*** Earth  +1.612,+1.509

Genma felt Nodoka shift against his side, jarring him awake once again.  
Her leg rested atop his own, and one of her arms was draped over his 
chest.  To the best of his knowledge, she had been cuddled against him 
like that all night, and he had nervously awoken every time she shifted 
her position.  He blinked bleary eyes at the ceiling of the semi-
familiar bedroom and listened to her sleepy mutterings, mostly of her 
love for him and Ranma, judging by the words.  Sunrise was still a long 
time away, as far as he could tell, but he could not see the clock 
without his glasses.  He prayed that he could get another few hours of 
sleep, and he wondered once again if he might not have made some sort of 
miscalculation in coming home to his 'wife.'

Meanwhile, Nodoka's hand slowly moved across Genma's chest in her sleep, 
gently caressing him.  Her dreams were pleasant, and her body luxuriated 
in the feel of her husband lying next to her.  For over ten long years, 
her sleep had been troubled by her loneliness, but now she was content.  
The love of her life had returned to her, changed by his time on the 
road, matured into the man she always hoped he could be, but he was 
still her Genma.  She snuggled against him, feeling warm and safe for 
the first time in a very long while.  Her breathing steadied as she fell 
back into a deeper slumber.

Genma closed his eyes when Nodoka's breathing changed, and he tried to 
imagine that it was his own wife who now slept pressed up against him.  
Trying to embrace that illusion was an easy task, but the struggle was 
in how far he could bring himself to pretend.  He knew that, come the 
dawn, his reality would be far different from his fantasy, and he would 
have to deal with this Nodoka, not his own wife.  A lump formed in his 
throat as he worried about his own Nodoka.  She would not suspect that a 
stranger now slept in their bed.  That concern had been partly 
responsible for his restless night, and the other part had been the 
great temptation given him, to forget his own troubles for a time with 
the obviously willing woman at his side.  He could still picture the 
disappointed look on her face when he refused her as gently as he was 
able to as they went to bed.

Fending Nodoka off had not been an easy task, as she had taken his 
refusal initially as some sort of game on his part.  The sheer, silken 
nightgown she chose to wear to bed had not helped matters, an outfit 
that was clearly chosen to reveal her figure to his gaze and entice him 
to action, and it was so tempting.  But he kept feeling it would be a 
betrayal somehow, and that nagging worry refused to leave him.  He had 
finally claimed a need for rest due to his recent injuries and the long 
trek across town, and she eventually relented.  However, she then had 
immediately snuggled tightly up against him as they laid down to sleep, 
and Genma had found himself unable to relax.  Sooner or later, he would 
have to give in to her ardorous demands, and that foregone conclusion 
raised an interesting philosophical question: would that be considered 
adultery?

Genma heard Nodoka sigh with contentment once again.  As far as he could 
tell, Nodoka's dreams were apparently pleasant ones for her, and the 
feel of her body against him soon lulled him back to a fitful sleep.  He 
was grateful that his dreams were uneventful and quiet so far.  After a 
time, the soft sounds of his breathing changed to a rumbling snore.

                   ******************************

Meanwhile, Ranma slept the sleep of the blessed.  His eyes had closed 
the moment his head hit the pillow.  However, instead of being awake and 
agitated like his father, the pig-tailed boy foundered in the sea of 
someone else's dreams and memories.

Troubled by the disturbing images all night long, the young man's dreams 
verged on nightmares.  Some were scenes that, almost, reflected his own 
past, yet verged disturbingly at seemingly random points.  In one, he 
and his father ran from Shampoo all the way from her home village to the 
Tendo home.  The reason being that the young Amazon had to kill the 
'girl' that defeated her in front of her village.  But, in yet another 
sequence, he defeated her while in male form in the Tendo home, and she 
then declared that he was her husband.  It continued as Shampoo, Akane, 
Ukyo, and even Kodachi all fought to be his bride.

However, after a brief period of respite in his dreams, the images 
changed in his slumbering mind.  Now Ranma found himself caught up in 
vivid scenes of a very different type with Shampoo, beginning with the 
two of them locked into a passionate embrace.  He felt both of her 
callused hands caressing his body as he returned the favor upon her own, 
a softly-whispered "Airen" repeated into his ear as she nuzzled at his 
neck.  The dream quickly turned far more erotic and intense, images 
swiftly crossing his mind of another life with Shampoo, the two of them 
married and loving each other with all of their being.

Ranma grumbled and rolled over onto his side, his mind now assailed with 
ardorous images of himself and Shampoo, their bodies intertwined in the 
throes of passionate intercourse.  He groaned softly as a phantom of 
Shampoo continued to pleasure his dream self.

The imagery was so vivid and felt so real that Ranma snapped awake from 
them, uncertain for a long moment in the darkness where he was, or even 
who he was.  His breathing was hard and panting, as if having just run a 
marathon, and his manhood was very solidly erect.  All he could recall 
of his dream was that it concerned Shampoo and him and had been very 
pleasant.

A deep, slow breath filled his lungs and was gradually released while 
Ranma calmed himself, willing his body to relax.  He stared at the 
unfamiliar walls of his room, the same room he had apparently once lived 
in as a child, and he tried to make sense of things.  All of the events 
that occurred yesterday were jumbled in his mind, and many of them were 
oddly distant, as if he was watching someone else doing them.  He could 
see all of his actions and remember every event now, but that was all 
that he could recall of them.  None of his thoughts or feelings were 
available to him, like he had been some sort of a marionette on strings.  
He shrugged off the notion that suddenly occurred to him, that the hard 
impact with the wall while skating with Shampoo might have affected him.  
He had taken much more severe injuries than that and still been able to 
function normally.

What happened to me? wondered Ranma in the quiet solitude of the night.  
He rolled onto his back and stared up at the ceiling, grateful that his 
erection had gone away during his musings about yesterday.  He turned 
his head and stared out at the night beyond his window.  His mind kept 
drifting back to Shampoo, and he resolved to ask her if she thought 
there was anything strange about how he was acting yesterday.  As his 
thoughts went back to his dreams and his reaction to them, he shivered 
with disgust as he imagined what it would have been like had he slept in 
his girl form.

I'm no longer engaged to Akane or Ukyo, noted Ranma idly, but he did not 
quite know how he felt about that.  It was a relief to not have any 
engagements being forced upon him, but it still felt strange to no 
longer be at the Tendo Dojo.  He yawned as he watched it begin to rain, 
the sound lulling him back to sleep.  He closed his eyes and slipped 
back into a dreamless slumber.


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Quantum Destinies
A Ranma 1/2 Fanfic
By Jurai Knight (sthesken@earthlink.net)

Ranma 1/2 and its characters are owned by Rumiko Takahashi.  This story 
is inspired by her works and the stories from some of my fellow fanfic 
authors.  Among these are D.B. Sommer's "Shampoo 1/2", Jim Bader's "A 
Very Scary Thought -aka- Nabiki 1/2", and John Biles' Elseworlds series.  
All C&C is welcome.

Other chapters of this story may be found at this website, or you can 
email the author for them:

The Quantum Destinies Homepage
http://home.earthlink.net/~sthesken/fanfics/qd.html


LIME WARNING: Please be advised that there is some sexual content in 
this chapter.  I don't see the scenes as being graphic enough to warrant 
a Lemon tag though.


The list of worlds reoccurring in this chapter:
Earth  0.000,0.000 - The world of Scholar Ranma (Baseline cluster)
Earth  +1.612,+1.509 - The world of Shampoo 1/2 (Shampoo 1/2 cluster)


What has gone before in this story (or at least what will help you 
understand what is going on):

On a parallel Earth that diverged from the standard Ranma timeline over 
five hundred years ago, the Empire of Japan rules almost half the world 
and has done so for almost a century.  A young scientist named Ranma 
Saotome, through a device of his invention, is now possessed of the 
skills and memories of a martial artist version of himself.  That same 
device has also given the Nabiki of this timeline an accidental copy of 
the skills and memories from an alternate version of herself, one who 
went on the ten-year training journey with Genma instead of Ranma.  An 
unexpected accident has now switched the mind of Professor Genma Saotome 
with that of his counterpart from the "Shampoo 1/2" timeline.  Ukyo 
Kuonji is now on her way to her destiny with the young scientist, and 
she is pursued by the warrior, Ryoga Hibiki, who has known her since 
childhood and believes her to be male.  Ranma, after failing to reclaim 
his true father, must now deal with this altered Genma, who has already 
engaged Ranma to Nabiki.  And now Nabiki is determined to show Ranma 
that it is she, not he, who is the stronger fighter.


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Chapter 10 - The Rules of Engagement

         If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not
         fear the result of a hundred battles.  If you know
         yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained
         you will also suffer a defeat.

                                  -Sun Tzu: The Art of War

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


*** Earth  0.000,0.000

Hikaru Gosunkugi walked quietly within that region of the Mobius 
Institute known as 'The Stacks.'  This place was where many of the 
various books and tomes on all things mysterious and magical were kept 
for reference use by its agents, except for the powerful and dangerous 
ones.  Each of those codices were kept very securely locked up and 
spell-warded in the vault, accessible only with permission of Director 
Kasuga himself.

The smell of old paper and preservative agents permeated the air in this 
section of the Institute, but Gosunkugi ignored the odd odors as he 
poked among the various books, seeking some means for exacting revenge 
upon that pure-bred bitch that Ranma had on his leash, Kodachi Kuno.  If 
he could hurt the girl Ranma loved for hurting the woman of his dreams, 
poetic justice would be served.  So the young esper had gotten up well 
before dawn to have peace and quiet during his search.  The population 
of magic-wielders working for the Institute was composed of many 
notoriously late-risers who preferred to do their studying at night, so 
he felt reasonably assured of solitude as he searched for the instrument 
of his vengeance.  He was perusing an index when a finger poked him in 
the back.

"Ahhh!" cried Gosunkugi, certain he had just lost a dozen years off of 
his life.  The older cadets often told stories of the creatures that 
were rumored to wander around loose through the lower halls (aside from 
the elderly Director Kasuga), and he was certain that one of them had 
just come for him.

"Gotcha," snickered a female voice behind him.

Gosunkugi whirled around, clutching the index book to his chest like a 
shield, to see a girl who was quite familiar to him standing there and 
looking very smug.  She was currently dressed in the white and red robes 
of a Shinto shrine maiden, and a somewhat thick pair of glasses perched 
on her snub nose, giving her a more mature look.  Her lustrous, red hair 
was tied back into a loose ponytail.

"M-Minami-chan," stuttered Gosunkugi when he recognized the young Ghost 
Sweeper standing where he had been certain a fiend from the lower pits 
of Hell would be.  "What's the big idea, scaring me like that?"

"Oh, Gos-kun," said Minami sarcastically, "you are such an easy target."  
She smiled brightly at him, pushing a lock of loose hair back behind one 
ear.  "What brings you down here this early in the morning?"

"Research," mumbled Gosunkugi.

"What was that?" asked Minami, wondering when he was going to ask her 
about the changes to her appearance.  Feeling a little hurt and annoyed 
by his lack of perception, she turned so that he could better see her.

"Just some research," said Gosunkugi more clearly.  The small lie he had 
worked out in advance came easily to his lips, so it was unfortunate 
that she had a spell of Lie Detection on him.  "I'm falling a bit behind 
in one of my courses here at the Institute, so I'm looking for some more 
reading material."  A brief fantasy of enchanting Akane Tendo into his 
arms rose unbidden to his mind, so he failed to notice that the young 
Ghost Sweeper was twirling a lock of her hair and now looking more 
crossly at him.  "So, uhm, what brings you here this morning?  I thought 
your first class wasn't until nine."

"I was doing some early reading before classes when I happened to notice 
you back here," replied Minami, briefly wondering what his real purpose 
here was, even as her finger tucked her hair back into place.  For a 
telepath, he certainly doesn't make it easy on a girl, she thought, 
mildly exasperated with the thin boy.  I spent over two hours yesterday 
with that book on cosmetic sorcery, and the idiot hasn't even noticed.  
She briefly recalled the efforts it had taken to recolor her hair to its 
present shade from its normal, duller red, altering her eyes to a more 
enticing shade of green, and, for the final touch, she had reconfigured 
her torso a bit to trim her waist, hips, and thighs of a few kilos of 
excess mass and enhanced her bustline a small amount with some of the 
displaced matter.  She knew she wasn't skilled enough with this sort of 
magic to remake herself into a supermodel's measurements, but she was 
rather pleased at the results.  However, all of that was apparently to 
no avail where a certain esper boy was concerned, and it made her feel a 
little hurt.

"Oh, that's nice," said Gosunkugi absently, feeling a little nervous 
with Minami around to watch what he was up to.  Strictly speaking, using 
any Institute resources for personal reasons was very much against the 
rules, and it could result in severe penalties if it was learned that he 
had done so.  He also felt wary due to the intense looks that she was 
giving him, as if she expected him to do something, and he wasn't doing 
it.

"Hikaru Gosunkugi," said Minami finally in irritation, "aren't you going 
to say anything about my appearance?  I'm trying out a new look, and you 
have yet to say a single word about it."

"Uh-uhm," stammered Gosunkugi, caught flat-footed by her sudden 
accusation.  He was doing a good imitation of an animal surprised by the 
headlights of an oncoming car.  "Y-you look nice, Minami-chan.  You did 
something with your hair?"  He saw her eyes narrow ever so slightly.  
"Did you try a new nail polish?"  Her eyes began to blaze with an inner 
light, and he knew that wasn't a good sign.  He made one last attempt 
and said, "Uh, I know!  You're wearing new shoes."  He smiled at her 
hopefully.

The glare he received in return could have frozen a supernova, and 
Gosunkugi mentally kicked himself as his esper senses picked up a stream 
of invective directed at him, most of them variations on calling him an 
idiot.  He watched as Minami whipped her glasses off with one hand and 
stared angrily into his eyes with a glare.  Uncertain what to do or say, 
Gosunkugi just stood there.  He felt himself begin to sweat from the 
stress of her gaze.  He always felt this way around Minami, a fact that 
the Ghost Sweeper sometimes used to her own advantage.  However, she did 
not appear to want to ask him for any sort of a favor now, and he could 
not figure out what he had done to make her mad.

"You might be interested in knowing that I am going to be attending the 
Academy alongside you and Kasuga-senpai," said Minami icily.  "I just 
got my transfer papers yesterday, not that YOU care.  Perhaps SOME boy 
there will know how to show the proper sort of appreciation for an 
intelligent and understanding girl like myself, not like the insensitive 
wretch currently standing before me."  With that said, she replaced her 
glasses, turned on a heel, and stalked off back the way she came with a 
feminine harrumph.

Girls, thought Gosunkugi, confused by what had just happened to him.  He 
liked Minami, but the young Ghost Sweeper was often an enigma to him, 
and she wasn't nearly as interesting to him as Akane Tendo.  With a 
shrug of his thin shoulders, he began searching once again for an 
appropriate book, not noticing one on the shelf above him beginning to 
move.  It twitched slightly as he examined some of the tomes directly 
underneath it.

