Just as a note, I'm going to start posting these in groups of 5 twice
daily... maybe even three times on otherwise very slow days.  I don't want
to flood the FFML, especially now, but I'm anxious to get this stuff out
before people finish new chapters for their fics, anyway.

To provide c&c for this fic, send e-mail publically or to brian@azurite.org

The FFML Refugee List



    This is quite rough, and C&C is appreciated.


Burst of Confidence I


Disclaimer: Takahashi owns the paint, I am, as ever, using my own easel
to make a new picture.

Notes: Altaverse. Initial divergence is after Hinako's arrival, but
before Ryugenzawa. Circa volume 25, I believe... And that's where our
story begins. The rest will become clear as relevant.


Cologne muttered to herself, surveying the thinning crowd of evening
customers. Business was... not bad, but not good, either. The old woman
knew that she could attract more customers if she found a way to snare
Ranma again, but the likelihood of doing that was becoming smaller and
smaller with each passing day. Not to mention the desirability to snare
Ranma for the tribe was decreasing as well.

Ranma would have been a good catch for Shampoo, true... but times had
changed, and so had he. The sight of Shampoo bouncing between the tables
distracted Cologne, and she sighed again.

Finding a lull in the already slow day, Shampoo approached the amazon
matriarch, "Great-grandmother..."

Cologne rubbed her forehead wearily, "I know, I know. 'How do I make a
chi attack like Airen,' right?"

Shampoo blinked, then nodded eagerly, clapping her hands together and
bouncing up and down. The male population of the restaurant swallowed
noisily at the sight, while their respective dates growled.

***

Akane dusted her hands off in a businesslike manner, and turned towards
the school. Her carefully plotted course would land Ranma roughly near
the gates. Her calculations told her he should be mostly recovered by
the time Kuno attacked. Mostly.

She frowned suddenly, realizing that the wind might have altered Ranma's
trajectory. Before she could trot towards the school to check, a
familiar -- albeit annoying -- sight greeted her. Shampoo.

Her aura of anger reached about 60 watts before she realized two things.
First of all, Ranma wasn't there. Secondly, Shampoo was staggering
about, a haunted look in her eyes. Guttering briefly like a candle in
gale-force winds, her battle-aura winked out.

Akane stepped towards Shampoo cautiously, "Shampoo? What's wrong?"

Shampoo startled, not expecting to see Akane, then glanced about
furtively, "Violent... Shampoo sorry. Akane. Shampoo have much to tell
Akane and Spatula-girl."

Akane frowned, then shook her head, "I have school, Shampoo. You can
tell me later, or on the way."

The amazon shook her head quickly, "Nuh... Is very bad news about
Airen."

After a moment of hesitation, Akane shook her head, "What's going on
with Ranma?"

Shampoo swallowed nervously, "We find Spatula-girl first, then talk."

Akane frowned, "Her name is Ukyou, Shampoo."

"Shampoo not remember that. Thank Vio- Er... Akane."

***

Shampoo paced nervously near Ukyou, while Ranma was sent on another
mallet-express ride.

Akane walked back to the other two girls, dusting her hands together
again. "Okay, he's gone. Now what's so important that we have to talk
about that he can't know?"

Ukyou growled low in her throat, "Akane, this better be good. I don't
like you beating on my Ranchan..."

Akane rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to retort, but Shampoo
interrupted, "If you two not work together with Shampoo, he no one's
Airen."

There was a twin 'clack' as mouths closed, and attention turned towards
Shampoo. The amazon smiled haughtily for a moment before lapsing back
into her nervous state. "Yesterday, Shampoo ask Great-grandmother how to
make chi attack, like Ranma."

Both of the other girls blinked at this, then Akane shrugged. "And?"

Ukyou took a slightly defensive stance, and placed one hand on the
handle of her battle-spatula. "So you want to fight us for Ranchan with
your new technique."

Shampoo deadpanned, "That right. Shampoo use self-hurting attack to
fight." Rolling her eyes, she announced, "Shampoo _not_ stupid."

Again, both of the other girls were rebuffed. Akane asked, "Um...
'self-hurting?' What do you mean?" Ukyou glared at Akane for a moment
for beating her to the punch, then nodded grudgingly to indicate that
she had wanted to know more, as well.

Shampoo swallowed, and explained, "Great-grandmother say... Chi attack
not work with good feeling. Only bad feeling."

Akane rolled her eyes. "I remember that. The shishi houkodan nonsense.
So... Ranma's using a confidence based attack. Is that bad?"

Ukyou frowned. "Actually, it might. Ranma could become conceited and
arrogant."

Shampoo and Akane stared at the okonomiyaki chef for a long, silent
moment. Shampoo collected herself first, then continued, "When you use
feeling, feeling become stronger to you. Lost-boy use depression, so
always be depressing."

Ukyou corrected her, "You mean 'depressed,' don't you, Shampoo?"

The amazon scowled, then shook her head. "Is both. Make people around
become like you feel."

Akane shrugged. "So people around Ranma will become more confident? Is
that really so bad?" She winced, then added, "Aside from the obvious?"

Shampoo glared. "Great-grandmother tell Shampoo... it not confidence. It
something bad emotion. She not know it."

The three girls shared a glance, then Ukyou nodded. "It's our duty as
Ranma's fiancees to find out what's going on. If he's using negative
emotions, he could hurt himself. Let's go talk to Cologne for a better
explanation."

Akane scowled, while Ukyou looked smug, and the three headed towards the
Nekohanten. Neither Akane nor Ukyou realized that they were skipping
school at that point, but with all the kidnappings and challenges, one
day's attendance would make no difference.

***

Cologne looked up as the trio of fiancees entered, then frowned. "You
aren't... Shampoo, did you tell them?"

Shampoo nodded. "Shampoo want to help Airen."

Ukyou nodded quickly, and after a moment, Akane sighed and nodded her
head as well.

The amazon matriarch scowled, then summoned Mousse.

Mouse glowered at the cash register. "What do you want?"

Rubbing her forehead again, Cologne considered, not for the first time,
stapling Mousse's glasses in place. She resisted the temptation with
temperance of three thousand years of amazon tradition. "Ahem. Mousse,
go pick up all of the supplies for the restaurant. I expect you to have
them all back by five o'clock, or I will be very displeased."

