Ranma 1/2: The Insanity Continues

Volume 1 - Trapped.

Chapter 1 - The Gem.

Written by Lord Archive.

---------------------------
Author's pre-story notes:

Characters are copyrighted by Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Video, and a bunch of other companies and are being used without permission. I am only
borrowing them. I will return them. (Well, maybe not Ukyou ;)

The series may be considered lemon scented as it will have some
references to certain characters having sex 'off screen' and fair amount
of sexual innuendoes. Actual descriptions of sexual acts will be kept in
side stories, and will not be necessary to read. (A message will appear
where the scene(s) take place.)

************* Marks where a lemon scene takes place. How to get 
the side-story can be found in author's notes at the end of the volume. 

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

Akane's Diary Entry for:
Thursday, January 6th, 1994.

Dear Diary,
	That baka still won't say it. It's been a month since the bombed
wedding, and he still hasn't told me that he loves me. I know he does,
Diary, but why he can't admit it? I'm not going to tell him how I feel until 
he does. 
	The jerk still protects me like I'm some porcelain doll, and it
annoys me to no end! So what if I nearly died twice in China, he thinks I
can't protect myself. I can take care of myself. He didn't have to stop
Kuno for me this morning, I can do that all by my self. But it does say
one thing about him though... he cares about me.
	I just wish I could get some time alone with Ranma and be able to
talk about our relationship. I doubt it will happen, though, as someone
always interrupts us.

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

It was a Friday morning in January at the Tendo Dojo. The weather was
unseasonably warm, with highs in 60 to 70 degrees forecasted for the next
couple days.

Ranma and Genma were going into overtime, trying to get the other wet.
This prevented Ranma from his usual 'open mouth, inserting foot' routine
when talking with Akane. The morning workout ended with the sweet call
from Kasumi of, "Breakfast." 

Ranma did a twist in air and landed to the side of the pond. Genma,
distracted by scent of food, belly flopped into the pond. The splash
barely missed Ranma as he dashed to the house, toward the awaiting
breakfast and Tendo clan.

"Nice dive, Pop," a smug Ranma called as he walked to his seat next to
Akane.

"When are you going to learn to watch your mouth, Ranma?" asked Akane.

"When you learn to cook," Ranma joked.

"**THUD**" resounded Akane's ever present hammer in response to Ranma's
joke. Akane muttered under her breath, "Jerk."

As a soaked panda went to his seat, Kasumi entered with breakfast,
asking, "Does anyone know where Happosai is? I haven't seen him in days."

"Maybe he finally decide to leave us," replied a hopeful Soun.

"Naa, the old freak tried to grope me yesterday morning. So I tossed him
into a bag, attached some rocks, and chucked him into the river," offered
a somewhat smug and yet sore Ranma.

[You do your father proud, Son,] read the sign held by Genma.

"Can this be the last we see of our dreaded master?" questioned Soun with
greater hope.

"Not likely, but at least he'll be out my hair for a coup..." answered
Ranma before he was interrupted by a shout. 

"RRRRAAANNNMMMAAA!!!!!!!"

"Back already?" questioned Ranma as he took his first quick bites of
breakfast.

"YOU SHALL PAY FOR TRAPPING ME IN THE RIVER!" shouted Happosai.

"Add it to my bill," Ranma acted disinterestedly.

Happosai responded by grabbing what looked to be a black marble and threw
it at Ranma. Ranma instinctively caught it. The marble immediately
expanded into a sphere and surrounded not only Ranma, but Akane as well.

"Wh..wh..what have you done?" stammered a shocked Soun.

"Oh my!" added Kasumi, shocked, as the sphere shrank back into the 
marble. For a moment, the black marble and Ranma's and Akane's clothes
stayed in the air before falling down. Ranma and Akane were nowhere in
sight.

[Where are my son and Akane?] questioned Genma.

"WHERE ARE THEY?" screamed the demonic head of Soun.

"They are banished into the black gem," Happosai replied as he dodged
several of the Soun's demon head tongue strikes.

"BRING THEM BACK!" demanded Soun.

Soun's screaming was giving Happosai a headache, and he really didn't
want to fight the enraged father, and decide to relent. "Fine, I only
wanted to banish Ranma. It doesn't do any good to lose two beauties," The
diminutive martial arts master said as he went over picks up the gem and
started examining it.

A few moments later Nabiki quipped, "Forgot how to get them out?"

"I just realized, I only know how to get myself out from the inside, and
not how to get someone out."

"Are they safe in there?" asked Kasumi.

"Perfectly. They need neither food nor air."

"So that's how you survived all those years in that cave," commented
Nabiki with a thought of just how valuable this gem could be.

"Oh, my baby daughter is forever lost to us!" cried Soun.

"Have any ideas on how to get them out?" asked Nabiki.

"I don't know. We could ask Cologne. It was an Amazon treasure that a
young maiden gave to me."

"In other words, you stole it from her," accused Nabiki. She realized her
chance of getting the gem later on is slim to none with the Amazons
involved.

[You forgot how to get them out!?] read a sign held by the large,
growling panda. He then used the sign to bat Happosai over Japan.

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

In a flash of light, Ranma and Akane found themselves in an impossibly
big spherical room.

"What did the old freak do to me this time?" Ranma asked himself aloud.

It wasn't until he felt a fist impact the side of his head that he
realized someone else was with him. As he went on his short flight
around the sphere, he heard "You Jerk! Because you just HAD to piss off
Happosai, we're both stuck here in the middle of... Kami only know where
we are."

Ranma turned around to see his fiancee "A..A..Ak..Akane, wh..what
happened to your clothes?" Ranma asked and quickly began examining the
floor to avoid looking at her.

"IIIIIIIEEEEE!" screamed a very embarrassed Akane. She noticed that
Ranma was naked as well... though, unlike her, he was doing his best not
to peep.  she
thought. "I guess whatever Happosai used to send us here doesn't
transport clothes..."

Ranma was still looking away. "I guess so... um, do you have any idea of
how to get out of here?" He closed his eyes.  

Akane took a moment to contemplate the situation and looked around. "Not
a clue," she shrugged.

"Well, I'm not going to sit around waiting for someone to free us. I'll
try to break a way out," offered Ranma with a slight edge to his voice as
he began his attack on the floor.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" 

"Do you have any better ideas?" Ranma retorted as his fist started moving
faster and harder into the ground.

Ranma spent close to an hour attacking all out using all the various
attacks he knew and even some attacks he didn't know like bakusai
tenketsu. Not a scratch was made. 

Akane searched around, trying to find an exit. She walked away from Ranma
as her frustration at being trapped grew. 
she blinked, thinking, 
She looked up from the floor and saw an exhausted Ranma in front of her. 
Her mind reeled,  She shrugged, thinking, 

She moved toward him. "Ranma?" she began.

"What?"

"I don't think your fists are enough to get us out of here. I guess we
are just going to have to be patient, and wait for them to get us out of
here."

Ranma's voice filled with frustration as he said, "I can't just sit here and wait." 

"We don't have a choice."

"I hate being trapped."

"I don't like it either, but it is only temporary. We can take this time
and talk alone, without fear of someone barging in or trying to listen
in. And if you don't resort to name calling, I won't hit you."

"Err.."

"It's better than beating your head against the floor." 

He smiled weakly at her joke and quipped, "Well, I haven't tried that
yet."

They started to laugh, releasing some of their frustration.

 Ranma thought, finally answered, 
"I guess we could talk. Uh, what do we talk about?"

"Do you like your life?" Akane asked.

Ranma face faulted. He wasn't expecting that kind of question. "What?"

"Do you like how your life as it is now?"

"Not really?" he replied meekly.

"So why don't you do something about it?"

Ranma snorted bitterly. "If I knew how to, I would, trust me. But... I
haven't been able to make any real decisions for myself... everything
just happens around me... or to me... or because of me... but I have no
control over any of it. All I can do is try and cope."

"What do you mean, you haven't made any decisions?"

"Like it was my idea to have three fiancees, OR to go through that stupid
Nekoken training, OR to visit Jusenkyo, OR to... to... well I just can't
make any decisions. When I get close making one, something happens that
takes it away." He punched the floor each time he said, 'OR.'

"Why don't you make some decisions now?"

Ranma cocked his head, though he still kept his eyes off of Akane's
nudity. "What kind of decisions?"

"Decisions that will make your life better."

"Like what?"

"Why... Why not decide how to handle your fiancee problem? After all,
that causes most of your problems," she asked meekly.

Ranma shook his head, "I don't have a clue as to how."

Akane scowled, "You must have some ideas."

"I could break off all the engagements," he joked.

"I wouldn't go that far!" she screamed.

He blinked, thinking,  He blinked again,  He paused for a moment,
"You asked me if I had any ideas. Do you have any?"

"Let see, for Shampoo we could get Mousse to help find some legal
loophole to make sure Cologne is also not a threat, or have Nabiki get
them deported. And we can try to get Kodachi committed," Akane replied
nervously.

Ranma considered this for a second. "That cuts out the two I like the
least, but... that still leaves two of you to choose between."

Akane sighed, disappointed, "Yes, that is still a problem." 

They sat quietly for some time, waiting for the other to suggest how to
proceed.

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

At the Neko-Hanten, Cologne held the gem that Happosai used on Ranma and
Akane. She examined it closely with Genma, Soun, and Shampoo staring at 
her, waiting for an answer.

"Husband trapped in gem with violent tomboy. Shampoo hope Ranma okay," said
a concerned Shampoo.

"We must get son-in-law out soon, but I must confess, I do not know how
to release them. I will check the ancient Amazon scrolls and tomes to
find a means to release them. But in the mean time, guard this gem well.
It could be very bad if it breaks or gets lost," Cologne said.

Cologne handed the gem back to Genma. 

"Shampoo, get Mousse out of his cage and have him help you run the
restaurant while I search for the solution," ordered Cologne.

"Yes, great-grandmother."

Genma and Soun left with the gem. Genma held it very carefully.
Surprisingly, they actually made it safely home with the gem.

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

Hours passed and neither Ranma nor Akane said anything.

Ranma thought, 

Ranma spoke tentatively, "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Why are you angry so often?"

"I'm not angry all the time... only when you do something stupid. And
you're ALWAYS doing something stupid."

"Not always!" Ranma protested, "You just seem to find me in bad
situations I have no control over. I can explain what happened, but you
never give me a chance. You tend to jump to conclusion."

"Oh, really?" Akane said sarcastically.

Ranma sighed. "I wish... I would like you to give me a chance to
explain. I wish you would trust me..."

"It's hard to trust you completely. I can't believe in all the times I
caught you doing something stupid, you were completely innocent."

"Well maybe not all those times, but most of the time. Can you try to
hear me out first next time... in the future?"

"Sure," Akane replied. After a moment, she asked, "Ranma, why do you
insult me all the time?"

"Um, A couple different reasons. I only started insulting you after you
insulted me. You called me a freak and a pervert just because of a curse
I have no control over, and you never stopped insulting me. Secondly I
use insults to encourage people. I insult Ryoga to make him fight harder,
and your fighting skills to make you want to improve."

"And my cooking."

"Especially your cooking. Now why do you insult me?"

"Well, you make me angry a lot, and... I can't think of any other way to
get you back than to insult you or to hit you... I don't really mean 
what I say and I don't want to hit you." She looked down meekly. "How 
come you let those other girls glomp you so much?"

"I can't stop them from doing that," he retorted defensively.

"Can't you? You can push them away."

"You think I haven't tried? How did you fare in preventing me from
hugging you when Shampoo used those mushrooms on me? And, how 
would it look if I did try to push them away. Where would I put my 
hands?"

She studied her hands, answering meekly, "Not very well in stopping 
you, and... you'd probably touch their breast that way... I sort of
see your point, but can't you tell them that... you don't love them... or
at least to stop."

"I've asked them to stop, but do they listen? Nope."

"Why haven't you told any of them you don't love them?"

He remained silent, twiddling his fingers.

"Well?"

Ranma hesitated, "Because... because I don't really know what love is. I
don't feel right telling someone that I don't feel love for them if I
don't know how it's supposed to feel, do you understand?"

Akane smiled, "Well, I suppose I can understand that. Maybe... maybe I
can help explain. Love is... love is... well, love is when you can't
imagine what life is like without him or her. If you can imagine it, you
feel an extreme pain in your soul. When you think of the future, you
think of being with the person you love. Um... otherwise, it's a hard to
describe. It's sort of an odd feeling. You feel you need to be with the
person, to help them, to support them, make them happy when they're sad.
Um... does anything I say make sense?"

Ranma looked at the floor, saying meekly, "In a way it does. I guess
Ucchan really is in love with me." 

Akane frowned, "Do you love her?" 

"If she were to leave, I would miss her terribly, but it is not too hard
to imagine not having her around. I might be, I don't know."

"What about Shampoo?"

"Part of me would be glad to see her go, but I would miss her also. But,
I guess I don't."

"Kodachi?"

"Hell no! I even told her that I not only didn't love but I didn't even
like her."

"What about m-me?" Akane asked nervously.

"Um..."

 she thought. "Well," Akane hesitated, "I'll... tell you something.
I... I... I have trouble thinking of life without you. Can... can...
well, can you imaging life without me?"

"Yeah...a dull, boring and lonely one," Ranma said carelessly.

A big grin formed on Akane's face. "So... is that a yes?"

Ranma's 'open mouth, insert foot' mode kicked in, "Me? Love an uncute 
girl like you?"

Akane was getting upset, but for once was giving Ranma a chance to save
himself. "Yes, an 'uncute girl' like me."

Ranma remained silent.

"WELL!?" Akane fumed.

"Um, I... I... I..." Ranma took a deep breath, and braced himself for
whatever Akane might do to him. "I... guess... in a way... well...
maybe... I do."

Ranma felt a crushing force grasp him from behind.  he
thought. After a moment, Akane let him free of her hug and stood up.

"Ranma, can you please tell me you love me, while looking at me,"
requested Akane.

Akane helped Ranma up to his feet. They looked into each other's eyes.
 he thought. 

He stuttered nervously, "I-I... l-l-love you." 

"I... I love you too, Ranma," She smiled. "You have no idea how long
I've waited for you to say that!"

"Actually, I've been wanting to say it for a while," he sighed, "I was
afraid you would have rejected me."

"What makes you think I would've rejected you?"

"It just seems you're always angry at me." 

"Oh," she replied meekly. After a moment of silence Akane said, "You know,
in the entire time we've known each other, we've never actually had a real
kiss nor been on an official date."

"Well, um, why don't we, um, go on a d-date S-Saturday," Ranma stammered
nervously.

"I'd like that." A mischievous twinkle glimmered in her eyes as an...
interesting notion struck her. "But... what about the kiss?"

"A k-kiss? If you want... I guess... we could... well... kiss now."

She nodded her head. Ever so slowly, they leaned toward each other and 
started to kiss. If they weren't already in their own world, the rest of
the world would have faded to just them. Ranma's arms wrapped around
Akane, bringing her closer. They stopped kissing as they realized
something of Ranma's anatomy pushed against Akane's waist. Ranma turned
away embarrassed.

"I thought you said I wasn't sexy?" Akane giggled.

"I guess, I was lying."

"So what happens now?"

"Wh-what do you mean?" Ranma stammered, his face turning a deeper shade of
red.

"Well, what are we going to do about Ukyou?" asked Akane.

Ranma relaxed at the apparent change of subject. "I'm not sure. She is a
good friend, and I don't want to hurt her."

"But it will hurt her more if you keep stringing her along."

"We'll have to break it to her carefully. I wish she had other friends
than just Konatsu and us. She'll need someone to talk to that doesn't
remind her about us. Konatsu will help, but his feelings for her might
cause a problem. It's caused me trouble in the past."

"It has?"

Ranma nodded, "How am I supposed to talk to Ukyou about certain problems
concerning you, when she wants me to dump you and marry her?"

"That can be a problem."

Time passed as Ranma and Akane were lost in thought about the turn their
relationship has taken. 

"You know something, Akane?" Ranma asked.

"What?"

"Since I met you, I've been surround by friends and enemies. Yet there
are many times I felt as lonely as Ryoga. I couldn't just go out and talk
to someone about my problems because either they had a biased answer,
didn't understand the problem, or were just to damn expensive. Despite
being here with only you to talk to, I don't feel lonely."

Akane nodded her head, smiling, "I wished we could talk like this more
often."

"Yeah, but of course someone would have made their presence known to us
before we got around to talking about love."

Akane jokingly added, "Our dads falling through the door..."

Ranma continued, laughing, "Or Nabiki's microphone short circuiting,.." 

Akane laughed, "Or Kuno challenging you or begging us for dates..."

"Ryoga screaming, Ranma prepare to DIE..."

Akane stopped laughing and asked, "Um, Ranma, why do you and Ryoga fight?"

Ranma was struck cold, answering, "I can't say."

"Why not?"

"I made a promise to him not to say 'cause I have a large part of the
blame for his problem."

