The Insanity Continues

Volume 3 - Anything Goes Martial Arts Dance Contest


Characters are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, Viz Video, ect..., and are 
used without permission. I'm only borrowing them. I'll return them. I 
can't afford the overdue change Nabiki insists on.

This series deals with a married Ranma and Akane, 
so some sexual references and innuendoes will occur.



			--------------------------------------
			*Chapter 1 - Grabbing Your Dream Date*
			--------------------------------------



Akane's Diary Entry, Monday January 17th.

Hello Diary,

	Today Ranma did something I never expected him to do. He got me a 
white rose and some chocolate for our one week wedding anniversary. To 
say I was shocked at Ranma doing something so sweet is an understatement. 
He instantly got defensive when I asked what he did with my husband, so 
I know it was really him.

	Sorry I didn't write yesterday, it was kind of hectic as Ryoga, 
Akari, Dad, and Ranma's parent were here. Auntie Saotome insisted on 
giving me a cooking lesson. A lesson I wasn't allowed to help with. How 
am I suppose to learn how to cook if I don't practice?

	I'm worried about school tomorrow as Principal Kuno announced he 
has a surprise for us students that we'll just love, which means we're 
going to hate it with a passion. This is just another thing to add to my 
problems there. Ranma and I are still having trouble with some students 
slandering us about me getting pregnant before the wedding. I bet the 
guys doing it are the same ones who kept asking Ranma what I was like in 
bed.

	Still haven't patched things up with Ukyou. I can tell Ukyou is 
feeling guilty about telling the school I'm pregnant. Ranma doesn't want 
to forgive her just yet. He considered Ukyou his best friend and this 
was her third big betrayal. The first was participating in the 
destruction of his mother's house, and the second was when she attacked 
him at the failed wedding attempt. 

	Ranma would've forgiven Ukyou already if she attacked us, but she 
told everyone about one of his secrets instead. Part of the fondation of 
thier relations was that he trusted her enough to tell her his intermost 
secrets, some of those secrets he hasn't even told me. When she went and 
told everyone I was pregnant, which he didn't want anyone to know about, 
Ukyou broke that fondation.

	Ryoga and Akari have moved into Ryoga's house. I saw her drop a 
couple hints that she wants to get married when they were here 
yesterday, but I doubt Ryoga noticed. Of all my friends, I'd only 
encourage these two to get married. Akari would have the same problems 
if she got pregnant now as she would later. All my other friends are in 
school and would end up with a lot of problems if they got pregnant.

	Dad and Ranma's parents went back to Auntie's house last night, so 
it's just me, Ranma, Nabiki, Kasumi, and Mousse here at my home, again.

	I thought the past year and a half was an emotional roller coaster, 
but it has nothing over the past ten days. I'm only now truly adjusting 
to some of the changes. I actually answered to Saotome today. Diary, as 
insane as my life has been so far, I'm sure I'm in for more surprises 
and insanity.

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

The second and third year students of Furinkan High were assembled in 
the auditorium. Ranma yawned as he waited for Principal Kuno to announce 
his surprise. Akane sat next to Ranma, ready to wake him if he fell 
asleep. Most of the other students were worried about the announcement.

"Good morning, Furinkan High," Principal Kuno greeted in English. He 
then said in Japanese, "I have wonderful news for you. Now that Ranma 
has settled down, I can hold an event which you'll all love without fear 
of him and his 'friends' ruining it."

Ranma started to pay a little attention as he was being singled out.

"It is now my pleasure to announce that on January Twenty-ninth, 
Furinkan High will host it's first junior/senior prom."

The students were amazed, stupefied, and generally shocked. Principal 
Kuno was actually doing something they would like.

"Part of the prom will be a dance contest. It will factor into your 
physical education grade."

Some students became upset at this.

"To insure that nothing will ruin the prom. If you are involved in a 
fight at anytime during the prom, you will be disqualify from the dance 
contest and will cause you to have a failing grade for this physical 
education assignment."

Some students were happy with this. Some were upset at the possible lack 
of entertainment. Some were scared they wouldn't get a date.

Ranma and Akane became worried, as neither of them had received less 
than an A in gym, and Principal Kuno had functionally written an F down 
for this assignment. They knew there would be a fight and they would end 
up being part of it. Not to mention they didn't know how to dance.

Ukyou didn't know what to make of it. She no longer had someone she 
would want to take to the dance. Who would she go with?

Nabiki looked at Kuno, who was smiling. It didn't take a psychic to know 
what was going through his mind. He would ask her to the prom. After her 
date, Nabiki wasn't absolutely sure she wanted to go out with him again, 
maybe she could use the prom to her advantage.

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

The students filed out of the auditorium. All had the prom on their 
mind. More precisely, thinking of who they would go with to the prom.

Hiroshi knew who he wanted to ask. The problem was, at least two dozen 
other students wanted to ask her out too. If he was going to ask her, 
now was the time. "Ukyou!" he shouted.

"Yes?" Ukyou replied. Lost in thought, she wondered what he wanted.

Hiroshi gathered up his courage and spit out his question, "I was 
wondering ifyouwouldgowithmetotheprom?" 

Ukyou blinked. She remembered him being at her restaurant numerous 
times, he was one of Ranma's friends, and he seemed, to her, a nice 
enough guy. Most importantly to her, he didn't wear dresses. "Why not?" 
Ukyou shrugged. "Sure, I'll go to the prom with you."

Hiroshi almost fainted. "That's great! I'll stop by your restaurant 
right after school... to talk."

"Well, it's currently closed, but I guess it wouldn't hurt. See you 
then," Ukyou turned and walked back towards class.

Hiroshi stood there, not believing he not only got a date with her, but 
got a date with her to the prom. The five guys behind him weren't happy. 
They would've promptly beat him to a bloody smear, if they didn't know 
Ranma and Akane were standing behind them.

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

It was now lunch, and the cafeteria was extremely noisy as people talked 
about the upcoming prom. The room was packed, as it was raining, and 
friends from different classes wanted to talk to each other.

"Hi," Akane greeted warmly as she sat down next to Sayuri and Yuka.

"Hello, Saotome-chan." Yuka greeted her friendly.

"Hi. I thought you would be eating with your husband," Sayuri said.

"Well, we thought we could use a little time apart. It seems we haven't 
been more than ten feet apart for over a week now."

"You still aren't." Yuka pointed behind Akane. Ranma was sitting with 
Hiroshi and Daisuke two tables down, about seven feet away.

Akane shook her head. "See what I mean? Anyway, what are you two doing 
for the prom?"

"Don't know. No one asked us yet," replied Yuka.

"You're lucky. You know who you're going with," Sayuri said.

"Yeah, but my gym grade is going to take a beating from it," Akane 
replied.

"How so? You and Ranma stand a pretty good chance of winning," Sayuri 
said.

"I have little doubt we could do well in the contest. It's the rule 
against fighting which will be the problem. Somehow, some way, there 
will be a fight, and we will probably be part of it," Akane answered.

"How can there be a fight now?" Yuka asked. "Most fights were over one 
of Ranma's fiancees or between Ranma and you. Now that he married you, 
there shouldn't be a fight." 

"Maybe, but knowing how things happen with Ranma, something will happen 
at the prom, probably a fight, given the rule."

Sayuri and Yuka thought for a moment, and could only nod to Akane's 
assessment.

"Now Yuka, why do you keep on calling me Saotome-chan?" Akane asked.

"It is your name," Yuka replied.

"That, and she's jealous you're married. Quite frankly, so am I," Sayuri 
added.

"You don't really want to be in my shoes."

"Not your shoes. We don't want your interesting life. We just wish we 
had someone who loves us and wants to marry us," Sayuri corrected.

"You saw all I've had to put up with to get this far, and it's not done 
yet. I've had to compete with several woman for his love, and in 
winning, I got pregnant."

"More reason to be jealous," Yuka said. "I'd love to have a child."

"I'm sure you could find a lot of guys willing to get you pregnant. Of 
course, they'd be long gone once you are," Akane smirked. "Besides, 
would you really want to have a child while still in school? I'm not 
sure if I'll finish school now. I'm due a couple weeks after summer 
break." 

Akane leveled her gaze at her friends. "You should be grateful you have 
years remaining of being childish, and having few responsibilities. I 
can no longer do things like I used to, as I have a husband and a baby 
to think of first. I can no longer just go out and do the things as I 
want. I can't even play certain sports now."

"Well, maybe we are better to wait, but we still want love and 
children," Yuka said.

"You may want children, I just want love," Sayuri corrected. "Anyway, 
who do you think will be going out with whom?"

"Let's see," Akane began. "Hiroshi already asked Ukyou."

"Hiroshi and Ukyou?" Yuka snickered. "There's a one time date. Who do 
you think will take your sister."

"Can't say," Akane replied.

"Can't because you don't know or because Nabiki won't let you?" Sayuri 
asked.

"Nabiki won't let me."

"Come on. You can tell us," Yuka pleaded.

"Not a chance. Nabiki is not above petty revenge for something like 
that."

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

Nabiki sat in the corner of the cafeteria, otherwise known as Nabiki's 
rainy day office. She already had several requests for her to find dates 
for the prom. This was proving to be a great day for doing business. She 
wasn't surprised to see her next customer.

"H-hello Nabiki," Gosunkugi greeted.

"Hello. I assume you're here in concern of finding you a date for the 
prom?"

"H-hai."

"Fifteen hundred yen, and I'll see what I can do. There may be an 
additional charge for costs."

Gosunkugi sighed.  He pulled out and 
handed Nabiki the money. He then walked away.

 Nabiki pocketed the money.

"I shall have words with you," Kuno said as he approached Nabiki.

"Shall we discuss this business after school? Say about five?" Nabiki 
asked.

Kuno raised an eyebrow to Nabiki's questions.  "Why not discuss this here and now?"

Nabiki noted his tone did not suggest he was about to ask her out. 
"Kuno-chan, I'd like to talk about certain things which would be better 
if we talked somewhere else. Besides, I want an excuse to not be home 
tonight, since Akane is cooking again."

"Very well. I shall pick you up at five then."

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

Ranma joined Hiroshi and Daisuke at the lunch table. He set his lunch 
and a cup of water a fair distance from himself. "Hi guys."

"Hi," Hiroshi and Daisuke returned.

"How come you aren't eating with Akane?" Hiroshi asked.

"She thought it'd be nice to talk to our friends." Ranma looked at his 
lunch. "Besides, I don't think she wants to see me while I try to eat 
the lunch she made. We've been avoiding fighting since the wedding, and 
she doesn't want any reasons to start one."

"Ranma and Akane not fighting? Isn't that a sign of the apocalypse?" 
Daisuke joked.

"How bad is it this time?" Hiroshi asked.

"Don't know. She made it while I was training Mousse." Ranma sighed as 
he opened the bento box.

"Rice with gray sauce and... green peppers... I think?" Daisuke 
observed.

Ranma nervously took a bite. His eyes bulged. He grabbed the cup and 
downed the water quickly. His mouth burned even hotter now than before 
he drank the water.

"Spicy?" Hiroshi asked.

Ranma nodded.

Hiroshi took a slice of bread of his sandwich and handed it to Ranma. 
"This will work better."

Ranma grabbed the bread and took a bite. The sensation of heat dying 
down as he chewed. "Thanks."

"No problem. By the way, those aren't green peppers, they're jalapeno 
peppers."

"I knew that. It's the gray sauce that's really, really spicy," Ranma 
corrected. "It's not really bad. But I might be able to learn to breath 
fire with this stuff." He started to eat, alternating bites between his 
lunch and the slice of bread. "So, who are you going to the prom with?" 
Ranma asked Daisuke.

"I'm hoping to ask Shampoo," Daisuke replied.

"Heh, good luck. I doubt she'd go to the prom unless her date has 
defeated her," Ranma said.

"You don't think she'd go on a date?" Daisuke asked.

"On a date, maybe, but to the prom knowing I'm there, not a chance. She 
doesn't want to see me anytime soon. I really suggest you ask someone 
else." 

"I don't know then, maybe Sayuri," Daisuke said.

"She'd be a much better choice. Actually, she's a pretty good choice, 
period," Ranma said.

"What's with the sudden girl advice? You've never really commented on 
girls before," Hiroshi asked.

"Before, if Akane heard me make a comment about a girl, she'd hit me. 
Now, I can give comments because Akane knows exactly how I feel about 
her. She knows there's no reason to be jealous."

"Did you tell her what your 'insults' really mean?" Daisuke asked.

"Yep," Ranma nodded. "She now calls some of my 'insults', flattery."

"And the others?" Daisuke asked.

"Would still hurt her. I may be pointing a weakness for her to correct, 
but she doesn't want to hear them. I've been avoiding saying those."

"Any suggests for my date with Ukyou?" Hiroshi asked.

"I'd rather not talk about her," Ranma replied.

"How long are you going to hold this grudge? Ukyou is your best friend. 
Sure, she betrayed you, but you betrayed her worse. Even if you didn't 
have a choice in doing so. Is it really bad the school knows Akane was 
pregnant before the wedding and that you knew about it?" Hiroshi asked.

"If she didn't, we could've said she got pregnant on the wedding night. 
No one would be able to know the difference."

