From her suite that was located on the thirtieth floor of the hotel she was staying, Kencana looked into a globe of energy that floated in front of her. In it, she could see her Aozora, or Ranma as the name he went by at that time fighting together with his group against the demons that were drawn toward the middle of the seal. Seeing enough, she made a dismissing gesture with her hand and the globe disappeared.

Aozora was wasting his time with them when he could have been together with her.

Kencana thought about whether she should get rid of them. She dismissed the idea because she realized that if she did that, he wouldn’t cooperate with her. In fact, he may even cooperate with the Blessbringers or even the bastard Schneider himself. That would put her at a severe disadvantage. She needed him to acquire Phantasm Moon and because of that she needed him to be receptive to her persuasion. The only thing that she had going for her when it came to him was the fact that Phantasm Moon would only appear if they united. So, even if the Blessbringers or Schneider managed to convince him to go against her, they wouldn’t be able to acquire it.

But if she managed to convince him to be with her, then victory shall be hers.

The main problem was how to do it. Aozora, no, Ranma would be wary of her should she approached him. Perhaps if she turned herself into one of those whores that hung around him, perhaps it would work, provided that the woman with short brown hair wouldn’t be around to stop her. Even until then, Kencana was still wary of that girl. When the girl came to prevent her for killing Ranma, she could feel that something about the girl that was a bit off. That feeling was so strong that Kencana couldn’t resist the feeling that the girl was a major player in the event that she herself had orchestrated. Because of that, she decided to let the girl, whose name was Nabiki, live so that she could satisfy her curiosity. Then, she could kill her.

For the moment, Kencana would satisfy her curiosity by studying the girl’s little sister. Summoning the globe once more, Kencana looked at the girl with fiery blue hair fighting against her opponent. Perhaps watching the girl named Akane would tell her more about Nabiki. In fact, if she was fortunate, she could find out certain information on Ranma that will benefit her. Yes, studying Tendo Akane would be a prudent step to take.

The said girl was locking her eyes with a creature, in her opinion, was grotesque at best. Despite that, she didn’t hate it because it was ugly. In fact, the creature could be considered as somewhat beautiful, for a demon that was. Three pointed horns adorned its head while its sharp claws gave a threatening aura to it. What made Akane hate the monster was the fact that it reminded Akane of the western vampires she read in the horror fictions. She hated those creatures, not because they were scary. It was because the authors always made them too powerful to the extent of being godlike. Able to seduce whoever they wanted, able to transform into other animals or even people and inhuman strength; all the marks of demigods who seemed to be perfect. Of course, so perfect that they wouldn’t even dream of eating garlic, lest their breath suffers, or them becoming nocturnal to avoid the risk of getting skin cancer. No wonder they have normal folks chasing them with cheap wooden stakes; they surely annoyed the hell out of everyone.

Compare them to the eastern ghosts and it could be seen which evil beings were superior. The vampires and other western apparitions always live in their run down shack somewhere in god-forsaken place, waiting idiotic hermit wannabes to come there to be their food. In contrast, the Asian ghosts had long gone high tech. Look at the small girl living in the video tape and that other one maintaining its own ‘killer’ homepage. Now, they were scary.

The demon in front of her growled, reminding Akane of its presence. While she didn't care for the creature, it remained a painful truth that she had foolishly volunteered to fight its kind. Of course, the motivation did rise from Shampoo's loud proclamation that she would fight beside her ‘airen’ and Ukyo's subsequent announcement that as Ranma’s ‘cute fiancée’, it was her duty to fight as well. Akane did admit to herself that she joined because she was jealous. However she also did it to help protect the Nerima that she loved.

The creature took a step toward her.

“Um, can anyone help me her?” she asked weakly.

Ranma, who was moving at great speed to evade his own attackers, replied, “Sorry, I'm facing eight over here,”

“I would be happy to have the sustenance manufacturing facility disintegrator feel indebted to me. Sadly I'm also busy here,” Shampoo said. “HIYAA!” she shouted as she delivered a snap kick.

Swallowing slowly, she turned toward her opponent. The creature had closed the distance between of them.

