Epiphany Chapter 5
Part Two

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Two days after Nodoka, Kasumi and Onna-Ranma visited Dr. Tofu,
Akane and Nabiki returned from school and entered the living room
to find Nodoka and daughter sitting at the table, once again
going through pictures.

"I don't know Mom. The sailor Moon getup is just too cheesy,
plus the look on my face cause that tux was itching my legs."

"Alright dear, what about the one with you in the plugsuit
mockups. Or maybe the Imperial Kimono look. It was beautiful."

Nabiki once again became engrossed in the goings on. After
looking closely at one shot, she exclaimed.

"How did you get both of Ranma into one picture? I can't see the
edit lines."

Nodoka chuckled softly, before pointing to the collar on the
female Ranma's plugsuit. "It's actually not Ranma in the suit.
The editor just pasted her head and neck on Atsuko's body,
providing we streamlined her hair behind her to make editing
easier."

She took the glossy out of Nabiki's hands. "I think this one
dear. You look especially cheerful in it."

She slid it into a large frame and placed it up the mantle, next
to another picture of Ranma's both sides. "There, no use getting
your fingerprints all over it."

The girls together moved to the mantle and begin looking over the
pictures. "Wow, each one looks like brother and sister posing
together." remarked Nabiki. "I am impressed."

Nodoka smiled and gave Ranma-chan a hug from behind. "I wanted
something to be able to look at while you are at school, so I
wouldn't feel like I was letting you go every morning."

Ranma-chan blushed slightly and closed her eyes.

It was at that point that two bouquets of roses flew in and onto
the table from the yard. Tatawaki Kuno strolled in after. "I
would wish to see the foul sorceror, so that I may beat him in
combat and win the heart of my true loves. And speak of beauty,
I am in their presence."

"May I help you young man?" Inquired Nodoka. She moved, placing
herself between Ranma and Tatewaki.

Kuno noticed she moved with a warrior's style. He faced her and
proudly puffed out his chest.

"I am the undefeated Kendo champion of Furikan High. The one
known as 'The Blue Thunder!'."

Nodoka was unimpressed. "I have heard of you Kuno Tatawaki, and
I challenge you for the the honor of my family. Your lies and
accusations about my son and daughter demand retrobution."

With that Kuno heard the unmistakable hiss of steel being
unshiethed. Nodoka's Katana appeared in her hand with a flick of
her wrists and she slashed at him in midair. He found himself
thrown against a wall by a current of air and pinned by several
small dart objects.

Nodoka had the tip of her blade poking him in the chest. "Do you
submit?"

"What trickery is this?" He nearly shouted out. "You attack a
guest?"

Nodoka calmly replied. "You come into my house uninvited and
state boldly and loudly that you are here to defeat my son on the
basis of lies you yourself conjoured. You state you wish battle
and come armed, and you call yourself a guest?"

She continued, giving Kuno the biggest ego-deflating talking down
he had ever had.

"You have repeatedly endangered the life of my family because of
deluisions that my son is having his way with his OWN SISTER!!
You have repeatedly lied and refused to admit to defeat in
honorable combat with my son. I will not sit idlly by and let
you MOLEST my families' honor and good name anymore. You will
accept defeat by my hand and leave. You are not Man enough to be
a proper Husband to either my niece Akane nor my own daughter."

Kuno was stuttering. "The p-pig-tailed girl is your daughter?"

Nabiki grabbed one of the pictures off the mantle and handed it
to him. "See for yourself. Can't you tell the resemblance?"

With his free hand, Kuno took the framed picture and held it at
arms length. Then his eyes widened and he brought it only inches
from his face.

Everyone watched as his face drained of all color, then he turned
toward Ranma-chan with a mechanical slowness. He seemed to stare
at her, and she became rather uncomfortable. Her smile gone,
replaced with a slight twinge of fear. She changed stance
preparing to jump backward or attack if need be.

