and their parents had arranged the engagement.  They had been children back then, five-year-old scamps who barely understood the concept of what husband and wife meant.  But at the time they played well together, an indication that they were perfect for one another.  Through the successive years, they were well-matched together, and if there was any indication, they would wed on their eighteenth birthday.

But the incident at the Tokyo Tower changed all that.  It was an incident in that suddenly she had two new best friends out of nowhere, girls she had never met before yet acted as though she’d known them forever.  More importantly, she’d begun to distance herself from him, as though the light of her love for him had been extinguished by something…or someone – she never told him.  Additionally, she’d switched courses, pretty much abandoning her gymnastics and switching to her family’s kendo skills full time. 

It took him weeks to figure it out, but the answer was staring him right in the face, a puzzle to be deciphered – and decrypt it he did, almost too late.  She changed skills because it was her way of telling him that childhood was over, it was time to stop being boy and girl and time to be man and woman – husband and wife.  And her silence was clearly telling him that she was not finding him worthy; that he needed to straighten up and mature, or else she, as much as she loved him, would ask their parents to annul the betrothal.  Oh, she didn’t say it in so many words, but she was very subtle – that was what he liked about her.  To the average person, it would look like two old friends drifting apart.  But he knew her – and her heart – better than that.  That wasn’t the Hikaru he knew.

So he left, taking courses and studying overseas, pushing himself throughout the years to make himself worthy of her again.  They kept in touch, and every so often he would get a letter from her that would signal her approval – a heart here, a skillfully phrased sentence there – and it pushed him to the point where he was the best of the best.  And it was all because of her.  To think, he could have lost her, and he never would have known until it was too late – thank the kami he woke up in time.

Soon he would be reunited with his beloved Shidou Hikaru again, and soon she would finally profess the love for her one true soulmate, her ideal and lifepartner:

Teriagaru Biwa.

By the time she arrived at the JR Shinagawa train station, Nabiki was so anxious to learn who her little brother was meeting, she was sorely tempted to go right up to him and baldly ask.  However, she refrained from doing so, instead deciding to shadow him by crawling through the rafters of the station’s ceiling.  A part of her found it ironic; it wasn’t that long ago that she would have laughed at the idea of actually doing this.  Figuring that Ranma’s infectious attitude of “everything is training” was settling on her, she merely continued to watch as he cut through the crowds, heading from the Nerima-Tachikawa line to the central Yamanote track.

Yamanote?  Nabiki considered that thought.  The central loop around the city, the line cut through most of the city’s urban areas, and a couple of the upscale suburbs.  That meant that this Hikaru girl could possibly be from a monied family, or she was an upscale OL who enjoyed the hustle and bustle of city life.  Then again, many lines crossed the path of the Yamanote, which meant she could be from anywhere, like the run-down Ebisu ward or one of the outlying country areas, like Tachikawa or Odawara.  The fact was, she could be from anywhere, and somehow that bothered the brunette. 

Ranma, in his lonely state, could be fooled by anyone, taken advantage of in the worst way.  Or perhaps Cologne, figuring that she couldn’t wed Shampoo to him (especially since she was now dead), was going to offer up a disguised Lin-lin or Ran-ran.  Maybe it was one of her wandering “sisters”, though Natsumi and Kurumi considered Ranma as much family as her and thus wouldn’t touch him.  Perhaps it was a new player on the scene, or even someone they hadn’t heard from in ages, like Daikoku Kaori.

Or, she thought with a shudder, it could be that freak Fuitamu Keiei.  If it was her, then Nabiki would have to be extra careful to ensure that Ranma was protected.  She wouldn’t put it past Keiei to use drugs on her little brother if it meant getting him in her arms, and as sadistic and warped as that wretch of a girl was, Nabiki wouldn’t put anything past Keiei, genocide included.  Nabiki flexed her fist instinctively, her hands glowing with the faint orange aura of her ki.  Well, if it’s her, then she’ll be a bit more surprised to come across me.  I might not be able to beat her yet, but I’m going to give as good as I’ll take! 

Leaping down to the floor and hoping that he didn’t notice (in this part of Tokyo, unlike Nerima, people did tend to notice weird goings-on), she carefully shadowed him, hoping that she was wrong and this “Hikaru” girl would turn out to be nothing more than some cutie with stars in her eyes and a good personality.

Hikaru stepped off the Yamanote train, completely and utterly nervous.  She honestly never thought she’d be doing this again after her disastrous end of a relationship with Lantis.  Likely, Ranma was thinking the same thing, she admitted to herself; she’d only been betrayed by her boyfriend and her best friend, but he’d seen his wife murdered.  From what she could tell, Ranma loved his wife still, and the fear of betraying…what was her name?  Ayane, or something like that…probably weighed heavily on him.  Compared to that, Hikaru’s problem was minimal. 

There was also the fact that what Kuu called “the walking wounded” didn’t make for the best of dates; she’d just gotten off a relationship where she dated a guy who’d lost his wife the year before to illness, and the results of that was that he could never let her go and commit himself to Kuu.  Was that what was in the cards for Ranma?  Would it be Hikaru that would be walking away after a few weeks, because the ghost of Ranma’s wife was too powerful for him to continue his life?  She didn’t have the answer to that, as she was a goddess and not a fortuneteller. 

But nonetheless, that didn’t stop her from showing up, and hopefully it would work in reverse.  As the crowds rushed past in the chaotic dance of bodies that accompanied the transit of people through the Japan Rail system, Hikaru looked left and right to see if he would be there.  Would he be there?  What if he didn’t show up?  He didn’t seem the type that would blow her off like that when they went out last night, and Hikaru usually had a very good instinct about people, but that didn’t mean she was perpetually right.  He could get cold feet at the last second.  Or something could happen to him.  Or he might meet someone better along the way.  Or….

Hikaru nervously turned around, bumping into someone.  “Excuse me,” she murmured automatically, while already turning to move around the guy to see if Ranma would show up.  Instead of a muttered “pardon me”, Hikaru heard a “There you are.”  Hikaru looked up, and immediately was lost in the purest blue eyes she had ever seen.  A part of her wanted to get lost in those eyes forever.  Another part of her was consumed with an inexplicably sudden need to kiss the lips of the person whom the eyes belonged to.  Instead, she settled for a demure smile, looking up to those eyes and that gorgeous face.

“Um, hi,” Ranma said, looking down at her – was that actually a blush on his cheeks? – giving her a smile that seemed both forced and yet natural at the same time.  Was he as nervous as her?  This was Ranma she was talking about, a guy who’d gone through some strange but no less problematic situations as she.  Then again, she was as jittery as anything, so he could be as well.  Wasn’t she just thinking about that a minute ago?

“So, um…..”  A few seconds passed while Hikaru’s brain feverishly red-lined to complete the sentence, “are you, ah, ready to go?”  Nervously hooking her arm out, she hoped he would take it.  She also hoped, partially, that he would just take her and kiss her.  Another part of her felt guilty about that.  The final part of her told her to shut up and just enjoy the moment, already!  She looked at him, trying not to stare: he looked so incredibly handsome: wearing a Chinese tang like he had yesterday, this one of a deep blue shade and white pants to match.  He moved with grace as he took her arm, and as though synchronicity was predetermined, the pair silently moved up the steps to head over to the Ishikawacho line.

Ranma looked around, nervous.  Something felt wrong.  Not about Hikaru; just being near her, much less her taking his arm, sent a thousand jolts of electric thrill up his spine.  Was that normal, was that right?  He wasn’t sure and he didn’t know.  In any case, there was something else that was setting him off, something that felt as though he was being watched.  Unfortunately, in this overcrowded press of a train station, with thousands of people going about their normal business, it was almost impossible to pinpoint a particular aura, although for a slight second, he swore that he could have sensed Nabiki’s.  Ranma chuckled to himself; the chance of that was minimal, although his sister could by chance be in the train station, headed for a different locale with his son.

“Something funny?”  Ranma looked down and peered straight into the eyes of Shidou Hikaru, eyes that just seemed to grab ahold of him and keep him fast in an unbreakable grasp…a grasp that a good part of him was sure he didn’t want to leave. 

A part of him wanted to kiss the person who owned the eyes.  Another part of him flinched, waiting for Akane’s infamous mallet-sama bash, and when it didn’t come, the tsunami of pain and anguish threatened to crash on the shore of his soul.  But he looked into those twin pools of sienna looking at him and they seemed to burn away the threat of melancholia, sure as the sun’s warmth banished the deep cold to other climes. 

Ranma smiled.  There was something about this girl, though what that something was, he didn’t know.  Taking a vague cue from his sister’s book, the pigtailed martial artist merely answered, “Not really, but rather something fun – the time we’re going to spend together.”  She smiled and blushed slightly, and suddenly it occurred to Ranma that what he said wasn’t exactly what he’d meant, but that he wouldn’t retract it for the world.

