I neither own Ranma Nibunnoichi, Weiss Kreuz, Sailormoon, or Buffy
the Vampire Slayer. If you want to use Saotome Yuki in any of your
fics, please direct all permission asking towards Mei Neko, her
creator, at [email protected]. If homosexual relationships
offend you, don't bother reading this. There's a couple homosexual,
and a couple heterosexual, pairings that show up.

This won't make sense unless you've read the two previous books,
False Identity and True Identity. I really mean this, people.
Otherwise, how will you understand the SchuuKen subplot, the fact
that Aya-kun and Farfello are violently opposed to one another, and
yet still manage to live together? Or, how about who the hell Yuki
is. *nodnodnod* Therefore, you can find Books One and Two at:

http://ladycosmos.anifics.com
http://tannim.anifics.com
http://li_xiang.anifics.com
http://nighthawk.anifics.com
http://archives.anifics.com
http://www.reikaifiles.com

Oh, and settle in for a long read. Prior to formating and authors
notes, this was forty pages long. It's short for a whole Book for
the Identity Series, but this whole Book is more or less filler,
used as a plot-device so I can muck around with a new set of
serious problems in Book 4.

Anyway... on to Book 3!



Hidden Identity
Prologue : Going
Li Xiang




"You're going to _what_?!" the wiccan half shrieked, "You can't
Alexander Lavelle Harris we need your help _here_! You can't just-
just-just run off on us!"

Alexander, more often known simply as Xander, winced. This was why
he had hoped to be able to sneak out-- Willow could shriek when she
really wanted to. He resisted the urge to use his pinky finger to
pop his eardrums. He was a bit surprised at the sympathetic look
that Oz was sending him, up until he realized that it was only two
days until the full moon.

The poor wolf's senses had probably increased even further than
their normal abnormally high sensitivity. Which meant that it
probably hurt him a whole lot more, since he was standing right
next to her as he listened to her caterwauling.

But Xander would _not_ be deterred! He felt he had to do this, had
to get away... Buffy was just his excuse. It was just his excuse
that he was going to find the missing Slayer. There was
something... more, for him out there. He just knew it.

He wanted to be more than just the donut boy.

So he had packed up, shoved everything that mattered into a bag or
two, and was ready to ship out. The only thing currently tying him
to Sunnydale, California, was Willow Rosenberg-- and he had
recently heard some _very_ disturbing rumors about her. He didn't
know what to think, so he just wanted to get away for a bit and
clear his head.

"You can't stop me from going," Xander tried to make her
understand-- but the only thing the redhead understood was that her
best friend since childhood was leaving without her.

"She... she'll come back!" Willow tried, desperately clutching at
his arm. Fairly annoyed, Alexander pried her fingers off the said
arm.

"So will I, Wills. Just... let me get some space for awhile,
okay?"

---

Xander blinked owlishly at what was in his hands, "You're kidding
me."

"No joke," the man grunted in badly broken English, "Give ticket to
Nihon-- to Japan, for food." and he pointed to the cooler the
teenager had been hauling back to his make-shift camp.

Xander was still freaked over the fact that he could move through
walls and the ground. And it was all because that freakishly old
building he had been checking out-- a misguided need to help people
he assumed, related to his experiences back in on the Hellmouth.

There were rumors that there were ghosts or vampires or something
in there, and as one of the Scoobies, even if he was one on
vacation, he'd felt it was his duty to check it out and see if he
could solve the problem.

The building had quite abruptly collapsed while he was within it.
He had nearly died... and he still wasn't sure if he hadn't.
Although, if he _was_ a ghost, then he was pretty visible _and_
still had to eat.

Which was what he needed to think about, here. Give up his food, or
a chance to go to Japan. The twelve year old alongside the
overweight moron looked far to thin for it to be healthy... and his
eyes.. glazed over and blank. The kid wasn't fidgeting or looking
around because of boredom. He was just... standing there. It was
pretty freaky, and the teen had to wonder if he was a zombie.

Once again, Xander's oh-so-compassionate nature overtook him. He
couldn't turn a kid in need away. He tucked the ticket into his
pocket and jerked his thumb over his shoulder, "Knock yourself out.
The kid needs to eat."

The teen didn't even get a 'thank you', before the man dragged his
son over to the cooler. Shrugging away the ingratitude, Alexander
headed back to his car. He'd always heard strange things happened
in Japan. His phase-ability shouldn't stick out _too_ much over
there, right?

Right.

Besides, this felt like something he needed to do-- just like
leaving Sunnydale had. He had always trusted his gut, it had yet to
kill him.

---

End Prologue

---
Chapter One : Willow



"For Christ's sake! That isn't funny, Yuki!" Ken yelped, watching
as the knife phase through him without a mark. Ever since the
psychopathic woman had learned of his abilities, he had found
himself forced to only keep his hands and feet solid. It was good
practice, but really, really, really annoying, as she loved to
throw sharp things at him, just because she could. After all, his
abilities meant she could do it over and over and over again
without causing any harm. She thought of it as good target
practice.

"Sure it is," mused the woman as she helped to prepare yet another
Western-style breakfast for the other members of the House. It had
become common place for Ken and Yuki to get up and make breakfast.
Sometimes, Oz would help. Sometimes, Ranma's stomach would hinder.
Then there were the times when the other members of the House felt
domestic, and kicked the two nineteen-almost-twenty year olds out
of the kitchen.

"Look, can you lay off on attacking me?" Siberian growled, stirring
the batter for their breakfast of freshly baked muffins, "I'd like
to be solid sometime soon."

Yuki just grinned her favorite grin-- the one that made her look
_way_ to much like Farfello for his comfort-- and began humming the
tune to Hundred Million. The band had been playing the night prior,
which meant half the House had gone to watch them. The other half
had been too busy with their side-jobs. As in, the jobs they did
when they weren't assassins.

The relative peace of the House was soon shattered, however, when a
focal point of a transportation spell opened a couple feet off the
ground, in the main room. Ken couldn't feel it, but there were
three people in the House that could, and one of the them had just
tensed, then forcefully relaxed, then bolted out of the kitchen,
flying out in time to see the warp expand to full size.

Yuki knew full well that Nabiki preferred the more stable way of
transportation that was using Gate Spells on walls or doors or
other handing objects-- like curtains for instance. She also knew
that this was _not_ the other Sorceress, as the mana signature was
wrong. However... that is not to say that it was unfamiliar to her.

She just couldn't place it...

Ranma and Rache, both looking tired as hell blew into the room,
even as another body flopped out of the portal, vibrant red hair
fluttering around her face. The martial artist and the Sailor
Senshi went immediately into battle stances, while the Sorceress
and the Soccer Player froze in shock.

The head lifted, and the unknown witch looked around, taking stock.
A redhead wielding a wicked looking pole-arm, who looked about two
seconds from lopping off her head. Another redhead who stood
loosely, but who was literally crackling with power to her enhanced
magical sight.

The her eyes lit up when they landed on Ken, however, and one
redheaded witch threw herself across the room and locked her arms
around his neck, "Xander!"

"Wi-wi-Willow?!"

"Ro-sen-berg..."

Willow froze, finally turning to the last member of the room's
occupants, "Y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-Yuki!" she stuttered nervously,
swinging around; placing Ken between her and the psychopathic
assassin.

Another voice cut in, and it was hardly pleased, "Get off of him,
girl," Schuldich growled, rising off the couch that he had slept on
the night before. The telepath had crashed there after Xue Shi's
performance, and just never bothered to move. And right that
moment, despite being able to see within her mind, and knew she was
already in a serious relationship, was rather jealous.

Whenever _he_ tried to hug Ken, _he_ was pushed away.

"Schuldich..." Ken groaned, wondering what he did to deserve having
an obsessive telepath lusting after him. It was _really_ annoying.

Yuki was showing remarkable restraint, merely growling and
clenching her fists so tight that her knuckles were white, as she
_glared_ at Rosenberg, "What. The. Hell. Are. You. Doing. Here.
Bitch?!"

She was still cowering behind Hidaka, who was trying to pry her
arms away from his neck. He paused to blink for a second, before
turning his gaze on his one-time best friend, "Yeah Wills, why
_are_ you here?" He didn't bother to ask 'how'. He had seen the
warp, after all.

She turned her attention back to Ken, speaking in English, "My
Japanese isn't very good. I... didn't think you really were in
Japan when I scried you last week."

This time, Yuki really did lunge at Rosenberg, teeth bared in a
full-on spit-flying snarl. Only Schuldich and Ranma blurring into
action and halting her forward movement kept her from tearing
Willow's head from her shoulders. The psychopathic Sorceress
snapped out, "You're the one who scried them?! Do you even
understand how to do a proper scrying?! For fuck's sake! You could
have _killed_ someone!"

"Hey, Yuki?" wondered the younger sibling, "Since when do _you_
care about killing someone?"

"When it's my friends," she growled, jerking against the iron grips
of her currently female brother, and her telepathic friend, "This
_twit_ cast a scrying that uses the life-force of the target to
scry! She damn nearly killed Ghostie and the Wolf!"

"What?!" Schuldich's grip loosened at the thought of almost losing
his Kenken. Ranma's only tightened with anger as she growled. Oz
was a close friend-- for Christ sakes, they understood each other
better than most, seeing as both had a fairly violent feral side.
Ranma just liked hers better, and lets it out more often.

"You-you're lying!" Willow shouted, unnerved at the thought. She
had been using that spell to scry on Glory, and nothing had
happened to the Hell Goddess.

"No," Yuki hissed, dark eyes narrowing into slits, as she yanked
her arm free from the stunned German at her side, "I'm not. You're
damn lucky I threw up a shielding spell before you could do more
damage than causing fatigue. Gods above and below! You're no better
now than five years ago!"

"Five...?" Ken wondered, confused, "But... but Willow didn't start
practicing until _after_ Miss Calender was killed! That was only
_three_ years ago!" But his mind flashed back to the rumors that
had been part of the reason he'd left Sunnydale in the first place.
They had seemed so dark and terrible then... but given that he was
an assassin now, that over shadowed a lot of what he'd heard.

"Oh, she didn't tell you, did she?" the assassin code named Kitsune
hissed, "During Junior High she joined a coven-- _my_ coven. Quick
study, but absolutely abysmal at casting--"

"You're stuck on yourself!" Willow snapped in English. While she
could understand and read Japanese-- never know when it might come
in handy during research parties-- she couldn't speak it very well.
It had yet to occur to her to use a translation spell. And even if
it had, she didn't have her grimores, in which she would have to
_find_ the spell, in the first place, "You flaunted your gift then,
and you still do now!"

"I don't flaunt," Yuki returned icily, in Japanese, just so Ranma
and Rache could understand her words, "You came to _me_ for help, I
didn't jump in on every damned spell you cast-- unlike _some_
people. It's hardly _my_ fault you and the other six attacked me
without doing a little... research first, now is it?"

"You attacked _Yuki_?!" Ken gapped, "Wills, you're smarter than
that! She could have killed you!"

"She almost did."

"I killed everyone, expect, apparently, Rosenberg," Yuki's lip
curled with distaste, and she held out her free hand, "And I plan
to remedy that-- Firaga!"

"Silence Wall."

Willow jumped as the high powered fire spell was absorbed by a
shifting shield of black energy, "I want to know _why_ she is here
_before_ you roast her, Kitsune," the redhead with the pole-arm
told the Sorceress perfectly calmly.

"Who's going to roast who?" wondered a yawning voice, and a blurry-
eyed Fujimiya Aya-chan stumbled in, "And what's with all the
racket? 'm tryin' ta sleep..."

Yuki was suddenly calm, and smiling at the sixteen year old,
"Nothing to worry your pretty head over, Aya," she shot a look at
the others, wriggling free of Ranma-onna's grasp, and draping an
arm over the younger Fujimiya's shoulders, "Now, why don't we
finish making breakfast, hmmm? Kenken seems a bit... occupied, ne?"

Then the Sorceress was gone, leaving Willow with Ken, Schuldich,
Ranma and Rache. Ranma shared a look with Ken-- who, aside from
Ranma, Aya-chan and Jei, was the only other person who spent a
large amount of time around Yuki-- and nodded. Both had interpreted
Yuki's parting look to have said 'You are _damn_ well going to tell
me what she wants, understood?'

You never answered me," Ken hedged in English, "Why did you come to
Japan?"

