This is my first post to r.a.a.c.--C&C encouraged. --Kono duudu o 
(squn29a.prodigy.com)

[Moderator's note: apologies, this was his first posted fanfic, but the
queue ended up being LIFO]

Inspired by the creations of the incomparable, irrepressible Takahashi 
Rumiko
Characters used without permission.

Ranma 1/2 OAV (Original ASCII Video) 

    "HER"

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P A R T  O N E : N E W F O U N D  K N O W L E D G E
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 Darkness, all around. The air seemed thick and dense, almost liquid, 
tendrils of pale mist swirling, suspended in the oppressive atmosphere. 
 The dark-haired teenager took all this in, and moved cautiously forward 
in a randomly chosen direction. It was incredibly hard to move in this 
swirling air, like trying to walk on the floor of an ocean or...
 Or the bottom of a lake. That's what was going on here. This wasn't air, 
it was water.
 Instinct and human nature told him to panic, told him to flail about, 
try to lift himself off the basin of this body of water. However, to his 
own amazement, he was somehow able to breathe in this water as though it 
were actually air. Satisfied that he wasn't going to drown, he continued 
his slow hike across the level rock floor.
 He saw a number of large, pearl-like spheres scattered across the ground 
at various points, shedding a soft, eerie luminescence. There was no heat 
from the glow, naturally the water would prevent him from feeling the 
heat. He noticed something that looked like a wall farther ahead, and 
went in that direction, trying to pick up his pace.
 He had covered about half the distance when he heard the most agonizing 
thing he could remember ever hearing in his life. A female voice, soprano 
in tone, somehow seeming to be shrill and soft at the same time, unless 
that was a trick of the water on his hearing, screamed out in pure terror 
and agony over and over again. No words emerged from the incoherent 
scream. Immediately he began to run through the water, using his hands to 
chop through it as though trying to swim, yet not able to actually swim 
in it. He had to find her, save her, whoever she was, whatever was going 
on, he couldn't just ignore her cries. The sound of her voice told him 
she had to be around his age. The thought that someone might be doing 
something unspeakably cruel to a poor defenseless young girl enraged him, 
and his speed increased. The water ahead of him was now illuminated by 
more than just the glowing pearls; his chi had flickered into the visible 
spectrum, and he now glowed with a thin, faint blue aura, which 
brightened as he ran.
 He finally was within sight of her. He stopped cold and all the blood 
rushed out of his face. His aura abruptly vanished and he sank to his 
knees, not only having dispersed the chi he had summoned in preparation 
for a fight, but also the chi that was propelling his charge through the 
water.
 Before him, in a vast cavern, he saw two spheres floating serenly in the 
water. The smaller of the two spheres had a reddish tint to it. Inside 
the sphere, suspended in its center by a thick gel of some sort, was the 
girl he heard screaming. He realized her mouth was not opening to scream, 
and there was no air for her to fill her lungs with. The screaming he 
heard was inside his mind. But there was no doubt that is was HER 
screaming.
 He took his first good look at the outer of the two spheres. A faint 
bluish glow seemed to flow around the inside of the sphere like a river 
or a waterfall. A figure floated from behind the red sphere, and smiled 
down at him, almost wickedly. In his mind, he heard the voice of this 
figure. "You should never have seen this. It's just going to haunt you 
from now on, and you'll never be able to do a damn thing about it." A 
dark laugh echoed in his mind, along with the continued screams of the 
imprisoned girl.
 The figure laughing....the girl screaming...he knew them all too well.
 Especially the laughing one. He hoped that he would never in his life 
laugh the way this mirror image of himself was laughing, in his own voice.

 The laughter continued. The screaming continued.
 His mind finally gave up, and joined in the screaming, but his voice 
held one coherent word:
 "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO........................!!!"

********

"NOOOOOOO!!!!!!" The scream was cut off by a loud splash, followed by a 
crashing sound. 
 Saotome Ranma peeled the bucket off his...actually, her...head and 
glared at the dark-haired girl who'd thrown it at her. "HEY! Whatcha do 
that for!?"
 "You were yelling in your sleep, baka!" Tendou Akane glared at her 
iinazuke...ugh, sometimes it really made her sick that she was engaged to 
this walking sexual identity crisis.
 "Yeah well you didn't hafta bean me with the bucket! Bad enough ya 
splashed me, ya violent, kawaiikune tomboy..." Ranma-chan was silenced by 
a mighty blow from Mallet-sama. That damn mallet has to go, Ranma-chan 
thought to herself. Definitely has GOT to go.
 Mallet-sama vanished to wherever it went to without Akane even moving 
her hands. To this day, not even Cologne had figured out where the thing 
came from or how Akane could make it appear and disappear without anyone 
ever seeing it. Not even Mousse, who specialized in hidden weapons, could 
figure it out. Recently they'd begun applying the nickname Mallet-sama to 
it. One time Nabiki used the nickname in front of Akane, and Akane asked 
what she meant by "Mallet-sama." Nabiki smiled and said, "Hey, gotta show 
that thing some respect. It's called playing it safe." Akane had just 
blinked at that, and decided to accept the weird nickname.
 Presently, Ranma was picking herself up off the floor and stumbling 
toward the door shakily. She paused in front of Akane, seemed to be about 
to make some remark, then just sighed wearily and stomped heavily toward 
the bathroom.
 Akane stared after her for a minute. Ranma not picking a fight? 
Something's got to be bothering him. And he looked pretty worn out, too. 
It nagged at her all through her morning routine.
 
 At breakfast, everyone became very concerned about Ranma. He looked 
awful. He barely even touched his breakfast, shoving it in front of his 
father. Kasumi took the plate away just as Genma was about to dig into it,
and offered it to Ranma again. "Come on Ranma-kun, you need to eat!" The 
others around the table murmured agreements, along with comments of 
concern. Ranma mumbled "Leemealone" and passed the plate back to his 
father without bothering to look at it.

 After breakfast, which Ranma didn't eat, Akane, Ranma, and Nabiki 
grabbed their bookbags and headed off to school. They barely got outside 
the dojo walls when another figure leaped off the fence to join them. The 
new arrival smirked when he saw Ranma. "Heya Saotome, you look like hell."
 "Get lost Ryouga."
 "Whassa matter, Ranma, go twenty rounds with Mallet-sama this morning?" 
Akane smirked at that, she couldn't believe the nickname had gotten so 
far that even Ryouga was using it now.
 "Leave me alone, you jerk."
 Ryouga's attitude changed almost immediately. He did not like what he 
saw. Usually any taunt about Akane pounding Ranma into the ground all the 
time would be the same as a bell for the start of a fight. The fact that 
Ranma hadn't attacked him or even made a pig joke yet set off all kinds 
of warning indicators in Ryouga's mind. His smirk replaced itself with a 
worried frown. He moved to walk beside Ranma, and placed his hand on his 
arch enemy/best friend's shoulder. "Ranma, what's wrong?"
 Ranma shrugged off the hand. "Why do you care?" Their unsteady 
friendship/rivalry was not lost on Ranma. Both he and Ryouga knew that on 
some level, even though they fought all the time and loved to insult each 
other, if either one of them was ever in a jam, the other would 
definitely show up to help out. That's just the way things worked around 
here. Among all of them, the rivalries and bickering would always be put 
aside whenever something was seriously wrong.
 And something was SERIOUSLY wrong now.
 Ryouga never got a chance to reply. A bicycle descended upon them, 
missing Ranma and knocking Ryouga down. "Nihao!" Shampoo called happily 
as she hopped off the bike and glomped Ranma, otherwise known as Patented 
Shampoo Entrance #2. (#1 always annoys the people Shampoo is visiting 
since it leaves holes in their walls, but that never bothers her.)As 
usual when Shampoo did this, Akane glared, twitching one eye and starting 
to glow blue. Nabiki just smirked. Ryouga lie twitching underneath the 
bike.
 Then, something unusual happened. Ranma pried Shampoo off of him, and 
threw her at the fence HARD. Shampoo collapsed in a heap on her butt, and 
stared at Ranma in shock. Akane stopped glowing and glaring, and also 
stared in shock. Nabiki was hard to read, she seemed rather amused, but 
one never knows what's going on in her head. Ryouga had managed to unbury 
himself, and was looking back and forth between Ranma and Shampoo as if 
not sure he'd really seen what just happened. 
 Shampoo said quietly, "Ranma, why you do that?"
 Ranma closed his eyes for a minute, and when he opened them again his 
tone was unusually cold. "Stay the hell off of me, you stupid, crazy, 
horny Chinese airhead. Don't make me have to tell you again."
 Ryouga winced.
 Nabiki flinched.
 Akane fainted.
 Shampoo blinked a couple times, then quietly said, "That really how you 
feel Ranma...then I go...sayo...sayona...sayo..." She couldn't get the 
word out. All coherent speech robbed by a wave of racking sobs, Shampoo 
picked up her bike and took off for the Nekohanten as fast as she could 
pedal, crying all the way.
 Akane sat up, still staring at Ranma in shock. Even Nabiki's face now 
carried the message that there was something wrong here. Ryouga looked 
right into Ranma's eyes, and he saw something there that looked very 
familiar to him: depression. And something else, like terror, or horror. 
Something was definitely feasting on Ranma's mind. 
 Akane finally snapped into some form of conscious thinking capacity. "R..
Ranma...maybe you better go home and take it easy, okay? Come on, I'll 
walk you back." 
 Ranma shook his head. "You go on, you're gonna be late. I'll take Ryouga 
with me. I gotta talk to him anyway."
 Akane's eyes were shimmering slightly. "Al...alright. I'll be home as 
soon as school's over. Ryouga, help Kasumi take care of him okay?"
 Ryouga nodded. For once he was too deep in thought to register more than 
Akane's question. None of the usual daydreaming and trances had a chance 
of breaking through the concern Ryouga had developed. "Hai, Akane-san." 
The girls headed off to the school, Akane casting worried glances over 
her shoulder every few seconds until Ranma and Ryouga were out of sight, 
already going back inside the dojo walls.

********

 "Oh my, Ranma-kun! Ryouga-kun!" Kasumi was a bit surprised to see them 
enter the house.
 "Ranma's not feeling well. Akane asked me to help you look after him 
today," Ryouga said. He turned to Ranma and said, "Come on, better get 
upstairs."
 Ranma nodded. He said, "Hai, I gotta lie down or I'm gonna pass out." 
Ryouga nodded, Kasumi appraised Ranma with a deeply concerned and almost 
maternal gaze. She finally turned and re-entered the kitchen. Ryouga 
started helping Ranma upstairs. As they walked toward the stairs, Ryouga 
said, "You said you wanted to talk to me about something..."
 Ranma nodded. He spoke, but his voice was strained. Whatever had him 
down was physically fatiguing him. "Yeah...wait...till I've had a chance 
to rest a few minutes." 
 
 They got up to Ranma's room, and without even thinking about it, Ryouga 
picked Ranma up and laid him gently on his futon. Ranma didn't protest or 
make any noise about it. That especially worried Ryouga. He and Ranma had 
one thing in common, they were both pretty stubborn and very proud. Ranma 
would never show such weakness in front of a friend or a rival. Ryouga 
was silently thankful that Ranma was not in his girl form right now. If 
he had been, Ryouga would probably have stroked her forehead or something 
similar that he might do to soothe an upset girl...if that were to happen,
and Ranma remembered it when he got back to normal...it would embarrass 
him to the point that he wouldn't be able to look at anyone. As much as 
he may hate Ranma at times, Ryouga didn't think he could ever bear to see 
him like that. That would be even worse than what lay before him right 
now. 
 A moment later, the door opened. Kasumi stepped in, and set a tray with 
a couple glasses, a small ice container, and a six pack of sodas beside 
Ryouga, who thanked her, and then she withdrew silently from the room, 
closing the door.
 Ryouga set about filling the glasses with ice and soda, and placing a 
straw in each one, he handed one to Ranma. Ranma took it, sipped it, and 
set it down between the futon and Ryouga. Ryouga took a long sip of his 
soda and set it down on the tray. 
 Ranma closed his eyes for a moment. Ryouga steeled himself, then asked, 
"Ranma, what on earth happened to you? I've seen you come out of battles 
that you should have been killed in still cracking jokes and insults as 
if it was just another usual day. I've never seen you rattled this badly. 
What the hell did this to you?"
 Ranma took a deep breath, let it out in a soft sigh. He opened his eyes, 
and looked up at the ceiling. He spoke softly. "Ryouga...y'ever think 
about...y'know...him?"
 Ryouga blinked. "Who?"
 "Y'know, P-chan."
 "Huh?" Ryouga was beginning to wonder if Ranma was even sane enough to 
carry on a conversation right about now.
 "The original P-chan. The pig that drowned in that spring over 1000 
years ago in Jusenkyo."
 Ryouga blinked. "I never really gave it much thought...I mean, I guess 
I've wondered just how much I look like that little pig when I'm P-chan...
other than that, I don't really think about it that much."
 Ranma swallowed. "I do," he said quietly.
 "You think about the pig?" Ryouga was feeling a little lost here.
 Ranma blew out another sighing breath. "That's not what I meant." 
Swallowing again, he said, "Sometimes I just wonder. Who was she? What 
kind of girl was she? Did she have a iinazuke or a boyfriend or anything 
like that?" He let out another of those sighing breaths. 
 Ryouga nodded, understanding at last. "I probably would too if it was me 
who fell in there. I mean, you don't give much thought to a pig, it's 
just an animal...but that girl who drowned there..."
 "She was a person, she had a life, and whatever she was doing at 
Jusenkyo, however she wound up getting drowned, it was too soon. Nobody 
should ever have to die that young."
 Ryouga nodded, closing his eyes for a moment, trains of thought about 
the poor unfortunate girl forming in his mind now as well. "It's like the 
guide always says. Terrible tragedy."
 Ranma opened his eyes, and turned to look at Ryouga, who met his gaze. 
"Ryouga, I'm beginning to think that...well..."
 Ryouga urged him on with a nod.
 "Did you ever wonder if maybe the springs carry more than the form of 
whatever drowned there?"
 Ryouga was confused again. "I don't follow."
 Ranma sighed yet again. "I suspect there's something that maybe even the 
guide doesn't know about those springs. I think...I think that the souls 
of the things that drowned there are in those springs."
 Ryouga wasn't sure what to make of this. "What makes you think that?"
 Ranma swallowed again. He closed his eyes. "I've...I've been having a 
dream. It always stopped short before, but last night...last night...."
 The water, the spheres, the screaming, the laughing, his face, her face, 
all of it ran through his mind over and over again. His eyes opened, and 
Ryouga saw in them sadness, anger, grief, agony, fear, terror, shock, 
pain...the amount of negative emotion reflected in Ranma's eyes was 
actually enough to scare Ryouga. He knew more than anyone else about 
suffering and misery, it became his greatest weapon through the use of 
the shishihoukoudan technique. He'd become a good judge of these emotions.
 He figured that from what he saw in Ranma's eyes, if Ranma were to throw 
one of those right now, he'd blow up half the district. Seeing that kind 
of agony in anyone other than himself, especially in Ranma, threatened to 
numb his mind.
 "She's alive, Ryouga."
 Ryouga blinked. "What!?"
 "The girl. She's alive. The pig, the duck, the cat, the panda, the...
well you get the picture. They're all alive."
 Ryouga was now pretty sure Ranma's mind had gone fishing and didn't 
intend to come back for quite some time. "That's crazy!"
 Ranma shook his head. "No, it makes perfect sense. I can't believe what 
it took for me to realize it. There are very old souls trapped in those 
springs, Ryouga. And I think when we got cursed..." he swallowed. "I 
think we got more than their bodies."
 Ryouga shook his head. "Ranma, you're saying that we all have the 
spirits of the things we turn into and we carry them around with us!?" 
Ranma nodded. "Where the hell did you come up with that!?"
 Ranma took a deep breath, and told Ryouga everything about the dream.
 When he was done, Ryouga believed. 

 When Akane and Nabiki got home from school, they found Ranma and Ryouga 
sitting at the shogi board Genma and Soun usually sat at. Genma was 
watching TV and Soun was reading a newspaper, and both men seemed to be 
trying to avoid looking at the boys. Akane looked into Ranma's eyes and 
saw the same disturbance there that was there this morning. She looked 
over at Ryouga, and was surprised to see the same look there. 
 Kasumi came in, and said quietly, "They've been like this all day. Ranma 
went up to rest and Ryouga was in there with him, I think they were 
talking, then a little later they both come down looking like that, and 
they sat down at the shogi board, I can't imagine why. Father and Saotome-
san weren't too happy about that, but I think the boys' eyes scared them. 
They've been keeping their distance all day."
 Nabiki frowned. "This is getting intriguing."
 Akane glared at her. "Nabiki! Two very close friends are going through 
something so awful they can't tell us about it! And all you can say is 
intriguing!?"
 Suddenly, Ranma and Ryouga called out at the same time, "Kasumi, water 
please."
 Kasumi came in with two glasses of water. Ranma and Ryouga each took one,
 and in perfect synch, proceeded to empty the water onto their heads. 
Both were too lost in thought and in horror to care that Akane would see 
Ryouga turn into P-chan. Now, Ranma-chan and P-chan sat at the shogi 
board. The same look of horror was still in their eyes. They didn't move, 
didn't blink. Akane was staring in shock at P-chan, as her mind ran 
frantic circles. "I don't believe it! All this time, I've been sticking 
up for Ryouga because he's so sweet and nice, and I found out he's been 
sneaking into BED with me? That...that...OOOOHHH!!!"
 Kasumi came in just as Akane was about to reveal Mallet-sama. "Akane-
chan...I know you're upset with Ryouga-kun. But don't do this right now. 
He wouldn't have turned into a pig right in front of you unless he had a 
very good reason."
 "But...but...how'd you....he's a pervert! I'll...I'm gonna kill him!"
 Kasumi sighed. "Forgive me, little sister." Everyone in the room who 
wasn't in a trance gaped in shock at Kasumi as she briefly glowed a pale 
yellow, and raised one hand with the palm facing Akane's chest. "Silent 
Stun Technique," she said softly and calmly as a shocked Akane looked at 
the hand pointed at her, as did Nabiki, Genma, and Soun. A small flare of 
chi erupted from Kasumi's palm, and Akane slumped to the ground 
unconscious. Kasumi's aura vanished, and she smiled cheerfully and said, 
"Anyone want some cookies?" The others didn't need to be blasted to pass 
out.
 "Oh my."

********

 About an hour later, everyone had woken back up. Ranma-chan and P-chan 
were still in their trances. Akane wasn't about to disturb whatever was 
going on. She wasn't too keen on finding out what else her sweet, 
innocent older sister might be capable of. 
 Nabiki seemed to be reading her mind. "Who knew, eh Akane?" Akane nodded.

 Suddenly, Ranma-chan snapped out of her trance, and looked considerably 
more horrified than before. "No way," she breathed.
 P-chan came out of it, as well. He let out a quiet squeal, and the look 
of horror in his eyes had not diminished at all. In fact, it had actually 
gotten a bit worse.  
 "Hot water, please, Kasumi," Ranma-chan said, still very quiet. Kasumi 
appeared with a kettle. "Good, you two are done then?" She poured the 
water on them both. It took Ryouga less than 3 seconds to dress after 
changing. Kasumi turned to Akane now, and said, "Now, Akane-chan, I'd 
rather you not go attacking Ryouga-kun now, understand?" 
 Akane gulped and nodded. "I'm too curious about what's going on anyway. 
I'll kill him later."
 Kasumi smiled sweetly. "Good girl." 

 Ranma and Ryouga were staring at each other rather intently now. They'd 
managed to tune out the little conversation going on between Kasumi and 
Akane.
 Ryouga looked at Ranma for a while, and said quietly, "Ranko."
 Ranma took a long look at Ryouga, and said, "Ryokuroi."
 Both blinked a few times. Then Ryouga smiled slightly. "Damn ironic 
isn't it?"
 Ranma nodded. "I'll say. But I just don't buy it...I mean she couldn't 
be..."
 Ryouga frowned. "She is."
 Ranma shook his head. "It's just too weird to accept it."
 Ryouga smirked. "I---he---WE were there. Nobody would know better than 
us."
 Ranma sighed. "Well, one way to be positive..." He went over to Soun. 
"Tendou-san, I need to take a look at your ancestral records."
 Soun, as well as everyone else in the room, blinked. "Why, son? What's 
going on anyway?"
 Nabiki said, "Yeah Ranma, you guys definitely have some explaining to do." 
 "Some more than others," Akane muttered, glaring at Ryouga. To 
everyone's surprise, Ryouga actually snapped at her. "Don't start with me 
right now Akane-san. I'm not in the mood."
 Mallet-sama came close to burying Ryouga in the foundation of the dojo. 
Suddenly Kasumi was there in front of him. Akane couldn't break the swing 
in time and the mallet slammed into Kasumi's head. Kasumi gave Akane a 
maternally disapproving look and said, "Now, now, Akane-chan...do be a 
little more courteous. Ryouga-kun has a lot on his mind right now...let 
everything settle down first." She removed the mallet from her head--it 
hadn't even left a bump or a bruise--and pointed it head-first at Akane. 
Then she flared pale yellow again. The next thing anyone knew, Akane was 
being propelled out into the yard by a chi-charged Mallet-sama. She 
landed in the pond. Everyone stared in shock.
 "Kasumi, was that really neccessary?" Soun asked. 
 Kasumi smiled sweetly. "I warned her to let it go for a little while, 
she shouldn't have forgotten about that." Suddenly, her aura was gone 
again, and a wet Akane was trudging back into the house, pausing to glare 
at both Kasumi and Ryouga before stomping upstairs. Kasumi produced a 
very old scroll from the pocket of her apron. "Is this the one you were 
looking for, Ranma-kun?"
 Ranma nodded. "That looks like it. So long as it's the one that covers 
1500 years ago."

