Steve Stachowicz
gerrek@hotmail.com

This is a Ranma 1/2, Sailor Moon, Self-Insertion

Webpage: http://www.geocities.com/tokyo/shores/2307

Legal Notes: Every thing mentioned in this Fanfic belongs to their
respective creators, and no infringement was intended here. This
Fanfic is for entertainment use only.

Twilight of the New Senshi

BY:
Steve Stachowicz

TENDO DOJO, NERIMA WARD, TOKYO

Nabiki peered into the living room as she walked to the kitchen to
talk to her older sister. She had been doing some thinking about the
announcement that their father made several hours ago, and she couldn't
believe her father was dumb enough to engage her, or one of her sister's,
to someone that they never met, much less someone he'd never met. At
least that was now on hold because the 'son' of her father's friend had
turned out to be a redheaded girl. She was mad at her father, he could
have at least known for sure about Ranma's true gender. She saw her father
sitting silently, tears flowing down his face, staring across the shoji
board at a rather bulky spectacled man, who was in a similar state. There
was an oppressive, dark ambience to the atmosphere. She turned and entered
the kitchen, finding her sister at the counter, cutting some vegetables and
cleared her throat.

"Hey Sis, do you know who that old guy with father is?" Nabiki asked.

"No." Replied Kasumi calmly.

"Come on, Sis, aren't you at all curious about him?" Nabiki pressed.

"Not really, no," Kasumi replied calmly. "Father will tell us all
about him when the time comes."

She continued preparing a light snack in the kitchen, until there
came a furious knock at the front gate. Nabiki, the one closest to the
door, noticed that her sister was still busy with dinner, and walked to
the front gate and slid it open.

A young girl of about twelve years of age stood there, panting like
she'd been running for some distance. She had collar length black hair;
violet colored eyes, was about 4' 4'' tall, and wore a black with dark
purple striped bandana. She was dressed in a dark purple T-shirt
and a pair of black trousers, under a heavy black trench coat that went
down pass her ankles. Her shoes were covered in mud, so that it was hard
to make out any details about them. She was carrying a backpack that was
much too big for her, and had a quarterstaff over the top of it that held
a backpack at each end.

"Excuse me," she said between breaths, her accent betraying her as
a foreigner, American from what Nabiki could tell, "but is there a rather
cute, short, red-haired, pig-tailed, girl who just arrived here with a panda?"

"Umm..." Nabiki stalled. The girl mentioned was unmistakably Ranma
Saotome, the "son" of her father's old friend who'd just arrived a little
over an hour earlier with her "pet" panda. But she didn't know why the
girl wanted to know.

"Who is it, Nabiki-chan?" Kasumi inquired, coming to the gate.

"Is Ranma Saotome here?" the young girl asked Kasumi directly. "I'm
still learning how to read Japanese, but I figured that the sign means
`Tendo Dojo', and that's where h- ... uh, we were headed. Is she here?"

"Why, yes," Kasumi replied. "She and her pet panda came here only
a short while ago. She's in the bath right now. Who ..."

"Wait a minute," Nabiki interrupted. "You ran that bath for Ranma?
I thought it was for Akane, so I sent her in."

"Oh my. Well, the two of them seemed to be getting along well."

"Excuse me," said the young girl in the doorway, who had a sick
expression on her face. "This would be a hot bath, right?"

"Yes, Ranma-chan was very sweaty after her sparring match with
Akane-chan, and ... is something wrong?"

Kasumi noticed that the young girl had dropped the quarterstaff
that held two of the packs, and closed her eyes, while plugging her ears
with her fingers. Kasumi and Nabiki were confused at the girl's actions
and were about to ask her what she was doing when an ear-splitting scream
reverberated through the air. Kasumi and Nabiki quickly turned to look
toward its source. The young girl opened her eyes and unplugged her ears
when the scream ended finally.

Akane Tendo ran screaming down the hallway, her long hair streaming
behind her. She ran out into the garden, seizing hold of a large piece of
stonework that was resting there inoffensively, babbling, "I'll weigh him
down! I'll drown him in the bathtub!"

Akane's two elder sister's approached her cautiously, neither aware
that the young girl was following them with a resigned expression.

"Akane," Nabiki inquired, "what's wrong? What's that for?" she added,
pointing at the stonework that the younger girl was holding.

"There's a pervert in the bathroom," Akane hissed.

"Then ... why didn't you just kill him with your bare hands?" Nabiki
prodded.

"Easier said than done," the young girl muttered with a weak chuckle.
Nobody noticed.

"Because I got scared." Akane replied defensively.

"That's odd ... Ranma was in the bath just now," Kasumi murmured.
"I hope she's all right."

"That's actually less odd than you might think, Miss," the young girl
commented with a laugh.

Before Kasumi could reply to that, she saw a young man with dark hair,
wearing Ranma's clothes, step out of the house, and start towards them with
an embarrassed expression.

"Who..." Kasumi began.

"Who are you?" Nabiki demanded, finishing the thought.

"I'm Ranma Saotome... sorry 'bout this," he replied. Then he noticed
the young girl who was standing behind the Tendo sisters with an angry look
to her face. "Oh! Hey, sorry we left you back there..."

Ranma was cut off when a backpack slammed into him, knocking him to
the floor.

"Not as sorry as you're gonna be, Red." the young girl replied angrily,
stealing a look at the still furious, confused expression on Akane's face.
Her gaze lingered for just a second longer than it should, but only Nabiki
noticed. Then she turned back to the man calling himself Ranma. "You two run
off on me and leave your backpack's for me to carry. Not to mention that I
don't know where the place is and had to carry all three backpacks all the
way here."

"Sorry. We weren't thinking to straight at the time." Ranma said
apologetically.

"Yeah, I noticed." The young girl growled. "By the way, is the bath
still hot?"

"It is still pretty warm." Ranma told the young girl after he got back
to his feet. "Should be enough ... just remember to wash before you get in
the tub, okay?"

"I try to avoid repeating my mistakes, Red," she sighed, as she started
walking towards the bathroom.

"Just a minute! Who are you?" Kasumi asked forcefully to the young girl,
getting a surprised glance from her sisters.

The young girl turned back and smiled. "My name's Steve Stachowicz, miss.
Pleased to meet ya."

* * * *

As evening came to the Tendo household, the four current residents and
their three guests gathered in the dining room. The young girl who had come
to the door that afternoon had never emerged from the bathroom. Instead, a
young man, about six feet tall, with brown hair, bluish eyes, wearing her
clothes, and glasses sat in the room. The clothes fit him a lot more
comfortably Nabiki noted.

He sat with a preoccupied expression beside the other young man who
claimed to be Ranma, who in turn sat beside the middle-aged man who had been
sitting with Soun Tendo. They were all three sitting in a row across from the
three sisters, while Soun sat at the head of the table.

"As I have already said," Soun said, "this is my dear old friend --"

"Genma Saotome," the middle-aged man continued. "And this is my son --"

"Ranma Saotome," the young man finished, glaring at his father.

"Ahem." Coming from the other man.

"Oh. And this is Steve Stachowicz, a friend we met on our trip
through China" Genma said.

Akane was staring at Ranma with thinly veiled hatred, while he
returned her look with apprehension. Neither of them noticed the curious
expression on Steve's face as he gazed from Akane to Ranma.

"What's this all about?" Nabiki asked, bewildered.

"Are you really ... them? Those girls?" Kasumi inquired in confusion.

"Well..." Steve began, trying to figure out how best to answer.

"Where should I begin?" Genma wondered aloud. "Ah! I know." With a
single, fluid motion, he grabbed his son by the collar, turned, and threw
him out the open door to the pond. With a single startled shriek, Ranma
splashed down.

"Y'know, Mr. Saotome ... I think we could've explained this without
a demonstration," Steve sighed regretfully.

The red-haired girl rose from the pool with a furious expression.
"What the hell you do that for?"

"No, Stacko, it was necessary for them to see the depth of my
humiliation! Oh, my son!"

His son leaped from the pool, grabbed her father, and flung him into
the pool. Moments later, a large panda arose from the pool, the same panda
that had carried Ranma to the dojo.

"Now they see the depths of your humiliation, old man!" the female-
Ranma sneered with contempt.

"Father..." Kasumi inquired, delicately, "Why are you friends with
these people?"

"They weren't like this before," Soun declared. "Not before they
went to China ... and undertook a terrifying training exercise!"

"Actually, it wasn't so much the training exercise that was such
a big deal," Steve interjected. "It was more the locale and what they
did."

As female-Ranma and panda-Genma went to take another hot bath,
the attention of the Tendo family abruptly focused on the Westerner in
their midst. "And ... you, also..." Kasumi began.

"Change?" Steve supplied, scratching his head. "Yeah. I hope
you'll forgive me, though, if I don't give you a demonstration. It's not
too fun for me."

"How did a person from ... where are you from anyway?" Soun inquired.

"America, Tendo-san. Wisconsin, if you're familiar with the ... no?
Okay. How I wound up with those two is sort of confusing, even to me, and
it really isn't a big part of their story, which is probably what you're
most interested in right now. I only hooked up with them about a month
before ... IT happened."

"How come you arrived without them?" Kasumi asked.

"Well, when we were entering Tokyo, Genma decided to tell Ranma about
this pledge he made to your family." Steve noticed the looks that the three
girls were giving their father. "Apparently the three of you were also told
about this 'pledge' today, am I right?"

"Yes." Kasumi replied in surprise.

"Well, after Genma told Ranma about this pledge, they dropped their
back packs and started fighting each other. Their fight quickly took them
out of the area, so I had to carry all three backpacks and followed after
them. It was then that it started raining and I lost track of them. So I
started asking round for your address, since I remembered Genma saying that
this was where we were headed. That was how I ended arriving a little later
than they did." Steve said finally.

"So, how did 'IT' happen?" Nabiki asked.

"Well..." Steve started.

Ranma and Genma, now restored to their true forms, marched back
into the room, and resumed their seats. Genma had heard the tail end of
Steve's "talk", and picked up from there. "Ah yes ... it was a fateful
three weeks ago..." He began theatrically.

And he related the very tragic tale of how they had sought to perfect
their martial arts techniques at the Training Grounds of Accursed Springs,
how Genma had fallen to Ranma's blows into the Spring of Drowned Panda, how
Ranma had been knocked into the Spring of Drowned Girl, and how Ranma
accidentally knocked Steve into the Spring of Drowned Young Girl.

There was a stunned silence in the room, as Genma finished the tale.

"The legendary training ground of accursed springs," Soun murmured.
"Its true horror has always been shrouded in mystery until now..."

"What do you mean, true horror?" Ranma bit out. He had been holding
his tremendous anger in while his father had recited the tale. Suddenly,
he seized hold of Genma's collar, and bellowed into his face. "Yo! Old man!
What's the idea of draggin' me to a place like that anyway?"

Wordlessly, Genma flung Ranma towards the pool. A large splash ensued,
then revealed Ranma in female form.

"You sound like a woman!" Genma answered Ranma bellow for bellow,
earning himself a dirty look from Akane, and a tired sigh from Steve that
he didn't notice. "Were you not prepared to give your life for the sake of
the Art?"

"My life, yes..." female-Ranma said quietly. From a corner, she seized
a bucket full of water, and flung it at her father, screaming, "My manhood
is another story!"

It was probably not her intent to splash Steve with some water in the
process. It was the first time that any of the Tendo family had actually
seen the process. Steve's body shrunk almost two feet in height, and his
shoulders narrowed. The hair on his head darkened to black, and his face
got a youthful look to it. He had closed his eyes when he was splashed;
now she opened them to reveal that they had turned to violet. Neither
Ranma nor Genma, now in panda mode, seemed to have noticed the other
transformation, being intent on some sort of fistfight.

"Oh ... what a tragedy!" Soun proclaimed, tears flowing from his
eyes.

Kasumi had stood up, and was opening her mouth to say something
to the Saotome family, when Steve cut her off.

"ALL RIGHT YOU TWO. KNOCK IT OFF RIGHT NOW!" Steve bellowed,
completely fed up. Her tone spoke eloquently of death in the near
future, and Ranma slowly turned to stare at her, as did the Panda,
both in shock.

"I have been watching the two of you fight about this "thing"
for the last three weeks. I've HAD it! Ranma, your father is, beyond
a doubt, foolish for having done something like this. HowEVER, like I
said when I talked to you, if I was looking for someone to blame for
what happened to me, I'd start with you, Ranma. You complain that you
lost your manhood due to your father, but because of you, I lost my
manhood AND my adulthood. If I can deal with it, you can. Or are
either of you going to have it be said that someone with only about
four month's training in the martial arts can deal with wild and crazy
situations like this better than the Saotome school of Anything Goes
Martial Arts?"

Ranma bowed her head, and released her grip on the panda, who also
proceeded to release her, without looking in Steve's direction, ashamed.

"But ... what in the world made them do something so dangerous?"
Kasumi asked Steve suddenly.

"Well ... truth to tell, Ms. Tendo, I've gathered that Mr. Saotome
didn't fully understand what he was getting into at Juthenkyou?"

"Jusenkyo," Ranma said quietly.

"Thanks" Steve said to Ranma. "That would be because he doesn't
read Chinese, so he couldn't make heads or tails of the warning signs,
understandable, probably. On the other hand, not listening to the Guide's
warnings was a dumb move, but on yet another hand, it was a move I also
made, so..."

"Well, in any case, any friend of the Saotome family is certainly
a friend of the Tendo family," Kasumi said decisively. "Please, Steve-san,
stay here as long as you feel comfortable."

"Thanks. But you can call me Stack or Stacko. My friends have been
calling me that for years, so it's become like my actual name." Steve
replied to Kasumi.

"Okay, Stacko-san." Kasumi said with a smile.

Soun had stepped out of the room and into the kitchen during Steve's
story, and now returned, carrying a kettle of boiling water, which he
proceeded to pour on the panda. In a twinkling, the panda became Genma
once more.

"So. When doused with hot water, you return to human form." Soun
said happily.

"Well, it needn't be quite that hot," Genma said, wincing in pain.
Soun ignored him completely.

"When doused with cold water, you become a girl, but hot water turns
you back into a boy!" Soun told to Ranma. Ranma guessed what he was going
to do a second before he did it and kicked the kettle out of Soun's hands
when Soun tried to pour the water on him.

"Hot water! Not boiling!" Ranma protested angrily.

Just then there was a high-pitched female scream that suddenly
turned to a high-pitched male scream of pain. Everyone turned at the
sound and found that the kettle Ranma had kicked had emptied itself all
over Steve, who is now in male form with the kettle at his feet. He was
giving Ranma a glare as he tried to quickly cool his clothes.

"Oh man, I'm sorry, I didn't see you ..." Ranma started until the
kettle hit her in the face and knocked her on the floor, stunned.

"Apology accepted." Steve grumbled, no one noticed the approving
look Akane gave Steve, and then Soun laughed as Ranma stood back up. It
was not a pleasant sound.

"It's all right! Your problem isn't so big after all!" Soun said
smiling as that statement perplexed Ranma. "My daughters. Kasumi, nineteen.
Nabiki, seventeen. Akane, sixteen. Pick the one you want. She's your fianc�e."

Steve's eyes went wide at this. He cleared his throat and excused
himself and went into the kitchen to get a drink of cold water. Kasumi
and Nabiki had exchanged a single look while Steve headed to the kitchen.

"Oh, he wants Akane," offered Kasumi, smiling calmly.

"Wha?" Akane asked confused at Kasumi.

"Oh definitely!" Nabiki agreed, her expression indicating that she
thought it was settled.

"You gotta be kidding!" Akane shouted. "Why would I be..."

"Well, you hate boys, right?" Nabiki pointed out.

"You're in luck! He's half-girl! You'll be very happy together!"
Kasumi predicted.

"Me? With that sex-freak pervert! NEVER!"

"Hey!" Ranma interjected. "Whaddaya mean, sex-freak pervert?"

"You change genders and you looked at my naked body, you sex-freak
pervert!"

"You walked in on me!" Ranma pointed out angrily, offended by the
injustice of her statement.

"It's different when a girl sees a boy!" Akane sneered knowingly.

"Ah, they're already the perfect couple," Soun commented to Genma,
who laughed in agreement.

"He's a couple by himself!" Akane shouted at her father. Ranma's
eyes narrowed at that. "And if you ever do anything like that again --"

Ranma started to walk away while Akane was in mid-rant. "Sayonara,"
she bit out angrily.

"Where are you going, boy?" Genma demanded.

"Back to Jyoketsuzoku. They must know of a way to change back for
good!" Ranma angrily retorted. "This is no time for fianc�es, old man!"

She paused, then turned back to look at Akane. "And by the way, you
took a pretty good look at me back there too. But it's no big deal for me
to see a naked girl. I've seen myself, plenty of times." Ranma lifted her
collar, and stared down her blouse to demonstrate. What Ranma just said
visibly shocked Akane. No one noticed Steve returning into the room. "And
besides, your chest is almost flat," Ranma sniffed, turning away.

Big mistake.

Akane silently knelt, grabbed the table, lifted it, and slammed it
down on what she thought was Ranma's head, smashing the person into the
floor, with only the person's feet sticking out from under the table.

"Take that Ranma." Akane said in satisfaction.

"Hey, sis, that's not Ranma." Nabiki said. Akane looked at Nabiki
and then over to where Ranma was standing grinning at her, lifted the table
and found Steve laying on the floor unconscious, in his female form.

"What an uncute, tomboy. She can't even hit what she wants to."
Ranma said taunting Akane.

"Why you ..." Akane said as she then started chasing after Ranma,
carrying the table.

"Looks like Ranma's the flat one now," Genma muttered as he watched
Akane finally catch him and pound him flat while Kasumi and Nabiki took
care of Steve.

* * * *

Akane had furiously headed for her room after beating up Ranma, while
Genma and Soun went off to drown their sorrows and celebrate the imminent
union of their houses. This then left Kasumi and Nabiki in the living room
with Ranma, after she limped back inside. And Steve, but as he was unconscious,
and was now a young girl again because his cup emptied itself on him, he
didn't offer a lot to the conversation, at least, not as a participant.

"Uh, Ms. Tendo..." Ranma began.

"Please, Ranma-chan, call me Kasumi, or if you desire formality,
Kasumi-san. Either is acceptable."

"Right," Ranma smiled wearily. "Kasumi, is that kettle still hot?"

Kasumi checked the small teakettle that had been replaced after
Akane used the table as a club. "Not hot, but very warm."

Ranma sighed. "Hopefully it should work." Her expression was
melancholy as she sat down next to Steve and dumped the rest of the
kettle over herself and changed back to his male form. Kasumi set Steve
in a comfortable position and placed a damp cloth on her forehead. While
Steve was unconscious, Nabiki and Kasumi decided to talk to Ranma about
the 'curse'.

"What exactly does it feel like?" Kasumi asked.

"The change?" Ranma asked rhetorically. He saw Kasumi and Nabiki
nod their heads. He thought a moment. "Well, there's an odd tingling
sensation all over the body, especially the face, chest, and ... um ...
there. Then there's a sort of empty feeling in the lower regions, and a
swelling on the chest, which makes breathing a little odd. But those only
last maybe a second, and then ... boom. It's over and I feel completely
normal."

"Normal?" Kasumi asked, surprised. He nodded, then shrugged.

"That's the scariest part, I think. Stacko and me can be going along,
minding our own business, and bam, someone says something like, `Gee, what
cute little girls,' I realize that they're referring to us, and I remember
that I'm not normally a girl. Going back is, well, it's sort of like the
reverse of what I said."

"It all seems so ... incredible. And what did Stacko mean by him
losing his adulthood? He looks just as old as you." Nabiki said in
confusion.

"Well, he is twenty-four years old. The reason he looks like that
as far as we can tell is a side effect of the cursed form he has." Ranma
answered as he looked down at Steve. He failed to notice the different
looks that the two Tendo sisters were giving Steve. Steve slowly returned
to consciousness at about that time, and her eyes slowly opened. Ranma
turned to her.

"Stack? Do yourself a favor. Don't lift your head too quickly. You
just got knocked a good one, and if you get up too soon, you'll feel even
worse. Okay?"

Steve nodded weakly. "'Kay."

"Please don't think too harshly of Akane," Kasumi said kindly. "She's
really is a very sweet girl. She's just a violent maniac, sometimes."

"Oh, good, Kasumi, that makes a lot of sense," Nabiki muttered in
disbelief.

"I think I get your meaning, `do not tease the cute animals', right?"
Steve asked, her voice filled with amusement.

Kasumi nodded. "Although I don't think of my little sister as an animal,
of course. Well, not usually. Rarely."

Nabiki made a `don't-tell-these-weird-people-all-the-family-gossip'
gesture at Kasumi, and they both stood up.

"Would you like us to run a hot bath for you?" Kasumi asked Steve.

"Thank you, that would be very gracious." Steve replied.

The Tendo sisters left the room and Steve sighed. "Well, Ranma, what
caused me to get decked by a table?"

"Akane was calling me a 'sex-freak pervert' and I argued back, and
she didn't like what I had to say to her and attacked with the table."

"Why did she call you that?"

"She walked in on me while I was taking a bath, and I saw her naked
body."

"So apart from having the unfortunate luck to be naked in the bath
when the young lady entered the bathroom, what did you do to her?"

"Nothin'! I didn't do nothin'!"

"Double negative."

"I didn't do anything, okay? I just had a sparring match with her,
that's it! She said she wanted to be friends," Ranma spat out. "So much
for friends, when she found out I'm a boy!"

"I don't get it. I can understand how she'd be upset about an
arranged marriage, hell; I'd probably be upset myself. Well, anyway,
how is she?"

"Uh. Some fairly efficient moves, way too slow though. Lot of power
behind her blows, but it's just too easy to get out of the way. When she
connected with that table..."

"Don't mention the table, I know about the table. Maybe she is a
little better than ... you know who?"

Ranma shook his head. "Not even close. But since they're back in
China, after we passed their stupid test, you can stop worrying about
her anytime now, Stack."

"I'll stop worrying about that when I know for sure that those
Amazon's don't want anything else from us, Red," Steve said soberly.
"I still think they have something planned for us yet, especially me.
Augh ... what kind of girl is she, anyway?" Steve complained as she
pulled herself into a seated position and then suddenly grabbed her
head.

"The kind that doesn't like a guy to see her naked. Hell, she
got a free show from me," Ranma grumbled, and Steve got up to walk.
She was a bit unsteady, so Ranma stayed close.

"Well, maybe she's the kind that doesn't enjoy that kind of
show," Steve shrugged philosophically.

"What kinda chick wouldn't wanna see a guy's muscle tone?"
Ranma asked in incomprehension.

"Do you want to see a guy's muscle tone, Red?" Steve asked
with false sweetness.

"No way! I mean ... what do you mean?"

"Let it go, Ranma," Steve sighed, as they headed for the
bathroom.

Ranma dropped Steve off at the bathroom and then continued
on to the room he was staying in. Steve had started to pull off
her clothes and had removed all but her shirt; she was pulling
that off over her head, when the sliding door to the bathtub slid
open.

On the other side was Akane.

Naked.

"Uh," said Steve as she looked through the opening of her
shirt. "Uh. Uh-oh!"

"Why you ... you ... you ..." Akane bit out slowly and raised
her hand to slap Steve's face.

All of the sudden, Steve threw off her shirt and dropped to
the floor and crawled away from her, on her butt, while saying 'I'm
sorry' over and over again. Steve crawled until she ran up against
a corner of the room. Her shirt settled on her so it mostly covered
her nudity, and Steve placed her arms over her face to ward Akane off,
while favoring her left side.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, whatever I did, I'm sorry." Steve said
over and over.

Akane was surprised at Steve's actions. Then her anger suddenly
left when she noticed a massive bruise on the left side of Steve's body.
Quickly wrapping her towel around her body, she put on her robe, and
walked over to Steve. As she neared Steve, she tried to get away from
her.

"Hey, hey, calm down, I'm not going to hurt you." Akane said trying
to calm Steve down.

"Do you promise?" Steve asked while looking over her left arm, fear
evident in her eyes.

"Why?"

"Well, Ranma told me on how you reacted when both of you were in
the bathroom earlier."

"Oh."

"So are you going to promise, or am I going to have to prepare
for another bashing?"

"I promise." Akane said, blushing about the incident that Steve
was talking about.

Steve looked over and saw that Akane didn't have her look of anger
on her face. Steve calmed down, then suddenly realized she was naked and
tried to use her shirt to cover herself and blushed. Steve heard Akane
giggle and she turned to glare at Akane. Steve then got a confused look
to her face when she laughed harder.

"What's so funny?" Steve asked confused.

"You are. The way you look right now."

"Hey!"

"Don't worry about it."

"Why aren't you mad at me for walking in on you?"

"I'll tell you that if you answer a few questions of mine?"

"You going to hit me if I say something you don't like?"

"No."

"Okay, deal. But can I sit somewhere else, this floor is
beginning to get uncomfortable."

"Sure. You were going to take a bath?"

"Yes. Kasumi said that she would start the bath for me."

"Okay, here, follow me."

Akane led Steve into the bathroom part and when Steve commented
on that, Akane told her that she could wash down while she answered her
questions. Steve blushed but sat down on the stool and started washing
herself while Akane sat on the edge of the tub to watch Steve.

"Um, what did you want to know?" Steve said washing herself while
waiting for Akane to ask.

"How did you hook up with those two? And how did you get that bruise?"
Akane asked, indicating Steve's left side.

"It's a hell of a story," Steve replied. "And if parts of it don't make
sense to you, they don't make much more sense to me either. But here it is...
it was a month after I graduated college ..." Steve started when Akane
interrupted her.

"Wait a minute, you've graduated from college? Just how old are you?"
Akane asked in shock.

"I'm 24."

"But you look as old as I am!"

"I guess it is a side effect from my curse. That is all I can think
my new appearance would come from."

"Oh, I'm sorry for interrupting you, please continue." Akane said while
reevaluating her opinion on Steve.

"As I was saying, it was a month after I graduated when I was exploring
around America. I wanted to enjoy my life before I settled down for a while,
so I took a flight to the Rocky Mountain area and started hiking around. I
was enjoying myself at my campsite, when another hiker came by and asked for
directions to this town that sounded Japanese. I invited him to sit and enjoy
the fire and some of my food and to rest for a bit, because it looked like he
was dead tired.

"Any way, after we were done eating, we started talking. I found out his
name was Ryouga Hibiki, a Japanese national out looking for someone who ran out
on a challenge. Well, to shorten this section a bit, we talked all night and we
agreed I would accompany him until we got to the Pacific Ocean where he would
take a flight back to Japan. The next morning I found out he was into Martial
Arts, so I asked him if he could teach me some of the Art until we parted company,
and he agreed.

