*** Earth  0.000,0.000

Akane paused in her workout with the heavy punching bag, wiping some 
errant perspiration from her brow with the sleeve of her light yellow 
gi.  She looked around the training hall, shrugged her shoulders, and 
then returned to brutalizing the bag with solid punches and kicks.  She 
quickly lost herself once again in her exertions, enjoying the feeling 
of her body in motion, a private dance of lethal skill.  The fading 
bruises from her brief, losing combat with Ranma a few hours earlier 
hindered her slightly, but she had trained while injured before.  And 
she knew that they would be almost completely faded by the morning.

Outside, Nabiki peeked in through the open window at the back of the 
training hall, her body suspended by her feet from the edge of the roof.  
She was dressed in one of her many Chinese-style outfits, this one being 
composed of the usual black gi pants, but topped off by a sleeveless 
sea-green silk shirt.  She was finding that she liked the look of blues 
and greens on her in her shirts.  She shifted her position slightly, her 
legs beginning to twinge a little from the strain on her injured body, 
but she was getting some great action shots of her little sister.  They 
should be worth a fair amount of yen from Akane's new fan.

The small camera in her hands gave off another gentle clicking sound.


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


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 
accident with the resonator switched the mind of Professor Genma Saotome 
with that of his counterpart from one of the few "Shampoo 1/2" timeline 
variants, and he has engaged Ukyo Kuonji and Nabiki Tendo to Ranma so 
far.  After a fierce battle with Nabiki, Ranma defeated her, one of 
several fights he became involved in that day.


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Chapter 11 - Girl Troubles

     In revenge and in love, woman is more barbarous than man.

                                  -Friedrich Nietzsche

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

   
After consuming triple portions for dinner, a level of consumption that 
even surpassed Akane's usual appetite, Nabiki retired early to her bed.  
She decided to skip her homework tonight in favor of a couple of hours 
of extra sleep to recover from her savage brawl with Ranma.  She was 
already a couple of months ahead in all of her classes, so none of her 
instructors would even notice any difference.  One advantage she had 
over her counterpart was her almost eidetic memory.  In the weeks and 
months to come, she was confident that she would be able to use that 
ability to remain well ahead in all of her studies even while she 
pursued a brutal new physical training schedule.  In addition to her 
time at the Academy, she planned to put in at least two extra hours a 
day on top of that.  She felt confident that five to six hours of 
training daily should build her physique up to very acceptable levels in 
only a short time.  Not that she considered herself to be out of shape, 
except when she compared herself to the lean and hardened figure of her 
martial artist counterpart.

As Nabiki brushed her hair while preparing for bed, she pondered three 
things: Akane's battered, bruised, yet smiling condition upon her return 
home, Kodachi's obvious desires to claim Ranma, and her own 
strengthening feelings for the pigtailed boy.  Nabiki had absently 
witnessed Akane's rather contented grin all through dinner, lost in some 
private fantasy that probably involved Ranma.  It gave Nabiki a chance 
to think about the new developments in her life.

After brushing out the last few tangles in her hair, she set down her 
brush and slowly laced her fingers together beneath her chin in an 
unconscious imitation of her father's thoughtful pose.  She gazed at her 
reflection solemnly, her thoughts whirling chaotically in her mind.

Nabiki could not bring herself to believe that she had let her 
unexpected emotions for Ranma get the better of her, for that gave him 
an advantage in their dealings that she found intolerable at the present 
time.  Whenever he was near her, he confused the trained orderliness of 
her thoughts, and that was unacceptable to her.  She was not some 
blushing, shy little schoolgirl out of some romance manga.  She was 
Nabiki Tendo, sometimes called the 'Iron Bitch' of the Imperial Academy 
behind her back, and she was a young woman who prided herself on her 
independence and her abilities at controlling her surroundings.  She 
resolutely refused to believe that she was showing such a bothersome 
'weakness' for Ranma, even as she wondered if her feelings were why she 
had lost to him.  She was certain that the pigtailed scholar was not her 
better in skill, so it was obvious to her she had allowed herself to be 
defeated, somehow.

That realization was still troubling, but much less so than the 
alternative.  The need to be the best burned deeply within Nabiki, some 
of that, but not all, carrying over from the absorbed memories of her 
counterpart.  She knew that she must challenge Ranma again to regain her 
place within her internal picture as to the proper state of things - 
that Nabiki Tendo was the top fighter in the area, and it was most 
definitely not a young man named Ranma Saotome.

Overconfidence had dealt her two irritating losses for the price of one: 
the loss in combat to Ranma itself, and the loss of a fair amount of 
money on his beating of all the spreads she established.  She had even 
underestimated his endurance for setting the time duration bets on the 
fight.  However, she was very confident that she would recoup her 
monetary losses when she challenged him again and won.  She knew that 
she would beat him the next time, and the time after that.  Her one loss 
was only a temporary setback.

Standing up from her dressing table, Nabiki examined the bruises on her 
face one last time, grateful that her father had not seen her in such a 
condition and that Akane was too distracted to inquire about them.  They 
were already fading, and she was certain that she would be back to one 
hundred percent come the morning, after several hours of needed 
restorative rest.  Collapsing into bed, Nabiki closed her eyes and let 
slumber quickly carry her away.

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

Nabiki found herself standing in the familiar surroundings of the Tendo 
Dojo, barefoot, and dressed in Chinese-style clothes with a blue shirt.  
She was paused in the doorway, the walkway leading to the main house 
lying behind her.  A hazily indistinct figure was kneeling in the middle 
of the room.  When Nabiki stepped fully into the dojo, the figure of her 
counterpart snapped into sudden clarity, also barefoot and dressed in 
Chinese-style clothes, with a light green shirt.

"Hello again," said the other Nabiki, opening her eyes and looking over 
at her.  She stood and bowed to the new arrival, a smirk suddenly 
appearing on her face as she did so.  "You lost to Ranchan, I saw."

Nabiki blinked before returning the bow, clearly not expecting the smirk 
and the reproof in her counterpart's greeting.  She straightened up and 
frowned as she said, "It was only a temporary setback.  I'll just train 
myself harder and try again in a few days."

"And you'll lose again," said the other Nabiki.  She tilted her head to 
one side slightly as she looked at the blue-shirted Nabiki.  "Why do you 
think you lost this time?"

"Ranma added Amazon techniques to his arsenal," replied Nabiki, a bit 
puzzled by the question.

"Wrong," said the green-shirted Nabiki, but then quickly added, "And 
you'd realize why if you thought some more about it.  Observe."  With a 
dramatic wave of her hand and a grin on her face, the scene quickly 
changed around them, forming into the fields back behind the Academy.  
Frozen ranks of cadets stood around them, none breathing.  Ranma was 
halted in mid-step as he walked towards her, that moment when she first 
turned and was clearly able to see his face.

"Cute trick," said the blue-shirted Nabiki dryly.  The clarity of the 
image was astonishing.  She never realized how clear her memories were 
of that event.

"Thanks," replied the other Nabiki with a smile.  "Oddly enough, it 
reminds me a little of something that I once saw on a dubbed, American 
science-fiction program, but that's beside the point.  Now take a look 
at Ranchan's eyes.  Tell me, what do you see?"

Nabiki walked over and studied Ranma closely, noting the purposeful gaze 
on his face.  She turned and said, "He looks like he really wanted to 
win."

"Correct," noted the green-shirted Nabiki with a slight smirk on her 
face.  "Ranma wanted to win very badly, and that was why he did.  His 
skills were roughly equal to yours, or mine, however you care to look at 
it, for you also have many Amazon fighting techniques in the skills you 
gained from me.  So it wasn't a new move or two that let him win, it was 
his driving need for victory, the one you can see so clearly in his 
eyes."  There was an odd, almost unnoticeable tone of wistfulness 
present in her voice as she paused for a moment, gazing at Ranma with an 
inscrutable look on her face.  "That was why he won."

"What?" Nabiki blurted out, not noticing the other girl's pause and odd 
tone.  She turned from her study of her opponent.  "I wanted to win, 
too!"

The other Nabiki shook her head slowly and seemed to sigh, as if she was 
addressing a slow and possibly dim-witted student, irritating Nabiki 
greatly.  She then said, "No, you were certain you would win, but Ranma 
had more than that.  Not only was he certain he would win, he wanted to 
win.  He _needed_ to win.  There's a difference."

"How so?" asked Nabiki.

"Look at me," said the green-shirted Nabiki, gesturing at herself with 
her thumb.  "I've long understood what your Ranma now apparently knows, 
what I hope this talk will help you understand.  Victory doesn't always 
go to the fastest or to the strongest.  In my experience, it most often 
seems to go to the one who desires victory more strongly than their 
opponent does, so strongly that they reach far, far deeper into 
themselves than they otherwise ever would.  I enter every fight with 
that attitude, that hunger for victory, and I've always won in the end.  
Your Ranma did that, and you lost."

"Damn it!  I don't accept that!" shouted Nabiki.  "I'm almost as tall as 
Ranma-kun, with basically equal reach to his in my arms and legs, and 
I'm almost as strong as he is.  Even if I may be weaker, I'm still 
faster than he is, and my skills, YOUR skills, are better than his, 
better than his counterpart's abilities!  I should have beaten him!  
Wouldn't you win against his counterpart?"

"Of course I would," admitted the other Nabiki with a nod.  "But if his 
training was as brutal as what I suffered through under Uncle Genma, 
then it would be a hard fight before I beat him.  I'm certain that I'm 
faster than that other Ranma, at least in my female form.  Then again, 
in my male form, like with my own Ranma, I'm stronger than he is too.  I 
also have Matriarch Cologne to thank for training me to be a much better 
fighter in either form than I ever imagined I could be.  And I have a 
pretty good imagination."

With a smug smile, the other Nabiki whipped herself up onto her feet and 
went through a brief series of punches and kicks to demonstrate her 
great speed and prowess as she kept talking.  "I'd say that makes it a 
given I'd beat this other Ranma in a fight.  However, having said that, 
the chance to test myself to the limits of my abilities against someone 
like him as an opponent is really sorta irresistible, to see how good 
Ranchan would be at his absolute best."

"So what do I do to beat my Ranma?" asked Nabiki.

"Do you really want to beat your Ranma?" asked the other Nabiki, pausing 
in her attack upon the hapless target.  "There's a way."

"Tell me!" demanded Nabiki.

"It's obvious," said the other Nabiki with a smile.  "Develop your speed 
even further, like this."  After calling out a loud "Kachu Tenshin 
Amaguriken!" she began swiftly demolishing the training dummy.  Her 
fists were mere blurs, each solid strike landing at nearly the speed of 
sound, possibly even beyond it.  As the target crumbled to dust under 
the brutal assault, she continued, "It's one of my favorite techniques 
out of all those in my arsenal.  Train to use it, and your Ranma won't 
be able to stand against your speed.  I doubt Cologne would ever have 
taught his counterpart the technique, so yours won't ever be able to 
counter it."

Nabiki blinked, and then suddenly found herself barely able to wait 
until she was able to claim that level of speed for herself.  Just you 
wait, Ranma-kun, thought Nabiki with a smug look.  A few weeks from now, 
and I'll show you that I'm the better fighter.  You'll never win against 
me again.  She made a mental note to start training her body 
immediately, and she needed to buy a quantity of firewood for that 
purpose.  Her hands closed into fists for several moments.

The other Nabiki went on speaking as she gracefully flowed around the 
imaginary dojo's floor, "I'm actually sorta surprised that your Ranma 
can give you so much trouble.  After all, as much as I love my own 
Ranchan, he's just not in my class as a fighter, and he never will be.  
He'll always be in my shadow, and given how Cologne judges my potential, 
I don't see how it could ever be anything else.  Don't get me wrong.  My 
Ranma's really very good, one of the best, but he's not the Heir to the 
Anything-Goes School in my world.  I am."

A second one of the training dummies was obliterated with rapid, 
powerful blows from the other Nabiki's fists.  She paused and looked at 
the dreaming Nabiki.  "On a side note, the little bits and pieces of 
that other Ranma that I can see getting filtered through your Ranchan's 
personality are, well, kind of interesting.  For example, I can pretty 
much safely say that your Ranma, and I assume his counterpart in that 
divergent timeline of his as well, is most definitely not quite as 
domesticated as my own Ranchan can be at times.  My Ranchan tends to 
defer to women, being raised by his mother while I was with Genma all 
those years.  Yours is much more independent-minded and capable.  I 
kinda like that in him."  She smiled, and a slight blush colored her 
cheeks.  "Not to mention those incredible sensations you feel whenever 
he's near you.  Wow!"

"Yeah," admitted Nabiki with a bit of a smirk.  However, she felt more 
than a little embarrassed to be reminded of Ranma's effect on her.  
"You're right.  He's arrogant, stubborn, and he can be annoying as hell 
at times.  But I don't think I'd ever trade mine for one like yours.  I 
honestly can't picture my life without him in it anymore."

"I guess there's just something about Ranma Saotome that grows on a 
girl, in any world, hmm?" asked the green-shirted Nabiki.  She casually 
waved a hand, and the scenery dissolved away into white emptiness for a 
moment, before reforming into the Tendo Dojo.

"I guess so," admitted Nabiki.  "He's also going to be mine someday, 
once I deal with Akane and Kodachi.  Daddy's told me that there's going 
to be a marriage meeting with Ranma's family in just a few days, and 
that I shouldn't worry about the outcome.  And when it's over, he'll 
officially become my fiancé.  I just have to work on teaching Ranma 
who's gonna be boss between us," then she smirked for a moment, "namely 
me.  At least I don't have to worry about any other girls showing up and 
complicating things.  I know I can handle Akane and Kodachi easily 
enough."

"True, things could be worse.  You could have a Jusenkyo curse, a bunch 
of Amazons, and a cross-dressing okonomiyaki chef to contend with," said 
the other Nabiki with a chuckle.  "Take it from me, you've got it easy."

With that having been said, the lucid dream faded away to a more normal 
one.

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

After the meeting with the Saotomes was over, Ukyo and her parents 
headed over to visit with Ukyo's aunt and her father's sister, Yumi 
Kuonji.  Ukyo had only heard stories of her aunt, considered by many of 
the older ninja in the Kuonji Clan to be the most capable warrior of her 
generation.  Her father often told Ukyo that she resembled her aunt as a 
young girl a fair amount, something usually said whenever she was being 
defiant.  Why her Aunt Yumi was living in Tokyo was a tale that none of 
the adults ever seemed willing to tell.  Her mother had once admitted it 
was due to some sort of trouble with the Hibiki Clan when she had been a 
teenager, but Ryoga had claimed ignorance of the matter the one time 
Ukyo had interrogated him about it several years ago.  All Ukyo knew was 
that Yumi had separated herself from the Clan to live in the Imperial 
Capital on her own, but she still kept in contact with her brother, 
Ukyo's father.

A brisk walking distance from the Saotome residence, Ukyo and her 
parents eventually stopped outside a small, but quite well-appointed 
okonomiyaki restaurant.  A dark blue awning outside bore the kanji for 
"Yu-chan's" upon it.  Ukyo stifled a snicker at the name.  Maybe if I 
don't end up marrying this Ranma guy, I can start my own place and name 
it "Ucchan's" or something, she thought with a wry grin, remembering the 
silly nickname he had called her.  She then quickly banished the thought 
as being too weird.

Akira Kuonji led the way into the shop, quiet now since it was long 
after the dinner rush was over.  A grin was on his face as he bellowed 
at the top of his lungs, "I hear that someone is passing off pig slop as 
okonomiyaki in these parts!"  He then paused and waited for the results.

The figure working behind the counter, somewhat broad-shouldered for a 
woman and rangy of limb, yet still unmistakably female, snapped her head 
up at the loud insult.  Apparently she had been too involved with some 
minor activity behind the counter to hear them come in.  She was dressed 
in the typical garb of an okonomiyaki chef, seen throughout the Empire: 
snug black pants, tabi shoes, a tight-fitting white undershirt, and a 
heavier, dark blue, short-sleeved shirt worn atop with the cuffs rolled 
up.  The woman's face was square-jawed and almost mannish in a way, not 
what could ever be called classically beautiful, yet having a solid sort 
of character to it that was attractive on its own terms.  Her shoulder-
length brown hair was held back in a loose ponytail secured by a yellow 
ribbon.  When she raised her turquoise-colored eyes and saw Akira 
standing there, they lit briefly with amusement.  She casually removed a 
large spatula from the wall behind her and hopped over the counter 
without touching it.

"Nobody insults a Kuonji's okonomiyaki!" roared the woman with very 
real-sounding anger.  She then went into a blurred series of attacks 
with her weapon, with such speed and skill that Ukyo was left almost 
breathless with admiration.

Akira dodged and evaded the initial attacks, but he was still just a 
little bit drunk from earlier.  He mistimed a dodge, and the flat of the 
weapon caught him squarely in the face with the full power of the 
woman's shoulders and arms behind it.  He went down hard, stunned.

"You never could take me in a fight, little brother," said Yumi sagely 
before picking the larger man up casually and depositing him into a 
chair.  She turned and looked Ukyo over with a toothy grin, bowing 
loosely as she said to her, "Greetings, Niece."  She then turned to face 
Ukyo's mother and said, "And how are you, Sis?"