<continued next post>

(Kono duudu o-squn29a@prodigy.com)
<continued from last post>
 Ranma and Ryouga were poring over the old scroll when Akane came 
downstairs. Everyone was sitting around watching, wondering what they 
were looking for. Finally, Ryouga exclaimed, "Aha! Found it! Right 
here!"
 Ranma looked, and said, "Well whaddya know? It's true after all!"
 Ryouga snorted. "Duh, Ranma. Her pet tried to tell you that."
 Ranma snorted. "Yeah yeah whatever. I still say what could a dumb pig 
know."
 Ryouga was a little mad. "We are NOT dumb!"
 Ranma blinked. "Hey, what's with all that 'we' stuff anyway?"
 Ryouga blushed a little. "Ryokuroi is happy with the current situation. 
We spend more than enough time as a pig for him anyway...he does wish I'd 
let him lead more often though." Both of them broke out in laughter at 
that.
 Akane had had enough of this. "Is someone going to tell us what the HELL 
YOU TWO ARE TALKING ABOUT!?"
 Ranma and Ryouga looked up, and blushed, smiling nervously. "Well...
y'see Akane..." Ranma began.

 "It started with me having these dreams lately, where I'm walking 
underwater but I can breathe, and there's these spheres...."

 After Ranma finished telling about the dream, Akane said, "So that's 
what was wrong with you this morning." Ranma nodded. "I can see why," 
Akane said. "If it was me I'd have gone insane from that." She looked to 
Ryouga. "I'm going to put aside the fact that I hate you for right now. 
Have you been having the same dreams too?"
 Ryouga shook his head. "I didn't know about any of it until Ranma told 
me about it this morning. It's not the dream itself that's got Ranma, and 
myself, upset. It's what the dream implies."
 Soun asked, "Exactly, what, DOES it imply?"
 Ranma's turn. "Well, see, Tendou-san, after I had the dream, I realized 
something about Jusenkyo. I figure that everything that drowned there 
left its soul behind in the springs, and whoever falls into one of those 
springs takes the soul of whatever drowned there with it as well as the 
body." There was a collective gasp from all present who didn't know this 
part already. 
 Ryouga nodded and spoke next. "I didn't think Ranma was right about that 
at first, but I had to admit it was possible. So we came up with a way to 
find out for sure."
 Ranma nodded. "We've been in deep meditation since this morning trying 
to touch the souls of our cursed forms. I think we managed to get some 
kind of telepathic rhythm going because we both figured out at the same 
time that it would be easier if we were in our cursed forms.
 "It worked," Ryouga said.
 Soun and Genma both gave a low whistle. "Incredible," Genma said. Soun 
nodded. "If you two boys continue to demonstrate this kind of dedication, 
someday you could both be wiser and more formidable than Shampoo's great-
grandmother. Wouldn't you say so, Saotome-kun?"
 Genma nodded. "My son never ceases to surprise his father."
 Akane was anxious for the story to move on. "Okay, so what did you two 
get from this little communion with the spirit world?"
 "Well, first of all," Ranma said, "They're not in the spirit world. 
They're trapped on earth by the magic of Jusenkyo, imprisoned here. 
They've spent 1500 years in those springs, now they're inside us." Ryouga 
nodded.
 Genma spoke up. "Hey, wait a minute...Ryouga, didn't the guide say the 
spring you fell into was formed 1200 years ago?"
 Ryouga nodded. "Jusenkyo made a clerical error. Apparently whenever the 
historians were preparing the information on the cursed springs, someone 
accidentally put a 2 where they should have put a 5...they should have 
stuck to the traditional numbering system instead of trying to do it in 
Arabic."
 Ranma smirked. "Aw, come on man, we both know you don't really know what 
kind of system they were using. The only reason we know the date the 
Guide has is wrong is because Ranko and her pet both remember being alive 
1500 years ago and drowning around the same time."
 Everyone blinked. Akane said, "Ranko!?"
 Ranma grimaced. "That's the real irony in all this...well, one of em 
anyway. When I was able to touch the drowned girl's spirit and 
communicate with her, naturally one of the first things I wanted to know 
was who she really was. I thought she was putting me on when she said her 
name was Tendou Ranko."
 Everyone facefaulted.
 Ranma smirked. "Hey, I wouldn't claim that if it wasn't so. Ryouga can 
back me up and so can the old scrolls."
 "And how would Ryouga know?"
 Ryouga spoke next. "Because the spirit of the drowned pig is a lot 
smarter than you'd think, and because spirits don't have that language 
barrier thing." Pausing, he added, "Of course, with this curse I speak 
pig anyway..." 
 "Anyway," Ranma interrupted, "Ryouga's little soulmate was Tendou 
Ranko's little pet pig Ryokuroi."
 Meanwhile, Soun was reading the old scroll now, and suddenly looked up 
in surprise. "I don't believe it. He's right!" He pointed to a spot on 
the scroll which Genma looked at and nodded. "Just over 1500 years ago, 
one of the heads of the family did indeed have a daughter named Ranko."
 Ranma nodded. "The Tendou family was still mostly made up of peasant 
farmers at the time, but a couple of household heads who were spread out 
from the main group were determined to bring a warrior into the bloodline.
 One of those houses had a daughter, Ranko. She was the classic tomboy. 
She drove her parents insane. They wanted her to dress like proper girls 
dressed, she refused. They wanted her to accept an arranged marriage or 
at least try to go out and snare herself a husband, she refused. One time 
her father tried to get her to get rid of the little pig she'd found and 
brought home with her and she told him no. She was always getting into 
arguments and fights, she beat up any guy who tried to win her affections,
the girls all made fun of her and looked down on her. Finally when she 
was fifteen, her father had had enough of her, and cast her out of the 
family, and told her that for her sake she had better get out of Japan. 
Ranko took her little pig, who was her only real friend in the world, and 
set out to go to China."
 Akane shuddered. "That's...barbaric."
 Soun sighed. "At least we don't treat our tomboy daughters like that 
anymore...URK!" Mallet-Sama had introduced itself to Soun's skull.
 "Well anyway, Ranko spent a year travelling across China. A year into 
the journey, she made the stupidest mistake anyone could possibly make...
ironically, one I repeated in her body 1500 years later."
 Akane had calmed down now. "Which was?"
 Ranma gulped. "She wandered into Juketsuzoku."
 Everyone shuddered.
 "Ranko was given a fairly civil welcome to the village, and it was going 
alright for her until this guy named Deodorant noticed her and started 
hitting on her. This made the guy's girlfriend, Lotion, mad. Ranko was 
trying to explain to Deodorant that she wasn't interested, when Lotion 
showed up and started smacking her around. Ranko got ticked off, and she--" 
 Ranma cast a nervous glance at Akane, and said, "Uhh....this is not 
going to amuse someone here who has a tendency to pull a giant mallet out 
of thin air and bash people with it."
 Akane grew red in the face, and snapped, "What?" 
 Ranma gulped, and said, "Well...Lotion started smacking Ranko around, 
which made her mad, so she pulled a mallet out of nowhere and pounded 
Lotion into the ground."
 All around the room, people were trying to hold in snickers, and failing 
miserably. Akane looked very angry, and almost everyone was sure that 
Mallet-sama was going to be making a round trip. Then, she smiled, and 
said, "Well, I had to get it from somewhere." She giggled as everyone 
blinked at her.
 "Anyway, when Lotion came to, she gave Ranko the Kiss of Death. Ranko 
had no idea what was going on and just stood there babbling instead of 
making a break for it." Suddenly Ranma winced in pain and doubled over, 
gasping. Everyone looked at him in surprise. Akane cried out, "Ranma!"
 Ranma straightened up after a minute, and took a few deep breaths, 
rubbing his head. "Ow," he said. "Damn little..." He winced again and 
inhaled sharply. 
 Ryouga suddenly figured out what was going on, and broke into a wide 
grin. "Forgot that the link between you is still open, eh?"
 Ranma nodded. "Yeah, and just my luck she'd wake up and start listening 
in."
 Everyone looked confused, then Ryouga explained, "The links we made to 
talk to their souls didn't go away when we were through talking to them. 
They've been at rest from the strain of communication ever since. But it 
seems Ranko's paying attention through the link, and I guess Ranma said 
something that ticked her off.
 "But what did she DO to you Ranma?" Akane asked.
 Ranma smirked. "She yelled in my ear."
 Ryouga gave him a look. "Baka! They're in our heads! They don't talk to 
us through our ears!"
 Ranma smirked. "Jeez, it was a figure of speech okay? Anyway, Ranko had 
no idea what was going on, and she was trying to communicate to Lotion 
that she didn't understand. A few minutes went by quietly, then Lotion 
grabbed Ranko by the neck and tried to strangle her. Ranko broke loose 
and decided it was time she needed to get out of town. 
 "The only road leading out of Joketsuzoku leads right into Jusenkyo 
Valley. Once they got down there, Lotion caught up while Ranko was 
looking for an escape route, Lotion got ahold of her, and pushed her head 
down into one of the springs. Ranko struggled but Lotion was too strong 
for her, and eventually Lotion managed to kill her in there."
 Everyone gasped. Ranma, Akane, Ryouga, and Soun all seemed to be crying 
a little.
 Ryouga spoke next. "Ryokuroi was devastated when he realized his beloved 
owner wasn't alive anymore. He threw himself at Lotion, biting and 
scratching at her. She got mad and threw him off, and he landed in one of 
the other springs. Ryokuroi couldn't swim, and he drowned as well."
 Akane spoke. "That's...that's so sad."
 There were lumps in everyone's throats.
Kasumi finally broke the ensuing silence. "So, what happens now? What 
will you do about the souls?"
 Ranma looked uncomfortable suddenly.
 Ryouga had no problem, however. "Well, Ryokuroi is perectly happy to 
coexist with me as P-chan, and I don't have a problem with it. He's 
smarter than you might think a pig could be, and he's very nice. Couldn't 
ask for a better traveling companion." With a dry chuckle, he said, "Wish 
I'd found out about him sooner."
 Ranma, on the other hand, looked miserable.
 Akane was worried. "What's wrong Ranma?"
 He swallowed. "I personally wouldn't have a problem with coexisting with 
Ranko and letting her take over when I'm in that form, since she's almost 
exactly like I am as a girl anyway, but for us it isn't that simple."
 "What do you mean?"
 "It doesn't work the same for human curses as for animal curses."
 Everyone looked at him. He swallowed again, looking depressed and 
miserable.
 "A pig or a panda can coexist with a person easily because they're not 
from the same species. But when you have two human souls in a Jusenkyo-
cursed body, it's a different story. If both are the same gender then you 
wind up with someone with split personality syndrome. However, if they're 
of opposite sexes..." He gulped. "It can't be done. The female soul would 
confuse the male body, and the male soul would confuse the female body. 
Eventually, the cursed person won't have any sense of sexual identity in 
either form. It presents a lot of danger for the person involved."
 Genma nodded. "I can see where that would be a problem."
 Kasumi said, "So what about Ranko then?"
 If Ranma had looked miserable before, he looked like he was ready to die 
now. "Ranko's soul is imprisoned by my own. She can't get out, and I 
can't force myself to release her. She's only got two ways out."
 "Which are?" Soun asked.
 "One way involves separating my female form from my male form. The magic 
would have to be done perfectly. If it could be done, and done correctly, 
there'd be a male Ranma and a female Ranma...me, and Ranko. Completely 
separated, and Ranko would be free.
 "What's the other way?" 
 Ranma suddenly looked very tense. He began to sweat.
 "What's wrong Ranma?" Akane asked.
 "Hey Ranma you okay?" Ryouga asked. Ranma shook his head, and sighed.
 "There's only one other way to get Ranko out of there."
 He took a deep breath, and released it in ragged gasps.
 "If a technique can't be found to split me in two, then the only way for 
Ranko to be free from her imprisonment is..." He closed his eyes, 
swallowing a huge lump in his throat. "...is for my body to be locked in 
female form, and my...my..." He was fighting back tears now.
 "I'd have to be exorcised out of my body." 
 "WHAT!?" shouted everyone in the room.
 Ranma gulped again, this time his voice wavered as he talked.
 "If we can't free Ranko by splitting me in half, then...then the only 
way to free her is for me to be destroyed."
 Ryouga was stunned.
 Soun wailed.
 Genma stared at his son in shock.
 Nabiki didn't know what to think.
 Kasumi was worried for everyone in the room including the girl and the 
pig who none of them could actually see.
 Akane got on her feet, and ran from the house, crying.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
P   A   R   T      T   W   O   :   C   H   A   N   G   E   S
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Ranma sighed as he walked out of the clinic, waving goodbye to Tofu-
sensei. Damn, he thought to himself, not here either. Where the heck 
could she be?
 His eyes glazed slightly as that now-familiar voice spoke from the 
depths of his mind. *She's very upset, she'd go to a close friend.*
 *Yeah, but she's close to Tofu-sensei, I mean, she goes to him a lot 
when she's got something on her mind.*
 *Maybe this time she didn't think he could be any use to her. She 
probably wanted to talk to another woman about it, ne?*
 *You got a point there.*
 *Hey, ya spend 1500 years in a magic spring, you learn a few things, ya 
know.*
 Ranma smiled to himself as the inner conversation ended, then thought, 
hmm....where might she have gone? Who...
 "Aha!" He turned a corner and broke into a flat run.

********

 "You're not serious!"
 Akane sniffled, and nodded. "He's determined to help that girl's soul, 
even if he has to...has to..." She broke out in a fresh bout of tears, 
crying into her napkin.
 Kuonji Ukyou took her friend's hand and gave it a squeeze. "Don't worry 
sugar, if there's one thing I know about Ranchan, it's that he always 
wins. He'll come out of this just fine."
 Akane stopped crying, and sniffled a couple times. Looking up, she said, 
"You really think so Ukyou?"
 "Sure thing sugar. Come on, you know him just as well as I do."
 Akane wiped her eyes, and smiled. "You're right Ukyou. There's nothing 
to worry about." She stood up and hugged Ukyou, who returned the hug and 
said, "Now why don'tcha run on home, okay? Ranchan and the others are 
probably worried sick about you!"
 "Yeah, we are."
 Ukyou and Akane both turned around, startled to see Ranma standing there 
in the doorway. Akane ran over to him. "Oh Ranma...I'm sorry...I didn't 
mean to worry you like that..."
 "It's okay Akane. Let's just go home. Seeya Ucchan." Ranma waved goodbye 
to Ukyou, and walked home with Akane almost clinging to his side.

********

 "Look you guys, there's nothing to worry about!"
 Soun was in full wail. Genma had a thoughtful expression on his face. 
Nabiki was going over some figures on her abacus, but seemed to be 
rechecking something an awful lot. Kasumi had just put down a tray of 
cookies and given everyone a glass of lemonade, but nobody had touched it 
yet. Akane, Ranma, and Ryouga all sat around the table. Akane alternated 
between casting worried glances at Ranma and trying her hardest to stab 
Ryouga with her eyes. Ryouga seemed oddly serene and calm today. He'd 
been a bit out of it the night before, especially after the events 
revolving around Ranma's statement that he intended to free Ranko or die. 

 Today, Ryouga was like a completely different person. He wasn't the 
least bit nervous about being in the same room as Akane, where after 
yesterday he should have fled the area a long time ago in fear of his 
life. He wasn't angry with anyone, which didn't really count for much 
since Ranma was behaving himself for once. But there was something not 
quite right about him that nobody had been able to place yet.
 Nobody had spoken for a while. Soun had stopped wailing and was now 
playing go with Genma. They'd finally grabbed a couple of cookies and 
were gulping down their lemonade. Both still had rather worried 
expressions however. Nabiki finally straightened out her calculation, but 
her face fell when it didn't balance out right. She just KNEW she 
couldn't possibly owe Ranma 300000 yen. Akane was still dividing her 
attention between the Stare Of The Concerned Iinazuke and the Anything-
Goes Martial Arts Stare Attack. Her opponent wasn't even fazed. Kasumi 
was busily distracting herself by thinking about menu plans for next week,
making a mental shopping list, recalling the important points in that 
last book she'd borrowed from Tofu-sensei, observing the level of 
everyone's chi...
 Chi. She froze. 
 Chi. That was it.
 "Ryouga-kun...your chi is a lot lower than usual."
 Ryouga blinked. "How--how could you tell?"
 Kasumi smiled. "It's a knack." Everyone facefaulted.
 Genma said, "I don't understand. What could cause Ryouga's chi to drop? 
He hasn't been fighting, he isn't ill..."
 Ranma thought for a minute, then snapped his fingers. "I think I know. 
Hey P-chan, let's go outside for a minute."
 Ryouga stood up, and followed Ranma outside, without even making a 
remark about being called P-chan. Everyone got up and went to the doorway.

