The Tempest
    Part 8 of "Much Ado about Ranma"

A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic by HK Miller
    31 December 1998 - FFML draft
    11 January 1999 - RAAC version; very minor changes.
    28 February 1999 - Tweaks:  tighten to 66 columns; change
        romanization of Chinese names.
    28 November 1999 - Rewrite from script to prose format

Major characters copyright Rumiko Takahashi and licensees:
Shogakukan in Japan and Viz Communications in the USA.
No disrespect is intended by my unlicensed usage.

Lime warning:  adult themes suggested.

The earlier stories in this series are posted at:
    http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Dojo/5058.
A summary of previous events is appended to this story.

Time:  A few weeks after Ranma, Akane, and Ukyou's graduation
       from Furikan High School, Ranma and Akane's wedding,
       and "A Spring Tale."

Conventions:  telepathy is denoted  >  <

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Picture a black void into which several disembodied voices
speak.  Neither the number of voices nor the means of speech
is clear.

"Our enemies' plan is proceeding.  The stresses generated are
necessary, and will be sufficient.  The fourth candidate, my
student, will be ready and available soon."  This first voice
continued in a bitter tone.  "I am sacrificing much; more than
any of you, more than I ever anticipated.  I have tried my best
to save as much as I could..."

"Ha!  But where's our fifth candidate?  Not ready yet?  Hardly
showin' the sense Kamisama gave to monkeys..."

"Such a pretty child, too..."

"My humble apologies.   Unlike some of us, I have other
responsibilities.  I have not been able to spend enough time with
my protege."

"Enough recriminations.  Our plan requires five.  What shall
we do?  Have we any alternative candidates?"

There was a period of silence.  Finally, one of the voices
cackled, then spoke.  "Well, how about another of my favorites?"

"That one?  Are you serious?"

"Every now and then, that one shows signs... surprisingly fast
reflexes...  a good mind..."

"If we have no other possible candidates, I will arrange for a
test.  I still believe my protege will be ready faster than this
one, however."

"We shall see."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
At the Tendo household, it was the middle of a bright spring day
when Akane stared crossly at Ukyou.

"Ukyou, how could you?"

Slightly shocked, Ukyou numbly replied, "Akane, all I said was..."

Akane raised both fists to her eyes and turned to dash upstairs.

"...that I volunteer to cook dinner for Ranchan when he gets home
tonight.  Where's the harm in that?"

"But I want Ranma to eat MY cooking!"

Just then, the phone rang.  Akane abruptly calmed and picked up
the phone.  "Hello.  What?  Sumizu-san?"

Akane paused to listen, then smiled.  "Of course we can meet.
Ranma should be home late this afternoon.  You can come here this
evening."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
That evening, Ranma, in his male body, sat on the floor of the
dojo next to Akane and Ukyou, listening to their sometime boss,
Sumizu, who stood next to his portable whiteboard.

"Jounsu-kun will be here in a moment.  We'll be briefing you on a
mission we'd like the three of you, and one other, to undertake,
into China.  Your performance in Hong Kong impressed several
people, including our boss, Retired Admiral Hainsu, quite a bit.
We will be using you for more complex duties than routine security
in the future."

Ranma inwardly raised a triumphal fist. (Great!  We're gonna be
real spies at last!  Cool!)

"Oooo!  China!"  Ukyou exclaimed.

Akane just grumbled.  "What's so great about China?"

"Hey, least you're seein' it without being kidnapped this time."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Upstairs in her room, Nabiki was seated at her desk, headphones
on, with several computer monitors active all around her, when
she heard a knock at her door.

"Come in," she said aloud.  (One other?  I wonder who?  Shampoo's
still in China.)

Jounsu entered.  "Tendo Nabiki?  You're under arrest."

Nabiki looked up in shock.  "WHAT?!"

"...for espionage, a capital crime.  Specifically, for providing
psychological profiles of government employees to foreign agents;
for eavesdropping and planting listening devices in government
offices; for leaking the details of confidential missions to
non-Japanese parties; and for publicizing the likeness of
Japanese agents, your relatives, worldwide.

