>From the Scriviner:
        Continuing...

	Kasumi quickly let go, also beginning to turn red, "I'm so 
sorry," she bowed, "Oh, I feel so embarrassed at having done 
that..."
	Ranko gestured airily, "No need to feel that way, Kasumi-
chan. Ranma-kun's used to it. Happens all the time. Isn't that 
right?" She ended her statement with a wink.
	Akane's frown deepened if that were possible... the wind 
outside was really howling now...
	Kasumi's eyes widened slightly in understanding, "Oh, so 
this must be the famous Mr. Saotome." She turned to bow to him, 
"I am most pleased to meet you, sir."
	Ranma returned the bow awkwardly, "Um... likewise." Famous?
	Kasumi blushed some more then turned to Ranko as if 
remembering something, "Now, now, Ranko-chan... how many times 
have I told you not to talk like that?" She moved to her fellow 
goddesses, trading greetings and 'how are you doings' with each 
in turn. Ranma could see that they were all obviously very happy 
about her appearance and were all now ignoring him, which was a 
bit of a relief, except for Akane who would steal an angry glance 
at him every so often. He was starting to feel that this was 
going a little too far. Especially for this early in the morning. 
He hadn't done a thing. It all kept happening to him!
	He cleared his throat loudly catching everyone's attention.
	"This is all very touching and it's very nice meeting you, 
Miss Kasumi," Ranma said trying to keep his voice even, but his 
annoyance was obvious, "But I'm trying to take a bath here... and 
I don't want any company while I'm doing it!! Am I making myself 
clear?!"
	Ranko looked as if she were about to make a flirtatious 
comment, but Nabiki caught his mood and quickly elbowed Ranko to 
silence.
	Ranma pointed out the door, "Out. Now. Please." He turned 
to Akane as she cast a last glance at him, "I won't be having 
breakfast, Akane... don't bother setting a place for me."
	Akane replied in a voice that could not only freeze water 
to ice, but crack it into cubes as well, "Fine. Anything you 
say."
	Kasumi opened her mouth as though to speak but reconsidered 
and hurried after her fellow goddesses, her face a blushing red 
mask of worry.
 
	Ranma spent the day avoiding thinking about anything even 
remotely connected to his home situation. The day had been quiet 
enough, by his standards... except for the inordinately large 
number of people (women especially) who kept going up to him and 
patting him on the shoulder and telling him they understood. Or 
asking if he wanted to talk. Or if he needed a shoulder to cry 
on. Or if he wanted to be comforted. Or something...
	The school lecher collared him in the hallway and shook his 
hand gratefully for some reason... saying over and over that he 
knew it wouldn't last and that his hero had yet to fall... 
	"What the hell are you talking about Moroboshi?!" Ranma 
asked finally.
	The infamous lecher raised his eyebrows and elbowed Ranma 
playfully, "You sly dog... ahhh... the use them and lose them 
school of relationships, you're definitely the master! I heard 
about you and Akane... it's all over the school!"
	"What?" Ranma's eyes narrowed, "What about me and Akane?" 
He'd had more than enough of other people sticking their noses in 
his business.
	"About you two--" Moroboshi began to reply, but he was 
suddenly cut off by a sudden cry from the other end of the 
hallway.
	"Dah-ling!!!! Where are you?!?!" Called out a high pitched 
voice.
	Moroboshi's eyes widened in fear as he dashed down the 
other end of the hallway, "Whoops! Gotta run, Saotome. See ya!"
	Ranma watched the lecher scramble down the corridor, his 
green-haired girlfriend flying past in an obvious rage, "Dah-
ling!!!"
	That does it... Ranma thought, I'm going to find out what 
the hell is going on here even if it kills somebody. He grabbed a 
random passerby by the collar.
	"What do you know about me and Akane?!" He demanded the 
skinny unfortunate.
	As luck would have it, he had managed to grab Hikaru 
Gosunkugi. His former dorm mate. An utter social outcast whom no 
one talked to. In the entire school, he was perhaps the only one 
who hadn't heard a thing. No one told him anything.
	"Um... nothing?" Gosunkugi replied nervously.
	Ranma gave a disgusted grunt and released Gosunkugi, who 
promptly collapsed in a heap at his feet. Coordination was not 
one of Gosukugi's strong suits. Ranma stalked off to find someone 
who did know. Unnoticed by him, a SD-Kasumi followed quietly.

