On Tue, 29 Oct 1996, Zen wrote:

"I knew it.  By the way, my name's Akemi.  Roppongi Akemi"

	Thought this place sounded familiar :-)

"Guys can be such insensitive jerks," said Akemi knowingly.

	Heh.

"You know, it sounds to me like your father is a real jackass.  He
certainly seems to be causing you loads of trouble.  No offense..."

"None taken."  Ranma-chan smiled darkly.  "You have no idea..."

	Too true.

"Yah, I've come to pretty much the same conclusion.  I know for a
fact that my iinazuke will be a lot happier if I'm not around."
Ranma-chan shuddered at the memory of Akane's rage filled
expression.

	Slight misapphrehension.  She'll be miserable either way...

Akemi and the bartender both stared after Ranma in confusion.
"Akemi..." the bartender said, "You're so drunk now you've got *ME*
seeing things."  Akemi favoured him with a nasty look.

	And Akemi begins to understand some of the cryptic parts of that 
conversation...

####  ****  ####

Kasumi watched Ranma as he trotted off towards the school.  <Now I
wonder what he meant by that?>  She thought to herself.
Somewhere in her subconscious an alarm bell rang, but it was too
faint for her to hear.

	Pity...

"Ahh so." said a very much relieved Genma.  "Ranma never said
anything about it...  I just found his pack missing and..."  He decided
it would not be politic to go any further into exactly what he had
been afraid of.  Besides, it obviously wasn't necessary.

	Idiot.

"I would, but Ranma left over an hour ago," said Kasumi.  "He seemed
to be very concerned about not being late..."

	Whoop!  Whoop!  Danger, Akane Tendou!

Ranma sat in a kissaten, nursing a cup of cocoa.  He watched from the
window of the little coffee shop as Akane stalked by on her way
from the dojo to the school.  He could tell that she was angry.  Well,
at least *he* wouldn't be making her angry anymore.

	Wrong.

No, more likely, he had stopped somewhere for a snack and had lost
track of time.  It would be just like him.

	Well, sort of...

- at least a part of it.  Besides that, he never had possessed any real
talent for prevarication.  "Ranma have fight with Akane," he agreed.
"Ranma tired of fighting with Akane."  Somehow, borrowing
Shampoo's habit of referring to himself in the third person had made
that admission a little easier.

	Oh, then this next part's going to be tricky...

need you to deliver this for me," he told her.

Shampoo made a show of examining the packet.  "What you send to
Mousse?" she asked.

"It's a letter of challenge,"  Ranma said.  "The fight between us has to
be settled, once and for all."

	Would Ranma actually throw a fight?  Even to get rid of Shampoo?  
Or does he have something more devious in mind?

Ranma stood up and picked up his pack.  He turned back to Shampoo,
who was still gloating a bit over her perceived good fortune.  He
sighed.  "Shampoo..."  She looked up at him.  "Don't be too hard on
him, okay?  He has feelings too."  Shampoo looked a bit confused, but
nodded agreement.

	Yep, Good 'ol Ranma, tries to handle everyone with care except 
the one person he should...> 

SKJAM!