Note:  Thanks to Lord Archive, I found a continuity error in Chapter 11. 
In order to fix it, I had Nodoka place a call to Nabiki at her college from
the Utchan, asking her to come home and talk to Akari.  My mistake in
forgetting I'd sent Nabsy away to college- sorry!

Sheesh... this has taken me MUCH longer than I expected...  Anyways, here
it is, Chapter 12.  If I can find a little time between work and other
projects, chapter 13 will be out in two weeks.  E-mail me or go to my
webpage for back chapters (Web page has chapters 1-10 only).  If you could
give me plenty of c&c, that would be appreciated- this needs some work in
the transitions, and probably some fleshing out as well.

To the people who volunteered to preread for me, I told you Return of the
Sisters wouldn't be sent to you in advance.  Don't worry, though... I have
something for you I should have finished soon.

Anyway, here it is... enjoy.
-------------------------
Chapter 12:  Seppoku

Akane glanced over at the tapping at her window.  As she had expected,
there was Ranma hanging upside down from the room, trying to get her
attention.  Smirking, she went over and opened it.

"Hi, Ranma..."  Her voice trailed off when Ranma put a finger to his lips. 
Whispering, she continued, "Wanna come in?"

Ranma nodded.  Akane stood to the side and let him somersault through her
window, closing it behind him.

"I need to talk, and privately," he breathed.  "Everyone's going to bed,
but mom's as mad as hell and might hear us while she's pacing in the
hallway."

Akane nodded.  "Rooftop?" she asked.  Ranma nodded, and led her onto the
top of the roof.  They sat down next to each other, both regretting the
cloudy night.  Ranma put one of his arms around Akane, and she smiled and
put her own arm around him.  "Okay, what's up?" she asked.

*	*	*	*	*

Nodoka, pacing in the hallway, heard voices coming from the rooftop. 
Recognizing who the voices were connected to, she smiled and knocked on Mr.
Tendou's door.  "Come in" was his muffled response.

She slid the door open and smiled at Soun, who looked up at her in surprise
and a little fear.  "I think we might consider planning another wedding
soon," she said.

Soun drew in a deep breath and began cautiously, "Um... I don't think we
can kidnap and dress up Ryouga and Natsume as easily as we did Ranma and
Akane..."

Nodoka shrugged.  "Oh, well.  But I wasn't talking about that...  I just
heard a couple of voices talking on the roof- my son's and your youngest
daughter's."

Soun blinked.  "Oh, yeah... you haven't heard- Akane had you malleted
unconscious at the time.  Genma and I... were forced into breaking their
engagement."

Nodoka's eyes became slits.  "Oh, really?" she said dangerously.

*	*	*	*	*

Akane was hugging Ranma with one of her arms as tightly as only Akane could
while he finished his story.

"...and the scary thing was," he was saying, "is that pop actually stood up
for Ukyou, and seemed to be more of what a father should be than I ever
remember him being for me, while MOM was the one who was acting like the
oblivious obsessive idiot."

Akane squeezed him a little tighter.  "Maybe there's something more to this
whole thing than we know about.  At least we now know your father isn't a
total jerk."

Ranma laughed a little, squeezing Akane with the arm he had wrapped around
her shoulder.  "Well, he didn't go panda, at least."  Then his face became
more serious.  "But my mother... I've never seen her like that.  Granted,
we haven't known each other for such a long time, but still... is my mother
really that obsessive?"

Akane rolled from a sitting position beside Ranma into a straddling
position on Ranma's lap and put her other arm around him.  "I don't know,
Ranma... I'm sorry you have to go through all this."

Ranma returned the hug with vigor, allowing Akane to hold him comfortingly.
 "That's ok, Akane... thanks."

They snuggled for a few more minutes, totally oblivious to their
surroundings, nearly falling asleep together.  The rumble of distant
thunder reminded them of their present situation, and they stood up,
preparing to get inside before the coming rains came.

Akane shook her head as they got to her room.  "How are we going to sleep
tonight?" she asked wistfully.

Ranma blinked at her, clueless.  "Huh?"

She sat down on her bed and smiled at him.  "Well... we've been sleeping in
each other's arms for a couple of months now.  It's going to feel strange
sleeping apart tonight..."

"Oh."  Ranma blushed slightly, a little flustered.  His confusion led to a
relapse of his foot-in-mouth disease as he said, "Well, how did you deal
with P-Chan's absence when you were still annoying me with him?"

