[Ranma][FanFic][Dark] Ukyou's Chance

[Adrian Tymes]

Ukyou's Chance

Written by: Adrian Tymes

[Legal disclaimer:

This story is based on characters created by Rumiko Takahashi. Permission
is granted to freely distribute this story, so long as:
a: no recompense of financial value is received or given by the person who
distributes the story, and
b: the distributed copy is identical to the story as originally authored.
In other words, don't sell it, and don't alter it.

Copyright (c) 1998, all rights reserved, et cetera.]

******

Ukyou swallowed, trying to soothe her jangled nerves. She searched her
soul for a spark of courage, and upon finding one, took a deep breath and
spoke before it could slip away.

"Ranma, I...I'm sorry for what I did. I thought that Akane did not love
you, and that she was only going along with the marriage because her
father insisted. For that matter, I'd hoped you were only marrying her
because you were promised to her first. That was the only reason I
disrupted your wedding - to keep my two best friends from doing something
they'd regret.

"Yes, Ranma, 'friend'. I have come to realize that you do not love me in
the same way I love you, and that your heart may always belong to Akane.
I will not stop you if...no, when you try to marry her again. I will even
be there to help stop Shampoo and Kodachi, if you want.

"Please, Ranma. I beg you. Please forgive me."

It was the fifth time she had rehearsed that speech in front of a mirror,
but Ukyou was not finding it any easier to say. She dreaded seeking out
Ranma and saying it for real.

"Apology accepted."

Which is probably why it was good luck that Akane had finished her search
for Ukyou at that precise moment.

Ukyou leapt in surprise, and nearly hit her head on the ceiling. Whirling
to face Akane even before landing, her face was a mask of shock. "What
are you doing here?!?"

Akane smiled. "I wanted to ask you why. You hurt us, Ukyou. You hurt
Ranma, more than you know. I knew you would not have done that without
good reason, but I couldn't figure it out." She stepped forwards and laid
a supporting hand on Ukyou's shoulder. "Now I know. I forgive you, and
I'm sure Ranma will, too, if you ask him to. That idiot probably wouldn't
even ask why - just say, 'forgive me', and he will."

Ukyou flinched at Akane's description of Ranma, but let herself relax upon
seeing Akane's grin. "Thanks. Could you be with me when I do? I'm not
sure I could work up the nerve by myself."

"Sure."

"And...may I come to your wedding?"

Akane looked slightly pained. "That...may be difficult, Ukyou."

Ukyou studied her feet. "I see."

"It was last night."

The chef blinked.

"We figured that another large ceremony would be inviting disaster, so we
went for small and very private. Even Soun and Genma weren't there. In
fact, if Ranma hasn't told anyone yet, you're the fifth person to know
about it."

Ukyou counted on her fingers. "You and Ranma know, as does whoever
performed the ceremony..." All but her fourth finger were raised as she
sent a questioning look at Akane.

"Nabiki pulled some strings to get Kasumi legally qualified." Akane
smirked. "'Anything Goes Marital Arts'. It's eerie how well that fits
her."

Ukyou shuddered in mock terror, before joining Akane in giggling. "I'm
happy for you. Honestly." She said it to convince herself more than to
convince her audience of one.

******

Ukyou sat just inside the entrance to the Tendo dojo, brooding. Ranma had
forgiven her as soon as she came in at Akane's side, not even waiting for
Ukyou to ask. She had not gotten a single word in as Ranma went on and on
about how he really did love Akane, that they were now married, and his
appointment in two minutes to take on Happousai, Ryoga, and Kuno
simultaneously that he really did not want to be late for. Despite
Ranma's easy forgiveness, the only pleasure Ukyou had gotten from that
exchange was, she realized, when she remembered that Ryoga had told her he
was planning on helping Ranma get back at Happousai and Kuno.

Thus, her mind barely registered Akane walking in and starting her
practice. Akane said nothing, not wanting to interrupt her friend's
thoughts.