"But almost everyone suspected she was pregnant. Sure, it would've been 
hard to prove. But to get you married, there had to be more than just 
you finally admitting you love her, or even you having sex with her. 
Besides, Nabiki would have come up with some way of letting us know when 
Akane got pregnant, as she had set up a betting pool."

"Why am I not surprised?" Ranma asked himself.

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

The final bell had rung, and school was over. Ranma was talking to 
Hiroshi and Daisuke, while Akane was talking to Sayuri.

"Now's the time to ask her," Hiroshi said.

"I don't know. Maybe I should ask Shampoo first," Daisuke replied.

"You saw Kenshiro after lunch. He went to go ask her and now he's 
bruised and limping," Ranma said.

"I don't know. She's busy talking anyway."

"That's easily fixed." Ranma turned towards Akane and Sayuri. "Yo, 
Akane! Can I see you for a second?"

Akane sighed. "I'll see what he wants. Be right back." She walked over. 
"So, what is it, Ranma?"

"We're trying to build up Daisuke's courage to ask Sayuri to the prom," 
Ranma answered barely above a whisper.

"Oh!" Akane smiled. "Just go over and ask her. I know she'll say yes."

"Really?" Daisuke asked.

"I'm certain."

Daisuke gulped. "All right. Here goes nothing."

Ranma, Akane, and Hiroshi faked a conversation while keeping an eye on 
Daisuke.

"Hi, Sayuri," Daisuke greeted nervously.

"Hi," Sayuri returned. She became nervous, seeing as he was nervous.

"I was wondering... if you would... go with me... to the... prom?"

"Yes... I'd like that." Sayuri smiled innocently and blushed.

"Great."

"Yeah."

They remained silent for several minutes.

"Mind if I walk you home?" Daisuke asked.

"That'd be fine." Sayuri turned to see Akane, Ranma, and Hiroshi had 
been watching. She blushed deeply. "Eh, I'm going home now. I'll see you 
tomorrow, Akane."

"See you then."

"Bye," Daisuke said, which everyone returned in kind.

"I guess I should go talk to my dear, sweet Ucchan now," Hiroshi said 
smiling.

"Call her that, and you'll know how it feels to be hit upside the head 
with her combat spatula," Akane informed. 

"Good safety tip. Thanks." Hiroshi ran out of the classroom.

Ranma put his arm around Akane and they left as well.

"Now I have to find a date. Any suggestions?" Ranma asked.

"Rrrraanma," Akane growled.

"Just joking. How about we go to a dance club to learn how to dance?" 
Ranma asked.

"And how is that going to help us?"

"Simple, we watch others dance and copy their moves. Just think of it as 
watching a martial artist performing a kata and repeat what they do."

"Might work." Akane shrugged. "How about we go Saturday night?"

"I guess. At least we know there'll be some good dancers there."

When they made it outside, they noticed Yuka was just standing there 
with a blank expression on her face.

"Hey, Yuka? Are you all right?" Akane asked.

Yuka nodded.

"I thought you were going home. Why are you still here?"

"Hiro asked me to the prom."

"Hiro? The captain of the soccer team?"

Yuka nodded.

"That's great. You did say yes?"

Yuka nodded.

Akane smiled. "Well, you should hurry home now. You know how your mother 
worries about you."

Yuka nodded and started to walk. She moved to a jog by the time she was 
at the gate. A moment later Ranma and Akane heard Yuka shout for joy 
about a block away.

"She should make it home in record time," Akane commented.

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

Ms. Hinako, in her adult form, knocked at the door of the Saotome-Tendo 
home. She appeared to be nervous.

"Hello," Kasumi greeted as she opened the door.

"Hello, Kasumi. I'd like to speak with your father," Ms. Hinako said.

"I'm sorry, but he has sort of moved to the Saotome residence currently. 
I can give him a message if you wish?"

Ms. Hinako became disappointed. "Tell your father, Furinkan High would 
like to know if he would chaperon the school's prom on January 
Twenty-ninth."

"I'm sure he would be glad to help."

"Can we be sure of his help?" Ms. Hinako asked, her voice surprisingly 
pleading.

"I'm pretty sure he'd help."

"Thank you," Ms. Hinako smiled.

Kasumi shut the door. She then went over to the phone and dialed.

"Hello?" Nodoka answered the phone.

"Hi, Auntie. I'd like to talk to Father," Kasumi said.

"Certainly."

"Hello," Soun greeted his daughter.

"Hi, Daddy. The school wants you to chaperon their prom."

"Um, I have plans for that night."

"Oh, you have prior plans? But I haven't told you when it is."

"When is it?"

"January Twenty-ninth."

"Yep. Definitely have plans for that night."

"But I told them you'd help."

"I'm sorry, but I can't break them. Why don't you chaperon the event?"

"Me? Well, I guess I'd could go in your place. But they asked for you."

"As I said, 'I've got plans.' You can go and have fun."

"All right, Father, if you insist. Bye." Kasumi hung up the phone. "My, 
Father is busy all of the sudden."

"Bye," Soun said, hanging up the phone.

"You're as bad as my husband," Nodoka commented.

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

Ms. Hinako was smiling since she left the Saotome-Tendo residence. 
Suddenly the chi she had absorbed from some delinquents dissipated, 
returning her to her child from. She then shouted for joy, doing cart 
wheels.

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

Dr. Tofu was greeted by a rambunctious, chibi-Ms. Hinako as he entered 
his waiting room. "May I help you?" he asked.

"Ah, yes, doctor," Ms. Hinako said. "Furinkan High wants to know if you 
would chaperon the school's prom on January Twenty-ninth?"

Dr. Tofu thought a second about it. It would mean he couldn't go out 
with Kasumi that Saturday night, but he could still go out the night 
before. "I'd be glad to help."

"Thanks, doc." Ms. Hinako skipped out of the clinic. 

 he thought bitterly, shaking his head. He then 
sighed. 

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

Kasumi knocked on Nabiki's door. 

"Who is it?" Nabiki called.

"Kodachi is on the phone for you," Kasumi replied.

Nabiki got up and left her room to get to the phone. She took with her a 
file. Picking up the phone, she said, "Hello, Kodachi."

"Greetings, Nabiki," Kodachi said from the other end of the line. "I 
want you to find me a date for your school's prom."

"May have to ignore your primary criteria, as you'll need to date 
someone from the school."

"You will not! Also, I don't want anyone as womanizing as that Mikado 
guy. He may have been a good kisser, but he wanted to take more 
liberties with me than just my lips. I had to reprimand him. He won't be 
available for dating for some time."

Nabiki grumbled, "Some one who has fought Ranma... preferably has beaten 
him... Ah! We do have one person who matches your primary criteria, he 
has even beaten Ranma once. And he definitely won't attempt to take any 
liberties from you."

"Good. Who is it?"

"His name is Hikaru."

"I don't think I've heard of him. Oh well, if he's defeated Ranma, he 
should be good enough. I shall talk with you later." Kodachi hung up.

Nabiki grinned. She checked off Gosunkugi Hikaru from her list. 

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

Kuno sat with Nabiki at the Neko-Hanten eating dinner. Kuno was paying, 
of course. He was showing signs of nervousness.

"All right, Kuno-chan. What did you want to ask me at lunch?" Nabiki 
asked, her cold mask of indifference in place.

"I wish to have all the information you have on that demon... Pantyhose, 
you called it?" Kuno asked, his nervousness disappeared with Nabiki's 
question.

"Listen to me this time. Pantyhose Tarou is as human as our waitress. He 
has trained in martial arts from a very young age and is capable of 
regularly defeating Ranma when he's in his human form. In his Jusenkyo 
curse form, he is even stronger and it took several martial artist, each 
of them better than you, to defeat him. He is quite capable of killing 
you. He might not even care if he killed you. My advice to you as your 
business advisor and as a friend, avoid him."

"I can't sit idly by as the demon roams free."

"Kuno-chan. At the wedding, a sword appeared in your hand when the demon 
showed up. Is that the only means of getting it?"

"Yes."

"If Pantyhose was a demon, would not the sword have appeared?"

"It would."

"But it didn't. He's not a demon."

"He may not be a true demon. But from what I've seen, and your 
description, tells me his soul may be as tainted of one of the foulest 
ones, like he who has taken over your home."

Nabiki shook her head. "Kuno-chan, please listen to me. You don't want 
to fight him. Ranma wipes the floor with you in all your fights. So, 
what chance would you have against the person who can defeat him? Please 
avoid him. If you value your own life, avoid him."

"You are concerned for me?"

"I don't want to see you dead, and if you follow this pointless pursuit, 
you will be."

"For you Nabiki, I shall forgo my pursuit of him. I hope I never have 
reason to regret my choice."

"Good." 

"Now Nabiki, I have another question for you. I ask that I may grace you 
with my company at the forthcoming dance my father is so graciously 
holding?"

"One condition Kuno-chan, whenever I want to tell you something, you 
will listen to me."

"I shall adhere to that condition as you oft bring me sagely advice."

"Excellent." Nabiki's emotionless masked finally slipped as she smiled.

"I hear you procured a date for my sibling so that she may also attend 
the festivities."

"Yes. It's rather hard finding her a date, though, given that her 
primary criteria is someone who has fought Ranma, and preferably beat 
him."

"Such is a hard task, for few have the might that I yield so as to face 
the vile deceiver. But I ask, who is this man you have found for my 
sister?"

"Promise not to tell her what you know of him."

"Why should withhold knowledge to my own flesh and blood?"

"Well, I want her to see her primary criteria isn't very good. While her 
date meets it, he shall fall far short of her expectations."

"I shall agree, unless I feel he may hurt my sister."

"Her date is Gosunkugi Hikaru."

Kuno laughed. "I feel my sister would do well to hold on to him. She 
could learn many things from him."




			------------------------------------
			*Chapter 2 - Dancing the Night Away*
			------------------------------------



It was the end of another day at Furinkan High as Ranma waved good-bye 
to Akane. She left with her friends to work on a school project. Seeing 
as the assignment was due after lunch tomorrow, Ranma was going to work 
on it with Hiroshi and Daisuke at lunch.

Ranma sighed. This was the first time in almost two weeks in which Akane 
wasn't in shouting distance from him. They have been married for nine 
days, and Akane was now about twelve days pregnant. Ranma shook his 
head. One day and his world forever changed yet again. Thirteen days ago 
seemed little different than any day during the past year and a half. 
The next day Happosai used a magical item on Ranma, and his life was 
once again sent through the blender. 

His mind went through the changes.  

Ranma snapped at of his thoughts as her heard a familir voice say, 
"Ranma?"

"What do you want, Ukyou?" Ranma asked.

"I think we should talk," Ukyou replied.

"Why should we?" 

"Because I want us to be friends again."

"Friends? I trusted you, and you betrayed me. I thought I could tell my 
'best friend' the whole truth and she would never go and tell anyone 
about it. I never thought my 'best friend' would particpate in stopping 
my wedding without asking me if that's what I wanted. And I didn't think 
my 'best friend' would help destroy my mother's house."

"Ranma, they were mistakes. I should have never done any of those 
things."

"Sure, but what stops you from doing something like that again. How can 
I trust you? It hurt more seeing you throw that exploding okonomiyaki at 
me than when it actually hit. I would've thought you'd ask me if I 
wanted to marry her, or at least found a way to stop the wedding with no 
one getting hurt."

"Why didn't you say anything about it before, Ranma? When I appologized 
for that, you said it wasn't a big deal."

"I understood why you did it, but it still hurt. I trusted you and you 
betrayed me."

"You betrayed me too. I was your fiancee, technically I still am. If you 
had no intentions of marrying me, you should have told me. You strung me 
along because you wanted someone to fall back on if Akane broke off her 
engagement for good. You used me. For a year I've been faithful to you, 
helping you, being your friend, and you threw me to the side like a used 
tissue because Akane spread her legs."

Ranma was very angry at Ukyou for that last comment. "I never asked you 
to do any of those things. I didn't want to hurt your feelings by telling 
you that I wasn't interested. And if I explained all the reasons why I 
didn't want to marry you when you came here, I might be celebrating my 
first wedding anniversery to a very angry wife now."

"When did you know you were going to marry Akane?"

"The wedding fiasco was when I knew I was going to marry her. It was 
before Shampoo showed up that I realized I didn't really mind the idea 
of marrying her." 

"Saotome Ranma, how dare you covort with other women once your lovely 
wife has left your side?!" Kuno shouted.

Ranma rolled his eyes. "I was only talking to her."

"Vile deceiver, you no doubt wish to twist her to your will again and 
enslave her."

Ranma lept at Kuno, punching him in the face. "Shut up, Kuno."

Kuno collapsed into a heap.

Ranma stomped off the Furinkan grounds and then took roof top route home.

Ukyou walked over to Kuno. "You just had to interrupt, didn't you?" She 
decided to play golf with her combat spatula.

Kuno awoke, finding himself flying over Nerima. "Curse you Soatome!"

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

Three girls giggled as they walked down the streets of Nerima. They 
talked and joked about who was going with whom to the prom. Yuka led 
Akane and Sayuri, to her home since they decided to work on a school 
assignment there. Yuka's mother looked at Akane warily.

The three girls went to Yuka's room, pulled out school books, and 
started working on their assignment. Five minutes after starting, the 
subject moved to the upcoming prom.

