"By the time we get home," Ukyou said resignedly. "I'll be walking again." She yawned as the terrain crawled past. They were still somewhere in Texas, at least Ukyou hoped they were. The comment had not been merely idle sarcasm. It had been a week since Ryouga had wheeled her out of Dr. Tofu's. "Ukyou, I've been thinking," Ryouga said. "You could use a chi-attack of some kind." "Are you saying I'm a weak martial artist?" Ukyou hefted her spatula and narrowed her eyes. "Huh?" It was the wrong response. *CLANG* "OWW!" Ryouga shouted. "What did you hit me for?!" "You said I was a weak martial artist!! Baka!!!" "All I said was that you haven't developed a new attack since I've known you!!" Ryouga shouted, rubbing his head. "Even Ranma can admit he needs to train once in a while!!" "Hey! I've been helping you win Akane's love," Ukyou protested. "I haven't had much time for training." "Well we have plenty of time now," Ryouga told her. Ukyou didn't really like the sound of that. "And how do you propose that I do that for the remaining week I'm stuck in this wheelchair." "That's why I was thinking chi channeling." "But all the chi channeling we know of requires some extreme emotion or another," Ukyou noted. "Control-freak, maybe?" Ryouga mumbled quietly in Russian. "What did you say?" Ukyou asked curiously. "I said 'How about your devotion to perfection?'" ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Akane Tendo I have come to..." Kodachi's loud declaration was cut off as something struck her lightly in the side. She glared to the bushes at her left and then straightened up. "Kodachi!!" Akane said. She set down her bag and entered stance. "Okay come on then!! We owe your family a few lumps anyway." "Careful, Akane," Ranma warned her unnecessarily. "Miss Tendo," Kodachi said tightly, glancing off to the left with narrowed eyes. "I want to apologize for my earlier behavior. I have been a pest to you and Ranma-Darling, and wish to make amends." Akane blinked. Ranma blinked. "And how would you do that?" Akane asked in suspicious disbelief. "I suppose you'll cook up some amnesia drug to feed me." "Hmm. Oww!" Kodachi rubbed her side again and looked down at the rubber band. "Shampoo already tried that," Ranma noted. "Oh yeah, I forgot," Akane said, completely missing the irony of the statement. "Really, Miss Tendo, surely we can compete in a more mature manner," Kodachi breathed in deeply. "...than...silly...chemical concoctions. I'm confident that my darling Ranma will eventually realize that I am the logical choice without resorting to such childish deeds." She glanced to the bushes and growled softly. "Satisfied?" "Don't talk to me you idiot!" the whispered response came. Ranma and Akane glanced at each other and sighed. "Ryouga and Ukyou are much better at this," Ranma told Kodachi. "What ever could you mean, Ranma-Darling?" Kodachi asked sweetly. "Later Mousse," Akane waved at the bushes and turned around to leave. "Nice...not fighting you...Kodachi." "Yeah, this has definitely been the least frustrating encounter I've had with you," Ranma agreed as he followed Akane away. "Well, that didn't work," Kodachi declared angrily. "Hmhmhmhmhmhmhm," Mousse chuckled evilly to himself. "It worked better than it would seem, Saotome did not respond to you with disgust this time." *THWACK* Mousse fell backwards with the imprint of a gymnastic club on his face. "Did you just call me disgusting?!" "Ugh, when did Shampoo get here?" Mousse groaned. *THWACK* "We'll get to your problems later!! They dismissed me!" "Uggh...." "WAKE-UP!!!" Kodachi tried to slap the dazed martial artist awake and Mousse grabbed at the hand as he came to. "What happened?" he asked, and then caught a glance of Kodachi's hands. "Kodachi, you don't have any lines on your palm." "A training accident!!" She pulled her hand away. "Not that it is any business of yours." "And what training strips the lines off your palm?" he asked. He caught a shadow of revulsion and shame in her eyes. "I can't remember the exact exercise," Kodachi snapped. "And why do you always wear clothes that cover up most off your body? I've never seen you in short sleeves or skirts, and you always wear your leotard underneath." "And wear such peasant fashions? Really." "There is something odd here." "Oh, what does that matter," Kodachi said trying to dismiss his suspicions, then she smiled evilly. "Now it is my turn to play set-up." Mousse swallowed hard. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Hey, isn't that Ukyou?" Sayuri asked out of the blue. Yuka looked over as she tried to draw the remains of her soda through the star. "It looks like it," Yuka agreed. At the next table, Hiroshi and Daisuke also turned their attention to the returned chef. The seeming Ukyou turned around a corner and vanished in the crowd. "I thought she was out with Ryouga," Hiroshi said. "That was supposed to be the longest date ever." "Yeah, lost that bet, apparently," Daisuke commented. Yuka and Sayuri glared at the boys. "I wonder where Ryouga got to," Sayuri pondered that while Yuka walked to a pay phone. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- "She was walking? You're certain it was her?" Nabiki asked Yuka on the other end. "Big spatula, chef's outfit, who else could it be?" "Hmmm, that is somewhat odd," Nabiki leaned back against the wall and brought her hand to her chin. "Check by Ucchan's if you can, and listen for any reports of heavy property damage in case Ryouga is around as well." "What's up chief?" Yuka asked. "I don't know yet, but something strange is going on." "Gotcha, later chief," Yuka hung up and Nabiki snapped her portable phone closed. Nabiki had seen the injuries Ukyou had sustained. Even Ranma would have still been out of commission at this point. This did not add up to anything that made sense. Nabiki looked up as Ranma and Akane walked into the door. "You'd never guess what just happened to us," Ranma said in amusement. "Have you two seen Ukyou or Ryouga recently?" Nabiki asked "Well a post card came in the mail today," Akane said. "They're somewhere in Texas." Nabiki sprung away from the wall, no longer merely suspicious. "Hey I didn't see that," Ranma noted. "Do you know when it was sent," Nabiki asked seriously. "Why?" Akane looked at her curiously as she walked to the desk in the entrance hall. "What's up Nabiki?" Ranma demanded. Akane dug the postcard out of the desk and looked at it. It was one of those custom jobs made from a photo scanned into a computer. It showed Ukyou in her wheel chair her cast carpeted in signatures. Behind them was giant stadium of some sort. Ukyou was garbed in a variety of souvenir clothing and waving cheerfully with the hand that wasn't in a sling. Ryouga was standing behind her standing in the middle of a small pile of bags looking rather embarrassed. There was a ball-cap with pig-ears on his head. Nabiki and Ranma took a quick look at the post card and burst out in near hysterical laughter. Akane looked at them in confusion. "What's so funny," Akane asked, looking back at the postcard curiously. "Inside joke Akane," Nabiki said as she examined the card a little closely. She pointed to the marquis. "Hmm, this game was just a couple of days ago." "So if this is Ukyou," Akane said, glaring at the still hysterical Ranma. "Who's downtown?" ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Shampoo checked the clock again and yawned. She would have expected Mousse to have shown up by now. Especially since Nabiki had told her a little of the plan to get them out of her life. As usual, Shampoo thought that Nabiki's plan was slightly risky. She had been watching everything placed before her with a paranoia that rivaled that of an American in the same room as an IRS agent. "Who know what nasty drug crazy-girl use on me," Shampoo muttered. "What is wrong Shampoo?" Cologne asked with a mixture of suspicion and concern. "Crazy-girl and Mousse team up," Shampoo explained. "And who gave them that idea?" the withered old crone asked. "Nabiki," Shampoo said idly. "Plan matchmake them out of Shampoo life." "Kodachi Kuno and Mousse?" Cologne thought for a moment. "They have similar styles of fighting at least. All those tricks up their sleeves. Still, I do not want you seeing that Tendo girl anymore." "Why you say that?" Shampoo asked. "She do good work." "There is something going on here that is..." Cologne paused and looked out the door. "...odd." Kodachi walked into the restaurant. "Oh my, how quaint," she laughed quietly. "This really a very charming establishment that you are running here. I can somewhat see what Ranma-Da....Ranma thought made this place worth coming to." "Go away crazy-girl," Shampoo snapped. "Kuno no welcome here." "Oh please," Kodachi half-laughed. "I don't approve of my brother's actions either. He has brought shame to family name." "What do you want, Miss Kuno," Cologne asked in that polite sarcasm she used so often. "Actually I was looking for Mousse. I think some of our purchases at the...convention may have been switched. I do so dislike wearing such impairing clothing." "No see Mousse for twenty minutes," Shampoo said without inflection. "What?!" Kodachi shouted. "He's not here!? And after..." Kodachi glanced at Ukyou and Cologne and continued at a much more sedate pace of speech. "I mean....I need those bags for an upcoming gymnastics tournament." "The boy took out a delivery," Cologne said. "He should be back within an hour." "Oh, I see," Kodachi saunded annoyed. "Then perhaps I'll have the Ramen special." "Stay away from kitchen," Shampoo ordered her. "Really, Shampoo. As I just explained to Akane, I've moved beyond such silly artificial methods." Despite this the gymnast did sit down in the middle of the room. "Whatever." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Mousse had only been here once or twice before, he had briefly considered partnering with Kuno to get rid of Ranma. Fortunately he decided that would probably be more difficult than it was worth and instead joined with Ryouga. Because of those early excursions to investigate the Kunos, he had a fair idea of where he needed to look. The young man was surprisingly stealthy for one almost totally blind. The master of dark magic even managed to avoid the questionably observant Sasuke. He knew from experience that Kodachi's part of the house was even more heavily booby trapped than all the rest of the place. Fortunately he wasn't going to Kodachi's residential area. The chambers that formerly belonged to Tatewaki Kuno were sparsely furnished. Everything that was there maintained a traditional style that would have fit into a Kurosawa film. On the surface it seemed the Kuno was not a man for modern enhancements. Mousse knew differently, however, it took very little searching to find the catch again. Then suddenly Kuno's collection of samurai flicks and training documentation videos. The big screen TV conflicted almost blasphemously with the surrounding decor. It wasn't so much the presence of the video equipment among the traditional decorations, as it was that the item was hidden. There was an innate hypocrisy that lay about the room and engendered a level of disgust in everybody who came into it. Mousse scanned the titles, squinting and leaning in close to make out the words. He didn't know quite what he was looking for, but he felt it would jump out at him. It didn't take him long to find a series of tapes that apparently catalogued Kodachi's training. The tapes seemed to extend over a period of three years, ending shortly before Ranma arrived in Nerima. Looking at them closely he found time gaps of varying lengths in record. These gaps ranged from one week to a full month. Playing a hunch he picked one of the tapes that recorded the time immediately before one of those gaps. He checked the date and calculated that Kodachi would have been about thirteen at the time. Turning on the television and muting the volume, he placed the tape in the attached VCR. As the video played out his eyes widened in disbelief. "Ancestors," he gasped in shock. He stopped the tape, rewound it and snatched a few more of the tapes for the few seconds it was rewinding. Stuffing these up his sleeves into hidden pockets somewhere he immediately set about to leave the Kuno estate. It wasn't long after he had left that Sasuke entered Tatewaki's chamber. The ninja immediately noticed that the television was on. He didn't know who had been there, but he had a number of suspicions. He had been hiding information about Kuno from his clan superiors for a while now. Perhaps they had discovered Sasuke's plan to free his Master. He thought the better of that though, if they had discovered him, then he would have already learned about it. He wouldn't be nearly so active either. "But what were they doing here?" Sasuke wondered. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Mousse wander again," Shampoo noted angrily. "He stand you up." "Stand me..." Kodachi started. "OO-hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!! What interest would I have in such a spineless little man? How would I expect that fool to protect me." The thoughts running through her mind were something like this. "I am going to kill him! As soon as I find him, I am going to kill him!! Snap me with rubber bands like he was dealing with a child while he disappears for his humiliation!!" "Don't ask Shampoo what Shampoo don't understand." "I didn't know that you understood anything," Kodachi said with her usual mock cheerfulness. Shampoo glared at her. "Well, would you mind telling your visually challenged friend that I want my things as soon as possible?" Kodachi asked formally. "I have other errands I need to run." In her head the word "kill" was being repeated over and over again with variations, such as "stone dead," interspersed liberally. "Yeah, yeah," Shampoo dismissed her with a wave. "Don't worry about it girl," Cologne chuckled. "I'll be sure that he gets the message." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mousse didn't have much trouble deciding what to do with the tapes. He went directly to the Tendo dojo. Mousse reached there about the same time the occupants were realizing the existence of a second Ukyou. "Mousse?" Akane said in surprise as she answered the knock on the door. "What are you doing here?" Then she and Ranma narrowed their eyes. "Or is this part of your and Kodachi's plan?" "Not now, Saotome," Mousse said in annoyance. "Whoa, this must be serious," Ranma declared. "He actually recognized me." "Kasumi," Mousse ignored Ranma. "I was looking for your sister Nabiki." "I am Nabiki, Kasumi is shopping," the middle Tendo said irritably. "We already have problems at the moment Mousse, what do you need?" "I need you to see these tapes," Mousse said, producing the tapes he had pilfered from Kuno's room. Nabiki irritably took one and wondered into the living room. "What are those?" Akane asked, Mousse handed one each to Ranma and Akane. "Kodachi's training tapes?" Nabiki popped one into the VCR and it instantly started playing. "I can't do it!!" it was a much younger Kodachi on the film cradling her hands and cowering on the floor while her brother stood over her. "You are allowing yourself to be distracted!" the voice was Kuno's. "Do it again!!! Now!!" "But the bar is too hot!! It hurts!" Kodachi pleaded. The Kuno on the picture kicked his foot into his dear sister's face. "Kamisama," Akane whispered. "What was there father doing during all of this?" "Hawaii," Nabiki noted grimly. "I said do it again!!" Kuno shouted. "Get up now and do it again." The young Kodachi struggled to her feet and walked to the end of a mat. She glanced at her brother and then at the red hot set of uneven bars she was about to run for. "Kuno must read the same books as my old man," Ranma noted bitterly. They continued watching the tape, it was like passing an accident. You couldn't help but watch in morbid fascination, all the while thanking the heavens that it wasn't you. "Master Kuno," Sasuke's voice came from off camera. "Perhaps you should find another way to train her." "Silence, my good Sasuke," the samurai ordered, his tone was much more civil to the ninja than it had been to his sister. "This is the only way. Now!! Do it again!! And don't let go this time!" Kodachi hesitated only a moment in anticipation of pain before launching herself at the uneven bars. She leaped up and grabbed the bars with a sharp cry of pain, making it through four changeovers before she released the bars and fell ungracefully to the ground. "No!! It has to be perfect!!" Kuno shouted, kicking the already pained girl as she huddled against herself. "Under all circumstances, perf-" Nabiki stopped the tape and ejected it with a look of disgust. "But we saw her use Kuno as a weapon against Ranma!" Akane protested. "I'll bet she regained some confidence about the same time she started using paralyzation drugs," Nabiki noted. "She didn't like getting rid of them," Mousse agreed. Then he gasped and stood up suddenly. "I uh, forgot, I'm supposed to be meeting.....someone." "Really," Nabiki said, managing a little sarcasm despite her attitude. "I wonder who." "Wait a minute, Kuno, that's what's going on!" Ranma shouted. Akane and Nabiki looked at him and then realized what he was talking about. Nabiki was mildly annoyed that he had thought of it first. "The second Ukyou," both Tendos and Ranma said in unison. "Somebody is going to drop Ukyou's charges against Kuno!" ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "So you see officer it was all just a big misunderstanding," Faux-Ukyou told the cop. "We were just sparring and some of my friends overreacted." "And it took you a week to report this," the cop said, suspicious. "I wasn't aware that he had been arrested until yesterday," Faux-Ukyou smiled. "I've been visiting family." "Miss Kuonji," the cop said, resigned. "If you're afraid that he won't be convicted. This isn't the United States." "Kuno is generally regarded as the weakest warrior in Nerima," Faux-Ukyou said sarcastically. "He's a jerk, but virtually all of us can beat him into a pulp when we want to." "I see," the cop said. "Well I don't see where we have any choice then. Tatewaki Kuno is free to go." "Good I wouldn't want him in there because of some over-concerned friends," the chef said. "Catch you later." The fake turned around and started to leave, an evil smile formed on the female lips. It wasn't much later that a limping and still heavily bandaged Kuno shambled out of the police station. The swordsman wore an arrogant and triumphant smile as he took in the fresh air. He was a mile down the road when he saw what at first looked like Ukyou leaning against a wall down an Alley. "Be you the true Ukyou or are you yet another vile minion of the sorcerer