>From the Scriviner:

PART VI: Of Chaos Aforethought and Revealing Hindsight
	Ranko came home at around two in the morning... which it 
must be noted was pretty early for one of her dates. She stepped 
out of the limo and gave the driver a final cheerful wave before 
entering the gate. The chauffeur drove off, fanning himself 
vigorously he muttered, "The master certainly knows how to pick 
'em..."
	Ranko, of course, did not bother with getting her own set 
of housekeys when Ranma and Akane were changing the locks. That 
was the sort of mundane... EARTHLY trivia that she refused to put 
up with... Not that she needed keys anyway, she preferred passing 
through the walls anyway. It reminded her that despite 
everything, she was still a Goddess.
	She phased through the wall and into the common area... she 
fully expected the remains of a hastily disgorged meal and maybe 
Saotome out cold from food poisoning. Or from getting coldcocked 
by Akane... it didn't matter... soon she'd be back in Heaven. As 
far away from him as possible...
	As she poked her head in, she saw that the television was 
still on. Whatever channel it had been on had long since signed 
off, but the black and white test pattern on the screen still 
provided some measure of light... just enough light to see that 
Ranma and Akane were both still there, asleep on the couch. Ranma 
had an arm around Akane shoulders, and she was resting her head 
on his chest, an arm wrapped around his waist. They were both 
snoring softly, practically in time with each other. Ranko's jaw 
dropped. This was not the way this was supposed to play out...
	Ranko stomped over to Akane and pulled her up off of Ranma, 
shaking her roughly to wake her up.
	"Wha--?" Akane mumbled as she slowly opened her eyes.
	"What is going on here?!" Ranko screamed, "I leave you two 
alone for a couple of hours and you're sleeping with him 
already?! Didn't you feed him the dinner you cooked?!"
	Akane nodded, still sleepy (otherwise Ranko would long 
since have been hammered into the floor), "Yes I did... he loved 
it. Your advice worked great Ranko, thanks..."
	"He's not mad at you anymore?" asked Ranko anxiously.
	Akane sleepily shook her head.
	"You two have made up?" Ranko added, a creeping tone of 
panic entering her voice...
	Akane nodded...
	Ranko released Akane's lapels in shock. A perfectly good... 
no a GREAT plan... shot to hell.
	Akane, who up until now did not fully comprehend what was 
going on suddenly realized that whatever had been holding her up 
was now gone and gravity was still in effect. She fell to the 
floor with a thud. Of course the impact did wonders to clear up 
any cobwebs... Akane sprang to her feet and grabbed Ranko by the 
neck.
	"What did you do that for Ranko?!"
	"I have just about had it!!" Ranko ranted, breaking out of 
Akane's grip, "Nothing I do is ever going to break the two of you 
up is it?!"
	"I thought you'd given up on that already?!" asked Akane, 
not really surprised.
	"Of course not!"
	Ranma snorted in his sleep at that proclamation...
	"You were lying again!" Akane replied, offended, "No wonder 
you haven't been promoted in so long!"
	Ranko cried, "Oh, shut up! Thanks to you and your boyfriend 
we'll never see home again! We could go home any time we want, 
but you keep clinging on to him and this stupid place! How can 
you be so selfish?!"
	"Me?" asked Akane incredulously, "Selfish?! Look who's 
talking!"
	The two goddesses merely glared angrily at each other... 
sparks of electricity leaping from both of them to ground into 
the nearby furniture... energy was beginning to swirl around both 
of them...
	Ranma, totally unaware of anything wrong, turned over in 
his sleep.
	Unseen by the two of them, the picture on the TV suddenly 
changed from the test pattern into what appeared to be some sort 
of news show... the newscaster was an attractive brunette woman 
with short hair. From off camera, a piece of paper was handed to 
her and she said, "And this just in: Two goddesses nearly 
destroyed a temple in the Nekomi residential district, but 
tragedy was narrowly averted by the timely arrival of a third 
goddess...
	The two continued to glare at each other, their auras 
intensifying.