	Within a few minutes, Ranma had reached the walkway leading 
to the Martial Arts Varsity Dojo. He was glad that it was a 
covered walkway, as the rainstorm was still raging. Akane was 
definitely very very pissed. He found himself suddenly tackled 
from the side by a missile with severely braided purple hair. 
	"Ack!" Ranma cried out as he found himself being hugged by 
Shampoo.
	Shampoo looked at him worriedly over the tops of her 
glasses,
"Saotome-sempai! Shampoo hear it all over school! Shampoo so 
sorry for you Saotome-sempai, you need shoulder?" She raised one 
shoulder slightly higher than the other as if to offer it.
	"What is everyone supposed to have heard?" Ranma asked in a 
tone a good deal gentler than he expected to use, finding it 
difficult to be too annoyed with Shampoo. He liked her a good 
deal. Largely because she didn't try to catch him like 
practically every other woman did.
	"That you and Akane make big break up. You tell Shampoo it 
no true?" she asked, brightening slightly.
	Ranma replied thoughtfully, "Well... we've been having a 
few arguments and a couple of problems lately, but..."
	Shampoo hugged him tighter, "Is going to be okay, Saotome-
sempai! Pain pass... everything okay soon-soon. Really."
	The rest of Ranma's reply was lost as Shampoo proceeded to 
crush his ribs. He wondered how to tell Shampoo that the fastest 
way to make the pain pass soon-soon was if she let go of him...
	There was a loud tsk-tsk from the door of the dojo as 
Mousse stood there with his arms crossed, his white overcoat 
flapping in the wind.
	Shampoo noticed him and quickly let go of Ranma, her face 
burning red with embarrassment. 
	"Shampoo-chan, what did I tell you about displays of 
affection?" Mousse chided her gently.
	Shampoo, blushed harder, looking down at the ground, "That 
we no longer in home village," she replied meekly, "And have to 
show best side of Juketsuzoku culture and no show as much 
affection when in foreign country as when at home because they 
have different ways."
	"Besides..." Mousse added quietly, "What if someone had 
seen the two of you and gotten to thinking that you were the 
reason for Ranma and Akane's breakup?"
	"But Mousse-sempai, Saotome-sempai need hug. Is okay for 
even most powerful warrior show he need comfort."
	Ranma had never really heard them discuss their culture 
before, but he was hardly in a mood to pay too much attention to 
it.
	"That may be, Shampoo... but give him comfort in private. 
I'm not having your name get dragged into the mud like Saotome's 
name so often does."
	"Gee, thanks for the support, Mousse." Ranma replied 
sarcastically.
	"Anytime, Saotome," Mousse replied oblivious to the 
sarcasm, "Let's all of us go in, shall we? It's pretty cold out 
here."
	"So how's my name getting dragged into the mud this time, 
Mousse?" Ranma asked as they stepped into the dojo.
	"Well... everyone has heard about you and Akane breaking 
up, I should think it was rather obvious. Rumor has it you've 
been seeing another woman on the side... although there's some 
rumors going around that it was your insatiable sexual appetite 
which drove her away. Quite possibly even inviting another woman 
to bed with you and Akane..."
	Shampoo, who had recovered somewhat, blushed again, 
"Mousse-sempai! No talk like that! No nice."
	Ranma's mouth quirked as he nodded irritably, "Does anyone 
bother to confirm these rumors before they spread them around?"
	"Of course not, Saotome. That's why they're rumors." Mousse 
replied. He looked around. The dojo was empty except for them. 
Most of the students had decided to stay home because of the 
storm, "I think we're in private now Shampoo. Please continue."
	Shampoo nodded and locked Ranma up in a powerful but oddly 
comforting hug again.
	Ranma acked, "You people are weird."
	Mousse smiled, "We seem that way to you Saotome, but kindly 
remember that we're from a much older culture than yours. We've 
got 3000 years of tradition and law backing us up."
	"Aren't you even going to ask me if the rumors are true or 
not?" Ranma burst out. Shampoo was rubbing her cheek against his 
chest and murmuring something in Mandarin. Mousse didn't appear 
to even notice what she was doing.
	He replied, "Well... Ryouga and I are running a betting 
pool for the school as to which of the various rumors are true... 
after all we need the funds after having to buy all of your stuff 
back." Mousse seemed almost petulant. "But please, try not to 
tell anyone but us which of the rumors are true until we've 
collected a little more. We do need to refigure the odds a 
bit..." Somehow, Mousse was suddenly holding a clipboard which he 
looked over, "We've got fifty to one currently on 'Got caught en 
flagrante delecti inside the bathroom'. I certainly hope that 
isn't it."
