Second Chances

By Lord Archive

Characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Video, and several other
companies and are used without consent. I'll return them... I just need to
get Urd to send them back into time....

"Ranma!" Akane yelled and grabbed a man with red hair.
He looked at her, confused. "Oro?"
"Kenshin! Who is she?!"
"Oro!"
"You're not Ranma." Akane let go of him.
"Oops, over did it. Bye." Urd left 19th century Japan.

                             --------------------
                           Chapter 11 - Reflections
                             --------------------

Ranma was sitting upside down in the lotus position. His weight balanced on
his head and his folded legs set firmly in the air. <It's been almost a
month, and Pop isn't showin' any signs of gettin' ready to move. In fact...
it seems... he's settling in. It's almost like he doesn't expect to ever
leave here. He's got a job, a respectable one even. He even bought a piece
of furniture for himself. Sure its just a mini-dresser an' mirror and he put
all that 'age-defying' crap in it. He actually expects to gain some of his
'youthful looks' with that gunk. But you don't buy stuff like that if don't
plan ta stay since you can't take it with you.>

Ranma sighed. <Mr. Tendo wasn't kidding about knowin' Pop. Watchin' them
play shogi and gettin' drunk off their ass like they do. They're the best o'
friends. Mr. Tendo even helped Pop when he got caught after runnin' out on a
bill, first by coverin' for him and then payin' the bill. They
even joked about it being like 'old times' except Mr. Tendo didn't pay the
bills back then.

<Pop ain't goin' to leave. He's actually gonna stick this out.

<I can't believe Pop is actually sticking to a promise, 'specially one this
big. Maybe it's because he's not the one who has ta deal with it. I do. I'm
the one who has to marry Akane and spend the rest of my life with her, and
Pop'll just freeload off us.>

Ranma flipped and was now sitting in the lotus position, right side up. <Pop
may want to stick this out, but do I?>

--------------------

Akane looked at the journal in front of her with tears in her eyes. She had
been avoiding reading this part of it as it brought back a lot of bad
memories. There were other parts she was avoiding, particularly the entries
concerning Jusendo and Ryugenzawa.

The problem though was she wanted to understand this Ranma better and that
meant she had to read everything her Ranma had written in his journal. She
wished her Ranma hadn't died and that she didn't have to relive her life,
but she wasn't going to pass up the chance to correct her past mistakes.

One passage particularly bothered her.

        I can't stand her! That bitch manipulated me at every step. There is
no way in hell I'd ever want to marry her. I'd sooner be with Kodachi than
that money grubbing mercenary.

The following passage Akane could smile at since it was about Ranma making
up with her. He even called himself a coward for how he reacted after
saying, "I love you." But, whatever chance Nabiki had to marry Ranma before
their engagement had become nothing after that.

Akane knew why it bothered her. Because she was manipulating the new Ranma.
She was changing things to how she thought things should be. If he ever
found out, how would Ranma react? Would this Ranma hate her as much as her
Ranma hated Nabiki? Would it kill any chance for her to marry Ranma?

Akane closed the journal, her eyes set with determination. She stormed out
of her room and into Nabiki's. "I won't manipulate him anymore."

Nabiki blinked and looked at her sister like she grew a second head. "Excuse
me."

"I won't try to manipulate him. You know damn well he hates that. You read
this journal too."

Nabiki nodded. "And what brought this on?"

"I just read about the time he was engaged to you."

Nabiki glanced up to the ceiling. "So? You've manipulated him. You did that
in your past life. How does this change anything this time around?"

Akane scowled. "I never went as far as I've done here."

"True. However, tell me how can you not change and manipulate things? You
know what is going to happen."

"But if Ranma finds out how I've changed things he might hate me."

Nabiki shook her head. "In case you've forgotten, oneechan, your Ranma was
never attracted to 'me' in the first place. By doing those things, Ranma's
opinion of that Nabiki lowered. Besides, he didn't hate 'her' for long,
after all he did state much later that he saw that Nabiki as an annoying
older sister."

Akane nodded, remembering he did write that.

"One other thing, the only way I can see you keeping Ranma from being upset
about your little secret, you would have to tell him everything. How would
he react to that?"

Akane paled. "If he knew who I really was, it'd scare him away."

"Exactly. Ranma is the type of guy who likes to take relationships slowly.
If you tell him you're his love from a future where he died, he'd be in
China before you know it."

"But what am I supposed to do?"

Nabiki thought for a second. "Well, you can't stop minor manipulations of
events, you know too damn much. Just be careful to avoid giving him any
reason to be suspicious of you."

"I guess." Akane walked out of the room.

Nabiki smirked. While Akane might not want to manipulate things, it didn't
mean the new youngest Tendo couldn't.

Nabiki liked the idea of being the youngest daughter. After all Akane had
the mind of an eighteen-year-old. Too bad she couldn't tell anybody about
that.

--------------------

Ranma kicked and punched his imaginary foe. <Do I want to get married? Akane
is a nice enough girl and she has some martial arts skill. And she is cute.
However, there are times she seems... well... cold. I don't know how to
place it. It just seems like part of her is dead. I don't see much fire in
her except when she gets upset.>

Ranma increased the difficulty of his kata. <Aw, why am I even thinking
about getting married. I'm sixteen and that's way too young to consider
settling down for the rest of my life. I'll just have to give this time.
Maybe in two years I will want to marry Akane, but if not, I would at least
know what it was like to have a home.>

--------------------

"Saotome-kun, why don't we..." Soun's brow crinkled in thought. "...ah, go
out to dinner. I know a great place."

"Why? Kasumi is a great cook."

Soun whispered to Genma. "But she's not the one going to be cooking. Akane
is, and she hasn't exactly learned how."

"How bad could it be?"

"I'm paying."

Genma stood up. "Lead the way."

Nabiki nodded and walked into the laundry room. "Hey, Sis."

"Yes, Nabiki?" Kasumi expertly folded a towel.

"I was thinking it would be a good idea to give Akane and Ranma a little
private time. They can't let down their guard with anybody here."

"Well, that would be a good idea. But what if they try to do anything...
inappropriate."

Nabiki shook her head. "I really doubt that. Ranma isn't that type of guy."
Akane was a different matter entirely, but she knew better than to try
anything.

"Are you sure? He did sneak into Akane's room before."

"Positive. You have nothing to worry about from Ranma. He was only trying to
protect Akane from Ryoga."

"Well...."

"Akane has already decided that she wants to cook tonight."

Kasumi paled. "M-my k-kitchen...."

"Your kitchen will be fine. Let's go out to eat. Okay?"

"I have to stay, to teach Akane...."

Nabiki waved her off. "Ranma knows how to cook, and he can help her."

"He does? He can?"

Nabiki nodded. "It'll help them get together. Wouldn't it be nice to fulfill
Daddy's agreement with a love marriage."

"Well, yes."

"Then let's go." Nabiki grabbed Kasumi's arm and dragged her out of the
house.

--------------------

Akane read the note again and blinked.

        Akane,

        Everybody is out of the house except you and lover boy. So guess
who's going to have to cook. Don't try anything you haven't mastered yet and
try to involve Ranma. We'll be back before you get any ideas of doing
anything 'inappropriate.'

                                                See ya
                                                little Sis.

Akane shook her head. After talking about manipulating things, Nabiki went
and did it anyway. Somehow she couldn't get upset about this.

Akane couldn't help but laugh a little about how Nabiki signed the note.

Now to make dinner. Curry, Akane decided quickly. It was the first meal she
mastered. She walked down stairs and into the kitchen and began.

--------------------

Ranma walked into the house and took one whiff of the air. His taste buds
drooled. He peeked into the kitchen. "How long before dinner, Kasumi?"

"Wrong Tendo, Ranma." Akane smirked at her fiance. "It won't be much
longer."

Ranma scratched the back of his head nervously. "Sorry. How come you're
cooking tonight?"

"Well, we're the only ones home now, and someone had to cook."

"Oh."

"Can you do me a favor and set the table?" Akane smiled sweetly.

"Ah, yeah, sure." Ranma shook his head and started to get some plates.

Akane added a couple spices and then tested the curry. Her eyes bulged and
quickly grabbed got herself a glass of water and downed it.

"Something wrong?"

"Put too much spices in it. Sorry."

Ranma shrugged. "I like it hot. Do we have any bread?"

Akane nodded.

"Good it'll help better than water would."

--------------------

Akane and Ranma were laughing about something when the patriarchs returned
home.

Even after a large meal, the panda eyed the curry on the table hungrily. He
reached down and took a ladle full of it. The panda breathed fire into
Soun's face. [Good stuff.] He plopped down and began eating heartily.

Soun sweat dropped. "Did you make dinner?"

Akane nodded. "Yes. It came out a lot spicier than I wanted it to, though."

Soun carefully took a spoonful of the curry to see for himself. His eyes
watered and then tears streamed out. "Oh, the power of love! It almost cured
my daughter's cooking!"

Ranma blinked. "What did he mean by that?"

Akane blushed. "Well, my earlier attempts at cooking failed miserably. But
I've been improving with my home-economics class."

--------------------

Kasumi looked at her kitchen. It was a mess, but it wasn't the disaster she
had expected. But what surprised her the most was that her father was
cleaning it. "Father, why are you cleaning?"

Soun chuckled. "Lost a bet to Nabiki. Akane made something edible, so I have
to clean. But it was worth it, to taste what my little girl made for her
fiance out of love. The family lines will be joined!"

Kasumi looked down in dismay at the increasing large puddle of tears on the
floor. She then smiled. Ranma and Akane seemed to be made for each other. "I
can finish for you."

"No, Sis," Nabiki said flatly. "He made the bet and lost, so he has to pay."

"It's all right, Kasumi."

"If you say so." Kasumi knew she would have to spend time tomorrow correct
what her father did to her kitchen, but she doubted she could convince them
to let her finish the cleaning.

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------

                             --------------------
                          Chapter 12 - The Black Rose
                             --------------------

She followed carefully, making sure no one could see her. What she was doing
was risky, but she had to make sure. Soon, she came upon a field where three
people faced off against one girl. The upcoming fight was no contest; the
girl would win easily.

"Damn it, where is Ranma?" Akane punched the wall. She felt guilty about not
warning them about Kodachi's ambushes, but she was afraid that any
information she gave would cast suspicion on her. Akane couldn't take it
anymore and went to stop Kodachi from hurting her classmates.

--------------------

"You sure I can have another one?" Ranma squealed in delight. He, or
currently she, convinced the food vendor to give her another bun. <This
curse does have some benefits.>

The vendor smiled and nodded. The girl was too damned cute. "Are you doing
anything Saturday?" he asked.

Ranma gagged. "Ah, I'm going to be busy. Bye."

The vendor sighed. "Damn flirt."

Ranma ran with the buns she had bought plus the two extra ones she got for
free. She ran past an open field and then backtracked. Ranma blinked at what
she saw.

Akane stood before three guys while facing off against a girl with a
gymnastic ribbon. That ribbon was wrapped around Akane's arm.

"Interesting way of stopping my ribbon." Kodachi paused for a moment.
"You're my brother's girlfriend, aren't you?"

"I am NOT Kuno's girlfriend! I already have a fiance!" Akane snarled.

"Oh, really. So you are merely playing with Tatewaki's heart. I must teach
you a lesson." Kodachi pulled on the ribbon.

Akane didn't budge a centimeter.

"It seems that you are not a normal girl."

"Hardly," Akane scoffed.

Kodachi unraveled the ribbon off Akane's arm and prepared to strike with it.

Akane rushed forward as the ribbon snaked toward her. She grimaced as it cut
into her shoulder.

Kodachi was amazed that anyone would so foolish as to charge her directly.
She pulled the ribbon into a defensive barrier with a razor's edge.

Akane plowed through the ribbon, receiving numerous cuts all over her body.
She then struck a palm blow to Kodachi's gut.

The youngest Kuno was knocked several meters back. She clutched her stomach
protectively. "You have not seen the last of the Black Rose." She twirled
the ribbon around her and black rose petals filled the air as she retreated.

"Aw, geez, Akane are you stupid? Why did ya charge her like that?" Ranma
rushed toward Akane to check to make sure none of the cuts were serious.

"If I had enough speed, I would've been able to dodge her."

"Yeah, you move like a tub." Ranma turned towards the guys. "Are you all
right? Hey, guys don't cry! Akane took more hits than you and she ain't even
crying."

"Who says we're guys?"

Ranma backed away from the three 'guys' that he now recognized as girls from
his class.

One of the girls advanced towards Akane. "You've got to help us. Every
member of our rhythmic gymnastics martial arts team has been injured."

"Rhythmic gymnastics martial arts?" Ranma questioned.

The girl answered, "The school's champions fight with techniques of rhythmic
gymnastics. Akane, we need you to take our place!"

Akane glanced at Ranma. "I'll make sure you're avenged."

--------------------

The piglet stood at an open door with an odd expression on his face. He was
happy to find a place he recognized. He seethed with anger at the sight of
his hated foe. But that was dwarfed by the surprise he had watching a girl
practicing rhythmic gymnastic martial arts. Not many could tell, but what
she was clumsily doing was a kata with a ribbon. She probably hadn't done
those moves for years since he felt she had known it once. The thing that
bothered him was that the kata the girl was practicing was the same one his
mother had taught him.

Akane finished her movements, upset that she had made so many errors. She
knew it flawlessly two years ago, why couldn't she do it now? She looked up.
"Hello, Ryoga. Want some hot water?"

The piglet nodded.

"Ranma?" Akane looked at her fiance.

"Why should I give him the water?" Ranma stretched as he lay on the dojo
floor.

"Well, I would do it, but he's not wearing any clothes. Is he?" Akane stood
up. "Or don't you mind if I see other guys naked."

