Well hello there, all you beautiful readers!  It is I, the gorgeous and talented
Sakura Yamazaki, here to provide your recapping experience!  I noticed this
fanfic was suffering from a severe lack of me last chapter, which is undoubtedly
why everyone is depressed!

Well, it's possible people were also depressed because of the body count last
chapter.  First it started off with Vega killing Ran, which of course did not
endear him to basically everyone else involved, and made that studmuffin Ranma
so angry he wanted to kill Vega.  But he didn't!  Except he almost did after
Vega said something really far too nasty for this ladylike priestess to repeat
here, but then Ukyou killed Vega instead.  Didn't she say something about
killing being the one line she'd never cross no matter what?  How wishy-washy!
Just more proof that what this fanfic needs is more ME.

Speaking of things that would have been helped by me being around, those losers
at the TAC clearly can't accomplish anything if I'm not around to hold their
hands like I was in the original Blue Seed series.  I mean, not only did that
admittedly handsome but amusingly dumb Kusanagi fail to beat Murakumo, but all
of them were left impotent when Telulu showed up with her new superweapon
Valkyrie and proceeded to eat Kaede's soul... literally!  Also, they didn't even
notice that that Matsudaira woman had been secretly working for Telulu for
goodness knows how long!

At least we can respect Nabiki.  A woman after my own heart, who knows what she
wants and sets out to get it, even if she has to pretend she was sexually
assaulted!  Not that she had to do that to get the wishing sword, which she
managed to do even after being shot by Professor Tomoe.  Not that he'll be doing
any more of that, since that ever-present Telulu showed up and had her
superweapon kill him.  Now that's a hostile takeover!  It really was beyond the
pale for that poor little girl Hotaru to watch her father get killed, even if he
was evil.  (sigh)  Once again, if only I'd been there to exorcise all the
demonically possessed scientists that seem to abound in Japan, this could have
been avoided.  But I'm already saving America and by extension to world, and
even someone as beautiful and talented as myself can't be everywhere!

I also could have exorcised those two dolls that came to "assist" (read: keep an
eye on) Vega before his untimely demise.  Thankfully, Ukyou defeated them, but
let them get away afterwards... tsk tsk, sloppy work.  And now Ukyou and Ranma
are running off to England to fight vampires.

See, I would clearly totally kick some tail fighting vampires!  So why am I not
front and centre here, too!?

I'll pass on going to Ohtori Academy, though.  That guy Chris was there talking
to this creepy - but DEAD sexy - guy Akio and his even creepier sister about...
uh... villages and how children are raised there and how this proved the
existence of God.  Or something.

While Chris was pretending to understand this, Akane and Shampoo were training
together.  We learned Shampoo might be brighter than she looks!  Not in my
league, of course.  The sort of brains and beauty combination possessed by me
comes around only once in a generation.  But Shampoo and Akane seem to be
becoming friends, which is nice for them I guess.  They're more pleasant than
that Pink girl, anyway.

Or than that Rei girl, who has been moping for, like, EVER about how her
grandfather's dead.  My mother's dead, and you don't see ME whining about it.
Stupid Shinto priestess wannabe.  Not even a tenth of my talent, of course.  I
kill monsters - and save the world - WITHOUT magic reincarnation powers!  Just
more proof that I should be the star here!

Now all you readers who want the beautiful and charming Sakura Yamazaki to
assume her rightful place in this fanfic, make sure you email the authors ten
thousand times each and get their heads back on straight!



			      C&A Productions Presents

                          A Work of Blatant Self-Insertion


                                   Hybrid Theory


                           Chapter 17: Somewhere I Belong




	Akane was alone in the forest. It was dark and the mist obscured
anything more than a few metres away from view. She was frightened, but that
didn't really matter. She knew she had abandoned her friends and that they
weren't here to help her any more. She was alone, and it was her fault.
	She looked up at the tall trees. They were impossibly large. No, she was
just smaller. She was a child again. She was a child lost in the woods and the
mist stretched off in all directions. This place was so familiar and so vivid.
Was this a memory?
	Before she could think on that any further, the ground below her
exploded. She screamed and tumbled. Her skills abandoned her, or maybe they had
never been there, but for whatever reason she was thrown to the ground and
collapsed in a heap. Her body ached and there were cuts on her arms. She started
to cry.
	The sound of harsh breathing drew her eyes up. The monster loomed over
her, its wicked claws hovering in the air. It was a creature she had never seen
before, some hideous combination of bird and rodent. The rational part of her
mind tried to tell her that such things existed, somewhere in the world. But she
knew they were never so big. It was big as a transfer truck. No normal animal
grew so large.
	Akane could do nothing but cower. Even as she did, she felt something
else there. It was larger, deeper and just beyond the giant platypus. It was
something that defied the definition of the term large. It tickled a far more
recent memory, but this was a memory she did not want to remember. She pushed
the thought from her mind as the monster animal closed on her.
	The shadow leapt from her right and swung a long staff, clobbering the
beast with a single expert strike. It collapsed to the ground, a large lump
forming atop its skull. Now that it was not looming so large, it did not seem
nearly so intimidating. In fact it seemed slightly silly.
	The shadow was standing on top of the skull now. It was another child,
holding up a bizarre weapon on one shoulder. Akane stared at her saviour. There
was something wrong here. This wasn't the way it had happened. The figure
stepped into the light and Akane saw a gleam off her spatula and the little girl
smiled at her.
	"Hey, idiot, you know you shouldn't be wandering around by yourself in
such a dangerous place, right?"
	"What...?" Akane asked. She knew she was supposed to say something else.
	"Listen, I gotta go," the girl turned slightly, making as if to leap
away. "Here, take this. It belongs to a friend of mine."
	The dream girl tossed something at Akane, who caught it with reflexes
she knew she had never had as a child. She glanced down at the thing. It was a
helmet, like the kind a motorcycle rider would wear.
	"If you ever need help, give that back to her, okay?" the dream girl
said before leaping away into the darkness again.
	"Wait!"
	Akane gasped as she woke up with a start. She glanced around the dark
room. Her pajamas were clinging to her body by the cold sweat. She saw a flash
of light in the darkness. The moonlight flickering of the edge of a sword.
	"No, Akane, we're leaving now. Are you awake yet?"
	"Shampoo?" Akane's eyes adjusted a bit more to the darkness and she
could see the Chinese girl sitting on the bed opposite her. She was holding two
swords, one of which she tossed at Akane. Akane grabbed it reflexively, caught
by a sudden surreal feeling. "Leaving? What...?" For some reason Akane couldn't
concentrate. Dreams were supposed to fade when you woke up, weren't they?
	Shampoo blinked, looking concerned for a moment. Then she got up and
slowly walked over to Akane. She leaned over and looked into her eyes.
"Akane..." Then Shampoo rapped the hilt of her sword against Akane's forehead.
Akane yelped in pain. "Wake up!"
	"I'm awake! I'm awake!" Akane waved her hands at the girl to stave off
further violence.
	"Good. Then get dressed, we're leaving." Shampoo turned and strode
purposefully out the door. Akane watched the taller girl leave, her long purple
hair rustling in her wake. Finally Akane sighed and slipped out of bed.
	She really needed a shower, but there probably wouldn't be time for
that. She remembered vaguely the time Akane had stopped at that one motel for a
good long shower and Shampoo had shown up and dragged her, still naked, covered
with soap and screaming, back to the rest of the group so they could get moving.
Akane reflected that it was really not the easiest thing in the world to be
Shampoo's friend.
	Akane merely slipped into a fresh set of clothes. Her weights were still
on, of course. She didn't even bother to take them off when she slept anymore.
As she got dressed, the memories of the real world filtered back to her. The
dream didn't really fade. In fact, she kept having to look down into her hand to
make sure she wasn't carrying a helmet. But it grudgingly retreated to the back
of her mind.
	She glanced out the window. In the distance, a dark mass loomed in the
moonlight. It was impossible to make out any details now, but Akane remembered
it clearly from when they had arrived in the small village earlier today. It was
a forest, a great mass of trees with streams of mist pouring from between the
gaps so that the entire thing looked like it was floating on a cloud.
	And Akane knew she had been here before. She didn't know when, and the
memory remained teasingly at the tip of her tongue. A slight weight settled on
her shoulder and Akane glanced up at her pet octopus. She smiled and scratched
underneath Patoratsyu's snout, causing him to close his eyes and make that
strange yet calming sound he made when he was happy.
	"One dream to another then..." Akane said to him as she turned away from
the window. "Does Chris just have a thing for these kinds of places, boy?"
	The octopus gave a very good impression of a shrug, considering he
didn't have shoulders. Akane shook her head. At least they were out of that
city. Something about Ohtori and its surroundings had just struck her wrong. It
was like there was a part of her that knew she wasn't supposed to be there. That
even lingering as close as she did was dangerous. But like all the strange
feelings she had been having lately, it was hard to pin it down.
	She wondered if Ami and the others were okay. It had taken Chris a long
time to convince them all to stay at the school. Not that Akane could fault his
arguments. He had just been doing exactly what she had asked him to do, after
all. Ohtori was a place where Chronos would never find the Sailor Senshi. It was
a place they could launch strikes into the world from and then retreat to for
safety. It was a place where they could have something resembling a normal life.
And if it was run by the next best thing to the Devil himself? Well, Chris had
spent most of that hour drilling into everyone's head in no uncertain terms what
he thought of Akio Ohtori and how everyone should interact with him.
	But that was the past. Akane shook those thoughts clear as she emerged
into the street in front of the small inn they were staying at. Everyone else
was already waiting for her. She waved cheerfully, and they all nodded or called
greetings. Well, everyone but...
	"Took you long enough, over," Pink snapped, her arms crossed over her
Chinese breastplate.
	Akane considered replying. Pink was always trying to get under her skin.
One part of her wanted to lash out verbally in return. Or even more than
verbally. But Akane settled for just grinding her teeth and glaring at the
smiling twin. She was better than that now. She didn't have time to be worried
about grudges with her companions.
	Akane reminded herself to have a talk with Chris about Pink's behaviour.
Next time she broached the subject, she would just have to ignore his excuses
and not let him sidestep the issue.
	"So, do you think it's dark enough now, Cologne?" Chris said once Akane
had joined them.
	The little old woman wasn't paying much attention to him. Her eyes were
staring off in the direction of the forest. Ryugenzawa, Chris had called it.
"Yes..." Cologne frowned and scratched at the ground idly with her staff. Akane
had never seen her looking so nervous, not even when they had been trying to
sneak into the heart of Chronos. But then again, ever since that day Cologne had
been more withdrawn. "If anything, the feeling of evil from that place has only
increased since we arrived here." She looked at Chris. "But if you insist on
walking into the dragon's maw, boy, then now is the best time to do so. I would
just remind everyone that our best option here is stealth."
	"We have to go. Pink was right," Chris said firmly. "We have to retrieve
the Moss of Life. Not just for what it might do for me... but for what anyone
else might misuse it for."
	"I warn you that we might already be too late for that," Cologne
intoned.
	"All the more reason to get involved quickly," Akane insisted. She
shifted her sword on her back, making sure the handle would be in easy reach.
	"Then let's get going, over!" Link practically growled as she started
marching down the street. Shrugging to themselves, everyone followed.