Akane took another step back.

The creature still move toward her.

“S... Stay back!” Akane commanded.

Yet the creature approached her, claws raised menacingly.

“I’m warning you!”

The demon merely showed her its razor edge teeth in response to the threat.

“I’m a fully trained martial artist…”

The threat fell on deaf ears as the demon kept getting closer. When it felt that it was close enough to attack, it lunged toward her with a killing intent.

A giant shoe squashed the demon, stopping its attack prematurely.

Akane raised her foot to look at gob at her shoe sole. “Damn, now my new shoe is already dirty, and I just bought them last week,”

“At least you already know well enough not to swat them when they managed to get on your body,” Ukyo said, She then slammed the flyswatter in her hand at another demon that landed near a tree branch. “Last night I have to soap myself for an hour to get the smell off,”

“Oh, you really get the smell on you? I didn’t know that. To tell you the truth though, I didn’t notice the difference between its smell and yours,” Shampoo commented haughtily, sending Ukyo into a seething fit.

“Ranma,” Ryouga said while using his fingers to flick a midget-sized demon away. “When you describe this to me, I would have thought that this is a very BIG problem,”

“Hey, they’re demons. Even the mummy said so,” Ranma said nasally, his hand pinching his nose to avoid smelling the stench.

Back in the Nekohanten restaurant, Cologne sneezed.

“I could have filled my time doing something that’s slightly more productive, such as kicking your butt!”

“Thank you for ranking me that high, bacon breath,”

“Pleasure’s mine, girly boy and need I remind you that Roger Bacon is quite well known,”

“Who the heck is that?”

“Don’t know, saw his name in an encyclopedia somewhere,”

“What are you doing?” a feminine voice break the tension between the two of them.

Ranma, the first to turn away, was surprised by the person who said that. “You’re that powerful magician who got her ass kicked by Nabiki that day,”

“Chisa?” Akane asked incredelously. “She is working for sis,”

“I thought Nabiki had agreed to my request to fight her in secret. Yes, Akane I'm the one who fought her and got my ass kicked but hey, now the two of us are cool,” Chisa said, wanting to prevent possible hostility from brewing.

“So, why are you here?” Ukyo asked.

“I don't want to be a party pooper. However I don't think you should waste your time dealing these demons. They are so weak that even animals can take care of them,”

“Every little thing helps,” Shampoo countered. “Ouch,” she cried as one of the demons used its trident to poke her ankle.

“Yeah, and it's good for training,” Ukyo said in support.

“Yeehaaa! What a haul! What a haul!” came the familiar voice as its owner passed through the group followed by a mob angry women.

Chisa thumbed in the direction where the chased person ran. “Then, maybe you can help me catch that demon. He stole my panties and I need everyone's help to catch him,”

Although all of them went after Happosai, their efforts to catch him were in vain. Trying to search the old geezer in the town was like trying to locate for the cockroach that had managed to hide itself in the kitchen; you knew it was there, but have no idea of its exact location. Of course, there are some differences, one being the fact that cockroaches weren’t as gross.

After finally accepting the fact that they couldn’t trace the perverted master, they broke off, each one going his or her own way. As for Ranma, he returned to his own home for the sword training that his mother insisted him to take. That was how Ranma got a bump on his head an hour later, due to a perfect hit by Nodoka’s bamboo sword. His mother was a slave driver when it comes to kendo training… and everything else. With the limiter bracelets that he got from Nabiki limiting his power, he had to resort to pure skills to win over his mother in their kendo sparring match. And Nodoka Saotome was only too happy to show her son how severely unskilled he was in the sword fighting.

“I did allow your father to train you in unarmed combat to prepare you for the worst though I don’t think he would do so to the extent of neglecting your weapons training. I guess, I’ll have to whack him tonight,”

The young martial artist winced at that comment, not seeing the strange gleam in her eyes. It was a good thing as well since it wouldn’t do for him to know about his parents were into such kinky things.

“Ranma, do you know why you shouldn’t follow your father’s stand on weapons?”

