Thy Inward Love Parts I - VI

[Richard Lawson]

This is a Ranma 1/2 story. It's a ten-part series that resolves many of
the relationships in Ranma 1/2.

This story stands by itself; however, I wrote two other fanfics: "Heart
of the Home" and "The Right Side of the Ledger". "Thy Inward Love"
refers to events that took place in those two stories. Although it's
not necessary to read those stories to understand "Thy Inward Love", I
believe it would enhance your enjoyment of the series to read the other
two stories. They can be found on my fanfic web page:

http://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/sterman/fanfic.htm

Like the story says, comments and criticism are welcome.

Without further ado:
Mine eye and heart are at a mortal war
How to divide the conquest of thy sight;
Mine eye my heart thy picture's sight would bar,
My heart mine eye the freedom of that right.
My heart doth plead that thou in him dost lie--
A closet never pierced with crystal eyes--
But the defendant doth that plea deny
And says in him thy fair appearance lies.
To 'cide this title is impaneled
A quest of thoughts, all tenants to the heart,
And by their verdict is determined
The clear eye's moiety and the dear heart's part:
As thus; mine eye's due is thy outward part,
And my heart's right thy inward love of heart.

William Shakespeare
Sonnet XLVI

THY INWARD LOVE

by Richard Lawson

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

Part I: Of Men and Pandas

Ranma woke up slowly, as always. Sleep was one of his
favorite things in the world, and he begrudged its end.

He patted his chest instinctively; one could never be too
sure what one's gender was in the morning. He was thankful
that it was male. Much as he had come to almost like his other
half, he still thought of himself as a guy and preferred to
remain in that form as much as possible.

He sat up and looked over at his father. He currently took
up a lot of the floor space. Ranma grumbled to himself; why
Pop would spend so much time as a panda remained an utter
mystery to him.

Fortunately there was a cure to that. Ranma got up, put on
his workout clothes, and walked down to the bathroom.
Everyone was still asleep except Kasumi, whom he could hear
humming softly to herself in the kitchen. He entered the
bathroom, got a bucket, and filled it with warm water.
Returning to his bedroom, he sloshed it around a little,
relishing the buildup. Then he splashed it over the
black and white furry mound.

"Gah!" Pop thrashed about before fixing Ranma with an angry
look. "Is that any way to wake your father?"

"Hah! Come and try to get your revenge!" Ranma threw the
bucket at his father, ran to the window, and jumped out into
the yard. He spun in midair and landed lightly on his feet,
waiting for Pop's counterattack.

It took a while in coming, since his father had to get
dressed. Finally the bucket came flying at high speed
directly at Ranma's face. Ranma blocked it easily with
his forearm, knowing it to be a diversion. Sure enough, Pop
dropped straight to the ground, then sprung at Ranma's legs.
Ranma jumped and used his hands to send his father crashing
into a tree.

The old man surprised him, though, using his arms to absorb
the impact and then launching himself backwards right where
Ranma was falling back to the ground. Ranma's legs got cut
out from underneath him. As he fell, he grabbed his father's
tunic with his right arm, hoping to bring him down also.

Pop grabbed Ranma's arm and applied pain holds to the elbow
and wrist, causing Ranma to cry out. Ranma found himself in
an untenable position, partially held off the ground by his
father's grip on his arm. His legs didn't have enough
purchase to be useful, and his left arm was being used to
support his torso so that his right arm didn't get wrenched
out of its socket.

Ranma released his father's tunic. Pushing himself up with
his left arm, he used his right arm to grip his father's
throat. Fighting through the pain, he tightened his grip on
his father's arteries, hoping to eventually cause him to
pass out.

Seeing that the pain tactic wasn't working, Pop released his
hold and leaned forward quickly, letting Ranma drop. Ranma
wasn't expecting this, and fell heavily, releasing his grip.
The old man grabbed Ranma's tunic with both hands and threw
him over his shoulder.

Ranma, in mid-air, knew where he was going to land. He
somehow found his way there again and again, yet he never
lost his dread of it. Bracing himself, he fell headlong into
the pond.

The change was always sudden, and always a shock to his
system. In a second, mass shifted itself inside him, taking
away from some areas and adding to others. He became smaller
and differently balanced. Of course, there were many other
changes, internal and external, but these were the ones he
felt most keenly.

Ranma broke the surface, frustrated. The old man had won
that battle; he hadn't been winning many lately. The pain
holds were a particularly vicious tactic. Ranma knew,
however, that "Anything Goes" meant literally that. Anything
to win the battle.

She readjusted her tunic so that it didn't hang so loosely.
Akane had once berated Ranma for not having any "feminine
modesty". The last thing Ranma wanted was to have "feminine
modesty", but she had finally learned that everyone else
became uncomfortable when she flashed her body indiscriminately.
Probably just jealousy, Ranma thought. None of 'em have as
good a build as I do. Ranma took a strange pleasure in how
attractive her female side was.

Pop was circling the pool warily, waiting for Ranma to make
a move. Ranma watched for an opening, but the old man was
unusually sharp today; he was giving nothing away.

Finally Ranma used her hands to send a huge wave of water
splashing towards her father. He cried out and jumped
backwards, and in that instant, Ranma launched herself at
him. One advantage to this form, Ranma had learned, was
that it was much quicker and more responsive. Her male side
had strength and reach; her female side had quickness and
balance.

Not that she was hurting for strength in this form. She
grabbed her father's tunic, flipped over him, hauled him
over her shoulders, and sent him flying towards the wall.
The old man recovered enough to absorb most of the impact,
but enough got through to him to daze him temporarily.

Ranma jumped high up, extended her arm, gave a triumphant
shout, and landed astride her father, her fist millimeters
away from the tip of his nose. She would merely have had to
extend her fist a few centimeters as she came down to have
shoved his nose into his brain.

Pop seemed taken aback by this. "Planning to kill me, son?"

She stood up, dripping water on him. "Well, those pain holds
weren't exactly nice. Seemed to be the right way to answer."

"An enemy would not hesitate to use any advantage he could,
son. You must be prepared!" He shouted the last word as he
attempted to sweep Ranma's legs.

She had been expecting this, however, and flipped backwards
beyond his reach. She held herself in the ready position,
awaiting his next attack.

"Ranma-kun! Uncle Saotome! Breakfast!" Kasumi's voice
carried pleasantly across the yard.

Food was another one of Ranma's favorite things.
Fortunately, it was one of the old man's favorite things,
too. Warily, they walked sideways to the porch, never
taking their eyes off of each other, waiting for the other
to relax. Finally, Ranma stepped backwards inside the house,
which was neutral ground as long as Kasumi was around.

Ranma dropped her guard and walked over to sit next to
Akane. Akane was looking at her strangely, which was enough
to make Ranma irritated. She wondered what stupid thing
Akane was going to be yelling about this morning.

To her surprise, Akane said nothing, and they both ate
breakfast in silence. Kasumi chattered brightly away with
Uncle Tendo and Nabiki. Nabiki was excited; she was
graduating soon, and talked of the upcoming prom and
graduation ceremony. Uncle was nearly as excited; any
achievement of his daughters seemed to fill him with an
inordinate amount of pride. A balance, Ranma supposed, to
how much he carried on when something threatened them.

Kasumi smiled at something Nabiki said, then turned to
Ranma. "Ranma-kun, don't forget, your mother and I will be
cooking dinner tonight."

Ranma brightened; she always looked forward to seeing her
mother. After the damage the Saotome home had sustained
during the rampages of Ukyo, Shampoo, and Kodachi had been
repaired, her mother had announced that, in order to protect
the family's limited finances from other such costs, Ranma
should continue to live in the Tendo home, which was much
better protected. Ranma had been surprised and strangely
relieved by Mother's decision. The relief Ranma had felt had
also made her feel guilty for some reason. She had brushed
those feelings aside and quickly agreed with her mother.
Mother came over often enough that she felt like a part of
the Tendo household. It was nice not having to live in fear
of her anymore. What Ranma still didn't understand is why
her father was still staying with the Tendos.

"I won't forget, Kasumi. Just don't let Akane help you this
time. That way Pop won't have to eat her disasters as panda
food."

Ranma expected a reaction out of either Akane or the old
man. Her father just stared at his breakfast, apparently
unaffected by the announcement of his wife's visit. Akane
did look a little mad, but there was some other emotion on
her face that Ranma couldn't recognize.

Ranma shrugged and stood up. She went upstairs, washed,
changed (in more ways than one), then came back downstairs.
Ranma went into the kitchen to get his lunch, and found
Nabiki there, still chatting with Kasumi.

"Do you think we'll be able to afford Nippon Tech, Nabiki?
It's awfully expensive."

Nabiki wore a smile that, to Ranma's eyes, looked
uncharacteristically warm. "Tatewaki-kun is going to give me
a long-term low interest loan. I've worked the details out
with his family's accountants; basically, I don't have to
start repaying until I graduate. Until I've paid in full,
the Kuno family has the right to retain my services free of
charge. Kuno-baby has already testified to my business
acumen. This will leave our family with enough so that Akane
could go to college next year, if she wants."

Ranma looked down at what Nabiki's book bag. It bulged with
the two lunches it was carrying. Recently, Nabiki had asked
Kasumi to make an extra lunch for Kuno. Nabiki's lunchtimes
spent with Kuno were the gossip of Furinkan High. Most of
the students speculated that she was after his family's
fortune.

Ranma brightened with the answer he thought he'd uncovered.
"So that's why you've been so lovey-dovey with that moron!
Gotta hand it to you, Nabiki; you pulled a fast one on him.
After you're in college, maybe we can set him up with
Akane and see if he won't give her a lot of money, too."

Nabiki stared at him, her mouth opened wide, a hurt look on
her face. It was quickly replaced by outrage. She shifted
her feet, turned her torso, hauled her hand back, and
slapped him quite hard.

Ranma staggered back a step, aghast. How could he have let
that happen? Nabiki had telegraphed that move; he could have
blocked it a hundred different ways, or simply stepped back
and let it miss him completely. Instead, he had watched her
set it up, and he hadn't even braced himself. Where had all
his martial arts skills gone? If he left himself that open
in a fight, he'd be dead before he hit the ground.

Nabiki, meanwhile, had put her face into his, anger working
her features. Ranma was shocked to see tears in her eyes.
She seemed to be trying to find something to say. Apparently
unable to formulate any words, she spun on her heel and
stormed out of the kitchen.

Ranma looked over at Kasumi, intending to ask her what had
just happened. He was brought short by the look on Kasumi's
face. Her mouth was turned down, and her forehead was
wrinkled just the tiniest bit. On anyone else, it was a just
a very slight irritation; on Kasumi, it was a full-blown
rage. It chilled him to the bone in a way he hadn't
experienced since he thought Akane had died.

"Ranma." Not Ranma-kun; she *was* angry. "That was not a
nice thing to say. You must learn to treat your family and
your elders with respect and decency."

She held his eyes. Ranma quailed under her gaze; this mild
rebuke from Kasumi affected him more than anything Akane had
ever yelled at him about. Kasumi finally turned to the sink,
putting her back to him, dismissing him.

Ranma stood there, forlorn and forsaken, not understanding
why everyone was being so unfair to him this morning.
Fortunately, Akane came rushing in. "Come on, Ranma, we'll
be late." She grabbed her lunch, and tossed his lunch to
him.

Ranma watched the lunch arc towards him, and wondered if he
would catch it. His arms seemed quite unwilling to move.
Just as it seemed inevitable that it would hit him in the
face, he snapped his right arm up and snatched it out of the
air a centimeter in front of his nose.

Akane snorted. "Very cute, Ranma. Enough playing around,
let's go!" She tugged at his arm.

Ranma gave one last look at Kasumi's unforgiving back, then
turned to follow Akane.

They ran to school, Ranma's mind whirling. Nothing made
sense so far today, and school hadn't even started.

Akane's voice sounded peculiar. "Ranma, why did you try to
kill your father?"

"What!" The question caught him completely off guard. He
nearly fell off the fence, only recovering his balance
enough to make a graceful dismount. "I didn't kill him!"

Akane stopped and walked back over to him, the strange look
on her face again. "You could have. If you had been a little
off, he would be dead."

Ranma was really getting angry now; the whole world was
against him. "Don't you know me well enough to know I have
complete control over my body?"

"Uh huh." Akane's eyes narrowed. "What if you'd been hit by
warm water as you were coming down? Your arms would have
gotten longer and you would have hit your father."

Ranma made an exasperated sound. "People don't get hit by
water for no reason!"

Akane raised an eyebrow. "Nobody else does, you mean."

Ranma glowered at her, but had to admit to himself that she
had a point. Water seemed to find him everywhere he went.
Admitting it to himself, however, was far different than
admitting it to Akane. "You don't know nothing. I would
never have touched him."

Akane's familiar, angry face appeared. "I know you well
enough, Ranma, to know that you sometimes lose control. If
you play these dangerous games, you're gonna end up killing
someone!"

Ranma opened his mouth to really let her have it and then
froze. Nabiki, in the kitchen, slapping him with the skill
of a first-year dojo student, and Ranma unable to stop her.
Where had his control been then?

Akane seemed to draw satisfaction from his frozen
expression. Turning, she ran off towards school.

Ranma grimaced and ran after her. More than ever, he was
regretting letting go of his sleep.

***

Lunchtime brought the students of Furinkan High outside to
the warm, late spring air. Akane was surrounded by her
friends and was ignoring Ranma, which suited him just fine.
He walked through the school yard and leaned against the
wall, where he could see Akane laughing. Disgusted, he went
over to a tree, sat under it, and discovered that he could
see Akane's back. Ranma swore to himself. He was not trying
to stay near Akane. He could live without her; he'd show
her.

He got up and wandered through the sparse trees. They really
had a nice yard here; he wondered how they could afford it.
Then again, he thought as he regarded the principal's
statue, they could afford a lot of strange stuff.

"Saotome!" The shout was loud and angry, but then again,
Kuno often sounded loud and angry when speaking to Ranma. At
least, Ranma thought wryly, he sounded angry half the time.
The other half he spent spouting love poems while offering
Ranma red roses.

Ranma turned to regard Kuno. He was holding his bokken
angrily thrust directly at Ranma, and his face was covered
with barely suppressed rage. In fact, Ranma thought, he had
seldom seen Kuno so worked up. No matter. Kuno on his best
day could never handle Ranma single-handedly. Ranma slipped
easily into his ready stance, eagerly awaiting the coming
battle.

"Tatewaki-kun, no!" Nabiki ran up and pulled on Kuno's arm.
"He's not worth it."

Smart girl, Ranma thought. Best not to let the golden goose
get pounded yet again.

Kuno's voice took on a much gentler tone, although the anger
was still evident. "He has vilified thee, Nabiki-chan, and
that I will not abide."

What's with the -chan and -kun stuff? It made Ranma sick to
know that Nabiki would let herself sink so low. To call him
"Tatewaki-kun" must give her the creeps.

Except....

Except, in the kitchen, she had called him "Tatewaki-kun",
and Kuno hadn't even been there.

She would never do that, unless....

Unless she really liked him.

Ranma stood frozen in horrified realization as Kuno shouted
some speech about rage, vengeance and the fires of heaven.

Kuno charged, and Ranma tried a clumsy sidestep. Kuno
adjusted easily, giving Ranma a good whack on the ribs.
Ranma's breath left him, and he doubled over as Kuno
followed with a blow to the side of Ranma's head.

Ranma fell, dizzy, trying to get his breath back. He vaguely
noticed that someone had put herself between him and Kuno.
At a guess, Ranma thought, looking up at the short black
hair, it was Akane. She was shouting something, but Ranma
couldn't hear it over the ringing in his ears. Nabiki, too,
seemed to be doing her part, tugging on Kuno's tunic and
talking into his ear.

Kuno calmed down. Assuming his normal air of superiority, he
uttered some other speech that Ranma couldn't make out. He
then made a majestic turn and walked out of Ranma's line of
sight. Nabiki looked down at Ranma, a tremendously satisfied
look on her face, before she walked after Kuno.

Ranma laid on the ground, unable to deal with reality. He
had lost to Kuno. Kuno, whose martial arts skill was more
academic that practical. Ranma could usually dispatch him
with one well-placed kick. How had Kuno been able to get
through his defenses?

Akane knelt down next to Ranma, asking him a question, a
worried look on her face. This was another facet of reality
he couldn't accept: Akane had saved him. *She* had come to
*his* rescue during a fight.

Ranma couldn't stand it. Getting up, he nearly lost his
balance. Akane caught him as he sagged. Throwing her off,
Ranma ran from the schoolyard. The rest of the school day be
damned; he was not going to stand around and let everyone
beat up on him while Akane played the hero.

Coming to a fence, he jumped up on it, more reflex than
clear thought. This became evident as he stumbled, still
suffering the affects of the blow to his head. He fell,
rolled as he hit an embankment, and landed in a stream of
water.

Water, Ranma thought disgustedly. Why did it always have to
be water.

She sat there and let her head clear. She had a lot to think
about, and this was as good a place as any.

Her martial arts skills were extraordinary. This morning, in
the battle with Pop, her skills had been sharp as ever. The
old man had pulled a few new tricks, and she had overcome
them. The moves came easy, her reflexes swift, her timing
perfect. It was moments like those that she lived for, when
her body and mind were as one, flowing instinctively,
reacting beautifully.

Then Nabiki had slapped her, and Kuno had beaten her. Ranma
had responded to those two attacks like she was stuck in
slow motion. The skills she had spent a lifetime acquiring
had deserted her in an instant.

She spent a long time trying to figure out why. The water
soaked and chilled her, but she ignored it, trying to sort
things out. It didn't make any sense.

Someone shouted her name; she looked up to see one of her
classmates waving at her. She blinked; a lot more time had
gone by then she had realized. School must be out. She
needed to spend less time going around in mental circles and
more time finding the answer.

Maybe, just maybe, there was one person who could provide an
answer. The old man had to be good for something. After all,
he'd been doing this a lot longer than she had.

Happy to have a plan of some sort, Ranma got up, jumped back
on the fence, and made her way home.

She burst through the front door, letting her shoes fly off,
and skidded to a halt as she saw Nabiki and Akane climbing
up the stairs. They both turned to give her nearly identical
cold stares. Ranma shuddered under the impact.

She put her hands in her pockets, hunched her shoulders, and
walked by them. Going down the hallway, she could hear the
voices of Kasumi and her mother talking in the kitchen.
Ranma grimaced; best not to let Mother see her like this.

She went outside and was relieved to see her father in human
form sitting on the porch. He was staring out into the yard,
his arms and legs crossed, his expression neutral. Ranma sat
down next to him.

"Pop, I got a question for you. It's sorta important."

She waited for an answer; after a minute, Pop nodded his
head slightly.

Ranma drew a breath. "I've been having... I dunno... I've been
freezing up in a couple of fights." Ranma looked down,
ashamed. "I let Nabiki slap me when I could have stopped
her, and Kuno beat me up pretty easy. And they're not
nearly as good as I am!" This last she said angrily. "What's
going on? How come I can beat Saffron and Pantyhose and
Ryoga, and then all of a sudden Kuno gets through to me?"

She peered up at Pop, who continued to stare straight
ahead. His expression wasn't changing; if his eyes weren't
open, she would have thought him asleep.

Ranma beat her fist against the floor in frustration. "What
is it? Is there a flaw in our technique? How do I... we...
keep this from happening?"

"There is a flaw here, son, but it is not in the technique."
Ranma started, for the answer had come from behind her. She
felt warm water being poured onto her head. Ranma flinched,
then looked up to see his mother lowering a kettle, her
normal smile replaced by a sad, quiet look on her face.

She knelt down beside him, set the kettle aside, and put her
hands on her thighs. She stared out into the yard. Ranma
looked from his mother to his father. They each had neutral
expressions on their face, and each seemed to be fixing
their gazes at the same point out in the yard. Ranma found
the whole thing very disturbing.

His mother spoke in an even, quiet, slightly sad tone. "Your
father chose, at a very early age, to devote his life to the
'Anything Goes School of Martial Arts'. This is not a very
honorable school; it teaches victory above all else. Your
father and his friend learned the art from an unscrupulous
man, and they repaid his teachings by sealing him inside a
cave.

"Your father was not as amoral as his teacher; some good
still remained. Whenever he took part in a fight that
conflicted with what he thought was right, he would lose his
martial arts prowess and allow himself to be beaten." Mother
paused for a moment, her eyes still distant, lost in the
past. "In a way, it spoke well for him. He would not allow
his superior skills to win a battle he felt he did not
deserve to win."

Ranma looked over at his father to see how he was reacting.
He continued to stare out into the yard, his face set,
unmoving. Ranma turned back to look at his mother.

"Your father felt as you did, Ranma, that there was a fault
in his technique. He worked on it with Soun-san, but they
could not discover what your father was doing wrong. When
Soun-san got married, he had less time to spend on
perfecting the art. Your father became obsessed with the
'flaw' in the art. When he met me, he got me excited in a
plan to raise a child in the arts; this child would be
perfect, and not have the same faults he did."