 Ranma stood with his arms behind his back. "Okay Ryouga, fire one off."
 Ryouga blinked. "Huh?"
 Ranma smirked. "A shishihoukoudan. Hit me with your best one."
 Ryouga frowned. "I dunno Ranma, that's not a very good idea."
 Ranma looked annoyed. "I know what I'm doing, you idiot! Blast me 
already!"
 "Ranma, no! You can't take a blast like his!" Akane called.
 "Son, what are you doing?" Soun wailed.
 Genma smirked. "Ranma, this is no way to prove your bravery to anyone."
 "Will you all just butt out? I know what I'm doing. Do it now, Ryouga!"
 Ryouga sighed. "Alright...don't say I didn't warn you..." He held his 
hands up in front of him, let all his depression build up in front of him,
fueling his chi. His eyes were closed, his breathing controlled, his 
mind focused on pushing it all down to rest between his hands. He waited 
a couple of minutes, until he felt that enough energy would be gathered 
to make a blast that couldn't do more than knock Ranma out cold.
 "SHISHIHOUKOUDAN!" he yelled as he extended his hands forward.
 Akane closed her eyes.
 Soun wailed.
 Genma shook his head sadly.
 Nabiki smirked.
 Kasumi watched patiently.
 Ranma stood there, a smile on his face.
 He was smiling because there was no glowing ball of pure depression 
coming at him.
 Ryouga stared. He blinked. He stared again. He looked at his hands. He 
rubbed his hands on his arms. They didn't feel any warmer than usual, 
there were no lingering traces of the blast on them.
 That's because there was no blast.
 "What the--?"
 Kasumi looked mildly confused. Genma stared in disbelief. Nabiki smiled. 
Soun stopped wailing. Akane uncovered her eyes, and was relieved to see 
Ranma standing there unhurt.
 Ryouga blinked. "I don't get it."
 Ranma grinned, and walked toward him. "Isn't it obvious, man?"
 Ryouga stared at him, frowning. Ranma sighed. "Ryouga...how do you feel?"
 Ryouga blinked, and said, "I feel fine, why?"
 "Anything buggin' ya?"
 "No, I mean, I'm worried about your problem with Ranko, I wish Akane 
would quit glaring at me like that because it's a little annoying, I'm 
confused as to why that didn't work, other than that nothing..."
 Ranma grinned wider. Ryouga blinked, then a grin slowly spread across 
his face. He laughed, and hi-fived Ranma. 
 Akane was annoyed by what Ryouga said about her glaring at him. She was 
also confused as to what these two idiots were celebrating. 
 Soun just looked lost.
 Genma was trying to figure out what he'd missed in that conversation.
 Kasumi didn't know quite what to make of all that, but she did know that 
whatever was going on, whatever caused Ryouga to lose his Roaring Lion 
Bullet attack was making him very happy. 
 Nabiki, who'd known the second the attack didn't happen, was busily 
trying to figure out how it was possible that Akane, her father, Saotome-
san, and Kasumi could be standing there looking clueless when she'd 
figured it out and she was the only one here who knew nothing at all 
about chi attacks except what she overheard in conversations.
 Akane finally blew up. "Will someone PLEASE tell me what the hell is 
going on?"
 Ryouga flashed her a slightly annoyed glance, but it was quickly 
replaced by a calm smile. "You do know what the secret of the 
shishihoukoudan technique is don't you?"
 Akane blinked. "Well...not really..." She tried to think. Something 
about heavy chi...what was it again? "I remember hearing something about 
heavy chi one time, but that's about it."
 Suddenly Kasumi understood. "Oh, heavy chi! That's what it is!" Suddenly 
she was smiling. "Oh, Ryouga-kun, how wonderful for you!"
 Soun was still clueless. Genma, however, caught on after a moment. 
"Isn't heavy chi the force of someone's feelings of depression, anger, 
and pain?"
 Ryouga nodded. "That's right."
 Ranma chimed in. "See, you have to be a pretty depressed person to be 
able to use the shishihoukoudan. It's a technique I'd never be able to 
master. I know how to do it, but I don't generate a lot of heavy chi. And 
when I'm really angry in a fight, I usually rely on the kachuu tenshin 
amaguriken or the hiryuu shoten-ha anyway. But Ryouga here, he's always 
been the most depressed being on Earth. On a good day he'd have enough 
heavy chi to throw off ten or twenty Roaring Lion Bullets big enough to 
blow up cars."
 Ryouga nodded. "That's right. But when Ryokuroi and I decided to coexist 
as one person, and his soul and mine joined together, I gained a lot of 
insight. He helped me take a step back and look at my life, and realize 
that being angry and depressed just doesn't work. All it does is make you 
a walking time bomb. People like me are just disasters waiting to happen."
 Everyone understood now. Soun spoke up. "So when you got over your 
depression and your anger..."
 Ryouga grinned. "I stopped radiating heavy chi. No heavy chi, no 
shishihoukoudan."
 Genma said, "But to lose your most powerful attack..."
 Ryouga silenced him with a raised hand. "Eh, who needs it. It's too 
dangerous to be practical anyway. I mean, I've used it in battle a lot, 
sure, but what if I unloaded without thinking? What if I got real angry 
at someone and released a Roaring Lion Bullet, and it wound up hitting 
people I care about? What if I got drunk, and started wallowing in my 
depression? My God, I'd blow myself up without even being sober enough to 
realize I was doing it, and I'd probably end up taking half of Tokyo with 
me!"
 Genma thought about that and nodded. "You're absolutely right, boy. That 
technique really is too dangerous."
 Ranma said, "But now, Ryouga's calm, and happy. So the bomb's diffused."
 Ryouga nodded, smiling serenely. "Yep, it's nice to be happy. And I 
don't have any reason to want to fight Ranma anymore."
 Akane blinked. "Ryouga not fighting Ranma anymore?"
 Ryouga shook his head. "Nope. I wanted to kill him in the first place 
for stealing my bread in junior high. But now I realize, he didn't steal 
anything. I hadn't caught it yet so it was still fair game. It's my own 
fault for not getting to it first. And besides, when I came here looking 
for him, he DID go out and buy all that bread for me to make up for it. 
And it was good bread too." Everyone laughed. "And of course, I was mad 
because I got knocked into that spring at Jusenkyo when I followed him to 
China, and when I found out it was actually Ranma who knocked me into the 
spring I was even madder. But if I'd been watching where I was going and 
paying attention, I wouldn't have been standing on the edge of a cliff 
like that anyway, and besides, falling in that spring was the best thing 
that ever could have happened to me. As for Ranma being the one who 
pushed me off the cliff, it was an accident. He probably couldn't even 
see me with his dad running right past me. Besides, he did me a favor by 
knocking me off the cliff anyway. I should be thanking him for it."
 Ranma asked, "And the other thing you were mad at me about?"
 Ryouga shrugged. "That. It's cool. I mean, I'm always gonna be her 
friend, if she'd ever stop glaring at me like that, but she's your 
iinazuke. You two belong together. I'll even start helping keep the 
others off of you, okay?"   Ranma grinned. Akane looked confused. "HEY! 
What're you two talking about?"
 Ryouga stopped smiling for a second. "Oh, that's right. Nobody ever told 
her did they?" Ranma shook his head. Ryouga gulped. 
 Akane looked mad. "Told me WHAT!?"
 Ryouga swallowed, and smiled a little nervously. "Ah, Akane?" She fixed 
a glare on him that made him sweat. "Umm...you see, ever since I first 
came here, well...I'd never met anyone as kind and as caring and as nice 
as you, and well...I kinda, ahh, well...fell in love with you."
 Soun and Genma blinked. They'd had no idea. Kasumi smiled. At least he 
finally told her, she thought to herself. Ranma was glad this was over 
with but he had a feeling Ryouga would be spending some time in Tofu-
sensei's clinic getting a mallet extracted. Nabiki started calculating, 
trying to figure out what services she could offer to both sides and how 
much she could charge.
 Akane blinked. Her face turned a nice bright red. Then she scowled, and 
glared at Ryouga. "BAKA! Why didn't you just tell me in the first 
place!"
 Kasumi spoke up. "Well Akane, considering that for most of his life 
Ryouga's only had negative emotions to express, maybe he didn't know how 
to express a positive one?"
 Akane blinked. That made sense. Damn. That meant she couldn't justify 
pounding him with Mallet-Sama. That annoyed her. Great, she thought. Of 
all the stupid...damn you Kasumi. Oh well. She settled with glaring at 
Ryouga and giving him the finger. Not much but it'd have to do.
 Ryouga and Ranma exchanged glances. 
 "Definite tomboy." 
 "Yep."
 "Cute though."
 "Man you crazy?"
 "Oh get off it Ranma. You just say she's uncute to piss her off."
 "Well yeah, you got a point there."
 "She's still a tomboy though."
 "Yep."
 "Thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?"
 "I dunno, maybe?" 
 Ryouga grinned mischeviously, then whispered in Ranma's ear. Ranma's 
eyes lit up, and he grinned. "Perfect."
 Everyone was watching them curiously, even Akane.
 "OK Ranma you ready?"
 "Let's do it! On three! 1, 2, 3!"
 Both shouted at the same time, "TICKLE ATTACK!" and dashed at Akane. 
They knocked her over onto the ground and proceeded to tickle her 
viciously.
 "Hey! Heeheehee! Lemme go! Hey! Cut it out! Heeheeheehahahaha!"
 Everyone was laughing. Ranma and Ryouga got off of Akane and helped her 
up. She was actually smiling. 

********

 Ranma saw fog everywhere. He also saw Kunou.
 "Oh my beautiful pigtailed goddess! Come to me and express your love!" 
Ranma looked down at himself. Yep. Female. She sighed. "Come on Kunou, 
give it a rest already willya?" 
 "Never, my love! We shall be joined by the bonds of devotion to one 
another!"
 "You're sick, jerk. How many times do I gotta tell you I'm a guy you 
moron?"
 Suddenly Kunou's face became serious for a minute. "Perhaps thou may 
have at one time indeed been male. Perhaps indeed thee are still clinging 
to the last vestiges of that masculinity. But know this, Saotome Ranma, 
you are no man. You are not a man! You are the pigtailed goddess! Come to 
me now, my love! We are fated to be together!" Ranma stood frozen in 
shock.
 From somewhere off to the side, somebody Ranma could not see attacked 
Kunou. The blow was fatal. As Kunou died he whispered, "Pigtailed...Venus.
.we're fated....to be....together..."
 *fated to be together....*
  *fated to be together....*
   *fated to be together....*
    *fated...fated...fated...fated...fated...*
<continued next post>

(squn29a@prodigy.com) <continued from last post>
 "BWEEEEE!!"
 Ranma snapped awake at the sound of something squealing in his ear. "Ow! 
Hey! Cut it out already! I'm up!"
 Ryouga stopped squealing, beamed up at Ranma, and kweed softly. Ranma 
chuckled. "The kinder, gentler alarm clock, eh?" Standing and stretching, 
he picked the little pig up and carried him into the bathroom with him. 
Ryouga had decided that in order to be less trouble on the Tendous, he'd 
sleep in Genma and Ranma's room as a pig and turn back to normal in the 
morning after waking Ranma up early enough to avoid the rude awakenings 
Akane loved to dish out. Nobody had a problem with it, but Akane warned 
him if she ever caught him in her room she'd be having bacon. He promised 
her that he wouldn't even think of sleeping in her room anymore. They'd 
been getting along better over the last week, and Akane had stopped 
glaring at him after only four days. Of course, Kasumi had chi-blasted 
her at least twice a day over those four days, but it did the trick. 
Everyone was treading a lot more softly around Kasumi these days. Genma 
and Soun had even stopped sneaking snacks from the kitchen and cheating 
at shogi. 
 Ranma and Ryouga washed up and brushed their teeth, took care of their 
other bathroom business, got dressed, and went down for breakfast. So far 
only Genma and Nabiki were seated at the table. Soun always slept a 
little later than everyone else. Akane, on the other hand... Ranma 
grinned evilly as Kasumi greeted him and Ryouga. She glanced curiosly at 
him. "What's on your mind this morning Ranma-kun?"
 "Akane's not awake yet." Ranma was almost laughing.
 Kasumi frowned for a second, then as understanding hit, she giggled. 
"Thinking about a little revenge?" Ranma nodded. Kasumi smiled. "Allow me.
"She closed her eyes for a second, her hair rising slightly as though 
from a breeze. Very softly, she said, "Flash." 
 Suddenly a startled shout came from upstairs. Kasumi grinned. "I think I 
put a little more into that than I needed to." She winked at Ranma and 
Ryouga, then turned back to the kitchen. "Breakfast will be ready in a 
few minutes, boys. Have a seat." 
 Ranma and Ryouga sat down just as a very angry and still pajama-clad 
Akane stormed downstairs. "KASUMI!" Akane yelled, headed for the kitchen. 
Suddenly there was a bright flash and a scream. Ranma and Ryouga stood up,
ready to charge in there. Then Akane burst out through the kitchen doors,
screaming, and being chased by a ghostly, glowing image of Kasumi's face 
smiling. The image disappeared. Kasumi leaned out of the kitchen. "Go get 
ready for breakfast, Akane. It'll be ready in a few minutes." Akane 
scowled and stomped sullenly upstairs, muttering. Ranma and Ryouga 
snickered.
 A few minutes later, Kasumi came out with serving plates, and everyone 
helped themselves to the delicious breakfast. Kasumi served herself last, 
even though Soun and Akane still had not come down. Soun emerged first, 
followed by a grumpy Akane, dressed in a sweater and jeans since this 
wasn't a school day.
 A few minutes into the meal, Ranma asked, "Kasumi, how did you learn all 
those techniques anyway? I've never seen you practicing any form of 
martial arts."
 Kasumi finished chewing and swallowing the bite of food in her mouth, 
then spoke. "They're not martial arts techniques, Ranma. They're healing 
techniques." 
 "Oh yeah, some healing," Akane grumbled.
 "Well, some of those do have their uses in the clinic. Like the Silent 
Stun technique. If you need a patient to be unconscious to administer a 
treatment, you can Silent Stun them painlessly, and without putting any 
sedatives in their body."
 "Okay then how about when you blasted me into the pond?"
 "I used a technique that's normally used to do tricky broken bone 
resetting. You use chi to charge the bone you intend to move, and then 
guide it into place."
 "Okay but what about the thing you did this morning? I was asleep and 
then something bright and flashing woke me up."
 "That's called Flash. It locks onto another person's chi and causes it 
to flicker in and out of sight in front of the eyes like a strobe. It's 
used to wake patients up."
 "Well, then, explain that...that...THING from the kitchen."
 "Oh, that. That's just a fun little trick I figured out. It doesn't 
actually do anything at all." Akane facefaulted.
 Soun said, "So Kasumi, is that what's in all those books you borrow from 
Tofu-sensei?"
 Kasumi shook her head. "No, those are usually books on herbs, medicines, 
first aid, meditation techniques, and such."
 "So where did you learn the chi techniques?"
 Kasumi smiled. "Tofu-sensei hasn't ALWAYS been helpless around me you 
know. I saw him use some chi one time when he was working on an old man's 
back, and I asked him if he could show me how he did that. It took me 
about a month to learn all those techniques, and I've been practicing 
them whenever I could get the chance."
 Nabiki said, "That's odd...I've never seen you use that stun thing on 
anyone until last week."
 "Oh, I get a lot of practice with that one. In fact, almost every time 
Akane cooks I have to use it."
 "HEY!"
 "I'm afraid to even ask," Ryouga said. Ranma nodded.
 Akane was scowling and turning red. "It's not like it's my fault that 
sometimes what I cook is a little too spicy..."
 Kasumi sighed. "Akane-chan, chicken curry is spicy. One time you made a 
beefbowl that tried to molest me." Everyone facefaulted. Akane's chi had 
begun to flare around her in a blue aura. "IT WAS NOT TRYING TO MOLEST 
YOU! IT WAS JUST BEING FRIENDLY OKAY!?" Then realizing what she'd said, 
she blushed, her chi flicking out, and giggled embarrassedly. "Uh...heh 
heh..." Everyone fell over. Kasumi just smiled and resumed eating her 
breakfast.

 Ryouga and Ranma spent half the morning playing mah-jongg with Genma and 
Soun. The men had agreed to play with them readily enough, sure that this 
would be an easy cleaning. It was definitely that; around an hour before 
lunchtime, the boys walked away from the table having taken the old men 
for over 2000 yen between them. "Kasumi! Me and Ryouga are goin' to the 
movies! We'll be back this afternoon!" 
 "Have a good time you two!"
 Soun sat crying at the table. Genma was just looking at what was left of 
his money. "Who knew?" he said. Soun bawled. Kasumi called out, "Father! 
Saotome-san! Lunch is ready!" The prospect of food caused them to forget 
about their woes, and they sat at the table. Akane was breaking bricks in 
the dojo, and Nabiki was out collecting some debts. It promised to be a 
rather peaceful day.

 "Hey Ryouga, ever think about fate?"
 Ryouga looked at Ranma. "You didn't have another dream did you?"
 "Well, yeah, kinda. I dreamed that Kunou was chasing after me again when 
I was Ranma-chan, and he started his usual nonsense. But then somebody I 
couldn't see struck him down. His last words were "We're fated to be 
together" and then he died. But I kept hearing that word "fate" over and 
over again until I woke up.
 Ryouga frowned. "Sounds like you had a nightmare and a pleasant dream 
all in one." Ranma chuckled. He had forgotten the part of the dream where 
Kunou knew who he really was and had said that he wasn't a man anymore. 
All he remembered was the last part of the dream. "Wonder what it means?" 
he said.
 Ryouga shrugged. "Probably just means that it was fate for you to fall 
in Nyanniichuan and release Ranko's soul from the spring. Same with me 
and Ryokuroi."
 "You're probably right. Hey, let's go grab some okonomiyaki."
 Ryouga smiled. "Great idea! I'm starving!" They headed off to Ucchan's.

 Akane just had to face facts. She was going to have to start controlling 
her violent nature a lot better. She'd never had any idea Kasumi even 
knew what chi was. She certainly never expected her to be that powerful. 
And Mallet-sama wouldn't do her any good against Kasumi. Nobody had ever 
withstood a whack from her mallet before, but Kasumi didn't even feel it. 
And even if she tried to whack Kasumi, it wouldn't do any good. It'd just 
get her blasted again. She sighed. She sat down and started to meditate, 
focusing on...ugh, how disgusting....being calm.

 Nabiki was very angry. She'd been cheated out of a cool 10000 yen, and 
she had absolutely no dirt on the person who did it.
 She'd been waiting for Kunou about three blocks from Ucchan's, with a 
set of ten great shots of Akane and Ranma-chan, some of her best work yet 
if she did say so herself. Kunou had arrived, and Nabiki was about to 
show him the photos, when suddenly something whizzed through the air 
between them. The photos were sliced to ribbons. Nabiki stared at them in 
disbelief. Kunou said he'd return when she obtained some more pictures, 
and departed. 
 Nabiki walked over to a nearby trash bin to dispose of the ruined 
pictures. As she dropped them in, she noticed something dropping to the 
ground about a half a block away. She ran over, and just as she got there 
a yellow and black spotted bandana touched down on the sidewalk and 
skidded to a halt. She picked it up, thought about it for a minute, then 
realized what had just happened. She angrily crushed the bandana in her 
fist and growled, "Ryouga...." Hibiki would roast for this. You don't 
interfere in Tendou Nabiki's business dealings and get away with it. One 
way or another, Nabiki would be avenged.

 Ranma and Ryouga were laughing like hyenas when they walked into 
Ucchan's, which wasn't too crowded now, the lunch rush being over. They 
had decided to hang out in a bookstore for a little while and look at 
some new manga before they went to eat, so they'd get a chance to talk to 
Ukyou. Now, the okonomiyaki cook extraordinaire noticed them, and waved. 
"Hey guys!" 
 "Hi Ukyou!"
 "Heya Ucchan!"
 Ukyou skipped around the counter and led them to one of the vacant 
tables in the back of the restaurant. "Two specials comin' up!" she said 
cheerily as she made her way back over to the grill. After about a minute,
she came back and placed a plate of okonomiyaki and a glass of soda in 
front of each of them, then set down a third plate and glass and seated 
herself with them. "Thanks Ucchan!" Ranma said. He dug in. Ryouga smiled 
and took a few bites of his. "It's great Ukyou!" 
 "Why thank you! You seem a lot happier these days Ryouga, someone new in 
your life?" She nudged him on the shoulder playfully. He laughed. 
 "Nah, I just started seeing life a lot differently. There's just no need 
to walk around depressed and angry all the time. It's like asking for the 
h-bomb to drop on your head." Then he smiled and said, "By the way, are 
you doing something different with your hair Ukyou?" 
 She absently touched her white hair ribbon. "No, why?" 
 "Hmm. I dunno, I just wondered if maybe you were trying a new look or 
something, cause you look prettier than usual today."
 Ukyou blushed fiercely. "Th...thank you, Ryouga!" Ranma blinked, and 
stared at Ryouga. Ryouga caught it, and flashed a grin and a wink at 
Ranma, who couldn't help but smile now.
 They ate and talked for a while, Ryouga occassionally flirting a little 
with Ukyou (much to her delight and embarrassment.) They finished eating, 
wrapped up their conversation (with Ryouga even kissing Ukyou's hand as 
they stood to leave), and left the restaurant. Once outside, Ranma 
clapped one hand on Ryouga's shoulder. "You sly little pig you! I never 
knew you had it in you!" Ryouga grinned. Then he snapped his fingers. 
"Oh! Hang on a sec okay?" He turned and quickly dashed back inside the 
restaurant. A little bit later, he came back out, grinning even wider. 
Ranma gave him a curious look. "What was that about?" 
 Ryouga grinned and started twirling his umbrella. "Oh, nothing. Come on, 
let's go see what's playing at the movies."
 "Yeah, let's get going!" 
 With a mischevious little smile, Ryouga added, "Then you can help me get 
ready for my date."
 Ranma fell over. Ryouga grinned. 

 A few hours after lunch, Akane was whistling a merry tune as she made 
her way to Ucchan's. She'd come to enjoy having gossip sessions with 
Ukyou, and despite being competitors for Ranma, the girls had become best 
friends, and almost always had a good time together. "Hmm...wonder if 
they ate there today?" Akane said quietly to herself. She got to the door 
and was surprised to see a sign in the window that said "Closed For 
Business For The Afternoon." She tried the door and was relieved it 
wasn't locked. Entering and closing the door behind her, she called out, 
"Ukyou-chan? You home?"
 "Come on up, I'm in my apartment," Ukyou called. Akane went upstairs, 
slipped off her shoes on the landing, and walked into Ukyou's modest 
little studio apartment. Ukyou rushed over and hugged her friend. "Hey 
sugar how's it going?"
 Akane returned the hug and smiled. "Pretty good. You seem awful excited 
about something."
 Ukyou giggled, and grabbed Akane's hand, pulling her over to the closet. 
Akane giggled. "What's with you today Ukyou? The last time you were this 
hyper was that time you were playing around with some new sauce recipes 
and..."
 Ukyou clamped a hand over her mouth. "Don't remind me. I'm never going 
near corn syrup again." Akane cracked up. Ukyou tapped her playfully on 
the back of the head. "Come on girl, help me pick out something to wear."
 Akane looked in the closet as she said, "Where you going?" She snuck a 
glance back at Ukyou and grinned mischeviously at her. "Hot date tonight?"
 Ukyou giggled. "Hai!"
 Akane's eyes widened, and she giggled too. "Wow, go Ukyou! So who's the 
guy?" Mischevious grin again. "Maybe Tsubasa? Hmm?" 
 Ukyou whapped her one upside the head. "No, ya jackass!" Akane giggled. 
 "Seriously, who're you going out with?"
 Ukyou smiled and blushed a little. "Ryouga."
 Akane's eyes widened. "Nani?" 
 Ukyou giggled. "Yep! Ranchan and Ryouga came by for lunch today, and 
Ryouga..." She blushed hard. Akane prodded. "What?"
 Ukyou got an almost dreamy look on her face, and smiled. "Akane-chan, I 
swear, he could probably even make Shampoo smile." Akane blinked. "Wow, 
someone's in love!" Ukyou blushed. "I am NOT! But he is cute. Anyway, 
we're going out tonight to see a movie and to eat someplace that isn't 
all okonomiyaki all the time...hey, even I get a little hungry for 
something else once in a while," she said at Akane's curious glance. 
"Come on, help me decide what to wear already!" The girls dove into the 
closet, gossiping and giggling as they worked.