"We need help."

"'We'?"

Willow shuffled a bit, "Buffy, Giles, Anya, Tara, Spike and I,
We're trying to defeat--"

"Wait, wait, wait. Spike? The vampire with an attitude?" Ken was
utterly confused-- wasn't Spike one of the bad guys? Willow's lips
quirked.

"A lot has changed, Xander. When we're finished with Glory, I'll
catch you up. You _will_ be staying in Sunnydale, right?"

"Wrong," Ken frowned, "There's still some things to take care of
here, in Japan. The Soccer Club for one thing; who's going to
replace me as coach?-- Then there's my job-- pick up and leave
after everything I've done to get here?-- Not to mention the
friends I've made here."

"But you promised to come back!" whined the witch.

"Yeah, maybe to visit, not to live. Gods Wills! I've built a life
here! I _can't_ leave!"

"I... I understand..."

/Careful liebe,/ whispered Schuldich, into his obsession's mind,
/she's not going to give up that easily./

/I know.../ Ken sighed, partially sulkily. He meant what he had
said: he didn't want to leave his friends, his family, hell Japan.
He _liked_ it here.

/Aww, I always knew you cared!/

He twitched, annoyed. Okay, maybe leaving Schuldich behind would be
nice-- but he'd miss everything else. He studiously ignored the
voice that said he would miss the telepath. Schuldich was an
_unwanted_ presence in his life. He shook that away, turning back
to Willow.

"Sooo.... who's Glory?"

---

End Chapter

---
Chapter Two : Decision



While breakfast was a tense affair, Willow was surprised by the
number of people who crawled out of bed to eat. Hell, six people
had shown up-- they had walked in through a wall-- and the head of
the group, a brunette, had merely stated she felt the redhead
witch's arrival, and came to investigate.

Eying the nineteen men and women around the table, she found
herself amused by their interactions. On her left was Xander, who
was trying to force Schuldich to stop trying to feel him up. Beside
the German was his sister, who was snuggling up to a long haired
man with a scar just above one eye. It looked like it had just
narrowly missed blinding him.

Beside him was a man with an eyepatch who was glaring, over the
head of the redheaded girl who was in his lap, at the violet eyed
man beside him. Said man would occasionally shoot the pale haired
man a nasty glare, but was more occupied with trying to rip his own
sister's attention from Yuki.

Beside Yuki was a pair of long haired men, who happened to be
arguing quite loudly, while the said assassin passed them utensils
to beat on each other with.

And to their left, was another youth, probably seventeen, who was
dotting on the smug brunette beside him. To her experienced eyes,
they were in love. Again, on their left, a teen with lavender hair
in a page-boy cut was flashing hand signals at the blonde beside
her, who relayed the message to the long haired man beside him.

Then there was the American man with glasses, who kept glaring at
her for some reason, and finally it came down to the boy with the
laptop on her right.

She was startled when they all fell silent together, turning to
face her, curiosity obvious in their faces.

"Er... yes?" she questioned a bit hesitantly.

"Why the hell do you need Kenken and the Wolf's help?" Ranma-onna
growled, eyeing the other distrustfully. Yuki's previous experience
with the wiccan aside, Willow's attempt at scrying almost killed
her friends. Ranma was _very_ protective of her pride-mates.

"Yes, why?" mused the brunette that had been introduced as Tendou
Nabiki, "Why did you use an unstable warp to transport yourself
across the ocean?"

"My Japanese isn't the greatest," Willow muttered in English. Both
Nabiki and Yuki laughed. The witch looked up in surprise, only to
meet the amused grins around the table.

"Translation spell," sneered Yuki, and Nabiki's lips quirked.

"Honestly, what kind of spellcaster are you?"

She flushed in part in embarrassment, and part in anger, and opened
her mouth to respond hotly, but Crawford cut her off. He had been
the only one who had _not_ been amused with her plight. Dark eyes
_glared_ from behind his glasses, "Know now, that should we agree
to go with you... _all_ of us must go."

The seriousness of his voice brought all attention to him. Ranma
frowned, "Something you saw?"

The cold look the redhead got in return caused her to flush. Right,
telling people Crawford was a seer-- not to mention the Guardian of
Time-- was a dumbass move. Hopefully, Willow wouldn't realize the
implications behind the sentence.

Being someone used to a Slayer's visions, Willow _didn't_ figure it
out. She just assumed it was something similar.

"Uh... right..." the wiccan paused to catch her train of thought
again, "Well... we don't have enough strength to beat Glory. One
minute we're dealing with something more our level, the next we
have to deal with something _way_ out of our league."

The group understood almost immediately; the last Time Guardian had
to have been manipulating something to keep the wiccan and the
Slayer-- as well as their friends-- alive, and slowly growing in
strength. Yuki figured that Pluto _must_ have had a hand in
Willow's survival.

She had made sure to injure the girl enough to die within ten
minutes of her leaving, just like she had all the other girls in
the coven. The fact that Willow survived at all suggested outside
interference.

/Do we help?/ Schuldich's mental voice reached everyone but Willow,
creating a temporary loop so they could hear one another and
discuss the topic.

/Well, we _did_ agree to take on the task of 'saving the world'
when we killed off the Senshi./ Nagi pointed out, briefly turning
away from Ragnarok Online to do so. Then he was involved in his
game once again, ignoring reality.

/We could use the chance to humiliate this wanna-be-Sorceress,/
Nabiki put it with a mental sniff. Omi and Xian nodded their head
in agreement. It was a lovely idea-- _and_ they could torment Ranma
some more. It had become a past time of theirs, as Nabiki built up
her power, so she could properly destroy the martial arts without
fear of him even possibly being able to fight back.

/_And_,/ purred Yuki, /I could use this chance to... tie up some
loose ends./ In other words, everyone translated, she wanted to
kill a few people in America. Jei agreed to this idea-- it was
amazing how similar the pair were.

/I don't want to go,/ grumped Ken, /I don't want to leave Japan./

/We have a gig in a few days,/ interjected a new voice, and the
group blinked, a bit surprised. Oz had apparently finally woken up,
and was standing in the door way, behind Willow. The redheaded
wiccan didn't know he was there.

/Yeah,/ Ranma agreed, once they'd explained the situation to the
werewolf, /And what about the mission this weekend?/

/I thought _you'd_ want to go,/ Ran frowned, /A new country to
explore and wreak havoc on.../

/I've already _been_ to the states,/ Ranma shot back, /but it
sounds like you wanna go, Ayan./

/We'll take a vote then,/ Schuldich threw in, /those who hand to
go, lift a hand./

Willow was rather confused when almost everyone lifted a hand for
no reason. The ones who did _not_ want to go were Ken, Oz, Ranma,
Schuldich, and surprisingly, Yuki. At the enquiring looks, the
ebony-tressed young woman shrugged, "Just because there are loose
ends to take care of, doesn't mean I _want_ to go. I'd have gone
back and finished them off by now if I did."

A wave of understanding washed over everyone but Willow-- who was
still very confused-- and breakfast resumed with idle chatter only
interrupted when Oz squeezed himself into a seat between Yuki and
Zoicite. As Ken and Yuki hadn't prepared enough food for everyone,
they'd hauled out and heated a few buns to munch on. Breakfast was
soon over, despite having a good twenty people present, and the
group were prepping for their journey.

As only Willow knew their destination, Yuki and Nabiki had decided
only to focus their power through the wiccan.

Willow had gotten everyone-- including Fei Li and Nobuyuki, who had
awoken at some point and decided to play video games on the PS2 in
the main room-- to sit in the center of the room after moving the
couches and tables to the walls. They had gravitated in to their
usual groups, and were chatting about what they could do, once in
America. Neither Nabiki nor Yuki paid much attention to the runes
Willow was scrawling onto the floor with chalk.

After all, if they ended up at the wrong destination, all it would
take was a quick gate back to the House, a checking of the runes,
and away they went.

Just before completing the circle, Willow entered it, and then
inscribed the last rune on the concrete floor of the warehouse.
Carefully dodging around the groups of people, she brought herself
to the exact center of the circle, and began to chant the spell.

The two Sorceresses rolled their eyes at the theatrics. Both only
ever used chants to boost their own strength, or in special
ceremonies- the Knighting Ceremony, for example. They braced
themselves as the pure energy of the magic flooded their senses,
and the warp began to open.

As one, the pair leapt to their feet, recognizing the unstable
magic, and cursing vividly. Willow didn't noticed, as she was to
involved in her spell.

Rache's eyes flew open, Crawford's head snapped up, and Ranma gave
a cat-like yowl as they, too, felt the drain. The unstable warp was
drawing on their power to attempt to stabilize itself.

The magic in Ranma's blood was not her own, and so it held no
connection to her life force. The drain halted almost as soon as it
had begun, and Kitty could breath once again.

Blue eyes widened as she viewed their surroundings, a wild mixture
of swirling red and blue dust, orange and green sparkling stars,
and ebony space full of violet and gold shadows of... things. She
didn't recognized the shapes.

"What the..." Willow still stood in the center, eyes closed and
chanting. Yuki's dark power was lashing about her, fighting against
the silvery chains of Willow's unstable spell. Rache, Crawford and
Nabiki-- who had no where near Yuki's experience with magic-- had
collapsed, wrapped in the ethereal chains.

Everyone else was unconscious. Confused, the martial artist looked
around-- then shrieked with panic as people, as her Jei-sama, and
her Ayan, began to fall away, vanishing into the sick
bastardization of space.

"No, no, nononononononononoNO!" Ranma howled desperately, snagging
Schuldich as he began to slip past. She reached out to take hold of
Nagi, but her fingers missed by millimeters.

Arm looped around Schuldich, she tried, again and again, to catch
the others, but to no avail. Even those in chains fell away, only
Ranma, who was awake, Schuldich who she held, Yuki, who fought off
the spell's wild power, the unconscious duo of Ken and Oz, and
Willow herself remained.

The strain was getting to the redhead, and just as the world flared
around them, she collapsed, unconscious.

---

End Chapter

---
Chapter Three : Sunnydale



When Ken dragged himself out of his unconsciousness, he had a
sudden flash back to eight or nine months earlier, when Schuldich
had kid napped him. He could hear arguing outside his door.

"You fucking bint!" came Schuldich's enraged roar, "That was my
_sister_ you lost!"

"Look, I'm sorry," came Willow's plaintive voice, "I didn't know..
the spell was--"

"Don't give me that shit!" Schuldich barked, fury lacing his voice,
"You know damn well you did that on purpose! Did you think Ken and
the Wolf would _happily_ agree to help you if their friends were
out of the picture, hmmm, hmmm? Oh, wait, you were hoping that if
you could get Ken and Oz here without us, they'd stay _here_!"

"You have no evidence that I--"

Schuldich was laughing, and Ken dragged himself up and out of an
unfamiliar bed, phasing through the door, to see what the fuss was
all about. Schuldich and Willow were facing off, and the assassin
growled, "I'm a telepath, _girl_. I don't need physical evidence to
see inside your head!"

Ranma was out cold, a worried Yuki hovering over the redhead, most
likely scanning for injuries. Oz wasn't in the room, but if where
_he_ woke up was any guess, then Oz was likely tucked into a bed as
well.

"Telepath?!" Willow screeched, "Telepath?! Then you've probably
messed with his mind, and forcing him to stay away from us!"

"If Schuldich was changing my thoughts," Ken drawled, annoyed that
Willow was pointing fingers, instead of believing Ken _liked_ his
life the way it was, "Then he'd have gotten me into his bed months
ago."

"W... what...?"

Yuki didn't looked up from tending to her at-the-moment sister,
"Schuldich fell for Kenken long before I met them. Ken's absolutely
terrified of the thought of having kinky men-sex."

"'Kinky men-sex'?" came a questioning growl from the youth beneath
her hands, "is _that_ what you call it, oh sister of mine?"

"Ranma!" she grinned, then smacked her upside the head, "Moron!
What did you think you were _doing_?!"

"Tryin' to prevent people from vanishing," she rubbed the top of
her skull, "Oh, and ow."

"Right," Ken turned to his former friend, "Back on topic."

"Good. Glory is--"

"I _meant_" he growled, "Where are my friends, Willow?"

"I..." she was frightened of Xander... Xander had never acted like
this before. Never acted like he'd hurt her at the first change.
She clutched her head, and whispered, "I don't know."