"Do you two want to see if your prom dates want to join me and Ranma at 
the Raging Night Dance Club this Saturday?" Akane asked.

"I doubt my Mom will let me. She isn't too thrilled with the idea of the 
prom in the first place," Yuka answered.

"I already have plans with Daisuke. We might stop by during our date," 
Sayuri answered.

"You're going on a date Satuday with Daisuke? Why didn't you tell me?" 
Yuka demanded.

"I guess it slipped my mind."

"'Slipped your mind?' You're going on a date and it 'slipped your mind?'"

"I didn't forget the date. I just forgot to tell you. Besides, you're 
the one going with Hiro to the prom. I'd say that's bigger news. Only 
Ranma ranked above him as most desirable date."

"Ranma was most desirable?" Akane asked.

"A handsome, martial arts god who probably knew a thing or two about how 
to pleasure a girl, of course girls wanted to date him," Sayuri said.

"Fortunately for him, he didn't know too much about how to pleasure 
girls."

"Why do you say that?" Yuka asked.

"If he had anymore knowledge, it'd mean I wasn't his first and only. I 
would be very angry with him if that was the case."

"You thought he might have done it with one of the other girls," Sayuri 
said.

"I was just being a jealous idiot about it. He has been faithful to me."

"So, is marriage to Ranma better than you thought?" Yuka asked.

"It is better, but I still would've liked to wait."

They were interrupted as someone knocked on the door.

"It's open," Yuka said.

Yuka's mother entered the room. "I was wondering if you girls would like 
a snack?"

"Sure," replied the girls.

"Akane, could you help me carry up the snacks?" Yuka's mother asked.

Akane was a little confused at the request. "Um, okay." She followed 
Yuka's mother out the room and towards the kitchen.

"Is it true that you got pregnant before your wedding?" Yuka's mother 
asked.

Akane relunctantly said, "Yes."

"I thought you were better than that. I really don't like the idea of 
girls your age dating, let alone married and pregnant."

"I'd prefer it if I wasn't pregnant. Ranma and I still have a lot of 
problems to sort out, and I would've liked to have handled them before 
getting married. Getting pregnant was the last thing I wanted."

"Then why'd you have sex with him?"

"At the time, Ranma and I were trapped in a magical prison. We were 
running out of ideas of how to escape, and seeing as the person who 
trapped us is the biggest pervert in the world, we thought a means of 
escape might be to have sex."

"You should've known he suggested it just because it was an excuse to 
have sex with you."

Akane blushed. "Um, it was my idea to have sex, and I had to convince 
him. It was pretty stupid of me to have done it, and now I have to live 
with that decission."

"I hope you aren't giving my daughter any ideas."

"I've been telling her it isn't good I got married so soon. That she 
shouldn't be in a rush to find someone. But, all she is seeing is all 
the good things that happened to me because of it."

"I'm worried about my daughter. I don't want to see her make the same 
mistakes you did."

"I don't want her to either. She isn't ready, and she should enjoy 
what's left of her childhood."

"You're right, she's not ready. But I don't want her to think she should 
rush out to get married because you did."

"I can explain to her all the reasons why she should wait, because I know 
better than anyone else what is lost, since I'm going through it."

Yuka's mother looked carefully at Akane. "I hope you can. My baby girl 
shouldn't have a baby, and I fear that is just what she wants."

Akane smiled. "Yuka is lucky to have a mother like you. My father and 
Ranma's parents were overjoyed that I got pregnant. I sort of wished 
they would've been upset about it. I'm too young to have these problems, 
and yet I do."

Yuka's mother nodded. "You certainly are too young." She handed Akane 
three cans of soda pop, and then picked up a tray of snacks. They went 
back to Yuka's room.

"What kept you?" Sayuri asked.

"I just wanted to ask Akane a couple questions," Yuka's mother answered. 
She set down the snacks and left.

"What did you talk about?" Yuka asked.

Akane handed the girls each a soda pop. "She wanted to know if I was 
really pregnant and she's worried because she thought I might encouage 
you to follow my lead."

"She worries too much," Yuka said.

"It's better than too little." Akane sighed. "Let's get back to the 
school work. I can't stay too long. I still have to cook dinner for 
Ranma."

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

Akane ran back home. She was late. It was already after five thirty, and 
she needed to make dinner. When she arrived, she let out a sigh. She 
realized she was too late when the arouma of delicious foods whetted her 
taste buds. Kasumi had already started dinner. 

"I'm home," Akane called, making her way to the kitchen.

"Hi Akane. I hope you don't mind that I made dinner. I didn't want it to 
be late," Kasumi said.

"It's all right. I didn't feel like cooking anyway," Akane lied.

"Dinner is almost ready. Can you get the others?"

"Sure," Akane replied. She first went upstairs and told Nabiki. Then 
Akane went to the dojo and found Ranma fighting Mousse. "Dinner's 
ready."

Mousse emitted a sigh of relief as Ranma stopped attacking.

Ranma turned and walked out of the dojo.

Akane walked next to him. "What is it?"

"What do you mean 'what is it?'" Ranma asked.

"You're angry, and I'd like to know why."

"I had a talk with Ukyou."

"I take it, it didn't go very well."

"That's an understatement."

"You can't stay angry at her."

"I know, but how can I ever trust her again? I've trusted her enough to 
tell her my secrets, and she told everyone a secret I didn't want anyone 
to know about."

"The same way I'm learning to trust Ryoga again, give another chance."

Ranma sighed. "Maybe I should try to talk to her later."

"No maybe, you will talk with her. And you will give her another 
chance."

"Yes, Dear," Ranma replied as if he wanted to say no.

Akane was not pleased with his tone, but wasn't going to make an issue 
of it, since he did agree. 

Ranma and Akane joined Nabiki at the dinner table. They were shortly 
joined by Mousse, after he applied some bandages to himself. All but 
Akane were happy that Kasumi cooked dinner.

"I've been meaning to ask you if you're going to the prom with Kuno?" 
Akane asked.

"Yes," Nabiki replied.

Kasumi entered with some of the dinner.

"How about you two join Ranma and me to the Raging Night Dance Club this 
Saturday?" Akane asked.

Ranma frowned at the suggestion. He really didn't want to deal with Kuno 
any more than he had to.

"Sounds like fun." Nabiki smirked, seeing how unhappy Ranma looked about 
it.

"Dancing," Kasumi said to herself.  "Would you mind if Dr. Tofu  and I come too?"

"Oh, I insist you two come," Akane answered.

Ranma was happier with this idea.

"Maybe Shampoo and I could join you," Mousse said.

"I don't think Shampoo would like the idea," Ranma replied.

"Why not?"

"Well, I think Shampoo has been avoiding me. And the only way you can 
get her to go out with you is if you defeat her first. You're not ready 
yet to fight her yet."

"I'm as skilled a fighter as she is."

"You need to be better than her. You'll hold back in your fight because 
you don't want to hurt her, but she won't hold back anything. You have 
to come up with a techniques geared towards submission because you don't 
want to knock her out."

Mousse could only nod at what Ranma said.

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

Akane picked up the phone on the third ring. "Hello, Saotome-Tendo 
residence. Can I help you?" 

"Hi, Akane," Akari answered from the other end of the line. "How is 
everything?"

"Fine, and you?"

"Great. Ryoga's dog is keeping him from getting lost."

"That's nice. It's a good thing you called. I wanted to see if you and 
Ryoga would join me and Ranma dancing Satuday?"

"Oh, that sounds like fun. Let me check." A muffled sound was now heard 
through the phone. "Akane, we'd be glad to join you."

"Great. Just come here Saturday afternoon so we can all leave at the 
same time."
-----------------------------
-Thursday evening

Kuno and Nabiki were at the small restaurant called Auntie's. Nabiki was 
once again avoiding being home because of Akane's cooking.

"So, what business does thou have with me tonight?" Kuno asked, smilimg.

"I don't really have any business tonight except my sister wants to make 
a group outing at a dance club this Saturday."

"You wondered if I would grace you all with my presence and demonstrate 
my incomperable skill on the dance floor?"

Nabiki rolled her eyes. "Yes."

"Is Saotome going to be there?"

"Both of them will be there."

"Both of them?" Kuno asked confused.

Nabiki shook her head. "Sure, Ranma and Akane are both Saotomes now."

"I desire either to avoid seeing the deceiver or to see him destroyed."

"Come on Kuno-chan. You shouldn't hold a grudge against my brother. We 
did try to explain it to you, but you wouldn't listen. It is as much 
your fault for not wanting to see the truth as it was for him to 
occassionally use your self-desception against you." 

Nabiki stared at Kuno coldly. "Besides, you kept chasing after him and 
Akane, despite the fact they made it clear they didn't have any feelings 
for you. In many ways you brought on yourself everything he did to you."

"What about your own participation in the deception?"

"I did try to tell you, but you weren't listening. Besides, I only sold 
you pictures and truthful information. Did I ever say the 'pig-tailed 
girl' was in love with you, or Ranma had enslaved the girl."

"You said something to the effect that her body and soul is Ranma's, 
that suggested enslavement."

"I used a poor choice of words, but tell me how could I have explained 
it that Ranma and the girl were the same person?"

Kuno thought for a moment. "That the girl is Ranma. That Ranma has two 
bodies, one male and the other female."

"You wouldn't spout at how this is some sorcery or something similar?"

"If you had explained it then, I would have accepted it."

"Oh really?" Nabiki stared at Kuno harshly.

Kuno withered under the gaze. "Maybe I still would not desire to see the 
truth. It is hard to believe such curses exist."

"Ranma has seen far more unbelievable things than his curse. His life 
has been extremely hard, and he's only seventeen. I would hate to find 
out his life is only going to get harder, but I'm afraid it might."

"One as evil as him deserves a harsh life."

"He is not evil. The only way he has wronged you was by playing into 
your own deception. It is your fault for chasing after Akane and his 
girl half. Kuno-chan, I'm not going to ask you to be friends with Ranma, 
but I do ask you stop being his enemy. Akane doesn't want you fighting 
with him, and I don't want you to either."

"How can I just let him work his evils?"

"Kuno-chan, how about stopping attacks on him for a while and observe 
what he does without attacking him? Try to see what he's really like. He 
isn't a bad person once you know him."

"I am certain he will prove to be as evil as I say."

"Then if you personally observe him you'll at least be able to see how 
he fights and you might find a weakness to exploit when you prove he is 
truly evil. That is something I want you to do before you attack him 
again, prove to me he has done something evil. If you can prove it, I 
will help you."

"Such a noble offer." Kuno thought for a moment.  "I shall accept your terms."

"Remember, no fighting him until I say so."

"I shall remember."

"You may even want to show a sign of peace between you and Ranma."

"Why should I?"

"Well, for no other reason, you'd be able to get closer to him in order 
to find your evidence. And if you do find he isn't evil, you might even 
decide to be his friend."

"Hmm. To find evidence by daring to entering the lion's den. It is a 
sound idea. I shall attempt it."

-----------------------------
-Saturday shortly after 5:00 p.m.

Dr. Tofu knocked on the door of the Saotome-Tendo home. He was a little 
surprised when Kasumi asked him out, but he didn't mind. 

Ranma answered the door. "Hiya, Doc. Come on in. The girls are almost 
ready."

"Hi Ranma," Dr. Tofu greeted. They went to the dinning room where Ryoga, 
Akari, and Kuno were. Dr. Tofu avoided looking at Kuno.

"Do you have the results of Akane's test?" Ranma asked.

"I do, but I think I'll wait for Akane before telling anyone."

"You don't have to wait," Akane said as she entered with her sisters.

"Ah! Such a lovely sight to behold," Kuno said.

"You better not be talking about Akane." Ranma said.

"Ranma!" Akane snarled.

Ranma backed away from Akane. "You are a lovely sight, Akane. I just 
meant he shouldn't be looking at my wife."

"I would not covet another man's wife. I was refering to Nabiki," Kuno 
said matter-of-factly.

"Thank you, Kuno-chan," Nabiki said.

Akane smiled. "You think I'm lovely?"

"Of course you are," Ranma sighed in relief.

"Dr. Tofu, what are the test results?" Akane asked.

"The test came up positive. You are indeed pregnant. Congratulations," 
Dr. Tofu answered.

Akane smiled nervously. "Great." Her last hope she wasn't pregnant went 
out the window.

"Oh, congratulations," Kasumi said.

"Pregnant?" Ryoga and Akari shouted in unison, as no one had told them 
until now.

"That's wonderful. I'm sure you and Ranma will make great parents," 
Akari said.

"Ranma! You... you..." Ryoga started in his customary anger, but then 
remembered they are married. "...you'll make a great father. 
Congratulations."

"Thanks man," Ranma said nervously.

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

The four couples made it to the Raging Night Dance Club. They made sure 
to be there before six o'clock, to beat other Furinkan High students who 
might have the same idea. The place was almost packed when they arrived. 

Several murmers were heard as they entered. There were some students 
from Furinkan at the club, and they were amazed seeing Kuno and Nabiki 
entered together. They were shocked when Ranma and Akane followed them.

They all sat around one table. Kuno was flanked by Kasumi and Nabiki, 
and Ryoga and Akari sat accross from him. 

