Nodoka in a motherly tone.
 
     "Mmmff?" said Ranma-chan intelligently as she stuffed more
sukiyaki beef into her mouth, wolfed it down and swilled a glass of pop
immediately after.
 
     "Ranko, please be more ladylike."
 
     "Alright..." mumbled Ranma-chan in a sullen and miffed tone.  
 
     "This food is great!  More please!" cried Ranma as he held out his
rice bowl to his mom.  The rice cooker was closest to Ranma-chan.
 
     "Ranko, I don't mean to impose on you but will you please fill up
the rice bowl for Ranma?" Nodoka said nicely.
  
     Ranma-chan's chopsticks, reaching for a carrot, suddenly impaled
the vegetable in one swift move.
  
     "What?!" she cried.
 
     "Please, Ranko?  You're closest to the rice cooker...and it's only
proper for the man to sit."
     
     "She is ever the traditionalist, eh Saotome?" whispered Soun to
Genma.
 
     "Sometimes I still think she is living in the past," Genma said back
in a hush-hush voice.

     Ranma-chan simmered a bit, glaring at Ranma angrily for a
moment before snatching the rice bowl from Ranma's fingers and filling
it up with rice until it was overflowing.  Then she held it with two hands
and presented it to Ranma.

     "Would you like a manicure with that, Ranma?  Or a backrub
while you eat?" she asked solemnly, with a straight face as she
practically shoved the rice bowl in his face.  Akane stifled a giggle and
Ranma turned red.

     "Thanks, err...Ranko.  I think."  He looked up at Ranma-chan
with an apologetic look on his face.
 
     "Anytime."  That had been delivered practically in a snarl and
Ranma-chan plopped back on her cushion, squirming her way between
Akane and Ranma again.
 
     "Does anybody know where Mr. Panda is?  I have a whole 
bagful of peelings and trash that I'm sure Mr. Panda would eat," said
Nodoka after a while.  There is a noticeable shudder from Genma's end
of the table.  "After all, it must be very hard to feed a panda his size,
wouldn't you agree?"

     "I'm afraid Mr. Panda is not here at the moment, Auntie Saotome.
He probably won't return for a long time, I think," said Akane, glancing
at Mr. Saotome for a moment then back at Nodoka.

     "Oh, is that right?  I'm so sorry, you all must miss him.  He was
a nice pet, though."

     Ranma and Ranma-chan glared at Genma, who hid his face behind
his bowl.

     "Ranma, why don't you tell me about your trip to Jusenkyo?  Did 
you train very hard there?" Nodoka asked as she reached for a shrimp
fritter, then she looked around the table.  "Is it just me, or did
everybody suddenly go quiet?"

     "N-no, Auntie Saotome...just remembering some stories
Ranma...and his father told us!" stammered Akane.

     "Mom....didn't I tell you about my training trip already?" pleaded
Ranma.

     "Yes you did, but you did not elaborate.  Tell your mother, will
you?  It's been ten years since I had seen you, and you have grown tall
and strong.  You are my son, and you are all I can ask for.  Please." 
Nodoka smiled at Ranma, the smile of a mother made happy by reunion
with her son - bridging the gap of a decade and attempting to fill up the
years in between, as it were.

     Ranma-chan found she had suddenly lost much of her appetite. 
Her chopsticks clattered by her bowl and she began to half-heartedly
drink her bowl of hot soup.

     "Me...and Dad had this really intense swim over to China...then
we hired a guide to take us to the Cur...I mean...to Jusenkyo training
grounds."  Ranma paused for a moment.
     
     "Go on, please."  Nodoka smiled encouragingly.     "Sure..we trained
some and I...almost hit Dad into the Spring 
of Drowned Panda."

     Genma stiffened and Ranma suddenly realized his mistake. 

     "Spring of Drowned.....Panda?" asked Nodoka wonderingly,
tapping her chopsticks thoughtfully on her bowl.
  
     "Sure, you know...like there is a curse that changes those who 
fall into the springs into whatever had drowned there a long time ago
when they're splashed with cold water, and then they turn back to
human form when splashed with hot water, and I've heard it is not so
bad being a panda, and you can change back to normal by jumping into
either the Spring of..." 
 
     "So, there must be alot of springs there?"  Nodoka asked again.
 
     "Lots of springs.  Yeah."  Ranma wiped a sweat drop from his
forehead.
 
     "All kinds of drowned animals?  Even people?"
 
     "Maybe.  I'm...I'm not sure."  
 
     "Imagine if you had fallen into a spring, my son!  Oh, the 
horror of my only, manly, son being cursed with a cursed body!  It 
would be my duty as a mother to help such an inflicted son in the only 
way that I can."  Nodoka grimly unshouldered her bundle and placed it
by her side, patting it once.  Ranma, Ranma-chan and Genma pale
simultaneously.
 
     "It.....would be a very terrible tragedy indeed, dear," whispered
Genma, staring at the bundle by his wife's side.
 
