[ranma][fanfic] Appearances

[Richard Lawson]

This is a very different story for me. It's dark and twisted, not what
I normally do.

I'm very interested in C&C on this.

-Richard
ste...@sprynet.com

All of my fanfics can be found at:
http://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/sterman/fanfic.htm

Appearances

by Richard Lawson

Ranma stared at his hands. His fingers were twitching involuntarily. He
made fists out of them. They started shaking. This was bad. He unclenched
his fists and grabbed his thighs. That helped.

"So, Saotome Ranma, shall we begin?"

Ranma looked up and across the table. The woman across from him was smiling
sympathetically. Ranma supposed that, in her own way, she was trying to calm
him down. It wasn't working; her smile couldn't hide who she was, and what
she was doing in the small room with Ranma.

Ranma fought to control himself. He was teetering on the edge, and needed
to use all of his willpower to keep himself from exploding in a rage.

Ranma looked over at the mirror that covered one wall. He wondered who else
was listening.

"Please, Saotome-san. I know you have been over this before with the others.
I know it hurts to talk about it. But I need to hear it again, one more time,
from beginning to end. Tell me how this came to be. In your own words."

Ranma stared at the woman. He swallowed; he wasn't sure his sanity would
survive a retelling, but he knew he had no choice.

He drew a deep breath. "I suppose it began with Ukyo. Wait; Cologne was
probably first. I just thought of that. About two weeks ago...."

***

Ranma walked through the front door with Akane. He dropped his bag on the
ground and walked down the hall, ignoring Akane's sound of disgust. Who was
she to judge him, uncute tomboy that she was?

Akane called after him. "You'd better start showing some respect around
here, Ranma!"

He turned back to her in surprise. "Why?"

Akane glared at him. "It's called 'growing up'. If you think I'm going to
be your slave and clean up your messes after we get married, you're sorely
mistaken."

Ranma preferred not to think about marriage; hopefully that day was far off.
"Yeah, whatever." He turned his back on her scowl.

He went outside to enter the dojo and get in his afternoon workout. He found
Kasumi hanging the wash. He waved at her.

She smiled at him. "Ranma-kun! I need some help."

Ranma immediately changed course and walked over to Kasumi. She was the one
person he could never refuse. "Whaddya need?"

She turned to face him. "I have fallen behind on my chores today, so I don't
have time to cook dinner. Would you go over to the Nekohanten and pick up
some dinner for us? There's money on the table by the front door."

Ranma grimaced; why did it have to be the Nekohanten? That meant having to
endure Shampoo. Worse, it meant having to face Cologne. He tried to work up
the courage to refuse Kasumi, and failed utterly. "Sure," he said with as
little enthusiasm as possible.

Kasumi beamed at him. "Thank you very much, Ranma-kun." She went back to
hanging the wash, humming to herself.

Ranma couldn't help but feeling uplifted. Kasumi's good nature always made
everyone around her feel good. He was damn lucky to be living in her house.

He grabbed the money from the table and ran to the Nekohanten. Best to get
it over with quickly.

Ranma skidded to a halt in front of the restaurant and tried to slide open
the door. To his surprise, it was locked. He blinked, noticing for the first
time the "Closed" sign on the front. That was odd.

He banged on the window. "Yo, Shampoo!" The restaurant seemed dark. "Open
up! What're you up to? C'mon, I'm hungry!" He pounded some more.

He heard someone moving inside. The door was unlocked and opened to reveal
Mousse. His face was very somber.

Ranma looked at him for a few seconds. Something was very wrong. "What's
going on, Mousse? Why aren't you guys open?"

Mousse bowed his head. "Shampoo's Great-grandmother passed away last night."

Ranma's heart sank into his stomach. "Oh man." He'd never much liked the old
hag, but she had taught him a thing or two. Shampoo must be devastated.
"How's Shampoo?"

Deep pain crossed Mousse's face, and he shook his head. "Not good. We're
going to be taking Cologne back to China so that she can be buried properly.
I don't know if we'll be coming back."

Ranma reached out and gripped Mousse's arm. He felt like he owed something
to Cologne, but was unsure how to repay it. "If you need anything, man, let
me know."

"Thank you, Ranma-san." Mousse nodded, and began to close the door.

"Wait!" Mousse paused, and suddenly Ranma felt guilty. Not in time to prevent
himself from asking, "How did she die?"

Mousse looked at him blankly, and Ranma wished he could recall the words. "She
had a heart attack and passed away in her sleep. If you will excuse me." He
closed the door firmly.