Mousse lowered his glasses, and accepted a list from the old woman,
"There's only one item!"

Cologne growled, "Go!"

The master of hidden weapons grumbled to himself as he left.

The trio of fiancees watched him exit in silence. Ukyou broke the
silence first, "Um... isn't he going to come back really soon, since
there's only, like, one item on the list?" She shot Cologne a look that
spoke volumes of skepticism.

Shampoo answered before Cologne could. "Mousse want to annoy Great
grand-mother. He not be back until just before five."

Ukyou shut her mouth with a resounding 'clack,' while Akane shot her a
smug look.

Cologne grumbled, "Children these days. I swear. Did you forget why you
came here?"

Shampoo shook her head quickly. "No, Great-grandmother. Shampoo and Vio-
uh... Akane and Ukyou want to help Airen. Not want him to hurt himself
with bad technique."

The old woman pogoed over to a table then nodded to herself. "Good.
Good. First, what do you understand of ki and chi, children?"

Akane volunteered an answer first, "Ki is internal, and chi is external.
Right?"

Cologne cocked her head to one side, then nodded. "That's... a bit
simplified, but yes. Let's delve into that a little more, though. How
does Ryouga use a shishi houkodan? Or Ranma use his own attack?"

Ukyou smirked. "The mouko takabisha?"

The matriarch scowled. "That's only what he calls it, child. It's not
what it really is. The real mouko takabisha is a ki technique, not a chi
technique."

They blinked, mulling this over. Shampoo went next, struggling to
express herself in her Japanese, "When Lost-boy use shishi houkodan, he
make depression. Depression bleed off lost-boy, then he use ki to throw
chi at Airen."

The youngest Tendo looked surprised for a moment, then nodded. A
certain... heavy... feeling hung in the air whenever Ryouga prepared to
use his attack. The feeling near Ranma was different. She spoke slowly,
struggling to remember the last time he had actually used it. "Let's
see... he was fighting Hinako-sensei, and he used it. I was actually
pretty close to him once."

Cologne raised an eyebrow. "And what did the chi feel like?"

Akane winced, and tried to shrug off Ukyou and Shampoo's gazes. "Um... I
don't know. I can't really see chi that well. It was, ah... wild. Kind
of like the energy in the area was charged, and not sure if it wanted to
be heavy like Ryouga's, or light..." She trailed off, considering.

The matriarch nodded again, "Much as I expected. Confidence would feel
like a force radiating from him, and pushing everything else away. It
shouldn't just sit there and be agitated. What kind of emotion reflects
that? What emotion rules Ranma more than anything else?"

Akane rolled her eyes, "Arrogance. He's got enough confidence for most
nuclear powers, and a few third-world-nations besides."

Ukyou scowled, but said nothing.

Shampoo hesitated, "Shampoo not so sure... Ranma not very confident when
Shampoo try to sleep with Airen..."

Ukyou blanched, and put a restraining hand on Akane's shoulder, "Calm
down now, Akane -- wait, you tried to sleep with my Ranchan? You...
you... you..."

Cologne closed her eyes and calmly counted to ten, using a technique to
disable her senses, so she wouldn't be able to hear or see anything
until she was ready. She spent a few blissful seconds submerged in her
subconscious, but the yelling overcame even her three thousand five
hundred years of amazon tradition. She stopped it with a below, "Enough!
You three, leave now. I'm not going to deal with you anymore today."

Akane and Ukyou colored, and fled, while Shampoo simply gawked. Normally
when Cologne was upset, she would express it with the stick. After a
half-second of deliberation, she decided to flee with the other girls.

***

Sitting in the Ucchan, the three girls agreed on a temporary truce. The
true source of Ranma's (seemingly) most devastating attack had to be
discovered. But if it wasn't confidence... what could it be?

Ukyou frowned slightly, tapping the counter in front of her with one
finger. "Well... what do you suppose it could be? Love?"

Shampoo scowled. "Great-grandmother say is bad emotion. Bad emotion
directed outward, good inward."

Akane twisted her face in a thoughtful expression. "Bad emotion? What
could it be? I've never seen Ranma show anything except confidence."

Smirking, Shampoo pointed out, "Fear."

Ukyou frowned. "Eh? How's that?"

Akane shook her head. "No, the only thing I think he's really afraid of
is cats. What would scare Ranma about Ryouga? Ranma normally smiles
when... well. He used to be happy to see Ryouga. Now he just gets
irritated."

Ukyou raised an eyebrow. "Irritation?"

The amazon shook her head again. "No, iri... iri... is anger. Only one
attack use anger. Mousse tell Shampoo about it."

Akane blinked, incredulous. "Mousse knows a chi attack based on anger?"

Shampoo scowled and shook her head again. "No! Mousse see Herb use anger
attack. Ranma beat attack with hiryuu shouten ha."

This caused another round of speculation. Ukyou mumbled, then sighed,
"Well what is it? What negative emotions are there aside from
depression, fear, and anger? And which ones would Ranma have?"

Akane raised a finger to tap her lips thoughtfully, "Let's see...
negative emotions... guilt, maybe? I know he should feel guilty for some
of the things that he does..." Akane wisely chose not to mention that it
was the act of chasing the very same girls in that room, but continued,
"Um... I can't think of anything else off the top of my head."

Ukyou crinkled her brow, concentrating. "Guilt? Maybe..." She hesitated
naming the obvious source, since much like Akane, she didn't want to be
responsible for breaking the truce. "What else aside from guilt?"

Shampoo sighed, rubbing her temple in a manner that mirrored Cologne's.
"Maybe greed? Airen not seem like greedy type, though..." She trailed
off, uncertain.

Akane added, "Oh, what about, uh, lust? The way he's always grabbing
onto the two of you?"

It was Ukyou and Shampoo's turn to exchange the knowing glance, before
Ukyou explained, "I don't know that lust or greed are negative in the
sense that we're looking for, and I think it'd be obvious if there were
any attacks based on them. Wouldn't the old pervert or Ranma's father
know them?"

Slumping slightly, Akane acquiesced, "Good point. Well, we've got four
emotions here. Anger, depression, guilt, and fear. Which one would Ranma
focus on?"

