"Ranma???" Akane asked, gently sliding the guestroom door open and peeking inside. Ranma was curled up on his futon, his back towards the door, eyes quite open as he stared out the window at the moonlight.

        Akane bit her bottom lip, stepping in and closing the door behind her. "Ranma.. I�m sorry for inviting her, I didn�t know she disliked you this much, please forgive me," Akane bowed her head, looking hurt at how one of her supposed friends could be so cruel to the man she loved.

        Ranma sighed deeply, wiping a tear from his eyes and sniffing, "S�okay Akane.. don�t worry about it, not her fault I�m a big macho mean arrogant jerk," Ranma drew a shuddering breath as he held back more tears. *I am a man now...*

        Akane furrowed her brow in a pained expression, "Ranma.. that�s not true, you are a wonderful, caring person, who worries about his friends.."

        "Yeah.. that�s why you were always hitting me and calling me a perverted Jerk.... she�s right, I am a jerk, I don�t deserve you Akane," Ranma wiped his eyes again, he heard Akane walk closer, kneeling down beside his futon.

        "Ranma... I love you, and maybe I did think you were a jerk for a while... but that was because I refused to get to know you, I thought of you as only another problem in my life, something to be avoided," Akane placed a gentle hand on Ranma�s shoulder.

        Ranms shivered like a small child, curling up in a ball, "Akane, I am scared..." Ranma said in a weak voice.

        Akane lay down beside Ranma, putting her own hand on Ranma�s hip... "..why??" She asked in a soft, concerned voice.

        "It�s because.. I.. I don�t know myself anymore, I hardly know who I am, I don�t know.. I don�t know what I am supposed to do, Akane. You, and Pop, and Mom, and Mister Tendou... all of them are pushing me towards this one path..." Ranma rolled over, putting his own hand over Akane�s, which now rested on his stomach.

        "Akane... there is this other path that�s callin� me.. I dunno why, but it is so confusing, these dreams I�ve been having... and they frighten me, ya know??" Ranma looked up at akane with those beautiful blue eyes of his, there was fear in them, and confusion. 

        Something quite common lately, it seemed. Ranma�s confusion had started getting worse since Nodoka found out about his little curse.

        Akane looked down at her love, her life.... "Ranma... I know that we haven�t always been the best of friends, that we haven�t always been the most open and loving of people towards eachother... but I want things to be right. I want to help you through whatever is bothering you recently..."

        Ranma sighed deeply, a weary, worn down sigh, "Akane... I am sorta tired... go.. go see your friends, I am fine here, I need ta get ta sleep anyways," Ranma pulled the blankets up over himself shivering in the autumn air.

        Akane lay for a moment beside Ranma in silence, "...are you sure, Ranma??" She asked in a wary, concerned voice, thick with care and love.

        Ranma stared out the window, at the moonlight gently pouring in, illuminating his futon with it�s gentle ivory light.

        "Hai... go Akane, your friends came here to spend time with you. I�ll just be going to bed... I need the sleep anyways," Ranma closed his eyes, feeling a sharp tremble run through him.

        Akane hesitated, watching Ranma carefully. They sat like that for a good ten minutes, Ranma�s eyes gently closed, yet his body fully aware of how close Akane is. She seemed so close.. yet so far away.

        There was a gentle knock on the guestroom door... and Akane tensed.

        "Go on... go to your friends, Akane, please.. don�t let me ruin your fun," Ranma said quietly.

        Akane sighed, standing up and walking towards the door... "...ranma..." She whispered quietly, looking back.

        "..akane.." Ranma whispered, although he had not heard Akane�s soft murmuring of his own name.

        Sleep took him moments later.

                                                                *                 *                 *                 *                 *                 *

        Ranma stirred softly on his futon, tossing and turning as fitful dreams disturbed his sleep.... the sounding siren of his alarm clock snapped him out of his restless slumber and into the waking world. Usually Ranma ignored the blaring of the digital alarm and slept several hours more.

        He shuddered a long moment, shaking his head wearily. *Not again.* He took a deep breath and let it out. Slipping slowly out of his futon he stood and walked to the closet quietly. The large panda on the other futon did not stir, but a silent buzz emitted from it's snoring form.

        Ranma slid the door open, and looked at both sides of the closet. On one side was a small collection of female clothes, some he had bought for disguises earlier in his stay with the Tendo's.... others had been bought by his Mother, so that he could be trained in the arts of womanhood.

        Ranma sighed, and shrugged, taking out his most neutral gender outfit, his red Chinese vest and black slacks. He shuddered again for a moment, then opened another drawer, taking out a new bra. *Geeze, I hate wearing this..... I wouldn't if it didn't feel worse without it....*

        He also took from the same drawer a small black box. He looked once more at his father, the sleeping beast on the futon, then padded softly out of the room.

        At about the same time, Kasumi's door opened up, and she stepped out with a smile, closing the door behind her. She turned and started as Ranma looked at her. "Oh, Ranma-kun.... you're up a little earlier than usual." She cast a worried eye over Ranma's somewhat tired shape. "Oh my, you didn't sleep well last night, did you Ranma-kun?"

        Ranma sighed, shaking his head. "Nah..... nightmares about some masked freak, Jusenkyou, and a vast darkness that only one person knows about....," He sighs, shaking his head. *Where do these dreams about Hiroshi keep coming from??? Maybe they mean something.....* Ranma smiled a bit in humor as he remembered the nightmarish thoughts that had wandered through the void-like dream.

        Kasumi seemed to look at the air for a moment, and touch a hand to her chest. "Ranma-kun, you don't usually get up this early.... but recently, you and I have been waking up about the same time. It's only every other day, though, do you know why?" Kasumi, to her honor, was very perceptive when she wished to be. 

        Her family probably didn't know that she cried herself to sleep sometimes from all the things that had happened to them.... she cried herself to sleep while praying for them to be well. 

        Recently she had begun to add Ranma to her prayers, for it was only a few weeks past that she had seen Ranma crying..... and decided that perhaps Ranma needed a bit more care and understanding than any of them were giving him.

        Ranma sighed, and shrugged slightly at Kasumi's question. "Sure, I know why. The night's I'm not a girl I get nightmares.... funny, huh?" Ranma turned, leaving a pale looking Kasumi as he went into the bathroom.

        He slowly closed the door behind him, thinking to himself. *Really odd..... every other night for the past ten days.... nah, maybe it's somethin' else. Can't be just cause I'm a guy when I fall to sleep.....* Ranma prayed it wasn't. He didn't know why, but that thought made him uncomfortable.

        Ranma pulled off his shirt and boxers, laying them in the dirty clothes bin, and opened the bath door, walking slowly in. He leaned over the bath, turning on the hot water and letting it fill the tub as he went to retrieve a towel.

        He returned to the tub and slid the towel on the rack, he stepped towards the bath.... then hesitated a moment.

        He stared at the warm water, an uncomfortable feeling of apprehension and uncertainty creeping into his mind.... then he shook his head and slowly stepped into the water.

        His mind wandered to the dreams he had been having, an odd man in a mask whispering to him lowly, he was dressed in a blue and white ball gown and was female at the time.

        Then there was him, as a guy, in a fighting stance..... facing the masked man who was laughing maniacally, then a sense of dread fell over him in that section of the dream... then it changed slowly.

        A wedding scene, sometimes with Akane, sometimes with him alone.... seemingly waiting for someone. Whenever Akane was involved, there were things being destroyed by his Mother and Father, and Nabiki had a mask of ice on her face.

        Or, on other occasions, he would be whisked into the sky and towards the setting sun, away from Akane by someone he trusted.... it was odd.

        Usually after that, it would fade into scenes of two children, whom he thought resembled himself and Hiroshi. He found that the oddest himself. On occasion there was an odd dream of surrealism to replace the child scene....

        A vast darkness, and he is a girl... talking to someone who makes her feel less alone....

        Ranma blinked after a moment, looking at the steaming water. *Akane......* His entire life for the past six months had focused around her, and only recently had he been able to tell her his feelings.

        He wished so much that he could reestablish their engagement, but there was so much about himself he didn't know, and so many answers he needed. Whether or not there was a cure for Jusenkyou was one of them, but oddly it had begun to get further and further from his mind, despite the dreams of Jusenkyou.

        He dwelt on the past four weeks, and how many things had changed so suddenly. Since the cooking challenge the week before, Ukyou never mentioned their engagement.... nor did it seem the thought ever crossed her mind. She was always there with a helpful hand.

        It was as if they were friends again, and nothing more. That made Ranma feel happy, for some reason. He loved Ukyou, his Ucchan, but like a Sister..... when she had confessed her love for him, he had suddenly become slightly uncomfortable with discussing things with her.

        *I thought that when she came back into my life that I could confide in her all the things I had kept secret.... then I found out she was a girl, and in love with me, and that hope was gone.....* Ranma shook his head, then realized something.

        Hiroshi. He had confided more in Hiroshi than he had with anyone else he knew.... Hiroshi was always willing to listen, and give sage advise when it was needed. Ranma thought highly of Hiroshi since they had become so close, in fact, Ranma thought that Hiroshi was the one he respected most.

        Ranma finished rinsing himself off, and slowly rose from the water. *Another day as a woman, Ranma.....* He muttered to himself, half bored with the entire concept. The other half being of a fearful anticipation.

        At least his Mother had held her word. At least she had let up on her strict schedule and harsh rules. She let him wear other clothes, not so utterly feminine, so long as they were not terribly masculine.

        Nodoka was still teaching him the rules of proper speech, and she still required him to wear some modest make-up, but at least she was not pushing him to do everything as a woman would.

