***CHAPTER FOUR***
                      ***THE DARKNESS OF NIGHT***


     Specks kneels down next to his motorcycle and examines the problem
before him.  The fuel line to the engine was leaking gas somewhere.  He
knew that after a prolonged ride, fuel would leak out all over bike's
frame.  Any spark could spell disaster for the rider.  Specks stood back
up and wiped the sweat off of his brow.  It was hot in the small
confines of his garage.  To let off some of this heat, Specks walks over
to the garage door and opens it.  As the huge garage door slowly lifts
up, a chilly wind sweeps in and instantly replaces the heat with it's
chilliness.  

     Deciding that he would rather deal with the cold, Specks leaves the
garage door up.  He turns and looks over his cluttered garage.  His
garage was really just an empty and run down gas station that had gone
out of business.  Since it was in such a bad neighborhood the real
owners didn't really care what happened to it.  Since they didn't care,
Specks decided to move in a few months back.  The best part was when he
discovered that the previous owners didn't empty out the fuel pumps
before they left.  Using some gear that he scavenged, he drained the
tanks and now had fifty to sixty gallons of usable fuel in the back
room.  Some people asked him if it was wise to keep that much fuel
around but he just ignored those comments. 

     His watch beeps signaling another close to another hour.  Specks
raises his arm and looks at his watch.  It very late at night or early
in the morning depending on your point of view.  Specks then raises his
arms above his head and stretches.  It still bothered him that Scar
never did arrive at the bar.  He said that he would come straight over
after he went to Takei's.  It just wasn't like him to not show up.  Oh
well, mumbles Specks to himself, he probably met some hooker on the way
to the bar and changed his mind.

     Deciding not to worry about it any more, Specks continues to work
on his bike.  As he walks up to his bike, a black bird flies over his
head and lands on his bike.  Specks stops in mid stride and stares and
the bird.  The bird stares back at him in the same amount to curiosity.

     "Bird, you better not make a mess on my bike."  He leans over and
picks up a discarded soda can.  As he winds up to throw the empty can,
someone grabs his arm from behind.

     "Why does everyone like to throw things at my friend?"  Asks the
voice behind him.  

     Specks twists his head and spots a red headed female holding his
arm.  The makeup on her face makes her smile look more unearthly.  

     "You wouldn't perchance be Specks."  Inquires the female.  Specks
nods his head.  "Good."  Ranma cocks her free arm back and punches
Specks square in the face.  

     Specks falls over from the blow but is yanked back up to his feet
by Ranma.  Letting go of his arm, the Ranma spins and kicks Specks in
the jaw and he goes flying backwards.  The crow flies off of the bike as
Specks comes crashing down on top of it.  Specks spots the wrench he was
using earlier and grabs it.  When Ranma reaches for him, Specks swings
the wrench and strikes Ranma in the temple.  Ranma grabs her head in
agony.  

     Specks uses the free moment and picks up his bike.  He quickly gets
on the bike and hits the starter.  The bike roars to life in response
and Specks tries to leave the scene.  Ranma hears the bike and spots
Specks as he tries the flee.  

     "OH NO YOU DON'T!"  Cries out a defiant Ranma as she dives forward. 
Ranma manages to grab a handful of Specks' long hair and yanks him off
of his bike.  The bike continues forward for a couple of dozen meters
before it crashes to it's side.  Ranma yanks on Specks' hair again to
bring him to his feet.

     "What do you want girl!  What the hell did I do to you!"  Cries out
Specks as Ranma shakes him around.

     "Nerima park, one month ago."

     "I have no idea what you're talking about."

     "Maybe this will clear up your memory."  With her other hand Ranma
grabs Specks' shirt and tosses him through the doorway.  Specks slams
into some metal barrels stacked up in the that room.  Ranma menacingly
enters the room and turns on the lights.  It's a large storage room half
filled with some large metal drums.  A small hand pump is connected to
one of those drums.  Specks groans and holds his head as he sits up. 
Ranma pounces on him and slams him up against the stacked metal drums. 
"So, has your memory cleared up any?"

     "Like I said before!  I have no idea what you're talking about!"

     "Strange, your friend Scar had the same memory problem.  It took
him awhile before he finally remembered.  He was the one who told me
where I might find you and your friends."  Ranma gives Specks a sinister
smile.  "He confined it with me shortly before he died.  He seemed to
have problems breathing with his own knives stuck in his lungs."

     "You're crazy!"

     "No.  Just slightly mad."  Ranma slams him against the metal drums
again.  "Do you remember Nerima park or do you need help in
remembering?"

     "Nerima park.......  It's suddenly coming back to me now."

