Tendo Nabiki Enterprises, Incorporated Presents:

A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic side-story

Careful Destiny

Part Four
"Under Construction"


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!

Ranma blinked his eyes to try to clear his foggy vision; only to discover that the milky haze which surrounded him was uniformly thick. Looking up only afforded him with a view of a solid rockface that rose out of sight. A wave of vertigo hit him as he craned his neck to look downward and saw no solid surface beneath him.

Realizing that he had no option but to climb, he reached his hand up to start his ascent. His fingers searched for a good handhold in the craggy surface. "Ow, shit!" Ranma hissed as his arms protested their agony. The slight upward movement sent sharp pains through them, almost causing him to lose purchase and fall into the unknown depths. Clinging desperately to the rock, Ranma stabilized himself. 'I must've been climbing this thing for a while, now,' he thought wearily. 'Maybe I blacked out... Where the hell am I, anyway?'

"Mmmmmm..."

Ranma whipped his head around as the sound reached his ears. The suddenness of the distant noise distracted him and almost caused him to fall from his perch. 'What the hell was that?' he asked himself, his eyes scanning the fog-veiled vista surrounding him. 'Sounded like a ... a girl,' he thought. His eyes widened suddenly in comprehension. 'Could it be?!' He looked up, hoping to confirm his suspicions, but growled in frustration when his eyes refused to penetrate the cloaking mist.

"Akane!" he shouted, hoping that her voice was the one that he had heard. He hoisted himself up, his hands finding unusually easy purchase in the rock. He frowned. For the first time, he paid attention to what it was he was clinging. What should've been a cold, unyielding surface was actually soft to the touch. He pressed himself against the rock-face as best as he could, and felt an inviting warmth emanating from it. 'This stuff feels more like ... skin!' he thought incredulously, his hand making long strokes against the surface.

"Mmmmmm... Yesss..."

The distant voice came to him again. It was clearer this time, and had an entreating tone to it. It was definitely feminine, but try as he might, he couldn't identify the person speaking or figure out where it was coming from.

"Akane?!" he shouted to the mist. "Akane, is that you?!" He began scaling the cliff faster, hoping to reach the zenith before his arms completely gave out. He climbed for a few minutes when his hand happened upon a flat surface just above his head. He brought both of his hands to the edge, and was about to pull himself up, when a voice stopped him cold in his tracks.

"Ran-chan..."

Ranma's heart stopped for a moment. "UKYOU?!" his shocked voice cried out in the diminishing fog. Hurriedly he scrabbled to the top, standing up once he had gotten both feet on a flat surface.

"Unnn..."

'She sounds really weak,' he thought in concern as he began trekking towards the source of the voice. He shook suddenly as a strong wind buffeted him. He pushed one of his legs behind him to brace against the sudden gust, and closed his eyes, which were starting to get dry. Then, as suddenly as it had started, the breeze died. Ranma tentatively opened one of his eyes, and gasped at what he saw.

The mist had cleared away to reveal a naked girl sitting on the ground with her back to him. She was obviously crying, her whole body trembling. "Ukyou?" he repeated, more softly this time.

She did not respond to him, except to give the occasional sniffle or sob. He watched her in silence as she rubbed her eyes. He knelt down behind her, not knowing what to do. 'Dammit, I'm not any good at this sort of thing,' he fumed as she wept. Gradually, he brought a shaking hand to her back, stopping just short of actually touching her.

"I ... um," he began, halting when words failed him. He socked himself in the face, trying to knock loose the words trapped inside his mind. "Ucchan ... What happened?"

She did not respond to him, except to cry harder. Her body started shaking from the weight of the sobs.

'Shit!' he swore, mentally flogging himself for whatever it was that he did to her. 'C'mon Ranma! You've gotta figure this out. She's one of your best friends!' He steeled himself, and started again.

"Ucchan, please," he said in a voice tinged with discomfort. "Tell me what's happened to you."

"You don't love me ..." she said simply, the words trailing off into tears.

Ranma suddenly felt very old. It was that same damn argument that had been dogging him ever since that fateful day, when he'd told Ukyou how cute she was and gotten himself saddled with another fiancee. The difference with her was that, unlike the other two girls, this one had been a very good friend from his childhood. That only complicated matters further.

Before he'd made the wish that so drastically altered his life, he'd known that he'd eventually have to make a final decision as to who he wanted to be with, and had regretted the coming of that day. The problem with having to make a choice, however, was that it wasn't really a choice. He didn't feel for Ukyou the way that she did for him. He never did, really. If he was to make a decision now, he knew that Ucchan would not be the one he'd pick.

Every time, in the past, when Ranma was about to admit how he felt about Ukyou, he'd stopped himself. He'd shuddered at the thought of her reaction to the news, and kept silent out of respect for his good friend. Not to mention self-preservation. Getting spatulated to death wasn't his idea of an honorable and glorious demise. On the other hand, the constant running and indecisiveness was getting ridiculous, and embarrassing. Ranma knew that something had to be done about this, and figured that he might as well begin now.

"Ucchan, I..." he began, then stopped as a vision of Akane's cute, smiling face cut through his confusion. He sighed, hesitantly placing his hand on Ukyou's bare back. Uncomfortable minutes of silence passed before he could speak again.

"Ucchan, you're my best friend. But, I... I want to be with Akane." He lowered his head and stared at the misty surface on which he was kneeling. "I'm sorry..." he let his voice trail off, realizing that his words were having no effect on her. He let his hand roam across her back, hoping that the gentle caress would work where his words weren't.

As he reached her shoulder, Ranma found his hand being covered by one of hers, which stopped him cold. "But, I love you Ran-chan..." she countered in a feeble voice, disappointment weighing her words heavily.

Ranma sighed. "I know you do, Ucchan." He pulled his hand away and sat down behind her, staring at her bare back. "I swear to you, if things had been different... That is, if I'd never met Akane... I..." He looked at the ground again, his expression sullen. 'Dammit! Why does this always have to be so difficult? I can tear guys apart with my bare hands, but...' He looked at the trembling, bare back of his best friend; her despondency underscoring his inability to cope with emotional women. '... but I can't just seem to... talk to people-'

"Akane..." she mumbled suddenly, her body now shaking as if cold. He cringed at the sound of near-despair in her voice as she said the name of his one, true fiancee. Guilt seemed to be beating him within an inch of his life, and he found himself torn between wanting to comfort his friend's aching heart and running away as fast as he could.

"Hold me, Ran-chan. Please," she entreated, her shivering increasing to underscore her request.

Ranma's eyes bulged. "Ucchan! I... " he said in shock. He wanted to protest, but something inside told him to stop before he said anything he'd regret. She was alone, naked, and upset; although only God knew why. It was all too weird, but he knew that he couldn't abandon her.

"Please..." she begged. Her voice verged on defeat and surrender, and cut through his indecision.

'Forgive me Akane,' he thought sadly as he moved forward and encircled Ukyou's waist with his arms. She leaned towards him, pressing her back against his chest, but her face never turning to meet his. Ranma frowned again as his hands slid across her stomach. It felt like a young woman's skin ought to, but her stomach seemed to be awfully... round for someone as in-shape as she was.

He leaned his head forward, and could hear her crying begin to subside. Her long hair obscured his view of her face, so he couldn't tell if she liked what he was doing, or not. He assumed he was doing it right, and pulled her a little closer to him, his hands linked across her stomach.

"Mmmmm..." she moaned as he tightened his hug. The sound seemed to be a mixture of pleasure and discomfort. Ranma wanted to say something to Ukyou to help her feel better, but the only thing that he could think of was Akane, and how much he cared for her instead. 'That wouldn't help Ucchan any,' he thought dryly. He stopped abruptly as something in his mind finally clicked.

Frantically rubbing his hands across Ukyou's swollen abdomen, his mind verged on panic. She was pregnant! "Ucchan!" he shouted in surprise, recoiling slightly.

Another breeze suddenly hit him, and he couldn't help but note how drafty it was. Looking down, Ranma stifled a shout of alarm as he realized that he wasn't wearing clothes any longer. His heart pounded wildly, their bodies touching far too close for comfort. He desperately looked about for an avenue of escape, but stopped when she spoke again.

"It's yours, Ran-chan," she said softly, her hand resting calmly against both of his.

He wanted to scream. He also wanted to run, hide ... *anything* to get away from this! He looked about for a way to leave, but the returning mist seemed to be blocking his attempts, which made him all the more desperate. However, even with all of the panic and confusion floating through his mind, a last shred of calm managed to point out a simple fact.

Her voice didn't sound right.

Turning her around in his arms, he calmed his racing heart, which was inspired by both fear, and the beautiful visage of his naked best-friend. Forcing down his embarrassment and curiosity, Ranma ripped his gaze from her swollen belly and breasts and took her chin in his hand to look her in her face, which was still being obscured by her long hair.

"Ucchan! Tell me how this happened!" he fairly demanded, tilting her face up. He jumped back an instant later as the model-gorgeous face of Kinuko Amagi stared back at him. He was instantly on his feet, backpedaling.

"Don't you remember, Ran-chan?" she asked with an impish grin on her face. "You were there, weren't you?"

Ranma's continued to move away as he tried to deny what he was hearing and seeing. "No! I never met you! I never did ..." he pointed at her swollen belly, "... *that* to you!"

Kinuko moved with surprising swiftness for a pregnant woman as she came to her feet and glomped onto Ranma with all of her might. His mind screamed for him to get away from her, but his body refused to cooperate. He grimaced as their close body contact produced results he didn't want. 'You're a big help,' he deadpanned as he felt his member stir.

"See?! You *do* remember, Ran-chan!" she shouted as she espied his growing erection, elation plain on her face.

"NO!" he shouted, almost screamed, as he tore himself from her grasp. He turned around to run away, only to see Akane standing there. Her arms were crossed in front of her, and she had a brittle smile on her face. "I see you've finally made your choice, Ranma," she said solemnly, gazing down at the 'obvious evidence.' Tears streamed slowly down her face, and her lower lip trembled.

He covered himself instinctively, blushing wildly at his unintended exposure. Meanwhile, his mind had heard what she'd said. "Akane, NO!" he shouted desperately. "I've not made a choice... That is, I haven't made *that* choice... I..." He looked over his shoulder. "Oh, hell!" he swore in disgust as Kinuko walked over to him and glomped onto him again, pressing her body against his.

"Yes, Akane. My Ran-chan's back, and we're gonna be one *happy* family. Right honey?" she asked as she landed a loud kiss on Ranma's cheek. Too dumbfounded to move, he could only watch helplessly as the scene played out before him.

"Very well, then. Good-bye, Ranma," Akane cried as she turned and ran away.

In that moment, something in his mind snapped. Fear and confusion were swept away, to be replaced by a white-hot rage. "NO! AKANE! DON'T GO!" he bellowed as he scrambled to get free of Kinuko's grasp. Despite his efforts, Ranma couldn't move. It felt as if a weight were pressing against his chest, keeping him where he was despite his struggling. He watched as Akane's departing form dwindled into the distance until she had completely vanished from sight.

"There's no sense in struggling, Ran-chan," Kinuko said soothingly. She patted Ranma's bare chest with her hand and pulled herself even closer to him, cuddling him lovingly. "She's gone now, and I have you all to myself," she gloated. Kinuko smiled widely at him and angled her head to kiss him on the lips.

With uncharacteristic desperation, Ranma moved his hands to Kinuko's shoulders. As their lips brushed, he closed his eyes tightly and shoved with all of his might.

****


"NOOOOOO!!!!" Ranma yelled as he pushed forward. He gasped loudly for air as his racing heart slowly calmed down. A muffled *thump* came from nearby.

"Ow, SHIT!" he heard from beneath him.

Ranma sat bolt upright. "What the hell?!" he muttered as he opened his eyes, his fingers dancing across his body. He sighed in relief when he felt clothing on his chest and, more importantly, between his legs. Darkness was the only thing that greeted him as his eyes scanned the room. He was trying to get his bearings when reality suddenly struck him like a thunderbolt, blowing away the last remnants of his nightmare. He understood that he'd acted out his dream, but that thump he'd heard had *not* been a part of it. Then a sickening realization hit. "Oh, geez! Ranko!" he shouted as he scrambled to get off of her bed.

As his feet moved to touch the floor, he felt something warm, soft, and cushiony beneath them.

"Ranma, you're stepping on my butt!" Ranko growled. He instantly brought his feet back on the bed. Reaching over, he found the lamp that sat next to her bed, and switched it on. He squinted as a dull glare bathed the room.

He peered over the edge of the bed to check on his sister, and was greeted with a light punch to the face. He covered his throbbing cheek with a hand, never moving his position.

"I'd hit you harder, but I'm too tired right now," she grumbled as she brought herself around. She got to her knees, despite the feeling of soreness coming from her injured ankle, and looked at her clock. "Three-twenty-seven in the morning?!" she groaned. "Ranma, couldn't you have picked a better time to throw me out of bed?"

He snorted, despite himself. "Hold on, Sis," he told her as he got up and stepped around her. Reaching down, he scooped her into his arms, and held her close to him. He looked at her critically, a mischievous gleam in his eyes. "You look like hell, you know that?" he asked jokingly, pulling his head back just enough to avoid the irritated slap she launched at his face.

"Just put me down, okay asshole?" she growled, although she couldn't hide her growing smile.

He smirked as he sat her down on the bed and knelt on the floor beside her. "How's the foot?' he asked, placing his hand on her shoulder.

