Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Ranma Universe: Alpha and Omega ❯ Chapter 3: The Japanese Waterloo ( Chapter 4 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Part 3: The Japanese Waterloo

Sorry about the delay with the writing of this chapter, real life has kept me quite busy. Thanks to fusionblaster, Ranma103, danny_171984, and Tex for helping me with the prereading and their advice. You guys rock!

Since this chapter is so long… (13,000 words)… I will be breaking into subparts to make it easier for you, the reader. Enjoy and remember to please leave me a review if you have a few moments after you’re done.


Part A: Morning


The morning of the big battle, Saturday… is here. Chirping birds fill the air with sound as Akane Tendo wakes up. She turns her head to look at the clock…

“Six o’clock? It’s still early… but I can’t go back to sleep…” Akane said as she rubbed her eyes.

Akane stretches her arms towards the ceiling and then looks at her hands. She can feel a new strength flowing through her body… all of that training has made her a much better martial artist. ‘Will it be enough, though? Those other girls are quite strong… and quite determined to win Ranma…’

Akane gets out of bed and does some basic stretches to loosen her body up and prepare for the fight that lay ahead of her. As she wraps up her stretches, her eyes come across a framed picture that is hanging on her wall… the one taken back on Toma’s floating island.

“Ranma… you said… that you wanted me to win yesterday and you made me dinner… do you really…” Akane’s words stop as she realizes what she was about to say.

She continues to stare at the picture, trying to grasp her own feelings about this matter and thinking about all that has happened recently with Ranma. Her deep thoughts are interrupted a few moments later by a low grumbling noise…

‘I guess I’d better get some breakfast… I don’t think anyone’s up yet… it’ll give me time to think…’

Akane heads downstairs and goes into the kitchen. She’s surprised to find Kasumi awake and making up a large breakfast.

“Good morning Akane”

“Good morning, sis… you’re up early…”

“Well, I wanted to sent you off with a good meal. Why don’t you sit down and relax while I finish making breakfast”

Akane nods her head and sits down at the table. She silently thinks about the fight and Ranma while Kasumi finishes breakfast. Nabiki is the first one downstairs, the collection of smells coming from the kitchen have wafted upstairs and wake her from her slumber.

“Mmm… smells good. Oh, Akane, you’re up…” Nabiki said as she looked around the dining room.

“Good morning”

“Thinking about Ranma?” Nabiki said as she started her teasing early.

“Nabiki!” Akane said as a slight blush crept over her face.

Nabiki looks at the result of her comment and smiles. Despite her setting up a betting pool for this fight, she secretly wanted Akane to win. Keeping Ranma on her sisters’ mind was one way for that to happen. Nabiki had a heart… sometimes.

Nabiki sits down next to her sister and decides to make some small talk with her as they wait for breakfast to be finished.

“You’re up early…”

“Yeah… I couldn’t sleep…” Akane said as she rubbed her stomach and hoped that the food would be ready soon.

“Are you ready for the battle today?” Nabiki asked as she started flipping thru a notebook that she had brought downstairs with her.

“Sure… I’ll win for…” Akane stops speaking as she steals a glance of what Nabiki is looking at- a betting sheet which happens to have four names on it with odds below the names. “What the hell is that?”

Nabiki quickly closes the notebook and tries her best to sound innocent. “Oh, it’s nothing… just a little enterprise for today, that’s all…”

Akane’s battle aura starts to glow and Nabiki realizes that she didn’t believe a single word that she just said. Nabiki tries to calm her sister down.

“You know… you should save that energy for the battle today… wasting it on me would hurt your chances of being with Ranma…”

Akane continues to stare at her older sister and then slowly dissipates her battle aura. ‘She’s making money off of me and the other girls… typical Nabiki. If any opportunity for moneymaking comes up, she takes it. Even when it deals with me or Ranma…’

Akane decides to avoid trouble and takes a deep breath before speaking.

“You’re right… I should save my energy. After all, I gotta win in order to get…” Akane once again feels a reflex action within her stopping the next words that she was planning to say. Nabiki decides to tease her some more and maybe get her to speak those words…

“In order to get what? Come on, sis, tell me…”

“To get…” Akane turned away from her sister as she blushed once again. ‘Why can’t she leave me alone? I may have feelings for him… but that’s none of her business.’

Akane breathes a sigh of relief as Kasumi announces that breakfast will soon be ready. Akane watches as Kasumi heads upstairs to wake up the rest of the family. Nabiki decides to look over her bets for today and smiles. Profits for today are looking good…

A yawning Soun and Genma come downstairs first and sit down at the table. Both watch as Kasumi starts to place food down on the table.

“Looks good, Kasumi…” Soun said as he reached for a roll.

Nabiki looks around and realizes that someone is missing. Another opportunity has just presented itself.

“Where’s Ranma? Akane here was looking for him…”

For the second time this morning, Akane let out a cry of “Nabiki!”

“Good morning” Ranma said as scratched his head and entered the room. He sits down next to Akane, as usual. Akane looks at him for a moment and then focuses her attention on eating her breakfast. Ranma did notice what she did but focuses on eating… like Akane, he is very hungry this morning.

Genma pauses from eating for a moment just enough to add his two cents to the current situation.

“Just think boy… after today, you won’t have any fiancée problems… Akane here will be your one and only fiancée…”

“Good point, Tendo…” Soun said between bites of food.

Ranma and Akane take a glance at each other for a moment and then go back to eating. Both feel embarrassed about what Genma just said but have hope that he is right…


Over in another part of Nerima, Ukyo awakens from her slumber. She notices the sunlight pouring through her window and smiles…

‘Today is going to be a good day, I can tell! I just wish I…’

A small wave of guilt passes over Ukyo. She had been meaning to get up the courage to talk to Ranma, to ask where his true feelings were at before the fight. In the end, however, she couldn’t get herself to do it. As Ukyo goes downstairs and makes her own breakfast, she silently cursed her lack of courage.

“Whatever happens, I have to make sure that Ranma doesn’t hate me afterwards… I…” Ukyo takes a deep breath. “I couldn’t stand it if he hated me… he’s my best friend…”

Ukyo silently walks over to the entrance door of the restaurant and cracks the door open a little. She flips the sign hanging on the outside of the door to read “Closed” and then closes the door. She returns to her breakfast and reviews the plan she had come up with a few days back at school.

‘I just hope Ranma is sitting somewhere where I can observe his reactions…’

With that, Ukyo finishes up her breakfast and gets herself ready for the big battle…


Over at the Cat Café, Cologne is busy getting the place ready for business. Mousse has already gotten up and is doing the morning chores. Shampoo, however, is nowhere to be seen. After another half of an hour passes, Cologne begins to worry. Shampoo rarely sleeps in.

“Mousse, go upstairs and get Shampoo. It’s getting late and she needs to get ready for today’s battle…”

“Fine, fine…” Mousse grumbled to himself. Today was not going to be a good day for him. Shampoo could be lost to him forever… but there was nothing he could do. He had thought about setting some kind of trap on the field… to cause her to lose. If she found out, however, she would beat him and possibly kill him… the risk was too great.

Mousse goes upstairs and is surprised to see Shampoo’s door wide open. He takes a deep breath and then walks into the room. Shampoo is relaxing on the bed and is holding a picture above her head.

“What you want?” Shampoo said, obviously annoyed by Mousse’s entrance into her room.

“You’re needed downstairs…”

“Shampoo be down in a moment… after looking at airen some more…”

With that, Mousse turns around and heads back downstairs. He knows what picture she must be looking at… the one from Toma’s island. ‘I was the one who saved her there, not Ranma. Ranma saved Akane by destroying that spring. He wouldn’t have done that if he didn’t care about that girl…’

Cologne notices that a silent Mousse has returned to doing his chores. ‘Shampoo must be up… he didn’t look like that before going upstairs…’ Cologne hopped upstairs on her stick and found Shampoo staring at a picture, just like Mousse had found her. She also notices that she is already dressed for today’s battle, wearing a traditional pink Chinese dress.

