Ranma met Ryoga at the front of Furinkan High School.

"Did you get here on your own?" Ranma asked.

"Yeah right," Ryoga smiled. "Akari walked me here."

The bell rang for the change in periods.

"How’d you get out of class?" Ryoga asked.

"I explained to Ms. Hinako that I had a previous engagement," Ranma said. "Luckily I was able to run away before she could find her coin and drain me."
They both had a good laugh at that.

After a few more minutes, a black government type car pulled up. Ishii stepped out and waved for them to come over.

"Mr. Inafune wishes to meet with you two."

"Yeah well, we’d like to meet him too," Ranma said as he and Ryoga climbed into the back.

Akane looked out the window of her class and saw Ranma and Ryoga get into a car. She watched it pull away and drive of. Akane tried to keep her thoughts on the class but found she couldn’t get her mind off of someone that was only a mile away.

Ishii led Ranma and Ryoga through the restaurant and into a room that was marked: Off Limits.

They followed Ishii up a flight of stairs and into an office.

A hidden door opened along the wall and Minoru stepped in. He motioned for them to follow him.

The room was quite ordinary except for the large oak wood desk and leather chair that was behind it. Ranma and Ryoga were seated in two chairs that were positioned in front of the desk.

Ishii and Minoru walked around the desk and stood beside the leather chair.

Another door opened and Seiji Inafune entered and sat down in the leather chair.

"Greetings, I am Seiji Inafune," the elderly man said. "And what are your names?"

"Ranma Saotome."

"Ryoga Hibiki."

"Now that we’ve gotten the pleasantries out of the way, may I ask why you felt the need to attack my organization and destroy a shipment of opium and injure three of my workers?" Seiji asked.

"We did it to try and find someone," Ryoga answered.

"Don’t tell me, was it Shigeru?"

"Who’s that?" Ranma asked.

"My worker who almost had his windpipe crushed."

"Yeah that was him," Ryoga smiled.

"And why, may I ask, were you looking for him?" Seiji questioned them.

Ryoga told him about the attack on Akari.

"I see," Seiji nodded. "Well I had nothing to do with that."

"I suppose now your going to ask why someone like me is involved in the drug trade, right?" Seiji asked but didn’t let them answer. "I was forced in. Four years ago I was approached by a man who had told me he needed a well respected member of the community to distribute his product. I realized he was talking about drugs so I simply declined. He thanked me for my time and left. Three weeks later I received a letter asking me to meet someone named Toshi Maruyama. I went to meet him and I discovered that he was the same man that had asked me to distribute drugs into Tokyo. I sat through dinner with him, he talked to me about some of his past business ventures and I almost gagged on my drink. I was about to yell at him and storm out when I suddenly found that I had lost all movement in my body. I looked at Maruyama; his eyes seemed to be glossed over. I could feel something probing my mind. It became extremely painful and I tried to scream but I couldn’t. The probing feeling stopped and I suddenly picked up my knife. I couldn’t control myself and the knife moved to my throat. Maruyama then told me in a quiet voice that if I would not co-operate with him, he would make me slit my own throat. I agreed and now I’m helping him distribute drugs throughout Tokyo."

Ranma and Ryoga looked at him in silence.

"Why are you telling us this?" Ranma asked.

Seiji smiled at him and got up from his desk. "I am telling you, because I need your help. From what I’ve heard from Ishii and Minoru, you two have exceptional skill."

"So what do you want us to do?" Ryoga asked.

"That, I will have to show you."

Akane arrived home in a very foul mood. It didn’t help that she was soon cornered by Nodoka in her room.

"Is there something wrong dear?" Nodoka asked.

"Oh no, it’s just that I don’t feel very well," Akane answered.

"Well, may I ask where my son is and why you did not arrive home with him?"

"Uh, you see..," Akane trailed off as she searched for an answer.

"Ranma and Ryoga are planning a surprise for us. Their doing it at Ryoga’s house so they will not be interrupted. Ryoga told me it might take a few days to finish it so Ranma and him were going to be staying at his house for a few days," Akari explained as she stepped into Akane’s room.

"Oh, well isn’t that nice of them," Nodoka said and left to go relay the news to Soun and Genma.

"Thanks Akari," Akane sighed as she sank down on her bed.

"Don’t thank me, Ryoga’s the one that came up with the idea," Akari shrugged.