	"Why you dirty rotten--!" Ranma reached for Mousse, who 
quite wisely took a step back, the clipboard vanishing again into 
the depths of his coat. Ranma's hands clawed uselessly at thin 
air as he realized that Shampoo was practically immovable and he 
couldn't get out of her grip... geez, the girl was strong.
	Shampoo turned to Mousse with a slightly disapproving 
expression, "Hibiki-sempai no nice to try to make money off of 
Saotome-sempai bad time."
	Ranma was pretty sure it was probably Mousse's idea... it 
usually was, but Shampoo would never believe anything bad of her 
Mousse-sempai.
	Mousse flipped his glasses up on his head and looked 
thoughtful... "Speaking of Ryouga... have you seen him around? I 
haven't seen him since yesterday when he was going to the 
bathroom across the hall..."
	Almost as if in answer to his question, a soaking wet 
Ryouga opened the door to the dojo and walked in. There was 
something very wrong with his face that the other three couldn't 
quite place. Even leaving aside the fact that most of his hair 
was plastered down on his face... something was definitely wrong.
	"Hello, everyone," Ryouga said cheerfully. He sighed 
happily and said, "What a beautiful afternoon."
	Shampoo and Ranma glanced out the window to find the 
downpour unabated. Mousse found himself staring at one of the 
training dummies, where he imagined the window was.
	Shampoo loosed her deathgrip on Ranma's ribs in shock, 
"What wrong with Hibiki-sempai? He have funny look on face..."
	"Why? He looks alright to me." Mousse replied, looking in 
the wrong direction. Now freed, Ranma reached over and gave him a 
thwack on the head, knocking his glasses back down over his eyes.
	Mousse studied Ryouga's face for a moment before it finally 
occurred to him what was wrong, "Ryouga... you're... you're 
smiling... you're smiling happily... it doesn't look natural..."
	Ryouga nodded, "Yes... the world is a wonderful place to be 
in. It's been so long since I've felt that way."
	Shampoo bounced over to Ryouga and put a hand to his 
forehead, "He no have fever... but he still talk like crazy 
man..."
	Mousse grabbed Ryouga by the front of the shirt and shook 
him roughly, "Alright you... what have you done with the real 
Ryouga?!"
	"I am the real Ryouga... the really happy Ryouga... isn't 
it wonderful?" Ryouga said, smiling lazily up at Mousse.
	"No you can't be! The real Ryouga would have hit me 
repeatedly on the head for grabbing him!"
	"Oh, go ahead Mousse..." Ryouga continued happily, "It's 
alright. I've got other shirts, wrinkle this one all you like."
	"Ai-yah..." Shampoo whispered, "Mousse-sempai, make him 
stop... he scaring me.
	Ranma watched the tomfoolery for a few moments more with a 
small smile. Well, I can always count on these guys to do 
something to make me forget some of my problems... usually by 
giving me bigger ones. He bowed to Shampoo and thanked her for 
trying to cheer him up. She smiled happily. The other two seemed 
too busy to notice.
	He snuck out of the dojo, pausing long enough to grab his 
bag which he'd left the day before, as Mousse continued to try to 
browbeat Ryouga back into his familiar misery. At least Ryouga 
seemed pretty happy. That makes one of us, he thought bitterly. 
He'd known Ryouga for a long time now and this was probably the 
first time EVER that he'd seen the man happy. It seemed almost 
impossible and he'd bet anything that the goddesses had something 
to do with it. They had a way of making very strange things 
happening... especially when it came to him and people in his 
vicinity. 
	He sighed. His classes were over and he didn't really have 
any excuse to stay on campus... Home wasn't a particularly 
desirable option, but it was better than getting rained on. But 
not by much.
	Kasumi, still miniaturized, continued to follow him. There 
was a proper time and place to talk to someone about things. She 
was quite willing and content to follow him until the right 
moment came up.

	There is a thing to remember about heavy rains. On 
occasion, drainage systems designed to handle a certain load find 
themselves totally unable to cope with a sudden influx of 
extended precipitation. In other words, a sudden heavy rain can 
totally screw up the local drainage. This results in localized 
flooding. Which in turn results in traffic jams. Now keep in mind 
that Akane had been angry since the night before. This is not a 
particularly good state of mind to be in for someone who can 
control weather.