(A/N: See the Ranma ½ SNES game or pictures of Shampoo from other sources to picture her at this point, most fans should have seen enough episodes to visualize her at this point)

“Thinking about Ranma?”

“Yes, great-grandmother… he so handsome in the picture…” Shampoo said happily.

“Just remember you have to win today, otherwise…” Cologne started to caution.

“I… know…” Shampoo suddenly became very serious. “Ranma would no longer be Shampoo’s…”

“Yes. You are honor bound for this fight, and there’s nothing I can do about it. I know you can win…” Cologne placed a hand on Shampoo’s shoulder in an effort to reassure her before the up and coming battle.

“Let’s eat some breakfast and then discuss today’s fight…” Cologne turned around and started hopping out of the room on her stick.

“Okay…” Shampoo put the picture down on her bed and followed Cologne downstairs.


Kuno wakes up and finds out from Sasuke that his sister has already left the house. ‘I wonder where she went? The match doesn’t start for several hours…’ With that, Kuno decides to do some kendo practice before the big fight. Kodachi had left early to get some practice in at her school… she wanted to be alone before heading off to battle.


Part B: The Battle


Time passes and soon it is noon. A group of people start to converge on Furinkan High School’s open field… Nabiki and her friends are the first to arrive. One of her friends has a video camera with them… Nabiki had the idea of filming the fight for evidence that whoever wins did actually do it- a kind of insurance policy of sorts, available to the highest bidder, of course. More and more people come, mostly high school students who had heard about the fight via Nabiki’s blatant advertisement of it in the school paper.

A flurry of black rose petals fill the air, announcing Kodachi’s arrival. She is sporting a black gym suit and a pair of pink ribbons. She laughs to herself as she waits for the others to arrive. Ukyo is the next one to arrive, sporting her usual blue outfit and armament of spatulas. She looks around and is disappointed because Ranma has not yet arrived.

After closing the Cat Café, Cologne and Shampoo head over to the field. Mousse follows behind, his head sunk low. He is afraid of what will happen as a result of this fight, but at the same time must see what hand fate will deal out on the field. The three combatants that have arrived so far sit down separately from the others and eye each other, battle auras glowing. Nabiki takes the video camera and films a brief view of the three girls… she mumbles something to herself…

“Scary…”

Nabiki turns around and begins to walk back towards her fellow students when she suddenly feels a tap on her shoulder. She jumps in the air as a result of the sudden surprise.

“Gotcha…”

Nabiki turns around and looks at the troublemaker. “Oh, it’s only you, Ranma…”

“I heard what you said… and you’re right. This is gonna be one scary battle…” Ranma’s voice lowers. “For both of us…”

Nabiki instantly knew what Ranma meant by “us”… he was referring to Akane. “Well, I’d better get back to work… you should sit down here and wait for Akane…”

Ranma sits down on the ground and looks around. This field would decide his fate he thought to himself. ‘I wonder where Akane and the others are?’

A few minutes later, Akane appears in the distance. She is sporting her white gi and walking very confidently. The rest of the Tendo’s and Saotome’s are following behind her, excited but also nervous about this fight.

Akane notices Ranma first and gives him a quick glance. He nods his head and then Akane walks over towards the other girls. Three pairs of eyes lock on to her as she gets closer. Akane tries not to show any visible fear as she focuses on the battle, her battle aura forming around her. ‘I won’t let these three intimidate me… I can’t give them any advantage!’

As the four combatants wait for the start signal, Genma and Soun pick a good spot to view the battle from. Kasumi spreads a blanket on the ground and unpacks a picnic lunch for the grateful Soun and Genma. As she passes out the sandwiches, she notices a familiar person is moving towards them.

“Oh my, it’s…”

Nabiki, who has walked over to snag a sandwich, finishes Kasumi’s sentence. “It’s Ranma’s mother…”

Genma laughs out loud. “Oh no, you’re not fooling me this time, I know about you, Nabiki Tendo…”

“Fine, don’t believe me…” Nabiki said as she hurriedly walked away. ‘I have to get that video camera back… I know that it’ll be worth it to film what will happen when Genma sees his wife…’

About a minute later, Nodoka arrives at where Genma and the others are sitting and taps Genma on the shoulder. Kasumi says “Hello” and Soun almost drops his sandwich…

“Saotome… l-look behind you…” Soun said, very afraid for his friend.

“What’s got you so worked up? It’s not like…” Genma stops speaking as Nodoka sits down next to him. His body quakes with fear… “Umm… hello dear… nice to umm… see you again…”

“Where have you been, Genma? I stopped receiving letters from you a while back… and I was wondering how Ranma is doing. On my way over here, I heard something about a fight…”

“Well, umm… you see…” Genma said, still nervous about his wife’s sudden appearance before him.

Kasumi decides to speak up. “That’s right, Auntie Nodoka. My sister and three others are fighting today… fighting over who gets to be with Ranma…”

“My Ranma?” Nodoka said, surprised at the words she just heard.

Soun clears his throat. “Yes… my daughter is hoping to win today… and we’re here to cheer her on…”

‘But where is my son?’ Nodoka thought as Soun was speaking. A moment later, a black pigtail comes into her eye’s view and she stands up.

“I’ll be right back… don’t go anywhere, Genma. We have a lot to talk about…”

Genma gulps as his wife walks away.

“I guess Nabiki was right… she was coming…” Genma said as he put his hand on his forehead.

“I do hope that she doesn’t carry out that agreement…” Soun said as he watched Nodoka approach Ranma.

“I hope not either… who knows what’ll happen now…”

A meditating Ranma senses someone approaching but chooses to ignore it, focusing his thoughts on the possible outcomes of today’s match. In his mind, only one would make him happy… at least, as far as he knew happiness. Most of his life had been nothing but hardship and unhappiness…

Ranma hears a voice whisper in his ear.

“Wake up my son…”

“Huh?” A very startled Ranma looks behind him… and finds a very familiar face smiling back at him. “Mom?”

Before he can do anything else, Ranma finds himself enclosed in a very tight hug.

“It’s uh… good to see you too…” Ranma said, not quite comfortable with this showing of affection. Nodoka notices his reaction and makes a mental note to ask him about it later.

“I’m so happy to see you again! I just heard that my boy has FOUR girls fighting over him today… that is so MANLY!” Nodoka exclaimed loudly, embarrassing Ranma to no end. He didn’t like to be the center of attention, at least about things like this.

“Umm… yeah… four girls…”

Nodoka let go of her son and looked at him. ‘Why isn’t he happy about this? Something must be wrong…’

“What’s wrong, Ranma?” Nodoka said softly in an attempt to get her son to open up to her. She needed to know what was going on here, among other things…

“Well…” That was all Ranma could say, he didn’t know where to start.

“Let’s start from the beginning… why are they fighting over you?”

Ranma takes a deep breath before starting his explanation. “It’s because of my big mouth… they wanted to decide who was the ‘true’ fiancee… and agreed to this fight. I don’t want to see any of them get hurt, not even Kodachi…” Ranma sighed aloud.

Nodoka could see that her son was sorry about what happened and worried about the girls. She noticed that his eyes would occasionally look over towards the four girls… and at one in particular. ‘He must want her to win… I can feel it…’

Ranma is about to make another comment to his mother when Nabiki’s voice comes booming from a nearby speaker, set up just for this occasion.

“Ladies and Gentleman, Boys and Girls… it’s time for the main event. Who will end up victorious and be Ranma Saotome’s one and only fiancée? We’ll find out in a moment!” Nabiki turns and looks at the four girls. “Ladies, take your positions!”

The four girls get up and spread out, each one eyeing the other three cautiously. Nodoka motions Ranma to stand up and follow her, the two head over to sit down next to Genma. He had been watching the interaction between Ranma and his wife… and was glad that nothing had happened.

Two stragglers approach the field, talking amongst themselves…

“It looks like the match is about to start…” Ryoga said to Kuno as he observed the girls fanning out and getting ready to begin.