His mother swallowed, and raised her chin a little. "I was a
fool, of course, to think that he would succeed. After you
were born, you became his whole life. Or, better put,
teaching you the art became his whole life. Soon he left me
in order to reduce the 'distractions' our family life
caused. I allowed him this, with the stipulation that you
become a real man.

"I said this because it became apparent, in those days, that
your father was not a man. He was a child, grown to adult
form. He could not face the faults within himself, so he
looked to create a son that would be without faults. He went
from place to place, running away from his problems, using
the rationalization that you needed to be taught the art. If
you would only become a perfect martial artist, anything he
had done would be justified."

Ranma could hardly believe what he was hearing. Her even
tone belied the emotional impact of her words. Coming from
his mother, who usually struck him as a carbon copy of
Kasumi, they were devastating. Ranma looked back over at
his father, hoping somehow that he would stop this. His
father was unchanged, seemed to be carved out of stone.
Fearfully, Ranma looked back at Mother.

"I imagine," she continued, somewhat dryly, "that becoming a
panda was a great relief for your father. Whenever the world
threatened to force him to face his problems, he was a
bucketful of water away from assuming a form that didn't
have any problems at all. He used his panda form to hide
from me when you were first introduced to me as 'Ranko'.
That he dragged you into his deception was shameful. That he
tried to hide your problems, even when I finally saw you
as my son, is further evidence that he is still without
honor."

Mother turned her head to stare into Ranma's eyes. Her face
was still neutral, but her words were forcefully delivered.
"Don't become a panda like your father, Ranma. Rather than
run from your problems, face them. There is a voice inside
you that is telling you when you are behaving badly. It is
that voice that makes you lose the battles you deserve to
lose. Listen to the voice, before all it can tell you is to
be a panda."

Ranma swallowed, unsure how to respond. He looked at his
mother's face, desperately looking for a sign that she was
kidding, that this was all a joke of some sort. His eyes
wandered to look at the carefully wrapped katana strapped
to her back, and he shuddered. He did not want to find out
how far she would go to convince him it wasn't a joke.

Mother turned back to stare out into the yard again. "Leave
us, son. Your father and I need to talk."

Ranma glanced back at his father, then stood up. His legs
were awfully unsteady, and he stood there a moment to try
and clear his head. It didn't help, and eventually he turned
to go back inside.

"I imagine," he heard his mother say, "that there is someone
you know who could help you to listen to the voice."

Ranma gulped, stood still for a moment trying to think of
something to say, then went inside.

He wandered down the hallway, going nowhere in particular,
his mind in more of a whirl than ever before. He almost
missed Nabiki hissing at him from upstairs. She repeated the
hiss, more loudly. Looking up, he saw her motion to him
furtively to follow her. Ranma stood his ground, unsure what
revenge Nabiki was trying to undertake. She gritted her
teeth and spoke in an urgent whisper. "Come on! Hurry!" She
ran back into her room.

Ranma climbed the stairs slowly, preparing for an attack.
For all he knew, Kuno was just inside her door, ready to
pounce on him with his bokken. Kuno would be in for a
surprise; Ranma felt none of the hesitation he'd had earlier
that afternoon.

He stepped warily into the room and blinked. Nabiki was sitting
at her desk, wearing headphones and fiddling with her stereo
system. He saw a cord going from the receiver across her bed
to the window. Walking over to the bed, he could see a
microphone hanging just outside the window.

He turned to glare at Nabiki. She looked up at him and saw
his anger. Making an annoyed sound, she unplugged her
headphones, plugged in a Y-adapter, plugged her headphones
back in and offered another set of headphones to Ranma.

Ranma stared at them, knowing what she was offering, unsure
if he should accept. He had too many questions, though, and
this might be his best bet to learn a few answers.
Reluctantly, he took the headphones, put them on, and
plugged them in.

All he heard was a hissing sound. He looked at Nabiki, who
made a "wait" gesture with her hands. Ranma sat down on her
bed.

"WAS THAT REALLY NECESSARY?" His father's voice blared in
his ears. Nabiki winced and adjusted the volume. Ranma
barely noticed, intent on the words.

"You promised me you would make him a man, Genma. Instead
you made him just like you. I will not permit that."

"You go too far, Nodoka. He is a fine young man, and his
skills as a martial artist...."

"I don't care about his skills as a martial artist any more.
It's his skills as a human being that worry me. He is
petulant, impatient, inconsiderate, and disrespectful.
Most of all, he's immature. He is not the man you promised."

There was a long silence. Finally, his father spoke. "When I
took him away...."

"When you left, I was as glad to see you leave as you were
to be gone. I allowed you to take my son because I knew that
he meant the whole world to you. If you didn't have him, you
had nothing. I had hoped that raising a child would teach
you some responsibility. I see that I was wrong."

After another silence, Pop spoke in a quiet voice. "I'm
sorry."

Mother's voice was softer. "Genma, I think that's the first
time I've ever heard you say those words and mean them, too."

"No-chan...."

Mother spoke in a sharper voice. "If you think one apology
makes up for twenty years of your mistakes, you're very much
mistaken. Right now, all that matters to me is getting our
son to marry his fiancee."

"Ranma isn't quite ready...."

"HE HAD BETTER BE READY!" At first, Ranma thought Nabiki had
turned up the volume. Looking over at her, he saw her hands
folded in front of her, her eyes wide. That meant that
Mother really had shouted. "I found my son after ten
years, and wanted to take him home. AND HE DIDN'T WANT TO
GO! He would rather be with *her* than his mother." Mother
sounded close to tears. "When our house was wrecked, he was
almost relieved; he got to come back and be with her again.
I let him stay here because I would rather be a welcome
visitor than an unwanted housemate."

Pop said nothing, and after a moment Mother continued. "I
don't begrudge her his love. She is a wonderful young woman,
and I like her very much. But if Ranma would choose her over
me, then he had better be her husband rather than her
houseguest." She then spoke slowly and forcefully. "I will
not rest until they are married."

Pop spoke somewhat scornfully. "Or until we are dead?"

Mother sighed and sounded tired. "Genma, do you really think
I would force my son to kill himself? I had hoped the threat
of seppuku would force you to take your responsibilities
seriously - certainly nothing else I tried during our marriage
worked. For now, I have declared him 'manly' enough to meet
our vow. But he has much to learn before he truly is a man."

"Nodoka, what would you have me do?"

"Help our son to grow up. And I don't mean having him learn
yet another martial arts technique. Teach him honor,
discipline, and respect. I think you know what those things
are; you did once. Also, help me to get him married."

There was another silence. Then Mother spoke again. "After
that, we will see what is to be done about you and me. If we
get that far and you have helped, it will speak very
favorably for you."

With that, Ranma heard his mother get up and walk back into
the house.

With shaking hands, Ranma removed the headphones and set
them on the bed. Nabiki put hers around her neck, her eyes
still wide. They looked at each other for a moment.

"About this morning...." Ranma trailed off, swallowed, then
continued. "I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking. I didn't mean to
hurt you."

Nabiki gave him a weak smile. "That's okay, Ranma. I think
you paid for it already."

Ranma nodded glumly and looked down at his hands.

"Ranma, let me give you some advice, based on my personal
experience." Nabiki sounded worldly, as if the eleven month
difference in their ages was a lifetime. "Go talk to
someone. Get it out of your system. You'll just feel
miserable until you do."

Ranma looked up at her, unsure what to say. He tried to get
some words out of his mouth. "I... it's just... I can't...."

"Not me, idiot. I couldn't care less about what you're
feeling." Nabiki thinned her lips and looked off to the
side. "All right, I'm sorry, I didn't mean that. I do care."
She looked back into Ranma's eyes. "But there's someone who
cares more."

Ranma sat absolutely still for a few seconds, thinking. Then
he nodded and stood up slowly. He walked over to the door,
then turned back towards Nabiki. "By the way, Nabiki, don't
ever eavesdrop on me or my parents again."

Nabiki looked amused. "Moi? I would never dream of it,
Ranma-kun."

For some reason he couldn't identify, this made Ranma smile
briefly. He turned and went down the hallway.

He stopped in front of a closed door. There was a wooden
duck on the door, and it had someone's name in English on
it. He could make out the individual letters, but for some
reason, at this moment, his mind couldn't synthesize a
meaning out of the whole.

Ranma stood there, irresolute. Phrases kept flashing through
his head. "He is petulant, impatient, inconsiderate, and
disrespectful." "You must learn to treat your family and
your elders with respect and decency." "I think you know
what those things are; you did once." "I know you well
enough, Ranma, to know that you sometimes lose control." "I
let him stay here because I would rather be a welcome
visitor than an unwanted housemate." "He has vilified thee,
Nabiki-chan, and that I will not abide." "I was a fool, of
course, to think that he would succeed." "Don't become a
panda like your father, Ranma."

One phrase stood out from the rest in his mind. "I imagine
that there is someone you know who could help you to listen
to the voice."

Ranma raised his hand and tapped the door once. When he
didn't get a response, he rapped it with his knuckles twice,
using more force. After a few seconds a voice called out,
"Come in."

Ranma opened Akane's door and stepped inside.

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

Part II : Felt Yet Unspoken

Akane sat at her desk, completely ignoring the history book
she had propped up in front of her. Her mind was raging.
Raging at the same person it was always raging at.

"Baka," she mumbled to herself. Ranma could be such a loser
sometimes. He had pulled off that silly and dangerous stunt
with his father this morning. What's worse, he didn't even
seem to understand why it was silly and dangerous.

Then, later, she had stepped between him and Tatewaki when
the latter seemed bent on beating Ranma to a pulp. She had
shouted at Tatewaki to put away his toy sword and leave her
and Ranma alone. After Tatewaki had gone away, she'd looked
down at Ranma, who had seemed to be pretty shaken up. When
she'd asked if he was okay and tried to help him up, he'd
pushed her away and ran off. The idiot didn't even care about
her.

To her disgust, she had covered up for him with Hinako-sensei,
saying that Ranma had fallen unexpectedly sick and had run
home. Akane wasn't sure how much Hinkao-sensei believed, but
she had not pursued the matter. Still, it made Akane feel
strange to cover up for Ranma when he continued to treat her
offers for help like insults.

Then, on the way home, Nabiki had filled Akane in on Ranma's
stupid comments in the kitchen. His sheer insensitivity had
driven Akane into a rage. He was such a moron, he couldn't
see beyond the end of his nose.

Akane stared at the words in her history book, seeing
Ranma's face in them. Why he drove her to such rages was a
mystery to her. Whenever he seemed to be behaving almost
decently, he'd open his mouth and stick his foot into it as
far as he could.

Yet, sometimes, he could be so nice. She remembered walking
through the Higo Forest with Ranma after they had left
Shinnosuke. He had, all by himself and without coercion,
reached back and taken her hand. She remembered how good
that had made her feel. He had a strong grip, too, and a
very nice body, muscular without being overbuilt, and eyes
that you could drown yourself in....

He also had an ego the size of a small planet. For some
reason, he considered admitting his affection for her an act
of weakness. She wanted to be nice to him, to admit how much
he meant to her. She had given him many opportunities to let
his guard down so that they could talk freely about their
feelings, and he had botched it every time, often insulting
her in the process.

Maybe he didn't like her. She thought he did, but maybe she
was hoping too much, projecting too much of what she wanted
to see in him.

And yet, there had been the battle at Jusendo, where she had
heard Ranma admit that he wanted to say "I love you" to her.
But just before their wedding, when she gave him yet another
opportunity to open up, he'd backed down, telling her that
he hadn't actually said that he loved her. That had hurt her
terribly. Maybe, her fears kept whispering to her, Ranma had
just been suffering form the effects of a difficult battle
with Saffron and the shock of Akane's apparent death. Maybe
he had just been over-reacting, saying things he hadn't
really meant.

Akane gritted her teeth. She wanted to love him and all he
gave her were reasons to hate him. Today had been one
example after another of why she should give up on Ranma. He
was insensitive, he was self-centered, and most of all, he
pushed her away when she wanted to get closer.

Akane had had enough. Just wait until she saw him next. She
wasn't sure if this time she intended to scream into his
face or beat him into a pulp herself. She figured she would
just let the moment play itself out.

Akane grimaced; she'd forgotten about Auntie Saotome. She
couldn't very well beat on Ranma with his mother present.
Auntie seemed very taken with Akane, always encouraging her
to further her relationship with Ranma. At the same time,
Akane sometimes felt a fleeting coldness from Ranma's mother
that belied her friendly smile. Akane wasn't sure where that
came from, and it bothered her deeply.

Akane slammed the book closed and threw it on the bed. It
was all just too much. Damn Ranma anyway for coming into her
life. She'd been much happier before he'd ever set foot in
her house. Damn her father and Uncle Saotome for arranging
this stupid engagement. She should have been the one to
inherit the dojo; she should have been the one that
protected the family from danger. Why didn't Ranma go back
and live with his mother and leave her and her family alone?

Something tapped against her door. She stood still, listening.
After a moment, she heard two slightly harder raps on her door.
She could guess who it was. Akane smiled an evil grin; she
could beat up on Ranma in the privacy of her room. She turned
to face the door, hands on her hips. "Come in."

The door slowly opened and Ranma came in.

The smile disappeared from Akane's face. Ranma looked more
wretched and depressed than she had ever seen him. He
couldn't even look her in the eye, instead staring morosely
at the floor. He closed the door behind him and leaned
against it, hands behind his back, the picture of unhappiness.

All of Akane's rage left her in an instant. Something had
happened to Ranma. He was hurting and needed help; right
now, that was all that mattered to Akane. "Ranma, what's
wrong?" she asked, her voice echoing the worry and concern
she felt.

Ranma looked up at her, his eyes full of misery. He opened
his mouth, but nothing came out. He closed it and hung his
head again.

Akane went over and pulled on his arm. "Come over here." She
guided him to her bed and had him sit on it. She pulled up
her desk chair and sat directly in front of him, their knees
almost touching.

Ranma continued to hang his head. Akane leaned forward and
put her head below his, turning it sideways so he could see
her eyes. He looked at her for a long moment, then slowly
lifted his head. She leaned back at the same time. Their
eyes never left each other.

Akane was quivering inside. This was very, very serious. She
made the best effort she could to set aside her anger and
clear her head. She needed to be very alert and responsive
right now, needed to be able to think quickly and well. For
once, her martial arts training could be put to good use:
she could shut out the rest of the world and focus on the
battle before her. Well, not exactly a battle, but it helped
her to approach this problem as if it were one. Please, she
begged herself, don't lose your concentration now.

She drew a breath, and tried to put some force into her
words. "Tell me, Ranma."

Slowly, painfully, Ranma began his tale. It started with
stuff Akane already knew, such as the scene in the kitchen
and the fight at school. He continued by telling her about
the hours he spent sitting in the canal, thinking; his
attempt to talk to his father; his mother joining the
conversation.

Here he stopped. She could see that he was shaking, the
emotional impact of what he was about to say affecting him
as Akane had never seen anything else affect him before.

This was the first critical point in the battle. Critical to
what, she didn't want to think about right now. All she
wanted to do was make Ranma feel better, to encourage him to
continue telling her what was afflicting him.

Akane cast about her memories, trying to figure out what to
do. Kasumi would know what to do; if only she were here. A
memory came to her, a time when she had been very young and
had fallen down and hurt her elbow. Kasumi had bandaged it
and then bent down to take a hold of Akane's hands,
comforting her. Akane remembered that this seemed to help.
She reached over and grasped Ranma's hands in hers, not
taking her eyes away from his.

Ranma took a deep breath and continued telling her about the
day's events. His mother, telling him that he was losing on
purpose. Telling him that his father was a child, who became
a panda to run away from the world. His mother, telling him
to become a good person before it was too late.

Then upstairs with Nabiki, eavesdropping as Ranma discovered
bitterness between his parents he never knew existed. His
mother calling him immature. His mother talking about how
she discovered that Ranma would rather stay in the Tendo
house than with her, the hurt of this discovery evident in
her voice. The obsession his mother felt, the feeling he got
that getting Ranma married was the only way his mother would
feel her life had been redeemed.

Ranma stopped for a while, and his eyes began to glisten.
And then, the words came out of him as if he couldn't stop.
"I'm a bad person, Akane. I bully people and say bad things
about them. I don't give anyone any respect; I'd rather
punch them than be nice to them. I call you uncute and make
fun of you and fight with you all the time, and I don't care
if you get hurt while I'm doing it. I insult my father and
make my mother feel unloved. Nothing matters to me other
than my stupid martial arts, and what does that get me?
Trouble with princes, monsters, and curses." Again, he hung
his head. "I don't do nothing but hurt people. My life ain't
worth nothing."

Akane's heart pounded in her chest. A feeling came over her,
almost overwhelming in its intensity, the sense that what
she did *here* and *now*, at this exact moment, would affect
her the rest of her life, and Ranma's too. She needed to say
the right thing, or Ranma might never recover. He had, at
last, opened himself up to her, something she had fantasized
about but had almost given up on actually occurring. He was
as vulnerable, emotionally, as he would ever allow himself
to be. If she didn't give him the answers he needed, he
might never give her another chance. He'd go back to the
old, closed up Ranma, and Akane would never forgive herself.

The only problem was that Akane had absolutely no idea what
to say. She could break bricks with her bare hands, she
could sew (after a fashion) and she could cook (even if no
one else thought she could), but nothing she had ever done
had prepared her for this moment. She was terrified of
letting this chance pass her by, and she could feel herself
begin to panic. Hold on girl, she told herself. The battle
is at its climax; don't cave in to the pressure now.

She thought back, trying to recall similar circumstances.
The only thing that seemed to compare with Ranma's current
suffering was Akane's reaction to her mother's death. She
had been very young and had spent the first few months
denying that it had happened, that Mother would be coming
back from whatever vacation she had decided to take. Kasumi
had been patient with her and had worked with her over the
months, gently forcing her to realize that Mother was never
coming back, that it was not good for the rest of the family
for Akane to insist that Mother was still alive. And it had
finally worked; Akane had finally accepted, deep down, that
Mother was gone forever. Fortunately, the rest of the family
was still there, and she had drawn strength from them.

Unfortunately, she didn't have months to deal with Ranma's
pain; she wasn't sure if she had minutes. She needed
something *now*, and she couldn't give him what Kasumi had
given her.

Akane's thoughts froze on that. What *had* Kasumi given her?
Patience, understanding, a gentle but firm guidance through
a difficult time.

In short, love.

Akane drew a shuddering breath. She knew, now, what she had
to do.

She released Ranma's hands. She reached up to cup her hands
under Ranma's jaw and gently lift his head.

She stared into his eyes for a second, her whole being
shaking with the force of her emotions, hoping Ranma could
see how she felt.

Then she leaned forward and kissed him.

She pressed her lips softly against his, parting her lips
slightly, breathing in his fragrance.

She felt Ranma go rigid. She continued kissing him, willing
him to relax. Please Ranma, she thought to herself, don't
resist your feelings. This once, don't run from yourself.
Trust me, trust your mother. This is good, this is right,
let it happen.

Slowly, he did. Something drained away from him and left his
body limp. He leaned into her, finally kissing her back. She
removed her hands from his face and reached around behind
him to grasp his shoulders. He put his hands around her
waist and held her tightly.

The kiss seemed to go on forever. Akane didn't want it to
stop. Here was her whole life, encapsulated in this moment.
The most important person in her life was in front of her,
loving her, and that made life more beautiful than she could
ever have imagined.

Their positioning was awkward, though, and Akane began to
feel her back protest about the uncomfortable way it was
being bent. Ranma's head was twisted at an awkward angle; he
too had to be feeling a strain. So the moment passed, much
to her regret. With tremendous reluctance, she began to pull
away. Ranma seemed unwilling to let it end also, but he too
leaned back. They continued to hold each other. Akane looked
up into Ranma's eyes, smiling with him.

She got up out of her chair and sat on the bed next to him.
She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on
his chest. He put his arm along her back, his hand gripping
her waist. She could hear his heart pounding, and wondered
if it had beat this fast during his fight with Saffron.

Somehow, she didn't think so.

She sighed, so full of happiness she couldn't contain it. Or
terror; she couldn't distinguish between the two right now.
She was still shaking a little under the impact of her
emotions; Ranma seemed to feel it, and tightened his grip on
her waist. Akane closed her eyes, savoring the feel of his
body.

"Ranma, don't ever tell me again that you're worth nothing.
You're...." She gulped, afraid to say the next words, afraid
not to say them. "You're everything to me."

She stopped, trying to figure out what more to say. Her mind
was racing so fast that half-completed thoughts fled her
consciousness before she could grasp them. She needed to
tell him more, needed him to understand more.

"You're not a bully, Ranma. I've never seen you attack
anyone who didn't have the ability to defend themselves.

"Your father forced you to hide from your mother, but you
eventually fought through the deception. You wanted to be
open and honest with your mother, and she knows that. She
saw how much you wanted her to know that you loved her.

"I could never figure out your father. You two insult each
other all the time. I think it's just that you two aren't
good at expressing your love, so you result to fighting and
insults. Sounds like another couple I know." Akane gave him
a little squeeze.

