It seems from most of the comments that the people who read
`Confrontation' are newer to the list than I am. . .

'cause of that I'm reposting the story `Confrontation' is a prequel too.

Thanks,
	Suika (I've catted both of these together, and done some minor
	touchups.  Any commentary would be nice ^_- )
-- 
                        wroberts@tvi.cc.nm.us
	``Literature is the lie that tells the truth . . . ''
							--Dorothy Allison
      <A HREF="http://w3.tvi.cc.nm.us/~wroberts/">Suika no pe-ji</A>
  <A HREF="http://w3.tvi.cc.nm.us/~wroberts/stories/">Suika's fanfic</A>

------------------------------ cut here ------------------------------

This is my first (two, concatenated together, to be exact) actually posted 
story ^_^
Tell me what you think (verbose is prefered in this ^_-)
------------------------------ cut here ------------------------------

	``Ranma, why don't we call you Mother and Father like all of the other
kids?''  Miyuki asked as she shed her shoes in the genkan.

	``Would you like the long version or the short one?''

	``The short one, please.''

	``When your elder sister was really small we decided it would look
funny.''

	``Tell me the long version.''

	``OK.  You know about the training trip we were on when Rei was born,
right?''

	``Un, I've heard the story about how when Akane annouced that she was
in labor Ryouga fainted into a stream and Auntie Akari had to pull him out
before he drowned.''

	``And then Akane started giggling at the thought of what would have
happened if she hadn't already known about his curse.''

	``Ouch.''

	``Lucky him that she knew.  As you know Rei's birth was very easy, by
the time we got back to Tokyo and the dojo she was a couple weeks old and
looked like a human baby instead of a pink monkey...''

	``Hey!  That's rude!''

	``It's true.  When you were first born you looked like a pink monkey
too.  A very cute pink monkey, quite worth the effort of carrying for nine and
a half months, but still a pink monkey.

	``Your grandmother just sort of fainted as we walked in, Akane was
holding Rei and promising to feed her as soon as she found a spot to sit down.
When your grandmother came to Akane had Rei to her breast, Rei was quite
happily ignoring everything else, and Akane and the rest of us were wondering
what was wrong.  She all but dragged the two of them to the hospital to get
checked.  They were fine, but the doctors took some of Akane's blood, she
wouldn't let them have any of Rei's, and said to call back in a week.

	``We called back and they asked us what my blood type was, and when I
said that it was A they said that we needed to come in.  When whe got there
they said that Akane had antibodies for type A blood in her system, and the
doctors were concerned, or, more accurately, certain, that we would not be
able to have more children together.''

	``Why?  Antibodies just protect against germs that have been
encountered before . . . Oh!  Both Rei's and my blood type are the same as
yours.''

	``Pin pon.  So we plotted as we came home, thinking about what we
could do about it, whether we wanted any more children, that sort of thing.
Akane came up with the idea we eventually used.  `You always brag about how
you look so much better as a girl than I do, you carry the next one.'  I think
she meant it as a joke, but after we thought about it we decided to ask for
second and third oppinions.  Kodachi and Ukyou thought it was a decent idea,
so long as we could set things up so that I wouldn't end up the topic of
someone's research.  Tofu pointed out that we would need to keep me from
changing, and trying to avoid hot water just would not do.''

	``Understatement.  Whenever you try to stay one gender or another you
always end up soaking wet.  Remember that parent-teacher conference last
year?''

	``How could I forget it?  `Could you please have your father come to
the meeting?' `Sure.' `Who's this?' `My father.' poke poke.''  Ranma scowls at
the memory.

	``Hey! it was funny.'' Miyuki giggles.

	``You obviously think it still is.''

	``Of course it is.  That is why we don't call you tou-chan, ne?  I
admit it would have been rather hillarious to have Rei calling you tou-chan
while I was nursing.''

	``It's not quite as funny as how you called me `Tittie' no matter what
form I was in until you were four.''  Ranma pokes back.

	``I did what?!''