Eventually, Ukyou's mind, having gradually become more aware that the chef
was not alone, formed a question that it could not easily answer.

"Akane, am I becoming like Kodachi?"

Akane was in the middle of a high kick at that point. Surprised by the
query, she tried to retract her leg but failed to correct its momentum,
and only barely managed to move her head out of the way before she stuck
her foot in her mouth. "What?"

"Do I like hurting myself?"

Akane marched up to her friend and knelt, a worried look in her eyes.
"What are you talking about?"

"I love Ranma, but he's married to you. The only things I can do are
start fighting you again, or give him up. I can't bring myself to do
either one."

"Ukyou..." Akane instinctively hugged her friend as she began sobbing.

"Dammit, Akane, I CAN"T! You don't know what it's like..."

"I know *exactly* what it's like." Akane frowned. "Remember Dr. Tofu?"

"Yes. You told me you had a crush on him, but he loved Kasumi..."

"I think he still does. But I got over it. So will you. It will
hurt...more than you think you can endure...but your heart will recover.
And, I'll be here for you. I don't know how much pain I can stop, but if
it is in my power, I will not let you go through the hell Kasumi put me
through without knowing it."

After a few seconds of crying into Akane's gi, Ukyou softly replied,
"Thank you."

"Don't worry, Ukyou." Akane tried to suppress her own memory of nearly
committing suicide over her love; a plan which would have killed her had
Nabiki not stumbled across her just as she slit her wrist. "You'll
survive."

******

Kasumi took no notice of Ukyou's red-rimmed eyes as the chef dragged
herself towards the kitchen. It was not polite to poke her nose into the
affairs of her sister's guests, especially when she overheard their
conversation anyway. For a moment, she considered apologizing to Akane
for the wrong she had done to her so long ago, but as always, her
knowledge of it came about accidentally, by means which would be rude to
take advantage of. Apologizing would mean that she would have to reveal
her mistake to her sister, which might worsen matters. Surely, Akane
knew that Kasumi knew about it by now, but without some specific reason to
bring the subject up, it was better to let the matter fade into the past,
where it would eventually be forgotten.

She did not notice a couple of her own tears fall into the batter she was
mixing.

"Hey, Kasumi, you're making quite a feast," Ukyou observed.

"Yes. To celebrate...err, last night."

"The wedding? Don't worry, Akane told me. Let me guess, you're waiting
on telling the Shogi Pair until the food's ready?"

Kasumi smiled at Ukyou's new nickname for the elders of the house. She
had to admit, it was true that shogi was one of the few things they did
much of. "Correct. Also, I was not entirely sure that my new status was
sufficient, but the records office seemed to think it was when I filed the
paperwork this morning."

Ukyou chuckled. "So, what do I call you now? Priestess? Sister? Her
High Royal Holiness, Messenger of the One True..."

She blushed. "Just Kasumi will do."

Ukyou winked and bowed. "Yes, Mistress Kasumi."

"Ooh, you..." She turned towards Ukyou and brandished a spatula
menacingly. Unfortunately, her broad smile ruined her otherwise
threatening pose.

"Careful." Ukyou whipped out her battle spatula and parried Kasumi's
weapon. "I've been practicing with them a lot longer than you have."

Kasumi lowered her spatula and returned to her work. "Only in battle. I
think I may have known how to cook for as long as you have."

Ukyou sheathed her weapon. "Longer, from what I hear." She smiled.
"Would you mind if I helped?"

"Not at all. Thank you."

"Sure." Ukyou started washing and cutting some vegetables Kasumi had
laid out. "Hey, Kasumi, can I ask you something...personal?"

"Sure."

"What would you do if you loved someone whose heart belonged to someone
else?"

"First, I would tell Ranma how you feel."

Ukyou winced. So much for masking her questions as hypothetical. "I
have."

"And that you still love him, even though he's married."

She sighed. "Ok...then what?"

"And then..." Kasumi blushed. "No, that's silly."

"What?"

"Well, you're in a love triangle, right? But one side of the triangle is
missing. I'd say fill in the missing side, but, well..."