"As for martial arts being worth nothing, think of all the
people you've helped. When that little girl came all the way
from China to ask for your help, you dropped everything to
go with her and help rescue her father. You fought for honor
and life. You saved my life and, probably, the lives of all
those people who live in Jusendo. That is not something a
bad person does."

She stopped, hoping he'd accept this. She couldn't see his
eyes, but she could almost feel him reject her argument. "I
only went because the Nannichuan was threatened. I only
cared about getting my curse lifted."

Anger stirred within Akane. Stupid blind idiot! She fought
to control it; this was not the time to lash out at Ranma,
no matter how tempted she was. Instead, she lifted her head
from his chest and put her face in front of his, looking
into his eyes. "Answer me truthfully, Ranma. If Plum hadn't
been from Jusenkyo, if she had just been a little girl whose
father had been kidnapped, would you have gone and helped
her?"

Ranma looked at her, his focus moving from one of her eyes
to the other and back. Finally, he took a deep breath. "Yes.
Yes, I would have helped her."

Akane smiled. "See? You are a good person." Several images
flashed through her mind, of Ranma doing various stupid
things. "Sometimes" she amended. "You do bad things too,
Ranma. So do I. No one's perfect. Not even Kasumi." Ranma
gave her a weak smile at this. "The point is that you have
to try to make up for the bad things you do, and look for
opportunities to do good things."

He considered this for a moment, then smiled. Their faces
were so close, she hoped....

He drew her into him, and Akane made a small sound as their
lips found each other again.

They kissed for a long time, the position right this time.
Akane began hoping that he would pull her down onto the bed;
they would be more comfortable that way.

The thought of where that might lead was enough to snap her
back to reality. She hastily pushed Ranma away from her. She
put her hands on her lap and looked down at them, blushing
furiously.

Ranma sounded irritated. "Whatcha do that for?"

Akane's emotions were in an uproar. She was feeling as much
fear as desire; these were strange and scary things she and
Ranma were doing. It was easy to convert it all into anger.
Anger was never far from the surface in Akane, anyway. She
cast about for something to be angry about; there was never
a shortage of reasons to be angry at Ranma. She latched onto
the first thing that occurred to her, something she thought
a lot about. "What about Shampoo and Ukyo and Kodachi? Are
you going to do anything about them? Or are they going to
destroy your home and our wedding over and over again until
we all die of old age?"

Ranma scowled. "It ain't my fault...."

"It is your fault because you let it go on! When Shampoo
discovered that stupid brooch and she didn't seem to like
you anymore, did you let her go? NO! You went and made sure
that she would always be hanging on to you, because it
pleases your stupid ego to have girls chasing after you!"

Ranma flinched, and a stricken look came over his face. His
obvious guilt caused Akane's anger to cool down to a mild
irritation. "Look, Ranma, I know that you don't force people
to become infatuated with you. But you don't discourage
them, either, at least not very well. I think if you tried
hard enough, you could get them to stop coming after you."

Ranma looked confused; he obviously didn't know where to
begin. He reached over and took her hand. "Akane, do...do
you think you could help me?"

Akane melted inside. Ranma needed her, had asked for her
help. This made her feel good inside in a way that made
kissing seem a foolish fancy. "Oh, Ranma...." She could feel
the tears forming in her eyes. "I will always be here to
help."

Ranma smile tenderly and reached over to brush her tears
away. They stared at each other for another long moment.
Akane knew that a threshold had been crossed here, and hoped
that they would never lose the ground they had gained today.
These feelings were so precious, she decided, that she would
do anything in her power to make sure that they never
stopped feeling them.

Like Ranma's mother and father had.

That thought caused her to lose her smile. She wondered if
Ranma's parents had ever felt this way, and what had
happened to make them to fall out of love. She remembered,
too, what Ranma had told her about his parent's
conversation: if Uncle Saotome could help her and Ranma,
then maybe there was hope for him and Auntie Saotome.

That gave her an idea. "Ranma, let's start with your father.
Maybe he has some ideas about your other fiancees."

"Pop?" Ranma looked incredulous. "What could he possibly
know that would help us at all?"

Akane smiled and put her other hand on his cheek. "Trust me,
Ranma-chan."

Ranma smiled back. "Okay, Akane-chan."

They kissed again, this time less desperately, more a
reminder of what had happened than anything else. Akane
stood up and pulled Ranma to her door, preparing to lead him
downstairs to find his father.

There was a tremendous crash from next door in Nabiki's
room. Akane and Ranma blinked at each other, then hurried
into the hallway.

Nabiki's door was open. Inside could be heard voices:
"Saotome-kun, get off me, you've landed on my knee." "I'd do
it if you'd unwrap your arm from around my neck, Tendo."
"Daddy, you're going to wreck my stereo, be careful."
"Genma, Soun-san, if you will let me... lift your leg a
little... that's it."

There was the sound of bodies shuffling, then Auntie Saotome
backed out of Nabiki's room. She turned and looked at Ranma
and Akane. A huge smile appeared on her face. "There you
are! I am so happy for you two. When can we set the wedding
date?"

Ranma looked embarrassed and angry. "Mom! You were
listening, weren't you?"

Akane's father came through the door, tears streaming down
his face. "Akane, my little girl, you've made your poor
father so happy!" He gripped her shoulders and squeezed them
affectionately before dissolving into sobs.

"So you finally found the guts to kiss her, eh, Ranma my
boy? That's the spirit!" Ranma's father had a satisfied look
on his face. "We'll make a man out of you yet."

Auntie Saotome gave a small laugh, and her eyes flicked over
to her husband. "That's not what I meant, Genma," she chided
gently, still smiling.

Ranma was getting more and more outraged by the moment. "You
all were listening! Nabiki, this is your fault, isn't it!
You promised!"

Nabiki had just entered the hallway, a smug look on her
face. "I said I wouldn't dream of it, Ranma. The first time
I have a dream about eavesdropping on you, you can have my
apology."

Ranma seemed to swell, towering over her. "Man oh man, if
you weren't a girl I would..."

"Now now, Ranma, don't crowd her like that, it isn't polite."

Ranma's jaw dropped open. "Kasumi?!"

Kasumi stepped daintily out of Nabiki's room, not looking
the least bit embarrassed. "It's so good to see you and
Akane getting along so well. Don't get too carried away,
though, you're not married yet."

Akane knew that something should be happening to her blood
pressure. She should be joining Ranma in yelling at
everyone. Somehow, though, the fact that their families had
overheard her and Ranma made it seem all the more real. It
was set into everyone's minds, now, and neither she nor
Ranma could pretend that it hadn't happened.

Seeing Ranma gape at Kasumi made Akane laugh. Nabiki started
giggling, too, and it wasn't long before a bewildered Ranma
was surrounded by laughter. He looked so lost that Akane,
still laughing, reached over and took his hand. He looked
down at her, blushing slightly at her very public display of
affection. After looking into her eyes, though, Akane could
see him set his embarrassment aside. He started laughing
too, squeezing her hand under the cover of all the commotion.

Akane's spirits rose to new heights. They had a long way to
go, she knew, before they got married or anything like that.
Yet somehow she had never felt closer to *being* married,
even on the day of their supposed wedding.

This, she supposed, was real love. Somehow they had
neglected to say that word to each other.

Akane knew, though, that now it was only a matter of time.

Gripping her fiancee's hand, she smiled at her laughing
family.

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

Part III : To Pierce the Blackness

Prologue: Council of War

"I think we should start with the easiest fiancee - Kuonji
Ukyo."

Genma sat on the dojo floor, facing Ranma and Akane. They
were all dressed in their gis, having just completed an
intense workout. Genma himself was pretty worn out - he was
not a young man anymore - but both Akane and Ranma looked as
fresh as daisies, even with the sweat glistening on their
faces. It had been the first time the three of them had ever
worked out together. Genma had insisted on it, wanted to use
the workouts to clear their minds. Certainly, he had a lot
to get out of his mind. He looked out the dojo door at the
pond; he could almost hear it calling to him. So much
better, safer if he could just take a swim. It would be nice
to relax for a while.

Genma shoved that thought out of his head. His wife's face
danced before his eyes. She was still as beautiful as the
day he had met her. Yet she was so demanding, the smile on
her face belying the forceful personality underneath. He had
thought her pliable, demur, and easily controlled; their
marriage had soon shown him the error of his perceptions. He
had been glad to escape her demanding ways.

He looked at his son, so like her in many ways. The same
steel will, the same commanding presence. Would he have
wanted a demur and pliable son? He had much to reassess
about his wife, and only one way to get that opportunity.

Ranma, meanwhile, was blinking in surprise. "Why's Ukyo the
easiest?"

Genma made one last effort to clear his head. In a stern
tone of voice, he asked "Ranma, what have I taught you about
a martial artist who specializes in a particular weapon?"

Ranma answered immediately. "It makes them weak. If your
enemy knows where the attack is coming from, it's easier for
your enemy to defend against it. Wielding a weapon limits
your attacks and hinders your defense, no matter how good
you are at using it."

Genma grunted in satisfaction. "Kuonji Ukyo depends mainly
on two weapons: her small throwing spatulas, and her larger
fighting spatula. Knowing that an attack from her is likely
to come from one of these two places will make defeating her
very simple."

Akane looked at him skeptically, then turned towards Ranma.
"Besides, she respects you more than the others. She's more
likely to listen to reason. It shouldn't have to come down
to a fight."

Ranma grimaced. "She didn't seem very reasonable at the
wedding."

Akane tilted her head. "I think she's just getting
desperate. If we clear the air by talking to her rationally,
she'll listen."

It was Ranma's turn to look skeptical. "Are you sure you can
talk rationally with her? You're more likely to hit her over
the head with a mallet."

Genma winced and prepared for the explosion. It wasn't long
in coming.

"Baka!" Akane jumped up, grabbed Ranma by his tunic, and
threw him at the dojo wall. Ranma flipped in the air and
used his feet to bounce off the wall and land back over by
Akane.

"See, what did I tell you?" Ranma sounded smug. "If we go,
you gotta control your temper. Otherwise we'll all end up
fighting and she won't listen to nothing we say."

Akane glowered at him, but slowly calmed down. Finally, a
look of consternation replaced the anger in her face. "Okay,
maybe I will have to try not to get mad so easy." Then a
scowl returned to her face. "But you had better think before
you say anything! If you start running off at the mouth like
you usually do, she'll get mad and we still won't accomplish
anything!"

Ranma immediately started to say something, but Akane was
ready for it. She lifted her hand up and covered his mouth,
her eyes sinking daggers into him.

Ranma seemed chagrined. He reached up and lifted her hand
away. "Okay, you have a point, too. Let's see if together we
can accomplish something we wouldn't be able to do
separately."

Akane's irritation seemed to dissolve at his words. She
stepped closer to him, giving him an adoring look. She
reached up to touch his cheek tenderly. Ranma smiled down at
her, putting his hands on her waist.

Genma smiled, feeling vindicated. Who says arranged
marriages don't work? These two were getting along fine,
thanks to him and Soun. And Nodoka, he mustn't forget. They
were a good couple, and they would carry on the tradition of
the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts in fine fashion.

Genma cleared his throat. "When are you two going to talk
with Ukyo?"

They both started. Ranma turned quickly, flushing slightly.
"Uh, we were thinking after school tomorrow."

Akane had turned slightly red herself, but answered calmly.
"It'll be after the lunch rush but before the dinner crowd.
It should be a good time."

Genma grunted. They seemed to have spurned his martial arts
advice. No matter. Ranma would remember, once the fight had
begun. As Genma knew it would.

***

Ukyo waved cheerily at the departing young man. He had
actually been a bit of a pig, leering at her when he thought
she wasn't looking. He had also flirted with Konatsu, much
to Konatsu's amusement. Ukyo had almost let the man know
Konatsu's secret, but decided against it. After all, he was
a customer, and if he found the server attractive, what did
it matter what the server's real gender was? He might even
come back to flirt with him some more. That thought made her
smile even more widely. Not telling was more fun, too.

She rung up the sale, pausing to move her fighting spatula a
little to the side. She kept it near the cash register in
case someone made the mistake of attempting to rob her.
Anyone who tried to harass two apparently defenseless young
women running a restaurant would be in for a very rude
shock.

Konatsu cleared the table the last customer had been sitting
at and went back to wash the dishes. Ukyo wiped off the
grill, although there wasn't much of a need. It had been a
slow day, but Ukyo wasn't terribly worried; business had
been steady. The customers still came, even if they weren't
getting 500 yen coins in the okonomiyaki anymore - one of
Konatsu's more innovative attempts to attract customers.
Despite the disaster it had been on their bottom line, it
did seem to be having some long-term benefits; the customers
liked her food, and spread the word.

Ukyo hummed to herself. She liked cooking. She was good at
it, and still held the belief that she made the best
okonomiyaki in the world. If she could only get the world to
understand it as well, everyone would be much happier. She
smiled; it was only a matter of time. Today Tokyo; tomorrow
Paris, London, New York, and Beijing. Ucchan's would circle
the globe, and she'd be filthy rich, too. It was a pleasant
fantasy, one that kept her going during tough times.

Ukyo's smile hardened. She was determined to turn the
fantasy into reality. She was young, she had lots of time.
After all, how many people her age ran a restaurant? Surely
a sign of greatness to come.

She heard the door open. She looked up and her heart soared.
"Ran-chan!" Ranma looked as handsome as always. He'd come to
visit, something he didn't do often. That he usually needed
something from her on such occasions didn't bother her in
the least, just so long as he came.

Ranma was in her fantasies, too. The first part of her life
had been spent training to kill him. Well, maybe not kill
him, but at least let him know how angry she was at him.
When she'd been abandoned on the road by him and his father,
a blackness had filled her. She had used the rage to train
herself in a unique martial arts style, the blackness
driving her on with promises of revenge. After she'd
finished her training, she'd established her restaurant. She
had recalled Ranma's name for her: "Ucchan". She had thought
it endearing until he had run off with his father. Naming
her restaurant "Ucchan's" had been a reminder of the revenge
she was going to extract from Ranma.

Then she had gotten down to the business of finding him. It
hadn't been easy, but by pure chance she had seen Genma
leaving a nearby clinic. She had followed him, and been
overjoyed to discover that he was living nearby, and that
Ranma has with him.

She had set up an elaborate plan for revenge. She'd executed
it to perfection against Genma. He had tasted her wrath, and
come to know the folly of abandoning her.

Unexpected things had happened, though, when she had tried
to do the same to Ranma. He had turned out to be strong,
quick, handsome, and friendly. He had called her cute; no
one had called her that for years. Her rage had turned very
quickly to love.

Unfortunately, he had other fiancees. The blackness found
new targets, and she had attempted several plans to try and
separate Ranma from the girls. When they failed, she had
decided to try to win by setting a better example than his
other fiancees. She had become industrious, friendly, and
helpful. The name of her restaurant remained "Ucchan's"; now
it was a promise of things to come for her and Ranma.

There had been times when she had almost given up, time when
she had almost thought that Ranma didn't love her. The
blackness had helped her then, though, reminding her that
Ranma had called her cute, and that he wouldn't do that if
he didn't love her. If other thoughts tried to argue
differently, the blackness swallowed them.

Ranma closed his umbrella; it was raining outside, and he
had a particular aversion to rain. She smiled; she could
accept that about him. She would accept just about anything
from her future husband. It was another fantasy she was
determined to see come true.

Ranma held the door open, and Akane followed him in. Ukyo
scowled for the briefest of moments: what was *she* doing
here? She quickly recovered, though; a cute fiancee wouldn't
scowl.

"Can I make you some okonomiyaki?" She reached over for the
batter, trying to imagine what shape she should bake into
it. She'd used a heart so much; how about a flower? Or a
wild horse; that would be a challenge.

"Ucchan - " Ranma stopped abruptly, seemed to reconsider his
words. He had an unhappy look on his face. Ukyo looked over
at Akane, who stood very close to Ranma, looking at Ukyo
with the same sadness in her face, but mixed with a grim
determination.

A cold lump of fear settled in Ukyo's stomach. Slowly she
set the batter down. "Konatsu!" she called out, her voice a
little shaky.

He appeared behind her, his reflexes very sharp. "Yes, Ukyo-
sama?"

She continued looking at Ranma and Akane. "Konatsu, please
go to the store and get us some more noodles."

She could hear the puzzlement in his voice. "But Ukyo-sama,
the delivery truck was here just three days ago. Surely we
have enough for - "

"Now, Konatsu!" Ukyo hated how shrill her voice sounded, but
she couldn't seem to control it, or how fast her heart was
racing. She just needed as few people around here as
possible. "Lock the door on your way out."

Konatsu was silent for a long moment. Then she could here
the rustle of his kimono as he bowed. "Yes, Ukyo-sama." He
went to the door, pausing to give Ranma and Akane a probing
look. He glanced at Ukyo, his eyes questioning. She flashed
an angry look at him; he ducked his head, flipped the sign
over to "Closed", went outside and locked the door behind
him.

Ranma and Akane had watched the scene without comment, but
their faces had become sadder during its length. The fear in
Ukyo's stomach grew, and spread to a tightness in her chest.
She cast about for a topic, anything to delay the
inevitable. "Ran-chan, w-will you be going on vacation with
your family during the school break?"

Ranma licked his lips before answering. "Uh, I dunno. Nabiki
is going to be moving out. I, uh, think we'll be helping her
do that."

Akane spoke a little hesitantly. "We will go to the beach
for a week - one last time all together." Akane paused for a
moment, than spoke in a rush. "You could come too, if you
want."

Ranma looked at Akane in surprise, but quickly added, "Sure!
We'd love to have you, Ucchan."

Ukyo smiled weakly. "I'll have to see if I can take some
time off. Summer's my busiest season, though, especially
during the school break."

They all stared at each other, a silence growing, hanging
heavily in the air. Ukyo was afraid to breathe for fear of
sobbing; afraid to move for fear of collapsing. The
blackness filled her. She clutched the counter with her
hands, threatening to crush it in her grip.

Akane gave a slightly exasperated sigh. She poked Ranma in
the ribs with her elbow. He looked down at her, and they
stared into each other's eyes for a few seconds. The way
Ranma's face softened put ice into Ukyo's heart.

This could not be happening. It was not happening. Akane was
the uncute one, she and Ranma were always fighting and would
always be fighting. Akane would never be half the woman Ukyo
was; surely Ranma could see that.

Ranma turned back to Ukyo, now reflecting some of Akane's
determination. "Ucchan -"

"NO!" The word was ripped from Ukyo's throat. She reached
over and grabbed her fighting spatula. She took it in an
overhand grip and brought it crashing down on the counter in
front of Ranma.

He jumped back, his eyes betraying his shock. Ukyo didn't
care; he would not do this to her. Without thought, her
throwing spatulas appeared in her hand. She sent them flying
towards Ranma.

Infuriatingly, he dodged them easily, as he always did. He
flipped himself over by the door and attempted to open it,
cursing when he found it locked.

He had given her an opening, and she grabbed it. She leapt
over the counter, raised her fighting spatula, and brought
it down towards Ranma's head.

He dropped to the ground, letting her spatula pass over him.
He grabbed her legs and pulled them out from under her. Ukyo
landed on her rear end with a cry. She changed the grip on
her spatula and brought a backhanded blow to bear on Ranma.

He raised his forearms and absorbed the blow; she couldn't
bring much force to bear in a sitting position. She bared
her teeth and rolled away from him. She sprung to her feet
and sent several more throwing spatulas at him.

Ranma leapt back towards the center of the restaurant,
upending a table that took most of the hits from her
throwing spatulas. He stood behind it, his stance ready, his
eyes wary.

And the sad look was still on his face.

Ukyo's black rage continued undiminished. He would deny her
the fulfillment of her fantasies! She had worked too hard,
given up too much to let him get away. She raised her
spatula overhead again, prelude to a leaping attack over the
table directly at Ranma.

She felt the spatula being yanked out of her hands. She
turned to see Akane holding the spatula in her two hands,
somewhat like a picket sign, the wide end partially covering
her face. Akane seemed to be struggling with anger.

Ukyo was beyond caring. Here was the source of her problems!
This woman needed to learn that Kuonji Ukyo was not one to
be trifled with. Ukyo found four more throwing spatulas in
her hand and sent them flying towards Akane. Her intention
was to have them strike the wide, flat end of the fighting
spatula, scaring Akane and hopefully getting her to drop it.
It would teach her not to interfere in Ukyo's business.

It was unfortunate that Akane chose that moment to lower the
spatula.

Three of the throwing spatulas whizzed by Akane's head where
the fighting spatula had been. The fourth struck Akane in
the face.

Akane screamed, dropped the fighting spatula and fell to the
floor. She slapped her hands to her face and curled up in a
ball, her screams muffled.

"AKANE!" Ranma's voice reverberated throughout the room.
Something struck Ukyo from behind, and she went flying to
the side, landing in a heap on the floor. She watched in a
daze as Ranma scooped up Akane. He kicked the door
viciously; it literally exploded off its hinges, splintering
into a hundred pieces. Ranma was through it in a flash.

