goku90504 asked about the title name of Ch 8 and the timeflow. I named it 'Interlude' cos of the break in the action for a bit. It happens after the hotel. It's the last thing to happen. Hope that clears it up for y'all a bit.

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I started laughing, feeling some of the tension flow out of me with the action. Akane stared at me wide-eyed. I shook my head and moved away from her, leaving her shivering on the cold gray floor.

"Enough with the melodrama, Akane," I said. "Cursed? That diamond ain't cursed any more'n you are. If you're talkin' curses, I've got a greater claim to fame than any ol' itsy-bitsy diamond!"

Akane scowled at me. Good. I scowled back, happy that we were back to the hating. I was so much more comfortable here.

"In fact, if you were itching to jump into my arms again, you didn't have to fake sleepwalking," I grinned and held out my arms in a mock embrace, twitching the ends of my fingers in a come-hither motion.

Akane's fists clenched and I could see her jaw grind slowly. Oh yeah, when it came to hating, I was in the zone.

Surprisingly, Akane didn't let fly with her fist. She had switched her gaze to the ground and was now glaring at the harmless concrete.

"Fine, Ranma," she said at last. "Make all the fun you want. I KNOW where that diamond is. Or at least, I know which way to go to find it. You can stay or you can come. I really don't care." With that, she stood upright and brushed off her shorts. I had to hand it to her; the girl had come a long way in anger management. Had she taken a class or something?

It was deep night now. All around Shanghai city, people were getting into the full swing of the weekend. Most partygoers would be good and drunk by now. Bakers were no doubt up and about; getting their ovens warmed up for the morning sales. It was the time the city guard was at their most watchful as well.

Akane found an old iron door that spiraled downwards. I allowed her to lead the way, running over what had happened in my head. I didn't really believe that the diamond had a curse on it. Stranger things had happened; sure, anyone who knew my life history could tell you that. Things were already weird enough, to my way of thinking. If the diamond really was cursed, things were just gonna get a whole lot stranger.

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Test. Step. Test. Step.

I hadn't been on the stairs long before I realized how flimsy they were. We must be in some old apartment building, I realized. The whole place smelled like dog pee. I brought my sneakered foot down, tested the step and brought the whole weight of my foot down on it. Then I did it again with the next.

Test. Step.

Behind me, Ranma didn't seem to care how moldy the wooden steps might be. He stepped on every step with remarkable assurance. Then again, with me taking point, I supposed he was pretty safe.

Something dripped on the lobe of my ear. I put up a hand and it came away sticky. I turned my head in seeming slow motion to the right. My gaze followed the sparkling tip of a stiletto along its shiny length up to where it was clasped by a dark-gloved hand, and further on where Ranma's hand had caught the wrist in a grip of steel, stopping the hidden ninja from slicing off my ear.

Suddenly, everything speeded up to a blur. I caught the ninja's arm and used it to push off the stair I was standing on, arcing past him and Ranma, ending up crouched on the step behind them, already swiveling with one leg out to meet the oncoming rush of the next ninja. At the same time, Ranma punched the ninja in the face and forced the dark hand inwards, making the bright steel blade disappear into black folds of clothing. Ranma kicked the next ninja in the face, breaking the nose behind the cloth mask, sacrificing a split second that allowed a ninja to slam a palm into him, sending him stumbling. That let him regain his second, as he spun backward and slammed the heel of his foot into the small of the ninja's back. I winced in my own battle as I heard an audible crack.

Getting tired of my opponent, not to mention simply getting tired, I caught his arm and slammed him into the ground, driving a kick to his head that knocked him out good. Yup. That old 'hammer girl' strength was still there.

Breathing a little hard, Ranma and I stared at each other.

"Did you know they were there?" I asked, remembering the car incident on the way from the airport. Ranma shook his head. Well, ninjas hid their aura better than anybody, I knew.

"The first one forgot to dull his blade, else you'd be missing an ear now, Akane," he said. "We'd better get out of here. I don't wanna spend all night fendin' off these guys. Let's go." I nodded in heartfelt agreement.

Outside, we barely paused to inhale the cool night air. The night had eyes, and they were all trained on us. Not to mention we had absolutely no luggage. I needed some replacement cartridges for my gun. I was really getting angry.

"Dammit, Ranma, I'm getting tired of being chased around from place to place all night," I hissed. "It's been one thing after the other ever since we got here!"

Ranma nodded. "We need a place to stop for a while."