The slender book quivered again a second time, the sorceries bound up 
within it triggered by the emotional emanations from the young man now 
seething below it with his desires for vengeance.  It slowly slipped 
forward a small amount, the plain brown cover disintegrating to reveal a 
gold-trimmed, black leather beneath.  When the last of the brown cloth 
had finished fading into ash, the book slipped forward another small 
distance and paused for a moment.  Then, with a final surge, the book 
leaped clear of the shelf, falling free of the volumes to either side of 
it, and plummeted the short distance to whack Hikaru Gosunkugi squarely 
on the top of his head.

The sunken-eyed youth collapsed to the ground, stunned by the unexpected 
impact.  After a moment, he shook his head, stared at the book resting 
in his lap, and almost heard it purring there.  He noted the faded black 
leather and the very scuffed gold trim.  Kanji symbols in more worn gold 
were revealed when he picked it up and looked at the binding, brushing 
aside some of the remaining ashes of the brown cloth that once covered 
it.

The kanji read, "Codex of Ineffable Sorcery - A Primer Into The Arts 
Arcane - Six Hundred Sixty-Sixth Revised Edition."

When Gosunkugi saw these words, he began to chuckle softly.  Then the 
chuckles slowly became louder and more menacing, until he broke off into 
a fit of coughing.  After catching his breath, he whispered, "Soon, 
Ranma Saotome, I shall destroy that bitch of a noblewoman, and then you.  
Prepare to face the doom I shall prepare for you."  He could hardly wait 
to start reading the book.

                   ******************************

As Ranma dressed, he sneezed.  He heard his mother downstairs in the 
kitchen already preparing breakfast, but so far he had not heard any 
motions from his 'father.'  That was perfect.  He was looking forward to 
a private discussion with Genma Saotome when his mother was not around 
to disturb them.  Luckily, the injury to his jaw was already healed, or 
he would be feeling even less charitable towards the man than he was at 
the moment.  Grabbing his red, Chinese-style shirt and quickly slipping 
it on as he walked, Ranma left his room and quietly paced the distance 
to his parent's room.  His ears detected some faint sounds as he drew 
nearer to it even as a stray thought occurred to him as he paused 
outside the door.  He would have to leave soon if he was going to make 
his scheduled appointment for the duel with Nabiki.  

I guess the old fool is learning the effects of an alcohol binge on a 
body that isn't prepared for it, thought Ranma without any sympathy.  A 
small smile lit his face as he placed his hand on the doorframe.

Inside the bedroom, Genma rolled over on his futon and sincerely wished 
that he was dead.  The din caused by Nodoka's movements in the room a 
short while ago had set off a pounding in his head worse than anything 
that Happosai had ever caused him.  The pain was unimaginable, and the 
room kept shifting in uncomfortable directions.  When the door slid 
open, the noise was like the sound of fingernails scraping down a 
chalkboard.  And when the voice spoke, it lanced through his skull like 
the wrath of ten thousand angry gods.

"Good morning, Father," said Ranma cheerfully.  "I trust that you slept 
well?"  He walked over and slipped the comforter from off the supine 
form on the futon.  This was after he raised the drapes in the room to 
achieve the full effect that he sought in this action.

The early morning sun caught Genma squarely in the face, bringing with 
it an entirely new concept of pain, and his desires to expire on the 
spot multiplied at least tenfold.  He whimpered like a baby and snatched 
the covers back as quickly as he could.  He caught sight of the face of 
his son smirking at him in that brief moment, dressed in a very familiar 
outfit, and he briefly wondered if the events of yesterday had been some 
sort of a nightmare.  However, that didn't explain Nodoka's presence, 
nor did it explain how drinking could have affected him as badly as it 
had.  For decades, he had rigorously conditioned his body to consume 
very large quantities of liquor without suffering any lingering effects.  
Now, he felt like his head was an anvil being used to forge sword blades 
for an army, and he wished that he felt well enough to wipe the smug 
expression from the boy's face.  He heard Ranma settle himself nearby 
and yank the cover back from protecting his face from the harsh light of 
dawn.

"You and I need to have a little chat, old man," said Ranma calmly.

"Ranma!" shouted Genma, but he immediately regretted it, another small 
whimper escaping his lips.  He continued much more softly and said, "You 
should give your father more respect than this, especially when he is 
lying on his deathbed."

"You aren't really my father, and you aren't really dying," said Ranma 
coldly.  He reached down and hauled Genma up by his lapels.  "You really 
don't want to test me, old man.  I know the troubles that you've caused 
in the past, and you aren't going to do it here.  This is a whole new 
world, and you don't know the rules.  I'm not the same sort of Ranma 
that you're used to dealing with, and I'm far more intelligent than that 
ignorant jock you raised."

Genma groaned as the room whirled, and his stomach made disturbing 
noises.  It appeared that Ranma was already on to him, and he hastily 
began to try and come up with some sort of backup plan, but failed.  So 
he decided to improvise.  In addition to that problem, the pain in his 
head seemed to be getting worse, and he swore a most solemn oath to the 
heavens that if he somehow was able to survive this hangover, he would 
never ever drink again.  He managed to focus his blurry vision on Ranma 
and frowned, deciding to brazen it out.

"How dare you speak to me this way, you lazy boy?" scolded Genma.  "You 
should be grateful to have me around now.  My example will make a real 
man out of you, not some pathetic scribe like you've been so far, and I 
can teach you many things that this other Genma never knew."

"Like what?  How to dodge out of a bar bill?" asked Ranma in a very 
sarcastic tone.  He tightened his grip on Genma's clothes.  "My father 
is a great man, a great scholar, and you have no right to belittle him.  
He's never done anything to me that could ever compare to what that 
other version of myself has undergone."

A memory briefly flashed across Genma's mind, the reason why Ranma had 
spent ten years training his mind and learning all the knowledge that 
the world had to offer.  Genma blinked at the memory, knowing that he 
now held a valuable trump card to be played, one to show the arrogant 
boy now threatening him that his father was not the great man he thought 
him to be.  He was so tempted to tell Ranma now, but something made him 
stay silent and listen to the pigtailed boy who was still ranting at 
him.

Ranma continued, not seeing the gleam appearing in Genma's eyes for a 
moment.  "I've seen the world that you came from, and now my own father 
is trapped there with all of your moronic mistakes!  So don't you dare 
even think about making yourself comfortable here!  As soon as I can, 
I'm going to send you back there and rescue him."

A wicked grin crossed Genma's face, and he said, "Oh really, boy?  I 
think I like it fine here in this life.  And besides, you're soft.  You 
aren't even a real martial artist, Ranma, and I'd bet even a girl could 
beat you up."

Ranma winced, ever so slightly.

Genma kept talking without appearing to notice, "Face it!  You're just a 
punk kid playing dress-up in that outfit, but I can make you the real 
thing.  I can make you into a real martial artist, even better than that 
ungrateful boy I used to call my son.  How does that sound, son?"

For a single moment, Ranma was actually tempted by that, and then he 
hated himself for even considering betraying his own father in favor of 
this... creature who now wore his face.  A low growl emerged from his 
throat, and anger filled his being.  Before he could stop himself, his 
fist slammed across Genma's face, knocking him into the wall and leaving 
cracks in the plaster there.  He started towards the fallen man, who was 
even now gathering himself, but he stopped suddenly and glared at Genma 
instead.

"You aren't worth it," said Ranma in disgust, partially at his own loss 
of control, partially in shame at feeling tempted by the offer.  He 
turned to leave, pausing for a moment to say, "And don't you even think 
about trying anything with my mother."  He walked out.

After Ranma left, Genma suddenly had a clever idea strike him, and he 
rubbed his jaw in thought as he stood up.  A nasty smile crossed his 
face as he quickly picked up the telephone receiver and started punching 
buttons.  He listened to it ringing on the other end several times, his 
eyes wincing in pain at each one, before being answered.

"Hello?  Fuyutsuki-san?  Genma Saotome here.  I have something I wish to 
discuss with you...."

As he went on to speak in serious tones with the man on the other end, a 
longtime friend to his counterpart, Genma Saotome smiled evilly.  His 
headache was still almost unbearably painful and pounding, but this 
phone call would neutralize any threat that this Ranma could offer him.

A short while later, after Ranma had left for classes, Genma heard 
Nodoka enter the room bearing a tray of tea.  He moved around a little 
on his futon and cursed softly at the lack of conditioning in this body 
for such manly pursuits as drinking.  His new position had again brought 
the morning sun straight into his eyes like the wrath of the gods, and 
he hid his face under the covers and whimpered in pain.

Nodoka sighed.  Genma had come home stinking drunk last night, and it 
was the first time that she could recall ever seeing him in such a 
condition.  Even at the celebration party after their marriage, he had 
remained very sober, and his strong sense of self-control had always 
been one of the things that had attracted her to him.  She set the tray 
of tea down and knelt by his side.

"Genma dearest," Nodoka said softly.  She heard him groan under the 
covers while she poured some hot tea into a cup.  It was a special blend 
that her mother had always used whenever her father was recuperating 
from one of his occasional drinking bouts.  She deftly whipped the cover 
off Genma's body, pinched his nose shut, and poured the whole cup down 
his throat in a single smooth motion.  Then she waited, patiently 
kneeling beside her husband.

When the herbal concoction hit his system, Genma sat straight up, and 
his eyes went wide.  He blinked rapidly, and he felt like someone had 
just stuck a firehose in his mouth and turned on the water full force.  
All of the remaining pains of his hangover were experienced in a single, 
blinding instant, rather than gradually over a period of time.  When it 
was over, he sat there, panting like a bellows.

"Feeling a little better, Genma dearest?" asked Nodoka sweetly.

Genma grunted, his mind fogged from a reaction to the herbal mixture he 
just drank combined with the remaining hangover.

Nodoka narrowed her eyes slightly at Genma in displeasure.  Her husband 
didn't look to be in any shape to instruct his classes for the day, so 
she made a mental note to contact his teaching aide to take over for 
him.  She poured another full cup of hot tea and shoved it into his 
hands as she said, "I want you to drink down this entire pot of tea that 
I made.  Now."  The sweet tones had been replaced with steel.

Genma swallowed the tea, and his eyes only bulged a little at the 
reaction it caused in his body this time.  Seeing Nodoka's unforgiving 
eyes upon him, he meekly held out the cup for a refill.  He drank down 
six more cups of tea before the pot was empty.  By the time he was done, 
he felt almost normal.

"Now, will you tell me whatever made you make such a disgusting 
spectacle of yourself last night?" asked Nodoka calmly.  She took the 
empty teacup from his hand, set it on the tray, then waited with folded 
arms for his answer.

Genma felt that lying would be a prudent course of action right now, so 
he said, "I-I don't exactly remember, Nodoka-chan."

Nodoka did not look convinced, and her arms remained folded across her 
chest.  She hoped that this was not some sort of middle-aged crisis like 
her father had gone through when he was Genma's age.  With her son's 
future happiness riding on the next few days, the last thing she wanted 
to contend with was Genma acting differently.  She frowned at him 
deeply.

"Nodoka-chan?" said Genma, beginning to panic, visions of a sword taking 
his head filling his mind for a moment.

"I want you to listen to me well, Dearest," said Nodoka, her voice 
sounding like plush velvet covering a steel gauntlet.  "I know that you 
have not been happy with the thought of Ranma becoming engaged at his 
age, but I will not have you sabotaging things by purposefully acting so 
disgracefully at this time."  She leaned in closer, her eyes now blazing 
with anger, and her finger firmly stabbed into his chest to punctuate 
her statements.  "You _will_ refrain from drinking, unless it is with 
one of the fathers of the families that we will be meeting this week, 
and you _will_ agree with my decision for the girl I feel would be best 
for Ranma.  Do you understand me, Dearest?"

Terrified at that moment, Genma could only nod mutely.  He then saw 
Nodoka's expression become its usual pleasant one once more, the power 
of her will hidden behind it.  He almost leaped out of his futon when 
her arms came up at him, but he relaxed when she only gave him a hug.

"I just want everything to go right this week, Dearest," said Nodoka 
quietly, and then she kissed him on the lips.

Genma blinked in surprise, but the kiss was unexpectedly arousing.  It 
had been a very long time for him, and now that his headache was gone, 
he felt up to other activities.  Ranma's recent warning was already 
forgotten as he pulled Nodoka in for a deeper kiss, an act that 
apparently surprised her.

"Dearest?" asked Nodoka, confused.  "What are--umph!"  Her question was 
cut off by the very passionate kiss, and she was surprised to feel 
Genma's hands quickly moving to the ties of her yukata.  She was more 
than a little astonished at his sudden ardor, and she wondered if it was 
some sort of a side-effect of the tea.  If so, she would have to make 
more, she thought in a brief period of clarity.

A brief time later, both of them were far too occupied to think about 
much of anything other than what was currently going on.

                   ******************************

Kinnosuke Kashuoh yawned slightly as he blinked his eyes open at the 
morning sunlight, and he stretched his arms as he enjoyed the feel of 
the silken nightclothes he was wearing.  A warm body was snuggled up 
against him in sleep, murmuring in gentle protest at his movements.  It 
took him a moment to remember which of his three 'pets' it was.  He 
looked down to see red hair, for it was Tiger's head now nestled against 
his side.  One of her trimly-muscular arms was resting across his torso, 
and the sensation was arousing him, not to mention how good the rest of 
her body felt to be pressed against him like it was.

Tiger yawned much like her feline namesake, blinking sleepily as her 
jade-green, slit-pupilled eyes adjusted to the early morning sunlight 
streaming in through the window.  Her tapering, cat-like ears perked 
forward as she smiled upwards at her Kinnosuke-sama.  She was wearing a 
sheer silk teddy in deep blue, because she knew that he liked seeing 
that color on her.  She was so happy that she had been the one chosen to 
share his bed the previous night, and a pleased smile caressed her lips 
as she recalled the jealous looks that Lynx and Panther had given her.

"Good morning, Kinnosuke-sama," said Tiger softly, a gentle purring 
undertone to her voice that was highly sensual-sounding.  "Did you sleep 
well?"

"Quite well, Tiger," said Kinnosuke in an almost perfunctory tone of 
voice, his eyes glancing at the clock.  He saw that he had some extra 
time this morning before he needed to bathe and get himself ready for 
classes, and he looked downwards at the loving face looking upwards at 
him, feeling a strong stirring of desire within him at the sight.  He 
had not done anything with Tiger the night before, preferring to focus 
his mind on his plans for his conquering of Nabiki and her organization 
to the exclusion of much else, but this morning was a different matter.  
He had not played with any of his toys for a number of days now, and his 
body was telling him that it had been long enough.

Without another word, Kinnosuke bent down and placed a firm kiss on 
Tiger's lips, feeling them parting for him immediately and with abandon, 
her hands moving to caress his neck and the back of his head as she knew 
he liked.  He felt her body roll on top of his as she opened her mouth 
and let his tongue duel with her own.