“Your asking for help nearly made us late… I must witness the result of this battle… so I know which girl to pursue…” Kuno said, trying to calculate his opinions in his head.

Nabiki’s voice is heard once again over the speaker. “The fiancée battle starts… NOW!”

As if by cue, the four girls start to head back towards each other, but now it was time to fight… to fight for pride, honor, and most of all, fight for Ranma.


Shampoo is the first one to strike, going after Akane with her bonbori’s. The two exchange blows, Shampoo wants to punish Akane for keeping Ranma away from her. Akane is not surprised that Shampoo went after her first… and she does her best to counteract Shampoo’s attacks. A short distance away, Ukyo engages the other available opponent, Kodachi Kuno.

“You won’t take my Ran-chan, Kodachi…”

“Hohohohoho… you really think I’m scared of you? Prepare to be defeated!” With that, Kodachi let a storm of black petals loose in the air, blinding Ukyo momentarily. A pink ribbon wraps around Ukyo’s left arm and she is pulled to the ground.

“You’ll pay for that!” Ukyo yelled defiantly as she tried to cut the ribbon with her spatula. Kodachi quickly turned her sights over to the other fight and quickly launched an attack towards the other two fighters.

Akane feels something wrap around her right arm a moment later. She tries to free her arm to no avail. Shampoo notices this and moves in to strike Akane’s tangled arm…

“Kitchen-destroyer no get airen! Ranma will be Shampoo’s!”

Shampoo makes a slash at Akane’s arm with her bonbori… and misses. Kodachi had pulled on the ribbon a moment before, pulling Akane towards her. Akane does a roundhouse kick and knocks Shampoo off balance. Kodachi pulls out a bowling pin with nails on it and throws it at Akane…


The crowd begins to wince at the sights they are beholding. This fight was beginning to get ugly… and it had only started about a minute ago.

“Akane!” Soun cried out as the bowling pin missed his daughter by mere millimeters…

“Looks like we got some close combat here, folks!” Nabiki said over the loudspeaker. “Who will win?”


Shampoo hops back to her feet and positions herself just right… the clanking of metal is heard as she blocks a blow from Ukyo’s huge spatula with her bonbori’s…

“Go back to China! Ranma’s mine!” Ukyo said as she struggled to get more leverage against Shampoo.

“Shampoo not going anywhere!” Shampoo said back angrily. Both girls’ battle auras flared like they never had before. Fortunately for them, Akane was fighting Kodachi, otherwise, they would have been struck in the back…

“Ranma-sama will be all mine! Hohohohohoho!” Kodachi launched another attack, using a hoop with spikes on it. Akane had just managed to free her arm from the ribbon a moment before… but the hoop grazed her shoulder, causing a red spot to appear on her gi. “Oohs” are heard from the crowd… blood was being shed. Even Nabiki winced at the sight of her now injured sister cursing at Kodachi. Ranma could feel his anger building with each passing moment. ‘She hurt Akane… I hope it’s not bad…’

‘Damn it! My shoulder… ouch!’ Akane winced as she felt another one of those blasted rings heading towards her. She jumped out of the way and landed on the ground near Ukyo and Shampoo. Kodachi launches another hoop at Akane. Shampoo notices the hoop heading her way and deflects it with one her bonbori. She jumps at Kodachi and prepares to launch one of her recently learned attacks. Ukyo notices Akane on the ground and prepares to attack her when she looks over at the crowd. She can barely see Ranma… but his expression is clear. ‘I’m sorry, Akane, but I must keep fighting… or at least look like I’m fighting…’

“Prepare to taste defeat!” Ukyo said as she prepared one of her special weapons that she had yet to use.

‘Oh no…’ Akane thought to herself, expecting the worst. She tried to get up in time and notices an Okonomiyaki in Ukyo’s hands…

Ukyo throws the Okonomiyaki like a Frisbee at Akane… it hits her and explodes into a cloud of smoke. As Akane is rubbing her eyes, she realizes that it only looked like an Okonomiyaki… ‘Even Ukyo has some new tricks…’ Akane feels the air around her move as Ukyo attempts to hit her through the dense cloud of smoke…

Akane’s saving grace is a cool, west wind… it begins to thin out the cloud as she prepares a counterattack. The ground suddenly begins to shake… the girls and the spectators are afraid. Cries of “Earthquake!” are everywhere…

The ground beneath the girls suddenly gives way and the four fall about two feet and are confused. Out of nowhere, multiple plumes of smoke appear and cloud the fighting area. All of the girls begin to cough and then pass out moments later. An unseen figure hops into the cloud and back out within twenty seconds… and runs off with a small sack…

“What the heck is going on here? Was that some kinda trap?” Soun exclaimed, getting more worried about his daughter every moment.

“No idea, Tendo… maybe we should go check it out…” Genma quickly replied.

“Well, looks like something happened… and the smoke is beginning to clear…” Nabiki said as she surveyed the field. She gasps aloud a moment later, caught unawares by the sight now before her eyes. “I think we have a… draw…”

The phrase “A draw?” is heard multiple times from the crowd. Ranma doesn’t believe what he just heard and starts walking towards the girls… Genma, Nodoka, and Soun are right behind him. Cologne is also confused about what just happened and hops over towards the girls with Mousse following right behind her. Kuno and Ryoga are just plain stunned about what they just heard.

“A draw? How could that be?” Kuno wondered out loud.

Ranma is the first to reach the hole… and he finds all four girls on the ground, unconscious. He kneels down next to Akane and shakes, trying to wake her up. After that fails, he does the same to each of the other girls… nothing happens. Soun starts his trademarked “Tendo Water Works” as he talks about his daughter…

“Calm down, Tendo, I’m sure they’re okay…” Genma said to the very emotional Soun.

“What happened to these girls? All I saw was smoke…” Nodoka commented to herself.

Cologne hops up to the girls and starts looking at them closely. “Hmmm… this look… on their faces… it looks familiar somehow…”

Mousse was the next one to comment. “You know why they aren’t waking up?”

“Perhaps…”

A glimmer of hope started to run through everyone present. ‘Maybe Cologne could help the girls?’… was the common though passing through the minds of those present. Nabiki arrives a moment later and gets a closer look at what happened.

“Oh my goodness… what the hell happened here?”

“I’m not sure yet… but one thing is certain…” Cologne stopped speaking as the sound of rumbling was heard in the distance. “We should bring these four somewhere where we can treat them… it will rain soon…”

More then anyone present, Genma realizes what that would mean… his secret would be revealed in front of his wife if he got caught in the rain. Ranma would be in danger as well… ‘Who knows what Nodoka would do if she found us out… I gotta keep the secret from her…’

“Tendo, why don’t we take them back to your place…” Genma said as the clouds began to darken and the wind began to pick up. Soun could sense the urgency in his friend’s voice…

“Sure…”

Genma looks at Ranma. “Boy, you carry Akane back… and I’ll take Ukyo. We don’t have much time…” Ranma didn’t argue, he knew what was coming and realized why his father was being so urgent about this. The rumbling noise gets closer as the rain clouds start to gather. Cologne turns and looks at Mousse.

“You take Shampoo… time is of the essence…”

One look up at the sky was enough for Mousse, he didn’t want to become a duck… and didn’t want Shampoo to get wet either. The three “carriers” picked up the girls when Nodoka realizes that no one got Kodachi.

“Who will pick up this young lady here?”

“I will take my sister…” Kuno said as he walked up to the crowd that was gathered around the hole. He picked up his sister and the group starts to head back towards the Tendo house. Kasumi runs ahead to prepare the room for the girls’ arrival. The crowd of students and onlookers look at the four girls as they are carried by and wonder what happened. Nabiki has no answer for them; she doesn’t have a clue about what happened.

“Calm down now… I’m sure they’ll be all right…” With some sadness, Nabiki speaks again. “All money will be returned… there was no option for a draw…”

As a line of students line up to get their money back, Nabiki takes a glance towards her house and wonders if Akane will be all right. She notices that Ryoga has started walking that way… and wonders if he’ll actually get there without getting lost.


