[ranma][fanfic] Ranma 1/2 - Careful Destiny Part Two

[Todd Hill]

ShadowSoft Inc.
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A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic
side-story

"Careful Destiny"

Part Two
"Appointment with Destiny"

by:
Todd Hill
AKA Shadow Stalker

Based on:
Be Careful What You Wish For...
written by:
Richard Beaubien

Inspired by the "Ranma 1/2" Manga and Anime
by Rumiko Takahashi

WARNING! While this story is *NOT* a lemon, it does have some
adult situations in it. Read at your own discretion!

THE NEXT DAY...

Morning came all too soon for Ranma Saotome. It seemed like
only a few moments ago that he'd finally managed to lull himself
to sleep. After several hours of tossing and turning, his
exhaustion had overwhelmed his hyperactive mind and forced him to
fall asleep. But even in sleep, the days events had tormented
him, banishing all hopes of a restful night.
His short-lived slumber had been plagued with dreams of his
past and present mingled together in an odd duet. At the moment,
however, Ranma could only recall fuzzy snippets of some of the
dreams. The ones that had remained with him weren't ones that
he'd particularly enjoyed, like the one where he was fighting in
front of the dojo again. After being defeated by Kuno, a white-
hot flash of anger shot through him as he watched Akane lift her
head up to kiss him passionately on the lips, saying, "Come on
lover, leave that little girl alone. We'll be late for school!"
Ranma had watched helplessly from the pile of garbage, then
looked down in shock as he saw that he was sporting breasts once
again. He then screamed in anguish as he realized that the curse
had caught up with him. The violence of his reaction caused him
to shake himself awake and fall out of his bed in the process.
Later in the evening, another more intense dream struck,
frightening Ranma more than angering him. He dreamt that he had
defeated Kuno in battle for Akane's hand, only to have Mr. Tendo
step up and pull Akane away from him. "You deserve this for what
your family did to me all those years ago," he remembered Soun
saying. "As long as I live, you will never be with Akane!" he'd
shouted as he dragged her away from Ranma. He had bolted awake
in his bed immediately after that, shouting `No!' and reaching
his hand out to grab her, only to realize that it was another bad
dream.
He swore viciously at the sun as it continued to rise in the
sky, peeking in through his bedroom window and bathing him in its
life-giving light. He brought one of his hands up to block the
intense light from his eyes, then moved his head slightly so that
he could avoid the light altogether. He doubted that he'd be
able to get back to sleep again, and knew that he was going to
feel like crap for the rest of the day.
As he lay there tanning his body in the sun, he wondered
briefly if he should postpone the challenge until tomorrow. But
he quickly struck that idea down, knowing that he wouldn't be
able to sleep at all until he settled the score with Kuno once
and for all and freed Akane from that damned arrangement.
Sighing tiredly, he squinted to bring his tired eyes into
focus so he could read the clock. He groaned when he saw that he
still had an hour before he would have to get up. Unable to
sleep any more, and tired of fighting the nightmares, he dragged
himself to a sitting position with his feet dangling over the
side of his bed.
Forcing himself to stand, Ranma shambled over to the small
mirror hanging on the wall opposite his window. He groaned as he
saw the exhausted visage of himself staring blankly back at him
from the reflective surface. `Boy, what a handsome face,' he
thought dourly as he ran his fingers through his tangled hair.
Stifling a yawn, he rubbed the last remnants of fatigue from his
eyes, then frowned as he caught a whiff of himself. `Whew! Man
I stink,' he thought with a grimace. Looking at the clock again,
he saw he had some time to spare, so he grabbed his towel and
walked to the bath.
As Ranma sat down and scrubbed away, his mind pondered the
meaning behind the dreams he'd had over the course of the night.
He couldn't believe how hard it had hit him when he saw Akane
willingly kiss Kuno on the lips, and again when Soun had
guaranteed that he would never allow their engagement to happen.
`I guess I never knew before now just how much she means to me,'
he thought as he brought the bucket of cold water over his head
and rinsed off.
He stiffened in that instant. A latent wave of fear passed
over him as the cold water cascaded down his body. He dropped
the bucket from his hands and looked down at himself, expecting
the worst. Ranma sighed in relief as he saw that his body wasn't
protruding where it wasn't supposed to. He swore a vile oath
against the curse, angry that it still held such a large
influence over him. After two weeks of living with a single
gender, he had hoped that the curse would simply fade from his
memory. `I guess it'll take a lot longer than two weeks to
forget about it,' he concluded sullenly.
Ranma stood up from the stool and walked over to the bath.
Stepping down, he immersed himself in the hot water. He reached
over and flipped a switch which activated the whirlpool. He
`ahhhed' as the dancing bubbles in the water went to work on him,
relaxing both his mind and body greatly. In his relaxed state, a
small voice percolated up from the back of his mind, offering a
solution to his worries. `Why not use the second wish and return
to Akane that way?'
He frowned at the thought. He knew damn good and well why
he hadn't used the wish. `If I use that second wish to go back,
then I'll be cursed again. I don't want to go through all of
that.' He had to admit that problems with Akane aside, he'd had
a very restful two weeks. And while he may have occasionally
felt a pang of regret or sorrow at losing Ukyou's or Shampoo's
interests, he felt that having a complete family more than made
up for it. `Besides,' he told himself, `they may show up one
day...' `Although not too soon...' he was quick to add.
Ranma nodded to himself as he reclined further in the
oversized tub. He knew that it would take a hell of a lot to
force him to wish himself out of here. Besides, he wasn't about
to run out on a fight. Especially when that fight was with Kuno.
That wasn't in his nature. `I'll prove to everyone that Kuno's
nothing more than a bunch of hot air,' he vowed silently, his
words adding to his faltering confidence.
He emerged from the bathroom several minutes later, and
dashed quickly back to his room to dress. He felt refreshed and
a bit less anxious after the whirlpool had been allowed to work
its magic on his tense body. He closed the door to his room and
toweled himself dry, then pulled out another in his growing set
of Chinese outfits and laid it on his bed.
Although it never left his mind that today was important to
him, he figured that he'd have a heart attack by noon if he
didn't take a more casual approach to this fight. With that in
mind, he focused on trying to calm himself down. To begin with,
he felt that he'd conquered the demons that his overachieving
mind had conjured up in the form of last night's dreams. He knew
that those dreams were a by-product of fear, but during the bath
he realized that they also served as source of inspiration for
him, and he tried to use them to that end. That alone helped to
calm his ragged nerves somewhat. He felt his confidence and
determination slowly building within him. So why was he still
feeling anxious?
He nodded to himself a moment later, realizing what it was.
In the space of one night he had gone from being an unimportant
sulking boy, in the eyes of his parents at least, to being a
skilled martial artist with a promising, albeit uncertain, future
ahead of him. That uncertainty was at the very heart of his
concern, and was continuing to fuel his tension. His mind reeled
with all of the possibilities that were available to him; should
he defeat Kuno, that is.
He knew that his and Akane's future, along with that of the
entire Tendo and Saotome families, were on the line. The dreams
that had visited him last night pointed out to him exactly what
would happen should he fight Kuno and lose. The more he dwelled
on it, the more Ranma knew that he had to win. He also knew that
Akane's life was as much on the line as his was. He felt sure
that she would rather die than continue to live as Kuno's puppet,
and he wasn't sure he could live with himself if he failed to get
her away from Kuno.
It seemed like such an awesome responsibility for one so
young, he thought briefly. But he brushed away the tension,
clenching his fists in a show of self-determination and assuring
himself that he wouldn't lose this chance to be with Akane.
Suddenly feeling hungry, he dropped his debate with himself and
wasted no time in putting on his clothes and heading downstairs
to the breakfast table.
Descending the steps quietly, he could hear his mother
humming to herself as she prepared breakfast. He took his place
at the table and closed his eyes, breathing deeply to keep
himself calm. A smile slowly crept its way across his face as he
inhaled, his nose detecting the wonderful aroma of his mother's
culinary skills. The smell of a good morning breakfast wafting
from the kitchen called to him, stirring deep rumblings of hunger
from his belly.
At that moment Ranko bounded down the stairs, her raven,
pigtailed hair flopping against her back with every step. She
paused at the bottom of the steps, surprised at seeing her
brother sitting at the table. Part of what surprised her was
that he was sitting there with his eyes closed and a smile on his
face. `That's odd,' she thought to herself. `He's just sitting
there like a statue. I guess he's really concerned about the
fight today...' she thought absently.
But even understanding why he was acting like this didn't
dampen her surprise any. Up to this point Ranma had been keeping
up a lazy son image, partly by getting up just in the nick of
time for school every day. But with everything that had happened
over the last twelve hours, Ranko guessed that he was ready to
drop the facade and act like the martial artist he seemed
destined to be. Without making a sound, she walked around the
room and took her place adjacent to her brother at the table.
He jumped in nervous surprise and his eyes snapped open as
Ranko's leg made contact with his arm. He turned to look at her
as she sat next to him and favored him with an encouraging smile.
"You ready for the big showdown, bro?" she asked in a low
voice, nudging him with her hip.
He gave her a grim look. "I guess I'll have to be, Sis. I
wasn't able to sleep all that well last night."
She continued to smile pleasantly at him, hoping to take the
hard edge off of her brother's worry. "Ahh, you'll be okay bro.
I have faith in you. All you need to do is remember your
training," she said as she patted him on the back.
He was about to thank her and give her a hug when Nodoka
walked in with breakfast. She seemed pleasantly surprised to see
both children at the table ahead of time. "My, you're both up
early! You two have something planned today?" she asked as she
sat the food down on the table.
Ranko looked at her brother as she took her bowl of miso
soup into her hands. "Naah, I don't have anything special goin'
on today," she said before taking a sip of the soup and putting
the bowl back on the table. "But Ranma's challenging Kuno for
Akane, and I wanna make sure I'm there to see that!" She picked
up another bowl and stuffed some rice in her mouth, smiling at
her brother as she swallowed.
Nodoka's eyes widened slightly, and she leveled her gaze at
her son. He coughed slightly, seeing her reaction, and forced
his half-chewed food down his throat before he choked. "Ranma!
I can't believe that you're actually going to go through with
that fight!" She put her hands to her head to try and ward off a
headache. "Why today?!?" `Why at all?' she added to herself.
He took a moment to consider his response before speaking.
He didn't want to get his mother any angrier at him than she
already appeared to be. Calmly he put his bowl on the table and
adopted a neutral look. "Yes Mom, I decided that I'm going to
take care of it today," he said simply. He winced internally as
he realized that he'd made a mistake.
The color in Nodoka's face drained away at hearing her son's
words on the matter. She couldn't help but feel shock at her
son's cool demeanor. He'd never been this distant to her before
in his whole life. "Ranma!" she declared in a scolding voice.
"I can't believe how cavalierly you're taking this whole matter.
You make it sound like you're going for groceries instead of
facing off against someone who could possibly hurt you!"
He shook his head, berating himself for acting so cold to a
woman he'd truly known for only a couple of weeks. "Sorry Mom, I
didn't mean for that to sound as bad as it did." He paused,
trying to find the right way to tell her what he was thinking.
"To tell you the truth Mom, I *am* a bit nervous about the fight.
But regardless of that, it's still something that I have to do,"
he finished simply, then resumed eating.
`That's it?! He has to do it, no questions asked?' Nodoka
looked at the stony expression on Ranma's face and groaned,
resigning herself to the inevitable. "Alright. You listen to
me, son. If things get out of hand, I want you or your sister to
come get me or your father. Immediately!" she shouted,
punctuating the last word by poking him in the shoulder with her
index finger. "There's no telling what that Kuno character is
capable of doing to you. I don't want you taking any unnecessary
risks, you understand me?"
Ranma nodded his assent, but said nothing further. Ranko,
on the other hand, spoke up in her brother's defence. "Mom, you
saw what he did last night. You also heard how he did with Mr.
Tendo. I'd think that you'd have a bit more confidence in him."
Nodoka looked stricken as Ranko's words hit home. Her face
lost some of its anger, but none of its concern as she considered
what her daughter said. "I guess you're right dear. But this is
such a drastic change. It's just so hard to see my son as a
fighter." She sighed, forcing herself to accept this new change
in her son. Despite herself, her gaze softened, and she reached
out to stroke her son's face. "You know, you're starting to
remind me of your father when he and I were dating," she said as
she smiled, a nostalgic look coming over her face. "He was
always ready to come to my rescue. Even when I felt it wasn't
necessary." She smiled to herself as memories of the past
flooded her mind, and stood away from the table, her eyes holding
a faraway look.
Ranma breathed a sigh of relief, feeling better knowing that
she wasn't going to try to stop him. Eager to get the fight with
Kuno out of the way, he quickly finished off his breakfast.
Standing from the table, he grabbed Ranko's hand and dragged her
with him. "Good luck, dear," Nodoka called out to the whirlwind
Saotome siblings as the door closed behind them.
"Hey Ranma! Slow down, willya?" Ranko yelled as Ranma
blasted down the street towards the school.
Nodoka chuckled slightly at hearing her daughter's fading
protest, then turned to clean the table. `I hope he makes it
through the day okay,' she thought hopefully. A frown crossed
her face as she considered again what he was facing. `That Kuno
boy better hope that my son isn't hurt or...' she paused the
thought, her eyes regarding the katana that hung on a nearby
wall. `... or else he and I will have words,' she vowed
severely.

****

Ranma knew that his sister didn't like to be dragged about,
and released her hand to run on ahead of her. He didn't have to
look over his shoulder, though, to know that she was right behind
him. He rounded a curve and saw the gates of Furinkan High
looming in the distance. He pushed himself, hoping to get to the
school ahead of Kuno and Akane.
But as he neared the school, he noticed a black limousine
drive up to the gates, and swore viciously. `No! I won't miss
this opportunity,' he thought in a rush as he continued to pour
on the speed. He watched in frustration as Kuno and Akane exited
the vehicle, and turned towards the school. Ranma redoubled his
pace, hoping to catch them before they went inside the school,
leaving Ranko in the dust in the process.