Ranma sighed and berated himself. Would he ever learn to keep his mouth shut?

He turned and began to make his way back to the Tendo home, slowly coming to
realize that he would miss Cologne, Shampoo and Mousse terribly.

***

"Cologne? A Chinese national?"

Ranma nodded. "No one thought it was anything other than natural causes.
She was very old."

The woman frowned. "How unfortunate that the body is in China where we cannot
examine it." The simple comment sounded like an accusation, and Ranma had to
fight himself to keep from shouting into her face.

Ranma contented himself with glaring at the woman. After a while, she spoke
again. "So you say this Cologne was the first. Then came..." She examined
some papers in front of her. "...Kuonji Ukyo?"

Ranma slumped in his chair. "We only heard about it on the news." That
shamed Ranma; he hadn't seen much of Ukyo. She was his friend, he should have
gone to visit more often. If only he'd gone to visit that day.

If only.

***

Ukyo sat at the counter of her restaurant, staring dreamily into space.

Hope was such a fragile thing. She'd always hoped for a chance at Ranma.
She'd done her best to be everything he could want. Yet he seemed to be
pulling farther and farther away from her, and closer to Akane. Ukyo had
felt her hope slipping into despair.

Ukyo was a very determined woman, however. When it had seemed that all hope
had vanished and that Ranma was going to be lost to her forever, she had
teamed up with Shampoo and together they'd pulled Ranma back from the brink of
disaster - marriage to Akane.

Just now, she'd been given more hope. A new partnership, with a powerful ally.
Ranma would be hers.

Ukyo wiped the crumbs off the counter just as the restaurant went black.

Ukyo grimaced; power outages were so inconvenient. Still, it could be worse.
The restaurant was closed and she'd finished cleaning up for the most part.
She only had to make her way to bed; by morning the power would be back.

She heard footsteps. Ukyo stood absolutely still, trying to get her eyes
adjusted to the dark. She could just make out two shapes entering from the
kitchen.

One voice, female, whispered fiercely. "Attack!"

Another voice, male, cried out ferociously with incoherent rage. He came at
Ukyo.

Ukyo tried to leap away but fell over a chair. Something whistled in the
dark, and Ukyo felt the flesh of her left arm give way as a blade cut through
it.

She screamed and clamped her right hand over the gash, trying to stop the
blood. She scrambled across the floor. She would have died right then, but
the attacking figure was too clumsy. He tried to charge her again, but kept
crashing into chairs and tables.

Ukyo got to her feet and ran behind the counter. She was familiar enough with
the layout, and her eyesight had adjusted enough, that she found her throwing
spatulas without too much trouble. She could only use one hand, but that
should be enough. She threw three in rapid succession at the male shape, and
felt a small bit of triumph as one of them connected. There was another cry,
and the figure went down on one knee. Ukyo grabbed more of her spatulas; she
just might live through this.

She cocked her arm back to throw a spatula. If fell out of her hand. She
looked at her hand in surprise, and saw that it was shaking. She tried to
grab another spatula, but she seemed to lack the energy to lift it. She stared
stupidly at the cut in her arm, and wondered if the blade had been treated.
She turned to run away, but fell to the floor instead.

The female voice called out in an amused voice. "Nice try my dear." The
voice then barked a command. "Kill."

The male voice shouted in triumph, and it seemed to Ukyo as if a hundred knives
were thrust into her back one after the other. Fortunately, only the first
one or two thrusts caused any pain. Ukyo slid into blackness to the sound of
the woman's laughter.

***

"She was your fiancee, wasn't she?"

Ranma nodded glumly. "It's something her dad and my dad set up. Of course,
my dad had already had me engaged to someone else." A spurt of disgust at
the old man filled him, to be quickly washed away be the pain of Ukyo's
murder.

"You had nothing to do with the engagement."

"Nope." No matter what Pop said, it hadn't been his idea.

"Good, isn't it, that your life won't be complicated by your unwanted
engagement to Ukyo?" The woman's voice was somber; accusing without malice.

It still infuriated Ranma. He leapt to his feet, slammed his fists against the
table, and leaned to shout into the woman's face. "What're you saying! I
liked Ukyo, I really did! You ain't gonna accuse me of nothing, you hear me?"
Ranma felt something making his cheeks wet, and ignored it.

The woman looked surprise. "Who was making accusations? You seem awfully
defensive, Ranma-san."

Ranma slammed himself back into the chair, nearly breaking it. There was no
winning with these guys. Damn them all anyway.

The woman was silent for a minute, then shuffled some papers. "Then there was
the incident with your friend, Hibiki Ryoga?"

