They Are My Noble Masters Fan Fiction / Ranma 1/2 Fan Fiction / Virtua Fighter Fan Fiction ❯ Nodoka 2/1 ❯ Chapter 10 - The Art of Treats ( Chapter 10 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Nodoka 2/1
The Chroma Series
Act 0 Part 10

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DISC LAIMER
I own almost none of this. I have nothing. Please don't sue me! This is just for fun, and practice.

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AUTHOR'S NOTES

-Thank you to all the lovers and the haters.
 -This chapter will be the longest yet. I wanted to finish the act on chapter ten, and not make this a three-chapter arc, even if there was more than enough material to do so. So, you can consider this a bonus for baring with me through my learning experience and all of the rest of this mess. Some of what I skip over will come out later, but I wanted to finish the 'set up' for what is normally the 'actual' story.
-We did it, we got this one out in time for Winter Solstice, and/or x-mas, so, a happy holidays to you all, from all of us, and a soon to be, new year. XD

"Speech"
'Thought' {And other emphasized items}
/Mandarin/
\Cantonese\
-English-
{Author's Notes & *Translations* Feel free to skip these}

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GLOSSARY (from the last chapter)

Miko - Shrine Maiden or Priestess.

Wan - Woof/Arf (sound a dog makes in Japanese)
Nyan - Meow (sound a cat makes in Japanese)

Hizainu - Hiza - lap; Inu - dog.

Airen - 'spouse' or 'sweetheart' in Mandarin or 'oijan' in Cantonese.
Lianren - 'Lover' or 'Sweetheart' in Mandarin or 'lyunjan' in Cantonese.

Chumo de Tiantang - 'Touch of Heaven' in Mandarin, Shampoo's name for Ranma's 'Special Massage Technique', in Japanese it would be 'Tengoku no Tatchi'.

Ba - in this case, means 'feudal chief; rule by force; tyrant; lord; master' in Mandarin.
Dashi - 'great master' in Mandarin.

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CHAPTER 10
The Art of Treats

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Kodachi Kuno, the latest in a long line of women going by the moniker 'The Black Rose', learned most of what she knew from her aunt, Mariana Nankyoku, the previous generation's 'Black Rose', including her trademark laugh. When her mother died, and her father had fled the country, her aunts had talked her into coming to her new school, Hakureiryo Academy. She had been going to Saint Hebereke's School for Girls, but she figured one all girl's school was as good as another, and this one, being more prestigious, was filled with many other girls much closer to her station, unlike her last school. The lower class girls here at least 'knew their place'. For better or worse, they also gave her a dorm room, due to the distance between the school and Nerima.

 The only part that bothered the eccentric girl, was that for some reason Kodachi could not figure, they had not allowed her to join the Rhythmic Gymnastics team. She had gone in, and demonstrated the skills that had made her the Captain of her old team, and gracing them with the beauty of her lilting laugh, and they had told her that they were 'not accepting new members at that time'. The audacity of those people! Surely they will regret that choice one day.

 Instead, her aunt Kaede, had talked Kodachi into joining the club that she supervised, the 'Kai Bu'. This club was led by one of her aunt's favorite students, a snarky girl, with long chestnut brown hair, a third year student named Nabiki Tendo. The girl's family was not of the highest caliber, but her foster family, or something, Kodachi was not sure, was quickly gaining notoriety. Even the Kuno family had sent their manservant, Sasuke, to train with them. Anyone of import had at least one servant trained by their school.

 When Kodachi had arrived in the clubroom for the first time, she was rather surprised to see paintings and posters of a very handsome boy, hung around the room. She was even more surprised to learn that boy was the heir to that school, and future family head. At least the clubroom had a nice atmosphere. The paintings were incredible, she vowed to get the name of the artist one day. It was not long after that, Kodachi started enjoying her club activities, especially when it meant taking down a ne'er–do–wells. She also found that no longer being on the gymnastics team, gave her the freedom to alter her weapons' theme to be more in-line with her aunt and namesake, weapons like her thorny rose whip.

 It has been an interesting time. That Tendo girl acted above her station, which caused a bit of friction at first, but as they had gotten to know each other, they had grown to respect the other's abilities, and get used to their tendencies. She could honestly say she had been having fun there. A feeling she had almost forgotten. The respect she had earned here felt different from what she had been used to getting. She could not figure out why that was, 'Respect was respect after all, why would it matter whether you earn it by helping people rather than through intimidation and force? Mother and oba-sama could not be wrong, could they? To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of the women? Was that not what was most important in life? That is what oba-sama says...'

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Nodoka was not in the best of moods. Sure, she was proud of the man Ranma was becoming, but she felt responsible for the curses and other problems that have arisen lately, and was starting to think that they might be better off if she let Kikyo take over her body permanently. She had spent a large amount of time lately second guessing herself, and wondering if, in fact, her husband would have done a better job, and avoided this place entirely. This had her rather depressed of late, and the kids were beginning to notice something was wrong. Ukyo was the first to say something. She had waited for a time when Ranma was off training with Te Rou, and confronted Nodoka.

 "Miomo-sama, what has been bothering you? You have seemed depressed since we got here. Is it because of Kikyo-san, or what is the problem? Did we do something wrong? I want to help if I can."

 "No child, it is nothing you have done, only my own mistakes. However, would you be so kind as to gather Pai and Shampoo, if the girl is available, and bring them to our favorite practice spot? I believe we do need to have a talk."

 "HAI!"

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  Nodoka waited for the girls to arrive, she wanted to apologize to the boys as well, but wanted to have a private talk with the girls first.

 Nodoka waited under the tree Ranma and the girls had carved their names into under the ai-ai gasa, and noticed that once again, more names had been added on the girls' side. Seeing the growing list of names that were listed during their short time here, did make Nodoka feel a little better.
{*Ai-ai gasa = Love-love Umbrella; The Japanese equivalent of a heart with names in it.*}

 The three girls showed up not long after, not knowing what to expect. They did however, notice the growing list of names as well. The reactions to this varied from pride and admiration, to mild annoyance.

 Nodoka noticed their arrival and got up to face them. "Girls, it seems I owe you all an apology, and to Ukyo-chan, I owe several."

 The three girls looked at each other, then back at Nodoka, and then all said in unison, "Why?"

 "I thought I was qualified to raise you. However, it seems as if I was mistaken. The recent events have made me rethink everything I have done. Worst of all, five people's lives have been ruined by this leg of the trip, and it almost happened to Pai as well. So, Pai, Ukyo, Shampoo, and Kikyo, I am truly sorry." She bowed deeply while saying this. "I cannot ask you to forgive me. If either of you wish to leave, I will make sure that you get where you want to go safely. I am sorry."

 "Shampoo curse, no is you fault! Is stupid Mousse fault! If be here is mistake, Shampoo glad you make mistake! Best mistake of Shampoo life!"

 "Miomo-sama, I have no regrets! Besides, even if I did blame you and wanted to leave Ranchama, and I do not, where would I go? I have no other family now, and I do not want to be with anyone else. Y'all are my family, and I love ya!"

 "Same here. While we all make mistakes, this was not your fault."

 "But, what about the curses?"

 "Shampoo no mind. Is strong, can fly, is too too much fun."

 "Mine could be worse, as long as Ranchama doesn't mind, I don't. It is you that has it the hardest Miomo-sama! Both you, and poor Kikyo-san. You are the only ones suffering here."

 "I am more concerned for Kikyo-san, after all of the things that girl has been through..."

 Ukyo and Pai embrace Nodoka, quickly followed by Shampoo, who jumped over the woman's head, twisting in the air to land, glomping Nodoka from behind, almost bouncing. "Airen mother, make Shampoo too too happy! Shampoo thank."

 "Yes, thank you ...for everything."

 "We will forever be in your debt, Miomo-sama!"

 Her mood much improved, Nodoka asked the other question on her mind. "So girls, what are your opinions on Ranma-kun's curse?"

 As luck would have it, that was the same moment a single cloud floated overhead, releasing its payload upon them, leaving just as quickly. Pai and the three transformed teens, still embracing, had just noticed the change when Kikyo spoke up. "I must concur with the others. You are not at fault in my case either, I cannot place any blame on you. You are more of a victim than I. I am a guardian of the jewel as well and our fates are forever linked. Had this not occurred, I would still be trapped in that void, and not here, with the reincarnation of my love. I thank you. As for the other topic, while I prefer the boy's natural form, I do not mind the curse."

 Pai's noticed her left hand move as Ukyo grew a shell, and that the soft fur her right hand was touching, felt REALLY nice. "Ukyo showed me that being with other girls is pretty fun, and Ranma's cursed form is awfully cute."

 Ukyo felt the change occur, and was really glad that her new clothing designs had been successful. She had recently found a way to make a sash that was tight enough in her human form to keep the front and back of her 'dress' in place, and yet stretchy enough to go around her cursed form, shell and all. In a slightly hushed tone, she said, "Kikyo-san, we are also glad that you are no longer trapped like that, and we hope to be able to help you further. As for the other question, Ranchama is Ranchama, nothing else matters. What is it you say here Shan Pu? 'What I know, I love, what I do not know, I will learn to love.' On the other hand, I can't wait until Ranchama comes to bed in cursed form ...that will be fun. Well, I can wait until I change back first though." Ukyo chuckled a bit at her little joke as Pai and Shampoo drooled a bit at the thought of playing with Ranma's cursed form.

 The now, slightly taller cat-girl was careful not to extend her claws in her enthusiasm, her ears twitching and tail behind her bent into the shape of a heart. She practically purred as she spoke. "Shampoo no mind, also prefer boy, but airen too too good looking in both form!"

 "So are you Shan Pu-chan, so are you..." Ukyo was a bit jealous of Shampoo's cursed body also being sexier than hers was, but was determined to make the best of it, and not to hold it against the bubbly girl, who was not at fault after all. "Kikyo-san, since you are here, why don't we do some training? Let us see how you are doing with your ki arrows."

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Fei Sha woke up late after a long night of training, Ranma and friends had really left an impression on her, and she was working hard to get back into shape. She had never been the best fighter, but she wanted to, at least, get her stamina back. She had been asked to be in another movie, and wanted to be up to the performance. She had barely started to clear the fuzz from her head when there was a loud knocking on her door. She briefly considered ignoring it, but threw on a robe and answered it anyway.

 Annoyed at being bothered at this 'early' hour of noon, Fei Sha opened the door. Standing before her was a teenage boy wearing white robes, and large round glasses, that she instantly recognized. '/Oh shit! They found me. I guess I need to run after all./' Thinking of an escape plan, she tried to buy time.

 "/Fei Sha, you are a hard woman to find./"

 "/Mu Ssu! What are you doing here?/"

 "/Don't worry, I am not tracking you for the council, they are well aware of your general location, though the address they had was incorrect. It is just that people like us are not worth their trouble until we do something they do not like. However, you know how fickle they can be."

 Being more shocked at the fact that they had what was likely to be her old address, she had half way tuned the boy out. '/Damn, I liked this house too. I barely even got settled in here!/' "/So, why ARE you here then?/"

 "/Well, you are the only other exile I know, and I figured you would be the easiest to find. I really have nowhere else to go./"

 "/What? You got yourself exiled? What did you do to Shan Pu this time? Must have been bad, considering how long you have been bothering the poor girl. Or did they just get sick of you in general?/"

 "/Apparently I ended up cursing Shan Pu ...and some others. Look, it's a long story, and I am tired, may I at least come in?/"

 Still not awake enough to infer the whole story, Fei Sha felt sorry for the lad. "/Damn, no wonder. You are lucky they didn't kill you for that! I guess so, I was about to make some coffee anyway./"

 "/They tried, but I got away. But, don't worry, they didn't care enough about me to follow./"

 After a short time to brew a pot of coffee, Fei Sha returned with a cup for each of them. "/I don't keep things that can spoil, so there is no cream, but I have sugar if you want it./"

 "/No, this is fine. Compared to the bitter taste in my mouth, this is already sweet./"

 "/So what the hell is your story?/"

 "/Some time ago, a group of outsiders showed up at the village looking to train. One of them was bewitching my Shan Pu, so I attacked, to save my Shan Pu! In the commotion, Shan Pu got knocked into a cursed spring... At least I got most of those bastards too!/"

 Getting a really bad feeling about this, Fei Sha, asked as calmly as she could. "/Who, exactly, WERE these outsiders?/"

 "/Oh, I don't know, some woman with four kids, two boys and two girls.../"

 "/Was one of those boys on a leash, and the other had a cute braid and a long coat with the characters for 'winsome' on the back?/"

 "/Well, I don't know as I would say 'cute', but I believe most of that is accurate. Why? Wait ...how did you-?/"

 "/RANMA! Mu Ssu, I believe, if you did that to those kind people, you might want to leave the house that they gave me, before I kill you myself!/" Aura flaring to life, Fei Sha flung her half-full cup of hot coffee at the boy and hit him square in the face, then followed up with anything in reach, from utensils to furniture.
 
 /"ACK! What the hell? You know those outsiders?/" Mousse was trying to dodge as he backed toward the exit.

 "/Yes, yes I do, very well in fact, and for what you have done, you do not deserve to share their kindness. Get the HELL out of my house, NOW! And don't let me see your face again! I swear I will do what Shan Pu should have done years ago! The only reason you are still breathing now is that someone must have begged for mercy for you, or they really would have followed you!/"

 Pausing his escape long enough to say, "/It must have been my dear, sweet Shan Pu!/" earned him an empty wash tub to the back of the head, knocking him much closer to the door.

 "/I doubt it. My guess would be Ranma./" Fei Sha was about to throw the latest thing she had picked up, when she realized what it was. She was holding a gun that she had taken from a mugger she had stopped recently, and pointed it at Mousse's head. "/Now leave, and never come back!/" '/I am glad I haven't had this one destroyed yet. That boy can be unpredictable./'

 "/I wouldn't want to stay there then anyway!/"

 Once the teen had left, Fei Sha started to call real estate agents, in order to sell her house. It was time to leave this place. "/Sorry my friends, I hope you do not need to find me here again./"

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 "/Damn it! Not even here, and that bastard still keeps ruining my life over and over! There is only one way I can marry Shan Pu now, I must get my love exiled as well. Everything I do, I do for you, my sweet Shan Pu!!!/" Though not stopping, Mousse does have to ponder, '/....Of course, I have no idea how I could do that, but I must think of something!/'

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Akane was planning to cook again, and was reminiscing about her past 'mistakes'. Thinking back on all of the 'food' that she had been made to eat, she almost got sick to her stomach. 'I just don't get why I should have to be the one to try it, I didn't make that stuff for me, I made it for the family! Why should I be punished for doing something nice? It's not fair! They should be the ones who eat it, it was for them anyway!' By the time Akane had neared the kitchen, she had worked herself into a righteous fury, but she had been interrupted before she arrived.

 "Kukuku. Where is the troublesome goshujin going?"

 "I'm gonna cook dinner!"

 "No, no goshujin is not, not like that anyway."

 "Why not?"

 "Maid Guy says, 'Cook with love, not anger'!"

 "I AM NOT ANGRY!"

 "Return a Maid Guy Badge, and go find the happy place." Maid Guy held out his large clawed hand.

 "WHY?"

 "If this is goshujin's idea of 'cooking with love', than we have far more problems than cooking skill. If goshujin is not mad, then what is that battle aura?"

 "Who is the 'goshujin' here?"

 "You selfish goshujin! How much trouble must you bring before you are satisfied?"

 "SELFISH?!?!?!? I'm Being NICE!"

 "What part of that was supposed to be 'nice'? Maid Guy could not tell. To cook with anger, is to poison the food."

 "But, I'm not...!"

 "Maid Guy can see that." Maid Guy removed a badge and scooped Akane up in one quick motion with one arm, and gave her, what was to him, a light spanking. "Now go somewhere and do something relaxing, goshujin should not be anywhere near a kitchen right now."

 "HOW DARE YOU!" Akane hefted a small table in the air and broke it over Maid Guy's head.

 Maid Guy did not so much as even flinch. "The road of serving is, FILLED WITH DIFFICULTIES!!! 'Maid Guy: Freeze Voice'."