Akane pressed her questioning anyway, "His direction sense?"

"No, that's a family curse."

"Then what's his problem?"

"I promised him that I wouldn't tell, okay."

"If I find out he's P-Chan, you're a dead man." Her face showed it as a
joke, but her voice came out serious.

When Ranma heard this, his posture stiffened and he nervously spoke,
"Wh...Why would you say t-that?" 

"Why did you just become nervous?"

"I... I'm not nervous," he said, thinking, 

She grabbed Ranma and turned him around. What she saw in his face shocked
her. "You're scared. Why would my joke about Ryoga being P-Chan scare
you?" she asked, shaking him violently.

"I... I... I..." Ranma lost all capacity to speak as he didn't want to
reveal Ryoga's curse nor lie to Akane about this anymore.

Akane demanded, "Tell me Ryoga is not P-Chan!" Ranma was now looking at
Akane like a deer caught in headlights. She once again shook him
violently, this time she yelled, "TELL ME HE ISN'T P-CHAN!" 

But Ranma still could only stutter, "He... He... He..." She proceeded to
throw him several feet away.

"He can't be P-Chan... I was joking, but... but..." she said as the idea
of one of her friends and her pet being one and the same started to form
into her head. When the connections were made, she screams, "KAMI-SAMA! Why
didn't I notice it before! The bandanna! That stupid bandanna. All the
times he transformed near me and I didn't notice... wouldn't let myself
notice." She proceeded to stare at the floor for the next several
minutes. Ranma looked at her with a lot of concern and was more than a
little afraid she might carry out her threat.

 she
thought, shaking in anger,  "Ranma,
how... how did it happen?" she asked in a voice filled with shock and
anger.

"Umm...Its.. kinda....like this... While I was chasing after Pop, trying
to kill him for turning me into a girl, I didn't notice that Ryoga was
standing on the cliff and I.... sorta ... knocked him off the cliff and
into the pool of drowned pig."

"It was your fault?"

Ranma nodded, his voice barely audible, "Yes."

Several minutes pass before she spoke, her voice still filled with anger,
"Now I know why he wants revenge. But why couldn't you have told me?"

"I told you, it was my fault this happened. So, I promised him I wouldn't
tell. I made the damned promise before he became your pet. More than once
I came close to telling you his secret just to keep him from your bed. When 
I did try, you accused me of being a hentai or you just wouldn't listen. Also, 
if I did tell you, it would have caused damage to my honor and made me no
better than my Pop because I broke a promise. As it was, I still dropped 
more than a couple hints."

"Why did he become my pet?"

"Um... because he loved you."

"You can't be serious!"

"It's the truth."

"Oh... What am I suppose to do about him now?"

"Nothing really. Thanks to Akari, he's much more willing see us happily
married. That's what prompted the last fight. He blamed me for the whole
wedding fiasco. Not to mention the loss of the Nannichuan."

Ranma watched her, hoping he wouldn't end up dead, while Akane stared at
the floor, thinking, 

Hours passed as Akane, still shaking anger, stared at the floor. Ranma
watched over her. The long silence finally got to him. He had to break
the silence. Somewhat jokingly, yet also nervously asked, "Are you still
planning on killing me?"

"It depends. Think you can survive a full week of my cooking?" 

"Um, not really."

"Tough! That's your punishment." she replied, anger clearly present in
her voice.

Ranma rolls his eyes, thinking, 

Ranma sat down facing away from Akane. Their backs were a couple feet
apart. Many minutes passed, as they tried to figure out what to say next.

Ranma started talking again after a few moments, "After a full week of
cooking, you oughta be able make something I can eat."

"Gee, thanks!" she replied bitterly, shaking her fist. She thought, 

"Would you mind if helped? You know give some pointers."

"Can you try to keep your big mouth from saying stupid while trying to
help me cook?"

"I'll try."

"One insult and you're out of the kitchen, understand."

"Yeah."

Time lagged on before Ranma started laughing as a bit of irony registered
into his mind.

"What's so funny?" Akane asked with clinched fists.

"I just remembered what we said this morning, that I'll learn to keep my
mouth shout when you learn how to cook. And it looks like we're going to
attempt just that."

"I hope we succeed," agreed Akane, as she started to laugh.

"So do I, so do I," Ranma added before laughing again.

As they laughed, they turned to look at each other. Ranma stopped,
turning away as he remembered they still had no clothes. Akane stopped
laughing as he turned away and then giggled a little when she saw Ranma
wipe some blood from his nose.

 Akane thought,
sighing, "Ranma, are there any other secrets I should know about?"

"Nope, Ryoga's curse and the way I feel about you were the only secrets I
had," replied Ranma.

"If I find out otherwise, Ranma, you'll end up in a world of hurt," she
said with barely a trace of anger.

"I swear those are the only secrets I know of. But, I wouldn't discount
Pop having a few secrets about me."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know," he mused, "Maybe more fiancees, he's pissed off some
demon that wants revenge, or some family curse. You know stuff that if I
found out about, I would pound him into the ground for."

"Oh. And you don't know anything like this and haven't told me."

"Nope," he answered, shaking his head.

There was a long pause of silence, before Ranma asked, "How long do ya
suppose we've been here?"

"Don't know. It's hard to keep track of time. It might have been several
hours."

"How long do you think we'll be here?"

"Maybe any time now."

"But we could be here for days."

Akane screeched, "Days! I hope not, what do we do about food."

Ranma calmly replied, "I doubt we have to worry about that."

"Why?"

"I'm not hungry. If we've been here hours, I should be hungry, but I'm
not."

"You think it's a property of this prison?"

"Yep, saves trying to feed the prisoner."

"If that's the case, do you think Happosai used this prison to stay alive
while trapped in that cave all those years?"

"Could be."

There was a very long pause before Akane said, "We're running out of
things to discuss."

"Yeah, um, well, let see..." Ranma said and then thought,  He let out a long sigh, asking, "Um, when do
you want to get... um... m-m-married?"

 Akane thought, shocked, as she face faulted. After a
long moment of yet more silence, she sat up, saying, "Not for a little
while, at least. Perhaps just after we graduate."

"That's sorta what I was thinking. But we'll still have to get our
parents to delay it that long."

"We may have to end up compromising," Akane mused, tapping her fingers on
the ground. She smacked it when she got an idea, "How this sound, if they
don't back down after a while, we'll go with New Year's break of senior
year."

"About a year to fourteen months? Sounds good to me."

She smiled, thinking,  She pinched herself
and she continued her thoughts,  She looked down onto
herself and had another thought,  She glanced over at him with a devious
grin. A muted part of her mind wondered if Happosai's stay in this prison
had any part of her current line of thought.

Meanwhile, Ranma thought, 

Akane broke the silence when she stated, "We're alone, naked, and have no
where to go. This sounds like something our parents would set up."

"Yep. But if they did we would be out of here now."

"What makes you say that?"

"Once we said we loved each other they would have pulled us out."

"What if our means of escape is some sort trigger set off by something we
do?"

"Its possible but we've gone through the two main triggers they would
have set up."

"Yes, but not the third or what Happosai would use as a trigger."

He blinked, "What would that be?"

Akane shook her head, thinking,  She sighed, "Think Ranma. As I said before: we're alone, naked,
and have no where to go. The trigger might for us... to... um... have
s-sex."

"You can't be serious!?" Ranma screeched in shock.

She looked down and meekly said, "I-I am serious, besides we're
officially engaged now, our parents have absolutely no objections what so
ever to us doing it."

"This is not how I planned on this happening. I wanted it to be more...
special."

"Just doing it with you makes it special for me," she said with a grin.

-----------------------------------------------------------
********************************************
-----------------------------------------------------------

Some time later Akane awakened and was not very comfortable. She
realized that the floor is very smooth and hard, while part of her is
draped over.... some guy. Her eyes flew open and took a quick survey. I'm
naked in a large sphere shaped room and Ranma is here also. "What did I
do?" she asked aloud.

"Hmm Akane can you keep in down. I'm trying to sleep." asked a still
asleep Ranma. His eyes flashed open and said in shock, "Akane!"

"Um... How did you sleep?" said a rather red color Akane.

"D-Did we really do it?" Ranma stammered.

"Do what? Profess love to each other, set a wedding date, or have sex?"
she asked with a grin.

"Um, all of those," Ranma answered. He wasn't sure that this was some
dream.

She hugged him tightly and answered, "Yes, yes, and yes!" She said each
'yes' with more enthusiasm, and hugged him even tighter.

A few moments passed before Ranma gained any of his senses. Once found, he
asked, "How long was I asleep?"

"Don't know, I feel asleep shortly after you did."

"Come up with any other ideas to get out?"

Akane shook her head, "Nope"

"So what are we going to do now, if I stay here to long I'm going to go
crazy," Ranma said as the idea of being trapped began to unnerve him.

"Well I know a couple ways of distracting you from thinking about being
trapped in here." Akane grinned devilish.

Ranma gulped, he could tell that Akane was thinking about. And what she
was thinking was still new to him and made him a little nervous, but
replied, "I-I'm sure you can."



				-------------------------
				*Chapter 2 - Revelations*
				-------------------------



It was quiet Sunday morning at the Tendo home. The source of the normal 
noise was absent. Nabiki, Kasumi, Genma, and Soun sat quietly at the 
table, finishing their breakfast. There was a black gem sitting on a 
pillow in the middle of the table.

"Aiya, Shampoo here to free husband," announced the young Amazon warrior,
as she and her great-grandmother arrived.

"I am surprised to see you still have that gem and that it is intact.
Anyway, I have discovered the means to free them. Where were they when
they disappeared?" Cologne asked.

The Tendos and Genma pointed at the vacant side of the table, where Ranma
and Akane usually sat.

"The table should be close enough. If you would clear the table, I can
begin. Kasumi, please get them something to cover themselves up with,"
Cologne said.

Shampoo raised an eyebrow to this statement. While Kasumi rushed off, the
others quickly cleared off the table. Just as Kasumi returned with a pair
of robes, Cologne knocked the black gem and pillow off the table.

"What did you do that for?" Genma screeched as he dove for the gem.

"As I said before, 'I'm surprised you still have that gem and that it is
intact.' I switched the gem with a marble to insure nothing bad could 
happen to it," replied the elder Amazon.

"Grrr..." emitted Genma.

"Now I shall begin," Cologne said as she pulled out the gem and placed it
on the table. She began to speak a Chinese chant, causing the gem to 
glow. 

In a flash of dark light, Ranma and Akane appeared. They were both
asleep, with Akane resting on top of Ranma. It was obvious to all those
in the room what the two had been doing before they fell asleep.

"IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!," screamed Shampoo,
drowning out the others gasps of shock.

The scream woke Ranma and Akane from their deep, peaceful slumber. Ranma
looked to the source, and saw Cologne next to her, he uttered, "Oh man."

Shampoo stared at them in shock.

"This is what I feared would happen," Cologne said, shaking her head.

Kasumi gave Ranma and Akane the robes. They quickly put them on. Shampoo,
recovered from the shock, advanced toward Akane saying, "Violent girl no 
take husband." 

Ranma prepared to protect Akane, but was surprised Cologne stopped
Shampoo. "It is too late child, Ranma has made his choice. It is over,"
Cologne said, flatly.

"It can't be to late," said the irate Shampoo. Her face returned to shock
and said, "It only can be to late.. if.. if.. she's... she's...
p-p-pr..." Shampoo couldn't finish what she was trying to say as Cologne
decided it was best to put the near hysterical Shampoo to sleep using
pressure points.

"My little girl is all grown up! I'll go call a minister and have you two
married right away," Soun said with joy filled tears in his eyes.

"Our families will finally be joined," Genma cheered, as he threatened to
join his emotional friend.

"Hold it! Despite what we did while trapped, we decided it would be best
to hold off the actual wedding until we graduate," Ranma retorted.

"You have no choice, Ranma. Your actions have forced a quick marriage,"
Cologne replied.

"What do ya mean by that?" Ranma demanded.

"I mean that Akane is..."

Cologne was interrupted by Akane screaming, "Oh, No! No! No! NO!!! I 
can't be..." Akane's voice refused to say the last word. 

Cologne simply said to her, "You are." 

"She is what?" Ranma demanded.

"Pregnant," Cologne replied.

With that word, Ranma went into an impersonation of a deer caught in
headlights. 

Kasumi gasped, "Oh, my!" 

Genma and Soun shouted for joy, "We're going to be grandparents!"

Nabiki's pencil snapped as it was pressed into the notebook she was
writing notes into. 

Shampoo was still doing a good impression of a pile of cloths. 

Akane screamed, "Ranma you jerk! You got me pregnant!" She landed an
uppercut on Ranma, sending him flying into the sky over Nerima. She then
collapses onto her knees, mumbling, "I'm too young. I've got another year
of high school ahead of me. I can't be pregnant. I can't be."

"Do not try to be upset about the gift of life you now carry. I realize
that this comes early in your life. And, it will bring additional
challenges into your life, but I'm sure you and Ranma are strong enough
to over come them," Cologne assured Akane. She announced to the others,
"I will be sending Mousse here to talk with Ranma about how to resolve
some Amazon legal problems. Now Nabiki, I would like the Imprisonment Gem
back."

Nabiki reluctantly handed Cologne a black gem to which the Amazon snarled
angrily, "I said the Imprisonment Gem, the gem that held Ranma and
Akane." 

"Fine," Nabiki muttered, handing the gem to Cologne.

"Um, Cologne, are you sure I'm pregnant?" Akane asked, still in shock.

"Once conceived, I can feel the life force of an unborn child. And the 
child in you is very strong indeed. I knew Ranma would father strong 
children. That is why I wanted him married to Shampoo," Cologne 
answered.

"Why have you surrendered your claim then?"

"The Amazons are a matriarch society. As such, we value motherhood above
all else. If we bring harm to you, which includes taking Ranma away from
you, Shampoo and I face far worse punishments than not bringing him back
with us. Mousse will explain this to you and Ranma later," Cologne said.
She then grabbed a nearby glass of water, splashed Shampoo, picked up the
now sleeping cat and her cloths, and left.

Akane got up, still very much stunned by the news, and said, "I'm going
to take a bath." 

Kasumi finally recovered from the shock of finding out Akane was
pregnant, looked at her retreating form. Kasumi decided it best to wait a
little so she could figure out what to say and give Akane some time to
recover.

Genma and Soun were crying for joy about the joining of their family
lines.

Nabiki rushed for her coat. Kasumi saw this and stopped her before she
could leave, asking, "Where are you going?"

"Oh, just going out for a quick walk."

"You're not going to tell anybody about what has happened, are you?"

"I wouldn't dream of it."

"Dreaming about it won't cause a problem. Telling others may cause
problems."

"What could possibly happen?"

"Besides Ranma being attacked by every guy who has a crush on Akane, or
Akane being attacked by the girls that have their eye on Ranma."

"They'll eventually find out and attack them anyway, so why not try to
make some money by telling them first?"

Kasumi stated in an even tone, "Because it would be better if someone
with your skills decided to help prevent possible attacks. And it would
disappoint me to find out you sold out your sister and Ranma."

Nabiki was taken aback by the reprimand Kasumi just gave her. She put her
jacket back, saying sadly, "I guess it wouldn't hurt to wait and see what
Ranma and Akane have to say." 

Kasumi smiled to her sister and returned to dining room to clean up
breakfast.

 Nabiki thought as she rushed
upstairs to her room.

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

Outside Ucchan's, Ukyou swept the sidewalk in preparation for opening her
store when Ranma finally landed from Akane's uppercut, right into a trash
can.

"Ranchan? What happened this time? You're a mess," asked a concerned
Ukyou.

Ranma pulled himself out of the trash can, replying, "I look like I feel
then, huh."

"What happened?"

"I'll explain later. Um, can I use your bath?"

"Sure you can. I'll have something for you to eat when you get out."

"Thanks," said Ranma as he entered Ucchan's.

Ukyou smiled as she resumed her work. She hopefully thought,  feeding the smile.

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

Cologne entered the Neko-Hanten with Shampoo still asleep in her hands.
Mousse prepared to open the restaurant and noticed them enter.

"What happened to Shampoo?" Mousse asked with concern. 

"She's asleep. I'll explain what happened after the lunch rush. For now,
get to work," Cologne replied.

"Asleep where?" he asked, apparently not seeing Cologne holding
neko-Shampoo.

Cologne whapped Mousse in the head and stated, "I'm holding her, stupid.
Now wear your glasses." She stomped off and took Shampoo to her room.

"Why should she be asleep now? If Ranma hurt her, I'll kill him,"
Mousse muttered under his breath.

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

An hour later, Akane still sat in the Tendo bath with a blank look on
her face. There was a knock at the door to the bath. Kasumi asked,
"Akane, I've got some cloths for you to wear. Mind if I come in?" After a
moment passed without a response, Kasumi entered.

"Akane, are you okay?" Kasumi asked, concern heavy in her voice. She sat
down on the side of the bath.

