Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction ❯ Return Of The Sisters ❯ Chapter 1

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Imported From: RAAC
"David A. Tatum" <desaix@sysnet.net>


This series isn't QUITE finished, but I'm close enough to ending it that I
thought I could start posting it to the RAAC. I'll be posting chapters
every other week (I'll send them in every other Monday, though when they
actually show up depends on the moderator) and should be finished before I
get to the parts I haven't written yet. (I've completed the first 10
chapters and have significant amounts of the last four written. I suspect
I can finish this thing in 20 weeks...) I also have a few sequels for this
planned out, a series entitled 'Families Divided,' for one, and have some
side stories planned as well... all will be released in time.


Ranma 1/2: The Return of the Sisters
by David A. Tatum

Disclaimer: Ranma 1/2 obviously does not belong to me, but I do ask its
creator, Rumiko Takahashi, and anyone else who owns the copyright on it,
that they not sue me for what I feel is simple tribute to the fabulous
world they have created. If you do decide to sue me, realize I'm a third
year college student who is a journalism major and a creative writing
minor- so I'm a broke kid with no real prospects for employment....

Author's Notes: A while back, The Eternal Lost Lurker sent a couple of his
discontinued stories to the FFML looking for someone to pick them up.
Well, I picked this one up, and ran with it. I decided to keep what he
wrote word for word, and write around it. I wasn't planning to put my
trademark character, Desaix, into this fic- I figured I wouldn't have a
spot for him. Then I came up with one, and so I guess I need to warn you
that this is NOT in either the continuum of 'The Big Guy,' which is a
collection of prequels written or currently being written that are linked
with a much larger fanfic which is about a third of the way through (60+
pages currently). This is ALSO not in the continuum of my just completed
'The Second Charlotte Cup,' which ALSO uses my trademark character Desaix.
Sorry if this causes any confusion... Oh, and if you AREN'T a Ranma\Akane
matchup fan, then I suggest you not read my major works (and I'm going to
consider this one of them, I suppose). If possible, I will put them
together... (any evidence of said relationship in this fic was NOT the
Lurker's idea- or if it was, he didn't tell me about it). I've made it
about 1/3 Ranma\Akane WAFF, 1/3 Dark-As-I-Can-Make-It, and 1/3 Action and
Fighting, so hopefully there is something in there for everyone who reads
it (of course, how it turns out is anybody's guess). By the way, as with
all good epics, I begin this story 'en media res,' so as to NOT have all of
the Lurker's work be at the beginning...

Chronological Notes (kept separate for those people who NEVER read author's
notes):
The Lurker didn't say when he set it. Obviously, this takes place some
time after the events in 'Akane and Her Sisters,' though how long after
(or, for that matter, where that actually fits in the manga) is debatable.
Considering I don't want to mess around with the differences in timelines
between manga and anime (I use a manga\anime mesh), I'll just set this some
time after the last manga.

On with the story...
------------------------------
Prolog:

Ranma stoked the camp fire. 'Five... four... three... two... one... go!'
In a flash, his hands moved in and out, each one holding about a dozen
chestnuts.

"They're ready, Akane!" He shouted in the direction of the tent, placing
them in the tin pan that was part of his mess kit.

"Be right out!"

Ranma gawked at her as she left the tent wearing just a VERY flimsy
nightgown, with obviously nothing underneath the translucent material.
Then he remembered- 'Oh, yeah... this is our honeymoon... she's supposed to
wear stuff like that for me...' Then he smirked, remembering how they had
decided a trip through the woods would probably be more private than the
dojo, and more romantic than a motel. His reflections were distracted by
Akane grabbing the plate and counting the number of chestnuts.

"Ack!" Ranma cried as he was jostled by Akane. Recovering his balance, he
looked back at his new wife. "Why're you counting, Akane? The bag had
twenty-eight chestnuts in it."

She frowned. "But I only see twenty seven here..." A loud popping sound
came from the fire, and a chestnut piece went flying between them.
"Aaaaagh!" Akane shouted, narrowly dodging one flaming fragment. "You
baka! You left a chestnut in there, and now it's ruined. Oh, well- it'll
just have to come out of your half- I get fourteen, and you get thirteen."
Ranma looked down in mock distress. Akane laughed. A gleam came into her
eye. "Tell you what, Ranma... I'll split that thirteenth chestnut with
you... but you have to come get it." She placed one of the chestnuts in
her teeth, leaving enough of it out for Ranma to grab onto with his own.

Ranma got the idea right away- though he was a bit nervous about it, and
Akane wasn't holding the chestnut quite right for what she had in mind.
After some fumbling, however, they were soon locked in a chestnut-induced
kiss. Akane's arms, running along Ranma's back, slowly worked their way
around and started to unbutton his silk shirt. Before things could go any
further, however, Ranma broke away, startling Akane.

"Akane... I don't think I'm ready for this just yet..."

Tears started forming in Akane's eyes. "Wha... what? But I... you...
we... we're MARRIED... and it's all right for us to..."

Ranma panicked. If there was anything that inspired more fear in him than
cats, it was a girl crying, and it was even worse if that girl was Akane.
"Akane- calm down. That's not what I meant... please, calm down, Akane..."
He tried to hold her.

"NO!" Akane shouted, tearing away from him. "If you don't want me, fine.
But quit acting like you care, if you don't."

She jumped up and was about to leave, but Ranma grabbed her shoulder before
she could.

"Akane, please... listen-" He was cut off as Akane tried to smack him with
a powerful right cross. Ranma blocked, thinking 'She really is upset- she
didn't even think to use something better than a simple boxing move to hit
me with.' He caught her other shoulder and turned her to him, not letting
her go despite her struggling. "Akane, please, calm down and hear what I
have to say- please, I don't want you to think that I don't love you,
please... listen to me. Akane... AKANE, I LOVE YOU! Please, calm down and
hear me out first." Akane stopped struggling- she still wasn't used to him
saying that. 'He just said that he... he... loves me!'

'Thank god,' Ranma thought. 'I knew she'd listen to that.'

"Ranma... if you love me, and I l... l... love you, and we're MARRIED, than
what's the problem?"

Ranma sighed, letting one arm go. "Akane, it's nothing about you. I'm
just not sure I'm ready for what'll happen if we do."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Well, you know the mess that's happened to us the last nine months... how
much suffering we and our friends have gone through. I don't want to have
to go through that again so soon, you know?"

Akane's mood lifted a little. "Oh, is that all?" She giggled a little,
though her mood was affected by the memories of what happened. "Well, for
one thing, you don't need to worry about that- I've got protection... I
went on the pill when we decided on a wedding date. Second, if it weren't
for that 'mess,' you and I never would have found out how we felt about
each other. And finally, I doubt if most pregnancies are quite so...
hectic... as that one was...."



-------------------------
Chapter 1: Natsume's WHAT?

Nine months earlier...

Another summer morning was proceeding at its usual pace at the
Tendou residence. Kasumi had just laid breakfast out on the table,
Saotome Genma was busily pouring his miso soup down his throat,
Tendou Souun picked at his breakfast as he read the morning newspaper,
Nabiki fiddled with her abacus as she ate, and Ranma and Akane sat
silently, for a change, simply eating and not arguing. Of course,
tranquil scenes like this rarely last long without some form of
interruption.

There was a knock at the door. Kasumi rose to greet their guests.
"Good morning...oh, hello again! It's been such a long time!" she
said cheerfully. Everyone at the table turned to see who had come to
visit.

Two girls walked into the family room. One was tall, wearing a dark
blue dress, her long black hair pulled up in a somewhat traditional
style, bound stiffly by a strip of white cloth, flowing freely down
her back from the top. Her face, which served to make her look more
mature than her apparent age would suggest, was currently contorted
into an irritated scowl, which was aimed at the other girl.

The second girl of the pair, rather short, and quite young in
appearance, wore a simple sailor-fuku, her dark hair tied back with a
long red ribbon. She was hanging onto the older girl as though
supporting her.

"I told you, I'm FINE, Kurumi!" snapped the older. "You don't have
to treat me like I'm going to fall apart at any second!"

The younger girl, Kurumi, if affected by the harsh tone with which
the other spoke, gave no indication of anything other than worry.
"I'm only looking out for you, Natsume," she said gently.

Everyone at the table smiled. Souun stood, and moved to greet the
two girls. "Well now, welcome! It's been such a long time since we
last saw you two!"

Natsume and Kurumi bowed, Kurumi still holding onto her older
sister. Natsume flashed her a glare which was ignored. "It is good to
see you again as well, sir," Natsume said.

Ranma and Akane stood before the pair, both smiling. "Hello you
two! How've you been?" Akane asked.

"We've been well, thank you," Natsume said. Kurumi's expression
indicated that her sister wasn't giving the whole story.

"So, what brings you back?" Ranma asked. "Come for a rematch from
last time?" Akane smiled. While at the time of their last visit
things had been rather tense, and the conditions of their last
meeting weren't the most amicable, no hard feelings remained over the
battle for the Tendou training hall.

Kurumi frowned. "Actually...we were hoping you might be able to
help us..."

Akane furrowed her brow. "What's wrong?"

Kasumi gently guided everyone to the table. "Come, sit, we're just
having breakfast...you two must be hungry."

Once everyone was served, only Nabiki noticed that Kurumi slid half
her breakfast onto Natsume's plate, which earned a quick glare from
the elder sister.

"So," Souun said as he sipped his tea, "You say you've come to ask
for help. What seems to be the trouble?"

"Well..." Kurumi began. Natsume cut her off.

"Sir, we were hoping perhaps you might allow us to stay here for a
while."

Souun nodded. "Of course, of course. Living on the road is never
easy."

"Especially now," Kurumi said. Natsume fired her a glare that would
have been hard to miss.

"Is...something wrong?" Akane asked. "You seem to be on edge,
Natsume..."

Natsume frowned, and forced a smile. "I'm...it's nothing," she
said.

"Natsume...you might as well tell them. It's not like you can hide
it or anything, you know." Everyone traded puzzled glances. Natsume
grimaced, then nodded.

"Hey, what's goin' on?" Ranma asked.

Kurumi took a deep breath, and said, "This is going to come as a
shock, but...the reason we need a place to stay for a while is
because..." She paused. Natsume nodded, and she continued. "Well, you
see...Natsume is...is with child."

The Tendous and Saotomes fell into a stunned silence.

Kasumi was the first one to break that silence, with her typical response
of "Oh, my!"

"With... child?" Souun asked gutturally. "As in... pregnant?" Natsume
and Kurumi both nodded. "A- are you..."

"No, she's not married," Kurumi said.

"Who's the father? We can at least get him to pay for the hospital bills,"
Nabiki asked.

"Er..." Natsume began. "I- I'm not sure."

Except for Nabiki, all of the Tendous and Saotomes facefaulted. Nabiki
knew of such things happening to girls of Natsume's age before- frequently,
a girl who had gotten into 'trouble' came to Nabiki for help in getting a
secret abortion- but even she was a little stunned that someone like
Natsume would let such a thing happen to her.

"How did it happen?" She asked. It wasn't quite in her usual
business-like tone of voice, but it was at least she didn't put TOO much
emotion into it. Her reputation for being imperturbable had to be
maintained.

Kurumi frowned. "Isn't that getting a LITTLE too personal?"

Natsume sighed. "I don't need my little sister to protect me, Kurumi.
Besides, they have a right to know." She turned to Nabiki. "About two or
three weeks ago, we were still searching for our parents, as we have been
since before we were six years old. Having found that your father, Souun
Tendou, was not the one we sought, we no longer have any leads to assist us
in our quest. I was dwelling on this point, sitting in a... bar...."

Akane blinked. "A bar? How much older than me are you?"

Natsume squirmed. "I'm... eighteen."

"But I thought you had to be twenty to legally get a drink in a bar?" Ranma
said carelessly. Akane elbowed him hard and shushed him. Nabiki smirked.
She knew where this was going.

"You do... I was drinking illegally."

"Oh, my," Kasumi said again. There really wasn't much else for anyone to
say.

Natsume coughed. "Anyway, I was sitting in a bar, and got rather drunk. A
young man approached me... I doubt he was in the bar legally either, but
from the look of things the bouncers were too afraid of him to do anything
about it. I looked familiar to him, and he to me, and we began talking
about... nothing in particular..." She smiled sadly in recollection.

"I would recognize him," Kurumi interrupted. "I know I've seen him before-
I think I, er, borrowed some food from him before."

Natsume shot a look at her sister that quickly silenced the younger
sibling. "Somehow, the talking came around to why we had come to the bar
in the first place. For him, it was because he had just had a major
argument with his fiancee, and was worried that their engagement was over.
For me, it was a regret that... between my search for Kurumi's and my
parents and our martial arts training, I'd left myself no time for...
matters of the heart." Nabiki nodded in recognition. Ranma, ever so
briefly, glanced at Akane with a worried look on his face, but no-one
caught it save Kurumi, who had no reason to think it out of the ordinary.
"One thing let to another," Natsume continued, "And... well, you can
probably guess the rest. In his drunken state, all he wanted was revenge
on his fiancee, and I, in my drunken state, wanted some... companionship.
After a week or two, I started getting sick in the mornings. I was
recovering from these bouts after only a short time, but it still worried
Kurumi, so I went to see a doctor. The doctor told us that I was pregnant,
and that's when Kurumi and I decided to return here, to where the closest
things we have ever had to a... to a family... lived."

Silence rained for a few seconds. Surprisingly, it was Souun who broke it.
"Well, of course you're family... In fact, if you want, I'll make it
official by adopting you two."

Akane and Nabiki gasped. Ranma blinked. Genma started examining his long
time friend, wondering if there was any physical evidence of what caused
the sudden loss of his sanity. Even Kasumi didn't seem entirely
comfortable with the idea.

Natsume and Kurumi both noted the reaction of the assembled clans. "Er,
that isn't necessary," Natsume began. "I would rather keep hope of meeting
my real father one day."

Many of the assembled company gave out a sigh of relief. "Then at least
let me be your foster father until you are able to search for him again,"
Souun begged, once again throwing everyone else in the room for a loop.

Natsume saw no polite way to refuse, however, and so nodded tiredly. "Very
well... father." She and Kurumi, after the tension had broken from the
awkward semi-adoption, were soon made as comfortable as possible by their
new family.

* * * * *

Nodoka arrived home later that day, and met Ranma practicing a kata at the
gate. "Ranma!" she waved.

Ranma broke out of his form and walked over to great his mother. "Hello,
Aun... mom. Nice to see you! You missed something very... interesting.
Where've you been all day?"

She smiled. "Looking over the repairs to our house. In a couple of weeks
time, Ranma, we'll be able to move back! Won't that be wonderful?"

Ranma's face fell a little at the thought of moving out. "Yeah...
wonderful."

Nodoka appeared oblivious to this, however. "So, what was so interesting
that I missed?"

Ranma shrugged. "Oh, Mr. Tendou took in a couple of new foster-daughters,
that's all."

Nodoka facefaulted. "He did what?"

"He took in a couple of new foster daughters. I told you about Natsume and
Kurumi, right?" She nodded. "Well, they finally returned, but not to
challenge me and Akane for the dojo but to get some help with a... little
problem... Natsume's having."

Nodoka considered carefully. "What problem is it that she's having?"

Ranma started to say something, but then closed his mouth, and looked
around. 'Hmm,' he thought. 'Probably not the best of things to be talking
about in a public street.' He gestured Nodoka inside. "Perhaps you'd
better ask HER that. I'm not entirely sure she would want me to discuss
this sort of thing out here." Nodoka's eyes became slivers.

"Very well. Can you take me to her, then?"

* * * * *

"...and that's how it happened," Natsume finished. Nodoka was sitting by
her as she rested on the futon she had been given. Souun had already
ordered a new bed to be delivered, but it wouldn't be able to arrive until
later that week.

"There, there, child," Nodoka patted her shoulder comfortingly. "Don't
worry- there are plenty of things we can do, especially in this day and
age. If you want, I can take you to a nice, out of the way clinic where-"

Natsume flared in anger. "NO! This is my baby, I'm not getting rid of
it!"

Nodoka smiled. "That's nice, dear. I was going to say 'where we can get
you a thorough check-up,' but it's good to here you're planning on becoming
a mother." Natsume looked down, embarrassed. Nodoka smiled, and patted
her again. "Now, is there anything else I or... our family can do to help
you?"

"As a matter of fact..."

* * * * *

"Ranma?" Nodoka approached her son, once again practicing a kata in the
dojo.

"Yes, mother?"

"I was just talking with Natsume." Ranma nodded- he had been expecting
that. "I asked her if there was anything we could do for her... and she
asked if we could continue searching for her parents. She wants to find
out who her family is before she gives birth. Could you possibly... try
and find them?"

That, Ranma was not expecting. "Uh... how? I wouldn't know where to
begin..."

Nodoka smiled. "You probably know as much as they do- they know nothing at
all."

Ranma sighed. He still wasn't really comfortable around his mother- he
never knew what she might consider 'unmanly.' He'd better do what she
said, just to be safe. Besides, she seemed rather insistent on it. "Okay,
mom, just give me some time to prepare..."



Until the next chapter...



-------------------------
Chapter 2: The Journeys Begin
Note: I use Utchan to refer to Ukyou's restaurant, and Ucchan to as
Ranma's nickname for her, to keep the two separate. This is essentially a
pointless gesture, as the name of the restaurant is supposed to be spelled
the same as Ukyou's nickname, but I use it as a writers tool, to keep the
two sorted out.

Akane lay down on her bed, reading her mother's cookbook again. She smiled
to herself. 'Ranma will be sure to like this recipe!' She was startled by
a tap on the window. Looking up, she saw Ranma hanging off the roof by his
feet again. 'I wish he'd stop doing that...'

"What're you doing there, Ranma!?" Akane shouted, opening the window. "How
many times do I have to tell you to NOT COME IN MY WINDOW!"

Ranma sighed, still hanging on the roof. "Akane, I want to ask you... a
couple of things. Can I come in?"

'He's so uncertain about this- is he going to...' Akane wondered. "Uh,
yeah, okay. Come on in, Ranma..." She backed away from the window to
allow him a path inside. He flipped his way inside and turned towards her.

"Akane... I need your help..." The hopeful glint left Akane's eyes, but
Ranma failed to notice. "My mom has asked me to go on a trip to look for
Natsume's parents, and I don't know where to start. Have you got any
ideas?"

Akane huffed a little. This was definitely not what she was expecting. He
was LEAVING her? And he had the gall to ask her for help doing so? "So,
you're leaving?" she asked calmly and sweetly- it was so fun getting him to
let his guard down right before malleting him.

Ranma freaked. She'd tried that trick one too many times. Even so, he had
no idea what she was so mad about. "Uh... not exactly..."

That answer confused Akane enough to stop her- for a little while, anyway.
"Huh? What do you mean by 'not exactly?'"

Ranma shifted uncomfortably. "Well, see, I agreed to make the trip because
I was worried that my mom would think it 'unmanly' to refuse. I don't WANT
to go... but since I have to, I don't want to go alone. See, the other
thing I wanted to ask you is if you would go with me..."

"R- ranma?"

Ranma panicked. "Uh, don't get the wrong idea or nothing- I just don't
wanna have to take my lousy pop around with my, and anyone else who I know
of who is used to camping would either try to kill me or marry me..."

Akane sighed. "How long do you think this trip would take?"

Ranma shrugged. "If I don't finish in about nine months, I'll come on
home. Mom said Natsume wanted to know something about her family before
she started one of her own, but if that becomes impossible than I should
just try and get back home to see if there was anything else we could do to
help her with her child."

"Nine months? That's a long time..." Akane weighed nine months on the
road with Ranma traveling across all of Japan against nine months of
dealing with Kunou and her classmates in school without Ranma. "I guess
so, though."

* * * * *

Ranma entered the Utchan and sat down in front of her grill. "Hi, Ucchan,"
he rose his hand in greeting.

"Hey, Ranchan! The usual?" He nodded. She flipped him a deluxe
okonomiyaki, which he slowly started nibbling. Ukyou noticed that he
wasn't devouring his food as quickly as usual, and got a little worried.
"Is something wrong with the food?"

"No, the food's fine..." He sighed. "I'm about to leave on a long trip,
and wanted to savor what's probably the last good piece of food I'll have
for quite some time."

Ukyou nearly dropped her spatula. "You're leaving me? Why?"

Ranma smiled sadly. Shampoo had reacted exactly the same way. "Look, you
remember that pair of sisters you and Shampoo tried to train Akane to
fight?" Ukyou nodded guiltily- she wasn't exactly trying to TRAIN Akane
then, but she knew who he was talking about. "Well, they're back, and...
well... one of them is pregnant... and unmarried." Ukyou gasped. "They're
staying with us now, and they asked if we could look for their parents, so
that they'll know something of their family before the baby is born. So,
I'm going out to search..."

Ukyou got a glint in her eye. "Are you sure you don't want me to go with
you to keep you... company?"

Ranma shook his head. "That's okay. Akane's going with me, and-"

"What?! You would rather go on a trip with Akane than with me?!" She
raised her spatula menacingly.

Ranma gulped. "Uh... not really." Then a fire appeared in his eyes which
startled Ukyou- he'd never looked at her that way, before, except right
after the wedding incident. "I just can't trust you and Shampoo enough to
leave her here without me."

Ukyou blinked. "What do you mean by that?"

"If you're willing to bomb my wedding while I'm right there to stop you,
you might do anything while I'm not."

Tears started to form in Ukyou's eyes- they'd never talked about it, and so
she had assumed that he didn't mind what she had done at the wedding.
"Wha... I only did it because I thought-"

"It doesn't matter why you did it- you could have hurt LOTS of people. If
it were just that incident, however, I wouldn't mind too much- but it's
more. Remember tearing apart my house? You could have hurt my mom doing
that! In fact, there are lots of things you've done recently that have
made it hard to trust you. You're still my best friend, but I no longer
can risk leaving Akane alone because of you." Ranma sighed, breathing
deeply to try to regain control of his emotions. "Look, Ucchan, that's not
why I came here...I didn't want to yell at you. I wanted to ask you, like
I did Shampoo, if you would stop by the Tendou's and see if you can help
take care of Natsume any."

Ukyou tried to blink away the tears. "Natsume? Is she that sister who..."
Ranma nodded. "Of course I will." Ranma finished his okonomiyaki and
turned to leave. "Oh, and Ranchan?" He glanced back. "I'm sorry..." He
smiled and nodded, then bounded out of the restaurant.

* * * * *

"But WHY won't you let me come with you?"

Ryouga smiled at Akari. "Don't worry about it, Akari. I just want a
chance to talk privately with Ranma and Akane about something."

"But I'd be able to get you there so much faster! You know you'll just get
lost again!"

"I know," he sighed. "I want some time to prepare myself for what I have
to say to those two. After I have my talk with them, and invite everyone
to our upcoming wedding, I'll get someone to lead me back here. I won't be
gone too long, I hope." Akari sighed as well. Ryouga smiled at her again.
He grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her close, giving her a very
passionate kiss. It had taken a lot of practice, but recently he had
finally conquered that stupid nosebleed problem which had plagued him so
much. Since then, he and Akari had never been closer. "Farewell, Akari.
I'll be back soon, I hope..."

* * * * *

Ranma walked up to Genma and Souun playing their usual game of shogi.
"Say, where's Happosai?"

"You didn't know? I thought I told you last week!" Genma asked.

"The Master has left us to travel to Osaka for a few months. He mentioned
something about visiting Lukkosai," Souun said, still studying the shogi
board. "Why, may I ask?"

"Remember that Akane and I are going to be searching for Natsume and
Kurumi's parents?" Genma and Souun nodded. They had already been severely
pounded for celebrating too much and for teasing Ranma and Akane about
eloping when they had announced that they were planning to take this trip,
and weren't going to make that mistake again- at least not this time.
"Akane figured that Happosai would be the one most likely to point us in
the right direction- he was the only one who we could think of who might
have known their parents, as he knew them before the rest of us."

"Well, that's good thinking." Genma didn't even look up, as he was
pondering how to respond to Souun's latest move.

"Are you going to need any money?" Souun asked.

"Um... well, if we need to go to Osaka first, I guess we do..." Souun
nodded and reached into his pocket.

"Here's fifty thousand yen... It won't be enough, but that is all I can
afford right now. You might be able to afford train tickets and a place to
sleep with this, however."

Ranma nodded. "It'll be enough."

Souun turned back to his game and blinked at what he saw. "How..."

* * * * *

Akane, still packing, heard a knock on her door. "Come in!"

The door slid open and Ranma walked in. "I'm ready to go, how about you?"

Akane looked up, shocked. "Ranma, you used the door!"

"Uh, yeah, I suppose I did." Akane laughed at his expression. "By the
way, it looks like we'll be traveling by train for the first leg of our
journey."

"Oh?" Akane said, blushing as she stashed a pair of her polka-dotted
panties into her bag. "What did Happosai have to say?"

"He's not here- he's visiting Lukkosai in Osaka. So we're off to Osaka to
find him. Your father gave me money for the train tickets there."

"What are we going to do if Happosai doesn't know anything? Or doesn't
remember anything?"

Ranma shrugged. "I dunno. We'll deal with that when we come to it... but
I've got a feeling that Happosai will at least send us on the right track,
at least. I've had it since you mentioned that photo." Akane nodded.