"You don't _know_?!" Ken shouted, infuriated, "You _don't_ know?!
You just dumped everyone off without making sure they were alive?!"

"I just cared about bringing _you_ home, Xander!" she tried to make
him understand. He had never reacted like this, though. The Xander
she remembered would have forgiven her, then moved on. She had
quite the skewed image of her childhood friend.

"Don't. Call. Me. _THAT_!" he bellowed, as the newly awoken Oz
stumbled into the room, "Alexander Harris _died_ three years ago!
My name is Ken. I am _not_ who you think I am!"

"Neither of us are," Oz spoke quietly, "We've changed, you've
changed. We aren't the same people, Willow."


"No!"

"She's not going to listen," Ranma grunted, pushing herself up, "I
think it's time to go." She took a couple steps, before looking
downwards, stunned, "No... no! I'm _still_ female!"

"Maybe your ability to control the curse faded?" suggested Oz,
watching nervously, somehow knowing, in the pit of his stomach,
that _that_ was not the problem.

That knowledge was confirmed when Yuki summoned a mug of hot water,
and dumped it over Ranma's head. The Sorceress' eyes widened as she
caught the play of magic when the water hit. There was no change,
and rage stole over the youngest Saotome's face, "You..." she
hissed turning to Willow, "...bitch! You did this! You're
tormenting me!"

She was ready to lunge when Yuki clamped a hand on Ranma's
shoulder, in a surprising bit of turn around. One would think the
older sister would have liked Willow to have died violently, "No
worries, brother-dear. All it'll take to fix this is finding Nabiki
and Rache. Them and me, Ranma, can break the block on your curse,
okay?"

"...really?"

"Yes, really," and she guided Ranma out of the home, followed by
Oz, Ken and Schuldich, leaving a stunned Willow Rosenberg behind.
As they drifted aimlessly through the midnight streets, searching
for a hotel, Schuldich frowned.

/Yuki-onna./

/Yeah?/ she wondered, despite already knowing what the German would
ask. She may have been certifiably insane, with a chaotic mind, but
the focus of her thoughts was all to visible, that he didn't have
to dig for it.

/Why didn't you tell Bishoujo the truth?/

Yuki's grip tightened on Ranma's shoulder that the shorter girl
took as a comfort squeeze, /Think for a moment, Guilt-boy. Which
would my brother take better? The hope that he could be 'fixed'...
or the fact that he's pregnant?/

---

Buffy Summers was, as she usually was at night, on patrol. To be
more precise, she was heading home following patrol, when a
familiar tingle whisked through her. Groaning, she turned and
headed in the direction of the impending Vampire Attack.

Stake in hand, Buffy turned a corner, and paused. There was a group
of four-- one girl, three guys-- watching another girl saunter up
to a _very_ confused looking vampire. The redhead-- the one
sauntering-- did a little spin, bowing first to her audience, then
to the vampire.

"You," the girl's voice rang clear and Buffy was startled. The girl
spoke in Japanese, and yet... the Summers girl could understand
her, "picked the wrong person to attack."

"You're human," the vamp growled, "that's all that matters," he
lunged, and the girl side-stepped.

"Actually, I'm pissed off," she smirked, and Buffy crept closer.
Maybe she was another Slayer. Maybe Faith had died in prison, and
this girl was the next to be called. Glancing at the audience,
Summers decided that the oldest male-- the one with orange hair--
had to be her Watcher. The others...

Buffy returned her attention to the "battle" taking place. The
redhead was weaving through the attacks, "I mean... the bitch witch
just took my best friends, my band, _and_ my master, and refuses to
tell me where they are. Cat is restless, and happens to be trying
to force Human away, to wreak bloody havoc. I am _stuck_ like this
until we find our missing Sorceress _and_ everyone's favorite
Soldier of Death and Destruction. Like I said: I'm pissed off."

The speech was confusing-- Buffy didn't really understand what the
girl meant-- but what happened next wasn't. The girl whirled
around, foot slamming into the small of the vampire's back, and
there was a sickening crack.

The vampire's spine was broken.

"I wonder..." purred the possible Slayer, "I wonder... what sorts
of lives you've drained away. I wonder... what blood tastes like
for vampires."

"Would you get on with it?" grumped the ebony haired woman, "As
much fun as it is to watch you be psycho, my dear younger brother,
_I_ would like to find a place to stay."

"Yeah," the brown haired man that looked vaguely familiar spoke,
"You can play your Cat-and-Mouse games _after_ we find a place to
crash."

"You hear Kitsune and Siberian," the redhead's lips quirked
dangerously, "Looks like I'll have to find someone else to play
with, later. As for you..." she held her palm out, facing the vamp,
"... it's time experiment time. What can I drain from the un-dead?
Happo Goen Satsu revised! Spirit Obliteration!"

The vampire's body collapsed into dust around a glowing white and
red ball, that hovered for a moment, before shooting off and
disappearing into the night. The redhead looked confused, "Well...
_that's_ never happened before."

"It's probably because he was sustaining himself on the life force
of others," mused an all too familiar voice, and Buffy realized one
of the males was _Oz_, "You couldn't convert so many at one time,
so they scattered."

She shrugged, "Yeah, well, either way, _I_ didn't get any new
power."

"What do you need _more_ power for?" wondered the man Buffy had
designated as the Watcher, "Don't you already have enough?"

"Oh please, Guilt-boy," snorted the other female, "Ranma just likes
the knowledge that he could eradicate his enemies all in one shot."

Buffy decided that whatever was translating for her, sucked at it,
because it kept messing up 'him' and 'her'.

"We've got a watcher," mused the 'watcher'.

The 'slayer' shrugged, "Know that since she arrived, Schuldich."

"We all knew," Oz's lips twitched, and he turned to face Buffy,
"Schuldich just wanted to be the one to say it. Hello Buffy."

"Buffy?" questioned the familiar brunette, "Whoa! She grew up!"

There were a couple snickers, and the ebony tressed woman grinned,
"People generally tend to do that, Kenken."

"Who are..." Buffy trailed off as she got a good look at Ken. His
face tugged a cord in her memory, and she gaped, "X-x-Xander?!"

---

End Chapter

---
Chapter Four : Lodgings



"Hi Buffy," Ken sighed, then blinked when the Slayer keeled over in
a dead faint, "Er... huh?"

Ranma nudged the blonde's ribs with her slippered toe, "That was
unexpected. Hey, Ken, do you know where she lives?"

Hidaka gave his friend a _look_, "Ranma, I haven't lived in this
city for _years_. How the _hell_ would I know where she lives?!"

"Calm down, Ken," Oz hushed, "I know where her mom lives. It's
likely she still lives there. She _is_ only nineteen, after all."

"Yeah, I guess," the assassin muttered, hauling the Slayer into his
arms, "Lead the way, Wolf-boy."

The other three trailed behind the two boys-- Ranma searching for
another vampire to 'play' with, while Schuldich and Yuki held a
mental conversation.

/How long has Bishoujo been pregnant?/

/Not much more than a few days, I'd wager,/ Yuki frowned, /I _told_
him that if he was going to play with Farf in female form that
they'd need protection./

/If it's only been a few days, why couldn't he change back and
destroy the fetus? It's not like it would do any harm./ Schuldich
was frowning, wondering if they were doing the right thing by
keeping knowledge of the pregnancy from Saotome.

Yuki rubbed her forehead, /I think the curse is protecting the
child. I don't have any clue as to why it would but.../

/...but it just is. Damn, this is confusing!/

/You said it, Oh Guilty One,/ she frowned suddenly, /Oh, damn, what
are we going to say when Brother-dearest begins to show?/

/Good question.../

They fell silent after that, lost in their own thoughts, as they
pondered the events of the day so far. All were wide awake, seeing
as they were still on Tokyo time.

"Here we are," Oz's voice broke the monotony of the trip,
"Summers' residence."

They made their way to the door, and Yuki knocked heavily. Several
minutes of waiting later, and a girl with blonde kissed brown hair
stood in the open door, "Yeah? Who are you?"

"Hey Dawn," Oz called from behind the Saotome female, "Mind letting
us in? Buffy's not a light person."

"Oz...?" Dawn shrugged, then swung the door open. She didn't say a
word-- vampires needed vocal allowance into a home after all, and
she was not stupid-- and watched as everyone entered. No undead in
the lot, "C'mon, her room is upstairs."

"Thanks Dawn," the werewolf grinned, "You guys stay down here-- and
don't steal _anything_! Don't destroy _anything_, got it?"

"Yes Mama-wolf," trilled Schuldich, Yuki and Ranma with matching
grins. Ken rolled his eyes, but nodded with a loose grin.
Chuckling, the rainbow haired teenager trailed after Dawn, still
carrying the insensate Slayer.

"So what's our cover?" Ranma growled, "What do we tell everyone?"

"I'm here for a visit," Ken turned to the trio behind him,
"Schuldich refused to let me go alone, and decided to follow."

"What about us?" Yuki thumbed herself and her currently female
brother, "What's our excuse?"

"You, Yuki, were coming to visit relatives-- you used to live here,
ne?-- and your little sister wanted to meet the family she never
knew, since your parents are separate," Schuldich threw in, "Oz
came with you two as 'Xue Shi' and Oz are part of the same band,
and he wanted to show his old haunts to his new friend."

"How long have you been coming up with _that_ one?" wondered the
afforementioned singer. The German smirked.

"I've had everything planned out since I found out Kenken was
Alexander back when I kidnaped him," at the two Saotome's
incredulous looks-- and ignoring Ken's outraged glares-- he
laughed, "Hey, you two can think fast in battle-- I'd rather not be
sticking my foot in my mouth when it's _not_ a fight!"

"That's why _you're_ Mastermind, and _she's_ Kitty," Yuki's eyes
twinkled as Ranma-onna made a playful swipe at her head. As she
ducked, the ebony tressed Saotome noted Oz's feet on the stairs,
and soon the wolf was once again in their midst. Dawn came down not
a moment later.

"Why's she out, any ways?" the brunette wanted to know, "She
doesn't look hurt."

Ken stood from where he had taken up leaning against the wall and
glaring at Schuldich while sending him mental death threats, "She
was a bit surprised to see me, that's all."

Dawn blinked, "Hey, who are you people?"

"I'm Ken, although your sister knows me as Xander--"

"The donut boy?" wondered the girl, "The one that took off a few
years back?"

"That would be me," Ken griped at the titled of 'donut boy'. He
really _hated_ being called that, "Any ways... the redheaded moron
is Schuldich, the black haired psycho is Yuki, and the feral
redhead is Kitty, but we call her Xue Shi," he pointed to each in
turn.

"Sushi?"

Ranma snarled, flexing her fingers like claws, and only just
managed to contain her ki claws before she did something stupid--
like gutting the Slayer's younger sister, "Xue. Shi. As in Chinese
for 'Blood Stone'."

She raised her hands in a calming gesture, "Sorry, sorry. Simple
mistake, right?"

"She's a little sensitive about that," Oz grinned wryly, "Xue Shi
just _hates_ it when people who know who she is, and proclaim to be
fans pronounce her name wrong."

"Oh..."

"If we're done here..." Yuki trailed off meaningfully, and the
others nodded.

"Nice meeting you, Dawn," Schuldich smiled in such a conceding way
that the girl bristled angrily, "Lets go, Ladies and Gents."

Ranma and Yuki smirked at the younger female's expression before
drifting out of the Summers' residence. Ken gave a short wave,
following the other three out, while Oz paused.

The werewolf turned back to face the Slayer's sister, "Dawn? Do me
a favor and don't tell anyone we were here." and then he was gone,
having vanished into the night after his friends.

The youngest of the Summers' girls looked after him in confusion
for a few minutes, before slowly closing the door.

---

The night passed swiftly, and the morning dawned brightly. The five
from Japan had yet to sleep, although they had settled themselves
down in the old mansion Ken remembered that the pleasant memory of
sending Angelus to hell had taken place in.

Sleep caught them unawares, and they fell one by one to Hypnos'
charms, scattered about the mansion.

It was probably for the best, as a certain Slayer had stopped by to
track down the 'ghost' of Xander, who she _knew_ had died when that
building had collapsed three years prior. Thankfully, she only
checked the kitchen, living room, and master bedroom.

Ken had sprawled himself out in the room that had once been
Drucilla's-- in the rare times when she _wasn't_ sleeping with
Angelus-- and Schuldich had joined him once the younger assassin
had fallen asleep.