     "Thought so.  Now what do you remember?"

     "Me and some friends were talking a stroll through the park and met
some chicks.  That's all that happened."

     Ranma smacks him across the face.  "Try harder and remember more."

     "Ok, Ok.  We had some fun with them while we were there."

     "Do you consider killing fun?"

     "Hey!  I had nothing to do with that!  Patch was the one who shot
them.  I was there only to provide extra support in needed."

     Ranma tightens her grip on Specks.  "You could have stopped Patch
from shooting them."

     "I didn't feel like it at the time!  So what's it to you anyway?" 
Specks' eyes narrow.  "Hey, don't I know you from somewhere?"

     Ranma pulls Specks closer to her face.  "Take a good look and see
if you can remember."

     Specks stares at the female before him and tries to recognize her
without the white face makeup.  "If I didn't know any better.  You look
like that red headed girl from the park."

     "I am that red headed girl from the park."

     Terror like he never felt before comes across him.  "But you died! 
I know, I checked you myself!  When you die there isn't no coming back!" 


     "I died in more ways than you can possible imagine."  Ranma tosses
Specks across the room into another stack of barrels.  

     This time when Specks hits the barrels they come crashing down on
top on him.  On lands on his leg and smashes the bone.  The lid on
another comes loose and starts spilling it's contents all over the
floor.  Specks tries to lift the barrel off his shattered leg but he
can't.  From his pined position he watches helplessly as the crazed
woman walks over to him.  "He... hey look," cries out Specks.  "I.. I
gave you a fighting chance remember!"

     Ranma stops.  "That you did."

                              **********

     Specks interrupts Patch.  "Now hold on a moment Patch.  You have a
gun and they don't.  I say we give these lovely ladies a fair chance to
get out of this."  Specks reaches into one of his pocket and pulls out
a deck of cards.  Specks masterfully shuffles the deck and hands it to
Ranma.  "Here you go sweetie.  Pick a card from the deck.  If your card
beats mine then you two get to go free."


     "What if you win?"  Inquires Ranma.


     "Then," Specks jesters towards Patch, "I let my friend continue on
with what he was about to do."  Specks holds out the deck to Ranma.  

     Ranma nervously reaches out and chooses a cards.  With a smile, she
lifts her cards and flashes a jack of hearts.

     "Nice card sweetie.  That'll be hard one to beat."  Specks quickly
reshuffles the deck and draws a card.  "A king of clubs, you lose." 
Specks steps out of the way.  

                              **********

     "You wouldn't happen to have a deck of cards on you?"

     "Yes I do!"  Specks reaches into one of his pockets and pulls out
his lucky deck.  He holds out the deck for Ranma to grab.  She snatches
the deck from him and open the box.  After a quick shuffle she holds the
cards out in front of Specks.  (I can do this.  I never lose with this
deck.)  He nervously reaches forward and selects a card.  With a smile,
he shows Ranma the king of hearts that he selected.  "Beat that!"  He
cries out triumphantly.

     Ranma frowns as she reshuffles the deck.  She cuts the decks and
draws a card.  Specks notices her smile and knows it can't be good for
him.  Ranma turns the card around and shows it to Specks.  "Ace of
spades.  I guess it isn't a good night to be a bad guy."  Ranma takes
the deck and tosses it at Specks.

     "No it can't be.  I never lose with that deck."  Mumbles Specks to
himself as the cards slowly descend on him.

     With a smile Ranma turns and walks towards the exit.  She stops
when she reaches the door.  She reaches into her jacket pocket and pulls
out the lighter she picked up at the pawn shop.  She lights the lighter
and stares at the flame.  She then looks away from the lighter and looks
at Specks as he continues to mumble to himself.  She spots a cleaning
rag and grabs it.  Using the lighter she lights the rag and the kneels
down gently places the rag on the floor.  She stands back up and watches
as the barrel continues to belch out it's liquid contents all over the
floor.  It will be a few more moments before it spills enough on the
floor to reach the burning rag.  After one last look at Specks, she
exits the room.  

     Specks watches to his horror as the fuel creeps closer and closer
to the rag.  He closes his eyes when the fuel finally reaches it. 

                              **********

     Patch stumbles down the street and bags into a mailbox.  He had
spent most of the night at the bar.  Not only that, me spent most of his
money too.  Tired, reeking of booze, and broke, he decided to call it a
night.  He knew that he wouldn't make it to his place so he decided to
head over to Specks' place and crash there.  He had just made it to the
garage when he spotted someone leaving.

     "Hey Specks!  Is that you!"  The black clad figure stops and turns
to face him.  (That ain't him.  That's just some freaky bitch wearing
way to much makeup.)