"We hiked for two months to get to the West Coast of America, and in that
time I found out that he had a slight problem. He had trouble with directions,
as in he got lost very easily. I spent most of my time, when I wasn't training,
sleeping, or cooking a meal, keeping an eye on him so he wouldn't get lost. We
became pretty good friends; he helped me a lot on practicing my Japanese and
martial arts. But at the end of the second month, when I was following Ryouga
as we were hiking, disaster struck.

"It was raining that day as we were hiking along this trail on this one
mountain. We were near the top, when all of the sudden, the trail we were on
washed out from right under our feet, and we ended up sliding down the side of
the mountain. We lost our map, and some other gear, in that mess and ended up
wondering around for several days, until we came across this small village.
All of the inhabitants were oriental, so I thought we'd came across a China town
type deal, but when Ryouga asked one of the people, we found out we were actually
in China. Don't ask me how, I don't even remember crossing the ocean, but somehow
we ended up over there.

"We spent about a month wandering around China trying to find where
we were. Then one day, Ryouga somehow slipped out of my sight and I lost
him. I spent the next several hours trying to find him, but with no luck.
So I continued wandering around China, hoping to find a port so I could
make my way back to America. Though how I would explain my presence in
China to begin with, I have no clue.

"Then one night, while I was cooking my dinner, a person dressed in
a dirty white gi, and a cloth over their head to make some sort of mask,
came rushing out of the brush and went for my food. When he grabbed my
dinner, I tried to stop him, and the person lashed out with a punch. I
remembered one of the moves Ryouga taught me and used a judo move on him,
and I guess I surprised him because I threw him over my shoulder and into
a log next to my bedroll. Needless to say that, when I threw him into the
log, that knocked him out cold. I used some rope I had in my pack and tied
him up. I then removed the mask and saw Ranma for the first time."

"What! He tried to steal your food? Ohh, that baka!" Akane said
getting angry very quickly. Steve quickly turned around on the stool and
placed her hands so it looked like a T.

"Time-out Akane. Before you go and hurt Red, let me continue first,
please?" Steve asked and waited until she saw Akane nod her head, but still
had the angry look to her face.

"I found out that his father had him doing that as part of his 'training',
and he was surprised that I was able to beat him. Actually he was pretty upset
that he lost to me, and to injure his pride more, he found out that I had only
trained in the martial arts for three months. He really hated it that I beat
him with three months training when he had over ten years of it, but we talked
and soon became friends."

"I can't believe you became friends with him when he tried to steal your
food like that." Akane said. Steve had noticed her smile when she heard about
how Steve beat Ranma, and then regain her anger when she heard Steve say that
he became friends with Ranma.

"Well, it was more out of respect than anything else. After we talked
for a bit, I released him and shared my meal with him. I told him about what
was going on with me and he told me about most of his life. I felt sorry for
him from what he told me, and he offered to help me continue in my training.
Later on, Ranma's father came into the campsite to look for Ranma, and when
he found out how Ranma had lost to me, he started shouting at Ranma. Ranma
later on 'persuaded' his father to bring me along. That was how I met those
two."

"I still can't believe you made friends with him."

"I try and look at the good in everyone, sort of my down fall at times."

"Oh, um, how did you come across that bruise?" Akane's anger left her
when she saw the look Steve had on her face after she had said her last
statement.

"That I got when we were at Jusenkyo. We went there because Genma said
it was a great training ground to train in. Since I wasn't that good yet, they
were the ones that were going to use the place while I watched to gain pointers.
The guide came out and kept trying to talk them out of it, but Genma wouldn't
listen. While he was arguing, I struck up another conversation with Ranma.

"He's an interesting guy, not to boost his ego anymore than it already is.
He can do things that look like they belong on a Hong Kong movie screen, but he's
almost completely socially inept. The only person he's really been close to is
his dad, and you've seen how they get along. He doesn't have any concept of small
talk, really. I think the most complicated way he knows how to express himself is
through a challenge to a duel. Or maybe insults, in my opinion, I think that's why
he acts the way he does around you. He's an okay kid, rough around the edges, but
then who isn't?

"Anyway, finally, Genma haggled the guide into letting them train on the
poles that stuck out of the springs. They jumped up, and started darting about
in midair. It was something to see. Ranma, hell, the kid's practically poetry
in motion. It was like the second coming of Bruce Lee. His dad went splash. And
then he came roaring up, in Panda mode. I was just too freaked by this to do
anything more than wonder, "How in hell does he balance like that?"

"Ranma was so shocked at what he saw, that he got decked by his dad.
He then started falling towards a spring. I didn't understand why he was
belly flopping like that, he should know how to take a fall better, right?
Maybe not. I don't think he's been trained in how to lose with grace, but
he went splash. I ran over to the spring to see if he was all right and I
was surprised when a redheaded girl surfaced instead of him.

"When Ranma came out of the Spring of Drowned Girl, she was practically
insane. She stood stock still in the middle of the pond for almost a minute,
just staring down at her breasts. Anyway, she turned to look at me with this
horrorstruck gaze, and then she looked at the Guide, and then she looked at
her father, who just realized that he was a panda. She let out this howling
scream when she figured out what had happened. I've never seen anything as
frightening as the expression on her face when she stared at the panda. It
was like there was a demon in front of me, not a talented martial artist.
Ranma was all but out of her skull right afterwards, and she went after her
father, who swears that he hadn't realized that he was cursed when he threw
Ranma like that, by the way, and I really thought she was going to try and
kill the guy.

"Anyway, she shrieked again, and leapt out of the spring, running at
her father with murder in her eyes. Genma realized what his "son" was up to
and ran off. Now, the smart thing for me to do would have been to let Ranma
eviscerate her father and take this opportunity to get the hell away from
them, but I didn't, and when Ranma came charging out of the spring, she
shoved me into the spring next to the one she'd came out of. At the time,
I wasn't to worried that I changed, because of the look I saw on her face.
The only thing I noticed at the time was I was still human, but smaller, so
I went after them.

"I ran harder than I've ever have before or since that day. Ranma was
still getting used to her new body, and so was Genma, so they probably weren't
working at a hundred percent, but they were still much faster than I was. I
followed them into the mountains, hoping to find some way to get around in
front of them so I could talk the kid out of patricide. As I rounded a corner
on one of the mountain trails, caught sight of Genma bumping into some guy.
Then Ranma smacked into him, knocking him off the cliff. She never even looked
back while this poor innocent guy got knocked off the mountain and fell towards
the pools. I didn't get a close look at the guy, but I hope whatever he wound
up with wasn't too horrible. Nobody deserves to be cursed like this.

"By now, I was really pissed off by what the kid had done to that
guy, so I threw everything I had into catching up to them. The chase came
to an end high up on the mountain, just a little bit above the timberline.
Ranma had caught up with her father, and I think she'd managed to get a few
blows in because the panda was fighting back. But the kid was practically
berserk and the panda didn't have a prayer. She got in one lucky punch and
Genma went sprawling. She stood over him for a few seconds, breathing
heavily, and then she reached way back. Before Ranma could let that killing
blow fly I jumped in between him and the panda. An instant later, I was
wondering if someone had got the number of the truck that had hit me. Then
the world went black on me.

"I came to in the Guide's little cabin. If you think this bruise is
ugly now you should have seen it then. I'm amazed the kid didn't break any
of my ribs, even through it felt like they were, but he claims that even in
the full force of his berserk fury he was able to pull his punch to avoid
doing that. It was then that I found out what my curse was. Needless to
say I was glad I was still human and not an animal. The guide handed me a
mirror so I could look at what I now looked like. The guide told me I fell
in the Spring of Drowned Young Girl, which is why I look younger in both
forms, I guess.

"Anyway, I saw that Ranma was sitting in the corner looking completely
horrified when I set the mirror back down. "I hit a girl," she was saying.
"I hit a girl." Over and over and over again. "Actually," I muttered, "you
didn't hit a..." Then I decided not to lay an even worse load on her. I gave
the guide a "c'mere" gesture so I could speak softly enough for just him to
hear. Unfortunately he didn't speak Japanese as well as I did, and I guess
my accent didn't make things any easier. I got the feeling that he didn't
understand what I was saying. "Man, I wish you could speak English," I finally
blurted out in frustration.

"He blinked. "Well, why didn't you just ask?" he said in a British accent.
I wasted time by saying, "You speak English," and making similar observations.
Turns out he was born in Hong Kong and had actually gone to school over in Britain
for a few years, before his family moved to the People's Republic when he was
twenty. He took over the job of being the guide from his uncle when he was twenty-
two. Don't ask me why. I gathered it had something to do with his family's politics.

"Anyway, I told him about the guy and asked him to see if he could
find him, which he assured me that he would. I asked him where the Panda
was, and he told me that he'd sent Genma off to find dinner, putting his
faith in the superior senses of the panda combined with the intelligence
of a man. I contemplated telling him what I thought of Genma's intelligence,
but I figured that he probably already knew about that. Then I decided to
try and get up. It was a bit of an effort but I did come to my feet and
walked towards Ranma. Wobbly, but I walked.

""C'mon, kid, we got to have a man-to-man talk." I said to her when
I finally made it over to her. "B-but ... I'm not a man..." she muttered
to me. "That's one of the things we got to talk about. Let's go." I pulled
her up to her feet. I led her out to the two pools where all of this had
begun. We stood in silence for a few moments. A wind kicked up some dust.
"Ranma," I said finally. "Why were you trying to kill your father?" "I
wasn't! I ... I didn't want to..." Ranma started but I cut her off.

""Listen, kid, I know the difference between somebody punching just
to lay a hit on somebody and somebody trying to seriously hurt them! Believe
me, I've been on the receiving end of enough of them to tell. Now, your dad
did a terrible thing knocking you into the pool, when he didn't understand
on what would happen, but that doesn't give you the right to go apeshit like
that!"

""But it's all his fault!" she shouted. "And whose fault do you think
this is?" I roared, pointing at my new body. "If I were looking for somebody
to blame, Ranma, I'd start with you! But, Ranma, and this is the key here,
a 'man' does not go looking for someone to blame when things go wrong. A
'man' copes with it. A 'man' finds a way to deal with the situation, without
going nuts. If you can't do that, Ranma, then by God you've lost your manhood
in more ways than one today, and you'll never get it back even if you find a
cure for the curse."

"I still can't believe I came up with all that. Don't give me that
look, I know what your thinking, but if I told her to be "a grown-up" or
maybe "someone mature" it wouldn't have gotten through to the kid, and what
I said did, I guess. We stayed out there talking for a bit before we headed
back to the cottage. Genma-panda was back, and the Guide told me that they
had found the poor fellow that Ranma had knocked into the spring. It was
probably just as well that he'd decided to book it before we got back. I
get the feeling that it might have been messy if the guy had seen the "woman"
responsible for his present condition.

"When we had calmed down a bit, and had a very small meal, I asked the
guide about a cure, after I dragged him off to the side. He said that we could
try jumping in the Spring of Drowned Man, but that the last person to do that
hadn't come out 'quite' right, and I don't want to elaborate. Then we set off
after getting our gear ready and changing back with hot water, heading for the
nearest port. The guide stayed with us for a while, until certain events made
it necessary for us to part company. I hope he's okay, though."

"Why? What happened to him?"

"Uh, that's another long story, Akane. What I can say is that the guide
insisted on escorting us to the nearest port so that we could get on the boat
to Japan. Unfortunately, what with one thing and another he had to leave before
we got there. All I can say is, it's been a very busy three weeks and if I tell
you all the nuttiness that we've gotten into we'll be here 'til morning, and I
still need to soak in the furo before I freeze to death."

"Okay. See you tomorrow." Akane got up and left the bathroom. But before
she left the bathroom, she turned around and walked back over to Steve. "I forgot
to finish my half of our deal. The reason I didn't hit you before was that I felt
sorry for hitting you when you were not the one that deserved it. That and you
look like a little kid at the moment, even if I now know you are really 24, I don't
hit little kids. That and you seem to have fun getting back at the baka."

"Well, I wouldn't call it fun." Steve said, as she got ready to
step into the furo.

"Oh, just to let you know, I don't like it when people walk in on
me in the bath." Akane said smiling as she pushed Steve into the furo
and started to walk out of the room.

Steve surfaced in the furo, had changed back to a male, and looked
over at Akane as she was leaving the room. As he soaked in the furo, he
laughed at what Akane had done, then he got out of the furo, put on his
clothes and headed to the guest room that he was sharing with Ranma and
Genma.

A PARK IN THE JUUBAN WARD

"Supreme thunder dragon!" Jupiter shouted out in anger.

Jupiter frowned as her attack just bounced off her target. Her
enemy was a little over six feet tall, had three inch claws, and a three-
toed foot, with one in the back, with claws. It was white and black,
except for its eyes and a few gem like parts on its chin and forehead,
which were red. The black areas on the monster appeared to be armor
plates. The plates on its head made it look like it was wearing a helmet.

Jupiter watched as the others launched their attacks at the monster
and winced as they just bounced off as well. Everyone was becoming worried.
It had already knocked Saturn, Chibi-Moon, Neptune, and Venus out. Mercury
was busy scanning the monster, and having a hard time coming up with
anything. Uranus went in with her soul sword, but the monster just grabbed
the sword with its left hand and her neck with its right. It lifted her up
and threw her into the other Senshi. Uranus landed badly and hissed in
pain.

The monster decided that the Senshi were not going to be a
problem, so it continued on its mission, and the Senshi saw that
the monster was leaving the area and realized that they had to stop
it. As they chased after it, the monster saw that they were coming,
so it grabbed a nearby trashcan and threw it at them. All of the
Senshi dodged out of the way except Mars, and the trashcan knocked
her down. Sailor Moon helped her up and they all looked worried as
the monster started heading out of the Park.

"What are we going to do? None of our attacks seem to be
working at all." Sailor Moon said.

"We've got to stop it before it injures any more people."
Jupiter said.

"Mercury, do you have anything yet on this monster?" Mars
asked impatiently.

"All I can figure out until I study these readings closer.
So far all I've got, is that it is very heavily armored, so we have
to hit it with our most powerful attacks all at once. That hopefully
should do it." Mercury said uncertainly.

"Okay, lets do it." Moon said then called out to the Monster.
"Hey, weirdoid, we are not finished here."

The monster turned around in annoyance and glared at the Senshi
like they were a pest that needed to be swatted away. So the monster
decided to take out the annoyance. The remaining Senshi saw that the
monster was heading towards them with a look to its face saying that
if their plan didn't work, they were dead. Just as the monster got
near them, they released their most powerful attacks at it in the chest.

The monster looked on in surprise as the attacks hit him. Then
he screamed in pain as the attacks overwhelmed his armor and he
disappeared in a ray of black light. Once the monster disappeared,
the remaining Senshi collapsed to their knees in exhaustion. The
injured Senshi regained conscious and walked over to the others, looking
around in worry. The others told them that the monster was destroyed,
but that it had taken a lot out of them. So they headed away from the
park to their own homes to rest.

TSUKINO RESIDENCE, JUUBAN WARD, TOKYO THAT NIGHT

Usagi was in her bed sleeping, with Luna sleeping at her feet.
She'd had her average day of barely making it to class on time, having
detention because of falling asleep in class, and then being a few minutes
late to meet her friends at Rei's shrine, and then having an argument with
her parents about her grade on a test. Then fighting a monster that had
forced them to use their most powerful attacks just to hurt it. When all
that was over, she'd crawled into bed and fallen asleep, then she started
dreaming.

Usagi found herself dressed as Princess Serenity, and standing in
some sort of Ball Room. She walked around the room wondering why she was
the only one there. She was getting nervous and worried when a female
voice called out her name. She turned around and found Queen Serenity,
her mother from the Moon kingdom, standing there.

"Mother! What are you doing here?" Usagi asked her mother in
surprise.

"I needed to talk to you." Queen Serenity said seriously.

"What is it about?" Usagi asked because she caught the tone of
voice her mother used.

"A new enemy is coming, and I'm afraid that you and your fellow
Senshi will not be strong enough to face them. They are a deadly force
and I fear you will all perish. You need help to face them and survive."

"We already fought one of them and it nearly defeated us. We had
to use all of our strongest attacks on it at once and that just defeated
it. Who do we need to get to help us, mother?"

"I want you to find the Senshi of the Star Kingdom."

"Star Kingdom? Who are they, I don't remember anything about them."

"They are a Kingdom that didn't get along with us very well. You,
and only you, will need to look for them and try and get their help."

"Can you tell me anything about them, to help me find them? And
why must it be me alone?"

"All I can tell you is that two of their members are related to
two of the Moon Kingdom and they will not be favorable if they meet
any of the other Senshi, I'm afraid to say."

"Can't I tell anyone about them?"

"I'm afraid that you can't tell anyone about what I need you to
do, not even Luna or Artemis."

"Yes, mother, I'll try my best to find them and get their help
by myself."

"I know you will my daughter, but our time here is short. So
you must find the Senshi of the Star Kingdom soon. The new enemy is
very strong, so be careful my daughter. I love you. I'm sorry I can't
be any more helpful."

Before Usagi could ask her mother any more questions, she faded
from view. Usagi was confused by what her mother told her, and she was
thinking about it as the Ball Room faded from view and replaced with her
ceiling of her bedroom. She blinked her eyes a few times and realized
that she was awake and the dream was over. She sat up and looked around
her room. She found Luna at the foot of her bed and decided to wake her
up to talk to her.

"Hey, Luna, wake up." Usagi said nudging the cat.

"What is it, Usagi?" Luna asked sleepily.

"I had a dream with my mother in it." Usagi replied in excitement.

"What is so special about that?" Luna asked, not understanding.

"It was my mother from the Silver Millennium." Usagi said when she
saw Luna about to go back to sleep.

"What? It was?" Luna said, now wide-awake.

"Yes."

"What did she want?"

"She told me that we won't be able to defeat the new enemy that we
are facing, , but she wouldn't say anything else about them."

"That's bad if she would tell you that."

"Luna, what do you know about the Star Kingdom?" Usagi asked and
then saw Luna just staring at her. "Hey Luna? You okay?"

"Did you just say the Star Kingdom?"

"Yes, why? All that I remember is that our Kingdom and theirs
were not on good terms."

"That is an understatement. Their views of leadership were very
different than ours, and they didn't want to have much to do with us.
If they're going to be the ones controlling this new threat, then we
need to be ready."

"Why? I really don't think they are the one's controlling the new
enemy." Usagi said, knowing that she couldn't tell Luna why she was really
asking about the Star Kingdom.

"Even if they aren't, I'll tell all of you at Rei's shrine tomorrow.
What I have to say, I would rather say only once."

"Oh, okay, Goodnight then Luna. See you in the morning."

"Goodnight Usagi."

After Usagi fell back asleep, Luna stayed awake to think about what
Usagi had just told her. She couldn't believe that Queen Serenity would
tell them that they were going to be attacked by the Star Kingdom Senshi,
hell; she didn't think they were alive or had been reborn like the Moon
Kingdom Senshi were. She knew that the others would be surprised at what
she was going to tell them, but if they were the enemy that Queen Serenity
said that even she feared was coming, she had to tell them all she knew
about them as soon as possible. She hoped that Usagi was correct and they
weren't the new threat, but she knew that the Senshi had to know about the
Star Kingdom. She drifted off to sleep fearing what the other Senshi would
do.

* * * *

TENDO DOJO THE NEXT MORNING

"School?" asked Ranma, saying the word as though it was part of a
foreign language. Ranma and Steve were sitting in the living room area
in front of Genma. They all had finished breakfast an hour ago, which
Steve had surprised the Tendo's by helping Kasumi. Kasumi had told Steve
that he didn't need to help, but he had insisted on helping out wherever
he could. Both Steve and Ranma were still in their workout clothes since
they had done some training before breakfast. After they had finished
eating, and the dishes were taken care of, Genma had called both of them
over to have a talk with them.

"Well," his father explained, "we are going to be staying here awhile,
so I have enrolled both of you in Furinkan High."

"I'm 24, why do I need to go to High School?" Steve asked Genma.

"Your Japanese still needs work, and as you said, you can always still
learn more in school."

Nabiki stepped past the door to the living room on her way to the
front door. She was dressed in the green and white girls uniform of Furinkan
High School. "It's the same school Akane and I go to," she informed Ranma and
Steve with a crooked smile. "See you there."

"Wait oneechan!" came a voice from down the corridor. "I'll go with you!"

Nabiki turned to look down the corridor in surprise. "What're you
talking about? Ranma is your fianc�e remember? And since Steve is a
friend of his, you ought to walk them to school."

Akane stepped into the view of those in the living room. Steve
noticed that on Nabiki, the uniform looked utilitarian in a business
suit style. Akane, on the other hand, made her school uniform look
almost like a party dress. Steve figured that she would probably look
good in anything. Akane took a look at Ranma and Steve could see that
she still had some hatred for Ranma.

"You two aren't going to school dressed like that are you?" Akane
said flatly.

"I am not wearing a uniform." Ranma said. "Especially with this
stupid curse."

"Since it appears that I'll be going to school again, and from what
I heard about the uniform policy of Japan here, we have to wear something
appropriate to school." Steve told Ranma.

"I don't want to wear a uniform." Ranma grumbled.

"Well hurry up, I don't want to be late for school." Akane growled.

"Hey, Red, why don't we wear the clothes we got in Shanghai?"

Ranma grumbled about it for a moment. "Awright. What about that red
shirt?"

"Sounds good to me, lets go." Steve replied.

So Steve and Ranma went upstairs to change clothes. A few moments
later, Steve and Ranma were more appropriately dressed. Akane saw that
Ranma had changed into a set of clothes similar to the one that he had first
arrived in. She saw that Steve was dressed in a similar outfit, but it was
of a different color. They both are wearing the black pants and the same
shoes, but the difference was in the colors of the shirts. While Ranma was
wearing a red silk shirt with yellow ties, Steve was wearing a black silk
shirt with dark purple ties. After Steve and Ranma picked up the lunches
Kasumi made for them and their book bags, they headed out towards school.

While walking to school, Akane noticed that Steve and Ranma were walking
on the fence. She also saw that Ranma was walking on it like it was nothing,
but she saw that Steve was having a little trouble, but he was maintaining his
balance. Akane thought that Ranma was being a showoff, the way he was walking,
but she was wondered why they were walking on the fence in the first place.

"Why are you guys walking up there?" Akane asked looking up at
them. Ranma and Steve looked back down to her.

"A Tomboy like you wouldn't understand." Ranma told Akane.
Akane's anger suddenly started to build.

"Red, chill. How do you know she wouldn't understand?" Steve
asked Ranma as if he wasn't making sense.

"She's a Tomboy."

"That is not a good reason, and you know it." Steve said as
Ranma just looked away. Steve then looked down to Akane. "To let
you know, Genma told me that this was for balance training. He had
said that I should take any chance to practice that as I can."

"Oh. Isn't that hard to do?" Akane asked.

"If you're just beginning like I am, but once you now how to
maintain your balance, it gets very easy." Steve replied.

"Can you show me how to do that?" Akane asked.

"Well, how about after school?" Steve told her.

"Why then?" She asked.

"Well, right now we need to get to school for us to register,
and I don't want you to try it dressed like you are now." Steve said.

"Why not?"

"I don't think you want to try walking on the fence in a dress,
do you?"

"No!" Akane stated when she figured out why Steve was reluctant
to help her now, and minorly blushed.

"A tomboy like her wouldn't be able to balance herself." Ranma
said. Akane's embarrassment suddenly turned to anger and she threw her
book bag at Ranma. Unfortunately she missed Ranma and hit Steve instead.
Because Steve was still learning to keep his balance, he couldn't stay
balanced and fell into the channel on the other side of the fence. Steve
crawled out of the channel and over the fence to stand on the road and
started to ring as much water out of her clothes as she could.

"I'm sorry, Steve, I didn't mean to hit you." Akane quickly apologized
to Steve. She felt sorry for her, because she had been nice to her and Akane
really had wanted to hit Ranma, but her aim had been a little off. She had
then picked up her school bag again and aimed at Ranma.

"That's alright, Akane. No harm done." Steve replied as she continued
to ring water out of her clothes.

"I told you, you couldn't hit what you were aiming for. Some macho
chick you are." Ranma said while still on the fence railing. Akane's
embarrassment suddenly turned to anger again, but as she was about to throw
her book bag at Ranma again, she stopped suddenly when she saw Mr. Saotome
run up behind Ranma on the fence railing and hit him in the back of the head.

"Pop! What're you ..." Ranma started to say to his father as he turned
to face him, but was interrupted by his father.

"You're in no position to be choosy about women!" Genma shouted at his
son. "Listen, Ranma, I'll tell you only once ..."

Genma's explanation was cut short by Ranma kicking his father off the
fence, and knocking into the channel below. Genma resurfaced as a panda, and
glared at his son as best as he could.

"What's wrong, Pop? Panda got your tongue?" Ranma said teasing
his father. Just then, the panda jumped out of the channel and onto the
fence. Akane had run behind Steve when the panda jumped out of the
channel. Ranma and his father started fighting on the fence railing.
Akane was amazed at how well the panda was fighting, and when she turned
to face Steve to see how she was reacting to what was happening, Akane saw
that Steve had a bored expression on her face. Akane turned back to the
fight and saw Ranma jump over a punch from his father, and landed on the
street. "Ha, check that out!"

Ranma suddenly was splashed with some cold water. Akane saw the
change that Ranma had, as she watched Ranma look down on herself. Water
was dripping off of Ranma as she stood there, thinking how she got splashed,
and looked over and saw an old woman watering down her walk way to her house.

"Something wrong?" Akane asked after a moment, teasing Ranma.

"Com'on Stacko, let's go take a bath." Ranma said after she tightened
her belt on her pants and grabbed Steve's arm and started heading back to
the Tendo Dojo.

"Uh, okay." Steve said uncertainly.

"You'll both be late." Akane said.

"Think I want to start school as a girl?" Ranma asked Akane.

"But if we just pour hot water on the both of you, you'll turn back,
right?" Akane replied to Ranma.

"She's got a point there, Red, plus we are running short on time
to get to school." Steve said.

"Awright." Ranma grumbled after a bit.

The three of them had made their way to a local clinic where
Akane said that they could get some hot water. Steve and Ranma stood
outside by the outer wall to the clinic while Akane went to get the
water. Both of them sighed in relief as they saw Akane go inside the
clinic. They leaned against the wall to wait until Akane returned.
Ranma started to think then.