"I don't know," Akane replied so low that Kasumi barely heard her.

"I think it's wonderful that you're going to be a mother."

Akane scowled at Kasumi, saying, "Oneechan, please. I'm too young. I 
can't finish high school if, halfway through my final year, I'm going to 
give birth to a child."

"Teenage pregnancy isn't that rare of an event, and there are programs to
help young mothers, like you, finish school."

Akane blinked and asked, "How do you know about stuff like that?"

"It was in one of the books I borrowed from Dr. Tofu."

Akane returned to being emotionless and said, "Oh... Father set up the
time for my wedding already. Hasn't he?"

"Yes, it's scheduled for tomorrow after school."

Akane screeched, "Tomorrow?"

"We can't delay it too long, can we."

Akane sighed, "I guess not. But, I still can't believe how much my life
has changed, and is going to change. Two days ago, Ranma and I were
fighting, he had three fiancees, and we couldn't admit our true
feelings. Now I'm pregnant and I'll be married to him tomorrow."

"Yes, things have changed. Mostly for the better. But I'm sure you will be
surprised at how much will stay the same."

Akane smiled a little, hoping what Kasumi said was true, and said,
"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

"Has Ranma come back yet?"

"No, but judging by the way you hit him. I'd say he's at Ucchan's."

"I guess I should call him. I'll be out in a minute."

Kasumi smiled. Getting up to leave, she asked, "Are you okay now?"

"I'm still not sure, but I'm feeling better."

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

Ranma sat in Ukyou's bath with a dazed look on his face. He was deep in
thought, 

His thought was interrupted by Ukyou as she called, "Ranchan, Akane's on
the phone and wants to talk with you."

"Thanks Ucchan, I'll get it in a second," replied Ranma as he exited the
bath and began to dry off.  he thought as he put
on the robes Kasumi gave him earlier. He exited the bath area and went to
the kitchen where Ukyou kept her phone. Ukyou was in the room and could
hear what Ranma would say on the phone.

Ranma picked up the phone and nervously said, "Hello, Akane."

"Hi, I'm sorry I hit you. I was just surprised at what Cologne told me,"
Akane said over the line.

"I'm surprised you didn't hit me harder. Um, is what the old ghoul said
true?"

 wondered
Ukyou.

Akane replied, "I'm pretty sure it is. I doubt she would have done some
of the things she did if they weren't."

Ranma shook his head, "I see. I guess delaying things are out of the
question now."

"Yes, the time is set for tomorrow after school."

"That soon. I guess I better tell Ucchan what has happened."

"Good luck, and come home soon."

"Yeah, thanks. Bye."

"Bye," Akane said as she hung up.

Ukyou looked at Ranma with nervous concern and thought, 

 thought Ranma, and then said, "Ucchan, Konatsu, I need to talk
to both of you in private."

"Sure thing Ranchan. Konatsu, could you put the closed sign up?" replied
Ukyou and thought, 

"It would be my pleasure," answered Konatsu.

Ranma walked over to one of the booths inside the empty restaurant and
sat down towards the end, forcing Konatsu and Ukyou to sit on the other
side. Ukyou notice this and asked, "Ranchan, why don't we talk by the
grill? That way I can keep okonomiyaki on your plate."

"I'm not that hungry and I'd be more comfortable talking to you here,"
said Ranma nervously.

"If you say so," replied Ukyou as her concern grew and thought, 

Konatsu went to the booth and sat across from Ranma. He left room for
Ukyou to sit down next to him. Ukyou followed with a couple plates of
okonomiyaki and placed them down in front of each of them.

"So what do you want to talk about Ranchan?" Ukyou asked.

Ranma began, "Well I guess I should start at the beginning, huh. Several
things have changed over the last couple days. It all began with Happosai
getting pissed at me and he decided to trap me in a magical prison. He
not only trapped me, but Akane as well." 

Ukyou was showing signs that she is not liking what she was hearing as
Ranma nervously continued, "While trapped Akane and I started to talk
about things like love and which of my fiancees that I love. I came to
realize during that talk how much you really love me." 

Ukyou was now showing signs of being very hopeful. 

Ranma continued, "But, I also realized that I don't share that love. You
are my best friend, but I don't love you in the way one should love a
wife. The way... I love... Akane."

"WHAT!?!" screamed Ukyou as she stood up and pounded the table,
continuing, "How can you love that violent, uncute, tomboy? I'm the cute
fiancee and I love you more than she ever will!"

"You might be right in saying you love me more, but that doesn't change
that I love Akane more."

"How can you say you love her more if you always insult her?"

"I'm not sure. It started when we met. It became a force of habit."

"So you're going to marry her then?"

"Yes, and you two are invited to the wedding."

"When?" Ukyou snarled.

"Tomorrow, after school."

"Tomorrow?! Why the hell are you going to marry her tomorrow? You can't
possibly want to marry her that soon."

"We can't delay getting married."

"If you're serious about getting married, your parents shouldn't mind
delaying it."

"Um... They want us to get married. We want to get married. Why should we
wait?" Ranma said not wanting to tell her the real reason.

"If you're marrying her, why did she punch you here and what does this
have to do with the old ghoul?"

Ranma shook his head and thought, 
He took a deep breath and said, "It was the old ghoul who got us out of
the magical prison. And 'bout when Akane punch me, it was 'cause the 
ghoul said...." His voice had trailed off to the point where Ukyou could 
not hear what he said.

"What did you say?" Ukyou asked.

"I said Akane is pregnant," Ranma replied. 

Konatsu looked at Ranma with a pleased yet stunned look. Ukyou, however,
screamed, "WHAT?!"

"Akane is pregnant."

"How?"

"How do you think? Me and Akane were trapped in the prison for two days.
We actual got to sit down and talk. One thing led to 'nother and we did
it and now she's, you know."

"Are you sure you want to marry her?"

"Yes."

Ukyou proceeded to collapse into a crying fit on Konatsu, who carefully
held her. After several moments Ranma got up and said, "I'm sorry I hurt
you. I hope you can forgive me. I want us all to be friends, and I really
would like to see you at my wedding." Ranma left, leaving Ukyou behind as
she cried.

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

"I'm home," announced Ranma as he entered the Tendo home.

Akane quickly appeared in the hall and asked, "How did it go?"

"As well as I could hope," he replied sadly. "I asked her to come to the
wedding, but I don't know if she'll come."

"I hope she does. It would help her get over you. You didn't leave her 
alone, did you?" Akane asked.

"No, Konatsu is with her," replied Ranma.

Nabiki appeared at the top of the stairs and said "Oh good. You're both
here. I have a splendid idea for a wedding present for you. How would
guys like it if I solved you all your suitor problems?"

Akane scowled slightly. "I thought we already agreed that you were to 
do that after you the wedding disaster."

"You only asked me to help you then, and I did as much as I could at 
that point. I spent the last month coming up with ideas, but I never 
agreed to give those ideas to you," Nabiki replied flatly.

"I don't know. Shampoo is already handled, I talked to Ucchan, and Akane
should handle Ryoga," answered Ranma.

"That still leaves the Kunos and someone should check on Ukyou. Nabiki,
that would be a nice gift if you could handle them," Akane said, still a 
little angrily.

"Excellent. So Ranma, you told Ukyou while you were out?" asked Nabiki.

"Yeah," replied Ranma.

"So what did you tell her?" Nabiki inquired.

"Everything," said Ranma.

"Everything?" screeched Akane and Nabiki.

"She woulda figured it out sooner or later."

"I'll check on Ukyou after I deal with the Kunos. I'll see you love birds
later," Nabiki smirked as she grabbed her coat and left.

"I was hoping she was going to cut off all my debts, but I guess this
will be better. I wonder how much money she'll swindle out of Kuno before
convincing him to leave us alone?" Ranma said to no one in particular.

Akane replied anyway, "Probably more than he can afford." 

"Akane, are you okay?" Ranma asked.

"I guess I'm fine. It'll take time to adjust to all this," Akane answered 
sadly.

"It certainly will. Oh, when you talk to Ryoga, it might be best to talk
to him while he's P-Chan."

"Why?" she said with a tinge of anger.

"Damage control. It'll prevent him from going ballistic before you finish
talking to him."

"While you may be right about that," Akane said before she punched Ranma
in the stomach, adding, "You still need to learn to be more sensitive of 
other people's feelings." Akane left a bit angry and went to her room.

"What'd I say?" Ranma asked himself aloud while holding his stomach.

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

The lunch rush has just ended and Mousse was busy cleaning the tables.

Cologne fumed.  

Cologne sighed, 
 
 Cologne thought and then said, "Mousse, get over here. I have
to tell you something."

"What do you want?" Mousse replied to Cologne with contempt in his voice.

Cologne leveled her gaze at Mousse and said in Chinese, "For your
inability to win Shampoo as your wife, for your interference in her
marrying Ranma, and for your general lack of respect for not only for
elders but women as well, you are here by banished from the Amazon
tribes."

"What?" he screeched, staring at a nearby plant in shock and thought, 


"You are no longer of the tribe. You are an outsider." 

"An outsider? That means I can become Shampoo's husband by defeating
her," he said in Chinese as he tried to understand what happened. He 
asked, "Why?"

"Ranma has not only chosen Akane, but has gotten her pregnant as well."

"He has?" Mousse said with grin that went ear to ear.

"Until you defeat Shampoo in battle, you are not welcomed here. I suggest
you make arrangements to live with the Tendos and the Saotomes and train
under Ranma until you are ready to fight Shampoo. Leave now," she
ordered, still speaking in Chinese.

Mousse could only nod and left for his room and placed his few belongs in
his room into his robe and left. "At last! I can finally prove my love to
her. Shampoo, I will marry you!" he shouted as he ran towards the Tendo
home.

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

Shampoo woke up as if she had a nightmare. She could not believe what she
remembered.  she thought sadly as 
she made her way downstairs to the restaurant and saw Cologne working on 
the few customers alone.

"Great-grandmother, where is Mousse?" she asked nervously in Chinese.

"I sent him away. He will not bother you." replied Cologne, also in
Chinese.

Shampoo didn't relaxed as she heard a certain bitterness in Cologne's 
voice. "Please tell me what I remember is just a dream."

"I'm afraid I can't."

"Aiya! Ranma ran off with Ryoga and got pregnant with his child!?!"

Cologne promptly landed face first on the floor. After a second she got
up and whacked Shampoo on the head and said, "NO! He chose Akane and
she is pregnant with Ranma's child."

Shampoo muttered in Chinese as she neared a crying fit, "Is worse. At
least if Ranma married pig-boy, I can admit defeat because I'm not a guy.
But to Akane? Why? She's a violent, sexless, uncute, and can't cook. Why
did he choose her?"

"Love has it's own reasons. I'm sorry, Shampoo. I wish it had worked out
otherwise. You should go upstairs now, I'll call you down for the dinner 
rush."

Shampoo nodded and returned to her room, thinking, 

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

Next to the koi pond, Ranma practiced his kata. He was wearing his usual
Chinese outfit. He tried to imagine what his future is going to be like
now, as a shadow suddenly appeared over him. A shadow that belonged to
Mousse.

"Hi, Mousse," Ranma said, trying to figure out if Mousse has come as
friend or foe. No one told Ranma to expect a visit from Mousse.

"Saotome Ranma, is it true that you have chosen Tendo Akane to be your
wife and that she is pregnant with your child?" announced Mousse loudly.

"Geez Mousse, not so loud. And yes," Ranma answered.

"You have made me very happy this day, Ranma," said an overjoyed Mousse.
"You are no longer fit to be Shampoo's husband, and in order for Shampoo
to return to the village she must be married or face the great shame.
Preferably her husband has defeated her in combat and was trained by you.
So, Cologne has sent me here, to be trained by you. Once my training is
complete, I get to fight Shampoo and make her my wife," Mousse said
dancing around like an idiot.

"I'd be glad to help you, Mousse. How come you didn't tell me this option
before?" 

"Two reasons. First, it is forbidden to speak of Amazon laws to outsiders
unless they specifically ask for laws that deal with them. Secondly, it 
was not an option unless you got someone, besides your first defeated 
amazon, pregnant. And I doubted you would do such a thing, considering 
how many times Shampoo threw herself at you and you rejected each of 
those advances."

"Well, I didn't expect it to happen this soon myself."

"What's done, is done. And I am eager to begin my training."

"Let's start now, first let's spar without use of weapons or special
attacks."

"Okay."

Mousse leapt in front of Ranma and began to attack. Ranma was not
attacking back.

"Why aren't you fighting back?" inquired Mousse.

"I'm just testing your unarmed skill level."

"Makes sense."

After several minutes, Ranma said, "All right now dodge."

Mousse felt dozens of light impacts as Ranma pierced through his defenses
in a matter of minutes.

"Without weapons you're a mediocre martial artist at best. Akane could
defeat you blindfolded," stated Ranma.

"Oh yeah," Mousse replied as he launched a series of attacks at a faster
speed than previously thrown, but still did not connect.

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

Akane watched Ranma and Mousse spar from her window since they moved into
view. She heard most of the conversation between them, and thought,
 After she
watched them for a little while longer, Akane left her room. She
returned with a couple boxes and returned. 

Akane spent the next couple hours slowly putting many items of her youth
into the boxes. The entire time she looked as if she was about to break
down and cry. 

A knock was heard at her door. "Come in."

"Hello, Dear," came the sweet voice of Saotome Nodoka, Ranma's mother.

"Auntie Saotome, hi. When did you get back from visiting your friends?"

"Just a little while ago. I rushed back here when Kasumi called, telling
me the great news."

"How much did she tell you?" Akane asked a little nervously.

"That you and Ranma decided to get married tomorrow."

"She didn't tell you anything else?"

"No. Is there a problem?"

"No. No problem at all," Akane said very nervously.

"Come now. Something is troubling you. You can tell me."

"It... it's just... just that I'm pr....." Akane voice trailed off that
the last part couldn't be heard.

"I didn't hear what you said, could you repeat it?"

"I'm pregnant," Akane said very meekly.

Nodoka eyes widen in surprise and said, "That's wonderful. When did it
happen?"

Akane blinked in surprise at how happy Nodoka was about this. "Well, I
guess it happened sometime Friday night or yesterday morning. You 
see, Ranma and I were trapped in a magical prison. After spending a long 
time of being trapped in there, I came up with the idea that a possible 
means of escape may be for us to have sex. I actually had to convince 
Ranma to do it. I think he really wanted to wait until we were married to 
have sex."

Nodoka frowned a little, saying, "It was your idea to have sex with him?"

Akane nodded, "Yes."

"If you only made love with him a couple days ago, how can you be 
sure you're pregnant?"

"The Amazon matriarch, Cologne, is capable of seeing a person's life
energy. She saw the life energy of my child."

"Can you trust what she said?"

"She wanted Ranma to marry Shampoo due to some stupid Amazon laws. It is
only because I'm pregnant that Ranma can't marry Shampoo."

"Now Akane, how do you feel about all of this?" said Nodoka with obvious
concern.

"I'm fine. It... It's just going to be hard to adjust to all the changes.
Tomorrow, I'll be Saotome Akane. This will no longer be my room, but
Ranma's and mine. I will not be able to attend my last year of high
school with my friends because I'm going to be a mother," Akane said
before the tears she held back for the past couple hours rushed out.

"Everything will work out fine, Dear," Nodoka said sympathetically,
holding her future daughter-in-law.

"I've messed everything up. We were planning on getting married after we
graduated, but I forced the issue of sex. And we have to get married
tomorrow. The little girl that I was, is dead, I've forced myself to grow
up too fast and now I lost the final years of my childhood."

"We each grow up at our own pace, some faster than others. You have
turned out to be a beautiful young woman, and you will be a great
mother."

"Some great mother I'll be, I can't cook, sew, or anything else a mother
should be able to do."

"Those are not things that make a great mother. Kindness, compassion, and
love makes for a great mother. Things which you have in abundance."

"Auntie..." Akane began as broke Nodaka's hug.

"Call me Mom. After all you are marrying my son tomorrow."

"I'd rather not," Akane replied as her eyes fell upon a picture of her
mother.

Nodoka saw what Akane was looking at and said, "I understand."

"I would like to be alone right now, and finish putting away some of my
old stuff."

"Just remember that little girl you once were is still alive inside you.
You should never try and forget, nor deny, her presence."

"I'll remember."




			-------------------------------
			*Chapter 3 - Dealing with Love* 
			-------------------------------



Nabiki approached the Kuno mansion. She was here to handle a little 
present for her sister and Ranma. They were to be married tomorrow, and 
she was going to remove the Kunos as a threat. Nabiki rang the bell at 
the front gate, waiting for one of the servants to answer. 

A short man answered the bell. "What business do you have here today?" 

"I am here to see Kodachi and Tatewaki concerning their love interests," 
Nabiki answered.

"Master Kuno is not here currently, but I shall inform Mistress Kodachi 
that you wish to see her." The servant left her at the gate as he 
returned to the house.