Ranma nodded. Friend. It sounded strange to hear that, but it was true.
Ryoga was his friend.

Had been his friend.

***

Ryoga settled himself in Akane's arms, sighing in contentment. These were
the best times. He looked over at Ranma, who was glaring at him. This made
it doubly satisfying. To be with Akane and at the same time annoy Ranma was
the best of all possible worlds.

Akane sighed, looking out into the yard, petting Ryoga absently. The rest of
the family was around the table. Kasumi had just set out tea and cookies,
and everyone was digging in with enthusiasm.

"Have some cookies, Akane." Kasumi's mellow voice called out from the far
side of the table.

Akane seemed to wince. "No thank you, older sister."

Ryoga looked up at Akane, and saw she apppeared to be in some sort of pain.
Ryoga snugglled deeper into her grasp, trying to comfort her. He wiggled
against her stomach.

Akane gasped and dropped Ryoga as she stood up. She held one of her hands
over her stomach and leaned against the wall.

Ranma looked at her with alarm. "What's wrong, Akane?"

"Nothing." She sounded annoyed. Akane walked slowly down the hall. "I'm
going to my room for a while. Don't bother me."

Ranma looked after her as she walked off. "That ain't true. What's up with
her?"

Nabiki looked a little concerned herself. "She's been clutching her stomach
for a couple of days. She's so stubborn, she doesn't admit it when she gets
sick."

Kasumi smiled. "She's proud, that's all. I'll look in on her in a while."

Ryoga looked around the table, seeing varying degrees of concern etched on
everyone's face. He turned and ran after Akane. He flew up the stairs and
squealed at her, but she only closed the door to her bedroom on his face.

Ryoga sat in the hall a while, nearly frantic with worry. Still, there was
nothing more he could do here. It had to be Ranma's fault somehow, of that
he was certain. Time to go pound some answers out of him.

Ryoga stopped in the bathroom for a minute, emerging to fly down the stairs
and into the dining room. "Saotome Ranma, what have you done to Akane!"

"Hello, Ryoga-kun. Would you like some cookies?" Kasumi's smile and simple
greeting surprised Ryoga and took the wind out of his sails. She had that
effect on him. On everyone.

Ranma, meanwhile, was glaring at him. "You're the one who was aggravating
her, Ryoga. Don't come crying to me." Ranma looked ready for a fight, and
Ryoga prepared to oblige him.

A cookie was thrust in front of his nose. Its scent caused his mouth to water;
Kasumi's cooking also affected most people that way. He took the cookie and bit
into it as Kasumi held out another one. "Have some more, Ryoga-kun. We have
plenty for everyone!"

Ryoga blinked at her, and took the cookie from her as he finished the first
one she had given him. "Th-thanks, Kasumi-san." Kasumi the peacemaker.
He couldn't fight Ranma with her around.

He glared at Ranma for a second, and promised himself that he'd be calling on
him soon. Ranma seemed to hear what Ryoga was thinking, and smiled wickedly;
evidently he was looking forward to the fight as well.

Just you wait Ranma, Ryoga thought to himself. It'll be different this time.

Ryoga nodded at Kasumi. "Thanks again for the cookies." He turned and left
the house. He picked up his backpack from where he kept it hidden behind
the house and wandered off, munching on his other cookie. It was delicious.
Kasumi was sure a good cook.

A shout was his only warning. Ryoga reflexively leaned to the side as someone
rushed by him, swinging a katana at his back. It only grazed his shoulder
slightly. Ryoga gritted his teeth. He'd taken much worse, this wouldn't
slow him down in the least.

He shrugged out of his backpack, grabbing his umbrella as it fell to the
ground.

The figure ahead of him turned. It was a man, dressed all in black, a hood
covering his face, very much like a ninja. He was carrying a katana, and
cried out to Ryoga in a voice that seemed to have lost all connection to
rationality.

A voice called out from somewhere behind Ryoga. "Do not hesitate. Kill."

The man in black responded. He charged Ryoga. Ryoga held his umbrella in
readiness, and met the man's charge. They exchanged a rapid series of blows.
Ryoga examined the man's technique; it seemed familiar. Rapid, enthusiastic,
but without much in the way of real skill. Where had he seen that before?

Ryoga shrugged; it didn't much matter. There was no way this man was a match
for him. Ryoga opened his umbrella, causing the man in black to jump back in
surprise. Ryoga threw it at him, and the umbrella knocked the man's sword
away. A grim smile came over Ryoga's face; hand-to-hand, there were few who
could approach Ryoga's skill. This man was not among them.