****

Tatewaki Kuno held his hand out to Akane. Unwilling at
first, she gradually reached her own hand out and accepted his as
she stepped out of the vehicle. She looked pale and withdrawn,
which is how she'd been almost since the day Kuno and she began
dating formally. A part of her knew that she hadn't always been
this downcast, but she couldn't remember the last time *recently*
when she enjoyed getting up in the morning. It had been too long
for her to recall.
When she had first accepted the proposed joining between
herself and Kuno, she'd vowed to try and make the relationship
work, more for her father than herself. During that early time,
she had tried to find something likable about Kuno. But try as
she might, she just couldn't do it.
He had been really sweet to her when he was chasing after
her as a freshman. But now that she had accepted him as her
boyfriend, his interest in her evaporated. She had become a
trophy of sorts for Kuno. He would posture in front of other
guys on campus, and show her off as if she were a prize instead
of a loved one. She felt like she was something only slightly
more than a revered pet to him. Akane really hated the way he
was treating her, but she couldn't think of any way to change
things, at least nothing that would keep her or her family out of
jail.
With a sigh she stood away from the departing limousine.
She turned around to look at the cityscape when something caught
her eye. She tugged on Kuno's hand, pointing at what she saw.
"Kuno-chan," Akane said by reflex, "what's that?"
As the thing in question drew nearer, it looked more and
more like a miniature dust storm approaching the school. Several
people were being drawn to the gates by the disturbance. A
combination of "oohs!" and "ahhs!" could be heard from the
building crowd as they watched the dustcloud approach.
Someone in the crowd pointed and yelled, "Hey, look! It's
some guy! Looks like he's really hauling butt too!" That
brought a *lot* more people out, causing the crowd to spill into
the street. Akane squinted, trying to make out who it was. It
took her a couple of seconds before she could see the person
clearly. She gasped when she finally recognized who it was.
`It's that guy who insulted Kuno in front of the dojo a couple of
weeks ago! Looks like he's really angry about something.' The
figure in the center of the dustcloud began shouting, prompting
more heads to turn.
"KUUUUUUUUUUNNOOOOOOOOOOO!!" it could be heard to scream
once it was close enough.
Someone in the crowd gasped in realization. "Waitaminute!
That's sounds like Ranma!"
Another turned to the first in shock. "Ranma *Saotome?* No
*WAY!*" The stunned pair turned back to watch as he blasted
towards the campus.
Kuno turned at the sound of his name, but tried to feign
disinterest. He felt that the display of wonderment by the
people in the crowd was beneath him, so he merely watched with
mild curiosity as Ranma approached.
Seeing his target directly ahead, Ranma slowed himself, not
wanting to fly past his opponent. He also didn't want to become
one with the school gates. He came to a halt three feet in front
of Kuno, breathing only slightly harder than normal. "Kuno, I
challenge you!" he yelled, insuring that the whole crowd heard
him.
"You would challenge me?" Kuno scoffed at Ranma, pointing
his bokken at him. "Surely you jest!" He threw a withering gaze
at him, trying to dull Ranma's passion and humble him. "And for
what reason should I fight a creature as unworthy as you, eh?"
Kuno laughed humorlessly through his nose, scoffing openly at the
idea of being challenged by anyone, especially Ranma Saotome.
Ranma stared directly at him, confidence burning in him like
an iron furnace. Defiantly he held his ground in the wake of
Kuno's arrogance, pointing at him as if he were a wanted man
(which he was). "I know for a fact that if you are defeated in
combat you will release Akane Tendo from her engagement.
*That's* why I'm challenging you, so LET'S FIGHT!" he bellowed.
Ranma was eager to cause harm to Kuno, and it was beginning to
show.
Akane gasped, her eyes as wide open as possible, as the
importance of his words sunk in. She had no idea who this guy
was, or why he was doing it, but she sure as hell hoped he won.
She crossed her fingers, just to make sure.
Kuno laughed derisively, trying to keep faint stirrings of
worry from showing on his face. "It is true that I uttered those
words. I did so, confidently, for I know that only I am destined
to have the hand of Akane Tendo." Kuno wrapped his arm around
Akane's thin waist, and allowed his hand to rest against her
belly as he emphasized his point further by bending down and
kissing her on the lips.
He stood away from Akane and lowered his gaze at Ranma,
sneering as if he were being forced to view something unpleasant.
What he didn't see in that instant was the murderous look Akane
shot him for kissing her so brazenly. "I see that I was mistaken
in believing that the last thrashing I gave you would've
convinced you of the futility of defeating me, the great Tatewaki
Kuno, the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High, in combat." He gasped
for air silently. "Very well, I suppose that I will have to
defeat you again, if that's what it takes to make you see
reason." He brought his bokken up and moved into a defensive
stance, "Prepare yourself, fool!" he shouted imperiously.
Ranma threw his backpack to the ground, and brought himself
to a fighting stance. "For the record, my name is Ranma Saotome,
of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts. And by all
that's holy, I will make you pay for what you've done to Akane!"
He cracked his knuckles, awaiting Kuno's move.
Akane did the only thing she could do in her current
emotional state, she fainted. Ranma almost dropped his stance in
that moment and ran over to her side, but stopped short when he
saw that she didn't hit the ground. Someone in the audience had
seen her falter and managed to catch her before she collapsed.
The student sat Akane against the nearby fence, away from Kuno
and the impending battle.
Ranma turned back to Kuno and was angered further by the
dismissive gaze Kuno was giving to Akane's still form. `You'll
pay dearly for that one, Kuno! NO-ONE neglects her like that and
lives!' he vowed, his heart pounding as he teetered on the edge
of sanity. His nervousness and anxiety had been completely
stripped from his mind, to be replaced by an iron-clad
confidence. He was primed for the impending battle, and eagerly
awaited the first blow.
Gasps, murmurs, and side betting were happening all
throughout the crowd. Every student was on pins and needles,
wrapped up in the tension generated between the two combatants.
It was almost palpable, as they awaited the first blow. Ranko
joined the crowd, picking up her brother's backpack from where he
had thrown it. She wormed her way to the front of the crowd,
rooting hard for her brother.
A gust of wind blew across the campus, scattering leaves and
papers around the street and sidewalk. It captured the attention
of a large part of the crowd, including Ranma. Kuno used the
momentary distraction to his advantage and struck out with his
weapon.
Ranma didn't even see it coming. Before he could even get
his hands up, Kuno's bokken sailed right at him and tagged him in
the chest, knocking him back, but not down. He involuntarily
covered the stricken area with a hand as he fought to regain his
feet. `Damn! He's faster than I thought...' He gazed in
Ranko's direction. `You were right sis. This Kuno's not like
the one I knew.' He smirked inwardly. `But now that I have that
bastard's timing, it's my turn to teach him what *real* martial
arts is like.'
Kuno laughed scornfully at his collapsed foe. "You have my
permission to concede. I suggest you do so, Saotome, before you
get hurt."
Ranma stood up and gave the Kendoist a withering stare, not
wanting to lose his focus by listening to Kuno's words. "You got
your one hit, Kuno. You won't touch me again!"
Kuno's right eyebrow swept up in an unintentional show of
respect. "Very well then, to your doom cretin!" he yelled as he
charged. Ranma was ready this time and deflected the bokken with
the back of his hands. He immediately followed up with a kick to
the kidneys, causing Kuno's eyes to water as he gasped in pain.
The crowd gasped as well, shocked that someone had been able
to land a hit on the Kendo champion. Kuno hesitated slightly
before bringing his bokken up to bear against Ranma again, his
mind warning him that this person was more dangerous than his
reputation warranted. `Could it be that this whelp has found a
backbone in so short a time...' he thought as he re-evaluated his
opponent.
Not wanting to allow Kuno any more time to recover, Ranma
followed up the kick with a volley of punches and jabs. But even
with the hit he took, Kuno was still swift enough to deflect the
attacks. `The only upside to this,' Ranma thought in a huff, `is
that he isn't able to launch anything offensive at me.'
Kuno frowned inwardly, but kept his face expressionless.
Never had he encountered a martial artist of such pronounced
skill before. It bothered him that he had not already dispatched
of the lower-class Saotome. For surely, he thought, only a man
as great as Kuno himself could bring the Blue Thunder of Furinkan
High to defeat. And Ranma Saotome could not be that man.
The fight raged on for several long minutes, with neither
combatant giving quarter. Neither Kuno nor Ranma was able to
claim an advantage, as they appeared to be evenly matched. The
small spot of ground that had been claimed by the combatants was
the scene of wildly swinging bokken strikes parrying the punches
and kicks of a very nimble Ranma. He was throwing everything at
Kuno, short of special attacks, with little or no effect. His
patience was starting to wear thin, as nothing was getting
accomplished.
Likewise, Kuno's ire grew at his lack of progress. His face
was red and slick with sweat as the heavy exertion from the fight
bore down on him mercilessly. His arms and wrists were beginning
to ache as the extreme strain that he was putting them through
built to a fevered pitch. But he withstood the pain stoically as
he used his bokken to block again and again the punches and kicks
hurled his way. He was desperate to stop any of Ranma's strikes
from landing on him. He'd had an undefeated record so far, and
he had no intention of losing now. Especially not now.
But as the fight wore on, he saw that he would not be able
to maintain a defense against Ranma's unending flurry of punches
and kicks much longer. Desperate for a conclusion to the fight,
he spared what attention he could from defending himself to
looking for a weak spot in Ranma's defenses.
Meanwhile, Akane had regained consciousness and stood up
from her resting place at the gate. She couldn't hear anything
beyond the yelling of the crowd, but she could see the occasional
leg, arm, or bokken stick up above the heads of the people.
Remembering who was fighting, and why, she desperately pushed her
way through the crowd to see what was going on.
Once she'd worked her way to the front of the crowd, she
watched in awe as Ranma and Kuno battled. Much to her
satisfaction, Ranma was clearly holding his own against the Kendo
champion. Apparently a lot of other people felt as she did;
glad that someone was finally able to give Kuno a run for the
money. She took her eyes away from the fight for a second and
scanned the rim of the crowd. Her eyes happened upon a young
girl who looked just like Ranma, and was obviously related to
him. The girl was jumping up and down, screaming and cheering.
"Whip his ASS bro! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! Nail that SON OF A
BITCH!! WOOOOO!!" Without saying anything, Akane prayed for
Ranma's victory as well.
Kuno's split attention was causing him to falter in his
defense. Ranma took note of that and pressed his advantage. `I
guess either Kuno's getting tired, or I'm just getting warmed
up,' he thought confidently. He grinned, his hope burning inside
of him as he continued to strike at Kuno..
Kuno's frustration, which had been contained for so long,
was plainly visible now. For the past nine minutes he'd tried
every honorable tactic he knew to try and bring down the
villainous cur, but to no avail. Unable to think of a good way
to get the upper hand, he concentrated instead on defense, hoping
that he'd eventually wear Saotome out.
That plan fell by the wayside in a hurry as he espied Ranma
smirking at him contemptuously. Anger flashed deep from within
Kuno, replacing the battle calm that he'd been nurturing
throughout the fight. "How dare you mock me, you thoughtless
knave!" he thundered. "I will have your head for that, Saotome!"
"I don't think so, Kuno," Ranma replied derisively,
purposely avoiding any honorific.
Kuno's patience snapped at the flippant remark. He dove at
the younger martial artist frantically, sweeping low with his
sword in an attempt to take Ranma's legs out from under him.
Ranma saw the attack coming and leapt into the air, landing
neatly on Kuno's head. He paused for a second, teetering on
Kuno's forehead like a surfer as he ground his foot into the
Kendoist's face. Then with precise balance, he jumped off to
stand behind Kuno with his back turned to him. "Give up yet,
Kuno?" he shouted over his shoulder, layering the scornful words
heavily with superiority.
Kuno had managed to somehow keep himself upright after
taking the brunt of Ranma's weight on his head. Managing not to
pass out, he turned to face Ranma once more. But before he could
make a move to strike, he flushed angrily and halted himself in
mid-swing. He saw that Ranma had his back facing him, with a
bored stance evident in the upstart martial artist's posture. It
didn't help matters any that people were pointing at Kuno and
laughing at the rather large footprint on his face. `How *DARE*
they mock me? I will not be made a laughing stock by this fool!'
he swore to himself before his mind reasserted control and forced
him to concentrate on the battle.
Pausing to catch his breath and calm himself down, Kuno
sneered. Hoping to break Ranma's composure, he tried insulting
him. "You're weak Saotome! You may be able to get in a lucky
hit, but as sure as the Earth sails through the heavens, I will
defeat you!" He crouched into a ready position again, his
laughter starting to slide into the maniacal level.
Ranma rolled his eyes and turned to face Kuno once more. He
concentrated on what he hoped would be his final attack. Nodding
at his sister's encouraging words, and sparing a smile for Akane,
Ranma spoke again. "Good night, Kuno," he said gravely as he
changed his posture, facing Kuno directly.
He blinked at Ranma's last words, unsure of what was meant
by them, but readied himself in any event for the promised
onslaught. Cautiously he brought his bokken up in an attack
stance, preparing to move against the martial arts show-off
again. But before he could bring the weapon down to bear, he was
attacked.
"KACHUU TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!" Ranma bellowed as he threw
everything he had into an all-out, final attack. His fists were
a blur as they flashed again and again in Kuno's face.
Bewildered by the speed of Ranma's attack, Kuno lost his grip on
his bokken, which flew away from him due to the sheer force of
the punches being thrown. He watched out of the corner of his
eye as his weapon landed away from him, clattering uselessly on
the pavement. He didn't have much of a chance to curse the loss
of it, however, as the force of Ranma's punches took their toll
and quickly sent him into unconsciousness.
Ranma forced himself to stop after Kuno had fallen, allowing
his arms to drop to his sides limply. Knowing that the fight was
finally over, exhaustion swept quickly over Ranma's body, causing
him to collapse to his knees, although he managed to remain
upright. He stayed there for a moment, gasping for breath as the
pain from the endurance-level fight throbbed through every fiber
of his being. The crowd stood away from him, looking on in
stunned silence, unable to believe what they had just witnessed.
"YESSS!" Ranko screamed, throwing both bookbags in the air,
elated that her brother had beaten Kuno so soundly. She quickly
ran to her brother's side after seeing him stumble, and knelt
down, putting her arm around his waist to help him stand up
again. "That's it, Ranma. Just lean against me and breathe
deeply." She patted him appreciatively on the chest, feeling how
hot and sweaty he was from the workout he just went through.
"I'm proud of you, man! You did it."
Ranma just kind of stood where he was, flexing his fingers
to try and get some feeling back into his hands. Gratefully, he
put an arm around his sister's slim waist, and grinned down at
her as she rambled on about how wonderful he was and how great he
fought. He hugged her to him as he absorbed the more subdued and
silent respect from the crowd.
He rested against her for a couple of minutes before he
finally regained feeling in his hands and legs and could stand
without effort. He turned to look over his right shoulder and
spotted the bokken that he'd knocked loose from Kuno's grip.
Stepping from his sister's embrace, he knelt down and picked up
the weapon.

****

Meanwhile, Akane broke away from the crowd and ran towards
the dozing form of Tatewaki Kuno, gazing down in amazement at her
now-former boyfriend. As she stared at his bruised and battered
figure, the reality of what happened suddenly hit her like a ton
of bricks. Overwhelmed by a sea of confused and conflicting
emotions, she collapsed to her knees beside Kuno's body and
buried her head in her hands. She wept loudly, tears of joy and
sorrow streaming down her pallid face. Joy that her engagement
to Kuno had finally been broken, and sorrow over how weak and
powerless she now knew she had been while under Kuno's influence.
Her tears stopped abruptly as someone approached her and knelt by
her side.
"Excuse me for a moment, please?" a polite voice asked. A
hand gently held her by the shoulder, trying delicately to move
her aside without forcing her. She turned to see who was
touching her, and saw Ranma kneeling next to her, a smile on his
flushed face. He was holding Kuno's bokken in his free hand,
evidently intent on doing something with it. "Pardon me.
There's just one more thing I have to do to make this official,"
he explained to her in a soft voice.
Ranma took his hand from her shoulder, letting it slide
gently across her back as he reached out to grab each end of the
bokken in his hands. Then with all the force he could muster, he
snapped it in half. It broke irregularly, splinters and jagged
edges forming along the break line. Ranma smiled satisfactorily
at the damage he caused it before he tossed the broken weapon
absently at Kuno's feet. "Kuno had that coming for taunting me
like that," he said angrily, snorting at the unconscious
Kendoist.
Ranma turned to Akane, and knelt to face her on the opposite
side of Kuno's body. Her face was red and slick with tears, and
her lower lip was trembling. Wanting desperately to comfort her,
Ranma gently reached out to her, putting his hand on her arm.
With his other hand he reached over and stroked the tears from
her face. "Hey, you okay, Akane?" he asked in a halting voice.
Old habits were hard to break, as he found himself trying to
distance himself from her. But he delved deep within himself and
found the courage to stay where he was, looking into the troubled
eyes of his `fiancee.'
Akane flinched slightly at Ranma's initial touch, but smiled
weakly at him in appreciation, covering the hand on her arm with
one of her own. "Yeah, I'm okay... I ... umm... " she blushed,
turning her face from him as confusion governed her actions.
He looked like he wanted to say more, but couldn't find the
words. He dropped his hand from Akane's face. He didn't know
how to react since he'd never really been this close to her
before, emotionally speaking. He was uncomfortable at seeing her
cry, but he took immense pleasure in the fact that she didn't
want him to walk away. Once more he tried to talk to her, but
the words just weren't coming to him. "I... you're ... um... "
he said haltingly, stumbling over himself.
They continued to sit on either side of Kuno's still form,
gazing at each other as they tuned out the rest of the world.
Ranma's nervousness and excitement were both peaked. His hands
registered the warmth of Akane's body as she clutched his hand.
One part of him expected her to knock him out of the city at any
moment for touching her, screaming "HENTAI!" at the top of her
lungs. But she didn't even complain, instead welcoming his
comforting presence.
This was all so new to him. He'd never willingly been this
close to her before, but he found himself liking it. A lot! He
basked in the sensation of her soft skin against his fingers,
enjoying the welcoming feeling of her presence as they kept their
positions, facing each other in silence.
He had given up on trying to say anything to her. Besides,
he felt that words weren't appropriate right now, and settled for
simply gazing at her face while she held onto his hand. He
allowed a genuine smile to show, and on impulse, he began to lean
forward, bringing his face closer to hers.
Akane's eyes shimmered with the beginnings of fresh tears,
but Ranma's support allowed her to keep them in check. She felt
. gratified for what he'd done for her, and ... something else
she couldn't quite describe. But she dismissed her calming
feelings as her eyes glanced upon Kuno once again, causing her to
almost drown in despair. She knew in that moment that escaping
from his shadow wasn't going to be as easy as winning one simple
fight. She looked up at Ranma again for reassurance and saw him
inching towards her, their faces growing closer. Without even
realizing it, she began moving towards him as well.
He paused his advance abruptly as his mind screamed, telling
him what it was he was about to do. A large part of his psyche
still harbored the `tomboy!' reaction he normally felt about her
whenever they got too close. But for some reason his mouth
wasn't getting him into trouble this time by uttering the usual
string of insults. He held himself where he was, looking into
her captivating eyes.
Ranko watched the silent exchange happen between her brother
and the girl she heard him address as Akane. `Ranma sure picked
a cute one, that's for sure. They do look great together,' she
thought with a slight tinge of jealousy. `I just wish he'd hurry
up and do something!,' She tapped her foot impatiently, waiting
for her big brother to make his move. After several minutes of
nothing, she finally got fed up and walked up to him. "Psst!
Ranma. Hey, bro!" she hissed. Getting no response from him, she
waved her hand in front of his eyes. `Geez! You must really be
stuck on this girl,' she thought drily. Finally she tapped him
hard on the shoulder and shook him.
Snapped out of his reverie, Ranma jerked his hand abruptly
from Akane's grasp. He had a dazed air about him as he looked up
to his sister. "Yeah, um... what is it Ranko?" he asked as the
world snapped back into focus around him.
Ranko rolled her eyes and pointed to the school. "Ranma,
you can stare at her later. If you don't hurry up, we'll be late
for school!"
Akane jumped involuntarily as Ranma pulled his hand away
from hers. She somberly drew her arms to herself in an embrace,
trying to bring her chaotic emotions in check. She barely even
heard Ranma and Ranko speak as she mechanically picked up her
things and dashed off to the school building.
She fought the urge to turn around for one more look at
Ranma, not knowing what she would do if she looked at him again
right now. She didn't want to tempt fate, at least not in front
of the crowd that was still encircling Kuno and the Saotomes.
She'd find some other time to talk to Ranma and ask him the
multitude of questions she had. But for now she had to think, so
she entered the school building without stopping or speaking to
anyone.
Ranma reluctantly agreed with his sister. He turned back to
Akane in time to see her stand and run towards the school. He
wasn't able to get her attention, so he stood up and looked at
his sister instead. "Yeah, Ranko, you're right. Let's go!" he
shouted as he turned and ran off towards the school.
Ranko started to follow her brother when she heard a
groaning coming from beneath her. "Uhhh... What form of magic
did you use against me, Saotome?" he mumbled. Ranko knelt down
to him, and saw that his eyes were glazed over, then jumped back
in surprise when Kuno suddenly flopped back down on the pavement,
unconscious again. She looked closely at his face. `Yup, he's
still out cold. Interesting trick, talking while unconscious,'
she thought absently.
She took pity on him and decided to wake him up. Kneeling
down and straddling his chest, she slapped her hand against his
face multiple times. Kuno's head rocked back and forth as he
endured slap after vicious slap. His eyes fluttered open slowly
as he regained consciousness. "Hey buddy, you awake?" she yelled
at him.
He looked up at her, his cheeks bright red from Ranko's wake-
up call, but said nothing in return. She started to say
something else to him when a pretty, short-haired girl approached
her. "Don't worry about Kuno-chan. I'll take him to the
infirmary. Thanks for waking him for me, though."
Ranko nodded to the girl and took off after her brother.
Nabiki watched the younger Saotome run into the school building
and then regarded the listless Kuno. Reaching an arm down, she
tugged Kuno to a standing position. "I do not require your
assistance, Nabiki Tendo. I am the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High
and... WHA!" he shouted suddenly, stumbling over the remnants of
his bokken.
Nabiki smiled, gently replying with, "Of course you don't,
Kuno-chan." She walked with him to the infirmary, thinking,
`Ranma Saotome, eh? You and I have a lot to talk about, yes
indeed.' The yen signs were already floating around her mind,
the possibilities seemingly innumerable. She smiled to herself,
`This could turn out to be a great day.'