Ukyo lay there in a daze, unable to comprehend what had just
happened. She crawled over to where Akane had fallen. Blood
spots covered the floor. A lot of blood spots.

The blackness claimed Ukyo. She wasn't sure if she fainted
or if her mind simply shut down momentarily. When she became
aware again, Konatsu was shaking her shoulders.

"Ukyo-sama!" He sounded desperate and angry. "Who did this?
It was Ranma, wasn't it? I knew he couldn't be trusted."
Konatsu looked at the floor around Ukyo, evidently noticing
the blood spots for the first time. "Oh no, Ukyo-sama, are
you hurt? Let me get you to the hospital!"

The hospital. Yes, that was where she needed to go. She
brought herself up and staggered to the door. Or to the
opening where the door used to be. She felt Konatsu touch
her arm. She turned around fast enough to surprise even his
ninja reflexes. She grabbed his face between her hands.

"Don't bother me! Stay here until I get back. Do nothing,
you understand me? Stay here until I say it's okay for you
to leave. Stay here."

She realized she was babbling. She shut her mouth and stared
into his eyes until she was sure he understood. Then she
released him, grabbed Ranma's umbrella, and ran out the door
into the pouring rain.

***

The hospital was not very far away. She figured it took
Ranma ten minutes to run there from her store. Not having to
carry anyone, she made it in five, hopping along the
rooftops.

She skittered into the main entrance and realized her
mistake: the emergency room was on the other side of the
building. Rather than go outside and run around the
building, she ran through the corridors, barely noticing
anyone around her.

She turned a corner and stopped. At the end of the hallway
was the emergency waiting room. She had a good view of the
entire Tendo/Saotome clan. Akane's father was sobbing
hysterically. Kasumi was sitting next to him, her hands
patting his back and arm, speaking soothing words. Nabiki
was leaning against the wall, rubbing her cheek over and
over. Ranma was furiously pacing in a circle, her hands
clenched at her sides. Genma was talking to Ranma in a low
voice. Nodoka was just walking up to her son, carrying a
kettle, a worried look on her face.

Ukyo felt the blackness coming over her again. She couldn't

be responsible for this, she couldn't be the source of all
the pain in the waiting room. Leave now, a scared voice
inside her head told her. Leave now before they see you.

Too late. Kasumi looked up and stared directly at Ukyo. Ukyo
averted her eyes, then turned around and fled back down the
hallway, the blackness at the edge of her consciousness. She
got halfway down the hall when she found a long, low bench
she could collapse on. She started sobbing, and let the
blackness creep ever further around her.

She heard footsteps behind her. Slow, measured footsteps,
not the footsteps of someone chasing her, thank goodness.
They stopped right behind her. Very likely a nurse or
someone, about to ask her to go back to the waiting room.
Ukyo was beyond caring at this point. She just wanted it not
to be her fault.

Whoever it was sat down on the bench behind her. Ukyo
shuddered and tried to pull herself further down the bench.
A hand was placed on her back. It rested there a moment,
then started patting her.

"Akane's all right, Ukyo-chan. Ranma thinks she turned her
head at the last moment, so it only grazed her cheek. There
was a lot of blood, but not much actual damage. She'll have
a few stitches and then she'll go home. The doctor doesn't
even think the scar will be noticeable, except from close
up."

Ukyo glanced quickly up at the speaker. Kasumi was smiling
warmly at her. Ukyo examined her face closely, and found no
trace of recrimination there. "Really?" she asked shakily.

Kasumi offered her a handkerchief. Ukyo looked at it for a
second in disbelief, than used it to clean herself up. She
sniffled into it for a second, still looking closely at
Kasumi. She had difficulty accepting Kasumi's warm smile and
calm demeanor.

The tears continued flowing from Ukyo's eyes. "Kasumi, I'm
so sorry."

Kasumi spoke in a bright tone. "Did Akane tell you that you
are welcome to come with us on our summer trip?"

Ukyo's jaw dropped open. "I-I couldn't possibly..."

"We'll be spending a few days there. Nabiki has found an
entire house we can rent, within walking distance from the
beach. There will be plenty of room. I'd love to have your
help preparing dinner. Maybe you could show me some of your
secrets to making okonomiyaki."

Ukyo's mind was reeling. "Kasumi, no one wants me around,
not after I..." This time Ukyo stopped herself; she couldn't
complete the thought.

Kasumi continued speaking lightly. "Nonsense. You've known
Ranma-kun since you both were children. You've helped our
family out on many occasions. We're glad to have you as our
friend."

Ukyo continued to gape at Kasumi, her self-recrimination
slowly giving way to incredulous annoyance. Could Kasumi
really be this oblivious? Could she truly not understand
what had just happened? "Kasumi, you can't be serious. I
simply can't go."

"You *will* go." For the briefest of moments, Kasumi's face
hardened, and determination lined her features. "I will not
have this... misunderstanding... gnawing away at my family's
peace of mind. You will come and have a good time and remain
on good terms with Ranma-kun." She smiled again. "Isn't that
what you want, Ukyo-chan?"

Ukyo reeled. This was a side of Kasumi she had never seen
before. Ukyo realized there were depths to Kasumi that
remained hidden under her usually cheerful nature.

She considered Kasumi's words. What *did* Ukyo want? She
wasn't sure, but the picture Kasumi painted of a pleasant
family holiday was very seductive. There certainly was no
harm in agreeing; she could always change her mind. "Okay,
I'll bring my okonomiyaki cart; maybe I could do some
business at the beach."

Kasumi beamed at her. "Excellent! Don't plan on working too
hard, though, it's a vacation! We'll certainly need some
volleyball players, and I'd love to have a clothes-shopping
companion."

Ukyo smiled back at her. Kasumi was a great person, maybe
the best person Ukyo knew. How Kasumi could pull her from
the brink of despair so easily she didn't know, but it felt
good. Having Kasumi on your side made getting through the
tough times much easier.

Ukyo looked beyond Kasumi and her smile withered. Ranma
stood there, looking at her, his face cold.

Kasumi turned around and spoke to him happily. "Ranma-kun,
Ukyo will be coming with us to the beach next month, isn't
that nice? She'll make us some okonomiyaki. I know how much
you like it."

Ranma shifted his gaze to Kasumi, his cold expression not
changing. As Kasumi continued to smile at him, though, it
started to melt. Finally, he looked almost sheepish as he
said. "Yeah, that'll be nice. Kasumi, can I talk to Ukyo for
a second?"

"Of course." Kasumi stood up and walked over to Ranma. She
looked into his eyes for a second, smiling but with
something in her eyes that made Ranma gulp and look down.
Kasumi gave his arm a quick squeeze, then went back to the
waiting room.

Ukyo looked up at Ranma, the fear back in her stomach. His
face was now calm, but his eyes couldn't exactly be called
friendly. She moved away from him slightly, unsure what to
do, terribly frightened.

Ranma moved towards her suddenly, and she flinched. But all
he did was to sit down next to her on the bench. His blue-
gray eyes seemed to pierce her soul.

Ukyo quailed under his gazed. "I'm sorry, Ranma. I didn't
mean it, I swear I didn't mean it. I never never wanted to
hurt her, really and truly I didn't." She felt the tears
coming again, and the blackness behind them.

Ranma grimaced. "Throwing bladed spatulas at people is
stupid. I know that when you throw them at me you count on
my reflexes being able to do dodge them. You don't really
hope that they hit me. I saw what you were trying to do when
you threw those things at Akane; you thought that they would
hit the spatula." Ranma glowered at her. "You should know
that during a fight, anything can happen, that it never goes
the way you expect." His face returned to a neutral
expression, and his gaze turned inwards. "It was a stupid
and dangerous game you were playing. When you have the
martial arts skills we have, you have to be careful how you
use them." He spoke softly, almost a whisper. "You could
have killed him, even if that wasn't what you meant."

"Him?" What was he talking about?

Ranma seemed to refocus on her. His voice turned sharp. "You
know what I mean. What were you trying to do, anyway?"

Ukyo slumped her shoulders and looked down at the bench.
"Ran-chan, I - " She stopped, swallowed. "I just couldn't...
let her... you two can't..." She looked up, suddenly angry,
the blackness upon her. She grabbed his shoulders and yelled
in his face. "You're engaged to me! Your dad took the dowry!
That means you belong to me!"

She stopped for a second, unable to read his expression. She
continued in a fierce voice. "I've got it all, Ranma: looks,
brains, a good business. I can support you while you run a
dojo of your own, you don't need the Tendo Dojo. You'll be
much, much happier with me than you ever would be with her!
You have to choose me, you have to!"

A thoughtful look appeared on Ranma's face. Ukyo's hopes
soared; he was considering it! Maybe if she leaned forward
and kissed him...

Before she could complete that thought, he gently but firmly
lifted her hands off his shoulders. Pushing her away
slightly, he asked "What about Konatsu?"

"Konatsu?" How could he be jealous of a cross-dressing ninja
server? "I don't love Konatsu, Ran-chan, I love..."

Ranma interrupted her before she could finish. "But he loves
you. He told you how he feels about you. He hangs around you
all the time. He would do anything for you. Why don't you
tell him you love him?"

Ukyo gritted her teeth. What possible relevance could this
have? Why would Ranma care about her feelings towards
Konatsu? "It doesn't matter how much he loves me, I don't
love him back! I will never love him! I feel sorry that he's
so infatuated with me. He's a great guy and a good worker,
and I'll be glad to let him in on the business. But we will
never be more than friends." Ukyo stared at Ranma, trying to
make him understand.

He just looked back at her, boring his eyes into hers. She
flushed, what was he trying to prove? If Konatsu would never
have her love, why would Ranma...

Suddenly, she understood.

Horrified realization crashed over her. She started weeping.
"No, no, no..." She couldn't stop. This was not how it was
supposed to be. Ranma loved her, he had to love her.

He had just shown her, however, that love offered isn't
always love returned.

"Ucchan.." Ranma encased her in his arms. "Ucchan, I do like
you. I want us to be friends. But you gotta understand.." He
paused, seemingly reluctant to say the next few words. "I l-
love.." He trailed off again. "It's someone else who...who
has my affection."

At that moment, for the first time, something penetrated the
blackness in Ukyo's mind. It felt like a shaft of pure white
light struck the core of her soul, carrying the message,
"Ranma doesn't love you." Her mind shuddered and tried to
block the light with the blackness. But the light stood
firmly, echoing its message throughout her being. No matter
what you do, no matter how hard you try, the light said to
her, Ranma will never love you.

Ukyo shivered and fought back the blackness. She allowed the
light to engrave its message on her soul. With acceptance
came a strange peace. The conflict was over. She had lost,
and that hurt a lot, but the wound would heal, and she would
recover. It promised to be a long and painful recovery; too
much of her life had been spent allowing the blackness to
grow. Ranma would be there to help, though, as well as
Konatsu. Kasumi would probably help, too. Just the thought
that they would be there if she needed them was already
helping.

Ukyo looked up at Ranma, trying to smile through her tears.
" 'Has my affection'? Ranma, you can do better than that."
She wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his
chest; for just this once, she was going to have Ranma all
to herself, if only for a few seconds. "Don't deny your
feelings, Ranma. Trust me, denial gets you nowhere."

She heard him gulp. Then he tightened his grip on her. Ukyo
sighed and fell into a fantasy, one where she and Ranma had
just gotten married, and they were sitting on a train on the
way to their honeymoon. She was hugging him just like this,
and he was her husband, and she could hug him as much as she
wanted to for the rest of her life.

She struggled out of the fantasy; that way led back to the
blackness. She pushed Ranma away, still smiling bravely.
"It's best that you go back to the waiting room. You don't
want to miss Akane."

He looked at her, his face a little wary. She stood up,
pulled him to his feet, turned him around, and gave him a
little push down the hallway. "Go! Just be sure to give me
an invitation to the wedding. I'll leave my spatulas
behind."

Ranma looked over his shoulder. He grinned at her. "It's a
deal, Ucchan." He held her gaze a while, then turned and ran
back down the hallway.

Ukyo continued to smile, although tears once again began
streaming down her face. Most of her life had been spent
fixating on the man running down the hallway. Letting him go
made her feel relieved and terrified at the same time.

Turning her back on Ranma, she walked down the corridor and
left the hospital.

***

Ukyo paused as she entered her restaurant. Konatsu had been
busy; most of the damage had been repaired, and the blood
cleaned off the floor. The door was still missing; she'd
need to do something about it first thing tomorrow.

Konatsu appeared, and Ukyo sighed. He was wearing his ninja
outfit, with his face covered and his eyes deadly serious.
"Ukyo-sama, now can I go take care of Saotome Ranma?"

Ukyo went up to him and took off his hood. She gripped his
shoulders tightly. "Konatsu listen to me. What happened here
was all my fault, every bit of it. I attacked Ranma and
Akane without provocation. I cut Akane's face, and Ranma
broke the door down while taking her to the hospital."

Shock covered Konatsu's face. He tried to look down but Ukyo
grabbed his chin and held his head steady. "Konatsu, you
have to understand one more thing. I don't love you. I will
never love you. The sooner you accept that, the happier
you'll be. Trust me. You're my good friend and I'm glad to
know you. But if you think that I'll eventually change my
mind, you're wasting your time here."

She removed her hands and stepped back. He stood rock still,
his face covered with misery.

Very much, Ukyo supposed, like she had looked in the
hospital.

His eyes glistened. "You're still my friend, Ukyo-sama?" he
asked querulously.

She smiled at him. "Yes, of course. Always. But shouldn't
you just call me Ukyo?"

He quivered a little. "Okay...Ukyo." He turned. "I had
better get ready for the dinner rush."

"Hey kiddo." He turned back towards her. "If you ever need
to talk, I'm here."

He smiled at her, although she could tell he was still
hurting. Konatsu went back to his room to change.

Ukyo sighed. There was going to be a lot of pain here
tonight. She wondered if she was going to lose Konatsu. She
hoped not.

She went back behind the counter and discovered that Konatsu
had replaced her fighting spatula. She hefted it in her hands;
it felt good and comfortable there. She thought back to her
days by the ocean, when the sea's rage and her rage were matched
wave for wave. She thought about Ranma perched on her spatula,
a quizzical look on his face. She thought about Ranma calling
her cute. She thought how quickly he'd come to her help when
she was on the verge of bankruptcy. She thought about the long
nights she had spent lost in pleasant fantasies about killing
the Saotomes. She thought about the long nights she had spent
lost in pleasant fantasies about marrying Ranma. She thought
about Ranma and Akane entering her store with sad looks on their
faces.

Ukyo walked back over to the doorway and stepped outside
into the rain. She looked carefully around to see if anyone
was nearby.

With a fierce cry, she attacked the banner over her store.
It wasn't long before "Ucchan's" was indistinguishable among
the tatters of cloth.

Then she brought the spatula down on the street corner. She
hit it in just the right place; the wide, flat end snapped
off, leaving her holding the handle in her hands.
Contemptuously, she threw it in the gutter. Water from the
gutter washed over it and continued down the sewer drain.

Looking down, she could feel the blackness washing away with
it.

Spinning on her heel, she went back inside to prepare for
the dinner rush.

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

Part IV : That Way Madness Lies

Nabiki slid open the dojo door. Sitting on the floor after
their workout were Ranma, Uncle Saotome, and Akane. They
were so intent on their conversation that they didn't even
look to see who it was.

"Kuno Kodachi is dangerous," Uncle was saying. "She relies
on weapons, which weakens her, but use many different
weapons, which makes defending against her difficult. She
also uses chemical agents to paralyze her opponents. I would
suggest wearing masks over your mouth and nose."

"We'll look funny coming to talk to her with masks on."
Akane unconsciously touched the bandage on her cheek.
"She'll probably take that as a sign we don't trust her."

"Well, I don't trust her." Ranma was looking fierce. "We
can't afford to let our guard down for a second." He looked
protectively over at Akane, his gaze lingering on her bandage.
Since Akane had come home from the hospital, Ranma had been
treating her like she was made out of china, which both annoyed
and pleased Akane.

Akane frowned at Ranma. "Come on, Ranma, we can't just knock
on the Kuno door, ask for Kodachi, and then pound her until
she agrees to stop chasing you."

"That would be *my* recommendation," a voice spoke forcefully
from behind Nabiki.

Ranma, Akane, and Uncle looked up at this, staring at surprise
as the speaker stepped around Nabiki. He bowed to the center of
the dojo, then entered. "I, Kuno Tatewaki, offer my unconditional
assistance."

Nabiki grimaced. She'd asked Tatewaki to come over and offer his
help in evaluating his sister before Ranma and Akane confronted
her. She'd hoped for a slightly more intelligent appraisal from
him. Although she'd gotten to know him a little better over the
past few weeks, he had not mentioned his family since their first
lunch time spent together.

She spoke in an exasperated tone of voice. "Kuno-baby, you
can do better than that. Sit down and let's talk this over
in just a little bit more detail."

Although his stern expression didn't change, she could feel
disapproval radiating from him. Nevertheless, he walked over
and sat cross-legged on the floor next to Akane and Ranma. He put
his bokken across his legs. Ranma was looking at him with
outright hostility, while Akane merely looked uncomfortable. Well,
Nabiki supposed, they had good reason.

It was up to Nabiki to give them a reason to like him. This
was important to her, somehow.

She went over and slapped Ranma's shoulder. He looked up at
her in surprise. She made a little shooing motion with her
hands. He scowled, but moved over. Nabiki sat down between him
and Kuno. Best to make sure there was a buffer between them.

Tatewaki was staring at Akane, "Nabiki has told me of your
injury. How are you faring, Tendo Akane-san?"

Akane brought her arm up to touch her bandage again. "It's
nothing, really. Just a few stitches - well, actually lots
of tiny stitches. I've already had some of them removed, and
Tofu-sensei thinks that the scar will be nearly invisible -
it's right along my cheekbone, so the natural highlights of
my face will hide it."

Tatewaki looked over at Ranma. He gripped his bokken, but
kept it on his lap. "And where you while my - " he stopped
abruptly, started again. "Where were you when Akane-san was
being attacked?"

Ranma seemed to swell. Nabiki grimaced again; Tatewaki had
pushed the wrong button. Ranma was feeling incredibly guilty
over letting Akane be injured, even though the whole rest of
the family - including Akane - assured him there was nothing
he could have done.

Nabiki quickly got up and stood directly between Tatewaki
and Ranma, breaking their eye contact. She hunched down on
her heels and looked Tatewaki in the face. "Ranma was there,
Tatewaki-kun. He threw her attacker to the floor, picked Akane
up, and ran through the pouring rain to the hospital. It wasn't
his fault she got hurt, and he certainly reacted fast enough to
protect Akane from further harm, and to make sure her wounds were
attended to quickly." She gave him her evil eye, an expression
she used when she wanted to put the fear of Nabiki into the
recipient. "Do you understand?"

Tatewaki looked at her, and relaxed his grip on his bokken.
To her utter shock and amazement, he stood and bowed to
Ranma. "I apologize, Saotome Ranma, if I accused you unfairly.
You are a worthy protector of Akane-san."

Nabiki gaped at him. She had seen him slowly soften during
their lunch time encounters, but she had never expected this
radical a change from him. He was giving up his claim on Akane
and acknowledging Ranma's engagement to her all at once.

Where is this coming from, Nabiki asked herself. He can't
really have changed his mind so completely. Nabiki prided
herself on understanding human nature, and she knew that
these kind of turnabouts did not happen spontaneously. They
were usually indicative of one of two things: either this was
a ploy, an attempt to get Ranma to drop his guard, or he had
found something else to fixate on besides Akane.

Nabiki flushed suddenly. She thrust the half-formed speculation
of his new fixation out of her mind. More important things to
think about at the moment.

Ranma seemed just as shocked as Nabiki was at Tatewaki's
apology. He didn't seem to know how to react. "Uh... uh... uh..."
Nothing coherent was coming from his mouth and, Nabiki knew,
nothing coherent was likely to emerge. Or if he actually did say
something, it was guaranteed to be exactly the wrong response.

Akane seemed to recognize this also. Still sitting, she
reached over to tug on Tatewaki's very wide and loose pants.
"He says thanks, Kuno-sempai."

Of course, "Kuno-sempai" was the last thing Ranma would call
Tatewaki, unless he was being sarcastic. However, Tatewaki
seemed to accept it. He returned to his cross-legged position on
the floor. Nabiki looked down at him a moment, then resumed her
seat, a little closer to Tatewaki than before.

"My sister," Tatewaki said, assuming a stern voice, "is diabolical,
unpredictable, and maniacal. She will stop at nothing to get her
way...and I do mean nothing." Tatewaki glanced from face to face,
trying to get his point across. "She has yet to kill anyone,
preferring to paralyze them. I would not put it past her, though."

He turned to Ranma. "She has become enamored of you, Ranma, for
reasons that defy explanation. To approach her rationally is futile;
she is beyond reason. It would be best if you challenged her to a
duel for the right to your hand. You must then beat her very
thoroughly. Any half-measures would not make an impression
on her. She would merely redouble her efforts to win you as her
husband. Show her that you are deadly serious, and you just might
break her will."