He took a step forward and stopped. That had taken a surprising amount of
effort. He took another step, and his legs started to shake. Ryoga cried
out and charged the man in black, but took two running steps, two stumbling
steps, then landed in a heap on the ground.

The man leaned down and began to rain blows on Ryoga. Ryoga hardly felt them;
if the man in black thought he was going to beat Ryoga to death with his bare
fists, he would be in for an unpleasant surprise.

Ryoga struggled against the blackness claiming him. He was lost, he was going
to be killed. This man was going to keep him from Akane, from professing
his love to her.

Ryoga began to feel depressed. Very, very depressed.

He could feel the chi building up in him, more than he had ever felt before.
The man beating him didn't seem to notice. Ryoga concentrated the chi, let
the depression fill him with energy, pulled as much as his body could hold.
More than his body could hold.

Suddenly a woman appeared in front of him. She barked something at the man
in black. Ryoga couldn't make it out; his senses were failing him. All that
mattered was the chi filling him. He poured more and more energy into it,
and could almost feel his body quivering with the force he was building.

The woman pulled on the man in black. He was lost in his rage, however, and
ignored her. Desperation written on her face, the woman took a packet out
of her robes and blew its contents into the man's face. He slumped, and the
woman, with difficulty, began to drag him away.

Ryoga wouldn't let them get away. Time to release the chi.

He couldn't do it. He wanted to shout his familiar cry. His lips wouldn't
move. He tried to lift his arms, point them at the retreating couple. Nothing.
In the meantime, the chi filled him, and his body began to shake, as the
despair he felt continued to fuel the chi, adding yet more energy. He
was in a vicious cylce; the more depressed he felt, the more chi was drawn
into him. And he couldn't release it. And it made him feel more depressed.
And it drew in more chi.

Ryoga knew how this was going to end. The knowledge made his despair complete,
and hastened the process.

Akane, I love -

***

"We didn't find much of your friend. The blast that took him apart must have
been quite impressive. We haven't been able to find any traces of explosive,
either."

Ranma grimaced; it would be hard to explain. He'd seen the aftermath of the
explosion, had felt the lingering traces of chi energy. Ryoga had evidently
tried a Shishi Hokodan, but had been unable to release it before it blew
him apart. Ranma knew something of chi attacks; drawing chi was dangerous
unless you could focus it, control it, and release it. Ryoga had somehow
lost his control.

"You were there very quickly." The woman was looking at a report. "A police
officer interviewed you at the site. You were at the scene, evidently, when
he arrived."

Ranma sighed; it was almost pointless to get angry. "It happened very near
our house. I went to see what happened."

The woman raised an eyebrow. "Do you often run around trying to rescue
people?"

Ranma felt the anger rising again despite his best efforts. "Look, I was only
trying to help. Does that make me a murderer?"

The woman shrugged almost apologetically. "Very often, those who kill think
they're only trying to help."

Ranma hung his head. That damned womman would take any words he spoke and
twist them. There was no point in trying to argue with her.

The woman spoke again. "So this man, he liked your other fiancee, didn't he?"

Ranma snapped his head up. "How did you know?"

She shrugged. "We spoke with other members of the household."

Ranma grimaced. "Yeah, he liked Akane. What do I care?" He felt a twinge
at that, and realized that he *did* care. If only this particular bit of
self-realization had come under different circumstances.

The woman seemed to notice. "You're lying to me, aren't you?"

Ranma glared at her, then relented. "Okay, so it did annoy me. But I coulda
stopped him other ways." Just revealing who P-chan really was would have been
more than sufficient. "I didn't need to kill him."

"I don't recall saying that you did kill him." The woman spoke in a soft
tone of voice, and Ranma had to close his eyes in an effort once again to
keep from shouting.

A minute passed, then two. Finally the woman spoke again. "That then brings
us to today."

"Yeah."

Another minute passed. The woman prodded him gently with her voice. "Where,
by your own admission, you did, indeed, kill a man."

Ranma's fingers began twitching again, and he grabbed his thighs. "Yeah. It,
uh, was like this. Akane still wasn't feeling too good...."

***

Ranma looked at Kasumi with concern. "Shouldn't we take her to the hospital
or something?"

Kasumi smiled gently at him. "I've spoken with Tofu-sensei on the phone.
He says it's just a stomach flu, and she should just rest for a few days and
she'll be okay."