"When do we leave?"

"As soon as you're ready."

"Well, I'm ready now." Akane pulled the drawstring closed on her backpack
and tied it closed.

"Whoa, wait a minute. Let's do a checklist first. Do you have your
sleeping bag? Your tent?" Akane nodded after each. "Thermos? Mess kit?
Rain gear? Snow gear? Athletic gear?"

"Athletic gear?"

"Just making sure you were paying attention. Pocket travel guide for
Osaka? Maps? Compass? Hmm, what else..."

"Oh, don't worry about me, Ranma. I remembered everything. Come on, let's
go."

Ranma sighed. "Okay, just let me grab my bags, then we'll say good-bye to
our folks and we're outta here."

* * * * *

Ranma and Akane sat across from each other on the train. Akane just kept
staring out the window, watching the countryside pass by. Ranma, on the
other hand, was either napping or surreptitiously glancing at Akane.

At one point, Akane turned back to Ranma, irritated. "What are you looking
at?"

"N-nothing."

"You've been trying to sneak glances of me this whole trip. What's up?
Have I got something on my chin? Are my clothes on crooked? Do I have a
pimple? What?"

"Nothing like that... I was just thinking. This trip could- and probably
will- take close to nine months to complete. I know from experience that
nine months of straight travel gets AWFULLY boring, so I was wondering...
would you like for me to train you a bit while we travel? That way, if
this thing DOES go to nine months, we'll at least be able to have turned
you into one of the upper echelon of martial artists."

"Hey, I'm already a competent martial artist!"

Ranma smiled condescendingly, which angered Akane. "Of course you are," he
said. "But not in the way you really need to be... not for one on one
match ups." Akane blinked, her anger at him once again assuaged.

"What do you mean by that?"

Ranma smirked. "Akane, you are a very good martial artist. Throw in some
chi attacks, and you'd almost be as good as I am... but you can't handle
fighting duels. Apparently, all that your father taught you were
techniques designed to handle situations where you are heavily outnumbered.
Just look at all of the fights between the boys as school when I first
arrived here. When I did help you, who fought better, you or me?"

"Uh... neither one of us."

Ranma nodded. "See? And I haven't particularly trained for anything but
duels since I got here, so you and I are probably still on par fighting
large groups, if you were to take away my chi blasts. Give me a few weeks
without interruptions, and I'll be able to train you in those. And then,
we can work on bettering your other fighting skills... It'd be a real
shock to someone like Kodachi if you suddenly pulled off a Kachu Tenshin
Amaguriken in the middle of a fight."

"I... I think I'd enjoy that. Thanks! But do you really think it would
make me better than the others?"

Ranma considered things for a moment. "Well... probably not Ryouga,
Happosai, or Cologne- even I have trouble with them, and I don't think I'll
be able to bring you up to my level after just nine months- you haven't
been improving your skills much since I got here, and I've been here and
improving a year and a half. But... you'll probably be significantly
better than Mousse, Shampoo, Kodachi, and Ukyo- at least for a while
anyway."

"What do you mean, 'for a while?'"

"Well... You'd probably stay ahead of everyone but Shampoo if you kept up
your training. But her... I dunno. Like I said, even I have trouble with
Cologne, and if Shampoo started training with her and you hit a plateau...
with all of the special attacks Cologne knows that I don't, Shamps is bound
to get better than you eventually. Assuming, of course, she wants to. The
others... no. They could, but they'd need a sensei on par with myself,
which they just doesn't have."

Akane got a little angry. "Oh, so you think Shampoo has more potential
than me?"

Ranma shook his head. He didn't want to get into an argument right now-
he'd been able to avoid major ones for a whole week now, and he didn't want
to start a fight over something like this. "Not more potential. Just a
more experienced instructor. If she wanted to, the old ghoul could turn
anyone into someone as powerful as both Ryouga and myself- all she'd have
to do would be to give them the Bakusai Tenketsu, the Kachu Tenshin
Amaguriken, and the Hiryuu Shouten Ha."

"But then-" She was interrupted as the train screeched to a halt.

"Never mind. We'll talk about it later- let's go..."

And with that, Ranma and Akane left on their longest journey together.

-------------------------------------------------------- --------------------



This is the shortest chapter written so far... ah, well.

-------------------------
Chapter 3: An Ordinary Day in Nerima

As the train pulled away, Nodoka, Ukyou, and Shampoo waved. Genma nodded
to the departing train while his friend, Souun, cried buckets full of
tears. Nabiki and Kasumi had stayed home to look after the sisters.

After the train disappeared from view, Shampoo grabbed Ukyou and pulled her
along as she stepped in front of Nodoka. "Ranma tell Shampoo and
Spatula-Girl to help take care of Pregnant Girl. How Shampoo help?"

Nodoka blinked. "Um... well, I understand your great grandmother is very
skilled in medicinal arts... since the local doctor hasn't been around
recently, maybe you could get her to come and check up on her progress
occasionally. Otherwise... well, I may come up with some odd jobs I'll
need you two for."

Shampoo frowned. "But airen say you need so much help Shampoo could not go
with him... He say he take Violent Girl because she so unskilled she hurt
ones she try to help..." Ukyou smirked a little. 'At least Ranma trusts
me enough to tell me the REAL reason he's taking Akane with him instead of
one of us. Though I suspect that what he told Shampoo was also true... I
wonder if there were any other reasons he took her, though?' Ukyou sighed.

'Ranma, my son, why did you have to dump this on ME?' Nodoka sighed. "I
will soon, but not right away. It's still very early in the pregnancy- as
she gets closer to giving birth, I will need a lot more help. Ranma could
be gone for months, but right now all I want is your great grandmother to
look Natsume over." Shampoo's face tightened, but she nodded and bounced
away. Nodoka turned her attention to Ukyou. "Now, I have no idea what you
could do right now."

Ukyou sighed again. "That's okay. I think I know at least SOME of the
real reason Ranma didn't want me to go along with him. Nevertheless, mind
if I join you and meet the people I'm supposed to help you take care of?"

Nodoka smiled. "Of course you can."

* * * * *

"Well, thank you for coming!" Kurumi waved at the departing Ukyou. 'She
was a nice girl. I think I might enjoy staying here for a while...' She
turned to Nodoka. "Well, you and your family are definitely bringing in a
lot of help."

Nodoka smiled. "Thank you. I think you should probably thank the Tendous,
especially Kasumi, as well."

Kurumi blinked. "You aren't a Tendou?"

Nodoka laughed. "No... I'm Ranma's mother. Ranma is Akane's fiancee."

Kurumi blinked again. "Akane's engaged? Isn't she a little young?"

"It's an arranged marriage. They very well might have been married
already, if my baka of a husband hadn't stupidly placed him in the position
of having two OTHER fiancees..." Nodoka sighed. "Ukyou, who you just met,
is one of the others."

"Oh, no... Is this going to cause problems?"

Nodoka smiled comfortingly. "No, not at all. Ranma asked the other
fiancees to look after you two while he and Akane looked for your parents."

Kurumi smiled. "Good." She sighed. "I'm going to need all the help I can
get. My whole life, Natsume's taken care of me and helped me when I was in
trouble. Now that she needs help, I'm not really sure what to do... again,
thank you for all of your help..."

"Kurumi!" Came a call from another room.

"Coming, Natsume!" Kurumi called as she bolted in the direction of that
cry.

Nodoka just shook her head slowly. 'This is going to be a long nine
months...'

* * * * *

"They WHAT?!"

"That's right, Kunou-baby," Nabiki said between spoonfuls of ice cream.
"Ranma, Akane, and the Pig-Tailed girl have all left on a train to Osaka.
They could be gone for as long as nine months. Then again, they may only
be gone a few weeks, if they find the person who they are looking for
quickly enough."

"What manner of spell did that sorcerer place upon those two beauties that
enticed them to follow him?"

'The scary thing is, he's the sanest member of his family,' Nabiki sighed.
"Actually, Kunou-baby, I think Ranma's just trying to keep Akane away from
Ukyou and Shampoo while he's away. You saw for yourself how they don't get
along." Kunou reluctantly nodded- he had also been at the failed wedding.

"But... what inspired him to make such an attempt now?"

"Akane's and my... foster-sister... is pregnant. He's trying to find her
parents before she gives birth."

Kunou blinked. "A noble quest. I would not expect Saotome to attempt such
a thing." He looked at Nabiki. "The only reason I might think he would do
so would be... Is he the father?"

Nabiki's eyes widened. "You mean of the baby? No... but then again, we
don't know who is." At Kunou's dubious expression, Nabiki added "We know
it isn't Ranma, however."

Kunou nodded. "Perhaps I could perform some service to assist this woman
in these troubled times of hers. If she desireth it, I could attempt to
find the one who sullied her so."

Nabiki blinked. "I would not have expected that out of you, Kunou-baby.
Let me ask her tonight, and I'll get back to you."

* * * * *

Nodoka ran into the foyer as the bell kept ringing, quickly opening the
door. "Hello?"

"My great-granddaughter told me that you wanted someone to look at a
pregnant girl." Cologne hopped in.

Nodoka nodded. "That I did. Thanks for coming." She started leading the
withered old crone to Natsume's room in silence. They'd never truly gotten
along.

Cologne kneeled over her patient and began examining her. "Hello, child."
She quietly asked questions, she poked certain pressure points, and she
studied the chi lines. It took no more than ten minutes, and then she left
the room.

"Well, how did it go?" Nodoka asked.

Cologne quietly closed the door behind her. "Why didn't you tell me Ranma
was the father?" She whispered angrily.

Nodoka facefaulted. "What? Ranma isn't the father!"

Cologne frowned. "But the baby's chi lines are so strong- just like I
would expect from Ranma's child. In fact, there are only a few people
strong enough to father a child like that, and Ranma's the one I would
suspect the most."

Nodoka shook her head. "Natsume doesn't know the name of the father, but
she does know what he would look like- and so would her sister. Besides,
Ranma hasn't had the opportunity. It isn't Ranma."

"Perhaps you are right... but there are very few others who it could be..."

"Is there anything else I should know?" Nodoka asked.

Cologne shrugged. "She's quite healthy, and so is the baby. It's too
early to tell, but the chi lines make me suspect it may be a breach
birth... but we shall see- that kind of thing is very hard to tell.
Regardless, the baby will be strong. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be
going now." She started to leave, but Nodoka placed a hand on her
shoulder. Cologne looked at her with contempt. "If you were a man, I
would kill you for that."

Nodoka nodded. "But I'm not. Instead, I'm a concerned mother, and I want
to know what you would do if Ranma married someone other than Shampoo."

Cologne smirked. "Ah, of course. I have long been expecting someone to
ask this question. If Amazon laws are fulfilled, I will have no objection.
The only way for Amazon laws to be fulfilled, however, would be for Ranma
to marry another Amazon, or for Shampoo to die first."

Nodoka nodded. "And if Ranma HAD been the father of that child?"

Cologne frowned. "Then there would be a problem. I am considerate of
others, but the only way for Amazon laws to be fulfilled and for the woman
to not be completely dishonored would be for me to place her through the
vigor's of becoming an Amazon. If she survived the process, she would then
have to fight and lose to Ranma. If that happened, then she would have to
fight Shampoo. It's that simple."

Nodoka's eyes widened. "In other words, you'd put her through something
which would almost certainly kill the unborn babe." Cologne nodded.
"That's just... just... inhuman."

Cologne sighed. "Perhaps so, but it has kept my culture alive for five
thousand years." She started hopping away. "I'll be back from time to
time to check on Natsume's progress."

Nodoka just shook her head in disgust and returned to Natsume's room.

"Well, what did she have to say?" Natsume asked.

"You and the child are in fine health..." Nodoka chewed on her lip a bit.
"Natsume... are you certain Ranma isn't the father of your child?"

Natsume exploded into laughter. "What? Where did you get that idea?
Trust me, if it was Ranma, I would have let you know."

"Cologne said the chi lines indicated that the father was a very powerful
person- someone like Ranma in power."

Natsume shrugged. "Perhaps he was. But it wasn't Ranma- that I know for
certain." Nodoka smiled and left the room. "No, it wasn't Ranma," Natsume
sighed to no-one in particular. "But it wouldn't matter if he was..."

* * * * *

"I'm so sorry, Ranma!" Ukyou cried.

"I tried to be your friend, Ukyou, but after all that you've done, how can
I trust you?" Ranma turned around and started to walk away. Ukyou fell on
her knees and grabbed him by the back of his shirt.

"Ranma, please! I'll never do it again! I promise!"

Ranma turned to Ukyou. "If you could never marry me, would you be my
friend?"

Ukyou nodded desperately. "Anything! Just don't leave me again!"

"I'll never be able to trust you while you still want to marry me," Ranma
said to her. "So make your promise."

"I promise, Ranma!" Ukyou bolted upright and looked around. She was in
her bed, and it was completely dark around her. "A dream... it was just a
dream..." She sighed in relief. "But... what if that is the only way to
remain his friend? What if I have to give up my dreams of being... his
wife?" She shivered, and lay back down, unable to sleep. "Oh, well... I
suppose with Ranma and Akane gone we'll finally be able to see what an
ordinary day in Nerima's like..."



-------------------------
Chapter 4: A Happy-Go-Lucky Time in Osaka

Ranma sighed as he hung up the phone. Akane stepped to where she could see
him in the dark and looked at him curiously. "Well?"

He sent a half-smile her way. "How would you feel about camping out
tonight?"

"The prices are THAT bad?"

Ranma took his bag from Akane and strapped it onto his back again. "Well,
I started this trip with the fifty thousand yen your father gave me and a
few hundred extra that I had lying around. The train tickets here were
five thousand a piece, and after I bought all the maps and paid for all the
phone calls, I wiped out those few hundred I had left. ONE room in a hotel
room for one night would cost us thirty-five thousand yen."

Akane's eyes widened. She knew renting a room with floor space was
expensive, but not THAT expensive- she'd heard the cost was closer to
twenty thousand a night. "Do we have any options?"

Ranma shrugged. "Well, we could always rent a couple of those
businessman's cubicles, which is little more than a cot hanging off of a
wall and access to a public restroom." Akane grimaced. Ranma chewed on
his lip, thinking. "Also, we could, like I said, find some public park and
camp out for a night."

Akane shook her head. "Which would give us only a little more privacy and
we would have to find a public restroom on our own. No, neither one of
those options appeal to me overmuch." She looked carefully at Ranma for a
moment, squinting in indecision. "Um... I suppose... that our best
choice... is to rent a room... andshareittonight."

Ranma blinked. "Are you sure that's what you want to do?"

"Well," Akane glared at Ranma seriously. "Don't get any funny ideas. The
only reason I'm suggesting this is because of our financial situation."

Ranma nodded. "Of course! It isn't like I'd actually try anything with
someone as kawaikune as-" Ranma was interrupted as Akane brought a Mallet
o' Chi down on his head.

"I didn't say you could insult me!" Akane huffed. Ranma winced and rubbed
the tender spot where the mallet made contact. "Come on, let's go. Where
is this hotel we're going to be staying at, anyway?"

* * * * *

Akane and Ranma surveyed the room they had just rented from the doorway.

"Umm... for thirty five thousand yen, I expected something a bit...
bigger," Ranma blinked. There was a pay phone and an alarm clock on one
wall, a closet-sized bathroom, one double-sized futon, and just enough
floor space to dump their packs. Light was provided by overhead
fluorescent light bulbs. 'At least we get breakfast with this deal,' he
thought.

"Maybe... we shoulda taken... the cubicles..." Akane looked at Ranma and
blushed. "Um, how are we both going to sleep here?"

Ranma himself blushed. He stepped into the bathroom and noticed that it
had a western-style stand-up shower, a toilet, a sink, a mirror, and
nothing else. "Um... I guess... well... Tell you what. You take the
room, and I'll go outside and camp out for a while. You're the one who
needs the privacy..."

Ranma turned to leave. Akane hesitated, and then grabbed him by the
shoulder. "Ranma, wait, this is silly. We knew there would be only one
bed before we rented this place- you just thought you'd be sleeping on the
floor. Well, the floor isn't an option but..." She blushed. "You're an
honorable man- most of the time. We could always... share the bed... if
you remember to be honorable..."

Ranma nearly fell over. "You aren't serious, are you?"

Akane hesitantly nodded. "As long as you promise not to try anything..."

"Uh... I promise... of course I promise... but... Akane, this isn't like
you."

Akane laughed nervously, and brought a hand up behind her head. "Well, you
see, I figure if we're going to be traveling for a long time, we'll be put
in all sorts of awkward situations... we'll probably have to do something
like this some time, so... why not now?"

Ranma blinked. "Um... I guess... uh... I don't mind... if... you don't
mind..." Akane nodded. "So... how're we going to do this?"

"Well... first things first. I'm going to use that bathroom and change
into my pajamas. When I get out, you can go in and get ready for bed."
Ranma nodded, and Akane grabbed her pack and entered the bathroom, closing
the door behind her.

Akane got out of her clothes and took a brief shower. She rifled through
her pack and pulled out her nightgown, putting it on before brushing her
teeth. After putting her toothbrush away, she started combing her hair.
Then she blinked. 'I really shouldn't be wearing this nightgown tonight...
I mean, Ranma might get the wrong idea...' She searched through her bag
some more, but couldn't find her pajamas. 'Oh, that's right... I only
packed this, because it didn't take up as much space... I wasn't really
expecting to have to... oh, no.' Akane looked at herself in the mirror
again. 'Well, too late to do anything about this...' She blushed as she
left the room, holding her pack.

Ranma's eyes widened. "Uh..." The glare Akane gave him silenced any
further comment.

"I didn't think we would be sleeping together, so I only packed this."

Ranma nodded slowly- or possibly he was only breathing so deeply that his
head was bobbing up and down. "Right..." He felt a gentle build-up of
heat in his nose as he looked at Akane in the moderately revealing
negligee. Fearing what Akane might think of his sudden nosebleed, he
grabbed his pack and darted past her and into the bathroom, slamming the
door behind him. Akane just shook her head and smiled. 'And he calls me
kawaikune... If I'm so kawaikune, Ranma, than what's with your nosebleed?
Besides, you see yourself in the mirror all the time, so why are you so
shocked to see me in this instead of my pajamas?' Still smiling wryly,
Akane looked at the bed, trying to figure out how they were going to do
this.

Meanwhile, Ranma was taking a shower just as brief as Akane had. The
difference with his, however, was that he was taking a cold one. Turning
the water hot to change back just before getting out, Ranma still tried to
get the image of her standing in that bathroom doorway out of his face.
Absentmindedly, he put on a fresh pair of boxers and a muscle shirt before
brushing his teeth. Putting the last of the toiletries away, Ranma turned
to leave out the bathroom door.

And then turned right back around. 'Wait a minute,' he thought. 'I can't
go in there like this! What will Akane think? I mean, okay, I normally
don't sleep in more than this, but things'll have to be different
tonight... but I don't have any pajamas... oh, gods, what do I do?'

He emerged from the bathroom a minute later, wearing an outfit identical to
the one he had gone in there with. Akane, lying in the bed with two sets
of sheets on top of her, one pulled up and the other open, looked a little
annoyed with him.

"What? Are you going to leave after all?" She almost sounded... insulted.

Ranma massaged his temple slowly. "Akane, in the year and a half I've
lived at your home, you've had to wake me up about every other day. In all
the times you've woken me up, have I ever been wearing pajamas?" Akane
thought for a second and shook her head no. "Good, because if you had, you
would have been waking up an impostor. I don't have pajamas- I always
sleep in my underwear. I just didn't think that would be... appropriate...
tonight."

Akane blinked. "Oh..."

"So, how're we going to do this?" Ranma asked.

Akane gestured to the bed. "Come on in- but don't lift my sheet!" Ranma
nodded- he had an idea of what she meant. He crawled into the bed, and
then covered the both of them up with the top sheet. "Okay, now, if we
don't move too much, everything will be fine."

A double sized futon wasn't really equipped to handle that kind of
arrangement comfortably, however. For one thing, each was particularly
aware of the other's extreme closeness- they were almost touching through
the sheets. For another, they were both rather cramped.

But the futon wasn't the sole cause of their discomfort. Their thoughts
were torturing themselves as well.

Akane was worried about Ranma. 'That hentai had better not try anything
tonight! But... do I want him to try anything? I mean, if he did, it
would definitely show how he felt about me... But he isn't trying anything.
Why isn't that baka trying anything? Does he really think I'm kawaikune?
I always thought that he was teasing me when he was calling me that. Well,
if he does really think I'm kawaikune, he'd better be careful. I'd think
of him as even MORE of a hentai than I do now if he tried anything. OooH!
That hentai had better not try anything tonight! But..."

Ranma, on the other hand, was thinking along the lines of "Oh, god, does
Akane look kawaii tonight! But I'd better not try anything or else she'd
kill me... but... oh, god, does she look kawaii tonight!"

By about three in the morning, they had both exhausted themselves with
worry and finally fell asleep...

* * * * *

Ranma was startled awake a short time later. Glancing at the clock, he saw
that it was 4:37 in the morning. Disoriented, he desperately was trying to
figure out what it was that had woken him up.

In his ear, he heard whispered "That's a good P-Chan..." Ranma's eyes
widened in terror as he realized he was being crushed by the arms of the
woman he was in bed with with a force that would have put anything Shampoo
had ever held him with to shame. Akane had obviously grabbed ahold of him
the same way she usually did her pet pig P-Chan, and was now squeezing hard
enough to make it impossible for Ranma to breath. The sheet was still
between them, but it had moved enough to give Akane the leverage she needed
to wrap her arms around him.

Ranma tried to speak. "...." He tried again. "A..." He was choked off
as Akane squeezed even tighter. 'And Ryouga LIKES sleeping like this?'
Ranma thought incredulously. He heard a creak, and felt one of his arms
popping out of place. This was not good.

Ranma, over the next hour, struggled to try and escape the mumbling Akane's
grasp without waking her up- the gods only knew what she would do to him if
she woke up holding him like this. 'I know it's not my fault, but she's
likely to act before she realizes that... what do I do?' Then he heard
something in her muttered words which caught his attention.

"R... ranma... wh'... 'rn... 'u... 'ldn' m... ba..." Ranma thought about
that for a second. 'Did she just say Ranma, why aren't you holding me
back?' He turned his head to look at her face. It looked mildly
distressed... pleading, in fact... but she was definately still asleep.
'She's still asleep... but... she IS asking... and she'll hit me when she
wakes up anyway...' Ranma, unable to actually move his arms in the motion,
shrugged mentally. With his forearms only, he slowly started returning her
hug as best as he could. Much to his surprise, he found that such a simple
action felt so good that he was able to fall back asleep.

* * * * *

Akane woke up at the sound of the alarm's incessant ringing. Before she
even opened her eyes, she could tell that something was wrong. 'Okay,
mental check... first, P-Chan seems to be a lot larger this morning than
normal... second, something seems to be holding onto me... third, this
futon is really uncomfortable... hmm... maybe I should open my eyes.'
Doing so, she found herself staring into Ranma's closed eyes. 'Ah, that's
why P-Chan seems to be larger this morning... I'm holding Ranma, not
P-Chan.' Akane blinked, her eyes refocusing. 'Wait a minute... I'm
holding Ranma... and he's holding me... hmm... this is a dream...' She
closed her eyes again and moved her head closer to Ranma's. 'You know, for
a dream, that alarm is awfully loud. In fact... I should be awake right
now. But that can't be- Ranma and I are in the same bed, and we're holding
each other.' Akane shifted her arms- and felt the sheets between them.
Suddenly, she remembered everything from the last night. 'Hey! He
promised not to take advantage of me, and he has his arms around me!' She
started to draw an arm back so as to send him flying, but then noticed that
she had her arms around him in such a way it was unlikely he had been the
one to initiate the hug- especially since his arm was dislocated somehow.
'How did he manage to sleep through that one?'

However, before Akane could answer that question for herself, Ranma's eyes
popped open. The sudden release of pressure had been enough to wake him
up, and as his eyes and hands registered the fact that he was holding
Akane, his panic drive kicked in.

"AAAAGH!" He jumped back, crashing into the wall behind him. He held his
arms in as defensive a posture as he could- though it was pretty hard, as
Akane had cut off the circulation while she was dislocating that one arm.
Both arms were asleep, and he wasn't really able to get either of them to
move properly.

Akane, meanwhile, noticed the panic in Ranma's eyes. 'Well, he is
expecting it... and I don't want to give him any ideas...' Sitting up, she
sent a crushing blow over Ranma, knocking him into the wall again,
coincidentally popping the arm back into place. "Hentai!" she cried.

Ranma jumped back up, shut off the alarm, and turned back to Akane. "Hold
on, here! You were the one who was hugging me! I was only returning it
because you ASKED me to!"

Akane blinked, but decided to keep fighting anyway. "Baka! You were
dreaming!" Or was he? Akane vaguely recalled saying something similar in
her dreams.

Ranma smirked. "Akane, it's kind of hard to dream about something like
that when you're being squeezed so hard that your shoulder is being popped
out of place."

"WHAT?!" Akane cried, offended. "YOU DIDN'T LIKE IT!"