	"AHEM!" the newscaster said from the TV, tapping on the 
inside of the screen, "Hello, out there..."
	Surprised the two women turned to stare at the TV, their 
aura's guttering out.
	"Say isn't that..." said Akane
	Ranko peered closer, "She looks awfully familiar."
	The newscaster shrugged at them from the screen, "Now, 
girls. Is that any way to treat family?"
	"Nabiki?" Akane and Ranko cried simultaneously.
	The anchor woman took a step forward... or she seemed to, 
because all of a sudden her head had popped out of the TV screen. 
She smiled at the two goddesses and said, "That's me. The one and 
only." Her fingers suddenly pushed out of the sides of the screen 
and grasped the edges. Almost effortlessly, she pulled herself 
entirely out of the screen and stood in front of the TV for a 
moment, dusting herself off. She muttered to herself, "Cheap, 
broken down five year old model TV... "
	Ranko blurted out, "What are you doing here?"
	"Now, now, Ranko... is that anyway to greet your favorite 
goddess?"
	"I'd greet you with a flamethrower, only they wouldn't 
issue me one down here," Ranko muttered.
	Akane smiled, "It's good to see you Nabiki."
	"You too Akane," Nabiki replied warmly, "So how's my little 
sister and my favorite cousin?"
	"I'm your only cousin," Ranko muttered.
	"Details, details..." Nabiki replied airily.
	"We're okay, but what ARE you doing here?" Akane asked.
	Nabiki smiled impishly, "I'll tell you-"
	"Here we go again," Ranko muttered.
	"- if someone gets me something cold to drink... you two 
didn't leave a forwarding address, it took me a while to find 
this place."
	"I'll get it," Ranko said as she headed for the kitchen, 
"The sooner we find out what she wants, the better..."
	Nabiki watched Ranko walk off and commented to Akane, "She 
never changes does she?"
	"Nope." Akane replied.
	The older woman looked around the room, "Nice place, 
Akane."
	"Thanks."
	"Is this Saotome?" Nabiki asked, peering into Ranma's face, 
"He's even cuter in person. His picture on file doesn't do him 
justice," she cupped his chin in her hands and moved his head 
back and forth somewhat to see his profile better.
	Akane felt a surge of jealousy and she snapped, "Yeah, he 
is, now stop doing that..!"
	Ranma, of course, chose this point to wake up. He found 
himself staring at a very attractive brunette woman in her mid-
twenties. Her hair was bobbed and on her face were marks very 
similar to the ones Akane and Ranko had. She was dressed in a 
rather conservative outfit reminiscent of a woman's business 
suit, but more flowing. She had a hand on his cheek and seemed to 
be smiling hungrily at him. "Good evening, Saotome-san," she said 
warmly. Ranma, in a panic tried to look around and realized that 
Akane was looking at them with a 'someone will pay for this' look 
in her eye.
	Eager to avoid conflict, Ranma tried to pull away from the 
woman. Unfortunately he was sitting on the couch at the time. He 
managed to upset the couch, forcing it flip over... and 
unfortunately carrying Nabiki with him. Akane winced as the 
couch's back crashed on the floor. Her look of concern was 
clouded by a look of anger as she saw Nabiki sprawled on top of 
Ranma in a rather compromising position.
	"Gak!" was all Ranma managed to blurt out, before he 
realized that his face was pressed into Nabiki's ample front.
	Nabiki chuckled as she pulled herself up a little, "Oh my, 
Saotome, you are a fast worker aren't you?"
	"Nabiki! Get off of him!" Akane roared.
	"Now what?" asked Ranko as she walked back into the room 
with a glass of water. She caught sight of Nabiki in a tangled 
heap with Ranma and laughed out loud, "Way to go, Nabiki!"
	"Ranko stop encouraging them!" Akane snapped as she helped 
the two up.
	Nabiki dusted herself off and said to Ranma, "That was some 
welcome Saotome..."
	"Er.. who are you?" he asked.