 Ranma was certain that Ryouga's date was going to be perfect. They'd 
worked hard on dressing him up, the end result of their efforts was an 
outfit that impressed everyone. He wore a yellow turtleneck with a black 
blazer Ranma had found in Soun's closet, and a pair of black slacks Ranma 
owned. Even Shampoo, who had stopped in to deliver some ramen Kasumi 
ordered for dinner for the group that was staying at home, had done a 
double-take when Ryouga came downstairs.
 "Aiyah! Ryouga?"
 "Oh hi there Shampoo!"
 "Ryouga dressed very nice tonight. You taking someone to date?"
 "Yep. I'm going out with Ukyou tonight."
 "Aiyah! Shampoo hope spatula girl no dress like boy tonight then!"
 Akane giggled. "Trust me, Shampoo, Ukyou's gonna look good tonight too."
 After Shampoo left, Ryouga checked himself one more time, working on his 
hair just a little more (of course the bandana stayed put), then checking 
his wallet again just to make sure he hadn't blown too much money today 
to pay for this date. Ranma nudged him, and handed him a wad of money. 
"Here, just in case." 
 Ryouga smiled. "Thanks Ranma. I'll pay ya back." He stuffed the bills 
into his wallet and pocketed it. Akane looked at her watch. "Ooh, you 
better hurry up and get going. It's just twenty minutes till seven."
 Ryouga nodded. "Okay, see you all later!" 
 Ranma waved as Ryouga walked out the door. "Have a good time!"
 "You bet!"
 Akane frowned. "Shouldn't...someone go with him? He's only got twenty 
minutes to get there."
 Ranma grinned. "Don't worry. That's something else that's changed about 
him. He doesn't get lost anymore."
 Akane blinked. "Ryouga with a good sense of direction?" Ranma nodded. 
Akane just shook her head in disbelief.

 Three hours later, Ryouga walked in the door. Ranma was watching TV 
while Genma and Soun played shogi and Nabiki balanced her books. "Hey 
Ryouga!" he waved. "How'd the date go?"
 Nabiki looked up. "Yes, however did it go?" An evil smile was plastered 
on her face.
 "Why hello Nabiki!" Ryouga said, gritting his teeth. Ranma turned his 
full attention to Ryouga now. He looked a bit pissed.
 "Aww, what's a matter piggy boy? Things didn't go too well with Ukyou?"
 Ryouga smiled. "Actually, Nabiki..." he said her name through clenched 
teeth "...everything went great. We saw a great movie, ate at a great 
little Italian restaurant, and oh, by the way..." He now reached out and 
grabbed Nabiki by the throat. "Your little traps didn't work. Next time 
you might want to set something up that has a little thought behind it. 
Even an idiot could have figured out the ice cream vendor that kept 
following us, and the watermelon that rolled out of the alleyway when we 
left the restaurant was a dead giveaway. Oh, and next time...DON'T use 
Kunou and Tsubasa. At least make it more interesting for me, like maybe 
Mousse or maybe even Kodachi. Really, you disappoint me, I thought the 
great Tendou Nabiki could do a better job of wrecking a date than that." 
He released her throat, and walked away, then suddenly he stopped and 
turned. "Oh, by the way..." He reached into his pocket and pulled out an 
envelope. "Kunou and Tsubasa are probably going to be a little mad at you 
seeing as how neither one of them got paid off." He headed upstairs, 
pausing to toss the envelope to Ranma, who opened it, saw what was inside,
and tore it to shreds. 
 Nabiki was having a new experience. For the first time in her life, she 
was actually generating a battle aura. Ranma fell over laughing at her 
expression. Nabiki was smoldering with rage. She glowed bright blue, 
almost as bright as Akane usually glowed. "I'll GET you for this you 
swine."

********

 Ranma had been here before. He groaned. He didn't want to do this again. 
Walking through the water, he heard the screaming and started running as 
fast as he could through the water. There were the spheres again, the 
inner one red, and containing Ranma-chan...or rather, Ranko. The outer 
one still held the swaggering, grinning, laughing Ranma-kun. And the 
screaming continued. Ranma began to scream as well. But this time, 
something was different. He looked down at himself. The shock of what he 
saw woke him up instantly.
 Ranko had been screaming. The evil Ranma-kun had been laughing. And 
Ranma himself had been screaming.
 Only the voice that ripped from his throat was his female voice.
 And in the dream, he had been male.

 The next night, Akane, Ranma, and Ryouga were playing poker. Soun, Genma,
and Nabiki had gone off to a Kabuki theater, and Kasumi was busily 
tidying up her kitchen and preparing a few snacks for the others. 
 "Okay, game's five draw. Sevens and jacks wild." Ryouga dealt the cards. 
Akane said, "I heard Kunou and Tsubasa tried to wreck your date with 
Ukyou last night. What was that all about?"
 Ryouga smirked. "Little Miss Yen-On-The-Brain tried to get revenge on me."
 Akane blinked. "Nabiki set that up?"
 Ryouga nodded. "I smelled a trap when I noticed the ice cream vendor 
that had been following us all night. And when I realized he looked 
familiar, I was sure something was up. Then when me and Ukyou were coming 
out of the restaurant, someone rolled a watermelon out in front of us 
from an alley. Soon as I saw that, I knew what was going on. So I punted 
it out of sight before Kunou could see it--I figured out that he was the 
ice cream vendor. After I got rid of the watermelon, I jumped the vendor 
and the cart. 
 "The cart too?"
 Ryouga nodded. "The vendor was Kunou, Tsubasa was disguised as an ice 
cream cart. Anyway, they both passed out, and an envelope fell out of 
Kunou's pocket. As soon as I saw what was in the envelope I knew Nabiki 
had set that up." 
 "What was in the envelope?"
 Ranma growled. Ryouga scowled and said, "No comment."

 Nabiki was glad she'd stopped in that one-hour photo shop on the way to 
the theater. Ryouga didn't bother to force her to give him the negatives..
which worked out perfect for her. When she went home tonight, she was 
going to have a hundred copies of that picture she took of the scene she 
caught going on in the bathroom that one day. That had been a good day. 
She'd happened to catch the most interesting tickle fight going on, and 
wasted no time getting a snapshot. She could think of a lot of potential 
buyers for a picture of Ryouga, wearing only a towel, tickling the crap 
out of a totally naked Ranma-chan. She grinned. Revenge could be so much 
fun.

 Ranma threw down his cards in disgust and uttered an oath which made 
Akane blush. "Ranma, have you been fantasizing about me?" She giggled. 
Ryouga snickered. Ranma just grumbled as he watched Akane come out of 
another hand with a large chunk of his money. Ryouga was just glad he'd 
folded. The betting had gotten a bit ridiculous on that hand.
 Ranma was about to deal the next hand when suddenly his eyes glazed over.
 After a minute, he dropped the cards and shouted "YOU WANT ME TO WHAT!?" 
Ryouga and Akane glanced at him curiously. He blushed. Then his eyes 
glazed over again. He was blushing even more, and now he was gritting his 
teeth. When his eyes finally cleared, he buried his face in his hands and 
muttered, "No, no, no" over and over again. 
 "Ranma?" Akane asked, worried. "What's wrong?"
 Ranma looked up. His face was pale and he looked like he was going to be 
sick. 
 "Hey Ranma, you okay? What's going on?" 
 Ranma sighed. "I really don't want to talk about it." His eyes suddenly 
glazed over again. He sighed more heavily. "Alright alright, but I'm 
gonna change into a girl first. Even THINKING about it while I'm a guy 
makes me want to puke." He went into the kitchen, and soon came back in 
his girl form. Ranma-chan sat down at the table, very pale and still 
looking ill. "Ryouga...you know the secret dream they have?" 
 Ryouga thought for a minute. Then his eyes widened in shock. "You don't 
mean..." Ranma-chan nodded. Ryouga turned as pale as Ranma-chan, and 
looked almost as ill. "PLEASE tell me you're joking."
 "I wish I was. I wish SHE was. But she's serious. And I'm guessing 
Ryokuroi knows what's going on by now and is pretty excited about it." 
Ryouga nodded. "Yeah. He's singing inside our head. It's getting annoying."
 Akane said, "Excuse me, can someone fill me in here?"
 Ranma-chan and Ryouga exchanged glances, then looked back at Akane. "You 
really don't wanna know, Akane," Ranma-chan said.
 "Yeah. It's bad enough we HAVE to know." Ryouga shuddered.
 "Oh no, you two aren't going to keep something from me. Out with it."
 Ranma-chan looked at Ryouga who just sighed. Ranma-chan looked even more 
ill now, and blushed brightly. "Alright, but you're really gonna wish you 
hadn't heard this."
 "Just tell me. I'm used to weird things going on."
 "Well, did I happen to mention to you the reason Ranko's father threw 
her out?"
 "You said he got fed up with her being such a tomboy," Akane said, 
smirking.
 Ranma-chan sighed. "There's a bit more to it than that." She looked at 
Ryouga, who looked very ill. She swallowed. "Well, you see, as a little 
girl, Ranko met someone who became very special to her, and in time they 
fell in love."
 "And her father didn't approve? I thought he'd be happy to have a son-in-
law."
 Ryouga said, "It's a bit complicated."
 "Why? Was he an outcast or something? Peasant farmer? Ronin?" 
 Ranma-chan swallowed. "It was Ryokuroi."
 "WHAT!?"
 Ryouga nodded. "It's a strange story."
 Akane smirked. "Yeah, a girl falling in love with a pig? I'd say that's 
strange." Ryouga winced at that. 
 Ranma-chan began. "Ranko found Ryokuroi when she was only nine. She 
decided to keep him as a pet, and he was very happy with that. It wasn't 
long before Ranko realized that her kawaii pet pig was a lot smarter than 
she ever would have thought. Everyone else thought he was just a dumb 
little farm animal, and they wouldn't have believed Ranko if she tried to 
tell them how smart he was. Although he was pretty much limited to grunts,
squeals, and snorts for communication, Ranko was able to understand him 
perfectly. She was amazed at how smart the little pig was."
 Akane smirked again. "Sounds like one of those kid stories with magic 
talking farm animals." Ryouga shook his head.
 "Akane, tell me something, can farm animals do this?" He reached over to 
the table next to him and grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil. He spent 
a couple of minutes writing, then handed the paper to Akane. She read it, 
then smiled. "That's a very nice haiku, Ryouga."
 Ryouga smiled. "You're talking to our Ryokuroi half right now." Akane 
shut up after that.
 Ranma-chan continued. "By the time she was 13, Ranko and Ryokuroi had 
grown very close. He was her only real friend. She didn't get along with 
anyone else. She'd spend long afternoons sitting up in trees with him in 
her lap, telling him everything that went on with her life, and all her 
innermost thoughts and feelings. She also had grown to discover that 
Ryokuroi was very sensitive and he had feelings just as strong as any 
human. One afternoon, during one of their tree lounging conversations, 
Ryokuroi told Ranko something he'd been keeping to himself for almost 
half a year. He told her he was in love with her. She was very surprised. 
She didn't expect her piggy friend to ever say that to her. But what 
surprised her even more, is that she was beginning to fall in love with 
Ryokuroi."
 Akane was wide-eyed. "That's...strange."
 "That's what her father thought when he found out shortly after her 
fifteenth birthday. He asked her why she never accepted any of the men 
chosen for her, and she finally told him that there was someone she was 
in love with but she wasn't ready to tell him who it was. Her father 
demanded to know, and threatened to make her sleep outside the house 
stark naked in the freezing weather. He also said that if she didn't 
cooperate he'd make sure she never saw her pet pig again. Finally, Ranko 
was forced to tell him."
 "Bet that went over well."
 "Her father was beyond shock. He was so terribly shamed that he finally 
lost it with Ranko. He couldn't bring himself to kill her since she was 
still his daughter and you just didn't kill girls anyway. So he told her 
that she was to gather whatever belongings of hers she'd need and get out 
of the house. He also told her that she had best be out of Japan within a 
week. That's when Ranko and Ryokuroi set out on their journey."
 Ryouga spoke up now. "Ever since they'd fallen in love, their secret 
dream was that they wanted to find some way to turn Ryokuroi into a human,
even for just a little while, so that they could be together like any 
other couple. But they never did find a way. Lotion made sure of that."
 Akane wiped a tear from her eye. "As bizarre as that is, it's still so 
sad that they couldn't have had the happiness they wanted."
 Ranma-chan said, "That brings us to this. Now, since we've awakened them,
 Ranko has been able to experience and feel everything that happens to me 
when I'm in this form. She can't control my body or take it over but she 
can feel what happens to it."
 Ryouga spoke up next. "And since Ryokuroi and I bonded, he can feel 
everything that we do in both our pig and our human forms."
 Akane gasped. "In other words, he's...turned human now." Ryouga nodded.
 Ranma-chan spoke up next. "They want me and Ryouga to let them have 
their dream. They want....they want to be together."
 Akane frowned. "You mean a date, or what?"
 Ranma-chan shook her head. "They want more than a date."
 "A kiss maybe? Hold each other?"
 Ranma-chan sighed and shook her head again. Ryouga was looking pale 
again, and Ranma-chan looked like she could throw up at any time. "Think, 
Akane. They've been separated for 1500 years, and now that they're awake 
again, their secret dream has come true. After all that time, what would 
you want?"
 Akane thought about it for a minute, then her eyes widened. "Not...?"
 Ranma-chan and Ryouga nodded, blushing and looking even sicker. Akane 
blinked a couple times, then suddenly burst out laughing. 
 "What's so funny?" Ranma-chan asked, annoyed.
 "S--sorry it's...just...the thought....you...and Ryouga...doing THAT...."
 She was rolling around in hysterics now. Suddenly, Ranma-chan's eyes 
glazed over, and while they were glazed, Ranma-chan stood up. She loomed 
over the laughing Akane, who looked up at her. She sat up. "Ranma? You 
okay?"
 Ranma-chan glared at her with her glazed-over eyes, and from out of 
nowhere she produced an EXTREMELY large mallet. Ryouga winced, because 
half of him had seen that mallet before. Akane stared wide-eyed with 
shock. That sucker would make Mallet-sama look like a gavel, she thought. 

 *WHAM!*
 Akane lie twitching, pounded perfectly into the floorboards. The wood 
was splintered all around her. The mallet vanished, Ranma-chan sat down. 
Suddenly her eyes unclouded. She blinked. "What the--Akane!?"
 Akane slowly peeled herself out of the floor, and turned to glare at 
Ranma-chan. "What the hell did you do THAT for you stupid jerk?"
 Ranma-chan looked confused. Ryouga helped out. "Akane...didn't you 
notice Ranma's eyes? They look clouded to you?" Akane nodded, frowning. 
 Ranma-chan realized what had happened. "Aw jeez. Akane, try not to piss 
her off again okay?"
 Akane realized what was going on now. "Th--that was Ranko that did that?"
 Ryouga and Ranma-chan nodded. Akane sat down weakly, shaking her head. 
"Incredible...she's even worse than me. Hey, I thought you said she 
couldn't take control of you?"
 Ranma-chan nodded. "She can't. But she can pull me into a conversation 
with her and guide my actions. She flooded my mind with an image of 
bashing you with a mallet, then the next thing I knew she was telling me 
how to do the mallet trick." Ranma-chan smirked. "Lousy tomboy took it 
all back too. Damn."
 Akane giggled. "You have to be a real girl to do it anyway, Ranma."
 "Oh."
 Akane smiled. "So anyway, would you two lovebirds like to be alone? I 
wouldn't want to keep you from enjoying each other's company--OW!!" Akane 
winced as she rubbed the mark on her cheek where a gavel had just struck 
her in the face. "Who threw that?" She looked around the room but nobody 
else was there except Ryouga and Ranma-chan. Ryouga was looking at Ranma-
chan wide-eyed. Ranma-chan looked like she was in shock. "No way, that 
did NOT happen," she said. Akane blinked. "Y--You mean...?"
 Ranma-chan nodded. Out of nowhere, another gavel appeared in her hand, 
and she flung it off over Akane's head. Akane was stunned.
 Ranma-chan frowned. "Now I know something's wrong with me."

(squn29a@prodigy.com) <continued from last post>
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P  A  R  T    T  H  R  E  E  :  R  E  A  L  I  Z  A  T  I  O  N  S
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 Damn this dream was beginning to piss him off.
 Ranma once again found himself running through the water and facing the 
two spheres. This time, Ranko sat huddled up in the bottom of the sphere 
crying. The evil version of Ranma-kun that held her trapped there saw 
Ranma charge up, and began laughing again. And to make matters worse, he 
was taunting Ranma. His gestures indicated that he thought Ranma was too 
weak to take him down. 
 That did it. Time to fight.
 Ranma charged the outer sphere, launching into his chestnut fist attack. 
His punches didn't even make the sphere shake. His image within the 
sphere doubled over in laughter, then gave him the finger. Ranma kept 
trying but it was just no good. Eventually he collapsed from exhaustion. 
The crying of Ranko and the horrible mocking laughter of the evil Ranma-
kun haunted him as he...
 Awoke to the sound of his little black alarm clock. "Mornin' Ryouga," he 
said drowsily as he dragged himself off of his futon and padded off to 
the bathroom, pig companion trotting faithfully alongside him.
 
 "Gee Ranma, you look like hell this morning. What's up?"
 Ranma sighed. "The damn dream again. I've been having it a lot lately."
 Ryouga frowned. "That's odd. You should have stopped having it after you 
discovered Ranko was there."
 Ranma nodded. "That's what I thought to. But it's been changing a little 
every time. Like this time, Ranko was crying instead of screaming, and 
the other me was taunting me, mocking me. So I attacked him, but none of 
my punches could touch him. He just laughed me off and gave me the finger.
 I kept trying but it was no use. Finally I just dropped from exhaustion, 
and I kept hearing his mocking laughter and her crying..." He closed his 
eyes. "I just wish I could figure it out..."
 Ryouga laid a hand on his shoulder. "Hey man, it's okay. It'll come to 
you eventually." He smiled. "Hey, haven't you heard by now? Saotome Ranma 
never loses." Ranma looked up at him and smiled. "You'll figure it out 
sooner or later. I'm sure of it."
 "Yeah, you're probably right, you know?" Ranma felt a lot better now. 
 "Come on, let's go get some breakfast." 

 After the delicious Western-style breakfast Kasumi treated everyone to--
Ranma was glad she cooked those continental breakfasts every now and then,
he really liked American breakfast foods--he and Ryouga went outside to 
spar. Akane went out to watch, not having anything better to do.
 "Hah! Getting a little slow there Ranma!" Ryouga slammed a punch toward 
Ranma's gut, which was barely and badly blocked. Ranma hissed slightly as 
the angry red mark on his left arm throbbed. 
 "Oh yeah? Take this!" Ranma lashed out with a forward kick, which was 
blocked easily, then immediately snapped off a roundhouse, which should 
have caught Ryouga under the chin. Somehow, Ryouga managed to block that 
one to. Ranma couldn't figure out why that didn't work. The fight 
continued like this for a while, Ryouga pressing his advantage and 
driving Ranma back toward the wall on his side of the yard. Akane was 
watching and studying the attacks carefully. At first she wondered why 
Ranma was holding back. Now, she wasn't so sure he was. 
 Ranma tried a sweep, which caught Ryouga offguard as he was in the 
middle of a spin. As soon as Ryouga got to his feet, Ranma used the 
kachuu tenshin amaguriken. Ryouga couldn't hope to block all the punches, 
but he did block a lot more of them than he usually could. All three of 
them noticed that Ranma had also thrown a lot fewer punches than usual. 
What's wrong with me? Ranma wondered. Ryouga hammered him in the gut with 
a punch, then snapped his head back with an uppercut. 
 "Okay, this is beginning to suck. Time for a desparation move." Ranma 
vaulted over Ryouga's head, and dashed for the pond. Ryouga spun in time 
to see him leap in. A few seconds later, Ranma-chan leapt out, and said 
"Alright, let's go!" She dashed at Ryouga, who resumed his ready stance. 
Ranma-chan drew back for one of her faster punches. Ryouga got ready to 
block it, anticipating when it would hit. 
 He anticipated wrong however. The punch slammed into his chest a lot 
faster than he was expecting. He took a step back. The next thing he knew,
Ranma-chan was a blur around him, raining down blows he couldn't even 
hope to block. He dropped to one knee. "Yield," he said. Ranma-chan 
stopped blurring and stood in front of him, smiling. "Had enough?"
 Akane was watching this with a mix of disbelief and curiosity. Ryouga 
stood up and said, "Yeah, I think that's enough for one day." 
 "Hang on a second guys," Akane said. She turned to the house and called 
out, "Dad! Saotome-san! Can you come out here for a minute?" Ranma-chan 
and Ryouga blinked. 
 "Yo Akane, what's up?" Ranma-chan asked. 
 "I just want to see something." As the men emerged from the house, Akane 
turned and said, "I need your help for a minute."
 "What is it, Akane?"
 "What's up?"
 Ryouga moved to stand by the porch. Ranma-chan stood out in the yard. 
Akane said, "I want the two of you to fight Ranma for a little bit."
 Genma nodded. "Alright then. Tendou-kun, shall you go first or shall I?"
 Akane shook her head. "At the same time."
 Everyone blinked. It was pretty unusual to spar two-on-one, even if they 
all knew Ranma-chan would probably have no problem beating them anyway. 
"Alright," Soun said. He and Genma moved into position. Ranma-chan stood 
ready.
 "Ready? Fight!"
 Genma and Soun charged Ranma-chan. They each aimed a punch at her 
stomach. Their fists passed through nothing but air. Ranma-chan was 
already behind them. She blurred into motion. A few seconds later, Genma 
and Soun were both down. Ranma-chan stopped moving and relaxed her stance.