Akane smiled at her before her depression returned and the smile faded.

"So, were they picked up?" Akari asked after closing the door.

"Yep," Akane sighed again.

"God, I hope their careful," Akari said.

"I know I know, I hope their careful too," Akane nodded her head. Please come back to me Ranma.

This is becoming a very interesting meeting, Ryoga thought as he sped through downtown Tokyo in Seiji’s personal car.

"We have arrived," Seiji announced, as they pulled into a reserved parking space in front of a one-story building.

Seiji led them inside and walked through a large corridor before stopping in front of a large metal door. He reached into his pocket and extracted a card. He slid it through an electronic slit near the door and punched a few numbers on a keypad. There was a buzz and then the lock was removed and the door opened.

"Security is somewhat of a worry here," Seiji told them.

Ranma and Ryoga had to go through some metal detectors before being admitted to what Seiji had told them was called the "learning room".

"What is this place?" Ranma asked.

"This, my friends, is where you are going to study everything I have collected on Toshi Maruyama," Seiji smiled. The room itself was quite big for what it contained. Two desks with two or three filing cabinets behind them, and two large couches positioned against the far wall, and another door that contained a bathroom.

Seiji clapped them on the shoulder and left, closing the door behind him.

Ryoga walked up to one of the filing cabinets and opened a drawer. It contained numerous files that varied in thickness.

"Looks like we’ve got some reading to do," Ryoga observed dryly.

"Oh yeah," Ranma agreed/ They each pulled out the biggest file they could find and sat down at their desk.

Three hours passed without a single word between them. All they would do was toss the finished file on the desk and reach back for another one. What Ranma found in one of his files was quite shocking.

"Jeez, this guys been everywhere," Ranma said, Ryoga glanced up and looked at him. "He was in Russia a little after the Soviet Union collapsed. It was believed that he was supplying the Russian mafia with drugs and various weapons. After helping with an assassination of a visiting diplomat he ran to Israel. In a month he was convicted of selling weapons to Palestine rebels and suicide bombers. Before they could tri him he posted bail and skipped out of the country. Next he traveled to Britain and kidnapped two American soldiers. He held them for ransom, and when he received payment he killed them and disappeared again. He emerged next in Saudi Arabia, where he was the number one suspect for an embassy bombing that occurred. There were several more bombings and then it was reported that he had disappeared somewhere in Asia and has not been seen since."

"He’s some kind of terrorist right?" Ryoga asked.

"Yeah, it would appear so," Ranma nodded in agreement. He glanced up at the clock. It was on o’clock and he had to go to school tomorrow.

"I’m going to try and get some sleep now," Ranma said as he got up and flopped down on a couch.

"Yeah sure, just try not to snore too loud," Ryoga joked. Ranma was too tired to respond so he made a muffled remark before he fell asleep.

Ryoga listened to Ranma sleep for awhile before he got up and left the room. He approached a guard that was standing close to the office.

"Do you know where Mr. Inafune’s office is?" Ryoga asked.

"Just go down this hall and turn left," the guard answered.

"Thank you," Ryoga bowed politely and walked down the hall.

"I said turn left!" the guard called.

"Oh right, sorry!" Ryoga yelled back. He silently cursed himself for making a fool out of himself in front of the guard.

He found the door to Seiji’s office and walked in.

"Is there something I can do for you Ryoga?"

"Yeah, I just needed to ask you a question. Is there someway to counter Maruyama’s mind technique. I mean, it’s going to be hard to fight a guy when you can’t even move your arms or anything."

"Hmm, interesting question, you see, in my case I have developed some kind of mind block that doesn’t allow Toshi to control my movements anymore. But this has taken a few years to develop. I suppose there are cases in which I have been so angry, that rage is the only thing that occupies my mind and he is unable to keep his hold. But other than those two options I don’t imagine that there could be anything that would be able to block this technique," Seiji explained.

"Well, then I guess I had better be very pissed off when I meet this guy," Ryoga smiled.

Akane awoke feeling the same way she had when she went to sleep, depressed. She had been hoping to find dreams of her and Ranma, but instead she had dreams involving Ranma being horribly mutilated by an unknown person. Needless to say, she wasn’t feeling very good at all.

She got out of bed and went downstairs for breakfast.

"Where’s Akari?" Akane asked her family.