	Nabiki produced a business card which she handed over to 
Ranma, "I'll let you have that information for free. Nabiki 
Tendo. Goddess of Transactions, 1st rank, 2nd Category. Currently 
attached to the Divine Contracts Enforcement Office. I'm also 
Akane's sister and Ranko's cousin."
	Ranma read over the card, "Er... right... so what are you--
?"
	Ranko pushed the glass in front of Nabiki, "Here you go. 
Now tell us why you're here."
	Nabiki accepted the glass and smiled at Ranko, "Thank you. 
I'm here because your contracts are under review. We're trying to 
determine if there was some fault in the system for accepting 
those two weird contracts."
	"U-u-under review?!" Akane sputtered.
	"Alright!" cried Ranko, "The enforcement system is going to 
be shut off for the duration of the review right?"
	Nabiki nodded and said guardedly, "Enforcement is shut down 
for standard reviews, yes..."
	Ranko grinned cattily, "Yessss..."
	"What's going on?" Ranma asked.
	Akane turned to Ranma in a panic, "She's reviewing our 
contracts with you! If she decides that the contracts shouldn't 
be kept, they'll both be terminated and I'll have to go back up 
to heaven!"
	Ranko cast an irritated glance at Akane, "Oh, stop 
whining..."
	"Ranko, stop picking on Akane!" Ranma replied.
	Nabiki grinned and shook her head, "Not exactly the scene 
of domestic tranquillity I'd hoped for..."
	All three paused at Nabiki's statement before she continued 
evenly, "This is not going to look good..." 
	Akane quickly walked to Ranma's side and grabbed him by the 
waist, "We're not fighting are we?" she asked sweetly.
	Ranma still somewhat disoriented merely nodded.
	Ranko said snidely, "They're lying, we fight like this all 
the time."
	"I see." Nabiki said finally, "Well, I just wanted to 
inform you about it and I'll be acting as an observer for 
tomorrow. If you need me here's the number of the hotel I'll be 
staying at..." she passed another piece of paper to Akane.
	Ranko read the paper over Akane's shoulder, "Say, isn't 
that the number of that quickie love motel near the ma... 
erhm..." said Ranko.
	"How'd you know about that?" asked Ranma.
	Nabiki smiled at Akane, "Unless you have a better 
suggestion?"
	"Um... why not stay here?" Akane offered. Better stay on 
her good side, Akane reasoned.
	"What?" asked Ranko.
	Ranma smiled sleepily, "Sure, why not..? We've got some 
extra futons around here somewhere..."
	Nabiki replied, "Why, thank you. You won't even notice I'm 
here."
	Ranko muttered to Ranma and Akane, "You're making a big 
mistake..."
	"What was that, Ranko?" Nabiki asked sweetly.
	"Oh, nothing," Ranko replied just as sweetly, "Nothing at 
all, dear cousin..."
	"I was hoping you'd offer to let me stay," Nabiki added, 
"So in return, I'm going to do what I can to finish this 
investigation with the minimum of fuss and headaches for 
everyone. Okay?"
	Akane nodded, somewhat worriedly, while Ranko gave a shrug. 
After all there was only one possible outcome for this 
investigation, as far as she was concerned. The sooner she got 
away from Saotome and Akane, the better.
	As Ranma went off to look for the spare futon, he couldn't 
help but think that somehow... some way... he was going to be the 
one who would end up in trouble because of this...
	
	It was at lunch the following morning that Ranma found out 
just how accurate his assessment was. He was eating lunch in the 
quad with Ryoga, Mousse and Shampoo. Ryoga and Mousse were 
arguing over whether or not the club had sufficient funds to get 
through the next semester. Shampoo was, as usual, siding with 
Mousse. Ranma was quite intelligently ignoring the discussion 
altogether and was busily demolishing the lunch Akane had 
prepared for him. It looked like something the cat had dragged in 
and jumped on and there was a rather strange aftertaste, but was 
otherwise pretty tasty.
	No one had any idea where Nabiki had disappeared to after 
helping her get settled in for the night. He and Akane had left 
Ranko, this morning, still asleep. Akane was worried and wanted 
to stay with Ranma all day, but she was working at Ucchan's new 
branch in the cafeteria today and they couldn't afford for her to 
take a day off. She would be joining them in a short while, but 
Akane's apprehension had already begun to affect Ranma.