Things became more and more heated between them, Kinnosuke lightly 
growling with pleasure as Tiger's roaming kiss hit just the right spot 
on his neck.  Both of his hands gently ran along the length of her ears 
as he stroked her hair, and he felt them twitching gently at his touch, 
a sure sign of her enjoyment of his caresses.  He felt her soft lips 
nuzzling below his ear, her body's every movement exciting him just as 
it was designed to excite any man who owned her.  Knowing that she was 
his to command, her only desire to love and serve him with all of her 
being, was a most powerful aphrodisiac to him.  He put his arms around 
her and hugged her to him, feeling her tongue caressing his neck and up 
under his jaw.

"Kinnosuke-sama," purred Tiger, her passions feeding on her love for him 
and growing more and more intense.  Subliminal programs awoke in the 
depths of her mind, and her hands began moving to touch certain shiatsu 
pressure points on his body, those which would enhance sensual 
excitement in the human male.  She felt his hands moving slowly about 
her body, and a sigh of bliss escaped her lips.  Her ears rotated back 
in pleasure as she sat up, her legs straddling his waist, and her hands 
continued to probe around his torso.

"Oh, yes," murmured Kinnosuke, enjoying every moment of Tiger's touch 
upon him, feeling his own desires awakening even further at her 
direction.  When their two bodies were finally joined in coitus, the 
pleasurable sensations almost overcame his control, but he felt the 
redheaded catgirl's hands calmly touching and moving about his torso, 
each gentle but firm press of her fingers somehow slowing and dampening 
the urgency of his responses.

"Kinnosuke-sama," sighed Tiger, feeling her own pleasure gradually 
rising up within her like a tide as they moved together, and her ears 
remained flat to her head as the intense sensations consumed her 
attention.  Her trim body was now acting almost totally on its own, 
under the guidance of her subliminal programming, and she luxuriated in 
the touches of the man she loved so deeply, feeling him moving beneath 
and within her.  To Tiger, this was the fulfillment of the measure of 
her existence.

A short time later, an intense orgasm reached out and embraced Tiger as 
she felt her body buck against his for several moments.  Even as that 
happened, her hands moved to firmly touch various points on his body, 
quelling the urgent fires burning inside of him and keeping them from 
peaking just yet.  Her movements slowed for a short time as she caught 
her breath, but then they began gradually speeding up again.

As he hovered on the brink of his own release, Kinnosuke lost himself in 
the fantasies his mind conjured up by the motions of their two joined 
bodies, and he passionately whispered, "Oh, Nabiki-chan...."

Anger soured the sweetness of the intense sensual pleasures once again 
washing through Tiger's body a second time, but her programmed responses 
judged that her master was at the right point to let her send him off 
the edge into his own climax.  Her hands gently moved to touch certain 
pressure points, releasing the blocks on his internal energies that had 
been established.  However, when she felt his body shuddering beneath 
her in his pleasure, he whispered that hated name again, and rage filled 
her.  Intricate mental conditionings would not allow her to feel 
anything of a negative nature against her master, so the sum total of 
all that jealous anger was then channeled against the sole target 
remaining, even as their two bodies slowly relaxed after the release of 
passions.  Tiger breathed evenly, her eyes barely open, as she remained 
sitting straddled on the man she cared for with all of her being.

Damn you to hell, Nabiki Tendo, thought Tiger angrily, even as she felt 
her beloved's body slowly calming beneath her.  Tearing down your 
precious organization will be a pleasure, and I swear I will see you 
brought low before Kinnosuke-sama.  However, I do hope it is after 
intense resistance on your part.  A wicked smile crossed her lips as she 
gently moved herself off of her master, gathering up her clothes in an 
idle fashion and pulling on her yukata.  Please resist me with all your 
might, so that I can have the pleasure of shattering your will even as 
my fists break your body.

Unaware of the thoughts running through Tiger's mind as he absently 
watched her dress, Kinnosuke was enjoying the pleasant afterglow of his 
recent activities, endorphins now running strongly throughout his body.  
He studied Tiger, picturing Nabiki's face atop the catgirl's exquisitely 
toned shape, and smiled.  Perhaps after classes were over he would enjoy 
Lynx's more quiet charms, or maybe he would entertain himself with some 
playful wrestling with the statuesquely beautiful Panther before he took 
pleasure from her body in intercourse.  Or maybe he would take both to 
his bed, or perhaps even all three of them.  All in all, it looked to be 
a very good day.  He knew that the time spent away from the trio only 
enhanced their desires to please him, and that was partly why he would 
occasionally forego the many diversions that they offered him.  It gave 
him a sense of power that was almost as enjoyable as the pleasures of 
the flesh that they presented him.

The door suddenly opened, and Lynx and Panther entered the room, the 
tall, blonde catgirl bearing a tray with his breakfast.  Both of them 
were dressed in traditional yukata and obi, barefoot, and with their 
hair pinned up.

"Good morning, Kinnosuke-sama," said the two catgirls brightly in two-
part harmony.  They paused for a moment in the doorway, their noses 
catching the scent of recent sexual activity in the room, and the duo 
shot brief glares at Tiger.  But, a moment later, they were all smiles 
again as they presented themselves to the man they loved with all of 
their being.

"With your leave, Kinnosuke-sama, I will go and prepare your bath for 
you," said Tiger very respectfully while kneeling, one arm held across 
her chest as she kept her head bowed.  She arose when he grunted his 
assent, and she watched for a brief time as he began to eat his 
breakfast.  The redhead then quietly withdrew from the room, the other 
two catgirls watching her departure out of the corners of their eyes.

While Tiger's inner thoughts filled with bloody images of beating Nabiki 
Tendo to a pulp, she walked the length of the corridors in the west wing 
of the manor house.  Her ears laid back and a very quiet snarl escaping 
from her throat, she walked along with a purposeful stride.  Her eyes 
were set in a narrow gaze, the green of her irises filled with a jealous 
anger.  She entered the bathing area and proceeded to get it ready for 
her master's use, as well as taking the time to bathe herself if he 
desired her to join him in the tub, as he occasionally did.

Meanwhile, back in the bedroom area, and taking the subservience of the 
remaining two catgirls as his due, Kinnosuke ate his breakfast at a 
leisurely pace.  He fended off Lynx's brief attempts at trying to feed 
him with a cool-eyed glare.  He enjoyed the cowed look she gave him in 
return, feeling a heady surge of power at his ability to control such a 
woman so easily.

Soon, Nabiki, Kinnosuke thought with glee, you too will kneel before me 
and take your proper place as a woman, serving me as is my right as a 
man.  Soon.

                   ******************************

Nabiki arrived on campus a little over forty minutes before classes were 
to begin, her uniform in her bag.  She was dressed in a light-blue, 
short-sleeved, Chinese-style shirt (a color she was finding that she 
liked the most) and black gi pants.  The trim muscles in her arms were 
slightly tense with expectation.  She took a moment and inhaled deeply 
of the scent of cherry blossoms in the air, smiling.  The sky was clear 
except for a few scattered clouds.  It's just a perfect morning for a 
martial arts duel, she thought pleasantly.

Setting her bag down on the grass where the duel would take place, 
Nabiki began to do some stretching exercises to loosen herself up.  As 
she limbered up her body for what would only be her second real fight, 
she caught sight of some of her assistants approaching her: Yohko Mano, 
and behind her two other associates, Yuka and Sayuri.  All three of them 
were dressed in Security-cadet gray.  Nabiki nodded her head to them in 
greeting as they came nearer, pausing for a moment in her warm-up.

"Good morning, ladies," Nabiki said pleasantly.  She bent her body 
double as she stretched out one leg, feeling the muscles in her calves 
and thighs loosening up.  "Is everything ready for the show today?"

"We spread the word about the fight," said Yohko calmly.  "And from the 
surprising number of cadets already on campus, it should be a pretty 
respectable crowd to witness it.  Word has spread about what the two of 
you have been doing the last couple of days, and there are a few rumors 
floating around.  Is it true that you beat up a couple of guys on the 
street a few days ago?"

Nabiki blinked in surprise, since she was sure that nobody had been 
around to witness anything.  Still, with would-be Security Directorate 
operatives running around all over the place, it was not a very large 
surprise that someone might have been following her for surveillance 
practice.  However, she was a little miffed at herself for not detecting 
anyone doing so.

"That's true, actually," admitted Nabiki.  "It was those two punks, 
Hayate Isurugi and Kena Sadojima.  They weren't as tough as their reps 
would say."

Yohko raised one eyebrow.  She knew for a fact, based on how well she 
knew Akane's level of fighting skills, that the youngest Tendo girl 
could take on those two at the same time in a straight fight and likely 
win, but she had not suspected that Nabiki was an even better fighter.  
It was also pretty clear that Ranma was a tough combatant, since he had 
battled Akane as easily as if the girl was almost standing still.  This 
fight was looking more and more interesting.

"So why the duel, Senpai?" asked Yuka in curiosity.  "What has Ranma 
ever done to you?"

"It's a private matter between him and me," said Nabiki as she did a few 
more limbering-up exercises.  Her body felt supple and strong this 
morning, and she knew that she was drawing nearer to the level of 
conditioning that her counterpart enjoyed.  "Let's just say that both of 
us are curious to see how we would each do in a real fight against the 
other and leave it at that."

"Okay, Boss," said Sayuri with a nod.  She glanced at the other two 
girls with her and asked, "So what sort of odds do you want us to set on 
the betting?  Current opinion is favoring Ranma, since more people have 
seen what he can do.  Three to two odds?"

Nabiki thought about it for a moment.  Based on her sparring matches 
with Ranma, she assumed that his counterpart was not quite as skilled as 
her own.  Ranma seemed to be a fairly equal match for her physically, 
and he was a bit stronger that she was, as well as being able to take a 
little more punishment.  However, she was faster, and her counterpart's 
skills seemed to be superior to those that Ranma obtained from his own 
counterpart.  She was certain that other Nabiki would be able to take 
down that other Ranma in a one-on-one fight, so she was extremely 
confident she would win here today.  After all, she had already beaten 
him once before, and going at each other in a real fight would only give 
her the opportunity to prove her superior fighting skills to him even 
more decisively.

"Those odds sound about right to me, only set them up in my favor," said 
Nabiki with a grin.  If Ranma heard the odds, she was sure that would 
rev up his fighting spirits a bit, and she wanted them both to be at 
their best for this fight.  She really wanted to settle the issue of who 
was the tougher between them, at least at the point that they stood now.  
"Oh, and don't forget to take bets on the length of the fight.  I should 
have Ranma put down in under fifteen minutes, but he may last as long as 
twenty.  Set your odds based on that."

"Gotcha, Senpai," said Yuka, jotting it down in her notebook.

"Go start setting up bets," said Nabiki.  "Ranma will be here shortly, 
and I want to get started as soon as he does."

                   ******************************

Akane paused at the gates to Furinkan Military Academy and surveyed the 
area.  It was similar in appearance to the Imperial Academy, and she was 
a little relieved at that.  She tugged at the new uniform that she was 
wearing, the jacket feeling a little snug at the collar.  However, the 
pants fit her all right, and it was only a very mild adjustment for her 
to wear this much more masculine uniform design.  She was grateful to 
Kyoko for obtaining several in her size yesterday.

A commotion over by one of the cherry trees on campus drew her 
attention, and Akane witnessed a fight between two cadets taking place.  
Now this is my kind of action, she thought with a grin.  She casually 
strolled over to see what was going on.

A small crowd of cadets was gathered around the two struggling figures 
battling between the wall and the large cherry tree.  As she drew 
nearer, Akane could see that they were both boys, first-year cadets from 
the single stripe on their uniform sleeves, one currently beating in the 
face of the other with economical strikes from his fists.  She noticed 
that there were a couple of other girls standing around as well, but the 
vast majority was male.  She licked her lips as she wondered how quickly 
she could start testing herself against these other warriors-in-
training.

The loser finally crumpled to the ground, his face looking extremely 
battered and one of his eyes was swelling shut.  The other boy looked 
not quite as beaten up, but he had taken a few solid hits.  He enjoyed 
the cheers of the crowd at his skills, and one of the two other girls 
who had been standing in the small crowd looked at the victorious boy 
with shining eyes.  The other one, a girl with short brown hair and a 
single stripe on her sleeve, appeared to be studying Akane casually.

Akane chuckled at the fighting skills demonstrated before her now.  She 
did not appear to notice or care that several sets of eyes were now 
swiveling in her direction.  The boy who had just won looked at her with 
a very sour expression.

"What's so funny, little girl?" asked one of the upperclassmen, a brawny 
youth wearing two stripes on his right sleeve.  He was several 
centimeters taller than Akane, and he marched up to her as he spoke in a 
menacing tone of voice.

"I was just expecting to see better fighting abilities," said Akane 
casually.  "I could take on either of those two and win."

"The winner is my little brother," said the older boy angrily, "and I 
don't appreciate you mocking his skills.  If you're so very good, then 
perhaps you might put your fists where your mouth already is?  Girl, I 
challenge you!"

"My pleasure," said Akane, and her body surged forward as her fist 
struck the older boy up under his jaw before he could defend himself, 
with almost her full power behind the blow.  As his body sagged down, 
stunned, her knee quickly followed up the first strike by slamming 
upwards into his groin hard enough to lift him clear of the ground 
several centimeters.  Clutching himself in reflex, a greenish look now 
filling his face, he fell to the ground and began retching while Akane 
calmly watched his plight.  Several boys looked pained in sympathy for 
him.

Akane appeared disappointed.  She absently brushed her fingers back 
through her hair and sighed.  As she straightened her uniform, a modest 
rippling of conversation went through the crowd.  She only half-listened 
as she smoothed the cloth of non-existent wrinkles, ignoring the gasping 
figure at her feet.

"She just took down Yatagi-senpai without working up a sweat."

"She's a beauty though."

"Try ball-buster, instead."

"The other upperclassmen won't put up with something like this."

"Do you think she might get invited to join the Combat Club?"

Akane's eyes brightened at that last one, and she whirled to face the 
male cadet who had just spoken and asked, "What did you just say?"

The boy, a first-year plebe like herself, backed away from her holding 
his hands up in submission.  "I just wondered if you might be invited 
into the Combat Club."  Seeing that she wasn't attacking him, his voice 
gained confidence.  "Only the best of our fighters are allowed to apply, 
so the club contains only master level fighters.  It's said that to 
join, you must defeat three of the current members."  Eyes shining with 
awe, he gushed, "I bet that you'll be the first plebe ever to get in!  
See the Sergeant over there?  That's Kasugano-sama, she's a member."

Akane watched the other girl approach a moment after their eyes met.  
She studied her as she strode over, the girl's walk having the rather 
distinctive sort of grace that a well-trained fighter had, and her body 
was leanly built.  The girl's short brown hair blew freely in the sudden 
breeze that arose.