Part C: Sleeping/The Cure


A short while later, the group carrying the young female combatants arrive at the Tendo house. A very concerned Kasumi is waiting for them at the entrance to the house.

“I called Dr. Tofu… he is on his way…”

“Thank you, Kasumi… where are we putting the girls?” Soun said as the rain began to fall outside. They had made it with just seconds to spare. Ranma and Genma take a deep breath and think… ‘That was close!’ Mousse has a similar thought as well…

“Follow me…” Kasumi said as she walked down the hallway, the others following close behind her. They soon reach the room and the four girls are placed on the futons. Kasumi gets right to work, trying to wake them up with smelling salts, pungent herbs, and other methods. As she is doing this, Cologne starts to remember more about the condition that may be afflicting the girls at the moment.

“I’m here… sorry I took so long. That storm was pretty bad…” Dr. Tofu said as he walked into the room. A moment later, Ryoga appears right behind him.

“They still aren’t up?” Ryoga said with concern in his voice, worried about the girls, especially Akane.

Kasumi spoke up next. “I tried smelling salts and a few other things… nothing worked…”

“Oh…” Ryoga lowered his head sadly.

Unfortunately for the other, Dr. Tofu immediately starts to get goofy after hearing Kasumi speak. The urgency of the situation had kept him sane for a little while, but the joy of seeing Kasumi soon overwhelmed him. He started talking to the wall, thinking it was Kasumi. Ranma mumbled something about being doomed now… and Cologne just shook her head.

Nodoka looks around at all of the chaos and didn’t realize that this was an everyday occurrence… she remembers that Cologne had mentioned something about knowing what was going on earlier and decides to try and bring attention back to the situation at hand.

“Elder, you mentioned knowing something about the situation…” Nodoka said with much respect. Cologne immediately noticed this, since most of the others present use less… appropriate terms for her.

“Yes… I have seen this condition once or twice before. It is called “Sleeping Beauty Sickness”…

“Oh’s” fill the room… Soun starts to feel some genuine hope… ‘Maybe she knows how to awaken my girl and the others…’

Ranma snaps his fingers. “Isn’t that some kinda story… it kinda sounds familiar…”

“Yes Ranma… it’s a fairy tale in which…” Kasumi stops speaking as Dr. Tofu hits a wall and falls backwards. His antics were getting to her, despite her almost infinite patience. Her sister and the others were sick and most certainly could use his help… he was very knowledgeable about many obscure things… and this certainly didn’t sound like an everyday sickness…

“Dr. Tofu, snap out of it!” Kasumi said urgently as she picked up Dr. Tofu. He started to come around and saw her face… and began to get goofy again. Kasumi started to take deep breaths in an effort to control herself- Akane was in trouble and this was no time to play around. All eyes were on Kasumi after her first statement… Soun was especially shocked by his daughter’s words. His jaw drops to the ground a moment later as Kasumi suddenly loses her temper and in an “un-Kasumi-like” move, slaps Dr. Tofu.

“Get serious Doctor! I need you to check on my sister and the others to make sure that they are all right. You have to find a way to wake them up!"

“Woah…” was about all Ranma could manage to say. Genma was equally surprised- even Kuno and Ryoga were shocked. They had met Kasumi enough times to realize what kind of person she was… and this was definitely not in character for her.

A very shocked Dr. Tofu touches his stinging cheek and looks at Kasumi. He has never seen her like this… like the others; he is very surprised about what just happened. ‘She slapped me… but why? I…’ He suddenly remembers what he was doing just a moment ago. ‘I was being goofy… at the time when Kasumi needed me the most…’ He lowers his head and starts softly saying to himself- “I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”

Kasumi’s anger goes away almost right away. She starts to speak softly to Dr. Tofu. “I’m sorry, but the girls need your expertise… can you help them? Elder Cologne says it may be something called ‘Sleeping Beauty Sickness’…”

“Ah… I haven’t seen a case of that personally, but I have heard of it…” Dr. Tofu said as he walked over to the sleeping girls and examined them, checking their eyes, facial expressions, and breath patterns. “Yep, the diagnosis was correct, this is most definitely ‘Sleeping Beauty Sickness’…”

“I have my suspicions about how this could have happened… but I cannot prove anything. I must talk to the Doctor here for a moment, please excuse me…” With that, Cologne leaves the room with Dr. Tofu right behind her. This gives the others in the room a few moments to reflect on the current situation.

“I do hope they can cure my little girl!” Soun said, holding back tears. He looked down at his daughter and noticed the peaceful expression on her face. He takes her hand and holds it for a moment. ‘Hang in there, Akane… we’re all here for you…’

“This is indeed a mysterious illness…” Kuno commented to no one in particular.

“Indeed” Genma said as he scratched his chin, trying to think of who or what could have done all of this. One person immediately comes to mind… but he hasn’t been around for quite sometime…

Time seems to pass very slowly… after what seems like forever, Cologne and Dr. Tofu come back inside the room.

“We’ve talked about the symptoms… and come to the conclusion that the four young women are afflicted by this ‘Sleeping Beauty Sickness’… Elder Cologne and I know how to treat it as well…”

“Thank goodness! My girl will be okay!” Soun said as tears starting flowing down his face.

“Pardon me for asking, but how will you wake the girls up?” Ryoga asked, curious about the method that had to be used.

“There are two steps to the process. One involves getting a special herb and making a paste out of it. That I can do, once I get the herb. The other part involves…” Cologne pauses and looks at Ranma, Dr. Tofu does the same thing. Ranma feels very uncomfortable with this sudden staring.

“Let’s worry about part two later. I need someone to get the herb…” Dr. Tofu said as he sensed Ranma’s uneasiness.

“I’ll get the herb!” Ryoga said, volunteering immediately.

“I shall go as well, I know of your ‘reputation’ for getting lost…” Kuno chimed in a moment later. Cologne tells him what herb and what quantity of it to get. Ryoga was silent after that last comment, but couldn’t hold back a response for long.

“What do you mean, reputation? At least I’m not after two girls at once, you cad!”

Ranma starts pushing them towards the door… “You two better get going… hurry back, okay?”

The two arguing teens are pushed out of the room by Ranma, who closes the door. The two continue to argue and finally Ranma has heard enough. “Damn it you two, go get that herb!” Ranma immediately notices the sudden silence and the sound of footsteps heading away from where he is at. Ranma turns around and finds the remaining group people all staring at him… ‘Damn… all of this fiancée stuff is really stressing me out here…’

“Wow, my son is such a MAN, worrying about these girls so much!” Nodoka exclaimed as she looked at her son and smiled.

Genma is glad that Ranma has been doing what he’s been doing, so far his wife seems to be very happy with Ranma and his manliness. ‘I hope Ranma can keep this up…’

A knocking is heard on the door a moment later, Ranma opens the door and finds Nabiki standing there. She steps inside and looks at the four sleeping girls…

“No change, huh? You guys ever figure out what’s wrong with these four?”

Ranma closes the door and then sits down next to his parents. “They have something called ‘Sleeping Beauty Sickness’…”

“Oh!” Nabiki exclaimed. “Just like the fairy tale!”

Ranma looks at Dr. Tofu and Cologne, who have been silent for the past minute or so. “You said there was a second part to the treatment, what is it?”

“Wasn’t Sleeping Beauty awaken by a kiss from a prince?” Nabiki said to herself as she mentally reviewed the tale.

“Uh-huh…” Dr. Tofu said as he nodded his head.

“Why I am getting a bad feeling about this?” Ranma said to no one in particular.

“Son-in-law… only your kiss can work. You are the only one to have a real connection with the four women. You are there Prince Charming, as it were…” Cologne said with a chuckle at the end.

“Oh that’s just great... so when's the lighting going to strike me…” Ranma said with much sarcasm.