From her hiding place, Nabiki did a doubletake, checking.  Then checking again.  Something was wrong here, and it suddenly sent chills down her spine.  She had come to see exactly who the possible new flame of her brother’s life was and she feared that she would see him in a position that could lead him to a path of incredible danger.  What she actually saw was much, much worse – and if she didn’t move soon, there’d be no way to stop it.

It had been forever since she’d seen that person, but she remembered in a heartbeat who it was.  Apparently the magic had lasted longer than Happosai (damn that bastard; she hoped he was long since dead and forgotten) had probably intended, and taken a life of its own.  But where was its own mate?  Or had it somehow lost its partner, finding Ranma again and catching him in such a strong spell he had no idea what was going on?

Nabiki wasn’t going to allow that.  The demon in Ranma-chan form had once nearly cost him his life, and that of the rest of the family; it had been sheer luck that they’d found a way around the spell.  But the spell’s power still held sway and had snared him in once again; the results this time would be much, much worse if she didn’t do something about that…and there was no way in hell she’d sit still.

Racing for the train as fast as she could, the brunette’s eyes narrowed as she dashed at full possible speed, her mind already slipping into a battle thought that would have been impossible not too long ago.  I don’t know where you came from this time, but I’m not going to let you live long enough to find out!

Biwa sat down at a park bench, trying to gather his thoughts.  How would he phrase what he had to say to Hikaru?  It would have to be perfect, something that would prove that he’d matured and become the man that she so desperately wanted him to be.  He had to prove himself worthy of being linked to the Shidou family, and it was even more so important, in light of her parents’ death.  His own parents had told him of their misfortune a few years back and how the eldest brother, Satoru, was holding the family together.  From what he remembered of Satoru, he was a nice but no-nonsense person, the type of soul that would see his sister dumped off at an isolated Zen nunnery in the mountains of Hokkaido than be wed to the imperfect person.

As he sat, he picked up his one pride and joy, the other thing that his life had revolved around: a musical instrument that was his namesake, the Mandolin.  Granted, this was a European mandolin, and not the traditional Japanese biwa mandolin, but his family had always been of two natures.  He’d spent most of his life working the martial angle, but it was only due to Hikaru’s course correction that he was able to see that he’d neglected his other half, the musical part of his duties to his legacy.

It was fortunate for him that he’d chosen an instrument that wasn’t one of the more popular instruments nowadays.  He would have clearly been outclassed if he’d learned the violin, flute or guitar.  But as the mandolin was a rare and wondrous instrument of music, it allowed him to be one of the world’s best by default.  He only hoped that it was good enough and that it wouldn’t count against him in the final tally of Hikaru’s heart.

But now was going to be one of the hardest things he ever did: how would he run into her and tell her that he was ready for their life together?  He’d already been in town a couple of hours now and he wasn’t really sure how he was going to bring it up to her.  His parents told him that they had not kept up with the Shidous on the arrangement; that meant to him it was the responsibility of he and Hikaru to do so, and since she’d already made her choices, it would be up to him to meet her the rest of the way.  But how was he going to do that?  The answer, to say the least, was the puzzle of a lifetime.

Then it dawned on him: his old friend, Eiko.  They were friends as long as he’d been with Hikaru, and to be honest, if it wasn’t for his undying love for the redhead, perhaps he would have ended up with the other girl.  She was a sweet soul, and it was her inspiration that had led him to the mandolin; like his, her family was of musical inclination.  To him, she was part best friend, part sister, part confidante, and he was glad she felt the same way.  So no doubt she’d help him.  Picking up the phone, he called her, punching the number in that he knew so well.

[[Hello, Kawasaki Aqua Paradise park Science Station.  Seisui Eiko speaking.]]

“Eiko-chan, it’s me, Biwa.  Listen, I need to talk to you.”

The young man heard some commotion on the other end of the phone, followed by, [[Bi-kun!  Hey, you caught me off-guard.  But sure, I’d love to talk to you.]]  Her voice had a dreamy sound to it; Biwa always thought it nice that she was forever going out of her way to help him now and then.  [[This is about Hikaru, I take it?]]

“Yup.  I finally feel I’ve proven myself and can take her hand, just as we were promised.”

[[Oh.]]  The brief note sounded sad, as though someone else had taken over the line.  But her chipperness was back in a flash.  [[Okay, I’ll call Guest Services and let them know you’re coming.  We can have lunch at that new restaurant they just built over by the Rocket Ride.  Meet you at about 11:30?]]

“Sure, it’s a date,” he commented nonchalantly.  “See you then.”

[[Baibai, Bi-kun,]] she said in her sweetest tones as she hung up.

Slipping the cel phone back in his jacket pocket, he got up and headed towards the nearest train station.  His lunch appointment with his old friend would be happening fairly soon, and he had to make sure that he had everything set.  With a little helping hand from her, tonight would be the night that he would go to the Shidou home and finally complete the circle with his beloved Hikaru, to prepare for the rest of their lives.

As the pair stepped off the Seaside JR station at Hakkeijima station, the whole expanse of the park opened up before them.  On the left was the “wet side,” with the dolphin shows, the aquariums and the various displays and science stations and research facilities.  On the right was the “dry side”, with the rollercoasters, rocket rides, merry-go-rounds, arcades, and restaurants.  Dotting the whole of the park were the families, couples and others just planning to enjoy their day at the park.

Hikaru’s eyes lit up as though she were staring at the pinnacle of human engineering.  An avid (Kuu would say rabid) aficionado of rollercoasters, she took one look at the Aqua Thruster and gained the second impossibly large smile of the day.  Without realizing it, she began to skip around again with little care in the world, as though she was once again a child and everything was perfect.  In fact, considering the situation, everything was better than perfect, in her eyes.  A few feet away from Ranma, she whirled around and looked at him, mirth in her eyes.  “So, where do you want to go first?”

Ranma looked at her, a smile already on his lips.  Her enthusiasm and sunny nature was clearly infectious, and in less than twenty-four hours he felt as though he was a different person, a bit more like his old self.  Shaking his head merrily, he quipped, “Are you always this cheerful, or is this just for my sake?”

She paused and looked at him with playful eyes as she walked back towards him.  “Let’s just say that I’m…well, for some reason, I’m really comfortable around you, like I’ve known you for years, or like we’ll be spending a lot of time together in the future—”  Hikaru caught her slip and covered her mouth demurely, as a blush began to show on her cheeks.

For his part, Ranma turned slightly, feeling a flush on his own.  She…wants to spend more time together?  But we’ve only known each other for a day, and….  Part of his mind wandered back to a day six years ago when a similar looking redhead got a sort of similar answer from an uncute girl the same age, and that had blossomed into the love of his life.  Perhaps life was repeating itself, he thought, and for that was rewarded with the blush growing more on his face.  He shut his eyes from the embarrassment, and when he opened them again, he found Hikaru, staring straight into them, the warm depths of her eyes pulling them in…

…and found themselves, faces only a mere span of centimeters from each other.  Sienna eyes gazed into blue, and vice versa, and a whole age’s worth of seconds passed before the pair moved back out of intimate distance, the spell of attraction broken long enough for them to shuffle uneasily.  Like the last time, Hikaru recovered quicker and asked, “So, um, where would you like to go first?”

Ranma inwardly sighed a breath of relief, glad for the out.  “Ah, whatever you’d like to do.  I’m with you.”

She smiled at that, offering her arm.  “Do you, uh, mind if we ride the rollercoaster first?”

He took it easily.  “Why not?  Let’s go.”  As both walked off, both were glad that the tense moment had passed.  There was something magnetic in the instance that had just passed, and there was something significant about it that both had felt, though they weren’t sure of what it was.  As the pair walked towards the park entry, both were now convinced that today was not only going to be special, but unless something went wrong, it would be the first of maybe many dates.

But that wasn’t the only thing running through the minds of Saotome Ranma and Shidou Hikaru.  As one, though unaware of it, both idly wondered: What would have happened if I’d leaned forward a little more?

Nabiki gave the pair just a few more seconds’ trailing space before she continued.  She was seething, her mind wandering somewhere between being worried sick and pissed as hell.  It was clear that the creature had wrapped a spell clear around Ranma, and he was so taken by her, he had no idea what she looked like.  Could he be seeing Akane in that delusion?  How did the thing become that devious – it was clearly worse than it had been last time.  A million things were flooding her mind right now, and she had to stop for just a second and try to figure out what she could actually do about the problem at hand.

She mentally ticked off her choices, each of them unpleasant.  Fact – she was facing a demon that had assumed a version of Ranma’s female form; there was no indicator of what her talents would be.  Fact – there was no idea if it could be killed.  Fact – she had no idea how far gone her brother was; could the thing control him enough to attack her…and would he be far enough gone to do it?  Fact – training these past two years or not, giving it all she had or not, she was still not the best at the concept of martial arts.  Granted, in the end she’d proven to be better at it than Akane had ever been – patience had been a virtue, after all – but she was a ways off from being able to fight, say, Ukyo or Ryoga to a standstill, much less someone like Keiei or Ranma.