Several minutes later the servant returned. "She will see you now. 
Follow me."

Nabiki nodded and followed the servant to a large pond. Apparently it 
was feeding time for her little pet. Nabiki hoped Kodachi had enough 
sense not to add her to the alligator's diet.

"What news do have about my darling Ranma-sama?" Kodachi asked.

"Now Kodachi, you know I don't give information freely," Nabiki replied.

"Of course. How much is this information you have?"

"A favor and a deal."

"What? No money?" Kodachi asked, surprised.

"Not this time."

"Tell me what the favor and deal are, and I shall consider them," 
Kodachi said suspiciously.

"The favor is you do not interfere in anything Ranma does until sunrise 
Tuesday."

Kodachi looked at Nabiki skeptically. "And the deal?"

"I help you find other love interests."

"My darling Ranma-sama is all I need."

"Now Kodachi, you know full well that he has no romantic feelings for 
you. Pursuing him is only making you look like a fool."

Kodachi glared at Nabiki, then turned her gaze at the pond. "He is the 
only man to ever make me feel this way. I must have him. He should be 
mine and not belong to some lowly wench."

"There are other men out there that you may find as attractive, if not 
more so. You know there is nothing you can do that will win him. You can 
accept my offer and walk away from this with something."

"The information you have, it is that Ranma will marry your sister 
tomorrow, isn't it?" Kodachi eyed Nabiki evilly.

"I cannot say until we make agreement."

Kodachi looked at Nabiki for a sign, if she was right or not. She 
couldn't tell, but suspected she was correct.  

Kodachi gazed again into the pool.  Kodachi let out a long 
sigh. 

Kodachi turned back to Nabiki. "Very well, I shall accept your deal 
provided I don't pay for your services and I promise not to interfere 
with anything he does from now until sunrise Tuesday."

"Agreed," Nabiki replied. "And, you are correct, Ranma and Akane are to 
be married after-school tomorrow."

"See that I have a date for that event."

"I don't think you'll be invited."

"I shall attend Ranma's wedding, even if I am not the bride."

"I'll see what I can do."

"See that you succeed. Have you spoken to brother-dearest yet?"

"Not yet."

"I shall give you certain criteria I expect of possible love interests 
after you've talked with him."

"Fine by me."

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

Nabiki waited in the study for some time for Kuno's return. She looked 
over several books of poetry and was getting quite bored.

"So, Tendo Nabiki is interested in poetry. Is it your wish for that I 
recite some of my favorite works for you?"

Nabiki rolled her eyes. "Maybe another time. I am her about news 
concerning my sister and the pig-tailed girl."

"What news does thou have of my goddesses?" Kuno elated.

"First we have to make a little deal. I can tell you where to find your 
pig-tailed goddess whenever you want, but you will no longer chase after 
Akane nor interfere in her relationship with Ranma."

"What? To know where the healthy pig-tailed goddess is, and yet to know 
is to lose my goddess of the hunt. What to do? What to do?" Kuno cried 
out.

Nabiki shook her head. "Now Kuno, you do know that Akane is bound by 
family honor to marry Ranma? Even if she didn't want to marry him, she 
has to. And she does want to marry him, without any coercion, magic, or 
any other means of enslavement."

"And why would she want to marry such a vile sorcerer?"

"Because she loves him."

"LOVE! How can she love that foul sorcerer?!" Kuno yelled in outrage.

"Because she does, and as I said, 'she is bound by family honor to marry 
him.' To interfere is dishonorable, even if he is as bad as you think or 
if is she didn't want to. So, if you care for your noble honor you will 
accept my offer." 

"The Kuno clan is nothing if not honorable, but I cannot sit aside and 
let that vile sorcerer have his way with Tendo Akane."

"But it is not just his way, it is also the way of the Tendo and Saotome 
clans that they marry. Honor demands that they marry. Akane will lose 
her honor if she does not marry him. Do you want that? Do you want to 
ruin Akane's honor, as well as your own, to act in any way against her 
wishes?"

"No, I do not," Kuno said meekly.

"Then you will accept my offer?"

Kuno reluctantly nodded. "Hai, I shall accept."

"Good. The news is that Akane and Ranma have decided to be married 
tomorrow."

"WHAT?!" Kuno screamed.

"Remember our deal, Kuno-chan. THEY have decided to marry. It is Akane's 
wish to marry him tomorrow, the decision was not made by my father nor 
Ranma's parents."

"I will confirm this."

"Of course." Nabiki pulled a video tape, seemingly out of nowhere. "Now 
to show you how to find the pig-tailed girl. This tape has not been 
altered in any way. What you see is the truth." She handed Kuno the 
tape.

Kuno walked over to the VCR in the study and started to watch the tape.

The video tape showed Ranma turning from a guy into a girl and from a 
girl into a guy at various times and in different situations. It also 
showed no break in Ranma's action. When Ranma was talking, he would 
complete the sentence even if changed halfway through saying it. When he 
was fighting he would complete his attack, despite the change. Certain 
people, like Akane, Ukyou, Shampoo and several others showed no 
difference in behavior towards either form, while people in the 
background sometimes looked shocked.

"What sorcery is this?!" Kuno yelled, after the shock of what was on the 
tape wore off.

"The sorcery in question is a curse Ranma picked up in China. Whenever 
he is splashed with cold water his body is transformed into a girl. His 
mind, however, does not."

"This is fallacy. Trickery! I cannot accept what you say."

"Kuno, how about all the times he has changed in your presence? They are 
the same person."

"It is sorcery I say. Sorcery! That is how the coward flees from my 
presence by switching places with her."

"Perhaps seeing another cursed individual will help convince you."

Kuno stared at Nabiki coldly.

"And a statement from Dr. Tofu."

"It might."

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

Kuno and Nabiki approached Dr. Tofu's clinic. Nabiki was glad that Genma 
worked today, so she could use him as the cursed subject. During the 
walk over to the clinic she tried to convince Kuno about the curse and 
ensure Kuno would no longer chase Akane.

"Hello, Mr. Saotome," Nabiki greeted the cheerfully whistling panda as 
they arrived.

"Growf," replied the panda, who was sweeping the sidewalk.

"Why do you refer to this creature as 'Mr. Saotome?'" Kuno asked.

"Because, he's Ranma's father. He got cursed with a panda's body at the 
same time as Ranma got cursed."

"That would prove nothing. Ranma's father would employ the same sorcery 
on this creature as Ranma has on the pig-tailed girl."

Nabiki shook her head. "How about we have a little test? You say 
something to him, and then I'll have him change into his human form and 
then have him repeat it. If they had switched places, he could not 
possibly know of what you said."

"We shall attempt your test." He turned to the panda. "The message I 
wish to be repeated is: lies shall not keep me from my love."

"All right Mr. Saotome, unless you wish him to interfere with the 
wedding, I suggest you change back."

Genma shrugged and entered the clinic, followed by Nabiki and Kuno. He 
walked over to the kitchen area, picked up a kettle of hot water and 
poured it on his head in front of Kuno.

Kuno blinked at him changing forms. "Now repeat my message."

"'Lies shall not keep me from my love,'" Genma replied.

"Satisfied?" Nabiki asked.

"No! The sorcery may have given that knowledge to him."

Nabiki wanted to beat her head against the wall. No, she wanted to beat 
Kuno's head against the wall. "You can also get the word of Dr. Tofu 
about the curse."

"I shall."

Dr. Tofu entered the waiting room as he gave some last minute medical 
advice to one of his patients.

"Hello, Dr. Tofu. I'd like you to explain to Kuno, here, about the 
Jusenkyo curses. And tell him of some of the victims you know of."

"Hello, Nabiki. I guess I can explain what I know of them, since my next 
patient isn't here yet." He led Kuno into his office and sat down. 

He began, "Genma, Ranma, Shampoo, and Mousse are all victims of the 
cursed springs of Jusenkyo. There are over a hundred springs, each one 
has it's own curse, changing whoever falls into that spring into that 
which drowned there. The springs that are known to exist are young girl, 
panda, cat, duck, little boy, piglet, octopus, yeti riding bull carrying 
crane and eel, Akane..."

"Akane?" Kuno asked, shocked.

"She was drowned to make a spring so that one of Ranma's enemies could 
use her form to get near him. They kept her alive as insurance against 
him."

"So, more than one person holds the visage of Tendo Akane?"

"Correct," Dr. Tofu replied, and then continued, "Hot water changes the 
cursed individual back to normal, and cold water turns them into their 
cursed form. Save for a couple pools, like the good Samaritan cursed 
spring, the curse does not directly affect the mind of the cursed 
individual."

"Is Saotome Ranma's curse like that?"

"His mind isn't directly affected."

"What do you mean 'directly affected?'"

"I mean that the curse doesn't have a separate personality that 
overrides Ranma's mind when he's in his cursed form. The curse, however, 
will have affects by its nature. Having water be able to change you into 
a form that is not your own will alter your mind in some ways."

"This is not some sorcery that Ranma has enacted on the pig-tailed 
girl?"

Dr. Tofu shook his head, stifling himself from laughing at Kuno. "No, 
Ranma had no part in gaining the curse beyond falling into the pool, nor 
does he even like the curse. The girl that drowned at the Jusenkyo pool 
died fifteen hundred years ago."

"Thank you for your time, doctor." Kuno was still unsure whether to 
believe what he had been told and intended to confirm it. But enough 
evidence had seeped in for him to admit that it was possible his 
pig-tailed goddess may be a deception. And if it was, Ranma shall pay 
for it.

He exited the office and was greeted by Nabiki. "Satisfied now?"

"For now I see the possibility that your words ring true, but I shall 
make certain that this is not a deception." He turned and left the 
clinic.

Nabiki followed him. She still needed to get Kodachi's list.

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

As Nabiki approached Ucchan's, she thought,  She reached the door and entered. She saw 
that Ukyou had so completely absorbed herself into her work, she didn't 
offer any greeting.  

Akane shook her head. 

Akane sighed. 

Akane looked down. 

An hour had passed when she noticed that something was trying
climb into her window. It was P-Chan.

"Hello there," Akane said in a tone a little colder than usual as she
picked up P-Chan. "I've got some things to say to you." 

P-Chan began to nervously move, and thought, 

"Where to start? Well, two days ago Ranma and I were able to have a long
private talk. While talking, we admitted we love each other," she said
with increasing in warmth in her voice.

P-Chan relaxed, thinking, 

Akane grinned, "We decided to get married."

He frowned, 

"The wedding is tomorrow." 

"Bweeep?" 

"Of course you're invited," she said with a smile and then frowned a 
bit, "But, that wasn't all we talked about. While talking with Ranma I 
asked why he always kept fighting Ryoga."



"He wouldn't tell me. No matter how hard I pushed."

The pig sighed, 

"But, when I joked that you and Ryoga were one and the same, I would 
kill him. He got really nervous when I said that."

 he thought with his eyes wide in shock.

"I finally figured it out. You really disappointed me. You should have
told me, Ryoga. I am trying to understand why you decided to become my
pet."

"Bweep eep bukweep" 

"I want you to promise me something, Ryoga. You will never, ever fight
Ranma for what has happened in the past. Do you understand? You will not
attack Ranma or I'll make roast piglet out of you."

P-Chan nodded his head and emitted, "bweeep." 

"You need to stop blaming others for your mistakes. While Ranma may
have knocked you into the cursed pool, you're as much at fault for
following him."



"Now, I would like to see you and Ranma to become friends. Can you try to
do that for me? Please?"

P-Chan once again nodded and said, "bweeep." 

"Good. Now let's get you downstairs so you can join Ranma's bachelor
party."

"Bwee Bweeep?" 

Akane got up, carried P-Chan to the bath and opened the door, set him
down, and shut the door. A moment later a splash was heard then the
sounds of someone getting dressed.  Akane sadly thought as
she wished this was a joke. The door opened revealing Ryoga.

"Akane, you aren't mad?" Ryoga asked.

"Not mad, just very disappointed."

"I don't blame you if you hate me."

"I don't hate you, I still consider you a friend. But, it may be a while
before I completely forgive you."

"I understand."

"Now hurry up and join that party, you silly pig." Akane said with a
little giggle as she pulled Ryoga towards the party. Ryoga reluctantly
went along. She opened the door to the remnants of the party and saw
Genma and Soun passed out, while Mousse and Happosai were apparently
trying drink the other under the table. It looked like Mousse was
winning.

"I brought someone who should be in this party," she said as she pushed
Ryoga into the room. 

"Greetings, Ryoga," Mousse said.

"Hiya," Happosai slurred.

"Sit down and join what's left of the festivities," encouraged Mousse.

"Ah, okay," Ryoga said.

"So where's the groom?" Akane asked.

"Praying to the porcelain kami. He really can't hold his liquor," said a
smug Mousse.

Akane left them to finish the party and went to the bathroom to check on
Ranma. Sure enough, he was asleep as a she with her head resting on the
toilet seat. Akane started to go over to her, but got a devious idea and
turned around and left. She returned a minute later with Nabiki and her
camera. Nabiki took several pictures of Ranma. Then Akane dragged
onna-Ranma into the bath area to get her cleaned up. Once accomplished,
Akane dragged onna-Ranma unceremoniously up the stairs and into her
futon. Then Akane went to bed herself.

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

Onna-Ranma opened her eyes slowly as Akane shook her. "Wake up, 
already!" Akane seemingly shouted. Ranma turned green by Akane's 
actions.

"Ugh, I feel sick. Did I eat your cooking?" said the groggy Ranma.

"No," Akane replied as she slammed Ranma into the floor and let go of 
her.

"Argh. What a weird dream last night. It was nice, but scary," Ranma 
muttered.

"Care to tell me about the dream?" Akane asked. 

"Um... er... I'd rather not."

"Let's see if I can guess it. We got trapped in a magical prison,
declared our love for each other, planned to get married, had sex, got
pregnant, and moved up the wedding date," Akane said, giggling as she 
saw Ranma's stupefied face.

"It wasn't a dream?"

"If it's a dream, we're living it."

"I hope this dream doesn't turn into a nightmare."

"We'll just have to work to prevent that."

"I guess the roller-coaster ride that is my life isn't done yet."

"Not yet. By the way Mousse is waiting for his morning practice."

Ranma held her head in pain.  He looked at Akane. "Say... you wouldn't want to take care of it
today, would you?"

"I'd love too," she joyfully replied.

"Just work on his endurance and ability to dodge."

"You don't want me to spar with him?" she asked with a tinge of anger.

"Well, you won't be much fun tonight if you get hurt," Ranma said with a
grin.

"You pervert!" Akane growled while she laughed. She grabbed the pillow
from Genma's futon and smacked Ranma in the face. "Okay, I don't want to
spoil tonight's fun either," she said, kissing Ranma before she left.

 Ranma thought while she held her head. 

"I hope you weren't the female entertainment last night," Nodoka remarked
from the doorway of Ranma's room.

"I don't think I was," she replied.

"So how are you feeling?" Nodoka asked, pulling Ranma's stuff from the
closet.

"Fine, if you don't count a splitting headache. Mom, what are you doing?"

"Moving your stuff into Akane's room. You'll be sleeping there from now
on."

"Oh, right." Ranma sighed, "I'm not sure if I'm ready for all of this."

"It doesn't matter now if you're ready. You must face the challenges of
being a good husband and, very soon, a father."

"I hope I don't botch the job as spectacularly as Pop has," Ranma
replied, presenting her female body. "Considering what a great body for a
man amongst men he cursed me with."

"He definitely could have done a better job, but he certainly raised a
unique individual. And your manliness does show through even when you're
in a female body."

"Yeah, well, I won't make the mistake of taking my kids away from their
mother."

"It's nice to hear that, but I doubt Akane would let you do that and
live."

"Probably right about that. Um, can I get some of my clothes before you
move all of them."

"Of course, but I want to give you a little advice first."

"Advice about what?"

"Being a good husband."

"Too bad no one gave Pop that advice."

"I'm sure they did. It was either poor advice or he ignored it," Nodoka
giggled.

Ranma laughed. "So, what did you want to say?" She grabbed her head,
cursing the hangover.

"First, don't lie to your wife, she'll find out eventually. Second, don't
make promises you can't or don't intend to keep, it'll come back to haunt
you.  Third, don't be afraid to admit a mistake, it causes less grief in
the long run."

Ranma nodded and added, "Fourth, don't try to keep any secrets, she'll
find out at the worst possible moment." 

Nodoka nodded and handed Ranma a pair of pants and shirt. "Here you 
go, Dear. You'd better hurry up and get ready."

"Thanks," Ranma replied, grabbing a pair of boxers and T-shirt. She left
to get changed.

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

In the Tendo dining room, Soun and Genma were still sleeping to one side 
of the room. Ryoga and Nabiki sat on one side of the table while Akane 
sat at her usual spot when Ranma entered. Mousse was seen outside 
running past the koi pond with a large stone statue on his back.

"Hi Ryoga, when did ya get here?" Ranma asked in friendly manner, showing
no signs of a hangover.

