Tendo Nabiki Enterprises, Incorporated Presents:

A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic side-story

Careful Destiny

Part Two
"Appointment With Destiny"


by:
Todd Hill


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

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

THE NEXT DAY...


Morning came all too soon for Ranma Saotome. It seemed like only a few moments ago that he'd finally managed to lull himself to sleep. After several hours of tossing and turning, his exhaustion had overwhelmed his hyperactive mind and forced him to fall asleep. But even in sleep, the days events had tormented him, banishing all hopes of a restful night.

His short-lived slumber had been plagued with dreams of his past and present mingled together in an odd duet. At the moment, however, Ranma could only recall fuzzy snippets of some of the dreams. The ones that had remained with him weren't ones that he'd particularly enjoyed, like the one where he was fighting in front of the dojo again. After being defeated by Kuno, a white-hot flash of anger shot through him as he watched Akane lift her head up to kiss his opponent passionately on the lips, saying, "Come on lover, leave that little girl alone. We'll be late for school!"

Ranma had watched helplessly from the pile of garbage, then looked down in shock as he saw that he was sporting breasts. He screamed in anguish; the curse had caught up with him. The violence of his reaction caused him to shake himself awake and fall out of his bed in the process.

Later in the evening, another more intense dream struck, frightening Ranma more than angering him. He dreamt that he had defeated Kuno in battle for Akane's hand, only to have Mr. Tendo step up and pull Akane away from him. "You deserve this for what your family did to me all those years ago," he remembered Soun saying. "As long as I live, you will never be with Akane!" he'd shouted as he dragged her away. He had bolted awake in his bed immediately after that, shouting 'No!' and reaching his hand out to grab her, only to grab air.

He swore viciously at the sun as it continued to rise in the sky, peeking in through his bedroom window and bathing him in its life-giving light. He brought one of his hands up to block the glare from his eyes, then moved his head slightly so that he could avoid the light altogether. He doubted that he'd be able to get back to sleep again, and knew that he was going to feel like crap for the rest of the day.

As he lay there tanning in the sun, he wondered briefly if he should postpone the challenge until tomorrow. But he quickly struck that idea down, knowing that he wouldn't be able to sleep at all until he settled the score with Kuno once and for all and freed Akane from that damned arrangement.

Sighing tiredly, he squinted to bring his tired eyes into focus so he could read the clock. He groaned when he saw that he still had an hour before he would have to get up. Unable to sleep any more, and tired of fighting the nightmares, he dragged himself to a sitting position with his feet dangling over the side of his bed.

Forcing himself to stand, Ranma shambled over to the small mirror hanging on the wall opposite his window. He groaned as he saw the exhausted visage of himself staring blankly back at him from the reflective surface. 'Boy, what a handsome face,' he thought dourly as he ran his fingers through his tangled hair. Stifling a yawn, he rubbed the last remnants of fatigue from his eyes, then frowned as he caught a whiff of himself. 'Whew! Man I stink,' he thought with a grimace. Looking at the clock again, he saw he had some time to spare, so he grabbed his towel and walked to the bath.

As Ranma sat down and scrubbed away the sweat from his nightmares, his mind pondered the meaning behind the dreams he'd had over the course of the night. He couldn't believe how hard it had hit him when he saw Akane willingly kiss Kuno on the lips, and again when Soun had guaranteed that he would never allow their engagement to happen. 'I guess I never knew before now just how much she means to me,' he thought as he brought the bucket of cold water over his head and rinsed off.

He stiffened in that instant. A latent wave of fear passed over him as the cold water cascaded down his body. He dropped the bucket from his hands and looked down at himself, expecting the worst. Ranma sighed in relief as he saw that his body wasn't protruding where it wasn't supposed to. He swore a vile oath against the curse, angry that it still held such a large influence over him. After two weeks of living with a single gender, he had hoped that the curse would simply fade from his memory. 'I guess it'll take a lot longer than two weeks to forget about it,' he concluded sullenly.

Ranma stood up from the stool and walked over to the bath. Stepping down, he immersed himself in the hot water. He reached over and flipped a switch which activated the whirlpool. He 'ahhhed' as the dancing bubbles went to work on him, relaxing both his mind and body greatly. In his relaxed state, a small voice percolated up from the back of his mind, offering a solution to his worries. 'Why not use the second wish and return to Akane that way?'

He frowned at the thought. He knew damn good and well why he hadn't used the wish. 'If I use that second wish to go back, then I'll be cursed again. I don't want to go through all of that.' He had to admit that problems with Akane aside, he'd had a very restful two weeks. And while he may have occasionally felt a pang of regret or sorrow at losing Ukyou's or Shampoo's interests, he felt that having a complete family more than made up for it. 'Besides,' he told himself, 'they may show up one day...' 'Although not too soon...' he was quick to add.

Ranma nodded to himself as he reclined further in the oversized tub. He knew that it would take a hell of a lot to force him to wish himself out of here. Besides, he wasn't about to run out on a fight. Especially when that fight was with Kuno. That simply wasn't in his nature. 'I'll prove to everyone that Kuno's nothing more than a bunch of hot air,' he vowed silently, his words adding to his faltering confidence.

He emerged from the bathroom several minutes later, and dashed quickly back to his room to dress. He felt refreshed and a bit less anxious after the whirlpool had been allowed to work its magic on his tense body. He closed the door to his room and toweled himself dry, then pulled out another in his growing set of Chinese outfits and laid it on his bed.

Although it never left his mind that today was important to him, he figured that he'd have a heart attack by noon if he didn't take a more casual approach to this fight. With that in mind, he focused on trying to calm himself down.

He knew that those dreams were a by-product of fear, but during the bath he realized that they also served as source of inspiration for him, and he tried to use them to that end. That alone helped to calm his ragged nerves somewhat. He felt his confidence and determination slowly building within him. So why was he still feeling anxious?

He nodded to himself a moment later, realizing what it was. In the space of one night he had gone from being an unimportant sulking boy, in the eyes of his parents at least, to being a skilled martial artist with a promising future ahead of him. That uncertain future was at the very heart of his concern, and was continuing to fuel his tension. His mind reeled with all of the possibilities that were available to him; should he defeat Kuno, that is.

He knew that his and Akane's future, along with that of the entire Tendo and Saotome families, were on the line. The dreams that had visited him last night pointed out to him exactly what would happen should he fight Kuno and lose. The more he dwelled on it, the more Ranma knew that he had to win. He also knew that Akane's life was as much on the line as his. He felt sure that she would rather die than continue to live as Kuno's puppet, and he wasn't sure he could live with himself if he failed to get her away from that idiot.

It seemed like such an awesome responsibility, he thought briefly, but brushed away the thought, clenching his fists in a show of self-determination and assuring himself that he wouldn't lose this chance to be with Akane. Feeling hungry, he wasted no time in putting on his clothes and heading downstairs to the breakfast table.

Descending the steps quietly, he could hear his mother humming to herself as she prepared breakfast. He took his place at the table and closed his eyes, breathing deeply to keep himself calm. A smile slowly crept its way across his face as he inhaled, his nose detecting the wonderful aroma of his mother's culinary skills. The smell of a good morning breakfast wafting from the kitchen called to him, stirring deep rumblings of hunger from his belly.

At that moment Ranko bounded down the stairs, her raven pigtailed hair flopping against her back with every step. She paused at the bottom of the steps, surprised at seeing her brother sitting at the table. Part of what surprised her was that he was sitting there with his eyes closed and a smile on his face. 'That's odd,' she thought to herself. 'He's just sitting there like a statue. I guess he's really concerned about the fight today...' she thought absently.

But even understanding why he was acting like this didn't dampen her surprise any. Up to this point Ranma had been keeping up a lazy son image, partly by getting up just in the nick of time for school every day. But with everything that had happened over the last twelve hours, Ranko guessed that he was ready to drop the facade and act like the martial artist he seemed destined to be. Without making a sound, she walked around the room and took her place adjacent to her brother at the table.

He jumped in nervous surprise and his eyes snapped open as Ranko's leg made contact with his arm. He turned to look at her as she sat next to him and favored him with an encouraging smile.

"You ready for the big showdown, bro?" she asked in a low voice, nudging him with her hip.

He gave her a grim look. "I guess I'll have to be, Sis. I wasn't able to sleep all that well last night."

She continued to smile pleasantly at him, hoping to take the hard edge off of her brother's worry. "Ahh, you'll be okay bro. I have faith in you. All you need to do is remember your training," she said as she patted him on the back.

He was about to thank her and give her a hug when Nodoka walked in with breakfast. She seemed pleasantly surprised to see both children at the table ahead of time. "My, you're both up early! You two have something planned today?" she asked as she sat the food down on the table.

Ranko looked at her brother as she took her bowl of miso soup into her hands. "Naah, I don't have anything special goin' on today," she said before taking a sip of the soup and putting the bowl back on the table. "But Ranma's challenging Kuno for Akane, and I wanna make sure I'm there to see that!" She picked up another bowl and stuffed some rice in her mouth, smiling at her brother as she swallowed.

Nodoka's eyes widened slightly, and she leveled her gaze at her son. He coughed slightly, seeing her reaction, and forced his half-chewed food down his throat before he choked. "Ranma! I can't believe that you're actually going to go through with that fight!" She put her hands to her head to try and ward off a headache. "Why today?!?" 'Why at all?' she added to herself.

He took a moment to consider his response before speaking. He didn't want to get his mother any angrier at him than she already appeared to be. Calmly he put his bowl on the table and adopted a neutral look. "Yes Mom, I decided that I'm going to take care of it today," he said simply. He winced internally as he realized that he'd made a mistake.

The color in Nodoka's face drained away at hearing her son's words on the matter. "Ranma!" she declared in a scolding voice. "I can't believe how cavalierly you're taking this whole matter. You make it sound like you're going for groceries instead of facing off against someone who could possibly hurt you!"

He shook his head, berating himself for acting so distant to a woman he'd truly known for only a couple of weeks. "Sorry Mom, I didn't mean for that to sound as bad as it did." He paused, trying to find the right way to tell her what he was thinking. "What else can I say, Mom? It's something that I have to do," he finished simply, then resumed eating.

'That's it?! He has to do it, no questions asked?' Nodoka looked at the stony expression on Ranma's face and groaned, resigning herself to the inevitable. "Alright. You listen to me, son. If things get out of hand, I want you or your sister to come get your father or me. Immediately!" she shouted, punctuating the last word by poking him in the shoulder with her index finger. "There's no telling what that Kuno character is capable of doing to you. I don't want you taking any unnecessary risks, you understand me?"

Ranma nodded his assent, but said nothing further. Ranko, on the other hand, spoke up in her brother's defense. "Mom, you saw what he did last night. You also heard how he did with Mr. Tendo. I'd think that you'd have a bit more confidence in him."

Nodoka looked stricken as Ranko's words hit home. Her face lost some of its anger, but none of its concern as she considered what her daughter said. 'I guess you're right dear,' she thought to herself. 'But this is such a drastic change. It's just so hard to see my son as a fighter.' She sighed, forcing herself to accept this new change in her son. Despite herself, her gaze softened, and she reached out to stroke her son's face. "You know, you're starting to remind me of your father when he and I were dating," she said as she smiled, a nostalgic look coming over her face. "He was always ready to come to my rescue. Even when it wasn't necessary."

Ranma breathed a sigh of relief, feeling better knowing that she wasn't going to try to stop him. Eager to get the fight with Kuno out of the way, he quickly finished off his breakfast. Standing from the table, he grabbed Ranko's hand and dragged her with him. "Good luck, dear," Nodoka called out to the whirlwind Saotome siblings as the door closed behind them.

"Hey Ranma! Slow down, willya?" Ranko yelled as Ranma blasted down the street towards the school.

Nodoka chuckled slightly at hearing her daughter's fading protest, then turned to clean the table. 'I hope he makes it through the day okay,' she thought hopefully. A frown crossed her face as she considered again what he was facing. 'That Kuno boy better hope that my son isn't hurt or...' she paused the thought, her eyes regarding the katana that hung on a nearby wall. '... or else he and I will have words,' she vowed severely.

****


Ranma knew that his sister didn't like to be dragged about, and released her hand to run on ahead of her. He didn't have to look over his shoulder, though, to know that she was right behind him. He rounded a curve and saw the gates of Furinkan High looming in the distance. He pushed himself, hoping to get to the school ahead of Kuno and Akane.

But as he neared the school, he noticed a black limousine drive up to the gates, and swore viciously. 'No! I won't miss this opportunity,' he thought in a rush as he poured on the speed. He watched in frustration as Kuno and Akane exited the vehicle, and turned towards the school. Ranma redoubled his pace, hoping to catch them before they went inside the school, leaving Ranko in the dust.

****


Tatewaki Kuno held his hand out to Akane. Unwilling at first, she gradually reached her own hand out and accepted his as she stepped out of the vehicle. She looked pale and withdrawn, which is how she'd been almost since the day Kuno and she began dating formally. A part of her knew that she hadn't always been this downcast, but she couldn't remember the last time *recently* when she enjoyed getting up in the morning. It had been too long for her to recall.

When she had first accepted the proposed joining between herself and Kuno, she'd vowed to try and make the relationship work, more for her father than for her own sake. During that early time, she had tried to find something likable about Kuno. But try as she might, she just couldn't do it.

