Reposted due to a rather annoying formatting problem.
Hopefully this version is easier on the eyes

_______________________________________________________


Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma in any way, shape, or
form.

IMPORTANT: Read author's notes at the end of the
chapter for important information.
  
 


File 05: Past and Present 


The secret to success. 

Quite possibly the greatest goal anyone hopes to
achieve. It's a hard learned lesson and not many are
able to grasp its meaning. However, a chosen few have,
and they are the ones who rank among the power elite
of the entire business world.  

Soun Tendo is one of those people. In an era where
technology has reached a level no one could hope to
anticipate, in a world where looking over your
shoulder was no longer considered being paranoid, and
in a time where the only choices you have are to stand
and fight or be ground to dust under the might of a
competitor; Soun Tendo had built the greatest
corporate empire the world had ever seen. He found the
secret to success...and it was right under his nose
the entire time...

"Good morning Mr. Tendo." Dr. Tofu greeted the company
owner as he and a guest entered the upper-most floor
of the Heaven's Star Bio-Technology division
headquarters. The nerve center of one of Star's most
highly funded divisions was once located in the
central headquarters itself, however large-scale
expansion had since relocated it to a privately owned
island off the northern coast of Shikoku.

"Greetings Dr. Tofu. I take it preparations have
already been completed?"

"We just finished prepping the equipment ten minutes
ago. I see you've brought a guest this time." 

"Yes I have. I would like you to meet Mr. Kinnosuke
Kashuoh, head of our network maintenance and security
division." Soun indicated the somewhat nervous former
hacker standing next to him.

"Uhhhh, h...hi." He waved to the entire staff present.
His presence here was sudden to say the least. He was
going about his morning schedule when all of a sudden
he had been called into the president's office; the
next thing he knew he was boarding a chopper headed
for this very location. He still had no idea why.

"Welcome Mr. Kashuoh."

"Great to be here...I think..."

They were actually standing on a balcony running along
the southern wall and overlooking an extremely large
laboratory. Down below them lay two large, shallow,
circular pits, each one surrounded by a dizzying array
of processing and computing equipment. One pit
contained a cylindrical submersion tank; large cables
and wires ran directly from the bottom of the tank and
into the ground. The second pit was lined with several
dozen small lenses running in a cross pattern along
the ground.

"I am sure your wondering why I have brought you
here." Soun grinned as the trio descended the stairs
just to the left of them.

"Yeah, that question has crossed my mind." Kinnosuke
sweatdropped.

"You have been a loyal and dedicated employee for
several years now. When we came to you you were an
ex-con with amazing talent but with no outlet with
which to use it. You have since worked your way
through the ranks and have become the head of the very
department you used to work for." Soun recounted his
employment history. "That is why I am granting you
access to knowledge known by only a select few
department heads."

"I'm...honored."

"Do you recognize this Mr. Kashuoh?" Tofu held up a
very small disk as they approached one of the many
workstations around the lens pit.

"Yeah...isn't that the disk that got nabbed a couple
of weeks ago? I had heard we had gotten it back, but I
never did find out why it was so important."

"That's good to hear. If you had then I would have had
to reconsider this entire proposal, as well as your
employment and freedom." Soun responded. Kinnosuke
inwardly thanked the stars that ignorance was indeed
bliss in this case.

"We're all set. Ready to begin at anytime." A
specialist said. There were only seven other
specialists present since it was only a demonstration.
Usually a full-scale operation would require a staff
number in the realm of fifteen to twenty.

"Pay close attention Mr. Kashuoh." Tofu inserted the
disk into an equally small drive as the lights in the
area went dim. There were familiar sounds of computers
powering on and/or booting up.

"Loading OS."

"Running partition check."

"Running node check."

"Connection continuity is nominal. Not that we need it
right now..."

"Got nothing in the error log. Haven't had a system
crash in the past ten months, maybe we're actually
doing something right this time."

The multiple staff members each ran through the
multiple phases of the equipment start-up. Kinnosuke
could feel the heat being given off by the
multi-dozen-processor system.

"Loading S-Protocols." One of the technicians finally
declared and that's where everything started. The room
went completely dark and the pit was lit up by the
rows of holo-projectors. Raw encrypted code appeared
in mid-air for all to see and it began to scroll down
at an extremely fast rate.

"What do you see Kinnosuke?" Soun asked.

"The cipher, its like nothing I've ever seen
before..." His followed at the same speed as the
scrolling. "It would take a team of mathematicians
decades to decode something like this..."

"Exactly. When the disk was stolen, the thieves
neglected to take the key." Soun explained.

"I see. That's why you weren't freaking out when it
vanished. It's useless without the key..."

"Load the key." Tofu ordered. "What you're going to
see Mr. Kashuoh, is the very thing that will light the
way to the future for all mankind," Tofu smiled.

The code stopped and vanished. Several seconds later
another code sped by only to vanish seconds later
itself.

"Keycode loaded. Reloading S-Protocols..." Someone
whispered.

This time instead of an indecipherable jumble, a
featureless wire-frame image of a man appeared. It
rotated slowly in 360 degrees and text began running
slowly on either side of it.

"Bring up files 8021 and 8022." Tofu ordered.

This time two very recognizable images appeared next
to the wire-frame. They all rotated in synch and
message boxes began appearing at various areas between
the frame and the images; as if comparing the two to
the frame.

"What...is this..." Kinnosuke murmured.

"This, Kinnosuke, is the secret to my success. They
are the sole reason this company has survived for as
long as it has. This is how I knew in the
beginning..." Soun explained.

"I'm bringing up the newly compiled bio-file. File
8023." Tofu said as he looked from the holograms to
the workstation screen. Eventually a third image
appeared and under the same conditions as the first
two. "As you can see her statistics are rapidly
approaching that of the base as she grows older. Total
compatibility with the Protocols will be inevitable
within the year. It is amazing that all three of them
were capable of this, it goes against all known
probability."

"Kinnosuke, what the doctor is about to explain to you
WILL NOT leave this room. 
Is that understood?" Soun turned to him, his statement
was deadly serious.

"Y...Yes sir. My lips are completely sealed."

"Good. Dr. Tofu if you will..."

"Mr. Kashuoh, what I am about to explain might take
some time so I do suggest you pay very close attention
to everything I tell you. I will only explain this
once..." Tofu turned to him. "I am going to explain
what the S-Protocols are, who created them, how we
came to possess them, what they are used for, and what
we have discovered by using them..."

Kinno stared in wonder at the images floating before
him as Tofu explained their full meaning to him.
Unbeknownst to him Soun had a prideful gleam in his
eyes. They said it was impossible, especially in ones
so close in generation, for all three to possess the
same ability. They said the odds of it happening were
incalculable, they said the fact that it happened to
one of them was in itself a fluke in the laws of
nature. 

Then, when it did happen, they called it a mistake.
They said that radiation in the atmosphere, or trace
amounts of nuclear fallout from World War II was the
cause of it. They stood by the fact that such an
occurrence could NEVER happen naturally. Soun took no
shame in believing that it could have been an act of 
God. Perhaps Kimiko and himself had been blessed in
some way, shape, or form. 

All he knew was that Kasumi was the first, and she
wasn't the last...



~**~


"NABIKI! AKANE! HURRY OR YOU WILL BE LATE!" Kasumi
called. She was wiping her hands after cleaning the
dishes as she stared at the nearby clock. 
"6...5...4..."

"HI! BYE!" The two blurs raced down the stairs,
grabbed there bags and were out the door in record
time.

"Oh my, they're early." She watched as they sped down
the street. "So young, so vigorous." She laughed,
mostly at the fact that she wasn't that much older
than them.