He stuttered again, this time nodding shakily. "It-It-It's true.
It's true." He turned again slowly to Nodoka. "I ... conceed."
There was a pause before he swallowed a mouthful of air and
composed himself. "Please allow me to apologize before leaving."

Nodoka stepped forward and pulled out the darts holding his other
arm to the wall and he took his bokken from his belt. He handed
the picture back to Nabiki.

Holding the wooden blade in front of him like an offering, he
turned toward Ranma-chan and kneeled, laying it at her feet.

"Please forgive me fair-haired one. I have caused you much pain
with my slander and I now know how wrong I was. Please take my
blade as a token offering of my promise to right what I have
wronged and to never cause you any more anguish again."

With that Kuno stood and left by walking out backwards until he
was outside and turned, leaping over the wall.

Akane and Ranma-chan were stunned. "Did I just see what I
thought happened?" asked Akane.

Nabiki looked out toward the direction. "Maybe Kuno-baby got a
clue, but I doubt it. He'll probably deny it all tomorrow.

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As Tatawaki was walking home, he pondered the events of the last
few minutes. Something had finally made itself perfectly clear.
He had indeed been the idiot that all had proclaimed him to be.

He suddenly noticed movement out of the corner of his eye.

He turned and recognized Kodochi making a beeline path across the
rooftops toward the Tendo Dojo and quickly doubled back and began
chasing her as quickly as he could.

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Nodoka turned to walk into the kitchen to fix the evening meal
when a small bag flew in the open Shoji doors from outside,
striking her on the shoulder.

A small cloud of dust surrounded her head and shoulders, and a
second later, she collapsed toward the floor.

Ranma-chan was under her and caught her, laying her on the table
cushions.

"OH-HO-HO-HO-HO-HO! You value your sevant's life too much, you
little hussy. I have come to save my Ranma-sama from your
twisted hooks."

Nabiki looked outside. "Her twisted hooks?. That's no servant,
that's Ranma's mother." 

Kodachi was smiling until Nabiki's words registered. She looked
around the room, and noticed the concern and shock on Akane and
Kasumi's face.

When she turned back, Ranma-chan was facing her. This time
however, it was the not the cool, calm, but highly irritated
face she knew from the red-headed girl, but something totally
different.

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Amist a blackness, The curse calling herself Ranko had her eyes
closed and her arms streached outward. Emmense light streaming
from her hands, and from her hair, as she focused her energy
outward. The rumbling would have deafened any mortal, were she
actually somewhere outside Ranma's mind. But she was channeling
power and she had made her decision.

Her eyes flew open, and she screamed. "NEVER AGAIN!!!!"

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Cologne was standing over her stewpot, watching a soup simmer,
when her ears perked up.

She turned a shade of white and grabbed her staff. She hopped to
the door, calling for Shampoo. "Hurry child, Son-in-Law is in
trouble. Mu-Tsu, tend the cafe until we return."

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Kodachi backed away as Ranma-chan seemed to be stalking toward
her. A red aura powerful enough to be seen by ordinary humans
mimiced flames coming off her body. The pupils of her eyes lost,
replaced with solid white orbs and her teeth gritted as she
continued to stalk the now terrified Kuno. Where she stepped,
the floor blackened from the heat of her rage.

Suddenly Ranma-chan blasted forward, faster and more ferocious
than ever. Kodachi tried to block, but was struck with a kick,
too fast to be seen by the naked eye and with enough force
behind it that she was knocked out of the house and against the
outside wall. She felt and heard ribs snapping on impact.

As she dropped down off the wall, Ranma blasted forward agin,
toward her. Her mind registered that her attacker wasn't even
running, but flying like a bullet toward her. She put up her
arms to block again, her legs too weak to move, but was kicked
from the side, this time getting thrown against the dojo.

She regained her wind and quickly dodged as Ranma-chan plowed
past her, into and through the Dojo wall, missing her by inches.