"Hooo boy. What a way to start the ..." Ranma's thoughts were
interrupted when she heard Steve scream out in fright and looked up
and saw Steve up on the top on the wall, looking behind her like there
was a scary monster there. Ranma spun around and got into a ready
stance. All that Ranma saw was a man in his Mid-twenty's, who was
wearing a dark greenish-gray gi, glasses and holding a skeleton.
Ranma was surprised that he had been able to sneak up upon the both
of them.

"Oh. Pardon me." Said the man. "Nothing to worry about, you
two. This is Betty, my skeleton."

Ranma got out of her stance, even though she was a little
confused. Steve got down from the wall and Ranma noticed a minor
blush of embarrassment on Steve's face. It was at that moment that
Akane came out with the hot water.

"Ranma, Stack, here's the hot ..." Akane said, but stopped short
when she saw who was with them.

"Well, Akane!" Exclaimed the man.

"Oh, doctor. Um ... Good morning." Akane said as she bowed to
the man and set the kettle on top of Ranma's head.

"Good morning to you." Replied the doctor cheerfully.

Ranma and Steve were looking back and forth between the doctor
and Akane, in the momentary silence, Ranma and Steve took a look at
Akane and saw several things. First they saw that she was looking
down at the ground, she had a small blush to her cheeks, and her whole
attitude seemed to have taken a whole reversal to what the boys were
used to. After a moment, Ranma felt Steve pushing her around the corner
and take the kettle off her head. Ranma got the point and they walked
around the corner. While they were walking around the corner they heard
the doctor and Akane talking again.

"You haven't been by lately. No new injuries?" Asked the doctor.

"No, sir. I mean I haven't been doing anything that would ..." Akane
was saying but Ranma and Steve went around the corner and couldn't hear
anything else.

"Interesting." Ranma said as he changed back.

"I'll say." Steve said as Ranma poured the remainder of the water
on him.

After they were done at the doctor's place, they realized that they
were running out of time to make it to school on time, so they ran to school.
Akane and Steve are running on the road, while Ranma was running on the fence
railing. After a bit, Ranma decided to figure something out.

"Who is that guy?" Ranma asked Akane.

"Dr. Tofu, the Chiropractor." Akane replied happily.

"Martial arts master, too, isn't he?" Ranma asked.

"Huh? How could you tell?" Akane asked in surprise.

"Sneaking up on me and Stack like that. He erased all sense of his
presence." Ranma said thoughtfully.

"True, he's very good." Akane started. "But he doesn't look like
he'd be, does he? Ever since I was little, he's taken care of my injuries."

Ranma had hopped down on the street because the fence ran out.
They ran for a little bit longer until the school's gate was in view,
when Steve had a question for Akane.

"So, Akane, isn't he a man?" Steve asked.

"Yes, so?" Akane asked back, confused.

"I thought you said you hate men?" Steve asked.

"...." Was all Akane said as she looked down to the ground.
"That's right."

"I..." Akane started saying angrily as they got closer to the
gate.

"Despise ... " Steve and Ranma watched as several boys came
running towards them in different sports equipment and gear. They
were all shouting out their love for Akane and saying how the other's
wanted to beat her up.

"Men!" Akane yelled as she went charging into the group of boys
and started fighting.

Steve was wondering what was going on when Ranma grabbed the back
of his shirt and jumped up to the ledge of the brick wall to watch the
fight. Steve and Ranma were surprised at the fierceness of the fight.
Steve and Ranma flinched at times at some of the areas where Akane had
hit her opponents. The both of them looked at each other and silently
agreed to not get in her way. They continued watching as Akane brutally
beat up her opponents. On the second floor of the school, a group of girls
were also watching the fight.

"Your poor sister. Every single day." One of the girls said to
another girl who turned out to be Nabiki.

"Oh, Ranma and Stacko." Nabiki said then yelled down to them.
"Ranma, Stacko! Get in this school now!"

Steve and Ranma looked up to find where the voice had came from,
and found Nabiki waving to them. Both of them looked back at the fight
and saw that Akane was almost finished with her fight. They looked back
at Nabiki and pointed at Akane's fight.

"But, but..." Both Ranma and Steve were stuttering.

"Don't worry about Akane!" Nabiki shouted to them.

Both Ranma and Steve looked back at Akane and found that she had
finished her fight. All of the boys that were fighting her were on the
ground, unconscious, moaning in pain, or covered in bruises. They looked
at Akane and saw her breathing hard and a fine sheet of sweat on her
forehead. She grabbed her hair and threw it behind her.

"For Pete's sake, every morning. What a drag." Akane said out
loud to no one in particular.

"Truly such a boorish lot." Came a male voice from behind a tree.

Akane, Steve, and Ranma looked in that direction and saw a person
step out from behind the tree. The person was dressed in a kendo outfit,
complete with a bokken in his right hand. He was standing there bare
footed and was about as tall as Steve. He has short black hair, and held
himself as if he was someone important. He held a rose in his left hand
and was smelling it as he walked from behind the tree.

"Evidently each of them intends to ask you out, Akane," The man
started saying with a poetic tone to his voice. "On the dawn that he
finally defeats you."

"Oh upperclassman Kuno. Good morning." Akane said with a bored
tone of voice.

"And now Akane Tendo..." Kuno said as he tossed the rose he was
smelling over to Akane, which she caught in her left hand. "Might you
fight with me?"

At that moment, Steve got tired of being up on the wall and hopped
down to land near Akane. Once he got his balance back, he turned to face
Akane and asked a question that popped into his head.

"Man, you're popular here, aren't you?" Steve asked her.

"Stay out of the way. You'll get hurt." Akane warned Steve as she
got into a defensive stance.

"What's going on?" Steve asked confused as what was going on.

"You'll see." Was her only answer.

Just then, a wooden sword was thrust into Steve's face and missed him
by about a foot. Steve looked along the sword and saw that it was Kuno that
was holding it, and had an angry look to his face.

"You there." Kuno asked with a hint of anger in his voice.

"Yes?" Steve asked.

"You are being quite familiar with Akane." Kuno announced.

"Uh, yes, well..." Steve started mumbling trying to figure out what
Kuno was getting at, but was interrupted by Kuno.

"Who are you boor? Ah! But it is the custom to give one's own
name first. Fine then! Mine I shall give." Kuno said loudly, but with
that poetic way of saying it.

"Uh, okay. If you want..." Steve started to say, but got interrupted
by Kuno again.

"My name is upperclassmen Kuno. Junior. Group E. Captain of the
Kendo club. Undefeated new star in the fencing world. But my peers call
me the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High." Kuno said as his introduction.
But when he said the 'Blue Thunder' part in his intro, a flash of lightening
occurred, that made Ranma and Steve look up in the sky and noticed how gloomy
it was getting. But unknown to them all, three girls were talking.

"'Blue Thunder'?" Asked one of Nabiki's friends.

"Have you heard that?" Asked another girl.

"News to me." Nabiki said.

Steve wanting to end this discussion quickly before it rains, and his
cursed form, plus Ranma's, was revealed, started to think of what he wanted
to say to Kuno.

"Okay, well, at the moment I'm staying at the Tendo practice hall..."
Steve started saying, but suddenly he noticed that Kuno was pissed off all
of the sudden.

"What! Under the same roof as Akane." Kuno shouted and then struck
out at Steve. Steve had enough warning to try and dodge the sword slash
that Kuno sent at him.

But Steve wasn't fast enough and the tip of the bokken hit Steve on
his left side of his chest. That caused a searing pain to go through him,
and he fell to the ground clutching his left side and hissing in pain. Kuno
realizing that his opponent was down and easy to take care of, went in for
the killing strike. Steve saw the strike coming and held his arms up to
lessen the blow. Akane saw what was going to happen, but she was the farthest
away and knew she couldn't stop the blow.

Akane watched helplessly as the blade started to come down at Steve,
and started towards Steve, even though she knew she was not going to make
it on time. Kuno inwardly smiled as he brought down his bokken to smite
the villain that was invading Akane's domicile. But just as the bokken
was about to hit its target, someone grabbing the blade part of the bokken
stopped it.

Kuno looked up from Steve and saw another boy, dressed in Chinese
clothing, red silk shirt and black pants, with black hair that was done
up in a pigtail. He was surprised that someone had been able to stop his
bokken. The boy then kicked Kuno in the stomach and Kuno skidded a few
feet away. Kuno looked at him with confusion and mild anger. Akane had
just made it over to Steve to see how he was doing.

"Who are you, cur?" Kuno asked as he charged towards the boy. But
before he was able to strike the boy with his bokken, the boy flipped back
to avoid the bokken strike.

"I am heir to the Saotome Anything-goes martial arts." The boy said
as he was flipping back and taking off his school bag. He tossed his bag
over to Steve. "Here, watch my bag for a sec."

"I am Ranma Saotome," Ranma said as he landed several feet away and
got into a ready stance. "And I accept your challenge."

Lightning flashed in the sky as Ranma made that announcement. The
surrounding people that were conscious were surprised that someone would
challenge Kuno. Word quickly spread through school and mostly everyone
was lined up to the windows to see the fight. The students were saying that
the boy must have been living dangerously.

"So, you scoundrel. Hounding Akane, eh?" Kuno asked as he sized up
his opponent. "I, Upperclassmen Kuno, shall bring you to justice."

"So who's hounding anybody?" Ranma asked.

"They're only staying with us Kuno." Akane yelled at him.

"Silence fool!" Kuno shouted as he charged Ranma.

Kuno ran towards Ranma with his bokken above his head. Just as
Kuno struck at Ranma, Ranma disappeared, and Kuno ended up slashing
through the school stone fence wall. Steve was surprised that a wooden
sword could go through a stonewall. Kuno was surprised that Ranma was
not there to receive his punishment. He looked around and found Ranma
standing on the side of a nearby tree, as if he was defying gravity.
Akane was impressed at what she was seeing, after she made sure that
Steve was all right.

Kuno then slashed out towards Ranma again, and only ended up slicing
through the tree. Steve was glad that he was able to dodge that bokken
strike with only receiving a glance blow. Kuno realizing he missed his
target again, went and looked for his target. He turned around and found
Ranma several yards away from him with the tree he just sliced through
landing in between them.

"Now hold on." Ranma said as all of a sudden he was standing right
in Kuno's face. That caused Kuno to take a few steps back and had Ranma
step with him. "Let me make this perfectly clear ..."

"Astounding." Akane thought as she saw Ranma fighting Kuno. "He
was there before Kuno could blink."

"... Akane means nothing to me." Ranma finished saying.

"Hmmm. This guy is good." Kuno thought as he was being forced
back by Ranma.

"If you want a crazy, violent chick like her ... you can have
her." Ranma stated to Kuno.

Akane couldn't believe that Ranma said that. She got angry at
him and grabbed his bag and threw it at him.

"Why you baka!" Akane shouted as she threw the bag at Ranma.

"Would you quit calling me a..." Ranma started as his danger sense
picked up trouble.

Steve in the mean time had stood up and tried to calm Akane down,
but was stopped and stared at the fight that was going on. He watched
as Ranma jumped up to avoid the bag and the bokken strike. He heard Kuno
talking to Ranma about speaking ill of Akane, and him forbidding it. Steve
was still amazed that a wooden sword could cut through anything, because
the strike that Steve saw cut through Ranma's bag like it was nothing.

Steve watched as Ranma was coming back down with two fingers extended
out towards Kuno. Kuno on the other hand, brought his bokken up in order
to strike out at Ranma. It was then that Steve suddenly felt drops of rain
hitting him. He realized that it was raining now and that he and Ranma would
change if they didn't get out of it in a hurry. He started toward to Ranma
as Ranma started coming down. Steve was able to see Ranma point his two
fingers at Kuno, and Kuno had brought his bokken up so it was at the side
of Ranma's neck.

Steve felt the rain get harder and suddenly started feeling the change
begin. Just as Ranma was about to land, Steve heard heavy footsteps and
turned and saw Mr. Saotome running in his panda form, with a steaming kettle
in paw. Just as Steve was about to make it to Ranma, he felt the change take
effect. As he was about to worry about what other might say when they saw the
change, a hairy arm grabbed him and he realized that it was Mr. Saotome.

Steve saw Genma run towards Ranma as he landed, pick Ranma up and punch
Kuno out of the way. Steve was a little cramped because Genma had place Ranma
under the same arm that Steve was under also, but Genma had run off to the far
side of the school.

The rest of the school was surprised at what just happened. They had
just seen a panda come running into the school grounds, on its hind feet, knock
out Kuno and run off with the two new students. Akane was standing there
speechless until she regained her senses and followed after the running panda.
She found them in the Physical Education equipment room, and went to climb in
through the window, as she was climbing in, she heard Ranma talking.

"Dang it." Ranma said as she and Steve were ringing water out of
their clothes. Genma was standing by the door coming an eye out for
trouble. "If it hadn't rained, I would have nailed that baka with one..."

"I wouldn't be to sure." Akane laughed, making them turn.

The three in the room looked and saw Akane climbing into the room.
When Steve looked over at Akane, she noticed something on Ranma.

"Red, your neck." Steve said pointing.

Ranma looked at her neck and noticed that there was a bruise there.
Ranma was surprised that she had a bruise from having Kuno's bokken just
near her neck. As Ranma was contemplating that, Steve was pouring some
of the warm water on herself.

"Wow. And he didn't even touch me." Ranma said with a mild surprised
voice. Steve walked over to Ranma and started pouring the remainder of the
water on her.

"Looks like a pretty even match, wouldn't you say?" Akane asked Ranma
as he gained his male form again.

"Oh, I don't know..." Ranma was saying as he was ringing out the extra
water out of his hair.

* * * *

In room 2-E, Kuno was looking at his forehead with a mirror that
he had purchased, at a high price, to use from Nabiki. He looked at
the Kanji that was written there, which said 'Baka'. Nabiki was sitting
next to him watching what he was doing.

"Amazing. And you don't even remember being touched?" Nabiki
asked amazed at what Ranma had done to Kuno.

"Humph. And at first I thought Ranma Saotome was good, but he
can't even spell." Kuno shouted.

Kuno walked over to the chalkboard and grabbed a piece of chalk
and wrote on the board on how the word should be written. Nabiki
walked up to the board and told him that it was spelled correctly.
Kuno then told her on how much he detested her. Nabiki looked up at
him and told him how 'glad' she was.

* * * *

A little while later in room 1-F, Ranma and Steve had returned
from the office and were standing in front of the class as the teacher
introduce them.

"While it does seem that both of them were in China until
recently." The teacher said as a closing statement for the class.
"That doesn't excuse the fact that both they and Akane Tendo were late.
Stand in the hall."

Steve watched as he saw Akane give Ranma a glare as she walked up
to the front of class and grab two buckets filled with water and walk out
into the hall. Ranma and Steve followed her after they got their own
buckets. Steve, seeing that Akane was angry, stood in between Akane and
Ranma, then after a few minutes of standing there, Steve thought that it
might not have been such a wise choice to stand between the two of them.
Akane kept glancing over at Ranma like she wanted to kill him. A few
minutes later, Akane broke the silence.

"This is your fault." Akane accused Ranma.

"My fault? It was your fight, remember." Ranma said back to
Akane. Steve felt like he was in a tennis match watching both of
them argue with each other.

"What was that all about anyway?" Steve asked Akane, in an
attempt to distract her, and was rewarded with both of them being
surprised. Apparently they both forgot that he was there.

"Well, Kuno told everyone at the beginning of the semester,
that the only way for anyone to date me, was for them to defeat me
in battle. If someone didn't follow those directions, Kuno went and
beat them up." Akane replied feeling a little guilty for forgetting
that Steve was with them.

"If you don't mind my saying, I think I see why you hate my
gender." Steve said to Akane, shaking his head sadly.

"Um, you could say that was part of it." Akane said with a
small blush to her cheeks. Ranma noticed this and smiled.

* * * *

Back in room 2-E, Nabiki had just sold to Kuno some information
about Ranma. When Kuno heard the last bit of information, he stood up
in class in surprise.

"What! Fianc�e?" Kuno shouted out in the class, but was actually
talking to Nabiki.

"Uh-huh, my dad and his dad agreed. Akane is going to marry
Ranma." Nabiki replied.

"Ranma Saotome..." Kuno said while shaking his fist in the air
with anger.

"Kuno. Stand in the hall." Shouted the teacher after he threw
an eraser that bounced off Kuno's forehead.

"Yes sensei." Kuno said, a little shocked.

Kuno walked out of the room with his two buckets. He then changed
into his kendo outfit, strapped his bokken to his back and ran out of the
locker room. He headed towards the classroom where Akane was, thinking
about the evil plot that Ranma had Akane in.

"I forbid it." Kuno said to himself angrily.

* * * *

"You mean that you fight Kuno every morning?" Steve asked in
surprise at what all Kuno has done to Akane.

"And for some reason I always win." Akane told Steve, who was
surprised that he was able to calm Akane down for a bit.

"Well, when a guy fights a girl, he lets up a lot." Ranma said
to Akane while he was looking away.

"Don't underestimate me." Akane said to Ranma. "Try me for
real sometime."

"No way." Ranma said. "Violent or not, you are still a girl.
I couldn't do that."

"How about if you're a girl?" Akane said as she placed one of
her buckets down and then grabbed the other bucket and held it like
she was about to throw it at Ranma.

"W-wait..." Ranma was stuttering as he was backing away from
Akane.

Steve was watching as Ranma was backing away from Akane. It
was then that Steve heard someone running in the hall. He was
looking up at the same time that Ranma sensed danger. Steve saw
Kuno running up and in his Kendo garb, his bokken strapped to his
back, and carrying two buckets of water. It was then that Steve
watched as Kuno threw one of his buckets of water at Ranma. Ranma
jumped out of the way as the water came near him.

"Yah!" Ranma said as he jumped out of the way of the water.
When he landed, he looked over and saw Kuno standing there, with an
empty bucket of water.

"Never, Ranma Saotome!" Kuno said angrily.

"What do you think you're..." Ranma began saying.

"Upperclassman Kuno..." Akane started saying as Steve got closer
to Ranma and her.

"I shall never accept your engagement to Akane!" Kuno shouted
out load.

Just then, the windows behind Ranma, Akane, and Steve, flew open
and the classroom personnel were at the windows with a surprised look
to their faces. Steve looked around and saw that all the boys were at
the windows on Ranma's side, and the girls were on Akane's side. Ranma
was looking at the boy's while Akane was looking at the girls, and Steve
was looking back and forth between the two.

"What! Engagement?" The boys were asking.

"How could you, Akane! And you said you despised men!" The
girls were saying to Akane.

Everyone was asking questions left and right. Some of the
questions were getting too personnel for Akane, Ranma, and Steve,
since one question was asked if they were doing a threesome. The
evil glares that Akane and Ranma gave that person, shut that person
up right away.

"Wait! It's not true! It's..." Akane started to say.

"Our parents decided! We never..." Ranma tried to explain.

It was then that Kuno got tired of being ignored, and went to
strike Ranma with his bokken. Ranma had dodged out of the way, but
forgot that Steve was behind him. When he looked back, his eyes
opened in worry when he saw the bokken heading for Steve, and Ranma
knew that he would be to slow to get there in time.

Ranma watched as Steve threw his buckets in line with the
bokken and jumped to the left, where Ranma was standing in worry.
The bokken had sliced through the two buckets, spilling the water
over the floor. The bokken had just missed hitting Steve by a fraction
of an inch. Steve rolled on the ground until he was at Ranma's feet
and quickly stood up before the water reached him.

"Stand your ground." Kuno said turning towards Ranma and Steve.

"This is no place to fight." Ranma said, turning around and
grabbing Steve's sleeve. He started running down the hall, keeping
Steve ahead of him. "Follow us."

"That I shall!" Kuno said, chasing after them.

Akane was about starting to run after them, when the classroom
emptied out and was following right behind her. It was then that she
heard some of the comments that they were saying and a sweat dropped
formed behind her head as she ran. As the group was following the
three ahead of them, they passed a teacher in the hall that was
yelling for them to quit running in the hall.

Ranma and Steve were keeping a good lead in front of Kuno, when
Ranma saw an open window up ahead.

"Let's get outside." Ranma said to Steve as he grabbed Steve and
threw him out the window. He then turned to face Kuno as he was leaping
out the window. "Follow me."

"Fear not." Kuno said as he followed Ranma out the window.

"Hey, this is the third floor!" Yelled one of the classmates as
they reached the window that Ranma leaped out of. Ranma failed to notice
Kuno's surprised looked or Steve's exclamation of being thrown out a third
floor window.

"No sweat. I'm..." Ranma started saying when he then looked down
and saw a swimming pool below him. "Yow!"

"Baka!" Akane shouted at Ranma, with a small feeling of concern
for Steve.

"Boy, lucky there's a pool there." Said one female classmate.

"Yeah, lucky." Said another male classmate.

"Lucky, he says." Ranma said to himself right before all three of
them splashed into the swimming pool.

Everyone was watching the pool closely when Kuno's body floated to
the surface, face down, with his bokken floating nearby. They kept looking,
but they still didn't see Ranma or Steve surface yet.

"Look, it's Kuno. He's coming up." Said one student.

"But, what's happened to Saotome and Stachowicz?" Asked another
student.

Under the water of the pool, Ranma was swimming away, thinking
about trying to get away from the situation that she is in. She saw
that Steve was in front of her so she swam up to her. Ranma got Steve's
attention, Steve turned around and saw Ranma and relaxed a little bit.
It was then that Steve saw Kuno's body and pointed up. Ranma looked up
and saw Kuno's body also. Ranma decided that she couldn't leave Kuno
floating in the water face down, so both of them swam up and Ranma started
to swim with Kuno's body to the pool side, and to get some air.

As they were swimming to the end of the pool, it was then that Kuno
started coming around. When Kuno got enough bearing, he looked down and
saw a person with a pigtail style hairstyle, and since he only knew one
person with that hairstyle, he went and grabbed that person.

"Ranma Saotome, I fight on!" Kuno said as he went and wrapped his
arms around Ranma's body. Steve had saw what happened and ducked below
the surface of the water.

"Gyaaaaaaaaa!!!" Ranma screamed as Kuno wrapped his arms around
her body.

"The jig is up." Akane thought when she saw what had happened.

Ranma was waving her arms trying to get free of Kuno's grasp,
while saying to let her go at the same time. Kuno held on tight, but
when Ranma tried to wiggle out, Kuno shifted his grip on Ranma. Where
he gripped his left hand, surprised both of them, but for different
reasons. For Kuno, he was surprised because he was all of a sudden,
grabbing something round, firm, but yet squishy, that shouldn't be on
a male body. Ranma on the other hand, reacted when Kuno grabbed her
breast, painfully. Ranma reached behind her and grabbed Kuno's head
in a tight grip.

"Pervert!" Ranma yelled as she flipped Kuno over her head,
and slammed him on the ground, out of the pool, very hard. Ranma
then fell back into the water and came jumping out of the pool with
her grip around Steve's waist, and kept jumping out of the pool area
and into the woods nearby. Kuno just remained laying on the ground
with a surprised look to his face.

"What ... what..." Stuttered one student.

"Ranma's and Steve's body..." Started another student.

"... Didn't they look a little ... smaller all around?"
Finished another student.

"Must have been an illusion." Answered another student.
Akane used the confusion to sneak away and try and find a kettle
of hot water.

In the meantime, Kuno was still lying where Ranma had threw him.
He was rethinking what had happen in the last few minutes. He remembered
chasing Ranma and the other fellow out of the window, and then landing in
the pool. He had taken a short nap and when he woke up, he thought he
had Ranma right in front of him, but when he had grabbed that person,
that person had a female breast. So with that information in mind, he
came to a conclusion.

"A woman. Yes, that was a woman. Which means..." Kuno then
suddenly sat up and started shaking his fist, then shouted out loud.
"Ranma Saotome, you wretch! Do you think you've escaped?"

Speaking of Ranma, she and Steve were sitting up in a tree on a
tree branch, pulling off their pants and ringing out the water out of
them. Ranma was complaining all the time about what Kuno had done to
her.

"What a pervert. I mean, he didn't have to squeeze that hard."
Ranma was complaining while she was wringing the water out of her pants.

"Well, it could be because you were wiggling around so much that
he had to get a better grip." Steve was saying while doing the same
thing with her pants also.

"I guess, but that hurt a lot." Ranma said.

"I know what you are talking about." Steve said.

"How do you know, you got no breasts." Ranma said, and then
yelped when she heard a snap and then a stinging feeling on her back.
She looked back at Steve and saw her looking angry at her.

"Red, you need to lose that attitude you have soon, just because
this body is younger than yours, doesn't mean it don't have breasts.
You, at least, should know that I do have breasts, they may not be as
developed as your breasts, but I do have breasts. Not to mention that
I also have a sister, and I have been hearing about her problems when
they were growing." Steve said angrily to Ranma, who looked apologetic
to Steve.

"Sorry, Stack." Ranma said.

"Apology accepted, if you try to learn to think first before
speaking." Steve said.

"I'll try." Ranma said. "Well, I guess now Kuno knows about
me."

Before Steve was able to reply, a female voice interrupted them.

"You Baka's." Said the familiar female voice. Both of them
looked down and saw Akane standing there with her arms behind her back.

"Akane?" Steve asked in confusion.

"What..." Ranma also started asking in confusion.

"Just how dumb can you two be?" Akane said. "I mean, jumping
into a pool of your own free will."

"I wouldn't say I jumped in on my free will." Steve said.

"Shut up!" Ranma said, giving Akane the red eye.

"Humph." Akane said, cause Ranma to stop giving her the red
eye. "Then maybe I'll just throw away this hot water."

"No!" Steve said loudly when she saw the kettle of hot water
that Akane showed them.

"Meanie, meanie." Ranma said, hugging the tree branch when
she saw the kettle.

It was then that they all heard some sloshing sound from nearby.
All three of them looked in the direction and saw Kuno walking nearby.
He was yelling out, in his poetic way of talking, where Ranma was. It
was then that Akane decided on a decision.

"Catch!" Yelled Akane as she threw the kettle over her shoulder
towards Ranma and Steve.

Unfortunately, her throw was a little short and Ranma had to stretch
out to grab it. Akane didn't realize that her throw was short, because she
had immediately ran over to confront Kuno. Kuno turned when he heard someone
approaching and was expecting Ranma, but was surprised when it was Akane
facing him in a ready stance.

"Upperclassman Kuno," Akane said challenging. "I challenge you."

"Akane, oh Akane," Kuno said dramatically. "Never did I dream
that YOU would challenge me." Kuno sighs. "So be it."