Ukyou paused, hanging on Kasumi's every word. "Well?"

"It's you and Akane. Like I said, that's silly."

Ukyou thought. Hard.

"Hmm...you have a difficult problem."

Was she really that desperate?

"Maybe we could ask Genma. He made you Ranma's fiancee; maybe he knows of
a way out."

But...could she bring herself to do it?

"Or, maybe..." Kasumi stopped as a similar triangle forced itself into
her memory. One consisting of her, Tofu, and Akane.

Ukyou spotted the courage she needed. Liquid courage. "Kasumi, I have
an...unusual request."

"What?"

"Could you help me get everyone drunk tonight? I mean, really, totally,
nobody-will-remember-it drunk?"

"You're hoping that it might help you deal with your problem? Help you
do something you could never do if you were sober?"

Ukyou blinked. Was she that easy to read?

"I'll do it." Kasumi sighed. She would have to thank Ukyou for
suggesting how she could bring up the subject of Akane's former love for
Tofu...after Kasumi forgave herself.

******

"But, husband..."

"MY husband," Akane shot back.

Ranma wondered why he had suggested inviting Shampoo, Mousse, and Cologne
over to tell them about the marriage in person. Mousse seemed pleased,
but Cologne and Shampoo, especially Shampoo, had not been taking it well.
He had wanted to wait on telling Genma and Soun about the marriage until
tonight, but reasoned that it would be better to have them present now
for support, along with Ukyou, Nabiki, and Kasumi. The food would not be
done cooking for another hour, but Genma and Soun had already started to
celebrate when Ranma told them about the guests. Even so, Ranma had asked
that the meeting be held in the dojo so the Amazon trio would not have a
chance to sneak off and "contribute" to the feast, whether or not they
wound up attending it.

"Amazon law does not allow exceptions in this case." Cologne leaned
forwards on her stick. "If a married man beats an Amazon warrior, they
will be married regardless."

"No way," Ranma protested. "I am not taking two wives."

Unseen by anyone, Ukyou sighed. Marriage would have been nice, but all
she really wanted was his love. She would settle for being his mistress,
if that was necessary.

"If that is so, then Akane must cease to be your wife." Cologne frowned.
"And since it does not appear likely that you will divorce her
willingly..."

Shampoo's eyes widened. "Great-grandmother not serious!"

"I am. You know what must be done."

"Yes, great-grandmother. But..." Shampoo desperately looked for a way
out of the situation. She did not dare disobey Cologne, but Ranma would
never marry her after this. In the privacy of her thoughts, she wondered
how she could even face Ranma after her task was done.

"No objections. No more delays. You will do it NOW!"

"Yes," she sighed, with more than a hint of resignation in her voice.
"Knife." She held out her hand to Mousse, who gave her the requested
object. Part of her wondered whether to please Cologne and point it at
her target, or to anger Ranma less by using it on herself.

Akane blinked. "What are you talking about?"

Shampoo whirled on Akane, murder and regret in her eyes. "DIE!"

No one present remembered Shampoo pouncing at Akane, knife seeking her
vital organs. Nor did they remember the near-instant blur that passed
between Shampoo and her target.

Everyone who survived just remembered what followed, as if it were a
moment suspended in time. Ukyou's largest spatula held Shampoo's entire
upper body, keeping it far enough away that the knife in Shampoo's hand
only barely pricked the skin above Akane's heart. The chef's other hand
held a razor-sharp throwing spatula, its lower half freshly coated in red
liquid, protruding from the floor where it had embedded itself at the end
of its swing. A red line just below Shampoo's navel showed the path of
the second spatula. Only the volume of body fluids pouring from this line
to the floor indicated that time still flowed.

Many seconds later, after Shampoo had turned white from the amount of
blood lost, Ukyou pulled her main spatula away and allowed Shampoo to
crumple to the floor. She twirled the spatula once before sheathing it,
and stayed kneeling away from everyone else so they could not see her
face.