*

	There was something wrong with the cottage.  Even before it came into
view, Chris could tell that.  The traps they (and Pink and Link in particular)
had been encountering so often up until that point were conspicuously absent in
a large radius around the one-room shack.  Even that, however suspicious,
wouldn't have Chris as certain as he was that something was wrong.  It was the
animals. They had not seen any of them, giant or mundane, for several minutes of
walking.  Even the constant buzz of insects had faded, leaving them walking in
complete silence.
	Chris exchanged a glance with Cologne.  She had obviously noticed
something was very wrong as well.  But for the moment, they stayed silent.  Not
much point in making a big deal until they knew more - warning Pink was just an
invitation for her to loudly call out whatever dared threaten her, anyway.
	Finally the trees broke, and he saw the dwelling.  It looked the same,
as far as his vague memories of the Shinnosuke story arc from the series told
him.  A run-down wooden structure, with a traditional ricepaper door and not
much else in the way of notable characteristics.
	His senses prickled, just as Cologne raised her staff sharply.  "There
is a great evil here," the old woman hissed.
	"This place looks... familiar..." Akane said, as if she hadn't heard.
She was staring at the cottage, trying to place the memories in her mind.  No
time to wait for her to recall Shinnosuke and their childhood meeting now,
though.
	"Everybody get down," he said sharply.  There had been movement inside,
he was sure of it.
	The group all crouched behind the underbrush.  Pink did, in fact, open
her mouth, but a single look from Cologne caused her to close it again into a
tight, irritated grin.
	A moment later, the door slid open with a gentle whoosh, letting out the
flickering light of the firepit burning within.  It also let out two shapely
silhouettes, momentarily framed against the light from the doorway.  Chris
cursed under his non-essential breath.
	Vice and Mature walked away from the cottage, thankfully not in the
direction of his hidden companions.  Their easy banter, however, easily carried
through the eerily silent forest.
	"You really should stop teasing the poor boy," Mature complained in a
cultured, sultry voice.  She tossed her long blonde forelock back with a flick
of her head.
	"Awwwwwww..." moaned Vice, her low, throaty alto sounding a little too
openly sexual for decency.  "I'm not allowed to HURT him.  What else can I do?"
	"He's a child," Mature said with clear distaste.  "It's disgusting.
He's also the chosen one, which makes it practically sacrilegious.  I know
Goenitz never says anything, but-"
	"Mmm, sacrilicious."
	"You're not even listening to - did you just say 'sacrilicious'?"
	"I'm going to do something..."  Vice ran her hands down her body-hugging
scarlet and black dress.  "...profane to him when we get back."  She laughed.
	"You're hopeless," Mature sighed.  She brushed a stray leaf away from
her dress, which was black and white but otherwise identical to that of her
companion.  "Save it for later.  It's a long walk to the lake, and you know how
HE hates being kept waiting."
	Chris waited until the two demon-worshippers were safely far away before
relaxing.  "Well, that's about as bad news as I could have hoped for."
	"Friends of yours?" Cologne asked wryly.
	He opened his mouth to respond, but Pink broke in.  "They're
secretaries.  EVIL secretaries, over."  She walked in front of the group, her
confident smirk reasserted with gusto.  "The blonde-haired bimbo is Mature, and
the slut with short brown hair is Vice.  They both worship the Orochi, some evil
death god or something, and they and the Goenitz guy they mentioned are trying
to revive him, over."
	"Wait... the same Orochi we came to find?" Akane asked.  "I thought he
was the source of the Moss of Life and all the gigantic animals here."
	"He is," Chris replied.  "They worship a different Orochi, but they're
probably here because they don't know that yet."
	"How... convenient," said Link, then laughed quietly to herself.
Everyone glanced at her, but she waved them aside.  "And who is the other person
they were talking about, over?"
	"I have a strong suspicion, but it's a few years early," Chris said.
"Well, only one way to find out."  He started to walk towards the cottage.
"Besides, with them and Goenitz away, this is our best chance to investigate the
situation."
	They hadn't even bothered to close the door when they left.  Perhaps
no one was there?  But as he walked up to what was once Shinnosuke's home, he
knew that wasn't true - there was definitely someone still present.  Dispensing
with stealth, he slid the door all the way open and stepped inside.
	The boy looked maybe ten years old.  His short milk-chocolate hair was
unruly, and his clothes those of a ragged street urchin.  He was curled up
against the wall, only drowsily looking up to see who had arrived, and as he
moved, the firelight glinted off a silver medallion that hung from a chain
around his neck.
	"I thought so.  Chris."
	"Ooh, ooh!  I want to see, over!"  Pink shoved him aside and rushed in.
"Oh, isn't he adorable?  Doesn't look much like a pretty-boy band member though,
over."
	"You're... you're not them.  Who are you?" the boy who was destined to
inherit the power of the Orochi asked.
	"Who is this boy?" Cologne asked from her newly-acquired perch on
Chris's head.
	"I said already," Chris noted with a sigh.  "That's Chris."
	"What?" exclaimed Akane as she filed in with the rest of the group -
except Shampoo, who remained outside, arms folded, presumably keeping a lookout.
"You mean he's your past self from before you died?"
	"Huh?" Pink stared at Akane.  "Wow, you're really some kind of idiot,
over."
	Chris cut in before that could degenerate.  "No, he's not.  No such
luck."
	At this point, the boy, who had been looking confused, suddenly stood up
and began waving them away.  "You guys have to get out of here before they get
back!  You can't stay around here!  He'll kill you!  Or... worse..." the boy
suddenly looked pale.
	Akane turned towards the boy, her motherly instincts kicking in so
strongly it was practically visible.  "Well, whoever he is, we're not going to
just run away and leave you here."  Then she bowed.  "I'm sorry, I'm being rude,
aren't I?  You're Chris, right?  My name is Akane Tendo.  We're here to, ah,
rescue you!"
	"What a load of bull," snorted Pink.  "We are not, over."
	"We are NOW," Akane insisted.
	"You don't understand," the boy protested.  "These people... they aren't
human!  If you don't leave, they'll kill you... just like those guys that used
to live here!  They did such horrible things... you can't stop them!"
	Well, that explained the absence of Shinnosuke and his grandfather.  Not
that Chris hadn't expected as much as soon as he'd seen Vice and Mature.  "Don't
worry about it, kid.  If everything goes as I hope it will, we won't even have
to fight them."
	Cologne snorted loudly, but Chris chose to ignore that.  "Anyway,
Akane's right.  We can't leave, uh, little Chris here."  That would get them
pursued for sure, but it wasn't like Akane could be persuaded otherwise, and in
any case getting the Orochi heir away from Orochi's disciple was probably a good
thing.  "So we'll get out of here and-"
	"Little Chris?" Pink squealed like a schoolgirl.  "That's so CUTE,
over!" She ruffled the young boy's hair, smiling at him.  There was something
familiar in her eyes...
	"Please don't do that," the boy snapped, slapping her hand away.
Remarkably, Pink took that in relative good humour, her smile still broad.
"Anyway, just get out of here.  I can't leave."
	"We can guide you safely through the forest, boy," Cologne said.
	"No, I mean... I can't leave.  I mean..." The boy sweated, suddenly
looking very young, and chewed his lip.  "Vic... that lady... she said to me..."
He began to sweat even more heavily, rocking back and forth on his heels, and
looking anywhere but at the door.  "I can't.  I can't leave.  I can't go
outside."
	Link walked up to the boy and roughly grabbed his face, staring deep
into his eyes.  "Brainwashing," she declared after a moment.  "He's been
drugged, and probably compounded with some post-hypnotic suggestion technique,
over."
	"Yeah, I think Vice can do something like that," Chris said, a little
uncertain.  King of Fighters had never been his favourite series.  "Anyway, we
can't forget the real reasons we're here."
	"I assume," Cologne intoned, now smoking her pipe, "that the lake those
young ladies mentioned would be the same one you intend to visit?"
	"Of course," Chris groused.  "But that just makes it more important.
Whether that's the Orochi they're looking for or not, Goenitz is decidedly one
of those people we shouldn't let the power of this place fall into the hands
of."
	"So we'll split up, then," Akane said.  "Link can stay here and
unbrainwash little Chris, and we can go fetch the Moss of Life."
	"No, I'll go," Link immediately insisted.  "Pink can handle what's wrong
with the child, and I need to make sure... the moss is properly taken care of,
over."
	"Sounds like an excellent plan, over," Pink enthused.
	Chris shook his head.  "Not workable.  We're going to need to sneak in,
grab the moss from under their nose, and get out without being seen.  We don't
want to risk a fight with Goenitz and those two girls, and that means we have to
limit this to only the most skilled people."
	"Do any of you even know how to collect	or secure the Moss of Life?"
Link snapped instantly.  "Of course not.  You need me.  I'm going, over."
	Chris sighed, but Link did have a point.  The Moss was too valuable to
risk wasting.  "Very well, we can cover for you, but otherwise it should only be
me, Cologne, and I guess Shampoo."
	"Shampoo isn't trained for this sort of activity," Cologne replied.
"She will only slow us down."
	"Fair enough," Chris nodded.
	"You're all going to die," the boy predicted dourly.  "You have no idea
how horrible these people are."
	"Goenitz probably isn't quite a zoalord, but he could blow an entire
stadium to rubble," Chris said as Cologne glanced at him.  "The other two are
less worrisome, but I wouldn't ignore them.  They're vicious, and they won't
think twice about killing an opponent."
	Akane nodded, grabbing the hilt of her sword.  "Okay.  In that case
we'll stay here and guard little Chris if any animals show up or they come
back."  Hayato's octopus, perched on her shoulder, comically nodded along with
her pronouncement.
	"Right, that works," Chris said.  "Just don't let the octopus drink the
water."

*

	The doorbell rang.  Nanami answered it, as she always did.  The man
handed her a newspaper.  "This is the latest issue of the Tokyo Sun, as
ordered."  She took it and thanked him graciously, because she was well-bred and
it was expected.
	Her brother was sitting in his chair, as he always was.  The recording
was still off, as it had been for three days.  "Here you are, big brother!" she
said cheerfully, and smiled at him.
	Touga took the paper without a word or a look, as he always did, and
began reading it silently.  Nanami waited for a few moments before leaving the
room.  Like always, she felt a slight feeling of disappointment, but she was
happy to help her brother in whatever way she could.
	The doorbell rang.
	"This is the latest unabridged dictionary, as ordered."  The delivery
man handed Nanami a book about the size of her head.  She thanked him, he left,
and she brought the book to her brother.  Touga took it without comment, and
after a few moments, Nanami left.
	The doorbell rang.
	This time the delivery man was holding a large box.  "This is 1992's
Encyclopedia Britannica, Japanese Edition, as ordered."
	Nanami huffed and puffed and tried to carry the box along, but finally
had to just drag it along the floor.  It scraped the floor, and Nanami made a
mental note to have Keiko, Aiko, and Yuuko revarnish it later.  Finally, she got
it to Touga's chair, and he opened the box, selected the first volume, and began
to read without comment.  Nanami stumbled out of the room and leaned against the
wall, trying to catch her breath.
	The doorbell rang.
	Nanami felt very put-upon as she opened the door, but then stared at the
piles upon piles of boxes being unloaded from the back of the van.
	"This is the entire print run of the Mainichi Daily News since its
inception on March 28th, 1872, as ordered..."
	Nanami screamed.
	And sat bolt upright in bed.  She peered around blearily for a moment,
but realised it had all been a dream.  She sighed.  The dream wasn't that far
from reality.  She was glad her brother had stopped moping around listening to
that recording of his voice, but she didn't think sitting in the same chair
doing nothing but read newspapers and magazines was much better.
	She looked at the clock.  2:46 a.m.  It had definitely been a nightmare.
Nanami still felt very tired.
	But...
	If it was still that early, why was the room lit up as if it were
daylight out?
	"I see.  But is that truly your dream?"
	Oh, that explained the light.  Nanami looked over at the glowing white
pegasus - or was it a unicorn? - that had spoken.  "Of course not.  I have
beautiful dreams."  The glowing pegasus merely looked at her quizzically, as
much as an equine could be said to look quizzical.  Nanami had a fleeting
thought that something was rather strange about glowing talking horses with
wings and golden horns, but dismissed it.
	"Maiden, in that case, what is your true dream?"
	Nanami felt faintly insulted.  Why would anybody think her dreams were
about pointless drudgery?  "Well, my dream is about my big brother, of course."
	"The man with the red hair?"
	"Naturally.  Can't you tell we're both born of the same noble
bloodline?"
	"But he is not even here."
	Nanami sat up, frowning at the talking horse.  "Where is he?"
	The pegasus looked out the window for a long moment.  "His dream is
elsewhere, and not here with you."
	"Well then," Nanami commanded, "take me to him."  At some point she had
gotten out of bed and sat upon the back of the horse, though she couldn't quite
remember how.  Her long lavender nightgown rippled in the wind from the window,
which was now open.
	The pegasus was now looking back at her over his own shoulder.  "Very
well.  I will do my best."
	Two steps and suddenly they were out the window.  The ground fell away
so fast that Nanami felt dizzy, though not scared.  She watched the mansion she
had lived in shrink away until it looked like a dollhouse, and saw all the tiny,
perfect little buildings of Ohtori Academy arrayed below like so many toys.  She
laughed a little.  "Who are you?"
	The pegasus didn't look back, though its golden horn dipped in
acknowledgement.  "I am Helios, maiden."
	That name seemed to perfectly sum up everything about the creature that
Nanami needed to know.  She watched as they left the city, flying over the
countryside of Japan.  And even though his wings beat slowly, and the landscape
seemed to pass by with so much lazy ease that Nanami could gaze at whatever she
wished, in a remarkably short time they found themselves over a city.  The
million, billion lights of the city glittered through the night sky, and Nanami
lost her breath in wonder for a moment.
	"Here.  This is where your brother's dream lies now, though I cannot
know where it will take him."
	"Here?"  Nanami looked over the city in all its brilliant glow.  And
there, right beneath, where the moon should have cast its light, was darkness.
A darkness greater than the blackest night, the deepest cave.  And as she
watched and felt the first stirrings of fear, the darkness crawled outward,
yawning like an opening wound, threatening to swallow up the entire city, the
entire country, maybe even more.
	Nanami cringed back, but the great shining light of Helios surrounded
her, and she felt warm.  "You need not fear."
	"Is that where my brother is headed?"  And though the pegasus did not
answer, Nanami knew it to be true.  "But why?  That's awful!  And he... he
didn't take me with-" She couldn't finish the sentence.  It was too terrible.
	Helios was looking at her again, and his large brown eyes were so
serious and solemn that Nanami felt like crying.  "Would you follow him into
that darkness, then?"
	"Of course!" Nanami said without hesitation.
	"Even though he left you behind?"
	"No matter what!  He and I are the same!  I couldn't ever let him be
alone and lost in a place like that!"
	"I see," said Helios, and with two lazy flaps of his wings, they were
back in Nanami's bedroom, and he was easing her back to the bed.  "That is a
beautiful dream, young maiden."
	"See, I told you so!" Nanami said triumphantly.  But somewhere in the
back of her mind, the gnawing fear remained.
	"Indeed you did."  Helios dipped his head towards her, and the top of
his horn - which Nanami suddenly realised was the source of his warm radiance -
touched the palm of her hand.  She felt a gentle weight settle there.
	"This is a gift," the pegasus said.  "If you ever find yourself alone in
the darkness, use it, and I shall come for you."
	"Well... thank you very much," Nanami said, because she was well-bred,
and that sort of thing was expected.  However, this really was beginning to seem
rather confusing.  There was a throbbing in her head.  What was it she had seen,
while on Helios' back?
	And she lay back, and thought about that question, and woke up.
	The room was completely dark, but Nanami remedied that by reaching over
and fumbling for the lamp switch.  Blinking her eyes painfully against the
sudden electric radiance, she peered over at the clock.  3:21 a.m.  The house
around her was silent, maybe a little abnormally chilly for such a hot summer.
	What a strange dream.  What had it been about?
	Nanami blinked and held up her hand to the light, suddenly realising she
had been clutching something.  She looked at it curiously.  It was a golden
bell, with a heart-shaped jewel inset.  The bell had a larger handle, also
heart-shaped.  The bell fit easily into the palm of her hand, and felt a little
warm in the chill of the room.
	Now, where had that come from?  Nanami had a lot of jewelry, but she
kept pretty careful track of it, and she'd never seen this piece before.  Also,
all the hearts were a little juvenile for her age and image.
	Suddenly, Nanami smiled.  "Big brother!" she whispered.  He must have
given it to her in her sleep.  No wonder she had woken up.  She leaped out of
bed, clutching the bell to her breast.  How thoughtful of him!
	She ran to the music room.  She knew he would be there - he'd not left
the room in weeks, not even going to school, except for that one night earlier
in the week when there had been a terrible storm, right before he began reading
the magazines and newspapers.
	The lights in the room were on.  The stacks of reading material were
arrayed here and there in some pattern which always eluded Nanami.  But his
chair was open.  The patio door was open, and a chill wind suddenly blew in
through it, rippling the nightgown around her ankles.  Nanami wrapped her arms
around herself, suddenly taking an obscure comfort in the bell she held.
	"Big brother?" she called, at first with trepidation, but then louder:
"Big brother!"
	But no answer came.
	Stepping into the room, Nanami espied a sealed envelope on the seat of
the chair.  Her own name was written on it, in handwriting as familiar to her as
her own reflection.
	And suddenly, Nanami knew, somehow.  Touga was gone.  Gone from the
house, gone from Ohtori.  Gone from her.
	And he wasn't coming back.
	Suddenly, viciously, she pinched her arm.  She winced at her own effort,
and felt tears in the corner of her eyes.
	But she didn't wake up.