"Fine. Fine. I'll get him some water." Ranma picked up the piglet by his
bandanna and went to the bathing room. Once there he ignored Soun and tossed
the piglet into the bath. "Kasumi found some of your clothes after your last
visit. They're in the changing room."

Ryoga grumbled as he stepped out of the bath and walked past Ranma.

Soun looked at Ranma questioningly.

"Long story." Ranma went back to the dojo.

--------------------

"Where did you learn that kata?" Ryoga asked as he entered the dojo.

"What kata?"

"The one you just used for rhythmic gymnastics martial arts."

Akane paled slightly and thought for a second. "Ah, Hibiki-sensei taught me
a couple years ago for about a week before leaving unexpectedly."

Ryoga nodded. "Didn't think Mom taught anybody but me." He shrugged. "Oh,
well. I can show you where you were making mistakes."

"Why?" Akane looked at him suspiciously.

"I just want to do something to make up for the last time I was here."

Akane regarded him carefully, and nodded. He wasn't stammering or appeared
nervous in any way. Hopefully what he said was true, and that he wasn't
falling for her again. She'd have to be careful and make sure he knew that
she would never consider him as a boyfriend even if Ranma left her.

--------------------

"Mind telling me why you trained Akane?" Ranma demanded.

Ryoga looked toward the sky. "Why? Jealous?"

"No!" Ranma blushed. "Now tell me why!"

"There was something to her movements in the kata that bugged me. Actually
there's something about her. She's... I don't know how to put it. Not right,
I guess." Ryoga scratched his head.

"Well, there is something different about her, that's for sure. Though I
don't think 'not right' is a good way to say it."

"Be careful," Ryoga warned. "She may be more trouble than she's worth."

"Whatever." Ranma waved the comment off.

Both of their heads jerked at the sound of someone screaming.

"Akane!" Ranma was gone before Ryoga could blink.

--------------------

Akane flopped into bed. Ryoga may be a good teacher but he was a slave
driver. Something bugged her and then she remembered. She rolled out of bed
as Kodachi drove two spiked clubs into the mattress. Akane grimaced. Kodachi
was very serious about removing her this time.

"Is this what you consider a fair fight?" Akane snarled.

Kodachi laughed. "I believe in fighting in all fairness before the fight,
without any restriction of the rules of the match."

Akane ducked under Kodachi's double strike, but the Black Rose jumped over
her kick.

"You amuse me, but I can not have you tarnish St. Herberke's flawless
record." Kodachi's arms blurred as club after club seemed to strike toward
Akane.

Akane had no room to dodge, and one strike was aimed for her head. She
raised her arm and a spike pierced her flesh. A guttural scream escaped her
lips as the pain shot through her system.

"You are in no shape to fight now. Your team has lost." Kodachi moved to the
window. Her smirk was filled with malice, as she watched Akane hold her
bleeding arm. She then sensed someone behind her.

Ranma saw Akane holding one of her arms, and that there was a lot of blood.
He then saw the girl that Akane had fought the other day holding the bloody
weapon. "You bitch." Ranma launched a kick at her head.

Kodachi crashed into the wall from the blow and slumped to the floor
unconscious.

Ranma rushed to Akane. "Are you all right."

Akane looked at him weakly. "No."

The door to Akane's room opened.

"Call Dr. Tofu!" Ranma shouted.

"I'll do it." Nabiki said.

Kasumi moved to Akane. She took off her little sister's pajama shirt and
made it into a makeshift bandage.

Soun cried as he stood in the hall, while Genma tried to lead him away.

Ranma caught the scent of flowers and turned toward the window. He saw a
pair of predatory eyes look at him, and then Kodachi was gone.

--------------------

Dr. Tofu reset his glasses on his nose. "Well, that should do it. Your arm
was cut pretty good. You'll need to avoid lifting anything heavy, and
absolutely no fighting."

Akane punched the wall with her left arm. "But I have a match this weekend."

"You won't be able to fight without tearing open those stitches."

"Damn." Akane looked across the room. "Ranma, I hate to ask this...."

"You don't have to. Are you all right?" Ranma asked.

Akane nodded.

"Good." Ranma splashed water over his head. "Come on, Ryoga. I need some
training."

"Why should I train you?" Ryoga snarled.

"'Cause it gives you a good excuse to fight me. Now come on."

Ryoga blinked. Ranma had a good point.

--------------------

"Akane, are you all right?" Nabiki asked.

"No," Akane replied bitterly.

"Did you take that hit purposely?"

Akane shook her head. "I'm not used to being this damned slow. I should've
been able to dodge her."

"You've been in that body for a month now."

"I know, but I kept on thinking of the last fight I had with her. Ranma's
training had made me very fast and she could barely touch me. Now..." Akane
raised her wounded arm. "...I get badly hurt by one of her more basic
attacks."

"Well, it saved you from trying to manipulate things later for Ranma to
fight her."

Akane sighed and lay down onto her bed. "However, now we're clueless.
Kodachi never had the chance to attack Ranma because he was a last minute
change. Now it's days in advance. Not to mention that Kodachi didn't meet
Ranma the same way. Does she love him, hate him, or what?"

"You've been getting too used to your knowledge, oneechan. Time for you to
live like the rest of us."

Akane chuckled lightly. "Very funny. But what do we do now."

Nabiki paced the room. "We'll let the school know that you're withdrawing
and that we've found a replacement. However, we won't tell them who until
the last minute. And if Kodachi does show up, Ranma would love to have
another go at her, even with his 'I don't hit girls policy.'"

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------

                             --------------------
                      Chapter 13 - I'll See That You Win
                             --------------------

"Hey, Akane!" Yuka called. "Hear you're going to represent us at the
gymnastics meet."

"Afraid not," Akane replied while raising her injured arm. "Hurt my
arm."

"Oh, no. Who will represent our school?" Sayuri asked.

"I've found a replacement, but I can't say who."

Sayuri nodded. "So, Akane, mind telling us why you've been avoiding us?"

Akane took a step back. "I haven't been avoiding you. I've been busy."

"I'm sure you've been REAL busy with Ranma." Yuka leaned towards Akane.
"You're going to have to tell us ALL about him. Especially about WHERE
he sleeps at night."

Akane blushed. "We haven't done anything yet."

"SAOTOME! You foul sorcerer. Have at thee!" Kuno bellowed, rushing at
Ranma.

"What is it this time?" Ranma asked jumping over the kendoist.

"You dare strike my sister! I shall see you dead!" Kuno began his
patterned strike.

Ranma was about to dodge when a ribbon wrapped around his upper body.

"I did not believe Tatewaki when he spouted about your sorcery. But now
I know it to be true." Kodachi held the ribbon tight.

Ranma leapt up and flipped behind Kodachi.

"Coward! You dare hide behind my sister! To deceive me with you magic!"
Kuno snarled in rage. "Face the wrath of the heavens!"

As Kuno approached, Ranma launched a round-housed kick to his face.
Tatewaki tumbled across the ground and knocked Kodachi's legs out from
under her.

Ranma quickly used the slack of the ribbon and released himself.

"Do not think we are finished yet!" Kuno growled.

"I will see to it that you don't make a mockery of rhythmic gymnastics
martial arts." Kodachi launched a pair of clubs at Ranma.

Ranma grabbed the clubs and brought both down on Kuno as he had charged
behind his sister's attack. Ranma followed through with a kick and the
elder Kuno fell to the ground.

"You have won this round, peasant, but you will not defeat the Black
Rose." Kodachi laughed as she leapt away.

Akane walked up to Ranma. "Guess she spied on us last night."

Ranma shrugged. "I guess."

The students at Furinkan were amazed and shocked at what they heard.

"Ranma attacked Kuno's sister?" "Kuno has a sister?" "Damn, she looked
good." "Kodachi spied on Ranma and Akane?" "Wish I could spy on those
two at night."

--------------------

"Akane, what are you doing?!" Kasumi called out in shock.

Akane stopped and looked at her sister, confused. "I was just going
through a kata."

"But Akane, Dr. Tofu said you had to be careful."

"I am being careful. The kata I'm doing is a left-handed one. It's
designed to protect the right arm if it is injured."

"Oh, okay. But don't over do it. You did lose a lot of blood last
night." Kasumi's voice shook with concern.

"I will." Akane continued to practice next to the koi pond, since Ranma
was using the dojo. She pushed herself. Trying to make her movements
faster. She kept an eye on the clock in the family room. She would start
the kata as the clock clicked to the next minute and tried to finish it
before it had clicked two more minutes. She was once pleased she could
even do the kata and it took her about four minutes to complete it, but
now she was upset it took her almost three minutes to finish it.

--------------------

A figure approached in the dark. The victim seemed to sleep innocently,
but the figure doubted there was any innocence to... that person, if it
was a person.

Ranma rolled over as the figure attempted to stab him with a spiked
club. Again and again Ranma would just move out of the way as he was
attacked.

"You dare mock me," Kodachi growled.

The door slid open and a panda stood at the door. [Excuse me.] He
flipped the sign after noticing the weapon. [What are you doing?]

"You must be the sorcerer's familiar. I shall have to remove you too."
Kodachi charged, the club poised to strike.

Genma may have instilled Ranma with the philosophy of 'you don't hit
girls,' but like most of the things he spouted at Ranma-- he didn't
subscribe to it personally. Genma swatted Kodachi with his sign and she
flew out the window. He then waddled over to the window, shut it and
jammed it closed. No sense in having her wake him up if she came back.

--------------------

Kodachi stood before her teammates. She was still sweating after a
vigorous workout from fighting all of them at once. Her sweat caused
some of the make up she wore to run, revealing a bruise on the side of
her face and another on her chin. "I need to get better, and none of you
are any help. This weekend we will face Furinkan and the sorcerer
Saotome refuses to fall before the match. We will need to use every
trick in the book and invent more to defeat his magic."

"But if this Saotome fellow is a guy, how can he be competing?" a girl
asked.

"Did you pay attention? He is a sorcerer! He practices magic and can
change his form into that of a girl. However, there is a way to reveal
his true nature." Kodachi held up a teakettle. "Hot water breaks his
spell and returns him to his male body. We will use that weakness to
defeat him as it will disqualify him."

The girls looked at each other. Without a word, they agreed on the same
thing. Kodachi had gone from being eccentric to full-blown loony.

--------------------

"You both now the rules. Shake hands and begin."

Ranma's opponent pulled out a squirt gun and fired.

"Whatcha do that for?!" Ranma growled angrily.

The referee glared at Furinkan's representative. "All attacks are legal
as long as you don't physically come in contact with your opponent. If
that had been hot water, you would've forfeited the match."

"Akane, this is ridiculous."

"It is not! Kodachi knows about your hot water 'problem.' She will use
that knowledge to make sure you lose. Even if she didn't know, you would
still need to learn to avoid Kodachi's tricks. She takes the rules of
Rhythmic Gymnastics Martial Arts _very_ loosely and adheres only to the
letter of it. A spiked club is not against the rule, she can use that
weapon during the match."

Ranma rolled her eyes. "Yeah. Yeah. Whatever."

"Don't 'whatever' me!" Akane yelled. "I'm trying to help you!"

"She can't be that bad."

"NOT THAT BAD?!" Akane rolled up her sleeve. "Thanks to her ambush, I
might have a permanent scar." She pointed at Ranma's second. "Yume is
still walking with a limp from when Kodachi attacked her." She waved her
arm towards Ryoga's second. "Ayashi has to wear make up to cover up
bruises on her face. Kodachi is worse than bad!"

Ranma was looking down. "Um, Akane."

"What?" she snarled.

"Ryoga got wet."

Akane looked down and noticed that among Ryoga's clothes and the piglet
was a leaking water gun. She sheepishly glanced at the seconds who were
staring at the pig in shock. "Ranma, help Ryoga. I'll explain this to
them."

"Whatever." Ranma picked up Ryoga and his clothes and walked off.

Akane sighed, her anger turning into nervousness. She had warned the two
girls from the gymnastics team that while helping train Ranma for the
match that they might see some things that defied logic. Akane had
foolishly hoped it would only be Ranma and Ryoga's skill, but should've
known Jusenkyo would have its own say.

--------------------

Ranma waited for Ryoga to get dressed to make sure he didn't get lost.
She sighed wondering how she could forget what Kodachi did to Akane.
Well, not forget but not giving it proper consideration. She had
received a lot of injuries over the years, and if she held a grudge for
every person who ever hit her-- she'd be going around Japan like Ryoga
seeking hollow revenge. But this was different since Kodachi hurt Akane
and her fight with Kodachi had yet to take place. She should take
Akane's advice more seriously... even if she hated to be taught by
someone who wasn't as good as her.

"Akane sure seems to know a lot about Kodachi," Ryoga said as he
approached Ranma.

"Well, Akane was the local champion before I got here. She's would have
to know about her competition."

"I guess. Ready for round two?"

"Sure."

Ryoga smirked as he followed Ranma into the gym.

--------------------

"All right. Let's try this again."

Again, instead of shaking Ranma's hand Ryoga fired the squirt gun. Ranma
flipped away and called for a ball. Yume failed to throw the ball with
enough strength. Ranma scrambled to get it.

Ryoga took advantage of Ranma's momentary distraction and fired.

Yume felt a few drops of warm water hit her and watched in amazement as
Furinkan's replacement turned into Akane's fiancee. She gasped, not from
the shock of finding out that Ranma has a Jusenkyo curse like Ryoga, but
that he was wearing a leotard. She got a good idea about what certain
parts of his anatomy looked like that only Akane should know about.

Ranma was experiencing a wedgy the likes of which would give nightmares.