Akane frowned- she really didn't like the way he said that.  Almost like he
was... angry about it.  'Probably still jealous.  I guess I'd better deal
with this now, before we get into a fight about this,' she thought.  "Well,
I never really cared about P-Chan after I found out who he was, and
actually felt relieved when he was gone.  I don't think that can help us. 
By the way, I WAS careful to never let him see me... undressed... after I
found out about him."  She smiled a little.  "You know me, never letting a
challenge go, even if I can't win?  Well, when Nabiki found me mad as hell
about P-Chan being Ryouga, she made a bet with me that he was 'more
honorable than I thought,' and would tell me before you did.  I... didn't
exactly feel the same love then that I feel for you now, but I thought
anyone would be more honorable than someone who did that.  So, I agreed...
and did everything in my power to make you as jealous of him as possible,
to try to force you to tell me.  I was also mad that you DIDN'T just tell
me, and so, when my... love for you... grew to the point where I'd lose the
challenge to stop hurting you, I just let the anger of that fuel me."  She
sighed.  "I'm sorry about all of that, you know."

Ranma blinked.  Akane was acting as if she thought he was mad about it. 
Actually, he completely understood.  She was challenged to a contest, and
had to keep silent or else she'd lose that challenge- he'd done the same
sort of thing on occasion.  'Heh... must be a guilty conscience.  I have
that sometimes, too- of course, I rarely had the time to apologize before
someone hit me.  Well, there was that time her hair was clipped...  Of
course, I quickly got over that once I saw how cute her new hairstyle made
her...  Hmm, she's probably waiting for me to forgive her or something.  At
any rate, I'd better change the subject.'  He cleared his throat.  "Um...
that's fine, Akane...  It doesn't help us solve our sleeping problem,
though, does it?"

Akane laughed nervously.  "No, it doesn't.  Well... I guess we just have to
deal with it, tonight."

Ranma nodded.  "Guess so, Akane."  He started to head for the door, then
stopped as if he forgot something.

Akane opened her mouth to ask what was wrong, when Ranma suddenly spun
around, grabbed her, and gave her a quick kiss on the lips.  "Mmph!" Akane
cried, surprised.

Still holding her, Ranma smiled.  "Almost forget the goodnight kiss."  He
turned and left the room again, leaving a stunned Akane in his wake.

*	*	*	*	*

Bounding across Nerima, the person that some believed was the evilest
creature ever to live in Japan started making his way back to his old lair,
forgetting in his crazed state of the peril to him which resided there.

*	*	*	*	*

Ranma began to open the door leading into his room, when a female hand
slipped over his and pulled him away from the door roughly.  Ranma turned
in surprise to see his mother, as angry as he'd seen her when he'd gotten
home from his date.  "M...mom?  What's wrong?"

Fortunately for Ranma, she seemed to be in a little more control than she
did when Akari and Ryouga were defying her- at least enough to keep her
voice down.

"Ranma!  What's this I hear about you and Akane breaking the engagement?"
she whispered furiously.

"Ack!  Keep your voice down!  Let's talk about this in private!"  Ranma
looked from side to side, making sure he wasn't seen.  Seeing no-one, he
grabbed his mother and pulled her into the one unoccupied place he knew of
in the dojo- Happosai's room.

"Okay, Ranma," Nodoka continued, the anger still in her voice.  "What's
this all about?"

"Quiet!  I don't want anyone else to hear this!" he began, putting his hand
over his mother's mouth in a panic.  She broke free, but before she could
yell at Ranma for mistreating her, he continued, "I will marry Akane
willingly if I can, but if you open your mouth right now that chance will
be ruined."

Nodoka backed off, still upset but now hiding it in her Kasumi-like mask. 
'I swear,' Ranma thought, 'She's got more split personalities than I do. 
Must run in the family- Pop's a coward, but every once in a while he'll do
something brave, like that time he stood up to Happosai.  I sometimes think
I'm a cat... or a girl, if Akane hits my head hard enough, despite the fact
I KNOW I'm a man... and mom's either Kasumi or Mrs.
'I'll-Chop-Your-Head-Off-If-You're-Unmanly.'  I'll have to remember to keep
an eye out for that if Akane and I ever have ki... whoa, don't get ahead of
yourself, there, Ranma.  We actually have to get married without getting
killed first- and I'm pretty sure we won't want to have kids right away,
either.  Maybe after a few years of teaching the art... but kids would be
too much of a distraction while I'm trying to get a business started, even
if I were to get Nabiki to help.  Besides, do I really want to put Akane
through what poor Natsume's going through right now?  I mean, she wouldn't
be able to-"

"Explain," she suggested calmly, breaking into his thoughts.  Ranma didn't
need any more prompting than that- he wanted to keep his mother nice and
Kasumi-like.

