"DOUBLE TROUBLE"
An alternative reality fic by MmeFleiss .
All characters are owned by Rumiko Takahashi.
-kun is added to the name when the person is in cursed boy form
-chan is added to the name when the person is in cursed girl form
< > are thoughts
[ ] Tells location or panda sign
********************************************************************

Prologue
********

[10 years ago. Jusenkyo, China]

A six years old Ranma ran towards his father who was busy listening
to the guide tell the story of Jusenkyo.

"Very bad if you fall in spring..." the guide said in broken
Japanese.

"Hey pop, this place is great!" Ranma interrupted, his blue eyes
shining as he looked at the hundreds of pools in awe. He was so busy
looking around that he didn't notice the rock in front of him,
causing him to trip and fall into a nearby spring.

"Aiya!" the guide yelled as he ran towards Ranma. "Young sir lucky
he fall in uncursed spring!"

"Ranma!" Genma cried out in alarm as he watched his son struggle to
take off the backpack weighting him down.

"Don't worry, Sir," the guide said as he grabbed one of boy's
flailing arms and lifted him off the water. Ranma sat at the edge of
the pool coughing violently and feeling woozy as he slowly tried to
sit up.

"Thanks, mister," he gasped as he looked up at the guide gratefully.
"I almost drowned."

[10 years later]

Soun looked around Jusenkyo and smiled. He was happy that this was
the last training ground he and his daughter Akane had to go to on
their decade long training trip before they headed home. He missed
his other two daughters terribly and wondered how they were.

"Wow. This place is beautiful," Akane said, interrupting Soun's
reverie. She sighed and took a deep breath of the cool summer air
while she stretched, removing the kinks off her back that she got
from carrying the heavy backpack for the whole day.

She ran a hand through her short blue hair as the wind blew it back,
admiring the beautiful scenery for the last time before dropping her
pack and leaping into one of the bamboo poles sticking above one
of the shallow pools, successfully avoiding her father's attack.

"You gotta do better than that if you want to defeat me, Dad," Akane
yelled, leaping towards her father with the intent of knocking him
into one of the pools.

"Sir, young miss, what you doing!?" the guide cried out in alarm as
he saw them fighting on his way out to catch his lunch. "It
dangerous to fall in spring!"

Akane, distracted by the guide, missed her father completely and
fell on a spring behind him.

"Aiya! Young miss lucky she fall on only uncursed spring left in
Jusenkyo."

"Who cares?" Soun wailed as he watched his daughter sink in the
water, "She can't swim!"

"Oh no!" the guide exclaimed as he reeled in the unconscious Akane
with his fishing rod. She regained consciousness as soon as she hit
dry land and was quickly carried to the guide's hut to recover.

The next day, a fully recovered Akane decided to go outside to take
a walk despite the guide's protests. She was only a couple of yards
from the hut when she sensed some movement behind her.

"Where on earth am I now?" She heard someone yell out as she turned
around. She caught sight of something yellow before she was sent
flying into a nearby pool by a heavy backpack.

The person clad in yellow looked around in confusion. He could have
sworn that someone was standing behind him, but when he looked, all
he saw was empty space. "Must have been my imagination." He muttered
before wandering off.

The Jusenkyo guide ran out of his hut as soon as he heard the splash,
just missing the yellow clad figure who was off to places unknown.
"Oh no! Young miss fall in spring of almost drowned boy! Very tragic
story of boy who almost drown 10 years ago."

Akane who was standing on the neck deep pool of water screamed as
she noticed that her breast was missing. She stopped in mid-scream
when she also noticed that her voice was an octave lower than it
should be. She fainted instantly.

When Akane-kun came around, he quickly ran to the bathroom and saw
that 'she' was now a he. He stared at his now blue gray eyes and
muscular build. "Well at least I'm cute." The knowledge didn't make
her feel any better, though. He walked out of the bathroom
dejectedly and sighed as he tried to convince himself that it could
be worse.

"Very good news, young miss." The guide said as he entered the hut.
"Is only temporary. You turn back into girl with hot water..."

"Why didn't you tell me!" Akane-kun exclaimed happily as he poured
a kettle of hot water on himself, turning back into a girl.

While Akane checked to make sure everything was where it should be,
the guide cleared his throat and finished what he was saying.
"Unfortunately, you turn into boy when hit with cold water."

"WHAT!?" Soun, who had been sitting quietly the whole time stood up
and placed a comforting hand on his daughter's shoulder. "At least
you're not a boy all the time."

"I guess, Akane grumbled, giving the guide the most evil glare she
could muster.

"Maybe it's time we leave," Soun said as he dragged the glowing
Akane out the door.

Chapter 1
*********

[A month later]

It was another beautiful Sunday in Nerima, Tokyo; the sun shining
brightly when Soun Tendo collected his mail. Besides the usual
bills, he notices a bright postcard with a picture of a panda in
front. He eagerly flipped the card over and read:

Tendo,

Bringing Ranma from China.

Saotome

"Oh how I've waited for this day," he cried as he walked away to
find his three daughters. "Kasumi! Nabiki! Akane!"

Kasumi and Nabiki walked into the living room just in time to watch
their father do the hustle in amusement. Kasumi picked up the
postcard Soun left on the table and read it aloud to her sister.

"Oh, no wonder he's excited," Nabiki said as she watched her father
take her sister's hand and start to do the tango. "He hasn't seen
Mr. Saotome in over seventeen years."

Soun stopped abruptly when he noticed that his youngest daughter was
missing. "Where's Akane?" he asked Kasumi who was walking unsteadily
from the series of complicated turns during the brief dance.

Her answer was blocked off by a knock on the front door.

"That must be them!" Soun shouted excitedly as he ran to open the
door with Nabiki close behind.

On the other side of the door stood a fat, balding man in a white gi
and a handsome boy wearing a red and black Chinese outfit that
showed off his muscular body to its full advantage. Both were
carrying umbrellas along with their heavy packs and were looking at
the darkening sky nervously.

The older man's face broke into a wide grin when Soun opened the
front door. "Konnichiwa, Tendo-kun!"

Soun, however, didn't hear him because he and Nabiki were too busy
staring at the boy; his resemblance to Akane's cursed form was
uncanny.

Soun found his voice a couple of seconds later and looked at the boy
straight in the eyes as he asked, "You wouldn't happen to be..."

"I'm Ranma Saotome. Nice to meet ya," the boy answered with a polite
bow before he caught Soun, who fainted after hearing his reply.
Ranma and his father shrugged at the strange reception they have
gotten as they carried the head of the household to the living room.

"Oh my. I wonder why he fainted?" Kasumi asked, pressing a cold
compress on her father's head, and oblivious to the disbelieving
look on Nabiki's face.

Everyone looked up, startled, when the front door slammed loudly and
angry stomps headed towards the living room. Nabiki was the first to
recover and stood up, walking towards a very angry looking Akane
wearing a thick pair of glasses.

"What happened?" she asked with mild concern.

"I was on my usual Sunday jog and got chased by a horde of boys,"
she replied angrily. "I don't get it, how did they see through my
perfect disguise?" she asked, pointing at her eye wear.

"Um. . . are we from the same planet?"

"And to make things worse," Akane continued as she ignored Nabiki's
comment. "I almost got hit with water by that old lady who's always
washing her front walk."

Nabiki smiled as an idea popped into her head. She pretended to
spill her juice on Akane, turning her cute little sister into a
handsome young boy.

"Nabiki," Akane-kun growled as he started to wring the suddenly
tight jogging outfit. "Watch it, will you."

"Sorry," Nabiki apologized, trying to hide her smile as they
continued to walk towards the empty living room. "Hey, where did
they go?"

"Who?" Akane-kun asked, trying to figure out what his sister was
talking about.

"If you're looking for father and Mr.Saotome, they went to the local
bar to celebrate." Kasumi answered cheerfully as she got out of the
kitchen. "Ranma's looking around the dojo."

"Great! I'm dying to meet him. Daddy said that he also went on a
decade long training trip. It would be interesting to see how good
he is."

He entered the dojo and and saw a shirtless Ranma going through a
very complex kata. Ranma's back was to him so he couldn't see his
face, but he noticed that they had the same hairstyle and build. He
also knew that the other boy was almost done, having performed the
same kata countless times before.

He clapped his hands as Ranma threw one final punch, startling the
other boy. Ranma quickly turned around and almost fell flat on his
face when he caught sight of Akane-kun.