"NO, I DIDN'T!" Ranma yelled back. Then they both stopped, realizing what
they had just said. "I... I mean..." Ranma tried.

Akane didn't care. "Oh..." Quietly and calmly, she turned and picked up
her backpack, and headed into the bathroom, ignoring Ranma. She didn't
want him to see her cry. 'He didn't like it... he doesn't like me... I...
I always thought... that... that he really did care about me... but...'
Her thoughts were a mess.

When she got out, Ranma was standing in the doorway. Akane refused to look
up, but Ranma could still see the tear stains she had neglected to wash
off. "Akane..." he started.

"What, Ranma? You didn't like my hugging you, and I don't blame you. I
wouldn't in your place, if it hurt me so much."

Ranma sighed. "Akane, this is what really bugs me about you. You never
give me a chance to take my foot out of my mouth, and I stick it in there
way too often to make dealing with you easy if you don't." Akane finally
looked up at him again, uncertain of what he was going to say. "Akane, I
didn't particularly like the way you were holding me last night. It was
awfully uncomfortable- you were trying, at first, to squeeze me as tightly
as you squeeze P-Chan. I don't know if you've noticed this or not, but I'm
a little bigger than your pet pig." Akane half-smiled at his joke.
"Akane, do you want to know what it was that eventually let me get back to
sleep?" Akane nodded. "You... mumbled... 'Ranma, why aren't you holding
me back?' When I put my arms around you, I felt so... I don't know, I
guess 'relieved' is the best word... that I was able to relax and fall
asleep, despite the pain."

Akane blinked. "Wh... why was that?"

"Because, Akane, I..." He tried to say something, but couldn't get it out.
"I... Oh, I can't say it... yet. I think you know, though."

Akane took in a deep breath. "Ranma, are you trying to say that you l...
that you love me?" Ranma closed his eyes and slowly nodded. "Are you SURE
that you love me?"

Ranma's eyes opened, and he looked at Akane wildly. Something in him
snapped. "YES, of COURSE I'm sure! I've been so in love with you, I
couldn't tell you for fear that it would scare you away from me! Remember
your long hair? Guess who saved the clipping and still has it, encased in
a crystal box! Remember when I first got to your house, and said I was
willing to sacrifice my life for the martial arts, but not my manhood?
Well, remember Togenkyou Island? Remember how I sacrificed my cure in
order to protect you!? Haven't you noticed how incredibly jealous I get
when someone like Shinnosuke or Toma tries to come between us? I haven't
been able to bring myself to say it, but surely it has become obvious to
you by now!"

Akane was staggered. Ranma, realizing he had been screaming at her, bowed
his head down and blushed, sticking his hand behind his head. His eyes,
however, glanced up at her hopefully.

"And the other fiancees?" Akane asked meekly. Ranma's face immediately
darkened.

"Well, I want Shampoo and Ukyou to stay friends, but beyond that, I have no
feelings for them... The others, like Kaori, I care nothing for and
sometime feel like killing my pop for arranging. Fortunately, all of those
in the second category we've taken care of, but my friends..." He sighed.
"Let's just say there've been a lot of reasons I've never told you how I
felt."

"Well..." Akane began. She realized she had no idea what to say, and
sighed sadly. "What do we do now?" Ranma's face lost all expression.

He grabbed his backpack and slung it over his shoulder. "We head to
Lukkosai's house, and ask Happosai what we came here to ask him." He
headed into the bathroom. Akane, however, prevented him from closing the
door.

"That's not what I meant!" Akane growled.

Ranma sighed. "I know. But... I'm not ready to talk about it yet, okay?
Let's deal with this situation first, and then..." Akane frowned, but let
the door go. In a few minutes, with both of their minds jumbled from the
mornings events, the left the apartment for the hotel's breakfast bar, and
then out to Lukkosai's.

* * * * *

Before the door, Ranma pulled Akane aside. "I'm going to try asking him
straight up, first, but you know as well as I do that he's not going to
give us any information without a fight or a sworn promise of a grope. I'm
not going to let him grope me..." Anger filled his face. "And I'm sure as
hell not going to let him grope YOU. That means we'll have to fight...
probably both him and Lukkosai. I... can't handle the two of them alone.
So... I think we'd better plan how we're going to do this."

Akane, for the second time that day, was floored by something Ranma had
said. "Wait a minute... YOU are admitting that you can't handle a
situation alone?" Ranma started to smile a little. She put a hand to his
forehead as if taking his temperature. "Are you feeling okay, Ranma?"

At her touch, Ranma pulled away as if stung, once again losing all
expression in his face. "Uh... yeah, I'm fine." Akane blinked. 'What's
wrong with him? He admitted he loved me this morning, but now he's acting
like he's mad at me! I've never seen him act this way before... what's got
him so upset?'

Akane sighed. "Well, if you think you need help, I'd better help you.
What do you need me to do?"

"Like I said before, you fight better when you're facing more than one
person." He started tonelessly, not even looking at her. As he went
along, however, his voice warmed up a little. "So, what you need to do is
to pretend that there are more people in the room than there really are.
This is how we can do it... I'll go in, and start attacking right away.
You can start moving behind the two of them while Happosai and Lukkosai are
busy fighting me. They won't bother doing anything about you- you've never
given Happosai any reason to worry, and Lukkosai's probably heard enough
stories from him to feel the same way. When you're in position, I will
dart behind you. The two of them will pursue me- and will try running
around you. THEN, you strike- they won't be expecting a skillful attack
from you, and so you'll get a good hit in on both of them. Trust me when I
say that one of your blows should be enough to end the fight right away."

Akane frowned but nodded. "Okay... Are you ready?"

Ranma, without turning his head, nodded. "Let's go." A few minutes later,
the two of them were standing in front of two three foot tall martial
artists, both of whom were eyeing Akane lecherously.

"How nice of you to visit, my boy, and to bring the lovely Akane with you
too!" Happosai smirked.

"This ain't a social gathering, you old goat!" Ranma said coldly, pulling
out Natsume and Kurumi's childhood photo. "Do you remember these two
girls?"

"Why, yes I do- I helped those two young children decide to develop martial
arts skills over ten years ago. Why do you ask?"

"Do you have any idea who their parents are? They have asked me for help."

Happosai hesitated- surprising both Ranma and Akane. He almost never
hesitated, regardless of what he did or said. "I... well, I know what
village they came from, if that is any help." That astounded Akane- he was
trying to be helpful? Maybe he wasn't truly as evil as she thought.

Ranma was also a little thrown by his answer. "Oh, really? Um... where?"

The lecherous smile returned to Happosai. "Oh, you didn't really think I'd
just help you THAT easily, did you?" He pulled out a bra and picked up a
nearby fire bucket. "How about modeling this for me, Ranma?" Ranma just
growled. Happosai started to throw the water on him, but Ranma reacted
before he could.

Ranma jumped in with a flying kick, knocking the bucket of water across the
room and spilling its contents on the floor harmlessly. Ranma spun around
on his front foot and sent the other foot into Happosai's chest, knocking
HIM across the room. Happosai got up and started moving in along with
Lukkosai.

Akane, seeing that the battle had started, remembered the plan Ranma had
made, and so slowly started circling behind the two ancient perverts.
Ranma continued battling, barely able to handle himself but nevertheless
keeping the two busy.

Akane got into position, and so Ranma took his cue. He flipped over his
opponents and behind Akane. The two shrunken fighters charged at him,
ignoring Akane just as Ranma thought they would. "NOW!" Ranma shouted,
and Akane struck out. Lukkosai went flying- Akane's blow sent him flying
through his roof and into the clouds, never to be seen by Ranma or Akane
again. Happosai, however, was able to react quicker to the surprise
attack, and dodged Akane's blow. Instinctively, he pulled out his pipe and
knocked her away. Ranma caught her before she hit the ground. "Are you
okay?" He asked, setting her down gently. Akane nodded. Ranma turned on
Happosai and grimaced.

"What's the matter, boy? Need your fiancee to fight your battles for you?"

Ranma started flaring up with his chi. "Are you going to tell me what I
need to know, or am I going to have to hurt you?"

Happosai laughed. "Hurt ME? Ha! I'd li-"

The laugh was definitely a miscalculation on Happosai's part. "SHI-SHI
HOKODAN!" Ranma shouted, sending the blast dead center on the old pervert,
smashing him into the wall and nearly knocking him out. Ranma was
immediately upon him, kneeling on his chest. "Stay away, Akane! I don't
want him to use you to recover." Akane nodded, though Ranma didn't see it
as he wasn't looking at her.

"Ooof... Okay, Ranma, you win. I'll tell you what you want to know. I
found the two girls in the small town of Ikkoku, on the west coast of
Japan. But that was more than ten years ago- I doubt you'll find anyone
there who remembers..."

Ranma nodded. "That's okay- I'll see for myself. Thanks, old leche."
Ranma touched the back of Happosai's next, knocking him out. "Come on,
Akane. Let's go to Ikkoku."

Akane blinked and followed Ranma out of Happosai's dojo. She was dimly
aware of the fact that they had made progress in her search, but she was
much more concerned with something else. 'He used the Shi-shi Hokodan...
but that's an attack based on depression... Ranma hasn't used it since he
developed the Moko Takabisha... I don't understand, what's gotten him so
depressed? I would have thought that finally admitting he loved me would
be a good relief for him... what is wrong with him?'



-------------------------
Chapter 5: Revelations

Ranma grimaced as he took a bite of the stew Akane had cooked over the
campfire, but for once didn't complain about the food. Akane was getting
very worried- he seemed to be thinking really hard about something, which
in itself was strange- but when she added that to the Shi-shi Hokodan he'd
fired off a couple of days ago, she was certain that whatever it was he was
thinking of was depressing him a lot. And Akane didn't like it when Ranma
was depressed.

'He started acting like this for a week- ever since he told me how he felt
about me... Why would that be? The only reason I could think of is that he
might... want to marry me but... can't? Why couldn't he marry me?' Akane
suddenly remembered Natsume. "Ranma? Are... YOU... the father of
Natsume's baby?"

Ranma did a spit take into a face fault. "WHAT?! Whatever gave you that
idea?"

Akane relaxed slightly. 'At least I know that isn't it...' She wiped some
of the stew Ranma spewed on her off and looked at him, a little annoyed at
the mess. "I'm trying to figure out why you've been so depressed lately.
I mean, you even did the Shi-shi Hokodan- as powerful as I've ever seen
Ryouga throw one. What's wrong with you?"

Ranma looked at her anxiously. "Akane, do you...." He sighed. "Oh, never
mind, I know the answer. Akane, go home. Go back to the Tendou Dojo. I
don't really need you here- I only wanted you along because I wanted the
company, but I know better now. I know you don't like me, so just go
home."

Akane nearly choked. "What do you mean you 'know' I don't like you?"

Ranma sighed again. "Shortly after that first real battle with Kunou, just
after pop and I arrived at your dojo, I was going up to your room to thank
you for helping me out against him. I'd just gotten to your door and was
about to knock when I heard, shouted at the top of your lungs, 'I'm engaged
to my worst nightmare.' I've always hoped that you didn't really mean
that, but... I know better. You may be able to tolerate me now, and you
might be willing to marry me because you know how I feel about you, but I
know that you can never return my feelings, so... just go home, Akane.
Find someone who you can love, and marry them. I won't stand in your way."

'So THAT'S what has been depressing him so much... I never told him how I
felt...' Akane looked at Ranma, her mouth hanging open. Much to his
dismay, Akane suddenly burst into laughter. Ranma blinked. "Oh, Ranma,"
Akane gasped between her laughter. "I don't know whether to smack you for
being so stupid, or kiss you for being so sweet." Ranma facefaulted at
that last phrase. "Ranma, I hardly remember what you're talking about, but
I'm pretty sure that I was only saying it the same way we were always
saying that we're not fiancees. Did you ever really mean it?" Ranma
recovered enough composure to shake his head no. "I never did either. I
don't think I'm engaged to my worst nightmare, and I definitely more than
tolerate you. Thank you for... letting me pursue my own interests... but I
don't need to. I've already found someone who I can love..."

"B- b- b- but when I told you how I felt, you almost seemed... saddened by
it!" Ranma sputtered.

"Is that what's been bugging you so much? I wasn't saddened, just...
shocked. I didn't know what to do, or to say..." She sighed. "I thought
you knew how I felt... but that's no excuse. I'll say it now, however-
Ranma, I love you too... more than you could possibly imagine. And I never
want you to forget it!" Akane suddenly pounced on him and kissed him
deeply.

"Mmmmmmmmmmmf!" Ranma cried before he realized what was happening.
Slowly, he started to return the kiss. Akane wrapped her arms around him
and once more squeezed tighter than he normally could take without
complaint, but this time he knew better than to say anything- besides, he
was too busy wrapping his arms around her and returning the kiss.

Ranma's return hug, made with free arms, was also quite tight on Akane.
Though not as constrictive as Ranma's, it still made breathing difficult.
Nevertheless, she ignored that inability to breath as she was so caught up
in what she was doing.

Before things could get much further, Ranma and Akane passed out from
oxygen deprivation, still kissing and clutching each other... though they
were breathing again after the fall knocked their arms a little looser.

* * * * *

Ranma and Akane were still clutching each other, comatose, when a very lost
boy showed up.

Ryouga stared at the sight in astonishment. 'Akane... NO! But, I loved
you! This... this is all Ranma's fault. Ranma, how DARE you defile...'
Ryouga paused for a second. 'Wait, they're just hugging and kissing... and
they're asleep. And... well... I've given up on Akane, so she might as
well have someone else...even if that person IS Ranma...' Ryouga sighed.
Maybe he should just leave... no, then he would have left Akari for no
reason. But staying meant waking them up so he could talk to them.

"Ahem," Ryouga cleared his throat. Ryouga, however, was unused to waking
someone else up in a subtle manner, and so failed to realize that a simple
clearing of the throat would have no effect on the sleeping couple.
Frustrated, Ryouga decided to try something a bit louder. "BAKUSAI
TENKETSU!" Ryouga cried, sending a blast in a direction away from Ranma
and Akane, and jumping into the hole while the smoke cleared.

Akane was startled awake. Noting her current position, and that she and
Ranma were still holding each other and kissing, Akane panicked. She tried
to pull out of Ranma's arms, but he was still asleep and so refused to
release his grip in any way. Akane then realized her error, and broke off
the kiss so as to say something to try to wake the sleeping martial artist.
Words were unnecessary, however, as the sudden disappearance of the woman
they were kissing alerted the lips that something was amiss, and so the
lips warned the head, and the head snapped awake. "Uh... good morning,
Akane," Ranma said, still holding on to her.

"Baka! We have company!" Akane chastised. Ranma, realizing her
predicament, released her, but then found that he way laying on her arms,
and so rolled over with her and stood up to see who it was who had
interrupted their intimacies.

"Uh, Ry- ryouga!" Ranma stuttered. "Hi... we were just... um..."
Neither he nor Akane could offer up any kind of explanation for what they
were doing. "Having our first kiss..." Ranma finished meekly.

Ryouga glared at Ranma with a look which would have killed a weaker man.
As it was, Ranma had a headache for days because of it. "Ranma, if it
weren't for what I was trying to find you guys to tell you, I'd tear you
apart right now." Then Ryouga smirked and raised his hand. "As it is, all
I have to say is it's about time you two saw how you felt for each other.
After that Jusendo incident, I didn't think anything in the world could
keep you two apart for long."

Ranma was astonished. "Ryouga, are you okay?"

Ryouga nodded. "I've been trying to find you two... I want to invite you
to Akari's and my wedding coming up next year..."

"Of course we'll-" Akane started, but Ryouga waved his hand in a gesture of
silence.

"But before I did, I want to tell you something I've been hiding from you,
Akane." Akane merely looked at him in curiosity, but Ranma's eyes widened
in shock. 'He's not going to tell her- is he?' Ranma looked back at
Akane, and began to wonder if either he or Ryouga would survive this.
Ryouga took a deep breath, and closed his eyes, and began the speech he had
prepared. "I am telling you this to clear my conscience... and to restore
my honor... before I get married. Akane, I have been abusing your
friendship and Ranma's sense of honor for nearly a year now. Ranma's sense
of honor, because he was honor-bound to keep this a secret, and you,
because forcing him to keep this secret from you was the easiest way to
hurt him." At this, Akane looked at Ranma in surprise. "Akane, you're
always wondering why Ranma's picking on P-Chan. Well, it's because he
knows something about P-Chan that you don't, and he can't tell you. P-Chan
is a Jusenkyo curse victim as well... P-Chan is MY curse."

Akane facefaulted into shock, unable to respond otherwise. Ranma, noticing
this, took the opportunity to brace himself, something which he rarely had
the time to do before she hit him. What she actually did, though, threw
HIM into shock.

Akane suddenly exploded into laughter. Ranma facefaulted, and Ryouga began
to wonder if he had driven her insane. "R-ranma," Akane spat out between
gasps, "Remind me that I owe Nabiki five thousand yen when we get home."
Ranma turned to look at her. "What? You REALLY think I didn't notice that
headband? I bet Nabiki 5000 yen that you would be the one to tell me!"
She playfully stuck her tongue out at Ranma. "You let me down, baka!"

Ryouga was aghast. "Wh... when did you find out?"

"Quite some time ago, actually." Akane's face changed from pleasant to
cold. "If I hadn't found out when I did, in fact, I would have killed you
just now." Both Ranma and Ryouga shuddered- they both had refused to tell
her because they feared she would actually carry out that threat. Akane
smiled again, however, reducing (very slightly) their fears. "But, within
a couple of minutes of my finding out, you were saving my life from
drowning, and so I decided to forgive you. Besides, my revenge then would
have been to let Azusa have you..."

"The Martial Arts Figure Skating Tournament?" Ranma asked. Akane nodded.
"You've known since then... and you haven't said anything?"

"Like I said, I made a bet with Nabiki. Besides, when you were angry at
P-Chan for sleeping with me, I felt good knowing you were jealous- it
helped me to realize how much you cared about me. Whenever I was worried
about how you felt about me, I just had to flaunt P-Chan, and I knew...
well, I had some idea of how you felt about me. And, I always hoped you'd
tell me- I tried SO hard to make you angry enough to spill the beans."
Ranma opened and closed his mouth a few times, nothing coming out. Akane
turned her attention to Ryouga. "So, when's your wedding?"

Ryouga sighed. "Not for a whole year from now. We figured it would take
at least that long for me to find you guys and then to find my parents.
It'll be a western style wedding, which means I'll need a best man, so...
Ranma, are you willing to be the best man at my wedding."

Ranma, who had received enough shocks for one day already, merely nodded
stupidly. Then, he shook his head hard to clear it and looked at Ryouga
with a more intelligent look on his face. "Of course, Ryouga. Sure I
will." Ranma raised his hand, and Ryouga grasped it.

After shaking hands, Ryouga grinned. "So, what type of wedding will you
and Akane have?"

Ranma shook his head. "IF Akane and I have one, it'll probably be a
western style wedding, too- and I would appreciate having you as the best
man for it as well- but I don't know if-" Before he could complete his
thought, though, the people around him erupted in anger.

Akane was shocked. "Wait, you don't want to marry me?"

Ryouga was furious. "How low, Ranma! Are you planning to use Akane for
her body, and then toss her aside? I saw you two kissing each other when I
got her- there is no way you should be displaying that level of intimacy
unless you plan on marrying her! If you really want such a thing, than you
really are the hentai Akane has been calling you all these years!"

"Ranma no baka!" Akane shouted, enflamed by Ryouga's words. She pulled out
her mallet. Unlike normal, however, Ranma blocked the mallet with a palm
to the handle as it was coming down. "You... you stopped it... You've
never stopped it before..."

Ranma sighed, looking into Akane's eyes. "Akane, do you really think a
martial artist of my skills COULDN'T stop a simple mallet attack? I've
just never stopped it before because... well... I was always worried
stopping it would chase you away..." Akane blinked. "I mean, it is your
only real retaliation for some of my insults, so..." He shrugged.
"Anyway, I wanted to finish what I was saying. Of COURSE I want to marry
you, but I'm not sure we'll be able to have a wedding. We might need to
elope, if we can't solve my fiancee problem otherwise." Akane relaxed, but
hardly looked pleased. "Besides, before we even begin to plan such a thing,
I want to go through all the routine... you know, maybe we could actually
go out on some dates, maybe I could actually go through the process of
proposing to you, that kind of thing. Until then, however, I don't want to
say for certain that we are going to have a wedding- which means I DON'T
want our parents to know." On that last note, he turned to Ryouga, his
face promising vengeance if his desires were unmet. "Do YOU understand
that, pig-boy?"

"Uh, yeah, of course...." He looked around. "Say, where is your family,
anyway? This doesn't look like the Tendou dojo..."

Ranma sighed, grabbing his head in disgust. A few minutes later, Ranma and
Akane were saying good-bye to him as he left to find the rest of their
family, to invite the rest of his friends from Nerima to his wedding.

* * * * *

"Akane, what's wrong? Are you STILL upset that I blocked your mallet?
That was a whole week ago!" Ranma asked Akane, hiking a couple of paces
behind her. She'd yelled at him a lot for that little incident after
Ryouga had left- he knew that wasn't the real reason she was digging into
him, though, but he didn't want to let her know that he realized exactly
how un-nerved talk of marriage between the two of them had made her.
However, she had seemed to be warming up to him again since then- she'd
even grabbed his hand and wrapped his arm around her one day. But now, she
seemed uncomfortable around Ranma, and seemed to be avoiding him.

To his surprise, Akane blushed. "No, I'm not mad at you or anything. This
is something... private. I forgot to pack something for the trip...
something very important, but very embarrassing..."

Ranma blinked. "What? I thought you'd thought of everything!"

Akane's blush deepened. "Well, I only need them at certain times, so I
don't normally bring them with me on camping trips. I didn't think about
the fact that I would be gone as long as I was, so I didn't think to bring
them..."

Ranma frowned. "That still doesn't tell me what 'they' are. If you let me
know what you need, I could probably find a way to get something to help."

Akane growled. "Like I said, this is something PRIVATE. Which means stick
your nose out of it."

"Akane, one of these days we're going to be married. Now that I've told
you... how I felt, and Ryouga's secret has turned out to be no secret at
all, I don't want either of us to keep anything from the other- it's caused
us too much pain in the past. So give. What did you forget to pack?"

Akane looked at Ranma, her face contorted in anger. "I can't believe
you're insisting on this. Okay, fine, I'll tell you what I need. I need
something for my period- it just came today, and I forgot to pack any
tampons or pads."

Ranma blushed himself. "Oh... that's what you meant by 'private.' I'm
sorry. Still, I think I can help." He paused in his hiking and started
rooting through his backpack. Akane kept going until she noticed that he
had stopped, and turned to look at him curiously. "Here- they're mild
absorbency only, but I keep a few. I don't have regular cycles, and so
never know when I'll need them, but when I do it's pretty light."

Akane was surprised to see Ranma holding some maxi pads. "Ranma? You have
to go through this too?"

Ranma smirked sadly. "Just another side-effect of my curse. I'm 100%
woman when I'm in it, so I get my period just like you do. Unlike you,
however, I have no clue when it's going to come, because my body only gets
it's period when it's been a girl for the full length of a cycle, and I
can't time how long I'm in my girl body enough to figure it out."

Akane was stunned. 'I never realized how much his curse affected him. In
fact, I've never realized a lot of things about him... like how much it
bothers him for me to keep a secret from him, and how worried he gets when
I'm acting just a little bit out of sorts. I wonder what else I don't know
about him?' Ranma, getting a little impatient, handed Akane the pads and
started packing up. Akane started blushing again. "Uh, thanks. I'll be
right back." She ran off into woods for privacy. When she got back, Ranma
had just finished putting his backpack in order again. "Ready to go?" she
asked.

Ranma shrugged on one of the handles. "Yeah, I guess I am." He started
walking up to her. "I suppose you wouldn't feel up to your first training
session right now, anyway," he smirked.

Akane looked at him in astonishment. "A training session? NOW? Why?"

Ranma laughed. "Well, it's the right time of the day- only a couple hours
before nightfall. And it's the right place- a forest few people travel
in." He pointed to her pack, dropped on the ground when she had left to
change. "And we've already stopped. Besides, this looks like a good
enough place to set up camp- there's a bit of a clearing here, after all."
He smirked at Akane. "And you're talking to me now, which is always a
plus."

"Uh, right..." Akane put her hand behind her head to cover up the guilt
she felt was seeping from her- she'd been confused about her feelings over
the past week, and she'd taken it all out on Ranma... again. "I'd love a
training session, to be honest. I generally spend some time breaking
bricks in the dojo just to focus out the discomfort the bloating provides
when this... thing... comes on, anyway."

'Exactly why I suggested it,' Ranma nodded. "You'd be surprised at the
number of times I've been HAPPY someone's attacked me when I've felt that
way- it always helps me get my mind off of things." He set his bags down
again. "Let's set up camp while there's still light, and then we'll start
our lessons, shall we?" Within minutes, a pair of tents were set up side
by side, with a campfire ring built about fifteen feet in front of them.
Akane momentarily considered asking Ranma if he wanted to share a tent, now
that she wasn't mad at him any more, but she changed her mind. She hadn't
even felt like hugging P-Chan when she had this condition.