"I am well, Sister-in-law," said Yukiyo pleasantly, though she was 
apparently a little distressed.  I had forgotten how unladylike Yumi 
always was, she thought with concern.  Still, she doesn't dress like a 
man, so that's at least a step in the right direction for a role model 
for my daughter.

"Hello, Aunt Yumi," said Ukyo with a polite bow, still impressed with 
the great skill with which her aunt casually wielded the spatula in her 
hands.  "I am honored to meet you."

"The pleasure's mine, little one," said Yumi, "and you can call me 
Auntie, or just Yumi if you prefer."  She laid her weapon on the counter 
and pulled a chair out from a table, flipping it around before sitting 
upon it.  She leaned forward and crossed her arms, resting them on the 
top of the chair's backrest.  "So, how did the meeting go?"

"We decided to have Ukyo remain in the area for awhile and get to know 
the boy better before we decide whether or not to proceed with an 
engagement," said Yukiyo as she watched her husband slowly regaining his 
senses out of the corner of her eye.  "It won't be any trouble to have 
her stay here with you for a while?"

"Of course not!  It will be my pleasure," said Yumi with another broad 
smile.  She turned to study Ukyo for a moment.  "It will be nice to have 
a little help with the cooking and the cleanup.  So what do you say, 
Niece?  You up to it?"

"Just try me," said Ukyo with a smile.

"She's got spunk, I'll say that for her, so she must take after her 
mother," said Yumi with a smirk in her sister-in-law's direction.  She 
turned her attention back to Ukyo, speaking out of the corner of her 
mouth to Ukyo's mother.  "And I might be able to teach her a thing or 
two about fighting and the shinobi arts while she's staying here.  After 
all, a certain crazy old man who we all know and love isn't the only one 
who knows the tricks and skills of our Clan.  He just knows a few more 
of them."  There was a clear twinkle in her eyes as she saw Ukyo's 
eagerness.  "And I'm sure you'll like the big city a lot, kid.  It 
really isn't anything like the mountain villages back by the shrine.  
There's always something exciting that seems to be happening around 
here."

"My husband and I trust that you will keep us informed as to how Ukyo is 
doing, Sister-in-law," said Yukiyo politely.  "I am sure that the 
experience will do her good."

"Don't worry, Yukiyo," said Yumi more seriously.  "The girl's family, 
and I'll look out for her as if she was my own daughter.  If anyone 
hurts her, they'll answer to me.  Fair?"

"I thank you for your assistance, Sister-in-law," said Yukiyo a little 
more warmly as she bowed in her chair.  "I know how important family is 
to you."

"Family is always first in my mind, Sis," said Yumi with a smile.  "I'll 
watch out for her."  She casually cracked her knuckles.  "Nobody messes 
with us Kuonji girls, right Ukyo-chan?"  She smiled warmly at her niece.

"Yes, Auntie," said Ukyo brightly.

"That's the spirit," said Yumi.  "You go on up those stairs and take a 
look through the second door on the right.  I laid out a futon in case 
you needed a place to stay.  I get up early here, so sleep well."  She 
smiled and made a shooing gesture to Ukyo.  "Now scoot.  Your mother and 
I are going to catch up a little, while we wait for your father to 
recover from that little lovetap I gave him."

"Yes, Auntie," said Ukyo, feeling much more positive about this whole 
excursion now.  First Ranma had turned out to be more than she had 
expected, and now this.  Her aunt was everything that she had imagined.  
She bowed and headed up the narrow flight of stairs.

I think I'm going to love it here, Ukyo thought with a smile.

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

Within the dojo at Kuno Manor, Kodachi was finishing up the last hour of 
her personal evening training regimen, when a somber Tatewaki 
unexpectedly entered the room.  She ignored him, still a little angry 
with him for his many ugly remarks about Ranma, and how far beneath her 
station the pigtailed scholar was.  She continued driving her fists into 
the heavy punching bag she was using, a brief fantasy of doing the same 
thing to Akane Tendo the next time they fought filling her mind.  
However, for a single moment, Nabiki Tendo's face floated across her 
mind's eye, smirking at her with her trademarked coolly smug look, and 
Kodachi angrily redoubled her efforts.  She smiled mirthlessly as she 
knocked the bag back on its chain with her punches, glorying in the 
smooth power her body was putting into her blows.

How dare yet another one of those pushy Tendo cows try and come between 
me and Saotome-kun? Kodachi thought with a huff as she paused for a 
brief moment.  The very idea.  He obviously needs someone of much more 
refinement and intellect than either of those two lowborn savages has to 
offer.  One is nothing but a brutish thug, and the other is some type of 
would-be gangster and profiteer.  Both of those over-muscled harlots are 
simply the lowest sort of scum.  And both of them have tried to hurt 
Saotome-kun!

Kodachi suddenly powered a swift series of kicks into the heavy bag as 
her emotions raged within her, giving the lithe muscles in her arms and 
shoulders a brief respite.  Sweat flew from her face and body with each 
solid strike, and the seams of the heavy leather punching bag began 
leaking modest amounts of sand from the incredible abuse it was taking.  
It would not survive the night at this rate, possibly not even another 
hour.

During her day of recent bedrest to recover from the injuries she 
suffered at Akane's hands, Kodachi had taken some time to re-examine her 
research on this Ranma's life and his accomplishments.  She found a 
great deal to admire about him that she could admit that she had never 
known about his counterpart.  As far as she could tell, this Ranma was 
an honorable and well-educated young man from a good and noble family, 
even though they were of the lowest rungs of the nobility.  From the 
brief time she had spent with him, she could see that he was much like 
that other version of Ranma Saotome that she had known, the one now lost 
to her somewhere across the dimensions.  Deep in her heart, she could 
admit him to be the boy she had fallen in love with.

However, the passionate feelings Kodachi felt growing within her for 
this Ranma were quickly replacing the shy but loving regard she had once 
held for his counterpart.  Perhaps part of that was due to a certain 
indefinable something that she could sense within this Ranma, a hidden 
strength of some sort that he had, one that seemed to call to her very 
femininity with an undeniable power.  Just the mere thought of being 
held close by him had the ability to bring a blush to her face, and her 
occasional fantasies about him kept wandering off into some very erotic 
scenes, ones that scandalized Kodachi sometimes.

Kodachi let her mind drift a bit as her fists and feet continued to 
unleash increasingly powerful strikes into the punching bag with some of 
the last of her waning energy reserves.  Despite her jealous feelings 
over the shapeliness of Nabiki’s nude figure when she had seen it in the 
locker room showers, the young noblewoman was only mildly concerned at 
her own abilities at attracting Ranma’s eye to herself.  Modest as she 
considered herself to be, Kodachi knew she was attractive, athletic, and 
fairly well-built and endowed for a girl her age.  She was very much 
like her mother before her, a beautiful daughter of an ancient House of 
the Empire.  She was a desirable young woman that many men would seek to 
possess, but she only had eyes for a certain pigtailed scholar.

That was her current dilemma.  Kodachi wanted Ranma to desire her as 
much as she now did him, and it was driving her to commit such acts of 
brazenness in the brief time that she had known him so far, even as 
subtly as she did them, that it sometimes shocked the almost painfully 
shy girl whom she had merged with.  However, her urges were becoming 
stronger of late as her burgeoning feelings of love for Ranma grew.  At 
times, she wanted to simply grab the pigtailed boy and take him to her 
bed, to explore the limits of carnal pleasure between them.  Then, after 
their mutual desires had been fully explored and satisfied, and she lay 
there cuddled in his arms, that relaxed moment would be the time she 
would admit to Ranma her true feelings for him.

Why can't it be that easy? Kodachi wondered, even as she suddenly 
noticed the damage being sustained by the punching bag.  She eased off a 
bit in the vigor of her efforts, conserving the last of her strength as 
she forced herself to relax.  If only I could just be more open about my 
feelings with him.  She seemed constantly poised on the horns of a 
dilemma: be bold and brazen with Ranma, or be demure and shy like a true 
lady was.  So Kodachi kept waffling back and forth between having the 
audacity to simply drag Ranma off to a quiet area and slake her strong 
desires for him, and becoming almost tongue-tied in his mere presence.  
The very unwelcome additions of the two Tendo girls was something she 
also needed to deal with, and soon.  Kodachi's upper lip curled at the 
thought of the coolly smug attitude given to her by Nabiki Tendo.

Dealing with that other Tendo harridan will require much more delicacy, 
thought Kodachi grimly, beginning to hit the punching bag harder once 
again.  She doesn't strike me as being nearly as easy to outthink as her 
younger sister, and she's an even better fighter.  She will require 
cleverness to overcome, not brute force.  Although that way would not be 
nearly as satisfying as the beating I gave to her brutish sister.  
Still, it would be easiest if I could change the focus of her attentions 
to another target.  But, who?

Lost in her thoughts for a moment, Kodachi did not hear her brother 
suddenly address her.  She continued to pummel the heavy leather bag 
with her fists and feet, enjoying the feelings of tiredness building up 
within her muscles.  She knew the intense workout would help her get to 
sleep, instead of lying awake to fret about her meeting with Ranma in a 
couple of days as she was sure she would do otherwise.

"Sister dearest," interjected Kuno into her musings once again, a little 
louder than the first time, causing Kodachi to pause in her exertions.

"Brother dear," replied Kodachi, stopping her workout and padding over 
to one side of the mat in her bare feet to pick up a towel.  She dabbed 
at the perspiration on her face for a moment as she felt her energy 
reserves begin to recover.  "What brings you out to the training hall so 
late?"

"Why didst thou strike me this morn for speaking my mind on the subject 
of that... person?" asked Kuno abruptly, finally voicing the question he 
had held within him throughout dinner.  He assumed what he saw as a 
noble pose, one of wounded dignity, and glared at his sister.

"My relationship with Saotome-kun is my own business, Brother dear," 
said Kodachi mildly.  She draped the towel across her shoulders and held 
an end in each hand.  "I could no longer bear to hear you speak such 
hateful things about him in my presence, so I stilled your voice as best 
I saw fit."  She coolly returned Kuno's icy glare with one of equal 
chill, her body lightly balanced on the balls of her feet, a gesture of 
defiance that her brother ignored for the moment.

"I see," said Kuno sullenly.  Their gazes remained locked, and neither 
appeared willing to back down.  Strain appeared in his voice as he 
continued speaking.  "So you choose this scholar over thine own flesh 
and blood?  He has so quickly poisoned your mind against me?"

"Saotome-kun has not poisoned my mind against you, Tate-kun," said 
Kodachi in a more soothing tone of voice.  She was relieved to see her 
brother relax a little at her tone.  "However, if Father has his way, if 
what I hope will come to pass does, then Ranma will become my husband.  
He and I will be of one flesh, as the black and crimson-garbed priests 
from the West speak of marriage."

"Saotome is unworthy of you," growled Kuno in a low tone.  "And I refuse 
to accept that he is to become a member of this household.  I refuse, I 
say!  As your elder brother, I request, nay, I _command_ you to reject 
this marriage for the good of our most noble House.  There are many far 
worthier men who could, and should, be thy lord and husband.  Thy 
pristine beauty should be wed to another of high station, not wasted on 
a lowborn scoundrel like him, one who is almost common gutter trash.  I 
say that Ranma Saotome is not worthy of you!"

Kodachi blinked, and then an angry look crossed her face.  Without a 
further word, her hand slapped Kuno's face hard.  As she watched him 
recover from the shock of her attack, a battle aura began shimmering 
around her for a moment, triggered by her anger.  She stepped forward 
half a pace, her stance clearly that of someone ready to deal out more 
damage.

His ears ringing from the unexpected blow, Kuno shook his head and then 
stared at his sister in shock.  Blood dribbled from his mouth, a result 
of his having bitten his lip during the surprise blow.  So the vile 
knave has now brought my sweet and innocent sister to such a state that 
she would raise her hand against her own family, against her own 
brother, he thought darkly.  And my beloved sister is not enough for his 
base lusts.  No, he has also claimed the heart of the fair maiden Akane 
Tendo.  How I have come to loathe you for these crimes, Ranma Saotome.  
I swear I shall avenge myself upon you for these sins, and my skills 
shall humble thee.  I swear this upon my most sacred honor and that of 
all my ancestors.  He paused to gather his thoughts, his visage angry 
and grim.

"That is twice in one day that thou hast struck me whilst I was but 
speaking my mind, my beloved sister," intoned Kuno angrily.  "Do not 
make me forget that thou art a woman and my younger sister, or my wrath 
shall be swift and terrible upon thee.  Thou hast changed much in the 
past few months, changed in a manner most grievous unto me, and now I 
think I can see the reason for it.  Thy womanly, vaporous passions for 
this lowborn cretin have unhinged thy mind, and that madness has somehow 
infected our beloved parents.  I see that now."

"You are an idiot, Brother!" spat out Kodachi fiercely.  "You seek to 
guard me as if I were some little doll for you to keep safe until you 
deign to find a man worthy of me, then you will gladly hand me over to 
some popinjay of a chinless noble who you see as suitable for owning me.  
Perhaps someone like your friend, that lecherous Mikado Sanzenin, for 
example.  Well, I am not your doll!"

"He would not be my first choice for thy husband," said Kuno in a solemn 
tone of voice, apparently contemplating some of her words yet ignoring 
others, "but he is not entirely unsuitable for thy hand in marriage.  He 
is surely far better for thee than Ranma Saotome is, and his family is 
one of impeccable breeding and a most noble lineage."

"Am I to be bred like a prize mare now?" asked Kodachi in a mocking 
tone, somehow glad to now have this argument out in the open.  These 
feelings had been building up within her for some time, and it was 
taking all of her self-control to keep from pounding her brother into 
the floor until he would admit that she was able to live her own life.  
For one thing, she would select her husband, instead of having her older 
brother dictate to her who that would be.  And she knew with certainty 
who she would have that someone be.  "I would not spend a single moment 
of time with that loathsome lothario that you call friend, save you 
trussed me up in irons and presented me as a gift for the gratification 
of his perverse pleasures.  That is something I am sure he at least 
would like, but I most certainly would not.  I have heard sufficient 
stories from several of the girls at Blackhall to give me an adequate 
barometer as to his lack of character."

"Sanzenin-kun's reputation with those of the fairer sex is surely 
exaggerated," said Kuno with annoyance, wiping the remaining blood from 
his mouth with an absent gesture.  "The women flock to him out of 
attraction to his noble countenance and good nature, so do not speak ill 
of him."

"Very well, Brother dear," said Kodachi mildly.  "Then I ask you to not 
speak ill of my intended husband.  I consider him a good man, and I will 
not hear you insult him in my presence."  She saw her brother seem to 
visibly swell up in sudden anger at her statement.

"Ranma Saotome shall not become thy husband!" Kuno thundered at her.  
"That trumped-up commoner is not worthy of the honor of thy hand.  Thou 
art a fair daughter of the noble House of Kuno, and thou hast a duty to 
wed for the good of the family, not to follow the yearnings of thy 
fragile, feminine weaknesses!"

"Brother dear," said Kodachi in saccharin-sweet tones, "cease to be this 
annoyance you have become of late to me.  Stand aside and let me pursue 
Saotome-kun for my husband.  It is quite true that I am a noble daughter 
of the House of Kuno, a lady samurai of a warrior House.  So do not 
force me to raise my hand against you to defend my point, let alone the 
man I have come to regard so highly in my heart.  For I will if I must."

Kuno could not believe what he was hearing.  Only a few months ago, he 
would never have conceived of his meek and shy sister speaking so 
defiantly to him.  She was no longer humbly complying with any of his 
commands to her, what he had grown used to over the course of their 
lives as the normal state of affairs between them.  She would not seek 
to challenge me in our ancestral hall, would she? he asked himself in 
the solitude of his own thoughts.  I am the very pinnacle of the Kuno 
family's legendary fighting abilities, a scion descended of centuries of 
combat lore and skill, all distilled into the most puissant of mortal 
vessels that has ever drawn breath.  Without thinking, he began to laugh 
with an almost maniacal edge.

"Thy madness for the Saotome churl has claimed the last of thy wits, 
Sister dear," said Kuno grandly between chuckles.  "A mere slip of a 
girl such as thyself could never hope to defeat me.  Thy combat skills 
could never compare to mine own.  Perhaps it would be best for thee to 
return to more suitably feminine activities."

Kodachi casually tossed her towel aside and uppercutted her brother as 
hard as she could across the jaw with her right fist, lifting him clear 
of the floor and knocking him back several feet with a loud crash into a 
weapons rack, before springing back herself to land in a combat stance.  
The blood seemed to sing within her veins as she waited for him to 
respond to her challenge, new reserves of energy filling her, and her 
body once again coming to rest easily upon the balls of her feet.  Her 
eyes glowed with the light of battle as she gazed at him.

"I accept thy challenge, dear sister," said Kuno grimly, pulling himself 
free of the weapons rack, drawing forth one of the bokkens from it as he 
did so.  His hand briefly felt along his jaw, casually testing to make 
sure it was still attached to the proper place on his face.  "I shall 
force thee to yield to my will in this, great though it pains my soul to 
bring any harm to thee."

"Cease your pompous posturing, Brother dear, and fight me if you are 
going to do so," growled Kodachi.  The tiredness from her workout had 
now almost completely faded, and she felt quite ready to put him down 
hard and painfully if she had to.  The young noblewoman settled herself 
to let her brother make the first move in their duel, studying his 
stance for any clues as to his intentions.  Her eyes narrowed slightly 
as she saw him suddenly rush towards her.

