Light and Shadows
                                (working title)
                                    Part 1

                                      by
                                  Shaule Sachs

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 Version 0.2
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	Mousse looked up as the front door bell announced the presence of
someone entering the resturante. His eyes widen upon sight of the
customer. First, because the customer -- who wasn't an actual customer
-- was Perfume, an Elder of the Village, one who was almost as old and
as powerful as Cologne was. And secondly because Perfume looked
terrible, as if she barely managed to walk away from a fight.
	With a look of disgust on her face, Perfume commanded Mousse,
"Bring me to Elder Cologne."
	Mousse gently took Perfume's hand and brought her to Cologne in
the back. Cologne stopped what she was doing and told him to close the
restaurente and not to disturb them. The two sat down to talk.
	Immediately after Mousse left, Perfume slomped in her chair.
Tears were in her eyes as she told Cologne what had happened in the
Village not a few days ago.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

	Everyone in the Joketsuzoku Village was excited. Today was the
day of the annual Tournament to see who was the best in the Village. A
lot of the girls were extraly excited since Shampoo hadn't shown up
and the line up had already been drawn. Meaning, even if she did show
up she wouldn't be allowed to participate in the Tournament, thus
allowing anyone to win this year unlike previous years.
	Once the Tournament was under way, the entire Village's attention
was focused on it. So no one saw as four women entered the Village.
Each of the four women were vastly different from one other -- there
was a redhead, a blonde, a white-haired woman, and a woman who's hair
was as black as midnight -- and yet there was something that came to
the mind of an observer to suggest that dispite the four being the
same age, that they were sisters.
	The redhead with two twin katana strapped to her back walked over
to an Amazon of similar age, tapped her on her shoulder, and the
Amazon turned around she asked in perfect Chinese, "Pardon me... Do
you know where the pig-tail boy -- about this height -- went to?"
	The redhead had indicated an height a little above her own eye
level.  She continued, "He would have be acompanied by either an old,
fat man or a gaint.... He should have passed through her about an year
ago..."
	The Amazon simply shook her head and return to watching the
Tournament.
	The redhead looked to her companions, frowned, and asked another
Amazon. After a number of failures, the four woman broke up with the
redhead walking over to the east side, the blonde to the west side,
the white-haired woman to the north side, and the raven-haired woman
to the south side. Each asking various Amazons various questions about
directions the pig-tailed boy might have taken. The four didn't get
any answers except the shaking of heads.
	During the last match, one of the Amazons remarked that the girl
on the left was going to win, to which the redhead woman replied, "No,
she's not. She's not good enough..."
	Conditioner turned to the newcomer and said heatly, "That's my
sister you're talking about. I trained her myself!"
	"So," the redhead replied back. "She's only as good as her
sensei... She won't win."
	Angerly Conditioner said, "Are you saying..."
	Conditioner stopped talking as it was announced that
Conditioner's sister's opponent had won the Tournament.
	The redhead had an I-told-you-so look on her face. From there,
everthing began to travel in a handbasket.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

	"Those four strange women destroyed the entire Village, Cologne,"
Perfume stated in a monotone voice. "After Conditioner challenged the
redhead, lost, and gave her the Kiss of Death... They killed everyone
there..."
	Perfume sabbed and said, "Only those, like myself, who were
outside the Village hunting survived..."
	After Perfumes cried a bit, she continued, "With our Village
destroyed... we headed into the Mountains for shelter... There...
There we discovered that these four women had also 'visited' the Musk
Dyntasy, and the people of Mount Phoenix... Of all three entire
communities, there remains only a handful... One of the people of
Mount Phoenix was kind enough to fly me to you..."
	After getting some more details out of Perfume, Cologne helped
her into her bed where Perfume slept that night and never woke up.