Kuno then got into a ready stance and got ready to fight Akane.

"If you win, I shall let you go out with me." Kuno said, posing
in affect. "Thus I shall lose with all my might."

"Who's asking to go out with you?" Akane shouted, then thought
to herself. "Stacko, Ranma, turn back while I buy you guys time."

The said two were still on the tree branch. Ranma had leapt for
the kettle, she got a hold of the kettle, but she was stretched out so
far that she was staying on the branch by her feet holding the branch.
Steve saw that Ranma was having a little trouble about staying on the
branch, so she reached out and grabbed a hold of Ranma's shirttail and
tried to pull her back to the tree branch.

Meanwhile, Kuno had started to charge towards Akane, and Akane
went into action. As Kuno was coming at her with an overhead swing,
she slapped her hands together to stop the bokken and started leaning
back. As she fell to the ground, she brought her left foot up to Kuno's
chest and pushed him up. The act caught Kuno off guard as he lost the
grip on his bokken and went flying in the air, towards the nearby woods.
Akane stood up, smiling at her handy work and looked in the direction that
Kuno was flying and realized that she had tossed him towards Steve and
Ranma, so she started running towards them, with the bokken in her hand.

At that precise time, Steve had managed to pull back Ranma to the
branch. Both of them were happy that they were about to change back into
their male forms, when all of the sudden, Kuno's head was implanted into
the side of the kettle. With Kuno hitting the kettle, the contents were
forced out. It was then that Kuno turned somewhat and saw who was near
him.

"You're that girl." Kuno announced. Ranma was getting a little
nervous about Kuno knowing about her curse. As she was about to say
something, Akane arrived and shouted up at Ranma and Steve.

"You guy's are still female." Akane shouted up to them.

"What'd you expect?" Ranma shouted down to her, thinking that
Akane should've known what was going on.

"So," Kuno started talking again, totally ignoring the fact that
Ranma and Akane were talking. When Kuno started talking again, Ranma
faced him. "Did you see where that boy in the pigtail, and his gaijin
cohort, went?" Ranma quickly shook her head negatively. "That coward!
Running away from a fight. No doubt he feared my prowess. Bah! He is
no man, he is no man!"

During Kuno's rant, Ranma's nervousness faded and slowly turned
into anger. At the finish of Kuno's ranting, Ranma released the kettle
she was still holding and let Kuno fall. Kuno landed on the ground,
head first, and rolled over into a sitting position. He crossed his
arms and looked up at Ranma as she landed nearby.

"That hurt you know." Kuno pointed out.

"I'm not gonna hang there and take this." Ranma said, totally
ignoring what Kuno had said. She then proceeded to get into a ready
stance facing Kuno. "I can take you any time, come on!"

"Heh. Amusing." Kuno stated as he stood back up and took his
bokken from Akane. "Well, should you win, I will allow you to go out
with me."

Kuno had then proceeded at swing at Ranma, to take her down.
When Steve had heard what Kuno had said, she couldn't believe the
delusion that Kuno was living in and automatically wanted to set
things right.

"Who in their right mind would want to go out with you?" Steve
shouted and jumped off the branch and aimed her landing to be on top
of Kuno.

The distraction that Steve caused by shouting, caused Kuno to stop
attacking Ranma and look up at the source of the person who shouted. Kuno
only had a very brief second as Steve landed on him and caused him to fall
on the ground. Steve then quickly got off of Kuno and stood back up next
to Akane.

Kuno sat back up and was about to reprimand the person who jumped on
him. As he turned to face the person and start his spiel about the injustices
of what the person did, he stopped before he even began. As he got a better
look at the person, he saw it was a young girl of about thirteen years of age,
wearing what appeared to be nothing but a black Chinese silk shirt, and holding
a pair of pants in each hand.

"Who is this lovely young maiden that bears the resemblance to my fierce
tigress, Akane Tendo?" Kuno asked no one in particular. Kuno had failed to
notice the panicked looks that Ranma, Steve and Akane had. Suddenly Akane
had an idea pop in her head.

"She's my sister, uh ... Talia." Akane blurted out. Ranma, Kuno, and
especially Steve, were surprised at what she had said. It was Steve who got
her voice back first.

"Uh, yeah, you leave my oneechan alone." Steve, now newly named Talia,
said in her best little girl voice.

"Since when did you have a younger sister, Akane?" Kuno asked, somewhat
confused.

"Hey, don't forget about me." Ranma shouted because of two things. One
being that Kuno wasn't fighting her anymore, and the second being that she saw
that Steve and Akane were having trouble covering what Akane had blurted out.

"Oh yes, I am at fault for forgetting such a lovely woman such as
you." Kuno said as he turned back to face Ranma. He then proceeded to
start swinging at Ranma again. But this time, after the first swing,
Ranma seemed to have disappeared from where she was standing. Kuno had
his bokken still in his finished swing and was looking for Ranma.

"Up here." Ranma said. Kuno turned and saw that Ranma was standing
on his bokken. Ranma took two steps and kicked Kuno in the head. He
proceeded to fall to the ground onto his back as Ranma landed on her feet.
Ranma then kicked Kuno's bokken into the air and caught it, setting it on
her shoulder. "And guess what Kuno? Ranma Saotome's even better'n me!"

Ranma then proceeded to walk over to where Steve and Akane were
standing. Once Ranma got there, Steve handed Ranma her pants and all
three of them headed out of the woods. They were out of ear shot range,
so Kuno didn't hear them say anything about Ranma wanting to go home, and
then 'Talia' persuading Ranma to stay until School finished for the day.

As Kuno was lying on the ground, he was thinking about had just
happened. He was trying to think about the red-haired girl that he was
beginning to think was more skilled than Akane, and then the new Tendo
sister that Akane said she had. He figured he had to know more about
them.

* * * * *

Later that night, back at the Tendo Dojo, in the dojo, Ranma and
his father were sitting crossed legged on their heads, while Steve was
practicing some basic kata's. After a few minutes, Genma and Ranma were
talking about the first day at school. Ranma replied to the questions as
much as he wanted. Then Genma got into the part on how Akane had helped
him.

"Ranma, Akane really looked out for both of you in school today,
didn't she?" Genma had asked.

"It's not like I had asked her to." Ranma replied.

"You should thank her for her help." Genma said.

"Why?" Ranma asked.

"Come on, Red, let's go thank Akane." Steve said, stopping his
kata's and wanting to stop a fight from starting between father and son.

"Do we have to?" Ranma asked.

"Yes, besides, I need to talk to her about this morning with
Kuno." Steve replied.

"All right." Ranma said and then stood up.

Both Steve and Ranma left Genma in the dojo and headed towards
Akane's room. They were standing outside her bedroom door, and were
about to knock, when they heard Akane talking loudly to Nabiki. They
both heard Akane, rather loudly, complain about being engaged to Ranma,
being her worst nightmare. Ranma, upon hearing that, didn't want to
thank her for her help and Steve agreed with him. Since Steve still
needed to talk to Akane, he bid Ranma off and knocked on the door. He
entered the room when he was told to come in.

When Steve entered the room, he saw Akane sitting at her desk,
doing her homework, and Nabiki sitting on the bed, reading a magazine
about stretching exercises. They were both looking at him, waiting for
him to give the reason why he was there.

"What can I help you with?" Akane asked after a bit.

"Well, since Nabiki is here, this will make it easier for me."
Steve said.

"Why is me being here, going to be easier for you?" Nabiki asked.

"The 'Talia' situation." Steve said flatly.

"Oh yes, I was wondering about that myself." Nabiki said. "What
brought this about?"

"It's my fault." Akane replied sadly.

"I know that." Nabiki said. "Kuno had said you told him about
us having another sister."

"Kuno had seen Stack's other form and said how much Stack and I
looked similar." Akane tried to explain.

"Why a sister, not a cousin or just someone that looked similar?"
Steve asked Akane.

"I don't know why I said it." Akane admitted. "It was just
something that came to mind."

"I don't mind playing the 'Talia' role, but there are several holes
in that plan though." Steve replied.

"What are they?" Nabiki asked, thinking about how much the situation
that Akane put them in, is going to cost to keep damage control down.

"The big one is making your father believe he has a forth daughter."
Steve replied to Nabiki.

"I see where you're getting at." Nabiki said smiling. "Leave
everything to me and I'll fill you in on what you need to know."

"Okay." Steve said and then looked at his watch. "I'll talk to
you two later, I'm going to call my parents and inform them where I am,
so they are not worried about me and don't worry Nabiki, I'm using my
phone card."

Steve left Akane's room and headed downstairs. When he reached
the bottom, he realized he didn't know where the phone was kept. So he
entered the kitchen and asked Kasumi where the phone was. After Kasumi
told him where it was, he went over to it and called his family.

"Hey mom, it's me ... I know it's early over there, but this was
the only good time I could call you guys ... Where am I? Well you could
say I took an unexpected trip to Japan ... I, uh, met some friends and
they asked if I wanted to go to Japan with them, and since I really didn't
have anything to do, I went with them ... They are very nice people, a
little socially inapt, but okay ... I'm staying at the 'Tendo Training
Hall' ... Martial Arts ... Hold on, I need to ask while you get paper and
a writing utensil." Steve said and then set the phone down. He went and
asked Kasumi for the address and phone number, and after Kasumi gave it to
him, he then gave his mother that information. "I'm doing fine, mom ...
Sure I'll talk to dad ... Hey dad, how's the family doing ... That's good
to hear ... I'm in Tokyo right now ... I'll write you guys a letter
explaining how I got here ... Uh, Nerima district ... That's right, Uncle
Kenji lives near here, you got his phone number? ... Okay, thanks dad, tell
everyone Hi for me and tell sis I'll get her a gift from here. Talk to
you later, bye."

Steve hung up the phone and smiled. It was nice talking to the
family and he looked down at the phone number and decided to call the
friend to his family. After a few rings, the phone on the other end
picked up.

"Can I speak with Kenji Tsukino, please ... Steve Stachowicz ...
Hiya uncle Kenji ... I'm in the area, so I decided to give you a call ...
I'm in the Nerima district and I'm staying at the Tendo Dojo. I'm going
to be staying here for some time, I don't know how long ... Sounds good
to me. Is it okay if I bring a friend along, if he wants to come ... What
time would be good to come over? ... Okay, I'll see you then, bye."

Steve got the directions to the Tsukino residence and then hung up
the phone. He put the address in his pocket and headed upstairs to retrieve
his homework. After he got it, he went downstairs to the living room to
finish the homework he got. As he was doing his homework, he had this
nagging feeling he was forgetting about something.

* * * * *

JUUBAN DISTRICT, AFTER SCHOOL

Usagi was coming out of detention, for not paying attention in class.
The teachers were happy that she wasn't sleeping in class, but she wasn't
paying attention either. Some of the teachers could tell that she wasn't
daydreaming, but in deep thought about something. In actuality, she was
trying to think about the Star Kingdom.

Throughout the school day, she was trying to recall anything she could
about that kingdom, but was coming up with nothing. During one of her classes,
the teacher got fed up with her not paying attention and sent her to detention.
Usagi accepted her fate and went to detention after school. During lunchtime,
the other Senshi was asking Usagi what was bothering her, and she only replied
that they would find out at the meeting after school.

When Usagi got out of detention, she ran over to Rei's shrine, to hear
what Luna had to say about the Star Kingdom. She hoped what Luna said would
help her locate the Senshi she was suppose to find. When she got to Rei's
shrine, she was surprised to see the Outers, except Pluto, waiting there also.

"What are you guys doing here?" Usagi asked surprised.

"Luna had called us, saying we had to be here, that she had something
really important to say to everyone." Michiru replied.

"Oh." Usagi said.

"It's about time you got here." Rei said angrily.

"Hey, I can't help it I had detention." Usagi replied back to Rei.

"Probably sleeping again." Rei said.

"I wasn't sleeping." Usagi said, with tears starting to form.

"Then you were daydreaming again." Rei continued to argue with Usagi.

"I wasn't daydreaming, but I did have something on my mind." Usagi
replied.

"What? What you would do when Mamoru returns?" Rei taunted.

"No, it's about what Luna has to say," Usagi said then looked down at
Luna. "Okay Luna, everyone's here, now tell us what is so bad about this Star
Kingdom. The way you were talking last night, you made it sound like they were
as bad as Beryl and the Negaverse."

"Better yet, tell us who the Star Kingdom is." Rei interjected. "This
is the first any of us even heard of it." The other Senshi nodded in agreement
with looks of interest.

"The Star Kingdom consisted of the royal families of the Sun, major
Asteroids, and other Celestial bodies." Luna began. "They were very similar
to the Moon Kingdom in many aspects, but there were two major differences.
Firstly the Star Kingdom rulers were all male, and it was a common belief among
them that women were incapable of understanding. That was why they weren't part
of the Moon Kingdom from the beginning. Second was a more philosophical
differences."

"I can't wait to hear this," Makoto groaned. "As if thinking
women were too stupid to understand things weren't bad enough."

"What was this philosophical difference, Luna?" Hotaru asked,
interested.

"They felt that using the energy of Planets, or Manna, to provide
Senshi with their abilities, replied too much on outside sources for
strength." Luna replied, her own opinion of this obvious. "They were
warriors by nature and felt that anyone's spirit could be developed enough
to provide the necessary power for a Senshi. That, as well as their distrust
of female leaders, is what was the foundation for our differences, but because
of several incidents, the relations between the Kingdoms degraded until there
was little communication between them."

"So were they right about people's spirits being able to supply enough
power for a Senshi?" Makoto asked, interested by the idea.

"They claimed to have done it, but refused to allow observers from the
Moon Kingdom to investigate." Luna said, her tone showing her doubts about
those claims. "Then the Moon Kingdom was attacked by the Negaverse, and the
Star Kingdom ignored our distress calls. So I wouldn't be too surprised if
they were behind this new threat. They probably made an agreement with Beryl
not to interfere when the Negaverse invaded in the first place."

"How can you say that, Luna?" Usagi asked in shock, remembering that
her mother had said they needed the Star Kingdom as allies. "What are these
incidents you are talking about?"

"One of the big ones was about ten years before you were born." Luna
began. "The Star Kingdom restricted access to the shipping routes through
the Asteroid Belt. They claimed it was to protect their mineral rights, but
your grandmother felt it was more out of spite than concern over their rights.
The loss of an ore carrier, that went off course, traveling through the belt,
damaged relations pretty badly when strange blast damage was found on the
wreckage. The Star Kingdom claimed it was an accident, but your grandmother
refused to accept it."

"What else?" Usagi asked, her assurances slipping away.

"When Hotaru was chosen as Sailor Saturn, her sister, Saria, left
the Moon Kingdom due to a disagreement. The official statement of why
she left was that she went to the Star Kingdom to train." Luna replied.
"When the Queen of Saturn petitioned the King of the Aeriss Asteroid, for
the return of her daughter, he denied that any such person had entered his
kingdom."

"He lied, even though everyone knew Saria had gone there?" Rei
asked in surprise. "That doesn't make sense."

"A lot of what the Star Kingdom did doesn't make sense." Luna
said scornfully.

"What did Saria look like?" Hotaru asked curiously.

"She looked exactly like you, Hotaru." Luna replied. "Because
she was your older twin sister, who held the mantle of Sailor Titan."

"A twin sister?" Hotaru replied while showing a face of confusion
and then excitement. "I have a twin sister."

"She may not be your twin in this life, but she may look like you."
Michiru tried to reason to Hotaru, but Hotaru still showed excitement.

"What was another problem?" Makoto asked really interested in this
look at their past. "You said there were several of them."

"Three girls from the Star Kingdom were caught in one of the royal
garden outposts on Earth, talking to Endymion." Luna replied, glancing
at Usagi. "This was shortly before Beryl's attack, but rumors were already
circulating that the Star Kingdom had made an alliance with the Negaverse.
The royal guards watched them for several minutes, trying but failing to
hear their conversation. When the three girls were leaving, the guards
chased them into one of the restricted high magic areas, resulting from a
mage war before the Moon Kingdom formed.

"No one really knows what happened, but all three girls drowned in
the pools there. A short time later, the sentries placed there as a
protection for the ordinary citizens, found that it was Princess Saria
and one other princess from the Star Kingdom, floating in a pool. The
Queen of Saturn accused King Appollyon of Killing her daughter in cold-blooded
revenge, which he of course denied. Two days later, Queen Beryl attacked.
When Appollyon didn't answer our calls for help, the Royal Council came to
the conclusion that the rumors of an alliance were true and focused all our
energies on defeating the Negaverse. You know what happened after that."

"The Royal council of the Moon Kingdom always did have a tendency to
jump to conclusions." A male voice said from the far end of the room. A
small shadowy form detached itself from the trees and walked into view,
revealing itself as a flame orange fox. "Beryl wasn't the type to leave
anyone around to contest her rule."

"Who ..." Minako began, then Artemis interrupted her.

"What do you want, Helios?" Artemis demanded with a growl.
"You're not welcome here."

"Tsk, tsk, Artemis. I would have expected better from you."
Helios said with a laugh. "I only came to tell you two things. First,
that the threat you're facing is worse than you realize. It was the main
reason the two Kingdoms formed. Second, King Appollyon never betrayed his
wife, no matter how bad it looked." The fox ran off at this point,
laughing, vanishing into the shadows. The Senshi stared after him for
several minutes.

"Who was that and what did he mean by that, Luna?" Usagi asked,
turning toward the cat.

"His name is Helios, and you would be best to know of his as the
Star Kingdom's version of me and Artemis." Luna replied and inwardly
chuckled at the expressions the Senshi had on their faces. "What he
meant, was Queen Serenity, your grandmother, sent your mother to the
capitol of the Star Kingdom, shortly after the incident with the ore
transport.

"The treaty that was finally agreed upon had several strange
additions to it, but one of the conditions was that your mother had
to marry Appollyon. Helios was the Ambassador that presented the treaty
to the Royal council."

"What did he mean about the council jumping to conclusions?" Ami
asked curiously. Luna looked over at Artemis uncomfortably, and the
Senshi were surprised when he laughed.

"What he meant was that when he presented the treaty, Luna and
several other councilors accused Appollyon of holding your mother against
her will." Artemis said, while Luna cringed at the memory. "What
actually happened is that your mother fell in love with Appollyon, and
knowing her mothers prejudices against the Star Kingdom, made their
marriage a requirement of the treaty. When the truth came out, four
councilors resigned in shame and the treaty was immediately approved."

"So who was the other person who drowned?" Usagi asked in shock
when she heard how her mother got married, and then remembering something
that Luna said before. "Didn't my mother have that investigated?"

"Absolutely." Luna replied. "Unfortunately, the guards who chased
them into the valley were killed in an avalanche as they were coming out
of the valley. No one saw what actually happened, they only found the
girls floating in the pools. It was obvious that they were murdered,
but we never found out who did it."

"Who was the third girl, Luna?" Usagi asked somewhat angrily at
Luna, whom she thought was avoiding the question. Luna looked at Usagi
and sighed.

"The girls name was Tranquility, your twin sister." Luna replied.

"I had a twin sister?" Usagi asked in total shock and surprise.

"Yes you did." Luna replied, knowing what was going on with Usagi.
"After your parents married, they had agreed to let your mother run the
Moon Kingdom, and your father the Star Kingdom. Both of them wanted a
heir for their respective Kingdom, so the Queen had used the crystal to
make sure she had twins, but when you two were born, both of you were
girls. That saddened your father, but he still loved both of you dearly.
It was because of your mother that your father had created the first female
Senshi in the Star Kingdom. But an occurrence that happened, drove a
wedge between your mother and father."

"What happened?" Usagi asked quietly.

"There was an argument, shortly after you two were born, about who
and how the Gates of Time and the Guardian should behave and conduct.
Appollyon said there should be two guardians, not one. The power of the
Gates was too powerful for just one to handle. Your mother believed that
one would be sufficient."

"What happened after the argument?" Ami asked.

"King Appollyon grabbed one of his children and went to his palace
in the Star Kingdom. When Serenity tried to contact Appollyon, he would
refuse to talk to her or let anyone from the Moon Kingdom into his Kingdom.
It was several years after that, that Beryl rose and you guys know what
happened then." The Senshi sat silently after Luna finished talking,
saddened by what happened to the three girls, one thousand years ago.

* * * * *

"Those cats can be incredibly rude some times." Helios said to his
companions. "What is the status on locating the Senshi and Haiyashi?"

"I've located Haiyashi three or four times, but that random
disappearances of his, keeps screwing me up. One second I'm right behind
him and the next, he's gone." Achilles grumbled, his black fur bristling
in agitation.

"What about Saria?" Helios asked another fox, this one bluish-black.

"She's in Nerima." Polyarch said with her teeth set in a grimace.
"Are we sure we want to wake her up? That guy, Steve, may not be ready
to handle Saria's presence in his mind."

"Actually I think she'll help him make the adjustment to his curse
faster." Myria, a red haired fox with strange neon green marks on her tail,
said seriously. "He's doing okay, but I think he's going to get a nasty
surprise when Saria's period forces him to stay in female form for three
days."

"What do you mean?" Helios asked in confusion. "I thought only
water could change them?"

"With Haiyashi and his human form that's true." Polyarch explained.
"But the guys who change to girls have an added 'bonus' curse if you will.
When their female bodies would be having their period, if they get changed
or they are in their female form at the time, they will be locked if their
female form until it passes. I just hope none of them get raped and get
pregnant. If that happens, they're stuck until the baby's born."

"Couldn't they abort?" Achilles asked, then jumped backwards
when Myria turned on him with a growl.

"Don't even think it Achilles." She barked angrily. "The instant
any of them do something like that, their power will be gone forever,
because of the spiritual damage. Now they are unlikely to get pregnant,
but if they do, they must carry the child to term. Anything else would
ruin all hope for defeating our enemy."

"Now we have to contact our wards soon, because we have to activate
their powers soon." Helios said as Achilles apologized. "Mine SHOULD be
easy, since Tranquility has grown up with her twin sister. Solaris could
be a problem though, since that idiot father of her host has pushed him so
much and programmed him to think girls are weak and stupid. Do you think
you can deal with it Myria?"

"I could use help from you and Solaris." She replied cautiously.
"If we can show Ranma the advantages of his female side, Solaris can do
the rest."

"Now, Luna and Artemis still have a grunge against us, so don't be
too surprised if the Moon Kingdom Senshi are resistant at first." Helios
said to the others. "I made contact with Central though and somehow Serenity
is now part of the system. When I explained to her what was coming, she agreed
to talk to her daughter. Until we can get the others to trust us, she's our
only point of contact."

"How are Sirius and Orion doing with finding the others?" Polyarch
asked. "If the Dark One really is waking up, we'll need all seven of the
Senshi awake and ready."

"Tirlia is on her way to Nerima." Helios replied. "Orion says she's
as ready as she will ever be, but I have to wake her up. So Orion will bring
her to me as soon as she thinks she can do it safely. Sirius is still trying
to find her ward, but says she has a few leads on where to find her."

"All right." Polyarch said with a sigh. "Has anyone found Draconia?
If we can, that will shift the balance in our favor."

"The only one I've seen who fits the genetic profile of Draconia is
that girl, Akane." Myria replied. "She has the looks, the temper, and the
sheer brute strength, but it's Haiyashi that will be able to recognize her.
He is the only one that could."

"Okay everyone, remember, we have to get these Senshi ready for full
activation." Helios said, looking at each of the guardians. "Normally they
would have been preparing for their entire lives, but that wasn't possible.
Do everything you can to help with the transition." The foxes all nodded,
then headed off in separate directions.

"I just hope they'll be ready in time." Helios said to himself as
he went to put his part of the plan into action.

* * * * *

Usagi was walking home with Luna and Chibi-Usa in silence. After
what Luna had told everyone, she was surprised at what was in store for
her. From what she remembered, from what her mother told her, and what
Luna had hinted at the night before, she thought she was ready for what
Luna was going to tell them. She just wasn't ready for what Luna really
told them.

"I had a twin sister." Usagi mumbled out loud.

Luna and Chibi-Usa could tell that Usagi was going in shock, after
finding out about her twin sister, and what had happened to her. Chibi-Usa
thought Hotaru would go into shock upon finding out she had a twin sister,
but Hotaru was very happy to know that maybe her twin was out there somewhere.
Chibi-Usa decided to keep an eye on her 'mother' until she knew her 'mother'
was okay. The rest of the trip was made in silence.

Once they made it back home, Luna and Chibi-Usa ran off to
other parts of the house. As Usagi was walking down the hallway,
the phone started ringing. Since she was the closest to the phone,
she answered it.

"Moshi moshi ... May I ask who's calling? ... Okay, please
hold on." Usagi said as she set the phone down, she then went looking
for her father. She found him sitting in the living room reading the
newspaper. "Dad, there is a person by the name of Steve Stachowicz on
the phone for you."

"It is?" He asked in surprise. "Thank you."

He set the newspaper down while Usagi headed upstairs to her
room. He got up and went to the phone.

"Steve? ... Hello Steve, what are you calling for? ... Where
are you and how long are you in the area? ... That is good to hear.
I would like to hear why you're here. How about coming and visit
tomorrow evening? ... Sure, if he wants to come, it's all right ...
Any time after dinner sounds good ... Bye."

After he gave Steve the directions on how to get to his place,
he hung up the phone. He smiled because it was good to hear from the
son of his friend from the states. That was how his wife saw him when
he entered the kitchen.

"You seem in a joyous mood all of a sudden." Ikuko said.

"I got a call from the son of my friend in the states." Kenji
replied.

"Really? Isn't he the one that keeps calling you 'uncle' since
he was young, and why did he call?"

"Yes, the last time I took a business trip to the states, he
was away at college. He called to say hi and that he was in the area."

"Where is he staying?"

"The Tendo Dojo in the Nerima district."

"You should invite him over."

"I already did. Is tomorrow after dinner sound good?"

"Sounds perfect."

"Since Shingo is going to be at a friends house at that time,
I'll see if Usagi can be here."

"Okay, dear."

Usagi was in her room, lying on her bed, just staring up at the
ceiling. She was still thinking about what Luna had told them, and
what Helios had brought up. Finding out you had a twin sister that you
never knew existed, and then finding out that she was murdered, puts a
hard feeling in her heart. She was contemplating wither or not to find
the Senshi of the Star Kingdom. Her mother had said that the enemy was
too strong for the Moon Kingdom Senshi alone to fight, that they needed
their help. She didn't know what to do when there came a knocking at
the door.

"Come in." Usagi said. The door opened to reveal her father and
Luna running inside. "Hello dad. What could I do for you?"

"What are you doing tomorrow night after dinner?" Kenji asked.