Ranma bit his lip. Akane had looked wasted this morning, still clutching her
stomach and barely able to stand. Kasumi had sent her right back to bed,
while Ranma had gone off to school alone. He'd rushed back after school,
hoping to hear that Akane was all better. Evidently her condition hadn't
changed much.

Ranma turned away from Kasumi and walked towards the stairs. He'd just peek
in on her a second and see how she was.

"Ranma-kun." Kasumi's voice sounded sharper than usual. "Don't disturb
Akane. She needs to rest, and you'll only get into a fight with her."

That sounded harsh for Kasumi, but Ranma had to admit she had a point. He
sighed and clenched his fists. The whole world was unravelling around him.
Ukyo, Ryoga, and now Akane. At least Akane would be okay, eventually. Ranma
didn't know what he'd do if he lost her. He didn't want to find out.

"Ranma-kun." Kasumi's voice had returned to the cheerful thing it usually
was. "Akane told me that she was meeting some of her friends right after
school in the park. She's worried that they'll wait for her, and she can't
get a hold of them to let them know she's ill. Would you go to the park and
send them Akane's apologies? She would be ever so grateful."

Another time Ranma might have grumbled about being Akane's messenger boy. Too
much had happened in the past few days, however. All the fun had gone out of
life. "Sure, Kasumi."

He ran off to the park, glad to be able to do something mildly useful. He
followed Kasumi's directions, and found a relatively isolated part of the
park. Nobody was there. Evidently her friends had already left.

Ranma let out a sigh of frustration. Nothing was going right.

Something cried out behind him. Ranma jumped up, but felt something slice
into his right calf. Ranma flipped in the air, landed on his hands and bounced
to stand on his left leg. His right leg burned like fire.

He looked at the figure that had attacked him. It was dressed in black, with
a hood covering its face. The height and build was familiar, as was the way
it held its katana. Ranma was an expert at reading people's martial arts
styles, analyzing them and exploiting their weaknesses. The person who stood
before him was someone he knew well.

Kuno.

With a snarl, Kuno attacked Ranma again, slicing with his katana. Ranma
jumped up and grabbed a branch of a nearby tree with his hands. Something
was wrong with Kuno. He was attacking blindly, without much thought. He was
also moving faster than Ranma had ever seen him before. The way he was
snarling and crying, without much coherence, left Ranma with one conclusion
to draw. Kuno was on some sort of drug.

If Kuno was the one who had killed Ukyo, it sort of made sense that he was
on drugs. Ukyo was an even match for Kuno, maybe more than even. In fact,
in the berserker rage Kuno was in, Ukyo should have been able to defeat him
easily, despite his extra strength and speed. Kuno was capable of nothing
more than vicious, straight-ahead attacks, which Ukyo should have been able
to counter easily.

Which meant something else had happend to her. Something had slowed her down,
allowed Kuno to finish her off. The same thing had probably happened to Ryoga,
too, causing him to lose control of his chi.

It all was coming to Ranma in a flash. Kuno drugged and Ukyo and Ryoga
poisoned meant one other person was involved.

Kodachi.

Almost as soon as he came to this conclusion, he could hear her voice screaming
from the nearby bushes. "No! Not Ranma-sama!"

That's right, Ranma realized. Akane was supposed to have been here. They'd
been expecting to kill her.

Kuno, meanwhile, was trying to slash at Ranma's legs and failing. With a cry,
Kuno leapt straight up and grabbed Ranma. Ranma was amazed; he had no idea
that Kuno could jump so high. Probably another effect of the drugs Kodachi
had him on.

They fell to the ground, Kuno on top of Ranma. Ranma felt his breath leave
him. He pushed Kuno off of him and tried to stand, but his leg buckled and he
fell to one knee, still trying to breathe.

Kuno snarled, brought his katana back, and thrust it directly at Ranma's head.

"NO!" Kodachi leapt forward and interposed herself between Ranma and Kuno's
katana. It caught her right in the ribcage. Ranma saw the tip of the katana
protrude from Kodachi's back.

Kuno cried, this time a cry of despair, and yanked the sword out. Ranma
caught Kodachi as she fell. Blood was spurting out of her, so much that
Ranma knew she had seconds to live.

Kodachi looked at Ranma's face. "It... wasn't supposed... to be... like...
this...." She reached up and touched his cheek. "Ranma-sama...." Her arm
dropped and the light left her eyes.

Ranma looked down at her, in a state of complete shock, unable to feel
anything. He looked up at Kuno, and saw the same shock there. For the
briefest of seconds, they shared grief together.

Then Kuno's face clouded, and rage seemed to radiate from him. He tilted his
head back and let out a howl of anger and despair. He looked back at Ranma and
brought his katana to bear, his sister's blood still dripping from it.