	``What, you didn't know?  I copied the habit off of Akane, I don't
know where she picked it up, who knows, maybe she just thought it up on her
own, of asking you if you wanted some tittie whenever you looked hungry or I
felt you needed to be fed.''

	``Felt I needed to be fed?''

	``Un, When you're breastfeeding you produce enough milk to feed
whoever you're feeding.  If you wait too long the milk accumulates and is
rather obnoxious.''

	``From your tone you are understating again, birth-mother.''

	``I'm not sure that's the right word.''

	``Understatement?  Or birth-mother.''

	``The second.  It doesn't sound right.''

	``Oh well.  Find me the proper one and I'll call you by it.'' (I
admit the last bit of dialog loses something in translation.  :/ )

	``Don't bother.  Enough chatter, you are not going to get out of
today's practice session.  Your elder sister is off learning from obaba, so
you get do do a bit of one on one practice today.''

	``Hai, hai.  Iku ze!'' Miyuki shifts tone from absolute boredom to
enthusiastic yell in an instant, slamming her right heel into the side of
Ranma's face, flinging him into the pond.  *Worked.  That aerial spin kick
shouldn't have, though.*  >Thump!<  *That was stupid* Miyuki reasured herself
as she countered the rest of the attack.

	In the end the score was about even, old age, skill and treachery only
slightly overpowering youth, skill, and treachery.

	``If we want to wash off before Akane gets here we should go in now.''
Ranma states, heading into the house, only dripping slightly from her last dip
in the pond.

	``You're washing my back.'' she continued, stripping off her shirt and
dropping it on the floor.

	``Don't I end up doing that most of the time anyway, kaa-chan?''
Miyuki asks, adding her own clothing to the untidy pile that Ranma would have
to wash later.

	``Kyaaa! Tsumette!''

	``If you didn't insist on using ice water you wouldn't scream so
loud.''

	``Then what fun is there in it?  And I've still washed your back far
more times than you've washed mine.''

	``I must admit that I'm not sure.  And that is only becouse you have
eleven years on me.''  Miyuki replies as she soaps Ranma's back.  She finishes
in silence and Ranma scrubs her back before entering the tub.

	``I still have to cook dinner.  Fugh.  You did a number on my face
with that kick earlier.  I'm going to have a nice purple bruise to explain to
my students tomorrow.''

	``Just one?  I can see a good five from here.''

	``Hey!  Don't look!''  Ranma pulls himself into a tighter ball, eyes
closed to better enjoy the hot bath.

	``I meant ones that would show up when you have clothes on!  Che, you
are so etchi.''

	``I am not, I just think about the kind of person I was at 11 and act
accordingly.''

	``See!  Etchi!''

	``What, are you saying you aren't?''

	``Why would I say that.  You've seen some of the things I read.''

	``Tadaima!''  Akane's voice rings from the genkan.

	``Okaerinasai!'' The two in the bathtub call.

	``I suppose you are going to make me cook dinner tonight, even though
it isn't my turn, right?''

	``No, I'll be getting out in a moment to cook it.  If you want one of
us could wash your back for you.''

	``OK!  I'll be up in a moment.''  The sounds of groceries getting put
away waft up from the kitchen.

	``Yet another question, why do you two always argue about who is going
to cook?''

	``Akane couldn't cook until she was almost twenty five.  It was the
contest that finally convinced her to learn.  She'd been trying before, but
she never made the leap that separates awful from decent.''

	``Contest?''

	``Yeah, Kodachi challenged her to a contest to see which of them could
poison the most people.  Non-fatally.  Kodachi got something like the entire
male population of Fuurinkan High and a few of the female students as well.
Akane poured twelve grams of LSD into the Nerima water supply.''

	``Twelve grams!?!?''

	``Yep.  The really scary part was that it took the athorities in other
parts over a week to realize that there was anything wrong.  Most of Nerima
still doesn't trust the water supply.