        He filled the bucket slowly with cold water, and clenched his teeth. "Here goes...." He dumped the water slowly over his head, feeling his body shudder and reshape as the cold feeling ran down his body....

        He shrank, his shoulders narrowing, his face becoming more delicately formed, his hair changing hue and color..... his chest expanding into breasts, his waste growing smaller just as much as his hips grew wider, and his legs reshaped to match a more curvaceous frame.

        Ranma, now a girl, shivered a moment. *That was wholly unpleasant....* Ranma noted, just as he had a thousand times before. She left the washroom, slowly taking the towel and wiping it over her soaked body, drying herself of her bath.

        She slipped quickly into her bra, vest, and slacks, and lifted the black box, carrying it carefully to the sink.

        Ranma opened it, and took a deep breath as she always did. *Let's get it right this time.....* She began to apply the makeup, very slowly.... with a hand that was much more practiced with martial arts.

        Yet, still, she seemed to have had great stress in practice, for Ranma seemed to apply just the right amount of everything this time. The result was a face that seemed slightly more beautiful than before, but not so outrageous as to cry harlot. A modest application.

        Ranma sighed. *Finally.... at least Mom didn't have to help me this time..... hmmm....* Ranma felt.... adventurous for some reason, and reached a hand back to softly touch her pig-tail, now more of a pony-tail since it was down to the tips of her shoulder blades.

        Ranma grinned for a moment, giving herself a mischievous look in the mirror. She pulled softly on the dragons-whisker, and her hair tumbled forth in a cascade around her shoulders. *Not so bad, now that I think about it. Maybe it does look good down as a girl.....*

        Ranma jumped as she felt eyes on her, and she turned to look at a dazed Kasumi. "Er...." Ranma noted intelligently. "K.....Kasumi. How long have you been standing there?"

        "For about five minutes, Ranma..... why did you let your hair down?" Kasumi asked, her worried tone even greater than before. What was Ranma doing?? Kasumi shuddered to think what her imagination was telling her.

        Ranma shrugged. "Dunno. I felt kinda bored, so I decided on somethin' different. Everyone's got a right to choose how they wear their hair, isn't that right?" Ranma asked brightly.

        Kasumi frowned, furrowing her brow in concern. "Yes, Ranma.... I guess I'm a little shocked. You don't usually prefer your hair down. That's all I was saying.....," Kasumi sighed, and stepped back. "I'll leave now...."

        "Wait! Kasumi!" Ranma asked, taking several steps towards the door.

        "Yes, R...Ranma-kun?" Kasumi asked. For a moment she had been about to call him Ranma-chan. His appearance, she thought, was startling to her. Rarely had she been more shocked.

        "Do you need some help with cooking?" Ranma asked, stuffing the Dragon's Whisker into her pocket.

        Kasumi smiled for a long moment, just looking at Ranma. It disturbed her that Ranma was acting so strangely that day, but she knew when Ranma's sincerity was shown. *Ranma can be such a sweet boy at times....* Kasumi thought to herself. "Yes, Ranma, that would be wonderful. It would be very kind to give your Mother a day off," Kasumi bustled downstairs, Ranma on her heels.

                                                                *                 *                 *                 *                 *                 *

        After helping Kasumi with breakfast, Ranma retired out to the yard to await school. She was unaware of Genma watching her from the second floor.

        Ranma jumped onto the wall that surrounded the Tendo Residence, her blue eyes looking far out to the horizon..... where the sun was just now lumbering into the world.

        Ranma's eyes met it for a long moment.... something she had done frequently as of late, then closed her eyes. She raised her arms out beside her, and began a Kata on the wall with her eyes closed.....

        She could feel the wind blowing through her long hair.... and the soft caress seemed to drive her, move her with it.... in fluid motion. She could feel the heat of the sun rising to warm her skin, at the same time the stirring of the leaves reached her ears.... the world was on fire with life, and her senses seemed to burn with every sensation but sight. The smell of the morning seemed to permeate the air. *Things seem so much clearer, when you close your eyes....* Hiroshi had told her on one of his many philosophical mood-swings. *Close your eyes, Ranma..... feel the thrum of Life coursing through you, let it flow within you, and run rampant through your blood.... take in the smells, the sounds, the feeling....... and laugh....*

        Ranma finished the Kata, and opened her eyes slowly. She felt her mouth upturning in a smile, and she opened her mouth and began to laugh.... not from a joke, or insanity, or to relieve stress.... no, she laughed to enjoy life, and to meet the morning sun with a laugh on her lips.

        Genma watched, entranced, as his daughter moved with fluid grace. He watched as Ranma had closed her eyes. He sat, confused, as Ranma began laughing at the rising sun. *What is the boy doing? Has he lost his marbles?* Genma wondered. It was something he had wondered quite often as of late.

        Ranma, to Genma's surprise... turned and looked up at Genma, and smiled. Genma blinked at the serene look on Ranma's face, one of utter contentment and happiness. Something he had never truly seen on his boy's face.... It had somehow replaced the constant internal war that was Ranma.

        Ranma then jumped off the wall, flipping in midair and landing softly on the ground in front of the house. She slowly padded inside and took a seat opposite her mother. "Good morning, Mom!" She said in a very cheerful tone.

        Nodoka blinked a moment, and then stared at Ranma with a critical eye. "Good morning, 

        Ranma.... why are you so happy all of a sudden?" She asked, smirking slightly as she poured herself some tea.

        Ranma sighed, a light flickering in her blue eyes. "Because I feel so alive, and happy... for once, everything in my life seems to be goin' okay. It's all cause of Hiroshi...." Ranma smiled and poured herself some tea as well, getting a distant, thoughtful look in her eyes that Nodoka usually marked as Hiroshi's dreamy gaze.

        Nodoka frowned suddenly as she thought. Why is it whenever Ranma mentioned Hiroshi, or someone else mentioned Hiroshi that Ranma got a dreamy, distant look in her eyes and a soft, happy smile on her lips?

        *Hmmm.... something odd is going on here. Maybe I should look into this.....* Nodoka slowly lifted the cup to her lips, taking a small sip, then lowering it. She looked at her daughter for a long moment as Ranma sipped her own tea with that lost look on her face, and a air of utter contentment.

        Nodoka, despite her suspicions, had to smile. Never had she seen Ranko, or Ranma for that matter, so happy and full of life. *Surely it can wait, though. Whatever could make my Ranma happy couldn't be so bad as I fear.*

        "So, you've decided to wear your hair down, Ranma?" Nodoka asked, noting the beautiful mane of hair that framed Ranma's face and cascaded down to her mid chest and back. It was very good looking, but Nodoka wondered WHY Ranma had decided upon the style.

        Ranma blinked at the question, then shrugged. "I dunno..... I felt kinda bored having the same style all the time, so I decided to try somethin' different." Ranma ran a hand through her hair, marveling at how smooth and healthy her hair was.

        Nodoka sipped her tea softly again, then looked carefully at Ranma. "Now what have I told you about your language?"

        Ranma turned slightly red at always being chastised about her bad verbal skills. "Sorry Mother, I will try to do the best I can at correcting my speech." She said carefully, making sure she didn't make any mistakes with her grammar and pronunciation.

        Nodoka smiled, and nodded her head. "Much better, Ranma. Maybe there is hope for you yet."

        Ryouga wandered into the room, a dazed look on his face.... one of surprise and shock. His eye twitched and his body was tense.

        Ranma and Nodoka both looked at Ryouga, Ranma glared at Ryouga through narrowed eyes. "Whadja do this time, Mr. P?"

        "I.... I..... I...." Ryouga mumbled, then lifted the letter up to his face and read it again. His eyes seemed like they were going to bulge out of his head.

        Ranma frowned, wondering why Ryouga hadn't responded to her obvious taunt. Ranma's Mother frowned from Ranma's inability to speak like an intelligent person for more than 5 minutes.

        Ranma jumped up, snatching the paper from Ryouga's hands. "What's got you so worked up?" Ranma asked as Ryouga fell out of his mental coma and began to get angry.

        "It's none of your business, Ranma!!! Gimme it back, before I pound your skull in!" Ryouga yelled, his hands twitching in a clawlike position.

        Ranma looked at the note. "Hmm. Dear Ryouga, I was wondering if you would like to be my partner for the Martial Arts Ballroom Dance at the Prom.... Sincerely your Friend, Akane Tendo," Ranma shoved the paper back at Ryouga, who's face was quite red by now and a look of murder was in his eyes.

        "Now what is so..... ?!? eep?" Ranma read the message over again. "Akane!?!? AKAAAAAAAAAAANE!!!!" Ranma yelled at the Top of her lungs, just as Ryouga ground her Skull into the ground with his elbow.

        "Damn you, Ranma!!! Can you never leave me in peace and leave what is mine alone??! Must you always corrupt and defile everything in your presence, even the love letter dear Akane has sent me?!?! Are you so jealous, Ranma?!"

        Akane ran downstairs at the obviously pained yell from Ranma. "Ranma?! What is it?" She asked, then looked at Ryouga and how he was grounding Ranma's head into the floor.

        "Ranma!!! You called me down here to tell me Ryouga was here?! How thoughtful of you!" Akane smiled at Ranma, who was in very much pain.

        Suddenly Ryouga left Ranma on the ground and approached Akane, a flower in his hand. "Did you mean it, Akane? Do you really want to go with me?" Ryouga asked, a hopeful tone in his voice.

        Ranma picked herself off the ground with a growl, glaring at Ryouga and Akane. "....Ryouuuuga....." She snarled low in her throat.

