"Todd Hill" <sysop@newberry.edu>

                         ShadowSoft Inc.
                            Presents:
                               
                       A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic
                           side-story
                               
                        "Careful Destiny"
                               
                            Part Two
                   "Appointment with Destiny"
                               
                               by:
                            Todd Hill
                       AKA Shadow Stalker
                               
                            Based on:
                 Be Careful What You Wish For...
                           written by:
                        Richard Beaubien
                               
           Inspired by the "Ranma 1/2" Manga and Anime
                       by Rumiko Takahashi

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

THE NEXT DAY...

     Morning came all too soon for Ranma Saotome.  It seemed like
only  a few moments ago that he'd finally managed to lull himself
to  sleep.   After  several  hours of tossing  and  turning,  his
exhaustion had overwhelmed his hyperactive mind and forced him to
fall  asleep.   But even in sleep, the days events had  tormented
him, banishing all hopes of a restful night.
      His short-lived slumber had been plagued with dreams of his
past and present mingled together in an odd duet.  At the moment,
however,  Ranma could only recall fuzzy snippets of some  of  the
dreams.   The ones that had remained with him weren't  ones  that
he'd particularly enjoyed, like the one where he was fighting  in
front  of the dojo again.  After being defeated by Kuno, a white-
hot  flash of anger shot through him as he watched Akane lift her
head  up  to kiss him passionately on the lips, saying, "Come  on
lover,  leave that little girl alone.  We'll be late for school!"
Ranma  had  watched  helplessly from the pile  of  garbage,  then
looked down in shock as he saw that he was sporting breasts  once
again.  He then screamed in anguish as he realized that the curse
had  caught up with him.  The violence of his reaction caused him
to shake himself awake and fall out of his bed in the process.
      Later  in  the evening, another more intense dream  struck,
frightening Ranma more than angering him.  He dreamt that he  had
defeated Kuno in battle for Akane's hand, only to have Mr.  Tendo
step up and pull Akane away from him.  "You deserve this for what
your  family  did to me all those years ago," he remembered  Soun
saying.  "As long as I live, you will never be with Akane!"  he'd
shouted  as he dragged her away from Ranma.  He had bolted  awake
in  his  bed immediately after that, shouting `No!' and  reaching
his hand out to grab her, only to realize that it was another bad
dream.
     He swore viciously at the sun as it continued to rise in the
sky, peeking in through his bedroom window and bathing him in its
life-giving light.  He brought one of his hands up to  block  the
intense light from his eyes, then moved his head slightly so that
he  could  avoid the light altogether.  He doubted that  he'd  be
able  to  get back to sleep again, and knew that he was going  to
feel like crap for the rest of the day.
      As  he  lay there tanning his body in the sun, he  wondered
briefly if he should postpone the challenge until tomorrow.   But
he  quickly  struck that idea down, knowing that he  wouldn't  be
able  to  sleep at all until he settled the score with Kuno  once
and for all and freed Akane from that damned arrangement.
      Sighing  tiredly, he squinted to bring his tired eyes  into
focus so he could read the clock.  He groaned when he saw that he
still  had  an  hour before he would have to get up.   Unable  to
sleep  any more, and tired of fighting the nightmares, he dragged
himself  to  a sitting position with his feet dangling  over  the
side of his bed.
      Forcing himself to stand, Ranma shambled over to the  small
mirror hanging on the wall opposite his window.  He groaned as he
saw  the exhausted visage of himself staring blankly back at  him
from  the  reflective surface.  `Boy, what a handsome  face,'  he
thought  dourly as he ran his fingers through his  tangled  hair.
Stifling a yawn, he rubbed the last remnants of fatigue from  his
eyes, then frowned as he caught a whiff of himself.  `Whew!   Man
I stink,' he thought with a grimace.  Looking at the clock again,
he  saw  he  had some time to spare, so he grabbed his towel  and
walked to the bath.
      As  Ranma sat down and scrubbed away, his mind pondered the
meaning behind the dreams he'd had over the course of the  night.
He  couldn't  believe how hard it had hit him when he  saw  Akane
willingly  kiss  Kuno  on  the lips,  and  again  when  Soun  had
guaranteed that he would never allow their engagement to  happen.
`I  guess I never knew before now just how much she means to me,'
he  thought as he brought the bucket of cold water over his  head
and rinsed off.
      He stiffened in that instant.  A latent wave of fear passed
over  him  as the cold water cascaded down his body.  He  dropped
the  bucket from his hands and looked down at himself,  expecting
the worst.  Ranma sighed in relief as he saw that his body wasn't
protruding  where it wasn't supposed to.  He swore  a  vile  oath
against  the  curse,  angry  that it  still  held  such  a  large
influence  over  him.  After two weeks of living  with  a  single
gender,  he had hoped that the curse would simply fade  from  his
memory.   `I  guess  it'll take a lot longer than  two  weeks  to
forget about it,' he concluded sullenly.
      Ranma stood up from the stool and walked over to the  bath.
Stepping down, he immersed himself in the hot water.  He  reached
over  and  flipped  a switch which activated the  whirlpool.   He
`ahhhed' as the dancing bubbles in the water went to work on him,
relaxing both his mind and body greatly.  In his relaxed state, a
small  voice percolated up from the back of his mind, offering  a
solution to his worries.  `Why not use the second wish and return
to Akane that way?'
      He  frowned at the thought.  He knew damn good and well why
he  hadn't used the wish.  `If I use that second wish to go back,
then  I'll  be cursed again.  I don't want to go through  all  of
that.'  He had to admit that problems with Akane aside, he'd  had
a  very  restful  two weeks.  And while he may have  occasionally
felt  a  pang of regret or sorrow at losing Ukyou's or  Shampoo's
interests, he felt that having a complete family more  than  made
up  for  it.  `Besides,' he told himself, `they may show  up  one
day...'  `Although not too soon...' he was quick to add.
      Ranma  nodded  to  himself as he reclined  further  in  the
oversized  tub.  He knew that it would take a hell of  a  lot  to
force  him to wish himself out of here.  Besides, he wasn't about
to run out on a fight.  Especially when that fight was with Kuno.
That  wasn't in his nature.  `I'll prove to everyone that  Kuno's
nothing  more  than a bunch of hot air,' he vowed  silently,  his
words adding to his faltering confidence.
      He  emerged  from the bathroom several minutes  later,  and
dashed quickly back to his room to dress.  He felt refreshed  and
a  bit less anxious after the whirlpool had been allowed to  work
its  magic on his tense body.  He closed the door to his room and
toweled  himself dry, then pulled out another in his growing  set
of Chinese outfits and laid it on his bed.
      Although it never left his mind that today was important to
him,  he  figured that he'd have a heart attack  by  noon  if  he
didn't  take a more casual approach to this fight.  With that  in
mind,  he focused on trying to calm himself down.  To begin with,
he  felt  that  he'd conquered the demons that his  overachieving
mind had conjured up in the form of last night's dreams.  He knew
that  those dreams were a by-product of fear, but during the bath
he  realized  that they also served as source of inspiration  for
him, and he tried to use them to that end.  That alone helped  to
calm  his  ragged  nerves somewhat.  He felt his  confidence  and
determination slowly building within him.  So why  was  he  still
feeling anxious?
      He nodded to himself a moment later, realizing what it was.
In  the  space of one night he had gone from being an unimportant
sulking  boy,  in the eyes of his parents at least,  to  being  a
skilled martial artist with a promising, albeit uncertain, future
ahead  of  him.  That uncertainty was at the very  heart  of  his
concern, and was continuing to fuel his tension.  His mind reeled
with all of the possibilities that were available to him;  should
he defeat Kuno, that is.
      He knew that his and Akane's future, along with that of the
entire  Tendo and Saotome families, were on the line.  The dreams
that  had visited him last night pointed out to him exactly  what
would  happen should he fight Kuno and lose.  The more he dwelled
on it, the more Ranma knew that he had to win.  He also knew that
Akane's  life was as much on the line as his was.  He  felt  sure
that she would rather die than continue to live as Kuno's puppet,
and he wasn't sure he could live with himself if he failed to get
her away from Kuno.
      It  seemed like such an awesome responsibility for  one  so
young,  he  thought  briefly.  But he brushed away  the  tension,
clenching his fists in a show of self-determination and  assuring
himself  that  he  wouldn't lose this chance to  be  with  Akane.
Suddenly  feeling hungry, he dropped his debate with himself  and
wasted  no  time in putting on his clothes and heading downstairs
to the breakfast table.
      Descending  the  steps quietly, he could  hear  his  mother
humming to herself as she prepared breakfast.  He took his  place
at  the  table  and  closed his eyes, breathing  deeply  to  keep
himself calm.  A smile slowly crept its way across his face as he
inhaled,  his nose detecting the wonderful aroma of his  mother's
culinary  skills.  The smell of a good morning breakfast  wafting
from the kitchen called to him, stirring deep rumblings of hunger
from his belly.
      At  that  moment Ranko bounded down the stairs, her  raven,
pigtailed  hair flopping against her back with every  step.   She
paused  at  the  bottom  of the steps, surprised  at  seeing  her
brother  sitting  at the table.  Part of what surprised  her  was
that he was sitting there with his eyes closed and a smile on his
face.   `That's odd,' she thought to herself.  `He's just sitting
there  like  a statue.  I guess he's really concerned  about  the
fight today...' she thought absently.
      But  even understanding why he was acting like this  didn't
dampen her surprise any.  Up to this point Ranma had been keeping
up  a  lazy son image, partly by getting up just in the  nick  of
time for school every day.  But with everything that had happened
over  the  last twelve hours, Ranko guessed that he was ready  to
drop  the  facade  and  act  like the martial  artist  he  seemed
destined  to be.  Without making a sound, she walked  around  the
room and took her place adjacent to her brother at the table.
      He jumped in nervous surprise and his eyes snapped open  as
Ranko's leg made contact with his arm.  He turned to look at  her
as she sat next to him and favored him with an encouraging smile.
      "You  ready for the big showdown, bro?" she asked in a  low
voice, nudging him with her hip.
      He gave her a grim look.  "I guess I'll have to be, Sis.  I
wasn't able to sleep all that well last night."
     She continued to smile pleasantly at him, hoping to take the
hard  edge off of her brother's worry.  "Ahh, you'll be okay bro.
I  have  faith  in  you.  All you need to  do  is  remember  your
training," she said as she patted him on the back.
      He  was  about to thank her and give her a hug when  Nodoka
walked in with breakfast.  She seemed pleasantly surprised to see
both  children at the table ahead of time.  "My, you're  both  up
early!   You two have something planned today?" she asked as  she
sat the food down on the table.
      Ranko  looked at her brother as she took her bowl  of  miso
soup  into her hands.  "Naah, I don't have anything special goin'
on  today," she said before taking a sip of the soup and  putting
the  bowl  back on the table.  "But Ranma's challenging Kuno  for
Akane,  and I wanna make sure I'm there to see that!"  She picked
up  another  bowl and stuffed some rice in her mouth, smiling  at
her brother as she swallowed.
      Nodoka's eyes widened slightly, and she leveled her gaze at
her  son.   He coughed slightly, seeing her reaction, and  forced
his  half-chewed food down his throat before he choked.   "Ranma!
I  can't  believe that you're actually going to go  through  with
that fight!"  She put her hands to her head to try and ward off a
headache.  "Why today?!?"  `Why at all?' she added to herself.
      He  took a moment to consider his response before speaking.
He  didn't  want to get his mother any angrier at  him  than  she
already appeared to be.  Calmly he put his bowl on the table  and
adopted  a neutral look.  "Yes Mom, I decided that I'm  going  to
take care of it today," he said simply.  He winced internally  as
he realized that he'd made a mistake.
     The color in Nodoka's face drained away at hearing her son's
words  on  the matter.  She couldn't help but feel shock  at  her
son's  cool demeanor.  He'd never been this distant to her before
in  his  whole life.  "Ranma!" she declared in a scolding  voice.
"I  can't believe how cavalierly you're taking this whole matter.
You  make  it  sound like you're going for groceries  instead  of
facing off against someone who could possibly hurt you!"
      He shook his head, berating himself for acting so cold to a
woman he'd truly known for only a couple of weeks.  "Sorry Mom, I
didn't  mean  for  that to sound as bad as it did."   He  paused,
trying  to  find the right way to tell her what he was  thinking.
"To tell you the truth Mom, I *am* a bit nervous about the fight.
But  regardless of that, it's still something that I have to do,"
he finished simply, then resumed eating.
      `That's it?!  He has to do it, no questions asked?'  Nodoka
looked  at  the  stony expression on Ranma's  face  and  groaned,
resigning  herself to the inevitable.  "Alright.  You  listen  to
me, son.  If things get out of hand, I want you or your sister to
come   get   me  or  your  father.   Immediately!"  she  shouted,
punctuating the last word by poking him in the shoulder with  her
index  finger.  "There's no telling what that Kuno  character  is
capable of doing to you.  I don't want you taking any unnecessary
risks, you understand me?"
      Ranma  nodded his assent, but said nothing further.  Ranko,
on  the other hand, spoke up in her brother's defence.  "Mom, you
saw  what he did last night.  You also heard how he did with  Mr.
Tendo.  I'd think that you'd have a bit more confidence in him."
      Nodoka looked stricken as Ranko's words hit home.  Her face
lost some of its anger, but none of its concern as she considered
what her daughter said.  "I guess you're right dear.  But this is
such  a  drastic change.  It's just so hard to see my  son  as  a
fighter."  She sighed, forcing herself to accept this new  change
in  her son.  Despite herself, her gaze softened, and she reached
out  to  stroke  her son's face.  "You know, you're  starting  to
remind me of your father when he and I were dating," she said  as
she  smiled,  a  nostalgic look coming over her  face.   "He  was
always  ready to come to my rescue.  Even when I felt  it  wasn't
necessary."   She  smiled  to herself as  memories  of  the  past
flooded her mind, and stood away from the table, her eyes holding
a faraway look.
     Ranma breathed a sigh of relief, feeling better knowing that
she wasn't going to try to stop him.  Eager to get the fight with
Kuno  out  of  the  way, he quickly finished off  his  breakfast.
Standing from the table, he grabbed Ranko's hand and dragged  her
with  him.  "Good luck, dear," Nodoka called out to the whirlwind
Saotome siblings as the door closed behind them.
      "Hey  Ranma!   Slow down, willya?" Ranko  yelled  as  Ranma
blasted down the street towards the school.
      Nodoka  chuckled slightly at hearing her daughter's  fading
protest,  then turned to clean the table.  `I hope  he  makes  it
through  the  day okay,' she thought hopefully.  A frown  crossed
her  face as she considered again what he was facing.  `That Kuno
boy  better  hope that my son isn't hurt or...'  she  paused  the
thought,  her  eyes regarding the katana that hung  on  a  nearby
wall.   `...  or  else  he  and I will  have  words,'  she  vowed
severely.

                              ****

      Ranma knew that his sister didn't like to be dragged about,
and released her hand to run on ahead of her.  He didn't have  to
look over his shoulder, though, to know that she was right behind
him.   He  rounded  a curve and saw the gates  of  Furinkan  High
looming in the distance.  He pushed himself, hoping to get to the
school ahead of Kuno and Akane.
      But  as  he neared the school, he noticed a black limousine
drive  up to the gates, and swore viciously.  `No!  I won't  miss
this  opportunity,' he thought in a rush as he continued to  pour
on the speed.  He watched in frustration as Kuno and Akane exited
the  vehicle, and turned towards the school.  Ranma redoubled his
pace,  hoping to catch them before they went inside  the  school,
leaving Ranko in the dust in the process.