Akane dusted her hands off when it was all done and turned to Ranma.
"Okay, the camp is set up, now on to other matters. So... 'sensei,'" Akane
mocked jokingly, "What is my first lesson?"

Ranma frowned contemplatively. "Well, okay, the way I see it there are
three major things I can do for you. The first one is to train you in one
on one fighting at close range- though with the cramps you could have at
various points in the training session, I'd bet you'd regret choosing it
immediately. The second thing I can do is to make you faster- but I would
actually suggest leaving that for a night training exercise. The third is
the ability to throw chi blasts- if you had that, you might be able to
fight with some effectiveness against anyone- even Happosai or Cologne...
however, I worry that the training methods I plan to use would upset you.
Regardless of what you pick for your first lesson, though, you aren't going
to like it."

Akane chewed her lower lip. "Well, the first two sound like they'd get
easier if I tried learning them later, so... teach me how to throw a chi
blast."

Ranma's face hardened. "Ah, it figures a klutzy kawaikune tomboy like you
would want to learn something like that FIRST, instead of waiting until you
had the skills to back you up." Ranma's words were stilted, and his eyes
were twitching slightly, but Akane failed to catch that.

"WHAT!?" Akane cried. After he had confessed his feelings for her, and
after that passionate kiss they had shared, she had believed they were
beyond this. That he had said it now was just so saddening and angering
that there was only one possible response. "RANMA NO BAKA!" Akane pulled
out her mallet, tears in her eyes, and started to bring it down on Ranma's
head.

Ranma grabbed it and pulled it out of Akane's hands. Then his face became
incredible apologetic. "Sorry, Akane. I didn't really mean that, but I
had to say it so that so I could get your mallet." Akane looked confused-
he had apologized? He was trying to get her angry so that he could get her
mallet? Why? "So... I know you didn't pack this thing in your bag... and
unless you've been studying with Mousse without my knowing it, you couldn't
exactly keep that thing in your clothes. So... where do you keep it
normally?"

Akane blinked. What was Ranma getting at? "Normally? I, uh... I don't
know. It kinda just appears when I get angry, you know?"

Ranma smiled and nodded. "Of course it does. Now, I'll set it down.
Watch." Ranma and Akane watched the mallet for a few minutes.

"What are we looking for?" Akane asked impatiently.

"Just keep looking at the mallet. Give it another... oh... two or three
minutes." Akane shrugged and did as he asked. Just before she was about
to give up and ask Ranma what she was looking for again, she noticed
something weird about her mallet- t was starting to fade. In seconds, the
mallet disappeared.

"Wha-"

Ranma smiled at Akane again. "You know, you're the only person I know who
can form solid objects with her chi. That they maintain their integrity
several minutes after you drop them is even more astonishing."

Akane gasped. "You mean my mallet is a... chi attack?"

Ranma chuckled. "Well, not really. Your mallet is a manifestation of your
chi into an object which can be used for, among other things, clobbering
wayward fiancees. However, the principles you use to form that mallet and
the principles I use to form a Moko Takabishi or Ryouga uses to form a
Shi-shi Hokodan are very similar. The principles are different for the
Hiryuu Shouten Ha, but I'll teach you that another time. For now, though,
I think we should start with what you already know and build around that."

Akane nodded. "Makes sense. So, 'sensei,' what do I do?"

Ranma smirked at the 'sensei,' but said nothing about it. "First, gather
your chi like you do when you get mad at me. This time, though, PLEASE
don't use anger. If that's the only emotion you can focus, okay, use it,
but if not then don't. I don't want to have to insult you every time you
get into a fight."

'He doesn't want me to use anger, huh?' Akane smiled. "Okay, I think I can
do that." She closed her eyes, and shortly thereafter a ruby colored aura
started emanating from her. She opened her eyes and stared straight at
Ranma. "What next, 'sensei?'"

Ranma blinked. "I don't think I've seen someone emanate that shade of red
before. What emotion are you using?"

Akane's smile became a smirk. "I'm hurt, Ranma. You don't even know when
someone's positively glowing for love of you?"

Ranma nearly choked. "Uh..." his voice trembled. Unsure of how to
respond, he just cleared his throat. "Uh, okay. On to the next part of
the lesson." Ranma still wasn't able to keep his voice level, but he did
his best. "Next, try to think of a shape- NOT a mallet... something like a
ball." The red aura moved from all around Akane into her hands. "Good.
Now, pick a target." Akane turned towards an outcropping of rock about
fifty feet away. "Okay, now, mentally PUSH your chi at that target..."

"RANMA NO KOIBITO DAKE KEN!" Akane cried. (Author's note: Special Thanks
go toThe Eternal Lost Lurker, who helped me replace my mish-mash of Fanfic
Japanese crossed over with some Japanese\English dictionary translations of
this attack, which means 'Ranma's Only Lover Strike.') Ranma blinked, for
more reason than one- for a split second, he thought a live-size image of
himself blanketing Akane. Then he realized what the attack was called, and
gulped.

"Um..." Ranma's voice was trembling badly again. "Well, at least...
you'll never use that attack on me..." He then remembered himself, and
looked at the damage Akane's blast had caused. "And that's probably a VERY
good thing for me, too..." The rock face Akane had targeted no longer
existed, and neither did anything within ten feet of it.

"I take it I did well, 'sensei,'" Akane said, still smiling. Ranma nodded
slowly. "That was easy. Any more lessons tonight, 'sensei?'"

"Uh, no... that'll do for tonight." Akane nodded, and then on impulse ran
over and gave Ranma a peck on the cheek.

"g'night!" Akane said sweetly, and ran into her tent.

Ranma shook his head slowly as she disappeared. 'Okay, she's been snapping
my head off for a week and now she's... she's... ARGH! I'll never
understand women.' He sighed, and looked at the devastation her chi blast
had caused. 'Still, I gotta admit that I can't doubt she loves me after
that...'

* * * * *

Ranma and Akane, after a rather uneventful day of hiking, made it to the
sea-side village of Ikkoku by the end of the next day. They set up their
tents just outside of the small village, not having enough money to afford
a hotel room, and headed in to a small sushi place.

Munching on a sashimi, Akane said "It's nice not having to forage for
food."

Ranma, doing much the same, nodded. "It's cheap here, too. Good thing
this is a fishing village- we're VERY low on money right now. We'd run out
of money in a couple of days eating out anywhere else- even if all we were
buying was sushi."

"Oh, yeah, money..." Akane blushed. "Um, how much to we have left?"

Ranma shrugged. "I dunno... about forty-five hundred yen. Why?"

"Uh... I need about half of that... I need to buy some of the 'necessities'
that I borrowed from you yesterday."

Ranma sighed. "Yeah, you probably do. I didn't expect to have to use many
of them, but you will need to." He fumbled through his pockets and pulled
out a wad of money, handing some of it to Akane. "While you're getting
that, I'll see if I can find out anything about Natsume and Kurumi's
parents." Ranma finished off his last sushi roll and downed a cup of tea.
"I'll meet you later tonight back at the camp. I won't take too long
looking tonight- just an hour or so."

Akane nodded. "Want the photo?"

Ranma shook his head. "No, I've got the one with Happosai's face. Not
very pleasing, but it'll do." He stood up and started to leave. "See you
soon, Akane."

Akane grabbed and squeezed his hand. "Bye, Ranma!" She watched as Ranma
flushed on his way out, and giggled. He still wasn't used to her showing
him any affection, and his reactions were sometimes quite amusing- like the
previous day's chi blast training- now that she knew he loved her.

Akane finished her meal and left the store herself. After asking for
directions, she headed for the nearest shopping center and searched for the
feminine care products that she needed. She went up to the cash register.

"Hello, miss. How can I help you?" A lady in her mid-fifties at the cash
register asked.

"Uh, yes, I need to buy these," Akane blushed as she placed the maxi pads
on the counter. 'I wish I'd thought of this before I left- this is so
embarrassing. How is Kasumi able to stand buying these things?'

"Will that be all?" Akane nodded. "Okay, then. That'll be 1800 yen."

Akane, a little flustered, spilled the contents of her pockets out while
she was digging through her pockets for the cash. Paying, she quickly put
her recent purchase into the little paper bag the attendant had given her.
Then she bent over to pick up the stuff she had dropped. Not knowing what
else to do with it all, having left her backpack at the camp site, she just
started dumping it all into the bag with her pads.

"Say," the sales clerk grabbed a photo out of Akane's hands. "I recognize
these kids... where did you get this?"

"You recognize them?!" Akane cried enthusiastically. "Wow! What a
coincidence! I was trying to find these kids' parents... do you know where
I could look?"

"Their parents? Who are you?"

"My name is Akane Tendou. I want to find their par-" Akane began.

"TENDOU?" The woman shouted, attracting angry glares from nearby shoppers.
"You wouldn't happen to be related to one Soun Tendou, would you?"

"Well, yes, I am."

"Well, I hate to tell you this, since you seem like such a nice girl, but
this Soun Tendou is responsible for the death of most of these girls and
most of their family!"

"WHAT? How is my father responsible for their death?!" Akane cried,
disbelieving.

"Soun is your FATHER?" The woman shouted. "Impossible! That old pervert
must have been too old to father children for decades when he showed up
here, and that was... oh... close to twelve years ago. Maybe I have the
wrong Soun Tendou."

Akane sighed. She knew exactly who was being described. "Yes, you do, but
it isn't your fault. I know who you're talking about- you're talking about
my father's martial arts instructor, who was impersonating my father for
some reason." Then she frowned. "But this doesn't seem to fit either.
For one thing, these children are alive, and for another, Happosai- oh,
he's the impersonator... Happosai doesn't normally kill anyone. Sure, he's
the biggest pervert in the world, and sure he'll hurt you a lot, but kill
you? It doesn't make sense."

"Well... they never found the girls' bodies, but they found those of the
mother and the son, and the rest of the house was too burnt to distinguish
human remains from those of anything else."

Akane gasped. "Oh, gods... how did it happen?"

The lady frowned. "Well... It was all Sou- er, I mean, your father's
teacher- Happosai, is it? It was all his fault. He moved in to their
house, pretending to be a long lost friend of the kids' grandfather, and
used his position there to go on perverted raids of thievery and he kept
forwarding unpaid bills to that family." Akane nodded- the 'Master' had
done much the same thing to her family. "Well, one day, a number of local
shop owners and angry husbands decided they'd had enough, and tried to
ambush him. He ran the mob ragged through the streets until he made his
way back to the home he had invaded. There, he released some kind of...
fire bomb, or something. It blew up the house, and we thought all of the
occupants. Are you sure that the two girls in this photograph are alive?"

Akane nodded. "I sure hope I didn't leave my family to take care of a
couple of dead people. The reason I'm looking for their parents is because
they... can't travel right now. They've dedicated their lives to two
things, however- the first is martial arts, and the second is finding their
family. They'll be crushed to hear that they no longer have one."

The woman frowned. "Wait... you're saying you want to reunite them with
their family?" Akane nodded. "Well, while most of their family is dead,
not all of it is. A few weeks after their... disappearance... their father
returned from a fishing trip to find his house destroyed and his loved ones
gone. Unable to continue living here, he went to a village in China where
he had the only other living relative he knew of- a cousin of some sort."

"China! Wow..." Akane said. 'Great, I barely got back from my last trip
to China alive. Oh, well.' She smiled at the lady. "What was the name of
the village? And, for that matter, what was HIS full name?"

"His name? Oh, his name was Kenji Desaix..." Akane blinked. "Yes, I know
it's a gaijin name. His father was an American from the occupation, and
his mother was a born and bred Ikkoku woman. He wanted to move back to the
states and she wanted him to take her name. They compromised- he'd stay
here if she took his family name." Akane nodded. "And the town they were
headed is called Xiquan, in the Ningxia Autonomous Region."

'Ningxia?' Akane thought. 'Oh, great. Further complications. One of the
Amazon villages (though thank god it isn't Joketsuzoku), Herb's kingdom,
and Kirin's kingdom and are ALL found in Ningxia. This'll be trouble, I
just know it...' Out loud, she said "We, thanks for all of your help. You
have no idea how much I appreciate this!" Akane started to run out the
door, anxious to tell Ranma what she had learned.

"Oh, miss!" The woman called. Akane turned, and saw she was holding up
her bag and the photo. "Are you sure you want to leave without these?"

* * * * *

"China?" Ranma repeated thoughtfully. "Hmm... well, that's going to be a
problem. Akane, how much money do you have left?" Akane sheepishly handed
Ranma the change from the store, and Ranma counted. "Well, it's not enough
to buy a ticket over there, but..." He looked at Akane, and frowned.
"Akane, I think I'm going to have to hold off on teaching you more martial
arts lessons for a while."

Akane glared daggers at Ranma. "Oh? Why is that? Afraid I'll get better
than you?"

Ranma laughed. "No, that's not it. And if you do get better than me,
good. It'll mean I'm a better teacher than I thought." He shook his head.
"No, I'm just going to work with you on something else. Akane, you need
to learn how to swim."

Akane's eyes widened. "WHAT? You don't expect me to SWIM to China, do
you?"

Ranma shook his head. "No... though we might have to swim home if this
'Kenji Desaix' guy doesn't have any better ideas. But that isn't why you
need to know how to swim- I'm pretty sure I could find some way to get us
across if I were desperate enough. I don't want to start an international
incident, however, so I'm looking for a quiet way into China. I was
thinking of us taking passage on one of the fishing boats around here as
crew, and asking the boat's master to let us off in China. To be on the
safe side, I want to make sure you can swim- fishing boats rock more than
Kunou's boat does, and we were lucky you didn't have to swim that time-
especially considering the fact we were shipwrecked!"

"Well... okay, how are you planning to teach me to swim?"

"I don't know yet, but I'll think of something." He sighed. "You know,
maybe we should call home tomorrow and let the family know what we found
out."

"Good idea," Akane yawned. She looked up at Ranma, a twinkle in her eyes.
"I'm going to bed... care to join me?"

"Uh..." Ranma bigsweat. "I'm... I'm not ready for that yet. When it gets
cold, I'll be more than willing to share a tent, but..."

Akane, though slightly disappointed, laughed. "Don't worry about it,
Ranma. I understand- I'm not really ready for some things, either. I just
wanted to... um... hold you, tonight."

"Oh..." Ranma blushed. "Well, if that's all, then... I guess it's all
right..." Ranma closed his eyes, and when he opened them he had a
determined look on his face. He picked up his and Akane's bags and tossed
them into his tent. "Lets... go to bed."

Akane and Ranma entered her tent together, and laid down. Akane pecked him
on the nose. "Sweet dreams." They wrapped their arms around each other.
In a matter of minutes, Akane fell asleep.

As Ranma felt Akane's crushing grip squeeze him mercilessly, he sighed
mentally. 'Gods, marriage with Akane is going to hurt.' Then he looked at
the girl who was crushing him in her arms, and smiled. 'It'll be worth it,
though.' He sighed in amusement. 'I guess I'm just a masochist at heart.'
And then he, too, proceeded to fall asleep.

* * * * *

Onna-Ranma and Akane, both in their swimsuits, were walking away from the
public swimming pools, towels wrapped around themselves. They'd been in
the pool for all day, and they were both slightly sunburnt and wrinkled
from the water. The only reason they had left, however, was because it had
gotten too dark out, and the pool had closed.

"Well," Ranma began, rubbing the towel in his ear. "I wish we could have
had more time, but I guess that wasn't a bad first day, considering the
LAST time someone tried to teach you to swim."

"Well, with all that craziness-" Akane began hotly.

Ranma laughed. "I'm not complaining, Akane. I was just hoping you would
surprise me and learn how to swim as quickly as you learned how to throw
your chi blasts. As it is, it'll take at least three more days in the
pool. Then, if you're progressing fast enough, I'll start trying to teach
you to swim in the ocean by taking you to the beach. Then we can try to
find a fishing boat for out trip to China."

Akane nodded. They continued on in silence for a little while, until Akane
grabbed Ranma's arm and pointed. "Ranma, there's a phone we can use!"

Onna-Ranma looked at the pay telephone Akane was pointing to and sighed,
looking through her pockets for change. "You want to make the call, or
should I?" Ranma asked.

"Why don't you? If I call, dad's likely to flood the house with his
tears." Ranma nodded, chuckling. "Say, Ranma..." Akane began. "Do you
want to tell our parents about... us?"

Ranma's eyes widened in surprise. "Why would I? Unless, of course, you
WANT to get married the day we get back home!" She added jokingly.

"Well..." Akane hesitated.

Ranma's eyes widened. "You DO, don't you?" Akane nodded bashfully.
"Akane, I... don't think we should get married just yet. I mean, I still
have to make sure Ukyou and Shampoo won't try to kill you when they find
out how I feel, and I want to be able to have a few dates with you first,
and I want to have a chance to actually ASK you to marry me. And then, I
want to be in on the planning- I don't want to be kidnapped and forced into
it. At least give it a few months after we get back, huh? Just so that we
can try to get something of a normal life together? If you want to get
married that early, I can deal with it, but-"

Akane half-smiled. "That's okay, Ranma. I can sort of see why you want to
wait." Ranma relaxed a little, and Akane grabbed her hand and gave it a
gentle squeeze. "Just don't wait too long." Ranma, realizing they were
both girls, blushed. Akane, seeing his embarrassment, let go. "Go make
your phone call, Ranma."

Ranma nodded, still blushing slightly, and ran over to the phone. He
dialed and waited for a few seconds. "Hi, mom!" He began. "It's me,
Ranma... Sure thing... Oh, fine, fine. Well, I called to let you guys know
what we've found out so far... Okay, go ahead... uh huh... uh huh... uh
hu- WHAT?!" He turned to Akane, covering up the speaker with his hand.
"Akane, you're not going to believe this one..."


----------------------------------------------------- -----------------------



-------------------------
Ch apter 6: An Addition to the Family

"...and you have aided my cause in the past. For what reason do you deny
the Blue Thunder your assistance now, lowly mage?" Kunou was spouting at a
tree when Hiroshi and Daisuke were passing by him.

Hiroshi turned to Daisuke. "Huh. I guess he's REALLY flipped this
time..."

Daisuke nodded. "Uh huh. Who would have expected, though, that it would
show itself by having him yell at a tree..."

"But, Upperclassman Kunou!" The tree shouted back. "Before, you and I
always had a common enemy- I had a reason for wanting to help you. Why
would I want to help you now?"

Kunou's bokken flashed, slicing through the tree. "You would want to help
me so as to avoid FEELING MY WRATH!"

Gosunkugi fell out of the tree as it came crashing down. "Uh, probably a
pretty good reason," he sighed, wincing painfully as he pulled himself up.
Unlike many of the other residents of Nerima, even a fall as short as the
one off the tree was enough to hurt him badly. "So, what exactly is it you
want me to do?"

"I am in need of a man who can use the arts of sorcery to discern the
father of an unborn child."

"Let me see what I can do..." Gosunkugi pondered the situation. He walked
over to his bag, which he had dropped when he was scrambling up the tree,
and pulled out a book. He glanced through it for a couple of minutes.
"Hmm... there's nothing in my book which I think could help you out... I
don't think there's anything which I could do myself."

"Am I going to have to visit my wrath upon you?!" Kunou cried, waving his
bokken menacingly.

"NO! No..." Gosunkugi began thinking as quickly as he could. "Um, I might
not be able to help you, but I know someone else who might. I buy all my
magical supplies and books from her- I'm pretty sure she would be able to
think of something."

"Very well, then, lead me to this woman."

* * * * *

The storefront read "Tanaka Kaori- Mistress of the Mystic Arts." As Kunou
followed Gosunkugi inside, he noted the incense in the air and the crystal
pendants hanging everywhere. 'Ah, yes,' he thought. 'Indicators of a true
source for magic and sorcery! This must be the right place!'

Gosunkugi motioned for Kunou to enter another room, nodding to the store
clerk as he did so. "Come on, Kunou, the person you're interested never
comes out here."

"Pray tell, why not?" Kunou asked as he passed through the curtain
separating the rooms.

"Because the outside room is for the people who believe real magic can only
be conducted in rooms full of incense and crystals. Crystals don't work
and the woman I want you to meet is allergic to incense." Kunou frowned,
but continued to follow Gosunkugi as he led the way through the store.

"Ah, Gosunkugi!" A female voice said. "Nice to see you again! Do you
want to buy some more of our dolls? Oh, I didn't see you had a friend!"

Gosunkugi bowed his head low to a woman, kneeling in front of a flame, who
Kunou hadn't seen before. "Mistress Kaori, this is Upp-"

"I am the rising new star of the high school fencing world, captain of the
Furinken High School Kendo club, I am Tatewaki Kunou, but you may address
me as-"

Suddenly, Kunou found his voice was no longer working. "I'll address you
as however I want to. Kneel." Mistress Kaori said. Kunou knelt down in
front of the fire across from her. "Gosunkugi, please leave. I wish to
talk to him alone."

Gosunkugi bowed again. "Of course, Mistress Kaori!" He turned around and
scurried out the door.

Mistress Kaori smiled at his departed form and shook her head. "If only he
tried something other than those silly paper dolls..." She turned her
attention to Kunou. "So, what is it that you want, young samurai?" Kunou
tried to speak, but couldn't. "Oh, sorry!" She waved one of her hands.
"Now, speak!"

Kunou frowned. "Oh enchantress, I desire some of thy knowledge so as to
aid the sister of one tha-" Suddenly, he couldn't talk again.

"Quit the elegant speeches. What're you here for?"

"A friend of a... friend is pregnant, but does not know who the father is.
My friend has asked me to ascertain this little bit of knowledge, and I was
hoping that the mystic arts would be of assistance in my search."

"Ah... I see." Mistress Kaori nodded. "Does she know how she was
impregnated? Was she raped or something?"

"Truly, my lady, nothing of the sort has happened to her, but her tale I
will tell thee. One night, with ill humors from her long travels, the
wayward gentlewoman partook of many glasses of strong liquors, and in her
state lay with a man who she did not know."

"Ah... I see." Kaori frowned. Kunou's style of speech was REALLY starting
to bug her. "Has she... 'lain with' anyone else since that night. And
just answer 'Yes' or 'No.' If you give me that flowery language again,
I'll turn you into a toad."

Kunou widened his eyes in surprise. "Uh... not that I'm aware of."

Kaori nodded. "Hmm..." She stood up and stepped behind a curtain. After
a few seconds, she returned, holding something. Curious, she pointed it at
Kunou and looked into it. She giggled slightly, but then pulled herself
together and knelt in front of the fire again. "There is no way for anyone
to see who the father of an unborn child is through magic. Science is
coming close- DNA tests will reveal such things with a high degree of
accuracy now, but I doubt a DNA test would help in this case, as you have
no suspects at the moment." She shook her head. "Normally, I could not
help you. However... since she has not... 'lain with' another, you might
be able to use this. It's the Fidelity Gem. If you point it at someone,
you get to see who the last person was who they were... 'laying with.'"
Every time Kaori said lain or laying with, she had to suppress a chuckle.
It was so easy to tease this guy. "Just point it at the girl, and you will
see who the father is."

Kunou accepted the gem from her hand. "Pray tell, what would happen if I
were to point it at someone who has never experienced such intimacy?"

"I'm sick of your flowery speech," Kaori said, wiggling her fingers and
waving her hands in an intricate pattern. "You may not speak now. I'll
release you from this when you leave, but I shall also place this curse
upon you: Every time you talk in such archaic ways for the next six
months, your ability to speak will leave you for two weeks." She finished
casting her spell, and then smiled. Now that that's over with, I'll answer
your question- sort of. If you want to know what happens if you were to do
such a thing, then simply turn it on yourself." Kunou, enraged, began
mouthing out words of vengeance and wrath, but all that could be heard was
silence. Kaori's smile widened. "And, by the way, you owe me... well,
I'll knock some of the price off because of how much you've been
inconvenienced. I'll only charge you two hundred and fifty thousand yen.
If you ever want to sell it back, you'll get... oh... some of that back, at
least." Kunou, still angry enough to kill but not so angry as to strike a
woman, pulled out his wallet and tossed the money in the direction of the
fire. However, it just floated in mid-air for a moment before heading
straight for Kaori's hands. "Nice doing business with you!" She laughed.

* * * * *

At that very moment, halfway across the Nerima district, Ukyou was ringing
the doorbell to the Tendou home. She'd been having the same nightmare for
a week now- the one where Ranma told her he couldn't trust her anymore.
She needed to talk to someone, and the only people she felt that she could
talk to lived there.

"Hello, who's there?" came a distinctly feminine voice from the other side
of the door. It slid open, revealing the smiling face of Nodoka.

"Hello, Mrs. Saotome," Ukyou smiled half-heartedly. "I... need someone to
talk to."

"Ukyou?" Nodoka blinked in surprise. The young girl standing before her
looked as if she had been crying recently, with the redness in her eyes.
"Of course- do you want to come in?"

"Uh, sure. Thank you..." Ukyou followed Nodoka inside, and was led into
the kitchen. Nodoka started stirring the contents of a pan on the stove
top. Curious, Ukyo asked "Um, what're you doing?"

