"So we're heading to the Rhapala region?" Rei asked as they jogged along. He was surprised at how easily the others were able to keep pace with him who had certain feline advantages, even in his human form, but shrugged it off.

"Yep. King gave us this pass thing for the bridge." Ranko said, waving at her pack off-handedly.

"Yeah. Once we get to China and talk to Khu Lon, we'll be able to help you out." Ryoko said easily.

"Besides, you need to stop obsessing over revenge." Ryoga said knowingly.

"Absolutely. Imagine where I'd be if I had kept up on my revenge on Ranchan." Ukyou agreed.

"Me too. I'd probably be making his life, and my life, and generally everyone else's life, miserable." Ryoga said, chuckling.

"You had something against him? I find that hard to believe." Rei said skeptically. "You guys are too much alike."

"Ha! You'd be surprised what you can do to yourself." Ryoga said, grinning. "I just blamed anything and everything on him, then tried to kill him. Wasn't very productive, I can tell you. Quite depressing as well."

"Me, I revoked my femininity, then spent ten years training as a boy so I could get my revenge on him." Ukyou said. "Of course, it all turned out -not- to be Ranchan's fault, but I forgave him before I knew that anyways."

"...You guys are weird." Rei said for the umpteenth time in three days.

"And if Akane hadn't of gotten out of that engagement with him, she'd probably be making his life miserable. I know I'd be furious in her position." Ukyou added, chuckling.

"Especially with their fathers pushing it at them, as they constantly were." Ryoga muttered. "I still can't believe how stupid they were! There was that day Ranma stayed behind after school to pound Kuno, while Akane went on ahead home. When he got home, barely five minutes after her, Soun was there crying his eyes out on how Ranma'd abandoned his fiancee, and the stupid panda was going on about losing honor because of what Ranma'd done. Give me a break." Ryoga said disgustedly.

"You're not serious? What would they have done if I'd of come along, I wonder?" Ukyou said, then giggled. "Never mind. Ranma would have had two fiancees of course. Nothing Genma-baka could do."

"Thank god you didn't then." Ranma said fervently, appearing suddenly and making the three jump in surprise.

"Don't do that!" Ukyou said, clanging him on the head with her ever-present battle spatula.

"Hey! I thought you'd be used to it by now!" Ranma complained, rubbing his head.

"...You guys are weird." Rei said again. Then for good measure he added, "Very weird."

"Well, so what?" Ranko asked innocently. She absently scooped up a rock, and studied it for a minute.

"Bet ya couldn't make through that." Ranma said, smirking at her. He was pointing off to a cluster of trees not too far away, two of which had grow so close together there was only a small hole left between them. It was almost as small as the rock Ranko hefted, a nearly impossible shot from the thirty feet distance the party was at.

"Oh yeah, like she'll miss now." Akane muttered, coming up with Ukyou and Rei.

"Hey! I'll show you!" Ranko said hotly, then reared back and shot the rock cleanly through the small hole. She did not, however, expect the cry of pain that immediately followed the rock's entry of the forest.

"OW! WHO THE..." the voice was abruptly muffled.

"Um...oops." Ranko said, blushing.

"Must be an ambush." Rei said, suddenly alert and ready.

"But who would ambush us?" Ryoko asked.

"Bandits, probably." Rei said curtly, drawing his two long daggers.

"Okay, a bunch of people who want big headaches. Big deal." Ryoga said dismissively.

"Who ever it is, here they come." Akane warned as the sounds of several people pushing through the underbrush reached their ears.

The group of haggard looking men that emerged didn't concern any of them at all, even when they began surrounding the group, but the two creatures that stepped out behind them provoked an instant reaction.

"You." Rei said in a furious whisper, as the strange creatures stared angrily at them.

They looked for all the world like horses, or rather unicorns, but the human features were obvious in the easy way they walked on their hind legs, and the quite human looking hands. One was a light blue in color, with a slightly lighter mane and tail, while the other one had a brown body and a green mane and tail. The brown one had a hand to its head, and was glaring at Ranko.

"That stupid girl hit me!" he said, outraged.

"Stuff it, bro. It's got to be one of them." the other replied, gesturing at the group.

"What do you want?" Akane asked hotly, not liking being ignored.

"Its them." Rei said angrily. "Balio and Sunder!"

"I see you know us, but I can't seem to remember you." the blue one, Sunder, said, eyeing Rei with contempt.