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	Shampoo was skipping towards Furnikan High School to see her
husband when she came across a strange blonde woman. The blonde was
lean on the side of a wall obviously waiting for someone. Upon seeing
Shampoo, the blonde moved into her path.
	In Japanese, the blonde addressed Shampoo, "So... You're Shampoo
of the Joketsuzoku Village... You really do look like a bimbo..."
	"What?" Shampoo replied angerly. "Who you? Why you block
Shampoo's way to Husband?"
	The Blonde's eyes narrowed as she said, "You are not worthy of
Lord Saotome.... If you wish to live, go back to China and forget
about Lord Saotome."
	"You no talk to Shampoo like that," she said calmly, even though
she was getting mad.
	The blonde shrugged and said, "I warned you..."
	The blonde then proceed to fight Shampoo.
	After only a few seconds, Shampoo realized she was in serious
trouble. All she could was block her attacker's moves and fall back
giving up ground. So even that wasn't enough. In less than a minute,
Shampoo received more bruises than she had during her entire life.
There wasn't a single centimeter on her body that didn't cry out in
agony. And that wasn't the worst part... The worst part was that
during the fight, if you could call such an one-sided event a fight,
was that the blonde listed all the reasons why Shampoo was wrong for
Ranma and Shampoo couldn't rebuke any of it.
	Finally, after a minute, Shampoo collapsed into unconsciousness.
The blonde looked at Shampoo and said, "I *should* kill you and be
done with it... But Lord Saotome won't like that... For some strange
reason, he considers you a friend..."
	The blonde sighed, picked up Shampoo and carried her towards the
Nekohaten while saying, "The things I do for my master."

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	Kodachi decided to use her lunch period to visit her brother's
school and see her Ranma-sama. As she was walking there, she tripped
over an arrow. Looking around, she saw no one nor any place where the
arror could have come from. She shrugged and continued on only to trip
again over a different arrow sticking out of the ground.
	Again Kodachi looked around but saw no one. Nor the source of the
arrow until she looked behind her.
	Taking her Martial Arts Gymnastic Ribbon out, she states, "Come
out, you vile commoner... and face me!"
	The winds stirred and an arrow took Kodachi's ribbon out of her
hands.
	Kodachi began to rave and rant about her unseemly, unhonorable
opponent in true Kuno style for a full thirty minutes, non-stop.
	After which, a white-haired woman with a bow appeared behind
Kodachi and knocked her out with a long knife handle. As she picked up
the unconsciousness girl, the white-haired woman said, "I thought she
never shut up..."

	Three days later, Kodachi woke up in a padded room somewhere.

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	Ukyou went looking for Ranma after she finished serving out
okonomiyaki to the various paying students. She had a special
okonomiyaki for her Ranchan.
	After a few moments, she saw a redhead and ran towards her. Once
she was close enough she calle, "Hey, Ranchan, I got a special
okonomiyaki for you."
	As soon as the redhead turned around, Ukyou realized that the
women wasn't onna-Ranma, but before she could agolize, the redhead
smiled and said, "Sorry, Ucchan... You won't be making anymore
special deliveries to Lord Saotome..."
	Ukyou didn't like the smile on the redhead nor did she like the
readhead use of her nickname that only Ranma could use. She also
wondered at phrase 'Lord Saotome' bit. She noticed the two katana on
the redhead's back.
	Taking a defense stance, Ukyou said, "You and what army?"
	The redhead's smil grew as she replied, "Army? I don't need no
stinking army."
	Within a few moments, Ukyou knew the redhead was right and that
the redhead was playing with her like a cat. But the worst part of the
fight was that the redhead listed, in great detail, why Ukyou was
wrong for Ranma, whom she called 'Lord Saotome.' With each of Ukyou's
faults listed, Ukyou grew angier and angier. As well as sloppier and
sloppier.
	After five minutes of fighting, Ukyou dropped unconscious from
exertion. The redhead picked Ukyou up and walked towards Ucchan's.
Once there, she stripped Ukyou completely naked, placed her in bed,
and walked out.
	