	After a few more minutes of arguing Ryoga suddenly turned 
to Ranma and said, "This is all your fault Ranma!"
	Ranma was just finishing off the last of his lunch as he 
turned to Ryoga, "What are you talking about, now?"
	"Thanks to you, the Martial Arts Varsity's funds have been 
reduced to next to nothing!" Mousse added.
	"Now, now, Mousse-sempai... if Hibiki-sempai no sell 
Saotome-sempai stuff in first place, you no have to use club 
money to buy back, yes?" Shampoo gently chided, "So is all 
Hibiki-sempai fault."
	"Hey, it was Mousse's idea in the first place to sell off 
Ranma's stuff!" Ryoga shot back.
	"Is still you own stupid fault. Mousse-sempai no do 
something stupid thing like that."
	Ranma rolled his eyes, "What do you guys expect me to do 
about it? I'm barely making ends meet as is..."
	"Well we could always rent you out to the Portraiture club, 
like last time..." Ryoga replied.
	Mousse nodded, "Yes, I hear the nude of you that Kodachi 
did is still hanging in their clubhouse under strict guard."
	"No way! I am NOT posing for them again!" Ranma replied 
blushing furiously, "Akane would kill me!"
	"Or we could raffle you off..." Mousse mused, "It's for the 
good of the club, I'm sure Akane will understand..."
	"That's not it! Don't you-" the rest of Ranma's tirade was 
interrupted as he was suddenly tackled by Ranko and caught in a 
fierce hug.
	This of course got quite a number of curious onlookers 
talking... juicy rumors about Ranma were always a welcome treat 
to the students of NIT. Within a few seconds the entire school 
was buzzing.
	"Gah!" Ranma cried out. He berated himself mentaly for not 
being more alert! Now everyone would know about his problem... he 
was preparing to leap away before the others noticed the 
transformation when he realized that he was still male. He 
blinked in surprise, "What's going on..?"
	Ranko snuggled in his lap, her arms wrapped tightly around 
his neck, "What does it look like, Darling... I'm enjoying your 
company... I've sooo missed having your arms around me, my 
love..."
	Mousse smiled as he peered at the blurry form on Ranma's 
lap, "Oh, hello Akane."
	Shampoo blurted, "Ai-yah," softly.
	Ryoga frowned, "Saotome what is the meaning of this? Have 
you been going out with Ranko behind Akane's back?!"
	"Get offa me!!" cried Ranma as he tried desperately to push 
Ranko away. Her grip however was quite firm, she continued pulled 
him close and rubbed herself against him.
	"Oohh, Darling you're so manly," Ranko cried.
	Ryoga cracked his knuckles dangerously, "As a friend to 
both you and Akane I am giving you exactly one minute to explain 
your actions... otherwise, I'm going to not only beat you up 
personally, but I'll tell Akane so she can beat you up too..."
	"It's not what it looks like..!" Ranma blurted out.
	Ranko interrupted him , "Oh, come now, my love surely you 
aren't ashamed of our relationship..."
	"What relationship?! We don't have one! Now look--" 
	From across the quad a fierce cry erupted, "Saotome you 
accursed fiend! Let no other women suffer degradation at your 
hands! Get your filth ridden hands away from the immaculate Pig-
Tailed Goddess now or suffer the direst of consequences!!!"
	Ranma looked up just in time to see a veritable horde of 
men in athletic gear charging at him. A few were easily 
recognizable as being members of the Akane Tendo fanclub. The 
intellectual minority of the members had decided to ask Akane out 
instead of going after Satotome, which was precipitating another 
riot in the cafeteria, but at that time, Ranma didn't know about 
that. 