"Hold!" shouted an angry female voice from the doorway, mere moments 
before the two siblings were to engage each other in savage combat, the 
command somehow penetrating through the red haze of anger that had 
arisen within each of them.  The pair froze in place, Kodachi briefly 
flicking her gaze to the grim-looking figure standing in the doorway, 
even as her brother stepped back from her and turned to look as well.

"Mother," said Kodachi in a quiet voice, uncertain what else to say.  
She relaxed into a neutral stance, watching her mother briefly fanning 
her face with one of her ever-present fans as the Kuno family matriarch 
studied them both.

"I am very disappointed in you two," said Kenseiko grimly.  "Very 
disappointed indeed.  This bickering is pointless, not to mention most 
disruptive to the harmony of this household, and I will have it ended 
here and now.  Do you two understand me?"

"Yes, Mother," said the two siblings in unintended harmony.  They 
briefly glared at each other.

"Kodachi," said Kenseiko thoughtfully, "fighting with your elder brother 
is not the way to settle things between siblings.  It is not very 
ladylike to act in such a manner."

Kodachi visibly wilted a little at the comment.

Kuno smirked, but only for a moment, before their mother whirled to 
glare at him.

"And you!" snapped Kenseiko, pointing at him with her now-closed fan.  
"How dare you take up arms against your younger sister?  Is the boy your 
father and I are considering for your sister's husband so repellent to 
you that it has caused you to take complete leave of your senses?"  She 
waited for a reply, arms now folded, one slippered foot tapping lightly 
on the ground.

"Aye, he is," said Kuno quietly and defiantly, raising his gaze to meet 
hers angrily.  "Ranma Saotome is no great lord, no noble of a good 
House, but merely of humble squire stock.  In my opinion, he is barely 
of the nobility.  The knave fights with his bare hands, brawling like 
the lowly peasant he is.  A true samurai would fight armed.  To have 
such a lowly one marry a highborn and pure-bred lady such as my own dear 
but misguided sister is unthinkable!"  Kuno began to tremble with 
repressed rage.

"There is no guarantee that he will, my son," said Kenseiko mildly as 
she gazed at her son thoughtfully.  "Nothing is cast in stone, yet.  
However, the boy has proven himself against you to be a strong warrior, 
and our House has taken in new blood from outside the high nobility from 
time to time."

"He defeated me using base trickery," growled Kuno.  "He is only a 
scholar, not a true-blooded warrior.  I do not see him as worthy to seek 
entry into a house of heroes such as ours.  Perhaps he used some sorcery 
upon myself and Sanzenin-kun."  He nodded briefly in thought.  "Yes.  I 
can think of no other way that he could have won with merely his bare 
hands."

My brother is even more of an idiot than I dared imagine, Kodachi 
thought with irritation.  He refuses to admit that Saotome-kun is now 
his better in combat.  She sighed softly, a gesture her mother noticed 
even though her brother did not.

"Go clean up and get ready for bed, young lady," commanded Kenseiko 
mildly.  She could not completely repress the sudden twinkle in her eye 
as she looked at her only daughter, putting the lie to the facade of 
anger that she had worn so far.  "You and I shall speak sometime soon on 
the proper ways for a lady to act, as well as other things."

"Yes, Mother," said Kodachi, feeling a little puzzled as she left to 
bathe and prepare for bed.  She pointedly ignored her brother as she 
stiffly walked out.

"Mother," began Kuno, moments after his sister had left the room.  He 
paused when his mother raised her hand.

"Listen to me well, my son," said Kenseiko calmly.  "You overstepped 
your place in this household in the matter of Kodachi's future.  I know 
that it is hard for you to believe in this particular instance, but your 
dear father and I are always looking out for the welfare of this House.  
It is for you to trust our judgment as to what is best for your younger 
sister."

"But this Ranma Saotome is only barely of the nobility!" protested Kuno 
vigorously.  "Whereas our proud lineage has been touched by the divinity 
of the Imperial Bloodline itself!  To taint it with such base 
commonness, to allow my precious sister to lie with such a one, to bear 
children to him, is far beyond what I can tolerate.  Give me thy leave, 
and I shall prove him unworthy of holding a place in this House."

"What would you seek for me to say?" said Kenseiko thoughtfully. "Defeat 
Ranma Saotome utterly and without question, and I will consider him to 
be of an unworthy bloodline for your sister, too weak to add to the 
strength of this House.  Is that what you would have me say?"

"Aye, Mother," said Kuno grimly, his eyes burning with reforged purpose.

"Hold your eagerness to spill the boy's blood, my son," said Kenseiko 
grimly.  "How is Ranma Saotome any different from that of this girl I 
hear tell of that has claimed your fancy, this Akane Tendo?"

"Ah, Akane Tendo," said Kuno grandly, his anger forgotten as he bathed 
in his glowing memories of her.  "She is a noble beauty without compare, 
a veritable warrior goddess clothed in mortal form, filled with spirit 
and great passion.  She has claimed my heart utterly with but a single 
look from her flashing eyes, and I would conquer a thousand nations if 
only that I might lay them at her feet as an offering."

"She is of the lower nobility too, my son," said Kenseiko in that same 
grim tone.  "Why should I allow you, the heir to the vast holdings of 
our Great House, to court such a one, a girl of a family that is of 
nearly equal level to that of the Saotomes?  I had in mind a pristine 
daughter of the high nobility for you as a wife.  Perhaps that girl of 
House Saginomiya you were smitten with a short while back?"

"Feh," snorted Kuno.  "Though I still find her fair to look upon, the 
spiteful Asuka has lost her claim to my noble heart.  The spell she once 
cast over me with her alluring charms was broken by the sight of the 
object of my true love.  Akane Tendo has shown me a spirit and a 
strength of body that I have not seen in any of the daughters of the 
high nobility, so I look upon it as my sacred duty to take such a strong 
woman to wife and raise her to the peerage.  Then, she shall bear unto 
me strong sons to carry on the Kuno family legacy.  That her bloodline 
is of the same stature as that cursed Ranma Saotome is of no consequence 
to me.  I shall have Akane Tendo as my wife, and I shall allow none to 
gainsay my desires in this."

My son takes after his father far too much, thought Kenseiko with a 
mental sigh.  Both of them tend to only hear what they want to hear.  It 
is a good thing that the women of this House are sensible enough to hold 
things together.  However, Kodachi is becoming more and more like I once 
was as a girl, and I do not know whether to be proud of her or annoyed.  
Already she is getting into fights and gathering rivals, and one of 
those is my dearly beloved son's chosen consort.  The old saying is 
true, a mother's lot is not an easy one.

"Your father has already made arrangements to meet with the Tendos," 
said Kenseiko after her brief time of reflection, "and it promises to be 
a most memorable evening.  Now go and prepare yourself for bed, my son, 
and cease attempting to exert your will over your sister.  A Kuno is not 
a bully, Tate-chan."

"Aye, Mother," said Kuno with a manic sort of smile, bowing before 
leaving.  His thoughts were already lost on fantasies of Akane Tendo.  
Once Ranma Saotome fell before him, the spell cast upon her should fade, 
and she would finally be able to return the burning feelings of love 
that he held for her.  He quickly left his mother standing alone in the 
training hall.

"A lesser noble's youngest daughter?" Kenseiko softly wondered to the 
air.  Her investigations of the Tendo family had left her less than 
impressed with their bloodline, so she no longer felt it necessary to 
meet Akane in person, as had been her original plan.  She gracefully 
walked over to the open window and gazed out at the night.  "Husband, 
what were you thinking?  This has all the makings of a disaster of epic 
proportions.  Young Ranma shows great promise to make a fine addition to 
our House, but this Akane girl is obviously ill-suited for my precious 
son as the future Lady of this House.  Far better that Tatewaki should 
simply take her to his bed as a concubine, if he truly desires her so 
strongly.  Yes, that is far more suitable a position in this House for 
one of her station.  I shall speak to my husband of that.  After all, 
the heir to this House requires a young lady of noble quality and good 
breeding to assist and eventually succeed me in running the household 
affairs, a lady of refined beauty, intelligence, and innate strength of 
character."

Kenseiko briefly snapped her fan open and fluttered it before her face, 
even as she contemplated which Clan to make an overture to.  After 
several moments of thought, a name suddenly occurred to her, a family 
currently rising in favor at the Imperial Court.  And they have only a 
single daughter, still unattached, one who has so far rejected all 
suitors.  Yes, she will be perfect for my Tatewaki, she thought with a 
pleased look.  I believe she even shares his strong interest in 
swordplay.

With a smile on her face, Kenseiko went to inform her husband of the 
decision 'they' had made concerning their son's future.

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

"I am pleased with you, Dearest," said Nodoka as she readied herself for 
bed.  She was slightly aroused when she noticed Genma watching her with 
hungry eyes.  His new level of desire for her made her feel like a young 
newlywed again, filled with youthful passions of her own.  "Your actions 
tonight were well done."

"It was nothing, Nodoka-chan," said Genma.  "Ranma's spent too much time 
locked up with books.  He should learn to enjoy life more, and what more 
enjoyable thing is there than to spend time with a beautiful woman?  Now 
come here, my wife.  It has been too long."

"But Genma dearest," said Nodoka breathlessly, as he began quickly 
undressing her when she drew near to him.  "It has only been hours since 
our last time...."

There was a brief pause.

"Oh my, Dearest," sighed Nodoka.  "Oh, that feels so good."  She felt 
her passions rising up within her, even though Genma was still being a 
bit quicker and rougher with her than was his usual manner.  In an odd 
way, it seemed to be adding to her excitement, almost as if he was a 
stranger to her.  She felt quite risqué.

"Be quiet and turn off the lights, my wife," commanded Genma in a gruff 
voice.  "Your husband commands it."

I don't know what's come over Dearest, thought Nodoka as darkness 
claimed the room.  He's become so different.  A very brief moment of 
introspection came over Nodoka regarding her husband.  Despite his 
acquiescence to her desires for Ranma's future, and his embrace of an 
almost hedonistic manner that was sort of appealing in a decadent sort 
of way, she still wondered when he would start acting again like the 
quiet man she had first fallen in love with.  After only a few days of 
this new attitude of his, she was already starting to miss the old Genma 
Saotome she had married so long ago.

Then, the passions of the moment quickly pushed aside any further 
thoughts she might have had.

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

Ranma slipped off his shirt, wincing a little at some of the deep 
bruises on his body.  Despite the pains he had endured, he felt content 
with his victories today, especially the one over Nabiki.  He idly 
rubbed a spot on his ribs where one of her punches had caught him 
solidly.  He looked at his reflection in the mirror, smiling a little.

I beat her, Ranma thought proudly.  I took everything that Nabiki Tendo 
could throw at me, and I was the one who was left standing at the end of 
the fight.  Me.  Ranma Saotome.  I proved that I'm the better fighter, 
and not her.  He recalled the feelings of elation that ran through him 
when she had finally fallen.  But the memories of his win faded in the 
face of the other problems now facing him.  As satisfying as it had been 
to successfully prove his status as top fighter to his rather attractive 
rival, it did not even really begin to solve any of his other 
difficulties.

Ranma collapsed onto his futon with a groan, his mind striving to focus 
on coming up with a plan to continue his work.  Somehow he had to get 
his equipment out of his lab before it was sent off to the Science 
Ministry and lost for good.  With a sigh, he decided that accepting 
Nabiki's aid in this one instance was for a good cause, as long as she 
followed his lead and did not try to order him around like she clearly 
seemed to want to do whenever she was around him.  After all, she had 
broken into his lab once, despite a locked door.  So who better than her 
to help him steal back his own equipment?  There was only one question 
that remained.  Where to take it once he had it?

Before he fell asleep, Ranma also made plans on taking some time to 
pound his 'father' into a fine paste sometime in the near future for his 
recent actions.  Some morning training with Genma would allow him a 
chance to work off some of his frustrations.  But at least he didn't try 
anything funny with Ucchan's father this time, he thought sleepily.  Now 
I just have to keep an eye on him with Kuno-sama and Tendo-san to be 
sure he isn't trying something underhanded, but at least one of the 
three meetings is over without me becoming engaged.  One last yawn 
escaped his lips, and then he immediately slipped into slumber.

The next thing Ranma knew, he was standing in the backyard of the Tendo 
household, next to the pond.  He shied away from it, obeying some 
ingrained instinct before quickly chiding himself for being so afraid of 
a little cold water.  After all, I'm not cursed, he thought with some 
amusement.

"You had me a little worried today, bookworm," said a voice suddenly 
behind Ranma's right shoulder.  He turned around and saw the other Ranma 
behind him, dressed in a red shirt and black gi pants.

"I won, didn't I?" replied Ranma, suddenly noticing that he was dressed 
in black gi pants and Chinese-style shirt as well, only in blue.

"You almost lost to Nabiki," said the other Ranma with a shake of his 
head.  "Nabiki!  Who would've ever thought she could be any sort of a 
martial artist?  I sure never would've, not in a million years."

"From what my Nabiki has told me," said Ranma thoughtfully, "on that 
timeline where she got her skills from, that Ranma stayed home with the 
Tendos and his mother, and she went with Pop on the training trip from 
Hell.  Even all the way to Jusenkyo."  He saw the other Ranma begin 
chuckling.

"Nabiki cursed to turn into a guy is just too damn funny for words," 
said the other Ranma, pausing to watch as a few random memories floated 
by, drifting like soap bubbles in the breeze.  "I wish I could see the 
look on my Nabiki's face if she ever learned that."  He watched a memory 
float by, one originating from another world, of a slightly different 
Shampoo beating up Kodachi in the gymnastics ring.  An odd look appeared 
on his face.

After a long moment of study, the other Ranma shook his head, a slight 
trickle of blood leaking from his nose as he muttered something about 
the effect of tight gymnastics garb on a certain Amazon's frame.  He 
looked at Ranma with a half-grin.  "Anyway, now you're gonna hafta train 
even harder.  If I've learned anything from dealing with the likes of 
Ryoga, your Nabiki is probably gonna train hard and challenge you again.  
You're gonna need to be ready for that."

"I beat her once, and I can beat her again," said Ranma confidently.  
"Those Amazon techniques from that other world helped."

"Yeah," said the other Ranma thoughtfully.  "Makes me almost wish I 
spent more time training with the Old Ghoul.  Almost.  But your Nabiki 
had some Amazon training in her style too.  I'm just not sure how much 
she knows."

A thought suddenly struck Ranma, and asked, "Just out of curiosity, 
where is that other Ranma?  Or Ranko?"

"They're back there somewhere, I guess," said his counterpart, casually 
gesturing at the Tendo household.  It was sort of hazy-looking, as if a 
fog had rolled in over it.  "It's kinda hard to explain."

"Never mind then," said Ranma, wondering if this lucid dreaming was a 
side effect of the resonator as well.  He had never had such clear 
visions in dreams before where he felt so conscious and aware.  It was 
very much like real life.

"Anyway, I just wanted to tell you to start training yourself even 
harder, bookworm," said the other Ranma with a grin as the scene began 
to fade to a hazy whiteness.  "You'd better be prepared to beat your 
Nabiki again after she trains herself some more, 'cause there's no way 
in hell that I ever wanna see any Ranma second best to a chick.  You got 
me?"

"Don't worry," Ranma assured his counterpart.  "I know I'm better than 
her now, that I _want_ to be the best more than she does.  Nabiki's 
going to have to face facts that a well-trained guy is always going to 
beat an equally well-trained girl.  She'll just have to accept that."  
He smiled at the other Ranma as the dream began dissolving around him.

"Ranma Saotome is the _true_ Heir to the Anything-Goes School of Martial 
Arts," said the other Ranma confidently.  "No girl is ever going to 
claim that while I have anything to say about it."

The dream imploded with an inaudible pop, reverting to the regular chaos 
of normal dreams.

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

*** Earth  +1.612,+1.509

Genma snapped awake before dawn, feeling Nodoka curled up against him 
once more.  Now that he was conscious, his stomach began sending hunger 
pangs and rumbles of complaint at its emptiness.  He ignored them.  
Disengaging himself from Nodoka's gentle grip without waking her up, he 
arose from bed and quietly dressed in one of the newer gis he'd picked 
up shopping yesterday, while waiting for Ranma to update him on what was 
going on at home.

I should have heard from the boy before now, thought Genma with great 
concern.  He paused for a moment to study this version of Nodoka in the 
dim light, looking so fragile and alone in bed by herself.  He sighed 
softly at the sight, wondering what his own Nodoka was doing, how she 
was managing to cope without him.  Realizing very quickly that his 
worries were getting him nowhere, he crept out of the room and down to 
the backyard.  He was surprised at how amazingly stealthy he could be 
for his present bulk.

Upon reaching the yard, Genma began his workout with stretches to get 
the blood flowing in the cool morning air.  Not knowing how long he was 
going to be stuck with this body and this life, one of the first things 
he was determined to work on was trimming himself down to far more 
acceptable levels.  Despite the thick muscles running beneath his 
present bulk, he felt as fat as one of those lazy panda bears in the 
public zoo, and that was unacceptable.  He knew his own body had 
degenerated into plump flab over the years, but never in his wildest 
nightmares could he have pictured himself drinking and gorging his way 
through life until he was carrying around the amount of extra blubber 
that this body had on it.  So he intended to whip this body back into 
the absolute best shape he could get it into, through rigorous exercise 
and a strict diet.  He figured that it would at least give him something 
constructive to do while he was here.