                              ****

      Tatewaki  Kuno  held his hand out to Akane.   Unwilling  at
first, she gradually reached her own hand out and accepted his as
she  stepped out of the vehicle.  She looked pale and  withdrawn,
which  is how she'd been almost since the day Kuno and she  began
dating formally.  A part of her knew that she hadn't always  been
this downcast, but she couldn't remember the last time *recently*
when she enjoyed getting up in the morning.  It had been too long
for her to recall.
      When  she  had first accepted the proposed joining  between
herself  and  Kuno, she'd vowed to try and make the  relationship
work,  more for her father than herself.  During that early time,
she  had tried to find something likable about Kuno.  But try  as
she might, she just couldn't do it.
      He  had been really sweet to her when he was chasing  after
her  as  a  freshman.  But now that she had accepted him  as  her
boyfriend,  his  interest in her evaporated.  She  had  become  a
trophy  of  sorts for Kuno.  He would posture in front  of  other
guys  on  campus, and show her off as if she were a prize instead
of  a  loved one.  She felt like she was something only  slightly
more  than a revered pet to him.  Akane really hated the  way  he
was  treating  her, but she couldn't think of any way  to  change
things, at least nothing that would keep her or her family out of
jail.
      With  a  sigh she stood away from the departing  limousine.
She  turned around to look at the cityscape when something caught
her  eye.   She tugged on Kuno's hand, pointing at what she  saw.
"Kuno-chan," Akane said by reflex, "what's that?"
      As  the  thing in question drew nearer, it looked more  and
more like a miniature dust storm approaching the school.  Several
people  were  being  drawn to the gates by  the  disturbance.   A
combination  of  "oohs!"  and "ahhs!" could  be  heard  from  the
building crowd as they watched the dustcloud approach.
      Someone in the crowd pointed and yelled, "Hey, look!   It's
some  guy!   Looks  like  he's really hauling  butt  too!"   That
brought a *lot* more people out, causing the crowd to spill  into
the  street.  Akane squinted, trying to make out who it was.   It
took  her  a  couple of seconds before she could see  the  person
clearly.   She  gasped when she finally recognized  who  it  was.
`It's that guy who insulted Kuno in front of the dojo a couple of
weeks  ago!  Looks like he's really angry about something.'   The
figure  in  the center of the dustcloud began shouting, prompting
more heads to turn.
      "KUUUUUUUUUUNNOOOOOOOOOOO!!" it could be  heard  to  scream
once it was close enough.
      Someone  in the crowd gasped in realization.  "Waitaminute!
That's sounds like Ranma!"
     Another turned to the first in shock.  "Ranma *Saotome?*  No
*WAY!*"   The  stunned pair turned back to watch  as  he  blasted
towards the campus.
      Kuno  turned at the sound of his name, but tried  to  feign
disinterest.   He  felt  that the display of  wonderment  by  the
people  in  the crowd was beneath him, so he merely watched  with
mild curiosity as Ranma approached.
      Seeing his target directly ahead, Ranma slowed himself, not
wanting to fly past his opponent.  He also didn't want to  become
one with the school gates.  He came to a halt three feet in front
of  Kuno,  breathing only slightly harder than normal.  "Kuno,  I
challenge  you!" he yelled, insuring that the whole  crowd  heard
him.
      "You  would challenge me?" Kuno scoffed at Ranma,  pointing
his bokken at him.  "Surely you jest!"  He threw a withering gaze
at  him, trying to dull Ranma's passion and humble him.  "And for
what  reason should I fight a creature as unworthy as  you,  eh?"
Kuno laughed humorlessly through his nose, scoffing openly at the
idea of being challenged by anyone, especially Ranma Saotome.
     Ranma stared directly at him, confidence burning in him like
an  iron  furnace.  Defiantly he held his ground in the  wake  of
Kuno's  arrogance,  pointing at him as if he were  a  wanted  man
(which  he was).  "I know for a fact that if you are defeated  in
combat   you  will  release  Akane  Tendo  from  her  engagement.
*That's*  why I'm challenging you, so LET'S FIGHT!" he  bellowed.
Ranma  was  eager to cause harm to Kuno, and it was beginning  to
show.
      Akane  gasped,  her eyes as wide open as possible,  as  the
importance  of his words sunk in.  She had no idea who  this  guy
was,  or why he was doing it, but she sure as hell hoped he  won.
She crossed her fingers, just to make sure.
      Kuno laughed derisively, trying to keep faint stirrings  of
worry from showing on his face.  "It is true that I uttered those
words.  I did so, confidently, for I know that only I am destined
to  have  the hand of Akane Tendo."  Kuno wrapped his arm  around
Akane's  thin  waist, and allowed his hand to  rest  against  her
belly  as  he  emphasized his point further by bending  down  and
kissing her on the lips.
      He  stood  away from Akane and lowered his gaze  at  Ranma,
sneering as if he were being forced to view something unpleasant.
What  he didn't see in that instant was the murderous look  Akane
shot him for kissing her so brazenly.  "I see that I was mistaken
in  believing  that  the  last  thrashing  I  gave  you  would've
convinced you of the futility of defeating me, the great Tatewaki
Kuno,  the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High, in combat."  He  gasped
for  air  silently.  "Very well, I suppose that I  will  have  to
defeat  you  again,  if  that's what it takes  to  make  you  see
reason."   He  brought his bokken up and moved into  a  defensive
stance, "Prepare yourself, fool!" he shouted imperiously.
      Ranma threw his backpack to the ground, and brought himself
to a fighting stance.  "For the record, my name is Ranma Saotome,
of  the Saotome School of Anything Goes Martial Arts.  And by all
that's  holy, I will make you pay for what you've done to Akane!"
He cracked his knuckles, awaiting Kuno's move.
      Akane  did  the  only thing she could  do  in  her  current
emotional state, she fainted.  Ranma almost dropped his stance in
that  moment and ran over to her side, but stopped short when  he
saw  that she didn't hit the ground.  Someone in the audience had
seen  her  falter and managed to catch her before she  collapsed.
The  student sat Akane against the nearby fence, away  from  Kuno
and the impending battle.
      Ranma  turned back to Kuno and was angered further  by  the
dismissive  gaze Kuno was giving to Akane's still form.   `You'll
pay dearly for that one, Kuno!  NO-ONE neglects her like that and
lives!'  he vowed, his heart pounding as he teetered on the  edge
of  sanity.   His  nervousness and anxiety  had  been  completely
stripped   from  his  mind,  to  be  replaced  by  an   iron-clad
confidence.  He was primed for the impending battle, and  eagerly
awaited the first blow.
       Gasps,  murmurs,  and  side  betting  were  happening  all
throughout  the  crowd.  Every student was on pins  and  needles,
wrapped  up  in the tension generated between the two combatants.
It  was  almost palpable, as they awaited the first blow.   Ranko
joined the crowd, picking up her brother's backpack from where he
had  thrown  it.  She wormed her way to the front of  the  crowd,
rooting hard for her brother.
     A gust of wind blew across the campus, scattering leaves and
papers around the street and sidewalk.  It captured the attention
of  a  large part of the crowd, including Ranma.  Kuno  used  the
momentary  distraction to his advantage and struck out  with  his
weapon.
      Ranma didn't even see it coming.  Before he could even  get
his hands up, Kuno's bokken sailed right at him and tagged him in
the  chest,  knocking him back, but not down.   He  involuntarily
covered the stricken area with a hand as he fought to regain  his
feet.   `Damn!   He's  faster than I  thought...'   He  gazed  in
Ranko's  direction.  `You were right sis.  This Kuno's  not  like
the one I knew.'  He smirked inwardly.  `But now that I have that
bastard's  timing, it's my turn to teach him what *real*  martial
arts is like.'
      Kuno laughed scornfully at his collapsed foe.  "You have my
permission to concede.  I suggest you do so, Saotome, before  you
get hurt."
      Ranma stood up and gave the Kendoist a withering stare, not
wanting to lose his focus by listening to Kuno's words.  "You got
your one hit, Kuno.  You won't touch me again!"
      Kuno's  right eyebrow swept up in an unintentional show  of
respect.  "Very well then, to your doom cretin!" he yelled as  he
charged.  Ranma was ready this time and deflected the bokken with
the back of his hands.  He immediately followed up with a kick to
the kidneys, causing Kuno's eyes to water as he gasped in pain.
     The crowd gasped as well, shocked that someone had been able
to  land  a  hit on the Kendo champion.  Kuno hesitated  slightly
before  bringing his bokken up to bear against Ranma  again,  his
mind  warning  him that this person was more dangerous  than  his
reputation warranted.  `Could it be that this whelp has  found  a
backbone in so short a time...' he thought as he re-evaluated his
opponent.
      Not  wanting to allow Kuno any more time to recover,  Ranma
followed up the kick with a volley of punches and jabs.  But even
with the hit he took, Kuno was still swift enough to deflect  the
attacks.  `The only upside to this,' Ranma thought in a huff, `is
that he isn't able to launch anything offensive at me.'
      Kuno  frowned  inwardly, but kept his face  expressionless.
Never  had  he  encountered a martial artist of  such  pronounced
skill before.  It bothered him that he had not already dispatched
of  the lower-class Saotome.  For surely, he thought, only a  man
as great as Kuno himself could bring the Blue Thunder of Furinkan
High to defeat.  And Ranma Saotome could not be that man.
      The  fight raged on for several long minutes, with  neither
combatant  giving quarter.  Neither Kuno nor Ranma  was  able  to
claim  an advantage, as they appeared to be evenly matched.   The
small spot of ground that had been claimed by the combatants  was
the  scene of wildly swinging bokken strikes parrying the punches
and kicks of a very nimble Ranma.  He was throwing everything  at
Kuno,  short  of special attacks, with little or no effect.   His
patience  was  starting  to wear thin,  as  nothing  was  getting
accomplished.
     Likewise, Kuno's ire grew at his lack of progress.  His face
was red and slick with sweat as the heavy exertion from the fight
bore down on him mercilessly.  His arms and wrists were beginning
to  ache  as the extreme strain that he was putting them  through
built to a fevered pitch.  But he withstood the pain stoically as
he used his bokken to block again and again the punches and kicks
hurled  his way.  He was desperate to stop any of Ranma's strikes
from  landing on him.  He'd had an undefeated record so far,  and
he had no intention of losing now.  Especially not now.
      But  as the fight wore on, he saw that he would not be able
to  maintain a defense against Ranma's unending flurry of punches
and  kicks much longer.  Desperate for a conclusion to the fight,
he  spared  what  attention he could from  defending  himself  to
looking for a weak spot in Ranma's defenses.
      Meanwhile,  Akane had regained consciousness and  stood  up
from  her  resting place at the gate.  She couldn't hear anything
beyond the yelling of the crowd, but she could see the occasional
leg,  arm,  or  bokken stick up above the heads  of  the  people.
Remembering who was fighting, and why, she desperately pushed her
way through the crowd to see what was going on.
      Once  she'd worked her way to the front of the  crowd,  she
watched  in  awe  as  Ranma  and  Kuno  battled.   Much  to   her
satisfaction, Ranma was clearly holding his own against the Kendo
champion.   Apparently a lot of other people  felt  as  she  did;
glad  that  someone was finally able to give Kuno a run  for  the
money.   She  took her eyes away from the fight for a second  and
scanned  the  rim of the crowd.  Her eyes happened upon  a  young
girl  who  looked just like Ranma, and was obviously  related  to
him.   The  girl was jumping up and down, screaming and cheering.
"Whip his ASS bro!  YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!  Nail that SON OF  A
BITCH!!   WOOOOO!!"  Without saying anything,  Akane  prayed  for
Ranma's victory as well.
      Kuno's  split  attention was causing him to falter  in  his
defense.  Ranma took note of that and pressed his advantage.   `I
guess  either  Kuno's getting tired, or I'm just  getting  warmed
up,' he thought confidently.  He grinned, his hope burning inside
of him as he continued to strike at Kuno..
      Kuno's  frustration, which had been contained for so  long,
was  plainly visible now.  For the past nine minutes  he'd  tried
every  honorable  tactic  he  knew to  try  and  bring  down  the
villainous cur, but to no avail.  Unable to think of a  good  way
to get the upper hand, he concentrated instead on defense, hoping
that he'd eventually wear Saotome out.
      That plan fell by the wayside in a hurry as he espied Ranma
smirking  at him contemptuously.  Anger flashed deep from  within
Kuno,   replacing  the  battle  calm  that  he'd  been  nurturing
throughout  the  fight.  "How dare you mock me,  you  thoughtless
knave!" he thundered.  "I will have your head for that, Saotome!"
       "I  don't  think  so,  Kuno,"  Ranma  replied  derisively,
purposely avoiding any honorific.
      Kuno's patience snapped at the flippant remark.  He dove at
the  younger  martial artist frantically, sweeping low  with  his
sword in an attempt to take Ranma's legs out from under him.
      Ranma saw the attack coming and leapt into the air, landing
neatly  on  Kuno's  head.  He paused for a second,  teetering  on
Kuno's  forehead  like a surfer as he ground his  foot  into  the
Kendoist's  face.  Then with precise balance, he  jumped  off  to
stand  behind  Kuno with his back turned to him.  "Give  up  yet,
Kuno?" he shouted over his shoulder, layering the scornful  words
heavily with superiority.
      Kuno  had  managed  to somehow keep himself  upright  after
taking the brunt of Ranma's weight on his head.  Managing not  to
pass out, he turned to face Ranma once more.  But before he could
make  a move to strike, he flushed angrily and halted himself  in
mid-swing.   He saw that Ranma had his back facing  him,  with  a
bored stance evident in the upstart martial artist's posture.  It
didn't  help  matters any that people were pointing at  Kuno  and
laughing at the rather large footprint on his face.  `How  *DARE*
they mock me?  I will not be made a laughing stock by this fool!'
he swore to himself before his mind reasserted control and forced
him to concentrate on the battle.
      Pausing  to  catch his breath and calm himself  down,  Kuno
sneered.   Hoping to break Ranma's composure, he tried  insulting
him.   "You're weak Saotome!  You may be able to get in  a  lucky
hit,  but as sure as the Earth sails through the heavens, I  will
defeat  you!"   He  crouched  into a ready  position  again,  his
laughter starting to slide into the maniacal level.
     Ranma rolled his eyes and turned to face Kuno once more.  He
concentrated on what he hoped would be his final attack.  Nodding
at his sister's encouraging words, and sparing a smile for Akane,
Ranma  spoke  again.  "Good night, Kuno," he said gravely  as  he
changed his posture, facing Kuno directly.
      He  blinked at Ranma's last words, unsure of what was meant
by  them,  but  readied  himself in any event  for  the  promised
onslaught.   Cautiously he brought his bokken  up  in  an  attack
stance,  preparing  to  move against the  martial  arts  show-off
again.  But before he could bring the weapon down to bear, he was
attacked.
      "KACHUU  TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!" Ranma bellowed  as  he  threw
everything he had into an all-out, final attack.  His fists  were
a   blur  as  they  flashed  again  and  again  in  Kuno's  face.
Bewildered by the speed of Ranma's attack, Kuno lost his grip  on
his  bokken, which flew away from him due to the sheer  force  of
the  punches being thrown.  He watched out of the corner  of  his
eye  as his weapon landed away from him, clattering uselessly  on
the  pavement.  He didn't have much of a chance to curse the loss
of  it, however, as the force of Ranma's punches took their  toll
and quickly sent him into unconsciousness.
     Ranma forced himself to stop after Kuno had fallen, allowing
his arms to drop to his sides limply.  Knowing that the fight was
finally over, exhaustion swept quickly over Ranma's body, causing
him  to  collapse  to his knees, although he  managed  to  remain
upright.  He stayed there for a moment, gasping for breath as the
pain  from the endurance-level fight throbbed through every fiber
of  his  being.   The crowd stood away from him,  looking  on  in
stunned silence, unable to believe what they had just witnessed.
      "YESSS!" Ranko screamed, throwing both bookbags in the air,
elated  that her brother had beaten Kuno so soundly.  She quickly
ran  to  her brother's side after seeing him stumble,  and  knelt
down,  putting  her  arm around his waist to help  him  stand  up
again.   "That's  it, Ranma.  Just lean against  me  and  breathe
deeply."  She patted him appreciatively on the chest, feeling how
hot  and  sweaty  he was from the workout he just  went  through.
"I'm proud of you, man!  You did it."
      Ranma  just kind of stood where he was, flexing his fingers
to  try and get some feeling back into his hands.  Gratefully, he
put  an  arm around his sister's slim waist, and grinned down  at
her as she rambled on about how wonderful he was and how great he
fought.  He hugged her to him as he absorbed the more subdued and
silent respect from the crowd.
      He  rested  against her for a couple of minutes  before  he
finally  regained feeling in his hands and legs and  could  stand
without  effort.  He turned to look over his right  shoulder  and
spotted  the  bokken that he'd knocked loose  from  Kuno's  grip.
Stepping  from his sister's embrace, he knelt down and picked  up
the weapon.

                              ****

      Meanwhile, Akane broke away from the crowd and ran  towards
the dozing form of Tatewaki Kuno, gazing down in amazement at her
now-former boyfriend.  As she stared at his bruised and  battered
figure, the reality of what happened suddenly hit her like a  ton
of  bricks.   Overwhelmed  by a sea of confused  and  conflicting
emotions,  she  collapsed to her knees  beside  Kuno's  body  and
buried her head in her hands.  She wept loudly, tears of joy  and
sorrow  streaming down her pallid face.  Joy that her  engagement
to  Kuno  had finally been broken, and sorrow over how  weak  and
powerless she now knew she had been while under Kuno's influence.
Her tears stopped abruptly as someone approached her and knelt by
her side.
      "Excuse me for a moment, please?" a polite voice asked.   A
hand  gently held her by the shoulder, trying delicately to  move
her  aside  without  forcing her.  She  turned  to  see  who  was
touching her, and saw Ranma kneeling next to her, a smile on  his
flushed  face.   He was holding Kuno's bokken in his  free  hand,
evidently  intent  on  doing  something  with  it.   "Pardon  me.
There's  just one more thing I have to do to make this official,"
he explained to her in a soft voice.
      Ranma  took  his hand from her shoulder, letting  it  slide
gently across her back as he reached out to grab each end of  the
bokken in his hands.  Then with all the force he could muster, he
snapped  it in half.  It broke irregularly, splinters and  jagged
edges  forming along the break line.  Ranma smiled satisfactorily
at  the  damage  he caused it before he tossed the broken  weapon
absently  at Kuno's feet.  "Kuno had that coming for taunting  me
like   that,"  he  said  angrily,  snorting  at  the  unconscious
Kendoist.
     Ranma turned to Akane, and knelt to face her on the opposite
side of Kuno's body.  Her face was red and slick with tears,  and
her lower lip was trembling.  Wanting desperately to comfort her,
Ranma  gently reached out to her, putting his hand  on  her  arm.
With  his  other hand he reached over and stroked the tears  from
her  face.  "Hey, you okay, Akane?" he asked in a halting  voice.
Old  habits  were  hard to break, as he found himself  trying  to
distance himself from her.  But he delved deep within himself and
found the courage to stay where he was, looking into the troubled
eyes of his `fiancee.'
     Akane flinched slightly at Ranma's initial touch, but smiled
weakly at him in appreciation, covering the hand on her arm  with
one  of  her own.  "Yeah, I'm okay... I ... umm... " she blushed,
turning her face from him as confusion governed her actions.
      He looked like he wanted to say more, but couldn't find the
words.   He  dropped his hand from Akane's face.  He didn't  know
how  to  react  since he'd never really been this  close  to  her
before, emotionally speaking.  He was uncomfortable at seeing her
cry,  but  he took immense pleasure in the fact that  she  didn't
want  him  to walk away.  Once more he tried to talk to her,  but
the  words just weren't coming to him.  "I... you're ... um...  "
he said haltingly, stumbling over himself.
      They  continued to sit on either side of Kuno's still form,
gazing  at  each other as they tuned out the rest of  the  world.
Ranma's  nervousness and excitement were both peaked.  His  hands
registered the warmth of Akane's body as she clutched  his  hand.
One  part of him expected her to knock him out of the city at any
moment  for touching her, screaming "HENTAI!" at the top  of  her
lungs.   But  she  didn't  even complain, instead  welcoming  his
comforting presence.
      This was all so new to him.  He'd never willingly been this
close to her before, but he found himself liking it.  A lot!   He
basked  in  the sensation of her soft skin against  his  fingers,
enjoying the welcoming feeling of her presence as they kept their
positions, facing each other in silence.
      He had given up on trying to say anything to her.  Besides,
he felt that words weren't appropriate right now, and settled for
simply  gazing  at  her face while she held onto  his  hand.   He
allowed a genuine smile to show, and on impulse, he began to lean
forward, bringing his face closer to hers.
      Akane's eyes shimmered with the beginnings of fresh  tears,
but  Ranma's support allowed her to keep them in check.  She felt
.  gratified for what he'd done for her, and ... something else
she  couldn't  quite  describe.  But she  dismissed  her  calming
feelings as her eyes glanced upon Kuno once again, causing her to
almost  drown in despair.  She knew in that moment that  escaping
from  his shadow wasn't going to be as easy as winning one simple
fight.  She looked up at Ranma again for reassurance and saw  him
inching  towards her, their faces growing closer.   Without  even
realizing it, she began moving towards him as well.
     He paused his advance abruptly as his mind screamed, telling
him  what it was he was about to do.  A large part of his  psyche
still harbored the `tomboy!' reaction he normally felt about  her
whenever  they  got  too close.  But for some  reason  his  mouth
wasn't  getting him into trouble this time by uttering the  usual
string  of  insults.  He held himself where he was, looking  into
her captivating eyes.
     Ranko watched the silent exchange happen between her brother
and  the girl she heard him address as Akane.  `Ranma sure picked
a  cute one, that's for sure.  They do look great together,'  she
thought with a slight tinge of jealousy.  `I just wish he'd hurry
up  and do something!,'  She tapped her foot impatiently, waiting
for  her big brother to make his move.  After several minutes  of
nothing,  she  finally got fed up and walked up to  him.   "Psst!
Ranma.  Hey, bro!" she hissed.  Getting no response from him, she
waved her hand in front of his eyes.  `Geez!  You must really  be
stuck  on this girl,' she thought drily.  Finally she tapped  him
hard on the shoulder and shook him.
      Snapped  out of his reverie, Ranma jerked his hand abruptly
from Akane's grasp.  He had a dazed air about him as he looked up
to  his sister.  "Yeah, um... what is it Ranko?" he asked as  the
world snapped back into focus around him.
      Ranko  rolled her eyes and pointed to the school.   "Ranma,
you can stare at her later.  If you don't hurry up, we'll be late
for school!"
      Akane  jumped involuntarily as Ranma pulled his  hand  away
from  hers.  She somberly drew her arms to herself in an embrace,
trying  to bring her chaotic emotions in check.  She barely  even
heard  Ranma  and Ranko speak as she mechanically picked  up  her
things and dashed off to the school building.
      She  fought  the urge to turn around for one more  look  at
Ranma,  not knowing what she would do if she looked at him  again
right  now.  She didn't want to tempt fate, at least not in front
of  the  crowd  that was still encircling Kuno and the  Saotomes.
She'd  find  some  other time to talk to Ranma and  ask  him  the
multitude of questions she had.  But for now she had to think, so
she  entered the school building without stopping or speaking  to
anyone.
     Ranma reluctantly agreed with his sister.  He turned back to
Akane  in  time to see her stand and run towards the school.   He
wasn't  able to get her attention, so he stood up and  looked  at
his  sister instead.  "Yeah, Ranko, you're right.  Let's go!"  he
shouted as he turned and ran off towards the school.
      Ranko  started  to  follow her brother  when  she  heard  a
groaning  coming from beneath her.  "Uhhh... What form  of  magic
did  you use against me, Saotome?" he mumbled.  Ranko knelt  down
to  him, and saw that his eyes were glazed over, then jumped back
in surprise when Kuno suddenly flopped back down on the pavement,
unconscious again.  She looked closely at his face.   `Yup,  he's
still  out  cold.  Interesting trick, talking while unconscious,'
she thought absently.
      She  took pity on him and decided to wake him up.  Kneeling
down  and straddling his chest, she slapped her hand against  his
face  multiple times.  Kuno's head rocked back and  forth  as  he
endured slap after vicious slap.  His eyes fluttered open  slowly
as he regained consciousness.  "Hey buddy, you awake?" she yelled
at him.
     He looked up at her, his cheeks bright red from Ranko's wake-
up  call,  but  said  nothing  in return.   She  started  to  say
something else to him when a pretty, short-haired girl approached
her.   "Don't  worry  about Kuno-chan.   I'll  take  him  to  the
infirmary.  Thanks for waking him for me, though."
      Ranko  nodded to the girl and took off after  her  brother.
Nabiki  watched the younger Saotome run into the school  building
and  then regarded the listless Kuno.  Reaching an arm down,  she
tugged  Kuno  to  a  standing position.  "I do not  require  your
assistance, Nabiki Tendo.  I am the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High
and... WHA!" he shouted suddenly, stumbling over the remnants  of
his bokken.
      Nabiki smiled, gently replying with, "Of course you  don't,
Kuno-chan."   She  walked  with him to the  infirmary,  thinking,
`Ranma  Saotome,  eh?  You and I have a lot to  talk  about,  yes
indeed.'   The yen signs were already floating around  her  mind,
the  possibilities seemingly innumerable.  She smiled to herself,
`This could turn out to be a great day.'