Still, the options of failure were even more unpleasant, and everything led up to the basic fact that either Nabiki had to do something about that creature, or risk losing Ranma forever.  And that was something she was not prepared to do.  One way or the other, she was going to have to find a way to free Ranma and stop the demon, perhaps both at once.  It was dangerous.  It was stupid.  But it was Ranma’s only hope.

Her mind made up, Tendo Nabiki dashed forward as the pair headed towards the rollercoaster.  Perhaps with enough time, she could figure out how to solve this one.  If not….

Lunch between Biwa and Eiko was pleasant, as always.  The two caught up on old times, chatting back and forth between subjects effortlessly, and in some cases finishing the other’s sentence.  To the casual observer, it would appear that they were an item, as they were so perfectly matched, you could practically see the red strands of fate between them.  Yet there was something unsaid, something hainging in the air between them, Biwa noticed; it was clearly visible on the girl’s face.

“You look so sad, Eiko,” Biwa gave his old friend a smile.  Before she could respond any further, he added, “I’ve known you forever.  You may think you can hide it, but I know better.  Maybe after we’re done with my problem, we can talk about yours.”

“My problems are…not important, Bi-kun,” she said, hoping he wouldn’t dwell on them.  If he dug too deep, then….  “So, um, tell me: you mentioned something about Hikaru?”

He nodded enthusiastically.  “I’ve spent the past five years of my life wandering the globe, learning both music and the arts, to satisfy the legacy of both sides of my family.  Now that I have, and now that she and I are of age, it’s time that we settled down and wed, the sooner the better.”  His voice carried certainty and euphoria, the clarity of mind that a person has when the right choice has been made.

Eiko paused for a second, unsure of how to say something.  “Look, um, Bi-kun, there’s a couple of things I have to tell you.  Have you talked to Hikaru yet about your plans?”

“Of course.  We’ve been preparing our whole lives for this, Eiko.  You know that,” he said, confidently.  His response was met with silence, and when that happened, he asked, “Is something wrong?”

“I don’t think she loves you,” Eiko said, leaning out on a limb verbally.  “Think about it, Bi-kun.  Has she ever told you she did?  I know you two were engaged as children, but that’s a childhood thing and so few families do that nowadays.  Besides, she’s not even your type!”

The look on Biwa’s face was shocked.  “Wha-what….”  Something in his eyes radiated an unearthly pain, as though Eiko’s words cut far worse than any knife had.  Finally, he composed himself, steepling his hands on the table…then began to laugh.  “Oh, you had me there for a second, Eiko, you really did,” he said with a smile.  “I should have expected you’d play a trick on me like that, but I didn’t think that you would go that far!”

“I-it…it’s not a trick!” she said, pointedly.  “I’m serious, Biwa!  Has Hikaru ever once said she loved you, that she wanted to marry you?  She doesn’t love you more than just being a friend!”

“Eiko, you can cut the jokes now – I already know you’re kidding.  After all, if my dearest betrothed was being unfaithful, wouldn’t she be in the arms of another right now?  I know my beloved Hikaru well, and you’ve known her for quite some time as well.  I mean, she would never do something like that to me, the man who’s been her intended since we were children.”

Eiko was about to add something to that, when there was a sudden squeal from behind her, and another girl grabbed her attention.  “Eiko, Eiko, he’s here!” the girl said in excited, thrilled tones.  “My dreamboat has finally arrived!”

“Huh?”  Both people looked up from their lunch to find one of Eiko’s fellow researchers, an excitable girl named Shizuka bouncing around with a mad glee.  Apparently one of those naturally perky types, the girl was practically vibrating with joy, making her long white hair whip around her like some strobing halo.

“He’s here, Eiko!  The man of my dreams is here!”  From seemingly out of nowhere, Shizuka produced a worn magazine and began cuddling it as though it were a warped voodoo doll.

Eiko rolled her eyes, brushing her soft orange hair out of her eyes, to look at her friend albeit with a kinder glance.  “Shizuka, why are you telling me this?  If you really want to meet him, go over and talk to him!”  Turning back to Biwa, Eiko added, “Sorry, but you’ll have to forgive Shizuka here.  She has a crush over an athlete.”

“He’s not just an athlete,” Shizuka said, brandishing a well-worn copy of Spa! magazine.  “He’s only the greatest martial artist that ever lived!  I’d just looooooooove to meet him.”  She clasped her hands together and stared into the distance, her eyes glazed with the dreaminess of someone with a bad crush.  “If I met him, I’d tell him that I was so in love with him and that I’d like to date him.  But would that be forward of me?  But I think I read that he’s single – but does that mean he’s not dating?”  The girl pouted, an attempt at looking sorrowful that instead ended up looking rather cute.  “Oh, what will I do?  Would he even notice me?”

“Sorry, miss,” Biwa said, shrugging, “but you have me at a loss as to who you’re talking about, though I’m sure that any guy would be happy to know you.”

Shizuka barely heard him, instead going about on her tirade.  “If he doesn’t notice me, Eiko, I’ll just die, I swear I will.  But what if he does notice me?  Does that mean I’ll have to learn martial arts to keep him?  Will he want to date a non-fighter like me?  Would I look good enough for a guy like him?  Oh, what to do, what to do….”

Biwa found the whole situation amusing, and a good part of him could easily imagine his dearly beloved worried about how he would finally come into her life once again and for good, to claim her as his own.  Part of her worries intrigued him, and in the center of his mind a core idea formed.  Perhaps, if he could help Shizuka get her man, he could use that idea to find the ideal way to let his own love know that he’d returned and that it was time to reach the apex of their lives together.  Waving at Shizuka to get her attention, he asked, “I don’t mean to pry, but I think I might be able to help you a bit, if you’d like.”

“You would?” Shizuka’s eyes took on a starry look, finding if only for a moment a new hero to worship. “That’s so kind of you!”

Biwa smiled gently.  “At the very least I can do for someone who shows so much loyalty of love.  So who is this guy that you find so magnetically appealing to you?”

Shizuka swooned all over again.  Holding out the magazine to Biwa with the flourish of entrusting her greatest treasure, she cooed, “It’s him.  I saw him at the ticket sales windows just a few seconds ago, but it looked as though he was headed for the rides.”

Biwa, however, was looking through the magazine, noting the large amount of photos of one individual in this particular issue.  “This guy?”  He pointed to the image on the cover.

Shizuka nodded, swooning at the sight of her intended, albeit via magazine photography.  “If you did, I’d be forever in your debt.”

Biwa grinned again.  “In that case, It’d be my honor to help you.”  Looking at the image on the cover of the magazine, he spoke to it, “I suppose you’d best be ready to be prepared to meet your ladylove, because it looks like she’s been ready for you for the longest time, Saotome Ranma.”

AAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH! Nabiki screamed inwardly.  I can’t believe I lost them!  Me!  She had turned away just for a second, and suddenly they were gone!  The worst part of it was that they were in the pavilion, the largest and most open part of the park, and she hadn’t seen where they went!  Damn me for even waving hi to an old friend; it’s going to cost me!  She’d run into an old friend who she hadn’t seen since high school and stopped to chat for a few seconds, counting on that the spirit wouldn’t be able to get far.  That had been a costly miscalculation that Nabiki had made, a rare fatal error that Ranma might pay for.  Dammit, move, Nabiki, move!

Inwardly, her aggression was masking a growing, gnawing fear in her stomach: what if she was too late?  What if the creature had noticed her, and intending to keep Ranma for her own, had spirited him away?  The old ghost stories of demons spiriting away lovers, never to be seen on the mortal plane again sank heavily into her mind; there was no telling how much truth to those legends there was – and she wasn’t as naïve as she was younger, when she would have dismissed them as old stories.  She knew much better now.

Heart racing with fear, she tore around the park as fast as she could, hoping for a sign of signs.  Then, with luck, she found one: the main aquarium building – there they were, on the top of the structure and heading towards the…shark tanks!  Shit!  She was going to have to find a way into the building and fast, or else Ranma would be in lethal danger, maybe even more than he could handle.

Hold on, little brother, she screamed, practically broadcasting her thoughts towards him, your big sister’s on the rescue.

Ranma sneezed unexpectedly.  At his side, Hikaru asked, “You’re not catching a cold, are you?”

Ranma shook his head in the negative.  “Naah, it just came and went.”  He shrugged.  “Maybe it was just someone talking about me, I guess.”

“Maybe another fan?” the redhead said, sweetly, as she pointed to a fan that had walked off with Ranma’s hand stamp and autograph.

