Akane swung her hyperdimensional hammer above her head.  _How 
dare he get my daughter cursed!_  Cerulean fire outlined her body as she 
brought the hammer down, aiming for the top of Ranma's skull.
	The blow never landed.
	Akane blinked.  The angry blue aura surrounding the youngest 
Tendo daughter winked out of existence as surprise replaced rage.  She 
looked with disbelieving eyes at something that had never happened 
before.  Ryo had willingly stepped between her and Ranma when she was 
about to clobber the baka.  And he'd caught her industrial-sized mallet 
with one hand.
	Ryo pulled the hammer out of Akane's nerveless fingers.  "Pop may 
make mistakes sometime, but that's no reason to hit him.  And I won't let 
you hurt him for something he hasn't even done yet."
	"But he..." began Akane.
	"I don't care what he may or may not have done!  I won't let you 
hit my father, and that's final."  Ryo snapped the haft of Akane's hammer 
in half and threw the pieces across the school grounds.  The head made a 
respectably large crater where it hit the pavement.  The handle made a 
rather loud crack when it hit Kuno in the face.
	"I thought only the wizard Saotome would dare strike at the great 
Tatewaki Kuno from afar.  Very well, stranger, I accept your challenge!  
Prepare yourself to face the matchless might of the Blue Thunder!"  
Lightning split the cloudless sky as Kuno raised his bokken to the heavens.
	Tachi blinked.  Nervous lines creased her forehead as she studied 
the man who would one day become her father.
	Ryo bowed apologetically to Kuno.  "I am sorry, Kuno-sempai.  
Please forgive my carelessness.  I should have looked before I threw."
	"A humble apology, humbly given," Kuno acknowledged. "Had I but 
appeared a moment later, I would have accepted it.  Yet fate has forsaken 
you, stranger, and destiny smiles upon the House of Kuno, for I have seen 
with my own eyes the disrespect with which you confronted the noble Akane 
Tendo."  Kuno paused in his soliloquy to study Ryo.  "Indeed!  I note that 
you, too, wear your hair in the same fashion as the accursed wizard 
Saotome.  Are you apprenticed to that villain, following in his footsteps 
of lechery and perversion?  Be of good cheer, then, for I, Tatewaki Kuno, 
sense that you have but recently set foot upon Saotome's path of sin.  It 
is not too late to save your spirit from the unholy pursuit of sorcery." 
Kuno brandished his bokken.  "As the noble son of a noble family, it 
falls upon me to teach you the error of your ways.  Again I say, 'Prepare 
yourself!'"
	Ryo took a step back.  "I don't want to fight you."
	"I do," declared Ranko.  "You take back all that junk you said about 
Ranma Saotome, or I'll feed you your teeth."  The pony-tailed boy held a 
fist under Kuno's nose.
	"I am beset with villains!" cried Kuno.  "Yet where righteousness 
lives in the hearts of men, there also will you find victory!  I stand by 
my words, and I accept your challenge."
	_Nobody picks on my daughter,_ thought Akane.  She pushed her way 
between Kuno and Ranko.  "You leave her alone, Kuno."
	"'Her?'"  Kuno stared up at the heavens, calling for divine aid.  
"Oh, what a wicked day!  Saotome has not one, but two demons apprenticed 
to his evil, and one has bewitched the beauteous Akane Tendo until she 
can not tell the fair sex from the noble.  I ask you, 'When?'  When shall 
the Land of the Rising Sun be free of the plague that is called 'Saotome?'"
	Tachi nudged her mother with her elbow.  "Mom, do something!  
Father's making a fool of himself."
	Nabiki shrugged.  "Why should I?  He's not hurting anyone, and 
it's fun to watch."
	"But, Mom..."
	"Shh.  You'll miss the best part."

