WARNING!
     This story is NOT a typical Ranma story.  It is dark and depressing 
and has, in the words of some of my pre-readers, "scared the hell" out of 
people.  If you want to read that sort of story, read on.  If not, don't go 
any further.

     "Ranma Saotome, prepare to die!"
     Ranma scarcely looked around as the oft-repeated challenge was hurled 
at him, followed closely by an umbrella-wielding warrior.
     "Yo, Ryouga," he said to his assailant nonchalantly.  "What's new?"
     "You've made my life hell for the last time, Ranma!" Ryouga growled, 
thrusting his umbrella forward.
     Ranma merely ducked to one side.  "What is it this time, pig-boy?  I 
haven't knocked you into any springs lately, told Akane whatta pervert she 
has for a pet, or nothing like that..."
     Ryouga barely listened to Ranma's talk, intent on skewering his 
opponent once and for all.  In truth, the challenges and insults flowed 
without conscious thought.  It was as much a part of their moves as 
shouting "Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken" or "Bakusaitenketsu."
     A familiar red haze filled his vision.  Every misfortune in his life 
was the fault of this man.  If nothing else, he would see Ranma pay for all 
his suffering.  He had trained hard for this encounter and, just this once, 
he would not be shown up!
     Ranma paused to make a face at Ryouga, confident he could still dodge 
any move Ryouga made.
     There! thought Ryouga, an opening!
     Ryouga's umbrella slammed into Ranma's face, nearly flattening one 
side.  There was a sickening crack--

     --and Ryouga sat bolt upright in his bed, clutching sweat-stained 
sheets and breathing heavily.  He stared sightlessly at the far wall for 
several seconds, then focused, realizing it had been a dream.
     Beside him, Akane stirred.  "What is it, Ryouga-kun?" she asked 
sleepily.
     Ryouga reached over and hugged her tightly, surprising her.  "It was 
nothing," he said.  "Just a dream...."
     "What about?  It must have really gotten to you.  You're soaked with 
sweat..."
     Ryouga looked at Akane.  Her eyes were full of concern and affection.  
Not wanting to trouble her, he shook his head slightly and said, "I don't 
really remember."  He then kissed her on the forehead.  "Go back to sleep.  
I'll be alright."
     Akane looked uncertain, but nodded.  As she settled back down on the 
bed, Ryouga got up and walked across their tiny, third-floor apartment to 
the balcony door.
     It was freezing out, and a light drizzle was falling, but Ryouga 
welcomed it as he looked over Tokyo.  Compared to his thoughts, it was warm 
and comforting.
     "Five years, Ranma, to the day since you died and you still plague my 
dreams," he whispered to the wind.  He looked down at his wedding ring.  
"Can't you leave me in peace even now...?"
     On the road below, a figure with black hair and a red shirt walked 
along a fence, unnoticed.

                            Ranma 1/2

                              LIES

                            starring
                             Ryouga

						 by 

				 Jeffrey "Rogue1" Hosmer

  All Ranma1/2 characters are the creation of Takahashi Rumiko.

     "Ohayo, Ryouga-kun!" Akane greeted him cheerfully the next morning.  
"Did you sleep okay?  Any more bad dreams?"  Soft music played on the radio 
by the stove.
     "No, not after that one... must have been because of what day it is," 
Ryouga said, sitting down to the breakfast she had made.  He started eating 
without looking at it.  Even after four years of marriage, it was still the 
best way to stomach Akane's cooking.
     There was an uncomfortable silence.  Ryouga looked up and saw Akane 
was standing still by the stove, looking at nothing.
     "Akane?"
     With a start, she looked over at him and managed a wan smile.  "It's 
nothing, Ryouga-kun... just old memories."  Her hands wiped at her eyes.  
Ryouga went over to her and held her.
     "It's OK, Akane-chan," he tried to comfort her.
     "I'll be fine, Ryouga-kun... like you said, it must be today.  The 
anniversary of R... his..."
     "You don't have to say it.  I'm sorry I brought it up.  Do you want me 
to stay home today?"
     "No... you can't afford the day off.  I'll be fine.  Maybe I'll go 
visit Kasumi and Tofu-sensei, or Nabiki and Kunou."
     Ryouga nodded.  "That would be good.  Say hi to them for me, ok?"
     Akane nodded.

