A few moments later, Ranma and his allies had all assembled at the front of 
the yard. Hideaki Goda and his companions knelt before them, their heads bowed 
in defeat. 
    "Well, then," Ranma said, having changed back to his male form, as he 
glowered at them sternly. "What've you guys got to say for yourselves?" 
    There was no response. 
    Soun stepped forward. "All right, enough of this. Tell us why you 
threatened our dojo!" he demanded. "What have we done to deserve such a hateful 
attack?!" 
    "Yeah, we've never even met any of you before!" Akane added, clutching her 
injured wrist. It was still very painful. 
    Slowly, Goda looked up at them. There was a hollow look in his eyes. 
    "We ... we have been ... defeated." He averted his gaze for a moment, then 
suddenly looked back at them, his eyes wide. 
    "WE ARE NOT WORTHY OF THIS WORLD!!!" he shouted, suddenly drawing a dagger. 
Ranma jumped in front of Akane and everyone took up a defensive posture, but 
then Genma grabbed Ranma's shoulder. 
    "Ranma, wait! Their position, it's--" 
    Before he could finish, Goda abruptly reversed the dagger and drove it into 
his own abdomen. 
    "NO!! WAIT!!!" Ranma shouted, but he was too late. 
    All of Goda's companions simultaneously followed his lead, and within 
moments the grass was stained red with blood. 
    Akane gasped in horror. Everyone present was too stunned to even speak. 
    As Ranma looked on in shock, Goda's dagger fell from his now-lifeless hand, 
and made a clapping sound as it clattered on the stone walkway. It bounced 
once, twice, then lay flat. 
    But the clapping continued. 
    Wrenching his eyes away from the terrible sight before him, Ranma sought 
out the source of the noise. The others followed his lead a moment later, and 
discovered that they had another visitor. 
    A young man stood atop the wall to their left, slowly clapping his hands. 
He wore a heavy cloak and leather gloves, and through his strange blue-green 
forelocks they could see that he also wore an ornate headband of some kind. 
Ranma shot Nabiki a look, and she nodded briefly as if to say, 'That's him.' 
    "Hey, you!!" Ranma shouted, turning back to the newcomer. "Are you the one 
who sent these guys here?! Answer me!!!" 
    The young man shifted his gaze to Ranma, who nearly shuddered at his 
glance; it was like the gaze of a snake, or some other reptile. He chuckled 
briefly, then spoke. 
    "It would appear I didn't train them quite as well as they thought I had," 
he observed, indicating the bodies on the walkway. "But, at least they followed 
my instructions in their entirety." 
    "WHAT??! What the hell are you talking about?!" Ranma demanded. The young 
man hopped down off the wall and casually walked toward the house, ignoring the 
fact that everyone took up defensive stances as he neared. 
    "This IS the Tendo School of Anything-Goes Martial-Arts, isn't it?" he 
asked, ignoring Ranma's question. His gaze flicked over the group appraisingly, 
then stopped. "Well, well..." he murmured, staring past Ranma and Akane. "So 
nice to see you again, old friend." 
    "What? The old lech?" Ranma turned to follow his gaze, and sure enough, he 
was looking directly at Happosai. 
    Who abruptly gasped, clutching at his chest. The group parted a bit to give 
him some room, and the ancient martial-arts master fell to the ground! 
    Ranma snorted in disgust. "Ha, nice try, old man. Gonna tell us what'cha 
did this time?" He looked down to get a better view, and was surprised to see 
Happosai gasping and writhing in pain. 
    "Ranma ... I don't think he's faking it!" Akane exclaimed. "Kasumi, quick! 
Call an ambulance!!" 
    As Kasumi ran back into the house, Akane tried to tend to Happosai as best 
she could. The fact that he didn't start grabbing at her immediately told her 
there was definitely something wrong. 
    Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of quiet laughter. 
    Ranma and company turned back to the young man, who was chuckling to 
himself. 
    "Well, Happosai," he said, "I'm touched that you remember me. Although, I 
didn't expect quite that kind of reaction, but ... ah, well. I suppose, at your 
age, things will happen. I do hope you'll live long enough for us to talk again 
later." He turned to Ranma and addressed him directly for the first time. "As 
for you ... you would be Ranma Saotome, correct?" 
    Ranma just scowled at him. "Who the heck are you?!" he shouted back. 
    Their visitor smiled slightly. "My name," he replied, "is Tatsunada Fushin. 
And, since you are the lone successor of the Anything-Goes school of martial-
arts, you and I have a great deal to discuss." His eyes narrowed. "But it'll 
have to wait 'till later. I'll see you soon, and don't worry ... I'm a very 
patient man." He grinned at them -- in a very disturbing way, though no one 
could quite say how -- and vaulted back over the wall and out of sight. As he 
disappeared, an ambulence pulled up to the front gate. Two men emerged with a 
stretcher, but stopped short when they saw all the bodies lying around. 
    Ukyo ran over to try to explain things, and Ranma got up to follow 
Tatsunada Fushin, but as he did so Happosai grabbed his arm, startling him. 
    "Ranma..." he hissed, "...No matter what happens ... don't let your guard 
down for even a second!!" He stared intently into Ranma's eyes. "Not ... even 
... for a second!!!" He coughed, then looked back at Ranma. "I'll ... tell you 
more ... later." 
    With that, he flopped back down to the ground. The paramedics quickly 
loaded him into the ambulance, and Kuno rode along so his injuries could be 
examined. Soun went back inside to call the morgue, so they could come and pick 
up their unfortunate enemies. 
    "Ranma..." Akane called to him as he watched them leave. He glanced over 
his shoulder at her. "What's gonna happen now?" she asked him, concern evident 
in her voice. Ranma shook his head, then noticed the way she was holding her 
left arm. 
    "Hey, what happened?" he asked, pointing. 
    "Oh, this..." Akane managed a weak smile. "I blocked that girl's kick, but 
it still hurts..." 
    "C'mon." Ranma grabbed her other arm and led her out the gate before she 
could protest. "Let's go have Dr. Tofu take a look at it." 
    As they walked to Dr. Tofu's clinic, Ranma's thoughts were troubled. Mainly 
because he had never seen quite that same look in Happosai's eyes before, when 
he saw Tatsunada Fushin. 
    Was it ... fear?