[ranma][fanfic] Thy Inward Love Parts VII - X

[Richard Lawson]

Here's the rest of "Thy Inward Love". Let me know what ya think!
Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war
How to divide the conquest of thy sight;
Mine eye my heart thy picture's sight would bar,
My heart mine eye the freedom of that right.
My heart doth plead that thou in him dost lie--
A closet never pierced with crystal eyes--
But the defendant doth that plea deny
And says in him thy fair appearance lies.
To 'cide this title is impaneled
A quest of thoughts, all tenants to the heart,
And by their verdict is determined
The clear eye's moiety and the dear heart's part:
As thus; mine eye's due is thy outward part,
And my heart's right thy inward love of heart.

William Shakespeare
Sonnet XLVI

THY INWARD LOVE

by Richard Lawson

Comments & Criticism Welcome!
ste...@sprynet.com

Part VII : Shadows of the Past

It was an uneasy group that made its way to the Tendo Dojo.

Genma looked around. Akane was hugging Ranma as they walked - or
maybe Ranma was holding her to his side, it was hard to tell.
Akane looked very tired, her eyes half-closed as they walked
down the road. Ranma looked ready to explode. He kept looking
all around them, expecting an attack from all quarters. Mostly,
though, he was glaring at the other couple walking with them.

Shampoo's face was quite puffy, the combination of her swollen
lip and the amount of crying she had done earlier. In fact, she
didn't look to be too far from crying now. She was staring straight
ahead and walking stiffly.

Mousse had put himself between her and Ranma. While he occasionally
glanced at Ranma, for the most part he didn't take his eyes off
of Shampoo. Genma reflected that this was the longest he had
seen Mousse keep his glasses on. Mousse seemed to expect Shampoo to
collapse, and was ready to catch her before she fell.

It was just as well, Genma supposed, that Ranma had called him
and asked him to escort them home. Ranma didn't feel very kindly
towards Shampoo right at the moment, and had hoped that his father
could be a sort of moderating presence. Genma felt flattered. At
the same time, it was slightly unnerving; this was not a role he
was accustomed to.

Genma tried to figure out how they were going to break this to Soun.
Soun had a tendency to carry on all out of proportion. The knowledge
that his daughter had nearly been killed was likely to drive him
insane, at least for a while. Genma thought about not telling
him, but it was hard to miss Akane's new bandage on her face
or her limp. Maybe they should have Kasumi break the news to
him; she seemed to be best able to console him, and she could tell
it gently.

All too soon, they had reached the dojo. They all stopped just inside
the front door, and an uneasy silence followed. Ranma was still glaring
at Shampoo, and Shampoo was still staring at nothing at all. Mousse
was shifting uncomfortably, and Akane looked to be a few seconds
away from falling asleep.

With a start, Genma realized it was up to him to bring some order
to this bunch. Part of him wished for a bucket of cold water:
pandas couldn't talk, and wouldn't be expected to take charge of
the situation. He beat that part of his mind down; pandas also didn't
have wives. Neither would he, if he succumbed to temptation.

"Ranma, take Akane up to her room and put her to bed. I'll find
Kasumi and tell her what's happened. Try to avoid running into her
father if you can."

Ranma looked at him, nodded, and led Akane upstairs.

Genma turned to Mousse and Shampoo. "If Cologne is coming
after us, it's best that you stay here. There is strength in
numbers. Mousse, you can sleep with Ranma and I. I'll ask Kasumi
where we can put you, Shampoo. Very likely, Kasumi will suggest
you sleep in her room."

Mousse nodded as well. "Thank you, Saotome-sensei. We are
honored by your hospitality." He gently took Shampoo's arm.
She looked up at him, then allowed herself to be led upstairs
as well.

Genma found Kasumi and told her what he had learned of the
day's events from Ranma. Kasumi assumed a cheerfully
business-like manner and soon had everyone arranged. She sent
Nabiki to tend to Akane, while she herself made some tea.

She looked at Genma. "Uncle, I am going to talk to Father
for a while in the dining room. Please try to see that we
are not disturbed."

Genma nodded. In her own way, Kasumi was as formidable as
anyone else he knew.

Kasumi's eyes twinkled for a moment. "Also, Auntie Saotome
arrived a few minutes ago. I believe she is out in the yard."

Genma felt his pulse quicken a little. Nodoka was here! He'd
used to shudder at the thought of her presence; now he was
acting as he did twenty years ago, when the sight of her had
made him forget that the rest of the world existed.

He turned and headed out into the yard. He actually found
her standing on the porch, very near the door.

Nodoka looked at him, smiling, and bowed deeply. "So good to
see you, husband. It seems you have had a busy night."

Genma bowed back. "It... it is a pleasure to see you as
well." He berated himself; he was acting like a teenager
again. He continued more forcefully. "This is a bad situation.
We face a dangerous enemy."

"You face problems with your warriors also. All is not well
between them, yet you keep them together and prevent them
from fighting. I was watching you just now, Genma. You acted
very much like an adult tonight."

This was part praise, part condemnation, but it was still
the nicest thing she had said to him in a long time. And she
was still smiling. Genma found himself flushing very slightly;
she was beautiful, and just beyond his reach.

Her smile took on a slightly mischievous tint. "In fact, I
feel... quite lonely. It would be good to have someone escort
me back to my house. I would love to have some company to share
some tea with me this evening."

Genma's heart started pounding. Her smile was warm and inviting.
She was putting herself back within his reach. He just had to reach
out and take her.

His thoughts, unfortunately, intruded. Cologne was still out
there, and might attack without warning. He could not leave
his son and the others alone; they would need all the help
they could get. Plus, Soun was likely to need his presence.
A game of shoji or go was good for Soun whenever he became
overwrought.

Very reluctantly, unable to believe what he was about to
say, he shook his head. "I cannot, No-chan, not tonight. I
am needed here. I am very sorry."

To his surprise, her smile widened. "You *are* learning some
responsibility after all. Very good, Genma. Very, very
good." She went over and kissed him lightly on the cheek.
"You keep this up, and you may be over for tea sooner than
you think."

She bowed and left.

Genma stared after her, flabbergasted. The woman was
uncanny. He could never tell what she was thinking behind
her smile, and it was often the very opposite of what he
supposed. During the early years of their marriage, he had
found this very irritating. Now, it intrigued him.

She was just outside his reach, but leaning in. If he could
just make sure he didn't lose his balance now.

***

Akane woke up from a dream that had wavered between
frightening images of Shampoo with a sword to comforting
images of her mother. She tried to retain the memories of
her dreams, but they slipped through her grasp. She sighed
regretfully.

She sat up slowly, most of her body aching, her knee
throbbing painfully. It would be best if she could get up
and walk around on it a little. She was quite hungry, too.

She looked over to see Ranma, sitting in a chair, his head
on his chest. Nabiki was on the floor, lying on a sleeping
mat, still fully clothed. Akane smiled fondly at them. They
both had trouble telling her about their feelings, but they
didn't have any problems showing her how much they cared.

She got up quietly, trying not to disturb them. She might
have made it, too, if she hadn't grunted when she put weight
on her knee. Ranma opened his eyes and looked at her with
alarm. "Hey! Get back into bed. You know what Tofu-sensei said."

"I'm fine, Ranma." She let a note of acerbity slip into her voice.
"I just need to walk around for a while, loosen up my muscles."
She softened her voice. "Why don't you go lie down and sleep for
a little while more?"

"It's because, my stupid sister, the fool won't leave your
side for a second." Nabiki sat up and yawned mightily.
"Plus, he happens to be right. Sensei says you're to rest
today. He'll be over later to check on you, if we can keep
him away from Kasumi, that is."

Akane glared at Nabiki, who returned it calmly. For once,
Nabiki was holding the moral high ground. Akane relented.
"At least let me go take a bath."

Ranma sprung up. "Let me help."

Akane slapped him. "Pervert. I can do this on my own, thank
you very much."

Ranma's face darkened. "That's not what I meant! You're
always jumping to conclusions."

Akane limped to the doorway. "That's because you're always
thinking of the same thing. Just like Happosai."

"I do not! Why would - "

"It is so nice," Nabiki interrupted, "to see you two acting
normally again. I was afraid I was going to have nothing to
look forward to each morning besides the sight of the two of
you staring at each other dreamily."

Akane looked over at Nabiki, who had a droll look on her face.
Akane was torn between biting Nabiki's head off, and laughing
out loud. Ranma, too, looked like he didn't know how to react.

Akane smiled and opened her door. She made her way to the
bathroom, carefully watching her step. Her knee still hurt a
lot. She went inside, glad to notice the air full of steam.
Someone had already drawn a bath. Probably Kasumi; she was so
considerate. Still watching her step, Akane made her way to
the stool. She carefully took off her pajamas, washed herself
under the shower, then slipped gingerly into the bathtub.

Somehow during this entire exercise, she had completely
missed the fact that someone was already in the bathtub.

She looked to see Shampoo, her long hair wrapped in a towel,
cowering at the far end of the tub. She had her hands over
her mouth, and her eyes were wide with fear.

Anger overcame Akane. She would have stormed out of the
bathroom, but she didn't trust her knee enough to allow any
sudden movements. She satisfied herself with glaring at Shampoo,
hoping she would get the message. Instead of leaving,
Shampoo merely cowered further, almost whimpering.

This was so unlike Shampoo that Akane's anger began to fade
a little. She contented herself with giving a sniff and
looking away from Shampoo. She stretched out her legs, letting
the heat of the tub relax her muscles.

"Akane..." Shampoo sounded tentative, another first for her.
Akane ignored her completely.

"Shampoo is... sorry, Akane. Shampoo so much want Ranma. She
no like Akane because Akane already have Ranma's heart."
Shampoo's voice got quieter. "Shampoo so jealous, so envious
of Akane. She give her kiss of death. But kiss of death is
not allowed for this in Amazon law. Kiss of death only for
those who defeat us in combat. Womans not supposed to fight
over stupid man. Womans' bond supposed to be stronger than that.
Shampoo forget that, forget Amazon law. Only want Ranma."

Akane was having a hard time staying angry in the face of Shampoo's
self-effacing remarks. Still, Akane had tremendous wells of anger
to draw upon. She glared at Shampoo once again. "Why? It's so
silly; Ranma beat you by accident when he was a guy. The bonbori
fell on your head; he didn't mean for it to do that. Why would
something like that make you fall in love with him?"

Shampoo looked down into the water. "All her life, Shampoo
has trained to be a great warrior. Is her destiny to lead
the Amazons, that what Shampoo tell herself. Amazons great
warriors; is none who can oppose us. Ranma beat Shampoo.
Even if accident, still beat Shampoo. Shampoo have hard time
believing that." Shampoo looked back up at Akane. "Is better
for Shampoo to say, this man is my love, rather than, this
man is better fighter than Shampoo."

Akane stared at Shampoo. She couldn't think of anything to say.

Shampoo's eyes lowered again. "Shampoo has always had so
many mans chasing her, she could no understand why Ranma no
fall in love with her. She began to see how good Ranma is. Is
strong fighter, strongest fighter. Is brave, is handsome. Shampoo
love him more and more. More and more, Shampoo realize Ranma no
love her. Is very hurtful."

Akane's anger finally melted. She knew all about unrequited
love. It had hurt Akane to give up on Tofu-sensei in favor
of her sister, but at least she had had Ranma.

Shampoo began sniffling. "Is easy to let Great-grandmother
tell Shampoo how to force Ranma to love her. Is easy to do
all sorts of hurtful, sneaky things to try to win Ranma's love.
What means honor, pride, Amazon way, when it mean Shampoo can no
have Ranma?" Shampoo looked up at Akane, tears streaming from her
eyes. "Shampoo is ashamed. She no really want to kill Akane. She
knew Mousse would stop her. But she still hurt Akane, torture
Akane. Torture Ranma because Akane hurt. Shampoo want to make up
for all that. Shampoo give her life to Akane. Akane say, Shampoo
do. Akane say, 'Die Shampoo', Shampoo dies."

Akane blew out a frustrated breath. Shampoo had gone from
one extreme to the other. There seemed to be no middle ground
in the young Amazon. Still, this Shampoo was preferable to the
sword-wielding one. She would make a useful ally.

Akane stared at Shampoo for a long time, trying to measure her.
This time, Shampoo met her gaze. Although there were still
tears on her face, some of her usual arrogance and pride had
slipped into her bearing. Her chin was up, her face was set in
a calm, accepting expression, and her eyes held a glint of the
fierce determination that made her an Amazon. For the first
time, Akane could see these as admirable qualities in Shampoo.

Akane almost smiled. This was more of a woman she could call
a friend.

"All right, Akane says... er, I mean I say... give up on
Ranma. Stop chasing him. Don't try to make him marry you."

Shampoo stared at her defiantly. "Is too late."

Akane's anger rose in full force, along with a tinge of
desperation. "What do you mean? You told me -"

"Shampoo means, is too late, Shampoo has already given up on
Ranma. Ranma is rude, stupid, silly boy. Tomboy can have him.
Shampoo has better things to do than make love-eyes at half-man."

Akane cried incoherently and lunged at Shampoo. She forgot
about her knee, though, and could only move so far before
the pain forced her to stop. Shampoo sprung out of the tub,
wrapped herself in some towels, and turned towards Akane.

"Shampoo can go now, Akane?" She had that superior tone in
her voice again, a trait she shared with Kodachi that had
always set Akane's teeth on edge. Akane looked around for
something to throw at her. Nothing came readily to her eye,
so she just yelled, "Get out!"

Shampoo smiled sweetly. "Shampoo obeys." Her smile faltered,
and for a moment she and Akane stared at each other. Akane
could see the pain in her eyes, a sadness that spoke of how
hard it had been to release Ranma from her heart. Dropping her
eyes finally, Shampoo turned and left.

Akane settled back, trying to calm herself. Shampoo was a
strange woman. Akane was surprised to realize that she had
already forgiven Shampoo in her heart. If Shampoo could learn
to control herself, Akane could easily see her becoming a great
leader of her people.

If Akane didn't kill her first. Shampoo was still an infuriating
person to deal with. Akane relaxed in the tub, fantasizing about
various creative ways she could order Shampoo to her death.

***

Ranma sighed and removed the headphones. One of these days,
he was going to come in here and destroy Nabiki's stereo
system. For now, though, she had the amazing ability to anticipate
crucial conversations and to put herself into a position to
overhear them. The bathroom had been a lot further away than
Akane's room or the outside porch, but Nabiki had produced a
very long - and well-used - microphone cord that reached the
bathroom window easily.

Ranma considered what he had just heard. He still wasn't
sure he was ready to forgive Shampoo (being called a rude
half-man certainly didn't help), but he was more willing to
listen than he had been.

Nabiki removed her headphones and looked at Ranma. "Well,
there you go, Ranma, all fiancees accounted for."

Ranma glared at her. "Don't forget, Shampoo includes
Cologne. I ain't sure that Shampoo wouldn't go back to
chasing me if the old hag puts her up to it."

"Hmmm." Nabiki stared at the ceiling. "Probably right. Can I
help?"

Ranma thought about it. "I dunno that there's much you can do
in this situation. It's sure to be a fight. If she tries to
drive us into bankruptcy, though, I'll be sure to let you know."

Nabiki snorted at that. "Just let her try."

Ranma got up and left Nabiki's room. He climbed down the stairs
and left the house to enter the dojo. Pop was probably waiting
for their morning workout. It would be a good way to clear his head.

He slid open the dojo door and froze. His father was lying in the
center of the dojo, face up, his eyes staring vacantly at the ceiling.

Ranma had no time to think. Instinctively, he leapt backwards,
watched as a staff just missed hitting him in the chest. He hit the
ground and took a few steps back, putting himself in the ready
position. "Mousse!" Ranma shouted, his voice reverberating through
the courtyard. "She's here!" He paused for a moment, considering
the tactical situation. "Kasumi! Get everyone out of the house, NOW!
That means your father, too." Uncle Tendo would be of little help;
his best martial arts form was years behind him.

During his shouted commands, his eyes had not left the dojo door.
As he had watched, the lights inside went out. The slight darkness
inside deepened, become pitch black. Cologne was up to something,
and up to something big. He could hear her chanting in Chinese
inside the dojo.

Mousse ran up beside him, as did Shampoo. Ranma had no time
to waste on considering whether or not to trust her; he had
no choice, now.

Still keeping his eyes on the door, he asked, "What's she chanting?"

Mousse turned his head a little. "It's a prayer of some sort. She's
asking for the spirits of the Amazons to come and save their people.
It's hard to make out, something about restoring glory."

"She using Ancestor Stone."

Ranma flicked his eyes over at Shampoo, then back towards
the dojo. "What's that?"

"Is most powerful magic piece Amazons have. It call spirits
of greatest Amazon warriors to come protect Amazons during
troubles. Is dangerous." Shampoo's voice turned dark. "Shampoo
thinks Great-grandmother should not use it for this. Spirits
may be angry, who knows how spirits react."

Ranma licked his lips. "Maybe we should attack now, before
she succeeds."

"Too late, Son-in-law." Cologne appeared at the dojo door.
Vague shapes could be seen in the darkness behind her.
Cologne's eyes moved over to consider Shampoo. She started
speaking in Chinese.

"Mousse! Translate!" Ranma barked, realizing belatedly he
could have said it nicer.

Mousse, however, didn't seem offended. "She's asking Shampoo
if she wants to join me in disgracing the Amazons. She says
she will be very disappointed if Shampoo disobeys her elders."

Shampoo shot a look at Ranma, then answered in Japanese. "Is not
Shampoo who has disgraced Amazons. Is Great-grandmother. Shampoo
no longer allow it. Too long has been spent in Japan, away
from tribe. Shampoo thinks Great-grandmother has forgotten
what it is to be Amazon now. Amazons is different, better than
before. Great-grandmother no try to make Amazons be like before.
Be like before is to be destroyed. Amazons adapt. Shampoo adapts.
Great-grandmother stays the same." Shampoo adopted a fighting
stance. "Is time Great-grandmother stopped being matriarch. Is
maybe time for Great-grandmother to write poems and play with
childrens and leave Amazon business to modern Amazons."

Cologne stood, the very picture of righteous indignation.
"Child," she answered in Japanese, "the day I give up
guiding the Amazons is the day I lay down and die."

Shampoo's voice was cold and deadly. "If that is how Great-
grandmother wants it to be, then that is how it will be."
She faltered a little, spoke again, imploring. "Great-grandmother,
Shampoo no want to fight you. Shampoo has given up Ranma, no
want him. Shampoo want to go back to China with Mousse and
Great-grandmother. Is nothing in Japan but sadness and pain.
Love and healing is home."

Cologne thrust her staff at Shampoo. "I will not allow us to
return, defeated, humiliated before the whole tribe. Ranma
will be your groom, and you and he will make the Amazons stronger
than they have ever been before. You will lead the Amazons to a
new age of glory!"

With this, Cologne turned to the shadows behind her and
started making commanding statements in Chinese.

Mousse spoke up quickly. "She is asking the spirits to help
her return the Amazons to glory. You, Ranma, need to be taught
the folly of resisting the will of the Amazon people. You are to
be beaten, humiliated, but not killed. Shampoo only needs to be
subdued, she is a worthy Amazon, temporarily..." Mousse faltered,
continued. "Temporarily bewitched by a traitor to the Amazons, a
half-man, half-duck abomination that needs to be eradicated. She
is imploring the spirits not to falter in their duty; the entire
future of the Amazon tribe is at stake."

Ranma swallowed. This was not going to be fun.

The shadows came out of the dojo. They resolved themselves into
female fighters of various shapes and sizes. Some carried weapons -
bonbori, swords, staves, axes, even polearms - while some crouched
confidently into bare handed fighting stances. They seemed to carry
blackness with them. No matter where they stood, they appeared to be
hiding in deep shadow. There looked to be a hundred of them.

Ranma drew in a breath. "Shampoo! Mousse! Form a triangle. We'll
keep our backs to each other. Don't let them draw you away. If they
surround you, you're done for. Wait for them to attack. You're each
responsible for a third of a circle, which is about your field of
vision looking straight ahead. Don't go for an enemy outside your
area; you'll just leave yourself open elsewhere. We gotta trust
each other. Don't hold back; these folks are already dead."

Ranma watched as Shampoo and Mousse moved to either side of him.
He needed more people. Ryoga would be great to have right now.
And about twenty fighters just like him. They were stuck with what
they had.

Ranma made one brief prayer. Let Akane be safe. Let Mom and Dad
get back together and be happy. Protect the Tendos and the
Saotomes and all their friends.

He wanted to add some more about his feelings for Akane, but
the Amazon spirits attacked.