	Others were members of the Combat Athletics club that Ranma 
had managed to defeat in competition before... the majority, 
however, were irate boyfriends of women who were still in love 
with Ranma. Rumors of his breakup with Akane, which reached them 
yesterday, made them resolve to take care of the problem once and 
for all by getting rid of Ranma. At their head was Kuno, now 
attired in his Kendo practice outfit and wielding a bokken, 
	"I swear this on my name as the Blue Thunder of Nekomi Tech 
that you shall never have her! Forward my men! Forward!"
	Even Ryoga looked in shock as the human tidal wave surged 
forward, most of them swinging various improvised weapons. 
Shampoo had the presence of mind to pull her Mousse-sempai out of 
the way and into a nearby tree.  Ryoga was less fortunate however 
and got trampled by the Ranma Saotome Destruction squad.
	Ranma didn't even bother to wait for the explanation which 
would probably not come anyway. He ran for it, carrying Ranko 
without thinking.
	"What the hell is going on here?!?!?!?" he cried as he 
dashed across the campus, Ranko still in his arms. More people 
turned to watch the spectacle. Fortunately for Ranma, the sheer 
size of the mob slowed them down considerably.
	"Whee!" Ranko cried, clinging even tighter to his neck and 
squirming fetchingly, "This is fun, Ranma! Go faster!"
	"I'd be going faster if you weren't clinging on to me like 
a leech!" Ranma responded furiously as he ducked into a building.
	Ranko laughed out loud, "They'll never catch up with you! 
Whee!"
	He grumbled under his breath and took a glance at his 
pursuers... they were just starting to close in, but the close 
quarters of the hallway that they'd entered was slowing them down 
even more...
	"What's going on here?! Why are they after me?! And why 
haven't I transformed?!" Ranma asked, still running for his life.
	"Well..." said Ranko airily, enjoying the feel of the wind 
rushing through her hair and Ranma holding her, "In the order 
that you asked them, There's a mob chasing you... they don't like 
you... and as long as the contracts are under review, there won't 
be any interference from the system force."
	"What does that mean?!" Ranma asked desperately, turning 
another corner.
	"What it means is that none of the usual safeguards are in 
place to prevent you and Akane from being separated... and you 
don't have to transform every time I touch you!" Ranko replied, 
"Which means I can do this!"
	She suddenly tightened her embrace and pulled his face down 
to hers, drawing him into a deep kiss even as he was running. 
Ranma in his surprise stumbled, pitching forward. At the last 
minute he was able to roll the two of them, allowing him to take 
the brunt of the fall. The shock of the fall pushed Ranko soft 
body even closer against him...  Ranma's mind had long since gone 
into shock...
	Ranko finally stopped the kiss, not really because she 
wanted to, but largely because she needed some air. She was still 
straddling him in the middle of the hallway floor as she finally 
sighed happily, "That was wonderful... you have no idea how long 
I've been meaning to do that."
	"R-r-r-ranko!" he stammered. His mind at this point had 
already forgotten entirely about the mob of boys, which had 
fortunately managed to miss them. Unfortunately, the mob of women 
who'd been looking for Ranma since classes started turned the 
corner.
	"There he is!" cried one of the women.
	"Is it really true?! Have you really broken up with Akane?
	"Oh my God... is that Ranko on top of him?!"
	"In the hallway no less!"
	"Get off my foot!"
	"Get off of him Ranko, he's mine!"
	"No he's not! He's mine!
	"Back off you hussy!"
	"Now you're stepping on my other foot, stop that!"
	"He's mine I tell you!"
	Ranma merely watched in bewilderment... Ranko smiled at him 
then grinned at the women, "Now, now, ladies... Ranma Saotome is 
man enough for all of us, wouldn't you agree? I propose we 
share..."
	This, of course, precipitated a stampede, as each woman 
rushed forward to grab her own piece of Ranma. Of course, all the 
noise attracted the male half of the mob, still howling for 
blood. Of course the inevitable riot broke out. 

	Ranma finally came to consciousness a few hours later. Or 
he supposed it must've been a few hours later. He looked around 
and realized finally that he was in the infirmary. It was a place 
he was very familiar with. He'd visited it so often during his 
freshman year that the school doctor, Dr. Tofu, had offered to 
reserve one of the beds just for him. He muttered darkly, "What 
did I do to deserve this?" and gave a start at the sound of his 
own voice.