The home was overtaken by total stillness when she
noticed something rather odd about the typical
morning's events. Ranma and Ryoga had been nowhere to
be seen, they did not even put on an appearance at
breakfast.

"Ranma! Ryoga!" She called up the stairs and she
received only silence in response. "They couldn't
still be asleep...could they...?" She wondered.

She slowly stalked up the steps and came before their
closed room door.

"Ranma...Ryoga..." She knocked several times as she
tried once again to gain some response. She was once
again greeted by nothing. She carefully brought her
ear to the door, but heard nothing the other side save
for a strange humming noise. 

Her hand involuntarily moved to the doorknob. The door
was unlocked surprisingly enough; it would just be a
simple matter of pushing it open. She knew so little
about the duo, she had already given Nabiki the go
ahead to find as much as she could about them. She
could only imagine what information could be gleaned
if she just stepped inside.

"But...I promised that I would treat them as part of
the family...and that means respecting their
privacy...at least at home." She murmured as she let
go of the knob. 

A sudden knocking at the front door roused her
attention. A twist on the saying of being saved by the
bell, but it worked either way.

"Yes, how can I..." Kasumi's usual cheery expression
when greeting someone disappeared when she realized
who it was paying a visit. "Oh...Ken..."

"Kasumi..." Kensuke Odagirii, the blonde-haired son of
Akira Odagirii, and the person who not too long ago
led a small mob to try and forcibly 'restrain' her. 
"We...need to talk..."


***


A calm and peaceful atmosphere blanketed Nerima in the
morning. For some it was still early in the morning
and they had yet to rise from the nightly slumber. 
Others were going about their sunrise routines; going
to work, opening up shop, cleansing the outside of
their homes, or even walking the occasional pet. 

"Hey Nabiki, what's got you? You look tense." Akane
asked as they ran.

Said sister's face was currently a mask of
contemplation. She was having a lot to think about,
mainly on the subject of two fianc�es whom she was
determined to learn everything about. In her eyes,
information was the greatest power in the world. She
liked having a lot of it at any given time and having
a lack of it in a certain subject never boded well for
her. It was this drive that caused her to wind up in
her current occupation for Star, but that is another
story all together...

"Naah, it's nothing." She waved it off. 

"Are you still suspicious about those two?" Nabiki
could only guess that her talent of reading people was
rubbing off on her younger sister.

"Suspicious? Of course not." To depict her only
growing mistrust with such a general description would
not do it justice. Of course she kept that little fact
to herself.

"Good. I mean if I can learn to live with it, anyone
can."

"Why do you care so much? I thought you were against
the marriage at first, that and the fact that you've
said yourself that you have no interest in boys."
Nabiki pointed out.

"I don't, at least not in that way, and I still don't
have a good feeling about this whole marriage thing.
It's just that it has been a long time since anyone
has given me a fight that good, except for Kasumi and
you. I guess that's why he has me so interested."
Akane explained. Nabiki simply shrugged in response.

Furinkan High School began to come into view. It was
one of the crown jewels of 
Nerima. It was most well known for its wide variety of
extra-curricular activities, some more...unique...than
others. In the end a student would be hard-pressed not
to find something that did not interest him or her.  

As the two entered school grounds they were greeted by
a bevy of activities going on at once. The track team
ran their loops around the school, the tea ceremony
club performed their morning rituals, and even the
kendo club practiced their daily drills.

"See ya after class!" Akane waved as they parted ways.

Nabiki did not walk alone for very long before another
female student discretely began walking beside her.

"Morning Miyo. What do you have for me..."

The long brown haired girl at her side was Miyo Heita,
known around the school for her interest in the occult
and for being an overall freak. To Nabiki however she
served a far greater purpose.

"Word on the vine is that we're going to be getting
two new students today." 
Miyo spoke in a low-pitched whisper. Some people
claimed it was because she chanted evil spells so many
times that her voice stuck that way. It was no wonder
Nabiki rarely paid attention to rumors unless they had
hard evidence to back them up.

"The year just started. We're still getting new
students by the day, what's so special about that?"

"I was thinking the same thing. The reason they're so
special is because no one knows who they are or even
where they came from."

"Is that so..." This was beginning to sound all too
familiar to Nabiki for her own liking.

"Yeah, a...friend...of mine was able to tap into
school records. He couldn't find a thing on either of
them. No record of having attended another school
before this one, no prior grades or test scores, and
there's not even an indication of what grade there in
or how old they are," Miyo shrugged in complete
exacerbation. "It's like they don't exist."

"Odd. How did they get into the school without a
previous record?" Nabiki wondered.

"No one has been able to figure that one out. They
must have some pretty high-up connections if they got
the entire school board to look the other way."

"When were they first seen?"

"A student spotted them scoping out the school grounds
early this morning."

That explained to Nabiki why she had not seen hide nor
hair of them all this morning herself. The only
questions that remained were when they left and why no
one noticed them leave.

They had both since gone through the school and had
just entered their classroom. The place was abuzz with
conversation both meaningless and interesting. All
grew silent, however, and sat at attention as the
teacher entered the classroom.

"Alright class. Before we begin today I once again
have the honor of introducing two new students to our
class." Their teacher was Higuma Torajiro, a male
teacher who was still relatively new to Furinkan. He
had so far won over his students do to his overall
nice-guy attitude, which was in sharp contrast to the
usual tough-as-nails teachers that Furinkan employed.
"I would like to welcome Ranma Saotome and Ryoga
Hibiki."

"Hey...that's them..." Miyo whispered from behind
Nabiki.

At the teacher's announcement the two teenagers
entered the classroom. They were both in a somewhat
dark colored version of the male uniform. They both
stood at attention at the head of the classroom as
Higuma continued the usual welcoming procedures.

"Both are age 17 and are just starting there junior
year at our institution. 
Pleas make them feel welcome." 

"Wow, there both hot."

"Look at his eyes..."

"Ooohh the mysterious type, I like that."

"Don't you have a boyfriend already?"

Nabiki rolled her eyes at the throng of comments and
accompanying giggles being whispered by the female
population of the class. The males were content to aim
their murderous glares in their direction and make a
mental note to keep a closer eye on their respective
soulmates. Through all that Nabiki could not help but
wonder at the fact that they all conveniently had the
same class.

"Ranma you can take the seat behind Taichi. Ryoga you
can have the desk next to Koushirou." Higuma indicated
the respective students. "Alright, now if you will all
open to page 121 in your Calculus books..."

"Why do I get the feeling," Nabiki's eyes followed
Ranma as he walked past. In a split-second that no one
could register, their eyes met, only to break off just
as quickly. "that this is no coincidence..."


***


"First off I want to apologize, on behalf of my father
and our entire dojo. We had no right or provocation in
attacking you like we did." Kensuke began as he and
Kasumi walked down the quiet neighborhood street. 

Kasumi was never one to hold a grudge except for most
dire of circumstances. 
However that did not abate her urge to know the answer
of...

"Why? What would make you think that I would ever be
your enemy?"

"It...wasn't you. It was never you." Kensuke seemed to
be wrestling with something deep inside before he
started again. "Two months ago, my father was
approached by representatives of Silver Sword."

"I..see." She could already guess where this was going
to head.

"As you know my father's firm as been heavily tied
with Star for as long as anyone can remember. Now with
this contract with the military that Mr. Tendo is
trying to get, the bond has only grown stronger."
Kensuke explained. "Certain competitors have not taken
a liking to this arrangement. Sword is quite obviously
the most powerful and...influential of these
individuals."