Ukyou grimaced. "Well, it's not depression. Ranchan's nothing like
Ryouga in that sense. You can feel the depression rolling off of him
some days..." She trailed off, thoughtful, then shook her head.

Shampoo sighed. "Not know. Not anger, Great-grandmother say it not that,
and Herb use anger, not Airen."

Akane sighed, "Guilt, or fear then. Or an emotion derived from those.
But he looks so darn confident when he uses it! I just don't know..."

Ukyou hesitantly offered, "We could ask him to use it and try and feel
it... if it's like Ryouga's depression, we could tell by being close,
right?"

After another round of thoughtful sighs, they agreed to try and be near
Ranma when he used the technique. Trying to read the emotion would be
the fastest route to success.

***

Akane watched Ranma from the doorway to the living room, as he lay on
his side, seemingly unconcerned. He flipped idly through his newest
volume of Caravan Kidd, frowning at the latest plot from empress Shion.

Clearing her throat, the youngest Tendo stepped into the room. "Ranma?"

He glanced up at her, then back to his comic, speaking disinterestedly,
"Yeah, Akane?"

Akane knelt near him, then smiled slight and asked, "Can you teach me
the mouko takabisha?"

Ranma froze, mid page-flip. After blinking a few times, he furrowed his
brow in thought and turned the page backwards, not noticing he was
re-reading a page. "Huh? I don't think I heard that right."

Akane sighed. "Ranma, can you teach me how to throw a mouko takabisha?"

Ranma flipped through the pages quickly, not even seeing them as a thin
sheen of sweat formed on his forehead. "Did you hear my mom just now?"

Akane glanced over her shoulder to the door, then back towards where
Ranma had been a moment before. "No, Ranma I..." She pursed her lips
thoughtfully as Ranma disappeared over the neighbor's rooftop.

"Well," she commented to no one in particular, "that went well."

Nabiki glanced at Akane from her way to the kitchen, then raised an
eyebrow. "What was that all about?"

The dark-blue-haired girl startled, then shrugged. "Nothing, really."

***

Ukyou glanced up, as Ranma entered the okonomiyaki chef's restaurant,
then smiled brightly. "Ranchan! One usual?"

Ranma's eyes darted to the street behind him for a moment, then he
nodded. "Uh, yeah, sure, Ucchan. What's up?"

Ukyou shrugged, whipping up a quick okonomiyaki for her fiance. "Not
much, Ranchan. Yourself?"

Ranma slumped to a stool, and sighed, "Uh... nothin'."

Frowning, Ukyou served Ranma his okonomiyaki. "Here you go, Ranchan! Eat
up."

Ranma picked at the meal, glancing behind himself nervously.

Ukyou's frown deepened as she observed the unusual behavior. "Okay,
Ranma. What's really bothering you?"

Ranma dropped his chopsticks, startled, then scratched the base of his
pigtail nervously. "Well... it's..." He seemed to struggle for a moment,
then shook his head, muttering, "Nothin'. Nothin' at all, really."

Ukyou sighed. "Never mind. Oh, Ranchan... I wanted to ask you a favor."

Ranma seemed to relax a little. "Sure thing Ucchan. What do you need?"

Smiling, the okonomiyaki chef leaned forward. "Can you demonstrate a
mouko takabisha for me?"

The pigtailed martial artist stared at Ukyou for a long moment,
searching her eyes for something. After a lengthy pause, he relented,
"Why the hell not. I ain't gonna teach it to ya, though."

Ukyou watched while Ranma concentrated, forming a glowing ball of
wavering energy between his hands. She pursed her lips thoughtfully,
trying to read the emotion that should be radiating from him.

Ranma held the ball of energy for a long moment, and it became more and
more stable the longer the pair watched it. Ukyou frowned, feeling only
nervous indecision. Not fear, or guilt.

She sighed. "Okay, Ranma. Thanks for showing me."

He grunted, letting the energy dissipate. "Yeah... not that special."

"You think I could learn it?"

Ranma stared hard at Ukyou for a quiet minute, then shook his head. "I
don't think so."

Ukyou feigned a pout. "Why not, Ranchan? I don't have enough confidence?
I can run my own business, I'm secure in my cuteness... I don't have
anything to be unconfident about!" The obvious lack of Ranma's affection
went unnoticed.

Ranma fidgeted for a moment, then shook his head, "Uh, right. Thanks for
the 'yaki. I gotta go."

The chef opened her mouth to say something, but Ranma had already
disappeared.

***

Ranma sat in a park a few miles away from the Tendo dojo, in cursed
form.

The redhead was huddled behind a small bush, wearing her typical bored
expression. The only difference this time was that she was comparing her
reflection to a small picture of herself -- or rather, himself, at the
time -- to a small mirror.

Smiling in satisfaction, Ranma folded the cover of the small mirror
shut, and buried it under a small rock. Her secret was still safe, for
the time, but eventually the battle for control would be lost, and her
emotions would be readable, as plain as day. Not that her fiancees gave
her any shortage of the emotion that slowly consumed her to the point of
destroying all others.

She walked back towards the Tendo dojo, pushing those thoughts aside.

***

The next day, the fiancee squad assembled to share notes. Shampoo, of
course, hadn't seen Ranma, so had tried to salvage the evening by
questioning Cologne. "Great-grandmother say nothing Shampoo understand.
Say Airen realize emotion upon reality."

Ukyou grimaced. "I got him to make a ball of chi, but I couldn't tell
what emotion it was supposed to be."

Akane tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I asked him to teach me the
technique, and he just ran off, so nothing useful there."

Shampoo grimaced. "Shampoo maybe have idea, but not like it."

Ukyou raised an eyebrow. "What's that, Shampoo?"

The amazon sighed. "When Ranma in tough fight, he use powerful
technique. Find Lost-boy, or better challenger, and make Ranma use
technique."

Akane frowned. "Well, I know the baka deserves the occasional beating,
but that might be a bit much. Aside from which, where are we going to
find someone better than him on such short notice?"

Ukyou smirked. "Actually, he's got the rival thing down pretty well
without our help. But I don't think that's such a good idea, anyway.
What if it's based on stress, or something like that?"