        "Well, I guess. I mean, I need a partner if I'm going to challenge Ranma, right?" Akane said with an oblivious look in her eyes as she gazed at Ryouga.

        Ryouga was at the brink of tears. "Oh Akane, I would be your date anytime!" He said as his heart soared, threatening to pull him into the clouds. "Here, this is for you!" He offered her the flower he had, and Akane took it.

        "Thank you, Ryouga! You're such a sweet friend...." Akane beamed, and then looked at Ranma, who was standing by Ryouga with a very angry expression.

        "So, Akane, you wanna go with Ryouga, do you? Fine by me. Just peachy," Ranma's voice dripped with sarcasm, which caused her Mother to frown in dissatisfaction at her.

        Akane looked at Ranma with a slightly angry look on her face. "Don't tell me you actually thought I would go with you? That's just stupid, Ranma.... how could I go WITH you when I have to CHALLENGE you??"

        Everything froze in Ranma's head at those words, a blank look coming over her face. How could she be so stupid? Assuming Akane would go with her to a dance where they would have to challenge each other.

        That meant Ranma didn't have a date!!! Where would she find one so soon??? How could she have overlooked such an obvious necessity! A partner for the battle!

        "Geeze, Ranma, and I thought you were dense before...." Ryouga mumbled, then twitched as Ranma's fist smashed into his face.

        "Shaddup, P-chan...." She growled angrily.

        "Ranma, stop picking on Ryouga!!! Seriously, what is it with you two?" Akane asked, and promptly sat at her spot around the table.

        Ranma snapped her fingers at a sudden inspiration. Ukyou! Shampoo! They would help him out!

        Ranma sat to eat her breakfast, eager to get through the day at school so he could go seek his partner. "You just wait, Akane.... I'm gonna win that contest fair and square."

        "If you do, Ranma, I'll concede... but until then, you just keep on wishing," Akane smiled with a smug expression on her face.

        Ranma frowned at Akane's reaction. *I'll show you, Akane.... just as soon as I talk to Ucchan.....*

        "Ranma, Ryouga, sit down please... Breakfast will be out in a few minutes." Nodoka looked at both of them with a stern glare, especially Ryouga... who looked as if he was ready to rip Ranma's head off.

        Ranma quickly sat down from the warning glare, but it took Ryouga several moments to comply.

        It was going to be a very long day.....

                                                                *                 *                 *                 *                 *                 *

        "I'm sorry, Ranchan.... I can't," Ukyou silently flipped her Okonomiyaki, a sad and upset look on her face.

        Ranma had come to ask her to the Prom, to be his partner for the Martial Arts Ballroom Battle held annually. She had been on cloud nine for the whole of one minute before realizing she couldn't go.

        Ranma stared abashed at Ukyou. "Why?? Did I do something wrong? Please, Ucchan, I really need a partner!"

        Ukyou flipped the Okonomiyaki again, then sighed deeply, she turned around to look at Ranma, and stared once more at her hair. It had been bugging her the entire day, seeing Ranma's hair unbound. The length of it completely destroyed the image of a man she had seen whenever Ranma turned female.

        "It's not you're fault, Ranchan... don't you ever think that!! I care about you a lot, and would help you out in any way that I could.... but.... I have to go to Kyoto and see my Mother. I have to talk to her, before she makes me come back to live in Kyoto," Ukyou leaned against the counter.

        She had felt so weary lately, since she had realized that Ranma would never be hers she had lost some of the usual vigor and cheeriness that her business was known for. She'd also lost several customers, even WITH Shampoo suggesting her restaurant to the customers that didn't prefer the Chinese food.

        Ranma sighed. "I'd forgotten about that..... sorry, Ucchan..... I guess I'll hafta find a partner elsewhere. I hope everything goes well with you and your Mother... cause I would be very sad if you had to leave Nerima....," Ranma smiled supportively to Ukyou.

        Ukyou nodded, looking up at Ranma with a weary gaze. "I know, Ranchan. I wouldn't be too well if I moved back to Kyoto either. All of my friends are here, and you're here. I would feel terribly guilty for leaving my best friend behind," Ukyou winked halfheartedly, and Ranma smiled.

        "Thanks, Ucchan, for being such a great friend. I really had wished you would go with me, but I guess I'll keep searching," Ranma took Ukyou's hand for a moment, and with a slight squeeze stood and left the restaurant.

        Ukyou stared after the girl for several moments, a sad look coming across her face. Akane had taught Ukyou much when they had been teamed up against Ranma.... and many things she did not want to hear or learn. Like Ranma didn't love her, but saw her as a friend and possibly a sister.

        It still hurt, Ukyou mused, even after a week of acting as if nothing had happened. She still hurt for Ranma, longed for his love.... but it was not to be. She had realized this, first, when Nodoka had broken off all engagements. She realized that she had lost the battle.... that Ranma's heart belonged to Akane.

        Many people had tried to tell her, Hiroshi, Ranma, Shampoo even.... that Ranma saw her as just a friend. Nothing more, and nothing less could come of that relationship. She had, for so very long, disbelieved it. She couldn't accept it as what it was.....

        Finally, when she did, she saw the pointless futility of the battle. There had never truly been any choice. Ranma Loved Akane. Akane Loved Ranma. In the end, they would be together no matter what.

        When Kirin had kidnapped Akane, Ranma had followed to get her back from the prince.....

        When Toma had taken them all prisoner, it was not Ukyou that Ranma saved, no, it was Akane. Akane Tendo..... whose kind soul and generous spirit had braved death itself to thwart Saffron's attack upon Ranma.

        She had heard of the grief on Ranma's face, could imagine the pain and suffering in his soul when he had believed Akane dead. She should have known then that she had lost him. She should have known then that she had never really had him.

        "Mistress.... are you all right?" Konatsu asked, a touch of worry on his feminine face. Ukyou looked at him for a long moment before the words seemed to register.

        Ukyou nodded very slowly. "Yes, Konatsu.... just reminiscing on sour grapes. Excuse me, but I think I have to go pack.... can you run for the last two hours and lock up for me?"

        Konatsu beamed happily. "Anything for you, Ukyou."

        Ukyou nodded sadly. She didn't love Konatsu, but he cared so much for her.... she knew what it was like to have the one you love reject you.... and she felt as if she was hurting Konatsu more by letting him stay.

        She would tell him, soon, how she felt. She wouldn't let him delude himself any longer. As soon as she returned, she would tell him, and set him free.

        With that thought, Ukyou walked upstairs to pack her things.

                                                                *                 *                 *                 *                 *                 *

        Ranma's jaw hung open for a long moment as she stared at Shampoo. "You've got to be kidding...."

        Shampoo fixed Ranma with a stern glare as she mixed the boiling water and ramen noodles. "Do these eye lie? You close mouth now, Ranma, it make you look like codfish," Shampoo stopped mixing, and turned to look at Ranma.

        "Is there a problem, Shampoo?" Mousse poked his head in, looking between Shampoo and Ranma. "Oh, Hi Saotome. Long time no see," Shampoo continued glaring at Ranma.

        "Is already decided, yes? Shampoo go to Prom with Mousse. Nabiki already buy pass for us. I sorry, Ranma....." Shampoo looked at the obviously abashed Ranma.

        "That's great... Just great.... Ukyou has to leave and you're already going with someone else....," Ranma murmured in a dejected tone.

        "Hey! For your information, Ranma, I'm going with my wife..... and this was decided at least two weeks ago. Sorry, Saotome," Mousse left the room, going back out to serve customers and take orders.

        Shampoo brought several orders out to the counter, where Mousse would find them, laying the receipts by the dinners. Ranma followed in stride.

        "Geeze, what the heck am I supposed to do now, Shampoo? I don't got a date, and I don't got a partner for the contest that Akane challenged me to!" Ranma stood in mute shock, a panicked look on her face. She had never walked away from a challenge, Ryouga's excepted... though that was understandable.

        What was she going to do?? Where could she find a partner a single day before the Dance? Most people would already have dates, and most people didn't have any martial arts skills.

        "Maybe you go with Kodachi?" Shampoo offered absently. Ranma shuddered, then sneered at Shampoo, who was grinning like a cat.

        "Not funny, Shampoo. I don't need a date THAT bad, and I need Kodachi's company like I need a bullet in the head. I'm serious, what am I gonna do?" Ranma sat roughly down onto a chair, holding her head in her hands.

        "Maybe you ask Hiroshi what you do?" Shampoo offered, pouring Ranma some tea. "Here, you drink. You have long day, it look like," Shampoo watched Ranma for another long moment, and then went back to her cooking.

        "I dunno..... I don't think Hiroshi would have any ideas that I haven't tried. I could ask him, but he's been avoiding me recently....," Ranma suddenly felt the bitter pangs of sadness as she recalled how apprehensive and unsure Hiroshi had looked that morning in Hinako's class. In fact, for the entire day.

        Daisuke had joined Ranma for lunch, spouting the usual quips to the disgrace of Kuno and some of the other unlikeables of the student body.

        "Why sappy-boy avoid Ranma? He usually very ready to help....," Shampoo turned and looked at Ranma's sad attitude, and frowned. "You upset with Shampoo, that she mention boy?"

        Ranma shook her head, and looked up from her tea. "No, It's not that... it's just.... well, Hiroshi's possibly my best friend... and it hurts that he would just avoid me like I was the plague er' somethin'," Ranma shrugged, and finished the tea slowly.