The girl stopped within a pace of Akane, and then neither one moved.  
Their gazes locked for several moments, as an unspoken communication 
occurred between them.  Akane idly noticed that the girl's height was a 
few centimeters shorter than her own, perhaps a hundred and sixty at the 
most, giving her a slight reach disadvantage against Akane.  Neither 
girl appeared to notice when the boy Akane was speaking to scurried away 
as quickly as he could without attracting attention.

"I'm Sakura Kasugano," said the other girl neutrally.  "Seventh Dan of 
the School of Holy Imperial Fighting."

"I'm Akane Tendo.  I'm unranked but mostly use the same school as 
yourself."

"You fight well, Plebe," Sakura said with a friendly grin.  "It took 
great speed and skill to defeat Yatagi-baka as quickly as you did.  
Perhaps you might like to test your skills against me sometime soon."  
She held out her hand.  "Would you like to be friends?"

"I think I'd like that," replied Akane sincerely, taking the hand and 
engaging in a brief test of grips that she only narrowly won.  She saw 
Sakura nod once.

"Welcome to Furinkan Military Academy, Akane Tendo," said Sakura with a 
slightly broader smile.  "Come with me, and I'll show you around the 
campus."  With that, the lean-built girl walked off, displaying a 
relaxed military posture in her spine.  Her hair waved about a little as 
she strode away.

Akane smiled.  The day had just begun for her, and things were already 
looking very promising.  She hurried after her new-found friend.

                   ******************************

As Ranma entered the gates of the Academy, he wore the fighting outfit 
Nabiki had gifted him with.  His uniform lay neatly folded in the 
bookbag slung over his shoulder as he intended to shower and change 
after this morning's foregone victory.  Grateful that his sleep had been 
peaceful, he felt ready for the coming challenge.  In fact, his body 
hummed with suppressed excitement.  A look of mild surprise crossed his 
face as his gaze took in the many knots of students, many more than 
should be there that early.  Dismissing them as an unneeded distraction, 
he walked towards the practice field and his 'date' with Nabiki.

Hiei Yuukyuuzan and Naka Seta watched Ranma from one side of the main 
building as he made his way past them.  Hiei's eyes blazed with hatred 
for Ranma, for making him look bad to his boss.  He knew that today was 
going to be his last chance for redemption.  Ranma Saotome, soon I shall 
redeem myself, with your broken body as the coin, he thought darkly.  
Enjoy your little match with Nabiki, because she's going to be next 
after I take care of you.

Naka was keeping his own counsel today.  His trademark smile was on his 
face as he kept Hiei company.  The two members of the Wolf Pack began 
following along behind Ranma silently, keeping their distance for now.

Ranma continued his walk out to the field, absently counting the number 
of cadets in the area.  He saw them forming a rough circle a good 
distance away from where Nabiki was warming up with some punching and 
kicking exercises, every movement economical and lean of any wasted 
motions.  Her short-sleeved shirt showed off the compact and pleasantly 
well-defined musculature in her arms, especially when they were covered 
in a light sheen of sweat like they now were.

A slight increase in the buzz of conversations going on around her 
signaled Ranma's arrival on the scene.  Nabiki paused in her efforts as 
she watched her challenger approach.  As she continued to watch, their 
gazes locked.  The intensity of the look caused a brief shiver of 
...need ...anticipation ...aggressiveness to whisper through her as she 
responded to the strength and confidence of the young man in front of 
her.  But there was also now something more present, something that she 
had simply not noticed in him before, even when they had been engaged in 
fierce combat with each other.

Nabiki quickly lowered her gaze as a flush appeared on her face, and she 
hoped that Ranma had not noticed her unexpected reaction to him.  She 
had always been very much aware of Ranma's physical attractiveness, and 
his blue eyes and handsomely-carved facial features had always been 
quite pleasing to her.  But the personality now lying behind his face -
the intelligence, the character, and the strength of will- gave it a 
life and energy that had just struck her almost like a physical blow.  
It was the first time the sight of a boy had ever taken her breath away.  
What he had gained for himself so very recently, something that Ranma 
had never displayed so openly to her before, was a measureless vitality 
that warned anyone who saw him that this young man was a force to be 
reckoned with.  The athletic grace that he now carried himself with as 
he slowly approached her only added to that image.

However, despite her strong feelings for him, Nabiki intended to fight 
Ranma as if nothing had changed.  It would be a severe insult to his 
abilities if she eased up on him in the slightest way, and she suspected 
that Ranma was feeling much the same.  Disregarding who and what they 
were only days before, both of them were warriors now, martial artists, 
and that carried a code of conduct that went beyond feelings of love or 
friendship.  If Ranma intended to defeat her, he would have to take that 
victory from her.  However, Nabiki was certain that she would win, 
despite the bravado that Ranma was now displaying, for she knew that her 
skills were greater and her reflexes were better.

At the moment of meeting Nabiki's gaze, Ranma had a cocky look on his 
face, feeling deeply confident in himself this morning.  After all, 
despite the taunts that Genma had spoken to him just a short time ago, 
he knew that he would win.  He refused to believe that any girl, even 
one possessed of the skills of an Heir to the Anything-Goes School, even 
his female counterpart, Ranko, was better.  His male ego, now backed up 
by the memories of those other lives, would not allow him to.  He was 
Ranma Saotome, and knew to the core of his being that he never lost when 
it counted.  An intense clarity of purpose had come over him.

Then the moment was gone.  Returning to himself, Ranma briefly shook his 
head to clear it.  He paused in his approach to Nabiki, and he felt that 
familiar tingling sensation starting up as he came near her.  He ignored 
his feelings of attraction with some difficulty.  It did not matter what 
he might or might not feel for Nabiki at this time; she was only his 
opponent now.  In a sense, she represented the ultimate test of his 
martial arts skills; a warrior who was trained to an equal degree as 
himself, and an opponent who would know all the same tricks that he 
knew.  Defeating her would be to ascend to the top of the final mountain 
and embrace the new life he had found for himself, and he wanted to win 
against her more intensely than he had ever wanted anything else in his 
life.  This would be his test, and he would not fail.

"Ready, Ranma-kun?" asked Nabiki pleasantly.  "You can always choose to 
back down, you know, and take your place in my shadow.  Or, if you think 
you can, you could show me how much of a man you are.  Not that I think 
you have any chance of defeating me."  She knew that was a cheap shot, 
but unsettling an opponent's mind with insults was sometimes just as 
effective as a strike to the ribs.

"Let's get to it, Nabiki," said Ranma calmly.  Without bothering to warm 
up, he settled into an almost relaxed combat stance.

Things began, and Nabiki could immediately sense that something was 
different about Ranma this time.  Her fists and feet lashed out at him, 
probing his defenses as they maneuvered around each other for advantage.  
Ranma responded in kind, his punches and kicks flowing against Nabiki's 
own defenses.  She could sense intense purpose in his movements, but 
there was also something more that unexpectedly began swirling between 
them, a powerful feeling of rightness.  This was what they were both 
born to be, to do, and yet there was also an almost sensual undertone to 
their struggle.  In a sense, they were Yin and Yang personified, and 
this was their first real battle with each other.  There was almost a 
feeling of expectancy in the air, as if anything was now possible.

"This is so exciting," said Yuka, now that all of the betting was taken 
care of.  She was standing next to Sayuri and Yohko, watching Nabiki and 
Ranma seemingly dancing with each other at incredible speed.  It was 
like being down on the Arena floor during a match.

"Uh huh," muttered Yohko, her gaze locked on observing the almost 
patternless motions that the two martial artists were using.  She caught 
a brief glimpse of Kyosuke coming towards her, but she very purposely 
ignored him as he slowly approached.  She had forgiven him over the 
weekend, but she enjoyed having him feel the need to pursue her.  She 
glanced at a couple of third-year cadets from the Video Club following 
the action with a portable video camera, and smiled.  "I'm so glad that 
Nabiki decided to film this fight.  We'll make a killing on selling 
this."

"Come on, Nabiki-senpai!" shouted Sayuri, pumping a fist into the air in 
her excitement.  She cheered for her friend with all of her heart and 
soul, feeling a heady thrill fill her at seeing Nabiki fighting so 
fiercely.  "Kick Saotome's ass!"

Ranma ducked under Nabiki's spin kick, his eyes and other senses 
watching the flows of her motions, and he waited for the proper moments 
to attack.  He somehow knew that she was doing the same, as they both 
became more and more focussed on their efforts against each other.  He 
blocked two of her punches, lashing out with a punch and kick of his own 
in return.  He could feel a sort of energy coalescing around the two of 
them, and it was growing stronger as the struggle between them became 
more intense and heated.  It was like what he had once felt during his 
fight with Akane, an almost overwhelming need to exert his dominance, 
one that apparently was also felt by Nabiki.  Yet he did not feel the 
same purely animalistic, almost sexual drive here.  That was present, 
but it was only part of what he was feeling, mixed in with a desire to 
prove himself to Nabiki as well as to himself.

Nabiki feinted, a move she sensed Ranma notice fractions of a second 
before she could strike him with her opposing hand.  Instead of a punch, 
her right foot lashed out as they continued to dance with each other.  
It was deftly parried by a leg block, and she felt her desires to defeat 
him growing ever stronger as Ranma proved himself more capable with each 
passing exchange of blows.  She gloried in the struggle going on between 
them, finding in this version of Ranma the opponent that her counterpart 
would never know, possibly even a true equal in skill, and she redoubled 
her efforts to overcome him.  Her hands and feet flew even faster and 
harder against Ranma, battering away at his defenses with relentless 
energy.

Ranma leaped into the air, earning a loud gasp of amazement from the 
crowd watching them, and Nabiki joined him there.  For several seconds, 
freed from contact with the ground and possibly in defiance of gravity, 
their bodies wove into and out of each other's defenses with incredible 
speed.  Blows that could easily break bone were turned aside with swift 
parries and dodges as their struggle continued to grow ever more heated.

I can do this, thought Ranma with assurance.  I'm as good as she is.  
No, I'm better.  With that thought, his fist slipped through her 
defenses and cracked into Nabiki's face, sending her back earthward with 
a short, thin stream of crimson fluid trailing from her nose like the 
fire of a comet.  First blood was Ranma's, and the crowd was enthralled.

Nabiki landed easily on her feet, flipping her body around in midair at 
the last possible moment.  She brushed her thumb against her nose, and 
it came away with several brilliant drops of blood on it.  It was a 
minor injury, and she knew it.  Without waiting for Ranma to land, she 
leaped into the air, aiming herself where he would touch down.  Her foot 
came down across his chest in an axe kick, catching him at the single 
moment when his defenses were weakest, while he recovered from landing.  
She lashed out again and again, raining a series of punches and kicks 
into Ranma, only a very few getting through his defenses before he was 
able to fully lock them back into place.

Then Ranma came back on the offensive, somehow finding the almost 
nonexistent holes in her defenses allowing him to land an occasional 
punch or kick of his own.  As minutes passed, he managed to strike a few 
hard blows into her face and body, roughly as many as he had just taken, 
and then the two broke apart for a momentary respite.  The crowd was 
cheering loudly around them, both of them having earned supporters from 
among them.  However, instead of dividing on gender lines, there was a 
fair number of girls shouting for Ranma's victory, just as there were 
appreciative cheers for Nabiki's efforts by several boys.

Nabiki sucked in a breath, feeling a sharp pain in her ribs from one of 
Ranma's hits.  She feigned disinterest with her few injuries, and she 
could see Ranma doing the same as they slowly circled each other, their 
gazes locked.  Nabiki could not recall any fight she had ever relished 
as much as this one, in either life.  Even her defeating of Kasumi had 
not given her such a thrill, and she was enjoying the struggle before 
she finally managed to defeat Ranma in front of all these witnesses.  
She remained supremely confident of that.  The only thing that concerned 
her was that many new techniques were in his arsenal, Chinese Amazon 
techniques, and she suspected they were a result of his most recent use 
of the resonator.

Meanwhile, Ranma studied Nabiki, feeling aches in his jaw and other 
places on his body.  He felt a wetness on one cheek, and he touched a 
hand to it, coming away with some blood.  He recalled her fist passing 
by his face very closely a few times, and her thumbnail had apparently 
caught him once as it went by.  He spit on his finger and wiped some 
saliva on the wound to try and inhibit the bleeding.

Nabiki suddenly sprinted at Ranma, determined to finish this quickly 
before Ranma could catch her with any new surprises.  My body still 
isn't quite fast enough to pull off the Chestnut Fist, or this would all 
be over now, she thought.  However, it was just as well, for she wanted 
to defeat Ranma this way, not simply end things quickly with a special 
technique.  Overcoming him with her regular skills, proving to him that 
she was simply his better at martial arts, that was how she wanted to 
win this fight.

Rushing forward equally quickly, Ranma engaged Nabiki in a new series of 
rapid-fire punches and kicks, blocks and counterstrikes.  The crowd 
watched in mild awe around them.  His right fist struck forward with a 
lightning-fast punch, his knuckles catching Nabiki to one side of her 
nose.  Her head rolled with the blow instinctively, and he moved to 
press his advantage as hard as he could.

Nabiki swiftly replied with a combination move, blocking his snap kick 
and counterpunching solidly into his abdomen before he could spin away 
from the hard blow.  She saw his breath forced out of his lungs in 
reflex, and his reflexes slowed for a critical moment as she spun her 
body around in a tight, reverse spin kick.  Her foot impacted hard just 
below his ear, catching him along the jawline with her heel, a blow he 
was not able to block quickly enough.

Pain exploding across his face, Ranma's body flew back almost twenty 
meters to impact hard into the chainlink fence.  He dimly heard the 
crowd gasp in amazement, more cheers from Nabiki's supporters ringing 
out for her.  He fell to his knees as Nabiki paused, smirking in his 
direction.

You're done for, Ranma-kun, Nabiki thought confidently.  I've taken your 
full measure, and you're no match for me.  I'll make the end of this 
fight swift.  It's the warrior's code, after all.

Ranma felt woozy, and he shook his head as he rested on hands and knees 
on the ground.  The pole holding up this section of the chainlink fence 
was bent from his body's impact against it.  He tasted blood in his 
mouth from one of Nabiki's strikes, and he could not seem to rise.  The 
world faded away into that vague region between wakefulness and 
unconsciousness.

"Get up, Ranma!" shouted a voice to his left.  "Get up and fight her.  I 
ain't never lost to a girl, and I ain't gonna see you lose now.  It's 
embarrassing!"  There seemed to be a ghostly figure hovering on the edge 
of his vision, but he saw nothing when he turned his head to look.  He 
lifted his head up and saw Nabiki as the voice suddenly spoke once 
again, shouting at him, "Get up, you wimp!  Don't prove that old fool 
right!"