"Nothing to important, why?" Usagi asked.

"The son of a friend of mine from the states is going to visit
tomorrow and may bring a friend."

"Was that who was on the phone?"

"Yes, I've known his family since he was about four years old.
Every time I've taken a business trip to the states, I've stayed at his
parents place. He's been calling me 'uncle' for years now, so don't be
surprised if he calls you 'cousin'."

"Uh, okay."

"Good night Honey."

"Good night dad."

After her father left, Usagi went back to staring at the ceiling.
Luna jumped up on the bed and walked up until she was near Usagi's head
and sat down. Luna waited a while for Usagi to start talking, but Usagi
remained quiet, staring up at the ceiling. Luna was getting worried and
broke the silence.

"Are you all right, Usagi?" Luna asked, worried.

"Was it true on what you said about the Star Kingdom?" Usagi
asked back.

"I'm afraid so." Luna replied.

"Was what Helios said true also?"

"I don't know, but I wouldn't trust him or his companions."

"I see."

"Are you going to be all right if we have to face the Star Kingdom?"

"I don't know. How would you react if you have to face your twin?"
After Usagi asked that, Luna could only remain silent. "I have a lot on
my mind right now."

"I understand." Luna said and then jumped off the bed and crawled
under it and fell asleep.

* * * * *

It was a beautiful morning, the sun was shining, birds were singing,
and there was a slight breeze in the air. Steve had gotten up early and
helped Kasumi make breakfast. Kasumi tried telling Steve that he was a
guest, that he didn't need to help out, and Steve told her that he went
to school to be a cook and he needed to keep in practice. Kasumi reluctantly
agreed and let him help her out, but secretly she was glad that someone
was helping her out with the household chores. Steve helped her out
until he had to join Ranma and Genma for the morning workout session.

After the workout, Ranma and Steve grabbed a quick bath before
joining everyone for breakfast. Everyone thanked Kasumi for the great
breakfast, and Kasumi said that Steve helped her in making the meal.
Everyone then thanked Steve for him helping Kasumi, but before everyone
left the table, Nabiki said that she had some information to put out.

"As everyone knows by now, because of a slip of tongue by Akane,"
Nabiki started saying, and Akane started to blush when she figured out
what her sister was talking about. "Everyone now thinks that Stack's
cursed form is our new youngest sister. So to cover that blunder, I
created a history and a new identity. Stack's cursed form's name is
now Talia Tendo, thanks to Akane. We adopted her and she arrived
yesterday. The reason we didn't tell anyone, if someone asks, is
that we wanted her to feel at home before anyone started pestering
her. And if anyone asks about her education, we are home tutoring
her. Here you go Stack, read this so you can know what you should
when you are 'Talia'."

Nabiki passes a folder over to Steve and he quickly pages
through it before he nods at her. Then Steve, Ranma, Nabiki, and
Akane leave for school.

* * * * *

It was in the middle of the second class that Kuno had came
up to Nabiki and asked her if she knew about the girl he had met
yesterday.

"Sure I know her." Nabiki replied. "The girl with the
pigtail and Chinese clothes."

"Nabiki Tendo, can this be true?" Kuno exclaimed.

After Nabiki nodded her head, Kuno quickly went to his desk
and quickly started writing a note. While he was writing the note,
he was smiling insanely.

"If she thinks she can defeat Upperclassman Kuno and simply
walk away, she thinks wrongly." Kuno though while he was writing
the note. After he was done, he handed the note to Nabiki. "Here."

After everyone returned home after school, while they were
waiting for Kasumi and Steve to finish up dinner, Nabiki handed
Ranma the note that Kuno had written. When Ranma took the note,
he saw it was addressed 'To the Tree-Borne Kettle-Girl'.

"This is to me?" Ranma asked confused.

"'To the girl side,' he said." Nabiki replied. "I don't
think he believes you're the same person."

"'On Sunday in the tenth hour, meet me in the second field
of Furinkan High School.'" Ranma read.

"Sounds like a duel, huh?" Akane said as she heard what
Ranma had read.

"Little Kuno just hates to lose." Nabiki said.

"Vengeful, hm?" Akane said.

"Oh, I don't think it will be much trouble." Ranma said,
then Kasumi came out and called everyone to dinner.

* * * * *

JUUBAN WARD

It was after school hours in the Juuban Ward. All the
Inner Senshi, with Chibi-Usa, is at Rei's place doing their
homework. It was a rare occasion because Usagi didn't get any
detention, even though she had kept thinking about her 'cousin'
that her father said she now had. She kept thinking what her
'cousin' would be like; she knew from her father that he was
older. It was then that the others got her attention.

"Hey, Usagi, quit day dreaming, we have homework to do."
Makoto said.

"I'm sorry, it's just that my father said that I have a
'cousin' coming over to visit tonight that I didn't know I
had." Usagi replied.

"Cousin?" Everyone else exclaimed in surprise.

"Well, he's not really my cousin by blood, it's just that
he's been calling my father 'uncle' for his entire life." Usagi
said.

"What does he look like?" Minako asked.

"Is he cute?" Makoto asked.

"I don't know I've never met him before." Usagi replied.
"But what I got from my father, he's older than us."

"Why is he visiting you?" Ami asked.

"He isn't visiting me, he's visiting my family." Usagi
replied. "He's in the area and wanted to say hi while he was
here."

"When is he coming over?" Rei asked.

"After dinner, so me and Chibi-Usa have to leave shortly."
Usagi said. So they continued to study and do homework until Usagi
and Chibi-Usa had to leave.

* * * * *

While Usagi was getting out of her school uniform and dressed
in her normal clothes, she was talking to Luna about meeting her
cousin. She remembers his family always sending Christmas cards
every year, and ever so often, getting a present from them. Luna
couldn't help her much, but told her to act normally and be nice.
When Usagi was done getting dressed, her mother called her down for
dinner. After dinner, the Tsukino's were waiting patiently for Steve
to arrive.

About fifteen minutes after they finished cleaning up after
dinner, the doorbell rang. Mr. Tsukino got up and answered the door.
On the other side were two people, one person he recognized as the son
of his friend from America, and the other was a Japanese boy. The one
he knew was dressed in a black, silk, Chinese shirt and pants, the
Japanese boy was wearing a red shirt version of what Steve was wearing.
He smiled and let them in.

"Hello, uncle Kenji." Steve said.

"Hello Steve, who's your friend?" Kenji asked.

"This is Ranma Saotome." Steve replied. "He's one of my
sensei's in martial arts."

"That's nice to hear." Kenji said and then turned to face
Ranma. "How do you do young man?"

"I'm fine sir." Ranma said bowing slightly.

"That's good, please come in." Kenji said, moving over slightly
so Steve and Ranma could enter the house.

"Thank you." Steve said.

"Meow."

Kenji noticed that Steve and Ranma had suddenly froze in their
tracks. He saw that Steve had a look on his face that looked like he
suddenly remembered something that was very important, while Ranma
had a look that he had just heard his greatest fear.

"Meow."

He saw as both Steve and Ranma look down and he looked down
also and saw Luna and Diana sitting there looking up at Steve and Ranma.
He then heard Ranma scream 'cats!' and he looked up and saw Ranma
running out of the house like there was a fire behind him. He looked
back at Steve and saw him shaking his head.

"What just happened?" Kenji asked confused.

"I forgot to ask if you guys had any cats. Ranma is afraid of
cats, so if you can, please hide the cats for a bit." Steve replied.

"Okay." Kenji said.

So Steve then goes out to retrieve Ranma, who had knocked
himself out cold by running into the brick wall fence line. At
the same time, Mr. Tsukino is making Usagi and Chibi-Usa take
their cats up to their bedrooms. Steve came back in with a groggy
Ranma. Mr. Tsukino shows them to the living room. Steve and
Ranma sit down on the couch, next to each other, as Mr. Tsukino
sat in an easy chair to the right of Steve. Shingo sat on the
floor near to the TV, and Mrs. Tsukino came in with snacks and
drinks.

"Hello, Aunt Ikuko." Steve said as she passed the snacks
to him.

"Hello Steven, how are you?" Ikuko replied.

"I'm doing fine." Steve said.

"We'll get going once my daughter and niece come back
down." Kenji said.

"Okay." Steve said as they waited a couple of moments
before Usagi and Chibi-Usa came downstairs and sat near Mr.
Tsukino.

"Now that everyone is here, let's get started." Kenji
said. "This is Steve Stachowicz, the son of my friend in America.
I've known him since he was about five years old."

"How do you do." Steve said to the other members of the
Tsukino family. There was a round of hellos from the other Tsukino
family members.

"Since you know my wife, Ikuko, this is my daughter Usagi,
my niece Usagi also, but we call her Chibi-Usa to tell them apart,
and this is my son, Shingo." Kenji introduced to Steve and Ranma.
Both of them said a greeting to them.

"This is my friend, Ranma Saotome, of the Saotome school of
Anything-goes martial arts, and my current Sensei." Steve started
saying.

"You've taken up martial arts? Last I heard, you were hiking
around America for a bit." Ikuko said somewhat confused.

"Yes I was." Steve replied. "I was something to do when I
met my first Sensei in America."

So Steve started talking about everyday things, explain what
has been going on lately, tell how the family has been doing lately,
how he met Ranma, but leaving out Jusenkyo. It was then that Usagi
asked the question that has been on her mind.

"Why are you afraid of cats?" Usagi asked Ranma. Ranma
glanced at Steve in a panic. Steve looked back with a look saying
if he should be the one to answer. Ranma just took a deep breath
and let it out.

"It was a martial arts technique that my pop came across that
was suppose to make the trainee invincible, by making them have the
fierousisty of a cat." Ranma said.

"What is it called?" Ikuko asked.

"Neko-ken." Ranma said.

"How did the training go?" Kenji asked.

"The trainee is tied in fish sausage and thrown into a pit of
hungry cats." Ranma said.

"What!" All the Tsukino's exclaimed.

"What would your father do something like that?" Ikuko asked.

"My pop would stop at nothing to train me in martial arts."
Ranma said.

"Luckily it only happened once." Usagi said.

"Who said it was only one time?" Steve asked Usagi as he
looked at her.

"What!" Exclaimed all the Tsukino's in shock.

"Pop kept trying different fish products until it proved some
results." Ranma said.

"How could your father do something like that?" Ikuko said
shocked.

"The idiot failed to read the entire book that talked about
the Neko-ken." Steve said.

"Did you learn the Neko-ken?" Chibi-Usa asked.

"Oh yes, but at the cost of my sanity." Ranma replied.

"What do you mean?" Kenji asked. "You look very sane to
me."

"Red here can only do the Neko-ken when his fear of cats peak
and he becomes a cat himself." Steve said.

"Becomes a cat?" Ikuko asked confused.

"I mean acts like one." Steve corrected himself.

"Oh." Ikuko said understanding more what Steve had said.

They got off that topic because they noticed that Ranma was
getting uncomfortable talking about it. So they talked about
future plans that Steve and Ranma had. Everyone failed to notice
that Luna and Diana were listening in on the top of the stairs.
Both of them felt sorry on what happened to Ranma and understood
what he did.

Steve explained that he was just planning to explore the area
some more, while he learned more martial arts, before he had to go
back to find a job in the culinary arts area. Ranma explained on
how he was going to be a martial arts sensei when he was able to.
The Tsukino's gasped when they found out he was all ready engaged.
Ranma grumbled that it was his father's fault that he was engaged.

After a while, Steve realized it was getting late and that
he and Ranma had to be getting back. The Tsukino's said their
good-byes and Steve and Ranma left. Before they left, Mrs. Tsukino
asked if they wanted to come over again on Sunday. Ran had declined
because of a challenge he had, and Steve said that he had nothing
going on and would be glad to come over. They set a time and then
Steve and Ranma left.

After Steve and Ranma left, Usagi and Chibi-Usa went up to
Usagi's room. There they met Luna and Diana waiting for them.

"I can't believe that Ranma's father would do that to him."
Chibi-Usa said.

"I know I feel sorry for him." Usagi said and then noticed
Luna and Diana. "Sorry about putting you two up here."

"Don't worry, we heard the reason why." Luna said.

"His father is inhuman to do that." Diana said.

"I wish we could help him." Chibi-Usa said sadly.

"Well, I sensed something strange about those two, something
weird." Luna said.

"Not this again." Usagi started complaining. "You kept
saying that when I met the other Senshi."

"I know, but there is something about those two that I
sensed." Luna replied.

"Well I'm tired and we can talk about this later, good
night." Usagi said and went to her bedroom to get ready for bed,
leaving the others standing there.

* * * * *

As Steve and Ranma were walking down the street, Steve was
apologizing for not checking to see if the Tsukino's had any cats.
Ranma told him not to worry about it, that he couldn't remember to
do everything. They continued towards the train station and talked
about the Tsukino's.

Most of their talk was Steve saying how he knew of the Tsukino's,
the reasons why he calls Mr. Tsukino 'uncle', and similar topics. Then
their talks went on about the girls, Usagi and Chibi-Usa. The
discussion went to the girl's unusual hairstyle, to their looks; to
the way their eye's looked. Steve even noticed that in their eyes
seem to hold a portion of long experience of life in their innocanse
look. It was then that they walked in front of a yard and a sprinkler
system came on and hit Steve and Ranma with cold water, changing them
into their other form.

"Man, I hate this." Ranma complained.

"Just be glad that it happened now and not back at the Tsukino's
place." Steve said.

"I guess you're right." Ranma said grumbling.

"Let's get back." Steve said.

"Okay." Ranma said.

After wringing out as much water as they could, they continued
on. As they rounded the corner, Steve collided with another person.
As they stood back up, Ranma and Steve noticed that the person that
Steve walked into was a woman in mid-thirties, wearing a blue kimono,
had auburn hair done in a bun, and had a long item wrapped up in cloth.

"I'm sorry ma'am." Steve apologized.

"That's all right dear." The woman said. "You should be
more careful next time."

"I will Ma'am." Steve said.

Steve and Ranma continue on and failed to notice the strange
look the woman was giving Ranma.

* * * * *

SUNDAY AT FURINKIN

Ranma was standing on the appointed field at the appointed
time. She was getting bored waiting for Kuno to show up. As the
School bell chimed the appointed hour, Ranma was about to complain
that Kuno was late when she noticed a figure approaching in the
distance. When the person came in better view, Ranma saw that it
was Kuno in his usual garb. Kuno walked up to stand a short
distance away from Ranma.

"So you have come, my Tree-borne-kettle-girl." Kuno said
after a while of looking at each other.

"You don't learn quick, do you, pal?" Ranma asked. They
stood staring at each other for another several minutes. "Well,
where's your sword?"

"Heh, I have no need for a sword." Kuno said confidently.

"Yeah? Pretty confident, I guess." Ranma said.

"Confident enough you give you THIS!" Kuno shouted as he
reached behind himself and threw an item at Ranma.

Ranma reacted and caught the item with her right hand, as
it was about to fly over her head. Ranma wondered what Kuno was
doing when she noticed red flower petals start falling in front
of her face. She looked up at the item in her hand and found out
that she had caught a bouget of roses. She then looked at Kuno
in surprise and saw him walking away. He then stopped and faced
her.

"I love you." Kuno said and continued walking away. Ranma
was shocked at what happened and just fell to her knees in shock
as she watched Kuno walk away.

* * * * *

SUNDAY WITH STEVE

After a late breakfast, Steve had left to go visit the
Tsukino's. He got there a little bit before ten in the morning.
He got dressed in a white, short sleeve, Chinese silk shirt, with
yellow ties and black pants. When he got there, he wondered what
he was going to do. After he entered, they talked for a bit about
what's been going on lately for the past few day's and how is the
challenge Ranma has. Since the time was at ten, he didn't know.

After they stopped talking, Usagi wanted to show Steve to her
friends, since Chibi-Usa was over at Hotaru's. Mr. And Mrs. Tsukino
said it was up to Steve if he wanted to go. Usagi quickly ran to
Steve and quickly asked him about meeting her friends. Because she
asked so fast, he couldn't understand a single word. He looked at
her blankly for a moment and then placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Take a deep breath and ask me again slowly." Steve said
calmly. Usagi does what he asked her and asked her question again.

"I was wondering if you would like to go out and meet my
friends for a while, if you want to." Usagi asked.

"I would like to." Steve replied.

"Yeah!" Usagi exclaimed and jumps up in excitement.

She forgot that Steve was still holding her shoulders and
lost her balance coming down. She came crashing into Steve, causing
him to lose his balance and making them fall to the floor. Usagi
looked up at Steve embarrassed.

"I always wanted a pretty girl falling for me." Steve said
smiling, causing Usagi to blush even more than what she all ready
was. "Don't worry about it."

Usagi stood up with Steve's help and went upstairs to change
clothes. When she came back down, all that Steve noticed of what
she changed from her with shorts and a white t-shirt was added a
pink sweater and white tennis shoes. Usagi told her mother that
she was going out to meet her friends and was taking Steve with
her. Her mother told her to be back by dinner and not make it
to hard for him.

Usagi said she would and grabbed Steve's arm as she was
leaving and dragged him with her. After they got several blocks
from her house, Steve broke free from her grip and told her he
can follow her just fine. She apologized and continued walking
towards the arcade. As they made their way to the arcade, Steve
asked Usagi to tell him more about her friends that he was going
to meet. Steve then noticed a chain linked fence approaching.

Usagi started explaining that some of her friends won't be
there, but there will be four there. One is named Ami, and she
is the smartest of them all. Next is Rei, and she is a Shinto
priestess at a nearby Shrine. Next is Makoto, saying that she
is a good cook. Finally Minako, and she is very athletic. Usagi
described them as best as she could, and felt like she could
describe them better.

"Don't worry about it, I'll make my judgment when I meet
them." Steve said.

Usagi smiled and turned her head to face Steve, only to
find him not behind her. She became concerned and stopped and
started looking around for him.

"Up here." Usagi heard Steve's voice above her.

Usagi looked up and didn't believe her eyes, she saw Steve
walking on top of the fence. Steve knew what her question was
going to be and explained to her the method of training for
balance. He then decided to change the topic before something
happened.

"Last one to the arcade pays the first round of games."
Steve announced and started running down the fence.

"Hey, no fair." Usagi shouted out.

Usagi started after Steve when he started running down the
fence. Usagi caught up to him and past him when he ran out of
fence and had to jump down to the road. Steve was only several
steps behind Usagi when she reached the arcade. Usagi saw that
she won and started jumping for joy. Steve came up to her and
handed her a 1000-yen to spend there. Usagi quickly took the
money, thanked him, and ran inside.

Steve shook his head at Usagi's obvious enjoyment and followed
her in. When he entered, he looked around and found her over by a
'Sailor V' arcade. He smiled and walked over to the token machine
and got some tokens. He looked around to see what game he wanted
to play and noticed the crane game. Inside he saw a white with pink
highlights, two foot in length, plush rabbit. He smiled at it as he
thought of Usagi liking it, so he tried to get it.

Usagi used up all the yen Steve gave her playing 'Sailor V'.
When she lost her last life, she became chest fallen because she
didn't get pass the part she wanted to. Then all of a sudden, she
felt something touch her left shoulder and turned her head to see
what it was. She saw she was face to face with a white and pink
fur ball. She jumped back a little in surprise before she saw it
was Steve holding a plush rabbit, smiling at her.

"Don't do that, you scared me." Usagi said to Steve.

"I didn't mean to." Steve replied.

"What is the rabbit for?" Usagi asked.

"I won it in the crane game and decided to give it to you."
Steve replied.

"For me?" Usagi asked surprised.

"From what I know of Japanese, your first name means 'rabbit',
so when I got this, I thought of you. So here." Steve said as he
hands the rabbit over.

"Uh, thank you." Usagi said somewhat confused.

"Isn't it time to meet your friends?" Steve asked.

"Oh yes, come on, lets go." Usagi said after looking at her
watch and then drags Steve out by the arm.

After a couple minutes of being dragged by the arm, Steve
and Usagi came up to a food court of the strip mall they were at.
They came up to a food place that had outside sitting. Once they
got there, Usagi looked around real quick and then started dragging
Steve to a table that had four girls sitting there. One had long
black hair, red t-shirt, red skirt. One had long blond hair with
a red ribbon, yellow shirt, white shorts. One with brown hair,
done up in a ponytail, green sleeveless shirt, blue shorts. Last
had short bluish black hair, blue blouse, blue shorts, and was reading
a book. The long blacked haired one noticed them first and glanced at
her watch.

"Well, what do you know, she made it on time." The long black
haired one said.

"Cut it out, Rei." Usagi grumbled.

"Who's that with you, Usagi?" The long blond haired one with
a red ribbon asked.

"Remember I told you about my cousin visiting?" Usagi asked
the group and saw them all nod their heads in remembrance. "Well,
this is him."

"Am I missing something here?" Steve asked confused.

"Nothing much. Just I was telling them I had to meet you
the day you came over instead of staying in our study group."
Usagi explained.

"Oh okay." Steve accepted her explanation. "So who are
your friends?"

"Oh yeah. Well, over to our left is Rei Hino, next to her
is Makoto Kino, the one with her face in the book is Ami Mizuno,
last is Minako Aino." Usagi introduced them. Everyone replies
back with a greeting. "Everyone, this is my unofficial cousin,
Steve Stack ... uh, Stach ... uh ..."

"Stachowicz." Steve helped Usagi out.

"You're American, aren't you?" Minako asked in English,
causing a few of her friends to look at her in confusion.

"Yes I am." Steve replied, picking up a British accent
in her question and replied back in English. "You speak British
English very well."

"I did grow up there for several years." Minako said.

"I see." Steve said.

"Good, I now have someone I can keep up with on my English."
Minako said.

"I'll be glad to help out, but I think we better go back to
Japanese. We are getting confused looks from most of everyone
here." Steve said.

"Okay." Minako said when she did see the looks her friends
were giving them.

"What was that about?" Usagi asked.

"Mina here was happy that someone was around to help her with
her English." Steve said as he messed Minako's hair. Minako knocked
his hand away and scowled at him, but smiles a little bit later.

They had then ordered their lunch and had some small talk,
mostly centered on Steve about his life and what he has been doing
lately. When he informed them that he was 24 and had graduated
college all ready, that most of them exclaimed how young he looked.
He explained how he accidentally came across a place in China that
helped, but he couldn't remember exactly where it was. He explained
what he did after college and how he ended up in Japan, but making
it more believable and leaving out Jusenkyo, to the point where he
met Usagi for the first time. At about that time, they were done
eating their lunch.

Steve excused himself and went to the restroom. As Steve
was in the restroom, the girls suddenly heard several screams of
terror nearby. They quickly got up and went to explore what was
going on. When they got to the area, they saw two creatures that
looked like a cross between a bat and an ape, basically an ape body
with a bat like head. The both of them were basically walking
through the mall just destroying anything in their way and tossing
people that were unfortunate enough to be within their reach. They
quickly ran into an alleyway and transformed.

Steve had left the restroom; several people running in a
panic away from nearby greeted him. He got to the table where
he was having lunch, and found that all the girls were gone. He
noticed that Usagi left her plush rabbit on the table. So he
went over and grabbed it and started wondering where Usagi could
have ran to until he heard a commotion farther down the mall.
Being cautious, he made his way over there to see what was going
on. When he got within sight of what was going on, he stared
wide-eyed at what he saw.

He saw ape-like creatures with mutated bat-like heads,
fighting five girls in what Steve thought were cheerleader outfits.
He just watched on as the girls fought the creatures with minor
difficulty. The creatures seemed to be shrugging off all the
strange attacks the girls were doing. Some of the girls were
taking some bad hits by the creatures. The girls were about
to lose when four more girls showed up. When they did, the
girls quickly took out the two monsters. Steve was surprised
at what he saw, and he had a nagging feeling about the girl in
purple with the glaive.

As the girls were catching their breath, Steve was wondering
what happened to Usagi. He took one last look before he decided to
look for Usagi. As he looked at the group of girls, he noticed that
the one in blue had noticed him and went over to the person that Steve
figured was the leader. He watched as the one in blue talk to the
leader, the leader quickly turned her head in his direction and had
a wide-eyed expression, and then the leader turned to the other girls
and said something and then all of the girls started running away.
Steve figured he wasn't supposed to see them and then started to look
for Usagi.

He made his way back to the restaurant and started calling
out Usagi's name as he started looking for her. After calling her
name for several minutes, he finally came across her. He found her
hiding in an alleyway, breathing hard, and looking very tired.

"Usagi!" Steve shouted as he ran over to her.

"Steve." Usagi said and hugs Steve tightly like she was very
afraid.

"Are you all right?" Steve asked.

"I was so scared." Usagi said shakily.

"Don't worry, those things are gone." Steve said assureaningly.
Then placed Usagi's arm around his neck and he placed an arm around her
waist. "You look tired, rest upon me."

"Okay." Usagi complied.

"Where are your friends?" Steve asked her as they started
heading back to her place.

"Ahh, they continued running while I fell behind." Usagi
nervously explained.

"That's all right, at least you're all right." Steve said.

"Yeah." Usagi replied.

"I just wonder what those things were and who those cheerleaders
were that were fighting them." Steve wondered.

"I don't know what those things were, but I know those
'cheerleaders', as you call them, are called the Sailor Senshi."
Usagi said, minerly upset that Steve called the Senshi cheerleaders.

"Sailor Senshi?" Steve asked in confusion. Usagi then
started explaining about the history of the Senshi as they walked
back to Usagi's house.

After dropping Usagi off at her house, after explaining to her
parents what happened at the mall, Steve headed back to the Tendo
Dojo. As he was walking down the street, a bunch of kids were running
around playing a game. He realized that they had Super Soakers, after
they had soaked him. The kids didn't even notice the change, so Steve
kept on going.

As Steve walked pass an alleyway, she felt several hands grab
her and pulled her into the alleyway. Steve stumbled about and landed
on her hands and knees. When she looked up, she noticed four boys
around thirteen years old, and they didn't look too happy to see Steve.
They slowly approached Steve and she slowly backed away from them.

"What are you doing here freak?" One of the boys said. Steve
was wondering how they knew about his curse and probably figured they
saw him change forms.

"You're a freak, get out of her freak." Another boy said. Steve
tried to get up, but the boys pushed her back down.

"Where do you think you're going, Hotaru." The third boy said.
Steve then realized they though she was someone else.

"My name isn't Hotaru, it's ..." Steve tried saying but was
cut off.

"Shut up freak." The first boy said as he slapped Steve
across the face. "You have no right to go to our school."

"Listen, you have ..." Steve tried explaining again and was
cut off again.