        "Ah.... maybe you should go talk to sappy-boy, if it bother you so," Shampoo couldn't see the uncertain look on Ranma's face with her back turned to the red-head.

        "Yeah.... maybe I should....," Perhaps it was time to pay Hiroshi another visit... Ranma had been wondering lately about her friend, and she certainly missed Kaehmi and Memeko. "I think I will.... thanks anyway, Shampoo..."

        "Is no problem, I help when can... I sorry cannot go with you to dance, but promised Mousse would take him," Shampoo smiled softly for a moment. If someone had told her but a month before that she would be married to Mousse, she would have blown her top and attacked them in an instant.

        Yet, the more and more she spent in her husband's company, the more and more she decided that Mousse was the happiest thing to ever happen to her. She shuddered to think what her life would have been like without the resolute pining that Mousse always provided.... Mousse, before she realized her own love for him, had always made her feel important... that she was the most important thing in the world.

        Perhaps that is why she was so stubborn with Ranma.... perhaps she could not understand why Ranma didn't fall at her feet and proclaim his undying love to her, as Mousse did. Perhaps she wanted to feel important, to feel like she was the world to someone. It was surprising, to herself and her friends, that Mousse turned out to be that Someone.

                                                                *                 *                 *                 *                 *                 *

        Daisuke walked silently beside his friend, who had a glum look on his face as per usual from recent events. Daisuke had been puzzling about Hiroshi since the entire depression began.... it was very confusing, but it began quite suddenly.... overnight, Daisuke would bet.

        Hiroshi was staring at the sky, the wind playing through his dark brownish red hair, and a lost look on his face.

        *Sheesh.... give a man a heart and he'll flaunt it. Give him a brain, and He'll find a woman to give his heart pain.....* Daisuke smirked for a long moment at his mental comment. 

        Daisuke despaired Hiroshi's melancholy disposition, but what could be done? There was little else to do but let Hiroshi muddle through the depression by himself, or if there WAS a way out, Daisuke didn't have the emotional experience to fathom it.

        Dai shook his head sadly, and resolutely began to stare at the shadows cast by the slowly sinking sun in the sky. He pondered for a long moment as he stared at the dark shapes left by the light playing off of indiscriminate objects.

        He turned his gaze to Hiroshi's shadow, and rubbed his chin. "You know, Hi, I've been thinking...."

        Hiroshi groaned and shook his head. "Isn't it that 'Thinking' thing that always ends up with me listening to a somewhat endless tirade of mentally obscure thought processes?" Hiroshi turned and looked at Daisuke.

        Dai grinned. "Yes, that would be it, and that sounded like something I would say. As I was saying, I was thinking...."

        "....Usually a sign of trouble brewing, I might add." Hiroshi mentioned under his breath, looking back up at the blue sky.

        Dai shot him a withering glance, and Hiroshi quickly stilled his tongue. "If I could please get at least a word in before you discount my observation as mere fanatical examination of the surrounding environment?"

        Hi had to think a moment about what Daisuke meant, but after that moment he nodded his head slowly. "Uh.... Sure.... I think."

        Dai chuckled, and Hiroshi had to smirk from the jovial tone of his laugh. "As I was saying before you so rudely interjected on your own behalf, I have been thinking about the constant duality of metaphysical and spiritual existence. Redundant statement, I know, but then again, Duality in itself is a constant redundancy composed of our non-linear concept of reality and it's composition, right?"

        Hiroshi nodded his head up and down, and then in a confused circle as he stared at Daisuke. "Uh......what?" He got the general gist of what Dai was trying to say, but other than the GENERAL Hiroshi was completely lost.

        Daisuke groaned, and decided to paraphrase for his friend. "What I was saying is that Duality, the existence of equatorial opposites, is made up from our abstract belief of reality, correct?"

        Hiroshi nodded his head after a moment. "I guess so. You mean like the sun and the moon?"

        Daisuke rubbed his chin again. "Hmmmm... no, actually I was thinking more like the Light and the Darkness. I was pondering the preternatural instinct of mankind to adversely react to the dark and unknown," Daisuke saw the confused look on Hiroshi's face, and sighed. 

        Why was it that he had such a difficult time talking of the things he liked without going over people's heads? Maybe he should stick to his regular joking mood, and forget the philosophy of physics.

        "So you're saying that you believe there is something more to being afraid of the dark?" Hiroshi had learned over time to understand the basic concept of Daisuke's comments, but some moments were harder than others..... especially about subjects relating to his own field of spiritual philosophy, which Daisuke rarely delved into.

        "Yeah, that's what I'm saying." Daisuke looked up at the sky as he walked by Hiroshi. 

        "Basically, I was wondering if in the pre-existent psyche there wasn't some sort of malevolent entity that caused much of the misconstrued thought of darkness and evil being related. In essence, perhaps there is more to the dark than what we see," Daisuke grinned, considering the implications of such a statement.

        Hiroshi shrugged. "Good point. So you think that there might actually be some great evil that, in the beginning, man knew was associated with the darkness?"

        "Hey, it's as good a theory as the Tree In the Forest suggestion. Besides, it would make some logical sense, considering that there are some genetic inheritances that insinuate the patterns of fear and instinct into a being. 

        Being afraid of the dark might be associated to what lived IN the dark when there was something far more ominous and foreboding in the world," Daisuke pondered exactly what that ominous thing might be, if there were such a thing.

        Hiroshi actually thought for a moment, and his melancholy disposition vanished for a brief instant. "Perhaps that is why mankind strives for what is right, what belongs in the light. Perhaps that is why Love is associated with Light, and Hate with Darkness.... you are saying duality�s exist because.... because of things that caused us to create them? Daisuke, that is a very spiritual statement," Hiroshi hadn't known Daisuke to make many religious or spiritual references, but in some ways what he said pointed to both.

        Daisuke shrugged at the question. "I have never discounted such a theory, and truly there might be more to the existence of emotional representatives of different aspects in our Psyche. I simply have had no proof to prove thus or otherwise, so I simply question," Daisuke grinned. "Had to bring love up somewhere, didn't you moon-boy?"

        Hiroshi glared at Daisuke a moment. "Shut up, Dai. It's not nice picking on someone who's already having enough trouble with love as it is....," Hiroshi sighed wistfully, looking back up at the sky. *Oh Ranma..... how could I tell you how I feel without utterly destroying you?*

        Daisuke slapped his friend on the shoulder, and presented him with a serious face. "Hi, It's me, Dai..... we grew up together. This is tearin' you up inside, and it really ticks me off that I can't help you through it. I don't like seeing you hurt, man, and you're in a world of hurt because of this girl," Daisuke looked up at the sky.

        "Why not give her to Ranma? He's got enough Fiancee's, I'm sure he wouldn't mind. Besides, it would solve your problem! She'd be happy, as I'm sure Ranma would make ANY woman happy.... otherwise he wouldn't have all those women falling all over him! Eh?"

        Hiroshi looked at Daisuke with a carefully neutral expression, then spontaneously burst out into raucous laughter, trailing on for a good minute and a half.

        "Daisuke.... if only you knew.... if only you knew....." Hiroshi wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes, strangely they did not touch his soul.... the scar there was too deep for laughter to touch.

                                                                *                 *                 *                 *                 *                 *

        Ranma walked silently back to the Dojo... humming absently to herself. She couldn't get the dance out of her mind, as well as the current problem she was facing. Although the sun was bright and the sky was blue, her own demeanor was in a slightly gray and unsure mood.

        "What am I gonna do??? The dance is tomorrow, and I ain't got nobody to go with...." Ranma calmed herself down, trying to think clearly through her problem like Hiroshi would. Hiroshi had an uncanny knack for analyzing these sort of things..... Which was one reason Ranma had come to rely on his advice.

        "Okay.... I've been challenged to a duel of dancing, problem.... I don't have a partner." She couldn't believe she had been so self-deluded as to think that she could go with Akane. She had expected things to be as usual, without thinking things through.... something that had always gotten her into trouble before.

        "Problem two..... none of my usual suitors can go with me. Including Ukyou, Akane, Shampoo, and never mind Kodachi....." Ranma nodded. It was obvious that she would have to look elsewhere for a date, but where?? She didn't know many people at school that she could ask... And the people she COULD ask were not experienced in Martial Arts anywise.

        Which was THE prime requisite for entering the Contest she was going to participate in.

        Ranma stopped, and looked up at the door to the Tendo Household. She took a deep breath, then slid the door slowly open, doffing her shoes in the entryway. She dreaded to hear Ryouga's mocking when she had to tell Akane he couldn't be at the dance....

        *Maybe Ryouga'll get lost before the dance??* She thought hopefully.... he had always reliably gotten lost before... then she shook her head. This was his big chance... he wouldn't set foot outside the house until the dance.

        She turned her mind back to the solution, not wanting to dwell on Ryouga for a moment longer than she could.

        Ranma sighed, shaking her head. *Solution.... Problem might arise from looking in the wrong places. Find a date elsewhere... ask Hiroshi if he has ideas.* She would do just that, right after dinner.

        Sighing softly from the long day passed and the definitely long day ahead, she walked silently into the living room, and stopped as three feet and six inches of little girl tackled her. "AUNTIE!!"

        Ranma blinked for a moment, slightly confused at the unfamiliar child.... as it took several moments for the information to process in her currently occupied mind. After that moment had passed, she grinned, and tickled Kaehmi furiously. "Heya... do I know you?"

        "I'm Kaehmi!!!" The little girl whispered through giggles as she struggled against Ranma's hands.