He had been really sweet to her when he was chasing after her as at the beginning of the school year. But now that she had accepted him as her boyfriend, his interest in her evaporated. She had become a trophy of sorts for Kuno. He would posture in front of other guys on campus, and show her off as if she were a prize instead of a loved one. She felt like she was something only slightly more than a revered pet to him. Akane really hated the way he was treating her, but she couldn't think of any way to change things, at least nothing that would keep her or her family out of jail.

With a sigh she stood away from the departing limousine. She turned around to look at the cityscape when something caught her eye. She tugged on Kuno's hand, pointing at what she saw. "Kuno-chan," Akane said by reflex, "what's that?"

As the thing in question drew nearer, it looked more and more like a miniature dust storm approaching the school. Several people were being drawn to the gates by the disturbance. A combination of "oohs!" and "ahhs!" issued from the crowd as they watched.

Someone in the crowd pointed and yelled, "Hey, look! It's some guy! Looks like he's really hauling butt too!" That brought a *lot* more people out, causing the crowd to spill into the street. Akane squinted, trying to make out who it was. It took her a couple of seconds before she could see the person clearly, and she gasped when she finally recognized who it was. 'It's that guy who insulted Kuno in front of the dojo a couple of weeks ago! Looks like he's really angry about something.' The approaching figure began shouting, prompting more heads to turn.

"KUUUUUUUUUUNNOOOOOOOOOOO!!" it was heard to scream once it was close enough to be understood.

Someone in the crowd gasped in realization. "Waitaminute! That's sounded like Ranma!"

Another turned to the first in shock. "Ranma *Saotome?* No *WAY!*" The stunned pair turned back to watch as he blasted towards the campus.

Kuno turned at the sound of his name, but tried to feign disinterest. He felt that a display of wonderment was beneath him, so he merely watched as Ranma approached.

Seeing his target directly ahead, Ranma slowed himself, not wanting to fly past his opponent. He also didn't want to become one with the school gates. He came to a halt two feet in front of Kuno, breathing only slightly harder than normal. "Kuno, I challenge you!" he yelled, insuring that the whole crowd heard him.

"You would challenge me?" Kuno scoffed at Ranma, pointing his bokken at him. "You? Surely you jest!" He threw a withering gaze at his opponent, trying to dull Ranma's passion and humble him. It didn't work. "And for what reason should I fight a creature as unworthy as you?" Kuno laughed humorlessly through his nose, openly mocking Ranma's brashness.

Ranma stared directly at him, confidence burning in him like an iron furnace. Defiantly he held his ground in the wake of Kuno's arrogance, pointing at him as if he were a wanted man (which he was). "I know for a fact that if you are defeated in combat you will release Akane Tendo from her engagement. *That's* why I'm challenging you, so LET'S FIGHT!" he bellowed. Ranma was eager to cause harm to Kuno, and it was obvious to everyone there.

Akane gasped, her eyes as wide open as possible. She had no idea who this guy was or why he was doing it, but she sure as hell hoped he won. She crossed her fingers, just to make sure.

Kuno laughed derisively, trying to keep faint stirrings of worry from showing on his face. "It is true that I uttered those words. I did so, confidently, for I know that only I am destined to have the hand of Akane Tendo." Kuno wrapped his arm around Akane's thin waist and placed his hand atop her belly. He emphasized his point further by bending down and kissing her on the lips.

He stood away from Akane and lowered his gaze at Ranma, sneering as if he were being forced to view something unpleasant. What Kuno had missed in that instant however, was the murderous look that Akane shot him for kissing her so brazenly. "I see that I was mistaken in my belief that the last thrashing I gave you would've convinced you of the futility of defeating me, the great Tatewaki Kuno, the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High, in combat." He gasped for air silently. "Very well, I suppose that I will have to defeat you again, if that's what it takes to make you see reason." He brought his bokken up and moved into a defensive stance. "Prepare yourself, fool!" he shouted imperiously.

Ranma threw his backpack to the ground, and brought himself to a fighting stance. "For the record, my name is Ranma Saotome, of the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts. And by all that's holy I will make you pay for what you've done to Akane!" He cracked his knuckles, awaiting Kuno's move.

Akane did the only thing she could do in her current emotional state; she fainted. Ranma almost dropped his stance in that moment and ran over to her side, but stopped short when he saw that she didn't hit the ground. Someone in the audience had seen her falter and managed to catch her before she collapsed. Akane was then seated against the nearby fence, away from Kuno and the impending battle.

Ranma turned back to Kuno, angered further by the dismissive gaze Kuno was giving to Akane's still form. 'You'll pay dearly for that one, Kuno! NO-ONE neglects her like that and lives!' he vowed, his heart pounding and his mind teetering on the edge of sanity.

Gasps, murmurs, and side betting were happening all throughout the crowd. Every student was on pins and needles, wrapped up in the tension generated between the two combatants. It was almost palpable, as they awaited the first blow. Ranko joined the crowd, picking up her brother's backpack from where he had thrown it. She wormed her way to the front of the crowd, rooting hard for him.

A gust of wind blew across the campus, scattering leaves and papers around the street and sidewalk. It captured the attention of a large part of the crowd, including Ranma. Kuno used the momentary distraction to his advantage and struck with his weapon.

Ranma didn't even see it coming. Before he could get his hands up, Kuno's bokken sailed right at him and tagged him in the chest, knocking him back, but not down. He involuntarily covered the stricken area with a hand as he fought to regain his feet. 'Damn! He's faster than I thought...' He gazed in Ranko's direction. 'You were right, sis. This Kuno's not like the one I knew.' He smirked inwardly. 'But now that I have that bastard's timing, it's my turn to teach him what *real* martial arts is like.'

Kuno laughed scornfully at his collapsed foe. "You have my permission to concede. I suggest you do so, Saotome, before you get hurt."

Ranma stood up and gave the Kendoist a withering stare, not wanting to lose his focus by listening to Kuno's words. "You got your one hit, Kuno. You won't touch me again!"

Kuno's right eyebrow swept up in an unintentional show of respect. "Very well then, to your doom cretin!" he yelled as he charged. Ranma was ready this time and deflected the bokken with the back of his hands. He immediately followed up with a kick to the kidneys, causing Kuno's eyes to water.

The crowd gasped as well; shocked that someone had been able to land a hit on the Kendo champion. Kuno hesitated slightly before bringing his bokken up to bear against Ranma again, his mind warning him that this person was more dangerous than his reputation warranted. 'Could it be that this whelp has found a backbone in so short a time...' he thought as he hurriedly re-evaluated his opponent.

Not wanting to allow Kuno any more time to recover, Ranma followed up the kick with a volley of punches and jabs. But even with the hit he took, Kuno was still swift enough to deflect the attacks. 'The only upside to this,' Ranma thought in a huff, 'is that he isn't able to launch anything offensive at me.'

Kuno frowned inwardly, but kept his face expressionless. Never had he encountered a martial artist of such pronounced skill before at Furinkan. It bothered him that he had not already dispatched of the lower-class boy. For surely, he thought, only a man as great as Kuno himself could bring the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High to defeat. And Ranma Saotome could not be that man.

The fight raged on for several long minutes, with neither combatant giving quarter. Neither Kuno nor Ranma could declare an advantage, as they appeared to be evenly matched. The small spot of ground claimed by the combatants was the scene of wildly swinging bokken strikes parrying the punches and kicks of a very nimble Ranma. He was throwing everything at Kuno, short of special attacks, with little or no effect. His patience was starting to wear thin, as nothing was getting accomplished.

Likewise, Kuno's ire grew at his lack of progress. His face was red and slick with sweat. The heavy exertion from the fight bore down on him mercilessly. His arms and wrists were beginning to ache due to the extreme strain that he was putting them through. He withstood the pain stoically, forcing his bokken to block again and again the punches and kicks hurled his way. He was desperate to stop any of Ranma's strikes from landing on him. He'd had an undefeated record so far, and he had no intention of losing now. Especially not now.

Any seasoned fighter would realize that you could not maintain a defense forever. Despite all hopes of outlasting the boy, Kuno knew that he wasn't going to last much longer against Ranma's unending flurry of punches and kicks. Desperate for a conclusion to the fight, he began looking for any possible weak spot in Ranma's defenses.

Meanwhile, Akane had regained consciousness and stood up from her resting place at the gate. She couldn't hear anything beyond the yelling of the crowd, but she could see the occasional leg, arm, or bokken stick up above the heads of the people. Remembering who was fighting and why, she desperately pushed her way through the crowd to see what was going on.

Once she'd worked her way to the front, she watched in awe as Ranma and Kuno battled. Much to her satisfaction, Ranma was clearly holding his own against the Kendo champion. Apparently a lot of other people felt as she did; glad that someone was finally able to give Kuno a run for the money. She took her eyes away from the fight for a second and scanned the rim of the crowd. Her eyes happened upon a young girl who looked just like Ranma, and was obviously related to him. The girl was jumping up and down, screaming and cheering. "Whip his ASS bro! YES! YES! YES! YES! YES! Nail that SON OF A BITCH!! WOOOOO!!"

Without saying anything, Akane prayed for Ranma's victory as well.

Kuno's split attention was causing him to falter in his defense. Ranma took note of that and pressed his advantage. 'I guess either Kuno's getting tired, or I'm just getting warmed up,' he thought confidently. He grinned, his hope burning inside of him as he continued to strike at Kuno.

Kuno's frustration, which had been contained for so long, was plainly visible now. For the past nine minutes he'd tried every honorable tactic he knew to try and bring down the villainous cur, but to no avail.

Then he espied Ranma smirking contemptuously at him, and an uncharacteristic flash of anger flared from deep within Kuno, destroying the battle calm that he'd been trying to nurture throughout the fight. "How dare you mock me, you thoughtless knave!" he thundered. "I will have your head, Saotome!"

"I don't think so, Kuno," Ranma replied derisively, purposely avoiding any honorific.

Kuno's patience snapped at the flippant remark. He dove at the younger martial artist frantically, sweeping low with his sword in an attempt to take Ranma's legs out from under him.

Ranma saw the attack coming and leapt into the air, landing neatly on Kuno's head. He paused for a second, teetering on Kuno's forehead like a surfer on his board and grinding his foot into the Kendoist's face. With precise balance, he jumped off and flipped to stand behind Kuno. "Give up yet, Kuno?" he shouted over his shoulder, layering the scornful words heavily with superiority.

Kuno had managed to keep himself upright despite taking the brunt of Ranma's weight on his head. Despite his difficulty at remaining conscious, he turned to face Ranma again. But instead of making a move to strike, he flushed angrily and halted himself in mid-swing. He saw that Ranma was facing his back towards him, a bored stance evident in the upstart martial artist's posture. It didn't help matters either that people were pointing at Kuno and laughing at the rather large footprint on his face. 'How *DARE* they mock me? This fool will not make me a laughing stock! I am the rock of this school, and the person that every student here wishes to be! I will not allow such insolence!' he swore to himself before his mind reasserted control and forced him to concentrate on the battle.

Pausing to catch his breath and calm himself down, Kuno sneered at his foe. "You're a weak boy, Saotome! You may be able to get in a lucky hit, but as sure as the Earth sails through the heavens, I will defeat you!" He crouched into a ready position again, his laughter starting to slide into the maniacal level.

Ranma rolled his eyes and turned to face Kuno once more. He concentrated on what he hoped would be his final attack. He nodded at his sister's encouraging words and spared a smile for Akane. "Good night, Kuno," he said gravely as he changed his posture, facing hit opponent directly.

He blinked at Ranma's last words, unsure of what was meant by them, but readied himself in any event for the promised onslaught. Cautiously he brought his bokken up in an attack stance, preparing to move against the martial arts show-off again. But before he could bring the weapon down to bear, he was attacked.

"KACHUU TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!" Ranma bellowed, throwing everything he had into an all-out, final attack. His fists were a blur as they flashed again and again in Kuno's face. Bewildered by the speed of Ranma's attack, Kuno lost his grip on his bokken, which flew away from him due to the sheer force of Ranma's assault. He watched out of the corner of his eye as his weapon landed away from him, clattering uselessly on the pavement. He didn't have much of a chance to curse the loss of it, however, as the force of Ranma's punches took their toll and quickly sent him following his weapon to the ground.

Ranma forced himself to stop. Kuno had fallen. Knowing that the fight was finally over, exhaustion swept quickly over his body, causing Ranma to collapse to his knees but remaining upright. He stayed there for a moment, gasping for breath as the pain from the endurance-level fight throbbed through every fiber of his being. The crowd stood a respectful distance away from him, looking on in stunned silence, unable to believe what they had just witnessed.

"YESSS!" Ranko screamed, throwing both bookbags in the air, elated that her brother had beaten Kuno so soundly. She quickly ran to her brother's side upon seeing him stumble and knelt down to put her arm around his waist. "That's it, Ranma. Just lean against me and breathe deeply." She patted him appreciatively on the chest, and felt how hot and sweaty he was from the workout he just went through. "I'm proud of you, man! You did it."

Ranma just kind of stood where he was, flexing his fingers to try and get some feeling back into his numbed hands. Gratefully, he put an arm around his sister's slim waist and grinned down at her while she rambled on about how wonderful he was and how great he fought. He hugged her to him and absorbed the more subdued and silent respect from the crowd.