He shrugged.  “I’m not that famous – certainly not some movie star or anything.  And besides, any fame I got is clearly my sister’s fault, since it was her idea to publicize all my tournaments and put the dojo on the map.  I can’t say it was a bad idea since we got the home out of mortgage, but sometimes I wish I hadn’t agreed to Nabiki’s idea that it would spread word about the dojo.  I think it did just that…a little too well.”  He shrugged again with a sheepish grin, and she laughed gently, her warm smile making him feel that much better.

The pair were currently headed towards the tropical aquarium display, since the rollercoaster had unfortunately broken down while they were in line, and there was no indicated time when it’d be repaired again.  At first, Hikaru had been slightly depressed about it, but as she spent a few more minutes with Ranma, that micro-depression had boiled away into nothing.

As the pair moved into the room holding the underwater petting zoo, Hikaru paused for a minute to see and pet the baby dolphins, darling little things that had moved to one part of the tank to play with humans.  “Oh, Ranma, aren’t they adorable?” she laughed.  “I remember once when I was on Cephiro and we went to the beach.  I went scuba diving with Mokona—”

“Mokona scuba dived?” he asked, remembering the tale of the mystical bunny she’d been talking about the night before and trying to picture a rabbit doing the Jacques Cousteau motions under the sea.

“Well, sorta; he just went in with me and….”  The redhead for a moment nearly said Umi, but refrained, the pain in her heart too strong for her to bear.  Although the Water Knight’s betrayal had stung deeply, fortunately not everything aquatic reminded Hikaru of her former friend, so she was able to continue with only the slightest pause in thought.  “…some friends.  Anyway, the interesting thing was that we actually got the chance to talk to them.”

“Talk to them?  I know they’re supposed to be really smart animals an’ all, but talk to them?”  He paused, then remembered.   “Oh.  You musta used that, um, ‘Pillar power’ of yours, didn’t you?”

“No, actually, this happened the first time I went to Cephiro, and I wasn’t the Pillar then.  Anyway, I did get a chance to talk to them, and found out they’re just some of the smartest and most playful things around, and really friendly, too.  Isn’t that right?” she commented to the podling, as it nodded happily as if understanding.  Hikaru laughed, and even Ranma smiled at her contentment.  She looked into the cetacean’s eyes and then turned to Ranma and said, “I think he likes you.  Care to pet him?”

“Um, I, ah, I’ll have to pass on that, Hikaru,” Ranma gulped, nervous about the amount of water around him.  All it would take would be a spray of water, and the date might take on new proportions…along with Ranma.

“Oh c’mon,” Hikaru teased playfully, “he won’t bite, really.”

“Um, it’s uh, not the dolphin, really,” he stammered, “it’s um, where he li—”

Unfortunately for the martial artist, a group of kids on the other side of the petting zoo, laughingly playing with normally harmless sea slugs happened to pick up a rather moody one, sitting away from the others.  The slug, none too happy about being removed from its placid, comforting briny tank, responded with an attack they only way it knew how: a spray of water from within it tore forth like a laser, from the creature’s mouth.  The children had already seen one other person sprayed by a slug just before they got to play, so with the natural agility and ease that children moved, they easily dodged the proverbial bullet.

Ranma, not expecting it, was caught right in the path of the stream, and Hikaru was treated to something that she’d only seen one other time, but still made her wince.  In the blink of an eye, she saw Ranma change from man to woman, the curse enveloping him like a virus set on time-delay video.  His body shrank, curves and muscles exchanged places, colors and sounds transmogrified and passed from one end of the spectrum to another, and before Hikaru realized it, she was staring at a near mirror image of herself.

Hikaru’s eyes grew wide, and that was all that Ranma needed to know.  “Kuso….” she muttered, not knowing whether she should laugh or not.  Once again, the cosmic forces that retained his curse were very much at work, and though it had been the first time in days that he’d been accidentally changed, that was of scant comfort.  Still dripping, the martial artist sighed and moaned, “Why me?”

Hikaru saw the depression and disgust in her eyes and wondered for just a second how much he’d “adjusted to it” as he said last night.  It was very clear that to her it was very painful for him.  Unbidden, instinctively, and not really sure why the hell she did it, she reached over to touch Ranma’s face, and asked, “Does it really hurt that much?”

At first, Ranma was shocked at the forwardness of her move.  Then, trepidation set in over how to react.  A thousand jolts of electricity were coursing through her body, making the now-redhead dizzy for just a moment.  Ranma gained enough control over herself to respond with a simple answer.  “No,” Ranma said, her voice soft.  “It doesn’t hurt, not really, anyway.  If anything, well, you know that feeling you get when your foot falls asleep? – that’s the way my whole body feels for the second it takes to change gender.”

“Then why the pain in your eyes?  It shouldn’t be there,” she said, feeling genuine sorrow for her date’s situation.  In many ways, her own godhood was a curse, especially on this side of the dimensional curtain, where her powers were mostly curtailed – watching something that shouldn’t be, something she could fix and not having the ability to really do something about it broke her heart of hearts to no end.  And unlike her “problem”, Ranma’s was an outright curse, the bad/tragic/etc. type that scarred a person in one way or another, a Scarlet Letter of the utmost kind.  Suddenly Hikaru was seized with an urge to march him straight over to Cephiro and take away his curse, take away his pain.  Another part of her wanted to take him and hold him and tell him she wouldn’t let the pain overcome him, and she would be there for him.  And most of all, she wondered why she felt that way.  She recalled an old saying she once heard: when your true mate arrives, you’ll know.  Hikaru compared her feelings for Lantis, and put them side by side.  The fact that she found herself actually comparing the two was profound, in her mind – she once thought she loved the swordsman enough that no one could compare.

Perhaps that’s changing, she thought, or perhaps I’ve changed.  But, she added, looking at the woman in front of her, that woman that had been a man just a minute ago, does that mean that I’ll be changing right along with you? 

Meanwhile, Hikaru’s words echoed deep into Ranma’s soul, pouring inside like a healing balm, concrete poured into a hole to make the object whole again.  Not sure of why she did it, Ranma instinctively reached over and took Hikaru’s hand in her own and sighed.  “No, Hikaru, it doesn’t hurt – not really.  What hurts is that…I feel like I’ve been robbed of my identity, of being me.  When I’m like this, I always have to be ‘Tendo Ranko’, and every time I’m like this, I’m reminded that I’ll never be completely, wholly myself.”  Ranma sighed again, a bit more theatrically.  “No, it doesn’t hurt and I’ve long grown used to the sensation of changing – but getting used to it doesn’t mean that I like it.”

“That’s so sad,” Hikaru replied, reluctantly removing her hand from Ranma’s face and promising herself that she would help him overcome his curse someday.  Of that she was sure, now: there would be another date, at least from her point of view.  Favoring the martial artist with her brightest smile, she said, “Let’s go get some water for you, so we can change you back – I wouldn’t want you to get too depressed on our first date.”

Ranma caught the hint, but wasn’t sure how to respond to it – she was surprised that Hikaru could stand her after seeing the change even though she’d seen it happen once already.  “Um, I’ll need hot water for the change, Hikaru.”

“No problem,” she said with a wink as she held up a single finger, a flicker of flame dancing on her fingernail like a human candle.  “I think I can provide the heat.” 

She would have said more, but the wall exploded.

Okay…that was not one of the most graceful entries I’ve ever made, Nabiki thought as she stared at the massive hole she left where a wall had once been.  Admittedly at any other point, she’d have been proud of herself – punching a hole in a wall was one thing, punching one through a wall was quite another.  All she knew was that Ranma and that…thing…were in there, and she was frustrated at not being able to find the entrance inside.  Having recalled Akane’s tale of the “grand entrance” that Shampoo had made into Nerima – the ice cream shop was eventually torn down, the structure having taken too much damage – Nabiki felt it was an apropos way to get into the building if it meant saving her brother. 

Of course, that was then.  Now, having seen what making your own entrance actually looked like, with people running left and right, water all over the place in streams from broken pipes and punctured tanks, all sorts of sea life flopping on the ground, gasping for the life-giving water that was denied them, and serious sorts of rubble, she was suddenly and all-too-harshly reminded of why anything recollective of the dead Chinese Amazon was a bad thing.  Oh well, at least she was inside now; after she dealt with the creature, then she could deal with the authorities.  She was hopeful that her fiancé would have enough money to bail her out of jail after this.

“Ranma, where are you?” she called out as she walked into the room, ready for an attack.  A couple of lights sparked, and Nabiki leapt for higher, drier ground, hoping that she didn’t cause too much damage.  Already the shark tank, with its six-inch thick Kevlar screens, was beginning to spiderweb, and she didn’t want to be around when they ruptured; she hoped no one else would be, either.  “Ranma!  Answer me!”