"Ken, what have they done? Have they been threatening
you?"

Kensuke took a minute before explaining the initial
incident.

"My younger sister, Catherine, you remember her
right?"

"Of course." She also knew the little red-head meant
the world to Kensuke.

"About a week and a half before you came...she was
kidnapped."

"Oh my God..."

"It was...early morning, she was taken while everyone
was sleeping." He painfully thought back to that
morning. It was more like a living nightmare than
anything else. "She was returned...four hours later,
bound, gagged, and still asleep. She never even
woke-up."

"At least she wasn't hurt..."

"Thankfully no. They did it to prove a point. If we
didn't do exactly as we said, they could just as
easily take her again. Only next time we have no idea
what those monsters will do." Ken held back his
growing rage. "That's why we couldn't come to you.
That's why we were forced to attack you. Those
bastards have forced us to stain our honor...I can
understand if you want nothing to do with us anymore."

"Ken." She put her hand his shoulder to stop him. "I
could never hate you for something that isn't your
fault. At least now we know what's going on, and my
offer to protect you still stands."

"No...I'm sorry but I agree with my father on one
thing. I will not agree to anything that would put our
family in the most remote danger." He was quite
adamant in his desicion. "After what happened to
Catherine...I just don't think we could bear losing
her."

"As unfortunate as that is...I understand." Kasumi
sighed.

"There is another reason I've come to see you though."
Ken turned to her. "Ever since this whole ordeal began
my father's firm has been forced to take more and more
exclusive contracts from Sword. Because of that we
have gained a good knowledge of their dealings and
activities."

"Ken...if this is true they are most likely tracking
your every move. You're taking a great risk by telling
me this."

"I realize that. Don't worry, I've taken precautions
to ensure that I'm not being bugged or followed. I
just want to do something to put those assholes at 
Sword in there place."

"Alright..."

"Recently, and I'm sure you've noticed this as well,
there's been a lull in 
Sword's activities with no explanation why," Ken
crossed his arms in contemplation. "According to
records there's been a large amount of layoffs in
Sword's Field Operation and Security divisions. On top
of that there's been a noticeable rerouting of
monetary and techological resources to their 
Intelligence division as well as some new unnamed
project division."

"We have noticed that Sword has been relatively quiet
as of late. You said they've terminated a good portion
of their Field Operation and Security divisions?"
Kasumi thought to herself for a moment. "That would
leave them all but defenseless. If you thought of them
as a country, they have essentially disbanded there
entire military force. Why would they do something
like that?"

"No idea. Details are still sketchy and Sword is
becoming more careful in what information they allow
to pass by our eyes. There is however, one other thing
we have uncovered," Ken still had a hard time grasping
exactly what this next bit could mean. "A short time
ago we uncovered what looked to be a dossier. It was a
compilation of certain people and places around the
world, most of these locations are very discrete with
little in the realm of possible overseas interests.
Sword has recently taken on several new employees
whose names match that of what we found on the
dossier."

"It...sounds like there rebuilding, but what exa..." A
strange feeling, akin to 
a static shock across her entire body, suddenly
interrupted Kasumi.

"Miss Tendo? Are you there?" A voice spoke into her
very mind.

"Who is this?" She responded mentally. She turned away
from Ken and scanned their surroundings, there was no
one in her sight.

"I'm sorry for disturbing you Miss Tendo but we have
to request that you report to Heaven's Star H.Q.
ASAP." 

"How did you get this frequency?" Kasumi was not the
questioning type, but receiving a sudden communiqu�
out of the blue on a channel that should be private
was enough to get her questioning everything.

"From your father. Don't worry; he left explicit
instructions only to use it in extreme emergency. I'm
the assistant to the head of Security."

"Kasumi? Is something wrong?" Ken asked. Her sudden
silence and furrowing of brow caused him to wonder
what brought this change in the middle of the
conversation.

"I see. What is the problem?" She raised a finger as
she thought to signal to 
Ken to remain silent.

"I can't explain over R.F., all I can say is that
situation requires a representative from Star and from
what we've been told it would be best to call you."

"Alright. I'm on my way." She could feel the
connection breaking off.

"Kasumi, is something the matter?" Ken tried again.

"I've...just recieved a call. I have to go." Kasumi
sighed. "We're going to have to continue this some
other time. I'm sorry."

"It's all right. I just want to say one thing." Ken
put his hands on her shoulders. "Something very big is
happening within Sword. My father and I just want you
and Soun to be very careful. You're like family to us,
and we wouldn't anything to happen to you like we
wouldn't want anything happening to 
Catherine."

"We will. I promise. And...thank you." She smiled
before running back into the direction of her home.

In the midst of it all Kensuke was left wondering only
one thing...

"Recieved a call...how?" She had not used a cell phone
or beeper. She also did not have a Cybercom or any
other visible enhancement. "Huh, strange..."


***


Lunchtime had since rolled around in a certain
classroom in Furinkan. A portion of the students had
gone outside to enjoy the fresh air while others had
opted to stay in class and converse with each other.
Nabiki was currently carrying on a conversation with
Miyo while keeping an eye on two particular
individuals who were keeping to themselves on one side
of the classroom. So far she had not found anything
incriminating in their actions since they arrived. The
only thing of true peculiarity that she could see was
the fact that Ryoga wore black gloves over his hands.

"Accessorizing? Doesn't seem the type..." She murmured
to herself.

"Nabiki? Have you heard anything I've said?" Miyo
broke into her train of thought yet again. She had
noticed Nabiki's eyes averting elsewhere several times
during their supposed to be conversation over goings
on in the school and everywhere else.

"Oh...yeah...sorry." Nabiki shook her head to get her
thoughts straight. 

"What's with you? I've never seen you so distracted."

"I wish I could tell you..." She muttered. "I...gotta
take care of something. 
I'll talk to you a little later." Without another word
given or allowed she left 
Miyo and walked toward the duo. She knew she was not
going to get anything by simply standing on the
sidelines and watching from a distance. If anything,
she was going to get into their faces, though more
discretely than described, and try to probe as much
info as she could out of them.

The two had been holding some sort of conversation
between them. However at the sight of her oncoming
approach, it was quickly killed and a veil of silence
rose between them.

"Hi," she smiled as she sat on a desk across from
them.

"Can we help you?" Ryoga smirked while asking.

"No, of course not. I just thought I'd come over and
say hi, see how you're doing, maybe talk a little,"
Nabiki said in as friendly a tone as she could muster.

"Right...Never pegged you for one who likes idle
chit-chat," Ranma raised an eyebrow.

"I don't, but since you two are going to be part of my
family it seems logical that we get to know each other
better. Right?"

"Good point. So...what do ya wanna know?" Ranma
conceded.

Nabiki thought for a moment before answering.

"Okay, how about...how you two first met?"

Ranma and Ryoga both exchanged glances before turning
their gaze back to her.

"Oh c'mon. It's not THAT big a question. I mean, you
weren't born knowing each other," Nabiki coaxed them.
"Dad went into it a little, but he didn't give many
details."

"Fair enough," Ryoga started. "We met...how many years
has it been?"

"Eleven years," Ranma answered.

"Yup, seems like yesterday still. It was all the way
back in 2nd grade. In a nice little all-boys school
called Odaiba Elementary..."


~**~


It was the calm before the storm. A deep rumbling
could be heard on just the other side of the doors. It
was like an approaching hurricane, a force of nature
that could only be predicted but never stopped, a
destructive force that could only be abated for so
long before its fury had to unleashed.