They fell in a wave. Ranma block a staff, ducked under a
sword, and kicked a bare-handed woman back into some other
shadows. As he fought, his hopes for victory sank. These
spirits were very good. The best of the Amazon warriors,
Shampoo had said. They needed fifty Ryogas at least.

Weapons were flying from Mousse at a prodigious rate, but
Ranma knew that couldn't last. Shampoo seemed to be having
difficulty already. Ranma sent four more warriors flying,
but suffered a nasty cut in his side and a glancing blow to
his head in the process. These women were very, very good.

Ranma pushed a bare-handed attacker back, and tried to apply
an equalizer. "Hiryu Shoten Ha!" A huge whirlwind appeared
in front of him, scattering the shadows.

The area before him momentarily clear, Ranma turned quickly
to his right to aid Shampoo. He could see the spirits were
going easy on her, but her clothes were torn in several places,
and blood trickled from a couple of scratches. She had acquired
some shadow bonbori and was using them to good affect, keeping
the spirits at bay. Still, assessing the situation at a glance,
he knew that they would have her easily if either he or Mousse
fell.

He had no time to look at Mousse as the spirits gathered in
front of him again. These spirits seemed to take no damage.
He could push them back, send them flying, but they had no
flesh to bruise, no bones to break. They seemed to be nothing
more than shadow given substance. Ranma had no idea how to
combat them effectively.

Ranma could think of nothing better to do than to cut their
losses. He grimaced. I'm sorry, Akane, he thought to himself.
He turned himself slightly and aimed himself at the pond.
With another cry of "Hiryu Shoten Ha!", a second whirlwind
formed. This one sent water from the pond flying into the air.
It landed in the center of the triangle, drenching him and
the others.

Ranma turned and grabbed Mousse. "Go! Get away from here,
protect Shampoo!" She threw the duck into the air, where it
took wing and circled the yard.

Ranma closed her eyes and rolled to the other side. She felt
for Shampoo's fur. She'd hoped not seeing Shampoo would make
it easier, but it didn't. The very act of touching Shampoo
made her tremble in fear, but she had to resist it just this
once. She grabbed the cat and flung it in what she hoped was
the right direction. If she had done this right, Shampoo would
land on the roof of the house, where she'd be able to climb
down the other side and get away.

Ranma opened her eyes, trying to forget she had just touched
a cat. She had much worse things to worry about. In a way,
she was a little freer than before; she could dance around
and do some airborne attacks, which was her specialty. A quick
look, however, told her how ineffective it would ultimately
be. There were just too many of them, and they were too good.

Ranma leapt to her feet. She would never give up, she'd rather
die first. She had the feeling, however, that neither would
happen. These spirits would beat her within an inch of her life
and then dump her in front of Cologne, who would make Ranma wish
she had died in the fight.

Ranma shouted her defiance. "Come on, come and get me! I'll
take you all on! A hundred to one odds mean nothing to me,
I'll pound you all back to wherever you came from! You're all
a bunch of wimps! Let's do it!" It made her feel a little better,
staved off the despair, if only for a minute.

The spirits seemed quite surprised by the events of the past
few seconds. Some continued forward but were stopped by others.
A few of the shadows turned back towards the dojo. Ranma, trying
to look all directions at once and failing, decided to look
at what they were staring at. It turned out to be Cologne.

"This is not honorable combat, child." One of them spoke in
a quiet whisper that seemed to be in Ranma's mind more than
in her ears. With a start, she realized they were speaking
Chinese, but somehow she understood them. "This woman is full
of the spirit of the Amazons and should not be humiliated as
you command. What is the meaning of pulling us from our slumber
for such as this?"

Cologne spoke quickly, fearfully. She too spoke Chinese, but
Ranma heard it echoed in her mind, and understood her as
well. "He is not a woman, he is a mere man. He has been cursed
so that cold water changes him into a woman. His true nature
is that of a man. He has defied the will of the Amazons. He
must be brought down and made a slave of the Amazons, so we
can use him to inspire our people to greatness again."

A cat leapt to the ground near Cologne. Ranma recoiled
reflexively and averted her eyes. The cat meowed, sending
more shivers up her spine. "The Amazons are great already."
Somehow, this was Shampoo's voice, without the heavy accent
which made her diction almost a parody of itself. "She merely
wishes to keep the Amazons rooted in the past, a past which
will lead to the destruction of the Amazons. Her hope is
merely for revenge on the ones who forced the Amazons to
live in the world once more, rather than hiding behind their
fences and hoping no one would notice them. She does not care
if the Amazons are outnumbered a hundred million to one.
Her pride is more important."

Ranma heard something flutter; he realized Mousse had landed
by the dojo as well. "This is a new world the Amazons live
in." Mousse's voice was strong and resonant. His voice was
without an accent also, and it made it sound more powerful
somehow. "One where we must trade with those outside our
village, where we must be considerate of the rights of other
tribes, or they will unite and grind us to dust. I honor my
ancestors, and wish them peace. This is not a battle they
needed to be pulled from their slumber for. Return to sleep,
and know that the Amazons live, and that they will set an
example of prosperity that will be the envy of the world."

Cologne looked frantically around, as if trying to find an
ally somewhere nearby. "These young ones would have us
forget our glorious past. They seek to change the very
concept of who we are. They cannot be permitted to do this,
you must -"

One of the spirit warriors, taller than most of the others,
with a bearing twice as proud, interrupted. "When I lead the
Amazons from their male oppressors, we too had to change all
that we were. Some could not accept it, and went back to their
men. Those who stayed made us stronger; they accepted the new
order, and we flourished as a result. I see the fire in these
two young Amazons; it is the same fire that burned in us when
we founded Joketsuzoku."

She looked over at Mousse and Shampoo. "These are not forms
befitting Amazons." She reached out, and black shadow flew
from her fingertips to encase Mousse and Shampoo. When the
shadows were lifted, Shampoo and Mousse had been returned to
human form. Mousse wore his white robes and Shampoo had her
purple outfit on. They both looked around, dazed.

The tall warrior stepped closer to Cologne. "In you I see
fear. Fear of losing your power; fear of the outside world;
fear of change. Such fear is not worthy of an Amazon. Your
abuse of the power granted to you as a matriarch is not
tolerated. You were warned about misusing the Ancestor Stone."

The shadow warriors closed on Cologne. She screamed, a sound
Ranma found more horrible than any other sound she had ever heard.
"Shampoo! Mousse! Help me!" The shadow warriors surrounded her.

"Great-grandmother!" Shampoo tried to reach Cologne, but was
stopped by more shadow warriors, who simply interposed themselves
and wouldn't let Shampoo or Mousse through. Mousse flung one
of his arms, and seemed surprised when nothing came out of his
sleeve.

Ranma grimaced; she knew she was going to regret this. She
leapt over most of the shadow warriors and landed very near
Cologne. She could see some of her hair and a piece of her green
wraparound among the press of the Amazon spirits. Ranma
began fighting her way closer, trying to catch a hold of Cologne.

Something grabbed Ranma's neck. She was lifted off her feet.
She kicked her feet and grabbed at the hand at her throat,
but it was no good; the hand's grip was incredibly strong. She
found herself face to face with the tall Amazon warrior.

"Such a noble heart, such a proud bearing, such a strong and
brave spirit. You would have made a fine Amazon. It's a pity
you're only a man." She flung Ranma across the courtyard.

Ranma bounced up and ran back towards the dojo. But she was
far too late. The spirits faded, and Cologne with them. As
Ranma reached the dojo, all that was left of Cologne was the
echo of her last scream.

Shampoo was clutching Mousse, sobbing. Ranma was surprised
to see tears coming from Mousse's eyes, as well. Ranma stood
there, unsure of what she was feeling. Her greatest enemy had just
been defeated, but she would not have wanted Cologne to meet
her fate in that manner.

With a start, she remembered her father. She ran into the
dojo, to find her father sitting up and shaking his head.
She ran over and squatted on the floor next to him. "Father,
are you all right?"

"I'm fine, son." He looked around in alarm. "Cologne is
here. We must act quickly."

"Cologne is... gone. For good." Ranma found that her eyes were
watering, and wiped them quickly. It wouldn't do to cry in
front of the old man.

Her father looked at her, a strange expression on his face.
He reached over and put an arm around her shoulders. He drew
her in, and suddenly Ranma was hugging her father as if her life
depended on it. There was sadness and relief and joy in the
hug, and it felt good to share it with him.

***

Akane sat on her bed, reflecting on the day's events. There
were reasons to celebrate, and to mourn.

Her father had carried her as he and the rest of the family
fled to Auntie Saotome's house. There they had fearfully awaited
the results of the battle, debating what should be done if they
didn't hear from Ranma soon. Finally, the phone had rung. An
exuberant Auntie had announced that it was Ranma, and she was
telling them to come home.

The storm clouds that had threatened all day had finally
darkened to the point that rain was inevitable. No one had
thought to bring umbrellas as they had fled the house, so
they had run back, although Akane suspected there was more
than one reason for their hurry.

They had tumbled into the house and run to the back porch, Akane
forcing her father to set her down. The yard was a mess; it
looked as if dozens of people had fought there, and that Ranma
had let loose some of her fireworks.

Ranma and her father were standing over Shampoo and Mousse,
who were kneeling on the ground outside the dojo, hugging
each other. Shampoo was crying steadily, and Mousse's face was
wet, but they hadn't seemed hysterical. Ranma and her father
had seemed to be doing their best to console them, and it
appeared to be helping.

Finally, Shampoo had looked up at the crowd of people on the
porch. She had said something to Mousse, and they had risen
from the ground. Shampoo had looked evenly at Ranma, then taken
her hand and smiled at her. Ranma had grinned at her, and they
had come over to the group by the porch.

Shampoo had stopped just outside the porch, standing in
front of Akane. "Shampoo this day says to Akane, debt is
paid. Great-grandmother..." She had paused, fighting back a sob.
After a second, she had continued. "Great-grandmother is no
longer threat to Akane or Ranma. Blood has paid for blood. Let
there be no more hurtings between us."

Akane had looked at her a long second, then had bowed deeply
to Shampoo. "Let us fight no more, Shampoo. You were a good
friend, and helped our family, and I am honored to know you."

Shampoo had merely nodded; bowing was not something Chinese
did. She had looked over at Mousse. "Is time to go home. We
sell restaurant; we pack, we leave. Shampoo never want to see
Japan again."

Akane's eyes had widened. She was curiously sad to know she
would never see Shampoo again. "Why don't you come with us
to the beach? It's only six weeks from now; you'll need that
much time to put your stuff in order. Please, one last time
together, that's what we're always saying about it."

Shampoo had looked reluctant. "Shampoo don't know, is not
good that we be killing each other one day, playing at beach
the next."

Akane had smiled. "I order you to come to the beach. I order
you to bring Mousse with you."

Shampoo had smiled also, and for the first time that Akane
could recall, had looked like a happy teenager. "Okay, is
last order Shampoo obey. We go to beach, we be happy, we
say goodbye."

Then the rain had started, as if a faucet had been turned
on. It came down in sheets, and Akane had cursed the fact
that they had not gone inside.

Shampoo had seemed irritated, too. "Is stupid, standing here
in open." She'd looked down at her outfit. "Is getting wet
clothes spirits made for her."

Mousse had stood there in shock. He'd slowly raised his
hands, stared at them, then turned to Shampoo, a smile
threatening to cut his face in half. "Shampoo!"

Shampoo had looked at him curiously. "What is Mousse looking
so stupid about?"

He'd looked at her, beaming. "Your hair looks beautiful when
it's wet. So much better than fur."

Shampoo's eyes had widened, and she'd looked down at herself.
"Aiyaa!" She had looked up at Mousse, and they'd hugged each
other in happiness, doing an impromptu dance in the courtyard.

Ranma had looked wistfully at them. "Just 'cause a guy ain't
an Amazon, doesn't mean they couldn't have helped him out,
too." But she had smiled at the couple. It was too hard not
to share in Mousse's and Shampoo's excitement.

Akane smiled at the memory. There was a lot to be happy for.
Shampoo and Mousse, cured. The last of Ranma's fiancees
dealt with. So many chances for happiness now.

Akane's face fell a little. So many chances for sadness,
too. Ranma had been less than exuberant. He thought there
were still other problems to deal with - something about
"the pig still after Akane", though Akane herself had no
idea what he was talking about - and he had seemed nervous
and edgy all throughout the victory dinner Kasumi and Auntie
Saotome had made for them.

Akane's mouth turned down; she remembered the scene in the
dojo two days ago. Maybe he was thinking of a way to deal
with one last fiancee.

There was a tapping at her window. She looked up to see
Ranma hanging upside-down just outside. He always gave her
the creeps when he did that. She got out of her bed and
limped towards the window. She opened it and stared at him.
He looked nervous. He reached out his hand. "Can we talk for
a minute?"

She looked at him doubtfully, but took his hand. He pulled
her out the window, and Akane once again marveled at his
strength. He lifted her to the roof with him. He stared
down at her, then gave her a tentative kiss.

Akane had accepted the kiss, but she could tell he had
something else on his mind. He broke off the kiss, looked at
her again, then helped her to sit down on the roof. The storm
was gone, and the stars seemed very bright. You couldn't see
many of them, in the city. Akane remembered how many of them
there had been in the Higo Forest. They'd been breathtaking.

"Akane..." Ranma was struggling with something. Akane was
afraid of what it might be. He sat there, biting his lip,
trying to get the courage to say something. Akane sighed and
held him, a bit shaky. She wasn't sure she wanted to hear this.

Ranma's head jerked to the side all of a sudden, and a
suspicious look came over his face. "Excuse me a sec,
Akane," he said causally. He walked along the roof, hooked his
feet into the gutter and leaned over the edge. "Yaaaaahhhhhhh!"
Ranma's shout was loud, and it was immediately followed by a
shriek from inside. Someone threw a string of curses at Ranma,
who merely lifted himself back up. He came over to sit down next
to Akane, putting a disconnected microphone on the roof next to him.

Somehow the whole exercise put Akane's mind at ease. If he
was in the mood to break up with her, he wouldn't have
played that joke on Nabiki. For once, she hadn't jumped to
any conclusions, and it had paid off for her. She snuggled
up to him, while he continued to struggle with himself.

Suddenly it hit Akane. He was finally going to say the
words. He was finally going to admit that he loved her.
Akane's spirits rose to new heights; she'd been waiting
for this moment for a long time. She turned her head down
so that Ranma wouldn't see her silly grin.

She spent the time Ranma used to gather his courage to
consider how she was going to respond. A casual, "I love you
too, idiot"? That would throw him off his stride. Or, "Do
you love me more than you love Kasumi's cooking?" Nah, that
wouldn't go over well. How about, in a silly voice, "My
darling, how long I've waited for those words, oh you must
say them again, please oh please?" Her grin grew broader,
imagining the look on his face.

Finally, he seemed ready, and drew himself away a little bit
to put some room between them. As if the small distance made
it easier to say. Akane had to decide quickly what she was
going to say. She decided to go with the most honest response,
which was to hug him fiercely and say, "I love you, Ranma."

She looked steadily at him, waiting for the moment.

Ranma thrust his hands into his pockets. He opened his
mouth, but nothing came out. He closed it, opened it again.
"I... I say some bad things sometimes, without even thinking
about it. My mouth just starts saying stuff, and I don't pay
any attention to what comes out. So, I was thinking, I needed
to give you something, something that would tell you that no
matter what my mouth says sometimes, I... I feel another way
about you."

She smiled. Enough preamble, Ranma, she thought to herself.
Give me the words. I know what you're going to say, and I
feel the same way, but it'll be so good to hear the words at
long last.

"Akane..." Here it comes.

"Akane, will you marry me?"

Akane blinked. Those weren't the words he was supposed to
say. She looked down to notice that Ranma had removed his
hands from his pockets and was holding a box out to her.

Akane's mind exploded. There was no other way to describe
it. Everything she thought she knew, every assumption she
had ever made about Ranma, told her that he simply could
not have spoken those words. She stared stupidly at the box,
for the life of her unable to figure out what to do. She
made her hands take the box; they were shaking horribly.
She tried to open it, but couldn't make it work.

Gently, smiling, Ranma took the box from her, opened it, and
put it into her palm. She gazed at it: a simple gold ring,
not much, he'd probably had to borrow money from Nabiki to
afford this much. But on the roof, under the stars, in Ranma's
presence, it was the most precious thing in the world.

Numbly, she took the ring out of the box. Again Ranma
intervened, taking the ring and putting it on her finger.
She looked down at it; it fit perfectly. It was beautiful.

She looked up at him. The tears were beginning to flow, she
was finally beginning to react. "Oh Ranma..."

He looked down at her, smiling, confident, all hesitation
gone. "I love you, Akane."

With a sob, she flung herself into his arms. She cried into
his shoulder, unable to stop. He held her tightly.

She pushed herself up, still sobbing, and looked into his
face. "I... I... I..." The sobbing wouldn't let her finish.

He was smiling, happy, amused. "You love me too?"

"Yes!" She grabbed his face and kissed him, the sobbing make
it mostly ineffectual. They went back to hugging. Akane
calmed herself.

She was still afraid to speak for fear of triggering the
sobs again. She continued to hold Ranma, looking over his
shoulder at the stars reflected in the pond. She looked
down at her hand to gaze at her engagement ring.

The promise of the future, given solid form. The direction
that future would take, holding her in his arms right now.
The whisperings in her heart, telling her that better things
were ahead. Akane sighed, too full of the knowledge of these
things to contain herself.

One other thought came to her. It made her laugh, but it was
also touched with a hint of pride, of self-confidence she
hadn't realize she'd possessed.

The other women never really had a chance.

***********************************************************

Part VIII - Decisions

"Bakusai Tenketsu!"

The rock exploded in front of Ryoga, to reveal more rock
behind. Ryoga stopped to wipe his brow; he'd been at this
for hours now. He was going to hit the surface eventually,
he knew. He just hoped it was somewhere that looked familiar.

It didn't help that he had a huge statue strapped to his
back. He leaned back and let it rest on the ground. It was a
statue of a big, silly-looking bear, banging on a big drum.
Ryoga had mixed feelings about the statue. It was a present
for Akane. Or maybe it was for Akari. He didn't know who it
was for. He had a lot to work out in his mind. For now, the
statue remained on his back.

He lifted it up again and stepped forward. He focused on the
rock in front of him, looking at the way it was shaped,
finding the flows in the rock that would tell him its breaking
point. "Bakusai Tenketsu!"

This time, the exploding rock revealed daylight. Ryoga sighed,
then reached around and turned off the lantern strapped to his
backpack. He widened the opening a little, then stepped out.

He was in the middle of a street. Some people were looking
at him strangely, but he was used to it. He looked around,
hoping to find some place familiar. The restaurant across
the street looked familiar, but it was named "Ukyo's".
Obviously not "Ucchan's", which was too bad. He could usually
get a free okonomiyaki or two out of Ukyo.

He sighed again heavily. "Where am I?" he said to the open
air. What was usually best in these situations, he had
discovered, was to just start walking and not actually try
to get anywhere. That would usually get him someplace he
knew. As often as not, it was the Tendo Dojo.

Ryoga wandered down the street, lost in pleasant
anticipation of spending the night with Akane again.

***

"Kasumi, where's the damn shampoo? I can't find any in the
bathroom."

Kasumi frowned slightly as she turned to find Nabiki dressed
in nothing but a towel. "Nabiki, there's no reason to use
that kind of language."

Nabiki's scowl deepened. Kasumi was a little amused, inside.
Tonight was Nabiki's prom, and she had been on a rampage all
day preparing for it. Kasumi had already seen her tear into
Ranma over some little thing, and since then, the rest of
the family had steered clear. Kasumi was hoping she'd calm
down, as people usually did when talking to Kasumi. She gave
Nabiki a vacant smile, her specialty. No one could resist it.

Nabiki, though, had been experiencing it the longest. "Don't
give me that stupid look, Kasumi. I know there's more going
on in that pretty little head of yours than you let on. If
you'll just tell me where the da-, uh, where the shampoo is,
I'll get out of your room."

Kasumi couldn't help but laugh a little. She should know
better than to try and fool Nabiki; she was as good an
observer of human nature as Kasumi had ever seen. Almost as
good as Kasumi herself, although she'd never let Nabiki
know that. "I had to do some shopping today. Akane said she
would put away the groceries, so I imagine she'll bring it
up the next time she comes upstairs."

Nabiki whirled and ran out into the hallway. Kasumi could
hear her shout angrily "Akane!".

Kasumi smiled and went out into the hallway herself. She
watched as Akane and Nabiki growled at each other from the
stairs for a minute, which ended with a bottle of shampoo
being thrown up the stairs at Nabiki, who deftly caught it.
She twirled, almost losing her towel in the process. She
quickly readjusted it.
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"Nabiki, would you like some help with your makeup later?"
Kasumi was the house expert on deftly applying minimal
makeup to best highlight natural beauty.