* * * * *

	"Great-Grandmother, I home," Shampoo called.  There was no 
response, so Shampoo sprang up the stairs to her room.  She needed to 
change out of her working clothes if she was going to entice Ranma into 
taking her out on a date that night..
	The bedroom door was open.  _That's funny.  I thought I shut the 
door when I left this morning.  If Mousse was messing around in there  
again..._  Shampoo quietly slipped her hand inside the room, then with 
a burst of speed she turned on the lights and threw the door all the way 
open.
	A Chinese Amazon with a long, purple braid was napping on Shampoo's 
bed.  The girl sat up at the sudden noise and blinked her eyes, trying to 
clear the sleep from them.
	*Who are you?* Shampoo demanded.
	*Mother?* Spring whispered.
	*What are you talking about, crazy girl?*  Shampoo instinctively 
brought her hands up, fingers held like knives.  *There's no way you're my 
daughter.  You're just as old as I am.*
	Spring was not daunted.  *Mother!* she cried.  The time-displaced 
Amazon jumped off the bed at Shampoo, her arms open wide.
	Shampoo was having none of that.  Reflexes trained by years of 
avoiding Mousse kicked in.  Spring's attempt at a hug became a shoulder 
throw by Shampoo.  Only it didn't quite work that way.  Shampoo was fast 
and strong, but Spring was faster and stronger.  She twisted in mid-air, 
glomping onto her mother as the latter tried vainly to free herself.
	Mousse, who had recently returned from his Spring induced journey 
to Low-Earth-Orbit, ran upstairs when he heard the noise coming from his 
beloved's room.  When he saw the cause of the commotion he froze in 
ecstasy.  "Two Shampoos!" he crowed.  "Two!  At least one of them must 
be willing to return my affections."  He threw back his head and raised 
his arms in victory.  "Yes!  This is a dream come tr-"
	*Shampoo, stop trying to throw your daughter out the window,* 
commanded Cologne.  She hopped over Mousse, who she'd casually knocked 
to the floor with her staff.  *Little kitten, don't squeeze your mother 
so tightly.*
	Spring and Shampoo broke apart instantly.  Shampoo's "Yes, 
Great-Grandmother" was echoed by a "Yes, Great-Great-Grandmother" from 
Spring.
	*Is it true, Great-Grandmother?* asked Shampoo.  *Is this girl my 
daughter?*
	*Can't you tell?*  Cologne gave the two of them a smile that 
would have frightened a vampire.  *She has much of you in her, and much 
of Son-In-Law as well.*
	Shampoo gave Spring a second look.  She noticed the new girl's 
braid for the first time, and the blue in her eyes.  Throwing her arms 
around Spring, Shampoo gave a wordless cry of happiness.  Spring returned 
the hug and the squeal with equal enthusiasm.
	Cologne let the two girls be for a moment, then cleared her 
throat.  *Why don't you take your daughter downstairs and feed her,* 
suggested the old crone.  *I have a small task for the two of you, but it 
can wait while you become acquainted.*
	*Yes, Great-(Great-)-Grandmother.*  If not for the extra word in 
Spring's reply, their voices would have been in perfect synchronization.

* * * * *

	Ryoga sat on a bench in a park, waiting for Akari.  He'd been 
camped out by the fountain for the past two days; the eternally lost boy 
had set up this date a week in advance, and he knew better than to leave 
once he'd found the place.
	He looked at the handful of flowers he'd picked in his wanderings.  
They were beginning to look a little wilted.  _Should I give these to 
her?  Maybe she'll be upset that they aren't fresh.  But if I throw them 
away I won't have anything else to give Akari.  What should I do?_  He 
roared in frustration, but aside from a few startled pigeons and  
chipmunks, no one paid any attention.  This was the Ranmaverse, after 
all; cries of frustration were rather commonplace.
	The decision was taken out of his hands, literally.  Akari had 
snuck up on Ryoga while he was lost in his own mind.  "For me?"  She held 
the flowers under her nose and inhaled their scent.
	Ryoga looked up, his heart in his eyes.
	"Thank you, Ry-"
	Azure fire engulfed Ryoga's world.  He could not see for the 
brightness of the blaze, could not hear for the roaring of the flames.  
He felt his mind freeze and shatter, every drop of his blood cold as 
ice.  When the storm was over, he found himself alone on his hands and 
knees beside a park bench, a collection of flowers scattered by his side.
	_What am I doing here?  What happened?  Wasn't Akane just here?_  
Panic flared in Ryoga's heart.  _We were supposed to go out on a date.  I 
know something's happened to her.  I just know it!_  He pushed himself to 
his feet.  "Ranma!"  His cry echoed across Nerima.  "This is all your 
fault!  It must be your fault!  Someday, I swear,  I'll find my way back to 
China and make you pay!"
	Quickly stuffing his belongings into his backpack, the eternally 
lost boy set out to find his love and his revenge.
 ______
{B-{=__

	Author's notes, thanks, and requests:
	First, writing dialogue for Kuno is scary.  After a while you 
start to think the way he talks...
	Second, thanks go out to Robin Page, who caught a word-o in 
chapter six.  Ranko is "titian-haired," not "titan haired."
	Third, Ryoga's thoughts at the end of this chapter are not a 
mistake on my part...
	Fourth, the Son of the Black Rose will be showing up in the 
future.  He needs a name.  Any suggestions?
	Fifth, bonus points go to anyone who can tell what field of 
mathematics the terms "Descents" and "Inversions" come from, and what 
they mean.

	Thank you all, and happy reading.