"She went for a walk with Katsunishiki," Kasumi answered.

"Akane, is there something wrong?" Soun asked from behind his newspaper.

"No dad, nothings wrong," Akane said, thankful her father couldn’t see her face when she said it.

"Well then, come eat your breakfast. Kasumi and Nodoka have cooked us another fine meal."

Akane nodded and hurried through breakfast. She dashed out of the house and nearly crashed into Ranma when she reached the gate.

"What are you doing here?" Akane asked, shocked.

"Seiji’s going to let me continue going to school while I’m doing something for him," Ranma told her.

"What about Ryoga?" Akane asked.

"That’s why I came here first," Ranma answered. "He wanted me to tell Akari that he’s okay and he is going to remember her promise, whatever that means."

"Akari went on a walk somewhere with Katsunishiki though," Akane said.

"Damn," Ranma cursed. "I guess I’ll have to try and find her at lunch."

"Ranma?" Akane asked. "What happened when you two were picked up yesterday?"

Ranma explained everything that had happened and what he had learned in the past twelve hours, while walking to school.

"So what are you going to be doing?" Akane asked Ranma once he’d finished.

"I’m not quite sure but Ryoga said he was going to get some information from Seiji," Ranma said.

"It’s going to be dangerous, isn’t it?" Akane asked.

"Yeah, it might be, but I’m still going to do it," Ranma stated firmly.

"But why?" Akane asked quietly.

"Akane," Ranma began. "This man has killed hundreds of people if the documents are correct. He’s also helped other people kill more people by supplying them with weapons and other things to help ruin people’s lives."

Ranma looked over at Akane and saw her crying. He pulled Akane to his chest and gently whispered into her ear.

"It’s okay; it’s alright, nothings going to happen. I won’t let anything happen to anyone, okay?"

"I know," Akane spoke softly. "But I-I don’t want to lose you."

"Don’t worry Akane, if Seiji’s plan is too crazy, or I don’t think that even I could pull it off, then I won’t do it," Ranma said, hoping it would make her stop crying.

Akane wiped the tears from her face and looked up at Ranma.

"All better now?" Ranma asked, flashing her a smile.

"Uh huh," Akane nodded and flashed him a smile of her own. She removed herself from Ranma’s chest.

"We’d better hurry or we’ll be late for class," Ranma observed.

They didn’t even notice her as they ran by.

Ukyo watched as the two ran off to school. Having just seen what had happened to the couple had knocked her into total shock. The scene had started off normally enough; Ranma had said something that had upset Akane, but then Ranma had hugged her. He. Hugged. Her.

She continued to stare at the two, Ranma was whispering something to Akane and she pulled away from him, but not before smiling at him.

"N-no," Ukyo buried her head in her hands and took off running down the street. She kept going even as she entered her restaurant/home and ran up the stairs to her room.

Konatsu had been sweeping the floors when Ukyo burst in.

"U-Ukyo?"

Konatsu approached Ukyo’s room. She had not closed her door after dashing in. He tried to pick up anything Ukyo might be saying, but all he could hear were sobs. He walked into the room and tried to think of something to say.

Ukyo was face-down on her bed and she was crying into her pillow. Konatsu cleared his throat to try and acknowledge his presence. When Ukyo didn’t respond, Konatsu moved closer and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"What’s wrong?" Konatsu asked, tired of the silence.

Ukyo, unable to ignore Konatsu’s presence, sat up and gazed at him.

"Why aren’t you at school?" Konatsu asked, returning Ukyo’s gaze.

"R-Ranma and A-Akane…" Ukyo stammered out before she began crying again.

Uh oh, Konatsu thought. He had tried to get Ukyo to not go to Ranma and Akane’s wedding a week ago. The results of that day were still on most people’s minds. After though, Konatsu had been hoping that Ukyo would give up on Ranma, due to the fact that neither he nor Akane had been the one’s that stopped the wedding, he had come to the realization that they loved each other. He never voiced his opinions to Ukyo though; for fear that she wouldn’t like him anymore.

Ukyo stopped crying and tried to stand up but she couldn’t find the strength and would have collapsed to the ground if it were not for Konatsu catching her and laying her back down on her bed.

"You just rest now Ukyo," Konatsu said gently. "I will look after the store."

Konatsu left and Ukyo soon fell into a restless sleep.