The two looked at each other in shock, neither one quite believing
what they're seeing. Both would have thought that they were staring
at a mirror had it not been for their differing outfits.

Ranma was the first to recover and said, "Konnichiwa, I'm Ranma
Saotome."

"I-I'm Akane Tendo."

Ranma wrinkled his nose.

He noticed that the other boy still looked a bit shocked. "Hey, you
wanna spar?" He remembered his pop saying that his old friend Soun
was also training an heir.

"Sure." Akane-kun said, getting over his surprise as he remembered
why he had come to the dojo in the first place. Akane-kun attacked
first, delivering a roundhouse kick aimed at Ranma's head which he
blocked. Ranma attempted a foot sweep which Akane-kun dodged. He
then delivered a crescent kick which also failed to connect.

They continued to spar for an hour, neither one getting an advantage
over the other. They were so focused into the fight that they failed
to notice Nabiki who had sneaked in after taking a couple of
pictures from the window and was now videotaping the sparring
session to sell to the girls at school. She could already feel the
huge amount of yen she was going to make on her hands.

The fight would have gone even longer if Ranma hadn't accidentaly
stepped on a bucket that Kasumi left behind when she was cleaning
the dojo earlier. He instantly felt himself change into his cursed
form, eliciting a startled gasp from his companions.

"I see you've been to Jusenkyo, too." Nabiki said, her eyes wide
with shock while Akane-kun fainted.

Chapter 2
*********

Akane-kun slowly woke up, his mind filled with images of Ranma
getting hit with a bucket of water and turning into an exact double
of his normal form.

"No way that could have been real." He muttered as he sat up.

"What did you say?" A familiar voice behind him asked.

Akane-kun hesitantly turned his head around, his eyes growing wide
with shock as he saw the blue haired girl behind him.

"I guess you want an explanation, huh?" Ranma-chan said as she sat
down beside him.

Akane-kun could only nod his head, still too shocked to speak.

"Well,it all happened about a month ago..."

Flashback
***********

[Jusenkyo, China]

Genma and Ranma were walking towards the guide's hut. Both looked
extremely tired as they slowly make their way towards the cozy home.

"I still can't believe we swam all the way from Japan to go to a
stupid training ground," Ranma grumbled as he moved the heavy pack
on his back to a more comfortable position.

Genma ignored him and walked towards the Jusenkyo guide, standing out
of his home.

The guide took one look at Ranma and threw his cup of scalding hot
tea at the him.

"What did you do _that_ for?" Ranma asked, annoyed as he wrung his
shirt dry.

The guide didn't hear him, fear evident on his face. "Aiya!" he
exclaimed. "Young miss no turn back? We go to spring where you almost
drown to turn you back to girl."

Ranma didn't hear anything he said after young miss, him being too
busy getting mad at being called a girl. "How dare you call..." he
protested, cut off in mid sentence when the guide pushed him into a
nearby spring.

Ranma-chan's head quickly bobbed up the surface, just in time to hear
the guide proudly say, "Now you girl again!"

Ranma-chan looks down and noticed that she was indeed female. Her
brown eyes turned into narrow slits as she got out of the water and
started to yell, her voice filled with fury. "Moron! I was never a
girl!"

The guide took one look at the pissed off Ranma-chan heading his way
and decided that he should run if he wished to live a long and
healthy life.

"I'm gonna kill you!" Ranma-chan howled, running after the guide and
accidentally knocking her father into the spring of drowned panda.
Genma immediately noticed the change in his appearance and angrily
chased after his new daughter.

End of Flashback
******************

"What I still don't get is why he thought I was a girl in the first
place," Ranma-chan said as she looks up at her new friend to see his
reaction to her story.

"Uh...I think I...uh...know why he thought that," Akane-kun mumbled,
his face turning a deep shade of red.

"I really doubt that.

"Anyway, I hope you don't hate me for being such a freak." She said,
her voice sounding a bit sad.

"Trust me when I say you have nothing to worry about, Ranma." Nabiki
said as she entered the dojo with a steaming kettle on her right
hand.

"N-Nabiki! How long have you been here?" Akane-kun stuttered.

"Just long enough to hear Ranma's story. Now, how about we clear up
that little mystery of Ranma's and show him your curse?"

Akane-kun nodded his head while Ranma-chan looked a bit confused.

"You're cursed too?" Ranma-chan asked in disbelief.

Akane-kun nodded his head again as Nabiki poured hot water on him,
turning him back into a kawaii blue haired girl. This time, it was
Ranma-chan who looked ready to faint.

"Y-You look like me in both forms!" she exclaimed.

"Now you understand why I was so shocked."

"Hai."

An uncomfortable silence settled over the three as they thought
about the irony of the situation.

"Well, at least this day can't get any weirder." Ranma-chan said
after awhile, pouring the remaining hot water on herself.

The two girls nodded their head in agreement, not knowing just how
wrong they were.

* * *

"Dinner!" They heard Kasumi yell from the house a couple of minutes
later.

Raucous laughter could be heard coming from the dining room as
Ranma, Akane,and Nabiki made their way into the house.They got there
just in time to see their fathers finish off a big bottle of sake.

Soun noticed them entering and stopped drinking long enough to say,
"Ranma, Akane, we have wonderful news."

They waited expectantly for him to tell them, but Soun just laughed
hysterically before passing out.

Akane looked over at Kasumi who was smiling at them sweetly. "What's
going on, Oneechan?"

"It seems father and Mr.Saotome made a promise a long time ago to
to join our families to secure the anything goes legacy," she
answered. "They decided that you and Ranma would be engaged."

"WHAT!?" Ranma and Akane yelled in unison as they glared at their
respective fathers.

Genma, who at this point was starting to get hysterical himself, gave
his unconscious friend a proud smile. "Look at how well they get along,
Tendo-kun. I'm sure grandchildren aren't too far behind!"

Both Ranma and Akane started to cough violently after this remark
while Nabiki tried to stifle a laugh and failed miserably.

"Now children," Genma said in the most commanding voice he could
muster, "It's time to get aquainted."

"Wha?" Ranma asked as he and Akane were dragged upstairs. They were
lead to a room, obviously Akane's by the name on the wooden duck at the
door.

They felt themselves get shoved into the room and then heard the
distinct sound of the door being locked behind them.

"What the...?" Akane asked as she looked around her recently
redecorated room. Colorful beads hung from the ceiling and beanbag chairs
were all over the floor. She could smell a faint scent of incense on the air
as she tried to find her way around the dim room.

"Aww jeez!" Ranma moaned as 70's makeout music started to play.

"Come on," Akane said as as she started to walk across the room.

Ranma face turned a deep shade of red. "B-But we can't! It's not
right! We..."

"What are you talking about?" Akane interrupted. "If you don't want
to help me take these ridiculous things off the ceiling, just say so."

"Oh," Ranma said as his face turned into an even deeper shade of
red.

"What did you think I was talking about?" Akane asked curiously as
she stood up on a chair and started to take the beads off the ceiling.

Ranma laughed nervously, unconsciously scratching the back of his head.

Before Akane could ask again, the door suddenly opened, knocking over
the chair Akane was standing on.

"Aah!" Akane yelled as she flew off and landed on top of the
surprised Ranma.

They both stared at each other, their eyes wide with surprise while
Nabiki took pictures from a nearby window.

Soun, the person that opened the door to check if they were getting
along, looked at them in shock. "When I said get to know each other, I
didn't mean that you should sleep. . ."

"That's not what we're doing!" Akane yelled, her face turning the
same shade of red as Ranma's shirt. The two teenagers quickly untangled
themselves and stood up.

"Well I think it's wonderful!" Genma said as he entered the room.
"It means they have no problem with the engagement!"

"That's not true!" Akane exclaimed.

"You're right,Saotome-kun." Soun said, ignoring Akane's outburst.
"I'm so happy!" He cried as he and Genma started to dance away from the
room.

"Hey! I said..." Akane yelled, but it was too late. Genma and Soun
were already out of sight.

Chapter 3
*********

Ranma-chan was in the kitchen waiting for the kettle of water to
boil. She had just been informed that she was going to school today
during her daily morning spar session with her pop which distracted her
and was thus easily pushed into the koi pond.

She heard someone walking down the stairs and she looked up,
knowing that it was Akane. They had talked a bit the night before and
was surprised that they actually had a lot in common. This didn't mean
that they agreed with the engagement though.