"We can't keep 'em back for long!" A cafeteria staff
member as well as several others pushed against the
door with all there might. The sheer combined strength
of their opposition on the other side however was
proving to be far too powerful for them contain for
long.

The kitchen staff worked feverishly to make
preparations for the lunch-time rush. Everything had
to be perfect, if not then they themselves would be
consumed by the coming storm, never to be heard from
again...

"We're ready on this end! LET 'EM LOOSE!" The kitchen
head yelled.

"On 3..." The member alerted everyone with him.

"1" They all said in unison.

"2"

"3!!"

They ceased their resistance and immediately dove for
cover. The ravenous mob was finally unleashed. Over
one hundred hungry elementary school boys charged
straight through the doors, tearing them off there
hinges. A miniature earthquake over came the area as
they stampeded in unison toward the serving area.

"OUT OF MY WAY!!!"

The through this chaos a lone figure charged headlong
through the masses. Like a bull he tore through the
wall of adolescents, determined that nothing would
deter him from his goal; the fabled last loaf of sweet
bread. Anyone who dared get in his way was thrown to
the wind, all others were simply trampled under his
unstoppable charge.

"The last one!" The kitchen yelled as he threw the
last loaf into the air. Over 
a dozen greedy hands reached for it, all wanted it,
but only one would gain the prize.

"It's mine!!" Ryoga yelled as he leapt for it. He
gained impressive height, it was because of this that
he always succeeded.

"Whoa! Excuse me!"

"Next time don't keep your mouth open!"

"Watch your heads!"

"Eh?" Ryoga looked back while in mid-flight to discern
the source of the voice. 
When he turned he found a pig-tailed boy leaping quite
nimbly from head to head of the boys beneath him.

"Coming through!!" The boy yelled as he leapt at
Ryoga. 

He did not have time react before Ranma used his face
as a spring board and catching the last bread in his
mouth. He promptly devoured it in one gulp while
giving a victory sign in response to the collective
groans from the defeated masses below. Ryoga, in the
meantime, was sent crashing to the ground rather
ungracefully.

"Ranma....Saotome...." Ryoga snarled like some great
beast as he pulled himself from his own crater-like
impression on the floor.

"Oh, Ryoga. Forgot you were there for a second." Ranma
laughed as he noticed his very pissed off lunchtime
rival.

"YOU!!" Ryoga's voice boomed across the cafeteria
catching the attention of every last person present.
"This is last time you deny me what is rightfully mine
Saotome!!"

"Oh? What are you gonna do about it?" Ranma could
smell a challenge from a mile away, and this seemed
particularly ripe.

"I challenge you to a duel! I will reclaim my lost
honor by defeating you!!" The six-year old jabbed his
finger menacingly.

"When and where..." Ranma smirked, this would be
another win notch to add to his belt so to speak.

"In the empty lot, after school! You know where it
is!" Ryoga grinned himself. 
"Be prepared for your come-down Saotome!!" 



"Uhhh, I don't know what significance it had to you
but... it was just a piece of bread...." Nabiki
sweatdropped at what she just heard.

"Well...at a school like that, hunger dictated our
actions." Ranma explained. 
"As he just described, lunchtime was more of a matter
of survival and determination than just getting
something in your stomach. Though that's what it
boiled down to in the end."

"Yeah, in the beginning...we didn't like each other
much. In fact..." Ryoga glanced to Ranma. "I hated his
guts somethin fierce."

"What changed? You two seem to be more like brothers
now than anything," Nabiki wondered.

"I was just about to get to that." Ryoga started up
again...



The time had finally arrived. Ryoga stepped onto the
lot, he was determined to exact his revenge this day.
Once that was accomplished he would once again relish
in the delicacy that was the sweet bread.

"Hey...what the..." Ryoga muttered.

The only thing he found was two sleeping bags, one was
particularly larger than the other, and two backpacks.
He slowly walked over to them and noticed that Ranma,
his hated rival, was sleeping rather soundly. A small
saliva bubble was slowly contracting and expanding
from his nose as he slept.

"Wake up." Ryoga demanded as he kicked the bag rather
hard. 

"Jus a coupa more minutes momma..." Ranma slurred as
he rolled to find a more comfortable position.

"I SAID WAKE UP!!!" Ryoga screamed with all his might,
and right into the ear of 
Ranma.

"AHHHH!!!" Ranma jumped out of his bag instantly. His
larger companion was also aroused by the sudden noise
and sat up straight, his eyebrow twitched showing his
irritation at having his slumber disrupted.

"The time for our duel has arrived Saotome!!" Ryoga
yelled to Ranma who was still in mid-jump.

"RYOGA!! What the heck took you so long?!" Ranma
yelled in response.

"I...had a little trouble finding the lot..." Ryoga
muttered.

"Say what?! You're the one who chose this place! Do
you realize how long I've been waiting?!" Ranma yelled
again after he landed.

"Enough talk! It is time for your defeat Saotome!!"



"Whoa, whoa, hold on a second..." Nabiki interjected.
"I thought you said the duel was for that same
afternoon."

"Yeah...that was the plan..." Ryoga scratched the back
of his head.

"Then why did Ranma ask what took you so long? It
couldn't have been that long since school let out."

"The reason why is because I wound up waiting four
days for him to get there," Ranma clarified.

"Four...days?" Nabiki said totally bewildered.

"...and three nights..." Ryoga added reluctantly.

"Yeah, the thing is I was supposed to be gone on the
third night. My dad was pretty adamant in keeping our
schedule, but I was able to convince him to stay just
one more day. I said it would be a great opportunity
for training," Ranma shrugged. "I wouldn't have blamed
him if he still decided to leave, but...then I don't
think Ryoga would've been too happy about that."

"Wait...schedule? Dad? What are you talking about?"
Nabiki pressed for details.

"Allow me to continue and I think I clarify a few
things..." Once again Ryoga took up the tale.



Ryoga eyed his enemies of the day. Ranma was wearing
some sort of red and black chinese outfit. The larger
man behind him was in a worn-in white gi with a
bandanna covering his head.

"This is boy that challenged you?" Genma asked his
son.

"Yup. Says he's gonna make me pay for humiliating
him," Ranma grinned as he cracked his knuckles.

"YOU BET I AM!!" Rygoa screamed in righteous fury.
"You have denied me the sanctity of the sweet bread
for the last time! I alone am the only one worthy
enough to dine of its heavenly flavor, yet time and
again you have sought to rob me of the one thing that
brings me unbridled joy in the hard day of school!"

Ranma simply raised an eyebrow and gave him a look
that asked if his opponent was actually sane or not.

"I have kept my wrath in check for this very day
Saotome! Now I shall unleash my growing torment over
your existence! AND YOU SHALL TASTE NOT OF THE SWEET
BREAD, 
BUT THE BITTER STING OF DEFEAT!!!"



Ryoga gave an expressionless glare at the snickers he
was recieving from his two listeners. He tried to keep
a straight face, but he only found himself succumbing
to the laughter as well.

"Alright I admit, all of that coming from a 2nd grader
is pretty hilarious." 
Ryoga admitted. "Campy samurai movies were all the
rage back then. I guess I let it get to me..."

"Well it did help in one area." Ranma explained.
"Ryoga was a pretty smart kid, his vocabulary was
several years ahead of everyone else there."

"What do you mean 'was'?"

"Okay, okay. What happened next?" Nabiki jumped in.

"Well, the fight I'd always wanted finally started..."
Ryoga jumped back into memory.



"Do you understand now?" Ryoga rubbed the bridge of
his nose in frustration.

"Yeah, you wanna beat me up for taking your bread
everyday." Ranma said it like it was the easiest thing
in the world to understand. "Why didn't you just say
that in the beginning?"