                              ****

      Ranma  found  it  hard to concentrate on anything  once  he
entered the school building.  His mind was thinking of all of the
possibilities that had just opened up to him.  But  his  thoughts
were  so  chaotic  that  he wasn't really  making  any  sense  to
himself.  The one thing that was clear to him was that Akane  was
free  of Kuno's hold.  A major side benefit for him was that  his
family  could  hopefully return to peaceful  relations  with  the
Tendo  family.  How he proceeded from this point was what he  was
having trouble dealing with.
      When  his  mind  wasn't dwelling on the future,  he'd  keep
noticing  that a lot of students were paying attention to  *him*,
and  that  was  making  him *very* uncomfortable.   Not  used  to
playing  the celebrity, Ranma kept to himself for the most  part,
trying to avoid the scrutiny of everyone else.
      Class  time came, and Ranma's tension became palpable.   He
arrived to the classroom early, and sat at his assigned seat.  He
watched  the door, and almost jumped out of his chair when  Akane
walked in.  He smiled to her, and his heart leapt when she smiled
in  return.   Class had started right after that, but  he  wasn't
noticing.   He  kept staring at the youngest Tendo  girl,  trying
hard  not to be obvious about it.  Three classes into the day  he
finally  screwed  together the courage to pass her  a  note  he'd
written after the fight.
      Akane took the proffered note from the classmate at her end
of  the  delivery chain.  She looked at it closely and  was  just
able to make out Ranma's chicken scratch on the front.  "To Akane
Tendo,  urgent."  She quietly opened the note, looking around  to
see if anyone was watching her.
     The note read:

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

      She  could  see the heavy amounts of erasure and re-writing
that  Ranma  had  done over various parts of the message.   Akane
snickered  to herself before folding the note and putting  it  in
her  book  bag.  She turned to face him, smiling at his expectant
look.  Slowly and clearly she mouthed, "Yes, I'd like to."
      A  big  smile formed on Ranma's face as he read  her  lips.
`Yes!   The  first step's been taken,' he thought, exultant.   He
turned  quickly to face the blackboard, hoping not to  catch  the
instructor's ire again.  This teacher was a new one on  him,  but
he  quickly  learned that Onsen-Mark Sensei was not  one  to  toy
with.   Ranma  fidgeted in his seat for the remainder  of  class,
impatiently awaiting the bell for lunch.

                              ****

      Nabiki  sighed as she looked Kuno's way again.  Originally,
she  wanted to remain with him until he felt better, but now  she
was  wondering if that had been a wise choice.  He'd  passed  out
again  as  soon as his head hit the pillow on the infirmary  cot.
Before   that  he  had  been  mumbling  semi-incoherently   about
vengeance  against  that `knave Saotome  for  tricking  him  into
defeat, bla bla bla.'
      Nabiki  had  to  admit  that Ranma Saotome  possessed  some
powerful  capabilities of his own to be able to trounce  Kuno  so
soundly.   She thought hard about a way to turn Ranma's power  to
her  advantage, but nothing came to the fore.  But she knew that,
given  time, she'd think of something.  `Everything's got a price
and  a  worth,' she told herself.  She regarded Kuno's slumbering
form  again, smirking.  `At least I'll be able to sell  Kuno-chan
pictures of my sister again,' she thought happily.
      Suddenly  Kuno bolted upright out of his bed,  a  wide-eyed
expression  on  his face.  He turned to look at Nabiki,  who  was
sitting  in  a  chair beside his bed.  "Nabiki Tendo,  why  am  I
here?" he commanded imperiously.
      She  looked at him with a faux-shocked expression and said,
"Why,  Kuno-chan!  Don't you remember?  You lost  that  fight  to
Ranma Saotome and were knocked out.  I had to carry you here."
     Kuno's face locked in a half-snarl, half-shocked expression.
"How could a simpleton like Saotome defeat someone of my stature?
Could you answer that question for me, Nabiki Tendo?"
      Nabiki  smiled, trying to butter up the rich  fool.   "Why,
Kuno-chan,  he  had  to  have  been  lucky.   That's   the   only
explanation for it."
     Kuno calmed, and he seemed to be considering Nabiki's words.
"You  may be right, Nabiki Tendo.  Perhaps a return challenge  is
in  order," he said, attempting to sit up in the bed.  The  world
spun around him as dizziness overcame him.  With some effort,  he
managed to keep his sitting position on the cot.
     "Perhaps later, Kuno-chan," Nabiki deadpanned.
      Kuno  sat motionless on the cot for a few moments, allowing
the  world  to stop spinning.  "Yes, later," he said,  making  it
sound like he had thought of it first.
      As he sat in silent repose on the cot, Kuno closed his eyes
and  replayed  the  fight in his mind.  Saotome  had  truly  been
astounding,  although  he was loathe to  admit  that  to  anyone.
`What  possessed  that demon to challenge me  anyway?'  he  asked
himself  tiredly.  `It's not as if beautiful women are  a  scarce
commodity at Furinkan...'
      He  stopped  for a moment as he realized that he  had  lost
Akane  to  Ranma.   `Oh  well, it's  not  so  bad,'  he  thought,
consoling  himself.  `She had lost her spirit  anyway.   I  doubt
that  I  could  love her any longer...'  He sighed  at  the  pain
awaiting  her  because of his absence.  `How will she  deal  with
it?' he asked himself.  But even with that part of his ego trying
to  provide  comfort, the loss of Akane stabbed at  him  cruelly.
The  fact  that he lost to someone of Ranma's ilk only  made  the
pain more acute.
      Kuno  wondered  if  maybe  he hadn't  been  a  good  enough
influence  on  her.   `No,' he answered himself  candidly.   `She
surely was blessed with my presence while with me, and will  come
to  regret my absence now that she has lost me.'  The only  thing
lingering  in  his  mind, except for finding out  how  to  defeat
Ranma, was, `Is there another female of beauteous quality and the
nature  of a huntress at the hollowed grounds of Furinkan  High?'
A  fuzzy  image  appeared  in his mind  to  answer  his  unspoken
question,  and  he seemed to recall something about  a  beautiful
woman talking to him after the fight, but the details were beyond
his reach for the moment.
      Nabiki  could  hear the rusty scheming  wheels  turning  in
Kuno's mind, but decided that she could con the information  from
him  later.   She was going to miss the whole school day  if  she
didn't  return  to  class  soon.  "Come  on,  Kuno-chan.   You're
feeling better, so let's get back to class," she told him.
     Kuno stood from the cot, wavering slightly, and regarded her
with  his  standard upper-class demeanor.  "I will allow  you  to
escort me to class, Nabiki Tendo."
     "Oh brother!" Nabiki said under her breath as she rolled her
eyes.   Reaching out with both hands, she latched on to his  arms
and dragged Kuno from the infirmary.

                              ****

      The  bell  rang for lunch and everyone tore  out  of  their
classrooms,  intent on devouring their meals.  Ranma  stood  from
his desk, and watched his classmates go, snickering at the sight.
His  mind  was elsewhere when a hand grabbed him by the shoulder.
Reflexively set for fighting, he whirled around to face his would-
be attacker, only to be confronted with the started face of Akane
Tendo.
     He flushed in embarrassment, and apologized instantly.  "I'm
sorry,  Akane.  I... I didn't mean to make you jump  like  that."
He  forced a nervous laugh, hoping to conceal his old reaction to
being close to her.  A part of him was glad that there was no-one
else  in  the  classroom  to  act as  witness  and  compound  his
distress.  "You caught me by surprise is all," he explained as he
smiled and offered his hand to her.  "Shall we eat?" he asked her
in a soft voice.
     She took his hand, her cheeks reddening slightly as her body
reacted  to  his  touch.  "Yeah, Ranma.  Let's  eat,"  she  said,
allowing him to escort her out of the classroom.
      The  close physical contact with Ranma became too much  for
her,  so  she  disengaged  her hands  from  his  as  they  walked
languidly  towards the outer door of the building.  In  front  of
the  door,  Akane  looked over to her newfound  friend.   "Ranma,
I..."  she  started  to  say as they cleared  the  threshold  and
entered the school yard.  She didn't get a chance to say anything
else, however, as both she and Ranma were unexpectedly confronted
by the entire student body right outside the school building.
      Both  facefaulted as they were beset by a collective  cheer
from  the  crowd.  Everyone within eyesight of the couple  stood,
applauding  the  one who had defeated Kuno that morning.   People
were coming up to Ranma and clapping him heartily on the back, or
shaking  his hand.  A couple of adventureous girls pressed  notes
bearing  their  names and phone numbers into his  hands  as  they
touched and groped him, before getting pushed out of the  way  by
more eager students.
     Ranko watched from the distance as he and Akane emerged from
the  building so that her brother could enjoy his moment with his
new  girlfriend.  But she couldn't restrain herself from  jumping
in  the  air  and cheering along with the rest of the crowd,  her
youthful face glowing with pride.
     As the crowd swelled and pressed forward towards Ranma in an
effort  to  get  closer to the newfound campus hero,  Akane  soon
found  herself  being pushed further and further away  from  him.
She could see him frantically pushing his way through the mass of
people,  yelling her name and trying to get back to her, but  the
throng was too dense.  Soon they had pushed him away from Akane's
line of sight.
      A  half smile that had been on her face as they had  exited
the  building  slipped  away  to be replaced  by  a  more  somber
expression  as  she succumbed to disappointment.   She  had  been
looking  forward  to speaking with Ranma.  She had  so  much  she
wanted  to  ask him, especially about what he had said two  weeks
ago.  She approached a nearby bench, and was about to sit when  a
hand grabbed hers.  She looked at the owner of the hand and saw a
young  pig-tailed girl with sparkling blue eyes  tugging  at  her
hand.
      "Hey you're Akane, right?" Ranko said in her characteristic
enthusiasm.
     Akane nodded warily, "Uhh... yeah.  Who are you?"
      "I'm  Ranko Saotome, Ranma's sister," she said  by  way  of
introduction.   "Anyway, wasn't he supposed to  be  eating  lunch
with you, or something like that?" she inquired innocently.
      Akane cheeks reddened, as she was again confronted with how
active  the  grapevine was at Furinkan.  "Well,  yeah...  but  he
seems  to  have been abducted by everyone," she said,  indicating
the departing gang of students.
      Ranko  looked at the crowd and laughed.  "That's my brother
for   you.    C'mon!   Let's  catch  up  with  him,"   she   said
enthusiastically.  Akane didn't even have a chance to protest  as
the youthful Saotome dragged her towards the crowd and Ranma.

                              ****

      Ranma  clawed  uselessly for purchase against  the  throng,
hoping  to get above and beyond them.  Failing that, he hoped  he
was  at  least  able to keep his calm as he struggled  among  the
student body, knowing that they weren't out to hurt him or Akane.
But  try  as  he might to remain calm, he didn't feel comfortable
being  in the spotlight to begin with, and the size of the  crowd
wasn't  helping matters any.  Boys and girls alike were badgering
him  with  statements and questions, but they were coming  in  so
fast that he didn't even try to respond to them.  "How did you do
it, Ranma?  Can you beat him up again, Ranma?  You dating anyone,
Ranma?  Why did you challenge Kuno, Ranma?"
      A  hand grabbed his arm, and pulled him out of the reach of
the  throng.   Once he and his rescuer were a safe distance  from
the  oblivious crowd, he looked to the person who had pulled  him
out  and  was  confronted by the scheming smirk of Nabiki  Tendo.
"Nabiki?!"  Ranma  asked,. recoiling slightly.   Immediately  his
hand  went  to  his pocket, wary of what she was planning.   "How
much do I owe you?" he asked disgustedly.
      Nabiki's  eyebrow swept up in surprise at Ranma's question.
"I  don't know you, do I Saotome?" she asked, slightly irritated.
Seeing the crowd start to approach, she cut off his response, and
spoke  quickly.   "I'll  worry about that  little  detail  later.
Don't worry `bout the rescue, it's on me.  Just consider us even,
okay Saotome?"
     "Even for what?" Ranma asked, his eyes narrowing.
      "Well,  I had to find some way to thank you for getting  my
little  sister Akane out of that stupid engagement to Kuno-chan."
She  leaned  over to him a little, a conspiratorial look  on  her
face.   "And  I also wanted to thank you for beating him  in  the
fight.  I won a lot of money betting on you."  She winked at him,
and smiled her charming smile.
      Ranma  groaned,  seeing that some things weren't  all  that
different in this Nerima.  "Okay, whatever Nabiki.  I..."
      Nabiki  saw  her  sister and that girl who  was  with  Kuno
earlier  approach their position ahead of the milling swarm,  and
hastened  to  get  away.  "Oops!  I gotta  run.   Here  comes  my
sister.   I'll  talk to you later, Saotome!" she  yelled  as  she
sprinted for the school building.
      Ranma  watched  Nabiki  speed  around  the  corner  of  the
building, and then heard shoes stomp against the concrete as  she
ran  up the steps and inside.  He turned his head, and saw  Ranko
and Akane approaching.  Along with the rest of Furinkan High.  He
made  a move to turn and run from the advancing mob, but stopped,
feeling  the solid wall of the school building against his  back.
Having  nowhere to go, he hung his head and resigned  himself  to
the inevitable.
      Ranko  and Akane arrived next to Ranma.  Ranko noticed  the
look on Ranma's face, and became concerned.  "Hey bro, you okay?"
      He turned to her, merely replying, "I will be once lunch is
over."  He looked at Akane, saying "Akane, I'm sorry about lunch.
I really want to talk to you, though."
     Akane nodded her head in agreement.  She tried to reply, but
couldn't  get her voice to carry over the din of curious students
that had just arrived.  The questions started up again, with  the
crowd  pressing hard against the three.  "You going  to  run  for
class president next year, Ranma?  What's the story with you  and
Akane, Ranma?  Are you prepared to die, Ranma?"
      That last question stopped the crowd in its tracks.  Ranma,
Akane,  and  Ranko's  heads  turned suddenly  in  unison  at  the
direction  of  the  questioner.  The crowd  parted  to  show  the
glowering  faces of seven members of the Kendo team.   They  were
all  wearing  the same Kendo outfit that Kuno usually  wore,  and
they  all  had murder on their mind, if their postures  were  any
indication.  The one who asked the question pointed his bokken at
Ranma and spoke again.  "We all know that you're a wimp, and  you
hate  martial arts.  You were lucky, Saotome.  There's  no  other
explanation for the way you defeated Kuno-Sempai.  We will avenge
his  loss  to  you, and bring honor back to the Kendo  club!"  he
declared mightily, raising his bokken to the sky in a gesture  of
triumph.
      Ranma  grunted in satisfaction, glad to have  something  he
could   deal  with  presented  to  him.   Ranko's  eyes  narrowed
dangerously at hearing the soon-to-be-dead-Kendoist refer to  her
brother  as  a  `wimp.'  She maneuvered herself so that  she  and
Ranma were bracketing Akane, preparing for the worst. "Watch what
you  say  lardass, or we may have to make you eat  those  words!"
Ranko retorted hotly.
      The  loudmouth  Kendoist smirked, then laughed  arrogantly.
Ignoring  Ranko, he directed his comment solely to  Ranma.   "So,
wimpy widdle Ranma needs a widdle girl to protect him," the  lead
Kendoist  taunted  in  a  mocking  voice.   Ranma's  gaze  became
murderous  at that, and he flexed his fingers, eager to  put  the
guy  down.  Ranko reacted similarly, although she grinned coldly.
The crowd began backing away from the Kendoists and the Saotomes,
not wanting to get hurt.  "Little girl, eh?  I'll be glad to show
you  what  this little girl can do, asshole.  That is, if  you're
man enough to try me," Ranko challenged him, looking him straight
in the eye.
      The  guy  returned the gaze, his confidence never wavering.
"Out  of  the  way, bitch.  This is between me  and  the  wimp...
AHHHHH!" the Kendoist screamed as Ranma leapt in front of him and
kicked  him square in the face.  The student landed on his  back,
with Ranma standing on the guy's head.  "Watch what you say about
my  sister, asshole!" he said ominously, grinding his  foot  into
the  guy's face to punctuate the statement.  The student  obliged
Ranma by passing out.
      Another  person from the Kendo group yelled "GET HIM!"  and
suddenly the entire group rushed their position.  Suddenly Ranma,
Ranko  and  Akane  were  swarmed by  bokken-wielding,  skirt-clad
figures swearing vengeance on behalf of their fallen leader.
      Akane gasped, watching the fight boil out of control around
her.   She took some small comfort from the fact that the Saotome
siblings were trying their best to see that no harm came to  her.
She  wanted to assist them, and felt a sudden pang of regret that
she  had let her Kenpo training lapse during the near year and  a
half  that she was tied to Kuno.  Frustrated, she fought her urge
to  join  the battle and let Ranma and Ranko carry on  the  fight
without her.
      Ranma  smiled to himself, satisfied that these people  were
definitely not a threat.  One of the crazed Kendoists had charged
at  him, swinging wildly with his bokken.  He'd easily dodged the
lunge,  and  responded with a chop to the back of the assailant's
neck, knocking him out.
      Ranko  wasn't  having  as easy a time,  however.   She  had
already  dispatched one of the fighters that had jumped her,  and
was looking for number two.  Unfortunately, figuring her to be  a
worse  threat  than  Ranma  due to  his  past  reputation,  three
students  beset  her at the same time.  Unable  to  contend  with
three,  she was caught unprepared and pinned against the wall  of
the school building.
     Two of the Kendoists held her still, while a third one began
kicking  and punching her viciously.  Too proud to scream,  Ranko
instead tried in vain to free herself from the grip of the hentai
Kendoists.
      Akane,  who  had  been watching Ranma pulverize  the  Kendo
students on his end, whirled around at the commotion behind  her.
She  gaped  wordlessly  at the unfair attack  they  had  launched
against Ranko.  Angered beyond words, she reached up swiftly  and
grabbed  one of the Kendoists by his shoulder and turned  him  to
face  her.  Not waiting for a response from the jerk, she punched
him  square in the face with all of her might, swept his legs out
from under him and finally followed up with a devastating kick to
the  groin.  The felled student grabbed his agonized privates and
screamed  in pain.  Akane looked at her hands, balling them  into
fists again.  `Whew!  That felt good!  I haven't done that  in  a
while...'  she  thought, enjoying the feeling of having  punished
the  guy.   She  looked to the other one that was  still  holding
Ranko  back  from  attacking,  and readied  herself  for  another
assault.
      Ranma had just finished breaking a bokken over the head  of
another   Kendo  student,  bringing  his  body  count  to   three
unconscious,  when he heard someone scream in  pain  behind  him.
With  no-one left to fight, he turned to see what his sister  was
doing and gasped in shock at what he saw.  Akane had just pounded
the hell out of a guy, and two others were double teaming Ranko!
      Furious, he leapt at the student holding his sister against
the wall and began tearing him apart.  The stunned student didn't
even  have time to fight as Ranma knocked him down to the ground.
"You son of a bitch!  I'm gonna *KILL* you!" Ranma yelled at  the
terrified boy.  He knelt down and quickly seized the Kendoist  by
his  throat.  His blood boiling, Ranma punched him time and again
until the student's face had been cut severely by the impacts and
was  a  bloody  mess.   Still enraged,  Ranma  dropped  the  limp
student's head and charged after the remaining one.
      The  one remaining student's eyes went wide as he  saw  how
badly he was outnumbered.  Deciding to get in one more hit before
running, he swiped at Ranko with his bokken as hard as he  could.
He  connected, opening a small gash on her face.  "We toldja  you
should've  stayed out of the fight, little girl!   You  won't  be
forgetting  that  now, will you?" he taunted as  he  brought  his
bokken  before  him  defensively.  Not bothering  to  survey  the
damage he'd caused her, he turned to run away before Ranma  could
get to him.
     Ranma broke his sprint and knelt down by his sister, who had
dropped  to  her knees after getting hit.  "I'm gonna  kill  that
coward,"  Ranma  spat  viciously.  He  put  his  arm  around  her
protectively as she knelt there, motionless.
      Ranko brought her hand up to the gash on her cheek, dabbing
gingerly at the bloody, broken skin.  "You're gonna have to  wait
in  line  Ranma.   That bastard's mine!" she swore,  standing  up
slowly.  She ignored her protesting muscles and grabbed a  bokken
from  one of the felled students.  She then sprinted off  in  the
direction  of  the departing Kendoist.  Unable to stop  her  from
going,  Ranma and Akane took off after her, ignoring  groans  and
occasional screams as they stepped on and over the Kendo students
they'd knocked out earlier.