She was about to say hello when Akane entered the room wearing a
uniform. A BOYS Furinkan High uniform to be exact. She stared at her
friend for a while, too shocked to speak.

Ranma-chan thought as she watched Akane sit down for
breakfast. The loose fitting pants and dress shirt did nothing to hide
her terrific figure.

She would never tell her that of course, knowing full well that
their fathers were going to take it as an approval for the engagement.
Instead, she said something that she thought would be safer to say under
the circumstances. "Why are you dressed like that? Sheesh, you're such a
tomboy!"

Akane quickly whipped out a mallet from hammerspace and smashed it
on Ranma-chan's head.

"Why do you _think_ moron? You think I want my boy form walking
around in a dress!?" An evil smile suddenly appeared on her face as an
idea popped into her head. "Although now that you're around..."

"Don't even _think_ about it!" Ranma-chan exclaimed while Kasumi gave
her the kettle of hot water and turned back into her normal form.

"Look Saotome-kun.They've only been engaged for a couple of hours
and they've already got nicknames for each other." Soun said before he
started to wail.

[Young love is so beautiful.] Genma-panda managed to add between
bites.

"Oh, shut up!" Akane said in an annoyed tone as she ran out the
door.

"Akane, wait up!" Ranma yelled as he leapt after Akane who was
running on the fence.

He soon caught up and asked, "Did you mean what you said about
running around in you're boy form while wearing a dress?"

"Well..." Akane said, her evil smile returning.

"You wouldn't dare..."

"Oh, wouldn't I?" She asked, an eyebrow raised as she started to
run away.

Hey! Get back here!" Ranma yelled as he chased the now hysterical
Akane down the fence.

"Nyaaaah!" Akane said as she turned around and stuck her tongue out
at him.

Ranma suddenly stopped in his tracks as he heard a strange sound
from the direction they are heading.

Akane noticed that she was no longer being chased and ran back
towards him.

"What's wrong?"

"Did you hear that?" Ranma asked as he tried to figure out the
cause of the unusual sound.

Akane strained her ears and groaned as she realized that it is the
same sound she hears every morning. "Come on. It's just the boys at
school getting ready to fight me."

"What!?"

"I'll tell you later." Akane yelled as a horde of boys in various
sports uniforms started to attack the very annoyed Akane. He brieftly
wondered why she held back when they were all trying to kill her but
decided it was really none of his business.

He was walking towards her after she kicked her last opponent into
unconsciousness when he felt something shoot out from behind him,
missing his face by only a couple of centimeters. He turned around and
found himself face to face with a handsome boy wearing a blue kendo
outfit.

"So you finally dare show you're face, evil sorcerer.I Tatewaki
Kuno shall defeat thee and free the beautious Akane from thy grasp!"

"Huh?" Ranma asked, a confused look on his face.

"Silence!" Kuno shouted with an arrogant sneer. "The time for words
has passed. Defend yourself,pea*urk*!"

His monologue was cut short as Akane hit him on the head with a
giant mallet. She kicked him to make sure he was unconscious before
hurriedly walking towards the school building as the final bell rang.

Ranma slowly followed her, watching some of the boys as they
started to regain consciousness. He heard someone moan in pain as one of
them felt a broken bone he received from Akane right after confessing
his love to her. His gaze then went to the still unconscious swordsman
and Nabiki who took the opportunity to go through his wallet to get
the money he would soon owe her for helping him.

Ranma thought as went
inside.

* * *

Ranma watched his new classmates nervously as they looked him over.
He felt very self-conscious as he listened to the sensei introduce him.

"...you were in China recently, "the sensei was saying as he looked
at his attendance sheet. "But that doesn't change the fact... that both
you and Akane Tendo were late. Stand in the hall."

"Yes sir." They replied in unison as they each carefully lifted
their buckets of water and left the room.

"Hey Akane, you mind telling me why that jerk attacked me like
that?" Ranma asked as soon as they got out the door.

Akane sighed and began her tale. "Well,it all started on the first
day of school..."

Flashback
*********

[3 weeks ago.Furinkan High]

Akane slowly made her way to school. She had only been home for a
couple of days, making it back just in time for the start of the new term.
She wanted to walk to school with Nabiki so she could get to know more about
her sister who she hasn't seen in years, but the older girl left the house
early saying she had business to take care of.

Akane brieftly wondered what she meant as she slowly entered the
imposing front gates of Furinkan High. She was slowly making her way
towards the school building when she felt something hurtling towards
her. Instincts quickly took over as she snagged the moving projectile in
midair. She was quite surprised to find out that the thing she was now
holding was a boquet of red roses.

"YOU THERE!"

Akane turned around and saw a boy wearing a blue kendo outfit
pointing at her.

"Me?" She asked.

"Who are you, dear maiden? You who I will allow to date me for
proving your worth."

"What!?" Akane asked furiously as she glared at the uppeclassman
who ignored her interruption and kept right on talking.

"Oh, how ungentlemanly of me. Allow me to introduce myself. My
name...is Tatewaki Kuno. Junior. Group E. Captain of the Kendo Club.
Undefeated new star of the high school fencing world. But my peers call
me..." He paused as lightning erupted from the quickly darkening sky.
"The BLUE THUNDER of Furinkan High!"

Akane of course, didn't hear any of this since she was too busy
building up her rage. "Allow me to _date_ you?" She asked him in an
deathly calm voice. Anyone else would have have run away in fear by just
the sound of her voice, but since she was talking to Kuno...

"Truly you must be excited beyond belief my love. But you must
learn to contain your passion for me, for I would not want the other
girls to get jelous and do something they would end up regretting."

"Passion!?" Akane screamed, her right eye twitching visibly as the
final bell rang, leaving the two of them alone outside.

"Oh how my heart leaps to hear you confess your true feelings for
me. Come, let us seal this proclamation with a kiss!" Kuno shouted as he
ran towards Akane, his arms opened wide in preparation for a hug.

It then started to rain. Akane felt herself start to change as she
leaped towards the uppeclassman. He extended his left leg for a kick,
but quickly changed his trajectory when Kuno whipped out a bokken and
pointed it towards him, barely avoiding becoming a Tendo shishkabob.

Akane-kun awkwardly landed on his feet a couple of yards away from
the irate swordsman who was yelling again, not that he ever stopped.

"Where have you hidden my vision of loveliness?! She who loves me
like no other. Release her evil being or I, Tatewaki Kuno, shall bring
you to justice!"

Akane-kun's mouth opened in shock. He couldn't believe just how
stupid the upperclassman was. He had changed right in front of him and
the moron still didn't get it.

He noticed some movement at the corner of his eye and leaped up,
just missing the wooden sword being swung towards him and landed a
couple of inches in front of Kuno, enabling him to use his bokken.

Kuno hesitated, not knowing what to do. His skills in hand to hand
combat were limited so he tried to think of an alternative form of
attack.

Akane-kun took this opportunity to grab him by his waist band and
throwing him over his shoulder and through the auditorium. He heard
screams of surprise coming from there and he looked up to see a huge
banner saying:

WELCOME BACK TO FURINKAN HIGH

He suddenly remembered hearing Nabiki say something about an
assembly on the first day of school. He quickly ran towards the
building, stopping briefly at a nearby bathroom to change back into a
girl.

When she got inside, she was surprised to find Kuno on the stage in
the middle of a speech near an unconscious vice principal.

"...So you must defeat the fair maiden if you wish to free her from
the evil sorcerers grasp and would thus be allowed to date her!" He
yelled in a comanding, almost regal voice as a spotlight was aimed at
Akane, momentarily blinding her.

When she got her sight back, she was surprised to find the entire
male population of Furinkan High stand up and start to applaud.

Akane thought as she started to back away
from the advancing hormone crazed boys. She then hit the closed door
where she promptly turned around and broke into a run. She was
incredibly agile and fast so she was able to lose them quickly.

She found out, however that they were all very persistent and she
had to fight them every morning since then.

End Flashback
***************

"Wow." Ranma said said with a whistle as Akane ended her tale. He
was about to say more but was interrupted by a shout from down the hall.

"Enemy of women!" Kuno yelled as he ran down the hall and threw the
bucket of water he was carrying towards Ranma and Akane who quickly
jumped up with a terrified yell to avoid getting soaked.

"What are you talking about?" Ranma demanded angrily.