     "Yes, dear.  A very terrible tragedy indeed.  Imagine if my son
had fallen into a spring, dear, because of you.  Bad enough that he
would be some sort of animal half the time.  Imagine if he had fallen
into a spring where some poor girl had drowned a long time ago!  The
humiliation of having a son, who was not a son!!  The Saotome line
would have to end there, to save our family honor."  Nodoka patted the
bundle again, a determined look on her face.

     Ranma shot to his feet and wiped his mouth.

     "I'm done!  That was great, mom, Kasumi, and now I think I'm
gonna go do some homework, then watch TV, then something, I think. 
See ya!!"  Ranma makes a very quick exit. 

     Ranma-chan wolfed down the last bit of sukiyaki beef and got up.

     "Well...I'm full.  I gotta go...uh...do some homework.  Yeah,
that's it.  See ya later!!"  She follows Ranma out as quickly as she could
on a full stomach.  Nodoka looked after Ranma-chan for a few
moments.
     
     "Sometimes I think Ranko picks up too many bad habits from 
Ranma.  To think Akane's cousin would spend more time with my boy 
than with Akane.  She is unlady-like some of the times, but she's a good 
girl," said Nodoka at last, breaking the silence.
 
     "Yes, Auntie Saotome.  She may be strange sometimes, but then 
she was brought up in the country, you know," replied Akane.
 
     "Ah, yes!  Thank you, Akane.  I forgot that little detail.  I suppose
a country upbringing can influence the way a lady should act.  Tell me,
Akane, does Ranko have a boyfriend?"
 
     "Ummm....no."
 
     "She is pretty enough to get one easily enough, don't you think?" 
 
     "Right."
 
     The two families continued to eat in silence for about ten minutes, 
then Nodoka looked up and said, "A stray thought had just crossed my
mind.  Isn't it strange, though, how Ranko looks so much like Ranma?" 

     This was definitely not Genma's best dinner to date, with constant
and heartpounding shocks such as his wife's uncannily accurate
observations.

     "Strange, isn't it?" he managed to force out.

     "They dress the same, have the same pigtail and they even look a
little similar!  Of course, Ranko is a girl and Ranma is a boy.  Ranko
should dress more femininely though.  She should also let her hair
down, but she still looks beautiful even with her pigtail."

     "Oh...uh...Auntie Saotome?"

     "What is it, Akane?"

     "Ranko IS dressing more femininely, or will be.  She had just
bought some new clothes today at the mall - for girls."

     "Did she?  Well...I'll go ask her later to let me have a look at her
clothes.  Girls shouldn't wear anything too racy, or boys might get
ideas.  Well...if everybody is finished eating...just leave the bowls and
chopsticks where they are, and leave everything to me and Kasumi."

     Akane took some time to bring all the dishes into the kitchen, then
she went outside - in the direction Ranma and Ranma-chan went to.  She
looked around but she saw nobody and was about to head back inside
when she glanced up at the roof.  There were two figures silhouetted
against the moon, just above her room.  Ranma and Ranma-chan. 
Akane ran back inside, upstairs to her room and slowly pushed her
window open.

     "...never been so scared in my life!  I thought, for sure, she 
was gonna find out that I had really fallen into a spring!"

     That was Ranma, and Akane stayed as quiet as she could.
 
     "*I* left before she could draw any conclusions from the way 
that we look alike, dress alike, talk alike, and everything."
 
     "Everything?" Ranma-chan replied.  Akane folded her arms.
 
     "Except for...you know."
 
     "Oh, right."

     There was a long pause.  Akane narrowed her eyes slightly and 
tried to crane her head out of the window - to see what the two are 
doing.

     "Still, anyways, let's be more careful around her, okay?  I'm 
gonna go and catch up on my homework, like I said I would.  I dunno
about you."
 
     "I'm already done.  You've really got to be more responsible for
school work, you know."   
      
     There is the sound of rustling clothes as Ranma-chan leapt off the
roof.  Ranma left similarly after a short while.  Akane closed her
window and fell on her bed, deep in thought. 
  
     Ranma-chan fell onto the couch and turned the TV on.  She surfed
the channels, looking for something exciting.  A football game came on 
and she watches it for some time, before changing to an action movie. 
Bored of the action movie, she randomly picked a channel and changed 
to it.
  
     **And now, the first annual fishing tournament, right here on this
channel!!  Watch as Mr. Takayama begins the exciting process of
waiting for an unsuspecting fish to take a bite!!  See the thousands of
dollars of equipment he uses in order to outsmart his prey!!  Witness
the...**

     Ranma-chan hit the power button on the remote and dropped it
beside the couch.  Then she lay down on the couch and curled up on one
side, her feet hanging slightly over the edge.  Questions circulated
around in her thoughts, demanding answers - such as what she should
be doing about her current condition.  She knew she should really be
trying to find a cure, to merge herself and Ranma back into one
person...but that raised yet another question - if she did, then whose
personality would be dominant?  What would happen to the other,
discarded personality?  Would everything be the same as ever?