 Akane froze to the spot, unable to move. "Maid Guy is giving goshujin a 'time out'. We will try again when goshujin can remember to COOK WITH LOVE! Kukukukuku..."

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"Well, who do you think ought to ask?"

 "Oh definitely you, you are the 'head-concubine' after all." Pai gave Ukyo a sly grin.

 "Well, I was going to suggest playing janken, but if you are going to play THAT card, I guess I don't have a choice..." The two teens had a good laugh.

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 "Ranchama? Can we talk?"

 "Sure Ucchan, what's up?"

 Ukyo had taken on a serious tone. "Well, Pai and I have been talking, and we have noticed a hole in your training that we need to address."

 Ranma's curiosity was piqued. "Oh, and what would that be?"

 "It has been some time since we have gotten these curses and not once have you come to bed as that adorable redhead!"

 "Urk! Um, so you want to do it in our cursed forms?"

 "Well, not MINE! I can't see that working out well. My cursed form just isn't suited for bedroom antics ...Shan Pu's might be fun though, leave it to that girl to get one that is almost as sexy as yours but, that's not the point! We think that you should take advantage of your 'curse' and learn how the 'other half' lives. Not only will you learn how we feel, but you have an opportunity here that few men ever get to even think about, as well as the opportunity to sleep with women who do not like men, and you do not want to seem 'inexperienced' to them, do you?"

 "Um, well, okay, since you put it THAT way ...I guess I don't have a choice." He gave the girl a knowing wink as he finished.

 Smiling, Ukyo enthusiastically grabbed Ranma's arm and a glass of water as she ran toward the bedroom. "Then let's get to training!!!"

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 The next morning, Nodoka was preparing for her day, and poked her head into Ranma's room where she saw her son, asleep on the bed, with Pai and Ukyo on either side of him, and Shampoo, still in cursed form, curled up on Ranma's lap, purring away in her sleep. It was so cute, she could not help but to take a roll of pictures.

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The end of the school year was fast approaching, and Nabiki was trying to decide whom to leave in charge of her club when she graduated middle school. She would have liked to keep it in the family, but Akane was the only one left in middle school, and she was not interested at all. Nabiki was not even sure what club her younger sister had joined, she only sure that it was not that swimming nor the cooking clubs. They certainly would have been called in to solve the mystery if that had been the case.

 There were two members of the club, who would remain in the next semester, and had both proven to be most invaluable assets. However, neither of them were ideal choices for various reasons. One was too unwilling to take charge, and the other was a bit too ...flighty.

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 "Now people, thank you for coming, this will be my last meeting as your club president." Nabiki waited a moment for the reactions to die down. "I have thought long and hard about this decision..."

 "At least SOMETHING is long and hard around here!" Most of the girls giggled.

 "There might be more than you think, but that is a mystery for another day. For now, we will address the issue at hand, this was a difficult decision to make. Two of you second years have stood out with exemplary service. I considered many ways to decide, even thinking of contests we could have, but in the end, I decided that the best thing for the club, would be to have the both of you working together. Konatsu-chan, you will be the new president, and Kuno-san, you are the vice-president."

 There were many gasps from around the room, including from the two people in question.

 "But, I thought that only upper-class students could be in charge of a club."

 "Yeah, I thought that was against the rules!"

 Both Konatsu and Kodachi were asking themselves, 'Why did I get picked?'

 Kaede took that moment to speak up. "Actually, Konatsu-chan is an upper-class student. Don't let the maid's uniform fool you." Kaede grinned broadly at the idea. "It's just like in this game I played last month..." Everyone tuned her out at this point.

 "Yes, well, I was hoping that assigning you these roles, would help you work on your weaknesses, and help the other with your strengths."

 "Kodachi Kuno has no weaknesses! What a ridicules notion." Half of the room broke out in an impersonation of Kodachi's trademark 'ojou laugh', the other half laughed normally.

 "None-the-less, I believe the two of you can help each other, and maintain the high standards we have sought to set for the Kai Bu. None of us can do everything on their own, without my 'sisters' and Mori-chan here, this club would never have gotten off the ground. So, now, since the rest of the positions will remain filled by those of you who are staying, then as my last act as the head of this club, I hand off the magnifying glass of leadership. Konatsu-chan, Kuno-san, if you accept, then please come up here, and say a little something to the club. I wish you all well."

 The two new leaders of the club both joined Nabiki and Mori at the head of the room.

 Konatsu bowed first to Nabiki and Mori, and then to the rest of the room and said, "Thank you very much, I will do my best!" before standing again.

 Kodachi, not allowed to do her flower peddle trick inside of the school building, settled for saying, "I hope we all get along swimmingly. OHOHOhohohohohohoho!"

 Mori brought out a tremendous cake, and began to serve it to the club members, as balloons and streamers fell from hidden places above.

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 "Seriously Nabiki-sama, why DID you pick that girl?"

 "I had quite a few reasons Mori-chan. The first being that I honestly hope the two of them rub off on each other, they need it, and working together might help that. Not to mention the fact that being related to Kaede-chan, the club has a better chance of survival, and Kodachi-san, might be a bit 'out there', but is not really at fault for that. The stories I have heard about Kaede-chan's sisters, and the way they treated their kids, it's horrifying, more so than any mystery I have seen. Penguin and Kodachi both had terribly abusive upbringings, and need all of the help they can get. At least Penguin-chan has a supportive staff and sister, Kodachi-san had almost none of that. This will give the girl the attention craved, and still leave the club in the hands of someone responsible." 'Not to mention keeping anyone from investigating the 'plucky' maid's gender.'

 "They sure came out differently for having such similar upbringings..."

 "Hai, the human mind is an amazingly complex thing. I hope my instincts are correct, and they do end up working well together. So, what club do you want to do next year?"

 "I will follow you wherever you decide to go, Nabiki-sama. I am sure that whatever club you are in, will be the most interesting one in school!"

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They had another long, hard day of training in the cold mountains, where they had been for several weeks. The mornings were spent learning to deal with extreme environments, use of cold ki, and anything else Cologne felt like showing them. During the afternoons, they would spend learning from each other, helping Kikyo and learning from her as well. After they ate the dinner Ranma had made, Shampoo and Pai took Ranma aside for a special distraction, er, special practice session.

 Ukyo pulled Kikyo aside saying, "I have a gift for you, from Ranchama." and led her over to where she had earlier set up a comfortably padded section. "Just lay down here and relax ...and please, try to keep the noise down." Once Kikyo had done so, Ukyo slipped a blindfold over the young woman's eyes, and deftly put earplugs into her ears preventing Nodoka from seeing or hearing much of anything. Nodoka was wishing she could take a nap, knowing what was likely ...coming, several times in fact.

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 Kikyo had started to protest when the younger girl had begun to remove the skimpy Chinese dress that Nodoka had chosen to wear that morning, but once the girl started 'working her magic', Kikyo did not have the willpower to even move, never mind resist. To her it was like a spell, which held her trapped, unable to move, or even form coherent thoughts. This kind of scared Kikyo for a moment, a spell that would prevent the victim from functioning or even wanting to break free. Such a power must never fall into the wrong hands!

 Ukyo had not exactly lied, since she had learned this skill from Ranma, even if he was not exactly aware of this 'gift' being given in his name. However, they all wanted Kikyo to be happy, so she felt that she was doing the right thing. Ukyo worked hard, trying to do the best job she could. She knew that she was not comparable to Ranma's skill, but if Pai, Shampoo, and Ranma's girl form all reacted to her touch, then she must be doing something right. Other than Ranma, she was the only one who had even come close to learning it, and Ranma was pretty uncomfortable about trying to teach it to others any more. He had even gone so far as to refuse Shampoo when the girl asked to learn it. Cologne was the only one he had taught since then, and that was only after a promise from the elder that she would keep it secret, and not show it to anyone who might misuse it. Meaning that Shampoo had still not been able to learn it, nor any of the other members of the tribe, Cologne had agreed, the technique was too dangerous. Ukyo knew this, because she had been the demonstration model for the lesson.

 Kikyo had never felt anything like this before, aside from her little sister, she had only ever kissed one person before, and not many times at that, never mind anything further. She had always felt that her duty took priority over her desires, hardly even thinking of anything sexual before, let alone actually doing anything. This being the case, she had nothing with which to compare this to, other than to say that nothing in her lives had ever felt this good. She had never even had a normal massage before, so this went well beyond her scope of experience. She now understood why some women chose to be pleasure women by desire rather than necessity. She felt that if she were able to think clearly, she would be able to reach enlightenment this way, surely this was the path to nirvana.

 Once Ukyo had completed her self-assigned task, Kikyo found she was still unable to move, and had to be carried to bed. Kikyo had gone to sleep very early that night, completely forgetting to change back into Nodoka... For once, having the opportunity to climb into bed with, and sleep next to Ranma, even having 'just keeping warm' as an excuse, but lacking the ability to make it so.

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It was the first day of the new school year, and they were having an assembly for all students. Kaede and Mikan were on stage, Kaede was addressing the students, while Mikan was standing stoically behind her.

 "Thank you all for attending, and welcome to the new year! Yattaa! As many of you already know, for the first time we will be allowing boys to attend our fine school!" Kaede gave a 'victory' sign with her fingers as she said this. Despite there being several males in the crowd of students, there were gasps heard from around the room. "Even though we have built a new wing for the dorms on both the upper class and servant class sides, we have only had a few lucky boys pass the requirements to get in. Good luck to girls out there, take good care of all of our new students, and have a good year!"
{*Yatta (or yattaa) = hooray; whee; whoopee!; yes!; etc...*}

 Mikan took the microphone away from Kaede and said, "Remember, relationships and activities of an illicit nature are forbidden. Males are forbidden from the girls' dorms. Men will have baths at scheduled times, they are 'women only' during the rest of the time. Men caught trying to enter at any other time will be severely punished, you have been warned."

 This time there were groans and sighs of disappointment from all around, especially from Kaede.

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"Ranma, you fight!"

 "We challenge you!"

 Ranma dodged around the two girls' attacks. "I'm sorry girls, we are pleased to hear of your interest in our fine marriage challenges. However, I am not accepting marriage challenges at this time. If you'd like to make a marriage challenge, please feel free to try your challenge again at a later date. Besides, aren't you two a bit young to be looking for a husband?"

 "Yes, yes we are."

 "But is too too good chance."

 "Good mens no be in village much."

 "No put off tomorrow, what done today."

 Ukyo stepped between Ranma and the twins, blocking their attacks with her war fans. "Anyone who thinks they can challenge Ranchama, must get through me first!"

 The two girls jumped back. "Is too too easy."

 One jumped on the other's shoulders as they began to spin, and yell in unison. "Ling-Ling and Lung-Lung, two-body, double-team, whirlwind attack!" Their spinning got faster and faster, and the wind began to blow around them, forming a small whirlwind as they began to lash out with their weapons, creating a deadly wall of blunt and slashing trauma around them, just waiting for a target to get within range.

 Ukyo easily danced around the attacks. She put her fans away and pulled out a ball of string, which she tossed into the spinning twins.

 The two girls got completely entangled in the string, falling on their butts, hard.

 "You too too sneaky!"

 "Use own technique against us!"

 Ranma saw that Ukyo was laughing too hard to reply, and took over. "Look girls, I am not marrying anyone, but if you want, you can come by and have some cookies."

 "What cookie?"

 "That fighting technique?"

 "Weapon?"

 -!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-
 The twins and Shampoo chatted away while Ranma and Ukyo were in the kitchen whipping up a batch of snickerdoodles. With their new speed training, the only part of the process that took any time was the baking, and that was not too long. Soon after the smell had reached the other girls, Ranma and Ukyo were walking out with a tray of cookies, and placed it before the four Chinese girls. Pai had eaten sweets before, but had never had this particular confection, but, for the three 'warrior women', this was completely new, and so they began with a bit of trepidation. Their misgivings did not last long however, and soon they were eating at speeds that had to be seen to be believed.

 Ranma put his arm around her shoulders as he turned to Ukyo and said, "I guess it is a good thing we ate a couple before we brought them in here, ne Ucchan?"

 "Hai Ranchama! They sure seem to like them. Maybe we should make some for the rest of the village..." She was a bit less pleased when the twins each grabbed one of Ranma's arms. The energetic girls pushed her out of the way. "...or maybe not."

 "Man what gives us cookies."

 "We loves forever." They were rubbing their faces on his arms, as he looked uncomfortably at Shampoo, who ran over and glomped him from the front. He had planned to appeal to Ukyo for assistance, but the girl was nowhere to be found. A moment later, he discovered why, for Ukyo and Pai both jumped onto his back...

The other three girls imitating the twins, saying in unison, "We loves forever!" as they rubbed against Ranma.

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Kasumi and Fubuki were shopping for the evening meal, something they very much enjoyed doing together. They were about to enter the store when they were stopped by a screaming girl, a bit younger than they were, in a gothic style dress strangely similar to their maid outfits, except she had bright pink hair.

 "It's YOU! It's really you! Chibi-Kasumi-sama! Oh, I'm your biggest fan! Can I have your autograph? ...If it's not too much trouble."

 "Certainly my dear, who should I make it out to?" Fubuki whipped out a large photograph of Kasumi and a marker ...from somewhere, and handed them to Kasumi.

 "Oh, sorry, I am Yume, it's an honor!"

 Kasumi quickly signed the picture 'To my biggest fan, Yume-chan. Always stay sweet, Kasumi.'

"Are you a fan of Youkai the Façade? Yume plays it all the time, Yume even made a character for Chibi-Kasumi, the Magical Girl! It is Yume's favorite character to play!"

 "No, I cannot say I have heard of that. Fukibuki, do you know of this?"

 "Hai, Kasumi-sama! It is a role-playing game, where you can play either a monster or a hero. People can make their own characters and solve or commit crimes, go on adventures, just about anything. The rules are open enough that you can make just about any kind of character you want ...with the game master's approval, of course!"

 "Fukibuki, it sounds like you know this well, have you played this game?"

 "Oh no, Kasumi-sama, I do not sneak out on the weekends to play!"

 "You sneak out on the weekends to play ...without me?"

 "Who told you such an outrageous thing? I do NOT play almost every week!"

 "But, why didn't you invite me? That sounds like it could be fun."

 "I am sorry ojou-sama! It's just, you were always so busy with your work, and since they do not let me on set very often anymore, I needed something to do..." Fubuki bowed, looking flushed.

 Kasumi hugged her friend and maid. "Well then, we should play together, maybe Nabiki-chan would enjoy it too..."

 The now quiet girl, got even more shy and said, "You can come play with our group anytime you want..."

 "We would not wish to put you out, I am sure that would be a lot of trouble."

 "Oh, NO trouble at ALL! We would LOVE to have you! It would be our pleasure! Yume can even send a car for you! You go to Hakureiryo Academy too, don't you? Yume has all of your dolls, yours too." The girl added to Fubuki, with a nod. "Yume and friends have the whole set! Especially yours and that cute boy's! They are just too cute!"

 "Well then I suppose you have talked me into it. How do you feel about it, Fukibuki?"

 The maid was nodding vigorously.

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Normally Nodoka and her family use the services of one of the village messengers to do their shopping and errands, so as not to interrupt their training. However today they were shopping FOR training, so they were taking a small family outing. They had left Ryoga with Zhei Kan, her name meant 'to look after this', so they figured she was up to the task, and the girl seemed quite eager to take on the assignment.

 Nodoka and the girls had been training Ranma how to get the most out of his girl form, and the lesson for this trip was 'flirting for discounts'. Actually, Pai was learning more than she was teaching in these lessons, having been more of a tomboy most of her life, but she had been able to help Ranma with some things as well. She did however, find it mildly annoying that Ranma was 'learning the lessons' much more quickly, and successfully, than Pai herself, a real girl. Although, she did have to admit that Ranma made for a very sexy girl, especially with that exotic red hair. All of this was new to Kikyo, who, while not being able to participate, was playing close attention to every detail. Nodoka did change forms before they arrived at their next stop though, since Kikyo had never had any before.