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	Akane and Ranma walked out to their tree. At least, Akane thought
of it as 'their tree.' The tree was the place they sat each school day
for lunch. Akane had a smile on her face and her hands behind her
back. Ranma had a worried look on his face. A worry which was
confirmed when they sat down and Akane handed him a bento box for him
to eat as she said smile, "I made this for you..."
	"Ahhh... Akane... Did you cook this?" Ranma asked nerviously.
	Akane nodded her head and thrusted the box into Ranma for
emphasis.
	See that Ranma hadn't made a move to even open the box, Akane
tore open the box and proceeded to force-feed him while saying, "Here
eat!"
	Within moments of ingestion (for the lack of a better term)
Akane's attempt at cooking, Ranma keeled over into a fetal ball
holding his stomach. Akane watched amazed as she saw the earth rise
up, shallow Ranma up, and return to 'normal'.
	All Akane could do was stare wide-eyed at the place Ranma had
vanished. She didn't move or breathe until she felt a heavy tap on her
shoulder for the last few moments.
	When she finally returned around, she was slapped in the face.
Still wide-eyed, she saw that the person who slapped her was a women,
about seven years older than she, with a fantastic body more beautiful
than Shampoo or onna-Ranma, and the darkest hair she ever saw.
	Once the raven-hair woman saw that she had Akane's attention, she
said in a low, cold voice, "That is the very *last* time *you* will
*poison* Ranma-sama."
	"Nani?" was Akane's only reply.
	Anger on the woman's face increased by ten-fold as she said,
"You're pathetic! You're such a... a... UNCUTE TOMBOY! You don't
*deserve* to spend *any* time with Lord Saotome. I should just kill
you right here and now, but..."
	The woman took a few moments to compose herself, and continued in
calm voice, "just stay away from Ranma-sama."
	With that, the woman turned and started to walk away.
	But Akane wouldn't let some complete stranger tell her what she
could or could not do... or who to see and who not to see. So she
grabbed her trusty mallet and prepared to smite her enemy. When the
mallet was only a few centimeters from the woman's head. The woman
spun around and kicked the mallet, which disintegrated upon contact
with the woman's foot. Ignoring what just happened, Akane launched a
series of strikes at the woman, who easily dodged them. Some dim part
of her mind, Akane realized that the woman was as good as Ranma is.
Only the woman didn't have the same hangup as Ranma did about hitting
a girl.
	The fight lasted under ten seconds, but it took that long for
Akane's brain to realize it before she lost consciousness. Before she
completely succumbed, she thought she heard the woman say, "How could
Lord Saotome see anything in just a... a... tomboy."
	The woman shook her head, picked up Akane, and walked towards the
Tendo Household.

	Kasumi was cleaning the porch was she saw a woman with something
over her shoulder appoarch the house. Once inside the gate, Kasumi
realized that something was, in fact, her youngest sister. She called
for her father and went to see the woman.
	The woman didn't even similar to notice Kasumi as they drew near
but kept walking. The door to the house, which Kasumi thought she
closed, was open and the woman walked right in.
	In the hallway, Soun saw the state Akane was in and demanded an
explanation from the woman, but the woman ignored him too. The woman,
with both Kasumi and Soun, went straight for Akane's room, where she
deposited Akane's unconscious body, turned an walked out. Kasumi stand
behind to care for her sister and Soun followed the woman out.
	Once in the hall, Soun began shouting at the woman, demanding an
explanation. He continued until they reached the gate. Only then did
the woman face Soun and said, "'Any deal, contract, or legal matter
that Tanaka Genma made on behalf of the Clan Saotome, the House
Saotome, or for Saotome Ranma is *invalid* and legally *non-binding*'.
Thus said the *true* Lord Saotome and the Emperor of Light."
	"Nani?!?!?" Soun groared. Pointing at the woman, he said, "Now
see here young miss..."
	The raven-haired woman grabbed Soun's finger in a flash and broke
it. Looking directly into his eyes, she replied, "Do not pursue this!
We will kill you and anyone else who interfers in matters you do not
understand."
	With that the woman walked away.