He rested against her for a couple of minutes before he finally regained feeling in his hands and legs and could stand without effort. He turned to look over his right shoulder and spotted the bokken that he'd knocked loose from Kuno's grip. Stepping from his sister's embrace, he knelt down and picked up the weapon.

****


Meanwhile, Akane broke away from the crowd and stumbled towards the dozing form of Tatewaki Kuno, gazing down in amazement at her now-former boyfriend. As she stared at his bruised and battered figure, the reality of what happened suddenly hit her like a ton of bricks. Overwhelmed by a sea of confused and conflicting emotions, she collapsed to her knees beside Kuno's body and buried her head in her hands. She wept loudly, tears of joy and sorrow streaming down her pallid face. Joy that her engagement to Kuno had finally been broken, and sorrow over how submissive she had been while under Kuno's influence. Her tears stopped when someone approached and knelt by her side.

"Excuse me for a moment, please?" a polite voice asked. A hand gently gripped her by the shoulder, trying to move her aside without forcing her. She turned to see Ranma kneeling next to her, a grim smile on his face. He was holding Kuno's bokken in his free hand, evidently intent on doing something with it. "Sorry, there's just one more thing I have to do to make this official," he said in a soft voice.

Ranma took his hand from her shoulder, letting it slide gently across her back before turning his attention to the task at hand. Gripping each end of the bokken with his hands, he employed all the force he could muster and snapped it. It broke irregularly, splinters and jagged edges forming along the break line midway down the blade. Ranma smiled satisfactorily at the damage he'd caused then tossed the broken weapon absently at Kuno's feet. "Kuno had that coming for taunting me like that," he snorted, glaring at the unconscious Kendoist.

Ranma turned to Akane, and knelt to face her on the opposite side of Kuno's body. Her face was red and slick with tears, and her lower lip was trembling.

He had never liked watching Akane cry. For someone as strong as he knew her to be, it was an extremely jarring thing to witness. He wanted to comfort her, but old habits were hard to break. Even with the realization that this wasn't the same macho chick he'd fought with for months, he found himself trying to distance himself from her. But as she cried, Ranma delved deep within himself and found the courage to stay where he was. He gazed into the troubled eyes of his 'fiancee' and his resistance crumbled completely. Unable to resist touching her, Ranma gently reached out and put his hand on her arm. With his other hand he reached over and tentatively stroked stray tears from her face. "Hey, you okay, Akane?" he asked in a halting voice.

Akane flinched at Ranma's initial touch, but smiled weakly at him in appreciation, covering the hand on her arm with one of her own before he could pull it away. "Yeah, I'm okay... I ... umm... " she blushed, turning her face from him.

He looked like he wanted to say more, but couldn't find the words. He dropped his hand from Akane's face. He didn't know how to react since he'd never really been this close to her before, emotionally speaking. He relaxed somewhat, taking a small measure of comfort from the fact that she didn't want him to leave. Once more he tried to talk to her, but the words just weren't coming to him. "I... you're ... um... " he said haltingly, stumbling over himself.

As words failed them both, Ranma and Akane knelt on either side of Kuno's still form, content to gaze at each other while tuning out the rest of the world. Ranma's hands almost burned with her warmth as Akane clutched them intently. He half-expected her to knock him out of the city at any moment for touching her, screaming "HENTAI!" at the top of her lungs. But she didn't even complain, instead welcoming his touch.

This was all so new to him. He'd never been this close to her before and remained conscious long enough to commit it to memory. As the seconds ticked by, he found himself liking her touch. A lot! He basked in the sensation of her soft skin against his fingers, enjoying the welcoming feeling she was giving him.

He was too addled to talk, but he felt that words weren't proper at the moment and settled for simply gazing at her face while she held onto his hand. He allowed a genuine smile to show, and began leaning forward, bringing his face closer to hers.

Akane's eyes shimmered with the beginnings of fresh tears, but Ranma's support allowed her to keep them in check. She felt ... gratified for what he'd done for her, and ... something else she couldn't quite describe. She looked up at Ranma again for reassurance and saw him inching towards her, their faces growing closer. Without even realizing it, she began moving towards him as well.

He paused his advance, his mind screaming all sorts of alarms and warnings. A very self-preservationist part of his mind practically begged him to stop; telling him that what he was about to do was WRONG! His mind still harbored the 'tomboy!' reaction despite the lack of physical damage from Akane, and his survival instinct wasn't letting up this time. He held himself where he was and looked into her brown eyes.

Ranko watched the silent exchange occur between her brother and Akane. 'Ranma sure picked a cute one, that's for sure. They do look great together,' she thought with a slight tinge of jealousy. 'I just wish he'd hurry up and do something!,' She tapped her foot impatiently, waiting for her big brother to make his move. After several minutes of nothing but puzzled murmurs from the crowd and a stiff breeze at her back, she finally got fed up and walked up to him. "Psst! Ranma. Hey, bro!" she hissed. Getting no response from him, she waved her hand in front of his eyes. 'Ah man! He's outta there!' she thought with a smirk. Finally she tapped him hard on the shoulder and shook him.

Snapped out of his reverie, Ranma jerked his hand abruptly from Akane's grasp. He had a dazed air about him as he looked up to his sister. "Yeah, um... what is it Ranko?" he asked as the world snapped back into focus.

Ranko rolled her eyes and pointed to the school. "Ranma, you can stare at her later. If you don't hurry up we'll be late for school!"

Akane jumped involuntarily as Ranma pulled his hand away from hers. She barely even heard Ranma and Ranko speak as she mechanically picked up her things and dashed off to the school building.

She fought the urge to turn around for one more look at Ranma, not knowing what she would do if she stopped or looked at him again in that instant. She didn't want to tempt fate, at least not in front of the crowd that was still encircling Kuno and the Saotomes. She'd find some other time to talk to Ranma and ask him the multitude of questions she had. But for the moment she had to think, so she entered the school building without stopping or speaking to anyone.

Ranma reluctantly agreed with his sister. He turned back to Akane in time to see her stand and run towards the school. He wasn't able to get her attention, so he stood up and looked at his sister instead. "Yeah, Ranko, you're right. Let's go!" he shouted as he turned and ran off towards the school.

Ranko started to follow her brother when she heard a groaning coming from beneath her. "Uhhh... What form of magic did you use against me, Saotome?" he mumbled. Ranko knelt down to him, and saw that his eyes were glazed over, then jumped back in surprise when Kuno suddenly flopped back down on the pavement, unconscious again. She looked closely at his face. 'Yup, he's still out cold. Interesting trick, talking while unconscious,' she thought absently.

She took pity on him and decided to wake him up. Kneeling down and straddling his chest, she slapped her hand against his face multiple times. Kuno's head rocked back and forth as he endured slap after vicious slap. "Hey buddy, you awake?" she yelled at him.

His eyes fluttered open slowly. He looked up at her, his cheeks bright red from Ranko's wake-up call, but said nothing in return. She started to say something else when a someone approached her. "Don't worry about Kuno-chan. I'll take him to the infirmary. Thanks for waking him, though."

Ranko nodded to the girl and took off after her brother. Nabiki watched as the younger Saotome ran towards the school building, then regarded the listless Kuno. Reaching an arm down, she tugged him to a standing position. "I do not require your assistance, Nabiki Tendo. I am the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High and... WHA!" he shouted suddenly, stumbling over the remnants of his bokken.

Nabiki smiled, replying gently with, "Of course you don't, Kuno-chan." She walked with him to the infirmary, thinking, 'Ranma Saotome... You and I have a lot to talk about, yes indeed.' The yen signs were already floating around her mind, the possibilities seemingly innumerable. She smiled to herself. 'This could turn out to be a great day.'

****


Ranma found it hard to concentrate on anything once he entered the school building. His mind was thinking of all of the possibilities that had just opened up to him. But his thoughts were so chaotic that he wasn't really making any sense to himself. The one thing that was clear to him was that Akane was free of Kuno's hold. A major side benefit for him was that his family could hopefully return to peaceful relations with the Tendo family. How he proceeded from this point was what he was having trouble dealing with.

As he walked, Ranma kept noticing that a lot of students were paying attention to him to the point of gaping in awe, and that was making him *very* uncomfortable. Not used to playing the celebrity, Ranma kept to himself and tried to avoid the scrutiny of those around him.

Class time came and Ranma's tension was almost palpable. He arrived to the classroom early, and sat at his assigned seat. He watched the door intently, and almost jumped out of his chair when Akane walked in. He smiled to her, and his heart leapt when she smiled in return. Class had started right after that, but he wasn't noticing. He kept staring at the youngest Tendo girl, trying hard not to be obvious about it. Three classes into the day he finally screwed together the courage to pass her a note he'd written at the beginning of class.

Akane took the proffered note from the classmate at her end of the delivery chain, careful not to be seen by the teacher. She looked at the folded paper closely and was just able to make out Ranma's chicken scratch on the front. "To Akane Tendo, urgent." She quietly opened the note, looking around to see if anyone was watching.

The note read:


"Dear Akane,

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


She could see the heavy amounts of erasure and re-writing that Ranma had done over various parts of the message, and wondered how long he had been working on it. Akane snickered before folding the note and putting it in her book bag. She turned to face him, smiling lightly at his expectant look. Slowly and clearly she mouthed, "Yes, I'd like to."

A big smile formed on Ranma's face as he read her lips. 'Yes!' he thought, exultant. He turned quickly to face the blackboard, hoping not to catch the instructor's ire. This teacher was a new one on him, but he quickly learned that Onsen-Mark Sensei was not one to toy with. Ranma fidgeted in his seat for the remainder of class, impatiently awaiting the lunch hour.

****


Nabiki sighed as she looked Kuno's way again. Originally, she wanted to remain with him until he felt better, but now she was wondering if that had been a wise choice. He'd passed out again as soon as his head hit the pillow of the infirmary cot. Before that he had been mumbling semi-incoherently about vengeance against that 'knave Saotome for tricking him into defeat, bla bla bla.'

Nabiki had to admit that Ranma Saotome possessed some powerful capabilities of his own to be able to trounce Kuno the way he did. She thought hard about a way to turn Ranma's power to her advantage, but nothing came to the fore. But she knew that, given time, she'd think of something. 'Everything's got a price and a use,' she told herself. She regarded Kuno's slumbering form again, smirking. 'At least I'll be able to sell Kuno-chan pictures of my sister again,' she thought greedily.

Suddenly Kuno sat bolt upright in the cot, his eyes wide open. He turned to Nabiki, who was sitting in a chair beside his bed. "Nabiki Tendo, why am I here?" he commanded imperiously.

She looked at him with a faux-shocked expression and said, "Why, Kuno-chan! Don't you remember? You lost that fight to Ranma Saotome and were knocked out. I had to carry you here."

Kuno's face locked in a half-snarl, half-shocked expression. "How could a simpleton like Saotome defeat someone of my stature? Could you answer that question for me, Nabiki Tendo?"

Nabiki smiled, trying to butter up the rich fool. "Why, Kuno-chan, he had to have been lucky. That's the only explanation for it."

Kuno calmed as he considered Nabiki's words. "You may be right, Nabiki Tendo. Perhaps a return challenge is in order," he said, attempting to stand up from the bed. The world spun around his head as dizziness overcame him. With some effort, he managed to keep his sitting position on the cot.

"Perhaps later, Kuno-chan," Nabiki deadpanned.

Kuno sat motionless for a few moments to allow the world to stop spinning. "Yes, later," he said, making it sound like he had thought of it first.

As he sat in silent repose on the cot, Kuno closed his eyes and replayed the fight in his mind. Saotome had truly been astounding, although he was loathe admitting that to anyone. 'What possessed that demon to challenge me anyway?' he asked himself tiredly. 'It's not as if beautiful women are a scarce commodity at Furinkan...'

He stopped for a moment as he realized that he had lost Akane. 'Oh well, it's not so bad,' he thought, ignoring a momentary pang of sorrow. 'She had lost her spirit anyway. I doubt that I could have loved her any longer...' He sighed sympathetically, knowing that Akane would suffer heavily the pain of his absence. 'How will she deal with it?' he asked himself.

But even with that part of his ego trying to provide some comfort to him, the loss of Akane stabbed at his heart cruelly. The fact that he lost Akane to someone of Ranma's ilk only made the pain more intense.

Kuno wondered if he hadn't been a good enough influence on her. 'No,' he answered himself candidly. 'Surely she was blessed with my presence while with me, and will come to regret my absence now that she has lost me.' The only thing left floating in his head, except for finding out how to defeat Ranma, was, 'Is there another female of beauteous quality and possessing the nature of a huntress at the hollowed grounds of Furinkan High?' A fuzzy image appeared in his mind to answer his unspoken question, and he seemed to recall something about a beautiful young woman talking to him after the fight, but the details were beyond his reach for the moment.

Nabiki could hear the rusty scheming wheels turning in Kuno's mind, but decided to con the information from him later. While she loved profiting from something, she had a more immediate concern. They were going to miss the whole school day if they didn't return to class soon. "Come on, Kuno-chan. You're feeling better, so let's get back to class," she told him.

Kuno stood from the cot, wavering slightly, and regarded her with his standard upper-class demeanor. "I will allow you to escort me to class, Nabiki Tendo."