"Shut up freak." The first boy said and shoved Steve so
Steve landed on her back. Then the other boys went and held her
arms down and the first boy noticed something and reaches out and
grabs Steve's left breast. Steve broke free from the boys holding
her arms and shoved the boy that was holding her breast away from
her. She then used her arms to cover her breasts. "Hey guys, she's
not wearing a bra."

The guys smiled lustfully and closed in on her. Steve got a
serious look to her face as she confronted the boys.

"I don't think so, perverts." Steve said angrily and then
proceeded to beat the boys up some. Steve didn't injure them that
bad, but they would have bruises in the morning. Steve ran out of
the alleyway, leaving the four boys moaning.

Steve quickly made her way back to the Tendo Dojo. After
Steve got into the house, she sat on the porch, curled into a ball
and caught her breath. It was then that Akane and Ranma came out
of the Dojo and saw Steve sitting there. They saw the look of
Steve's face and wondered what was wrong.

"Hey Stack, what's up?" Ranma asked, getting Steve's
attention.

"Oh, hey Red." Steve said quietly.

"You seem a little down, what's wrong?" Ranma asked.

"Two things actually happened to me, and one of them is a
reason I'm a little uncomfortable with this form." Steve replied.

"What happened?" Akane asked.

"Akane, do you know about monster attacks in the Juuban
Ward?" Steve asked while Ranma looked at She like she was crazy,
and then became wide-eyed at Akane's reply.

"Sure. They've been happening on and off for the past two
years, why?" Akane wondered.

"There was a monster attack at the mall me and my cousin were
at, having lunch with her friends." Steve replied.

"Are you and your cousin all right?" Akane asked in concern.

"Yeah, we're fine. I was in the restroom when the monsters
struck. When I came out, I saw the Senshi fighting them." Steve said.

"You saw the Senshi?" Akane asked in amazement.

"Yes, nine of them." Steve said.

"Oh, I wish I could see them." Akane said.

"Who are these Senshi you two are talking about?" Ranma asked
in confusion.

"Only the greatest female superhero group around." Akane said.

"I wouldn't know." Steve said. "But my cousin adores them,
especially the one called Sailor Moon. But to me at first, they
looked like cheerleaders." Akane and Ranma chuckle slightly at that.

"So what is the other thing that happened to you?" Akane
asked and then saw Steve got depressed.

"When I was walking back to here, after dropping my cousin
back home, I got soaked by kids with Super Soakers. After that,
four thirteen year old boys pulled me into an alleyway and started
calling me a freak." Steve started saying and Akane and Ranma got
wide-eyed. "I was wondering how they knew, thinking they saw me
change, but it turns out they mistaken me for someone else. I
tried to tell them that they had the wrong person, but they wouldn't
let me talk. It was then that they got physical by holding my arms
so I couldn't move. Then one of them went and grabbed my breast."

"What!" Ranma was shocked.

"Those perverts." Akane said angrily.

"I know, I broke free of their grip and proceeded to beat
them up. I didn't hurt them to bad, but they'll be feeling it
in the morning." Steve said.

"Good for you, sis." Akane said and then proceeded to hug
Steve affectionately. Steve froze up at the contact and Ranma
stared at them in surprise. Akane then realizes what she did and
releases Steve. "Sorry."

"Don't worry about it, onnechan." Steve said, smiling up at
Akane, and having her smile back. "So Red, what happened at the
challenge?" She then hears Akane chuckle and Ranma grumble for a
moment. "What happened?"

"It wasn't really a challenge. It was Kuno expressing his
love to his 'Tree-borne-kettle-girl'." Akane said chuckling. Steve
looks at Ranma for confirmation and see Ranma nod slightly.

"Man, we both have had crappy afternoons. I'm going to take
a bath, I'll see you two later." Steve said getting up and heading
to take a bath.

* * * * *

THE NEXT MORNING

Ranma woke up screaming. Once he calmed down and realized
what he had was just a nightmare and he started to breath normally.
Because he screamed when he woke up, he woke Steve up.

�Hey, Red, you all right?� Steve asked.

�Yeah, just had a nightmare.� Ranma replied.

�What was it about?�

�Kuno falling in love with my female side.� Ranma replied
with a shiver when he remembered the dream.. He then felt a hand
on his arm and saw that it belonged to Steve.

�I can guess what you�re feeling.� Steve said with a
sincere smile. �But since we�re going to be getting up soon,
let�s go practice before Genma wakes up and you can tell me what
happened in your dream.�

�Okay.� Ranma said and both of them got up and started
practicing.

After breakfast, Akane, Ranma, and Steve started running
towards school in a hurry. Actually, it was Akane and Ranma
running with a purpose and Steve was running hard just to keep
up with them. As they entered the school gates, Steve saw the
usual mob of boys waiting to fight Akane. As Steve watched,
Akane and Ranma just plowed a path right through the mob without
even stopping. At the end of the mob stood Kuno. Steve
remembered what Ranma told him what the nightmare he had was,
and he watched as Ranma suddenly charged Kuno and watched as
both Akane and Ranma jump up and kick Kuno in the face. Before
Kuno landed on the ground, Akane and Ranma were almost inside
the school. Steve had made his way through the path and heard
what Akane and Ranma were talking about before they entered
the school.

�Hey, don�t fight my fights for me!� Akane yelled at
Ranma.

�I�m not doing it for you.� Ranma said flatly as they
entered the school.

* * * * *

During lunch in Nabiki�s classroom, Kuno came over to
Nabiki and tossed a plush panda on her desk. She was drinking
from a juice box when she looked up at him in confusion.

�What�s this?� Nabiki asked.

�A present.� Kuno said blatantly.

�Not my style.� Nabiki said and tossed the panda back to
Kuno.

�Did I offer it to you, Nabiki Tendo?� Kuno said and set
the panda back on her desk. �This sweet treasure I save for my
Goddess in Pigtails.� When Kuno said that, it caused Nabiki to
spit the drink she had in her mouth into Kuno�s face.

�Now look at what you made me do.� Nabiki said with a
little anger.

�What � I � made you do?� Kuno said with the drink
dripping off of his face.

Nabiki then reached in her book bag and laid down five
pictures for Kuno to look at.

�Set of five for 3000 yen. You want?� Nabiki asked.

�Oh � she is so � so � so �� The five pictures were of
Ranma�s female form. One was Ranma sleeping in boxers and a
tank top. Another was Ranma sleeping in boxers and her Chinese
shirt, with several top buttons undone to show a lot of cleavage.
Another was Ranma and Steve accidentally being hosed down by
Kasumi. Another was Ranma in tank top and boxers, fanning
herself to cool down. And the last one was Ranma taking off her
shirt with Mr. Tendo in the back ground spitting out what he had
in his mouth. �� Defenseless.�

�Kinda like a boy, huh?� Nabiki said smiling and accepts
the money that Kuno hands over to her and starts counting it.
�You�re really something, you know? I mean, dropping Akane
just like that.�

�Dropping her?� Kuno said like it was of no concern.
Both Nabiki and Kuno look at each other.

�You�re not going to two-time her?� Nabiki said with
a little anger in her voice.

�Hmph. Don�t be vulgar.� Kuno said thinking of Akane
and his �pigtailed girl�. �Akane, so pure and tidy. The
pigtailed girl, bursting with health beauty. Both so dear
I can give up neither. Do you call it �deceit� that I would
openly wish them both?�

�No, I call it �� Nabiki said, slapping down five pictures
of Akane in several different workout poses. �� Two timing!�
Kuno picks up the pictures and looks at them.

�Set of five for 3000 yen.� Nabiki said smiling.

�Such � such � ferocity. Sold.� Kuno said slapping down
the money.

* * * * *

Ranma and Steve were waiting outside the back of school
for Kuno to show up. Nabiki had came in between class and told
Ranma that Kuno wanted to see him after school. Steve went
along to keep Ranma company. So they waited patiently as they
waited for Kuno to show. In a couple of minutes, they saw Kuno
approaching with a panda doll in his hands, dressed in his kendo
outfit. When Kuno was close enough, Ranma started talking.

�Well, Kuno, what do you want?� Ranma asked impatiently.

�That will be �upperclassman� to you.� Kuno said and
tossed the panda to Ranma, who easily caught it. Ranma looked
blankly at it and faces Steve, who indicates he has no idea
what�s going on. Ranma then faced Kuno with the same confused
look. �Tell me why I must give to you?�

�Say again?� Ranma asked still confused.

�Answer me why? �If you want to give her your panda,
give it to Ranma Saotome.� Quoth Nabiki Tendo.� Kuno said,
and then looked hard at Ranma. �How do you know my Pigtailed
Goddess?�

�Forget her, trust me.� Ranma said, tossing the panda
back when he realized what was going on.

�What?� Kuno asked in confusion.

�You�ll probably never even see �her� again. Come on
Stack, let�s go.� Ranma said. They both turned and left Kuno
standing there in confusion. When they turned the corner of the
building, both Ranma and Steve were hit with cold water from
above.

�Hey, what if somebody was down there?� A person from a
third floor window asked.

�Don�t worry about it.� The other person said, the one
with the bucket in his hands.

�Never see her again.� Thought Kuno, and then started
after Ranma shouting. �What do you mean, Ranma Saotome?� He
ran around the corner where Steve and Ranma went and found both
of them no where in sight. He looked around but he couldn�t find
any trace of them then he started to get angry. �So quick to run,
are you?�

With that out cry, Kuno used his bokken and sliced through
a nearby tree. When the tree landed, both Ranma and Steve tumbled
out of the branches. Kuno stared at them as they sat up and
adjusted their pants to fit them better.

�You�re the new Tendo sister and the � the girl.� Kuno
said and both of them just looked at him without saying anything.
�How I�ve missed y��

Kuno went to Ranma to try and give her a hug, but Kuno�s
sentence was cut off with a punch to the face when he got near
Ranma.

�Back off!� Ranma said, but Kuno didn�t seem bothered
by the punch and went and grabbed Ranma to his chest in a hug.

�I shall never let you go.� Kuno said.

Steve tried to help Ranma by grabbed Kuno�s arms and tried
to pull his arms away. Steve then heard someone come up behind
them and saw Nabiki standing there with a kettle. Steve backed
away as Nabiki dumped the contents of the kettle over Ranma.
Ranma screamed in pain as the hot water was poured over him.

�Sorry �bout that. Too hot Ranma?� Nabiki asked, still
holding the kettle.

�Ranma?� Kuno said in confusion, causing his grip to
loosen enough that Ranma was able to kick Kuno back several
steps.

�Okay honey, time to let go.� Ranma said as he kicked
Kuno back. Ranma stood up and flipped his pigtail off his
shoulder. �Do you get it now, idiot? So long.� Ranma made
his way to where Steve and Nabiki were standing.

�Hold Saotome.� Kuno said, causing Ranma to stop and
look at him. �Where have you hidden my Goddess? Upperclassman
Kuno shall not be fooled by such trickery.�

�Listen Kuno �� Ranma said, not believing that Kuno didn�t
figure it out. Steve even stared at Kuno in disbelief.

�He just won�t get it until we spell it out.� Nabiki
said after a bit and then went over to Kuno and pulled him
off to the side, leaving Steve and Ranma standing where they
were. �C�mere Kuno-baby, listen. See, that girl there, her
body, her soul, all his. You know what I mean, don�t you?�

�I don�t think she�s helping the matter.� Steve
whispered to Ranma and she saw that Kuno was taking it the
wrong way. �This don�t look good, Red.�

Kuno then turned around and slashed out at Ranma, not
really noticing Steve standing there. The slash caused Ranma
to jump up and caused Steve to drop to the ground.

�Tyrant!� Kuno yelled as he slashed at Ranma.

�I don�t think you�ve got it yet.� Ranma said from the
tree he was hanging onto from.

�Silence! I can see it, wretch.� Kuno yelled at Ranma
as he thought of male Ranma using his �Pigtail Goddess� as a
sex slave. �How terrible, enslaver of women!�

Kuno slashed through the tree at the area where Ranma
had been, because Ranma had jumped out of the way.

�Hey, get a grip.� Ranma said as he jumped out of the
way. No one noticed that Akane was now behind a nearby statue,
watching what was going on, and wondering what was going on to
cause Kuno to be trying to kill Ranma.

�I shall fell you.� Kuno yelled as he kept striking at
Ranma. �I shall free her.�

�Oh yeah?� Ranma said, jumping up and grabbed the bokken
as a balance and kicked Kuno in the chest. �So then if you
lose, you�ll forget her, right?�

The kick caused Kuno to stumble backwards several steps.
The kick caused several items to come flying out of Kuno�s garb.
As Ranma landed, several of those items were flying near him,
so he went and grabbed one of them. He realized that it was
a picture, a picture of his female side taking off her shirt
with Mr. Tendo nearby. Ranma was so distracted that Kuno
took the opportunity and slashed at Ranma. Ranma was so
distracted that Kuno was able to clip Ranma on the right
side of his body. Steve, Akane, and Nabiki gasped at the sight.

Ranma used his hand to grab the wound as he stumbled backwards.
Kuno thinking he had the advantage started striking at Ranma. Ranma
quickly regaining his wits started dodging all the attacks Kuno was
throwing. As he was dodging, Ranma started grabbing all the
pictures that were fluttering around him. He was glancing at the
pictures and saw that they were of Akane and his female side. As
Ranma was dodging Kuno�s attacks, two pictures landed near Steve�s
feet. She bent down and took a look at them and saw that one was
of Akane working out and the other one had female Ranma and Steve�s
female side being hosed down by Kasumi.

�You look elsewhere in the midst of battle. You do not take
me seriously!� Kuno exclaimed and with that, Kuno thrust his
bokken at Ranma in an attempt to impale him.

Ranma easily dodged the thrust that Kuno did and rolled
away from Kuno. Ranma kept rolling until he stopped at the statue
Akane was by. He stopped rolling until he was at Akane�s feet.
He looked up to see who he stopped by and saw that it was Akane.
Akane just looked down at him.

�I think you should know that when he battles a male opponent,
Upperclassman Kuno is very skilled.� Akane said.

�And I think you should know that blue panties really don�t
suit you.� Ranma said as he was looking up at her.

Akane quickly used her hands to push her skirt in so Ranma
no longer had a good view up her skirt, but then Akane�s
embarrassment suddenly turned to anger.

�Go back and die!� Akane shouted as she booted Ranma back
at Kuno. Ranma was flipping in circles as he approached Kuno.
Kuno smiled evilly at Ranma as he approached.

�The game ends.� Kuno said smugly. Ranma evened out his
flipping and looked at Kuno in confusion. Just when Ranma was
about to land, Kuno�s bokken suddenly blurred, going back and
forth in a thrust attack. �Strike, strike, strike, strike,
strike, strike, strike.� Kuno said as he was doing his attack.

Ranma in the last second was able to dodge all of the
attacks, but his clothes were not as lucky. Small slashes
appeared on his shirt and pants. Everyone was watching Ranma
easily dodging all the attacks when they started hearing the
sound of stone cracking. They noticed that it was the statue
that Akane was standing near had cracks appearing all over
the place.

�Whoa.� Steve said seeing that happening. �Just the
air pressure alone.�

Suddenly the statue crumbled and since Akane was close
to it, she gasped in surprise. Ranma hearing her gasp, turned
to her and yelled at her.

�Out of the way, stupid.� Ranma shouted.

�I have you!� Kuno said, sensing Ranma was distracted
and went for a final attack strike.

�Eyes front idiot.� Akane yelled at Ranma, sensing
what Kuno was going to do.

Suddenly several things happened so fast, that Steve,
Nabiki, and Akane only saw Ranma dodge the bokken attack and
looked liked he flipped in mid-air, landing several feet
away from Kuno. Kuno straightened up and smiled evilly at
Ranma. Then all of a sudden, Kuno took a step towards
Ranma and collapsed to the ground. Nabiki and Akane
wondered what happened and then went to Kuno�s body as they
saw Steve kneeling there. Steve then flipped Kuno�s body
over, so he was lying on his back. Nabiki and Akane saw
that there were several foot marks over Kuno�s body and
face.

�Oh my. Each blow has hit a vulnerable spot.� Akane
said in amazement.

�You kicked him?� Nabiki said as she watched Steve
as she was waving her hand in front of Kuno�s open eyes.
When it got no response, Steve shrugged her shoulders and
stood up. �I never even saw it.�

��Upperclassman Kuno� didn�t have much did he?� Ranma
said as he was popping a few joints.

�What do you mean? You took a hit didn�t you?� Akane
said.

�Oh that?� Ranma said with a bored tone, while crossing
arms behind his head, while looking bored.

�Is it really all right?� Steve asked looking at the
wound.

�Doesn�t even itch.� Ranma said and then Steve poked
the wound and was startled back a couple of steps as Ranma
dropped to his knees and hissed in pain as tears appeared
in his eyes.

�So Upperclassman Kuno didn�t have much, eh?� Akane
taunted as the tears started running down Ranma�s cheeks.
He anger left her temporarily as she wondered what distracted
Ranma in the fight. �Say, what was it that distracted you
in the fight?�

Ranma looked up at Akane and handed her some of the
pictures he had. Akane took a look at the pictures and
saw that the three she had were pictures of her working
out.

�Why do you have pictures of me?� Akane demanded.

�Why do I �� Ranma tried replying, but Steve interrupted
before Ranma could make anymore trouble for himself.

�Kuno had these pictures, Akane. When Ranma kicked him,
they came flying out of his closes.� Akane gave Steve a look.
�Besides, you weren�t the only one he had.� Steve showed her
the pictures that she had that showed Ranma�s female form.
Akane suddenly realized what had happened.

�Nabiki!� Akane shouted.

�Can�t blame a girl for making a little money on the
side.� Nabiki replied as Akane glared at her.

�Tsk, tsk, really.� Ranma said standing up with Akane
at his back, looking at the pictures of himself taking off his
shirt. �As if anybody�d want pictures of a dorky girl anyway.
I don�t know how you�ll ever find a husband. Now me on the
other hand ��

Ranma failed to finish his sentence because Akane�s
temper peaked and then she started to beat Ranma up. Steve was
wide-eyed at the violence Akane was doing. Steve didn�t want
to be near there and hid behind Nabiki. When Akane finished
beating Ranma, she dusted her hands off and had a satisfied
smile. Steve looked at Ranma and saw that he was twitching
and was bent all out of shape. His arms and legs were bent at
all angles that the joints shouldn�t be bent at. As Akane
neared Nabiki, Steve made sure Nabiki was in-between them.

�Are you sure that was necessary?� Nabiki asked Akane.

�He deserved it.� Akane replied.

�Well, I think you should take him to see Tofu.�

�All right.�

Akane picked Ranma up and started walking towards Dr.
Tofu�s place. Nabiki left to head home as Steve followed
Akane at a certain distance. Akane realized what Steve was
doing, and told her that it was all right, she won�t hurt her.
Steve asked if she promised and Akane promised that she wouldn�t.
So Steve came closer and offered to help Akane carry Ranma.

* * * * *

�Dr. Tofu. A patient for you.� Akane announced when they
entered. Dr. Tofu sat down and stared at Ranma, who was lying
on the examination table, while Akane stood next to Tofu and
Steve sat on the chair on the other side of the table.

�This is astounding.� Tofu said looking at Ranma. �The
wound from the bokken is nothing compared to these other
dislocations and contusions.� Turned to face Akane. �This
is brutal. What kind of thug did this?�

�Uh �� Akane stumbled on what to say and blushed in
embarrassment. Tofu looked at Akane and also looked at Steve,
who was looking else where. He then heard a groan from Ranma,
so he turned to face him.

�A � a � a dorky girl did it to me.� Ranma replied.
Akane quickly got angry and picked up one end of the table
and dumped Ranma on the floor.

�Say that one more time, Ranma, and �� Akane stopped
speaking when she saw Steve staring at her wide-eyed and
Tofu just looking at her calmly. Akane dropped the table
in embarrassment and started blushing hotly.

�You did this Akane?� Tofu asked.

�Um � well � that is �� Akane stuttered in trying to speak.

�What�s with the sweet and innocent bit?� Ranma thought.
Tofu then slapped his knee.

�Well, it figures. I had a feeling.� Tofu starts laughing
and then sees Steve trying to put Ranma back on the table. So he
then helped Steve place Ranma on the table. �The way this joint�s
twisted backwards, for instance, that�s Akane�s touch all right.�

Tofu started healing Ranma by placing the joints back in the
proper position. But by doing that, several cracks, pops, and
snaps could be heard over Ranma�s shouts of pain. Steve was
just staring at what the doctor was doing, in shock.

�You�re Ranma, aren�t you? I hear you�re Akane�s fianc�e.�
Tofu asked as he continued on Ranma.

�That�s what our parent�s decided, not us.� Akane retaliated.

�Well, it�s too early, isn�t it? You�re still children
after all.� Tofu said.

�Yes doctor.� Akane said quietly.

�So you�re the new Tendo aren�t you?� Tofu now faced Steve
while continuing on Ranma, causing Steve to realize Tofu was
talking to him.

�Oh yes, my name�s Talia.� Steve replied.

�What a lovely name.� Tofu said nicely.

�Um, thanks.�

�You need to set an appointment with me so I can add you
to your family�s record.�

�Uh, okay.�

�That hurts.� Ranma yelled in Tofu�s face when Tofu was
done with Ranma.

�Oh? Someplace still hurts? Show me.� Tofu asked Ranma.

�Uh � it�s okay. I�m better now.� Ranma said, moving his
body around to see if any place still hurts.

�Isn�t he a great doctor?� Akane said smiling.

They got up to leave, and as they were leaving, Akane and
Steve continued walking and stopped at the gate when Tofu called
Ranma off to the side to talk privately.

�Fianc�e or not, do try to get along with Akane.� Tofu
said.

�It�s not like I start the fights or anything. She just
overreacts to every little thing.� Ranma replied to Tofu.

�Ah, but she�s such a sweet girl.�

�She is?� Ranma said in surprise.

�You don�t have to sound so surprised.� Both of them
glance over and see Steve and Akane waiting patiently for them.
�You�ll understand soon enough. She�s really a very sweet girl.�
Tofu then pats Ranma on the hip and sends him on his way.

They were halfway back to the Tendo Dojo when Akane finally
broke the silence.

�What were you and Tofu talking about?� Akane asked.

�Nothing. He was sympathizing with me for having to deal
with a crazed, violent lunatic like you.� Ranma said and saw
Akane twitch. He then jumped back into a defensive stance.
�I�m ready.�

�Oh, I see.� Akane said when she realized what Ranma was
trying to do and just continued walking.

Ranma stood confused for a moment before following after
Akane. As Ranma got near her, he tried to get a look at her
face, but she just turned her head the other way. Ranma then
grabbed the bow that was in her hair and pulled back on it.

�It was a joke. Now you�re acting like a real girl,
Sissy.� Ranma said.

�Who�s a sissy?� Akane asked with anger entering her
voice and glared at Ranma. �You looking for a fight?�

�Okay, that�s the Akane I�m used to.� Ranma said happily.

�What�s wrong with you?� Akane asked angrily and started
swinging her book bag at Ranma, who dodged and she almost hit Steve.

�Hey, watch it.� Steve yelled out.

�Sorry.� Akane said and continued swinging at Ranma.

* * * * *

�Three � two � one!� Tofu said, looking at the clock on
a wall.

* * * * *

As Akane swung her book bag at Ranma, suddenly his legs
gave out from under him and he fell on his butt. Akane stopped
swinging when it happened and then knelt near Ranma, as he was
trying to stand with no success.

�What is it?� Akane asked.

�My legs.� Ranma said and then realized what happened and
thought to himself. �Why that lousy �! When he patted me, he
did something to my hips.� Then he noticed Akane and Steve
helping him stand.

�What are you doing?� Ranma asked.

�What does it look like, we�re helping you since you can�t
walk, can you?� Akane said.

�What? You think a �man� will put up with this humiliation
of being carried by two girls.� Ranma said.

Akane started to get angry, but stopped when Steve grabbed
her arm and pulled her to a nearby hose. Steve then turned on
the water and turned the water on Ranma, turning Ranma to his
female form.

�It�s okay if we�re all girls, hm?� Steve asked, turning
off the water and Ranma got a defeated look. So Akane and Steve
were able to prop Ranma on their shoulders and helped Ranma back
to the Dojo.

�She�s really a very sweet girl, you�ll understand soon
enough.� Ranma remembered Tofu�s words. �Not yet buddy, not
yet.� Ranma thought as they continued on back to the Dojo.

* * * * *

SOMEWHERE ON EARTH

In a dark room where only a small floor panel offered any
light in the room, stood six robed beings in a circle around the
lighted floor panel. They all stood there until they heard a
voice speaking.

�What do you have to update?� The voice boomed.

�The Earth defenders have defeated our latest assault
force.� Replied the first robed being.

�What new do we have on them?� The voice asked.

�From our latest observations, they are reaching their
limit in power.� The second robed being replied.

�What else was observed about them?�

�They seem to work in a team, in order to defeat our
forces.� The third robed being said.

�What have you come up with to defeat these defenders?�

�Two things we have come up with. First keep sending
weak forces to tire them out, and second, is to break their
morale with each other so they don�t work as a team.� The
forth being said.

�What have you come up with to break their morale?�

�We plan to hit them with a ray that will deliver a
nano machine that will make its way to the victim�s brain
and make them easy to send small messages to delude them
of the fact.� The fifth being said.

�Make it happen. Remember we need to secure the place
known as Tokyo, in order for the invasion force to arrive
safely. That is the point on this world where our transport
beam will hit this world. We must not fail.�

�Yes sir.� All six robed beings said and then the
light goes out.

* * * * *

AFTER SCHOOL IN JUUBAN

The inner Senshi were called by Michiru and Haruka to meet
at Rei�s Shrine after school. They were wondering what they
wanted, they were very urgent about wanting to talk to them.
So they were waiting patiently until they showed up. They
didn�t have to wait long before Michiru and Haruka showed up
with Hotaru. When they sat down, they noticed that Hotaru
had an unusual smile to her face.

�So what did you two want to talk about?� Rei asked.

�There was a situation that happened yesterday.�
Michiru said.

�What happened?� Usagi asked.

�We were called into Hotaru�s school to talk to Hotaru�s
principle today.� Michiru said.

�It appears that several boys from her school claimed
that Hotaru beat them up.� Haruka said.

�What?� Everyone else exclaimed.

�But the problem with their claim is that Hotaru was
with us at the time the boys said Hotaru beat them up.�
Michiru said.

�Why would they say that?� Ami asked.

�It�s Saria!� Hotaru blurted out.