Akane quickly called Ayashi for a ball. She whipped it at Ranma and the
ball exploded showering cold water onto him.

Ranma was relieved and readjusted the leotard.

Yume felt disappointed and blushed at her thoughts.

Ryoga sensed incoming doom as Akane was glaring at him.

Akane was tempted to beat up Ryoga, but knew that would be pointless. He
was a walking tank even before the Bakusai Tenketsu training. "As you
can see, Ranma also has a Jusenkyo curse. This allows him to enter the
gymnastics match, unfortunately the rules do state only girls can
compete so any hot water that hits him will cause him to be
disqualified."

Ranma scowled angrily at Ryoga. "Please keep this a secret. I don't want
everyone to know I can turn inta a girl."

The seconds nodded, but both knew they had to tell their friends about
this.

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------


                             --------------------
                       Chapter 14 - Hot Water Competition
                             --------------------

"And now the fight you've all been waiting for!" the announcer called
out.

The crowd began to cheer.

"The champions of the schools!" the announcer continued. "In this
corner, from Saint Heberke school for girls, KODACHIIIII KUUUUUNO!"

The referee glanced at the Furinkan judges of the match.

Kodachi waved to the crowd to gather the praise from her school.

"And in this corner, RAAAAAANMA SAOTOMEEEEEE!"

Ayashi, who had been selected as Ranma's second, leaned towards Akane.
"Is it wise to use his real name?"

Akane shrugged. "It won't matter." She was too distracted to say
anything else. Between the sleeping pollen in the flowers and various
attempts to get Ranma wet before the match, Akane was on her toes
looking for any potential threats. She really didn't like it that the
entire Heberke gymnastic team was visible as they watched from a bench
on their school's side. Akane scowled as she spotted a threat and walked
away from the ring.

The crowd was in an uproar about Ranma's name, but most of them
discounted any true connection. A few of the girls, however, had been
told by Ayashi and Yume about Ranma being cursed. They still weren't
entirely convinced that those two were telling the truth, and not joking
about this.

The referee looked at the Heberke judges and nodded to herself.
"Champions to the center!" The referee grabbed both of their arms. "Now,
shake hands!"

"Look over there!" Kodachi called out.

The referee looked while Ranma moved behind her.

Kodachi quickly fired her water gun but ended up getting the referee wet
instead.

"Attacking the referee is grounds for disqualification. You have been
warned." She adjusted her shirt; thankful she has chosen to wear a plain
white bra considering her white shirt was not doing a good job anymore.

Kodachi growled. "Your luck won't last forever."

"Today, Martial Rhythmic Gymnastics! The rules: no time limit, no
bare-handed blows, the match ends when one contestant is knocked
completely down, and if either contestant falls from the ring, she will
be the immediate loser!"

<Just knock her out of the ring. That way I won't have to hurt her
much.> Ranma sent her ribbon spiraling towards Kodachi.

The youngest Kuno batted aside the ribbon with a 'rope,' which was
really a rod as the announcer noted. She then attacked with the ribbon
that she held in her left hand. The edge of the ribbon ran an edge
across the mat.

Ranma hopped away as the ribbon came too close to her feet, and was
quite thankful for that reaction. The area the ribbon had struck the mat
exploded hot water. It had been held tightly by the mat covering which
cause the pressure of the water to shot briefly one meter into the air
when the water pocket had been pierced. "Cute. Real cute." Ranma ran her
ribbon across the ground causing four spots on the mat to likewise
gusher forth hot water.

The referee frowned looking at the mat.

"The mat appears to be filled his water mines, which Furinkan's champion
seems quite reluctant to touch."

Akane groaned. She should've expected that since the Herberke's team was
obviously not under the mat. However, she had been a little busy making
her own personal 'modifications' to the portable water heater that sat
behind Herberke's team bench.

Kodachi's teammates weren't going to get in her way after she knocked
out six of them with only her left arm. Besides, there were other plans
they still had to perform.

Herberke's gymnast hadn't even begun yet. She called for a ball.

Ranma would have none of it. She launched her ribbon at the ball as her
opponent was about to catch it. It exploded.

Kodachi spat hot water out of her mouth. "You vile cretin. You shall pay
for that."

"I don't think so." Ranma continued to attack with the ribbon, causing
the area around Kodachi to splash her with hot water.

Kodachi ignored the way her leotard clung to her and called flatly,
"Hoop." She hurled it towards Ranma's feet.

Ranma leapt into the air. Unfortunately the ribbon trailed behind and
was sliced into bits by the hoop's razor edge. Not to mention causing
the area she had been standing on to become a puddle of hot water.
Saotome landed on the rope, seeing that most of the ring was now a large
hot water pool. She surveyed her options for what to do next.

Kodachi signaled her teammates into action. Six of them pulled out hot
water guns, but before they had a chance to fire Akane slashed through
four of them with a ribbon she had 'borrowed.' The remaining two pulled
their triggers. Fortunately Ranma had noticed them and dodged. Akane
quickly moved to disarmed them.

Herberke's champion smirked and threw a club at Ranma. The club trailed
hot water as it flew towards its target.

Saotome desperately twisted to avoid both the hot water guns and the
club. She latched onto a corner post to avoid landing onto the
water-covered mat.

Akane had had enough of Heberke team's interference. She used the ribbon
to grab their teams' bench. She held her end with both arms and hurled
it into the air, taking a few members with it. The team scrambled away
from her, as Akane clutched her right arm in pain. She knew she had
broken a few of the stitches, but that should've been enough to keep
Ranma safe.

Kodachi scowled when she saw her team scamper out of the gym. "Let's end
this farce, shall we?" She signaled her second and advanced towards
Ranma. "Now behold the secret technique of Black Rose, the blow of a
thousand hands at full frenzy!"

"What an incredible technique! Kodachi appears to be attacking with
countless numbers of clubs!" the announcer called out in disbelief.

Akane smirked since she already taught Ranma the counter to that move.
Then she heard an odd noise above her, but saw nothing when she looked
up.

--------------------

"Are you sure this will work?" a leotard clad girl asked.

"Of course it will," another girl replied, pushing up her glasses.
"Though I do hope MIT doesn't find out HOW I joined the gymnastic team."

The announcer's words concerning Kodachi's multi-club strike echoed to
where they were.

The girl with glasses smiled evilly. "Now to turn the sprinkler systems
on."

--------------------

Ranma landed after forcing Kodachi to drop all twenty of her clubs with
a well aimed ball. Saotome called for the rope coming up with a plan to
finish this. She then felt a couple drops of water, hot water.

Soon the entire gym was in a ruckus as the fire sprinklers started
showering everyone in hot water. It ended shortly after it began, but
the damage had been done.

Ranma clung to the outside of the corner post in an attempt to better
conceal certain parts of his anatomy that leotards would not hide well.

Kodachi pointed at Ranma. "My opponent is obviously a male now. He must
be disqualified!"

The judges debated the point, while the referee cleared her voice. "The
rules do not invalidate a competitor if he or she has already been
accepted as a representative by all schools involved. By not objecting
to Saotome, Saint Heberke accepted him as Furinkan's champion."

Heberke's judge stepped forward. "How were we to know he was a guy?"

"Check his school records. I did this morning when I heard the rumor
that Ranma was really a guy."

Furinkan's judge and the visiting judge from Tomobiki agreed to the
referee's reasoning. Herberke's judge didn't bother to vote since the
verdict was already in.

Ayashi splashed Ranma with cold water, and Saotome quickly adjusted her
leotard and prepared to finish this.

The crowd was absolutely speechless, particularly Furinkan's section.
They tried to grasp the notion before them- that Ranma was both a guy
and a girl.

"Woe is it that the referee and the judges falter in their judgement
when clearly Saotome is not fit to compete in a female sport," Kuno
bellowed. After a short pause, he corrected himself, "Or in any male
sport for that matter."

Akane was piiiiiissed. All her work was for nothing. Ranma had still
gotten wet, and he had not needed her help. She plopped down in a seat
near Furinkan's corner and applied a new bandage to her arm.

The referee called for them to resume the match. She spared a glare at
Kodachi. <Hope this'll teach you to stop playing with the rules.>

Kodachi was livid. She was going to make not only Saotome pay, but also
the referee and those judges pay as well. They were making a mockery of
her sport. She kicked up a pair of clubs and rushed to attack.

Saotome caught Kodachi's left wrist with a rope and used it to throw her
out of the ring.

The Black Rose twisted and landed on her feet, however, she was still
out of the ring. She scowled at Ranma. "You may have won this match,
Saotome, but I will have my revenge. You have made a mockery of my sport
and I shall see you pay for that!"

"Um, Kodachi-san," Akane interrupted. "Didn't you start making a mockery
of it when you began to attack opponents before the match and by playing
loosely with the wording of the rules."

Kodachi glared at Akane. "I won't forget how you've interfered in this
either."

"One other thing." Akane smirked. "With all those water traps, I thought
you would've chosen a different leotard. That one is awfully clingy."

Kodachi looked down and saw how it clung to her private areas. Her black
leotard might as well be body paint since it left nothing to the
imagination. "I shall see that you pay for embarrassing me as well, both
of you! You have not seen the last of the Black Rose!" She jumped away,
but did not laugh as she left.

"Kodachi's leotard was certainly nice," Hiroshi drooled.

"I think I'm going to be sick." Daisuke clutched his stomach.

"Why's that?" Hiroshi asked.

"I was thinking about Ranma when she... he changed. Now I HAVE to get
that image out of my head."

"Ugh!" Hiroshi agreed. "Just one thing. Is Ranma a guy or a girl?"

"Don't care. My interest in red heads is completely gone now."

"We could always find out."

Daisuke shrugged weakly. "I guess."

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------


                             --------------------
                         Chapter 15 - An Ice Cream Chat
                             --------------------

After Akane waved goodbye to Ranma as he went off with Hiroshi and
Daisuke to a sports event, she walked into an ice cream parlor. She
remembered being here two years ago. Well, two years for her, today to
everyone else.

Akane thought back to how she had a fight with Ranma instead of waving
him off as she just had. A strange girl had seen the fight and felt
sympathetic to her. The girl then gave Akane the mallet she often used
on Ranma. Initially, she didn't want to use it and had Kasumi hold onto
it for her.

Akane often wondered why the girl had given her the mallet. She still
had it, since somehow her mallet had come with her into the past. She
vowed she would never use it on Ranma this time around.

Akane sighed as she sat at a table. The girl was not likely to talk to
her this time. After all, there was no fight to get her interested,
right?

"Hello," the strange girl greeted Akane, like she had two years
previous.

Akane blinked. "Hi."

The girl sat down at the table. "How are you?"

"Ah... fine and you."

"I'm in an ice cream parlor, so I'm in heaven!" the girl said
cheerfully.

"Um... may I ask..." Akane was uncertain how to phrase what she wanted
to say.

"Why I'm talking to you?"

Akane nodded.

"I was wondering how you liked my mallet?"

"It's... a... nice." Akane was looking to the metallic, polo-like mallet
strapped to her back.

"I mean the one I gave you."

Akane blinked. "But... ah... you gave me that er...."

"Today or two years ago, take your pick."

"How...." She then stared for a moment at the girl's strange tattoos on
her face, remembering how the goddess that granted her the wish had
similar ones. "You're a...." she started to say, then whispered, "You're
a goddess?!"

The girl nodded. "I'm Skuld. I'm aware you met my sister, Urd."

"Yeah...." Akane was having a little trouble with the idea of talking to
a goddess.

"So... how are things with your fiance?" Skuld asked.

"Um, great. He kind of gets scared that we're moving a little fast."

"Oh." Skuld looked at her, disbelievingly.

"We almost kissed and he then tried to push me away for the next several
days."

Skuld rolled her eyes. "Used my mallet on him yet?"

"No. I don't plan to use it on him."

Skuld sighed. "Now Akane, you are aware of Bakusai Tenketsu, right?"

"Yeah." Akane wanted to know why she asked that.

"That the true benefit does not come from the ability to destroy rocks,
but to be incredibly resistant to damage."

"I don't see... You don't mean I'm suppose to hit him!" Akane's eyes
widen in shock.

"Of course, how else is that pervert going to take punches from some of
his stronger opponents like Ryoga?"

"I can't... I won't hit Ranma again." Akane shook her head forcefully.
"I caused too much pain last time around because I did that."

"So how is he going to take a hit from Ryoga then?" Skuld asked flatly.

"I... I'll teach him Bakusai Tenketsu. Why risk hurting him emotionally
when he can learn it as a martial arts move?"

"Then what happens when Ryoga goes to learn that move? Ranma wouldn't
have to fear it if he knows it, so he won't go through speed training."

"I just won't tell Ranma it's not effective on living things. He won't
try to find out that. He'd still go through the speed training to avoid
Ryoga's 'one-hit kill' attack."

Skuld looked at Akane evenly for a moment. She then pulled out a pocket
computer and inputted data at an incredible rate. "Hmmm.... That's not
good. He would be TOO resistant to damage."

"What do you mean by that?"

"That there is an eighty percent chance Ranma would become lax in his
training since his father wouldn't be able to hurt him, and Ryoga would
be the only one to be able to bruise him. So, when Taro shows up in his
cursed form, well... there is a good chance that things could go rather
badly for Ranma."

"That's not good."

Skuld nodded. "We need some way to make him more resistant to damage,
but some way to limit it so he won't be too thick skinned."

"Is there anyway you can find out if there are any martial arts
techniques that can do that?"

Skuld thought for a second and shrugged. She then started typing on her
computer. "I'll send up a search for the parameters he'll need. We can
eat some ice cream while it's processing."

Akane nodded with a hopeful look on her face. She had never considered
that by hitting Ranma she had made him a better martial artist. Maybe he
understood part of Bakusai Tenketsu and accepted those hits because it
was a form of training. It would explain why there were times he had
pissed her off for no good reason.