"Well, I don't think I damaged it any worse," she guessed. "I heard you when you shouted, so I was awake enough to land on my hands and knees instead of my foot after you threw me in the air." She rotated her foot, and winced at the resultant twinges of pain. "The ankle's still sore, but it does feel a little better." She sat up a bit and crossed her arms in front of her. "But forget about me. What made you toss me out of bed in the first place, Ranma? I was having this really realistic dream about me and Hikaru. We were..." she broke off before she let those details slip out, blushing furiously.

Ranma avoided her gaze, not really paying attention to her. "I'd rather not talk about it right now," he said absently as bits and pieces of the dream floated back into his mind, causing his stomach to churn uncomfortably. "Besides, it's not all that important right now," he evaded. He stood away from her, avoiding the temptation to kiss her on the cheek after what had happened earlier that evening. "Sorry I kicked you out of bed, Ranko. I'll let you get back to sleep now," he said as he hurried towards the door.

"Ranma, wait!" Ranko hissed, stopping him in his tracks. He turned to say something along the lines of 'it's none of your business' when the door to her room slid open, and a very irritated Nodoka stomped through.

"What's going on, you two?" She pointed at the clock and barely managed to stifle a yawn. "It's three-thirty in the morning, and you're both out of bed!"

Ranma cast a sidelong glance at his sister, and saw her nod slightly. "Ranko fell out of bed, Mom. I heard her fall, and came to help. That's all." He shrugged casually, and turned to look at Ranko for confirmation.

Her son's presence in his sister's room forgotten, Nodoka immediately stood by Ranko's bed. "Are you all right, dear?"

"Yeah, Mom. It was just a bad dream, is all..." She let her words trail off as she saw Ranma head for the door.

"Well, since you're all right, I'm going back to bed," he said, waving to both women as he eagerly stepped through the door.

"Oh..." Ranko replied with a hint of disappointment. "G'night Ranma" she added as she watched him leave the room.

Nodoka looked up at the door and smiled. "Yes, thank you for looking out for her, Ranma-dear. Good night." She turned to look at her daughter once the door was closed, her hand gliding gently across Ranko's forehead. "Did you want to talk about it?"

"About what?" she replied distractedly.

"The dream, silly," she said with a smile, pinching Ranko's nose playfully.

She giggled at the ticklish sensation, and pulled her mother's hand from her nose. "It's really nothing. In fact, I'm honestly surprised it happened at all." She put her hand on her mother's to keep her from asking questions. "Don't worry, Mom. I think I can keep myself from tumbling out of bed again. Just go back to sleep. Everything will be all right."

Nodoka sighed like the beleaguered parent she occasionally was. She wasn't fully satisfied that Ranko was telling her everything, or that Ranma had told her everything either. But given the time of day and the fact that no one was angry or bleeding, she let it drop. Besides, she knew that her children were very stubborn; pressing either of them for more details would be more difficult than splitting the atom with her sword, so she wasn't about to try. What mattered the most to her was that they were getting along better than they ever had before. "Okay, dear," she said as she bent down and kissed Ranko on the forehead. "I love you, little girl. Now get some sleep. We've got a big day tomorrow."

"G'night Mom," she said, waving before turning over in her bed. Nodoka turned off the desk lamp and walked out of the room, silently closing the door behind her.

'You got away pretty easy this time, Ranma,' Ranko grumbled to herself. 'I can't wait to hear why you kicked me out of bed like that...' She looked at the clock, and noted how much time she had left before morning. Deciding that sleep was more important, she got herself comfortable in the bed. 'I'll talk with him tomorrow,' she resolved before closing her eyes and going back to sleep.

****


Ranma walked swiftly down the hall to his room. "Man, that was close!" he hissed to himself, as he closed the door to his room. Wearily, he flipped his light on and shuffled over to his dresser. Fishing out a pair of shorts and a shirt, he shucked off all of his day clothes and dressed for bed. Tossing the dirty clothes on the floor, he turned off the light and sat on his bed.

'What the hell am I going to do about Kinuko?' he asked himself, hunching over and burying his face in his hands. 'Ranko said that the pregnancy might be fake, but I just don't know... Kinuko seems crazy enough to say such a thing, but she may have been telling the truth... I guess I'm just gonna have to find out for sure, somehow.' His stomach knotted up painfully, and a cold wave of fear ran through his guts. 'If she is- pregnant...'

He felt something akin to panic. In some ways, that bothered him more than being a prospective father did. He has no idea that this wish would've given him this much trouble. Ranma laid down on his bed and hugged his pillow tightly. His mind raced, and showed no signs of slowing down. 'This crap could kill any chance of me ever being with Akane, regardless of whether Kinuko is pregnant or not.' '*Ever*' his mind repeated loudly.

'If Kinuko's really pregnant, I can't just leave her alone.' Ranma sighed heavily, the weight of the world bearing down on his young shoulders. 'I may not have been the one to enjoy making the child, but it *is* going to be a Saotome,' he thought glumly.

An ironic smile creased his face, despite the seriousness of the situation. He'd never really considered being a father before, and found some sort of odd satisfaction from the possibility of being one. 'This is all assuming that Kinuko had told the truth before, though...' he added a moment later. His frown returned. 'She may have been lying to the other Ranma. Although I have no idea why she'd do such an evil thing.'

He sat up and rubbed his temples to try and ward off the headache that was threatening to build. The more he thought about his predicament, the less certain he was that he could solve any part of it. 'This whole mess has got me so damned confused... What the hell am I going to do now?!' he asked to the world at large. No answers were forthcoming, though.

He yawned widely, and stretched his arms outward. The dream had completely exhausted him, and he was too tired to keep his eyes open. 'Dammit! I've got too much to do tomorrow. I'll have to figure this all out later. Just need to get to... sleep...' he thought as his tired mind shut down suddenly.

****

THE NEXT MORNING...


Springtime announced itself to the residents of Nerima. The sun rose high in the morning sky. Birds chirped and sang as they sailed through delicate breezes laden with the scent of cherry blossoms and other assorted flora. Trees glowed with brilliant greens as new leaves, sprouting from long-dormant branches, expanded and grew. The overall effect was pleasing and quite tranquil. It was an intoxicating sight that drew a lot of people out of their homes on the sunny weekend morning, and encouraged them to enjoy the day.

Through all of this, Ranma slept. His exhaustion made him immune to the call of the natural beauty occurring out of his open window.

The clock on his dresser read eight-fifteen.

His bedroom door slid open, and the cheerful face of his mother peeked through. "Ranma, you awake yet?" she called softly in his direction.

Ranma groaned slightly, scratched himself in a... private area, and rolled over in the bed, sound asleep.

'He'd probably sleep forever if he was allowed to,' she thought with slight distaste. Nodoka opened the door fully and walked to Ranma's bed. She bent over and placed one of her hands on his shoulder.

She sprung back in shock as Ranma rose up, his hands automatically assuming a defensive stance.

"Ranma!" Nodoka yelled, more out of surprise than anger. She pulled her hands off of his shoulder, but kept them close.

He blinked stupidly for a second as he awoke fully. When he realized who was next to him, Ranma calmed himself and let his breath out in a long 'whoosh.'

"What's all that about, Ranma-dear?" Nodoka asked concernedly as she ran her fingers through his hair.

"Awww, it's nothin', Mom. I just wasn't expecting anyone to come in here, is all." Ranma sat up in his bed, propping his back against the wall. Taking that as an invitation to join him, Nodoka sat down on his bed. She frowned as she noted the muted tension in his eyes. She reached out to comfort him. As she gripped his arms, she could feel the tension working through his muscles.

"My goodness! You're strung tighter than piano wire!" she declared, looking at him closely. "What's the matter with you, Ranma-chan?" she asked in concern.

Ranma crossed his arms in front of himself defensively, and put some distance between he and his mother. "I told you it was nothin', Mom!" he shouted with a little more intensity than he meant to.

Nodoka's concerned gaze became an angry glare. "Don't presume to take that attitude with me, young man!" she retorted. Her gaze bored into him. Nodoka's posture became *very* intimidating, and Ranma found himself wanting to slink away from her, quickly. Martial artist or not, woman or not, she was still his mother, and a definite force to be reckoned with. "You've *never* spoken to me like that before in your *life*," she continued. "What's going on, son?"

Ranma pressed himself as far into the wall as his back would allow him to go, in an attempt to escape the intensity of her withering glare. He eventually surrendered, and brought his knees up under his chin, his eyes locked on his bed sheets. "I just had a bad dream..." he began in a low voice, but was cut off before he could complete his excuse.

"Ohhh no! I'm not buying it this time! First Ranko says she has a bad dream, and now you? Surely you can come up with a better line than that." She glared at him even more intently. "As tense as you are, it has to have been something more than a simple dream!" Her gaze never wavered, and Ranma could swear the he could *hear* her patience crumbling.

"Okay, okay!" he shot back, holding his arms up in a gesture of appeasement. "I've got a pro... that is... I'm under a lot of pressure today." 'No shit, Mr. Master-of-understatement!' he added to himself, barely withholding a derisive snort. "There's a lot riding on what happens at the Tendo dojo today. I'm very worried..."

An understanding look slowly erased the frown marring Nodoka's face. "Well, that's perfectly normal, dear. After all, it's not every day we get the chance to make up with friends we haven't seen in years." She sighed as she pulled her son to her in a comforting hug.

Ranma responded hesitantly, not speaking as he held himself close to his mother. "Your father and I owe you a lot for that," she continued. "Believe me, all of us are going to do what we have to in order to see that this reunion happens as it should. We're all looking for the same thing, son." She pulled him away from her, and looked into his eyes, her face very serious. "But, even with this reunion, you *don't* have to go through with all of it."

"What do you mean, 'go through with all of it?' I don't understand what you're saying, mom," he replied.

"I'm talking about this silly engagement business of yours. I may not be too up on what kids your age do these days, but I'm pretty sure that getting married at the age of sixteen while still in school is not on top of any person's list." She crossed her arms in front of her. "Besides, there's not too many reasons why someone at your age would want to get mar..." she broke off, blanching as an obvious answer came to her.

"My God, Ranma! You and she haven't..." She stopped herself, stricken. Her breathing grew shallow, and she looked as if she was about to faint.

Ranma's eyes grew enormous as he understood what his mother was thinking. "NONononono!" he shouted, quick to allay her fears. 'Geez, now she thinks that I may have fathered a child. Having mom think that me and Akane had sex and I got her pregnant is... gross!' He waved his hands and shook his head frantically, trying to make sure she understood the word 'no.' "I've never done anything like *that* with Akane!" he hissed, blushing furiously.

Nodoka's heart restarted soon afterwards. She placed a hand to her chest, still feeling faint. "Thank goodness! I don't know what I would do if you got someone pregnant before you were married!"

Ranma's intestines tied themselves in square knots. He forced himself to laugh, hoping he didn't look or sound as nervous as he felt. "I ... I don't think that'll be a problem, Mom."

His eyes almost fell out of their sockets when she spoke again. "You sound like you really like that girl, son. Just promise me that if you and Akane decide to become... intimate, you'll be sure to use protection, okay?" She stood from the bed, a small laugh escaping her as she saw his mouth gape.

Her nervousness gave way to a slight irritation as their generation gap started to widen. "Oh, come on, Ranma!" she snapped. "I'm not so old that I don't know what a sixteen-year-old thinks about!" Her features softened a bit. "I know I can't stop either you or Ranko from having sex with whomever you want. I don't mind, as long as you act responsibly when either of you do it."

She started laughing again, more intensely this time, as Ranma's incredulous look got worse. It seemed like he wouldn't be able to keep himself upright without help. "I mean, really! What would I do to you if you had sex with someone? Make you commit seppuku for soiling a girl's honor?!" She scoffed at the preposterousness of the idea. "Come on, Ranma. Be realistic! I may be traditional, but even *I* wouldn't deign to kill my own son for that! Now, abandoning the mother of your child, on the other hand..."

Nodoka stopped talking when she realized that he wasn't moving anymore, and mistook his lack of movement for boredom. She sighed and turned around to leave his room. "If you ever want to talk more about this just ask me. Okay, Ranma?" His head twitched involuntarily, which she took as an affirmative nod. She walked out of his room, confident that they'd grown closer as a result of their chat.

"You'd better get ready, son," she yelled from the hallway. The sound of her voice grew lighter as she descended the stairs. "I have to give your sister a bath soon, so I'm in a bit of a rush. I've started cooking already, so breakfast should be waiting for you when you're ready."

Ranma twitched occasionally, and wasn't sure if he could move with any semblance of coordination. The fact that she had spoken so openly about... *sex* flew in the face of the demure woman he'd known for many months as his 'Auntie Saotome.' 'I've always thought that Mom would act like she did those times I'd seen her at the Tendo dojo,' he told himself. "This is too weird!" he swore under his breath.

Finally getting his heartbeat under control, he slid out of bed. Legs wobbling only slightly, he got his workout clothes from the top dresser drawer and dressed quickly. 'What I need right now is a good workout,' he told himself. Cinching the belt tight on the gi that Ranko had given him, he headed downstairs.

****


Genma Saotome patted his rumbling belly, trying to silence the marauding beast within. The enticing smell of his wife's wonderful cooking wasn't helping matters at all. He found his attention torn between the culinary delights being prepared in the next room, and the morning news droning from the TV in front of him.