Later on in the day, Genma planned to investigate the local library and 
see what the state of technology was in this world.  He suspected that 
he might know a few things that were still unheard of here, and a few 
patents in the right areas could set this family up for life.  And if he 
could do nothing else for her, he wanted to know that this Nodoka would 
be well-provided for after his departure.  That other Genma had never 
given much thought to providing for his family, too consumed with his 
dreams of creating a martial arts legacy through his son.  And so it was 
that Professor Saotome had added it to the growing list of things he 
wished to accomplish.  There were also a few legal matters he planned to 
take care of as well, since he wanted to provide iron-clad assurances 
that Nodoka alone would have control of any income from the patents for 
when that other Genma (or 'that fat fool' as Professor Saotome had taken 
to calling his other self) returned to this life.

A short time later, Nodoka woke up and quickly realized that Genma 
wasn't in bed with her.  A frown of disappointment appeared on her face, 
and she was starting to wonder if her husband no longer found her to be 
attractive.  He had been home with her for almost two days, and he was 
still keeping her at arm's length.  Nodoka was starting to get more than 
a little frustrated, especially since she was currently wearing one of 
her most revealing negligees, far more daring than the one she had worn 
to bed the night before.  It appeared to her that even more drastic 
measures were needed on her part.

Nodoka heard faint sounds coming from the backyard, mainly curses, 
grunts, and an occasional wheeze.  She walked to the window and looked 
out to see Genma, training harder than she had ever witnessed him doing, 
even as morning sunlight began brightening the backyard.  She felt pride 
glowing within her at his dedication to the Art, and she spent several 
moments just watching him bound about the length of the yard as he went 
through complex exercises and difficult katas.

He's going to need a big breakfast to keep up his strength after all 
that activity, Nodoka thought happily.  She dressed and went to the 
kitchen, humming softly to herself.  She knew that Genma had not been 
eating much since his return home, far less than she could ever remember 
him eating, but she wasn't sure why.  To try and coax his appetite a 
bit, she prepared an enormous breakfast of all his favorite dishes.  It 
was easily large enough to feed all four people now living under their 
roof, even the quite manly appetite she had seen Ranma demonstrating for 
the last couple of days.  Nothing like a good meal to brighten a man's 
day.

In her room, Shampoo woke up with the dawn, stretching her arms out to 
her sides and up over her head, even as she stretched her legs out to 
their full extension beneath the covers and flexed her toes.  Her ears 
detected some very familiar noises coming from the backyard, the quite 
distinctive sounds of someone doing martial arts training.  Yawning, 
dressed in only a long shirt, Shampoo opened the window of her small 
room, expecting to see Pop working out with Ranma, but she only saw 
Genma training by himself.  She leaned out the window, wondering to 
herself in a soft whisper, "What Pop doing?  Lazy Pop never train this 
hard before."

Unaware that he now had an audience, Genma kept at his exertions, rather 
pleased and surprised at his new body's performance.  Despite the 
annoyingly thick layers of fat on it, this body had very good endurance, 
and he was confident that a regular regimen of working out and cutting 
down on his food intake would slim him down in no time.  Just changing 
his diet would be a big help on its own, especially cutting out all 
forms of alcohol from his consumption.  The other Genma had apparently 
felt that water was fit only for bathing, not drinking, so beer and sake 
made up a distressing portion of his fluid intake.  But that was going 
to change.  Professor Saotome intended to purge all of the poisons from 
this body and rebuild its physique to as near to its peak as he could 
manage, using everything he knew from both lives to help the process 
along.

Pausing in his exertions, Genma mopped the sweat from his forehead with 
the bandana his counterpart constantly wore to hide his baldness.  He 
then dropped to the ground and began doing sit-ups, pushing this body as 
hard as he felt it could take without crippling himself up.  Breath 
flowed in through his nose and out through his mouth as he remembered 
his own training from a long time ago.  It had been far too long, he 
realized.  He was so involved in his efforts that he did not immediately 
notice that he had company.

"Pop up early," said Shampoo neutrally from behind Genma.  She stood 
there dressed in one of her usual, semi-baggy Chinese outfits, for she 
never knew when cold water would transform her.  She calmly studied the 
sweating man with an inscrutable expression.  He had been acting far 
nicer to her for the last couple of days, not an unpleasant surprise, 
but she was still more than a little uncertain how long this present 
mood of his would last.  She was still wondering what had possessed him 
to break the engagement between Ranma and Akane, not that she was really 
complaining. However, distrusting Genma Saotome was a habit deeply 
ingrained into her after all the time she had known him.

"Good morning, Shampoo," said Genma pleasantly, taking a brief pause in 
his exertions.  He adjusted his glasses and mopped some more sweat from 
his brow.  "Care to join me in a good workout before breakfast?  This 
old man could use the company, since," he paused for a moment and a 
ghost of pain went through his soul, "since my son isn't awake yet."

The Amazon looked startled at the request.  She blinked and then asked 
him, "Pop want practice with Shampoo?"

"Only if you'd like to," answered Genma.  "I know I haven't been too 
friendly to you in the past, but I'm hoping to change that.  So, would 
you like to train with me this morning, fat, old and slow as I am?"  He 
smiled at her in a friendly manner.

Shampoo just stared at Genma, confused.  He wasn't acting anything like 
he normally did with her, and she didn't know how to take it.  The 
twinkle in his eyes was even more disconcerting, far from the usual sort 
of dismissive looks he had given her before.  With a brief shrug, she 
nodded and said, "Okay.  Shampoo not mind."

After the cursed Amazon warmed up a little, the two of them began with 
some sparring.  Instead of being tentative in his attacks against her, 
Genma treated Shampoo as a serious opponent, and the two of them went at 
it in earnest.  However, the honest smile never left his face, and it 
gradually infected Shampoo as she realized that this man had no ulterior 
motives towards her this morning.  So the two of them danced with the 
full measure of their respective skills, and, as they did so, two sets 
of eyes watched them with differing reactions.

Dearest is certainly acting vigorous this morning, noted Nodoka with a 
smile, watching the match.  It was odd to her to think so, but she kept 
getting the impression that Genma was treating Shampoo almost like a 
daughter, for some reason that she could not fathom.  That notion had 
been gradually building up since the three of them arrived on her 
doorstep.  Could he perhaps want Shampoo to marry Ranma?  It would be 
the manly thing for Ranma to do, after all.  How else will I ever get 
grandchildren?  With a shrug, she went back to putting the finishing 
touches on breakfast.

What the hell is that old man up to? wondered Ranma suspiciously as he 
watched Shampoo sparring with Genma.  He had just woken up due to 
another odd dream, but apparently not early enough.  This one had him 
acting as some sort of spear-carrier to a martial artist Nabiki, herself 
the Heir to the Anything-Goes School and a far more capable fighter than 
he was.  Yeah, right, as if that could ever happen, he snorted.  No way 
that I'd ever be second-best to any chick.

The pigtailed boy watched the two figures bounding about the yard, his 
father wearing a stupid grin that made Ranma wonder what sort of devious 
scheme he was up to.  And why the hell didn't that old man get me up to 
spar with him?  Ah well, now that Shampoo's warmed him up for me, I'll 
take over.  With a loud 'kiai' yell, he leaped from the window and 
joined in on the morning fun.

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

*** Earth  0.000,0.000

"Good morning, my son," said a smiling Nodoka as she watched Ranma come 
in from the backyard area.  "You have just enough time for a quick bath 
before breakfast, but you should hurry."

"Sure, Mother," said Ranma in a pleased-sounding tone.  He headed past 
her, across the hall, and up the stairs.

Nodoka stared after her son.  He looks so happy, she thought, her hands 
still busy with her cooking.  He got along so well with young Ukyo last 
night, so I guess that must explain his present mood.  She recalled the 
occasionally-intense discussion between her son and the Kuonji girl, one 
mainly on various martial arts techniques, pleased that they had so 
quickly found something in common between them.  She stirred the soup 
she was making, adding a few small pinches of salt and spices.  As she 
did so, her eyes lit up and she bopped her head lightly with one fist as 
she smiled more ruefully.  I forgot to tell him about his date with Ukyo 
later today.  I'll let him know while he eats his breakfast.

A few minutes later, a rather bedraggled-looking Genma crawled into the 
kitchen area, appearing as if he had been worked over by experts.  The 
gi he was wearing was torn up and missing part of one sleeve, his body 
was all but completely covered in bruises, and the pains from his 
wrenched joints and abused muscles defied description.  He groaned aloud 
and promptly collapsed to the floor.  The stricken man concentrated on 
his breathing, struggling hard to stay conscious, even as he vowed to 
humble the smug boy who had done this to him only minutes before.

That little punk has no respect for his elders, Genma thought angrily, 
vaguely remembering the brutal beating he had received during his 
attempt at sparring with Ranma.  Ungrateful boy!  Even if it kills me, 
I'll regain the proud physique I had before I was trapped in this 
pathetic shell, and then I'll show him what a true master of the martial 
arts is capable of.

"Dearest?" asked Nodoka with some concern, looking at him.  "Things 
seemed to get a little heated out there between you and Ranma.  Are you 
going to be all right?"

"I'll be fine," growled Genma, struggling to rise.  "The boy's just 
better than I expected.  He caught me by surprise."

"More than once from the looks of you," said Nodoka blandly, trying hard 
not to look amused at his plight.  "Ranma is certainly quite the martial 
artist, isn't he?"  Pride was evident in her voice.  "Such skill he has.  
I confess that I was quite impressed at his abilities while I was 
watching him spar with you."

"If I have anything to say about it, he'll get even better," Genma 
muttered.  Four hours of daily workouts at that Academy of his should 
start whipping that lazy boy into the proper shape for the more advanced 
training methods I intend to put him through, thought Genma with an evil 
smile.  He will endure everything that I feel a true Heir to the 
Anything-Goes School should endure, and this time I will hold nothing 
back.  With what I know of his true potential, I'll turn this boy into 
the greatest fighter the world will ever see.  Within a few weeks I can 
begin the real work on toughening him up into a _true_ martial artist, 
but I'm sure he'll thank me for it later.

His adrenaline surge finally giving out, Genma collapsed facedown on the 
floor of the kitchen, unconscious.

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

Ukyo stood on the flat roof of her aunt's restaurant, her eyes closed as 
she meditated after finishing up a rigorous morning exercise.  Her 
clothing was slightly dampened, feeling cool and snug on her frame from 
the sweat of her heavy exertions.  She was dressed in one of her 
okonomiyaki seller outfits, her usual garb for training other than the 
traditional ninja night suit, and her breasts were bound down out of 
habit.  A soft nimbus of bluish chi flowed around her body like St. 
Elmo's fire, totally invisible except to those who were similarly 
enlightened.  She was attempting to attune herself to the many odd 
energies of the city, so different to her from those of her former home 
in the mountains.

Tokyo, and especially Nerima, seemed filled with a chaotic power that 
was completely unlike anything she had ever experienced, yet she was 
confident that she would master its essence.  Her grandfather had always 
told her, "A true ninja can blend into any environment, for we are the 
masters of the Way of Shadow, and the myths of the past that still walk 
among ordinary men."  With that proud thought in mind, Ukyo focussed her 
awareness upon the seven energy centers of the human body, feeling her 
breath smoothly flowing in and out.  As the moments passed, she felt her 
frame revitalizing itself after her recent efforts, each breath swiftly 
returning her closer to her full endurance.  The young ninja felt her 
mind calming to a stillness, the sounds of the awakening city washing 
over her without arousing her.

Ukyo did not sense the presence of another person until it was almost 
too late.  Her body instinctively dodged to one side without a single 
conscious thought as a foot blurred past where her head had been a 
moment earlier.  She swiftly rolled over on one shoulder and snapped up 
into a combat stance, and her opponent continued on with the assault 
without pausing, throwing several more vicious punches and kicks in the 
space of only a few seconds before finally stopping.  Ukyo blocked or 
dodged each strike with an almost effortless grace and speed.

"Pretty good, Ukyo-chan," said Yumi with a grin, relaxing from her 
assault upon her niece.  "You sensed my approach despite all my efforts 
at cloaking my presence, and your reflexes are excellent.  That's quite 
a rare level of ability in one so young, so that old man trained you 
pretty well.  I imagine it takes a pretty exceptional fighter to defeat 
you in single combat.  Still, I might have a few pointers I can offer 
you that I've picked up in my travels, so just think of me as your new 
teacher."

"Thanks, Aunt Yumi," said Ukyo with a grin.  "I'm looking forward to 
learning whatever you can teach me."  She quickly picked up her things.  
And I'm sure she won't try any of the crazy training methods that Gramps 
used.  That old man can sure be a sadist when he wants to be.

With a parting wink, Yumi walked across the roof of the restaurant.  
"Come on downstairs, and I'll put you to work.  I have a task in mind 
for the first step in your training."  She walked over to the door to 
the stairs and headed down.

Ukyo followed her aunt, curious as to what she would be asked to do.  
She was not long in learning the answer to that question.

Yumi turned on the grill and allowed it to heat up, a smile on her face 
as she pulled out a batter mixture.  She looked at Ukyo and said, "I 
thought you might be hungry.  I know I always am after a good, hard 
workout."

Ukyo's stomach chose that moment to make its presence known with a loud 
grumble of hunger.  A good meal was one of her favorite things in the 
world, something her grandfather had often teased her about when she was 
growing up under his care.  Still, whatever she might think about the 
old man's brutal training methods, or his strange insistence that she 
was a boy and should always act like one, he had never let her go 
hungry.  He had even told her many times that she had a very 'manly' 
appetite.  And ever since puberty began, her body's metabolism had 
seemed to be in constant high gear, requiring a steady supply of food to 
keep her trim body's insatiable furnaces well-stoked.

The okonomiyaki her aunt fixed her vanished down Ukyo's gullet almost as 
quickly as it had been made.  The young ninja had always thought that 
her grandfather's skill at cooking the Kuonji family's signature dish 
was the best, but now she realized that she had just met a true master 
of the grill.  The teenaged girl ravenously consumed a second and then a 
third okonomiyaki before the edge was finally taken off of her hunger.

"Feeding you is going to be more work that I thought," teased Yumi.  
"You eat more than any of the teenaged boys that come in here."

Ukyo chuckled nervously at the comment, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"Now you will show me what you can do," said Yumi, a semi-serious look 
on her face.  "I have a special task that will require your utmost 
performance today.  Are you ready?"

"Yes, Auntie," said Ukyo gravely, as if she had just accepted a 
challenge to mortal combat.  "What do you want me to do?"

"A delicate task," said Yumi, pausing for a moment dramatically, before 
spoiling the drama completely when an impish smile crossed her face.  
"You're going to stay at this grill and practice hard until you can cook 
your new boyfriend the best okonomiyaki he's ever had, since I have it 
on good authority that he's going to be coming by tonight."  She briefly 
recalled the pleasant phone conversation with Nodoka while Ukyo was on 
the roof training.

Ukyo half-slumped at the counter with surprise, a faint blush now 
crossing her cheeks.

"The best way to earn a guy's attention is by cooking for him," said 
Yumi sagely, grinning broadly at Ukyo discomfiture.  "Since I don't 
usually open until the lunch hour, we have the entire morning for me to 
start refining your techniques.  We may not get your abilities perfected 
today, but I intend to turn you into the finest okonomiyaki chef of your 
generation, given time."

Ukyo grinned.

Yumi picked up a small spatula in each hand, her grip on them firm and 
steady.  She gazed at her niece with a twinkle in her eyes and said in a 
passable imitation of the solemn tones of the eldest of their Clan, 
Genji Kuonji, "And now, my young apprentice, we shall begin your 
training."

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

Nodoka watched in growing irritation as Genma and Ranma waged a fierce 
battle over the food she had served for breakfast, a battle that Ranma 
appeared to be easily winning.  She saw him fending off Genma's attempts 
at stealing bits and pieces of food from him with skill and speed, but 
an increasingly annoyed look was visible on her son's face.  Neither of 
them came near her own food bowl as they dueled with their chopsticks, 
even as she sat in not-quite-stunned immobility.  It was a far worse 
sight than the poor manners that they had demonstrated on their first 
day back.  Her eyes narrowed slightly.

"Cut it out, old man!" cried Ranma, blocking another one of Genma's 
attempts to steal some of his breakfast.  A moment later, he managed to 
swipe a fried egg away from the older man.  He grinned at the annoyed 
look on Genma's face.  "Hah!  Serves you right!"

"How dare you show me such lack of respect, boy!" roared Genma, managing 
to get a bit of extra rice and some fish through his efforts.  It was 
taking all of his skills at distraction tactics and insults to get Ranma 
to lower his defenses enough to get through at all.  "Obey your father 
and give me back that egg!"

Ranma swallowed the egg in question with a single gulp, a smirk on his 
face.

Nodoka's eyebrow began to twitch.

Genma redoubled his efforts, admittedly somewhat hindered by his recent 
injuries.  But he knew that this too was part of training, the struggle 
to obtain enough sustenance to keep the body nourished.  Yet he was so 
intent on goading Ranma (and trying to get as much of breakfast for 
himself as he could), that he failed to notice the increasingly wrathful 
expression on Nodoka's face.