Hibiki?" "I'm the guy that was hired to get you out of there," the fake Ukyou passed a large black handkerchief past herself and suddenly a skinny boy in a white t-shirt and pants with suspenders was standing there. "Copycat Ken," Kuno said in arrogant recognition. "Who hired you?" "Your ninja, obviously," Ken answered. "I just wanted to make sure you knew what the price was before we have a problem." "And what was the price?" Kuno asked. "Surely you know that all my money has been taken away." "Oh that's all right sammie," Ken smirked. "The price was another shot Ranma Saotome." "You think that a pale imitation such as you can handle the sorcerer Saotome?" Kuno laughed. "Go ahead and try, he shall still be here for me to smite." "That is all I wanted to hear," Ken smiled. "Later sammie-boy." "Why is it you keep calling me sammie?" Kuno asked. "Well, oh great samurai, figure it out for yourself, the boy started to leap upwards. "Halt!!" Kuno commanded. "Perhaps you can help in another matter as well." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "This isn't working Ryouga," Ukyou said despondently. "I just can't train while I'm stuck in this thing." She thumped the wheelchair angrily. "Try to calm down Ukyou," Ryouga said, trying to be soothing. "In a couple of weeks I'll be able to learn a few more tricks. Right now I just want to go home." She said it without yelling this time. "Yeah me too," Ryouga agreed. "But it's not that easy to get back." "Can you stop at the next phone we find?" Ukyou asked. "Huh, sure," Ryouga said. He scanned about and saw a pay phone near one of the park's restrooms. "Why?" "How much money do we have left?" Ukyou asked as Ryouga wheeled her over to the phone. The lost-boy set down the various bags and slipped off his backpack. For once Ukyou watched as he dug through looking for some American currency. After the camping equipment was out the way Ryouga started producing small bundles of colored paper. "I can't find any dollars in here," Ryouga muttered as he dropped an inch thick bundle of small plastic cards. Ukyou's eyes widened and she blinked as Ryouga continued to search. "I've never had to spend this much before." "Uhm Ryouga, where do you get all this money?" Ukyou asked. "One of my ancestors was in Italy and saved some guy's life, Megaci, Medachi," "Medici?" Ukyou asked dumbfounded. "Yeah that was it," Ryouga said. "Any way that guy gave my ancestor some money." "That doesn't explain why you have so much money." "Well, apparently we haven't used it all yet," Ryouga told her as he continued to look through his backpack. "How long ago was this?" Ukyou blinked as Ryouga examined a large ring of silvery metal with what looked like Caesar's head on it. "What country is this?" Ryouga asked himself, then he turned to answer Ukyou's question. As he did so he tossed the coin over to his shoulder eliciting a near heart attack from Ukyou. "Oh it was about eleven hundred years ago." "And you haven't used it up yet!" "I remember hearing something like 'most Hibiki lifetime expenditures being less than half quarterly accumulated interest' or something like that." Ryouga shrugged and continued his search "Uh," Ukyou nodded blankly. "I'm sorry, I don't have any more American currency," Ryouga told her. "Well, except this old coin." Ryouga held up a small piece of metal with a picture of a buffalo on it. He tossed it in the same direction as the other coin. "Never mind Ryouga, I think we can cover it." "Cover what?" "We're going to call a taxi, sugar." Ryouga blinked. "Never thought of that," he said. "Oh, and Ryouga," Ukyou said sweetly. "What?" Ryouga asked suspiciously. "Go back and pick up those coins you threw away," Ukyou blinked cutely. "Please..." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- "Where Mousse go two hour!!" Shampoo snapped as Mousse entered the Cat Cafe. "I was delayed," Mousse protested angrily. "Something important came up." "We had a rush while you were out boy," Cologne told him. "What was so important that you had to leave us in the lurch?" "Uh, did Kodachi come by?" he asked looking about the cafe. "Crazy-girl here then gone," Shampoo answered as she carried an order to a customer. "She was here, then?" Mousse asked. He thought something much different, "She's going to kill me." "The girl left fairly upset," Cologne told him. "Perhaps you should bring her the items she purchased at the convention. She seemed quite eager to have them." Mousse nodded nervously and started to turn back out the door. "Go bother crazy-girl," Shampoo told him irritably. The leaving Mousse turned a moment to address he. "Don't judge so quickly," he insisted before leaving. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Hello, dear sister." Kodachi's blood chilled at the sound of that voice. She stopped and turned to look down the hall at her brother, standing there with his bokken. She had a single packet of paralyzation powder. "Why, brother-dear," she answered firmly and coldly. "How, pray tell, did you get out of jail?" She thought back to Sasuke and his "errands." "The unjust-charges laid against me by my enemies were dropped," he answered, smiling. "I was hoping that you had something to do with that." "We had our last agreement in my match against that brazen redhead you are so fond of," Kodachi reminded him, backing a step off. Kodachi was not really up to Ukyou's level of skill, but she had much more experience with her brother. Tatewaki was not going to catch her by surprise. "That is unfortunate," Kuno said, bringing his bokken down from his shoulder. "Perhaps I should not have let you end our training so quickly." "You don't scare me anymore, brother-dear," Kodachi asserted, knowing that it was a lie as she said it. "We'll see about that," Kuno said grimly. He charged forward into a cloud of powder, immediately his muscles seized up and he toppled over, unable to move. His muscles didn't even let up for gravity, he merely lay on his side looking like a toppled statue. "Well, brother-dear," Kodachi said smugly. She then started kicking the motionless samurai. With each word she kicked him again. "It. Seems. That. You. Have. Not. Quite. Achieved. Per. Fec. Tion." The powder didn't let the samurai make anything more than minimal facial gestures, but it was obvious he was feeling the kicks. "OO-hahahahahahahahahahha," Kodachi asked, then she set her foot back in preparation for a stronger kick. "You didn't really think I'd let you fight me? Did youuu...." something snared her foot as it left the ground and pulled back. Kodachi fell face first to the floor and had to shake her head clear. "Ah ah ah," she heard Sasuke admonishing her. "You should know your place better than that Mistress Kodachi." "ERRRAAHHH!!" Kodachi shrieked angrily. "Unhand me you dwarf!!" She grabbed the string tied to her leg and jerked it, swinging the little man over her head and into a wall. Unfortunately, Sasuke had experienced this tactic before, facing Ranma. The little ninja let go of the rope and twisted about so that he could bounce off the wall and land lightly on his feet next to Kuno. "Forgive me, Mistress Kodachi," Sasuke requested. "But you know that I must serve my master first." "It does not surprise me in the least," Kodachi hissed, whipping the confiscated lasso out to snatch a chair from a room down the hall. The cramped area made it difficult to fully utilize the weapon as she was used to, and Sasuke easily avoided the attack. As the ninja rolled by the paralyzed Kuno a second powder cloud formed. Kodachi had a nasty suspicion that it was something to counteract her poison. She saw Sasuke run into the wall and her brother starting to stretch. Then she was bolting down the hall toward her living area. Kodachi passed cautiously, knowing where all the booby traps were. Obviously this included her own additions as well. She could hold off the two of them a long time from her room and connecting gym. She closed and locked her door behind her and turned around to look at the room. She took a moment to breathe a sigh of relief before the sound of clapping hands came to her attention. "Very good, sister," it was her brother's voice again. "I didn't think you would make it here." The second Kuno charged forward, stiffly, but with great technical skill. Kodachi leaped over him easily and ran into the gym, snatching a ribbon as she did. It didn't take Kodachi but a moment to determine that her opponent was not fighting to full strength. This was really her brother. "Come on then, brother-dear," Kodachi challenged, trying to sound confident. "Let's see who trains who this time." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Well, that girl packs quite a punch," Kuno-Ken said as he stretched out the final effects of the paralyzation powder. "Yes, she is much more skilled than you would first think," Sasuke agreed. "Now we must hurry to help the master in fighting her." "And what are you two doing here?" somebody shouted behind them. They turned to see an angry Mousse looking at them from the doorway. "This is private property," Sasuke told him. "I would suggest you leave." "Hmhmhmhmhmhmhmhmhm," Mouse laughed evilly. "I don't know what you and Sanzenin are doing here, Tsubasa, but I know that you have no authority to be here." "Well, well, if it isn't duck-boy," Kuno-Ken said, smiling and laughing a full Kuno laugh. "Come on then you pitiful stage