	With a resigned sigh, Ranma brought a hand up to feel his 
chest and realized that she'd been using the wrong pronoun to 
think of herself again. A glance up at the stray strands of red 
hair confirmed her suspicions that she was Ranko's twin, yet 
again. She frowned in thought... If Ranko's touch didn't 
transform me earlier... then what am I doing as a woman now?"
	She flipped off the bed easily, taking a mental inventory 
of all her body parts, in particular the ones with any serious 
complaints... all of the usual parts were there... for a girl, 
she corrected himself. She also realized that she was now dressed 
in some sort of a hospital gown (No wonder its so drafty, she 
noted), the shredded remnants of her jeans and T-shirt piled on a 
nearby chair. Nothing seemed to be amiss aside from a bit of 
stiffness and dull aches over most of her body, but something 
still didn't seem quite right... even leaving aside his current 
gender.
	It was quiet. That's what it was... that's what was bugging 
her. It was too quiet. Even given a couple of hours to die down, 
the riot shouldn't have calmed down that fast. She couldn't even 
hear the usual hustle and bustle of the students... nor the cars 
just outside... She glanced up at the wall clock and noted that 
it was still fairly early. By rights there should still have been 
a good many people milling about the quad, deciding what to do 
after classes, but a quick glance outside also confirmed the lack 
of people... she was beginning to feel the first faint stirrings 
of paranoia as she searched the room.
	"Saotome, you are a mess," came a voice from the door, "How 
this contract got past us in the first place I will never know."
	Ranma turned to find Nabiki smiling at her.
	"What's going on here?" Ranma demanded.
	"Interview time, Saotome. Sorry about that mess earlier, 
but this was the only way I could get you alone."
	"What do you mean?"
	"I'm the Goddess of Transactions. I can do quite a lot, but 
my power is always balanced out. To get quiet, I have to make 
noise. So if I wanted you alone, I had to give you lots of 
company first..."
	"D'you mean that was your fault?!" Ranma asked heatedly.
	Nabiki nodded, "Would you rather I'd dragged you into some 
dark corner somewhere to talk?" Nabiki gave a knowing grin, "What 
would Akane think?"
	Ranma thought about it. Then thought about it some more... 
then finally decided to keep quiet.
	"Okay, Saotome. Question time. I ask you answer. Give me 
two good reasons each why Heaven should let Akane and Ranko stay 
here."
	"And if I can't?"
	"It'll be a point against you. Trust me you don't want 
those."
	"Um... Do they have to be good reasons?"
	Nabiki nodded.
	"Well... Akane is... she's... I..."
	Nabiki closed her eyes for a moment... then smiled, "She 
loves you and you love her. Even if neither of you will admit it 
to each other. That's two good reasons. What about Ranko?"
	Ranma blushed, "Hey! Stop reading my mind!"
	"It's an interview Saotome. We're allowed to read the 
client's mind during an interview... now about Ranko?"
	Ranma scratched the back of her head thoughtfully, 
"She's... nah... she... um... nope... that's not it..."
	Nabiki's eyes widened slightly, "Well... interesting..."
	"I thought I told you not to do that!"
	"You've gotten fond of her, however grudgingly... and she's 
in love with you... again, two very good reasons..."
	"She's not in love with me!" blurted Ranma, before 
remembering the kiss...
	Nabiki shook her head lightly, "We aren't allowed to lie 
too much... too many lies cause bad things to happen to us... 
Ranko used up her lie quota a while back... mostly lying to 
herself..."
	She became thoughtful, "No wonder she was so happy when she 
thought we were lifting the contract enforcement..."
	"But for your peace of mind Saotome, she didn't kiss you."
	"She didn't?"
	"That entire scene that just unfolded was on a... hmmm... 
it would take to long and would be too complicated to explain in 
human terms. Suffice to say that everything that happened to you 
from last night onward was a scenario I constructed to test and 
see what would happen if certain events happened."
