Even more stuff to send raw.  #@$@%@#! classes.  ^_^
C&C very welcome.

What's gone on:  
Assuming that Cologne was in the village when Shampoo got 
beaten by Ranma, and took measures to capture the martial 
artist, he ends up with many more wives than he ever imagined.  

Ukyo came looking for Ranma in China, and found more than she 
wanted to... apparently, Ranma's an Amazon, now.  

Afterwards, Mousse and Ukyo went to Japan, on Ranma's behest.  
We see that Mousse not a Chinese Amazon, and is actually the 
son of the Gambling King.  Why did they go there, anyway?

The next chapters I hope to crank out... sometime soon.  

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

One Man's Dream is Another's Undoing
by Nikholas "Switch" F. Toledo
Characters based upon designs in Ranma 1/2 by Rumiko Takahashi
No discredit or disfavor is intended upon anyone.

Akane's Story

	Nodoka Saotome had moved in, after she had introduced herself to 
the three Tendo sisters.  She was an invaluable help to the household, 
and all she asked was the lodging until she could finally, after a decade 
of wait, be reunited with her long-lost husband and son.  They had even 
talked of the engagement, and it had somehow become a moot point.
	Akane argued that Auntie Nodoka would probably be amenable to 
dissolving the agreement if she and this Ranma would not see eye to eye.  
For the moment, helping her find her family, either by calling up people 
across Japan, or having stuff put on the newspaper, would be enough say 
on that matter.

	The man introduced himself as Ranma Saotome.
	"Oh, Ranma," Auntie Nodoka had said, hugging the muscular young 
man.  "Whe- where is your father?"
	"Genma... father... is dead."
	Gasps of breath were stuttered in the room.  Soun lowered his eyes 
for his dear friend.  Nodoka cried with her head down.  Ranma looked as 
though he regretted saying it, and in turn did not look at the assembled 
troupe that held this "Welcome Home" gathering for him.  Kasumi waited 
for the young man to comfort his mother, but it was obvious that he did 
not know how.  She opted to console her, holding her shoulders lightly.  
	Ryu Kumon suddenly did not want to be there.  He almost started on 
an apology, or maybe an explanation, when a strong yet soft set of hands 
held his hunched shoulders.  "We... I... feel for you.  I lost my mother 
while I was young."
	She stared into the young man's strong-willed countenance, and 
found a kindred spirit...

	One night, Akane woke to find the window in her room open.  On the 
sill, Ranma hunched over like a gargoyle.  "Ranma...?"  she said, 
sleepily.
	He put a finger over his lips, and stepped closer to the bed.  She 
sat on the edge closest to the billowing curtains.  He sat beside her, 
his face lit with moonshine.  "Akane..."
	She didn't understand what was happening, but knew it was happening 
too soon, too quick.
	"I... I can't live a lie anymore."
	He looked like a coiled spring on a hair-trigger.  She held a 
shoulder.  "Wh-what is it?"  For a moment, she thought it was the 
engagement.  "Is it...?"
	"No."  His flat dismissal made her sure that her fears were 
unfounded;  they had gotten so used to one another.  "No, I... Akane."  
He faced her;  his deep, dark eyes ate the light and swallowed her.  He 
held her smaller hands in his, and squeezed them slightly.  "I... have to 
leave."
	Her hands started to become clammy.  "No!"  She put her head to his 
chest.  "You can't."
	He felt his resolve starting to weaken, but struggled against it.  
"I have to find my father's killer, Akane."  He took her chin, and looked 
into her eyes, "I might not be able to come back."
	With her free hand, she brushed a loose lock of hair, showing more 
of his white headband;  then, she jealously retook the hand.  "Then don't 
leave."
	"Would..." he thought some, then continued, "would you like to come 
with me...?"
	"To your grave?"  she let the bitterness seep.
	"To... to the truth..." he whispered.  No sooner had he spoken had 
he left.  Akane opened her hand, having felt the thin band of gold that 
he who had been Ranma had worn.  She openly wept, but was silent and 
still.

	Weeks passed without Akane's knowledge, until a phone call brought 
her past to her present.  She disappeared, and the people of the Tendo 
household feared she had gone searching for her fiancée.

	Shinnosuke's blood ran with a fever sending him into seizures.  His 
grandfather had gotten up, knowing that his grandson was going to die.  
He took a mop, and donned his monster-killer outfit, amidst coughs.  She 
wanted to go with him, but the old man cried, "NO!"
	"Someone must stay to watch over him," he quickly covered his 
agitation.
	"I'll go get the moss of life, and you take care of him," Akane 
persisted.  
	"NO!"  the old man stressed.  "Stay with him."
	"Why?"  She knew that she was the best chance, and she was willing 
to give her life to the man who gave his life for her.
	"Because... it was his dying wish."
	"What?"  She was at a loss.
	"He... wanted to die by your side."  The old man then took the exit 
that presented itself.  She sat in the embers of the flame in which the 
last of the water from the spring of life was boiling away.

	"Shinnosuke..." she whispered into his ear.  "It's time to eat."
	He gave no response, and continued to shiver in the cold he alone 
felt.  She felt along his forehead, and quickly pulled her hand away.  He 
was raging hot.  His lips started to crack a while back, and they were 
shaking.  "Akane..."
	She stopped.  He remembered her name.  He was also having a hard 
time to talk.  She shushed him.  "Keep quiet, and open wide."  She had a 
ladle in her hand, and waited for him to comply.  He tried, and soup 
trickled down the side of his face, and down his throat.  "Oh, dear."  
Akane quickly wiped the offending trail away.  She then saw the look that 
was in his eyes.
	He was delusional, at that point.  But it didn't matter.  He was in 
pain.
	He was in love.  And so was she.
	She kissed his cracked lips, and the fire that he had grew, and 
spread.

	By morning, he had died in her arms.  She had lain with his 
stiffened body for the whole day, burying him that night.
	She spent weeks searching for Shinnosuke's grandfather, but he had 
vanished, body and sign, as well.  She put up a shrine for him, beside 
his grandson's, and left.
	She never removed the mongoose horn from her breast for years to 
come.  Who knew?  Maybe someday she might even learn to make the most 
soulful song.
	She returned matured to the city limits of Tokyo.

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

This came out originally in the second chapter of the fast-upcoming
lemon, as my pre-readers would note.  I took out the lemon... and will 
never return it... Shinnosuke fans still have "Lemonade" though... oh, 
well.  And, yes, T. H., the scene was anatomically wrong;  he was in
a near-fetal position, so that his back was arced, among other things.
Pax.

Next up:  Ryoga's Journal

Switch
Nikholas F. Toledo Zu @ http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Flats/3145/mezza9.html
Vector, Switch, Yebah, Don Juan, goo, Pervert, Scruples, Hollie, NomaD,
Blitz, Gee, Datzo, Jewel, Elf, Radler, Pinball, Mayhem
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Word from the Laity:  Wipe yer feet!  Bloody 'ell...
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Currently under construction... confessional at the links.
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