A vein bulged out of Ryoga's forehead at the sheer
audacity of his opponent.

"Alright you two. If this will settle things between
you then we will conduct this like any other match
between rivals." Genma walked in between them. 
"Understand?"

"Yeah, yeah lets just get this started." Ranma said
eagerly.

"Are you that anxious to recieve your just due
Saotome?" Ryoga grinned evily.

"This match will be the deciding factor in this little
spat between you. After this, neither one will dispute
the other in possession of the...sweet bread." Genma
still could not believe that bread was the source of
the rivalry. "Though remember Ranma, we are leaving
right after this is through, we must resume your
training immediately!"

"Yes sir..." Ranma rolled his eyes.

"You don't have to worry about that. BECAUSE YOU'LL BE
LEAVING HERE IN A FULL 
BODY CAST!!!" Ryoga threatened.

"Whichever the outcome. This is the end of it." Genma
made sure to get that particular point across.
"BEGIN!"

Ryoga rushed his opponent in a flurry of wild punches.
Despite having only trained for a year thus far, Genma
was quite impressed with his son's aptitude for the
Art. He seemed to absorb everything he taught him like
water to a sponge, he could only hope that he could
draw out his training for such a long period of time.

"Your never gonna get your venbench at this rate!"
Ranma laughed as he weaved effortlessly through each
blow. He simply sweep of his foot sent Ryoga crashing
face-first into the ground.

"VenGEANCE you idiot!!" Ryoga jumped back up instantly
and once again made another unfocused and fruitless
attack. "Will you stand still!!"

"You're just too slow for me Ryoga!" Ranma
side-stepped a grab. A simple knudge and help from
Ryoga's momentum caused him to completely lose balance
and once again taste the dirt ground.

"You think this is funny?! You won't be laughing for
long!" Ryoga fist slammed into ground in frustration.

"HAHAHA!! Ya know I thought you'd be lot more fun than
this! I guess I'm just too..." Ranma never finished
his sentence. Genma's eyes widened at what he had just
seen.

Ranma's head was bent back at the impact of a fist
smashing into his nose. Total shock was overriden by
pain as he clutched his now bleeding olfactory
appendage.

"You...hit...me..." Ranma stumbled back a few steps.

"Of course I hit you! This is a fight remember!" Ryoga
reered back. "Prepare to get hit again!!"

His fist collided with Ranma's stomach. All the air
that was in his lungs was forced out in a rush and he
collapsed to his knees.

"HA! So how does it feel Saotome!?" Ryoga laughed in
triumph. "All your kung-fu tricks won't work on me!"

Genma was still trying to discern how the fight had
suddenly turned against his son. From what he could
see Ryoga had probably been in a few scraps before
this, but other than that he possessed no martial
training whatsoever. Logically he should not have been
able to touch Ranma, let alone score two direct hits.

"I've trained Ranma to be much tougher than this. A
single punch should not have been able to make him
bleed like that..." Genma watched Ryoga carefully. "I
wonder...perhaps it was not a mistake staying the
extra day after all..."

"Get up Saotome! I'm not through with you yet!" 

"You...little..." Ranma's vision was becoming
overshadowed by a red haze. 

"Awww is the baby gonna start crying?" Ryoga taunted
his fallen adversary.

"SCREW THIS!!" Ranma let out feral scream and tackled
Ryoga with all his strength.

What was supposed an honorable duel between gentlemen,
as much as you could get with six-year-olds, now
degenerated into a backyard brawl. Complete with
rolling in the dirt, hair-grabbing, eye-poking, and
even the occasional biting.

"Where did I go wrong..." Genma shook his head in
shame. He had not expected for one so young to be able
to keep his composure in the midst of battle, but he
at least expected a little more control than this.
"ENOUGH!!" 

Even after the declaration the two refused to separate
themselves, it was apparent they would not stop until
one of them had ripped the other to shreds. Genma
stomped over and quite easily picked the two of them
up by there collars, even in his grasp they continued
to claw and swing at each other.

"I SAID ENOUGH!!" Genma said even more forcifully than
before. The two immediately fell silent this time.
"This has gone far enough. It's obvious that this
fight is not going to prove anything."

"Oh yeah! Give me five more minutes with this
bastard!!" Ryoga yelled, his eyes still flickering
with fury.

"WATCH YOUR MOUTH!!" Genma yelled, Ryoga did not even
squeak another word. 

"Nyaaah." Ranma stuck out his tongue.

"RANMA!" Genma chided once again, Ranma was quieted as
well. "Alright then. I said that this was going to be
settled today and it will be. Ranma, I want you to
apologize to Ryoga for taking his bread."

"But I...!"

"DO IT!"

"I'm sorry for taking your stupid bread..." Ranma
pouted.

"And you Ryoga. You apologize for being four days late
for a duel you created!" 
Genma ordered.

"You're not my dad! I don't have to do anything you
say!" Ryoga crossed his arms and looked away
defiantly.

Genma hoisted him up and forced him to look him in the
face. The glare Ryoga recieved told him that Genma
would have no qualms about giving him the spanking he
deserved if he did not show some respect for his
elders.

"I'm...sorry...for being so late..." Ryoga finally
said defeatedly.

"That's better. Now I wish to speak with your parents
over something." Genma sighed. "Where do you live?"

"Right there." Ryoga blinked and pointed to the house
directly next to them.



"Wait...you mean to tell me the empty lot was actually
your backyard?" Nabiki asked wide eyed and in
disbelief.

"Uhhh....yeah it was..." Ryoga coughed.

"And it took you FOUR DAYS to get there?"

"The Hibiki bloodline is not known for its directional
prowess," Ranma interceded.

"So...whats to keep you from getting lost now?" Nabiki
wondered.

They both chuckled slightly at the question.

"I'm sure you noticed at some point..," Ryoga pointed
to the back of his neck. 
"...the plugs?"

"Yes, actually I did notice you had coms. M-2 to be
precise," Nabiki then took notice of the fact that the
plug ports in their necks were nowhere to be seen,
quite possibly through the use of artificial skin. The
same method she employed.

"Good eye." Ranma complimented.

"Internal GPS. Standard feature on all plugs
nowadays." Ryoga explained and then tapped his
forehead. "Heh, and a godsend for me."

"So what happened next? What did he need to talk to
your parents about?" Nabiki asked.

"Actually, dad never got the chance..." Ranma told
her.

Nabiki noticed his emphasis and use of the word 'dad'.
She suspected that he held this Genma person in pretty
high regard. That only made her wonder even more as to
his mysterious absence in lieu of recent events.

"Yeah, just like Ranma said, my parents weren't
exactly there to be talked to..." Ryoga once again
took up the tale.



After Ryoga unlocked the front door, the trio stepped
inside the modest two-story home. It was the typical
middle-class house, not too big and not too small.

"Now behave! Or else..." Genma ordered as he dropped
the two on opposite ends of the family room couch. The
two continued aiming glares at each other all the
while. "Where are your parents?"

"They're...not here." Ryoga answered reluctantly.

"Well, when will they be back?"

"I don't know..."

Genma raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Where do they work?"

"I don't know okay,...I haven't seen 'em in a couple
of months..."

Ranma hateful expression then softened at the news. He
could not imagine having to live without parents. Even
though he lived on the road himself he still had his
father to look after him.

"So...you've been living by yourself this entire
time?" Genma knelt down to the boys level.

"Yeah. So what? I can take care of myself." Ryoga
looked away from Genma's gaze.

"I would think so." Genma thought for a moment.
"So...that would make you the man of the house?"