     "Hey!  You're Patch, aren't you?"  Asks the girl.

     "Yeah, who the hell are you?"

     "Death."

     The garage suddenly explodes and within seconds there are several
more explosions as the rest of the fuel drums explode.  Patch drops to
the ground and covers his head with his hands.  When the explosions seem
to stop Patch lifts his head and spots the female standing right in
front of him.  A black bird is perched on her shoulder.  "Let me guess. 
You're suppose to be pirate and that's your parrot on your shoulder."

     "Funny, very funny."  Ranma cocks her leg back and kicks Patch in
the face.  Patch grabs his face as Ranma continues to kick him.  

     "What's the matter," shouts Patch from the ground.  "To afraid to
take me on fair and square!"

     Ranma stops kicking Patch and reaches down grabs him his hair. 
"What the hell do you know about fighting fair!"

     "Not much really."  Patch reaches into his jacket and draws his
revolver.  Before Ranma can react, Patch jabs the gun into her stomach
and fires.  Ranma lets go of Patch's hair and takes a few steps back. 
Patch quickly gets to his feet.  "Nobody but nobody touches the do!" 
Patch pulls the trigger again and empties the revolver into Ranma.  All
five shots rip through Ranma's body.  After staggering around a bit, she
falls to the ground.  "That'll teach you to mess with me!"  Patch opens
the revolver and empties out the spent shells and quickly puts in six
new ones.

     Laughter starts coming from Ranma.  Patch watches as she slowly she
lifts herself off of the ground.  "It's gotta be the booze.  No one
could have lived through that."  Patch aims the gun and fires but Ranma
continues to stand up.  Patch fires again but has the same effect as
before.  Ranma finally gets to her feet and walks towards Patch.  Taking
several steps back Patch fires his gun again.  He watches as the bullet
strikes her dead in the chest.  He watches on as the wound quickly heals
up and soon the only evidence of the wound is a hole in her shirt.  "DIE
DAMN YOU!!!"  Again and again her fire the gun.  Again each strikes home
and again each wound heals back up.  

     Patch pulls the trigger again but this time it responses with a
metallic click.  Ranma reaches out and grabs the revolver.  "Out of
bullets, what a shame."  With her other hand she strikes Patch in the
face with a punch.  Patch goes flying backwards until her strikes a
lamppost.  As Ranma approaches Patch, sirens can now be heard
approaching the area.

     Patch groans and rolls over to his side.  When his vision clears up
he spots Specks' still running motorcycle on it's side.  He turns and
spots Ranma as she walks over to him.  "Sorry babe but when you hear
that noise it means it's time to go."  Patch hastily gets up, races over
to the bike and picks it up.  He quickly guns the cycle's engine and
speeds out of there.

     "You won't get away from me that easily Patch!"  Ranma looks up at
the lamppost and spots her feather friend.  "Follow him!"  The bird
cries out and takes flight after Patch.  Ranma gets a running start and
jumps up onto the rooftops.

                              **********

     Patch guns the engine to it's full potential and tears down the
deserted street.  He takes a quick glance behind him and doesn't see
anybody following him.  Just to be safe he decides to not slow down.  He
turns a corner and rips down another street.  The events of what just
happened race through his mind.  Who was that girl and what was her beef
with him.  Sure, he's pissed off his fair share of the opposite sex but
none of them have ever come after him like this.  He must have done
something really awful to her to get this done to him.  She blew up
Specks' place, maybe it wasn't something he did after all.  Maybe it was
something the gang did to her.  They've done their fair share or
terrorizing.  Patch finally decides to slow down and makes another turn
onto a bridge crossing a large stream.  Patch briskly  comes to a halt
when he spots who's waiting for him on the other side. 
     "How the hell did you find me!"  

     "I had help."  Patch hears a bird squawk and spots the crow resting
on the bridge's guardrail.  "Let's end this game Patch."

     "I agree.  Let's end this game."  Patch guns the engine as Ranma
stands motionless on her side on the bridge.  After revving the engine
a few more times, Patch guns the bike and takes off towards Ranma. 
Ranma holds her hand out in front of her and draws on the cool night air
around her.  Patch spots a small ball of light appearing in front of
Ranma but ignores it.

     The ball glows brighter and surrounds Ranma.  "HIRYU SHOTEN-HA
REVISED, HORIZONTAL BLAST!"  The blast launches from Ranma's hand and
fully engulfs Patch.  The force of the blast doesn't have much time to
slow him down before it ignites fuel that leaked out during his ride. 
The fuel tank quickly catches and explodes.  