Ukyou alone heard the whispered, "Thank you," that were Shampoo's final
words.

Ranma, panda-form Genma, and the Saotomes stared, not believing what they
had seen. Cologne was unreadable, and Mousse's reaction...

"DIE!"

...was very predictable.

Before Mousse could reach Ukyou, Akane stood in front of her, Shampoo's
knife held like a pitifully short sword. "I won't let you hurt her."

Mousse tried to step around Akane, but Akane moved to block his way. "She
killed Shampoo. I can not let her live."

"The only way you'll harm her is over my dead body."

"So be it." Mousse yanked the blade out of Akane's hand and turned it
around to finish what Shampoo had started.

Genma's sign did not knock Mousse unconscious when it was smashed into
Mousse's head. Neither did Soun's follow-up kick to the same spot. The
exterior wall of the compound did, however, when Genma threw Mousse into
it.

"Leave, Cologne." Ukyou still did not face the others. "Vengeance is
useless, and you no longer have any other business in Japan."

"Nobody assassinates an Amazon warrior with impunity."

"Cologne." The steadiness of Akane's voice reflected her mood. "If you
so much as touch a single hair on her body, I will personally hunt you
down."

"Don't bother." Nabiki folded her arms. "If any harm befalls Ukyou,
accidental or otherwise, the Chinese government will learn that a village
in its less civilized parts has not only practically declared independence
from China, but has taken to enforcing its law, which could be mistaken
for Chinese law, outside of China's borders. The entire village will be
razed, and its citizens either...I think the term is, 're-educated'...or
dead, before you can say 'international incident'. You will probably take
out a few of their tanks. At least ten, if you're lucky...out of the
hundreds, if not thousands, they will send once you start fighting back.
Don't bother covering your tracks, either...you're the only one who wants
to harm Ukyou, and the Amazons listen to you. Especially Mousse. I don't
know if you'd throw away your life for revenge, but I don't believe you'd
throw away your entire village."

"Leave, Cologne," Ukyou requested. "Please."

Cologne pondered the situation, then picked up Shampoo's body. "Very
well. But, should any of you step inside our village again, your lives
shall end on the spot." Wearily, she balanced herself and her dead
descendant on her stick, and bounded off to collect Mousse.

"Are you all right?" Akane reached out to held Ukyou up.

Ukyou flinched from her touch, and slowly stood up on her own. "I...will
be."

"Thank you for saving my life."

"Thank you for saving mine."

Kasumi stepped in front of Ukyou, and grabbed her chin with one hand to
force the chef to look at her. "You are going to FORGET about this. What
you did had to be done. I will not allow you to agonize over your
actions, or regret the choice you made. Especially tonight. You are
going to have fun at the celebration, or..."

Ukyou blinked, and gradually gave in to curiosity. "Or?"

Kasumi grinned. "You don't want to know."

Ukyou tried to guess the answer, then gave up. "Ok." Backing out of
Kasumi's grip, she headed off to wash off her spatula.

Ranma stared at Kasumi. "What was that all about?"

"Oh, I just want to make sure she doesn't do something she'll regret..."
Kasumi tried to force from her mind the memory of an intuition of Akane's
imminent action. An intuition that had lead her to ask Nabiki to check on
Akane, supposedly to see if she was over her latest bout of 'mysterious'
depression. Which had caused Nabiki to see Akane attempt suicide.
"...like missing the party."

"Oh." Ranma wondered just how far Kasumi would go to make sure her
friends enjoyed themselves, but gave the matter no more thought. Looking
at the floor as the others left, he added, "Do you want help cleaning this
up?"

Kasumi blinked, then looked at the red pool Shampoo had left behind.
"Sure." She smiled as she realized why Ranma had asked that the meeting
be in the dojo. Surely, he had not expected what had actually happened,
but he had apparently anticipated a possibly messy fight, and the dojo was
the easiest area to mop up.