Jounsu paused to let it sink in.  "However, I have an offer to
make you..."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
A bit later, Nabiki sat cross-legged in the dojo next to Akane,
fuming.  Jounsu stood on the opposite side of the whiteboard from
Sumizu.  Ranma, Akane, and Ukyou stared at Nabiki.

Jounsu resumed speaking.  "We will overlook your activities, some
of which have placed your sister and brothers-in-law in danger, I
might add, if you agree to accompany the three of them on their
mission."

Nabiki ground her teeth.  "Do I have a choice?"

Sumizu gave her a hard look.  "That or jail.  If it were up to me,
you'd be in jail right now."

"Okay, okay, I'll go.  Where to?"

Sumizu pointed at the whiteboard with his laser pointer.  "The
Qinghai province of China.  As you may or may not know, the
Chinese government has placed the entire province off-limits to
foreigners and the press.  There has been no reliable news from
Qinghai in months.  We want to know what is going on there, and
we're sending the four of you to find out.  Actually, you two..."
Sumizu nods at Ranma and Akane, "...are the only people we have
who've been there."

Jounsu pointed at a flipchart.  "Let's recap what we do know about
the situation:  you three, plus Shampoo-san, stopped two separate
assassination attempts against the Chinese premier last summer, by
two separate terrorist organizations, both of which you, and our
investigators, placed as being from Qinghai province.  Under
questioning, both groups mentioned that there is at least a third
rival organization.  Last autumn, Shampoo-san abruptly left for
home herself, after her great-grandmother summoned her.  You three
heard at the time that the latter was having political problems at
home.  That coincided with the first riots in Xining, Qinghai's
capital, which was followed by martial law."

"Your mission is to make it to Xining, ascertain conditions, and
report.  You may then proceed beyond, either to Golmud or to the
Joketsuzoku village, as you prefer."  Sumizu smiled briefly.
"We want the additional report from the countryside; where does
not matter."

Jounsu picked up again.  "We are aware that your former teammate,
Shampoo-san, has been away for months.  We sympathize with your
desire to find her.  You have some leeway in your mission
parameters for this, as long as you achieve your primary mission:
reporting on current conditions in Qinghai."

Nabiki stopped looking angry and started looking crafty.  "Ummm...
You guys work for the Imperial Household Agency, right?  Why are
you interested in Qinghai?  Surely the royal family isn't going
there?"

Jounsu just smirked at her.  "You didn't _really_ think that the
eleven hundred employees of the Imperial Household Agency only
worked on protocol and etiquette, did you?  Obviously we have a
more serious mission. In addition to protecting the Imperial
family, we are concerned with helping in one of their traditional
duties:  protecting Japan against supernatural threats.  We gather
intelligence about demonic and other magical threats which may
become a menace."

Nabiki dropped her jaw in surprise.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Two days later, Ranma, Akane, Ukyou, and Nabiki, dressed as
Japanese tourists, deplaned in Beijing.  They carefully boarded
a tourist bus at the airport and checked into a five-star hotel
a few blocks from Tianenmen Square, on a tree-shaded street filled
with bicycles.  That night, they snuck their repacked luggage
out the service entrance, dressed as poor urban Chinese, and
checked into a much more modest walk-up hotel.

Ranma, Akane, and Ukyou lay sleeping while Nabiki, wide awake,
tiptoed out of their room and found a pay phone in the lobby.

"Nihao.  Let me speak to Lu Wen."

An hour later, Nabiki tiptoed back into their room.  Just as she
crept into bed, Akane opened her eyes.  (Oneechan?  What was she
doing out of the room?  No!  There can't be any truth to what
Sumizu and Jounsu were saying, can there?)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Several days later, Ranma, Akane, Ukyou, and Nabiki found
themselves seated in a passenger train, in third class, making its
way through the Chinese countryside.  Out the window, flat rice-
fields stretched into the distance, alleviated by puffing
smokestacks whenever the train passed a city.  The four were now
dressed much like every other Chinese peasant on the train.  They
spoke to each other quietly so that the other passengers could not
easily overhear.