*

	"What on earth are those two young ladies doing?"
	"At a glance, swimming around in the lake in their underwear, carrying
bottles of sake."
	"I know that, boy.  I'm asking what, precisely, is to be accomplished by
this."
	"The Orochi - well, this Orochi - is attracted to two things: beautiful
young women, and alcohol.  Presumably Goenitz intends to get its attention, but
it isn't working yet.  Must be still asleep... lucky for us."
	"Yes..." Link replied in a whisper.  "Lucky, over."
	The three of them paused for a moment, considering their options.  Link,
for her part, looked over to the far shore of the lake, where Goenitz, the
Heavenly King of Orochi, stood bathed in moonlight.  He was accurate to Chris's
description - a middle aged man with short blonde hair and black beard, clad in
a long coat like a Christian priest with a short cloak over his shoulders and
glossy black military boots - but that didn't really do him justice.  Goenitz
was tall, and... regal in a way unlike any other person Link had ever met.  He
radiated a sort of savage nobility, a presence that could not be captured in the
words Chris had used.  He was the sort of man, Link supposed, who could form and
lead cults on the strength of his fanatical charisma alone.  Not that his power
would be a detriment.
	Link was glad he was here.  This was the most perfect test possible.
	Mature's voice called out as she treaded water, sounding equally annoyed
and plaintive.  "Master Goenitz, is this really necessary?  We've been doing
this 'ritual' for five nights with no results."
	"Or is this just some sort of weird fetish?" Vice added.  She didn't
sound like she particularly disapproved of the notion.
	Goenitz chuckled urbanely.  "As a matter of fact, it is.  But not mine."
His voice was like himself - regal, noble, a clear, piercing tenor that cut
through the night.
	"I sense a primal power in this one, boy," Cologne hissed.  "You'd be
wise not to test his defences."
	Chris nodded. "With any luck, we won't have to.  I'm worried he might be
waking up the Orochi, though."
	Oh, too, too perfect.  Link almost smiled.  "I can help with that," she
whispered.  "I can whip up something which should hopefully keep it asleep.
I'll also include something that ought to help leave this Moss of Life vital and
easily retrieved, over."  The last part was true, at least.
	"Can you do it quietly?" Chris asked.
	"Don't worry about it.  Worry about how you're going to dive in there
without alerting those three, over."  Link felt a little irritated at the undead
thing questioning her competence, but put it aside for the moment.  Sitting
back, she rummaged through her pack of herbs.  A little of this, a little of
that...
	"That's a good point," Chris said.  "Cologne, can you make some sort of
distraction for when I go?  Nothing that'll put you in danger, but maybe ensure
Goenitz isn't looking so I can slip in?"
	The old hag sucked on her unlit pipe for a moment.  "No sharks around
here, are there?"
	"Probably not.  And thank god for that, considering the size they'd be."
	"I'll suppose I'll have to make do, then."  The old woman wandered off
noiselessly into the forest.
	Chris was keeping a wary eye on Goenitz, but it appeared the mock priest
was more interested in the lake than anything else.  But then, why wouldn't he
be?  He'd killed the only other humans that lived here, and Link doubted he was
too worried about the giant animals of the forest.
	"Alright, here you go, over," she said.
	"All this?" Chris said dubiously, looking at the giant barrel of vivid
red powder.
	"Yes," Link said coldly.  "A creature as big as this Orochi requires a
rather large dose, over."
	Chris nodded and began to slip towards the shore.  It was odd to see the
giant, muscular body moving with the grace of a gymnast, easily hefting the huge
container.
	Link shook her head, and almost smiled again.  Poor, trusting Chris.
Along with the promised agent to help with the harvesting of the Moss, the
barrel actually contained purified caffeine and a herb generally efficacious for
problems of male potency, both in quantities larger than necessary for several
dozen adult humans... or elephants.
	She sat back against a convenient tree, ready to watch the show.  Her
eyes fastened on the face of Goenitz.
	Here was where the real answers lay.

*

	"Are you feeling okay, little Chris?" the short-haired lady asked him.
"Is there anything I can do for you?"
	"Yes, stop calling me that, please." Chris asked with a grumble.  He
didn't really dislike the lady, and he supposed he was actually smaller than the
giant red-haired man also named 'Chris'.  But it was the principle of the thing.
He'd grown up on the cold, indifferent streets of Stockholm, and his 'cute'
looks always caused more trouble than they were worth.  He didn't like to feel
talked down to.
	Besides, all these people would be dead soon.  No sense getting attached
to them.  That was a lesson he'd also learned, ever since that nun who'd taken
him in had died of that illness... Chris realised he couldn't remember her name.
It made him feel a bit sad, and he tried to dredge it up from his memories, but
couldn't.
	"Hey, there's no need to cry," the girl said, brushing off his cheeks.
"Listen, we're going to get you out of here and to someplace safe.  I know this
really nice girl, a little older than you.  I think you'll be good friends-"
	"Stop talking like we're going to get out of here.  We're not, you know.
Even if we did, he'd hunt us down.  You don't know him."
	The girl grabbed his chin and pulled his eyes up to hers, and suddenly
her expression was very serious. "I know his type.  And believe me, he can be
beaten."
	There was so much conviction in her voice, and for a single moment,
Chris almost believed.  Then he turned away.  "We'll see."
	The nice lady hovered over him a few moments, obviously wanting to say
something, then left to go talk to the purple-haired girl that was guarding the
door.  Good, maybe they'd leave.  The lady WAS nice.  Chris didn't want to see
her die.  Not like... that other guy.  The forgetful guy.  He'd been nice too.
He had said they'd get out of this.  Of course, he had been wrong.
	Chris kept staring at the two girls talking in the doorway, hoping they
would leave, but mainly so he didn't have to look at the Other Girl.
	Of course, that became hard when the Other Girl came up behind him,
looming, not quite touching but too close to be comfortable.  "So you're going
to become a god, huh, over?"
	Chris glanced up at her, then looked away sharply.  He didn't like how
she smiled at him.  "That's what he said."  If he answered her, maybe she'd go
away.
	"So, have any godlike powers yet, over?"
	"No," he began to answer sharply, then lowered his voice.  "If I did,
why would I be staying here?"
	"Because you're scared," she laughed, leaning down until her chin almost
rested on his shoulder.  "Aren't you?  I think I see you trembling, over."
	Chris realised he was the moment she said it, and stilled himself.  He
wanted to leap away, but where would he go?  He couldn't... leave the cottage...
	Besides, compared to Vice, she wasn't so bad.
	Compared to Vice, nothing was so bad.
	"Pink, are you bothering Chris again?  I asked you not to scare him,"
the nice lady said, walking back inside the shack.  She looked like she was
about to say something more, but then all noise was drowned out by a tremendous
roar and an ear-splitting crash.  Everybody ran to the door - though Chris
didn't put so much as a toe outside - staring at the spectacle in the distance.
	The trees were huge here.  Chris remembered that.  So huge that most
times you couldn't even see the enormous animals that wandered, crawled, or flew
among them until they were almost next to you.  But what was rising out of the
forest now was even larger.  Seven serpentine stalks twined up from the
treeline, silhouetted against the silvery moon.  They were so large that even
the other animals looked like pygmies in comparison.  Chris figured one of those
heads could eat a giant platypus like the one Goenitz had killed in two bites.
A burst of flame flared from one of the mouths, the light briefly glinting off
its violet scales.  A haunting roar echoed across the forest, echoed from seven
mouths.
	"How ridiculous-looking is that, over?" the Other Girl sneered.
	"Shampoo no think plan worked," the purple-haired girl noted.
	"They must be in trouble!" the nice lady shouted, and took a step
forward before she stopped, and looked back at Chris.  Her expression looked
torn for a moment.
	Chris wasn't really paying attention to her, though.  He was watching
the seven-headed serpent.  Several of the heads abruptly darted down into the
forest, and he could hear a few other indistinct noises.  Shouts, or something?
	But why did that serpent look so... wrong to him?
	"You should go help them, Akane," the Other Girl said suddenly.  She
smiled, trying to look nice, not really succeeding.  "They must be fighting all
those guys, plus the Orochi itself.  They'll need all the help they can get,
over."
	Akane looked back and forth between Chris and the creature again.  "But,
we can't just leave him alone..."
	"Don't worry about it!" the Other Girl laughed.  "Take Shampoo too.  I'm
not going to help much in this fight, so I'll stay here with him, over."
	The purple-haired girl looked at the Other Girl for a moment, and her
eyes narrowed.  "Shampoo no think-"
	"I never told you to THINK," the Other Girl said, and for a moment her
voice snapped like a whip.  "There's no time to debate.  Shut up and go,
Shampoo.  That's an order, over."
	The purple-haired girl glared for a long moment, and then gave Chris a
long, unreadable look.  Then she turned around sharply, drawing her sword from
the sheath on her back.  "Shampoo have orders.  You coming, Akane?"
	The nice girl looked confused for a moment, then her expression firmed
up.  "Alright.  Pink, if any of them come back, I want you to shout for help.
Don't let them lay a finger on Chris, okay?"
	She waved her hand.  "Don't worry about that, Akane.  They won't, over."
	Chris had been too busy staring at the strange wrong-serpent to really
pay attention up until this point, but suddenly realised they were going to go,
and leave him with the Other Girl.  He opened his mouth to protest, but at that
point the Other Girl slipped a bit in turning around, falling partially into
him and sending him stumbling... through... the... door...
	He Had To Stay Inside.
	Vice had told him to Stay Inside.
	He was sitting in the corner, rocking.  He could feel moisture in his
eyes.  But he wasn't going to cry.  He wasn't.
	A shadow fell over him.  "So, we're all alone, over."
	He buried his face in his hands.  Why couldn't they just leave him
alone?  He didn't care about the Orochi, or about this forest, or about the nice
lady, or anything else.  He never thought he was lucky to live on the streets,
but he wanted to see Stockholm again more than anything else in the world.
	"Oh, we don't have time for your blubbering.  Somebody could be back at
any minute," the Other Girl snapped, jerking his head up by yanking on his hair.
"I need you to do me a favour, kid, over."
	He hated people touching his hair.  He tried to pull away, but she was
holding him too tightly.  "What do you want?" he said petulantly.
	"Take this and stop asking stupid questions, over," she said, handing
him something.  He stared at it.  It was a knife, with a simple design, but it
looked very sharp.
	"I don't know how to fight," he said simply.
	"Is there anything you're good for, over?" the Other Girl asked
sarcastically.  She let him go and sat down again, and her hands began to work
at something at her sides.  After a moment, she took her breastplate off,
tossing it to the side where it landed with a soft clunk.
	"W-what are you doing?" Chris asked.  Maybe she was more like Vice than
he thought.  That... wasn't good.
	The Other Girl smirked at him.  "Don't get your hopes up, kid."  But
then she undid the top button on her red-trimmed white shirt, and the next, and
the next.  Chris shrank back.  This wasn't happening wasn't happening not again
not her too-
	But thankfully, she stopped when just the top of her breasts were
exposed.  She reached up, touching a spot directly between them.  "Right there,
over."
	"Right there, what?" he said, now just confused.
	"Cut me open, you idiot.  What do you think I gave you the knife for?
You're really nothing worth mentioning until you become a god, over."
	Chris stared at her, then down at the knife, then back at her again.
"Wh- but I couldn't hurt you!"
	"That makes two of us," the girl sneered.  "I've been trying for awhile,
but it's harder to cut yourself than you think.  I was going to get Shampoo to
do it, but she had to not get any satisfaction, so it'd be hard... anyway, those
idiots are totally outmatched against the Orochi and those other three, so I'm
not going to waste any more time.  Cut me.  A nice shallow cut, about as long as
your thumb."  Then she smiled, a vicious little happy smile.  "Do it now, and do
it right, or I'll hurt you.  And I have much nastier drugs than Vice, over."
	Chris's hand was shaking again, and he tried to catch his breath, but he
couldn't seem to stop taking little shallow gasps.  This woman was crazy.  Why
had they left him with her?  Were they all just as bad as Goenitz?  Was he just
going to be dragged around, traded back and forth, until he became... whatever
they said?
	But she was staring at him, her eyes flashing dangerously, so he forced
himself to step forward.  He put the knife against her smooth pale skin, and
hesitated.  He'd been in fights, more than a few times on the street, but...
he'd never really HURT anybody.  He'd only fought long enough to get away.  That
was what you did, when you were 'cute'.  If you didn't, well...
	He swallowed, and then... for a moment, he felt the urge to drive the
knife into her heart.  Drive it in and twist and tear and laugh as she fell down
and retched and bled and died, just like that forgetful boy and-
	What was he thinking?
	The Other Girl's hand fastened on his wrist, her nails digging painfully
into his skin.  "We don't have all day, over," in a tone that said she'd lost
all patience.
	Just do what she wanted.  Do what they wanted, and they'd eventually
stop hurting you.  That was the most recent lesson he'd learned.  She released
him, and he resisted the urge to close his eyes as he slowly drew the knife down
the centre of her chest.  She hissed in pain, and a vivid scarlet line appeared,
slowly swelling in the wake of the glinting silver blade.
	He stared in fascination until she knocked his hand away.  "That'll do,
over."
	She was holding something in her other hand now, and as she brought it
up, Chris could see it.  It was like a blue... stone, or maybe like a seed, he
couldn't decide.  It glinted in the firelight, a bit too brightly.
	"Just like that stupid Kushinada, over," the Other Girl said to herself,
and then pressed the blue seed into the bleeding cut on her chest.
	For a moment, nothing happened.  And then, Chris could hear it.  It
was... like the sound of a heartbeat, only louder, echoing throughout the room.
The blue seed sank into her chest, the veins around the cut suddenly bulging
grotesquely.  The girl screamed and fell back, her hands clutching at the stone.
It looked like she was trying to both pull it out and push it in at the same
time.
	She spasmed on the ground for almost a minute, but the screaming died
off eventually, as did the coughing that followed.  Chris wanted to shrink back,
run away from her, but something about the whole thing kept him watching,
fascinated.  Besides, there was nowhere to run.
	Finally, the Other Girl sat up.  For a moment, she just stayed still,
eyes closed, the smile on her face slowly widening until it became both funny
and frightening.  "So that's what it's like..." she said softly, then her eyes
snapped open.  Before, they had been a sort of earthy brown, but now they
glittered a brilliant green.  "I understand it all now.  Oh, why did I wait this
long, over?"  She glanced over at Chris, and her grin widened still further,
almost inhuman.  "Thanks, kid."  She pulled another of the seed-like things from
a pouch.  "I know exactly where I'm putting this one.  I won't need your help
this time.  Just turn around, over."
	Chris thought about saying something, but then just did as he was told.
He didn't want to talk to the Other Girl.  Especially not now.  There had been
something... different about her.  Not just her eyes.  Something... it reminded
him of Goenitz.  He shuddered.
	He heard a soft sound of cloth rustling behind him, and then she cried
out.  But this time, she didn't scream in pain... at least not like the last
time.  Chris felt uncomfortable listening to the sounds she made, and stared at
the wall.
	Abruptly, her noises stopped.  Chris didn't turn around.  Maybe she'd
just leave now.  After a moment, his nose wrinkled.  There was a sweet scent in
the room.  Like... flowers?
	A hand fell on his shoulder.  "You can turn back around now, over."
	He didn't want to look, but for some reason he did anyway.  The Other
Girl looked even stranger than before.  Her eyes weren't just brilliant green
anymore, but were slitted, like a cat's.  Her entire face seemed different, just
a little more angular, nose a little sharper, cheekbones higher.  The tops of
her ears now came to delicate points, and there were some sort of strange bulges
on her shoulders, under her shirt.
	The smell of flowers was stronger now, and she smiled at him, and Chris
felt like running, but he couldn't move.
	"Little Chris," she said.  Her voice hadn't really changed, but
something had been... added to it.  It sounded older, somehow.  "You've been so
helpful.  Here, give me your hand, over."
	She held out her own, and Chris stared at it.  The tips of each
finger... something was emerging from them, lunging out of the flesh like claws.
Except they were more like thorns.
	He wouldn't touch that.  He wasn't frozen, he wasn't scared of Vice, he
was going to run, he stood up, but then she grabbed his hand, and he felt a
prickling sensation, and then... then...
	... everything was okay.  He felt it all fall away.  Ten years in the
street, fighting for scraps of food... none of that mattered.  Being kidnapped,
tortured, abused... who cared?  His destiny to become the horrible god Goenitz
worshipped... what difference did it make?
	He was happy.
	He realised he'd never been happy before.  Oh, sometimes he thought he
had been.  When the nun had taken care of him, or when he'd had a good meal
because a stranger took pity on him... but he hadn't been.  He'd never been
happy.  Not like this.
	Because there'd always been pain.  Or the memory of pain.  It lurked in
the background, like a snake in the grass, and nobody could ever be really happy
like that.
	But not anymore.
	He was happy.  He was perfectly, wonderfully happy.
	And it was all thanks to Pink.
	He wished he knew poetry, so he could tell her how happy he was.  He
wished he could sing, so he could tell her how much he loved her at that moment.
But he couldn't think of any words that could describe it.  How could he have
ever been afraid of her?
	She was a goddess.  Her touch was happiness.
	And at that point, she drew her hand away, and Chris felt a sense of
almost unbearable loss.  All the pain and misery and memory came crashing back
all at once, and it was a thousand times worse.  He gasped and his body spasmed
as if struck, and then he fell to his knees, clutching Pink's legs, sobbing.
	"Did it feel good, over?" the goddess asked him lightly.
	"Please..." he sobbed.  "Please touch me.  Make the pain go away again!
I've never... I've never felt that way before..."
	She drew his head up, and her beautiful emerald eyes looked into his.
"Of course I will.  Just as soon as you do something for me, over."
	"Anything."  He meant it.  He would kill for her.  He would kill Vice.
He would kill the nice lady.  He would give her anything, if she would only
touch him again.
	She held out a tiny bottle.  The liquid inside was dark, churning green.
"Drink this.  Drink it all, and then I'll touch you again, over."
	His fingers almost fumbled the bottle, he grabbed it so hastily.  He
pried the cork loose with his teeth, and even as he did, the acrid fumes it
released burned their way down his throat.  Pink was looking down at him.  She
was smiling.  Her hand beckoned invitingly.  She was the most beautiful thing he
had ever seen.  Every instinct he had told him the liquid in the bottle was bad;
even breathing in the fumes made him feel sick.  But it didn't matter.  For her,
he'd make it delicious.
	And it was.