     Deep down inside herself, so far that she nearly did not admit it
even to herself, she found she had little or no problem living as a girl,
the way things were.  Apart from Kuno, she had no problems getting
along as a girl in Nerima.  Throughout her sortie in the mall she knew
she had been getting looks of envy and looks of admiration from girls
and guys, respectively, and the funny thing was...she did not mind it at
all.  Rather, she exulted in the knowledge that she was beautiful enough
to warrant those emotions from other people.

     Since there was nothing else to do, she decided to head upstairs
and go to bed.  There was school tomorrow and Ranma-chan did not
feel like running to school in the morning in an effort to beat the bell.
Yawning slightly, she rolled off the couch and headed upstairs.  She
opened her door and shut it behind her.  Then she slowly stripped off
her shirt and flung it over her shoulder.  She would pick it up in the
morning.  Her hands behind her back absently undoing her bra, she cast
about the room for her nightclothes.  Her gaze travelled from corner to
corner, to the dressing table, to Ranma sitting at the desk gaping at her,
to the clothes pegs on the wall, to....she did a double-take and whirled.

     "Ranma!?  What are you...oh.  I..forgot."  Ranma-chan blushed
in shame and quickly turned to present her back to Ranma.  
  
     "That's okay.  At least I was treated to a show."
 
     "You pig!  Is that all you ever think about?" cried Ranma-chan,
craning her head over her shoulder.
 
     "Why don't you ask yourself the same question?  After all, you 
are me, right?"
 
     "Now it's different!  I'm a girl and you're a guy!"
 
     "What's the big deal?  It's not like I haven't seen your...I mean,
our female body in the mirror plenty of times.  Naked."
     
     "Pig."  Ranma-chan held her shirt against her chest and began to
hunt around for her nightclothes.
 
     "Whatever."
  
     Ranma went back to scribbling in his notebook, albeit with much
less enthusiasm, if that was possible.  Ranma-chan found her
nightclothes and put the shirt on.  Then, with a quick glance at Ranma,
she pulled her pants off and pulled her PJs on.  It was red in color, and
it had little patterns of star-shaped fishcake slices, the ones with the pink
swirl in their middle.  Satisfied that everything was in place, she looked
over at Ranma's hunched form.
  
     "Well, I don't know whether I should apologize or whether I
should wait for you to thank me..if you know what I mean."
 
     "Thank you," Ranma replied dryly.
 
     "Pervert."  
 
     Ranma turned around, a frown on his face.  

     "Now, how is that being perverted?  I mean, a guy watching a girl
take her top off..." he began.

     "Yeah, but I didn't mean to take my shirt off in front of you!"
 
     "So you're saying that if I *asked* you to strip for me, would you
do it?"

     "Are you nuts?!"

     Ranma just shrugged his shoulders and returned to his homework.
Ranma-chan smoothed her hair and checked her pigtail with her fingers.
The scribbling of Ranma's pencil on the paper was the only sound in the
room.  Ranma-chan started to pace about the room, wondering whether
she should go to bed without a bath first.  She stopped pacing the room
and walked over to Ranma at his desk.  She peeked over his shoulder, 
letting her pigtail fall over her shoulder and in front of his face.  Ranma
swatted at her pigtail as Ranma-chan looked at the incomprehensible
lettering in his notebook.
  
     "Doing your English assignment?" she asked.
 
     "Yup.  Tonight sure is boring as hell."

     "Boring is only what you make of it.  I...I know a way to get rid
of that boredom."  Ranma-chan let an evil smile creep on her face and
leaned closer.  Ranma flicked at her pigtail again. The atmosphere in
this room was so...so...sexy.  Her closeness to Ranma was beginning
to arouse her.  She started to think of little `assignments' that she and
Ranma could help each other with. She dipped her head close and
allowed her face to lightly caress his neck.  Ranma suddenly went stock
still.

     "Ran...Ranma.  What are you doing?" whispered Ranma at last.

     "Do you need to ask?  This ought to take your mind off of your
assignment..." she whispered huskily. 

     Delicate fingers crept their way onto his shoulder, and massaged
the muscle there, then they made their way down his neck to his chest
and began to caress his pectorals.  Her lips touched his right earlobe,
then she began to nibble on it.  When Ranma winced involuntarily,
Ranma-chan turned Ranma around in his chair and gently tugged him
from his seat, falling back on the futon behind her as she did.  Ranma
did not resist as he got up half-way off his chair, and Ranma-chan began
to lower herself down on the futon, her eyes lowered seductively.  Her
chest rose up and down slightly, her nipples quite visible through the
material of her nightshirt.

     "No," said Ranma, half-heartedly attempting to get Ranma-chan to
release him.  Ranma-chan stopped for a moment.
 
     "What do you mean, `no'?"
 
     "Is this even right?  I mean, we're the same person, right?  Even
though I...I feel good right now, I don't..."

     "Don't think.  Just do...okay?"  
 
     "But..."  Already Ranma's resolve was weakening under the charm
of the female before him, halfway to the futon beneath her.
 
     "Shhh.  Don't say another word.  Third time's the charm...so
indulge me once more."
  