“Oh, hell…what just happened?”  Ranma got up, shaking off the dust, dirt and water that had poured all over him.  By some miracle, a heating pipe had been one of the ones burst, pouring a jet of water on him enough to thoroughly soak him, but change him back to normal.  He did a quick look around and noticed that the place was in significantly worse condition than it had been a second ago when he and Hikaru—

Hikaru!  Ranma looked down and found a slightly stunned Hikaru, moving slowly and shaking the cobwebs of surprise and pain from her head.  “Wha…what’s going on?” she asked, the water falling around them like a rainy scene in a romantic movie.  In the general vicinity there could be seen the strewn detritus of people that had been there, the various sealife that had been upended from the tanks, and the broken bits and remains of what had been the wall, through which light was streaming in. 

“Somebody did this,” Ranma said, instinctively.  “I can feel it.  Someone punched the wall, but why?”

“Someone…punched…the wall?” Hikaru replied with skepticism.  Granted, Ranma would know better about martial artists’ strength levels than she, but to take out the sidewall of an entire building?  That was straining credibility, in her opinion.  “Um, why would anyone punch the wall in?”

“Ranma, get out of the way!”  He knew that voice, and turned to meet it, seeing Nabiki racing full bore at him, anger in her eyes and clearly ready for battle.  “Move out of the way, dammit!”

“Nabiki!  What’re you doing here?”  It didn’t take him long to realize that she was bearing down on one of them, and chances were, it wasn’t him.  “I thought you were with Akama at the zoo!”

Nabiki skidded to a halt, gently shoving him out of the way and saying an aside of, “Shut up, little brother.  This is for your own good.”  With that, she turned to Hikaru, with a murderous look in her eyes.  “Now then, little troublemaker, you and I are going to have it done, once and for all.”

Hikaru looked at the newcomer with confusion.  “Ano…itte…what are you talking about?”

“You know damn well what I’m talking about, monster…or should I call you ‘Hikaru’?”  Nabiki brought her fist up, glowing with ki.  “We stopped you once, but apparently we didn’t do a good enough job of dealing with you.  I’m going to make sure this is wrapped up once and for all!”

“Look, I don’t know who you are, but I don’t appreciate you interrupting my date,” Hikaru said, starting to get a bit miffed at the threats and her dismissal of Ranma.  Then a thought sank into her head: Ranma had a history of other, unwanted girls that had tried to get their hands onto him when he’d been dating his wife.  Apparently that had stopped when he’d gotten married and during his period of mourning, but perhaps some of them thought that since he was able to start dating again, the hunt began anew.  “Ranma, who is this woman?”

Ranma didn’t hear her, instead focusing on the other woman.  “Nabiki, what’re you doing here?” he repeated, hoping this time he wouldn’t be shoved out of the way.

“Leave, please.”  Nabiki’s voice was no longer able to sort between the fear and anger she held within; though she didn’t take her eyes off Hikaru, she was ready for anything, and if that meant she had to take on her brother to get him to safety, that’s where she’d strike first.  “You’re not yourself, little brother.  Get out of here while you still can.”

“‘Little brother?’  Ranma, who is this woman?” Hikaru asked again.

Ranma ran a hand through his hair, hoping it would show enough of a pause to display that he had no idea what was going on.  Finally, he mumbled with some embarrassment, “Hikaru, this is my sister, Nabiki, who has some explaining to do.  Nabiki, this is Shidou Hikaru, my, um…ah, um….”

“Date.”  Hikaru finished for him, wondering what was going on, and looking at Nabiki.  His sister?  I thought he said he was an only child.  “Look, um, Nabiki, you may be his sister, but I’d like some explanation as to what’s going on.  I don’t appreciate the threats, and clearly you have something against me, even though this is the first time we’ve met.” 

“I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation for all of this,” Ranma said, wanting to crawl under the nearest rock.  Things had just devolved into a completely bizarre situation, and now the cat was out of the bag, and in front of Nabiki, no less!  “At least I hope there is.  Sis?”

Nabiki’s eyes were still dagger-narrow, wariness etched firmly in them.  Taking her eyes of neither of them, she pleaded once more, “Little brother, for the love of the kami, please get out of here.  I can’t protect you from her if you’re still here.”

“Protect me?”  The only one here who needed protection was Hikaru, and Ranma moved directly in-between the two women to shield Hikaru.  “Protect me from what?”

“Ranma, don’t you remember?” she pleaded.  “The monster Happosai conjured up – the one that looks like your female half!  That’s her!  I don’t know what she did with the decoy that we used to get rid of her, but it’s clearly gone now and she’s after you!  But I’m not going to let you be hurt.”  She pointed towards the “door” she made a few minutes ago.  “Go, now.  For my sake.  Please.”

“What’re you tal…oh, I remember.  That spirit Ranma-chan.  Sis, that thing disappeared a long, long time ago.  Hikaru isn’t that thing, trust me.  She’s someone entirely different, and it’s only a coincidence that she looks like my girl-half.  But I’m not going to let you hurt her, or let you get hurt.”  Ranma slipped his arm around Hikaru for emphasis.  “This is me, talking, sis.  Trust me.  I know I’m not the most brainy of people around, but I’m not going to let myself get into a situation where I can’t get out of or someone can’t help.”  He took her hand in his other one, looking her straight in the eye.  “Let’s go somewhere and talk about this.  We gotta get going, anyway – I think someone’s out to get us,” he added, craning his neck temporarily in the direction of the remains of the wall.

“You mean the hole?” Nabiki asked, to which both nodded.  Feeling sheepish about it, she stammered, “Well, I, uh….”

She never got to finish the sentence.

Biwa’s world crashed down in a matter of seconds, even as he caught the shocked and fainting Shizuka in his arms.  This Ranma that the girl was so taken over, was clearly not the samurai in gilded armor that Shizuka had thought him to be.  After all, the cad was here with two girls…and one of them was Biwa’s very own Hikaru!  His wife to be!  What madness was this?  What trickery and treachery had occurred here? 

“Hikaru,” he spoke, his voice breaking just as his heart was.  He felt as though he’d seen the grand emphasis of his failure.  He hadn’t done right by her in time, and now she was allying herself as a concubine for this Saotome Ranma, who was already with another girl – that brunette was clearly the seductress type if he’d ever seen one.  “Hikaru, why?” he spoke, the center of his mind deciding that sanity was not a good thing despite the years of half-trying and it was time to go into retirement.

“Biwa?  Teriagaru Biwa!”  Hikaru blinked, making sure that it was him.  When she recognized him, she cheered up considerably.  “Oh, hi!  Haven’t seen you in a while, Biwa-kun,” she said to the newcomers.  “So what brings you here?  And ‘Why’, what?  Oh, you mean being here, right?  Well, I’m on a date.  I see you brought your own, as well.  Good for you – I always hoped you’d find the right girl for you.”  She looked around the damaged building.  “Although, I don’t know if it’s a good idea to stay here.  Can we go somewhere else and talk about this?”

“But…Hikaru…I thought…but we’re engaged!” he cried.

Ranma and Nabiki looked at each other, then back at Hikaru, then back at each other.  “You mean she’s a real person?” Nabiki moaned, now feeling completely and utterly humiliated.  Not only had she made a scene (both literally and figuratively), she’d ruined Ranma’s date with a new girl, his first in two years.  “I think I’m going to be sick,” she mumbled as she buried her face in her hands.

Ranma jolted at the words “but we’re engaged!” and looked at Hikaru in a new light.  He knew that he had dozens of problems of that kind that ran the gamut from Akane, Nabiki and Ukyo to psychos like Shampoo, Kodachi, and Keiei, but he couldn’t imagine her being in the same problem.  He believed her when she told him last night she wasn’t dating anyone; could somehow this Biwa guy be wrong or mistaken?

Hikaru rolled her eyes for a moment in thought, as if trying to read crib notes etched on her eyelashes.  A second later, it hit her.  “Oh, that thing when we were kids?  You didn’t take that seriously, did you?  Your parents decided long ago that it wasn’t a good idea after my parents were killed in that accident – they didn’t think the added stress on my oldest brother, Satoru, while he was raising the rest of us would be a good thing – he was barely out of his teens when it happened, and already stuck with too many responsibilities.  Besides, Biwa-kun, I could never marry you…you’re like family to me.”

An inhuman scream came from Biwa as he sank to his knees, the final barricades of his sanity falling to the oppressing armies of madness.  Within his mind, the mantra of hell played over and over again: Biwa-kun, I could never marry you… Biwa-kun, I could never marry you… Biwa-kun, I could never marry you… Biwa-kun, I could never marry you… Biwa-kun, I could never marry you….  Like a tortured animal he began to pound the ground, the salt water cascading over his hands as the room began to flood.  The sparks increased the danger all around, and by now any sane person would have left the room, but Biwa no longer cared about that.

“Biwa-kun?”  Hikaru moved out of Ranma’s grasp and closer to her old friend.  She realized that the engagement that she’d never been brought up to think was serious might have been something that was different from his point of view.  She could feel the eyes of every living thing on her at the moment, from the sharks in the tank to the steely gaze of Nabiki; from the confused look in Ranma’s eyes, to the narrow glare that Eiko was giving the redhead.  Even the fainted girl had recovered enough to look at Ranma with a gaze of unrequited love and momentarily at Hikaru with jealousy.  The Pillar of Cephiro felt like a specimen under glass and she didn’t like it one bit.  But neither did she like seeing an old friend like Biwa hurt.  She did love him, but not in the way that he wanted.  “Biwa….”