To her surprise, Nabiki looked almost guilty and shook her head.
"Er, no thanks, Kasumi, Akane will be helping me with that."

Kasumi blinked her eyes. "Oh my." She didn't know what to
make of that. Akane was good at makeup herself - one of the
few things she didn't overdo - but not as good as Kasumi.
She wondered what Nabiki was up to.

Nabiki looked at her, then reached over and took Kasumi's hand.
"If you really want to help me, keep Daddy off me when I leave.
He'll just want to hug me and slobber all over me and it'll
ruin everything." She looked at Kasumi, imploring her. "Please,
older sister? You're ever so good at managing Father."

As it happened, Kasumi had already planned some diversionary
tactics; she remembered her prom all too well. "Of course,
Nabiki. Don't worry about Father."

Nabiki smiled brightly. "Thanks, Kasumi!" She turned and ran
down the hallway into the bathroom.

Kasumi smiled and descended the stairs. Nabiki was trying so
hard. Kasumi hoped she remembered to have a good time.

She stepped into the kitchen and was surprised to find
Auntie Saotome already there, preparing tea. "Oh, no, you
mustn't do that, Auntie! Please, let me."

Auntie smiled at her. "Nonsense. I'm perfectly comfortable
serving tea to my husband and your father, and you've plenty
of other things to do."

"Yes, Auntie." Kasumi began her apron ritual. This time, it
brought back strong memories of her mother, probably helped
by Auntie's presence in the kitchen. Auntie was really becoming
more and more like a mother to the Tendo house. She helped out so
much, Kasumi wondered if she shouldn't go to the Saotome home
and help maintain it. She had mentioned it once, but Auntie had
laughingly refused.

"There is so little to do there, Kasumi," Auntie had replied.
"It has been so long since I've had to keep house for a family,
I'd forgotten how pleasant it was. I am greatly indebted to you
for allowing me to remember what it is like to be a mother
again." And she had bowed to a blushing Kasumi.

Kasumi was quite protective of her family, but had admitted
to herself that Auntie could do just as good a job running
the Tendo home as Kasumi could. For some reason, that relieved
her tremendously. She thought she would be jealous; instead, it
lessened her burden somehow.

Nabiki was going to college. She had the money she needed, and
she had already started making some contacts with businesses
who might want to hire her after college. She had also found a
good place to live. All in all, Nabiki was doing a wonderful
job of establishing an independent life for herself.

Akane and Ranma's relationship was proceeding by leaps and
bounds. Akane now wore an engagement ring, and she blushed
furiously anytime someone mentioned it. She had already endured
a few weeks worth of good-natured teasing by her classmates.

Ranma himself seemed embarrassed by the whole thing as well.
Kasumi knew, though, that this was a good thing for him. He
had done a good job of hiding his feelings of affection for
Akane; the ring was a constant reminder to him and the rest
of the world that those feelings weren't so hidden anymore.
Ranma himself had changed in the past few weeks. He seemed
more considerate, less rushed, and almost respectful. Very
much like a young man.

Kasumi would have preferred that they not get married so
young, but her father, Uncle Saotome and especially Auntie
Saotome were very eager to have the wedding as soon as
possible. Kasumi couldn't disagree with them publicly, but
privately she'd have liked to seen Akane graduate first.
Being a wife and a high school student would be very tough.
At least Kasumi and Auntie Saotome would be there to help.

Nabiki in college. Akane getting married. Auntie helping take
care of Father. These thoughts kept running around in Kasumi's head.

"Kasumi?"

Kasumi looked over at Auntie. "Hmm?"

"You've been drying your hands for five minutes now. Is
there something on your mind?"

Kasumi looked down at her hands, realizing that she had been
very lost in thought for a long time. "Oh my!" She took her
hands and patted them on her apron absently. She didn't know
what to say.

Auntie smiled, and poured two cups from the tea she had
prepared. "The men can wait. Let's drink some tea and talk,
eh, Kasumi?"

"Okay." She walked over, took a cup, and sipped it eagerly.
Its warmth ran down her throat and soothed her. "This is
very good, Auntie."

"Please call me Nodoka." She looked amused over the cup she
was bringing to her lips. "What is it that has you lost so
much in dreams?"

Kasumi blushed a little. "Oh, I was thinking of how
wonderful it was that Nabiki was graduating, and Akane was
getting married, and -"

"Now, Kasumi, I remember when I was your age; it was not
thoughts like those that had me staring dreamily at
nothing." Nodoka's eyes twinkled. "Who is he?"

Kasumi's blush deepened; she brought the tea cup to her lips
and put her face over it, trying to gain time to think. It
didn't help; she lowered the cup and looked at Nodoka, who
was smiling sympathetically at her.

Kasumi ran her finger around the lip of the tea cup. "Well,
there's this sensei who runs a clinic not to far away from
here - "

"What is his name?"

"Tofu. Ono Tofu." Just saying his name sent tingles up her spine.

"Does he love you, Kasumi?"

Kasumi swallowed and nodded. "He's - when I'm around him he
acts so... irrationally." She smiled at some of the memories.
"Akane tells me that his patients flee when they hear that I'm
coming over, for fear of what Tofu will do to them when he
is in such a frame of mind."

Nodoka nodded. "That sounds like love to me. But why have I
not met this man?"

Kasumi looked down. "I told him my family needed me too
much. They depended on me for so much; I couldn't leave
them. He understood."

Nodoka smiled. "A noble sacrifice you both made. And now, as
you say, Nabiki is going to college, and Akane is getting
married, and I am here to help with the house. Does it seem
like you are not as needed here as you used to be?"

Kasumi frowned. "That sounds selfish of me, doesn't it?"

Nodoka laughed. "Not at all. You have done so much to keep
the spirits of your family thriving happily. There does come
a point, Kasumi, where you must attend to your own spirit, or it
withers. Your family will always welcome your help, but they
will be much happier knowing that you have found peace and love
for yourself."

Kasumi considered the words for a long time. Slowly, she
felt the weight of a lifetime of responsibility being lifted
from her. Too long had the needs of her family come before her
personal needs. She had been a good daughter, and had performed
the duties her mother had asked her to assume when she had
fallen deathly ill. Now, it was nearly time for her to let her
family go its own way. She had her own household to establish.

She smiled, a good, wide smile. Her cheerful nature came through,
and this time it wasn't being used to cheer anyone up, or to deflect
their anger, or to comfort them during their troubles. Rather, it
simply reflected how happy she herself was. "Thank you, Nodoka. I
think I am going to prepare the dojo for a tea ceremony tonight.
May I ask you to make dinner? Oh, and please come get me when
Tatewaki arrives; I'll need to be there."

"Of course, Kasumi." Nodoka went over and gave her a hug. "I
hope he knows how fortunate he is. I know how lucky my son has
been to have you be there for him when I couldn't be." Nodoka
stepped back, her eyes glistening.

Kasumi found herself close to tears as well. Still smiling,
she turned and went outside to begin the preparations.

***

Ranma sat glumly on the roof. He'd been hoping to spend some
time with Akane today. However, Akane and Nabiki had been
spending the day getting ready for Nabiki's prom. They had
both been quite irritable, and when they weren't snapping at
everyone around them, they were yelling at each other. Ranma
had tasted their anger and found it not to his liking. Best
to stay here and out of trouble.

He looked to see Kasumi cleaning the courtyard. This surprised him;
this was something Uncle Tendo usually did. Ranma leapt down
to the ground and ran up to Kasumi, who seemed intent on
removing every loose twig in the yard. "Hey, let me help."

Kasumi looked up. She had her hair tied up in a loose bun.
She was grimy, dirty, and sweating. She was also wearing a
big, silly smile. The whole effect was unsettling; he had never
seen Kasumi this way before and didn't know what to make of it.

"Thank you, Ranma-kun, but I must do this by myself." She
reached into her pocket and pulled out a small scroll.
"However, it would be very helpful if you could deliver this
to Tofu-sensei for me."

Ranma took the scroll and looked at it curiously. "What is it?"

"Now, Ranma, it's not polite to ask such questions." She
bent back down to the grass, humming softly to herself.

Ranma stared at her a moment. What was she up to? He
shrugged; delivering the scroll would at least get him out
of the house where everyone was behaving so irrationally.

He leapt over the wall and ran to Tofu-sensei's clinic.
Maybe he'd find some answers there.

He burst through the door of the clinic, almost running into
a guy who was leaving. There were three patients sitting in
the waiting area, while Tofu-sensei was making some notes on
a clipboard he was holding.

Tofu-sensei looked up. "Hello, Ranma! What brings you here?
Is Akane okay?"

"She's fine, sensei." Akane's limp was gone and all her
bandages removed. Her scar was everything Tofu-sensei had
promised: nearly invisible, unless you got close and knew
where to look.

Ranma held out the scroll he was carrying. "Kasumi sent me
over here to give you this."

There was a scraping of chairs. Ranma looked to see the patients
bumping into one another in their haste to leave the clinic.

Tofu-sensei didn't notice; instead, his eyes lost focus and
his face grew a big silly smile. Very similar, Ranma was
startled to notice, to the smile Kasumi had been wearing on
her face. Tofu-sensei took the scroll from Ranma, broke the
seal, and opened it.

He seemed to be having difficulty reading it. When he
finished, he turned towards the skeleton hanging on the
wall. "Look, Betty-chan! Kasumi has invited me over for
tea tonight, isn't that nice?" He dropped the scroll,
picked up the skeleton, and began dancing with it.

Ranma looked on in bewilderment. He was also slightly
disgusted with himself; had he really expected to find
rationality here? He shrugged his shoulders, turned,
and left the clinic.

***

Ryoga struggled around the corner. He was finally beginning
to wear out. Carrying the heavy statue, tunneling, and then
wandering for hours were taking huge tolls on his tremendous
reserves of stamina. He was no closer to finding Akane or Akari,
and no closer to deciding what to do with the gift.

He looked ahead of himself and blinked. There was a guy walking
on the fence some distance ahead. Only one person that could be.
Ryoga shifted the weight on his shoulders and moved quickly
after Ranma.

Fortunately, Ranma didn't seem to be in a hurry, so Ryoga
was able to keep him in sight. Finally, Ranma hopped down,
walked half a block down the street, and entered a building.

Ryoga moved forward to confirm that it was the Tendo Dojo.
He relaxed; one major goal accomplished. Now he needed to
make some decisions. He moved around the house to the back
alley. He set the statue down and sat opposite it, trying
to think. He had to get this right.

Akane. Akari. The statue.

And Ranma, too.

***

Kuno Tatewaki watched as the driver pulled back on the
reins. The horses clattered to a halt. The driver jumped
down, opened up the carriage door, and put a step next to
the door. Tatewaki stood slowly up, gathered the corsage
from where it rested on the seat beside him, stepped carefully
from the carriage, and approached the Tendo home.

He stopped to check his outfit. He had his finest samurai
garb on. His shirt was in the style of kendo-gi, white with
three-quarter length sleeves, although it was made of silk
instead of the usual cotton. His hakama, which resembled a
pleated, divided skirt, was dark blue and almost glistened
in the dark. He had his katana thrust through his belt; he
didn't intend on drawing it tonight, but it felt right. After
his mother's death, he had stopped wearing his short tanto blade.

Satisfied with his appearance, he knocked on the door. It
wasn't long before a woman opened the door. He blinked; he
didn't know who she was. She had wide, friendly eyes, a
beautiful smile, and reddish-black hair. She looked vaguely
familiar, and with a start he realized she reminded him of
the pig-tailed girl.

That was Ranma, he had to remind himself. When he had first
met Ranma as a woman, he had become so obsessed with her,
that he had ignored the obvious signs that the pig-tailed girl and
Ranma were one and the same. It became harder and harder to
ignore the signs, to feign obviousness whenever he and Ranma
fell into some water (which happened a surprising number of times).
His obsessions were capable of warping everything he saw, and had
threatened to become full-blown madness.

Then Nabiki had begun spending lunch with him, sharing good
food, quiet conversation and pleasant company. She soothed
the raging fires which sometimes threatened to claim him. She
also had a keen eye for human nature, and would see things in
him and other people that he thought well-hidden. Her influence
had begun eating away at the barriers he had erected within
himself, until he finally could acknowledge to himself who the
pig-tailed girl really was.

The woman in front of him now, he realized, had to be Ranma's
mother. Nabiki had told him how she had been spending a lot of time
with the family recently. He bowed to her. "Saotome Nodoka-sama, it
is good to make your acquaintance. Perchance, is Tendo Nabiki-san
available to accompany me this evening?"

Her smile widened. She held the door open for him. "Come in,
Tatewaki-san. Nabiki will be down in a minute. Please wait
here and I will go fetch her." She waited until he came inside,
then quickly climbed the stairs.

Tatewaki stood, slightly impatient but not allowing it to
show. He gazed at the top of the stairs, waiting for Nabiki.

"Hey, Kuno-sempai, way cool clothes. Waiting for an invasion
fleet to appear so's you can hack 'em to bits?"

Tatewaki glanced over at Ranma, who was leaning against the
wall, appraising him. It would be so pleasant to draw his
katana and have at Ranma. Tatewaki knew, thought, that two
things would happen: he'd ruin the good mood he was in right
now, and Ranma would likely throw him against the wall,
ruining his outfit. Fortunately, he knew how to get under
Ranma's skin - something he had learned from Nabiki.

"Ah, Ranma-san. 'Tis good to see you. I understand you
professed your love to Akane. How good that you can so
easily display your emotions for the whole world to see, and
comment on. It has been much the topic of discussion in our
class, I know. I salute you on your forthright behavior."

As had hoped, Ranma started turning red, both from anger and
embarrassment. Ranma clenched his teeth, but Tatewaki had
carefully phrased his words so that Ranma could find no insult
in them. Ranma glared at Tatewaki, but couldn't find anything
to say back. Tatewaki adopted a superior, amused expression
guaranteed to further drive Ranma crazy. Mentally, he thanked
Nabiki for her observations. There were more ways to get to
Ranma than by futile physical attacks.

"Tatewaki-kun, are you here to take my baby away! Let me
look at you!" Tatewaki barely had time to brace himself
before Nabiki's father had grabbed his shoulders and given
him a good shake. "Oh, you're so handsome, my Nabiki is lucky
to have you!" He looked to be on the verge of tears.

Tatewaki looked around, hoping for a rescue. All he saw was
Ranma smirking at him; no help there.

Fortunately, rescue was not long in coming. Kasumi
practically threw herself down the stairs. She was wearing
a bathrobe and slippers, and her hair was loose and flying
around. Tatewaki wondered what she was up to. She was also
carrying a camera.

"Father!" She ran up to him, almost shoving herself in front
of Tatewaki. "Here's the camera, you want to take some
pictures don't you?"

He looked a little confused. "Er, I suppose I do." He looked
down at the camera. "Does it have film?"

"I don't know, let's check." Kasumi turned the camera around in
her hands, and soon she and her father were engrossed in its details.

Tatewaki was thankful; his shoulders hurt. He rotated his arms
in their sockets, looked up at the top of the stairs, and froze.

Nabiki stood there, her face carefully neutral. She had a
pink and white dress on, the skirts long and flowing, with
subtle sparkles interlaced throughout. The dress had no shoulders,
and revealed a great deal of her bosom. All of the flesh that
was showing had been treated, somehow, to give her skin a creamy
white, almost translucent look.

She descended the staircase as the rest of the family stared,
flabbergasted. Even Kasumi appeared stunned. Nabiki was wearing
shoes with medium-height heels; they gave her movements a graceful
look. She stopped before Tatewaki, gave him a western-style curtsey,
and smiled at him.

Tatewaki just stared at her. She was beautiful. He had been
attracted to her for her intelligence and her forthright
nature. But he had never suspected that such a stunning creature
remained hidden behind the school uniform. She had found a way
to emphasize every attractive feature, from her fine face to
her small waist to her beautiful breasts.

Tatewaki blushed at the direction his thoughts were going;
they seemed unworthy of a true samurai. Hastily he offered
her the corsage. "This orchid cannot possibly hope to match
your beauty, Tendo Nabiki-san, but I hope that it can highlight
that beauty and offer a reminder of how far us mortals have to
go to match perfection such as yours." He bowed deeply.

"N-Nabiki you l-look so..." Nabiki's father trailed off. "So
grown up!" He looked to be near tears again; he started
moving towards her. "Oh, if only your mother -"

"Father," Kasumi smoothly interrupted, once again thrusting
herself between him and the target of his exuberance,
"let's take some pictures now."

He seemed to realize that he was carrying the camera. He
stepped back as Nabiki turned so that she and Tatewaki were
standing next to each other. Her father shouted out instructions
to position them, then took two pictures. He frowned as the
camera beeped at him.

"Look, Father," Kasumi pointed at an indicator on the camera.
"It's out of film. Let's see, how do we rewind it?" As her
father looked down at the camera, Kasumi shot a glance at Nabiki.

Nabiki grabbed Tatewaki's arm. "Let's go." She pulled him to
the doorway. "Bye everyone, don't wait up."

"Bye Nabiki," Akane shouted from the top of the stairs, an
affectionate smile on her face. "Have fun!"

Tatewaki struggled to clear his mind as they went outside,
but it was full of the vision of Nabiki. He couldn't take
his eyes off her. She noticed, and smiled wryly. "C'mon,
Kuno-baby, wipe that drool off your face and let's get where
we're going." She looked at the horse-drawn carriage.
"Tatewaki-kun, how many times do I have to remind you of what
century we're living in?" Nevertheless, she looked impressed.

Tatewaki stepped into the carriage and helped pull her into
it. As they sat down and the carriage got underway, she
grasped his hand and their fingers intertwined. Kuno, staring
at their hands, decided that no matter what happened to him
later in life, nothing would match the pure magic of this moment.

He looked into Nabiki's eyes, and thanked fate for putting
her in his life.

***

Tofu approached the door to the Tendo residence, his heart
racing. It had been so long since he had been invited here,
he had begun to doubt that we would ever be welcome. The
formal invitation, written by Kasumi in her graceful style,
had started his blood racing. He had stumbled around in a
daze for hours, before realizing that he needed to get
dressed or he would be late.

He stood in front of the door, scared witless. He remembered
seeing Kasumi for the first time. She had been fifteen. Her
mother had died recently, and she had taken on the burden of
running the household. At first, he had admired her courage
and tenacity. He had watched her bring her sisters in, the
love she shared with them. He had watched as she left the
awkwardness of adolescence behind her and became a beautiful
young woman. And suddenly, he couldn't stop watching her.
Her image filled his mind all hours of the day. The ironic
thing was, when she actually appeared, the sight of her was
too painful to bear. He'd actually had to gaze beyond her,
lose his focus, so that her beauty wouldn't blind him. At least,
that was how he saw it.

He had been astounded to slowly discover that she liked him
too. But the food she kept sending him, her continuous
visits to borrow books and other things, the way she smiled at
him, left him with no other conclusion to draw. Then had come
the day, during a visit from his mother, that Kasumi had set
some limits: as long as she was needed by her family, she could
not be with him. That had hurt, a lot, but she had softened the
blow with the words: "Someday. I promise."

He wondered if the day had come.

Before he could gather the courage to knock, the door was flung
open. Akane stood there, staring at him in surprise. "Sensei!"
She beamed at him. "Kasumi is waiting for you in the dojo."

He looked behind her. It looked as if most of the family was
getting ready to leave. "Aren't you coming to the tea ceremony?"

Akane's grin widened. "No, Sensei, it's just you and Kasumi.
We're all going to a movie." She walked out the door, closely
followed by Ranma, who clasped his arm in passing. Genma and Nodoka
stood on either side of Soun, who looked as if he wanted to talk
with Tofu but couldn't break away.

Akane turned back to him. "Go ahead inside. We won't be back for a
couple of hours." She smiled, turned, grabbed Ranma's offered
hand, and together with their parents, walked off down the road.

Tofu entered the house. He wasn't too familiar with the
layout, but easily found the door to the back courtyard.
Opening it, he looked around. The courtyard was immaculate.
It was as if each blade of glass had been straightened. There
was no debris, and the rocks looked as if they had been scrubbed
clean. The surface of the pond was smooth and tranquil. He stood
and admired the beauty of the scene. It was quite peaceful.

He approached the dojo door. He took out his fan and kneeled.
He put the fan in front of him and opened the sliding door.
Putting his hands on the tatami mat inside, he looked around.