     She put her hands on Ranma's shoulders again and pulled the both
of them down on the futon, Ranma falling onto Ranma-chan but
breaking the fall with his hands on either side of her.  Then Ranma felt
gossamer-soft lips on his own, and he suddenly found himself kissing
Ranma-chan with passion; yet his passion was not really born of his lust
for Ranma-chan.  His kisses, so long held in check, were not meant for
Ranma-chan.  He might try to deny it but Ranma-chan was but a conduit
through which his emotions may be channelled through.  That thought
was momentarily perished as the curvaceous female beneath him ripped
her night shirt open and squirmed out of it.
 
     Her luscious, peach-soft skin glowed in the light of the lamp on 
Ranma's desk.  Her body rippled with pleasure, and undulated in a 
fascinating manner, rubbing her taut breasts on Ranma's chest and his
well-defined abs.  Ranma noticed that shadows hid in all of the most
interesting places on Ranma-chan.  She started to unbuttton Ranma's
shirt with one hand, while the other pulled Ranma closer to her by the
small of his back.  The lust of the moment almost overwhelmed Ranma
as he unconsciously began to help pull Ranma-chan's pants off of her,
but a female face leapt to the forefront of his mind's eye. 

     She had short hair...was it black?..and her name..it is so hard to 
remember!  Ranma-chan began exploring the inside of his mouth with 
her tongue. Oh the sheer pleasure!!  His shirt was already completely 
unbuttoned and her hands traced their way on paths of rumpled clothing 
to his pants.  Ranma's hands continued to slowly pull Ranma-chan's 
pants further below her hips - until she was dressed only in a tiny pair
of sheer panties and nothing else.  She wriggled in ecstacy, her panties
beginning to come off from contact with her butt and the futon, and the
temperature in the room seemed to suddenly shoot up.  Ranma-chan
rolled over and straddled Ranma, her legs spread apart and she was on 
her knees.  

     Ranma's legs were stretched out and in between her legs.  Their
loins were touching and only three layers of clothing separated their
naked skin.  Through the sheer material of Ranma-chan's panties,
Ranma could almost see her pubic hairs.  His hands clapped on her
flanks and began to stroke her skin; Ranma-chan moaned and placed her
hands on his chest and began to massage.  Ranma felt himself reacting,
and Ranma-chan gasped as her groin came in contact with Ranma's.  In
a single motion, Ranma pulled Ranma-chan's panties down - exposing
her in her full nakedness.  Curving legs, womanly figure, well formed
breasts and slim arms - she was a girl, no, a woman that no male in his
right mind could resist.  Shyly, certainly, Ranma-chan pulled her panties
off of her legs.  A flurry of hands later and Ranma's pants were pulled
down to his kneecaps - until he was only wearing a pair of boxers, tent-
shaped in his groin area.  Ranma-chan smiled and restraddled Ranma
again.  She dipped her head close to his, and began to kiss him again,
with more vigor and passion than before, then she broke it - mainly for
air - and sat back up and looked down at him, her head tilted to one side
and letting Ranma's eyes travel all over her smooth throat down to her
breasts, sliding over her arms and firm belly in a way that made Ranma-
chan thrill with pleasure, before stopping for a long moment in the
region between her legs.

     As Ranma-chan flipped her pig-tail back over her shoulder, and put
her hands on Ranma's boxers to pull it off and leave him naked as well,
the face from before appeared again in Ranma's mind.  He knew he
shouldn't be doing this with Ranma-chan, because...because of this
female.  Somehow, he knew her...and knew that continuing further with
Ranma-chan would only hurt her, if she should find out.  <She won't
find out!> cried a voice triumphantly in his mind, <As long as both of
us keep our mouths shut...!>.  His boxers came off and he heard
Ranma-chan gasp, then he felt her fingers wrap around his manhood and
began to direct it into herself.  Her pubic hairs brushed the tip of his
penis and his breath quickened.  His hands seemed to move of their own
accord, moving up her sides to clasp her breasts and to squeeze them
gently.  Ranma-chan sighed in pleasure, her eyes closed.

     But there was something else.  A nameless concept beyond words
impressed itself on his mind and his feverish brain registered the short
haired female's face.  He began to surge back to a recollection.  Her
name....was....it was....
  
     "Akane!!" Ranma cried out.
 
     "What?!  Where?!"  Ranma-chan looked about in fear, her hands
still gripping Ranma's manhood.  Not seeing Akane anywhere, she
turned back to Ranma with a questioning look in her eyes.  When
Ranma did not answer Ranma-chan released him and rolled off, to lie
beside him on the futon.  Her hands were clenched into little fists, and
she was gritting her teeth even as tears began to roll down her cheeks. 
Ranma sat up, remembering to pull his boxers back up to his waist, and
he hugged his knees to his chest.

     "Why?" whispered Ranma-chan.

     "Because I cannot.  I..I mean...I will not.  Not with you, and
neither should you with me.  It's...just not right."  Ranma cast around
for Ranma-chan's clothing, as she was still naked, but he didn't see it.

     "Why is it `just not right'?  I didn't feel sick, or think it was
wrong...and from the looks of it, neither did you."  Ranma-chan felt her
left breast, where Ranma's fingermarks were still evident.

     "You're a guy too, in case you've forg..."