	Ranma sighed in resignation. A number of streets had been 
rendered impassible due to the flooding and he had somehow 
managed to get his van entangled in a traffic jam trying to get 
through the few roads which were still of any use.
	His wipers had conked out and he couldn't see anything 
beyond fuzzy blurs through his windshield. "This is just 
great..."
	"It is?" asked a small voice innocently from the passenger 
side of his dashboard, "Oh my, I didn't realize being trapped in 
traffic while half blind was a good thing. I must remember that.
	"Not really... but I guess it beats going back to that 
madhouse--" Ranma stopped suddenly and closed his eyes... he had 
either snapped and was now starting to hear voices, or...
	He turned to look at the source of the voice and found 
Kasumi, all of six inches tall. Her tiny hands were pressed 
against the windshield as she strained to look out the glass, 
"Really? There's a madhouse near here?"
	"Uh... What are you doing here?" Ranma asked unable to 
think of anything better to say.
	Kasumi turned away from the glass to face Ranma. She folded 
her hands over her skirt, "I wanted to apologize for earlier this 
morning. I didn't realize I was causing you so much 
inconvenience, Mr. Saotome." She bowed low.
	Ranma returned the bow, awkwardly. After all, he was 
sitting behind the wheel and had his seatbelt on. "No... it's 
okay, really. I sort of lost my temper a bit... I ought to 
apologize. I was being a real jerk back there."
	Kasumi straightened up and smiled sweetly at him, "Oh my, 
no need at all to apologize at all, Mr. Saotome. Your reaction 
was perfectly understandable.
	"I'm glad you think so." Ranma replied a little ruefully, 
"Uh... and would you mind calling me Ranma?"
	"Alright. Please call me Kasumi." She replied still 
smiling, "Would you mind if I sat down?"
	Ranma gestured, "Huh? Oh, sure, go ahead..." At her current 
size, she could sit comfortably on the ashtray, he thought.
	Kasumi jumped off the dashboard and landed softly on the 
passenger seat. Ranma recoiled slightly at the small puff of 
smoke as she suddenly grew back to her full size, "Thank you, Mr. 
Sa-- Ranma."
	"No problem. You'd better buckle up your seatbelt, 
Kasumi..." Ranma said as the traffic began to move.
	Kasumi looked at him curiously, "My what?"
	"Seatbelt... just reach up behind you, back there..." Ranma 
replied, trying to keep his eyes on the road, even through his 
rain spattered windshield and point to the seatbelt at the same 
time. "You just sort of reach up and grab the metal thing and put 
it in that slot there..."
	"Oh, I see." Kasumi replied as she followed his 
instruction. She continued delightedly, "How clever! I've never 
seen anything like this before."
	"Really?" Ranma asked, risking a glance at Kasumi.
	Kasumi nodded and smiled, "Really. This is the first time 
I've ever been to Earth. It's quite exciting."
	"I guess it must be..." Ranma replied while avoiding 
another pothole, mostly by watching the cars in front of them and 
avoiding the ones they hit, "Say... if you don't mind my asking, 
Kasumi, why did you drop by for a visit?"
	"Oh I don't mind at all." Kasumi replied, animated, "After 
Akane and Ranko both answered your wish request, it became pretty 
lonely without my little sister and my cousin... Nabiki is always 
so wrapped up in her work it's a little difficult to talk to her 
sometimes..."
	"You don't say..."
	Kasumi nodded as she continued, "In any case, just 
yesterday, my local area supervisor told me that my section had 
to be shut down for a Contract Review...
	"Section..?" Ranma asked, not realizing how narrowly he had 
missed a lamppost.
	"My section of the Ygdrasyl system is the one monitoring 
the system force on your contract."
	"Ah."
	"So, since they put me on paid leave anyway, with no work 
to do... and I had a little vacation leave squared away... I 
decided to drop in for a visit... I mean, I haven't seen Akane or 
Ranko in so long..." 
	"Yeah... Akane," Ranma nodded absently, still trying to see 
through the rain, was that a tank or a towtruck?
	"Are you having a difficult time, Ranma?" Kasumi asked a 
mild trace of concern in her voice.
	"Er... Sorta... it's pretty tricky... It's hard to see 
where we're headed..." he squinted out the window this time, that 
blur was most definitely a tank... and it was just a little too 
close for comfort.