Genma cut him off.  "So that was why you were sneaking
around that vacant lot!  You wanted to  *elope* with him, was
THAT it?!"

     "SHUT UP!!!!!!"  Ranma shouted.  "Because of you, Ryoga had
searched the entire world for me!  FOR OVER A YEAR!!  He had even
followed us to China!  It was because of you that his life was
destroyed, that he could never be a normal man again!!  It was
then that he started hating me!  You have turned one of my best
friends into my worst enemy!!"   

     <Friend . . . as if I was even worthy of that title . . .> 
Finally, it all made sense to Ryoga now.  He began hating
himself, hating himself for having blamed his tragedy on someone
who hadn't abandoned him, but was dragged back into a twisted
hell due to HIS arriving late.  And when their paths crossed
again, no only did he not give Ranma the friendship that he had
so desperately needed, but had unreasonably turned against him
like a lover scorned, adding salt to his wounds for an entire
year.  Ranma didn't fail him: he failed Ranma.

     "You have no friends!"  Genma growled.  "I had always been
the only one for you.  And now you are pushing me away by this
display of dishonor."  

     "You have always tried to keep me for yourself."  Ranma
looked away.  "Your prized property . . . When I was but a baby,
you took me away from my mother under the guise of training.  And
whenever somebody actually tried to befriend me on the road, you
would have us moving again.  Thanks to that engagement to Akane,
finally I could have ascess to some kind of human interaction
that aren't perverted."   

     His eyes became watery as he spoke in a softer voice.  "You
know what?  In the beginning, each enemy that I had made, each
fiancee that had showed up . . . I cherished them.  I liked them
just for being there, fighting me for their loves, hounding me
with their claims . . . projecting their own ideas of what I am
onto a lost soul.  I was able to turn into something new based on
those ideas . . .  then Ryoga had showed up.  But it was alright
in the beginning, since neither of us could brought ourselves to
look back into the past, thus cannot destroy the layers of lies
that I am hiding behind now.  I was relatively save in my new
identity . . . for a while, before Ukyou, the beginning of my
entire history, the one whom you have robbed away from me, showed
up again in my life."

     Outside, Ukyou was momentarily distracted from her anger at
hearing that.

     Ranma's eyes stared off into space.  "She was in my first
memory ever of not feeling alone, my first memory ever of
befriending another, my first memory ever of opening my heart to
another, and much later, after seeing the inner strength and
beauty that had been refined from all the pains and battles that
you had put her through, my first memory . . . ever of loving
someone, instead of just liking them."

     Ukyou's eyes widened.  She was right all alone, despite what
other people may think!  Ranma DID love her!   Shampoo silently
dropped to her knees as Kodachi stood unmoving, but with tears
steaming down her wide eyes.    

     "Before she came back into my life, I could lie to anyone
around me.  I could even allow myself to lie to Akane, who I
really THOUGHT that I was in love with.  It was easy to lie to
her, because her instinctive anger had prevented her to reach out
to me, thus allowing me to conceal myself."

     Akane's eyes lowered as she heard that.

     Ranma lowered his eyes.  "But Ukyou, to whom I had already
opened my heart to as a kid, did not have that problem.  I tried
shutting her out in this new identity by being a jerk who no
longer opens up to her.  It didn't work: she knows how to decode
my lies, thus see my true feelings."    

     "Have you any idea how much I had wanted to just ran off
with her in the middle of the night, to gain my freedom once and
for all?  But I couldn't.  Whenever I'm with her . . . I tend to
reveal too much of myself . . . so much that I'm sure that one
day she would have discovered the truth about me not being the
carefree, manly, winsome hero that she wanted so much . . ." 
Ranma lowered his head, his bangs covering his eyes.   "That I'm
nothing but a humanoid toy."    

     For once, Genma was silent.
   
     "I can't have that. . . so I sticked by Akane.  She is a
nice girl when she isn't violent, and reasonably cute.  Through
those rare life and death moments, she had shown that she did
care for me as much as I did her.   I have already gotten around
to liking her before Ucchan showed up again, and I though . . . I
just might take a step further to actually LOVE her just to avoid
Ucchan."  Ranma shut his eyes as if in pain.  "I was wrong.  She
was incapable of even remotely tolerating me when neither of us
were in danger . . . I guess . . . I guess it's because both of
us were equally hot-headed.  We . . . it just couldn't work out."