The noise attracted their classmates attention who rushed out the
door just in time to see Kuno slowly approaching Ranma and Akane.

Kuno whipped out a piece of paper from the folds of his robe and
shoved it in front of their faces while yelling, "How dare you try to
take advantage of the fair Akane!"

The piece of paper, it turned out, was the picture Nabiki took the
night before when Akane accidentally fell on top of Ranma.

The crowd gasped while a girl squealed, "Akane, why didn't you tell
us about your first time?"

"How was it?" A boy beside Ranma asked.

"Was it, you know, good?" Akane's friend Sayuri inquired.

"Wait! It's a misunderstanding..." Akane shouted.

"We've never..." Ranma interrupted but didn't get to continue his
sentence as Kuno cuts one of the buckets he was holding in half. He
jumped up and over the older boy then ran down the hall with Kuno close
behind.

"This is no place for a fight!" Ranma exclaimed. "Follow me!"

"That I shall!" Kuno yelled back as he leaped out the window after
Ranma.

"Hey! This is the third floor!" One of the students exclaimed.

Kuno turned pale while Ranma smiled at the crowd of students
smugly.

"No problem. I'm..."

"Look down, moron!" Akane interrupted.

"Huh?" Ranma asked as he looked down and realized he's going to
land in the pool. "OH NO!"

Both Ranma and Kuno hit the water with a loud splash. Ranma felt
the change and instantly panicked.

Ranma-chan thought as she swam
underwater. She spotted the dazed Kuno floating near the edge of the
pool. She thought as she went under Kuno to
make sure no one could see her.

She was trying her best to reach the very edge of the pool when
Kuno came to his senses.

"Evil sorcerer, I fight on!" The swordsman yelled, accidentally
grabbing her breast. Kuno froze up in shock while Ranma-chan became
angrier and angrier with each passing second.

She savagely yanked his hands off her breast as she lifted him off
the water and threw him to the edge of the pool using the momentum to
flip out of sight.

The student watching the fight looked at the scene in confusion.

"Didn't...didn't Ranma's body look a little smaller all around?"
One of them said.

"Must have been an illusion?" Another student hesitantly answered.

Meanwhile, Kuno looked confused as he watched Ranma-chan's receding
form then at Akane who was hurriedly walking in the same the direction
carrying a kettle of hot water.

Akane found Ranma-chan on a tree branch wringing her clothes dry.

"That was really stupid,Ranma." She said in a disapproving tone.

"How was I suppose to know there would be a pool down there?"

Akane was about to reply when she noticed some movement to her
left. She saw Kuno on the baseball field calling Ranma a coward as he
shook his sword in anger.

Without turning back, Akane threw the kettle of hot water at
Ranma-chan who almost fell off the branch trying to get it. She ran
towards the outraged Kuno and challenged him to a fight.

She
thought as she got into a defensive position.

Kuno looked pleased as he said, "A challenge from the noble Akane?
Fine then, and should you win, I shall allow you to date me!"

"And who's asking to go out with you?!" Akane shouted as she
grabbed his bokken and dropped on the ground making Kuno loose his
balance. She then kicked him on the stomach sending him flying to the
woods.

"Oh no!" Akane exclaimed as she realized her mistake.

She ran after the airborn Kuno, just in time to see him land on the
kettle in Ranma-chan's hand.

"You're still a girl!" Akane yelled in an accusing tone.

"It's not my fault that you have such a lousy aim!" Ranma-chan
yelled back before getting hit on the head with a branch thrown by
Akane. "Ow! What's the big idea throwing that at me?"

"You insulted me, moron!"

"I'm just telling the truth!" Ranma-chan yelled before getting hit
by yet another branch. "Hey! Quit it!"

"Not until you stop making fun of me!"

Kuno, during this whole verbal exchange was looking at the two of
them with a strange smile on his face.

"My love!" He shouted as he lunged towards Ranma-chan who dropped
the kettle she was holding in surprise.

Kuno calmly stood up and glomped into Akane who promptly beat him
to the ground.

Ranma-chan flipped off the tree and landed next to Akane. "What do
you think you're doing?!" She yelled angrily.

Kuno ignored her as he got up again and embraced the two girls
before they could react. He looked up at the sky, tears streaming down
his face as he said, "I must be a noble warrior indeed to be rewarded by
the heavens themselves with not one, but two beauties such as yourself
to be my brides."

Akane and Ranma-chan both look nauseous at the thought of marrying
Kuno which he misinterpreted as looks of bliss. They elbow Kuno on his
side, making him loosen his hold on them and fall on the ground in pain.

Both girls then quickly ran towards the school building, running
into separate bathrooms and letting go of the bile they could no longer
contain.

Chapter 4
*********

Ranma-chan stood on the baseball field at Furinkan and watched the
sun set. She sighed in content as she leaned against a tree and admired
her tranquil surrounding.

A shadow appeared beside her and she looked up, a smile on her
face.

Her expression quickly changed as Kuno threw his arms around her
and yelled, "Fair maiden, I can't lived without you! Promise to be mine
forever!" He then stopped suffocating her long enough to give her a
boquet of roses before glomping onto her again, yelling, "I shall never
let you go!"

END DREAM SEQUENCE
********************

"Aahh!" Ranma yelled, sweat dripping from his face as he woke up
from his worst nightmare. He shakily got out of bed and slowly made his
way downstairs, only to be stopped by his father.

"Where do you think you're going, boy?"

"Where does it look like I'm going, pop?"

"How dare you forget about our daily spar session!"

"Aww, come on. I'm too tired to fight..."

"A true martial artist should always be prepared for battle no
matter what."

Ranma groaned as he followed his father outside. Throwing caution
to the wind, he immediately charged towards his father who was not
expecting such a reckless attack from his son.

Genma soon found himself hurtling face first towards the calm water
of the pond, the change overcoming him within seconds.

"I guess we're done already," Ranma yelled as he headed inside and
sat beside Akane who was already eating her breakfast.

"You look awful." She commented as she brieftly looked up at him
before she reached for more boiled sea grass.

"I had this totally gross nightmare."

"Akane, could you return this book I borrowed from Dr.Tofu?" Kasumi
interrupted as she sat down.

"Sorry, I can't today."

Ranma couldn't be sure, but he could have sworn Kasumi's face lit
up after Akane refused. He then shook his head as he reached for his
chopsticks. Whatever was up with Kasumi was definitely none of his
business.

"Well, I guess I'll have to go then."

Akane nodded her head in agreement as she stood up and took off her
bathrobe, revealing a red leotard with a cute fluffy tail over fishnet
stockings. The high heels and the bunny ears she was putting on
completed the ensemble.

"Why are you dressed like that?" Ranma asked, starting to sweat as
he remembered her threat about running in her male form while wearing
something feminine.

"Heh. With this perfect disguise, there's no way those idiots could
bother me today."

"Um," was all he could think to say as she dragged him out the door
and ran towards the school, receiving a lot of stares on the way.

Akane confidently strode through the gates, catching the attention
of the whole male population. There were many who were watching the
barely clad Akane with undisguised lust and some went even as far as to
go near her to cop a cheap feel.

"Hey, who is that?" one of the boys asked.

"See," she whispered to Ranma with a smug smile, still oblivious to
the hormone crazed boys heading her way.

"She's cute!" another one exclaimed.

"I'm gonna ask her out!" the boy's yelled in unison as they started
to chase the surprised Akane who was unable to defend herself due of her
outfit.

"Ranma! Help!" she yelled as the boys started to catch up.

"It's about time a tomboy like you realize that you need me."

"Tomboy?" she asked in an eerily calm tone.

"Well, what other girl but a tomboy would become a martial artist?
Epecially when there's a hunky guy like me around," he said as he flexed
his muscles.

Akane was about to grab a nearby blunt object to smash on his head
when she remembered her dilemma.

An evil smile that would have made any B movie villain proud
appeared on her face as she signaled the horde of boys to stop. "I think
you should all know that I am Akane Tendo..."

The boys promptly took out their weapons, ready to beat her to a
pulp.

"...but I am not the one you must defeat. To date me, you must
defeat Ranma Saotome, the evil sorcerer who has enslaved me."

"What!?" Ranma yelled in shock as the boys, led by an unusually
silent kendoist started to advance towards him menacingly, and was
joined by the girls who had also heard Akane's speech.

"Enemy of women!" they all shouted angrily as they pummeled him to
the ground.