"Cooking dinner," Nodoka answered plainly. "This is the ozoni soup, and in
the oven I'm making chicken teriyaki." [ozoni soup is a form of rice cake
soup, btw]

Ukyou frowned. "That seems to be a fairly normal dinner. I would have
thought Natsume would be craving something... unusual."

Nodoka laughed. "Cravings don't come upon a woman until about five or six
months into the pregnancy." Her face became serious. "Now, what is it you
wanted to talk about? Surely not my cooking."

Ukyou chuckled, but still looked troubled. "No, I don't want to talk about
that. I'm just... worried..."

Nodoka frowned, still stirring in the pot with her cooking chopsticks.
"Worried? What are you worried about?"

Ukyou sighed. "I've been having these nightmares..."

Nodoka laughed. "I'm sorry," she apologized, still chuckling. "But,
considering how distressed you looked, I thought that it was something more
than a few nightmares..."

"IT IS!" Ukyou broke in. "These nightmares are about... me and Ranma."

"Ah..." Nodoka nodded. She knew the real reason why Ukyou was so upset,
but wanted her to talk it out. "What do they deal with?"

"Well, remember when I said I knew something of the real reason Ranma
didn't want me along with him?" Nodoka nodded again. "Well, the reason he
didn't want me along is... he couldn't trust me. He was worried I might
actually harm Akane while he was gone. I said to myself 'is he kidding?
Of course I wouldn't!' But, he reminded me about the time I had bombed the
wedding... and the time I helped destroy your house... and then I
remembered a time I had tried to hurt Akane when Natsume and Kurumi first
showed up and she needed training... I realized that I WAS capable of
hurting her. I was capable of doing anything to anybody, provided they
stood in my way of winning Ranma. And, because of this, I fear that I've
become one of those things standing in my way."

"Oh?" Nodoka said. "You said you were having nightmares?" She wanted
Ukyou to get to the point.

"Well, yes. In my dreams, Ranma keeps saying 'I'll never be able to trust
you while you still want to marry me.' THAT is what keeps worrying me... I
want to be with Ranma forever. I ALSO want to be his wife, but... if I
keep trying to become that, I'm worried I'll lose him as a friend."

Nodoka smiled kindly. "I doubt that would ever happen. My son has so few
friends he even holds those who routinely try to kill and maim him as
such."

"BUT WHAT IF?" Ukyou cried, desperate. "What if he feels that Aka... uh,
whoever he finally chooses... is threatened by me? He'd avoid me just to
make her happy, and he would fight me if I ever came near her." She
sobbed. "I can't let that happen. I mustn't! I have to do something to
make sure he can trust me again..."

Nodoka sighed. 'Dearest, why have you made life so difficult for those
around you?' she mentally berated her husband. "Well, I have an idea.
I've actually been thinking about it for some time- ever since I had a
little talk with Ranma about how he feels about the three of you."

Ukyou blinked. "You mean he told you how he felt about us?"

Nodoka chuckled. "Are you kidding? My son would never do that. At least,
not with his words. However, listening to how he spoke about each of you,
I could pretty much guess how he felt. He loves you, Ukyou, but not in the
way a husband should love his wife, but instead how a friend should love a
friend- or perhaps how a brother should love a sister."

Ukyou collapsed. "Are you sure? That he would never grow to love me as my
husband?"

Nodoka frowned. "No. I can never be sure of how anyone feels. I'm not
entirely sure dearest loves me, or that Ranma feels the way he does about
you, or... that I feel the way I feel about anyone. But, I believe as much
as I possibly can that I am right."

Ukyou tried to wipe the tears out of her eyes.. "You said you had an
idea?"

Nodoka nodded, though Ukyou wasn't looking at her. "Yes, I do. But... if
I try it, you will NEVER be able to marry Ranma."

Ukyou looked up at her with a defiant expression for a moment. "What?! Do
you think I would give up-" She stopped herself. "I'm sorry... I'm doing
it again." She stood up, dusted herself off, and turned to Nodoka. "Mrs.
Saotome, as the only representative of the Saotome clan here present, I
wish to inform you that I... I am officially breaking off my engagement
with your son, Ranma."

Nodoka smiled. "I formally give you permission to do so," she said. "Now,
about that plan of mine... I'm going to need to talk to your family,
especially your parents."

"Well, the only family I know of is my father, and I can tell you how to
get in touch with him," Ukyou said, puzzled. "But... what do you need to
talk to them for?"

"That is a secret, for now. But meet me here a week from now, and I'll let
you know everything..."

* * * * *

Impatient as always, Kunou was rushing to the Tendou's so as to try out the
fidelity gem. He was running so fast, in fact, he almost ran into Ukyou on
her way from the conversation with Nodoka.

"Oh, I'm sorry, Kunou," Ukyou apologized, sidestepping a near-certain
collision. "I didn't see you coming.

Kunou looked at her, and opened his mouth to say something. The, he
appeared to reconsider, and nodded, merely saying "My fault. Sorry," and
walking right past her.

Ukyou looked at his departing form. 'What's wrong with him?' she wondered
before turning to go.

* * * * *

Kunou knocked on Nabiki's door. A shuffling was heard on the other side,
and Nabiki's voice croaked "Yes?"

"Nabiki Tendo, it is I," Kunou intoned through the door.

Nabiki's grumbling could be heard as he waited. "I'll be out in a minute.
Hold on." More shuffling was heard coming from her room, and about ten
minutes later, she slid the door open, still looking a little unkempt.
"What is it, Kunou-baby?" Her voice promised death to Kunou if he had
awoken her for anything she felt was unimportant.

"I am afraid that I am not able to explain with my usual eloquence, but
some vile sorcery prevents me," Kuno began. He felt a tingling in the back
of his neck, which he had been told by Mistress Kaori was a warning sign
that his speech was nearing the point his curse would come into effect. "I
have... obtained something which may help us determine the father of your
foster-sister's child."

"Really?" Nabiki's interest perked up. "What is it? And how did you get
it?"

"I purchased a magical item from a sorceress. It is called the Fidelity
Gem." He pulled it out of his robes.

"Oh? How does it work?"

Kunou frowned. "If you point it at someone, you are able to see the last
one who that person was... intimate with." On a whim, he pointed it at
Nabiki, and smirked. "I see that you are perhaps more innocent than I
believed; thou hast not- er, you haven't yet felt the pleasures of the
flesh."

"HOW DARE YOU!" Nabiki slapped Kunou, outraged. Instinctively, he raised
his hand to protect his face, dropping the gem. Nabiki caught it before it
fell. She turned it on Kunou herself, and nodded. "Why, it looks like you
as a child... wait a second, you and I are in the same boat, aren't we?
Otherwise, I'd see some woman here, wouldn't I?" Kunou, rubbing his aching
jaw, nodded. "So... what was the point of using that thing on me, anyway?"

Kunou winced. "I wanted proof that it worked. I have yet to see if it
does."

Nabiki, still very angry, grabbed Kunou by the ear. "You want to test it?
Come on!" She dragged him with her over to the living room, where her
father and Genma-panda were playing shogi, oblivious to the rest of the
world. She pointed it at her father and looked into it. "Mommy..." She
wasn't prepared for the clarity of the picture, and suddenly all of the
memories of her late mother hit her hard. She stumbled back, dropping the
Fidelity Gem and almost falling over before Kunou caught her.

"Are you okay?" he asked with some genuine concern in his voice.

"Uh, yeah," Nabiki said, not making any moves to get out of his arms for a
second. "I just... didn't think about what would happen when I saw the
picture of my mother..." She shook her head dazedly. "I just need a
moment."

Kunou, uncertain of what to do, just held her as she recovered, . As soon
as Nabiki realized what was going on, she broke out of his grasp and
started standing on her own. Kunou picked up the gem, and turned back to
Nabiki, worry written on his face. "Perhaps thou needest- er, perhaps you
want to do this tomorrow?"

Nabiki shook her head. "Nah. If we do this now, I can get my mind off of
things for a while..." She led Kunou to Natsume's room, and they went
inside. Natsume was asleep, but Nabiki wanted to try anyway. "The gem
makes no sound when it's used, so let's try it anyway," she said.

Kunou nodded, and pointed the crystalline device at the sleeping girl.
Suddenly, anger flared in his eyes. "Why that... he makes such pretenses
of honor, but... I cannot stand by and let this man get away with this!"
Natsume started to wake up at his ranting while Nabiki ineffectively tried
to calm him down. "I shall not let him! He shall feel the wrath of the
Blue Thunder!" Kunou continued, despite the tingling in the back of his
neck. "You vile CUR! I shall cry 'HAVOC' and let loose the dogs-"
Suddenly, though Kunou's lips moved, his voice no longer said anything.

Nabiki was astounded. No-one had ever shut Kunou up before without hitting
him, to her knowledge. That he wasn't able to speak was shocking. 'Too
bad it's when I want him to be able to speak the most...' She sighed.
"How long till you can speak again, Kunou-baby? Hours?" Kunou stopped his
silent ranting, turned, and shook his head. "Days? Weeks?" Kunou nodded.
"Weeks? How many weeks?" Kunou raised up two fingers. "TWO WEEKS?"
Nabiki sighed, frustrated. 'Well... I don't think I want this written
down, just in case someone else gets their hands on it. And I don't really
feel like using that gem again, after seeing...' She shuddered, but then
turned her attention back on Kunou. "Tell you what, Kunou-baby... in two
weeks, I'll come over to your house, and we can talk about this some more.
Maybe I can advise you on how our family wants to deal with... the father."
Kunou considered for a moment, and then nodded. He bowed to her, turned,
and left.

"Nabiki?" Natsume's voice creaked. "What was that?"

"We're trying to find the father of your child, so that we can deal with
him as you see fit."

Natsume frowned. "You don't need to do that."

Nabiki smirked. "No, but we want to." Natsume opened her mouth to say
something, but was cut off. "I mean, if for nothing other than child
support, we need to find him. We can't afford to support you, your sister,
and your child, as well as Ranma, his parents, and ourselves."

Natsume looked pained. "But..."

Nabiki shrugged. "You don't need to do anything- we'll take care of it."
Natsume still wanted to say something, but Nabiki wouldn't let her. "Hush.
You need your sleep. We can't afford the medical bills if you collapse
from exhaustion." With that she left.

* * * * *

A week later, Ukyou was knocking once more on the Tendou Dojo's front door.
Nodoka came to the door and opened it. "Oh, you're here already," she
said. "I need a minute or two to get ready to go- I finished making the
necessary arrangements for what we're going to do just seconds ago."

"Arrangements?" Ukyou asked, confused. "What arrangements?"

Nodoka smiled. "Oh, you'll find out soon enough." She ran into the
bathroom and ran out a few minutes later, her hair freshly straightened and
a fresh layer of make-up put on. She was also wearing a business-like
skirt and blouse. She looked Ukyou up and down and frowned. "I wish you
had worn something a bit more formal, but I guess it can't be helped now."
She opened a nearby closet and pulled out her purse and a sun hat. "Okay,
I'm ready. Let's go!"

Ukyou followed Nodoka out the door and all the way downtown without asking
any questions. Curiousity finally got to the better of her, however.
"Just where are we going, anyway?"

Nodoka smiled secretly. "The local administration center."

Ukyou blinked. "Huh? Why?"

"You'll see when we get there..."

A few minutes later, Ukyou looked up and saw someone she hadn't seen in
years. "D... dad?" Mr. Kuonji ran up to Ukyou and gave her a big hug.

"Hello, my little girl. It's been, what, ten years?" He smiled, and
turned to Nodoka. "You must be Mrs. Saotome?"

"Yes, I am," Nodoka nodded. "Do you have your end of the paperwork?"

Mr. Kuonji nodded. "Right here," he said, handing Nodoka a bunch of
papers. "Can I still visit her when I want?"

Nodoka smiled. "Of course. Though why haven't you visited her more before
now?"

Mr. Kuonji frowned. "Well... I never knew where she was!"

Ukyou broke in. "Hey, what's going on here? Why wouldn't you be able to
visit me?"

"Well, Ukyou," Nodoka answered. "It's simple. You might not be able to
become Ranma's wife, but... you CAN become his sister. I'm adopting you,
Ukyou... welcome to the family."

Ukyou's eyes widened. "WHAT?"

"Unless you don't want me to?"

"Well, I..." Ukyou considered. 'Well, what more would I get from Ranma if
he were to be my husband rather than my sister? Some kisses, some... other
stuff of the like, but... is there anything else I would miss? I...' She
turned to Nodoka hesitantly. "Well, I guess I do."

* * * * *

Nodoka sighed. It had been a very trying day- after taking care of the
formalities required in order to adopt Ukyou, she had rushed home, and had
another encounter with Cologne as she checked up on Natsume. Then she had
heard from Nabiki that she might be able to identify the baby's father in a
couple of weeks, but the only person who could help right now had
laryngitis or something and couldn't talk. Finally, she'd gotten into an
argument with her husband about how intelligent it was to adopt someone who
had caused so much trouble- blowing up her house and stopping the wedding
and all. Nodoka finally won it by mentioning how adopting the girl had
probably eliminated a possible competitor for Ranma's affections.

Nodoka was just about to head to the bathroom when the phone rang. She was
standing right next to it, so she sighed and picked it up. "Moshi, moshi!"

*"Hi, mom! It's me, Ranma,"* came the voice on the other end.

"Ranma?! Hi, son! Will you hold on for a moment while I get the rest of
the family?

*"Sure thing,"* he replied. Nodoka rushed into the other room. "Hey,
guys, Ranma's on the phone!" Genma-panda and Soun nodded, but didn't look
up from their game of shogi. A sign saying 'We'll be there in a minute'
was held up by the panda, however. Kurumi, Kasumi, Nabiki, and Ukyou (who
had stayed over to visit for a little while) were all surprised and rushed
with her back to the phone.

"Okay, I'm back. How are you, my son?"

*"Oh, fine, fine..."*

"Why're you calling?"

*"Oh, I called to let you guys know what we've found out so far..."*

Ukyou tapped Nodoka on the shoulder. "Tell him about me now," she
whispered in her ear.

Nodoka nodded. "Ranma, I'm sure we're all anxious to hear that, but first
let he tell you what's been going on here."

*"Okay, go ahead."*

"Well, first of all, Kunou's promised to help find the father of Natsume's
baby, but then he got laryngitis, and isn't able to help much anymore."

*"Uh-huh..."*

"And Cologne is checking in on her pregnancy regularly. Apparently, the
father is so strong in chi that she thought he was you for a second
there..."

*"Uh-huh..."* He sounded vaguely bored, as if this was territory which had
been covered before.

"Oh, yeah, and Ukyou dissolved your engagement to her so that she could be
adopted. She's now your older sister." Nodoka, though smirking, was just
able to say that as evenly as she'd said all the other lines.

*"Uh-hu- WHAT?"* There was a brief pause with a shuffling sound, as if he
was turning away from the phone. Then, Nodoka heard a muffled *"Akane,
you're not going to believe this one..."* Ukyou, who had been listening on
another extension, put down the reciever when she heard the 'what' and
started laughing. Nabiki might have detected a slight bit of sadness in
the laughter, but it was genuine laughter nonetheless. Nodoka let Ranma
finish explaining what was going on to Akane, and waited for him to start
talking to her again. *"Okay,"* he continued. *"So... anything else of
major importance you have to tell me? Like dad divorced you and married
Cologne, or something?"*

Nodoka shuddered. "No, and don't ever mention that again, even in jest..."
Soun and a damp but human Genma entered the room, their game of shogi over
for the moment. "Anyway, you said you had some things to tell us?"

*"Yeah.... We found out a lot of stuff. First off, their entire family
was almost certainly killed in an explosion except for their father..."*

"Oh, dear," Nodoka exclaimed, looking at Kurumi. The younger girl looked
back curiously. "I hope you have some good news."

*"Yeah, I do. There is a very good chance that the father is alive, and we
now have a name and a possible location where he might be staying now. His
name- and the family name of Kurumi and Natsume- is Desaix. Kenji Desaix.
Last anyone around here heard, he was leaving for Xiquan, a small village
in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in China."*

"Their family name is Desaix, you say?" Nodoka asked. Kurumi blinked.

*"Yeah, apparently their grandfather was an American here during the
occupation, and the family took his name. Probably explains Kurumi's hair
color."* Nodoka thought she heard a brief click, and Ranma's voice
returned to the line sounding a little disappointed. *"Well, mom, looks
like I have to go. That was the operator saying that I have to either go
or deposit more money, and Akane and I are almost broke right now. I'll
call again if anything... you ought to know... comes up. Bye!"*

"Bye, Ranma!" Nodoka said, before hearing a click and then the dialtone.
She turned to the assembled people. "Well, Kurumi, most of your family is
gone, but they might still be able to find your father- his name is Kenji
Desaix, and they think he's in the village of Xiquan in the Ningxia Hui
region of China. They-"

Two people broke in at once.

"Desaix? I think I know that name?" Soun pondered.

"NINGXIA? Are they out of their MINDS? We just BARELY escaped with our
lives last time we were there, and they're going BACK?"

Nodoka winced. "Quit shouting, Dearest. Our son can take care of himself,
and Akane is with him and can likely help him along the way." Ukyou
grimmaced and Nabiki's mouth formed a straight line as she struggled to
keep the concern she felt for her sister out of her face, but everyone else
was relieved. Nodoka turned back to Kurumi. "This must me a bit much for
you to handle right now. What do you say Kasumi and I go make you and your
sister some tea, and then we'll go with you to tell her what we found out?"

Kurumi, who looked a little shell-shocked, nodded and left with the two
motherly figure who were supporting her. Nabiki just shrugged and went
upstairs to her room. Ukyou, unsure of what to do, just sat where she was,
glaring at Genma. 'I forgot getting adopted meant that I now have HIM for
a father...' Soun, on the other hand, was contemplative. A breeze from a
nearby open window struck him, and he wandered absent-mindedly to close it.

"I know I've heard that name Desaix before... now where was it?"

* * * * *

On the roof, an ancient man who never seemed to be interested in anything
other than women's underwear was listening in to the conversation going on
below. 'So...' Happosai thought to himself. 'I was right. Those two
girls ARE Desaix's daughters... Will the guilt never stop following me?!'


------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------



-------------------------
Chap ter 7: Travelling, Training, and a Snake's Tooth

Onna-Ranma was being nudged awake by a rough, pitted hand. She just rolled
over to get out of her father's reach, and fell out of the hammock she was
sleeping in and onto the floor.

"Huh? What's going on?!" She cried with the stupidity of sleep.

The old man, who was definitely NOT Ranma's father, laughed wholeheartedly.
"This is the seventh day I've woken you up in the morning, and this is the
seventh time you've fallen out of your hammock."

Onna-Ranma groaned as she stood up. "I'm still not used to sleeping on a
fishing boat..."

The fisherman nodded, smiling humorously. "Well, this is the last day
you'll have to worry about that. We're along China's coastline right now,
and so you and your cousin will be able to leave and look for your family
soon."

"Uh, right," Onna-Ranma said slowly. She and Akane hadn't wanted to
explain the Jusenkyo curse to the crew of the fishing trawler, and so she
had boarded the boat as Ranko, Akane's cousin. "So, at what village are
you going to dock?"

"DOCK?" The fisherman laughed. "No, my dear sweet girl, we aren't going
to dock. Remember? You don't want to be noticed entering the country?
You couldn't get a visa to be allowed to see your uncle, and so you're
sneaking in? Well, I'm sorry, miss, I'm afraid that if we were to dock we
would be searched, and so you would be seen. No, you're going to have to
swim for it..."

"Uh, swim?" Ranma began to worry.

"That isn't a problem, is it?"

"Well... I wish you'd told us this earlier. It would be easier to deal
with if you had."

The man laughed. "Well, sorry, I'll know better next time. However,
you've got plenty of time before you have to go today... I think my crew
and I will miss you. Your cousin and you aren't just surprisingly good at
the grunt work we give you, but you're little squabbles were quite
entertaining for the crew..."

Ranma grimaced. She and Akane had started fighting again, occasionally,
and their fights were sometimes pretty bad squabbles, too. She was
beginning to wonder if they would EVER stop fighting. "Yeah, well...
thanks for offering to help us when we couldn't afford to pay..."

The old man smiled. "Oh, don't worry about it. I'm not one to abandon a
damsel in distress."

Ranma choked back a retort to that one, and merely nodded politely before
heading up on deck. Akane was already there, eating some sushi and ship's
bread while sunning herself. Ranma sat down across from her and picked up
some of the same food which had apparently been set out for her.

"Um..." Ranma began. "Did you hear that we're going to have to swim the
last leg?"

Akane stopped chewing and looked up at Ranma. She nodded slowly, and
finished chewing. "Yeah. The captain told me this morning." She picked
up another sushi roll. "Are you ready for it?"

Ranma nodded. "Of course. I swam all the way to China and back several
times- I think I can handle it. The question is... are YOU ready for it,
Akane?"

"I think so," she said between bites. "You were an excellent swimming
instructor. I think I can manage." She smiled at Onna-Ranma. "Besides,
if I get into trouble, you'll be there to help, right?"

Ranma smirked. "Of course I will."

Akane looked at Ranma really seriously for a moment. "Ranko," she began
cautiously- both because of what she was about to say and because she was
afraid some of the crew might be listening in. "I know that I sometimes...
well... fly off the handle at you. It doesn't mean I feel any less of you,
it's just-"

Onna-Ranma hushed her. 'How did Akane know what I've been so worried
about?' she thought. Out loud, she said "Don't worry about it. I...
understand. When you aren't feeling happy- and I can tell you haven't been
too happy being cramped up on this boat- you get frustrated and upset.
That turns to anger, and you take it out on me. I'd rather you take it out
on me than let it build up inside you to the point of driving you crazy."

Akane looked down. "But I'm worried, Ranko... What if my anger blinds me
to the point that I hurt you?"

Ranma smirked. "Then you hurt me. You've done it before- not very often,
but you have. But you haven't hit me very hard since that night in the
hotel room." His face became serious. "If it does become a problem,
though, we can do something about it."

"Like what?"

"Um... how about..." Ranma pondered the question for a second, and then
smiled, a twinkle of humor in his eye. "How about you train to pull out a
rubber Mallet o'Chi, instead of a wooden one?"

Akane looked at Ranma for a minute and then broke into laughter. "I
suppose I could, at that!"

* * * * *

Onna-Ranma kept pulling the life preserver his and Akane's packs were tied
onto in against the tide as Akane, a little further in-shore, started
building a fire. He pulled the float ashore and slid the plastic covering
off of the bags.

She walked up to the campfire and handed one of the backpacks to Akane, who
immediately pulled out a canteen of fresh water and the teapot and started
some tea. Ranma pulled out his own teapot and filled it with salt water,
not wanting to waste fresh water to change back. While the water was
heating, he turned to Akane. "You know, Akane, I'm impressed. You were
able to swim that distance with no trouble at all. Not bad, considering
that a couple weeks ago you would have drowned in an inch of still water."

"Are you insulting my ability to swim?"

Ranma blinked. "What? No, that's not what I-"

"RANMA NO BAKA!" Akane cried, slamming a mallet o'chi straight into Ranma.
His face was planted into the dirt, but when he looked up Akane was
smiling apologetically. "Sorry, Ranma, I wanted to test my new mallet..."
It was only then that Ranma noticed Akane's mallet didn't look like it
normally did.

"You've ALREADY started using the rubber mallet?" Akane nodded sheepishly.
"And so you were on my case just to test that mallet?" Akane nodded
again. "Why, you-" Onna-Ranma dashed in, and started tickling Akane
mercilessly, making her squeal until the teapot started whistling...

* * * * *

Akane sat staring at a map, trying to pinpoint exactly where they were.
They'd been traveling across China for nearly two weeks, and weren't
entirely sure where they were. Ranma looked around, bored, and saw a road
sign. He squinted, and seemed to mouth out something.

"Don't bother, Akane," he began, turning to face her. "I think I know
where we are, now."

"Oh?" puffed a frustrated Akane. She'd been trying to make sense of that
map for nearly an hour now. "How do YOU know where we are, Ranma? You
don't even have a map!"

Ranma pointed to the sign. "We're thirty miles from the city of Taiyuan,
in the Shanxi province, if that is to be believed. Almost half-way there."

Akane looked at Ranma curiously. "You can't read Chinese- how do you know
that?"

He laughed. "Actually, I CAN read- and speak- Chinese. Ever since that
Jusendo incident, I started studying the language. I realized how many of
our adventures took us here."

"You learned Chinese in two months?" Ranma nodded. Akane looked at him
curiously. "Ranma, if you're able to figure out how to do martial arts
techniques as quickly as you do, and you're able to learn how to speak a
new language in only a couple of months, WHY do you do so poorly in
school?"

"Um... actually, I don't do TOO badly..."

Akane frowned. "I've seen your report card, Ranma. You're barely passing
any of your classes other than physical education."

"Oh, possibly. But I've already been accepted to college because of my
score on the entrance exams..." He opened his backpack and looked through
it, pulling out several papers. "And I AM doing okay in school. It's not
GREAT, but every grade is EXACTLY a C." He handed the papers to Akane.

"What's this?" She asked, looking through them. Three of them were copies
of his tests. All three tests had exactly three out of every four
questions answered, and not one of the answered questions was wrong.
"Ranma? You've been throwing your grades? Why?"