     Outside, Ukyou silently cried to herself.  Ranchan had
actually avoided her for all this time because of THIS?!  How
stupid can he be?!  Can't he tell that she would have him no
matter what had happened?  And most of it wasn't even his fault!! 

     Inside the dojo, Ranma looked up and stared at his father
with eyes sparkling with an errie twinker of light.  "And now,
all of this shall come to an end." 

     Genma shifted his weight, steadying himself for any sudden
moves.  "And what was that supposed to mean, boy?"

     Ranma's lips twisted in a slight smile, even though his eyes
stayed the same.  "Exactly what it means: both of us are finally
going to get what we really deserve.  In the past, I had been
held back by my own cowardice.  Right now, nothing can possibily
hold me back anymore."

     "What we really deserve?"  Genma frowned as he stepped back,
and find himself already against the dojo wall.  Suddenly, the
wooden wall behind him suddenly craved inward as he almost
staggered back.  "Yes, Genma.  What you two really deserve."  A
woman's voice, trying to sound neutral, came out ravering
slightly.  A split second later a gleaming metal blade that had
sliced open the wall was pressed against his neck.  He didn't
even need to look up into his assassinant's face: there was only
one person who cold be the owner of this all to familiar looking
katana.

     "I should scold you for what you did."  Nodoka said in a
dry voice.   "But no words could describe you hideous crime."

     "No-chan... how..." Genma's sentence was cut off as Nodoka
slapped him hard with her left hand as she held onto her katana
with her right. 

     "Does it hurt?"  Nodoka asked, her face filled with
mournfulness instead fury.  It was the mournfulness of hope being
destroyed, of sacrifices turning out to be futile and pointless,
of a woman whose life as well as that of her son were destroyed
due to her inability to break up a marriage when she had still
got the chance.  "But it was nothing compared to the hurt that
you had given him . . . and me."

     Ranma spoke up with a smiling face that was somehow sad and
vengeful at the same time.  "We have been escaping from our
duties long enough already, Pop.  Now is the time to perform our
duties . . . like you used to tell me to."

     "Du . . . Duties?"  Genma asked, unnerved.

     Ranma's smile turned secretively predatory. "Forever
forgetful when you want to be . . . our duties to prove our
honors by committing seppuke, of course."

     Outside, everybody immediately tensed up.

     "Sep . . . seppuke . . ."  Genma breathed out the word that
had been the chore of his nightmare for ten years as he fell onto
his knees.

     "That's right, Genma."  Nodoka said with a sad smile.  "If
your lives had proven to be dishonorable, at least, at least let
them end . . ."  A single tear dropped from her glistering eye. 
". . . with honor."

     Ranma lowered his eyes as he smiled.  "Finally, I can prove
myself to be honorable for once, while you shall get the
punishment that you have always deserved."  He thought back to
the conversation that he had heard between the two Anything Goes
masters.  "I must say I have to thank you for your plan to have
me seduce Kuno: I would never have the strength to do this had it
not been for that final push.  I hope seppuke will be as painful
as it looks, for then I can pay back all that I've done to Ukyou
. . . to everyone, by letting you drive me into doing all these
sick things for so long."  He turned to his mother.  "Now I have
a request."

     "What . . . is it, son?"  Nodoka asked, pressing down a sob.

     "I want to be the one doing the execution at Pop's turn . .
. with you doing my turn after I was done."  Ranma said evenly as
he looked at how Genma was trembling.  "Can I?"

     Nodoka closed her eyes as tears continued to flow down her
face.  "Will it made you feel better if your father is to die at
your own hands?"

     "No."  Ranma said, almost sadly. "But it can give me the
certainty that the man who was the beginning of all this will
finally pay for his crimes.  It can give me the satisfaction,
however sad it might be, of justice being done." 
     
     "As you wish then, my son."  Nodoka said, turning away her
face as she handed him the katana as well as a short dagger.

     Ranma stared at both weapons for a long time.  In the past,
he was once so scared of them that he would not reunite with his
own mother.  Now, he longed for the closure that they could have
brought to this twisted mess.  With a flick of his wrist, the
short dagger was embedded right in front of Genma's kneeling
figure.  Standing behind his father, he raised up the katana as
his eyes turned glacial.  "It is time: get on with it."