*

	"Perhaps you do not realise exactly who I am?"
	The man in the torture chamber was thin, but athletic. He had short
black hair and unshaven stubble on his gaunt cheeks. He had once been clothed in
the robes of a Buddhist monk, but now he was dressed only in rags. His eyes
stared down at the floor, seemingly empty.
	"Don't think you fool me." The hand was huge, the fingers thick as they
jerked the man's head from the ground and forced him to look into the eyes of
his new master. "I must admit, you have a remarkable will. Most would have
cracked under the pressure of my Psychopower by now."
	"Go... to... hell..." the man said softly, his voice barely carrying
enough strength to escape his lips.
	Bison smiled. This man had a power, a certain purity of purpose, that
Bison could admire. It was really too bad he was such a fool. Bison may have let
him live otherwise. He might have served the glorious future that was Shadowloo.
	"I am Bison, my power is supreme," Bison informed him, not for the first
time. "Your will shall crack, and your spirit shall be broken. None can resist
me. I am your master, and you shall call me as much."
	"Never..."
	Bison released his head, which slumped again. The loud, happy sound of
Bison's laughter filled the small room. He had not had this much fun in ages.
The very thought of this contest filled his blood with boiling vigor. At first
he had thought that these 'I-Jin' carried no great challenge for him. He had
stormed their metal island with his Dolls and a few dozen of his lesser
servants. They had not stood a chance. Compared to the battle he had fought to
capture the aircraft carrier they now wandered the sea in, it had been nothing.
	But this was a contest of wills. There were no crude physical battles to
be had with this man. His was a refined spirit.
	Bison's laughter cut off sharply.
	He had no time to suffer fools.
	A loud crack echoed across the chamber as Bison reached out and casually
shattered the man's shoulder in five places. The I-Jin's pupils shrunk to
pinpricks and his breathing became shallow, but he did not scream.
	"Do you think you can escape my will?" Bison shifted, settling his cape
over his shoulder. "Or do you hope for rescue?" There was the slightest shift. A
normal person might have failed to see it. But Bison could see directly into the
heart of this man. He could see the hope flickering there, hidden behind walls
of serenity and peace. Bison grinned again. "Ah, so that is it. You think one of
your fellows will save you?" Bison walked over to one of the walls. "Another of
your cloned brood? Or perhaps the mysterious people who created you?" Bison
grinned. "Don't be a fool. They are already finished."
	"You... lie..." There was a bit more strength in the man's wheezing now.
	"No," Bison said simply. "Bison never lies." He reached up towards the
ceiling. As he willed it, purple flames burst to life around his grasping
fingers. They flickered and sparked in the dim light, casting his face into
sharp relief. "I have already learned all I need to about you and your
organization. The minds of your fellow clones were not nearly so strong as your
own. Even as we speak, my forces are seeking out these... Dokusensha. Soon, all
your precious cloning technology will be in my hands."
	For the first time, doubt was forming in the man's eyes. Bison grinned
further. A chink in his armor. It was time to crack him open like a ripe melon.
"They gave up their memories to me willingly, after a time." He snapped his
fingers and sent out a mental summons. "This one, for instance..."
	The wall next to Bison seemed to shimmer, and a woman walked through it
as if the solid metal were nothing but illusion. She was beautiful, with a
dancer's build and generous cleavage. Her chin-length blue hair framed a face
that might have sent lesser men to sleepless nights. She moved with a sultry
grace, her every motion containing hidden promises. Bison thought she looked
particularly fetching in the abbreviated Doll's uniform. Maybe a little too old
for his tastes, but every now and then he was willing to make an exception.
	"N-nancy..." the man croaked.
	The woman eyed the captive for a short moment. Then Bison flexed his
Psychopower. He funneled it into her body, an invisible hand that flowed down
deep into the core of her being. Her back arched, and her eyes turned upwards in
rapture as the power flooded her body. With a hungry smile she walked to Bison
and draped herself across his arm. He held her at his side as a trophy of his
victory.
	"Mine," Bison informed him. "Her mind was so simple, it broke like candy
glass." He laughed again, deep and joyous. "Her... sister, is it? She is proving
harder to break. This one is newer, I think. But do not fear, already she is
succumbing to the power of the Psychodrive." Bison gazed at the man, but he let
his attention drift. He could feel the woman struggling in his power, her body
and identity trapped within the Psychodrive like a fly in a spider's web.
Beneath her struggles he could sense her relief, the relief she felt at having
let her 'friend' escape. Such foolish hope. No one could escape Bison. They
could only delay their inevitable surrender.
	"No..." The man was close to breaking now. So it was that Bison almost
destroyed the intruder when the door opened, interrupting his pastime. He glared
at the door with his full strength, willing his presence to humble the fool who
had walked in on him.
	Juni and Juli cringed under the psychic assault. Their bodies bent like
willows and they fell to their knees in supplication. Words of remorse and
regret fell from their mouths like rain, but Bison did not hear them. He cut
them off with an angry chop of his hand and a a mental command to be silent.
	"What do you want?"
	"Master Bison..." Juli began, "We have grave news."
	"Very well, make it quick."
	"Vega is dead." Bison raised a single eyebrow at the news. He really
shouldn't be surprised. Vega was a fool who got in over his head far too often.
Still, Bison had been looking forward to his betrayal. The look of complete
horror in Vega's eyes when his futile hopes were dashed would have been
something to see. If it had been sufficiently entertaining, Bison might even
have let him live.
	"He was killed by the girl, Ukyou."
	"Was he now...?" Bison murmured. He released his new Doll and walked
towards his previous favorites.
	"The girl also defeated us," Juni informed him. There was no shame in
her declaration, merely a statement of fact. "Somehow she turned the force of
the Psychopower against us." That perked Bison's attention even more, and he
grinned again.
	"More and more I hear about this Ukyou," Bison said with dreadful
enthusiasm. "I think I should meet this young woman." He reached down and placed
his hand on Juni's shoulder. "Where is she now?"
	"England."