“Yes. In martial arts, there is no such thing as fighting with or without weapons. Everything that a martial artist can and will use is considered as a weapon, including parts of his body,” Ranma answered while remembering about the conversation he had with Nabiki. She had pointed out that if he insisted on not using any weapons, he would end up not being able to fight. The middle Tendo girl also listed out some instances where he used his curse as a weapon to secure his victories. For his part, he had accurately identified her brain and her tongue as her most dangerous weapons, although he was quite sure that she could use her look effectively as well.

“Very good. Flexibility in all fields is very important for a martial artist,”

“Talking about martial artist… I didn’t know that my great grandmother is a swordswoman. I thought that only great grandfather knew kendo,”

Nodoka laughed. “If grandmother Kaoru wasn’t a swordswoman, they would never have met, although their story is a bit cheesy. I mean, who would have ever thought that a mere kendoist would challenge the famed Hitokiri Battousai?” She put her hands on her cheek and giggled like a school girl. “Ah, so romantic,”

“Um…,” Ranma uttered while trying to think of a way to bring out his mother out of the dreamy state she was in. He knew that his great grandfather Himura Kenshin was known by that name due to the fact that he was a powerful assassin that employed a dangerous sword technique. However, he somehow resented the fact that his mother would always over romanticize everything. “Aren’t you’re supposed to tell me about the technique I’m learning right now?”

“Oh, right,” Nodoka said while laughing it off. “We can always talk about this later. Right now, we’ll be focusing on the Yume no Shiyotaka Tsubasaryu,”

Ranma nodded. “Graceful Wing of Dream. I remembered you saying that it’s the evil version off Kamiya Kasshinryu, going against almost all of the said sword principles,”

“Correct. Kamiya Kasshinryu emphasizes non lethal and defensive attacks while Yume no Shiyotaka Tsubasa focuses on total offensive that seeks to kill,” Upon seeing her son shivering, Nodoka shook her head. “Don’t worry, although you will learn the principle of the ougi, you probably don’t have to go through it,”

“I feel relieved to hear that,”

“Before you can start learning the Yume no Tsubasaryu, I want to see your mastery of Kasshinryu first. Go through its katas first,”

“Yes, mum,”

“Sensei,” Nodoka corrected as she watched her son began performing the katas. Somehow, watching him go through the same motion that she did years before, caused her to remember the memories that she had of a friend, a friend that had long departed the world.

A teenage Nodoka walked toward the main door, carrying her reverse edge sword.

A Shinto priestess walked up to her. “May I help you?”

“I would like to challenge the master of the Shinmeiryu to a sparring match,”

The priestess was surprised by the proclamation that it took her a moment to answer. “I’m sorry. The master is quite busy right now,”

“In that case, why don’t I fight her, Masako?” another voice interrupted as another girl approached them.

“I don’t think a wayward person like you would be able to represent the school, Kimiko-san,” the priestess said disdainfully. It was obvious that she didn’t really like the newcomer.

Kimiko shrugged. “Maybe you’re right. However, since our guess is already here and the master is quite busy, I would be more than happy to take her place,” She then turned toward Nodoka and bowed. “Aoyama Kimiko. Please to meet you,”

Nodoka responded in kind. “Himura Nodoka,”

The Aoyama girl smirked, surprising Nodoka. “Now, with all the important formalities have been observed and now can be put aside, are you ready to eat some dirt?”

She watched as Ranma executed a jump, landing and executing a stab, all in a graceful manner. Almost. “Ranma, your stance before you stab just now is a bit unstable. The distance between the two feet needed to be widened a bit,”

“Yes, mu… sensei,”

“Redo the whole sequence,”

A twenty something Nodoka shared a laugh with the companion sitting beside her. “I can still remember that fight,”

“You should, since I beat you,” Kimiko said in jest.

“You know, until today I’m surprised that someone from Aoyama family can be quite… you know, easygoing?”

Kimiko had a faraway look on her. “Yeah, I guess I’m the black sheep of the family,” Before Nodoka could apologize for bringing it up, she grinned, “That doesn’t matter. What matters is that I spent my live with my family and you,”

“I guess…” Nodoka said, not sure what to say.