Nabiki began charging at Ranma, determined to finish this.  She was 
going to show him that she was the true (albeit unofficial) Heir to the 
Anything-Goes School in this world, and she would prove herself to be 
its strongest fighter when she put Ranma down.  Her body quickly hit its 
full running speed, and she took to the air in a long, leaping kick.  A 
confident smirk crossed her face as she anticipated her victory over 
Ranma, and she knew it was only seconds away.

"You're not gonna lose to her!" screamed that voice once again, this 
time coming from somewhere behind him.  "You're Ranma Saotome, and you 
ain't gonna lose to Nabiki Tendo, you hear me!"  He saw Nabiki's body 
was now a little closer to him, the heel of her foot extended out before 
her.  "So get up and FIGHT!"

Nabiki's foot just missed Ranma by the narrowest of margins when he 
suddenly rolled to one side.  Her kick sheared through the steel pipe 
holding up this section of chainlink fence, and it fell outwards as she 
bounced off of it to land on her feet.  She saw Ranma standing a short 
distance away, and her senses detected a bluish glow rising up around 
him, the power of his chi filling the air in a bright aura that was 
almost visible even to the untrained eye.

"I'm not finished yet, Nabiki," growled Ranma, clothed in the aura of 
his chi as it glowed around him.  "I'm going to win this time."

"Oh, yeah, Ranma-kun?" asked Nabiki, feeling her own aura rising up 
around her in response to his.  In her mind, his defeat has already 
happened.  "You're already beat.  You just haven't realized it yet.  I'm 
faster and more skilled than you are, so how do you figure you're gonna 
win?"  Her feet were light on the ground as she ran over to Ranma.

"Simple," said Ranma with a cocky grin.  He ran right at her, head on.  
"I'm Ranma Saotome, of the Anything-Goes School of Martial Arts," his 
voice rose as he loped at her, "and when I really need to win, I NEVER 
LOSE!"  He suddenly flipped over Nabiki's head, in a move that many 
blue-uniformed cadets swore was physically an impossible act, and his 
foot came around in a blurring arc while he was still in midair.  The 
kick caught her hard across the face when she half-turned to follow his 
movements.

Nabiki's head snapped to one side, her body instinctively rolling with 
the blow to minimize the damage, but a sharp cry of pain escaped her 
lips anyway.  She had lost the initiative, and she struggled to get it 
back quickly.  But Ranma was relentless in his attacks against her.  
They traded more strikes, and a grim determination filled Nabiki that 
she was not going to lose, not to him.  She was the faster one, and her 
skills were better.  She knew this to be true.  So why was she now 
losing?  She doubled and redoubled her efforts to put him down, pushing 
her body to its present limits.

A hard punch from Nabiki's fist sank into Ranma's abdomen when it 
slipped through his guard, and he quickly responded in kind, his punch 
catching her across the jaw once again.  He felt her other hand firmly 
tap against a nerve point along his side, and his movements briefly 
faltered, allowing Nabiki to retake the initiative for a time.  He then 
received several more solid blows from her fists and feet before he was 
able to get it back from her.  When he did, he immediately exploited it 
with a vengeance and grimly kept up the pressure against Nabiki as hard 
as he could.  He knew that he could not falter for a moment with her, or 
she truly would finish him.

                   ******************************

Kodachi Kuno walked through the main gates of the Academy with a bright 
smile on her face.  Today, she was happily wearing a uniform composed of 
what she felt were more appropriate fabrics for someone of her station 
in the Empire, hand-tailored, and she was looking forward to seeing 
Ranma once again now that she was properly garbed. Today, Saotome-kun, I 
will tell you the truth about me, she thought with a faint quiver of 
nervousness in her stomach.

Waving at the car for the driver to take her brother to Whitehall 
Academy, Kodachi smiled at seeing his unconscious form slumped in the 
back seat.  Within moments after leaving Kuno Manor, Tatewaki had begun 
another tirade against "the vile Ranma Saotome."  After listening to 
this for almost five minutes, she had knocked him unconscious with a few 
well-placed strikes from her fists and spent the remainder of the trip 
in blissful quiet.  Their driver had wisely said nothing about that.

Kodachi, while pausing to straighten her uniform skirt, was puzzled by 
all of the commotion going on this morning.  A few students hurried past 
her, and she quickly learned that some sort of a fight was going on over 
behind the main building.  Not interested in any kind of plebian 
activities as watching what must have been two boys beating each other 
up, Kodachi turned her footsteps to the main building and settled in at 
the front steps to wait for Ranma to arrive.  She pulled a thin book of 
poetry out to pass the time and lost herself in the words.

                   ******************************

After over twenty minutes of fighting like this, both Nabiki and Ranma 
were still going strong, and the crowd was growing amazed at their 
stamina.  Minor injuries were gradually accumulating on both of them in 
the struggle, mostly scrapes and bruises, and each of them was oozing 
blood from nose and mouth.  Every now and then, a punch to one face or 
the other would speckle crimson fluid upon the grass beneath their feet.  
All around them, the crowd of cadets watched in fascination, since this 
was even better than an Arena match.  This was two of their own battling 
against each other for victory.

"Damn it, Ranma-kun," grunted Nabiki fiercely as they moved to grapple 
with each other fiercely, "you aren't going to win.  I'm the better 
fighter between us.  I know I am."  She deftly slipped a hand around his 
shoulder, trying to lock his arm into place and secure the hold she had 
on him, but he was somehow able to keep slithering free of her grip.  It 
was frustrating her immensely.

"If that's so, then why am I the one winning?" whispered Ranma into her 
ear teasingly, even as he felt his fatigue growing within him.  He took 
advantage of Nabiki's momentary indignation to reverse the hold she kept 
trying to get him into, swiftly bearing her down to the ground with a 
squawk of protest from her.  They wrestled with each other across the 
grass, the crowd beginning to make snide remarks that fortunately went 
unheard by the two combatants.  Nabiki's free elbow slammed solidly into 
his ribs as she attempted to free herself, but he took advantage of his 
greater strength to twist her arm up into a more painful joint lock.

"Ouch!" cried Nabiki as she felt her shoulder socket grind.  "Damn it, 
that hurts!"  She savagely drove her free elbow back into his ribs 
again, angry at him for the humiliation she was now feeling.  Her hips 
twisted around, and she attempted to free herself even as he struggled 
to subdue her.  Their actions at this point of the fight earned more 
amused comments from the crowd, but she could not get enough leverage to 
make a difference.  With another grunted cry of anger, she tried to flip 
him off her, punctuating her efforts with more elbow strikes against his 
side.  "I swear I'll get you for this, Saotome!"

"Surrender, Nabiki!" demanded a tired-sounding Ranma.  He somehow 
managed to get a hold on her other arm, and he now had her in a most 
compromising position against the ground.  He was trying to get her to 
yield before she noticed him getting aroused by their wrestling around 
like this, filling him with surges of desire for her, so he shoved her 
face into the ground, praying that she would surrender to him quickly.  
His only other option was knocking her unconscious, and he was oddly 
reluctant to hit her anymore.

"I'm not giving up, you jerk!" Nabiki growled.  Unable to get the 
reverse hold she sought, in order to squeeze the breath from him as she 
originally intended, she gathered herself and somehow managed to get 
herself out from underneath Ranma.  However, she was still unable to 
free herself from the firm hold he had her in.  Her chi aura was now 
burning very fiercely in tune with her building fury, and her muscles 
strained against the joint lock he had her in.

"Fine, we'll do this the hard way," Ranma growled back, and he very 
briefly released his hold on one of her arms, just long enough to land a 
quick punch into the back of her head.  He had to end this quickly, or 
he knew that she was going to pound him.  Ranma heard Nabiki give out a 
cry of pain, and then she somehow managed to contort herself free of his 
hold, ending up facing him.  He slammed a punch across her jaw as hard 
as he could before she could attack, and he felt the blood from her 
mouth and nose on his fist.

"You're not... gonna... beat me," grunted a weakening Nabiki, and she 
summoned her strength for one last effort.  Her body gathered itself 
beneath him, but Ranma's next punch knocked her unconscious a moment 
later.

Over on one side of the crowd, Hiei narrowed his eyes as he watched 
Ranma emerge victorious against Nabiki.  He turned to Naka and said, 
"When he goes into the locker rooms to change, then we take him.  He's 
injured and easy prey now."

Naka nodded and smiled even more broadly, looking forward to the message 
they would send to the other cadets with Saotome's defeat.  He turned 
his head to watch the small group of girls heading towards their fallen 
leader.  His eyes seemed especially intent on watching Yohko Mano in 
motion.  His smile dimmed a little as he observed Kyosuke following 
along behind Yohko, apparently keeping his distance but staying near 
enough to her to be of assistance if he was needed.

Still kneeling over the fallen Nabiki, Ranma let his arms relax to the 
ground as he took a moment to allow his body to regain some of its 
strength.  He took several deep breaths as the crowd went wild with 
excitement all around him, and then, when his finally energy came back 
sufficiently, he took some time to check over Nabiki for serious injury.  
He was very relieved to see that she wasn't badly hurt.  When he finally 
stood up, he noticed several girls approaching him.

Yuka and Sayuri both knelt down to check over Nabiki, while Yohko 
confronted Ranma.

"You fought well, Saotome-san," said Yohko with a nod of her head, her 
voice a little tight with concern for her friend.

"Thank you, Mano-san," said Ranma tiredly, but even now he could already 
feel more of his strength returning.  He saw Yohko look a little bit 
startled that he knew her name.  "Nabiki did not give me any choice but 
to do my best, but she should be fine though.  We weren't really trying 
to hurt each other."

"You could have fooled me from the way I saw you two were fighting," 
said Yohko with a slight frown.  "We'll take care of her from here, 
Saotome-san," said Yohko, bowing slightly to him.  "You go clean up.  
You look like a mess."

"Thanks a lot," said Ranma, somewhat sarcastically.  He endured a fair 
amount of congratulations for his efforts from many other cadets before 
he was finally able to break free.  When he recovered his bookbag from 
where he left it, he was relieved to finally have the chance to be able 
to go clean himself up.  He was going to be late for his first class, 
but it could not be helped.  He hoped Miss Kisaragi, his new instructor, 
would not be too upset with him.

Ranma trudged into the quiet of the locker room, his step tired as he 
walked.  He was looking forward to nothing more than a hot shower and a 
chance to clean the blood and dirt off of himself.  What he received 
were two menacing figures waiting for him within the locker area as the 
door closed behind him.

Hiei stepped forward, slowly cracking the knuckles of his hands as he 
smiled coldly at Ranma and said, "So we meet again at last, Ranma 
Saotome.  You can't know how much I've been looking forward to this."

These guys have got to be kidding me, Ranma thought with no small amount 
of irritation as he glared at the taller boy in front of him.  He 
noticed the one with a bokken moving to flank him.  I'm tired, bloody, 
and hurt, and these two jerks want to pick a fight with me?

"What the hell is this?" said Ranma tiredly.

"Let's just call it payback for smashing my head into a wall the other 
day," snarled Hiei, one hand making a gesture towards Naka.

"You two guys have picked the wrong person on the wrong day to go 
looking for a fight," said Ranma, backing up towards the door when he 
heard it locking behind him.  He glanced back to see a figure in a gray 
uniform moving away, but he could not see a face.

"I don't think so, Saotome," said Hiei, his fist suddenly blurring in 
with a powerful strike.

Ranma leaped up, momentarily using Hiei's head as a springboard to swing 
himself over, using his finger and thumb as the balance point atop the 
larger boy's skull.  As he was in the midst of his acrobatics, Ranma saw 
Hiei's fist smash right into the thick wall with a shower of dust and 
chips of concrete.  After clearing Hiei, Ranma did an agile bounce off 
of Naka's face with one foot and landed a short distance away, facing 
the two of them.

Naka casually flicked a thumb along a stud on the haft of his bokken, 
and the wooden blade suddenly split evenly down the middle along its 
length, to reveal the gleaming steel of a katana.  His smile turned much 
colder, and a glittering appeared in his eyes as he gazed at Ranma.  The 
footprint on his face did somewhat diminish the intimidation factor a 
little though.

Ranma blinked.

"Now, wait a minute, guys," said Ranma, eyeing the length of sharp steel 
in the boy's hands.  "Let's not do anything rash here."  He very agilely 
dodged the sword strike, but his bookbag did not survive the attack.  It 
split apart a moment later and fell into two halves.  Ranma blinked 
again.  Why me? he wondered, starting to get angry.

"I'm going to teach you a new meaning of suffering, Saotome," said Hiei 
coldly.  He advanced on Ranma, and gestured Naka to one side.

Ranma suddenly felt a slight buzz, from somewhere in the back of his 
skull as he eyed his two assailants.  Later on, he wasn't sure if it was 
some sort of an aftereffect of his fight with Nabiki, or if it was 
something else entirely.  All he could clearly recall of that time was 
feeling the weariness in his body and the lingering pains of his wounds, 
and all he could think of was that he wanted to get this over with as 
quickly as possible, preferably without losing any more blood.

Most people are not aware of it, but buried deep within every human 
brain lies a throwback to a previous epoch, from a far more primitive 
stage of human development.  What we have come to think of as our brain 
has grown around and over the cells of this hindbrain.  Nothing can ever 
remove it from us, not surgery, laws, or religion.  It has only five 
urges: to eat, sleep, fight, mate, and kill.  There are no cells for 
compassion, friendship, or mercy within it, for those come from the 
surrounding brain matter.  When fully aroused, this throwback brain is a 
powerful force.

Perhaps triggered by the stress of the situation, it fully awoke at that 
moment within Ranma.  The buzzing finally became too insistent to ignore 
any longer.  It reared up and demanded release, and Ranma gave himself 
to its control.

Blood suddenly thundered through Ranma's head, even as his heart began 
to race in his chest.  In the space of only a few moments, buried 
subliminal control programs were triggered by the awakening of this 
primitive self, flooding his system with adrenaline and endorphins, as 
well as several other complex serums from specially genetically 
engineered glands throughout his body.  His muscles surged and swelled 
with new vitality, his senses expanded, and his thoughts began to fly 
lightning-fast through his mind.  When it was complete, his body was now 
stronger, faster, and more efficient in every way.  The pains from his 
recent injuries vanished, and the many cuts and scrapes already present 
on his body clotted and ceased to ooze blood.

Ranma suddenly charged an astonished Hiei, moving almost too quickly for 
the human eye to keep up with.  His right leg lashed out in a kick and 
struck the larger boy solidly across the jaw with a bone-crunching 
impact, knocking loose several teeth, even before he had any chance to 
raise his arms to defend himself.  Even as Hiei's body barely had time 
to react to the first blow, Ranma was back between them.  The two 
bullies barely had time to realize that it was they who were trapped in 
here with him, instead of the other way around, and that was not how the 
game was supposed to be played.