 The men got up, not sure what had just happened. Akane nodded. "Mmm hmm.."
 She turned to the house again. "Kasumi! Bring some hot water please!"
 Kasumi came out with a kettle and poured it on Ranma-chan. As soon as 
she cleared the practice area, Akane said, "Okay, now again! Fight!"
 Genma and Soun decided to adopt a less hasty approach this time, and 
began circling Ranma. Ranma snapped off a kick at Soun, who blocked. 
Ranma began to turn just as Genma's sweep took him down. He bounced back 
up, and threw a punch at Genma. Before he knew it, Soun was right beside 
him, and tagged him in the side with a forward kick. It went on like this 
for some time. Ranma wasn't able to recover from his attacks fast enough 
to block or evade the attacks directed at him. After a while, Akane 
called a halt. She was frowning thoughtfully. Ranma, Genma, and Soun 
moved up onto the porch, taking towels from Ryouga. 
 "Ranma," Akane said, "Let me ask you a question."
 "Go on."
 "A couple of months ago, you would have easily been able to take down 
both dad and Saotome-san no matter which form you were in, right?"
 Ranma thought about it, and nodded. "Yeah. I should have won today, too."
 Akane's frown deepened. "Yeah, you should have won both fights. But you 
only won when you fought as a girl."
 Ryouga nodded, understanding. "That's right. Remember when we were 
sparring before, Ranma? I should never be able to block as many of those 
punches from the chestnut fist as I did." 
 Akane nodded. "But when Ranma turned into a girl, he took you down 
before you could get one hit off."
 Ranma frowned. "Yeah, my speed seems a little off."
 Genma and Soun were deep in thought. Akane, who'd been watching each 
fight, was almost sure of what was going on. "You guys rest up for a few 
minutes. I've got to make a phone call."

 Half an hour later, Cologne, Shampoo, and Mousse were sitting at the 
table in the Tendou living room.  "Thank you for coming," Akane said. 
 "Shampoo no expecting Akane ask all three of us to come here. What going 
on?"
 "Indeed, child, your call was most unexpected."
 Akane faced Cologne. "Well, you see, I was watching Ranma spar with 
Ryouga this morning..." She proceeded to tell Cologne everything that 
happened. Cologne nodded, looking thoughtful. "So you see," Akane 
finished, "I figured that the only way I could be sure is for someone 
else who knows the chestnut fist to fight Ranma, to test him."
 Cologne nodded. "You kids never cease to amaze me. You're getting 
smarter all the time. I'd be happy to spar with son-in-law. I myself am 
very curious about this change in his speed."
 Akane thanked her, then went into the kitchen, where Ranma was having a 
cookie. "Ranma, come out here please." Ranma brushed the crumbs off his 
hands, and went out with Akane. He was surprised to see the whole group 
from the Nekohanten there, especially Cologne. "What's up?" he asked.
 Akane said, "Ranma, I've asked Shampoo's great-grandmother to spar with 
you."
 "You did what!?"
 Akane nodded. "It's the only way to see for sure what's happening to 
your speed."
 "She's right, son-in-law. Akane told us everything about the fights this 
morning. We're just going to do a little test with the kachuu tenshin 
amaguriken technique."
 "Alright," Ranma said.

 Everyone gathered in the yard. Cologne and Ranma faced off in the center 
of the yard. 
 "Alright, son-in-law. When I call ready, I'm going to attack with the 
chestnut fist, and I want you to block as many of my punches as you can. 
Then I want you to attack me the same way. Ready? Now!" 
 Cologne's arms blurred into action. Ranma's arms also blurred, but 
seemed to be moving much more slowly than the Amazon woman's. Cologne 
finished her attack and smirked. "Now that's odd. The last time we 
sparred, you blocked over half those punches. Your turn."
 Their arms blurred again. After a moment, Ranma stopped, and Cologne 
smirked again. "Very strange."
 Akane picked up a bucket of water and splashed Ranma with it. "Okay now 
do it again."
 Cologne nodded. "Ready?" Ranma-chan nodded. "Okay, now."
 Again Cologne's arms blurred, and Ranma-chan's arms matched her blur for 
blur. Cologne's eyes widened when she stopped. "Impressive. Not a single 
punch got through. Alright, your turn."
 Ranma-chan blurred into motion. To everyone's amazement, Cologne didn't 
even have a chance to block. The old woman went flying backward across 
the yard and crashed into the wall.
 "Aiyah! Great-grandmother, you alright?"
 "Old ghoul? You okay?"
 Cologne sat up, dazed. She shook her head to clear it, then stood, 
picked up her staff, and hopped back over to Ranma-chan. Her eyes were 
wide with amazement and maybe even shock. "That shouldn't have happened," 
Cologne said. "I haven't seen anything that fast in over 150 years." She 
frowned, lost in thought. "Something is causing your male side to lose 
power, and your female side is becoming much stronger and faster. This 
bears watching." She turned back to the house. "Shampoo, Mousse, come. We 
don't want to overstay our welcome, and we still have to get ready for 
the lunch crowd." They left. Ranma-chan stood in the center of the yard, 
lost deep in thought. Everyone was watching her with worry and confusion 
etched on their faces.

********

 That night, only Kasumi, Akane, Ryouga, and Ranma were in the house. 
This time the others had gone to the movies.  Kasumi was in the kitchen 
and the other three were watching TV. Ranma's eyes clouded over, and he 
doubled over in pain. "Argh!"
 "Ranma? What's wrong?"
 Ranma winced. He looked pale and sick again. As he did the night before, 
he went to the kitchen and splashed himself. Ranma-chan sat back down, 
and looked upset. 
 Ryouga paled. "Not again." Ranma-chan nodded. 
 Akane sighed. "I don't think you two have much choice. You're going to 
have to do it."
 Ranma-chan sighed, still looking queasy. Ryouga's eyes glazed over for a 
minute. When they returned to normal, he blinked, then smiled softly. 
Akane wondered what his inner conversation had been about. It didn't take 
too long for her to find out.  
 "Maybe...maybe it won't be as bad as you think, Ranma."
 Ranma turned to stare at him in shock. "Wha...?"
 Ryouga was blushing slightly. "You remember that first time I saw you in 
your female form? And you were complaining about everyone giving you a 
hard time and how hard it was having that body?"
 "Yeah?"
 Ryouga blushed a little more. "I really meant what I said after that."
 Ranma-chan frowned a little, trying to remember. Then she gasped, and 
blushed. Akane had to stifle a giggle. 
 Ryouga smiled. "Come on Ranma, what do you say?"
 Ranma-chan sighed. "I don't know, I mean..."
 With a mischevious grin, Ryouga leaned in and started tickling Ranma-
chan.
 "Hey! Ack! Cut it out! Aaaahhhh!!" 
 "I won't stop tickling you until you agree to go along with it!"
 "Ack! Aaahhh!! That tickles! Aaahhh!! Okay okay! I'll do it! Now let me 
up!"
 Ryouga smiled and stopped tickling Ranma-chan. With an evil grin, Ranma-
chan leaped on Ryouga and started tickling him. Akane sat there laughing 
as Ryouga suffered. Finally, when Ranma-chan let up, they both looked at 
Akane, then looked at each other, then grinned and leaped on her. The 
ticklefest continued for several minutes.

 The souls of the drowned girl and the pig were happy. 
 Ranma-chan and Ryouga lay side by side on Ranma's futon, resting. They'd 
actually done it. Ryouga asked, "So, did Ranko enjoy that?"
 "Yep. She's bouncing around giggling in here. How about Ryokuroi?"
 "He's in hog heaven." Both groaned at the horrible pun. After a moment 
of silence, Ryouga said, "Ranma?"
 "Yeah?"
 "I...they're not the only ones who enjoyed it." Ranma-chan turned and 
stared at him, eyes wide. He blushed. "I enjoyed it too."
 Ranma-chan blushed. "Ryouga...I don't know what to say..."
 Ryouga smiled. "It's okay, I knew that was going to shock you. You have 
to admit that was nice though..." he trailed off, lost in his happiness.
 Ranma-chan blinked, then thought about that. After a moment, she said, 
"Actually, it was pretty nice...a lot better than I expected anyway." She 
blushed harder.
 Suddenly, Ryouga turned to her again, grinning wickedly. She glanced at 
him curiously. "Ryouga?"
 Grinning, he slipped his arms around her, and soon they were at it for 
the second time that night.

********

 Ranma was there in the water cave again. There were the spheres again. 
Ranko was crying. No...that's not right. Ranma couldn't quite figure out 
what was out of place. He knew something was different about the girl in 
the sphere but he couldn't tell what. 
 There was the evil Ranma-kun again. He was laughing and making rude 
gestures at Ranma.
 This time for sure. Ranma attacked the sphere again, only to be blown 
back across the cave. The evil Ranma-kun cackled menacingly. 
 The girl in the sphere was looking at Ranma. She seemed to want him to 
do something. 
 Girl. That's it. 
 Ranma concentrated very hard on the water around him. Every time he'd 
been here, the water was warm. That's why he was still a guy here. He 
concentrated, trying to force the water around him to cool off. The girl 
now closed her eyes too, working with him. Suddenly, the evil Ranma 
stopped laughing. He was staring in shock. The water was now cold, and 
Ranma stood there in female form. The evil Ranma sneered, and flashed her.
 
 Okay, that was the final insult. This guy's dead.
 Ranma-chan reached right through the sphere, and grabbed the evil Ranma 
by the neck. She threw him up against the wall of the cave, and slammed 
punches into his head repeatedly. Blood trickled down his face, strangely 
it wasn't being washed away by the water. Finally, she reached down and 
grabbed his asoko. He screamed as she tore it off and flung it away. She 
turned away from him in disgust as he slid down the wall, crumpled into a 
ball, and died.
 The spheres vanished. The girl floated to the floor. She smiled at Ranma,
 who smiled back at her. 
 She realized now what was different. The girl inside the sphere wasn't 
Ranko at all.
 She was Ranma. 
 Now Ranma understood. 
 And she felt more at peace than she had in a long time.

********

 Ranma awoke the next morning still in Ryouga's arms. She smiled. Ryouga 
really was a great guy. Kind, caring, sweet, gentle lover...and she hoped 
he'd be able to deal with what she had to tell him this morning.
 "Ryouga...c'mon...wake up..."
 Ryouga stirred, and finally blinked himself awake. Ranma smiled at him, 
and he smiled back. "Mornin' Ranma." He promptly realized how they were 
lying there, and moved away, blushing. "Sorry about that."
 Ranma giggled. "Silly." Turning serious, she said, "Ryouga, we need to 
have a talk this morning. Remember the other dreams I had?"
 "Yeah?"
 Ranma smiled. "I know what they mean now. 
 Ryouga smiled too. "Really? What?"
 Ranma shook her head. "I can't tell you here. Wait until after breakfast.
 We'll find someplace private to talk." 

 After cleaning up and dressing, they went down for breakfast. Ryouga, 
and everyone else, was surprised that Ranma came down in female form. As 
Kasumi served breakfast, she said, "Ranma, would you like some hot water?"
 "No thanks, Kasumi." Everyone stared at her in shock. Except Kasumi, who 
gave her a curious glance for a second, then smiled and fought down a 
giggle. Kasumi knows already, Ranma thought. How does she do that?
 "So you two," Akane said after Kasumi had finished serving and sat down, 
"Have...fun last night? Did you think of something to...do?" She was 
grinning mischeviously at them. Ryouga coughed. Ranma just got annoyed. 
 "Oh come on, I'm teasing." She ate a few bites, then said, "So, what did 
you two do anyway?" Ryouga looked like he'd rather be anywhere else. 
Ranma was ticked off now.
 "Nothing you'd know anything about, stupid tomboy!"
 "Who are you calling a tomboy you pervert?"
 Pervert? Why that...how DARE she? Any other time Ranma might have let 
that go. Not this morning. It didn't matter to her that the tomboy didn't 
know yet. Akane was going to pay for that.
 "Why you....AKANE NO BAKA!!!" Nobody saw it coming, nobody sensed its 
presence. But suddenly, Akane's face was ground into her breakfast, and 
Mallet-Sama Mark II rested on the back of her skull. Mallet-Sama II 
vanished as abruptly as it appeared. Akane sat up and stared at Ranma, 
dazed.
 "Impossible..."
 Ranma just glared at her, and resumed eating. 
 That proves it, Kasumi thought. Ranma's a real girl now. She seems happy 
enough about it. I wonder if she's in love with Ryouga? They would make a 
cute couple...hmm...

********

 Ranma and Ryouga went to the small, secluded park on the north side of 
Nerima district. Ranma came here a lot when she was in need of some quiet 
time all to herself. The place hardly ever had anyone in it.
 They sat down on a park bench, and Ryouga asked, "So Ranma, you said you 
figured out what the dream meant?"
 Ranma nodded, and told him about the dream she'd had last night. "So 
when I beat the evil Ranma, and the girl was free, I realized that it 
wasn't Ranko at all. It was me."
 "You?"
 Ranma nodded. "I finally understood the dreams, and I finally understood 
why my male body is losing power." She smiled. "Ryouga, I'm not a man. 
Not anymore." Ryouga blinked. Ranma giggled. "All this time I wanted to 
get rid of what I thought was a curse. But all along it was fate pushing 
me toward finding out who I really am."
 Ryouga looked lost in thought. "So the first dream was really telling 
you that your male persona had you trapped?"
 Ranma shook her head. "There were four dreams about the water cave. The 
first one was actually about Ranko. After we woke her and Ryokuroi up, 
the girl in the sphere in all the other dreams was me." Ryouga nodded in 
understanding. 
 "So now what?"
 "Well, now, I find a way to purge my male body...I'm sure Cologne or 
Happosai can help with that...then I can fuse my soul with Ranko's." She 
smiled. "And then..." Without warning, she leaned up and kissed Ryouga. 
 Ryouga blushed. Ranma giggled. "Ranma...?" 
 "Ryouga, you're a very sweet, kind, caring guy, and any girl would kill 
for a guy like you." She blushed slightly. "I...I mean, that is...Ryouga, 
could you ever, y'know..."
 "Love you?" Ranma nodded. Ryouga looked at her, looked into her eyes. He 
didn't see the man who he had fought so many times, usually over stupid 
things, often for the love of a girl who would never love him. He didn't 
see a guy who felt trapped in a girl's body. 
 He saw the most beautiful, wonderful girl he'd ever met in his life. He 
smiled, and embraced her. She snuggled into his arms and sighed happily.

 "PIGTAILED GIRL!!"
 Ryouga and Ranma broke their embrace and sprang to their feet. "Kunou," 
Ranma said, smirking. "Jeez, that jerk sure has lousy timing."
 Kunou pointed his bokken at Ryouga's chest. "Wretched cur! How dare you 
attempt to force your foul intentions upon the beautiful, innocent 
pigtailed girl? I, Kunou Tatewaki, the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High, 
shall thrash thee, vile dog!"
 "Hey you jerk! Leave us alone!"
 "Fear not, beloved! I shall rescue you from this base cretin!"
 "He's my BOYFRIEND you idiot!"
 "WHHAAAAAATT!!" Oh boy, Ranma thought. He's in this mode again. Kunou 
wheeled on Ryouga and pointed the bokken at his head. "How dare you 
entrap the affections of the pigtailed girl? You're even more wicked than 
that sorcerer Saotome Ranma! Prepare to be delivered into Hell, demon!"
 Ryouga wrenched the bokken from Kunou's grasp, and snapped it in two. 
Then he grabbed Kunou by the neck, and delivered a punch to his face. 
"Now you listen to me, you stupid bastard! She doesn't want to have 
anything to do with you and never has! Leave her alone, you hear me? If 
you go anywhere near her again, I will kill you." He threw Kunou to the 
ground. Ranma stared at Ryouga. He will, she thought to herself. He 
really will kill Kunou. 
 For once in his life, Kunou did something smart. He stood, and without 
saying a single word, he left as quickly as he could without running.
 Ranma walked over to Ryouga and threw her arms around him. "Ryouga...
that's the sweetest thing anyone's ever done for me." 
 He smiled at her. "I'm not going to stand around and let him keep 
bothering you. Not now. I won't let anybody harass my woman." Ranma 
kissed him.
 As Ryouga and Ranma stood there kissing, a birdbath silently slipped out 
of the park and made its way to another part of town.

********

 Akane walked into Ucchan's just as Ukyou was getting things ready to go 
for the late brunch and early lunch crowd. Ukyou knew something was 
bothering her immediately. "Akane-chan, what's wrong?" She started making 
an okonomiyaki as Akane sat at the counter. 
 Akane sighed. "I really wish I knew what's going on," she said. 
 "Talk to me, sugar," Ukyou said as she placed the okonomiyaki on a plate 
in front of Akane. Akane started eating it almost mechanically. 
 "I think something's wrong with Ranma," she said quietly.
 Ukyou almost dropped her spatula. "Ranchan? Oh no! Are you sure?"
 Akane nodded. she opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by a 
voice coming toward her from the doorway. "Aiyah, Akane say Ranma sick?"
 "Hi Shampoo," Ukyou said as the Amazon plopped herself down on a stool. 
Ukyou started making another okonomiyaki which she plopped down in front 
of Shampoo as Akane began again. Like Akane, Shampoo started eating it, 
not even paying attention to it at all.
 "I don't know exactly what's wrong with him. I just know that..." she 
sighed. "This is hard to even think about."
 "Go on sugar...take it nice and slow. We're here for you."
 "She right, Akane. When Ranma in trouble, we no fight. We help each 
other."
 Akane nodded, and took a deep breath. "Ever since this business with the 
soul of the drowned girl started..."
 "Aiyah? Then it really true? Spatula girl no making that up?" Akane 
nodded.
 "Well...lately, Ranma's been acting odd. I think the first thing that I 
noticed was about that problem with his speed." Shampoo nodded. "Shampoo 
not getting over that one yet." Ukyou looked at them quizzically, and 
Akane filled her in. "Wow," Ukyou said when she was done. "That's scary."
 Akane nodded. "It gets worse. This morning, Ranma didn't change back to 
his male self when he came down for breakfast." She decided to leave out 
the thing with Ryouga. It made her pretty sick to think about it. "Then 
at breakfast, we got in an argument. It was going pretty normal at first, 
he called me a stupid tomboy, I called him a pervert...." She closed her 
eyes and took a deep breath, struggling to go on. Ukyou and Shampoo each 
put a hand on hers to comfort her. "Go on," Ukyou said. Akane took a deep 
breath and opened her now damp eyes. "What happened next took me 
completely by surprise. He yelled "AKANE NO BAKA!" and then...and then...."
 The tears started to flow, and the next part almost didn't come out. "..
And then he hit me with a mallet!"
 Ukyou and Shampoo stared at her in shock.
 "Aiyah!"
 "No way!"
 Akane nodded, crying.
 "That not possible! Only girls having mallet trick!"
 "You sure it wasn't hidden under the table or something?"
 Akane shook her head. "He pulled it out of thin air. Like this." Akane 
brought Mallet-Sama out from wherever it lived, and then made it 
disappear again. Shampoo and Ukyou both gasped. 
 "Aiyah."
 "But if he did that..."
 "Shampoo no want to think about what that mean."
 Akane just cried. It wasn't long before Shampoo and Ukyou joined her.

 "I told you going to the old ghoul was a bad idea, Ranma."
 "I know, I should have listened to you. I just didn't want to deal with 
the old lech if I could help it."
 "I know, Ranma. I understand."
 Ranma sighed. "Well, I guess we better go find the old freak."