"Genma," spoke Nodoka grimly, but she was ignored by the object of her 
growing anger.

Ranma glanced at his mother, briefly distracted by the sensations of 
danger appearing from her direction and impinging on his trained senses.  
He noticed Genma swiping the last two fried eggs from the serving plate 
while his attention was apparently elsewhere.

"Genma!" snapped Nodoka sharply.  "Stop this childish play with our son 
and just eat your breakfast!"  For a moment, she forgot her normal ways 
of acting around her family and husband, and the Nodoka she once was as 
a teenager appeared briefly in her mannerisms.  The urge to get a bokken 
and smack her husband around for acting like an idiot tempted her for a 
brief time.

Genma froze, sincerely surprised that all of her anger appeared to be 
directed at him.  He noticed Ranma looking at him guilelessly, and he 
quickly realized that he had mis-played his hand this round, mis-played 
it quite badly indeed.  He quickly went to work upon soothing Nodoka's 
ruffled temper, placating her with gentle words and a very obsequious 
attitude.  He was rewarded with her slowly appearing to be mollified.

Idiot, thought Ranma, as he gulped down the last of his breakfast in 
relative peace.  The sooner you're gone and my own father is back, the 
better.

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

Akane's hands were firm on her opponent's back and neck, forcefully 
holding him bent over as she drove her right knee upwards into his 
stomach and lower ribcage several times in rapid succession.  After her 
first such blow elicited a cough of pain from the larger boy as the air 
was promptly driven from his lungs, she heard nothing more as she struck 
again and again, the blows preventing him from drawing enough breath to 
even grunt.  The initial strain on her arms from forcibly holding him in 
such a position eased as his resistance ebbed away.  Akane then agilely 
moved aside with the grace of a dancer.  Then, before the stricken boy 
could even begin his struggle to draw a breath, her heel flew upwards in 
a mule kick that slammed hard into the underside of his jaw.  The force 
delivered in the kick was sufficient to knock the boy out and send him 
swiftly flying backwards in a short, ballistic arc to crash down onto 
his back.

While the dust slowly settled around him, Akane silently watched the 
fallen boy with glittering eyes, her chest heaving a little.  Her guard 
remained raised as she warily moved over towards her opponent.  A small 
cut welled up a little blood upon her cheek, and she was favoring one 
leg due to a deep bruising strike that hit her hip, two relatively minor 
injuries being ignored for the moment as she felt a momentary sense of 
satisfaction at her apparent victory.

Sakura Kasugano separated herself from the crowd and casually knelt to 
examine Akane's downed foe, peeling back an eyelid and feeling for his 
pulse.  After a few moments, she nodded and gestured for some of the 
other watchers in the crowd to help the defeated boy back to his feet.  
The muscular youth now lying deeply unconscious was a second-year cadet 
and one of the more extremely chauvinistic members of the Combat Club.  
He was someone that Sakura never got tired of seeing being taken down by 
one of the few female fighters on campus able to do so, and she was glad 
to add another girl to that short list of worthies.  She watched the 
volunteers scrambling to obey her unspoken order with a slight grin on 
her face, acknowledging their respect for her position as a member of 
Furinkan Academy's toughest group of cadets, despite her own first-year 
status.

As Sakura stood back up, she shook her head slightly, a little bit 
envious at Akane's win.  The new plebe was only beginning her second day 
on campus, and she had already racked up her first victory towards the 
three that she needed for membership in the Combat Club.  The young 
cadet sergeant was pleased, but a little surprised as well at Akane's 
impressive abilities, seeing a girl who was possibly even more driven to 
fight and test her martial arts skills than she herself was.  It had 
taken Sakura over a week at the beginning of the semester to get her 
three victories, mainly since she had been the only girl among the new 
crop of first-year cadets to express any sort of interest in joining.  
The club membership was almost exclusively male by tradition, and the 
boys had not taken her challenges seriously at first.

"Are you well, Tendo-san?" asked Sakura casually.

"I'm fine, Kasugano-san," replied Akane, feeling the pain from the hard 
blow to her hip already beginning to fade.  The battle today was a much 
tougher fight than the quick victory she obtained yesterday, but this 
boy was one of the members of the Combat Club.  Other than Ranma, he had 
been a much tougher opponent than any boy she had ever faced at the 
Imperial Academy.  Akane had shrugged off several hard blows taken 
during the fight, but she had never lost confidence in her eventual 
victory over the boy being helped away.  She smiled slightly as she 
recalled something from one of her mother's earliest lessons to her and 
her two sisters.

Strike fast, strike hard, and strike without mercy, were the three basic 
tenets Akane had taken to heart from her mother's teachings, and she had 
always sought to live her life by them when it came to combat.  
Challenging the arrogant boy had been a rather pleasant way to begin 
another day of following in her mother's footsteps.  She could hardly 
wait until she became a full member of the Combat Club, testing herself 
daily against the best warriors, and their family schools, that the 
Empire had to send here.  With such opponents as these to train with, I 
will surely become a worthy companion for Ranma, she thought with a 
dreamy smile.  And I know I'll finally become the best fighter in the 
family, even better than Nabiki's new skills.

"You're bleeding," observed Sakura calmly, interrupting Akane's musings.  
"I think we should visit the infirmary before we go to our first class.  
You wouldn't want to get bloodstains on your uniform, after all.  You 
wouldn't want the demerits it would bring."  She smiled slightly, then 
turned and began walking off.

"All right," said Akane, following the slightly shorter girl into the 
main building.

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

Hikaru Gosunkugi followed along behind Ranma, a look of malevolent 
anticipation on his face.  He had stayed up late last night, the first 
of many nights he anticipated doing, preparing for his vengeance against 
the pigtailed scholar.  However, anyone who happened to look at him at 
the moment would not notice any differences in his usual, sunken-eyed 
appearance.  The thin boy snickered, this action briefly breaking the 
aura of non-detection his esper powers wove about him.

Ranma turned around, suddenly noticing for a moment that he was being 
followed.  He glanced back up the street leading to his home, but saw 
nothing.  Shrugging, he turned back to heading towards the Academy, even 
as he wondered how he was going to deal with his mother's eagerness for 
him to pursue Ukyo.  The thought of a date with the ninja girl made him 
nervous.  The way his life was heading now, he honestly did not know 
what to expect if he did ask her out.

"Your father and I will be attending a function at the Ministry this 
evening," his mother had told him with a smile at the door, "so it's a 
perfect time for you to spend some time with that nice Ukyo girl and 
take her out on a date.  Now I want you to ask her out, and I expect you 
to show her a good time.  She's staying at her aunt's place of business, 
so here's some money to eat there tonight."  She quickly handed him 
several thousand-yen notes and told him the directions.  He was not 
surprised to learn that it was within walking distance of his home.

The name of Ukyo's aunt's place had been a mild shock, and an eerie 
feeling had fallen upon him and stayed with him since then.  So it could 
be understood why he was not at his most observant right now.  Still, he 
didn't think anyone would be attacking him since there weren't any girls 
really pursuing him like that other Ranma had.

When his target of vengeance continued onwards towards the Academy, 
Gosunkugi fell into place a short distance behind him, cloaking his 
presence with skill.  He smiled at the thought of the spell he would be 
casting soon.  Actually, it was the only one contained in the tome he 
had managed to sneak out of the Institute.  Soon, Saotome, I shall have 
my revenge on you and that noblewoman bitch you dangle on your leash, 
the thin boy thought with a grin.

The brief cackle of glee that emerged from his lips forced him to hide 
in an alleyway once again to avoid Ranma's eye.

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

Nabiki walked along at a moderately fast pace, her footsteps even and 
sure.  The morning was pleasantly cool, and the sky was clear of any 
clouds.  She was trying a new route to the Academy from home, one that 
passed through a small park with a fountain a few blocks from her home.  
She stopped at the fountain and watched the waters dance for a few quiet 
moments of peace.

"The element of life and change," said a voice to her right and a little 
bit behind her.

Startled that someone had snuck up upon her so easily without being 
detected, Nabiki whirled around to see a small figure dressed in the 
robes of a wandering Buddhist monk, a straw hat hiding his face, and a 
tall staff in one hand.  The wooden staff was metal-shod at both ends 
and was topped by three jingling rings of brass attached to a circle of 
metal at the upright end.  She was doubly startled that someone carrying 
such a thing could have approached so closely without a sound warning 
her.

When Nabiki said nothing, the small figure tipped his head up to reveal 
the face of an ugly little gnome of a monk beneath the broad hat, one 
that reminded her a little bit of Happosai.  The two figures gazed at 
each other, but the old man spoke first.

"Greetings, young warrior," said the small figure.  "I am Cherry."  He 
bowed slightly.

Nabiki bowed back, but she did not remove her eyes from the strange 
apparition as she asked, "Why did you call me a warrior?"  As far as she 
could tell, she looked like a fairly ordinary girl in her gray uniform, 
like any one of many that attended the Academy.

Cherry smiled.  It made him look even uglier somehow.  "You carry the 
impression of a martial artist in your stance and your manner, young 
warrior.  By the way, you would not happen to have any extra food on 
you, by some chance?"  When Nabiki only frowned and did not reply, he 
shrugged and looked a bit disappointed, then pointed at her with the 
head of his staff, the rings jingling slightly.  "Rarely have I ever 
encountered someone with such a powerful destiny written in their being, 
and now I have met two in such a short time."  He studied Nabiki rather 
intently.  "Like the other, you have begun walking a new path, one that 
was never meant for you to follow.  How curious."

Could he mean Ranma? wondered Nabiki, even as she quickly schooled her 
features to hide any sort of reaction from appearing.  She simply stood 
with a neutral expression and let the old man speak as he would, but she 
studied him as she did so.  She studied him quite closely.  Some of his 
words were hitting uncomfortably close to home.

"It is interesting that you paused to study the water, young warrior," 
said Cherry solemnly, dropping his gaze to look at the fountain.  "It is 
the element symbolic of life, ever moving and ever changing.  But I 
sense strong ties between the water and yourself.  Perhaps you drowned 
in a past life?"

Nabiki could not stop herself from staring at the wizened, little 
figure.  Could he sense a lingering trace of Jusenkyo in her, somehow?  
"I have no idea, old man," she said, a little brusquely.

Cherry did not appear offended, but amused.  He tapped the end of his 
staff against the fountain once.  "You remind me of someone I once knew.  
She had a sharp tongue on her, too, and clever eyes."  He smiled at her, 
a truly horrifying thing to see.  "Yes, you remind me of her a great 
deal."  With that, the old monk turned and leisurely walked away from a 
puzzled-looking Nabiki, pausing only long enough to say, "If the Fates 
are kind, we shall speak again, but I sense that this passion play is 
only beginning and should be quite entertaining for an old man when all 
the players are finally in place.  For now, consider the water, for you 
and it are linked."

Linked with water? thought Nabiki, taking her eyes off the small monk to 
study the cool liquid flowing out of the fountain.  When she turned back 
to ask him a question, he was already entering the forest nearby.  
Trailing along behind him was the faint, lingering ringing sound of his 
staff as he vanished back into the trees.

"Hey, old man!" Nabiki shouted.  "Old man?  Cherry?"  She repeated the 
call several times, but there was no reply, only a slight breeze seen 
ruffling the leaves of the nearby trees.  Weird, Nabiki thought, feeling 
an uncomfortable amount of the strangeness in her counterpart's life 
beginning to impinge on hers.  Glancing at her watch, she cursed the 
delay in getting started on her business for the day.  Then, still 
wondering about the odd, little monk, she turned and headed for the 
Academy.

After a short walk, Nabiki drew near the campus, and the sight that 
greeted her caused the corners of her mouth to curl upwards into a lazy 
sort of half-smile.  She could smell potential profit in the air, and 
she patted a pocket absently, feeling a lump there.  Her eyes beheld the 
young Lord Kuno being helped back up to his feet, his weapon currently 
lying broken cleanly in two at his feet.  Her eyes narrowed a bit as she 
witnessed Kodachi standing far too close to Ranma than she cared for, 
apparently scolding her brother while the pigtailed boy stood quietly a 
little ways behind her.  Ranma seemed uncertain what to do with himself.  
As Nabiki came within earshot of the trio, she saw Kuno suddenly pull 
himself up into a standing position and wave off the chauffeur's aid.

"Leave me be!" Kuno thundered at the man, before raising his eyes to 
glare at the man his sister stood next to, the one he had so quickly 
grown to despise.  The two young men eyed each other, Kuno's face a 
vision of intense struggle to maintain his calm, to hide the raging 
torrent of emotions that all but consumed him at the sight of Ranma 
Saotome.  How the nobleman loathed the sight of that face.  The face of 
his rival for the affections of Akane Tendo, the woman he cherished more 
than any other in the world.  The face of the man who had seduced his 
innocent and naive, younger sister.

"Brother dear, this is really such unseemly behavior for one of our 
family," Kodachi gently berated Kuno, sounding a bit exasperated with 
him.  "Please leave us and go to Whitehall now, all right?"

"Yeah, Kuno," said Ranma with irritation, "just leave me alone and stop 
attacking me, okay?  You're never going to be good enough to beat me, so 
why even try?"  Admittedly, it had taken a little more effort to put the 
other boy down this time, but Ranma was feeling pretty cocky about his 
fighting skills this morning.

Oh, good one, Ranma-baka, thought Nabiki with a sigh, feeling a bit 
exasperated with her nominal rival.  Why not just paint a sign on your 
forehead saying "Attack me" and taunt the guy some more?  Honestly, 
you'd think you would have learned some tact at your age.  You'd never 
see me getting into pointless fights with someone like Kuno.  Before 
Ranma could get the other boy revved up and wanting to fight him again, 
she slid in between the two and pulled the young nobleman aside with 
only slight resistance on his part, still being somewhat dazed.  She 
ignored the very pleasant feelings that began coursing through her when 
she took hold of Kuno's arm, but she wondered for a moment why it seemed 
to have gotten warmer when it was such a cool morning.

"Walk with me to class, Saotome-kun?" asked Kodachi sweetly, quickly 
taking advantage of Nabiki's appearance.  Before moving over closer to 
Ranma, she exchanged a brief look with the older girl that was far from 
friendly, and a momentary sizzle of invisible energy cracked through the 
air like heat lightning between them.  Then, a faint twitch suddenly 
appeared upon Kodachi's lips as she gazed at Nabiki's hand resting upon 
her brother's arm, and an idea for how to get rid of the obnoxious 
annoyance to her that was Nabiki Tendo began germinating in her mind.

"Huh?" Ranma blurted out, quite oblivious to what had just occurred 
between the two girls.  "Oh, uh, sure."  He looked a little bit nervous 
as he fell into place at Kodachi's side and began escorting her over the 
modest distance from the gate to the main building.  He glanced back 
briefly at Nabiki, but she was apparently occupied with Kuno, the two of 
them disappearing around the corner.  In a hidden corner in the back of 
his mind, it bothered Ranma to see her spending time with Kuno, but he 
would have been hard pressed to say why.  However, hearing a question 
from Kodachi a moment later, he snapped his gaze back to the front and 
responded to her query.  He then continued marching alongside her while 
listening to her cheerily chatting with him.  A whiff of her delicate 
perfume brushed by his nose now and then, and he tried to ignore the 
feelings it generated.

Behind them, Nabiki pretended disinterest in Ranma's companion, but it 
rankled her to see him spending time with another woman, especially a 
stuck-up girl like Kodachi.  That Kuno girl is going to be trouble for 
me, I can just feel it, she thought with a frown.

Kuno had finally managed to recover his senses enough to feel a strong 
quivering of desire for the girl tugging on his arm, penetrating through 
even the shell of arrogance and bushido honor he wove about himself.  
Regret for this weakness in his feelings for Akane consumed him for 
several agonizing moments as he sought to master himself.  He quickly 
stepped back to a much more appropriate range for one of his social rank 
as he then addressed Nabiki as he felt befitted their respective 
stations.  "I do not require thy aid further, Nabiki Tendo."

"As you wish, Kuno-kun," said Nabiki casually with a smirk on her face, 
calmly fishing out a small packet from a pocket of her uniform.  She 
thanked her ancestors for all-night film developing operations, as a 
dozen pictures of Akane filled the packet.  Along with the candid photos 
of her younger sister was an item that had required some trickery on 
Nabiki's part to obtain, a small lock of Akane's hair.  She was certain 
that she would be able to milk quite a few yen from the pompous young 
lordling for it.

"I do not remember giving thee leave to address me so familiarly, Tendo-
san," said Kuno grumpily.  He drew himself up to his full height and 
glared at her imperiously for several moments.  A twinge of 
disappointment filled him when she did not react one iota to what he 
thought was a commanding presence.

"Look, Kuno," said Nabiki seriously, drawing him away from the flow of 
cadets entering the campus to speak more privately.  "I'm not one of 
your family's vassals, so don't treat me like the hired help.  I happen 
to have a few items that you requested a few days ago, if you're still 
interested in them.  However, if you want to play Lord of the Manor, 
then go play somewhere else.  I happen to be a very busy woman, and I'm 
sure that I could find someone else interested in buying these photos of 
my little sister."  For emphasis, she waved the packet of photos in the 
air.