     Genma looked at the dagger in front of him, which was
glistering with a chilling cold light.  After all the effort that
he had put into avoiding this dagger, he still ended up having to
commit seppuke?  The feeling of the katana raised behind him was
forcing his hand to reach out to the dagger.

     Looking in, Ukyou was stunned by what she was actually
seeing.  In the past, as she struggled alone to survive in the
cruel and unsympathatic world, her heart often became bitter as
the husband promised to her wasn't there to help her in her time
of need.  At times like that, she would fantasize about all the
different types of gory death that she swore she would have made
Genma Saotome suffer for his heartless betrayal of the Kuonji
family.   

     But she wasn't prepared for it to actually happen outside of
a cruel daydream.  And worst of all, Ran-chan, his son, was going
to be the one carrying out this bloody execution!  Honorable or
not, this is . . . sick . . .   

     Her heart skipped a beat at realizing something else: had he
gone through killing his own father, then there will be no power
in heaven nor hell to stop him from doing the same to himself
according to his clan's code of honor!

     Watching his father's shaky hand, Ranma's cold eyes became
sad of an instance.  Genma Saotome was a failed martial artist
without dicipline, and now he, along with his son, had to pay for
the consequences.  Had the man been able to control his greed and
selfishness, and avoided the temptation of giving his son over on
that first night, then maybe none of this would have happened. 
Had Genma's choice been a little bit different . . . a kind of
hesitancy began to build in Ranma's arms as Genma's hand had
finally reached the dagger.

     "RAN-CHAN, NO!!!!!!!!"

     A familiar scream from the entrance of the dojo shattered
Ranma's concentration as he felt the world crumbling onto him. 
She was here all along!  The one who had mattered the most to him
had seen through the image that he had created for her!!

     "It's not worth it!"  Ukyou shouted as she rushed in, along
with all the rest of his peers from outside.  "He is not worth
bloodying your hands over-"

     But Ranma couldn't hear a word that she had said.  All he
could think of was that SHE KNEW!!  She knew about his past!  She
knew about his seduction of Ryoga!!  She knew that he was-

     So shocked was he that he didn't feel the sudden pain in his
midsection.  Ukyou's scream was cut short as she saw Ranma's
father thrusting the dagger into the boy's stomach.  A split
second later, he was gone, leaving a hole throught the dojo wall
that he had bursted through.
 
     Nodoka stared at the hole in disbelief.  The man who had
practically abandoned her, who had corrupted the character of her
son, had fled from his just punishment after hurting her boy once
more?!  With a shout that was uncharacteristic of her she grabbed
the katana form Ranma's numb fingers and proceed to chase after
the man who had destroyed the mask of tradition that was once of
value to her.

     Meanwhile, Ranma was still staring at Ukyou with a mixture
of shame and horror on his pale face as he slowly backed away. 
The dagger fell from his stomach, and blood began to stray across
the black robe.

     Ukyou was staring at the blossoming bloodstain on the black
fabric in horror.  What had she done?!  Because of her, Ran-chan
had been stabbed!  "Ran-chan . . ."

     "Don't . . ."  Ranma whimpered as he continued to back away.

     Ukyou took a step forward, her voice trembling.  "The wound
. . ."
     
     "DON'T LOOK AT ME!!!!!!!!!!"  Ranma yelled as he turned and
ran through the opposing exit of the dojo.  

     "Wait!  Ran-chan!  Your wound-"  Ukyou ran after him
throught the exit, but he wan't there anymore.  She looked wildly
around, but there was no trace of him anywhere.  After finally
finding out that her love was real, he had disappeared from her
world again.  Ukyou fell onto her knees, tears flowing down her
face, as the rest of the teenagers tentatively gathered around
her, none knowing what to say.  Konatsu knelt down beside her and
gave her a slightly hesistant embrace.  "Don't cry, Ukyou-sama. 
Ranma WILL come back he had gotten past his shock.  He even said
. . . said that you are the one for him. . . don't cry . . ."  He
himself fell into tears as he realized the strength of Ukyou's
love for Ranma, a love that can cross seemingly unbreakable
boundaries . . . and that he himself could never even hope to
replace him in her heart.