When they ordered their food, Kuno added, "A round of sake to celebrate 
Akane's blessing of life."

"Except Akane, of course," Dr. Tofu added.

"Yeah, just tea for me," Akane said, blushing slightly. 

This got a surprised look from the waitress. She left with thier order.

"Kuno-chan, you're not going to try to get me drunk tonight?" Nabiki 
joked.

"Unlike some..." Kuno eyed Ranma evilly. "I respect the sancticty of a 
woman's bed chamber before marriage."

Akari was a little shocked at Kuno's insinuation and realized there a 
slight timing error if Akane suspected she was pregnant already. She 
giggled, "You couldn't wait to get your hands on him, could you Akane?"

"What?" Ryoga stammered.

Ranma got nervous as he didn't want to fight Ryoga now. They didn't get 
to eat yet.

Akane sighed, as she had to explain it in hope of stopping Ryoga from 
going ballistic. "A couple days before the wedding, I, sort of, seduced 
Ranma."

Ryoga blinked. "You seduced him?!"

Kuno grumbled something about a spell, which earned a nasty glare from 
Nabiki.

"Yes, it was my idea to have sex before the wedding. I actually had to 
convince him."

"He didn't force himself on you?" Ryoga asked.

"If anything, I forced myself on him. He wanted to wait."

"I'm sure he did," Kuno said in a mocking tone.

"If you didn't wait, you wouldn't be pregnant," Akari said.

"Yeah, I wish I waited or at least paid more attention to my cycle. I 
didn't want to get pregnant so soon," Akane said.

"I think it's wonderful you're pregnant. I'd like to be a mother 
myself," Akari said. She gently touched Ryoga's arm.

Ryoga became very uncomfortable.

Ranma sighed with relief as it looked like Ryoga wasn't going to fight. 
Ranma had some mixed feelings about what Akane was saying about being 
pregnant.

The waitress returned with thier drinks.

With thier glasses filled, Kuno made a toast, "To the glourious life 
Akane bears, may the child be noble, honorable, and strong."

Finding nothing at fault with it, they accepted the toast.

They started to talk between themselves. Dr. Tofu talked with Kasumi, 
and Kuno spouted poetry to Nabiki. Ranma found himself caught between 
Akari and Akane talking about married life and the pregnancy. Ryoga felt 
left out.

Ranma decided to go for some more sake, to help ignore the conversation 
going on around him.

"Ranma, don't drink too much. I don't want to deal with a drunken 
red-head," Akane said, warningly.

"I was only going to have a second one. That's it," Ranma replied.

"See that it is."

"What did you mean by that, Akane?" Akari asked.

"Ranma's curse form has no tolerance for alcohol. He might become drunk 
if he turns into a girl."

Akari giggled looking at Ryoga. "I wonder if he has the same problem."

"A drunk P-Chan, now there's a thought." Akane giggled.

"Maybe he wouldn't be able to get lost that way," Ranma joked.

Ryoga glared at Ranma.

"Ranma, don't you dare start a fight," Akane scowled.

Ranma sighed and took a little drink from his sake. He was thankful when 
the waitress arrived with thier food. He wasn't happy Akane was taking 
her time eating as she continued to talk with Akari.

After finishing their meal Kuno led Nabiki on to the dance floor, and 
they were joined shortly by Kasumi and Dr. Tofu. Then Akari dragged 
Ryoga to the dance floor.

Ranma and Akane watched the various people dancing. They quickly noted 
how most people danced wasn't very complicated with the slow songs 
currently being played, basically staying in place and swaying to the 
music. Kuno and Nabiki were doing a more complicated dance than anyone 
else. 

"Hi," Sayuri and Daisuke greeted.

"Hi," Ranma and Akane returned.

"It's nice to see you two make it," Akane said.

"We're not staying too long. We're on our way to the movies," Daisuke 
said.

"Are my eyes playing tricks on me?" Sayuri asked.

"Why? What do you think you're seeing?" Ranma asked.

"Kuno dancing with Nabiki," Sayuri said.

"You aren't seeing anything," Akane replied.

"Nabiki and Kuno?"

"I'm still trying to figure it out, and I've known for over a week," 
Ranma said.

"You mean Kuno's been going after Nabiki and harping on you about Akane 
at the same time?" Daisuke asked.

"Yeah. Nabiki is talking some sense into him though," Ranma answered. "I 
guess they make a perfect couple. She's money hungry and manipulative 
and he's rich and easy to manipulate."

Akane smacked Ranma on the arm. "Don't insult people."

"I'm only joking, sheez."

"The person you're insulting may not take it that way. When you insulted 
me it hurt. I didn't find anything funny about them."

"Aw, you need to lighten up a little."

Sayuri and Daisuke decided to retreat to the dance floor.

"You need to realize not everyone thinks your insults are funny. If you 
want to fling insults at someone, make sure the person won't be offended 
by them or that you want to offend the person."

"Uncute." 

"Prevert."

"You're the pervert."

"Baka." 

With each word they moved closer until they started kissing. They 
stopped when the music turned modern. Dr. Tofu, Kasumi, Ryoga and Akari 
returned to the table. Kuno attempted to continue dancing, embarrassing 
Nabiki, since he was looking like an idiot. She dragged him off the 
floor. Sayuri and Daisuke continued dancing. Ranma and Akane started to 
watch the people dancing again.

"Not all modern music have the same dance," Ranma commented.

"Actually this one doesn't appear to have a particular style attached to 
it. Only two people are dancing the same way," Akane added.

"It seems moving to the beat of the music is how you dance to this."

"We could modify a kata to fit the beat of the song were going to be 
judged on." 

"How is a kata related to dancing?" Akari asked.

"A kata is a set practice forms of martial arts. You repeat a series of 
moves that can be used for fighting. Dancing is a repition of moves done 
in a way that is pleasing to the eye. By modifing a kata to work in beat 
with a song, it should be pleasing to the eye," Akane answered.

"A battle of two great martial artists is oft called a dance of death, 
for it has its own glorious beauty," Kuno added.

"Care to try, Akane?" Ranma asked. "You lead and I'll copy your moves."

"Wouldn't hurt," Akane shrugged.

Sayuri and Daisuke said good-bye to Ranma and Akane before leaving for
the movies.

Ranma and Akane made their way to the dance floor. Akane attempted to 
move in beat, missing each one slightly. Ranma mirrored each move. Those 
watching might have been in awe of the skill shown if it weren't the 
jarring effect from the missed beats.

The next song was a slow one. Ranma and Akane decided to continue 
dancing. The other couples quickly joined them. 

As Dr. Tofu danced with Kasumi a guy approached them. "May I cut in?" 
the guy said as he pushed Dr. Tofu aside and started to dance with 
Kasumi.

"You may not." Dr. Tofu's voice was filled with venom. The guy withered 
under the doctor's rather painful neck pinch.

"Four eyes, leave my brother alone," a rather large guy said.

"Certainly." Dr. Tofu released his neck pinch.

The guy turned and punched Dr. Tofu into a group of other couples. "Come 
on wimp, lets see what you've got."

"I'd rather not. I don't want to have to patch you back together 
afterwards," Dr. Tofu said.

The guy rushed Tofu. Tofu dodged, slamming the guy into the back.

"Bad move four eyes. You hurt my little brother, now you have to fight 
me and my friends." Five guys flanked the larger one.

Ranma and Akane looked at the situation shaking their heads. 

"Oh great. A bar fight. Maybe they'll have some skill," Ranma said going 
over to Dr. Tofu's side. "Quick question guys, how many of you are dan 
level martial artists and in how many schools?"

A small guy said, "We don't need to know any stinking martial arts to 
beat you guys."

"None of you? Give up now."

"Get them!" shouted the large guy.

The guys charged Ranma and Tofu. While they were taken out in short 
order, the fight triggered more fights. The Raging Night turned into one 
big fight. Ranma and the others decided to leave, rather than continue 
the pointless fighting.

"Honestly Ranma, I can't take you anywhere without there being some 
trouble," Akane said jokingly.

"Is it my fault trouble seems to find me?" Ranma replied in mock 
defense.

"Of course it is, everything is your fault," Ryoga smirked.

"Not everything is Ranma's fault," Akane corrected. "He's only at fault 
about half the time."

"Oh, and just who's at fault the remainer of the time?" Ranma asked.

"Everyone else, of course," Akane smirked. 

"How much of the time are you at fault?" Ranma asked.

Akane frowned slightly. "Half at fault about our relationship, otherwise 
no more than anyone else." 

The four couples decided to return to the Saotome-Tendo home to have a 
party there.

Ranma and Akane returned to joking with each other. 

Ryoga was getting nervous as Akari kept on looking at Ranma and Akane, 
occassionally mentioning something along the lines of how nice it would 
be to be married.

Kasumi looked at Dr. Tofu warily. He had acted violently towards the 
person that tried to cut in, and helped start the brawl that followed.

Dr. Tofu noticed how Kasumi was looking at him and apologized for 
overreacting. He was uncertain about her reaction if he told her why he 
was acting that way. He decided to avoid seeing her in places likely to 
cause him to get angry at anyone.

Nabiki was pleased that Kuno was controling himself and was actually 
being reasonably friendly towards Ranma.

Kuno had kept an eye on Ranma and noticed that, while Ranma had helped 
start the brawl he had done so only to help a friend, not enough to 
convince Nabiki of Ranma being evil.




				--------------------------
				*Chapter 3 - To The Prom!*
				--------------------------



It was of little surprise to Yuka and Sayuri to find the dress shop they 
entered busy. They had less than a week before their school prom, and 
were looking through the dresses trying to find something they'd like.

"Did you hear the latest rumors?" Yuka asked.

"You mean about Kuno and Nabiki being an item?" Sayuri returned.

"That's one of them."

"That one is not a rumor. I saw them dancing when Daisuke and I stopped 
to see Ranma and Akane at the dance club."

"Then it's true that Ranma and Kuno are becoming friends, too."

"I'm not sure about that, but from what I saw, they were tolerating each 
other's presence, even though Ranma was still insulting Kuno."

"How did Kuno react to it?" Yuka asked while checking how an exquisite, 
white dress looked in the mirror.

"He was too busy dancing with Nabiki to hear it. Oh, avoid wearing 
white, unless you want to scare Hiro away thinking you want commitment."

"Guess you're right about that." Yuka put the dress back. "I heard Ranma 
started a fight."

"If he did, it was after I left. But I did see Ranma and Akane get into 
a little insult sparring match. Akane stopped it after each said two 
insults."

Yuka shook her head. "You mean they're still having fights, even after 
getting married?"

Sayuri checked how a blue dress looked. She looked at Yuka, smirking. 
"She ended it by kissing him. If I didn't know any better, I'd swear she 
was getting turned on by them."

"You don't, because I was," Akane said, standing with Akari behind 
Sayuri.

Sayuri became nervous. "Hi, we were just talking about you."

"I noticed," Akane smirked. 

Yuka bit back her question as long as she could, visibly struggling to 
keep from asking it. Finally, though, her curiosity won out. "So... 
why were his insults turning you on?"

Akane blushed slightly. "Well, during the honeymoon, Ranma told me his 
insults didn't mean what you'd think. Uncute means, to him, beautiful 
but not some sweet, innocent, giggling school girl. Macho chick and the 
other insults about my strength were actually his awkward way of 
complementing me, but seeing as I took them wrong, he added them to his 
list of insults." 

"What about his other insults, the ones that obviously degrade you?"

Akane sighed. "Those were his attempts to point out a weakness for me to 
correct. I still don't take those very well, so he has avoided saying 
them since the wedding." She checked what the white dress looked like.

"That'd look great on you, Akane," Sayuri said.

"And you don't have to worry about scaring off your date," Yuka added.

"Yeah, but it still looks a little too much like a wedding dress. I 
don't want to remind Ranma it's kind of my fault we got married as soon 
as we did," Akane said with a sad undertone.

Akari took the white dress. "I rather like it."

"You might scare off your boyfriend," Yuka said.

"I'm not worried about that," Akari smiled.

"It'd be another hint that she wants to get married," Akane said. "Too 
bad you can't go to the prom."

"Yeah, but we could still go to a dance club."

"Why can't you go to the prom?" Sayuri asked.

"Ryoga and I don't go to school."

Sayuri blinked, remembering when Ryoga turned into P-Chan just after 
Akane's wedding. "You want to get married to the guy who was Akane's pet 
pig?"

"Um, yeah."

"Do you know why he was her pet?" Yuka asked, letting curiosity, once 
again, to get the better of her.

"Well, Ryoga was always alone before, so when Akane showed him signs of 
affection as her pet, he couldn't help but want to be her pet. Try to 
imagine not seeing family, friends or anyone who knows you for months at 
a time. Then someone smothers you with affection. Wouldn't you grab hold 
of it with both hands? Not wanting to let go."

"So that's why he fell in love with me," Akane said.

Akari nodded. "The thought of losing that affection was what prevented 
him from telling you."

"I guess I can understand that. I still haven't forgiving him, though. 
He shouldn't have been my pet. He should've at least told me."

"I understand. I'm not pleased with him for being your pet as long as he 
was. He probably still would be if you didn't know about it."

"If I hadn't figured it out by my wedding, I hope Ranma would've told 
me."