He turned up the volume as CNN-Nihon returned from commercial, hoping that the distraction would quell his hunger momentarily. "Police officials in Osaka were stunned last night after they responded to an alarm at the Osaka-Hanes factory. Osaka-Hanes is an American-owned company that specializes in men's and women's undergarments. According to lead detectives at the scene, Hanes' *entire* inventory of women's panties and bras disappeared during the thirty-minute window of the plant's shift change."

"Officials aren't speculating as to the method used by the criminals to take the seventy-eight thousand pairs of looted lingerie, but suspect that it is the work of a team of professionals..."

Genma shook his head in disgust, and changed the channel to a local station. "Damn college kids," he muttered absently as he settled the remote back on the table. A greasy-haired young man appeared on the screen, gesturing to a map of eastern Japan.

"Well, the Americans say that April showers bring May flowers. Too bad I have a brown thumb." Stale laughter from the anchors greeted the poor joke. The weatherman chuckled nervously and continued his forecast. "Anyway, we seem to be following that trend this weekend. Saturday will see an increasing chance of showers and thunderstorms during the evening hours, continuing on into Sunday. Highs in the mid-twenties, with humidity levels near one-hundred percent."

Genma's attention was caught by his son as he descended the stairs. "Morning, Ranma," he said with a warm smile on his face. "I was beginning to wonder if you were ever going to get up."

Ranma stood next to his seated father and smirked. "Rough night," he replied dismissively. "Pop, you up for a workout? I'm a little tense."

His father smirked mischievously. "Sure, why not? Since your sister is laid up with her ankle problem, I wouldn't mind you helping me with my workouts in the meantime." He jumped up and stood next to his son, pounding him on the back. "Let's go!" he said with a big grin on his face. "Honey, Ranma and I are going outside for a little workout before breakfast!" Genma shouted over his shoulder. He didn't even wait for a response as they walked out the door and headed for the training hall.

****


"What am I gonna do?" Akane asked to no-one, her mind drowning in confusion. As per her routine, she was getting ready for her usual weekend events with Kuno when she suddenly remembered what had happened the day before. So much had changed in one day; so much, in fact that it seemed too much like a dream. Without even meaning to, Akane picked up her diary and began to leaf idly through parts of her past.

As Akane flipped through the pages, she wound up reliving a lot of things she'd rather not have. Re-reading the first few pages, she gasped painfully. 'I never realized just how out-of-control my life had been,' she groaned, shaking her head sadly. "From the start of our engagement, it was as if Kuno had put me on a leash." Her petite hands balled themselves into lethal fists, as a growl worked its way free. 'He made me his own personal ... PLAYTOY!' she spat. Allowing one bitter tear to fall, she forced herself to calm before continuing to read.

A little later, a red-eyed Akane, with as much control as she could muster, laid the book down on her bed. It was turned to the end of the Thursday entry, with a blank page awaiting her touch. With a prolonged sigh, she cleared her mind and recorded the previous day's events, daring to add a touch of hope to her words as she wrote.

Once finished, she laid her pen down, closed her diary, and placed it back in her desk. She yawned and stretched, the bed inviting her to return. She stopped herself from indulging, however. 'You're very comfortable, bed,' she acknowledged with a slight smirk. 'but sleeping the whole day away isn't very healthy.' As she began gathering her clothes for her morning bath, her stomach rumbled loudly. She blushed deeply, embarrassed despite the fact that she was alone in her room.

'Goodness, I forgot to eat last night! I hope I didn't worry Kasumi and Nabiki too much by not coming down for dinner,' she thought, her eyes turning towards her door. It was closed, but not locked. 'I'm sure they came in at some point; they've worried about me so much recently. But I'm glad that they decided to leave me alone.' She smiled to herself. 'They're so good to me,' she thought gratefully. Her stomach grumbled again, causing her to grimace. She patted her abdomen delicately, trying to shush her pangs of hunger.

Akane pulled out some clothes and a towel, then left her room and walked down to the bath. Not seeing a sign on the door, she entered the change room and stripped. Balancing a washcloth on her head, she stepped into the bathroom and sat on a stool. She scrubbed herself languidly, luxuriating in the feel of the soft brush on her skin as she cleansed herself. Her breath left her lungs in a rush as she dumped a bucket of water on her head, rinsing off the soap and dropping her body temperature.

Shivering, she grasped her washcloth tightly as she submerged herself in the bath. "Ahhhhhh!" she sighed, her body loosening up as it soaked in the hot water. "That feels soooo gooood," Akane moaned as she flexed her toes, stretching her legs to the full length of the tub.

'I can't remember when I've felt this good,' she thought with a grin. 'It's been so long since I've enjoyed myself that I'd forgotten what it was like.' It was a bit of an exaggeration, she knew, but she couldn't deny the effect Kuno's choke-hold affections had on her.

At that, she felt herself begin to slip towards depression again. Vivid memories catapulted her mind into the past. Scenes of her as an apprehensive girl morphed into that of a young woman torn between feelings of love and despair. 'How could I have let myself get so far gone in eight months?' she asked herself. Alas, no-one answered.

'Who knows what would've happened if Ranma hadn't come along when he did?' Akane wondered. She shuddered at the thought of enduring more time under Kuno's control, and what she would've done for him, or more to the point, would've been told to do. 'Easy girl,' she cautioned herself. 'It's over now. If nothing else, Kuno's a man of his word. If he promised, in public, to give me up, then that's what he's going to do. No need to worry about things that aren't going to happen. It's over and done with!'

She closed her eyes, and submerged herself deeper into the water, bringing it to her chin. 'Ranma Saotome,' she mused. Akane'd recalled him vaguely from before; having seen him hanging around with his Anime-club friends at the far corner of the school lot during lunch. Aside from that, she couldn't recall anything about him. 'I didn't even know that we were in the same classroom until three weeks ago.' She shrugged dismissively. During that time, she'd been so involved in handling her tumultuous life that she hadn't even noticed anyone else in the class but her closest friends.

'I guess I was wrong about him,' she thought. 'When he challenged Kuno that day, I hoped Ranma would win.' A sigh escaped her lips. 'But after seeing how easily Kuno had beaten him, I assumed that the whole thing had been staged to keep me in line. I didn't trust Ranma after that.' She shook her head. 'I should've realized that he was for real. The way he was looking at me in class after that fight was a dead giveaway.'

'I ignored what was right in front of me, instead of putting it all together that day. In fact, I think he's been after me for a while,' Akane concluded. "Well, he's certainly proven that now, hasn't he?" she asked herself aloud.

'But why did he do all of this for me? He challenged Kuno, twice, on my behalf.' A vision of Ranma during the fight came to her, with his toned, muscular body putting out more damage than he seemed capable of producing. That scene was then replaced with one of his confident, smiling face. His blue eyes gazed right into the very depths of her soul, and she quickly forgot her unanswered questions.

A little fantasy began teasing her along the edges of her mind. She and Ranma, together. A small, involuntary shiver coursed through her at the mere thought of that. Akane urged the fantasy to begin, eager to see how it played out. She met with frustration, however, when her daydream ground to a halt before it could get anywhere.

The reason why was soon evident.

Regardless of how much Akane liked Ranma, of how attracted she felt towards him, she was still too shaken by the months of engagement to Kuno to appreciate and pursue her feelings of longing. That both angered and saddened her at the same time. Also, that little tart Kinuko Amagi had decided to add to Akane's sorrow by clinging to Ranma like she owned him.

She grit her teeth, frustrated by her enemies and her tangled emotions. Not paying attention to what she was doing, Akane pulled her washcloth in half. The fabric tore in two ragged pieces with a very loud ripping sound.

Her eyes snapped open, and she sat up quickly in the bath. Akane groaned in disbelief as she looked down into the water and saw the damaged washcloth that was still clenched tightly in her hands. Her head whipped up a moment later as a taunting voice broke the tense silence.

"Hey, Akane. If you wanted to be left alone, you should've put the sign out on the door," Nabiki quipped from her seat. "You don't have to get angry about it."

Akane flushed and avoided her sister's gaze, embarrassed that she had not heard her older sister walk in. 'I must be out of practice if I could be caught off guard so easily.' She could see, though, that Nabiki had just gotten in and was only now starting to bathe.

"Sorry, Nabiki. I was just thinking, is all. That wasn't directed at you..." Akane began.

Nabiki smiled to her younger sister and held up her hand. "Hey, it's okay, Sis. After what you went through yesterday, you're allowed a little insanity." She smirked, then gasped as she dumped a bucket of cold water over herself, rinsing off the soap suds. Nabiki stood and walked to the bath, her whole body trembling with the cold. Akane noticed this and got up, stepping out just as her sister got to her.

"Hey, Akane. You don't have to leave," Nabiki fairly shouted, a concerned pleading leaking into her voice despite her best effort at neutrality. "That is, if you don't want to," she added, placing a hand on her sister's shoulder.

Akane stood motionless for a moment, not fooled by her sister's outer calm. 'She's obviously concerned with me. I've never seen her so... attentive before,' she thought, looking into her sister's eyes. "Thanks anyway, Nabiki. I'll be okay," Akane said as she pulled her sister to her, wrapping her arms tightly around her.

A very flustered Nabiki found herself speechless at Akane's open affection. Very hesitantly, she reciprocated, wrapping her arms around her sister. "We're all worried about you, Akane," Nabiki said with uncharacteristic emotion. Her hold on her younger sister tightened. "You sure you'll be okay?" she looked into Akane's brown-eyes with her own, and could see how much torment lurked within.

Akane kissed her sister on the cheek and stepped out of the embrace. "Yes, Nabiki. I'll be just fine. But I'm glad you're worried about me; you and Kasumi are the main reasons that I've not gone insane, and I appreciate what both of you have done for me." She walked towards the door of the changing room. "You'd better get in the bath before it gets too warm for you," Akane warned, winking to her sister before she closed the door behind her.

Nabiki took Akane's words under advisement and stepped into the bath, wincing slightly as the overly hot water scorched her legs and bare bottom. She eased herself into the water, only gasping again when the hot water hit her breasts. Left alone in the bathroom, Nabiki became motionless in the bath, remaining that way until the water became comfortable.

As she held her place in the tub, Nabiki's face was devoid of expression. Her body and mind, however, were in complete turmoil. 'What's gotten into me? I've never acted like that before!' she demanded of her self with a fair amount of alarm. 'I'll admit that I've worried about Sis for awhile, but I've never felt such a deep level of concern for her as I did just then.' Nabiki scowled when she couldn't figure it out. 'Also, I've not been that close to Akane before... not that I *didn't* want to be that close,' she hastily amended. 'It's just ... I don't know what to make of what Akane did just then...'

'I admit that I love her... the kind of love that only one sister could give to another,' she quickly amended. But Nabiki had felt something else during their exchange. Something that stirred an undercurrent of worry within her. 'Akane's hug had been a little *too* friendly,' Nabiki thought. She brought a hand to her cheek, remembering the kiss her sister had planted there. A shocking realization set in as she put it all together, her cheeks flushing horribly. 'Oh no! Akane's flipped! She has to have! Why else would she have been so affectionate towards *me* just then?' Too stunned to say it, she forced herself to think her next question. 'Could it be that she's losing interest in boys?'

Nabiki was too stunned to conceal her reaction. She'd always figured that Akane's sexual preferences had been undecided in the past. 'Perhaps Kuno's bad influence has turned Akane towards... girls?!' She shivered, despite the warmth of her bath, and hoped that she was wrong about her sister. Horribly wrong.

Also, long-seated questions and doubts about herself began percolating in her mind. Nabiki found herself hoping that her own reaction to Akane's intimate contact wasn't what she thought it was. 'That would likewise be wrong,' she thought to herself adamantly. 'Horribly wrong...'

****


Akane closed the door to the change room behind her, a smile on her face. 'That was very sweet of Nabiki to be so worried about me,' she thought, her faith in her sisters' concern being confirmed once more.

Akane dried herself off in the change room, then dropped the towel in the clothes hamper. She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror as she reached for her panties. She dropped her arms to her sides and eyed herself critically. "Not bad," she admitted aloud, posing with her hands on her hips, her eyes traveling up and down her nude reflection. Close to eight months without training had allowed Akane's body to soften a bit.

She wasn't fat by any stretch of the imagination, but she had definitely grown some feminine curves during that time. Akane's body was less angular than when she was in training. It was more sinuous, more curvaceous; sexier.
Case and point: Her hipbones, which used to poke out rather severely, had almost completely disappeared beneath a soft cushion of fat. She frowned as she pinched the skin covering her hips and raised a slight bit of the fat in-between her fingers.

'While having a body like this *is* rather attractive...' she began, thrusting her hip out towards the mirror slightly. She held her pose for a moment, staring hard at herself. Then she blew her breath out in exasperation. 'Whom am I kidding? I'm horribly out of shape,' she scolded herself, returning her arm to her side and straightening her posture again.

Akane didn't deny the benefits of her outward appearance, though. Due to the lack of exercise, her breasts had been allowed to grow along with her hips. She was the same cup-size as Nabiki, and quite proud of it. She smirked evilly as she pushed her shoulders in, accentuating her cleavage. 'That little hussy Kinuko isn't the only one with a great body! I have just as much to offer Ranma-' She flushed at that, then quickly amended, '-or any other guy, as she does!'