     "I am NOT a guy!  Look at me!  LOOK!"  Ranma-chan had shot
to her feet and was cupping her breasts with both hands and glaring
down at Ranma, who was desperately looking for Ranma-chan's
nightclothes with one eye, while the other was glued to Ranma-chan's
naked figure.

     "You are me, and that is one of the reasons why I stopped going
any further!"

     "LIAR!  You enjoyed it...no...you were PAWING all over me!"

     "Shhh!  Keep it down or else everyone will come upstairs to see
what the matter is!" whispered Ranma fiercely, his hands reaching out
and pulling Ranma-chan down to his level, his hands firmly clasped on
her hips - entirely by accident.  Ranma-chan covered her breasts with
both hands and she knelt down, her head turned to one side.  Even now,
Ranma could feel himself getting aroused and he too turned to face away
from Ranma-chan.

     "So.  I see.  I thought that you, of all people, would understand
the stuff I'm going through...but you don't.  You're just like the others,
going on with your life while I am left behind," said Ranma-chan at
length, in a calmer voice.

     "That's not it!  In any case, what does that have to do with why I
stopped going any further?!"

     "Nobody has enough consideration to accommodate me!  Look at
Ukyo, and...A-Akane!  Think *they* are willing to have *me* when
they have you?!"  Ranma-chan began to search around for her clothes,
still on her knees and `walking' around on them.


     "What we were about to do wasn't love at all!  It was just...I don't
know...sexual stuff!"

     "Would you even begin to go all the way with somebody you don't
love?" asked Ranma-chan as she turned her head around to look at
Ranma.

     "Of course not...but..." said Ranma, wondering where she was
leading to.

     "Then WHY did you even go along with me in the first place?   
I thought I really had something going there, and that you loved me
enough to do it with me and..."

     "Like I said...having sex has nothing to do with love!  I hate to
bring this up but prostitutes have sex and they don't love the man they
have sex with!"  Ranma began to pull his shirt on.

     "OH!  So you're saying that I'm a prostitute, huh?!  First you
reject me, then you insult me!  I...I don't even want to look at you for
the rest of my life!" cried Ranma-chan as she quickly pulled her
nightclothes on and began to leave the room, but Ranma dashed over to
her and put his hand on her shoulder to stop her.

     "I didn't call you a prostitute at all, so calm down and just listen
to me for once!"

     Ranma-chan shrugged Ranma's hand off her shoulder but he
slapped his other hand on her left shoulder.  Growling, Ranma-chan
twisted around and tried to kick Ranma's legs out from under him but
Ranma blocked the strike and trapped her legs with his own.  Lowering
himself quickly to the futon he subsequently held her hands immobile
with his own, using his greater strength and weight to keep her pinned
to the futon.

     "Let me go right now or I'll scream and bring everybody
running!!" she snarled in his face.

     "Listen to me for once, willya?!" cried Ranma, but Ranma-chan
began to take in a breath - to scream bloody murder and to bring the
entire household down on his fool head.  There was no time to think,
only that split-second of decision making - culminating with Ranma
plastering his lips on Ranma-chan's and kissing her.

     Her eyes registered shock, then fury, but quickly changed to a
mollified look followed by obvious pleasure.  She struggled to free
herself, in order to better act as a participant than a spectator, but
Ranma was not about to let her go...so she settled for the kiss, and she
was just about to get into it when Ranma broke it and pulled his head up
out of reach.

     "Why'd you stop?" asked Ranma-chan.

     "Because...even though I really want to go on, I don't want to."

     "You're not making much sense...and will you let me go already?" 
Ranma-chan wiggled from side to side, but she couldn't squirm her way
out.  In fact, she rather liked having Ranma on top of her - it was just
that she couldn't do anything more than lying on the futon or struggling
to get free of him.  She began to wonder if this was a prelude to
whatever they had just left off, a sort of macho-type sexual thrill for
Ranma to have Ranma-chan under his control.  She decided she didn't
like it for that aspect, if it was like what she suspected it to be.

     "If I let you go, will you promise to sit down and listen to me for
a little while?  Please?"

     Ranma-chan considered his request, then she nodded and Ranma
immediately released her.

     "Okay....now talk," Ranma-chan demanded.

     "Look...even right now you look so beautiful...and sexy and all
that, and I really wanted to go further with you...but I can't."

     "What do you mean you can't?  You were all over me, and you
were liking it too!"  Ranma-chan pointed at Ranma's manhood, which
was making its presence known under his boxers.  He flushed red and
pulled a blanket over himself.

     "So I liked it, but I couldn't help it!" he protested.

     "So why did you stop?  We were doing so well, and I finally
thought I had found somebody who understood me..."
     
     "I understand you, but I - don't - love - you!  I mean, not in the
way I....not in that way!"

     "Well-l-l...excuse *me* for exposing myself to you...you must
probably be so sick that you want to throw up."  Ranma-chan folded her
arms across her chest and sulked there.  Ranma moved over to Ranma-
chan and put his arms around her, and shook her once but Ranma-chan
did not change her expression and only turned away from Ranma.