	Ranma nodded, still largely confused. "So Ranko didn't kiss 
me?"
	"No, but given that sort of chance, she would've..."
	Ranma felt relieved and yet worried, "Well... it felt 
real..."
	"Do you want the two of them to stay?" Nabiki asked 
suddenly.
	"I want Akane to stay..." Ranma said after a moment's 
thought, "But Ranko always complains that she wants to go home, 
so I'd like her to have what she wants..."
	"She doesn't really want to go all that badly... What she 
can't stand is seeing you with Akane. It's driving her nuts, I 
imagine." Nabiki sighed, "I wish it were that simple, but we 
can't send Ranko back without sending Akane back... but we can 
send Akane back and leave Ranko here... The contracts that got 
sent up were very tricky..."
	"Um... maybe not..."
	Nabiki finally turned to Ranma and said, "Look... would you 
mind turning back into a guy while I think? You're distracting 
me..."
	"But I can't turn back unless Akane here..."
	"That contract isn't enforced here. Here, it's just an act 
of will. You turned yourself into a girl earlier when the mob was 
trying to... ahem..."
	"Really? I can control it?"
	"I suppose... why don't you try it?"
	Ranma closed his eyes and he felt the familiar sensations 
as his body began to stretch and broaden... "Hey... it worked. 
I'm a guy again..."
	Nabiki smiled sadly as she looked up at him, "I've got a 
decision. It won't be recognized until I say it out loud, but I 
think it would be better if Ranko and Akane were here for this."
	"You've got a decision already? But you've only asked me 
one question!" Ranma asked in alarm.
	Nabiki smiled wryly at Ranma, "I'm not Heaven's top 
contract investigator for nothing, you know."
	She closed her eyes for a moment and declared forcefully, 
"By your absence, I invoke your presence. I pay my absence from 
your sides earlier to call you to me now. I call to me the 
Goddess of Affection, Ranko Tendo and the Goddess of Conflicts, 
Akane Tendo. By my name, my office and my duty, come to me."
	A brief flash of light blinded Ranma for a moment... when 
it had subsided, Ranko and Akane stood next to him, looking both 
dazed and confused.
	"Where am I? What's going on?" Akane asked, still 
disoriented, "One minute Ukyou and I are fighting off a bunch of 
guys and now I'm here..?"
	Ranko recovered first, "So this is where you've been 
hiding," she said playfully, "Obviously you weren't satisfied 
with the mob of women, yet so now you're going after Nabiki 
too..."
	"That's not it and you know it!" Ranma shot back.
	"Ranko, stop picking on Saotome," Nabiki said coolly, "Or 
I'll have the review board check on just how much you've exceeded 
your Falsehood Quota."
	Ranko's mouth snapped shut with an audible click.
	Akane squinted for a moment then said, "Hey... this isn't 
Earth... we're in a reality construct..."
	Nabiki nodded, "Yes."
	"Are you going to tell us why you're using one of these, 
Nabiki?" Ranko asked, "The runtime on this alone ought to be 
worth--"
	Nabiki bit her lower lip, "I could... but..."
	"There's a price... I know the drill." Ranko said without 
much heat, "I'm not that curious about it."
	"Well, I am," Akane replied, regaining her self-confidence, 
"If they authorized you to activate this, Nabiki, this is 
obviously a lot more important than a simple contract review. 
Even if it is for us."
	Nabiki smiled slightly, "Yes. And the price for that 
information would be more than you could hope to pay, Akane. For 
now anyway. "
	"Nabiki..." Akane asked tentatively, sparing a quick glance 
at Ranma who still hadn't followed the discussion at all, "Do you 
have a decision yet?"
	Nabiki nodded, "I do... and try to keep in mind that I want 
to be as fair as possible to all concerned..."
	"So tell us already." Ranko snapped impatiently.
	Nabiki closed her eyes and spoke in a clear ringing voice.
	"I, Nabiki Tendo, Goddess of Transactions do hearby 
announce my decision with regards to the investigation of the 
contracts entered into by the Goddesses Akane Tendo and Ranko 
Tendo with the morta- er- individual Ranma Saotome."