"I know somebody," I said. "The same guy we were going to see before."

Ranma bowed and motioned me onwards like an Indian maharajah. "Lead on."

A soft drizzle began as we made our way past the older apartments and moved up the city toward the docks. We pulled up the hoods of our parkas. Ranma looked around with interest as I led him through areas that were getting shabbier with every step. Though I was careful making sure we had no one following us, I couldn't help pondering the evening's events.

"Who WAS that masked man?" I wondered out loud.

"In fact, who were ALL those masked guys?" Ranma added. "You don't even know who wants the diamond, do you?"

I realized with chagrin that that was true. I hadn't a clue whose goons I'd been fighting. That made me more than a little ticked off. Thinking about Ranma and keeping myself alive had been keeping me busy. Time to focus, I told myself.

Finally, when we stopped in front of a shop with a tattered sign over the door, Ranma laughed softly.

"What's so funny?" I demanded. Ranma simply shook his head, and before I could demand and answer, a slim Chinese youth had opened the door.

"Hello, Yoshi. Is Mr. Yoro in?" I asked, pulling back my hood so he could see my face. "We're seeking shelter."

Yoshi nodded at me and let us in, smiling. He left to inform Yoro, I guessed, because a few minutes later, my old acquaintance had shuffled out of the back of the store and was greeting me warmly.

"Miss Akane, how pleasant to see you after so long. Welcome, welcome to......." At this point he caught sight of Ranma and let out a screech of high velocity. He dropped my hand like it was a hotcake and began walking backwards.

"You!" He cried, his spindly index finger pointing at Ranma, who had pulled his hood back and was now regarding him with smiling eyes.

"Hello, Mr. Yoro," he drawled. "How do you do?"

"You're dead!" Mr. Yoro shrieked. "I saw you die!" He scuttled even further backwards and sent me a wild glance. "Miss Akane, how could you bring this monster into my house......ack!"

Ranma had seized the old man by the throat and held him high enough that Mr. Yoro's old slippers barely made contact with the ground.

"Ranma!" I yelled, marching forward and trying to shake his grip off the old man. "What in the world are you doing? What's going on?"

"It was all a mistake," the old man croaked.

"He tried to sell...Ranko...to a brothel," Ranma growled. "He drugged her and she woke up in a cheap room being mauled by some ugly drunk."

I gasped. Ranko....that was, Ranma...had been sold into sexual slavery? By Mr. Yoro? Impossible. The old man had been my contact for a few years now. I couldn't believe him capable of something like that.

"Was......my......son, Toshi," Mr. Yoro choked out. I pulled on Ranma's arm with all my strength.

"Ranma! I swear it wasn't him," I yelled in his ear. "Ranma, I've known him for YEARS! Please, let go. You're killing him!"

Finally, Ranma's grip loosened and Mr. Yoro fell gasping to the ground.

"Yes, I remember your son, old man," Ranma said. "Where is he?"

"In jail," the old man cried. "I'm sorry......for your friend's death.......but my son is......now in jail.......won't trouble you."

"Good," Ranma said viciously. "Hope he rots there."

I helped Mr. Yoro up. "Mr. Yoro. I'm really sorry about that. But we need your help." I moved him to a chair and called for Yoshi to bring some tea. Ranma paced farther away like some angry cat.

A hot cup of tea later, Mr. Yoro smiled shakily at me and said, "Please accept my apologies, Miss Akane. I would never have condoned my son's activities if I'd known of them. I know it is little enough for your friend's loss, but I shall help you both the best I can."

"It's all right, Mr. Yoro. He's a very old friend. I wouldn't have brought him here if I had known it would set him off like that."

"Toshi hurt many people. "Mr. Yoro hung his head. "Many among them were women."

I patted his shoulder with awkward comfort. Ours had always been a business relationship. I hadn't even known he had a son. Eventually, Mr. Yoro went off with a list that Ranma and I had jotted down together.

Ranma refused to bed down there so we left, promising to come back the next morning to retrieve the things on our list.

"What in the world happened to you here in Shanghai, Ranma?" I asked. He flinched.

"Long story," he said. "What now, Akane?"

"Now, we wait."

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And so do all of you, I guess if you're still reading. Thanks thanks thanks for all the reviews! You know I only write for you guys! :D As promised, here's the weekend and here's the update. I tried to make it a little longer. Hopefully, the next chapter, the plot should move quite a bit faster.

Hey, does anyone know how to italicize when posting here?