                              ****

      Ranko  poured on the steam as she started closing  the  gap
between her and the fleeing student.  She watched him turn to see
if  he  was  being pursued and heard him gasp in  surprise.   She
smiled  thinly, knowing that she was going to enjoy hurting  him.
`No-one does this to me and gets away with it!' she swore.   With
the gap narrowing quickly, Ranko brought the captured bokken into
play.   Without  even  breaking  stride,  she  threw  it  at  the
Kendoist's legs.  The throw was true, and suddenly his legs  were
entangled by the bokken, halting his run and forcing him to crash
face-forward on the ground.
     Ranko reached the student and kicked him in the ass.  "Who's
the  little  girl  now, asshole!" she yelled as  she  kicked  him
again.   The  Kendoist tried to hide his terror by putting  on  a
brave  front.  Forcing a sneer onto his face, the student quickly
got  up  and  faced  her.   "Don't taunt me,  you  little  bitch.
I'll..." he said, before getting interrupted.
      Ranko  flushed  red at the name and got  up  in  his  face,
staring eye to eye with him.  "Listen to me, WIMP!  You're  about
to  feel  very  bad, you emasculated son of  a  bitch.   So  quit
talking  and start fighting!"  She followed her comments up  with
an open-handed slap to the face.  The taunting worked well as the
student lashed out at her.  Although Ranko had been slowed by the
beating she'd endured, she was still able to deflect the strike.
      Incoherent with rage, the guy lashed out at her again  with
his bokken.  She anticipated the attack and grabbed the blade  as
it  whizzed past her head.  Twisting the blade in her  grip,  she
wrenched it from his hands.  Quickly she tossed it far away  from
him, leaving him weaponless.
      Desperate to end the fight, he rushed her.  Yelling like an
enraged  animal, he charged with his hands stuck out in front  of
him,  trying to grab her by the neck.  Ranko dropped to a  crouch
on  one  leg, cursing as a sharp pain suddenly shot through  her.
She  managed to complete the leg sweep, however, and sent the guy
toppling  face-first into the dirt again.  Hobbling back  into  a
standing position, she rubbed her sore leg as she waited for  the
guy to stand up again.  He got to his hands and knees, but didn't
stand completely.
      Ranko  prowled around him, impatient to continue the fight.
She  started  yelling at him when he refused to stand,  her  fury
fueling her words.  "Come on, you little coward!  Stand up!   You
know, you talk awfully big for a little guy who can't even fight.
And you sure are stupid, picking on someone like me, knowing that
you  couldn't ever beat me in a fair fight.  I don't know why you
try  to  fight  anyway.  You hit like a little girl!"  she  spat,
hoping to goad him into continuing the fight.
      At  that  moment Ranma and Akane arrived on the scene,  and
watched  as  Ranko yelled at the lone student.  Ranma  rushed  to
take  care  of the creep when he heard Ranko yell at him.   "Stay
away  from  him, brother.  He's *mine*!  I'll let  you  have  him
afterwards, *if* I let him live," she stated darkly.
       Ranma  nodded  silently  and  stepped  back  a  respectful
distance, with Akane joining him at his side.  Ranko turned  back
to her adversary, who had assumed a standing position again.  His
face was white hot with impotent rage as he brought his hands  up
in a ready position.  "You're mine, little bitch!  You've won too
many times before, now it's *my turn!* " he spluttered.
      Ranko  readied herself as the student charged at her again.
This time Ranko brought her leg up and kicked him squarely in the
midsection  as  he came by, causing him to gasp loudly  in  pain.
Not  waiting  for him to fall to the ground again and  catch  his
breath,  she  followed up with a chop to the back  of  the  neck,
making him stumble drunkenly.  The student whirled around to face
her  again, and got a foot in his face as Ranko jump-kicked  him,
causing him to fall on his back in a daze.
      Rage  possessing her completely now, she straddled him  and
repeatedly  punched him in the face until her  fists  were  sore.
Not  satisfied with that, she then grabbed two handfuls  of  hair
and  began  slamming his head into the ground, yelling  "Who's  a
wimp?" with every impact.
      Ranma  approached his sister cautiously.  She  had  already
knocked  the  guy  out, so he wasn't feeling  the  pain  she  was
dishing out any more.  Without touching her, he stood behind her,
shouting, "Ranko, stop this!"
      She  continued  slamming the boy's  head  into  the  ground
unabated,  ignoring  her  brother's  words.   Ranma  sighed,  not
wanting  to interfere, but knowing that he had to stop  her.   He
stepped  behind her, his arms encircling her chest as he  grabbed
her from behind, trying to pin her arms under his.
      Ranko  squirmed in his grasp, but didn't kick out.  Instead
she yelled, "Ranma!  Lemme go!  This asshole deserves it!"  Ranma
pulled  on  her, trying to get her away from the student.   Ranko
held  onto  the student by his hair and by clenching  her  thighs
against  the  boy's flanks, trying to resist her  brother's  pull
with  all  her  might.  She wanted to do more  damage,  and  kept
shouting  for her brother to leave her the hell alone.   Finally,
with  a  mighty yank Ranma separated his sister from  the  doomed
Kendoist.
      Akane  had  watched wordlessly throughout the beating  (she
wouldn't call it a fight).  She then winced as she watched  Ranma
try  time  and  again  to pull his sister  from  the  unconscious
student.  She flinched when he finally succeeded.  "Ouch!  That's
gonna  hurt in the morning," she observed aloud as Ranma  carried
Ranko towards her, still holding her in his arms.
      He  looked  at Akane quizzically, wondering  what  she  was
referring to.  She pointed to Ranko's hands, a slight grimace  on
her face.  Ranma looked down to where Akane pointed, and smirked.
"Yeesh,  Ranko.  You weren't fooling around, were you?" he  asked
rhetorically.  Sure now that she wasn't going to run back and hit
the guy again, he released her.
      Ranko  stumbled a bit before getting her footing  properly.
She  looked  down  at  the contents of her hands  and  smiled  to
herself.  She clenched her hands into fists triumphantly, holding
tightly the clumps of bloody hair she'd yanked from the student's
head.   "I  think he'll be remembering this day for  a  while  to
come," she said weakly, prizing the hair into the pockets of  her
pants.   She then sagged against her brother, exhaustion catching
up with her and causing her to pass out.
      "Ranko!" Ranma yelled in alarm, catching her before she hit
the  ground.   Akane quickly got on the other side of  her,  each
putting one of her arms around their necks and one of their  arms
around her tiny waist.  Then together they hauled the unconscious
Ranko to the infirmary.

                              ****

      Kuno `ohh'ed to himself as he watched Akane and Ranma  cart
Ranko  away  from the battle scene.  He'd hidden  among  a  small
cluster  of  trees for the duration of the battle,  watching  his
nemesis in action.  He smiled thinly, pleased and upset with  his
Kendo  club.   He was pleased that they would try to  defend  the
honor of their leader so voraciously, but was equally upset  that
they were unable to complete the task they had set out to do, and
that  they  did it in such a dishonorable manner.  He would  have
been  more  upset if he had ordered the attack himself  and  they
performed as badly as they did here.
      Kuno digested what he saw of the battle.  `Ranma Saotome is
indeed a martial artist of some ability.  How he achieved this in
such a short time is unknown.'  Kuno grudgingly acknowledged that
Saotome  was now a true force to be reckoned with.  He  was  sure
that  he'd have to come up with a new way of dealing with someone
who  could conceivably be an equal.  Irritated at the thought  of
he  and Ranma being equals, he pushed the image of Ranma from his
mind and concentrated on what else he saw.
     `Akane seems to have regained some of her spirit.  Surely it
must  be  due to the fact that she already grows restless  in  my
absence, knowing that I, the great Tatewaki Kuno, am not there to
protect  her.  Fear not Akane, I will allow you to come  back  to
me,'  Kuno  thought  grandly,  pleased  with  himself  over   the
charitable  gesture  he  was willing  to  bestow  her.   He  then
clenched  his  fists  and gasped as the  face  of  Ranko  Saotome
flitted  through his mind.  `She fights most masterfully for  one
so  young.  And her beauty!  Were she not of Saotome's blood, she
would  be a most perfect woman!  I must find out more about her!'
he  vowed  silently.  He waited a few moments for  the  three  to
enter the building before he headed back inside himself.

                              ****

      Ranko  groaned as she came to in the infirmary.  She opened
her  eyes  slowly,  and  saw Ranma and Akane  hovering  over  her
worriedly  at  the edge of her cot.  She snapped her  eyes  shut,
fighting  off  the  sudden  wave of  nausea  that  threatened  to
overcome  her.   She  slapped  a  hand  listlessly  against   her
forehead, noting how cold and damp her skin was.  Again she crept
her  eyes open, and regarded Ranma with a wan smile.  "Hey, didja
get  the  number of that truck..." she croaked weakly before  she
broke off, snorting at her own bad joke.
      Ranma  smiled and sighed relief as he dropped to his  knees
next  to the cot, wrapping her up in a hug, with his head resting
on  her  chest.  "Thank God you're okay, sis.  Dammit!  I was  so
worried  about you!" he said, choking back a sob.   Ranko  put  a
hand on her brother's head, running her fingers through his hair.
"Yeah,  I'm okay bro.  Although I won't be if you keep  squeezing
me  that  hard," she gasped.  Ranma released her immediately  and
sat away from the cot next to Akane.
      Ranko sat up in her cot, propping her back against the wall
of  the  room.  "Uggh!  How long was I out?" she asked,  blinking
her eyelids to try and clear the blurriness from her vision.
     "About twenty minutes," Akane said.  "How do you feel?"
      "Like hell.  I feel like someone did a flamenco dance on my
body  with  steel tap shoes.  Other than that, I'm  just  dandy."
They all chuckled at the vision created by her metaphor.  "By the
way,  Akane.  Thanks for the assist.  You showed some pretty good
moves out there."
      Akane  blushed slightly, then anger flashed  in  her  eyes.
"Well,  I couldn't stand by watching those three gang up on  you.
It just wasn't fair, so I decided to help even the odds a bit.  I
can't believe how easily fighting came back to me after being out
of  practice for so long."  `Although,' she added to herself,  `I
saw just how rusty I was.'  She smirked inwardly, thinking that a
little  training might be just the thing to help banish her  past
with Kuno.
      Ranko  winked conspiratorially at Ranma when  Akane  wasn't
looking.   Ranma shook his head, and shifted uncomfortably  where
he  sat.   She  frowned slightly, her mind chewing on  something.
She suddenly perked up, saying, "Akane, can I speak to my brother
alone for a moment?"
     Akane smiled and grabbed her hand.  "Sure.  You did well out
there,  Ranko.  Ranma's right to be proud of you."  Ranko blushed
at the praise, smiling as her eyes met with her brother's.  Akane
then turned to Ranma, "I'm going back to class now.  I'll see you
after school, if that's okay."
      Ranma's eyes widened a bit at that, but he managed to smile
nervously,  saying, "Uhh, yeah!  Sure... sure thing Akane."   She
stood  and  walked out of the infirmary, closing the door  behind
her.  Once she was gone, Ranko gave her brother a stern look.
      Ranma  grew defensive as his sister's gaze bored into  him.
"Hey Ranko, what's the big idea lookin' at me like that?"
     Ranko's stare continued to bear down on him.  "Why don't you
have a date with Akane yet, Ranma?" she demanded, enough strength
returning in her voice to make him squirm.
      Ranma  fidgeted  in  his seat, not wanting  to  answer  her
question   He  shifted  his  gaze  to  the  floor,  his  face  an
expressionless mask.
      "C'mon,  Ranma.   I saw how you were looking  at  her  this
morning.   I'm  kinda surprised you didn't ask her to  marry  you
right  then  and  there," she continued.  She crossed  her  arms,
awaiting a response from Ranma, but he continued to remain quiet.
"Well?!"
     Ranma regarded his sister again.  "It's kinda hard for me to
explain, Ranko."
      A  concerned  expression wound its way onto  Ranko's  face,
making  her wince involuntarily from the pain caused by  shifting
her  facial  muscles.  She ignored the pain, and grabbed  one  of
Ranma's  hands,  holding onto it tightly.  "Hey,  I'm  listening.
Tell me what's goin' on," she prodded gently.
      Ranma  sighed,  not  really comfortable  with  sharing  his
feelings  with anyone.  "Well, Ranko, it's like this.  Back  when
Pop  and  I first arrived at the Tendo house, Akane and I  really
didn't  get along at all.  And for months after that  she  and  I
were  either on the brink of actually loving each other or  about
to  rip  each  other's throats out.  Most of that  time  we  were
violent towards each other, and never really wanted to talk about
the  engagement our fathers had forced us into.   Neither  of  us
really wanted to discuss *anything* much, for that matter."
      Ranma paused and stood from his chair, then began pacing in
the  confined space of the school infirmary.  "I guess if we  had
talked,  it would've made a lot of things easier on both  of  us.
But  we resisted trying to work things out.  Exactly why, I'm not
sure."  Ranma replayed parts of his life with Akane in his  mind,
seeing  now  just how many times things had gone wrong,  and  how
many opportunities they'd missed.
      "You know Ranko, I realize that I do love Akane, although I
couldn't  see  it  before now.  I think something  in  that  wish
cleared  my  head.  I've taken a longer view of  everything  that
I've  said  and done in the past, which is something  I  normally
didn't  do  before.  I realize now that some of the  things  that
sparked  arguments and brawls between Akane and  myself  were  my
fault.   Also,  I now recognize the things that I said,  or  did,
that  made her angry and helped to push her away from me.  But  I
have  to  admit as well that she was just as stubborn as  I  was.
Akane'd  sometimes fan the flames instead of trying to  put  them
out."
     Ranma kept talking, but it seemed clear to Ranko that he was
just  talking aloud, instead of to her.  "We were *both* too damn
stubborn  to listen.  I was always so damned *right*,"  he  said,
pounding  his fist into his other hand for emphasis.  "All  those
times  I should've listened when I yelled at her instead.  I  was
so  foolish."  Ranma laughed bitterly.  "You know, she even  told
me  once that she loved me.  Granted, she was under the influence
of  the reversal jewel, but her feelings were genuine.  And I was
too  blind  to  see it at the time.  And now comes my  wish,  and
everything's   suddenly   different.   Akane's   different,   I'm
different.  Hell, even Kuno's different!" Ranma shouted.
     He looked over to his sister, and flushed, realizing that he
was blathering away and confusing her thoroughly.  "I'm sorry for
venting like this Ranko.  All of this just sorta hit me at  once.
I  guess it's just the shock of realizing what that wish has done
to me.  But you do understand why I'm saying this, don't you?"
      "Not really, Ranma," she said, a confused look on her face.
"Why does your past have anything to do with the Akane of now?"
     Ranma stopped pacing.  He faced her, spreading his arms in a
wide  gesture.  "It has everything to do with this Akane.   She's
not  the same person I knew from before.  I know how to deal with
the Akane from my past, not this one.  Don't you see?  Everything
that I learned about her is out the window, so I'm gonna have  to
start all over again!  Not to forget the fact that we barely  got
along  before.   I have no idea how Akane and I would  get  along
now."
      Ranko looked her brother square in the eye.  "I don't think
you're  getting  the whole picture yet, big brother.   You  admit
that you and Akane were at each other's throats constantly in the
past."   Ranma  nodded slowly.  "Well you're not at each  other's
throats now, are you?"
      "No,  but  we  aren't engaged now, either,"  he  shot  back
irritatedly.
      "Exactly!" Ranko chimed.  Seeing Ranma's puzzled look,  she
pressed on.  "Ranma, don't you see that the forced engagement was
the  main reason you two fought each other?  Chances are you were
doing all that fighting more to spite Pop and Mr. Tendo than  for
any other reason."
      "But  what  about now?  I have no way of knowing  how  this
Akane  is  going to react to me.  I'm not even sure  that  she'll
like me," he said, moaning slightly.
      Ranko pointed at her brother.  "Ranma, you're thinking  too
far  ahead.  You're also making assumptions about Akane based  on
what  you know of your past.  You really don't have any idea  how
much  different this Akane could be from the person you  used  to
know."
     Ranma nodded.  "That's another thing that bothers me.  She's
not  the Akane that I fell in love with.  What if I find out that
I don't love her, Ranko?"
      "Geez,  Ranma.  If it bothers you this much, why don't  you
just abandon the whole idea of wanting her?" Ranko said angrily.
     Ranma blanched at the idea.  "No!  I don't ... that is ... I
can't ...  I'm..."
     "You're afraid?" she completed for him.
      Ranma  deflated a bit.  "Yeah.  I guess that's it.  There's
too many unknowns."
      "Then don't worry about them all at once.  Take things  one
step at a time, Ranma.  You'll worry yourself away from Akane  at
the rate you're going.  And don't be afraid, it's bad form for  a
martial artist." she said, smiling at her brother.
      Ranma fought the smirk working its way to his face.  "Yeah,
well...  love and martial arts are two different things, Ranko."
     "Not to hear you tell it, bro," Ranko laughed.
      He  blushed.  "Har har har.  Very funny, NOT!"  His resumed
his  seat  next to his sister.  "There's so much to  consider,  I
really don't know where to start."
      "Well, I think that Akane's made that pretty easy for  you.
Just  meet her after school like she said, and then take it  from
there."
      Ranma turned green, his nerves working him over.  Asking  a
girl  out  on  a date was terra nova for him.  "I've  not  really
asked a girl out before, Ranko.  How do I know if anything I  say
will work?"
      "Well,  you're not gonna find out unless you try,  are  you
bro?" she shot back.
      Ranma  nodded,  acknowledging  the  wisdom  of  her  words.
"You're  right, Ranko.  I have to at least try.  Thanks  for  the
advice."
     Ranko adopted an air of smugness about her.  "That's why I'm
here, Ranma."  She leaned over to him, winking.  "Akane's a  cute
girl.  You'll be a happy guy if you manage to win her over."
     Ranma smiled, gazing off into the distance for awhile before
replying,  "Yeah,  I guess so."  He returned  his  gaze  to  her.
"Speaking of cute, how are you feeling sis?"
      Ranko  blushed at the compliment.  Putting a  hand  to  her
face, she gingerly touched the tender area around her cut.  After
they'd  arrived in the infirmary, a nurse had bandaged the wound,
saying that a doctor would have to look at it soon.  "I'm feeling
better  Ranma."  Her look grew angry as she recalled  the  fight.
"Although that little wimp Kenji didn't have to be so damn mean."
     "Who's Kenji?" Ranma asked.
      "Oh, that's right.  You wouldn't know who he is.  Kenji  is
Kenji Kurosawa, a freshman here at Furinkan.  He and I have  been
at each other's throats for years, ever since grade school.  He's
the  one  who gave me this lovely cut," she said darkly, pointing
to  the bandaged wound.  Even though she'd already repaid him for
the  beating,  Ranko felt it wasn't enough.  She  smiled  as  she
recalled  the  clumps of hair that she had in her pants  pockets.
Clumps of Kenji's hair removed in a most painful way.  She  could
at least draw some satisfaction from that.
      "Well, I don't think that this Kenji dude will be bothering
you  again,  not  after  the pasting you gave  him,"  Ranma  said
assuringly.  He smiled, very proud of his sister and her  ability
to defend herself.
      "He'd better not, for his sake," she vowed.  She was  about
to  launch into a rather mean-spirited look into Kenji's  lineage
when  the bell rang.  "Well, we can't stay here any longer,  bro.
We'd better get back to class.  I'll meet you after school."  She
stood  from the bed, sore but no longer dizzy.  "Good  luck  with
Akane, Ranma," she said in a heartfelt gesture.
      "Thanks Ranko," Ranma said to the departing figure  of  his
younger  sister.   `I sure hope everything works  out  okay,'  he
thought  worriedly.  He then pushed the thought  from  his  mind,
upset with himself for worrying so much.  He stood and walked out
of the infirmary, heading to his last class for the day.