Oz swiped Spike's room, while Ranma and Yuki had locked themselves
into Angelus' 'torture chamber', to play with weapons; eventually
falling into slumber.

Buffy missed all of them, continuing off in her search for Xander,
Oz and the new 'Slayer' and 'Watcher'.

Hours later, the mansion shook with Hidaka's bellow of
"Schuldich!" followed by Yuki's cackling laughter, and Ranma husky
chuckle. The fuming Hidaka stalked through a few walls, taking out
his temper on the mansion's decorations.

Ranma was still chuckling as she watched him throw a fit, "There's
a hissy fit if I ever saw one."

"Just wait until _you_ start," Yuki muttered.

"Huh? Wha'dya say?"

"Hmm? Me? Why, I didn't say _anything_," tainted innocence dripped
off her every word. Ranma eyed her sister suspiciously, before her
stomach rumbled and distracted her. The redheaded singer gave off a
pitiful kitty-cat whine as Oz entered the room.

"Hungry?" he teased with an all-knowing grin. Xue Shi glowered at
him, wrapping her arms around the bottomless pit she called a
stomach.

"There's no food in this house!"

"The last occupants were vampires," the werewolf pointed out. Yuki
nodded.

"No food in this place, and no money to buy food with..."

"Yuki!" Ranma was suddenly clinging to her sister with wide,
sparkling eyes, "You're a Sorceress! Conjure me up some yen!"

"Dollars," Schuldich corrected, breezing into the living room where
they had gathered. His green eyes were still focused unwaveringly
on Ken's temper-tantrum throwing form, "Americans uses dollars,
Bishoujo."

"Don't call me that. And I _know_ that!" Ranma grumped, "I _have_
been here before. Yen just came out faster."

Another rumbling stomach entered the fray and Ken paused in his
smashing of antique vases and other valuables worth thousands upon
thousands of dollars, and blushed, "Erm... I'm hungry!"

"No kidding," Yuki returned with a smirk, "C'mon, let's go find
some restaurant to massacre."

"All you can eat?" Ranma was bouncing up and down. First, she would
take care of her stomach. _Then_ she would deal with the redheaded
witch that took her Jei-sama and her Ayan.

"Nah," the Sorceress shrugged, already planning Rosenberg's violent
death, "We want to be able to come back again, ne? I can conjure
enough cash to splurge."

As they left the mansion on Crawford Street, Ken let a bit of a
laugh go, even as he fended off Schuldich's wandering hands, "Hey,
Yuki?"

"Yeah Ghostie?"

"You're planning on killing the American economy, aren't you?"

She grinned, "Well, it _was_ just one of those loose ends..."

This sent the rest of them into howls of laughter. The sun was
setting again, and the demons were coming out to play.

All those that heard these five decided to play somewhere else.

---

End Chapter

---
Chapter Five : Sorceror



When the group finally left the fine establishment known as
Harvey's; the manager was sobbing tears of joy. They'd bought
enough to feed a small army, seventy percent of which went to the
Saotome 'Sisters'. The rest was devoured by a by a starving Ken,
Oz, and Schuldich.

In the midst of eating, Schuldich had wondered why Yuki had not
just conjured them up some food, and Yuki had merely looked at the
ceiling and blushed, muttering something about not being able to
conjure food that actually tasted like anything except paper.

Ranma stretched, patting her stomach gleefully, "Ah... that was
good. Should last a couple hours."

"No kidding," Yuki's eyes were shining, "Oh how I missed thee, oh
American cheeseburger!"

The others gave their own cheers to their full stomachs, before Ken
took the lead and guided them back towards the Rosenberg residence.
They had a novice witch to kill, after all.

Unfortunately, they were not the only ones on their way to the red
witch's home. Just as they got to the side walk in front of her
house, there was an explosion of magical energy.

Sharing a glance, the assassins plus one werewolf bolted through
the open door, and skidded to a halt at what they saw.

Two unconscious witches, all the paraphernalia the wiccans
generally used for casting-- and that Sorceresses thought of as
utterly absurd-- and the fading energies of a spell. Extending her
senses, Yuki cursed vividly.

"Dammit! They closed the warp point! It'll be next to impossible to
find our friends!"

"What?!" Ranma bellowed, ki and stolen mana flaring up around her
body. Surprised, all the others could do was gape as Ranma-onna's
clothing shifted into the same wear as when she had battled the
Ginzoushou-- without the shifting to male form/losing of the black
sports bra.

Yuki whistled her appreciation, brown eyes taking in her brother-
turned-sister's transformation.

"Whoa," was Ken and Oz's response.

Schuldich was too deep into his own fury over losing his sister to
care. Instead, he rudely yanked the two wiccans back into
consciousness, his own rarely seen sapphire aura burning brightly
about him.

The blond wiccan shrieked, hiding behind Willow, eyes wide and
watching with fear. Rosenberg herself was frozen. She's seen
Schuldich angry the night before.

She was seeing him in a murderous rage, now.

"You did this on purpose, didn't you, you fucking bitch!" he
seethed, jade eyes flashing with his aura, as he glowered down at
her.

"D-d-d-d-did wh-what?" she squeaked, startled and embarrassed at
the fear coloring her voice. She hadn't felt this afraid since
Angelus had landed her in the hospital...

"You stole my sister from me!" he roared, lunging at her-- and only
missing as Ken snagged the German by the arms, yanking him back,
and holding him in a full nelson. The telepath gnashed his teeth,
snarling, "It was bad enough that you banished her-- them! Now
you've closed the warp?!"

"It wasn't my idea!" she squealed to save her own hide, "Giles said
that-- that the warp was unstable, that--"

"The warp was _always_ unstable," Yuki sneered, gathering the dark
mana inherent to Sorceresses, "the spell was built that way."

Ranma had been circling them all the while, the Saotome honor blade
once more removed from subspace and held in a white knuckled grip.
Blue eyes glowed with an unholy light, lips curled back in a snarl,
"You took my Jei-sama and Ayan away..."

"And the punishment for doing so," Oz snarled, wolf coming to the
fore whether he liked it or not, "is the same as the punishment for
destroying our lives."

Three demented grins, Oz's dark smirk, and Ken's carefully blank
face stared down at the cowering females. Their voices were
identical in infliction and emotion as they spoke the condemning
word: "Death."

Ken's blank face cracked, and he stared sadly at the girl who had
once been his best friend, "I... Wills..." he sighed, "Sorry..."
before releasing Schuldich and turning away, so as not to have to
watch his one-time friend's death.

He lifted his head to look out the still open door, and cursed
loudly, "Shit! Buffy and Giles!"

"Who..." Yuki trailed off, eyes widening as she sent out her mana-
senses, "Dear Gods... a Sorceror!"

"A what?" Schuldich turned away from the whimpering wiccans, while
Ranma peered upwards. The German frowned, "I thought you said there
was no such thing!"

Yuki shot the telepath an annoyed look, "I said they were rare.
Triple the Witch to Warlock ratio, and that's how rare a true
Sorceror is."

"I'm glad you know the ratios," came the crisp accent of one Rupert
"Ripper" Giles, "Care to explain what you five are doing here?"

Yuki came back with a surprisingly accurate English accent, "Merely
dealing with a couple of wanna-bes, Sorceror."

"I am training them," the man returned calmly, "Destroying witches
in training is illegal."

Ranma snorted, drawing attention to her, "So's murder."

"Uhm... huh?" was Buffy's oh-so intelligent input.

Schuldich glowered nastily, "Rosenberg knowingly, and willingly,
opened a mass transport to bring out friends to America with us,
and then banished them while in mid-transport. If Ranma and Yuki
hadn't been there, all but Kenken and Oz would have been banished."

"Is this true, Willow?"

"No! Of course not!"

/Don't lie when there's a telepath in the room!/ a seething mental
voice tore through their minds, and Buffy shrieked in surprise.

Ranma growled lowly, reflecting on the reason they had come in the
first place, "Enough."

"Bishoujo?" "Ranma?" "Xue Shi?"

"What's up little brother?" that one got a few odd looks. The
redhead scowled.

"We came here because we accepted a mission. We complete the
mission, tie up loose ends, then deal with tracking everyone," her
face was like ice, and her aura flared around her as she turned
back to the wiccans, while the temperature in the room dropped
several degrees, "You, Red, get to die by Jei-sama's hands."

The others nodded at the idea, understanding that Ranma just wanted
everything out of the way, so that she could be a) with Jei again,
b) tormenting Ran yet again, and c) male. Ken crossed his arms,
speaking up, "Right. Mission comes first. Where the hell is Glory's
base of operation?"

Giles turned to the nineteen year old, about to reprimand him for
even _thinking_ of pulling a dumbass stunt like that, when he
realized who talked. For a moment he stared, then stuttered, "X-x-
x-Xander!"

"Hey G-man," the former doughnut boy hardly looked amused, "It's
Ken, now, though."

"B-b-b-but you're dead!"

"I am?"

Oz's lips quirked, "New meaning for your nickname, Ghostie."

"Shut it, Wolf-boy," Ken grumped, "I _hate_ that name!"

"I thought you didn't like 'doughnut boy', Kenken." Yuki stated
innocently. Ken made a face at that.

"I _told_ you he didn't die when the building he was in
collapsed!" Willow crowed with delight.

"How did you..." Ken trailed off as Schuldich yanked free Willow's
memories of scrying Xander until the accident that very nearly took
his life, and implanted them into the assassin's mind. Siberian's
eyes narrowed sharply, glaring at her, "You _scryed_ me? You didn't
trust me to get along without you _watching_ me?!"

"N-no Xander--"

"It's _KEN_!" he roared, sending the Scoobies into shock,
"Alexander Harris is _dead_! My name is Hidaka Ken... er, Ken
Hidaka! I am _not_ the donut boy, or the Slayer's sidekick, or
anything like that!"

"Jesus Xander, calm down," Buffy tried, then froze at the dark look
in her once friend's eyes.

"Tell me, Wills, when you scried Oz and me last week... did you
notice what our jobs are?"

"Huh?" the redhead looked confused, "Your job? What does that have
to do with anything?"

"Everything," Yuki purred, psychotic smile in place, "Our jobs are
our lives. We're very good at what we do, ne Siberian, Mastermind,
Bastet?"

"Yeah," agreed Ranma, still gripping her sword, but now grinning
madly, "Our lives are built around our jobs."

Giles seemed a bit hesitant, but finally asked, "And what _is_ your
job?"

Ken wasn't normally one to be a bastard, but these _were_ the
people who fucked his life over. He had lost Jesse to them-- he
would be dead, too, if Buffy had never shown up. Sometimes he
wondered if he should have died. It mattered little, however.

"We're assassins."

A moment of silence, then Buffy snorted, "Very funny Xander. What
is--"

She didn't get any further, as 'Xander' kicked her in the stomach,
and pulled his bugnuks from somewhere. He'd slipped them on, and
was holding the pose over her neck and heart by the time she got
her breath back.

"I don't lie," Ken growled, "Not about this. Not about what I've
been doing for three years."

"Xa--Ken!" Giles barked, catching himself before he slipped up,
"Put her down!"

Ken withdrew, but not because of Giles, although he let the
Sorceror believe that. He snapped the claws back and flexed his
fingers, "The only reason we came is because we made a promise."

Buffy was scowling darkly at him, "A promise?"

"We recently finished a mission for the combined forces of Japan
and America," Yuki smirked, "Killed a shit load of 'superheros'."

"The promise," Oz intoned, "Was to pick up their slack by saving
the world for them."

"So," Ranma pointed her sword at them, "Guess why we bothered to
come?"

---

End Chapter

---
Chapter Six : Bait



They had gathered at the Magic Box, Rupert's store. Anya manned the
counter, even as Willow, Tara, Buffy, Dawn Giles and Spike lounged
in the loft. They were all eying the quintet that had made
themselves quite comfortable sprawled about. Aside from Spike-- who
was taking a bit to much of an interesting in watching Yuki
'drawing' on Ranma-onna's arms with a knife-- the Scoobies were
uncomfortable with the assassins.

"Shit!"

The group jumped as Ranma's curse filled the air.

"Sorry," said a completely unrepentant Yuki, "Didn't mean to slit
your wrist. You would think that having Jei-san as your lover,
he'd be doing this all the time."