	``Kodachi was at Ukyou's when they both started tripping.  Ukyou had
enough presence of mind to tell everyone to go home and lock the doors, but
assumed that when Kodachi didn't leave she was just one of the hallucinations.
Kodachi has said that she originally was going to sit out the trip somewhere
quiet and go home, for she thought that someone at her house had spiked
something she ate or drank.  By the time she realized that Ukyou was losing it
she tripping pretty heavily, and so appointed herself to keep Ukyou from
damaging herself during her bad trip.

	``By the time the LSD was flushed from the water supply and the after
affects had begun to wear off. . .'' Ranma's story was interupted by Akane's
entrance, a quick janken to determine who got to wash her back (which made
Akane break out laughing) and the loser, Miyuki, washing Akane's back before
they both got into the tub.  ``Ukyou and Kodachi were a set.  LSD makes you
really open to suggestion for a few days after you do it, and they spent almost
two weeks recovering together.  They went from being just shy of mortal enemies
to friends and lovers by the time the LSD in the water supply had been dealt
with, about a month and a half later.''

	``How did that happen?''

	``If you spend a lot of time talking with someone, each of you letting
out secrets that you wouldn't tell others that you don't trust implicitly,
holding each other when things get really bad, dropping the facades that you
keep up when others are around, you first begin to trust, then it can go
further, especially if there is no one around who wants to stop it. Kodachi
wasn't totally sane before that happened.  She had no one she could trust, no
one she could count on to take care of her or help her take care of herself, no
one that she didn't feel the need to pretend around.  Ukyou was trying to deal
with the fact that Akane and I had finally stopped fighting the engagement, and
were almost getting along.  They both needed someone really badly, and they
volunteered each other.  I admit it was a shock when I first saw them walk in
together, Ukyou's arm about Kodachi's waist, and her head on Ukyou's shoulder.
Neither of them had parents, so they felt pretty safe about being open with the
fact that they were more than just `romantic freinds.'  Even so there were a
couple attempts made by official types to split them up.''

	``What?  Why would they do that?''

	``It was almost fifteen years ago.  Before they got over most of that
gender discrimination crap, dear.'' Akane answered, ``They did that to anyone
who was involved in an openly physical lesbian relationship.  They make the
parents move one of the girls and the parents would forbid contact between
them.  Mean, huh?''

	``Yep.  Very.  I'll go cook dinner since I lost today, and you look
tired Akane.''

	``Just so long as it isn't avacado and mozerella on microwaved french
bread anything is OK.'' Akane tells her daughter as she dries off, before
dunking her own face in the bathwater.

	``Aw.  That is my favorite kind of sandwich.  I'll make something
interesting, then.''  Miyuki replies in an agreived, then threatening tone.

	``At least your `interesting' isn't as bad as what Akane used to cook.
Ite!  Hey! Your cooking is a lot better than it used to be!  Really!  I even
look forward to eating it!'' Miyuki heard the sounds of Ranma being dunked
into the tub by main force, shook her head, and went to the kitchen to find
things to add to the the avacado.

--*--
	``So, what is for dinner, Miyuki?''  Miyuki looks up at her older
sister, who showed signs that she would soon learn the bakusaitenketsu, mainly
through not being as bruised as she had been the day before.

	``California roll, sliced avocado, and miso ramen.''  She answers the
question.

	``Every time you cook we have avocado, why?''

	``Because I like it, no one else in the house cooks with it, and it's
in season right now.''  There is a loud knocking at the door.  ``That must be
Kodachi, Ukyou and Rie-chan.  Go let them in, please.''

	``Ryoukai!''  She snapped her heels together and slapped her fist
against her chest.

	``You've been watching too much anime recently, haven't you?''

	``No, but I think that one we watched a week or two ago was cool.''
Rei did not smile as she made the comment, for that would spoil the effect.

	``Why do I even bother showing them to you if you don't care enough to
remember them?''  Miyuki's annoyance with her sister is plain.

	``Because I like them, even the strange ones like Iczer 1.''  Rei
says, walking to the door.  There is a thunk as the designated throwing-pot
hits the door frame behind her.

	``Konbanwa, Rei-chan.''