The shocked Ranma was quickly beaten up, simply too overwhelmed by
the whole thing.

After the students left for their classes, Ranma gingerly stood up
and started to follow Akane, who was back in her usual boys uniform,
towards the doctor's office.

* * *

They were only a block away from the school when they were splashed
from behind by an old woman washing her front walk.

"Why me?" they both sighed while they wrung their clothes dry as
they continued their journey, only to be interrupted yet again by an
angry yell.

"Ranma Saotome, prepare to die!"

Ranma-chan quickly got up into a defensive stance, extending her
senses to find the source of the angry voice. Akane-kun, on the other
hand, dropped her guard as she vainly tried to remember where she had
heard the familiar voice before.

Ranma-chan saw the source of the voice charging towards them with a
red umbrella. The figure was about her height when she was in normal
form and was wearing a bright yellow Astro Boy t-shirt and black pants.

She positioned herself to counter the attack and was shocked when
the irate boy ran past her and headed straight towards the distracted
Akane-kun.

Ranma-chan swore under her breath. Of course the boy wouldn't
attack her while she was in her cursed form, but that also meant that
the psycopath was going to try to smash Akane-kun's head against the
wall with his umbrella.

Akane-kun felt movement behind his back and dodged, just in time to
miss getting hit by the enraged boy. He saw the wall that the umbrella
did hit turn to dust and turned around around to yell at whoever was
trying to kill him for interrupting her train of thought.

His eyes narrowed dangerously as he caught sight of his attacker,
an expression of recognition and surprise on his face. "You!" he growled
as he started to stalk the bandana clad boy not unlike a predator would
stalk its prey.

A flicker of fear brieftly made its way into the other boy's eyes
but was quickly replaced by anger.

"You have no reason to be angry, Ranma. I, however do have a
reason. Because of you, I have seen hell!" the mysterious boy yelled as
he ripped eight bandannas off his head and threw them towards Akane-kun.

Ranma-chan's eyes widened in recognition as she remembered the boy
as someone she had met while she was in junior high.

As Akane-kun leapt up to avoid the flurry of bandannas, he
distinctly heard another voice from behind him yell, "Die!"

After he landed on a roof, he saw the bandannas that were aimed at
him only minutes before collide with spatulas thrown by the newcomer and
fall harmlessly to the ground.

Ryoga glared at the new boy who was wearing a uniform from a nearby
boy's school.

"How dare you interfere in a man to man fight!"

"No way I'm gonna let you finish him off," the newcomer replied as
he took a couple of practice swings with his giant spatula. "I'm the one
who gets to kill him."

"No way! He ran out of our man to man fight!"

"Well, he and his father abandoned me ten years ago, so I get to
kill him first!"

"Hah! I was here first!"

"Was not! I just made some plans first instead of attacking blindly
like you did!"

"Was too! And my attack happened to be carefully planned."

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"Not!"

"Too!"

"Not!"

"Hey!" Ranma interrupted after changing back into his normal form.
"Stop fighting on who gets to kill me."

The two boys stopped their argument long enough to glare at Ranma
and yell in unison, "Butt out! This doesn't concern you!"

"But aren't you two trying to kill..." Ranma asked the two boys who
had seem to have forgotten their main objective.

"Let's settle this in a duel!" Ryoga said, completely ignoring
Ranma.

"You're on!"

The boys faced each other, their spatula and umbrella poised for
battle. The boy in the school uniform attacked first, swinging his giant
spatula in a wild arc. His blow was blocked by the bamboo umbrella and
he felt something tighten around his arm.

He looked up in surprise and noticed a bandanna wrapped around his
arm. He took one of his flour bombs and threw it in the air, giving him
enough time to cut the bandanna in half.

When the air cleared, Ryoga found a dozen sharp spatulas coming
towards him at an alarming rate. With a yelp, he jumped up in the air
and landed near his opponent. He decided to end the fight quickly by
knocking the giant spatula out of the other boys hand.

He swung his umbrella but made a slight miscalculation on his aim,
ripping the front off the other boy's shirt instead. He was about to
continue his asault when he got a closer look at his opponent's now
opened shirt.

"Excuse me, are those breasts!?" he asked in disbelief right before
he fainted.

* * *

When Ryoga woke up, he found himself in an unfamiliar room with a
pretty girl waving smelling salts under his nose.

"Are you all right?" Kasumi asked in a concerned tone.

He was about to ask what had happened when he noticed the person he
was fighting earlier looking very uncomfortable in a frilly pink dress.

"Will somebody please tell me what's going on!?" he snapped
irritably.

"Yeah. I'd like to know what's going on too." Ranma added as he and
Akane entered the room. "Like who are you?" he asked as he turned to
look at the brown haired girl.

"You mean you don't remember?"

Ranma shook his head.

"Well, it all started about ten years ago..."

FLASHBACK
***********

Chibi-Ukyo was playing on the side of her father's yatai when a
foot bounced off her head and the okonomiyaki she was eating
mysteriously disappeared from her hand.

She looked up from her Star Wars action figures in surprise and
found a small pony tailed boy a couple of feet away happily eating her
okonomiyaki.

"What do you think you're doing!? Worthless minion of Darth Vader,
you have messed with me for the last time."

"Huh?"

"Don't play innocent with me," Chibi-Ukyo yelled as she took out
her lightsaber(a flashlight) and aimed it towards Ranma.

Chibi-Ranma took one look at her 'weapon' and fell on the ground
laughing. "You think you can kill me with THAT? Even those weak humans
with their little stun guns can do better than that."

It was now Chibi-Ukyo's turn to be confused. "Wha?"

"Oh, didn't I tell ya? I'm a Klingon."

Chibi-Ukyo stared at him with uncomprehending eyes before he
continued, "You know, from Star Trek."

Her expression changed to one of disdain. "So, you're a trekkie,
huh?"

"You got a problem with that?"

"Yes, I do. That is just the lamest show I've ever seen."

"Is not!"

"Everyone knows that Star Wars could kick Star Trek's butt."

"Oh yeah? Like how?" Chibi-Ranma asked in a challenging tone.

"Well, in Star Wars, weapons are rarely set on 'stun'..."

"Hah! That's because they're real good at hand to hand combat."

"Well, at least Luke Skywalker isn't obsessed with sleeping with
every female alien he encounters. Face it, Star Trek stinks!"

"I dare you to beam over here and say it to my face."

"Fine!" Chibi-Ukyo yelled as she ran towards the annoying boy with
a spatula in her hand. She stopped in mid-stride as she heard her father
yell at her to stop. "What is it, daddy?"

Her father affectionately patted her head as he replied, "That's no
way to treat your fiancee."

Chibi-Ukyo was aghast. "What!?"

"I just made a deal with his father to engage you two in exchange
of your collection of Star Wars action figures."

"No!"

Her father kneeled down so they were face to face as he said,
"Ukyo, I'm only doing what's best for you. Besides, you're going to be
with Ranma and his father from now on, so it's not like you're going to
be separated from your toys."

Tears formed in Chibi-Ukyo's eyes as she asked in a small voice,
"But what about you, daddy?"

"Oh Ucchan, I promise I will visit you. I'm sure Ranma and his
father will take good care of you, so don't worry. I trust..." his voice
trailed off as he noticed that the father and son were long gone.

END OF FLASHBACK
******************

"So you see, it's all your fault," Ukyo yelled as she slammed her
giant spatula towards Ranma's head. Unfortunately for her, Ranma was
already gone, making her rip a tatami mat in half instead.

She looked around in bewilderment and awe. "A flawless ninja exit!
I never realized he was so skilled!"

She turned around and saw Akane staring at the ceiling with a
slightly disgusted expression. Curious, Ukyo looked up and found Ranma
clinging to the ceiling.

"Why you!" she yelled, angry at being tricked twice by the same
boy. She grabbed a handful of her mini spatulas and threw them towards
him.

"Hey! What are you so mad about?" he asked as he desperately tried
to avoid the sharp projectiles. "By leaving you behind like that, we
saved you from being in an unwanted engagement."

"That's because you don't know what happened next!"

FLASHBACK
***********

Chibi-Ukyo walked towards her school with her head down. No matter
how much she tried, she still couldn't drown out the voices of the other
students.

"Hey, did you hear? Ukyo was dumped by her fiancee."

"Yeah, I heard she gave them her Star Wars action figures as a
dowry."