“By the way, Nodoka, I’m keeping track of how many times we fought,” Kimiko held out a hand. “Five times,”

“Yes?”

Grinning, she said. “And you lost to me all the time!”

“Don’t remind me of that!”

“Tell me something, Nodoka. You fought me using Hiten Mitsuryugiryu three times and Yume no Shiyotaka Tsubasaryu two times. I’ve seen you execute the former’s ougi twice but

have yet to see the latter’s. Are you purposely keeping it a secret?”

“No, I’m not. Actually, it’s not that I didn’t want. I can’t,”

Kimiko caught a red ball that was thrown by a small girl. “Good throw, Akane!” she said encouragingly while returning the ball to Akane who then rejoined her friends. “It’s a shame. I wanted to see the attack. Maybe you would be able to defeat me with that,”

“Sorry,”

“Don’t worry about that. If any, I’m the one who’s supposed to be sorry for trying to force you,” After a few bouts of uncomfortable silence, she continued, “Hey, I have an idea! Your son over there,” Kimiko said while pointing to a boy running after a man, “Ranma, right? Why don’t we match our children together? You know, maybe he can marry Akane or Nabiki or Kasumi,” She then giggled at the boy’s antic. “He’s so manly. Maybe he can marry all of my daughters?”

“Kimiko! How can you say such things? It’s…. it’s improper!”

“Come on, it is mothers’ dream to have womanly daughters and manly sons,”

“Um…”

“Admit it, you’re thinking the same thing but too shy to admit it,” she said accusingly.

“That’s enough, Ranma,” Nodoka said while handing her son a towel to wipe his sweats. “We’ll continue tomorrow,”

“I can still do it!” Ranma said, trying to protest. “And I want to start with the lessons already,”

“I know. Since you have yet to perfect katas, teaching you the techniques without mastering the basics first may cause the effectiveness to be reduced. For example, just now your jump was premature, causing your movement to be telegraphed. So a well prepared attacker could have come up with a suitable counter,”

“Then, it would be better to practice,”

“No. You might reinforce the mistake by accident. It’s better to do things right the first time. So, it’s still better to continue later,” Before Ranma could protest, Nodoka pushed him toward the house. “Now, why don’t you go take your fiancées out for a change?”

“Do I have to?” he whined.

“Yes. The ability to read your opponents’ intent from their body language can be quite useful. The principle is the same, whether it’s martial arts or dates,” Nodoka said as she handed her son some money. “We’ll see how much you’ll pick up from the date tomorrow during practice,”

Ranma’s eyes widened before his expression became more determined. “Okay,” he quipped as he accepted the money.

Nodoka mentally sighed at her son being so easy to manipulate. Connect everything to martial art and he would dive into it like a man possessed. It was a trait her husband and her had. She hoped that he wouldn’t be too obsessed with it. Like Kimiko once reminded her, it was important maintain one’s balance in life. Apart from martial and ‘marital’ art aspects that she expected Ranma to master, there was another reason why Nodoka asked Ranma to ask his fiancées out on a date. One of them may be feeling a bit melancholic that day.

She then began to go through a kata, one that only the master of the school would be able to perform. As her body automatically went through the honed motions, her mind wandered back to the day when it rained blood and tears in Nerima.

“Congratulations, Nodo-chan,” a bloodied Kimiko said while smiling weakly, holding to the sword that was embedded in her chest. “You have managed to master the final ougi. You’re the master of your school now. I guess if we fight, I’ll surely be defeated,” she said before coughing some blood, “not that we have the chance anymore,”

“Not like this! I don’t want it like this!” Nodoka said while sobbing.

“Shh… Your tears are making my cloth wet,”

“Idiot! How could you be saying such thing at times like this?”

“Nodo-chan,” Kimiko said as she struggled to put a hand on her best friend’s cheek. “Please promise me one thing,”

“Anything!”

“Two things actually. Deliver my sword to my ancestral home and don’t blame yourself for what happened today,” she then turned toward a faceless girl. “You too, hime-chan. Don’t blame yourself and auntie Nodoka, ‘kay?”