The younger Saotome snorted disbelievingly, even as Yuki whispered
a small healing spell and focused it along the bleeding wound. She
didn't want her 'art' being destroyed before she finished. With the
suicide-cut healed, not even leaving a scar, she went back to
etching in her currently female brother's flesh.

"Look," Ken finally growled, annoyed at the length of the time that
they had been there without answers, "Tell us where the fuck Glory
is, what the hell she wants, and what her weaknesses are, and we'll
be out of your faces."

There was a bit of nervous tittering, and Schuldich growled about
morons. Then, just to be spiteful, he tore the information from
their minds, as painfully as possible.

He _had_ been a "bad guy", after all.

"They don't know," the German snorted, staring down at the girls
and Rupert as they clutched at their heads and willed the pain
away, "She was some sort of 'key', but none of them know what that
is. Dumbasses."

Yuki lifted her hand from where she had been casting various spells
on her 'sister's' mutilated arm. "Well, if they don't know, we
don't stay. We can deal with this chick on our own."

Oz nodded, pushing off the wall he had been leaning against,
"Right. We take Glory, you take the regular vamps."

They were almost out of the shop when a furious Buffy finally
fought off her headache, "What makes you think _you_ can take out
Glory when _I_ can't?!"

"Because," Ranma called over her shoulder, "I've killed a god
before. Can _you_ say the same?"

---

"Did you really?"

Ranma-onna looked over her shoulder, annoyed, to see a strange man
in a burgundy cloak, "Did I _what_?"

"Kill Saffron," the man wondered, "There were rumors that Saotome
was in Sunnydale."

"Which Saotome?" Ranma smirked, "Yuki or Ranma? If you're looking
for Yuki, you're looking at the wrong one."

"You are Saotome Ranma, then?" and Ranma realized the guy was
speaking Japanese as a courtesy, over allowing the translation
spell to do all the work.

"Yeah."

"Oh, good!" and the cloaked man lashed out with a massive Chinese
flat sword, "The mistress will enjoy _your_ power!"

Ranko dodged nimbly, smirking as she did so, "You must be one of
Glory's goons."

He ignored her, attacking again and again, driving the redhead back
and off the rooftop. She landed lightly, on all fours as per the
Cat demanded, barely rolling out of the way as the blade cut down
where she had previously been.

Kitty bounced to her feet, ready to fight-- until a man her mind
had designated as powerless entered the fight. He wrapped his arms
around her, pinning hers in place-- then the male chest pressed
against her back became very female.

The grip she had almost thrown off suddenly became much tighter,
and Ranma cursed. Why did this shifter get stronger in female form,
and Ranma didn't?

Oh, right, her mind supplied as her oxygen was cut off. You get
faster. Kitty no Baka.

---

/Bishoujo's out cold/

Yuki and Oz looked at each other as Schuldich's message came
across. With a wave of her hand, Yuki opened a gate to the
telepath's location, and stepped through.

Oz crossed his arms, "Took long enough."

"Rumors take a while to get started," the German pointed out with a
grin, "It's only been three days."

"Setting little brother up as bait was a good idea," mused the
elder sibling, opening another gate, this one back to the mansion,
"This way we can track Glory down and get to the important stuff
faster."

"Right," the others agreed.

Their plan had been simple-- spread rumors that Saffron's killer,
Saotome Ranma, was in Sunnydale amongst the demon population. Wait
for Glory to pick up Ranma in order to convert/brainwash the
sociopathic martial artist into helping her.

From there, Yuki would gate the others in, wipe out Glory, then
deal with the Scoobies and their missing teammates. A wonderful
uncomplicated plan, so as to leave little area for mishap.

Ranma's introduction to the Ginzoushou had taught them the value of
simple plans.

They would wait a few hours till then, to ensure that Glory would
be in the area to 'inspect' Ranma, or that the boy turned girl
would be in the woman's base.

Unfortunately, waiting was bloody boring, and Yuki had no one to
"draw" on, let alone "play" with. The others all valued their blood
too much, enjoying the current amount filling their bodies.

---

Ranma awoke to a scenery much different than the one she'd been
knocked out in. Expected, considering that it was part of the plan.
She stretched and yawned, peering around what appeared to be a...
bedroom? Weird.

"I was wondering when you'd wake up."

A blond woman drifted into the room, smiling in an all together too
bright way. The martial artist opened her mouth to demand to know
where she was, but that bit of darkness awoken during the fight
with Cosmos slipped forwards and into control, "Glorificus? Is that
you?"

The Hell Goddess gave a squeal of delight, sweeping Ranma-onna up
into a bone-crushing hug, "Yay! You _do_ remember me! Oh... Orfiel,
what are you even _doing_ on this plane??"

Ranma wanted to respond with a 'what the hell?' but couldn't do
much more then watch at that other part of her called forth the
all-too familiar black mist, sweeping up around her and clinging to
her body like clothing. Ranma felt herself shoved into the back of
her mind as her other fully took over like it had during the battle
a week earlier. Except this time, Ranma was fully conscious.

Orfiel shrugged out of Glory's grip with surprising ease, "Living.
It's quite the experience."

"You can't _possibly_ be happy like this!" shrieked the blonde,
"You're trapped in a mortal body!"

"So are you," the one within Ranma responded dryly, "And I _am_
happy. Or, I was. I plan to brutally murder Willow Rosenberg for
taking away my Ayan!"

Ayan... What about Jei-sama?! raged Ranma in the back of their
currently shared head. To his surprise, Orfiel answered back--
Telling Glorificus that I... _we_... have a master is _not_ an
intelligent thing to do, mortal-self.

Great, Ranma thought, now I have _three_ personalities.

"Ayan...?" questioned the confused Hell Goddess, "who is Ayan?"

"A friend," Orfiel smiled brightly, "Who is a _very_ skilled
assassin," No, not three personalities, mortal-self. You and I will
merge into one soon enough... about nine months from now, actually.

The hint went _completely_ over Ranma's figurative head.

"_You_ have mortal friends?" sneered Glory, "You're not the Orfiel
I remember growing up with!"

"Well, I'm certainly not Luciel," the redhead snorted, before
waving cheerfully, "Hi Sis!"

Yuki had opened the gate a moment earlier, and she and the others
had piled through. The Sorceress' eyes widened, catching a flash of
Orfiel's power levels, before the newest 'personality' submerged
itself back into Ranma's subconscious.

Kitsune's lips quirked, "Little brother. Who's your friend?"

Glory spun around to face the Sorceress, keeping her eyes locked on
the magic user. Pfft, like anything could harm _her_.

"This is Glory, aka Glorificus," Ranma grinned, "and the reason
we're in America."

"Who the... Orfiel, what's going on?!"

"Glory, allow me to introduce my older sister, Sorceress Yuki, aka
the assassin Kitsune," a ruthless grin spread across her face,
"We've been hired to wipe your sorry ass out."

"Actually, I thought we were forced into it...we're not even
getting any money out of this." Oz muttered.

"What...?" Glory desperately shifted into Ben, in an attempt to
escape. Surely they wouldn't kill him! Humans were soft like
that... and the gender-shift would confuse them long enough that
their minds would tell them it never happened, and she could get
away. Unfortunately for her, not one member of the group even
batted an eye.

"I can do that, too, Glory," Ranma supplied the reason helpfully,
"Changing your form won't help."

"But... I'm not Glory!" yelped the startled doctor, wondering what
exactly was going on. Who were these people? Why did they have him
surrounded... and why did they look so bloodthirsty?? "Honestly!"

"Not buyin' it," Ranma gave him a toothy grin. Schuldich was
suddenly gripping Ben in a full nelson. He found it surprisingly
simply to breech the pathetic shields around Ben's mind; and had
soon ended his life telepathically. He dropped the body to the
floor, and stared down at it in disgust. He had been hoping for
something a bit tougher.

"That was... surprisingly anti-climactical."

"Shit. We got dragged out here for nothing." Ken grumbled.

Ranma snorted, and Yuki felt Orfiel's magical signature come forth,
immediately going on guard, "Hell Gods and Goddesses rarely take
into account psychic attacks, and even then, when they do, they
rarely, if ever, bother to teach their hosts how to block such
attacks. They're more focused on the physical and magical aspect of
attacks since there are such few telepaths in the world."

"Do we have to worry about her resurrecting herself?" Yuki
pondered, wary eye on her not-quite-sister.

The redhead tilted her head, amused, "Not for at least twenty
years. Until then, she'll be a pissed off Deitian Spirit, not a
Hell God."

"So..." Schuldich had also been prepping his own defenses, "Who,
exactly, are _you_?"

Ken and Oz looked at the tense German and Japanese, confused. What
were they talking about? That was just Ranma...

But the redhead grinned widely, "I'm surprised you hadn't noticed
me before now. Then again, you never saw the 'black mist' before,
did you?"

"Are you going to answer?" growled Yuki.

And thus, she bowed, "Hell God-slash-Fallen Angel of Chaos, Orfiel,
at your service!"

---

End Chapter

---
Chapter Seven : Plans



"Hell God?!" cursed Ken, dropping into a defensive stance, "Like
Glory?!"

"Hardly," Orfiel ignored the fact that Ranma's fiends were prepped
to kill her, "Glory didn't like being mortal. I _do_."

"And that makes _what_ difference?" the German growled, once more
cursing Ranma's chaotic, feral minds, as it buffered against his
attempts to read Orfiel's intentions.

"Plenty," Orfiel smirked, "Seeing as Glory was attempting to leave
her host. I, on the other hand, am quite content with life and had
already begun the merging process, shortly after the Ginzoushou
last attacked my mortal-self."

They stared hard at her, but reading Orfiel wasn't as easy as
reading Ranma. There was not one of them that could tell if the
Hell God was lying.

The girl's smirk lessened a fraction, "We _would_ have finished
merging this week; there's just been a ... delay of three quarters
of a year."

Ghostie and the Wolf looked utterly confused, but Yuki and
Schuldich realized what she meant. So, Ranma's pregnancy interfered
with the merging of a mortal and a Hell God.

Orfiel allowed herself to fade back behind Ranma's consciousness.
Confused blue eyes met her sister's brown ones, "What did Orfiel
mean?"

"Well," Yuki crowed suddenly, "I think we have a witch and her
friends to deal with, no?"

"Of course!" Schuldich pounded his fist into his palm, "We've got
to pay them back for stealing my baby sister!"

"And Jei-sama!" mind sufficiently diverted, Ranma forgot all about
Orfiel's "mysterious" words. She grinned ferally, "They're gonna
learn that messing with this wild cat isn't a smart thing to do."

---

Buffy Summers paced the floor of the Magic Box, irritated, "They
just took off! They're going to get themselves killed!"

She had been ranting as such since she had returned from her
evening patrol with Spike at her heels. She didn't care that it had
already been three days since they had taken off-- she was upset
because they thought they could do what she couldn't. So involved
in her ranting, she never even noticed Ken phasing through the
wall, and pantomiming her actions.

Tara and Willow were attempting, unsuccessfully, to stifle their
laughter, but neither Ranma nor Schuldich bothered. Buffy whirled,
surprised to see the group back so soon. A smug smirk crossed her
face, "Didn't find her, I take it?"

"Glorificus is dead, for the moment," Yuki returned cooly. A cold
smirk crossed her face as Buffy's triumphant look turned to shock,
"Would you care to join her?"

"Is that a threat?!" and shock turned to fury.

"No, it's a promise," Yuki granted the blond one of her most
psychotic grins, before turning to her 'brother'. "Ranma? You deal
with them. The longer I stay, the more powerful the urge to kill
them all-- and we still need some of them."

Ranma nodded, turning towards the Scoobies as Yuki opened a gate
right beneath her feet, and vanished into the portal. Cracking her
knuckles, the redhead advanced, "The more you help us, the more
likely you are to survive."

"Oh yeah, like _you_ could kill us?" sneered Buffy, "A Slayer, two
witches, a Sorceror, and a vampire? Ha!"

"Let's see, a Sorceress, a telepath, a werewolf, an assassin, and,
oh yes! A Hell God," purred Kitty, "I think _we_ have the upper
hand."

"And you _will_ help," Ken growled, "It's her--" and here he
pointed to Willow, "--fault that our friends are gone--"

"They invited themselves!" Willow shrieked, "it was only supposed
to be you and Oz!"

