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

"So, Saotome Ranma, shall we begin?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

***

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

***

"Cologne? A Chinese national?"

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

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

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

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

If only.

***

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

***

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

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

"You had nothing to do with the engagement."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Had been his friend.

***

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ryoga began to feel depressed. Very, very depressed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Akane, I love -

***

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Yeah."

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

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

***

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kuno.

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

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

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

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

Kodachi.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Finally, something did give.

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

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

All so that she could have Ranma for herself.

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

***

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

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

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

Ranma nodded again.

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

Ranma winced and hung his head.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

***

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kasumi.

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

Kasumi.

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

Kasumi.

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

Kasumi.

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

"Kasumi."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ranma wanted to cry. He couldn't.

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

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

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

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

His last thought was: Appearances can be deceiving.
 
 

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