The girl, who was silently crying nodded her head. Nodoka, however, was a different case. She didn’t want to accept such a request. “How could you ask me to do that?”

“Remember, Nodoka, you had no choice. When I invoke the chaos spell, I wasn’t able to maintain its stability and lost control of myself. You had saved the city… and me as well. Please don’t sully that. Promise me that,”

Nodoka nodded.

As the light in her eyes slowly becoming dim, Kimiko tried to smile once more. “I always consider you like a sister,”

“Me too,” Nodoka said as she cradled her friend. It was too late as Kimiko had stopped breathing.

Nodoka finished her kata with a thrust at an imaginary enemy and remained in that position while droplets of water started dropping on the ground beneath her. “I’m sorry, Kimiko-san, but as usual, on this day, the anniversary of your death, I would like to be a bit selfish,”

At the same time, Nabiki was standing in front of her mother’s grave, putting her palms together, praying. If the rest of her family found out that she was visiting her on that day, they would have scolded her for being hypocritical. It was nine years ago when she had a quarrel with the rest of her family, telling them that they shouldn’t visit Kimiko’s grave on the anniversary as it would show that they had never moved on. She reminded them that her mother wanted everyone to be happy. In the end, Nabiki had managed to persuade everyone that they would only visit Kimiko on joyous occasions to share the news with her instead of going there when they felt sad.

However, she wasn’t there because she felt sad. Instead, she was there because she wanted to say something important. “Mother, the seal has been corrupted and what you wanted to prevent had started,” Nabiki said while closing her eyes.

A seven year old Nabiki looked at Nodoka cradling her limp mother. “Auntie, please move away from my mother. I will trigger the seal,”

Nodoka, who was still crying raised her head “What do you mean?”

“The spell needs her blood to work,”

“How could you say that?” The woman pointed to her mother’s body. “This is your own mother,”

“I know. That’s why I must carry out her wish,” Nabiki said as she put a hand on the woman’s forehead.

“I would not let you…,” Nodoka couldn’t finish her words as she fell unconscious.

Bowing, Nabiki said, “Sorry for doing that. I can’t let you die because you touch her when the spell triggers. Mum wouldn’t like that,” She dragged Nodoka’s body away, which was a very difficult task for a small girl to accomplish. Despite that, she managed to do it after struggling for more than ten minutes. “I’m sorry for making Ranma-kun’s forget too,” she said to Nodoka while wiping her sweat, “I had no choice. I also want you to forget having to kill mum although I am not sure that is a good thing or not,”

Nabiki reached into her blouse’s pocket and brought out seven marble-sized green orbs. She crushed them and her body was bathed in light as blue runes appeared all over the right side of her body while red runes covered the other side. Then the middle Tendo girl slammed her hands on the ground and a pillar of light appeared, only to expand to cover the whole town. But to normal inhabitants, they didn’t notice the light; they only felt a slight tingle when it engulfed them. More observant people would have commented that it was the first time they ever saw rainbow appear in the town. No one knew what really happened save for select few.

Nabiki opened her eyes. “Like you predicted, Ranma is one half of the chaos, a significant part of the prophecy that warned about Kencana’s resurrection and how she would destroy the world. Of course, like you told me, past reincarnation wouldn’t affect how the person will turn out in his or her current live. She smiled softly. “Not that Ranma is a believer of fate. He follows his own path as much as I follow mine. I realized that fact even when we’re still small,”

Wind blew and she looked up, watching some dry leaves being carried by it.

“You know, mum, until now I do wish that the paths will eventually converge. Perhaps that wish is clouding my judgment even now, well, judging from the kisses that I’ve been stealing from him,” She let out a long breath. “Maybe I’m similar to you in that respect. I remember you telling Kasumi and I about your exploits with dad before he courted you. We’re afraid to take the initiative to reveal our feelings, aren’t we?” Nabiki kneeled and put a hand on the slab of stone that mark her Kimiko’s grave.

“I know that this sounds like me trying to run away from my feelings, but mother, I really can’t do it,”

1. I updated this chapter faster than I updated my other story. Hmm… I hope that it’s not a recurring trend.