 Ryoga stopped that line of thought as he looked at Akane, who
was gazing at Ranma and smiling.  He looked at Ranma. "Sometime after you plunged your head
into the toilet," he replied, somberly. 
Ryoga took a breath and said, "Um, Ranma? I was wondering... well... if we
could forget our past and start over as friends."

Ranma looked Ryoga as if aliens had just taken his body.  He looked at Akane and saw her smiling.  Ranma answered, "Sure, but I've always 
considered you to be a friend of sorts."

"You have?" Ryoga questioned.

"Of course. You've been my best sparring partner. I never know when your
going to attack and your skills are close to mine. I wouldn't be near as
good as I am now if it weren't for you."

"You mean, you liked it when I attacked you?" Ryoga asked, confused. 

Akane was also a bit confused.

"Not all of the time, but there were times I was happy to hear 'DIE
RANMA' because I felt the need for a good fight. Anyway, when I really
needed help, you came along and helped." 

"So, you actually thought of me as a friend and liked fighting me?"

"Yeah. But now, I guess, we should keep our fights to sparring and,
possibly, have an all out fight every so often."

Ryoga nodded in agreement.

After a moment, Ranma asked, "Does anyone know what kind of 
wedding it'll be?" 

"Western," replied Nabiki.

"Guess I'll need a best man then. Ryoga would you do the honors?" asked
Ranma.

Akane smiled her approval.

 Ryoga sighed, "Sure."

Mousse appeared and dropped the statue outside and sat across from Ranma
and Akane. Akane asked, "Finished 100 laps already?" 

"Yes... I... shall... bear any... pain for... my... Shampoo..." Mousse
answered breathlessly. After a minute he regained his breath and asked,
"So, what's on the training schedule for today."

"Just what I like in a student: complete devotion!" Ranma replied. "Uh,
nothing scheduled today, but if you want something to do, I'm sure Kasumi
could use some help."

"He's my student today. Remember?" Akane said, forcefully. "Um, besides
working on what I showed you this morning, there is nothing planned,"
Akane told Mousse. 

Kasumi entered, calling out, "Breakfast!" 

Genma immediately woke up, sitting across from Ranma and Akane. Soun
wearily woke up. He had Mousse move to the corner of the table and sat
down next to Genma. Happosai appeared next to Akane. Nodoka entered and
began to help Kasumi bring out breakfast. Once breakfast was in place,
Nodoka and Kasumi sat across from Nabiki and Ryoga. Everyone began to
eat.

"Now Ranma, that was quite some dance you put on for us last night,"
Happosai commented.

Ranma became nervous. Akane and Nodoka were beginning to get angry.
Everyone else took an immediate interest.

"I never knew a body could move like that," Mousse added, laughing.

Ranma yelled, "What are you talking about? I did no such thing!"

"Well I wouldn't have called it a dance, per say," Mousse began. "I'd
call it drunkenly going into a combat stance. Followed by warp speed
travel to toilet."

"You're such a spoil sport," Happosai pouted as everyone started
laughing.

After everyone regained some composure, Nabiki picked up her notebook and
asked, "I was wondering: for the reception, what should we order for
food? I was thinking of either roast pig or roast duck." 

Ryoga and Mousse turned obvious shades of green at that comment. Nabiki
grinned at look of their faces, while Ranma chuckled. Nodoka was a little
confused.  Akane fumed. The others just ignored the reaction.

Akane forcefully said, "Oneechan! Please keep in mind that some of
the guests have a distinct dislike for those foods."

"So what do you suggest?" Nabiki asked, dryly.

"Um... I'm, uh, not sure."

"Don't worry about details, Dear. Leave everything to Kasumi and me,"
Nodoka interjected, smiling.

"We'll make sure everything is perfect," Kasumi added.

"Are you sure you can handle it all?" Akane asked.

"Don't worry, we can handle it," Nodoka answered.

"If you need any help, I'll be glad to," said Mousse.

"I can also help," Ryoga added.

"Don't you have school to go to?" Nodoka asked.

"I do not go to school," Mousse said.

"Me neither."

"Why not?"

"I graduated," Mousse answered. 

"Me too!" Ryoga added quickly, not wanting to go into details as why he
didn't go to school. The others chose to ignore his statement.

"Oh. Then we'll appreciate your help with the wedding."

"Just make sure you don't send Ryoga somewhere alone. Or he'll end up
lost," Ranma commented, earning him a glare from Akane and a snarl from 
Ryoga.

Kasumi said, "Ranma, Akane, I made up wedding invitations for you to give
out. I also contacted some friends and family that don't live near by and 
invited them."

"Who did you invite?" asked Akane.

"Let's see: there is Akari, the tea ceremony couple, our grandparents,
our cousins, and some others. The list is near the phone, the ones with
check marks are the ones who're coming. Those with dashes aren't."

"You didn't invite my parents, did you?" Genma asked, terrified.

"No, I haven't gotten a hold of them, but I've left some messages for
them," she replied.

"Good! Don't invite them. Bad things will happen if they're around,"
Genma said, hoping they won't find the messages. Nodoka shivered,
apparently at the thought of seeing her in-laws.

"If you say so," Kasumi shrugged.

"We'd better get going," Akane said. 

"Why? It's still early," Ranma noted.

"We need to get some of these invitations out before school." 

"Oh. Bye!" 

"Bye," replied everyone.





			--------------------------------------
			*Chapter 4 - Countdown to the Wedding*
			--------------------------------------



Ranma and Akane left more than a half-hour early for school since they 
had to give invitations to friends and neighbors.

"I can't believe it. We're actually going to do it today," Ranma said.

"There should be nothing to stop it this time," Akane said.

"The last time they tried it, it was a disaster."

"Yeah, but this time we've handled the problems."

"Are you ready for it? Are we ready for it?"

"Yes and no." Akane sighed. "While I do want this, we still have 
problems that should've handled first."

"Why don't we solve them first?"

"Because the problems I'm referring to might take years to solve and 
thanks to what we did, we can't wait any longer."

"I know, but still. I'm not sure we should go through with it."

"Ranma, we have to. You are just going to have to get over your cold 
feet."

"Who says we have to do this though?"

Akane glared at Ranma angrily. "The baby I'm carrying in me says we 
have to get married. Or do you want to be completely honorless and 
run off?"

"I guess there isn't a choice, but still. I wish we could wait."

"I wish so too, but it's NOT going to happen," Akane said fiercely just 
before walking into  Dr. Tofu's clinic. Ranma followed her inside.
 
"Hello Ranma, Akane. It's been a while," Dr. Tofu greeted.

"Hello. Well, we've been getting along a lot better," Akane answered.

"That and it takes a lot more to hurt me now than it did before," added
Ranma before having Akane stomp on his foot.

"I see. So, what brings you here today?" asked Dr. Tofu.

"Well... we'd like to invite you to our wedding this afternoon," Akane
answered.

"You decided to get married?" Dr. Tofu squeaked in surprise.  

Akane and Ranma nodded.  

"Congratulations! I'd be happy to go. It gives me a perfect chance to
test to see if I've been able to gain some self-control when I'm around 
a certain girl. I've been working on that problem for a while now," 
Dr. Tofu added, starry eyed.

"Good luck, Doc. Hope it works," encouraged Ranma.

"Um... Dr. Tofu?" Akane began, blushing.

"What is it Akane?"

"I was wondering, how far into a pregnancy could a couple still have
sex?" 

Akane and Ranma blushed deeply, both nervous.

"From the cultural standpoint, as soon as it is known that you're
pregnant." 

Ranma and Akane frowned at this. 

"Medically, it depends on the pregnancy. It varies depending on
complications." Dr. Tofu answered.

"Um, could you make a guess on me?" Akane asked.

"It's hard to tell without tests. The earliest would be a couple months
into a pregnancy," Dr. Tofu explained. Jokingly, he added, "Why? Do you
think you're pregnant?" 

"Um... well... yes."

"What?" Dr. Tofu uttered, shocked.

"I am pregnant."

"How? When?"

"It happened a couple days ago. While we were trapped in a magical
prison. Cologne told us I was pregnant after we were freed."

"Ah! I'd like you to stop by after school, Friday, so I can run some
tests. I'd like both of you here, on Saturday, to talk about what to
expect."

"Okay, Dr. Tofu. We'll see you then. We have to go now. Bye," Akane
replied, leaving with Ranma.

Akane and Ranma ran to school with a minute left on the clock. Ranma
stopped in his tracks when he saw Kuno with a bucket of water. In less
than a second, Kuno launched his attack, splashing Ranma. He turned
into a girl in front of Kuno.

Kuno spoke, "So the cunning Tendo Nabiki speaks true that the pig-tailed
goddess of my dreams is but a magical illusion brought on by a heinous
curse. For using the curse to deceive me, I SHALL..." 

Kuno was interrupted by a boot to the head, and went flying over Nerima.

"Argh! My hangover's back," Ranma groaned, holding her head.

"Guess it's your girl form that can't take alcohol," Akane giggled just
as the school bell rung. "OH NO! We're late!" 

Akane grabbed Ranma's hand, rushing to class.

Akane and onna-Ranma arrived at class, nearly running over 
chibi-Ms. Hinako when they entered into the room.

"Akane, Ranma. Why are you late this time?" yelled Ms. Hinako.

"Not so loud!" Ranma howled.

"We're sorry. We were delayed by Kuno and by delivering these," Akane
replied with a smile, handing Ms. Hinako a personalized invitation.

Ms. Hinako immediately opened. Reading the card, she shrieked, "You're
getting married today?!"

"Yes," Akane replied happily. 

Ranma collapsed to the floor in agony. The class surged forward, asking
questions.

"Quiet down, everyone, AND SIT DOWN!" Hinako yelled. 

The class quickly obeyed when she produced a 50 yen coin. The only
exception was Ranma, writhing in pain on the floor.

"What's wrong with you?" asked Ms. Hinako.

"Our dads decided to throw him a bachelor party last night, and his girl
form has no tolerance for alcohol," Akane answered for Ranma.

"Can I get some hot water," said Ranma weakly.

"No. You will go to your seat and sit there," said Ms. Hinako.

"This is cruel," Ranma muttered.

"I know," giggled Ms. Hinako.

The class soon deteriorated as everyone, including Ms. Hinako, asked 
Akane about the wedding. They avoided onna-Ranma for fear of 
retaliation.

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

Lunch hour seemed to take forever to arrive. All of the wedding 
invitations had been delivered. Ranma and Akane were eating lunch under 
a tree. The tree was surrounded by most of the students from Furinkan 
High. They asked all sorts of questions, but were being completely 
ignored.

"I wished Ms. Hinako would've let me changed back. Having a hangover
sucks!" Ranma said.

"If you did, you could have answered some of those questions," Akane
replied.

"Maybe I was better with the hangover." 

Ranma's and Akane's attention was drawn to a large movement in the 
crowd. The crowd separated to reveal Kuno, approached them. He spoke 
over the crowd, "I will have words with you! And I, the Blue Thunder of 
Furinkan High (a loud thunder strike was heard in the background,) will 
show my intentions with this sign of peace!" He tossed his bokken aside 
and sat down.

"If ya want to talk, Kuno-sempai, talk," replied Ranma. The crowd had
stopped asking questions so they can hear them speak.

"Tendo Akane, I wish to know how a goddess such as yourself, can be in
love with this foul demon?" asked Kuno. Ranma scowled at Kuno.

"Ranma may not be a saint, but he's definitely not a demon either. And 
as to why I love him? I... I... I don't know. I guess no one can truly
answer why they love someone. It's something that just happens," Akane
replied, shrugging her shoulders.

"Saotome Ranma, do you truly love the fair Tendo Akane and can you say 
as to why?"

"Yes, I love Akane. And I also don't know why. I can say one of the
reasons is that I live for the moments that I see her smile," answered Ranma. 

Akane smiled at him. Most of the girls swooned at the romantic comment.

"One other question, Ranma, why is it you used the magic of your curse 
to deceive I, Kuno Tatewaki?" demanded Kuno. 

The crowd mumbled as they tried to figure out how Kuno finally made the
connection.

"You should've been the first to know that. I've only changed a dozen
times in front of you. You were just too dense to realize it. I even
practically told you," answered Ranma.

Akane shook her head at his words. She knew the same could be said of 
her when concerned with Ryoga. She spoke, more to Ranma than Kuno, 
"Sometimes a person doesn't want to make the connection, as it goes 
against concepts a person holds. So, they make up concepts they are more 
comfortable with. Such as Kuno believing your girl form is a separate 
individual, trapped by your magic. Or me not believing anyone would want 
to be my pet. The deception is not necessarily the fault of the cursed 
individual, but is, in part, our own fault for not wanting to see the 
truth"

The crowd mumbled in shock with the news of Akane's pet being a person
who was cursed. Kuno stood up and shouted, "What devious person would do
such a thing to the great Tendo Akane. I shall smite him!"

"Kuno, I do not want you trying to protect me. I am handling him myself.
Besides, I have more than enough of a protector in Ranma. I would like
you to go and search for someone who loves you, you may be surprised at
who you find," stated Akane.

"I endeavor myself to try to do as you wish. For now, I ask that you 
shall invite me to your wedding," Kuno asked.

"Of course, you can come," answered Akane.

"You can go, as long as ya don't try anything," added Ranma.

"But remember, there shall always be a fiery torch that will always burn
with my love for you, Tendo Akane," Kuno said as he bowed to Akane.

"What about me Kuno-sempai," Ranma said in the most feminine means
possible while in his male form.

Kuno turned green, grabbed his bokken and ran off. Ranma laughed and
Akane backhanded his shoulder, failing to contain her own laughter. 
After a moment she finally could say, "You shouldn't pick on people like 
that. It isn't nice."

"But it sure was funny though," Ranma laughed.

From the crowd, a familiar voice echoed, "I will be taking orders for a
picture of Kuno's reaction. One thousand yen each."

"Nabiki, mark me down for one," yelled Ranma.

"Ranma," Akane growled angry.

"Okay. Make that two," shouted Ranma as Akane punched him in the 
shoulder a bit lightly, almost playful.

"You know that wasn't what I meant." 

"Come on Akane. That picture is a gem, besides how many photos did he 
buy of us," Ranma said with a smirk. 

Ranma's jovial manner made Akane let go of what little anger she had and
said, "Well, his face was priceless. It couldn't hurt to have one."

Ranma noticed the crowd's attention was now focused on Nabiki. "Let's 
get going, while the getting's good," He picked up Akane before she 
could respond and leapt towards the school building as lunch came to a 
close.

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

The bell rang, ending the last class. Wanting to get home as quickly
as possible, Ranma jumped out the second story window with Akane held
firmly in his arms. He proceeded to carry her home, running on the
rooftops.

"Air Ranma, the fastest way to travel in Nerima," Akane giggled, holding
Ranma tightly.

"Yeah, less traffic this way," replied Ranma.

After a moment, Ranma landed at the front door of the Tendo home. He set
Akane down on to her feet.

"It's not so bad to travel that way," said Akane.

"Not so bad for you, but murder on me." Ranma tried to catch his breath.

"Fine, next time I carry you," Akane said playfully, missing the 
possible comment about her weight.

"I'd rather not."

"Why not?"

"How does it look for some girl to carry a guy around town while running
like that?"

"Who said you were going to be a guy at the time?" Akane's started to 
get angry.

Before Ranma could reply Kasumi appeared and said, "Oh good. You're home
already. We need to get you into your wedding dress. Ranma, your suit is
in your old room." She grabbed Akane's arm and rushed upstairs.

"Guess I'd better get ready," Ranma commented to himself, a bit thankful
of not having to finish the conversation with Akane. 

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

Kasumi dragged Akane to her room so she could be fitted into her wedding
dress. Akane was surprised to see Nabiki already there.

"You're finally here," Nabiki said.

"How did you get here before me?" Akane asked as she started to get out
of her school uniform.

"I skipped my afternoon classes after I found out a couple details were
being overlooked."

"What details?"

"Things like dresses for the bridesmaid."

"Bridesmaids? I forgot I needed bridesmaids."

"Don't worry, I'm sure a couple will show up."

"What about you two?"

"Can't. I've got to take photos and make sure the guests behave
themselves."

"I'll be busy to busy with the reception. Why don't you ask your
friends?" Kasumi replied.

"I hope I get the chance to ask someone," Akane said as Kasumi and 
Nabiki helped her put the wedding dress on. The dress was a bit more 
elaborate than the one she wore at the bombed wedding. 

"How come this isn't the same dress I wore at the last attempt?"

"The last one was a rental. This one, however, is yours. I'm pretty sure
you will be married this time," Nabiki replied.

"Well, if this fails, I guess we'll have to elope."

"That's the spirit," Nabiki said.