"Yeah...yeah it would." Ryoga seemed to puff up
slightly at that.

"I thought so. Therefore this question is for you to
answer." Genma smiled and stood up.

"What is it?"

"During the fight between yourself and my son I could
not help but notice the potential for the Art that you
have within you." Genma explained. "It could very well
be the match for Ranma."

The two boys glanced at each other. Ranma's nose had
since stopped bleeding and his stomach did not lurch
anymore. Ryoga was still dirt smudged from his two
trips into the ground.

"You want me to do all that kung-fu stuff that he
does?"

"Well...if you must put it like that...yes." Genma
rolled his eyes.

"It's not kung-fu ya idiot. It's Anything-Goes! Get it
right!" Ranma yelled.

"I don't care what it is! I don't need it to beat
you!" Ryoga got up and the two prepared to lay into
each other again.

"SILENCE!!" Genma bellowed. 

The two immediately halted that particular train of
thought. 

"Now, as I was saying. Ryoga, I'm sure you have
noticed that your particularly strong for your age."
Genma pointed out. "Wouldn't you like to become even
stronger than you are now?"

"Yeah...I guess so..." 

"You watch movies don't you?" Genma tried another
tactic.

"Yeah...sometimes." 

"I can tell your a fan of all those martial arts
movies that have been coming out?"

"So what...I like 'em, doesn't mean anything." Ryoga,
for some reason, was making it to be an insult.

"How would you like to be able to everything they do?
Run up walls, jump fifty feet into the air, lift giant
boulders over your head..."

"I could do that?" Stars began appearing in Ryoga's
eyes.

"That, and alot more. That is...if you come with me
and my son." 

Ryoga thought for all of five seconds. There was no
way he could pass up the chance to become one of his
big-screen heroes. They could do just about anything,
even walk on fire and beat up a hundred guys all at
once.

"Count me in!"

"Excellent," Genma laughed. "Ranma, say hello to your
new sparring partner. Now shake hands..." He said that
last part with a bit of menace in his voice, for them
to be precise if they did not comply.

"Hmph. You still won't be a match for me." Ranma
absently extended his hand.

"I can beat you any day of the week." Ryoga did the
same. 

And so, this was the beginning of history. Little
could Nabiki imagine, just how twisted that history
would become...



"That's it," Ryoga finished. 

"We've been 'rivals' ever since." Ranma added.

"Interesting. Of course...it does raise a couple of
more questions..." Nabiki feigned thinking.

"Like what?" Ranma asked.

"What happened to Genma? And most importantly, what
happened after Ryoga joined you?"

The sound of students beginning to re-enter the
classroom caught their ears. Nabiki sighed at the fact
that she had to end her 'interrogation', at least for
the moment...

"Oops, looks like chat time is over." Ryoga shrugged.
"Besides, I get the feeling you're gonna be pretty
busy answering questions yourself."

"What?" Nabiki looked over her shoulder to where Ryoga
was pointing. There was a large huddle of girls, all
staring at her. The stink of envy was quite heavy
among the mass of the class's female population.
"Oh..."

"See ya later," Ranma and Ryoga both broke off and
returned to their respective seats. Nabiki quite
reluctantly did the same, knowing full well what she
had gotten herself into.

"You never said you knew them!"

"Did they say anything about me?"

"What do they like in a girl?"

"I saw you laughing, what jokes do they like?"

"Why me...?" Nabiki hung her head as the questions
continued raining down. 
"Odaiba Elementary...its a good a place as any to
start." She thought to herself. She was going to find
everything she could on them. Nabiki Tendo always got
what she wanted, no matter what.


***


The five story office complex was completely under
siege. Police barricades had been set up everywhere
and officers swarmed like a bee to a hive. Sniper
teams had been set-up on three other adjacent
buildings and negotiators, S.W.A.T teams, and riot
police were on the bottom dicussing possible plans of
action to defuse the volatile situation. 

"GET ME A DIRECT CONNECTION WITH SNIPER TEAM ONE!" The
head officer of the proceedings yelled to an
underling. "How the hell did they pull this off to
begin with." He muttered as he looked at a layout of
the building for quite possibly the hundredth time.

"Excuse me."  A new voice and tapping on his shoulder
interrupted his thought processes.

He turned around to find a very attractive young woman
in a black leather jacket and pants of the same type.
This was actually the woman's usual dress when out on
field assignments.

"Uhhh...excuse me. This is a restricted zone, I don't
know how you got past the barricades but I'm going to
have ask you to clear the area." He ordered.

"I'm the representative from Heaven's Star that the
perpetrators have requested," She explained politely

"You're the one the one they were sending from their
headquarters?" The policeman asked, believing her to
be awfully young for such a task. "Can I see some I.D.
please?"

"Oh yes, of course," she presented him with her
employee identification.

"Kasumi...Tendo?" His eyes widened slightly. "Wouldn't
that make you Soun 
Tendo's daughter?"

"Yes, it would."

"Alright..." He wondered why such an influential man
would send his own daughter into a situation like
this.

"If you could, I would appreciate it if you could
possibly clarify the current situation?"

"Of course. About eight hours ago a small team of men
took the entire office complex hostage. If I
understand correctly this building belongs to your
father?"

"Yes, its one of our branch offices." 

"That would explain their current demand. They're
stating that they want the one responsible for
assassinating one of their leaders. From what we can
discern these men are directly linked to the Yakuza,
that explains why they're armed."

"Assassinating their leader? My father would never
order something like that..." 
She murmured as her eyes moved to the roof. "How well
armed are they?"

"There are seven in total. Each is lightly armed,
nothing more than 9mm automatics. THEY'RE not the
problem," The captain clarified. "The danger is in the
fact they have rigged each floor with a high-yield
explosive device."

"I see. Are their people still inside?"

"No, they allowed us to evacuate the building. These
guys are beyond pros, probably ex-military, they
rigged the bombs so that if they explode at once the
entire building will collapse on itself. The damage to
the surrounding property would be astronomical. We
can't allow that to happen," he then pointed up to the
fourth floor. The windows were blown out and smoke was
billowing from the inside. "One of our bomb squads
attempted to defuse one of them, it did not go as
planned."

"How do they expect to escape if they detonate the
devices?"

"They came in by a small chopper which they will most
likely use to make their escape should their demands
not be met." He turned his eyes to the adjacent
buildings. "We have three sniper teams setup on
buildings to the north, west and east. However, all of
the perpetrators have brainplugs, and the bombs have
been programmed so that should a certain one of their
plugs go offline; they automatically detonate.
Therefore, we cannot risk taking a shot at any of
them."

"I understand. Their only demand was for a Star
representative, so it would be best if we complied,"
She advised. "I'll deal with this myself. Tell your
men to not approach the building or fire for any
reason." Those were her final words before she began
walked toward the besieged structure.

"Everyone out of the way! Let her through!" He yelled
to the confused officers present. 

"Sir, I have the link to the Sniper Team #001 ready,"
A lower ranking officer handed him a headset.

"I just hope she knows what she's doing..." He
muttered as he fitted the device 
over his head.

She could feel the ominousness of the structure as she
approached the front doors. A feeling of dread
permeated the entire building all due to the events
unfolding inside. As she entered and the glass doors
closed behind her she was greeted by two pistol
barrels aimed at either temple of her head.

"Hands up. Anything stupid and we blow your brains out
now." One of the two team members ordered.

She complied without question and the trio began their
short trip to the rooftop.


Two individuals were perced on top of the eastern
building. The two-man police sniper team had so far
been given no orders other than to observe the perps.