 The door to the restaurant slid open. "Ukyou."
 The three girls looked up to see a slender, good-looking boy standing 
just inside the open doorway. He had on a pair of navy blue slacks and a 
pink button-up shirt. His long brown hair was pulled back from his face 
but hung loose, not tied or braided. He looked awfully familiar.
 "What can I do for you?" Ukyou asked as the boy stepped inside and slid 
the door closed. "If you'd like to order something, have a seat, and I'll--"
 The boy shook his head. "I have important information for you, Ukyou-sa..
san. It's also important to you two as well," he added, nodding at Akane 
and Shampoo. He sighed. "This isn't going to be easy for any of you to 
hear." 
 "It's about Ranma, isn't it." 
 He nodded. "I saw him at the park today, with Ryouga..." He told them of 
the conversation he overheard, then Kunou showing up, and Ryouga 
threatening him, and finally the kiss he saw just before he left.
 All three girls were in complete shock.
 "Ranchan..."
 "Aiyah, he...he turn girl-type now..."
 "Oh, Ranma...what's happened to you? I can't believe he'd...do you think 
maybe his mind just snapped?"
 "I don't know what to think, sugar."
 "Shampoo know what think. Shampoo think she cry now."
 The boy stood to leave. As he got to the door, Ukyou said, "Hey, how did 
you manage to spy on them all that time without being seen?"
 He smiled. "Nobody pays much attention to a birdbath." With that, he 
left.
 Ukyou stared after him. "Th....that was Tsubasa!?"
 "Aiyah."
 "He must be as shocked as we are."
 Silence loomed for a long time.
<continued next post>

(Sorry this is taking so many posts...can't be helped)
<continued from last post>
********

 "What do you MEAN you don't want them!?"
 This was definitely a first.
 Nabiki sat in the usual cafe with Kunou, and was showing him her latest 
stash of pictures of the pigtailed girl. Kunou had, oddly, refused them.
 "Alas, the day is done and the deeds of mere mortals have soiled the 
virgin seed, poisoning her tender virtue and--"
 "Yeah yeah, whatever, Kunou-chan...say, I KNOW you'll be interested in 
THIS one..." Nabiki grinned, and pulled from her pocket a copy of the 
bathroom tickle fight picture. Kunou would want this one so much he'd 
sell Sasuke to her for it if she wanted him to. She held it out for his 
inspection.
 His reaction was not what she expected. He grabbed it and tore it into 
shreds. 
 "Hey!!"
 "Blind not mine eyes with such beauty that enraptured hearts hath denied 
the noble Kunou Tatewaki! Dare you mock me, foul opportunist, with the 
temptress of desire that threatens my very existence!?" He actually 
started to cry. Nabiki was scared. 
 "Hey...Kunou-baby, you okay?"
 "Nay, this day I weep, for fate hath thrown its cards in my face, and 
its cards were the Joker and the fortune card of death." He was crying 
harder. Nabiki absently pulled what she thought was a handkerchief from 
her pocket and handed it to him.
 It wasn't a handkerchief.
 "VILE WENCH!!! DARE YOU MOCK ME WITH THE TRADEMARK FLAG OF MY OWN MORTAL 
ADVERSARY!?" Everyone turned to stare at him. "Do you truly despise me so,
Tendou Nabiki, as to laugh whilst I weep, to kick me when I have fallen 
in combat, to spit upon the noble Blue Thunder while he is upon his 
knees!?"
 "WHAT are you talking about, Kunou-chan?"
 He held up the handkerchief she had given him. It was actually the 
bandana she had picked up the other day. "I speak of THIS, Tendou Nabiki. 
The banner of the foul and lecherous Hibiki Ryouga, enslaver of the heart 
of the pigtailed girl."
 "Ryouga...WHAT!?"
 "Alas, I discovered my own true love, the beautiful, vibrant pigtailed 
girl, in yonder park this very morning. I thought it a most glorious 
opportunity to invite her to proclaim her love for me." He sighed. "Alas, 
it was not to be. She was in the company of the scoundrel Hibiki. 
Thinking her life and her soul to be in mortal danger, I approached the 
heathen, and told him of the doom which he had brought upon himself. The 
pigtailed girl did protest greatly to my oath of love, striking my heart 
with the wretched words which will haunt my nightmares to my dying day."
 "Which were?"
 Kunou pulled out a hand puppet of Ranma-chan, and mimicked her voice: 
"He's my BOYFRIEND you idiot!"
 Nabiki's eyes widened in disbelief. "You don't say."
 "Indeed I say, Tendou Nabiki. Upon the delivery of these words I 
implored the cad to end whatever sort of black wizardry he had wrought 
upon the heart of the pure and fair pigtailed girl." Kunou sighed again, 
and crushed the bandana in his hand. "Alas, the knave gripped tightly the 
throat of the noble Blue Thunder, and delivered his ultimatum. Never have 
these eyes beheld such vicious loathing as was reflected in the eyes of 
the cur Hibiki. I was held immoble, my bokken was destroyed. And lastly, 
Hibiki spoke to me his warning, and I had no choice but to heed his words."
 "And what, pray tell, did he say?"
 Kunou pulled out a hand puppet of Ryouga and mimicked his voice. "If you 
go anywhere near her again, I will kill you."
 Nabiki gasped. Finishing her noodles, she stood. "Uh, Kunou-chan, if 
you'll excuse me, I...I gotta go do something." She left the cafe and ran 
back to the Tendou dojo as fast as she could. "What in the world is going 
on here?" she asked of nobody in particular.

 "You want WHAT?"
 Ranma, Ryouga, and Happosai sat on the roof of the dojo. Happosai's 
expression was a mixture of bewilderment and overwhelming joy.
 "You heard me old man. You're always trying to use junk on me that 
sticks me like this, I want to know if you have anything that'll do it."
 "Let me get this straight...you're asking me to change you into a girl 
for good?"
 "You got it!"
 "This isn't some kind of trick?"
 "Nope."
 "Hot-cha, well whatta ya know? Hmm, let's see...permanent Jusenkyo water.
Yes, that would do the trick." He stood up suddenly, eyes shining. 
"I'll be back before you know it, cutie!" He leapt from rooftop to 
rooftop, singing loudly, happily, and very off-key.
 Ranma grinned at Ryouga. "Told ya he could help." Ryouga smiled. They 
shared a quick kiss.

********

 Completely unaware that the hot gossip topic of the day was sitting on 
the roof, Akane walked into the house, trying hard to keep from crying. 
"Tadaima," she said quietly and with no enthusiasm as she sank down at 
the table and slumped against it, holding her face in her hands.
 "Welcome home Akane-chan!" Kasumi said cheerfully, then taking a look at 
her sister, she asked, "What's wrong Akane-chan?"
 Akane sighed. "Kasumi, have you noticed Ranma acting unusual lately?"
 She knows, Kasumi thought. This is going to be hard for her to deal with.
 Sitting down beside her, Kasumi said, "I take it you figured it out."
 Akane blinked. "You knew already? And you didn't tell anyone?"
 Kasumi sighed. "I realized it this morning. I didn't say anything 
because I figured she'd tell everyone in her own time, when she was ready."
 Akane got angry. "HE! HE! RANMA IS A BOY! NOT A GIRL! A BOY!" She 
started crying again. "He's my iinazuke....he's a guy not a girl...a guy..
Ranma..."
 Kasumi hugged her gently. "I know this is going to be hard to accept, 
and hard to understand. But for whatever reason, Ranma has become a girl. 
If that's what she wants for herself, it's her choice. I know it's going 
to hurt a lot of us...it's not easy for me to live with, I did so look 
forward to seeing the two of you married...but if being a girl is what 
makes Ranma happy, then we should be happy for her."
 "I don't think I can be happy when my iinazuke's lost his mind and 
decided he's really a girl."
 Kasumi sighed. "Akane, remember the time Ranma lost his memory and 
thought he was a girl?" Akane nodded. "How did he act then?"
 "He didn't want to do anything but cook and shop and dress up, and when 
we tried to prove he was a boy he freaked out and nearly lost it."
 "Did Ranma seem like that to you this morning?"
 Akane thought about that. "Well...no..." She paused before her next 
words, contemplating the irony. "He was more like a tomboy..." She sat up 
suddenly. "That's it! That must be it! The drowned girl's soul possessed 
him somehow! Ranma's still really a boy, he just doesn't know it! I've 
got to find a way to save him!" She jumped up and ran out of the house 
just as Nabiki was running in. 
 "Oh my," Kasumi said quietly, and sighed.

 Ranma came in the door a minute later, with Ryouga behind her. Both 
looked very happy. "Tadaima!" she called cheerfully.
 "Welcome home you two!" Kasumi said sweetly. Then she walked up to Ranma 
and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I need to ask you something." 
 "Sure, what is it Kasumi?"
 "Are you Ranko, or are you Ranma?"
 Ranma blinked. "I'm Ranma of course, why?"
 Kasumi smiled. "And the person you're in love with is who?" At Ranma's 
nervous look, she gave a reassuring smile. "It's alright. I know what's 
happened to you."
 Ranma sighed, half with relief, half with worry. 
 "So who is the person you're in love with? Is it Ryouga, or Ryokuroi?"
 Ranma replied, "He's both. Don't you remember the night we found out 
about Ranko and the pig? And the day after?"
 Kasumi smiled, and hugged Ranma. "That's all I wanted to know, Ranma-
chan." Then frowning, she said. "But if I were you, I'd be on the lookout.
Akane-chan figured it out, somehow, and she's convinced that you've been 
possessed by Ranko's soul and that you're really still a boy. She's 
likely to do something foolish."
 Ranma smirked. "Great. If Akane knows then the others probably know too. 
Just what I need, three half-crazy ex-iinazukes trying to exorcise a 
demon out of me."
 Ryouga hugged her. "Don't worry, we'll deal with it somehow." Ranma 
smiled at her.
 Kasumi thought about something. "By the way Ranma, what are you going to 
do about your male half? You'll still turn back into a boy every time you 
touch hot water."
 Ranma nodded. "We've already got it covered. Happosai is getting some 
kind of permanent Jusenkyo water for us." Grinning, she added, "He was 
more than happy to do it too." Kasumi giggled.

 Meanwhile, at Nekohanten, a war party was forming. Cologne, Shampoo, 
Akane, and Ukyou sat around a table, discussing their strategy. The three 
girls had just finished telling Cologne about the souls of the drowned 
girl and pig, the changes in Ranma's personality and in Ryouga's, and 
finally what happened this morning at breakfast, and what Tsubasa 
witnessed. Cologne narrowed her eyes. "Most interesting. So you girls do 
indeed believe that Ranma's body has been taken over by the soul of the 
drowned girl and his own soul is locked away within him?" Akane nodded. 
Cologne smiled. "It's wonderful to see you kids reasoning these things 
out on your own. Why, it won't be too long before you'll all know what to 
do without even needing my help!" Then she frowned and narrowed her eyes 
again. "But right now, we need to figure out how to drive that soul out 
of son-in-law's body so he'll remember who he is."
 "Aiyah, but how we doing that?"
 "Yeah," Ukyou said, "I mean, it's not like we can beat it out of him."
 "I bet I could knock that baka back to his senses," Akane said, scowling.
 Cologne whapped her with her staff.
 "First off, simply beating Ranma half to death won't do anything. All 
you'd do is take the risk of killing both Ranko's soul AND son-in-law. 
Second, from what you've told me about Ranko and about the incident at 
breakfast this morning, you wouldn't last long enough to use that mallet 
of yours on him. With that new speed and the mallet trick too, you'd all 
be on the ground before you could touch him."
 "So how can we save Ranchan?"
 Cologne thought for a moment, then spoke. "We'll need two things. Plenty 
of hot water and lots of spirit wards."
 Akane frowned. "Spirit wards? Don't those only work against demons 
though?"
 "No, child. There are many different kinds of spirit wards. There are 
indeed wards that are used to cast out a benevolent soul. These are the 
kinds of wards we'll need." She frowned. "However, there is a small 
problem. This kind of spirit ward has to be drawn while in the presence 
of the wayward soul. Which means we'll need to be fast enough to write 
the wards and stick them on son-in-law." Cologne frowned. "That's the 
biggest problem. Strips of paper are hard to throw, and none of us will 
be able to get close enough to son-in-law to use them, not even myself."
 Ukyou thought for a minute. "Do the wards have to be written on paper?"
 Cologne blinked at her. With no warning, Ukyou's spatulas were in action 
on a mini-grill that had appeared out of nowhere. Before anyone could 
blink, Cologne's face was plastered with a fresh, hot okonomiyaki. "Oops..
sorry about that," Ukyou said, blushing. Akane and Shampoo were giggling.
 Cologne peeled the okonomiyaki off her face, and grinned. "Girls, I 
think we've got a chance at this after all." She quickly gobbled up the 
okonomiyaki, then said to Ukyou, "Delicious! How about another?" Everyone 
facefaulted. "Only joking. Now, I need to teach you the characters that 
are to be written on the wards..."

********

Ranma and Ryouga were having a picnic in the same park they'd been at 
that morning. Kasumi had prepared delicious bentos for them, and they 
were enjoying the good food and the beautiful afternoon. Without warning, 
their picnic was interrupted by a kettle of hot water smacking Ranma in 
the head and dousing her. "Ow!" Ranma-kun looked up, and saw Akane, Ukyou,
and Shampoo looming over the two of them. "What the heck did you do THAT 
for?"
 "Sorry, sugar, but we gotta kick you out of that body. It's already 
occupied."
 "Stupid tomboy die many year ago! Should stay dead! Now pay for taking 
Ranma!"
 "I don't care if you're a Tendou or not, you're not taking him away from 
me!"
 Ranma and Ryouga blinked. "Do you have any idea what they're babbling 
about, Ryouga?"
 Ryouga shook his head. "Sounds like they've all lost it to me."
 Akane smashed Ryouga's head in with her mallet. "Who asked you!!" 
 Ranma stood up, pulled a mallet out of nowhere, and drove Akane into the 
ground with it. "Don't hit my boyfriend you baka!"
 Shampoo and Ukyou blinked. "Aiyah, it worse than we thought."
 Ukyou nodded. "Tag team. You distract him, I'll nail him with a ward."
 Ranma looked at them in confusion. "What is WRONG with you people?" 
Suddenly he was busy defending himself from Shampoo. Ryouga jumped up and 
helped him. 
 "Ryouga, deal with Ukyou! I can handle Shampoo!" Ryouga nodded, and 
charged the okonomiyaki artist. She whacked him with her enormous spatula 
and sent him flying into the fountain at the other end of the park. "Butt 
out you hentai two-timer!"
 "Shampoo, will you cut it out already?"
 "Shampoo no let stupid dead tomboy have Ranma! Shampoo defeat you now!"
 "I have no idea what you're talking about!" Blinking, Ranma stopped, 
almost being struck down by a bonbori blow. "Stupid dead tomboy?" He 
gasped. "Oh no! I didn't kill Akane did I?"
 The mallet that whacked him upside the head answered that question. 
"Baka! She meant you not me!"
 "Oh so now I'm a tomboy am I? Well guess what! You're a pervert!"
 "Who are you calling a pervert you tomboy?"
 *WHAM*
 *WHAM*
 Both stood there glaring at each other with mallets perched on their 
heads. Shampoo blinked. Ukyou stared. Nobody saw P-chan dragging the tray 
from one of their bentos in the direction of the fountain.
 "Alright that's it! I don't want to have to beat up my ex-iinazukes, but 
if you guys don't cut it out right now you're gonna be sorry!"
 "EX-iinazuke? Oh no! You're not getting rid of me that easily, sugar!"
 "Aiyah, Ranma no toss Shampoo aside like used tissue!"
 "Ranma no baka!"
The three triple-teamed Ranma, who was doing his best to defend himself 
but having a hard time. They were entirely too fast. Dammit, he thought, 
I won't last long unless...
 Suddenly the tables turned. P-chan charged into the fray, dragging a 
bento tray full of cold water from the fountain. He jumped and landed on 
one end of the tray, sending it flying at Ranma. The second the water hit,
 Ukyou, Shampoo-neko, and Akane went flying in different directions, 
crashing into trees, benches, and trash cans. 
 "Okay you three, I don't know what this is all about, but you ruined my 
picnic, and I'm REALLY MAD!" She noticed Akane sneaking over to Shampoo-
neko with a kettle. "Oh no you don't! Ryouga! C'mere!"
 Ryouga squealed and leaped into Ranma's arms. "This may hurt a little, 
honey," she said to him. He nodded and kweed cutely. She reared back like 
a baseball pitcher and hurled the piglet at Akane. With a crash, he 
collided with the kettle, knocking it out of her hands. The hot water 
doused both him and Shampoo. They both scrambled behind bushes to get 
dressed.
 Akane charged Ranma. Ranma stood there, unmoving. Akane drew back her 
fist and threw her punch. Her fist went right through a tree trunk. Ranma 
was leaning against another tree now, smirking.
 "Keep him busy Akane-chan!" Akane nodded, and charged Ranma again, who 
ducked this time and swept Akane's feet out from under her. Shampoo 
emerged from the bushes and leapt into the fray, as did Ryouga. Ukyou 
moved into position.
 As Ranma dodged a bonbori and slammed a punch into Akane's gut, Ukyou 
prepared an okonomiyaki spirit ward and flung it at Ranma. Ryouga spotted 
it in the air, and nailed it with a bandana. Ukyou scowled. "Alright 
sugar, let's see you deal with this!" Her hands blurred into motion, and 
as Ranma continued to fend off Akane and Shampoo, a fleet of okonomiyakis 
sailed through the air. Ryouga leaped into the air, and pulled off 
several bandanas, sending them flying. He nailed most of them, but there 
were still a few in the air, and more were coming. "Ranma! Look out! 
Okonomiyaki at 12 o'clock!"
 Ranma saw the flying food coming toward her. "No thanks, I already ate!" 
she yelled, and blurred into motion, knocking Akane and Shampoo across 
the park with the speed of her takeoff. All that was visible of Ranma was 
a red blur as bits of shredded okonomiyaki rained down on the park. She 
landed beside Ryouga, and said, "Sweetie, please let me borrow your 
umbrella?"
 Ryouga smiled and handed it to her. "Thanks!" she said, and charged 
Ukyou. Ukyou stashed the mini-grill and let loose a hail of mini-spatula 
shuriken, which Ranma deflected with the umbrella. Finally, Ukyou whipped 
out her fighting spatula. As Akane and Shampoo recovered and Ryouga moved 
to intercept them, Ranma and Ukyou parried with spatula and umbrella. 
Finally, Ranma snapped open the umbrella, and slashed with it as Ukyou 
swung. The razor edge of the umbrella sheared the handle of the spatula 
in half. As the business end of the spatula flew across the park and 
Ukyou stared at the broken handle, Ranma smiled. "FORE!" she yelled, and 
swung the now-closed umbrella like a golf club, knocking Ukyou to the 
other end of the park. A garbage can caught her, and set her gently on 
the ground. 
 Meanwhile, Ryouga was having trouble with both Akane and Shampoo at the 
same time. However, luck was on his side. The flying business end of 
Ukyou's spatula smacked Shampoo in the back of the head, knocking her out.
 Akane pressed her attack harder. Ryouga blocked her kicks, and finally 
dropped her with a sucker punch. He walked over to Ranma. "Are you 
alright?"
 Ranma nodded and sighed. "Yeah, but I feel bad about having to beat up 
those three."
 Ryouga hugged her. "Don't worry about it. You didn't have any choice. We 
just have to try to reason with them the next time they attack."
 Ranma nodded. "Yeah I know. But I'm afraid they won't listen to reason...
I guess when they all found out about me being a girl now, they snapped." 
She sighed, and snuggled into his arms. "Come on, let's go home." Ranma 
and Ryouga left the park, headed for the Tendou dojo. Tsubasa shed his 
disguise, dragged a wheelbarrow out from behind a bush, gently piled 
Ukyou, Shampoo, Akane, and the pieces of Ukyou's spatula on it, and 
carted them off to the Nekohanten.

********

 When Ranma and Ryouga got home, they received another surprise.
 "Welcome home you two! Ranma, you have a visitor!" Kasumi said 
cheerfully. "You can come out now, Nodoka-san!" Ranma looked slightly 
panicked. Saotome Nodoka came out of the kitchen, carrying a platter of 
delicious-looking mochi. She turned and smiled at Ranma and Ryouga. 
 "Why, Auntie Saotome!" Ranma said, fighting to force a cheerful smile. 
With all this craziness going on and people thinking she was possessed, 
having to go by the name Ranko now would NOT be a good thing.
 Fortunately, that wasn't even an issue. Nodoka laughed softly. "You can 
drop the act, Ranma. Kasumi told me everything."
 Ranma looked freaked out, and both she and Ryouga gulped. "E--everything?"
 Nodoka nodded. Then she came over and hugged Ranma. "I'm so glad to see 
you're alright, and happy!"
 Ranma smiled nervously. "Exactly how much did Kasumi tell you?"
 Kasumi and Nodoka both smiled. "I know about Jusenkyo, I know that you 
and Genma were here all along, and I'm not too happy with him at the 
moment. I know about the soul of the drowned girl." Suddenly grinning, 
she said, "I also know that my son is now my daughter, and has caught 
herself a rather handsome young man." Ryouga blushed at that comment. 
Nodoka turned to him. "So, introduce yourself!"
 Ryouga bowed and said, "I'm Hibiki Ryouga. You have a wonderful daughter,
Saotome-san."
 Ranma blushed, Nodoka smiled. "Just call me Mom...I'm assuming you two 
ARE planning to get married, ne?"
 Ranma and Ryouga looked at each other and smiled. "Probably, someday," 
Ranma said. Nodoka beamed. 
 Kasumi looked worried for a minute. "I'm glad that your family is 
reunited, Nodoka-san, and I'm happy for Ranma and Ryouga, but...there's 
still the problem of Ranma's ex-iinazukes to deal with."
 Ranma and Ryouga smirked. "Don't remind us. We just got attacked in the 
park."
 Nodoka gasped. Kasumi frowned. "Oh my. Akane-chan attacked you?"
 Ranma nodded. "And Shampoo and Ukyou too. Apparently they think I've 
snapped or something and they're trying to beat me back to my senses."
 Nodoka frowned. "Won't those girls listen to reason?" Ranma shook her 
head. "I tried, but they weren't even listening."
 Ryouga put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry, we'll make them listen, 
the next time they attack."
 Nodoka looked thoughtful. So did Kasumi. Then Nodoka remembered the 
mochi and said, "Oh! I almost forgot I made snacks for everyone!" All 
four of them sat down at the table. Each of them took one of the sticky, 
sweet bean-paste filled rice cakes, careful to hold it by the bamboo leaf 
wrapped around it and not touch the sticky rice. Ranma bit into hers and 
smiled. "Delicious!" Ryouga was enjoying his too. Nodoka smiled. "I'll 
teach you how to make these if you like."
 Ranma beamed. "Oh, I'd like that!" Ryouga looked at her curiously. 
Kasumi giggled. "Ranma's a good cook...even when she was still a boy." 
Ranma blushed. Ryouga looked surprised. "I had no idea!"
 Nodoka smiled. "We found it out the last time I was here and I was 
trying to teach Akane-chan how to cook. I asked Akane to help me make 
dinner, and Ranma volunteered to help too...of course at the time I 
thought she was Akane's cousin Ranko..." Ranma looked embarrassed about 
that. "Anyway, they got into this little duel in the kitchen while I was 
taking the remains of Akane's attempt to cook carrots outside to Panda-
chan...if I'd had any idea that was Genma..."
 "You'd still have fed it to him," Ranma said, giggling. Everyone laughed.
 "So they each made a dish and when I got back to the kitchen they asked 
me to test them. The dish Ranma made was delicious!" Nodoka beamed at her 
daughter, who blushed. Ryouga grinned. Kasumi smiled.
 "I hope Akane's dish didn't hurt you too badly," Ryouga said, prompting 
a groan from Ranma and an embarrassed smile from Kasumi. Nodoka looked at 
them quizzically. "Well, I hate to insult anyone's cooking," Nodoka said 
simply.
 Kasumi said, "At least Akane's getting a little better. Her cooking 
stopped attacking people quite some time ago." Nodoka shot her a look. 
 "Kasumi-san, honestly! I know she isn't very good, but that's a horrible 
thing to say!"
 "Mom, she means it literally," Ranma said. Ryouga and Kasumi nodded. 
Nodoka paled.
 "I don't even want to know." Changing the subject, she smiled and said, 
"I just thought about something ironic."
 "Oh? What's that?"
 "Ranma, dear, do you remember what I said to you after I tried your dish?"
 Ranma blushed. Ryouga glanced at her and her mother curiously. She 
smiled and said, "After Mom tried my dish, she said I'd make a wonderful 
wife someday."
 The four of them spent the rest of the afternoon laughing and eating 
mochi.