"Well, I think she deserves it. She insulted me last week when I
told her I wanted to be the captain of the starship Enterprise."

"She told me that Star Wars could kick Star Trek's butt."

The whole student body gasped after this last comment.

"That's going too far!" one of them yelled while the rest nodded in
agreement.

Chibi-Ukyo, no longer able to stand their accusing glares, ran out
of the school in tears.

END OF FLASHBACK
******************

"Since then, I've renounced my femininity and worked to get my
revenge. I should..."

"You gave up your femininity just like that?" Ryoga interrupted.
"Man, what a waste. You being cute and all."

"What?"

"Ryoga blushed as he realized what he had just said. "Um..."

The tender moment was quickly broken as an impatient Ranma cleared
his throat. He noticed that Ukyo was giving him another murderous glare
while Ryoga looked relieved. "How about you, Ryoga? Why are you trying
to kill me?"

Ryoga's expression quickly changed to hatred as he remembered his
slow path to hell. "Do you remember how we met?"

"Well, I think it was during junior high. I remember that the local
comic shop had Akira Toriyama signing the latest Dragon Ball manga..."

ANOTHER FLASHBACK
*******************

Ryoga tiredly looked up the new building in front of him. A smile
appeared on his handsome face as he realized that he had finally reached
his destination after a whole week of wandering around the mall looking
for it.

It was already late afternoon and he hoped he wasn't too late. He
had been looking forward to getting an autographed copy of the Dragon
Ball manga eversince he found out about it a month before.

He would have gotten there earlier but he had spent part of the
week running away from this girl and her sumo pig. He hoped she wasn't
angry with him for making it lose consciousness. It wasn't his fault
that the bamboo umbrella he always carried around accidentally dropped
on its head.

Pushing those thoughts aside, he entered the store and found the
last Dragon Ball manga on a top shelf. He was about to leap up and get
it when a foot bounced off his head, making him lose his balance and
fall flat on his face.

When he looked up, he found the boy who had taken the last manga
happily reading it at a nearby corner.

Ryoga growled as he stood up and stalked towards the oblivious boy.
He would show him what happens to those who dare to mess with Ryoga
Hibiki.

"You!" he shouted as he glared at the surprised pony tailed boy.

"What?"

"Who are you?"

"I'm Ranma Saotome. What's it to you?"

"Ranma Saotome, For taking the last Dragon Ball manga, I, Ryoga
Hibiki, challenge you to a martial arts pie eating contest."

Ranma, never the one to turn down a challenge no matter how
ridiculous, agreed and the fight was set to take place at the bakery
next door in three days time.

END OF FLASHBACK
******************

"Martial arts pie eating contest?" Akane interrupted. "What's
that?"

Ryoga looked a bit peeved for being interrupted in the middle of
his story, but only said, "Tell her, Ranma."

"Um...well...it's...um...you know, a contest."

Akane rolled her eyes. "No kidding. You have no idea what it is, do
you?"

Ranma turned a bright shade of red as he slowly nodded his head.

"How stupid. Accepting a challenge when you don't even know what
it's about," Ukyo muttered before turning towards Ryoga. "So what
exactly _is_ a martial arts pie eating contest?"

"I have no idea."

The other three teenagers' face fell.

Ranma was the first to recover and grabbed Ryoga by his shirt.
"What do you mean, _no_ idea?"

"Exactly what I said. I have no idea what a martial arts pie eating
contest is."

"THEN WHY DID YOU CHALLENGE ME WITH IT!?"

"I dunno. It just sounded really cool. Besides, I did plan on
finding out what it was by watching the martial arts movie where I got
the idea from. Unfortunately, I didn't make it home on time and missed
it."

"Wait a minute," Akane said as she stood up. "If neither one of you
know what it is, then how did you fight?"

"Simple," Ryoga answered. "We didn't. Ranma chickened out of the
fight."

"What!? I waited three days for you to show up!"

"But when I came on the fourth day, you were gone! I later found
out that you had gone to China with your old man, so I followed you..."

YET ANOTHER FLASHBACK
***********************

"Curse you, Ranma!" Ryoga yelled as he continued walking down the
dirt path. He had been looking for the the other boy for weeks, much to
no avail. He was tired and was starting to have second thoughts about
continuing his vendetta. It was, afterall, over a manga. He could always
just get a new one for Toriyama-sensei to sign.

With a sigh, he turned around and was about to head back towards
Japan when he heard a girl's angry voice yell out, "Ranma, I kill!"

Well, maybe the day wasn't so bad after all. Since his enemy was
around, there was no reason for him not to extract his revenge. His
decision made, he hurriedly ran towards the nearby village while
yelling, "Today is the day you meet meet your doom, Ranma!"

The name caught the the attention of an angry looking purple haired
amazon.

*He must be with them* her companion muttered.

She nodded her head in agreement before they jumped out of the bush
and started to attack.

"Hey, what are you doing!?" Ryoga asked as two strange girl tried
to flatten his head with their bonboris.

They ignored him as they continued their attack, each blow getting
closer to getting past his defense.

"Hey look, I'm just here to hurt Ranma. I'm not trying to invade
your village."

Their attacks became more furious at the mention of the other boy's
name and he realized that they assumed that he was traveling with him.

"Hey! Wait a minute! You've got it all wrong!" he cried out as they
got farther and farther away from the village.

They ended up in a valley filled with hundreds of springs. His eyes
widened as he watched a forest animal accidentally fall into one of them
and turn into an orangoutan.

Judging by the wicked smiles on the girl's faces, they had planned
to bring him here all along. He had no intention of fighting them, but
he didn't want to turn into an animal either. He parried their vicious
blows as best he could but was soon backed up towards the pools.

He attempted to jump over his opponents but they had anticipated
his move and grabbed onto his leg, making him lose his balance and fall
into the spring behind him while the two girls fell to the one right
next to it.

As Ryoga emerged from the water with great difficulty, he noticed
that everything looked bigger. He was wondering what animal he had
turned into when he felt something grab him from behind. He looked up
saw and a fat chinese man on a wheelchair and with a broken arm looking
at him hungrily.

END OF FLASHBACK
******************

"So you see, if it wasn't for you," Ryoga whispered, his voice
filled with barely contained fury. "I wouldn't be cursed!" he yelled as
he charged towards Ranma with a roundhouse kick.

Ranma dodged the kick only to be hit on the head by Ukyo's battle
spatula. He ducked her next attack which was a flurry of yakisoba
noodles but received a body blow from Ryoga. He doubled over in pain and
saw Ukyo take out three of her mini spatulas and throw them towards him
to finish the fight.

Akane, however, didn't notice as she ran towards Ranma to check if
he was okay. Ranma tried to yell for her to get out of the way, but it
was too late. She only had time to stare at the oncoming projectiles in
horror before she was hit and lost consciousness.

Ranma painfully got up and cradled her in his arms, giving the
ashamed looking duo a murderous glance before heading towards the
doctor's office.

Ranma prayed that she was okay as he hurriedly made his way. He ran
in and was quickly told to go to the last examination room down the
hall. He then set her down on a cot and left to see if the doctor was
coming.

Akane slowly woke up with a splitting headache and berated herself
for being so careless. She tried to sit up but the pain in her head
intensified, so she laid back down and wondered what she was doing at
the doctor's office.

She heard footsteps coming down the hall so she quickly closed her
eyes and pretended to be asleep. She could tell that it was Ranma and
the last thing she wanted was to be teased by him about letting her
guard down. She tried not to move as she heard him close the door behind
him and stand next to her.

He silently watched her for a few moments, admiring the beautiful
contours of her face. He brushed away a strand of hair and leaned closer
until their faces were only inches apart. He took a deep breath and was
about to close in on the remaining gap when the door opened.

Faster than the eye could see, Ranma ran to the other side of the
room and sat down on one of the chairs just as the young doctor entered
the room.

Dr. Tofu performed a quick examination on Akane and then looked up
to tell the anxious Ranma about her injuries.

"Don't worry. The wound is only superficial and the only thing
she's going to suffer from is a headache."

Ranma sighed in relief. "That's good. I was worried since
Kasumi..." His voice trailed off as he noticed the doctor pick up a
nearby skeleton and dance with it out the door.

Minutes later, cries of pain could be heard from the waiting room
as pressure points were poked blindly.

Ranma gave a regretful sigh due to the lost opportunity and ran
after the doctor to make sure he didn't cause anymore trouble.