        "Wow! Really? The one and only Kaehmi????" Ranma grinned, and lifted the girl up to her feet. Kaehmi giggled and nodded her head emphatically. Ranma touched the girl's nose gently in an affectionate manner. "Well, I guess I should ask for an autograph, shouldn't I?"

        Kaehmi made a mock serious face and waved a finger at Ranma, putting her other hand on her hip. "I don't have lotsa time for playin'... you c'mere and gimme hug...." And then the little girl opened her arms, and embraced Ranma.

        The Saotome child laughed lightly, then hugged Kaehmi back lovingly. The little girl was too sweet for words.... and Ranma loved her for it. "Well, I guess I have no choice, your worship...."

        Nodoka watched the exchange with a smile... Ranma would make a wonderful father some day.... he identified with Kaehmi so easily... and the little girl loved him dearly. The child seemed to take well to Ranma...

        Of course, Kaehmi didn't know that "Auntie Ranma" Was actually a boy... which might have been better. It would confuse Kaehmi if she were to know about Jusenkyou....

        Ranma, to his own credit, had a certain maternal care that he took with Kaehmi... which was very odd for his usually brash and cocky attitude towards others. When Kaehmi was involved, Kaehmi was first.

        The elder Miramoto sibling smiled and looked at Nodoka. "She always gets overly excited with Ranma around.... I'll have trouble settling her down at home."

        Ranma picked Kaehmi up and flung her over his shoulder....carrying her like a little sack he walked over to Memeko. "I think you misplaced this little energy ball...." Ranma smiles softly and tickled Kaehmi's feet, laughing as the little girl squealed and tried squirming free.

        Memeko shook her head. "You must be mistaken, Ma'am, that's not MY little bundle of energy..... Why, I don't even recognize that little girl!" She replied in joke. It was a game that Ranma had often played with Memeko and Hiroshi, and Kaehmi always got worked up about it.

        "Momma! Momma! It's me, Kaehmi!!!" She cried through a fit of giggling as Ranma tickled the souls of her feet again.

        "Kaehmi??? Why, whoever would that be????" Nodoka asked, playing along with the game. The child was so endearing it was almost impossible not to play along with her and her "Auntie".

        "Huh! The little bundle of energy seems to think it has a name!" Ranma grinned, and put Kaehmi back on the ground.

        The little girl giggled slightly for a second, then put her hands on her hips. "Now, you listen to me Miss Satomee... you're gonna behave, or I'll beat you up with Kampu!"

        Nodoka laughed lightly. "That's Kempo, little one....." She added, recognizing the Ranma impersonation. The little girl was a darling child..... Nodoka could see a little bit of spark in her demeanor, reminding her a little of Ranma in a way.

        Ranma mockingly put up her arms. "Oh No! I wouldn't want that..... to get my pretty face all messed up! Please don't hurt me, Master Martial Artist Kaehmi!" Ranma giggled girlishly, getting into the act... then turned around, and squealed, running up the stairs with Kaehmi hot on her heals, a laugh escaping her lips.

        "Mwahahahaha! This is all your fault, Ranma!!! Baksa Ten-Pests!!!" Kaehmi ran after Ranma thrusting a finger and poking the walls in mock imitation of the Ryouga stories her Auntie had been telling her.

        Akane opened her door after several minutes of the chase and watched as Ranma tackled Kaehmi, tickling her furiously, then running away giggling like..... well, like a schoolgirl.

        Akane was confused for several moments, not used to seeing this childlike happiness in Ranma, but then began to laugh as she watched Kaehmi chase Ranma around the House. She smiled softly when 

        Ranma looked up at her, and she almost felt the love that reflected in her eyes.

        *Oh Ranma.... why can't you be happy like this all the time??? What is haunting you so much???* Akane walked out, and avoided the chasing contest as she slipped downstairs, the sound of Kaehmi's laughter echoing down the halls and adding a strange sense of familiarity that Akane seemed to find puzzling. 

        She blinked at Kasumi, Memeko, and Nodoka sitting around the table, Soun and Genma absent on one of their regular drinking binges. Not that Genma had said much to anyone other than Soun since the fight with Ranma the previous week.

        Akane shook her head at the thought of Genma... who cared about that idiot anyways?? He'd caused more than his share of trouble since he'd come to the dojo, and however much the argument between Ranma and his father had disturbed her, she felt that Genma was deserving of some harsh words for once.

        Akane banished the thoughts of the Elder Saotome from her mind, and concentrated on Kasumi, Memeko, and her Auntie Saotome.

        "Really?? Natsume is working in Kyoto nowadays?? I had always wondered what happened to her... do you two still talk?" Kasumi asked Memeko, the Miramoto girl smiling as she took notice of the silent watcher and gesturing for Akane to sit. After the momentary glance, Akane did just that.

        "Actually, Kasumi, we only went out together for a day..... there's still a tense feeling between her and I about Connor....." Her smile faded into a slightly uncertain frown. "I wish she could have forgiven me.... I did not do anything wrong back then."

        Kasumi put a hand on Memeko's. "I know, Memeko..... but Natsume was always the fickle sort. We all knew you didn't do anything to gain Connor's attention, everyone but Natsume was happy for you." Kasumi smiled, squeezing Kasumi's hand softly.

        Nodoka looked between the two girl's as they began talking once more about the old day's in High School. She then turned her gaze to Akane, and put on a supportive, matronly smile that warmed Akane's heart.

        "So, Akane Dear.... it's your Prom tomorrow, isn't it??" Nodoka smiled gently as she sipped her tea, noting the faint mint flavor that Kasumi had added for Memeko's sake.

        "Hai, Auntie...." Akane said, smiling as well, then getting a stern look as she remembered WHY she was going to the Prom. "But it's also my one shot-"

        "At Ranma, yes I know..... you and he need to relieve this tension. I think this might be the best way, even though I dread fighting of any sort.... even Martial Arts Dancing." Nodoka frowned for a long moment, seeming to look at something that was not truly there.

        "Then.... why did you marry a Martial Artist, Auntie??" Akane asked, looking over at Memeko and Kasumi and smiling at the two old friends. She hoped that she would be like that with her friends some day, reliving old memories and ties of friendship.

        Nodoka thought for a moment, staring into her tea. "Why do you plan to, Akane?? Genma, for all his fault's, does his best for what is right. He doesn't always understand, and some of his opinions are skewed, but he is a gentle man with a kind soul..... if not a little greedy and ignorant sometimes..." She had to deliberately loosen her grip on her tea cup and set it down before she cracked the fine porcelain. Whenever she thought about the way Genma usually acted, it got her blood boiling all the more about Genma's brash arrogance in Jusenkyou.

        Akane looked at the tense state of Nodoka for a long moment, a sense of deja vu flooding into her mind. "I...." She looked at the cup of Tea that Nodoka had placed before her when she sat down, lifting it and sipping as she scrambled for some explanation why she planned.....to..........wed...... 

        "Hey, Hang on here....." Nodoka smirked at Akane's tone of Voice. "Who said I wanted to marry that Baka???" Akane said, in a half defensive tone... some of her iron having left her will since Ranma began to change for the better. It was hard to stay mad at a complete idiot when he was acting like a gentleman.

        "You were about to say SOMETHING about that Baka, Akane. I don't think it was an insult, either....." Nodoka smiled as she lifted her tea cup again..... taking a small sip and looking down into the tea as she placed it back. It really was good tea.... Kasumi had a talent, then again given the fact that she'd had much more practice than most girls nowadays, it didn't surprise Nodoka much.

        Nabiki sighed, shaking her head sadly for a moment as she closed her book. "Admit it Akane.... you love the simple minded fool....." There was a weary quality in her voice, as if she was debating a heavy price that she didn't like, but had to endure.

        "WHAT?!" Akane said in a mock angry, but mostly frightened tone. She had never said as much to Nabiki.... but she supposed Nabiki was sly enough to weasel out any information there could have been, and formed an opinion on that.

        Nabiki smirked slightly, the joy not touching her somehow sad eyes. "Come on, Akane, we all know you are only delaying this because you want to prove Daddy wrong.... you and I both know how you feel....." 

        Akane wondered why Nabiki seemed so upset about having to say something she would normally jump at the chance to tease her about.

        "Oh my...." Kasumi and Memeko said simultaneously, then both smiled. 

        "Akane.... I've heard how Ranma talks about you, he definitely feels something for you." Memeko said, looking in concern at Akane, the memory of her brother's confession echoing through her mind as her words tore her soul in two..... two duties, what could she do but choose a path and take it?

        "Are you saying you don't feel anything for him, Akane???" Kasumi asked, looking directly at Akane's turned face. She had a bad feeling that things needed to be resolved..... very soon, or something terrible could happen. Kasumi usually didn't fret over such matters, but something told her there was an important turning point where a decision had to be made... and it was coming towards them faster than they could prepare for.

        Akane's face softened for a long moment. "N...No... I'm not saying that I don't care..... for him a little....." Her heart pounded, the world turned gray and seemed to slow down.... It was one of those moments in time where everything froze for an instant, as if the entire world were hinged on your next words.

        It made Akane's heart jump.... surreal and frightening, a single picture of tense calm clouding her vision. Stopped, and waiting, the world seemed to LISTEN.

        Could she say it, with half her family present?? And Ranma's Mother as well?

        Kasumi smiled, Memeko did the same, although it looked more unsure than Kasumi's. Nabiki didn't smile.... she stared coldly at Akane, as if demanding some Answer. All frozen in those poses..... as if some mad work of art by some insane artist.

        Nodoka's hand still rested on hers, as if beckoning her to make a choice. The soft motherly smile still touched Akane's heart.... possibly the only redeeming piece of this abstract moment.