"Oh brother!" Nabiki said under her breath, rolling her eyes. Reaching out with both hands, she latched on to his arms and dragged Kuno from the infirmary.

****


The clock chimed the lunch hour and everyone tore out of the classrooms, intent on devouring their meals. Ranma stood from his desk and watched as his classmates fled, snickering at the sight of the unruly mob. He jumped suddenly as a hand grabbed him by the shoulder. Reflexively set for fighting, he whirled around to face his would-be attacker, only to be confronted with the started face of Akane Tendo.

He flushed in embarrassment, and apologized instantly. "I'm sorry, Akane. I... I didn't mean to make you jump like that." He forced a nervous laugh, hoping to conceal his old reaction to being close to her. A part of him was glad that no-one else had been in the classroom to act as witness and compound his distress. "You caught me by surprise is all," he explained as he smiled and offered his hand to her. "Umm... Shall we eat?" he added in a softer voice, nervous sweat breaking out on his face.

She took his hand, her cheeks reddening slightly as her body reacted to his touch. "Yeah, Ranma. Let's eat," she said, allowing him to escort her out of the classroom.

Entering the hall, she let go of him so they could walk side-by-side towards the outer door of the building. Akane looked over to her newfound friend. "Ranma, I..." she started to say as they cleared the threshold and entered the schoolyard. She didn't get a chance to say anything else however, as the entire student body was suddenly massed before both she and Ranma right outside the school building.

Both facefaulted as they were beset by a deafening cheer from the crowd. Everyone within sight of the couple stood, applauding the one who had defeated Kuno that morning. People were coming up to Ranma and clapping him heartily on the back, or shaking his hand. A couple of adventurous girls pressed notes bearing their names and phone numbers into his hands as they attempted to touch and grope him. Ranma barely had time to act indignant, though as they were getting pushed out of the way by more students.

Ranko watched from the distance, allowing her brother to enjoy his moment with his new girlfriend. But she didn't even try to restrain herself from jumping in the air and cheering along with the rest of the crowd, her youthful face glowing with pride.

The crowd swelled and pressed forward towards Ranma in an effort to get closer to their newfound campus hero. Akane soon found herself being pushed further and further away from him. She could see him frantically pushing his way through the mass of people, yelling her name and trying to get back to her, but the throng was too dense. Soon they had pushed him away from Akane's line of sight.

A half smile that had been on her face as they had exited the building slipped away to be replaced by a more reserved expression. She had so much she wanted to ask him, especially about what he had said two weeks ago. She approached a nearby bench, and was about to sit when a hand grabbed hers. She looked at the owner of the hand and saw a young pig-tailed girl with sparkling blue eyes tugging at her hand.

"Hey you're Akane, right?" Ranko said in her characteristic enthusiasm.

Akane nodded warily, "Uhh... yeah. Who are you?"

"I'm Ranko Saotome, Ranma's sister," she said by way of introduction. "Ummm, wasn't he supposed to be eating lunch with you, or something like that?" she inquired innocently.

Akane cheeks reddened. "Well, yeah... but he seems to have been abducted by everyone," she said, indicating the departing gang of students.

Ranko looked at the crowd and laughed. "That's my brother for you. C'mon! Let's catch up with him," she said enthusiastically. Akane didn't even have a chance to protest as the youthful Saotome dragged her towards the crowd and Ranma.

****


Ranma clawed uselessly for purchase against the throng, hoping to get above and beyond them. Failing that, he tried to keep his calm among the student body, knowing that they weren't out to hurt him or Akane. But try as he might, he didn't feel comfortable being in the spotlight to begin with, and the size of the crowd wasn't helping him to maintain a cool head. Boys and girls alike were badgering him with statements and questions, but they were coming in so fast that he didn't even have a chance to respond to them. "How did you do it, Ranma? Can you beat him up again, Ranma? You dating anyone, Ranma? Why did you challenge Kuno, Ranma?"

A hand grabbed his arm, and pulled him through some bushes and out of the reach of the throng. Once he and his rescuer were a safe distance from the oblivious crowd, he turned to thank the one who had helped him and was confronted by the scheming smirk of Nabiki Tendo.

"Nabiki?!" Ranma asked, recoiling slightly. Immediately his hand went to his pocket, wary of what she was planning. "How much do I owe you?" he asked disgustedly.

Nabiki's eyebrow swept up in surprise at Ranma's question. "I don't know you, do I Saotome?" she asked, slightly irritated. Seeing the crowd approach she cut off his response and spoke quickly. "Don't worry 'bout the rescue, it's on me. Just consider us even, okay Saotome?"

"Even for what?" Ranma asked, his eyes narrowing.

"Well, I had to find some way to thank you for getting my little sister Akane out of that stupid engagement to Kuno-chan." She leaned over to him a little, a conspiratorial look on her face. "And I also wanted to thank you for beating him in the fight. I won a lot of money betting on you." She winked at him, and smiled her charming smile.

Ranma groaned, seeing that some things weren't all that different in this Nerima. "Okay, whatever Nabiki. I..."

Nabiki saw her sister and another girl approach ahead of the milling swarm. "Oops! I gotta run. Here comes my sister. I'll talk to you later, Saotome!" she yelled as she sprinted for the school building.

Ranma watched Nabiki speed around the corner of the building, and then heard shoes stomp against the concrete as she ran up the steps and inside. He turned his head, and saw Ranko and Akane approaching. Along with the rest of Furinkan High. He made a move to turn and run from the advancing mob, but stopped, feeling the solid wall of the school building against his back. Having nowhere to go, he hung his head and resigned himself to the inevitable.

Ranko and Akane arrived next to Ranma, their faces slightly flushed from the jog around the building. Ranko saw the look on his face and grew concerned. "Hey bro, you okay?"

He turned to her, merely replying, "I will be once lunch is over."

"Why do you say that?" Ranko asked, puzzled.

Wordlessly he pointed to the student body as it approached him once more. Ranko "ahhed" her understanding. Ranma looked to Akane with a touch of regret. "I'm sorry about lunch. I really wanted to talk with you."

Akane nodded her head in understanding. She tried to reply, but couldn't get her voice to carry over the din of curious students as they arrived. The questions started up again, with the crowd pressing hard against the three. "You going to run for class president next year, Ranma? What's the story with you and Akane, Ranma? Are you prepared to die, Ranma?"

That last question stopped the crowd cold. Ranma, Akane, and Ranko's heads whipped around in unison at the direction of the questioner. The crowd parted to show the glowering faces of seven members of the Kendo team. They were all wearing the same style of Kendo outfit that Kuno wore, and they all had murder on their mind if their postures were any indication. The one who had posed the question pointed his bokken at Ranma and spoke again.

"We all know that you're a little wimp who hates martial arts. You were either lucky or you cheated, Saotome. There's no other way to explain how you defeated Kuno-Sempai. We will avenge his loss to you, and bring honor back to the Kendo club!" he declared mightily, raising his bokken to the sky in a gesture of triumph.

Ranma grunted in satisfaction, glad to have something presented to him that he could deal with. Ranko's eyes narrowed dangerously at hearing the soon-to-be-dead-Kendoist refer to her brother as a 'wimp.' She maneuvered herself so that she and Ranma were bracketing Akane in an effort to shield her from an attack. "Watch what you say lardass, or we may have to make you eat those words!" Ranko retorted hotly.

The loudmouth Kendoist smirked, then laughed arrogantly. Ignoring Ranko, he directed his comments to Ranma. "So, wimpy widdle Ranma needs a widdle girl to protect him," the lead Kendoist taunted in a mocking voice.

Ranma's gaze became murderous at that, and he flexed his fingers, eager to put the guy down. Ranko reacted similarly, grinning coldly. She'd not been in a good brawl in months, and felt herself looking forward to a little mayhem. The crowd backed away from the Kendoists and the Saotomes to avoid getting hurt. "Little girl, eh? I'll be glad to show you what this little girl can do to you, asshole. That is, if you're man enough to try me," Ranko challenged him, looking him straight in the eye.

The guy returned the gaze, his confidence never wavering. "Out of the way, bitch. This is between the wimp and me... AHHHHH!" the Kendoist screamed as Ranma shifted his stance and kicked the boy square in the face. The student landed on his back, with Ranma standing on the guy's head. "Watch what you say about my sister, asshole!" he said ominously, grinding his foot into the guy's face to punctuate the statement. The student obliged Ranma by passing out.

Another person from the Kendo group yelled, "GET HIM!" and suddenly the entire group rushed forward. Suddenly bokken-wielding, skirt-clad figures swarmed Ranma, Ranko and Akane; all swearing vengeance on behalf of their fallen leader.

Ranma smiled inwardly, satisfied that these people were definitely not a threat. One of the crazed Kendoists had charged at him, swinging wildly with his bokken. He'd easily dodged the lunge, and responded with a chop to the back of the assailant's neck, knocking him out.

Ranko wasn't having as easy a time, however. She had already dispatched one of the fighters that had jumped her, and was looking for number two. Unfortunately, figuring her to be a worse threat than Ranma due to his past reputation, three students beset her at the same time. Unable to contend with three, she was caught unprepared and pinned against the wall of the school building.

Two of the Kendoists held her still, while a third one began kicking and punching her viciously. Too proud to scream, Ranko instead tried to free herself from the grip of the honorless Kendoists.

Akane, who had been watching Ranma pulverize the Kendo students on his end, whirled around at the commotion behind her. She gaped wordlessly at the unfair attack they had launched against Ranko. Angered beyond words, she reached up swiftly and grabbed one of the Kendoists by his shoulder and turned him to face her. Not waiting for a response from the jerk, she punched him square in the face with all of her might, swept his legs out from under him and finally followed up with a devastating stomp to the groin.

The felled student grabbed his agonized privates and screamed in pain. Akane looked at her hands, balling them into fists again. 'Whew! That felt good! I haven't done that in a while...' she thought, enjoying the rush of having punished the guy. She looked to the other one that was still holding Ranko back from attacking, and readied herself for another assault.

Ranma had just finished breaking a bokken over the head of another Kendo student, bringing his body count to three unconscious fools, when he heard someone scream behind him. With no-one left to fight, he turned to see what his sister was doing and gasped at what he saw. Akane had just pounded the hell out of a guy, and two others were double-teaming Ranko!

Furious, he leapt at the student holding his sister against the wall and began tearing him apart. The stunned student didn't even have time to fight as Ranma knocked him down to the ground. "You son of a bitch! I'm gonna *KILL* you!" he yelled at the terrified boy. He knelt down and quickly seized the Kendoist by his throat. His blood boiling, Ranma punched him time and again until the student's face had been cut severely by the impacts and was a bloody mess. Still enraged, Ranma dropped the limp student's head and stood to attack the remaining one.

The final combatant's eyes went wide as he saw how badly he was outnumbered. Deciding to get in one more hit before running, he swiped at Ranko with his bokken as hard as he could. He connected, opening a small gash on her face. "We toldja you should've stayed out of the fight, little girl! You won't be forgetting that now, will you?" he taunted as he ran away, barely escaping before Ranma could get to him.

Ranma saw his sister go down and refrained from chasing after the guy, instead kneeling down by her. "I'm gonna kill that coward," he spat. He put his arm around her protectively as she knelt there, motionless.

Ranko brought her hand up to the gash on her cheek, dabbing gingerly at the bloody, broken skin. "You're gonna have to wait in line Ranma. That bastard's mine!" she said in a cold voice. She stood up slowly, ignoring her protesting muscles. Grabbing a bokken from one of the felled students, Ranko sprinted off in the direction of the departing Kendoist. Unwilling to stop her, Ranma and Akane took off behind her, ignoring groans and occasional screams as they stepped on and over the Kendo students they'd knocked down during the fight.

****


Ranko poured on the steam as she closed the gap between her and the fleeing student. She watched him turn to see if he was being pursued and heard him gasp in surprise. She smiled thinly, knowing that she was going to enjoy hurting him. 'No-one does this to me and gets away with it!' she swore. With the distance between them narrowing quickly, Ranko brought the captured bokken into play. Without even breaking stride, she threw it at the Kendoist's legs. The throw was true and his legs were entangled by the bokken, halting his run and forcing him to crash face-forward onto the ground.

Ranko reached the student and kicked him in the head. "Who's the little girl now, asshole!" she yelled as she kicked him again.

The Kendoist tried to hide his terror by putting on a brave front. Forcing a sneer onto his face, the student quickly got up and faced her. "Don't taunt me, you little bitch. I'll..." he said, before getting interrupted.

Ranko flushed red at the name and got up in his face, staring eye to eye with him. "You're about to feel very bad, you emasculated son of a bitch. So quit talking and start fighting!" She followed her comments up with an open-handed slap to the face. The taunting worked well as the student lashed out at her. Although her beating had slowed Ranko's responses somewhat, she was still able to deflect the strike.

Incoherent with rage, the guy lashed at her again. She anticipated the attack and grabbed the blade as it whizzed past her head. Twisting it in her grip, she wrenched the weapon from his hands and quickly tossed it far away from him.

Desperate to end the fight, he rushed her. Yelling like an enraged animal, he charged with his hands stuck out in front of him, trying to grab her by the neck. Ranko dropped to a crouch on one leg, cursing as a sharp pain suddenly shot through her. She managed to complete the leg sweep though, and sent the guy toppling face-first into the dirt again. Hobbling back into a standing position, she rubbed her sore leg and waited for the guy to stand. He got to his hands and knees, but didn't stand completely.