Skuld waved over a waitress and ordered a rather large sundae. Akane
would've ordered Devil's Delight special, but didn't feel right ordering
it in the presence of a goddess. She ordered a chocolate milkshake
instead.

"So besides Ranma being afraid of being tied down to one place, how are
things?" Skuld's feet tapped the floor impatiently as she waited for her
order.

"Well, things are changing from how they had been. Ranma just fought
Kodachi, and she vowed revenge for her defeat. Thanks to her, everyone
knows about Ranma's curse already. That has made school a little hard to
deal with. Harder than it had been originally."

"Well that was because they had more time to get used to Ranma and the
insanity around him. That Ranma and the 'pig-tailed girl' were the same
person answered many of their unvoiced questions. Questions they hadn't
begun to think about yet." Skuld's eyes brighten like a child receiving
a birthday present. Their order had arrived.

Akane mulled over what Skuld had said as she sipped her shake. It made a
lot of sense. "Anyway... Ryoga is still around to challenge Ranma, but I
doubt he's doing it to 'win' my love. Everything else is pretty much the
same except Nabiki."

"How has she changed?" Skuld shoveled in another scope of ice cream.

"Well, she found out that I'm from the future and because of that she
learned how much of a..." Akane looked up at Skuld.

"Bitch, right?"

Akane shuddered at the idea of a goddess calling her sister a bitch,
even if she was about to say that. "Ah... mercenarial would be better."

Skuld shrugged.

"Um, and she's changed because of it. She still does some things for
money, but not to the extent it had been. She's happier and has even
done things to help me without expecting any money for it. For some
reason she likes the idea of being the 'youngest Tendo daughter,' since
I am mentally older than she is."

Skuld's eyebrow quirked. "Why would she LIKE being the youngest? I hate
it."

Akane shrugged. There were plenty of times she hated being the youngest.

Skuld's computer started to beep. The goddess picked it up and started
to read off what it found. "There are three techniques that we can use.
The first is called Hifu No Iwa. A technique developed by an early group
of Muslim warriors. Simply put, you take someone to a wall and start
throwing rocks at him. Each day you gradually increase the number and
the strength they are thrown until the person is either dead or can't
feel it."

Akane shook her head. "It'd become a speed training technique as Ranma
would try to stop the rocks from hitting him."

"You could try tying him to the wall."

Akane scowled. "No."

Skuld shrugged. "The second is known to outsiders as Gansekiken but its
true name is Dairokkan, a Jokensuko technique. A beginner of this
technique would start with two rocks, an expert would end up with ten.
Each rock is hung in a forested area and swung toward the person being
trained. The rocks should not be thrown in any pattern as the person
should not know when any of the rocks would come at her. The idea is to
learn how to feel the presence of the attack and react instantly as well
as increasing the damage capacity of a punch by shattering rocks easily.
This will only toughen Ranma up a little, however it would increase his
ability to dodge so he won't end up being hit as often. This is usually
used as a prelude to Bakusai Tenketsu."

Akane nodded. This had some promise as it taught an actual technique.

"The third technique..." Skuld's eyes looked horrified. "Ewwww....
Forget it."

"What is it?"

"Let's put it this way, its was developed by the same idiot who came up
with Nekoken. Geez, hope this doesn't run in the family...."

"What?"

"Well, the guy who came up with those techniques was a Saotome." Skuld
smiled sheepishly. "It explains how Genma got a copy of it."

Akane buried her face into her hands. She did NOT need to know that. "If
Genma found a copy of that technique to increase endurance... what
should I watch out for?"

"Um, any large stone items like you would find connected to a water
wheel which are normally used powder grains."

Akane paled. "You don't mean that... in one end and out the other...."

Skuld nodded. "If he lives, not much can hurt him since he'd lose any
real sense of what pain is."

Akane massaged her forehead. For the first time since coming back in
time, she questioned whether she should marry Ranma. "Well, I like the
idea of the Dairokkan technique, but how do we get to train Ranma in
it?"

Skuld punched a few things into her computer while thinking over the
problem.

Akane snapped her fingers. "You said it was an Jokensuko technique,
right?"

Skuld nodded. "But Shampoo won't show up for another two weeks, and
Cologne a month after that."

"Yes, but that's not how we'd be able to get it. You see, Happosai was
at Jokensuko and stole a lot of their treasures, including scrolls. All
we have to do is say that among the stuff he left at my house was a few
of the scrolls that teaches martial arts techniques. This would not only
allow me to train Ranma in what he needs, but give an excuse for what I
already know."

"Well, you can lie to them about that, since I won't see them." Skuld
crossed her arms. "That does solve a few problems, and I might be able
to get you a few of the scrolls you need. However, I don't think you
should be the one to teach this."

"Why not?" Akane scowled.

"While you're a lot better than you were originally, you are still below
Ranma. He would resent anyone weaker in the art trying to teach him
'tricks,' wouldn't he?"

Akane sighed. "He would."

"Besides, learning this will hurt him. However, showing the scroll to
Genma so he can train both you and Ranma would be a good idea."

Akane brightened a little. "Right. I would get back some of my toughness
from when Ryoga trained me in Bakusai Tenketsu."

"Not to mention help your speed a little. After this, you might be able
to do Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken again."

Akane's face glowed. Finally a way to get back her abilities without
calling too much attention to herself. She couldn't just ask Ranma to do
some of the faster means of increasing her speed, they were a bit
dangerous and he'd never go for it. Genma wouldn't train her unless she
had something to offer him, a scroll containing a martial arts technique
would work nicely. "When can I get the scrolls?"

Skuld checked her computer. "Tonight. Come up with some excuse to do
some cleaning in the attic and leave some water out. A bucket will work,
though the bigger the surface area the better. Finish up tomorrow
morning, and I'll have left the scrolls somewhere you can find them."

Akane nodded. She didn't know what the water was for, but it didn't
matter. Then something caught her eye and she cursed silently. "I should
be going now. I promised to be home to get a cooking lesson from
Kasumi." She then picked up the bill and left a tip for the waitress.
"It was great talking to you. Thanks for helping me think through some
of those things."

"It was my pleasure. Thanks for the ice cream!" Skuld grinned.

"It's the least I could do. Will I ever see you again?"

"Maybe, only Dad knows."

"Ah... yeah. Um, bye." Akane left with newfound strength and hope to
face the challenges she already knew lay ahead of her since a goddess
was now helping her.

A moment after Akane left. A woman joined Skuld. A woman whose clothing,
well, barely covered what they needed to cover. "So, how'd it go?"

Skuld leaned back. "Pretty good, actually."

"So, is she going to play pound the fiance now?"

"She figured a way that should get around that. But she still might do
it later, the other suitors haven't shown up yet."

Urd eyed a guy as he passed the window. "I wonder if we could speed
things up and get them married before then."

"Don't you dare, Urd! The only reason we're here is because of your
screw up."

"My screw up?!" Urd stood up and scowled at her sister. "She wanted a
second chance, and I gave it to her."

Skuld glared back. "I wasn't talking about that. You actually did that
right, after a couple mistakes. I'm talking about the love potions you
gave them."

"What? I don't think one of those 'mistakes' was a mistake. Besides, Dad
asked for them to fall in love at first sight and had me do that."

"Yes, make them fall in love at first sight with each other, NOT
everyone fall in love with them at first sight."

"It worked, didn't it?" Urd crossed her arm. "So what if I went a little
overboard."

"A little?" Skuld couldn't believe her ears. "Akane had to fight dozens
of guys to get to school because their hormones are in overdrive, and
she still has a fair number of guys chasing after her. And Ranma would
have more women chasing after him if it wasn't for the fact his more
active suitors are all dan level martial artists."

Urd sighed. "What's done is done. No point to argue about it now.
Besides, Dad probably expected me to go overboard anyway."

"Whatever," Skuld grumbled. She then called over a waitress and ordered
yet more ice cream.

------------------------

Akane held a bucket as she stood by the stairs when Ranma returned.
Saotome was quite female and very upset. "What happened?"

"Nothing!" Ranma snapped. She couldn't believe how much of a pervert
Hiroshi was. She just couldn't believe how that creep kept asking about
whether or not he had had sex with Akane, masturbated as a girl, or if
she was really a guy or not. She felt a little ashamed about what she
did to him, but he deserved to be hit. Hopefully she hadn't hurt him too
much.

Akane sighed. She guessed this wasn't supposed to be Ranma's day after
all. He hadn't had much fun the last time because of the fight she had
with him before he left. She wondered what had happened today, but knew
prying anything from Ranma took a LOT of work.

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------


                             --------------------
                           Chapter 16 - A Rocky Calm
                             --------------------

Akane skipped up the stairs to the Tendo's home attic. Truthfully, the
area was not meant to store anything with its low ceiling. When this
area was made, it was to help insulate the house. But the unused space
was used to store a lot of things. Mostly the odd trinkets acquired by
various members of the Tendo family, including things her father
acquired while training under Happosai, her great-grandfather's war
journals, and even an old sakabato sword that strangely showed no signs
of rust.

None of that stuff was important to Akane. The pile of scrolls that
rested near her father's samurai armor; however, were exactly what she
was looking for. Particularly since they hadn't been there the day
before. Akane's eyebrow arched as she noticed a note resting on top of
the scrolls.

        In case you've been considering skipping the match against
        Mikado, don't. The battle against Saffron is more important
        than you think and Ranma will need the experience he will gain
        from that match and any others you might have hoped to avoid.

                                                        Skuld

        PS: Destroy this paper.
        PPS: If you want to talk over ice cream, I'll make sure I'm
        available.

Akane collapsed to the floor. How did Skuld know she had planned not to
reenact the match? She didn't want some guy to steal Ranma's lips. They
belonged to her and she would be damned if anyone took it from her.

Akane's face set with determination. There would be a simple way to
answer this. She could kiss Ranma before they would meet Mikado.

Akane looked over the paper and wondered how she was suppose to contact
Skuld if she decided to take her up on the offer. She really wanted to
talk about this.

There was no time to waste now. They would be meeting Mikado next
weekend. If Ranma was going to survive the Shiryou no Bonodori, he would
need the Dairokkan technique. She looked through the scrolls and
eventually found the one she needed. It was labeled Gansekiken, and
Akane remembered that was the name known to outsiders. It would be best
if she tried to remember to refer to the technique by that name. Akane
quickly glanced down the stairs and rushed to her room with all of the
scrolls.

-----------------------------

"Uncle Saotome?"

Genma raised an eyebrow. "What is it Akane?"

"I was wondering if you could help me with something."

"Oh?"

Akane nodded. "I found a scroll, while cleaning the attic, with a
martial arts technique and was wondering if you would help teach it to
me and Ranma."

"I might consider training it to Ranma, but I don't think I should train
you."

Akane's eyebrow twitched. "Why not?"

"You're a girl."

"So? I'm still a martial artist and from the looks of the scroll, it
would be a valuable technique."

Genma waved her off. "I doubt it. You just don't find martial arts
techniques like that."

"Like what? Under a pile of old panties?"

"WHAT?!" Genma was instantly leaning into Akane's face. "Where is that
scroll?"

"I'll give it to you if you teach the technique to me."

"Yes. Now give it to me!"

Akane pulled the scroll out of her sleeve and handed it to him.

Genma greedily grabbed the scroll and read it over. He then stopped. "I
can't read this. It's in Chinese."

Akane sighed. "There's a Japanese translation at the bottom of the
scroll."

Genma laughed sheepishly. "Fiendish of them to hide it like that."

Akane rolled her eyes.

-----------------------------

Calm, absolute calm was what he needed. The rocks would come flying at
him soon enough and he would have to defend against them. This wasn't
too different from some of his father's other training techniques.
However, this time the rocks weren't held by a contraption and in front
of him. Some of the rocks, like those thrown by Akane and Genma, would
not be attached to ropes, while those thrown by his classmates were.
Each of the rocks were, of course, the size of medicine balls.

Without warning the first rock streaked through the air and Ranma meet
it with an axe kick, breaking it into two. He broke the next two rocks,
but the fourth caught him in the side. The fifth was blocked while the
sixth one nailed his shoulder. The next two struck his back and Ranma
was knocked to the ground, which caused the remaining seven rocks to
miss.

"Pathetic boy!" Genma snapped. "You call yourself a martial arts and you
can't avoid some measly rocks."

"Shut up, you stinking panda! I only just got started. I'll have this
technique down before the night is done!"

Akane groaned. It would be a long while before she'd get her turn, since
Ranma wouldn't stop until he learned it or was unconscious. She wasn't
pleased that Genma had upped the number of rocks. An expert finishes at
ten, and yet he was starting Ranma at fifteen.

Kuno smiled evilly. He was thankful to Nabiki for informing him of the
opportunity to inflict pain on Saotome. There was no way this technique
could possibly help the fiend, and a good possibility that it would kill
him. Well worth the ten thousand yen the mercenary had charged him.

Hiroshi had similar thoughts. Saotome had overreacted to his questions
and returning the pain was just want he wanted. Especially in a way that
there would be no retaliation.

Kasumi frowned. She wished they had never asked her to help. She didn't
want to hurt anyone yet the rock she threw had hit him.

Nabiki smirked. Where once she would've charged people to see this, she
had opted, in most cases, to get them to help instead. It wasn't
everyday someone got to participate in helping a martial artist learn a
powerful technique.

-----------------------------

Ranma stood calmly. He would do it this time. Punch after punch smashing
rocks. He counted twelve, and then the rocks stopped coming. Ranma was
puzzled and stood for a moment. He then sensed something and whirled
around to see five rocks streak towards him.