The pair seemed to be moving in slow motion to Ranma.  Naka's sword rose 
at a glacial pace in his view, and then the pigtailed boy was upon him, 
his body almost inhumanly fast and strong, supercharged to the limits of 
the human frame's ability to bear.  One hand ripped the sword free from 
the boy's grip, dislocating the shoulder of the arm that had been 
holding it, and Ranma's other hand knocked him unconscious with a punch 
to the face that slammed the young bully hard against the wall.  Almost 
as an afterthought, the pigtailed boy pivoted and backfisted Hiei's 
chest, the sound of cracking ribs greeting his ears as the other bully 
lazily flew back to crash into the wall.  And as quickly as that, it was 
finished.

His body suddenly snapped back to normal, the hindbrain releasing its 
hold upon him, and Ranma almost passed out as the accumulated fatigue 
poisons and stress hit him all at once.  He had been using controlled 
hysterical strength, though not all of it.  Using his muscles to their 
full extent would have torn them clean away from the bones.  His abused 
heart hammered painfully fast in his chest, his breathing was panting 
and strained, and he was soaked in sweat.  He fell to sit on the ground 
as the chemical cocktail flushed itself from his system, leaving him 
feeling weak and shaky.  The shock alone would have killed him if he was 
an ordinary human.

Ranma stared at his two unconscious attackers and shivered slightly as 
he felt his body recovering from what had just occurred.  What the hell 
just happened to me? he wondered, feeling another mild tremor run 
through his body even as the last of the buzz faded from his mind.  
However, he also felt oddly euphoric, a product of the remaining 
endorphins floating around in his bloodstream.  He was strongly reminded 
of descriptions of the power inherent in the Cat Fist technique when it 
was unleashed, but this seemed to be something else entirely.  And he 
had been fully aware at all times.

For several moments, Ranma closed his eyes, feeling the trembling in his 
limbs fade away along with clear memories of whatever had just happened 
to him.  For those few seconds, he had been a perfect fighting machine, 
almost more than mortal, embracing fully the savage that lurked inside 
every man, and it had felt so very good.  He hugged his knees and opened 
his eyes, grateful in a way that it was not under his conscious control, 
for it prevented him from ever risking the temptation he would endure if 
he could call it up at will.

"Ranma?" asked a voice to one side, and Ranma looked up to see Coach 
Fujinami standing over him.  The large man knelt down next to him.  
"What happened here, Saotome?"

"They attacked me," said Ranma quietly.  "I defended myself."

"And quite a good job you did too, Cadet," said Fujinami with a hint of 
a smile on his weathered face as he briefly studied the two fallen 
forms.  His eyes narrowed for a moment when he saw the discarded katana, 
but then he turned back to Ranma.  "Are you hurt?  Can you stand?"

"I-I'm fine, Coach," said Ranma, standing up without any tremors in his 
legs remaining.  He studied his two former attackers for a moment or 
two.  "Am I in trouble, sir?"

"No, Ranma," replied Fujinami, standing back up.  "Don't worry about 
this.  Two on one strikes me as a case for self-defense, and I'm aware 
of the histories of these two troublemakers.  I'll take care of things 
for you.  You just get cleaned up and get yourself to class."

"Yes, Coach," said Ranma tiredly.  He quickly picked up his things and 
thanked the gods in the heavens that his uniform was somehow still 
intact.  Apparently, only his text on classical literature had lost its 
life in the attack on his bookbag, split cleanly down the middle.  He 
tossed it into a dumpster as he slowly headed for the showers, feeling 
his worries about what had just happened to him move to the back of his 
mind, for now at least.  For his father's sake, focussing on his rescue 
had to take priority.  Like with the Cat Fist on that other world, he 
would just try and avoid triggering it.  At least I don't have that to 
worry about, too, he thought with some relief.

Behind him, Fujinami paused a moment in thought, remembering the 
incredible sight he had just witnessed from his office with a fair 
amount of awe.  He had to inform the Dean of this.

                   ******************************

When the first bell rang for the beginning of classes, Kodachi was a 
little concerned that Ranma had not passed by her yet.  She had taken 
great care to array herself in a casual pose that would allow her face 
and figure to catch the morning light to best effect, and the way she 
was seated would display a somewhat brazen amount of leg for his viewing 
pleasures.  However, that was all to no avail, and now she was worried.  
She began gathering up her things, half-listening to some of the cadets 
walking by.

"Can you believe that fight?" asked one blue-uniformed female cadet.

"Nope, and Saotome-san was so dreamy looking," said the other female 
cadet with her, one also dressed in blue.

Saotome-san? wondered Kodachi, blinking.

"For a while there, I thought he was going to lose to Tendo-senpai, but 
he managed to win in the end."

The other girl nodded, and then she sighed and said, "I wish he was my 
boyfriend.  I guess now that Akane Tendo is no longer here, he's up for 
grabs.  Say, do you have those notes on those derivatives from..."  The 
closing door shut off the remainder of their conversation.

Ranma fighting Nabiki? wondered Kodachi with a frown.  A memory of 
Ranma's fallen form in that other world flashed across her mind, his 
blood spreading across her hands, a death that the Nabiki of that world 
had a part in.  Why ever would they be fighting?  She stuffed her book 
of poetry into her bookbag, her eyes narrowed in thought.  Torn between 
being late for class, or searching out either Ranma or Nabiki for some 
answers, her choice was simple when she decided to skip her first class 
and go look for them.  Saotome-kun, where are you?

Hoping to find him quickly, Kodachi headed in the direction of the 
gymnasium building.  One of the two would likely be there, she figured.

                   ******************************

Nabiki came to in the infirmary with a soft groan of pain, and she felt 
a bandage across her nose.  Her ribs were wrapped tightly with more 
bandages.  She heard a motion from next to her bed and glanced over to 
see Yuka setting down the textbook she was studying.  Nabiki smiled at 
the other girl and asked, "Can I have some water, please?"

"Here you go, Nabiki-senpai," said Yuka, handing her a glass filled with 
water.  "I'm glad to see you're all right."

"How did we do at the gambling pools?" asked Nabiki, swinging her legs 
to the side and sitting up.  She only felt a little woozy.  "I could use 
some good news."  She saw the other girl frown and gave her a rueful 
smile.  "Sorry, thanks for sitting up with me like you did."

"It's no problem, Nabiki-senpai," said Yuka.  "As to your other 
question, uhm, we didn't do so well.  Ranma's victory with the new odds 
you set only made things worse.  He even beat the odds on the duration 
of the fight."

That's what I get for being overconfident, thought Nabiki with a sigh, 
irritated at losing two ways on a single fight.  She stood up easily.

"Nabiki-senpai?" asked Yuka, alarmed.

"I'm going to go grab a shower and clean up," said Nabiki, picking up 
her bookbag from the chair it was resting in.  "You get to class now, 
okay?"

"Yes, Boss," chirped Yuka, bowing quickly before running off.

Nabiki smiled after the departing girl, then she headed down to the 
women's locker area to clean up for the day.  With luck, the first class 
was all that she would be missing.

                   ******************************

Kinnosuke sat in class and frowned, studying the note he had just been 
given.  Word had already come to him from one of his few agents at the 
present time that his two pawns had failed, and now the entire Wolf Pack 
was likely going to be expelled from the Academy.  A painful, but, 
fortunately, not a critical loss of resources for me, he thought, with a 
large dose of irritation at this setback.  In his mind, he cursed Ranma 
Saotome for delaying his schemes, finding the pigtailed boy to be the 
instrument of opposition to him yet again.  It would have all been so 
much simpler if those two idiots had managed to defeat him.  Now I'll 
have to put Tiger and my other two beauties to work.

As the instructor droned on at the front of the class about the theory 
of recombinant genetics, an area of biology upon which his own family 
fortune was built, Kinnosuke smiled coldly and leaned forward at his 
desk.  He knew that the trio would not fail him, and he would put them 
to work dismantling Nabiki's support network a piece at a time.  Folding 
his hands together, he pretended to pay attention to the old man in 
front of the class.

I will control the Academy, and Nabiki Tendo shall be mine.  It's only a 
matter of time.

                   ******************************

Nabiki stood under the spray of hot water, her face upraised into the 
flow as she basked in its warmth, and she slowly ran her fingers back 
through her hair as she stood there.  Sleek muscles moved beneath her 
skin as she washed herself.  She lazed under the stream of hot water as 
she rinsed the last of the soap from her skin.

The blood and dirt of her battle against Ranma had long since been 
sluiced down the drain, leaving behind only the pains in her flesh to 
remind her of it, and a few colorful bruises on her skin.  Her nose and 
mouth had been where most of the blood came from, the other scrapes on 
her limbs and torso only showing the loss of a few layers of skin.  She 
opened her mouth and let a small quantity of water enter, swishing it 
around with her tongue to cleanse out the last of the coppery taste of 
blood within, and she was grateful that none of her teeth were loosened.  
She spat out the mouthful of pale pinkish fluid in the direction of the 
drain.

All of a sudden, the water turned ice-cold, and Nabiki shrieked very 
loudly and involuntarily as she swiftly dashed out from beneath the now 
chill spray.  Shivering visibly, she stood there completely naked as the 
cold water sluiced off of her trim body, and a reflexive glance showed 
herself still female.  She glanced around and saw Kodachi standing 
there, with her hand resting on the main water control valve.  Wearing a 
smug look, the aristocratic girl turned the water off.

"What the hell did you do that for?" shouted Nabiki, grabbing up a clean 
towel from the thick stack and wrapping it around herself.  Water 
dripped from the ends of her hair, and she picked up a second towel to 
scrub the excess moisture from it before confronting Kodachi.  Her bare 
feet slapped on the tiles as she stalked towards the other girl, feeling 
a growing annoyance as she drew near.  She stopped a few paces away from 
Kodachi, and their gazes locked like two predators suddenly recognizing 
each other.

"I see that I now have your attention, Tendo-san," said Kodachi with a 
slight grin, her eyes boring into Nabiki's.  A sizzle of some sort of 
invisible energy seemed to pass between the two of them, even as the 
aristocrat girl continued to speak cordially.  Yet there was a hint of 
challenge in her voice that Nabiki could not miss.  "Forgive me, but I 
thought it amusing to introduce myself to you this way."

"I'm not laughing," grumbled Nabiki.  "What do you want, Kuno?"

"What was the meaning of this fight I have heard tell of, between you 
and Saotome-kun?" asked Kodachi, a glint of potential violence in the 
violet of her eyes.  Unconsciously, she compared Nabiki's body to her 
own, and she found herself a little jealous of the older girl's build 
and muliebrity.

"It was a private matter between us," said Nabiki, feeling even more 
irritated at being interrogated like this, especially by this particular 
noblewomen.  That it was Kodachi Kuno, remembering from her downloaded 
memories the perverted girl of that other world, only made it somehow 
worse.  Nabiki wasn't sure why, but she was coming to agree with Akane 
that there was something about Kodachi that whispered 'enemy,' or at 
least 'rival.'  She slowly walked forward to stand right in front of the 
noblewoman, glaring eye to eye with her, standing only slightly taller 
than she did.  "I don't see how any business I have with Ranma is any 
concern of yours."  Then, almost as an afterthought, she added 
sarcastically, "My Lady."

Kodachi narrowed her eyes as she met Nabiki's gaze with her own and 
said, "I'm making it my concern, Nabiki Tendo.  So I ask you again, what 
is the meaning of this fight I have heard tell of?  Why do you wish to 
cause Saotome-kun harm?"

"It was a duel, Kodachi," said Nabiki simply, even rudely, refusing to 
yield in the staring contest she found herself in.  She had lost to 
Ranma, but she was not about to lose a battle of wills to the aristocrat 
now standing before her.  "It was simply a test of our martial arts 
skills against each other.  If you continue to press me on this, I would 
be happy to challenge you next."

Kodachi blinked, and Nabiki smiled slightly in her small victory.

"And you lost to Saotome-kun?" asked Kodachi hesitantly.  She heard a 
sigh from Nabiki.

"Yes, I lost," answered Nabiki.  "He was better than I expected him to 
be."  Even better than I possibly hoped he'd be, she finished the 
sentence in her thoughts, then turned away from Kodachi.  She felt no 
particular need to volunteer any information for the other girl's use.  
"It was as simple as that.  He won, I lost, and now I begin training for 
a rematch against him.  I'm sure I'll beat him next time."

Kodachi frowned as she contemplated that for a moment, and then she 
said, "Why challenge Ranma?  There must be dozens of young men who you 
could fight with."

"It's personal," said Nabiki simply, "and I don't care to explain it to 
you.  So be on your way... underclassman."  Seeing the look of anger 
appear on Kodachi's face, most likely at being spoken to in such a way 
by a social inferior, brought one of Nabiki's usual smirks to her face.  
She saw Kodachi swell up for a moment in mild fury, then turn and walk 
away with a faint growl.

"This isn't over between us, Nabiki Tendo," Kodachi called out over her 
shoulder as she walked away.  With grace born of years of training at 
being ladylike, she made her stalk from the locker room look very regal.

"Somehow, I didn't think it was," murmured Nabiki thoughtfully.

                   ******************************

Ranma endured several hours of boredom, waiting for lunch and his free 
period, so that he could talk to the Dean and inform him of his decision 
regarding Nabiki.  He had decided to withdraw his resistance to her 
participation in class, and so there was no further need to continue the 
series of sparring matches anymore.  Not that he intended to cease 
sparring with Nabiki, far from it.  He now realized that she represented 
a test of his abilities that would constantly grow in skill with him as 
his own abilities improved, and the attraction he felt for her also did 
contribute to his desire to spend time with her.  Since they both seemed 
equally dedicated to improving themselves, he welcomed the efforts that 
he knew she would offer against him.  After all, he would have done the 
same if the situations were reversed, and had.

Before he did that, he wished to take care of some work in his lab.  He 
had a few ideas for solving the transference issue, so that he might be 
able to rescue his father soon.  He wanted to take some time and sit 
down with the computer in his lab and run through some of the schematics 
to check out the results of his mental calculations.  He considered 
extending an invitation to Nabiki to watch over him while he checked in 
with his father for a little while, but he did not wish to concede the 
issue of needing anyone's help quite just yet.

Luckily, Miss Kisaragi, Ranma's first instructor, seemed to like him, so 
she did not make him stand in the hallway with buckets for the remaining 
time of first period.  He occupied himself with watching her walk around 
the room as she discussed the role of the Citizen in the Empire, and he 
even participated in the remaining time of the class.  Today's topic was 
about the notion that "every Citizen was a soldier to defend the Empire 
in time of need."  Despite his abilities at recall, all Ranma remembered 
of the class was how attractive Miss Kisaragi looked in her dress.

However, the next couple of classes were exercises in boredom, and Ranma 
almost fell asleep a couple of times.  Eventually he was released from 
his scholastic purgatory, and went to his lab.  He slid his key into the 
door, only noticing the new addition of a large padlock at the last 
moment, one that did not open to his key.
 
Ranma paused in the doorway, blinking in surprise at the new lock and 
wondering what it meant.  An envelope lay against the base of the steel 
door, and it caught his eye as he wondered at the addition of the 
padlock.  He picked the envelope up and discovered a note addressed to 
him within it.