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

In a different dress shop, Ukyou looked at the prom dresses with a lost 
expression. "I really don't have a clue how to pick one out."

"That is why you asked me to help, ne?" Konatsu asked, wearing a kimono.

"Yeah, but this is a bit much, isn't it? I almost never wear a dress and 
here I am, about to get one of these gowns."

"These are what one would wear to a formal dance."

"How am I suppose to fight in one of these?"

"You're not suppose to fight in them, only dance."

Ukyou shook her head. "How do I pick one anyway?"

"Well, first I'd suggest narrowing the selection down to a color of 
dress you'd prefer. Blue seems to be your color."

Ukyou nodded. She pulled out a blue dress with green accents. "Ick! 
Definitely not this one."

"Certainly not," Konatsu confirmed. He flipped trough a selection and 
pulled out a rather plain blue prom dress.

Ukyou took it and checked it out in the mirror. "It's not bad. Not 
fancy. I kind of like it."

"I thought you would. Why don't you go see how it fits?"

"Sure, be right back."

Konatsu started to look through the dresses again, waiting for Ukyou 
return.

A saleslady approached him. "Can I help you miss?"

"No. I'm just looking for a dress for my friend," Konatsu replied.

"Already have one for the prom?"

"Um... I'm not going to the prom."

"Why not? A cute girl like you should easily find a date."

Konatsu started sweating a little. "Well, I don't go to school, so it 
wouldn't be right for me to go to the prom."

"Nonsense, a girl should experience what it's like to go to the prom. 
Why don't you talk to my son? I'm sure he'd be glad to take a beautiful 
girl like you."

Konatsu stammered, trying to think of a way out of the hole he somehow 
had dug himself into.

Ukyou had overheard the last part and was laughing hysterically.

"What's so funny, miss?" asked the saleslady.

"N-nothing," Ukyou tried to stifle her laughing. "It's just that he... 
er, she isn't interested in boys. She'd rather take a girl."

The saleslady looked at Konatsu strangely.

Konatsu nodded. "Y-yes. I'd prefer girls to boys, which is part of the 
problem with me going to the prom."

"Er... I see. Sorry." The saleslady quickly left to find some other 
customers.

"Now she thinks I'm some kind of hentai," Konatsu said sadly.

"You're a guy who's wearing a kimono and you've worn more dresses than 
me, so technically you are."

He sighed. "Everyone I know seems to be a hentai of one sort or 
another."

Ukyou laughed. "Can't really deny that. Several of the people I know 
have some unnatural outlook towards sex." Ukyou did a slow spin. "What 
do you think of the dress?"

"Looks nice, but we should check other dresses to find the one you like 
the most."

Ukyou nodded and went back to the dressing room.

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

Dr. Tofu entered the Neko-Hanten carefully. He did not want to get in a 
situation where he'd get angry at anyone. Thanks to the potion that 
Cologne gave him, he could get angry at someone very easily. "Cologne, I 
need to talk to you."

"What is it, Doctor?" Cologne asked, not liking the bitter tone of his 
voice.

"I'm having a problem with the potion you gave me. It is getting worse. 
Before I was just a little less pleasant, now I've been downright mean 
to people I shouldn't be upset with."

"That is a problem. The thing is, I don't have an antidote for it."

"You don't!?" Dr. Tofu snarled.

"No, the potion normally lasts for a couple days, or at most a week. If 
the potion is still affecting you, I'm not sure what to do. It should 
wear off anytime now."

"What is the longest possible time it could still be in effect?"

"I don't know."

"Could it be permanent?"

"That is a possibility. I'll check to see if there is a means to correct 
this."

"Hurry. I don't want this getting any worse." Dr. Tofu turned and left.

 Cologne sighed. 

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

Ranma shook his head as he watched Akane dance to the song they were 
going to use in the dance contest. While her moves were smooth and 
pleasing to the eye, she kept missing almost every beat. "Akane, how 
come you're not moving in beat with the song?"

"What? I'm moving in beat," Akane said, confused and a little upset.

He shook his head as he rewound the tape. "Don't dance to it this time, 
but clap to it."

"Why?"

"It'll be easier to point out if you're moving in beat or not this way."

Akane scowled at Ranma, and decided to prove him wrong. With the music 
playing, she started to clap to the music. She stayed in beat when the 
song kept the same speed for several seconds, but when the tempo 
changed, it took her time to adjust to it. Getting angry at herself for 
failing, she rewound the tape and tried again, and again. She played the 
tape dozens of times and was getting ready to smash the tape player into 
itty bits.

Ranma shook his head, trying to come up with an idea of how to help her 
learn to stay in beat with the song. He got a hentai grin as he thought 
of one means to try. "Akane, why don't we stop for the night. You can 
try to dance to it tomorrow."

"But I have to learn to stay in beat."

"I have an idea that should help. We can try it later tonight, but it'll 
be best if we wait a little first. Why don't you take a bath?"

"Okay, but what's this idea?"

"It's kind of hard to explain."

"Try to explain it anyway."

Ranma blushed slightly. "While making love, we'll play the song."

Akane blinked. "How will that help?"

"Well... our bodies will hopefully move in rhythm with the song that 
way. By making it part of sex, it might become part of you."

Akane flashed a hentai grin. "If nothing else, it'll be fun."

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

Akane stood in the dojo, clapping in beat to the song that had 
frustrated her, only the day before.

Ranma grinned. "So my plan actually worked."

"It sure did. That was an excellent idea."

"I wasn't sure it could work."

"It didn't really matter if it worked or not, the plan was fun enough on 
it's own." Akane gave Ranma a seductive look. "We should keep working on 
that plan for the rest of the week to make sure I can stay in beat, ne?"

"Of course." Ranma returned, grinning.

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

Ukyou closed her eyes and gathered her thoughts. She then approached 
Ranma and Akane, who were eating in the school cafeteria, so she could 
talk to them. She might not have forgiven Akane for stealing Ranma from 
her, but she was getting lonely and wanted to be friends with them 
again. "Hello," Ukyou smiled nervously.

"Hello," Ranma said coldly.

"Hi," Akane said, placing her foot on top of Ranma's.

"Um, I'd really like to be friends again," Ukyou said.

"Why should we?" Ranma asked. He winced slightly as Akane ground her 
foot into his.

"We've been through too much together to just let our friendship die," 
Ukyou said, her voice pleading.

Their conversation was interrupted as Happosai ran into the room and 
quickly glomped Akane. Ranma moved to stop him only to get splashed with 
water and glomped. Happosai ran off laughing, followed by an enraged 
Ranma.

Ukyou shook her head and walked off.

Akane sighed in disappointment. She had hoped things would have gone 
better.

"Where did the old freak go?" asked Tarou.

Akane pointed in the general direction Happosai had run off to.

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

It was the night of the prom and Akari was a little sad she could not 
attend it. She was wearing the white prom dress and had gotten Ryoga 
into a tux. They were walking down a street to a dance club. Akari 
turned her head, and stared longingly at Ryoga

Ryoga turned a nervous eye to Akari, though she thought she saw the love 
behind the fear.  "Um, Akari?" he began. 

 Akari 
wondered. "Y-yes?"

"Do you know where we are?"

Akari blinked as she looked around and saw they were in the middle of a 
forest. "I don't know."

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

Gosunkugi nervously approached the Kuno mansion. He wore a black suit 
with a black dress shirt and a red tie. He couldn't believe Nabiki got 
him a date with someone as beautiful as Kodachi, and only for another 
fifteen hundred yen. Sure she was a little eccentric, but so was he. He 
rang the bell at the gate.

A servant opened the gate. "What business do you have here?"

"I'm Gosunkugi, and I'm here to take Kodachi to the Furinkan High 
School's prom."

"Ah, yes. Follow me." The servant led Gosunkugi to the study room.

Gosunkugi waited nervously for Kodachi to enter. When she did, he was 
floored by how beautiful she looked in the midnight black prom dress.

"Gosunkugi? What are you doing here? I was told my date, Hikaru, was 
here." Kodachi was a little angry.

"Hai. I'm Hikaru, Gosunkugi Hikaru."

Kodachi looked at him in shock.

"You look beautiful. Here, I got this for you." Gosunkugi produced a 
corsage with a black rose.

"How is it you're my date? You could not possibly have fought Ranma."

Kuno entered the room, smirking. "Ah, but he has. He even brought the 
telling blow to Saotome in one of his battles."

"He has?" 

"I guess I have." Gosunkugi said.

 Kodachi took the corsage that Gosunkugi held and 
put it on. "The night is wasting. Shall we be off?"

Gosunkugi nodded. "Hai."

A servant entered the room. "The carriage is ready, and the dinner 
reservations are confirmed."

"Very good," Kuno said. "We shall all go to the North Wind after we pick 
up my date."

"So, who is your date?" Kodachi asked.

"The cunning Nabiki." He grinned.



Gosunkugi whispered to Kuno, "The North Wind? I can't afford that 
place."

"Fear not, for I shall graciously cover the bill."

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

"Ranma!" Akane howlered. "Why aren't you getting ready, and where is 
your tux?"

"It'll only take me a couple minutes to get ready, and the tux is right 
here." He reached behind himself and pulled out the tux from 
hammerspace.

Akane blinked. "I thought you hid a dress that way."

"I do. It's still there, but I keep the tux and some other disguises 
there as well."

"Oh, well get ready."

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

Ms. Hinako, in her adult form and holding a fish bowl, walked around the 
gymnasium. She checked to make sure all the preparations were completed. 
She hated the Hawaiian theme decorations that the principal insisted on, 
but it didn't look that bad. 

Ms. Hinako was surprised that Ranma hadn't 'volunteered' his services to 
help set up the gym as several other students had. Since Ranma married 
Akane, he's stayed out of trouble. Ms. Hinako had always liked Akane 
because of her strong sense of right and wrong and tended to enforce it 
with a firm hand. It didn't hurt that Ms. Hinako was also attracted to 
Akane's father. Akane had affirmed Ms. Hinako's faith by keeping Ranma 
out of trouble for most of the past month.

Ms. Hinako straightened out her dress, waiting for Soun to arrive. She 
smiled at the fighting fish in her fish bowl. She may not be able to use 
them all the time, but for events like this, they were perfect. She 
still cursed herself for not taking them to the wedding. She had thought 
there would've been a lot more fighting.

"Hello, Ms. Hinako," Kasumi greeted.

"Um, hello Kasumi. Where is your father?" Ms. Hinako asked.

"He had some prior plans, and asked if I could come in his place."

"What? Why..." Ms. Hinako was getting upset. "Why didn't you inform the 
school?"

"I did inform Principal Kuno of this."

"You did?"

"Yes."

"You watch over things here. I've got something to do."

"Okay." Kasumi smiled.

Ms. Hinako walked off to the school offices and set the fishbowl down 
her office. "If I'm going to be an adult tonight, let it be off some 
lustful delinquents."

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

Dr. Tofu wondered if he should've called in sick. 

Dr. Tofu sighed as he entered the gym, hoping for the best. "Kasumi, 
hello. What are you doing here?"

"Hello, Dr. Tofu. I'm a chaperon for the prom. Are you one too?" Kasumi 
smiled.

"Yes." Dr. Tofu smiled in return.

Ms. Hinako cursed as she saw the chaperons greet each other. 

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

Yuka smiled at her date as they entered the gym. They were among the 
first to arrive. Sayuri and Akane hadn't arrived yet, so she had some 
time alone with him. 

As if on cue from Yuka's thoughts, Ranma and Akane entered the gym. They 
were absolutely gorgeous. Akane was wearing a stylish red dress. But 
only a few people gave the couple a second look.

Kuno and Nabiki came in arm-in-arm several minutes later. This turned 
many heads, not only because many of the students had a hard time seeing 
those two as a couple, but also because Nabiki's golden dress 
exquisitely complemented Kuno's ceremonial Samurai garb.

It was hard to make out the couple that followed them, since they 
blended into the night's sky. This couple was a bigger shock than Nabiki 
and Kuno. Kodachi and Gosunkugi walked into the gym, both completely 
covered in black.

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

Akari wasn't sure how to explain it, but every time she closed her eyes 
for a long period of time, Ryoga had led her somewhere that she didn't 
think they could've made it to from where they were. She looked at a 
sign, [Kyoto - 18 kilometers.] She shook her head at the sight. 

Akari shut her eyes and kept them closed for several minutes. When she 
opened them she saw that they were in Tokyo business district. She shut 
them again and thought of the school prom Akane was at. Several minutes 
passed and she heard music.  She opened 
her eyes and then blinked. They were inside a school. "Ryoga, let me 
lead now," Akari said.

"Ah sure. Do you know where we are?"

"I think we're at Furinkan High." Akari followed the music to the gym. 
She smiled at the sight. They were indeed at Furinkan High.

"What are you two students doing?" chibi-Ms. Hinako demanded angrily. 

Akari looked and the child strangely.

Ryoga answered. "Um, sorry. We got lost on our way here."

"You haven't snuck off to do anything, have you?"

Ryoga blushed. "No. No. I'd never do that."

"I wish he would," Akari whispered longingly.

"Be sure that you don't. Now get in there and stay out of trouble," 
Ms. Hinako snarled, fingering a five yen coin.

Ryoga and Akari entered the gym from the school's entrance.

"Who is she and why is she so angry?" Akari mused.