Ranma's options were severely limited. One of his legs was non-functional,
and he was kneeling and grasping Kodachi's body. Kuno was deep into the
beserker rage, and would not stop until Ranma was dead, and not even then.

Kuno swung his sword in an arc at Ranma's neck. Ranma dropped Kodachi and
brought his hands up, one hand grabbing Kuno's wrists while the other struck
at Kuno's jaw. He slowed the approach of the sword, brought it to a stop. The
hand he brought to Kuno's jaw struck, and should have hurt, but Kuno seemed
oblivious to pain. Ranma pressed Kuno's jaw as hard as he could with the one
hand, while trying to stop the katana with his other.

Normally, he was so much stronger that Kuno that he could just rip the katana
out of Kuno's hands. However, Ranma had no leverage, not with one of his legs
out of commision and in the prone position he was in, and Kuno had the strength
of a beserker. The sword stayed poised very close to Ranma's neck.

Ranma pressed harder with his hand against Kuno's jaw, using the tension from
that to brace himself against the advance of Kuno's arms, still being
gripped by his other hand.

Something had to give. Surely Kuno could see how dangerous this situation
was. He had to back off, give them both time to reset themselves. Kuno had
to feel what was going to happen.

Kuno was beyond reason, however. Beyond rationality. He only pressed with
greater strength, the katana getting closer and closer to Ranma's neck.
Ranma had no choice but to push harder with the hand pressed against Kuno's
jaw.

Finally, something did give.

Kuno's neck twisted to the side with a crack. All voluntary movement left
Kuno's body, and he sagged to the ground in front of Ranma. Kuno's eyes were
wildly moving from side to side. He wasn't breathing, however, and the
movement of his eyes lessened. The last seconds of Kuno's life were spent
staring directly at Ranma.

Ranma stared at the bodies in front of him. They were dead, both of him.
He shouldn't care; they had intended to kill Akane. At least, Kodachi had
been trying to. Kuno had just been her puppet. Damn Kodachi for doing this
to her brother.

All so that she could have Ranma for herself.

Ranma took his shirt off and bound his leg with it. It was adequate enough
for him to limp over to a phone to call the police.

***

The woman was looking through some more folders. "So you claim that these two
meant to attack your fiancee instead of you, and that you merely defended
yourself against them. Kuno Kodachi tried to save you, since she wanted you
for herself and was unable to control Kuno Tatewaki. In the end, two more
people who were making your life miserable ended up dead, and you lived through
the experience."

Ranma nodded. He knew better than to say anything; the woman would just find a
way somehow to turn it against him.

The woman stared at him a moment longer, then continued. "She was merely
eliminating the obstacles that stood between you and her, but in the end was
caught up in her own machinations. That's how you see it?"

Ranma nodded again.

"Killing Kuno Tatewaki was an unavoidable act of self-defense?"

Ranma winced and hung his head.

The silence was broken by a knock on the door. The woman went over to it and
talked in a low voice to someone outside for a minute. Ranma heard her close
the door again and resume her seat. More papers were shuffled.

Finally the woman spoke again. "You're free to go."

Ranma snapped his head back up and gaped at the her.

She smiled at him, with somewhat genuine warmth. "Don't be shocked. You want
me to believe you, don't you?"

Ranma wasn't going to be baited. He had to know, however. "Why?"

The woman indicated the folder he was reading. "Autopsy report on Kuno
Tatewaki. He was under the influence of a powerful hallucenogenic. Had been,
for some time. He would have acted more or less how you described him."

She raised another folder. "Psychiatric report on Kuno Kodachi. Just this
side of psychotic. I don't know why she wasn't in a hospital somewhere;
evidently the family was rich enough to buy her freedom. Her father will have
a lot to answer for, but he doesn't even seem to be able to understand that his
children are dead. There will be no one left to buy his freedom.

"All other people we've talked to confirm your story. Akane's friend were
going to meet her in the park, but when they saw that she wasn't as school,
they assumed she wouldn't be joining them later. Also, many people have
told us about Kuno Kodachi's obsession with you.

"Finally, and most importantly, you don't get to my position without being a
somewhat good judge of people. I believe every word of what you've said. At
least, I believe that *you* believe it." The woman put the folders she has
holding back on the table. She shook her finger at him. "Just don't make any
travel plans. We'll probably still have questions about Kuno Tatewaki's
death."