Ranko prowled around him, impatient to continue the fight. She started yelling at him when he refused to stand. "Come on, you little coward! Stand up! You know, you talk awfully big for a little guy who can't even fight. And you sure are stupid, picking on someone like me, knowing that you couldn't ever beat me in a fair fight. I don't know why you try to fight anyway. You hit like a little girl!" she spat.

At that moment Ranma and Akane arrived on the scene, and watched as Ranko yelled at the lone student. Ranma rushed to take care of the creep until Ranko yelled at him. "Stay away from him, brother! He's *mine*! I'll let you have him afterwards, *if* I let him live," she stated darkly.

Ranma nodded and stepped back a respectful distance, with Akane joining him at his side. Ranko turned back to her adversary, who had assumed a standing position again. His face was white hot with impotent rage. "You're mine, little bitch! You've won too many times before, now it's *my turn* to beat you!" he spluttered.

Ranko readied herself as the student charged at her again. This time Ranko brought her leg up and kicked him squarely in the midsection as he came by, causing him to gasp loudly. Not wanting to allow him to fall to the ground and catch his breath, she followed up with a chop to the back of the neck. The boy stumbled drunkenly, then whirled around to face her again. A muffled groan soon followed as he got a foot in his face, causing him to fall on his back in a daze.

Rage possessing her completely now, she straddled him and repeatedly punched him in the face until her fists were sore. Not satisfied with that, she then grabbed two handfuls of hair and began slamming his head into the ground, yelling "Who's a wimp?" with every impact.

Ranma approached his sister cautiously. She had already knocked the guy out with that last kick to the face, so he wasn't feeling the pain she was dishing out any more. Trying to stop her without touching her, he stood behind her and shouted. "Ranko, stop this!"

She continued slamming the boy's head into the ground unabated, ignoring her brother's words. Ranma sighed, not wanting to interfere but knowing that he had to stop her. He stepped behind her, his arms encircling her chest in an effort to grab her firmly from behind and pin her arms under his.

Ranko squirmed in his grasp but didn't kick out. "Ranma! Lemme go! This asshole deserves it!" He pulled on her, trying to get her away from the student but Ranko held onto the student by his hair and by clenching her thighs against the boy's flanks with all her might. She wanted to do more damage, and kept shouting for her brother to leave her the hell alone. Finally, with a mighty yank Ranma separated his sister from the doomed Kendoist.

Akane had watched wordlessly throughout the savage beating (she wouldn't dare call it a fight) that the young Saotome girl was giving, unsure that she should intervene. She winced as she watched Ranma try time and again to pull his sister from the unconscious student, then flinched involuntarily when he finally succeeded. "Ouch! That's gonna hurt in the morning," she observed in a pained voice while Ranma carried Ranko towards her, still holding his sister in his arms.

He looked at Akane quizzically; wondering what she was referring to. She pointed to Ranko's hands, a slight grimace on her face. Ranma looked down to where Akane pointed, and smirked. "Yeesh, Ranko. You weren't fooling around, were you?" he asked rhetorically. Sure now that she wasn't going to run back and hit the guy again, he released her.

Ranko stumbled a bit before getting her footing. She looked down at the contents of her hands and smiled to herself. She clenched them into fists triumphantly, holding tightly the clumps of bloody, raven hair she'd yanked from the student's head. "I think he'll be remembering this day for a while to come," she said weakly, prizing the hair into the pockets of her pants. She then sagged against her brother, exhaustion catching up with her and causing her to pass out.

"Ranko!" Ranma yelled in alarm, catching her before she hit the ground. Akane quickly got on the other side of her, each putting one of her arms around their necks and one of their arms around her tiny waist. Together they hauled the unconscious Ranko to the infirmary.

****


Kuno 'ohh'ed to himself as he watched Akane and Ranma cart Ranko away from the battle scene. He'd hidden among a small cluster of trees for the duration of the battle, watching his nemesis in action. He smiled thinly, both pleased and upset with his Kendo club. He was pleased that they would try to defend the honor of their leader so voraciously, but was equally upset that they were unable to complete the task they had set out to do, and that they had done it in such a dishonorable manner. He would have been more upset if he had ordered the attack himself and they performed as badly as they did.

Despite a throbbing headache from his morning battle, Kuno reviewed what he had seen of this most recent battle. 'Ranma Saotome is indeed a martial artist of some ability. How he achieved this in such a short time is unknown,' he thought, forcing himself to acknowledge that Ranma was now a true force to be reckoned with. He was sure that he'd have to come up with a new way of dealing with someone who could conceivably be his equal. Irritated, he concentrated on what else he saw.

'Akane seems to have regained some of her spirit. Surely it must be due to the fact that she already grows restless in my absence knowing that I, the great Tatewaki Kuno, am not there to protect her. Fear not Akane, I will allow you to come back to me,' Kuno thought grandly, pleased with himself for the charitable gesture he was willing to bestow her.

He then clenched his fists and gasped as the face of Ranko Saotome flitted through his mind. 'She fights most masterfully for one so young. And her beauty! Were she not of Saotome's blood, she would be a most perfect woman! I must find out more about her!' he vowed silently. He waited a few moments for the three to enter the building before he returned to class.

****


Ranko groaned as she came to in the infirmary. She opened her eyes slowly to see Ranma and Akane hovering over her worriedly at the edge of the cot. She snapped her eyes shut, fighting off a sudden wave of nausea that threatened to overcome her. She slapped a hand listlessly against her forehead, noting how cold and damp her skin was. Again she crept her eyes open, and regarded Ranma with a wan smile.

"Hey, didja get the number of that truck..." she croaked weakly before she broke off, snorting at her own bad joke.

Ranma smiled and sighed relief as he dropped to his knees next to the cot and wrapped her up in a hug with his head resting on her chest. "Thank God you're okay, sis. Dammit! I was so worried about you!" he said in a scolding tone.

Ranko put a hand on her brother's head, running her fingers through his hair. "Yeah, I'm okay bro. Although I won't be if you keep squeezing me that hard," she gasped. Ranma released her immediately and sat away from the cot at Akane's side.

Ranko sat up in her cot, propping her back against the wall of the room. "Uggh! How long was I out?" she asked, blinking her eyelids to try and clear the blurriness from her vision.

"About twenty minutes," Akane said. "How do you feel?"

"Like hell. Feels like someone did a flamenco dance on my body with steel tap shoes. Other than that, I'm just dandy." They all chuckled at that. "By the way, Akane. Thanks for the assist. You showed some pretty good moves out there."

Akane blushed slightly, then anger flashed in her eyes. "Well, I couldn't stand by and watch those three gang up on you. It just wasn't fair, so I decided to help even the odds a bit." Her mood brightened a bit, as the beginnings of a smile crept into view. "I'm surprised at myself. I've been out of practice for so long." 'Although,' she added to herself, 'I saw just how rusty I was, too.'

Ranko winked conspiratorially at Ranma when Akane wasn't looking. Ranma shook his head, and shifted uncomfortably where he sat. His sister frowned slightly, as she worked on a way to press Ranma for details on his meeting with Akane. Seeing directness as her best option, she suddenly perked up, saying, "Akane, can I speak to my brother alone for a moment?"

Akane smiled and grabbed her hand. "Sure. You did well out there, Ranko. Ranma's right to be proud of you." Ranko blushed at the praise, smiling as her eyes met with her brother's. Akane then turned to Ranma, "I'm going back to class now. I'll see you after school, if that's okay."

Ranma's eyes widened a bit at that, but he managed to smile nervously, saying, "Uhh, yeah! Sure... sure thing Akane." She stood and walked out of the infirmary, closing the door behind her. Once she was gone, Ranko gave her brother a stern look.

He started to shrink under the intensity of her glare. "Hey Ranko, what's the big idea lookin' at me like that?" he asked defensively.

Ranko's stare continued to bear down on him. "Why haven't you done anything with Akane yet, Ranma?" she demanded, enough strength returning in her voice to make him squirm.

Ranma didn't want to answer her question, and grumbled disapproval at her questioning. He shifted his gaze to the floor, his face an expressionless mask.

"C'mon, Ranma. I saw how you were looking at her this morning. I'm kinda surprised you didn't ask her to marry you right then and there," she continued. Ranko crossed her arms as she awaited a response from Ranma, but he continued to remain quiet. "Well?!"

Ranma regarded his sister again. "It's kinda hard for me to explain, Ranko."

A concerned expression wound its way onto Ranko's face, making her wince involuntarily from the pain caused by shifting her facial muscles. She ignored it and grabbed one of Ranma's hands. "Hey, I'm listening. Tell me what's goin' on," she prodded gently.

Ranma sighed, not really used to sharing his feelings. "Well, Ranko, it's like this. Back when Pop and I first arrived at the Tendo house, Akane and I really didn't get along at all. And for months after that she and I were either close to caring about each other or about to rip each other's throats out. Most of that time we were violent towards each other, and never really wanted to talk about the engagement our fathers had forced us into. Neither of us really wanted to discuss *anything*, for that matter."

Ranma paused and stood from his chair then began pacing in the confined space of the school infirmary. "I guess if we had talked, it would've made a lot of things easier on both of us. But we resisted trying to work things out. Exactly why, I'm not sure." Ranma replayed parts of his life with Akane in his mind, seeing now just how many times things had gone wrong, and how many opportunities they'd missed.

"You know Ranko, I realize that I do care for Akane, although I couldn't see it before now. I think something in that wish may have cleared my mind. I've looked back at everything that I've said and done to her in the past. I realize now that some of the things that sparked arguments and brawls between Akane and myself were my fault. Also, I now recognize the things that I said or did that made her angry and helped to push her away from me. But I have to admit as well that she was just as stubborn as I was. Akane'd sometimes fan the flames instead of trying to put them out."

Ranma kept talking, but it seemed clear to Ranko that he was just talking aloud now instead of to her. "We were *both* too damn stubborn to listen. I was always so damned *right*," he said, pounding his fist into his other hand for emphasis. "All those times I should've listened when I yelled at her instead..." Ranma laughed bitterly. "You know, she even told me once that she loved me. A lot! Granted, she was under the influence of the reversal jewel, but her feelings were genuine. And I was too blind to see it at the time. And now comes my wish, and everything's suddenly different. Akane's different, I'm different. Hell, even Kuno's different!" Ranma shouted.

He looked over to his sister, realizing that he was blathering away and confusing her thoroughly. "I'm sorry for venting like this Ranko. All of this sorta hit me at once. I guess it's just 'cos I've been understanding what that wish has done to me." He sighed and paused to collect his wits, rubbing his face. "Do you understand why I'm saying this?"

"Not really, Ranma," she said, a confused look on her face. "Why does your past have anything to do with Akane?"

Ranma faced her and spread his arms wide. "It has everything to do with Akane. She's not the same person I knew from before. I know how to deal with the Akane from my past, not this one. Don't you see? Everything that I learned about her is out the window, so I'm gonna have to start all over again! I have no idea how Akane and I will get along now."

Ranko looked her brother square in the eye. "I don't think you're getting the whole picture yet, big brother. You admit that you and Akane were at each other's throats constantly in the past." Ranma nodded slowly. "Well you're not at each other's throats now, are you?"

"No, but we aren't engaged now, either," he shot back irritatedly.

"Exactly!" Ranko chimed. Seeing Ranma's puzzled look, she pressed on. "Ranma, don't you see that the forced engagement was the main reason you two fought each other? Chances are you were doing all that fighting to spite Pop and Mr. Tendo more than for any other reason."

"But what about now? I have no way of knowing how this Akane is going to react to me. I'm not even sure that she'll like me," he said, moaning slightly.

Ranko pointed at her brother. "Ranma, you're thinking too far ahead. You're also making assumptions about Akane based on what you know of your past. You really don't have any idea how much different this Akane could be from the person you used to know."

Ranma nodded. "That's another thing that bothers me. She's not the Akane that I came to care about. What if I find out that I don't like her, Ranko?"

"Dammit, Ranma! If it bothers you this much, why don't you just abandon the whole idea?" Ranko shouted in frustration.

Ranma blanched at the idea. "No! I don't ... that is ... I can't ... I'm..."

"You're afraid?" she completed for him.

Ranma deflated a bit. "Yeah. I guess that's it. There's too many unknowns."

"Then don't worry about them all at once. Take things one step at a time, Ranma. You'll worry yourself away from Akane at the rate you're going. And don't be afraid, it's bad form for a martial artist." she said, smiling at her brother.

Ranma fought the smirk working its way to his face. "Yeah, well... love and martial arts are two different things, Ranko."

"Not to hear you tell it, bro," Ranko laughed.

He blushed. "Har har har. Very funny, NOT!" His resumed his seat next to his sister. "There's so much to consider. I really don't know where to start."

"Well, I think that Akane's made that pretty easy for you. Just meet her after school like she said and then take it from there."

Ranma turned green, his nerves working him over. Asking a girl out on a date was pretty much terra nova for him. "I've not really asked a girl out before, Ranko. How do I know if anything I say will work?"

"Well, you're not gonna find out unless you try, right?" she shot back.

Ranma nodded, acknowledging the wisdom of her words. "You're right, Ranko. I have to at least try."