He frowned. "Well, I've always been trying to make myself look more
'manly,' partly because of mom and partly because of my curse." Akane grit
her teeth, but she wanted to hear his explanation more than she wanted to
pound him right now. "Well, I was afraid that mom would think high grades
were too... unmanly."

Akane, though angry at his inference, merely nodded. She could understand
someone throwing their grades a little if they were worried that getting
high grades would get him killed. She looked through the papers in her
hands. One was an entrance exam and another an acceptance letter to
college. She read the name of the college on the letterhead and blinked.

"Ranma," she began. "Um... did you know that you've been accepted to the
same college I have?"

He nodded. "Well, yeah... in fact, I brought those papers because I was
planning to ask you if you wanted to, um, share one of the coed dorms."

"Well, yeah, sure I will." Akane smiled, but that smile soon became a
frown. "Wait a minute, you didn't know how I felt about you when this
started. You had no reason to think I would agree... but you had been
treating me nicer than usual..." She looked at him angrily. "YOU WERE
BUTTERING ME UP!" Ranma backed away, and nodded sheepishly. "You...
you... RANMA NO BAKA!" Her Rubber Mallet o'Chi came out and smashed him
into the ground. She stood up and stomped into her tent. Ranma sat back
up and sighed.

* * * * *

Ranma and Akane were slowly making their way south of Taiyuan, not wanting
to explain their illegal entrance into the country to the communist
authorities in that city. Ranma kept looking back at Akane, who merely
humphed when she saw this and started moving faster.

"Akane, wait, this is ridiculous," Ranma shouted as Akane was practically
jogging away from him. "It's time to make camp, anyway, so slow down."
Akane stopped and started unpacking her tent, but still refused to look at
him. Ranma sighed- she was still upset about that 'buttering up' thing.
He pulled out his cooking gear and handed it to Akane. "You cook tonight."

Akane looked up at him in surprise. "What? Why?" So far, Ranma had been
the only one to cook on the trip, supposedly because he didn't want anyone
else to use his mess kit.

Ranma shrugged sadly. "Well, you obviously don't think you've punished me
enough with your mallet, so I thought I'd make a peace offering."

Akane's expression went from surprise to disdain. "It's not nice messing
with someone's feelings like you had. If you think a simple malleting and
letting me cook for you is enough to get you off the hook, then you are
VERY mistaken."

Ranma frowned. "How was I messing with your feelings? I was just on
trying to keep from sticking my foot in my mouth..."

"You told me you LOVED me. If that isn't-"

Ranma cut her off. "Wait a minute- you think I was making that up? You
think I was still 'buttering you up' when I said that? I know you jump to
conclusions quickly, but GODS! Akane, you know me... would I REALLY say
something like that in order to get you to do something?" Akane blinked,
and then slowly shook her head no. "Besides, think about it. Why would I
want to be your roommate in the first place? Akane, the only thing I was
doing to try to influence you was thinking before I spoke more often. I
haven't even thought about it since that hotel room... thing... except
maybe once or twice that I should reconsider asking you, and that was
before you told me how YOU felt."

"Well..." Akane squirmed uncomfortable. "Maybe I over-reacted. But I'm
still cooking tonight!"

Ranma smiled. 'Thank god she's finally over it...' He turned to her.
"Sure, go ahead," he said, uncertain if that was really an intelligent
thing to do. "But how about I give you another training session BEFORE we
eat?"

"Oh..." Akane gasped, realizing how badly she'd been neglecting her
training since they'd been in China. "Yes, of course... What are we going
to work on today?"

Ranma frowned. "Well... we've both been unable to do much work since the
week before we left Japan, but that's okay. It just means we can't work on
permanent solutions for your speed problem and one-on-one problem until
we've practiced for a few days and get re-adjusted to the training. In the
meantime, let's work on some quick-fixes. Then, tomorrow, we'll do some
exercises to get us back into shape, and we'll keep those up until I think
you're ready for the permanent fixes."

Akane nodded. "Whatever you say..." Then she smirked. "'Sensei...'"

Ranma grinned. Akane had definitely forgiven him now. "Okay, the reason
these are quick-fixes is that once someone sees you use them, they won't be
very effective any more. They are very close range fighting skills- you
have to get closer than an arm's length away for them to be effective.
However, I think they'll help you out for a few fights, and they're simple
to learn for someone with our background."

Akane pursed her lips. "So what's the point of them?"

Ranma shrugged. "Well, they are effective at close range, though I rarely
use them myself because I have much more useful techniques for that sort of
situation."

Akane frowned. "Well then, why-" She broke herself off. She wanted to
ask why he wasn't teaching her those more useful techniques, but she
realized she'd start going in circles. He'd already answered that.
"Okay... so... what's the quick fix for my one-on-one fighting? I figure
that would be a more important quick-fix area."

Ranma nodded. "Sure thing, though I'm not certain I would agree entirely
with you there." He took a deep breath and began. "Akane, if the Tendo
line of the Anything Goes Martial Arts school is the 'Indiscriminate
Grappling' style, then why have I never seen you grapple anyone? Did you
father never teach you that part of the family arts?"

Akane blushed slightly. "Well, yes, he did. I've just been embarrassed to
use it... I mean, a practicing something called 'indiscriminate grappling?'
Why do you think Happosai watches female mud-wrestling so much?"

Ranma sighed. "Well, then, I really don't have much that I need to teach
you. I just need to say- GRAPPLE MORE! Hentai's might get off on it, but
look at how powerful you are! Grappling, in one-on-one battles, will
seriously slow down a fight- which is to your advantage at the moment,
since you're so much slower than most of the people you have to fight on a
regular basis, AND will allow someone with a superior strength-to-weight
ratio to win most of the time- another plus for you, since most of your
weight is from muscles, unlike Kodachi, Shampoo, or Uk- er, my sister.
Also, the Indiscriminate Grappling style is the best grappling style out
there- better than either Brazilian Jujitsu or Gracie Jujitsu, both famed
as being the best sports martial arts out there." Ranma spat out the
'sports.'

"Well, um..." Akane said, "I guess I'll try to remember that next time.
Still, I find it a very uncomfortable thing to think about."

Ranma smirked. "Ah, you don't need to worry about what people think.
They'll jump to their own conclusions anyway. I mean, suppose we're on a
date and it rains? Everyone will draw their own conclusion from what they
see. Some people will think we're sisters, others will think... well..."

Akane looked up at him, a smirk on her face as well. "Well, who knows?"
Parodying Ranma's voice, she continued "For you, I just might be willing to
ACT as a... well..."

Ranma gulped. He didn't like where this line of conversation was going.
"UM, anyway," he broke in. "Let's move on to your speed training..."

Akane smiled. "Sure thing, 'Sensei.'"

* * * * *

As Ranma and Akane continued on their journey, they were actually able to
speed their movement. In order to help increase Akane's speed, the two of
them were running for the first six hours of each hike, then hiked at their
usual speed the rest of the time until about an hour before dark, when they
set up camp and started training.

In fact, the new schedule they had settled on had cut what they thought
would be a one month hike to a one week hike. They were less than a days
hike away from Xiquan when they settled down for their daily training
session, and Ranma turned to Akane, with a smile on his face. "Well,
Akane, I think you're finally ready for me to start your speed training, so
lets start today."

Akane's face brightened. The training had been getting a bit monotonous,
but now that Ranma was willing to start teaching her some new things again,
she knew it was worth it. "Good! Where are the chestnuts?"

Ranma smirked. "Well, for one thing, I don't have any chestnuts. And, for
another, you aren't ready for that yet. No, I'm going to be gradually
building your skills to the point that you can attempt that- much the same
way the old ghoul built up mine." He opened his backpack and pulled out a
half dozen wooden bowls, and started filling them with some dirt off the
ground. "We don't have any water, so we can't do that. However, this is
what I want you to do. I'll toss these bowls full of dirt and sand in your
direction. You're going to have to catch all of them without spilling a
single grain."

Akane frowned. "How does that improve my speed?"

"It improves your reaction time, increases your hand-eye co-ordination,
improves your reflexes... things like that. Ready?" Akane fell into a
fighting stance and nodded. Ranma smiled at the confident look she wore-
he knew that she wouldn't have that for long. "Okay, let's go." Suddenly,
six bowls filled with dirt went flying Akane's way.

Akane's arms flashed out. Using her left arm as a table, she was able to
catch three of the bowls with her right hand, but three of the others went
flying over her head and dumped their contents onto the ground.

Akane sighed. "Well, I guess I shouldn't have expected to catch them all
on the first try..." She handed the three bowls she had caught back to
Ranma and walked over to pick up the other three.

"Well, actually, you didn't do too badly. I started out- HEY, AKANE, LOOK
OUT!" Ranma dashed forwards, dropping the bowls Akane had already handed
him and diving into the ground, right where Akane's hands were.

"Ranma?" Akane cried, shocked. "What's wrong? Why'd you do that?" Ranma
stood up slowly and dizzily. Attached to his hand was a seemingly venomous
snake, still biting down hard. Ranma used two fingers on his other hand to
pry the snake's jaws open, snapping the lower jaw off as he did so. Akane
gasped. "Ranma, are you all right?"

Ranma shook his head. "No... I need a snake bite kit. Badly." He picked
up the dead snake and stuck it in his backpack. "I think we gotta start
moving, and keep moving. I don't think I'll last if we stay here... I
need to get to a doctor, soon." He started taking down his tent, and
Akane, now REALLY worried- it wasn't often that Ranma admitted that he was
in trouble- started packing up her own gear. She hadn't put up her tent,
though.

When they had finished packing, they started hiking again towards Xiquan,
moving as quickly as Ranma could. As they moved, Ranma started slowing
down more and more, and Akane got increasingly worried. Finally, not able
to stand it any more, she picked him up and started running towards the
village.

"Hey! Put me down! This is embarrassing!" Ranma protested weakly.

"Maybe so, Ranma." Akane kept running, cradling Ranma in her arms. "But
right now, it doesn't matter. You need to save your strength if we want to
find Mr. Desaix- I don't know Chinese, so you're going to have to be able
to talk when we get to the village, and right now it doesn't look like
you'll make it there conscious unless I do this." She squeezed him a
little tighter, but was careful not to give him one of her crushing hugs.
"You'll need to be conscious enough to ask for a doctor when we get there,
too- I don't plan to lose you now..."

* * * * *

Akane tossed her and Ranma's backpacks into the bushes at the edge of the
village and was about to rush in when Ranma's voice croaked "Wait..."
Akane looked at him. "Set me down for a moment. I want to get some things
from my bag." Akane didn't like the idea, but she did as he asked. He
looked through the bags and pulled out some clothes, the dead snake, and a
book. "Here, change into these," he said, handing her the clothes. Then
he pointed to the book. "This is a Chinese phrase book. If I can't speak
when we get there, you might need this." Akane looked at him oddly.

"The phrase book I understand, but the clothes?"

"They're some of my Chinese clothes. It'll be easier for us to move around
in that village with them."

"Uh... okay..." Akane looked around for cover, but didn't find enough to
change in. However, she didn't see anyone around her but Ranma, and so she
shrugged, and started disrobing right in front of him. Ranma, even in his
weakened condition, was aware of what she was doing enough to be extremely
embarrassed, and turned around so as to allow her some privacy. A few
seconds later- so shortly after he had turned around that Ranma idly
wondered if her carrying him around was effective speed training- he felt
her trying to pick him up again.

"No... I'm going to need to be standing in order to talk to them. I'm
still strong enough to walk." Even so, he still leaned on her shoulder as
they walked into the town.

He asked for directions to the nearest doctor's from the first person who
he saw, and soon the two of them were heading into a small clinic.

"{COMING! Just a moment!}" came a very familiar voice from the back of the
clinic.

Even though she didn't recognize the words in the slightest, Akane was the
one to respond. "Dr. Tofu? Is that YOU?"

They heard a crash on the other end of the doorway and seconds later Dr.
Tofu burst into the waiting room. "Ranma? Akane? What are you doing
here?" Then he saw Ranma nearly passed out on Akane's shoulder, and his
expression became VERY serious. "Ranma, what's wrong?"

Akane looked at Dr. Tofu with a hint of fear in her eyes. "He was bitten
by a snake last night, and..." Dr. Tofu nodded

"What kind of snake was it?" He asked. Ranma weakly raised his head and
handed the doctor the snake he had pulled out of his bag. Dr. Tofu's eyes
widened. "Oh, dear, that's bad. How long ago was he bitten?"

"Um..." Akane did the math. "Sixteen hours."

"Oh, dear me," Dr. Tofu said again. "He should have been dead eight to
twelve hours ago. Hurry, bring him into my office..."

* * * * *

"Well, Ranma," Dr. Tofu said, "I've administered the serum, but you need to
rest before doing anything else- at least for twenty four hours- to get
your body back to normal."

"Nonsense," Ranma said, getting off of the hospital bed a little woozy. "I
feel fine now."

"Ranma!" Akane protested, pushing him back down on the bed. "You almost
died, and even YOU don't recover that fast. Go to sleep, like the doctor
told you to, or else!"

Ranma slipped out of her grasp and stuck his tongue out at her. "Or else
wha-" He collapsed forward, but was caught before he fell by Akane. She
looked up at Dr. Tofu, who helped her pick him up and set him down on the
bed.

"Did you do that?" Akane asked him.

"Of course," Dr. Tofu nodded. "I needed to get him to sleep. Thankfully,
you were enough of a distraction that I was able to hit a paralysis point
in the back of his neck. He's awake right now, by the way, he just can't
move, but I figure he'll go to sleep in time- and he won't be cured of his
paralysis until he does." He looked at Akane oddly. "Anyway, what are you
two doing here?"

Akane looked back at him. "We could ask you the same question- leaving
without telling anyone and then showing up here. We've all been wondering
what happened to you!"

Dr. Tofu blinked. "What? You didn't get my letters?"

"Letters?" Akane wondered. "I don't remember anyone saying anything about
letters..."

Dr. Tofu shook his head in confusion. "Strange... I've been sending Kasumi
a letter every week, and she's been sending some back herself... ah,
well." He smiled at Akane. "I guess you're going to want the full story,
then. Well, the last time I saw you was Kasumi's birthday party, as I
recall. I kind of blacked out much of that night after Kasumi gave me that
light peck on the cheek..." His glasses started fogging up, but then he
shook his head and returned to telling the story. "Anyway, when I came to,
I was on board this cruise ship heading to China, with Betty by my side..."
He pointed to the skeleton hanging on his wall. "I figured since I was
here, I'd take a year's sabbatical and study some herbalism with some of
the local tribes. And so, here I am. Now, like I was saying, what are YOU
here for?"

Akane summed up the story of her first encounter with Natsume and Kurumi,
and then told how they had come back looking for help. "...and then we
found that the last known whereabout of their father was here."

Dr. Tofu frowned and went over to his file cabinet. He opened a drawer and
started searching through files. "You say his name was Kenji Desaix?
Hmm... Ah, here's his file. He hasn't shown up in ages, and I don't have
his address, but I'm pretty sure you could find it easily enough just by
heading over to the Xiquan Village Council public records..."

Akane pursed her lips. "We could... if we weren't here illegally... we
didn't have time to arrange for passports or things, though, so..."

"Hmm... Well, actually, Ranma could be considered a de facto citizen of
China, since Shampoo is claiming him as her future husband..." Akane
growled at that, but Dr. Tofu didn't seem to notice. "But you... I suppose
I could give you a disguise..."

Akane blinked. "What kind of disguise?"

Dr. Tofu smirked. He opened another drawer and pulled out a box. "Instant
Jusenkyo curses... one use per packet... I bought a box of each curse in
Joketsuzoku. This one is... spring of drowned gerbil. I could hide you as
a lab rat..."

"And why are we talking about disguises, anyway? We weren't caught on our
way in?"

"Well, Akane, the Chinese government doesn't trust me, despite my
credentials as a doctor, so they send a government official to inspect my
clinic here about once a week. Now, let's see if we can think of anything
to do about this Kenji Desaix guy..."


----------------------------------------------------- -----------------------


Chapter 8: Challenge of the Amazons

Special thanks to Ethan 'Doshu' Tsai, who agreed to make a very...
unusual... cameo appearance after a conversation on the FFIRC.
Also, after the FFML went down losing the first copy of this I sent it, I
made a small change towards the end. The reason I made this change was to
make a fuller introduction of a new character. This character will not
appear again in Return of the Sisters, but will return if I ever write the
sequel to it- something which is becoming more and more likely as time goes
on. I've been plotting out that sequel, and so far have it about half-done
(plot-wise). I still need to figure out a way to end it, and I'm not going
to start that sequel (which as yet has no name) at least until then... but
famous last words- I've already written the prolog in script form.
Oh, and this sequel thing isn't affecting the speed of writing Return of
the Sisters- I'm writing this stuff out in the middle of some of my... less
interesting classes.
I'm also planning a lemon side-story as an intermission piece set between
Return of the Sisters and its sequel, and you might find one or two things
here which are preparation for that... but who knows if I'll ever write it-
I doubt I'll be able to think of anything to make it long enough or
interesting enough for me to ever write it- other than demonstrating
something which is part of a joke in the current version of the prolog of
the sequel...

There was a knocking on the door of Dr. Tofu's clinic. "{I'll be out in a
moment!}" came a voice from inside. The man, who was waiting with a rather
bored expression on his face, heard a splash. Dr. Tofu opened the door and
grabbed the man, pulling him in and closing the door a second afterwards.
"{Sorry about that- one of my lab animals got loose, and I don't want her
to escape. It's been quite a problem today- I just knocked over a beaker
full of water trying to catch the thing...}"

'I wish I knew what he was saying...' Akane-gerbil, from her hiding place,
thought.

The inspector merely grunted. The doctor had probably gotten another
letter from his girfriend back home- those usually flustered him. He began
his customary inspection, and stopped in surprise when he saw a Japanese
man lying on one of the beds. "{Hey! Who's this? He doesn't look like
any of the other Japanese nationals that we have in our records as being in
this area!}"

"{Oh, that's Ranma Saotome. I knew him in Japan. He hasn't had a chance
to tell me why he's here, as he was overcome by snake bite when he arrived,
but I have a few ideas. When I last saw him, he was being pursued by an
Amazon maiden who had lost to him in combat, and he didn't really want to
be married to her. Considering his shape when I found him, he probably had
been trying to escape the village.}"

The inspector laughed. "{Oh, I've heard of other people like that. If
your story checks out, the Chinese Government will allow him to move as
freely through the country as anyone. He's Ranma Saotome, you say?
Hmm...}" He opened a notebook he was holding and looked through several
sheets of paper. "{Ah, here we go, the list of people hunted by the
Amazons... Let's see... the Amazon suitor is named Shan Pu?}" Tofu nodded
once. "{Joketsuzoku village? Wow, he's come a ways, if they got him all
the way there! It's almost as far from northwestern Qinghai to here as it
is from here to Beijing...}" He snapped his notebook shut. "{Well, all
checks out, I suppose. See you next week!}"

Dr. Tofu shook his head. "{No, you won't. My visa is expiring soon, so I
need to get it renewed, at the very least. I'm not sure I don't want to go
home, though- seeing this boy has brought back so many memories I think
I'll head home as soon as I clear up the paperwork.}"

The inspector frowned. "{Well, that'll be a real shame... You have been of
great service to our commune...}" They bowed to each other. "{Farewell,
Doc!}" The inspector turned and left. Akane-gerbil crawled out of her
hiding place and up Dr. Tofu's leg.

"Ack! That tickles, Akane!" Dr. Tofu chuckled, plucking her off his
shirt. "Just relax- I'll return you to normal shortly." He set her down
next to Ranma. "But I don't want anyone to walk in while I'm away and see
you- I was able to explain Ranma's presence, but not yours, so stay here
with him for a while." He took a moment to put the restraining straps on
Ranma and tighten them to their fullest. He picked up a file folder on his
desk, and turned back to Akane. "I'll be back soon- I want to find out
where your Mr. Desaix is." The little white gerbil on his table nodded as
best as a gerbil can just before he left.

Akane-gerbil crawled over to Ranma's face and rubbed his chin slightly with
her head, just wanting to be able to comfort him a bit, before lying down
and taking a nap.

* * * * *

Ranma slowly stirred from his sleep. The first thing he noticed was that,
for some reason, he was tied down to the bed. He'd had nightmares about
this sort of thing- mostly involving Kodachi in a leather outfit and a
studded dog collar, but he certainly never expected to have such a thing
happen to him in real life.

The second thing he noticed was that there was something soft and furry
snuggled up to him where his chin met his neck. He couldn't see what it
was that had picked that particular area as its resting place, but the last
time he was tied up and something soft and furry was resting against him it
was a...

"C-c-caaaaaaaat!" He cried, breaking the bonds which held him and flinging
himself across the room. Then he saw the ball of fur, just waking up.
"Wait a minute... you aren't a cat, are you?" The furball shook its head.
Ranma frowned- did the creature understand him? Then he remembered a
overhearing a conversation between Akane and Dr. Tofu about hiding her
using some instant Jusenkyo water. "Akane? Is that you?" Akane-gerbil
nodded, and Ranma smiled. He glanced around the room. "Well, I don't see
your clothes around anywhere... When I see Dr. Tofu, I'll ask him what he
did with them, but I guess you don't want to change back until then, huh?"
He picked Akane up and sat down on the bed, and began petting her. He
smirked. "You're cute like that, you know..." Tucking Akane-gerbil in his
elbow, he started looking around the room he was in.

He'd spied a collection of letters with Kasumi's handwriting on them, and
was tempted to go and see what was written in them when Dr. Tofu returned.

"Ah, Ranma, you're awake!" Dr. Tofu exclaimed with his usual exuberance.
"Do you mind a check up, to make sure you're recovering smoothly?"

Ranma nodded. "Go ahead, but first where are Akane's clothes? I want to
change her back?" Dr. Tofu shrugged, and opened a drawer in his file
cabinet. He pulled out the gi Akane was wearing when she had arrived, and
handed it to Ranma. Ranma pulled out a teapot and started heating some
water in Dr. Tofu's kitchen. He pulled the teapot off the stove and was
about to pour it on Akane when he realized that if he did that now, Akane
would change before he could turn and give her privacy. He opened a
cabinet and found a suitable bowl, and poured the contents of the teapot
into it. "There you go, Akane, go ahead and change in privacy."

Ranma set Akane-gerbil down next to the bowl and dashed off before she
could move. 'That's odd,' Akane thought as she slowly crawled her way into
the bowl. 'I would have thought he would've stayed to see me change.
Well, he was probably worried that I would've call him a hentai and bashed
him on the head. I would have, but still...' As she changed, a smirk
appeared on her face. 'I would have thought he would have wanted to see
the view anyway. I'm going to have to talk to him about that...'

Akane finished changing and walked in on Dr. Tofu taking Ranma's pulse,
frowning. "...still irregular," he was saying. "I think you should avoid
your martial arts training except for possibly some light exercises for the
next few days. Other than that, things seem to be fine."

Ranma popped off of the examination bed he had been sitting on and looked
around. "Well can you take care of Akane while I try to find this 'Kenji
Desaix' guy?"

Dr. Tofu smirked. "I already found him. He's coming by the clinic
tomorrow for an exam- I figure you can talk to him then."

"Tomorrow?" Ranma frowned. "What are we going to do until tomorrow? We
aren't going to risk getting caught by the Communist authorities wandering
the streets, and there isn't much in here for Akane and me to do..."

Dr. Tofu smiled. "Well, Ranma, we could-"

Ranma's eyes widened in inspiration. "Hey, doc, think you could teach me
that paralysis point you used on me?"

"Well, okay, Ranma, if that's what you want to do, but who should I show it
to you on?"

Ranma frowned. "How about demonstrating on Betty?"

Dr. Tofu shook his head. "I need to show you where it is by feel- you need
to be able to feel special muscle and nerve groupings through clothing with
your fingertips- and you would need to be able to detect chi lines, for
some of the more advanced techniques I could show you. This is a fairly
simple one, but I'm afraid Betty-chan won't do."

'Feel special muscle and nerve groupings?' Akane thought. 'Hmm...'

Ranma sighed. "Well, it was just an idea to pass the time wi-"

"Hey!" Akane said brightly. "How about teaching Ranma some of those
techniques on me?"

Ranma and Dr. Tofu looked at her in surprise. "Huh?" Ranma asked.

"Well, of course, I would want to learn the techniques myself," Akane
continued. "And for that, I would hope that Ranma would agree to be my...
test subject... himself." Akane had a glint in her eye as she said that
last bit.

"Um..." Ranma blinked. He turned to Dr. Tofu. "Is there any risk involved
in learning this stuff?"

Dr. Tofu considered things and shrugged. "No more than learning any other
martial arts moves for the simpler techniques. The more complex ones-
where you need to be able to see chi lines... well, making a mistake with
them might kill someone."

Ranma nodded and turned to Akane. "Okay, I'll agree to that- as long as we
both agree to keep it simple." Akane nodded happily. 'What's with her?'
Ranma asked himself. "So, Doc, where's that paralysis pressure point?"