     Quietly stepping back from the group, Ryoga staggered away
with his head lowered, unnoticed by any of them.  "Forgive me . .
. forgive me . . ."  He mumbled to no one in particular.  

*         *                   *         *         *         *

     The gang of teenage martial artists had spent weeks
searching for Ranma non-stop, save for Ryoga, who had disappeared
as well.  Whether he was just lost or had purposely went away
from them was not known then.  

     One day, Akane remembered about Nodoka and went to the
Saotome resisdence to console the heartbroken Mrs. Saotome
together with the equally heartbroken Ukyou, Shampoo and even
Kodachi.  It amazed all of them how well they had managed to get
along after Ranma had disappeared.  Even Kodachi, once the other
girls' common enemy, seemed tolerable after all.  Who knows? 
Perphaps they could have been great friends had it not been for
their common rivalry.   As the girls walked up to the house, they
saw a sign stabbed onto the front lawn.

     [SOLDED]

     Akane knocked on the door of a neighbouring house and asked
an old woman about what had happened to Mrs. Saotome, and was
told that nobody knew her whereabouts, that she had simply
disappeared after selling her house.

     Even the last possible link to Ranma was gone.         

     Kodachi was the first to give up.  The loss of Ranma had
extinguished the dark fire that fueled her, leaving the girl
clear minded for the first time in years.   She had turned from a
glamourous, over-confident demoness into a drowsy, withdrawn girl
who seemed to have lost interest in everything in this world. 
The last significant thing that she had ever done was to publicly
renounced all her previous gymnatic victories and gave the
trophies to her shocked opponents, causing an uproar at her
school.  That was before she had quitted the gymastic team.      

     Shampoo had pesisted for a month longer than Kodachi.  Then
she, too, had to finally admit that even if Ranma was coming
back, he won't be coming back for her.  Mousse was treating her
as if she was made of glass.  For once he wan't mentioning
anything about his love in their conversations, fearing that it
will further upset the already depressed girl.   Cologne had been
making preparations to sell the Nekohanten, and was patiently
teaching Shampoo some Japanese martial art techniques that she
had picked up over the year so that their stay in Japan wouldn't
be exactly pointless.  
     
     Akane was once again fighting hordes of boys every morning
after the school days had begun again.  The news of Ranma having
ran off had spread out.  After an entire year of fighting with
dozens of first class martial artists that had appeared due to
Ranma, she had unkowingly improved so much that fighting with the
untrained boys had became a even more effortless thing to her. 
The discovery of her improvement was the the only consolation to
Soun, who had no longer got a male heir to inherit his dojo. 
With no more romantic tensions in her life (not significant ones
anyway), Akane had devoted herself solely to the art and her
acadamic routines.  Yet night after night, she silently wondered
how it would have been if she had shown more tolerance and
understanding toward Ranma when he was still hers to own.   

     As for Ukyou, she never gave up.  By day she managed her
restaurant, and by night she would have checked every place that
she could around Nerima to try to find her Ranchan.  On nights
that she became too tired, Konatsu would have done it for her,
not having the heart to refuse her.  But he knew that it would
have been futile.  It was ironic how the girl that Ranma had
finally admitted his love to would have to be the one to suffer
the most.  

     Konatsu did, however, caught sight of a familiar looking bum
dozing off on the side of the front door of a bar on one of his
night searches.  The white bandanna covering his baldness was
gray and black with dirt, and the glasses on his bloated, greazy
face were broken.  Crutched in his hand was a half empty bottle
of low quality sake, of which odor he was reeking of.   Konatsu
passed by the no-longer significant lump without looking back:
the man that was the cause of all this interconnected misery had
got what he deserved. 

     Ukyou began going occasionally to the cathedral to attend
masses.  It did gave her some peace of mind.  However, she still
prefer going to the place at its emptier hours, savoring its
peculiar beauty and its quietness.   Kneeing on the long benches,
with the glass windows casting sharp, coloured shades onto her
then unearthy features, the girl would pray repeatedly for the
second part of her initial wish to come true: that she could be
with her love once more in the light of his hopefully new life. 

     Eventually, the no longer cross-dressing Konatsu was
discovered by a talent scout from a certain studio.  After
demonstrating his infamous singing abilities right in the
restaurant, he was offered a two-year contract by the studio that
had promised to groom him into an idol singer.