The thought of getting back in shape made her pause. 'I'd sure hate to lose these,' she thought with a slight pout, cupping her breasts loosely with her hands, feeling the heft of them as they rested in her palms. Then she laughed at the idea, doubting that she could exercise them completely away, even if she was inclined to try. She was willing to lose a cup size (if that much) as long as it meant regaining her prowess as a martial artist.

That was a goal that she had etched firmly in her mind. Kuno's stern interference had forced her to abandon her pursuit of knowledge in Kenpo. Now that she was free of him, she intended to resume training. She wasn't sure how to go about that, though. She hadn't told her father about the breakup yet, and wasn't sure how he'd take it. Besides that, she and he weren't exactly on the best of terms at the moment. 'After all, it was his fault that the engagement not only occurred, but that it was allowed to drag on for as long as it did,' she seethed.

Akane was quite sure that she'd have to go elsewhere, for the moment at least, to train in Kenpo. 'Where can I go?" she asked herself, although she knew that she didn't have the slightest clue. She couldn't think of anyone at the moment who would be able to help out, so she let the question drop for now. 'I can at least do some basic stuff by myself in the dojo until I find someone to train me,' Akane thought finally as she slipped her shirt and panties on and walked out of the change room.

'Maybe I should work out sometime today. That might make me feel better,' she admitted. 'Besides, I haven't been inside the dojo since... since that *stupid* engagement ceremony that daddy put me through in there.' Akane scowled at the memory, realizing that if she was to ever exorcise the demons of her past, she would have to start with the place where it all began. With that in mind, she rushed to her room and changed into her gi.

****


Ranma brushed a damp strand of hair out of his eyes. His breathing was ragged, and his arms were extremely sore. Despite the two weeks of highly intensive training he'd done with his sister, he was still out of shape. There was no one on the planet better suited to illustrate this point to him than his father. Genma faced him, his gi sagging against his sweaty body and his stance wavering slightly. Both men were fairly close to collapse.

"Not too bad, for a beginner, boy!" he taunted between gulps of air, smirking all the while.

"Just be glad there isn't a koi pond nearby, old man. Otherwise I might've been forced to give you a bath. You stink!" came the retort. Ranma grinned also, making an exaggerated motion of pinching his nose.

"You want to clean me up, eh? Well stop talking and start moving! Come here and get some!" he shouted, motioning towards his torso with both hands. Genma tightened his posture up, drawing on his reserves as he awaited Ranma's move.

Ranma smiled as an evil idea came to him. Spotting a pail of water and a mop sitting just outside the door to the training hall, he positioned himself for his next attack. "Don't get too cocky, old man," Ranma added as he surreptitiously began untying his belt and wadding it up in his hand. Then, with his hands by his sides, he leaped towards his father. "Watch out!" he shouted quickly at his father.

Genma charged as his son yelled, and extended his arms outward to try to grab Ranma before he could bring his legs to bear against him. He looked positively stunned the next moment when his son landed right in front of him, scant inches from his face. Then Ranma threw something to the floor, and vaulted to his right just before his father could reach him.

Genma tracked the object Ranma had thrown, and once he realized that it was the belt from Ranma's gi, he knew he was being tricked. He quickly turned in the direction his son had jumped, but he was nowhere to be seen. Genma yelled out in shock a moment later as stinging-cold rainwater splashed down from overhead.

Ranma landed away from his father, nearly doubled over in laughter, the empty pail rattling as it clanged to the floor behind him. "You should ... you.... you should see... HAHAHAHAHAHA!" He had to bend over to catch his breath, his lungs threatening to burst from the heavy breaths he was taking. "Oh geez! It looks like I cleaned more than your clock, old man! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Genma kept a smile from crawling onto his face, merely wiping the water from his face and forehead instead. He didn't want to concede the fight quite so quickly, although he was impressed that his son had progressed so far in so little time. 'Perhaps that little hentai was good for something, after all. Look at what he's done for Ranma,' Genma mused, feeling a somewhat-misplaced bit of gratitude for Happosai's intervention. He let the laughter go on for a little while longer before he finally allowed himself to smile, nastily, as he saw an opening in Ranma's defense big enough to fly a stealth bomber through.

Ranma's breath left him in a sudden 'WHOOSH!' as his father nailed him from the side with a flying tackle that looked more like it was from American pro-wrestling. Too winded from his laughing bouts, Ranma was in no condition to pry his father's dense bulk off of him. He slapped the mats with his palms, conceding his defeat. Genma stood up, and held his hand out to his son. Ranma warily accepted the offered hand, not sure that his father was finished.

"That was a good stunt you pulled, son," Nodoka said from the doorway, surprising both men and quelling any further activity. "But you shouldn't have let your guard down like that," she teased mildly. She walked over to her husband, mindful of the puddles spread about on the mats. "Looks like you're all wet, dear," she chided, patting Genma's wet chest with her hand. He chuckled good-naturedly as he wrapped his damp arms around his loving wife.

Ranma groaned, and rushed to get the mop. He wasn't too comfortable with seeing his parents being so publicly affectionate, much less being together on a permanent basis. Months of terrifying conditioning can be tough to overcome. He politely waited out of view until they finished their kiss before he walked back into the training hall with mop in hand.

"Thank you, dear," Nodoka said cheerfully as she took the mop from his hands. "You two need to get inside. Breakfast is ready and Ranko's already at the table-" She broke off suddenly as she was buffeted by a strong wind that indicated Ranma and Genma's hasty departure. She shook her head slowly in disbelief, watching the eating dynamos as they fought to see who would get through the door of the house first. She dried up the mats of the training hall and put the mop away, taking her time before getting back into the house. 'If they'd waited five more seconds, then they would've known that I hadn't *served* breakfast yet.'

She giggled to herself, knowing the dour looks she'd be getting from both of them once she finally got inside.

****


Akane's long hair, now secured by a sequence of yellow bows, was swept behind her as she marched up to the door of the dojo. It was still fairly early in the morning, and everyone else was still getting ready for the day. So she had a little time to herself, and intended to put it to good use. 'Perfect,' she thought with gusto, relishing a warm-up. She rubbed her hands together in anticipation of her workout, and reached for the door handle.

As her fingers touched the smooth wood of the doorframe, intense flashbacks overwhelmed her. She froze in place, her hand outstretched and still barely touching the door handle. Ghosts of the past taunted her, making her shrink away from the building's doorway. Akane couldn't control her reaction, despite her best efforts. 'Why can't I?!' she fumed bitterly.

Tears coursed down her cheeks, betraying the tangle of emotions burdening her mind. 'If I can't do this, I won't be able to do anything anymore!' she despaired. 'I *have* to do this!' she vowed, steeling herself.

Gripping the handle firmly, she yanked to the side and slid the door open. Her eyes widened in shock when the handle of the door snapped off in her hand. She hissed as she heard the door travel off of its runners and continue to slide across the dojo until it impacted with the adjacent wall on the far end of the building.

Akane jumped slightly when the door slapped hard against the floor mats of the dojo. She reluctantly poked her head through the doorway and looked to where she heard the door fall. To her shock, she saw it lying in the corner of the dojo in three jagged pieces. 'Daddy's not going to like this,' she thought in agitation. Akane was *quite* sure that she didn't want to be the one to tell him about this, but decided that worrying about that could wait until she'd completed her workout.

'Well, at least I'm inside, now. Might as well... practice?' Akane stopped her thoughts in their tracks. Swinging herself around in a slow arc, she took in the whole interior of the dojo. She could only stare, slack-jawed, at the devastation set out before her. "Dear God! What happened in here?!" she whispered to herself.

Roof joists were cracked, or in some cases, missing altogether. There were fist-sized holes in the floor. Also, shoe prints were all over the walls. "Looks like a brawl took place in here," she said to herself in awe.

Akane eyed the devastation closely, and could tell that it had happened recently. The breaks in the wood were fresh, and rain had not been able to damage anything. "Must've been within the last couple of days," she surmised.

There was no sign of dust or debris, which lead Akane to believe that her father had cleaned up some of the mess right after the fight. 'I don't know who could have caused such damage to this place, but she, or he, was good. It even seems that she, or he, was able to hold their own against my daddy,' she concluded. 'I'd really like to meet this person,' she added with a smirk.

She shrugged her shoulders, and walked back to the dojo's doorway. 'It's too dangerous to practice in here for now. I guess my return to training will have to wait until this place is safe to work out in. That, or until I find another place to go for my workouts.' With that, she turned her back on the dojo. 'At least daddy won't mind the door being in pieces,' she thought with a laugh. 'With everything else that's broken in there, it's probably the least of his concerns.'

The floorboards creaked ominously under her feet as she made her way out. 'I wonder when he's going to fix up the place,' she asked herself as she returned to the safety of the house. Untying the belt to her gi, Akane slowly made her way upstairs. Once in her room, she stripped and donned her shorts and shirt again. She hung her gi on her door hook as a reminder that training was postponed, not abandoned. She vowed that she would return to that dojo soon.

Feeling a little better about herself for conquering the 'Dark Spirit of the dojo,' she tied an apron on and dashed into the hallway. 'I think I'll cook breakfast for the family. Kasumi deserves a break after what she did for me yesterday.' Akane skipped across the hallway and down the stairs to the kitchen, a mischievous glint in her eye.

****


True to form, Ranma and Genma were both fit to be tied by the time Nodoka made it through the back door of the house. Neither she nor Ranko could contain their laughter, which threatened to escalate as both men glared at them in return.

"Honey, we're hungry. And we're also on a tight schedule, *remember?*" Genma warned.

Nodoka looked at the nearby wall clock and tsk tsked at her husband. "Darling, we have over an hour before we have to be there! Goodness, you are so impatient sometimes!" she chided softly.

"That may be so, but did you have to take so long to get back into the house, *dear?*" he pressed. Nodoka giggled as she walked past them and into the kitchen. "And was it *really* necessary to stop by the flower bed and smell *every* flower, Nodoka?" he yelled at her departing form. Full-blown laughter erupted from the kitchen, accompanied by the sounds of dishes clattering.

A few moments later she reappeared. "Now now, Genma. You can calm down. Here's the food," she said, two small trays of food balanced precariously on her arms. She jumped out of harm's way the moment one of them had been set on the table as Ranma and Genma leaped onto it, inhaling the food before Ranko could get her share.

'Fortunately,' Nodoka thought to herself, hiding a knowing smirk, 'I kept enough food away for both myself and Ranko.' Two minutes later both men came up for air with rather messy faces.

"Ahhh, that was good!" Genma declared as he patted his stomach. He pulled Soun's list out of his pocket, and stood up.

"Genma, we just sat down to breakfast. Where do you think you're going?" Nodoka asked sternly.

"Honey, you've forgotten that I have to pick up some parts and come back here *before* we leave for Soun's." Nodoka's eyes widened slightly. She had indeed forgotten about that. "Ranma, you'd better get a bath before I get back. I'll have to take one before we leave. Best that we not be late, right?"

Ranma stood from the table, agreeing with his father. "Right, Pop. I'd better get on it, then," he said as he sprinted for his room.

Genma bent down and brought his arm around his wife's slim waist, brushing her ear with his lips. "I love you," he whispered, meeting her lips with his as she turned to kiss him.

"I love you too, panda-bear," Nodoka replied affectionately, clasping his hand with hers. They reluctantly withdrew as she glanced at the clock again. "You'd better hurry, honey. You're going to have rush if you're going to take a bath as well," she said, adding a wink at the end of her statement.

"I'll be back soon," he said enthusiastically, mussing Ranko's hair as he walked to the front door and left the house.

As the door closed, Ranko turned to her mother. "I hope I'll find someone that I can have fun with, Mom. You know, like the way you and Pop get along. I like that."

Nodoka clasped her hand to her heart with a satisfied smile on her face.

****


Kasumi walked towards the kitchen, her pace growing urgent as she could make out faint sounds of dishes clattering together. She stifled a yawn as she rounded the corner and stepped into the kitchen. She plastered a smile on her face as she saw Akane hammering away at something on the cutting board. She buried her growing dread as she made eye contact with her youngest sister. "Well, good-morning, bright-eyes!" she said as she walked over to stand beside Akane.

A smile radiated from Akane's face. "Ah! I see you're awake now, Kasumi. Wanna help?" she asked, indicating the rows of bowls, cooking implements, and ingredients on the counter.

Kasumi shuddered at the idea of her sister once again trashing her kitchen and wasting food. Her smile weakened slightly as she looked down at Akane. "Well, to answer your first part, I was up before both you and Nabiki were. I just decided to stay in my room after I dressed and read a bit. You feel like that sometimes, Akane?"

Akane turned to face the cutting board before Kasumi could see her pained reaction. "Yeah, on occasion," she evaded, saying nothing about what she went through earlier this morning. "Anyway, I was trying out a new style of cooking and was wondering if you'd like to join in."

Saying that, Akane recovered some of her bounce, eager to get Kasumi involved. This time, she was sure that she'd win over her family with her cooking, and wanted to impress her oldest sister first with her skills. Kasumi's opinion meant the most to her.

Acquiescing to the inevitable, Kasumi donned her apron and stared hard at what her sister had put together. It looked like some sort of dough- or egg-based dish. She couldn't tell for sure... Akane had fried up a bit of it in the wok and placed it on a small plate for her inspection.

"Try it, Sis!" Akane enthused, holding the plate and a pair of chopsticks out to her older sister.