        "....but...." And everything began again. "...We can't..... not yet." She murmured softly.

        "I see." Nabiki said, turning back to her magazine with an uncaring grace..... hiding her eyes behind the pages so that the sadness and fear couldn't be seen. She hoped it hadn't been witnessed or noted by her younger sister.

        "All right Akane...." Kasumi turned back to Memeko, who took a second to respond to the question her old friend posed to her, thoughts of her own haunting her mind with the words of a brother in anguish.

        "It's all right, Dear.... give it time. You both need time, unlike my foolish husband's plans.... Love takes time. Just be sure when that time does come.... all right???" Nodoka's constant motherly grace was a blessing on the Tendo household.... one that often stirred cheer in Akane's breast.

        "WAAAAAA!!!" Ranma rolled down the stairs, standing back up and looking around. "Hehehe... I lost her." The red-head stood up, dusting herself off from her tumble down the stairs and running a hand through her unbound hair.

        Akane blinked and looked up at Ranma. "You look a little tired, Ranma.... can't keep up with a little girl??" She had a dead-pan expression on her face, as if she was serious.

        "Hey, She's pretty fast Akane!!! Cute too... when she's not trying to tickle you to death." Ranma rubbed the back of her head, blushing. She usually didn't admit that her female body had a hypersensitivity to tickling, unlike her male body......

        Memeko looked up and smiled. "I take it you are enjoying Kaehmi's company, Ranma.... even though she's running you down?" Memeko wondered why Ranma had decided to put her hair down..... it was oddly disturbing.

        Ranma laughed, winking at Memeko. "Always.... she's a cute girl. Like the little sister I never had...." She instantly regretted the words as Nodoka frowned, a sad, tense expression crossing her usually bright cheery smile. "Awww, geeze... Mom, I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking...."

        Nodoka held up a hand to Ranma. "Don't. Just don't apologize.... it was none your fault. I made a choice, as did Genma. I would also have liked more children.... the Kami judged it not to be, so do not punish yourself for your own words in haste." They had hurt her, true, but Ranma had not meant to hurt her. *Yet.... another child, one that I could have had if only Genma had waited....*

        Ranma shuffled her feet uncertainly. She felt suddenly embarrassed, regardless of her Mother's words..... There was a long silence, broken by a knock at the door. Everyone blinked, and looked at the hallway where the entrance was.

        "I'll get it...." Kasumi said quickly, standing and shuffling to the door. Memeko's eyes were fixed on Ranma, as if they were studying the girl before her for something. It unnerved Nabiki, who was still silently watching the exchange.

        The back door slid open, and Ryouga... somewhat worn from practice in the back yard emerged, taking a seat across from Akane.

        Ryouga had become so familiar with the Tendo Dojo that he hadn't gotten lost over the day, as Ranma had hoped he would.... Ryouga's entrance stirred people back into a social mood.

        That started conversation again, as Akane coughed, and looked from Ryouga to Ranma. "So.... Ranma.... did you find your date today??" Akane asked, slightly unsure of her words, but eager to know if Ranma had succeeded on his macho boast.

        Ranma sighed..... looking abashed for a moment.

        Ryouga chuckled lightly. "So, the mighty Ranma Saotome can't even find a date when he needs one, And here I thought you were some Casanova. You must've lost your charm, Ranma."

        Ranma growled, looking at Ryouga. "Ain't bein' embarrassed enough for you, Ryouga, you gotta rub my face in it too?!" She yearned to wipe the floor with Ryouga's flippant attitude.

        Ryouga smirked, looking down his nose at Ranma. It wasn't often that the Hibiki child had the tables turned in his favor. "Naturally, Ranma.... it wouldn't be fun unless I taunted you." Taunt him he would, he'd had far too much of Ranma's attitude, it was HIS turn for a change.

        "Both of you, Stop it!!!" Akane said angrily. She honestly wished she knew what the quarrel between Ranma and Ryouga was. *Seriously, if they weren't fighting all the time, they might find out they are great friends.* Akane looked at Ranma. "I guess you concede defeat then, if you aren't going to participate??"


        Ranma growled, her eyes locked on Akane's. She couldn't give up..... she'd never walked out on a challenge in her life.... barring Ryouga.... she wouldn't do it now. She needed time, so much more time..... all wasted with her brash arrogance and cocky confidence. *Dammit, why couldn't I just stop and THINK for once in my life?!*

        "Never..... I'm goin' to that contest, Akane..... and there ain't NOTHIN' gonna stop me from participating!!!" Ranma said, slamming her fist on the table.

        Akane's eyes flashed. "You don't have a date, Ranma. How do you even expect to enter the contest when you require a partner???" She began to get the feeling that Ranma wasn't going to give up, through hell or high water. It made her heart jump a little, knowing Ranma wouldn't back down from any serious fight. It reminded her of all the times the odds had been stacked against Ranma, and he had still won..... for her.

        Ranma's eye twitched.... she would enter that contest if it killed her..... she would do ANYTHING to wipe that confident smirk of Ryouga's face, to show Akane what she was made of.

        "Oh my, Hello Hiroshi-San!" Kasumi said from the door in a cheery tone. Hiroshi asked a question which Ranma couldn't make out.

        Nabiki looked up, her eyes slightly large not only from the conversation, but from the last words uttered from her Elder Sister.

        Ranma's mind snapped to attention..... *Of Course.....* A plan began to form in her mind. What did it matter if she was guy or girl when she participated??? She WOULD win that contest.... and Hiroshi had some moves that could help, she noted, as she recalled the fight with Aquarius.

        Hiroshi walked in, smiling a bit as he looked at his sister.... He opened his mouth to speak. "Hey, Everybody-"

        That was the moment Ranma decided to blow up, the rising excitement within her mind and heart unable to be kept still a moment longer. She rose from her seat like some grim reaper, the words moving to her lips even before she could think them through. "FINE, AKANE!! HIROSHI WILL BE MY DATE THEN!!"

        Memeko nearly choked as she spit out her tea.

        Nabiki's eyes turned the size of Watermelons... <Figuratively>

        Nodoka blinked in shock.

        Ryouga looked at Ranma as if she were Crazy.

        Akane laughed as if the idea was stupid.....

        Hiroshi????

        Hiroshi looked like a deer caught in Headlights.

                                                                *                 *                 *                 *                 *                 *

        "FINE THEN, AKANE!! HIROSHI WILL BE MY DATE THEN!!" Ranma shouted.

        His heart stopped.

        His breath stopped.

        He stared at her, as if she had grown wings and fangs. He could feel the eyes on him as Ranma laughed maniacally. *Hoh boy....* He quoted Sam Beckett, from that show on television late night.

        Could his timing have been any worse??? He had come home to talk to his sister, only to find her not there and the house locked up.... so he had decided to try the Tendo Household.... where Memeko stopped by on occasion to talk to Kasumi.

        He looked around at the surrounding people.... Nabiki looking at him with a murderous glare.... as if accusing him of Ranma's outburst. *Am I completely innocent?* He wondered. His sister's words about Ranma coming back to him suddenly.

        Memeko looked at Ranma, quite possibly hurt that Ranma had made the statement without knowing how much it would mean to her Brother. How much it would mean to him.

        *Hiroshi.... welcome to Nerima.* He chided himself.

        "You can't be serious, Ranma... that's the dumbest idea you've ever come up with!!!" Akane said as she noticed Ranma's possibly Mad laughter. *How could he possibly think of going to the Prom with another guy?? That would be just plain silly.*

        "No, Stupid Akane!!! It's the best one I've ever had!!!" She said, slowly relaxing from her adrenaline high. She wanted to slap herself, for thinking so two dimensionally.... for discounting an obvious out, as Hiroshi would put it. Why COULDN'T she go as a woman??? Besides, it would be with Hiroshi. Some other guy might make her too nervous to concentrate.

        "Uhhhh.... I missed something, didn't I, Oneechan?" Hiroshi inquired, his face quite red from Ranma's statement and his heart thumping madly in his chest.

        Memeko looked up at Hiroshi, a slight glimmer in her eyes. Hiroshi blinked, confused at the strong emotion of sadness in his sister's gaze.

        "Nah, Hiroshi! I need a date, and you're jus' the guy!!" Ranma said, walking over and taking his arms, giggling girlishly.

        Ryouga crossed his arms, closing his eyes. "Hmph.... now I've seen everything, Ranma's lost his marbles, Akane."

        Ryouga had seen Ranma do some odd things, once or twice Ranma had even kissed HIM as an act to torment him, But this took the cake for insane ideas.

        Ranma scowled, hugging Hiroshi's arm. "I have not, Ryouga! I'm jus' doing what I hafta to get into that contest!! If I can't go with any of my fiancee's, then I've gotta go with SOMEONE, and I was jus' thinkin' about goin' as a guy.... discounting a very obvious choice." Hiroshi was as tense as a board, which Ranma noted and puzzled at.

        Nodoka blinked in shock. Something very odd was going on, and her mind was screaming at her again.... telling her to pull the Katana... but why??? It didn't make sense.... this was her son!! She had to have faith in his choices.

        "Oh my...." Kasumi said quietly from behind Hiroshi and Ranma.... she had noted before Ranma's almost giddy attitude lately around Hiroshi.... and the soft smile whenever his name was mentioned. She suddenly remembered why she was so worried about Ranma.... and her brow creased slightly. Should she talk to the red headed Saotome child??? Or was it only her imagination?