Kasumi was sitting in the center of the room, the implements
of the tea ceremony in front of her. She was wearing a
kimono, and she had her hair tied up on her head. She gazed
at the far wall, not acknowledging him for the moment, her
expression neutral. He couldn't help but gasp; she was more
beautiful than he had ever seen her before. As she heard his
gasp, he saw her smile briefly.

Gulping, he put his fan in front of him in the room, then
pulled himself, still on his knees, into the room. He picked
up his fan with his right hand, stood from his right foot,
and walked over to the small display on one side of the room.
He put his fan down again, bowed, and examined the display.
A scroll was attached to the wall, displaying the symbols for
harmony, respect, purity, and tranquillity. There was a very
pretty arrangement of flowers was set on a table in front of
the banner, and he admired them for a while.

He bowed again, rose from his left foot, crossed the mats in
a specific manner to kneel a small distance away from Kasumi
and the tea kettle.

Kasumi finally acknowledged him with a bow. She picked up a
silk cloth, folded it in a special way, and symbolically
wiped the tea caddy with it. She unfolded and refolded the cloth.

She took the tea scoop from the top of the tea bowl and
wiped it with the cloth as well, following a very specific
pattern. She put the tea scoop back by the bowl, then placed
the silk cloth to the left of the bowl.

Kasumi removed the whisk from the tea bowl and set it on its
end. She took the small wiping cloth out of the tea bowl.
She then picked up the kettle, holding the cloth over the lid
and pouring the hot water into the tea bowl.

She picked up the whisk and symbolically cleaned it and the
tea bowl. She whisked the water, picked up the bowl with her
left hand, transferred it to her right hand, and emptied the
water into a water bowl. She replaced the tea bowl with her
right hand.

Kasumi picked up the tea scoop with her left hand and the
tea caddy in her right. She opened the tea caddy, placing
the lid next to the tea bowl.

She scooped some tea out of the caddy and into the tea bowl.
She tapped the scoop once, lightly, on the side of the bowl.
She then put the lid back on the tea caddy and replaced it,
along with the tea scoop.

Kasumi repeated the ritual of filling the tea bowl with hot
water. Holding the side of the bowl with her left hand, she
took the whisk and whisked the tea, quickly but gently. When
it was frothy, she made one last circular motion with the whisk,
then moved her left hand away as she replaced the whisk with her
right.

Kasumi picked up the bowl and turned it twice, clockwise,
until its front faced Tofu. She then placed the bowl on her
right near him.

Tofu blinked. He had been so entranced by her graceful
movements, her elegant preparations, and the sheer beauty of
Kasumi and the ceremony that he had nearly forgotten he had
a role to play himself.

Tofu bowed to Kasumi. "Thank you for the tea." He took the
tea bowl with his right hand and placed it in his left palm.
He steadied it with his right hand.

Nodding his head to Kasumi, he turned the tea bowl twice so
that its front was facing away from him. He drank all of the
tea in the bowl, then wiped the place where his lips had touched the
bowl with his thumb and index finger. He turned the bowl so
that its front faced him again.

He placed it in front of him and went through the ritual of
admiring the bowl before returning it to Kasumi.

Kasumi went through another long process of ritually
cleaning the implements of the tea ceremony. Tofu stopped
paying attention to the details, instead watching Kasumi.
Her face was serious and serene. Her eyes were focused on
what she was doing, never glancing his way. It was all so
peaceful. Tofu realized he could spend hours just watching
her and never be bored.

Finally, she reached the part of the ceremony where she was
to begin taking the implements out of the room. Instead, in
a slight violation of the ceremony, Kasumi put her hands on her
thighs and looked over at Tofu.

Kasumi smiled, and the warmth that showed in her eyes made
Tofu tingle all over. "It is good to see you, Tofu-san."

Tofu found his head remarkably clear. The tea ceremony had
both focused his mind and relaxed him, as Kasumi had no
doubt intended. He smiled back at her. "I am, as always,
overjoyed to see you, Kasumi. You have produced a beautiful
ceremony."

Kasumi bowed her head. "I am not worthy, but I thank you."

Tofu raised his eyebrows. "Don't ever say that, Kasumi. You
are worthy of... of..." he faltered, unsure how to finish.
"...of everything." He finished lamely.

Kasumi raised one of her eyebrows. "Am I worthy of you,
Tofu-san?"

Tofu rocked back on his heels. "You... worthy of me? Kasumi!"
He trembled slightly. "Quite the opposite. It is my humblest
hope to be worthy of you someday." He bowed to her.

He heard a quick rustle of cloth. Straightening, he found
Kasumi had risen and moved closer to him. She knelt in front
of him, her knees almost touching his, a very serious look
on her face.

"Let us not speak of worthiness again, Tofu-san." She took
his hand. "Tofu, my family no longer holds me here. I am
free to choose other opportunities."

Tofu looked at her. She stared back at him, her face calm,
her eyes searching his. He looked down at her hand, clutching
his. He remembered all the good things he had seen her do,
remembered how warm he felt inside whenever he saw her. He
loved her with every fiber of his being.

And it appeared that Kasumi loved him as well. That was the
most incredible thing of all.

He took her hand with his other hand. "Kasumi, I think I can
offer you something. I just... you really would... accept an
offer from me?"

Kasumi smiled tenderly. She took her free hand and touched
his cheek. "Oh, Tofu...."

They looked at each other for a while longer. Tofu wasn't
sure if he started leaning towards her before she started
leaning towards him. Perhaps they moved together. No matter.
They kissed for a long time. Tofu felt the daze descending
on him again, but he didn't care, as long as it went on for
the rest of his life.

***

Ryoga suddenly realized it was dark. He looked up from the
statue, still undecided. He heard voices coming from the
Tendo home. Quite clearly, he heard Akane call, "Good night,
Auntie!".

Akane. Getting ready to go to bed.

Ryoga struggled with himself. What about Akari? Could he
really go to bed with Akane and stay faithful to Akari?
Could he continue to date Akari and stay faithful to Akane?
It was all so confusing.

In such instances, he usually just gave up thinking and went
with his instincts. He jumped up, found a conveniently large
puddle, and splashed himself liberally.

***

Ranma walked into his room with his father. Tonight had been
a good night for the Tendo family. Nabiki was evidently
having the time of her life. Kasumi had greeted them at the door,
a very big silly smile on her face. She had announced that she
was now engaged to Tofu-sensei, who had gone home to call his
mother.

Ranma smiled, thinking of how Uncle Tendo had carried on and
on. Kasumi had tried to control him, but her efforts were
marred by her own tears. Fortunately, Mother had been there to
help calm everyone.

There was so much that was changing in the Tendo household,
it sent Ranma's head spinning. Real life was catching up to
the family. It was quite frightening, in a way. Part of him
wanted things to stay the same forever.

The sound of a squeal came from the hallway. He heard Akane
open her door and cry out in delight, "P-chan!"

Ranma clenched his jaw. Then again, there were some things
that needed to change.

Ryoga had been gone for a long time. Ranma had hoped that,
with Akari becoming his girlfriend, Ryoga was above these
silly games now. Obviously not.

He stalked out of the room and to Akane's door. She was closing
it; he put his hand on the door and forced it back open. She
turned to him in surprise, Ryoga clutched to her breast. "Ranma,
what are you doing?" There was anger in her voice.

Ranma didn't care. He glared at Ryoga, who glared back at him.
Ryoga was shamelessly taking advantage of Ranma's promise not to
tell Akane about his curse. Ranma decided that it had gone on
too long.

He opened his mouth and froze. He couldn't do it, couldn't
break his word. Akane was looking at him, her anger somewhat
replaced by curiosity over his behavior.

Ranma smiled wickedly. There was more than one way to deal
with Ryoga.

He stepped into the room and closed the door behind him.
"Akane, isn't it great about Kasumi? Getting engaged and
all, I mean."

Akane blinked at him. "Yes it is great. We've already talked
about that."

Ranma took Akane's hand, holding her engagement ring in
front of Ryoga. "She's engaged; we're engaged. So many Tendo
daughters getting married." Ryoga's eyes got very wide as he
stared at the ring.

Akane's puzzlement increased. "Ranma, what's your point?"

Ranma was well on his way to proving his point, even if
Akane didn't realize it. He stepped closer to her, putting
his hands on her face. "The point is, I love you, Akane."
He looked at her, willing her to say the words.

She didn't disappoint him. Her face softened, and her voice
grew slightly tremulous. "I love you too, Ranma." She
reached up with her free hand and brought him down for a kiss,
Ryoga between them.

They kissed for a while, but Ranma wasn't really into it. He
was waiting for Ryoga to do something. For some reason, the
pig was keeping absolutely still.

Ranma eventually broke off the kiss. Akane was smiling
tenderly at him, and Ranma would have drunk in the sight of
her, but instead he glanced down at Ryoga. Ryoga's eyes were
very, very wide. It looked like he would be crying if he
were human. He looked back and forth between Ranma and Akane.

Suddenly, with a convulsive movement, Ryoga squirmed out of
Akane's arm and fell to the floor. He scrambled about for a
while, then jumped out the window.

Akane looked after him with alarm. "What's the matter with P-chan?"

Ranma went to the window and looked outside. He didn't see Ryoga.

Sorry, buddy, he thought to himself. I hated to do that to
you, but I can't let you take advantage of Akane any more.

He turned back to Akane and, for the first time, realized how
cute she looked in her nightgown. He smiled, and decided that
he wanted to go back to the kissing. Akane cooperated willingly.

***

Ryoga ran through the streets blindly. He didn't know where
he was and didn't care. Akane... and Ranma. Akane loved
Ranma. She had said it. Akane was engaged, wore an engagement
ring. Akane loved Ranma.

She didn't love Ryoga.

Stop this, the rational part of his mind told him. You knew
she didn't love you. You've got Akari, after all. Akari
loves you. Stop this.

Ryoga had long experience ignoring the rational side of his
mind. He just kept running.

***

Akane was wakened by the sound of horses pulling up to the
front door. She looked blearily at her clock: almost five in
the morning. She waited until she heard the horses pull away,
then opened her door.

Nabiki was walking down the hallway, humming slightly to
herself. It was difficult to tell in the darkness, but she
looked slightly disheveled.

Akane called out to her softly. "Nabiki, how was the prom?"

Nabiki answered dreamily. "A little disappointing. I
understand it gets better, though."

Akane gaped at her. "What?"

Nabiki started. "Uh, it was fine, the prom was fine."

Akane came up to Nabiki, bringing her hands to her mouth.
"You didn't!"

Nabiki affected a look of innocence. "What are you talking
about, Akane?"

Akane stared at her, scandalized. Then she began to giggle.
"Do you have any tips I could use with Ranma?"

Nabiki gasped. Giggling with Akane, she pushed her into the
bedroom. She kept the lights off. Nabiki turned her back to
Akane. "Help me get this off."

Akane began undoing the clasps. She noticed that some of
them had been clasped incorrectly.

"You'd better not tell Kasumi," Akane whispered. "She'll
want you to get married tomorrow."

Nabiki stepped out of the dress as it fell around her feet.
She grabbed one of her big sleeping shirts and thrust it
over her head as she spoke. "Tatewaki would have gone along
with it. You should have seen him, after. He carried on about
how we should get married right away." She turned to face
Akane and giggled again. "You should have heard some of the
poetry he spouted."

It was easy to imagine. Akane started laughing, and Nabiki
shushed her, trying to control her own laughter.

"What did you tell him, Nabiki?"

Nabiki tossed her head. "I told him I'm not getting married. Ever."

Akane drew a sharp breath. "Do you mean that?"

Nabiki smiled. "No, not really. It's going to be fun fighting
him off for a while. After I graduate from college and have a
good job, I'll let him wear me down."

Akane looked at her curiously. "Why wait so long?"

Nabiki raised her chin. "I'm going to make a name for myself.
Me. Tendo Nabiki. Not Kuno Tatewaki's wife. After I've
established myself, he can be known as my husband."

Akane tilted her head. "Will he still want to... you know...
do it if he thinks you won't ever get married?"

Nabiki stretched languorously. "I think I can find ways
to... persuade him."

Akane began giggling again, and Nabiki soon joined her. They
covered their mouths, trying not to wake anyone up. Nabiki
ended up laughing into a pillow, tears streaming from her eyes.

Eventually they settled down, Nabiki putting the pillow back
on the bed. They sat on the bed together, leaning into each
other, their foreheads touching.

There was a silence as they looked at each other. They both
felt the weight of the knowledge that moments like these
were coming to an end. Events were going to force them farther
apart, no matter how much they desired to stay together. They
would see each other as often as they could, and they would always
love each other, but they would never be this close again.

Finally, Nabiki pushed Akane off her. "Go away, I'm tired
beyond belief." She flopped into her bed. "Tell everyone
that if anyone tries to wake me before noon, I will double
the interest rates on their loans."

Akane rose, went to the door, stopped. "What if Kasumi tries
to wake you?"

Nabiki sounded half-asleep already. "Tell her I'll take a
photo of me in my prom dress, put her name on it, and
publish it on the Internet."

Akane giggled and went back to her room. She got into her bed,
and wondered what it would be like to have Ranma join her there.

She smiled into the darkness. She had a feeling she'd be
finding out soon enough.

*******************************************************

Part IX : Cursed

"So let's see if I have this straight." Nabiki was rubbing
her forehead, holding a pencil in her hand and staring at a
pad of paper in front of her. "We got my dad, your mom and
dad, me, my sisters, Shampoo, Mousse, Ukyo..." She looked at
Ranma, who was sitting on the other side of the dining room
table from her. "No Konatsu?"

Ranma shook his head. "Nope. Just Ukyo."

Nabiki nodded and looked back down at the pad. "Tatewaki,
Tofu-sensei, um... and we haven't seen Ryoga for weeks, right?"

Ranma squirmed a little where he stood. "Actually, I saw him
a couple of days ago."

Nabiki looked at him again. "Really? Is he coming?"

Ranma grimaced. Ryoga had been in his cursed form at the
time. "He, uh, was running away from me when I saw him. I
didn't get a chance to stop and ask him."

Akane gave him a funny look, but spoke to Nabiki. "I did see
Akari and told her that she and Ryoga were welcome to come.
She said she'd join us if she could find Ryoga."

Nabiki made an exasperated sigh. "Great, Akari too." She
looked at the list. "Am I forgetting anyone else? Like maybe
the other half of Nerima as well?"

Ranma looked at her glumly. "I didn't hear my name."

Nabiki's eyes got wide as she scanned the sheet. "Damn.
Well, I guess you can't come then."

"Nabiki!" Akane looked shocked, and a little angry.

Nabiki rolled her eyes. "Just a joke Akane, you gotta learn
not to take these things so personally." She made a couple
more notations on the pad. "You know, when I rented this place,
I thought five bedrooms would be plenty. Now I'll have to see
if there aren't any other rooms that can't be temporarily converted.
We should bring some extra sleeping mats and pillows."

"I've already got some packed." Kasumi came in, carrying a
tea tray. She set it down on the table. "Have some tea. When
is Tatewaki-kun coming over with the van?"

Nabiki glanced at her watch. "In a couple of hours. He'll
drive us there. Shampoo, Mousse, Ukyo, and Tofu-sensei will
be making their own way there."

"Actually, I will be riding with Tofu-sensei." Kasumi poured
herself a cup of tea, blushing ever so slightly.

Nabiki smiled at her. "Of course. Well, assuming Ryoga and
his girlfriend make it, we'll be twelve people sharing the
same house. It'll be crowded."

"Oh, but it will be so much fun." Kasumi smiled brightly.
She turned to Ranma. "Have you packed yet?"

Ranma sighed. Kasumi's trick of ordering you to do something
was to ask innocuous questions like this one. Still, she was
right. He'd better get to it. "Not yet." He stood and left
the dining room.

Akane followed him as he went to his room. She stood and
watched him as he packed. "Ranma..." Her voice sounded
worried. "What's wrong?"

Ranma looked at her, annoyed. "Whaddya mean?"

She frowned at him. "You've been moping around all day. It's
like you're going back to school rather than going on
vacation with us. This is the last time we'll be a family going
somewhere. Why are you treating it like some sort of..." She
trailed off, trying to find the words. "...unwelcome obligation?"

Ranma stopped in the middle of stuffing clothes into his
backpack. His first reaction was to tell Akane she didn't
know what she was talking about, and to leave him alone.
Fortunately, he caught himself in time. He forced himself
to ask the question: Why, indeed? Seeing Ryoga run off after
Ranma had stuffed Akane's engagement down Ryoga's throat had
unsettled Ranma. That led, somehow, to his present depression.
"I dunno, Akane. I got a bad feeling about this whole thing.
Something's going to go wrong, I know it." He looked at her,
trying to put words to the vague premonitions of danger he
was feeling.

Akane was scowling at him. "Come on, Ranma, what could it
be? We've dealt with all of the problems. Can't you let your
guard down for one minute and just have fun?"

Ranma grew irritated. "Yeah, and in that one minute, someone
like Happosai will come and ruin everything."

"You can't live your whole life waiting for someone to attack
you!" Akane's hands were clenched at her sides. "If you go
around looking for a fight, you'll always find one." She came
up to him, unclenched her fists, and put a hand on his arm.
"Please, just relax, okay?" Her eyes looked up at him, imploring.

Ranma looked at her. "I want to Akane, I really do. But...."
He trailed off, still unable to express how he felt terrible
things looming on the horizon.

Akane's anger returned. "But you're just gonna parade around,
acting all macho and protecting us from dangers that aren't
even there." She spun on her heel and marched out of the room.

Ranma scowled at her retreating back. She never took the
time to understand. She just leapt to her conclusions, and
got mad at him for no reason. It was her most annoying trait.

Ranma thinned his lips and resumed packing. He came to his
swimming suits. He had a pair of trunks and a tank top. He
also had several women's swimming suits. He held up one, a
white one-piece with "BOY" written in English across the bust.
He stared at it for a while, the frustration building inside.
How long was he going to own women's clothing? The rest of his
life? Would he ever be a complete man again?

He crumpled the swimsuit into a ball and threw it at the wall.
Right now, he hated his curse. All of his major problems could
be traced to the curse. How simpler it could have been if he and Pop
had never gone to China. If they had just gone home, and he could
have met Akane as a man and dated her like a normal person.

Then Ryoga wouldn't have been cursed, either. And he wouldn't
be feeling guilty for hurting Ryoga's feelings so badly.

***

Ryoga wandered through the streets. He had been a pig now
for three straight days. He'd ran from the Tendo home in a
complete panic, and had been unable to find his way back.
Hot water, unfortunately, did not sit in puddles waiting for
him to splash into. His cooking gear was back behind the Tendo
Dojo, so he couldn't heat water for himself. He didn't know
what he was going to do.

If only he hadn't run away so quickly. He could have just
jumped out the window and gone around the back. He knew his
way around the Tendo home just fine. Instead, he had run
blindly into the night and gotten himself thoroughly lost.

No, it wasn't his fault. It was Ranma's. Ranma, showing off
Akane's engagement ring, rubbing it in Ryoga's face. Kissing
Akane, knowing full well Ryoga was right there. Ranma had no
shame, no right to do that to him. He would pay.

"Ryoga! I've been looking for you everywhere! Hurry, we've
got to get ready to go to the beach. Everyone else left
yesterday." Ryoga felt himself being lifted. He turned and
looked into Akari's face. "Come on, you silly pig," she said,
smiling down at him. From anyone else, that was an insult.
>From Akari, it was high praise.

She held him closely while she ran through the streets.
Ryoga's mind was whirling. Akari. He loved her, almost as
much as he loved Akane. More than he loved Akane. Maybe.
Akari certainly loved him, was even willing to give up pigs
for him. That kind of devotion was hard to ignore.

He looked at her face again, which was set in a big smile as
she ran. She was very pretty, too. Prettier than Akane. Maybe.
Her long hair flew around her head as she ran, and Ryoga thought
it was beautiful. More beautiful than Akane's short hair. Probably.

She came to a house, and for the first time Ryoga realized
that he had never been to her home. He knew she worked with
pigs, somehow, and thought that she would live far from the city
on a farm or something. She had a small house, with most of
the yard being used as a pen for her giant pet pig.

She went inside, and the pig motif continued. There were pigs
everywhere. Stuffed pigs, pictures of pigs, even the wallpaper
had little pigs on it. Ryoga stared around him, trying to take
it all in. Akari loved pigs, you could not doubt that.

She ran to the bathroom and set him in the tub. She took a
hand-held shower, pointed it at him, and turned on the water.

In a few seconds, Ryoga had regained human form. He let out
a big sigh. He'd had enough of being a pig over the past
three days. It was all Ranma's fault, his being a pig. Something
else he'd pay for.

Suddenly he realized he was sitting in the tub, naked. Akari
was looking at him, smiling. He blushed and covered himself.
"Akari, do you suppose you could give me something to wear?"