"Turn around, Akane," Tofu asked. Akane turned her back to the two men,
and Dr Tofu began pointing. "Now, Ranma, the general area you will be
looking for is here..." He pointed, but did not touch, the back of Akane's
neck. "Now, using just the tips of your index and middle fingers, FEEL the
back of Akane's neck. Get the general feel of the muscle groupings back
there..." Ranma, blushing slightly, slowly moved his fingertips along the
spots Dr. Tofu pointed to. Her face out of sight, Akane half smirked and
half smiled at Ranma's trembling touch, determined that SHE wouldn't act as
nervously when HER turn to do the same to him came around. "...Now," Dr.
Tofu was saying. "At that point, press inward slightly, then move your
fingers upwards." Suddenly, Akane couldn't control her body any more and
collapsed into Ranma's surprised arms. "THAT is the paralysis point. To
undo that, push inwards on the same muscle grouping again." Ranma pressed
the point, and Akane immediately jumped back up and out of his arms.

"Whoa!" Akane gasped, massaging the back of her neck. "That felt wierd."

Ranma smirked. "Yeah, I know. Paralysis can feel so strange, and if
you've been stuck for a while there's this wierd tingling sensation when
you come out of it."

"You act like you've got a lot of experience..." Akane grimaced.

"Well, between Kodachi's flowers, the old ghoul and the old troll using
their own knowledge of pressure points against me, and Dr. Tofu's recent
use of that point, I suppose I do." Ranma said bitterly. Then he chuckled
a little. "Sometimes, I hate my life." He glanced at Akane, who was
looking at him in concern. "But there are a FEW things I enjoy about it."

Dr. Tofu didn't miss the by-play between the couple, but decided it was
best to simply ignore it. "So, Akane, what pressure points did you want me
to teach you?"

Akane blushed. "Uh, doc, how about we discuss this in private?"

Ranma frowned. "Akane, I thought I told you I didn't want us to keep
secrets from each other any more."

Akane smirked. "Oh, this isn't a secret, Ranma- this is a surprise." She
grabbed Dr. Tofu by the collar and dragged him with her into the kitchen.

Ranma blinked. He wasn't quite sure there was a difference, but he decided
to just let it go for once. After a minute, a befuddled-looking Dr. Tofu
left the kitchen and walked up to Ranma.

"Ranma," Dr. Tofu began. "Akane doesn't want me to let you know which
techniques I'm about to teach her... Would you mind being knocked out
while I teach them to her?"

"WHAT?!" Ranma cried. "Are you-"

Akane stepped in front of Tofu, bent her head down, and puttered "Pwease?"
through pouting lips. Ranma's eyes widened at Akane's desperately cute
request. "Pwetty pwease?"

Ranma gritted his teeth and closed his eyes. Akane was begging him-
cutely- to do something. She'd never tried asking him to do something this
way before, in his recollection, and he couldn't believe she was doing it
now. Still, it was very effective, and since it was coming from her...
"Oh... I guess I'll agree." He grumbled. "I don't know why you want to
keep this from me, though..."

As Dr. Tofu moved in to apply the appropriate pressure points needed to
knock him out, he heard Akane's ecstatic voice saying "Oh, you'll find out
eventually, Ranma. Like I said- I'm not going to KEEP these a secret from
you- they're going to be a surprise...."

Dr. Tofu took his pulse and nodded. "Okay, Akane, he's out. Now, come
here and I'll show you the shiatsu massages you wanted to learn..."

* * * * *

The knocking on the door was getting louder. "{Come on in, Mr. Desaix,}"
Dr. Tofu called. "{I'm ready for you now!}"

The middle-aged man who stepped through the door looked about how Ranma and
Akane would have expected him to look, if they had thought about it. His
sad brown eyes definitely looked Japanese, though the thin glasses he wore
seemed to make them appear more western than they otherwise would. His
thin black hair was clean, but unkempt. His cheeks looked as if they had
been battered by wind and sea air for decades, but were softening a bit.
His clothes, a silk shirt and pants, were all black- as if in mourning. On
one of his salt-water-gnarled hands he wore an old gold wedding band which
had obviously not been taken off in years. The only truly remarkable
feature about him, though, was his rough goatee- almost a beard. The
goatee was not the same color as his hair was, but was instead red- the
same color red, Ranma and Akane realized, that Kurumi's hair was colored.

"{Why'd you bump up my check-up, doc?}" he asked, closing the door behind
him. "{I wasn't supposed to have another one for a couple of months yet
and...}" As he turned around to face Dr. Tofu, he saw the obviously
Japanese Ranma and Akane standing across from him. "{Eh... Dr. Tofu, who
are these people, and why are they here for my exam? Are they friends of
yours?}"

"Well, we are friends of his, Mr. Desaix," Ranma said, "But that's not why
we're here. He bumped up your exam so that we could talk to you for a bit,
because we have some important news for you- good news, I think..."

He looked oddly at the two strangers, hearing the boy speak a language he
hadn't heard in over a decade. "I believe you have me at a disadvantage,
mister..."

If he hadn't gotten used to strong Chinese accents over the previous year,
Ranma never would have understood Desaix. As it was, Ranma merely shook
off the slightly garbled words and smiled. "Saotome. But don't call me by
my family name, please- it makes me think of pop too much. Call me Ranma.
And this," he gestured, "is my fiancee, Akane Te-, er Akane."

Desaix nodded. "And what is this important news you came all the way here
from Japan to tell me?"

"Um..." Ranma frowned. He wasn't quite sure how to put it. "Why don't
you explain it to him?" He whispered to Akane. "I'd probably say it the
wrong way and just get him upset."

Akane nodded. "Mr. Desaix," she began. "Some of the members of your
family survived the explosion of your house..." She stopped because Desaix
had promptly fainted. Akane blinked and turned to Ranma. "Er... sorry.
I'll try to help you out a little better next time..."

* * * * *

Desaix started awake. He opened his eyes, and saw the doctor holding
something under his nose while the young Japanese couple who had introduced
themselves as Ranma and Akane stood by him anxiously.

"...out of it in no time," Dr. Tofu was saying.

"Looks like he's already awake, Doc," Ranma gestured.

Desaix looked at the young girl standing on the opposite side of those two.
"Excuse me, Miss," he began. "Did I hear you right? Did you say that
some of my family survived the destruction of my house?"

Akane nodded slowly. "Your two daughters, Natsume and Kurumi." Desaix's
eyes widened as she continued. "As far as we can tell, the person who blew
up your house- who was NOT Soun Tendou but someone impersonating him-
protected the two girls until they were about five or six, helping them eat
and raising them to follow the path of Anything Goes Martial Arts."

Desaix frowned deeply. "You say that the person who blew up my house was
NOT Mr. Tendou, but someone impersonating him?" Akane nodded. "Exactly
HOW did you come to find this out, and exactly who is it who was doing the
impersonating?"

"Well, I found out because I am the daughter of the REAL Soun Tendou, and
your two daughters once came to the dojo looking for their father." Desaix
blinked at her. "See, the only thing they had linking them to their past
was an old photo taken of them, showing part of their old protector's gi.
On the back of the photo was a note, signed 'Your loving Father, Soun
Tendou.' Things didn't add up, because dad KNEW that he hadn't fathered
those two daughters, but they seemed to have damning evidence proving that
they WERE. A huge mess devoloped, where they tried to... take away my
inheritance." Desaix, uncertain what to do, opened his mouth to apologize,
but Akane waved him off. "It took a while for us to deal with it all, but
it didn't end before Happosai, my father's old martial arts teacher,
admitted that he HAD been impersonating my father while he was taking care
of those two girls. He never explained WHY he was protecting them, and we
never found out until recently, when Ranma and I were visiting the town of
Ikkoku looking for you... and suddenly everything added up."

Outside the clinic, some form of disturbance was arising, drawing Dr.
Tofu's attention. He went into the waiting room and tried to look out the
window in order to see if he could find out what was causing the commotion.
Inside the closed off working area, though, Desaix ignored the distraction
and pondered on what he had just been told. "Wait," he said shrewdly.
"Why were you two looking for me?"

"Uh... well..." Akane began. Ranma glanced up and saw Akane was having
trouble explaining things.

"Well," he sighed, trying to help her out.. "After their claim to the
dojo was rejected, they left for quite some time. Then... well, I guess it
was about a month and a half ago, they came back, and asked us to continue
looking for their REAL father because they no longer could."

Desaix's frown grew. "And why couldn't they?"

"Well..." Ranma hesitated. 'Well, at least I can make Akane feel better
about being so abrupt earlier by being my usual "Stick-Foot-In-Mouth"
self...' Ranma thought. "Natsume is... pregnant."

Desaix sighed. He knew it was too much to ask that his long lost daughters
would have stayed completely out of trouble after not having any real
parents for nearly a decade. "Do you know who the father is?"

"Uh, well," Akane recovered. She had been glaring at Ranma for being so
blunt, and was surprised at Desaix's calm acceptance. "She might be able
to identify him if she saw him, but she can't-"

The commotion outside was getting loud enough to attract Ranma's attention,
and he had started to join Dr. Tofu when the later came in and said
"There's definitely something wierd going on outside. You three stay here,
I want to go check it out." Ranma reluctantly nodded, as did Akane and
Desaix.

Ranma and Akane returned their attention to the object of their quest.
"Anyway," Akane said, glad that she didn't have to deal with the grilling
she was expecting about the two sisters. "Your daughters wanted us to find
you for them, and so now we need to know if you will come back to Nerima
with us and meet them?"

Desaix looked at the old wedding ring on his finger. He closed his eyes
and sighed. "Well, I wasn't around to be their father when they were
growing up, and it will take some time for us to get used to each other..."
He opened his eyes and stared at the wedding ring again. "But we are
family... and they are the ones carried my precious wife's blood..." He
looked up at Ranma and Akane. "I'll come with you, and see my daughters."
He sat up gingerly and got off of the hospital bed.

A moment of solemn silence filled the room, only to be disturbed when a
very pale Dr. Tofu walked in.

Ranma, not seeing the doctor's face, said "Hey, Doc, Mr. Desaix here is
joining us when we return to Nerima. Do you want to come too?" Dr. Tofu
didn't answer. He stomped over to where Ranma had noticed the letters from
Kasumi and stuffed them into a medical pouch he had hanging nearby. Then
he walked over to the file cabinet and started pulling out the boxes of
instant Jusenkyo springs. "Uh, Doc," Ranma blinked. "We aren't leaving
just yet. Desaix still needs to get his stuff, and you-"

He was cut off as Dr. Tofu turned to him, a very determined look on his
face. "Ranma, we are in grave danger. The Amazons of Xingaosuzoku are
attacking."

* * * * *

Ranma, Akane, Dr. Tofu, and Desaix were assembled in Dr. Tofu's office, a
little breathless. They had tried to escape the invading Amazons, none of
them wanting to face the consequences of defeating one of the female
warriors, but found that the village they were in was now surrounded. The
attack had yet to begin, but they all knew they didn't have long before
they would have to act. The question, though, was what they were going to
do...

"...and so you say that these Xingaosuzoku Amazons raid villages in order
to find husbands?" Ranma was saying. "I thought the Amazons were pretty
isolationist. Attacking a village like this, even if they ARE just looking
for... mates, doesn't seem their style."

Dr. Tofu sighed. "Well, these aren't the Joketsuzuku Amazons that you're
familiar with- they may be allied to them, but it's a different village, a
different clan, a different set of leaders. Same laws, though, so it's
impossible to fight them."

Desaix shook his head sadly. "I'd heard the Xingaosuzoku were on the
warpath, but I didn't think they'd be coming here..."

Ranma looked over at Akane in indecision, biting his lip. She caught his
glance and looked back at him. "What? What is it?"

"Well," he said, shifting his gaze downward. "We've got one tool most
villages don't have to try to get us out of this mess." Everyone turned
their attention to him. "I..." He looked back up at Akane. "If ONLY by
their laws, I am still betrothed to an Amazon. I could parley with them,
and see if we could arrange our passage away from here."

Akane gritted her teeth at Ranma's acceptance of the Amazon laws, but for
once she was actually worried about things enough to understand what Ranma
meant. "Well, okay, I suppose you could do that. But what would happen if
they attacked you anyway?"

Ranma frowned. "You know, I have absolutely no idea... I never bothered to
find out what would happen if I defeated another Amazon."

Dr. Tofu looked at Desaix curiously. "I have heard of other villages
negotiating with the Amazons before. Exactly how has this been done?"

Desaix blinked. "Well... there are rumors that they will listen to women
who approach to parley- they occasionally will allow them an area outside
of the battle zone if they ask for it."

Ranma's face lit up with an idea. "Say, doc, do you have any instant
Nyannichuan?"

Dr. Tofu looked at Ranma in surprise. "Why, that's a good idea, Ranma!
Why didn't I think of that?"

Desaix frowned. "What's 'instant Nyannichu-"

Akane, however, didn't like the idea. "Ranma," she interrupted. "What
about the other people in this village? Are we just going to abandon them
to the Amazons?"

"Abandon? What do you mean?"

"We should at least TRY to help them out first. You know how annoying
Shampoo is- would you wish that on anyone else?"

Ranma shook his head. "No, I wouldn't. But... what can we do?"

Akane smirked. "Well, why don't you and I go and parley with them and
see?"

Desaix raised a hand. "Wait, what's this 'insta-'"

Ranma ignored him, squinting in thought at Akane. "You have a plan, don't
you?"

Akane nodded. "Well, I suppose I do. Whadya say you and I try to call
Cologne and see if she can come up with some way for us to get these people
to call off their attacks..."

"Hey! Not a bad idea!" Ranma exclaimed. "The old ghoul is bound to be
able to do something! I mean, she IS a leader of these people, and all..."

"This 'instant Nyannichuan,' what is it?" Desaix asked.

Ranma blinked. 'Oh, boy...' he sighed mentally. 'Looks like I was so
absorbed by this problem I didn't even think to hide my curse... it looks
like I'll have to reveal everything to him...'

"Okay," Ranma began. "First of all, I'd better explain what the curses of
Jusenkyo are-"

Desaix's eyes widened. "Oh, Jusenkyo! I should have known, with a name
like Nyannichuan. But I've never heard of 'instant' Jusenkyo curses..."

"The instant curses are one-time-only curses," Dr. Tofu answered for a
stunned Ranma.

"How did you know about Jusenkyo?" Akane asked Desaix, noting how Ranma was
still recovering from his surprise.

"Bah, everyone around here has heard about it. I thought it was just a
children's tale, though- I don't even believe they do all they're supposed
to. I mean, whoever heard of a boy turning into a girl, anyway?"

"Uh..." Ranma hesitated. Then he pulled out a cup of water, and dumped it
over himself. "I have..."

Desaix blinked, and fainted again.

* * * * *

Akane, running beside Onna-Ranma, turned her head slightly so she could
speak to the redhead. "Are you SURE we should have just left him lying on
the floor like that?"

Ranma sighed. "Look, we didn't 'just leave him' there. We made sure Dr.
Tofu would take care of him, and then we left to make sure that the Amazons
about to attack us DON'T try to take care of him. Besides, the earlier we
do something about the Amazons, the better- if this doesn't work, we will
need time to come up with some alternative plans..."

"Okay, fine, but we're NOT running away, got it? We've gotta protect this
village from that culture of bullies!"

Onna-Ranma smirked as they neared the Amazon encampment. "Oh, I didn't
WANT to run away- even from a fight like this one. I was just worried
about having to deal with even MORE fiancee problems!" Ranma's smirk grew
a little bit more mischievous, and she added "Having you as one is more
than anyone can handle, after all."

Akane blinked, speeding up a little so as to be able to cut Ranma off if
she was saying what she thought she was saying. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY
THAT?!" She cried, enraged.

"I mean that you're a handful!" Ranma stuck her tongue out playfully.
Akane didn't care if it was playful or not, however.

"AARGH! RANMA NO BA-" She was stopped before she could build up her
Rubber Mallet o' Chi (she was VERY tempted to summon the wooden one, except
for the fact that Ranma, through omission, had just told her that he didn't
accept the other suitors for his hand as his fiancees anymore).

What had stopped her was Ranma's hand as it caught her wrists suddenly.
"Not now!" She whispered fiercely. "I'll let you hit me later- to tell
you the truth, I kinda miss it at times- but I think we'd better deal with
these people, first!" She pointed over her shoulder, and Akane saw a group
of fierce women, all dressed in various forms of ancient Chinese armor,
staring at her and Onna-Ranma.

Akane noticed suddenly that Ranma seemed to be having trouble catching her
breath. "Hey, Ranma, what's wrong?" She asked in concern, her anger
abated.

Ranma gasped a bit. "I don't think I'm fully over that snake bite... that
run REALLY wore me out." She looked at Akane seriously. "If there's any
fighting, Akane, you'll have to do it- in my condition now, I don't think I
could beat Kuno."

Akane was startled. If Ranma was ADMITTING that she wasn't in shape to
fight, then she really must not be able to fight, period. "Let's hope it
doesn't come down to that, then..."

Ranma smirked, watching an ancient woman, who looked eerily similar to
Cologne, approach them. "Oh, come on, Akane, you can take them. It's just
like the boys at high school you used to beat up, only faster. And YOU are
faster now, don't forget..." She shrugged. "But first, I think we should
try talking to Cologne and seeing if she has any ideas to get out of this
without fighting, or at the very least minimize the amount of trouble we
would get into for fighting them."

The Amazon elder finally reached them. "{For what purpose do you approach
us? I, Zhell, Elder of the Xingaosuzoku tribe, demand an answer!}" She
cried in a pompous voice. Ranma felt vaguely as is she were talking to a
Chinese Kunou.

"{I am Ranma Saotome, and this is Akane Tendou. We are from Japan, but we
know something of your people. We know some of your people who currently
live there, and would like permission to contact them to see if they can
offer any advice as to how we may avoid certain conflicts your army and we
may have.}"

Zhell frowned. "{And just who are the Amazons in Japan that you know,
Ranma Saotome?}"

"{Cologne, Elder of the Joketsuzoku, Shan Pu, her heir, and Mu Tsu, a male
suitor of Shan Pu.}" She answered.

Akane, tired of not knowing what was going on, was starting to get a bit
agitated. "What is going on?" She whispered. Ranma motioned with her
hands to keep quiet.

Zhell laughed. "{Ah, Amazons of the Joketsuzoku- of course. Well, the
Joketsuzoku and we aren't on the best of terms- especially not with that
incompetent Cologne ruling over them- but I'm more than willing to allow
you to talk to your friends- not that I expect they will suggest anything
of use...}"

Ranma blinked. "{Uh... okay... where's a working phone?}"

Zhell laughed again. "{You came all this way to ask us to use a phone?}"

"{Well, didn't you cut the lines off before besieging the village? Isn't
that a tactical error?}"

Zhell blinked. "{You mean you didn't try them?}" Ranma shook her head,
and Zhell's laughter rose into a cackle. "{We never cut the phone lines
off! Who would they call? The Chinese government would never interfere
with us, and no one else in China can stand up to the might of the Amazons!
But if you wish to use a phone, there is a pay phone you can borrow.}"
Zhell smirked, and tossed Ranma some money. "{I'll even pay for your
call!}" Zhell returned to her tribe to continue preparations for the
attack on the city.

Ranma turned to Akane, cheeks burning in embarrassment. "Well?" Akane
asked. "What did she say?"

"Uh..." Ranma began. "We can use that pay phone over there. Zhell, the
Elder I was talking to, doesn't think Cologne will be able to suggest
anything however, but I dunno- she seems to have some sort of grudge
against her."

Akane sighed. "I doubt that it would affect her judgment so much that
Cologne could get us out of this peacefully. Should I start warming up?"

Ranma shook her head. "No... if we DO have to fight them, we aren't going
to want to let them know we're ready for them. Besides, the run here was
enough of a warm up, don't you think?"

Akane shrugged. "I guess so... hurry up and make that phone call, will
you?"

Ranma inserted the coins and dialed. Someone on the other end picked up.
*"Nekohantan. Hello?"* Mousse's tired voice answered.

"Mousse?" Ranma began. "I need to talk to Cologne. It's urgent!"

*"Ranma, is that you? Uh... She's not here- I think she's out checking on
that Natsume girl living at the Tendou's."*

"Er... Okay, how about Shampoo?" Ranma begged. On her end, Akane suddenly
squinted in jealousy- though the reaction was definitely MUCH milder than
she used to when Ranma had tried to talk to the obsessed Amazon girl.

*"What do you need to talk to her about? She's asleep!"*

Ranma blinked. "Asleep?! Oh, yeah- I almost forgot about the difference
in time zones. Um, okay... maybe you can help me- though I would rather
talk to someone who knew something about Amazon internal politics- and
while I know you are an Amazon, you don't strike me as being on the inside
track of the leaders' viewpoints."

*"Well, I still might be able to help you. I might be just a man, and
therefore not worthy of being allowed to discuss politics, but I DO keep my
ears open around Cologne."*

"Okay..." Ranma drew in a DEEP breath. "Mousse- this is the situation.
Akane and I have gone to China to find the father of that girl who you
mentioned, Natsume. We've found him, but just as we did, the village we
were in was besieged by Amazons of the Xingaosuzoku tribe, all bent on
husband-hunting. We want to try to get out of here with that man and
another person, and we also want to, if possible, break the siege the
Xingaosuzoku hold over this village."

*"Ah... I see your dilemma. You don't particularly want any more fiancees
to string along, do you? Nor do you want a large number of people out for
your and Akane's heads?"*

"Uh... right."

*"Okay, let's see if I can think of a plan.... Well, I don't think you'll
be able to convince them to leave through politics- Nabiki wouldn't be able
to negotiate a deal with the Xingaosuzoku, even if she wanted to. No, it's
going to take a fight. Hmm... well, you COULD fight them if you were
already married to someone- whether your wife is an Amazon or not. If it's
important enough, you and Akane could get married..."*

Ranma blinked, and looked closely at Akane. For a second, the redheads
eyes flickered with indecision, but then they cleared. "Uh... I don't
think that we have enough time to do that before the Xingaosuzoku attack."

Mousse's voice on the other end of the phone sounded amused. *"Sounds like
you might be willing if you DID have time, though..."* Ranma refused to
say anything, just in case Akane could hear what was being said. *"Okay...
there are only two ways you can fight an Amazon female and not be trapped
by either marriage or eternal pursuit. One is to be married BEFORE you
battle your opponent. The other is to actually be an Amazon- that
exemption was only made after a civil war between the Amazons, but it still
stands."*

Ranma frowned. "That doesn't help, Mousse. Neither Akane and I are
Amazons."

*"Well, you could always ask them if you can take the Ritual Tests of the
Amazons- or, better yet, if Akane can- it's VERY strenuous, though, so ONLY
ask her to if you think she can handle it. If Akane is capable, there's no
chance of your curse affecting the results. The fight will alienate you
from the Xingaosuzoku, but that's okay- there are a number of Amazon
refugees who have been banished from their particular village in
Joketsuzoku... besides, I don't think you and Akane particularly want to
move to any of our villages, anyway."*

"Right, but... what will that do to my engagements, by Amazon status?"

*"If YOU are the one to become an Amazon, nothing. If Akane did... well,
it depends on certain things the two of you do, but it just might force a
decision between Akane and Shampoo."*

"Well, what are they?"

*"I'll talk to you about it after the two of you get back. You'll have to
take some risks, but in the end I think Shampoo will finally be free of
you- oh, and you'd better start training Akane to fight..."*

Ranma blinked. "Uh... okay, Mousse. Thanks for your help- we'll see you
when we get back, right?"

*"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Let me get back to sleep- I don't need to be kept
up trying to solve your annoying little problems."* There was an audible
click on the other end of the line, and so Ranma also hung up.

"Well?" Akane asked nervously. She'd heard Ranma ask something about
engagements, and was worried that Ranma'd wind up with a whole new batch of
fiancees to worry about. "What did Mousse suggest?"

Ranma smirked at her. "Whadya think of becoming an Amazon, Akane?"

Akane blinked. "What?"

Ranma bit her lower lip. "There are only two ways to beat an Amazon woman
without being killed or forced to marry. The first is to be a male and
already BE married, the second is to be an Amazon. Mousse suggested we ask
if you can undergo the Ritual Tests of the Amazons, legally making you an
Amazon woman."

Akane nodded, then smirked. "Well, I suppose I'm WILLING to try, but
wouldn't it be better if we got married first?"

Ranma's eyes widened. "Huh?"

"Well, then you could fight too, right?" Ranma's stare of panic remained
unchanged, but Akane continued undaunted. "It might mean that we're
getting married a little earlier than you wanted, but that's okay, isn't
it?"

Ranma panicked. "Now, wait a minute- we... we, uh..." Akane's smirk
disappeared. She'd just been teasing, but now that Ranma was reacting this
way, she was beginning to wonder what her fiancee really felt about their
engagement. Ranma, on the other hand, was just taken off guard- after a
few seconds, though, she collected herself and took in a deep breath. She
didn't want to get Akane mad now, and she figured any normal excuse would
just upset her. It was time to pull out the one thing which had recently
been revealed- something which she decided to check up on after the last
wedding attempt. "Akane, let me ask you something. How old are you?"

Akane frowned. What did this have to do with anything? "Seventeen, baka!
I turned seventeen six months ago- You know that!"