Nodoka had the opposite reaction about that announcement. “Ranma, you get to kiss all these lovely young ladies… you get to be real MANLY here…”

Ranma just shakes his head. “Mom, you don’t get it…”

Nodoka wanted an explanation. “You mentioned something to me earlier… you were going tell me something?”

Genma cringes after that statement. Ranma, however, decides to fill in his mother on current events, sans the curse that he and his father have. She thinks about it for over a minute and then look at both Genma and Ranma.

“Genma, you and I will definitely have to talk later… and Ranma… I’m sorry you got tangled up in all of this. From the looks of it, your father is responsible for two of your four fiancées…”

Ranma looks at his father and sees that he’s sweating profusely. ‘He should sweat… he got me tangled up in this and set up this situation. It would have been nice to get to know these girls without the pressure of being engaged to them… especially Akane…’

Nabiki looks at Ranma and wonders what he’s thinking about… he’s looking serious and looking in Akane’s general direction. Genma is saved from more crucifying by the return of Kuno and Ryoga with the medicinal herb.

“I do hope that this herb can help my sister and the others…” Kuno said as he handed the herb to Cologne.

“Kasumi, can you get me a bowl, a pestle, and some water…” Dr. Tofu said with a smile.

Kasumi smiled back, glad that Dr. Tofu was keeping it together. “Sure, I’ll be right back…”

While Kasumi is getting the supplies from the kitchen, Kuno asks about part two of the cure. “What is the second part of the cure?”

“The girls must be kissed… by a male they have a connection to…” Dr. Tofu explained.

Both Ryoga and Kuno’s eyes light up… and Mousse’s does as well. He liked this version of the second part of the cure better then what Cologne had said… thinking that she had deliberately skewed her words to favor Ranma. All three males eagerly await Kasumi’s return.

Soun, trying to get his mind off of other things, decides to inquire further about the herb and what it’ll do. “How is this medicine prepared?”

“Oh, it’s quite simple. We grind up the herb and make a paste… and then spread the paste on the lips and a small bit on the neck. Once the girl is kissed she should awaken right away…” Cologne said as she looked in Ranma’s general direction… which makes him start to sweat…

Ranma is relieved to see Kasumi walk in a moment later with the necessary tools for the cure. Dr. Tofu starts breaking the herb up and passes it to Cologne, who grinds it and adds a little water to the bowl. Soon, all of the herb is broken up and the paste is ready. With lightning fast speed, Cologne hops over to the girls and spreads the paste on the appropriate places…

“Go ahead, Ranma… do what must be done…” Cologne said as she tried to urge Ranma on.

“But are you sure I’m the only one, I mean…” Ranma fumbled for another excuse as all eyes fixate on him… except for Ryoga and Kuno. Kuno decides to make a move before Ranma can do anything… but Ranma notices what he is doing and quickly punches Kuno in the face, knocking him backwards. After Ranma punches Kuno the pig tailed martial artist races over, grabs him by the front of his clothes and tells him to never try that again... Ryoga seizes the moment and places a kiss on Akane's lips.

"I can't turn my back for one second..." yelled Ranma as he clobbered Ryoga with a swift punch to the face. Ryoga quickly recovers and the two begin to fight with each other. Kuno watches what is going on and takes this chance to place a kiss on Akane's lips...

"Alas, now it is my turn to express my deep feelings and kiss thy lovely lips. Awake dear maiden, with a kiss of my love" Kuno spoke to sleeping Akane. Kuno takes one last glance around to make sure Ranma is still occupied and then places a tender kiss on Akane's lips.

Kuno slowly draws back and waits for something to happen. Cologne also watches, trying to determine if the herbs are working. After about fifteen seconds... nothing happens. Ranma stops fighting with Ryoga when he notices Cologne staring intently at Akane.

"My lips did not awaken thee..." Kuno says in disappointment. Ryoga also realizes at this moment that his kiss didn't work either. "Try that again and I will hurt you a lot more..." Ranma says to Kuno as he hits him once again. Mousse, who has been rather quiet, moves a few steps over from where he is standing and then pauses for a moment. He has been waiting for a chance to express his feelings for Shampoo and kiss her lips and now that moment is here. Slowly his lips move down and then reach Shampoo's. The moment seems to last forever in Mousse's mind... at least until he felt Ranma pull back on his shirt and drag him to the ground.

"Geez, you guys are all the same..." mumbled Ranma as he shook his head. Cologne, noticing that Shampoo had not woken up at this point either, decides to inform Ranma of his duty. "Ranma, my dear, it is your turn" she spoke with a measure of seriousness and amusement due to Ranma's current situation.

"Huh?" was all the reply that Ranma was able to make. "What do you mean? There has to be some other way!"

Cologne shakes her head and then speaks. "No son-in-law, only your kiss can work. You are the only one to have a real connection with the four women."

Ranma, after being presented with that evidence from Cologne, resigns himself to his fate. He feels uncomfortable, but it seems there is no other way to help out the sleeping women but to kiss them. He is silent for a few moments… and then Cologne speaks again.

"Go on, you are the only one who can possibly awaken these sleeping souls..."

Ranma begins to look at the four sleeping women- trying to decide which girl he wants to kiss first. The Tendo family and his parents start staring at Ranma. He can tell by their looks that they want him to kiss Akane first. Cologne also makes a suggestion and says… "Why don't you start with my great-granddaughter?" Kuno joins the fray next by stating… "My hopes rest with thee, that you may be able awaken my sister from her slumber"

Ranma looks down at the four girls and then has a sweatdrop- he hasn't really kissed anyone before. He looks around and realizes that everyone is staring at him. The pressure is too much for him to handle and he realizes that he needs to be alone to do this...

"Would everyone please leave so I can do this... um..."

Nodoka speaks up next, realizing leaving Ranma alone is in everyone's best interests. "Let's give the boy some time alone here, I'm sure it'll all work out and the girls will be awake in no time" She likes the idea of him being the one that wakes up all of the girls, it makes him seem really manly.

“Good idea, dear…” Genma said, trying to save as much face as possible.

“I think you and I need to talk alone somewhere while Ranma does this…” Nodoka says as Genma cringes in fear, afraid that she’ll gut him with her trusty kitana. Kuno and Ryoga head out of the room first, followed by Cologne and Soun. Nodoka gives her son a reassuring touch on the shoulder before leaving to have a good “talk” with Genma. Nabiki is the next to leave… she has a parting comment for Ranma.

“Go get ‘em, tiger!”

“Damn you, Nabiki!” was Ranma’s immediate response.

Nabiki waves at Ranma as she leaves the room, adding to his anger. Dr. Tofu is the last to leave; he wants to talk with Ranma alone for a moment.

“Take your time, Ranma… there is no rush. They will wake up and be all right…” Ranma nods after Dr. Tofu’s comment.

“Oh… one more thing… you should treat Akane’s wound. Kasumi left some bandages and there’s some water to clean it with. Good luck!”


Part D: Ranma’s Decision(s)


With that, Dr. Tofu leaves the room and closes the door. The silence overcomes Ranma and he stands up and starts pacing around the room nervously…

‘Why me? My life never has a boring moment it seems…’ Ranma looked down at the girls and then had to make a tough call. ‘Who do I kiss first? Whoever I kiss second, third, and fourth may be jealous of the first one… this sucks…’

After a few minutes of deliberation, Ranma comes to a few conclusions. He decides to kiss Akane last… not because he hates her or anything… but so he can treat her wound and not have to worry about anyone capitalizing on her wound. But who would be first? ‘Maybe Uc-chan should be first…’

Ranma nervously sits down next to Ukyo and looks at her for a few moments before speaking softly to himself. "I'm sorry that all of this happened... all of the fights and everything else that is going on... I'm sorry- especially about what happened in the past. I have always thought of you as a friend, my best friend..." With that now off of his chest, he takes a deep breath. ‘Here goes nothing…’ he thinks before kissing Ukyo. Their lips meet and then Ranma pulls away, blushing intensely.