Ranma sat there, stunned. Nabiki felt no less stricken. His
frank and brutal appraisal of his own sister frightened her.
Although she and Akane might occasionally exchange verbal barbs,
there was no doubt how devoted they were to each other and the
rest of the family. Ranma, too, was well liked by the Tendos,
even if he occasionally acted like an idiot. To find that a brother
and sister could think so little of each other was a shock.

Uncle was the only one who took it in stride. "Do you have
any suggestions on defeating her in combat?"

Tatewaki reached inside his tunic and pulled out a small
package. "These packets contain antidotes to the poisons she
likes to use. Ingest them just before combat, and you stand a
better chance." He set them on the floor in front of Akane.

He looked over at Ranma. "You have fought her before. You
know her style, and the weapons she likes to use. It does
not change from those she uses in the gymnastics ring. Beware
of the traps she sets; she is quite clever in setting them up,
and they change constantly."

Ranma nodded, while Nabiki wondered when Tatewaki had ever
seen Kodachi fight Ranma in his male form.

Uncle grunted. "Does she have any weaknesses you can tell us
about, boy?"

Tatewaki merely gazed straight ahead, as if he hadn't heard
the question. Nabiki frowned; this was the reason she had
brought him here. She leaned over to him and shook him a little.
"Well, Tatewaki-kun? Does she?"

Tatewaki spoke with great reluctance. "If you mention our
mother, she will either attack in a blind rage or collapse
to the ground in tears."

Everyone stared at him in silence. Horror ran through Nabiki;
what kind of life had he known while growing up? She put her
hand on his arm, vaguely trying to reassure him. This kind of
touchy-feely stuff was not her greatest skill; she usually left
that to Kasumi. She wished she'd paid better attention to the
tricks Kasumi used; she could use them now.

Akane licked her lips and broke the silence. "We don't have
school the day after tomorrow. How about we challenge her to
a duel then, Ranma?"

Ranma looked over to her. "I don't know, do we know she'll accept?"

"She will." Tatewaki sounded certain. "As long as you let her
know that you are the prize, she will agree to anything." His
eyes burned into Ranma's. "Just be certain you win."

Ranma gulped and nodded. "It should be just me who challenges
her, shouldn't it?"

Akane glowered at him. "Hey! Don't leave me out of it! It
makes more sense if I challenged her anyway, with the winner
getting you."

Ranma scowled at her. "Are you serious? C'mon, you know you
can't possibly defeat her in combat."

"I beat you up often enough!"

"Only 'cause I let you. Remember our first fight in the dojo?"

"Well, I've gotten a lot better since then!"

"So have I."

"Akane." Uncle interrupted the argument. "The risk we are
taking here is high. To lose is to force Ranma to marry this
deranged woman. To win is to make certain she never bothers us
again. Who would you choose to fight that battle?"

Akane sighed and looked down. She shook her head a little,
but finally admitted, "Ranma."

Uncle nodded. "I will contact Kodachi and establish the
conditions of contest."

"Be certain she understands that she forever gives up claim
to Ranma." Tatewaki's voice was full of warning. "She loves
to twist words about and alter them to her liking. Make sure
you clearly state what exactly is at stake."

Uncle nodded. Akane looked scared. Ranma jumped to his feet,
his fists clenched in front of him. "Just you wait, Kodachi.
You ain't gonna ever come between me and Akane again!"

"A worthy vow, Saotome Ranma-san." Tatewaki got to his feet,
and Nabiki rose with him. "If you will excuse me." He bowed.
To Nabiki's surprise, Ranma bowed back. The guy was maturing,
if only a little.

As they left the dojo, Nabiki noticed the adoring look Akane
was giving Ranma. That would make the whole exercise worthwhile,
if they could only keep those two looking at each other like that.

Nabiki stopped Tatewaki at the front door. She looked into
his eyes, unsure of what he was thinking. "Tatewaki-kun, do
you believe Ranma can do it?"

Tatewaki looked down at her. "He is strong, quick, and skilled;
that speaks favorably for him. He gets distracted easily, and
is prone to letting his emotions interfere with his fighting;
that does not bode well. He is very quick to learn and exploit
the weaknesses in others; that is my greatest hope for his victory."

Nabiki blinked; he had just given an excellent evaluation of
Ranma's martial arts abilities. "That's a good analysis.
Why..." she trailed off, not wanting to embarrass him.

He gave her a humorless smile. "Why do I continue to challenge
him when I know full well his abilities?" The smile faded. "It
is much easier, Nabiki-chan, to scrutinize those around you than
it is to examine the faults within yourself."

Before she could stop him, he turned, opened the door, and
walked quickly outside into the setting sun.

Nabiki looked after him, her mind reeling. There were layers
and layers to Tatewaki, pain upon pain yet to be discovered
within him. She wasn't sure it was a task she was willing to
undertake. Much effort would be needed; would the profit be
enough? Nabiki didn't know. Best to cut her losses now rather
than risk more capital.

Nabiki continued to watch as his form was lost in the distance
and light. Somehow, this investment drew her as no other ever had.
Maybe it was worth trying to protect.

Biting her lip, she stepped back inside.

***

Ranma was walking on the fence, intense concentration on his
face. Akane looked up at him, worry etched on her face. Nabiki
could feel their tension; it matched her own.

She looked over at Uncle Saotome. His face was neutral, as it
usually was. "Why did you agree to have it at the Kuno residence?
She'll have all her traps there."

Uncle glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. "She claimed,
as the one challenged, the right to choose the venue. I had to
agree, out of honor. I did force her to accept me as an observer,
to make sure the conditions of contest are met."

Akane looked over at him. "Did she really agree to give up
Ranma if she loses?"

Uncle looked at Nabiki. "See what you think. The conditions
state that if Ranma wins, Kodachi irretrievably, irrevocably,
and permanently gives up all claims to Ranma as his bride,
concubine, girlfriend, or lover of any sort. She agrees to
never consort with Ranma or Akane ever again, and will never
interfere with their lives in any way, unless she has specific
permission from Ranma or Akane to do so."

Ranma looked at his father. "Hey!"

Uncle shrugged. "She insisted on that clause. I agreed, since I
found it unlikely that either of you would ever grant her such
permission."

Nabiki scowled at him. "Seems to me should could kidnap you or me,
then tell Ranma that he had better give her permission or she would
kill us."

"I told Kodachi that threatening any friends or family members
would constitute interference. She agreed."

Akane looked unsure. "Do we really know that she'll do it if
she loses?"

"For that, we have to rely on Tatewaki's judgment." Uncle Saotome
looked up at his son. "That means, my boy, that you do not go easy
on her. Use all of your skills to defeat her completely. You must
let her know how serious you are, or it will all be for nothing."

Ranma nodded grimly. Nabiki could tell he wasn't exactly pleased;
he had trouble hitting girls. Nabiki sighed in frustration; not
only was that sexist of him, but it hindered his ability to protect
himself and Akane from lunatics like Kodachi. He'd better be serious
today, Nabiki thought. One hesitation and Kodachi would have him as
her husband in a second.

Nabiki shuddered. She'd only known Ranma for a year, but he felt
like family. She'd hate to see that happen to him. Not to mention
what it would do to Akane. Nabiki looked over at her. Akane looked
very scared. Nabiki grimaced. There was so much at stake here.
Ranma had better win.

They approached the Kuno residence. Tatewaki stood at the entrance,
waiting for them. He opened the gates and gestured towards the back
yard. "Kodachi awaits you there. Akane-san, Genma-sensei, you will
find chairs on the back porch from which you can observe." He turned
to Nabiki. "Nabiki-san, Kodachi objects to your presence. You are
not directly involved with the principal issues; she fears that you
will cause a distraction. She says that Akane-san is barely tolerable;
you are not."

Nabiki gritted her teeth. She drew a couple of angry breaths and let
them go. This was too important for her to make an issue out of
Kodachi's snobbery. She turned to Ranma and glared at him. "Win,
Saotome. Just win. Don't fool around and don't hold back. If you
lose, I will call in all your loans. You don't want me to do that."

Ranma gave her a grim smile. "Yeah, right. Win." He looked at Akane
and his father. "Let's go." They moved into the yard, heading around
to the house to the back.

Tatewaki looked after them, then turned to Nabiki. "Kodachi objects
to your presence, but I do not. Come with me, if you would." He
took a step towards the house, then stopped. "Please."

Nabiki folder her arms, still annoyed at being left out of the
fight. It wasn't his fault, though. She shook her head to clear
it, then followed Tatewaki.

He took her into the house, upstairs to an enclosed room. It
had a large console with many controls and several monitors.
Against one wall was a much larger screen. Currently, it showed
Kodachi dressed in her gymnastics outfit, idly twirling a ribbon
as Ranma and his entourage came into view.

Nabiki looked at Tatewaki in surprise, than slipped into the
chair in front of the console. She scanned the controls.
"Can we listen to them, too?"

Standing just behind her, he reached over her and turned a
knob. Nabiki noticed in passing that he smelled good.

" - see you, Ranma-sama." Kodachi was smiling widely. "Are
you ready to become my husband? I have made all the necessary
preparations; we will be married by evening."

Ranma grunted. "We'll see about that." He took a packet out
of his tunic, opened it, and swallowed its contents.

Kodachi laughed, a haunting, surreal sound that always sent
shivers up Nabiki's spine. "Did my dear brother give you
that? He has become meddlesome. Don't worry, Ranma-sama, I
will not need to resort to such tricks to defeat you."

Ranma crumpled the packet and threw it to the ground.
"Enough talk. Let's do it, Kodachi."

Kodachi smiled. "So eager to attend your wedding! How wonderful!"

Uncle spoke from where he and Akane were sitting on the porch.
"You remember what we agreed to, Kodachi?"

She looked vaguely annoyed. "Yes, yes. No killings, a chance
to yield at first blood, otherwise, the one left standing wins."
She grinned wickedly. "Don't worry, Ranma-sama, I'll go easy on
you. I wouldn't want you hurting too badly on our wedding night."

Nabiki looked to where Akane was sitting. Sure enough, she
leapt to her feet. "Kodachi, just you wait! Ranma will beat
you so hard you won't be able to laugh your stupid laugh! You'll
never have him!"

Kodachi laughed. It went on and on. Nabiki could see Akane begin
to glow, a sign that she was about to forget her non-combatant
status. Uncle saw it, too, and reached over to grab her arm.
Akane ignored him, glowing brighter; Nabiki could feel the
situation about to explode.

"Akane!" Ranma spoke sharply to her. "Sit down! Don't let
her get to you!" He softened his expression, spoke a little
more calmly. "Remember what we're fighting for."

Nabiki couldn't see Akane's face, but she did see the glow
flicker and go out. Akane tore her arm out of Uncle's grasp,
but she did sit down.

A hand grasped Nabiki's shoulder, causing her to jump in her
chair. She'd forgotten about Tatewaki. "I have not seen her
this bad in a long time," he said with trepidation.

Kodachi finally stopped laughing. "Well, enough of the pre-
game festivities. A fun diversion, but I am anxious to get
to the altar. Shall we begin, Ranma-sama?"

His face hardened; he brought his arms to a ready position.
"Let's go."

Kodachi flicked her wrist, and the ribbon spun towards
Ranma. He leapt to the side, then sprung at Kodachi.

She flipped backward, throwing something at the ground that
caused a great deal of dust to form around Ranma. Nabiki
couldn't see him clearly. What she did see was that Kodachi's
ribbon had continued beyond Ranma and wrapped itself around a
three-foot high statue of a horse. Kodachi tugged, and the
statue came flying towards the dust cloud.

Ranma rolled out of the dust cloud, quickly located Kodachi,
and ran towards her. Kodachi quickly tugged her ribbon
again, changing the trajectory of the incoming statue.

When the statue was just about to strike him, Ranma spun,
plucked the statue out of the air, and hurled it at Kodachi.
The speed with which he moved left Nabiki dizzy from watching him.

Kodachi was quick herself; she dropped her ribbon and jumped
over the flying statue. Ranma met her as she came down.

Nabiki was no martial artist, but it seemed to her that
Ranma pulled his punch. It was enough, still, to send
Kodachi flying to the side.

She rolled as she hit the ground and came up on knees,
clutching her stomach. Her eyes had a wild look in them. "Is
that the best you can do, Ranma-sama?" She asked with obvious
effort.

Ranma thinned his lips, then went after her.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Kodachi pulled a hoop. She hurled
it at Ranma, who dodged it easily. Another follow, and Ranma
had to leap into the air to avoid it.

This was the opening Kodachi was looking for, evidently. She
brought out some clubs and positioned herself where Ranma
would land, shouting "Senju Konbo!" The clubs blurred, moving
faster than Nabiki could follow them. Ranma landed right in the
middle of the blur.

His hands seemed to be moving just as fast as Kodachi's, but
Nabiki could hear that some of the clubs were making contact.
Suddenly a club flew out of the blur to land on the lawn. Another
soon followed, then two more. Before long twenty clubs littered
the lawn, and Kodachi was empty handed. Ranma had some bruises
and a cut on his hand.

Kodachi smiled sweetly at him. "First blood, darling husband?"

Ranma looked down at his fist. The sight of the blood seemed
to infuriate him. "I've gone too easy on you, Kodachi. I
decline first blood." He leapt backwards and landed in the
ready position.

Kodachi sighed, a smile on her face. "Oh, Ranma-sama, accept
the inevitable," she said in a sickly sweet, chastising tone.
"This child who sits on my porch is not worthy of you. Leave
her and come with me; it will be better for you both."

"Do not let her taunts inflame thee, Ranma." Tatewaki's voice
spoke urgently from behind Nabiki. "She seeks to have thee lose
control of thyself, and to see thee attack incautiously. Maintain
thy focus and see this battle to its rightful conclusion."

Nabiki half-heartedly chastised him. "Kuno-baby, remember,
twentieth century."

Ranma did seem to be struggling with control. She saw a glow
forming around him. With a cry of "Moko Takabisha!", a ball
of chi-energy exploded from him.

Kodachi did a rapid series of cartwheels away from Ranma. She
did catch the edge of the explosion, however, and it lifted
her off the ground and sent her flying. She landed poorly,
and was rubbing her forehead as she struggled to her feet.

She scowled, all traces of a smile gone, her face full of
hate. "Ranma-sama, have I introduced you to Midorigame?" She
gestured to the pool, where an alligator could be seen floating
in the water.

Ranma seemed set on ignoring her, stalking warily but steadily
towards her.

Tatewaki sounded puzzled behind Nabiki. "Midorigame's in his
pen on the other side of the house. What is Kodachi up to?"

Kodachi brought a remote control of some sort out of her
leotard. "Midorigame's hungry. I haven't fed him for a week.
Shall we indulge him in some dinner?" She pressed a button.

The chairs Akane and Uncle had been sitting on exploded off
the porch. Akane barely had time to scream before she and
Uncle had landed in the pond.

Ranma spun around at the sound. "Akane! Father!" He leapt
to the edge of the pool. The pool was not deep; Akane was up
to her waist in it. Uncle was perched atop the remains of his
chair, understandably reluctant to enter the water, although
he couldn't help that his feet were covered. Nabiki wondered
how much immersion was required to trigger the change.

The alligator began to move rapidly towards Akane and Uncle.
Akane screamed and began to fumble her way towards the edge
of the pool. Water was not her element, though, and she slipped,
falling face down into the pool.

"Akane!" Ranma leapt across the pool. He landed directly on
the alligator's back, crouching down to grab the alligator's
throat. The alligator, however, made a definite metallic
clanking sound as Ranma landed on it.

Kodachi pressed another button.

Electricity arced from the fake alligator into the pond.
Uncle cried out and fell off his chair. Akane, who had
regained her feet and was almost at the edge of the pool,
screamed and slumped forward, her torso landing on the shore
with her legs still in the water. Ranma, his bare hands
on the alligator, cried out in pain. He let go, but his feet
were still touching. He turned and tried to leap, but instead
fell on the alligator, his arms and legs dangling in the
water, his head and trunk atop it.

Kodachi turned off the electricity and began to laugh.

Nabiki had been frozen in horror as the events were unfolding
on the screen. It had all happened so quickly. She looked up
at Tatewaki. He, too, seemed to be horrified. He looked at her,
then leaned over her to point at a button. "If Kodachi gets the
better of me, push this button. Don't leave this room; if Kodachi
finds you, she will hurt you." He ran to the door.

"What does the button do?" Nabiki called out to him.

He paused at the doorway. "It summons the police." He shut
the door. She could hear him lock it.

Nabiki gazed at the button. She thought that maybe she should
press it now. She looked at the screen. Kodachi seemed to be
using her remote control to guide the fake alligator to the
edge of the pond. Everyone was still unconscious, including
the panda lying face up in the pond. Kodachi was ignoring it.

The fake alligator reached Kodachi. She dragged Ranma on to
the shore. His legs and arms were wet, but the rest of him
was still dry; evidently the threshold had not been reached.
Kodachi began stroking his chest, and seemed to be purring.

Nabiki's thumb hovered over the button. What held her back
was she wasn't sure what Kodachi was capable of if she heard
sirens approaching. Tatewaki was Nabiki's best hope right now.
Please, let him be able to get through to her.

"Kodachi!" From the speakers, Tatewaki's voice could be heard.
It sounded different, none of the usual poise and eveness of
his normal speech, but harsher, guttural. It sounded ugly.

Kodachi whirled, a snarl on her face. She brought out a
ribbon and began twirling it. "Tatewaki, this is no concern
of yours!" Her voice, too, sounded fierce and harsh. Nabiki
wondered if they always talked to each other like that.

Tatewaki stepped within the camera's field of view. He was
wielding his bokken. "You broke your word, like you always
do! This was supposed to be a fight between you and Ranma,
not including these other two. Ranma had you beat. Honor the
agreements you made!"

Kodachi smiled a grim smile. "The agreement said that the
last one standing wins. I won."

"You threatened the lives of his father and fiancee!"

"They were in no danger. They just got a little wet. Anything
else was purely in Ranma-sama's mind." Her voice sounded
sweeter, but no less ugly than before.

Tatewaki shook his head. "I will not permit this. You will
not reshape the world to fit your needs. To take advantage
of Ranma's love for his father and fiancee was dishonorable.
What would Mother say?"

Nabiki drew a sharp breath.

Kodachi's smile vanished, and her face twisted with rage.
"Mother knew no more of honor than I. She taught me that
honor was an outdated concept, to be used to manipulate
those fools who still believed it valid."

"She taught you no such thing. She believed in the way of
Budo. Moral Development. Discipline. Aesthetic Form. You
showed none of those qualities today, sister."

Kodachi's voice was on the ragged edge; she was practically
screaming. "If she believed in such things, why did she kill
herself? Only to prove them for the lies that they were!"

Nabiki gasped and covered her mouth with her hands.

Tatewaki did not answer for a long moment. "Mother was not
well, towards the end. You must remember her from our
younger days, when she was almost happy."

Kodachi screeched at him. "You may remember such things,
brother. I do not. She screamed at us and hit us, and you
call it, 'Moral Development.' " She paused, took a deep
breath. "All I can remember is finding her body in the bathroom."

Nabiki made a small sound, halfway between a scream and a sob.

Tatewaki shook his head. "You have to remember the lessons
she taught. Listen to what she said, rather than what she
did. She knew the way to inner peace; she was just unable to
follow it."

Kodachi smiled, and her voice turned sprightly. The sudden
change in her chilled Nabiki to the bone. "Why are we
arguing, Tatewaki? Look what he have here. I have Ranma-sama.
You can have Akane. No one ever need know what happened to
them. You want Akane, don't you?"

Tatewaki didn't answer. Nabiki gazed at him in the monitor,
her heart sinking.

Kodachi spun two lazy cartwheels to end up by Akane. She
turned her over; Nabiki was glad to note the steady rising
and falling of her breast. "Look brother, how attractive
she is! No wonder you have all those pictures of her. Surely
she will learn to love you in time, as you love her."

Nabiki willed Tatewaki to deny it, willed him to adopt the
same attitude he'd used when he had told Ranma that he'd
given up his claim on Akane. Tatewaki only looked down at
Akane, his face a complete blank.

Nabiki's whole world seemed to center on that face. All
thoughts of buttons, duels, and electrical shocks
temporarily fled her mind. Instead she watched Tatewaki,
wanting to know what he was thinking, afraid of what it was.

"What holds you back, brother? The pig-tailed girl?" Kodachi
looked over at Ranma. "Surely we can arrange that, too."

This shocked Nabiki back to reality. How much did Kodachi
know? She moved her thumb back over to the button.

Kodachi's voice continued lazily. "Or is it this new one,
this Nabiki?" Nabiki froze, staring at the screen. "Does she
know how much time you still spend among your pictures, brother?
The hours you spend meditating in front of their posters, unable
to chose between them, even now? Do you have any pictures of
Nabiki? Ah, but you could never love that money-grubbing
cold-hearted weasel-faced wench, I see that." The heat rose to
Nabiki's face, Kodachi's words like daggers. "Come, brother,
accept what is in front of you now."