 This was also Ranma's first time eating a fancy sundae in public since he had been a kid, and even then, they were not 'this' fancy. The girls made him order all of them the frilliest ones on the menu, and their flirting had gotten the shopkeeper to make them even fancier than usual. No matter how fancy the desserts were that he and Ukyo made at home, eating things like this were considered girlie or childish, so he would never be seen eating one in public as a guy. However, he had to keep reminding himself that today he was not a guy, but rather a guy trapped in the body of a very cute girl, and he was being encouraged to enjoy it to the fullest, which he was. He had even allowed them dress him up in a cute outfit, complete with hair bobbles and make-up. Even he had to admit that he looked adorable, though he had to add that he was not as cute as the real girls, who all disagreed with him on that point.

 Kikyo had practically gone into sugar shock, being the first time she had ever had anything so sweet. Ranma was so enthused, that he went back to get another type for each of them. This time he got them each something different, so they could all share and try more things, they were all family after all.

 Ukyo came up with the idea that they each feed the others from their bowl, so that everyone got to try all of them, and all feed and be fed by each person. She, of course, fed some of hers to Ranma first. She intentionally dripped a bit onto Ranma's face, just so she could lick it off. Ranma took a big scoop of his, and fed Kikyo who was on his left. Kikyo blushed slightly, thinking about the 'indirect kiss' she had gotten before realizing that the others were waiting on her to take her turn.

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Y ukie was a shy girl, with very long, dark, forest-green hair, tied back into twin ponytails with white ribbons, and she had blue eyes. Having been raised apart from other people, she had never learned to interact well with others. As the elder daughter of the eleventh dan sword saint, Taisei Mayuzumi, she had been raised to be his successor. Her training had taken up so much of her time, she had not had time for much else in life. She only had confidence in two things, her homemaking skills, taught by her mother, and her skills with a sword, taught by her father. Her sword skills were so good, that as a first year student, and with her debilitating shyness, she was made the president of the school's small kendo club. A position she was ill prepared to handle. She was especially ill-prepared when one of the few male students to have made it into the school walked into the room, another first year, just like herself.

 "Sorry I am late, it took a while to get the transfer 'paperwork' done. However, your dreams have now come true, for I, Tatewaki Kuno, age fifteen, rising star in the field of kendo, am here to join your club! Who leads you?" The boisterous young man in the hakama struck a dramatic pose with his bokken.

 None of the few other club members being present, Yukie had been even more nervous than usual in regards to the unusually forceful youth. She had no alternative other than to rely on her 'One True Friend', Matsukaze, the small black reggae-looking horse charm, made by her father. She held her first friend forward, and a rude voice was heard. "You are looking at the president of the kendo club, Yukie Mayuzumi! Show your skills before you boast!"

 Whispering, Yukie said to her charm, "Matsukaze, that was rude."

 "I'm sorry Yukie, I don't like people like this guy."

 "Fine then girl, grab your sword! If you can defeat me, I will allow you to date with me!"

 Yukie stuttered badly, with a horrified look on her face. "Da-da-da-da-date? Wh-wh-wh-who said an-an-anything abu-bu-bu-bout a d-d-d-date?"

The 'horse' spoke up again. "You fool! It is not a matter of if you lose, but how long you will last! You are a blow-hard, and are not worth dating! There is no way Yukie would stoop so low as to lose to, or date, the likes of you! Yukie, test this guy!"

 "Oh, NOW, you want to test the guy, not before you were so mean?" None-the-less, she picked up a bokken and took a stance. Her whole manner changed. She was calm, cool, and collected. She just looked at the boy, and signaled for him to attack.

 Tatewaki charged in, rapidly thrusting and shouting, "Tsuki, tsuki, tsuki, tsuki, tsuki, tsuki..." He was not sure if he had been insulted by the girl or her toy, but he was sure that he didn't like it.
{*Tsuki = In kendo, it means a strike to the throat.*}

 Yukie was expecting standard kendo, and had been planning to respond in kind, but after dodging the attacks that were causing cracks to form in the wall several meters behind her, she decided not to hold back ...much. In what seemed like only a few slashes, she sent twelve flying toward Tatewaki. Her sword did not get close to the lad, however, her strikes were so fast, that they cut through the air itself. This sent a dozen blades of air to crash into the Kuno scion which exploded upon impact, sending the lad flying through the doors and back into the hall from which he had come.

 Matsukaze spoke up again. "And good riddance."

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< br> Ranma was on his way to talk to Cologne about training techniques, when an attractive older woman confronted him. This woman looked to be a bit older than his own mother, though looks could be quite deceiving, as he had learned in his travels.

 "/What have you done to my daughter, Zhei Kan?!?!?/"

 'Well, that explains who this is, and why this woman is here.' "/Nothing! Why, do you think I should?/"

 The woman looked appalled. "/What? No! But all my daughter talks about anymore are 'dashi' and 'airen', so I can only assume that means you!/"

 "/No, no, no, I didn't do anything, and I am not 'airen' that is Ryoga!/" In a lower voice, he continued, "/I am only 'dashi', and not by choice... I didn't ask for this!/"

"/My daughter hardly ever wears clothes anymore! Why is that? Why are you making my daughter do these things?/"

 "/I don't know! That wasn't MY idea! I'm the one trying to get the girl to put clothes ON!/"

 "/Then what happened?/"

 "/Your daughter said some things to my friends and family that I considered to be offensive. So I *calmly* mentioned how I thought that was *rude*, and how I would like an *apology* for my nakama./" Ranma infused a few of his words with ki, for 'emphasis', and some of the anger and the annoyance he had felt were leaking out. He did not like being accused of forcing a girl to do anything against her will, and was getting tired of this type of questioning. He wanted to end this conversation, and quickly. Despite Ukyo's claims to the contrary, he did not see her as a 'servant', and he did not like the idea of a 'master/slave' style relationship. To him, Ukyo and the other girls were first and foremost very good friends and lovers, and in no way were they lesser than himself. He always felt bad when a girl lowered herself to acting like property. The girl obviously seemed to enjoy it, but it made Ranma feel uncomfortable. Occasional bedroom games aside, he preferred everyone to be strong and independent people who help each other out because they were friends, and wanted their friends to be happy, not because they were being told to do it.

 "/Yes, dashi! I am sorry, dashi!/" The woman had already stripped and was groveling in the dirt.

 "Kuso! /What is it with your family? Do you have no willpower at all, or do you just like being naked?/"

 "/Yes sir! We like it very much, dashi! We are from a long line of submissives! Thank you for showing this lowly one where it went wrong!/"

 "Shimatta, not again! /Well, at least this one did not pee.../"

 "/Does dashi want.../"

 "/NO!/"

 "/What do you wish of me, dashi?/"

 "/What do I wish? I wish you would put your clothes back on, leave me alone, and make your daughter do the same!/" Turning to one of the other women closely watching the scene, Ranma indicated Zhei Kan's mother and quietly asked, "/Is this woman married?/"

 "/Oh yes, has been for some time. Although the guy isn't very good in bed.../" Many people, including Ranma, but strangely not the nude woman, just stared her blankly. "What? I have to listen to the complaints all of the time! ...Won't shut up about it after a few drinks./"

 "/So the guy isn't, like, dead or anything, right?/"

 "/No, only below the waist! ...Or so I HEAR!/" she gave dirty looks to the other women watching the commotion before turning back to Ranma. "/Mine is though, died in a bandit raid last year. Maybe you would come console a poor widow on a lonely night?/"

 "/Maybe later, first I have to deal with this problem./" Turning back to said 'problem', Ranma made a request of the woman. "/How about this? Go back to what you were doing before you came to look for me./"

 "/Yes, dashi!/" The woman changed positions so that she was sitting, facing Ranma, and began to pleasure herself.

 "/THIS, is what you were doing before you started to look for me?/"

 "/Oh yes, dashi! This lowly one's worthless husband does not take marital duties seriously anymore!/"

 The other woman looked triumphant. "/See, I told you! Always going on about it, and not even drunk this time.../"

 Still looking at the woman, Ranma had an idea. "/Why don't you go do this in front of your husband, maybe it will help./"

 The woman looked rather disappointed. "/Yes dashi, this one will do as you ask./" She slowly gathered her clothing in her arms and walked back toward her house, looking rather dejected.

 Hoping to change the mood to a happy one, the young widow adopted a cute look on her face, and switched to her broken Japanese for added effect. "You come, console widow now, yes?"

 Ranma sadly shook his head. "I need to talk to the matriarch now, but you can come by my place later for ...dessert."

 Having heard some of the stories floating around the village, the woman was excited. "Is too too good day to make babies!"

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 A short time later, not far away, a husband was seeing something he had not seen in many years. In response to this, the man 'thanked' his wife, several times that night. The two of them enjoyed each other like newlyweds, not even stopping to wonder where their daughter had gone.
 
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Akane was late getting home, but she was in a good mood. That Kodachi girl had gotten detention for laughing in class, and bad things happening to that one always put a smile on Akane's face. She was not sure what her sisters saw in the girl, but to Akane, the snob was an annoyance on the best of days. Akane did not like the rich girls who thought they were better than everyone else because of it, and Kodachi was one of the worst, certainly one of the most annoying, her family was not even all that rich, or so Akane had heard. She disliked the girl so much that she did not even mind that she had to have gotten detention herself, to learn of this. Finding out that the boy whose head she had 'accidentally' broken a desk over, was that girl's brother, was just icing on the proverbial cake. The guy deserved it anyway, chasing after that girl with the twin ponytails, and making those perverted faces... Once again, she was proven right, that all boys were as perverted as the Maid Guy! As kids they were okay, but as soon as they started to think they were grown up, *BAM* ...perverted. However, she did not let that ruin the best mood she had been in for a long time.

 The best part of this good day was that it was a Saturday, so she would still able to get home early enough to cook dinner! It was a night's meal ...that her family was to remember, for a very, very, long time...

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 Without the 'evil aura' coming out of the kitchen to warn them, none of them had made other arrangements. Every one of them had been shocked to learn that Akane had made their dinner, and only learned of it when she started to bring in the trays of food, beaming with pride. As she was serving, the fathers looked to Konatsu, who just shrugged.

 None of them knew what to think, they had assumed Maid Guy had been cooking today, and this food did not look up to Akane's usual 'standards'. It kind of looked like food, made for people. Still, it took Kasumi trying a bite and not convulsing before anyone else had the courage to eat. It was not the best meal they had eaten by any measure, but it was far and away the best thing Akane had ever served, and if the story were to be believed, she had not had any help this time. Some items were unevenly cooks, with slightly burnt edges, and under done centers, but all in all, it was edible. For something Akane had made, it was incredibly normal, no special ingredients or off-the-wall improvisations, or anything she normally would do.

 Seeing the resulting faces of her family, as they almost enjoyed her meal, caused something to start to change, an epiphany started to form. Akane had pumped every gram of love she had been able to muster up, and poured it into her food and attention to detail, and some say her cooking skill grew three sizes that day. There was one thing you could say for sure, for the first time, she was wearing a fourth Maid Guy Badge!

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"Big-sister Shampoo, when you no beat outsider girl, you shame all of Nujie Zu womans."

 "Like you do better? No one but elder beat that one."

 "You champion! We were tricked!"

"And want more cookies!"

 "And want more cookies."

 "We team up, we three beat outsider."

 "Use teamwork, share cookie-man!"

 "Shampoo already share airen. Why do this?"

 "Is you really big-sister Shampoo?"

 "Or has be with outsiders change you so much?"

 "Do for pride of Nujie Zu!"

 "For honor of warrior!"

 "For be number one bride!"

 "You making sense... that scaring Shampoo."

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Kasumi, Fubuki, and Nabiki were awaiting their ride to game night. Fubuki in her usual maid uniform, and the Tendo girls were in more casual clothing. Before long, a white Lincoln Town Car, "stretch" limousine, strangely without license plates, pulled up in front of their home. Only Fubuki had even seen a car that big and nice, and that was when she was very young, visiting her grandmother at work. Kasumi had only seen such opulence once before, at a party she had been made to attend some time ago, and she had not been looking at the cars at the time. Nabiki's jaw just dropped.

 Within moments, a tall stoic man exited the vehicle to greet the girls with a bow. "Hajimemashite, Yume-oujo-sama asked that I transport you three lovely ladies to their gathering spot."

 The three girls also bowed in greeting. Kasumi was the first to speak up. "It is nice to meet you as well. I am Kasumi Tendo, and this is my sister, and our friend and maid, and you are?"

 "I am merely a humble butler. Everyone calls me, the Colonel."

Nabiki always wonder what a butler does, having never had one of her own before. "What is it that you do?"

 "I buttle, ma'am."

 "...and that means?"

 "The butler is head of the kitchen and dining room. I keep everything tidy. That's all."

 "Like this car? It is very nice."

 "This is simply the car used for 'everyday transportation'. You should see the 'elegant car'." Opening the door for them, the girls were able to see exactly how nice the car actually was. It had almost everything except a hot tub.

 -!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-

 With the divider in place, they had relatively private and uneventful drive. The car came to a stop, before long the door was opened for them. As they exited the splendid vehicle, Yume came running up to greet them.

 "You came! You came! Oh, Yume can't believe you came! We are going to have soooooo much fun!" The young teen was practically bouncing in her joy. "Let Yume introduce you to the others!"

 The pink-haired girl led the newcomers around to the backyard, and into a small building that was separated from the main house. She led them to a room with a large table in the center, with many chairs around it. Three other excited young women rose from their chairs and greeted the newly arrived players.

 The first girl, with rather short, pale brown hair, and matching eyes, wearing jeans, and a tee-shirt, and greeted them with a bow. "Hajimemashite, my name is Keiko Inamura, we are very glad you came. We are all big fans. Thank you, we hope you enjoy the game." She bowed again, and stepped back.

 The second girl to step forward was the shortest of the three, the same height as Yume. Her long cyan hair, fell well below her waist, except for her bangs, and she wore glasses over her golden eyes. She was clearly not full Japanese. Her dress seemed a bit lumpy, and warm for the weather or temperature of the room, but was very cute otherwise. She seemed to be blushing a bit, or maybe just flushed, it was hard to tell. "Yaa, Anastasia Mistina, yo." Despite her masculine wording, her voice was very cute and feminine. She offhandedly offered her 'business card', which Nabiki took formally, with both hands. It was a very fancy, and somewhat gothic-looking card, printed on both sides in full color. There was a large, red English 'M' on both sides with the katakana for 'hard' over top of it. It had her photograph, name and contact information as well. Nabiki admired the quality of the card, making her almost embarrassed about her own card, which she soon handed to the other girl, in the polite, two-handed way. Taking the card, Anastasia saw the 'Chaos Pony' and her mind jumped to the dirtiest conclusion it could, as she vowed to call this 'Nabiki' sometime in the future, maybe they could have some fun. She preferred men, but was willing to work with anyone who was willing to work with her.

 Yume prodded her shy caretaker, knowing the humble woman was reluctant to speak up sometimes. "You too Natose-san."

 The oldest, and tallest of the young women reluctantly stepped forward. Her dark blue hair was cut into something resembling a pageboy hairstyle. She had a black patch with a cross on it over her right eye, and her left was a deep purple. She wore blue denim jeans, and a midriff shirt, exposing her tight stomach and tightly muscled arms. "It is very nice to meet you all. Yume had all of your figures, and we watch 'Kasumi-chan' whenever we can find you on somewhere. We think you should get your own show, with all of your friends in the collection, and show your adventures. I'm sorry, that was rude of me... I'm sorry."

 "It is no problem, no offence taken." Kasumi said with a warm smile. "Do you go to our school too?"

 "Oh, no ma'am. I'm sorry, I am Yume's personal attendant, along with my other duties."

 That clinched it for Nabiki, she knew what club she would start next, and she had absolutely no doubt that she could get Kaede-chan's approval for it, as long as Mikan-sensei was not around.

 "It is nice to meet you all. I am..."

 "Oh we know who all of you are, you are all famous around the school."

 Kasumi and Fubuki blushed before they opened the chest they were lugging around, and started pulling items out. "Along with Fukibuki's game materials, we brought some snacks." They started putting plates of various foods around the table, for everyone to help themselves. Natose's face lit up, almost salivating at the prospect of food. Everyone else looked pleasantly surprised.