Ranma nodded. "Your right, I do know that. And I probably realize what it
means more than you do... Akane, what's the legal marriage age for people
in Japan?"

Akane considered briefly. "I remember a few years ago that the age was
changed from sixteen to eight... eighteen. Oh..." Akane finally realized
at least some of what Ranma was worried about- still, Ranma hadn't complain
about that during the failed wedding. What brought it on now? Was he just
not ready for marriage, like he said before, was he really worried about
the legality of it, as he seemed to be saying now, or... did he just not
want to marry her, as he had yet to say he wanted to confirm or deny. She
sighed- right now, there were more pressing matters to deal with. "And our
parents aren't here to find whatever loophole they found for the first
wedding attempt. Well... I suppose that's eliminated that possibility. I
guess our only choice is the Amazon ritual thing... come on, lets go talk
to Zhell again."

* * * * *

"Zhell!" Onna-Ranma called. "{We have talked with the Amazons we know in
Japan, and they suggested a course of action which may assist us in ending
the problems we will have if you attack that village.}"

The ancient Amazon approached Ranma and Akane, and smiled evilly. "{Oh?
And what might that action be?}"

Ranma drew herself up. "{I was told to ask if Akane could perform the
Ritual Tests of the Amazons so as to join your tribe herself.}"

Zhell blinked. "{That is actually a good idea, if she is capable of
passing the Tests.. But what of yourself?}"

"{Do you mean what role am I to play, or do you mean to ask if I want to
become an Amazon myself?}" Ranma asked carefully.

"{Both, actually.}"

"{Ah...}" Ranma nodded. "{I am to be her translator- she does not speak
Chinese herself, but I do. I, however, am not able to become an Amazon
myself at this time. While normally I would feel myself up to the
challenge, I am physically unfit at this time...}" She held up her hand,
and pointed to a pair of identical wounds. "{I was bitten by a snake
recently, and though I have been treated for the poison, I have yet to
recover enough to safely to perform such a ritual.}"

Zhell sighed. Onna-Ranma must have been a powerful woman to withstand the
bite of a snake like the one which gave him that bite- she had heard of
people getting too sick to move within minutes of the venom's introduction
to the blood stream. Too bad the redhead was not in such a condition that
she could take the test to join the tribe- but at least her partner, Akane,
appeared strong enough. It was rare to see such an outsider with such a
fierce demeanor constantly shown in her face. "{Very well... return here
in one hours time. I must prepare for the ritual...}"

* * * * *

Before the assembled tribal warriors, Zhell read from the ancient scroll,
Ranma dutifully translating. "{Akane Tendou, in order for you to become an
Amazon, you must complete the five ritual tests. First, the test of
Strength. Second, the test of Intelligence. Third, the Test of Courage.
Fourth, the Test of Death. And fifth, the Test of Battle...}"

Akane blinked at Ranma. "Did she really list the Test of Battle after the
Test of Death?" Ranma nodded. "Hmm... perhaps it is arranged that way so
as to weaken an opponent before the fifth test..."

Zhell waited for a moment for Ranma to translate Akane's response. When
she realized that the two girls had merely been talking amongst themselves,
she snapped at Ranma angrily. "{DO NOT give her any aid. If we discover
you are doing so, we shall be forced to kill both of you!}"

Ranma sighed. "{I was not giving her aid, I was clarifying the
translation. She asked me if you had really ordered the tests as you
had.}"

Zhell nodded. "{I apologize, then, if I spoke unfairly. However, consider
this a warning- for now. I may not be able to speak Japanese, but I know
that some of my warriors understand it well enough to follow some
conversations- not enough to translate, but enough to warn me if you ARE
divulging from the translation...}"

Ranma nodded. She had no intention of calling the possible bluff. "{Very
well, please excuse me to let Akane know that, and then I ask that you tell
me of the rules of the Test of Strength.}"

After Ranma had explained to Akane why it was impossible to help her (or
even appear to help her- they both agreed that Ranma should stick to
nothing but translating from that point on) Zhell pulled out a old and
withered scroll and began reading slow enough for Ranma to keep up. "The
Test of Strength is to determine of you have the physical abilities
required of an Amazon woman. To prove yourself, you must break this
brick...}" She held up a concrete brick of about one foot by one foot by
one inch. "And at least 5 others like it- in one blow.}"

Akane laughed. If this was the hardest the tests got, she would pass this
thing easily...

* * * * *

Akane, waiting nervously by some altar- or maybe it was a table? the
Amazons had built, began to wonder what this test would be like, and what
it was for. The first test was easy- she had succeeded in breaking twenty
of the bricks with a single karate chop. The second test was almost as
easy- she would have finished figuring out that silly riddle about the
thing with four legs, two legs, and three legs at various parts of the day
in record time if she hadn't needed Ranma to translate it. The answer was
obvious- a human. However, that required a judge's ruling, as well,
because they wanted the answer to be 'a woman,' but they decided as long as
she wasn't specifically talking about a male human, there was no problem.
The Test of Courage- a test where Akane had to avoid flinching as the
Amazons hurled various things at her- was meant to test her spirit. Ranma
had gotten a little mad at that one- some of the things the Amazons were
throwing were dangerous if they hit- knives, rocks, a throwing spear...
Akane would have been worried about how progressively harder the challenges
were becoming, but she was too busy trying to figure out what more the
Amazons felt needed testing after her body, mind, and spirit had all proven
themselves.

Zhell began slowly. "The Test of Death is to determine if your morals are
appropriate for an Amazon. It does this by showing to us how you deal with
death. We have selected this man as a sacrifice for you.}" A couple of
burly Amazons dragged an anxious looking man before her. Zhell turned to
him. "{Ethan 'Doshu' Tsai, for your crimes, you have been sentenced to
death by starvation. However, you have volunteered for this honorable act,
and so your name shall be returned to a place of honor.}" She turned back
to Akane, and handed her a wicked looking knife as Ranma shakily translated
her words. "{Akane Tendou, are you ready?}"

Akane blinked at Ranma. How would this test her morals? "She... wants me
to kill him? In cold blood?" Ranma turned to Zhell and asked for
confirmation, then turned back to Akane and nodded quietly. "Oh... god.
I'm not sure I can do that... What are his crimes?"

Ranma repeated the question to Zhell, and then turned back to Akane.
"Apparently, though I'm having trouble understanding some of her words,
he's written literature in which women have been hurt or killed..."

Akane blinked. "What? Is that ALL? That shouldn't even be a crime, and
they're sentencing him to capital punishment?!" Ranma nodded slightly, and
started drawing a breath to tell the Amazon elder of Akane's feelings.
Akane cut the redhead off. "Tell her I'll try to do it, but I feel as
though he does not deserve death for these crimes, and ask that she find
another to place as a sacrifice."

Ranma was very uncertain, but said what she asked her to. Zhell smirked
evilly. "{No. I won't find another for you.}" the old woman cackled.
"{Any time she's ready, she may begin!}"

Akane walked over to the table, desperately wishing to grab one of Ranma's
hands for support. She stared down at the man, tied down spread-eagle on
the stone table. She looked at the knife in her hand uncertainly. 'The
only way to escape and to save my friends is to become an Amazon. In order
to become an Amazon, I must kill this man... but can I kill him?
Especially in cold blood? I mean, I don't think I could kill even to save
my own life.' She turned to look at Ranma. 'To save his, maybe, but for
this...' She turned back to the man. For some reason, she felt an
unexplainable hatred for him- as if in some other world he had done her a
great deal of wrong- as if he might have taken great enjoyment in seeing
her cut through with an ax. She raised the knife above him, feeling as if
she killed him she would be rid of the evil he had done her- or was
planning to do to her. She closed her eyes and started to plunge the knife
downwards.

Halfway down, she realized what she was doing and altered the trajectory of
the knife, landing it somewhere between his legs.

"NO!" Akane sputtered. "I WILL NOT DO THIS! IT IS... DISHONORABLE TO KILL
SOMEONE IN COLD BLOOD, REGARDLESS OF HIS CRIMES."

Zhell's smile fell into surprise. "{You... have passed, Akane Tendou. An
Amazon will kill, if there is just cause, but there is no such cause in
this case. It is immoral to kill even a man for such a small crime... you
have passed.}"

As Ranma translated Zhell's words, Akane's eyes grew wider and wider. "So
THAT'S what she meant by testing my morality..." She shook her head. "I
can't believe they risked someone's life like that!"

Ranma translated that, much to Akane's chagrin. Zhell, however, just
laughed. "{Bah! He's just a man- no TRUE Amazon should worry about that,
so don't YOU worry about it, Akane Tendou!}"

Akane sighed. "Well... I won't argue the point. Lets get this last test
over with..."

Zhell nodded and led Ranma, Akane, and all the female Amazons away to a
different part of the field, one where a large log had been risen twenty
feet off the ground. It was time for the Test of Battle.

As the party left, another Amazon man walked up to the table and began
untying the unconscious Doshu. Before he untied the legs, however, he
started to pull the knife out of the stone table. Doshu twitched. The man
looked carefully at the knife- no part of the blade was touching him. Then
he realized- it wasn't the blade which had hit him, but the handle. And
the handle had pinched a VERY sensitive place...

* * * * *

"{As you probably know, an Amazon must be a powerful warrior. For an
outsider to join us, you must be better than the best of us- so you must
face a warrior of your age and defeat her. How old are you Akane- in both
years and months?}" Zhell opened. Ranma was a little worried- this would
be a one on one battle, and Ranma had yet to bring Akane up to the point
that he felt she would be capable of facing Shampoo in a one-on-one fight.
Akane was standing on one end of the hanging log, waiting for her opponent.

"Seventeen years and six months."

"{The closest warrior we have is seventeen years and eight months. Sh'var,
you are the Amazon Champion!}" A green-haired Amazon jumped up onto the
log. Zhell whispered in the girls ear "{Remember, we DON'T want this piece
of Japanese trash in our tribe, so don't hesitate to go all out!}"

Sh'var sniffed. "{As if I would NOT go all out!}"

'Where in the world did the weird hair come from in the Amazons?' Akane
wondered. She took a ready stance, thankful Ranma had been training her
some more advanced skills in the past few months. She was still
subconsciously worried that she hadn't gotten very far in the speed
training before Ranma's disastrous encounter with that snake, but she
wasn't going to let her fears show- especially not to some Amazon.

"{The rules are as follows. The first one to fall off the log, to get
knocked out, or to get killed, loses. Chemicals and chemically charged
weapons, such as handguns, are forbidden. Otherwise, anything goes...
ready?}" Zhell was standing on the middle of the log, one arm raised and
ready to come down to signal the match to begin. Akane and Sh'var both
nodded, and so she sliced her hand down through the air, then jumped out of
the way. Akane and Sh'var started moving towards each other slowly, each
one trying to gauge the other. Akane struck first, throwing a roundhouse
kick experimentally. Sh'var jumped over the kick, rolled in mid-air, and
landed behind Akane. Akane spun around and immediately leaped back to
avoid a side kick directed at her chest. She slipped slightly upon
landing, nearly falling off the log. Ranma gasped, but Akane stabilized
herself in time to block Sh'var's follow-up.

Sh'var laughed. "{If that is the best she can do, I will kill her in a
matter of seconds!}"

Ranma translated, particularly emphasizing Sh'var's arrogance. 'I know you
fight better when angry, Akane, so get angry already!' he thought. He
REALLY wished he could actually say the words, but one look at Zhell, and
he knew that she wasn't bluffing when she said one attempt to help Akane
would result in an immediate death sentence for the two of them.

"Is that so!?" Akane huffed. Ranma smiled. "I'm not the one going to be
killed here, missy!" With that, her battle aura flared in anger and she
started charging right in.

"Tien Hong Fo Jong Gun Lut Chuan!" Sh'var cried. Ranma's eyed widened.

"SHE JUST CALLED THE TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!" He cried to Akane, panicked.
[Author's Note: Special thanks to a couple of people on the FFIRC who
helped me find out what some of the attack names were in Japanese. I'd
give their actual names (or aliases) but I forgot to write down who it
was... but if there are any typos in there, they're my fault, not those
people's...]

Akane blinked. She'd never been faced with the Tenshin Amaguriken attack
herself, but she'd seen it performed more often than most of the people who
were attacked with it. In fact, she had once idly tried to come up with
some form of counter to it, but she had never tested it (more because of
never having a sparring partner who could attack with it until recently,
and she hadn't bothered trying lately because Ranma was eventually going to
teach it to her anyway). 'Well,' she thought, 'I don't think there's ever
been a better time to try it out than now...'

All this shouting and thinking happened in the split second it took for
Sh'var to close in and launch her barrage of fists. Akane wasn't there to
receive any blows, however, having dropped onto her back so as to dodge the
onslaught. Akane's leg went up, and caught Sh'var in the chest.

Sh'var stumbled back, shocked. Even the Elders could not stop that attack
without using a faster version of the same attack. Perhaps this Akane was
better than she had thought?

Akane stood up, a fire in her eyes. 'Hah! Betcha Ranma never thought of
that, huh?'

Ranma, himself, had a fire in her eyes. 'Good work, Akane! I always hoped
you had it in you. Now I know I made the right decision when I started
training you...'

Sh'var backed up a bit, hoping that Akane would attack. Akane, however had
other ideas. "Hmm... I wonder if that would work... It's the way Ranma
won that silly Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics contest..." Akane whispered
to herself. Ranma barely heard her, and wondered just what Akane was
talking about. Akane leaped up, as if she were going to attack. Sh'var
raised her arms to catch Akane and hopefully toss her off the log. Akane,
however, had no intention of going near Sh'var, instead landing straddled
on the log about two feet from her end of the log. She gripped the log as
tightly as she could with her legs, and pulled her hand up, bringing it
down in a tremendous blow, breaking the Log apart in front of her. Sh'var,
preparing to block high, was caught off-guard, and slipped off the falling
log.

It was over. Akane was holding onto the log with her legs, nearly upside
down by the way the log had fallen, but Sh'var was on the ground. Zhell
looked on in horror, then sighed.

"{Very well,}" she sighed. "{Ranma, tell Akane that she is now officially
an Amazon. However, I will not accept her into the clan of the
Xingaosuzoku. If Cologne, or some other village, wishes to claim her, they
may. However, this means nothing to her- she is now an Amazon, and has all
such rights as that entails. It also has all such responsibilities- here
is the book of law she must read and understand.}" With that, Zhell handed
Ranma an ancient-looking book- which, to Ranma, looked remarkably like the
one Shampoo had shown him when she'd first shown up.

"Come on, Akane," Ranma said, grabbing Akane's shoulder. "You're an Amazon
now, but Zhell ain't happy about it. Let's get over to the clinic and make
some plans on what to do next."

* * * * *

Ranma, Akane, Dr. Tofu, and Desaix were once again assembled in Dr. Tofu's
office. Desaix was starring at Ranma (now male) with an odd look on his
face, but had otherwise recovered from his shock. Dr. Tofu was idly
fingering a pile of letters he had meant to put in his backpack hours ago,
when Ranma and Akane had first left to meet with the Amazons.

"Well, now there's just one thing to do," Ranma sighed. "We have to fight
the Amazons... and defeat them, of course. Of course, Dr. Tofu, Desaix,
and I can't afford to beat a single one... but... well, I think that we can
still fight them, as long as Akane's the one to actually defeat them."

"WE can?" Desaix asked. "Sorry, but I don't know the first thing about
how to fight. I'm a fisherman- and since I moved her, I'm a carpenter. I
can't fight, though."

Ranma sighed. "That's okay. You don't have to... Akane should be able to
fight them all on her own, but it will be easier if we can soften them up.
Dr. Tofu, that's yours and my job- we wear them down and send them Akane's
way. BUT- don't defeat any of them on your own, got it?" Dr. Tofu finally
came to his senses, stuck the letters in his backpack, and nodded. "Good.
Also, if there are any male Amazons in the fight, AND YOU'RE SURE THEY'RE
MALE, go ahead and beat them. There don't appear to be any laws about
defeating men... Oh, and Desaix, just keep an eye out. We aren't going to
be able to stop them completely- they'll overwhelm us before we can- but
after the first thirty or forty of them are beaten, they'll lose
confidence. If you see them start to do that, just shout out. That'll
mean the battle will be over shortly, and we can start going all out-
before that, of course, we'll need to save some energy to keep fighting."

Akane sighed. "Are you sure I'm up to this, Ranma? I barely beat Sh'var,
and she was just one person. Also, you aren't at your best- you sure you
can hold back enough?"

Ranma smiled at her. "Yeah, don't worry. WE can handle them."

Akane frowned. "And why are you fighting in your male side?"

Ranma shrugged. "I dunno. I guess I think it would be easier to deal with
another person trying to marry me than another person trying to hunt me
down and kill me."

Dr. Tofu coughed, trying to prevent an argument between the young couple.
"I think, guys, we'd better stop this planning and start doing something.
It doesn't sound like we have much more to discuss..."

Ranma nodded. "Right... Okay, guys, let's go... Desaix, take the roof-
keep an eye on the battle from on high, and hopefully you won't be seen."
They started to leave, and Ranma grabbed Akane's hand and pulled her
closer. "Relax, Akane," he whispered in her ear. "It's just like high
school... only now, you have more training..."

For some reason, it wasn't Ranma's words that relaxed Akane, but his hand
on hers...

* * * * *

Zhell looked at the three people approaching her with determination in
their faces. One of them, she recognized as that Akane girl who had so
annoyed her by proving Cologne COULD come up with some good ideas every
once in a while.

"{Well, well, what a surprise. For what reason does Akane Tendou approach
us now, and where is her woman translator?}"

A young man, who looked as though he might have been the brother of that
girl, turned and told Akane what she had said. "As far as why I have come,
I don't want you and your Amazons to steal away my fiancee!" She pointed
to the young man. "OR my sister's boyfriend!" She pointed to Dr. Tofu,
who paled. Ranma was translating this, face flushed. "OR to steal away
any of the men of this village from the women who love them!"

As Ranma translated, Zhell laughed. "{Oh, is that so, Akane Tendou? You
could barely handle one of us- let us see what you can do against hundreds!
Xingaosuzoku, ATTACK!}"

The battle began, Ranma and Dr. Tofu stepping in front of Akane on opposite
sides. Ranma sent a blow to one Amazon's chest, and shoved her at Akane,
who felled the woman with a single chop to the back of the neck. Then he
dodged another woman's kick, watching it slice into one of the other people
attacking him. "{Ha! You're beating your own people up!}" he cried, then
spun away from another blow which took out yet another Amazon. "{You sure
you're not on our side?}"

"{ARRGH!}" The woman cried, and sent a flying kick at Ranma. He ducked,
and she went crashing into yet another nearby Amazon, knocking both of them
out.

"Well... that was interesting..." Ranma commented, smirking, before
returning to the fight.

Dr. Tofu was fighting as best as he could. He hit pressure points which
disabled various limbs or extremities of the women attacking him- making it
impossible to use a shoulder, or an elbow, or to bend a knee, or so on.
Every one of the Amazons he treated this way he immediately shoved at
Akane, who promptly knocked them out. The fight, in general, was going
well.

Suddenly, the three of them heard a loud call from the roof "SOMETHING'S
HAPPENING!"

Desaix's cry from the roof was right. Soon, almost all of the Amazons were
gone, the injured or unconscious carried away by the others. Only Zhell
remained.

"{I believe we are at a stalemate,}" Zhell began. Ranma, still in a ready
stance, stared a question at her. "{By the time you defeat the last wave
of us, the first wave will have recovered, but we, too, will be
progressively worn down, and our mission to win us husbands will be
jeopardized...}"

Ranma frowned. "{What do you want, Zhell?}"

Zhell smiled. "{And how do you know my name?}" Ranma's eyes widened as he
realized his mistake, but he didn't lower his guard. "{It doesn't
matter... Tell Akane I'm willing to settle this. If the three of you can
defeat me, then I will withdraw my Amazons from this village, and not
attack this or ANY village again for at least one year. And you two men
needn't worry about having to marry me- I'm way past the marrying age...}"

Ranma, not shifting his eyes from Zhell, translated to Akane Zhell's
proposal. The only thing he could be certain Zhell was being truthful
about was that bit about marrying age- after fifty years of age, an Amazon
no longer needed to marry if defeated by a man. Knowing this herself,
Akane was all for it. "The three of us, against her alone? We should be
able to beat her, don't you think?"

Ranma nodded. "And I can go all out, too... I'm a little worried- after
all, she seems to be a competitor of Cologne's, and I can only infrequently
beat her... but with you being so much better than you used to be and
helping me... I think we can do it." He returned his attention to Zhell.
"{Very well... we accept.}"

Zhell smiled. "{I knew you would. KYAH!}" Zhell darted in and
immediately stung Dr. Tofu on the back of the neck, knocking him out. Then
she turned towards Ranma and Akane, and began circling the two of them.

Ranma attempted a strike, but Zhell ducked away from it. Akane charged at
her, but the old woman just stepped right past the attack. Every attack
Ranma or Akane attempted, Zhell just avoided. Soon, Ranma noticed
something- she wasn't moving in a circle, but instead was in a lazy dragon
spiral. As he realized this, Zhell opened her mouth. Ranma quickly darted
over to Akane. "Relax, breath deeply, calm down... and if you can't do
that, then just let the Hiryuu Shouten Ha she's about to release carry you
away, and I'll catch you when you come down..."

"What?" Akane cried, barely understanding what he said.

"Fei Long Sing Tien..." Zhell began- words which Ranma realized was the
beginning of the Hiryuu Shouten Ha. The rising wind cut off the rest of
her words, but Ranma ignored them, making sure he was as calm and cool as
he could possibly be. He heard Akane screaming as the wind caught her up,
and winced, a tear coming out of his eye- damn that Zhell! She'd pay- but
right now he needed to remain calm. Remain calm... remain calm...
remain...

The sound of the wind behind him lessened, and he realized that there was
no more Zhell could do. She needed a few seconds to recover before she
could do anything else, and the Hiryuu Shouten Ha could no longer catch
him. It was time to attack. "MOUKOU TAKABISHA!" He cried, raising his
hands out in front of him. Zhell's eyes widened in fear as she realized
that Ranma had not been caught up in the whirlwind blast. Soon her eyes
widened even more as she felt the power of Ranma's confidence smashing into
her, sending her flying into a tree. Ranma, however, did not have time to
see the results of his handiwork- he was too busy trying to find where
Akane had been flung to by Zhell's attack.

Ranma finally saw her- a speck in the sky. He started running, hoping to
catch her before it was too late. Suddenly, however, he couldn't move fast
enough, he knew. His legs were turning to jelly, burning with the
remaining effects of the snakebite. He hadn't noticed it in the fight,
because he hadn't needed all his speed, but he was moving slower than
usual- MUCH slower. He couldn't catch her- oh, gods, he was going to lose
her he was going to lose Akane Akane was going to die he needed to move
faster and he couldn't he had promised to catch her and he couldn't she was
falling he couldn't help he was going to lose her... Ranma screamed
primally in utter terror.

Akane collapsed into the arms of a green haired young woman of about her
age. Sh'var looked over the now unconscious Akane, and held her up to
Ranma. "{Our laws state we should always come to the aid of those Amazons
who we are not fighting. Akane fought well, and defeated me- I do not wish
to fight her any more, and so I am legally required to come to her rescue
when she needs it and I am available.}" Ranma nodded. "{Take your
fiancee, and defend her well...}" She looked over at she unconscious form
of Zhell, as Ranma followed her gaze. "{I do not think Zhell can claim a
victory from this one, and so we shall leave you alone from now on...}"
Ranma nodded, turning, and started to leave. "Ranma Tell Shaver's cousin
Shampoo, Shaver enjoy company of Shampoo's airen... {even if I think you
will not remain her betrothed for long...}"

Ranma glanced back suddenly, his eyes widened. He wanted to ask Sh'var how
long she had known who he was, and why she had never mentioned it before,
but Sh'var had disappeared...

* * * * *

"{Well,}" Desaix sighed, shaking hands with the cousin who he had been
living with for the previous ten years. "{I guess this is good-bye.}"

"{I guess this is,}" the cousin said.

Desaix sighed and turned around, pulling the bag onto his back. He sighed,
then looked over at his three traveling companions. "Ready, guys!" The
other three nodded, and they started out on their trip home.

Akane sighed. "I wish we could continue our training, Ranma..."

Ranma smirked. "And why can't we?" Akane looked at him oddly, and pointed
to Desaix and Dr. Tofu. "Oh, those two? Well, we don't really need our
lessons to be private, do we?"

"Well..." Akane sighed. One of the things she liked about their lessons
was the privacy, but she might need the skills, so she supposed it wasn't
that important. "I would prefer it if they were, but I suppose you're
right. Still, what about the snake venom still in your blood?"

Ranma smirked. "Well, with the current stage of training you're in, I
don't need to do too much. I'll be fine- YOU, however, are probably going
to wear yourself out. It took us a month to get to Xiquan, it'll take us
AT LEAST another month to get back. And for the next month, Akane, you're
going to have to be catching bowls of dirt without spilling a single grain
of sand..."


---------------------------------------------------- ------------------------

---
Sir Desaix, member # 116 of the Knights of the True Fiancee
desaix@sysnet.net
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis /7872
fanfics available at
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/7872/fanfics.htm