“Get away from me, you tainted—”  He was unable to complete his insult to her, instead choosing to bite down on it due to his love for her.  “You’ve been taken away from me, you’ve been pulled from me…and it’s all your fault!”  Biwa stood up, pushing Hikaru away firmly but not roughly.  “You did this to my Hikaru!” the young man said, jabbing an accusing finger at Ranma.  “You corrupted my bride!”

Ranma leaned back, wondering how this tangent came about.  “Hey, look,” he responded, shrugging, “I just met her yesterday.  It looks like you have a thing for her, but she doesn’t have one for you.  Look, man, I know what that’s like – believe me, I’ve seen it too many times.  Let’s go have a talk somewhere and we can straighten this out.”

The look in Biwa’s eyes was dangerous as a malicious glee settled in them.  “Oh, we’ll talk alright, Saotome Ranma – we’ll talk on your grave!”  He jutted his arms out, standing in a Y-posture, and an arc of energy appeared between them.  It happened so quickly, no one had time to gauge the strength of the ki being brought to bear.  “Die!”  To everyone’s surprise, the young man launched a wave of force straight at Ranma, the energy potent enough to warp the air.

Ranma instantly dropped into combat mode.  He didn’t want a fight, but this guy had taken it to him and ruined his date in the process.  Old friend of Hikaru’s or no, he was going to have to expla—

The blast of energy hit Ranma full force, stronger than he’d been hit in a long time.  Long since removed from dealing with anyone of the likes of Kirin or Saffron, he was used enough to sparring with Ryoga, but this was more overpowering than he’d felt in quite some time.  Completely surprised as the air sizzled around him and the ground crackled and sparked before exploding into dust and debris, he idly wondered if this meant that his date with Hikaru went, as classic for him, straight down Disaster Road.

This was confirmed a second later as the energy became too much for him to block and he was carried along its path, several meters down, through another wall and right into the path of several innocent people who began to scatter for safety.

“Ranma!” the redhead screamed, completely shocked as the blast of…energy?  Magic?...hit Ranma, a blast of power strong enough to envelop him and bury him in cascading waves of force to the point he was a blur not unlike an image seen behind a waterfall.  Except that this torrent came from an unexpected source and it was strong enough to kill a person.

Nabiki turned, ready to attack.  She had not expected this, although by the looks of things, neither had anyone else.  “Hey asshole, that was my little brother!”  Without even thinking twice or for that matter realizing that the blast had been strong enough to knock Ranma – Ranma! – off his feet, she slid into a combat stance, ready to attack at any second.  “Ikimasho!” she screamed, warning her target that she was ready for war.

With a cool look in his eyes, Biwa turned to face Nabiki.  In his right hand, he held a ball of energy that strobed prismatically, reminiscent of a rainbow bound and chained with a fury like hell leashed.  As he looked at her, he whispered, “Oh, and so you’re his partner in crime, then?”

Hikaru had no idea of what was going on, but based on the blast of power that Biwa had hit Ranma with, she was by no means sure that it was good.  She’d have to talk him down, take him somewhere out of the way and try to get him to calm down while she magically probed him for the source of that blast.  Additionally, if this was Ranma’s sister, she might be as good as he said he was, but she might not be ready for the blast.  Then there was the worrying about Ranma: was he okay?  Did he survive the blast?  She’d only known him for a day now, but her heart was wrapped with an icy fear, as though she’d just seen the disappearance of someone critical to her life…or perhaps someday to be.

With that in mind, she made her choice and stepped in front of Nabiki, shielding her from the blast.  “Biwa, what’s gotten into you?  Stop, please – we can talk about this before it gets out of hand.”

The look in his eyes was dangerously unhinged now.  “Hikaru, please get out of the way.  Can’t you see I’m doing this for you?”

She shook her head.  “No, no you’re not.  I’d never accept and condone hurting others who have nothing to do with what’s going on.”  She paused for a second, then said with as much sorrow as she could muster, “and I could never love anyone who would lash out and cause pain so easily.”

What does this girl think she’s doing? Nabiki thought as she stood behind Hikaru.  She’s just a normal person – I can’t sense an artist’s aura from her!  That made Nabiki wince a little more inwardly.  Here she was, a martial artist, and not only had she used that ability to ruin the very date that she’d always hoped Ranma would have again, but now she was being protected by someone who had absolutely no martial skill whatsoever.  The shame hit her and hit her hard.  “Um, I….” she stammered.

“Nevermind that,” Hikaru answered, never taking her eyes off Biwa, but changing her tones to something softer, more vulnerable.  “Are you really Ranma’s sister?”

“Yeah, though he’s probably regretting that,” the brunette replied.

“Could Ranma survive a hit like he took?  It seemed a bit…strong.”  There was a note of worry in her voice, Nabiki noted, and not the worry of someone worried about another human being, but the sound of….  Nabiki winced yet again.  They hadn’t known each other for a long time, she wagered, but it was clear that there was some connection and attraction between Ranma and Hikaru – and Nabiki, just like most other women in the life of Saotome Ranma, had nearly destroyed it. 

“Yes.  He can easily shake the blast off, and I’ve seen him deal with worse,” she answered confidently.  “He was probably caught off-guard by it, and that’s the only reason he didn’t counter.”  She willed a bit more steel into her assertion and continued with, “Trust me.  He’ll be fine.”

“I guess I’m going to have to change that, then.”  Both women looked at Biwa, as his body began to glow with more of that strange power.  “If the only way I can have you, Hikaru, is to remove this obstacle, then remove it I will!”  With a look in his eyes that bordered on the insane, Biwa jumped into the air – and vanished in a flash of light, no trace whatsoever.

Hikaru gasped, the reaction covering what chilled her mind at that moment.  No wonder I couldn’t sense anything earlier!  The power that Biwa was grasping was not coming from him, but rather he was drawing it from the air around him, strip-mining the world of its natural energies and somehow channeling it to himself.

“We’ve gotta go after them!” Nabiki shouted.  “Any idea where they went?”

Hikaru ignored the martial artist, instead, going to the side of the two women that Biwa had been with.  One of them she knew from her school days, even if only vaguely.  Facing Eiko, she asked, “What happened?”

“You don’t know, do you.”  It was not a question.  “You’ve never loved him, have you.  How could you?  You were only his friend, only a person that he deified and made his personal goddess.”  To her credit, Hikaru didn’t flinch at the deitic references.  “All you wanted from him was friendship.  All he wanted from you was your love and hand in marriage.”

“Instead of you,” Hikaru answered, seeing the truth in Eiko’s eyes as they began to water.  “You’ve loved him all along, haven’t you?” she asked as she placed what she hoped was a comforting hand on the other woman’s shoulder.

Eiko nodded and wiped a sliver of a tear from her eye.  “I would have given anything to have him look at me like he does at you, Hikaru.  I would have done anything to switch places with you and be the one he wanted at the end of the day.”  Eiko looked down at her unconscious friend, and said, “So would Shizuka.  She loves your Ranma, you know.  She always has.”

My Ranma?  The words sounded odd to her ears at first, but as she ran them around her mind a couple of times, she decided they had a very nice ring to them.  My Ranma.  Not knowing what to say, the redhead merely nodded in understanding.

“Look ladies,” Nabiki interrupted, her voice beginning to carry her trademark edge of annoyance, “I hate to be rude and such, but my brother is in the middle of a battle that seems to be all your faults, intentionally or not.  Now, I’m sure you two can sort out who belongs to who and who’s going to go home with who at the end of the day, but that’s not going to happen unless we do something about it and do it now.”

“By now they’ve got to be on the far side of the park,” Eiko answered, instantly understanding what Nabiki meant and what that entailed.  “Let’s get Shizuka to safety, and then I can fill you two in on Biwa’s skills while we go find them.  I’ll need to tell you if they’re both going to survive.”  Turning to Hikaru, she asked, “How much do you remember about Biwa’s family?”

“Not much,” Hikaru admitted.  “I never thought of him as anything more than a childhood friend, and I certainly didn’t know he was a martial artist.”

“He’s not,” Eiko answered in a tone that implied that Hikaru should have known.  “Tell me, do either of you know what a Shinreidenshindo is?”

In the remains of what had been the bumper cars, Ranma stood up, shaking his head and trying to get a sense of what happened.  First, Nabiki had crashed his date – and with a punch to the wall that would have made him proud had the situation not been so dire – and accused Hikaru of being some magical spell he was under.  Then as they were getting that straightened out, Hikaru’s – betrothed?  boyfriend? – showed up and was spurned by her; something about that oddly enough warmed Ranma’s heart. 