****

Ranma found it hard to concentrate on anything once he
entered the school building. His mind was thinking of all of the
possibilities that had just opened up to him. But his thoughts
were so chaotic that he wasn't really making any sense to
himself. The one thing that was clear to him was that Akane was
free of Kuno's hold. A major side benefit for him was that his
family could hopefully return to peaceful relations with the
Tendo family. How he proceeded from this point was what he was
having trouble dealing with.
When his mind wasn't dwelling on the future, he'd keep
noticing that a lot of students were paying attention to *him*,
and that was making him *very* uncomfortable. Not used to
playing the celebrity, Ranma kept to himself for the most part,
trying to avoid the scrutiny of everyone else.
Class time came, and Ranma's tension became palpable. He
arrived to the classroom early, and sat at his assigned seat. He
watched the door, and almost jumped out of his chair when Akane
walked in. He smiled to her, and his heart leapt when she smiled
in return. Class had started right after that, but he wasn't
noticing. He kept staring at the youngest Tendo girl, trying
hard not to be obvious about it. Three classes into the day he
finally screwed together the courage to pass her a note he'd
written after the fight.
Akane took the proffered note from the classmate at her end
of the delivery chain. She looked at it closely and was just
able to make out Ranma's chicken scratch on the front. "To Akane
Tendo, urgent." She quietly opened the note, looking around to
see if anyone was watching her.
The note read:

"Dear Akane,
My name is Ranma Saotome, and I want to speak with you
today. Will you please join me for lunch after class?"

She could see the heavy amounts of erasure and re-writing
that Ranma had done over various parts of the message. Akane
snickered to herself before folding the note and putting it in
her book bag. She turned to face him, smiling at his expectant
look. Slowly and clearly she mouthed, "Yes, I'd like to."
A big smile formed on Ranma's face as he read her lips.
`Yes! The first step's been taken,' he thought, exultant. He
turned quickly to face the blackboard, hoping not to catch the
instructor's ire again. This teacher was a new one on him, but
he quickly learned that Onsen-Mark Sensei was not one to toy
with. Ranma fidgeted in his seat for the remainder of class,
impatiently awaiting the bell for lunch.

****

Nabiki sighed as she looked Kuno's way again. Originally,
she wanted to remain with him until he felt better, but now she
was wondering if that had been a wise choice. He'd passed out
again as soon as his head hit the pillow on the infirmary cot.
Before that he had been mumbling semi-incoherently about
vengeance against that `knave Saotome for tricking him into
defeat, bla bla bla.'
Nabiki had to admit that Ranma Saotome possessed some
powerful capabilities of his own to be able to trounce Kuno so
soundly. She thought hard about a way to turn Ranma's power to
her advantage, but nothing came to the fore. But she knew that,
given time, she'd think of something. `Everything's got a price
and a worth,' she told herself. She regarded Kuno's slumbering
form again, smirking. `At least I'll be able to sell Kuno-chan
pictures of my sister again,' she thought happily.
Suddenly Kuno bolted upright out of his bed, a wide-eyed
expression on his face. He turned to look at Nabiki, who was
sitting in a chair beside his bed. "Nabiki Tendo, why am I
here?" he commanded imperiously.
She looked at him with a faux-shocked expression and said,
"Why, Kuno-chan! Don't you remember? You lost that fight to
Ranma Saotome and were knocked out. I had to carry you here."
Kuno's face locked in a half-snarl, half-shocked expression.
"How could a simpleton like Saotome defeat someone of my stature?
Could you answer that question for me, Nabiki Tendo?"
Nabiki smiled, trying to butter up the rich fool. "Why,
Kuno-chan, he had to have been lucky. That's the only
explanation for it."
Kuno calmed, and he seemed to be considering Nabiki's words.
"You may be right, Nabiki Tendo. Perhaps a return challenge is
in order," he said, attempting to sit up in the bed. The world
spun around him as dizziness overcame him. With some effort, he
managed to keep his sitting position on the cot.
"Perhaps later, Kuno-chan," Nabiki deadpanned.
Kuno sat motionless on the cot for a few moments, allowing
the world to stop spinning. "Yes, later," he said, making it
sound like he had thought of it first.
As he sat in silent repose on the cot, Kuno closed his eyes
and replayed the fight in his mind. Saotome had truly been
astounding, although he was loathe to admit that to anyone.
`What possessed that demon to challenge me anyway?' he asked
himself tiredly. `It's not as if beautiful women are a scarce
commodity at Furinkan...'
He stopped for a moment as he realized that he had lost
Akane to Ranma. `Oh well, it's not so bad,' he thought,
consoling himself. `She had lost her spirit anyway. I doubt
that I could love her any longer...' He sighed at the pain
awaiting her because of his absence. `How will she deal with
it?' he asked himself. But even with that part of his ego trying
to provide comfort, the loss of Akane stabbed at him cruelly.
The fact that he lost to someone of Ranma's ilk only made the
pain more acute.
Kuno wondered if maybe he hadn't been a good enough
influence on her. `No,' he answered himself candidly. `She
surely was blessed with my presence while with me, and will come
to regret my absence now that she has lost me.' The only thing
lingering in his mind, except for finding out how to defeat
Ranma, was, `Is there another female of beauteous quality and the
nature of a huntress at the hollowed grounds of Furinkan High?'
A fuzzy image appeared in his mind to answer his unspoken
question, and he seemed to recall something about a beautiful
woman talking to him after the fight, but the details were beyond
his reach for the moment.
Nabiki could hear the rusty scheming wheels turning in
Kuno's mind, but decided that she could con the information from
him later. She was going to miss the whole school day if she
didn't return to class soon. "Come on, Kuno-chan. You're
feeling better, so let's get back to class," she told him.
Kuno stood from the cot, wavering slightly, and regarded her
with his standard upper-class demeanor. "I will allow you to
escort me to class, Nabiki Tendo."
"Oh brother!" Nabiki said under her breath as she rolled her
eyes. Reaching out with both hands, she latched on to his arms
and dragged Kuno from the infirmary.

****

The bell rang for lunch and everyone tore out of their
classrooms, intent on devouring their meals. Ranma stood from
his desk, and watched his classmates go, snickering at the sight.
His mind was elsewhere when a hand grabbed him by the shoulder.
Reflexively set for fighting, he whirled around to face his would-
be attacker, only to be confronted with the started face of Akane
Tendo.
He flushed in embarrassment, and apologized instantly. "I'm
sorry, Akane. I... I didn't mean to make you jump like that."
He forced a nervous laugh, hoping to conceal his old reaction to
being close to her. A part of him was glad that there was no-one
else in the classroom to act as witness and compound his
distress. "You caught me by surprise is all," he explained as he
smiled and offered his hand to her. "Shall we eat?" he asked her
in a soft voice.
She took his hand, her cheeks reddening slightly as her body
reacted to his touch. "Yeah, Ranma. Let's eat," she said,
allowing him to escort her out of the classroom.
The close physical contact with Ranma became too much for
her, so she disengaged her hands from his as they walked
languidly towards the outer door of the building. In front of
the door, Akane looked over to her newfound friend. "Ranma,
I..." she started to say as they cleared the threshold and
entered the school yard. She didn't get a chance to say anything
else, however, as both she and Ranma were unexpectedly confronted
by the entire student body right outside the school building.
Both facefaulted as they were beset by a collective cheer
from the crowd. Everyone within eyesight of the couple stood,
applauding the one who had defeated Kuno that morning. People
were coming up to Ranma and clapping him heartily on the back, or
shaking his hand. A couple of adventureous girls pressed notes
bearing their names and phone numbers into his hands as they
touched and groped him, before getting pushed out of the way by
more eager students.
Ranko watched from the distance as he and Akane emerged from
the building so that her brother could enjoy his moment with his
new girlfriend. But she couldn't restrain herself from jumping
in the air and cheering along with the rest of the crowd, her
youthful face glowing with pride.
As the crowd swelled and pressed forward towards Ranma in an
effort to get closer to the newfound campus hero, Akane soon
found herself being pushed further and further away from him.
She could see him frantically pushing his way through the mass of
people, yelling her name and trying to get back to her, but the
throng was too dense. Soon they had pushed him away from Akane's
line of sight.
A half smile that had been on her face as they had exited
the building slipped away to be replaced by a more somber
expression as she succumbed to disappointment. She had been
looking forward to speaking with Ranma. She had so much she
wanted to ask him, especially about what he had said two weeks
ago. She approached a nearby bench, and was about to sit when a
hand grabbed hers. She looked at the owner of the hand and saw a
young pig-tailed girl with sparkling blue eyes tugging at her
hand.
"Hey you're Akane, right?" Ranko said in her characteristic
enthusiasm.
Akane nodded warily, "Uhh... yeah. Who are you?"
"I'm Ranko Saotome, Ranma's sister," she said by way of
introduction. "Anyway, wasn't he supposed to be eating lunch
with you, or something like that?" she inquired innocently.
Akane cheeks reddened, as she was again confronted with how
active the grapevine was at Furinkan. "Well, yeah... but he
seems to have been abducted by everyone," she said, indicating
the departing gang of students.
Ranko looked at the crowd and laughed. "That's my brother
for you. C'mon! Let's catch up with him," she said
enthusiastically. Akane didn't even have a chance to protest as
the youthful Saotome dragged her towards the crowd and Ranma.

****

Ranma clawed uselessly for purchase against the throng,
hoping to get above and beyond them. Failing that, he hoped he
was at least able to keep his calm as he struggled among the
student body, knowing that they weren't out to hurt him or Akane.
But try as he might to remain calm, he didn't feel comfortable
being in the spotlight to begin with, and the size of the crowd
wasn't helping matters any. Boys and girls alike were badgering
him with statements and questions, but they were coming in so
fast that he didn't even try to respond to them. "How did you do
it, Ranma? Can you beat him up again, Ranma? You dating anyone,
Ranma? Why did you challenge Kuno, Ranma?"
A hand grabbed his arm, and pulled him out of the reach of
the throng. Once he and his rescuer were a safe distance from
the oblivious crowd, he looked to the person who had pulled him
out and was confronted by the scheming smirk of Nabiki Tendo.
"Nabiki?!" Ranma asked,. recoiling slightly. Immediately his
hand went to his pocket, wary of what she was planning. "How
much do I owe you?" he asked disgustedly.
Nabiki's eyebrow swept up in surprise at Ranma's question.
"I don't know you, do I Saotome?" she asked, slightly irritated.
Seeing the crowd start to approach, she cut off his response, and
spoke quickly. "I'll worry about that little detail later.
Don't worry `bout the rescue, it's on me. Just consider us even,
okay Saotome?"
"Even for what?" Ranma asked, his eyes narrowing.
"Well, I had to find some way to thank you for getting my
little sister Akane out of that stupid engagement to Kuno-chan."
She leaned over to him a little, a conspiratorial look on her
face. "And I also wanted to thank you for beating him in the
fight. I won a lot of money betting on you." She winked at him,
and smiled her charming smile.
Ranma groaned, seeing that some things weren't all that
different in this Nerima. "Okay, whatever Nabiki. I..."
Nabiki saw her sister and that girl who was with Kuno
earlier approach their position ahead of the milling swarm, and
hastened to get away. "Oops! I gotta run. Here comes my
sister. I'll talk to you later, Saotome!" she yelled as she
sprinted for the school building.
Ranma watched Nabiki speed around the corner of the
building, and then heard shoes stomp against the concrete as she
ran up the steps and inside. He turned his head, and saw Ranko
and Akane approaching. Along with the rest of Furinkan High. He
made a move to turn and run from the advancing mob, but stopped,
feeling the solid wall of the school building against his back.
Having nowhere to go, he hung his head and resigned himself to
the inevitable.
Ranko and Akane arrived next to Ranma. Ranko noticed the
look on Ranma's face, and became concerned. "Hey bro, you okay?"
He turned to her, merely replying, "I will be once lunch is
over." He looked at Akane, saying "Akane, I'm sorry about lunch.
I really want to talk to you, though."
Akane nodded her head in agreement. She tried to reply, but
couldn't get her voice to carry over the din of curious students
that had just arrived. The questions started up again, with the
crowd pressing hard against the three. "You going to run for
class president next year, Ranma? What's the story with you and
Akane, Ranma? Are you prepared to die, Ranma?"
That last question stopped the crowd in its tracks. Ranma,
Akane, and Ranko's heads turned suddenly in unison at the
direction of the questioner. The crowd parted to show the
glowering faces of seven members of the Kendo team. They were
all wearing the same Kendo outfit that Kuno usually wore, and
they all had murder on their mind, if their postures were any
indication. The one who asked the question pointed his bokken at
Ranma and spoke again. "We all know that you're a wimp, and you
hate martial arts. You were lucky, Saotome. There's no other
explanation for the way you defeated Kuno-Sempai. We will avenge
his loss to you, and bring honor back to the Kendo club!" he
declared mightily, raising his bokken to the sky in a gesture of
triumph.
Ranma grunted in satisfaction, glad to have something he
could deal with presented to him. Ranko's eyes narrowed
dangerously at hearing the soon-to-be-dead-Kendoist refer to her
brother as a `wimp.' She maneuvered herself so that she and
Ranma were bracketing Akane, preparing for the worst. "Watch what
you say lardass, or we may have to make you eat those words!"
Ranko retorted hotly.
The loudmouth Kendoist smirked, then laughed arrogantly.
Ignoring Ranko, he directed his comment solely to Ranma. "So,
wimpy widdle Ranma needs a widdle girl to protect him," the lead
Kendoist taunted in a mocking voice. Ranma's gaze became
murderous at that, and he flexed his fingers, eager to put the
guy down. Ranko reacted similarly, although she grinned coldly.
The crowd began backing away from the Kendoists and the Saotomes,
not wanting to get hurt. "Little girl, eh? I'll be glad to show
you what this little girl can do, asshole. That is, if you're
man enough to try me," Ranko challenged him, looking him straight
in the eye.
The guy returned the gaze, his confidence never wavering.
"Out of the way, bitch. This is between me and the wimp...
AHHHHH!" the Kendoist screamed as Ranma leapt in front of him and
kicked him square in the face. The student landed on his back,
with Ranma standing on the guy's head. "Watch what you say about
my sister, asshole!" he said ominously, grinding his foot into
the guy's face to punctuate the statement. The student obliged
Ranma by passing out.
Another person from the Kendo group yelled "GET HIM!" and
suddenly the entire group rushed their position. Suddenly Ranma,
Ranko and Akane were swarmed by bokken-wielding, skirt-clad
figures swearing vengeance on behalf of their fallen leader.
Akane gasped, watching the fight boil out of control around
her. She took some small comfort from the fact that the Saotome
siblings were trying their best to see that no harm came to her.
She wanted to assist them, and felt a sudden pang of regret that
she had let her Kenpo training lapse during the near year and a
half that she was tied to Kuno. Frustrated, she fought her urge
to join the battle and let Ranma and Ranko carry on the fight
without her.
Ranma smiled to himself, satisfied that these people were
definitely not a threat. One of the crazed Kendoists had charged
at him, swinging wildly with his bokken. He'd easily dodged the
lunge, and responded with a chop to the back of the assailant's
neck, knocking him out.
Ranko wasn't having as easy a time, however. She had
already dispatched one of the fighters that had jumped her, and
was looking for number two. Unfortunately, figuring her to be a
worse threat than Ranma due to his past reputation, three
students beset her at the same time. Unable to contend with
three, she was caught unprepared and pinned against the wall of
the school building.
Two of the Kendoists held her still, while a third one began
kicking and punching her viciously. Too proud to scream, Ranko
instead tried in vain to free herself from the grip of the hentai
Kendoists.
Akane, who had been watching Ranma pulverize the Kendo
students on his end, whirled around at the commotion behind her.
She gaped wordlessly at the unfair attack they had launched
against Ranko. Angered beyond words, she reached up swiftly and
grabbed one of the Kendoists by his shoulder and turned him to
face her. Not waiting for a response from the jerk, she punched
him square in the face with all of her might, swept his legs out
from under him and finally followed up with a devastating kick to
the groin. The felled student grabbed his agonized privates and
screamed in pain. Akane looked at her hands, balling them into
fists again. `Whew! That felt good! I haven't done that in a
while...' she thought, enjoying the feeling of having punished
the guy. She looked to the other one that was still holding
Ranko back from attacking, and readied herself for another
assault.
Ranma had just finished breaking a bokken over the head of
another Kendo student, bringing his body count to three
unconscious, when he heard someone scream in pain behind him.
With no-one left to fight, he turned to see what his sister was
doing and gasped in shock at what he saw. Akane had just pounded
the hell out of a guy, and two others were double teaming Ranko!
Furious, he leapt at the student holding his sister against
the wall and began tearing him apart. The stunned student didn't
even have time to fight as Ranma knocked him down to the ground.
"You son of a bitch! I'm gonna *KILL* you!" Ranma yelled at the
terrified boy. He knelt down and quickly seized the Kendoist by
his throat. His blood boiling, Ranma punched him time and again
until the student's face had been cut severely by the impacts and
was a bloody mess. Still enraged, Ranma dropped the limp
student's head and charged after the remaining one.
The one remaining student's eyes went wide as he saw how
badly he was outnumbered. Deciding to get in one more hit before
running, he swiped at Ranko with his bokken as hard as he could.
He connected, opening a small gash on her face. "We toldja you
should've stayed out of the fight, little girl! You won't be
forgetting that now, will you?" he taunted as he brought his
bokken before him defensively. Not bothering to survey the
damage he'd caused her, he turned to run away before Ranma could
get to him.
Ranma broke his sprint and knelt down by his sister, who had
dropped to her knees after getting hit. "I'm gonna kill that
coward," Ranma spat viciously. He put his arm around her
protectively as she knelt there, motionless.
Ranko brought her hand up to the gash on her cheek, dabbing
gingerly at the bloody, broken skin. "You're gonna have to wait
in line Ranma. That bastard's mine!" she swore, standing up
slowly. She ignored her protesting muscles and grabbed a bokken
from one of the felled students. She then sprinted off in the
direction of the departing Kendoist. Unable to stop her from
going, Ranma and Akane took off after her, ignoring groans and
occasional screams as they stepped on and over the Kendo students
they'd knocked out earlier.