	``Konbanwa.  Come in, please, Miyuki is almost done with dinner.''
She leads the way to the dining room.

	``Ucchan!  To what do we owe your presence tonight?''

	``Miyuki called and said that I was invited over for dinner.  I guess
she neglected to tell you that, ne.''

	``Yep.  Least she was cooking, so I don't have to apologize for not
having cooked enough.''

	``Eight times was enough, wasn't it Ran-chan?''

	``More than.  `I don't mind if you invite people over and forget to
tell me''

	``But don't just expect me to cook for the lot of them' '' Akane and
Ranma finish in unison.  Ukyou and Kodachi giggle at their aggrieved tone, and
Miyuki walks in with the first load of food.

	``Rei, Rie-chan, could you help please?''  Miyuki says, her manner
making it plain that she could handle it fine herself, but remembered how
Rie-chan enjoyed to help out.

	``Hai!''  Rie practically flies across the room and through the door to
the kitchen, being careful not to hit anyone or anything as she went over the
table.

	``Your daughter is getting good.''  Akane complements Ukyou, thinking
about the leap Rie had just made, over the table and Ranma's head.

	``Place that there, Rie-chan.''

	``Itadakimasu!''

	As usual Kodachi and Ukyou are extremely sappy, feeding each other
and generally acting like the doting couple that they are.  Rie ignores them.

	A short while later every one makes a point of complementing the cook
for the food.  Miyuki and Ranma are staring at each other over the last slice
of avocado when the younger one finds the way to get it.  ``You didn't finish
the story, you know, kaa-chama.'' Ranma shifts his gaze off of the avocado
slice, and she snags it.

	``Which story?''

	``The one about how you ended up bearing me.''

	``Oh, yeah,''  He looks for the avocado slice, then continues, ``Well
after Tofu-sensei pointed out that we would need to keep me female for the
nine months or so that the pregnancy would take there was a quick
brainstorming session where we went over known methods to keep me female.  The
only one that I judged trustworthy enough to attempt was the chiisui-ton, which
was a bit of a problem, as it had gotten lost during the fight with Herb.  So
had the kaisui-huu, but that was only necessary to reverse the first after
you were born.

	``We made the arrangements like we were a normal couple who were going
to go in for in-vitro fertilization, and I presented myself in female form as
the surrogate mother.  The doctors thought I was a fine candidate, and
preparations went on as we made plans for an expedition to find the two magic
items.

	``We both made the appropriate donations, and I was really glad that I
wasn't donating the ovum.  That was a really uncomfortable process.  Luckily
better ways have been invented since, but to say it wasn't a fun process would
be like saying swimming to China was a nice weekend's trip.

	``Rei was about two by the time we got the trip underway.''

	``The whole gang, just about, was involved in the search, and we found
the kaisui-huu pretty quickly.  Ko-chan found the chiisui-ton in a large tree
a kilometer or so from where everyone else was looking.''

	``You helped a great deal, Ucchan.  I couldn't have found it if you
hadn't suggested that we get out of camp if we were going to be making out.
And you were the one who said that that tree looked nice.''  Kodachi's voice
is quite calm, very different from what it had been before she got involved
with Ukyou.

	``Anyway, the search took nearly two months to complete, and we got
home just in time for the Sakura to bloom.  I had been female for a couple of
weeks, and the lot of us did hanami.  I got totally drunk for the first and
last time in my life, and Akane had to shut me up.''

	``I remember that.  I thought she just enjoyed sucking face with
you.''  Ukyou giggles as her comment turns both Akane and Ranma a bright red.

	``We set up the appointment to go to the doctor and get an embryo
implanted, and it, in due time, turned into you.''

	``So that's why you have the bucket and the tea kettle in the safe.''
Miyuki's voice shows the sudden comprehension.

	``Un.  I don't want to get stuck by accident, but it is occasionally
nice to take a hot bath as a female.''

	``You picked up a lot of habits after being female for four and a half
years.''  Ukyou needles lightly.

	``Four and a half years?''  Miyuki directs the question at Ranma.