 Keiko spoke up. "Oh you didn't have to do that. We usually just have chips and stuff."

 Natose gave her a look of death for the briefest of moments before Kasumi spoke up. "Oh no, that just will not do. Beautiful, growing girls need to eat healthy foods, to help your inner beauty shine. Here, try some of this." Kasumi offered up the latest tray she had removed from the chest.

 "Oh, that is wonderful! You girls need to try this."

 Anastasia and Yume both took some, but Natose held back, looking like a dog who was trying not to beg. Kasumi walked over and offered the tray to Natose, who looked excited as she said, "Really? May I?"

 Kasumi smiled warmly at the older girl. "Certainly, help yourself to whatever you would like."

 Yume hastily added, "Yokatta ne, Natose-san! Make sure you leave some for everyone else."
{*Yokatta = lit. 'was good', can be used as 'I'm so glad' or 'good for you'.*}

"Yes Yume!" Natose piled a plate high with food, making sure not to take more than half of any tray, before sitting back down.

 Kasumi smiled again. "I was worried we had brought too much when I saw how small the group was, but it seems like that will not be a problem."

 As everyone took their seats, Keiko stood from her place at the head of the table. "Do you three have dice and characters? Do you know how this works?"

 "Yes, Fukibuki showed us what to get and gave us a crash course, but we will probably have to ask some questions as we go."

 She got a smile on her face, not having to help them make characters would mean they could spend more time playing. "That is great! Let me see your character sheets then, so I know what you can do."

 -!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-

 Somewhere, not too far away, a young teen, in a very nice suit, with a very long ponytail, tied back with a large, blue ribbon, was sweeping away, while crying to himself about being forgotten again.

-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-

Knowing the others would be off with various training, Shampoo and the twins caught Ukyo alone. "Turtle-girl, you come now, fight! We challenge!"

 "Oh Shan Pu, you are just too adorable. What is it this time? Do you want me to tie you up in our tree? Another spanking? Or did you just want me to play with you until you can no longer feel your legs?" Shampoo blushed.

 "Stop you stupid talking!"

 "We serious! Fight you for cookie-man!"

 "Oh, and you brought the twins! They are just so cute!"

 "We womans of Nujie Zu!"

 "We train hard, make plan. We beat you this time!"

 "Squeeeeeeee!" Ukyo gushed as she hugged the twins. "Kawaiiiiiii!"

 "We here for fighting!"

 "No is here for make nice-nice."

 "Did you girls want some more cookies? I have some baking now."

 "YES!"

 "No."

 "Yes!"

 "Okay, yes, but we is no here for that now!"

 "Well, we do not want to let them burn, so give me a moment." Ukyo went into the kitchen, and returned a few minutes later with a small plate of cookies and four glasses of milk. "Here you go, a couple for each of you, and a glass of milk, it does a body good. Pass it on."

 The four girls talked for hours, discussing all sorts of topics, from village life to Ranma's 'sexy body', completely forgetting why they had come in the first place.

 -!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-

A few days later, the three girls catch Ukyo alone, again.

 "You no trick us this time!"

 "You no trap us with cookie again!"

 "So, you don't want these cookies?"

 "We no did say that!"

-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-

 A few days later...

"This time we do it."

 "No let fiendish cookie-weapon work this time..."

-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-

A short time later we see the four girls happily eating cookies and drinking milk together.

 -!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-

 This went on for weeks, the three young warriors would go by to challenge Ukyo, and the twins would get distracted by various confections Ranma and Ukyo had made the night before. One of these days Ukyo pulled Shampoo aside.

 "Shan Pu, do you really want this fight? You girls have been trying for a while now, but you do not seem overly determined to have it."

 "Is twins who want fighting. Long as Shampoo be with Ranma, no really care now who first wife any more. Belong to Ranma all that matter."

 "Well, I don't really mind, as long as Ranchama is happy, that is the only thing that matters to me. If you think you can handle that, I am ready anytime."

 "Only want Ranma care for Shampoo, like Shampoo care for Ranma..."

 "Oh Shan Pu, in the months we have been here, I can tell you, Ranchama has grown to love you as well. We all do. You are a strong, affectionate, and beautiful person, inside and out. I only hope we can make you as happy as you make us."

 The two young women embrace each other, lightly sobbing. "Shampoo never be so happy in life!"

 "Good, now that we that that out of the way." Ukyo smirked. "If you want to challenge my right as head concubine, I will not go easy on you. You will lose, and you will like it."

 Shampoo smiled as well. "Want bet?"

 "Sounds like fun, the loser has to do what the winner says for a week?"

 "Month!"

 "Deal!" They shake hands. "Tomorrow afternoon. I will make sure we have a fresh batch of cookies as a consolation prize for you three. We wouldn't want you to walk away completely empty handed."

 -!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-

 The four girls gathered and readied their weapons, as Pai took up a position in a tree to act as judge, making sure that she was out of rage if any attacks went wild. Ukyo had manifested a giant baker's peel out of ki as she was surrounded by the other girls readying their weapons. Ukyo charged herself and her 'weapon' with her aura and waited for one of them to make the first move. As soon as one of them made a move to attack, she began to spin around, using her 'weapon' to generate a tremendous wind, knocking her opponents back with a smile on her face. It had been a while since she had fought like this with anyone other than Ranma, and she planned to enjoy it. She stopped her spinning before any of them recovered, so they could not her the same trick she pulled on them and waited.

 Shampoo was the first to regain her footing, she charged in, attacking with her chui. The two exchanged rapid blows, going back and forth, attaching and blocking, neither of them seeming to be able to land a blow, every attack parried. The twins recovered within moments, and charged in to join Shampoo in her attack.

 Ukyo continued to parry Shampoo's attacks but let go of her over-sized kote with one hand and used her free one to fling smaller kote toward the girls. She was not really putting too much effort into doing so, and missed the girls by a somewhat large margin. Nonetheless, the twins slowed their advance, in order to defend against the ranged assault. Ukyo kept up her ranged offensive waiting to see if any of them would do anything interesting.

 The twins positioned themselves so that the sun was at their back. Lung-Lung reflected light off of her trident to signal Shampoo. The two jumped high into the air, using the sun to hide their actions, as they leaped in to attack. Unfortunately for them, Ukyo was not looking at them with her eyes, she was sensing them with her aura, so their tactic failed as Ukyo jumped, flipping in the air, and landing behind Shampoo, causing the other girl to block the twin attacks and Ukyo to laugh.

 "Watch what doing!"

 After a moment, the girls realize they were attacking the wrong target, and broke off. "Sorry big sister Shampoo."

 "Tricky one is over there!"

 "We no want use this."

 "But seem we have no choice!"

 Holding their weapons behind them, they posed back-to-back, as their battle auras roared to life with a mixture of blues and pinks. "We now use final attack!"

 "You no mean...?"

 Speaking together, both girls said, "What span three thousand year Nujie Zu history, ultimate, too-too terrible attack! Dance of Great Fire Dragon! Now you pay!"

 "Even Shampoo no know that one..."

 Their aura took on a 'dragon like' shape, impressing the other three girls watching this. So impressed were they that they barely even noticed them pulling their 'tools' out of their 'pockets', nor the music starting to play. Pai was too far away to be affected, but the other combatants were not. "Big sister Shampoo, now is chance!"

 "You did tell big sister Shampoo wear ear plugs, yes?"

 "Ooops... Try stay out of way big sister!"

 Ukyo and Shampoo were both dancing, though there was a subtle difference between the two. Shampoo was fighting the urge to dance, and her movements were very forced, and less than graceful. Shampoo was rather embarrassed and was just glad that Ranma had not been there to see her shameful display.

 Ukyo, however, was not resisting it at all, in fact, she was going with it. Letting her ki weapon fade, she dropped back into one of her favorite stances. She loved the 'Drunken Dance' style, and not just because Ranma created it, it was also fun to do, and she had many good memories of her, Ranma, and Pai practicing it together. Ukyo was easily evading Shampoo's clumsy attacks, and the blasts of fire from the mechanical dragon the twins were carrying around atop their pole arms.

 Shampoo was not so lucky. Not being able to control her direction, she had danced her way right into the path of the fire.

 Ukyo saw this and while not exactly surprised that the younger girls had less than perfect control over their 'technique', was disheartened by the fact that Shampoo had gotten hurt by it. Still dancing with Shampoo in her arms, Ukyo led her away from the fighting area, then yelled to the twins, "Wait on the fire for a second!"

 The burns were not bad, and Shampoo would heal fast enough anyway, but she had still wished Ranma had been there. He could have healed the girl, helped with the minor pain, and to have seen the way that 'technique' started, there had to be more to it. Still, not wanting to knock her out, Ukyo used the next best pressure point she knew, and could still do while dancing. It was a point she had long been practicing and had gotten rather accurate with it, and with her arm around Shampoo's waist already, it was easy to reach. She left Shampoo in a soft patch of grass to do a horizontal dance by herself, before dancing back over to the dragon, being careful to lead them away from Shampoo while trying to avoid being charred.

 Ukyo danced toward the center of the 'dancing dragon' upon her tip-toes, standing tall, arms in the air, but when she got in close she dropped down into a back spin, sweeping Lung-Lung's legs out from under her. This caused the head of the dragon to drop as the front wheel and fire hit the ground in front of it. Ling-Ling was not prepared for this sudden change, and tripped, falling on top of her sister. Ukyo finally saw where the music was coming from, and carefully removed the tape from the boom-box.

 "Are you two quite through now?"

 "Womans of Nujie Zu never give up!" They both yelled, still tangled up in their contraption.

 Ukyo had made Ranma tie her up enough times to have learned some of the classic Kinbaku-bi patterns, even if she were no master of the art, so she pulled out her cord, and bound the twins together, in a way that prevented any movement, but did not cut off circulation. "All three of you are disabled, do you yield?"

 "Never surrender!"

 Ukyo carried the helpless girls near to Shampoo, and took turns spanking the twins until they threw in the towel, this was not before Shampoo asked to be spanked as well though.

 "Okay, we give up!"

 "We sorry! No can beat!"

 "Good, now when Shan Pu can walk again, we will go back for more cookies."

 They both yelled out, "Yattaa!!!", before asking, "You untie now, please?"

 "No." Ukyo said with a laugh. "We will carry you back like that. Maybe you will remember this the next time you want to try something so dangerous. You could have seriously hurt Shan Pu. Hurting your friends and family is not 'okay'!"

 "We sorry!!!"

 -!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-

 After enjoying their snacks, Ukyo turned toward the twins, who were now untied, standing, and still happily eating their cookies and drinking their milk, complete with 'milk mustaches'. "There is something I have to ask you two. There were two things you did out that, I would like to learn about. First, about the Dance of the Great Fire Dragon, that can't be the original technique, it started off so awesome, and then you whip out toys. Which brings me to my second question, how did you hide that thing on your person anyway! That dragon was huge!"

 "We no know."

 "Last pages in book, missing."

 "Maybe great-grandmother know..."

 "But, for learning hidden weapons style, best go to source."

 "Zhe Ling is one what teach to us, is now best in village."

 Shampoo's mood darkened slightly.

-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-
"Elder, you and I both know that a tape recording and mechanical dragon are not a three thousand year old technique. It started off rather impressive, but then that. There had to be more to it than that before. Did they just make up the ending to that or were they just unable to master the real one? They said their book was missing pages..."

 "Yes, it's true, that was a revision. We lost many of our old techniques, due to lost books and translations. The written language has changed much since it was first introduced."

 "Well, I certainly cannot claim to be an expert there... Maybe I should just get Ranchama to watch the beginning of it..."

 That was just what the girl did, they studied the moves several times, and never did figure out exactly what it was supposed to do, but they did learn how to make a dragon out of their ki. On the other hand, it gave them something to ponder in their free time.

-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-

T he twins were showing Ranma and company where Zhe Ling lived, Shampoo had elected to do something else for the afternoon. The two young teens bounced along the path up to the woman's sparsely decorated home. They waved at a particularly unhappy looking young woman, with long black hair, green eyes, and wore a long-sleeved, pale-blue dress, with a white sash, as they approached.

 "Hi hi, Zhe Ling, we like you to meet new members of tribe." Turning toward said new members, they said, "This Zhe Ling, current master of Hidden Weapons."

 Ranma stepped forward, and bowed. "/It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Ranma Saotome, and this is part of my family./"

 The young woman looked them over before standing up. "So, you are the one to whom my brother owes being exiled..."

 "Uuuummmm, well, I..."

 "...and to whom the foolish boy owes not being executed, from what I have heard."

 "Well, I did ask that no one else be harmed over what happened to us. I do not know what good it did, considering we had to distract the guards during the escape... Urk! Everyone, forget you heard that..."

 Zhe Ling's expression softened a bit as she took the young man into her arms. "I owe you my thanks. My younger brother might be obsessive, and rather obtuse, but really, Mu Ssu is not a bad boy. Despite how my brother wronged you and your family, you saved the fool's life. I cannot thank you enough. What is it you wish of me?"

 "We were hoping that you would be so kind as to teach us your 'hidden weapons' skills."

 "Is that all? The basics we teach to most members of the tribe. Few turn it into a fighting style as our family does." The woman looked away, with a tear in her eye. "Since I cannot teach my brother's children, if the fool even has any, and I have no children to pass my skills on to, I will need someone to carry on my family's traditions..." Yes, she had heard the stories floating around the village as well.

 "So, you will teach us?"

 Leaning in closely again, she whispered into Ranma's ear. "I will teach you everything I know, if you will teach me a thing or two as well."

-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-

Shampoo had learned a valuable lesson that month, 'never challenge Ukyo'. When it came to someone getting in-between her and her Ranma, the girl had no mercy, and had ways to make sure you never wanted to do it again. She had been doing her best to hide her humiliating time as Ukyo's 'slave' for the past couple of weeks, and had been doing well playing it off. However, today Ukyo had her out by their private practice spot, on a leash, naked, in her humanoid cursed form, acting like a dog. Just as Ukyo had told her to 'water a tree', Ranma came bounding into the area. Shampoo had just lifted her leg, when Ranma asked, "What are you guys doing? Are you making Shan Pu do this?" Ranma was surprised by what he saw, and strangely turned on...

 "Oh, Ranchama! No, not really, Shan Pu loves these games we play. Isn't that right Shan Pu?" Ukyo got a sly grin on her face. "Tell Ranchama how much you love pretending to be a pet."

 "Oh yes, Shampoo love. Ranma watch Shampoo?" Shampoo's self-esteem took a huge blow in that moment, mostly at the realization, that she really WAS enjoying this, she had never been as turned on as she was in that moment. After finishing her 'business', Shampoo crawled over to Ranma and said, "Shampoo good girl, you pet?" All of her desire for revenge on Ukyo died in that moment, replaced by her desire for Ranma. Although, she would eventually talk Ranma into tying Ukyo up to 'return the favor', and Ukyo would enjoy it immensely.

 Ukyo got an idea, and handed the leash to Ranma. "Shampoo, why don't you be Ranchama's pet for a little while."

 Shampoo was elated, and began to rub her mink-like fur on Ranma's body and started licking him with her cat-like tongue, while Ukyo just sat back and watched the show. "Ranma pet Shampoo, yes? Shampoo is you good kitty."

-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-

Ranma was training with several girls, working on increasing their 'pocket space', when a messenger ran over to him, out of breath. "Ranma, you come. Matriarch wants you come quick."

 Ranma scooped the winded girl up in his arms and said, "Just point the way." He took off, following the girl's directions, closely followed by Ukyo, Pai, and Shampoo.

 -!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-

 "Elder, what is wrong? What happened?"

 "Ranma, it is good that you have come. You have proven yourselves trusted members of our tribe, and I am afraid I require your help once again. We had finally recovered an artifact that was lost to us generations ago. An ally of ours was returning it to us, and we had sent a messenger to retrieve it. Unfortunately, in a moment's distraction, our messenger had been jumped and robbed..."

 "Is everyone okay?"

 "You can check for yourself, you are still holding the girl."

 "Well, I did TRY to put the girl down..." Ranma raised his arms straight out, and the girl hung on, as if she were still being held. "See what I mean?" Ranma put his arms back to support the girl's weight. "So you were the one who was robbed?"