But as was the norm in his life, Ranma paid for that with everything as usual being pinned on him.  The guy apparently slipped a gear that even Kuno wouldn’t have, and decided that – surprise, surprise – Ranma was his mortal enemy and it was high time to do something about it.  That sort of thing, Ranma was used to.  But when a rather wimpy, bishonen guy like that raised his hands and blasted something that was on par with something he expected from Saffron or his strongest rivals?  That was not something that Saotome Ranma was used to.  For that matter, neither was being hit strong enough to send him on a little trip to the middle of Ground Zero, arranged by the formerly-wimpy Biwa.

Well, he clearly wants a fight, Ranma mused, rolling up his sleeves and getting ready to go to work.  If that’s what he wants, that’s what he gets.

“My, my, my,” a voice said from slightly above Ranma.  Dropping into a defensive position, Ranma looked up and saw Biwa floating in mid-air above him, spheres of power in his hands that were clearly not ki or anything that the kempo grand master was familiar with.  “You’re more resilient than I thought you’d be.  That should make putting you in your grave that much more enjoyable.”

Ranma refrained from rolling his eyes, but as was the norm, let his mouth take the lead.  “Yeah, yeah, as if I hadn’t heard that a dozen times before from people better than you.”  Pointing a finger in the direction of his attacker, Ranma continued with, “Listen up: I don’t know what you’re trying to prove, but Hikaru’s not impressed by the kind of person that would—”

“SHUT UP!” Biwa screamed at the top of his lungs.  “HOW THE HELL WOULD A PERSON LIKE YOU KNOW WHAT HIKARU WANTS?!?!  ONLY I KNOW – ME, WHO HAS LOVED HER SINCE OUR TIMES BEGAN, AND IT’S ONLY ME THAT SHALL HAVE HER!”  Meaning to punctuate his point, he brought his hands together, forming a ball of that odd crackling rainbow energy.

“She’s not a prize to be won in some contest,” Ranma snarled, taking umbrage at Biwa’s claim over his girlfriend.  Ranma’s mind stopped for just a second.  My girlfriend?  Where did that thought come from?

“You’re not worthy of her!” Biwa countered.  “I have slaved my whole life to be with my Hikaru.  Every waking minute of my life, since we were betrothed, has been spent proving myself to be worthy of her.  And now you think I’m just going to let you waltz in and take away from me the person that I’ve cared so much for?  You are out of your mind!”

For some reason, Ranma’s mind slipped back to the day when he’d thought Akane first died, back at Jusenkyo.  How he held her unconscious form and cried that he could never tell her how much he loved her, that the world was a dark and cruel place for taking away the person he loved more than life itself.  At the time, he thought that would be the worst that he would suffer.  It would take him less than a decade later to find out what true pain was.

But regardless if Ranma empathized with Biwa’s pain, treating someone like property was an entirely different matter.  He’d seen Kuno do it to Akane – and Ranma himself – for the longest time.  Also, in his male form, his entire bevy of fiancées had done that to him.  No matter how strong the bonds between Hikaru and Biwa were (and if Hikaru was here with Ranma, they couldn’t be that strong), treating someone as an object was not something he was going to stand for.  “Well, however you feel about her, I’m not going to let you treat her like some prize, pal.  If you think I’m going to stand for that, you’re seriously crazy!”

The pause did him no good.  Biwa grinned with a maniacal glee as he released the blast of energy, crying, “Oh, you’re so wrong, Saotome, and let me show you how!”  The sphere momentarily turned into a supercharged bolt of lighting before it jagged its way towards Ranma, powerful enough to destroy air molecules in its wake.  When it hit, it was likely to hurt even more than the first one.  The blast sank into the ground, then shattered everything within five square meters of the bitepoint.

“Nice try, but not good enough!” Ranma shouted from where he’d leapt to safety.  “I tried to solve this peacefully, but I guess you don’t want to.  Let’s do this, then!”  Ranma dashed in, ready to end this as quick and painlessly as possible.  While he’d tried to end it peacefully, Biwa didn’t seem to be the type to listen to reason, a type Ranma was all-too familiar with.  His only other recourse was to take him out, and that would take being careful – he was an old friend of Hikaru’s.

Biwa grinned.  “You’re so stupid – charging into my path like that.  Let’s see how you deal with this!”  Ribbons of violet energy whipped away from his hands, slicing apart everything in their path.  The attack seemed like something out of an anime, except that when the ribbons connected with something, it split into two more laser-sharp tendrils.  By the time it had come within reach of Ranma, it was as though he were being assaulted with a rainstorm of spears.  Biwa screamed in delight.  “After I kill you, Saotome, I’ll have the hand of my bride!”

Ranma was unfazed as he rushed to meet the attack.  “Yeah right.  Tell me something I’ll believe,” as he dived into the center of the snarling, writhing fatal mass.

“Shinreidenshindo?” Hikaru asked as the three women raced towards the part of the park where the fighting was going on – obviously, due to the amount of people that were fleeing that part of the park.  “But that’s an old myth, like the Bell of Mugen or the Black Katana.”  Although she had to admit that such a thing could be true – after all, she was the goddess of another universe, not to mention that she’d seen the Black Blade uncomfortably up close.

“Don’t be too sure of that,” Nabiki responded, inwardly wincing herself at the reference to the sword of Fuitamu Keiei.  “I’ve seen enough weird stuff in my life.”  Almost all of it in the past decade or so, she added silently.  If she found a way to ensure that she could make it up to Ranma, she’d find a way, not to mention how much of a lecture she was probably going to get from Kasumi should the older woman get wind of what happened.  “But I have to admit, I don’t know much about that old tale.  Care to enlighten me?”

Stopping to gasp for breath and wonder how the hell the other two women had managed to be so fit, Eiko looked at both Hikaru and the other girl, stunned that they weren’t even winded.  Of course, running in heels, a skirt and her labcoat didn’t help matters any, and the others were in far more casual clothing, but even still she kept herself up well, or so she thought.  Finally stopping to lean against the broken remains of a tree and catch her breath, she gasped. “I take it…then that…you don’t know…much about…the Shinreidenshindo?”

The other two stopped on a dime.  Nabiki noted that Hikaru, like herself, wasn’t winded; that was impressive, as she thought the redhead to be a wallflower.  Maybe Ranma chose better this time – even though the fact that Hikaru looked like a twin of his female form irked the brunette a bit.  “Nothing really, other than a few references to the feudal era and that a good deal of them were the personal bodyguards of the emperors and the shoguns.”

“They were more than that,” Eiko said less hurriedly, her breath returning.  “They were a band of warrior monks and they were the feudal period’s weapon of mass destruction.  They were taught to manipulate ki like martial artists, but in more quantities.  A single Shinreidenshindo, if strong enough, could blow the top off of Fujiyama if he or she wanted to.  Additionally, they had one weapon with them that they used for their focus, and with that weapon, they became capable of one particular special attack that no one else could do. 

“Unfortunately, during the Meiji era, when the emperor reconsolidated control of the land, the Shinreidenshindo joined the samurai rebellion, save for one family, the strongest of them all – the Teriagaru clan.  The Teriagarus fought the rest of their kind in a battle in a small town called Minohida, near Sekigahara in the Gifu prefecture.” 

“But there’s no town called Minohida,” Nabiki noted.

“Of course not – it was wiped off the face of the map in the ensuing battle, and maybe 15,000 innocent people in the area died from the amount of energy being thrown around as though it was nothing more than festival décor.”  Eiko fixed the other two women with penetrating eyes, then continued.  “The Teriagarus barely survived.  The majority of the Shinreidenshindo didn’t, their numbers decimated far too much to continue.

“After the battle, the attendants of the emperor feared the Teriagarus – they had won the battle, and were at that point quite possibly the most powerful force in the nation.  But to prove their loyalty to the throne, when the remaining rebel Shinreidenshindo were imprisoned or executed and the samurai class disbanded, the Teriagarus also gave up their titles of Shinreidenshindo.  But they did receive a reward: a grateful emperor gave them wealth and a sizable amount of land near Aomori, which they used to parlay into their family fortune and still own today.

“Nevertheless, as both of you are aware, old familial habits are hard to break.  Hikaru, I’ll bet that the Shidous have still been passing down their sword arts, even though the need for them disappeared ages ago; the same I’ll bet goes for your friend here and her karate talents.  The same, of course, goes for Bi-kun’s family.  He has been trained since childhood in the arts of the Shinreidenshindo, and to be honest, he’s probably one of the better ones of his generation, even as the familial skills are on the downslide.

“You have to remember, that he is a Shinreishindo, and they don’t call them the ‘Spirit Harmonics’ for nothing.  He can focus on anything within nature, divine its power and source, and copy or take it for his own.  He can call up gouts of force based on the mighty flows of rivers.  He can use the rage of a volcano to cast a blast of scorching, scalding energy.  By tapping into the energy of earthquakes, he can cause forced disruptions of everything around him in a ki field.  He may not look it, but he is very strong, and when you make an enemy of him, as your boyfriend did, that bodes ill for the world.”