"We'll be in Lanzhou this evening," said Ranma.  "Normally we
could continue to Xining from there by train, but we heard in
Xi'an that train service into Qinghai is restricted to the
military.  We'll have to walk or hitchhike in from Lanzhou."

"Ranma, Nabiki-oneechan..."

"...is non-combatant, and not in shape for the walk.  I know."
Ranma turned to Nabiki.  "Nabiki, you're just going to have to
make it to Xining.  Once there, we can hide you away somewhere
with the communications equipment while we scout the city."

Ranma snapped his finger.  "Ah!  I know!  The Jusenkyo Guide has
a cousin in Xining.  Pop and I stayed with him one night on our
way back to Japan.  Maybe he can put you up."

"Ranchan, if we walk, we have to divide up the equipment and carry
it in..."

"Yeah."  Ranma thought rapidly.  "Nabiki, we'll give you less
to carry, but you'll still have...  sixteen kilos...  to carry."

Nabiki nodded, but said nothing.  Her thoughts retraced
now-familiar paths.  (All three of them are speaking fluent
Chinese to everyone we meet; even, I could swear, with local
accents and dialects.  They couldn't have learned Chinese, just
like that; I've been trying for months with much less success!
I'll bet it has something to do with those little jewels Ranma
conjured up during the wedding.  How can I get my hands on one of
those?)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Later that day, while Ranma and Ukyou were dozing, Nabiki turned
to Akane.

"Akane, suppose we find Shampoo, and she wants to come back with
us?"

"Then we'll take her back with us, I guess.  Why?"

"Didn't you tell me, a year ago, that you wanted Shampoo to return
to China and stay there?"

"I guess I did say that, but..." Akane spoke with a touch of
asperity, "I've changed my mind, okay?"  In a sadder tone, she
continued, "Shampoo did go back, and she's been gone for months,
with no word.  I just miss her."

"You realize she'll go right back to chasing your husband."

Akane smiled wistfully.  "I never thought I'd say this, but I even
miss that.  I haven't walked in on Ranma and Shampoo in our furo
together in... months.  It seems... unnatural."

Nabiki boggled.  "You used to hate that!  How can it not bother
you?"

Akane glanced at the wrist where she wore her rensu, then looked
back at Nabiki and smiled calmly.  "I know what I mean to Ranma."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The next day, in Lanzhou, Ranma, Akane, Ukyou, and Nabiki walked
through the market, an open area with cramped, covered stalls
selling a mixture of commercial goods and food items.  The four
drew few glances, and most of them were for Akane and Ukyou's
untypical reaction to some of the items for sale.

>Ewww!  Live snakes!  That's so gross!<

>Don't they have any plain okonomiyaki around here?<

Ranma spoke in a low voice to Nabiki.  "We haven't found any
transportation going all the way to Xining.  We can take a bus
part of the way, then it looks like we'll have to walk across the
provincial border.  It's about 250 kilometers from here to Xining,
so we'll walk as little of it as we can, but be prepared."

Members of the crowd nearby murmured and turned their heads to
look in one particular direction.  A pair of western reporters,
one blonde, female, and not overly dressed, and a large, well-
muscled cameraman, moved through the crowd.  Most of the crowd
stared at the blonde woman.  Those nearby reached out and touched
her hair as if to check if it were real.

The woman reporter spoke, in English, to the cameraman.  "Let's
set up over by the meat section, Roy.  And try to get that temple
over there in the background.  That'll be exotic enough."

>Heads Up!  Weren't those two reporters back in Kyoto?  Akane,
Ucchan, don't get too close!  She might recognize you!<

Akane, Ukyou, and Nabiki, like many of the women present, were
looking at the cameraman's rear end.  Ranma noticed.