********

 Akane winced as Cologne cleaned her cuts and scrapes with alcohol. 
Shampoo was holding a cold compress against the back of her head. Ukyou, 
whose shirt lay on the floor next to her, was being careful not to move 
too much as she examined what was left of her spatula. A set of bandages 
had joined the bindings Ukyou usually wore to mask her femininity. A 
little blood had soaked through the bandages on the side where Ukyou had 
been hit. She winced as she turned to see how the others were doing. 
"Shampoo, your head feel any better?
 Shampoo frowned. "Shampoo still feel like herd of elephants is 
stampeding inside Shampoo skull." She absently shifted her cold compress. 
 Cologne finished wrapping Akane's fists, and started preparing a splint 
for Akane's right wrist. "You should have known better than to try 
attacking Ryouga without a weapon," she said as she splinted the wrist 
and went to work wrapping braces around Akane's ankles.
 "Great-grandmother right, Akane. Ryouga built like Mount Fuji." She held 
up one of her bonbori, there were dents in the metal where she had struck 
Ryouga with it. Akane looked at it and shuddered.
 "You should all be ready to try it again in a couple of days. We'll meet 
here tomorrow to plan for the next attack," Cologne said.
 Ukyou stood, wincing. "Come on Akane-chan, you can crash at my place 
tonight." Akane nodded. "Thanks Ukyou. I don't think it'd be smart to go 
home tonight." They waved goodbye to Cologne and Shampoo and left. 

 A spatula whizzed by Kasumi's head as she was sweeping the veranda and 
stuck in one of the supports. She pulled it out, and read the attached 
note. "Good," she said to nobody in particular, "If she came home tonight 
her and Ranma might destroy the house." She went inside to tell everyone 
Akane would be staying at Ukyou's place tonight. Akane leapt off the wall 
around the house and landed in the sidewalk next to Ukyou, wincing as her 
abused ankles took the force of her landing. They walked off to the 
restaurant, slowly and painfully.

********

 Ranma, Ryouga, Soun, Genma, Nabiki, Kasumi, and Nodoka sat down to 
breakfast two mornings later. Soun was crying because Akane had not come 
home yet. He was also crying because of Ranma. 
 "Soun-kun, now, quit that crying," Nodoka said. "I know you're worried 
about your daughter, and I know you're upset that she doesn't have a 
iinazuke now, but she'll get over this! There are other men in the world, 
she'll eventually fall in love with someone and get married."
 "I suppose you're right." Soun calmed down and started eating his 
breakfast.
 "Besides," Nodoka continued, "I think Kasumi-san is planning to marry 
that nice man before too much longer." Everyone looked at Kasumi, who 
blushed.
 "Nodoka-san!"
 "Well, it's true isn't it?"
 Kasumi smiled. "Well, he is sweet. Even if he does have those silly 
trances sometimes." 
 Ranma, Nodoka, and Ryouga smiled. Nabiki schemed. Soun wailed. "My 
oldest daughter is getting married and she hasn't even told her father 
who her future husband is!"
 Kasumi sighed. "Oh, father, father, father. I thought everyone knew."
 "This is the first I've heard of it!" Soun cried.
 Kasumi smiled and patted his arm gently. "As soon as he's ready to 
propose to me, I'm going to marry Tofu-sensei, father."
 Soun blinked. "Really?" Kasumi nodded. Soun was in full wail now. "My 
daughter is marrying a doctor! I'm so happy!" Everyone just sighed and 
continued to eat breakfast.

 Cologne, Akane, Shampoo, and Ukyou were gathered once more at Nekohanten.
 Ukyou said, "Are we ready for today's attack?"
 Cologne shook her head.
 Akane frowned. "What's wrong? We're well enough to fight!"
 Shampoo spoke up. "Shampoo been thinking, and Shampoo realize something. 
Of all three of us, Shampoo train most, and Shampoo no match for Ranma or 
Ryouga. If we try again we just get beat again, maybe get hurt much worse 
too."
 "She's got a point, sugar," Ukyou said. Akane sighed and nodded. "Yeah, 
you're right...I just...I just can't give up on Ranma though..." She 
raised her fist. "I have to fight! For Ranma!"
 "Yeah, Ranchan needs us!" Ukyou raised her newly repaired spatula and 
twirled it over her head.
 "Shampoo fight too, but think we need much training first. Akane need 
train in some weapon, and we all need get much better before we even 
think of fighting Ranma and Ryouga again."
 Cologne nodded. "I made a mistake last time that could have cost you 
three your lives. I didn't consider Ryouga, and he's twice as dangerous 
to this battle."
 Akane frowned. "Twice as dangerous? How?"
 Ukyou nodded. "I see. Remember when I threw him into the fountain last 
time?"
 "Aiyah, Shampoo see what you saying. When he turned into pig, we ignored 
him."
 "That's right!" Akane said. "And while we were busy fighting with Ranma, 
he snuck off and got cold water!"
 Cologne nodded. "Even when removed from the fighting, Ryouga is still 
dangerous, because then he's free to look for cold water with which to 
transform Ranma into his more powerful female form."
 "And if we DON'T turn him into P-chan, then we wind up having to fight 
someone who's basically indestructible," Akane added. 
 "That's right," Cologne said. "So next time, once you've weakened son-in-
law with hot water, your next priority is taking Ryouga out of commission."
 "Turn him into pig, catch him, and tie him up," Shampoo said 
enthusiastically. 
 "Yeah! Then we can get Ranchan back for sure!"
 "You four are hopeless," came a voice from the doorway.
 "Nabiki!"
 "Why don't you girls give this up? You're way off about all this demonic 
possession stuff. Ranma CHOSE this. She's not possessed."
 "Stop stupid talking. Ranma possessed by soul of stupid drowned tomboy."
 "Yeah. I could never accept that Ranchan wants to be a girl."
 "We're gonna fight Ranko and drive her out of him for good!" The three 
girls sent up a battle cry.
 Nabiki smirked. "Then I suggest you send a formal challenge letter, if 
you really intend to go through with this."
 Akane frowned. "Is that REALLY neccessary Nabiki?"
 Nabiki nodded. "You haven't been home in two days. Nobody's very happy 
with what's going on." She handed Akane a note. Akane read it. Her face 
paled. "You see. If you're REALLY that certain that you three are right, 
then write a challenge letter, and I'll take it back to them." She sighed,
and said, "And Akane...no matter which side wins this, we all want you 
back home when it's over."
 Akane looked less pale. "Really?" 
 Nabiki nodded. "Everyone misses you, but Ranma wants this settled once 
and for all, and if this is really the only way..."
 Akane nodded, and reached for paper and ink. She said, "Guys, when 
should we set the challenge?"
 Cologne said, "I think a month should be sufficient training time."
 "Sound good to Shampoo."
 "Fine by me."
 "Alright then. One month from today." Akane wrote the letter, signed it, 
and passed it to the other girls for them to sign. Then she handed it to 
Nabiki. 
 "Sayonara Akane. We'll see you in one month, at the Tendou-Saotome Dojo." 
She left.
 Everyone turned to Akane. "Hey sugar, what was that all about?" Ukyou 
asked. Akane handed her the note Nabiki had brought. Ukyou read it and 
her eyes widened in shock. "No way!" Shampoo took it and read it. "Aiyah! 
They really taking this that far?" Akane nodded. 

 The note read:

 Akane,

 We are very sorry to hear that you and the others cannot simply accept 
what has happened to Ranma. However, if you are truly certain that you 
are right, you may choose to challenge Ranma and Ryouga to a battle 
royale at the Tendou-Saotome School of Anything-Goes Martial Arts at a 
time of your choosing. Know that if you choose to go through with your 
challenge, you will not set foot within the gates of the dojo until the 
day of the battle. When the battle is over, win or lose, you are welcome 
to return home.

 Signed Tendou Soun, Saotome Genma, Saotome Nodoka.

<continued from last post>
 "Are you really sure you want to do this, sugar?" Ukyou asked.
 Akane nodded. "I care about Ranma...I have to do this. I have to get him 
back. If it means being banned from my home for a month, I can take it."
 "Aiyah. Akane very brave girl. Would make good Amazon." 
 Akane smiled at Shampoo. "Thank you Shampoo. That's the nicest thing 
you've ever said to me." She smacked a fist against the table. "Now, we 
need to get busy preparing for this battle." They sent up a battle cry 
once more.
 Cologne looked thoughtful. "We have our tactics and our strategy laid 
out. We had the right idea last time, but we forgot to consider Ryouga. 
We've got a contingency plan for him now, all that remains is training." 
She thought for a minute, then said. "There also remains one other 
consideration: Akane needs to learn to use some kind of weapon other than 
the mallet trick. It simply isn't practical in combat." 
 The girls all thought for a minute, then Ukyou looked up. "I know! Akane-
chan, why don't you let me train you in the art of okonomiyaki?"
 Cologne and Shampoo looked panicked. Akane blinked. Ukyou frowned. "You 
don't have to be able to cook to learn it. Besides, since you'll be 
living at my restaurant for a month, you'll have no problem learning to 
make okonomiyaki if I help you. That way you could help me with the 
spirit wards in the fight. And of course, the main thing is to teach you 
how to use one of these." Ukyou held up her spatula and grinned.
 A slow smile spread across Akane's face. "Alright, you're on!"

 About three days later, Happosai returned. He found Ranma and doused her 
with a bottle of water. 
 "Ack!" Ranma turned around and saw Happosai. "Hey old man!"
 Happosai grinned. He took out a kettle of hot water and poured it on her.

 "AAAHHH!! That's hot! ....Hey it worked!" Ranma looked down at herself 
and grinned. "Old freak, if you weren't such a lech I'd kiss you."
 "Why don'tcha kiss me anyway cutie?" Happosai puckered up. 
 He ended up kissing Ranma's foot as she punted him into orbit. Smiling, 
Ranma ran inside to tell everyone the good news.
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
P  A  R  T    F  O  U  R  :  R  E  S  O  L  U  T  I  O  N
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Akane and Ukyou woke up to the annoyingly loud sound of their alarm 
clock. Akane groaned. "Is it your turn or mine Ucchan?"
 "Your turn Acchan. I'm too tired to blink."
 Akane yawned, then reached over and grabbed the large spatula next to 
her futon. The alarm clock shut off abruptly as its innards were 
scattered by a massive blow. Akane put her spatula back down and went 
back to sleep. "Nothing better than the snooze feature," Ukyou chuckled, 
then fell back asleep.
 About an hour later, they finally dragged themselves out of bed and went 
through their morning routine. Ready to face the day, they went 
downstairs. "Okay Acchan, let's see what you've got."
 Akane nodded, and fired up the grill. Ukyou observed carefully as 
Akane's hands whirred into motion, whipping up the batter, oiling the 
grill, and flipping a rapidly cooking okonomiyaki. In almost no time, 
Akane flipped the cooked okonomiyaki onto a plate and handed it to Ukyou, 
smiling.
 "Wow, 75 seconds. Not bad." Ukyou took a bite of the okonomiyaki and 
smiled. "Wow, and it tastes pretty good!" Akane beamed. "You're getting 
better by the day, Acchan!"
 "Thanks Ucchan!"
 "After breakfast we'll practice for about an hour. It's pretty late this 
morning so we'll have to rush if we want to get in that practice time and 
still be ready for the lunch rush." Akane nodded. Ukyou smiled. "And then 
after that, I'm going to teach you a more complicated recipe, and how to 
make...the sauce." Akane gaped. "Really, Ucchan?" Ukyou nodded. Akane 
jumped up and down, excited. Ukyou grinned. They ate a couple of 
okonomiyakis, and then moved out onto the floor. A wooden screen had been 
set up in front of the doorway and across the windows. The tables were 
stacked along one wall of the shop. When the restaurant wasn't open, they 
used the floor of the dining area as their training hall. Akane checked 
her gear; everything was in place. She smiled, she was getting the hang 
of this and she loved it. 
 "Ready to start, Acchan?" Akane nodded, drawing her spatula. It was 
basically identical to Ukyou's, except it had blue tape wrapped around 
the handle. She also wore an okonomiyaki seller's outfit now, like 
Ukyou's, except hers was yellow instead of blue. She wore the same tight 
black pants.
 Ukyou twirled her spatula, then darted in and took a swing. Akane 
deflected, and brought the handle of her own spatula around to strike 
Ukyou in the elbow. Gritting her teeth, Ukyou tried for a pancake toss 
swing. Akane stopped the spatula with her own, then slid hers underneath 
Ukyou's and flipped upward. Ukyou was hit in the face with her own 
spatula. "Okay, time to turn up the heat," she said. She took a few steps 
back, and readied four throwing spatulas. Akane took a defensive stance, 
spatula at the ready. Ukyou threw the spatulas. Two clanged against 
Akane's spatula. She sidestepped one of the others, and jumped over the 
last one. Still in the air, she whipped out four of her own throwing 
spatulas and sent them flying toward Ukyou. Ukyou swatted them in the air,
 taking three completely down, but one was deflected toward her knee and 
struck. She dropped down a bit, sucking in a sharp breath. She quickly 
stood, and attacked again with her spatula. They kept this up for almost 
an hour.
 When they were done, Ukyou grinned. "You're really good at this, 
Acchan!"
 Akane smiled. "Thanks, Ucchan! I had no idea this would be so much 
fun!"
 Ukyou thought about that, and smiled. "Yeah, it is a lot of fun. Not 
many people can fight with cooking utensils." Both of them giggled, then 
started moving the tables around and pulling back the screen. After 
washing up a little upstairs, they opened the restaurant.
 A little before the start of the lunch rush, Tsubasa walked in. Simply 
walked in. No disguises, and he wasn't crossdressing. "Tsubasa!" Ukyou 
said, mildly surprised. 
 "Hello, Ukyou-sa..san." He noticed Akane, and blinked. Twice. "Akane?"
 Akane nodded, and giggled. Tsubasa shook his head. "Man, maybe I better 
go back on vacation."
 "You went on a vacation?"
 Tsubasa nodded. "After that incident in the park that day, I decided I 
needed to get away from Nerima for a little while. Took a little cruise 
to China, very relaxing. I actually got used to normal clothes." He 
grinned.
 Ukyou and Akane blinked. "So, no more crossdressing? No more disguises?"
 "Nope. Well, the disguises aren't totally gone, I mean it's a handy 
talent, if you want to spy on someone or something. But I'll usually be 
dressed like this from now on." 
 Ukyou and Akane both smiled. "That's great, Tsubasa!"
 "Yeah, looks like my timing couldn't have been better."
 "How so?"
 "Well, the thought of being whapped and hearing 'Tsubasa no baka!' in 
stereo is enough to make me feel sick." He shuddered. Ukyou and Akane 
bust out laughing. They filled him in about the challenge which would 
take place in three weeks. When they were done, he nodded, a serious 
expression on his face. "To be honest, I don't know whether to wish you 
luck, or to hope you fail. All I can say is whatever happens, I'll be 
here for you if you need me."
 Ukyou actually smiled. "Thanks Tsubasa. I never thought I'd say this, 
but that really means a lot to me."

 Ranma sat on the roof, watching the sunset. Ryouga sat down beside her, 
and she snuggled up to him. "Two weeks until the big fight," she said. 
 "Yeah. I guess there's just no way to talk Akane out of this. Or the 
others."
 Ranma nodded, and sighed. "I'm not mad at them anymore though. Not like 
I was that day they jumped us in the park."
 "Yeah, me either. I mean, it'd be nice if they'd listen to reason, but 
they're only doing this because they believe it's right." Ryouga closed 
his eyes for a second.
 Ranma sighed again. "I know, and that's why I'm not mad at them. You 
really can't justify holding a grudge against someone just because 
they're fighting for something they believe in."
 "How very mature of you two! I'm so proud!"
 Ranma and Ryouga turned to find Nodoka and Kasumi had come up behind 
them on the roof. "Hi Mom! Hi Kasumi!" Ranma smiled at them as they sat 
down beside her and Ryouga. "What brings you two up here?"
 "The same thing that brings you here, dear." Nodoka pointed at the sun 
sinking below the horizon. 
 "It's so beautiful," Kasumi said. 
 They watched for a few minutes. They'd been sitting there a little while 
when someone waved to them from down in the yard. Ranma and Ryouga stood 
and jumped down. The brown-haired boy standing there walked up to them.
 "Hi Ranma, Ryouga." They stared at him blankly for a few seconds. 
"Who..." Then Ranma recognized him. "Tsubasa?"
 Tsubasa nodded. "I just came by to wish you two well and offer the same 
support I'm offering the others."
 Ranma blinked. "Thanks Tsubasa! I figured you'd side with Ukyou."
 Tsubasa shook his head and sighed. "I'm not going to take sides in this. 
Something tells me that they're wrong, and you really have become a girl, 
but then again they might be right, and after the fight you'll be back to 
normal. I don't know. I'm just going to watch and wait. Oh, by the way...
I will tell you that Akane has gotten a lot better. She might actually be 
hard for you to beat."
 Ranma blinked. "Thanks for the tip. I don't get why you're telling us 
this though."
 Tsubasa smiled. "Mainly that's an apology for going along with Nabiki's 
plan to screw up Ryouga's date that one night." He waved goodbye and left.

 Ryouga shook his head. "I can't get over Tsubasa acting normal. It's 
almost too scary."
 Ranma nodded, then yawned. "We better get some rest. Don't forget that 
tomorrow I'm going to start teaching you the kachuu tenshin amaguriken 
technique." Ryouga nodded. Ranma leaned up and kissed him, then they went 
inside.

 Tsubasa went completely unnoticed disguised as an abandoned yatai as he 
watched Shampoo practicing with Cologne. 
 "Alright, granddaughter, are you ready?"
 "Aiyah! Shampoo ready!"
 "Very well then." Cologne lit the small campfire she'd built, and dumped 
a bag of sweet chestnuts into it. "Go!"
 Tsubasa timed Shampoo as she plucked all the chestnuts out of the fire. 
3 seconds. Not bad. She might be a match for Ranma.
 "Very good, child!"
 "With speed of amaguriken technique, Shampoo have a chance at beating 
Ranma if something go wrong and he manage to turn girl-type."
 Hmm...Tsubasa thought for a minute. If they were counting on keeping 
Ranma in his male form, he thought, they needed to take that koi pond the 
Tendous have into consideration. Tsubasa had no idea that Ranma could no 
longer be turned into a male at all.
 Shampoo yelped as the old wreck of a yatai that sat in the corner of the 
lot moved toward them. "Aiyah! What that!?"
 Cologne turned, and smirked. "We're being watched." 
 "Don't be alarmed." Tsubasa emerged from the yatai. 
 Shampoo breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, it you Tsubasa. No do that 
again! You almost give Shampoo heart attack!"
 "Sorry about that. I just wanted to see how the training was coming 
along. 3 seconds on the chestnut fist. Not bad."
 "Shampoo make sure she fast as Ranma!"
 Tsubasa nodded. "You're holding this fight at the dojo right?" Shampoo 
nodded. "And your plan is to keep Ranma from turning into a girl during 
the fight if at all possible, correct?" Shampoo nodded again. "Okay, did 
anyone ever think about the koi pond in the Tendou's yard?"
 "Aiyah! Shampoo forget they have pond!" Cologne smacked herself in the 
head. "What we do now?"
 Tsubasa smiled. "I'll take care of it the day before the fight." He 
explained his plan to them, and they smiled. Tsubasa went off to look for 
a certain ninja.

 "Alright, GO!" 
 Ukyou started jumping around the dining area and throwing mini-spatulas 
at Akane while Akane worked furiously over a mini-grill, cooking an 
okonomiyaki and occasionally deflecting one of the spatulas with her 
cooking ones. She tossed the okonomiyaki at Ukyou, who blocked it with 
her spatula. "Good shot! Keep going!" Akane started firing off 
okonomiyaki after okonomiyaki as Ukyou jumped around dodging and blocking 
them. Finally one got through her defenses and smacked her in the face. 
She stopped jumping, peeled it off, and smiled. "Perfect. And you got the 
characters for the wards down great." 
 Akane smiled. "I think we're ready to take them on, Ucchan." Ukyou 
grinned.