Tatewaki looked up from Akane to glare at his sister. Nabiki
could see the blank look change to one of cold fury. "Kodachi,
there is so much you know about me, yet more that you do not.
There *is* something right in front of me that I do not have the
courage to take. A fool I am, I admit it to you freely. Yet I
still live with honor. It fights back the madness which claims
you now. Let us not continue on this destructive path, lest we
end up like our father... or our mother."

Kodachi's voice returned to a shrill scream. "I will never
be like Mother!" She sent her ribbon flying towards Kuno.

Tatewaki flashed his bokken, and the ribbon parted easily.
Nabiki looked closely at his weapon, and realized for the
first time that it was a katana. He was taking this fight
dead seriously.

A hoop appeared in Kodachi's hands. She sent it spinning
towards Tatewaki. Two more quickly followed. Tatewaki
parried each with his katana, the contact causing sparks.

Kodachi screeched in rage, then started flipping head over
heels around the yard, picking up her clubs as she went.

Tatewaki didn't wait for her to finish. He ran to her and
grabbed her during a flip, holding her upside down with one
arm, the other arm holding his katana away from his body.
She started beating on his legs with her clubs, at the same
time kicking powerfully with her legs.

Tatewaki let her go. She bounced up and brought her clubs to
bear, evidently ready to barrage him with blows as she had
Ranma.

Tatewaki had reached inside his tunic when he'd dropped her.
He pulled out his hand and blew some dust at Kodachi. She
paused, and the rage left her face, to be replaced by simple
surprise.

Tatewaki spoke to her calmly. "Living with you all these
years, Kodachi, I've learned a thing or two."

Kodachi slumped to the ground.

Tatewaki looked down at her, then turned towards the camera.
"You may come out now, Nabiki. I would like some help with
Ranma and your sister. I cannot see Saotome Genma-sensei;
maybe he's under the panda."

Nabiki could only stare at the screen. Her life had taken
several violent turns in the past few minutes; she wasn't
sure she was up to facing the world just yet. Akane needed
her, though, and Ranma did too. She got up, unlocked the door,
and found her way outside.

***

"Man oh man, these things do not get any easier." Ranma was
sitting on the porch, watching as ambulance attendants
tended to Kodachi. He looked over to Tatewaki. "Where are
they taking her?"

Nabiki watched Tatewaki closely. His face was carefully
neutral. "I have arranged to have her taken to a private
hospital. I will have my father sign the papers, even if
he doesn't fully understand the need. He owes it to my
mother." He watched as the attendants strapped Kodachi
firmly to the stretcher. "She will be in there for a long
time, I think. It will not be forever. I hope it is not
forever."

The silence reigned as Kodachi was wheeled away. Akane was
hugging Ranma tightly, shivering slightly. Ranma had one arm
around her shoulders, the other held gently rubbing his eyebrows.
Both of his hands were wrapped in bandages. The panda was
leaning against the wall; no one wanted to have him change back
in front of Tatewaki. The unspoken consent was to let Tatewaki
draw whatever conclusions he wanted to; they were usually the
wrong ones.

Nabiki stood close to Tatewaki. She wondered if she should
hug him. He certainly looked like he could use one. The
memories of him looking down at Akane, though, kept her from
attempting one.

Tatewaki stared after his sister. "I would request a favor of you."

Ranma looked at him. "What is it, Tatewaki-sempai?" For once,
there was no trace of mockery in him.

Tatewaki noticed, and stood a little straighter. "Actually,
it is a favor I would ask of you all. Please keep today's
events to yourselves. I would not have our family secrets
spread as gossip."

To Nabiki's annoyance, Ranma and Akane both looked at her.
She glared at them before turning back to Tatewaki. "We promise."

Tatewaki sighed and looked back at Ranma. "Please, take your
fiancee and go home. Kodachi will no longer bother you. Take
your father with you." He turned and walked back towards the
house. As he was walking away, they could hear him say, "Also,
tell the pig-tail goddess I release my claim on... on him as well."

Ranma and Akane gaped after him. Nabiki knew how they felt,
but it seemed that this last shock paled in comparison to
the others she had received today. She looked at Ranma and
Akane. Akane looked back at her. Her eyes flicked over to
where Tatewaki was walking and back to Nabiki.

Nabiki thinned her lips. She wasn't sure she wanted to do
this. Tatewaki had helped her out during a difficult time in
her life, however; she could hardly fail to repay him in kind.

She ran after him, caught him as he opened the door. He
turned to look at her. In the background, Nabiki could hear
Akane gather up Uncle and Ranma and lead them off the grounds.

Nabiki stared at Tatewaki. Damn, this was hard. Akane had
made it seem so easy with Ranma. What was the secret?

Tatewaki was the first to speak. "I think it best, Tendo
Nabiki-san, that you do not bring me lunch anymore."

Nabiki drew in her breath at that. What was he talking about?
She considered whether he was trying a reverse-psychology
ploy. Looking at him, though, she could imagine him doing
nothing of the sort.

She frowned at him. "Why? Don't you like me?" Cold-hearted
wench; the words came back to her.

"It is not that, Nabiki-chan." He paused, his stern features
set in an unreadable mask. "There is madness here. It has
claimed my father and my sister. It took my mother's life.
I would not have you be touched by it."

Nabiki had been having some of the same thoughts, but
somehow they sounded different coming from him. "You are not
like your father or your sister. You acted very bravely and
honorably today on behalf of our family." As she spoke the
words, she realized they were true.

"Did I?" His masked slipped, and some of the grief he was
feeling showed. "I was tempted. Everything Kodachi said about
me was true. I have hundreds of pictures of Ranma and Akane,
and I spend hours obsessing over them, trying to choose between
two things I can never have." The mask disappeared, and real
pain was etched on his face. "I could feel the madness pull
at me. It wanted me to reclaim Akane. It told me how easy it
would be, how pleasant it would be, to have her as concubine
in our house." His gaze wavered. "I am ashamed."

"Ridiculous." Nabiki tsked at him in exasperation. "You
chose the right thing. You stopped your sister and maybe
saved Ranma's and Akane's lives. And I was watching you.
You pulled back from... from the madness. Something made
you choose the path of honor, of Budo. Hang on to that."

A strange, almost wistful expression came over him. "Nabiki-chan,
when I was tempted and the madness almost upon me, I thought of
you. I thought of how you would be hurt and disappointed if I
chose the fruit my sister offered, and it pulled me back from
the edge. You were my anchor, and I thank you for that."

Nabiki started breathing raggedly. She stared at Tatewaki.
No one had ever told her that they needed her this badly; no
one had ever made her feel the way she was feeling right now.
What exactly she was feeling she wasn't sure, but if felt good.

Tatewaki brought his hand up stroke her hair. "You now know
all of my secrets. This knowledge has driven others away,
the burden of the knowledge too great for them to bear. You
came to me just now, wanting to help me, even with the weight
of my secrets on your soul. No one I have ever known has had
your strength of will, your perceptiveness, your intelligence,
your willingness to shoulder the burdens of others. And your
beauty; though this be the least important of your attributes,
it is one in which you excel." His hand fell, and the pain
showed on his face again. "I would offer you all that I have
and all that I am, but I am not sure it would be enough for
one such as you."

Nabiki shuddered. What did he have to offer? Besides good
looks, wealth, intelligence, and devotion. He also offered
his obsessive nature, his crazy father and sister, his ability
to ignore what he did not want to see, and the threat of madness.

He also offered her his love. Somehow, that one thing seemed
to throw the whole ledger completely out of balance.

She smiled at him. "When you say, 'all that I have', does
that include the monitoring systems?"

He blinked at her, evidently surprised at her question. "I-I
would assume that it does."

"Good." She leaned into him, putting her arms around his
waist, still looking into his eyes. She had forgotten that
he was tall, too. "I've been making do with a silly microphone
plugged into my receiver. You would not believe how inadequate
that is."

"I can imagine." He seemed uncertain about her behavior. "To
listen in on others without their consent is not honorable."

Damn, he was going to be trouble. She was going to have fun
making him dance for her. If she didn't decide to dance for
him first.

Tatewaki moved his head down and Nabiki decided she would
allow him to do so. It was not her first serious kiss, but
she was fairly certain it was his. She reached up, grabbed
his head, and showed him how to do it right.

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

Part V : Worth Killing For

Prologue: Council of War

"They are making their move. This is unexpected. Already
they have beaten two of the others. I did not expect such
ruthlessness in them."

Shampoo beamed proudly. "Ranma is strong and quick. He can
beat anyone. Did you really think he would fail?"

Cologne looked at her great-granddaughter with surprise. "You
do know he is coming for you next, don't you?"

"Yes! Oh, Great-grandmother, I'm so happy! Soon he will declare
our love to the whole world, and our marriage will be so
beautiful!" She sighed and stared dreamily into the distance.

Cologne, balanced on her fighting staff, bounded over to
Shampoo. She leaned forward to look into Shampoo's eyes.
"Shampoo, he is coming to fight you. He thinks he has chosen
Akane for his bride, and he seeks to eliminate you as he did
the other two."

Shampoo's face lost her dreamy look. Slowly, her eyebrows
lowered, and an angry glint appeared in her eyes. "Shampoo
no allow that, Ranma," she said, slipping into Japanese as
if speaking to him. "You will not leave Shampoo without her
promised husband."

Cologne grunted in satisfaction. This was the mood she need
Shampoo to be in. "There is only one way we can accomplish
this, great-granddaughter. We need to remove the source of his...
distraction."

Shampoo grinned wickedly. "Violent tomboy pervert girl."

Cologne bounded back over to the kitchen. "In a way, they
have done us a favor. They have removed two of the others
from consideration. We must move to eliminate the last one. We
will separate Ranma from Akane, lure him back to China with
us, and at the same time make sure Akane will never again try
to interfere. We must take no half-measures this time. The
final battle is upon us. If we are to win, we must be prepared
to give our all. The glory of our tribe is with us; the pride
of the Amazons is at stake. We will not fail them." Cologne
moved through the kitchen gathering various ingredients.
"There is nothing you and I cannot accomplish together, Shampoo."

Shampoo was lost in another dream, this one more vicious.
"Shampoo no forget you, pervert girl," she said, still
speaking Japanese. "She no forget giving you kiss of death.
Is time to make good on promise. Obstacles is for killing."

In the back of the restaurant, something glinted among the
shadows. There was a sound of cloth rustling, but it may
have only been the wind.

***

Ranma stood in his ready position, assessing his opponent.
She was focused and determined. She was good in a way, but
not really in his league.

He saw her shift her balance onto her left foot. He leaned
aside to dodge the kick of her right leg. She followed with
a quick left jab, but he leaned back; her reach was not great.
She continued with a series of kicks and jabs in rapid succession,
faster than he had ever seen her execute before. It made no
difference. He bobbed and weaved and leaned back; none of them
touched him.

His opponent made a loud, frustrated sound. "I hate it when
you do that!"

"Whaddya expect, Akane? That I should let you hit me?" Ranma
shook his head. "This is training. We don't go easy on each
other." To prove his point, he launched a series of counterattacks.
Akane jumped back and tried to dodge them, but her reflexes
weren't quick enough. She started retreating, blocking his blows
when she could, stepping back when she couldn't. Soon she was up
against the dojo wall. Ranma pressed his attack, hitting her in
her arms, legs and shoulder in very rapid succession. Not nearly
at "Amiguriken" speed, but fast enough that Akane could do nothing
to stop him.

He stopped and put both of his hands against the wall on either
side of her head. "You're getting better, Akane, but you let me
have my way too much. When I started attacking, all you did was
to defend and retreat. You got to use some countermoves, or
your opponent will do with you as they will. Never let your
opponent develop a rhythm; find ways to disrupt it."

Akane smiled, slowly brought her hands to his face, and
brought his head down for a kiss. Ranma was pretty sure what
was going to happen next, but he didn't try to stop it. Her
kisses were good enough to be worth any price.

She kissed him for a while. He could feel the edge of her
bandage tickling his cheek. She put one of her hands on his
neck and the other on his shoulder. She turned him slightly
to the side. While thoroughly engrossed in her kiss, he waited
for her body to tense and shift. It did soon enough. She snapped
back her head, grabbed his tunic in both hands, and threw him
to the side.

Ranma flipped easily in the air, landed, bent into a deep crouch,
and launched himself back at Akane. She clearly wasn't expecting
this, and could only gape at him as he tackled her.

They rolled around on the ground a couple of times. Ranma
ended up on Akane, holding her arms pinned to either side of
her body. He smiled at her, their faces a few inches apart.
"You tried a good maneuver for an artist of the Anything Goes
School. Only, another thing you gotta learn is to never
underestimate your opponent."

Akane could only stare at him, her eyes wide, her face
turning red. At first he thought she was getting angry. Then
he realized how good she felt under him. He wondered how he
could ever have called her unfeminine; there were some *very*
feminine curves that he could feel underneath him. Her smell
filled him - sweaty, yes, but intoxicating nonetheless. He
lowered his head and kissed her again. She made a small
sound and kissed him back ferociously. He let go of her
hands and she wrapped her arms around him, holding him close.
The feel of her was so good, this felt so right, he felt his
reason slowly leaving him. He moved his hands to her head,
stroking her hair, then moved one hand down to her neck.

It was either a case of very good or very bad timing, Ranma
was never able to figure out for sure. The dojo door slid
open. Ranma bounded up from Akane, rolling over and leaping
to his feet faster than thought. He looked up at his father,
who blinked at him in surprise.

A sly smile crept over Pop's face. "Ah, my boy, practicing
up on your arts?"

This made Ranma angry. "Shut up! You were supposed to be
here an hour ago!"

His father only smiled enigmatically. "I'm sorry I wasn't
here sooner... or later." He bowed and entered the dojo. "Your
mother and I were doing some shopping. She has some big plans
for your wedding."

The pleasure of the thought of his mother and father doing
something together was quickly washed away by outraged
embarrassment. "Hey! We never said nothing about that! Don't
you guys ever check with me first? Who said anything about
marriage!"

"Who, indeed." Akane's voice sounded very small, and very
quiet. Ranma withered at its sound. He turned around to see
Akane kneeling on the floor, the tears just beginning to come
from her eyes. "I wouldn't want you to be forced into something
you don't want to do, Ranma."

Ranma cringed inside. He'd done it once again. He'd run off
at the mouth without thinking of the consequences. When was
he ever going to learn?

He ran over and crouched in front of her. "Hey, Akane, I didn't
mean - "

This one he never saw coming. He was lifted off his feet and
landed on the ground a couple of meters away, staring at the
dojo ceiling. He could hear the sound of feet running out of
the dojo, but he could do nothing but notice the discolorations
above him indicating the many times the roof had been repaired.

His father stood over him, bending from the waist to look
down into Ranma's eyes. "Remind me sometime to tell you of
how your mother attacked me with a bokken when you were three.
She was not very skilled, but she was quite... determined."

Ranma looked at his father, saw the amusement in his eyes
that he never allowed to show on his face. What was so funny
about the situation, Ranma didn't know. He wanted to pound the
amusement out of his father, but didn't seem to be able to
find the strength to lift his head. Damn, she could hit when
she wanted to.

Pop grabbed his arm, and Ranma allowed himself to be pulled
off the mat. His head spun for a moment. He clutched his
father's shoulder and stared at him. "Was it this difficult
for you and Mom?"

The amusement flickered out. "Your mother and I got married
too quickly, Ranma. The problems we had arose afterwards. In
a way, it is good your marriage did not take place when it did.
It is good to see you two resolving your problems first."

The old man sighed, then turned and grabbed both of Ranma's
shoulders. "Boy, you must learn discipline. I have taught
you patience in combat. You wait for the enemy to attack,
and learn from the enemy's style how best to achieve victory.
The patience you use when evaluating an enemy is not something
you discard when the battle is done. Use it to constantly
evaluate what is happening around you and how best to respond
to it. Discipline means never forgetting the values you have
been taught and applying them to all facets of your life."

Ranma's head continued to reel, whether from the affects of
Akane's blow or his father's words he wasn't sure. Treat
your entire life like you're in combat. That sounded hard.
It also didn't sound like the kind of thing Pop usually said.

He was about to snap at his father, ask him what he knew
about discipline. He stopped himself just in time and
considered. He hadn't seen his father become a panda in the
past week or so. Well, except that time at the Kuno residence,
but that wasn't his fault. Maybe, just maybe, Pop did know a
thing or two about stuff like that.

Ranma looked steadily at his father. He then nodded and
turned to leave the dojo. "Let's hold our planning session
tomorrow. There's some things I gotta work on right now."

His father grasped his shoulder. "You must not waffle with
her, son. Indecision is the worst way of expressing your
feelings. You'll end up hurting her and yourself. Trust me."

The old man was just full of advice tonight. Ranma grimaced;
Pop was only trying to help. Maybe he really knew what he
was talking about this time. Ranma nodded, then walked back
towards the house.

His mind was full of questions. Where was he going with Akane?
Could he want to kiss her - and more - but not want to marry
her? How did he feel inside?

He found himself standing in the hallway, staring at a picture
of the Tendo family taken when Akane's mother was still alive.
They all seemed so happy. He examined the picture of little
Akane. She had been a toddler, but he could see the lines that
would make her face the beautiful thing it was today.

Ranma flushed at the thought. Calling Akane "uncute" had
always been a reflex action. At first, he hadn't wanted to
admit to his father that Akane was attractive in any way.
Then, over the past year, he had begun to be frightened by
the way his feelings towards her were changing. Whenever an
impulse ran through him that admitted to her attractiveness,
physically or emotionally, he had shoved it aside and resorted
to his familiar insults. That kept the strange feelings at
bay. That they hurt Akane at all was a small price to pay.

Or it had been. He turned away from the picture and moved
down the hall, lost in thought. More and more, his greatest
anguish had come from seeing Akane hurt in any way. During
the fight at Ukyo's, the sight of blood dripping from Akane's
face had driven a stake through his heart. The sight of her
kneeling on the dojo floor just now, tears in her eyes, had
been no less agonizing.

This was definitely something he needed to get right. He was
pretty sure what he needed to do, he just wasn't sure he had
the courage to do it.

He found that his feet had taken him upstairs. He stopped
outside Akane's room and listened for a moment, but he heard
nothing. He continued on down to Nabiki's room. Gathering his
willpower, he knocked on her door.

***

Akane grumbled. Walking home by herself was boring. She had
wanted to talk some things over with Ranma, but he had run
off right after school, telling her he would see her at the
dojo after dinner. Nabiki had also left in a rush, mentioning
plans with Tatewaki.

Akane smiled; if given a thousand years to think on it, she
would never have imagined those two together. The less charitable
of her classmates still attributed it to his wealth, but Akane
knew her sister. She was much more interested in making money
than marrying into it. She really liked Tatewaki. Akane couldn't
see it. Except he had been very helpful with Kodachi. In fact,
according to Nabiki, he had very probably saved Ranma and Akane
from death, or a fate worse than that. Maybe there was more to
him than his silly speeches and arrogant presumptions. Akane
trusted her sister's judgment implicitly; Tatewaki had to be a
good guy underneath.

Akane laughed. However good he was, he was nothing compared
to Ranma.

Her smile faded. Ranma was a good guy, but he could be such
a jerk. He had hurt her badly last night. She had been lost
in the feel of his body. She had felt his hands begin to roam
and had welcomed their touch. And then he had once again expressed
his reluctance to getting married. Akane wasn't sure if he just
didn't want to get married, or if he didn't want to get married
to *her*. She needed to know. She desperately needed to know.

Akane sighed. She wasn't a great listener, she knew that. Her
biggest fault was that she would assume too much, too quickly,
and not let anyone tell her otherwise. There may have been times
when Ranma had been trying to tell her something of how he felt,
and she hadn't given him a fair chance to express it. She was being
punished for it now. She wasn't sure exactly how he felt. He
found her attractive, and he liked to kiss her. Was it anything
more than that? She was afraid of what the answer might be.

She gritted her teeth in anger. "Where are you when I need you,
you jerk!" She glared at the empty street, daring Ranma to show
his face, hoping he would. It was deserted.

Or almost. As Akane looked further down the street, she saw
someone leaning against the wall. The figure was hidden by
shadows, but it was definitely female, with long hair. And a sword.

Akane stopped short, her heart pounding. There was only one person
that could be, and only one reason she would be carrying a sword.
The only other time Akane had seen her with a sword was when she
had tried to kill Ranma.

Shampoo stepped lazily into the street, her eyes glinting. She was
as beautiful as ever, if you were into the purple-haired, slim,
athletic, perfectly proportioned type. She was wearing a form-hugging
purple outfit, the kind she usually wore when trying to tempt Ranma.
"This Shampoo's lucky day. She very prepared to meet Ranma and ugly
tomboy, but ugly tomboy is all by herself. This make Shampoo's job
much easier."

Akane dropped her book bag onto the ground. They had intended to
have a planning session on what to do about Shampoo last night.
They had put it off until tonight. Somehow it had never occurred
to anyone that Shampoo would make her move first.