The woman smiled at him again, and spoke in a bright but still serious tone.
"The fact that you're a martial artist makes self-defense a somewhat shaky
claim, but I think we'll make it stick. Best that you get yourself a lawyer,
just in case some assistant D.A. gets all riled up."

Ranma looked at her, only slowly coming to believe the woman's words. He stood
up, wincing a little as he put weight on his leg. He looked at the woman for
a few seconds, then turned to leave.

"One last thing, young man." The woman sounded both sympathetic and
disapproving at the same time. "Next time, don't let your life become so
complicated. You let situations like these develop, they have a tendency
to explode. Not always as messy as this, of course, but it does happen,
more often than you might think. Try to act a little more responsibly, and
you just might live a long and happy life."

Ranma drew a deep breath, feeling despair come over him. He felt his mind
slipping, begin to slide into madness with the knowledge that this was all
his fault.

He needed Akane, needed her desperately. Time to stop pretending with her.

He limped over to the door, opened it, walked out into the hallway and made
his way home.

***

Ranma hadn't realized how long he'd been at the police station. It had to
be about 3 or 4 in the morning. Yet he wasn't tired; his mind was still
buzzing with all that had happened. At the same time, he felt numb. He
couldn't help it; if he allowed himself to feel, he'd go mad.

He opened the front door to the Tendo Home. It was dark inside. He was
disappointed; he thought that everyone would wait up for him. Or, at the
very least, that Akane would wait up for him.

He heard a noise from deeper inside the house. He walked down the hallway
and discovered that the light was still on in the kitchen. He entered, and
saw Kasumi, still fully dressed, preparing tea.

"Hello, Ranma-kun, good to see you." She poured a cup and handed it too
him. "Did it go well for you at the police station?"

"Yes." Ranma leaned against the counter and drank the tea. It felt very
good going down. Good ol' Kasumi, you could always count on her. "Where
is everyone?"

Kasumi smiled at him. "The others are sound asleep. They wanted to stay
awake and wait for you, but I convinced them that it would be best if
they rested and talked to you in the morning. After all, you'll want
your rest, too."

Ranma shuddered. He didn't want to think about what his dreams might
be like. He looked over at Kasumi's smiling face. She wasn't Akane,
but maybe she would do as well. Maybe even better. "If you don't
mind, I'd just kinda like to talk a few things out. It helps me
sometimes."

Kasumi nodded and walked over to stand across from Ranma. Her face was
warm and inviting, and Ranma found that very reassuring.

Kodachi's last words bothered him. "She said it wasn't supposed to be
this way. Which way was it supposed to be? Did she mean she wasn't
supposed to die? That I wasn't supposed to be there?" Ranma sighed.
"I just got the feeling she was trying to tell me something."

He sipped some more of his tea and shook his head. "It just doesn't make
sense. Why would Kodachi go nuts all of a sudden and start killing
everyone?"

Kasumi tilted her head. "Maybe she was worried that things with you and
Akane were going too well. You did almost get married."

Ranma thinned his lips. "That's the obvious answer. But why kill Ryoga?
What did he have to do with anything?"

Kasumi didn't answer. Ranma thought some more things out. "How'd they set
up the ambush in the park? Akane was going to be with her friends; how
were they going to separate her?"

Ranma drained his tea and stared into the empty cup. "You know, Kuno and
Kodachi on their best days couldn't match Ryoga. Ryoga should've beat them
to a pulp. Kodachi poisoned him and Ukyo somehow. With what?"

"Maybe Tatewaki's katana was coated with poison." Kasumi's voice sounded
quiet, encouraging, helpful.

Ranma shook his head. "No. I got cut with it, and nothing happened to me.
It had to come from somewhere else." Ranma looked up at Kasumi.

Kasumi.

Sending him to the Nekohanten. Too busy to cook dinner? Never, with
Kasumi. Cooking was her passion. The laundry could have waited. Funny
that the day after Cologne died, Ranma was sent to the Nekohanten to find
out about Shampoo's decision to leave Japan.

Kasumi.

Akane had been awfully sick. She should have gone to see a doctor.
Tofu-sensei was a chiropractor; what would he know about a stomach flu?
He certainly would have insisted that Akane go see a General Practioner,
or even someone in the emergency room.

Kasumi.

It was sure convenient that Ranma had shown up, too late to meet with
Akane's friends, but in time to spring the trap meant for Akane. All
because Kasumi had sent him there.

Kasumi.

Kasumi practically stuffing a cookie into Ryoga's mouth. Offering him more.
Could she have given a cookie to Ukyo? Yes, it would have been easy. Everyone
liked Kasumi. Everyone trusted her. Probably even Cologne.