****

Ranko poured on the steam as she started closing the gap
between her and the fleeing student. She watched him turn to see
if he was being pursued and heard him gasp in surprise. She
smiled thinly, knowing that she was going to enjoy hurting him.
`No-one does this to me and gets away with it!' she swore. With
the gap narrowing quickly, Ranko brought the captured bokken into
play. Without even breaking stride, she threw it at the
Kendoist's legs. The throw was true, and suddenly his legs were
entangled by the bokken, halting his run and forcing him to crash
face-forward on the ground.
Ranko reached the student and kicked him in the ass. "Who's
the little girl now, asshole!" she yelled as she kicked him
again. The Kendoist tried to hide his terror by putting on a
brave front. Forcing a sneer onto his face, the student quickly
got up and faced her. "Don't taunt me, you little bitch.
I'll..." he said, before getting interrupted.
Ranko flushed red at the name and got up in his face,
staring eye to eye with him. "Listen to me, WIMP! You're about
to feel very bad, you emasculated son of a bitch. So quit
talking and start fighting!" She followed her comments up with
an open-handed slap to the face. The taunting worked well as the
student lashed out at her. Although Ranko had been slowed by the
beating she'd endured, she was still able to deflect the strike.
Incoherent with rage, the guy lashed out at her again with
his bokken. She anticipated the attack and grabbed the blade as
it whizzed past her head. Twisting the blade in her grip, she
wrenched it from his hands. Quickly she tossed it far away from
him, leaving him weaponless.
Desperate to end the fight, he rushed her. Yelling like an
enraged animal, he charged with his hands stuck out in front of
him, trying to grab her by the neck. Ranko dropped to a crouch
on one leg, cursing as a sharp pain suddenly shot through her.
She managed to complete the leg sweep, however, and sent the guy
toppling face-first into the dirt again. Hobbling back into a
standing position, she rubbed her sore leg as she waited for the
guy to stand up again. He got to his hands and knees, but didn't
stand completely.
Ranko prowled around him, impatient to continue the fight.
She started yelling at him when he refused to stand, her fury
fueling her words. "Come on, you little coward! Stand up! You
know, you talk awfully big for a little guy who can't even fight.
And you sure are stupid, picking on someone like me, knowing that
you couldn't ever beat me in a fair fight. I don't know why you
try to fight anyway. You hit like a little girl!" she spat,
hoping to goad him into continuing the fight.
At that moment Ranma and Akane arrived on the scene, and
watched as Ranko yelled at the lone student. Ranma rushed to
take care of the creep when he heard Ranko yell at him. "Stay
away from him, brother. He's *mine*! I'll let you have him
afterwards, *if* I let him live," she stated darkly.
Ranma nodded silently and stepped back a respectful
distance, with Akane joining him at his side. Ranko turned back
to her adversary, who had assumed a standing position again. His
face was white hot with impotent rage as he brought his hands up
in a ready position. "You're mine, little bitch! You've won too
many times before, now it's *my turn!* " he spluttered.
Ranko readied herself as the student charged at her again.
This time Ranko brought her leg up and kicked him squarely in the
midsection as he came by, causing him to gasp loudly in pain.
Not waiting for him to fall to the ground again and catch his
breath, she followed up with a chop to the back of the neck,
making him stumble drunkenly. The student whirled around to face
her again, and got a foot in his face as Ranko jump-kicked him,
causing him to fall on his back in a daze.
Rage possessing her completely now, she straddled him and
repeatedly punched him in the face until her fists were sore.
Not satisfied with that, she then grabbed two handfuls of hair
and began slamming his head into the ground, yelling "Who's a
wimp?" with every impact.
Ranma approached his sister cautiously. She had already
knocked the guy out, so he wasn't feeling the pain she was
dishing out any more. Without touching her, he stood behind her,
shouting, "Ranko, stop this!"
She continued slamming the boy's head into the ground
unabated, ignoring her brother's words. Ranma sighed, not
wanting to interfere, but knowing that he had to stop her. He
stepped behind her, his arms encircling her chest as he grabbed
her from behind, trying to pin her arms under his.
Ranko squirmed in his grasp, but didn't kick out. Instead
she yelled, "Ranma! Lemme go! This asshole deserves it!" Ranma
pulled on her, trying to get her away from the student. Ranko
held onto the student by his hair and by clenching her thighs
against the boy's flanks, trying to resist her brother's pull
with all her might. She wanted to do more damage, and kept
shouting for her brother to leave her the hell alone. Finally,
with a mighty yank Ranma separated his sister from the doomed
Kendoist.
Akane had watched wordlessly throughout the beating (she
wouldn't call it a fight). She then winced as she watched Ranma
try time and again to pull his sister from the unconscious
student. She flinched when he finally succeeded. "Ouch! That's
gonna hurt in the morning," she observed aloud as Ranma carried
Ranko towards her, still holding her in his arms.
He looked at Akane quizzically, wondering what she was
referring to. She pointed to Ranko's hands, a slight grimace on
her face. Ranma looked down to where Akane pointed, and smirked.
"Yeesh, Ranko. You weren't fooling around, were you?" he asked
rhetorically. Sure now that she wasn't going to run back and hit
the guy again, he released her.
Ranko stumbled a bit before getting her footing properly.
She looked down at the contents of her hands and smiled to
herself. She clenched her hands into fists triumphantly, holding
tightly the clumps of bloody hair she'd yanked from the student's
head. "I think he'll be remembering this day for a while to
come," she said weakly, prizing the hair into the pockets of her
pants. She then sagged against her brother, exhaustion catching
up with her and causing her to pass out.
"Ranko!" Ranma yelled in alarm, catching her before she hit
the ground. Akane quickly got on the other side of her, each
putting one of her arms around their necks and one of their arms
around her tiny waist. Then together they hauled the unconscious
Ranko to the infirmary.

****

Kuno `ohh'ed to himself as he watched Akane and Ranma cart
Ranko away from the battle scene. He'd hidden among a small
cluster of trees for the duration of the battle, watching his
nemesis in action. He smiled thinly, pleased and upset with his
Kendo club. He was pleased that they would try to defend the
honor of their leader so voraciously, but was equally upset that
they were unable to complete the task they had set out to do, and
that they did it in such a dishonorable manner. He would have
been more upset if he had ordered the attack himself and they
performed as badly as they did here.
Kuno digested what he saw of the battle. `Ranma Saotome is
indeed a martial artist of some ability. How he achieved this in
such a short time is unknown.' Kuno grudgingly acknowledged that
Saotome was now a true force to be reckoned with. He was sure
that he'd have to come up with a new way of dealing with someone
who could conceivably be an equal. Irritated at the thought of
he and Ranma being equals, he pushed the image of Ranma from his
mind and concentrated on what else he saw.
`Akane seems to have regained some of her spirit. Surely it
must be due to the fact that she already grows restless in my
absence, knowing that I, the great Tatewaki Kuno, am not there to
protect her. Fear not Akane, I will allow you to come back to
me,' Kuno thought grandly, pleased with himself over the
charitable gesture he was willing to bestow her. He then
clenched his fists and gasped as the face of Ranko Saotome
flitted through his mind. `She fights most masterfully for one
so young. And her beauty! Were she not of Saotome's blood, she
would be a most perfect woman! I must find out more about her!'
he vowed silently. He waited a few moments for the three to
enter the building before he headed back inside himself.

****

Ranko groaned as she came to in the infirmary. She opened
her eyes slowly, and saw Ranma and Akane hovering over her
worriedly at the edge of her cot. She snapped her eyes shut,
fighting off the sudden wave of nausea that threatened to
overcome her. She slapped a hand listlessly against her
forehead, noting how cold and damp her skin was. Again she crept
her eyes open, and regarded Ranma with a wan smile. "Hey, didja
get the number of that truck..." she croaked weakly before she
broke off, snorting at her own bad joke.
Ranma smiled and sighed relief as he dropped to his knees
next to the cot, wrapping her up in a hug, with his head resting
on her chest. "Thank God you're okay, sis. Dammit! I was so
worried about you!" he said, choking back a sob. Ranko put a
hand on her brother's head, running her fingers through his hair.
"Yeah, I'm okay bro. Although I won't be if you keep squeezing
me that hard," she gasped. Ranma released her immediately and
sat away from the cot next to Akane.
Ranko sat up in her cot, propping her back against the wall
of the room. "Uggh! How long was I out?" she asked, blinking
her eyelids to try and clear the blurriness from her vision.
"About twenty minutes," Akane said. "How do you feel?"
"Like hell. I feel like someone did a flamenco dance on my
body with steel tap shoes. Other than that, I'm just dandy."
They all chuckled at the vision created by her metaphor. "By the
way, Akane. Thanks for the assist. You showed some pretty good
moves out there."
Akane blushed slightly, then anger flashed in her eyes.
"Well, I couldn't stand by watching those three gang up on you.
It just wasn't fair, so I decided to help even the odds a bit. I
can't believe how easily fighting came back to me after being out
of practice for so long." `Although,' she added to herself, `I
saw just how rusty I was.' She smirked inwardly, thinking that a
little training might be just the thing to help banish her past
with Kuno.
Ranko winked conspiratorially at Ranma when Akane wasn't
looking. Ranma shook his head, and shifted uncomfortably where
he sat. She frowned slightly, her mind chewing on something.
She suddenly perked up, saying, "Akane, can I speak to my brother
alone for a moment?"
Akane smiled and grabbed her hand. "Sure. You did well out
there, Ranko. Ranma's right to be proud of you." Ranko blushed
at the praise, smiling as her eyes met with her brother's. Akane
then turned to Ranma, "I'm going back to class now. I'll see you
after school, if that's okay."
Ranma's eyes widened a bit at that, but he managed to smile
nervously, saying, "Uhh, yeah! Sure... sure thing Akane." She
stood and walked out of the infirmary, closing the door behind
her. Once she was gone, Ranko gave her brother a stern look.
Ranma grew defensive as his sister's gaze bored into him.
"Hey Ranko, what's the big idea lookin' at me like that?"
Ranko's stare continued to bear down on him. "Why don't you
have a date with Akane yet, Ranma?" she demanded, enough strength
returning in her voice to make him squirm.
Ranma fidgeted in his seat, not wanting to answer her
question He shifted his gaze to the floor, his face an
expressionless mask.
"C'mon, Ranma. I saw how you were looking at her this
morning. I'm kinda surprised you didn't ask her to marry you
right then and there," she continued. She crossed her arms,
awaiting a response from Ranma, but he continued to remain quiet.
"Well?!"
Ranma regarded his sister again. "It's kinda hard for me to
explain, Ranko."
A concerned expression wound its way onto Ranko's face,
making her wince involuntarily from the pain caused by shifting
her facial muscles. She ignored the pain, and grabbed one of
Ranma's hands, holding onto it tightly. "Hey, I'm listening.
Tell me what's goin' on," she prodded gently.
Ranma sighed, not really comfortable with sharing his
feelings with anyone. "Well, Ranko, it's like this. Back when
Pop and I first arrived at the Tendo house, Akane and I really
didn't get along at all. And for months after that she and I
were either on the brink of actually loving each other or about
to rip each other's throats out. Most of that time we were
violent towards each other, and never really wanted to talk about
the engagement our fathers had forced us into. Neither of us
really wanted to discuss *anything* much, for that matter."
Ranma paused and stood from his chair, then began pacing in
the confined space of the school infirmary. "I guess if we had
talked, it would've made a lot of things easier on both of us.
But we resisted trying to work things out. Exactly why, I'm not
sure." Ranma replayed parts of his life with Akane in his mind,
seeing now just how many times things had gone wrong, and how
many opportunities they'd missed.
"You know Ranko, I realize that I do love Akane, although I
couldn't see it before now. I think something in that wish
cleared my head. I've taken a longer view of everything that
I've said and done in the past, which is something I normally
didn't do before. I realize now that some of the things that
sparked arguments and brawls between Akane and myself were my
fault. Also, I now recognize the things that I said, or did,
that made her angry and helped to push her away from me. But I
have to admit as well that she was just as stubborn as I was.
Akane'd sometimes fan the flames instead of trying to put them
out."
Ranma kept talking, but it seemed clear to Ranko that he was
just talking aloud, instead of to her. "We were *both* too damn
stubborn to listen. I was always so damned *right*," he said,
pounding his fist into his other hand for emphasis. "All those
times I should've listened when I yelled at her instead. I was
so foolish." Ranma laughed bitterly. "You know, she even told
me once that she loved me. Granted, she was under the influence
of the reversal jewel, but her feelings were genuine. And I was
too blind to see it at the time. And now comes my wish, and
everything's suddenly different. Akane's different, I'm
different. Hell, even Kuno's different!" Ranma shouted.
He looked over to his sister, and flushed, realizing that he
was blathering away and confusing her thoroughly. "I'm sorry for
venting like this Ranko. All of this just sorta hit me at once.
I guess it's just the shock of realizing what that wish has done
to me. But you do understand why I'm saying this, don't you?"
"Not really, Ranma," she said, a confused look on her face.
"Why does your past have anything to do with the Akane of now?"
Ranma stopped pacing. He faced her, spreading his arms in a
wide gesture. "It has everything to do with this Akane. She's
not the same person I knew from before. I know how to deal with
the Akane from my past, not this one. Don't you see? Everything
that I learned about her is out the window, so I'm gonna have to
start all over again! Not to forget the fact that we barely got
along before. I have no idea how Akane and I would get along
now."
Ranko looked her brother square in the eye. "I don't think
you're getting the whole picture yet, big brother. You admit
that you and Akane were at each other's throats constantly in the
past." Ranma nodded slowly. "Well you're not at each other's
throats now, are you?"
"No, but we aren't engaged now, either," he shot back
irritatedly.
"Exactly!" Ranko chimed. Seeing Ranma's puzzled look, she
pressed on. "Ranma, don't you see that the forced engagement was
the main reason you two fought each other? Chances are you were
doing all that fighting more to spite Pop and Mr. Tendo than for
any other reason."
"But what about now? I have no way of knowing how this
Akane is going to react to me. I'm not even sure that she'll
like me," he said, moaning slightly.
Ranko pointed at her brother. "Ranma, you're thinking too
far ahead. You're also making assumptions about Akane based on
what you know of your past. You really don't have any idea how
much different this Akane could be from the person you used to
know."
Ranma nodded. "That's another thing that bothers me. She's
not the Akane that I fell in love with. What if I find out that
I don't love her, Ranko?"
"Geez, Ranma. If it bothers you this much, why don't you
just abandon the whole idea of wanting her?" Ranko said angrily.
Ranma blanched at the idea. "No! I don't ... that is ... I
can't ... I'm..."
"You're afraid?" she completed for him.
Ranma deflated a bit. "Yeah. I guess that's it. There's
too many unknowns."
"Then don't worry about them all at once. Take things one
step at a time, Ranma. You'll worry yourself away from Akane at
the rate you're going. And don't be afraid, it's bad form for a
martial artist." she said, smiling at her brother.
Ranma fought the smirk working its way to his face. "Yeah,
well... love and martial arts are two different things, Ranko."
"Not to hear you tell it, bro," Ranko laughed.
He blushed. "Har har har. Very funny, NOT!" His resumed
his seat next to his sister. "There's so much to consider, I
really don't know where to start."
"Well, I think that Akane's made that pretty easy for you.
Just meet her after school like she said, and then take it from
there."
Ranma turned green, his nerves working him over. Asking a
girl out on a date was terra nova for him. "I've not really
asked a girl out before, Ranko. How do I know if anything I say
will work?"
"Well, you're not gonna find out unless you try, are you
bro?" she shot back.
Ranma nodded, acknowledging the wisdom of her words.
"You're right, Ranko. I have to at least try. Thanks for the
advice."
Ranko adopted an air of smugness about her. "That's why I'm
here, Ranma." She leaned over to him, winking. "Akane's a cute
girl. You'll be a happy guy if you manage to win her over."
Ranma smiled, gazing off into the distance for awhile before
replying, "Yeah, I guess so." He returned his gaze to her.
"Speaking of cute, how are you feeling sis?"
Ranko blushed at the compliment. Putting a hand to her
face, she gingerly touched the tender area around her cut. After
they'd arrived in the infirmary, a nurse had bandaged the wound,
saying that a doctor would have to look at it soon. "I'm feeling
better Ranma." Her look grew angry as she recalled the fight.
"Although that little wimp Kenji didn't have to be so damn mean."
"Who's Kenji?" Ranma asked.
"Oh, that's right. You wouldn't know who he is. Kenji is
Kenji Kurosawa, a freshman here at Furinkan. He and I have been
at each other's throats for years, ever since grade school. He's
the one who gave me this lovely cut," she said darkly, pointing
to the bandaged wound. Even though she'd already repaid him for
the beating, Ranko felt it wasn't enough. She smiled as she
recalled the clumps of hair that she had in her pants pockets.
Clumps of Kenji's hair removed in a most painful way. She could
at least draw some satisfaction from that.
"Well, I don't think that this Kenji dude will be bothering
you again, not after the pasting you gave him," Ranma said
assuringly. He smiled, very proud of his sister and her ability
to defend herself.
"He'd better not, for his sake," she vowed. She was about
to launch into a rather mean-spirited look into Kenji's lineage
when the bell rang. "Well, we can't stay here any longer, bro.
We'd better get back to class. I'll meet you after school." She
stood from the bed, sore but no longer dizzy. "Good luck with
Akane, Ranma," she said in a heartfelt gesture.
"Thanks Ranko," Ranma said to the departing figure of his
younger sister. `I sure hope everything works out okay,' he
thought worriedly. He then pushed the thought from his mind,
upset with himself for worrying so much. He stood and walked out
of the infirmary, heading to his last class for the day.