        Akane sighed. "While that was very funny, Ranma, I think we've all had a good laugh at your joke." She shook her head. *Honestly, to think he thought that was funny. Ranma no Baka....*

        Ranma's blue eyes danced as she gritted her teeth, glaring at Akane. "I was very serious, Akane..... I'm goin' with Hiroshi. He's my friend, and he'll be just as good as anyone else at that Martial Arts Dance Contest.... you remember, I'm sure. He's the ONLY guy I would ever consider goin' with....." Ranma said with finality.

        Akane glared at Ranma and Hiroshi.... something edging it's way into her mind.... *Why is she standing so close to him??* She wondered, looking at how affectionately Ranma clung to Hiroshi's arm.... She gritted her teeth. *NO..... Ranma isn't that way.... he... he could never..... never....*

        Akane stood up, looking slightly shocked, and ran upstairs.

        "Akane!!" Ryouga called out, stretching a hand towards the departing woman. He growled, turning back to Ranma and rising from his seat. "Don't you think your little joke has gone far enough, Ranma???"

        Ranma stared back at him in unwavering consternation. "Ryouga. I am going to the Prom with Hiroshi, and I'm gonna win that Contest." She looked up at Hiroshi, who had a slightly shocked look to his face.

        *Why is she doing this?* Hiroshi wondered. His heart sounded like a fury of small explosions in his head, wanting to leap out of his mouth if he opened it. He had wished, and hoped that Ranma could return his feelings.... but this wasn't about feelings, this was about Ranma winning.

        Why did it have to be that??? Why was it the only time he could actually be with Ranma ALONE in public was when she needed his help for a fight??? He so longed to hold her, to tell her how he felt.... if only she would accept that truth when he said it, when he knew she would never do such a thing.

        Hiroshi sighed sadly. *At least I could be happy..... I mean, I'll be with Ranma. Even if.... if it's not the way I want.*

        Ryouga laughed, somewhat uneasily. "Ranma, in all the times I've known you, you've never been so serious about going out with a guy..... you enjoy it, don't you??" Ryouga tried to rationalize why his rival and erstwhile friend would do this to Akane.... it wasn't funny in the least, in Ryouga's opinion.

        Ranma looked up at Hiroshi... then blushed as she realized her hand was against his chest. *Geeze.... that must've looked really bad...* She stepped away slightly, looking down at her feet and gathering herself, then raising her eyes to glare fire at Ryouga. "Enjoy WHAT Ryouga???"

        Hiroshi touched his chest slightly..... where Ranma's hand had been. A sad glimmer reflecting in his soft brown eyes. *...yet she's always so close..... but so far, far away.... Oh, it's such a cruel fate..... an unfair price to pay.... my delicate soul weeps.... forged of Fragile Clay....* The words seemed to flow in his mind, along with the pain.

        Ryouga smirked, his stoic surety in his own self-righteous ideals faltering for a moment as he sees a familiar glint in Hiroshi's eyes. *....I....have seen that.... many times before... but where??* He couldn't fathom that the lonely glimmer of loss and anguish in Hiroshi's eyes matched his own soul, par for par.

        ".....Being with a guy, Ranma.... you obviously like it, if this isn't a joke." Ryouga chuckled, but it sounded more forced than to his liking.

        Nodoka looked up at Hiroshi, who was standing stunned staring at Ryouga. *What is in that boy's mind??? ...no.... Better question.... what is in my own Boy's mind??* She looked at Ranma fearfully as she saw the anger building within her blue eyes.

        "....I'll do anything to win this contest..... I've gotta prove to Akane..... Show her I can take care of her...." Ranma's fists were clenched. How *DARE* Ryouga even suggest a thing!!! Especially of Hiroshi, who had been there when nobody else was! She needed him now, and he was there for her.....

        "This was NEVER about Akane, Ranma!!! This is all about your foolish pride!" Ryouga growled, his eyes narrowing to a dangerous glare. Ranma was trying to rationalize the arrogant and self-serving attitude she always had!!! Ryouga was getting sick and tired of his Rival's flippant ways, and immature excuses for her actions.

        Ranma clenched a fist, knuckles popping. "...Take that back, Ryouga.... Or I'll shove those words down your throat." Ryouga had NO right to say that.... 

        Hiroshi put a hand on Ranma's shoulder, ".....Ranma....." His soft voice crashed against the walls of anger, washing them away as if a wall of mud in a rainstorm, her composure instantly eased..... 

        The tense stress of the surrounding world seemed to drain away. "Let it go, Ranma..." Hiroshi whispered in a soothing tone. "...Ryouga is right, in part, but so are you.... just let it go."

        Ranma looked angry for a moment, then hurt.... then infinitely weary as she nodded with a sigh. "...yeah....I guess you're right, Hiroshi." However much she hated to admit it, whenever Hiroshi had that serious tone in his voice, she always had to look back at what she had said, and what she had meant.

        "...w...w...what?" Ryouga stuttered. He looked at the red-head with her eyes downcast for a long moment. Maybe Ranma really WAS losing it..... she'd never admitted she was wrong before. Not openly, and NEVER to Ryouga.

        "Sorry, Ryouga.... you're right, I should be more considerate about Akane and her feelings. I guess I've been a bit absent lately..... we've been avoiding eachother, I guess you could say."

        Nodoka smiled softly at the admission. It took a lot for Ranma to admit she was wrong..... and usually, it never happened without a long and painful argument on Ranma's part.

        There was a sort of easing presence to Hiroshi's company.... Nodoka noted. It.... disturbed her to no end, a screaming thought in the back of her mind telling her the boy's considerate attitude was a danger for some reason.

        She looked at Hiroshi with her own soft blue/gray eyes.... and the boy looked back for a moment.

        She flinched at what she saw. There was a battle being waged in the boy's soul..... that she was sure of by the agony of conflicting emotions in his eyes. His smile.... just did not touch that soft brown gaze.

        *Miramoto Hiroshi.... why are you so unhappy, child??? What woman, if any, could cause such a kind soul to quiver in such anguish???*

        Hiroshi returned his gaze to Ryouga, who had a confused look on his face. He suspected that the lost-boy was surprised Ranma had admitted to error..... Ranma, Hiroshi had come to find, had trouble admitting when she was wrong.

        Strangely.... his presence seemed to lessen that fact, make her more insightful and accepting of her own flaws. As if.....

        As if her problems didn't matter as much.

        Ryouga growled, clenching his fists. "I don't know what the heck happened to you, Ranma.... but.... but.... You had better not hurt Akane again!" Was that what he had meant to say? Ryouga's eye twitched for a moment.

        It was not entirely what he was worried about. There was something VERY wrong here.... Ranma's actions had proven that to him, and regardless to what Ranma would believe, Ryouga was more observant than she gave him credit for.

        With that said.... Ryouga turned, fists still clenched, and walked out the back door.....

        "Oh my, Ranma.... are you sure you know what you are doing?? Akane seemed very shocked at your choice of partners." Kasumi uttered softly as she looked up again with Ryouga's departure.

        "Sure I'm sure!! Besides, Akane'll get over it.... she's a strong girl." Ranma smiled, and looked at Hiroshi. "Besides..... Hiroshi is better than nobody at this point.... and I *NEEDED* a partner for the duel. I can't throw a fight like that.... jus' isn't my style."

        Kasumi looked worriedly at Ranma. Perhaps she SHOULD talk to Ranma..... "...Ranma-Kun, would you step upstairs with me for a moment? I think we should talk about something." She couldn't put it off.... there was a flush on Ranma's face as the red-head looked at Hiroshi, then back at her.... she HAD to know.

        Ranma blinked, looking at Kasumi, then back at Hiroshi. She smiled again. "Sure thing, Kasumi."

        Kasumi rose. "Pardon me, Memeko-Chan..... I will only be a second."

        Memeko smiled, if a bit uneasily. Ranma had definitely been acting flirtatious with Hiroshi, even if the sex-changing girl didn't notice. *Gods, How can she not notice how..... BOY crazy she is acting?? For that fact, how can nobody ELSE around here not notice??*

        "It's okay, Kasumi-Chan..... I'll wait here for you. I'm in no hurry." Memeko looked at Nodoka, who, instead of making eye contact, was staring at Hiroshi with a confused expression on her face. *....or maybe they are putting things together. Kami.... Hiroshi, please be careful.*

        Kasumi smiled happily, and walked to the stairs... Ranma on her heels. "Be back in a minute, Hi...."

        Hiroshi smiled back, the gentle expression still not touching the cold anguish that he could not seem to wash away. *....always walking away..... and she doesn't even know she makes my heart ache.* "Sure thing, Ranma.... Not Like I'm goin' anywhere without Memeko and Kaehmi."

        "Kay!" Ranma said in a positively Kawaii tone as she smiled and walked up after Kasumi.

        Hiroshi felt like she was walking away from him forever..... and wondered if it was not for the best.

                                                                *                 *                 *                 *                 *                 *

    <<Dark...>>

            *<Cold....>*

    <<So....Dark...>>

                            **How long... How long....**

    <<Lonely....>>

            *<A thousand Years.....>*

    <<Where am I>>

                                    ^^You're in Limbo.^^

    <<Where's Okaasan....>>

                                            @She is gone...... we got lost.... There was a fight....@

    <<...yes....Akuma... there was an Akuma.....>>

            *<We will be free soon..... I know it.>*

        A faint glimmer of light..... and a figure, small, lithe, and lanky...... floats through the darkness..... the cold, huddled form of a creature draws it's attention. The form was trying to escape within itself... the harsh cold of the vast abyss seeming to seep into his flesh....