"I... do love Akane.  I want her to be happy- and to not feel she was
forced into marraige with me.  So, I wanted to get rid of everything
OBLIGATING her to marry me.  That's... impossible, but I could get rid of
all the things she would THINK obligated her to do so.  And then, I could
ask her to marry me for real...  So now, I have her thinking that we're
free to make our own choices.  In truth, we aren't- she's 'won' me by
Amazon laws (of my own free will, I admit), and so she'll be forced to
marry me by Cologne eventually... but since she doesn't know that yet, I
want to delay things for a while."

"Why would you want to delay things?  An early marraige would be something
I would definitely consider manly..."

Ranma closed his eyes and shook his head in exasperation.  When his mother
was in her 'Honor' and 'Manliness' modes, she was a real bi... er,
trouble-maker.  "Maybe so, but I'm not losing any manliness by waiting
until Akane and I are out of school and our lives are somewhat stabler- the
Kunous are going to be a serious obstacle.  They are both insane to some
degree, and if I were to marry Akane now, they probably wouldn't stop until
one of us- or both of them- were dead."

Nodoka pondered the situation for a moment.  "Well, I can think of one
MANLY way to get rid of that problem.  You could always kill them in
battle..."

Ranma's eyes widened.  Was this the same mother who was so patient trying
to teach he and Akane to cook all those months ago?  "Mom... you can't be
serious!  For one thing, I do not want to become a killer under any
circumstances... well, short of it being the only way to save Akane's
life."  Nodoka nodded satisfactorally before he went on, "But Kodachi, the
only one of the two who might succeed in killing one of us (and that only
by poison), is a girl... and you know I find it dishonourable to hurt
girls, mother..."

Nodoka tensed, sensing the switch to the more formal 'mother' as being a
defiant gesture.  "Yes, of course," she agreed.  "I have no idea what I was
thinking... but surely there is some way to remove them as an obstacle."

Ranma nodded.  "Certainly, but I can't think of one," he sighed,
considering his options.  "Kodachi is completely insane, and so is
unpredictable.  Reason with her is impossible, and she'll never give up. 
Kunou is... well, he's not really INSANE, so much as delusional.  I can't
reason with him, Akane can't reason with him, and I doubt YOU could reason
with him.  MAYBE Nabiki could get through to him, if she tried hard enough,
but she probably wouldn't because a deluded Kunou is a profitable Kunou for
her."  He frowned.  "Tomorrow, I'll ask Akane to marry me, without being
forced to marry me.  She'll say yes- truth is, I already asked her and she
already did say yes, but when I told her how I actually wanted to go on a
real date with her before asking, she gave me back the ring so I could do
just that."  He smiled.  "I don't want to spoil her illusion of actually
making this better for me, but truth is I don't feel like I've had a chance
to do what I really wanted..."  His voice trailed off into a whisper, but
before Nodoka could say anything he continued, "Oh, Akane and I are going
to do a little play-acting before the proposal- don't worry about it."  He
looked around the room, trying to think of something else to say. 
"Anyway... I HOPE that Nabiki will take our 'new' engagement as something
she should respect, and help us out with it for REAL, this time, instead of
just to make money off of us..."

Nodoka frowned.  "I really need to speak to that girl.  She seems so...
unladylike."

Ranma snorted.  "Oh, Nabiki's a woman, all right- if she weren't, most of
her schemes would have gotten her killed by some vengeful martial artist-
possibly myself."

Ranma's mother sighed.  "Well, I suppose you know her better than I do..." 
After a few seconds, the son notices lines smoothing on her face and a more
happy look show on her face- like he remembered her looking when she
decided to try to teach Akane and himself to cook (though before she knew
how disasterous that could be).  "Isn't it getting late?  Maybe you should
get to bed- I hear Kasumi's fiancee is supposed to be showing up for
breakfast tomorrow, and I'd like you awake enough to attend."

Ranma nodded and ran upstairs to his room- as he did, he pondered on how,
in one day, his mother could be both a cold-hearted murderous bi... er,
woman, at one moment, and then sweet and, well, motherly the next...

That night, Akane and Ranma both had trouble sleeping.  Akane eventually
was able to drift off, imagining the oversized pillow she was squeezing the
stuffing out of (literally) was Ranma.  Ranma, however, was not able to at
all, worrying about the conversation he had just had with his mother.

*	*	*	*	*

The next morning, breakfast was a little... strange, even for the Tendou
residence.