Akane glanced quickly around. Shampoo had chosen her spot well.
The canal was to Akane's left, an empty playground to her right.
There was no one in sight; this was an out-of-the way place, well
off the well-traveled roadways unless you were going from Furinkan
High School to the Tendo Dojo. In crowded Nerima, Shampoo had found
the one place where it was quite possible that no one would hear
Akane if she screamed.

Akane considered running, but she had no illusions about her
speed. Shampoo was nearly as fast as Ranma, and quite capable of
cutting down Akane as she ran.

Shampoo raised her sword in front of her face, its edge perfectly
bisecting her face. "Akane has bewitched Ranma too long. Shampoo
no understand how violent pervert like Akane put spell on Ranma,
but it end today. Shampoo give you kiss of death many months ago.
Is time to kill."

Shampoo leapt into the air, her sword raised over her head. Akane
sprang sideways, turning to watch Shampoo land. As fast as a snake,
Shampoo cut at Akane with the sword. It tore part of Akane's skirt
as she fell backwards.

Her heart in her throat, Akane knew she could not stay still.
As soon as she landed she began rolling to the side. Shampoo's
sword hit the ground where Akane's face had been a moment before.

It had been a while since Akane had single-handedly and
routinely defeated twenty boys each morning as they attacked
her en masse before school. Her reflexes had been good then.
She had countered their moves instinctively, feeling where the
attacks were coming from. When Ranma had become her fiancee
and his obvious martial arts ability became apparent, the attacks
had stopped. Akane had lost some of her edge, but Ranma had been
helping her over the past few weeks regaining some of it. That she
still couldn't lay a finger on him was disheartening, but she knew
that he had no problems beating Shampoo, either. She had to believe
she was good enough to beat Shampoo, or at least hold her off long
enough until help arrived.

Trusting in herself, using the confidence she had felt each morning
during the mass attack, she reached out and grabbed Shampoo's arm.
She used her strength to keep Shampoo from lifting the sword while
Akane's other hand formed a fist and launched itself at Shampoo's jaw.

Shampoo didn't allow the blow to land, instead dropping the sword
and wrenching her arm out of Akane's grip. Akane aborted her attack,
instead grabbing the sword and leaping to her feet.

As she felt the unfamiliar weight of the sword in her hands, she
remembered Ranma's words about weapons. They limited your attacks
and hindered your defense. All she was likely to do with it was cut
herself, while Shampoo moved in for the kill.

If she couldn't use it, she knew a way to make sure Shampoo couldn't
use it either. With a grunt, she threw it over the fence, where it
landed with a splash in the canal.

Shampoo's faced looked grim. "Very good, ugly tomboy. Shampoo
underestimate you. But Shampoo no need sword to finish off pervert girl."

With that, Shampoo launched a furious set of attacks. Akane
attempted to fight them off, retreating backwards as a hand
punched her arm, a foot connected with her hip, an elbow clip
her jaw. She could do nothing but fall back, trying to weather
the storm.

"You got to use some countermoves, or your opponent will do with
you as they will. Never let your opponent develop a rhythm; find
ways to disrupt it." Ranma's words came back to her. She was glad
for them.

She planted her feet. Doing so cost her a vicious blow to her knee.
She leaned forward into Shampoo and wrapped her arms around her.
Shampoo tried to leap out of the way, but Akane held her in her arms
and wrestled her to the ground.

Akane landed on top, and was gratified to see Shampoo grunt in pain.
Akane grabbed each of her forearms behind Shampoo's back and began
to squeeze.

"I may not be as fast as you and I may not be as skilled as you,"
Akane said through her teeth, "but you don't have my willpower.
All of you stupid fiancees have called me ugly and fat and tried
to kill me, but you have never succeeded. And you never will. I
love Ranma, and none of you can have him."

Shampoo had a wild, helpless look in her eyes. She appeared to be
having trouble breathing, which suited Akane just fine. Shampoo
tried to kick her legs but they found no purchase. Her arms were
pinned to her sides by Akane's grip. Shampoo gritted her teeth
and gave Akane a hateful look. Akane could feel Shampoo using the
last of her strength to try and break Akane's grasp. Shampoo was
strong, stronger than Akane. Akane had the leverage, however, and
knew how to use it. There was just no way Akane was going to let go.
Staring into Shampoo's eyes, exultation coming over her, she
tightened her grip one last time.

Something touched her high on her back, just at the base of her
neck. And all of sudden, Akane couldn't feel a thing.

Shampoo threw her off like a rag doll. Akane landed in a heap
several feet away, but she couldn't feel the ground, didn't feel
the pain of bouncing on the pavement. She couldn't even more her
eyes, although she could still see.

What she saw was Cologne, pulling her staff back. In her other
hand she carried Shampoo's sword.

Shampoo was on her hands and knees, trying to get her breath back.
Cologne went over to her and poked her in the ribs in a few places
with the tip of her staff. Shampoo's breathing got easier. There
followed a quick exchange in Chinese, which ended with Shampoo
nodding and taking the sword from Cologne.

Cologne turned and looked at Akane. "You surprised me today,
Tendo Akane. Few can these days. You would have made a worthy
Amazon. I would honor you, but you still remain an obstacle
to our plans for Shampoo and Ranma. I have freed you from
pain, though. Your death will be quick, and soon you will be
with your ancestors."

Akane tried to move, tried to feel something, but she couldn't
even cry the tears of the helpless fear she was feeling. She
watched as Shampoo, her hair disheveled and her form-hugging
outfit dirty and torn, approached her slowly, the hate and anger
in her face made more horrible by the smile she wore.

Shampoo kicked her shoulder. Akane felt nothing as she flopped
onto her back, staring at the sky. Shampoo lifted Akane's chin
with her sword. She rested the edge briefly on Akane's neck, then
raised the sword over her head in a two-handed grip.

I'm sorry Ranma, she cried in her head. I'm sorry, I failed.
You'll never know how much I wanted us to be married, never
know the ways I planned to prove my love to you. Even if you
didn't want to marry me, that's okay. Be happy and strong and
protect my family. Please, know that I loved you.

Then came: the sword blurring, the sound of metal slicing
flesh, and blackness.

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

Part VI : The Price of Glory

"Mother?"

Akane looked for her mother. She was so hoping to see her
soon; it had been so long. Surely she would be the first of
her ancestors to greet her.

The blackness cleared, to be replaced by a field of white.
She didn't think that was right. She had heard about white
light, something that guided you to the next world. Akane
had been hoping for her mother instead. Still, if Mother
was nothing more than white light now, Akane wouldn't mind.
Just so that she was near.

But the white wasn't light; if anything, it looked like
cloth. This wasn't anything she had ever heard about. And
why was it moving so much? It jiggled up and down, and folded
this way and that. It was so hard to understand. Mother would
explain it. Akane tried to call out for her, but somehow, all
that escaped her was a whimper.

"Do not worry, Tendo Akane-san, you are safe. I just need to
get us a safe distance away."

That wasn't Mother; it was some man whose Japanese was tinged
with a Chinese accent. Akane tried to remember if she had any
Chinese ancestors. She didn't think so.

Suddenly she realized that it wasn't the cloth that was
jiggling up and down; she was. Like a long-forgotten memory
being recalled, feeling was slowly coming back to her. With it,
came the realization that she was being carried, that she was
slung over someone's shoulder.

Did that mean she was alive? She wasn't sure. It was a
little disappointing. She had been so looking forward to
seeing Mother.

She had gotten enough feeling back to be really uncomfortable.
She tried lifting her head, but all she succeeded in doing
was to bang her head against her rescuer's back.

Her rescuer. She had been nearly killed. The sword, flashing
as it sped towards her. Her mind must have shut down at that
moment; who wanted to witness their own death? Still, it would
have been useful to know what had happened next.

Finally, the man carrying her slowed to a stop. She was
placed gently onto a seat, a park bench by the look of
things. A tree was across from her; it looked beautiful.

She turned her head to gaze at her rescuer; she had long ago
surmised who it had to be. "Thank you, Mousse."

He nodded once, then sat down beside her. She noticed,
almost idly, that he was bleeding. He looked to have a nasty
cut on his forearm. She thought that maybe she should reach
over and try to bandage it, but somehow it didn't seem worth
the effort. She let her gaze wander back over to the tree,
wondering if Mother was in there.

"Are you well, Tendo Akane-san?" Mousse sounded worried.
Akane supposed that was fine. He could be worried if he
wanted to be. She was just going to wait for her mother.

***

Mousse examined Akane closely. She had a slight discoloration
on her jaw, one of her arms hung limp, and blood trickled
down her leg. All these things, though, paled in comparison
to her vacant expression and the way her eyes wandered aimlessly
around, not focusing on anything for more than a few seconds.
Still, she had been aware enough to recognize and thank him,
and that was a good sign.

Mousse sighed and winced. He tore a strip of cloth off of
his tunic and used it to bind his arm tightly. It wasn't a
very good bandage, but it would do for a little while. Right
now, he needed to assess his options. He had made for himself
the most dangerous enemy he possibly could.

***

Mousse followed Shampoo from a distance. He didn't need to
be very close; he knew where she was going. The sound of
voices from the restaurant late at night had waken him, and
he had slipped downstairs to see what was going on. He had
found Shampoo and Cologne discussing horrible things.

Mousse slipped behind a group of students when he saw
Shampoo stop and scan the horizon. He knew she wasn't
looking for him, but for someone else. He went around the
back of a restaurant, let fly a chain that wrapped around a
chimney stack, and hauled himself to the rooftop. He made
his way along several rooftops, until the buildings ran out.
He watched from the last one as Shampoo hid herself in the
shadows of a wall along one side of a small park.

He needed to get closer. He went back the way he came,
dropped to the ground, and found his way to the other end of
the park. He tried to move as quietly as he could, considering
the small armory he was carrying. Shampoo seemed intent on
staring down the road, and didn't look his way. He concealed
himself in plain sight close to her; a magician's trick of
misdirection.

Soon, too soon, Tendo Akane appeared. Mousse's heart sunk;
Ranma wasn't with her. Mousse had hoped that Ranma would be able
to defeat Shampoo and Cologne. Akane by herself had no chance.

She surprised him, though, more than holding her own against
Shampoo. It took Cologne's knowledge of pressure points to
subdue her. Cologne used that same knowledge to give Shampoo
her breath back. Then she spoke with Shampoo.

"Shampoo, get up, that was not worthy of you. We'll need
better from you if we are going to convince Son-in-law to
marry you."

"She surprised me. I had no idea she was that strong.
Ranma's been training her, I can tell. Next time, she won't
beat me so easily."

"Next time, Shampoo? What next time? Come, let us finish
what we started. Take your sword and finish her off."

Shampoo seemed to flinch ever so slightly. "Must we, Great-
grandmother? Surely we can just convince her to leave Ranma
alone."

Cologne's voice sharpened. "What's this? Is this the Shampoo
who gave Akane the kiss of death?"

Shampoo sounded petulant. "I gave Ranma the kiss of death, too."

"A misunderstanding. Do you want to disappoint our tribe by
returning defeated, unavenged, and unmarried?" Cologne's
voice lightened slightly. "Do you love Ranma?"

Shampoo's voice took on a wistful edge. "More than anything
in the world, Great-grandmother."

"Then I tell you that, as long as this one lives, Ranma will
never be yours. Trust your elders; this is a thing that must
be done. For the glory of the Amazons, eliminate the obstacle
that keeps Ranma from you."

Shampoo nodded and took the sword from Cologne. Mousse simmered;
Cologne knew exactly what buttons to push in Shampoo. By reducing
Akane to nothing more than an obstacle in the way of Shampoo's
love, he had made it easier for her to kill Akane.

Mousse saw the hate twist Shampoo's face. He loved her so
much, but to see her like this wrung his heart. He could not
let Cologne turn her into a murderer.

Shampoo contemptuously pushed Akane onto her back and prepared
her for a killing blow. Mousse stood still, hoping beyond hope
that Shampoo would return to herself, that she would stop before
she took the last step into damnation. Instead, he saw her raise
her arms and prepare to strike.

Suddenly he realized he'd waited too long. He had little
chance of grabbing Akane before Shampoo struck. His only
option was unthinkable. It was also unthinkable to let Akane
die. He needed to choose now.

With a cry, he let fly a curved blade attached to a chain.
It flew through the air just as Shampoo brought the sword
down. Mousse's blade cut her arm, causing her to scream. Her
attack went wildly off the mark, her sword burying itself in
the pavement well above Akane's head.

Cologne turned to him, quick as lightning. "Mousse!"

He had to escape before she had time to perform any of her tricks.
He used two chains to reach out, grab Akane, and bring her too him.
He slung her unceremoniously over his shoulder.

A sword came flashing at him. Holding Akane, he could do little
to stop it. He lifted his arms slightly, and it deflected off his
forearm, leaving a nasty cut. Ignoring it, he turned and ran.

"Mousse!" He heard Cologne screaming behind him. "The Amazons will
hear of this!"

He withered at the thought, but kept running.

***

Mousse sat in a daze little better than the one Akane was
in. He had defied Cologne in the past, each time paying
dearly for it. However, this time Cologne had made it a tribal
issue. When a matriarch of the Amazons spoke, you listened and
complied.

Cologne was one of the last of the old guard, a throwback to
the times when the Amazons were self-reliant and kept all outsiders
from interfering with their business. To the Amazons, the rest of
the world had been at their beck and call, even if the rest of the
world wasn't aware of it.

The events of nearly fifty years ago had changed that. The Amazons
had been forced to accept the new world, and live in it. For the
most part, they had adapted well, and got along. There were just a
few of the older matriarchs who still dreamed of the days of glory,
as they saw it.

Among them, Cologne was the most powerful and influential.
When Shampoo had returned from Japan with tales of a man who
had beaten her in combat, won her heart but refused her love,
Cologne had decided that this was indicative of the outside
world's attempt to oppress the Amazons. She had returned to
Japan with Shampoo, determined to bring Ranma back, not so much
as a husband to Shampoo but as a trophy of dominance over the
outside world.

Mousse had gone to Japan, too. His love for Shampoo knew no
bounds, and he would do anything for her. He had seen her over
the months, rejecting him, pining over Ranma. He had watched
Cologne using that to her advantage, slowly warping the Shampoo
he had loved into a hateful, twisted woman bent on using whatever
methods necessary to get what she wanted.

Mousse had done what he could. He had always been a moderating
influence on Shampoo while she was growing up. When she had been
about to go on one of her rampages, he had tried to soothe the
fires that burned within her. He had succeeded sometimes. He had
learned painful lessons other times.

Now he could only watch as Shampoo became more and more like
Cologne. Mousse was doing everything he could to stop it. He
just wasn't sure if he had done enough, or waited too long.
Shampoo had come within a hair's breadth of becoming a murderer.

Mousse grimaced; was he any different? He'd been trying to
kill Ranma from the moment he met him. It was the old Amazon
credo: Kill that which gets in your way.

Still, they had had to soften that position in the past
fifty years. Mousse had been raised in a new era of Amazon
relations, that of tolerance. He threatened and blustered a lot,
but deep down, he really wasn't able to kill someone. Even
Ranma. Just scare him, that's all he had been trying to do.

Wasn't it?

Mousse sighed and looked over at Akane. She was now just
staring at a tree. He hoped this was another sign she was
recovering.

Mousse shook his head; he'd spent all his time reminiscing,
and none of it thinking of what he should do. He couldn't go
back to the Nekohanten, that was certain. The Tendo home seemed
the obvious place, but it would be obvious to Cologne, as well.
As would Ukyo's restaurant, the Kuno residence, the Saotome home,
and even Tofu-sensei's. Mousse needed to go somewhere unknown to
Cologne.

How about hiding in plain sight? Mousse smiled. That would do.

He rose to his feet. "Tendo Akane-san, we must leave. Cologne
is looking for you; we cannot leave you in public like this.
Come with me."

Akane slowly lifted her eyes to him, her face still expressionless.
She looked back at the tree.

Mousse sighed heavily. He reached down, took her hand, and
gently pulled her to her feet. She resisted slightly, then
allowed him to pull her along the path. She continued to look
back at the tree. As they left the park and the tree went out
of sight, she balked. "No," she said without much heat, trying
to walk back into the park. Mousse firmly guided her down the
road. Akane made a token resistance, then faced forward and
stared ahead of herself as she walked.

***

Ranma entered the dojo, his heart hammering. He had done some
very scary things this afternoon with Nabiki, an experience he
would as soon forget.

He sat cross-legged in the middle of the dojo, attempting to
meditate. This was not his strong suit; his father had had
little use for such "mysticism", as he called it, so they had
not done it much. The closest they came was the Saotome Secret
Attack. Ranma figured that using it before the battle began was
probably a good idea now.

He had to prepare for Shampoo. Preparing for Shampoo meant,
of course, preparing for Cologne, quite possibly the most
dangerous opponent Ranma had ever faced. Happosai was a strong
fighter, but he was unbalanced and easily distracted. Cologne
brought all her force to bear in any fight she undertook.

The problem, Ranma knew, was that you couldn't let her touch
you. One touch, with finger or staff, in the right place
would paralyze you in a second. This made fighting her very
difficult; any attack you made left you vulnerable to her
devastating counter-attacks. You had to be absolutely on your
guard every second.

Could he bargain with Shampoo? Ranma shook his head; they'd
tried that with Ukyo. Even Ukyo had not given up without a
fight. If the sweetest and most even-tempered of the women
chasing him was capable of vicious attacks, then certainly he
could expect far worse from Shampoo. Shampoo would simply not
give up, ever. He still had no idea how they were going to
convince her to go back to China.

They needed to convince her, somehow. She was preventing him
from telling Akane all the things he needed to.

Ranma took a couple of deep breaths. What was the word?
Sophistry. That was it. The only thing preventing Ranma from
showing his feelings to Akane was Ranma himself. He couldn't,
and shouldn't, make any other excuses.

Except he had tried, on a few occasions. Each time, Akane
had either slapped him, yelled at him, ignored him, or
performed some combination of the three. She was very stubborn,
and prone to jumping to conclusions. He hated that about her.
He'd tried opening up, and she had always found a way to keep
from listening to him.

Ranma tried to calm his thoughts. This was bit of the pot
calling the kettle black, he knew. They both had their
faults. They had, at last, had a bit of a breakthrough. There
was an affection building between them, something he truly
wanted to explore. More than affection. And he wanted to do
more than explore it.

The entire point of these confrontations with his other
fiancees was to make sure that he and Akane were given a
fair chance at what they had discovered between them. He
would do anything and everything in his power to make sure
they were given that chance.

While he was still trying to approximate something that resembled
a clear mind, he heard the dojo door slide open. This was enough
to break whatever feeble state of consciousness he had attained.
Slightly annoyed, he opened his eyes to discover Kasumi smiling
brightly at him.

His annoyance vanished. One could never be mad at Kasumi.
Well, hardly ever.

"Ranma-kun, do you know where Akane is?"

Ranma raised his eyebrows. "She didn't come home?"

"No, I thought you and she were out somewhere, along with
Nabiki. Nabiki came home a few minutes ago, but I didn't see
Akane with her, either." Kasumi began to look worried.

Ranma grew alarmed himself. What was Akane doing? Sulking
was something she did well, but she usually did it in her
room. She'd been kidnapped a fair number of times, but he
could think of no one who would want to do so now.

Or almost no one.

Ranma sprung up, ran over to the door. "Kasumi, tell my
father I've gone to look for Akane. She may be at the
Nekohanten. I'll try and call later and let you know where
I am and what I've found out."

With that, he leapt over the wall and ran toward Furinkan.
Maybe he could see if she'd been ambushed somewhere along
the way.

It wasn't hard to spot. He stopped on the canal fence,
examining the signs on the ground. He was no Sherlock
Holmes, but he could see the signs of a fight. There were
also a couple of marks in the pavement. Something very sharp
had made those marks recently.

Someone had tried to kill Akane.

Frantically he examined the ground for traces of blood. He
found a few spots, but nothing much. Whatever had happened,
it had not ended with anyone's death.

Time to get the real answers.

He was about to leap off the fence when a thought occurred to
him. If he was going to take on Cologne right now, he needed
to be fast. And as fast as he was, he could be faster.

He turned and jumped into the canal. Emerging, Ranma leapt
over the fence and ran towards the Nekohanten.

***

Cologne paced around the Nekohanten, quite irritated. Things
had not gone according to plan at all. Mousse had taken
Akane somewhere. After Cologne had taken care of her wounds,
Shampoo had gone out to try to discover where Akane was.
Cologne knew Mousse well, though. He was clever for a man; he
would not be easy to find.

He had defied her. Defied *her*, an elder matriarch of the
Amazons, during tribe business. The ancient laws proscribed
only one punishment for such an offense. Mousse would pay.

Meanwhile, she had to do something about Son-in-law. He was
certain to discover something was amiss soon. Either Mousse
would contact him, or eventually he would wonder why Akane had not
come back from school. Either way, Son-in-law would soon be here.

She considered the package she had tucked away in her wraparound.
It had been another one of her concoctions, one that was meant to
drive Ranma insane with lust at the smell of lilacs.