"Photos?" said Kuno, an almost hungry look coming over his face before 
he contained himself, glancing around quickly to ensure than no one had 
witnessed his outburst.  He started to draw nearer to the very annoying 
girl with him, but that odd quivering of desire once again began to fill 
him.  So he chose to remain at his current distance.  Despite her very 
impertinent demeanor towards him, there was something distinctly 
attractive about Nabiki Tendo.  When he had more time, he decided he 
would consider the matter at greater length.  However, for now, he was 
far more interested in seeing the pictures she was so very casually 
waving about.  He coughed once to cover his brief lapse.  "Yes, I recall 
the matter now.  You will show them to me."

Nabiki opened the packet and fanned out the twelve photos she had 
selected for this initial sale, the middle one clearly showing Akane in 
the midst of a high jumping kick.  The gray-uniformed girl smirked 
slightly as she held them up for Kuno to see more clearly.  She pulled 
them out of his reach when he started to grasp for them.

"Two thousand yen each seems a fair price," said Nabiki pleasantly.  
"And I also have a lock of my sister's hair that you requested.  I'm 
willing to let you have it along with the pictures for an even fifty 
thousand yen."  She was betting that a traditional-minded sort like Kuno 
would not think anything of the price, since samurai of old were trained 
to think of the value of money as being the province of women and lesser 
men.

"Hmmm," murmured Kuno, apparently contemplating the offer.

"Of course, if you're not interested, perhaps I can interest Ranma in 
these rare items," said Nabiki teasingly.  That statement decided the 
matter for the young nobleman.

"I shall buy them, Tendo-san," said Kuno, with more than a touch of 
eagerness in his voice.  He quickly slapped a small wad of yen notes 
into her hand that was more than sufficient to cover her asking price.  
No one witnessed the exchange between them, standing as they were in a 
quiet area well out of sight of the cadets entering campus.

"Pleasure doing business with you, Kuno-kun," said Nabiki with a smile.  
Having such a windfall of yen made her whole day look brighter, until 
she recalled Ranma spending time with a certain young noblewoman.  She 
made a mental note to bruise the girl up a little during practice today, 
to show Kodachi Kuno that it was very unwise to make a play for a boy 
that Nabiki considered as her property.  Even if the boy in question did 
not know it yet.

Kuno nodded to himself as he strode the distance to his waiting 
limousine, gazing raptly at the pictures of Akane.  But thoughts of her 
feelings for Ranma came to darken his visage, and he spent the trip to 
Whitehall in a foul mood.

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

After walking with Kodachi to class, all Ranma could recall of their 
conversation was her excited anticipation for the marriage meeting to 
take place between their two families tomorrow evening.  One or two of 
the girls standing near enough to them in the hall to hear about that 
seemed to frown in response, but Ranma was certain he was just imagining 
things.  He had been at the Academy for almost two months, so why would 
the girls suddenly start showing him any interest now?  He chuckled to 
himself, quite sure that it was only his stress talking.

Ranma was now somewhat nervously waiting outside the Dean's office, 
since a summons to appear before the man had been waiting in his locker.  
The pigtailed boy occupied himself during the wait with composing some 
of the arguments he would make in favor of continuing his work.  He was 
confident that he could present a sufficiently strong case.  While he 
was in there he also planned to mention his willingness to forego any 
more of the sparring matches between himself and Nabiki, the ones to 
prove her capabilities at keeping up with him.

After yesterday's fight, I have no doubts as to Nabiki's physical 
abilities, Ranma thought with a slight smile.  He was confident that 
keeping her around as a training partner to sharpen his abilities with 
would be a wise move in the long run.  But he knew he would simply have 
to remind her now and then as to who the better fighter between them 
really was, despite whatever she might think on the subject.  Still, it 
promises to be fun responding to the challenge she represents.  I know 
she's going to keep trying to get better than me, and I honestly don't 
think I'd have it any other way.

Sometime later that hour, after he emerged from the Dean's office, Ranma 
was frowning.  What he thought were brilliant appeals to Dean 
Fuyutsuki's sense of logic and fairness had simply fallen on deaf ears, 
save for the request to discontinue the necessity of continuing the 
sparring matches between Nabiki and himself.  That one had received a 
slight smile from the man, but it was the only thing to receive any 
positive response.

Then, to add even more salt in his wounds, the Dean had informed him 
that his equipment was to be removed from his lab space in a few days 
for dismantling and salvage, and he should count himself fortunate that 
his physical training was not going to be increased even further than it 
was already to be extended.  His 'father' had apparently made a request 
that Ranma's training be increased to cover the entire day, since he was 
already so far ahead of his peers in his scholastic studies.  The entire 
experience had left a sour taste in Ranma's mouth.

"Stupid old man," Ranma muttered under his breath.  As to which old man 
he was referring to, even he wasn't quite sure.

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

"And I've taken the liberty of having a delicious lunch made just for 
the two of us, Saotome-kun," said Kodachi, smiling at Ranma as her gaze 
noted several of the Kuno family servants setting up a table and two 
chairs in a shady spot under one of the trees.  Food began to appear 
from covered dishes as the pair drew closer.

Ranma glanced over to where Kodachi was leading them, seeing a table 
that was growing more laden with food by the minute.  His nose caught a 
whiff of the waiting meal, and he briefly inhaled the scents of rice, 
chicken, and steamed vegetables.  A grin appeared on his face, and he 
thought, Ya know, with food like this to come home to, marriage to 
Kodachi wouldn't be half-bad.  She seems really nice, and at least this 
one doesn't do that psycho laugh.  A moment later, he shook his head as 
if to clear the wayward thought from it.

Ha! Kodachi thought triumphantly.  I doubt that either of those two 
Tendo tramps would be able to feed Saotome-kun in such fine style.  A 
brief fantasy of future meals spent with Ranma danced in her mind.  The 
fantasy was quickly replaced by a more risqué one, and Kodachi blushed 
prettily while murmuring soft protests at how bold Ranma was acting 
towards her in her daydream.

Watching Kodachi standing in one spot with her hands slowly tearing her 
handkerchief apart, Ranma raised one eyebrow and suddenly felt a little 
bit nervous being around the young noblewoman.  But it's still better 
than the laugh, he eventually decided, and he actually thought it made 
her seem more attractively feminine in an odd way.  When he saw her 
finally return to her senses a few moments later, he gave her a 
reassuring smile and let her escort him to their waiting table.

"I hope you enjoy the food, Saotome-kun," said Kodachi shyly.  She gave 
Ranma a smile as they sat down and readied themselves to eat.  She 
nodded her head at the servants, and they withdrew a short distance away 
to allow the couple some privacy.  It was then that the young noblewoman 
realized her position, that she was about to share her first meal with a 
young man that she was very much attracted to.  A faint blush appeared 
on her cheeks as she took a sip of her tea, and then she began eating 
with dainty manners to hide her sudden bout of nervousness.

Ranma found himself to be famished, and he began wolfing down food as 
quickly as he could without devolving into the typical table manners of 
his martial artist counterparts.  Ever since he had begun training at 
the Academy, and enduring the grueling physical regimen the coaches put 
him through, his appetite had grown much greater.  With a brief shrug, 
he went back to working on putting as much of the delicious meal before 
him into his stomach as he could manage.

Standing over by her main assistants, Nabiki not-quite-glared at Ranma 
being so friendly with Kodachi.  As she watched him dig into his lunch 
with gusto, a hint of a frown appeared on her face.

Yohko eyed Nabiki and wondered why the other girl seemed to be growing 
more and more obsessed with Ranma Saotome of late.  She waved the other 
girls away while Nabiki's attention was distracted, briefly watching 
them fan out to contact their own small groups of followers and conduct 
business.  When the Devil Hunter was reasonably assured that they would 
not be overheard, she casually ground her foot down onto the top of 
Nabiki's quite firmly, eliciting a yelp of surprise and a glare from her 
companion.

"What's the big idea?" demanded Nabiki in a hiss.

"I just wanted to get your attention, Nabiki," said Yohko with a grin.  
"You were staring at Saotome-san again.  Jealous of his new girlfriend?"

"I will only say this once, Yohko," said Nabiki in low tones, an icy 
calm reminiscent of the old Nabiki in her voice.  "I am not jealous, and 
Kodachi Kuno is _not_ his girlfriend.  I am simply keeping an eye on my 
sister's interests."  The lies came easily to her lips.

"Uh huh," grunted Yohko, clearly less than convinced.  "I only said 
something since I'm worried you might be obsessing about the guy.  Are 
you upset that you lost the fight with him?"

"I don't want to talk about that," Nabiki stated with a hint of a growl.

"Fair enough," said Yohko, noting Nabiki's attention drifting back to 
look at Ranma still eating like a starving man.  "So when are you going 
to have a rematch with him?"

As soon as I've mastered my new technique, thought Nabiki as she turned 
back to Yohko.  "Sometime soon," she said with a smirk.  "Is there 
anything else?"

"No, not really," said Yohko.  "I guess I just needed a little bit of 
reassurance that it's business as usual again.  I have my eye on a new 
skirt, you see.  My allowance is a pittance that not even a monk could 
survive on, so I'm depending on you to keep the money coming in."

"Trust me, Yohko," said Nabiki with a nod.  "I fully intend to keep my 
enterprises running for many months yet to come.  I still have a long 
time to go until graduation, after all."

With that, the two of them began discussing the various parts of 
Nabiki's small syndicate and how well each part was doing profit-wise.  
Despite her recent distractions, Nabiki was gratified to learn that her 
organization was still pulling in a tidy profit daily from the various 
endeavors, and that news was sufficient to keep her distracted from 
watching Ranma and Kodachi.

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

Hiroshi swallowed nervously as he gazed down into the steel-gray, cat-
like eyes of the tall, black-garbed and masked girl holding him easily 
against the wall, his feet dangling almost a foot above the ground.  She 
looked quite capable of breaking him in two if she desired, judging by 
the muscles displayed beneath her snug-fitting clothes, not to mention 
her ability to hold him suspended with only one of her arms.

Behind her mask, Panther smiled.  An almost sexual thrill went through 
her as she enjoyed the obvious fear being shown by the little gray mouse 
she had trapped.  The cloth on her head covered her rather distinctive 
ears, only leaving her eyes to show her non-human origins.  She slowly 
tightened her fingers into the front of Hiroshi's uniform, glad for 
having a task to perform for her beloved master.  Idleness made her 
edgy.  But she could tell that this one's will was broken without her 
having to do anything more than threaten a bit, and she was somewhat 
disappointed by that.  Still, the young man was another piece out of 
Nabiki's organization, and the three catgirls were looking forward to 
the day they pulled out the final piece and let the whole thing fall 
apart irretrievably.

That would be the day that Nabiki Tendo would find herself alone, 
without any allies to come to her aid.  On that day, she would fall to 
the might of the three catgirls, to be beaten and broken for the eyes of 
all to see.  Then, and only then, would the trio bring Nabiki into the 
presence of her new master.  Panther smiled at the thought.  The Tendo 
girl would come to know her place, given time.  Personally, Panther 
still was not so sure why Kinnosuke even wanted her, but hers was not 
the sort to question why.

"The choice is quite simple, Hiroshi-kun," purred Panther in sultry 
tones, returning her attention to the task at hand.  "My master offers 
you a place in his organization, since he is able to recognize useful 
talent when he sees it.  Refuse his generosity, and I have been given 
permission to break both of your legs in as many places as I see fit.  
As I said, it is a simple choice.  But be aware that acceptance also 
brings rewards."

"W-what sort of rewards?" asked Hiroshi nervously, already quite willing 
to hear of any extra perks that leaving Nabiki's side would offer him.  
His answer was to feel her free hand caressing up his thigh to just 
below his groin.  She lowered him down so that his feet once more 
touched the ground, towering over him by several centimeters.

"Do you accept my master's leadership?" asked Panther, leaving her hand 
where it was and moving it in a caressing motion.  Her fingers casually 
touched certain nerve clusters in the boy's upper thigh region.  The 
response was as she had expected when she heard him shudder and gasp.

"I-I accept his leadership," gasped Hiroshi, sensations other than fear 
washing over his awareness.  All he wanted was for her to keep touching 
his thigh where she was.  Her hand felt so good.

"A wise decision, Hiroshi-kun," said Panther sensually.  She tapped a 
few more nerve clusters on his thigh, then she tapped a single spot on 
his neck.  She felt his body go limp as he slipped into unconsciousness.  
With a smirk hidden behind her mask, the blonde catgirl lowered him to 
the ground and left him there, a blissful smile on his face.  "And now 
Nabiki's forces begin to grow weaker," she muttered.

A moment later, Panther bounded away.  When Yuka and Sayuri came around 
the corner seconds later, they never even saw the catgirl.

Sayuri stopped and glared down at the sleeping Hiroshi, before she 
kicked him awake.

"You should consider yourself lucky that none of the instructors caught 
you sleeping here, you jerk," growled Sayuri, irritated that he had 
managed to forget a lunch date with her.  Again.  She was tempted to 
kick him once more.

"Yeah, and where's that idiot friend of yours, Daisuke?" said Yuka.  The 
fact that a secret fan club had formed for Kodachi within a single day 
of her arrival had been good business for Nabiki's group, selling the 
few candid pictures they were able to get of her, but it was also an 
annoyance to a great many of the girls whose boyfriends were all smitten 
by the young noblewoman.  Daisuke was even rumored to be the president.

Suddenly wondering if the whole experience had been a dream, Hiroshi 
stood up and endured the chastisements of the two girls.  But his memory 
of the gray-eyed girl in black refused to leave him, and he was certain 
that the experience had been real.

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

"Thank you for a most lovely time, Saotome-kun," Kodachi said with a bow 
as they stood outside her classroom.  Feeling bold, she asked "Would you 
be interested in having lunch with me again tomorrow?"

"Of course, Kodachi," said Ranma, deciding that he did not mind hearing 
her call him 'Saotome-kun' instead of just 'Ranma.'  It was oddly 
pleasant to hear her say his name with that slight formality to it.

After saying his good-byes to Kodachi and leaving her classroom, Ranma 
wandered down the halls and into the empty room of the infirmary, having 
decided to take a brief rest before his training class.  It would give 
him some time to digest his meal and relax.  Despite a frustrating 
situation at home, the day was going fairly well.  He even found himself 
looking forward to visiting with Ukyo tonight.  Without an engagement 
hanging over his head, the two of them could spend time together like 
normal dating couples did.

With a grateful sigh, Ranma stretched out on one of the cots and closed 
his eyes.  He patted his distended stomach and burped once, feeling more 
than a little overfull.  He drifted off into a pleasant doze.

"Enjoy your lunch with your little groupie, Ranma-kun?" asked a wry 
voice, interrupting his brief nap.  It was a voice that he immediately 
recognized as Nabiki's.

Ranma snapped his eyes open and looked around, quickly locking in on the 
sight of Nabiki casually leaning her shoulder against the doorframe of 
the infirmary.  Her expression was neutral as she looked at him, her 
arms folded across her chest.  He could still feel his stomach digesting 
the rich food, but it would still be a little while before he would be 
able to move very well.  He hoped that she wasn't here to cause him any 
trouble.

"Aw, lay off, Nabiki," Ranma grumbled.  "Shouldn't you be in class?"

"I could ask the same thing of you," replied Nabiki with one of her 
usual smirks.  "But it seems that my schedule is undergoing revision.  
Apparently, since I'm far enough ahead of my peers in my more scholastic 
studies to handle the change, I'm to be given the same training schedule 
that you are.  The Dean called me into his office a few minutes ago and 
told me the news, as well as what you did this morning.  Thanks."

"Well, it is kind of nice to have a training partner who keeps me 
challenged," admitted Ranma grudgingly.  Then, with a sudden grin, he 
added jokingly, "Even if you aren't quite as good a fighter as me."

Nabiki did not reply or change her expression, but she walked into the 
infirmary and sat down on the edge of the cot Ranma was lying down on, 
causing a faint squeak of bedsprings.  She then thumped a fist down on 
his full belly rather hard, apparently testing it like a melon.  She was 
rewarded with a yelp from Ranma and a glare.

"You enjoyed that, didn't you?" asked Ranma, a little irritated.

"I suppose I did," answered Nabiki with another smirk.  "Don't get too 
cocky though, Ranma-kun.  Granted, you won that fight, but there's 
always next time."

"Anytime you wanna give it a try, Nabiki," said Ranma, scooting back and 
sitting up on the cot.  Her nearness was making him feel a little edgy 
as he eyed his attractive martial arts rival.  Luckily, his stomach was 
feeling somewhat less overfull now, so he was able to move easier.

"I'll let you know, Ranma-kun," said Nabiki playfully.  "I'll beat you 
next time for sure."

"Heh, whatever you say, Nabiki," said Ranma with a snort.  Taking his 
eyes off her, he put his arms behind his head and looked up at the 
ceiling.  A gloom seemed to settle over him as he thought about his 
father again.

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

Just outside the infirmary, Kodachi stepped off the stairs onto the 
landing.  She had been released from her class a few minutes after Ranma 
had departed, with instructions to visit the Dean.  While there, she and 
Nabiki had both managed to politely ignore each other's presence in the 
waiting area.  Each of them had been called in to speak to the Dean 
privately.