It started out normal enough with Ranma and his father fighting over their
food.  Ukyou, who hadn't seen these fights that often (generally Ranma
didn't come to the Utchan with his father) looked on in amusement.  Natsume
and Kurumi, who didn't see any such fights when they were last in the
Tendou residence, and who had never heard of them like Ukyou had, were
shocked.  Desaix, who had been told all about them from Dr. Tofu (who he
was sitting next to) was doing everything he could to act like the regulars
at the dinner table, all of whom were just ignoring it.  Lastly, Dr. Tofu
was too buzy trying to keep from going wild sharing breakfast with the love
of his life and her family to pay any attention.  

At a prearranged signal, Akane picked up Ranma's bowl of rice and dumped it
on his head.

"Baka," she said in a carefully controlled monotone.  She was careful not
to let any expression other than boredom appear on her face.

Ranma picked up Akane's bowl of rice, and repeated the manuever over
Akane's head, also careful not to let any expression other than boredom to
appear on his face.

"Kawaiikune."

"Hentai," Akane replied in kind, still maintaining the emotionless tone in
her voice as she flicked a piece of rice off of her dress.

"Tomboy."  By now, the entire family was staring at the two with mixed
expressions of disgust, annoyance, shock, and fear of further damage to the
household.

Akane turned to face the young martial artist she was having her war of
words with.  "Don't you ever get bored of all this fighting, Ranma?"

Ranma turned towards her, pulling something out of his front pocket, having
a little trouble now keeping the smile from his face, but thanks to his
sleeplessness was able to keep it from showing too much.  "Sure do..."

"Well, then why don't we do something about it?"

"Okay, let's get married."  With that, he revealed the engagement ring to
the rest of the household.  Ranma was able to keep his voice from cracking,
but not his face.  Not that it mattered- the entire household (save poor
Dr. Tofu, who was chewing on a napkin, but at least wasn't endangering
anyone other people's lives like he used to in Kasumi's presence) was
focused on the ring Ranma was holding.  Genma and Soun gasped, recognizing
the ring, and Ukyou teared up a little, thinking for the first time since
Nodoka chased away Konatsu that perhaps she had made the right decision
after all.  Everyone else was displaying varying degrees of surprise and
amusement at the sudden proposal.

Akane smiled and nodded.  "Alright, sure thing."  With that, she placed
Ranma's ring on her finger before bursting into laughter with him.

"I'll call the chapel," Soun said, standing up to head towards the
telephone.

*CLANG*  Soun looked stunned as the metal glint of a katana halted his
progress.  "I think you should talk to Ranma before you decide to do that,
Mr. Tendou," Nodoka said forcefully.

"Uh... thanks, mom, but I think I can handle him myself."  Ranma looked at
his mother with some concern in his eyes before returning his attention to
Soun.  "Listen, Mr. Tendou, I don't want to get married right away.  Let me
wait until after high school, maybe even until after Natsume has her child,
and then Akane and I will set a date- together- for our wedding.  And WE
will make the arrangements ON OUR OWN.  But don't worry, you'll be plenty
involved- there's no way we could do this on our own, and so we will ask
you to help every now and then.  From now on, however, our lives are our
own...  And if you try and force us to get married before we're ready,
then... then I will not let it happen, and you will NEVER see our wedding."

While Soun agreed to Ranma's demands (his eyes never leaving Nodoka's
katana), Akane's eyes widened in shock- he had not discussed this with her.
 'Does this mean that he would actually break our engagement to keep our
parents from meddling?  B-but... if we love each other, it shouldn't
matter, should it?'  She studied his face, fixed in a hard expression, and
grew increasingly concerned.  'But that's just it, isn't it?  He's only
said he loved me a couple of times, and both times were remarkable odd...
But he acts like he loves me...  though we both convincingly acted like we
hated each other for the longest time... but he DID propose to me... but
that was also under unusual circumstances, at least the first time...  Oh,
gods... what if he doesn't?'

Before anyone else could say or do anything else, however, another unusual
breakfast time event occurred- also with a pretty normal beginning.

*SPLASH*  "Aaagh!" Ranma cried.  "That's COLD!"

As he spun around to see what splashed him, a wrinkled old pervert leapt
onto his (now her) chest, groping him.  Akane, shaken out of her worried
stupor, was the first to react.

"Get off him, Happosai!" She cried, a mallet appearing in her hands and
knocking him off of Ranma and into the ground.

The echoing of the ancient martial artist's name through the halls of the
Tendou estate was met with the cracking of three separate sets of knuckles.

"Ah..." Desaix began.  "So YOU are this 'Happosai' person."

Happosai left the hole in the ground and looked at the man who had
addressed him.  "Ah, yes I am.  MASTER Happosai... and who might you be,
and what do you want of me?"

"My name is Kenji Desaix, and I want to talk to you about the murder of
most of my family..."