*

	Well, the Orochi was certainly just about as big as he'd imagined it.
	Maybe a little bigger, actually.
	Chris took the efficient route of dodging the first set of snapping jaws
and grabbing onto its furred crest, letting the awakened monster's head carry
him out of the water.  As he emerged, he heard twin shrieks as Vice and Mature
scrambled out of the way, barely avoiding being swallowed.
	For a moment, the Orochi's head towered out of the water, and Chris
flipped into a more stable position atop the creature.  The other six 'lesser'
heads had also emerged from the lake, and all seven weaved and bobbed, searching
for the sake-carrying underwear-clad vixens that had been offered to it.
	Four noticed the two desperately swimming towards the shore and lunged.
One irritably tried to shake Chris from atop it, but he held on with all of
Adon's strength and Kodachi's grace.  The other two... were shooting down so
fast the air screamed in protest.  Their target, a blurry female figure on the
shore, who he could faintly hear laughing in a familiar voice.
	Swearing, Chris leapt from the head, his feet landing on one of the two
slippery scaled necks snapping towards Link.  He didn't even think, letting his
stolen instincts guide him as he dashed, pushing his body to move faster and
faster as he raced towards the head in a desperate attempt to reach it before it
reached her.
	Then he was past its nose, diving in a football tackle, driving the air
from her lungs and almost smashing her into an enormous tree.  But the massive
serpentine heads crashed impotently into the ground behind him, sending up a
cloud of dust and shattered rock.
	Link gasped back her breath, and then immediately resumed laughing.
Chris sat up, and stared at her.  "Do you have a death wish or something?"
	"I believe in God, over!" she yelled triumphantly at him, even as he
pulled her out of the way of another lunge from the now-recovered heads.
	"You WHAT?"
	"Well well well, what do we have here?"
	That wasn't Link.  Dropping her, Chris spun around to face Goenitz.  The
Heavenly King of Orochi was standing calmly on one of the heads that had just
attacked, calmly stroking his beard and shifting his stance only minisculely as
the creature attempted to throw him off.
	This could definitely be considered the worst case scenario.  Chris
wondered briefly why he hadn't planned for the worst case scenario.  Then he
remembered the only plan that made SENSE was to run.  "Get out of here, Link.  I
can't watch you and deal with this at the same time."
	She was still chortling to herself.  "Don't worry about me, over."
	Chris leaped into the air, bounced off the tree behind him, and kicked
directly at Goenitz's face.  He didn't actually yell 'Jaguar Kick', but it was
Adon's technique nonetheless.  Maybe he'd take Goenitz off-guard and-
	A small tornado rose from the ground and hit Chris in the back, sending
him spiralling into the air.  Goenitz hadn't even moved.  "Fighting me in the
air is a fool's gambit," he noted calmly.
	As Chris crashed into the ground, he noticed that at least Link had
vanished in the woods.  But even as he picked himself up, Goenitz raised one
hand and elegantly flicked three fingers.  Three trees - each at least a metre
thick- tumbled apart, and huge gouges were ripped out of the ground behind
Chris, cutting off his escape.
	Chris stepped into a Muay Thai stance.  Not much choice but to fight.
	"I don't know who you are, nor do I truly care.  I must thank you for
awakening this beast for me.  To show my appreciation, I shall make your death
painless."  Goenitz thrust one arm forward, and for a moment a swirling vortex
of some sort began to form... and then a green blur appeared from the right and
knocked the arm aside.  Goenitz backed up a step, clutching his forearm with a
grimace of pain.  Before him stood Cologne, balanced on the end of her staff at
the tip of the increasingly-annoyed Orochi's snout.
	"Flee, boy," Cologne intoned.  "This battle is beyond you."
	"And beyond you as well, old woman," Goenitz noted in a bemused tone.
He raised his injured hand, clenching his fist.  For a moment, the wind swirled
around Cologne, but she leapt up, her staff slashing out and into the cyclone,
tearing it into a dozen harmless dust-devils before it could do any harm.
	She landed in the same position as before, her eyes narrowed.  "You are
not the only one who has studied the wind."
	Chris was just considering his options for the upcoming battle when a
movement caught his eye.  At the far end of the lake, the figures of Shampoo and
Akane emerged from the forest.  The Orochi, naturally, noticed as well.  Six
unoccupied heads dived down towards them.  Both managed to dodge the initial
attacks, however.
	This was as good an opportunity as Chris could hope for to accomplish
what he'd come here to do.  Running past the now ominously-glowing forms of
Cologne and Goenitz, he dived into the dark water.
	The dark, looming mass of the Orochi's final head bobbed beneath the
surface of the lake.  To call it huge would be an understatement.  It was as
massive as all the other heads and necks put together, a giant reptilian maw as
big as a house.  The other necks snaked from the back of the enormous head,
making the whole Orochi look like some sort of freakishly monstrous squid.
	It also wasn't paying even the slightest bit of attention to a male
corpse that wasn't carrying alcohol, a fact which Chris had been counting on.
It did seem sort of oddly jittery for some reason, jerking around a bit, its
eyes darting from side to side, but it wasn't giving Chris more than a passing
glance. As long as he didn't attack it directly, he could approach it.  Would it
be so sanguine when he stole the Moss of Life that grew on its primary head?
Well, only one way to find out.
	He swam up from behind the thing's crest, straining to see in the murky
water.  The Moss ought to be right on the top of the head... ah, there it was,
the strands swaying slightly from the motion of the water.
	Unlike Akane in the manga, he wasn't planning to leave any.  The
squarish patch of moss was about half a metre on each side, which was a little
more than he'd thought.  Drawing to a stop, his churning legs threw up a
corkscrew of water as he fought his lack of living buoyancy.  Still the creature
didn't seem to care.  Pulling out a sharpened teaspoon, he cleanly stripped the
entire patch of Moss of Life from its scalp and flipped it into the bag Link had
given him in one motion.
	Both eyes, each easily as big as a SUV, instantly snapped to him.  Uh-
oh.  A titanic roar filled the water, the creature's tremendous bellow sending
waves of pressure through the lake, buffeting Chris with disorienting force. He
found himself struggling against the current, blinded by the foam as the
Orochi's breath filled the water around him with air bubbles. A second later, he
felt the disturbing tickle of danger along the back of his neck. He grunted,
forcing the last of the air from his lungs, and spun in place.
	A second later the monster's massive teeth emerged from the foam. He
kicked out, just barely hitting one of the giant incisors. Each was the size of
a full-grown man. But he wasn't aiming to hurt it: instead, he used the tooth as
a launch, kicking off with all Adon's power to send himself flying clear of the
blinding foam. Even as he did, he felt the pressure of the thing's tongue
approaching. He struggled to dodge, but all his momentum was too much for even
him to change. Still, all it did was slam into him with crushing force and send
him spiraling off in a new direction, rather than curling about him and drawing
him in to be its latest snack.
	He collided with the side of the lake, forming a small crater
underwater. He grunted again, but all that came out was a soft gargling sound.
Chris realized vaguely that the ribs along his left side had been snapped like
kindling.
	No matter.  He crawled up to the shore, carefully cradling the bag in
the crook of one arm.  With all the trouble he was going through for this, Link
had better appreciate it.  There was a flash of movement in front of him, and
Chris half-fell into a defensive stance before realising it was in fact the
selfsame Link.
	Except something was wrong.  She was leaning up against a tree,
breathing heavily, her hands curled around her midsection.  Her two small
aragami pets, mewling plaintively, were clustered around her legs.
	Chris began to ask what was wrong, then realised he couldn't take in any
air to speak.  Oh, right.  Turning away, he spent a moment coughing and hacking
up the water from Adon's lungs.  When he could speak again, he turned back to
Link, but Akane was already there.
	"What's wrong?" he heard her ask.
	"I don't know... something with Pink, over..." She raised a hand to her
chest gingerly, as if it had been burned.
	Pink?
	Chris looked around.  Two great glowing lights flashed through midair,
occasionally crisscrossing each other, while the seven smaller Orochi heads
darted around them as if in some sort of intricate dance, trying to slay the two
annoyances.  Occasionally the lake was lit by great gouts of flame erupting from
one of the Orochi's maws.  But neither Cologne nor Goenitz appeared to even
notice the monster's attempts to slay them, often using the shifting coils of
the great dragon to launch themselves in fresh directions.
	Shampoo had emerged from the forest near Akane, her sword glinting in
the moonlight.  There was a large dent in it, shaped roughly like a toothmark.
	But Vice and Mature were nowhere to be seen.
	And Pink was in trouble...
	Damn it!
	"Here, take this!" he yelled, throwing the Moss to Akane.  "I've got to
go help Pink!"
	Before anyone could respond, he dashed into the woods.