"Sloppy, real sloppy, boy."

"That was a dirty trick!" Ranma retort from the ground.

"A martial artist must be prepared for anything!"

>THAWK<

"Uncle Saotome, shouldn't you have been prepared to block that?" Akane
questioned as she retrieved her rock.

Genma twitched from where he lay.

-----------------------------

Ranma smiled. Gansekiken was his. The rocks flew at him. From the left,
behind, in front, right, left, behind, right, behind, left.... Rock
after rock came at him. Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen.... All were
destroyed by a single punch to each.

"Enough," Genma said with pride. He had pushed the technique more than
it needed, and was improved because of it. No one would be able to stand
up against his son now. But just to make sure....

Ranma smashed the rock his father had thrown. Twenty-two rocks in all,
and he had beaten it. The technique was his.

"Congratulations, Ranma." Akane ran up to him and was filled with
emotion. Should she hug and kiss him now? She might get away with it,
but they were in front of everybody. Her father and Genma might try to
get them married immediately if she did that. While she didn't mind it
in the least, she knew Ranma would.

Kuno threw down a rock in disgust. "Saotome's vile sorcery is at work
since no one could not be hit by such a skillful attack. I must learn
how to counter his evil ways!"

Nabiki smirked. "You mean when you threw your rock at his back?"

Kuno glared at her and then marched away.

Akane shook her head. Even though Kuno knew about Ranma's curse, the
idiot was still a pain in the ass.

"All right, Akane, your turn." Genma wasn't entirely happy to train
Akane, but she did find a good technique.

"What?!" Ranma blurted. "You're teaching her the technique?!"

"Of course, boy. She needs to keep up with you, doesn't she?"

"No she doesn't! She'll get hurt doing this!"

Akane glared. "It is my decision to learn this. If it wasn't for me, you
wouldn't even have it. I need to do this to get better!"

Ranma clenched his fists. "Fine! Be macho and try to learn this. See if
I care if you break your skull!"

Akane stood in the center of the clearing, while Ranma stomped off.
"Begin!" she barked. Only five rocks were thrown and she blocked only
two of them.

"Again." Akane stood up and waited for the next volley. This time she
broke three of them.

Ranma watched as Akane tried to learn the technique. He knew she wasn't
doing it right. She was determined enough, but she was also angry. For
some reason he was glad to see her upset. It was a part of her that she
had been keeping buried. He didn't know why, and was afraid to ask.

Ranma shook his head as Akane was knocked down again. "You've got to be
calm! If you're angry, you'll never notice where the rocks are coming
from."

Akane glanced over to where Ranma stood and smiled a little. She had
been a bit angry because of what Ranma had said. She should have
realized why he said it. He was worried. But he also gave her a hint at
how to detect the rocks. She had to be calm.

The ultimate calm was the soul of ice for Hiryu Shuten Ha. Ranma had
tried to teach it to her, but she couldn't get it. Maybe she could try
to attain it now. With that calm she could do this easily.

"Again." Akane called. She tried to maintain the calm she felt. But she
couldn't hold onto it. The fear of the rocks hitting, the desire to not
disappoint Ranma or her father, and many other emotions interfered. But
she noticed she was a lot closer than she had ever been before.

Ranma grimaced as Akane only stopped one. But knew it was necessary. She
may have taken a step back in completing it, but she was closer to
learning it.

Calm. She needed to be calm. To feel the air around her as the rocks
violently pushed it aside as they approached her, to be the coldest
calm, to feel everything but yourself. The death of yourself on the
inside as nothing is left for you on the outside. The calm that resulted
in feeling nothing.

Ranma saw the change occur in Akane. She had gone cold. Colder than he
had ever known her. There was an emptiness about her that seemed to
swallow up everything around her. In a voice of ice, he heard her say,
"Again."

The rocks started to fly at her. One after another the five rocks were
smashed. The others who hadn't been throwing the rocks joined in, and
those too were destroyed. When the volley ended Ranma threw two as fast
as he could. Those were also demolished.

Akane shook her head and looked at Ranma. Reassured that he was there,
and not dead.

Genma frowned as he approached. "She beat you, boy. She got the
technique in less tries."

Akane crossed her arms, more to hug herself than to look defiant. "I
wouldn't have figured it out without his help."

"Are you all right?" Ranma asked, ignoring his father.

"I'll be a bit sore tomorrow, but otherwise fine."

Ranma looked at Akane and tried to figure out how to ask about what she
did, but he had no clue.

-----------------------------

"Hey, Akane, are you okay?"

Akane sighed. "Yes."

"You sure?"

"No."

"What happened when you learned that move? And don't tell me you found
you center or some other crap."

Akane looked at her 'younger' sister and back at the ceiling. "In a
sense I did find my center, a center that doesn't exist anymore."

"Japanese, Sis. Japanese."

"Remember what I said about shutting down mentally after... he died."

Nabiki nodded.

"I tapped into that. I shut off all my feelings, like I had then."

"Akane, is that safe?"

"I don't know. I doubt I'll truly be able to use the technique. It's not
something I want to feel again." Akane turned toward her sister. "I'd
like to get some sleep, so if you don't mind."

"Good night, Sis."

"Good night."

Akane curled up into her bed. "Please don't leave me, Ranma."

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------


                             --------------------
                           Chapter 17 - Lip Service
                             --------------------

"It's so cute!" Akane stared at the fluffy bunny that sat in a creature
catcher crane game. That would be perfect. "I've got to get it." She
plunked her money into the game and positioned the crane over the
stuffed bunny. Pressing the button, the crane landed on the bunny's head
and almost held onto one of its ears as the crane lifted back to the
top. "Darn."

Ranma moaned. He suspected Akane wouldn't be easy to deal with for a
while if she didn't get it. "Let me try it." He went over to the
controls, put his money in, and made his attempt. He didn't even touch
the bunny. Ranma growled and tried it again.

Ranma fished around in his pocket for anymore coins. He looked at Akane
who then wordlessly handed him some coins.

After twelve attempts, the bunny was lifted into the air by its tail and
was deposited in the prize chute.

Ranma handed the bunny to Akane.

"Thank you!" Akane chirped as she hugged it. She then started to lean
towards Ranma.

"Come on, Akane! Let's skate!" Yuka, with help from Sayuri, grabbed on
to Akane and dragged her toward the skating rink.

"But, but...." Akane flailed in an attempt to stop Yuka and Sayuri, and
was surprised by their apparent strength.

Ranma scratched his head. "What was all that about?"

-----------------------------

"Why don't you join the skating team?" Yuka asked.

Akane glanced at her. "I'll be too busy."

"Our school could really use you." Not to mention get Akane away from
her fiance. Yuka understood that Akane should spend some time with him,
but not every waking moment.

"Sorry." Akane looked over at Ranma again and frowned. He was eating
alone. Hiroshi and Daisuke should be with him, but weren't they? Had she
done something to prevent them from being friends? She hoped not.

The door to the cafe opened and Akane grimaced. She casually kicked the
stuffed bunny towards the isle.

"George!" a girl squealed.

Akane looked bewilderedly at the girl hugging the stuffed bunny Ranma
had won. She couldn't understand why Azusa named it George. Akane stood
up and tried to get her bunny. "Hey! That's mine!"

Azusa expertly dodged Akane's attempts. "No he's not. It's my George,
and I won't let you have him. Eek!" The stuffed bunny was plucked from
Azusa's hands. "Hey! Give him back!"

Mikado handed Akane the bunny. "Yours?"

"Yes." Akane edged away from him after taking the bunny.

"Forgive my companion's rudeness."

"That's okay. Thanks."

Azusa then attacked Mikado. "Give me back George! Give me back George!"

Mikado ignored her while he explained her tendency to collect things.
The entire time Azusa upped her attacks. Before she was about to use a
table, he had had enough. "Will you cut that out, you idiot?!"

Azusa sniffed. "I challenge you!"

"You want to fight with me?" Akane smirked.

"'Fight?' How nasty. My challenge is to a skating match. If I win I get
my widdle George back!"

Sayuri gasped. "Aren't they Kolkhoz High School champion freestyle
skating pair?"

"I'm Shiratori Azusa."

"And I'm Sanzenin Mikado."

"Akane, you shouldn't try to out-skate these two," Yuka warned.

Sayuri added, "They're the best of the best."

"So what? They aren't much."

Azusa glared cutely. "You really should heed their advice and back
down."

"Why should I back down from a thief?"

"Widdle George? Mommy Azusa will wait for you. When you're mine I'll hug
you, and squeeze you, and love you!"

Akane growled. She had forgotten how annoying the skater was. "There's
no way I'm going to lose to a nut like you!"

Ranma shook his head trying to figure out girls, and failing.

"I'm sorry. My partner has caused you trouble." Mikado leaned toward
her. "By way of an apology...." He skillfully guided Akane's face and
was about to kiss her.

However he was interrupted by a bowl filled with food smacking him in
the head.

Akane looked at Ranma and smiled.

Mikado walked over to the pig-tailed martial artist and pulled a fish
cake out of his hair. "Your message of challenge has been received. The
match will be at Kolkhoz High in one week from today."

"OH! That is so cuuuuute! Francoise! Francoise!" Azusa leapt trying to
get the fish cake from Ranma.

"The match will be pair skating. Is that acceptable."

"Whatever you want." Ranma got up and left.

"Gimme Francoise!"

"You twit! You ruined the dramatic tension."

Akane shook her head. "The broth dripping from your hair did that."

-----------------------------

Akane watched Ranma as he walked on the fence. How was she going to kiss
him before tomorrow's practice session? She had spent most of the past
week depressed from using her new technique. Then situations had
prevented her from kissing him.

Ranma broke the silence. "Ya know I didn't do that because I was jealous
or anything like that."

"Right. You couldn't let a pervert like him get away with that."

"Right!"

"Though you didn't have to stop him."

"What?!" Ranma hopped off the fence. "Don't tell me you wanted to kiss
him?"

"Don't be silly. If you hadn't stopped him, I'd have sent him to a
hospital."

"Oh."

Before Akane could take advantage of Ranma being so close, he jumped
back onto the fence and continued walking.

"Idiot," Akane mumbled under her breath.

-----------------------------

"Come on, Ranma. You've got to know how to skate before you can
compete."

The red-haired skater looked up at her partner. "What am I suppose to
do?"

"At least stand up. You look rather ridiculous."

"Hey! I just haven't done this before!"

Akane felt something slam into her side. She let go of Ranma as she fell
onto the ice. "Azusa! Why you?!"

"Oh, sorry." Azusa wasn't really paying attention to Akane. "Your friend
is in some trouble."

Akane's head snapped back to see Ranma sliding away uncontrollably. A
shiver ran down her spine as Mikado picked up her female fiance.

"Are you all right?"

"Mikado?" Ranma looked at the skater in surprise.

"Have we met? That's odd. I'm sure if I met a girl as cute as you, I'd
never forget it." Mikado moved in for a kiss.

*>WHAK<*

"Thank you," Akane whispered seeing Azusa knee Mikado in the face.

"Please do your girl-chasing later. We have to practice the 'Assault of
a Hundred Foes.'"

Mikado placed Ranma into Akane's arms. "You two stay out of the way. It
wouldn't do to have you get hurt."

Once signaled, a hundred men in hockey gear charged Mikado and Azusa.
Nine seconds later, the skating pair were the only ones standing.

"Whoa." One of the men groaned from where he lay. "No wonder they're
called the 'Golden Pair' of martial skating."

"Martial? This is going to be COMBAT skating? We can win! If it involves
fighting, there's no way we can lose."

"Sure. Once you learn how to skate."

Azusa skated over to Akane. "So where is my widdle George?"

"It's not George, it's B-Chan and it's at my home!"

Azusa pouted. "But I have such a nice collar for George."

Akane let go of Ranma, and the red-head landed on her ass. "You stupid
klepto! Ranma and I will cream you in our match!"

"I'd like to see you try." Azusa leg swept Akane.

Mikado was about to help the red-head, but ended up catching Akane. "I
must apologize for Azusa again." He leaned down and kissed her.

Akane stiffened. She was prepared to stop Mikado from kissing Ranma, but
she hadn't expected Azusa to attack her or Mikado to help her. She
hadn't planned on dealing with this. That kiss was for Ranma and he
stole it.

Ranma was stunned when she saw Mikado kissing Akane. That lasted all of
a second. Then there was rage. She scrambled to the side of the skating
rink that had some tables set up. As she got to the rink's wall she saw
what she wanted. Her hand darted and grabbed one person's steaming cup
of tea.

After splashing herself with the tea, Ranma shouted, "Get your hands off
her." He did not notice Akane was looking at Mikado with absolute hatred
or that her hands were balled into fists. He didn't see the aura of
angry chi around her. All Ranma could see was a pervert holding his
fiance.

Akane landed onto the ice and saw Ranma's fist planted into Mikado's
face.

"That's my fiancee you kissed, ya lousy prostitute. I'm going to break
every bone in your body." Ranma followed up his words with an axe kick
that missed Mikado but made an impressive crack in the ice. Fortunately
Akane had already moved out of the way.

"Fiancee?" Mikado scuffed. "Such bonds are fragile and easily broken.
However, damaging the sacred rink means you must die."

"It won't be my funeral, dick for brains." Ranma launched a punch and
ended up sliding past Mikado and into a wall. "Damn it." Saotome
launched himself into the air and crashed into the ice since Sanzenin
dodged easily.

"The fool, trying a suicidal maneuver like that." Mikado turned and
barely dodged Ranma's kick. The pig-tailed martial artist fell to the
ice and did the splits, while the martial arts skater's sweater and shirt
were ripped.

The men watching grimaced thinking Ranma should be in pain.