	``Un.  Two and a half months before the embryo was implanted, nine and
a half months where it was growing into the baby that would become you, three
years nursing, and six months trying to figure out where I lost the
kaisui-huu.''

	``Oh, and you were to embarrassed to ask?  I thought you had just
forgotten.'' Akane's voice shows that she really doesn't know the answer.

	``No, I just didn't think it was all that important.  You didn't mind,
my students didn't mind, nobody who I couldn't just tell `I'm married' and
have them back off was flirting, chasing, harassing me, so I figured I'd just
change back when I found the thing.''

	``Ah.  The possibility of my having hid it never occurred to you?''
Akane's question makes Ranma rock back a little, as if from a blow.

	``You did?''

	``The possibility never occurred to me either.'' She sticks her tounge
out at him.  Everybody giggles at it.

	``Oops!  I need to clear the table.  Rie-chan, want to help?''  The
five year old nods eagerly, and they quickly have the table clear.

	``Ano, Kodachi-bachan, why did you challenge Akane to a poisoning
contest?''  Miyuki asks, after everyone had settled down again.

	``I don't know if you know this, but I wasn't very stable then.  My
family was more than a little odd, and I had no one to trust except me and
Midorigame from the time I was very small.  I got into poisons when I was
younger than you are, about seven, and started experimenting with hallucinogens
and other `recreational' drugs when I was about 11.  I don't remember why, but
it might have just been that I was curious and didn't have anyone to tell me
how dumb of an idea it was.  They were easy enough to get, and nobody noticed
the difference, so I thought it was OK.  I got tired of the needle marks and
stopped when I was thirteen, I wrote a diary 'bout that, it was so much fun.''
Sarcasm makes her tone dry, then she continues, ``Heroin isn't a fun habit to
kick cold turkey, but, as all the actual documentation on it said, totally
survivable and the only way to do it.  I am still amazed that nobody except
Sasuke knew about it.   My father just said that I was skipping school and they
should just deal with it.  My brother didn't appear to care that I felt like
Zandru's ninth hell warmed over, and said that I should just go to school
anyway.  I am really glad I didn't dabble in harder drugs, cigarettes, alcohol,
speed, coke.  I had done some LSD, some pot, some other things, but not much.
I got into a rather nihilistic mood, and didn't begin to get out of it until I
started obsessing over your parent.  I have a bad feeling that if anyone had
dared to inquire I would have ended up in a mental hospital for the rest of my
life.

	``Anyway, I was really upset that Ranma had actually said that he
wanted to be with Akane for the rest of his life, and so I challenged Akane to
a contest I was sure she couldn't win.  When I won I was to get to keep Ranma
for six months, an amount of time I felt more than adequate to the task of
making him mine.  Using my superior knowledge of poisons I got maybe 540
people.  I still don't know where she got all of that LSD, but she got all of
Nerima with it.  I was at Ucchan's to try and convince Ukyou to honor the deal
after I won when the LSD started to kick in.  I assumed that someone had gotten
into my poisons and added a hit or two to my food.  I hadn't done anything
other than order and drink a cup of tea when Ukyou ordered every one out,
locked the door, and started to lose it.  I'd had bad trips and knew what one
was like.  I also knew that it was a really bad thing to go through alone, and
not much better with just an alligator for company, so I dragged her outside,
locked the door behind me, and took her to a park and held her until she
started to calm down, at which time I realized that it wasn't just me who was
tripping, but everyone around me.  I took Ukyou to my house, made sure the
filter on Midorigame's tank was working, snagged a couple thousand yen, and led
Ukyou back to her shop, pausing to buy some bottled water along the way.

	``I still don't know why I did that.  It was totally out of character
for who I was.  Maybe I was thinking back to when I had wished for someone to
hold me during a bad trip, maybe I just thought it would be fun, maybe I just
wanted someone to hold me and I didn't care who, I don't know.  I'm just really
glad I did it.  I sat and talked to her, telling her that it was OK, that it
was just a hallucination, that she could tell that it was just a hallucination.
I ended up holding her until we both fell asleep.  After we woke up I just sort
of dumped on her, telling her a lot of the things that had been bothering me.
She ended up holding me, telling me it was all right as I cried on her
shoulder.  I hadn't cried in years.  We spent the next few days talking to each
other, telling secrets, becoming more and more attracted to each other.