     "Look...I might as well come out with it.  I love Akane, you know
that don't you?  And I love her enough to hold myself back, not to go
any further...because if I didn't I'd be betraying her."  Ranma spoke
softly, with feeling and emotion.

     Ranma-chan was silent and she was holding the front of her
nightshirt with both hands, keeping it closed protectively over herself. 
Her hair, silky smooth, waved over her forehead and danced around her
eyebrows and the tips of her ears from the breeze coming in from the
open window.  Ranma halted for a moment, then he continued.

     "Look...let's get this all straightened out, okay?  You are me, and
we both know we love Akane, and we wouldn't consider doing a thing
like this with another...person because that would betray our...you
know...with Akane."  Ranma-chan turned to look at him, then she
nodded in reply.  Ranma continued, "So why are you doing this in the
first place at all?"

     "Maybe...maybe I'm not you any longer.  You ever think about
that?  Maybe I'm not the Ranma I used to be...and I'm beginning to
change into....somebody different," Ranma-chan whispered softly,
feeling her pigtail with her right hand and smoothing out her hair at the
same time.

     "That's like saying that you don't love Akane any longer, because
if you did you wouldn't have even tried to seduce...I mean...tried
to...err..kiss me and all that."

     "Yeah...well, so what if I wanted to *seduce* you?  There you are
again, thinking that I'm still the same as you are.  Fact is, I'm not the
same any longer and you'd better get used to it."  Ranma-chan got up
and walked over to the window, looking out into the Nerimean night,
watching the streetlights flicker and cut bright swathes through the
darkness to illuminate the ground in defined boundaries of light.

     "What are you saying here?" Ranma had moved to stand behind
Ranma-chan.  "Are you saying that...that you don't love Akane any
longer?"

     Ranma-chan did not reply and when Ranma laid a hand on her
shoulder she shook it off and began to walk away quickly.  She
wrenched the door open and shut it firmly behind her, leaving Ranma
to stare after her.  Then he bent down and began to rearrange the futon,
for it had been seriously messed up by their short-lived, but well-
remembered caper.

     The bathroom door shut and Ranma-chan began to strip, pulling
her clothes off in a business-like manner, taking no time to feel that
tingle of erotic pleasure as her fingers held her panties by the sides and
pulled them down her long, smooth legs - and neither did she let herself
enjoy the sensation of bending over to pull her panties off, or the feeling
of her breasts dangling before her.  She straightened, and undid her
pigtail before the mirror.  Her hair slowly untwirled behind her to
become a wave of vibrant, beautiful red hair that cascaded past her
shoulders.  She placed a hand on the mirror and touched the image of
herself, wondering at how different she looked now with her pigtail
undone.  More like a real girl now.

     She turned away and began to fill the bathtub with hot water, the
steam rising off it first in slender tendrils that became billowing clouds
which quickly filled the entire bathroom with mist, fogging up the
mirrors until she couldn't see herself.  She pulled out a long bathstool
and sat on one corner, and she began to fill up a bucket with cold water. 
A bar of soap made its way out of its plastic case and Ranma-chan
dumped the bucket over herself, thrilling in the sudden shock of cold
water on her skin, already feeling the goosebumps rising up.

     As Ranma-chan turned away and bent over to fill up another
bucket with cold water, she heard the door open and somebody step
inside the bathing area.  Before she could say anything, the sliding door
to the bathtub opened and Akane stepped inside, wrapped only in the
briefest of towels.  There was silence for a few moments of surprise and
indecision before Akane made her way to where Ranma-chan was on her
knees beside a bucket of cold water, which was overflowing constantly
because Ranma-chan had forgotten all about the tap.

     "You should turn that tap off, you know.  You don't want to waste
water, do you?" said Akane as she pointed at the cold water tap. 
Ranma-chan turned it off with one hand, her other arm covering her
breasts.

     "Akane...I...I'll go wait outside until you're finished," was all
Ranma-chan could get out before she got up and began to walk outside,
her arm still held tightly over herself.

     "Don't be stupid...it's not like I haven't seen a naked girl before,
you know."  With that Akane undid her towel and pulled it off of
herself.  "And it's not like *you* haven't seen naked girls before...like
that first time in the bathroom when we met."

     Ranma-chan gulped as Akane sat down beside her on the stool and
poured the cold water over herself from Ranma-chan's bucket.  Then
she opened her own plastic soapholder case and began to soap herself
down, using a bathsponge to help.  Ranma-chan stared at Akane, more
with extreme surprise rather than a voyeuristic eye, watching as Akane
stroked the sponge over her arms and belly and breasts.  Akane glanced
over at Ranma-chan.

     "What's wrong?  Don't have soap of your own?  You can use
mine, if you want to," said Akane.

     "N-n-n-no...that's alright...I..I've got some soap of my own." 
Ranma-chan hastily grabbed her soap and began to soap herself up
quickly, but in her haste her soap kept slipping out of her hand and she
kept constantly having to chase after it as it ran around the bathroom
floor like it had a mind of its own.