"I usually don't use this technique on an amateur, but I'll make an
exception in your pitiful case." Mikado raised his arms and one leg and
began to spin.

"Shiryou no Bonodori," Akane whispered. The dance of death was nearly
unbeatable. True, Ranma had defeated it before, but it was still a
powerful technique and Ranma foolishly jumped into it. The combatants
became a blur of motion, but eventually Saotome was hurled from it and
Mikado stopped spinning.

Seven hundred and forty nine? Geez, Ranma was pissed. Akane couldn't
help but smile a little at that. She skated over to him. "Are you all
right?"

"Ah, yeah." Ranma flipped trying to land standing up, but ended up
knocking himself unconscious.

"It looks like a draw, hmmm?" Azusa noted.

"Ranma won."

"What do you mean by that?" Azusa looked over at Mikado who was
beginning to lean. He then crashed to the ice, but didn't otherwise
move.

-----------------------------

"Hey, Akane, are you okay?"

"I should be asking you that." Akane didn't move from where she was
sitting in the dojo.

Ranma fidgeted with a few of his bandages. "I've had worse. But you seem
upset."

"Well, that's because I am upset! Mikado shouldn't have been able to
kiss me."

"Um, was he your first kiss?"

Akane looked over at Ranma and saw him blushing. "No, but as far as I'm
concerned, this one didn't count either."

"Huh?"

Akane sighed. "I've been kissed a few time, but never in a way that
meant anything."

Ranma scratched his head. "What do you mean by that?"

"The only time I initiated a kiss was during a play, and we used duct
tape to prevent our lips from touching. The rest were all the guy's
idea, not mine. I'm not going to count it unless I wanted to be kissed."

"And you didn't want to be kissed by Mikado?"

"Of course not. He's a sex crazed deviant."

Ranma turned and walked away. He wanted to ask her a few more questions,
but wasn't sure he wanted the answers.

Akane listened as Ranma's footsteps grew lighter and lighter. When she
could no longer hear them she punched the floor. "Damn it!" She had
wanted her first kiss in this life to be to Ranma, but Mikado took that
away. She still had to kiss him soon or Shampoo would be his first kiss.
But how was she supposed to approach Ranma and kiss him? This had been
her best chance and she had missed it.

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------
 

                            --------------------
                Chapter 18 - Icy Competition And Fiery Emotions
                             --------------------

Nabiki folded her arms. "You really screwed that up."

Akane looked down sheepishly. "I know. Mikado shouldn't have been able
to kiss me."

"I'm not talking about that. You should have already kissed Ranma."

Akane glared. "It was never the right time to do that."

"If you keep this up, it never will be."

"What do you suggest I do? I just can't kiss him!"

Nabiki looked evenly at Akane. "Why not?"

"Because that would chase him away."

"Akane, kissing him might chase him away regardless of whether or not
it's the 'right time.'"

"But I might be able to lessen that risk if...."

Nabiki interrupted, "That's not why you're delaying this."

"Of course it is."

"No it's only one of the reasons, and a minor one at that."

Akane scowled angrily. "Then why am I delaying things?"

"Three reasons. Reason one, as you stated, that the 'right moment' might
not scare him as much. Reason two, you want this to be perfect and won't
let anything spoil it. Reason three, you're scared that kissing him will
chase him away."

Akane turned her head and glared at the air. "What's wrong with wanting
it to be perfect?"

"Because you're sabotaging yourself for one thing. There is no such
thing as a perfect moment outside of a romance novel. Besides, a girl's
first true kiss is usually perfect _because_ it was their first. It's
only imperfect when it's taken by someone she didn't want to take it."

"Or when he can't remember it."

Nabiki sighed. "That too. At least you can think of your first kiss was
to him and not Mikado."

Akane nodded.

"Akane, you're going to have to be more aggressive. Just kiss the boy.
Don't worry about it being prefect. It will be as long as Ranma returns
the kiss. As for chasing him away, you're going to have to take that
risk or let Shampoo be his first kiss. And if you do it at the 'right
moment' you probably will scare him more than if you just kiss him."

"How would that scare him more?"

"Because it would stir up more emotions than a quick 'hello' kiss would
do. It would be another sign for him that he'll never be leaving here."

"But I don't want to scare him away."

"I wouldn't worry about that. He seems more attached to you than before.
He already said that you're his fiancee and punched Mikado more times
than he would've if he had been the one who got that kiss. I doubt
kissing him would chase him off." Of course part of that Rock Fist
technique increased Ranma's speed and let him hit Mikado more times, but
Nabiki didn't feel the need to remind Akane.

"I hope you're right."

"Of course I am. Just don't do more than kissing, since that would scare
him a lot more."

Akane nodded and stood up to walk out of Nabiki's room.

"One last thing, do you want Shampoo to beat you in this?"

"Of course not!"

"Good, then go get him!"

Akane turned back. "But what if we can prevent Shampoo from kissing
Ranma? If he doesn't beat her...."

"With Ranma's luck, just expect it. Besides, we've got divine
intervention in this mess as well, and if Shampoo is supposed to be
here-- you can bet Ranma's will end up defeating her."

-----------------------------

Akane adjusted her outfit. She should have followed Nabiki's advice and
just kiss Ranma after their chat, but she chickened out again. She
decided a kiss for luck would be easier to explain and deal with however
Ranma had run off to his dressing room before she had the chance to stop
him, and the next time she saw him was at the rink.

Akane was tempted to kiss him anyway, but then people think she was a
slut. You just don't show public displays of affection. Mikado could get
away with it as a 'ladies man,' but the girl would be seen as easy.
Considering where he had kissed her, some people probably already
thought that, which would make kissing Ranma here much worse.

Ranma flexed his hands. He couldn't wait for the announcer to shut up so
he could pound on Mikado. First, for stealing that kiss from Akane, and
second for vowing to take a kiss from the 'pig-tailed blossom.' The
Golden Pair's flashy entrance only made Ranma more upset. "I can do
better than that."

"Oh, no," Akane muttered as Ranma picked her up, his hand holding her up
by her ass like she was a food delivery box, and carried her onto the
ice.

The extra practice sessions Ranma had this time made him skate a bit
better. He made it a couple meters onto the ice before losing his
balance. He started to fall backwards.

Akane caught the movement and flipped behind him and then lifted him up
and over her head.

Mikado smirked. "Isn't the guy suppose to carry the girl?"

Azusa was trying to stay standing while having a giggling fit.

"Shaddup!" Ranma barked. He would've rather that Akane had let him fall.

"George is already Azusa's!"

"There is no way you're going to win _B-Chan_ from me."

-----------------------------

Nabiki sat down and watched as the match began. "Didn't expect you
here."

Ryoga blinked at the girl. Where had he met her before? Why was she
talking to him? "J-just wandered in and noticed that match." He turned
his attention to the match and the food he got from a vendor, trying to
distract himself from the girl. "What got Saotome so pissed?"

"Mikado stole a kiss from Akane."

"Stole a kiss." Ryoga shook his head. "How can someone steal a kiss?"

Nabiki scowled. "Like this."

Before Ryoga knew it, Nabiki's lips were locked with his. Blood rushed
to his head and he fainted.

"Jerk," Nabiki muttered. She took Ryoga's food and munched on it while
focusing her attention back onto the match.

-----------------------------

Akane smirked as Mikado tried to stand. He was in obvious pain from the
gut punch that Ranma had just given him.

Mikado clutched his side. "To think that I could be brought to my
knees."

"For stealing a kiss from Akane, I'll do more than that. I'm going to
kill you."

Mikado smirked. "Jealous that your fiancee would kiss me?"

Akane growled. "I didn't kiss you, _you_ kissed me!"

"There's no need to deny it. I have won many hearts, and sadly broken
them as well. That innocent pig-tailed blossom is you sister, right?"
Mikado glance contemptuously at Ranma.

"No."

"She's not? Well perhaps Ms. Tendo has something to worry about. You did
get rather angry when I promised to kiss her."

Ranma growled angrily.

"Oh, please." Akane scowled. "That is not going to work. There is no way
you're going to break us apart."

Azusa glared cutely while grabbing onto Mikado's back. "Oh really?"

Mikado began to move. "Perhaps you don't know about the Golden Pair's
other name... the Anti-Matchmakers! Not _one_ pair we've face has stayed
together!"

"No way a cocky creep like you will beat us! Akane let's take them."

Akane scowled. Ranma was skating into a trap that Nabiki had warned him
about from the information that she 'collected.' They were up against
the Couple Cleaver.

Azusa leapt into the air and Mikado ducked as Ranma tried to take off
his head. Akane slid along the ice taking out Sanzenin's legs.

Azusa noticed that Mikado had been knocked down and changed how she was
falling. She crashed into Ranma knees first, driving him to the ground.
She quickly stood up and grabbed his legs.

Mikado glared at Akane, and gripped her wrists tightly. "We don't get to
do the Love Hurts Smash too often."

Both Ranma and Akane were soon caught into separate spins. It wasn't too
difficult to figure out what this attack was going to do, but it was one
they hadn't expected.

Ranma hoped Akane would also figure out how to beat this.

Mikado and Azusa let go of the Furinkan team at the same instant sending
the pair hurtling towards each other.

Ranma adjusted his body, praying Akane would do the same. He
straightened with his fist extended forward looking like a missile.

Akane contorted her body, and was now in a flying kick. If either Ranma
or her made a mistake or if the Golden Pair aim was perfect, they would
hurt each other a lot.

Ranma arced over Akane; so close that he felt part of her outfit brush
his body.

Saotome's fist rammed into Mikado's face. A sickening crack signaled
that his nose had been broken and he was knocked unconscious. Ranma
landed roughly on top of him. He quickly stood up and watched as Akane,
who looked like she was riding Azusa like a surfboard, slid into the
wall.

The wall exploded debris as the two collided with it. A moment later
Akane staggered from the hole.

Akane didn't mean for her kick to do this. But Mikado put a lot of power
into that spin. Azusa probably had several broken ribs from the kick.
The wall didn't help matters.

-----------------------------

"Hey. Are you okay?"

Akane took her eyes off her skates. "I guess, Ranma. How is she?"

"The paramedics think she got a cracked rib or two. Nothing major."

Akane sighed with relief. "I thought I did more than that."

"Azusa may look small and weak, but she's got a lot of strength if she
can spin me around like that." Ranma shrugged. "Besides, Mikado's broken
nose is more of a problem. He's goin' to need a good surgeon or I ruined
his 'good' looks since the bone is now in five pieces."

"I hope he doesn't decide to get revenge."

"So what? On the ice, he's nothing; off it, he's even less."

"Ranma?" Akane gulped.

"Yeah?"

Akane stood up and walked over to him. "Thanks for caring." Before he
could reply, she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him.

Ranma froze not sure what to do.

Akane didn't end the kiss. She wasn't going to until he returned it or
pulled away.

Ranma slowly returned to his senses and could think of only one thing to
do. He kissed her back.

In that instant they felt the world shatter around them.

Oddly, the wall next to them did just that.

"Where Ranma?"

The pair looked at the Chinese girl in fright.

"You know where Ranma is, yes? Tell Shampoo."

Akane was in shock. She had forgotten that this was when Shampoo showed
up. But what was more was that Shampoo didn't recognize Ranma.

"He... SHE went that way!" Ranma pointed at the door. He tried to calm
himself, realizing Shampoo had never met his male side.

Shampoo growled and literally went through the door.

"Who was she?"

Ranma shuddered. "Someone I had hoped to never see again."

-----------------------------

Ryoga woke up in an empty stadium. He touched his lips, remembering what
had made him pass out. That had been some kiss. Not that he knew if it
was good or not, since that had been his first. But who was that girl?
He knew he had seen her somewhere before and that she knew who he was.
He could not remember her name though. He had to find out who she was.
He just had too.

And maybe get her some flowers too.

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------


                             --------------------
                     Chapter 19 - Obstacle Of Love And War
                             --------------------

How could she have forgotten? Shampoo was only the biggest pain in her
life, though Kuno came a close second. She should have remembered that
Shampoo had shown up then. But being kissed by Mikado and trying to
gather enough courage together to kiss Ranma, she hadn't thought about
the Amazon beyond that she had to kiss Ranma before Shampoo did. She had
been caught completely flat-footed when Shampoo ripped through the wall.

But Ranma's kiss was... WOW! Better than she had expected. She had
waited over two years for that kiss, and was not disappointed.

Akane shook her head. She had to keep focused. Shampoo wasn't just going
to go away. She was going to be a royal pain in the ass. However, Akane
had to keep up appearances. "Ranma, who was that girl?"

Ranma sighed as he walked on the fence. He really didn't need that
psychopath chasing after him again, and how was he supposed to explain
that to Akane? "I met her shortly after Jusenkyo. We were wanderin'
around China following the guide while in our cursed forms. We came
across a tournament fought by women. Pop and I saw a table filled with
food, and we were starvin' so we started to eat. That was a bad move,
since that was the tournament's prize."

"Where does that girl factor in?"

"Well, while eating, we watched Shampoo win the tournament. The prize we
ate was hers. She was upset, so I challenged her. I mean if I won, the
prize would be mine, right? She accepted and I beat her by quickly
knocking her off their battle log. She then came over and kissed me."

"What?! I thought I was your first kiss!" Akane knew it was just on the
cheek, but it still upset her and she had to play the act of not
knowing.

Ranma blushed at the memory of Akane's kiss. "It was just on the cheek
and, believe me, I didn't want that kiss. It's her people's promise to
chase you to the ends of the Earth and kill you. And when they say to
the ends of the Earth, they mean it."

"The kiss of death?" Akane tried to make it sound it was in surprise.

Ranma raised an eyebrow. "How did you know that?"