 "Oh yes, was too too scary. Tui Za was just stopping 'take care some business', when was jumped! While fighting off ones what attack, others came and take package! Thought they after body, not package... Tui Za too too ashamed... Won fight, lost delivery..."

 "Are you okay though? Does it hurt anywhere?"

 The girl pointed to various erogenous zones. "Tui Za hurt here, and here, and here, and too too much hurt here..."

 Without a second's thought, Ranma began to apply his healing technique to the indicated areas, by rubbing with his glowing hands. "This should help." Continuing his 'treatment', in spite of the giggles from the girls behind him, he asked, "Do we know where these bandits are? Did you see where they ran off to? If this item was so important, why did you let it be transported by a single runner?"

 The Messenger was too busy melting into Ranma's arms to give any response other than to moan, so Cologne took over. "We thought a single messenger would attract less attention, and this is one of our fastest, and a capable fighter. Tui Za was able to disable two of them before the others made off with our treasure. We were, at least, able to get a general location from them, and quite a few details about the hideout. For example, we learned they are holding a prisoner that crashed into their hideout some time ago. I need someone I can trust on this, and of those available, I believe you have the best chance of success and survival of both yourselves, and the captive. I will not force you to go, this will be dangerous, we do not wish to make you do this if you do not want to take the risk..."

"I will not risk my family, but I also will not allow that person to be further harmed! Just tell me where they are. You girls, wait here."

 "No Ranchama, I will not. Not this time. It is too risky."

 "That is why I want you to wait here!"

 "I can't do that, I swore I would keep you safe, and I will, besides, I have a plan!"

 "What? Are you afraid I will get hurt?"

 "No Ranchama, not badly, it is that captive I fear for, and how you would be if anything happened to them. Because I know that you would not be able to live with yourself if anything were to happen to them because of something you did."

 Ranma nodded in Ukyo's direction, signaling her to continue and said, "You have a point. Okay, so what is your plan?"

-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-

Nabiki waited until she knew Mikan had a class of maids in training to take care of, and snuck into the office. She knocked on the back office door, and waited for a response. Not getting one, she poked her head inside the room. No one was in the office. Nabiki was disappointed, but decided to wait for a while, in hopes Kaede would return before Mikan's class finished.

 Nabiki sat in Kaede's chair and leaned back relaxing. She saw that the computer was on, but the monitor was off, something she had seen in here regularly. Not wanting to be rude, but curiosity getting the better of her, she powered up the monitor and was shocked by what she saw. There, on the screen, were anime characters, doing things she had never seen anime characters doing before. The surprise of seeing this on her headmaster's computer, in the middle of the school day, caused her to fall back, her foot accidentally hitting a switch under the desk she never noticed.

 A panel slid open on a wall, revealing a door behind one of the bookshelves. Nabiki turned off the monitor, walked over to the door, and saw that it was locked. Having come this far, she picked the lock and opened the door anyway. The rather large room behind to door was filled with manga, video tapes, laser disks, game boxes, and all sorts of other paraphernalia. Before she had been able to get a good look around, the door opened. Not having time to do much, Nabiki tried to find a place to hide in the room.

 "Oh kuso! What is this doing open? I didn't think I had been in here today!" Kaede looked in the room and, not seeing anyone, started to lock up when she heard a voice.

 "WAIT! I don't want to get trapped, I am sorry!"

 "Nabiki-kun? What are you doing in here?"

 "I am sorry, it was an accident! It just opened up and I couldn't resist looking..." Needing a distraction, Nabiki said, "Um, you sure have quite an impressive collection in here..."

 Kaede got a starry look in her eyes. "Ooooh, you like this kind of stuff too? You should see the special section, this is the tame room." Still standing in the entryway, Kaede panicked as she heard someone entering the outer office. She quickly pulled the doors close, including the book shelf, hiding the secret room. She signaled Nabiki to be quiet, and snuck away from the door. Moving as quietly as she could, she crept over to Nabiki and whispered, "Well, we are stuck here for a while, might as well show you around."

 Kaede froze and shivered for a moment when they heard a yell. "Rijichou! Where are you?" Kaede had wrapped her arms around Nabiki, with one hand over her mouth. Nabiki was less than pleased, though she was not sure what to think of her other hand cupping her breast.

 After a few moments, they heard. "I thought for sure I saw that lazy woman come in here..."

 Kaede relaxed as she heard the outer doors open and close again, letting Nabiki's mouth go. Nabiki maintained her composure, and to her credit, did not freak out, or even raise her voice. "You can let go of the rest of me at any time now sensei."

 Jumping back, Kaede yelped. "Oh, sorry! So, where were we...?"

 Kaede showed Nabiki around her collections, watching for how the girl reacted, and to what. Kaede was not surprised to see Nabiki positively react to the mystery and supernatural books, but was caught off guard when she saw the interest the girl seemed to have in the harem ero books in one section. 'I knew there was a reason I liked this girl.' "So, what brought you here? I am sure it was not to browse my collection..."

 Taking a moment to pull her eyes and tongue back into her head, Nabiki said, as calmly as she could, "Actually I wanted to get permission to start a new club..."

 "Approved! What club did you want to start?"

 "A Manga and Anime Club, I want to learn how to make our own, so we can make one for our team of dolls."

 "SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Kaede glomped Nabiki, hugging her tightly. "Oh Nabiki, you have made me so happy! I will have to find a new teacher to watch your old club, I HAVE to be the supervisor for this one! Oh, this is going to be so fun! I can't wait to start! I will show you how to get in here, for, um, research materials whenever you want, just make sure that Mikan-chan doesn't find out about it, I need my 'alone' time just as much as anyone else!"

 After her ears recovered from being yelled into, Nabiki smiled. She chose not to push the affectionate teacher off of her, not wanting to upset the woman when she was in such a good mood, and helping her with her goals. It was always a good idea to keep the person in charge on your good side after all. She hugged the woman back and said, "Thank you Kaede-chan, you are the best!"

 "You are welcome Nabiki-kun, I have such high hopes for you. You are not just brilliant, but you and your family are a lot of fun. I can't wait to see what you all do with your lives, and I will do anything I can to help you kids with your goals. I am sure Mikan-chan will yell at me about this, but there is no way I will let anyone shut down this club of yours! ...But in the meantime, let me show you the doujinshi room, this should be what you start making, and work up from there..."
{*Doujinshi = A.K.A. Doujin, any form of self-published work.*}

"That sounds like a good idea, I want to do the whole project on our own, if we can. More profit for us, and more control over our creations. Who knows what they would do to onee-chan if we gave up creative control..."

 "Good for you! As I said, remember, I will help with anything you need. Speaking of doujinshi, this is a very old issue of Meiroku Zasshi, published in the Meiji period, while they were not a literary magazine, they were one of the first to publish amateur stories, and they played a large role in popularizing the idea of doujinshi. Over here, is my collection of Garakuta Bunko, the first magazine to publish doujinshi novels, they are from the Showa period..." Kaede continued to show Nabiki her own personal museum of doujinshi, until they came to the more recent works.

 "Now we get into the type you might be more familiar with. The fan works. You are starting to see more and more of them at Comiket all of the time, they are really taking over the event."

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Ranma was doing his best to hide his presence, even though most of the bandits were investigating their 'distraction' outside. He had still run across a few, and hit their sleep points as he passed. He had found the artifact, a strange fan, and stuffed it into one of his pockets, but had not yet found the hostage, best to take out as many of the guards as he could find first anyway. Finding his target was proving more difficult than he had hoped, hiding his presence prevented him from actively scanning the place with any detail.

 After going through several more rooms, Ranma found a set of stairs, leading down, to a heavy door. Quietly unlocking the door with keys he had found on one of the guards earlier, he carefully crept through the door and into the basement. Disabling one more bandit on the way down the hall, he soon found out that plurals did not always translate properly. Opening the last door, Ranma found several young Chinese women, and one koala-girl. Ranma dropped his 'stealth mode' once he was sure there were no more guards in the room.

 Seeing Ranma 'appear' in the doorway, one of the girls chained to a wall said, "/Oh, great, another one. Are you here to rape us too?/"

 "Certainly not! I would never do such a thing! There are plenty of willing girls in the world..."

 The look on the koala-girl's face brightened as the eyes darkened, and turning toward the girl who spoke said, "/You wish./"

 "/I what?/"

 "/It's you! That youkai who attacked Pai a while back!/"

 Forgetting the situation, the koala-girl got irate, and stopped thinking logically. "/I AM NOT A YOUKAI! My name is, uh ...Bi Dei, ...and yes, yes, I DID do that, and I will do it again, and to Ukyo too ...unless you 'disable' me ...somehow.../"

 Ranma decided to ignore the strange person, and set to unlocking the other girls. "/I am here to free you girls, you, I am not so sure about.../" Ranma stared at the koala-girl as he pulled some long shirts out for the nude girls to wear. Ranma grimaced. "/Okay, I can't leave anyone to a fate like this, but hear me well. If I *EVER* catch you trying to harm one of those girls, I will do far more than just disabling you! Woman or not, I will make you wish you had *NEVER* been born!/" The Koala-girl's bladder rejected its contents, releasing it at the fear generated by Ranma's ki imbued words. Everyone else jumped back, to stay out of the forming puddle, and worse.

 Ranma looked on in disgust, he had thought that he had toned down the level of his ki to avoid that reaction, but it was not something he was able to practice often. He certainly did not want to practice this on the people he loved, he wanted to earn their love and respect, not enforce fear, and if Zhei Kan was an indication, the effects could last far longer than the ki that caused them. It seemed as though some people just had a natural disposition, and loved to be dominated, as well as others who have weak bladders... The other girls were not too affected, at least it seemed like his control was improving.

 Not wanting to step in the waste, Ranma threw ki cards to cut the chains that attached the shaking furries' wet dream to the wall, causing the koala-girl to fall into the puddle. Ranma chose not to unlock the rest of the chains that still bound the violent hybrid, and not wanting to take the chance of the thing trying to take one of the other girls hostage, he hit the koala-girl's 'sleep spot' once they were out of the cage. "/I will come back for that one once you girls are safe. For now, follow me at a safe distance, and I promise you, I will get you all out of here safely./"

 The girls could not believe their luck, not only was this boy saving them, something they had mostly given up on, but he did not make them stay naked, or otherwise take advantage of them while they were helpless ...and he was cute too. Some of them assumed he was gay, and others assumed he was 'taken' as they followed him out. "/If you see anything that belongs to you, let me know, we can grab it on the way out./" Ranma carefully led them out of the basement, and up the stairs, making sure they did not run across another guard.

 The loud crashing sounds, that had been coming outside since Ranma had found the stairs, had slowed to a stop, and he assumed the girls had finished flattening the rest of the bandits outside. Relaxing a bit, Ranma turned the corner toward the exit, and saw a large man with a gun, pointed right at him. Signaling to the girls to stay out of sight, Ranma put his hands out in front of him, showing they were empty.

 "/So you are the one who did this? One boy?/"

 "/Yup, it was all me, nobody else here... I just can't stand scum like you who steel from innocent people, and worse yet, you're harming and forcing yourselves on women, you are worse than a monster!/"

 As Ranma spoke, his aura quickly grew, and unfortunately for the bandit leader, he could not see auras, so did not notice anything was wrong until it grew to the point that Ranma's hair and clothing were blowing in the wind created by the clashing temperatures, and the aura entered into the normally visible spectrum. By then it was too late, Ranma started slowly walking toward the man, who belatedly fired his shotgun, only to have the pellets glance off the side of Ranma's aura, hitting the wall. He fired again, the buckshot melting before it reached its target. Not having time to reload, the large man swung his gun at the boy, like a bat, but Ranma had caught it, setting fire to the wooden shoulder brace. With his other hand, grabbed the larger man by the throat, forcing him to his knees.

 The man wanted to scream, yell threats and obscenities at the boy, but the pain in his neck prevented him. He did not have time to feel his pain for long, as Ranma hit his sleep spot as well, before going back for the girls, making sure they were still accounted for and safe.

 Ranma led them out without further problems, and found where Ukyo, Shampoo, and Pai had piled some of the unconscious bandits. Ranma scanned the area, making sure no other aggressive people were about. "/It looks like we are clear now./" "It looks safe..." Before Ranma could complete his thought, his three lovers and the captives all jumped him, hugging and kissing him, with some thanking him for their rescue, the others were just glad he was safe after hearing the gun shots.

 Not wanting to be rude, Ranma allowed himself to be molested by the girls for a short time, before reminding them that they still needed to tie up the bandits, and deliver them to the authorities. The delivery could wait, but tying them up should not, the pressure points used would start to wear off before too much longer after all.

 After some disappointment from the girls, they started to gather up all of the men, the victims, glad to help, rummaged through their pockets as they stripped the bodies. It took two of them to bring the, still chained and filthy, koala-girl up the stairs. "/What about this one?/"

 "/Shan Pu, that thing called itself 'Bi Dei'. That sounded like it could be a name from your tribe. Do you know anyone by that name?/"

 "/Not really, we did have an elder by that name from a sister tribe, always fighting with my great-grandmother, but I do not think that the woman is with us any longer. I cannot remember if it was death or exile though, so maybe we should let the council decide, or we could be nice and drop it off with these guys. What do you guys think? If it is, or knows, the exile, the council would kill it for sure for coming back like this.../"

 Ranma switched to Japanese, so Pai could better follow the conversation. "Considering it wants to keep attacking you girls, I do not really want it anywhere near us. Though, I am not sure what the government could or would be able to do with it. It does not really look all that dangerous, and you beat it easily, but you know what they say about a cornered animal... but if the council would kill it on sight, then we might not have a choice here."

 "Well Ranchama, as annoying as it is, I do not like the idea of what the government would do if they got their hands on something like this, you know they would dissect it or something the first chance they got. But if the council would kill it for sure, then I don't see how we can choose that option."

 Ranma and the girls stacked the sleeping bandits and Ranma tied them up, first individually, and then all together, like a bundle of firewood. The former captives helped stacking them, making sure that they were staggered in there stacking, each one pointing the opposite direction from the last.

 "/Why are you staggering them like that?/"

 "/Two reasons, one, it is always best to stagger your stacking, for better balance, second reason, is now they will get an unwanted penis in their faces too!/" The Chinese girl had a satisfied look on her face. Many others grinned or laughed. Once Ranma had tied them all in a row, and rolled them up into the bundle, they noticed that there were a lot of loose legs dangling on each side that might get in the way. The girls pulled the legs straight while Ranma tied them together at the knees and ankles making the overall shape look pointed at each end. "/See, balanced./"

 "/Who says you don't use geometry in real life?/"

 Under her breath, Ukyo added, "/Well Ranchama, some of these girls sure have nice curves.../"

 "True enough, as do you girls. /Well girls, do you want to be the ones pushing that bundle down the mountain to the next village or would you prefer that we to do that?/"

 "/Can we? That sounds like fun!/"

 Ranma and the others gathered long branches to use as poles to roll the bundle.

-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-

 They pulled into the city of Haixi, with a larger, now ball, of bandits. It had taken them a couple of days to make the trek, and they had been stupidly attacked by another group of bandits on the way down the mountain, apparently the large bundle of bandits was not enough of a deterrent. Ranma had been glad they followed the girls to town after all. Surprisingly, this new 'ball' formation bounced a lot better, and the girls had a lot of fun making it do so, as well as prying it loose when it would get stuck on something.

 They rolled the 'ball' over to the police station, where they stuck the note Ranma had written. They also put a note on the koala-girl, whom they unceremoniously dumped out of the wheelbarrow they were using to transport the filthy thing around, since no one wanted to get their hands dirty. 'We are evil bandits, and this is where our hideout is' with a simple map drawn on the page, and 'I am a violent bitch, and I like to attack sexy girls for no reason other than they are prettier than me.' Ranma surrounded the 'ball' with the branches they used to push it, embedding them into the ground to form a cage of sorts, keeping them from rolling away if they woke up. He used the last one to pin the chains that still bound the koala-girl to the ground, preventing movement there as well.