     Patch's flaming body flies forward and lands at Ranma's feet with
a sickening thud.  Using the last of his strength, Patch weakly looks up
at Ranma.  "It's you..... The girl from the park......"

     "Yes."

     Patch feebly laughs.  "And we didn't believe you......"  His eyes
roll up and he stops moving.  

     Ranma just stands there and watches as the flames consume Patch. 
The crow flies over and lands on Ranma's shoulder.  "I know.  The
morning will soon be upon us.  I guess Skull is going to have to wait
till later."  The crow caws back in response.

                              **********

     Ukyo climbs down her stairs and enters her shop for another day of
work.  After doing a few stretches she goes outside and does a quick
sweep job.  With the sweeping done she goes back inside and heats up her
grill for the customers.  Ukyo yawns as she puts the finishing touches
on her ingredients.  (Damn.  I spent to much time at that meeting last
night.)  

     When she finishes with the ingredients she leans forward and turns
on the television sitting the counter.  A news report in on 
and a picture of a newly burnt down building fills the screen. 
Interested, she turns up the volume.

     "Before me now is what use to be Takei's pawn shop.  Late last
night a single female busted into Mr. Takei's shop as he was working on
his books.  The female then proceeded to hassle Mr. Takei before she
went on a rampage and busted up his entire shop.  During her rampage she
busted open the shop's gas heating pipe.  On her way out, she lit some
fireworks and left them in the shop.  The explosion of the fireworks was
enough to ignite the leaking gas.  Mr. Takei barely made it out of his
shop before it exploded.  He was later admitted to the local hospital
for his injuries.  After fighting the fire for several hours, the local
fire department finally managed to put it out."

     (What could make a person do such a thing?)  Wonders Ukyo to
herself.  The scene on the television changes to a sketch of a female. 
Ukyo stares at the picture on the television screen.  (Wait a second.) 
She moves up closer to the screen.  (That... That.... That looks like
Ranchan.)  

     "This is a sketch of the female who the police are looking for. 
She was last scene wearing a black leather jacket with matching black
shorts and shirt.  She had painted her face white and highlighted it
with black makeup.  Police say she did it to try and conceal her real
identity."

     Ukyo places a shaky hand to the television screen.  (Maybe he's
still alive after all this time.  Maybe......)

     "Also in the news, another building was burnt down in another part
of town...."

     Ukyo suddenly draws her hand back and slaps herself in the face. 
"NO!"  She places a hand on her forehead and shakes her head slightly. 
(Get a hold of yourself girl.  Ranma honey is gone.  You just have to
accept.)  A single tear runs down the side of her face.  (You were at
the funeral remember.  You saw the body and watched them bury it.)  More
tears start to follow the first one.  (Give it up Ukyo.  Ranma's gone
for good.)

     The door chimes as some customers enter her shop.  Ukyo swiftly
tries to regain her composure and greets them.  

                              **********

     Detective Takada stifles a yawn as her exits his car.  He grumbles
to himself as Detective Koohei walks up to him.  She greets him with
another of her cheery smiles.

     "What's the matter Takada?  Not use to the sunlight?"

     Takada's rolls his eyes at that remark.  "Very funny Koohei.  I
have another crime scene to visit so make it quick."  

     With a smirk, "I have a feeling that this might be related to your
case.  That's why I called you out here."

     Takada looks over her shoulder and notices the remains of another
burnt down building.  "So another building got burnt down last night. 
What makes you think that it is connected to my case?  You better not
say woman's intuition."

     Koohei frowns, "Well I was told that a certain Yutaka Ootsuki had
taken up residence in that building."

     Takada is taken back, "Did you say Yutaka Ootsuki!"

     "Yes."

     "He was know as Specks in Skull's gang."

     "It's more like was know as now."

     "What to you mean by that?"

     "Sources say that your man was in the building shortly before it
exploded.  While putting out the fire, fire fighters found the remains
of a body.  The only way I'm going to be able to identify it is by it's
dental records.  I've got a feeling that it's Ootsuki."

     "Anything else?"  Asks Takada.

     "Well fire fighters say that the fire looks like that it was
deliberately started.  Plus the victim was trapped under a heavy metal
barrel.  If you ask me, I think that your friend from earlier is
responsible for all of this."

     Takada crosses his arms, "What make you say that."

     "Follow me."  Detective Koohei turns and leads Takada to several
police officers taking pictures at something on the ground.  Detective
Koohei points to the ground.  "Does this look familiar?"

     Takada looks at the ground and is taken back again.  On the ground
is a large picture of a bird done out in broken glass.  It resembles the
same one from the alley.  Takada reaches into his pocket.  "I need a
cigarette."

                        ***END CHAPTER FOUR***