                              ****

      The  bell  rang,  and students began  pouring  out  of  the
building  and heading on their way home.  Akane was  among  those
students  gleefully  running  for  the  outside.   Once  in   the
schoolyard  she  found a place near the gate to wait  for  Ranma.
Sitting down by a large tree, she leaned back against it, basking
in the afternoon sunlight of springtime.
      Unseen by Akane, a girl watched from a distance.  The young
lady scowled, noting the expectant look on Akane's face.  She was
about  to  walk  up  to  Akane  when  she  noticed  someone  else
approaching.  Instead of confronting Akane directly, she chose to
move herself closer so she could listen.
      Ranma  had been looking around the grounds for a couple  of
minutes before he spotted Akane sitting under a tree.  He  gasped
when  he saw her.  She had noticed him and smiled, beckoning  him
to  join  her.  He couldn't help but notice that she  was  *very*
cute  when she smiled, and that fueled his desire to be with  her
again  and  cut  through his apprehension.   He  waved  back  and
trotted  on over to her.  Plopping his bookbag on the ground,  he
sat  next  to her under the tree.  He sat there for a  couple  of
moments, wanting to say something, but nothing was coming out.
     "How's Ranko doing, Ranma?" Akane asked, trying to break the
ice.
      "Oh, she's fine.  She should be here in a few moments.   We
usually walk home together," he said, laughing nervously.
      `Oh, well.  Here it goes.' Akane thought, steeling herself.
"Ranma,  I  wanted to ... thank you... for what you  did  for  me
today."
      Ranma  gave her an `aw shux, twern't nuthin' look.  "That's
okay, Akane.  I'm glad I did it."
     "So am I.  Although, and don't think I'm being an ingrate, I
was wondering why you did it at all."
      Ranma swallowed nervously, unsure of how to answer her.  He
wasn't about to tell her about the wish, nor was he going to tell
her  about the agreement between he and Soun.  He decided to tell
her what parts of the truth that he could.  He felt that the less
he  lied  to  her  now,  the better off he'd  be  later  on.   He
collected his wits, then forced himself to continue.  "I couldn't
stand it anymore!" he blurted out.
      "What do you mean, `couldn't stand it any longer' ?"  Akane
asked quietly.
      "I  mean, I couldn't stand to see the look on your face any
longer,  Akane.  Every day at school I've been watching  you  and
Kuno  together.  I could see how much pain you were feeling,"  he
explained.
      Akane listened without speaking.  Tears began welling up in
her  eyes as she listened to him speak.  Gently she wiped a stray
tear from her cheek, but kept her gaze turned to the ground.
      "It hurt me to see you in so much pain.  When I heard about
Kuno's  boast, I decided that I'd had enough and would  challenge
him."  Ranma crossed his arms in front of him.  "You see, I ... I
like you Akane.  And I felt that you'd suffered long enough."
      Akane's eyes widened at his near-proclamation of love.  She
looked  over  to  him,  not sure how to answer  him.   With  some
effort,  she  responded.  "Ranma, you have no  idea  how  much  I
appreciate what you've done for me today.  You've managed to  get
me  away  from Kuno.  I... I'm in your debt," she finished  in  a
small voice.
      Ranma  smiled  uneasily, and forced  himself  to  continue,
knowing  that this was the most difficult part.  "I  also  fought
Kuno because ... I wanted to mar... be with you..." he broke off,
not  comfortable with what he way saying, although he knew it was
the truth.
     "R.. R.. Ranma?  You're serious about this, aren't you?" she
asked, incredulous.
      "Yes  I am."  Ranma took her hands in his.  "Akane, I  hope
this  isn't too sudden, but I was wondering if you would like  to
go   out   with  me  sometime?"  he  said  rapidly.   He  relaxed
noticeably, heaving a large sigh, glad to have finally asked  the
question and gotten it out of the way.
      Akane  blushed deeply at hearing the question.  She shifted
position  on  the ground a couple of times, trying  to  hide  her
internal struggle as she tried to get a grip on her emotions.   A
part  of  her had hoped that Ranma would ask her this, but  other
parts  of  her mind were still suffering from Kuno's  version  of
`tender loving care' and were warning her not to fall into a  boy
trap again.  She and was about to give him her answer when a girl
shot up from her hiding place in the nearby bushes, screaming  at
the top of her lungs.
     "NOOOOOOOO!!!!"

                              ****

      Ranko  Saotome flinched as she applied weight  to  her  leg
again.   She  was still sore from the fight, and she was  walking
gingerly  on  her right leg.  She had refused crutches  from  the
nurse, and likewise refused help from her friends.  She bore  the
pain  stoically, not wanting to let anyone think that  Kenji  had
gotten the best of her.
      She  stepped  outside into the sunlight and saw  Ranma  and
Akane sitting under a tree near the school gates.  She smiled  to
herself.  `Go get her, Ranma,' she thought happily to herself  as
she  approached  the couple.  She was halfway to  them  when  she
heard someone scream `NO!' at the top of her lungs and then saw a
girl jump out of the bushes.  Ranko's face fell as she saw who it
was.   "Oh God, not Kinuko!" she grumbled disgustedly.  She  then
gasped  in alarm, remembering that Ranma wouldn't know who Kinuko
was.   She  doubled her pace, hoping to put out any fires  before
they started.

                              ****

      Ranma  was  gawking in utter shock at the hysterical  girl.
Akane  was  likewise wide-eyed with surprise, watching  the  girl
storm  from the bushes to where she and Ranma were sitting.   She
was a fairly tall and extremely beautiful young woman dressed  in
the  standard  school  uniform of Furinkan  High.   The  sunlight
refracted through the girl's long black hair, accenting  her  red
highlights.  Her brown eyes shimmered as she cried, tears washing
down her heart-shaped face.
      "How  dare you?  HOW DARE YOU?!" she shrieked.  Heads  from
passersby turned towards them, and a crowd began to gather.
      Akane  leaned over to him, a slightly jealous look  on  her
face.  "What is she doing here, Ranma?"
      Ranma  didn't respond, except to shake his head vigorously.
He  stared blankly at the girl, wondering what he'd done to  piss
her  off.  "Uhhh... Excuse me, do I know you?" he managed to  ask
at length.
      "RANCHAN!  How dare you ask me that question?  Sure we  may
have  had  our hard times in the past, but to act like you  don't
even  know  me!?  Why!?"  She dropped to her knees,  burying  her
face in her hands and crying like a lost soul.
      Akane  regarded  Ranma again.  "Well, she sure  thinks  she
knows you," she deadpanned.
      Ranma's eyes bugged out.  `She called me Ranchan?!  Who the
hell  is this girl?!' he thought in a panic.  He looked at Akane,
and  held his right hand up, pointing at the girl.  "I don't know
this  person,  I  *swear!*"   His  face  clearly  reflected   the
befuddlement he felt.  He looked around, hoping to find an avenue
of escape.
      The girl looked up at him angrily, wiping her eyes with her
hand.  "Ranchan, I can't believe this.  I'm out of school for two
weeks for the School Band trip to Kobe, and when I return I  find
you  trying  to  bed  down some... *hussy*!" she  said,  pointing
directly at Akane.  Without waiting for a response from either of
them,  she  placed a hand against her forehead, proclaiming,  "My
world is shattered!  I never would've thought you would cheat  on
me,  Ranchan!   You said you loved me!  Why are you torturing  me
like this by saying you don't know me?!"  She began crying again.
      Ranma's  jaw  dropped, and he looked for all the  world  as
though he never expected to live out the day.  His vocabulary had
been  reduced to  "abb...  I...  ahh...  uggghh... " and his arms
were  extended  outwards  in  a  defensive  gesture  against  the
rampaging female.  Meanwhile the audience's curiosity was piqued.
Ranma  could  make  out some of the murmuring  going  on  in  the
background.   "Did  she just say Ranma and  Akane  were  sleeping
together?   Wow,  I  guess that explains the challenge  to  Kuno.
Hey, Ranma's got two girls now!  Geez, can't he even share one of
them? ..."
      Akane bolted to a standing position.  She blushed furiously
at   the  open  speculation  she  was  hearing  from  the  crowd.
Indignant, she confronted the girl.  "Hey!  What's the  big  idea
calling  me a hussy, you bitch!"  She pointed to Ranma.  "He  did
me  a tremendous favor today, and I thanked him for it.  He's not
trying to `bed me down' or anything like that.  Besides, he  says
that he doesn't know you, RIGHT?"
      She  looked at Ranma, who was nodding vigorously,  mumbling
positive-sounding sounds but remaining incoherent  for  the  most
part.  "You see, he says that he doesn't know you Kinuko, so  get
the  HELL out of here!"  Akane's anger was steadily rising as she
watched  Kinuko shake her head, refusing to believe what she  was
hearing.
      "HE'S  LYING!" she shrieked.  She then latched  onto  Ranma
desperately,  nuzzling his neck and kissing him  soundly  on  the
cheek.  "Stop lying, Ranchan.  I know you've forgiven me for that
little  incident  last month, so let's make up and  stop  playing
around,  okay?"   She  beamed  at  him  with  a  gorgeous  smile.
Deciding  to up the stakes, she started tracing on Ranma's  chest
with her index finger.
      Ranma  was paralyzed with fear.  Kinuko was tightly latched
onto him, and he couldn't shake her, regardless of what he tried.
He  looked  up  desperately to Akane, who's face was  unreadable.
"I...  I..."  He reached an arm out towards Akane.  Unfortunately
for  him, Kinuko had intercepted the arm and curled it around her
waist, placing his hand directly under her left breast.  He tried
to  say  something else, but couldn't, as he was trying  to  deal
with  the  fact  that  his hand was microns from  this  beautiful
girl's... no *woman's* breast.
      Akane groaned in disgust at seeing Kinuko's obvious attempt
to  push  her away from Ranma.  Sighing she picked up her  school
bag  and  stood.  Before walking away, she looked over  her  left
shoulder.  "Thanks again for what you did today, Ranma.   I'm  in
your  debt."   She turned away from Ranma again and  dashed  away
from the school grounds.  As hard as she tried, she couldn't stop
herself from crying as she ran.

                              ****

      Two guys that had been watching the goings-on regarded each
other with a puzzled look.  "Hey Hikaru, what's Ranma doing  with
Kinuko again?  I thought they broke up."
      Hikaru  Gosunkugi shrugged his shoulders.  "I  dunno,  man.
Your guess is as good as mine."
      "Yeah,  but  you're Ranma's best friend.  You usually  know
what's goin' on with him."
      "Yeah,  usually.  But he and I haven't spoken in  over  two
weeks.   Ranma's not called me at all during that time.  I  never
see him at the hangout anymore, and he ignored me the one time  I
tried  to  talk  with him."  Hikaru shook his head.   "I  tellya,
there's something's different about him Sato..."
      "Gee, you're the master of understatement today.  You  call
someone  who until today didn't have a violent bone in  his  body
but suddenly gets the nerve up to not only challenge but *defeat*
Kuno-Sempai in battle today `different?!' "  Sato snorted through
his nose.  "And where'd he get the brass balls to ask a girl out?
That  Akane chick is sweet!"  he enthused,  wiping a bit of drool
from the corner of his mouth.
      Hikaru  looked at him darkly.  "How do you think Ranma  got
together with Kinuko in the first place?"
      Sato  had  a quizzical look on his face.  "I thought  *you*
helped him get together with Kin..."
      "SHHHHH!  Dummy!  No-one's supposed to know  that!"  Hikaru
shot back hotly.
      "Sorrieee!  Geez, what's the matter with you man?" Sato had
a wounded look on his face.
      Hikaru's look softened.  "I'm sorry Sato.  Ranma just  made
me  promise  not to tell anyone about that.  I had  no  idea  you
knew."
      Sato grinned.  "Ranma told me how you helped him get Kinuko
when  he let it slip that he'd done it with her.  I knew that  he
had  to  have had help, there was no other way he could've netted
Kinuko."
      "Regardless, don't mention it to anyone.  We'll all  be  in
trouble if word ever gets out that I did what I did to help Ranma
get  a  date with Kinuko.  And I do mean *all.*"  Hikaru  made  a
slashing  gesture across his throat with his finger to illustrate
his point to Sato.
      Seeing motion out of the corner of his eye, Sato turned his
head.  Quickly he tapped Hikaru on the shoulder.  "Hey man, look!
It's  Ranko!   Boy  what I wouldn't give to spend  a  night  with
*her!*"
      Hikaru looked at the young lady and grinned.  "You wouldn't
get to first base with her, Sato.  She'd kick your butt from here
to Mars for just looking at her.  Don't risk your life on such  a
lost cause."  Hikaru looked at Sato and smirked, poking his chest
with his thumb.  "Besides, *I* saw her first!"
     Sato whirled on him, frowning.  "Like hell!  I'd..."
     Hikaru waved him off.  "Quiet!  She's coming over here..."
      The  heads of the two tracked the goddess Ranko Saotome  as
she walked towards her brother.

                              ****

      `Damn that Kenji,' Ranko thought bitterly to herself, upset
that  her injury had kept her from preventing what just happened.
She  watched Akane storm from the campus, and could clearly  hear
her crying.  A few paces later, she was finally in front of Ranma
and the velcroed Kinuko.
     "Ranma!  Why aren't you going after Akane?" she demanded.
      "Hush  Ranko!  My Ranchan's staying with me!" Kinuko yelled
before  Ranma could respond.  She emphasized the point by kissing
Ranma  right on the lips.  The kiss lasted for well over a minute
and a half, leaving both participants, and a large section of the
crowd, breathless.  "See?" she added, aiming a stunning smile  at
Ranko.
      Ranko  looked at Kinuko darkly.  "I wasn't talking to  you,
you damned flake!  I was talking to my brother!"  Ranko leered at
her,  adding,  "Why don't you let `Ranchan' answer  my  question?
You  afraid of the answer?  But then again, there is what you did
to him last month..."
     Kinuko flushed with anger.  "Flake?!  What do you know about
me  anyway?  You're not the Saotome that I've been dating for the
last six months."  She took Ranma's face in her hands, and turned
him  so  that  they were eye to eye.  "You still love  me,  right
Ranchan?"
      Ranma  was  still unable to speak, his mind  split  between
wanting  to run after the departed Akane, and moving his hand  up
an  inch.  "I... uhhh... " was about all he could force from  his
mouth.
      Kinuko  smiled  triumphantly.  "See!  He's speechless  with
happiness!  So I don't have to worry about what Ranchan wants  to
say."
      Ranko slapped her hand against her face and groaned.  `This
isn't  good!   I  have to get Ranma away from this  idiot!'   She
hobbled  over to Ranma, grabbing his free hand.  "Come on  Ranma.
We  have  to go home now."  She looked at Kinuko and added,  "Let
him  go,  Kinuko, unless you want to explain to my Mom  why  he's
late."
      Kinuko  blanched  at  the idea of  confronting  Nodoka  and
quickly released him from her death grip.  With her hold  on  him
gone, Ranma breathed normally again.  He stood up with the aid of
his  sister,  who pulled on his hand.  His eyes  widened  as  the
other   hand,  which  had  been  wrapped  around  Kinuko's  back,
accidentally  caressed  part of her breast  as  he  withdrew  it.
Ranko  didn't seem notice the accidental contact he'd  made  with
Kinuko's  chest,  or her brother's sudden breathlessness  as  she
dragged him from the campus.
     Kinuko gasped and her eyes shimmered as Ranma's hand stroked
against  her breast.  The nipple stiffened noticeably  underneath
the  clothes,  and her face flushed as she realized  that  people
could  see her reaction to him.  She didn't pay attention as  the
Saotome siblings walked away, but instead covered her breast with
her  hand and sat under the tree, her hormones rampaging  through
her.   `He... *touched* me...  Oh, Ranchan!  You *have*  forgiven
me!'  she  thought, sighing happily.  She waited  until  she  had
calmed  her sex drive to tolerable levels before rising from  her
seat and heading home.
     A small distance away from the excited and departing Kinuko,
Sato  and Hikaru emerged from the dispersing crowd to stand where
Ranma and Kinuko had been a moment ago.
      "Wow...   He's even getting along with his sister.   Wonder
what  he's  been drinking..."  Sato scratched his head,  watching
the two Saotomes disappear from sight.
      "Sato,  I think we're *really* gonna have to talk to Ranma.
Things are getting too weird all of a sudden."
      "Fine with me.  Question is, how do we get a chance to talk
with him?"
     "Simple, we'll go over to his house.  Meet me there 10:00 am
tomorrow, okay?"
     Sato nodded.  "Right."
      Hikaru  clapped Sato on the back, then turned to leave  for
home.