	Ranko's eyes narrowed slightly at Nabiki's slight 
hesitation... 
	"I hearby find insufficient--"
	Akane closed her eyes... please let me stay...
	"--evidence either for or against the maintenance of the 
contracts and announce my intention to continue this 
investigation until such time is reached that a decision for or 
against may be rendered. By my name, by my office and by my duty 
I render this. So mote it be."
	As she spoke, the mark on her forehead began to glow... 
much as Ranma remembered Ranko and Akane's marks glowing when 
they granted his wish. As she ended her declaration, a beam of 
pure white fire shot from her marking, searing a hole in the 
ceiling as it streaked skyward...
	Ranma waited until his eyes had adjusted to the light again 
before opening them. Akane was hugging Nabiki, tears in her eyes 
as she thanked her sister over and over. Ranko was stealing 
sullen glances at Ranma as she said, "That's no decision, Nabiki. 
Why are you putting this off?"
	Nabiki pulled away from Akane and gave Ranko a wry little 
grin, "Well... I have been needing a vacation for a while."
	Everyone else's jaw dropped.
	Ranma snarled, "You put me... all of us through all of this 
just so you could get an excuse to get a vacation?!?!"
	"I didn't say that, Saotome." Nabiki replied coolly.
	"But..." Ranma sputtered.
	Akane sighed and put an arm on Ranma's shoulder, "I know 
her, Ranma. You aren't going to get any answer out of Nabiki 
unless you can pay the price... or she thinks you ought to know. 
Don't push her. I think this might be a lot more important than 
we originally thought."
	Ranko had her arms crossed as she glared at Ranma and 
Akane, "Well, fine. Let's go home then. I'm getting tired of this 
place."
	Nabiki smiled and said, "All you had to do was ask."
	She pulled a portable TV set out of her back pocket and 
pointed it at them.

	The four of them winked back into existence, stepping out 
of the TV, which was in the Temple's common room. It was still 
night... Akane and Ranko could feel it in their internal clocks. 
It was the night before... just ten minutes after Nabiki arrived.
	Ranma was still mildly disoriented from the trip... and 
Akane was holding him steady. Ranko stepped close to the two and 
said to Akane, "Well... at least one good thing came out of 
this."
	"Which is?" Akane asked irritably.
	"Since the contract is under review..." Ranko said smiling 
slowly, "There's no enforcement... If there's no enforcement, 
Ranma doesn't change when I touch him... So there's nothing to 
stop me from doing this anymore..."
	As she suddenly grabbed the still confused Ranma by the 
front of his shirt and pulled him down into a kiss.
	Nabiki smiled, "She works fast doesn't she?"
	Akane was too shocked to do more than gape at Ranko... who 
incidentally was kissing Ranma quite thoroughly and was enjoying 
herself immensely in the process...
	Ranma's presence of mind took yet another flying leap out 
the window... Nabiki was right... he hadn't been kissing Ranko 
earlier... it wasn't anywhere near this good...
	"RAN-KO!!! RAN-MA!!!" Akane growled, the sound of distant 
thunder rumbling loudly.
	Ranko finally broke the kiss reluctantly as a stunned Ranma 
fainted. She turned to Akane with an catty glint in her eye, "I 
intend to give you as much competition as I can, Akane. Remember 
that..."
	"I'm going to KILL you!!!" Akane screamed, pulling her 
mallet from her back as she started to give chase. Ranko was 
already off and flying through the walls, ducking and dodging.
	Nabiki calmly sat down on the sofa, and began checking the 
channels with the remote control. She murmurred to herself with a 
small smile, "This is going to be one of the most interesting 
investigations I've ever taken up."
	She chuckled quietly and gave the unconscious Ranma a pat 
on the head. "Too bad neither of them noticed that you'd 
transformed, huh? Might've been even more interesting..."
	Nabiki finally found an interesting TV program after a while, not letting
the sounds of Akane and Ranko's chase disturb her, too much.

To be continued...