"Of course!" She turned off the water and ran from the room.
"I have a few sets of clothes I made for you. I'll just pack
them with my stuff and we'll go and meet Akane at the beach."

Ryoga's jaw dropped open. "Meet Akane?"

She came back in, holding a set of clothes. "She's invited
us to spend the week with her family. Isn't that exciting?"
She set the clothes on a stool and beamed at him.

Ryoga gaped at her. Akari, fortunately, had no idea how he
felt about Akane. Spending a week with both Akane and Akari
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would be heaven.

And Ranma would be there. He could settle the score with him
once and for all.

He smiled in anticipation, then refocused on Akari, who was
looking at him happily. "We'll need to stop by the Tendo
Dojo, I left my stuff there, and a present for...." He trailed
off, unsure who the present was for.

Akari leaned forward expectantly. "A present for...?"

He cast about. "Ranma," he finished lamely.

"Oh." She looked disappointed.

Ryoga fidgeted. "Uh, Akari, would you mind if I cleaned up a bit?"

"Of course not!" She continued to stand there, smiling at him.

He shifted uncomfortably. "Um... alone?"

"Oh! Okay." She turned and flounced out of the room. "I'll
make you something to eat."

Ryoga looked after her. She was a strange girl, but he loved
her. Almost as much as....

He stopped himself. Don't think about that now. Instead, as
he cleaned himself up, he thought about what he was going to
do to Ranma, and smiled.

***

The weather was beautiful. They had spent yesterday settling
in; today was their first time down at the beach. Ranma sat
cross-legged on a towel, watching the ocean.

When Shampoo had seen the ocean, she had dropped her things,
grabbed Mousse, and practically thrown him in. She had
quickly followed, and they were soon splashing each other. Shampoo
was squealing with laughter. Ranma had never seen her so happy.
He felt some of his depression leaving him just watching her.

Most of the others had joined them. Akane was being carefully
monitored by Tofu-sensei as she frolicked with the rest of them,
although she wasn't swimming as far as Tatewaki and Nabiki were.

Ranma's mother had grabbed Father and Uncle Tendo and taken
them a little distance down the beach. They were conferring
on something, with Mother looking very excited, Uncle Tendo
nodding happily, and Pop looking inscrutable as ever. Ranma
knew his father, though, and thought he was a little unhappy
over what was being said. Ranma wondered what they were talking
about. He could guess.

Mousse came back after a while, his long hair dripping. He
didn't have his glasses on, and Ranma had to call out to him
to help him find his way back to the towels.

Mousse flopped on a towel and stared at the sky, a happy
grin on his face.

Ranma was still filled with the sense that something was
going to happen. He tilted his head and considered Mousse.
He didn't think the trouble would be coming from Mousse,
but it couldn't hurt to find out. "Have you sold the restaurant
yet?" It seemed a reasonable opening ploy.

Mousse turned on his side. "Yes, it was very easy. We got a
reasonable price. I think we could have done better, but
Shampoo was anxious to be rid of the restaurant. She wants to
go back to China as soon as possible."

Ranma looked at him thoughtfully. "Are you guys in trouble
over what happened with Cologne?"

Mousse bowed his head. "I will certainly catch my share of
trouble over that, but it is Shampoo who will carry most of
the responsibility."

Ranma raised his eyebrows. "Why her?"

"She was the most senior female present."

Ranma blinked. This Amazon stuff was weird. "Will she get
into a lot of trouble?"

Mousse shook his head. "I don't believe so. Although the
passing of a matriarch is no small matter, she clearly
misused the Ancestor Stone. Some of the older matriarchs,
those that agreed with Cologne's views, will certainly press
Shampoo hard. But to have the founder of the Amazons condemn
Cologne herself, that will be difficult for them to argue
against. Shampoo will be all right."

Ranma felt relieved. "Is she going to become a matriarch?"

"She is years away from achieving that. She still has a lot
to learn, in my opinion. She has all the qualities needed to
become a strong leader. I hope she will be a good person as
well. I think she will."

Ranma thought on that. He could see Shampoo doing a good job as
a leader of the Amazons. She was intelligent, brave, a good
fighter, and fiercely determined. Certainly someone you'd want as
a friend rather than an enemy. Ranma hoped he and Akane were among
the former rather than the latter. He thought that they were.

Mousse interrupted his thoughts. "Tell me, Ranma, what is it
you plan to do after high school?"

Ranma looked at Mousse in surprise. "Huh? I don't know. Why
do you ask?"

Mousse looked at him evenly. "I told you I thought Shampoo
would eventually become a good leader. You, on the other
hand, are already a good leader."

Ranma blinked at him. "What?"

"You should have seen yourself when Cologne summoned the
spirits of my ancestors to attack. You brought us together
and formed a good defensive plan, given the limited amount
of time you had to set it up. When you saw that the cause
was hopeless, you found a way to save me and Shampoo. You
have a natural feel for tactics, the ability to think clearly
and well under pressure, the skill to direct others, and the
courage to make hard decisions.

"In a way, it is too bad that Japan has no military. You
would make a fine general." Mousse paused a moment, looking
steadily at Ranma. "I hope you do not squander these talents
inside a dojo, teaching others the art. You, I think, have a
much greater destiny."

Mousse lay on his back again, closed his eyes, and smiled.

Ranma stared at Mousse. He'd never thought of himself as
having a destiny. Certainly he'd never thought of the
future, other than a vague idea that he would be running the
Tendo Dojo. Mousse had given him a lot to think about.

He went back to staring at the others in the ocean, his mood
as dark as ever. Mousse had forced his brain to start
working again, and it was deeply involved in depressing
thoughts.

Akane came up to them, smiling at Mousse. "Shampoo says you
had better get back into the ocean, or she will take you
back to Jusenkyo and find a really horrible thing to turn
you into."

Mousse's smile got wider, and he ran back to the ocean,
yelling Shampoo's name.

Akane smiled after him. "I don't know whether to feel happy
or sad for him. I think Shampoo was serious." She turned to
look at Ranma, who was wearing just his trunks. "Why don't you
change and join us? I know how you love to swim."

"Change?" Ranma looked up at her. "You mean become a girl?"

Akane's smile vanished. "You've done it before."

"Not since we got engaged." Between him and Akane, the
beginning of their engagement was the night he'd proposed on
the roof. "It ain't right. We're going to be married as man
and woman. Not man/woman and woman."

As Akane regarded him evenly, Ranma lowered his head. He was
in a bad mood. It had brought out this frustration, one that
had building steadily for the past few weeks.

Akane sat down beside him. "Ranma, when we got engaged, I
knew what your nature was. It doesn't matter to me."

"It does to me!" Ranma took a deep breath; that came out
more sharply than he intended. "Have you tried to imagine it
yet? All our lives together, with me being afraid of the rain,
of having to explain to people over and over about Jusenkyo, of
having our kids wonder who their mother is." Ranma looked up at
Akane. "We deserve better. You deserve better. I don't want to
spend the rest of my life like this."

Akane tilted her head. "You used to like it, I think. I
remember you'd spend hours as a girl, even when you really
didn't need to. And don't forget, it's been useful. You might
not have beaten Cologne without your curse."

Ranma shifted uncomfortably. "You're right, I did... kinda
like it. It felt different, but good. It was kind of a fun
game." Ranma took another deep breath. "But we're growing up.
Mom will have us married before we know it. It's time for
games like that to end. I want to be a whole person again.
Just the me I was before I went to China."

Akane looked at him for a long time. Ranma looked down at
the sand, ran his hands through it.

Finally Akane spoke. "Okay. After we get back from the
beach, you and I will go to China."

Ranma snapped his head up. "What?"

Akane smiled at him. "Nabiki will lend us the money. I'll
make her. We'll go to Jusenkyo and have the Guide tell us
which pool for you to jump into."

Ranma bit his lip. "That won't work."

Akane blinked. "Why not?"

Ranma looked down, this time in shame. "I haven't told you
about the curse."

Akane's voice sounded puzzled. "What do you mean? I know all
about the curse."

Ranma fidgeted. "Not all of it."

Ranma looked into her eyes, which had grown wide. "When I came
up out of that pool, opened my tunic, and saw breasts, I thought
I was going to be that way forever. That I was going to be a
woman forever. Can you imagine how horrible that was to me?"

Akane nodded slowly.

"I spent the first couple of hours chasing Pop around the
pools. It didn't matter to me that he was stuck as a panda,
I was just so angry that he had turned me into a girl. That was
when - " He broke off. That was when he'd knocked Ryoga into one
of the pools, but he couldn't tell Akane that.

Akane looked at him steadily. "When what?"

Ranma decided to try and gloss it over. "Pop eventually got
away, and headed back to the Guide's house. I eventually
made my way there, too. The guide kept me from attacking Pop
long enough to tell me about the hot water / cold water thing."
Ranma shook his head. "He had some long explanation about why
it worked that way, but he didn't speak Japanese too good and
it didn't make any sense.

"I was still plenty mad. I asked him if there was a Spring
of Drowned Man and he said yes. He pointed to it. I asked
him if it would cure me and he said yes, if I could get to it.

"I didn't wait for him to finish. I started walking towards
the pool. The grass was wet. I slipped before I got there. I
tried to get up and continue on to the pool, and I slipped again.
I tried to crawl there, and my hands slipped from underneath me.
The strange thing was, I could go any other direction without any
problems. It was just if I went towards the Spring of Drowned Man
that I couldn't seem to keep my balance. I tried jumping into it,
but an incredibly strong wind came from nowhere and blew me back.
That's when the guide told me."

He gazed at Akane, seeing if she was understanding him. She
seemed to digest his words, then slowly asked him, "What did
he tell you?"

Ranma sighed. "That I don't have the curse, the curse has me.
The magic of Jusenkyo has a purpose. When you're cursed, you
must live with the curse until it's finished with you. It might
be an hour, it might be your whole life. I'm stuck with my
curse until it decides it doesn't want me to be a girl anymore."

Akane was clearly very shocked. "And... what does your curse want?"

"I don't know!" Ranma shouted, then closed his eyes to control
his frustration. "I keep thinking it's done with me. There was
the Japanese Nannichuan, the instant powdered Nanniichuan, the
hot-water soap, all sorts of things that would 'cure' me. Each
time I thought, the curse is done with me, it's letting me go.
Each time I was wrong.

"Then we fought Saffron, and we beat him, and restored Jusenkyo,
and I thought, *now* it's over, surely that's why I was cursed.
But then it started raining, and the pools flooded. And when we
almost got married and your dad had that cask of Nannichuan, I
thought, it's time. But no. Every time I tried to take the cask,
something bizarre happened, and eventually Happosai drank it. It
reminded me so much of the slippery grass I wanted to cry."

He looked at Akane. "I'm afraid to go with you to Jusenkyo. The
plane might crash, or you might fall into a spring. I think we
have to wait for the curse to tell me when it's all right to get
rid of it. I'm afraid to think of what will happen to us if we
try too soon."

He and Akane stared at each other for a while. Akane was trying
to find something to say, Ranma could tell. But she wouldn't be
able to; he had been trying for a year to find an answer.

He turned to look at the ocean. "I had accepted it. I really
had no choice, it was either accept it or go mad. Lately,
I've come to hate it. I just don't want to be your husband and
a woman at the same time."

"D-does..." Akane sounded frightened. "Does that mean you don't
want to get married while you're cursed?"

Ranma looked at her in surprise. "No of course not. That's
not what I meant. I love you." He reached over and hugged
her. "I just am not going to allow myself to become a girl if
I can help it. I hope you understand."

"I do, Ranma." She sounded relieved, and sad. They hugged
for a while.

A shadow fell over them. Ranma looked up to see Akari
standing there, smiling happily. "Hello! Ryoga and I are
here. Can someone let us into the house?"

"Uh... sure." Ranma looked quickly around, but didn't see
Ryoga. He yelled over to where his parents were sitting.
"Hey! Akari and Ryoga are here! Can someone give me a key
so I can let them in?"

He saw his father talk to the others, then get up and walk
towards them. "I'll help you let them in, Ranma."

Ranma was surprised; surely it wasn't necessary for both of
them to go. Pop wanted to talk with him about something, that
was certain. Ranma looked at Akane. "I'll only be a minute. I
want to talk with Ryoga. Why don't you go back and play with
the others?"

Akane smiled and put her hand on his cheek. Then she stood
up and went back to the ocean.

They stood and started walking back to the house, which was
about half a mile from the beach. Ranma looked over at
Akari, who seemed very happy. "Where's Ryoga?"

"He's unpacking our stuff from the car. He has a present for
you." Akari beamed at him.

Ranma's uneasiness grew. A present for him? From Ryoga? It
seemed quite unlikely. He wondered what Ryoga was up to.

They reached the house. Father opened the door. Akari's
stuff was sitting by the front door, but of Ryoga there was
no sign. Ranma didn't like that.

Akari turned towards Ranma. "Where will Ryoga and I be
staying?"

"Uh..." Ranma tried to remember the discussion with Nabiki over
sleeping arrangements. "I think you're staying with Nabiki and
Akane, and Ryoga is staying with Kuno and Tofu-sensei." He told
her where the rooms were located. "Where's Ryoga?"

Akari looked around, startled. "He was just here. Oh dear,
is he lost already? I'll go look for him when I finish
unpacking." She went inside.

Ranma was about to go looking himself when his father put a
hand on his shoulder. "Ranma, I need to tell you something."

Ranma looked at his father in surprise. "What is it?"

Pop crossed his arms. He seemed uncomfortable and determined
at the same time. "Your mother intends for you to be married
at the end of the week."

Ranma's jaw dropped open. "What?"

"It is her plan to have me and Tendo subdue you, as we did
before, and make you wear a tuxedo. Your mother said she
would get Shampoo and Ukyo to help her with Akane. There will
be a ceremony on the beach, and you'll be married. Nabiki
actually rented this house for two weeks. We'll all go home
after you're married, and you'll spend your honeymoon alone
here for a week."

Ranma's head spun. Married, in just a few days. Was this the
danger he had been sensing? He swallowed, licked his lips, and
took a deep breath. He just couldn't get himself under control.

He looked up at his father, realizing something. "Why are
you telling me this, Father?"

His father grimaced. "This is not honorable. The times we
tried this before ended in disaster, mostly because you were
not consulted. Your mother does not understand this. She is so
obsessed with getting you married, she is resorting to this
trickery, not allowing you a choice in the matter. I believe
this is wrong." He looked into Ranma's eyes. "This is your life,
boy. Tendo and I got you engaged, and I think it worked out
okay, but it didn't have to. You and Akane want to get married,
and that is more than we could have hoped for. I believe,
however, that you should get married when you want to. If it's
not for a few years, I understand."

His father grasped Ranma's shoulders, squeezing them. "The
point is, this is your choice, Ranma. No one can force you
into it. Tell me that you don't want to get married right
now, and I'll stop the wedding plans."

Ranma drew a shaky breath. "What about Mother?"

"I will deal with your mother." Father crossed his arms
again. "She will come to understand that if you get married
before you're ready, it might ruin your marriage. Your mother
understands how... unpleasant marriage can be."

Ranma stared at his father, respect for him growing. He'd
never seen the old man acting in such a responsible manner.

Ranma thought about it. Married. By the end of the week. It
was damn frightening, yet somewhat alluring.

He thought back to his decision to propose to Akane. Mostly,
he had just wanted to give her a physical manifestation of
his love in the form of the engagement ring. The fact of their
eventual marriage had been firmly implanted in their minds by
this point, so proposing to her hadn't been as scary as it could
have been. After all, they were going to get married anyway.

Ranma bit his lip. There he went again, trying to excuse himself.
Both he and Akane knew that if they protested strongly enough,
they wouldn't have to get married. Their initial vehement
protests had been sincere. For his part, Ranma had decided to
play along with it until he was old enough to be on his own.
Then he could dump Akane and his father and do as he pleased.
He suspected Akane had developed similar plans.

Something had changed over the past year. He wasn't sure
how, or why. It had begun to feel natural and right to have
her at his side, walking to school together, sitting at the
dinner table together.

One memory came to him strongly. When Happosai had first
appeared, Ranma's father and Uncle Tendo had attempted to
force Ranma to bow to Happosai, in the hope that his would
appease Happosai and get him to leave the Tendo clan alone.
Ranma had refused; there was simply no way he was going to
give that perverted creep any respect. For that, Uncle Tendo
had thrown him out of the house. It had been a very cold
night, and Ranma had sat next to a small fire he had built,
hungry, and quite depressed.

Then Akane had appeared.

She had brought him tea and buns. What's more, she had bundled
herself up and seemed ready and willing to stay with him as
long as he wanted her company. She hadn't yelled at him, hadn't
called him an idiot for refusing to bow to Happosai. She had
just seen that he was in trouble, and had offered her help.

Ranma wasn't entirely sure, but he thought that was the
moment he fell in love with her.

It had taken him many months to admit it to himself, and
even longer to admit it to Akane. They had both suffered in
the meantime, because of their inability to show each other
how much they cared.

Ranma thought about that. They'd wasted so much time because of
some unknown fear. Would they suffer more, waste yet more time,
if they let fear get in the way of their marriage as well?

He wasn't sure what he thought about it. Then he realized
that he needed someone else's thoughts on the matter.

Ranma focused once again on his father. "Let me talk this
over with Akane first, Pop. We'll let you know."

Father seemed surprised at his answer, but nodded and went
inside the house.

Ranma started walking slowly back to the beach. He tried to
figure out a way to break the news to Akane. Knowing her,
she'd think it was all his doing. Hopefully he could get her
to calm down before she blew her top, and they could talk it
over rationally.

"Shishi Hokodan!"

The words were not quite enough warning as Ranma was blasted
from behind. He was lifted in the air and sent a great
distance down the road, to land on the ground rolling. He got
up slowly; Ryoga's blasts were very powerful.

He looked to see Ryoga walking up to him grimly. He had a
huge, silly-looking statue of a bear banging on a drum
strapped to his back. He also looked very angry.

Ranma stood warily. Of all the people he knew, other than
Happosai, Ryoga was the closest to Ranma in martial arts
ability. He was stronger, and his ability to generate and
use vast amounts of chi energy was almost as great as Ranma's.
Ranma was a lot faster, however, and nearly as strong, so he
could usually get the better of Ryoga.

This time, though, Ryoga looked very determined. It was also
axiomatic with Ryoga that the more depressed he was, the
stronger he was, especially in regards to his Shishi Hokodan.
It was best to get to the root of his depression and deal with
it, quickly.

He tried smiling broadly at Ryoga. "Hey buddy, what's up?"

Ryoga shrugged his shoulders, dropping his backpack and the
statue onto the ground. He reached down, grabbed his
umbrella, opened it, and threw it at Ranma.

Ranma dodged it easily. Come to think of it, trying to
reason with Ryoga usually got you nowhere. He leaned aside
again as the umbrella made its return trip. Ryoga snatched it
out of the air.

"Too long have you made my life a living hell, Ranma. It's
time to settle the score once and for all!" He launched
himself at Ranma.

Ranma merely danced to the side, out of Ryoga's reach. He
jumped and landed on a street sign, looking down at Ryoga.
Maybe he could call Ryoga's bluff. "Come on, Ryoga, what
are you going to do? Kill me?"

Ryoga smashed the street sign, crumbling it. Ranma was able
to leap away, landing on a car. Hopefully Ryoga had some
respect for other people's property. "Come on, buddy, this
won't get you anywhere. I don't want to fight you, and you
really don't want to kill me. Let's say you and I talk this
over, okay?" Ranma almost couldn't believe his own words. He
*had* changed.

Ryoga was just getting angrier. "Shishi Hokodan!" Ranma
leapt away in time, but the car was destroyed. Ryoga really
was beyond reason.

Ranma kept trying to reach him. "Ryoga, I know that you don't
like it that Akane and I are really engaged now, but you've got
Akari. She's a wonderful person, why don't you - "

"Don't tell me what to do!" Ryoga reached up, grabbed a bandanna
out of his hair, and threw it at Ranma. Ranma leaned aside. The
bandanna was followed by lots more, and Ranma had to leap aside
yet again, although he got tagged by one or two of the bandannas.

Ranma's newly-learned patience was nearly at an end. Ryoga just
wanted to fight. Like Ukyo and Kodachi and Shampoo before him,
Ryoga didn't care who or what got in his way.

Ranma didn't want to fight Ryoga. He'd seen what had happened
to Akane. She could have been killed any number of times already.
What Ryoga might do in this unreasoning attack of his frightened
Ranma. He needed to talk some sense into Ryoga, for both their
sakes.

Ranma landed in the street near where Ryoga stood. "Ryoga,
please, tell me what I can do to make it up to you."