                              ****

      Two  blocks from the school, Ranko was exhibiting worsening
problems  with  her right leg.  Fortunately for  her,  Ranma  had
recovered  enough  of his wits to notice that she  was  having  a
problem, so he reached a hand out to steady her.
      "Thanks  Ranma.   I  guess I took a worse  beating  than  I
thought."   She leaned against his arm, allowing him  to  support
her  as she continued to walk.  A few steps later, her right  leg
gave  out  and  she tumbled to the ground, despite  Ranma's  best
efforts to keep her upright.
      "Ow, dammit!" Ranko yelled as she landed on her side on the
pavement.
      Ranma was at her side immediately.  "Hey, you okay sis?" he
yelled worriedly.
      Ranko  sat up, and grabbed her ankle with her hands, trying
to immobilize it.  "I think I just twisted my ankle.  Ouch!"  She
winced as she applied pressure to the ankle.  "Yep, it's probably
sprained.  Gonna have to get it splinted up."
      Ranma  looked her in the eye.  "Hey, you'll  be  okay  sis.
Hold  on  a sec."  He smiled at her, brushing a couple  of  stray
hairs out of her eyes, and wiping away the few tears of pain that
she couldn't hold in .  He slung his book bag off of his back and
laid  it on the ground.  He then turned around, placing his  back
towards  her.  "Now, I want you to put your arms around  my  neck
and  hold on to me tightly."  Ranko started to protest, but Ranma
wouldn't hear of it.  "Dammit Ranko, you're in no shape to  walk,
so climb on!"
      With  a  resigned sigh Ranko looped her arms around Ranma's
neck.   He  then reached his arms back, looping them  around  and
under her legs at the knees.  Quickly Ranko reached down with one
of  her  arms and picked up her brother's book bag from where  he
left  it.   Looping  one of the straps around her  own  arm,  she
brought her arms around his neck again.
      Once Ranma was sure Ranko wouldn't slip, he stood up.   She
instinctively  pressed  herself closer into  his  back  to  avoid
falling  off.  "I'm taking you to Dr. Tofu's to have  that  ankle
looked at," he said as he began heading off in Tofu's direction.
     "Who's Dr. Tofu?" Ranko asked in confusion.  "We normally go
to see Dr. Mikimoto."
     "I don't know who that is or where he is, Ranko.  Remember?"
Ranma replied patiently.
      "Oh,  yeah.   That's right."  She rested her  head  against
Ranma's back.
      As  they walked, Ranko blushed more and more.  The way  she
was riding on Ranma's back embarrassed her.  To top that off, the
up-down  motion  caused by Ranma's walking  was  causing  her  to
become  aroused  as her breasts rubbed up and  down  against  her
brother's  back.   Her  nipples stiffened in  response,  and  her
breathing  quickened.  She hugged her brother tighter, trying  to
stop the rubbing motion, her cheeks coloring furiously.
      Ranma  felt  the  nipples of Ranko's  breasts  stiffen  and
protrude  into  his  back, and he fought hard against  saying  or
doing  anything  that would acknowledge it.  He  didn't  want  to
upset  or  embarrass Ranko, so he just let them press  into  him.
Besides,  having  been  a  girl before,  he  understood  that  it
happened occasionally, so it didn't really bother him that  much.
Actually  he took it as a compliment that his sister  thought  he
was desirable.
      Trying  to forget her arousal, she started talking to  him.
"Hey  bro,  I'm  sorry  I wasn't able to help  you  earlier  with
Kinuko.  What are you going to do about Akane now?"
     Ranma groaned as the whole episode flashed before him again.
"Who was that girl, anyway?"
     "Her name's Kinuko Amagi.  And until three weeks ago you two
were a hot item."
     "Hot item?  You mean..."
     "... she was your girlfriend," she completed for him.
     Ranma breathed a sigh of relief.  "Only my girlfriend.  Then
she  was never my fiancee," he said happily.  What he didn't need
at the moment was *another* fiancee.
     "Of course not!  Although you two almost acted like you were
married at times," she said in a sly voice.
      "Eh?  I don't understand.  You're just saying that we  were
close,  right?"  Ranma was afraid that he wasn't  going  to  like
Ranko's answer.
      Ranko chortled.  "You were a baaaad boy, Ranma," she purred
into his ear.
      "YOU MEAN WE HAD SEX?!" Ranma yelled hysterically.  Both he
and  Ranko  immediately started looking around, seeing if  anyone
had heard the outburst.  One person had been within earshot.   He
turned  to  the two, saying "Why not, you two look  like  a  cute
couple."  He then began wandering away.
      Ranma and Ranko blushed purple at the comment.  "Hey!  It's
not like that!" Ranma yelled to the stranger, but by that time he
had disappeared.
      Ranko groaned at the suggestion, although she had to  admit
that  a part of her had debated it for a few moments.  Until this
point,  she had never considered Ranma to be anything  more  than
her  annoying  older  brother.  But now  she  found  herself  re-
evaluating  her  opinion  of  him,  and  thinking  about  him  in
different,  more sensual ways.  Chalking it up to  her  impromptu
arousal,  Ranko reluctantly forced the fantasy with  her  brother
from  her  mind and returned her attention to his question.   She
put  her lips to his ear.  "Yes Ranma.  As far as I remember  you
telling  me,  the other you that is; you and she had  sex  on  at
least three different occasions."
      "Oh  boy...," Ranma muttered aloud, stumbling a  bit.   His
mind  threatened  to  shut down due to the overload  of  emotions
(primarily  panic)  that were flooding  through  him.   `I  never
expected to hear *that* in a million years!  Geez, what  kind  of
person was I?' he thought to himself.  Although knowing what he'd
already  done,  he wasn't sure he wanted to know  any  more.   He
started  walking aimlessly for a few moments, before  remembering
he had to get his sister to Dr. Tofu's.  "I can't believe that  I
had sex with a girl ... ," he half-muttered.
      Ranko  frowned at the comment.  "You sure you  weren't  gay
before Ranma?" she asked half-seriously.
      "Good  God  no, Ranko!"  Ranma started making uncomfortable
noises.  "Whatever gave you *that* idea?"
      "I  was wondering why you were so shocked that you had  sex
with  a  girl.  I mean, you act like sex is an alien  concept  to
you."
      "Well,  where  I came from, I'd never done  it  before.   I
wasn't  even expecting to for at least a couple more  years.   In
fact,  it hardly ever crossed my mind.  So it's a complete  shock
to  find out that I'm capable of having sex before marriage."  He
paused, shifting Ranko's burden slightly in his arms.  "Don't get
me  wrong, sis.  I don't have any problem with having sex, I just
never had the opportunity."  He panicked as he realized something
else.   "Ranko, she's the *only* person I've had sex with,  isn't
she?  I mean, there aren't any more girls, are there?"
      "Not  as  far  as I know, Ranma.  But you hardly  got  into
relationships anyway, and when you did you didn't talk  too  much
about  them.   Frankly,  I was surprised  when  the  `other  you'
managed to get Kinuko's attention.  She's one of the most popular
girls  in  the  school,  and you were such  a  geek  that  no-one
expected you two to hit it off."
      Ranma  walked  in stunned silence for a moment.   `I  don't
really know what to say about this.  I had sex with a girl, and I
can't  remember  it,'  he pouted, then grinned  to  himself.   "I
wonder what it was like..."
     "Wonder what what was like?" Ranko asked distractedly.
      Ranma  blushed again, embarrassed at having  vocalized  his
thoughts.  But he didn't try to hide anything from her.   "I  was
talking  to  myself,  sis.  I was just wondering  what  sex  with
Kinuko, or any girl for that matter, was like."
     Ranko blushed herself, remembering her little fantasy from a
few  minutes ago.  "Don't ask me bro, I wasn't there when you two
did it."
      Ranma laughed at that.  "Probably would've been educational
for  all  concerned  if you were, sis."  He laughed  harder,  the
momentary humor cutting through his worry.
     "Ranma!  Cut that out!" she snapped defensively.  `It's like
he's reading my damn mind!' she added to herself.
      "Okay,  Ranko.  Sorry about that."   He continued chuckling
to  himself  until Ranko threatened to choke him.   Quieting  his
mirth, he resumed his consideration of what Ranko had told him.
      `Hey,  Ranko.  You said that I told you about my  having...
sex with Kinuko.  But you and I didn't get along before, right?"
      "That's true Ranma.  Before you `arrived,' you were a  real
asshole.   I  like  the new you a *lot* better,  though."   Ranko
rubbed  Ranma's chest as best she could to emphasize her  opinion
of  her  `new' brother.  He smiled at her words and the affection
she was giving him, but began feeling undercurrents of worry.
     "Ranko, if we didn't get along before, then why would I have
told  you about my sex life?  I wasn't bragging or anything  like
that,  was  I?"  He blanched at the notion of himself  swaggering
about the campus, nonchalantly bragging about bedding girls down,
and  so forth.  It reminded him of something that Happosai  would
be proud of doing, which made him feel worse.
      "Well,  at first I wondered if you weren't just  trying  to
brag about it.  But later on I understood why you told me."
     "Why did I tell you?" he pressed.
      "Well, Ranma...  We'd better sit down for this one.  If you
thought  my last piece of news bothered you, you're gonna  *love*
this one."
      All  the  color drained from Ranma's face.  `What could  be
worse  than  finding  out  you've had  sex  *repeatedly*  with  a
stranger?'  He rounded a corner and saw that he was at Dr. Tofu's
place.  "Umm, Ranko.  Let's wait until we're home, okay?"
     "Whatever you say, bro.  You're the one doing the driving."
      Ranma  strode through the open door, and approached one  of
the couches in the empty lounge.  Carefully he sat Ranko down  on
one  of  the couches, and turned around to face her.  He  noticed
that  she  was a little flushed, and put a hand up to her  cheek.
"Geez!  You're burning up!  You sure you're feeling okay, Ranko?"
      Ranko  said nothing, knowing exactly *why* she was  flushed
and hot.  She merely nodded.
      Ranma  stood up and went to look for Dr. Tofu.  She watched
her  brother exit the lounge in search of the doctor.   She  used
the  time  before  Ranma returned to try and calm  herself.   She
didn't  want  to  wind up embarrassing herself in  front  of  the
doctor *and* Ranma.  She just hoped that the doctor wouldn't  ask
her to take her pants off anytime soon.

                              ****

      After  school, Kuno had dismissed the limo, saying that  he
preferred  to walk home.  He needed the time to think,  and  felt
that  a stroll was just what he needed.  Many things had occurred
today, and he was still trying to grasp the magnitude of all that
had  happened.  In one day he'd managed to lose his fiancee, know
defeat  in  battle, understand just how poorly trained his  Kendo
club  was, and realize that it was a terrible mistake for him  to
overlook the freshman crowd of women this year.
      His walking was arrested by a silken voice calling him from
behind.   "Oh,  there  you  are Kuno-chan,"  Nabiki  purred.   "I
wondered what had happened to you.  I missed you at lunch."
      "I was taking time to reflect.  What concern is it of yours
Nabiki Tendo?"
      `Yeah, right,' she thought sarcastically.  Nabiki smiled at
him, looping her arm through his.  "I was just wondering how  you
were feeling, Kuno-chan."
      "Your  concern  for  my  welfare is understandable,  Nabiki
Tendo.  I am not unwell."
     Nabiki rolled her eyes, and wondered if he could ever answer
a question simply.
     Kuno changed his posture, speaking suddenly.  "Nabiki, would
you care to join me for something to eat?"
      Nabiki  nodded, smiling up at Kuno and following him  to  a
nearby cafe.  She grinned inwardly as she recognized the tone  of
his voice;  he wanted something.
     They entered the store, and walked up to the counter.  Since
he  was  paying, Nabiki ordered a double sukiyaki and a hot  tea.
Kuno  simply got tea.  After getting their food, they  sat  in  a
booth at the corner of the store so they could speak undisturbed.
      Nabiki's  tone became businesslike the moment she  polished
off  the second dish of sukiyaki.  "Kuno-chan, you know I  always
enjoy  a good, free meal.  I also know there's an ulterior motive
involved  whenever  you  treat me to  dinner."   Trying  to  look
beautiful  and ruthless at the same time, she leaned  forward  on
the  table, looking straight at him.  "So fess up Kuno-chan,  who
are you interested in finding info on?"  `As if I didn't know...'
      "Ahh, ever the mercenary, eh Nabiki?"  Her eyes narrowed at
his  comment, but she held her tongue.  Kuno calmly  sipped  from
his tea, taking quite some time before he continued.  "Very well,
I  see  you  have correctly deduced that I wish to  acquire  some
information about someone."
     "I would assume that someone would be Ranma Saotome, eh Kuno-
chan?"   Nabiki  whipped  her abacus out  of  nowhere  and  began
tallying figures when Kuno reached his hand out to stop her manic
calculations.  "That is not who I am referring to, Nabiki Tendo,"
Kuno said sternly.
     Nabiki's eyebrow quirked up in surprise.  She'd usually been
able  to second-guess Kuno in the past.  Reading him hadn't  been
that  difficult.  Then again, she hadn't tried to scam Kuno  ever
since  Akane  and  he  had  initiated their  engagement.   Nabiki
shrugged  to herself; she may be rusty but she felt certain  that
condition wouldn't last for long.
     "I want information on the pig-tailed Goddess known as Ranko
Saotome."  Kuno's face lapsed into an ethereal smile.  "Ahh,  the
beautiful Ranko Saotome.  The body of a Venus, and the spirit  of
the  most  respected and powerful of huntresses.  How I  long  to
date with her!"
      Nabiki bigsweated at Kuno's speech, then waited for him  to
wind  down.   She  felt a slight flush of anger at  Kuno's  eager
abandonment of her little sister.  `Damn!  The corpse of his  and
Akane's  engagement isn't even cold yet and he's already  scoping
out  new  targets!'  "Sorry to see you're taking the  split  with
Akane so hard, Kuno-chan," she bit out in a sarcasm-laced voice.
      Kuno  ignored her comment.  "Will you take the deal, Nabiki
Tendo?   I'll offer you the standard hourly rate, plus a  finders
bonus  of fifty-thousand yen when you find out all you can  about
her."   Nabiki's  eyes  widened as  she  added  up  the  figures.
Quickly she resumed a neutral face, placing her chin on her hand.
"Ranko Saotome, you say?  I'll get started on it right away.  Oh,
and I'll need..."
      Kuno  cut her off, brandishing bills from one of his hidden
pockets.   "Here's a down payment, Nabiki.  I'll expect results."
He  stood  and left a drooling Nabiki behind as she  counted  the
7500  yen down payment she held in her hands.  After Kuno  exited
the store, she pocketed the money and sipped on her tea.
     `That damned Kuno sure knew how to press my buttons.  Hmmph!
Must've picked up some things from his time with Akane-chan.  Oh,
well.   If this'll keep Kuno-chan away from my little sister,  it
may  be  worth it.'  She quickly finished off her tea and  headed
home to the dojo.

                              ****

      Kasumi  smiled to herself, enjoying one of the few respites
that  she  got  every week.  Her sisters were  coming  home  from
school  soon, but she wouldn't need to worry about them bothering
her for dinner for another three hours.  Also, her father was out
on some errands, and for the moment she had the house to herself.
She  sipped from a mug of tea, sat it down on a nearby table, and
propped back on a beach chair that she'd set up in the back yard,
basking  in  the  warm spring light of the  afternoon  sun.   She
adjusted the straps of her form-hugging bikini, which had  fallen
from her shoulders after she'd reached for her tea, then donned a
pair of oversized sunglasses.
      Comfortably numb, she was just about to doze off  when  she
heard  the door to the house slam, followed by the sound of books
hitting  the  floor.  `Akane-chan must be home,'  Kasumi  thought
sadly.  It wasn't that she minded Akane being home, it was simply
that  it  bothered her that her sister would come home a  lot  of
times  in such a foul mood.  `If Kuno keeps affecting Akane  this
way,  father  will  have  to  do  something  about  it.'   Kasumi
uncovered her eyes, and sat up a little.  She was about to  stand
up  and see what was the matter when Akane burst out of the house
and ran right at Kasumi.
      Akane  crashed to her knees next to Kasumi, her eyes  puffy
and  red, and her face slick with tears.  Kasumi reached out  and
touched Akane's face.  "What's wrong Akane?"
      "Oh,  Kasumiii!!!" she wailed, starting  a  fresh  bout  of
crying.  Kasumi reached over with her other hand and pulled Akane
to  her, wrapping her up in a comforting hug.  Akane wrapped  her
arms  around  her older sister tightly, crying inconsolably  into
Kasumi's chest.
      Kasumi stroked Akane's hair lovingly, trying to console her
sister.  "Akane-chan, what's wrong?"
      Akane  pulled  back from Kasumi's chest, which  had  become
drenched  with  her  tears, and looked  at  her  sister  angrily.
"Life's wrong, that's what!" she yelled.
      Kasumi  took Akane's hand in hers and sat her in  her  lap.
Laying  Akane's  head against her shoulder, she continued.   "Now
now, Akane.  There's no need to be angry with me.  Just calm down
and tell me what happened to you today."
      Akane  sniffled  a  bit, and managed to get  herself  under
control.   She  kept  her arms around her older  sister,  drawing
comfort from Kasumi's presence.  "A lot happened today Kasumi."
      "Well, tell your big sister all about it.  And don't  leave
anything out, okay?"
      "Okay  sis."  Akane took a deep breath, and began.   "Well,
I'm no longer engaged to Kuno-chan."
      Kasumi smiled, and tightened her hug on Akane.  Kasumi  had
no  love  for  Kuno, but had said nothing to that effect  out  of
respect  for her little sister.  However, she couldn't deny  that
this  was news that she had truly wanted to hear for a long time.
"Really Akane?!  How'd it happen?" she asked, trying to keep  her
enthusiasm in check.
      "A  guy  came  up  to Kuno-cha..."  Akane  stopped  herself
abruptly.  `No, dammit!  He's not my fiancee anymore!'  "... Kuno
and  challenged him to duel.  The guy, Ranma Saotome,  had  heard
about  Kuno's  boast  that if anyone defeated  him  in  a  formal
challenge,  he would renounce his engagement to me.  Well,  Ranma
challenged  him and won, so I'm a free girl now," Akane  finished
softly, shrugging her shoulders.
      Kasumi's eyes narrowed at hearing the name Saotome, but she
kept  her  mouth shut about that.  She didn't want to  upset  her
little sister any further.  "Akane, surely you aren't angry  that
you  lost  your  engagement to Kuno,  are  you?"   She  continued
stroking  Akane's  head with one hand while  the  other  one  was
secured  around  Akane's waist, rocking her  in  her  lap.   She
ignored the fact that she and Akane probably looked pretty  silly
sitting  like  they  were.  She was too intent  on  seeing  Akane
through this to care about how she appeared to others.
      "Of  course  not  sis.  That's not really  why  I'm  upset.
There's  more to the story."  Akane sighed lowly and  rubbed  her
cheek against Kasumi's swimsuit, wiping a tear from her face
     "Go ahead, Akane.  I'm listening."
      "Well, in math class Ranma sent me a note saying he  wanted
to  eat  lunch with me.  I told him that I wanted to, so  we  met
after  class and went outside to eat.  We didn't get a chance  to
eat  or  talk,  though, because not long after  we  got  outside,
Ranma, his sister Ranko, and I got into a fight."
      "What  did Ranma do to you?" Kasumi tried to asked lightly,
although a hardness still crept into her voice.
     "Oh, Kasumi!  Ranma didn't do anything!  We were attacked by
some  members of Kuno's Kendo club in retaliation for what  Ranma
had done to Kuno this morning.  Anyway, we won the fight, but  it
killed  our chance to talk at lunch.  Plus we had to take Ranma's
sister  to the infirmary after the fight."  Akane winced  at  the
memory  of  the  damage Ranko received during the fight.   "Three
guys  ganged up on her and beat her up pretty badly.  But not  as
badly  as  they got back."  Akane grinned at that.  "I  took  out
one, Ranma took out the second, and Ranko pulverized the third."
      "Akane,  you  know it's not nice to fight,"  Kasumi  chided
softly.  She didn't like the idea of her youngest sister fighting
at school.  It just wasn't ladylike.
      "I  didn't have a choice Kasumi!  What they were  doing  to
Ranko  was wrong, and it made me mad, so I helped them out.   But
that's  besides  the point; there's more to  the  story."   Akane
paused  to  clear her throat, then continued.  "After we  dropped
Ranko  off in the infirmary, I told Ranma that I wanted to  speak
with him.  He agreed to meet with me after school.  Well, we  did
manage  to meet after school..."  Akane blushed as she remembered
their   conversation.   "I  thanked  him  for  accepting   Kuno's
challenge,  and told him I was in his debt.  I asked him  why  he
did it..."
     Kasumi `tsk tsked' at Akane.  "Akane, you shouldn't question
the actions of one who gives something to you.  That's rude."
      "Sis!   I told him that I wasn't being ungrateful.   I  was
just  curious.  Anyway, he gave me the sweetest answer.  He  told
me  that he didn't want to see me hurt anymore.  He also told  me
that  he's  wanted to go out with me for awhile."   Akane  smiled
warmly at the memory.
      "Really,  Akane?   That's nice."  Kasumi  caressed  Akane's
cheek.  "Can you tell me what this Ranma is like?"
      "Well,  from what I can tell, he's really nice.  He's  very
protective  of his sister."  Akane blushed again,  "And  he  *is*
cute."   She  giggled, surprised that she'd  even  admit  such  a
thing.
      Kasumi laughed softly, glad to hear her was sister cheering
up.  "Well, did he ask you out?"
      "Yes  he  did.  But I didn't get a chance to  answer  him."
Akane's  humor  crashed  down, and was quickly  replaced  by  the
sadness  she'd  felt when she left the school.  "Turns  out  that
Ranma's already seeing someone."
     "What?!  And he still asked you out?  Who's the other girl?"
Kasumi fairly demanded.
     "Kinuko Amagi..." she said, breaking out into tears again.
      Kasumi  kissed  Akane on the head, and  held  her  tightly.
`Figures  that as soon as Akane's hurting, Kinuko would be  right
there to make her life even more miserable.'  Kasumi sighed.  "Do
you  know if Kinuko was telling the truth about Ranma, or was  it
just something she was doing to get you upset?"
      Akane shook her head, crying the whole time.  "Why is it...
<sob> ... that little tramp ... <sniffle>... can keep doing  this
to me!?" she wailed.  Akane laid her head against Kasumi's chest,
her tears again soaking the thin fabric of Kasumi's swimsuit.
      "There there, Akane.  It'll be okay.  Let's just take  this
one step at a time, okay?"  She tilted her head to look at Akane,
and  placed her hand under Akane's chin so they were looking face
to face.  "Hey little sis, you should be happy.  You're not going
to be bothered by Kuno anymore, right?"
      Akane smiled, her tears abating.  "You're right sis.   That
part  hasn't  really  hit me yet.  I guess  I'll  slow  down  and
appreciate  being  single  before I start  chasing  boys  again."
Akane  squeezed  her  sister  in a tight  hug.   "You're  amazing
Kasumi.   I'm  feeling  much better."  Akane  laid  her  head  on
Kasumi's  shoulder, and kissed her on the cheek.   "I  love  you,
sis."
      Kasumi  kissed her sister on the head again, brushing  damp
hair from Akane's forehead.  "I love you too, little sis.  Now  I
suggest  you  stand up so I can get the circulation  back  in  my
legs."
      Akane  laughed hard at that, "Sorry about that  Kasumi.   I
couldn't  help myself, you were very comfortable."  Smiling,  she
slid off of her sister's lap and landed on her rump on the grass.
She stifled a case of the giggles and stood up, reaching her hand
down to help Kasumi stand.
      "Well,  don't  get used to sitting in my  lap  little  sis.
You're  a  grown woman now.  Ouch..." Kasumi winced as she  stood
up, trying to shrug off the pins and needles feeling she had from
having  the  circulation  cut to her  legs.   She  walked  around
stiffly  for a moment, allowing the circulation to return.   Once
the  sensation stopped, she and Akane gathered up the lawn  chair
and table and put them away.
     `Just as well we're going inside.  The sun's starting to set
anyway.'  Kasumi thought to herself.  "Maybe I'll be able to  get
a tan tomorrow."
      Akane whirled to face her sister, hearing Kasumi's comment.
"Hey Kasumi, we're almost the same size.  If you *really* want to
get  a  tan you can borrow my thong tomorrow," she said, grinning
mischievously.
      "Thanks  Akane.  I will," Kasumi said absently.   She  then
blushed,  realizing  that she was a full  cup  size  bigger  than
Akane.   She hoped no-one looked over the wall tomorrow.   They'd
be  in  for an unexpected treat if they did.  Smiling to herself,
she  followed  Akane inside and headed upstairs to  bathe  before
getting dinner ready.