The three shared a laugh at that, and Akane giggled, "That would be
funny. But I've never seen him worry about anything short of his mother.
He always seems to be calm."

Shampoo frowned. "Not always calm. Sometimes annoy."

Akane nodded sagely. "Yes he does, Shampoo."

Ukyou glanced around to make sure no one was approaching too closely,
while ignoring Akane's obvious bad joke. "You know, if you don't want
him, I'd be glad to take him off of your hands."

Shampoo growled. "What make spatula-girl think she get-"

Akane cut the pair off, "Are you two forgetting the truce already? Look,
let's start thinking about this seriously. What are we going to do now?
As far as I can tell we aren't any closer to finding an answer about
this than we were yesterday."

Ukyou bit her tongue, then nodded. "You're right. I'm sorry."

Shampoo nodded warily. "Shampoo too too sorry too."

The other two girls blinked for a moment, then Ukyou shook her head,
"Er... right. Anyway. What are we going to do next?"

Akane began to pace, concentrating. "Well... I think we're on to
something with the Ryouga idea. Ranma's always picking on him... I don't
like the idea of using him like that, because he's such a nice guy,
but... we'll get a lot more chances to figure out what Ranma is doing
that way."

Shampoo frowned unhappily. "Akane, if Airen use technique based on bad
emotion, then emotion become only feeling for Airen. More using
technique make it faster. Not good."

The okonomiyaki chef sighed. "I think that means that we can pretty much
scratch that idea, then. I don't want to have Ranchan break under the
emotional stress."

Rubbing her forehead, Akane stopped pacing. "Maybe we should get help on
this. But I don't know who to turn to for something like this... Cologne
doesn't have any useful information..."

Shampoo furrowed her brow in thought, then snapped her fingers together.
"Shampoo know! Where Airen learn technique?"

Ukyou concentrated. "I don't remember that too well... you, Akane?"

Akane snorted, "Of course I remember. He made it up from watching Ryouga
use the shishi houkodan. He adapted it from that. Right?"

Shampoo shook her head slowly. "Must have way to learn that technique,
Shampoo think."

Ukyou smiled as realization dawned on her. "The old man."

Akane blinked at the thought, then nodded. "That makes sense.
Happosai... how do we go about this?"

Shampoo smirked, giving a seductive wiggle. "Getting old pervert easy.
But what we do with him after?"

Running a finger across one edge of her battle spatula, Ukyou grinned.
"That's even _easier_. We just beat some answers out of him."

Akane shrugged. "Sounds like a plan. Shampoo will act as the bait, then
we'll grab him."

"What if old pervert not know?" Shampoo frowned slightly, though she was
flattered at being told she was the most suitable for a distraction.

Akane heaved an exaggerated sigh, "He's an old pervert. We'll beat him
up anyway."

Ukyou nodded in quick agreement.

***

In the dark of the city at night, a hero leapt from rooftop to rooftop.
A savior of beauty, a rescuer of all that was good, and a defender of
all that was right in the world. His thankless task, night after night,
was never neglected, not even for an instant.

He threw his body forward, vaulting up two-and-a-half stories. Again,
there were prisoners here.

Sighing mournfully, he liberated them, stuffing them into the burgeoning
sack on his shoulder.

Clucking his tongue, he cast his senses out, hearing the faint keen of
yet another pair of panties held prisoner. The cry was interrupted by
something ever more urgent.

Swallowing, the hero leapt up to the rooftop of a nearby restaurant, and
goggled.

***

Shampoo stretched seductively, wearing a thin white shift that managed
to hint at decency while providing nothing of the sort. The material
clung to her like a second skin, luring Happosai towards her.

Too stunned to properly glomp, the old man staggered forward,
occasionally slipping on one of the numerous rivulets of drool that
issued forth from his slackened jaw. Shampoo winked at him, raising a
glass of water over her head.

The old man's brain sparked, sputtered, and choked. Giggling, he could
only stare, while Shampoo doused herself, dampening the white lingerie,
and... turning herself into a cat.

His brain, rapidly trying to shift back into gear, threw its
transmission. Once denied his favorite source of sensory input, it shut
down completely.

Shampoo-neko calmly licked herself clean while Happosai's weak struggles
were halted with numerous hammer and spatula strikes.

***

Later, in the back room of Ukyou's restaurant, the three fiancees
studied the old lecher. He whimpered, upset more that he had forgotten
Shampoo turned into a cat than anything else. And the fact that he was
too distracted to cop a feel when he had the opportunity. And...
whatever else it is that old perverts feel upset about.

Akane adjusted her borrowed Chinese clothing uncomfortably. "Are you
sure this is necessary, Shampoo?"

The amazon nodded, wearing another set of nearly identical clothes. Her
shirt was white, where Akane's was red, and Ukyou's was blue. "If old
pervert see girls in boy clothes, he not get too much power from us."

Ukyou giggled, "It's just a good thing that Ranchan has enough spare
changes of clothes for us to pull this off. Did you ask, or just sneak
them out?"

Akane flushed slightly. "Um... right... I snuck them out." She scratched
the back of her head nervously. "But, um, let's finish this before we
have to get back home anyway. Happosai seemed to get enough of a charge
from Ranma in these same clothes."

Shampoo nodded curtly, then turned towards Happosai. "Old man, we want
to know about Airen's technique."

Happosai blinked, still feebly struggling against the ropes. "Eh? You
want to know how good he is, right?"

Shampoo, not quite understanding the question, shrugged. "Er... yes."

The old man smirked. "Well, he relies on instinct with his tongue when
he talks, so it's reasonable to guess he'd be able to make you happy. Is
that all?"

For a long moment of silence, the three girls stared at the old man, and
then they flushed simultaneously. Ukyou cleared her throat. "Um...
that's... good to know, but-"

Happosai frowned thoughtfully. "From what else I've seen of him, he
probably has enough stamina for a few hours-"

Shampoo coughed politely. "Shampoo hear enough for now-"

Droning on as though he hadn't heard the girls, Happosai continued, "And
of course, as Akane knows he's hun-"

Akane growled, face turning crimson, "Ahem. Enough of that."