     Life sure has changed for me, Ryouga thought later that day, as he 
carried a delivery to the next stop.  Five years ago, I was uncertain if I 
could win Akane's love, cursed with the body of a pig half the time, and 
always lost.  Now, Akane is married to me and I can find my way.  Thank 
goodness for that Spring of Drowned Navigator.
     He found himself slowing as he approached one part of town, a small, 
out of the way, side-street that ran alongside a drainage ditch.  He tried 
to ignore it, but fate always seemed to drag him here, year after year.  A 
catholic nun, in the costume of her order, was laying a bouquet of black 
roses on the side of the road.
     Could that be...?  Ryouga thought, then hurried over.  "Kodachi-san?"
     The nun looked up, and her serene face smiled warmly at him. "Ohayo, 
Ryouga-san.  It has been a long time, ne?"
     "Um, yeah" Ryouga laughed nervously, hand behind his head.  "How are 
you doing at the convent?  We haven't heard from you in a while."
     "I am doing the Lord's work," she replied calmly, "and He has blessed 
me with good health."
     "Um, what brings you here?"  Talking to Kodachi made Ryouga just as 
uncomfortable as it had before her... change.  What does one say to a nun?  
It was almost easier when she was crazy.  Then he remembered being chained 
to Ranma during the martial arts gymnastics competition and cancelled that 
thought.
     "I vowed to lay a bouquet of roses on the site of Ranma-sama's death 
each year," she replied.
     "Oh... right, it is today.  It's been five years now, hasn't it?"
     "Yes, but we should not let our memories overwhelm us.  I know now 
that Ranma-sama's death had a place in the Lord's plan.  If he had not 
died, I would not have heard the Lord's calling.  I am sure He took Ranma-
sama into His arms."
     "Have you heard from your brother, recently?" Ryouga asked, trying to 
change the subject.  The shock of Ranma's death had snapped Kodachi back to 
sanity, just as it had unhinged... well, let's not think of her.  But 
Kodachi was as obsessed with God as she had been with Ranma.  It was just 
more acceptable now.  Ryouga wondered sometimes how much she really had 
changed.
     "Yes.  He sends me voluminous letters, and pictures of my niece and 
nephew.  Fortunately," Kodachi laughed pleasantly, "Nabiki-san writes a 
synopsis of his remarks, or else I would never finish reading them.  I am 
amazed how much like his father little Mendou looks, and his sister Moemi 
looks just like Nabiki."
     "Akane thinks they are adorable, too."
     "You and Akane have not been blessed yet?"
     "She was pregnant last spring... but there was a miscarriage..."  
Ryouga looked miserable.
     "Oh, Ryouga-san... I'm sorry.  I will say a prayer for her."
     "Thanks, I--"
     Ryouga broke off as, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted 
something moving.  Spinning around, he caught a glimpse of someone wearing 
a red shirt run around a corner, a black pigtail trailing behind the 
figure.
     Ryouga's jaw dropped.  Mindless of his delivery, he ran over and 
looked up and down the street.  There was no one there.
     "Ryouga-san?"
     "Did you... I saw... it was..."
     "Calm down, Ryouga-san. I did not see anything.  Are you okay?"
     "I thought I saw Ranma... for a second, running around this corner..."
     Kodachi looked sad.  "It was just your mind playing tricks on you, 
Ryouga-san. We all attended the funeral, remember?  His body has been 
cremated, and his killer is in the sanitorium, may God have mercy on her 
soul."
     "Yeah," Ryouga said, unconvinced.  "It must have been my imagination.  
Poor Ukyou, though... who'd have known she'd snap like that?"

     After leaving Kodachi, Ryouga trudged wearily along his route.  With a 
backpack slung over his shoulder, he almost felt like he was back on that 
endless, meandering road of his youth, trying to find his way.  The only 
thing missing was his umbrella, long ago tossed into the sea.
     As if to remind him of that loss, it began to rain again.  Ryouga 
hunched over, cursing the rain, yet at the same time gladdened.  Every time 
he was hit by cold water, he rejoiced that fate had brought him back to 
Jusenkyou five years ago and let him use the Spring of Drowned Man to cure 
himself.  The Jusenkyou Guide had even showed him the Spring of Drowned 
Navigator, a curse he could live with.  And then he had been able to return 
to to Tokyo in time to comfort Akane after Ranma's death... and to testify 
at Ukyou's trial.
     Poor Ukyou.  Found cradling Ranma's corpse in her arms, laughing 
incessantly, she had quickly been judged insane.  It made no difference, 
really, as since in a sanitorium was no better than life in prison.  And 
after flattening Ranma's skull with her spatula, those were the only 
choices left.