As soon as the door closed behind him, Akane bolted upright,
ignoring the dull throb in her head. The minutes that she had spent
alone with Ranma replayed in her mind, causing a slight blush to form on
her cheeks and to wonder,

Chapter 5
*********

"Akane, can you help me make dinner?"

She looked up from her manga and noticed her older sister Kasumi
smiling down at her hopefully. "Uh, sure."

Akane followed her sister to the kitchen and quickly looked around.
The place was spotless and the aroma of dinner on the stove made her
stomach rumble loudly.

"Why do you want my help? I've never cooked a day in my life."

"Well, you're going to need to learn how. Consider this bridal
training for when you marry Ranma."

"I'm not marrying him."

"Oh, you two would make a cute couple," Kasumi continued. "I'm sure
you'll have lovely children."

Akane's eyes grew impossibly large. "Children?! With that
pervert?!"

"See? You're insulting him like you're already married."

Akane threw her hands in exasperation. Kasumi could be so dense
sometimes. She had a better chance of convincing the pope to go on a
crime spree with her.

"Fine," she agreed with a defeated sigh.

* * *

Ranma-chan looked up at the sky as he laid down on the roof. It was
already getting cold but she didn't care when goosebumps started to form
on her arms.

she mumbled to herself, watching the
neighborhood lights turn on one by one.

Akane had been unusually nice to her on the way home but she had
managed to insult her anyways. She couldn't even remember how it
started. All she knew was that she had opened her big mouth and ended up
being pushed into the canal.

She was about to continue wallowing in her misery when she heard
her father calling her from the back yard.

"The old man always did have lousy timing," she grumbled as she
leapt off the roof.

* * *

[Meanwhile, in the kitchen...]

Akane wanted to scream out loud as she chopped the
cucumbers with a ferocity that would have made any man passing by wince.
The nerve of him, calling her unfeminine. She'd show him, she'd cook him
the most delicious thing he's ever eaten and make him eat those words.
"Just you wait, Ranma!"

* * *

Genma looked slightly concerned when Ranma-chan suddenly stopped
fighting and shivered a bit.

"What's the matter, boy? Don't tell me you're getting sick."

Ranma-chan shook her head. "It's not that. I just felt a chill run
down my spine."

* * *

"Here you go!" Akane exclaimed cheerfully as she dropped Ranma's
plate in front of him.

"What's this?" he asked nervously. She had been so mad at him
earlier, but now she was smiling and cooking him dinner? What was going
on?

"Your dinner, of course."

Ranma looked at the sandwich dubiously. It didn't look too good,
but Akane was a girl, surely she knew what she was doing.

"C'mon, Ranma," she urged, her bright smile wavering a bit.

His brain was telling him
that it was probably not a good idea to eat it before it was tested on
another subject. Unfortunately, his stomach was telling him at the same
time to eat it before his old man does. The more commonly used part of
his anatomy won and he ended up stuffing the whole thing in his mouth.

His face instantly turned a bright shade of red as he started to
run around the room yelling, "Hot!"

"Hm...I guess I put too much jalapeno peppers and tobasco sauce."

"On a sandwich?!"

"Well, it looked like a good idea. It made it colorful."

"Aargh!" Ranma yelled in frustration as he drank a pitcher of water
in three gulps. "Talk about near death experiences."

"It wasn't that bad!"

"Oh yeah? My life flashed before my eyes!"

Akane's face turned red as a tomato while she dumped her glass over
her fiancee's head, turning him into an exact double of her. She then
stormed out of the house, ignoring his cries to wait up.

She was so furious that she didn't even notice when the water in a
nearby puddle was splashed onto her by a passing car. She did however
notice the yells in a nearby empty lot.

He jumped onto one of the surrounding fence and noticed a group
bandaged men surround a girl in a black school uniform and knee high
boots that didn't quite match.

"We've got you at last!" one of the men yelled as they surrounded
her, clubs in hand.

Akane-kun quickly jumped off and approached the combatants. "How
dare you bully an innocent girl!"

"She's far from innocent!" another one of the men yelled as he
started to anvance towards them.

Akane-kun growled and charged, knocking the group of boys
unconscious within seconds. He turned around to check on the girl and
blinked in surprised when she saw that she had changed into a leather
bikini and was busy whipping another one of the men with a bull whip.

"Hey, don't you think that's enough?" he asked as he pushed her
away from the unconscious boy.

The girl looked angry as she turned around to glare at him. "I can
take care..." Her voice trailed off as she saw who had saved her. "Er...I mean thank you! I was afraid those girls trying to take
my position as school S&M queen would succeed!"

"S&M?!"

"Mm-hm." She coyly looked up and slowly advanced towards him while
he backed away from her nervously.

Akane-kun felt a building wall against his back and gulped audibly.
He was definitely in trouble.

* * *

"We're going to have to apologize to her," Ukyo informed Ryoga as
they walked away from the tea shop.

"I know," Ryoga mumbled as he contemplatively stared at the cup of
tea in his hand.

"I hope she doesn't hurt us too much when we see her again."

"Huh?"

"Haven't you ever heard of that expression 'Hell hath no fury like
a woman scorned'?"

"Oh. We're dead, aren't we?"

"Yup."

Ryoga found the uncomfortable silence that followed unnerving but
couldn't think of a thing to say to break it. Exasperated, he threw his
cup over the fence and jumped up in surprise when they heard a cry from
the other side.

* * *

Akane's expression was even more nervous than before as she stared
at the now angry S&M queen before her.

"What have you done with my darling?!"

"Wait! I...I can explain... Really... Please, put away the whip."

"Where is he?!"

"I can..."

"Akane?"

Both girls looked up and saw what appeared to be two boys standing
on a fence. Akane of course, knew better and waved at the girl dressed
up like a boy.

"Ukyo, Ryoga, I'm so glad to see you."

The two came up to them and started to bow to Akane. "We're so
sorry! We never meant to hurt you!"

That's okay!" Akane exclaimed as she tried to casually walk off
with them, hoping that the girl in the dominatrix outfit wouldn't
notice. "Why don't we go home?"

A gasp from the girl made the three martail artist turn around in
surprise.

"You've got some nerve!"

Akane looked confused. "What?"

"Enslaving one boy isn't enough? You keep three handsome boys to
yourself?!"

Now Akane looked mad. "Stop putting me in your sick fantasies!"

Unfortunately for her, the girl was no longer listening. She was
too busy holding the hands of a nervous Ryoga and Ukyo as righteous
tears flowed down her cheeks.

"I will free you from this evil witch...and then you could all be
mine!"

"Hey!"

The S&M queen continued to ignore Akane as she handed Ryoga and
Ukyo each a black rose. "My name is Kodachi...the black rose. Remember
that." And then she dissapeared into the night.

After a moment of stunned silence, Ryoga shook his head. "What a
strange girl." He would have said more but the the paralysis gas took
effect and the three of them were unable to move a muscle for a while.

* * *

"Ohohohohoho!" Kodachi laughed happily as she ran down the street.
She was in a good mood since she had finally found a person she
loved(well, three), but who was counting? What was important was that
they would be hers by the end of the day. Her plan would make sure of
that.

She was on her way to Furinkan High School to bring her older
brother his lunch. She was in such a good mood that she only put a small
amount of paralysis potion on his lunch. It was bound to only work for
an hour at the most.

Her eyes lit up as she spotted one of her loves surrounded by a
group of unconscious boys and talking to that evil witch.

"Darling!" she yelled as she glomped onto his arms.

He looked back at her, a surprised and confused expression on his
face. "Who are you?"

Kodachi's eyes widened in alarm. She turned around and glared at
the wary Akane. "You...You witch! Brainwashing my darling so you can
keep him for yourself!"

"Why you..."

"Don't worry," she said as she drew him closer to her. "I _will_
save you."

"Get off me!" Ranma yelled while he tried to disengage himself from
her iron like grip. "Akane, what is she talking about?"

"Uh, well, We sort of met last night..."

"You tried to pick up a girl with _my_ body?!"

"No!"

"You don't expect me to believe such an obvious lie, do you?!"

"Hah! What do you know?!" she screamed right back as she returned
his glare.

The two stood there unmoving, neither one willing to back down.
They were so intent on staring each other down that they failed to
notice the crowd of students watching them.

"Their first major fight. *sigh* Isn't love wonderful?"