Ukyou blinked, as Happosai smirked silently. Shaking her head, she
turned to Akane. "You've seen Ranchan... naked?"

Akane said nothing, merely maintaining her blush and nodding slightly.
Shampoo was still somewhat pink herself, and managed, "Shampoo see
Airen, too. Happosai is right, Airen is too too well-"

Ukyou choked, eyes bulging, then shook her head, waving a hand to
forestall any further speech from the amazon. "Um... right. I'll worry
about that later."

Happosai took advantage of the lack of attention to try and wriggle
free, but Shampoo pinned him with a bonbori. "Old man not go anywhere.
Tell us about Airen's technique."

The old lecher smirked. "Think you can hold me down long enough to get
that out of me?"

Cologne's voice came from the doorway of the restaurant. "Oh, they might
not be able to be, but I would. Now that you three are actually trying
to work together, we might accomplish something."

Happosai visibly wilted at Cologne's presence. "Uh-oh."

The old woman smiled brightly, prompting the girls to shift away
nervously. "Ah! So you _do_ know something!"

Happosai gulped audibly. "Um... no?"

Shampoo smirked, while double-checking the straps trying the old man
down. "Great-grandmother get secret from old pervert."

Akane nodded. "If anyone can, she would..."

Ukyou cocked her head to one side, studying Cologne intently. "Really?
Why would you help us?"

Cologne clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. "I'm curious
as well. I still have doubts that any of you will consider him worthy of
marriage afterwards, but I'd still like to know."

The responses to that declaration varied, but all three managed to avoid
vocalizing them.

Cologne largely ignored the trio, and poked Happosai in the sternum with
her cane. "So, Happi, what's the secret? What does Ranma use to power
his technique?"

Happosai swallowed. "The mouko takabisha?"

The matriarch nodded silently.

Sweating nervously, Happosai explained, "I don't know. All I did was
tell him to find the negative emotion that monopolized his life, and use
it. I don't know what it is at all."

All four females groaned. Shampoo sat down heavily, sulking. "Dead end.
Now what we do?"

Ukyou pouted, leaning on the unlit grill. "I wish we could just _ask_
him..."

Akane blinked at this. "You know..." She trailed off nervously, darting
a glance between the amazons.

Cologne picked up where Akane left off, "...you don't really trust the
amazons, but if you were to catch Ranma and bring him to me, I might be
able to use some truth spice or something on him?"

Akane colored slightly, then nodded.

Shampoo shrugged. "If it work, then Shampoo agree."

Ukyou balked. "Wait a minute, drug Ranchan? Are you sure that's... I
mean... Seriously?"

The other three nodded, and Happosai sighed, relieved he was forgotten
for the moment. Cologne's gaze met his briefly. "It's in your better
interest to avoid letting Ranma know about this."

He twitched nervously, then gave a vigorous nod.

After he was freed, Cologne pogoed back to the Nekohanten, leaving the
fiancees alone.

Shampoo shook her head. "Is too too easy. Should have tried first."

Akane frowned. "I thought your first impulse was always to try and use
magic or drugs on Ranma."

The amazon twitched slightly, then grimaced. "Truce. Great-grandmother
help in planning some times. Shampoo slowly seeing that magic not work
on Airen. Must use other method."

Ukyou nodded, then changed the subject. "We need to make sure that he
doesn't remember us questioning him, or he might not be too happy with
us afterwards. I'm not too keen on drugging him anyway..."

Akane sat back down on one of the stools, frowning. "Well, at least we
did learn one thing from all of that."

Shampoo raised an eyebrow. "What that?"

The youngest Tendo retained her frown, and looked thoughtful. "He _is_
using a negative emotion to power that technique. I wasn't fully
convinced, until then..."

Ukyou blinked. "For not being fully convinced, you sure did try hard to
find out already."

Wincing, Akane explained, "Well... I wanted to make sure it wasn't some
perversion powered technique, like Happosai's..."

Shampoo rolled her eyes. "Airen not perverted. Shampoo try, but he not
do perverted things." When she noticed Akane and Ukyou's stares, she
frowned, "What you staring at Shampoo for?"

Akane sighed, "Nothing... you're just too innocent to understand what
Ranma's really trying when he glomps you." No one commented that Akane
conveniently forgot the times she had called Shampoo a bimbo, or worse.

Ukyou lowered her head to hide her face, struggling to contain her
laughter at the pair before her. The only thing holding her steady was
the small spark of anger that not just one, but _both_ of her rivals had
gotten farther with Ranma than she had. "That will have to be taken care
of," she muttered under her breath, "and soon."

Shampoo turned to Ukyou. "What you say?"

Face coloring, Ukyou waved a hand in front of her. "Nothing! Nothing at
all. Heh..."

On that note, the three separated, promising to meet again once Cologne
finished planning.

***

Akane crept down the hallway from her bedroom towards Ranma's. He had
gone to sleep earlier, and that was when she had taken advantage of the
opportunity to take his clothes from the laundry room under the pretense
of taking them to him. Kasumi had blithely accepted the offer, not
knowing Akane's plan.

The room that Ranma shared with his father was eerily quiet, with only
Ranma's soft breathing disturb the stillness. Akane frowned, before
remembering that the elder Saotome had gone out drinking with her own
father.

Creeping softly across the floor, Akane placed the folded clothing in
the closet, then closed the door. Sighing in relief, she turned too
quickly, and stumbled, sprawling across the floor in the darkness.

She swallowed back a yelp as she landed across Ranma. The only thing she
could think of for a long moment was just how much trouble it was going
to be to explain this one. After Ranma failed to react, she flushed, and
muttered, "Well? Aren't you going to call me a 'clumsy uncute tomboy?'"

Ranma's only response was a soft snore. Akane stared, fascinated. "How
the hell did you sleep through that?" she asked, awe apparent in her
voice.

Nabiki's voice answered from the doorway, "Akane, what on earth are you
doing?" Akane flushed even more deeply, and picked herself up off of the
floor. Nabiki activated the light, and Akane flinched. Ranma continued
to snore. Nabiki smirked, sparing a glance towards Akane. "Amazing,
isn't it?"

Akane nodded dumbly. "Uh... yeah."