****

The bell rang, and students began pouring out of the
building and heading on their way home. Akane was among those
students gleefully running for the outside. Once in the
schoolyard she found a place near the gate to wait for Ranma.
Sitting down by a large tree, she leaned back against it, basking
in the afternoon sunlight of springtime.
Unseen by Akane, a girl watched from a distance. The young
lady scowled, noting the expectant look on Akane's face. She was
about to walk up to Akane when she noticed someone else
approaching. Instead of confronting Akane directly, she chose to
move herself closer so she could listen.
Ranma had been looking around the grounds for a couple of
minutes before he spotted Akane sitting under a tree. He gasped
when he saw her. She had noticed him and smiled, beckoning him
to join her. He couldn't help but notice that she was *very*
cute when she smiled, and that fueled his desire to be with her
again and cut through his apprehension. He waved back and
trotted on over to her. Plopping his bookbag on the ground, he
sat next to her under the tree. He sat there for a couple of
moments, wanting to say something, but nothing was coming out.
"How's Ranko doing, Ranma?" Akane asked, trying to break the
ice.
"Oh, she's fine. She should be here in a few moments. We
usually walk home together," he said, laughing nervously.
`Oh, well. Here it goes.' Akane thought, steeling herself.
"Ranma, I wanted to ... thank you... for what you did for me
today."
Ranma gave her an `aw shux, twern't nuthin' look. "That's
okay, Akane. I'm glad I did it."
"So am I. Although, and don't think I'm being an ingrate, I
was wondering why you did it at all."
Ranma swallowed nervously, unsure of how to answer her. He
wasn't about to tell her about the wish, nor was he going to tell
her about the agreement between he and Soun. He decided to tell
her what parts of the truth that he could. He felt that the less
he lied to her now, the better off he'd be later on. He
collected his wits, then forced himself to continue. "I couldn't
stand it anymore!" he blurted out.
"What do you mean, `couldn't stand it any longer' ?" Akane
asked quietly.
"I mean, I couldn't stand to see the look on your face any
longer, Akane. Every day at school I've been watching you and
Kuno together. I could see how much pain you were feeling," he
explained.
Akane listened without speaking. Tears began welling up in
her eyes as she listened to him speak. Gently she wiped a stray
tear from her cheek, but kept her gaze turned to the ground.
"It hurt me to see you in so much pain. When I heard about
Kuno's boast, I decided that I'd had enough and would challenge
him." Ranma crossed his arms in front of him. "You see, I ... I
like you Akane. And I felt that you'd suffered long enough."
Akane's eyes widened at his near-proclamation of love. She
looked over to him, not sure how to answer him. With some
effort, she responded. "Ranma, you have no idea how much I
appreciate what you've done for me today. You've managed to get
me away from Kuno. I... I'm in your debt," she finished in a
small voice.
Ranma smiled uneasily, and forced himself to continue,
knowing that this was the most difficult part. "I also fought
Kuno because ... I wanted to mar... be with you..." he broke off,
not comfortable with what he way saying, although he knew it was
the truth.
"R.. R.. Ranma? You're serious about this, aren't you?" she
asked, incredulous.
"Yes I am." Ranma took her hands in his. "Akane, I hope
this isn't too sudden, but I was wondering if you would like to
go out with me sometime?" he said rapidly. He relaxed
noticeably, heaving a large sigh, glad to have finally asked the
question and gotten it out of the way.
Akane blushed deeply at hearing the question. She shifted
position on the ground a couple of times, trying to hide her
internal struggle as she tried to get a grip on her emotions. A
part of her had hoped that Ranma would ask her this, but other
parts of her mind were still suffering from Kuno's version of
`tender loving care' and were warning her not to fall into a boy
trap again. She and was about to give him her answer when a girl
shot up from her hiding place in the nearby bushes, screaming at
the top of her lungs.
"NOOOOOOOO!!!!"

****

Ranko Saotome flinched as she applied weight to her leg
again. She was still sore from the fight, and she was walking
gingerly on her right leg. She had refused crutches from the
nurse, and likewise refused help from her friends. She bore the
pain stoically, not wanting to let anyone think that Kenji had
gotten the best of her.
She stepped outside into the sunlight and saw Ranma and
Akane sitting under a tree near the school gates. She smiled to
herself. `Go get her, Ranma,' she thought happily to herself as
she approached the couple. She was halfway to them when she
heard someone scream `NO!' at the top of her lungs and then saw a
girl jump out of the bushes. Ranko's face fell as she saw who it
was. "Oh God, not Kinuko!" she grumbled disgustedly. She then
gasped in alarm, remembering that Ranma wouldn't know who Kinuko
was. She doubled her pace, hoping to put out any fires before
they started.

****

Ranma was gawking in utter shock at the hysterical girl.
Akane was likewise wide-eyed with surprise, watching the girl
storm from the bushes to where she and Ranma were sitting. She
was a fairly tall and extremely beautiful young woman dressed in
the standard school uniform of Furinkan High. The sunlight
refracted through the girl's long black hair, accenting her red
highlights. Her brown eyes shimmered as she cried, tears washing
down her heart-shaped face.
"How dare you? HOW DARE YOU?!" she shrieked. Heads from
passersby turned towards them, and a crowd began to gather.
Akane leaned over to him, a slightly jealous look on her
face. "What is she doing here, Ranma?"
Ranma didn't respond, except to shake his head vigorously.
He stared blankly at the girl, wondering what he'd done to piss
her off. "Uhhh... Excuse me, do I know you?" he managed to ask
at length.
"RANCHAN! How dare you ask me that question? Sure we may
have had our hard times in the past, but to act like you don't
even know me!? Why!?" She dropped to her knees, burying her
face in her hands and crying like a lost soul.
Akane regarded Ranma again. "Well, she sure thinks she
knows you," she deadpanned.
Ranma's eyes bugged out. `She called me Ranchan?! Who the
hell is this girl?!' he thought in a panic. He looked at Akane,
and held his right hand up, pointing at the girl. "I don't know
this person, I *swear!*" His face clearly reflected the
befuddlement he felt. He looked around, hoping to find an avenue
of escape.
The girl looked up at him angrily, wiping her eyes with her
hand. "Ranchan, I can't believe this. I'm out of school for two
weeks for the School Band trip to Kobe, and when I return I find
you trying to bed down some... *hussy*!" she said, pointing
directly at Akane. Without waiting for a response from either of
them, she placed a hand against her forehead, proclaiming, "My
world is shattered! I never would've thought you would cheat on
me, Ranchan! You said you loved me! Why are you torturing me
like this by saying you don't know me?!" She began crying again.
Ranma's jaw dropped, and he looked for all the world as
though he never expected to live out the day. His vocabulary had
been reduced to "abb... I... ahh... uggghh... " and his arms
were extended outwards in a defensive gesture against the
rampaging female. Meanwhile the audience's curiosity was piqued.
Ranma could make out some of the murmuring going on in the
background. "Did she just say Ranma and Akane were sleeping
together? Wow, I guess that explains the challenge to Kuno.
Hey, Ranma's got two girls now! Geez, can't he even share one of
them? ..."
Akane bolted to a standing position. She blushed furiously
at the open speculation she was hearing from the crowd.
Indignant, she confronted the girl. "Hey! What's the big idea
calling me a hussy, you bitch!" She pointed to Ranma. "He did
me a tremendous favor today, and I thanked him for it. He's not
trying to `bed me down' or anything like that. Besides, he says
that he doesn't know you, RIGHT?"
She looked at Ranma, who was nodding vigorously, mumbling
positive-sounding sounds but remaining incoherent for the most
part. "You see, he says that he doesn't know you Kinuko, so get
the HELL out of here!" Akane's anger was steadily rising as she
watched Kinuko shake her head, refusing to believe what she was
hearing.
"HE'S LYING!" she shrieked. She then latched onto Ranma
desperately, nuzzling his neck and kissing him soundly on the
cheek. "Stop lying, Ranchan. I know you've forgiven me for that
little incident last month, so let's make up and stop playing
around, okay?" She beamed at him with a gorgeous smile.
Deciding to up the stakes, she started tracing on Ranma's chest
with her index finger.
Ranma was paralyzed with fear. Kinuko was tightly latched
onto him, and he couldn't shake her, regardless of what he tried.
He looked up desperately to Akane, who's face was unreadable.
"I... I..." He reached an arm out towards Akane. Unfortunately
for him, Kinuko had intercepted the arm and curled it around her
waist, placing his hand directly under her left breast. He tried
to say something else, but couldn't, as he was trying to deal
with the fact that his hand was microns from this beautiful
girl's... no *woman's* breast.
Akane groaned in disgust at seeing Kinuko's obvious attempt
to push her away from Ranma. Sighing she picked up her school
bag and stood. Before walking away, she looked over her left
shoulder. "Thanks again for what you did today, Ranma. I'm in
your debt." She turned away from Ranma again and dashed away
from the school grounds. As hard as she tried, she couldn't stop
herself from crying as she ran.

****

Two guys that had been watching the goings-on regarded each
other with a puzzled look. "Hey Hikaru, what's Ranma doing with
Kinuko again? I thought they broke up."
Hikaru Gosunkugi shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno, man.
Your guess is as good as mine."
"Yeah, but you're Ranma's best friend. You usually know
what's goin' on with him."
"Yeah, usually. But he and I haven't spoken in over two
weeks. Ranma's not called me at all during that time. I never
see him at the hangout anymore, and he ignored me the one time I
tried to talk with him." Hikaru shook his head. "I tellya,
there's something's different about him Sato..."
"Gee, you're the master of understatement today. You call
someone who until today didn't have a violent bone in his body
but suddenly gets the nerve up to not only challenge but *defeat*
Kuno-Sempai in battle today `different?!' " Sato snorted through
his nose. "And where'd he get the brass balls to ask a girl out?
That Akane chick is sweet!" he enthused, wiping a bit of drool
from the corner of his mouth.
Hikaru looked at him darkly. "How do you think Ranma got
together with Kinuko in the first place?"
Sato had a quizzical look on his face. "I thought *you*
helped him get together with Kin..."
"SHHHHH! Dummy! No-one's supposed to know that!" Hikaru
shot back hotly.
"Sorrieee! Geez, what's the matter with you man?" Sato had
a wounded look on his face.
Hikaru's look softened. "I'm sorry Sato. Ranma just made
me promise not to tell anyone about that. I had no idea you
knew."
Sato grinned. "Ranma told me how you helped him get Kinuko
when he let it slip that he'd done it with her. I knew that he
had to have had help, there was no other way he could've netted
Kinuko."
"Regardless, don't mention it to anyone. We'll all be in
trouble if word ever gets out that I did what I did to help Ranma
get a date with Kinuko. And I do mean *all.*" Hikaru made a
slashing gesture across his throat with his finger to illustrate
his point to Sato.
Seeing motion out of the corner of his eye, Sato turned his
head. Quickly he tapped Hikaru on the shoulder. "Hey man, look!
It's Ranko! Boy what I wouldn't give to spend a night with
*her!*"
Hikaru looked at the young lady and grinned. "You wouldn't
get to first base with her, Sato. She'd kick your butt from here
to Mars for just looking at her. Don't risk your life on such a
lost cause." Hikaru looked at Sato and smirked, poking his chest
with his thumb. "Besides, *I* saw her first!"
Sato whirled on him, frowning. "Like hell! I'd..."
Hikaru waved him off. "Quiet! She's coming over here..."
The heads of the two tracked the goddess Ranko Saotome as
she walked towards her brother.

****

`Damn that Kenji,' Ranko thought bitterly to herself, upset
that her injury had kept her from preventing what just happened.
She watched Akane storm from the campus, and could clearly hear
her crying. A few paces later, she was finally in front of Ranma
and the velcroed Kinuko.
"Ranma! Why aren't you going after Akane?" she demanded.
"Hush Ranko! My Ranchan's staying with me!" Kinuko yelled
before Ranma could respond. She emphasized the point by kissing
Ranma right on the lips. The kiss lasted for well over a minute
and a half, leaving both participants, and a large section of the
crowd, breathless. "See?" she added, aiming a stunning smile at
Ranko.
Ranko looked at Kinuko darkly. "I wasn't talking to you,
you damned flake! I was talking to my brother!" Ranko leered at
her, adding, "Why don't you let `Ranchan' answer my question?
You afraid of the answer? But then again, there is what you did
to him last month..."
Kinuko flushed with anger. "Flake?! What do you know about
me anyway? You're not the Saotome that I've been dating for the
last six months." She took Ranma's face in her hands, and turned
him so that they were eye to eye. "You still love me, right
Ranchan?"
Ranma was still unable to speak, his mind split between
wanting to run after the departed Akane, and moving his hand up
an inch. "I... uhhh... " was about all he could force from his
mouth.
Kinuko smiled triumphantly. "See! He's speechless with
happiness! So I don't have to worry about what Ranchan wants to
say."
Ranko slapped her hand against her face and groaned. `This
isn't good! I have to get Ranma away from this idiot!' She
hobbled over to Ranma, grabbing his free hand. "Come on Ranma.
We have to go home now." She looked at Kinuko and added, "Let
him go, Kinuko, unless you want to explain to my Mom why he's
late."
Kinuko blanched at the idea of confronting Nodoka and
quickly released him from her death grip. With her hold on him
gone, Ranma breathed normally again. He stood up with the aid of
his sister, who pulled on his hand. His eyes widened as the
other hand, which had been wrapped around Kinuko's back,
accidentally caressed part of her breast as he withdrew it.
Ranko didn't seem notice the accidental contact he'd made with
Kinuko's chest, or her brother's sudden breathlessness as she
dragged him from the campus.
Kinuko gasped and her eyes shimmered as Ranma's hand stroked
against her breast. The nipple stiffened noticeably underneath
the clothes, and her face flushed as she realized that people
could see her reaction to him. She didn't pay attention as the
Saotome siblings walked away, but instead covered her breast with
her hand and sat under the tree, her hormones rampaging through
her. `He... *touched* me... Oh, Ranchan! You *have* forgiven
me!' she thought, sighing happily. She waited until she had
calmed her sex drive to tolerable levels before rising from her
seat and heading home.
A small distance away from the excited and departing Kinuko,
Sato and Hikaru emerged from the dispersing crowd to stand where
Ranma and Kinuko had been a moment ago.
"Wow... He's even getting along with his sister. Wonder
what he's been drinking..." Sato scratched his head, watching
the two Saotomes disappear from sight.
"Sato, I think we're *really* gonna have to talk to Ranma.
Things are getting too weird all of a sudden."
"Fine with me. Question is, how do we get a chance to talk
with him?"
"Simple, we'll go over to his house. Meet me there 10:00 am
tomorrow, okay?"
Sato nodded. "Right."
Hikaru clapped Sato on the back, then turned to leave for
home.