Schuldich blurred across the room, catching her by the throat, and
slamming her against a bookshelf, "You wanted to separate my Kenken
from me-- I _don't_ like people messing with my property or my
family. Which means _everyone_ who came with us who _you_
banished!"

"Willow!" shouted a number of people, froze in shock at the sudden
attack.

"I'm not your property," Ken muttered sourly, although he made no
move to help his once best friend.

Who was kicking at the German, clawing frantically at the hands
wrapped around her throat, sobbing wildly, when Ranma kicked him in
the head, "Put her down, Schu. We need her to tune the warp to her
signature."

He dropped the girl to rub at the place of impact, and tried to get
his skull to stop spinning, "Shit! You kick hard, Bishoujo!"

"That was just a tap!" argued Saotome, "I pulled that kick _so_
much..."

"Cut it out you two," Oz grumbled, "Are we going to get this
_done_, or do we have to wait until you get your acts together,
hmmm...?"

Ken nodded, "Yeah. We have lives to get back to and to do that
we've got people to find."

"Right!" Saotome turned back to the confused Scoobies, stalking
towards Willow, ignoring the other redhead's glares, "You,
Rosenberg, are going to take us to where you first performed the
spell."

She tried not to look intimidated, but the burning blue aura, and
the lashing black mist curling around her was rightfully
terrifying.

"Then," Ken continued, not looking at his ex-friend, but at Giles,
"You are going to help Willow re-cast her warp spell along the
_exact_ _same_ path she used last time."

"We'll go back to Japan," Schuldich put in, "re-cast the runes and
wards, then we'll follow the path of our friends."

"And all of you," Wolf-boy ended gravely, "will come with us. _No_
exceptions."

"What?!" Buffy glared at him, all the while thinkin 'traitor', "Why
do _we_ have to come?!"

Ken shot her down with a glare he had learned under the combined
tutorial gazes of Crawford and Ran. "We don't need you locking us
in whatever reality our friends are in, with no way home."

"What do you care?" she sniped spitefully, "You haven't been home
in three years!"

"My home is Japan," he spoke in a deadly soft voice, "It's where I
belong. My friends, and my family, live there. I have a life and a
job there. It's certainly better than living in this shit hole,
with an abusive father, and a drunken mother, just waiting for
death by a vampire."

The Scoobies were watching him wide-eyed-- Xander had never spoken
like this to them. Then again, he kept pressing that Alexander was
dead and gone, and he was Ken. The silence held for a number of
minutes, before Ranma broke it.

"Good. We've got a deal."

"Wait, we didn't--" Giles started, only to falter at the icy glare
he got in return. Ranma smiled brilliantly.

"Alright! Off to Rosenberg's place!"

---

Yuki was stomping around Sunnydale, both annoyed and relieved she
had left when she had. Annoyed that she couldn't rip Willow into
itty-bitty little shreds, and gleefully spreading the girl's
remains around the city for the demons to feast on. She wanted to
correct the mistake made all those years ago, when the witch
survived the coven's massacre.

But she was relieved because of one simple fact. Had she killed
Rosenberg, she wouldn't have any way to follow the magical passage
to Aya-chan. The wiccan was the only connection to the banishment
of her girlfriend.

Of course, as soon as Aya-chan was found, the redheaded witch would
not be surviving very long.

/Yuki-onna, we've got everything set up./

Schuldich's mental interruption halted her momentary distraction of
chasing Vampires around Sunnydale and zapping them with a simple
thunder spell. Pouting, she redirected her energies to stalking
down the road, back in the direction of Ranma's unique mana
signature.

/I'll be there in a few, Guilt-boy. Don't start the party without
me!/

He laughed, and slipped out her head. With a bounce, she was off
the road and off to the rooftops, randomly choosing targets to vent
her ire upon as she made her way towards the Rosenberg residence.
It was rather enjoyable, actually. She had hit vampires and
criminals, but she had also zap humans being hunted by vampires,
just so she could laugh as a vampire would electrocute himself by
biting the still electrified humans.

Or, she would zap the vamp and cackle madly as the freaking would-
be-happy-meal-on-legs ran away. She dealt with criminals in much
the same manner.

Unfortunately, her fun met an abrupt end as she came across the
Rosenberg residence, and dropped back to street level. With a put-
upon sigh, she slammed open the door with enough magical force that
the hinges creaked, cracked, and broke.

Having vent her anger, Yuki skipped into the household in her
normal, psychotic self.

"Hey Yuki!" called the familiar husky soprano of her at-the-moment-
sister, "Glad you actually decided to show up."

"Didya miss me?" she puckered up for a kiss, but Ranma just gave a
bark of laughter, shoving her sister away.

"We're ready," she called upon entering the incomplete circle,
"Let's go back to Japan!"

Like she had the nearly five days prior, Willow began chanting.
This time, however, under the knowing gaze of both Giles and Yuki,
Willow refrained from modifying the spell so that the Saotome
siblings and Schuldich would end up banished.

They were interfering with her retrieval of Xander and Oz! Who
cared if Giles agreed with them-- _Buffy_ had give her the oka, and
who matters more than the Slayer? She would just have to bide her
time a bit. She had gotten a magical printing of their spiritual
and mana signatures. If she didn't get rid of them now, she could
get rid of them later.

And when Xander and Oz came running back to her for help, she could
free them from whatever spell Yuki had used to geas-bind them to
her.

Saotome Yuki was evil incarnate. Saotome Ranma was a Hell Goddess.
Obviously, they had been playing with the minds of her friends. But
that was okay.

Willow would free them.

---

End Chapter

---
Chapter Eight : Nekoma



When the warp opened, and the travelers scrambled to their feet
after a few minutes of disorientation, or unconsciousness, they
were in for a not-so-nice surprise.

Nodoka and Kojiro were on one of the couches, still pushed up
against the wall, talking quietly. On the other side of the room
was Genma, Soun and Kasumi. Ranma winced. Well. This would be fun.

Thankfully, only her mother, Todoh Nodoka-- who had recently
divorced one Saotome Genma, and retaken her family name-- and her
ex-fiancee's oldest sister, Tendou Kasumi, had noticed her. Neither
her father, nor Kasumi's noticed the arrival, so involved were they
in delusions that could put anything Kunou Tatewaki could have ever
some up with.

Mudoh Kojiro failed to notice their arrival, although that was more
due to the fact that his back was to them, and he was playing a
very active part in the conversation he was holding with Nodoka.

"Whoa, where are we?" questioned the Slayer, drawing attention to
the group. Kitty wanted to hit her. Dumb girl.

"Ranma!" came the duel shouts from the fathers, Genma standing tall
over his female son.

"Boy!" he bellowed, "Change back now!"

"Why should I?" Ranma ignored the fuming looks she was being
directed, as she and her sister began hustling the Scoobies out of
the main living room and into the kitchen.

"Yeah, why should he?" Yuki repeated as she gave grin at Genma.
"Hello, old-man-that-is-my-father-but-sold-me-off-right-after-I-
flew-from-the-womb!!"

Soun grabbed the redhead's shoulder, "As Akane is in a coma, and
Nabiki has vanished somewhere yet again, it is up to you and Kasumi
to marry and continue the family line!"

"Screw that!" she snorted, twisting out of his grip, "And how the
hell did you find this place?"

This time Kasumi spoke up, "Nishen Kaoru told us, Ranma-chan," the
redhead wondered if the Tendou family was psychologically fucked--
excluding Nabiki. They seemed to be ignoring the fact that Ranma
was the reason the youngest Tendou had been in a coma for over six
months now.

"Kaoru? Oz's girlfriend?" wondered Ken, who was generally the
'secret' of the House since he was almost always the one to answer
the phone. Of course, that was only because everyone else would
prefer to let it ring, and Omi was more often at the Dojo than at
the House.

"Ex-girlfriend," Kasumi informed them politely, "She was saying
something about him not returning her phone calls."

"Hmm... I should tell him that," Ken returned glibly, leaving Ranma
alone with the fathers and Kasumi.

"Boy!" Genma barked, "For honor you must join the--" he was cut off
by being turned into a panda, but Soun picked up right on the beat.

"Join the schools! It is for their continued survival that you
_must_ marry Aka-- Kasumi!"

"No."

"What?!" [What?!]

The panda was waving a sign frantically, [Oh for shame! My only son
and honorless coward!]

"I'll agree on the honorless part," she flashed a grin that was all
teeth, "I _have_ picked up a bit of a tendency to kick people when
I'm down-- just like you, ya old fool. But... coward I am not."

Orfiel decided to take the forefront this time. Rarely had the Hell
God had a chance to come forwards-- the most spectacular time was
during the fight against the Ginzoushou-- and now that both Yuki
and Schuldich knew all about the shift, there was no problem.

The deity could do whatever it wanted, without worrying about its'
own survival.

"Of those who have called me a coward, only three of them still
live. One is continuously lost. One can never use his katana ever
again. And one is a fat idiot who is about to join the ranks of the
_dead_!" the end was a thunderous shout, momentarily shocking the
two older martial artists and freezing them in place.

A sharp washi-geri caught Soun in the ribs, and sent him flying
towards his daughter. Kasumi nimbly dodged the flying projectile,
as Ranma faced her father.

---

In the kitchen, Ken slapped Oz on the shoulder, "Nishen dumped
you."

"Huh?" he blinked, "Kaoru-chan did what...?"

"Dumped, ditched, left, runaway, up the creak with no paddle. You
are once again a single man," Ken plopped down into a chair. Oz
opened his mouth to ask why, but Willow cut him off.

The redhead was positively livid, "You got a new girlfriend!?"

"What's it to you?" he gave Tara a pointed look before shifting his
gaze back to the wiccan, "You picked up a girlfriend as well."

"It's not the same!" she snapped, glaring at him and missing Tara's
crushed look. Oz didn't, and firmed his resolve against his
girlfriend from his high school days.

"What, you wanted me to stay celibate forever?"

Before she could answer, there was the familiar heavy thud of a
body slamming against a wall. The Scoobies bound to their feet,
instantly on the defense, but the assassins didn't move.

"It's just Ranma and our dad," Yuki grinned ferally, "Sounds like
the ass is finally getting what he deserves."

The grins on the assassins' faces did _not_ put the Scoobies at
ease.

---

Kasumi knelt over her unconscious father and made a note to herself
to inform him that he needed to train for a longer period of time.
After that, she looked up to the cursed forms of the Saotome males
face off. They were circling each other, knees bent, bodies
relaxed. At any moment, they could burst into action.,

Only... they weren't. They were staring each other down, not even
an insult leaving their lips. It was indefinitely creepy after two
years of loud, crass fights. For once, they were serious.

Genma was not as patient as Ranma, apparently, as he lashed out
first. A sharp front kick was blocked, Ranma's right arm sweeping
her father's right leg out of the way. She countered with a fist to
the skull that was narrowly dodged, and Genma's return back fist
was turned aside. Ranma buried her foot into her father's furry
pot-belly, launching herself into the air and bringing the fight
upwards.

The older martial artist followed suit, leaping up after his son,
and throwing a rising uppercut. Ranma twisted out of the way, her
foot ramming into Genma's panda-face. Up went the teen, down went
the adult. Genma flipped himself over, both feet slamming into the
ground before he was off again.

"Kijin Rasshu Dan!"

Ranma was dropping fast as her father's vacuum blades arced past
her, slicing her arms and legs. Genma didn't want to kill his son,
after all-- just force him into marrying a Tendou. He didn't care
which one.

Kitty, on the other hand, couldn't care less if she fatally injured
the man that had destroyed her life. Ki crackled like lightening
down her arms, extending into life-rending claws. The ki used to
form them had an emerald hue, Orfiel diligently tapping into the
store of mana and feeding it to the martial artist.

The Hell God could not use the Neko-ken-- their merger wasn't quite
complete enough for that-- but that didn't mean Orfiel couldn't
still play in the back of the Cat's mind as she attacked.

Gleefully, Kitty surrendered to the pure, mind-numbing insanity of
the Cat, instead of the half-way state she had been holding herself
in for weeks. Genma would _pay_ for all he had done to her.

All this took seconds, and Genma had only just begun to throw
another blade, "Kijin Ra--GAHHHH!"

Ranma-neko had pounced, electrified claws extended, hands glowing
with Sailor Mercury's ice mana. Genma had dodged-- or at least,
attempting to dodge-- and the ki claws pierced his thigh instead of
his chest. Screaming in pain, the elder Saotome only barely managed
to yank his leg off the immaterial claws.