Ranko adopted an air of smugness about her. "That's why I'm here, Ranma." She leaned over to him, winking. "Akane's a cute girl. You'll be a happy guy if you manage to get her."

Ranma smiled, gazing off into the distance for awhile before replying, "Yeah, I guess so." He returned his gaze to her. "Speaking of cute, how are you feeling, sis?"

Ranko blushed at the compliment. Putting a hand to her face, she gingerly touched the tender area around her cut. After they'd arrived in the infirmary, a nurse had bandaged the wound. "I'm feeling better Ranma." Her look grew angry as she recalled the fight. "Although that little wimp Kenji didn't have to be so damn mean."

"Who's Kenji?" Ranma asked.

"Oh, that's right. You wouldn't know who he is. Kenji is Kenji Kurosawa, a recent transfer student to Furinkan. He and I have been at each other's throats for years, ever since grade school. I'd hoped that he would've stayed at Tomobiki when I enrolled here, but no such luck," she groused. "He's the one who gave me this lovely cut," she said darkly, pointing to the bandaged wound. Even though she'd already repaid him for the beating, Ranko felt it wasn't enough. She smiled as she recalled the clumps of hair that she had in her pants pockets. Clumps of Kenji's hair removed in a most painful way. She could at least draw some satisfaction from that.

"Well, I don't think that this Kenji dude will be bothering you again, not after the pasting you gave him," Ranma said assuringly.

"He'd better not, for his sake," she vowed. She was about to launch into a rather mean-spirited look into Kenji's lineage when the bell rang. "Well, we can't stay here any longer, bro. We'd better get back to class. I'll meet you after school." She stood from the bed, sore but no longer dizzy. "Good luck with Akane," she added as she walked out the door.

"Thanks Ranko," Ranma said to the departing figure of his younger sister. 'I sure hope everything works out okay,' he thought as he stood and walked out of the infirmary, heading to his last class for the day.

****


The bell rang and students poured out of the building and headed on their way home. Akane was among those students gleefully running for the outside. Once in the schoolyard she found a place near the gate to wait for Ranma. Sitting down by a large tree, she leaned back against it to bask in the afternoon sunlight of springtime.

Unseen by Akane, a girl watched from a distance. The young lady scowled, noting the expectant look on Akane's face. She was about to walk up and pester her when she noticed someone else approaching. Instead of confronting Akane directly, she chose to move herself closer so she could listen. Her eyes grew wide as she saw who the other person was.

Ranma had been looking around the grounds for a couple of minutes before he spotted Akane sitting under a tree. He gasped when he saw her. She had noticed him and smiled, beckoning him to join her. He couldn't help but notice that she was *very* cute when she smiled. He waved back and trotted on over to her. Plopping his bookbag on the ground, he sat next to her under the tree. He sat there for a couple of moments, wanting to say something, but nothing was coming out.

"How's Ranko doing, Ranma?" Akane asked, trying to break the ice.

"Oh, she's fine. She should be here in a few moments. We usually walk home together," he said, laughing nervously.

'Oh, well. Here it goes.' Akane thought, steeling herself. "Ranma, I wanted to ... thank you... for what you did for me today."

Ranma gave her an 'aw shux, twern't nuthin' look. "That's okay, Akane. I'm glad I did it."

"So am I. Although, and don't think I'm being an ingrate, I was wondering why you did it at all."

Ranma swallowed nervously, unsure of how to answer her. He wasn't about to tell her about the wish, nor was he going to tell her about the agreement between he and Soun. He collected his wits and forced himself to answer. "I couldn't stand it anymore!" he blurted out.

"What do you mean, 'couldn't stand it any longer' ?" Akane asked, a hint of challenge in her stance.

"I mean, I couldn't stand to see the look on your face any longer, Akane. Every day at school I've been watching you and Kuno together. I could see how much pain you were feeling," he explained.

Akane listened without speaking, with tears welling up in her eyes. Gently she wiped them from her cheek, her gaze turned to the ground.

"It hurt me to see you in so much pain. When I heard about Kuno's challeng, I decided that I'd had enough of his crap." Ranma crossed his arms in front of him. "You see, I ... I like you Akane. You've suffered long enough."

Akane's eyes widened at that. She looked over to him, not sure what to say. "Ranma, you have no idea how much I appreciate what you've done for me today. You've managed to get me away from Kuno. I... I'm in your debt," she finished in a small voice.

Ranma smiled uneasily, and forced himself to continue, knowing that this was the most difficult part. "I also fought Kuno because ... I wanted to mar... go out with you..." he broke off, suddenly uncomfortable.

"R.. R.. Ranma? You're serious about this, aren't you?" she asked, incredulous.

"Y... Yes I am." Ranma took her hands in his. "Akane, I hope this isn't too sudden, but I was wondering if you would like to go out with me sometime?" he said very rapidly. He heaved a large sigh, glad to have finally asked the question and gotten it out of the way.

Akane blushed deeply. She shifted position on the ground a couple of times, trying to hide her internal struggle as she tried to get a grip on her emotions. A part of her had hoped that Ranma would ask her this, but other parts of her mind were still suffering from Kuno's version of 'tender loving care' and were warning her not to fall into a boy trap again. She and was about to give him her answer when a girl shot up from her hiding place in the nearby bushes and screamed at the top of her lungs.

"NOOOOOOOO!!!!"

****


Ranko Saotome flinched as she applied weight to her leg again. She was still sore from the fight, and she was walking gingerly. She had refused crutches from the nurse, and likewise refused help from her friends. She bore the pain stoically, not wanting to let anyone think that Kenji had gotten the best of her.

She stepped outside into the sunlight and saw Ranma and Akane sitting under a tree near the school gates. She smiled to herself. 'Go get her, Ranma,' she thought happily as she approached the couple. She was halfway to them when she heard someone scream at the top of her lungs and then saw a girl jump out of the bushes. Ranko's face fell. "Oh God, not Kinuko!" she grumbled disgustedly. She then gasped in alarm, remembering that Ranma wouldn't know who Kinuko was. She doubled her pace, hoping to put out any fires before they started.

****


Ranma gawked at the hysterical girl in utter shock. Akane was likewise wide-eyed with surprise. The interloper was a fairly tall and extremely beautiful young woman dressed in the standard school uniform of Furinkan High. The sunlight refracted through her long black hair, accenting red highlights. Her brown eyes shimmered as she cried, tears washing down her heart-shaped face.

"How dare you? HOW DARE YOU?!" she shrieked in Ranma's face. Heads from passersby turned in their direction, and a crowd began to gather.

Akane leaned over to him, a slightly jealous look on her face. "What is she doing here, Ranma?"

Ranma didn't respond to Akane, except to shake his head vigorously. He stared blankly at the girl, wondering what he'd done to piss her off. "Uhhh... Excuse me, do I know you?" he managed to ask at length.

"RANCHAN! How dare you ask me that question? Sure we may have had our hard times in the past, but to act like you don't even know me!? Why!?" She dropped to her knees, buried her face in her hands and cried like a lost soul.

Ranma's eyes bugged out. 'She called me Ranchan?! Who the hell is this girl?!' he thought in a panic. He looked at Akane, and held his right hand up, pointing at the girl. "I don't know this person, I *swear!*" His face clearly showed panic. He looked around, hoping to find an avenue of escape.

"Well, she sure thinks she knows you," Akane deadpanned, leveling a stern gaze at Kinuko.

The girl looked up at him angrily, wiping her eyes with her hand. "Ranchan, I can't believe this. I'm out of school for two weeks for the School Band trip to Kobe, and when I return I find you trying to bed down some... *hussy*!" she said, pointing directly at Akane. Without waiting for a response from either of them, she placed a hand against her forehead, proclaiming, "My world is shattered! I never would've thought you would cheat on me, Ranchan! You said you loved me! Why are you torturing me like this by saying you don't even know me?!" She began crying again.

Ranma's jaw dropped, and he looked for all the world as though he never expected to live out the day. His vocabulary had been reduced to "abb... I... ahh... uggghh... " and his arms were extended outwards in a defensive gesture against the rampaging Kinuko. Meanwhile the audience's curiosity was piqued. Ranma could make out some of the murmuring going on in the background, and it had him cringing. "Did she just say Ranma and Akane were sleeping together? Wow, I guess that explains the challenge to Kuno. Hey, Ranma's got two girls now! Jeez, can't he even share one of them? ..."

Akane bolted to a standing position. She blushed furiously at the open speculation she was hearing from the crowd. Indignant, she confronted the girl. "Hey! What's the big idea calling me a hussy, you bitch!" She pointed to Ranma. "He did me a tremendous favor today, and I thanked him for it. He's not trying to 'bed me down' or anything like that. After all, I'm not like *you!* He says that he doesn't know you, RIGHT?"

She looked at Ranma, who was nodding vigorously and mumbling positive-sounding sounds but remaining incoherent for the most part. "You see, he says that he doesn't know you Kinuko, so get the HELL out of here!" Akane's anger rose steadily as she watched Kinuko shake her head, as if refusing to believe what she was hearing.

"HE'S LYING!" she shrieked. She latched onto Ranma desperately, nuzzling his neck and kissing him soundly on the cheek. "Stop lying, Ranchan," she purred desperately. "I know you've forgiven me for that little incident two weeks ago, so let's make up and stop playing around, okay?" She beamed at him with a gorgeous smile. Deciding to up the stakes, she started tracing on Ranma's chest with her index finger.

Ranma was paralyzed with fear. Kinuko was tightly latched onto him, and he couldn't shake her, regardless of what he tried. He looked up desperately to Akane, whose face was unreadable. "I... I..." He reached an arm out towards Akane. Unfortunately for him, Kinuko had intercepted the arm and curled it around her waist, placing his hand directly under her left breast. He tried to say something else, but couldn't, as he was trying to deal with the fact that his hand was microns from this beautiful girl's... no *woman's* breast.

Akane groaned in disgust at seeing Kinuko's obvious attempt to push her away from Ranma. Sighing she picked up her school bag and stood. Before walking away, she looked over her left shoulder. "Thanks again for what you did today, Ranma. I'm in your debt." She turned away from Ranma again and dashed away from the school grounds. As hard as she tried, she couldn't stop herself from crying.

****


Two guys that had been part of the crowd watching the goings-on regarded each other with a puzzled look. "Hey Hikaru, what's Ranma doing with Kinuko again? I thought they broke up."

Hikaru Gosunkugi shrugged his shoulders. "I dunno, man. Your guess is as good as mine."

"Yeah, but you're Ranma's best friend. You usually know what's goin' on with him."

"Yeah, usually. But he and I haven't spoken in over two weeks. Ranma's not called me at all during that time. I never see him at the hangout anymore, and he ignored me the one time I tried to talk with him." Hikaru shook his head. "I tellya, there's something's different about him Sato..."

"Gee, you're the master of understatement today. You call someone who until today didn't have a violent bone in his body but suddenly gets the nerve up to not only challenge but *defeat* Kuno-Sempai in battle today `different?!' " Sato snorted through his nose. "And where'd he get the brass balls to ask a girl out? That Akane chick is sweet!" he enthused, wiping a bit of drool from the corner of his mouth.

Hikaru looked at him darkly. "How do you think Ranma got together with Kinuko in the first place?"

Sato had a quizzical look on his face. "I thought *you* helped him get together with Kin..."

"SHHHHH! Dummy! No-one's supposed to know that!" Hikaru shot back hotly.

"Sorrieee! Jeez, what's the matter with you?" Sato had a wounded look on his face.

Hikaru's look softened. "Sorry, Sato. Ranma just made me promise not to tell anyone about that. I had no idea you knew."

Sato grinned. "Ranma told me how you helped him get Kinuko when he let it slip that he'd done it with her. I knew that he had to have had help. There was no other way that he could've bagged Kinuko."

"Regardless, don't mention it to anyone. We'll all be in trouble if word ever gets out that I did what I did to help Ranma get it on with Kinuko. And I do mean all of us." Hikaru made a slashing gesture across his throat with his finger to illustrate his point.

Seeing motion out of the corner of his eye, Sato turned his head. Quickly he tapped Hikaru on the shoulder. "Hey man, look! It's Ranko! Boy what I wouldn't give to spend a night with *her!*"

Hikaru looked at the young lady and grinned. "You wouldn't get to first base with her, Sato. She'd kick your butt from here to Mars for just looking at her. Don't risk your life on such a lost cause." Hikaru looked at Sato and smirked, poking his chest with his thumb. "Besides, *I* saw her first!"

Sato whirled on him, frowning. "Like hell! I'd..."

Hikaru waved him off. "Quiet! She's coming over here..."

The heads of the two tracked the goddess Ranko Saotome as she walked towards her brother.

****


'Damn that Kenji,' Ranko thought bitterly to herself, upset that her injury had kept her from preventing what just happened. She watched Akane storm from the campus, and could clearly hear her crying. A few paces later, she was finally in front of Ranma and the velcroed Kinuko.

"Ranma! Why aren't you going after Akane?" she demanded.

"Hush Ranko! My Ranchan's staying with me!" Kinuko yelled before Ranma could respond. She emphasized the point by kissing Ranma right on the lips. The kiss lasted for well over a minute and a half, leaving both participants, and a large section of the crowd, breathless. "See? He doesn't need that dummy, Akane." she added, aiming a stunning smile at Ranko.