The plan had been simple enough. Cologne was to have taunted
Ranma into chasing her, which was simple enough to do given
Ranma's volatile nature. When he had gone, Shampoo was to dispose of
Akane. Then, after Cologne had subdued Ranma, she would force him
to ingest her potion. Shampoo had been ready with some lilac
spray to apply liberally after she had returned to the Nekohanten.
Ranma would have willingly followed the smell of lilacs all the
way back to China, and there would have been no one left to come
after him. Maybe those two fools Genma and Soun would have tried to
rescue Ranma, but if they had attempted to penetrate the village of
the Amazons, they would have been in for a very rude and probably
lethal shock.

That plan was in ruins now. Ranma would know very soon that
someone had tried to kill Akane. Cologne knew him well enough to
know that he would never forgive Shampoo for Akane's death.
He would have been easy to hold in China; she would simply
have convinced him that Akane had given up on Ranma and moved on.
With Shampoo providing a willing distraction, Akane would have
been soon forgotten.

Now the problem was much more difficult. Probably they would
have to apply a Xi Fa Xiang Gao to Ranma to make him forget
Akane completely. This was a somewhat unreliable method, though.
Eventually the recipient regained his or her memories. They
would have to continually reapply it, otherwise Ranma would regain
his memories and go berserk. This was not an ideal situation.

Cologne grimaced; it was the best she could do. The only
other option was to give up on Ranma, and that was quite
simply unacceptable. No outsider ever defeated an Amazon,
especially a male outsider. He would come back to China as
Shampoo's husband, and the tribe would remember once again how
inferior outsiders were to the glorious Amazons.

A flash of red came through the front door and directly towards
her. She jumped over it, using her staff to try and propel it
headlong into the wall. Like quicksilver, a hand came from the
flash and tried to grab the staff. Cologne was able to keep it
out of the hand's reach, but she also couldn't touch the flash.

The flash resolved itself into Ranma. She looked as angry as
Cologne had ever seen her, but she had something else, a
murderous glint in her eyes that told Cologne no holds would be
barred in this fight. "What have you done with her, old hag?" Ranma's
voice was low, guttural, full of menace.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Son-in-law." She
didn't expect Ranma to believe that. Her wits were failing
her; she couldn't think of any way to satisfy Ranma. She'd just
have to paralyze her until Shampoo found Akane, and Mousse had been
dealt with. It was an inelegant solution, but it was the best she
could come up with under the circumstances.

A whisper was her only warning; she used her staff to block Ranma's
kick, then vaulted backwards to avoid Ranma's fast-moving right
jab. Ranma was moving perfectly, quickly, and all of a sudden
Cologne began to doubt her ability to defeat Ranma. This was not a
boy incautiously attacking, leaving all sorts of openings in his
haste to acquire something from her. This was a martial artist in
the prime of her powers, totally focused, and with deadly intentions.

Ranma stepped up and shouted "Kachu Tenshin Amaguriken!" Her
fists flew, and Cologne attempted to block them. Ranma was
moving with incredible speed. No one was faster than
Cologne, no one. Yet Ranma was getting through. Cologne had
taught Ranma this technique. She couldn't be bested by it.
However, as incredible as it was, she was forced to leap back,
out of the range of Ranma's attack.

Ranma smiled a cold smile. In Ranma's eyes, Cologne could see the
same knowledge Cologne herself was realizing: Ranma had grown
beyond Cologne's abilities to easily defeat in hand-to-hand combat.
Something had matured in Ranma, something that allowed her to
focus in battle as she had never been able to before. With the
knowledge came fear, fear that, for the first time in many, many
years, Cologne might be beaten. Beaten by a man, no less.

Ranma's voice was full of confidence, and menace. "Last time,
old hag. I ain't gonna go easy on you. Where is Akane?"

Cologne reassessed the situation. It was quite untenable.
She could either fight Ranma and risk losing, or she could
do something she'd never done before.

Cologne decided on the latter, much as it galled her. She
took a small ball from her wraparound and threw it on the
ground. As the smoke billowed, she turned and ran.

***

Akane looked around, wondering where Mother was. She was
sure she had heard her voice a moment ago. Or maybe it had
been Mousse again. It had been someone familiar.

She tried to recall where she was. She seemed to be on a rooftop,
sitting against a chimney. Mousse had told her to wait there, then
he had gone. That had vaguely troubled her, but it had also allowed
her to look for Mother without any distractions.

Akane thought she heard the familiar voice again. She strained
her ears, trying to fix on its location. She stood up, and winced;
her knee hurt badly. Holding it with her hand, she leaned against
the chimney and looked around.

The neighborhood looked familiar; she was still in Nerima
somewhere. She should be able to tell where she was. If she
could only concentrate a little.

Suddenly smoke billowed from the building she was standing on.
She looked around in alarm; if the building was on fire, this
was not the place to be. Trying to get off the roof by herself
with a busted knee was not good, either. Oh, well, the tired side
of her mind said, this is just another way I can go see Mother.

Something shot out of the smoke-filled building. Akane tried
to follow it with her eyes, but it was soon lost among the
other buildings. She heard someone coughing below, just outside
the building. The coughing slowed, and a voice shouted, "You old
hag, just you wait! This ain't over yet!"

The voice was like a broom that swept the cobwebs from her mind.
Joy filled her, driving out the lassitude and replacing it with
excitement and eagerness. Eagerness to be reunited with the
voice's owner.

"RANMA!" She shouted as loud as she could, the excitement
too big to be contained any other way.

She looked around, and very quickly Ranma appeared. "Akane!"
Ranma ran over, scooped her up, and jumped off the building
with her. She carried her a short distance away, then set her
gingerly on the ground.

"Akane." Ranma spoke in a gentle, worried voice. "Are you
okay?" Ranma was examining her face, looking down to see the
dried blood on Akane's leg.

Akane was, for the first time, noticing the pain of her
wounds. Her jaw ached, she had bruises in a few places on
her body, and her knee was on fire. None of it mattered,
however. She was alive, and Ranma was here. She smiled
adoringly at her.

Ranma's worry deepened. "Akane, answer me."

Akane shook herself a little. "I...I think I need to see
Tofu-sensei."

Ranma nodded. "All right." She bent over her, paused for a
moment with her face next to Akane's. "I'd give you a hug,
but it doesn't seem right like this."

Akane smiled at her. "I know, but I appreciate the thought."

Ranma smiled, too. Then she lifted Akane in her arms and
started down the street.

***

Shampoo stalked towards Ukyo's restaurant. She'd been
several other places, but she hadn't found Akane yet. She
had to be around somewhere. Shampoo had a task to complete.

Something spoke to her, asking her if she really wanted to
do this. She beat the thought down; she was an Amazon, the
heir-apparent to a great matriarch. She would not disappoint
her, she would not disappoint herself. She would have Ranma,
and Great-grandmother had told her that the only way she could
have him was to kill Akane. She believed Great-grandmother.
And she hated Akane.

The voice inside her was insistent. Remember when the
phoenix attacked? Akane had fallen, and would have been
hurt, if not killed. Yet you slid under her and rescued her.
You don't really hate her.

A moment of weakness, she assured herself. Great-grandmother
would have let Akane fall. Shampoo told herself that she
must be strong like Great-grandmother now.

The voice asked, is that strength, or cruelty?

Shampoo beat the voice back. No distractions, not now.

The restaurant looked busy. Shampoo paused, looking at the new
banner: "Ukyo's". She wondered at the name change. Irrelevant,
she decided. She looked through the window, to see Ukyo at the
grill, happily cooking. Ukyo did not look worried or distracted;
if Akane was here, Ukyo wasn't aware of it.

Shampoo slipped around to the back of the restaurant. She
examined the rear windows, trying to find a good place to
enter. There seemed to be a second floor window partially open;
she could climb up to it easily.

"Akane's not in there, Shampoo," a voiced called to her in Chinese.

She whirled around and brought her sword to bear. Mousse was
standing on some crates, his hands in his sleeves, his glasses
over his eyes for once. He did have attractive eyes; she had once
made the mistake of commenting on this, and ever since, he had
kept his glasses off as much as possible. Not a good idea for
someone with severe astigmatism and nearsightedness.

"What did you do with Akane, Mousse?" She tried to put the
authority of an Amazon matriarch into her voice. No man of
the Amazons should be able to resist that authority.

Mousse had already demonstrated his ability to disregard it,
however. "Shampoo, why do you do this? This isn't the way we
do things now."

Shampoo grunted. "I've seen you attempt to do the same to
Ranma. Don't lecture me on moral superiority, Mousse."

Mousse flinched; she'd gotten in a good blow. "I...do not
claim to be your superior, Shampoo. You already proved that
I'm not." He paused, and they both remembered the beating
she'd given him when they were very young. "But you will not
throw away your life on this mad quest."

"I'm throwing away nothing. Ranma will be mine, and we'll go
back to China and live a long, happy life together as
husband and wife."

"Shampoo, you're not thinking this through. Will Ranma ever
forgive you for killing Akane?"

Shampoo was brought short; she hadn't considered that. "It doesn't
matter. We can make sure that he never thinks about her again."

"With more secret techniques and magical herbs?" Mousse shook
his head. "Is that what you want, Shampoo - a man enslaved against
his will by the things you and Cologne do to him? Where is the
happiness you dream about in all that?"

The voice was back in her head, urging her to listen to
Mousse. She shook her head and gritted her teeth. "Shut up
Mousse. you have no idea what you're talking about. Ranma and
I will be happy! For the glory of the Amazons!" She leapt at
Mousse, her sword flashing.

Mousse jumped and sent a chain flying at her. She knocked it
aside with her sword, landing on the crate Mousse had been
standing on.

It was a trap. She realized that the moment she put weight on it.
The crates beneath her collapsed. She tried to leap away, but she
could find no purchase. She went down, losing her sword.

On her back among broken crates and loose refuse, she let
out a small scream of frustration. She'd hit her wounded arm
as she'd fallen, and it blazed like fire. She began knocking
things aside, trying to get to her feet as she attempted to
find stable ground among the junk she was lying on. Still on
one knee, she looked around for Mousse; she needed to find him
before he could take advantage of her vulnerability.

He was merely standing in the center of the small yard,
watching her impassively. He did have her sword lying in two
pieces at his feet. Keeping an eye on him, Shampoo regained her
feet and stood facing him.

"Always using tricks, aren't you Mousse? You could never
beat me in a fair fight."

"Can I not?" Shampoo was surprised by the calm, confident
voice he used. "Let us duel one last time, Shampoo. It is
not for the right to your hand; I have already lost that
battle. Rather, let it be for the right to Ranma's hand. You
win, I help you kill Akane and kidnap Ranma. I win, you give
up Ranma, help me defeat Cologne, and leave Japan with me."

He took off his voluminous robes, and various weapons
dribbled out as he tossed the robes aside. He was wearing
nothing but close-fitting pants and his sandals. One of his
forearms had a crude bandage on it. His long, black hair
fell over his shoulders, his muscular body standing straight
and proud. Shampoo looked up to his face; if only she could
see his eyes...

She suddenly came to herself and growled at him. "Mousse,
you are a pathetic man. You have made yourself an outcast of
the Amazons, and you think you have the right to challenge me
to a duel of honor!"

He continued to speak calmly to her. "That is Cologne speaking
with Shampoo's voice. That is not the Shampoo I knew growing up.
That is not the Shampoo I fell in love with. What does that
Shampoo think about what you are doing?"

Shampoo cried out and ran at him. She kicked at him high,
then low, then followed with quick jabs towards his face and
chest, then used a spinning attack that sent her elbow towards
his jaw. He blocked her kicks and jabs, and ducked under elbow.
He came up under her, placed his hand on her chest, and shoved
her backwards.

She fell, amazed. When had he gotten this good? Ranma beat
him up so easily. Then again, Ranma beat everyone up pretty
easily. It was hard to use Ranma as a point of reference.

She brought herself to a crouch and sprung at Mousse. His
long arms reached out at her, spun her around, and threw her
towards the wall. She screamed and tried to break her fall,
only partially succeeding as she hit the wall, bounced off,
and landed among some hoses and buckets.

She looked around her, slightly dazed. Hoses. She followed
one, it ended at a spigot.

She grabbed the end of the hose, sprung to her feet, flipped
over to the spigot, and quickly turned the handle.

Mousse realized too late what she was up to. He leapt at
her, but the spray from the hose caught him full in the
face. He continued forward during the change, and Shampoo's
hand caught his neck in a vice-like grip.

Carefully, Shampoo set the hose on the ground, holding it
down with her foot as she turned off the faucet.

She brought his face close to hers. She smiled at him
wickedly. "Mousse, it is time you learned what it means to
defy the matriarchs of the Amazons."

She brought her other hand up to grip his head. She began to
turn it to the side.

She expected him to thrash, to quack loudly, to protest in
some way. Instead, he hung there quietly, defiantly even, if
she could read ducks correctly. She'd had some practice at
that over the past few months. She turned his head a little
more, to see if that would start him going. He didn't even
resist, instead turning his head with her, for all appearances
cooperating with her while she wrung his neck.

Shampoo stared at him, not understanding what was going on. Why
didn't he try to stop her? She looked around, half-expecting
Ranma to come running, or Ukyo to look out a back window, or even
Konatsu to come flying from the roof. The yard was empty.

Why was she hesitating? Mousse deserved this, Great-grandmother
had told her so. The ancient laws demanded it. To defy the
matriarchs was to die. No exception, no appeal, just death on
the spot. These were the same laws that were going to allow her
and Ranma to marry.

The voice in her head spoke to her. You know why you're
hesitating. You know this is wrong; you've waiting for
someone to stop you. All your life, you've let others decide
what is right and wrong for you. Why develop morals if all
you have to do is let those around you tell what is moral?
So much easier to follow the ancient teachings than to think
for yourself, isn't it?

Shampoo argued back. Then why am I hesitating know? This is
what the teachings say is right.

She answered herself, discovering the truths she was keeping
buried. It's because there was someone who was always there,
someone who didn't believe in the old laws too much, who accepted
the new world. He was there to keep you from being too cruel,
to try and stop you from doing something wrong. He knows right from
wrong, and he taught you some of that, too.

But he didn't teach me very well; I was prepared to kill Akane.

Were you? Tell me, how hard was it to ignore Mousse following
you? Why didn't you tell Great-grandmother that you noticed him
listening in on your plans? Was it so that he would stop you
if you tried to do something wrong?

She and the voice examined Mousse closely. If you kill him,
who will be there to protect you from yourself next time?

She made one last protest. What about Great-grandmother?

Is that the future you want? Respected, feared, hated? To
manipulate those around you, to use them with little regard
for their feelings, your needs all that matter? The old ways
are dying, and she with them. Don't let her use you to try to
carry the old ways into the new world, or it will destroy the
Amazons. You know this.

She felt tears coming from her eyes. She had kept so much
repressed, so much buried. She remembered her childhood
dreams, to be the strongest of the Amazon warriors and to
lead her people into a new millennium. Why had she given up on
those dreams to chase after a man? Because one old woman had
sought to use her, to avenge an imagined slight on the honor
of the Amazons. It was time to set that right, to put her life
back on track.

The voice sighed, and she with it. She was the voice, she
knew. She had only been able to hear herself when all the
other voices around her were silent. No Ranma, Ukyo, Akane,
Kodachi, or Ryoga. Especially no Great-grandmother. Only Mousse
was here now, and he had kept quiet. She looked down at him,
and wondered how he had known about the voice.

She cradled him in one of her arms. He looked up at her,
peering into her face. She bent down, picked up a bucket,
and went into Ukyo's to get some warm water.

***

Ranma lowered the kettle and shook himself. Wringing himself
off as best he could, he hurried back into Tofu-sensei's
clinic.

Akane was on an examining table. She had another bandage on
her face, where Shampoo had clipped her jaw. Tofu-sensei had
done a remarkable job with her bruises, push and prodding with his
fingers until they seemed as if they had occurred weeks ago.
He was now working on her knee, gently bending and straightening it.

He smiled at Akane. "Good news. No damage to the bones or
cartilage. You'll limp for a while, but you'll get full use
of it back. While you're here, let me remove the last of your
stitches. We were going to do this tomorrow, but they look
like they're ready to come off now. Then we'll send you home,
where you will rest for a couple of days, and do no martial
arts training for a week." He said this with a smile, but the
command was unmistakable.

Ranma went up and gripped his shoulder. "Thank you, Tofu-sensei."

Tofu nodded. "Your fiancee is a strong, healthy young woman.
She heals fast and well, rather like you, Ranma. Now please,
go to the other room and wait for me to finish here."

Ranma looked down at Akane, reached out and took her hand.
She smiled at him and gave his hand a squeeze. They stared
at each other a moment, then she released her grip and Ranma
went into the waiting room.

It was only when he got there that he allowed himself to
collapse into a chair. This was not how it was supposed to
go. With each fiancee, Akane had come closer and closer to
being killed. It was his job to protect her and he was failing.
Miserably. Akane hadn't given him many details about her fight.
He got the feeling she didn't want him to know how bad it had
been. He had seen the marks on the pavement, he knew what would
have happened to her if the blows had landed.

He grabbed his head with his hands. Rationally, he knew that
there had been little he could do. In fact, they had removed
two of the major threats to her life. This last threat, though,
could be the most deadly, and he was a long way from neutralizing
it.

"Saotome Ranma-san?" A voice from the doorway.

Ranma looked up. Mousse was there. Shampoo was, too.

Ranma didn't stop to think. He launched himself at her, his
hands going for her throat. She screamed and thrust Mousse
in front of her. Mousse allowed this, reaching for Ranma's hands.

Ranma would have none of it. He pulled his hands down and
head-butted Mousse. Mousse staggered, Shampoo the only thing
that kept him from falling over backwards. Ranma grabbed Mousse
and threw him to the far side of the room.

Ranma didn't wait to see him crash, instead turning back to
Shampoo. She looked frightened. She stood very still, her
hands at her sides, her eyes glistening. It was enough to
cause Ranma to pause for a second, trying to figure out what
she was up to.

Shampoo spoke in a small, quiet voice. "If Ranma want to
kill Shampoo, she no stop him."

He sent his fist blurring towards her face, expecting her to
block or dodge it. Instead, she closed her eyes as it struck
her jaw. She collapsed with a shriek.

Ranma stood stunned. As he watched, Shampoo pushed herself
up, sobbing, to stand in front of him again with her hands
at her sides and her lip bleeding.

Tofu-sensei came up behind Ranma. "What is going on, Ranma?"
He looked at Shampoo. "Oh my, Shampoo, you're bleeding! Come
in and let me look at it." He reached over to take her hand.

"No!" She violently slapped his hand away. She stood in front
of Ranma, still sobbing but standing straight, gazing at him,
looking for all the world like she wanted him to hit her again.

Ranma stood, wavering. This woman had tried to kill Akane,
had nearly succeeded. Yet there was no part of him that
wanted to keep hitting her. He could not forgive her, not yet,
maybe not ever, but he couldn't go on punishing her either.

He stepped back. "Go with Sensei, Shampoo. We... we'll talk
about his later."

Shampoo only started sobbing harder. Mousse, who had
recovered from Ranma's throw, came up to her and put his
arms around her. She clutched at him, burying her face in
his chest. Mousse looked up at Tofu-sensei, who indicated
a room. Nodding, Mousse guided Shampoo into it.

Tofu-sensei looked at Ranma, his eyes probing. Ranma
couldn't meet his gaze, instead stalking back to his chair
and sitting down, staring at the far wall. After a moment,
Tofu-sensei went back to where Akane was.

She emerged shortly thereafter. She was limping badly, but
other than that and the two bandages on her face, she looked
well. Ranma's heart broke again; he had to make sure this
never happened to her again.

He ran over to her and they fell into each other's arms. She
spoke into his chest. "Ranma, next time I'll be the one with
all the fiancees. You can be the one who they all want to kill,
and I'll come and rescue you over and over."

Ranma grimaced and hugged her tighter. "Oh Akane..."

"Of course," she continued in a mischievous voice, "there's
a certain appeal to being rescued a lot. It's fun to pay the
grateful damsel." She snuggled deeper into his grasp, sighing
with contentment.

Ranma couldn't help but smile. She was certainly doing her
best to put him at ease. He appreciated the effort, but he
still couldn't find peace. Not until the last threat had been
eliminated. Even if that was the real Shampoo in there, full
of contrition, there was still one more person out there, still
dangerous, still deadly. For Akane's sake, she had to be taken
down. Hard.

***

Cologne stood alone in the Nekohanten. The smoke had gone,
as had Ranma. Shampoo had not returned, nor had Mousse. The
world was turning against her, but she had weathered storms like
this before. She remembered the tanks rolling over the ridge,
the army men pointing their guns into the village, the elders
surrendering without a fight. The glory of the Amazons had
been forgotten that day. It was Cologne's job to make sure the
world remembered it once more.

She went into the kitchen. She opened up a cupboard and tapped
the back panel with her staff in a certain manner. It opened,
and a package fell out. She took it, felt its pulsating warmth.

She smiled. The world would remember. Ranma would, too.

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

To be continued....