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

Ranma went upstairs to his old room and found the door locked.  he thought and noticed a sign on the door, "Guys dressing 
room." He shrugged and then knocked at the door. A second later the door
unlocked and opened a little. Ryoga peeked through the door, saw Ranma,
grabbed him, pulled him into the room, and shut and locked the door.
Ryoga was mostly into his tux while Mousse, fully deck out in his tux,
adjusted something under his cloths. A white suit hung neatly in the
nearly empty closet. Ranma spent a minute staring at it.

"It's not going put itself on you," Ryoga said as he started to tie his
bow tie. 

"It did last time," Ranma replied, a bit dazed as the realization hit 
him of what he's about to do.

"That was because it was forced. This time you're doing this because you
want to."

"Uh, yeah. Is everything set up?" Ranma asked.

"Pretty much, your mom is still working on food for the reception. All 
we need now is to get you and Akane ready," Ryoga answered.

"That's good." 

Ranma quickly got dressed in his suit, straightening it out. Ryoga was
still trying to tie his bow tie. 

Ranma saw Ryoga's frustrated look, "Here, let me help you." 

"I can do it," Ryoga snarled.

"Not the way you're doing it. Just let me help."

Ryoga growled, but resigned to let Ranma help him tie it properly. 
"There, perfect," said Ranma with a grin.

Ryoga looked in the mirror. "I guess, but do these things need to be so
tight?" The bow tie was tied tighter than it needed to be.

"With these cloths, looks are more important than comfort," Ranma 
replied.

"You can say that again," Mousse commented, still trying to adjust
something inside his tuxedo. "These things give little room to hide
weapons."
 
"You hid weapons in your tux?" Ranma asked, giving Mousse a confused
look.

"Of course, there is still a good chance hostility will commence and it
would not do for me to be without some of my weapons."

"I guess," Ranma said, shaking his head.

"If your too uncomfortable, you might want to remove some of your
weapons," Ryoga suggested.

"I'll be fine. I'm considering it endurance training," replied Mousse.

"Excellent! With an attitude like that, you'll make a great martial
artist," Ranma grinned.

"But I am a great martial artist," said Mousse

"No, you're a decent martial artist. You're far from being a great 
martial artist," countered Ranma with a grin.

"I'll show you," Mousse growled angrily.

"Later! Right now we have to him married," interrupted Ryoga.  

"Right. I'm hungry, let's go grab a snack," said Ranma.

"Sure!" Ryoga and Mousse replied.

The trio left the dressing room, heading for the kitchen.

"Hi, Mom," Ranma said.

"My, do you look handsome," Nodoka said with smile.

"Thanks, I was wondering if we can grab a snack."

"Certainly. And once you finished, you can greet the guests." 

"Do I have to?" Ranma moaned.

"Someone has to. Besides, what else are you going to do for the next
hour?"

"Fine. We greet the guests," Ranma replied.

After Ranma, Ryoga, and Mousse made short work of their snacks, they 
went to the front gate and prepared to meet the guests. As they got there, they saw Ukyou and Konatsu enter the gate. Ukyou wore a tuxedo 
while Konatsu wore a very nice, pink and white kimono.

"Ucchan! It's good to see you. Thanks for coming," Ranma greeted 
happily, though tainted with a touch of sadness since Ukyou looked ready 
to cry.

"It's good to see you too. I wouldn't miss your wedding for anything,
even though I wanted to be the bride," Ukyou replied. This comment 
raised the eyebrows of an elderly couple coming up from behind them. 
"Um, do you think Akane needs any help?" asked Ukyou.

"I'm sure she'll appreciate any help you can offer. She's in her room
getting ready," Ranma replied. After Ukyou left, Ranma turned to 
Konatsu. "How's she taking it?"

"Fine, I think. Until Nabiki stopped by, I thought she was going to shut
down completely and emotionally die. Afterwards, she seemed better, but
still a bit sedated."

"I hope she's all right. You can wait in the dojo for the wedding," 
Ranma said as he prepared to meet the unfamiliar couple behind Konatsu. 
"Hello, I'm Saotome Ranma, can I help you?"

"So you're going to marry our granddaughter," said the elderly man
gruffly.

"Don't mind him," interjected the elderly woman. "He can be rude a lot 
of the time. We're Akane's grandparents and we are here to see the wedding." 

"Pleased to meet you," said Ranma with a bow, thinking, 

"Pleased to meet you," returned the woman with a bow. The man did not
respond. She gave him the evil eye. "I would like to see Akane and help
her if I can."

"Certainly." As the woman left, Ranma turned to look at Akane's 
grandfather who was examining him closely.  
he thought sarcastically.

"What was with that couple before us, and why did you refer to the guy 
in tux as she?" asked the elderly man.

"It's a long story, but the person in the tux is a girl. She was raised
as a guy."

"Why did she want to marry you?"

"Because she loves me, the problem is I'm in love with Akane."

"And Akane loves you?"

"If she didn't, we wouldn't be here now."

"How can we be sure of that?"

"Well, she not screaming in protest and isn't destroying anything."

"She tends to be violent at times?"

Ranma nodded.

The man laughed, "Just like her grandmother." He made a quick move and
grabbed Ranma's jaw, surprising the youth. The man examined Ranma's
teeth.

"What ya do that for?" Ranma yelled as he broke loose of the man's hold.

"Nice teeth, could keep better care of them though."

"What are ya, a dentist?"

"Horse breeder." 

The man left for the dojo, laughing. Mousse was also laughing, while
Ryoga and Ranma apparently missed the joke.

"What's so funny?" Ranma demanded.

"He made a play on your name. For when a person buys a horse, the buyer
checks the teeth to help judge its value."

"Oh funny," Ranma wasn't amused.

"It is funny, wished I knew the joke earlier," Ryoga chuckled.

 thought Ranma as he spent the next several
minutes greeting nondescript friends, a relative, and a couple more
soon-to-be relatives.

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

Akane had been trying to stand still while her sisters made some
alterations to the wedding dress. Akane was a bit relieved when someone
knocked at the door.

"Who is it?" asked Akane.

"Ukyou," replied the voice from behind the door. Akane and Nabiki 
tensed.
 
"Enter." Akane hoped Ukyou was all right, and was not out to cause 
trouble.

"Hi," Ukyou said meekly as she entered the room.

"Hi. How have you been feeling?" Akane asked with nervous concern.

Ukyou answered, "Lets just say I've been considering asking Ryoga how to
use Shi Shi Hokodan."

"Oh," Akane uttered.

Ukyou asked, "How have you been feeling?"

"Scared, happy, scared, upset, and scared."

"Not to sure about the future are you?"

"Sort of. It's just that so much is changing. I'm afraid I'm going to
lose everything I liked about my childhood. I'm really scared I'll lose
your friendship," Akane replied, nervously.

Ukyou nodded. "I don't want to lose you as a friend either, but it'll be
hard seeing you, knowing it was you who stole my Ranchan's heart."

"I wish that everyone could come out of this happy. But I haven't been
able to figure out how."

"It would've been better if you let me have Ranchan and you took Ryoga."

Akane shook her head. "I know you tried to get me and Ryoga together, 
but he could never be more than a friend. Especially now that I know 
he's also P-Chan."

"Damn," muttered Nabiki. Ukyou looked shocked. 

 Akane thought, scowling at Nabiki.

"No chance of you changing your mind and calling off the wedding?" Ukyou
asked.

"None," replied Akane, testily.

"It was worth a shot. Um, Is there anything I could do to help?"

 Akane answered, "Well I was wondering if you could be my maid
of honor?"

"Me? Why?"

"Because your one of my closest friends, and it would mean a lot to me."

"You want me to be your maid of honor? Despite the fact I've tried to
take Ranchan from you and I helped destroy the last wedding attempt."

"Yes, if Ranma can have Ryoga as his best man despite their past, why
can't you be my maid of honor?"

"I... It would be an honor," Ukyou answered, not sure of the wisdom of
her choice.

"Thank you," Akane smiled.

Another knock was heard at the semi-closed door. "Who is it?"

"Hello, Akane. It's been a long time," said the voice from the now open
door.

"Grandma!" cried the three sisters.

"It has been a long time," said Akane.

Akane's grandmother hugged Akane.

"How are you?"

"Scared mostly."

"We all get scared before our own wedding. Getting married is about
changing your relationship with someone you love. And it's human nature
to fear change, even if, at the same time, we want it."

Nabiki picked up a dress that was on Akane's bed and went over to Ukyou.
She handed Ukyou the dress and whispered something to her. Ukyou left
with the dress.

"Knowing that still doesn't help reduce my fears," Akane said.

"I know, but it helps confront them. I am concerned if it's wise to have
the groom greeting guests at the gate, he might get cold feet decide to
run off."

"Not likely. Ranma isn't one to run away from his obligations nor from
fear."

"Unless it's a cat," added Nabiki, earning an angry glare from Akane.

"From a cat?"

"It's a long story."

"Oh," Akane's grandmother replied. "Um, was the person that was just 
here a girl or a guy?"

"Ukyou is a girl, she's just raised as guy."

"Does her date know that?"

Akane laughed, "That would be Konatsu. He's a guy raised as a girl."

Akane's grandmother blinked and said, "You certainly know some
interesting people."

"You haven't really heard or seen anything yet," Nabiki said.

They went into small talk and worked on getting Akane ready.

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

The moment Ranma had been dreading most arrived in the form of an Amazon
with purple hair and her great-grandmother.

"Hi, Shampoo," said Ranma, failing to sound enthusiastic.

"Hello. Shampoo here to see Ranma's wedding. Shampoo will cause no
problems. Shampoo hope Ranma happy with violent girl."

"Thanks. And thank you for coming. I'm sure I'll be happy with Akane." 

"Shampoo my love, I shall soon prove my worth to be your husband," 
elated Mousse to a nearby bush.

Shampoo responded with her bonbori to Mousse's skull.

"Come granddaughter, we don't want miss getting good seats," Cologne 
said.

"Can we trust them?" asked Ryoga.

Mousse shook his head as he tried to regain his senses and replied, 
"They cannot interfere now. While losing Ranma as a husband will cause 
loss of honor, stopping the wedding or hurting Akane can be severely 
punished because of her situation."

"What situation would that be?" asked Hiroshi as he and Daisuke entered
the gate.

"I think Ranma hasn't been telling us everything that's been going on,"
said Daisuke.

"Uh... he just means that we have admitted our love to each other, 
that's all," Ranma replied nervously. 

Ryoga was confused. Mousse looked away.

"Right," said Hiroshi and Daisuke, sounding unconvinced.

"Well it's nice to see ya here. The wedding is in the dojo, you better
hurry for a good seat," Ranma suggested.

 Ranma thought as yet another unfamiliar 
couple entered the gate.  he thought before he said, "Hi. I'm Saotome 
Ranma, can I help you?"

"So this is our grandson," stated the older man who stood almost as tall
as Genma. He had a similar build, but was not nearly well fed. He had
many wrinkles.

"Hello, you might not remember us, but we're your grandparents," said 
the small woman. 

A big sweet formed on Ranma's head.

"Mom," was heard from the other side of the wall. Genma and Soun 
appeared at the gate and carried a large box. "Tendo take the box in, 
and get Nodoka." Soun nodded and ran into the house with the box.

"Still married to her?" asked Ranma's grandmother.

"O-of course I'm still married to her," replied Genma.

"I thought I trained you better than that. You shouldn't have married so
young if you didn't mean to swindle the girl out of her family fortune."

"Excuse me?!" screeched Ranma. "What are you talking about?"

"You didn't even train your son in the ways of the quiet thief," Ranma's 
grandmother said, shaking her head. She looked at Ranma and said, "My 
family is suppose to be trained in the art swindling others out of 
money. To rob potential suitors of all their worth before settling 
down."

"He certainly practiced it," chided Mousse.

"He has?" asked grandma Saotome with a bit of hope.

"Until recently he had three fiancees," Mousse replied.

"Shut up. I did not swindle them!" Ranma yelled.

"Could of fooled me," stated Ryoga.

"I hardly see free food as swindling them," snarled Ranma.

"The way you eat, I'd say it was," retorted Mousse.

"How about the practice of the noisy thief?" asked Ranma's grandfather.

"Noisy thief?" Ranma growled.

"You know the art of distracting the target and steal from them when 
they aren't paying attention."

Ranma shook his head no and thought, 

Nodoka interrupted, "Ah... hello. It's, ah, good to see you again. 
Genma, why don't we show your parents to the dojo?" She thought as she 
guided them to the dojo,  

Ranma closed his eyes and tried to regain some composure.

"H-hello Akari," Ryoga stuttered.

"Hi. It's good to see ya," Ranma said.

"Hello Ryoga, Ranma. I'm as excited as a pig at feeding time. I've never
been to a friend's wedding before," Akari chirped.

"Well, now's your chance," Ranma said, ginning.

"Is there anything I could do to help?" asked Akari.

"You can go upstairs and ask Akane and the others if they need help."

"Thanks," Akari said as she ran into the Tendo home.  

After seeing Akari vanish into the Tendo home, Ranma froze at the sound
of insane laughter. "Hello Ranma-sama, I hear you decided to marry that
violent wench, Akane," Kodachi said as she appeared at the gate with
Sanzenin Mikado.

"I don't remember inviting either of you," Ranma gruffly said.

"A minor oversight, I'm sure. Do not worry, I will not interfere with
this wedding."

"And I'm just here as her date," added Mikado.

"You didn't bring Azusa, did you?" Ryoga asked.

"No, I left her at a toy store where the girl working there had the gall
to slap me."

"Poor girl," said Ryoga and Ranma, thinking of the store clerk.

"All right, you can be at the wedding. But do anything wrong and you'll
be sent to the hospital. Understand?"

"Of course, Ranma-sama," Kodachi said.

"I am not one to cause problems," Mikado said.

"The wedding is in the dojo," Ranma said.

As Kodachi and Mikado left for the dojo, Ranma rolled his eyes at the
sight of the next guest. "The sorrow of losing one's love is great. To
loss her to some evil sorcerer is far worse," Kuno elaborated.

"Be quiet Kuno-sempai, or you'll miss the wedding," snarled Ranma.

"I shall not miss the wedding of Tendo Akane for any reason."

"Then go to dojo and wait, okay," Ranma demanded.

"For the sake of Tendo Akane, I shall do as you say."

"Jerk," mumbled Ranma.

"Aloha Ranma," said the patriarch of the Kuno clan.

"Hello Principal Kuno. It's, ah, good that you could make it."

"I hope marryin' Akane will cure you of your delinquent ways."
 
"Fat chance of that," Ryoga remarked.

"Grrr. The wedding is in the dojo, please go there and wait," Ranma 
said. Once Principal Kuno was out of ear shot, he said, "I can't take 
much more of this."

"You don't have to. It's time to take your places. The wedding is about
to begin," Nabiki announced from the doorway of the Tendo home. She held 
a stack of cards in her hand.




			---------------------------------------
			*Chapter 5 - Meet Mr. and Mrs. Saotome*
			---------------------------------------


-------------------------------------------------
Note: This chapter has a couple footnotes. (#) marks where a footnote occurs. Footnotes are explained in the Author's Notes.
-------------------------------------------------

Ranma and Nabiki made their way into the dojo. It was packed. There were
so many people there, that some of the guests could not get seats. Ranma
wondered how some of them even got there. He didn't remember greeting
Pantyhose Tarou nor the Gambler King at the gate. He didn't even 
remember inviting them. Ranma nervously made his way up to the minister. 
He saw that Nabiki was greeting some of the guests, the ones most likely 
to cause trouble. She handed each of them a card. Each of the recipients
looked rather upset as they read the cards, as each card offered a
personalized threat of what would happen if they stopped the wedding.
After the final card was delivered, Nabiki signaled Genma to start
playing the wedding march on the rented sound system.

Ranma thought,  He took a deep breath.  (1)

The guests turned to see the door to the dojo open. Standing at the door
were Mousse and Akari, who started to walk towards him. Ryoga and Ukyou
followed them. Finally, Soun and Akane walked down the isle. 

Ranma's eyes lost focus on everything but Akane.  was
the only coherent thought he had during the time it took Akane to walk
across the dojo. He barely registered the minister's words at the start
of the ceremony.

The minister began, "Who is it that gives away the bride?"

Soun bowed slightly. His voice was unusually calm, "I do."

The minister continued, "We are gathered here today, to witness this man
and this woman join in the bonds of holy matrimony. Brought together by
kami, love, and... an arrangement by meddling fathers?"

Ranma registered this phrase and looked at the minister with 
bewilderment. Akane giggled and whispered to Ranma, "Nabiki added some
special touches."

Ranma sighed and attempted to regain control and have a 'soul of ice.'

Akane was thankful that Nabiki added those special touches. Akane felt
that was just what she needed something to help keep her from becoming
too nervous and make some kind of mistake.

The minister shook his head and said, "Let no man..."

A man interrupted, "I am Draco, a prince of an ancient kingdom, and I
have come to wed this woman of great power."  He finished his statement
by pointing at Akane, and the guests gasped in shock. Ranma responded
with chi blast that sent Draco out the door and knocked him out cold.