Ukyo's eyes flutter and then open completely and she is surprised to see the ceiling of the Tendo dojo above her. A warm feeling seems to linger on her lips as well as an unfamiliar smell. She strains her mind, thinking about her last memories… all she can remember is getting hit by some dust and then falling asleep. She flutters her eyes and then turns her head to talk to Ranma...

"Ranma-honey... what happened?"

"Well, umm... all of the girls got hit by something and you all fell asleep. Dr. Tofu and Cologne figured out how to wake all of you up again..." Ranma suddenly blushed and become nervous. Ukyo notices his reaction and becomes really curious about how she was able to woken up.

"Ranma, please tell me how you were able to wake me up..." Ukyo said softly in an effort to get Ranma to speak. A very red Ranma begins to mumble a response. "Well, we had to put some herbal paste on your neck, face, and a little on your lips."

"That would explain this weird taste on my lips, but I wonder why my lips feel so warm..."

"That's because of the other part of the cure... I had to..." Ranma pauses and wipes his brow, which now has some sweat on it. Ukyo is very curious by this point in his explanation… she knows that his behavior indicates that he is hiding something from her. She puts on her cutest face and asks him to go on. “Please, Ran-chan… tell me what you did…”

‘Why it’d have to be the pout? She knows me too well… and I can’t keep this from her. She’ll find out if I don’t tell her… probably from Nabiki knowing my luck…’ Ranma takes a deep breath and then tells Ukyo what she needs to know. "I... I... k... kissed you…"

Ukyo looks at Ranma and realizes why he had been blushing so much. She sits up and then smiles at Ranma. She starts to think to herself... 'He does care for me, he kissed me... I wish I could have felt it...'

"Ranma... thank you. Who knows how long I could have been sleeping unless you woke me up." A feeling of happiness overwhelms Ukyo and she expresses her feelings by pulling Ranma into a close hug. Ranma has a sweat drop… he is very glad that no one else is awake to see this- some of his other fiancées would have a fit for sure if they saw this...

"It was nothing, Uc-chan..." Ranma said as he looked into her eyes. Ukyo looks at him silently for a moment. Ranma is worried about what she will say next... and is relieved when he hears what she says next...

"Thank you, Ranma-honey. I owe you one."

Ukyo stands up and looks down at the other three sleeping girls. She starts to walk towards the door and then turns around to speak to Ranma...

"Ranma, tell everyone that I'm okay and that I went home, okay? It's been one hell of a day..."

"Sure, no problem. See yah later."

After Ukyo leaves, Ranma breathes a sigh of relief. ‘One done, three to go… who’s next?’

A few moments later, he comes to the decision that kissing Kodachi next would be okay- ‘I might as well get it over and done with. The sooner the better with her…’ He takes a few deep breaths and then places a kiss on her lips. She awakens rather slowly and then turns her head to look around. Upon spotting Ranma, she smiles and pulls him into a hug and rubs her body against him. Ranma quickly pushes her away and then tries to explain what happened...

"What's the last thing you remember, Kodachi?

"I was going to launch an attack with my ribbon when I suddenly fell asleep and then I woke up here..."

Kodachi looks around and doesn't immediately recognize her surroundings. Ranma notices her confusion and explains to her what happened on the field a short while ago…

"You fell asleep with the other girls out there on the field, Dr. Tofu and Cologne figured out what was wrong with you guys and found a way to wake you up."

"That explains the smell- I can smell the herbs..." she muttered as she rubbed her neck. "I can even taste the stuff on my lips..."

With that, Ranma's face turned a bright red. Kodachi knew something was up and decided to press the issue with Ranma...

"Why are you blushing like that? It's not like you..."

Kodachi stopped as she suddenly realized where the warm feeling on her lips had come from. "You did kiss me, didn't you?" Ranma slowly nods his head, confirming her statement- even though he does not want to. Ranma watches as Kodachi jumps out of the futon and right into his arms. She immediately pins him to ground and lowers herself down on top of him. “Ranma-sama… that was so nice of you… I really appreciate the fact that you cared enough to wake me up…”

Ranma, on the other hand, is not enjoying this sudden show of affection on her part. He is grateful that she is awake and that this will get Kuno off his back, but this reminds him too much of what Shampoo does to him. After Ranma pushes her away, she notices that something is missing...

"You said that all of us were knocked out... where's Ukyo?"

Ranma can only mumble a response, he doesn't want to provoke Kodachi any further. "She... umm... you see... I woke her up first..."

"You kissed her FIRST!? Were my lips not good enough to be the first to be kissed?"
"Well, no... that's not it..." Ranma said as he backed away from Kodachi.

Kodachi looks around and stares at the sleeping Shampoo and Akane. She has a wicked idea and starts to move towards them. Ranma immediately notices and asks what she is doing. Ranma knows that glint in her eye is not a good sign...

"Hey! Step back from Akane and Shampoo!"

"I am going eliminate two of my rivals right now, before you can wake them up. It's bad enough that you already kissed Ukyo, but I won't let you kiss these two peons!"

"Kodachi, I won't let you harm either of them. If you hurt them, I'll never forgive you!"

Ranma takes up a fighting posture and awaits Kodachi's reply. He hopes that she realizes that he is VERY serious about what he just said and that she will back off. Kodachi tries to reason with him as a countermove...

"Ranma-sama, you don't need to protect those of lesser status... you know that you are just perfect for me..."

With that comment, Kodachi starts to engage in her trademark laugh... and Ranma gets even angrier with her. He replies coldly...

"Kodachi Kuno, you are not going to harm either one of them... do you hear me?"

"Why not?"

"Because... because I... I care about them." Ranma blushed slightly after saying that.

"Hmmph. Fine, be that way. I'll just have to beat all three of them in combat then. That'll show you that I am serious about you, Ranma-sama…"

Kodachi heads for the door and then leaves, closing it behind her. Ranma breathes a sigh of relief, grateful that she woke up and is now out of his hair... for now. He looks down at the two sleeping women and thinks to himself... 'Two down, two to go. I guess Shampoo’s next…’

His mind now set, he sits down next to Shampoo and prepares to kiss her. He realizes the irony of the situation... she was the one who was always trying to kiss him- and he has to kiss her to awaken her from her sleep.

After taking a deep breath, he places a kiss on Shampoo's lips and returns to his sitting position next to her. Shampoo slowly awakens and then turns her head to the side. The moment she sees Ranma, a smile forms on her face and she jumps on top of him and pins him to the ground. Ranma has a feeling of déjà vu…

"Shampoo happy to see Ranma"

"I uh... can see that. Would you calm down and listen to me for a moment?" Ranma said as he tried not to stare at the Amazon’s ample bosom that was being pressed again him repeatedly…

Shampoo stops and looks at Ranma, the urgency in his voice brings her back to reality. She flashes him another smile...

"Go on, Ranma... tell Shampoo what you need to say..."

"You and the other girls were knocked out by some kind of sleeping powder, that's why you're here..."

"Okay... Shampoo was wondering why she was in your house." She looks at Ranma, can tell that he needs to say more, and is holding back something. She puts on a cute/sexy face and then speaks softly to Ranma.

"Tell me more, Ranma..."

Ranma, with some slight hesitation, tells her about what he did to wake her up. "You see Shampoo, I had to k... kiss you to wake you. That's why Ukyo and Kodachi aren't here..."

Shampoo is happy about the fact that Ranma kissed her, showing that he cared about her. The fact that two of the other girls were kissed before her, however, irks her to no end. She decides to try and find out why she wasn't first, or at least the second one to be kissed...

"Ranma, why did you kiss Shampoo third?" Shampoo said with a slight bit of anger in her voice.

Ranma doesn’t really have a good answer and curses himself for not thinking of one before kissing her... he should have expected this from her. "Umm... it was nothing personal... I don’t hate you or anything…”

"So you don't think Shampoo is that important?" Shampoo continued to press the issue.

"No, that's not it... you're getting this all wrong..." Ranma waved his hands in front of his body defensively.