"She's one of the teachers here. As to why she's angry, I don't know," 
Ryoga replied.
"She's a teacher?"

"She's a lot older than she looks. She has the ability to drain chi, and 
when she does, she temporarily grows older."

"Oh," Akari said. She spotted Akane talking to Ranma, and dragged Ryoga 
over to them. "Akane, Ranma, hi!"

Akane smiled. "Hi. How were you able to get in? I thought they were only 
letting students in." 

"We sort of came in from a different entrance."

"You mean he got you lost and led you in here?" Ranma quipped.

Ryoga glared at Ranma.

"In a way," Akari confirmed.

Ryoga deflated a little. He was uncomfortable at how easy it was for him 
to get lost, and yet Akari had no problems with it. He couldn't get 
upset at her for mentioning that curse, because she meant no harm by it. 
She actually thought it was kind of cute.




			---------------------------------
			*Chapter 4 - Dance for Your Life*
			---------------------------------



A carnival, or perhaps it should be called a Hawaiian, atmosphere 
permeated the Furinkan High School's gym. The gym was filled with second 
and third year students, and this was the first prom that any of them 
could remember. They were intent on enjoying it. 

The gym had been divided into two seperate dance floors by a line of 
table and chairs. One, the smaller of the two, was used for judging.

The first dance to be judged was a waltz. Only Kuno, Nabiki, Kodachi 
and Gosunkugi elected to use this dance for the dance contest. Kodachi 
and Gosunkugi moved with surprising elegance, but Gosunkugi showed that 
he only had a little knowledge of the dance. Kuno and Nabiki, however, 
danced exquisitely to the song as if they were one, setting a near 
perfect score to beat.

Hiro and Yuka danced to the third song. It was not a spectacular 
performance, but earned them a B for gym.

Daisuke and Sayuri also danced to the third song, completely upstaging 
the other half dozen couples. They moved with a fluid grace one 
wouldn't expect to see except from the martial artists. Their score 
was second only to Kuno's and Nabiki's.

Ranma and Akane prepared themselves as they were to dance to the fourth 
song. Surprisingly they were the only couple to elect this song, which 
confused Ranma and Akane. The song was pretty popular, so they couldn't 
understand why no one else was going to dance to it.

The music started and Ranma and Akane started to dance. They moved in 
unison, as Ranma either copied or mirrored how Akane moved. They broke 
form a couple times to perform a complicated move together. Actually 
to say they were dancing would be a technically wrong, as it was more 
of a kata than a dance, including intentional missed punches and even 
aerial jump kicks. Once ended, the gym erupted in applause. Ranma and 
Akane bowed once and quickly got off the dance floor.

"That was great," Yuka cheered.

"Thanks," Akane replied, winded. "Do you know why no one else danced 
to the song?"

"Um, yeah. Once word got out that you and Ranma were dancing to that 
song, everyone decided not to dance to it. We figured there would be no 
hope to top you two since it is a contest and we all know how competitive 
Ranma is. We all decided to dance to other songs."

"Oh, were we that good?" Akane asked.

Yuka looked at her strangely.

"What do you mean we tied with Kuno?" Ranma was heard shouting.

Yuka smirked. "Looks like you've been robbed. You tied for first."

"Really? First, that's great." Akane went over to Ranma with the intent 
of stopping him from doing anything really stupid.

"How come she didn't think she did well?" Hiro asked.

"Akane hasn't been very confident about anything since Ranma arrived. 
She was the greatest martial artist before he showed up, and then in a 
matter of months a half dozen people showed up, each capable of 
defeating her easily. She's always wanted to be the best in something, 
but Ranma unknowingly took that from her."

"How did she fall in love with him then?"

Yuka shrugged. "Maybe it's because despite the fact she's the least 
skilled of the girls that chased Ranma, he still loved her."

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

Kasumi shook her head as Dr. Tofu roughly broke up two people who 
dancing a little too closely, or more precisely looked like they were 
about to kiss. This was the third time he had done that. He had also 
yelled at another two students he thought were 'wandering off,' 
whatever he meant by that.

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

Ranma went to get some punch for Akane and himself when one of the 
windows to the school gym shattered.

"BWAHAHAHA!" Happosai laughed until he saw where he was. "Whoa momma! 
I've died and gone to heaven."

"You're not dead yet, but you'll soon be in hell if you don't do as I 
say!" Tarou shouted as he chased after Happosai. 

Happosai ignored him as he started jumping from one girl's breasts to 
another's.

The girls started shrieking and the guys failed miserably to help 
their dates. Several guys got slapped as their attempts caused them to 
touch their date's chest.

"Stop ignoring me and fight!" Tarou demanded.

"Oh, Ak..." Happosai started to say in one girl's chest until he 
sensed Pantyhose Tarou launch a punch at him. He jumped away.

Akane was unable to see Happosai until he had grabbed onto her. The 
shock of the old lech grabbing her prevented her from reacting to 
Tarou's attack. She was hit squarely in the chest by his fore-knuckle 
punch and fell down in pain.

Ranma saw Tarou hit Akane and slammed his shoulder into the 
half-monster's chest. Tarou was sent flying several feet.

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

"Yeah. I'm fine," she replied.

Kuno also saw Tarou hit Akane. "Who is he that hurts Saotome Akane?" 
he wondered.

"$&*!, that's Pantyhose in his human form," Nabiki answered with shock, 
fear, and anger. 

Kuno's eyes took a predatory gleam.

"Get him," Nabiki commanded coldly.

Pantyhose stood up, shrugging off his blow. "Looks like you've gotten 
a little faster fem-boy. It was a mistake for me to hit your wife, but 
it was a bigger mistake for you to hit me. For that I'll make you 
pay."

"There is no way you can beat me Pantyhose," Ranma replied, hovering 
protectively over Akane.

"Oh, you'd need a lot of help to stand a chance."

"Attacking one in his own territory and you don't expect for him to 
have friends within arm's reach? Thou are truly foolish," Kuno said, 
bokken at the ready. He stood on Ranma's left.

Ranma blinked. 

Ryoga cracked his knuckles as he moved to Ranma's right. "You'll pay 
for hurting Akane." He charged Tarou, who side-stepped. As Ryoga passed, 
Tarou slammed his fist into Lost Boy's back.

Kuno rushed next, shouting, "TATATATATATATA!!!" Tarou didn't dodge the
Kendoist's multi-strike, rather he grabbed the bokken and flung Kuno 
into the wall.

"Kasumi, please help Akane out of here," Ranma said.

"I can still fight!" Akane said fiercely.

"But Akane, the baby," Kasumi reminded.

Akane looked at her waist, and knew she couldn't risk fighting against 
Tarou. "Ranma, be careful."

"I will." He faced Tarou as he flung Kuno away. "You're going down 
nylon-boy!" he snarled. "Mokou Takabishi!"

"Shi Shi Hokodan!" Ryoga called from the other side of Tarou.

Tarou jumped out of the way as the two chi blast collided explosively, 
sending the combatants and several spectators flying several feet.

Many of those attending the prom felt now was a good time to leave.

Ranma jumped at Tarou, who responded with a round-house kick to 
the stomach, knocking Fem-boy out of the air. Ranma quickly got up and 
pressed his attack. 

Ryoga landed a blow on Tarou's back, but Tarou ducked the follow-up 
punch. Instead, the Lost Boy's attack connected with Ranma as he was 
completing a jumping spin-kick, sending him flying.

Tarou turned to faced off against Ryoga. "Come on bacon-breath, can't 
land a hit except when my back is turned?" Tarou landed a couple blows 
to Ryoga.

 Ryoga's anger built up as his attacks failed to connect.

Ukyou watched the battle, cursing the lack of her combat spatula. She 
held a couple throwing spatulas, waiting for a chance to use them 
without risking hitting anyone but her target. Suddenly she noticed a 
movement above her and saw her giant spatula fall in front of her. 

Konatsu, hanging from the ceiling, sent a volley of shurikens at 
Tarou. He side-stepped the attack, which came closer than he would've 
liked. Konatsu cursed himself as the metal stars to cut into Ryoga.

Dr. Tofu had been waiting of to the side of the battle waiting for 
Tarou to move close enough. That last dodge gave Tofu the opportunity he 
wanted, but Tarou noticed him move for an attack and punched him into a 
wall. Dr. Tofu collapsed, unconscious.

Tarou readied himself as he was being surrounded by several martial 
artists, even if they did look odd wearing formal clothes. Three or 
four martial artists of the level of his opponents he had trouble 
dealing with, but five would really be pushing it.

"Fowl demon, I SHALL SMITE THEE!" Kuno bellowed as he attacked. Tarou 
grabbed him and threw him at Konatsu.

Konatsu caught Kuno while hanging from the sprinkler pipes. The 
combined weight caused the pipe to bend and then break. They both fell 
and the broken pipe sent water everywhere.

Tarou started laughing evilly as the first drops of water hit him. 

Those fighting Tarou cursed as he transformed into his monstrous curse 
form. 

Ryoga spouted more curses as he transformed into a pig.

Ranma grimaced as he transformed into a girl, this had gone from bad 
to worse.

The remaining spectators to the battle now ran out of the gym.

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

"Sweet bliss," Happosai said, smothering his face into a midnight 
black prom dress.

"Ack! Die you perverted monster!" Kodachi snarled, trying to pry him 
off by his neck.

Gosunkugi pulled out a candle and lit it. He place the candle at 
Happosai's back.

"Yeowch!" Happosai leapt away and patted out the flames that threatened 
to burn him.

"Thank you, Gosunkugi. I'll handle him from here," Kodachi said, 
whipping her gymnastic ribbon at Happosai.

"You'll pay from separating me from my lovely." Happosai dodge the 
ribbon and tapped Gosunkugi with his pipe. Gosunkugi flew off into the 
night's sky.

"No, you'll pay, you foul creature." 

Kodachi attacked Happosai in earnest, while he gleefully played with 
her.

"Happo Go-en Satsu!" chibi-Ms. Hinako shouted, missing Happosai and 
hitting Kodachi instead. "Damn," she muttered. "Happo Go-En Satsu! 
Happo Go-en Satsu!"

Happosai dodged behind various students while Ms. Hinako tried to 
drain Happosai's chi.

"Happo Tsurisen Gaeshi!" Hinako called. The geriatric delinquent still 
dodged.

"Is this any way to treat the man who saved your life, who gave you 
your powers?"

"And how much a life you gave me? I'm either an enthusiastic child or 
an emotionless adult. I am only fulfilling the only role you've 
provided me." Ms. Hinako grinned as the sprinkler were activated, now 
everyone would leave and she'd make sure Happosai wouldn't.

Ms. Hinako tried several more times to drain Happosai's chi but he 
just wouldn't stay still long enough for it to work. She needed to get 
him distracted long enough to hit him. She grimaced as the most 
feasable idea that came to her was to flash the pervert her breast. 

She did... 

He was distracted... 

He was drained. 

Ms. Hinako's foot then ground into his withered face.

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

Ukyou attacked with her combat spatula, only to have Tarou rip it out 
of her hands and bent it over Ranma's head. Ukyou retreated, knowing 
her close-combat skills meant nothing to this monster without the 
combat spatula. Tarou threw the twisted metal away.

Kuno sneered at the monster form of Tarou. "You are truly a demon in 
spirit, and I shall destroy you!" Kuno rushed at monster.

Tarou pounded down on Kuno with both fists, sending Kuno to 
slumber-land.

Onna-Ranma took the opportunity and attacked. "Mokou Takabishi!" She 
blasted at Tarou's head, connecting.

Tarou cursed.  He turned and 
attacked. 

Ranma dodged the attacks and having minimal return in counter-attacking. 
Tarou caught Ranma in his monstrous hands and sent her flying into the 
wall.

Ukyou and Konatsu moved into to attack, sending waves of throwing 
spatulas and shurikens at Tarou.

Ranma shook her head, recovering from the blow. She noticed Ryoga, 
still in pig form, was by her feet. "Hey Ryoga, think you can do a Shi 
Shi Hokodan in that form?"

Ryoga nodded.

"Good. I have an idea."

Ukyou cursed as she ran out of throwing spatulas, as she hadn't thought 
she'd need more than a hundred. Konatsu wasn't in much better shape as 
he switched to restaurant bills that didn't do much more than inflict 
several paper-cuts to Tarou's body, already bleeding from numerous 
spatula and shuriken hits.

"Hey Pantyhose, hold still for a moment!" Ranma shouted as she jumped 
over Tarou, dropping Ryoga onto his head.

Tarou grunted in disgust and tried to shake the pig off.

"Ewk Ewk Bukuweep!" the black piglet squealed as he performed a pig's  
equivalent of a perfect Shi Shi Hokodan on Tarou's head. A chi blast 
pillar of twenty feet high and five feet wide erupted.

Tarou staggered from the blast, and then swatted Ryoga flat onto his 
head, adding to the large headache Tarou had gotten from the fight. 
Ryoga feel off Tarou, unconscious.

Tarou really needed to reduce the number of opponents. He grabbed a 
table and threw it at Ukyou and Konatsu. Ukyou dived to the side, 
while Konatsu got smashed by a second table thrown just after the 
first one. He staggered from the blow.