******

Kasumi had held her word. Sake flowed freely, and most of the foods and
drinks were spiked with various undetectable forms of alcohol provided by
Ukyou. The alcohol was normally used for cooking, rather than secreted in
the food after the heat that would bake it off had left; added at the last
moment, though, it admirably accomplished the job of getting everyone
drunk. She suspected that Nabiki had noticed everyone gradually losing
control as the night wore on, but her sister had said nothing.

Now was the perfect time to apologize to Akane. If only she could find
her...

******

As her judgment teetered on the sake-induced brink of rationality, Ukyou
asked herself again why she was doing what she was doing.

The answer came like metal to a magnet: because she loved Ranma.

Even so, to do...this...to her friend, and to herself...

...but, if she did not, she might never be able to be with Ranma...

"No, Ukyou," her victim pleaded, "don' *hic* do shish." One arm weakly
moved to protest, but an even greater amount of alcohol than Ukyou had
imbibed kept its strength lower than a newborn baby's.

"Forgive me," she asked, unsure whether the one she spoke to was in any
condition to understand her.

It was ultimately unfortunate, for both their sakes, that no one else
heard what followed.

******

"Oh, MY!"

Akane slowly drug herself away from a dream which involved malleting her
pervert fiancee...no, husband, she corrected herself...until the spirit of
Happousai had been exorcised, leaving Ranma doting politely on her every
whim. It had been an especially nice dream, but something about Kasumi's
voice triggered a warning instinct in Akane's mind that reality was
likely to be unpleasant.

Akane's pounding headache was her first clue that her intuition had been
correct.

Kasumi's worried stare was her second.

What her sister was staring at was her third.

Normally, upon seeing what else was in her bedroom, Akane would have
malleted the incongruency out of hand, then gotten angry. Unfortunately,
her hangover took the surge of adrenaline that preceded both of these
events as a cue to shut Akane down.

Akane's last coherent thought as she fell back to slumber was that she
would get that pervert...

******

"Mrow."

Ranma bolted awake, covered in sweat. She had thought his dream of
fleeing from a herd of alley cats was nothing more than a dream, but just
as he had been waking up, a cat had sounded nearby. Desperately, she
looked around for the source of the voice...

...only to frown when she saw Nabiki trying to hide her smile inside an
open newspaper.

Her intended reply was cut off when a flash of pain accompanied her frown,
as if Akane had just spent a full hour practicing her Hammer Special on
Ranma's forehead.

"Good morning, Ranma," Nabiki chuckled. "Finally awake, I see."

Ranma spent a full minute trying to center herself, and will the headache
to go away.

"Won't work," his tormentor supplied. "All the martial arts in the world
won't save you from that hangover."

"Hangover?" Ranma tried to remember the previous night, only to find her
memory of it somewhere between an unintelligible blur and a blank slate.

Nabiki rolled her eyes. "Did you get *that* drunk? I was hoping you'd
tell me why you crashed here rather than Akane's room, and in girl form at
that. I mean, you *are* newlyweds, so I thought you'd give your wife a
little...present." She smiled seductively.

"That's our business," Ranma snorted. "And how come you aren't
suffering?"

Nabiki lifted her paper, to reveal three shot glasses filled with a clear
liquid. "Nabiki's Near-Instant Hangover Cure. Bought the recipe off
Happousai, and improved it. For you, only 5,000 yen."

Ranma counted to herself. "There's six of us. Who's out?"

"I already gave Kasumi one, if she'd wake Akane and find Ukyou."

"Ukyou's still here?" Ranma absently counted the money out of her pocket.

"She never made it out last night. I think she recognized that she was
too drunk to walk home." Nabiki shook her head as she handed one of the
glasses to Ranma. "I was wondering if you'd like to help me wake our
fathers."

Ranma groaned at the thought of rousing Genma and Soun from their slumber,
then downed the cure.

Nabiki grinned. "With a bullhorn."

Ranma paused, smiled, then jerked in surprise as the cure banished his
headache like magic.

"I don't call it Near-Instant for nothing."

The sight of Kasumi staggering down the staircase as she wiped her mouth
stopped their banter.