The note read, "Cadet Saotome, after reviewing the progress of your 
efforts with your father, I have decided to terminate your research 
subsidy, and your equipment will be packed up and returned to the 
Ministry of Science for salvage and disposal.  Per your father's 
request, this class period is to be added to your physical training 
regimen with the singular goal of improving your conditioning to even 
higher levels.  Sincerely, Kozo Fuyutsuki, Presiding Dean of the 
Imperial Academy."

"Genma," Ranma breathed out with a slight snarl, crumpling the note in 
his fist.  Visions of beating Genma Saotome to a bloody pulp filled his 
mind as he stood in the hallway and tried to think of what he could do 
now.  All he had at home were his notes and the datadisks with the 
software and all of the duplicated files for the scanned paraverse 
coordinates he had investigated so far.  Without the support of the 
Academy, he didn't have anywhere near the resources that would allow him 
to recreate his equipment.

"Father," Ranma suddenly murmured, feeling the heat of his anger cool 
with the realization that his real father would not have any idea what 
was going on.  Without the resonator, there was no way to contact him.  
Ranma shut his eyes and took a few deep breaths.

"I'm not going to be beaten by that fat, drunken fool," said Ranma 
softly to the empty air.  "I'll figure a way out of this, I swear I 
will."

                   ******************************

"Come in, Kuno-dono, come in," said Dean Fuyutsuki from behind his desk, 
gently waving his hand to Kodachi.  He bowed to her with a smile, then 
gestured for her to sit in one of the chairs before him.  "I trust that 
you are settling in here at the Academy and your classes so far?"

Kodachi seated herself gracefully and said, "Yes, Dean Fuyutsuki, I am 
acclimating myself well so far."  Especially now that I no longer have 
to contend with that annoying barbarian, Akane Tendo, she then finished 
in her thoughts as she smiled.  "I am curious as to why you wished to 
see me though."

"It's nothing to be concerned about," said Fuyutsuki, flipping open a 
file with her dossier within it.  "I was just going over some of your 
performance evaluations from Blackhall, and I must say that I'm quite 
impressed.  I have rarely ever seen such high scores, even among the top 
cadets here at the Imperial Academy."

Kodachi blushed slightly at the compliment, smiling gently.

The Dean continued, "However, I feel that you are capable of far more, 
so I wish to make you an offer, Kuno-dono."

"An offer, sir?" asked Kodachi, puzzled.  "What sort of offer?"

"You might not be aware of this, but I currently have two of the 
Academy's finest athletes involved in a special training regimen," said 
the Dean, his gaze meeting Kodachi's.  "And I wish you to join them in 
this.  It involves very rigorous physical conditioning, backed up by 
intensive martial arts training at the highest levels."

"Well, I don't know," said Kodachi, feeling uncertain.  "What are the 
other two cadets in the course like?"

"One of them you are already familiar with, Kuno-dono," said Fuyutsuki 
with a smile, "Ranma Saotome."

Kodachi blinked, feeling for a moment as if the temperature in the room 
had risen several degrees.  She lowered her gaze and felt her blush 
deepening.  The chance to spend time with Ranma would be worth any sort 
of physical discomfort to her.  And she was curious to see how far she 
could train herself as well.  It was a win-win situation.

"If Ranma is in it," said Kodachi with a bright smile as she looked up, 
"then I accept."

"Excellent," said Fuyutsuki, closing her dossier with a smile.  "The 
other member of your soon-to-be-trio is an upperclassmen to you, Nabiki 
Tendo.  They have only been at it for a few days, so I'm sure that you 
won't have any difficulties catching up."

Somewhere deep inside Kodachi, there was a faint cracking of glass 
heard, and her smile turned somewhat brittle.  So I have to compete with 
that other Tendo girl? she thought with mild bitterness.  Very well.  If 
it means spending time with Ranma Saotome, then I can even put up with 
the presence of Nabiki Tendo and her damnably perfect figure.

"You may return to class now, Kuno-dono," said the Dean calmly, as he 
folded his hands before him.  "I will be down to watch some of your 
first class period, to see how the three of you get along."

"Very well, sir," said Kodachi.  She stood up, bowed to him, and exited 
the room.

                   ******************************

Ranma had already been struggling at his training for an hour when 
Nabiki came out dressed in a standard Academy training outfit for girls: 
a T-shirt with "Property of Imperial Academy Athletics Department" 
emblazoned upon the front, shorts, white socks, and running shoes.  He 
took a break from doing his pushups to watch her approach, grateful for 
the opportunity to rest.  His bruises were making the pains of his 
efforts far worse than normal, but he saw Coach Takami eye him without 
comment.

However, he was surprised to see Kodachi Kuno come out of another door 
of the locker room and follow Nabiki towards him.  He wiped some sweat 
from his brow as he watched her hesitantly approach.  What is Kodachi 
doing out here with us? he wondered.

Nabiki was wondering the same thing, a slight frown on her face as she 
settled herself down to begin warming up.  Her muscles were feeling 
strained from the intensive efforts of this morning, so they were not 
very appreciative of her activities.  Luckily, that went away as she 
stretched them out.

Kodachi presented herself to Coach Takami and said, "First-year cadet 
Kodachi Kuno reporting for special training, Takami-sensei.  I hope to 
learn a great deal from all of this."  She smiled brightly for Ranma's 
benefit, pausing to look over at him.  She then settled herself a short 
distance away from Ranma and began to stretch, taking it slow when she 
noticed him watching her, even as he tried not to look like he was 
watching her.

Floozy, thought Nabiki with a grumble as she worked out a kink in her 
right calf.  She noticed the Dean come out and confer with Takami about 
something or other, seeing the two men eyeing all three of them.  When 
she turned to look at Ranma, she saw him giving Kodachi more than a 
casual glance, and she frowned at that.

"Hello, Saotome-kun," said Kodachi quietly.  Her resolve to tell him the 
truth about herself seemed to vanish when her eyes met his, and a small 
swallow rolled down her throat.  "I'm looking forward to training with 
you.

Nabiki grunted and looked away from the two of them, feeling a faint 
burning in her eyes.  She resolved to use today's class to show Kodachi 
Kuno that she was wrong in thinking Akane was her true competition for 
Ranma.  Very wrong indeed.  No girl was going to take Ranma from her.

                   ******************************

Ukyo stared sullenly out the window of the train, and her chin rested in 
the palm of one hand as she leaned against the frame.  I wonder what 
sort of a guy this Ranma person is? she wondered, her eyes reflecting 
the sight of farms and country roads passing by outside the train.  Papa 
hasn't told me much about him other than that he's supposed to be a 
brilliant scholar.  One hand plucked glumly at the cloth of her yukata, 
since her mother had strongly insisted that she show up dressed in 
traditional garb.  As part of this, Ukyo was armed with only a few 
shuriken and her war fan at the moment.  Her mother hadn't wanted to 
shock the Saotome family, so she had purposely gone lighter than her 
usual amount of weapons.  She felt naked without a sword, or even her 
battle spatula, at her back.

A quick glance at her mother only deepened Ukyo's depression.  She was 
doing needlepoint as their train zipped across the countryside.  Her 
skilled hands didn't miss a single stitch as they moved.  Ukyo's own 
brief attempt at needlepoint sat in her lap, mostly unfinished, since 
she had accidentally sewn it to her yukata twice now.  It wasn't very 
much fun doing all these traditional feminine things.  She would much 
rather have spent her time practicing her martial arts, and she found 
herself hoping that nothing came of this meeting.  Perhaps then, 
finally, her family would leave her alone about getting married.

Her father was reading one of the financial newspapers.  Ukyo hadn't 
seen him poke his head out from behind it ever since the train had 
started moving.  He occasionally turned the page and hummed mildly at 
something or other that he saw.

I can hardly wait until this is all over, Ukyo thought as she turned her 
face to look out the window once more.  I doubt that this Ranma guy will 
be very interesting.  How exciting could it be to be married to some 
scholar?  He probably doesn't even know how to defend himself.  This is 
going to just be a waste of time.

                   ******************************

Nodoka scurried all over the house to get everything ready for the 
arrival of their guests, a bright smile of contentment on her face.  She 
was still a little astonished at Genma's vigor and passion that morning, 
although he had been a little quicker and rougher with her than was his 
norm.  Still, despite its brevity, the activity had helped to take her 
mind off of thoughts about her son and the upcoming meeting with the 
Kuonjis.  At her insistence, Genma had left a few hours ago to attend to 
his afternoon classes and would not be expected back until very shortly 
before they arrived.  That left her the whole day to prepare food and 
clean the house from top to bottom.  Still, she spared a little energy 
to consider the changes in the men in her life.

First my son becomes all mysterious and a bit moody on me, Nodoka 
thought as she paused in her cleaning of the toilet, and now my husband 
is acting differently too.  It's enough to drive a woman to distraction.  
Oh, I hope that this meeting tonight goes well.  I hope that Ranma and 
the Kuonji girl get along.

                   ******************************

Dean Fuyutsuki studied the paperwork on his desk as he waited for his 
computer to download and process the data and images that he had 
recorded of Kodachi Kuno.  She had sparred with Nabiki while Ranma was 
sent off to run, giving the Dean an excellent opportunity to gather good 
data on her capabilities.  He could tell that the two girls seemed well 
on their way to a healthy rivalry, and he was certain that would focus 
the Kuno girl on improving herself.

After a time, Fuyutsuki heard the system beep, and he took a look at the 
results on the monitor.  He punched up Kodachi's data and watched as the 
screen cleared and a video sample taken from the fight was displayed in 
one window.  In another box, the computer began running down its 
preliminary calculations for each of the young noblewoman's vital 
statistics.

Name: Kodachi Kuno
Age: 16
Sex: Female
Height: 1.65 meters
Mass: 49 kilograms
Physical Capabilities:
    Structural Integrity:  77.29
    Muscle Strength:  76.01
    Lung Capacity:  80.16
    Eyesight:  85.22
    Auditon:  92.60
    Dynamic Eyesight:  93.51
    Metabolism:  91.67
    Neuroreflex:  88.47
Offensive Capability:  74.58 
Defensive Capability:  75.63
Recoverability:  84.44
Speed:  83.80
Perseverance:  84.52
Objectivity:  75.81
Perception:  86.62
Judgment:  82.01
Adaptability:  83.72
Estimated Current Fighting Capacity:  1416.06

"A fair bit below Ranma and Nabiki's level of performance, but still an 
acceptable beginning," murmured Fuyutsuki as he studied a slow motion 
replay of the sparring match.  Nabiki's injuries had obviously hindered 
her somewhat, but she still managed to defeat Kodachi in less than two 
minutes time.  He made notes as to areas where the instructors should 
work to build up Kodachi's capabilities, then he leaned back in his 
chair.

"Everything is proceeding on schedule," he said with a smile, studying 
the setting sun moving down slowly in the sky.  "All is going according 
to plan."

                   ******************************

Akane fidgeted outside the gates to the Imperial Academy, waiting for 
Ranma to emerge.  She checked her watch once again, noting that his 
training class with Nabiki must be over with.  She hoped that her sister 
had kept Kodachi away from Ranma today like she promised.  Losing him to 
the nobly born, yet base girl was not going to happen, now that Akane 
intended to make him hers.  She would do all in her power to keep Ranma 
for her own, and no other girl was worthy of him but herself.  She 
smiled brightly as she fantasized about the challenge she intended to 
make to him, and she adjusted her new uniform with only a hint of 
nervousness.

Ranma walked towards the main gate like a man heading towards his own 
execution.  He had defeated Nabiki, but that was really the only good 
thing that happened to him today.  Now he had to face this meeting with 
Ukyo, and he was not looking forward to it.  With a sigh, carrying the 
remnants of his sloppily-repaired bookbag, he trudged out the main gate.  
He was half-expecting Nabiki to be there, but he was greeted by one of 
the Tendo girls, at least.

"Ranma Saotome, I challenge you!" said Akane firmly as she stepped out 
from where she was standing against the wall.  Her finger stabbed out in 
his direction, and Ranma only felt annoyance.

This is not happening, Ranma thought with a groan, realizing that this 
was going to be his third fight in a single day.  His limbs seemed to be 
radiating fatigue now, and he knew that Akane wasn't going to let him 
past without fighting him.  Dropping his bookbag, Ranma made his choice 
to end this once and for all by giving Akane what she wanted from him.  
Maybe then, he thought, she would leave him alone.  He tiredly assumed a 
casual stance and waited.

"Come and get me, Akane Tendo," said Ranma, hoping he would be able to 
restrain himself from taking his frustrations out on the girl.

With a savage grin, Akane charged Ranma.

Less than five minutes later, Akane's battered form was face down on the 
ground, and Ranma was feeling a little better about things.  He had 
managed to force down the distractingly high level of sexual attraction 
he felt for Akane as they fought, and he was pleased that he was able to 
restrain himself from injuring her other than the few bumps and bruises 
when he put her down.  With a rather cheerful look on his face, he 
picked up his bookbag and walked off.

Akane regained consciousness a short time later and saw that Ranma was 
gone.  She held one hand to her face, feeling the bruise forming there 
on one cheek, and smiled.  I lost, she thought dreamily.  Now I know I 
love you, Ranma Saotome.

Somewhere on his way home, a pigtailed scholar felt a shiver quite 
suddenly run through him.

                   ******************************

Ukyo followed her parents as they walked through Tokyo, casually 
watching the sights of the Nerima Ward passing by.  Her meeting with 
Ranma Saotome was drawing near, and she was surprised that she felt a 
little bit nervous.  Her father had a smile on his face as he pointed 
out some of the sights that he remembered from his boyhood.  Ukyo just 
looked around with something akin to awe.

Tokyo was a very large place, in Ukyo's opinion, and it made her feel 
more than a little like some sort of country bumpkin.  She had grown up 
surrounded by mountains and small villages with few people, so the 
immense city that surrounded her now was like nothing that she had ever 
experienced before.  It was actually rather intimidating.  There are so 
many people, thought Ukyo with a little nervousness.

"We're here," said her father calmly.

Ukyo looked around.  The flow of people had faded off to a trickle as 
they wandered away from the commercial district and the local train 
depot, and the pleasant neighborhood that surrounded them now was almost 
completely peaceful.  They were standing next to a high wall that must 
have protected a good-sized yard, and a large wooden gate, with a simple 
brass plaque bearing the kanji for Saotome upon it, stood before them.

"Are you nervous, Ukyo-chan?" asked her mother as she began fussing with 
Ukyo's outfit.

"I'm not nervous, Mother," replied Ukyo, as she endured the fussing 
stoically.  I just want to get this over with, she thought calmly to 
herself.  She had been trying to imagine what Ranma Saotome was like, 
based on the description and photo obtained from the matchmaker.  At the 
present, she imagined Ranma to be a rather dull sort, the type of boy 
that held no interest for her.  I want a life of adventure, and I doubt 
that Ranma Saotome has any interest in that sort of thing.