 They crept away, to find a hotel to stay in for the night, and invited any of the girls who were still with them to join them for the night if they so desired. All of them being tired, they took them up on their offer for a place to stay.

 Ukyo, Shampoo, and Pai were not about to let Ranma get to sleep too early, and hearing the activity, the other girls soon joined in as well, saying they were 'ruined for marriage anyway'. They enjoyed themselves for hours before they eventually passed out in a pile.

 -!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-

 The next morning, Ranma awoke under a pile of naked young women, a feeling he thought he could get used to. He could not move without touching something fun.

 After a bit more fun, many of the girls were depressed, worried about their chances of getting married after their ordeal with the bandits. Some were even afraid of being kicked out of their families for their 'loss of honor'.

 "/Anyone who would expel someone from their family because they were attacked, had no honor to begin with!/"

 "/No kidding, that is just so wrong on so many levels!/"

"/It is our culture, MY father will kill me!/"

 Putting out a calming aura, Ranma tried to reassure the girls. "/You could try not mentioning it, but if any of you have any problems, contact us, I will make sure you are taken care of. If any of you need to, you can stay with us, or I am sure the village we came from would take you in. Ucchan, will you give them our contact information? Then we can go get them some nicer, proper clothing before we head back./"

 -!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-

 Ranma and the girls returned to the village and went straight to see Cologne.

 "Hi great-grandmother! We back!"

 "So you are. Did all go well?"

 "More or less." Ranma handed Cologne the fan he had picked up.

 Cologne's eyes lit up. "The Fan of Divine Wind! I never thought I would see it again. I knew you could do it!

 "There were quite a few captives, not just the one, and the one, was that weirdo, koala-person that attacked us a while back. We delivered the offenders to the authorities. The girls we rescued had been beaten, raped, and possibly worse. They complained how they could be rejected or even harmed by their families due to being attacked. This one had a genuine fear of being killed by family..." Ranma's face showed anger for a moment, before calming himself. "I told them you would accept them into your tribe if they so chose."

 "Yes my boy, that is our law. We will not reject those women who were rejected by the male dominated society through no fault of their own." The old woman turned to the younger one, who was wearing the nicest outfit the girl had ever owned. "/So my dear, do you wish to join our society?/"

 "/Well, honestly, I do not know, I just know I cannot go home again. My father will kill me if I go home, I have been dishonored./"

 "/No, you have not! The ones who lost their honor, were the ones who raped you, and anyone who rejected you because of it! Your honor will only be tarnished by this if you let it./"

 "/The boy is correct, only you can decide if you maintain your own honor./" The three girls and Ranma placed a comforting hand on the girl's shoulders. "/I will grant you asylum here, as long as you need, as long as you obey our laws. What is your name child?/"

 "/Thank you elder one, my name is Bin Bo, meaning 'rejected argument'./"

-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-

Long ago, Nodoka had written a note to Ranma, with her eyes closed so that Kikyo could not read it. As per the instructions on that note, Ranma had been the one to discuss possible options with Cologne and others for Kikyo's situation, alone. They did not like keeping secrets, but they did not want to get the poor girl's hopes up unnecessarily. They also did not want to jump on an option until they had considered all of the possibilities.

 One day, Cologne had called Ranma in to consider one such option. "My boy, I do believe we have a possible 'solution' to our dilemma, it is far from perfect, and there are risks. We cannot say for certain this will work the way we want, but with the power of that jewel, there is a reasonable chance it might."

 "Thank you honored elder. What is this option and what are the risks?"

 "There is a spring that could help. It took us a while to sort through them all and find which might offer the best potential solutions. However, I believe this one presents our best option. The spring is of Drowned Twins. Normally this spring creates a set of identical twins, based on the person who falls in, but there have been rare cases of fraternal twins being produced. We have no idea what causes these discrepancies, but our hope is that the jewel will do just that. We know that it can interfere with the magic of Jusenkyo, and our hope is that it will 'split' them. The main down side of this is that if it works, it will only do so while the curse is active, hot water will merge them back together, just like with any of these curses. The other problem is that we can see a few other things that 'could' happen instead. Such as creating an identical twin, complete with both personalities, yet without the ability to switch, one of them could forever be trapped within the other. It could also be that Nodoka would remain in control of the uncursed body, and Kikyo could control both 'twins' in the cursed form. Another possibility is that the 'twins' curse could completely replace this curse, removing Kikyo completely, and we have no idea what would become of her spirit if this were to happen. It could go back to being trapped within the jewel, it could pass over to the spirit realm, or even disappear entirely."

 Ranma gasped at that, he wanted to save Kikyo, not kill her, nor trap either of them.

 "That is why I have not mentioned the option sooner, I wanted to go through all of the records I could find first. All I can say for sure, is that this is the best option I have been able to find so far. I will leave it to you to decide what to do about this, I will stay silent on the matter if you wish."

 "What are the odds, do you think it will work, and if so, do you know of any way to stop them from changing back?"

 "The fact that it had occurred before means it is possible, not likely, but it could work, our hope is that with the power of that jewel, if it is willing to help, will split them. If I understand correctly, it seems to have a will of its own. However, if I understood your mother's story correctly, then the jewel has been purified, and has remained so for many generations, and so we are hoping that it will be more likely to help than to harm. What it considers 'helping' on the other hand is another story.

 "As for locking the curse, We have no way of locking you in your normal form, and the only options we know of for locking one in their cursed form are not likely useful. One we can do here, but is not really a lock, the 'Full Body Cat Tongue' pressure point. What this does is make the person's body 'as sensitive as a cat's tongue', making them, among other things, unable to tolerate even slightly warm water, never mind warm enough to trigger the change, but if splashed, they will still change. It is a really bad option, and while there is a cure, there is no reversal pressure point, no way to 'turn it off' as it were.

 "We know of one other possibility, that is much more effective, and without the debilitating drawbacks, unfortunately, it requires a magic item, that's last known location was in the hands of a nearby unfriendly kingdom, the Musk. We used to be the bitterest of enemies, and even though we signed a nonaggression pact, we are a long way from being on friendly terms. They consider it a treasure, and are unlikely to be willing to share, and trying to take it by force, would likely start a war that could kill many innocents. So, while this is the best 'locking' option that I know of, being able to use it is very unlikely. Some of their people are very animalistic, who could smell us on you, and their leaders are very good with ki, and could see it in yours that you trained here. I am sure there are other options out there, but unfortunately, those two are the only ones we know of. I am sorry I do not have any better ideas for that."

 Ranma looked thoughtful. "Thank you elder, Please keep this between us for now. I will go talk to Kikyo-san and the others about the spring option, and if they choose that option, and it works, I will discuss the options with them. It might be best not to get their hopes up for that right now. It might be best just to say there are ways, but we have not found one yet, and keep looking. If nothing else, after we spend enough time away from here, I can come back and ask for their help, once your 'smell' has worn off. Maybe we will have better luck then."

 "I wouldn't hold my breath on that one son, they look down on anyone from the 'outside' world. A long time ago, they used to take animals and dunk them into spring of drowned girl, locked them in place, and took them as mates. Their descendants took on the abilities of their cursed parent. Their head clan, was supposedly descended from a dragon! You do not want to take them lightly, my boy."

 "I have a thought on how to cover for the 'smell', but I do not care for lying, and if caught, the chances of causing problems for you and my family are even worse. I do not like that risk."

 "Okay, I have to ask, what do you have in mind?"

 "Well, it would involve something else I am not fond of, it would require me treating Shan Pu and the other girls as slaves, and to be honest, I didn't even want to bring them, but I can't see any other way to make it work. Not that Ucchan would let us go off on our own anyway..." Ranma laughed uncomfortably.

 "I think I see what you have in mind, and I agree, it would be very risky."

 "Well, there is no need to worry about it, until we see if they choose this option, and if it works the way we are hoping... I am half-way tempted to not mention the 'locking' option at all until we can find a way to do it first."

 "Your mother put you in charge of this, so I will go along whatever you decide. Know that you have our support, if you need it."

 -!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-

 Ranma returned to the house he shared with his extended family to find his mother. They decided to go to the hot spring near the river that Nodoka and Kikyo liked to make use of on the occasions they needed to have a conversation.

 As they walked, Ranma explained about the spring of drowned twins, and what they were hoping might happen if they held the jewel when they jumped in. He also explained the many risks, and how many ways this plan could go wrong. He explained how this was not really a cure, but if it worked, it could allow them to live mostly separate lives, even if they would both have to avoid hot water. He explained how they were not sure if the jewel would help, or even be required to make their plan work, but that they hoped it would help. He also added the extra risk of traveling to Jusenkyo with the sacred jewel unsealed again. Their new seal was no more proof against magical water than was the last one, and they were wanting to use the power of the jewel to facilitate the desired outcome.

 Nodoka and Kikyo took turns, changing back and forth, discussing their options with each other and Ranma, who got a nice long soak in the hot spring in the meantime. While not being rude by staring, Ranma had noticed that Kikyo had a very nice body, since Nodoka had insisted on removing her clothing to keep it and her towel dry. It did not help matters that Ranma was in the hot water, and Kikyo could not get in without changing, so had to sit on the sidelines to talk to him. Luckily, it was a warm afternoon.

 After a long talk, and a lot of thinking, Nodoka decided that Kikyo had the most at risk in this situation, and that it should be her choice. Nodoka was willing to go along either way. They decided to give Kikyo time to think about the options and the risks, and not let her rush into a decision.

-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-
Ryoga was trying to find his own way again, he had managed to do his business, but he was having trouble getting back to the house, in fact, he had not seen a house in some time, and he was getting worried. Unfortunately for Ryoga, the more upset he got, the less attention he would pay to his surroundings and the more lost he would get. He was, at least, glad to have gotten another letter from his own mother not long ago, she had been doing well, as such things go for their family. While he had not yet be able to figure out a way to break the news to her about his progressing relationship with that Zhei Kan girl, it had in fact, been progressing. He had been able to stand to be around her nude form without passing out on occasions, as long as she did not try anything too quickly. He had even been told that he had sex on more than one occasion, but he could not, for the life of him, remember such a thing. He was just wishing that Zhei Kan had followed him, as usual, but for once, the clingy girl was nowhere to be found. Though Ryoga was more into the 'lost' side of the dynamic anyway.

 So lost in thought was he, that he almost did not even notice changing forms when he stepped into the river. He did, however, notice the now familiar loss of red colors and most of his vision and the influx of new smells that always accompanied the change. It was as if he could smell the whole world. It was always quite disorienting, and considering Ryoga's usual level of orientation, that said a lot. He drug his clothing out of the water and stuffed them into his 'pocket', mentally thanking everyone and everything he knew for having been able to learn that technique. After shaking most of the water off, the boy turned puppy made sure that the leash was tucked up so it would not get snagged, a lesson he had to learn the hard way, and tried to figure out what to do.

 For some reason, his mind kept going back to Zhei Kan, and as a dog, he remembered things by their smell, it was as if the largest single part of his brain was wired for smells. The longer he thought about it, the more he realized that what he was smelling was not a memory, but rather he could actually smell Zhei Kan! Since his eyes only did him marginal good when trying to find his way unless it was directly in his line of sight anyway, he decided to try something new. He followed his nose. Ryoga ran as fast as his four little legs could carry him, which was much faster than anyone would expect from such a breed of puppy, following the scent of his self-proclaimed wife.

 He was able to see better as he moved, as the scenery flew by as long as everything stayed in that 'sweet spot' range. It took him very little time to cover the kilometer or so distance that had separated the two. When he sensed he was getting close, he started to get excited, and his yipping showed it.

 Zhei Kan heard her puppy before she had even sensed him. She had been on her way to take Ryoga to hidden weapons training, trying to continue to prove herself useful to the pair of Japanese boys, each for different reasons. Seeing how excited the dog was, and the fact that he was running straight at her, made her very happy! She caught Ryoga in her arms as he jumped at her. "You come running see Shaken? Sooo happy!" She snuggled with the puppy as she petted and rubbed him all over before running off to find some hot water.

-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-

Kikyo and Nodoka had, at least, short talks every morning, while they were getting ready for their day and washing up. Today, Kikyo had talked Nodoka into allowing her to retain control for a while. She had made her decision, and wanted to be the one to tell Ranma and then maybe the others in person.

 She found Ranma preparing their breakfast, while the others still slept. "Ranma-dono, I have made my choice. I have decided to take the chance. I do not wish to be any further burden on your mother than necessary. I do not have to hear you to know what you are thinking Nodoka-dono, but this is hard on you, we can all tell. Ask any of them. We want you there, in case something happens, however, we would like to keep this between us for now. I do not want the others to worry, nor you, but you know already, and we need a witness, if nothing else..."

 Ranma released the breath he had not known he had been holding, and quickly picked up where he left off cooking, without overcooking anything too badly. "I will do as you ask. I only wish I could have found a safer option, but nothing has presented itself so far. You know, we could find something else later, you do not have to take this option now. We can always return if you want to try later." Ranma paused his cooking, once he had saved the food that had been in the pan at the time, and turned and placed his hands on Kikyo's shoulders. "Kikyo, you are not a burden on us. I am sure ofukuro-chan would say the same. We want you to be safe and happy, and any inconvenience we may, or may not suffer, if it will keep you safe, is well worth it. If you do this, it needs to be because it is what you want for you, and not because of us. You are now, and forever will be, a friend and a member of our family, and we do not want to lose you, especially..."

 Kikyo put her finger over the young man's lips. "No Ranma-dono, I have made up my mind. I am doing this for me, for you, for your mother, for all of us. Just remember, both of you, do not make a wish when we go through this. The jewel never grants the wishes in the way the person wishing wants, and you will become further trapped in the jewel."

 -!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-

 The girls were pleasantly surprised to see Kikyo with them at breakfast, something that did not happen often. They had a lively meal, happily chatting and enjoying each other's company.

 When the meal was over, Ranma told the others that he would not be joining them in hidden weapons training that day. Shampoo, Pai, and Ukyo understood, Kikyo needed special training, and Ranma was the best to give it to her. Ranma had been learning the techniques far faster than the rest of them anyway, and it was likely that they would learn faster without the distraction, but they were disappointed nonetheless.

 After the girls left for training, Ranma and Kikyo gathered what they needed. Ranma felt guilty about lying again, but consoled himself in the fact that he would be able to come clean as soon as they got back.

 -!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-

 As Ranma, Kikyo, and her passenger approached Jusenkyo, the skies became unnaturally dark.

 "Well, this does not look good."

 They both looked startled for a moment, looked at each other, and said at the same time. "There is something up ahead."

 Kikyo drew Nodoka's bow from her sleeves, as they both readied themselves for potential conflict. "They must sense the Shikon no Tama..."

 "Maybe we should have left it sealed until we were ready."

 "No, better to take them out while we are prepared for them, and this way Te Rou can replace the same seal when we are done."

 Before they had arrived within the darkened area around Jusenkyo, they ran into the guide. "Oh, honored customers, you no go Jusenkyo today. Is much more dangerous today."

 "What is going on in there?"

 "Jusenkyo very tragic, cursed place. Many people and things drowned there. Many of those thing die. On certain nights, on anniversary of one what die, some spirits no able to rest, very tragic. Shui gui, rise out of pool from what they drowned, and look for new body. No can travel far though, best stay away. Is strange though, never happen in day time before."

 "It must be after the power of the sacred jewel!"

 "What can you tell us about these things?"

 "Shui gui spirit of one what downed. Stay in place where die. Come out sometime, try to drag new person underwater to take body. You have body taken, you become new shui gui, and in Jusenkyo, sometime you become new curse. Not that matter to you if you dead. They no can take possession you on land, they do everything can to get you in water though."

 "Good to know. Kikyo, have you ever heard of such a creature?"

 "I have never seen one exactly like that, but we have dealt with many restless spirits that have become monsters. This should be little different."

 "You no go there, is very tragic, best just wait, it go away."

 "I do not think that it will on its own, at least, not as long as this is here. I am a priestess, and this boy is a monster hunter, we have experience with this."

 "Yeah, don't worry, we will take care of your problem here."