Tarou monster laughed evilly as he thought of how to limit the battle 
to just Ranma. He started to fly towards the ceiling.

"Happo Go-en Satsu!" cried Ms. Hinako as she joined the fight against 
Tarou.

Tarou felt his chi drain from him.  He floated 
to the ground.

"Mr. Saotome, you are a delinquent and must be punished for fighting. 
Happo Tsurisen Gaeshi!" Ms. Hinako sent some of the chi she drained at 
Ranma.

Ranma dodged the blast, shouting angrily, "Pantyhose started it, and 
he hit Akane. What do you expect me to do? Say, 'it's all right, you 
can beat my wife.'"

Ms. Hinako blinked. "Sorry. I was not aware he had done that. I was 
busy handling the ancient delinquent."

"Next time make sure the person is guilty before draining or blasting."

"Ranma! Are you okay?" Akane shouted as she ran into the gym.

"I'm fine," he replied. "How are you?"

"I said I was fine before. I'll just have a bruise in a rather 
unpleasant place." Akane looked at the withered monster. "What are we 
going to do about him?"

"Tis a simple matter... we destroy," Kuno said, having recovered 
slightly from his injuries and holding one of Ukyou's throwing spatulas.

"No," Ranma said coldly. "We won't kill him."

"This foul demon hurt your wife and has done unspeakable evils, yet you 
say he should live."

"Pantyhose is not currently a threat. Killing him would be cold blooded 
murder."

"Tis not murder, it's justice. He has threatened the life of your wife 
and unborn child, yet you wish such evil to exist. He needs to be 
destroyed."

"No one's life is in danger, so there is no need."

"Would you not kill to protect your wife?"

"I would and h... She is not at risk!"

"Kuno! Let's just change him back to human form and tie him up," Akane 
suggested. "We'll figure out what to do later."

"Oy! Dey've made da big kahuna's wonderful gym a mess," Principal Kuno 
cried.

Two janitors enter the gym and looked at the mess. They then turned to 
the principal and said, "We quit."

"No! You can't quit. You been here da longest of any janitors dis school 
had fo' over a year. I need da gym cleaned."

"Principal Kuno, might I suggest that you give those involved in the 
fight a choice of whether to clean up the gym and keep their gym 
grade, or don't and get a failing grade," Nabiki said evenly.

Principal Kuno debated for a moment. He wanted to put Ranma in his 
place, but he also needed the gym cleaned for a sports event tomorrow. 
At least he'd get to see Ranma do menial work. "A splendid idea. Glad 
I thought of it."

Nabiki glared at principal Kuno as he left to inform the others of 
their choice.

Dr. Tofu awoke from his blow from Tarou to find Kasumi tending to his 
injuries. "Is everyone okay?" he asked.

"They're fine. You and Ryoga seem to be the most hurt," Kasumi answered.

"Wish I had the recovery powers these kids have. I was taken out by a 
blow Ryoga wouldn't even feel," Dr. Tofu said enviously.

"Dr. Tofu, I don't think we should see each other anymore," Kasumi 
said sadly.

"W-why?"

"I always thought you were kind and caring and didn't have a mean bone 
in your body, but you've been hostile to the students, started that 
fight in the dance club, and been generally negative towards others."

Dr. Tofu's heart sank at Kasumi's words. "Kasumi, please let me 
explain. There is a reason for my recent uncharacteristic actions."

"Please don't make this harder for me."

"Let me explain!" he shouted.

"Dr. Tofu, please don't do this. It's for the..."

Kasumi stopped speaking as she saw Dr. Tofu raise his hand as if to 
slap her. He then stared at his hand and ran.

"I thought he was better than that," Kasumi said, on the verge of tears.

"He is, Kasumi," Akane said sadly. "His actions have been affected by a 
potion he got from Cologne. In order for him to have been in control 
while he's with you, he took a potion that made his feelings more 
negative. By loving you less, he could remain in control. It seems the 
potion has gotten worse. I hope it wears off soon."

Kasumi stared at the spot where Dr. Tofu had been, not sure what to 
think of what just happened.

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

Hiro and Yuka walked away from the school. Both of them were a little 
wet because they hadn't left until after the sprinklers were broken.

"I can't believe they still had a fight. At least their gym grade will 
get hurt," Hiro said bitterly.

"It wasn't their fault. It was Pantyhose's fault. He hurt Akane, and 
you know how they feel about her," Yuka replied.

"If it wasn't for them our prom wouldn't have been ruined."

"Oh, you didn't seem to mind the fight until the sprinklers were 
broken."

"This suit was a rental and now it's a mess. They'll make me pay for 
it, and I don't have that kind of money."

"It's just water, they're not going to make you pay for it."

"I hope so." He grinned as he got an idea. "Seeing as you're not 
expected home just yet, why don't we go to my house?"

Yuka shrugged. "Okay."

Hiro smiled devilishly as he led Yuka towards his home. When they 
arrived he unlocked the door, opened it and turned on the lights.

"Um, where are your parents?" Yuka asked a little nervously.

"Dad is probably at a business party. He might be home after one. Mom 
is, well, out," Hiro answered.

Yuka became nervous as she sat down on the couch next to Hiro. She was 
alone with him at his house. She had let the idea of having sex with 
him run through her mind a many times, but now obviously given the 
chance words from her Mom and Akane ran through her mind about being 
too young.

Hiro leaned over to her and started to kiss her.

 Yuka thought. 

Yuka pushed Hiro away as he had started to fondle her breast. "Hiro, 
no!"

"Oh, come on. I know you want it." Hiro moved in for another kiss.

Yuka held him back. "I'm not ready for this."

"Now, Yuka-chan. I know you want to have a child, and I can deliver."

"Nani? What gave you THAT idea?"

"I just know you would. I even heard you say it," Hiro said seductively.

Yuka slapped him. "I want a husband first!" 

Hiro rubbed his cheek. "You can't have everything you want." He 
grabbed her arms. "I can give you some of what you want."

Outside of Hiro's home a high pitched scream was heard. A moment later 
Yuka stomped out of the house muttering curses on Hiro and his family.

Hiro walked funny, going to his room. "She'll pay for that," he said 
in soprano.




				----------------------
				*Chapter 5 - Clean Up*
				----------------------



Onna-Ranma grumbled as she and many of the martial artists in Nerima 
helped clean the results of the massive battle with Pantyhose that had
brought a sudden end to Furinkan High's prom. She didn't have much 
choice but to help. It was either this or ruin the only perfect grade 
she had on her report card, her gym grade. She was happy at least that 
the sprinkler system had been turned off.

Ukyou approached Ranma. She was going to try to talk things over yet 
again. Hopefully, this time, they could settle things. Being alone at 
her restaurant with only Konatsu to talk to was really starting to get 
to her. "Ranma?"

"Hi, Ukyou," Ranma greeted a little coldly.

"I realy think we should talk."

Ranma didn't say anything for a moment, and then said hesitantly, "All 
right, talk."

"Ranma, I'd like us to be friends again. I know I shouldn't have told 
the school. I was just angry at you saying I was a consolation prize."

"I didn't say that!"

"Yes you did." Ukyou glared at Ranma. "You said I was someone to fall 
back on if Akane ever dumped you."

Ranma remained quiet for a moment, and then sighed. "I should've tried 
to explain it to you before. I should've at least explained it after 
the wedding attempt."

"Why didn't you?"

"Remember when I walked in the day after the attempt?"

Ukyou nodded. "Yes, that was when I apologized for bombing it."

"Yeah. Well, I wasn't really paying attention when you said it. I had 
just overheard Akane and Nabiki talking and heard Akane was bribed to 
marry me. If I hadn't heard that, I probably wouldn't have forgiven you 
that soon, but would've explained that I wanted to marry Akane 
someday."

"You were just scared that Akane didn't love you."

Ranma looked indigent for a second, but then looked down. "Yeah. I 
was."

Ukyou shook her head. "You strung me along because you couldn't face 
being rejected alone. You're a real jackass, you know."

"You're telling me you wouldn't be happy if Akane ever did dump me and 
I went to you."

"Of course, I'd be happy. You should've at least told me that you were 
in love with Akane... That I only had a chance if she dumped you."

Ranma leveled his gaze at Ukyou. "If I did do that, you would've done 
everything in your power to see that she did, wouldn't you?"

"No. I..." Ukyou withered under Ranma's glare. "Yes, I would."

"I couldn't just tell you, because it would've hurt you and I had 
enough trouble with Akane without you getting desperate trying to 
separate us."

Ukyou sighed. "I can see your point. But what you did was still wrong."

"And what you did was wrong too."

"Ranma, I'll forgive you for being a jerk, if you forgive me for what I 
did."

Ranma didn't answer for a moment. He saw Akane standing behind Ukyou, 
glaring at him. He sighed. "I forgive you."

Akane smiled.

Ukyou smiled. "Friends?" Ranma nodded, and was promptly hugged by 
Ukyou.

Akane's smile twitched.

Ranma pushed Ukyou away. "I suggest you don't hug me though. Akane 
might not like it."

Ukyou frowned. "I can't see why hugging my friend would be a problem. 
She just has to learn to not be jealous."

"Hello, Ukyou," Akane said with a little coldness to her voice.

"Er, hi, Akane," Ukyou said nervously. "Um, can you forgive me for what 
I've done?"

"If you can forgive me for marrying Ranma?"

Ukyou hesitated for a moment. "Sure. Friends?"

Akane nodded. "Friends." She was promptly hugged by Ukyou too. The hug 
didn't exactly seem to be friendly, giving Akane the impression all 
might not have been forgiven.

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

Akari and Ryoga finally returned to the gym after getting some hot 
water. Akari went over to help Akane and Ukyou clean. Ryoga wanted to 
talk to Ranma, and was thankful she was off to the side by herself at 
the moment. "Hey Ranma," he called.

"What is it?" onna-Ranma asked.

"I want to know something, why didn't you go all out?" Ryoga asked.

 Kuno thought, overhearing them talking when he 
passed by them. He stopped to listen in.

"What do you mean?"

"You were holding back. You weren't fighting the way you were in 
China."

Ranma remained silent for a moment. "I really didn't see a point in the 
fight."

"He hurt Akane. That isn't a good enough reason?"

"Well, it is... but I guess..." Ranma stared at her hands. "I didn't 
want to risk killing him."

"Ranma, he's a dangerous opponent. He wouldn't hesitate to kill you. 
It'd be honorable and right to kill him in battle."

Ranma glared at Ryoga. "You have no idea what you're talking about."

"What do you mean by that?" Ryoga asked, looking confused.

"Even with all the times you've screamed death threats at me, you 
haven't killed anyone, have you?"

"No I haven't. I don't understand your point."

"My point is that you've never delivered a fatal blow. You've never cut 
short someone's life."

 Kuno smiled victoriously.

"What are you talking about? You've never killed anyone."

Kuno frowned.

"What about Saffron? His body may have been reborn as an infant, but 
what of his mind? The Saffron I fought is not the same one that's alive 
now."

Kuno smiled again.

Ryoga was at a loss for words. He hadn't give much thought to what 
happened to Saffron after the final battle at Jusendo. "So... um, why 
are you reluctant to kill someone like Pantyhose?"

"As much as I hate him, the worst he's done is hurt Akane. That isn't a 
good enough reason to kill him."

"I say it is."

"I doubt you'll say that after you've killed someone." Ranma's voice 
was frigid.

Ryoga couldn't think of anything more to say.

Kuno, realizing he wasn't going to hear anymore from them, decided to 
approach Nabiki with this information.

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

"Why aren't you cleanin' da gym?" Principal Kuno asked.

Nabiki looked at him without any emotion. "I wasn't involved in the 
fight, so I have no reason to clean. I am only here because my date and 
my family are still here."

"Well, you do understand dat since Tachi was involved in da fight, 
you won't be awarded first place."

"I don't really care about the prize, seeing it holds no monetary 
value. I'm happy enough to know I've technically won that contest."

Principal Kuno glared at this cold girl that was dating his son. He 
would've liked to have seen some emotion from her.

"Nabiki, I shall have words with you," Kuno said, grabbing Nabiki 
and leading her away.

"What is it, Kuno-chan?"

"I have discovered proof of Ranma's evil."

"Oh, and what is this 'proof?'"

"I have heard the vile Saotome admit to murder."

Nabiki blinked. Her mind raced, considering the possibility and who 
it might have been. "And did he say who he killed?"

"I believe he said it was Saffron."

Nabiki gave a sigh of relief, shaking her head. "Well, Ranma did, sort 
of, kill him, but he wasn't given a choice. Saffron was preventing Ranma 
from getting some special water that Akane needed or she would die. 
Saffron's ability to regenerate meant the only way Ranma could defeat 
him was with a fatal blow. If he didn't do it, Akane would have died. 
So, to save the girl he loves, Saffron had to die."

Nabiki then glared at Kuno. "He was given more than enough reason to 
kill Saffron. Saffron had already nearly killed Akane once before and 
was fighting Ranma with the intent of killing him. Ranma had more 
reason to kill Saffron than you do in wanting to kill Pantyhose or 
Ranma."

"I-I see." Kuno stood there staring at Nabiki. "He has killed in combat 
to save the life of Akane. A noble gesture indeed." Kuno turned and 
left.