Kodachi was thrilled at the news the Dean had for her, the thought of 
spending four hours each day training alongside Ranma was a pleasant 
one.  The time would be a good opportunity for her to improve herself as 
well, and she was quite certain that one of her noble bloodline would 
eventually surpass a plebian little annoyance like Nabiki Tendo, let 
alone her brutish sister, given time.  The memory of her humiliating 
loss at the hands of the older girl when they had sparred still burned 
clearly in her memory.  A brief fantasy of pummeling the other girl to 
within an inch of her life in the near future had crossed her mind 
during her talk with the Dean.

After leaving Dean Fuyutsuki's office, she then went to visit Ranma in 
his lab, but he did not answer her calls and a strange lock was upon the 
door.  She suspected that he wasn't in the lab.  A bit disappointed at 
that, she took advantage of her current freedom to see if she could 
locate him.  She was just about ready to give up when she heard two 
familiar voices nearby.  She took up station outside the door, listening 
intently to the conversation going on a few feet from her.

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

"A yen for your thoughts?" said Nabiki suddenly.  She crossed her legs 
and rested her arms on her knee.

"They locked up my equipment, Nabiki," said Ranma without preamble, 
looking over at her with an unreadable expression.  He dropped his arms 
to rest his hands on the blanket beneath him.

"Yeah, I might have heard something about that," said Nabiki, taking her 
ease and leaning forward a little.  "I was looking forward to trying out 
your little toy again."  Her eyes seemed to trace his body all on their 
own, before she regained control of them and focussed her gaze on his 
face.  After all, who knows what new techniques I could pick up with the 
thing? she wondered.

"They're going to destroy it for salvage," said Ranma glumly.  "My 
'father' convinced the Dean that my research was a waste of money and 
time.  I can't let that happen.  The resonator may be my only way to 
rescue my real father from that other world."

Standing in the hall, Kodachi sucked in a breath at the sorrow she heard 
in Ranma's voice as she leaned against the doorframe.  She felt a little 
guilty about spying on him, but this would give her a perfect 
opportunity to prove her usefulness to him.  She waited for the proper 
moment to make her appearance.

"So why tell me?" asked Nabiki coyly, uncrossing and recrossing her legs 
the opposite way as she watched his responses.  She noted his eyes 
following her body's movements.  Oddly, it seemed to be getting a little 
warmer in the infirmary.  She ignored that distracting sensation and 
asked with a smirk, "Do you possibly need my... help?"  She enjoyed the 
sudden look of discomfiture that appeared on his face.

"I need a good thief," Ranma began, quickly waving his hands when he saw 
the frown that suddenly appeared on her face.  "No!  No, I mean I need 
someone who can open locks, someone skilled in dealing with them.  I 
also need someone who can help me create some sort of alibi or set up a 
false lead to keep me in the clear."  He breathed a quick sigh of relief 
when she appeared mollified.

"I have some skills in those areas," admitted Nabiki.  "But, what's in 
it for me?"

"Huh?" Ranma blurted out.  "What do you mean?"

Nabiki slowly leaned towards him gracefully and smiled coyly, her face 
halting only inches away from his.  She saw him swallow nervously, even 
as she felt that familiar, pleasant tingling he caused within her by his 
mere presence growing quite a bit stronger.  It was becoming easier for 
her to ignore the worst of its distracting effects, if she focussed her 
will on doing so.  Feeling playful, Nabiki reached over and gently ran 
her right index finger along his jawline as she locked gazes with him.  
She murmured softly, "What's in it for me?  It's a simple question, 
Ranma-kun."

Why, that poisonous snake! Kodachi growled in her thoughts as she peeked 
in on the pair, both hands closing into tight fists.  Taking advantage 
of poor Saotome-kun in his hour of need.  She felt a familiar urge to 
protect Ranma from what she saw as a predatory female trying to take 
advantage of him.  Nabiki was yet another unworthy girl seeking to 
involve herself with Ranma, one that Kodachi truly felt the pigtailed 
boy would be better off without, and one that the noblewoman would drive 
away from Ranma for his own good.  He desperately needs a virtuous woman 
like myself to protect him from such base sorts.  After all, she saw it 
as her sacred duty to defend him, the man she loved, from such threats 
to his well-being.

Kodachi was certain that her perfect moment was near at hand, the moment 
when she would reveal her presence to a grateful Ranma.  When she did 
so, he would send the little would-be gangster packing.  She was sure of 
it.

Ranma felt a soft fire seem to trace after the passage of Nabiki's 
finger across his face, scattering his thoughts quite effectively.  He 
found himself drowning in her eyes, seeing a faint sparkle of amusement 
and desire ignite in them.  Her gaze remained locked with his own for 
several moments, and now it was Ranma's turn to feel the room to be 
suddenly getting warmer.  It was a very different sort of battle they 
were now waging with each other, still a form of struggle for dominance, 
but one fought with different and much more subtle weapons.  Ranma felt 
he was losing before he even had a chance to counter her attack, and his 
hands helplessly moved to grip the blankets beneath his body as he 
struggled to bring his mind under control.

"So what do you have to offer me?" Nabiki asked teasingly, almost 
breathing the words into Ranma's face.  "Why should I risk my future 
career to help you?"  She drew imperceptibly closer, greatly enjoying 
the sense of control she had over the present encounter.  The thrill of 
the chase filled her, and the bright smile on her face shifted to one of 
anticipation of her imminent victory.  She half-closed her eyes and 
moved a little closer, her hand stroking back along his jawline slowly.

Ranma suddenly grabbed Nabiki's hand and pulled it away from his face as 
he felt a fire of defiance blaze to life within himself.  He was 
rewarded with seeing her look a little surprised at his resistance, and 
it helped him focus his thoughts a bit more.  He said the first thing to 
come into his mind, "Quit playing games, Nabiki.  If it's a matter of 
paying ya, I don't have much money."  Unconsciously, he continued to 
hold onto her hand.

Nabiki frowned in thought for a moment as she sat back upright, a little 
annoyed that Ranma thought she was only interested in money.  He had 
managed to surprise her a bit by his last-second resistance, but she was 
actually quite pleased to know that the little game being played out 
between them could continue on for a little while longer.  Still, she 
was certain that it was only a matter of time before he fell before her, 
one way or another.  And once she mastered the Amaguriken technique and 
showed him that she was his clear superior in the martial arts, then her 
case for being the one who was in charge of their relationship would be 
airtight.  His hand does feel nice holding mine though, she thought 
absently.

"That's all right, Ranma-kun," said Nabiki pleasantly.  "We'll just 
agree that you owe me a large favor and leave it at that."  Unnoticed by 
either of them, her hand moved a little until it was resting on top of 
Ranma's and holding his in a gentle grip.

"I could live with that," said Ranma after thinking about it for a 
moment, when his heartrate finally calmed down a bit.  He noticed that 
Nabiki was now holding his hand, and he found it to be a comfortable 
feeling.  "The Dean told me that they won't be moving my stuff until the 
weekend, so we have time to come up with a plan."

"You leave everything to me, Ranma-kun," said Nabiki, gently rubbing her 
thumb against his palm, feeling the growing calluses there.  She stopped 
when she realized what she was doing, but she did not release her gentle 
grip on his hand.  "I'll come up with a perfect plan.  After all, this 
sort of thing is what I do best."

It was at that moment that Kodachi stormed into the room, finally unable 
to stand it any longer.  She glared at a startled Nabiki, and briefly 
turned a softer look towards a shocked Ranma.  She took in their 
position, Nabiki's hand holding Ranma's, and her eyes narrowed as she 
turned her gaze to glare at the older girl with a far more venomous 
look.

"K-Kodachi," stammered Ranma, quickly pulling free of Nabiki's hold on 
his hand with a faint sense of regret felt in the back of his mind.  He 
impulsively cried, "This isn't what it looks like!"  Why the hell did I 
just say that?  This is all perfectly innocent.

Nabiki looked at him like he had just sprouted another head, and then 
her gaze quickly turned unfriendly.  Ranma, you jerk, she thought with a 
frown.  I'm going to make you pay for treating me like some sort of a 
leper just because the little princess decided to drop in.  Her palm 
still seemed to retain some of the heat from Ranma's hand, a rather 
pleasant feeling now soured by Kodachi's unexpected arrival.  Nabiki 
glanced down and felt her cheeks blush for a moment as she realized that 
the two of them had been sitting on a perfectly serviceable bed, and 
then she wondered where such a thought would have come from.  And why am 
I having them about Ranma? she growled mentally, not liking how out of 
control she felt.

Kodachi felt her thoughts scatter for several moments as she looked at 
Ranma.  She knew he was not at fault, that blame fell squarely upon 
Nabiki's shoulders, the other girl clearly trying to force herself upon 
him as payment for her questionable aid.  The young noblewoman knew in 
her heart that a true gentleman, like she was quite certain Ranma was, 
would never be attracted to such a truly base and common sort of girl as 
Nabiki.  Still, it was quite understandable to Kodachi how a crafty sort 
like the Tendo girl was might come to desire the pigtailed scholar for 
herself.

However, now was not the time to pick a fight, especially since Kodachi 
knew quite well how skilled Nabiki was.  She calmed herself, a somewhat 
difficult task with as close to Ranma as the other girl was seated, but 
she would show him that she was a lady.  She looked at him with a 
serious expression, ignoring Nabiki completely for the moment.

"Saotome-kun, I'm not sure how to say this, so I'm just going to tell 
you straight out," said Kodachi.  "I know what it is that you're working 
on."

Ranma, caught off-guard by that, asked, "What do you mean by that?"

Kodachi went over and closed the door leading to the hall, after quickly 
checking to make sure no one was watching.  When she was finally 
satisfied, she walked back and sat down on the cot across from Nabiki.  
She leaned closer to Ranma and lowered her voice to say, "Unless I have 
somehow managed to misjudge the equipment in your lab, then you appear 
to be working on a method of crossing to alternate quantum realities."

Nabiki's gaze revealed nothing as she studied the noblewoman.

Ranma laughed nervously.  "Uh, that's quite an interesting theory, 
Kodachi.  What makes you think I'm doing something like that?"

"Before I tell you how I know, I have to know something" said Kodachi 
seriously.  She locked gazes with Nabiki, even as she continued to speak 
to Ranma.  "Do you trust her to keep what I say secret?"

"What's the matter, Kuno-dono?" asked Nabiki with a smirk.  "Don't you 
trust me?"  Receiving no answer, Nabiki continued.  "I already know 
quite well what Ranma-kun is working on."  She broke eye contact with 
Kodachi to look at him with a warm sort of smile, almost seductive in 
nature.  "Let us say that I know _intimately_ well what Ranma is working 
on."

"Do you trust her, Saotome-kun?" asked Kodachi again, turning to face 
Ranma.  She had not missed the tone in Nabiki's voice, but chose to 
ignore it.

"Yes," said Ranma with sudden certainty, looking over at Nabiki to meet 
her gaze.  "I think I could trust Nabiki Tendo with my life."

Nabiki felt an odd feeling run through her, a sort of warmth that rushed 
from her head to her toes.  She smiled at Ranma and nodded, the two 
martial artists experiencing a brief, unspoken communication between 
themselves.  They might be the fiercest of rivals in the Art, but there 
was also a bond that was growing between them, one that both of them 
were just starting to notice.  She then punched him lightly on the 
shoulder in a gesture of camaraderie, breaking the tension a little.

"Very well," said Kodachi, sparing one last, cold glance at Nabiki.  
"The reason why I know what you are working on is quite simple.  I was 
involved with a very similar experiment along those lines on another 
timeline thread."  She briefly glanced at Nabiki with a subtle look of 
warning before returning her gaze to the pigtailed scholar.  "Ranma, I'm 
a quantum traveler, and my personality was downloaded into this life 
through an accident."

"You're a WH-mph?!" yelped Ranma before Kodachi clamped her hand over 
his mouth.  The pigtailed boy quickly realized that she was a bit 
stronger than she looked.  Th-this is amazing, he thought, quickly 
realizing the possible implications.  Kodachi represented a possible 
link in finding the solution that would let him bring his father home.  
He saw her smiling at him and regained control of himself.  He noticed 
Nabiki watching him with a subtle sort of intensity.

Terrific, Nabiki thought disgustedly, yet her expression showed nothing.  
Now the little floozy will be getting underfoot even more.  She pulled 
Kodachi's hand away from Ranma's mouth a little roughly.  "That's some 
story, Kuno-dono," she said wryly.

"It is the complete truth, Tendo-san," said Kodachi with a slight sneer 
in her voice.  How dare this common trash question the word of a Kuno?

"I believe you, Kodachi," said Ranma with a smile, his desires to rescue 
his father seeming a little less out of reach now.  "But how did such a 
thing occur?"

After basking for several long moments in the warmth of that smile, 
Kodachi proceeded to tell an edited version of her story.  She went on 
to claim that her next memory was of waking up in the body and bedroom 
of the Kodachi of this world.  She entirely left out of her tale any 
description of his counterpart's death.  I will spare him that pain, she 
decided.  Let the death of his analog on that world from a betrayal by 
the cold-blooded reptile named Nabiki Tendo remain my secret.  She 
turned a solemn look at the older girl sitting across from her.  But it 
will not happen here, Tendo.  If I perceive you betraying this Ranma, I 
will kill you myself.

"Amazing," murmured Ranma, looking at her with wide eyes.  From his 
close call during the power failure, he could only imagine what he might 
have done if such a thing had happened to him permanently.  Thoughts of 
his father pained him for a moment.

"Five months ago, your analog and I began working together on his 
experiment," said Kodachi warmly.  She patted Ranma's hand gently.  "I 
was so honored to work as his lab assistant, and he made sure I was 
fully aware of the potential risks before allowing me to make my first 
jump."  Kodachi leaned a little closer, feeling a strong urge to snuggle 
up against him.  Her eyes glowed as she described those early days of 
experimentation.  "It was wonderful, Saotome-kun.  In the first world I 
visited, I was a rich foreign exchange student in a country known as the 
United States of America.  It was sort of embarrassing though, since I 
jumped into that Kodachi while she was in the middle of a rather, umm, 
passionate session of kissing with her boyfriend."  The noblewoman 
blushed a little at the memory.  "I did learn a lot though," she said 
quite softly.

Ranma blushed as well.  He thought about mentioning his own little 
excursion into such activities with the Earth he found himself on where 
he was married to Shampoo, but he wisely kept silent.

I'll bet you did, you little tramp, thought Nabiki with a mental sneer.  
Getting this pretentious noblewoman to stay away from Ranma would be for 
his own good.  The more she was learning about Kodachi Kuno, the more 
she was coming to see that she was just like the rest of her overbred 
peers, hedonists without any real sense of what were the truly important 
things in the world.  Figures her first jump would be into something so 
sordid.

"I had many little adventures, but we kept running into some sort of 
interference that prevented either of us from connecting to a large 
number of regions of superspace," said Kodachi with a thoughtful look.

"Superspace?" asked Nabiki, her curiosity overpowering her desire to 
appear well-versed in all aspects of Ranma's experiment.

"Its how you can visualize all these different worlds co-existing, 
Nabiki," answered Ranma.  "Picture a potentially infinite number of 
threads all suspended side by side in a sort of braided pattern.  Each 
of those individual threads is a single timeline, and all of them taken 
together fill a region that my father described as superspace in his 
theories."

"I see," said Nabiki, contemplating the matter.  Then the world where I 
got my skills from could be 'next door' to the Earth where Ranma got his 
skills from.  Heh.  Imagine if those two ever met.  She glanced at 
Ranma, who was listening to some more of Kodachi's descriptions of her 
other adventures.  Although, in a sense, they have, through us.  She 
thought about that other Nabiki's life, and she wondered about what the 
other Ranma must have been like to grow up under Genma's care in her 
place.  Lost in her thoughts, she missed some of the descriptions.

"I think it wasn't until I visited my sixth world that the first problem 
happened," said Kodachi in a thoughtful tone.

"First problem?"  Ranma looked at Kodachi.  "What do you mean?"

"It was on a somewhat distant timeline from my own," replied Kodachi as 
she tried to recall exactly what had happened.  "I jumped into the life 
of an analog who was a champion-level fighter, on an Earth where our 
nation was filled with delinquent youths.  There was a shadow war going 
on, gangs fighting over turf everyday, and the schools were brutal 
battlegrounds.  My other self was the unquestioned leader of a group of 
quite formidable young women, and she called herself 'The Black Rose' of 
all things."

Nabiki narrowed her gaze fractionally.

Ranma looked a little startled.

"When I jumped in, she was talking with some of her lieutenants," 
Kodachi continued, wondering at the looks she was getting from the other 
two.  "I think I knew one or two of the girls at Blackhall, but in this 
world they were much tougher sorts.  Anyway, when I returned back to my 
own life, her skills had become mine, as well as a large number of her 
memories."  Even now, Kodachi knew she could close her eyes and remember 
each of the many fights her counterpart had fought in, mostly single 
duels fought against other gang leaders.  Other than her skills with 
wielding her fists and feet as weapons, her counterpart was armed only 
with her favorite weapon, a yo-yo.  However, any memories beyond 
fighting were vague though.

"When I came back and showed what I knew, your counterpart studied the 
data and learned that there was some sort of feedback effect that caused 
the transfer," said Kodachi, continuing after a brief pause to quell the 
memories that had rushed forward.  "He was never able to find a solution 
for what was causing them, but they did not seem to cause any lasting 
problems.  Other than picking up the occasional new skill, most memories 
seemed to fade into the background."  She shivered a little, her self-
control fraying a bit as unshed tears shimmered in her eyes.  "But 
that's in the past.  I would like to help you, if you will let me."