     "Ranma...calm down already.  It doesn't matter since we're both
girls!  Now if the other Ranma were here, it'd be a different story, ne? 
We'd beat the lust out of him with our trusty, dusty wooden buckets!"
joked Akane as she lifted her wooden bucket up and waved it
threateningly.

     Ranma-chan got an intense look in her face then she settled down
and began to soap herself again, but more calmly this time and more
deliberately.  She began to look around for a back scrub but there was
none.

     "Do you want me to wash your back?  I'll do it if you'll do mine
in return."  Akane turned around.  Her body had little patches of soap
bubbles here and there in certain spots, her skin was wet and slick with
water and soap, and she made no effort to cover herself from Ranma-
chan.

     "Yeah, sure.  I'll scrub your back if you'll scrub mine."  Ranma-
chan hesitated for a moment then she turned around on her bathstool and
bent over.  Moments later she felt Akane's silky smooth fingers run all
over her back, spreading soap wherever they went.

     "So...how'd you like your first shopping trip?" Akane asked as she
gathered Ranma-chan's hair up and moved it over her shoulder, then
slowly rubbed her neck and shoulders with soap.

     "It was good.  Thanks for taking me along, Akane.  All the clothes
I bought fit me perfectly and look very well on me, I think."

     "No problem.  Next time, we're bringing Ukyo along too, okay?" 
Akane's fingers had moved to Ranma-chan's slim shoulder blades.

     "Akane...what do you think Ukyo thinks of me?" asked Ranma-
chan after a little while.  Akane stopped for a second, then she resumed,
this time moving lower down Ranma-chan's back.

     "Why do you ask?"  Akane paused to rub her hands with more
soap.

     "I...I just want to know, that's all."

     "Well...I think she still considers you as her fiance, and..I..I still
think she loves you."  Akane fell silent, and she began work on the
small of Ranma-chan's back, albeit slower this time, her fingers moving
absently as if she were deep in thought.

     "I see.  You really think so, then?" Ranma-chan's voice had a note
of suspicion, and that put Akane on the defensive.

     "Why don't you go...go ask her yourself?  Only she knows her
true feelings for you, not me."

     "So you really think Ukyo...uh...goes both ways, then?" asked
Ranma-chan.

     Akane dug her fingers into Ranma-chan's back, getting a yelp of
pain from the latter.

     "Akane....that hurt!" protested Ranma-chan, reaching back to grab
Akane's hands.

     "*WHAT* makes you think I even said that?!" Akane cried as she
slapped Ranma-chan's hands away and resumed soaping her back.

     "Well, you said she still loves me and everything, so she must also
still love Ranma...the other one, that is, so that just lead me to that
conclu...yow!"

     Akane had dug her fingers again and Ranma-chan whirled around,
long hair flying, to face Akane.

     "Look, Akane...if you're gonna wash my back you don't have to
use me as your scratching post while you're at it!" complained Ranma-
chan, rubbing her back with her hands.

     "You're the one suggesting I'm a sicko by saying that I suggest
that Ukyo went both ways!  You've see the way she looks at the other
Ranma and...oh..." Akane trailed off when she looked into Ranma-
chan's face. 

     "Yeah.  I guess so.  She's a girl, and can't help herself for
preferring the male Ranma over me, right?" said Ranma-chan bitterly,
picking up the bucket and washing the soap from her body.  Then she
motioned for Akane to turn around.

     "But...but she still thinks you're a guy underneath...I just know it,
Ranma!" said Akane as she turned around on the bathstool and leaned
forward a bit, to let Ranma-chan soap her back.

     "And how do you know that, Akane?"

     "Well...I...I just do.  Call it intuition."

     "Female intuition?  She can still kiss me and not be sick, right?" 
Ranma-chan's hands stroked Akane's back.

     "I'm not about to speak for her, Ranma, and you shouldn't either. 
Look, I have this feeling that she loves you just as much as the male
Ranma...I know it just like I know you're really a guy.  Believe me."

     "If you know I'm really a guy, then why are you letting me soap
your back?" asked Ranma-chan, now working on Akane's shoulder
blades.  When Akane did not answer, Ranma-chan said, "Or is it that
you consider me a girl already?"

     "That's not true!  You're still a guy, and I know it.  It's just that
you're...you're a girl.  Right now, I mean, and it doesn't matter if we
have a bath together because....because..." Akane trailed off as Ranma-
chan turned Akane around, and placed her hands on her shoulders.

     "If you still think I'm a guy, then kiss me," said Ranma-chan,
looking down at Akane.
     
     Akane's breath quickened from panic because her range of vision
was filled with Ranma-chan's slim shoulders, lean arms and breasts; she
looked up, but it did nothing to quell the sick feeling in her gut because
*she* was asking *her* to kiss *her* and Akane did not know what to
do, for Ranma-chan was actually Ranma and she was serious about this
and this was almost what she had been hoping for...but....but....!

     Ranma-chan knelt down to Akane's level, hands still holding her
shoulders, and she began to move closer to Akane.  Akane did not
twitch a muscle as the redhaired female came closer, and closer, until
the tips of their breasts were just touching.  Then Ranma-chan pressed
herself close to Akane, their breasts now embracing and sending feelings
of revulsion throughout Akane's body.  Ranma-chan's delicate features
dipped close to Akane's face, and lips like silk brushed against Akane's
own.  