The electricity had cauterized the wound, but he had managed to get
frost bite at the same time. A wicked grin on his son-turned-
daughter's face was all he got when stunned and horrified eyes
lifted.

This was not his son.

This was the beast he had spent far too much stolen cash to get rid
of eight years prior, after the disastrous trip to Ireland.

This was Nekoma-- the Demon Cat.

---

"Wh-wh-what was th-th-that?" stuttered Tara, wide eyes staring out
the door that led to the hall, that led to the living room. They'd
just heard a pain-filled female scream, and a gleeful, feline yowl.
The Scoobies were still on their feet, tense, and ready to "run to
the rescue". The only reason they hadn't, yet, was because
Schuldich was standing in the doorway.

"Sounds like the old fool got hit," mused Yuki, before she turned
to Oz, "Out of all of us, you've known Ranma the longest. What was
that yowl?"

"Nekoma," Oz shook his head, "At least, that's what Xue Shi said
her father called her right after kidnaping her from Farfello."

"Demon Cat?" quote William the Bloody, who finally spoke up instead
of looking amused at the situation. The werewolf shrugged.

"She doesn't remember much from that time. Says it's all the
"Quack-Bitch's" fault," his lips quirked, "She doesn't trust very
many doctors."

"Explains why he's always telling us to--" Ken paused as another
scream wrench the air. Once it stopped, he continued, "---visit
this one doctor in Kansai. Probably the only one he trusts."

There was a general nod of consensus from the regular occupants
from the House. And they climb one more step up the ladder and
called it 'understanding Ranma'.

"Ranma stop! You'll regret killing him when you come out! Ranma!"
Kasumi's voice echoed around them, before she yelped and came
barreling down the hall. To everyone's surprise, she was
effortlessly carrying Soun over one shoulder.

Schuldich moved enough for her to fly past. Almost as soon as she
was in, she dropped Soun and ducked behind Nodoka and Kojiro, who
were seated at the table. Everyone watched either her, or the door
for a few minutes. When nothing happened, the Scoobies let out a
collective sigh of relief.

A sigh that became a scream when a bloodied Saotome Genma
ricocheted into the room. Nekoma bounced in with a gleeful screech,
although her eyes were glazed, and her body shaking.

She blinked, and managed to drop onto her knees as Orfiel wrenched
control from the Cat, "He's dead. Vampire-- you can have him if
mother says so. The Cat wants a nap-- I'll let him sleep out the
madness," she shook, "never thought fight for control would be so
damned hard."

Still shaking, she got outside the kitchen before being shoved
back. The Cat took control, and Nekoma headed towards the familiar
scent of her master. She would await him within his room.

---

End Chapter

---
Chapter Nine : Arrival



After the particularly interesting-- to Schuldich, Yuki and
Nodoka-- experience of watching Spike drain all the blood form the
now officially dead Saotome Genma, and after Ranma had returned
from Nekoma's nap, they had a new decision to make.

"_Please_?"

Kasumi wanted to come. Oh, they had thought of sending her off to
drop Soun back at the dojo, but Kojiro had already left to do so.
Nodoka had left not all that long afterwards-- leaving Spike with a
message to "come by any time. Ko-chan and I could find you someone
to munch on"-- to take a look at Genma's will. She was _positive_
she was _still_ the only beneficiary, but she wanted to be doubly
sure. No point in being caught unawares.

So that left the assassins, the Scoobies, Oz and Kasumi behind. And
they couldn't find a reason to leave her at the House. Honestly,
Ranma just didn't want Kasumi there to see the deaths of the
Scoobies; she didn't know how the kind-hearted nineteen year old
would react.

"_Please_?" she tried again, adding in the standard Puppy-Dog eyes.
Ranma had no defenses against Kasumi. Neither did Oz, Ken,
Schuldich or Giles. Yuki held back a smirk as the triumphant girl
gave all but Giles a good squeeze of thanks-- and held onto Oz a
bit longer than she really had too.

Schuldich snickered, /Someone has a crush./

/Figured it was something like that,/ Yuki returned with a mental
laugh.

Throughout the 'argument' with Kasumi, Willow had been redoing the
wards and the circle from the days previous. With it now decided
upon who would be coming, they piled into the unfinished circle. A
few more marks, and it was done, and Willow began to chant the warp
spell, while Giles spoke the words that would force the path back
onto the exact same route that they had taken the last time.

Yuki threw in her own spell, mumbling it under her breath, to
ensure that neither witch nor Sorceror could hear the actual words,
although they knew she was casting. What they believed to be an
extra protection spell was a two-fold spell. The first part was
crafted such that each member of the Scoobies would be bound to one
of her group-- Willow, obviously, was bound to herself. Buffy was
chained to Ranma, while Anya was to Ken, Giles to Schuldich, Tara
to Oz, and Spike to Kasumi. The second part of the spell would
prevent the non-magical beings, and non-magic users from slipping
into unconsciousness, like the prior two trips.

They were not taking any chances. Not _This_ time.

Without the drain on their mana, Yuki and Ranma were free to watch
the world warp and twist into that kaleidoscope world Ranma had
experienced before. There was a shimmer as the group were placed
into a translucent silver bubble that had _not_ been present in the
last warp spell. Obviously, something the redheaded witch had
changed.

It mattered little.

Yuki pressed her hand against her sister's belly, searching for the
for the mana signature that was her unborn niece or nephew. At
Ranma's questioning look, Yuki bullshited some answer that they
could use the left over energy from the last time Ranma had
'played' with Jei as a tracer to their missing friends.

No need for the others to realize she was scanning the unborn
child's signature for the half that was _not_ Ranma's. With age,
the signature would change and alter to its' own pattern, but for
now it was a 50-50 mixture of it's parents. Not even gender had
been decided.

Although, it was more likely to be male, Yuki thought as she began
to form the tracking spell, considering both 'mommy' and daddy are
male.

The silvery bubble turned navy as the warp spell was altered mid
flight, and they were yanked off course. Giles and Willow whirled
on her, stunned, but she merely smiled pleasantly at them.

"What do you _think_," seethed Rosenberg, "you are _doing_?!"

"Following our friends," she returned icily, "of whom _you_
banished. It's likely to be a _bumpy_ ride."

Her scowl twisted into a sadistic grin as they hit the 'bump'. In
reality, they were being flung over the violet and gold 'shadows'
that formed the barriers between worlds.

Schuldich shuddered to think of what his sister had gone through,
being flung here without a protection spell.

Oh yes, he decided with a grim smile. That witch will definitely
die. Painfully.

---

Nearly four hours after the original casting of the spell, the
tracking bubble veered sharply left, and onto one of the faded
warp-spell paths into the world their friends were lost in. Yuki
and Giles were inspecting the paths; they had not been used in a
long, long time. Centuries upon centuries, it appeared, excluding a
faint tracing that seemed to have happened... nearly seventeen
years earlier?

What about the others? Why wasn't there a passage only days
earlier?

But they had no more time to wonder as they appeared in a wasteland
of red rock. A forest was visible in the distance, likely several
days walking from where they were.

The navy bubble exploded around them in an array of surprisingly
brilliant emerald light. Their vampiric companion froze as sunlight
washed across them-- and he failed to start burning up or turning
to dust, "What the bloody hell...?"

"You are bound to Kasumi," Yuki gave him a grin, "Since you didn't
have a 'soul' to bind to her, I bound your existence. As long as
Kasumi lives-- alive or undead-- you will as well. As long as she
is physically alive, you get to play Daywalker."

"Why'd you bind _him_?" an annoyed Slayer snapped, "The chipped
wonder would do everyone else a favour by dying."

"Did you know," the Sorceress mused as her fellow assassins and Oz
began to limber up at Schuldich's mental command, "that the moment
you escaped the boundaries of our reality, another Slayer was
called?"

"What?" she paused, then smiled, "Another Slayer? Oh, good!
Things'll be a lot easier now that--"

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Slayer," Ranma's eyes glowed with
power, "You're not escaping this realm alive."

---

Kasumi had been warned by Schuldich that they were about to start
fighting. With that in mind, the brunette went off in the direction
of the forest.

Not wanting his own existence wiped out should she die, Spike
trailed after her. He felt both happy, and anxious about being
bound to the girl. Happy that he could walk in daylight as he had
not in two hundred years or so, but anxious over the fact that his
'unlife' was laying in her hands.

If she died, _he_ died.

So it was his goal to protect her and keep himself alive. So far,
he had fought four beasties of a type he had never seen before, in
order to protect her. It was tiring work, but worth it just to see
everything in the stark light of day.

Things, _people_, look so _different_ during daylight, he mused,
watching his charge climb over large rocks to get a better view of
the wasteland about them.

Heh, take that, Angelus!! Spike was walking in the day!!

"Oh my!"

Spike blinked, jogging up to her side and following her gaze. He
gave a low whistle as they stared at what was apparently the
remains of a city along the shore, several miles past the edge of
the forest, "Now _there's_ a destroyed place."

"Come on," Kasumi turned back the way they had come, already
dreading the ten minute walk back. Her feet hurt from scrabbling
over rocks in her soft soled shoes, "We should tell Ranma-chan and
his friends."

The undead fell into step with her, having shifted to 'game face'
to scare off the smarter beasties, "Why do you lot keep calling
Ranma 'he'?"

"Jhusenkyou curse," she smiled at him, "he turns into a girl with
cold water, and back into a boy with hot water," here she tapped
her chin, "although Nabiki-chan said he could control the change
now. Something to do with opposite magics."

He nodded slowly, assimilating the knowledge for future references.
Like asking Saotome why he had not changed back yet.

They trudged into silence until the sweet scent of blood reached
the vampire's nose. With a low growl, he picked up a startled
Kasumi, racing across the ground at his best speed. He came to an
abrupt halt at the site of the bloodshed, golden eyes opened wide.

Willow had been, apparently, ripped into shreds-- Yuki was standing
over her mutilated corpse, laughing gleefully. Her lover had met a
more kinder end at Oz's hand, the werewolf taking a page from Ranma
and letting his feral side come forth to do the deed, and ripping
her throat out.

Giles was just dead. There were no marks on him, excluding the ones
resulting from Schuldich kicking the body following death. Anya was
currently sliding off Ken's bugnuks as he stared impassively at
her.

Spike felt something within him shatter it's bonds, and surge
forwards. His eyes locked on Ranma as she physically beat the shit
out of Buffy Summers, Slayer.

What he had felt come forwards was his own vampiric heritage. The
Slayer was his blood-bound enemy. To fight alongside her, he had
jammed his vampiric-instincts deep within himself-- the chip had
helped him to do that.

But the vampire's 'demon' self had surged forwards when he smelt
spilled Slayer blood. He lunged, knocking the partial Hell God away
from Buffy. Cursing Ranma bounded to her feet, willing and able to
rip the vampire apart if he was trying to protect the downed
Slayer.

Thankfully, for the vampire's continued existence, he had
surrendered to his inner demon.

Completely suppressing his nature had been a bad idea-- it had
leapt up at the first chance, with a vengeance. Spike's conscious
mind was shoved into the pits where his nature had been locked.

This mindless version of William the Bloody ignored the pain raking
through his mind as he sank his fangs into the Slayer's neck.
However, one can consciously ignore pain, but one's body likes to
survive.

Half-way through draining his once 'teammate', his body shut itself
down, in order to prevent lasting brain damage. Buffy herself was
unconscious, from blood loss, and head trauma. Ranma had not been a
pleasant person to her-- especially following the stupid mistake of
insulting Jei.

Not that Summers had specifically spoke Farfello's given name-- she
merely sneered that no one could _possibly_ care for a twisted,
back stabbing bitch like her. And, that if someone did, they were
likely a comatose mentally deficient person.

Kitty had gone ballistic, and tore into the Slayer screaming
obscenities. _No_ _One_ insulted her master!

Kasumi came up to them, looking at the bodies with a shudder of
revulsion. Another shiver ran down her back as she realized that
the only one not marked with blood was Schuldich.

Licking dry lips, she turned to ask Ranma a question, and let out a
shriek when she witnessed Ranma sinking her fist into the Slayer's
chest. Startled, the redhead looked up and cursed, not having
realized that Spike's return meant Kasumi's return.