 -!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-

 Ranma was swinging at the apparition, but his fists were passing right through it. He was about to start charging them with ki when its hair shot out and wrapped his limbs trapping them, and holding him aloft. His battle aura was flaring to life, starting to make the spirit uncomfortable, when a scream was heard from nearby, and spirit arrows whizzed passed Ranma, embedding themselves in the spirit's 'body'. A long scream was heard as the 'body' exploded into lights, dissipating along with the unnatural darkness.

 The two teens rested a bit, chatting away, while they waited for the guide. They had assumed once the darkness faded he would know it was safe to return. They had assumed correctly, but he was a cautious man by nature, and he was not quick to arrive. This gave them plenty of time to talk about many things, they told each other stories of their past, talked about different foods, cultural differences, all sorts of things, and completely avoided talking about the spring and why they were there in the first place.

 A few conversations and a snack later, the guide finally arrived to inquire as to what their reason was for visiting him that day. They explained their plans for the spring and their hopes.

 "Oh yes, we spend much time looking into that spring. No know if work. Is very dangerous."

 "We are aware of the risks. However, they still wish to try. We do not see any other options."

 "Well, good luck to you." The guide led them over to the correct spring.

 "You are sure this is the right one?"

 "Oh yes sirs, this right one. We know most spring well."

 Not wanting to have to wear wet clothing, Kikyo removed hers, but before jumping in, she was stopped. Ranma gave her a hug, and whispered, "Good luck to you both. I am hoping for your success." Kissing her on the cheek, Ranma moved back. "Remember, no wishing. Just think happy, 'separate' thoughts." Ranma let a calming aura flow out.

 The show of affection from Ranma had made Kikyo very happy, and the feeling of his bare chest on hers had affected her in a very positive way. This was also her first real kiss from the boy she currently liked. She could not have been in a better mood, and the jewel reflected this. She tried to blank all thoughts except for being her own person, and being with Ranma. Unknown to the others, Nodoka was having much the same thoughts, but was trying not to think of being with Ranma.

 After a brief moment, that seemed to go on forever, Kikyo finally relaxed and jumped in. There was a bright flash as pale purple light exploded from the pool, causing Ranma and the guide to shield their eyes. The guide turned away, and Ranma held up the towels he had prepared. By the time they were able to open them again, Ranma was being hugged by two naked women.

 It took several moments before Ranma could tell that those naked bodies were in fact different sizes and shapes. He hugged them back, after wrapping the towels he had been holding around them as he opened his eyes.

 Ranma looked up and saw that, to his relief, both his mother and Kikyo were standing before him, holding hands. The still fading glow from the sacred jewel was still visible from the gaps between their fingers. 'So far, so good.' Tentatively he asked, "So, how do you feel?"

 They both said at the same time, "Wonderful." The voices matched the bodies, but that did not mean that the right people were in control.

 "I do not know how to ask this delicately, and it feels stupid to ask at all but, which of you is which?"

 "Do you not recognize your own mother?"

 Ranma sighed in relief. 'That's one down.' Turning toward Kikyo, he asked, "And you, are you Kikyo-san?"

 The smiling young woman blushed, looking him in the eyes. "Hai, Ranma-dono, so far it seems to have worked as we had hoped."

 "So long as we do not each have a silent passenger, or some other unforeseen problem, it seems as though it was a success. Now we just need to avoid hot water..." Nodoka sighed. "I am going to miss hot baths..."

 "Well, you can still take them, you will just be doing so together... I am sorry Kikyo."

 "It is all right. While I do miss hot baths, I never got to have them very often, so I am used to doing without..."

 "Well, hopefully one of these days we can figure out a way around that."

 "Well, if not taking hot baths is the price we have to pay to give Kikyo-san a life, then it is more than worth paying it."

 "Well, we can worry about that later, for now, let's test those new bodies, shall we? Follow me!" Ranma leapt into the air, heading toward their favorite practice spot. He went much slower than usual, so that Kikyo could keep up, she was still learning after all.

 They had been surprised at how quickly she had been picking it up though, Ranma had assumed that her body was remembering from when she was Nodoka, since she was quite used to such things. Unfortunately for Kikyo, that had been just one more reminder for Ranma that she was in his mother's body.

 Ranma was also impressed that despite having her own body now, she was still able to do almost as well as she had been before the split. Ranma was not sure why yet, but he intended to study it and find out. He watched their ki very closely as they traveled and later as they sparred, and things looked rather 'normal' as these things could be, about the same as they had been before. Similar levels, flow and quality. While they were in separate bodies, their ki systems seemed almost the same, as if they had been merged and copied. Maybe they had spent too much time in the same body and their ki systems stabilized, or maybe it was the magic of Jusenkyo or the jewel, all Ranma could know for sure, was that he would have much less work, trying to help Kikyo 'catch up' with his ki expansion techniques.

 After doing his detailed 'scan', he noted another thing that he had not expected. Despite their ki systems being almost the same, their auras were not. They had many similarities, showing that they were both calm, patient, forgiving, gentle, kind, classy, graceful, and full of feminine power, with a hint of secrecy. However, Kikyo's aura was marred with darkened dull places, much of it owed to her tragic past, yet also colored with feelings of hopelessness that could not be covered up by the pinks of joy she was feeling at that time. Ranma's heart broke seeing it. The girl hid her emotions well, and even with Ranma's normal aural reading skills he could not see it, it was only when he partially separated his consciousness from his body, that he could see it clearly. Ranma hated that he could not return the former priestess' affections, but the thought of it made him feel squeamish inside. He felt bad about it either way, no matter what he did, he felt like it was wrong. All he could do was to try to make her happy in other ways.

 "The next thing I would like to do is a light spar, but first, Kikyo, mother and I would like to give you something." Ranma reached into his pocket, and pulled out a bow, much like the metal one Nodoka carried, and handed it over to Kikyo. "Planning for the best, I was hoping you would be able to use this. I would like to keep this practice to melee, to see how you have progressed, but you might want to use it like a staff or to block as mother does, so I wanted to give it to you first. We can test your ki arrows after that."

 "It is beautiful! Thank you, I have received precious few gifts in my life, I do not know what to say." Kikyo thought back on those few gifts, before she had come to this place, only two people had ever given her anything that really mattered to her. The most memorable to her was the container of lip coloring she had been given by Inuyasha, one of his only keepsakes from his mother. The others were almost all from her younger sister, the young girl had always tried so hard to find something nice. No one had ever given her anything that had to be so expensive, at least not without wanting something in exchange for it anyway. Yet, she knew that these people did not want anything from her. They kept giving her gifts for no other reason than to be kind. Such kindness was rare in her day, and from what she had gathered, it was still rare to this day, some things never changed, she supposed. Which just made finding a man like this Ranma, all the more valuable. Concubines were common enough in her day, that she did not mind sharing him all that much, but she knew there were two major obstacles to her dream anyway. She would need to get Ranma to stop thinking of her like his mother, and she also knew that she would have to stop thinking of him as Inuyasha. It was not fair to either of them for her to keep making those comparisons, and by all rights, were she the type to keep score as her reincarnation had been, Ranma would be far in the lead in almost every respect.

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 After Nodoka and Kikyo double teamed Ranma for a while, and he held his own with little trouble, they moved on to practice ranged ki attacks until late afternoon.

 "We should go get cleaned up, before dinner."

 "We should see how the change works anyway."

 "Now, do not hate me for this, but do you think we should all go back, or surprise them at dinner?"

 "What do you have in mind?"

 Nodoka leaned in and whispered to them.

 "Ooo, that could be fun."

 "You think so?"

 "Do you not want to do it?"

 "No, I do not mind. As long as Kikyo does not mind."

 "It is fine, I just hope I still get clean when we merge and you wash..."

 Nodoka and Ranma stripped and washed up in the river, before going over for a quick soak in the hot spring. The moment Nodoka stepped into the water, Kikyo vanished, her clothing and bow falling to the ground in the place where she had been standing. After their bath, the Saotomes pulled clean clothing out of their pockets, and got dressed. Ranma picked up Kikyo's things along with his own, before they turned to head back to the village.

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 A short time later, the family had gathered around the table for dinner. Nodoka was next to Ranma who was next to Ukyo, with the others sitting across from them. The others were a bit surprised that Ranma had left with Kikyo that morning and had come back with his mother, but it was not that unusual, all things considered, so they did not think much of it.

 They had not gotten far into the pleasant meal, when Ranma reached for another helping, 'accidentally' knocking over a cup of water as he sat back down, splashing his mother. A moment later, Kikyo appeared naked, right next to Nodoka, which just happened to be in Ranma's lap. Kikyo was just as surprised as the rest of them, not really planning to be naked, though she realized she should have expected that, but was pleasantly surprised to end up in Ranma's lap. Thinking quickly, she grabbed Ranma's arms to cover her breasts letting out a light moan as Ranma's hands rubbed across her chest, before saying, "Good evening everyone.", before starting to eat off of Ranma's plate, letting him maintain her 'modesty'. She was not particularly shy, but figured it was a good excuse to have Ranma fondling her, where he could not object too much. Kikyo, sadly, was willing to take what she could get at this point.

 Ranma was not ready for the naked girl in his lap, but took it and the loss of food in stride, glad that he had already eaten a full helping of the wonderful meal that Ukyo had prepared. He did his best to explain what had happened anyway, glossing over some of the more risky parts.

 Ryoga was taken aback at the sudden nudity, and caught unprepared, he quickly turned away trying to stop the nosebleed.

 The other girls just stared agape, not knowing what to say, neither at the sudden appearance, nor at the light moans coming from the fact that Ranma was instinctively hitting pleasurable pressure points, while keeping the young woman's breasts covered. Ranma himself, was completely unaware of this fact, or he would not have been doing it, he thought of her as an older sister more than a potential lover, and the way she had just popped out of his mother was not helping him get over that impression. Kikyo, on the other hand, was completely aware of how it was making her feel, though not aware of how she was beginning to eat her food suggestively.

 Nodoka decided two things, the first being that since she no longer had to watch first hand, she no longer cared about keeping this priestess from her son, and the second being that she did not want another bloodstain in the floor. Ryoga had been doing well so far, keeping his nosebleeds under control, but with the way Kikyo was acting, Nodoka figured things would get beyond his level of control quickly.

 "Come Ryoga, we are going to 'go for a walk'. Do not worry about the dishes, I will wash them when I return." With that, she grabbed Ryoga's leash and led the lost boy out of their home. "You kids have fun..."

 The three other girls were starting to get turned on by the show they were watching, and started to strip as well. Ranma was again surprised by the sudden reactions of everyone, not being able to see how Kikyo was eating. "What suddenly got into you three?" Not saying a word, Pai and Shampoo held onto Ranma's hands, keeping them in place, and started kissing him on the neck as Ukyo deftly removed his pants. "Um, hello?"

Pai and Shampoo kept up their necking and made sure Ranma wasn't able to move, while Ukyo stuck her head in the laps of the 'couple', licking away on both of them, hoping to get a good reaction out of Ranma. Even if she could not get Ranma to do what Kikyo so desperately wanted, she could at least make it so the girl felt like it had, in a way, in this situation.

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 Later that night, Ukyo had left Ranma in the skillful hands of the two Chinese girls, and pulled Kikyo aside. "I am sorry I could not get Ranchama to fulfill your desires. I only hope that you at least enjoyed yourself."

 "Do not be sorry, it was even better than that massage technique you do. I have never felt so good in my life."

 "Well, the real thing is better, but I can at least get you closer. I have a gift for you."

 Kikyo's eyes widened, not expecting that at all.

 Ukyo pulled out a long narrow box, opening it to reveal a special vibrator with two little 'French Tickler'-like protrusions near the base. "This 'toy' has been specially charged with ki, to make sure that the next time it is used you will get an extra special surprise. Just think of that moment when you use this and it might feel close to the real thing."

 Kikyo just stared at the thing. "Thank you, but, what is it?" Ukyo facefaulted.

 After getting back up, Ukyo wrapped her arm around Kikyo's shoulders. "I suppose it is time for a few lessons in 'how to be a woman'..." She led Kikyo over to the sofa and began instructions on how to use the 'toy', and other forms of pleasure.

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Ranma woke up extra early, to get prepared for what he planned to do for the day. It was not easy for even the early rising lad to get up before his concubine, let alone get up without waking her. Luckily, the other girls were much deeper sleepers.

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 Ukyo woke even earlier than usual, having noticed that her heat source was missing. Pai and Shampoo were both still there on the other side of the young warrior's bed, but they were cuddled together having been gently repositioned by Ranma as he had snuck off, and were providing no comfort for the self-proclaimed head concubine. She decided to get dressed and try to find Ranma, maybe he had just gone off to 'water the bushes' or something. She hoped to help him with that or the other problem men had first thing in the morning.

 However, as she got to the door, Ranma opened it up, with a look of surprise and then seriousness a moment later. He whispered, "Ucchan, you are up! Good, that makes this easier, I need you to come with me, please."

 "Sure Ranchama, whenever you want me to cum with you, I will, but is something wrong?"

 "Not at all. It couldn't be better, but I need to talk to you, in private. It's important."

 Ukyo was a bit worried, just because things were good for Ranma, did not mean for sure that this talk would be a good one for her. No matter what Ranma wanted, she would go along with it, but it did not necessarily mean she would like it. It was not that the girl did not trust Ranma to keep her interests at heart, but his serious look gave her a hint of concern. Ranma had been with many women in the last couple of years, and as well as she knew the boy, there were times when she just could not read him. It did not help that it was not yet four in the morning. So, despite knowing better in her head, she still had abandonment issues that would make themselves known upon occasion.

 The two teens walked in silence until they were well outside of the village. After Ranma felt they had gotten far enough away, he turned back to his companion. "Ucchan, today it has been ten years since we met that day outside of Osaka," Ranma held out a small box as he continued, "I wanted you to know just how important you are to me, happy anniversary Ucchan, my lover. You can open it now if you would like, I do not mind."

 Ukyo was unable to hold back her tears, as she threw her arms around Ranma's neck. "No, no I can't. Not yet anyway." The young lady said between sobs. Ranma wrapped his arms around her to comfort her for a moment, tensed, and then held her tightly as he leaped into the air, bounding from tree to tree. Setting her down in one of the tall trees, he said, "I am really sorry about this, but wait here for a moment, if you would. I promise I will be right back."

 "What's wrong Ranchama?"

 "Don't you worry about it, just wait here a moment Ucchan. Promise me." Not even waiting for a reply, he leaped back in the direction from which they had come.

 "Okay, Ranma-sama!" Ukyo watched as Ranma ran back toward the village at top speed, only to see his ki stop, as the flashes of light began. It would have been very pretty if she were not worried. It took almost every bit of willpower she had to not run after the man she loved, but the girl endured.

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 Ranma had come upon the youkai that was heading toward the village. "/HEY! Stop right there! I don't suppose you are a Jusenkyo victim, are you?/" The monster did not stop moving. Just to be on the safe side, Ranma made a 'pouch' out of his ki, poured some hot water from a thermos he kept in 'pocket space', and threw it at the beast.

 The water did nothing, though the 'calming ki' he had charged the ki object with did slow it down a bit. Ranma jumped in front of the four-armed gorilla with six eyes. "Wow, you are an ugly one." Ranma jabbed his finger into the ground between them and shouted, "Bakusai Tenketsu!" A small explosion sent a shower of rocks and dirt flying at the beast, getting its attention. The youkai swung a fist at Ranma, but it was easy for the boy to move out of the way. He ran past the monster tagging it in the knee as he passed.

 Ranma kept playing tag with the beast, leading it away from the village, trying not to get anyone else involved. Once he felt he was far enough away not to disturb anyone, he stopped running and faced the oversized simian. "Your path of destruction ends here! Kachuu Tenshin Amaguri Ken, Revised! Sweet Chestnuts Flying Out of a Heavenly Fire!!!" Still a good ways in front of the lumbering monster, Ranma's fists became blurs. However, instead of throwing punches, he was throwing chestnut-sized balls of hot ki. The slow creature did not expect the attack several moments beforehand and thus, was unable to even try to dodge. Even if they had been normal chestnuts, it would have been in pain getting hit with several hundred of them in less than a second, but when each one produced a small explosion of hot ki, the poor youkai did not stand a chance.