	On the way home from school, Nabiki was worried. She was worried
because she saw a number of police officers in the streets that she
didn't know. How many she couldn't tell since the extra police
personall looked so much a like. What's more, the unknown police
officers were carrying discretly consealed swords and weapons.
	Seeing an officer she knew, Nabiki ran over to him and asked,
"What's going on?"
	"Huh?" Officer Shigeki replied.
	Nabiki explained that she saw a cop she didn't know and asked
about him.
	Officer Shigeki explained about the training program the Tokyo
Police Department had started to teach some new police techniques to
other ward police officers and such. He identified one of the new
officers as 'Genichi' and stated that he was very traditional.
	Nabiki wondered if Shigeki-san knew that 'Genichi' was consealing
a sword and some other type of weapon on his body. She shrugged and
continued walking home.

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	Nodoka was sweeping the porch was four woman stepped into the
yard. The four walked over to her, stopped about a meter from her, and
bowed deeply as they said in unison, "Lady Saotome... May the Light
shine on you and protect you."
	Nodoka blinked, bowed back, thought a moment, and then replied as
if remembering from long ago, "May the Light shine on you and keep
you."
	The raven-haired woman smiled at Nodoka and handed her a letter
as she said, "A message from your Father, Lord Saotome, ma'am."
	Nodoka's eyes narrowed and angerly replied, "My father is dead
and has been for a long time now."
	The redhead snorted and answered, "Do you truly believe that
Death could slow Lord Saotome down, ma'am?"
	Startled, Nodoka thought a moment and said, "You're right."
	She opened the letter and began to read. After a moment, Nodoka
looked up and said, "Let the Light come forth."
	The letter glowed blue and grew until a man, made of paper,
appeared. One look would tell anyone the identity of the man
instantly.
	A tear appeared in Nodoka's eye as she said, "Father!"
	Lord Saotome looked at his only child, smiled sadly at her, and
said, "It is time."
	"Time? Time for what, father?" Nodoka asked bewildered.
	The sad smile deeped as he answered, "Time for Ranma's
Awakening."
	"Awakening?" Nodoka repeated.
	"Awakening to his true power," the raven-hair woman answered.
	"Awakening to his true place upon the Fate," the redhead
answered.
	"Awakening to his true self," the white-haired woman answered.
	"Awakening to the Truth," the blonde answered.
	"Truth?" Nodoka asked. "What truth?"
	"It is Time for my grandson to take my place in the Light," Lord
Saotome stated. He nodded towards the raven-haired woman, who nodded
and gestured to the lawn. A small hill grew like a bubble, the bubble
broke and returned to the ground as if nothing had happened, but what
happened was that Ranma was lying a sleep at the center.
	The redhead walked over to the east side of Ranma and produced a
staff of red flame in her right hand aloft. The raven-haired woman
went to the south point of Ranma and produced a staff of earth and
wood.  The blonde went to the west point of Ranma and produced a staff
of water. The white-haired woman went to the north point of Ranma and
produced a staff of wind.  Together they intoned, "May the Light shine
on you and keep you. May the Light protect you when we, your maidens,
can not. Now is the Time. This is the Place. Arise! Arise!"
	The four together stabbed Ranma with their staffs. Where the
staffs meet a light, bright light grew and grew... until the light
completely covered him. And the light grew unto a column of Light that
uplifted Ranma bodily into the air like a rag-doll. Suspended in the
air, the Light caressed, covered, and permeated Ranma's body for what
seemed to Nodoka like hours, but was only a few minutes.
	And then Ranma screamed... and fell... into the arms of the
four women. The four women then carried Ranma into the house and up to
his old room. They stood guard over Ranma in shifts, two laid with him
giving him their warmth and two stood watch. One watched the door
while the other watched the window.
	After the former Lord Saotome departed, Nodoka cried for a few
moments then went to the library to read the books that her father had
instructed her too in the remained of the letter.

[=== End of Part 1 ===]

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