"Maybe this will jog you memory!" Rei shouted, triggering his first transformation. It was not, perhaps, the most intelligent thing for him to have done.

"AAAAAHHHHHHhhhhh!!!!...." Ranma and Ranko's cries faded into the distance, and the unfortunate bandits that had been in their flight path groaned in pain.

"Forget them. It couldn't of been one of them." Balio said, stopping the men who'd moved to follow the two frightened martial artists. He then turned back to the snarling Rei. "I remember now. You were that little cat-boy. You and your friends shouldn't have messed with us. Pity, though, as I had thought we got rid of you."

"Well, I've learned some new tricks, see. I'll make you pay for what you did." Rei said, making as if to leap.

"Hang on." Ukyou said quickly. He glared at her, but relaxed marginally. "What do you want from us, anyways? I can tell you right now we don't have much money, and quite frankly I can't think of anything we have that you might want." Ukyou said calmly.

"Ah, but if we told you, it would take all the fun out of it." Sunder said evilly.

"Well, if you wanna take us on, you gotta take us all on!" Ryoga said, smirking as he tossed his pack into several of the bandits. They went down under the weight, and didn't seem to be able to get back up.

"Ya know, I always wondered what you put in that thing." Ryoko said, tossing her own pack aside.

"Oh, aside from supplies, weights. Very good training when you have to travel." He replied with a shrug, drawing his massive sword.

"Hmm. I should try that." Ryoko said, arming herself as well.

"These guys won't even be a work out." Akane said critically, sizing up the remaining bandits. "I'd have a harder time beating up all the boys who want to date me."

"Well, If I had come to Nerima before I met Ranchan's mother, I might of had to join them just to keep up my charade!" Ukyou said with a laugh, making Akane blush.

"Why would you want to chase after an uncute tomboy like her?" Ryoga asked tactfully.

"Ryoga no BAKA!"

*WHAM!*

"That hurt, ya know."

"You deserved it!"

"He did not!"

"Ryoko? I'd have thought you'd have pounded him yourself."

"Hey, I gotta protect my bro, don't I?"

"Hey! I don't need protecting from a couple of uncute chicks!"

"You want me to join 'em?"

"Um...on second thought, we Hibiki's stick together!"

"Oh, the drama..."

"...You guys are weird." Rei interrupted, slapping a hand to his forehead. "We're here to fight, not argue."

"What's the difference?" Ryoko asked innocently.

"In both cases we always win." Ryoga agreed.

"And how many times do we end up under mallets compared to you?" Akane asked pointedly.

"And spatulas." Ukyou added.

Balio and Sunder had LARGE sweatdrops as they watched yet another famous fight escalate. Akane and Ukyou quickly teamed up against Ryoga and Ryoko, while Rei watched with the pained expression of one -very- put upon. After five minute of this, and no sign of stopping, Balio and Sunder got fed up. Walking up unnoticed behind the Hibiki twins, as Rei had somehow been sucked into the argument and was trying desperately to stay on neutral ground, they simply hit them over the head.

"Hey!" Akane said as the two crumpled without a sound. She admonishing herself for her inattention.

"That's not fair!" Ukyou said angrily, drawing her battle spatula.

"Life's not fair, deal with it. Boys, kill him, then take care of the others." Balio said, pointing at Rei who looked like he wanted to bite the finger off.

"You two are coming with us. We'll figure out who it is later." Sunder added to the two girls.

"...You've -got- to be kidding me!" Akane said in disbelief. "We're not going anywhere! Not after what you've done to our friends!"

"Oh, do you want to fight us, little girl?" Sunder asked, sneering. Even he took a step back as both Ukyou and Akane seemed to burst into bright red flames, though it was just their battle aura.

"No one calls us little girls!" Ukyou said furiously.

"I'll make you pay for that!" Akane shouted as she and Ukyou charged recklessly forward.

"Was it something I said?" Sunder asked dryly to his brother, as he almost absently blocked the axe aimed at his head.

"Could be." Balio agreed, knocking the spatula aside. Both chess-knight brothers quickly knocked the girls out, then picked them up, equipment and all, and strode away, leaving the remaining men to deal with a -very- pissed off cat hybrid.

Rei had only a moment to react after Balio had ordered the attack, and had begun laying into the dozen or so bandits that charged him. He didn't kill them. Never that. Balio and Sunder aside, he didn't even contemplate killing people. Hurt them a lot, yes, but he wasn't a murderer.