She didn't have time to turn before hands burst through the wall
grabbing her arms, and the rest of Ranma tearing through like the
wall was tissue paper.

Kodachi screamed as her arms were twisted backward, her skin
burning around the smaller girls hands. She heard bones breaking
as her left arm snapped under the strain.

The last thing kodachi saw before she was slugged ubruptly in the
face was Ranma-chan cursing her. "You Demon-Whore. You will
NEVER hurt us or our mother EVER AGAIN!!"

Kodachi was brutally punched several more times in the solar
plexus, then uncerimoniously dropped into the pond. Ranma-chan
stood over it. Clenched fists, followed by tears.

Ranma-chan started crying. she dropped to her knees and her aura
faded. "Why, WHY can't he have peace? WHY, WHY WHY?"

She continued this strange query, directed to no one in
piticular, before screaming animalistically upward at the stars
then collapsing herself and falling over, curling up into a ball.

Cologne hopped over the wall, seeing Kodachi and Ranma-chan lying
in their places, she went for Ranma, and shouted to Shampoo to
get the injured gymnast out of the pond before she drowned.

Tatawaki jumped over the wall at this time as well. He saw the
damage and the broken state of his sister's body. He grabbed
Kodachi's arm and pulled her out of the pond, saving Shampoo from
having to get a pole to fish the girl out.

He stood over Kodachi and spit at her feet. "Is she still alive,
or did the fair-haired one end her miserable excuse for
existance?"

Cologne hopped over, having checked Ranma-chan and found nothing
wrong, the girl's chi returning to a relaxed state.

She then checked Kodachi's pulse, and chi paths. "She is alive,
but badly hurt. Many of her bones were broken."

Kuno looked around before scooping her up. "It is unfortunate
that she was working on a explosive device in our kitchen wasn't
it?."

He swept up his sister's limp form, threw it over his shoulder
then turned and cleared the wall once again, dissappearing and
all was quiet again.

Akane was still looking outward toward the wall, when Nabiki
commented. "I don't believe it."

Shampoo looked toward Cologne. "What he mean by explosive in
kitchen?"

Cologne raised her eyebrow. "Coverup child. He was leaving
Son-in Law out of the obvious police investigation. But for what
reasons I do not know. It would not seem like him."

She turned to Ranma-chan. <That was not your handiwork boy.
Brutal and ruthless. She would have died, and unless your rage
consumed you completely, you would never have been so violent.
What could possibly have triggered such force.>

She then noticed Nodoka asleep inside. She approached and could
feel her body was drugged to sleep. <Now it makes sense. Her
mother, her only measure of love and sanity in this house,
attacked. But martial art that was not. That was something far
more powerful, to be felt from the Nekohanten.>

Cologne tapped a few pressure points and instructed Shampoo to
retreive Ranma-chan from outside.

Kasumi and Akane helped place both of them on the floor, side by
side, to sleep off what had overcome them.

She turned to Kasumi. "Something posessed Ranma just now.
Something more powerful than anything I have ever felt before.
And I felt it from the cafe no less. Her actions were not hers,
but someone or something else's. It's intent I could not
determine, but it seems to be gone now."

"They will both wake up in several hours. Do not tell Ranma
what she did. She may or may not remember. Just say that
Tatewaki came and took his sister away."

Everyone nodded and Cologne started to leave. She stopped. "I
want Shampoo to stay here in case anything else happens. If
that's alright with you."

Kasumi nodded. "If she promises not to attack anyone, that
includes Amazon glomps and kisses."

Cologne smiled slightly. "I don't think will be a problem."

Shampoo nodded. "Hai."

Cologne chuckled as she walked out. "You don't want to have a
'Kitchen Accident' do you?"

And Cologne hopped over the wall, leaving the Tendo girls and
Shampoo to watch over the sleeping Saotomes.

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There how is that? A Huge rewrite to Chapter 5.