Taking chopsticks in hand, Kasumi scooped up some of the mixture as best as she could, and brought them to her lips. She quickly opened her mouth and popped in the morsel. Her eyes bulged, as she tasted Akane's latest work. "MY GOODNESS!" she shouted after forcing the concoction down.

Then she fainted.

****


"Hey, Ranma! You decent?" Ranko's voice chirped from the hallway

He smirked at the sound of Ranko's voice, and avoided the obvious answer. "Yes," he responded instead.

"Can I come in?"

"Sure, the door's open," he said before sitting on the edge of his bed.

The door to his room slid open, and Ranko hobbled in. She was clad in her usual Chinese outfit, although she had her hair out of its braid. Her raven locks cascaded down her back and shoulders, framing her face strikingly and making her look a *lot* more mature than her actual age. Ranma shoved down his astonishment at how beautiful she was with her hair down, and patted the bed with his hand, inviting her to sit down beside him. He could just hear her swearing under her breath as she walked towards him.

"Everything okay, Sis?" he asked her concernedly.

"Yeah, kinda," she groused as she plopped down to his right on the bed. "I'm just fed up with this ankle crap, is all." She looked at him, and he could see tears of frustration shimmering in her baby blues. "I've always had a problem with getting injured, Ranma. I don't like the fact that I'm gonna have to keep away from training for almost two weeks."

"Two weeks?" Ranma whistled in mild surprise.

"Yeah. Dr. Tofu had that written down on the list, and Mom's doing everything she can to make sure that I live up to it." She punched his mattress in frustration with her left fist, and barely missed striking Ranma's thigh. She grinned nervously when she realized how close she'd come to hitting him. "Oops! Sorry 'bout that."

He smirked back at her, and placed his arm around her shoulders. She gratefully accepted his affection, and leaned into him. "It's no big deal, Ranko," he said comfortingly. "I guess I'd feel the same way if I wasn't allowed to do what I wanted for two weeks." He squeezed her shoulder tenderly. "But think about it this way. Now you have Mom, Pop, and me to wait on you hand and foot." He looked down at her injured ankle. "No pun intended."

Ranko smiled nastily at her brother, and poked him gently in the ribs. "A slave all to myself, eh? Lemme see... What can I do with you?" she asked rhetorically, enjoying the look of mild worry that was etching itself across his face. She held up her index finger. "First, you'll have to carry me in your arms everywhere you go." Another finger went up. "Secondly, you'll have to buy me ice cream sundaes whenever I want them. With your money of course," she amended greedily.

Ranma started to sweat as Ranko rattled of a growing list of demands and expectations for him and his parents. He turned green when she mentioned number fifty-seven; him having to hand wash her undies. "And, you have to ..." she broke off into giggles. "Ranma, I'm just *kidding!* She playfully socked him in the arm.

Ranma's rather loud exhalation let her know that he'd believed her, for the most part at least. "Thank goodness," he mumbled under his breath. The idea of handling her dirty underwear had brought to mind images of that little sex-starved lecher, Happosai. He didn't like thinking of himself in that light.

His discomfort didn't go unnoticed by his younger sister. "What's wrong, big brother?" she asked him cheekily. "Are you uncomfortable around girl's underwear?" Ranko winked at him and seductively pulled one of her sleeves down, baring both her shoulder and her ivory bra strap. Pulling a little more caused the top two buttons of her shirt to give way, revealing a hint of her cleavage and the top of her left breast down to the cup.

Ranma recoiled slightly, both startled and angered by Ranko's sudden, and dangerously effective seduction. "Now cut that out!" he protested weakly, sweat forming on his brow.

Ranko flopped back on his bed, howling with laughter. "Geez, you're such an easy target!" she crowed. She crossed her arms across her chest in a fit of giggles, pressing her breasts together and unintentionally accentuating her bust-line. Ranma could feel his temperature rise as he got a long eyeful of his sister's barely-covered breasts. He fought like mad to keep himself from looking too uncomfortable, but failed miserably.

"You're definitely gonna have to loosen up!" she mock-chided, unaware of his internal struggle. "You, the other you that is, had never gotten this uptight over seeing a little skin. Especially mine!" She wagged her finger at him. "Other guys your age would've taken a free peek without any hesitation." Ranko frowned. "There's nothing *wrong* with them, is there?"

Ranma snapped his gaze back to her at that. "No! Not at all! It's just that ... that I get really uncomfortable when you do that," he admitted.

Ranko turned on her side, shirt still partly unbuttoned, and gave him a wicked smirk. "Do what?" she asked in a low voice, winking slyly and dipping her shoulders forward for maximum effect.

"THAT!" he shouted in frustration, again ripping his gaze from her partially-covered chest before things got out of hand. Or rather, 'in hand.' Ranma stood up from his bed and walked to a neutral corner. He flushed angrily as Ranko laughed behind his back. "Are you finished yet?" he growled.

Ranko's good humor vanished instantly. "Yeah," she replied in a small voice, sitting up and straightening out her shirt. "You can turn around now," she told him as she fastened the top button.

Ranma rotated on the balls of his feet to face her again, and lost some of his bottled-up tension. He looked at her sternly when he could finally speak. "Please don't do that again," he commanded.

"Why?" she asked in all earnestness. "I was only having fun! It was nothing serious, Ranma." She showed him a hurt look. "Like I said, I used to do this with you ... I mean, my brother all the time. I just figured you wouldn't mind." She let her disappointment show as she gazed sidelong out of Ranma's bedroom window.

'I can be such a sucker sometimes!' he told himself as he walked back to his bed. He knelt down in front of his sister and took her hands in his. "I'm sorry I'm not the same brother you remember. But after everything I've told you, you should know that there are things about me that're different from him."

Ranko forced herself to acknowledge that. Teasing her older brother had been one of her favorite things to do. There weren't many other pleasures in her life that were quite so satisfying. With Ranma's current reaction to her busty behavior, she was beginning to feel a sense of loss. Although she'd swallow poison before admitting it, she had actually found herself missing her 'original' older brother. Not much, but just a little bit.

Ranma looked into his sister's deep blue eyes, and saw how troubled she'd become. "Don't go gettin' all upset with me, Ranko. I know all of this stuff concerning me is still a little crazy and all, but ... " He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know what to do. We've been over some of this already. I told you that I loved finally having a sister. It's been real fun, you know?"

Ranko smiled as Ranma continued to stumble through his apology. 'In some ways, they're not so different, after all.' She giggled when she looked down and saw his sheepish face. "You can stop now, Ranma," she remarked dryly.

He stopped himself in mid-sentence, but never looked away from her eyes. "You okay, Sis?"

She stood from the bed on her good leg, and tugged Ranma to his feet. Once he was up, she held herself tightly to him. "Yeah, I'm fine," she said with a sigh.

Recalling the dream from last night, and the kiss they'd shared before that; Ranma felt himself want to push away from her a bit. Ranko could feel his reluctance as she held onto him, but never relinquished her hold on him. "What is it now?" she asked.

"Well, Ranko. It's a little bit ... different for me than it is for you, understand?"

"No. What's different?"

"Well, you 'n me."

"Of course we're different, Ranma. I think I just finished illustrating that point with my shirt," she quipped.

"Not that!" he spat. "I'm talkin' about ... us. I mean-" He paused to consider how he wanted to say it. 'How do I tell her how I feel?' he asked himself, mulling over the possibilities. "I don't think of you the way you do about me," was what he finally said.

Ranko broke her hold on him and looked up at his eyes, trying to read his expression. "I don't quite follow-"

"What I'm trying to say is that when you flashed me just then, I ... I thought you were..."

"What?" she pushed, eager for him to reach a conclusion. "Thought I was what, Ranma?"

"I thought- I thought you were sexy, okay?!" he shouted, somewhat defensively.

Ranko sat, numbed, on the edge of Ranma's bed. 'He called me sexy! No-one's ever said that to me before in my life!' Despite the awkwardness of the situation, she couldn't help but feel some sense of pride. "Thank you," she replied softly.

"Ranko, I don't think that 'Thank you' was the response I was expecting," Ranma deadpanned. "I was expecting something more along the lines of 'Ewww, Hentai!' or 'Shut up, Ranma!' or 'Who are you calling, *sexy?*'"

"Geez, big brother, you've got a really funny way of dealing with girls," Ranko retorted. "Why would I turn away a perfectly good compliment like that for? Girls like that sort of stuff, although probably not phrased quite the way you said it."

Flustered, Ranma pushed on. "I mean, we're related! I shouldn't be thinking stuff like that about you."

"Why not?" she interrupted. "I think you're pretty good looking yourself, for a brother." She winked playfully at him, completely scandalizing Ranma.

"Ranko!" he hissed. "Stop that! This is part of what I'm talking about. When you do that, I don't think of you as my sister." Ranko's eyes narrowed slightly. Ranma saw her reaction, and pressed on. "That's right. Whenever you show yourself or tease me, I get..." He trailed off into silence, not wanting to say it.

"Get what, Ranma?" 'Geez, this is as frustrating as trying to get a response out of a mute!' she thought in frustration. "Angry? Upset? WHAT?!" she pried.

"Excited," he mumbled shamefacedly. "I - I think about doing... doing it with you, sometimes, when you show off like that."

Her eyes nearly fell out of their sockets as comprehension finally dawned. Here it was, staring her right in the face. Her brother was having some of the same feelings about her that she'd recently had about him. In some ways, it bothered her to hear it. In other ways, however, it comforted her, especially in the sense that she now knew that she wasn't suffering from this sort of desire alone.

He continued. "I've never really felt this way about girls before. I mean, I've always thought that girls were pretty and stuff, but whenever I'd start to think about girls *that* way, I'd wind up getting clobbered by Akane, Shampoo, or someone else. So I never really thought much about girls and sex. Most of the time, it was simply because I wanted to avoid getting beaten up." Ranma walked back to his bed and sat down next to his sister. "On the other hand , I'd get hit even when I wasn't thinking about sex."

Ranko laughed at that and put her hand on his shoulder. It went unacknowledged.

"Anyway, I'm getting away from the subject. What this boils down to is this. I'm afraid that if you keep doing that, I'm gonna... that is, we're gonna... you know..." Flummoxed, Ranma quit talking and just sat there, squirming.

Ranko stared down at her hands, which she was wringing rather tightly to help control her emotions. She wasn't sure of how to respond to what he'd just said.

"The strangest part of all of this," Ranma continued, "is that you're the first girl I've ever said 'I love you' to. Don't get me wrong, Ranko. I meant it when I said it then, and I still feel the same way about you now. But it's not the same as if I'd said it to Akane or some other girl."

"I realize that, Ranma. It sounds like you're having a hard time accepting it, though." She played her hand across his back sympathetically, unaware of the effect the caress was having on him. "You're my brother, for the most part. I don't see us going out and getting married and having kids and stuff like that, but that doesn't mean that we can't be close, does it?"

Ranma shrugged his shoulders uncertainly. "I don't know, Ranko. Sometimes it seems like we're too close. Like that kiss last night." She flushed under a full-powered hormonal kick as thoughts of that lingering kiss blazed in her mind. Ranma continued in his haunted tone. "We should have kissed like family. Instead, we kissed like lovers kiss... and I enjoyed it."

"So did I," Ranko chimed in, her fingertips absently grazing her lower lip.

"But that's just it," he railed, "we *shouldn't* have enjoyed it that much! And I'm not sure what would've happened if it had gone on any longer than it had," he proclaimed unsurely. 'Yes I do,' he added to himself, his lustful drive urging him to admit it to her. "I just think that we need to tone it down a little, before things get out of control. Understand?"

"Yeah," Ranko responded. She agreed with what he was saying, after some consideration. Although a small part of her was still curious about making love with him; her mind sifting through the 'what if' section of her imagination. She understood the importance of not letting things get beyond their bounds, though. As a result, her hand ceased its gentle searching of Ranma's back and dropped to her side.

In all honesty, she didn't see the teasing and light affection as anything more than normal. Sisters tease their brothers all the time. With the exception of the kiss they'd shared last night, she'd never done anything deliberately to lead him on. 'And anyway, I wasn't really in a sane frame of mind when I kissed him. Odd what effect drugs can have on the mind sometimes,' she thought to herself. Ranko was willing, however, to put a stop to some of her antics if it would help matters any.

"I'm sorry I flashed my tits at you, Ranma," she said with a little disappointment. 'I'm gonna miss doing that to him. The look on his face was priceless!' She laughed, but only to herself. "I won't do it again. I promise." She crossed her breast with a finger.

"Thank you, Ranko," he said earnestly. His spirits improved at that, and a smile creased his face. "Now I don't have to worry about having a nervous breakdown."

They both laughed gently at that. She then slid next to him and put her hand to his face. Turning his head to face hers, she gave him a quick kiss on the lips, then embraced him warmly. "That doesn't mean that I won't stop showing you every now and again that I still care about you, big brother," she mock-chided in a whisper.

This time, knowing it was safe, Ranma held onto her tightly. "Same goes for me... pip-squeak."

Ranko growled somewhat and pulled away from him. "Watch it, mister!" she warned, although he knew there was no seriousness in her tone. "I don't let too many people call me that and live."

Ranma made a show of acting scared. "Oh, Mistress! Please don't hurt me!" he pleaded, almost failing twice in containing his laughter.

"That's better," she acknowledged. "Now that we've reached an understanding there, I want to get back to the reason I came in here."

"Oh yeah? And what's that?" Ranma asked.