     "Your honor, I must protest.  My client is in no condition to take the 
witness stand."
     "Objection noted, Mr. Kakuran," Judge Rito said, "but as there are no 
witnesses to the crime, I must agree with the Prosecution's request that 
she be allowed to speak.  Have her brought in."
     Ryouga, sitting in the gallery next to Akane, squeezed the sobbing 
girl's hand comfortingly.  Then he had glanced over as the bailiff had 
brought Ukyou in.
     She was in a white straitjacket, one designed with extra buckles and 
straps, all of them tied down securely.  Her hair was matted and snarled 
like the snakes of medusa and her eyes were bloodshot and sunk low in her 
face.
     Ryouga shuddered and looked away.
     "Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the 
truth?"
     Ukyou giggled.  "Hai!" she said brightly.
     "Ms. Kuonji, we'd like you to talk about the death of Mr. Ranma 
Saotome, if you--"
     "Ranchan."
     "Excuse me?" the prosecutor said.
     "He's my Ranchan."
     "I see... If you would--"
     "Only mine now," Ukyou continued, her eyes moving furtively around.  
"None of those other sluts can have him.  He loves me, and only me!"
     "Miss Kuonji..."
     It was then that Ryouga felt her eyes fall on him.  He was still 
looking away at the time, but he still knew she had seen him.  It felt like 
the eyes of God, or some other, more diabolical, figure, had focused on 
him.  Looking up, he recoiled at the sheer malevolence he saw in her eyes.
     "YOU!" Ukyou screeched, lunging forward out of witness stand.  Before 
anyone could stop her, she leaped towards the gallery, as only a trained 
martial artist could.  There were screams and people ran as she slammed 
into Ryouga, the bench splintering beneath them.
     Raising his arms to protect himself, Ryouga recoiled as he felt her 
teeth clamp down on his arm and tear away a strip of flesh.  The pain 
galvanized him to action, and he shoved the shrieking, writhing madwoman 
off him.  The bailiffs then grabbed Ukyou from behind.  Her face was 
splattered with his blood and he thought she was chewing something even as 
she screeched.
     "IT WAS YOU!!!  YOU HURT MY RANCHAN!  But I saved him... saved him 
from all of them.  Those sluts won't touch him now... we can be married and 
have lots of babies... and you won't hurt him anymore!" she spat, straining 
to get at him.

     Ryouga shuddered at the memory, fingering the scar on his left arm 
Ukyou had given him.  He still couldn't reconcile the cute okonomiyaki chef 
he had known with the homicidal beast that had attacked him... and had good 
reason to...

     Akane opened the door to her dark apartment and then sat 
disconsolately on a chair, waiting for Ryouga to return.
     Visiting Nabiki and Kunou was a mistake, she thought.  Seeing Mendou 
and Moemi had only reminded her of her own barren womb and she had quickly 
decided not to visit Kasumi.  Her older sister was in that "glowing" stage, 
pregnant with her second child, and Akane couldn't stomach the thought of 
seeing that.
     Suddenly, she heard someone whisper something.  She looked around, but 
there was no one.  It must have been her imagination.
     "...kawaiikune..."
     There it was again!
     Akane spun around, looking frantically for the source of the all-too 
familiar whisper.
     "Tomboy.."
     The bedroom.  It was coming from the bedroom.  Slowly, Akane walked 
towards the dark room.
     The room looked just like she had left it this morning, except there 
was a small lump underneath the covers of the bed.
     "What could that be...?" Akane wondered, moving closer to the bed.  It 
was then she noticed the dark stain spreading slowly from the lump.  Her 
heart shot into her throat and she pulled the covers away.
     It was a small black piglet, an orange and black bandanna tied around 
its neck.  A neck that had a large bloody gash in it.  It looked just 
like...
     "P-CHAN!?" Akane screamed, or began to scream.  Something slammed into 
the back of her head and then there was nothing but darkness.