Still, when he saw his new friends taken out so easily, and by the two beings he loathed more than anything else, he was almost tempted to change to his more powerful were-cat form and just be done with the fight. But he didn't have too much control in that form, being in a berserker rage most of the time. He couldn't risk it right now.

"I swear...I'll get those...two, soon." Rei said as he blocked a knife stroke and retaliated with a blow to the assailant's head, knocking him out. Sensing someone behind him, he whirled and had to block the last bandit's punch with his forearm. He felt something prick his skin, and even as he knocked the man out his vision began to blacken. He fell, victim to the knockout drug that had been on the spiked glove, cursing all the way.

* * *

Ranko woke by degrees. The last thing she remembered was running in terror, then something had come out of nowhere to knock her out. Deciding she should know more, Ranko opened her eyes. Above her was the stump of a thick branch which looked to have been broken off rather forcefully. Not connecting this to her pounding headache, Ranko sat up. A few feet away, the broken branch lay, and Ranko finally figured it out.

"I swear, if it not the c-c-c...those things, it the trees that get us." she grumbled, getting to her feet. She vaguely remembered Ranma running almost in step with her, but he was no where to be seen. However, there was an obvious flight path leading through the bushes straight ahead.

"Ow. Stupid trees. Hey Ranko! Ranko!" she heard Ranma's voice call.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm over here." Ranko yelled back. A moment later, he emerged from the trees, rubbing his forehead.

"What the heck happened?" he grumbled as they began retracing their flight path.

"Well, let's see. Last thing I remember was hitting a tree." she said sarcastically, kicking a rock out of her path. "Stupid c...c...animals. Why the heck do I have ta have it too?"

"Hey! If I coulda stopped it, I woulda!" Ranma shot back. They continued walking in silence for a minute.

"Why was it that Rei changed again?" Ranko finally asked, scrunching her face up, trying to remember.

"Huh? Oh, well, wasn't it those crazy horse people?" Ranma asked.

"Oh. Right. Well, nothing the other two can't handle, right?" she asked, laughing nervously.

"Absolutely. Nothing could crack their thick heads." Ranma agreed. Less than a minute later both were racing frantically back to the battle site. What they saw didn't reassure them in the slightest.

Ryoko and Ryoga were sprawled to one side, while Rei was unconscious amidst the fallen bandits. There was no sign of Ukyou or Akane, nor Balio and Sunder.

"What the heck happened?! What's goin' on?" Ranma demanded, but received no answer from the fallen.

"WAKE UP YOU STUPID IDIOTS!" Ranko screamed, hauling Ryoko up by her shirt and applying several rather painful slaps, succeeding in getting a result.

"THAT HURTS YA KNOW!" Ryoko said, laying Ranko out with a well placed punch. Straightening, she stared around in confusion. "What happened? Where's Akane and Ukyou?"

"Help me get stupid up, then we'll see if Rei knows." Ranma said. He was immediately sent sprawling next to Ranko as a fairly annoyed Ryoga picked that moment to come to.

"How dare you call me that! Ranma...what happened?" he asked, looking around as he realized something was wrong.

"That's what we'd like to know." Ranko replied, standing up, pausing for a moment to give Ranma a hand up as well. "You two need to go get Rei up. He'll know what happened."

"Why don't you?" Ryoko snapped.

"For the obvious reason that thanks to the stupid panda I'd run screaming before I got close." Ranko snapped back.

"Oh yeah." Ryoko replied, grinning sheepishly. Ryoga had already gone over to the fallen cat-boy, and was now shaking him, trying to get him to wake up.

"C'mon, Rei, wake up!" he yelled, but got no response.

"He's not..." Ranma said fearfully, though he kept his back to the hybrid.

"Nahh. But he's not waking up, either." Ryoga said, giving up. "Let's find some way to tie these guys up. Maybe they'll tell us what's going on." he said, gesturing at the bandits.

"I've got some rope in my pack." Ranko said as she rummaged through the aforementioned item. "Here. Just tie 'em all together." she said, tossing the rope to Ryoga.

"You know, if you guys are so deathly afraid of cats, why aren't you running away now?" Ryoko asked. "I mean, Rei's right over there."

"Well, as long as I don't look at him, I have no real reason to run." Ranma explained.

"It also helps to think of him as Rei, not as a c...c...you know." Ranko added.