Ranko looked at Kinuko darkly. "I wasn't talking to you, you damned flake! I was talking to my brother!" Ranko leered at her, adding, "Why don't you let 'Ranchan' answer my question? You afraid of what he's gonna say? But then again, there is what you did to him two weeks ago..."

Kinuko flushed with anger. "Flake?! What do you know about me? You're not the Saotome that I've been dating for the last couple of months." She took Ranma's face in her hands, and turned him so that they were eye to eye. "You still love me, right Ranchan?"

Ranma was still unable to speak, his mind split between wanting to run after the departed Akane, and moving his hand up an inch. "I... uhhh... " was about all he could force from his mouth.

Kinuko smiled triumphantly. "See! He's speechless with happiness! So I don't have to worry about what Ranchan wants to say."

Ranko slapped her hand against her face and groaned. 'This isn't good! I have to get Ranma away from this idiot!' She hobbled over to Ranma, grabbing his free hand. "Come on Ranma. We have to go home now." She looked at Kinuko and added, "Let him go, Kinuko, unless you want to explain to my Mom why he's late."

Kinuko blanched at the idea of confronting Nodoka and quickly released him from her death grip. With her hold on him gone, Ranma breathed normally again. He stood up with the aid of his sister, who pulled on his hand. His eyes widened as the other hand, which had been wrapped around Kinuko's back, accidentally caressed part of her breast as he withdrew it. Ranko didn't seem notice the accidental contact he'd made with Kinuko's chest, or her brother's sudden breathlessness as she dragged him from the campus.

Kinuko gasped and her eyes shimmered as Ranma's hand rubbed against her breast. The nipple stiffened noticeably underneath her blouse. Her face flushed as she realized that people could see her reaction to him. She didn't pay attention as the Saotome siblings walked away, but instead covered her breast with her hand and sat under the tree, her hormones rampaging through her. 'He... *touched* me... Oh, Ranchan! You *have* forgiven me!' she thought with a victorious smirk. She waited until she had calmed her sex drive to tolerable levels before she rose from her seat and headed home.

A small distance away from the excited and departing Kinuko, Sato and Hikaru emerged from the dispersing crowd to stand where Ranma and company had been a moment ago.

"Wow... He's even getting along with his sister. Wonder what he's been drinking..." Sato scratched his head, watching the two Saotomes disappear from sight.

"Sato. I think we're *really* gonna have to talk to Ranma. Things are getting too weird all of a sudden."

"Fine with me. How do we get a chance to talk with him?"

"Simple, we'll just go over to his house. Meet me there around 10:00 am tomorrow, okay?"

Sato nodded. "Right."

Hikaru clapped Sato on the back, then turned to leave for home.

****


Two blocks from school, Ranko was exhibiting worsening problems with her right leg. Fortunately for her, Ranma had recovered enough of his wits to notice that she was having a problem, so he reached a hand out to steady her.

"Thanks Ranma. I guess I took a worse beating than I thought." She leaned against his arm, allowing him to support her as she continued to walk. A few steps later, her right leg gave out and she tumbled to the ground, despite Ranma's best efforts to keep her upright.

"Ow, dammit!" Ranko yelled as she landed on her side on the pavement.

Ranma was at her side immediately. "Hey, you okay?" he yelled worriedly.

Ranko sat up, and grabbed her ankle with her hands, trying to immobilize it. "I think I just twisted my ankle. Ouch!" She winced as she applied pressure to the ankle. "Yep, it's probably sprained. Gonna have to get it splinted up."

Ranma looked her in the eye. "Hey, you'll be okay sis. Hold on a sec." He smiled at her, brushing a couple of stray hairs out of her eyes. He slung his book bag off of his back and laid it on the ground. He then turned around, placing his back towards her. "Now, I want you to put your arms around my neck and hold on to me tightly." Ranko started to protest, but Ranma wouldn't hear of it. "Dammit Ranko, you're in no shape to walk, so climb on!"

With a resigned sigh Ranko encircled her arms around Ranma's neck. He then reached his arms back, looping them around and under her legs at the knees. Quickly Ranko reached down with one of her arms and picked up her brother's book bag from where he left it. Bringing one of the straps around her own arm, she brought her arms around his neck again.

Once Ranma was sure Ranko wouldn't slip, he stood up. She instinctively pressed herself closer into his back to avoid falling off. "I'm taking you to Dr. Tofu's to have that ankle looked at," he said as he began heading off in Tofu's direction.

"Who's Dr. Tofu?" Ranko asked in confusion. "We normally go to see Dr. Mikimoto."

"I don't know who that is or where he is, Ranko. Remember?" Ranma replied patiently.

"Oh, yeah. That's right." She rested her head against Ranma's back.

As they walked, Ranko grew more and more embarrassed. The way she was riding on Ranma's back bothered her, because she hated to be thought of as weak. To top that off, the up-down motion from Ranma's walking was causing her to become slightly aroused. Her breasts rubbed up and down against her brother's back, her nipples stiffened in response, and her breathing quickened. She hugged her brother tighter, trying to stop the rubbing motion, her cheeks coloring furiously.

Ranma felt them stiffen and protrude into his back, and he fought hard against saying or doing anything that would acknowledge it. He didn't want to upset or embarrass Ranko, so he just let them press into him. Besides, having been a girl before, he understood that it happened occasionally, so it didn't really bother him that much.

Trying to forget her arousal, she started talking to him. "Hey bro, I'm sorry I wasn't able to help you earlier with Kinuko. What are you going to do about Akane now?"

Ranma groaned as the whole episode flashed before him again. "Who was that girl, anyway?"

"Her name's Kinuko Amagi. And until almost three weeks ago you two were a hot item."

"Hot item? You mean..."

"... she was your girlfriend," she completed for him.

Ranma breathed a sigh of relief. "Only my girlfriend. Then she was never my fiancee," he said happily. What he didn't need at the moment was *another* fiancee.

"Of course not! Although you two almost acted like you were married at times," she said with a sly tone to her voice.

"Eh? I don't understand. You're just saying that we were close, right?" Ranma was afraid that he wasn't going to like Ranko's answer.

Ranko chortled. "You were a baaaad boy, Ranma," she purred into his ear.

"YOU MEAN WE HAD SEX?!" Ranma yelled hysterically, almost throwing his sister from her mount. Both started looking around to see if anyone had heard the outburst. One person had been within earshot. He turned to the two, saying "Why not, you two look like a cute couple." He then began wandering away.

Ranma and Ranko blushed purple at the comment. "Hey! It's not like that!" Ranma yelled to the stranger, but by that time he had disappeared.

Ranko groaned at the suggestion. Until this point, she had never considered Ranma to be anything more than her annoying older brother. But with the suggestion planted in her mind, she found herself re-evaluating her opinion of him, and thinking about him in different ways. Chalking it up to her impromptu arousal, Ranko ignored her fantasy thoughts of her brother and returned her attention to his question. She put her lips to his ear. "Yes Ranma. As far as I remember you telling me, the other you that is; you and she had sex on at least three different occasions."

"Oh boy...," Ranma muttered aloud, stumbling a bit. His mind threatened to shut down due to the overload of emotions (primarily panic) that were flooding through him. 'I never expected to hear *that* in a million years! What kind of person was I?' he thought to himself. Although knowing what he'd already done, he wasn't sure he wanted to know any more. He started walking aimlessly for a few moments, before remembering he had to get his sister to Dr. Tofu's. "I can't believe that I had sex with a girl ... ," he half-muttered.

Ranko frowned at the comment. "You sure you weren't gay before Ranma?" she asked half-seriously.

"Good God no, Ranko!" Ranma started making uncomfortable noises. "Whatever gave you *that* idea?"

"I was wondering why you were so shocked that you had sex with a girl. I mean, you act like sex is an alien concept to you."

"Well, where I came from, I'd never done it before. I wasn't even expecting to for at least a couple more years. In fact, it hardly ever crossed my mind. So it's a complete shock to find out that I'm capable of having sex before marriage." He paused, shifting Ranko's burden slightly in his arms. "Don't get me wrong, sis. I don't have any problem with having sex, I just never had the opportunity." He panicked as he realized something else. "Ranko, she's the *only* person I've had sex with, isn't she? I mean, there aren't any more girls out there to worry about, are there?"

"Not as far as I know, Ranma. But you hardly got into relationships anyway, and when you did you didn't talk too much about them. Frankly, I was surprised when the 'other you' managed to get Kinuko's attention. She's one of the most popular girls in the school, and you were such a geek that no-one expected you two to hit it off."

Ranma walked in stunned silence for a moment. 'I don't really know what to say about this. I had sex with a girl, and I can't remember it,' he pouted, then grinned to himself. "I wonder what it was like..."

"Wonder what what was like?" Ranko asked distractedly.

Ranma blushed again, embarrassed at having vocalized his thoughts. But he didn't try to hide anything from her. "I was talking to myself, sis. I was just wondering what sex with Kinuko, or any girl for that matter, was like."

Ranko blushed herself, remembering her little fantasy from a few minutes ago. "Don't ask me bro, I wasn't there when you two did it."

Ranma laughed at that. "Probably would've been educational for all concerned if you were, sis." He laughed harder, the momentary humor cutting through his worry.

"Ranma! Cut that out!" she snapped defensively. 'It's like he's reading my damn mind!' she added to herself.

"Okay, Ranko. Sorry about that." He continued chuckling to himself until Ranko threatened to choke him. Quieting his mirth, he resumed his consideration of what Ranko had told him.

'Hey, Ranko. You said that I told you about my having... sex with Kinuko. But you and I didn't get along before, right?"

"That's true Ranma. Before you 'arrived,' you were a real asshole. I like the new you a *lot* better, though." Ranko patted Ranma's chest as best she could with the flat of her palm to emphasize her opinion of her 'new' brother. He smiled, but began to worry again.

"Ranko, if we didn't get along before, then why would I have told you about my sex life? I wasn't bragging or anything like that, was I?"

"Well, at first I wondered if you weren't just trying to brag about it. But later on I understood why you told me."

"Why did I tell you?" he pressed.

"Well, Ranma... We'd better sit down for this one. If you thought my last piece of news bothered you, you're gonna *love* this one."

All the color drained from Ranma's face. 'What could be worse than finding out you've had sex *repeatedly* with a girl you've never known?' He rounded a corner and saw that he was at Dr. Tofu's place. "Umm, Ranko. Let's wait until we're home, okay?"

"Whatever you say, bro. You're the one doing the driving."

Ranma strode through the open door, and approached the empty lounge. Carefully he sat Ranko down on one of the couches, and turned around to face her. He noticed that she was a little flushed, and put a hand up to her cheek. "You're burning up! You sure you're feeling okay, Ranko?"

Ranko said nothing, knowing exactly *why* she was flushed and hot. She merely nodded.

She watched as Ranma stood up and went to look for Dr. Tofu, using the time before he returned to try and calm herself. She didn't want to wind up embarrassing herself in front of the doctor *and* Ranma. She just hoped that the doctor wouldn't ask her to take her pants off anytime soon.

****


After school, Kuno had dismissed the limousine by saying that he preferred to walk home. He needed the time to think, and felt that a stroll was just what he needed. Many things had occurred today, and he was still trying to grasp the magnitude of it all. In one day he'd managed to lose his fiancee, know defeat in battle, understand just how poorly trained his Kendo club was, and realize that it was a terrible mistake for him to overlook the whole crowd of women that had come in this school year.

His walking was arrested by a silken voice calling him from behind. "Oh, there you are Kuno-chan," Nabiki purred. "I wondered what had happened to you at lunch. I missed you."

"I was taking time to reflect and walk off my soreness. What concern is it of yours Nabiki Tendo?"

'Yeah, right,' she thought sarcastically. Nabiki smiled at him, looping her arm through his. "I was just wondering how you were feeling, Kuno-chan."

"Your concern for my welfare is understandable, Nabiki Tendo. I am not unwell."

Nabiki rolled her eyes, and wondered if he could ever answer a question simply.

Kuno changed his posture, speaking suddenly. "Nabiki, would you care to join me for something to eat?"

Nabiki nodded, smiling cutely up at Kuno and following him to a nearby cafe. She recognized the tone of his voice; he wanted something.

They entered the store, and walked up to the counter. Since he was paying, Nabiki ordered a double beef sukiyaki, three orders of yakitori and a hot tea. Kuno simply got tea. After getting their food, they sat in a booth at the corner of the store so they could speak undisturbed.

Nabiki's tone became businesslike the moment she polished off the last dish of sukiyaki and wakame salad. "Kuno-chan, you know I always enjoy a good, free meal. I also know there's an ulterior motive involved whenever you treat me to dinner." Trying to look beautiful and ruthless at the same time, she leaned forward on the table and looked straight at him. "Fess up, Kuno-chan. Who are you interested in?" 'As if I didn't know...'

"Ahh, ever the mercenary, eh Nabiki?" Her eyes narrowed at his comment, but she held her tongue. Kuno calmly sipped from his tea, taking quite some time before he continued. "Very well, I see you have correctly deduced that I wish to acquire some information about someone."

"I would assume that someone would be Ranma Saotome, eh Kuno-chan?" Nabiki whipped her abacus out of nowhere and began tallying figures when Kuno reached his hand out to stop her manic calculations. "That is not who I am referring to, Nabiki Tendo," Kuno said sternly.