                   ******************************

Nodoka kept looking at the clock on the wall.  The Kuonji family was 
going to arrive at any minute, and Ranma still wasn't home.  She stood 
like a fretful statue in the doorway that led to the kitchen area, and 
she only took her eyes off of the clock to briefly glare at Genma.  She 
watched her husband sitting there in an unusually relaxed pose at his 
usual place at the table, drinking tea, and the ease that he had in his 
manner irritated Nodoka.  Honestly, she thought with some despair, that 
husband of mine has no sense of propriety.  Doesn't he realize how 
important it is to find a good wife for Ranma?  He acts like he doesn't 
care.

Genma was feeling very mellow.  A brief stop at one of the little pubs 
in the region had relaxed him with the help of only a bottle or two of 
sake.  He was determined to regain his old level of drinking ability, 
and he knew that regular training was the key to success.  He was also 
finding that he enjoyed the respect afforded to a tenured professor at 
the Ministry of Science.  Spending a few hours a day lecturing about 
high-level mathematics and other subjects that he knew surprisingly well 
now (finding the information readily available in his memory) was about 
the easiest job he could imagine having.  He anticipated a comfortable 
retirement in this life, enjoying all that it had to offer, especially 
since he still had Nodoka and Ranma with him, in a certain sense.  He 
took another sip of tea and sighed with contentment.

I swear, if he does anything to ruin this, Nodoka swore darkly, glaring 
now at Genma and wondering at his acceptance of things.  She wanted this 
night to go over perfectly, and Ranma was still not home.  She fretted 
for a moment over the location of her son.  Where is that boy?

Nodoka heard the jingling of the bell at the front of the house.  After 
giving her clothes one last inspection, she went to answer it.  Before 
opening the door, she paused with her hand on it, took a deep breath, 
and let it out slowly.  She forced a cheerful smile on her face to hide 
her nervousness and slid the door open.

                   ******************************

Ukyo sat at the table with a neutral expression on her face.  The 
introductions between the two families had been very formal and proper.  
The only surprise for her had been that Ranma wasn't there.  She had 
remained silent, and her face did not betray her feelings.  However, 
underneath the table, one hand was clenched tightly into a fist.  It was 
the only outward sign of her growing irritation.  She saw that the two 
mothers were doing most of the talking, and the two fathers had seemed 
to come to an unspoken agreement to let them do so.

What kind of a jerk is this Ranma Saotome guy, that he doesn't even show 
up when his potential bride shows up? thought Ukyo sourly.  She and her 
family had been visiting with the Saotomes for almost thirty minutes.  
She confirmed her estimate of the time with a quick glance at the clock.

Finally, Ukyo decided she had endured long enough.

"Excuse me," said Ukyo quietly.  The four adults looked at her.  "Where 
is Ranma?"

"Ahh," said Nodoka with an embarrassed look.  "He appears to be running 
a little late from his classes at the Academy."  She looked at Genma 
helplessly.

"My son is involved in a training class to improve his physical 
conditioning," said Genma seriously.  "However, he should be arriving 
home at any moment."

"What?" asked Ukyo in surprise, a little louder than she had intended.  
Her mother frowned at her.  I've traveled for most of the day, dressed 
myself up in this frilly getup, and that... jackass... isn't even here?  
How dare he do this to me!  Her neutral expression had now been replaced 
by an angry frown.  She suddenly imagined Ranma as some sort of frail 
weakling, based on what Genma had said, and her mood darkened further.

Quickly filling in the embarrassed silence, Nodoka said, "He was 
selected for special training after we set our meeting time.  I did not 
know how to contact you to change our appointment.  I am sorry."

An interesting reaction, thought Genma with drunken detachment.  I may 
be able to fend off Nodoka's plans yet, at least with this one.  The boy 
is too young to think about marriage yet, not until he attains a level 
of ability that I deem sufficient to carry on the Anything-Goes School 
of Martial Arts.

"Why is your son training, Saotome-san?" asked Akira Kuonji calmly.  He 
was curious about the boy now, whereas before he had only viewed Ranma 
as a lifeline tossed to a drowning man.

"The boy was selected for intensive training in martial arts at the 
Imperial Academy," replied Genma in a diplomatic tone of voice.

Ukyo blinked, surprised at this development.  She did not notice the 
brief glance that her mother and father shared with each other.

Genma continued on, "He shows great promise in his fighting skills, and 
I know that he will be a great warrior, willing to give his life for the 
Art.  That is how much it means to him."  Genma wiped a sudden false 
tear from one eye, smiling inside at the eager looks he was being given 
by Akira Kuonji.  "The boy has such promise.  He only needs the support 
of a good woman now."

Nodoka blinked, stunned.

With a smile, Genma produced a bottle of sake and invited Mr. Kuonji to 
sit with him and leave the women to talk.  The two men left the room and 
went out onto the back porch region to chat.  Genma gave Nodoka a wink 
and a nod before he went outside.

At the same time, a tired Ranma returned home and slipped off his shoes, 
with gratitude, in the front entryway, also setting his destroyed 
bookbag down next to them.  "I'm home," he called out.

Ranma, thought Nodoka gratefully.  She smiled at the two Kuonji women 
and said, "My son is now home.  I know that he will make a good 
impression on you."

Ranma came into the dining area, spotted Ukyo, and impulsively called 
out to her, "Hey, Ucchan."  He suddenly realized what he had just done 
and felt like a total fool.  He immediately bowed to the three women, 
hoping in vain that his gaffe might pass unnoticed, and seated himself 
at the table across from Ukyo.

Nodoka and Ukyo's mother looked at him, surprised.  They saw that Ranma 
had a bandage across his nose and looked to have been in a recent fight, 
a few fading bruises on his face.  He also moved with occasional 
hesitancy from his injuries.

Ukyo felt an almost electric shock run through her at her first sight of 
Ranma, even as her thoughts went something like, H-how dare he speak to 
me so familiarly?  She looked down and began blushing as he sat, an 
unexpected surge of desire for the pigtailed boy affecting her, and she 
suddenly felt extremely shy.

Ranma gazed at Ukyo and felt a smile cross his face at the sight of her.  
I guess I was worried over nothing, he realized with relief, thinking 
that he had been silly to be afraid of seeing Ukyo.  But a tingling in 
his body made him wonder if friendship was all that he was feeling for 
the girl.  He could not bring himself to tear his gaze away from looking 
at her, and he thought that she looked so very appealing dressed in 
traditional feminine garb as she was.

Ukyo was unable to bring herself to meet Ranma's gaze, and she could not 
figure out what was wrong with her.  Her fingers twiddled with each 
other under cover of the table as she tried to understand what was going 
on.  He wasn't anywhere near what she had been expecting, and his easy 
movements were a sure sign of a well-trained fighter.  Each time she 
tried to look at him, her stomach tied itself into such a knot that she 
had to bend over again.  She found herself wondering what he looked like 
underneath his clothes, and her blush deepened as she continued to stare 
at her cup of tea before her.

"Perhaps we should give the two of them a few minutes alone to get to 
know each other a little," suggested Nodoka gently, after spending a 
minute glancing from her son to Ukyo and back.  Receiving a nod from 
Ukyo's mother, the two women withdrew to the kitchen to talk on their 
own.

For several minutes, the two teens seemed unable to speak to each other.  
After his initial, overly-familiar greeting, Ranma was not sure what to 
say, so he contented himself with looking at Ukyo and thinking, She sure 
is cute.  On the other side of the table, the ninja girl was sitting and 
trying to sort out her very confused feelings.

During this whole time, Genma Saotome and Akira Kuonji were talking and 
drinking sake.  It was a companionable moment between the two men, and 
Akira found himself unburdening his concerns to Genma.  Both of them 
were well on their way to being drunk.

"I tell you it's been terrible, Saotome-san," said Akira, slurring his 
words slightly.  "I have been unable to secure a husband for my only 
daughter.  W-what sort of a father am I to be unable to do that?"  A few 
tears began to flow from his eyes.

"I know the feeling, Kuonji-san," said Genma, feeling the effects of the 
sake in his system giving a pleasant glow to everything.  "But I may 
have the solution to your problems.  My son.  Ranma."

"You agree to an engagement?" said Akira, his hopes growing.  When he 
saw Genma nod once, he brought out the marriage contract.  "Ukyo does 
bring a very... a very good dowry with her.  She is to inherit our 
family shrine and all other family assets when she marries."  As he 
looked down to find the suddenly misplaced contract in his robes, Akira 
did not notice the brief glow of avarice shining in Genma's eyes.

The contract was shortly signed and both men affixed their seals to it.  
Genma held out his hand and the two men clasped arms, securing the deal 
with a pledge of honor between them.  That singular act brought a happy 
smile to Akira's face.  They toasted the event with another cup of sake.

"We must keep this a secret though, Kuonji-san," said Genma with a 
conspiratorial look.  Especially since Ukyo will be Ranma's number two 
wife.

"Why?" asked Akira, confused, even as he swiftly pocketed his copy of 
the contract.

"My son will honor this agreement," answered Genma, "but I wish to make 
it a surprise for my wife.  You understand how it is."  He saw Akira 
nodding drunkenly, grateful to agree to anything Genma said by this 
point.  "For now, we will tell our children that Ukyo will be staying in 
the area to allow them time to get to know each other."  He felt 
extremely proud of this idea.  The two men then went back to finishing 
off the large bottle of sake they had brought with them.

The two fathers came back into the dining area, finding the two 
teenagers discussing the merits and pitfalls of weaponless and armed 
combat.  Hearing the commotion made by the two men, both mothers 
returned as well.  Akira suddenly clapped Ranma smartly on the shoulder, 
startling the pigtailed boy.

"Your son certainly seems nothing like his portfolio, Saotome-san," said 
Ukyo's father with a slight twinkle in his eye.  "I came here with 
expectations of someone more... scholarly... in nature, and now I find 
him to be a young warrior as well.  He sounds like he might be just the 
man for my little Ukyo."

"What?" shouted Ukyo in irritation, temporarily forgetting her shy 
feelings.  Yet a glance at Ranma silenced her as her shyness returned 
with a vengeance.  She went back to absently twiddling her fingers.

"However," said Akira, ignoring his daughter as he nodded slightly to 
Genma, "so as not to rush into anything foolishly, it has been agreed 
that Ukyo will remain in the area to get to know Ranma better.  If 
things go as well as I hope, then the marriage between our two families 
will occur within the year."

Both Ranma and Ukyo seemed to visibly tense at that announcement.

Genma has apparently taken my little speech to heart, thought Nodoka 
gratefully.  I knew he would come through for me.  She was now secretly 
finding herself favoring the Kuonji girl to become Ranma's new fiancée.  
Ukyo reminded Nodoka of herself as a girl, for some reason, and Ranma 
needed a strong woman to guide him, as she had tried to guide Genma.

"I think my wife and I would be proud to have Ranma become Ukyo's 
husband," said Akira with a conspiratorial wink at Genma, "if the two of 
them end up getting along, that is."  He moved over to his daughter and 
clapped his hands down on her shoulders.  "A strong girl like Ukyo will 
be able to provide many healthy children for the Empire, when, er, if he 
marries her."  And the girl needs someone strong enough to stand up to 
her.  She does take after her mother that way, he finished in his mind.

"Papa!" exclaimed Ukyo, scandalized.  She glanced at Ranma and felt 
shyness strike her once again, going quiet and staring at the tabletop.

"Excellent," said Ukyo's mother.  "I've seen more than enough to be 
satisfied.  I truly think Ranma will be a good match for my daughter, 
especially since my husband feels so strongly about it."  She smiled at 
the Saotomes.  I've found a good husband for my daughter at last!  He 
sounds like a strong fighter, as well as a brilliant scholar.  I just 
know that he will father many exceptional children for the Clan.

Nodoka smiled as she nodded in agreement.  This is all working out so 
well.  If things don't go well with the Kunos or the Tendos, then I just 
know that Ranma will marry Ukyo.  She felt a pleasant glow fill her at 
the thought of grandchildren.

"Ukyo will be staying with some of our relatives in the area until the 
wedding can take place," said Ukyo's father with a smile.  "Her aunt 
runs an okonomiyaki shop, and I hear that it's quite popular in the 
area.  Ukyo is a good cook, and the experience should do her well."

"Okonomiyaki?" asked Genma with surprise.

"Yes," replied Ukyo's mother proudly.  "My sister-in-law uses the old 
Kuonji family recipes.  I don't believe that your son will ever taste a 
finer okonomiyaki than the ones made by my little Ukyo, once she learns 
the finer points of their creation from her aunt.  Ukyo hasn't had much 
of an opportunity to learn them, what with her duties at the shrine and 
her other training."

I can't believe this is happening, thought Ranma as he stared at the 
tabletop, trying to control himself from pounding on Genma in his 
mother's presence.  He glanced over at Ukyo and was captivated by the 
bright blush on her cheeks.  Well, maybe this isn't going to be so bad, 
he conceded, since it isn't as if there's any agreement between the 
families.  She and I could just, uh, date.  That thought created a 
fountain of butterflies in his belly.

Ukyo continued looking down at the table, her blush finally fading, as 
she thought sourly, Judging by my parents, it looks like I'm going to be 
stuck with marrying this Ranma guy now.  My father is sure not going to 
let this chance to marry me off get away, if I know him.  I guess I'm 
going to have to explain to Ranma how things are going to be between us, 
after I get settled in.  Maybe we can come to some sort of an 
understanding.  The thought of spending time with Ranma was oddly 
pleasant to her, and she wondered if he might be interested in helping 
her keep up her training.

"Then, it's all settled," said Genma proudly.  He poured the last of the 
sake into Akira's cup.  "Here's to the future."

The two fathers toasted while the mothers looked on contentedly.  There 
were smiles all around, except from the two now-engaged children seated 
at the table.

Ranma and Ukyo finally met each other's gazes, and he tentatively smiled 
at her.  That set off a fresh blush in Ukyo's cheeks, but she did not 
lower her eyes, finally having mastered herself sufficiently to look on 
it as a challenge of wills.  She met Ranma's look with her own and 
answered his smile with a small one of her own.

Both of them were now thinking almost exactly the same thing.

Maybe this won't be so bad.  What's the worst thing that could happen?

"Would you like to be friends?" Ranma asked Ukyo.

"I'd like that... Ranchan," said Ukyo, an impish smile on her face.  She 
enjoyed the startled look on his face.

There was the distant rumble of thunder in the skies.


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


The boost is a concept borrowed from the "Deathstalker" novels written 
by Simon R. Green, a terrific space-opera style story.

Ghost Sweeper Minami is a character created by D.B. Sommer in his story, 
"Shampoo 1/2", and is used with his permission.

Thanks to my pre-readers for all of their help and advice:

Michael Allen
Jim Bader
Donny Cheng
David Eddy
Jed Hagen
Jason Liao
D.B. Sommer
Stardragon
T.H. Tiger
Wade Tritschler