Her older sister's smirk deepened, then she shook her head. "I doubt
anything short of his father or a bucket of cold water will wake him up.
Though I have seen him sleep through that, too."

Akane blinked, staring down at Ranma curiously. "You've... watched him
sleep?"

It was Nabiki's turn to blush. "It's not like that!" she insisted, "I
was just taking pictures!" Grimacing irritably, she motioned Akane to
follow her. "Come on. This isn't exactly the best place to talk."

After turning the light back out, Akane followed Nabiki to the hallway.
Nabiki pointed towards the door bearing the wooden duck with Akane's
name on it, and the two entered.

Nabiki flopped down on Akane's bed, then sighed, "Okay. What were you
doing in Ranma's room? Looked pretty intimate to me..."

Akane flushed. "Um... actually... I was putting his clothes away for
Kasumi."

A raised eyebrow met that statement. "Oh?"

"Er... it's a long story. I had to borrow his clothes. I was putting
them back before he woke up."

"Oh?"

Akane stared at Nabiki, then narrowed her eyes. "Wait a minute... I
don't have to explain things to you..."

Nabiki smirked. "True. But I wonder what Ranma would think when I told
him what I saw you doing..."

Akane's smirk challenged her sisters. "Nothing. Even if he believed you,
he'd know better than to say anything about it. Aside from which, it
wasn't what it looked like."

Nabiki sighed, then climbed to her feet. "Okay, okay... I'll tell you
what, though... I won't tell him." Akane nodded. "But I do expect to
find out what this is about sooner or later. I don't want my little
sister getting in the 'family way' without a wedding, or anything."

Akane blinked. "Eh?"

Nabiki walked towards the door, "Of course, you might have been doing
something else, but that's what it looked like to me..."

Her mouth opened to refute the accusation, but Akane bit down on her
tongue at the last moment. "Nice try, Nabiki. I'll tell you when I'm
ready."

A rare look of irritation and grudging respect shone in Nabiki's
expression. "Touche. You're learning. I won't push anymore, then."

Akane sighed in relief that she hadn't walked into her sister's verbal
trap, then prepared for bed. Tomorrow would bring news of Cologne's
plan, and with that, they would be so much closer to finding out what
made Ranma tick, so to speak.

***

Ukyou polished the grill thoughtfully. And repeatedly. It was in good
enough condition that the cleaning accomplished nothing, but it was one
way for Ukyou to work her hands and let her mind wander.

The other, of course, involved shouting, swinging the large spatula
reserved for such occasions, and destruction all around. The problem
with this, of course, was that it was not something that a 'cute
fiancee' would do.

So she settled for polishing the grill again. The morning earlier, even
just the day before that, it hadn't seemed like it was much more than a
romp to figure out what was going on with Ranma.

Now, however, Happosai and Cologne were getting involved, and going on
about how bad things were. Check that -- Shampoo had said much the same;
Ukyou simply hadn't listened as closely.

But when the older pair had gotten more involved, Ukyou began to worry.
If Ranma did indeed have some negative emotion ruling his life, what was
it? More importantly... what if that emotion were somehow her fault?

Ukyou did not look forward to finding out, and wished desperately that
she could take the aforementioned spatula that she routinely carried
with her to wreak some havoc. The grill, after all, was not getting any
shinier. But she couldn't, because that wasn't what the 'cute fiancee'
would do.

***

Shampoo frowned, then heaved a sigh, "Shampoo know plan. Shampoo not
like, but Shampoo help."

Akane and Ukyou shared a wince, neither of them wanting to be in the
same position. Clearing her throat, the youngest Tendo placed a hand on
Shampoo's shoulder. "Well, it's just this one time, and then we'll be
done with it, right? Aside from which, you've done this before."

Sulking slightly, the amazon nodded, then splashed herself from a
bucket.

Ukyou leapt up to a nearby rooftop wordlessly, while Akane glanced
around the deserted street. Neko-Shampoo trotted down the streets,
leaving the girl alone with Cologne.

The amazon matriarch simply looked smug. "Now, we wait."

Akane nodded slightly, then sank to her knees to wait. "So," she asked
conversationally, "how long will this take?"

Cologne shrugged, managing to maintain her perch on the staff despite
the motion. "Probably not long. Shampoo is quite good at this kind of
thing, you know."

Scratching behind one ear nervously, Akane nodded. Time seemed to pass,
and she felt her knees begin to ache slightly. She adjusted her skirts
and rubbed her legs to improve circulation.

Cologne hummed some half-forgotten tune to herself, then pogoed into a
shadowed doorway.

More time seemed to pass, and Akane was about to lose her patience, when
Ukyou whistled shrilly. Looking up, Akane met the okonomiyaki chef's
gaze, while the auburn-haired girl mouthed, 'Incoming!'

Cologne crouched low, and a ball of blurry blue force exploded from the
doorway she had chosen to hide in, zipping around the street too quickly
to be made out. Akane swallowed nervously, and froze, while neko-Shampoo
padded out of the destroyed doorway. Eventually, the blur resolved into
Ranma, deep in the neko-ken.

Two girls and a cat shared a smile, then. Akane patted the ground in
front of her, and Ranma padded forward cautiously.

Cologne muttered something darkly, and waited for Ranma to calm down.

Ukyou jumped down from the roof of the building she was using as a
perch, a thermos and a change of clothes in one hand. Shampoo gladly
accepted the water, then dressed.

Once clothed, both Amazon and okonomiyaki chef turned towards Ranma, who
had dozed off in Akane's lap.

Akane blushed slightly, then gave a helpless shrug.

Rolling her eyes, Cologne prodded a shiatsu spot on Ranma's back before
he roused from his catnap. "Excellent!" she cackled, "Now, let's get him
to the Nekohanten."

The fiancees nodded wordlessly, splashing the comatose -- catatonic? --
Ranma with cold water to make transport easier.

***

Cologne rubbed her hands together. "Another mystery unraveled, heh..."

Ukyou raised an eyebrow. "It's not solved yet, you know."

The matriarch scowled, then finished retying Ranma -- male again -- to
his chair. Akane sighed, while Shampoo mixed various herbs in a small
bowl.

Once done with the concoction, she handed it to Cologne, who examined
it, then gave an approving nod. Shampoo beamed briefly, then waved the
bowl under Ranma's nose.