�Why would you say that?� Minako asked.

�Who else could it be?� Hotaru said smiling. �According
to Luna, she�s supposed to be my twin, so the boys could have
mistaken her for me.�

�That could be.� Makoto said.

�We have to find her.� Hotaru said.

�That may not be a good idea, Hotaru.� Michiru said.

�What do you mean?� Hotaru asked.

�Remember, Luna also said that they may be our enemy.�
Michiru replied.

�Oh.� Hotaru felt depressed, being so close but couldn�t
be near her so called twin.

�Don�t worry Hotaru; she could be looking for you.� Chibi-
Usa said to Hotaru, who then had a confused look. �That Helios
guy knew were to find us, so it�s most likely the Star Senshi
know where to find us if they really wanted too. With Saria
going around town could mean that she is looking around.�

�That does bring up a good point, they do know where to
find us if they really wanted too.� Makoto said.

Usagi was thinking that if the Star Senshi were looking
for them, it could help her in her search for them. They then
started commenting that since Saria made an appearance that the
others of the Star Senshi will start showing up. So they
started discussing on where and what they were going to do when
they had to face them. Just then, Ami�s computer started
beeping. She looked at what the computer was telling her and
gasped. When the others asked her what was up, she told them
that they had another monster attacking. So they transformed
and went to confront the monster.

* * * * *

When the Senshi arrived at the scene, they only found
one monster terrorizing a street. It was humanoid with a bat-
like head. It had two pod-like items, one on each shoulder.
It was about eight feet tall, and had normal looking hairless
skin that was colored brown. When the Senshi arrived, they
saw the monster grabbing people and throwing that person into
a wall.

Sailor Moon started her speech, but had to dodge out of
the way when the monster threw a person at her. The other Senshi
checked the person and found that the person was dead. So the
Senshi started to attack the monster. The Senshi realized that
the monster was very quick and agile, when the monster was able
to dodge all of their attacks. Tuxedo Kamen showed up and saw
that the Senshi were having trouble hitting the monster, so he
decided to see if he could help out and cause a diversion to
distract the monster. Even with Tuxedo Kamen helping them,
they were still unable to hit it because it was still dodging
all over the place.

The Senshi knew they were in trouble when the monster
grabbed Chibi-moon and threw her into Sailor Moon. Both of
them fell to the ground in a tangled mess. Sailor Saturn went
over to help them out while the others continued to fight the
monster. The monster dodged all the attacks until the Senshi
were in a group, except for Sailor moon, Chibi-moon, and Saturn.
The monster then popped open it�s two pods to reveal a bazooka
like barrel inside each one that was glowing red. Mercury
realized that it was a weapon, but was too late to warn the
others as the blast hit everyone except Sailor Moon, Chibi-
moon, and Saturn.

Saturn saw what happened and used a �Silence Glaive
Surprise� and the monster disintegrated. Saturn and the others
ran over and checked to see if the others were all right. Upon
initial inspection, the others looked all right, and when Mercury
scanned them, she told them that the blast only just weakened
them and by morning, they should be all right. They were about
to leave, but they heard a cat yowl in pain. They found Luna
and Artemis under several boxes that were hit by the blast.
They picked them up and left the scene before the police and
paramedics arrived.

That night, everyone that was hit with the blast, started
to have a change in their sleep. The blast that hit them, carried
little nano bots that went to their brains to grow to receive
special signals. When they were done growing, they started to
receive the signals to have the Senshi start hating Usagi. So
during when the Senshi slept, they started to have dreams where
Usagi was the cause of all their pain. No matter how much they
tried, they kept having nightmares about Usagi causing them pain
in their lives. So when they finally woke up the next morning,
they were very tired.

* * * * *

NEXT DAY

In the morning, the Saotome�s and Steve did their usual morning sparring before
breakfast. After a while of sparring, Steve went and took a bath to wash off, so he
could help Kasumi finish breakfast. The problem that happened was that Akane suddenly
entered the bathroom as Steve was standing up in the furo. Akane suddenly started
blushing as Steve quickly wrapped his towel around him. The saving grace that Steve
had was that Akane had her towel wrapped around her. Akane quickly apologized and
Steve asked if the sign that he set up was still there. They checked and found that it had
fallen off. So after the misunderstanding, Akane went into to take her bath while Steve
got dressed.

So during breakfast, Akane couldn�t bring herself to look at Steve. Every time
she did look at him, the image of what she saw would keep popping in her head. So
once breakfast was done, she quickly left and headed towards school as Ranma and
Steve followed behind her at a slower pace. Ranma was a little confused at why Akane
was acting weird and asked Steve if he knew, and Steve told him to just drop the subject
and that Akane would be her normal angry self later in the day. Ranma dropped the
subject and they continued on to school.

* * * * *

Right at the end of the school day, as the students were leaving, a lone figure
in a dirty yellow and green traveling gear, a backpack with a bamboo umbrella, and a
yellow and black striped bandana on his head, was standing at the main gate. The
students were wondering what that person was doing there, just standing there. As a
student walked pass that person and suddenly the person quickly reached out and
grabbed the student.

�You.� The person said as he grabbed the student.

�Wh � what do you want?� The student asked nervously.

�Where�s Furinkan high school?� The person asked.

�Say what?� The student asked as his nervousness changed to confusion. The
student then pointed to the sign that was behind the person�s shoulder. The person looked
over his shoulder and read the sign that said �Furinkan High School�. The person then
faced the student again.

�Where is Ranma Saotome?� The person asked.

�Saotome?� The student said and then looked into the school yard. The person
looked into the school yard and saw the person who he was looking for.

At that moment, Ranma was running away from an angry Akane. He was easily
dodging the slow walking students as Akane was chasing him and shouting at him.

�Ranma! Stop!� Akane shouted.

�Come and get me.� Ranma shouted back as he jumped into the air to avoid Akane.
It was then that his danger sense started to warn him. �Trouble.� Ranma thought.

He looked up and saw a person above him heading towards him with a bamboo
umbrella as a weapon. They both landed at the same point and when Ranma jumped back,
a crater suddenly appeared where the umbrella landed and four feet around. Ranma landed
and looked at the crater that appeared. He was amazed that the person could cause a crater
with a bamboo umbrella. The person with the umbrella looked up and smiled evilly at Ranma.

�You haven�t changed, Ranma.� The person said to Ranma. �You�re still good at
running away.�

�Someone you know?� Akane asked Ranma when she came up to him.

�Yeah, sure, he�s � he�s �� Ranma started to say but then trailed off and then
started thinking and really thinking, but not coming up with anything.

�Don�t strain your brain remembering, Ranma.� Akane told Ranma sarcastically.

�Just tell me one thing, Ranma.� The person said. �Why did you run out on our ��

The person was stopped short when a school bag hit the back of his head. He
turned around to face the person that hit him. He saw a person standing there with a
school bag and was smiling at him.

�Why did you hit me with your school bag?� The person asked somewhat
angrily.

�Because your head is hard as an ox's and for you disappearing on me � Sensei.�
Steve said smiling. The person looked at Steve in confusion.

�Stack?� The person asked Steve confused.

�Long time no see, Ryoga.� Steve said.

�What happened to you, you look younger all of a sudden?� Ryoga said.

�Let�s just say something happened to me after you disappeared on me.� Steve
said.

�Oh.� Ryoga remembered the day that he was no longer traveling with Steve.

�Wait! I remember.� Ranma suddenly exclaimed causing everyone to look at
him. �Ryoga Hibiki. You were in my class at my old middle school. Long time no see.�

�Answer my question.� Ryoga said as he remembered that Ranma was there
and he got his anger back.

�What question?� Ranma asked.

�Why did you run out on our fight?� Ryoga said angrily.

�I waited three days at the appointed place.� Ranma replied.

�Three days!� Everyone that was around exclaimed.

�Yes. And when I showed up on the fourth day, you had already had run
away.� Ryoga said.

�Ryoga? Can I ask you something? Why did it take you four days to get to the
empty lot behind your house?� Ranma asked.

�Do you think I was out for a casual stroll for four days? I suffered to meet up
with you.� Ryoga said as he started hearing people around him talking about him having a
bad sense of direction. �Breaking a vow between men and running to China with your father.�

Ryoga then slashed out at Ranma with his umbrella but Ranma was able to jump
out of the way easily and land several feet away.

�In other words, you want to finish our fight?� Ranma said.

��Finish our fight�? How feeble. This is for revenge.� Ryoga said angrily and
opened up his umbrella and then threw it at Ranma.

The umbrella was spinning like a top as Ranma dodged out of the way. The umbrella
kept going as the other students had to dodge out of the way as it when pass them. The
umbrella spun around and went past Ryoga and stopped at Steve�s feet. Some of the
students that were nicked by the umbrella were taken to the nurse�s office to treat their
wounds. Ryoga just faced Ranma angrily.

�No matter what it takes, Ranma, I shall destroy your happiness.� Ryoga said
angrily.

�My happiness?� Ranma said confused and then faced Akane. �Am I happy?�

�Don�t ask me.� Akane replied.

Ryoga was about to comment when he was hit in the back of his head again. He
turned around and saw that it was Steve again, but this time he had his umbrella.

�Would you cut that out?� Ryoga said.

�Man, I forgot how heavy this thing was.� Steve said quietly to himself then
said to Ryoga. �I did that because you injured some students here. What did I tell you
about this conflict you have with Red? I don�t care what you do about it; just keep it
between the two of you and not to injure any bystanders.�

�Sorry Stack.� Ryoga said.

�It�s not me you have to say you�re sorry to.� Steve replied.

�He wouldn�t be able to find them anyway.� Ranma said as a smart comment.

�Why you�� Ryoga got angrily and grabbed the umbrella from Steve and
chased after Ranma.

Ranma started running towards the school with Ryoga right behind him.
Within a matter of minutes, Ranma returned and Ryoga was no where to be seen.
Ranma returned to where Akane and Steve where standing and he had a smile on
his face. He failed to notice the scowl on Steve�s face when he returned.

�That should keep him busy for a while.� Ranma said and then noticed
Steve�s expression. �What�s wrong Stack?�

�Well, thanks a lot Red, it�s been over a month since I last saw him and I
wanted to talk with him. But you had to run him off and who knows when I will
see him again. He is my first Sensei in the martial arts if you remember.� Steve
replied with a small amount of anger in his voice.

�Sorry Stack.� Ranma said as he remembered that Steve did tell him that
Ryoga was the person that started to teach him martial arts.

�I�m heading back to the Dojo; I�ll see you two later.� Steve said and then
left the school yard, leaving Ranma and Akane there in minor confusion.

* * * * *

Kasumi has asked Steve to go over to the Juuban Ward to
pick up a couple of special items for her for the next day�s
meals. Steve being the nice guy he is, agreed to help her out.
En route to the train station, Steve was splashed with water
by a water sprinkler. Steve didn�t feel like changing back
was important and continued to the train station. Once she
arrived in Juuban, she looked at the list Kasumi gave her
and headed to the first place on it.

When Steve was done with that store, she was carrying
the bag in her arms and walked out of the store. Steve was
adjusting the bag to a better position; she failed to notice
the person in front of her. They collided and Steve fell to
her butt, still hanging on to the bag. Steve stood back up
and apologized for not paying attention to where she was going.
Steve looked at the person she bumped into and saw that it was
the same person she bumped into and saw that it was the same
person that she and Ranma had bumped into before.

�That�s all right dear, no harm done.� The woman said
after Steve apologized to her. Then the woman looked at Steve
as she seemed to remember something. �Have we met before?�

�We sort of ran into each other before when a friend of
mine was with me.� Steve replied.

�Oh yes, I remember now. So who are you my dear?�

�Talia Tendo.�

�Any relation to a Soun Tendo?�

�My father�s name is Soun.� Steve replied, playing the
role of Talia.

�I see.� The woman remembers that she didn�t give her
name. �My name is Nodoka Saotome.�

�Any relation to a Genma or a Ranma Saotome?�

�My husband and son have those names.�

Steve happen to glance at her watch and see that she had
to get hurrying if she wanted to get what Kasumi wanted.

�It was nice talking to you, Mrs. Saotome, but I have to
hurry and get the rest of the items my sister needs.� Steve
said to Nodoka.

�All right, it was nice talking to you dear. Have fun
now.� Nodoka said.

Steve said farewell and they headed in different directions.
She then looked at the list and headed to the next store. Steve
went to every store she had to go to and was heading back to the
train station. When she was near the train station, Steve passed
an alley and felt hands grab her and pulled into the alley. When
Steve got her bearings, Steve saw four boys in front of her. It
was then that Steve recognized the four boys in front of her.

�Didn�t you guys get it last time; I�m not this Hotaru
person.� Steve said.

�Shut up freak, we don�t know how you did it last time,
but we are going to get you for what you did to us.� The leader
of the boys said. Steve set the bags off to the side and got
into a defensive stance. The boys started laughing at Steve.
�Hey look guys; she thinks she�s a martial artist.�

The boy walked over and tried to grab Steve, but to his
surprise, he found that rather difficult when he flew into a
bunch of trash cans. He quickly stood up and brushes off his
clothes.

�You�ll pay for that freak.� The boy said.

All four boys rushed Steve, and she had to really start
fighting back. At the end of the fight, all four boys were on
the ground moaning in pain, with several bruises and cuts over
their bodies. Steve wasn�t fairing to well either. She had
several bruises, a cut lip, and her shirt was torn at the seams
at the shoulder, and she had a minor limp. Steve was glad that
Kasumi�s items weren�t damaged and collected the bags and headed
to the train station.

Steve arrived back at the Dojo an hour later than what she
wanted. En route back to Nerima, it started raining. So when
Steve got to the Nerima station, she waited there for a while
for the rain to stop. She used that time to go to the restroom
to clean herself up. She was glad that no one was in the women�s
restroom at the time while she cleaned herself up.

After she was done, she waited for a while for the rain to
die down. Luckily it died down to a drizzle a while later, so
Steve started to head to the Dojo. She was glad that she was
all ready changed, because by the time she got to the Dojo, she
was soaked. As she got to the gate, she found an animal by the
gate. As Steve approached, the animal went into a defensive
crouch. Steve stopped and looked at the animal and realized
that the animal was really a fox that was wearing a yellow and
black striped bandana for a collar. Steve approached and
crouched down and offered her hand out to the animal.

�It�s okay, I won�t hurt you.� Steve said nicely as she
waited for the fox to come nearer. �Don�t worry there.� The
fox then approached Steve and she started petting it. �Now
where are you from?� The fox then cuddles up to Steve. �Jeez,
you�re soaked as much as I am. Come on, let�s go inside and
I can dry you off, warm you up, and find your owner.� Steve
picks the fox up without much struggling from the fox and the
fox starts licking Steve�s face. �Okay, okay, quit it.� Then
they entered the Dojo.

Steve enters and takes off her shoes and announces she�s
back. She walks into the living room and found Ranma, in female
form wearing an undershirt and boxers, and the Tendo sister�s
around Ryoga�s backpack and clothes.

�Hey Kasumi, here�s the items you wanted, sorry if they
are damp, but the rain caught me off guard.� Steve said.

�That�s all right Stack � oh my.� Kasumi gasped when
she noticed Steve�s appearance. Kasumi�s exclamation caused
the others to look at Steve and noticed the bruises, cut lip,
and torn clothes.

�What happened to you?� Nabiki asked.

�Remember those boy�s I told you about that confused me
with someone else?� Steve asked and after everyone nodded she
continued. �Apparently they got confused again and this time
they were out for blood.�

�What did you do?� Akane asked.

�I defended myself. Needless to say, I�ll be feeling
this in the morning, but the good part is they�re going to
be feeling it even more.� Steve replied.

Kasumi finally comes over and takes the bags from Steve
and then notices the fox Steve was carrying.

�Oh my, where did you get the fox?� Kasumi asked and
then everyone notices the fox.

�He was outside the gate when I arrived. Since he has
this bandana around his neck, I figured he was someone�s pet.
Since it was raining out, I figured I�d dry him off and warm
him up, so tomorrow after school I can look for his owner.�
Steve replied.

�That�s nice of you.� Kasumi said smiling.

�What�s up with Ryoga�s stuff?� Steve asked.

�Oh, Ryoga came looking to settle our fight, but the
rain came and I turned into a girl. Ryoga was surprised and
I was able to kick him into the rain. Then all of a sudden
Ryoga just ran off. When I followed after him, I only found
his clothes and backpack.� Ranma replied.

�I hope he�s not running around naked.� Steve said
surprised at what Ryoga had done.

�I�m sure that moron knows what he�s doing.� Ranma said.

�Hey Red, you�re bad mouthing my first Sensei.� Steve
said and noticed that the fox was growling at Ranma when Ranma
called Ryoga a moron, but quit growling when Steve talked
and was now staring at Steve.

�Sorry Stack.� Ranma said.

�Apology accepted.� Steve said and then faced Kasumi.
�Hey Kasumi, is any of my clothes washed yet?�

�Yes, they�re in the dryer right now.� Kasumi replied.

�Can you send a set to the washroom for me; I need
something to change out of. I�ll be going to warm up for a
bit and then you can tell me all about when Ryoga showed up.�

Steve went to the wash room and set the fox down and
started removing her clothes. She hissed in pain as she
stretched in positions the bruises didn�t want to. After
she removed all her clothes, she picked up the fox and went
into the bath area. After Steve quickly washed herself, she
picked the fox up and headed to the furo. Steve absently
noticed that the fox was just staring at her. When the fox
felt the steam of the furo, it started to struggle out of
Steve�s grip.

�Whoa, hey, quit it.� Steve said as the fox slipped
out of her grip and fell into the furo.

Steve was just about to go after the fox when a male
human body sat up in the furo. Steve stumbled back in
surprise as the person just sat there. It was when the person
suddenly became bugged-eyed, blushed very heavily, and turned
his head away that Steve recognized the person.

�Ryoga? You�re the fox?� Steve asked and Ryoga just
nodded, still looking away. Steve was wondering what was
going on, when she remembered that she was female and the
position she was in was giving Ryoga a show of all of her
glory. She quickly grabbed a bucket and poured some furo
water on herself, turning into a male. �Better now?�

�Yes, thanks Stack.� Ryoga said sighing in relief. �So
it really is you in that girl form.�

�I could say the same about the fox.�

�You got a point there.�

�So you ended up going to Jusenkyo.�

�I was following a lead on Ranma when I came to looking
over a cliff ledge over several pools. Just then, this panda
came out of the woods with a crazed red-head after it. The
girl knocked me over the ledge and I fell in one of the pools
and I came out a fox.� Ryoga said and then noticed that Steve
was staring at him wide-eyed. �What is it, Stack?�

�It was you!� Steve exclaimed.

�What about me?�

�After me, Red, and his father got our curses, Ranma went
berserk and chased after his father to kill him. I ran after
them to try and stop him, when I saw Red knock a person over
the ledge. When I finally caught up with Red, I gave him a
chewing out.�

�Who�s Red?�

�My nickname for Ranma.�

�I see, so it�s because of Ranma I have this curse?�

�I guess so.�

Before Ryoga could say anything, they were interrupted.

�Hey Sis, I got your clothes for you.� Came Akane�s voice
from behind the door. Before Steve could say anything, Akane
opened the door.

Ryoga ducked under the water in fright and Akane realized
that Steve was nude and in his male form, with another naked boy.
Akane blushed heavily and looked down. Steve covered himself
with a towel as best as he could.

�You know Akane, I don�t mind playing your little sister,
but don�t forget I�m also male.� Steve said to Akane. �This is
the second time today that you walked in on me.�

�I�m � sorry.� Akane said quietly.

�Apology accepted, but could you get Ryoga�s clothes for me,
before he decides to drowned himself.� Steve asked Akane and
looked into the furo at the underwater Ryoga.

�That�s Ryoga?� Akane said in surprised.

�Yes, I�ll tell you all about it later, now please close
the door.�

Akane closed the door and Steve pulled Ryoga out of the
water to breath. A couple of minutes later, they heard Akane
say that the clothes were in there. When they heard Akane
leave, they got out of the furo and got dressed. They walked
to the living room, with Steve guiding Ryoga there, and they
sat across from Ranma. Kasumi had a first aid kit ready and
started treating Steve�s injuries.

�Where�s the fox?� Nabiki asked.

�Turns out that Ryoga here is the fox.� Steve said between
hisses of pain.

�How?� Nabiki asked.

�Hey Red, remember when I told you about the person you
knocked off the ledge at Jusenkyo?� Steve asked.

�Yeah.� Ranma replied remembering.

�It was Ryoga that you knocked into Jusenkyo.� Steve said.

�Oh.� Ranma said.

�So tell me what I missed when I was shopping.� Steve asked.

�You going to tell us what happened to you?� Akane asked.

�Okay.� Steve agreed.

They traded stories on what happened after School. Nabiki
then asked about Ryoga�s fox form. Steve made a comment that the
dog catchers would be after him when he was a fox. So they started
to think of ways to help. Steve had made a comment that �Talia�
would like to have a pet. Steve explained what he meant and the
other�s agreed that if Ryoga was around in fox form, he could be
�Talia�s� pet to help save Ryoga if he was caught when he was in
fox form.

Akane then said what name should they give Ryoga�s fox form.
They thought about it for a moment and then Steve said how about
�Haiyashi�. When everyone asked why that name, Steve just said
that it just came to him. Ryoga thought about it and agreed to
the plan. Then Steve got up and said that he was going to bed
to heal. So after Steve left, Kasumi offered Ryoga a place to
stay for the night.

* * * * *

Throughout the day at Usagi�s school, she noticed that the
other Senshi were looking very tired. When Usagi asked them what
was wrong, they would snap at her for a reply. Usagi was surprised
that they would snap at her, but they would quickly apologize,
saying they didn�t get much sleep. That night, the dreams the
Senshi had were more powerful, more intense than the night before.

* * * * *

NEXT DAY

The next morning, Ranma and Steve sparred as usual, but
Steve had Ryoga join them. After the sparring, when Kasumi
had called them in for breakfast, Ryoga had disappeared when
they entered the house. So after a quick search of the house,
it was confirmed that Ryoga was no where to be found. After
breakfast, they all headed to school. As school began, Ranma
started to fall asleep in class. Steve had kept waking him up
whenever he could. During one of the times that Steve was
waking Ranma up, the teacher got fed up and sent both of them
in the hall to hold buckets.

Both of them were standing there for several minutes
when Steve heard a noise and looked in that direction. When
he saw what was causing the noise, he was surprised. It was
Kuno running at them with buckets in his hands again.

�Red, behind you!� Steve shouted as Kuno came charging
down the hall, buckets in hand. �It�s the nutcase!�

Ranma jumped out of the way as Steve backed away nervously,
and then swore when he saw Ranma kick the buckets out of Kuno�s
hands. He was almost to the corner when he saw that he wouldn�t
escape in time. After the water struck, he quickly turned the
corner, swearing as he changed. She stood there shivering for
several seconds, more from fear than cold, then decided to find
out what was going on. She was about to look when she felt a
hand clamp down on her shoulder.

�What are you doing out here, young lady?� A female
teacher demanded. �Why are you not in class, and why are you
wet?�

�I�m new here Sensei.� Steve replied nervously. �I umm �
got a little lost and walked into a water fight between two boys.
I got hit with a bucket of water when I tried to move out of the
way.�

�Where are you trying to go?� The teacher asked more
patiently.

�I�m trying to visit my sisters. I wanted to get to the
office to tell them why I�m here.� She said, acting near tears.
�The man at the gate said I should go left, up the stairs, and
then right, but I haven�t been able to find it. Could you help
me?�

�Of course dear.� The teacher said kindly. �In fact,
I�ll take you there myself. Once you�re registered there, I�ll
take you to get a temporary uniform for you, don�t want you
going around in wet, oversized clothes, now do we?�

�No, Sensei, thank you.� Steve said with a gush. �Ranma,
you owe me big time for this one.� She thought as she followed
the teacher. After answering several questions from the teacher,
and dodging a couple, while remembering the history Nabiki came
up for his role as �Talia�. They arrived at the office and went
in.

�And what do we have here, Miss Kikuchi, another young
delinquent?� The secretary said with a glare at Steve.

�No, Mrs. Okazaki, merely a lost little girl.� Miss Kikuchi
said with a smile. �This young lady was given very poor directions
by Mr. Tanaka. She would like to visit her sisters.�

�Very well.� Mrs. Okazaki said, bustling about with some
forms. �This shouldn�t take long at all. What is your name and
who are you visiting?�

�My name is Talia.� Steve said. �Talia Tendo and I�m here
to visit my sisters Akane and Nabiki Tendo.� Mrs. Okazaki typed
that onto the form.

�Age?� The secretary asked.

�Thirteen.� Steve replied with more confidence over the
situation.

�Why are you not in school?� Miss Kikuchi asked in concern.
�Shouldn�t you be in junior high school?�

�No Ma�am, I mean Sensei. I am home tutored. My Sensei
didn�t show up today, so I thought I would visit my sisters in
school.� Steve replied innocently. �I�ll be damned if I�ll
go to Junior high school again.� Steve thought to herself.
�High school is bad enough.�

�What grade did they say you should be in?� Miss Kikuchi
asked in wonder.

�Well, my sensei didn�t really tell me.� Steve said,
looking confused. �But they did say I�m very smart.�

�I�m sure you are dear.� Miss Kikuchi said in shock, seeing
her own question mirrored in Mrs. Okazaki�s face. �We can find
out for you if you want?�

�We can give you a test to tell what grade you can be in.�
Mrs. Okazaki said.

�Okay, may I take the test now please?� Steve asked
eagerly, enjoying herself in the role-playing she was doing.
�I don�t want to miss too much of my first day of a real school.�

�It will take me about fifteen minutes to prepare for the
test.� Mrs. Okazaki replied, smiling at �Talia�s� contagious
good humor. �Why don�t you go get Miss Tendo a temporary uniform,
while I do that Miss Kikuchi?� Her tone said she thought of the
students the same, nuisances to be dealt with quickly then banished.

Steve followed Miss Kikuchi to the girl�s locker room and,
keeping her eyes from the various undressed girls there, to the
uniform shop.

�Hello Mrs. Tsuchida.� Miss Kikuchi greeted the friendly
older woman behind the counter. �Might you have something to fit
someone of this young ladies stature? She needs a uniform for
today.�

�My my, she looks to be only twelve or thirteen, Chieko-chan.�
Mrs. Tsuchida said.

�That�s because she is thirteen.� Miss Kikuchi said blushing
lightly and informed her why they were there.