>And what's he got that I ain't got?!<

Ukyou's thought snickered.  >Tight pants, for one thing...<

Akane glanced angrily at Ranma.  >Oh, and I suppose you're NOT
ogling that gaijin woman with her big...<

Ranma shot an angry look back at Akane.  >I'm not, okay?  'Sides,
my own are almost that big, unlike some girls...<

Akane clenched her fists and started to glow blue.  Ukyou suddenly
spun around and put one hand on Akane's shoulder.

Nabiki glanced back and forth, taking in the changes of expression
between Ranma and Akane.  (I could almost write their dialog for
them in this scene, and they're certainly acting as if they're
both saying their lines, but they're not speaking in ANY language.
Do those jewels give them telepathy as well?)

The woman reporter started speaking into the camera, holding her
microphone.  "The streets of Lanzhou, in central China, normally a
quiet industrial city of three million, are more crowded these
days.  Refugees from fighting in Qinghai province have settled in
the outskirts of Lanzhou..."

The woman reporter turned and gestured at a lined-up group of
ragged-looking Mongolian herdsmen.

"...Normally, these people herd sheep, goats, horses, and yaks on
the windswept high plains of Qinghai.  But their livelihood has
been interrupted, and they have been forced to flee, by
devastating fighting going on right on their doorstep..."

>Poor guys...< thought Ukyou.

>C'mon, guys, let's get out of here before she has a chance to
recognize you two...<

Ranma turned and took a quick step, but almost immediately
collided with a woman and knocked her down.  The fallen woman was
surrounded by three other women, all bearing arms.

>Oh, no!  Heads up, guys!  I just knocked over an amazon, and
she's got friends!<

The woman warrior got up, putting a hand on her head.  ""

One of the other Nujiezu put a hand on the arm of the first.
""

All four Nujiezu spit at the name, to the astonishment of Ranma,
Akane, and Ukyou.

"" Akane asked.

""

The four Nujiezu turned and strode away angrily.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
That night, in an inexpensive flophouse near the Lanzhou bus
station, Nabiki again tiptoed out while Ranma, Akane, and Ukyou
lay sleeping.

>She's left the room.  Let's go.<

>I can't believe this!  My own sister!  Who is she betraying us to
this time?<

Ranma, Akane, and Ukyou silently followed Nabiki through the
streets of Lanzhou.  Nabiki looked frequently down at a note in
her hand, and paused frequently at intersections to study street
signs.  She gradually made her way into a light industrial
district near the train tracks.

>What could she want here?  If she's meeting someone, why not
closer to the hotel?<  Ukyou sent.

Nabiki finally selected a factory, knocked at the door, and said a
few words in a low voice to whomever answered.  She went inside.
Ranma, Akane, and Ukyou leapt to the roof of the factory.

>We're gonna have ta get inside and find out what she's up to.<

>Maybe Oneechan still hasn't told whoever she's reporting to about
our mission.  Maybe there's still time to stop her!<

Peering down over the edge, Ranma found an open window and lowered
Ukyou to it.  Ukyou climbed inside.

>There's a catwalk, and it's completely dark up here.  Come on
down.<

Ranma and Akane followed Ukyou in.  The three silently snuck
towards the only light, which was coming from an office.  Dim
voices came from under the door.

"We can do; you no worry.  Perfect copies," said a male voice.

Nabiki's voice replies.  "I'm not worried.  You did good work on
the earlier job.  Your organization has my complete confidence."

"What about distribution?"

"I'm handling that myself.  I have people working on it."

>Oh no!  Nabiki-oneechan is a ringleader!  What'll we do?<

>We gotta go in, grab Nabiki, and get out of here.  We can
question her later to see how far her involvement goes.<

>Ranchan, all may not be as it seems...<

Ranma slammed into and through the office door before Ukyou could
finish.  Akane and Ukyou quickly backed him up, standing in the
doorway.  Inside, Nabiki and an elderly Chinese man looked at the
doorway.