*

	What did it feel like?
	Pink couldn't describe it in mere words.  She was full of life, of
energy, of power.  All around her, she could feel the presence of her faithful
servants.  Trees, flowers, grass were all around, and she could feel each and
every one of them.  They knew her, and she heard in the back of her mind their
murmuring, an incomprehensible chorus of respect and awe.  She knew that with a
thought she could reach out and wrest away their vitality.  She didn't know what
she could do with it, but she could DO it.
	So, maybe she could describe it with words after all.  Pink laughed.
What a marvellous, wondrous feeling.
	She threw the knife down, and gazed lovingly at herself in the small
mirror she had found by the cottage's futon.  She was still recognisably
herself, which was good.  But the changes were unmistakable, too.  Ears pointed,
brilliant green eyes slitted like a cat's.  The mitama on her chest, now visible
due to the just made-alterations to her outfit, glowed faintly in the dusky
light.  The new growths on her shoulders were also now unencumbered by her
shirt.  They were large petals, a beautiful crimson like roses in bloom. Their -
HER - faintly sweet scent filled the room, but Pink knew instinctively
she could make something far more interesting emanate from them.
	Oh yes.  Even at first glance, she'd never be mistaken for someone
ordinary.  Pink laughed again.  Everything had gone so perfectly.  Now Chris
could thank her for the body of a god-to-be, indebting him further and reminding
him how much more useful Pink was to him than Akane ever would be.  And the
powers Pink felt... just a taste, the merest tip of the iceberg compared to how
high she now realised she could rise.  What a beautiful relationship they had,
the dead man and she.  Perfectly symbiotic.
	First, she'd need to ensure they got more mitamas.  But that wasn't
all...
	"Well, now, I never expected such an exotic bird to fly into our little
cage."
	Pink spun around, then instantly relaxed.  Just the evil secretaries.
Vice was lounging against the entranceway, arms crossed and an inquiring smile
on her face.  Her hair had a glistening sheen of water on it.
	From beside her, Mature gasped.  Her hair was also damp, though had lost
none of its typical elegance.  "Vice, the boy!"
	Vice glanced over at the crumpled body in the corner, and her smile
instantly vanished.  She glanced back at Pink.  "Did you do this?"
	Pink smirked. "I didn't do anything he didn't want me to, over."
	"There's no mark on him - he was poisoned!" Mature snapped.  "Vice, see
what you can do.  I'll wring the information out of the intruder."
	Now Vice looked even more disappointed, but quickly rushed to the kid's
side.  Pink's smile didn't waver.  "You think so?  I think you two will make a
great experiment, over."
	Pink stretched her arms forward, and the growths on her shoulders
lifted.  The sweet smell in the room rose, becoming cloying, as a scarlet mist
leaked from the petals.  Vice snarled and rose one sleeve to cover her mouth and
nose, but it would be useless.  Soon the two would barely be able to stand, and
once Pink touched them, they'd be her devoted-
	Mature snapped one arm out, and the air screeched in protest.  The
scarlet mist seemed to funnel into the path behind her hand.  Then she lashed
out with her other arm, and more of the mist followed.  Her hands danced in a
complex pattern, and only after a moment did Pink realise that the obnoxious
wind-using bitch was catching the mist and hurling it harmlessly out the doorway
to dissipate.
	Well, it didn't matter.  She willed the thorns on her hands to extend, a
process that was slightly painful but nothing she couldn't ignore.  Doing that
did cause her to stop producing the mist, but it wasn't working anyway.
Grinning, she dashed towards Mature.  "Stupid secretary!  The merest scratch of
my ambrosial thorns, and all of your precious martial arts skill will be
useless, over!  Then you'll serve me-"
	Pink had barely noticed the movement, but abruptly Mature was holding
both of her wrists in a grip of iron.  Pink jerked to a stop, her threat cut
off, as her forward momentum was brought to a crashing halt.  She struggled with
the other woman's grip, but her fingers couldn't curl down enough to touch any
flesh, and Mature wasn't moving.
	The blonde woman smiled slightly.  "I assume you meant these thorns?"
she said, nodding towards Pink's immobilised hands.  "I don't think I need to
worry about them."
	The world flipped around, and Pink suddenly found herself crushed into
the floor with enough force to drive the air from her lungs.  She tried to
scrabble for purchase, but one of her hands stopped moving abruptly with a loud,
unpleasant crunch as Mature stepped on it with enough force to drive one of her
stiletto heels through it and almost an inch into the floor.  Pink stared dumbly
at it for a moment before the wracking spike of pain made her scream.
	Mature elegantly stepped out of her shoe, the slight movement causing
Pink to cry out again.  She knelt down, her knee pinning Pink's uninjured
forearm to the ground.  Her fingertips brushed delicately against Pink's neck.
"And now, you will begin talking.  Or I shall begin removing body parts.
Starting, perhaps, with these things growing from your shoulders."
	Pink had been bullied by the best of them, and was not unduly
intimidated.  However, she was starting to think that, perhaps, she had somehow
ended up a bit over her head.
	At that point, she saw Vice stand in the corner of her eye.  "He's
dead," the Orochi-worshipper declared.  "There's nothing I can do."  Her voice
was not particularly angry, or even annoyed.  Just slightly disappointed, like a
petulant child who had misplaced a favourite toy.
	Mature's breath hissed through her teeth.  Her voice was terse.  "Then I
see no reason to keep this one alive."  Her grip tightened around Pink's neck.
	Then the world exploded in a cacophony of sound.  The sharp crack as the
wall exploded into fragments.  An inarticulate howl of rage.  A feminine scream
of pain.  All three so close together they seemed almost the same sound.  The
pressure on Pink disappeared at the same time, and an instant later she heard
the other wall explode, and a soft whistle as a heavy object flew through the
air to crash into the soft loam outside.
	Pink felt herself being lifted from the floor.  The shoe was removed
from her crushed hand, gently, but still sending another stab of pain down her
arm.  She looked up.  Adon's face wasn't handsome even before it was dead and
soaked, and even less so with that worried scowl.  But she felt a swelling surge
of joy inside her breast at the sight of it.  Not just for saving her life,
although that was part of it.  It was what it MEANT.
	"Thank you, over," she said softly. She resisted the urge to break out
in another peal of laughter.  It would ruin the moment.
	"Are you alr-" the undead Chris started to say, but suddenly was ripped
away and his voice turned into a wordless howl as he smashed through a third
wall.  Unsurprisingly, a large chunk of the roof caved in at that point, but
Vice elegantly sidestepped it, stretching her arm languidly.  Her long sleeves
billowed in the gust of air caused by the collapsing roof.
	Pink landed uncomfortably on the floor, and gasped a bit as she
instinctively tried to break her fall with her injured hand.  Vice spared her a
glance.
	"It looks like I will get a chance to kill you after all," she said, her
voice far more chipper than it was a moment ago.  "Since Mature seems to be..."
she pursed her lips, glancing out towards the slumped, quivering figure of her
partner.  "Well, yes.  But first."  She twirled around gracefully, just as Chris
leaped towards her.
	The two started that whole tiresome martial artist thing, but Pink
ignored them as she gingerly climbed to her feet.  Chris would win anyway.  But
in the meantime, Pink had a small loose end to tie up.
	Stepping out the hole in the shattered wall, she rooted around in her
pouches with her usable hand.  Mature wasn't quite completely unconscious, but
probably wished she was.  She was quivering slightly, lying face-down in the
dirt, her torso twisted and one leg bent in a direction they generally weren't
supposed to.  Pink's trained eyes quickly looked her over and concluded that
aside from the obviously broken leg, most of her ribs had been reduced to
splinters.  The unhealthy sound of her breathing and a bit of red splatter on
the dirt near her mouth only confirmed that.  She was sobbing softly,
involuntarily, each slight motion obviously causing her even more pain.  If she
wasn't a superhuman martial artist, she'd already be dead.  Even then, Pink
estimated her chances of survival at less than fifty percent without prompt
medical attention.
	Pink clucked her tongue as she knelt down.  She pinned one of the
woman's arms under her knee, and reached out to caress her neck with her good
hand.  No thorns this time.  This mewling little wretch didn't deserve to be a
slave.
	"Mature," she said softly.  The woman didn't respond, so Pink wrapped
her fingers around the woman's throat and squeezed just hard enough to be
uncomfortable.  "Oh Mature, over," she continued.
	Mature twitched almost involuntarily to look in Pink's direction, but
her eyes were glassy and unfocused with pain and shock.  That wouldn't do at
all.  Pink released the woman's throat, drew back her hand, and struck her
sharply across the face, sending a gob of crimson spittle flying away.
	When Mature looked back, her eyes were fully focused.  Ahhh, what a
wonderful thing, that martial artist concentration.  Pink smiled her special,
secret smile.  "Now that I have your undivided attention..." She lifted her
hand, letting the little packet she'd retrieved earlier slide into her palm.
"Memorise this face.  It's the last thing you're going to see, over."
	She hurled the packet into Mature's face.  It exploded, of course,
coating the woman's beautiful features with a fine viridian powder.  A moment
later, Mature tried to scream.  She couldn't quite do it, but a horrific gargle
forced its way from her punctured lungs and out her throat.  As Pink stepped
back, Mature's spine arched sharply despite her injuries, and seemed for a
moment as if she were going to snap in two.  Her arms jerked to life, moving so
fast the air snapped around them, trying frantically to claw and rake the powder
off her face.
	Really, it must have taken a rather exquisite amount of agony to
distract Mature so completely from her previous injuries.  Pink felt rather
proud of herself.  She watched for a few minutes as the woman desperately,
mindlessly tore gouges in her beautiful features, nails leaving long red tracks
on the milky skin.  When the woman's eyes were nothing more than gore-filled
pits, Pink lost interest in her and turned back to more important things.
	The fight behind her had been a little more equal than Pink had
expected, since Vice was still standing.  She was sporting a nasty-looking
bruise on the side of her face, though.  The woman didn't seem to mind, however,
as she eagerly licked the blood off her lips.
	A loud creak echoed through the forest as Chris catapulted himself off
the tree, leaving the meter-thick trunk shuddering like a reed.  He slashed
towards Vice with a cry, one leg extended, but the woman laughed lightly and
slashed her own arm forward to meet him.  There was a blur of red on black, and
Chris was somehow snatched in midair long before he was in striking distance of
Vice.  He didn't even let out a sound as she slammed him into the tree behind
her, leaving a dent of Adon's not-inconsiderable size.   Chris didn't even hit
the ground, instead sliding onto his feet as he tumbled from the trunk.
	Vice took a step back, her expression becoming petulant.  "You don't
even feel pain, do you?" she asked in a whining, childish voice.
	"No, I don't," Chris responded coldly.
	Pink was just considering her options when most of them were rendered
moot as a middle-aged man in a priest's outfit - obviously Goenitz - suddenly
appeared, standing a tree branch.  Both Chris and Vice glanced over at the
newcomer, Chris looking far less pleased.  Goenitz elegantly floated down from
the branch, buoyed by the wind.  His cultured voice rang across the clearing.
"Don't you?  I suppose we shall have to test that."  He spared the slightest of
glances for the cottage, his eyes narrowing slightly, and Pink felt every living
thing in the forest suddenly shrinking in fear from the cold aura that abruptly
surrounded him.  "Who has slain the scion?"
	Vice flowed over to her master's side and took up position beside him.
"It was the girl.  Poisoned him while the others distracted us.  But I don't
know who she works for."  She sank to the ground beside him, stretching
languidly like a cat, her dress puddling around her like a pool of blood.
"Should I get her to talk?"
	"No, that won't be necessary." Goenitz noted.  He raised his hand,
looking directly at Pink.  "I think this shall be her best possible use."
	A raging whirlwind sprang into being underneath his outstretched palm.
Flashes of silver light circled inside, and the ground was torn to shreds and
sent spitting in all directions, turning the interior of the cyclone into a
brown geyser.  A loud roar, like the buzz of a thousand bees, filled the
clearing.  It drifted towards Pink almost lazily, leaving a narrow band of
destruction in its wake.
	It didn't take some high-and-mighty martial artist to dodge that.  Pink
smirked and leaped to the side.  Except the whirlwind turned sharply without
pausing.  In fact, it was getting faster.  And it was pursuing her.  Goenitz was
chuckling to himself, though Pink wasn't sure how she heard it over the roar.
She continued to back away, but the tornado followed her every step, and was
starting to overtake her-
	Hands encircled her waist from behind, and the world flipped around for
a moment as she was yanked through the air so quickly the wind whipped around
her.  As she landed, slightly dizzy, Chris was yelling at her.  "Get over to the
lake and the others!  I'll handle this-" which was right about the point that
the whirlwind slammed into his back.  Pink flinched back, but the tornado
stopped dead at that point, and after a moment dissipated into thin air.  Most
of Adon's legs were actually still in the spot where Chris had been standing.
Only a few feet away was his right arm.  Most of the rest of the body, including
the head, was flung up against a tree on the side of the clearing nearer the
cottage.
	Goenitz dusted off his lapels, smiling slightly.  Then he raised an
eyebrow as Chris attempted to use his remaining arm to struggle back to an
upright position.  "I see 'doesn't feel pain' is rather an understatement."  He
shook his head.  "It seems that you are, in fact, more trouble than you're
worth."
	He began to walk, slowly and deliberately, towards Chris.  This wasn't
good, but could be a benefit too.  Pink began sidling towards the cottage.
Except Vice was suddenly drifting towards her with an unpleasant smile.  Could
be a problem.
	Pink's eyes snapped away from Vice abruptly. The mitama on her chest was
pulsing, sending a sharp echo through her mind. Something was coming. Something
big. Then everyone in the clearing paused, as a series of cracks and roars
echoed out of the forest. A dark shadow was charging through the underbrush, its
huge eyes flashing red in the darkness. Two trees toppled down in front of it,
massive ones that threw up a cloud of dust in their wake. The thing leapt over
the collapsing trunks with surprising agility for something that was as large as
an elephant.
	It landed on four legs, its reptilian claws digging great chunks out of
the loamy soil. It resembled a turtle, but with a shell covered in dozens of
pyramidal spines. Bony plates extended over the shoulders and hips of its limb,
and from these jutted a series of long thin piercing barbs. Its head was short,
with a snapping beak and great insectile red eyes. In the air behind it waved
the monster's club-like tail, long and whip-thin compared to the rest of the
beast. The club itself was a ball of spikes.
	Pink could feel the mitama in it, even if she couldn't see the thing. It
was also oddly colored, with a blue shell and black scaly skin, but the shell
turned redder the closer it got to the tips of its spines. It roared, its voice
like a dozen lions, and stepped deliberately into the space between Goenitz and
Chris.
	"Well," Goenitz frowned almost imperceptibly and flicked his hand,
causing the dust from its arrival to puff from his coat. "This forest is just
full of surprises."
	He glanced idly behind him as the trees cracked once again, announcing
the arrival of another aragami. Pink raised an eyebrow as Link walked casually
in front of the other beast. Her twin did not even glance in Pink's direction.
	The thing that followed her resembled a two-story-tall praying mantis.
Its body was thin, skeletally so, and seemed to be made of some sort of thick,
ropy plant material. It strode forward on four thin legs and had two more raised
in the air before it. The long, vicious-looking claws that descended from these
legs framed Link as she walked. It had no mouth, but only two tremendous over-
sized eyes sticking out of its almost comically small head. They spun and
whirled in place, looking off in seemingly random directions.
	"Friends of yours?" Goenitz asked Pink's twin.
	Link stared at him for a moment, her expression oddly blank.  Then
suddenly she chuckled, almost looking as if she wanted to smile.  "Oh, it's you.
They're my friends, yes.  The Water of Life is really quite exceptional, even
more than Jyusenkyou water in some ways, over."  She caressed the bag she held
under one arm.  "Let's cut right to the chase.  You've lost already.  Why don't
you save your life and run away, over?"
	"And if I don't accept your summary of my chances?" Goenitz asked
mildly.
	Link shrugged.  "I don't really care.  You're going to fail.  You might
win, or think you do.  You might kill some of us, even me."  She looked over at
the remnants of Adon's body, and laughed to herself.  "But you've lost already.
You can't beat him, over."
	"But railing against fate is such a fascinating pastime.  I do not
believe I can tear myself from it so easily."
	Link spread her arms wide.  "I couldn't agree more. Then let's see what
happens, over!"
	Her two creatures lurched into movement, circling around Goenitz.
Before the battle could be joined, however, two more figures emerged from the
forest, although with less destruction than the two aragami.  Pink smiled.  This
was all going just marvelously, really.  Vice had paused to look at the group
of newcomers.  Shampoo and Akane had also stopped upon entering the situation,
their naked blades gleaming in the moonlight.  Shampoo's eyes immediately locked
upon Vice's.  Akane, however, was looking around, as if searching for something.
	"Shampoo!" Pink barked.  "Get rid of that stupid secretary.  Keep her
away from me, over!"
	It wasn't really an order Pink expected Shampoo to hesitate at, and she
was not disappointed.  The stupid Joketsuzoku bitch screamed a war cry and
charged, her sword flashing through the air in an arc intended to behead her
opponent.  Vice, however, merely laughed, and snapped forward, first with one
arm, then the other.  In a blur of black and red, first Shampoo's sword was
ripped from her hand, then Shampoo herself was tossed in the other direction.
	Akane, realising her "friend" was in over her head, stopped whatever it
was she was doing and leaped into action.  Pink immediately dismissed all the
idiots from her mind - no one was paying attention to her anymore.  While the
sounds of battle erupted behind her, she strode over to the ruined cottage.  It
was a bit of a hassle to try and drag the kid's body with only one hand, but
even without his legs, Adon's body would have been a larger burden.
	As she reemerged into the night with her surprise, she noted Vice was
holding off Akane and Shampoo rather handily with that annoying throw-at-a-
distance trick of hers, but hadn't managed to land a decisive blow yet.
Meanwhile, Goenitz was dodging casually between the lightning-fast sweeps of the
mantis creature and the slashing club of the reptile.  He and Link were still
chatting, as if nothing was happening.  All the pieces were in place... except
for the annoying old bat.  Had Goenitz gotten rid of her?  Pink would have to
thank his corpse after this was all over, if so.
	And then all the sounds of the melee were drowned out as a roar louder
than anything Pink had ever heard in her life filled the entire forest.
Something was ripping up the life force of the forest!  She spun, dropping the
body in her startlement.  Above the treeline, a huge vortex had suddenly
appeared, like the finger of some god lancing down from the sky.  In its titanic
mass swirled blue streaks of water and the dark forms of the huge trees as they
were swept up into it.  Then, both were drowned out as the gargantuan form of
the Orochi - or so Pink assumed - was hurled up in the centre of the tornado,
helplessly flailing heads occasionally breaking out of the storm only to be
inexorably drawn back in.
	Oh.  Well, that explained where the annoying old bat was.
	The whirlwind rose up in the sky, carrying the howling eight-headed
serpent with it.  Even as the tornado dissipated upon reaching the clouds above,
the Orochi continued flying up and away, its enormous bulk temporarily blotting
out the light of the moon as it hurtled out towards the horizon.
	Pink made a mental note not to call the old bat an old bat to her face
anymore.  At least, not until she could be taught her place.
	The next sound Pink heard was the sound of someone charging across the
field.  She turned, to see everyone still staring in astonishment at the
horizon.  Everyone except Akane, who was dashing into the treeline.  Then there
was a flash of silver, and Akane stepped behind a particularly large tree,
hitting it with her elbow.  Ponderously, the tree slid down on the angled cut.
Around that time Vice snapped out of her stupor and spun to face this new
threat, sleeves dangling; but from her expression, the colossal tree toppling
towards her was a little beyond her ability to hurl aside as she had her foes.
Perhaps she might have dodged, but it was right about that point that Shampoo
slid in, her legs sweeping Vice's out from underneath her, then rolled away.
	The boom of the great tree landing on top of Vice was suitably
impressive, Pink grudgingly had to admit.  At the other side of the clearing,
Goenitz was thoughtfully stroking his beard, his head tipped forward and his
face in shadows.  "My word.  What a surprising lot you are.  I suppose I shall
have to stop holding back so much."  His eyes snapped wide open, their brilliant
blue flashing through the darkness, and he grinned, a savage animal smile.  With
two casual sweeps of his arms, the aragami on either side of him exploded in a
shower of green gore.  He hadn't destroyed the well-hidden mitamas within their
bodies, however - Pink still felt them pulsing with life.
	Well, it seemed things were just about to get out of hand.  Time, then,
to save the day.  "CHRIS!" she cried as loudly as she could.  "You can't fight
him in that wrecked body!  You'll have to take this one, over!"
	At that point, both Chris and Akane looked at her, and at the limp
corpse she was holding up, and their expressions could not have been more
different if they had tried.
	A fraction of a second later, the remains of Adon's body collapsed and
the one she held by the hand was not nearly so limp.  Pink tightened her grasp
around Chris's new hand and helped him up.
	"It's whole, but it's not nearly as strong as any martial artist," Chris
muttered, staring down at himself, but there was no accusation in his voice.
	"It doesn't matter!" Pink trilled triumphantly.  "He was a god!  You
know the power that slept in that kid, over!"
	"Maybe..." Chris grunted.
	And then Link was there, clutching her mitamas and the bag to her chest.
"You'd better figure out something quickly, Chris!" she snapped.  "Goenitz isn't
going to be stunned into silence for long, over!"
	Pink smiled, looking over the battlefield.  Shampoo and Akane were
running towards them, and both of them were staring at Chris.  Shampoo's eyes
were flinty, but Akane's face was full of open horror.  Chris wasn't paying
attention, however, as he clenched his fists and stared at them impotently.
Pink wasn't too concerned.  Vice was still buried under the tree, though the
massive trunk was quivering slightly as the woman struggled to gain the leverage
to free herself.
	And Goenitz... Goenitz was just recovering, smoothing over the naked
shock with indiscriminate rage.  "This..." he said, his voice filled with anger
for the first time.  "This goes beyond everything.  This is more than an
outrage.  This is blasphemy!"  A cold white aura built around the Heavenly King
of Orochi.  The air around him slashed and snapped, great trees and giant rocks
around him were ripped into the air and fell apart, cleaved in twain.
	And Link leaned in close to Chris, closer than Pink could ever remember
her twin voluntarily getting to the dead man.  "Chris," she said, her voice
hissing into his ear.  "If you don't do something now, Pink and Akane are going
to die, over."
	Chris raised his head.  The childish features of the other Chris were
set in hard, determined lines. His cold, dead eyes flashed from blue to red.
"No.  I won't let that happen."
	Goenitz was rushing in, his mouth open in a scream of rage, the wind
swirling around him tearing the ground up in his wake. He was moving so fast,
even Pink's recently enhanced senses could barely follow him.
	Chris raised his childlike hands, almost in slow motion.
	And there was fire.
	A giant wall of purple flames roared from the earth, hissing four
stories into the air.  Instantly, a wave of heat struck Pink almost like a blow,
sending her staggering a step back.  The earth around the flames disintegrated,
and Pink felt a sick, bloated tear in the vital force of the forest, like a
festering wound had erupted from under it.
	Nobody was looking directly at the barrier of flames.  Nobody could have
stared directly into that blindingly bright abyss.  Except Chris.  Pink stared
at him, instead, and saw him looking out into the flames he had created.  She
laughed with delight, and that seemed to snap the dead man out of his reverie.
He spun on his heel, and the voice of the dead child carried over the hissing
roar of the flames.
	"That won't stop him forever.  Let's get out of here.  Now!"