"Kasumi."

Kasumi smiled at him. "Yes, Ranma-kun?"

Ranma saw red. In a cold fury, he stalked over to her. Slowly, carefully,
he grabbed her throat.

She didn't stop smiling. "What is it, Ranma-kun?"

"Why?" His voice was thick, strangled. His fingers wanted to wring her
neck, but he needed to find out first. "Why did you do it?"

"Aren't you happy?" Kasumi looked slightly puzzled. "Now there's nothing
standing between you and Akane. This time you can get married and no one
will stop you."

Ranma's breath was coming in ragged gasps. "You. And Kodachi. But you
double-crossed her, didn't you?"

Kasumi beamed at him. "I was so proud of you, Ranma-kun. I knew that you
could handle Kodachi and Tatewaki. You didn't get hurt, much. You
eliminated them both, which was more than I expected. I had other plans,
but this wrapped everything up very neatly." She reached up to pat him
on the cheek. "Well done."

Ranma snarled, aware that he was beginning to sound like Kuno. He tightened
his grasp on Kasumi's throat. "You won't get away with this."

Kasumi, despite the difficulty she was having breathing, managed to give
him a reproachful look. "Now, now, Ranma-kun, what are you going to do?
Kill me?"

Ranma grit his teeth, held his breath for a full minute, then relaxed his
hold on her neck. "No, I ain't like you, Kasumi. But I know someone at
the police station who would like to have a word with you."

Kasumi put on a cute frown. "But why, Ranma-kun? You have everything you
wanted. Ryoga won't sleep with Akane; Shampoo, Kodachi, and Ukyo won't
bother you anymore; and Tatewaki won't be obsessing over you or Akane."
Her smile returned in full force. "Don't you want to make my sister happy?"

What Ranma wanted so much to do was to beat that look off Kasumi's face.
"Come on. We're going to the police station *right* *now*."

"I doubt that very much, Ranma-kun." Kasumi reached up, lifted his hands
away from her neck, then pushed him in the center of his chest.

To Ranma's suprise, he fell over. Only now did he realize how weak he
was. His rage had kept him strong and upright; now it was being replaced
by horror. He tried to shout out, but all that came out was a very weak
cry.

Kasumi grabbed him under his arms and dragged him out into the hall. Ranma
managed to be surprised; she was stronger than she looked. He tried to
reach out and grab at things as they passed by. He had one success,
knocking over the telephone, where it fell with a crash and a ring.

"Don't strain yourself, Ranma-kun." Kasumi's voice sounded pleasant and
warm, as always. "Everyone else drank from the same tea you did. They'll
be asleep for hours. I just wanted you to rest, Ranma-kun. I had so
hoped it wouldn't come to this."

She dragged him outside, and into the dojo. She dropped him in the center
of the floor and went off to the side. Ranma tried to move, tried to talk,
anything. His strength was gone, and he had to struggle just to remain
awake.

Kasumi came back holding a tanto blade. She knelt on the floor behind
Ranma and lifted him to a sitting position. She reached around him, bared
the tanto, and made his hands grasp the handle. She held her hands over
his, and made him point the blade at his stomach.

Ranma wanted to cry out in horror. No no no. This can't be happening.
This is Kasumi, she's nice and sweet. Please, it can't be like this,
someone make it stop.

Ranma wanted to cry. He couldn't.

"Ranma-kun, you disappoint me." Kasumi's voice was a cheerful
counterpoint to the thrust of the blade. "Mother disappointed me, too."
The blade entered his stomach. Ranma felt a mild discomfort. "I told
her I was ready to run the household for her, but she would just smile
at me and say that I could run my own house when I grew up." Kasumi's
voice grew colder as she made his hands move the blade from side to side.
"I *was* ready. I *wanted* to do it. She wasn't going to stop me.
*Nobody* could stop me." She pulled the blade out of his stomach with
his hands, and thrust it in one more time. She let go, and he fell to his
side, watching in horrified fascination as his blood pooled on the floor
in front of him.

Kasumi came around, knelt, and bowed her head to look into Ranma's eyes.
She smiled and her voice was pleasant again. "Don't worry, Mother felt as
little as you did. This will hurt Akane, just like Mother's death did,
but she'll get over it. She's a strong girl."

Kasumi knelt back and sighed. "I'll have to find another fiancee for her
now. A shame about Ryoga and Tatewaki. Maybe that nice Gosunkugi."

Ranma's last sight was to see Kasumi humming to herself as she stared
dreamily into space.

His last thought was: Appearances can be deceiving.