"Just fight!" Ryoga was yelling now. "You've done nothing
but cause me misery since the day I met you, and I want to
take my revenge out of your skin. You made me look like a
fool in school, you gave me this curse, and you took Akane
from me. For these things, I will never forgive you!"

Ranma shook his head. "I'm sorry you feel that way Ryoga.
But you did a lot of those things to yourself. And Akane
chose me. We're going to be married, and that's the way it is."

"You never gave me the chance to - " Ryoga's eyes were
glistening. "To tell her my feelings. She never knew - "

"She never knew a lot of things, 'P-chan'." Ranma bore his
eyes into Ryoga's. "Blaming me for your lost opportunities will
get you nowhere. If I let you beat me up, at the end you'll
have my bruised body in front of you, and you'll still be feeling
the same way you do know." Ranma shifted uncomfortably; this kind
of talk was new to him, but it felt right. "I ain't gonna fight
you. You'll have to find another way to deal with your problems."

"Well perhaps I can give you some motivation, Ranma." He ran over
to where the statue he'd been carrying was sitting. With a cry,
he smashed it with his fist. The statue crumbled. Inside, where
the drum had been, a casket fell out and rolled on the ground.

Ryoga picked up the casket and held it in his hand.

Ranma knew very little Chinese. However, long ago he had
memorized one particular phrase. That phrase was stenciled
onto the casket Ryoga was holding.

Nannichuan. Spring of Drowned Man.

Ranma gaped at Ryoga.

Ryoga smiled and started flipping the casket end over end in
his hand. "So, Ranma, shall we fight?"

*****************************************************

Part X : One Part of Two

Akane shook the water off of her as she headed back to the
towels. She smiled; she was having a lot of fun. Even if she
couldn't swim, she had waded up to her waist and let the waves
push her around. Tofu-sensei had hovered over her and held her
when the water threatened to overwhelm her. She didn't mind; he
was the only person who didn't condescend to her. Well, other
than Kasumi.

The odd part was, she used to love feeling his strong hands on
her when she had visited him at the clinic. Even if she'd given
up on him, she couldn't help almost quiver at his touch. Lately,
however, it had felt wrong. More and more, she had come to realize
there was only one man she wanted to have put his hands on her.

She flushed a little at the thought. Her physical relationship
with Ranma had been proceeding slowly. She wasn't sure if she
was going to go Nabiki's route and indulge in something prenuptial,
or if she would be like Kasumi and remain virginal until she was
married. She was, however, coming more and more to anticipate the
moment. Ranma was very handsome, and surprisingly gentle when they
were making out. It was unfortunate that the beach house was so
crowded. She wondered if she could find a way to get Ranma alone
for a while.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the appearance of a whirlwind.
It rose high off the ground a hundred meters beyond the beach. She
couldn't see beyond the beach houses, but there was only one reason
for its appearance. It died as quickly as it had formed, but not
before Akane had run off towards it.

***

Ranma gaped at Ryoga. "Where'd you get that?"

Ryoga smiled coldly. "Where do you think I've been these past few
weeks? I went to Jusenkyo and brought some of this back with me."

Ranma gazed at the cask. So close, but still lots of room
for the curse to make sure he didn't get it. "Why didn't you
just jump into the pool?"

Ryoga scowled at him. "Just you never mind about that!"

Ranma could guess. For all that Ryoga hated his curse, he
loved sleeping with Akane. If that meant that he had to
become a pig to do so, it didn't bother him. But then...
"Why did you go at all, Ryoga? If you didn't want to use
the water, why go and get some?"

Ryoga glared at Ranma, his face becoming darker. "Because...
because...."

Ranma, though, had figured this out, too. "Because of Akari,
right? You want to become a complete man for Akari, but you
can't let go of Akane. So you just took some water in a casket,
and you'll keep it with you until you can decide what to do."
Ranma shook his head. "Ryoga, get over it. I'm not going to let
you sleep with Akane anymore. Let's just open the casket, use the
water, and let bygones be bygones, okay?"

Ryoga clenched his jaw. "If you think you're going to get
off that easy, Ranma, you're sadly mistaken. I have two
years of hell that I'm going to take out on you. Taking Akane
from me was the last straw. If you won't fight me, then say
goodbye to the Nannichuan water!"

Ryoga raised the cask over his head, and made a movement to
smash it on the ground.

"No!" Ranma knew he was playing into Ryoga's hands, but he
couldn't help himself. The cure was so close - again. He
wanted it so badly. Ryoga had him just where he wanted him.

Ryoga stopped himself, smiling at Ranma. "So what do you
say, Ranma? Shall we fight?"

Ranma gritted his teeth. No choice, really. Maybe a surprise
attack. With a quick, convulsive effort, he let loose a
Hiryu Shoten Ha. He hoped the whirlwind would separate Ryoga
from the cask.

Ryoga, however, kept both hands on the cask as he was lifted
off the ground and tossed about. He land on the ground a few
meters from Ranma, rolling on his back, keeping the cask safe.

Ryoga bounced back on his feet, looking only slightly
battered by an attack that left most people wasted. "Is that
the best you can do, Ranma? This is going to be easy."

Ryoga put the cask under one arm and launched himself at
Ranma. He attacked with one hand and his feet, keeping the
cask away from Ranma.

Ranma was able to block or avoid Ryoga's blows pretty easily.
He was afraid to counterattack too vigorously, though, for
fear of smashing the cask. He danced around Ryoga, trying to
find a safe opening, knowing that if he didn't, it would only
be a matter of time before either the cask was destroyed or
Ryoga pounded him.

***

Akane ran up the street, to see Ryoga and Ranma fighting. It
was a strange fight; Ryoga had a barrel under his arm, and
Ranma was attacking him very cautiously, as if he was afraid
of hitting Ryoga - or the barrel.

She saw Akari watching the battle also, her hands covering her
mouth. Akane ran up to her. "Akari! What are they fighting about?"

"I don't know!" Akari sounded afraid. "I thought they were
such good friends. What did Ranma do to him?"

Akane scowled at her, but Akari was intent on watching the
battle. Akane bit back her reply; no purpose would be served
by fighting with Akari.

She looked over at the combatants. She wondered what could
be in the barrel that was so important. She could make see
that something was written on the barrel, but she couldn't make
it out. She decided to ask Akari about it. "What's in that barrel
Ryoga's holding?"

"I don't know that either. Something he brought back from
China, I suppose."

China! Akane looked at the barrel again. It did look exactly
like the barrel of Nannichuan water that her father had
gotten from Jusenkyo. Why would Ryoga go all the way to China
for it? Ranma was the only one who needed it. If Ryoga was going
to give it to Ranma as a present, why were they fighting? It just
didn't make sense.

Ranma danced back from Ryoga, looking quite frustrated. "Ryoga,
stop this! Any more fighting and we'll both lose the water!"

Ryoga growled back at him. "Then that's the way it will be!"
He pressed his attack again.

Akari looked at Akane. "What's so special about that water?"

Akane thinned her lips, but could think of no reason not to
tell Akari. "It's water that will turn you into a man when
hit with cold water. Ranma needs it to cure a curse he has."

"Oh! That's why Ryoga went to China." Akari beamed with
understanding. She turned back to watch the fighting.

Akane shook her head. "Why does Ryoga need it?" She meant
the question to be rhetorical.

To her surprise, Akari answered her. "Oh, I imagine Ryoga
doesn't want to be a pig anymore."

Akane's eyes widened. She grabbed Akari's shoulders, turned
her to so they were face to face. "What did you say?"

Akari looked at her in surprise. "Oh, didn't you know? Ryoga
turns into the cutest little pig when he's hit with cold water."

It was the single greatest shock of Akane's life. Suddenly a
hundred things all fell into place at once. Little puzzles,
strange behaviors, the way Ranma acted sometimes - it all made
sense.

The bandanna. She should have known by the bandanna.

The anger rose in Akane. She was so furious, she couldn't see
straight. She heard someone cry out in pain. Akane released
Akari's shoulders, turned, and started walking towards Ryoga.

He was intent on fighting Ranma. He didn't see her until she
was right next to him. When he finally saw her, he drew back
a step. "Akane-san... what's wrong?"

She couldn't contain it any more. "RYOGA NO BAKA!" She hit him
as hard as she had ever hit anyone or anything in her life.
Ryoga went flying up and away. He hit the top of a nearby
telephone pole. Akane didn't care; as far as she was concerned,
this was only the beginning. She continued towards him.

***

Ranma darted in and out, trying to get through Ryoga's defense
to the cask. It was extremely difficult. Ryoga was very good,
and knew what Ranma was after. Ryoga's counterattacks hadn't
landed yet, but he has getting closer.

Ranma's mind was hard at work trying to find a way to separate
Ryoga from the cask. He just couldn't think of a way that didn't
endanger the cask. Reasoning with Ryoga was getting him nowhere.

He saw a glow out of the corner of his eye. He turned to see
Akane stalking towards Ryoga, looking as angry as he had
ever seen her - and he had seen her plenty angry. She was glowing
a bright red, emanating as much chi as he had ever seen from her.

Ryoga seemed surprised at her anger. With a cry, Akane hit
him. Ryoga went flying. He hit the top of a telephone pole.

And dropped the cask.

Ranma followed its trajectory. Akane was walking towards the
telephone pole. The cask was going to hit the ground next to her.

Ranma moved. He moved as fast as he could, trying to reach
Akane. He was not going to let her be cursed. He could not
let it happen to her.

Everything was happening so slowly. The cask was taking forever
to fall. Akane, still glowing with anger, was barely moving her
feet. Ranma himself couldn't make his feet move fast enough.

He realized, to his horror, that he wasn't going to make it in time.

"No!" The word was torn from his throat as continued to move
glacially towards Akane. At the same time, an umbrella appeared
from above.

The cask hit the ground and burst, sending water spraying
everywhere. The umbrella bounced in front of Akane, opening
and protecting her from the spray.

As the umbrella continued bouncing and no longer covered
Akane, Ranma tackled her. They both went flying across the
street, away from the spray of water.

Time resumed its normal pace. Ranma rolled with Akane,
protecting her from the pavement. When they came to a halt,
he looked back to see the ground covered with water,
evaporating almost instantly on the hot pavement. Ryoga was
clinging to the top of the telephone pole with his feet and
one hand, his other arm flung in front of him, the after-affect
of his throw.

Ranma looked at Akane, grabbed her breast, and let out a sigh
of relief when he discovered that it was still female.

Akane slapped him. "Not now, pervert." She still looked angry.

Ranma wasn't worried about that right now. He jumped up,
looked at himself. He seemed to be dry. He turned his back
to Akane. "Am I wet? Did the water splash me?"

Akane's voice sounded very sad. "I'm sorry Ranma. Your clothes
have a few wet spots, but nothing that soaked through." She
turned him around. "I'm sorry I yelled at you. I'm sorry you lost
your cure." She hugged him tightly.

Ranma sighed, the disappointment tasting bitter in his mouth.
Yet another opportunity wasted. The frustration caused his eyes
to water.

Ryoga. This was all Ryoga's fault. He turned away from
Akane, looking for Ryoga. There was no need to hold back
anymore. If Ryoga wanted a fight, he had one now.

Ryoga had dropped to the ground. In front of him were the remains
of the barrel. It had mostly been destroyed, but the bottom
seemed to be somewhat intact. He was crouched by it, looking down.

Ranma ran over and knelt next to him. In the bottom of the
barrel, some water still remained. No more than a couple of
handfuls worth.

Ranma and Ryoga looked at each other. "Just enough for one
person," Ryoga said, his face and tone neutral.

Ranma bored his eyes into Ryoga's, struggling with himself.
He wanted to send Ryoga flying, but Ryoga had his hands on
the barrel. There was just one more chance at a cure; he couldn't
blow it now.

"You certainly don't deserve it, 'P-chan'." Akane had come up to
them, her face as furious as ever, although she wasn't glowing.

Ryoga seemed to shrink into himself. "H-how did you...." He
looked at Ranma, his anger returning. "You told her, didn't
you! You promised...."

"I told her, Ryoga." Akari had come over as well. "Who is
'P-chan'?" For the first time, Ranma saw Akari looking a
little angry herself.

Ryoga withered under the combined glares of Akane and Akari.
Tears came to his eyes. "I did-didn't mean for it t-to be
th-this way...." He looked over at Ranma, pleading for help.

Ranma wasn't in a terribly forgiving mood. He wanted to walk
away and let him be pounded by Akane and Akari.

What stopped him was he knew it would destroy Ryoga. Ryoga
really did love Akari and Akane. If he lost them both, he would
have nothing. Ranma couldn't let that happen to him. Ranma still
owed him something for knocking him into the cursed pool.

Also, despite everything that had ever happened between
them, he considered Ryoga to be a friend. And his friend
needed his help.

"Akane." Ranma stood up and put his hand on her shoulder.
"Let's leave these two alone. Ryoga needs to talk with Akari."

Akane whirled on him. "And you! How could you let him do
this to me!" Her eyes threw daggers at him.

Ranma sighed. "I got some stuff to explain to you as well."
Her face was still set in anger. "Please, Akane, let's go
and talk. Listen to me, okay?"

Akane glared at him for a long while, then turned her glare back
to Ryoga. She clenched her fist, and both Ryoga and Ranma braced
themselves. Finally, she spun on her heel and stormed away.

Ranma turned back to Ryoga. "I'll take care of Akane. You
know what you have to do, don't you?"

Ryoga nodded glumly. He looked down at the water. "What do
we do with this?"

Ranma had almost forgotten. He couldn't deal with it right
now. "Let's talk about it later. Okay, Ryoga?"

Ryoga looked uncertain, but he nodded. "Okay, Ranma."

Ranma stood and looked for Akane. She stood a small distance
away, her back to him, but clearly waiting for him. Ranma
sighed again, and started walking to her.

"Ranma?"

He turned to look back at Ryoga. "What?"

Ryoga gulped, looking as if he'd rather be saying anything
else. "Thanks."

Ranma stared at him for a moment, then smiled. "No problem,
buddy."

He turned and followed Akane.

***

Ryoga watched as Ranma went to Akane. As he was about to
pull even with her, she resumed her pace, stalking angrily
away. Away from Ryoga.

He couldn't blame her. When he saw the cask falling towards
her, his heart had leapt into his throat. He'd seen Ranma
running towards her, saw that Ranma wasn't going to be in time.
Ryoga had grabbed his umbrella and thrown it in front of Akane,
the fastest single motion he had ever made in his life.

Thankfully, it had worked.

Still, his heart was broken. Akane knew. She knew everything.
And she hated him. Akane would never love him, now. He felt the
tears coming to his eyes again.

For some reason, it didn't hurt as bad as he thought it
would, though. He wondered why.

Someone cleared her throat. He looked up Akari, her face
angry, her eyes glaring at him. Suddenly, he understood.

He stood up and took Akari's hands in his own. "I've got
some things I have to tell you."

Akari took her hands away from his and nodded. "I would say
so. How come you never told me you were in love with Akane?"
Ryoga could see the hurt in her eyes.

He swallowed. "I've been chasing Ranma for a long time. He
humiliated me time and time again in front of our classmates.
I swore he was going to pay for that. I chased him all the way
to China. That's when I was... cursed." He stared back down at
the water, then up again to Akari. "It was more reason to hate
Ranma. I followed him to Nerima. I found him at his school, and
fought him. Then I found his home. I challenged him there, but
it was raining, and I lost my umbrella."

He looked down. "When I changed, I hid. I couldn't fight him
when I was cursed. That's when Akane found me. She - she was
kind to me. She hugged me and told me I was cute. She was quite
affectionate."

Ryoga licked his lips, nervous, not wanting to look at Akari.
"It was the first time in a long time that anyone had ever
treated me that way. I - I fell for her. Somehow, it didn't
matter that she only loved me when I was a pig. It was enough
to know she loved me, in some way. Suddenly, there was more to
my life than revenge. There was a way to have some affection,
even if I was only a pig."

The more he talked, the more shame he felt. "I knew she was
falling in love with Ranma. I hated him all the more for it.
Yet, if it made her happy, it made me happy, too. Her happiness
was all that mattered.

"It made me so confused. I wanted to tell her I loved her. I
wanted her to be happy, which meant helping her and Ranma
get along. I wanted her affection, which meant being her pet
pig. It made for a pretty miserable existence.

"Then I met you. You loved me, and you knew about my curse.
You weren't in love with anyone else. In you, I could find
happiness. But I had become so accustomed to misery, I found
it strangely hard to let go of it. I still needed Akane's
affection, and the agony I felt being torn between the two of
you was greater than any I had ever felt before."

He toed the pavement in front of him. "I never wanted to
hurt you, Akari. I think I want to be happy. I just don't
know how."

He stood there, staring at his feet, awaiting her reaction,
afraid of what it might be.

A hand came out of nowhere and slapped him. He hardly felt
it; he'd taken Ranma's best punches in stride. But it hurt
him more than any blow ever had. He finally looked up at
her, to see her glowering at him.

"Hibiki Ryoga, to think of all the time I've wasted with
you. I thought I'd found my love. I gave you love and
thought you were giving me love in return. Instead, you were
using my love to make yourself miserable. How could you!"

Ryoga took a step back. "Akari, I... I'm sorry. If I had known...."

She whirled and stalked away. He watched her go into the
beach house and slam the door.

Ryoga's world came to an end. He collapsed on the ground,
letting his tears flow, not caring. He could see the barrel
within arm's reach. He didn't care about that, either.

The world was a dark and lonely place.

***

Ranma followed Akane warily. He was not looking forward to this.

She stopped suddenly and spun to face him. "You knew all
along, didn't you! From the very first moment! And you let
him do that to me!" She was so mad she was shaking.

Ranma tried to make his voice reasonable. "I tried to stop
him. You saw how much I tried."

Akane glared at him. "You could simply have told me. Do you
know how... humiliating this whole thing is! I changed in
front of him, I..." She was flushed. "I slept with him held
to my chest! Ryoga!"

Ranma started feeling defensive. "I couldn't tell you
because - "

"Because why? Because it gave you a good laugh, to know your
old buddy was getting his jollies off of stupid Akane!"

"Because it was my fault he was cursed!"

That stopped Akane short. "What?"

Ranma nodded. "Remember I told you I chased Father around
the pools for a couple of hours? During the chase, I
accidentally knocked Ryoga into one of the pools." Ranma
grimaced. "I owed him something for that. He took advantage
of me, used my honor to become your 'P-chan'. I hated him
for that, but I couldn't break my word. I'm sorry, Akane."

Akane stared at him. She seemed to relent a little. "That's
the one thing you've done consistently, Ranma. You've always
kept your promises. I'm not happy about this whole situation,
but I can't blame you for it."

Ranma grasped her shoulders lightly. "Please don't take it
out on Ryoga. He loved you, he really did. Anything you
could do to him wouldn't be any worse than the agony he
caused himself."

Akane drew a couple of deep breaths. "Okay, for you, Ranma, I
won't do anything to him. That doesn't mean I forgive him, though."

Ranma sighed in relief. It was the best result he could hope for.

Akane stepped away from him. "I'm going to go to my room. I
need to think for a while."

"Wait!" Ranma gulped. He wished the timing could be better.
"There's one more thing we need to talk about."

***

Ryoga wondered if any cars ever came down this street. He
wondered if he could throw himself in front of them before
they could stop. He wondered if he could just lie here until
he died. That seemed a good enough plan for now.

"Ryoga-kun?"

He turned his head. Kasumi and Ukyo were staring at him. He
supposed he looked silly. He didn't much care.

Ukyo crouched in front of him. "What's wrong with you, sugar?"

Ryoga could only shake his head.

Ukyo thinned her lips, then grabbed his shoulders and forced
him to sit up. "Don't be like this. Just tell Ukyo all about it."

Ryoga stared at her. "Akari...." He swallowed. "Akari and I
broke up. She never wants to see me again." He felt the
tears falling down his face.

Kasumi looked down at him. "How long ago did she break up with you?"

Ryoga shook his head. "I can't remember. An hour ago, maybe."

"And where did she go?" Kasumi's voice was gentle, reasoning.

Ryoga wondered what Kasumi was leading to. "She went into the
house."

Kasumi smiled at him. "Well, I'd say you should go talk to her."

He gaped at her. "But she doesn't want to see me, ever."

Kasumi chided him gently, still smiling. "Now, now, Ryoga-kun,
if she never wanted to see you again, she would have gotten in
her car and gone away. She went into the house and stayed there
because she wants you to know how mad she is, but she also wants
you to come after her." She bent over and looked into his eyes.
"Go, Ryoga-kun. She wants you. She loves you. All you have to do
is to tell her that you want and love her, too."