"Blast it, I can't believe these bastards are mocking
us like this. Standing in plain sight knowing full
well we can't take a crack at 'em." The sniper
snarled.

"Until we figure out a way of blocking the signal from
the com to the bombs, we're stuck here," his spotter
told him.

The sniper was laying in a standard prone position. A
small thin needlepoint fiber-op cable ran straight
from the scopeless rifle and into his right eye
which is actually a Hawkeye implant. A Hawkeye implant
is a Cyclops implant
which has been specially and specifically modified for
use by military and police snipers. This system
allowed the shooter to see through the gun's eyes, so
to speak, and allowed for far greater precision
accuracy than could be reached through normal human
eyes looking through a scope. The spotter was
connected to the shooter via a direct peer-to-peer
connection between their corresponding plugs, which
allowed for instanteneous relay of changing wind
patterns and weather conditions directly from the
spotter, who had direct access to a weather satellite,
to the shooter.

"Sniper Team 1, this is captain Shingure, what is your
current status?" the familiar voice spoke into the
sniper's ear.

"No change yet sir, they've just been standing around
shooting the breeze." 

"Wait a minute. I've got movement from the roof
elevator. Someone's coming up," 
The spotter reported while looking through binoculars.

Sure enough three individuals stepped out from the
elevator, one with her hands up and the other two with
pistols to her head and back.

"One female and two perps." He specified.

"The woman is the Star rep they wanted to see. Do not
attempt to take out any of the perps, we still don't
know which one of them is connected to the bombs." The
captain ordered.

"We got that already. Just pray my trigger finger
doesn't think differently." 
The sniper magnified his vision to get a closer look.

"Well tell your finger that if it screws up it can pay
the multi-billion yen bill that'll come if those bombs
go off because of it!" The captain yelled into his
ear.


Kasumi scanned the perpetrators as she was led to the
center of the building rooftop. They were all dressed
the same way, sleeveless shirts, camoflauge pants, and
a pistol in a shoulder holster.

"She the one?" a man in a moustache and shades, and
who was also the leader, asked another team member to
his left.

"No, the survivor said it was a guy who iced
Sankichi," The member responded. 

"I assure you that whatever happened to your superior,
it was not the fault of 
Heaven's Star or any of its employees," Kasumi
explained.

The leader simply grinned and walked closer to her. He
gave her a rather lurid once over before speaking
again.

"I recognize you. Your Tendo's daughter aren't you?"

"Yes I am. I was sent to try and determine why the
Yakuza have taken such an aggressive stance against my
father's company. You've made five other attempts,
including this one, over the past week alone." Those
other attempts that Kasumi stated were all thwarted by
the well-manned and armed Star security teams with
little to no property damage or loss of human life.
This bombing attempt had so far been the only
successful try at disrupting company operations.

"You heard the man. Your dad had one of our top men
taken out," The leader explained. "Plowed straight
through his security, murdered him, and blew his
entire estate to shreds." 

"Guy is good, we already sent a hit-team after him,
they were sent back in body bags." The member to the
leader's left said.

"The Yakuza do not take the death of its own lightly.
We will take revenge for Sankichi and the men your guy
killed, one way or another," The leader's eyes, though
covered, moved to her left slightly.

"Once again, I can speak for my father when I say he
would never order an assassination attempt. Such
practices are never considered by Heaven's Star," 
Kasumi slowly lowered her hands. Despite being in the
midst of seven armed, and apparently well-trained
Yakuza men she was very calm and showed no outward
signs of fear. Something that a good portion of them
took notice of.

"Then how do you explain the only survivor having
witnessed the assassin stating that he was from Star?"


"I can't explain that. Perhaps he misheard...or he was
misled..." a sudden clarification hit her sharply. The
lull in Sword's activity was directly in line with the
Yakuza's sudden call to war against Star, it could not
have been a coincidence.

"Right. Well it seems the authorities have not taken
our threat seriously enough," the leader backed away
slightly. "We told them that we wanted the person
responsible for Sankichi's death, instead they sent
you."

"Because there is no one from Star responsible."

"Nonetheless, we are going to have to make an example
now won't we?" He nodded to someone to her left. One
of the men raised his pistol and took aim at her head.
"Unfortunately it's going to have to be you. Its a
shame, someone as gorgeous as yourself, it's quite a
waste." He smiled.

He fired, and everyone present expected to see a gray
substance explode from the side of her head and onto
the cement. Instead thee bullet came to an impromptu
stop when her hand, moving at a speed they had no hope
of registering, shot up and caught the still smoking
round between two fingers.

"W...what the fuck....?" The shooter stammered in
complete shock. Everyone else followed his example.

"I was hoping...," She moved the bullet from her left
hand to her right. "That this could be resolved
without resorting to violence."

"What are you? A pacifist? Sorry but this business has
no room for people like that," The leader of the
Yakuza hit-squad informed her.

The same man took aim again. Only this time he began
emptying the entire clip in her direction. To everyone
gathered, her arm was motionless, in reality it was
moving at far past blurring speed. Each bullet was
snatched out of mid-air as if they were not moving at
all. All of the men could do stand there in horror at
the fact that she was not being hit at all, and
wondered if either the shooter had incredibly sloppy
aim or there guns were loaded with blanks. After
several seconds the firing stopped, his gun now devoid
of ammunition.

"I believe your friend dropped these." She threw the
collective shells at the leader's feet.

He could only stand there as dumbfounded as his
colleagues.

"You." Kasumi suddenly pointed to a man slight behind
the leader and to his right. He looked left and right
and then wondered why she was staring at him. 
"You're the one connected to the explosives."

"What..." The leader whirled around to confirm that
Kasumi had indeed implicated the right person. "How
the hell did you..."



"Sniper Team One! Report! I've just gotten an alert of
shots fired up there! 
What is going on?!" The captain screamed.

"I...have no goddamned idea sir..." the sniper
reported back bewilderedly.

"How...in the name of God...was she NOT blown away?"
the spotter wondered just as confused.

"What do you mean? What is happening up there? ANSWER
ME!" The captain's impatience was apparent.

"I swear...it looked like...she caught the bullet..."

"What the hell is your spotter talking about?!" the
captain yelled into the sniper's ear.

"Their was a weapon's discharge sir...but...the rep
was unharmed," the sniper tried explaining in as clear
and sane way as he could. "Then...multiple
discharges...and...the rep...was still unharmed..." 

"You are not making any sense! Are you saying the
perps took a shot at the rep?" the captain tried to
clarify things for himself.

"That's what I'm saying sir. It was practically
point-blank range...and she's still standing..." the
sniper suddenly felt his partner hitting him rather
hard in the shoulder repeatedly. "What is it?!"

"Get your sights back on the roof! Something is up..."
the spotter told him as he looked through his
binoculars.

The sniper did as was told and moved his reticle back
to the roof and magnified. 
What caught his eye caused another blink of surprise.

"What is she pointing at..." He murmured.

"I don't know. She did it a couple of seconds ago..."
A realization hit the spotter suddenly as he followed
the finger to its target. "You don't think...is 
he the trigger?!"

"I don't know...there's a good chance, I mean look at
the way the leader is freakin out.... Get a connection
to the other teams..."



"I don't know how the hell you did that..." the leader
and everyone else present pulled their pistols and
immediately took aim at Kasumi. "But no way are you
getting the chance to tell the cops."

"This isn't needed. Just surrender and be done with
it. I assure that you will not be harmed." Kasumi
tried negotiating.

"You don't get it. This isn't about being harmed! This
is about getting the job done, lady, and
unfortunately," He cocked the pistol. "That means
giving you a few dozen more holes to breath through!" 