"I guess that makes sense. Could you get over your fear that way?" Ryoga asked, finishing tying the bandits up.

"Don't think so. They still scare me to death if I see 'em." Ranma said with a shrug. "You know, it's funny. I don't think I would have been able to even talk about those animal before Jusenkyou."

"Really? Maybe you -are- getting over your fear." Ryoko said.

"I don't think so. If anything, I was even more frightened of them. That's what's so funny." Ranma said with a frown. "Its like its become easier to slip into the neko-ken than before."

"Enough of the gloomy talk." Ranko said. "I want to know what we do now."

"Wait, obviously, for one of them to wake up." Ryoga said, gesturing at the fallen group. "Or better yet, wake one of them up. I think a cold shower would do it." he added, grinning wickedly.

"Pick a victim, any victim!" Ryoko said enthusiastically.

"How 'bout Mr. Spiky Fist there." Ranma said, pointing at the bandit.

"Why him?" Ranko asked, glancing at the man.

"He's the only one who hit Rei. There's blood on his weapon." Ranma explained.

"Well, here goes." Ryoga said, aiming a palm at the rogue. "Aqua burst!" he cried, shooting off a stream of very cold water. The result was exactly as they'd hoped. With a yell, the bandit tried to leap to his feet, only to find his arms secured behind him by the rope. Said rope had no slack to give as it was tied to two other bandits, so said bandit went crashing right back down to the ground where he landed in an ungraceful sprawl.

"Oh good. He's awake." Ranko said neutrally. The bandit raised his eyes, now realizing what was going on, and that he was in -BIG- trouble.

"What was it we were going to ask him? Oh yeah, about our friends." Ryoko said, in the same flat voice as Ranko.

"Yes. It seems one of our friends won't wake up. Why do you suppose that is?" Ryoga asked pleasantly.

"Oh. And don't forget that two of our friends seem to be missing." Ranma added coolly.

"I...uh...well..." the bandit said, stuttering nervously as he glanced around. No help anywhere. "I hit the cat-boy with a knockout drug that should keep him out for at least a day and you friends were taken by the bosses 'cause he thinks one of them is princess Nina and they're gonna hold her ransom but I don't know where they're going to take them 'cause they never told us so please don't hurt me!" he said in one breath.

"...Okay." Ranma said, surprised. "That wasn't hard. So it looks like we wait, then, for Rei to get over that drug. What do we do with the rest of them?"

"Two of us should go inform Wyndia, and two of us should stay here as guards." Ryoko suggested. "Then we can just hand them over to the authorities and be on our way. It's going to be next to impossible to find the other two anyways, so a little waiting won't matter."

"Besides, if Akane and Ukyou are being held hostage, its not likely they'll be hurt, right?" Ryoga agreed. "And we can't just let these guys go." he added, nodding at the downed bandits.

"Alright, since it was your idea, you two go back to Wyndia." Ranko said smirking.

"Hey! That's not..." Ryoga began hotly, but stopped.

"Why should..." Ryoko said at the same time, but broke off. The Hibiki twins looked at each other, and grinned. It was not, it should be noted, a nice sort of grin.

"Well, I guess we could." Ryoga said, picking up his pack. Ranko and Ranma glanced at each other, very nervous at their friend's behavior.

"Yeah." Ryoko said, scooping up her own pack. "You guys should set up a camp of sorts. That way your not sprawled all over the road like this."

"Uh...right." Ranma said, still wary.

"See ya." Ryoga said, and he and Ryoko jogged off.

"...What was that all about?" Ranko wondered.

"I have no idea." Ranma said, shrugging. He turned back to all the sprawled bodies. "Well, we'd better do as they say. We should move Rei fi--" Ranma said, but broke off as a thought struck him.

"What is it, Ran--" Ranko asked, then the same thought occurred to her as well.

They had to stay here for a couple days. Okay, there's nothing bad about that. They had to watch over a couple dozen criminals. Trivial. They had to move a half-cat boy about ten feet....It was going to be a looooong couple of days.

"COME BAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!"

The only answer was the distant sound of laughter.

* * *

Akane woke up by degrees. She was thrown into something hard as whatever she was resting on lurched. She opened her eyes and came face to face with...a wooden floor. Then she sat up and looked around. Ukyou was sprawled nearby, still out of it. But not for long it seemed, as she was moving around a little bit. Sitting up painfully, Akane felt new bruises all over, more than apparently from the bumpy ride they were having. Ukyou sat up suddenly, looking around angrily.