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

Everyone gathered after finishing cleaning the gym. "What are we going 
to do about those two?" Akane asked, pointing at Pantyhose and 
Happosai.

Ranma grinned. "I have an idea. I need some of Kodachi's paralyzation 
roses, some large boxes..."

---------------------------------------
Monday - Lunch Period

The prom had set people abuzz with amazement. Few could believe that 
Daisuke and Sayuri were awarded first prize winners of the dance 
contest. Even more unbelievable for them was that Kuno and Nabiki were 
not only dating, but had tied with Ranma and Akane as the actual first 
place winners, if none of them had been involved in the fight. 

Several rumors had been spread as a result of the prom. One of those 
rumors caused Akane to glare angrily at Yuka as she sat under a tree 
about to eat lunch. "How could you do that? I thought better of you!"

Yuka sweated nervously. "What are you talking about?"

"What you did with Hiro, that's what I'm talking about."

Yuka started to become angry. "He had it coming."

"What?! How could you say that?"

"Because he was a jerk."

"You did that with him because he was a jerk?!"

"You've probably done that to Ranma."

Akane faultered. "That-that's different."

"How so?"

"Because I'm married to him."

Yuka looked at Akane, shocked. "You've done that to him after 
you married him?"

Akane looked at Yuka strangely. "Of course."

Yuka paused for a second. "I don't think we're having the same 
argument. What is it you think I've done?"

"Had sex with Hiro."

"What?! No!" Yuka looked extremely disgusted. "I'd never do that 
with him. He tried to rape me, so I kneed him where it really hurt."

"That's not what the rumor horde has been spreading. Hiro has been 
saying you did it with him."

"Since when have you put stock in what they say?"

Akane shook her head. "It's just that I know you want to have a baby, 
and you might have done it with him for that reason."

"I did think about it. I almost did." Yuka sighed. "But when I had the 
chance, I remembered what you and my Mom said about being too young. 
For now I'll just be happy to be an aunt to your child."

"Good." Akane eyed Yuka skeptically. "You're sure you didn't have sex 
with him?"

"Of course, I'm sure," Yuka said bitterly. "What am I going to do about 
that jerk? He's not going to get away with this."

Akane grabbed Yuka's arm, saying, "Let's get Nabiki to help."

"I don't have any money to spend on your sisters 'help.'"

Akane scowled slightly, dragging Yuka along. Akane was a little 
surprised to find Nabiki eating lunch with Kuno. She didn't expect 
Nabiki to show any form of confirmation that she was dating Kuno. 
"Nabiki, we need your help with something," Akane called.

"Would this help have anything to do with what Hiro is saying about 
her?" Nabiki asked.

Akane nodded.

"Is it true?"

"No," Yuka said fiercely.

"Do you have any means to prove it?"

"Um... why should I have prove it?"

Nabiki shook her head. "Because he already has most of the school 
believing it. It's now his word against yours. I hate to say it, but 
his word carries more weight around here."

"May I ask, what it is that you are talking about?" Kuno asked.

"Hiro has been saying that he had sex with her after the prom," Nabiki 
answered.

"He dare claim such fallacy?"

"He is," intoned the girls.

"I shall smite him for thee."

"Hold on Kuno-chan. Running off and beating him to a pulp may be fun 
for you, but wouldn't address the wrong he's done," Nabiki said with a 
business air.

"Thou will help her against his foul lies."

"Now you know I don't do anything for free."

"I don't have any money to spend," Yuka said.

"I'm sure I can make it worth Nabiki's while to help you," Kuno said 
flatly.

"Okay. Now how to prove he's lying?" Nabiki asked herself.

"We could try and catch him in his lie," Akane suggested.

Nabiki thought for a second. "It's really hard to do that. The only way 
I can think of doing it is if we can get Hiro to describe how it felt, 
and then get someone who knows what it's like to point out he's lying."

"Well, um, Ranma could do that," Akane said, blushing slightly.

"He could, but I doubt you want him to since he would have to describe 
what it's like to make love with you to prove it."

Akane blushed and looked down. "I-I guess not..."

"I shall make him admit to the untruths that he has spread," Kuno said.

"Intimidate him to confess." Nabiki grinned as a plan came together in 
her mind. "Akane, I'd like to get Ranma's help on this. We'll make him 
sing like a bird."

"He certainly can hit the high notes," Yuka grinned.

Nabiki raised an eyebrow. "How would you know this?"

"Well, he tried to rape me, so I kneed him in very bad spot." Yuka 
raised her knee for emphasis.

Kuno squirmed a little at the insinuation.

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

Several guys were gathered around Hiro, listening as he supposedly 
described what it was like to have sex. 

"...And then she was moaning in a rather high-pitched voice," Hiro 
continued his description as Kuno appeared behind him.

"Tis not what I heard. I heard it was you who emitted a high pitch 
noise. A noise not coming from the throes of passion, but the knee of 
a maiden pure." Kuno sneered, "You are the lowest creature I've had the 
displeasure of meeting. I demand you rescind your lies, or I must smite 
thee."

"They are not lies. The little slut was an easy score," Hiro said. 

Hiro noticed Kuno setting himself into a battle stance. Not being a 
martial artist, Hiro decided his best option was to run. He sped away 
quickly as fast as he could with Kuno chasing after him. Hiro stopped 
abruptly when he collided with something and fell.

"You know, for once, I actually agree with Kuno," Ranma said, standing 
above Hiro. Ranma cracked a couple knuckles. "Now why don't you tell me 
what really happened."

Hiro started to describe his version of the story, the one where he had 
sex with Yuka and even included some description of what it supposedly 
was like.

Ranma shook his head. "Now I know you're lying. I can't explain why 
you're wrong `cause Akane would hate it, but I know you haven't had sex 
with anyone." 

"So tell us what truly occurred or incur our wrath," Kuno sneered.

Hiro looked at the two martial artist looming over him. He gulped. "I 
told you the truth."

Ranma picked up a rock and crushed it. "No you haven't."

Hiro started to sweat. He couldn't admit he lied, because he valued his 
manhood possibly more than Ranma did when he arrived Nerima. Admitting 
to lying would make him look foolish and unmanly, but not admitting to 
lying would cause him a considerable amount of pain.

Ranma grew impatient. "Kuno, can I see your bokken for a second?"

"What do you want with it?" Kuno asked, handing it over.

"Just a little practice."

Ranma started striking out with the bokken above and to the left of 
Hiro. The speed of the strikes increase to the point the air pressure 
was tearing chunks off a tree several feet away.

Kuno sneered at Ranma. "Copying my tricks now?"

"Sort of. The basis of this trick is similar to Kachuu Tenshin 
Amaguriken. Your trick is to use rapid strikes placed in a controlled 
circular motion to produce a small tornado like effect." Ranma looked 
and saw Hiro making a run for it. Ranma flung the bokken so it would 
land just in front of Hiro, stopping him cold. "Now don't be an idiot 
and just admit to lying."

"Why don't you admit to having sex with your other fiancees before 
getting married?"

Ranma blinked. "Excuse me? I've only done it with Akane."

"I knew you weren't honorable," Kuno glared at Ranma.

"Who are you going to believe: me or that liar?"

"I am more inclined to believe him than you."

Hiro took the chance to run only to find a fist in his face. "I am the 
only girl Ranma has ever made love to," Akane sneered. "And, I am 
positive of that, Kuno."

"Are you sure he has not deceived you?" Kuno asked.

"Yes." Akane turned her gaze back to Hiro, who was lying on the ground. 
"Now you've not only insulted the honor of my friend, but my husband as 
well." Akane picked Hiro up by the collar. "You will now tell us the 
truth as to what happened after you left the prom with Yuka."

Running from Kuno and Ranma was proving to be a mistake, a rather 
painful one as Akane's fist pointed out. His only hope to escape any 
more physical pain was to tell the truth, at least partially. "I, ah, 
walked her home. N-nothing happened."

Akane glared at him. "That's closer to the truth, but give us the 
details of what happened."

"I-I walked her to my house. We started kissing. I tried to go for 
more, but she didn't want to and left."

"To make this perfectly clear: Did you have sex with Yuka?"

"No."

"Did you try to rape her?" 

"Yes." The look in Akane's eyes would've made him give the same answer 
even if it wasn't true. 

"Did you get all that?" Akane asked.

"Every word," Nabiki said, stepping out from hiding and holding a tape 
recorder. "Now Hiro, if you don't want this tape played..." Nabiki 
grinned evilly, "you will inform the school that you were lying. Yuka 
will come up with some additional punishment later. Once that occurs, 
you will get this tape back."

Hiro just wanted to curl up and die. If Nabiki, Akane, Ranma, and Kuno 
were against him, he might as well be dead.

---------------------------------------
Days later

Dr. Tofu sat in the corner of his office. He had not opened his clinic 
since the prom. He wasn't quite sure what day it was. All he knew was 
the potion that he got from Cologne had gotten to the point where he 
had almost slapped Kasumi, and he wasn't about to risk hurting her or 
anyone else. 

"Dr. Tofu?" a woman's voice called through the clinic.

"K-Kasumi, go away. I don't want to hurt you," Dr. Tofu replied.

"I won't go away. I want to help you."

"Please go," he cried.

Kasumi finally saw Dr. Tofu, shaking her head at the sight. "I know 
about Cologne's potion. If it hasn't worn off yet, you should be 
working to cure it, and not sitting, here, in the dark."

"There isn't a cure."

"If there is a potion that causes people to have their reactions become 
negative, then there should be a means to make a potion that turns 
their reaction positive."

Dr. Tofu blinked.  "You're right. I 
should try to fix this." 

Kasumi smiled at him.

"Does this mean I'll get another chance if I can find a cure?"

"Yes." Kasumi saw him return her smile, but then also saw his glasses 
fogging.  

Dr. Tofu started laughing and dancing with Betty-chan. He then went 
through the wall and out into Nerima.

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

The Jusenkyo guide looked at the package he received strangely. It was 
a large crate with some air holes. He looked at a partial note written 
on the crater, [Dump contents of crate into Nannichaun. Do n...] The 
remainder of the note was damaged to the point of being unreadable.

The guide shrugged and sent his daughter to fetch a crowbar. She 
returned with it and he used the crowbar to open the crate. Inside was 
Tarou in human form with a bouquet of black roses on his chest. The 
guide picked up the flowers. 

Tarou started coughing. He then quickly stood up, and shouted, "THAT 
CROSS-DRESSSER DIES!!!!"

"Good Sir, you want to know where Nannichaun is?" the guide asked.

Tarou look at the guide with a malevolent grin. "No, but I'd like to 
know where some other pools are." 

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

Happosai opened his eyes and screamed as he found himself in a crate 
and staring at a VERY ugly woman holding some black roses.

"Sister, do you think he'll be any good? He's pretty old," the woman 
asked.

"I don't know. Hey, isn't he the guy that blew up our tea shop?" 
another woman asked.

"Yes. That worthless step-daughter of mine left for that strange girl 
after he destroyed our shop. We haven't been able to get anything done 
without Konatsu," another lady said bitterly.

Happosai freaked at the sight of the three ugliest women he's ever seen 
in his entire existence. He had never wanted to see them again. 

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

Author's Note:

Hiro may appear again from time to time, but he is just a third rate 
character.

Japanese Junior and Senior High Schools are both three year institutions. 
Not two and four respective as it is in most of the United States.

Japanese schools have two main breaks which are about one month each. 
March to April for end of school year and start of next, and July to 
August for a summer break. (If this is wrong or if you can give me more 
exact information please, tell me.) I suspect there is a winter break 
that would go at least from two weeks before the end of the year to 
January third, due to how the Japanese celebrate New Years (this break 
may be longer or shorter).


I did a little research for another story about the timing of when women 
are fertile. Woman are considered most fertile on the 13 to 15th days of 
a 28 day cycle. So for Akane to be concerned she was pregnant Saturday, 
she would suppose to have had her period that day or before but didn't. 
This would place Akane being most fertile before the wedding. This is 
why Akari noticed a slight timing error.


The legality of selling alcohol to minors in japan is questionable. I've 
heard there isn't one to that it's twenty. For this fict though, I've 
assumed there isn't a legal drinking age for the type of alcohol they 
bought or that Dr. Tofu presence allowed them to buy the celebitory sake 
(he is over 20).


Hentai: Unnatural view of sex.
Being gay or bi-sexual, cross-dressing, and any other things which one 
considers not being a normal part of the sexual activity or sexual 
identity. By this definition Ranma, Akane, Ukyou, Konatsu, Tsubasa, and 
Happosai easily fit being a hentai for this series. 

Hammerspace:
Characters of Ranma 1/2 appear to be able to hide large objects on their 
person without any means for them to actually hold it let alone hid it. 
It is so named because of many anime characters in various series have 
been known to pull out hammers.
Known Hammerspace abilities:
Akane - Mallet
Ukyou - Throwing Spatulas (lots and lots of them)
Genma - Wooden signs
Ranma - Disguises (usually a dress and wig)
Mousse - Master of the Hammerspace (anything including the kitchen sink)
Kodachi - Gymnastic Equipment
Ryoga - Bandannas (lots of them)
Kasumi - Tea service set
Soun - Shogi board, spear
Shampoo - Bonbori

    Source: geocities.com/tokyo/fuji/9061/TIC