Nabiki held up a brand-new "Typical Uninteresting Officeladies"
t-shirt.  In a corner stood a big stack of Topless Ranma-chan
napkins.

"Can't a girl get a little business done without you three
breaking and entering?"

Ranma, Akane, and Ukyou just glared at her.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Days later, Ranma, Akane, and Ukyou, all with large backpacks,
strode easily uphill through a spruce forest.  Nabiki trailed,
carrying a much smaller backpack, sweating profusely and
breathing hard.

Nabiki contemplated how she would bankrupt Sumizu and Jounsu back
to Japan as she concentrated on putting one foot in front of the
other.

Akane glanced back, worried.  >She looks so tired.  But at least
she's thinking about something other than making money off of us.<

Ranma announced, "Time to break for lunch.  We're coming up to a
stream.  We can have cold baths if you want."

Nabiki, exhausted, dropped her pack by the edge of the stream and
just lay there.  Ranma, Akane, and Ukyou gleefully undressed and
jumped in.

Nabiki watched dully.  (Nice body for a moment there, before the
water touched him...  ...what am I thinking?  He's still the same
arrogant, know-nothing, jock-jerk he's always been...)

Akane and Ukyou team up to dunk onna-Ranma.  All three are
laughing.

Nabiki thought about how the three got along so well.  (I can't
imagine ever being part of such a closely-knit team.)

The three stand still in the middle of the stream, waist-deep,
still chatting with animation,  Ranma and Akane with one arm
around the other.

(...but why aren't they cold?  That water must be freezing.
Speaking of mysteries...)

Nabiki's eyes strayed to the piles of clothes.  A faint, reflected
gleam caught her eye.  She crawled over.

(Can't hurt just to touch one...  Wonder if it'd work for me?)

A raw scream shattered the forest.  The three bathers leapt out of
the water to Nabiki's side.  By her face, she was in agony.  Her
outstretched finger no longer quite touched Akane's rensu.

"Oneechan, you can't touch our rensus when we're not wearing them!
You could kill yourself!"

"...now you tell me..." Nabiki muttered.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
At dusk, Onna-Ranma, Akane, Ukyou and Nabiki dropped their
packs in a meadow by a stream.  Suddenly three dozen Chinese army
soldiers rose from cover in a circle around them, pointing
Chinese-made AK-47s at the four.  Ranma, Akane, and Ukyou promptly
vanished.  Two soldiers grabbed Nabiki, one pointing his rifle at
her head.

""

Nabiki, white-faced, screamed, "HELP!  RANMA!  AKANE!"

Ranma, invisible, stood right next to Nabiki.
>Akane, Ukyou, you two make your way to the outside and circle,
taking them out one by one.  I'll make sure no harm comes to
Nabiki.<  Ranma noticed that most of the Chinese soldiers looked
as young or younger than he.

As the soldier guarding Nabiki looked around, the barrel of the
gun pointing at Nabiki's head slowly squeezed shut, then the
barrel began to bend a little.

>Ukyou, start out 180 degrees around from me,< Akane sent.

>Okay, I'm now outside the furthest sentry.  He's unconscious...
Now!<

On the outskirts of the group of soldiers, sentries, one by one,
developed large lumps on their heads and fell asleep.

Nabiki, however, was still paniced.  (WHERE ARE THEY?  DID THEY
LEAVE ME ALL ALONE?  I CAN'T EVEN TALK TO THESE SOLDIERS!)

The commanding officer glared menacingly at Nabiki.  ""

"I DON'T UNDERSTAND!  I DON'T SPEAK CHINESE!  PLEASE DON'T HURT
ME, I'M HARMLESS!  Uhhh... Nihao!  Shieh-shieh..."  Nabiki
babbled.  (C'mon, I know more Chinese than that!  My life's on
the line!)  Nabiki looked at the commander with her best bambi-
eyes and clasped her hands together under her chin.  "Wodan
airen!  Wo ai ni!"