     Ryouga made his last delivery and slowly trudged along the road home.  
He always felt depressed this time of year, like there was an empty spot 
inside him he couldn't fill...
     Or like someone was missing?
     Thinking back to the old days, before Ranma's death, he had to 
grudgingly admit that there had been good times in all of it.  Except Ranma 
always had it better.  He always got the better lunches.  He was still 
human when cursed.  He had Akane--!
     Ryouga was panting with rage before he even knew what he was doing.  
He forced himself to calm down, a part of him watching in amazement.  After 
all these years, to still carry a grudge towards someone dead and buried 
was incredible.
     After Ranma's death, it was like a cosmic pendulum had swung back.  
Suddenly, things were going well for Ryouga.  He found Jusenkyou and a 
sense of direction.  He managed to admit his love for Akane and marry her.
     Of course, not everyone profited.  Mr. Saotome had been forced to beg 
Happousai, the old lecher, to take him back as a student so that they could 
stay one step ahead of Mrs. Saotome.  She had not taken the news of her 
only son's death very well, and the last anyone saw of them, she was 
chasing Genma and Happousai, katana held high.
     Mr. Tendo had lapsed into a near-coma, bed-ridden and always mumbling 
to himself.  The weddings of his three daughters roused him somewhat, but 
when Akane, because of the meories it evoked, chose not to carry on the 
Anything Goes School, he had relapsed.  Kasumi now took care of him in the 
small home she and Dr. Tofu kept over the clinic.  And Nabiki and Kunou 
were now married and raising children, as well.
     Almost everyone else they knew had wandered away.  Mousse, Shampoo and 
Cologne had gone back to China, and had not been heard from in three years.  
There even seemed to be fewer martial artists in the Nerima district, much 
to the delight of insurance companies.
     "It seems Ranma WAS the root of all my troubles," Ryouga mused.  "But 
then, why am I still so angry...?  Why can't I just forget what happened?"

     Akane woke up slowly, her head throbbing painfully.  Someone hit her?  
Yes, and now she was sitting in a chair, her hands and legs tied.  Lifting 
her head, she tried to focus on the room.
     There was someone there, clad in a red chinese shirt she knew, hair in 
a pigtail.  She couldn't make out any details, but those alone were enough 
to make her head spin.
     "R-ranma...?"
     The voice that answered her was deep and raspy.  "Yo, Akane... what 
are you doing with Ryouga?"
     "You... you can't be Ranma... he's dead!"
     "Do I look dead?"
     "N-no..."
     "Akane," the raspy voice continued, "help me."
     "Help you do what?"
     "I have to kill Ryouga, for doing what he did.  It's all his fault, 
y'know."
     Akane paled.  "No, you can't... I married him.... I..."
     "I knew I shouldn't have gone to such a kawaiikune tomboy for help," 
came the voice, offhandedly, and the figure started toward her.  "Guess 
I'll have to start with you..."
     For a moment, Akane's old rage boiled up at that remark, but then she 
saw the person walking towards her more clearly.
     The figure definitely belonged to a female, and the clothes were all 
the wrong size.  Her hair was jet black, obviously from poorly-applied dye, 
as the girl's skin was smudged with it.  But what froze Akane in her tracks 
was the face.
     She knew it, and had known it well, once, but now it was barely 
recognizable.  The eyes were bloodshot and bulging, glaring unevenly at 
her.  The mouth kept twitching, as if trying to smile, but it had forgotten 
how.
     "U-ukyou!"
     "Sorry, Akane, Ucchan's not here.  It's just me, Ranma," Ukyou said in 
that raspy voice, which came from trying too hard to deepen her voice.  
Then Ukyou smiled, showing teeth yellowed from long neglect.  "Trust a 
kawaiikune tomboy to forget her fiance.  Well, I'll fix that, after I deal 
with Ryouga."

     Ryouga had just come into sight of his apartment building when he felt 
a chill run up and down his spine.  There, leaning against his apartment 
building, just as if someone had put it down and forgotten it, was a red 
bamboo umbrella.
     Running over, he hefted it.  It was as heavy as his old one, 
constructed in the same fashion, but it showed no signs of use.  It wasn't 
the one he had thrown into the ocean five years ago.  Still, someone had 
left this here for him.  Why?
     That was when he heard Akane scream.
     A mighty leap took him up to a third floor balcony, a few rooms down 
from his.  Well, that was easily fixed.