****

Two blocks from the school, Ranko was exhibiting worsening
problems with her right leg. Fortunately for her, Ranma had
recovered enough of his wits to notice that she was having a
problem, so he reached a hand out to steady her.
"Thanks Ranma. I guess I took a worse beating than I
thought." She leaned against his arm, allowing him to support
her as she continued to walk. A few steps later, her right leg
gave out and she tumbled to the ground, despite Ranma's best
efforts to keep her upright.
"Ow, dammit!" Ranko yelled as she landed on her side on the
pavement.
Ranma was at her side immediately. "Hey, you okay sis?" he
yelled worriedly.
Ranko sat up, and grabbed her ankle with her hands, trying
to immobilize it. "I think I just twisted my ankle. Ouch!" She
winced as she applied pressure to the ankle. "Yep, it's probably
sprained. Gonna have to get it splinted up."
Ranma looked her in the eye. "Hey, you'll be okay sis.
Hold on a sec." He smiled at her, brushing a couple of stray
hairs out of her eyes, and wiping away the few tears of pain that
she couldn't hold in . He slung his book bag off of his back and
laid it on the ground. He then turned around, placing his back
towards her. "Now, I want you to put your arms around my neck
and hold on to me tightly." Ranko started to protest, but Ranma
wouldn't hear of it. "Dammit Ranko, you're in no shape to walk,
so climb on!"
With a resigned sigh Ranko looped her arms around Ranma's
neck. He then reached his arms back, looping them around and
under her legs at the knees. Quickly Ranko reached down with one
of her arms and picked up her brother's book bag from where he
left it. Looping one of the straps around her own arm, she
brought her arms around his neck again.
Once Ranma was sure Ranko wouldn't slip, he stood up. She
instinctively pressed herself closer into his back to avoid
falling off. "I'm taking you to Dr. Tofu's to have that ankle
looked at," he said as he began heading off in Tofu's direction.
"Who's Dr. Tofu?" Ranko asked in confusion. "We normally go
to see Dr. Mikimoto."
"I don't know who that is or where he is, Ranko. Remember?"
Ranma replied patiently.
"Oh, yeah. That's right." She rested her head against
Ranma's back.
As they walked, Ranko blushed more and more. The way she
was riding on Ranma's back embarrassed her. To top that off, the
up-down motion caused by Ranma's walking was causing her to
become aroused as her breasts rubbed up and down against her
brother's back. Her nipples stiffened in response, and her
breathing quickened. She hugged her brother tighter, trying to
stop the rubbing motion, her cheeks coloring furiously.
Ranma felt the nipples of Ranko's breasts stiffen and
protrude into his back, and he fought hard against saying or
doing anything that would acknowledge it. He didn't want to
upset or embarrass Ranko, so he just let them press into him.
Besides, having been a girl before, he understood that it
happened occasionally, so it didn't really bother him that much.
Actually he took it as a compliment that his sister thought he
was desirable.
Trying to forget her arousal, she started talking to him.
"Hey bro, I'm sorry I wasn't able to help you earlier with
Kinuko. What are you going to do about Akane now?"
Ranma groaned as the whole episode flashed before him again.
"Who was that girl, anyway?"
"Her name's Kinuko Amagi. And until three weeks ago you two
were a hot item."
"Hot item? You mean..."
"... she was your girlfriend," she completed for him.
Ranma breathed a sigh of relief. "Only my girlfriend. Then
she was never my fiancee," he said happily. What he didn't need
at the moment was *another* fiancee.
"Of course not! Although you two almost acted like you were
married at times," she said in a sly voice.
"Eh? I don't understand. You're just saying that we were
close, right?" Ranma was afraid that he wasn't going to like
Ranko's answer.
Ranko chortled. "You were a baaaad boy, Ranma," she purred
into his ear.
"YOU MEAN WE HAD SEX?!" Ranma yelled hysterically. Both he
and Ranko immediately started looking around, seeing if anyone
had heard the outburst. One person had been within earshot. He
turned to the two, saying "Why not, you two look like a cute
couple." He then began wandering away.
Ranma and Ranko blushed purple at the comment. "Hey! It's
not like that!" Ranma yelled to the stranger, but by that time he
had disappeared.
Ranko groaned at the suggestion, although she had to admit
that a part of her had debated it for a few moments. Until this
point, she had never considered Ranma to be anything more than
her annoying older brother. But now she found herself re-
evaluating her opinion of him, and thinking about him in
different, more sensual ways. Chalking it up to her impromptu
arousal, Ranko reluctantly forced the fantasy with her brother
from her mind and returned her attention to his question. She
put her lips to his ear. "Yes Ranma. As far as I remember you
telling me, the other you that is; you and she had sex on at
least three different occasions."
"Oh boy...," Ranma muttered aloud, stumbling a bit. His
mind threatened to shut down due to the overload of emotions
(primarily panic) that were flooding through him. `I never
expected to hear *that* in a million years! Geez, what kind of
person was I?' he thought to himself. Although knowing what he'd
already done, he wasn't sure he wanted to know any more. He
started walking aimlessly for a few moments, before remembering
he had to get his sister to Dr. Tofu's. "I can't believe that I
had sex with a girl ... ," he half-muttered.
Ranko frowned at the comment. "You sure you weren't gay
before Ranma?" she asked half-seriously.
"Good God no, Ranko!" Ranma started making uncomfortable
noises. "Whatever gave you *that* idea?"
"I was wondering why you were so shocked that you had sex
with a girl. I mean, you act like sex is an alien concept to
you."
"Well, where I came from, I'd never done it before. I
wasn't even expecting to for at least a couple more years. In
fact, it hardly ever crossed my mind. So it's a complete shock
to find out that I'm capable of having sex before marriage." He
paused, shifting Ranko's burden slightly in his arms. "Don't get
me wrong, sis. I don't have any problem with having sex, I just
never had the opportunity." He panicked as he realized something
else. "Ranko, she's the *only* person I've had sex with, isn't
she? I mean, there aren't any more girls, are there?"
"Not as far as I know, Ranma. But you hardly got into
relationships anyway, and when you did you didn't talk too much
about them. Frankly, I was surprised when the `other you'
managed to get Kinuko's attention. She's one of the most popular
girls in the school, and you were such a geek that no-one
expected you two to hit it off."
Ranma walked in stunned silence for a moment. `I don't
really know what to say about this. I had sex with a girl, and I
can't remember it,' he pouted, then grinned to himself. "I
wonder what it was like..."
"Wonder what what was like?" Ranko asked distractedly.
Ranma blushed again, embarrassed at having vocalized his
thoughts. But he didn't try to hide anything from her. "I was
talking to myself, sis. I was just wondering what sex with
Kinuko, or any girl for that matter, was like."
Ranko blushed herself, remembering her little fantasy from a
few minutes ago. "Don't ask me bro, I wasn't there when you two
did it."
Ranma laughed at that. "Probably would've been educational
for all concerned if you were, sis." He laughed harder, the
momentary humor cutting through his worry.
"Ranma! Cut that out!" she snapped defensively. `It's like
he's reading my damn mind!' she added to herself.
"Okay, Ranko. Sorry about that." He continued chuckling
to himself until Ranko threatened to choke him. Quieting his
mirth, he resumed his consideration of what Ranko had told him.
`Hey, Ranko. You said that I told you about my having...
sex with Kinuko. But you and I didn't get along before, right?"
"That's true Ranma. Before you `arrived,' you were a real
asshole. I like the new you a *lot* better, though." Ranko
rubbed Ranma's chest as best she could to emphasize her opinion
of her `new' brother. He smiled at her words and the affection
she was giving him, but began feeling undercurrents of worry.
"Ranko, if we didn't get along before, then why would I have
told you about my sex life? I wasn't bragging or anything like
that, was I?" He blanched at the notion of himself swaggering
about the campus, nonchalantly bragging about bedding girls down,
and so forth. It reminded him of something that Happosai would
be proud of doing, which made him feel worse.
"Well, at first I wondered if you weren't just trying to
brag about it. But later on I understood why you told me."
"Why did I tell you?" he pressed.
"Well, Ranma... We'd better sit down for this one. If you
thought my last piece of news bothered you, you're gonna *love*
this one."
All the color drained from Ranma's face. `What could be
worse than finding out you've had sex *repeatedly* with a
stranger?' He rounded a corner and saw that he was at Dr. Tofu's
place. "Umm, Ranko. Let's wait until we're home, okay?"
"Whatever you say, bro. You're the one doing the driving."
Ranma strode through the open door, and approached one of
the couches in the empty lounge. Carefully he sat Ranko down on
one of the couches, and turned around to face her. He noticed
that she was a little flushed, and put a hand up to her cheek.
"Geez! You're burning up! You sure you're feeling okay, Ranko?"
Ranko said nothing, knowing exactly *why* she was flushed
and hot. She merely nodded.
Ranma stood up and went to look for Dr. Tofu. She watched
her brother exit the lounge in search of the doctor. She used
the time before Ranma returned to try and calm herself. She
didn't want to wind up embarrassing herself in front of the
doctor *and* Ranma. She just hoped that the doctor wouldn't ask
her to take her pants off anytime soon.

****

After school, Kuno had dismissed the limo, saying that he
preferred to walk home. He needed the time to think, and felt
that a stroll was just what he needed. Many things had occurred
today, and he was still trying to grasp the magnitude of all that
had happened. In one day he'd managed to lose his fiancee, know
defeat in battle, understand just how poorly trained his Kendo
club was, and realize that it was a terrible mistake for him to
overlook the freshman crowd of women this year.
His walking was arrested by a silken voice calling him from
behind. "Oh, there you are Kuno-chan," Nabiki purred. "I
wondered what had happened to you. I missed you at lunch."
"I was taking time to reflect. What concern is it of yours
Nabiki Tendo?"
`Yeah, right,' she thought sarcastically. Nabiki smiled at
him, looping her arm through his. "I was just wondering how you
were feeling, Kuno-chan."
"Your concern for my welfare is understandable, Nabiki
Tendo. I am not unwell."
Nabiki rolled her eyes, and wondered if he could ever answer
a question simply.
Kuno changed his posture, speaking suddenly. "Nabiki, would
you care to join me for something to eat?"
Nabiki nodded, smiling up at Kuno and following him to a
nearby cafe. She grinned inwardly as she recognized the tone of
his voice; he wanted something.
They entered the store, and walked up to the counter. Since
he was paying, Nabiki ordered a double sukiyaki and a hot tea.
Kuno simply got tea. After getting their food, they sat in a
booth at the corner of the store so they could speak undisturbed.
Nabiki's tone became businesslike the moment she polished
off the second dish of sukiyaki. "Kuno-chan, you know I always
enjoy a good, free meal. I also know there's an ulterior motive
involved whenever you treat me to dinner." Trying to look
beautiful and ruthless at the same time, she leaned forward on
the table, looking straight at him. "So fess up Kuno-chan, who
are you interested in finding info on?" `As if I didn't know...'
"Ahh, ever the mercenary, eh Nabiki?" Her eyes narrowed at
his comment, but she held her tongue. Kuno calmly sipped from
his tea, taking quite some time before he continued. "Very well,
I see you have correctly deduced that I wish to acquire some
information about someone."
"I would assume that someone would be Ranma Saotome, eh Kuno-
chan?" Nabiki whipped her abacus out of nowhere and began
tallying figures when Kuno reached his hand out to stop her manic
calculations. "That is not who I am referring to, Nabiki Tendo,"
Kuno said sternly.
Nabiki's eyebrow quirked up in surprise. She'd usually been
able to second-guess Kuno in the past. Reading him hadn't been
that difficult. Then again, she hadn't tried to scam Kuno ever
since Akane and he had initiated their engagement. Nabiki
shrugged to herself; she may be rusty but she felt certain that
condition wouldn't last for long.
"I want information on the pig-tailed Goddess known as Ranko
Saotome." Kuno's face lapsed into an ethereal smile. "Ahh, the
beautiful Ranko Saotome. The body of a Venus, and the spirit of
the most respected and powerful of huntresses. How I long to
date with her!"
Nabiki bigsweated at Kuno's speech, then waited for him to
wind down. She felt a slight flush of anger at Kuno's eager
abandonment of her little sister. `Damn! The corpse of his and
Akane's engagement isn't even cold yet and he's already scoping
out new targets!' "Sorry to see you're taking the split with
Akane so hard, Kuno-chan," she bit out in a sarcasm-laced voice.
Kuno ignored her comment. "Will you take the deal, Nabiki
Tendo? I'll offer you the standard hourly rate, plus a finders
bonus of fifty-thousand yen when you find out all you can about
her." Nabiki's eyes widened as she added up the figures.
Quickly she resumed a neutral face, placing her chin on her hand.
"Ranko Saotome, you say? I'll get started on it right away. Oh,
and I'll need..."
Kuno cut her off, brandishing bills from one of his hidden
pockets. "Here's a down payment, Nabiki. I'll expect results."
He stood and left a drooling Nabiki behind as she counted the
7500 yen down payment she held in her hands. After Kuno exited
the store, she pocketed the money and sipped on her tea.
`That damned Kuno sure knew how to press my buttons. Hmmph!
Must've picked up some things from his time with Akane-chan. Oh,
well. If this'll keep Kuno-chan away from my little sister, it
may be worth it.' She quickly finished off her tea and headed
home to the dojo.

****

Kasumi smiled to herself, enjoying one of the few respites
that she got every week. Her sisters were coming home from
school soon, but she wouldn't need to worry about them bothering
her for dinner for another three hours. Also, her father was out
on some errands, and for the moment she had the house to herself.
She sipped from a mug of tea, sat it down on a nearby table, and
propped back on a beach chair that she'd set up in the back yard,
basking in the warm spring light of the afternoon sun. She
adjusted the straps of her form-hugging bikini, which had fallen
from her shoulders after she'd reached for her tea, then donned a
pair of oversized sunglasses.
Comfortably numb, she was just about to doze off when she
heard the door to the house slam, followed by the sound of books
hitting the floor. `Akane-chan must be home,' Kasumi thought
sadly. It wasn't that she minded Akane being home, it was simply
that it bothered her that her sister would come home a lot of
times in such a foul mood. `If Kuno keeps affecting Akane this
way, father will have to do something about it.' Kasumi
uncovered her eyes, and sat up a little. She was about to stand
up and see what was the matter when Akane burst out of the house
and ran right at Kasumi.
Akane crashed to her knees next to Kasumi, her eyes puffy
and red, and her face slick with tears. Kasumi reached out and
touched Akane's face. "What's wrong Akane?"
"Oh, Kasumiii!!!" she wailed, starting a fresh bout of
crying. Kasumi reached over with her other hand and pulled Akane
to her, wrapping her up in a comforting hug. Akane wrapped her
arms around her older sister tightly, crying inconsolably into
Kasumi's chest.
Kasumi stroked Akane's hair lovingly, trying to console her
sister. "Akane-chan, what's wrong?"
Akane pulled back from Kasumi's chest, which had become
drenched with her tears, and looked at her sister angrily.
"Life's wrong, that's what!" she yelled.
Kasumi took Akane's hand in hers and sat her in her lap.
Laying Akane's head against her shoulder, she continued. "Now
now, Akane. There's no need to be angry with me. Just calm down
and tell me what happened to you today."
Akane sniffled a bit, and managed to get herself under
control. She kept her arms around her older sister, drawing
comfort from Kasumi's presence. "A lot happened today Kasumi."
"Well, tell your big sister all about it. And don't leave
anything out, okay?"
"Okay sis." Akane took a deep breath, and began. "Well,
I'm no longer engaged to Kuno-chan."
Kasumi smiled, and tightened her hug on Akane. Kasumi had
no love for Kuno, but had said nothing to that effect out of
respect for her little sister. However, she couldn't deny that
this was news that she had truly wanted to hear for a long time.
"Really Akane?! How'd it happen?" she asked, trying to keep her
enthusiasm in check.
"A guy came up to Kuno-cha..." Akane stopped herself
abruptly. `No, dammit! He's not my fiancee anymore!' "... Kuno
and challenged him to duel. The guy, Ranma Saotome, had heard
about Kuno's boast that if anyone defeated him in a formal
challenge, he would renounce his engagement to me. Well, Ranma
challenged him and won, so I'm a free girl now," Akane finished
softly, shrugging her shoulders.
Kasumi's eyes narrowed at hearing the name Saotome, but she
kept her mouth shut about that. She didn't want to upset her
little sister any further. "Akane, surely you aren't angry that
you lost your engagement to Kuno, are you?" She continued
stroking Akane's head with one hand while the other one was
secured around Akane's waist, rocking her in her lap. She
ignored the fact that she and Akane probably looked pretty silly
sitting like they were. She was too intent on seeing Akane
through this to care about how she appeared to others.
"Of course not sis. That's not really why I'm upset.
There's more to the story." Akane sighed lowly and rubbed her
cheek against Kasumi's swimsuit, wiping a tear from her face
"Go ahead, Akane. I'm listening."
"Well, in math class Ranma sent me a note saying he wanted
to eat lunch with me. I told him that I wanted to, so we met
after class and went outside to eat. We didn't get a chance to
eat or talk, though, because not long after we got outside,
Ranma, his sister Ranko, and I got into a fight."
"What did Ranma do to you?" Kasumi tried to asked lightly,
although a hardness still crept into her voice.
"Oh, Kasumi! Ranma didn't do anything! We were attacked by
some members of Kuno's Kendo club in retaliation for what Ranma
had done to Kuno this morning. Anyway, we won the fight, but it
killed our chance to talk at lunch. Plus we had to take Ranma's
sister to the infirmary after the fight." Akane winced at the
memory of the damage Ranko received during the fight. "Three
guys ganged up on her and beat her up pretty badly. But not as
badly as they got back." Akane grinned at that. "I took out
one, Ranma took out the second, and Ranko pulverized the third."
"Akane, you know it's not nice to fight," Kasumi chided
softly. She didn't like the idea of her youngest sister fighting
at school. It just wasn't ladylike.
"I didn't have a choice Kasumi! What they were doing to
Ranko was wrong, and it made me mad, so I helped them out. But
that's besides the point; there's more to the story." Akane
paused to clear her throat, then continued. "After we dropped
Ranko off in the infirmary, I told Ranma that I wanted to speak
with him. He agreed to meet with me after school. Well, we did
manage to meet after school..." Akane blushed as she remembered
their conversation. "I thanked him for accepting Kuno's
challenge, and told him I was in his debt. I asked him why he
did it..."
Kasumi `tsk tsked' at Akane. "Akane, you shouldn't question
the actions of one who gives something to you. That's rude."
"Sis! I told him that I wasn't being ungrateful. I was
just curious. Anyway, he gave me the sweetest answer. He told
me that he didn't want to see me hurt anymore. He also told me
that he's wanted to go out with me for awhile." Akane smiled
warmly at the memory.
"Really, Akane? That's nice." Kasumi caressed Akane's
cheek. "Can you tell me what this Ranma is like?"
"Well, from what I can tell, he's really nice. He's very
protective of his sister." Akane blushed again, "And he *is*
cute." She giggled, surprised that she'd even admit such a
thing.
Kasumi laughed softly, glad to hear her was sister cheering
up. "Well, did he ask you out?"
"Yes he did. But I didn't get a chance to answer him."
Akane's humor crashed down, and was quickly replaced by the
sadness she'd felt when she left the school. "Turns out that
Ranma's already seeing someone."
"What?! And he still asked you out? Who's the other girl?"
Kasumi fairly demanded.
"Kinuko Amagi..." she said, breaking out into tears again.
Kasumi kissed Akane on the head, and held her tightly.
`Figures that as soon as Akane's hurting, Kinuko would be right
there to make her life even more miserable.' Kasumi sighed. "Do
you know if Kinuko was telling the truth about Ranma, or was it
just something she was doing to get you upset?"
Akane shook her head, crying the whole time. "Why is it...
<sob> ... that little tramp ... <sniffle>... can keep doing this
to me!?" she wailed. Akane laid her head against Kasumi's chest,
her tears again soaking the thin fabric of Kasumi's swimsuit.
"There there, Akane. It'll be okay. Let's just take this
one step at a time, okay?" She tilted her head to look at Akane,
and placed her hand under Akane's chin so they were looking face
to face. "Hey little sis, you should be happy. You're not going
to be bothered by Kuno anymore, right?"
Akane smiled, her tears abating. "You're right sis. That
part hasn't really hit me yet. I guess I'll slow down and
appreciate being single before I start chasing boys again."
Akane squeezed her sister in a tight hug. "You're amazing
Kasumi. I'm feeling much better." Akane laid her head on
Kasumi's shoulder, and kissed her on the cheek. "I love you,
sis."
Kasumi kissed her sister on the head again, brushing damp
hair from Akane's forehead. "I love you too, little sis. Now I
suggest you stand up so I can get the circulation back in my
legs."
Akane laughed hard at that, "Sorry about that Kasumi. I
couldn't help myself, you were very comfortable." Smiling, she
slid off of her sister's lap and landed on her rump on the grass.
She stifled a case of the giggles and stood up, reaching her hand
down to help Kasumi stand.
"Well, don't get used to sitting in my lap little sis.
You're a grown woman now. Ouch..." Kasumi winced as she stood
up, trying to shrug off the pins and needles feeling she had from
having the circulation cut to her legs. She walked around
stiffly for a moment, allowing the circulation to return. Once
the sensation stopped, she and Akane gathered up the lawn chair
and table and put them away.
`Just as well we're going inside. The sun's starting to set
anyway.' Kasumi thought to herself. "Maybe I'll be able to get
a tan tomorrow."
Akane whirled to face her sister, hearing Kasumi's comment.
"Hey Kasumi, we're almost the same size. If you *really* want to
get a tan you can borrow my thong tomorrow," she said, grinning
mischievously.
"Thanks Akane. I will," Kasumi said absently. She then
blushed, realizing that she was a full cup size bigger than
Akane. She hoped no-one looked over the wall tomorrow. They'd
be in for an unexpected treat if they did. Smiling to herself,
she followed Akane inside and headed upstairs to bathe before
getting dinner ready.