As Desaix said his name, Happosai's face went ashen.  "K... kenji DESAIX?"
He said.  He had been dreading this moment for ten years, spending his few
remaining years of freedom to have as much fun as he could, but now it was
over.  Realizing this, he bowed as low as he could, stunning all those in
the room who knew him.  "I am so... sorry... I never meant to..."  His
voice broke up, but before anyone could react he continued.  "Mr. Desaix, I
never meant to harm you or your family.  I was only indulging in my own...
perversion...  When your family was killed, I took it upon myself to raise
your kids as I thought you would want them raised, in order to make up in
some way for my disgrace.  However, there is no way I can absolve myself
from my crime... so I ask to know what punishment you would deal to me for
it."

"I... um..."  Desaix coughed, looking at his daughters.  They looked up at
him in surprise, and he didn't quite know how to react.  "My daughters have
told me of how you raised them.  Perhaps they are not the most honorable of
children," he said, glaring at Natsume, who looked guilty but defiant in
response.  "But they are still principally good children, who have been
treating me well.  Also, I have heard how you kept them fed and trained
them in martial arts at a young age, and then saved them from a bear
shortly before leaving them for the last time.  For this reason, and this
reason alone, I won't demand you commit seppoku.  However, I feel as
though-"

"I, however," Nodoka interrupted, "Do not feel as though this makes up for
all the terror and dishonor you have committed, Happosai.  As a man of
honor, I ask that you commit seppoku, despite the mercy Mr. Desaix is
offering.  His sense of what is a proper punishment is probably skewed by
his gaijin heritage and his time away from Japan, but that is okay, I will
correct him- AND his daughter."  The Desaixes gasped at her blatent insult,
and much of the rest of the table was shocked at her words as well while
Nodoka dumped a ceremonial knife at Happosai's feet.  "I will be your
second."

Happosai looked up at Nodoka in fear- he only remembered the Kasumi-like
persona she wore when she was not concerned with honor or manhood.  If
someone who he thought was as even tempered as KASUMI- the only girl too
innocent for him to even THINK about fondling- thought he had done so wrong
as to need to commit seppoku, he'd better do as she said.

Picking up the dagger, he nodded.  "This is a proper punishment- a life for
a number of lives.  I am sorry."  With that, he started to plunge the
dagger into his heart.

"NO!"  Dr. Tofu cried, snapped out of his stupor for the first time that
day- as a doctor, he refused to watch someone die in front of him.  Leaping
over, he grabbed Happosai's wrist and kept the knife at bay.

He was not able, however, to stop the sword coming from above.  Dr. Tofu
watched as it passed through the neck of the ancient martial artist, and
descended towards his own hand.  There was no time to move.

*SNAP*  Most people were looking in horror at the head of Happosai rolling
along the breakfast table.  Nodoka was looking in horror at something else.

"GENMA!"  She screeched.  "You broke the family blade!"

The few who could bring themselves to look up from the bloody object on the
table stared at the confrontation between Nodoka and her husband.

Genma frowned, standing up to his wife for the first time since he got
married.  "Nodoka, dear," he said coldly, "If I hadn't, Dr. Tofu would no
longer have a hand.  I would rather lose face seeing our family sword
broken than I would seeing it dishonour our name by harming an innocent man
who will shortly be a part of our family."

Ranma looked at his father in amazement- there were only two times he had
seen him like this.  The most recent was the time that he was under the
control of the people of Jusendou, but before that, there was a time when,
as a panda, he stood up to Happosai and faced him down with his chi.  For
the first time in a long time, he felt some pride in his father.

"Leave," Nodoka commanded.  "I do not ever want to see you again.  You care
too little for our family tradition.  As a symbol, you may take the part of
the blade the handle does not touch- the rest shall be made into a tanto,
which will be used to kill you if you come near me again."

Soun raised his eyes, a mixed expression of revulsion and celebration in
his face at the death of Happosai.  Seeing a single tear in Genma's face, a
tear which seemed to mean more than all the tears he himself had cried in
the past year, he leapt to his friends defense.  "Mrs. Saotome, I may
remind you that I own this house.  If either of you are to leave, it is to
be you."  Seeing her sharp glare at him, he swallowed.  "However... I hope
you can resolve your differences with your husband, because if do so you
may stay.  If not... it is your choice."

Growling, Nodoka sighed and left for her room.  "Come on, Genma... we need
to talk.  Alone."


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sir Desaix, member # 116 of the Knights of the True Fiancee
                             desaix@sysnet.net
    http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/7872
                           fanfics available at 
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/7872/fanfics.htm