     Akane didn't know how to deal with this situation.  Against normal 
opponents she was okay, nowhere near Ranma or Ryouga's league, but good 
nonetheless.  Being tied up in a chair watching Ukyou, who was acting like 
Ranma and smiling like THAT at her, was evoking a terror that threatened to 
shatter her grip on reality into a dozen shivering pieces.  She screamed.
     "BAKUSAITENKETSU!!"
     The wall exploded and Ryouga, umbrella in hand, stood there in the 
cloud of dust.  Ukyou turned to him and smiled even wider, a feral glint 
coming to her eyes.
     "Yo, pig-boy," she rasped.  "What's new?  I see you found your 
umbrella."
     Ryouga's eyes widened.  "Ukyou?"
     "Geez, you're as bad as my kawaiikune tomboy fiancee.  I'm RANMA!  
Guess I'll have to pound some sense into you!"  She launched herself at 
Ryouga.
     Instinctively, with reflexes so ingrained in him that they would never 
disappear, Ryouga blocked the attack with his umbrella.  "Why, Ukyou?  Why 
are you doing this?"
     "It's all your fault!!" She spat, hands turned into to claws raking 
towards his face.  Her eyes were more focused now, and her voice sounded 
like something approaching a normal tone for her.  "I SAW YOU DO IT!!  He 
would have loved me, but you ended it!"
     Ryouga froze.  The umbrella was knocked out of his hands and she was 
on him.
     This was no battle of martial artists now, with trained, reflexive 
moves countering each other.  Ukyou was pure, unrestrained hatred.  She 
clawed and bit him, leaving bloody wounds across his arms and chest.  
Ryouga grunted as the pain flared up in several places at once.  He tried 
to block, but she seemed to be everywhere.
     "You've made my life hell, Ryouga!  Now, I'm going to return the 
favor!" she snarled, hands reaching for his eyes.
     Ryouga ignored the pain, he had suffered worse in his life, and 
managed to get his legs wrapped around Ukyou's.  He twisted his body over 
to the side, rolling along with Ukyou, until they hit a wall.  Ukyou's head 
bashed against it and Ryouga took advantage of the distraction to break 
away.
     Ukyou recovered quickly, however, and scrambled to her feet.  She 
glared at him and Ryouga saw nothing of that cute okonomiyaki chef in her.  
There was nothing but hate and recrimination, dark madness bubbling over it 
all.  He shuddered but tried desperately to speak to her.
     "Ukyou... please, don't do this... we were your friends--"
     "LIAR!" Ukyou screeched.  "You were never my friend!  You planned it 
all, ruining my life by taking my Ranchan!  You thought no one saw, but I 
saw... you hurt him, with your umbrella... I saw it... but Ranchan was 
tougher than you... he's all mine, all mine..."  Ukyou's voice softened 
into a hideous parody of a girl in love.  "And we'll be married and have 
beautiful children..." Her voice deepened again, growing more hateful, "As 
soon as we KILL you!  Then everything will be alright again!"
     She leapt at him and Ryouga dodged desperately.  The umbrella caught 
his eye as he moved.  As Ukyou turned to charge him again, he leapt for it, 
fingers scrabbling for the handle.
     With an unearthly screech, Ukyou swooped down on him.  Ryouga's hand 
found the umbrella and swung it awkwardly, but powerfully.  It connected 
solidly with the side of her face, breaking her jaw and knocking out some 
of her teeth.  Even worse, her neck twisted around sickeningly, with an 
all-too-familliar cracking sound.  She dropped like a doll whose strings 
have been cut, smashing through a wooden table to lie whimpering and 
moaning on the floor in a pool of blood and drool.
     Ryouga looked at the bloody body lying there, and then at the blood 
that was splattered all over his umbrella, chest, and hands.  A terrible 
realization dawned on him.  So much blood... blood that added to what was 
already on his hands and would never wash away.  He wailed in anguish then, 
like a tortured soul, or a man who's come full circle in his own damnation.
     Akane cringed as she heard that sound.  Worried that Ukyou had hurt 
Ryouga, she pulled at her bonds, heedless of the pain, until she wrenched a 
hand loose.  She then untied herself and walked unsteadily over towards her 
sobbing husband, who was begging Ukyou to forgive him.
     "Ryouga?  Are you OK?" came Akane's voice.
     Ryouga looked at her with eyes that looked like they had seen hell, 
haunted eyes.
     "She..."
     "It's over, Ryouga-kun... I'll call the police and they'll take her 