Nabiki's eyebrow shot up in surprise. She'd usually been able to second-guess Kuno in the past. Reading him hadn't been that difficult. Then again, she hadn't tried to scam Kuno ever since Akane and he had initiated their engagement. Nabiki shrugged to herself; she may be rusty where he was concerned, but she felt certain that condition wouldn't last for long.

"I want information on the pig-tailed Goddess known as Ranko Saotome." Kuno's face lapsed into an ethereal smile. "Ahh, the beautiful Ranko Saotome. Possessing the body of a Venus, and the spirit of the most respected and powerful of huntresses. How I long to date with her!"

Nabiki groaned and waited for him to wind down. She felt a slight flush of anger at Kuno's eager abandonment of her little sister. 'Damn! The corpse of his and Akane's engagement isn't even cold yet and he's already scoping out new targets!' "Sorry to see you're taking the split with Akane so hard, Kuno-chan," she bit out in a sarcasm-laced voice.

Kuno ignored her comment. "Will you take the deal, Nabiki Tendo? I'll offer you the standard hourly rate, plus a finders bonus of fifty-thousand yen when you deliver all you can about her." Nabiki's eyes widened as she added up the figures. Quickly she resumed a neutral face, placing her chin on her hand. "Ranko Saotome, you say? I'll get started on it right away. Oh, and I'll need..."

Kuno cut her off, brandishing bills from one of his hidden pockets. "Here's a down payment, Nabiki. I'll expect results." He stood and left a drooling Nabiki behind as she counted the 7500 yen down payment she held in her hands. After Kuno exited the store, she pocketed the money and sipped on her tea.

'That damned Kuno sure knew how to press my buttons. Hmmph! Must've picked up some things from his time with Akane-chan. Oh, well. If this'll keep Kuno-chan away from my little sister, it may be worth it.'

****


Kasumi smiled to herself, enjoying one of the few respites that she got every week. Her sisters were coming home from school soon, but she wouldn't need to worry about them bothering her for dinner for another three hours. Also, her father was out on some errands, and for the moment she had the house to herself. She sipped from a mug of tea, sat it down on a nearby table, and propped back on a beach chair that she'd set up in the back yard, basking in the warm spring light of the afternoon sun. She adjusted the straps of her form-hugging bikini, which had fallen from her shoulders after she'd reached for her tea, then donned a pair of oversized sunglasses.

Comfortably numb, she was just about to doze off when she heard the door to the house slam, followed by the sound of books hitting the floor. 'Akane-chan must be home,' Kasumi thought sadly. It wasn't that she minded Akane being home, it was simply that it bothered her that her sister would come home a lot of times in such a foul mood. 'If Kuno keeps affecting Akane this way, father will have to do something about it.' Kasumi uncovered her eyes, and sat up a little. She was about to stand up and see what was the matter when Akane burst out of the house and ran right at Kasumi.

Akane crashed to her knees next to Kasumi, her eyes puffy and red, and her face slick with tears. Kasumi reached out and touched Akane's face. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, Kasumiii!!!" she wailed, starting a fresh bout of crying. Kasumi reached over with her other hand and pulled Akane to her, wrapping her up in a comforting hug. Akane wrapped her arms around her older sister tightly, crying inconsolably into Kasumi's chest.

Kasumi stroked Akane's hair tenderly. "Akane-chan, what's wrong?"

Akane pulled back from Kasumi's chest, which had become drenched with her tears, and looked at her sister angrily. "Life's wrong, that's what!" she yelled.

Kasumi took Akane's hand in hers and sat her in her lap. Laying Akane's head against her shoulder, she continued. "Now now, Akane. There's no need to yell at me. Just calm down and tell me what happened to you today."

Akane sniffled a bit, and managed to get herself under control. She kept her arms around her older sister, drawing comfort from Kasumi's presence. "A lot happened today Kasumi."

"Well, tell your big sister all about it. And don't leave anything out, okay?"

"Okay sis." Akane took a deep breath, and began. "Well, I'm no longer engaged to Kuno-chan."

Kasumi smiled, and tightened her hug on Akane. A small prayer answered very quickly. Kasumi had no love for Kuno, but had said nothing to that effect out of respect for her little sister. Still, she thanked the forces that be for getting them apart. "Really Akane?! How'd it happen?" she asked.

"A guy came up to Kuno-cha..." Akane stopped herself abruptly. 'No, dammit! He's not my fiancee anymore!' "... Kuno and challenged him to duel. The guy, Ranma Saotome, had heard about Kuno's boast that if anyone defeated him in a formal challenge, he would renounce his engagement to me. Well, Ranma challenged him and won, so I'm a free girl now," Akane finished softly, shrugging her shoulders.

Kasumi's eyes narrowed at hearing the name Saotome, but she kept her mouth shut about that. "Akane, surely you aren't angry that you lost your engagement to Kuno, are you?" She continued stroking her sister's head, rocking her in her lap. She ignored the fact that she and Akane probably looked pretty silly sitting like they were, more intent on seeing her sister through this to care about how she appeared to others.

"Of course not sis. That's not really why I'm upset. There's more to the story." Akane sighed lowly and rubbed her cheek against Kasumi's swimsuit, wiping a tear from her face

"Go ahead, Akane. I'm listening."

"Well, in math class Ranma sent me a note saying he wanted to eat lunch with me. I told him that I wanted to, so we met after class and went outside to eat. We didn't get a chance to eat or talk, though, because not long after we got outside, Ranma, his sister and I got into a fight."

"What did Ranma do to you?" Kasumi fairly demanded.

"Oh, Kasumi! Ranma didn't do anything! We were attacked by some members of Kuno's Kendo club in retaliation for what Ranma had done to Kuno this morning. Anyway, we won the fight, but it ruined our chance to talk at lunch. Plus we had to take Ranma's sister to the infirmary after the fight." Akane winced at the memory of the damage Ranko received during the fight. "Three guys ganged up on her and beat her up pretty badly. But not as badly as they got back." Akane grinned slightly at that. "I took out one, Ranma took out the second, and Ranko pulverized the third."

"Akane, you know it's not nice to fight like that," Kasumi chided softly. She didn't like the idea of her youngest sister fighting at school. It just wasn't ladylike.

"I didn't have a choice Kasumi! What they were doing to Ranko was wrong, and it made me mad, so I helped them out. But that's besides the point; there's more to the story." Akane paused to clear her throat, then continued. "After we dropped Ranko off in the infirmary, I told Ranma that I wanted to speak with him. He agreed to meet with me after school. Well, we did manage to meet after school..." Akane blushed as she remembered their conversation. "I thanked him for accepting Kuno's challenge, and told him I was in his debt. I asked him why he did it..."

Kasumi 'tsk tsked' at Akane. "You shouldn't question the actions of one who gives something to you. That's rude."

"Sis! I told him that I wasn't being ungrateful. I was just curious. Anyway, he gave me the sweetest answer. He told me that he didn't want to see me hurt anymore. He also told me that he's wanted to go out with me for awhile."

"Really?" Kasumi caressed Akane's cheek. "Can you tell me what this Ranma is like?"

"Well, from what I can tell, he's really nice. He's very protective of his sister." Akane blushed again. "And he *is* kinda cute," she added through sniffles.

Kasumi laughed softly. "Well, what happened next?"

"He asked me out." Akane replied softly. "But I didn't get a chance to answer him. Turns out that Ranma's already seeing someone."

"What?! And he still asked you out? Who's the other girl?" Kasumi almost shouted.

"Kinuko Amagi..." she said, breaking out into tears again.

Kasumi kissed Akane on the head, and held her tightly. 'Figures that as soon as Akane's hurting, Kinuko would be right there to make her life even more miserable.' Kasumi sighed. "Do you know if Kinuko was telling the truth about Ranma, or was it just something she was doing to get you upset?"

Akane shook her head, crying the whole time. "Why is it... <sob> ... that little tramp ... <sniffle>... can keep doing this to me!?" she wailed. Akane laid her head against Kasumi's chest, her tears again soaking the thin fabric of Kasumi's swimsuit.

"There there, Akane. It'll be okay. Let's just take this one step at a time, okay?" She tilted her head to look at her sister, and placed her hand under Akane's chin so they were eye to eye. "Hey little sis, you should be happy. You're not going to be bothered by Kuno anymore, right?"

Akane smiled, her tears abating. "Yeah, I guess so. That part hasn't really hit me yet. I suppose I should slow down and appreciate being single before I start going after boys again." Akane squeezed her sister in a tight hug. "You're amazing Kasumi. I'm feeling a little better now." Akane laid her head on Kasumi's shoulder, and kissed her on the cheek. "I love you."

Kasumi kissed her sister on the head again, brushing damp hair from Akane's forehead. "I love you too, little sis. Now I suggest you stand up so I can get the circulation back in my legs."

Akane laughed at that, "Sorry about that Kasumi. I couldn't help myself. You were very comfortable." Smiling, she slid off of her sister's lap and landed on her rump on the grass. She stood up, reaching her hand down to help Kasumi.

"Well, don't get used to sitting in my lap. You're a grown woman now. Ouch..." Kasumi winced as she stood up, trying to shrug off the pins and needles feeling she had from having the circulation cut to her legs. She walked around stiffly for a moment, allowing the circulation to return. Once the sensation stopped, she and Akane gathered up the lawn chair and table and put them away.

'Just as well we're going inside. The sun's starting to set anyway.' Kasumi thought to herself. "Maybe I'll be able to get a tan tomorrow."

Akane whirled to face her sister, hearing Kasumi's comment. "Hey Kasumi, we're almost the same size. If you *really* want to get a tan you can borrow my thong tomorrow," she said, grinning mischievously.

"Thanks Akane. I will," Kasumi said absently. She then blushed, realizing that she was a full cup size bigger than Akane. She hoped no-one looked over the wall tomorrow. They'd be in for an unexpected treat if they did. Smiling to herself, she followed Akane inside and headed upstairs to bathe before getting dinner ready.

****


Ranma walked about the hallway of Dr. Tofu's office, peeking into the examination rooms. Seeing one room with the curtain closed, he pushed his way in and was greeted by a piercing shriek. "Umm, sorry Miss!" A wide-eyed Ranma hurriedly shoved the curtain closed, and walked *very quickly* away from the room. 'Wow! She's got a happy boyfriend,' he thought in awe, blushing scarlet.

Getting back down to business, he resumed his search for Dr. Tofu. After re-inspecting the other examination rooms, Ranma finally bumped into Dr. Tofu as he was leaving the men's room. "Ahh! There you are, Dr. Tofu."

Dr. Tofu turned around to face him. "Excuse me. Do I know you?"

'Of course he doesn't...' Ranma thought absently. "No Dr. Tofu, you don't. But I need your help. My sister's in your waiting room and she's pretty banged up. I was wondering if you could take a look at her."

Dr. Tofu's face became serious, and he took Ranma by the arm. "Take me to her."

They rounded the corner and walked back into the lounge. Dr. Tofu walked over to the couch and knelt by the ailing Ranko, extending his hand. "Hi there, I'm Dr. Tofu." Ranko shook his hand and smiled weakly. "Your brother tells me you're hurt. What's the problem?"

"Well, I think I twisted my ankle," she said, pointing to her injured leg.

Dr. Tofu leaned forward, examining her carefully. "It looks like you were in a pretty bad fight. We'd better get you into an examination room." He rose. "Can you make it by yourself?"

Ranma spoke up. "I'll carry her."

"Fine. Take her to room two while I get some supplies." Dr. Tofu indicated the room with his finger as he spoke.

"Yes sir." Ranma smiled to the departing Tofu, then turned to his sister. "Okay sis, get those arms up."

Ranko smiled and lifted her arms up. She groaned as Ranma pulled her to a standing position, regretting having to leave the plush couch behind. Ranma curled one of her arms around his neck, then scooped her up in his arms to carry her. She slipped her other arm over to hang onto his shoulder. "Here we go," he said as he walked her to the examination room.

He looked around and saw that little had changed of Tofu's place from what he remembered of the other one. He walked straight to room two, and being careful not to bang her feet against the doorframe, he angled his sister into the room. He sat her on the table just as Dr. Tofu walked in. "Thanks for bringing her in, umm..."

"Ranma Saotome" he said, extending his hand to the doctor. Tofu accepted the hand, shaking it warmly. "And this is my sister Ranko."

"Well, Ranko, I'm going to take a look at your injuries, if you don't mind. I may have to ask you to remove some of your clothes for the examination. Is that okay with you?"

Ranko nodded silently. Ranma became uncomfortable at hearing that, and started heading for the door. "I guess I'll wait outside," he stated quickly. Blushing, he hurried out of the room, closing the curtain behind him.

"Wait, Ranma..." Ranko called behind him, her hand out to stop him.

Ranma spoke to her from the other side of the curtain. "Don't worry, Ranko. Dr. Tofu's very good at what he does. I'll be outside the door here in case you need me, okay?"

Ranko sighed. "Okay bro." 'He's so different from the person I've lived with for the past fifteen years. He never would've worried about me the way he is now.' She redirected her attention to Dr. Tofu as he started talking to her.

"Okay Ranko, I'm gonna take your shoes off and have a look at your feet," he said in standard doctorly fashion.

Ranko hissed slightly as Tofu pulled the shoe off of her injured foot. Gently he pulled the other shoe and he