Ranma's head jerked once, and he gazed around blearily, not saying
anything.

Cologne suppressed a giggle, then snapped her fingers twice in front of
Ranma's face. "When I snap my fingers, you will do as I say." No sense
giving any of the younger women that kind of power -- that would be
disastrous. Though the thought of Ranma as a slave to Shampoo was
amusing...

Ranma nodded slightly, saying nothing.

Cologne snapped her fingers once. "Answer all questions truthfully from
now on."

Ranma nodded again, while the trio of fiancees exchanged nervous
glances.

The matriarch smirked, then turned to the trio. "Very well then. Ask him
whatever you want."

Akane nervously spoke first. "What's your name?"

Ranma answered tonelessly, "Saotome Ranma."

Ukyou smiled slightly. "How old are you?"

"Sixteen years old."

Shampoo sighed, relieved that things were working. Still, test questions
to establish just what the truth of the matter was... "Airen, what is
name of you father?"

There was a slight, and brief, darkening of Ranma's expression, as he
answered. "Saotome Genma."

Akane licked her lips nervously. "Ranma, what emotion do you use to
power the mouko takabisha?"

Ranma hesitated, and contorted slightly, but could not resist the
compulsion of the herbs for long. Eventually, he grated out, "F... F...
Fear..."

The trio blinked at this, and Cologne groaned, "Should have guessed it."

Ukyou waved the other girls to be quiet as they prepared further
questions, and asked, "What are you afraid of? Is it me?"

After another long, hesitant pause, Ranma answered, "Yes."

The okonomiyaki chef paled, and backed away. Shampoo blinked, surprised
at this, then shrugged helplessly in response to Akane's questioning
gaze. After a moment, she brightened and asked, "Why is Airen afraid of
Ukyou?"

Ranma seemed to struggle harder, but again, could not resist the
compulsion of the herbs. "Same reason I'm afraid of the other girls."

Ukyou relaxed slightly, turning the average expression among the three
to 'pole-axed.' Akane cleared her throat, wondering aloud, "Why are you
afraid of girls?"

Cologne nodded, still interested at this point.

Ranma struggled harder yet, but still could not win against the
compulsion. Finally, he began speaking, "'Cause I might not be good
enough. I might screw things up. I'm afraid of losing them. I don't want
to hurt them, but I don't have a choice, and it scares me."

Akane blinked at this, stunned, and deferred the next question to Ukyou.
Nervously, she asked, "Ranchan... does this mean you love one of us?"

There was no struggle, as Ranma hung his head. "No."

Shampoo collapsed onto the floor in a stunned heap, joined shortly
thereafter by the other girls.

Akane blinked away a slowly forming tear; it was bad enough that Ranma
didn't love her, but that he didn't love any one of them at all?

Nothing but shock could be felt by Shampoo. How could Ranma possibly
resist her charms?

Resisting -- for now -- the urge to grab her battle spatula and beat the
tar out the first thing she came across, Ukyou wondered how she possibly
wasn't cute enough. Hell, Ranma even _said_ that she was cute. So... She
mumbled, "You don't love me?"

Ranma answered in his monotone, somehow seeming even more defeated than
before. "No."

Cologne frowned slightly. "No you don't, or no, you do?"

With a twitch, Ranma responded, "No, I don't not love Ukyou."

Akane blinked, confused. "You _do_ love Ukyou?"

Ranma nodded silently, while Ukyou's depression was washed away in a
wave of elation.

Shampoo glowered. "How can Airen love Spatula-girl, and not love any of
us?"

Ranma twitched, seemingly almost ready to break the compulsion... and
failed. "I care about all three of you."

Akane twitched at this. One the one hand, she was pleased that he _did_
care for her, but... he was a bigot. Which was even worse than just
being a pervert. She might have gotten used to the pervert part, but the
bigot part deserved a good pounding.

Ukyou frowned, coming back to her senses. "Ah... wait a minute... how
come you never told anyone any of this?"

Ranma twitched slightly, then subsided, as Cologne waved the bowl of
herbs under his nose again. "Because I'm afraid."

Akane snorted, "Bigot. I should just... ooh..." She clenched her fists
and turned away. "Humph."

Shampoo frowned, eyeing Ukyou in a considering manner. "Why Airen not
choose a girl?"

"Fear... fear of hurting one."

Ukyou sighed, slightly relieved. "So you would never try and get us all,
would you?"

Ranma shook his head. "No. I wouldn't want to hurt any of you, because
I'm afraid of losing what we have."

That got Akane's attention, and she turned around. "What do you and I
have, Ranma?"

"Friendship."

The others were silent, considering this for a moment. Akane frowned,
confused. "If we're friends, why are you so mean to me?"

"Because if I'm not, we'll get close, and I'll hurt you."

Cologne snorted, "Pathetic. I suspect that the poor boy is practically
nothing more than a slave to his fear, at this point. It would explain
why Shampoo was able to send him into the neko-ken so easily. If he's
trapping the emotion inside when he uses the mouko takabisha, then it
affects him more strongly. Still, I'll help Ranma a little..." The trio
turned towards Cologne, surprised, as she continued, "Shampoo, I'm
nullifying your Kiss of Life. You can't marry Ranma, since he's
obviously an inferior male to let his fear rule him."

Ranma flinched, remaining silent where he was bound.

Akane licked her lips, glancing at Ranma. "How... much fear do you feel,
Ranma?"

Ranma shrugged slightly, then slumped, as his aura began to glow dimly
-- a diffuse amber halo, not the shining blue of his battle aura --  no
longer being held in. Akane tentatively brushed a hand through it,
knowing she would feel only a fraction of what Ranma contained.

Contact.

Ukyou hesitated, then followed suit.

Contact.

Shampoo spared a haughty glance towards Cologne, then raised her own
hand to touch Ranma's aura.

Contact.

***

Akane was falling. Falling. Falling. It was a long way down, but the
darkness was soft, comforting.

She smiled slightly, not able to sense anything but the comforting
darkness around her. She was dimly aware of Shampoo and Ukyou falling --
floating? -- near her, despite her inability to sense them.