"What the hell happened to you last night? You kicked me out of bed for no real reason, then clammed up about it. Also, you looked REALLY scared when you left my room."

Ranma's face fell, and his good humor evaporated completely. "Yeah, well, that was just a nightmare," he evaded.

"Was it about Kinuko?" she chanced. Ranma winced, answering her question. A mixture of guilt and sadness crept into her heart. "I know I should've told you sooner, and I apologize again for that-"

Ranma waved her apology off with a sharp swipe of his arm. "It has nothing to do with you, Ranko. You don't need to apologize for anything you did. You had your reasons, and I happen to agree with them. None of that has anything to do with how I deal with what I'm up against, though." He hung his head. "If she's really preg-" His eyes quickly darted to his bedroom door, which remained closed and silent for the moment. Then he resumed in a lower voice. "If she's really pregnant, then I've got a bunch of crap to deal with. My life's gonna be wrecked!"

Ranko could feel him begin to get worked up, and hugged herself to him again to try and allay some of his fears. "Ranma, stop worrying about it, okay?" She looked him in the eye and spoke earnestly. "If there's a problem, then we," she poked herself and him in the chest, "you and I, will deal with it then. We haven't even found out whether or not all of this stuff about her is true."

Ranma nodded his head in agreement, although his brow was still feverish with worry. "But-" he began.

"No 'buts!' Stop worrying about it! You have a much bigger thing to think about today," she reminded him smoothly.

"The dojo," he answered simply. A short pause ensued, punctuated only by Ranma's measured breathing.

She could feel him calming a bit, although Ranko thought he still seemed a little panicky. She continued speaking, her tone getting softer as she went. "That's right, we're going to make everything right with the Tendos today. You'll get a chance to talk to Akane, and I'll finally meet her family in person." Her own mood lightened a bit. "Come to think of it, I wouldn't mind seeing Akane again, myself. She seemed kinda neat." Ranko smiled to herself, thinking that she might have found a new friend in the young Tendo girl.

Ranma liked the idea of his sister and Akane getting along. Then that thought reminded him of what happened to Akane just before he'd left for home, and his good humor fled once more. "Yeah, but there's the small problem of what Kinuko did to Akane out in front of everybody after school yesterday. Remember?"

Ranko snapped her fingers in irritation. She'd almost forgotten what that little fool had done in the school-yard yesterday. "Yeesh! That does present a problem. And as I recall, I tried to ask you last night how you were going to handle this with Akane. You never answered the question."

"That's because I have no answer for it!" Ranma snapped defensively. "This Akane is a complete mystery. I don't know how she'll react when I tell her that I don't give a damn about Kinuko. The other Akane would've called me a pervert and a liar. Now..." he held his hands up in a gesture of helplessness as he shook his head.

"Now you're going to tell her what you just told me," Ranko offered. "If she cares enough about you, she might decide to trust you, Ranma. After all, she seems like the kind of person who'd listen."

Ranma wavered slightly. "I don't know-" He broke off at the sound of his mother's voice from the hallway.

"Ranma! Is Ranko up there with you?" Nodoka shouted from downstairs.

"Yes!" both chimed at the same time.

"Good! Both of you need to come down now. Your father's back from the store, and he's ready to leave."

"Well, this is it," Ranko added as she stood, hobbling, from the bed.

Ranma nodded to her and stood by her side. He felt his stomach tighten in nervous anticipation as he guided Ranko out of the room. The time for waiting was over.

****


Akane was out of her mind with grief. She'd just killed her oldest sister with one of her newest attempts at cooking. She looked at the stilled body of what used to be Kasumi as it lay at her feet. Akane was mired in absolute misery.

'At least she didn't seem suffer long,' she thought with a touch of pity. She reached out tentatively, her hands shaking uncontrollably as she went to touch her sister's body. Akane frowned as her fingers slid down the corpse's arm. 'Kasumi collapsed and died almost ten minutes ago,' she thought. 'But her body still feels warm. I thought that-' She suddenly shrieked and jumped back when Kasumi's body sat up and pressed a dainty hand to its forehead.

"Owww..." Kasumi groaned, having trouble sitting upright on the floor. She looked at the trembling form of her terrified sister in confusion. "Akane, what's wrong?"

" 'What's wrong?!' I thought you were dead!" Akane shouted hysterically. "You ate some of my omelet, *yelled* at me, then collapsed!"

Kasumi blink-blinked for a second as hazy snippets of the last fifteen minutes slowly came to her. "Oh, I did yell at you, didn't I?" she asked weakly, thoroughly shocked at herself for the impolite breach in protocol.

Akane nodded rapidly. "When you yelled at me, I thought I'd done something terrible to you. You've never yelled at me before, so I assumed that... that... OH KASUUUUMIIIII!!!" Akane fell to her knees and hugged her sister tightly. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to almost kill you! I won't ever try to cook again! I swear!" The emotional load of the situation became unmanageable as she buried her head in Kasumi's chest and cried like a lost soul.

Kasumi patiently sat there and stroked Akane's hair, willing to give her sister the time she needed to cry herself back to normal. While Akane blubbered, Kasumi pondered. 'Why did I drop like that?' she mused. 'I've usually had a fairly good constitution when it comes to eating Akane's cooking.' She looked up to the countertop, the surface of which was just visible from her current position on the floor. Straining slightly, Kasumi craned her neck until she espied the plate that Akane had in-hand earlier. It still had some of the 'food' on it that she'd tasted before collapsing.

'What did Akane say it was supposed to be?' she wondered. A lingering flavor of it was still on her tongue. 'Hmmm... Eggs, mushrooms, whole milk, pork, and... cheese?' she thought, mulling over what she could discern from the taste in her mouth. Kasumi started as the combination of ingredients coalesced in her mind. 'That's right! Akane said that she was trying to cook an omelet!' She looked critically at the plate again. 'It *looks* like an omelet. Could it be?!'

"MY GOODNESS!" Kasumi shouted involuntarily, realizing something incredible had just happened. Beyond all human reasoning, Akane had finally managed to get it right. 'I must have fainted due to shock!' she thought, nodding to herself in understanding.

Akane's head snapped up from her sister's tear-drenched cleavage at the shocking noise. "What now?! I didn't do anything else to you, did I!?" she yelled hysterically.

Kasumi regained her composure and kissed her sister gently on the forehead. The surprising nature of the gesture caught Akane off-guard, silencing her yelling, and her tears. "Shhh, Akane-chan," Kasumi comforted. "You shouldn't be upset with yourself."

"But I-" Akane protested, but was cut off.

"No!" Kasumi said softly, but firmly. "You didn't do anything wrong. In fact, you should be proud of yourself. You got it right," she enthused, running her fingers through Akane's long hair soothingly.

"Huh?" Akane asked in a tiny voice. She dared not believe what her oldest sister was telling her. "Kasumi, I think you're still suffering from the aftereffects of the food I gave you-"

"Akane, hush!" she admonished lightly, stopping her sister's rant in mid-build-up. "I'm not suffering from anything other than total shock." Kasumi grimaced as she realized what a backhanded-compliment she'd just given her sister.

Akane's face showed just how confused she was. "I don't understand, Kasumi. You fainted dead away... but you sound like you actually *enjoyed* it." She frowned. "You're just trying to make me feel better, that's it," she concluded stubbornly.

Kasumi sighed and brought herself to her feet, a task more burdensome than usual because her sister was still clinging to her shoulders. Once standing, she carefully walked Akane back to the part of the counter where the bowl of mixed ingredients sat. Fairly sure that Akane was going to be okay, she wriggled herself free of her sister's grasp and faced the wok, which was still warmed and awaiting the application of ingredients. "Only one way to find out for sure, Akane-chan," she declared as she poured some of the ham, milk, mushroom, and egg mixture into the wok.

Akane instantly snapped out of her trance and moved herself closer to her sister. Kasumi pulled her chan out, and prepared to move the cooking egg mixture about in the wok when Akane grabbed her hand.

"No! Not yet. You've got to wait a little longer before pushing the edges in and flipping it. It'll be undercooked, otherwise," Akane advised, almost as if it had been by rote.

Kasumi cocked an eyebrow at her sister's advice. "Why, you're right Akane! I almost folded it too soon," she admitted, acquiescing to her younger sister's sudden wisdom. She waited another ten seconds, then pushed the edges in, cooking the remaining bits of egg that had pooled in the center of the omelet and gone untouched by the heat of the wok. Cheese in hand, Akane waited until the right moment, then dropped some on top.

Kasumi folded half of the omelet on top of itself, pressing lightly on the top with the back-edge of the chan. Less than half-a-minute later, she hefted the finished product out of the wok and onto a plate.

"Done," the oldest Tendo daughter declared. "Now for the moment of truth." Reaching for a clean set of chopsticks, Kasumi picked up the plate and held it close to her face. An enticing aroma wafted from the steaming plate, calling to her to eat. She gingerly dug the two sticks into the egg/dairy/pork combination and came away with a fair-sized chunk. 'Oh well, here goes everything,' she thought to herself as the whole thing passed her lips.

Her eyes bulged as her mouth was assailed anew by the wonderfully rich taste of the omelet. Spices and herbs that had gone unnoticed before filled her senses, adding volume to the flavor of the dish. Kasumi felt herself starting to teeter in shock once more, and forced herself to become stable, lest Akane panic again.

"It's wonderful!" Kasumi avowed after swallowing it.

Akane's eyes shimmered gloriously in the bright lighting of the kitchen. "Do you mean it, Sis?" she asked in hushed tones.

Kasumi nodded, her cheeks bulging slightly, yet cutely, with another mouthful of the omelet.

Akane cried again, although this time it was with tears of joy. "Ohh, Kasumi! You don't know how much it means for me to hear you say that." She clasped her hands together in front of her face, her joy boundless.

"It's quite good, Akane," Kasumi acclaimed as she chewed.

Akane quit crying when she realized that her sister was still cramming pieces of the omelet into her mouth. Joy became surprise; she'd never seen Kasumi so ravenous before. "You must've been hungry, Sis," Akane said with a grin.

Kasumi blushed, and quickly swallowed the remainder of the omelet. She placed the empty plate on the countertop, and patted her belly. "I apologize, Akane. I don't know what came over me, just then. I don't normally eat that much, but... I just couldn't resist. I guess it's the shock of the moment," she finished with a shrug.

Akane's giggles grew more and more boisterous, until she had to prop herself up against the countertop. "I can't believe it!" she declared between short gasps. "I actually cooked something that someone in my family ate without complaint! This is too much!"

Kasumi smiled lovingly at her younger sister. "You have a lot to be proud of, Akane. You've finally conquered your cooking problems." She winked conspiratorially. "Care to share your secret, little sister?"

Akane was the one to blush this time. "There's no secret to it, Kasumi," she hedged, avoiding her sister's suddenly critical gaze.

"Now Akane, I know it's been months since you last tried to cook for us, but even *I* have a hard time believing that you became a master chef on your own in such a *short* period of time," Kasumi said critically. "Now fess up!"

Akane blew her breath out loudly. "Okay, okay." She reached her hands back and vaulted up, plopping her behind on the countertop. "You remember how Kuno-ch... Kuno had me over to his house on the weekends?" Kasumi nodded.

"Well," Akane continued, "it happened early in our relationship. After trying to cook a meal for him one day, and failing miserably, he ordered me to attend cooking lessons at the Kuno mansion."

"Akane!" Kasumi said in a shocked voice.

"Yes. I was forced to learn how to cook under his own personal chef." She paused, killing any tears before they could surface. Akane looked into Kasumi's eyes, which seemed a bit sad to her, and continued her story before she succumbed to her sister's dolor. "I've actually known how to cook for about three months; I've just never felt like doing it after I learned how. Well, in reality, I didn't cook afterwards because I didn't want that jerk, Kuno, to have the satisfaction of knowing that I'd benefited because of him." Akane flushed with embarrassment. "Also, I wasn't sure that I could cook well unless I had a chef hovering over me."

Akane pointed to the bowl of omelet mix. "Thierry, the Kuno family chef, taught me how to cook European meals because he was French. But I also managed to learn a few traditional Japanese dishes along the way." Akane smiled to her sister. "I didn't push him too hard to teach me those, though, since I didn't want to learn them from him."

She hopped off of the counter and slipped her arm around Kasumi's waist. "That's because I wanted to learn all of that from you. That is, if you'd teach them to me, Kasumi."

Kasumi's cheeks reddened considerably, and there was suddenly moisture shimmering in her eyes. "Oh, my baby sister! I'd *love* to," she declared in a tear-choked voice. Try as she might, she couldn't withhold the upwelling of emotion kindled by Akane's story and her plaintive request. "I love you, Akane-chan, and I'm very, *very* proud of you."

Akane didn't resist as she felt herself be pulled into a hug by her oldest sister. The two sisters held onto each other gently. "Thanks, Kasumi. I promise to work hard!" she vowed.

Kasumi withdrew from the hug and caressed Akane's tear-streaked face. "I know you will, little sister." She sniffled, and regained her composure. Cinching her apron strings tight, Kasumi cracked her knuckles. "First thing's first; let's get breakfast cooked for everyone. If *I* could enjoy your omelets so much, I'm sure that Daddy and Nabiki will just love them."

Akane beamed as she followed Kasumi's lead and started portioning out more ingredients to mix together in the bowl. She bent to her task obediently, careful not to slip up as she followed her mental cookbook closely. She couldn't wait to see the looks on her father and Nabiki's faces when they had a sample of her work.