His finger came upon the trigger, but just as he was
about to fire, his target was no longer where she
should have been.

"What the...where did she go!!" He searched
frantically for the woman while his men did the same.

There was a grunting sound. They all turned their
vision to the east edge of the building. One of their
men was currently falling over, completely of devoid
consciousness, after having his nose nearly crushed by
the back of Kasumi's fist.

"What is she...?" Was the last thing the leader
uttered before she vanished again...



"Holy...How can she move so fast..." the spotter was
moving frantically moving his scope around.

"I don't know..." the sniper whispered. "Damnit, I
can't keep up..."

Everytime he brought his reticle to where she was she
was already gone. The precision his Hawkeye provided
made it all but impossible for him to miss a target.
Yet if this woman were to be his prey for some reason,
he would have no chance in even coming close to making
the mark.

"Report! What's going on now?!" the captain blared
into his ear again.

"By the looks of it...all hostiles are being rendered
neutralized sir." The sniper reported back.

"What? How? I thought I ordered all teams not to take
a shot!" 

"None did. The rep is taken out 'em out by herself!"

"Repeat that? What have I told you about drinking on
the job?!"

"I'm completely lucid and sober sir. I'm telling she
is wiping the floor with all of them by herself."



The last man dropped unpoetically to the floor after
Kasumi removed her fist from his stomach. She searched
for any other hostile threats and found none. 
That was when a sudden flicker of movement alerted her
senses. She whirled around to find the leader, still
conscious somehow, aiming at straight at her.

"Stupid...stinkin...bitch..." he forced himself to sit
up using an arm and used the other to aim his gun.

Kasumi was about to make another attempt to
incapacitate him when a glint of light flashed out of
the corner of her eye. She turned her gaze east and
then all at once remembered the snipers positioned on
three sides.

"NO! DON'T MOVE!!" She screamed to him.

It was too late. His temple exploded in a grisly
display of gore that forced her to turn her eyes away.
The sniper's bullet buried itself deep into his brain,
destroying any and all of Kasumi's hopes that the
situation could be resolved without a single loss of
life, or at the very least without a drop of blood
spilled.

"If you just surrendered..." She whispered to herself.

Her attention suddenly turned to the last man still
standing, the trigger. He was standing frozen,
shaking, and proverbially pissing his pants.



"Nailed him." The sniper wiped his brow.

"That was too close," The spotter checked out the
situation yet again. "We got one man still up."

"One man still up and running. He's gotta be the
trigger without a doubt." The sniper spoke directly to
the other two teams to the north and west. "So don't
even think of taking a shot at him, no matter what he
does."



"Calm down. I won't hurt you." Kasumi tried calming
the man. This must have been his first mission, it was
beyond cruel in her eyes to make the trigger a man who
had probably never even fired a gun before.

"Y...you stay away from me you freak!" His hands were
shaking so much as he aimed his gun that even if he
did fire the bullet would fly a mile away from her.

"You have to understand that there is nothing you can
do." She pleaded. "There are snipers all around you.
They know you're the trigger, but all that means is
that they won't kill you. Please, put the gun down."

His eyes turned to his fallen leader, his brain was
now nothing more than a splatter on the cement. This
caused his anxiety to increase even more.

"I...I..."

In the instant his eyes were averted, she struck. In
an eye blink her hand had grasped the wrist of his gun
hand and the other tapped a certain spot on the back
of his head. He instantly fell into a peaceful
slumber, Kasumi caught him before he fell over and
gently lowered him to the ground.

"Thank God..." She breathed a sigh of relief.

She slowly turned him on his stomach and placed a hand
over his brainplug ports. 
Her eyes closed and the final threat came into the
process of being removed.



"Damnit... what in the Devil's name is happening up
there?" the captain paced, awaiting word from the
sniper teams as to just what was occuring on the roof.

"Sir...I'm getting a report from the bomb squads
inside..." his lower ranking assistant once again
appeared by his side. A comset was to his ear along
with a confused expression.

"What is it?"

"The bombs...have been deactivated..."

"How?!"

"I don't know sir, the squads aren't responsible. They
are reporting one-by-one however that the explosives
on each floor have been rendered inactive."

"Miracles never cease do they?" the captain brought
the microphone of his head to his ear. "All Sniper
Teams, report. What's the situation up top?"

"The threat has been contained sir. One casualty, the
rest are unconscious," the 
Team One shooter reported.

"Well now, this went a shitload better than even I
imagined," he murmured to himself. "All teams pull
out. Have the bomb squads extract the explosives and
send the S.W.A.T team in to confirm containment of the
threat."

His eyes moved forward and he saw Kasumi exiting the
building. Her eyes gazed downward and she had a weary
expression on her face.

"I don't know what you did up there, but on behalf of
our entire department..." he started as she approached
him.

"I told you not to fire..." She interrupted suddenly.
She stopped in front of him but her eyes were looking
elsewhere.

"Uhhh, excuse me. I don't mean to be rude, especially
after what you just did, but you don't give the
orders. By what I understand that sniper saved your
life."

"You are right about one thing...I don't give the
orders..." She whispered before leaving the entire
scene behind.

"What's with her?" the captain's assistant wondered.

"No idea..."



***



In a dark, dreaded, undisclosed location eight men sat
at a large rectangular table. One could sense the
power the authority radiating from each one. These
were the leaders of the Yakuza crime syndicate, each
one an extremely wealthy and powerful individual in
their own right, as well as an influential leader.

"This cannot go on anymore! We have made five attempts
to cripple Heaven's Star and all have met with
failure!" One of the men slammed his fist into the
table. 
"At this rate Hung's death will never be avenged." He
aimed his finger at a chair that was ceremoniously
left empty.

"I agree. Star has humiliated us at every turn. If do
not do something now our name will be forever stained
and our enemies will laugh instead of fear us."
another one added on.

"Star's personnel are far too well-trained and skilled
for use of simple foot-soldiers. One must call on our
elites if we are to win this war."

One man sat at the head of the table. His hands were
clapsed together and his brow was furrowed in extreme
thought. He gather everything his allies were telling
him and contemplated a plan of action.

"What is your desicion? We must act quickly, we've no
time to waste," Another one of the crime lords added.

After several minutes of careful personal deliberation
the Yakuza leader finally came to a choice.

"Summon the Nightfall. We will show Heaven's Star the
terror of the full might of the Yakuza..."





To Be Continued......









Author's Notes:

1). It's amazing the kind of inspiration that comes to
you in your dreams. For example, the entire plot and
layout of this chappter, as well as another I am
currently working on, came to me in a single dream. If
there's anykind of advice 
I can give to writers out there it's this, listen to
your dreams; they'll never steer you wrong.

2). Your probably wondering when I am going to get to
the curses for god's sake. 
Trust me, they'll come sooner than you think.

3). I have NO idea if my interpretation of the Yakuza
comes even CLOSE to how they operate in real-life.
They most likely have no correlation whatsoever. So if
their are any Yakuza out there reading this, please
don't be pissed, I can honestly place the blame on
ignorance.

4). Same thing with the Japanese police force. I most
likely got there normal procedures all wrong, despite
the fact that I read the recent post on FFML as to
there operating procedures. Hell I don't even know if
they have an equivalent to 
a S.W.A.T team or even if it goes by the same name,
most likely not.

5). As always, C&C is highly valued and archived for
later reference. Good and 
bad.









































__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! GeoCities - quick and easy web site hosting, just $8.95/month.
http://geocities.yahoo.com/ps/info1
	     .---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----.
             | Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com |
             | Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com |
             |     Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject     |
             `---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'