*

	Rei had to admit, after thinking it over, that it had been a complete
success. Even Usagi had managed to get through it without once falling over or
looking like an idiot. The entire fight had an almost dream-like perfection to
it. They had shown up, just as the huge hulking monster - Rei assumed it was a
zoanoid - had been about to level a building, posed, shouted at it and blasted
it back to wherever it came from. Then they had left without any incident, and
here they were again.
	Rei glanced around the school as she wandered through it. The
architecture was strange, not quite like anything Rei had ever seen before. But
even as she thought that, she knew it was a lie. This place very much reminded
her of somewhere, somewhere from her past, maybe even her past life. It had an
air of elegance and refinement to it. The whole campus existed with almost a
fairy tale quality.
	Perhaps that was why Rei wasn't comfortable? She frowned and looked down
at her feet, keeping her eyes away from the buildings as she passed them
anonymously. This entire place gave her a headache. The buildings, the people
inside them, even the uniforms that had been handed out to her... they all felt
wrong. Tainted.
	It was the same feeling she had when the zoanoids, or youma, or whatever
other demons were out there came too close. But then again, that did make sense.
Chris had told them that this place was run by the next best thing to Satan
himself. Rei believed him. She had felt the taint on the man when he had come to
speak to them. They had only talked the once, and even then it had been nothing
more sinister than what you would expect any school chairman to lecture a group
of strange young girls regarding attending a new school. He had talked about
grades, and attendance, and dress codes and other mundane things. Nobody had
mentioned magic or demons or evil schemes.
	Rei had spent two hours scrubbing herself off after the meeting.
	But things seemed to be going well. They had settled into this strange
school. It had only taken them three days. Makoto had already challenged the
school's judo team and won herself a place on it; no doubt she would be
captain soon. Ami had shyly mentioned a boy she had met and was talking to. He
was apparently very smart, and an accomplished pianist. Rei didn't think she had
ever seen Ami even look at a boy before. And Usagi...
	Usagi was a princess.
	Everywhere she went, Usagi dazzled and charmed. Her clumsy enthusiasm
and goofy good-natured humour, which had actually made her something of a social
outcast back in Tokyo, seemed to be winning over half the school. Usagi was even
now throwing a party at a local ice cream shop. For everyone else, it was just a
routine get together. For the Sailor Senshi, it was supposed to celebrate their
stunningly one-sided victory over the forces of evil.
	Rei had declined her invitation.
	She sighed. She really had to stop doing that. Usagi needed her. She was
still young and needed to master her powers, and until then the Senshi would
have to-
	Rei collided with something going very quickly in the opposite
direction. She screamed and fell back, landing painfully. The world swam for a
few seconds as she rubbed at her scalp. Rei had no idea what had happened, but
reacted instinctively.
	"Watch where you're going, you stupid moron!" she snapped.
	"Hey! You should... well, I guess it was my fault. But there's no need
to be rude!" Rei's eyes focused on the speaker for the first time. She would
place the girl at around her own age, although she was a little shorter. Her
burgundy hair fell to the nape of her neck, with one lock settled artfully
between her violet eyes. Like Rei, she was dressed in the Ohtori girl's uniform:
a typical sailor suit with huge puffed shoulders but no sleeves and a shirt cut
so tight it made every girl look like they had a stick for a waist. Instead of
the bow sported on most school uniforms, this one had an oversized red tie with
a single yellow stripe slashing across it. The girl was sitting on the ground
like Rei, also clutching her forehead.
	Rei considered her words for a minute and methodically reined in her
anger. She gave a long sigh. "Apology accepted," Rei said, getting to her feet.
She held her hand down towards the other girl.
	"Um, thank you," the girl said, accepting the help up. She stood weakly
for a second and when Rei released her, she stumbled back and almost fell again.
Quick instincts let Rei catch her before she would have suffered another nasty
spill.
	"Are you alright?" Rei asked, suddenly concerned.
	"My ankle..." the girl said, looking down at her leg. "I think I twisted
it..."
	Rei bit the inside of her lip. She had really been planning on spending
the evening alone. Without the sacred fire, it was hard to find her centre. She
needed it, in this strange place with its... its overwhelming 'it'-ness.
	"Here, lean on me," Rei offered, then proceeded to pull the girl into a
position where Rei could support most of her weight without waiting for a
response. The girl only blinked and stared. "Now where were you headed,
exactly?"
	"I can get there myself!" the girl cried indignantly and suddenly pushed
Rei away. Rei was caught off-guard by the smaller girl and stumbled back. The
shorter girl sniffed and turned her head sharply away. Then she made it two
steps before her ankle gave out and her legs flew out from underneath her.
	Expecting this, Rei caught her from behind. "What are you, an idiot?
Don't you know to accept help when you need it?" Rei frowned as the girl
stiffened in her grip. Then she suddenly relaxed and her head dipped down. Rei
blinked as the girl began to tremble in her arms, slowly at first and then with
increasing intensity. Soft sobs echoed back over her shoulder.
	Oh great. This was all Rei needed, another crybaby.
	"Ah, I didn't really mean it..." Rei said lamely. Apologies were not her
strong point.
	The girl let out a loud hitching sob, trying to rub the tears from her
cheeks with one hand. "I'm sorry, I feel so stupid!" She sniffed again, but this
time the sound was far less arrogant. "It's just-" she cut off sharply.
	"Just what?" Rei asked. She was running mostly on autopilot now.
Whenever Usagi started crying, Rei just yelled at her louder until she stopped.
She somehow sensed that was not the course to take with this girl. So she fell
back on what little she could remember of her shrine maiden training, at least
the parts that had not dealt with meditation and predicting the future.
	"Nothing, it's stupid..." the girl said, finally having gotten her
sobbing under control. Rei could still sense the despondence in her voice;
despondence and something deeper. "I was going to Nemuro Memorial Hall. I'd be
glad if you could take me there."
	"Sure," Rei agreed, glad herself that there finally was something to do.
"Uh... just one problem..." She coughed as she adjusted her grip on the girl to
one more suitable for a long walk. "Where is that?"
	"Just down this way, on the other side of the campus from the
dormitories." Rei nodded, and the two began to walk.
	"I'm Rei Hino," Rei introduced herself. "As you might have guessed, I'm
new here."
	The girl laughed a little. "That's a coincidence, I'm new here too." She
paused and reconsidered her statement. "Well, I used to go here awhile back, but
I transferred away and just returned recently." She paused again. They passed by
a rusty gutter as they turned a corner, the water from the storm still dripping
out of it slowly. It looked like blood. "My name is Shiori Takatsuki."
	"Pleased to meet you," Rei said. She knew she should have left it at
that. She had much bigger problems to think about than this girl she hardly
knew. The entire world practically rested on her shoulder, and she was wasting
time propping up a crying schoolgirl? But Rei couldn't help it. The world was
vast and terrible, and maybe there was nothing Rei could do about it...
	But she could guide this girl to where she needed to go.
	"So what's his name?" Rei asked.
	"Huh?"
	Rei rolled her eyes. She had seen Makoto in a similar huff once too
often. "The name of the boy. The one who dumped you, or you caught with another
girl before you could ask him out, or who stuck your love note up on the school
bulletin board..." Rei trailed off invitingly.
	"It's nothing like that at all!" Shiori replied irritably.
	Rei could sense Shiori's indignation. This close, Rei could hardly help
but feel it. She also sensed a spark of resentment nestled down under her
chaotically swirling emotions. It was the only thing that had remained constant
since they had met, Rei realised.
	"I still don't think it's that important," Rei said, putting more
dismissiveness into her tone than she really felt. Shiori's brow wrinkled, and
her lip twisted slightly.
	"Not important? I suppose it's common for the person that has always
been around you, that's always been there for you, that's been your only friend
since childhood, that it's common for HER to be secretly lusting after you for
years?"
	Rei had to admit, she wasn't expecting that. Taking Rei's confused pause
as a signal to continue, Shiori continued to vent.
	"I thought as much. And you know what the worst part is? It isn't just
that you've always been together. It isn't just the sleepovers and the baths and
the clothes shopping. It's not the secret picture of you that she... she kept in
a locket next to her heart and touched when she thought no one was looking!
	"I thought she was better than that! I trusted her. I told her
everything. When I felt low and worthless, she was the one I confided in.
Then... when I..." Shiori's voice began to lose some of its bitter edge. Rei
kept her features carefully neutral. "When I betrayed her because of some stupid
boy, I just made myself feel worse. I asked for her forgiveness. But she was
betraying me all along! She was the snake! Using our friendship like that,
always making me feel inferior..." Shiori's voice was beginning to grow stronger
and harsher again, and Rei decided she had heard just about enough.
	"Oh, is that all?" Rei said and smiled. "Well, that isn't so bad then."
	Shiori cut off as if she had been shot, and gaped at Rei like a landed
fish. Rei chuckled a bit at how comic she looked. Rei guided them over to a set
of stone steps and sat Shiori down.
	"Shiori, my grandfather is dead. He was killed." Rei clutched her hands
into fists, but willing the anger away. "Some... very bad men killed him. And I
had to sit there and do nothing. I couldn't help him. All I could do was run. He
DIED." She looked straight into the girl's violet eyes, willing all her emotions
into her gaze for a split second. She frowned and closed her eyes. She wouldn't
cry. But it hurt so much. "If... if I could have him back, even for a moment...
I think about all the times I yelled at him for being a fool. All the times I
hated him for making me get him out of messes. I'd gladly take those feelings
back again. I wish I could get annoyed and frustrated at him, just one more
time.
	"But I can't. Because he's dead."
	Rei opened her eyes again. Shiori was staring up at Rei, wide-eyed. She
was leaning back a bit, as if the force of Rei's grief was pressing down on her.
"I... I'm sorry, I didn't realise-"
	"No," Rei cut her off. "I'm not telling you this because I want your
sympathy. I don't want you to feel sorry for me..." Rei had enough of that from
the others. They never said anything, but Rei could see their sympathy in their
eyes. "I just want you to stop feeling sorry for yourself."
	"Sorry for myself..." Shiori repeated slowly.
	"There are bigger problems out there than what you went through,
Shiori," Rei said, crossing her arms. "The world is a vast and terrible place.
Today, you found out that it isn't always fair. That sometimes it hurts. That
sometimes it lies to you." Rei looked away, towards the campus. The chairman's
tower rose from the center of the school, casting its shadow as the sun set.
"Once you realise that, I guess that means you get to be an adult."
	"Well... I see what you mean..." Shiori pulled her legs to her chest.
"But just because there are bigger problems out there doesn't make me feel
better."
	"It isn't supposed to," Rei agreed, sitting down next to her. "You're
what, fifteen years old?"
	"Sixteen," Shiori corrected, but Rei waved that away.
	"You have every right to feel betrayed and angry. But this girl, she
sounds like she's always been there for you. She must really care for you, like
a true friend." Rei paused. "Did she ever... touch you?"
	"No!" Shiori gasped in shock. "Nothing like that!"
	"Then what's the problem? She never made you feel uncomfortable by
bringing it up, right?" Shiori nodded absently. "You have every right to feel
betrayed at the moment. I doubt you could stop yourself. We... we can't really
control how we feel, I guess. And neither can this girl. She's different from
you and me, but that doesn't make her less human." At that point the sun,
travelling its eternal path, emerged from behind the chairman's tower and cast
the entire stairwell in a warm red light. "You could stay angry and bitter. But
ask yourself... if she died tomorrow, would you really care about all this?"
	"I guess, if you look at it like that..." Shiori trailed off again. She
looked away from Rei.
	Rei smiled and patted her on the shoulder. "So obviously, what you need
to do is go find her and demand an apology. Then, what happens next... I guess
that's up to the both of you, isn't it?"
	Shiori turned and stared at Rei for a long time. Her eyes were so
intense, it began to make Rei feel nervous. Then her lips parted in a small
smile. "But I still can't walk."
	"Oh... right," Rei chuckled, and they shared a short laugh. "So, why was
it you were in such a hurry to get here again?" Rei pointed up the steep
staircase towards the building they were sitting in front of.
	"I..." Shiori laughed a bit again. "Actually this building is where... I
guess you could call him the school's guidance counselor lives. Students come
here when they need someone to talk to." Shiori smiled again, the first real,
genuine smile Rei had ever seen her give. "But I think I'll just think about it
first."
	"Guidance counselor?" Rei looked up at the building. The red glow of the
setting sun was slowly creeping up the side of the building, leaving it in
shadow. Rei realised suddenly she had dredged up feelings she had been keeping
locked inside since... that day. Maybe she did need somebody to talk to?
	Rei felt a sudden chill pass through her. No. This place... it was
wrong. Ohtori was overwhelming, like a warm but smothering embrace that followed
you everywhere you went. This place... it was like the embrace of the grave.
Equally smothering, but in a far more sinister way.
	"Come on, I'll help you home then," Rei said slowly, standing up and
offering her hand to Shiori again.