     "I . . . I can't."  Konatsu replied hesitantly to the talent
scout.  "Ukyou-sam . . . san needs me to help her run this
restaurant."

     "Oh hush, silly."  Ukyou chided him as she offered the
talent scout a piece of okonmiyaki.  "Before you came, I have
been running a yatai all by myself when I was six, and a
restaurant since I was ten.  Whatever makes you think that I
can't get by on my own?"

     "But this is you time of need, with your work and your seach
for Ranma-san . . . "

     "And you think I am going to feel better by dragging you
down with me?"  Ukyou smiled wearily as she shook her head.  "Am
I that selfish?"   

     "Ukyou-san . . ."

     "Remember what your stepmother had said as you left her to
come to me, even if she didn't mean it?"       

     "That I'll have to learn to leave my nest and take my own
flight?"

     Ukyou looked into his innocent large eyes, and sighed. 
Konatsu had a even rougher childhood than she had, being abused
by those ugly creatures.  However, unlike her, who was forced
into the mean streets, the boy was imprisoned inside some
run-down erotic cafe throughout his earlier years.  He was still
very
much a stranger to the outside world.  The more "worldly" girl
spoke with a mature air despite the fact that they were the same
age.  "Now I'm going to say the same thing to you, kid.   But
this
time, I mean it.  I can't let you waste your talents away by
being a waiter at my restaurant any longer: you're much more than
that, and you know it.  Its time for you to get out to the real
world and be what you are truely gifted to be."

     "Ukyou . . ."   Konatsu was almost in tears.  

     Turning to the talent scout, Ukyou then proceeded to
successfully bargain for a more profitable contract for Konatsu
with business skills that put him in awe.  All these years of
making a living on her own had paid off by giving her business
experiences that was well beyond her age.

     There was a part in the contract that had stated that
Konatsu MUST move away to a bachelor's apartment assigned by the
studio.  The image of a rising idol singer/actor in Japan is very
fragile, and his fans will usually be very possessive.  At least
during the beginning, Konatsu couldn't affort the possibly
negative impact of him actually living together with another girl
in the public's eyes.  So with a heavy mind but secretly excited
heart, Konatsu left "Ucchan's" and went on to pursue his goal.

     After Konatsu was gone, Ukyou had became even more busy than
before.  The sudden increase in workload, combined with her own
almost nightly seaches, had wore her down considerably, even
though she tried hard not to show it to anyone.   Konatsu had
insisted on coming by to help out whenever he could, but his
increasingly busy schedue wouldn't allow him to do much.

     All that she could do was to pray to have the strength to
keep herself together throught all this.

     On one particular morning, a tired Ukyou was drowsily
preparing for the business of the day as usual.  As she had began
pulling up the front gate of her restaurant, a letter was tossed
into the restaurant through the slit.  Alerted by this strange
dilivery, she hurrily opened the gate and rushed outside, but
nobody was there.

     After looking around the street suspiciously, she went back
inside the restaurant to open the letter.  Her eyes widened as
she saw the first word on the letter.

     Ucchan:

*         *         *         *         *         *         *

     Later that morning, at the Nekohanten, Cologne was washing
dishes as Shampoo listened to Mousse as he read a Japanese letter
to her.  She was desperately trying to keep a calm expression as
the words sank in.    

"Shampoo: 
     
     I heard that you are finally going back to China.  Therefore 
 I, who had been avoiding everybody for all this time, have to
apologize for all that I had done, before it is too late."  

     "First off, I have to apologize for dishonoring you in front
of the entire Amazonian assembly over a year ago.  It was
dishonorable of me to fight you after eating your price."  

     "The second thing that I have to apologize for was that I
had let you be misleaded all this time without ever correcting
you.  Forgive me, but I am not the tough warrior that you thought
I was.  Friends were entirely too important to a selfish jerk
like me.  I was scared of losing a friend, and as a result, led
you to believe that we could be more just friends.  But we
couldn't.  I think that's obvious now.  I know this will be a
violation to your law, which demands you to trap any outsider man
who had defeated you into marriage.   I am sorry about the
dishonor that you will be put through because of me."  