magician, see if your silly tricks can match with the swiftness of the mighty Kuno's blade." "Kuno!!" Mousse said surprised. "But you're in jail." "That mistake has been corrected," Kuno-Ken declared. "Those fools knew that they could not rightfully hold the noble and righteous Kuno." "It doesn't really matter," Mousse decided. "I can handle you myself this way." "We shall see," Kuno-Ken launched forward with a series of da-da-da's which were interrupted by the sudden appearance of an entangling chain. Mousse pulled forward launching Kuno into a short flight. Surprisingly the swordsman used the momentum to his own advantage letting carry him into a spinning roundhouse that slammed Mousse into the wall. Sliding the sword out of the now loose chain, Kuno-Ken slashed forward at the stunned Chinese fighter. Mousse barely rose a chain length to block the attack in time. Then he rolled out of the way of another spinning strike using the momentum of the reflected first strike. Sasuke tried to find someway to get into the fight, but couldn't get past Kuno-Ken in the narrow hallway. Mousse produced a pair of bladed gloves from somewhere under his robes and slashed in from either side. Kuno-Ken blocked with his bokken catching between the claws. Mousse lifted up and threw the samurai through the wall. Then, suddenly, they were in the Kuno courtyard. Sasuke gleefully followed behind them and started manning the various levers hidden about the estate. "Now we're in my element," Mousse declared brashly. He rose a chicken above his head and collected the eggs that it laid seemingly at his mental command. He leaped into the air and threw the eggs at Kuno. The swordsman was obscured in a cloud of fire and smoke. When it cleared Ryouga was standing there behind his umbrella. "Well, I forgot to mention something," Ryouga-Ken said. "Everywhere is my element!" he shouted as he tossed bandanas in a swarm at the descending Mousse who responded with equally large swarm of knives. Then both were dodging a third swarm of booby trap propelled javelins. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The ribbon wrapped around the bokken Kuno had raised before it. Kodachi whipped back, attempting to take the weapon out of her brother's hand. Of course Kuno didn't relinquish his grip on the weapon, and so he let himself be pulled forward along with the bokken. Kodachi didn't care, Tatewaki was her original target anyway. If he wanted to negate his block it was fine with her. A flip of her wrist and the ribbon released its hold on her brother's weapon. "AAAAHHH!!!!" Kuno shouted as he flew through the air in an uncontrolled arc. He stood up deliberately soon after crashing into the wall. "You still think that you are a martial artist?" He laughed. "You haven't gotten near me yet, brother-dear," Kodachi noted. "And you won't." She was not nearly as confident as she sounded, she knew about Ukyou. She also knew, despite anything she said, that Ukyou was better than she was. Kodachi's martial training had been worked into her gymnastics training underneath her brother's nose. That combined with her chemical experimentations had finally allowed her to force some breathing room away from him. As Kuno charged in again, Kodachi flipped and tumbled away. This time she snapped a razor hoop off one of the racks and tossed it towards her brother. As the first flew towards its target she tossed a second and then was moving again. She whipped her ribbon up and caught one of the upper beams and swung herself up off the ground. "Where's your powder, dear-sister?" Kuno asked as he dodged under the first hoop and slipped his blade into the center of the second. Whipping the bokken against the blunt inner edge of the hoop, he redirected the hoop's path through the extended ribbon. "Did you perchance waste it on that villain Saotome?" Kodachi landed relatively gracefully considering the severed ribbon, but still had to take a few extra steps to regain her balance. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Sasuke slumped unconscious against a tree, while Mousse and Ken exchanged fire. Both the martial artists had gotten tired of dodging javelins, giant marbles, and other assorted booby trap weapons. This had produced a brief alliance involving each of them taking a shot at the unsuspecting ninja. At the moment Ken was wearing Ranma's form and infuriating Mousse with a number of Ranmaesque insults. The mimic did not like the way that the battle was going. He was going to win, but it would be a long difficult match. He wanted to be fresh for Saotome, and already that would require a deal of rest. Suddenly he whipped the kerchief across his form and then Shampoo was standing in the