While his attention was distracted, the commander's side-arm
levitated out of his holster.  Bullets were removed, then the gun
replaced itself.

A soldier called out, "Wei?  "

"" shouted the
commander.

All soldiers still on their feet started to look nervous or
outright scared.

Ukyou, with a quick grin, yelled "" and lept over the heads
of the nearest soldiers.

A few soldiers fired bursts at where Ukyou's voice originally came
from.  Two soldiers were hit by friendly fire, one fainted.

The commander yelled to his troops, ""  He then turned to
Nabiki, grimaced, and yelled even louder, ""

Akane heard this and worried but continued her actions, relying
on Ranma to keep Nabiki safe.

Two more soldiers droppe unconscious.

Again, the commander ordered his troops, ""  In a louder voice,
he called out, ""
The commander pulled his sidearm, aimed, and pulled the trigger.
Nothing happened.

By now only one dozen soldiers were left, clustered closely
around Nabiki and the commander.

""

Ranma nodded to himself, and started poking soldiers with his
index finger.  The remaining soldiers appeared to faint in a
wave.  Within two seconds all are asleep.

Ranma reappeared right next to Nabiki.  "Are you all right?"

Akane and Ukyou also reappeared.

"Nabiki-oneechan?"  With a funny expression on her face, Akane
sniffed the air.  "What's that smell?"

Nabiki collapsed to her knees.  "Ummm...  excuse me... I need to
change my clothes.  I've had an accident."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Two days later, the group reached Xining, the capital of Qinghai
province.  On the street, people of many different ethnicities
mixed freely:  Mongols, Tibetans, Uighur, Hui and Han Chinese.
Ranma, Akane, and Ukyou, still dressed as Han Chinese peasants,
walked down a commercial street lined with shops on both sides.

>Ranma, we're at 2200 meters altitude here, if I remember the map.
Will Nabiki-oneechan be okay?<

>She should be.  She says she's been up to the top of Mt. Fuji
without any trouble.  Course we'll be goin' up a lot higher than
that on our way to Joketsuzoku...<

>Look, Ranchan; we shouldn't have any trouble getting information
about conditions elsewhere in Qinghai; just look at all the
refugees!<

Ukyou mentally pointed out several groups:  Mongolian herdsmen,
Khamba horsemen, a group of Nujiezu, three Musk Dynasty men
conversing with a short Tibetan monk.

>Let's go talk with those Amazons.  Maybe we can find out how
Shampoo is.<

Ranma, Akane, and Ukyou approached the Nujiezu.

"" Ranma
asked.

""  The Nujiezu took a closer look at Ranma's
face.  ""

Akane asked, ""

The first Nujiezu looks offended.  ""

A second Nujiezu cuts in.  ""

The third added, ""

The first finished, " "

Ukyou asked, ""

The first Nujiezu replied, ""  She then turned
to Ranma and added, ""

The second noted, ""

Ranma replied, ""

Akane was just handing over a little money when the sound of an
explosion occured down the street.  Ranma, Akane, and Ukyou
turned to look.  The three Musk Dynasty men were running away
from the explosion, towards Ranma, Akane, and Ukyou; a crowd of
bystanders pointed at them.

"" one bystander
cried.

Ranma leapt to intercept one of the Musk.  Dodging the Musk's
blows in mid-air, Ranma landed two precise strikes, and his
target collapsed to the ground in a heap.  Seeing this, the other
two stopped, turned around, and ran the other way.  Ukyou and
Akane gave chase.  The two Musk leapt a wall; Ukyou, Akane, and
Ranma followed.  They landed in the courtyard of a large Chinese-
style mosque.  The Musk, cornered, prepared to fight.

""

""

The first Musk approached Ukyou wielding twin staves.  She
parried with hand spatulas, then side-kicked him in the crotch.
He collapsed.

The second Musk hurled two dozen knives at Ranma, who caught them
all.  Akane caught him from the side, unprepared, and smashed him
into the pavement, cracking it.