Ranma grabbed the body of the thing, and ran for Jusenkyo before it regenerated and woke up. Getting directions from the guide, Ranma dropped the thing into the spring of drowned virtuous man. Once the 'man' had dried off, Ranma gave him some clothing out of his pocket space, some money, hit the cat tongue pressure point, and sent him on his way, before bounding back to where he had left Ukyo. The whole thing had taken less than a few minutes in all.

 Ukyo was still waiting as patiently as she had been able, even if she had been able to follow him by watching his ki. The vantage point she had from her current spot gave her a good view, and knew her Ranma was returning. Within seconds, he had gently landed next to her. "Now, where were we?" Ranma showed off his sparkling smile and twinkling eyes to full effect in the pre-twilight dawn.

 Ukyo threw her arms around him again, and began to kiss him on the neck. "What took you so long?"

 "I got caught in traffic."

 "Baka." Ukyo snuggled in closer.

 Why don't you open your box now, or did you do that while you were waiting on me to finish up?" Ranma said with a sparkling wink.

 "Did you just 'charm' me?"

 "You know it Ucchan!"

 "You know you don't have to do that, I've always been charmed by you, Ranchama!" Ukyo snuggled in closer, nibbling on his earlobe.

 Leaning in close to her ear, Ranma whispered, "I know, but you are my favorite person to practice on. You always have the best reactions. Besides, if I can't practice these techniques with you, who can I practice on?" Ranma added with another twinkling wink.

 His whispering sent shivers throughout her body, but she fought to maintain control. "What, 'every other pretty girl in the world' isn't good enough for you?"

 "Not even close, there is no comparison! No other girl could replace my best friend with benefits, my precious Ucchan. No matter how many others join with us, you will always be number one in my heart! We have been together almost every day for most of our lives and I hope you will always be with me. I really don't want to know what I would have to do without you. Now, if you don't mind, I would like to see what you think of the gift I helped make for you."

 "Oh, Ranma-sama, I will stay by your side until the day you no longer want me. Nothing else could ever tear us apart!" Wiping her tears away, Ukyo pulled out the small box Ranma had given her, and slowly opened it. Inside were two dangling earrings, made from a silver metal with a clear gem in each one. "Ranma-sama, they are beautiful! You said you made these?"

 Ranma blushed a bit. "Well, I did have help. I found the diamond and platinum ore while we were practicing the Bakusai Tenketsu technique, and Shan Pu's father helped me with the refining and molding process. But, I did most of it after being shown how, and I charged them full of happy ki, so they should help you when you are down or low on ki." Ranma helped the girl put them on and admired how they looked hanging from his beautiful companion's ears. "They look good on you." Ranma's smile glinted in the predawn light.

 Ukyo hugged Ranma tighter, her tears of joy flowing again. "Ranma-sama, even if your ki were not affecting me, I could not be happier! I would rather die than to live without you! Ranma-sama, you are my ikigai! I have a gift for you too, my goshujin-sama." Ukyo reached into an unseen pocket and pulled out a small control, and handed it to the man holding her.
{*Ikigai = something one lives for; purpose in life.*}

"A remote control? What is this for?"

 "It's a remote control for my ...um, 'heart'. You work it with this sliding lever here. It has a pretty good range too, Shan Pu and I did a lot of 'testing' with it." Ukyo blushed even harder as she remembered the 'testing process'.

 Ranma played with the control, sliding the bar slowly toward the top, only to hear a buzzing sound and to see Ukyo go weak in the knees. After a moment, he got a sly grin on his face, picked her up, and jumped to the ground, to be safe. "So, that's where you are keeping your 'heart' these days, is it?"

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 A little while later, Ranma was sitting with his back against the same tall tree, the one with the still growing list of names under the 'ai-ai gusa' they had carved, his arms wrapped around Ukyo's partly exposed waist. Ukyo was leaning against him, arms wrapped under the coat she had made for him. They were both gazing deeply into each other's eyes, enjoying their company and the sunrise together.

 Hating herself for even thinking the question, Ukyo asked, "Ranchama, do we need to be getting back to the others?"

 "No, I left them a note, so unless another youkai shows up, I think they can do without us for a day... Today is all about us being together, and nothing else. Anything you want to do, we will do. I will move that mountain over there if that is what you want."

 "Anything?"

 "Anything."

  ;"Even if it includes the other girls?"

 "Well, that wasn't in the plan, but if that is what the lady wants, then that is what the lady gets..."

 "...I didn't say that, I was just asking. You never know what might be fun, but for now..." Ukyo's hands started removing Ranma's jacket and she leaned in even further as she kissed him.

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Ra nma was on his way to meet with the council after showing Te Rou what he had learned from her lessons, by reading the fortunes of some of the girls. He was not sure what the 'meeting with the shrunken monkey' was all about, but it seemed to make sense to them, and Te Rou seemed to find it amusing. Either way, Ranma was lost in thought, both about the fortunes and about what he was preparing to say to the council. 'Damn that Mousse! How the guy even managed to sneak up on Shan Pu, never mind actually kidnapping the bouncy girl, Ranma never did find out. That bastard did not have time to rape Shan Pu while the girl was unconscious at least, but the extended contact was still breaking the law, and Shan Pu could be punished, and I will NOT let that happen!'

 So distracted was he, that he barely noticed being surrounded. Being within the village territory, and the low power of the auras, he mostly ignored it. He had important things to do after all. So it only came as a mild surprise when men started jumping out of the trees aiming weapons at him. He recognized some of the men as being from the village, and at least one from a neighboring village, so he did not want to hurt them. He needed to figure out what was going on. "/So, what's up guys?/"

 "/You, outsider! You have charmed all of the best women in our tribe, including our wives and girlfriends! Now you will pay, you home wrecker!/" The men surrounded Ranma and began attacking en mass. "/You took our wives, we will take your life!/"

 Ranma easily evaded the thrusts, trying to talk them down, with his calming aura. "/Hey guys, I didn't 'take' anyone. It is not my fault you could not keep their attention, besides, no one told me they were married. How would I know? I am just doing my job here./" Ranma kept evading and blocking, not throwing a single attack.

 "/That doesn't matter!/"

 "/Why not, because you are mad, and you want to vent your anger at someone? I am just a scapegoat for your real target./"

 "/What? Are you saying we should be mad at our women?/"

 "/No, I am saying you ARE mad, at 'yourselves'. Because you were not man enough to keep your woman's attention./"

 "/What do you know?!?!?/"

 "/Only what I was told. I listened to what they told me. The common theme around here is most men treat them like prizes to be won, or like princesses on a pedestal. All of them complained about not being listened to, and really heard. Every woman is different, and they all want different things, you have to pay attention and not take them for granted. They are not there for your convenience, they are not prizes to be won in battle, and they are people, just like you, all with their own dreams and goals. When was the last time you sat down and just talked to them?/" The men started to slow in their attacks as Ranma's words hit home at various points, and most of them lost the passion behind their attacks. "/Look guys, I would rather help you than hurt you, so let us stop this pointless exercise and we can hold some counseling sessions tomorrow, but for now, I need to see the actual council.../"

 "/You may not want to hurt us, but we want to hurt you! Right guys?/" Everyone else backed off. "/What happened to all of you? Fine! I will beat you myself!/" The man charged in, his pole arm glowing with ki.

 Ranma caught the man's weapon, causing him to flip over, losing his grip, and tumbling over. Ranma's eye began to glow and the wind started to blow cold, despite being a warm day, giving all of the men there a chill. "/You need to *stop* this now, before you get hurt!/"

 In a meek voice, the large man squeaked, "/Okay.../"

 -!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-!-

 The next day, Ranma began holding short training sessions for men, who needed to better learn to appreciate their significant others. It was a popular class.

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Omake 10a by Hiryo

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( It is recommended to hear the following song on YouTube, while reading the Omake.
Look for: (Falco) "Falko-Mutter der Mann mit dem Koks ist da" First entry.)
The following is a short story of the addictive properties of the sweet treats, which are Ranma's (for this) Ki-imbued Cookies. The original song is about cocaine.

//Start//

During the night, a small girl looked up at her Amazonian mother. "/Mommy look, there is that pretty light again, what we do?/"

Her mom shuddering lightly in anticipation. "/Soon my child, you too will experience that light./"

At the source of the light:

"/Mother!/"

"/Oh mother./"

"/Mother!/"

"/Oh mother./"

"/Mother!/"

"/Oh mother./"

"/The man with the cookies!/"

 "/Crunchies!/"

"/The man with the cookies!/"

 "/Crunchies!/"

"/The man with the... the man with the cookies is here!/"

The crispy yet chewy texture, with sweetness inside, to ease a stubborn child, or temp the angelic one. The children were dancing together in anticipation, distracted from the activities their mothers were planning.

 A cookie appeared in the window. "/Crunch crunch, anyone want cookies?/"

The mother hurriedly opened the door, "/Oh yes, I want some cookie./" While undressing herself added, "/In exchange, I will trade you ...my 'cookie'./"

The woman flashed four fingers toward Ukyo, then shook her head, and held up all ten with a look of excitement on her face.

 Ukyo looked at her children speculatively then nodded to her before putting a cookie in Ranma's mouth.

 Knowing what is yet to come, the 'Amazon' quickly munched enticingly on the cookie still in Ranma's mouth, while tossing the rest of the bag onto the table where the nine children were.

The children munching on the cookies gathered around Ranma. "We loves forever!!"

"/Mother!/"

"/Oh mother./"

"/The man with the cookies is here!/"

Ukyo was playing a merry tune and dancing, while Ranma led the children and her mother out of the village like tensy winsy rats.

//End//

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Omake 10b

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Ran ma and Kikyo were at the spring of drowned twins. As Kikyo took the plunge, Ranma realized he did not have their towels.

 The two nude women ran over to hug Ranma, this time splashing him with their wetness, instead of the towels he had intended on holding up. Before they realized it, they were each hugging a Ranma, one male, one female...

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 Ranma and Kikyo were at the spring of drowned twins. As Kikyo took the plunge, Ranma realized he did not have their towels.

 The two nude women ran over to hug Ranma, one of them being a bit slower than the other. This time, splashing him with her wetness, instead of the towels he had meant to be holding up. Kikyo found that she was hugging two Ranmas, until Nodoka also joined the bear hug, splashing both Ranmas. After another flash of light purple light from the jewel in her hand, there were two sets of Ranmas, one set male, one set female...

...Few of Ranma's girlfriends ever slept again.

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Omake 10c

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It was that horrible moment all over again. Ukyo had spied the large metal ball a moment sooner and leaped to intercept it, hoping to deflect it. She was still a moment too late, her body impacting with the hard sphere just after her family was sent flying.

 She splashed down into a pool of her own, along with the ball and its 'Ukyo-shaped' dent, barely maintaining consciousness. It took a considerable effort for her to climb out of the pool that seemed to be much larger than when she had fallen in. As she struggled to climb out of the pool and onto dry land, she saw the now familiar red hair of Ranma's cursed form popping up from the nearby pool.
Ukyo tried to call out to her lover. "Squirtle, Squirtle!!"

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 Ranma was awoken by Ukyo's thrashing about. He extended his calming aura, whispering into her ear, "It's okay, I am here with you."

 Still asleep, Ukyo said, "Ranchama, choose me!"

 Ranma stroked her hair, and whispered into her ear. "I do Ucchan, I do."

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En d Omake

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A uthor's Notes

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- So, there you have it, the end of Act Zero, the 'prologue' is finally over, and the cast is still growing, as are the ideas.

 -The Role Playing Game, Youkai the Facade, is (obviously) based on the old Storyteller system, and the more it gets used, the more of the system I will develop. For now, it is just an Anime styled RPG, set in a world a bit darker than their own, or so they think...

 -Doujinshi, A.K.A. Doujin, any form of self-published work. Most of these are like fanfics, in that they use popular characters and not original ones, though sometimes the original creator cannot find another way to get their stories out, and will make them as well (the creator of Tenchi for example). Technically Doujin is a term that means 'a group of like-minded people', and a 'Doujinshi', is their 'published' work, but in common parlance it is used as an abbreviation (at least in English). Any type of self-published work qualifies, but if it used preexisting characters, it is still illegal, and are done in smaller numbers to prevent litigation. Though it is rare for the companies (in Japan) to charge anyone, since they help grow the fan base.
Many of these works take established characters and put them in various sexual situations, and in many people's minds, these are all that come to mind when they think of them, especially the younger crowds. During the 1980's, the content of doujinshi shifted from being primarily original works, to being closer to 'fan fiction' type material. This change was in part due to the rise of 'Comiket', the first event dedicated to doujinshi, founded in 1975.

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* CHARACTERS USED*

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{ Here I will list all of the important, non-Ranma characters, used in the chapter and where they are from.}

Kogarashi the "Maid Guy" - the title character from Kamen no Maid Guy
Fubuki - The soon-to-be 'Maid Guy Tamer' from Kamen no Maid Guy
Kaede Tenjoji - The headmaster of Hakureiryo Academy from Ladies vs. Butlers.
Mikan is her 'assistant' and the Head Instructor.
Mariana Nankyoku 'The Black Rose' - Penguin's mom, Kodachi's aunt, and Kaede's oldest half sister. She is an abusive person. (she was not in the story, but mentioned). She in only related to them in our canon, not in the real ones. Penguin and Kaede look a lot alike, and Mariana and Kodachi have so much in common, I couldn't resist.
Mori - A maid, who will later, like her mother, to whom she bears an uncanny resemblance, work for the Amatsuka family, in GJ-Bu.
Pai Chan - Taken from Virtua Fighter.
Yume - A cute girl with long pink hair. She is from the game/anime, They are My Noble Masters (Kimi ga Aruji de Shitsuji ga Ore de).
Anastasia Mistina - A strange friend of Yume, and a minor character from the same series.
Keiko Inamura - Another friend of Yume and Anastasia. The 'normal one' in their group.
Natose - Yume's Personal attendant, and the head of security for her family's home.
The Colonel (Taisa in Japanese) - Taijiri Yasushi - The head butler of Yume's family.
Yukie Mayuzumi - A shy girl from Maji de Watashi ni Koi Shinasai! {*Seriously, Fall in Love with Me!*} The story was an alternate reality spin off of They are My Noble Masters, and this is the version of Yukie from the 'Noble Masters' world, though she did not appear in that story, I am saying she existed in the world. They shared some characters, so I figure they had to all exist in some form.

These are the 'Amazons' I made up.
Fei Sha - (Facial) Exile who lives in Hong Kong. Her name means 'Flying Fans'.
Zhei Kan - (Shaken) Other than her looks, I made up her name and everything else about her, and her family (obviously). Her name means [zhei - this; these] [kan - to look after; to take care of; to watch; to guard]
Tao Li - (Towelie) who is friends with Gan Zha... Her name mean 'Beautiful Binding'.
Gan Zha - (Ganja) the village herbalist. Her name means 'Purple Grasshopper'.
Ti Shu - (Tissue) One of the messengers. Her name means 'Sudden Sneeze'.
Sha Wa - (Shower) Ti Shu's older sister. Her name means 'Drizzle Tile'.
Te Rou - (Tarot) Her mother was a Buddhist Priestess and her father was Romani (Gypsy). Her name means [té - special; unusual; extraordinary] [róu - knead; massage; rub] {I couldn't resist the option}
Tui Za - (Tweezer) - {Leg Smash} Another messenger, the one who was robbed.
Sou Pu (Soap) - {Concealed Unpolished Gem} One of Shan Pu's younger sisters. Green hair, in twin buns, uses spear and shield.
Lou Shan - (Lotion) {Humble Coral} Shan Pu's other younger sister. Blue hair, with twin braids, uses a large metal studded club. They were both seen at the end of Ling-Ling and Lung-Lung's intro episode, for a brief moment. Also twins, but only one year younger, where the others were two years younger.
Zhe Ling (Gelling) - Mousse's older sister. She recently passed her parents abilities, and became the senior master of Hidden Weapons. Her name means 'To cover up another shortcoming'.
There were others too, but some of them were only 'seen' on the 'ai-ai gusa'. Few appeared on 'camera'.