Ranma moved closer to Kodachi on a sudden impulse, putting a 
companionable arm around her, and the noblewoman slumped against him as 
the last of her strength seemed to desert her.  She clutched tightly at 
him, and she sniffled softly against his shoulder.  Ranma stroked her 
hair as if she were a young child, and made gentle sounds in an attempt 
to comfort her.  "You're not alone anymore, Kodachi," he said in soft 
and soothing tones.  "I'll do my best to be your friend."

Just great, thought Nabiki sullenly, glaring slightly at the girl being 
held awkwardly in Ranma's arms.  Jealous feelings seethed within her, 
but she held them in check.  However, the urge to toss Kodachi out the 
window to see how high she might bounce brought a brief smile to her 
face.

After a time, fortunately before Nabiki's patience ran out, Kodachi 
appeared to cry herself out.  She ended with a few shuddering sighs as 
she held herself against Ranma.  "Thank you, Saotome-kun," she said 
softly.  "I've felt so alone in all this until now."

"You're not alone, Kodachi," said Ranma softly.  "Nabiki and I have 
experienced the same thing when we used my device."

"You have?" asked Kodachi, sitting back reluctantly.  It had felt so 
nice to be held in Ranma's arms like that, so warm and safe.  She felt 
her sorrow dwindle at the sight of his kind face, and was more certain 
than ever that she would be the happiest of women as his future wife.  
Of course, she thought with a subtle glance at Nabiki, all I have to do 
is to keep any greedy females like those two Tendo harridans from 
snatching him up before I make him mine.

"Yes," said Ranma with a nod.  "That's how Nabiki and I are able to 
fight as well as we do now."

"Ranma," said Nabiki with a slight warning tone to her voice.  She did 
not feel right about him sharing secrets with the Kuno girl so easily.

"I won't tell anyone, Saotome-kun," said Kodachi sincerely.  "I want to 
help you in any way that I can."

"Then I guess we're now three," said Ranma, feeling more confident than 
ever now.  He looked at Nabiki, who was watching him with a neutral 
expression on her face.

"I suppose," said Nabiki.  But only until I can figure out what sort of 
game is going on inside the Kuno girl's mind.  She's up to something, I 
just know it.  She's not telling everything she knows.

Ranma held out his hand, thinking he might end up regretting this 
decision, but he somehow doubted he would.  "Partners?"

Nabiki gripped his hand with her own, feeling his hand squeezing back.  
She nodded as they matched grips.  "Partners."

Kodachi laid her hand atop Ranma's, gently squeezing his.  She smiled at 
him, feeling a warm electric current seeming to pass between them.  
"Partners."

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

As dusk fell across the city, Ranma stood a short ways down the block 
from the dark blue awning proudly displaying the name "Yu-chan's" upon 
it.  He absently rubbed one of the deeper bruises Nabiki had given him 
during sparring today.  He suspected the reason she was upset with him 
was about him trusting Kodachi with his secret so easily, when she had 
to break into his lab to find out the truth.  He truthfully did not read 
anything more into her actions than that.  She had just been a bit more 
energetic in their sparring, and he was secretly grateful for the 
opportunity to take his skills to the edge.  Even if it had just been 
sparring.

Get a grip on yourself, Saotome, the pigtailed boy thought.  I can't 
believe that I sound like I'm enjoying all this fighting I keep getting 
involved in.  I'm a scientist, not a warrior, and I just need to keep 
telling myself that.  I don't need a bunch of challengers rolling into 
town every other day looking to beat on me.  I never went on any 
training journey, and I never upset anyone enough to come hunting me 
down as far as I know.  Sure, Kuno is a pain, but that's just because 
he's upset about Kodachi liking me.  Like I really care what "Bokken 
Boy" thinks of me.

Ranma paused in his stream of introspection.  He felt nervous about 
walking the short distance to the restaurant run by Ukyo's aunt, but he 
was ardently denying it even to himself.  Ranma Saotome ain't scared of 
nothing, he heard roll around in his head once or twice.  He smoothed 
the cloth of his shirt, a new one in green that his mother had bought 
for him.  She had found a shop that carried the style and picked up a 
dozen of them for him, in various colors.  The one he wore was in the 
same style as the red one Nabiki had given him, and it felt more and 
more comfortable to dress like this every time he did.  He took a deep 
breath and eyed the small restaurant.

Showtime, thought Ranma.  He strolled the distance to the entrance to 
the shop and slid open the door.

Ukyo looked up at the sound of the shop's door opening up.  Her aunt was 
in the back getting some more batter.  With a bright smile, she chirped 
out what had become familiar words of greeting for customers to the 
shop, "Welcome to Yu-chan's."  Then she blinked at the sight of the 
young man standing in the door, dressed in more casual clothes than the 
uniform she had seen him in last.  Her heart seemed to skip a beat.

"Uh, hey, Ukyo," said Ranma, letting the curtain in the doorway fall 
back behind him as he walked in.  The interior of the shop was well 
appointed and had a homey feel to it, with enough tables and chairs to 
seat maybe thirty people if they were friendly.

"R-Ranchan, how was your day?" said Ukyo, suddenly feeling more than a 
little foolish.  Luckily, there was only a single customer in the shop, 
a kindly, old man who was one of the regulars.  He was minding his own 
business at one of the corner tables, reading the newspaper.

"Huh?  Oh, it was fine," said Ranma, suddenly feeling uncertain about 
this whole thing.  Just what did someone do on a date?  Ranma now 
realized that he did not have a single idea how to proceed from here, 
and his memories from his other counterparts were no help.  He also did 
not think it would be wise to ask Ukyo why she was cross-dressing at the 
moment, but he goggled a bit at the sight of the feminine girl he had 
met just last night now looking like one of the guys.  "Uh, you look 
like you're getting settled in here pretty good."  Ranma walked over and 
sat down in one of the seats at the counter.

"Oh, Aunt Yumi is great," said Ukyo.  "She's teaching me how to make 
much better okonomiyaki than I ever did before.  Wanna try one?"

"Sure," said Ranma, feeling more at ease as they slid into a sort of 
camaraderie-like manner with each other.  "Gimme one of your specials."

"Coming right up," said Ukyo with a grin, her hands moving into full 
cooking mode.  She felt happy to be cooking for Ranma like this, looking 
forward to getting to know him a little better.

As the okonomiyaki sizzled to a golden brown on the hot grill, the 
curtain at the back of the shop opened up and Yumi came walking out with 
a container of pre-made batter in hand.  She spied the teenaged boy 
seated at the counter, and she smiled as she recognized him from the 
picture that Yukiyo had shown her last night.  So that's Ranma Saotome, 
eh? she thought, studying him casually.  Quite a nice-looking boy Ukyo's 
found for herself.  He carries himself well, and with the grace of a 
skilled martial artist.  The two of them should do well together.

"Aunt Yumi!" cried Ukyo, almost forgetting her cooking chores in her 
excitement to introduce the two to each other.  She gestured at Ranma 
with a hand armed with a small spatula.  "This is Ranma Saotome."  She 
pointed back the other way.  "Ranma, this is my Aunt Yumi."

Ranma stood up and bowed, saying, "A pleasure meeting you, ma'am."  He 
studied the woman for a moment as he stood up straight again.  She was a 
tall woman, Ranma quickly realized, taller by several centimeters than 
he himself was.  He took quick inventory of her physical features, 
wondering if Ukyo would come to look something like the square-jawed, 
athletic-looking older woman standing before him.

Fairly well-mannered for a teenaged boy, too, thought Yumi.  She took a 
quick sniff of the air and said, "Careful Ukyo.  A few more seconds and 
it's going to burn."

"Ack!"  Ukyo quickly flipped it off the grill onto a plate, and stood 
watching (and she assured herself that she was not nervous) as Ranma 
took a bite.  When he began devouring it ravenously, she beamed with 
happiness.  He likes it!

Ranma was in heaven.  There were some subtle differences in flavor and 
texture, but this was undoubtedly an Ukyo-made okonomiyaki that was a 
near rival to any in his memories.  The thought of having a girlfriend 
like her around (without any arranged marriage hanging over their heads) 
was a pretty fine idea to him, especially with delicious food like this 
to eat.  The pigtailed scholar gobbled it down, the heavy workout over 
the course of the afternoon having burned off all of the lunch that 
Kodachi had fed him, and a bit more.  After the first bite was past his 
lips, he found his hunger taking control, and he quickly wolfed the rest 
of it down in true Saotome fashion.

Well done, Ukyo, thought Yumi, smiling.  She watched as her niece made 
Ranma a second one that was just as quickly devoured as the first.  The 
boy's got a bit of a good appetite on him.  She smiled a little more 
broadly when Ranma consumed a third before seeming satisfied.  And it 
looks like he could give Ukyo a good run for her money in an eating 
contest though.

"So Ukyo tells me you study the martial arts, Ranma," said Yumi as she 
studied him again.  "How good are you?"

Ranma started to say "I'm the best!" but he managed to restrain the 
impulse.  He coughed once and said more modestly, "I'm pretty good."

"Well, perhaps you could show me sometime," said Yumi pleasantly.  "If 
you're good enough, I'm sure Ukyo could use a sparring partner."

"Uh, okay," said Ranma, glancing at Ukyo.  He saw the male-dressed Ukyo 
blush a little at his gaze upon her.  He grinned at her in an easy-going 
way.  "That might be fun."  I guess another sparring partner wouldn't 
hurt anything.  Yeah, having Ukyo as both a girlfriend and a regular 
sparring partner would be great.  Something we could share.  As he 
looked at her, a brief flash of a memory rolled across Ranma's mind, of 
a sweat-sheened Ukyo floating in zero-gravity, her legs locked tight 
around his waist as their bodies moved together in free fall.  His wife 
on another timeline.  He shook his head a little, amazed at having such 
a reaction to a girl he had known for less than twenty-four hours.

Ukyo had been feeling more and more nervous each time Ranma had looked 
at her.  Beneath the counter, the small, stainless steel spatula in her 
hands was twisting into a shape not seen outside of a text on origami.  
She suddenly realized that Ranma had probably come to ask her on a date, 
and she felt fear since she did not really know what to do.  At least I 
don't have to ask him, since he's the guy, she thought with some relief.  
All he has to do is ask.

"Um, Ukyo," Ranma began.

"Yes!" Ukyo responded quickly.  She immediately realized what she had 
done and looked embarrassed, the spatula going through several more 
contortions of its form in her hands.  She wasn't sure why she felt so 
shy around Ranma.  After all, he was just a guy, and she was practically 
one of the boys herself, thanks to her upbringing.  This wasn't as easy 
as she thought it would be.

"Heh, I, uh, thought you might want to go to the movies with me," said 
Ranma finally.  It's Ucchan, he thought, trying to quell his 
nervousness.  She fell in love with you on more than one timeline, so 
don't be so scared of her here.  With his courage laid out on the line 
like that, he lifted his gaze from where it had fallen to study the 
countertop, meeting her eyes.  "They're showing a new martial arts film, 
and I thought you might like to see it with me."

Ukyo nodded, a bit more in control of herself.  "Sure, Ranma.  That 
sounds like fun.  Let me just clean up a bit, and we can go."

Yumi caught a hold of Ukyo on her way upstairs.  She pulled her niece 
out of sight and whispered, "You might want to let the fact that you're 
a girl be a bit more visible, Ukyo-chan."  When she saw the young ninja 
look puzzled, she pointed at Ukyo's chest.

Feeling embarrassed, Ukyo continued upstairs, smacking herself in the 
head with her palm occasionally.

A few minutes later, far less time than Ranma was expecting to wait for 
his date to get ready, a somewhat different Ukyo appeared.  The 
pigtailed boy blinked at the sight of the attractive girl before him, 
most definitely not quite "one of the guys" at that moment.  He smiled 
and nodded approvingly, feeling more relaxed now.

Ukyo stepped off the bottom step of the stairs, feeling a little bit 
vulnerable looking feminine.  She was still uncomfortable with 
traditional female underwear, so a sports bra had now replaced the chest 
bindings she was much more used to wearing.  She had decided to let 
Ranma get to know her as she was, preferred clothing style and all, so 
if he didn't like it, tough.  Besides, Ukyo far preferred clothes that 
she could fight in, if it was necessary.  So she was wearing yet another 
set of her okonomiyaki seller's outfits and a white bow in her hair.  
The harness for her battle spatula was strapped on, but she had left the 
spatula itself behind the counter with her aunt's.  Unasked, Yumi tossed 
it to her before coming over to Ukyo.  Noticing Ranma's smile, Ukyo 
smiled back as she sheathed her weapon.

"You two kids have fun, and don't keep her out too late tonight, 
Saotome-kun," said Yumi, quickly hustling the couple out the door with a 
grin.

The door to the restaurant slid shut, and the two of them were alone on 
the street.

"Your aunt is an interesting lady," said Ranma, turning to face Ukyo.  
He eyed the spatula wryly but did not comment on its presence.  It felt 
oddly right for her to have it, even when they were on a date.  That was 
when it hit him, this was going to be his first real date.  Another 
flash of Ukyo from another life crossed his mind, her battle spatula 
raised as he fought with her on an oversized griddle.  How things can 
change, he thought with a sudden grin.

"Yeah, Gramps has told me stories about her as a kid," said Ukyo with a 
smile.  "She was the best warrior in the valley when she was our age, 
the best my clan had ever seen in over a generation."

"Really?"

Ukyo nodded.  She gestured in the direction of the theater.  "We should 
probably get going though, if we don't want to miss the movie."

The two young martial artists headed down the street.  Ranma kept 
glancing at Ukyo, finding the sight of her pleasing to him.  As they 
walked along, Ranma kept finding himself remembering things about other 
Ukyos, and enjoying the pleasant chat with the Ukyo now at his side.  
Perhaps inevitably, they fell to discussing martial arts.  The two of 
them traded anecdotes about their training, Ranma editing his so that it 
would not appear to be too wild.  Some of Ukyo's stories from her days 
of training were fairly amazing though.

Before they knew it, they were in front of the theater.  One large 
poster proclaimed the virtues of the film, "The Hidden Fortress - The 
Special Edition."  Ranma paid for a pair of tickets, and the two of them 
went into the theater.  None of the attendants appeared to pay too much 
attention to the fact that Ukyo was armed, for which Ranma was secretly 
grateful.

While they watched the movie, sharing an extra-large popcorn between 
them, Ranma was pleased to see Ukyo staring raptly at the screen.  He 
settled back to enjoy the film, feeling truly relaxed for the first time 
in a long while.  His two martial artist counterparts would never have 
been able to do such a thing, trouble seemed to follow them everywhere 
they went.  This is the life, he thought with a grin, forgetting his 
troubles at home in the presence of the pretty girl at his side.  No 
enemies after me, no crazy fiancées following me around, just me and 
Ucchan out on our first date.  He glanced at her again as the action on 
the screen heated up.  This Ukyo was relatively normal (aside from the 
cross-dressing tendencies) when he compared her to the odder versions 
that populated some of the worlds he had seen so far.  Thoughts of the 
future faded for now, and Ranma let himself dwell in the moment.

Ranma was quite certain that the worst of his problems were now behind 
him, or being dealt with.  With that thought in mind, he relaxed and 
enjoyed the rest of his evening.

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

Ryoga Hibiki stared at the small campfire before him, watching a small 
camp rice cooker bubbling and steaming away over the flames.  He had 
never felt so hungry in his life, salivating slightly as he smelled the 
aroma of cooking rice.  He let loose a low growl of anger and stared up 
at the stars.  His stomach gave off a deep growl of its own.

"Damn you, Ukyo Kuonji," muttered Ryoga darkly.  He closed his eyes and 
felt the anger bubbling away inside him, a deep-felt passion urging him 
to commit violence upon the object of his wrath.  These feelings had 
been building up steadily with every mile that had passed beneath his 
feet.  He had spent the last few days wandering around totally lost, 
truly experiencing for the first time the Hibiki's infamous lack of any 
sort of sense of direction.  That experience had only added to his dark 
mood and fueled his determination to have it out with Ukyo, once and for 
all, to crush his long-time rival at long last.  Ryoga would prove that 
he was the better fighter between them, with Ukyo's broken body as the 
clear evidence of his superior skill.  He also hoped in a quiet corner 
of his heart that the victory would finally purge him of his unwanted 
and uncomfortable desires for the boy he had battled against and trained 
alongside for so many years.

The smell of rice drifting his way inflamed his hunger, and Ryoga found 
himself missing his mother's home-cooked meals wistfully.  If he had 
been at home, he knew that he would be enjoying some of her culinary 
wonders.  The thought of the dishes she had lovingly made for him over 
the years, brought new pangs of hunger from his gut.  Opening his eyes 
to see nothing but plain rice and some wild vegetables he had managed to 
gather for his dinner darkened his mood even further.  His hand slowly 
tightened into a fist, before he rammed it into the palm of his other 
hand with a loud smacking sound.

"Damn you, Ukyo Kuonji," muttered Ryoga grimly.  "This is all your 
fault!  When I catch up to you, I'm going to kill you!"


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


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

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