Ranma looked around, grabbing his pigtail with one hand.  "I hope
the locals don't mind if we damaged their mosque a bit."

A small bald head peeked around a corner.  It was followed by the
body of an eight-year-old boy dressed in the maroon robe of a
Tibetan Buddhist monk.

Akane smiled at the boy.  ""

"

The boy replied, ""

Akane bent down to look at the boy.  ""

The boy gave her a big smile.  ""

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
In a windowless room elsewhere in Xining, Nabiki is sitting at a
table playing with the team's unpacked communications equipment.

"Hmmm... encrypted voice and fax via a satellite link, for
communicating from here to Tokyo.  Encrypted frequency-shifting
short-range radio for communicating with Ranma and AKane.  Not
bad."

"Not the assistance I might wish for, but you'll have to do."

Nabiki whirled.  There in the room behind her stood Cologne,
looking much the same as ever.

Nabiki narrowed her eyes.  "And just what do you want, old woman?"

Cologne whapped Nabiki on the head with her stick.  "Keep a civil
tongue when speaking to me, child!  Are son-in-law and his
Japanese wives in the area?  I need their assistance to free
Shampoo."

"Ranma, his wife, and his *brother* Ukyou are out in town,
reconnoitering.  I might be able to reach them..."

"Girl, this is neither the time nor the place to be trying to
hold me up for money.  It's important that I reach son-in-law,
to warn him.  The Chinese government is reaching the point where
they're seriously considering the use of atomic weapons."

Nabiki turned white.  "WHAT?"

Cologne replied impatiently, "Girl, you must have looked at a map
before coming here."

"Of course.  Beijing has to hold on to Qinghai at all costs.  If
Qinghai secedes, the Chinese will never be able to hold on to
Xinjiang or Tibet, since Qinghai forms most of the land border.
If all three go, Beijing will have lost almost half its
territory.  The political leadership would never survive that."

"And right now, they're rapidly losing Qinghai.  Hotheads among
the Musk, the Phoenix, and my own people have been foolish enough
to provoke the central government, and to display our real power
in open combat.  I have it on good authority that Prince Herb and
the baby Saffron have each been provoked into destroying whole
tank battalions."

Nabiki replied slowly, "But I thought you all wanted to avoid
notice by the authorities..."

Cologne shook her head.  "I don't know how it happened.  It's
almost like there's someone else at work.  There've always been 
hotheads among the young of all our peoples, but recently things
have escalated uncontrollably.  'People's Liberation' parties,
of all things!  What nonsense!  I returned to try to calm things
down among the Nujiezu, at least, but it seemed like passions
flared every time I looked away, every place I wasn't looking.
If they weren't fighting the government, it was the Musk or the
Phoenix.  And nobody wanted to hear the voice of reason;
'traitor', they called me, for talking to those they wanted to
fight."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Ranma, Akane, and Ukyou sat in a small side-street restaurant with
Da Wa, the boy Tibetan monk, who ate lychees with evident delight.

""

Akane smiled.  ""

""

Ranma grunted.  ""

""
Da Wa's lower lib trembled.  ""

Ukyou smiled.  ""

""

Akane smiled.  ""

""

Ranma frowned.  ""

Da Wa's face brightened into a huge appealing smile.  ""

Ukyou patted Da Wa on the head.  "

Da Wa gave a big grin.  ""

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
A bit later, Ranma, Akane, and Ukyou were again walking down a
busy street.  A very short man with a wide straw hat approaches
them.

>Ranchan, I'm worried about that kid.  Maybe we should've gone
with him.<

>Well, we do have the mission to handle...<

The short man spoke.  ""

""

The short man removed his hat and bowed, Japanese fashion.  Sure
enough, his head was shaped and colored like a pork bun.

""

The Nikuman smiled confidingly.  ""

Ukyou replied skeptically.  ""

""

Ranma blinked.  ""

"

    Source: geocities.com/tokyo/Dojo/5058