Below her, on the edge of her perception, a pool of light was slowly
expanding. Below THAT, further away then she could truly see, but she
was still aware of them, were twinkling motes of light. Impossibly far
away, and certainly too far away to know how, but she _knew_ that they
were twinkling.

Shampoo and Ukyou knew it too, though neither of them could say why. It
just was that way.

But the pool of light was drawing near, and Akane grew worried. Where
was this, and what was happening? Struggling, she joined Ukyou and
Shampoo, then the three wordlessly -- did words exist here? -- joined
hands, and fell

  into

   the

    pool.

  ~*~Splash!~*~

***

Images assaulted the trio, images of Ranma's greatest fears. Himself. He
was frightened of himself, his curse, his mother... he seemed to be
frightened of everything remotely female.

Himself, because he could become _her_self. The physical change didn't
bother him, they could tell, but what if it wasn't just physical? What
if it became mental, too? What if 'he' were lost, and only 'she' was
left behind?

His mother? That only made things worse. He _had_ to become 'she' in
order to even _see_ his/her mother, and that only complicated matters.
There was the constant fear of discovery, of failure, of... death. But
greater than the fear of death, was the fear of betraying someone he
loved. Betraying her hopes that he become a 'man among men'.

Nabiki, as much as any other woman, frightened Ranma. For one thing, he
couldn't understand her. For another, even if it was outside the arena
of physical combat, Ranma lost to Nabiki. Constantly. He never managed
to win against her. And that meant that she was better than him, which
meant that he wasn't man enough. Flawed logic, perhaps, but it was the
logic that Genma had drilled into him. After all, if girls were all
stupid (and Genma had pounded that point into Ranma _quite_ well), then
obviously, Ranma was more stupid than they were. Which wasn't manly.

Akane, of course, because Ranma knew that he cared about her, even if he
wouldn't admit it to himself. It was true, and that made dealing with
Akane on a regular basis difficult, because Ranma _knew_ deep down in
his soul, that she hated him. Not always, and there were times when she
pitied him... but that hardly acted as a bolster for his confidence. And
if he reacted to the other girls, well, that just made things even
_more_ complicated. Obviously she loathed him; she didn't want him to be
happy with the other girls either. But at the same time, he cared about
_her_ too much to do something that made her unhappy; be with one of the
others.

Ukyou was just as bad. Ranma cared about her, deeply. A childhood friend
was nothing to scorn, certainly. Then... there was the confusion of her
gender during the initial encounter, and a million reasons to run from
her. But friendship couldn't just be abandoned like that; and more than
that, there was honor. Honor was important to Ranma, because it had been
the one thing that Genma couldn't sell, or take away. Actually, he had,
but Ranma clung to the remnants of it _anyway_. Of course, he could no
more try and be with Ukyou than Akane, since he would be hurting Akane,
who's happiness depended on his _un_happiness, and his mother, since
Ukyou's manner of dress would not make Ranma appear very... manly. Which
would result in Akane _feeling_ betrayed, and Ranma's mother _being_
betrayed.

Shampoo was much the same. On the other hand, her clothing and attitude
left _no_ doubt as to her gender, and there never was a question... but
she _had_ tried to kill Ranma before, and that was something of... a
turn-off, to say the least. Still, Ranma thought she was cute, and could
tell she was a lot smarter than she acted. In addition to that, her laws
said that Ranma _had_ to marry her, and that meant _honor_. Then there
were bonuses. When she wasn't so physically aggressive, she was
friendly, she knew about half of the magical items and problems that
Ranma stumbled across, and her grandmother was a source of knowledge
even deeper of that. Of course, Ranma conveniently omitted the fact that
she _introduced_ the majority of the magical trinkets that complicated
his life, but he's not the only one in Nerima who could be accused of
such.

Which meant that Ranma was in a quandary, since he was honor bound to
marry all three, but quite obviously, couldn't. Even if honor weren't
involved, Ranma _cared_ about the three of them, and that was _more_
important than just honor. But how could he make them all happy? He
couldn't. So he just waited, trying to maintain the status quo without
ever shifting the balance one way or another, hoping, somehow, things
would resolve themselves.

If there had been a Saotome school of interpersonal relationships, then
this might have been a different story, but as things stood...

***

Akane staggered back, even as Cologne scowled, and shook her head.
"Shampoo, I'm very disappointed in you!"

Shampoo said nothing, only staring at the other two girls and trying to
work her jaw.

Ukyou sank to her knees, pulling her hand away, and began to sob.

Cologne snapped her fingers in front of Ranma. "Forget everything that
happened since you came out of the Neko-ken, until you reach the Tendo
household. Go straight home." She snapped her fingers again, then loosed
the ropes binding Ranma to the chair.

Ranma listlessly lurched to his feet and plodded out of the restaurant,
leaving the women alone.

Akane cleared her throat, the vivid memory of Ranma's pain and fear
still echoing through her. And she knew that there was even _more_ pain
than that, that she hadn't seen yet. "What... do we do now?"

Ukyou glared at Akane, remembering vividly. Wiping away an errant tear,
she spat, "I can't _believe_ how much you hurt him! You... _bitch_!"

Akane recoiled, stung, then muttered, "I didn't want to hurt him... I
never knew..."

Shampoo nodded, still dazed. "Airen... need help-"

Cologne interrupted the younger amazon's tirade, "No. Shampoo, I forbid
you to have anything to do with that coward."

Shampoo swallowed, then shook her head, tears shining in her eyes,
"Shampoo hurt Airen. Shampoo owe him. Not care if Shampoo exiled. Will
help Airen."

The matriarch recoiled at the determination in Shampoo's eyes, then
growled, "So be it. You are no longer a member of the tribe. I won't
make you forget the techniques..." she let her statement trail off
there. Shampoo understood the offer implicitly; if Shampoo were to
abandon Ranma, then she might be re-admitted to the tribe. Might. Maybe.

Shampoo just shrugged, and turned her back on Cologne. "We need to help
Airen."

Akane paused, then sighed. "I know. But how?"

----
Author's notes:

Any why not? If you think about it, it's almost feasible. Obviously not
to the extents that I've taken it, but you have to wonder...


--
Haiku of my lament:

Forgive my spelling,
my U.S. education,
is the source of blame.

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