Minister continued nervously, "...woman..."

A woman's voice interrupted, "I can not allow this wedding to take 
place, for I am promised to Ranma by an arrangement made by my father 
and Saotome Genma."

To which Genma big sweats while Ranma, Akane, and many of the guests
scowled at him. Nodoka touched the hilt of her katana. 

Ukyou said angrily, "Sit down, shut up, and join the Ranma ex-fiancee
club. You're member number 4 or 5."

Woman asked, "And you are?"

Ukyou replied, "Ukyou, member number 2, I think."

Woman asked, "The engagement is off?"

Ranma intoned, "Yes."

Woman sighed and said, "Oh good. I didn't want to get married anyway."
She turned and walked off.

The minister, becoming very nervous, squeaked, "...beast..."

A dragon stuck his head and some of his neck through the door frame and
said, "Ah, there is a lot of fresh meat here." The guests shook in
fright.

Before the dragon could strike, a group of old bald guys shouted, "Get
it. It's a dragon with hair." 

The dragon looked at the old men and screeched, "Oh no! Not them." The
dragon flew off, chased by the bald men. Some of the late arrivals sat
down at the seats the old men previously sat at. (2)

The minister, with huge sweat-drops on his head, gasped, "...demon..."

A monstrous black demon climbed out of a hole that opened in the middle
of the dojo and yelled, "Your souls shall be mine!"

Kuno attacked it with a glowing sword that formed in his hand at the
appearance of the demon, and announced, "By honor and by rights, I, Kuno
Tatewaki, must uphold the family duty to cleanse this world of all
demons." That said, Kuno word split the demon into two pieces. The demon
and sword disappeared. Everyone stared at him in shock.

The minister was very pale and muttered, "...nor any other living..."

A small girl bounded into the dojo and shouted, "Marie, give Marie back
to Azusa!" She pulled on Ranma's suit and then noticed Ryoga and
screeched, "Charlotte!" Ryoga booted Azusa out of the dojo.

Minister was white as a ghost and stammered, "...or unliving being..."

A gray humanoid phantom creature appeared next to Ranma, and Gosunkugi
whispered, "Kill him." Akane saw it and punched at the phantom but
screamed in pain as she connected. Gosunkugi, horrified at her scream,
dispelled his first true attempt at magic.

Most of the guests were in state of shock and bewilderment. Ranma held
Akane's hand, but she took it away and said, "I'm fine." She rubbed her
hand and turned to the minister and said, "You may continue."

"...put asunder the bonds that tie these two together," the minister
continued as he thought,  He
proceeded to forget what just happened and said, "Saotome Ranma, do you
take Tendo Akane to be your lawfully wedded wife. Through sickness and 
in health, for richer or for poorer, to save her from KIDNAPPINGS?... 
ahh, until death do you part?"

"I do," Ranma replied with a grin.

Ranma's grin quickly turned into a look of shock and anger when he heard
Ryoga say "I do" from behind him. He turned and scowled at Ryoga, as
Akane and Akari gave Ryoga the evil eye. The guests that had not lost
their mind yet looked either disgusted, angry, or confused. 

Ryoga shrank back, meekly saying, "Gomen nasai, very sorry."

The poor minister wanted to get this over with quickly so he could get 
to the sake. So, he resumed the ceremony before everyone could settle 
back down. 

The minister turned to Akane and said, "Tendo Akane, do you take Saotome
Ranma to be your lawfully wedded husband. Through sickness and in heath,
for richer and for poorer, as a man and... a... WOMAN?... eh... until
death do you part?"

Akane giggled, "I do."

Akane saw Ranma scowl at Nabiki. The guests were completely confused,
numb and/or shocked at proceedings. If anyone had looked at Ukyou, they
would notice that she mouthed an, "I do".

The minister thought, 
He then said, "It is time to present the rings."

Ryoga got the ring from Mousse and then handed it to Ranma, and Ukyou
took the ring from Akari and handed it to Akane. Ranma and Akane held 
out the rings.

Minister spoke, "May the powers that be bless these symbols of the love
these two share, forever showing the bond between them." The minister
turned toward Ranma and said, "Place the ring on her finger and repeat
after me. With this ring I thee wed."

Ranma, finally gaining the 'soul of ice,' responded, "With this ring, I
thee wed."

The minister continued, "To love, to cherish, and to encourage without
insult, from this day forth."

"To love, to cherish, and to encourage without insult, from this day
forth." Ranma rather meekly said with the 'without insult' part as he
gently pushed the ring up Akane's finger.

Minister thought,  The minister
turned toward Akane and said, "Place the ring on his finger and repeat
after me. With this ring I thee wed."

Akane's voice cracked as she said, "With this ring I thee wed."

"To love, to honor, and to listen to him before bludgeoning, from this
day forth," continued the minister.

"To love, to honor, and to listen to him before bludgeoning, from this
day forth," Akane said with a similar note of meekness with her part of
the changed vow.
 
Minister thought,  He then said,
"If there is any one here who has reason for these two people not to be
wed, speak now or forever hold your peace." The minister looked up from
the reading the customized wedding vows. He emitted an, "Eep," as he
noticed Ranma glowing with a battle aura with a look that said, "You
speak, you die." Akane didn't notice as she cast a similar gaze to the
guests that said, "Don't you dare." The guests were either confused,
scared, or unmoved.

The minister said nervously, "Ahh, I now pronounce you husband and wife.
You may kiss the bride."

Ranma leaned forward and kissed Akane for what seemed an eternity. 

Minister finished, "It is my, ahh, pleasure to present Mr. and Mrs.
Saotome. All right, where is the sake? I need a drink." Those guests 
that retained some of their mind cheered.

Ranma and Akane finally ended their kiss.  Ranma and Akane
thought in unison as they stared into each other's face.

Nabiki cheered, "All right, Sis! Now hold that pose. We need to get a 
lot of wedding photos."

With the ceremony over, the guests began to recover from the unusual
proceedings. Ranma and Akane posed for several photos with and without
the other members of the bridal party and/or guests as various family 
and friends burned through rolls of film.

Nabiki asked, "All right let's get a couple photos of you two kissing."

They started to kiss again. Nabiki took only a couple photos before she
pulled out a water gun from hiding and shot Ranma in the back of the
head. Several guests were shocked to see Ranma shrink and turn into a
girl. Many of them just lost their mind completely. Ranma apparently did
not notice until she heard a commotion from the guests.


Akane's grandmother screeched, "What is going on here?"

Various students of Furinkan High cheered.

Kodachi stammered, "Where did Ranma go?"

Kuno replied, "The pig-tailed girl is the vile deceiver, Saotome Ranma."

Kodachi asked in shock, "What? How can this be?"

Mikado also in shock asked, "You don't mean that she is really a guy?"

Kuno replied to Mikado, "That is precisely what the great Kuno Tatewaki
means."

"Eh... Excuse me." A green hue covered Mikado's face, as he got up and 
ran out the dojo.

Minister shouted, "Kami-sama! Where is that sake!?"

Akane's grandfather said, "Let me join you." A number of guests, some of
whom don't drink, nodded in agreement to join in.


Ranma broke off from his kiss as he suddenly realized he was now a she.
She felt the water in her hair and turned to see that Nabiki was the
culprit.

Ranma screamed, "What ya do that for!?" She moved toward Nabiki, but was
held back by her collar by Akane.

Akane said, "Relax Ranma. It wouldn't hurt to get a couple photos of
you in that form."

Ranma tried to relax a bit, for Akane, and started to straighten out her
suit.  She noticed that her wedding ring no longer fit, and put it in 
her pocket. Akane noticed that several of the guests looked at Ranma in 
shock and horror. 

Akane said nervously, "Oh... Um... This is still Ranma. He was cursed in
China to turn into a girl when splashed with cold water. He'll turn back
with hot water." This relaxed some of the guests, but Akane could tell
they were very uneasy.

Ranma said, "We'll get someone to explain this. Can we get the photos
done with?"

Several more photos were taken, some with the wedding party. Then 
another spray of water came from the guests. This time it hit Ryoga. 
Everyone gasped in amazement either at the best man made best pig or the 
person with the water gun.

Akane gasped, "Kasumi!?"

Kasumi said meekly, "Gomen, I just wanted to do that for such a long
time."

Ranma asked, "Why didn't you?"

Kasumi replied, "I promised father I wouldn't tell."

Soun cried, "She's going to kill me!"

Akane said in an upset tone, "Was I the only one who didn't know? Why
didn't someone tell me?"

Kasumi answered, "Because father saw him as a means to see how much 
Ranma cared for you. If Ranma was jealous of P-Chan, all was well. If 
not, he had to come up with a plan to get you together again. I did not 
agree with it, but I had promised."

Akari thought, 

Nodoka thought, 

Akane stared evilly at her father, but eased up at Ranma's touch.

Ranma said, "We should take some pictures with P-Chan." She picked up
P-Chan and handed him to Akane and posed for a couple more shots. Ranma
then asked, "Have enough pictures yet?"

Nabiki replied, "I guess."

Gosunkugi asked, "Um, could I get one of you two kissing... as you are
now?"

Ranma and Akane glared at him.

"Come on it'll be the last photo," Nabiki encouraged. 

Akane gave in and said, "I guess."

Ranma thought, 

Ranma kissed Akane once again, but for the first time, starting it as a
girl. She felt a little self-conscious at first but soon went into a
passionate kiss as she noticed Akane had no apprehensions about it.

Ranma asked, "You really don't mind the curse, do you?"

Akane whispered, "Nope. I fell in love with you, not your body. Besides,
it means we can have lots more fun later." She gave him a wink.

Ranma stood there slack jawed.

Akane asked, "Nabiki, why don't you start explaining... about this."

---------

Nabiki began to tell the tale of how Ranma got cursed, but to Ranma's 
and Akane's displeasure several of the guests proceeded to relate 
several of the events of the past year and a half. Most of the guests 
remained behind to hear about the interesting life they led. Ranma and 
Akane were led to the dining room of the Tendo home. Akari took Ryoga to 
the bath so he could change back. Ranma got a teakettle and had changed 
back. The newlyweds watched Kasumi set up a table with food for the 
reception.

Tables and chairs had been set up outside. All those involved in
preparing the wedding thanked to the powers that be for the unusually 
warm and pleasant weather.

Ranma said, "This day seems so perfect."

Akane smiled, "Yes, it seems like some higher being planned on us being 
married today."

"Yeah, well I thought the wedding would have more problems, especially
with so many uninvited guests."

"More problems?" Akane screeched.

"Yeah. Everything that showed up only lasted a couple seconds."

"Anything worse and the wedding might have been stopped," she said with 
a tinge of anger.

"Maybe I just wanted to protect Tendo Akane a bit more. After all I've
got a lifetime to protect Saotome Akane," he said with a grin.

Akane, moved by Ranma's words, gave him that smile that always melted 
his heart and she started to kiss him passionately.

They broke it off when they heard someone clear their throat. Cologne 
and Shampoo stood before them. 

Cologne said, "Congratulations Akane, you've won a very difficult battle 
for Ranma's heart."

"Um, thanks." she replied.

"For this victory, I feel you have earned the right to be an honorary
member of the Amazon tribe."

Shampoo screamed, "NO! Akane deserve no such honor. Great-grandmother
only make violent girl Amazon to save face."

Cologne scowled at Shampoo and said, "Now, calm down granddaughter, you
know Akane has shown Amazon spirit in the past. It is only fitting that
the one who married Ranma be an Amazon if not blood, then in name."

Shampoo only nodded her head in reply. Cologne turned to Akane and
said, "Welcome to the Amazon tribe, Akane."

Akane stuttered, "I... I... don't know what to say."

Ranma asked, "This isn't going to come back and haunt us. Will it?"

Cologne responded, "The only thing that will be asked of Akane is that
she tries to live by our laws and if the Amazon tribe is in trouble, she
will come and help."

Akane replied, "I don't know about following the laws, but if you need
help, I'll be there."

Ranma corrected, "No. We'll be there."

Cologne smiled a devilish grin and said, "That is all I could really ask
for. Thank you." She bowed to the couple.

Shampoo asked, "How? How did violent girl steal husband's heart? Shampoo 
love Ranma. Shampoo make better wife than violent girl. Why Ranma marry
violent girl and not Shampoo?"

Akane was at loss of words.

Ranma answered, "Shampoo, the reason why I married Akane is because I...
love her."

Shampoo retorted, "But Ranma love Shampoo!"

Ranma responded, "I don't love you. I like you as a friend, but I do not
love you. Do you understand?"

Shampoo said sheepishly, "No. Shampoo no understand, but will accept. If
Ranma love pervert girl more than Shampoo... Ranma should have pervert girl."

Akane said, "Shampoo... ahh... I would like us all to be friends."

Shampoo replied, "Shampoo no know if can be friends.... Shampoo will 
try. Congratulations, Shampoo hope Ranma and Akane happy."

"Thanks," responded the newlyweds.

Shampoo then added, "But if no make Ranma happy, Shampoo will make
pervert girl pay!"

Akane promised, "I'll do my best to make him happy. You have my word on
that."

"Ranma, one more thing. Can I see your wedding ring?" Cologne asked.

"Why?" Ranma asked suspiciously.

"I brought with me a magic oil that will allow it to resize when you 
switch forms."

"Um, okay." Ranma wasn't sure to trust Cologne, but Mousse said they 
couldn't do anything anymore. 

Ranma handed Cologne the ring, and she put it inside a flask. She then 
shook it. After that, she carefully removed the ring and cleaned it. 
Cologne then handed the ring back to Ranma. Akane took the ring and 
slipped it back onto Ranma's finger.

"Thanks, hopefully it'll work," Ranma said.

"Your welcome," Cologne replied.

Cologne and Shampoo bowed to the couple and returned to the dojo. 

A moment later, Ranma's grandparents arrived, followed by Nodoka with 
her hand on her katana.

Ranma's grandfather said nervously, "Ah... Congratulations. Wish we 
could stay longer, but we, ah, need to be somewhere else." He cast a 
worried glance toward Nodoka.

Ranma's grandmother bowed and said, "Congratulation. I wish you all the 
best. I would like you to consider teaching your children in the family 
art."

Nodoka replied, "They will teach them the family art of Anything Goes
Martial Arts."

Ranma nodded and said, "Yes."

Nodoka said, "It is too bad you have to leave, NOW. Let me show you the
way out."

Ranma's grandparents nervously nodded and left with Nodoka.

Akane asked, "What was that about?"

Ranma nervously said, "Um... They practice the art of, um... thievery."

Akane rolled her eyes and said, "Oh great."

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

Akari sat in the changing room of the bath and waited for Ryoga to 
finish getting dress. He finally finished with the exception of the bow 
tie.

Akari demanded, "Now would you care to explain why you said 'I do' 
during the wedding?"

Ryoga stuttered, "It's, ah, well, ah... I..."

Akari chided, "You love her, don't you?"

Ryoga could only nod, while Akari fumed.

Ryoga said, "I'm sorry. I haven't gotten over how I feel about her. I
want to put that behind me, but I can't. Part of me will always want to
be with her. But I want to be with you now. Please forgive me."

Akari asked, "You're not using me to try and forget her, are you?"

Ryoga replied, "No. I wouldn't do that. When you came into my life I
still thought I had a chance with Akane. I was torn between you two, I
couldn't decide. I felt drawn to you because you accepted me for who I
was, curses and all. Because of you, I could finally realize that Ranma
and Akane belong together."

"Are you with me only because I accept you as a pig?" she questioned.

"No. I'm with you because you're kind, caring, nice, cute, and
understanding. I want us to be together. Please forgive me."

"I... I forgive you. Now let's return go back, my cute little pig." she
said with a grin to the last couple words, but Ryoga wondered if all was
truly forgiven.

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

Ukyou ran out of the dojo, followed by Konatsu. They ran past Ranma and
Akane and went upstairs. Ukyou went into Nabiki's room and locked the
door behind her.

Konatsu asked, "Ukyou are you all right?"

Ukyou replied, "No. I can't take much more of this. I... I want to go
home."

"Okay, we'll go home now."

Ukyou screamed, "We'll leave as soon as I get out of this damn dress!"

Akane and Ranma arrived upstairs. Konatsu answered the worried looks of
the newlyweds with his own.

Ranma asked, "What's wrong?"

Konatsu replied, "Today has been too much for her. We'll be leaving as
soon as she finished changing."

Ranma asked, "Ucchan are you okay?"

Ukyou exited Nabiki's room, her tux had been put on in haste and said,
"I'm not okay Ranma, and please call me Ukyou for now. That other name
reminds me of too much."

Ranma responded, "If that's what you want."

"It is. I... I've got to go," she said as tears weld up into her eyes.

Ukyou ran out of the Tendo home, Konatsu following closely behind.

Akane whispered, "I hope she'll be all right."

Ranma added, "I hope so to."