     "NO!!"

     Akane shoved both hands on Ranma-chan's chest, pushing the
other girl off her and onto the floor as the last vestiges of her shout
dissipated into the steamy atmosphere.  Ranma-chan had struck the hard
and unforgiving floor of the bath area, and she rolled over to one side
with one hand supporting her, the other hand feeling her bruised bottom. 

     "That is *the* most disgusting thing you have *ever* done,
Ranma!!  You're really a pervert, aren't you?!" Akane cried.

     "Did you think I was really gonna go any further than that?  I just
wanted to see what you would do, that's all.  Guess I was right."
     
     "That...that's different!  I'm a girl, and you're one too!  That's
why I didn't like it at all!" Akane protested.

     "You're just like Ranma.  Going on with your lives while you
leave me behind.  What if I was male right now, instead of female? 
What then?"

     Akane delayed her answer as she washed the soap off her body and
climbed into the hot tub with Ranma-chan, then she turned her back on
the other girl.

     "I'd...I'd probably enjoy it.  Still, what you did was
disgusting...and revolting...and I don't want you to EVER do it again,
or else!  You got that, Ranma?"

     "I just wanted to kiss you, that's all.  Guess I know where I stand
with you, and all that."  Ranma-chan rested her arms on the edge of the
bathtub and sighed.  Both girls were quiet for another five minutes, then
Akane spoke.

     "Ranma....I'm sorry if I overreacted...but that sort of thing has
never happened to me before."

     "It's alright."

     There was surprised silence for the span of five full seconds.

     "Come again?" asked Akane.

     "I said, it's alright.  If even you cannot stand to kiss me, much less
tolerate my touch, then I...I definitely don't think Ukyo can, either." 
Ranma-chan turned around and looked into Akane's eyes, showing her
the seriousness of her words and impressing the gravity of the situation
upon her.

     Akane digested that, and she saw what Ranma-chan was trying to
imply.  She reached out and tentatively took hold of Ranma-chan's left
hand, and held it with her own and squeezed it gently.

     "Ranma...I'm sorry, I really am, but I can't bring myself to...I
mean, I can but I won't enjoy it.  I won't like it at all."  Akane was
feeling quite ashamed of herself, taking Ranma for granted while
ignoring not taking Ranma-chan into account all this while.

       "That's okay, Akane.  I won't ask you or make you do something
that I know you wouldn't like...from now on.  I only...only want the
best for you, Akane.  It's alright now."

     "What do you mean it's alright?  You're a guy trapped in a girl's
body...right now and only the antidote to the Nullifier can return you to
normal!  What about....." Akane trailed off, unwilling to say the words.

     "About what?" asked Ranma-chan.  When Akane did not reply,
Ranma-chan said, "Let me tell you something, Akane.  When I held you
to myself just now, and I was about to kiss you, it was the hardest thing
for me to do in my life.  I was using every bit of concentration not
to...to feel sick and turn away from you."

     "You mean....you mean you felt the same way I did?"

     "Yeah.  But it's alright, Akane.  I'll find a way to fix everything,
you just wait and see.  I always do, don't I?"  Ranma-chan squeezed
Akane's hand back and smiled encouragingly.

     Akane and Ranma-chan finished their baths and dried themselves
off.  Then Ranma-chan said goodnight to Akane and headed back to
Ranma's room, feeling a strange sense of contentedness for the first time
since the split two days ago.  For the first time, she felt somewhat at
peace with herself, as if she found a path to travel and was taking the
first steps on it down to her destiny.  She left her hair undone and free. 

     She opened her room door and shut it behind her.  The only light
in the room was from the desk lamp and the open window where
moonlight streamed in.  Ranma was lying on his futon, and he was still 
wearing only his shirt and boxers.  His form, illuminated slightly by the
desk lamp, rose up and down in rhythm, snores punctuating each fall of
his chest.  She placed her futon next to his, flopped down on it and let
herself fall ever-so-gradually into a state of semi-sleepiness.  Then her
eyes shut and she was asleep.  

     Male and female, two of one, their rhythmic snores seemed to
complement each other, blending into a mixture of deep snores and
delicate snores - punctuated by a snort now and then from Ranma.  It
was truly the sleep of the contented, at least for Ranma-chan.  Outside
a storm began to brew in the skies.  Dark clouds, darker than the night,
covered the starry skies and gathered over the entirety of Nerima Ward. 
A distant rumble of thunder growled in the distance as lightning bolts
flashed from the heavens and lit up the world for a brief second.  Then
rain started to fall, first in tiny droplets, then a light drizzle, followed
by a deluge of rain hammering the Tendo residence and stirring up the
carp pond.  Kasumi sat by the table near the porch and mused over a
cup of hot tea as she waited for the adult members of the two families
to return home.

--------------------

     <Sigh>  *Finally*!  Only two more to go, then part six will be
taken off the backburner....

                              - WD