     "Enclosed together within this package is the secret scroll
of the Saotome School of Anything Goes, with every step of my art
depicted in details.  Hopefully, by strengthening yourself with
these techniques, you can somehow regain your status among your
people.  Also, there is a check in this package.  Hopefully, it
can cover the plane tickets and other travelling fees for all
three of you on your trip back, if not the expenses of staying in
Japan all this time."

     "By the way, I wanted to thank Cologne for teaching me all
those amazing techniques: can't believe I was such a jerk that I
hadn't ever been grateful to her for all the times that she had
unconditionally helped me.  Also, please tell Mousse that under
different circumstances, we might have been better friends.  I
can only hope that all of you can someday forgive me for all the
pains and troubles that I had caused.

                                                  Ranma"  

     Mousse finished as he took off his glassses and looked up to
Shampoo's direction.

     Shampoo quietly picked up the scroll and begain reading
through it.  She laughed softly as she read through some of the 
Saotome techniques, such as the Deadly Escapement Technique, the
Desending Tiger Apologization Technique, the There's 100 Yen On
The Floor Distraction Technique . . . crystally drops of water
fell onto the scroll, staining it.  It took her a moment to
realize that those were her tears.

     "Shampoo . . ."  Mousse heard her sniffing as he took out a
handkerchief from under his sleeve and handed it to her
direction.  Shampoo's laugh had turned into sobbing as she took
the handkerchief.                            
          
     "Ranma . . . Shampoo so sorry . . ."  She sobbed as she 
wiped at her eyes.  "She want Airen . . . but not if hurt him
with guilt."

     Cologne sighed as she finished the last dish and hopped
over on her staff.  "Guess we should have told the poor boy about
the truth before all this had happened."

     Shampoo turned to Mousse as she continued to sob.  "Why
Mousse never tell Ranma?  Thought you want break us up." 

     "About how that Amazon Law Book that we show outsiders is
different from the standard one?"  Mousse sighed.  "Should he
know an Amazon has the right to release an outsider man from her
Kiss of Love anytime that she wants, he might have turned against
you in rage.  You will be hurt, and I don't mean physically."  
Mousse looked sadly at her.  "I would rather scare him away with
my skills than to have you crushed by his hate." 

     "What skills?"  Shampoo snorted as she wiped off the last of
her tears.  "But . . . thanks, Mousse.  For always care for
Shampoo, even when she no deserve."

     "Shampoo . . ."  Mousse's eyes lit up. "Does that mean . .
."

     "We friends."  Shampoo said.  "Very good friends . . . but
nothing more."

     She winced for the first time at seeing the dejection on the 
boy's face.  But, like Ranma before her had discovered, it really
doesn't payoff to give anyone false hopes.

*         *         *         *         *         *         *

     At noon, a gentle breeze was blowing through a giagantic
greenhouse, as its top was open.  The breeze was a bit cold, no
surpise considering how the fall was approaching.  Lying lazily
on a garden couch placed there,  with pieces of beautiful black
petals falling elegantly onto her tired features, a girl with her
freefalling long hair in dishevel was shivering slightly, yet too
tired to go back indoor.  She supposed maybe she should have gone
to school instead of just lying here in this garden doing
nothing.  But she wasn't feeling well, and had only one important
class today to attend.  Tired and depressed, she decided that it
wasn't worth the trouble.  Looking at the falling petals from her
sinister yet glamourous flowers, she sighed as she knew that the
botanic symbols of her prowess were about to wilt under the
cooling weather.  Yet, she didn't feel like saving them.      

     "Mistress Kodachi!"

     The wilted rose forced herself to sit up at the sound of
Sasuke, dull eyes looking up at her loyal ninja.  "What is it?" 
She asked, yawning.

     "It . . . it's a letter to you . . ."  The ninja shakily
held out a letter to her.

     "Just put it in my room and I shall burn it later."  Kodachi 
wiped at her eyes.

     ". . . From Saotome Ranma."

     The letter was snatched from his hand in a flash.  Barely
controling her trembling hands and tearing opening the envelope,
the girl began reading through the letter.

Kodachi:

     I heard that you have changed a great deal since I was gone. 
You have honestly renounced all of your previous victories -
empty trophies won by unorthodoxic means.  I am glad that you
have finally to admit your wrongs before it was too late: it
takes a really brave person to have done what you did.  I know.  