                              ****

     Ranma walked about the hallway of Dr. Tofu's office, peeking
into  the  examination rooms.  Seeing one room with  the  curtain
closed,  he  pushed  his  way in and was greeted  by  a  piercing
shriek.   "Umm, sorry Miss!"  A wide-eyed Ranma hurriedly  shoved
the curtain closed, and walked *very quickly* away from the room.
`Wow!   She's got a happy boyfriend,' he thought in awe, blushing
scarlet as he thought again of the woman he just walked in on.
     Getting back down to business, he resumed his search for Dr.
Tofu.   After  re-inspecting the other examination  rooms,  Ranma
finally  bumped into Dr. Tofu as he was leaving the  men's  room.
"Ahh!  There you are, Dr. Tofu."
      Dr. Tofu turned around to face him.  "Excuse me.  Do I know
you?"
      `Of course he doesn't...' Ranma thought absently.  "No  Dr.
Tofu,  you  don't.   But I need your help.  My sister's  in  your
waiting room and she's pretty banged up.  I was wondering if  you
could take a look at her."
      Dr.  Tofu's face became serious, and he took Ranma  by  the
arm.  "Take me to her."
      They  rounded the corner and walked back into  the  lounge.
Dr.  Tofu walked over to the couch and knelt by the ailing Ranko,
extending  his hand.  "Hi there, I'm Dr. Tofu."  Ranko shook  his
hand  and  smiled  weakly.  "Your brother tells me  you're  hurt.
What's the problem?"
      "Well,  I think I twisted my ankle," she said, pointing  to
her injured leg.
     Dr. Tofu leaned forward, examining her carefully.  "It looks
like you were in a pretty bad fight.  We'd better get you into an
examination room."  He rose.  "Can you make it by yourself?"
     Ranma spoke up.  "I'll carry her."
      "Fine.   Take  her to room two while I get some  supplies."
Dr. Tofu indicated the room with his finger as he spoke.
      "Yes sir."  Ranma smiled to the departing Tofu, then turned
to his sister.  "Okay sis, get those arms up."
      Ranko smiled and lifted her arms up.  She groaned as  Ranma
pulled her to a standing position, regretting having to leave the
plush  couch  behind.  Ranma curled one of her  arms  around  his
neck,  then scooped her up in his arms to carry her.  She slipped
her  other arm over to hang onto his shoulder.  "Here we go,"  he
said as he walked her to the examination room.
      He  around and saw that little had changed of Tofu's  place
from what he remembered of the other one.  He walked straight  to
room two, and being careful not to bang her feet against the door
frame,  he  angled his sister into the room.  He sat her  on  the
table  just as Dr. Tofu walked in.  "Thanks for bringing her  in,
umm..."
      "Ranma  Saotome" he said, extending his hand to the doctor.
Tofu  accepted  the hand, shaking it warmly.   "And  this  is  my
sister Ranko."
      "Well, Ranko, I'm going to take a look at your injuries, if
you  don't  mind.  I may have to ask you to remove some  of  your
clothes for the examination.  Is that okay with you?"
      Ranko  nodded  silently.   Ranma  became  uncomfortable  at
hearing  that, and started heading for the door.  "I  guess  I'll
wait  outside," he stated quickly.  Blushing, he hurried  out  of
the room, closing the curtain behind him.
      "Wait, Ranma..." Ranko called behind him, her hand  out  to
stop him.
      Ranma  spoke  to  her from the other side of  the  curtain.
"Don't worry, Ranko.  Dr. Tofu's very good at what he does.  I'll
be outside the door here in case you need me, okay?"
      Ranko sighed.  "Okay bro."  `He's really being sweet to me.
He's  so  different from the person I've lived with for the  past
fifteen years.  He never would've worried about me the way he  is
now.'   She  redirected her attention to Dr. Tofu as  he  started
talking to her.
      "Okay Ranko, I'm gonna take your shoes off and have a  look
at your feet," he said in a standard doctorly fashion.
      Ranko  hissed slightly as Tofu pulled the shoe off  of  her
injured foot.  Gently he pulled the other shoe and her socks off,
laying them on the floor by the examination table.  "Well, Ranko,
you  were right.  You've sprained your ankle, although it doesn't
look  bad.   And  from  what I can tell,  you've  also  got  some
bruising on your arms and legs.  I want to look at them,  so  I'm
going to have to ask you to take your pants and shirt off."
      Ranko  blushed severely, but didn't contradict the doctor's
orders.  Raising slightly on her good foot, she pushed herself up
at  the hips.  She then hooked her thumbs at the waistband of her
pants  and pulled down.  Dropping her hips back down, she allowed
Dr.  Tofu to pull her pants off of her legs while she sat up  and
removed  her shirt.  She dropped her shirt on the floor  next  to
where Dr. Tofu had placed her pants, leaving her clad only in her
panties and bra.  Strangely enough, Ranko felt at ease around Dr.
Tofu.   She  wasn't  as timid as she thought she'd  be,  exposing
herself in front of a stranger like this.
      "Who  did  this  to you, Ranko?"  he asked  as  he  started
cataloging the mosaic of bruises and contusions on her.
     "I was ganged up on at school today.  Three guys did this to
me," she said with a slight edge to her voice, betraying the calm
that she'd been hoping to maintain throughout the exam.
      "That wasn't very nice of them," Tofu commented absently as
he  looked  closely at her legs, tracing the edge of a couple  of
bruises with his index finger.  "Looks like a combination of foot
and  bokken strikes to me.  I'm impressed that you can still walk
after taking this number of hits," he said genuinely.
      Ranko smiled weakly at the doctor.  "I wasn't going to give
those guys the satisfaction of seeing me fall."
     "Well, your endurance is admirable, but it's also the reason
that  you  have  this  sprain.  You should take  better  care  of
yourself, young lady.  If you push yourself too hard you'll  wind
up damaging something seriously," Tofu chided softly.  He shifted
his  gaze  from  her  legs,  past  her  light-blue  panties,  and
concentrated on her abdomen.  "Looks like you took a few shots to
the stomach too.  They really must've worked you over."  He began
pressing  his  fingers into her abdomen, registering  the  tender
areas  whenever Ranko would gasp in pain.  "Sorry about  that,  I
just  needed to see if you had any internal injuries.  Aside from
some  superficial  bruises  and minor muscle  damage,  everything
appears to be okay."
      Ranko  sighed in relief, and was about to thank the  doctor
for his help when he said, "Hello, what's this?"
     "What's what?" she countered warily.
      Tofu  had looked up to her chest, and saw a dark spot  that
was  visible through the thin lace of her bra.  "Ranko, could you
remove your bra please?"
      Ranko's  eyes widened at the request.  "What's the  matter,
doctor?"
      Tofu quickly assured her that there was nothing wrong.   "I
just need to check something, okay?"
     Ranko nodded and, slipping a hand behind her back, unclasped
her bra.  Shrugging her shoulders forward, she let it fall off of
her arms and into her lap.  She then dropped it to the floor with
the  rest of her clothes.  Tofu's eyes widened noticeably as  her
breasts  came  into  view.  Ranko noted  his  reaction,  and  was
wondering if he was being a hentai until he spoke.
      "Just  as  I suspected.  You took a minor hit on your  left
breast.  I'm surprised you didn't feel it."
      Ranko grimaced as she recalled the strike.  "Oh, I felt it,
believe me doctor.  How did you know my breast was hit?"
      "I saw the bruise through your bra.  Lay back for me, would
you?"
      Ranko  reclined  on the table again, holding  her  arms  up
against  her head.  Tofu brought his hand up and pressed it  into
the upper portion of her breast.  "Does that hurt?"
      Ranko  shook her head.  Tofu pressed his fingertips  softly
against  the nipple, which contracted at his touch, and asked  if
it  hurt.   She  shook her head.  "It doesn't  hurt,  but  it  is
tingling  a  bit."  She bit down on her lip slightly,  trying  to
distract herself.  She knew that it was patently absurd  for  her
to  be  enjoying the examination, but her body wasn't cooperating
with her mind.
     "Well, that's to be expected," Tofu answered simply, smiling
at  her.   He moved his fingers down to the bruised underside  of
the  breast and pushed directly against the bruise.  Ranko gasped
in  pain  as  he pushed against it.  Noting her pain, he  quickly
pulled  his fingers back.  "Okay, only one more thing to  do  and
I'll be done."
      Gently  he squeezed her breast from the side at  the  base.
"Does that hurt?"  Ranko shook her head again, chewing on her lip
to keep her moaning suppressed.
      Tofu sat up in his chair, and looked at Ranko.  "You'll  be
fine.   The injury to your breast is superficial.  There  doesn't
appear to be any underlying damage to it, and the nipple responds
normally, so you shouldn't have anything to worry about.   You'll
start  to  experience some soreness from it  tomorrow,  but  that
should go away in a couple of days."
     Ranko sighed with relief, glad to hear it wasn't permanently
damaged.   She was very proud of her breasts, and knew  that  she
would've  freaked out when she got a look at herself at home  had
Tofu not explained the extent of the injury to her.
      Tofu  looked  at  her face, examining the area  around  the
bandage.  "Okay Ranko, lemme look at your face, okay?"
      Ranko  tilted her face so that the bandage was directly  in
front  of  Dr.  Tofu.  Gently he removed it, and  looked  at  the
broken  skin  critically.  "Looks like a pretty mean  cut  there,
Ranko.  Did the same people do this to you also?"
      "Yeah.   The jerk who did this to me did it to be mean.   I
.  *explained* it to him, though," she said, laughing  slightly
at the memory of Kenji's condition after she was done with him.
      "Well,  a young lady like yourself should be more  careful.
You're  fortunate  that  this  is small  enough  not  to  require
stitches.   You  could've had a pretty bad scar,  otherwise,"  he
lectured.   His stern look melted into an appraising  one  as  he
smiled  at her.  "And your face is so pretty, it'd be a shame  to
see it marred by a cut."
      Ranko  smiled, blushing at the compliment.  "Yes sir,"  she
said in a small voice.
      Tofu turned to the counter and grabbed a couple of bandages
and  some isopropyl alcohol.  He cleaned the wound, making  Ranko
wince in the process, and applied the new bandage.  "Apply a  new
bandage every eight hours and make sure you keep the wound clean,
okay?"
     Ranko nodded at his instructions, and continued to listen to
him.   "I'm going to place a couple of chill packs on your  ankle
in just a moment.  I don't want you to move from this table or do
anything for at least ten minutes."  Tofu turned back around  and
got  a  couple of chemical chill packs from a nearby drawer.   He
smashed the balls inside each of the packs and shook them to  mix
the  chemicals  and  start the reaction that would  freeze  them.
"This'll feel very cold when I put it on your ankle, but  I  want
you to remain still so the swelling will go down, okay?"
      Ranko nodded, then hissed as Tofu applied the packs to  her
swollen  ankle.   He then stood up and washed  his  hands.   "I'm
going to do one more thing, and I'll be done."  He reached into a
drawer and pulled out a small tube and a latex glove.  "This is a
mild topical anesthetic and antiseptic," he said, holding up  the
tube  for  her inspection.  "This should help with the  bruises."
He  donned the glove and started applying the smelly ointment  to
her  bruised legs, abdomen, and arms.  Then, gently, he  massaged
some  of  the  ointment onto the bruised portion of  her  breast,
eliciting a slight gasp of pain from Ranko, but nothing more.
     "There, all better now," he said with a smile, as he put the
cap  back on the tube, removed the glove, and laid them  both  on
his counter.  Ranko smiled back to him, agreeing that she felt  a
bit  better now.  "I want you to just lie back there and rest for
awhile,  Ranko.  I'll be back to check on you in a few  moments,"
he  said  as he exited the room, closing the curtain behind  him.
She  lay  still, with her arms away from her body.  She  couldn't
stand  the  smell of the ointment, and was holding her arms  away
from her to keep the odor down to tolerable levels.  Sighing, she
closed her eyes and tried to relax.