****

Ranma walked about the hallway of Dr. Tofu's office, peeking
into the examination rooms. Seeing one room with the curtain
closed, he pushed his way in and was greeted by a piercing
shriek. "Umm, sorry Miss!" A wide-eyed Ranma hurriedly shoved
the curtain closed, and walked *very quickly* away from the room.
`Wow! She's got a happy boyfriend,' he thought in awe, blushing
scarlet as he thought again of the woman he just walked in on.
Getting back down to business, he resumed his search for Dr.
Tofu. After re-inspecting the other examination rooms, Ranma
finally bumped into Dr. Tofu as he was leaving the men's room.
"Ahh! There you are, Dr. Tofu."
Dr. Tofu turned around to face him. "Excuse me. Do I know
you?"
`Of course he doesn't...' Ranma thought absently. "No Dr.
Tofu, you don't. But I need your help. My sister's in your
waiting room and she's pretty banged up. I was wondering if you
could take a look at her."
Dr. Tofu's face became serious, and he took Ranma by the
arm. "Take me to her."
They rounded the corner and walked back into the lounge.
Dr. Tofu walked over to the couch and knelt by the ailing Ranko,
extending his hand. "Hi there, I'm Dr. Tofu." Ranko shook his
hand and smiled weakly. "Your brother tells me you're hurt.
What's the problem?"
"Well, I think I twisted my ankle," she said, pointing to
her injured leg.
Dr. Tofu leaned forward, examining her carefully. "It looks
like you were in a pretty bad fight. We'd better get you into an
examination room." He rose. "Can you make it by yourself?"
Ranma spoke up. "I'll carry her."
"Fine. Take her to room two while I get some supplies."
Dr. Tofu indicated the room with his finger as he spoke.
"Yes sir." Ranma smiled to the departing Tofu, then turned
to his sister. "Okay sis, get those arms up."
Ranko smiled and lifted her arms up. She groaned as Ranma
pulled her to a standing position, regretting having to leave the
plush couch behind. Ranma curled one of her arms around his
neck, then scooped her up in his arms to carry her. She slipped
her other arm over to hang onto his shoulder. "Here we go," he
said as he walked her to the examination room.
He around and saw that little had changed of Tofu's place
from what he remembered of the other one. He walked straight to
room two, and being careful not to bang her feet against the door
frame, he angled his sister into the room. He sat her on the
table just as Dr. Tofu walked in. "Thanks for bringing her in,
umm..."
"Ranma Saotome" he said, extending his hand to the doctor.
Tofu accepted the hand, shaking it warmly. "And this is my
sister Ranko."
"Well, Ranko, I'm going to take a look at your injuries, if
you don't mind. I may have to ask you to remove some of your
clothes for the examination. Is that okay with you?"
Ranko nodded silently. Ranma became uncomfortable at
hearing that, and started heading for the door. "I guess I'll
wait outside," he stated quickly. Blushing, he hurried out of
the room, closing the curtain behind him.
"Wait, Ranma..." Ranko called behind him, her hand out to
stop him.
Ranma spoke to her from the other side of the curtain.
"Don't worry, Ranko. Dr. Tofu's very good at what he does. I'll
be outside the door here in case you need me, okay?"
Ranko sighed. "Okay bro." `He's really being sweet to me.
He's so different from the person I've lived with for the past
fifteen years. He never would've worried about me the way he is
now.' She redirected her attention to Dr. Tofu as he started
talking to her.
"Okay Ranko, I'm gonna take your shoes off and have a look
at your feet," he said in a standard doctorly fashion.
Ranko hissed slightly as Tofu pulled the shoe off of her
injured foot. Gently he pulled the other shoe and her socks off,
laying them on the floor by the examination table. "Well, Ranko,
you were right. You've sprained your ankle, although it doesn't
look bad. And from what I can tell, you've also got some
bruising on your arms and legs. I want to look at them, so I'm
going to have to ask you to take your pants and shirt off."
Ranko blushed severely, but didn't contradict the doctor's
orders. Raising slightly on her good foot, she pushed herself up
at the hips. She then hooked her thumbs at the waistband of her
pants and pulled down. Dropping her hips back down, she allowed
Dr. Tofu to pull her pants off of her legs while she sat up and
removed her shirt. She dropped her shirt on the floor next to
where Dr. Tofu had placed her pants, leaving her clad only in her
panties and bra. Strangely enough, Ranko felt at ease around Dr.
Tofu. She wasn't as timid as she thought she'd be, exposing
herself in front of a stranger like this.
"Who did this to you, Ranko?" he asked as he started
cataloging the mosaic of bruises and contusions on her.
"I was ganged up on at school today. Three guys did this to
me," she said with a slight edge to her voice, betraying the calm
that she'd been hoping to maintain throughout the exam.
"That wasn't very nice of them," Tofu commented absently as
he looked closely at her legs, tracing the edge of a couple of
bruises with his index finger. "Looks like a combination of foot
and bokken strikes to me. I'm impressed that you can still walk
after taking this number of hits," he said genuinely.
Ranko smiled weakly at the doctor. "I wasn't going to give
those guys the satisfaction of seeing me fall."
"Well, your endurance is admirable, but it's also the reason
that you have this sprain. You should take better care of
yourself, young lady. If you push yourself too hard you'll wind
up damaging something seriously," Tofu chided softly. He shifted
his gaze from her legs, past her light-blue panties, and
concentrated on her abdomen. "Looks like you took a few shots to
the stomach too. They really must've worked you over." He began
pressing his fingers into her abdomen, registering the tender
areas whenever Ranko would gasp in pain. "Sorry about that, I
just needed to see if you had any internal injuries. Aside from
some superficial bruises and minor muscle damage, everything
appears to be okay."
Ranko sighed in relief, and was about to thank the doctor
for his help when he said, "Hello, what's this?"
"What's what?" she countered warily.
Tofu had looked up to her chest, and saw a dark spot that
was visible through the thin lace of her bra. "Ranko, could you
remove your bra please?"
Ranko's eyes widened at the request. "What's the matter,
doctor?"
Tofu quickly assured her that there was nothing wrong. "I
just need to check something, okay?"
Ranko nodded and, slipping a hand behind her back, unclasped
her bra. Shrugging her shoulders forward, she let it fall off of
her arms and into her lap. She then dropped it to the floor with
the rest of her clothes. Tofu's eyes widened noticeably as her
breasts came into view. Ranko noted his reaction, and was
wondering if he was being a hentai until he spoke.
"Just as I suspected. You took a minor hit on your left
breast. I'm surprised you didn't feel it."
Ranko grimaced as she recalled the strike. "Oh, I felt it,
believe me doctor. How did you know my breast was hit?"
"I saw the bruise through your bra. Lay back for me, would
you?"
Ranko reclined on the table again, holding her arms up
against her head. Tofu brought his hand up and pressed it into
the upper portion of her breast. "Does that hurt?"
Ranko shook her head. Tofu pressed his fingertips softly
against the nipple, which contracted at his touch, and asked if
it hurt. She shook her head. "It doesn't hurt, but it is
tingling a bit." She bit down on her lip slightly, trying to
distract herself. She knew that it was patently absurd for her
to be enjoying the examination, but her body wasn't cooperating
with her mind.
"Well, that's to be expected," Tofu answered simply, smiling
at her. He moved his fingers down to the bruised underside of
the breast and pushed directly against the bruise. Ranko gasped
in pain as he pushed against it. Noting her pain, he quickly
pulled his fingers back. "Okay, only one more thing to do and
I'll be done."
Gently he squeezed her breast from the side at the base.
"Does that hurt?" Ranko shook her head again, chewing on her lip
to keep her moaning suppressed.
Tofu sat up in his chair, and looked at Ranko. "You'll be
fine. The injury to your breast is superficial. There doesn't
appear to be any underlying damage to it, and the nipple responds
normally, so you shouldn't have anything to worry about. You'll
start to experience some soreness from it tomorrow, but that
should go away in a couple of days."
Ranko sighed with relief, glad to hear it wasn't permanently
damaged. She was very proud of her breasts, and knew that she
would've freaked out when she got a look at herself at home had
Tofu not explained the extent of the injury to her.
Tofu looked at her face, examining the area around the
bandage. "Okay Ranko, lemme look at your face, okay?"
Ranko tilted her face so that the bandage was directly in
front of Dr. Tofu. Gently he removed it, and looked at the
broken skin critically. "Looks like a pretty mean cut there,
Ranko. Did the same people do this to you also?"
"Yeah. The jerk who did this to me did it to be mean. I
. *explained* it to him, though," she said, laughing slightly
at the memory of Kenji's condition after she was done with him.
"Well, a young lady like yourself should be more careful.
You're fortunate that this is small enough not to require
stitches. You could've had a pretty bad scar, otherwise," he
lectured. His stern look melted into an appraising one as he
smiled at her. "And your face is so pretty, it'd be a shame to
see it marred by a cut."
Ranko smiled, blushing at the compliment. "Yes sir," she
said in a small voice.
Tofu turned to the counter and grabbed a couple of bandages
and some isopropyl alcohol. He cleaned the wound, making Ranko
wince in the process, and applied the new bandage. "Apply a new
bandage every eight hours and make sure you keep the wound clean,
okay?"
Ranko nodded at his instructions, and continued to listen to
him. "I'm going to place a couple of chill packs on your ankle
in just a moment. I don't want you to move from this table or do
anything for at least ten minutes." Tofu turned back around and
got a couple of chemical chill packs from a nearby drawer. He
smashed the balls inside each of the packs and shook them to mix
the chemicals and start the reaction that would freeze them.
"This'll feel very cold when I put it on your ankle, but I want
you to remain still so the swelling will go down, okay?"
Ranko nodded, then hissed as Tofu applied the packs to her
swollen ankle. He then stood up and washed his hands. "I'm
going to do one more thing, and I'll be done." He reached into a
drawer and pulled out a small tube and a latex glove. "This is a
mild topical anesthetic and antiseptic," he said, holding up the
tube for her inspection. "This should help with the bruises."
He donned the glove and started applying the smelly ointment to
her bruised legs, abdomen, and arms. Then, gently, he massaged
some of the ointment onto the bruised portion of her breast,
eliciting a slight gasp of pain from Ranko, but nothing more.
"There, all better now," he said with a smile, as he put the
cap back on the tube, removed the glove, and laid them both on
his counter. Ranko smiled back to him, agreeing that she felt a
bit better now. "I want you to just lie back there and rest for
awhile, Ranko. I'll be back to check on you in a few moments,"
he said as he exited the room, closing the curtain behind him.
She lay still, with her arms away from her body. She couldn't
stand the smell of the ointment, and was holding her arms away
from her to keep the odor down to tolerable levels. Sighing, she
closed her eyes and tried to relax.