    Kodachi lowered her eyes as tears steamed down her face.

     <Ranma-sa . . . san, you thinks too highly of me. . .>  

     No, she hadn't done it out of bravery nor honor.  She had
simply done it out of her cowardice and her despair of the
futility of life.
 

     But what was all that talk about the Black Rose "wilting
away"?  There were rumors among the girls at your school about
how you had quit the gymnatic team, how you are skipping classes,
and how your grades are on the verge of plummeting.  Is it . . .
because I have left?

     If it is, then I have to apologize for my indecision in the
past.  But there can never be anything more than friendship
between us, I think you know that now.  I know that you think you
love me, but basically that is only because you think that I am
the only one who will spare you any kindness.  

     Well, that won't be the case for very long, if you will only
pull yourself together: join back the gymnastic team, and raise
your marks again.  You, of all the people I know, do NOT have the
right to give up on life.  Just look at how good you have it! 
You're rich, you're smart, and . . . don't tell the others, but
physically, you are the most desirable girl in Nerima.  And now,
with your new-found honor to go with your looks, you can easily
have friends or even boyfriends a thousand times better than me
in no time.  

     So try your best to blossom once more, preferabily without
thorns attached this time: they scare away bees and butterfies
that would have come to you otherwise.  I have fought you before,
and I know that even without cheating, you should be able to win
any gymnastic contest that you want, and enter any University
that you desire.  You have a future, don't just let it slide
away.

     P.S.  Please tell Tatewaki that I am sorry for not letting
him find out earlier, and that I was in a blind rage when I said
all those things to him. 

                                                  Ranma.   

     Kodachi sobbed heartily as Sasuke looked concerned.  She now
knew that she never did have the best lover in the whole world:
she had the best friend in the whole universe, without even
realizing it.

     Her classmates were all happy at seeing her wasting away. 
They thought of her downfall as an indication of a major threat
removed from the society . . . Hell, even she thought so herself! 
But even after being the target of her selfish yearnings for all
this time, Ranma STILL encouraged her to straighten up once more,
regardless of the possible consequences that might have!

     Gradually, she brough her sobbing under control and wiped
the tears off her face.  "Sasuke."

     Sasuke, not knowing what to expect from his volatile
mistress, asked gingerly.  "Yes, Mistress?"

     Kodachi smiled a geniune smile that could finally reach her
eyes, surprising the ninja. "Close up the the top of the
greenhouse.  My roses have still got a lot of blossoming to do."  
        

*         *         *                   *         *         *

     In the afternoon at the Tendo Dojo, Akane had just returned 
a little late from school when she found the entire household
rushing out to her.  "What is goi-"

     "Oh, my poor baby!!!!"  Soun wailed as he swept Akane into
his arms for a teary hug.  Kasumi and Nabiki simply stood behind
him and stare.

     "What's the matter, Daddy?!"  Akane yeped.

     "Akane-chan, Ranma-kun has sent us a letter."  Kasumi said
with a hint of nervousness.   

       "WHAT?!"  Akane threw off her father and rushed up to
Kasumi.  "Where is it?!"


     "Right here.  It was in the mailbox when I came back." 
Nabiki said as she handed her an opened letter addressed to
Akane.  Akane took a look at it and frowned.

     "Hey!  It was addressed to ME!"

     "So?"

     Akane glared at her older sister.  "Why was it opened?!"

     Nabiki smirked.  "Oh, sorry about that.  It's just that the
outline of a check was showing through ever so alluringly from
beneath the paper envelope, and I just couldn't help but open
it."
      
     Akane was a little bit taken back as she heard that.  "A
check?"

     "Yes, it was for the expenses that he and his father had
cost us during their stay here."

     Frowning, Akane took out the letter and read it.    

   
Akane:

     I heard that you have improved in just about almost
everything since I have left.  That's good: our decision to split
up appears to be the right one for both of us after all.

     Still, I have to thank you once again for your kindness to
me during my stay.  Even though you had never truly known me,
that smile of yours when you let your guard down had considerably
brightened my life to a large extend.