"Is okay, Shampoo will prove that she is better then the other girls and show you once and for all how much I care for you..." With that, Shampoo pins Ranma down to the ground and gives him a parting hug.

"You make sure that the others are ready to fight again, tell them Shampoo want to finish our match!"

Ranma nods and then Shampoo stands up. She winks at Ranma and then leaves the room. Ranma is now faced with the toughest assignment yet, waking Akane. ‘Well, only one left to go… and this maybe the hardest kiss to do. We pretend kissed before in that play… but I have to kiss for real here. I was always wondering how her lips would feel after that play… I guess I get to find out now…’ Ranma blushes and looks down at Akane. She has a smile on her face…

“You know, you’re cute when you smile… maybe if I’m lucky I can see you smile more often after this is all over…” Having gotten that off of his chest, he takes some deep breaths and prepares himself for the reaction that he knows will come from her when she awakens. Slowly, he lowers his lips and then they gently meet hers. Ranma takes his lips off of hers and waits for her to wake up... but nothing happens. Getting worried, Ranma gently shakes Akane...

"Come on Akane, wake up... please... Akane…”

After a few moments, she still doesn't wake up. Ranma is getting even more worried with every passing moment, the herbs don't seem to be working...

"You're stubborn even when you're asleep... I better try again..."

Ranma goes in for another kiss, this time giving her a stronger and more passionate kiss. He blushes as he kisses Akane; this kiss was deeper then the ones he gave the others. He is pulling back from Akane when her eyes open and lock on to him...

"Ranma, what are you doing?" Ranma fails to answer before she asks another question. "It looked you just k... kissed me... did you?"

"Um... yeah, I had to..." Ranma said with a mixture of fear and embarrassment… he thought he was ready for her reaction… but was wrong. Akane tries to hit Ranma with a quick punch, but he catches her fist and holds it. "You didn't let me explain..."

"What's to explain? You took advantage of me while I was sleeping!" Akane said in a very angry tone of voice. “Ranma no baka!”

"Akane... what's the last thing you remember? You said that you were going to try and listen to me before jumping to conclusions…" Ranma said quickly, the longer Akane stayed angry, the worse it would be for him. Much to his surprise, he didn’t find himself getting angry with her.

Taking a deep breath, Akane calms down for the time being. She is still angry about the kiss, though part of her wishes she could have felt it and enjoyed it. Pushing that feeling aside for the moment, she thinks about the days' events and tells Ranma about her memories... and curses herself for forgetting that promise to listen to him from earlier that week.

Akane looked around and noticed the three empty futons. "Well, it looked like all of us were going to make a big attack against each and then... nothing. Ranma, what happened to me... and where are the other girls?"

Ranma flinches at that question… Akane would keep pressing the issue until she got an answer. Ranma has no choice but to tell her what she wants to know… he feels guilty, given the feelings he has for her… and he kissed her last. ‘Oh no… I’m doomed…’

Ranma clears his throat and then starts talking. "All four of you got knocked out by some kind of dust. Cologne and Dr. Tofu figured out what was wrong with you guys, it was something called "Sleeping Beauty Sickness" The only way to wake you guys up was to put this special herbal paste on your neck, face, and lips and then..." Ranma stops speaking… what he is about to say could be very painful… for both of them…

"And then... what? Come on, Ranma… tell me…” Akane did not resort to using a special expression like two of her opponents just had, her stare was more then enough to unsettle Ranma and get him to keep speaking.

Ranma cannot help but fidget because of her glance. He knows that he must keep speaking… despite the consequences to himself. "And then...." Ranma blushes and then continues… "You had to... to... be woken up... with a... a… "

Akane’s mind is racing at over a hundred Km an hour as she suddenly realizes why her lips were warm... the “Sleeping Beauty” part tipped her off. “You kissed me!” Akane said with mixed emotions.

Ranma goes on the defensive. “I had to... twice... otherwise...”

Akane responded with a hint of indignance in her voice. “Had to? Was it that bad of a thing... oh I bet you...” Akane stopped and looked around the room again… and remember there were three other beds… but no one in them.

“You pervert! You kissed them too didn't you! Tell me, Ranma!” Akane battle aura flared up, being very visible and almost as strong as it was earlier when she was fighting the other fiancées… Ranma knew he had to calm her down and fast. He remembers too that she was injured… and she could aggravate that very easily if she tries to mallet him or assault him again.

“It's not like I had any choice! Mousse couldn’t wake up Shampoo... and the others couldn’t wake y...” Ranma stopped as he almost said "you up." Akane, however, was able to figure out what he was going to say next and finished his thought.

“Woke me up? Who did... did you let someone else kiss me!” Akane couldn’t believe what had just happened to her. “How dare you! I'm your fiancée… and you let someone else take advantage of me!”

Ranma tries to save face by explaining what happened after the herb was applied. “I tried to stop them! While I was bashing in Kuno's face that jerk Ryoga kissed you first and then when I was beating the hell outta him...”

Akane couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Ryoga kissed me! And so did Kuno! I should KILL YOU RANMA! HOW DARE YOU LET KUNO KISS ME!”

Ranma winces at her words… he knew that she would react… but not this badly.

“I can’t believe it! That moronic idiot actually kissed me! I'm going to have to cut my lips off after that disgusting thing touched me! Ewww!!! I... where's Kuno? I'll rip his lips off... I'LL RIP HIS HEAD OFF!!!! NO I’M GOIN TO RIP HIM INTO TINY SHREDDS OF FLESH AND THEN I AM GOING TO BREAK EVERY BONE IN HIS BODY!!!

Kuno is in the other room and can very easily hear the very vocal Akane Tendo ranting… about him…

“I think my fierce tigress is a bit mad...”

Ryoga cannot help but comment back. “Kuno... she really can’t stand you... if I were you I’d get out of here before she sees you... I mean she only said she couldn't stand me... kissing.... her...” As Ryoga said the last three words he realized that she did not like the thought of being kissed by him either.

Akane continues to yell… even Nodoka’s eyebrows go up at some of the comments she hears over in another part of the house. She cannot help but stop her conversation with her husband to ask- “Is this the girl that you claim he’s in love with?” Genma can only nod his head.

Over in the kitchen, Kasumi cannot help but say “Oh my…” Her sister hasn’t been this vocal about anything in a long time…

Back in the dining room, Nabiki looks over at Doctor Tofu and notices that he is looking rather pale at the things Akane was describing... if she even carried out half those threats then there would be no hope of him getting Kuno back together again. Kuno for his part was looking pale… to the point of being green... and it wasn’t from envy.

Soun coughed from beside Kuno. “I think it would be best if she did not see you when she comes though that door… which could be at any moment…”

“Huh...? I oh...”

Kuno suddenly heard a rather loud sound that he knew was Akane stomping... even from here he could hear the floor cracking under the force of her stomps. Letting out a very little eep... Kuno made a rush for the exit. As he ran off into the distance he yelled... “I shall return for you my fierce tigress... right after you calm down and no longer wish to rip my personage apart with thine bare hands!”

“I think you should leave now as well… or my sister might take out her anger on you instead…” Nabiki said as she looked at Ryoga. He nodded and couldn’t help but feel sad about the fact that he had to leave. ‘At least she’s awake and okay… just like the other three… I’ll try and talk to her later, after she calms down…’
Ryoga grabs his umbrella and heads out… but doesn’t get far before he gets wet. He crawls under his umbrella and has one thought right away… ‘Today just isn’t my day…’

Back in the guest room, Ranma has finally managed to get Akane to calm down a little. His pleads are beginning to get through to her… he had already dodged two mallet strikes and didn’t want to chance a third attack.

“Look Akane, for the last time, I didn’t mean to offend you by kissing you last…” He digs up an old saying he heard before and tries to use it to calm Akane down some more. “Isn’t there a saying that says you save the best for last?”

Akane reacted very carefully to his statement. “So… you’re saying… that I’m the best of the four girls? Tell me, Ranma…” She looks at Ranma with a new expression, one of curiosity and hope that he’ll say something good in response.