"Are you alright, Kasumi?"

"F-fine, Nabiki..." She sucked in a breath to compose herself. "Just
fine." Her face betrayed her lie.

Nabiki stood up, and put a hand around her sister's shoulder. "You don't
look so hot. Did you find Ukyou?"

Kasumi shuddered, then nodded. Nabiki felt a dry heave pass through her
sister, and smelled vomit on her breath.

Any further questions were cut off by the sound of a door slamming open.
Ukyou burst into view, flew down the stairs, and curled into a fetal
position behind Ranma.

Only after Ukyou had stopped did Ranma notice that she was naked.

"Ranmayou'vegottahidemepleasepleasepleasedon'tlethergetme..."

"Ukyou?" Ranma blinked.

"OhRanmaI'msorryI'msorryIdon'tknowwhyIdiditbutI'msorry..."

"Calm down, please." She picked up Ukyou and absently stroked her hair,
which seemed to quell the worst of Ukyou's jitters. "Now, what happened?"

Ukyou took a few deep breaths, not noticing the glares that Kasumi was
sending her way.

Kasumi had seen others get angry, but the concept just seemed foreign to
her mind. She could never intimidate anyone. Even so, she knew there was
a first time for everything, and Kasumi figured that she had a very good
reason to let Ukyou know how she felt.

"She tricked me."

Unfortunately, Kasumi's attempt at imitating her father's anger projection
fell flat.

Ukyou sighed. "I'm sorry. I needed everyone drunk...myself and Akane
especially. I couldn't have gotten her to go along with it any other way.
Same for myself."

"You told me you wanted everyone to get drunk. Had I known why..."
Kasumi shuddered again.

"Ukyou..." Akane's call attracted everyone's attention.

Ranma took slightly less time to notice that the only thing on her was her
largest mallet, and a battle aura more intense than Ranma had ever seen
it.

"STOP!" Kasumi's yell caused Akane to drop her weapon. Both Akane and
Ukyou clutched their heads.

"Kasumi..." Akane reached for her mallet.

"DON'T DO THIS!"

Akane curled up, her fingers threatening to dig gouges in her skull.
"...she raped me..."

"I KNOW!" Kasumi blinked, then lowered her voice. "I know, sister. But
if you attack her, you will kill her, and then you will regret it. Maybe
not now, but soon, and for the rest of your life. I can not let you do
that."

Ranma and Nabiki were speechless.

"I'm sorry," Ukyou repeated, as if saying a mantra.

"Ukyou..." Nabiki snarled. "Tell us what happened. Please." Only rarely
had her smile ever been as blatantly insincere as it was now.

"I thought..." Ukyou choked back a sob. "I thought, since Ranma loves
Akane, the only way to get him to love me would be if I loved Akane, too."

"That wasn't love," Akane protested.

"I know...now," Ukyou quietly replied. "I thought, once we started, I
could make you like it, and turn it into love. I...I didn't have the
courage to just ask you, and I knew you'd refuse if you were sober, so..."

Akane's eyes narrowed. "And after I said no?"

Ukyou studied the floor. "I was too far gone to care. I'm sorry..."

Akane began reaching for her mallet again. "You're going to be a lot more
than sorry..."

"STOP!" Kasumi folded her arms. "Let us take care of this, sister. You
stay there. Nabiki, make sure she's ok."

Before Akane could do more than protest in obscenities, Kasumi lead Ranma,
who was still carrying Ukyou, to the dojo.

******

"Ranma, please. I can't live without you."

Ukyou's plea fell on unsympathetic ears. "You hurt Akane to get to me,"
Ranma spat. "I thought you were my friend."

"Ranma..."

"Save it." With that, he roughly dropped Ukyou, turned around, and went
back inside, not even having reached the dojo.

Kasumi shook her head. "Wait here. I'll get your clothes." She followed
Ranma.

Ukyou drooped her head in defeat. "Ukyou" could never have Ranma
now...but perhaps the person who currently used that name could...