     Mom told me to tell you guys that the two of us are doing
fine on our own.  I have finally secured a somewhat positive
source of income, thus allowing me to repay our depts. 
Surprisingly, she does not think that it is wise for us to be
visiting the Tendo Dojo until the engagement thing has truly
blown over.  I would never have believed that she would say this,
but Mom told me that after all that she had seen me been through
in "honor" of the Saotome line, she had finally realized the
unfairness of it all to force the two of us to be married.  She
now claims that it is dishonorable to even engage one's children
in the name of honor: clan duties are insignificant when compared
to the love and compassion that a parent must give her own flesh
and blood.  She hopes that Mr. Tendo would understand and forgive
her decision to free us one day.

     Enclosed together within this envelope is a check, which can
hopefully cover all the expenses that me and Genma had cost the
Tendo household.  

     We both wish you, as well as your houshold, true harmony and
happiness.

                                             Ranma

               
     Akane quietly folded up and letter and put it back into the
envelope.  Whatever sparks of fire that had been between them had
truely extinguished, forever replaced by polite and platonic
friendship.  She guessed she would have to live with that now.  

     Beside her, Soun was crying a river.

     "Oh!  How could Genma's wife do that to us?  Now I TRULY
have no male heir for the dojo!"  The middle aged man wailed.

     Akane frowned.  Her father was STILL not over this insanity? 
"Daddy, aren't I good enough as a heir?"

     "But . . . Saotome-kun . . . the promise . . . it's just not
right!  The two heirs to the Anything Goes MUST be married in
order for the bloodline of the school to be strengthened!"

     Akane narrowed her eyes.  "I see . . . so me and Ranma are
really nothing more than tools to heighten the power of the
school, is that it?"

     Soun was taken back by her sudden bitterness.  "Akane . . .
I . . ."

     "If you do value me as your child, then follow Mrs.
Saotome's example.  If not . . ."  Akane forced her voice to
harden.  "Just remember what had happened to Mr. Saotome after
pushing Ranma too far."   With that, she walked up the stairs
into her room.   Kasumi and Nabiki quickly followed her, leaving
Soun standing there stunned.
     
     "Akane-chan, was that really necessary?"  Kasumi asked
inside the closed door of Akane's room, frowning.

     Nabiki joined in as she picked up that day's newspaper from
Akane's desk and began skimming through it.  "Yeah, I mean,
judging from the amount that Ranma is repaying our family, the
guy must have finally became financially capable somhow.  He
might not be such a bad catch anymore."

     "That's not the point!"  Akane said with frustration.  "It
is about time for Dad to REALLY see what being a father is all
about, before he got deeper and deeper into that honor thing
until he became another Mr. Saotome!"

     Kasumi's eyes widened as she held a hand to her cheek. 
"Father is nothing like Mr. Saotome, Akane-chan."  

     "Not yet, he isn't."  Akane sighed.  "Sister, you know very
well that I can protect myself these days even if Dad had decide
to engage me to someone else again.  I was only saying those
harsh things for Dad to change, for his own good!"

     "Well . . ."

     Nabiki, meanwhile, let out a small whistle as she read out a
commercial aid at the Arts and Books section.  "Of love and
tears, kempo and kendo, human and animals, the new manga that     
rocked the Japanese Comic Market . . ."  Her eyes widened.  
"Ran « ?!"     
     
     "What?!"  Akane gapsed.  
     
     "Oh, my!  What a familiar name."  Kasumi said.

     All three of them gathered around the newspaper as they
looked at the aid.  It showed the drawing of a ponytailed (not
pigtailed) boy and a ponytailed girl, startlingly similiar
looking, performing katas as a gang of armed and unarmed
teenagers were drawn to the background in various battle poses. 
Below the drawing were the pen names of the creators of the
manga:

     Rumiko T.- Artworks

     R.R. - Story
     
     "R.R. huh . . . what a cheesy pen-name.  Hmph!  He just had
to wait until AFTER spliting up with my sister to find a way to
become loaded.  How typical of men."  

     At a the bottom of the aid was the front cover of the first
volume of the manga, which here it said can be found at every
manga store across Japan.  It showed a long haired girl with
bangs parting in the middle smiling down on a blushing,
ponytailed girl.  

     It's title was: Friendship and Beyond.

     With a thousand feelings coming into ther mind, Akane could
only smile wearily as she stared at the drawing that had so
expertly captured a moment of her past. 

#################################################################