****


Genma brought his massive hand up to his brow, and mopped off the sweat that had already formed there. 'Damn! Not ten minutes out of the bath, and I'm already sweating as if I'd been in the training hall for hours.' He looked over to his son, who was eerily quiet. That wasn't what had Genma frowning, though. Ranma was carrying his sister on his back, and he hadn't even broken a sweat yet.

"How long have we got until we get there, slave?" Ranko asked her brother amidst a giggle.

Ranma snorted at his sister's playful banter. He was about to respond with something equally witty when his father spoke.

"I can't believe how hot it already is! It's nowhere near summer, but I'm still frying like squid on a hibachi." Genma groaned and moved his house-building cargo from one shoulder to another. "I also thought it was damned convenient that Nodoka had something to take care of *right* as we left. It wouldn't have hurt her to carry some of this stuff, instead of forcing me to lug it around in this heat."

Ranma shook his head while his father continued to drone on about the unfairness of life. Meanwhile, he carried the soft yet weighty burden of his sister on his back without complaint.

Ranko seemed to be thinking along the same lines her brother was, but she didn't keep her mouth shut. "Pop, wouldja quit whining? The walk isn't that long. Besides, we're going to get messy anyway by doin' all that work on Mr. Tendo's dojo, right?"

"Don't *you* talk to *me* like that, young lady!" Genma began, but recoiled as Ranko employed her lungpower.

"Don't treat me like a whiny little girl! Why, if my ankle wasn't messed up, I'd kick your lard ass from here to Hong Kong!" She tensed her thighs in anger, unknowingly squeezing Ranma in the ribs and causing him to lose his wind. Ranko felt him start to slow down, and immediately loosened her grip when she realized what she was doing.

"Oops! Sorry, Ranma!" she apologized.

"That's my girl!" Genma said loudly. "A true man among women if I ever saw one!"

Ranma fought hard to keep from stumbling, or otherwise succumbing to a severe bout of laughter. Ranko, meanwhile, had to put her arms around his neck to keep from falling off. "Watch what you call me, old fart! Just because I can whip someone's ass doesn't mean that I'm not feminine!" She flexed her arm muscles slightly, but caught herself before she choked Ranma into unconsciousness.

Once Ranma had resumed normal breathing, he craned his neck up to look at his sister. "You know, you're becoming too dangerous to carry around! Just how much do you enjoy choking the life out of me?" He hunched himself forward to better distribute their weight, the effect of which put Ranko's head above his.

Ranko blushed and shrugged her shoulders. "I said I was sorry."

Before he could respond, his father chimed in. "Stop complaining, boy! You're acting like a whining old lady. That's not the path..."

"...of a true martial artist," Ranma completed in a perfect deadpan. "Yadda yadda yadda. Spare me the spiel, pop. It ain't nothin' I haven't heard before."

"Hey, Pop," Ranko countered, "what do you call what you were just doing then... old lady?" She and Ranma both laughed at that, which sent the two of them stumbling about.

Genma snorted indignantly. "I was only pointing out the weather conditions for the day," he harrumphed.

Ranma looked up to his sister's flushed face, and winked conspiratorially. "Yeah, right," he whispered to her.

Ranko giggled lightly, then flashed to panic. "Ranma, look out for that..." It was too late, however, as he walked, sister-first, into a telephone pole with a metallic-and-bone sounding *CLANG*. He wound up flat on his butt with his sister clinging tightly to his upright back. "Geez, why dont'cha watch where you're going?" she snapped irritably.

Ranma flushed at that. "Quit being a shoulder-back driver, Ranko!"

Both quit their bickering session mid-stride as Genma's howling laughter caught their attention. "Martial artists... colliding with a... telephone pole in b... broad daylight! HAHAHAHAHA!!" The siblings of pain seethed in silence as their father doubled over in laughter. The scene carried on, unchallenged, for a few minutes until he'd run out of breath.

"Ohh, I needed that," a calmed Genma declared as he picked up his dropped burden of construction tools and parts and walked to his felled children.

"Ranma, could you put me down now?" Ranko suggested. "I think we'll do better if you'll let me walk by myself, okay?" She underscored her intent by loosening the grip she had around his neck.

Knowing that she would hit the ground hard if she let go first, Ranma unhooked his arms from around Ranko's legs, and forced himself up to a standing position. Something in his back disagreed with him, however, as he stood up. Stifling a groan of pain, he managed to keep it from showing. 'Damn! Hurt my back. Hope it doesn't stop me from working on the dojo,' he hoped urgently.

Ranko hauled herself to her feet, and gingerly tested her sore ankle. She winced slightly at the pain, but acknowledged that it was nowhere near as bad as it had been the day before. Emboldened by her fast healing, she put all of her weight down on it, and whimpered in pain.

"Ranko, you'd better climb back on," Ranma stated flatly, seeing the pain on her face. "You're still not up to walking on your own."

She stared at him defiantly and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "No!" she shouted, shaking her head. "I'll walk on my own, thank you very much." Ranma groaned in frustration, and advanced toward her. Ranko hobbled away as he approached. "Stop it! I'll damn well go on my own, and you'll like it!" she spat.

"You stubborn tomboy! I..." Ranma yelled angrily, then shouted in surprise as he ducked a flying kick aimed at his head. "What'd ya do that for?!" he exclaimed.

Pivoting on her good foot, Ranko moderated her breathing, and managed to keep her balance. "Watch your mouth, big brother. I don't like being called that! I'm *not* a guy!"

Ranma rolled his eyes and shook his head, dismissing it before the argument grew. "Whatever... You still can't walk on that foot!" he shot back, pointing at her bandaged ankle.

"Fine!" she said hotly. "Then you can hand me that old broom over there." She pointed to something nestled between a group of garbage cans. Ranma reluctantly agreed and pulled the item from the garbage and went back to her.

Taking it in hand, Ranko tossed it in the air and jumped up with her good foot. With a loud shout, she chopped the end off of the broom with her hand, and took hold of the modified stick. She used it to stabilize herself as she landed. Without even looking behind her, she knew that the rest of the broom had landed in one of the nearby trashcans. "Perfect! Nothing but can!" she gloated, bowing.

Ranma and Genma both kept their expressions neutral as they watched her land. They were impressed by what she'd just done, but that was tempered by her caustic attitude. Ranko scowled at the lack of adulation from her audience and walked between them. "Jealous?" she chided, mocking both of them with her tone.

"Showoff," Ranma said, not-unkindly.

Ranko stuck her tongue out at him playfully, and avoided his half-hearted swipe.

"Come on, you two. Let's get back on the road before we're late," Genma urged. Ranma nodded and followed his father's lead towards the Tendo dojo once more, his eyes glued protectively to Ranko as they walked side-by-side.

****


Nodoka smiled to herself as she placed one last item in a basket sitting on the counter. 'There!' she thought with satisfaction as she glanced at the large selection of food that she'd prepared. 'That should do it. Now if only I could keep Ranma and Genma away once I get there, then Soun and his children should be able to enjoy it.'

She laughed at the notion of herself having to defend the basket from her husband and son. 'I'd probably have to use my sword to ward them off.' She shook her head dismissively, and checked over the basket's contents again. 'Got to make sure...'

A knock at the door interrupted her inventory of the basket. Folding the tops of the cloth liner over the contents, Nodoka left the basket in the kitchen and walked to the front door.

"Just a minute, please," she said as she approached. Sliding the door open, she smiled as she saw Sato and Hikaru standing at the doorway.

"Sato! Hikaru! Good morning!" she said, greeting them warmly.

"Good morning Mrs. Saotome," Hikaru replied in an Eddie Haskellish tone. "Sato and I are here to see Ranma."

"I'm sorry, boys. You just missed him. He and his father have gone to a ... friend's place on the other side of Nerima."

Hikaru Gosunkugi barely hid a look of frustration. But before he could ask where Ranma had gone, Sato spoke up. "Mrs. Saotome, is Ranko at home?"

She smiled knowingly at Sato, and didn't miss the angry glare that Hikaru shot his companion. Nodoka shook her head slowly. "No, Sato. She went with Ranma and her father. In fact, you both caught me just as I was getting ready to head there myself."

Hikaru's eyes brightened, and he immediately jumped upon the opportunity. "Is it alright if we go with you, Mrs. Saotome?"

Nodoka frowned inwardly. Things were tenuous enough between her husband and Soun. Bringing uninvited guests might make things more complicated. 'On the other hand, extra workers might be appreciated...' she considered, as a plan took form in her mind. "Do you two strapping young men know how to handle construction tools?" she asked in a very pleasant voice.

Both boys were jarred slightly by her question. "Umm.. Uh, yeah" Hikaru stammered, while Sato merely nodded.

"Good," she concluded, smirking to herself. "You both can join me, then. Wait here while I get my things and then we'll be off."

They nodded to her, and remained at the doorway while she disappeared into the kitchen. Once she was out of earshot, Hikaru elbowed Sato hard in the ribs.

"Oww, shit! What'd you do that for?" Sato hissed, rubbing his violated midsection.

"What's the big idea about asking for Ranko, huh? I already told you that she's mine!" Hikaru whispered back angrily.

Sato, who stood slightly taller than his friend, rose to his full height of five feet, eight inches in the doorway and looked down at his aggressor. "I wasn't going to ask her out, jerkweed!" he whispered with equal venom. "I figured that since Ranma was gone, we might be able to get the answers we needed from his sister."

"Oh." Hikaru calmed down considerably at that point, and apologized. "Sorry for hitting you like that, Sato. I just get really paranoid when someone else talks about my Ranko-chan. She's started to show some interest in me, and..." He broke off his whispered conversation with his companion as Nodoka reappeared, carrying a rather large basket in one arm, and a long, wrapped bundle in the other.

"You two ready to go?" she asked cheerfully once she stood before them.

"Yes ma'am," they chorused as they stepped back from the door, giving her room to exit.

Ever the gentleman, Sato tapped Nodoka on the arm. "Would you like me to carry that for you, Mrs. Saotome?"

"Why, yes! Thank you, Sato-kun. That would be very nice," she said as she unlimbered the basket and one-handed it to him.

Sato smiled as he took hold of the handle. The smile turned to immense strain, however, when Nodoka pulled her hand away and the full weight of its contents came to bear. Teetering on the edge of collapse, Sato strained to right himself and keep hold of the extremely heavy basket. 'Geez!' he thought in anguish. 'What's she got in here? A car?' Sweat beads formed on his head as he hefted the object up to elbow-level and cradled it to his chest. "Ready when you are, Mrs. Saotome," he grunted.

Through a supreme effort of will, she managed to contain her laughter. With only a casual smile gracing her face, she nodded her approval and stepped ahead of Sato. "Let's be on our way, then, boys," she urged, as she began walking.

Hikaru shot Sato a sour look and trotted up beside Nodoka. "Mrs. Saotome, I can carry the other package for you, if you wish," he offered brightly. He held his hands out to her, anticipating that she'd say yes.

She reflexively pulled the item to her chest, and away from his reaching hands. "I'm afraid not, Hikaru. This is an heirloom that I hold very dear. I really don't ever let anyone else touch it."

"Oh, okay, Mrs. Saotome." Crestfallen, Hikaru fell back in behind her and walked beside his struggling friend.

The intent behind the gesture was not lost on Nodoka, though. 'Nice try, son,' she thought to herself wryly. 'Trying to curry favor with me to get to my daughter is one of the oldest tricks in the book.' A gleam appeared in her eyes. 'But, I'd rather not let you date her,' she told herself. 'You're nothing but trouble for my daughter, Hikaru Gosunkugi.'

She clenched the bundle tightly once more as her mind shifted gears. Nodoka found herself wondering what had prompted her to bring it along. 'Maybe I'm just being paranoid,' she told herself. 'But I can't help but think that there's going to be some sort of trouble at the Tendo dojo today. I can *feel* it. I just hope that I don't have to use this,' she prayed, her fingers sliding up and down the wrapped length of her ancient sword. Her pace quickened as a sudden sense of urgency spurred her to walk faster. 'Oh dear! I just realized that Genma and Soun will be meeting without me there! I just hope that everything begins on a good note!'

****


A bleary-eyed Nabiki shambled into the dining area. Her father was already seated at the table with paper in hand, and a steaming mug of tea at his side. "Good morning, daddy," Nabiki yawned, unable to conceal her lethargy. Her morning bath had not only served to clean her off, but wound up making her drowsy as well.

"Ahh, good morning, Nabiki! I'm glad to see that you're finally out of the bath," he said from behind his paper.

She sniffed, and caught the aroma of something delicious wafting from the kitchen. "Mmmm. Smells good. What's Kasumi cooking for breakfast?"

Soun shrugged his paper. "I have no idea. I vaguely remember smelling something like it before, but it escapes me for the moment. Regardless, it *seems* delicious." He peeked his head around from the paper and scanned the table. "Where's Akane? I thought she might've been with you."

Nabiki shook her head tiredly. "I don't think she's out of her room yet."

Soun nodded and returned to his reading. Less than two minutes later, a vibrant Kasumi walked out of the kitchen bearing the fruits of her morning labor. "Breakfast is ready," she announced as she laid various items down on the table.

Nabiki drew her face close to her plate, which had a folded yellow thing on it. She sniffed at it tentatively, and heard her stomach growl its approval. "Kasumi, what is this?" she asked in her uniquely droll, yet inquisitive voice while stabbing a finger at the dish.