"I dunno. It looks like intense hatred to me," another girl
answered.

"Hmph. What do they have to do to convince you that they're in
love?"

"A flashback on how they were lovers in a past life, tragically
separated and are now spending this life trying to recapture that old
spark would be nice."

"You've been watching Sailor Moon again, haven't you?"

"How'd you guess?"

* * *

On the other end of the yard, another pair of martial artist were
oblivious to the racket at the gate. Furinkan's two newest students,
Ryoga and Ukyo, were deep in thought on how they were going to extract
their revenge without hurting another innocent bystander.

"I got it!" Ukyo yelled as she stood up. "All we have to do is
attack Saotome in the middle of the night. That way..."

"...everyone else would be asleep," Ryoga finished excitedly.
"That's brilliant!"

Ukyo tried to look modest while she casually flipped her hair and
answered, "Of course."

"When do we do it?"

"Tonight."

Unfortunately for the two, they didn't notice the crowd that had
gotten bored with watching Ranma and Akane surround them. The group of
students only heard the last parts of the conversation and as usual got
the wrong idea.

By lunchtime, the whole school declared Ryoga and Ukyo the first
official gay couple of the school year.

* * *

"Hey, which room..."

"Shh!" Ukyo interrupted, clamping a hand on Ryoga's mouth. "Do you
want him to wake up before we could find him?"

"Mph!"

"What?"

He took her hand off his mouth and repeated what he had said.
"Sorry."

"Oh. Why don't we split up? I'll look at the rooms downwstairs and
you check the ones upstairs?"

"Okay."

The two headed on opposite directions and smiled as a glance at the
window before them showed a silhouette of a sleeping pony-tailed boy.

"Found him!" they both said at the same time before blinking in
confusion.

"What do you mean _you_ found him?" Ukyo demanded as Ryoga leapt
down to stand next to her. "He's downstairs."

"No he's not. He's sleeping upstairs."

The noise they made woke up the boy in question who angrily opened
his window which was, as Ukyo claimed, downstairs.

"Don't you guys got nothin' better to do than argue in the middle
of the night?"

"See," Ukyo said with a triumphant grin.

"But I could have sworn..."

Whatever he was going to say next was cut off by a chilling laugh
that woke up the whole neighborhood.

The smile on Kodachi's face widened when she saw all three of her
loves together. "This is perfect! Now, we can all run off together!"

"What?!" the still irritated Ranma asked in disbelief. Didn't these
people ever sleep?

Kodachi handed each of them a black rose, knocking them all into
unconsciousness so she could carry them back home.

* * *

Akane-kun was mad. No, he was pissed off. First, the water heater
stops working right before he could take a bath, and now, a loud noise
had awakened him from a very good dream. He was _not_ amused.

He barged downstairs and into Ranma's room, knowing that whatever
woke him up would be in there. Call it woman's intuition, or maybe it
was just because all the trouble he has been in lately was all somehow
related to him.

He found it empty and noticed that the window was wide open.

his
sleepy mind wondered as he looked around.

He got his answer a couple of seconds later when his eyes landed on
a trail of black petals.

Now fully awake, he got dressed, changed back to his
original gender via the stove, and followed the trail of black petals the
S&M queen left behind.

* * *

Ranma was fully awake the moment he had opened his eyes. He was
bound and gagged to a chair, just like the groggy Ryoga and Ukyo on his
left.

He struggled a bit and was dismayed to find out that whoever had
tied the knots knew what they were doing.

He heard a faint sound of the door slowly opening and tried to look
more alert than he really was.

By this time, the other two martial artist had also fully awakened
and was busy grumbling at being caught off guard.

Their eyes widened in alarm as Kodachi walked into the room,
wearing a similar outfit when Ryoga and Ukyo had first seen her. This,
however, wasn't what worried them. The real cause of alarm was the bull
whip on her arm which was moving wildly as Kodachi warmed up.

"I see you've awakened."

"Mph! Mph!" the three martial artist cried out, jumping away from
her and towards the door on the opposite end of the room, chair and all.

"Wait, come back!" Kodachi pleaded as she ran after her newly
formed harem.

The three just ignored her, too busy trying to get away.

* * *

"Yes!" Akane shouted with glee as the window before her was opened
without tripping the alarm. She could hear loud noises coming from the
left side of the mansion and decided to investigate there first.

She quickly went up the stairs and almost ran into Kodachi.

"Aha!" the girl in the dominatrix outfit exclaimed. "No wonder my
darlings were running away. You've managed to turn them against me while
I was gone."

"What?!"

"No matter, with the help of Mr. Turtle, they will be mine!"

Akane gave her a smug smile. "You have got to be kidding."

Kodachi opened a nearby door in reply and released a giant
alligator.

Akane's smile fell as she read the metal collar around its neck.
"That's Mr. Turtle?!"

She was about to say more, but someone had grabbed her arm and
started to drag her down the hall.

"Akane, what are you doing here?" Ranma asked after Akane took out
the gag from his mouth.

"Trying to save you, dummy," Akane retorted, jumping up to avoid
the bushes as they ran out into the courtyard.

The sprinklers, of course, chose that moment to go on and the two
were quickly drenched with cold water.

Ranma-chan never slowed down even though she had a slight decrease
in strength and her fiancee was now heavier than when they had started.
She rushed into the other side of the house and ran straight into Ukyo
and Ryoga.

"What are you guy's doing here?" Ranma-chan demanded as she slowly
rotated her head to see if there was any way out of the mad house.

"Mph! Mph!" Ryoga explained.

Akane-kun sighed in frustration and took the gags off the other
two.

"He," Ukyo said, pointing at Ryoga with her chin, "Said he knew the
way out."

"And you believed him?" Ranma-chan asked, laughing hysterically.
"Don't you know that he has the worst sense of direction?"

"Hey!"

Akane-kun put a restraining arm on Ryoga's shoulder. "Stop picking
on him, Ranma. We still have to figure out how we're going to get out of
here."

"Ranma?!" Ukyo and Ryoga exclaimed in surprise.

"We've both been to Jusenkyo," Akane explained. "He fell into a
spring when..."

"Evil Sorcerer! How dare you try to take advantage of the lovely
Akane!" A new voice rang out from down the hall, interrupting
Akane-kun's speech.

The four martial artist turned around and sighed.

"Kuno," Akane-kun mumbled. "What's he doing here?"

"I dunno. Frankly, I don't care. Let's get out of here," Ranma-chan
urged as she started to hop towards the entrance they have just come
from.

She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw that another figure had
stepped into the hall, pet alligator in hand.

"Oh great! We're trapped."

"Mr. Turtle after them!" Kodachi yelled.

"I shall smite thee!" Kuno shouted from the other end of the hall.

The four looked back and forth, trying to figure out which way
would be safer.

"I will save you!" The bokken Kuno had earlier was mysteriously
replaced by a dozen roses as he got ready to woo his love.

Ranma-chan and Akane-kun nodded their heads and started to run
towards the end that they felt was safer.

"Hey, where do you guys think you're going?" Ukyo demanded as the
two rushed towards Kodachi.

"We're taking our chances with the less dangerous animal!"

A smile formed on Kodachi's face when she saw her love rushing into
her arms. Unfortunately, the little witch was with him, but Mr. Turtle
would take care of her.

A slight frown formed on her face when she saw that Kuno wasn't too
far behind.

"Brother dear, what are you doing here?"

Ranma-chan and Akane-kun skidded to a halt. "Brother?!"

"I wish to win the love of Akane Tendo and smite the evil
sorcerer!" Kuno exclaimed, pointing at Akane-kun.

"Don't you dare hurt my darling!"

"But I must! The vengeance of heaven is slow but sure, and I,
Tatewaki Kuno, the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High, had been chosen to..."

"Oh no you don't!" Kodachi interrupted as she started to attack her
brother.

The four stood still for a couple of minutes, watching Kuno parry
her blows.

"I'd never would have guessed they're related," Ranma-chan muttered
as Akane-kun untied her.

"They do have a lot in common," Akane-kun observed as he watched
the two siblings hit each other at the same time and fall on the ground
unconscious.

"I've certainly never met more obsessive people than those two,"
Ryoga pointed out.

For once, Ranma-chan had to agree with her rival. "That's true."

Source: geocities.com/area51/keep/3956/txt

( geocities.com/area51/keep/3956) ( geocities.com/area51/keep) ( geocities.com/area51)