******

One week later, Akane stared in horror at the letter Konatsu had just
handed her.

"Akane," Kasumi called, "I'm sorry about Tofu."

"Ok," Akane blankly replied, her mind still in shock after reading Ukyou's
letter.

Kasumi smiled. Apologizing out of the blue had not been anywhere near as
offensive as she had thought it would be.

"She asked me not to read it," Konatsu explained, "but I know something's
going on. I'd just come back from a trip to China, but when I arrived,
the restaurant was locked. There was an envelope outside for me; inside
was an envelope for you, and a letter to me asking me to deliver it."

"Did it say anything else?"

"Yes." Konatsu blinked. "'Goodbye.' I wonder what she could have meant?
I'm not going anywhere, and she'd have to sell the restaurant before..."

Konatsu was suddenly talking to thin air.

******

"Ukyou?" Akane peered inside. Ukyou's restaurant had been unlocked, with
a "closed" sign deterring customers, when she arrived. The internal
lights were off, and the sun had set an hour ago, so she could not see
beyond a few meters inside.

"Ukyou's gone. There's only me, now."

As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, and she slowly deduced what Ukyou
had done, Akane concluded that Ukyou had, indeed, become like Kodachi.

******

Ranma and Nabiki screeched to a halt upon seeing Akane. Medics were
already tending to her, and the police appeared to have finished their
interrogation. Firefighters were putting out the last of the blazing pile
of rubble that had recently been Ukyou's restaurant.

"Ranma?" Akane squeaked.

Ranma ran forwards to embrace Akane. The medics, satisfied that Akane was
not severely injured, backed off.

"It w-was a trap, Ranma." Akane limply allowed Ranma to pick her up.
"Ukyou was already dead. I got out of there just before they blew it
up..."

Nabiki nudged Ranma, and pointed to the pieces of a dead body, burned and
blasted almost beyond recognition, that the police were carrying away.
Ranma could make out a look of horror on its face, and a spatula sticking
up out of its neck.

Akane knew they would never see that the horror was part betrayal, and
with the body in many pieces, it could be mistaken for Ukyou. She also
knew that they would never find the container of Spring of the Drowned
Akane, or the other container of water that locked Jusenkyo curses, that
she had talked Konatsu into retrieving from China. It was fortunate for
her that Jusenkyo's guide had taken to storing and selling samples of
the cursed water and related magics. And now, the evidence had burned to
ashes in the explosion.

"That Amazon," Ranma growled, "is MINE!"

Nabiki thought for a bit, then realized who Ranma had concluded was
responsible for the bombing. "Remember what I said about the Chinese
government? Even if you strike Cologne down, there are many others just
like her in her village. Let me handle it. This way, no one will ever
again suffer their 'justice'."

Ranma frowned, started to object, then thought about it. "Very well," he
eventually replied.

Nabiki put on her best predatory grin. Her threat had been a bluff, but
Cologne had been worried that one of the Amazons' enemies would do
something like this to set them up, and paid Nabiki to divert Ranma's
anger just in case. Nabiki had been hesitant to accept, but she knew that
Cologne would never stoop this low. In addition, Cologne had promised,
under a clause of the same laws that had drawn her great-granddaughter to
Japan, that she would order all Amazons to stay away from Ranma, Akane,
and Ukyou for the rest of their lives. Not that Ukyou had anything to
fear now. Nabiki was, in fact, slightly disappointed. She suspected that
Ukyou had played dead to lure Akane into the blast, intending to take
Akane with her. If that was the case, then there was nothing more Nabiki
could do. Getting revenge on the dead was difficult, at best.

Akane smiled to herself. Ranma would blame Cologne for this, and Akane
would live the rest of her life with her true love. Even when she was
Ukyou, she had learned a lot about Akane. Now, the magic of the spring
gave her access to Akane's soul. She did not know how much of her would
survive, or to what extent her friend's memory and personality would
replace hers, but one thing was certain: whoever she was, she would always
love Ranma.

Ukyou had had her chance. Now, it was Akane's turn.