Ryoga gaped at her. Hope flowed into him, forcing out the
depression. Maybe it wasn't too late. He jumped up and ran
towards the house.

***

Ukyo looked at Kasumi in admiration. "How do you do that?"

Kasumi smiled. "I learned it from my mother."

Ukyo smiled back. "You're very good. I hope Tofu-sensei
knows how lucky he is."

Kasumi's eyes lost focus. "Almost as lucky as I am," she sighed.

Ukyo laughed. Together, they went into the house to make dinner.

***

"Married?"

Ranma nodded at Akane. "By the end of the week."

Akane shook her head. "They can't. They wouldn't."

Ranma shrugged. "They've done it before."

Akane's mind reeled. She did not need this, not now. She still
couldn't get over Ryoga. "We'll just have to stop them."

Ranma flinched, so slightly she almost didn't notice. "My
father says he'll stop them if we want. He says he can
control my mother."

Akane shook her head, trying to clear it. Ranma had flinched
just now. Why? The only reason she could think of was that
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he wanted them to be married this week.

Akane tried to imagine it. Married. They weren't even out of
high school yet. Too young, they were too young. Kasumi wasn't
getting married for a year yet. Why couldn't she wait, too?
That was best, that was reasonable.

Ranma wanted to get married now, though. She could feel it.

What might happen to them in the coming year? They had both
nearly been killed a number of times over the past year.
What if someone succeeded?

She shook her head. Ridiculous. This past year had been a
fluke. All of the fiancees had been taken care of. There
were no more threats.

But who knew what other threats were lurking? Another maniac
like Kodachi, waiting to fall in love with Ranma at first
sight. Another woman like Shampoo, with a strange sense of
honor that compelled her to try and force Ranma into marriage.
More fiancees Ranma's father hadn't yet told them about. Should
she risk that happening?

Ranma wanted to get married. He loved her so much, he was
willing to marry her.

How were they going to live? Would they share a room back
home? What if - she blushed at the thought - what if she got
pregnant? A baby and a husband, all before she graduated from
high school? Wasn't that too much to ask one person to deal
with at once?

But Ranma wanted to get married. Over the past year, she had
heard nothing but protestations from him, how much he
resented being her fiancee, how unfair the whole situation
was, how he would never marry an uncute tomboy like her.
When they'd nearly been married before, he'd found out how
they were forcing her into it, and had gone ballistic. He'd
removed the leverage they'd had on Akane, and her father had
finally relented, saying that it wasn't yet time.

Over the past few weeks, things had changed between her and
Ranma. They'd finally shown each other their true feelings.
Those feelings had taken them to new heights, to happiness
they had never experienced before. She'd found strength and
peace in his arms, and she could see him getting the same in
return. They'd shared love with each other, and it made her
feel as good as she had ever felt.

Ranma wanted to get married.

And oh God she wanted to also.

She reached a shaking hand out to Ranma. "I mean, we'll have to
stop them from forcing us. We'll have to tell them we're willing."

Ranma's eyes got very big. "Y-you really want to get married?"

She stepped up to him. "As long as it's to you."

That got to him, she could tell. His eyes began glistening,
and they stared at each other, the enormity of the decision
weighing on them both.

Slowly, his own hands shaking, Ranma gathered her in. They kissed,
trying to steady each other, neither doing a very good job. They
trembled in the sea breeze, neither one of them cold.

***

Ryoga looked around; he had no idea what room Akari was in, and
he knew he was quite capable of spending hours looking for it.
He bit his lip. Please, not this time. Let me find her right away.

He wandered down a hallway, and found one of the doors was open.
Looking inside, he saw Akari, sitting on the floor, clutching a
stuffed pig in her arms. She didn't look at him at all.

Ryoga entered slowly and sat down opposite her. She glanced
at him quickly, then looked deliberately away. Ryoga's heart
was beating very fast; he didn't know where to begin.

"I want you to know...." What? What did he want her to know?
He needed to think this through.

He swallowed, tried something else. "If I had wanted to...
stay with Akane, I would never have gone to China. I brought
back the water because I wanted to use it on myself so that
I could never be a pig again. That way, I could never be with
Akane again."

Akari still wasn't looking at him, but her face seemed to
soften a little. Ryoga hoped this was a good sign. "It was
hard to give her up. I think that's why I wanted to challenge
Ranma. I know that, in a fair fight, he'll beat me nine times
out of ten. I knew he'd never let me at Akane again if he won.
I think I wanted him to win."

Ryoga rubbed his forehead. "It's difficult for me. I don't
do things the easy way. I think I was trying to find my way
to you, I just wasn't doing it very well. If...."

He took a deep breath; this was his last play. "If you would
give me another chance, I think I could do it the right way.
Akane is in love with Ranma, and I am letting her go. I will
never be her 'P-chan' again. I would rather be with you."

Akari began crying softly. She finally turned to Ryoga. "If you
wanted to cuddle with someone, why didn't you come to me? You
wouldn't even have to be a pig." She reached out to him with
both arms. He grabbed her and they hugged each other fiercely.

Like a muscle that had been tense for a long time, something
relaxed inside Ryoga. The depression that was always a part of
his existence began to lessen more and more. Ryoga realized there
were alternatives to unhappiness. Good alternatives. He wanted to
explore them, starting with the woman he held in his arms.

Suddenly, the world was an okay place after all.

***

The four of them met by the remains of the barrel. Akane and
Ranma holding hands on one side; Akari and Ryoga with their
arms around each other opposite them.

Ranma studied Ryoga. He had a strange expression on his face.
Ranma realized with a start what it was. Ryoga was happy.
Happy without being tense. It was good to see him that way.

Ranma watched him carefully. "Akane and I are getting
married in a few days."

Ryoga's expression didn't alter in the slightest. "It's
about time. I'm happy for you two."

Ranma breathed a quiet sigh of relief. Ryoga had finally made
a decision. The right one, too. Ranma looked down at the
precious water in the barrel. "So, what do we do about this?"

"It's too bad we couldn't have resolved all our problems
before," Akane commented. "Then everyone would be happy."

"It's the curse," Ryoga said. He too looked at the water.

Ranma nodded. "Who do you think is supposed to get it?"

Ryoga looked at Akari, then back at Ranma. "Somehow, I don't
think my time has come yet. I think there's still a purpose
that hasn't yet been fulfilled. I think that's what led me
to Akari. It's just too much of a coincidence that pigs
dominate both our lives." Akari looked up at him in adoration.

Ranma was impressed, too. That was pretty good reasoning for
Ryoga.

Ranma leaned over and picked up the barrel. He held it in his
hands, waiting for something to happen. For the wind to blow,
for Happosai to snatch it, anything. He looked down at his feet.
No grass, nothing but dry pavement.

He looked at Akane. She was smiling at him. "It's what you
wanted. You don't have to be half a man anymore."

Ranma stared back at the water. Being cursed this past year
had been a strange adventure. He had been attacked left and
right, put in all sorts of unusual situations, been chased by
men, and exposed to all kinds of humiliation. He had also
learned more martial arts, become stronger and faster,
discovered a new identity, and had experiences he could never
have known otherwise. Not to mention, he had not met Akane
until after he'd been cursed.

Now the adventure was ending.

Ranma looked at Ryoga, then at Akane, smiled, and raised the
bucket over his head.

***

Genma sat in the sand, putting on his most inscrutable face.
Nodoka was deep into the plans for the reception. They had
already covered the abduction and marriage in great detail,
and now were planning how they could have a good party but
still get everyone to leave by a reasonable hour so that
Akane and Ranma could be alone on their wedding night.

Genma stirred uncomfortably. He was not looking forward to
telling his wife that there would be no wedding night. It
would be sure to end any chance he had to get back together with
her. But he could not allow Ranma to be forced into a marriage.
Ranma was a good man; he would marry when the time was right.
That he had agreed to marry the bride chosen for him by his
parents should be enough for Nodoka. She shouldn't press the
issue.

He knew, however, that it was a personal issue for her. She
knew that her son loved Akane as much - or more - than he
loved her. That was hard for her to accept. She needed them
married to ease the hurt she felt that Akane had an equal
claim on Ranma's love. This was unfair to Ranma and Akane,
though. Genma would not let her force a marriage on them to
soothe her pride.

No matter what it cost him.

"Mother? Father? Uncle Tendo?"

Genma turned. Ranma and Akane were kneeling on the beach. As
he and the others turned towards them, they bowed, their
foreheads nearly touching the sand.

Genma grimaced despite himself. He wished Ranma had spoken
with him first. He could have prepared Nodoka for this
moment. Too late; his only choice now was to play it out as
best he could.

Nodoka was looking at her son with something approaching
suspicion. "What is it, Ranma?"

Ranma straightened with Akane, and addressed her. "Honored
Mother, it has come to my attention that you have planned a
wedding for me and Akane."

Nodoka's eyes got wide. She turned and stared daggers at
Genma. He withered inside; it was as bad as he feared. He
kept his outward appearance calm. Now was not the time to
fight with her.

Nodoka turned back to her son. "Your mother feels that this
is a good time. There's no reason to delay. You can be
happily married by the end of the week." She faltered; she
could come up with no good reasons why Akane and Ranma
couldn't wait. She ended by almost pleading, "It would make
your poor mother very happy."

Ranma nodded his head. "As you wish, Mother. We would not
want to make you unhappy. As it is, Akane and I agree that
there is no reason to delay. We will willingly cooperate with
you, Mother, if you will let us know your plans."

Silence descended upon the group. Genma saw the stunned
expressions on Nodoka's and Soun's faces, and knew that they
mirrored his own. This was not the answer he had been expecting.
Ranma and Akane *wanted* to get married now? The possibility
had never occurred to him. He probed his feelings, and discovered
that their decision made him very happy. No one could deny that
his son was a man, now.

Nodoka was close to tears. "You... mean that, son?"

Akane spoke up. "It was a decision we both made. We want to
honor your wishes, Mother-in-law." She bowed her head, and
turned to Soun. "Yours as well, Father."

"Oh, Akane..." Soun *was* crying. "If only your mother...."
He covered his face with his hands.

Genma sighed. Where was Kasumi when you needed her? He
punched Soun in the arm, hard. "Don't carry on, Tendo-kun.
Her mother knows. Let's get on with the wedding plans so
that these two young people can be married."

Soun rubbed his arm, and nodded.

Genma turned back to Ranma. "Thank you, son, for telling us
this. Why don't you and Akane go back to the house for dinner.
We will join you soon."

Ranma nodded. "There is one other thing you should know." He
turned towards Nodoka. "This should make you very happy, Mother."

Nodoka was still more or less in shock, but managed, "What
is it, Ranma?"

Ranma reached behind him and brought out what looked like
half of a smashed barrel. He turned back towards Genma and
threw it at him. It landed upside down on Genma's head, the
water soaking him.

Genma looked at his son in disapproval. Both Ranma and Akane
were grinning widely at him. "I fail to see the humor in
this, boy."

Soun was staring at him. He reached over and fingered
Genma's soaked tunic. "This is cold water, Saotome-kun."

Genma blinked. It *was* cold. And he was feeling it with his
skin. Not fur.

He reached up and took the barrel off his head. He examined
it closely and found half of a Chinese phrase he had come to
know. He looked at Ranma incredulously.

Ranma nodded happily. "Nannichuan. Only enough for one
person, I'm afraid. Thought you could use it the most."

Genma gasped. He had become so accustomed to his curse, he had
not thought much about its end. Then, unexpectedly, the cure
had literally fallen on his head. His mind was whirling, his
emotions churning as he hadn't allowed them to in many years.

He looked at Nodoka, who seemed on the verge of fainting under
the impact of the multiple shocks she had received in the past
few minutes. He couldn't stop a smile from reaching his lips.
"Nodoka, I guarantee that I will never be a panda again."

She stared at him, apparently unsure how to respond. Then
she smiled. "Oh, Genma, I am so happy for you. Are you sure
that you are happy?"

Genma examined himself, tried to make some sense out of this
own thoughts and feelings. He discovered, to his surprise,
that he was not sorry to see the curse lifted. He had finally
recognized it for the crutch it was, and was gratified to be
standing on his own.

He nodded. "I am a man. That is my true nature. And I am
glad of it."

Nodoka closed her eyes and said something to herself, so
softly he couldn't hear it.

Ranma stood up and clasped his hands on Genma's shoulders.
"Congratulations, Pop. Father, I mean. Now you can show
everyone how much of my swimming skills I learned from you."

Genma looked into Ranma's eyes, for the first time realizing
what Ranma had given up. He saw no trace of remorse or
jealousy in Ranma. Ranma seemed content to be as he was right
now, and that made Genma feel good, too.

Ranma turned away, took Akane's hand, and started walking
back down the beach. The three parents looked after them.

"You know, Tendo-kun," Genma remarked. "We did a good job
with those two."

"They are exceptional young people." Nodoka looked at Genma,
a puzzled look on her face.

Soun sighed. "She's as much a product of Kasumi's parenting
as much as mine or her mother's. I must remember to thank Kasumi."

Genma nodded. He knew, though, that as much as they might
have helped, in the end, Akane and Ranma had chosen to be
good people. They were lucky to have such fine offspring.

***

Ranma fidgeted in his tuxedo. Somehow, the fact that he had
put it on himself made it more uncomfortable.

He couldn't believe he was doing this. He could not believe
he was about to go through with it. He must be mad. This had
to be the result of some mad plot on someone else's part. He
looked around. It would easy to run across the sand, lose
himself in the beach houses....

"Relax, Ranma." Ryoga put his hand on Ranma's shoulder.
"It'll be over in a little bit." He paused, and a twinkle of
amusement entered his eyes. "You know, Ranma, I wanted to take
my revenge on you by beating you up. Seeing you suffer like
this is much more satisfying."

Ranma glared at him. 'Best man' indeed. More like the guy who
poured salt into an open wound. He could use a good chi-attack.
Ranma didn't feel up to a Moko Takabisha. A Hiryu Shoten Ha
would cause too much damage. Maybe a simple Kachu Tenshin
Amiguriken; he hadn't done one of those in a while.

There was a sudden rustle, the sound of everyone turning in
their seats at once. Ryoga looked down the aisle and his
eyes got big.

Ranma slowly turned, somewhat afraid of what he was going to see.

Akane was absolutely radiant. She had on another western-style
wedding dress. This one had many more frills and a long trail.
The lace seemed to positively glow in the sunlight.

What made her more beautiful, though, was her face. She had
on the biggest smile he had ever seen from her, at the same
time close to tears. Her eyes were big, and they were fixed
on Ranma. He swallowed. He never wanted her eyes to leave him.

He wasn't sure if her father was supporting her, or she him.
Probably a bit of both, Ranma decided. Her father released Akane
at the head of the aisle, to practically collapse into a chair
next to Ranma's mother and father. He didn't seem up to standing
through the ceremony.

Ranma turned his attention back to Akane. She wasn't smiling
anymore, just looking at his face with a solemn, slightly
frightened look on her face. She was breathing rapidly, and
seemed about to faint. He gave her what he hoped was a
reassuring smile, although it felt weak on his lips. She also
gave him a weak smile. Ranma almost laughed; she was probably
trying to reassure him as well.

They both turned to the court official Ranma's mother had
hired for the occasion, a nondescript man with dark hair and
glasses. He was smiling too, with more strength. He nodded at
them, then began.

"Ranma and Akane have agreed to marry each other, and give
each other happiness and love. They enter into a lifelong
partnership, where each submerges their will into the greater
whole of their unity. For they are no longer separate identities,
but rather, each is one part of the two lives entwined, finding
strength together, peace together, love together. Let them not
be thought of as merely individuals, but each one-half of the
total sum of their spirits.

"Inasmuch as Akane and Ranma have consented on paper to be
man and wife, I must now ask them to give this consent aloud,
for a contract of marriage is the one contract in which the
promises of heart and mouth must supersede those of brain,
and ink, and paper.

"Think not that this is an easy thing, this exchanging of
vows, or one to be taken lightly. Each of these young people
is taking an oath, which binds their honor and the honor of
their families to their words. When a person takes such an
oath, that person cradles their own soul in their hands.

"And so, Akane and Ranma, I charge you now: If you don't
intend for these vows to bind you, release each other from
the pledges you've made until now, and me from my promise
to wed you, for I shall not do so willingly should this be
the case.

"Indeed, should any witness to this ceremony know a reason why
the oaths taken today shall not be kept, and kept sincerely,
speak now, or ratify this marriage with your silence."

Ranma couldn't help but look around. Shampoo was holding
Mousse's hand very tightly, and seemed about to cry, but she
didn't look like she had anything to say. Tatewaki was sitting
next to Nabiki, looking very stern, but also strangely content.
Ukyo was sitting by herself, and she *was* crying, but she met
Ranma's gaze with a brave smile and a nod.

Ranma looked at Ryoga, who raised an eyebrow and indicated
with a movement of his head that Ranma should pay attention
to the ceremony. Relieved, Ranma looked forward once more.

"Do you two swear and affirm that you stand here of your own
will, free of external compulsions, to be wed by me before
these loved ones, and that you willingly exchange the vows you
are about to take?" Ranma and Akane both murmured agreement.
Ranma couldn't help but wonder what would have happened at this
point if Mother had carried out her original plan.

"Good. Take each other's hand, and look at each other."

Akane shyly offered her hand. Ranma placed it in his own.
They looked at each other. Ranma felt the outside world melt
away. The only thing that existed at all was the woman in
front of him. His doubts, hesitations, and fears vanished in
her eyes. He smiled, confident, assured, knowing that this was
good and right. Akane smiled at him too, also seeming less
afraid. The love they felt seemed almost a physical thing,
saturating the air between them.

Words seemed to float in from somewhere. Ranma didn't much
care about where they came from, but he listened to them
nonetheless.

"Ranma, repeat after me..." Ranma did, putting his love into
the words.

"I, Saotome Ranma, accept you, Tendo Akane, as my one true
wife..." he almost stumbled over the word, but kept going,
"...and will love and honor you and you alone in this fashion,
and will serve you and you alone with every last breath as
lover, provider, and shield, and not forsake you, no matter
how the winds may blow, for as long as we two shall live."

The words from outside were now directed at Akane. She
echoed the words, her expression serious, her voice quiet
but firm, her eyes wide, her hand steady as it held his. "I,
Tendo Akane, accept you, Saotome Ranma, as my one true husband,
and will love and honor you and you alone in this fashion,
and will serve you and you alone with every last breath as
lover, provider, and shield, and not forsake you, no matter
how the winds may blow, for as long as we two shall live."

The world grew a little, and now Ranma could see the court
administrator as he continued the ceremony.

"Do you have the rings?" Ryoga handed Ranma two gold bands.
One had a small diamond in its center, beautiful still in
its simplicity. Ranma gave the plain one to Akane, and put
the other on her finger. She took his hand and put his ring
on his finger. It felt like cold fire on his skin, burning
the knowledge of his marriage into him.

"So be it. You two have, this day, demonstrated your
complete and total faith in each other. By virtue of the
powers vested in me, I now declare you one soul, husband
and wife, lawfully joined."

The court administrator smiled again. "You may, at your
convenience, kiss the bride."

Ranma fought to keep his hands from shaking as he lifted his
wife's veil. She was looking at him, eager, loving. They
kissed, and the sound of cheering buoyed them as they lost
themselves in each other.

***

Shampoo watched from the edge of the reception. Ranma and
Akane looked dazed but happy. She wondered if they truly
knew what had happened to them. She sighed, unable to suppress
a twinge of jealousy.

Mousse was gazing wistfully in completely the wrong direction.
He didn't have his glasses on, and he was about to make a fool
out of himself again. "Don't they look beautiful together?" He
was staring at Ukyo and Genma, standing together.

Shampoo blew out a exasperated breath. "Stupid Mousse." She
reached up and brought his glasses down onto his face. She
snuck a look at his eyes before the glasses covered them;
they really were beautiful. "Let's go say goodbye, Mousse.
It's time we began our journey home."

Mousse looked sad but nodded. They made their way over to
Akane and Ranma.

Ranma was busy twisting his wedding ring around and around
his finger. Akane noticed them, and smiled as they
approached. "Shampoo! Mousse! I am so glad you came. It's
good to see you."

"Was not always so, eh, Akane?" Shampoo wished her Japanese
was better. She had never put much effort into it, and now
that she was leaving Japan forever, she wished she could say
this last thing clearly. "It brings joy to Shampoo's heart to
see you and Ranma happy so. Shampoo thinks best person for
Ranma is Akane. Has always been Akane." She bit her lip.
"Shampoo is sorry to have caused so much trouble trying to
make it not so."

Akane reached over and took her hand. "Hush, Shampoo, that's
all behind us. You helped us, too, when we needed it most.
Let us always remember the good things, okay?"