"My Dad's master left a few things in the attic. One of them was a
rulebook for female warriors of some obscure village. Can't be the same
place."

Ranma shrugged. "Well, that village does have a lot of women fighters,
and they do have that stupid kiss thing." He glanced down at Akane. "Any
ideas of how to stop Shampoo from tryin' to kill me?"

"If she follows that law, she has to decide not to kill you."

"Just great."

-----------------------------

Kasumi looked up from the tea she was preparing. "Ranma, you have a
guest."

Ranma collapsed to the ground in shock.

"Uncle Saotome brought her."

Ranma gripped the panda by his neck. "Are you insane, Pop?!"

Genma waved a sign, [She followed me.]

"Ranma?" Shampoo looked intently at the boy with the same name as the
walking corpse. "Hello."

"Heh... hello." Ranma waved nervously.

"Man." Shampoo patted Ranma's chest to make sure this wasn't some kind
of disguise.

"S-s-s-sorry to d-disappoint you."

Shampoo stood up and brandished her bonbori. "Where female-type Ranma?"

"Don't know."

Shampoo growled and swung at Akane, which the Tendo girl blocked. "You
tell where Ranma is."

"I don't know where she is."

Shampoo leveled her gaze. "You lie. Tell Shampoo or die!" Her bonbori
arced toward Akane's head, but the Tendo girl crouched below it.

"Stop it!" Ranma kicked the weapon, breaking its handle.

Akane watched in horror as history repeated itself. The heavy ball of
destruction flew into the air and hit Shampoo solidly on the head.

"It was an accident!"

"Ranma, you're too modest. Of course you defeated her." Kasumi smiled
cheerfully.

[Knockout!]

"No! I didn't mean to do it! She's going to kill me!"

Akane sighed. "It's worse than that."

Ranma gulped. "Worse?"

Shampoo blearily looked up and saw the man who defeated her waving at
her like a fool saying he had not done what he did. What no man has ever
done to her. Her gaze turned to Akane. "You must die." The Amazon leapt
into battle.

"What?!" Akane fell backwards with Shampoo, rolled and then kicked her
into the wall. She then paled. "Obstacles are to be killed."

Shampoo stood up and nodded once. She went into a battle stance and
sized up her opponent. The girl was better than expected. Probably still
not as good as she was, but her head was still ringing from male-Ranma's
blow.

Ranma moved between the girls. "What do you mean obstacles?"

"If her people are those Amazons who wrote that rulebook, by beating
her-- you would become her husband."

"What kind of stupid rule is that?"

"Is no rule. Is law!" Shampoo scowled angrily. Of course an idiot would
defeat her. At least he was a good looking idiot with a body that
probably would never stop. But, the girl was another matter. The boy
belonged to her and she somehow knew of their laws. Shampoo had to find
out more.

"What is going on here?" Soun stormed into the room.

Shampoo took the opportunity to withdraw. "Shampoo will be back for
airen, female Ranma, and nosy outsider."

Ranma blinked. "Airen? Who's Airen?"

Akane crossed her arms. "It's Mandarin for darling or beloved."

"I don't know, Father." Kasumi watched bewildered as Shampoo jumped
away. "Seems Ranma just engaged himself to another girl who wants to
kill Akane."

"Engaged? Kill Akane?"

"I'll go see if I can find the rulebook." Akane wished she had asked
Skuld for a copy. But maybe there was some information in one of the
scrolls. She turned around and saw Nabiki smiling at her.

"Already got it." Life was so much more interesting now with the gods
involved. Bumping into one after school the other day had been quite a
surprise. Who would think a little girl with a polo mallet was a
goddess? But Skuld had wanted her to give Akane the rulebook, so what if
she was supposed to have given it a couple days ago. The goddess
probably knew that Nabiki would want to read through it first.

"Where did you find this?" Soun took the book and stared intently at it.

Akane looked away from them. "Under some old panties in the attic."

Soun and Genma looked faint.

Ranma peered over Soun's shoulder. "What's it say?"

"I don't know. I can't read it. It's in Chinese."

Nabiki took the book back. "The law of the Amazons. In the event that a
woman warrior is defeated by an outsider... if opponent is a woman, she
must give kiss of death and kill her! However, if opponent is a man, she
must make him her husband!"

"Oh, my."

Ranma jumped up. "That can't be for real!"

Nabiki held up the book. "It's as plain as the Japanese translation at
the bottom of the page and quite real."

Soun looked at the bottom of it. "I was completely fooled."

Ranma really didn't like this. "Now what's this about killing Akane?"

"Ah, that's part of a different rule. In the event that a woman warrior
is on a mission, she is to destroy all obstacles. Akane is obviously an
obstacle for Shampoo to marry Ranma, so she has to be destroyed."

Ranma tried to look over Nabiki's shoulder. "How do I get out of this?"

Nabiki turned and kept the book away from him. "Well, the kiss of death
is simple. Change Shampoo's mind about killing you. She can revoke that
at anytime. The kiss of marriage, which she hasn't given you yet, only
has a few means of getting out of. You can kill Shampoo, get someone
else pregnant, or prove to not be worthy of being her husband."

"How would I try to 'prove' that last one?"

Nabiki flipped through the book. "Ah, to do that, you need to convince a
matriarch that you are the scum of the Earth, lower than dirt, a bad
name to the lesser sex. The problem is that we don't have a matriarch to
prove that to."

"There's no problem." Soun placed his hands on Akane's shoulders.
"Everything can be settled by getting Akane pregnant. If you need money
for a love mo...."

"NO!" Akane interrupted her father. "IF Ranma and I start sleeping
together, it'll be when WE want to do it." Her face was red, but not
from anger. She really wanted to take her father up on the offer, but
she knew Ranma wasn't ready.

The panda pushed his son toward her. [Of course Ranma wants to have sex
with you.]

Ranma booted the panda in the head while blushing. "Why would I do that
with her? That'd freeze my dick off."

Akane's glare promised pain and death.

Ranma gulped, perhaps he went too far with that. He'd apologize later,
when their dads weren't there.

-----------------------------

Ranma went through a kata, trying to clear his mind. There was the whole
mess with Shampoo. She wanted to kill his female side, and marry the
male side. Both were things he did NOT want. He had enough trouble with
Akane.

Akane, there was a person he still hadn't figured out. There were things
about her that seemed off. She seemed lively and all, but there was some
cold part of her that he couldn't identify. That there should be more
fire to her anger, more zest to her life-- but something was blocking
it. It couldn't be her mother's death, since whatever caused her to be
like this seemed more recent. The only hint came from Akane, that she
had two friends that she would probably never see again. But that must
not have been a big deal since her family hadn't said anything about it
and there were no pictures of them at the house. Maybe she was in love
with one of them, but if that was the case-- why did she want him?

Ranma grunted in disgust. He had to stay focused. He could try to figure
out that old problem latter. Not to mention explain that his comment
earlier was nothing more than to get their fathers off their backs. But,
now he had to deal with....

"Nihao!" Shampoo chirped wearing Chinese dress that covered less than a
towel would. "Airen no serious about... short-haired girl, yes? Marry
Shampoo?"

"No!" Ranma backed away from her. "Well, you see, um, Akane is, sort of,
my fiancee."

"Fiancee?" Shampoo paused, trying to understand what the word meant.
"Means is obstacle. Shampoo remove fiancee so airen marry Shampoo." She
must sound like a complete idiot, and here she was trying to impress her
soon-to-be husband. She wished she paid more attention to her
great-grandmother's Japanese lesson, but she never thought she'd go to
Japan-- much less end up getting married there.

"Now listen here, I ain't goin' to let you hurt her."

Shampoo moved in for the kill. She snuggled up against his chest. "Let
go fiancee, Shampoo no have to hurt fiancee." She rubbed her body
against his. "I be good wife."

If Akane saw this he would be a dead man. "I-I-I-I'm outta here!" Ranma
jumped onto the roof, running as if his life depended on it.

Shampoo fell since she had been leaning against Ranma. She got up and
scowled. She would make him hers. She jumped onto to the roof and began
to chase after him.

-----------------------------

How could he be so stupid. He didn't even know her name, much less where
she lived. If he could find it in the first place with his sense of
direction. But if he didn't find her soon, the flowers he got after
leaving the skating rink would become ruined.

Ryoga sighed wondering where the cute girl with brown hair and hungry
lips was.

"Outta my way!" Ranma hopped onto Ryoga's head as he passed,
accidentally knocking the lost boy onto the ground.

"Airen come back!" Shampoo ran over the partial crushed bouquet, further
ruining them.

Ryoga jumped to his feet, the broken bouquet held in his clenched fist.
"Damn you, Ranma! I won't forgive you for this." He then heard someone
sigh from around the corner.

Akane shook her head as she rounded the corner. "She's chasing after him
already."

"What did you expect?" Nabiki looked at Akane evenly while walking next
to her. "She has to by her laws, and you already knew that."

"I know." Akane then noticed someone standing in front of her. Ryoga had
that lovesick look on his face that she had misinterpreted so many times
before. No this time, she would not let him fall for....

"Um, agh, for y-you." Ryoga thrusted the broken flowers at Nabiki.

Nabiki looked at the assorted bent and smashed flowers and blinked. "For
me?"

Ryoga looked at the flowers and quickly hid them behind his back. "Um,
sorry, Ranma destroyed them. I'll go get you some better ones." He
turned around quickly and ran off.

Akane stared blankly in the general direction Ryoga had left. "Nabiki,
what did you do?"

"Nothing really." Nabiki shook her head to clear it. "I just kissed him
to prove a point."

"You did what?! You know how easily he can become attracted to a girl.
Why did you do that? He'll be following you around like a love-sick
puppy."

"I didn't think about that. I was just a little upset, since he thought
that you had let Mikado kiss you."

Akane sagged. "He's your problem. You're going to have to deal with
him." She started to walk toward her house. "Don't hurt him too much."

Nabiki tapped her finger against her lips. Maybe Ryoga won't be a
problem.

"I told ya, I don't want to marry you!" Ranma passed the sisters while
running on the fence.

"Wo ai ni!" Shampoo suddenly stopped as Akane stood in her way, despite
also running on the fence. "What fiancee want?"

Akane blinked at the Shampoo's choice of words, but that wasn't
important. "Let's settle this with a challenge."

Nabiki's eyes widen. Was Akane nuts? Ranma's estimate of Shampoo's
fighting skill far exceeded her little sister's skill.

Shampoo crouched into a fighting stance.

"Anytime ready."

"Tonight at midnight, meet me behind the dojo and I'll take you to where
we'll fight. Make sure Ranma or anyone else doesn't see you, since I
don't want anyone to interfere."

Shampoo grinned and nodded. "Trap mean you lose." There was no way this
girl could beat her. She might have some skill, but she won't be able to
stand up to a full Amazon warrior.

"Agreed." Akane nodded. With no one watching, she would be able to use
every special move Ryoga and Ranma had taught her. It would still be a
close fight, but she had a few tricks up her sleeve that this Shampoo
would not even know existed.

"Airen will be Shampoo's." The Amazon jumped away and went back to where
she was staying.

"Over my dead body." Akane jumped down.

"You're going to fight her?" Nabiki asked.

"It's the only way I can think to end this."

"But you can't beat her."

Akane glared. "Sure I can. I've got several techniques that I can use
against her."

"Yes. You know a few AMAZON techniques. Do you know what'll happen if
you beat her with those moves?"

Akane nodded sharply. "It'll bring Cologne here. And we need her to
train Ranma."

Nabiki folded her arms. "And just how are you going to deal with her?"

"That's what the scrolls I got from Skuld are for. I can use them to
'prove' how I learned the moves and then all I have to do is find some
way of convincing her to help us."

Nabiki shook her head. "That's a rather dangerous game you're playing.
One screw up, and you could lose everything."

"I know, but there is no way around it. If Cologne doesn't teach Ranma,
he'll never be able to defeat Saffron."

"I hope you're right."

"I hope so too."

    ---------------------------------------------------------------------


                             --------------------
                       Chapter 20 - Formula For Victory!
                             --------------------

Akane stood at one end of a vacant lot. She idly wondered how much abuse
this field would take in the coming years. It was or will be Ranma's
third most frequent battleground, after her home and Furinkan High
School. That was assuming that the field survived the coming fight.

Shampoo looked around the field of her upcoming battle. It was best to
get familiar with your surroundings before a fight, and this 'fiancee'
girl had the upper hand in knowing about this place. She detected no
traps or any signs that anyone had been here recently. She might be able
to trust this girl to a fair fight.

Nabiki sat to the side of vacant lot, munching popcorn. This promised to
be a spectacular fight. Too bad she couldn't sell tickets to it. She
mentally slapped herself, trying to remind herself what was on the path
of the mercenary road for her-- the complete disregard of other people's
feelings, especially her family's feelings.

Nabiki tried to calculate the odds of this fight.

Shampoo has been trained to be a warrior, a killer, since she was three
or four years old. Many of the publicly preferred martial arts concepts
just don't apply to her, and that can be a serious problem in what Akane
might consider a martial arts challenge. Shampoo would fight to win at
any cost, and death of her opponent was to be honored not scorned. The
dead Ranma speculated that Shampoo knew many of the Amazon techniques,
but was never in a position to use them effectively. It was kind of
obviously Shampoo at least knows Bakusai Tenketsu, considering how many
'doors' she had made.

Akane had trained in martial arts as a hobby off and on for about
fourteen years. With her father's lack of guidance in regards to what
the school, Musabetsu Kakutou Tendo-Ryu, was really about, Akane
developed more of a traditional view of martial arts. Meaning, killing
your opponent meant you made a mistake in how you approached the fight.
Akane had purposely trained in many secret arts for the purpose of
defeating Shampoo. However, the dead Ranma had some major concerns about
whether or not Akane was ready to fight Shampoo. Sure, this Shampoo
wasn't as skilled, but Akane insisted that her body was not trained well
enough to do some of her moves, like Kachuu Tenshin Amaguriken.