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

A couple hours passed as the guests listened to the stories of some of
the events that occurred in the past year and a half. Ranma and Akane
recovered a little from their encounter with Ukyou. During this time 
some of the guests congratulated the newlyweds. After the stories were 
told the guests proceeded to make for the food, and the dojo was 
converted into a dance hall. The minister had been sent home, completely 
drunk. 

Once the starving guests had decimated the food table, they either went
to the dojo to dance or stayed at the tables outside to talk.

The first dance went to Ranma and Akane. The guests watched as they
swayed to the music. They were not actually dancing, as neither of them
knew how, so they tried to fake it. Afterwards the guests started to
dance. First among those on the dance floor were Nodoka and Genma, Ryoga
and Akari, and Mikado and Kodachi. Ranma and Akane returned to the
dining room.

Mousse nervously approached Shampoo and said, "Shampoo, my love. May I
have the pleasure of this dance?"

"I believe that is Shampoo," Yuka replied, giggled while she pointed at
the purple-haired amazon. Mousse pulled his glasses to his eyes.

Mousse meekly said, "Sorry." He went over to Shampoo, now actually
wearing his glasses, and asked, "Shampoo, my love. May I have the
pleasure of this dance?"

Shampoo screamed her reply, "NO! Shampoo will not dance with blind
duck-boy. Shampoo rather be killed by dog!"

Mousse pleaded, "But my love, I am training under Ranma so that I can
earn the right to be your husband. "

Shampoo yelled, "Mousse have no right to be Shampoo's husband. Right
belongs to man who defeats Shampoo in battle. And Mousse is no man!"

Mousse stated, "I shall prove myself to you."

Shampoo continued her rant, "No way can duck prove he man. Duck only 
good for being dinner. Mousse annoy Shampoo anymore, Shampoo cook 
Mousse." When Shampoo finished her statement, she grabbed Mousse and 
threw him through the dojo wall and into the koi pond. She glared at two 
guys who watched the one sided argument and demanded, "What boys looking 
at?"

Hiroshi and Daisuke replied, "Oh... nothing."

"Quack. Quack," was heard from the pond.

Chibi-Ms. Hinako grinned, pulled out a five yen coin, and said, "Now 
that is not the way for a guest to behave at a wedding. Happo Go-en 
Shatsu." 

Shampoo's chi was drained into Ms. Hinako. Ms. Hinako turned into her
beautiful adult form while Shampoo blew into the wall as if she were a
paper doll. Several guys started to fight to ask Ms. Hinako to dance.

Ms. Hinako had other ideas and walked up to Soun and asked, "Greetings
Mr. Tendo, I wonder if you would allow me the pleasure of this dance?"

Soun stuttered, "Su... Sure."

Nabiki looked at her with disgust. The guys who had been fighting 
started to cry.

----
	
Pantyhose looked at Shampoo and said aloud to himself, "Great, now I 
really have to avoid fighting her."

Cologne responded to Pantyhose anyway, "Why? She is a rather beautiful 
young woman, and a great fighter. Also, it would not matter what your 
name is."

Pantyhose glared at Cologne. "I'd rather marry fem-boy than her." 

----

Dr. Tofu did not notice anything. He was busy as he tried to build up
enough courage and self-control to ask Kasumi to dance. 

Kasumi approached and said, "Hello Dr. Tofu."

Dr. Tofu stuttered, "Ka... Kasumi... ah, hi. Nice day isn't it."

Kasumi replied, "Oh my, yes. A perfect day for a wedding."

Dr. Tofu's glasses started to get covered by steam. "Kasumi... would
you... ah, like to... ah..." he attempted to say as he tentatively
stretched out his hand toward the dance floor.

Kasumi took the hint and said, "Dance? I'd love to."

Kasumi led the nervous doctor to the dance floor and began to dance. The
entire time Dr. Tofu barely remained in control, while Kasumi smiled.

Kasumi stated with a smile, "Thank you for the dance."

"You... You're welcomed. Hehe..." he said as his control snapped. He
began to dance away merrily, shouting, "She danced with me! She danced
with me!" The young doctor continued his dance of joy through the dojo
wall, over the wall fence, and into streets. 

Kasumi frowned at the sight, saying sadly, "And he was doing so well."

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

As the evening progressed, many of the guests grew tired and were
preparing to leave. Soun decided now was the time to give Ranma and 
Akane their wedding present. He got all the guests into the dojo and 
then brought Ranma and Akane in. Soun and Genma were standing next to
something covered by a sheet.

Soun shouted, "May I please have your attention?"

The guests quieted down.

Soun began to speak, "This day has been a long time coming. An
arrangement, that was made nearly twenty years ago, for the purpose of
joining the Tendo clan and the Saotome clan, has finally happened on 
this joyful day."

Soun cried tears of joy as Genma continued the speech, "Now that Ranma
and Akane are married, they shall carry on the Anything Goes School of
Martial Arts, as shall their children."

Soun regained his composure and then continued, "As the heirs to our
illustrious school of martial arts, it is my pleasure to give them the
Tendo dojo and home."

Genma removed the sheet to reveal two signs. One stated Saotome Dojo, 
and the other Saotome. Ranma, Akane, and many of the guests were 
stunned. Soun returned to cry for joy.

Ranma final spoke, "The house is ours?!"

Genma replied, "Yes."

Ranma and Akane could not grasp the idea. The dojo and the house 
belonged to them. 

Nabiki added, "And don't worry to much about the expenses. Along with 
the house comes a small amount of money and some stocks in Nerima
Construction Industries. That should be enough to handle most of your
expenses for at least a couple years. Of course you realize that it's 
our turn to freeload off you, Ranma."

Ranma regained a few of his faculties and saw an opportunity to get at
Nabiki and joked, "Ah... Mr. Tendo and Pop can freeload, Kasumi and Mom 
do more than enough house work to earn their place, but you, what do you
offer?"

Nabiki retorted, "Well the meager amount daddy is giving you should last
two years, if you're in control, two months. Let me handle it, and you
might never have to work."

Ranma stuttered, "Um... right. Money advice." Eager to change subjects,
he stated, "I guess we should throw the bouquet and garter now."

A few of the guests cheered their approval. Genma moved the signs out of
the way.

Akane shouted, "All right. Girls first. All you single girls get into 
the middle of the dojo."

Shampoo inquired, "What's going on?"

Cologne answered, "It's an odd western contest. I want you to win this."

Shampoo nodded and joined the mass of girls.

Akane turned her back to the girls and said, "Ready? 1... 2... 3..." 

Akane launched the bouquet over her shoulder. Kodachi and Shampoo jumped
above the girls. Kodachi let loose her ribbon and attempted to snare the
bouquet that was nearly in Shampoo's hands. The ribbon missed its target
and wrapped itself around Shampoo's arms. This prevented Shampoo from
grabbing the bouquet, which landed unmolested into the hands of Kasumi.

"My!" Kasumi said, blushing.

Ranma stated, "Hope Doc gets over his problem soon."

Akane nodded in agreement.

Soun cried for joy, "Another daughter shall soon be married."

Shampoo has broken free of the ribbon and knocked Kodachi senseless. She
returned to Cologne's side and said, "Sorry. Crazy girl prevented 
Shampoo from winning."

Cologne responded, "It's all right. The winner of this contest is 
suppose to be the next person who will be married."

Shampoo blinked and asked, "Then why Great-grandmother want Shampoo to
compete?"

"I wanted to know if you were next to be married."

"Oh. Hope Mousse no win. Mousse get wrong idea."

Ranma shouted, "Okay, guys your turn."

The single guys formed a group in the center. Genma pushed Soun into the
group. Mousse and Ryoga flanked the sides and prepared to snare the
garter. 

Akane sat on a chair that was placed in front of and yet a fair distance
from the guys. Ranma knelt down in front of her. She stretched out her
leg. Ranma moved his hands teasingly up her leg and under her dress.
After a moment as Ranma blindly groped for the garter, Akane whapped him
on the head and said, "That is not the garter." Many growls were heard
from the assembled men. Ranma quickly found garter after that. He 
started to pull it off.

Akane stopped him. "You're suppose to take it off with your teeth."

Many more growls were heard from the assembled guys.

Ranma smiled as he nervously as he ducked his head under the dress. 
Akane momentarily had an odd look on her face and muttered, "I told you 
that's not the garter." The guys, fortunately, did not hear this. 

Ranma ever so slowly pulled the garter down and off her leg with his
teeth. Akane leaned toward Ranma and whispered something, which he
blushed and nodded in reply. He stood up and kept his back to the guys
and said, "Ready?  1... 2... 3..." He stretched the garter and shot it
over his shoulder like a rubber band.

The mass of males shot forth in attempts to grab it. Kuno, Ryoga,
Principal Kuno, Mousse, and Pantyhose all leapt for the garter. A wall
exploded and a flash of movement was seen before the dust obscured the
group of men. As the dust settled the guys were in a massive pile 
wrapped in chains. Only one guy was standing. That guy looked at the 
garter in his hands with a puzzled look. Everyone blinked and looked at 
the guy, he had not been there a moment before. His puzzlement ended 
when he heard someone call his name.

"Dr. Tofu! You're back... and you caught the garter," said Kasumi.

Dr. Tofu turned and saw Kasumi holding the bouquet and stammered, "Y-you
caught the bouquet?" Kasumi nodded and Dr. Tofu promptly fainted with a
smile on his face.

Akane said, "I guess they're destined to be together."

Ranma added, "Yeah, now if only he could keep himself in control."

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

The guests started to leave after congratulating the newlywed couple. By
eleven o'clock only a handful remained. The Saotomes, the Tendos, and
Mousse were cleaning up.

Chibi-Ms. Hinako bowed and said gleefully, "This was a great wedding, to
bad there weren't many fights. I wish you two all the best."

Akane and Ranma replied, "Thanks."

Pantyhose arrived after she left and said, "So fem-boy decided to settle
down."

Akane interjected, "Not really."

Pantyhose laughed and said, "Good luck on your marriage. Oh, Ranma, I'll
be back before I leave for China to beat the crap out of you for old
times sake." He turned around and walked into the koi pond. This
transformed him into his monstrous cursed form and he flew off.

Ranma looked at Pantyhose as he flew away and muttered, "I hate that
jerk."

Principal Kuno approached and said, "You two are excused from school 
fo' the next two days. But, I expect you to be at school bright and 
early Thursday."

Akane replied, "Thank you."

Principal Kuno pulled out a stack of papers and then added, "Here is 
da homework you'll miss, I expect dem to be done Thursday. Oh, an' 
good luck on the marriage." The principal left them while laughing.

Ranma muttered, "Thanks for nothing, jerk."

A moment passed and then Ms. Hinako returned and said, "I forgot to 
give you two your present from the teachers." She proceeded to grab the
homework and mark "A" on each the assignments. "Here you go. Enjoy the
honeymoon," she giggled.

"Th... thanks," stuttered Ranma.

"Thank you, but you shouldn't have..." Akane said before being
interrupted.

"Forget about the homework. You two should have nothing to worry about
for the next couple days. Okay," the child teacher said.

Ranma and Akane nodded in agreement, and Ms. Hinako left for home. After 
a few more guests congratulated the newlyweds and left, only the
Saotomes, the Tendos, and Mousse remained. They had just finished
cleaning. 

Nodoka approached and said, "Well, it is time for us to go."

Akane chirped, "Go?"

Nodoka replied, "Since we can't give you two a proper honeymoon, we'll
give you run of the house for the next two days. We'll be staying at my
house."

Akane blushed and said, "Thank you. And thanks for the helping with the
wedding."

Nodoka smiled. "It was my pleasure."

Ranma added, "See you in a couple days."

Nodoka hugged Ranma and then Akane.

"Tomorrow, I'll be shopping for a new bed for you two as a wedding
present. I was wondering if you wanted just a larger bed or a futon
couch?" Nodoka asked.

Ranma and Akane looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders.

"I guess the futon would be better. It would give us more room," Akane
answered.

Ranma nodded in agreement.

Nodoka nodded, "Okay. I'll see you later. Goodbye."

Ranma and Akane replied, "Goodbye."

Mousse approached and said, "I guess it's time to leave. I'll be back
Thursday afternoon to start training."

Ranma replied, "Sure."

Akane added, "Thank you for helping."

Mousse bowed and said, "You're welcome."

Ranma and Akane said their good-byes to their family and were left alone
at the house. They shut and locked the house up and went upstairs to 
what used to be Akane's room, but now was Akane's and Ranma's room. The 
sign that had been on the door, the duck with Akane's name on it, had 
been removed and replaced with a new sign shaped in the Yin-Yang symbol 
with both their names written on it. 

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

Author's Note:

Thanks to Brent T Neef, David A Tatum, the Rams, and Rea Konecki 
for pre-reading this story. Special thanks to Mark Premo for the 
suggestion of changing the scene where "Let no man, etc.... put asunder" 
by having it interrupted at each point..

This story begins one month after Manga Volume number 38. I have assumed 
that the manga series takes place over the period of about a year and a 
half. (The manga does not advance the characters age or class level.) 
Ranma and Akane are seventeen and are juniors in High School (or in their 
2nd year of the 3-year Japanese High School system.)  Also while most 
Manga events have happened, they may have occurred in a different order. 
(Like Valentine's Day occurred in vol. 34, but occurred in this story ten 
months before end of Manga.) 


************* Marks where a lemon scene takes place. It takes another
half-hour for the characters to start having sex. The scene is the side
story Naked , Alone, and No Place to Go. It is not necessary to read, but
there is some important dialogue that occurs. The dialogue is of sexual
nature. You can email me at archive@mich.com requesting it or go to
www.mich.com/~archive/nakaln.txt (this has yet to be edited since the
first time it was posted on ffml).


If you think Akane is a little sedated in parts of this volume and not 
her normal angry self. You are slightly mistaken. She is angry, but at 
herself and there by cannot release her anger on her normal targets 
(Ranma or representations there of.) Part of her being angry at herself 

is that she took the blame personally that she didn't know Ryoga is
P-Chan, and that is why bacon wasn't being served the next morning. She's 
also being distracted by her approaching wedding and her pregnancy to 
really consider what him being P-Chan means (seeing her naked, held in 
her bussom, etc...) If I was Ryoga, I'd be careful not to do anything 
that could remind her of that. 

Just a note about the 'Mousse/Shampoo' pairing:
Mousse may not end up with Shampoo. This is just a starting point to a
long running plot line that may take years to finish. He may not end up
with Shampoo because she lost to someone else before he could beat her or
he fell in love with someone else. He might win and Shampoo could still 
reject him as Ranma rejected her. Let's not forget that the Ranma crew 
may try to play match maker for these two and help Shampoo love Mousse.

Some of you may think Kodachi gave up too quickly. She knew she was 
losing Ranma for a while. In the story where Ranma had a date with 
Kodachi to go against Kodachi's rival Asuka the White Lily in a contest 
for who had the best boyfriend, Kodachi admitted she knew Ranma didn't 
love her. (BTW: Akane insisted that Ranma went on the date after Asuka 
insulted Ranma's looks.) 


Mr. and Mrs. Saotome - Whose family name to use in a Japanese wedding
are not always easily determined. Ranma and Akane is just such a case.

Ranma is an only child and of an extremely small clan. Only five 
Saotomes were there as guests (Ranma's parents, grandparents and one 
other). This puts a strong importance that Akane takes his name. 
Besides, it is also considered a little unmanly if Ranma took her name 
(Nodoka would not be pleased.) 

Akane has every right, though, to have Ranma take her name. She appears 
to be of a higher social class (though not completely sure about this). 
She also brings more to the marriage - the dojo and house, which is 
theirs versus Ranma's mother's house, which might one day be his.

I decided to go with Saotome for this series. Akane could possibly keep
her name, and Ranma and their children would take his name, but I choose
not to as a means to prevent more confusion.

A Kuno/Nabiki pairing and it is clear that they're suppose to take 
Kuno's name. Kuno is of higher social status, brings more to the 
marriage, and is the first born son. All Nabiki has for her is that she 
wears the wedding dress/kimono.

A Dr. Tofu/Kasumi pairing would be different. Dr. Tofu would take 
Kasumi's name. He appears to only have what he brings to the marriage as 
a plus and maybe he's the eldest son, while Kasumi is the eldest Tendo, 
a girl, and potentially higher in social cast.

Footnotes:

(1) Soul of Ice - This is part of the Hiryu Shoten Ha technique, in 
which you suppress emotional reactions to maintain a cold aura and to 
be able to run in a spiral while being attacked..

(2) Dragon Hair/Bald Men - A cure for baldness is to eat Dragon hair.
There is a group of bald men that want to get the hair by any means. 


It has been noted that Ranma has a little practice in being a noisy 
thief. If you're a thief and someone asked if you were, would you admit 
it? Well, neither would Ranma. Especially when he's only done it to get 
food while training with his dad or applied concepts of it into martial 
arts (Saotome Final Special Attack - Fake an attack, then Run Away!)

    Source: geocities.com/tokyo/fuji/9061/TIC