 Everyone was asleep in the Tendou-Saotome dojo. Sasuke slipped over the 
wall, followed by another ninja. The second ninja took out a large fish 
net and began catching all the koi in the pond and dumping them in a 
small barrel full of water Sasuke had produced. Then, Sasuke dragged a 
bag of quick-dry cement out from its hiding place, and the two ninjas 
worked together to pour it all into the pond. Then the unknown ninja 
produced an oar and used it to stir up the water. Satisfied with the job, 
they hid the barrel behind the bushes in the corner of the yard, and 
slipped back over the wall, unheard and unseen. 

 "Wake up you two! It's time for breakfast!"
 Ranma blinked herself awake and groaned. "Already?" Ryouga yawned and 
stretched.
 "We're eating early this morning since today is the big fight, remember? 
Now hurry up and get ready!"
 Ranma and Ryouga shot out of bed and groomed themselves, and dressed. 
Ryouga started to reach for his usual yellow shirt when Ranma stopped him.
 He turned to her quizzically. She reached into the closet and pulled out 
her sleeveless white shirt. "For luck," she said with a wink. Ryouga put 
the shirt on, smiling, and also put on Ranma's gold arm bracers. Ranma 
herself decided on her purple shirt. She looked at herself in the mirror 
and frowned. "I think I want to do something different with my hair," she 
announced. Ryouga blinked. "I've never seen you change your hairstyle 
before." 
 "Yeah, I've only changed it one time in my whole life. I think it's time 
for a little change don't you?" She smiled. She reached back and quickly 
unbraided and untied her hair, handing Ryouga the dragon whisker that she 
needed to keep it from growing. Ryouga had forgotten about this, and 
watched in amazement as Ranma's hair slowly started growing right before 
their eyes. She waited until it was almost halfway down her back, and 
then she took the whisker back and quickly retied it. Looking at herself 
in the mirror again, she smirked, and then snapped her fingers. "Gimme 
one of those," she said, reaching up to yank a bandana off of Ryouga's 
head. Rather than using it as a bandana, she fashioned a hair ribbon out 
of it, tying it in a bow over the dragon whisker. She looked back at her 
reflection and smiled. "Kawaii, ne?" she said, giggling.
 "I like it," Ryouga said, and they went down to breakfast. 

 Kasumi smiled at them as they sat down at the table. "I like what you've 
done with your hair, Ranma," she said. Ranma smiled. "Thanks."
 Soun was wailing as he brought the newspaper in. "It's a catastrophe!" 
Everyone blinked at him. "What's wrong, Soun-kun?" Nodoka asked.
 "Someone has filled the pond with cement! Oh my beautiful, expensive koi 
pond!" He was crying hard enough now to make a new one. 
 Ryouga frowned. "Now why would anyone do that, I wonder."
 Ranma smirked. "Maybe a certain three people didn't want the pond there 
because it's cold water, and maybe they sent someone to take care of it."
 Ryouga blinked. "I don't get it."
 "Baka!" Ranma said, smirking. "They probably don't know that I can't be 
changed into a guy anymore, and they're planning to weaken me with hot 
water." Ryouga nodded, understanding now. Then he grinned. "Won't they be 
surprised."
 Ranma laughed. "Heh, I'll say. I'm a little worried about you though."
 "Me?"
 Ranma nodded. "Yeah, if they're planning to splash me with hot water, 
they might try to get you with cold water."
 Nodoka frowned. "That's a possibility alright. And we can't say it's 
against the rules to turn one of your opponents into a pig since it's 
anything-goes martial arts." She smirked. "Kasumi, we're going to have to 
make sure there's plenty of hot water available."
 "Cold water also," Ranma said. Nodoka blinked at her. "To use against 
Shampoo. 
 "Ah." Nodoka nodded. 
 Ryouga frowned. "It'll be hard to keep moving kettles and buckets in and 
out of the house." 
 "Well why don't we use water balloons?" suggested Kasumi.
 Ranma beamed. "Great idea!"
 Nodoka nodded. "We'll get to work on them immediately. You two go warm 
up...I have a feeling the girls have probably trained harder than we 
think." Nodding, Ranma and Ryouga got up and went into the dojo for a 
morning workout.
 Soun was still wailing outside. "My pond! My fish!"
 "Your fish aren't harmed, Tendou-san. They're in a barrel hidden in the 
bushes over in the corner. And the person who did this apologizes 
sincerely, and will help you refill your pond after the fight. But he 
doesn't think it would be fair to anyone if the combatants kept turning 
into animals and such during the fight." This was Ryouga, reading a note 
he found stuck to the wall next to dojo door. 
 Soun stopped wailing and turned to him. "That's a note from the vandal?"
 "More like guardian angel than vandal," Ranma said. "For BOTH sides. It 
helps the girls more than it helps us...at least it would have if hot 
water still turned me back into a guy...and it keeps Shampoo from falling 
in and turning into a cat. But it also helps Ryouga too."
 "Any idea who did this, Ranma?" Soun asked.
 "Yep." Ranma said. "I know exactly who did it."
 Ryouga and Soun turned to her quizzically. "Tsubasa," she told them.

 Akane and Ukyou were finishing their morning aerobics when Shampoo and 
Cologne arrived. "Are you girls ready?" Cologne asked.
 "Yep!" 
 "Sure are!" They finished their exercises and grabbed their weapons 
bandoliers. Strapping their spatulas on, they nodded to each other and 
walked out the door. The four of them made their way to the dojo.

 Ranma and Ryouga finished their light workout, and now they were waiting 
for the challengers to arrive. Ranma had a row of water balloons attached 
to her side...cold water, for Shampoo. The rest of the family was on the 
veranda. Kasumi and Nodoka had a bucket full of hot water balloons 
between them. 
 Tsubasa appeared on the top of the wall. "Sorry about your pond, Tendou-
san," he called out. "I promise I'll help you refill it after all this is 
over."
 "Hello Tsubasa!" Kasumi called, waving. "Why don't you come join us over 
here and watch the fight?"
 Tsubasa shook his head, crouching on the wall. "No thanks, I'll just 
perch up here and watch. He turned his head to look down the street, and 
said, "I think the girls are arriving."
 Akane's voice shouted from outside, "Open the gates!"
 Soun and Genma swung the gates open. Cologne hopped through first, and 
perched herself beside the veranda. Then the challengers strode through, 
stopping a few feet inside the gate and standing side by side. Everyone 
gaped in awe.
 "Akane!?" Ranma said. 
 Akane spoke in a no-nonsense tone. "We've come to drive out the spirit 
we know is possessing Ranma to make him believe he is really a girl!
 "We're gonna bring you back to your senses, Ranchan!" Ukyou said.
 "That right! Stupid drowned girl go back where she belong!" Shampoo said.

 Everyone was still gaping at Akane, dressed in her yellow okonomiyaki-
seller's outfit and carrying a giant spatula strapped to her back. The 
three girls marched to the center of the yard, stopping about five feet 
away from Ranma and Ryouga to face off with them. Akane taunted, "Nice 
ribbon there Ranko. Let's see how much you like it when we're through 
with you."
 "For the last time, I *AM* Ranma, you idiots."
 Nodding to each other, Akane and Ukyou drew their spatulas. Ranma and 
Ryouga dropped into ready stances. Without warning, Shampoo threw a 
bottle of cold water to Ukyou and a kettle of hot water to Akane. Akane 
slammed the hot water into Ranma with her spatula. The kettle broke and 
splashed all over Ranma.
 "Aiyah! It no work!"
 "Ranchan's still in his girl form!"
 "Okay, that spirit has gone too far! Attack!"
 Ukyou slammed the cold water at Ryouga, who couldn't block it in time 
and turned into a pig. Akane and Shampoo rushed Ranma. The attacks and 
dodges were coming equally fast on both sides. Nobody was doing any 
damage to anyone. Ukyou snuck around to grab the pig. To her surprise, 
something popped and sprayed hot water in front of her. Next thing she 
knew, Ryouga's hands closed around her neck. "Why you..."
 "Ah, heh heh heh..." Ryouga threw Ukyou across the yard. She slammed 
into the far wall. 
 "Ucchan!"
 "I'm alright Acchan! Get him!" 
 Akane broke off attacking Ranma and went after Ryouga, flinging a 
barrage of spatulas at him. He whipped several bandanas in the air, 
knocking the spatulas to the ground. Akane landed in close range, and 
engaged him in spatula-to-umbrella combat. 
 Meanwhile, Ranma was having no success with the cold water balloons. 
Shampoo kept knocking them aside before she was splashed. Ranma ran out 
of balloons. "Damn," she said. 
 Shampoo smiled evilly. "Now we see who stronger, stupid drowned tomboy." 
She whipped out her bonbori and began lunging at Ranma, who blocked or 
evaded every strike, but with some difficulty. Shampoo's gotten fast, 
Ranma thought to herself.
 Meanwhile, Ukyou was up, and had her mini-grill out. Ranma was too busy 
fighting Shampoo to notice her, but Ryouga did. As he dodged one of 
Akane's strikes, he started to reach up for his bandanas. "Oooohhhh no 
you don't," Akane said, and whacked him hard in the elbow. She pressed 
the attack with fast strikes, and Ryouga was kept busy blocking and 
dodging. "Ranma! Watch out for flying okonomiyaki!"
 "Gotcha!" Ranma said as she tried to disarm Shampoo. It wasn't working. 
Shampoo was entirely too fast. Ranma was pressed back almost as far as 
Ryouga. As they were pushed against the wall, Ryouga leaned over and 
whispered, "I have a plan. Try to get her over onto the pond. When I push 
Akane over there, get out of the way." Ranma nodded.
 Akane smirked. "You two ready to surrender?"
 "No way!" Ranma said, launching into her chestnut fist. Surprisingly, 
Shampoo was able to block a lot of the punches--Cologne must have taught 
her the technique, Ranma thought--but she was still being forced back. 
Meanwhile, Ukyou was busily preparing as many okonomiyaki wards as she 
could while Akane and Shampoo kept Ranma and Ryouga busy. 
 Akane was still pressing her spatula attack. Ryouga tried to use his 
umbrella to cut her spatula in half but it wasn't working. Akane didn't 
give him an opening. Ranma called over her shoulder, "Use your new attack 
Ryouga!"
 "Right!" Ryouga stowed his umbrella, taking a hit in the stomach from 
Akane's spatula. Shifting his body forward, he yelled, "KACHUU TENSHIN 
AMAGURIKEN!" and delivered a flurry of fast punches at Akane. Not 
prepared for this, Akane had no choice but to fall back. "Ukyou! Do it 
now! Hurry!"
 Ukyou started flinging the okonomiyakis. Shampoo and Ranma were now 
grappling on the concrete pond, and Akane was almost backed up to its 
edge. The okonomiyakis were getting closer. "Just a little more..." 
Ryouga said, continuing to press Akane backward. She was almost on top of 
Ranma and Shampoo. "There! Ranma! NOW!" Ranma dropped to the ground and 
rolled away from the pond. Ryouga broke off his attack and dove at the 
ground, one finger extended. "BAKUSAI TENKETSU!" The concrete exploded. 
Akane and Shampoo collapsed in a heap in the middle of the blast. Ryouga 
jumped back, and began flinging bandanas, taking out all the okonomiyaki. 
Ukyou put away the grill and got ready to fight, flinging spatulas. Every 
spatula she threw, Ranma caught and threw right back at her. Shampoo 
scrambled out of the wreckage of the pond and threw herself into the 
fight. Ukyou closed in and let fly with her spatula. Ryouga and Ranma 
were busy blocking and dodging. 
 None of them noticed Akane setting up her mini-grill when she came to. 
 The fight was fairly even now, and stayed put, not leaving the center of 
the yard. Both sides were holding their ground. 
 Akane's hands blurred into motion, making an okonomiyaki.
 Shampoo attacked with the chestnut fist revised, using her bonbori 
instead of her fists. Ranma was keeping up with the attacks but it was 
tough. Ryouga had his umbrella out again, and was parrying with Ukyou. 
 Akane drew the characters on the okonomiyaki.
 Shampoo and Ranma dropped back to normal speed after almost two minutes 
of continuous chestnut fists. Ukyou and Ryouga were locked in an eye-to-
eye, umbrella-to-spatula contest of strength and will.
 Akane placed the ward on her spatula, brought it around, and smacked it 
against Ranma's face.
 Shampoo and Ukyou broke off their attacks and backed up into defensive 
stances.
 Ranma stopped moving. Ryouga stared. 
 The characters on the okonomiyaki began to glow...

 Then it slid off Ranma's face. It shriveled and turned black as it hit 
the ground. Everyone blinked at it.
 "Oh no," Akane said, "I guess I messed it up..."
 Cologne shook her head. "No, child. You didn't mess up."
 "Then what happen, great-grandmother?"
 Cologne closed her eyes and sighed. She hopped over to Ranma and Ryouga. 
"Ranma...please accept my apologies. I didn't think it could be true."
 Ukyou, Shampoo, and Akane gasped. "Wh...what you talking, great-
grandmother?"
 Cologne turned to the three girls. "You three fought well. I'm proud of 
you for that. But it seems it was in vain. When a ward shrivels and 
blackens like that, it means that there were no spirits to ward off after 
all."
 Akane's eyes widened. "Y..you mean...?"
 Ukyou looked pale. "Ranchan...really...IS....?"
 Cologne nodded. The three girls sank to the ground, and began crying. 
 Ranma sighed. "Look you guys, I'm sorry...but this is who I really am." 
She explained to them about her dreams, and what she had realized they 
meant. 
 Akane gasped. "Ranma...I really had no idea...I thought..."
 Ukyou sighed. "Same here. I'm really sorry, Ranchan."
 "Shampoo sorry too, Ranma." 
 "It's okay guys. I know why you did it. You thought I was in trouble and 
you were just trying to help." She smiled. "That's what friends do for 
each other."
 They all looked at her. "You mean you're not mad at us?" Akane asked.
 Ranma shook her head. "I never was, not after I realized what you were 
fighting for. You were fighting for what you believed in. I can't hold a 
grudge for that." Smiling, she added, "Besides, something good came out 
of all this. Look at you three. A month ago, none of you would have had a 
chance against me and Ryouga in a fight. But today, you actually beat us.
"
 The girls blinked. Then a slow smile spread across Akane's face. "Hey, 
we did, didn't we?"
 "You girls make a great team," Ryouga said. They all smiled. 
 The happy moment was interrupted by a maniacal laugh as Kodachi leaped 
over the wall. "Ohohohohohohohoho! Ranma-sama! I've come for you, my 
darling!"
 Everyone looked at her. Ranma cleared her throat and said, "Kodachi...
Ranma's dead."
 Kodachi blinked. "What?"
 Akane nodded. "Yeah. He's gone."
 "He's been dead for over a month, sweetie."
 "Ranma deader than doornail."
 Kodachi shook, fighting back tears. Then she leveled a hand at the group 
of them. "You four girls! You wicked little sluts drove my Ranma-sama to 
his death, didn't you? I'll make you pay, do you hear me?"
 Akane and Ukyou looked at each other and nodded. Moving in synch, they 
walked over to Kodachi, spatulas in hand. Their spatulas swung in unison, 
sending Kodachi flying off into the stratosphere, as their stereo shout 
rang out: "KODACHI NO BAKA!"
 Everyone fell over laughing. 

--------------------------------EPILOGUE-----------------------------------

 Ranma passed the Nekohanten on her way to Ucchan's. She poked her head 
inside. Shampoo saw her and waved. "Nihao Ranma!"
 "Hey Shampoo! How's it going?"
 Shampoo smiled. "Shampoo still sad, but think she get over it."
 Ranma smiled. "I'm glad. I really hated having to hurt all three of you, 
but this is my destiny."
 Shampoo nodded. "Shampoo understand that now, and happy for you and 
Ryouga. Hope you have long life and many strong children." 
 Ranma blushed and giggled. "You know, Shampoo...I bet if you gave Mousse 
a chance, you might be surprised. You may find out you like him after all."
 Shampoo sighed. "Stupid Mousse...he never beat Shampoo, so no can marry. 
Shampoo no even want date him unless he beat her."
 Ranma thought about that, and grinned slowly. "Y'know...you COULD train 
him. Then he'd beat you." She winked. 
 Shampoo giggled. "Aiyah! Shampoo never look at it that way before!" 
 Ranma waved. "Seeya around, Shampoo!" 
 "Ja ne, Ranma!"

 Akane and Ukyou were waiting when Ranma got to the restaurant. They 
smiled at her and waved her over to the counter. 
 "Heya Ranchan," they said in unison. Ranma blinked. "That's going to 
take a LOT of getting used to," she said. The okonomiyaki girls giggled. 
Akane whipped up an okonomiyaki and put it on a plate in front of Ranma. 
Ranma looked at it suspiciously and raised an eyebrow. Ukyou nodded. 
Ranma ate it and got another surprise. "Wow, it's good!" Akane beamed. 
"This is going to take even MORE getting used to." Akane whapped her 
playfully with one of her cooking spatulas. "Y'know," she said, "It's 
gonna be hard to leave this place. I really like it here."
 "You know you don't have to go, Acchan."
 Akane sighed. "Yeah, I know, but they miss me back at home, and I miss 
them."
 Ranma snapped her fingers. "I have an idea! Akane, you can spend half 
your time at home, and half your time here at Ucchan's!"
 Ukyou nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, and you can still work here every 
day, you know!"
 Akane smiled. "That's a great idea! I'll do it!" The three of them had a 
small celebration.
 Tsubasa walked in. They all waved to him as he sat at the counter. Ukyou 
smiled at him. "Heya Tsubasa! How's it going?"
 "Great, Ukyou! We finally got that pond back to normal." He smiled. 
 Akane poked Ukyou in the side and stage-whispered to her, "Y'know...he 
is pretty cute..." She winked. Ranma and Ukyou giggled, and Tsubasa 
blushed.
 Ukyou started making an okonomiyaki and said, "Hmm...well, I need a 
little time to get over the loss of Ranma..."
 Ranma said, "Look at it this way Ucchan. You haven't lost an iinazuke, 
you've gained a girlfriend!" She giggled. Akane grinned and said, "Yeah, 
someone else to gossip with and borrow clothes from!" They all started 
giggling. "By the way, Ranchan, your hair looks really cute like that." 
 "Thanks Ucchan!" Ranma touched her hair ribbon and smiled. Akane giggled.
 "Yeah, that looks good on you. So you and Ryouga are pretty serious huh?"
 Ranma blushed and nodded. "We're engaged, and he's going to help run the 
dojo. I'm glad that Mom moved in, too. And Tofu-sensei is going to 
propose to Kasumi tomorrow night!" 
 Akane gaped. "Finally?"
 "Yep!" Akane grinned. Ukyou finished making the okonomiyaki and set it 
in front of Tsubasa. On it she had written one kanji character in sauce: 
"hope".

<continued from last post...this is the end, for real>
 After they closed up shop, Akane headed home, tired but happy. She'd 
lost her iinazuke, the man she loved, and that wasn't easy on her. But 
Ranma was still her friend, and she'd always be there for her. Things 
were starting to look up. She wouldn't be married for a while now, of 
course, but all in all, life was still pretty good. 
 A dark-haired, well-tanned boy dressed in an expensive-looking sweater 
and slacks walked up to her. "Excuse me, miss...I was wondering if you 
could tell me where the Tendou dojo is...I was looking for some old 
friends, and..." He broke off. "Akane?"
 She looked at him carefully. He was hard to recognize in these clothes, 
but now that she looked at him... She smiled. "Toma! How are you?"
 Toma smiled. "I'm doing rather well. Our island got wedged in between 
two of the smaller islands of Japan after we dropped you and your friends 
off. My men and I decided to gather up all our wealth, and divide it up, 
and start over here in Japan. I moved to Tokyo, I got an apartment, I'm 
going to school there, and life is quite satisfying, except I have yet to 
meet any women I am really interested in."
 A slow smile spread across Akane's face. "Toma, I think this may be your 
lucky day..." She offered him her arm, and together they walked off into 
the sunset...


            <The end.>


AUTHOR'S NOTE

Whew! Man, who knew posting to newsgroups could be so exhausting...

OK since this is my first post to r.a.a.c. (get used to me, I'll be back) 
let me introduce myself, and stuff like that.

My name is R. Morrison, but I am known to most on the Internet as
KONO DUUDU O!!!

I'm a writer who's in a current state of hiatus between doing nothing and 
preparing to move to another part of the country to go to college. In the 
meantime I am sharpening my writing skills by doing fanfics.

"Her" is my longest work to date, although I have one in the works that 
may dwarf it. I've already gotten many mixed reviews for this piece of 
fanfiction. I have others that I will be posting soon which are not 
nearly as long.

Many thanks to Taleswapper, who clued me in on how to do this newsgroups 
thing, since I am totally clueless. 

To whoever has to stitch this together to archive it: much apologies for 
having to post this thing in seven pieces. Won't happen again, I promise.

-Kono duudu o