“Eep… what I meant is…” Ranma looked at Akane, who was hanging off of his every word. ‘Damn me and my big mouth… but I think I can try and answer her without being too embarrassed… I think…’

“Is what?” Akane moved a little closer to Ranma, the closeness of her person to his was beginning to unnerve him a little.

“I umm…” Giving up on what he was going to say, Ranma instead tries to change the subject. “I think I’d better clean up that shoulder wound before you hurt yourself…”

Akane instinctively touched her should and winced as the pain flowed through her body. He knew that he changed the subject on purpose… but he had a point.

“Okay…” Akane looks next to the futon and notices that there is water and bandages already there. ‘Kasumi must have set this up…’ She looks at her gi and notices several minor tears scatter throughout it… but it’s the tear on her shoulder that worries her the most. ‘That hoop must have hit me pretty good…’

Ranma realizes that she needs to take off her gi to treat the wound properly… but doesn’t want to suggest it because she may call him a pervert and get riled up again. He decides to make her think about doing it. Dabbling a little water onto a wash cloth, he gently starts to wash away some of the dried blood on her shoulder…

Akane watches what he’s doing and feels happy that he’s helping her. After about a minute, however, the main wound is cleaned up and Ranma is trying to get some of the outer part cleaned, despite the fabric of her gi being in the way. “Oww! Watch it! That hurt!”

“Look, it’s the best I can do…” Ranma said as he tried to indirectly lead her to make the decision to take off her gi.

“Well, I don’t need to get an infection… hold on a second…” Akane said as she turned her body to the side. Pulling the blanket over her body, she starts to undo her gi. “You better not peek, Ranma…”

“Look, who…” Ranma quickly stop himself from making a comment about her looks. ‘Why does she always make it so hard? I’m not a pervert like she makes me out to be…’

Ranma hears Akane gasp as the blood stained gi is thrown off to the side. “What’s wrong?”

Akane looks down again just to make sure she isn’t delusional. When she had gotten dressed this morning, she had put on white panties and a matching bra… after checking again; she realizes that both are missing…

“Akane, what’s…”

“I’m missing something… something important…”

“Umm…” Ranma thought about it and realized a moment later what the could mean… she only would have her bottom pants and her underwear on… and the pants she still had on…

“How in the hell could my underwear be missing? No one…” Akane said, furious about losing yet another pair of underwear.

“No, no one did anything like that… I’ve been watching you and the other girls the whole time you were here…” Ranma said quickly to try and keep Akane from going ballistic.

“Then it must have happened when we got knocked out… did you see Happosai around at all today?” Akane said as she drew a conclusion… and for once Ranma was glad that it was the right one. He was afraid that she would accuse him of stealing her underwear, improbable as that may be.

“No, haven’t seen him at all. He’s been gone since Nabiki and I kicked him out of the house…” Ranma said while thinking about the fight itself. ‘It still could have been him, though, this looks something he would do…’

“I guess we’ll have to investigate further…” Akane said as she lied down on her front side under the blanket. Her bare back felt tight… ‘Probably from all the muscle movement I had to do today…’ She clears her throat and looks at Ranma. “Ranma… you can take off that blanket…”

Ranma hesitates for a moment but then pulls off the blanket. Akane’s naked back is right in front of him… he cannot help but stare for a moment. Akane brings him back to his senses.

“Come on, Ranma… I don’t have all day here…”

“Oh… sorry…” Ranma said as he started to clean the rest of her shoulder wound. He prepares the bandage and gently puts in over the cut, to avoiding hurting Akane anymore. She turns her head after he finishes and smiles at him, appreciating the way he was dealing with her.

“Thank you, Ranma…”

“Umm… no problem…” Ranma said as he fought off the urge to blush.

Akane crawls back under the blanket and sighs aloud. Ranma gets up and heads for the door…

“I’ll be right back…”

Akane patiently waits for Ranma to return. When he does, he is holding a white shirt in his hands.

“I’d figured umm… since your gi here got torn and bloody that you’d need something to wear right now…”

“Thank you Ranma…” Akane said as she took the shirt and put it on while she was under the blanket. She tries to stand up but feels a bit woozy for some reason. Her blood pressure had yet to return to normal.

“Umm… about that kiss…” Ranma wanted to talk to her about that- it was the last thing he really needed to discuss with her in private.

“Look, we’ll talk about that later, I’m hungry and I wanna see my father and sisters…” Akane said as she tried to maintain her balance. Ranma extends his hand out and she moves to grab it… but doesn’t make it and instead falls on top of Ranma. Akane feels something warm and soft pressing against her lips… and realizes that her lips are against his. ‘So this is what kissing him is like… it feels… good…’

Akane has a reflex action a moment later and gets off of Ranma. She looks down at him and finds him stunned and sporting a dazed expression… as though he has just tasted heaven. With a very light bounce to her step, she starts walking towards the door. ‘Ranma kissed me... three times… and the 3rd time I got to enjoy it... Akane’s face turns very red as she thinks about how much she enjoyed it. With a sudden surge of energy, she opens the door and hears a collection of gasps.

Nabiki and Soun immediately notice Akane’s red face and immediately think that she is still angry. Both duck for cover and then notice something else… Ranma is on the floor in the other room... with a dazed look on his face. Nabiki and Soun assume that she laid him out good... with a punch or something... little do they know... she laid him out all right… but by her lips.

A well hidden Nabiki speaks up from across the room... "Sis, the other girls want a rematch..."

“A rematch? They'll get one all right! I have my honor and the family name to defend!" Akane said confidently, full of an energy she had never expected to have in her. ‘If I win… I’ll get to kiss him again… and show those girls that Akane Tendo never backs down from a fight. Problem is… I need something very unorthodox to win… like some secret techniques that those three won’t expect…’

Kasumi comes into the room and gives her little sister a hug; feeling very glad about her recovery. She looks over in the other room and notices Ranma sprawled out on the floor…

“Oh my… what happened to Ranma?”

“He ummm… fell and must have hit his head…” Akane prayed that her story would be believable… she didn’t want to talk about the kiss… especially with Nabiki around.

“I’ll see if Ranma is okay… why don’t you take a nice hot bath and relax? I’ll make some lunch for you, so come to the kitchen when you’re done with your bath… ” Kasumi said as she walked over to Ranma. Akane nods her head and heads upstairs.

‘It’s been a long day… and I need to relax… and think…’ Akane thought to herself as she grabbed some new clothes and headed into the bathroom to enjoy a nice, long bath. Kasumi brings Ranma back to reality with a couple of shakes…

“Ranma, wake up…”

“Oh, huh? Kasumi…” Ranma said as he gently touched his lips. ‘Akane fell on me… and kissed me… again?’

“Is something wrong, Ranma?” Kasumi said, wondering about what he just did.

“Oh, it’s nothing…” Ranma notices Akane’s bloodstained gi in the corner of his eye and sighs aloud. Kasumi notices what he’s looking at and picks it up off of the ground.

“Ranma… I told you my sister cared for you… she went through all of that training… and even got herself injured for you. Look at this gi…” Kasumi looked at Ranma and notices the sad expression on his face.

“I guess… I guess you were right…” Ranma said softly. “She gave it all for me…”

Kasumi sits down next to Ranma and then speaks again. “I’ve never seen her excited about something… and so willing to fight. She spent that whole week training with our fathers… she wouldn’t have done that if she didn’t want be with you…”

“Yeah… she was being serious about her martial arts…” Ranma conceded.

Kasumi hears her father call her a moment later. She stands up and starts to head out of the room. “Ranma… if you want to talk about this later, just ask…”

Ranma watches as Kasumi walks out of the room and softly says to himself- “Maybe I will…”

To be continued in Part 4: Return of the Happosai/One Week

I hope you enjoyed this chapter- this is the longest fanfiction chapter I’ve ever written. 13,000 words is quite a bit… even for me. Next chapter will deal with what the girls decide to do and with Happy’s return. Please R & R!