�Well, what a surprise.� Mrs. Tsuchida laughed merrily.
�Let me take your measurements and I�ll have the uniform ready
for you by the time your evaluation is done.� She fitted actions
to words by ushering Steve into the changing room and taking her
measurements. After protesting mildly about Steve�s underwear,
she completed her notes and sent her out. Miss Kikuchi led her
back to the office where she was ushered into an isolation room
and given the test.

Steve had no problems with the math and science parts, and
she breezed through English and world studies. It was only when
she came to Japanese and Japanese history that the gaps in her
knowledge began to show. When Mrs. Okazaki scored the test, the
results achieved ranking in grade eleven, based on her best
subjects.

�You will need to take better lessons in order to bring
you up to standards in your weak areas however.� Mrs. Okazaki
said. �Once you have received your uniform, you will be joining
your sister Nabiki in room 2-E.�

�Why am I not going to see Akane?� Steve asked.

�She seems to have left the school yard.� Mrs. Okazaki
replied.

�Oh.� Steve said, thinking on what could have happened to
Ranma when the teacher had caught her.

�Besides, since you have the same grade level as your sister
Nabiki, you can start visiting her, and if Akane returns, you can
visit with her then.� Mrs. Okazaki

Steve nodded, and then followed the route back to the locker
room. Mrs. Tsuchida had her uniform ready and waiting when she
arrived. When the grandmotherly woman noticed Steve�s hesitance,
she smiled and said that since she was the youngest girl in the
school by many years, she could change in the dressing room.
Steve thanked the woman and changed into the uniform. It fit
perfectly, and Steve made sure to thank the woman for her hard
work, then made her way back to the office, picked up her school
pass, and then proceeded to room 2-E. It was only when she
noticed Nabiki sitting bolt upright in her chair that Steve smiled.

�Class, this is Miss Talia Tendo, here to visit her
sisters.� The teacher said, looking a little bewildered.
�Please help her to feel welcome.�

The entire class greeted her and she smiled at them shyly.

�Well, since you are visiting your sister, why don�t you
go and sit next to her.� The teacher said and moved Kuno to an
empty desk. As the teacher returned to his lecture on molecular
theory, Nabiki turned to her new study partner.

�Stack, is that you?� Nabiki asked in a low tone. Steve
only nodded. �What are you doing here? I thought you were in
Akane�s class?�

�It�s a long story, Nabiki.� Steve said in a low tone,
and then noticed the teacher looking speculatively at Nabiki.
After scanning the notes he had put on the board, Steve prepared
to help Nabiki with the question that was coming.

�Miss Nabiki Tendo, will you please give me the name of
the bonds responsible for water�s expansion at low temperatures?�
The teacher asked, expecting Nabiki not to answer.

Nabiki came to her feet, blushing a little. Before she
could say anything, Steve handed her a small note. Glancing
at it as if looking at her hands, Nabiki smiled. �Sir, the
Hydrogen bonds of water are responsible for this behavior.�

�Very good, Miss Tendo.� The teacher said surprised.
Shaking his head, he continued the lecture. As the bell rang
to end class, Nabiki turned to Steve.

�Alright Stack, spill it.� Nabiki said looking at her
pointedly.

�Um, can�t it wait Nabiki?� Steve asked, looking at the
girls around them nervously. �If I tell you now, everyone will
know.�

�Okay, �Talia�, we�ll talk about it later, when we�re
studying.� Nabiki said, making it more of a promise than a
threat. Steve winced, and then started trying to answer the
many questions coming her way. She slipped away for a short
time, and headed to the office to hand them a note that she
had made to say that she was going to pick up �Steve�s�
homework after school. Giving the reason of something very
important came up and he had to take care of it. Steve also
found out that Ranma and Akane didn�t return to school.

In Japanese studies, the last class of the day, Steve
got another surprise. The teacher was Miss Kikeuchi, and
she remembered �Talia�. After the final bell rang, she
asked �Talia� to stay behind. After agreeing to meet Nabiki
at the gate, she walked to the front of the classroom.

�I know you have problems with this subject Talia, but
I�d like to suggest someone to help you.� Miss Kikeuchi
said with a reassuring smile. �Ami is the daughter of a
friend of mine. She�s in this grade and would be happy
to help, I think. Would you be interested?�

Not wanting to hurt the kind teacher�s feelings,
Steve said that she would be interested, but she had to
talk to her family about it first. Miss Kikuchi understood
and handed Steve a piece of paper with Ami�s phone number
and address on it. �I�ll give her a call to let her know
about you.� Steve waved at the teacher, and then went to
meet Nabiki at the front gate, after changing out of the
uniform to return it. Since she knew that Nabiki didn�t
want to be kept waiting, she didn�t change back to male.

�Okay, Stack, give.� Nabiki said as they walked along
the path. �Why did you change forms?�

�I didn�t have much of a choice really.� She said
defensively. �Kuno attacked Ranma with two buckets, and Ranma
kicked them into the air. My bad luck continued and just after
I got splashed, Miss Kikuchi showed up. The only thing I could
think of was pretending to be �Talia�. That just made it worse
though since she chose to help me. But as I think about it now,
I much prefer some time away from Ranma the Ego.�

�Careful Stack.� Nabiki said with a laugh. It can cost a
lot of money to keep people from hearing insults.�

�Sorry Nabiki, but Ranma already knows about that one.�
Steve laughed. �Speaking of Ranma, where has he and Akane been?
I haven�t seen them since my little adventure.�

�I�ll give you this one as a freebie since one of them will
probably tell you anyway.� Nabiki said in a tone that said this
wouldn�t happen very often. �Ranma jumped out of the third floor
window without looking, again.�

�Red does that sometimes.� Steve said, shrugging her
shoulders. �What about it?�

�This particular window is right above the schools swimming
pool.� Nabiki said smugly, and then blinked when Steve howled
with laughter, stopping where she was. Steve tried to regain
control of herself several times before she succeeded.

�I�m sorry.� She said, still chuckling. �It�s just that
it is so classic. I�ve been warning him that he should look
before he leaps, figuratively speaking, for the three weeks in
China, and now the couple of weeks here, and now he gets an
object lesson. So what happened? Did anyone see the change
this time?�

�Not really.� Nabiki replied shrugging.

�I don�t know where that kid gets his luck from, but he must
buy it in bulk.� Steve said shaking her head. �Oh well, I guess
he went home after that, I guess that is why they ��

She froze suddenly, and then ducked around a corner. Nabiki
looked around, trying to find out what had caused that reaction,
but could only see a girl in silk Chinese clothes, walking down
the street. She continued until she turned another corner and
went out of sight.

�Is she gone?� Steve asked.

�If you mean the girl, yes.� Nabiki replied with interest.
�Who was that? More importantly, why are you afraid of her?�

�That will have to wait until we get back to the Dojo.�
Steve said, breaking into a run. �I have to warn Ranma about
what�s coming.�

�Hey, wait up!� Nabiki yelled, trying to catch up.
�You�ll pay for this, Stacko!�

Steve vanished around a corner, and there was a thud
sound, followed by a startled exclamation. She could be heard
apologizing, then she started running again before Nabiki
rounded the corner and dodged Steve�s unfortunate victim,
shouting for Steve to wait again as she followed him to the dojo.

When Steve and Nabiki got in front of the Dojo, Steve
remembered he had to pick some things up for her family in
the Juuban Ward after school, so when they had caught their
breath, Steve told Nabiki that she would be back, that she
had to pick stuff up in the Juuban Ward. Nabiki looked at
him questionly, but told her to have fun.

After arriving in Juuban, Steve heading to the mall where
the store was she had to go to. Along the way, Steve realized
that she could change back and took a slight detour to a shop
to order a cup of hot water. After Steve got the hot water,
she went and found an isolated area and after making sure no
one was watching, dumped the water over her head and turned
male again. He then continued towards the shop where he had
to pick up the items for his family.

After he purchased the items, he was leaving the mall,
when a water fountain�s water sprayed and got Steve wet. When
the change occurred, Steve quickly looked to see if anyone
noticed and sighed in relief when she saw that it appeared
no one had noticed. So she continued on her way. She wasn�t
that far out of the mall when she heard a voice calling out
to her.

�Talia?� A female voice called out, and it took a
moment for Steve to realize she was being called.

�Yes?� Steve said turning around and saw Mrs. Saotome.
�Oh, how are you Mrs. Saotome?� Steve bowed politely.

�How are you today, dear?� Nodoka asked.

�I�m fine, thank you. What can I do you for you?�

�I was wondering if I could talk to you for a moment.�

�Uh okay.�

�Why don�t we go to the caf� over there to talk?�

�Okay.�

Both of them headed to the caf� and ordered some drinks
to have while they talked. They took a seat near the back of
the caf� and talked small talk while they waited for their order.
After their order arrived, and the waitress left, they really
started talking.

�So what did you want to talk to me about?� Steve asked.

�About your family first of all.� Nodoka said.

�What about them?� Steve was suddenly becoming nervous.

�You said your father�s name was Soun, correct?�

�Yes.�

�You have three sister�s named Kasumi, Nabiki, and Akane?�

�Yes.�

�Why are you claiming to be their sister, I know they don�t
have a forth sister.� Nodoka said and Steve realized that she was
being found out, but she had to know one thing.

�Before I answer you, can I ask you a question first?�
Steve asked.

�All right.� Nodoka agreed.

�Just to make sure you are who I think you are, your husband
and son went on a ten year training mission, correct?�

�Yes, which should have ended a couple of weeks ago.�

�Okay then, but I want to know why Genma told Ranma you
were dead. As far as Ranma knows you�re dead.� Steve told
Nodoka and watched as she turned pale when she heard what Steve
said. �I only know it has something to do with Ranma being a
�Man among Men�. What is up with that?�

Nodoka came out of her shock and then tells Steve all about
the contract that was signed. Tears were rolling down Nodoka�s
eyes when she finished talking and asked about her son. Steve
told her what she�s seen of him, leaving out Jusenkyo. When S
teve got done talking, Nodoka got very depressed.

�I don�t want to know what you think a �Man among Men� is,
but to answer your question, I feel like I�m condemning Ranma.�
Steve said.

�What do you mean?� Nodoka said confused.

�You are correct when you said there wasn�t a forth sister.
I�m playing the adopted forth sister because of a slip of tongue.
Akane claimed I was her younger sister, so instead of dishonoring
her family, I started playing the role.� Steve explained.

�I see and understand that, so who are you really and why
are you feeling like you are condemning my son?� Nodoka asked.

�If you�ll hold on a moment, I�ll show you.� Steve said
and got up and went to get a glass of ice water and a cup of hot
water. She then came back and sat back down looking at Nodoka
carefully. �You are right, my real name isn�t �Talia Tendo�,
it�s really Steven Stachowicz.�

�That sounds like a boy�s name.�

�It is and I am. What I�m about to show you, will shock you.�

�What do you mean?�

Steve looked around the place and saw that it was safe;
she dumped some of the hot water on herself. Nodoka stared in
shock as a thirteen year old girl turned into a sixteen year
old boy. He then poured some cold water on himself and turned
back to a girl. She then poured the remainder of the hot water
on herself and turned back to male. When Nodoka just stared at
Steve for several minutes, Steve snapped his fingers in front
of her face to snap her out of zone she was in. Nodoka shook
her head to clear it.

�How is this possible?� Nodoka asked surprised.

�I�ll tell you, but you have to keep an open mind, most
of what I�m going to tell you will be unbelievable, but as you
saw, it�s true.� Steve replied.

�Okay.� Nodoka said nervously.

Steve then proceeded to tell her the story on how he got
started on his adventure to Japan. Nodoka was surprised at the
age he said he was, and he showed her his driver�s license. He
explained that he thinks it�s a side effect of the curse. He
continued to tell her everything that went on from when he met
Ryoga to talking to Nodoka in the caf�. Nodoka was in tears
again when she realized what she let happened. Steve squeezed
her hand reassuringly and she smiled.

�Can I see the change again?� Nodoka asked quietly.
Steve smiled at her and poured the remainder of the cold water
on himself and turned back to a girl. �So my son turns to a
young girl also?�

�Actually, he stay�s the same age. Here.� Steve said
and hand over a picture of Kuno�s she had. Nodoka looked at
it carefully.

�So this is my son when he�s a girl?� Nodoka asked.

�Yes.� Steve replied.

�What did I let happen.� Nodoka said quietly.

�If you want, I can help set up for you to meet Ranma.�
Steve said.

�Thank you.�

So Steve and Nodoka talked about how they should go about
setting up the meeting. After they thought of several ideas,
Nodoka asked if she could keep the picture, and Steve let her.
Steve saw the time and told her she had to be getting back.
So they said their farewells and Steve collected her stuff
and left the caf�. She was only a block from the caf� when
she was roughly grabbed and thrown into a nearby alley.

Steve had dropped her bag in order to catch herself
on the ground. Before she was able to know what was going
on, she was kicked in the stomach and she went down. Steve
was finally able to see what was going on. She saw five boys
around seventeen years old, standing around her. They didn�t
look too happy to see her.

�Well, well, well. What do we have here?� One of the
boys said.

�What do you want?� Steve gasped.

�To get back at you for what you did to our younger
brothers.� The boy replied.

�I was just defending myself.�

�Well, you are going to pay for what you did.� The boy
said and then punched Steve in the gut. Steve fell to her
knees and then two other boys grabbed her arms securely and
held her up. Steve struggled to get lose, but couldn�t get
loose. �Now let�s see what my brother said is true.� He
reached out and ripped open her shirt to reveal her bare
chest. Steve now struggled even more. �He was correct;
now let�s see what else she has to offer.�

The boy reached for her pants, but Steve started kicking him.
The boy got fed up and punched Steve in the gut several times.
Steve then went limp in the boy�s arms. The boy then reached
out again and pulled down her pants. All the boys were surprised
when they saw she was wearing boxers. The boy went for the boxers
when the sound of a sound being unsheathed got their attention.
All the boys turned to the sound and found a woman standing at
the entrance of the alley, holding a katana at the ready.

�I would strongly suggest you let her go.� The woman
said in controlled anger. The Woman then took a step forward
and the boys got scared. They let Steve go and ran away.
After the boys left, the woman put the sword away and walked
up to Steve. �Are you all right, dear?�

�Mrs. Saotome?� Steve gasped looking up.

�Yes dear.� Nodoka said smiling.

�Thanks.�

�You�re welcome.�

�What are you doing here?�

�Well, when you left, I had thought of one more question
and wanted to get your attention, when I saw you pulled in here.
When I got here, I saw what they were doing and I got a little
upset.�

�I guess I should thank that question.� Steve said then
Nodoka helped her to stand up. She also helped Steve put her
clothes on and straightened out, when Steve noticed her shirt
no longer have its ties. �This sucks; this was one of my good
shirts.�

�Wrap it around yourself, then we can go to my place and
we can see about getting you something to wear.� Nodoka said.

�Okay.� Steve said and secured her shirt around herself
and then went to collect her things and looked at them. �At
least nothing was breakable in here.�

�Shall we go; I don�t live that far away.�

�Okay.�

They walked out of the alley and headed towards Nodoka�s
home. As they were walking, Steve was unconsciously walking
closely to Nodoka as she was thinking on how close she had gotten
to being raped. She was thinking deeply and failed to notice
that Nodoka was looking at her in worry. As they walked several
blocks, they started to hear people screaming. Steve was shaken
out of her thoughts when the screaming was heard. She looked up
at Nodoka and they both went to see what was going on.

When they got to the scene, they found out it was another
monster attack and the Senshi were fighting it. They were off
to the far side of the fight as those people that stayed were
watching the fight. The monster seemed to be a mixture of ape
and bat. As they watched, Steve seemed to notice that the fight
was going a little different than the last one she saw. This
one, it seemed that the Senshi were more fighting with themselves
than the monster.

The Senshi was able to defeat the monster, but it seemed
it was by pure luck. The monster just missed dodging out of
the way and it took a hit. From that point on, it was defeated
easily. When the fight ended, the Senshi were arguing, who Steve
thought was Sailor Moon, about what she could have done better.
Then the Senshi left in a hurry, with Sailor Moon left more
slowly. After everything died down, Nodoka and Steve continued
on their way.

When they arrived at Nodoka�s house, Nodoka showed Steve
where the bathroom was. When Steve was in the bathroom, she
cleaned herself as best as she could. She then heard a knock
at the door and Steve told the person to enter. Mrs. Saotome
entered the room with a sorry look.

�What�s wrong?� Steve asked when she saw the look Nodoka
had.

�Well, I was going to lend you some clothes to use, but
all the clothes of Genma are gi�s.� Nodoka said.

�I don�t want to wear any of them.� Steve replied.

�I understand, but all of Ranma�s clothes are too small.�

�I see your point.� Steve said, and then noticed that
Nodoka had a look to her that said she wanted to say something.
�What is it?�

�Well, I don�t know how to put this, since I know who you
really are, but if you want to, I think I still have my old
school uniform you could wear.� Nodoka replied uncertainly.

�It doesn�t bother me, it�s not like I�ve done that before
in my life.� Steve said which caused Nodoka to give Steve a
funny look. �Throughout my high school and college years, we
had a spirit week, and one of those days was called �Opposite
day�. It�s a day where we would come to school dressed as the
opposite gender.�

�Oh.� Nodoka said after Steve�s explaination.

�So let�s go check out this uniform.�

Nodoka showed Steve the way to her bedroom and pulled a box
from the back of the closet. She handed the box over to Steve
and Steve opened the lid. Inside the box was a girl�s school
uniform, which the main colors being orange, white, and tan.
Steve pulled the shirt out and held it to herself. Steve saw
that it would probably fit her, so she went and took off her
ruined shirt and put on the uniform shirt. Steve then realized
that she had changed clothes right in front of Nodoka.

�I�m sorry.� Steve said apologetically.

�That�s all right dear. If you don�t have a problem with
changing in front of me, then I don�t have a problem.� Nodoka
replied.

�Uh, okay.� Steve said.

So Steve then got out of her pants and then put the skirt
on, with help from Nodoka. Steve then adjusted the uniform and
found that it fit pretty well. Steve looked at herself and
smiled at what she saw. She looked over towards Nodoka to thank
her, but stopped before she said anything. She noticed that
Nodoka was smiling and had a look in her eye that Steve had only
seen once before.

�Thank you mother.� Steve said happily and then gave Nodoka
a hug. This surprised Nodoka that she just stared at Steve.

�What did you do that for?� Nodoka asked after Steve stepped
back.

�Well, it looked like you needed it.� Steve said, but Nodoka
looked at her in confusion. �You had the same look in your eyes
that my mother had when she gave a special item to my sister. Plus
I think you�ve been alone for too long.�

�You are correct, I�ve been lonely these ten years, and
when you wore that uniform, it felt like I was giving my
daughter a piece of my life.� Nodoka said.

�That is why I did it. You needed it.�

�But why did you call me �mother�?�

�Uh � would you believe that I wanted to?�

�But why?�

�Well, I�ve been calling my best friends mother �mom�
for several years now, she was like a second mother to me.
So when I saw the look in your eyes, it just felt right.�

�That�s nice of you.� Nodoka said and then gave Steve
a hug, which Steve returned just as warmly.

�Could you help me with something?� Steve asked.

�What is it?� Nodoka asked.

�In order to play the role of �Talia�, could you teach
me how to act in a skirt?�

�Sure.�

�Thanks � mom.�

Nodoka smiled at Steve and then started showing Steve
what to do. After an hour of training, Steve thanked Nodoka,
but told her she had to get back to the Tendo Dojo. Nodoka
thanked Steve for keeping her company for a while and told Steve
that she could keep the uniform and to visit once in a while.
Steve thanked her again and collected her things, placing her
old clothes in a bag and headed back to the Dojo.

* * * * *

She arrived at the Dojo and announced that she was back.
She heard everyone was in the living room, so she headed there.
When she entered the living room, those that were in there were
surprised at what Steve was wearing.

�Hey, Stack, why are you dressed in a girl�s uniform?�
Ranma asked as Steve came into the living room. �What happened
after I left?�

�It�s a long story Red.� Steve said with a shrug. �But
most of it�s your fault.�

�My fault?� Ranma said in surprise. �What did I do?�

�You only kicked Kuno�s buckets away.� Steve said in a
reasonable tone. �Unfortunately for me, I was in the way and
didn�t dodge fast enough.�

�Did anyone see the change?� Ranma asked in horror,
wondering how he would explain this to whoever saw it.

�No, luckily no one saw.� Steve said with a sigh. �But
before I could change, one of the teachers caught me in the
hall. To make a long story short, I decided to play the role
of �Talia� and said my tutor didn�t show, so I wanted to visit
my �sisters�.�

�Why did you do that?� Akane asked, coming in at the end
of Steve�s story.

�It was the only thing I could do on such short notice.�
Steve replied.

�What happened?� Ranma asked.

�Well, I was given a uniform since they didn�t want me
walking around in over-sized, wet clothes. They gave me a level
of knowledge test that placed me in eleventh grade, due to my
weak areas in Japanese knowledge and history. I tried to be
place in our class, but it appeared that my sister seemed to
have left school for the day.� Steve said, looking at Akane.

�So the office decided to have her come to my class.�
Nabiki said with a glare at Steve, coming into the room, which
didn�t have much force since she was smiling. �Though, it was
fun watching you figure out how you were going to do afternoon
PE class.�

�I just went along with everyone else in the class.�
Steve said distractedly, suddenly remembering why she had ran
to the Dojo in the first place, before she remembered about
those gifts.

�You pervert!� Akane shouted, getting to her feet
menacingly.

�Now what?� Steve demanded, moving away from Akane.
�What did I say?� She asked as she dodged Akane�s punches,
sweating when she saw the damage Akane was doing.

�You stayed as a girl just so you could watch the other
girls shower, didn�t you?� Akane demanded, grabbing a bokken.
�I�ll beat you so bad; you�ll wish you never even notice girls!�

Akane chased Steve around the dojo until she finally caught
her in a corner. Before she could beat her with the bokken, the
practice blade was torn out of her hands. She turned to glare at
Ranma, and then stopped when she heard Steve sigh behind her.

�Akane, the thought never entered my mind.� She said
patiently. �But you probably won�t believe that. Mrs. Tsuchida
let me change in the dressing room though, so the other girls
wouldn�t tease me.�

�You weren�t around the other girls?� Akane asked in
surprise. �What about the shower?� She asked suspiciously.

�Took it in the dressing room.� Steve said seriously.
�I�m not a pervert who watches girls getting dressed when they
don�t know I�m watching.�

�I don�t know if I believe you.� Akane said suspiciously.

�I do.� Nabiki said with a smile at Steve. �Besides, I
trusted him.� She walked out under the amazed stares of everyone.

�She trusts you?� Ranma said incredulously. �Is there
something going on that we should know about, Stack?�

�I�m just as in the dark about this as you are.� Steve
said, staring after Nabiki. �But I�m going to find out.�

Steve handed Kasumi her old clothes and told her what
happened to them and if she could help repair the shirt.
Kasumi told her she would do her best and Steve headed up to
her room. She got out of the uniform, folded it up and put
it away, along with the items for her family. She then went
and changed back to male and then walked up to Nabiki�s room
and knocked on the door.

�Who is it?� Nabiki�s voice said cheerfully.

�It�s Steve.� He said nervously. �Can I come in to talk
to you?�

�Certainly.� Nabiki said with a laugh. �I�m decent.�

Steve swallowed convulsively at the thoughts that statement
called to mind, and then opened the door. Nabiki was lying on
her bed, doing leg exercises in shorts and a tank top.

�Umm � what did you mean down there that you trust me?�
He asked nervously. �Why do you trust me? You�ve only even
known I existed for a couple weeks.�

�There are three reasons I trust you, Stack.� Nabiki
said, sitting up on the bed. �First, you were honestly surprised
at Akane�s question, as if you really hadn�t thought about it.
Second, you don�t lie needlessly or to avoid trouble, something
I would expect in a sixteen year old, but not in a mid-twenty
year old.�

�Thanks, I think.� Steve said, his expression still a
little confused. �What was the third reason?�

�If you ever tried to pull anything like Akane was afraid
of, I�d hit you with a bucket of hot water so fast, you�d never
see it coming.� Nabiki said in a tone that made her threat a
promise. �After that, I think you�d survive maybe thirty seconds.�

�If that.� Steve agreed with a shiver. �Now I have even
less desire to do that than I did before.�

�Good, then I won�t need to worry, will I?� Nabiki said
with a grin. �Thanks for the help in class; by the way, Mr.
Yamagi is terrible if you�re not paying attention.�

�He reminds me of Dr. Van Ghent, my organic chemistry
professor at the college I went to.� Steve said, laughing at
the memory. �He was this old South African guy who expected
you to respect him because he was older. Anyone who didn�t
pay attention found out that the old guy had a perfect aim
with pieces of chalk.�

�He would throw them at you?� Nabiki asked, trying to
imagine some of her older teacher�s doing that, and failing.

�Absolutely.� Steve laughed.

�Now that you mention chemistry, I remember that I have
homework due in all of my classes.� Nabiki said. �If Talia
wants to study with me, she can.� Nabiki laughed at Steve�s
annoyed expression, and then looked at him questioningly.

�It�s just that I just realized what I�ve set myself up
for.� He grumbled. �I�m going to be spending most of my days
as Talia. I�m going to be spending half my life as a girl,
more importantly, as your sister. I�m going to have to wear
girl�s clothes at times, hell; I may even start having to
worry about periods. My sister would love this.�

�Your sister?� Nabiki asked in surprised.

�Yeah, I have a sister who�s about eight years younger
than I am.� Steve said, and then laughed. �Who am I kidding;
we�re about the same age now. Though, how I�m going to explain
that one, I have no clue.�

�What do you mean?� Nabiki asked interested.

�I mean, how do you explain to your parents that you
appear eight years younger? It would probably be better to
fake my own death.�

�Easier said than done, at least here in Japan.� Nabiki
said seriously. �Every reported death is investigated very
closely here, and if they find out it was faked, they make
you pay for their wasted time.�

�Ouch, I definitely can�t afford that.� He said with
a wince. �I never thought I�d actually say this, but let�s
do our homework. It has to be easier than thinking about my
problems.�

Nabiki laughed in agreement and they started doing
their work after Steve changed forms and grabbed his homework.
Then Nabiki started asking questions about what happened to
him that he came back wearing that uniform. Steve told her
all that happened to her in Juuban, leaving out the part
about Nodoka finding out about the �Talia� role and being
Ranma�s mother, along with the plan to set up in the future.
After that, they just continued on their homework.

* * * * *

Text file Source (historic): geocities.com/tokyo/shores/Shores/2307

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