This fight was going to be better than some martial arts films, but the
risk that Akane or Shampoo would get seriously hurt was a bit high.
Which was why Nabiki had insisted on coming along. That and to make sure
Shampoo didn't cheat.

Akane watched as Shampoo nodded and went to a spot across the vacant lot
from her. "Let's make the terms of this fight clear. Winner will get to
claim Ranma. The loser is not allowed to give the kiss of death.
Understood?"

Shampoo snorted. "Yes."

Nabiki raised her hand, and then quickly lowered it. "Begin!"

Akane cast a quick glare at Nabiki then had to slam her focus back on
Shampoo as she was charging at her, shampoo and comb in hand. She
mentally swore as her opponent blurred and then disappeared. She could
feel her head being rubbed and massaged.

Shampoo smirked. Such an easy victory, though the move took a lot of
energy to pull off. But the 'fiancee' girl would be unconscious when
finished. She blinked when her opponent didn't fall but staggered away.

Akane clutched her head. She would not forget Ranma. Who's Ranma? She
had never known any Ranma. He was everything to her. Boys meant nothing
to her. Without him there was no reason to be in the past. Why was in
the past? To live through everything all over again. How did she live
through all of that? She would not forget the boy who died in her arms.
Maybe she was the one who died. She went into the past because she had
died. How did that happen? Happosai's monster attacked us because...
because she torched his panty collection and dumped him into a river?
Why the hell would she do that? But if that happened how could she have
killed Happosai AFTER she died? How did she die? Why did she die? She
didn't physically die, did she? She was killed but not because of the
monster, but because... someone died. But who? It wasn't her father,
Kasumi or Nabiki. Why would she feel like that if it was Ryoga, Kuno,
Genma, or even Sayuri or Yuka? Then who? WHO? A girl with a pig-tail?
She didn't like girls like that! Not until... wait! She NEVER had those
thoughts! Why would she ever think of things so perverted?! She wasn't a
pervert! The only reason was because... because....

Shampoo watched 'fiancee' girl as she held her head in pain. She wasn't
sure what to do. She used this shampoo quite a few times on Mousse to
get him off her back for a few days. He never reacted like this. Maybe
she should just put the girl to sleep, and be done with it.

Shampoo was standing over Akane ready to deliver a blow to the head when
the Tendo girl screamed. Chi flared around her knocking the surprised
Amazon onto her ass.

"You can't make me forget Ranma." Akane's eyes spoke of unnatural fury.

"Better than Shampoo thought." The Amazon stood up and got into a ready
position.

Akane struck out with an unrestrained punch, which Shampoo dodged
easily. The Tendo girl continued the relentless assault. Punch after
punch, kick after kick; and none of them came close to connecting.

Shampoo smirked. Her opponent was PISSED. She had rarely felt a battle
aura like this. A little farther and this fight would be over. The girl
wasn't worth the effort, but might as well prove the true might of the
Amazons. She frowned when 'fiancee' girl did a large arcing kick. It was
child's play to avoid, but it disrupted the spiral. Upset, Shampoo
launched a kick into her opponent's unprotected stomach.

Akane rolled with the blow, but it HURT. She tumbled completely across
the field. She immediately got up and charged at her opponent.

Shampoo dodged and grabbed 'fiancee' girl as she passed and slammed her
into the ground.

Akane pivoted her legs under Shampoo, sweeping the feet out from under
the Amazon. Rather than try to get on top of her opponent, the Tendo
girl stood up.

Shampoo leapt to her feet. She had to get calm again. With this much hot
chi, she could blast her stupid opponent all the way back to the Amazon
village. She needed to be calm and get the annoying girl into a spiral.

Akane launched into another barrage of punches and kicks. She also added
insults with each attack, like horny slut and weakling, which were
spoken in practiced Mandarin.

Screw the spiral. There was no way Shampoo would tolerate anyone
insulting her like that. She attacked.

Akane grunted from the blows she was receiving. But with Shampoo coming
on to the offensive, at least she had started to land some hits herself.
Unfortunately for every one of her hits, the Amazon stuck four times and
probably with more power. She just needed a little more....

Nabiki was glad she brought a lot of popcorn, because it was better to
munch on that than her fingers. The battle wasn't going very good for
Akane. She could feel the tension in the air, and it was causing her to
sweat. It shouldn't feel like it was ninety degrees where she was
sitting, considering the night air should be a brisk sixty at this time;
but that's what it felt like.

Nabiki winced when Shampoo kicked Akane a couple meters across the
vacant lot. She then noticed her little sister smile in a way she had
never seen before. The Tendo girl then leapt several meters into the
air.

Shampoo looked confused. She had ample time to get out of the way. The
Amazon decided to stand near where the girl would land to make sure she
would never get back up after she hits.

Akane closed her eyes and focused. Her thoughts changing from everything
she had ever hated about Shampoo to the worst moment of her life. At one
time it had been her mother's death. Now...

A demon attacking...

Claws striking blow after blow...

Blood soaking everything...

Collapsing after defeating it...

Finally saying 'I love you'...

And then dying...

In her arms...

Leaving her with nothing to live for....

Akane's tears froze as a mist of cold formed around her just before she
struck the heated air that was saturated with angry chi from both
combatants. Like a drop of water splashing, pushing the puddle it fell
in away; the hot chi was expelled away from the Tendo girl in an
explosive blast, sending Shampoo flying through a wall.

Nabiki was shocked, not at what she saw, but because she had been thrown
across the street from the sudden gust of heated wind.

Shampoo staggered to her feet and went to the freshly made door. She
blinked noticing the crimson fire around 'fiancee' girl's hands.

A ball of crimson fire raced toward Shampoo. "Feel my love for Ranma!"
Akane was crying. She couldn't stop it. She had lost Ranma once, and she
would never, EVER, loss him again-- not to Shampoo, to Ukyou or even to
death.

Shampoo flew back from the hit. This girl was toying with her. The kick
that disrupted the spiral was no accident, she knew about Hiryu Shuten
Ha. That wind attack proved that she knows how to manipulate hot and
cold chi. She even knew how to do chi blasts. Who the hell was this
girl? How does she know what she does? Shampoo would have to beat the
answers out of her.

Akane tried to rein in her emotions. She needed to regain her focus.
Shampoo probably hadn't fallen yet. She turned around quickly and saw
Shampoo jumping down from a nearby roof and rushing toward her.

Shampoo HATED being toyed with. It reminded her of her
great-grandmother's training. Tantalizing her with hints of a secret,
but making her figure it out for her own. She would make this girl pay
for playing with her. Her attacks were brutal, but most were blocked.

Akane knew she couldn't keep this up. Shampoo was too strong and
vicious. She had to stop her somehow. Backed into a corner of the lot,
she did the only thing she could think of. She lashed out with each hand
and poked the walls, causing them to explode.

Shampoo wasn't hurt, but the debris momentarily blinded her.

Akane couldn't shake the coldness of her soul, and so embraced it as she
had when she learned Gansekiken. She felt nothing of herself as she was
dead. Dead since the day her Ranma died. She then punched just as the
cloud had dissipated enough to see into.

Shampoo felt the chilling punch strike against her face, and then
another into her gut. She tried to return with her own attacks, but they
were countered. The Amazon was then kicked across the field. She tried
to get up but was hit by a freezing chi blast.

"Do you yield?" Even the girl's voice was frozen.

Shampoo's arms wavered as she tried to push off the ground. "Who you?
You know many Amazon techniques. But you outsider, so can't know. How
you know?"

"I'm Tendo Akane, fiancee to Saotome Ranma, and heir of Musabetsu
Kakutou Tendo-Ryu. My father's master left behind some scrolls depicting
some Amazon techniques and I've learned some of them. He got them from
his first love, Cologne."

Shampoo blinked several times. "What his name?" If girl's father's
master was her great-grandfather, that would explain how this Akane girl
could come across that knowledge.

"Happosai."

"Happosai?" Shampoo vaguely remembered that name. For some reason the
name sounded like it should be spoken with anger. She would have to ask
her great-grandmother about this.

"Shampoo, do you wield?"

"You win now. Shampoo go talk to great-grandmother about this. Shampoo
be back. Will finish fight later." She really would've preferred to have
left by some means other than limping. At least she was staying at a
doctor's office, and could get some help from Dr. Tofu.

Nabiki rubbed her bruised shoulder as she walked over to Akane. "Well,
you won. Do you think Cologne will be coming here?"

"I don't see how she can't. I know of too many Amazon secrets, Ranma
defeated Shampoo as a guy, and I have information on Happosai. All of
which would get her attention. I just hope Shampoo doesn't get cursed
because of this."

"I've been wondering why Shampoo had gotten cursed in the first place.
Cologne has to know enough about that place to avoid training her
great-granddaughter there and her dishonor shouldn't have been enough to
warrant it."

Akane shrugged. "I don't really know what had caused that." She then
winced in pain when she began to walk. "Let's go home."

Nabiki followed her 'older' sister back to their home. Akane was quiet
and she could still feel cold emanating from her. The Gansekiken
technique had won her the match, but what was the cost of it? It can't
be healthy for Akane to be like this.

"Akane!" Ranma ran over to the two girls. "Where have you been? Akane,
what happened to you?"

Akane stared up at Ranma and started crying. She then hugged him
tightly, unable to say anything.

Ranma looked at Nabiki questioningly.

Nabiki sighed. "Akane fought Shampoo and won."

"She what?!"

"She defeated Shampoo, barely. She used the Gansekiken against the
Amazon, and well she didn't master it the same way you did."

Ranma nodded. His suggestion during training had helped Akane learn the
trick faster, but she developed some cold aura while doing it. In order
for her aura to be like that, her soul would have to be freezing or
dead. He wished someone would explain what had happened to her, but
didn't know how to phrase the question. He wished he knew how to help
her. "Come on. Let's go home and get ya fixed up."

Akane nodded, but didn't let go. It was kind of awkward for Ranma to
guide her home, but she had to touch him. To know he wasn't going to
leave her.

-----------------------------

Author's notes:

Whoa! Never thought I'd get through all of it. Finally I've finished
Volume 2 of Second Chances.


Some translations:

Gansekiken: rock (ganseki) fist (ken)
Hifu No Iwa: skin of rock or rock skin.
Dairokkan: the sixth sense; intuition; hunch
(Hope I got these right. If not, please let me know.)

I'm using Japanese names for the techniques since I perfer to use the
Japanese names for the original Ranma attacks. If I use Hiryu Shuten Ha,
I felt I should stay consistant and use Japanese when naming the
techniques.

Too answer a few generic questions before I'm asked them, again:

Why wasn't Heberke disqualified when members of their gymnastic team
attacked Ranma with hot water guns? The same reason Ranma wasn't
disqualified when Akane interfered in the original fight, there isn't a
rule against it. It is not strange that it is omitted since I know in
many American football leagues there is no rule against it either. If
they don't have rules against coaches body-slamming little leaguers
while running for a touchdown (I'm not kidding), why do you suspect that
there would be such a rule in a gymnastic match in the Ranma-verse?

Skuld's comment about Urd messing up a little with Akane's wish came
about because of a side story idea I had for this series where Urd
failed to properly brace Akane's mind for time travel and meeting her
love again. To make a long story short, the first attempt had Akane
become loony with glee at seeing Ranma again and literally scares him
away. The next couple attempts would have similar problems. 

Why did Akane forget that Shampoo was going to show up then? Her memory
is not flawless and it has been a while since she read that section of
Ranma's journal. Not to mention that a lot is going on between the
skating match and the kisses that it slipped her mind. She also couldn't
be sure that Shampoo would show up at the same time either since
female-Ranma didn't make an appearance during the skating match.

In traditional Japan, displays of public affection were taboo. You just
don't do more than hold someone's hand. This affects relationships in
modern day Japan, as many people still hold that belief. Akane's
behavior throughout the Ranma series shows that she believes the any
public display of affection is wrong. If anyone was around, Akane would
stop any display of affection; but when she believed they were alone,
she was more than willing to attempt to kiss Ranma.

As you can tell, this is getting further and further from the manga. I
used to have a plot for this, but I have long since pitched it. The
characters have pulled this in directions I didn't expect at all and I
will ride this along with you. Beyond a few ideas for Shampoo and
Cologne as well as some timeline changes (rearranging when stories
occurred), I don't know how things will go.

I mean, where did the scene with Nabiki and Ryoga come from? Don't ask
me. It just happened. I didn't plan on it and until I wrote it, I didn't
even consider it. I'm blaming it on an odd comment from Michael Chase.
Besides, the Lost Boy could use a reason to show up at the Tendos. Now
this leaves me with the question: does Nabiki want him? I don't know
yet.


I'd like to thank the numerous people who've sent suggestions to this
series. I used a couple of them in this volume, unfortunately I can't
seem to find the mail from those who had made those suggestions. I still
like to thank you, as well as thank those who sent all the mail I've
receive for this series and all my other series and to everyone else who 
reads this. 

And a special thanks to my pre-readers, especially: Kim Trieu, JJang, 
HPackrat, Saotome-sama, and Michael Chase.


Comments and suggestions are always welcome.
archive@mich.com


Coming eventually (don't expect it soon): Volume 3
Ranma talks to Nabiki about Akane.
Enter Happosai.
How will Akane deal with the man who killed Ranma?
What happens with Nekoken?
Shampoo returns, but does Cologne come as well?
What changes will occur because of the Amazon involvement?