Of one mind, Yuki and Ranma lashed out-- Ranma used the Spirit
Obliteration technique to utterly destroy Buffy's corpse, and Yuki
turned the bodies into ash. Kasumi sunk to her knees and became
violently ill.

---

End Chapter

---
Chapter Ten : Truth



Explaining to the eldest Tendou daughter that they were assassins
had not been fun, but it was all they could do while they waited
for Spike to awaken from his chip-induced sleep. She was still
feeling ill, although not nearly so much since Yuki had frivolously
used her magic in order to clean the blood from the assassins'
clothes and skin.

Explaining further that Oz was a werewolf wasn't nearly as
troublesome-- she could accept the supernatural very easily, from
living with the younger Saotome for two years.

Finally, Spike came to, and promptly attacked Yuki and the others.
He was halted when Kasumi stepped into his path, and he recalled
quite vividly what should happen to him if she died. He was, by
far, not a happy vampire as he sulked along behind the group.

Kasumi was in the lead, talking happily to Oz, while guiding them
towards the ruins Spike and she had seen from afar. It was going to
be a _long_ day.

---

It was actually a long five days, as the ruins had been further
away than expected. They were also _huge_, Yuki reflected as they
padded into the small bit of ruins that had not been either
destroyed or swallowed by water.

"Wonder what happened here," mused Ken, who was _still_ not talking
to Schuldich. 'Still', because when he realized Schuldich had
pulled the same mental trick of locking up emotions and guilt he
had used on Rache, on him, he had thrown a fit. Following _that_
he proclaimed that he was "never talking to the psychopathic
telepath ever again". The German was trying to get back into the
Amerikajin's good graces. Like Ken had needed Schuldich to do that
when he killed his friends. He had done it before... Kase...

"_I_ wonder why we haven't met anyone since we arrived," Oz
muttered, eying the store structure around them.

"We're likely at the site of a war," Spike supplied, having gotten
over the deaths of his teammates already-- he _was_ a vampire,
after all, "One that probably happened within the current or
previous generation's memory. You humans are a bunch of bloody
pillocks, not being able to 'stand' the memories."

"For a vampire, you're pretty 'human-wise'," muttered Siberian, who
had hopped up on an old marble pillar that had toppled over. He
shaded his eyes and looked around them with a frown, "No people,
just more of those annoying monsters."

"Maybe the monsters drove them away," Kasumi put her own two cents
in, "Yuki-san, could you locate Nabiki-chan from here?"

"I... could," Yuki found it hard to lie to Kasumi. The fact was,
she _really_ didn't want to locate anyone until _after_ her niece
or nephew was born. Ranma had a habit of getting into dangerous
situations, and the fetus might get accidentally killed.

Yuki was _very_ protective of her family-- even the unborn
relatives.

"Well?" Ranma bounced to her sister's side, "C'mon, find Jei-sama
and Ayan!"

The Sorceress hesitated.

/Might as well just tell him./

/You're not going to be the one he bitches at!/

/Be brave, Yuki-onna. Take a silver bullet for the team!/

/...Schuldich... that's a beer commercial.../

/Well,/ he shot her a wry grin, / I _was_ going through the
vampie's mind a few minutes ago./

"Yuki?! Are you even _listening_ to me?!" ranted Kitty, blue eyes
glaring evilly into brown.

"No," she answered with all honesty, "I was talking with Guilt-
boy."

Ranma groaned, "C'mon, sis, what's the hold up?"

"I want a promise from you," and she poked her brother-turned-
sister in the forehead, "and then I'll cast a locator spell."

"Promise?" was the confused response, "what promise?"

She sighed, then in true Yuki fashion, decided to hell with the
consequences, and stated bluntly, "I want you to promise not to go
into dangerous situations until _after_ you give birth to Ranma-
junior."

"Oh well, I su--birth?!" she yelped, "What do you _mean_ 'give
birth'?! YUKI!!"

The elder of the two Saotomes shrugged, "_That_ is why you're stuck
in female form. I suppose Orfiel is protecting the fetus, and
keeping you from changing back into your normal form."

"But... but... but I _can't_ be pregnant!" she wailed, "I'm a
_guy_!"

"What is she going on about?" Spike muttered to Ken and Kasumi."

"Ranma's male," Ken spoke over Ranma and Yuki's raised voices as
the pair argued whether or not it was possible for the martial
artist to be pregnant, "he can shift between a male and female
form."

"Kasumi told me that part," Spike returned, "I meant, why does she
think she can't get pregnant?"

"Probably didn't think it was possible," Ken shrugged, "Maybe he
_couldn't_ until after Moon blasted him with the Ginzoushou."

"Moon? Ginzoushou?"

"Yeah, you see..." and Ken began to weave the tale of the events of
the past couple months to Kasumi and Spike, sparing no details as
to what had happened to the superheroine group known as the Sailor
Senshi.

Ranma was still ranting to her sister, "No! It's impossible!"

"It's damned well possible!" she returned, annoyed, "You had sex in
female form, and now, you are pregnant!"

"I've had sex as a girl before!" she snipped.

Yuki rolled her eyes, "You probably weren't in the right part of
your cycle when you and Farf went at it. This time, you were. Face
it brother-dear: You. Are. Pregnant!"

Ranma was about to launch into another denial when Oz interrupted,
"Relax, Xue Shi. Maybe you're pregnant, maybe you're not. But it's
Farfello's pup if you are, right?"

"...yeah..."

"Then the pup is part Farfello," the werewolf grinned, "So you've
got a good reason to care for it, right?"

"I guess so..." she sighed, struggling to accept the fact that she
was pregnant. She still doubted, but promised to keep out of
trouble anyway. It would only be a few weeks until she would be
able to sense the child's ki. She was damned sure she wouldn't be
able to-- therefore proving that she was _not_ pregnant.

Hmph, her sister was merely delusional. Like always.

Said sister dipped into the well of power that was hers as a
Sorceress, and spread her influence. Inch by inch, she spread the
locator spell outwards, searching for the signature she had used to
pull them into this realm in the first place.

She ran across another, familiar, signature first, "Nabiki."

They looked to her when she spoke, but she was frowning, "But it's
too old. Almost a decade and a half."

"Bradlies, maybe," mused Kitty, "he _does_ have Pluto's staff and
control over time..."

"Maybe," Yuki shrugged, "I'll try for a more recent signature." she
did not mention that Yohji, Rache, Omi and Nagi's signatures were
also there, all more recent, but still over a decade old.

She continued to stretch out further, a bit surprised to find a
signature similar to Nagi's in a heavily shielded area. Curious...
still, that wasn't what she was looking for, and continued onwards.

With some amount of surprise, she located Farfello's signature. It
was... not warped, altered maybe. Similar too.. her eyes flew wide,
unconsciously looking at her brother. What a pair...

/What's that, Yuki?/

/Farfie's apparently _female_ now./

He blinked, paused, then laughed, /What a pair indeed./

/Hmm...maybe little bro might get his chance to be on top./

Holding onto Farfello's current place in her mind, she didn't have
to go much further to find Crawford and... Omi? How odd.

Further investigation revealed that the majority of their friends--
minus Nabiki, Yohji, Rache, Xian Phu, Kunzite and his fellow
'kings'-- were all in the same general area. What was most
confusing was why Omi was separated from his girlfriend.

Why would the Knight leave the Sorceress?

Yuki's own Knight had been killed by the coven she had once been a
part of-- which was partially responsible for her unstable state.
Omi would _never_ willingly leave Nabiki; so where was the
Sorceress?

"Well," she withdrew power from the spell, "I know where _most_ of
them are. Problem is, they're on the other side of the planet."

"You're kidding," Ken moaned, "Please tell me you're kidding."

"No joke Hidaka," she scowled, this is going to be _so_ much fun,
trying to get over there, "C'mon, we can stay in these ruins for
the night, and I'll gate us to the first place I sensed them."

"Why not 'gate' right to them?" Kasumi wondered, wanting to see
Nabiki. The two were quite close, having been the only ones to keep
the Tendou Dojo up and running at nearly peak conditions, despite a
lack of students. She dearly missed her lost sister.

Yuki sighed, "The spell used to take us here, plus the protection
spell, plus all the magic I've been doing lately has nearly
completely sucked me dry. I won't have enough power to warp across
a planet for a few weeks yet. Also, I need to get use to this
world before I warp."

"Looks like we're going the old fashioned way," Ranma grinned
widely, "Swimming!"

"'Swimming'?" quoth all but Yuki.

"We'll swim to the other side of the planet!" she pointed to the
shoreline they were on, "It'll be fun!"

"Ranma," Schuldich moaned, "_You_ might be able to swim across an
ocean, but _we_ can't!"

"Speak for yourself," Yuki grinned settling in for the night,
against the large marble pillar Ken had been standing on. The sun
was only beginning to set, but she wanted a good night's sleep.

The others apparently thought the same, as they found their own
little niches, and curled up for the night.

---

End Chapter

---
Epilogue : Beginnings



"I will kill him, I will kill him, I will fucking _kill_ him!"

"Wow, she's vocal," mused a man sitting in one of the chairs in the
hospital waiting room.

"Actually, she's being quieter than normal," Ken grinned, dropping
himself into a neighboring chair. The blue garbed man hiked an
eyebrow.

"Your wife?"

"Nah, just a friend," he sighed, "Kitty and Jei are rarely
separated-- but Jei's in some all-important meeting in Balamb. He
can't get away to be here."

"A meeting in _Balamb_?" questioned the man, "There's nothing
there!"

"Exactly," the man started when Kasumi seemingly appeared from
nowhere, "Neither group has the 'home-court' advantage."

"Good point," he winced as Ranma's shrieks became more descriptive
on _how_ she would kill Farfello, "Wow, she's got quite the
imagination."

"Her older sister is a confirmed psychopath," Ken gave a wane
smile, "Kitty probably picked it up when she visited her."

"Oh, Ken," Kasumi turned to the now twenty year old-- his birthday
having past some months ago, "Oz wants to know how long this is
going to take."

"No idea..."

The man in blue laughed, "A few hours at least. Is Oz your son?"

Kasumi giggled, "Oh no, no, no. He's my boyfriend. He's just
worried about tonight's moon."

"The moon?" he looked utterly confused, but Ken waved it off.

"Don't bother. Oz likes to stare at the full moon, and doesn't want
to miss it," the young man paused, "You a soldier?"

"Lieutenant James Wilton." he grinned at the assassin, "and you
are...?"

"Ken Hidaka," speaking English style may have been the way he had
been raised, but he had trained himself to 'think Japanese'. His
name sounded funny whenever he introduced himself this way, "And
she is Kasumi Tendou."

"Nice to meet you."

"You too," James returned.

Ken crossed his arms, and lowered his voice, "Is it _true_ the
President is making negotiations with a Sorceress?"

James sat bolt up, "Where did you--"

But Ken cut him off, "Relax. It's just a rumor, I wanted to know if
it was true."

"N-no, not at all," stuttered the officer. Thankfully, he was
called into the room where his sister had just given birth, before
Ken could leech more information out of him.

"Think it's Nabiki?"

"It _sounds_ like Nabiki," Kasumi turned to face Oz, "She would do
something like this in an instant."

"I hope Deling knows what he's doing," the werewolf sighed, "How
long has she been in labor?"

"Eight hours," Ken grumbled, trying to settle in and get some
sleep, "Wake me up when the kid is out, okay?"

To him, it wasn't long before he was pulled from his slumber to be
told Ranma's daughter had been born. A glance at the clock revealed
he had been asleep for nearly ten hours.

He yawned and allowed Schuldich to guide him to Ranma's room. The
new mother was laying in her bed, her daughter cuddled to her
breast.

"Her name is Jun," Yuki supplied the sleepy Ghostie, "We can't stay
long; they need some sleep."

"Right," the trio entered as Kasumi, Spike and Oz left. Ken's eyes
were wide as he stared down at the little girl.

"Hey guys," yawned Saotome.

"Hey Ranma."

The redhead smirked sleepily as the others peered down at the
child.

"It's been nine months. Can we go find them _now_?"

---
End Epilogue

And yes, there is a reason behind the whole Ranma-has-a-daughter
thing. Aside from revealing the _obvious_ fact that Ranma sleeps
with Farfie-kun, Jun-chan has a part to play in future books.

If anyone can guess what series Jun is from you get... you get...
er... a... er... honorable mention in my fic?? . Okay, yeah,
that's a pathetic prize...