                              ****

      Ranma  could  only hear mumbled voices on his  end  of  the
curtain.   Tiring  quickly  of the wait,  he  wandered  from  the
doorway  of the examination room and headed back into the lounge.
His head shot up in surprise as he saw Soun Tendo standing in the
waiting  area with an air of impatience about him.  "Mr.  Tendo!"
he said in surprise as he approached the elder Martial Artist.
     "Ah, hello Ranma," he said as he regarded Ranma with a small
smile.   "What  brings  you to Dr. Tofu's place  today?   Nothing
wrong, I trust?"
      "Well,  Mr. Tendo, there's nothing wrong with  me.   But  a
lot's  happened today."  Ranma indicated the couch with his hand.
"Let's have a seat.  There's some things that I think you'll want
to hear."
      Soun  eyed  Ranma  warily, but sat anyway  on  one  of  the
couches.  "What is this about, Ranma?"
      Ranma waved his hands to Soun in a calming gesture.  "Don't
worry, Mr. Tendo.  You'll like hearing this."  He sat across from
Soun  on another couch.  "I did it today.  I challenged Kuno  and
beat him."
      Soun's  eyes  lit  up,  and a smile erupted  on  his  face.
"Ranma, truly?  You aren't kidding about this, are you son?"
      "Not  at  all, sir," he said as he launched into a  cursory
rundown  of the fight.  "So you see, Mr. Tendo.  Akane's free  of
the  engagement,  and  the honor of your family  is  intact,"  he
declared once he was through recounting the fight.
      Soun  was  exultant.   "Have you had a  chance  to  discuss
anything   with  Akane  yet,  Ranma?"   Ranma  started  sweating,
remembering the spectacle that Kinuko had created after he  tried
to  ask Akane out.  "I didn't want to rush things Mr. Tendo.  She
was  a  little  upset  after the fight  today,"  Ranma  responded
cryptically.  "I figure she'll probably want to be  alone  for  a
little  while."   `Although I want to be with her  *now!*'  Ranma
finished despondently.  `How the hell am I gonna fix things  with
her  now?'   He  quickly returned his attention to Soun  when  he
spoke.
      `Upset?   She  shouldn't be upset...  unless  she  actually
*liked*  that  buffoon.'  He dismissed that notion as  foolhardy,
deciding that Ranma may have misread her reaction.  "Ahh, you may
have  a  point  there.   I  guess a little  patience  won't  hurt
anything."   He stood up, extending his hand.  "I want  to  thank
you  for  what  you've  done for my little girl,  Ranma.   You've
restored a lot of my faith in the Saotome name."
      Ranma  rose from his seat, taking Soun's hand  in  his  and
shaking it firmly.  "No problem, Mr. Tendo."
      Soun released the handshake, a concerned look crossing  his
face as he realized something.  "You don't look hurt, Ranma.   So
what  are  you  doing  here?"  His eyes registered  panic  as  he
thought the worst.  "Something hasn't happened to Akane, has it?"
     Ranma held his hand up, anxious to allay Soun's worry.  "No,
Mr. Tendo, nothing's happened to Akane.  I'm here because of what
happened  after I beat Kuno."  Ranma rattled off the  details  of
the  second fight, including the final battle between  Ranko  and
Kenji.
      "So your sister's the reason you're here, eh?  I'm sorry to
hear  about  that.   But  please  let  her  know  that  I  deeply
appreciate both of you taking care of my little girl."  He sighed
in  concern  for  his youngest daughter.  "Akane's  been  out  of
practice for so long, I'm surprised that she was able to fight at
all.  Maybe she's still got a chance of completing her training,"
he said, a small glimmer of hope in his voice.
      "She's  definitely got the potential to be a  good  martial
artist, Mr. Tendo.  And a violent one too, if she isn't careful,"
he deadpanned, his insult reflex kicking in before he could quell
it.
      "You know Akane awfully well, don't you?"  Soun said with a
hint  of suspicion.  Both men laughed nervously, then fell silent
for a short time.
      Ranma  changed the direction of the conversation away  from
Akane.   He  didn't want to think about her right now,  believing
that he ran the risk of getting very depressed if he continued to
do so.  "By the way, Mr. Tendo.  Have you thought about the other
part of our agreement?"
      Soun's  brow  furrowed, not understanding Ranma's  meaning.
Then  it  clicked  in  his mind.  "Ahh,  yes!   That's  right,  I
promised  to talk with Genma if you won, didn't I?"  Soun  looked
to the carpet of the lounge, not able to meet Ranma's gaze for  a
bit.   `I did promise the boy.  Besides, I've been alone  for  so
long...'  "I'm still willing to meet with your father, if  that's
what you want.  Any idea how we should do it?"
      Ranma nodded.  He'd been considering this off-and-on  since
they  talked  last  night.  "I may have an idea...   You  haven't
started repairs on the dojo, have you Mr. Tendo?"
      "No, we haven't.  Nothing beyond a simple cleanup was  done
last  night.   After  that, Nabiki and I tallied  up  the  damage
costs,  and once we reached a final figure I spent half  an  hour
trying  to calm her down."  Soun winced at the memory, and  Ranma
winced  in  sympathy.  Soun hefted the two bags he'd  carried  in
with  him,  bringing them into Ranma's field of view.   "This  is
most  of  what we need so far to effect repairs.  In  fact,  I've
been shopping for supplies all day today.  Why'd you ask, Ranma?"
      "Well, as I said before, I feel responsible for the  damage
to  the dojo, and figured that my family could come over and help
you  fix  the  place up.  It may be a good place  to  start,  Mr.
Tendo," he suggested hopefully.
      Soun nodded.  "I guess you're right, Ranma.  When shall  we
start?"
      "Tomorrow's Saturday.  I'll tell my father to bring us  all
over  tomorrow  morning and we'll start re-building.   Say  about
9:30?"   Soun nodded.  "Okay, I guess I'll need a list of  things
we need to bring."
      Soun  handed over the shopping list he'd had with  him  all
day.   "You can get the rest of the things on that list.  There's
not  much left to get.  Just worry about the items without an `X'
by them."
     Ranma nodded.  "I'll take care of it, Mr. Tendo."
      Soun  looked  at  the clock.  "I'd better be  getting  back
home."   He fished a book out of one of the bags.  "Ranma,  could
you  do  me  a  favor and return this book to Dr.  Tofu  for  me?
Kasumi asked me to return it for her while I was out, but I can't
wait on him any longer."
      "Sure thing, Mr. Tendo."  Soun handed the book to Ranma and
walked to the door.  "See you tomorrow!"  Ranma waved as the door
closed  behind  Soun.   He  then gasped  as  he  remembered  he'd
promised  to  remain  by the examination  room  door  for  Ranko.
Quickly  he  darted back to the examination room  door,  arriving
just  in  time to see Dr. Tofu exit and close the curtain  behind
him.
     "How is she, doc?" Ranma asked worriedly.  Tofu saw the look
on Ranma's face and clapped a hand on the boy's shoulder.  "She's
going  to be just fine.  It's a good thing you brought her  here.
She was pretty banged up."
       "Yeah,  she was...  Thanks for helping out Dr.  Tofu,"  he
said finally.  As Dr. Tofu turned to walk away, Ranma's shoulders
slumped forward, belying the guilt he felt for Ranko's condition.
`She  shouldn't  have  been injured to begin  with,'  he  thought
sourly.  `I shoulda been paying more attention!'
      Dr.  Tofu rounded the curve of the hallway, enroute to  his
office.   Ranma  shook  away his guilt trip  and  turned  around,
pushing his way through the curtain to check on his sister.  "Hey
Ranko,  I  heard  that...  oop!"  He quickly  covered  his  eyes.
"Sorry, Sis!"
      Ranko  turned  to look at her brother, and smirked  at  the
blush  on  his face.  Not wanting to suffocate herself  with  the
smell  of ointment, she made no effort to cover herself.  "Ranma,
you  can stop that.  We've seen each other so often recently that
we  should be used to looking at each other by now."  She giggled
as  Ranma's blush deepened.  "C'mon, lighten up.  I know you want
to  talk  to me, and since I'm not allowed to move I can't  cover
myself.  So you're just gonna have to get used to it."
      Ranma  nodded and slowly brought his hands down.  He gulped
as  he took in his sister's mostly-naked frame.  `She is a carbon
copy  of  my old self...  Wow!  This is the first time I've  ever
been able to stand back and look at ... `me.'  He smiled.  `And I
can  honestly  say that I was *damn sexy.*'  He  fought  hard  to
suppress  the  natural  reaction  most  guys  have  to  seeing  a
beautiful  naked  woman, and failed miserably.   Fortunately  for
him, she couldn't see it.
      Ranko  saw  him smile, and smiled herself.  "What  are  you
thinking, hentai?" she asked in a lightly taunting voice.
     Ranma's crimson tone deepened at the question, answering her
without him having to speak.  "That's okay bro, don't worry about
it.   Have  a seat and tell me what you were going to  say,"  she
directed  as  she  indicated  a  chair  that  was  next  to   the
examination  table.  He walked quickly and sat down, keeping  his
eyes  averted.  He concentrated hard on not gawking at her, which
was  hard  to do with her lying naked in front of him.  "The  doc
told me you'd be alright," he began with an effort.
      Ranko  turned her head to face him.  "Yeah,  he  poked  and
prodded me a bit, and basically told me to take it easy.  Nothing
major was broken, so I should be okay."  Ranma's eyes, which  had
been  steering  away from his sister's body for  the  most  part,
suddenly  turned  to  stare directly at her breasts.   He  almost
berated himself for looking at her chest, until he saw the bruise
under her left breast and winced.  Not really thinking about  it,
he  reached out and tentatively touched the bruised area, feeling
how  puffy  the  swollen and discolored skin was.   "Ouch!   That
must've hurt, Ranko."
      "It  did, a lot.  More than you'd ever like know.  Although
it  only  really  hurts  now when you press  against  the  bruise
itself.   Aside  from  that, I don't feel a thing."   She  noted,
however,  that she hadn't even felt Ranma touch the  bruise,  and
assumed  that the anesthetic had taken effect.  She then  blushed
as she realized that Ranma had just touched her breast.  `This is
too weird!' she thought to herself.  She was *not* used to having
her  brother  act like this to her.  It surprised her  even  more
that  she willingly let him touch her like he just did, as if  it
were  a  normal thing for her.  She was shocked to see how easily
she could just hang-out with him, almost as if he were one of her
best friends instead of her brother.
     "Actually, I know exactly how it feels," he said simply.
      "How would you... oh yeah, that's right." she said lightly,
remembering Ranma's story about his other life.
      "Yeah,  lemme tell you about it.  It was my  first  day  at
Furinkan  High.  I'd gotten into a fight with Kuno  over  Akane's
engagement  to  me.   We  fought  around  the  school,  and  both
eventually wound up falling into the pool.  Well, the cold  water
caused  me to switch.  Kuno was right behind me in the water  and
he  thought I was still a guy because when he reached  around  to
catch  me he grabbed my left breast *really* hard.  It hurt  like
hell!"  Ranma winced, recalling the pain he felt.  "I didn't  get
a bruise like you did, but I can still sympathize with you, Sis."
He put his hand on her shoulder.
     She covered his hand with one of her own, wrinkling her nose
in  distaste as drawing one of her arms close had brought a fresh
whiff of the ointment to her face.  "Thanks.  I really appreciate
what you've done for me today," she said, her words heartfelt.
      Ranma smiled at Ranko, squeezing her shoulder lightly.  "No
problem.   Like I said before, you're my sister.  I'm gonna  make
sure you're taken care of."  Without thinking about it, he cupped
her face in his hands, stroking her cheeks with his thumbs as  he
kissed her tenderly on the forehead.
      He  sat back again, flushing as he realized what he'd done.
`Why  am  I  so  at ease around her?  I would never  have  kissed
another girl so easily.'  He shrugged mentally, unsure of how  to
answer  his  own  question.  `If I'd tried that with  Akane,  she
would've killed me immediately.  Ukyou or Shampoo;  they would've
dragged  me  to a temple and wed me on the spot.  Kodachi;   ugh,
not a chance in the world.'  Ranma forced down the gag reflex  at
the  thought of kissing Kodachi on the forehead... or worse,  and
placed his hand on her shoulder again.
     `The oddest thing about this is, I've only known Ranko for a
little  over two weeks, and yet I feel like it's a natural  thing
to  have  her  around.'   He  looked  at  her,  smiling.   Having
inhabited a girl's body for awhile, he didn't have a real problem
looking at his younger sister.  Although his hormones were  doing
their  damnedest  to  make the situation awkward.   `Then  again,
there are times when she brings out the worst in me.'
      Ranko  noticed her brother staring at her, but didn't  feel
indignant  about it.  Instead she asked, "Is looking at  me  like
looking in a mirror for you, bro?"
      Ranma  laughed softly at the comment.  He looked around  to
see  if anyone was capable of hearing them.  "Yeah.  It's amazing
to  actually see how much alike I was to the way you look.   It's
hard to believe that my Jhusenkyo body had the *exact* same shape
as  yours.  You're a `C' cup, right?"  Ranko nodded.  "I was  the
same.  If I still had the curse, I'd bet we would've looked  like
identical twins, except for the hair color of course."
      Ranko  laughed.   "I've  always  wanted  a  sister,  Ranma.
Whattaya say?"
      Ranma  blanched.  "No WAY!  I hope I never see  that  place
again."
      Ranko  reached up and squeezed her brother's hand.  "I  was
just  kidding  bro," she said lightly.  Ranma  relaxed  from  the
defensive pose he'd instinctively adopted, blowing his breath out
in a laugh.  He smiled at Ranko, rubbing her shoulder softly.  It
amazed  him how normal it felt just sitting there talking to  his
naked  sister.  Oh he still had an erection, but he was  able  to
ignore  it  now that he was getting used to seeing Ranko  in  the
nude.
      "Hey  Sis, if you're feeling up to it tomorrow,  how'd  you
like  to  join me at the Tendo home?  I'm going over to help  Mr.
Tendo repair the damage I helped cause to his dojo."
     Ranko frowned.  "Damage?  From what?"
      "Well, Mr. Tendo and I fought for a little while before  we
actually talked.  That's what I meant when I said last night that
I'd `convinced' him not to fight."
      Ranko `ohhed.'  "Sure Ranma, I'd like to go.  I don't  know
how much I could do with my ankle being in the shape it's in, but
I'd be happy just to go with you."
      "Cool!  We'll discuss it later with Mom and Pop when  we're
home.   I'm  gonna  try to get them to come  along  too."   Ranma
removed his hand from her shoulder, and turned it around to  hold
her  hand  in his.  "How long are you supposed to sit like  this,
Ranko?"
      "The doctor said ten minutes."  She craned her head to look
at  the clock to her right.  "And that was fourteen minutes  ago,
so I guess I can get..."
     Ranma put his free hand against her other shoulder, stopping
her from moving.  "Don't move until the doctor returns, Sis,"  he
admonished  lightly.  "If it'll make you feel better,  I'll  help
you get dressed, okay?"
      "That's fine, bro," she said softly.  Although she  felt  a
little   uncomfortable  at  having  to  be  dressed  by  someone,
especially  her brother.  He looked around and found Ranko's  bra
and shirt.  Laying her shirt on the chair, he grabbed her bra and
approached her.
      Ranma  pushed his hand between her back and  the  bed,  and
brought her to a sitting position.  Then he moved around so  that
he  was  standing  right  behind her  at  the  end  of  the  bed.
Awkwardly, he grabbed the straps correctly and tucked one of  her
arms  through each one.  Ranko gently settled the cups  over  her
breasts,  then  reaching around, she gathered the straps  in  her
hands and fastened the clasp behind her back.  She ran her finger
along  the underside of the cups, getting her breasts comfortable
in their confinement.
      While  she  was adjusting herself, Ranma reached  over  and
grabbed  her shirt.  "Okay Sis, hold out your arms," he  ordered.
She held her arms out, and he helped her put her shirt on.  After
getting her arms through the sleeves, he pulled the shirt down to
the small of her back.  She pulled the sides together in front of
her  and buttoned the shirt, then reclined on the bed again.   He
wrapped his arms around her from behind in a loose hug, his hands
resting  on her taut stomach.  "There, that's better,"  he  said,
sighing in relief.
      "What  was  wrong with me before, bro?" she  quipped  in  a
teasing voice.
      Ranma  blushed.   "Trust me, there's  absolutely  *nothing*
wrong  with  you  Ranko.  Sometimes I have  a  hard  time...  you
know...   controlling  myself..."   He  broke  off,   his   blush
intensifying.
      Ranko smiled inwardly, having seen her brother's prominence
when  he bent over to pick up her clothes.  "It's natural that  I
affect  you  that  way, bro.  And to tell  you  the  truth,  that
doesn't  bother me a bit.  It shouldn't bother you  either.   You
know,  what  matters  to  me is that you've  not  tried  to  take
advantage  of my weakness or tease me.  Ever since our first  day
of  training  two  weeks ago, and especially today,  you've  been
treating  me  with  respect  and caring.   That's  something  you
wouldn't  have done a month ago if we were in the same  situation
we are right now."
      Her brow furrowed as she contemplated the possibilities  of
the `other' Ranma and her in this room.  "Come to think of it,  I
don't even want to know what the `other you' would've done to  me
if *he'd* found me laying around like this.  In fact, a month ago
I  would've probably knocked you on your ass for even looking  at
my  breasts,  much  less touching them."   She  leaned  her  head
against one of Ranma's arms, stroking it with her hands.  "You're
a  lot different from the person I used to know as Ranma Saotome.
I  respect you because of how you treat me and because I know you
respect me too."
      Ranma's  hug tightened.  "You're right, Sis.  I do  respect
you.   I'm  just sorry that my other self was such an asshole  to
you.  I intend to make up for that, too.  I guess that not having
a  sister before helped me to appreciate how lucky I am  to  have
one  now."  He moved his head down, laying his cheek against  her
head.
      Ranko  smiled  at  Ranma's kind  words,  her  eyes  tearing
slightly.  She wiped her eyes with one of her hands, then  placed
them  both  against  one his arms.  "I know  that  sisters  don't
usually say this to their brothers, but ... I love you Ranma."
     Ranma moved around to face his sister, and scooped her up in
his  arms, hugging her tightly to him.  "Strange as it sounds,  I
love  you  too, Sis," he whispered into her ear.  Right after  he
said  it, he couldn't help but ackmowledge the rightness  of  the
words.   He  really  did  love her, and he  vowed  that  he'd  do
anything  he  could  to protect her from harm  and  hurt  in  the
future.
      Ranko  lay  her  head against her brother's  chest,  crying
softly  and  returning the hug as tightly  as  she  could.   They
stayed  that way for a few minutes, Ranma perched on the side  of
the  bed  holding  his sister in silence and  stroking  her  head
gently.
      A  couple  of  minutes  later  Ranma  disengaged  the  hug,
confusion showing on his face.  He was still not used to  showing
emotions,  and he'd just done something that he never thought  he
was  capable  of.   He'd  said the word  `love,'  and  meant  it.
Forcing a smile to hide his discomfort, he brought his hand up to
wipe the tears from Ranko's face.  "Careful, Sis.  You don't want
to  dirty this bandage,' he said as he rubbed his finger gingerly
around  the wound, caressing her cheek and clearing the  moisture
away from the bandage.
      Spying her pants at the foot of the bed, he walked over and
knelt down to pick them up.  "We'd better get these on too."   He
pulled the chill packs, which were lukewarm now, off of her ankle
and set them on the counter behind him.  Bunching the pants up at
the  legs, he carefully lifted her good leg up first and  fed  it
through the pants leg, pulling her pants until her foot came  out
the  other end.  He smirked maliciously, rubbing his hand up  and
down her smooth calf.  "You know, you need a shave Sis."
      "Shut up, Ranma!" she shouted, although she couldn't  quite
stifle her laughter as she threw a nearby Q-tip at him.
     "Just kidding, Ranko!" he said as he ducked the launched ear
swabber.   Ranma then maneuvered to the other side  of  the  bed.
Carefully  he  grasped the calf of her other  leg  in  his  hand,
mindful of not jostling the foot as he pushed the pants leg  over
it.   Having gotten both pants legs on, he released her calf  and
pulled  her  pants up as far as he could.  He then  withdrew  his
hands without making contact with her crotch and stood away  from
her,  letting  Ranko finish the job of putting her  pants  on  by
herself.
      A minute later the curtain whipped open and Dr. Tofu walked
back  in.   The two Saotomes faced him, looking like a couple  of
kids  caught in the act of doing something bad.  Dr.  Tofu  noted
that  she  was dressed.  "Ahh, I thought I told you not to  move,
Ranko," he said, wagging his finger.
      "Ranma  helped me dress, Dr. Tofu.  I stayed right  on  the
table like you told me to," she said with a smile.
      Dr.  Tofu quirked an eyebrow at them, nodding knowingly  to
himself.  "Well, it's good to see that some brothers and  sisters
can  still  get along."  Without saying anything else, he  handed
Ranma  a  bag  of  items and a list that he'd  carried  into  the
examination  room  with him.  "Here's some  items  to  help  your
sister  heal,  along with guidelines on how to  administer  them.
I'll  need  you to pay close attention to that list, Ranma."   He
turned to Ranko, patting her head.  "And I want *you* to take  it
easy, young lady."
      Dr. Tofu knelt down at the foot of the examination bed  and
gently  put an ACE bandage on her ankle, bracing her foot.   "Now
the  instructions on how to take care of this are  also  on  that
sheet I gave your brother."  He looked at Ranma.  "She can't walk
on  that foot at all for the rest of the day.  That means  you'll
have to carry her home."
     "That doesn't bother me a bit, Dr. Tofu."  Realizing that he
had  no arrangement with Dr. Tofu like he'd had before, he became
worried.  "Umm..., what do we owe you, Dr. Tofu?"
      Ranko realized what Ranma was worrying about.  "Ranma,  get
my bookbag, please?"
      Ranma  nodded  to  her  and ran out of  the  room,  quickly
returning  with both of their bookbags.  "Here ya  go,  Sis,"  he
said  as  he handed her bookbag over.  Quickly rummaging  through
it, she took out a card that her father had given her a long time
ago.   "Do  you  take  this, Dr. Tofu?" she  asked,  handing  the
insurance card over.
      Dr.  Tofu adjusted his glasses as he squinted at the  card.
"Yes,  I do.  Let me write the information down and I'll give  it
back  to you.  Wait just a minute, please."  He disappeared  from
the  examination room, only to reappear a moment later  and  hand
the  card  back  to Ranko.  "You're all set guys.   Have  a  good
evening."
      Ranma  remembered the book Soun handed to him.   "Ahh,  Dr.
Tofu!   Mr. Tendo wanted me to give this back to you,"  he  said,
handing the book over.  Dr. Tofu absently accepted the book, then
walked  into a closet, muttering "Kasumi..." under his breath  as
he closed the door behind himself.
      Ranma stared blankly at the enamored Dr. Tofu and shook his
head.  "Well, I can see that he's still stuck on Kasumi," he said
lightly  to  a  confused Ranko.  Ready to leave, he  handed  both
bookbags to Ranko, then picked his sister up and carried her  out
of the building in his arms.  Once outside Ranko climbed onto his
back for the trip home, this time not concerning herself with how
riding  on Ranma's back affected her.  She simply held  onto  her
brother, glad for a change that he was a part of her life.

                              ****

Author's notes:

      Well, here I go again.  ^_^  (those of you who've read "The
Prince  and  the Lecher" will understand that remark...)   I  was
simply  minding  my  own  business, and  reading  the  first  two
sections  of the story "Be Careful What you Wish For" by  Richard
Beaubien.  After completing that, I re-read part one, and said to
myself  "What  if  *this* happened instead of  *that.*"   Well  I
shouldn't have done that, because here I am clattering away at my
IBM keyboard like a man possessed.
      Some  people may wonder about the content (boy  *that*  was
obtuse!).  Well, as of this writing:

(2/8/96):

      Well, since my last posting, something good has happened to
me.  After over three months of unemployment courtesy of AT&T,  I
now  have  a job!  <insert applause and self-patting-back  noises
here>    I  am working as a Systems Admin. for Newberry  College.
That  being  the  case,  my work on "Careful  Destiny"  has  been
lacking in volume.  But fear not, dearest reader, for I have  not
been idle.  In this iteration:
     *  The fight scene between Ranma and Kuno has been updated.
I still feel it's a bit weak, but I leave that judgment up to the
reader(s)  ^_^
     *   I  have added some extra dialogue following the end  of
Kuno's fight.
     *  Intrigue inserted (well, I hope it's intriguing  ^_^;;  )
     *  Fixed some more errors pointed out by my valued readers
     *  Typed this section up at the end of the fanfic
     *  Split the document into two sections to make it easier to
send across the net.


(2/24/96):

      I  finally  (I  hope) finished part one, and  have  resumed
creative duties on part two.  The creative process is slow for me
now  that I have a job, but I'm steadily adding on.  Stuff  added
so far:

     *  A foil for Ranma and Akane's previously unchecked attempt
at a relationship, namely Kinuko Amagi
     *  A new interest for Kuno
     *  Ranko's unexpected interest in her big brother
     *   A major foil for Ranko, in the form of little rich  kid
Kenji Kurosawa
     *   A  long-standing rivalry discovered between Kinuko  and
Akane
     *  Dr. Tofu makes an appearance
     *   A couple of Ranma's friends are introduced (don't shoot
me!)
     *  Ranma and Ranko come to terms with their relationship
     *  Decided to end part two with Ranma heading home from Dr.
Tofu's
     *   Initiated  part 3, now taking revision  and  continuity
comments for part 2

      Of  note:  This version of part two is a toned-down version
of  what  I  had originally intended.  In one scene I  had  Ranma
acting  a little more sexually towards Ranko, but decided against
including  it  because  I  didn't want Ranma  chasing  after  his
sister.   Ranko's  supposed  to be the  one  doing  the  chasing,
eventually, not Ranma.
      Also,  I  had  a  much  more risque'  version  of  Kasumi's
sunbathing session, which was also excised from this manuscript.

(2/29/96):

     This is my first round of `polishing' on part two.  Now that
I've started drafting new material for part 3, I felt it was time
to refine part two (and maybe even part one...)
      In this refinement, I expanded some more on the fight scene
between Ranma and Kuno, and also added a little more depth to the
`first encounter' with Ranma and Akane immediately following  the
fight.
     Tried to rework the exam room scene between Ranma and Ranko.
It  still  felt like Ranma was trying to chase his  sister.   The
scene  should  look more like he's a victim of  circumstance  and
less  like  he's a hentai with a female buffet in front  of  him.
*sigh*
     Part three should be out right before I jet for Katsucon Ni.
I won't know until I get part two completed, however...

(3/7/96):

      This  may  be the last iteration of part two.  I  had  some
wonderful advice from Izzy-chan (is she still called that?),  and
was  able  to effectively de-lemonize the dressing scene  between
Ranma  and  Ranko,  making it more like  what  I  had  originally
intended.
      Spelling  errors  and  minor grammar  fixes  were  likewise
spotted  by  the  "Careful Destiny Editor's Continuum"  <tm>  and
fixed.  I can't guarantee all the errors are wiped out, but  part
two's looking better.
      Someone had pointed out that I may need to "dumb down" both
Soun  and  Ranma.  Both characters sounded more intelligent  than
their  Anime counterparts, and I was inclined to agree.   I  made
some  minor  dialogue changes as a result.  I'm not  quite  happy
with it yet, so suggestions are heartily welcomed.
      This is the first edition of part two that I am sending  up
to  the  remailer.  (Thanks to White Wolf for putting up with  my
frequent update submissions!  ^_^ ;;)

(10/30/96)

     Put Part Two up on RAAC.


Acknowledgments:

      I'd  like to thank Richard Beaubien first and foremost  for
granting me the permission to write this side-story based on his.
Prior  to  writing this thing, he's never even heard  of  me.   I
understand that he's continuing the mother-story from which  this
one  is based.  All I have to say is, "Go for it man!"  ^_^  It's
been  a  real treat writing this thing and playing around in  his
dimension (so to speak).  It wouldn't have been possible  without
his   work  as  the  base.   So  to  him,  I  say  Domo   Arigato
Gozaimashita!   <author  bows  deeply,  *CLUNK*   hits  head   on
keyboard>

      Bert Van Vliet.  You're the one who gave me the writing bug
<bzzzzz...   *smack*>.  Prior to picking up  my  first  BubbleGum
Zone  printout, I was clueless as to the ways of writing  fanfic.
What  a  difference a year makes.  You're a good  friend,  and  I
thank you for the support.  Hail SkyKnight!  ^_^

     Wing/Nagisa for  being an  invaluable proofer for  part one.
Your contributions helped  make  part  one  what it is today.
Thank you!

      Thank  You  <yes you, the one staring at the  monitor>  for
tolerating  my  unusual style of writing.   I'll  get  better,  I
promise  ^_^

     My music library, for inspiring me in times of need:

     *  Robotech 10th Anniversary Perfect Soundtrack Album
     *  Char's Counterattack Soundtrack
     *  Gundam 0083 Soundtrack
     *  Gundam Singles History Soundtrack
     *  Entire BubbleGum Crisis Soundtrack set
     *  The Macross Complete Soundtrack
     *  Macross II Soundtrack
     *  Macross Plus Soundtrack
     *  Vampire Princess Miyu Soundtrack
     *  Ranma 1/2 Calendar CD `93
     *  Project A-ko #1 Soundtrack
     *  Megazone Two-Three part 2 Soundtrack
     *  Babylon 5 Soundtrack
     *  Mortal Kombat Soundtrack
     *  The Collected works of John Tesh and Bob James


And now for my .sig!

Later,
Shadow Stalker
(Protoculture Addict)
(Moderator: The Robotech Echo)

sstalker@delphi.com
-or-
sysop@newberry.edu  <--- try this address first!

Careful Destiny Web Page:
http://www.newberry.edu/sstalker/rancar.htm