****

Ranma could only hear mumbled voices on his end of the
curtain. Tiring quickly of the wait, he wandered from the
doorway of the examination room and headed back into the lounge.
His head shot up in surprise as he saw Soun Tendo standing in the
waiting area with an air of impatience about him. "Mr. Tendo!"
he said in surprise as he approached the elder Martial Artist.
"Ah, hello Ranma," he said as he regarded Ranma with a small
smile. "What brings you to Dr. Tofu's place today? Nothing
wrong, I trust?"
"Well, Mr. Tendo, there's nothing wrong with me. But a
lot's happened today." Ranma indicated the couch with his hand.
"Let's have a seat. There's some things that I think you'll want
to hear."
Soun eyed Ranma warily, but sat anyway on one of the
couches. "What is this about, Ranma?"
Ranma waved his hands to Soun in a calming gesture. "Don't
worry, Mr. Tendo. You'll like hearing this." He sat across from
Soun on another couch. "I did it today. I challenged Kuno and
beat him."
Soun's eyes lit up, and a smile erupted on his face.
"Ranma, truly? You aren't kidding about this, are you son?"
"Not at all, sir," he said as he launched into a cursory
rundown of the fight. "So you see, Mr. Tendo. Akane's free of
the engagement, and the honor of your family is intact," he
declared once he was through recounting the fight.
Soun was exultant. "Have you had a chance to discuss
anything with Akane yet, Ranma?" Ranma started sweating,
remembering the spectacle that Kinuko had created after he tried
to ask Akane out. "I didn't want to rush things Mr. Tendo. She
was a little upset after the fight today," Ranma responded
cryptically. "I figure she'll probably want to be alone for a
little while." `Although I want to be with her *now!*' Ranma
finished despondently. `How the hell am I gonna fix things with
her now?' He quickly returned his attention to Soun when he
spoke.
`Upset? She shouldn't be upset... unless she actually
*liked* that buffoon.' He dismissed that notion as foolhardy,
deciding that Ranma may have misread her reaction. "Ahh, you may
have a point there. I guess a little patience won't hurt
anything." He stood up, extending his hand. "I want to thank
you for what you've done for my little girl, Ranma. You've
restored a lot of my faith in the Saotome name."
Ranma rose from his seat, taking Soun's hand in his and
shaking it firmly. "No problem, Mr. Tendo."
Soun released the handshake, a concerned look crossing his
face as he realized something. "You don't look hurt, Ranma. So
what are you doing here?" His eyes registered panic as he
thought the worst. "Something hasn't happened to Akane, has it?"
Ranma held his hand up, anxious to allay Soun's worry. "No,
Mr. Tendo, nothing's happened to Akane. I'm here because of what
happened after I beat Kuno." Ranma rattled off the details of
the second fight, including the final battle between Ranko and
Kenji.
"So your sister's the reason you're here, eh? I'm sorry to
hear about that. But please let her know that I deeply
appreciate both of you taking care of my little girl." He sighed
in concern for his youngest daughter. "Akane's been out of
practice for so long, I'm surprised that she was able to fight at
all. Maybe she's still got a chance of completing her training,"
he said, a small glimmer of hope in his voice.
"She's definitely got the potential to be a good martial
artist, Mr. Tendo. And a violent one too, if she isn't careful,"
he deadpanned, his insult reflex kicking in before he could quell
it.
"You know Akane awfully well, don't you?" Soun said with a
hint of suspicion. Both men laughed nervously, then fell silent
for a short time.
Ranma changed the direction of the conversation away from
Akane. He didn't want to think about her right now, believing
that he ran the risk of getting very depressed if he continued to
do so. "By the way, Mr. Tendo. Have you thought about the other
part of our agreement?"
Soun's brow furrowed, not understanding Ranma's meaning.
Then it clicked in his mind. "Ahh, yes! That's right, I
promised to talk with Genma if you won, didn't I?" Soun looked
to the carpet of the lounge, not able to meet Ranma's gaze for a
bit. `I did promise the boy. Besides, I've been alone for so
long...' "I'm still willing to meet with your father, if that's
what you want. Any idea how we should do it?"
Ranma nodded. He'd been considering this off-and-on since
they talked last night. "I may have an idea... You haven't
started repairs on the dojo, have you Mr. Tendo?"
"No, we haven't. Nothing beyond a simple cleanup was done
last night. After that, Nabiki and I tallied up the damage
costs, and once we reached a final figure I spent half an hour
trying to calm her down." Soun winced at the memory, and Ranma
winced in sympathy. Soun hefted the two bags he'd carried in
with him, bringing them into Ranma's field of view. "This is
most of what we need so far to effect repairs. In fact, I've
been shopping for supplies all day today. Why'd you ask, Ranma?"
"Well, as I said before, I feel responsible for the damage
to the dojo, and figured that my family could come over and help
you fix the place up. It may be a good place to start, Mr.
Tendo," he suggested hopefully.
Soun nodded. "I guess you're right, Ranma. When shall we
start?"
"Tomorrow's Saturday. I'll tell my father to bring us all
over tomorrow morning and we'll start re-building. Say about
9:30?" Soun nodded. "Okay, I guess I'll need a list of things
we need to bring."
Soun handed over the shopping list he'd had with him all
day. "You can get the rest of the things on that list. There's
not much left to get. Just worry about the items without an `X'
by them."
Ranma nodded. "I'll take care of it, Mr. Tendo."
Soun looked at the clock. "I'd better be getting back
home." He fished a book out of one of the bags. "Ranma, could
you do me a favor and return this book to Dr. Tofu for me?
Kasumi asked me to return it for her while I was out, but I can't
wait on him any longer."
"Sure thing, Mr. Tendo." Soun handed the book to Ranma and
walked to the door. "See you tomorrow!" Ranma waved as the door
closed behind Soun. He then gasped as he remembered he'd
promised to remain by the examination room door for Ranko.
Quickly he darted back to the examination room door, arriving
just in time to see Dr. Tofu exit and close the curtain behind
him.
"How is she, doc?" Ranma asked worriedly. Tofu saw the look
on Ranma's face and clapped a hand on the boy's shoulder. "She's
going to be just fine. It's a good thing you brought her here.
She was pretty banged up."
"Yeah, she was... Thanks for helping out Dr. Tofu," he
said finally. As Dr. Tofu turned to walk away, Ranma's shoulders
slumped forward, belying the guilt he felt for Ranko's condition.
`She shouldn't have been injured to begin with,' he thought
sourly. `I shoulda been paying more attention!'
Dr. Tofu rounded the curve of the hallway, enroute to his
office. Ranma shook away his guilt trip and turned around,
pushing his way through the curtain to check on his sister. "Hey
Ranko, I heard that... oop!" He quickly covered his eyes.
"Sorry, Sis!"
Ranko turned to look at her brother, and smirked at the
blush on his face. Not wanting to suffocate herself with the
smell of ointment, she made no effort to cover herself. "Ranma,
you can stop that. We've seen each other so often recently that
we should be used to looking at each other by now." She giggled
as Ranma's blush deepened. "C'mon, lighten up. I know you want
to talk to me, and since I'm not allowed to move I can't cover
myself. So you're just gonna have to get used to it."
Ranma nodded and slowly brought his hands down. He gulped
as he took in his sister's mostly-naked frame. `She is a carbon
copy of my old self... Wow! This is the first time I've ever
been able to stand back and look at ... `me.' He smiled. `And I
can honestly say that I was *damn sexy.*' He fought hard to
suppress the natural reaction most guys have to seeing a
beautiful naked woman, and failed miserably. Fortunately for
him, she couldn't see it.
Ranko saw him smile, and smiled herself. "What are you
thinking, hentai?" she asked in a lightly taunting voice.
Ranma's crimson tone deepened at the question, answering her
without him having to speak. "That's okay bro, don't worry about
it. Have a seat and tell me what you were going to say," she
directed as she indicated a chair that was next to the
examination table. He walked quickly and sat down, keeping his
eyes averted. He concentrated hard on not gawking at her, which
was hard to do with her lying naked in front of him. "The doc
told me you'd be alright," he began with an effort.
Ranko turned her head to face him. "Yeah, he poked and
prodded me a bit, and basically told me to take it easy. Nothing
major was broken, so I should be okay." Ranma's eyes, which had
been steering away from his sister's body for the most part,
suddenly turned to stare directly at her breasts. He almost
berated himself for looking at her chest, until he saw the bruise
under her left breast and winced. Not really thinking about it,
he reached out and tentatively touched the bruised area, feeling
how puffy the swollen and discolored skin was. "Ouch! That
must've hurt, Ranko."
"It did, a lot. More than you'd ever like know. Although
it only really hurts now when you press against the bruise
itself. Aside from that, I don't feel a thing." She noted,
however, that she hadn't even felt Ranma touch the bruise, and
assumed that the anesthetic had taken effect. She then blushed
as she realized that Ranma had just touched her breast. `This is
too weird!' she thought to herself. She was *not* used to having
her brother act like this to her. It surprised her even more
that she willingly let him touch her like he just did, as if it
were a normal thing for her. She was shocked to see how easily
she could just hang-out with him, almost as if he were one of her
best friends instead of her brother.
"Actually, I know exactly how it feels," he said simply.
"How would you... oh yeah, that's right." she said lightly,
remembering Ranma's story about his other life.
"Yeah, lemme tell you about it. It was my first day at
Furinkan High. I'd gotten into a fight with Kuno over Akane's
engagement to me. We fought around the school, and both
eventually wound up falling into the pool. Well, the cold water
caused me to switch. Kuno was right behind me in the water and
he thought I was still a guy because when he reached around to
catch me he grabbed my left breast *really* hard. It hurt like
hell!" Ranma winced, recalling the pain he felt. "I didn't get
a bruise like you did, but I can still sympathize with you, Sis."
He put his hand on her shoulder.
She covered his hand with one of her own, wrinkling her nose
in distaste as drawing one of her arms close had brought a fresh
whiff of the ointment to her face. "Thanks. I really appreciate
what you've done for me today," she said, her words heartfelt.
Ranma smiled at Ranko, squeezing her shoulder lightly. "No
problem. Like I said before, you're my sister. I'm gonna make
sure you're taken care of." Without thinking about it, he cupped
her face in his hands, stroking her cheeks with his thumbs as he
kissed her tenderly on the forehead.
He sat back again, flushing as he realized what he'd done.
`Why am I so at ease around her? I would never have kissed
another girl so easily.' He shrugged mentally, unsure of how to
answer his own question. `If I'd tried that with Akane, she
would've killed me immediately. Ukyou or Shampoo; they would've
dragged me to a temple and wed me on the spot. Kodachi; ugh,
not a chance in the world.' Ranma forced down the gag reflex at
the thought of kissing Kodachi on the forehead... or worse, and
placed his hand on her shoulder again.
`The oddest thing about this is, I've only known Ranko for a
little over two weeks, and yet I feel like it's a natural thing
to have her around.' He looked at her, smiling. Having
inhabited a girl's body for awhile, he didn't have a real problem
looking at his younger sister. Although his hormones were doing
their damnedest to make the situation awkward. `Then again,
there are times when she brings out the worst in me.'
Ranko noticed her brother staring at her, but didn't feel
indignant about it. Instead she asked, "Is looking at me like
looking in a mirror for you, bro?"
Ranma laughed softly at the comment. He looked around to
see if anyone was capable of hearing them. "Yeah. It's amazing
to actually see how much alike I was to the way you look. It's
hard to believe that my Jhusenkyo body had the *exact* same shape
as yours. You're a `C' cup, right?" Ranko nodded. "I was the
same. If I still had the curse, I'd bet we would've looked like
identical twins, except for the hair color of course."
Ranko laughed. "I've always wanted a sister, Ranma.
Whattaya say?"
Ranma blanched. "No WAY! I hope I never see that place
again."
Ranko reached up and squeezed her brother's hand. "I was
just kidding bro," she said lightly. Ranma relaxed from the
defensive pose he'd instinctively adopted, blowing his breath out
in a laugh. He smiled at Ranko, rubbing her shoulder softly. It
amazed him how normal it felt just sitting there talking to his
naked sister. Oh he still had an erection, but he was able to
ignore it now that he was getting used to seeing Ranko in the
nude.
"Hey Sis, if you're feeling up to it tomorrow, how'd you
like to join me at the Tendo home? I'm going over to help Mr.
Tendo repair the damage I helped cause to his dojo."
Ranko frowned. "Damage? From what?"
"Well, Mr. Tendo and I fought for a little while before we
actually talked. That's what I meant when I said last night that
I'd `convinced' him not to fight."
Ranko `ohhed.' "Sure Ranma, I'd like to go. I don't know
how much I could do with my ankle being in the shape it's in, but
I'd be happy just to go with you."
"Cool! We'll discuss it later with Mom and Pop when we're
home. I'm gonna try to get them to come along too." Ranma
removed his hand from her shoulder, and turned it around to hold
her hand in his. "How long are you supposed to sit like this,
Ranko?"
"The doctor said ten minutes." She craned her head to look
at the clock to her right. "And that was fourteen minutes ago,
so I guess I can get..."
Ranma put his free hand against her other shoulder, stopping
her from moving. "Don't move until the doctor returns, Sis," he
admonished lightly. "If it'll make you feel better, I'll help
you get dressed, okay?"
"That's fine, bro," she said softly. Although she felt a
little uncomfortable at having to be dressed by someone,
especially her brother. He looked around and found Ranko's bra
and shirt. Laying her shirt on the chair, he grabbed her bra and
approached her.
Ranma pushed his hand between her back and the bed, and
brought her to a sitting position. Then he moved around so that
he was standing right behind her at the end of the bed.
Awkwardly, he grabbed the straps correctly and tucked one of her
arms through each one. Ranko gently settled the cups over her
breasts, then reaching around, she gathered the straps in her
hands and fastened the clasp behind her back. She ran her finger
along the underside of the cups, getting her breasts comfortable
in their confinement.
While she was adjusting herself, Ranma reached over and
grabbed her shirt. "Okay Sis, hold out your arms," he ordered.
She held her arms out, and he helped her put her shirt on. After
getting her arms through the sleeves, he pulled the shirt down to
the small of her back. She pulled the sides together in front of
her and buttoned the shirt, then reclined on the bed again. He
wrapped his arms around her from behind in a loose hug, his hands
resting on her taut stomach. "There, that's better," he said,
sighing in relief.
"What was wrong with me before, bro?" she quipped in a
teasing voice.
Ranma blushed. "Trust me, there's absolutely *nothing*
wrong with you Ranko. Sometimes I have a hard time... you
know... controlling myself..." He broke off, his blush
intensifying.
Ranko smiled inwardly, having seen her brother's prominence
when he bent over to pick up her clothes. "It's natural that I
affect you that way, bro. And to tell you the truth, that
doesn't bother me a bit. It shouldn't bother you either. You
know, what matters to me is that you've not tried to take
advantage of my weakness or tease me. Ever since our first day
of training two weeks ago, and especially today, you've been
treating me with respect and caring. That's something you
wouldn't have done a month ago if we were in the same situation
we are right now."
Her brow furrowed as she contemplated the possibilities of
the `other' Ranma and her in this room. "Come to think of it, I
don't even want to know what the `other you' would've done to me
if *he'd* found me laying around like this. In fact, a month ago
I would've probably knocked you on your ass for even looking at
my breasts, much less touching them." She leaned her head
against one of Ranma's arms, stroking it with her hands. "You're
a lot different from the person I used to know as Ranma Saotome.
I respect you because of how you treat me and because I know you
respect me too."
Ranma's hug tightened. "You're right, Sis. I do respect
you. I'm just sorry that my other self was such an asshole to
you. I intend to make up for that, too. I guess that not having
a sister before helped me to appreciate how lucky I am to have
one now." He moved his head down, laying his cheek against her
head.
Ranko smiled at Ranma's kind words, her eyes tearing
slightly. She wiped her eyes with one of her hands, then placed
them both against one his arms. "I know that sisters don't
usually say this to their brothers, but ... I love you Ranma."
Ranma moved around to face his sister, and scooped her up in
his arms, hugging her tightly to him. "Strange as it sounds, I
love you too, Sis," he whispered into her ear. Right after he
said it, he couldn't help but ackmowledge the rightness of the
words. He really did love her, and he vowed that he'd do
anything he could to protect her from harm and hurt in the
future.
Ranko lay her head against her brother's chest, crying
softly and returning the hug as tightly as she could. They
stayed that way for a few minutes, Ranma perched on the side of
the bed holding his sister in silence and stroking her head
gently.
A couple of minutes later Ranma disengaged the hug,
confusion showing on his face. He was still not used to showing
emotions, and he'd just done something that he never thought he
was capable of. He'd said the word `love,' and meant it.
Forcing a smile to hide his discomfort, he brought his hand up to
wipe the tears from Ranko's face. "Careful, Sis. You don't want
to dirty this bandage,' he said as he rubbed his finger gingerly
around the wound, caressing her cheek and clearing the moisture
away from the bandage.
Spying her pants at the foot of the bed, he walked over and
knelt down to pick them up. "We'd better get these on too." He
pulled the chill packs, which were lukewarm now, off of her ankle
and set them on the counter behind him. Bunching the pants up at
the legs, he carefully lifted her good leg up first and fed it
through the pants leg, pulling her pants until her foot came out
the other end. He smirked maliciously, rubbing his hand up and
down her smooth calf. "You know, you need a shave Sis."
"Shut up, Ranma!" she shouted, although she couldn't quite
stifle her laughter as she threw a nearby Q-tip at him.
"Just kidding, Ranko!" he said as he ducked the launched ear
swabber. Ranma then maneuvered to the other side of the bed.
Carefully he grasped the calf of her other leg in his hand,
mindful of not jostling the foot as he pushed the pants leg over
it. Having gotten both pants legs on, he released her calf and
pulled her pants up as far as he could. He then withdrew his
hands without making contact with her crotch and stood away from
her, letting Ranko finish the job of putting her pants on by
herself.
A minute later the curtain whipped open and Dr. Tofu walked
back in. The two Saotomes faced him, looking like a couple of
kids caught in the act of doing something bad. Dr. Tofu noted
that she was dressed. "Ahh, I thought I told you not to move,
Ranko," he said, wagging his finger.
"Ranma helped me dress, Dr. Tofu. I stayed right on the
table like you told me to," she said with a smile.
Dr. Tofu quirked an eyebrow at them, nodding knowingly to
himself. "Well, it's good to see that some brothers and sisters
can still get along." Without saying anything else, he handed
Ranma a bag of items and a list that he'd carried into the
examination room with him. "Here's some items to help your
sister heal, along with guidelines on how to administer them.
I'll need you to pay close attention to that list, Ranma." He
turned to Ranko, patting her head. "And I want *you* to take it
easy, young lady."
Dr. Tofu knelt down at the foot of the examination bed and
gently put an ACE bandage on her ankle, bracing her foot. "Now
the instructions on how to take care of this are also on that
sheet I gave your brother." He looked at Ranma. "She can't walk
on that foot at all for the rest of the day. That means you'll
have to carry her home."
"That doesn't bother me a bit, Dr. Tofu." Realizing that he
had no arrangement with Dr. Tofu like he'd had before, he became
worried. "Umm..., what do we owe you, Dr. Tofu?"
Ranko realized what Ranma was worrying about. "Ranma, get
my bookbag, please?"
Ranma nodded to her and ran out of the room, quickly
returning with both of their bookbags. "Here ya go, Sis," he
said as he handed her bookbag over. Quickly rummaging through
it, she took out a card that her father had given her a long time
ago. "Do you take this, Dr. Tofu?" she asked, handing the
insurance card over.
Dr. Tofu adjusted his glasses as he squinted at the card.
"Yes, I do. Let me write the information down and I'll give it
back to you. Wait just a minute, please." He disappeared from
the examination room, only to reappear a moment later and hand
the card back to Ranko. "You're all set guys. Have a good
evening."
Ranma remembered the book Soun handed to him. "Ahh, Dr.
Tofu! Mr. Tendo wanted me to give this back to you," he said,
handing the book over. Dr. Tofu absently accepted the book, then
walked into a closet, muttering "Kasumi..." under his breath as
he closed the door behind himself.
Ranma stared blankly at the enamored Dr. Tofu and shook his
head. "Well, I can see that he's still stuck on Kasumi," he said
lightly to a confused Ranko. Ready to leave, he handed both
bookbags to Ranko, then picked his sister up and carried her out
of the building in his arms. Once outside Ranko climbed onto his
back for the trip home, this time not concerning herself with how
riding on Ranma's back affected her. She simply held onto her
brother, glad for a change that he was a part of her life.

****

Author's notes:

Well, here I go again. ^_^ (those of you who've read "The
Prince and the Lecher" will understand that remark...) I was
simply minding my own business, and reading the first two
sections of the story "Be Careful What you Wish For" by Richard
Beaubien. After completing that, I re-read part one, and said to
myself "What if *this* happened instead of *that.*" Well I
shouldn't have done that, because here I am clattering away at my
IBM keyboard like a man possessed.
Some people may wonder about the content (boy *that* was
obtuse!). Well, as of this writing:

(2/8/96):

Well, since my last posting, something good has happened to
me. After over three months of unemployment courtesy of AT&T, I
now have a job! <insert applause and self-patting-back noises
here> I am working as a Systems Admin. for Newberry College.
That being the case, my work on "Careful Destiny" has been
lacking in volume. But fear not, dearest reader, for I have not
been idle. In this iteration:
* The fight scene between Ranma and Kuno has been updated.
I still feel it's a bit weak, but I leave that judgment up to the
reader(s) ^_^
* I have added some extra dialogue following the end of
Kuno's fight.
* Intrigue inserted (well, I hope it's intriguing ^_^;; )
* Fixed some more errors pointed out by my valued readers
* Typed this section up at the end of the fanfic
* Split the document into two sections to make it easier to
send across the net.

(2/24/96):

I finally (I hope) finished part one, and have resumed
creative duties on part two. The creative process is slow for me
now that I have a job, but I'm steadily adding on. Stuff added
so far:

* A foil for Ranma and Akane's previously unchecked attempt
at a relationship, namely Kinuko Amagi
* A new interest for Kuno
* Ranko's unexpected interest in her big brother
* A major foil for Ranko, in the form of little rich kid
Kenji Kurosawa
* A long-standing rivalry discovered between Kinuko and
Akane
* Dr. Tofu makes an appearance
* A couple of Ranma's friends are introduced (don't shoot
me!)
* Ranma and Ranko come to terms with their relationship
* Decided to end part two with Ranma heading home from Dr.
Tofu's
* Initiated part 3, now taking revision and continuity
comments for part 2

Of note: This version of part two is a toned-down version
of what I had originally intended. In one scene I had Ranma
acting a little more sexually towards Ranko, but decided against
including it because I didn't want Ranma chasing after his
sister. Ranko's supposed to be the one doing the chasing,
eventually, not Ranma.
Also, I had a much more risque' version of Kasumi's
sunbathing session, which was also excised from this manuscript.

(2/29/96):

This is my first round of `polishing' on part two. Now that
I've started drafting new material for part 3, I felt it was time
to refine part two (and maybe even part one...)
In this refinement, I expanded some more on the fight scene
between Ranma and Kuno, and also added a little more depth to the
`first encounter' with Ranma and Akane immediately following the
fight.
Tried to rework the exam room scene between Ranma and Ranko.
It still felt like Ranma was trying to chase his sister. The
scene should look more like he's a victim of circumstance and
less like he's a hentai with a female buffet in front of him.
*sigh*
Part three should be out right before I jet for Katsucon Ni.
I won't know until I get part two completed, however...

(3/7/96):

This may be the last iteration of part two. I had some
wonderful advice from Izzy-chan (is she still called that?), and
was able to effectively de-lemonize the dressing scene between
Ranma and Ranko, making it more like what I had originally
intended.
Spelling errors and minor grammar fixes were likewise
spotted by the "Careful Destiny Editor's Continuum" <tm> and
fixed. I can't guarantee all the errors are wiped out, but part
two's looking better.
Someone had pointed out that I may need to "dumb down" both
Soun and Ranma. Both characters sounded more intelligent than
their Anime counterparts, and I was inclined to agree. I made
some minor dialogue changes as a result. I'm not quite happy
with it yet, so suggestions are heartily welcomed.
This is the first edition of part two that I am sending up
to the remailer. (Thanks to White Wolf for putting up with my
frequent update submissions! ^_^ ;;)

(10/30/96)

Put Part Two up on RAAC.

Acknowledgments:

I'd like to thank Richard Beaubien first and foremost for
granting me the permission to write this side-story based on his.
Prior to writing this thing, he's never even heard of me. I
understand that he's continuing the mother-story from which this
one is based. All I have to say is, "Go for it man!" ^_^ It's
been a real treat writing this thing and playing around in his
dimension (so to speak). It wouldn't have been possible without
his work as the base. So to him, I say Domo Arigato
Gozaimashita! <author bows deeply, *CLUNK* hits head on
keyboard>

Bert Van Vliet. You're the one who gave me the writing bug
<bzzzzz... *smack*>. Prior to picking up my first BubbleGum
Zone printout, I was clueless as to the ways of writing fanfic.
What a difference a year makes. You're a good friend, and I
thank you for the support. Hail SkyKnight! ^_^

Wing/Nagisa for being an invaluable proofer for part one.
Your contributions helped make part one what it is today.
Thank you!

Thank You <yes you, the one staring at the monitor> for
tolerating my unusual style of writing. I'll get better, I
promise ^_^

My music library, for inspiring me in times of need:

* Robotech 10th Anniversary Perfect Soundtrack Album
* Char's Counterattack Soundtrack
* Gundam 0083 Soundtrack
* Gundam Singles History Soundtrack
* Entire BubbleGum Crisis Soundtrack set
* The Macross Complete Soundtrack
* Macross II Soundtrack
* Macross Plus Soundtrack
* Vampire Princess Miyu Soundtrack
* Ranma 1/2 Calendar CD `93
* Project A-ko #1 Soundtrack
* Megazone Two-Three part 2 Soundtrack
* Babylon 5 Soundtrack
* Mortal Kombat Soundtrack
* The Collected works of John Tesh and Bob James

And now for my .sig!

Later,
Shadow Stalker
(Protoculture Addict)
(Moderator: The Robotech Echo)

ssta...@delphi.com
-or-
sy...@newberry.edu <--- try this address first!

Careful Destiny Web Page:
http://www.newberry.edu/sstalker/rancar.htm