"Oh, it's an omelet," she replied brightly. Completing the table settings, Kasumi stood up and clasped her hands in front of her. "W... I decided to try a western recipe for breakfast this morning."

Soun immediately folded his paper, and looked at his plate with longing. "Oh, Kasumi! You're such a dear! I haven't had an omelet in *years.*" He rubbed his hands together, relishing his upcoming feast. "It smells fantastic!"

Latent worry crossed Nabiki's face. Akane wasn't at the table, and Kasumi was suddenly getting inventive with the meals. "Sis, where's Akane?" she asked sweetly, which was in contrast to the sharp, inquisitive look on her face.

Kasumi blinked innocently and walked towards the kitchen. "I'll go get her in a minute, Nabiki. Why don't you start eating without her?" she suggested as she disappeared from view.

As if on cue, Akane bounded in from the hall with a smile on her face. "Good morning, Daddy. Nabiki," she enthused as she took her place at the table. "Mmmm. Smells wonderful!" she said as she took her chopsticks in hand.

Satisfied that she wasn't about to get Ptomaine poisoning, Nabiki began eating. "Not bad for Western food," she admitted grudgingly as she wolfed down progressively larger pieces.

"Good morning, Akane. I trust you slept well?" Soun replied.

Akane tried to come up with a quick evasion when Kasumi re-entered the room. "Ahh, good! Everyone's here!" her older sister announced.

Soun took that as a sign to begin eating. With fast movements, he sectioned off a bit of the steaming omelet and popped it in his mouth. "Oh, Kasumi! It's wonderful!" he said earnestly before he started shoveling the remaining pieces into his mouth.

"Really?!" Kasumi and Akane chorused.

Coincidentally, a loud thunderclap caused by the approaching storm sounded just outside the house.

Soun and Nabiki stopped in mid-chew as a spine-numbing chill worked its way from their stomachs and crawled up their backs. Placing her chopsticks down, Nabiki turned to her younger sister and stared her right in the eye. "Akane, why should *you* be so interested in how this meal turned out?"

"Oh, that's because she cooked breakfast this morning!" Kasumi piped up before Akane could answer.

Panic-stricken, Nabiki looked like she was about to bolt from the room. Soun, meanwhile, had gone stiff as a statue and snapped his chopsticks between his fingers. Neither spoke.

"There! You see Akane? I told you they'd love it!" Kasumi said positively as she walked back into the kitchen.

****


"Ahh, there it is!" Ranma exclaimed excitedly as the gates of the Tendo property wall loomed before them. He quickened his pace to a trot, his earlier nervousness replaced by a welcome enthusiasm.

"So it is, son," Genma shouted to Ranma's departing form.

'Waitaminute!' Ranko thought in sudden alarm. 'I recognize this place! This is where Ranma got his ass stomped almost three weeks ago.' Her eyes glanced across the far-reaching wall bordering the one visible side of the Tendo's place, looking for hidden dangers among the tall trees growing within the bounds of the Tendo complex. Growling at herself, Ranko forced herself to calm down. 'Ranma should be okay. After all, this is the place where he's been living for awhile. Well, close enough...' Still, she quickened her pace to catch up with him.

She hobbled next to her brother just as he began pushing against the tall wooden gates marking the entrance to the Tendo gardens and house. Ranko placed her hand against his arm, stopping him momentarily. "Hey, Ranma. You'll be okay, honest! I'm gonna be at your side whenever you need me, understand?" she whispered.

Seeing his father fast approaching their position, he refrained from hugging her, and merely covered her hand with his while mouthing 'thanks' and winking.

"Well, they're probably waiting on us, Son," Genma said, a smile plastered on his face. His false humor was easy to see through for the two young Saotomes, however. They were all too aware of their father's anxiousness, and the very good reasons for it; reasons that had the two alert, but not nervous.

Steadying his hand, Genma reached out and pushed against the unlocked gate.

****


A much-chastened Nabiki and Soun looked up sheepishly at Akane from their seats at the table as she stood over them, smirking victoriously.

"Sis..."

"Akane..."

The two nervous eaters looked at each other then fell silent for a moment. Soun spoke again before Nabiki could get the nerve to do so. "Akane, please accept your father's humblest apologies. I was reacting out of habit." He took her hand gingerly in his. "I truly enjoyed it. In fact," he looked down hungrily to his empty plate, "I'd like another one."

"Me too!" Nabiki piped up quickly, holding her empty plate up over her head.

With the beginnings of grateful tears forming in her eyes, Akane smiled proudly. "Thanks. I'd be glad to cook another one for each of you!" She enthusiastically took the plates from both of them and walked back to the kitchen. Some clattering of utensils soon followed. "Now where did I put the bleach?" she was heard to ask in the distance.

Soun and Nabiki paled slightly, and made a move to stand from the table when Akane poked her head back into the room. "Gotcha!" she said brightly, pulling her head back into the kitchen just in time to avoid getting smacked by a small pillow that had just been used to comfort Nabiki's shapely posterior.

"Suckers!" Akane added from around the safety of the kitchen wall.

"Well, at least she's in a good mood, today," Nabiki quipped as she stole her sister's pillow, to replace the one she'd launched at Akane, and tucked it under her behind.

"Yes," her father agreed. "Akane seems to be a bit happier than I've seen her in quite awhile." He smiled to himself. 'Perhaps this day's going to go better than I expected,' Soun thought light-heartedly.

It wasn't long before the smell of freshly cooking omelets filled the room again, entrancing both occupants of the table. "I can hardly believe it," Nabiki admitted. "My youngest sister can actually cook. Hmmmph! I wonder what could top news like *that* today?"

Soun was about to respond to that question when Kasumi walked in. "Father, the outer gate is opening. Our guests have arrived," she announced quickly and quietly. Then she placed two steaming plates of omelets on the table, along with another tray of them and some extra plates and chopsticks.

"Akane felt that we should cook the remaining omelets instead of letting them go to waste," Kasumi said, indicating the extras sitting on a larger plate. "I also brought out two extra plates in case our guests might want some of them." She smiled to them sweetly. "Now eat up before they get cold," she cautioned lightly as she disappeared into the kitchen.

Nabiki's curiosity hit a peak at the mention of the mystery guests and she was up on her feet. But before she could sprint from the room and out of the house, her father seized her hand. "Nabiki, don't be rude. You and I have omelets to finish." He looked her in the eye. "Remember?"

Sulking slightly, Nabiki sank back down on the cushion and draped her arms across her chest. "Whatever, daddy." She picked up her chopsticks, but didn't have the heart to touch the omelet. She just wasn't hungry anymore.

Soun, however, dug into his furiously, finishing the large egg morsel in record time. Then he stood up and walked to the doorway separating them from the outside. He watched intently through slats in the door as the gate swung open, his face unreadable.

****


Genma was the first one into the gate. Standing inside it, he brought his head around in a slow sweep and was taken aback by the sight of the grounds in springtime. "Why, it's just as I remember it," he said softly, his glasses growing a little misty.

Ranko was not far behind her father as he cleared the gate and began walking down the path leading towards the house. "Whoa!" she whispered in awe, taking in the sights. "This is a *nice* place." Ranko was mindful of her steps as she walked on the uneven surface, inching her way closer to the house.

Genma kept a slow, steady pace forward so he could absorb as much of the tranquil grounds as possible. He was only halfway to the house when an angry shout stopped him dead in his tracks.

"What kind of man do you think you are?!" a deep voice bellowed from inside.

Genma grinned to himself nastily and threw his burden of supplies down on the ground at his side. "The kind of man who knows how to fight!" he yelled back with equal fervor, adopting a fighting stance.

The door to the house slid open, revealing a red-faced Soun. He glared at Genma for a second from the porch in silence, his arms crossed against his chest. He didn't stay there for long, however, as he leapt into the air, charging right at Genma. "And how will you fight?" he challenged as he drew closer.

The current sensei of the Saotome School of Anything Goes flexed his arms brutishly. "I'll fight as I was taught!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. Following Soun's airborne track, Genma jumped up to meet him.

"Pop!" Ranko shrieked in alarm as she watched a battle between two old friends boil up in front of her.

****


"You don't have to clean all of this by yourself, Sis," Kasumi admonished as she re-entered the kitchen. "After all the work you did to cook breakfast for us, you could at least let me help."

Akane, happily humming to herself, made a small step to the right to make space for her sister at the sink. "Be my guest, Kasumi-chan," she replied sweetly. "I don't mind cleaning up, though. One other thing chef Thierry taught me was that I had to be responsible for the messes I made in the kitchen. He told me that 'Cooking should be pursued with abandon if it is to be done properly. But a good cook shouldn't abandon the kitchen in the aftermath.'" She laughed at that. "Thierry always did have a way of making me understand."

Kasumi smiled to herself. Her sister had changed more than she'd thought. "Well, he's right about not abandoning the kitchen after cooking. I'd debate the first part of that statement, though," she said as she picked up a plate and began to wash.

"Akane, did daddy tell you about what we're doing in the dojo today?"

She grew slightly nervous at her sister's mention of the dojo. "Umm, no Kasumi. What's up?" she asked as innocuously as possible. 'I hope this isn't about the door,' she added to herself.

"Well, daddy told us last night that he was having some friends over this morning to help with fixing up the dojo," Kasumi said quickly.

Akane breathed a sigh of relief. "Ahh, that's good. It looks like a bomb had gone off in there," she said offhandedly, then something else Kasumi mentioned caught up with her. "Waitaminute! Did you say that they were coming here *today?*"

Kasumi nodded, as she energized her cleaning. "Yes. In fact, they're here now."

"NOW?" Akane asked incredulously

"Yes," Kasumi replied placidly.

"WHO?"

"They're good friends of..." Kasumi's voice trailed off at the sound of her father yelling.

"Oh my! Was that a battle-cry?" Akane asked incredulously as she dropped her dishwashing burden back in the sink.

Kasumi's stomach sank as she heard more yelling. Whatever it was had her father absolutely *furious.* He hadn't sounded that angry since the day of that ugly phone call. "No..." she whispered vacantly, although it almost came out as a whimper. She and Akane tore from the kitchen at full speed and dashed into the dining room.

Scrambling across the room, they got there just in time to see their father leaping off of the porch and head towards some bigger man dressed in an off-white gi. The two men snarled at each other as they charged. Kasumi chanced a glance at where she last saw Nabiki, and couldn't find her anywhere. More commotion from outside forced her to ignore the question of her sister's whereabouts and turn back to the fight.

"Kasumi, what's going on?!" Akane shrieked helplessly from her sister's side as she watched her father and a stranger battle in front of her ancestral home.

****


"What the hell?!" Ranma shouted at the top of his lungs as he blasted through the open gates and raced into the compound, almost plowing over a motionless Ranko in the process. His guts turned ice cold as he watched his father and Soun speeding towards each other, a murderous look on both of their faces.

He caught a slight glimpse of Akane and Kasumi standing on the porch on the other side of the brawl. Then Nabiki joined the two, camera in hand. All of girls appeared horrified, which was a painful thing for Ranma to see, especially on Akane's face. Despite the twinges of pain rushing through his back, he prepared himself to intervene in the fight, no matter the cost.

Soun and Genma met in the air, their arms closing tightly around each other in a death embrace. "We fight with the honor of a true martial artist!" they chorused as they landed on their feet, face-to-face on the walkway.

Stunned, Ranma checked his attempt to leap at them, and awaited their next move.

The two grown men broke out into body-shaking laughter, and hugged each other again, warmly this time.

"Soun, you old rascal!" Genma declared, standing away from Soun and clapping him on the back. "I'd almost forgotten that old training chant!"

Wiping tears of laughter from his eyes, Soun returned the pounding. "Ahh, Genma my friend! I couldn't resist. So how have you been?" he asked as they disengaged and walked towards the house, their conversation lowering in volume and becoming ebullient and friendly.

Ranma, along with everyone else, facefaulted rather violently. Recovering quickly, he didn't attempt to hide his anger. "You could've warned us that you were going to do that, old man!"

"Yeah!" Ranko added hotly.

Genma glanced back over his shoulder and laughed at his irritated children. "Quit complaining, you two. Now come on inside. We have a lot of work to do!" With that he disappeared inside, walking right past a stunned trio of young ladies.

"Damn! Could've given me a heart attack!" Ranma swore under his breath.

"No shit," Ranko chimed in as she hobbled over next to him. "Who would've thought that they'd play around with our minds like that?" she demanded sourly. They stewed together in silence for a minute or two as they allowed their hearts to calm down.

"Well, let's go inside, Sis," Ranma said as he guided his sister towards the house and the motionless Tendo sisters.

****


As pandemonium boiled up at the front steps of the Tendo estate, Nabiki did the only practical thing she could think of at the time; she got her camera. 'They won't get away with damaging the house, whoever they are,' she'd thought as she sprinted from her room and headed back to join her sisters. Her jaw dropped in shock as she emerged on the porch beside Akane.

The shock wasn't caused by the battle being waged by her father and the overweight stranger, however. Instead, Nabiki felt herself unable to believe her luck at having the object of her current task standing on the other side of the lot.

'Ranko Saotome! What's she doing here?!' Nabiki thought with a mix of panic and excitement. Then a collision between her father and the other man and distracted her. After the two men met in the air, they embraced, shouted some corny chant, and started laughing like schoolboys. Realizing that the two men weren't intent on kil