"Where's the bastards?!" she demanded before she realized the only person with her was Akane.

"I don't know. I just woke up. It seems like we're in some sort of wagon or something." Akane said as she looked around. Another bump sent her flying toward Ukyou and the two landed in an unceramonial heap.

"When I get my hands on them..." Ukyou promised as she untangled herself from Akane.

"Only if I can help." Akane replied.

"Any idea where we're going?" Ukyou asked after a moment.

"No." came the curt reply.

"Any idea why the kidnapped us?"

"No."

"...Well, those bakas will come after us, so don't worry about it." Ukyou said, forcing a smile. Another bump this time only rocked the girls slightly.

"That's what's bugging me." Akane said suddenly.

"Huh? What do you mean, honey?" Ukyou asked, completely bewildered by the sudden change in topic.

"We always step back for -them!- -They're- the better fighters! -They- could have protected us if they'd been around." Akane ranted. "Why can't we get out of this ourselves? Huh Ukyou? What do you say?" she said, turning bright eyes on the Okonomiyaki chef.

"Oh, um, I guess we could." Ukyou said, sweat dropping. "Ah, what would you suggest we do?"

"I...have no idea." Akane said thoughtfully.

*Wham!*

Well, Ukyou may not have face faulted, but getting thrown into the wall like that'll have to do....

* * *

Juki was a normal, everyday, run-of-the-mill bandit. He did what his bosses said, no questions, no complaints. A very good way to stay alive in his type of business. Of course, when it comes to loyalty, you would not want to have to rely on Juki. Nor any bandit for that matter.

Rule number one for any bandit was 'If there's no other option, save your own skin first'. Simple, practical, and sometimes it even worked. Which was why he'd told his captors exactly what they wanted to know. After all, with no one else around to help him, not to mention being tied up at the time, he didn't stand a chance against four people even if they hadn't of been fighters.

But now two of those people had left. Others in his gang were showing signs of life again. And the remaining two people seemed frozen, staring at their fallen companion and chanting "It's only Rei, it's only Rei, it's only Rei..." like some sort of mantra. Juki would almost have said they were -scared- of the odd cat-boy.

Juki did what anyone would do in his situation. He weighed the odds of success, then began to work his way out of his bonds. If there was one thing Juki was good at, it was escaping. Five minutes later, he stood up, ready to defend himself. But the two teens still hadn't moved.

Going over the situation again, Juki turned to his fellow bandits, many of whom had woken up. Without a second thought, Juki proceeded to untie them all, keeping one eye on his supposed captors. Nothing. Glancing at one another, the group shared a thought; Kill the two distracted teens and finish the job their bosses set them, or run away while the two teens are distracted and suffer their boss's wrath. It seemed an obvious choice. Hefting their weapons, the dozen or so bandits surrounded the pair who were still staring with wide, vacant eyes and chanting "It's only Rei, it's only Rei, it's only Rei...." Then they attacked.

*WHAP!* *BAP!* *BONG!* *TWIST* *GRIND!* *MEATY TWACK!* *POP!* *CRUNCH!* *SNAP* *WRENCH!* *DISASSEMBLE!* *WHAM!*

"It's only Rei, it's only Rei, it's only Rei..."

Juki's last conscious thought, was that it was much safer to let terrified martial artists lie...

* * *

Nabiki glanced at the letter again. Well, she should have expected it. It -was- her sister, after all.

"Kasumi! I forgot to mention I have a class field trip tomorrow. I'll be gone for a couple weeks!" Nabiki called into the kitchen. Her father was out again, probably playing Shoji with Tanaka again.

"A class field trip? Oh my." Kasumi said, coming out of the kitchen with a mildly worried frown. "I was going to return this book to Tatewaki-san tomorrow. But if your class is going to be gone..." she said, trailing off as she picked up a book of poetry.

<Figures it'd be poetry.> Nabiki thought disgruntledly. <Hmmm, it might be a good idea, actually, to go with someone. And Kuno's a pretty good agent.>

"I guess I could return it to him." Nabiki said, feigning deep reluctance. "But it'll cost poor Kuno-chan."

"Oh my! Thank you Nabiki!" Kasumi said happily. "That's very thoughtful of you! I'll go finish dinner now." she said, then turned and went back into the kitchen, humming happily.

Nabiki spared one exasperated look at her sister, then went upstairs to pack.