Shampoo nodded. "Okay. Akane speaks wisely. Shampoo hopes to be
like Akane." She couldn't resist one last taunt. "In some ways."

Akane laughed. They held each other's gaze a moment, then
Shampoo turned to Ranma.

Ranma was smiling sadly. "I hate to see you go, Shampoo. I'm
going to miss you."

Shampoo viciously fought back a sob. "Shampoo will miss
Ranma. Is only man who could make Shampoo act like little
girl. Is maybe good we not get married; Shampoo wants to be
adult." She reached up and touched Ranma's cheek. "Ranma, you
always carry part of Shampoo's heart, part of Shampoo that
you took when you beat Shampoo in combat. When troubled,
when you need little spark of fire that Amazons give best,
look to piece of Shampoo. It always burn for you."

Ranma took a deep breath, grabbed her hand with his own.
"Thank you, Shampoo. If you ever need any help, let me know
and I'll be there. I promise."

"Shampoo knows that." She leaned in and kissed him on the
cheek. "Wo ai ni," she whispered in his ear, so soft she
could barely hear herself. She looked down and turned away.

She waited while Mousse gave his best wishes to Ranma and
Akane. Mousse and Ranma shook hands firmly, and Ranma
thanked him for his help and wished him a good journey.
Mousse thanked him right back, said goodbye, and then put
his hand on Shampoo's elbow. Together they left the reception.

As they walked down to the train station, Shampoo attempted
to shake the melancholy from her soul. This was not how
Amazons acted. She looked over at Mousse, and was slightly
startled to see him studying her intently.

"You were very brave tonight, Shampoo. I'm proud of you."

"Hmph. As if an Amazon would behave any other way." She
lifted her chin. "It's time to put this silly island behind
us. Time to go home and face the elders. After that, we'll
start making a better future for our tribe. You'll see,
Mousse. My name will be written among the greats of the
Amazons."

"Of that I have no doubt." His face faltered a little.
"Shampoo, when you say we... do you mean, you and me
separately, or...." He swallowed, unable to continue.

She studied him carefully. He had been chasing her as long
as she had known him. Then again, many men had been chasing
her for the past couple of years. No one had started as early
as Mousse had, however. He had always been around, always
there to guide her or help her. He'd even come to Japan to be
with her.

She was still pining a little over Ranma. When she was over
him, maybe she had room in her heart for someone else.

Shampoo looked at Mousse haughtily. "Mousse, where would I
be if you hadn't been with me? A good leader takes full
advantage of her assets. Right now, you are an asset." She
sniffed. "Just make sure you remain so."

Mousse looked at her uncertainly. Good. He should never
assume too much about her, never believe he knew what she
was thinking.

But he shouldn't be completely in the dark, either. She
reached over and took his hand. He smiled and seemed to grow
two feet.

Shampoo smiled back at him. It was a beginning.

***

Ryoga clasped Ranma on the shoulder. "Well, Ranma, I can't
say that the better man won."

Ranma looked at him, raised an eyebrow. "Oh, yeah?"

Ryoga smiled at him. "I will say that the right man won,
though. Congratulations."

Ranma smiled and clasped his hand. For a moment, they
squeezed each other's hand very tightly, yet another
contest. Ryoga let go first; no need to embarrass
Ranma on his wedding day.

Ryoga looked over at Akane. She was smiling, but her eyes
were a little guarded. There was still a lot she wasn't
quite ready to forgive, evidently. Ryoga couldn't blame her.
Even thinking about what he had done to her made him want to
beat his head against something very hard. Fortunately,
Akari was helping him to deal with it.

He bowed to her. "Akane-san, I am very happy for you. I
can't ever hope for your forgiveness, but I do hope you'll
come to understand how much I truly respected you, even if
my actions indicated otherwise. It was... very pleasant to
have your affection, in any form. I am glad that Ranma will
be able to receive that same affection; he is worthy of it."

The guarded look left Akane's eyes. "I forgive you, Ryoga.
If the truth be known, I really did love P-chan. He
comforted me a lot during some bad times. He seemed to
understand me, and listened attentively when I needed
someone to talk to. Those are the memories I'll cherish,
and I thank you for them."

Ryoga felt another weight being lifted from his soul. "Thank
you, Akane-san. You have a very good heart. May I learn
kindness from you."

"What are you going to do know, buddy?" Ranma smirked at
him. "Go play with Akari's pigs?"

Ryoga let out an amused breath. "I don't know if I'd call it
'playing', but I am going to help Akari out with her business."

Akane looked over at Akari curiously. She was across the
room talking with Ukyo. "What does she do, exactly?"

Ryoga blinked. "You know, I'm not sure. We, uh, haven't
talked much about it yet." He smiled; most of the past week
had been spent with them together playing at the beach. They
had managed to spend a few moments here and there alone
together, and he found those moments to be very exciting. He
was looking forward to expanding on them.

Ranma seemed to read his thoughts and smiled at him. "Well,
when you find out, let us know. I hope we can still see each
other. You'd better let us come to you, though."

Ryoga chuckled. "That would probably be best."

He stared at them, the two people who had dominated his life
during the past year. As sad as it was for him to realize
that he was going to be seeing far less of them, it was also
a relief. He would no longer be agonizing over Akane or
fighting with Ranma. Even if it had been unintentional, no
longer would they be making his life a misery.

He bowed his head one last time, smiled, then turned to find
Akari.

She had finished talking with Ukyo and was on her way over
to Ryoga. "Ready to go?" She sounded very happy, as usual.

Ryoga nodded. They walked hand in hand out the door.

Ryoga struggled with his new feelings. Happiness. Love,
offered and returned. Instead of brooding about what might
have been or agonizing over what to do, he was now excited
about the future and ecstatic with the direction his life
was going. It was good to feel this way.

Even if it took some getting used to.

***

Nabiki watched from a distance as Tatewaki stood in front of
Akane and Ranma spouting phrase after phrase of some sonnet
or other. Something about parts of the body fighting with
each other; it sounded awfully boring. Both Ranma and Akane
had glazed expressions; they weren't getting it much, either.

He finished with a flourish, and bowed, as if expecting
applause. Akane was quick to thank him, while Ranma merely
blinked, as if waking from a nap. Nabiki decided it was time
to come to their rescue.

She came up to Tatewaki and grabbed his arm. "C'mon, Kuno-baby.
These two want to be alone real soon. Let's be off."

Tatewaki looked at her, faint reproach in his face. She
decided she would make him pay for that later. He turned
back to Ranma. "Take good care of her, Saotome Ranma-san.
Know that you have Kuno Tatewaki as both guardian of your
good fortune, and avenging angel of your indiscretions."

Nabiki rolled her eyes. "Come *on*, dear. That's enough for
tonight." She started pulling him away.

Akane rushed up to her. "Nabiki...." They stared at each
other. Akane's eyes were moist. Nabiki discovered, somewhat
to her disgust, that hers were as well.

She leaned forward and hugged Akane. "You take good care of
Ranma, Akane. Let me know if you need any... advice." They
separated and looked at each other again, Akane turning
slightly red before they both started laughing.

Nabiki looked at Ranma, who was sharing a puzzled look with
Tatewaki. "Let me manage your books when you take over the
dojo, Ranma. You'll only bungle them. I'll even give you a
reasonable rate for my services, now that you're family and all."

Ranma looked at her. "Thanks, Nabiki. If that's what I decide
to do, I'll take you up on that." Akane looked at him in surprise.

Nabiki considered his words for a moment, and decided that
it was not a matter worth pursuing right at the moment. She
smiled at Ranma, then grabbed Tatewaki and pulled him with
her out the door.

Tatewaki followed her, sounding puzzled. "Where are we going?"

Nabiki snorted. "Back to the beach house. We don't have much
time. The reception will be ending soon and everyone will be
getting ready to leave."

Tatewaki's confusion seemed to increase. "Time for what?"

What an idiot. They reached the beach house. She opened the
door, pushed him inside, jumped on his back, and started
kissing his neck. He staggered under her weight, but headed
down the hall to a bedroom.

He put her gently onto a sleeping mat. They looked into each
other's eyes for a moment. She loved the way his stern
features melted at times like these.

"Nabiki-chan, will we two ever know a moment like Ranma and
your sister knew this afternoon?"

Nabiki harumphed. "Not likely, Kuno-baby. College is going
to be taking up all my time, and after that, business. There
just simply isn't time for anything else." She quavered; she
hadn't meant to tell him this, but she couldn't help herself.
"Ask me after college. I might give you a different answer."

She saw his eyes glow with her promise. That, she decided,
made it worthwhile. Maybe there was something to this open
and forthright behavior Tatewaki was always exhibiting. She'd
have to explore it a little further.

He bent down and kissed her and it went on from there. This
time, he got it right.

***

Kasumi looked over at Akane, who was smiling happily at
everyone. You could just see love radiating from her. Kasumi
was so happy for her.

Kasumi watched as Nabiki pulled Tatewaki from the reception.
She could guess what they were going to do, and for once, it
didn't bother her. Nabiki had found love as well.

Her sisters, in love. She was in love. There was so much
love, it filled her heart to overflowing. She started to cry.

She'd been doing a lot of that today. Tofu patiently handed
her a handkerchief. He was smiling, not the big silly smile
of oblivious love, but the quiet, understanding smile of a
friend. She was so lucky to have found him. She started crying
harder.

"Now, Kasumi, it's okay." Tofu put his arm around her,
somehow knowing that his presence said more than any words
possibly could. She took strength from him.

Drying her tears, she made her way over to Akane and Ranma.
They saw her coming, and their expressions changed. They
both showed affection and respect. And love. It started her
crying again.

Akane stepped up to her and hugged her fiercely. "Kasumi...."
Akane was crying, too. "You've done so much for our family,
for me. I can't... I can't begin to tell you how much I've
depended on you." She squeezed Kasumi. "Thank you, older sister."

Kasumi was surprised at the rate water was flowing from her
eyes. "Oh, Akane. You've made me so proud today. You are
such the perfect young woman. Mother sees you, Akane. She must
be very happy with how you turned out."

Akane disentangled herself from Kasumi, looked into her
eyes. "If she is, then she also knows that it's mostly
because of you. Mother sees you too, Kasumi."

They looked at each other, taking comfort in the shared
memory of their mother, and their life spent together.

Tofu was speaking to Ranma, sharing his congratulations. He
and Ranma both turned to look at Kasumi and Akane, and
Kasumi could almost feel their affectionate grins.

Kasumi finally looked up from Akane and over to Ranma. "I am
ever so glad that you came into our lives, Ranma-kun. We
will see you in a week. It'll be time to get ready for the
next school year."

"Already? Yuck." Ranma grimaced. Then he beamed at Kasumi.
"We'll also need to get ready for your wedding."

She glanced at Tofu. "Oh my, that's a year away, Ranma-kun."

"Well, you can't start too soon. Who knows, maybe we'll
kidnap you and force you into a wedding dress next month.
Trust me, it's happened before."

Kasumi laughed, then went over and kissed Ranma on the
cheek. He blushed, and gave her an awkward hug.

Kasumi went towards the door. "Tofu, I need to get us ready
to go home."

He smiled at her. "Of course. Let me help."

She stopped just outside, realizing that Nabiki was probably
at the beach house and would need a little privacy for a
while. She looked at Tofu, and smiled. She took his hand.
"Can we take a walk along the beach for a bit first?"

A little bit of the silly smile crept onto his face. "Sure!"
He tried to lead them back inside. Gently but firmly, she
pulled him in the direction of the ocean.

Kasumi sighed. Her whole life had been spent on her family,
trying to make them as happy as possible. She had reaped
some of the benefits tonight. Still, she thought, looking up
at Tofu, it was good to know that a future lay before her where
someone was going to be making her happy as well.

She stopped him, and looked steadily into his face. He took
the hint, and kissed her.

***

Ukyo sighed and decided she couldn't put it off any longer.
Just about everyone was gone, and Ranma and Akane looked
very tired. It had been a long day for them.

It had been a long day for her, as well.

She walked up to them slowly, keeping her eyes down. She had
no idea what she was going to say. She thought maybe she
should just keep walking by them and out the door.

Instead, she stopped in front of Akane and looked at her.
"Congratulations, Akane. You won his heart, and that's not
an easy thing to do. Trust me."

Akane smiled brightly. "I'll tell you a secret. I always
thought to myself, if Ranma doesn't choose me, I hope he
chooses Ukyo. You were - are - his good friend, and that's
ever so much more important than Kodachi's wealth or Shampoo's
ungodly figure."

Ukyo chuckled, but at the same time she was deeply touched.
Somehow it made everything easier to bear. She reached out
and squeezed Akane's arm. "Thanks, Akane. Come on over to my
restaurant any time. There's always a free okonomiyaki there
for you."

She turned to Ranma. He was smiling broadly at her. "Ucchan."

She flinched slightly. "Do me a favor, kiddo. Don't call me
that. It reminds me of too many things."

Ranma's smile flickered out. He nodded sadly. "I understand."

She forced herself to smile. "Come on, no unhappy faces. I'm
glad you and Akane found each other, truly I am. We'll always
be friends though, right?"

"Of course." He was smiling again. "Who else has known me as
long as you? I'm glad you're staying near. We'll still be
seeing each other. Maybe you can come over and cook for us
once in a while."

For the first time all day (bringing to a halt a personal
best time, Ukyo was sure), Akane got angry. "What, my
cooking's not good enough for you?"

"Ulp." Ranma had a stricken look on his face. "I mean, you
know, she can help you."

"I need help, do I?" Akane's face was turning a little red.

"Uh... uh..." Ranma was incoherent again.

Ukyo laughed and grabbed each one of them by an arm. "I'm so
glad marriage hasn't changed you two. Life would be so boring
otherwise."

They both stared at her for a second, then Ranma began
laughing with her. Akane's lips quirked in a wry smile.

Ukyo calmed herself and stared at Ranma once more. Looking
at him, she could finally remove the last traces of him from
her heart. A good friend, yes, but never any more. She was
glad she had faced him, glad that she could talk to him
without the yearning eating at her soul. She looked forward
to his and Akane's friendship.

She also looked forward to finding someone very much like
him for herself. It would be a difficult search.

She held out her hand. Ranma looked at it, grabbed it, and
hauled her in for a hug. She laughed and hugged him back. It
felt good, as between friends.

She released him, took one more look at Akane and Ranma
together, then turned and left.

She was eager to get back to her restaurant. The customers
would be waiting, and she still had her dreams of prosperity
to look forward to.

Life without Ranma in her dreams. Ukyo realized that for the
first time, it actually felt pretty good.

***

It was a tired group of people that pulled up to the Tendo
home. Everyone piled out of Tatewaki's van slowly, gathering
their things. Genma looked around to see Nabiki give Tatewaki
a kiss goodnight, evidently too tired to realize everyone was
watching. Genma stifled a sigh; it was good to see so many
young people in love.

The sight of his son and Akane together had hit him harder
than he'd thought. His son had been his responsibility for
so long. To let go of some of that duty had been more difficult
than he thought, but the way Ranma had looked at Akane, with the
love plain on his face, eased Genma's soul. He hoped they could
keep the love going. Genma thought they could. He'd always be
there to help. He knew the signs of love going sour, and he
hoped he could help Ranma discover them before they went too far.

Reaching for his single bag in the back of the van, his arm
brushed Nodoka's as she reached for one of her bags. She
looked at him, her expression neutral. She had not spoken to
him unless necessary for the wedding since he had told Ranma
about the wedding plans. Genma deeply regretted that, but did
not think he could have done things any differently.

He sighed, this time audibly, and turned towards the Tendo home.

"Stop, Genma. I want to speak with you." Her voice was as
neutral as her face.

The others took the hint and quickly dispersed, Tatewaki
driving off in his van. Genma waited with extreme trepidation;
when she was like this, anything was likely to happen.
Including attacks with a bokken.

She stood there, her arms clasped in front of her, standing very
straight, her face and tone still neutral. "Why did you go against
my wishes and inform our son of my plans to have him wed?"

Genma grimaced, but refused to soften his stance. "To force
our son into marriage is not honorable. I wished our son to
begin his life with Akane uncoerced, so that there would not
be any regrets, no thoughts that his marriage was rushed and
not entirely in accordance with his wishes." He looked steadily
at her. "I know how regrets like those can haunt a person."

She didn't react. "You were fortunate that he agreed anyway.
What if he had told you that he did not want to get married?"

This was a good place to try and appease her. He could say
that he would have gone along with her plans. Who was to say
he wouldn't have? But he couldn't lie, not anymore, not about
this. "I would have prevented you from forcing him to marry.
His needs, his desires in the matter were more important than
our own, Nodoka. For such an important decision, his will must
govern - and Akane's - or it would lead to unhappiness for them
both." Once again, he tried to draw from the experiences they
shared. "I would do anything in my power to prevent my son from
having an unhappy marriage."

She was silent a while. "We had been making good progress
towards a reconciliation, Genma. You knew how much our son's
marriage meant to me. You were willing to throw away your own
happiness to protect Ranma?"

There was no hesitation in him. "Of course. Always. He is my son."

Nodoka walked closer to him, to peer into his eyes. "I have
always known you to be an immature and irresponsible person.
I held little hope that you would learn what it was to be an
adult. But when *I* learn duty and responsibility from *you*,
it is a sign that you have changed. For the better."

She reached up and patted him on the cheek. "Let us return
to our house, my husband."

Joy filled Genma, a kind he had not known for twenty years.
He felt his face cracking into the biggest smile he had let
loose in a very long time.

Nodoka picked up a couple of her bags. Genma gathered the
rest along with his own, and followed his wife home.

***

Ranma stood on the porch of the beach house, looking at the
stars. You couldn't see the ocean from here, but you could
smell it. He breathed it in, wondering if it would always
remind him of his wedding to Akane. He hoped so.

Akane padded up to him. She had changed into her yellow
pajamas. He wondered how she knew that they were the ones
that drove him wild. He was wearing a tank top and his shorts.
There was one more... task... yet to be performed, but Ranma
felt reluctant to leave the porch just now. For the first time
all day, he was at peace.

Akane seemed to feel it as well. She wrapped her arms around
his chest and looked up at the stars with him. "What are you
thinking of, husband?"

Ranma gulped. Husband. It felt strange to hear that. Good, too.

"I was thinking about all the stuff that's happened this
year. It could be just the prelude. I'm still cursed. Who
knows what the curse has in store for me next year."

Akane looked at his face. "Are you sorry that you didn't use
the Nannichuan water on yourself?"

"No." Ranma was firm on this. "Father needed it more. He and
Mother are going to get back together; he doesn't need all
the wacky stuff that goes along with being cursed."

"We can still go to China. The curse seemed willing to let
you go."

"Maybe." He stared at the stars thoughtfully. "Maybe it was
just testing me. Strange how there was only enough water
left for one person. Maybe it wanted to see if I was... I
dunno... worthy or something. That's why I was thinking that
there's worse to come. If I passed this test, that may mean
more difficult challenges await me."

He felt Akane shudder. "More difficult? As if what we've
faced hasn't been difficult enough."

Ranma nodded. "Mousse spoke to me of destiny. He seemed to
think I had a greater destiny than just running your father's
dojo." He grimaced. "This may sound like I got a huge ego, but
I kinda believe that. I'm actually looking forward to it."

"Do you still hate the thought of sometimes becoming a woman?"

Ranma tilted his head. "Something that guy said at the
wedding. About you and me each being one part of a greater
thing. I think maybe my curse is like that. We're each half of
me, if that makes sense. And I think I've become a better
person because of it. I shouldn't hate it. I should appreciate
it. That doesn't mean I'm gonna start running around in dresses
or nothing like that. But I ain't gonna hide from it, either."

Akane let out a long breath. "I'm glad, Ranma. You shouldn't
be afraid of who you are. I remember how much I liked you
when I thought you were a girl. It took me most of a year to
rediscover the part of you that I saw in you that first
time. It was that part of you that I fell in love with. I
might never have tried to find it if I hadn't seen it in your
female half first."

That took Ranma by surprise. He had never considered that.
He remembered seeing Akane for the first time. She had smiled
at him and asked him if he wanted to be friends with her. She
might never have asked if he had been a guy. And they wouldn't
be standing here now.

For the first time, he was glad he had fallen into that pool.

He turned to Akane and gazed deeply into her eyes. He no longer
tried to keep his feelings hidden around her. There was an
invitation in her eyes, a desire to know everything about him,
a willingness to share his burdens, and a promise of happiness
now and forever. He hoped she could see the same in him.

He kissed her, and she kissed back fervently. He suddenly
found a desire to complete that last task.

One part of two. Ranma never wanted to know of any other
fraction ever again.

THY INWARD LOVE - THE END