“Eiko,” Hikaru asked, “I know this isn’t easy, but what does this all mean?  What are we talking about here in terms of a threat?”

“Hikaru, Bi-kun would never, ever threaten you.  He loves you too much.”

“Well, that’s all nice and dandy,” Nabiki answered, standing with arms folded and a withering glare, “but that doesn’t exactly apply to my little brother.  In fact, I’ll bet that it works just the opposite for Ranma.  So spill it: what the hell are we dealing with?”

Eiko ran her hands through her hair, sighing a weary sigh, the sound of a person that has had far too much to deal with in one day, yet still had to carry on.  Looking at Nabiki she shook her head and answered with a somber, “I don’t know.”

“BULLSHIT!  You know that much about him, I’ll bet you know everything.”  The martial artist’s bravado was gone from Nabiki’s voice and she slipped into her truly dangerous tones, the ones that let people know that she meant business.  To her, the tone of a fighter was merely lighter and to be taken less seriously than that of her business voice.  “If you don’t tell me what you know now,” she seethed, her eyes narrowing and hands bunching into fists, “I’m going to be forced to make sure you regret that decision.”

Hikaru moved to break up the argument that ensued, but stopped short.  There was a lethal, predatory look in Nabiki’s eyes, but there was also something that said that she wouldn’t let things get out of hand, that she was a professional and knew what she was doing.  Additionally, by the sounds of barely-contained rage in Nabiki’s voice, it was very clear to her that Ranma’s older sister loved him a great deal and like her own family, would do anything to protect their loved ones.  To the redhead, that was another sign that her unmentioned decision to date Ranma a second time was a good choice.  So she just stood there, letting the situation take care of itself.

It did in a heartbeat.  Eiko, though cranky, attitude-laden and moody after the day’s events, took one look into the eyes of Tendo Nabiki and decided right then and there that she should probably take up something much safer than standing there – like brushing the teeth of sharks in the tank while wearing raw steaks.  But since that more comforting choice wasn’t available, she had no alternative but to meet the fighter verbally head on and hope that Nabiki wouldn’t come to blows.  “Okay, okay, there might be a way to beat him, but you’ll have to move fast and I’m not even one hundred percent sure it would work.”

“I didn’t ask for your opinion,” Nabiki said, reaching over and grabbing Eiko’s blouse.  Cocking a fist, she quietly thundered, “You have a few seconds to answer the question, or I will hurt you really bad – let’s just say you won’t be driving your car home, but we’ll make sure we get you to the local hospital in safe time.”

Eiko eeped, closing her eyes and turning her head to look at Hikaru, who stared back at her with an even glance.  Assured that this did not bode well, the researcher finally said, “Let me go and I’ll tell you.”

Biwa stood there, smiling from glee.  This had been far easier than he’d expected, and the end result of it was that Saotome Ranma was gone and that would leave Biwa’s one true love free and unmolested, where they could get on with the continuation of their life.  It was clear to him that Saotome had been either a minor issue, or had been something that Hikaru had meant differently, that she’d loved Biwa all along and that Ranma was merely an old friend who took things the wrong wa—

“Hmph.  Y’know, usually these weird attacks aren’t worth my time, but I guess in your case I’ll have to make an exception to the rule, won’t I?”  The voice came from within the energy ribbon attack just before it exploded into nothingness, motes of energy and stray strands of power flying in all direction.  When the electromist cleared, it revealed a proud Ranma, standing there, arms folded and looking none the worse for wear.  “For a minute, you almost had me,” he replied, “until I realized that your attack has one fatal flaw, just like the Bakusai Tenketsu – it can’t hurt anything alive.”  He pointed to a statue that had been decimated by the attack…and the unharmed birds that were terrified, but still there, protecting their young.  “Your strike is flashy, but nothing else.”

Biwa looked at him with confusion.  “Bu…but…but that’s one of my most powerful attacks!” he cried.  That attack had never before failed to destroy anything.  Granted, it was the first time he’d used it in actual combat, but prior to then, he’d left tons of debris and detritus in his wake, without even having to worry about the effects.

Ranma shrugged; so much for this guy, damage aside, being a serious problem.  Intentionally looking around at everything but Biwa, he asked, “Are you done with your temper tantrum yet?  It’s obvious that Hikaru wants nothing to do with you.  I tried to solve it as peacefully as possible, but you’re not giving me the choice.  And frankly, I’m tired of playing.  I’m giving you one chance to give up, or the gloves come off, buddy.”  Though Ranma did not sound as though he was going to get serious about his intent, he intended to actually take the guy down, Hikaru’s friend or no – this Biwa guy had become far too much of a problem.

Somewhere in the distance, a gas main in the park that had seen too much abuse heaped on it in the wake of the destruction exploded, a ball of flame climbing to the sky like a geyser from hell.  Not too far from it, the wreck of a children’s ride arced and sparked as the shattered electrical grid was unleashed on it.  By now most of the populace had deserted the amusement park, and the two combatants were free to let slip the canines of conflict.  

Biwa took that in mind, “Okay, you’re going to pay for your crimes, Saotome!”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that one before,” Ranma said as he dashed towards Biwa, “by better people than you.  And if they can’t stop me, what makes you think you can?”  Now comfortably in fighting position, Ranma let a simple uppercut fly towards his opponent – that went right through him?  Ranma, on instinct attacked the specter two more times before realizing something was amiss and stopped.  Coming to a halt in defensive posture, he stared at the space where Biwa, or rather his image, had been just a few seconds ago.

A low, insane laugh sounded behind the martial artist.  “And here I thought you were going to be worth the challenge.”  Ranma spun around to see Biwa standing behind him, a murderous look in his eyes.  “Did you really think I was that weak, Saotome?  I am Shinreidenshindo.  My family was personally responsible for restoring the emperor to his rightful place!”  An aura of power erupted around Biwa, strong enough to dent the ground with its force.  “My family defeated thousands of people like us – more powerful than samurai, and a world more powerful than some pointless thugs that you martial artists are!”  Raising his hands and calling the arc of energy that he’d issued before, Biwa screamed, “Hikaru is mine, and no one can change that!”

“I’ve had enough of you,” Ranma snarled.  Channeling his ki and raising his hands towards his opponent, he roared the battle cry of “Moko Takabisha!” and cut loose with a blue lance of energy.  The blast, as expected, burned its way through the air, headed on a collision course with Biwa’s chest.  But to Ranma’s surprise, Biwa merely waved his hand as the beam was about to impact.  The blast ricocheted off the other’s palm, sent off on an awkward angle to compact against and carve a section out of the park’s lone rollercoaster.

Biwa rolled his eyes.  “That was supposed to be impressive?”

But as he said that, Ranma had already moved in for the second phase of the attack.  He rushed in again, and as Biwa spoke his final word, he didn’t have much else to say as Ranma’s fist came in.  It impacted against the air as something momentarily flared into view, and Biwa was sent spinning to crash against a cotton candy stand not too far away.  The stand, already weakened from the damage in the surrounding area, gave up the ghost and came crashing down on top of the ki-caster.

Ranma wiped his hands.  Hrm.  That was just a little t—  

To the martial artist’s surprise, Biwa pulled his way free of the wreckage, barely scratched.  “Do you think you actually stood a chance to take me down by force?” the ki-caster asked as he wiped a rivulet of blood from his mouth.  “I’ll grant you this: you are strong enough to hit my personal shield and send me flying despite it.  But you’re still no match for my power.  And now, playtime is over.”

“You’re right about that!  Hiryu Shotenha, Horizontal!”  Pumping his right arm in a circle at Amaguriken speeds, he launched the Dragon Ascension attack straight at his opponent.  The dragon-shaped whirlwind of energy tunneled through the air, slamming into Biwa with enough force to send out a wave of white noise, tearing apart anything in its path.  But to Ranma’s surprise, another halo of energy enveloped Biwa and began to absorb the Hiryu Shotenha, gobbling the energy and taking it in.  As Ranma stopped, for a second it appeared that the kempo master was weaker than the musician.

“Almost a good try,” Biwa intoned, his voice now carrying a strange reverb, as though the intake of the extra energy transformed him.  “Now let me show you a little trick of my own.”  In one fast move, he reached behind him, pulled out his mandolin and swung it forward, the strings breaking from it and wraping around Ranma’s arms, legs, torso and neck in a very familiar action.  “I think I’m going to enjoy ending you slowly, Saotome,” he cooed.

Ranma’s eyes took on a dangerous cast; this was getting out of hand, and this guy clearly had no desire to surrender, but instead force Ranma to go all out, something he was still holding back despite his earlier threat.  “You know, for a…whatever you are, you’re resorting to stupid tricks.  I learned how to break out of this sort o