fight. "Mousse no hurt Shampoo?" Shampoo-Ken asked as she hurled a bonbori at the nearsighted martial artist. Mousse dodged aside, but didn't hesitate in moving forward with those claw gloves he seemed to have an endless supply of. Surprised by the reaction, Ken was unprepared. "Nice try, Ken," Mousse commented slashing downward, and then sweeping the false Shampoo-Ken's feet out from under her. The mimic kippuped back to her feet and then leaped back from Mousse. The kerchief came out again and he was then fighting Happosai. "Well, sonny boy, this is taking more effort than I thought it would." the troll-Ken said. "You can keep fighting me, or you can go back and stop Kuno from giving his sister a lesson in loyalty." Mousse hesitated, narrowed his eyes and turned toward the house. "I'll see you again, Ken," he promised as he ran into the house. "How I love the male insistence on saving the damsel in distress," Ken laughed. "Well cheerio folks, I have a Ranma to destroy." The troll-Ken bounced away cackling gleefully. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ A mini-club bounced off of Kuno's head, distracting him for a moment and opening the way for the last three clubs. The first clubs of Kodachi's volley had all been deflected or sliced before getting within three feet of the swordsman. Kodachi performed a double back flip away from her brother and grimly clutched her full-sized trick clubs. "If you are going to fight, dear sister," Kuno said as he recovered from the hits. "You should perform up to the standards of the Kuno name. This has barely tested my abilities at all." He calmly strode forward slowly, standing straight. "You haven't touched me yet," Kodachi insisted, taking a step back. "Even Ukyou's copy managed to split my consciousness from my body for breath or two," Kuno swung in with his blade and connected with a spike-covered club. "All you have managed is a few lucky shots." He twisted his blade and the club was pulled from Kodachi's grip and embedded into the wall. "I'm not scared of you," Kodachi hissed, attacking with her club. The bokken swished across lazily and disarmed Kodachi's last weapon. She punched outward and contacted with Kuno's face, but the untrained blow barely registered to the samurai-wannabe. "You should be," he said, grabbing her by the throat and slammed her into the wall. She hung a foot of the ground, unable to breathe. "It is my right to be feared." Kodachi gagged as Kuno slowly crushed her throat, she tugged at his hand with her own and flailed ineffectually at the air below her. Then Kodachi fell to the ground and sweet air rushed into her lungs, the sensation of breathing drowned at the sound of a piece of wood clattering to the ground as well. She looked up, expecting to see Kuno gloating over her. Instead she saw him unarmed and wrapped in chains, struggling to break free. "That is not how one treats a lady," Mousse lectured sarcastically. "Much less a sister." He whipped the samurai backwards off his feet. Kuno flew towards the waiting Mousse he let the chains fall loosely to the ground as he whipped a large, porcelain duck into Kuno's face. The training potty struck with enough force to shatter the duck. Mousse spun back into a roundhouse that met Kuno in mid flight after being hit by the duck. The Chinese martial artist let his foot push Kuno's head in a reverse arc until the samurai met the ground again and was sandwiched between hardwood and a human foot. Before Mousse could follow up with anything else, the gym was enveloped in a cloud of choking smoke. When it cleared Kuno was gone without a trace. Mousse scanned the room briefly before rushing to the weight table. "Kodachi are you all right?" "You saved my life,"" Kodachi said in disbelief. Mousse looked up from the weight table and turned towards where the voice had emanated from. He moved, more cautiously towards where he was pretty certain that Kodachi was sitting. The master of dark magic was starting to worry that the gymnast would now start to obsess over him as well. "Well, I couldn't ju-*" Mousse was interrupted when Kodachi reached out kissed him lightly on the cheek. "Thank you," she said simply, without flowery additions. For some reason this shy and reserved action sent Mousse's heart racing. "I was glad to help," Mousse said and then looked at the still shaky Kodachi. "Not that I'd want you to get in trouble again." "I don't want to stay here tonight," Kodachi said quietly. Mousse helped Kodachi to her feet and, deciding that she was still too shaky, picked her up and started carrying her. Kodachi leaned her head against his shoulder as they walked along, she felt safe.
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