*

	It was another hot day in Tokyo. The people moved about slowly, many of
them frowning, most of them sweating. The engines of industry kept moving,
regardless of the weather. People had jobs. People had lives. They worked them
and they lived them as best they could. What other choice did they have?
	Nabiki almost pitied them. She stood at the window of her air-
conditioned suite and stared down at the street. Her fingers tapped out a slow
rhythm on the glass. How they could stand to be so small, she did not
understand.
	She didn't really think of herself as better than they were, not really.
She'd started out at the same level as any of them: no special powers or
training. But she understood something that they did not. She understood the
game.
	In life, there were winners and losers. Money, lovers, favours were how
you kept score. Business cards, bank statements and contracts were the score
sheets. The key to victory was understanding the rule, to knowing the way the
pieces moved. A long time ago she had thought that she could be happy with petty
victories and small awards. She hadn't been really willing to risk it all. In
time, she might have become one of them... old, timid. She would have just lived
out her life as another cog in the machine. A successful cog, a happy cog, she
had no doubt. But still content to win only those games that had come her way.
	She had to thank Ukyou, the next time they met. It had been hard, at
first. She had been playing a game she didn't know the rules to, thinking it was
one with much lower stakes. So she had been kidnapped and humiliated and almost
died.
	But that had not hurt. What had hurt was losing the game. Nabiki had
never lost before. There were games she could not win, but in those games she
had refused to participate. Now... she was in the greatest game of all. A game
where the stakes were so high it made her dizzy in a way being fifty stories
over the city could not. And she was winning.
	She reached down and touched the sword. It was cool to the touch,
innocuous to look at. Wrapped in a simple cloth, it merited no more than a
passing glance from the people outside. She wondered how many of them desired
it?
	Well... there was no need to wonder anymore, was there?
	Nabiki narrowed her eyes and concentrated. There was a man on the
street. He was going home after a long day of work. He was hungry and wished
that his wife would remember to cook dinner tonight. She hadn't for the last
three nights, because they had gotten into a silly fight the point of which he
could no longer remember. He bowed his head and realised he should probably
apologize. He had no idea if he was in the wrong, but it would work. And he
couldn't eat take out again. Besides being expensive, it was beginning to give
him a bit of a gut. Maybe he should renew his membership at the gym? He
certainly...
	He passed out of Nabiki's sight and she let him pass out of her mind.
She sighed and stepped away from the glass, spinning in place. She felt like
dancing. She felt like singing. She settled on laughing. It was so easy! She
had not imagined that it would feel so good! Just a flicker of concentration
and... and everything was at her fingertips. Names, addresses, account numbers
and other brands of ID.
	Still laughing, Nabiki fell back onto her bed. It gave out a sound like
an elephant sighing as the plush fabric bent beneath her. It was like falling
into a cloud. She kicked her legs in the air, giggling with girlish glee. In all
her life she had never stayed in a place so fancy. And she hadn't paid a yen for
it! It was amazing what a few words whispered in the right ear could get you,
when you could know everything about anyone you wished.
	She dropped the sword onto the bed beside her. It would never be out of
her reach. Not until she had spent her other two wishes, at least. To think she
had doubted it, even up to the end. All that work, just to get this little
sword, and she had doubted if it was real... truly real right up until the end.
Then it had spoken. "Wish Granted," it had said.
	She would have to be careful with the other two wishes, she supposed.
There were things out there. Monsters and witches and martial artists. If any of
them came too close to defeating her, she would need a trump card. Not that she
pictured she would ever need it now.
	Not now that she could read minds.
	She giggled to herself again and crawled further up the bed, sitting up
when she reached the headboard.	Most people liked to think of themselves as
modest, but Nabiki knew better. She was clever. She was brilliant, in fact. Oh
sure she could have wished for many things. Money. Power. Why not? But there
were a lot of martial artists in the world. There were a lot of monsters.
	And they just kept getting bigger.
	She could have wished to be the strongest woman in the world. Heck, she
could have wished for power like a god. But that was not Nabiki's style. She
didn't particularly think she had either the temperament or the inclination to
godhood. She also didn't picture herself enjoying all that tedious violence. But
she now had a power none of them could match. She had knowledge.
	"Ryouga!" she called.
	"Yes?" He was sitting in the corner. Just sitting on the top of that
ratty backpack of his, his chin resting on one fist and his eyes staring out at
nothing. He had been doing that for hours. Ryouga, she reflected, was very
boring company. He didn't talk or joke. He just sat like a land-bound hawk, and
fought like a demon. As usual, he radiated a heavy depression. It was always
there, on the corner of her awareness. She was still having trouble blocking off
the empathy that seemed to come with her new gifts. That was part of the reason
she was fifty stories up.
	"Come here a moment, will you?" she said, making her voice slightly more
sultry than normal. He turned red as a tomato and stammered something before
nodding and approaching. She resisted the urge to laugh. About the only thing
Ryouga was good for aside from fighting was teasing. His buttons were too easy
to push. She stretched slightly as he approached and he turned redder, and
stopped at the base of the bed, turning away.
	He must have noticed by now, that there was only one bed in the room.
Not that Nabiki had any real intention of sharing it with him. Ryouga was... too
thick for her. Oh, he was nice enough to look at, and his earnestness and
loyalty were kind of cute... but he was dumb as a sack of rocks. She was certain
he wouldn't mind sleeping in the closet again. He never had before, especially
not when he was a pig.
	"Is there... something I can help you with?" Ryouga's voice was thick
with emotion, and Nabiki scanned him visually for a moment.
	"Just stand there, would you?" she asked lightly. Ryouga nodded and
Nabiki smiled again, giggling to herself. She supposed it was time to test her
new abilities.
	After all, she was not narrow-minded enough to think she was going to
get by on just mind-reading. That would have been a waste of a wish. No, she had
wished to be 'the most powerful telepath on Earth.' She was slightly surprised
with the results. She had suspected that telepathy must be a rare talent,
considering how much it should have affected the world if even a few people had
it. But she had found herself able to casually read the minds of people with a
moment's concentration.
	She didn't even need to see them, really. All the minds around her, they
seemed to radiate their feelings like an aura into the air. She could... feel
the emotional miasma of the world. She had spent most of today walking through
the streets, just bathing in the radiated emotion of the people. It had been
like nothing she had ever experienced before. It had been beautiful.
	Now... now was the time for more serious testing. She coughed and
settled her face into a more serious expression. Ryouga, she decided, was a good
test case. His surface thoughts were minimal. He mainly spent his time analyzing
everything like a fight would break out any minute. Everything he saw was
cataloged as either a threat, an obstacle or a weapon. Every person that
approached Nabiki was evaluated with cold efficiency. When they had stayed in
one place for too long, his thoughts would drift randomly.
	He thought of her a lot, which pleased Nabiki. Some of his thoughts were
disgusting, but Nabiki couldn't really blame him. It wasn't like he would ever
have acted on them in a million years. Besides, what girl didn't like to be
admired?
	But she wanted to see how far beneath the surface she could go. She had
never cracked open a psychology book in her life, but she knew that the mind had
to go deeper than just the surface. It would be very useful if she could probe
into the memory, the subconscious... a thousand avenues of knowledge. A thousand
ways to gain power over someone.
	Besides, how deep could Ryouga go? He was a sap with a brain the size of
a walnut. Probably the deepest thought he had ever had in his life was wondering
where he was.
	She chuckled and focused.
	'...hope she finishes this soon. I can't stand being this near her. Why
is she chuckling like that? Oh god, am I doing something stupid? I certainly
hope not... if she sends me away I can't protect her...'
	Pretty standard stuff, that. Nabiki narrowed her eyes and focused more.
For a few minutes, nothing happened and she began to grow frustrated. Then she
found some sort of mental key, a way of thinking she hadn't tried before. It
just sort of slipped into her mind out of the ether. And in a flash she was
beyond the top of Ryouga's mind and into what lay beneath.
	Pain. It was pain. Nothing but pain.
	Nabiki gasped and her body stiffened. Her fingers dug into the silk
covers. Her eyes widened and her mouth opened in a soundless scream. It was like
a maelstrom, a cycle of despair and pain and self-loathing. Memories floated
up... no, not memories... one memory. Her. She saw herself lying on the ground
before him. She was bloody and battered and crying. He was standing and staring
at his hands and he was despair.
	Nabiki wanted out. The emotion, the raw naked force of it, had hit her
like a physical blow. She was stunned. She had thought that she could feel him,
but she had no idea what he was. He was pulling her down, pulling her in.
	Another memory, triggered by some need of hers. Nabiki had just taught
him the Shishihokodan. He had taken to it like a fish takes to water, and why
not? What did he have to be happy about? He was a rapist! He had hurt a woman! A
woman he... He couldn't think it, he wasn't worthy of thinking of her like that!
Why couldn't she have just asked him to kill himself?
	But this was better. She had taught him what he was. He was pain. Nabiki
was asleep and he wandered. He knew that he could lose her forever, but also
knew that he would not. He would never leave her, ever. Not as long as she
needed protecting.
	He came across a field, empty... alone. Nabiki had to be kilometers
away, asleep. He rose his face to the sky and screamed. It was wordless. It was
all his despair. The green light flashed up from him in a pillar. He was blinded
by it. It was the world. The ground around him buckled with the force of it.
Then it was gone, and he was empty. He didn't even notice the force returning.
When he looked up he was standing in a crater five meters across. He frowned.
	Not enough. He raised both hands to the sky and roared again. This time
he dredged it all up. A life without friends or a home. A friend who became an
enemy. A curse. And Nabiki. Always Nabiki. She was everything. She was his sin.
The rest was the world. She was him. HIS FAULT. When the energy was finally
spent, he stood staring up into the sky and felt the emptiness fill him.
	Not enough. He roared and willed his anger and self-loathing back. He
felt his body fill with it. The sphere was like a second sun, mad swirling
green. It dwarfed him. It fell with ponderous inevitability. He screamed his
defiance at it and it came down on him like the wrath of god.
	Then he knew no more. It was still dark when he woke up. The moon had
hardly moved. A few minutes of blissful unconsciousness, of forgetting what he
was. His body hurt all over. It was like he had fallen asleep on a highway or
been run over by a train.
	Not enough. He rose to his feet. He raised his head to the sky and
screamed. The depression roared around him..,
	ENOUGH!
	Nabiki pulled herself free of the memory by force of will. She could see
Ryouga shake a bit, like a leaf on a breezy day. He had felt the memory return.
He wasn't aware of her inside him, but he knew something was happening. The
thoughts of that night increased the strength of the aura around him.
	'...too much of a coward, aren't I? All this strength? Can't even kill
myself properly with it! I guess it would have been the coward's way out,
though. Not what I deserve. Not what she needs me for. The only reason I die, is
for her... Wait!'
	Nabiki felt the sinking depths of Ryouga at the edge of her mind. He was
worried about her now. He had noticed her discomfort. He was walking along the
side of the bed now, softly saying her name. He was asking if she was alright.
Nabiki couldn't answer. As he stepped closer it grew stronger.
	There was light in there, somewhere deep under the pain. Something he
was pushing down in himself, battering with his pain and his loathing. She
willed herself towards it with the desperation of a drowning man.
	He was getting closer. The pain, the despair, it was getting stronger
with every step. In a few seconds, he would touch her. If he did, she would go
mad.
	She never quite made it to the light. But she felt it. It was warm and
brilliant. She had felt the emotion by now. It was love. Not lust, which was hot
and hard like a stone from a volcano. This emotion was soft. She had felt a
little bit of it, just a little, as she walked through the city. Mothers with
their children. Husbands and wives. Something warm and precious. In their
presence, Nabiki had lingered a little longer.
	He loved her. That was what was under all that pain and misery. He loved
her and he hated himself for it. He would never touch her. He would never say
anything to her. He believed he owed her everything. He would die for her.
	She began to cry.
	She hadn't cried this way since... since mother had...
	The thought snapped her back to herself. She shook her head. Ryouga was
standing, his hand a few centimetres from her cheek. She could feel him, but
only his usual aura of depression. Nothing more, not anymore.
	"Go away, Ryouga," she pleaded, her voice hoarse.
	"Nabiki?"
	"Just go away!" she begged.
	"I..." She didn't need to read his mind to know what he was thinking.
She was rejecting him, and his comfort. Did he think that she was remembering a
rape that never happened? Did he think she was disgusted by him?
	"I can't leave you..."
	"I'll find you," she said softly. "Just go... go away... I need...
alone..."
	Ryouga took one last look at her, his face falling. Then he turned and
stumbled to the door. He only got turned around once before he was out of the
suite. She shuddered, as she could still feel him even as he moved down the
hallway. She was right, she would have no trouble finding him now. He was like a
black bruise on the emotions of the city.
	Nabiki pulled her knees up to her chest. That had... that had to be
some...
	She couldn't accept it. It had been a joke. Just part of the game.
Ryouga was thick as a brick. Ukyou's journal had said so. Goofy and depressed
and with the worst luck in the world. But hadn't the book also said something
about being nice, and heroic and kind? Facts that Nabiki had passed over when
reading about him. She had been looking for weaknesses. That was how you won the
game. You learned what would hurt the other player, and you ruthlessly exploited
it.
	That was how it worked.
	She hadn't made the rules.
	You couldn't blame her for playing the game too well! It wasn't right!
She wasn't at fault! He was just too stupid, was the problem. There was no need
to take it so seriously. It was Ryouga's own stupid fault for believing her. It
was his fault for keeping all that rage and pain bottled up inside. She hadn't
asked him to fall in love with her! She hadn't asked!
	Nabiki continued crying.
	"What have I done?"

*

	Chizuru sat on the balcony overlooking the city. Kyoto was the ancient
capital of Japan, and a city of shrines. Perhaps that was why she had always
felt so at home here? It was a lovely place, nestled in the heart of Japan's
great mountains. The very air was filled with spiritual energy. The hot sun did
not bother her as she stared down at the city and smiled.
	She raised a hand, extending one finger. In a flutter of wings and a
flash of brown her pet settled onto his perch. He chirped at her inquiringly.
Perhaps he could sense her mood. She only shook her head and smiled wider. Chee-
chan was a very exceptional sparrow, but he was still a sparrow. His primary
concerns were the building of nests, the chasing of worms and the singing for
mates. What did he understand of the life of an eighteen-year-old who also
happened to be one of the richest women in all Japan?
	Not that she was overly concerned about that. She had been preparing for
these days for years now, ever since... She sighed and flicked her finger,
sending Chee-chan to go rushing off into the blue sky. She turned and strode
into her office.
	It was the very model of a modern Japanese office. The desk was glass,
with dark metal piping supporting it. The walls were polished granite, grey and
imposing. The floor was pristine white marble and her heels clicked on it,
echoing throughout the massive chamber. And massive it was. In a place so
starved for space as Japan, such a chamber was a sign of ostentatious wealth.
	She hated it. She resolved to get some trees in here, perhaps even give
her an excuse to practice her bonsai. She sat down at the desk and sighed again.
There were only a few papers piled atop her desk, but they were imposing
nonetheless. She had managed to put off this for six years, but now that she
had graduated high school, the stockholders would not take no for an answer. She
was going to lead the company her family had founded, or she was going to have
it dismantled around her.
	It was too useful a tool to let it be wasted. The Clan of Yata had
served Japan for centuries, and this organization was the heart of what had once
been their power. Now, as the only survivor, s