back to the asylum..."  But Akane knew Ukyou wasn't going back.
     Ryouga just kept shaking.  "What's wrong?" Akane asked.
     "She was just like me..."  Ryouga said.
     "N-nani?"
     "All those times I came after Ranma," Ryouga said in a  horrified 
voice, "all those attacks of vengeance... I blamed him for everything that 
was wrong, you know... like she blames me..."
     "Don't say that!  You're sweet and kind and gentle!  I wouldn't have 
married you if you were like that."  She hugged him fiercely.
     "But I was like that, Akane-chan...  I lied and lied and lied to 
myself, blaming every problem in my life on Ranma's head.  He never asked 
for it.  I was the one who wouldn't stop.  If he beat me, it was because he 
cheated, I would tell myself.  Another lie.  He accepted all that, he put 
up with it, when he could have done any number of things to me... and I... 
I can never ask for his forgiveness..."
     "Shhh... he's at peace now.  It's not your fault."
     Ryouga looked at her, and something in her froze at the look of 
despair in his eyes.  She silently willed him not to say anything more, 
somehow knowing it would end any chance of happiness for them.
     For a long moment, the silence stretched on, then Ryouga spoke.  He 
never knew what drove him to say it.  Perhaps it was, as he liked to 
believe, his own conscience finally at work.  But it is also possible that 
he felt he had to punish himself for his sins.  For all sins require 
pennance.
     "But it -is- my fault, Akane... it wasn't Ukyou who killed Ranma..."  
He took a deep shuddering breath, not looking at Akane, who was looking at 
him in slowly dawning horror, "...I did it."
     Akane froze, her arms dropping to her sides.  "No..."
     "It was an accident... he left himself open, made me mad... I swung my 
umbrella and... I broke his neck."
     Akane quivered.  "No... you're lying..."
     "I ran after that... I didn't know Ukyou was there... I threw my 
umbrella into the sea and tried to get as lost as I could... and I found 
myself in Jusenkyou, where I could be cured and even find a sense of 
direction..."
     "Cured?"
     "I... was cursed when we first met, Akane..."
     The horror and disgust on Akane's face grew more pronounced as she 
looked at his bandanna and at him and several years worth of missed clues 
and observations flew at her from the recesses off her mind.  The dead 
piglet in their bed, the bed they had spent so many nights on in a loving 
embrace, drove the point home.  Ryouga's words were only a final 
confirmation.
     "I... was P-chan, Akane."
     Akane's heart seemed to stop.  Any feelings she felt toward Ryouga 
shrivelled and died in an awful furnace of rage at that moment.
     "You... you -slept- with me, as a pig!?  You watched me dress, take 
baths, listened to me talk with my girlfriends... all of that?!  And I 
thought Ranma was a pervert!!"  Her anger was burning white hot now.  The 
man she had thought was so nice and kind, whom she had almost convinced 
herself she loved and whom she HAD convinced herself to marry, was nothing 
more than a bunch of lies strung together.  And this pervert... this 
MURDERER was behind it all.
     "I'm sorry, Akane-ch--"
     "DON'T CALL ME THAT!  I -NEVER- WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN!"  With that, 
Akane ran crying out of the room, tearing the front door off its hinges as 
she left.  She would recover, in time, perhaps... but her heart would 
forever bear the scars of his betrayal.  Her love had been based on a lie, 
how could she ever love again?
     And Ryouga's heart lay shattered in a million pieces, leaving a void 
that was slowly filling with a dark sludge of guilt and misery.  The last 
lie was gone, and the truth, the emptiness of his life, was more than he 
could bear.
     Ryouga just sat there until a low, burbling, chuckle caught his 
attention.  It was Ukyou, laughing through the ruin of her mouth.  The 
sound was horrible.  Her neck had been broken in that last blow he knew, 
but she must have also broken a rib or two for there was a red froth 
visible at her lips, a sure sign that a lung was punctured.  Ukyou was 
drowning in her own blood.
     "Wellom... ooo... Heww, Ryo-aaah," she said in that awful gurgling 
voice, still laughing.  He could only watch as she coughed up blood and 
slowly suffocated, her foam-specked lips locked in a hideous smile.
     Welcome to Hell.

										8 December 1995