	``I don't know how that happened, I don't find many females attractive,
and Ukyou is only a little broader in her definition of an attractive female.
By the time we ran out of bottled water I had worked up the courage to risk
kissing her.  I am still glad I did.  Very glad.'' Ukyou blushes at the fervent
manner this is said in.  ``I didn't even think about my family until after
school started again.  That afternoon I asked Ukyou to come with me to check on
Midorigame, who was fine.  My father and brother were not.  Apparently they had
kept drinking the water as it came from the tap until the rescue teams showed
up and started distributing uncontaminated water.  They were malnourished,
sleep-deprived, and heavily scrambled by the time the rescue teams found them,
and my brother never did recover.  He went and became a monk somewhere far
away, and my father went back to scaring people in Hawaii.  As long as Tatewaki
isn't too heavily stressed he's fine.  I showed Ukyou where Midorigame liked
to be scratched and sat for a long while just holding her.'' Kodachi curls her
fingers, her elbow on the table, curls of white light extending like claws from
her finger tips, blue flames flowing off of them.

	``How do you do that!?''  Miyuki is instantly transfixed by the sight.

	``I don't know.  It isn't very useful, at least not to the person I've
become.  They are made of a sort of ki-field which rips molecules apart.  They
don't affect salts, and are only really useful for sculpting and killing
people, one of which I can't do and the other of which I won't.''

	``Could you teach me?  The flames of the air recombining are really
neat.''

	``Nope.  That is the other thing that makes it useless.  I have this
bad feeling that the only reason I can do it is because I altered my brain far
more than is good for me.

	``On the other hand I do have some things that I might be able to
teach you if you want to learn.  You know that trick Happosai has?  The one
where he hits you with a pipe and knocks you across the room?''

	``Un.''

	``Have you ever thought about how he does that?  If he hit you with
the pipe hard enough to do that...''

	``He'd be much more likely to just tear through at the point where he
hit.''

	``Exactly.  What I guessed was happening was that the ambient kinetic
energy was being drawn off and then applied to a target.  I was wrong, but it
worked.''  She looks around for something sturdy to demonstrate on, then asks,
``Rie-chan, could you go get me a rock from outside?''  Rie pops up smiling,
and comes back nigh instantly with a rock, which she hands to her mother.

	Kodachi closes her eyes for an instant, then, holding the rock on the
palm of her left hand with a clear shot out the door, brings up her right
index finger, mist dropping towards the floor from around her hand.  She waits
like that for an instant, then lightly taps the rock with her finger-tip.
There is a sudden `Krack!' as the rock leaps from her hand and blows most of
the way through the wall around the garden.  ``Oops, sorry.  I send a crew by
to fix it tomorrow, I really didn't want to do that.''  Turning back to Miyuki
she asks, ``You can see how that might be useful, can't you?  It doesn't take
much energy from the user, for most of what is used comes from the environment
one is in, and it can also be used for putting large holes in things.''

	``Oshiete kureru, Kodachi-sensei!''  Ranma and Kodachi are a bit taken
aback by Kodachi's sudden promotion, and everyone else just giggles.

	``Sure.  You have to teach me how to make those sandwiches that my
daughter adores in return, though.''

	``Deal!''  Miyuki's face clouds for a moment, then brightens,  ``Oh,
and one last slightly rude question.  Which one of you two . . .'' she can't
quite finish the question, her eyes on Rie.

	``Oh!  That question.   I thought Ranma or Akane would have told you.
I bore her, and geneticly she's both of ours.  Basicly the doctors took an
ovum from each of us and fused them together, then implanted the embryo like
what happened with you.''  Kodachi answers.  Rie looks bored, like she's heard
this explanation far too many times before.

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