        Seeming to seep into his very soul, trying to fill it with the same emptiness around it.

    <<...why am I so Alone??>>

                                            @You have us, K-chan.....@

            *<You'll always have us, Weakling.>*

                            **We will always stand by you, K-Chan.**

                                    ^^We are your strength.....^^

                                                        !!We are what makes you Whole!!

        The figure floats closer.... a halberd strapped to it's back and a metallic Chinese style hat sitting upon it's head..... It looked at the pale body of the floating creature.... 

        It took in the condition of the lost figure.... the vacant blue eyes that dance with chaos, the flesh that seems unnaturally cold and rigid, the wild mop of flame red hair and a green streak running down the center.

        Whatever it was, it was curled into a fetal position.... floating in the midst of nothingness....

        "....Lin ma Jin Pai....?? Oratta Xing Mao Xei?? Who are you... Rei??" Kappa mutters, grinning impishly.

        The figure emits no response for several long moments. Kappa began wondering if the figure was actually still alive. Just a brief glance into the vacant eyes and he could see something that disturbed him, something that normal beings might have nightmares about.

        Insanity.

    <<...who....who are you???>>

                                            @We're your friends... *Giggles*@

            *<That is debatable....>*

                        **We are a part of you now.... as well as your past.**

                                    ^^We are your brethren...^^

                                                    !!You should Probably answer Imp-boy.!!

        "Lali Na???? You awake, Sim Pa???" Kappa poked the prone figure with his halberd, and the deep blue eyes seemed to glow with life for a moment. If only but a moment, before the shattered, lost look returned to the gaunt face of the lost soul.

        ".....kaoru.....shimitsu....." Then lifelessness again. Kappa wondered if it had taken a great feat of willpower to focus the soul's fractured pieces close enough to say those two words.

        The Imp tapped his hat, making a metallic ring throughout the empty void, a special resonance echoing in the empty space of Limbo, a tone that rang out and summoned forth a gate into being.

        After what seemed an eternal moment, a sliver of light burst into existence... something Kaoru had not seen in 1000 years, something his shattered mind only half recognized from the abysmal depths of the dark aeon he had spent in the cold prison.

        "...lamma Zin tei, you need return to life, Lali Na....." The Imp picked up the prone form of Kaoru... and dragged him towards the light. "I take you mountains, Zhim Pa Li Na.... It Dragon live there, who name Shimitsu, Maeri Na la...."

        A tear escaped Kaoru's eye, rolling down his cheek. *.....I'm going home... Okaasan.... I'm coming home....* Some memories seemed to flash in his mind, of a laughing girl, a woman who embraced him.... a man with a smile.

        The Tear drifted off of Kaoru's face, and floated lifelessly in the prison of Limbo, freezing moments later. It was a part of him he could not take from the void, a symbol that he could never take himself back from this abyss of torture.

        And with that... the darkness of insanity returned.... the voices keeping him pleasant company.

                                                                *                 *                 *                 *                 *                 *

        Daisuke sat at the small dining room table, wearing a leather strap around his forehead with a mini-snake light attached to the front.... in his mouth was a tiny screwdriver...

        His face was poised in a curious child's fixture, and his eyes seemed to stare at the object in his hands with a fury of passion.... every detail being analyzed and stored in his memory with unique rapture for the most minute of fixations.

        A large smile spread across his face as he turned the object left and right, looking at it with scrutinizingly professional skill.....

        Of course, one watching this scene of monotony might find it a bit.... stranger than the usual tinkerers meditations.... because in Daisuke's hands was a human skull.

        *....perfect.... evolution has done it's job swell.... now, all I have to do is try and squeeze all of that programming into something about this size..... and KAPOW! Zillionaire Daisuke! Most wanted man in the world! Women flocking to his doorstep for his easy spend lifestyle!!*

        He chuckles slightly for a moment. *...okay... well, maybe I *DO* have to get through the hard work first.*

        He had been happy that his Biology teacher had let him borrow the skull.... it was a genuine human skull dug up in one of the archaeological finds that his Teacher had attended frequently in his College days long past.

        Daisuke, with the respect of it's delicate nature, placed the skull back on the table.... amidst the thousands of wires, Circuits, and complex innards of a hundred different things. Some things bought separately, with the price tags still attached.

        *....well then, back to work....* He picked up a similar looking object... one shaped mostly like a skull, but with a very metallic sheen to it, and obviously unfinished from the wires sticking out of the bottom. *....hmm.... a genius's work is never done.*

        The back door slammed open... startled Daisuke and almost causing him to drop the object of his momentary affections.

        His father stood there.... the very semblance of a broken man. There was a fury of passionate emotions, a tumultuous tempest of raging contradiction in his eyes.... anger, depression, a somewhat sadistic pleasure at finding his son fooling around when he should be working.

        To most, this might seem frightening, but Daisuke was used to his Father's eyes, no, that's not what scared him.

        Many have seen the ragged drunkenness of a man without hope..... the stubble of a beard, the torn white tank top.... the filthy jeans..... Daisuke's father was no different to this clich�... but still, this did not startle the boy genius.

        Rather, what scared Daisuke to death was the firm and unshakable contrast of his Father's face to his eyes.

        Yushiro, his Father, always had the furious storm of clashing emotions in his eyes when drunk.... but unlike other people, he also had something that caused an even more disturbing image.

        His face was an expressionless mask. It was as if it was painted on, a thing not real, like some marionette with it's strings cut.... the more disturbing fact came to Daisuke when he spoke.

        "...what are you doing, you little bastard?? Didn't I tell you to clean the #$!@% Dishes??" His voice was soothingly calm.... as if he was completely sober. Most drunks have a slur, or a waver to their voice. Yushiro had an unearthly calm.

        "...uh...m...mom's home, Father." Daisuke muttered, looking over at the woman in the apron washing the dishes.

        "...You lazy little SH!T..... you should be doing the dishes, while your pompous mother should be making me my food." Yushiro walked over to his wife.... a bottle of Sake hanging from his hand as if ready to fall and shatter at any moment from his almost limp grasp.... as if it were some heavy wait that were attached to him pulling him down.

        "Oh, hello Yushi-kun! I didn't hear you come in, Dear." Mrs. Nakano was a patient woman..... also a startling Contrast.

        For months after Dai's father had been laid off, she had taken the punishment and cried from the pain... now she scared Daisuke as well....

        "Shutup, Ikana..... where the hell is my food???" Yushiro asked.... his left hand tensing since his right was holding his bottle...

        "Oh my, I had forgotten about it. I suppose I should get started on it then..." She was drying one of the plates in the kitchen.

        His Father's fist came up, and smashed into her jaw... sending her whirling.... tears of pain suddenly flooding to her eyes. "....you know I want my food when I get home, Ikana. You should have that little bastard of our son doing the dishes while you finish what I tell you to."

        The plate had fallen and shattered on the floor..... Ikana looked at it with dismay. "...oh dear, I seemed to have dropped the plate..."

        Daisuke's father knocked over the drying bin... causing everything to shatter on the ground. His mother would clean it up later without a word. "...you better start cooking, Ikana....." He kicked her, a small whimper coming from her....

        Daisuke was paralyzed with Fear. If he moved to help his Mother, his father would be even harsher on him, and then would beat his Mother badly. It was a nightly trial of fire and pain that Daisuke�s dreams were haunted by.

        His mother shook for a moment, wiping away tears. "...yes, dinner would be good right now.... I'll start right away, Love."

        *Love.....* Daisuke felt his heart fracture again, like it had a thousand times before. *....is this Love???* His mother had retreated from her mind... every blow seemed to push her farther and farther from the reality of her situation..... she reacted as if she had knocked over the dishes.

        "...oh my, I'm sorry Love... I must have knocked them over when I collapsed...." She began gathering the dishes, only to have her face backhanded by her father.... he lifted her and whispered in her ear.

        "...clean this sh!t up.... and get me my food, or I'll kill you, do you hear me you !@%#*?" he threw her on the ground. Daisuke whimpered a bit.

        His father's face shot to him. "And you clean that bullsh!t up, taking apart all the crap I pay for... you're lucky I don't kick your little....." He turned with a sneer and shambled into the living room to watch some television.

        Daisuke mentally had to calm himself, as his heart was racing at high speeds and he had broken out into a cold sweat.

        He looked back at his Mother.... if anyone were to look at her, she would seem normal. A mother. Yet if they had just watched the tableau of blows being rained on her and her accepting them as nothing, they would likely see how disturbed she was....

        Daisuke wiped his eyes.... from tears as his mother cleaned up the shards of broken dishware. *....is this Love???* He didn't know what love is, but it couldn't be this....

        His fear, his terror, his pain at seeing his family breaking further and further, at watching his mother's sanity slowly ebb away like the tide, and at witnessing his father's desecration of his soul.... all of it ripped him apart.

        So, he did what Daisuke Nakano does best... he ran away from the world.... he ran away from this circus of humanity.... he ran into his own mind, his own passions....

        Daisuke turned back to the metallic skull.... and began his work again.... hoping that everything would be all right when he returned to the world.. hoping that his father would be the business wonder he once was.... hoping his mother would once again become the loving, trusting, understanding woman that smiled at everyone....

        Hoping in vain.

        Somewhere inside him, a boy cried.

                                                                *                 *                 *                 *                 *                 *

        "Whadidja wanna talk to me about Ka-" She was cut off abruptly with the immense severity and seriousness of Kasumi's expression. The very room seemed like a calm before a storm.... despite Kasumi's cheerfully decorated tastes.

        "...woah, man. What the heck happened to get you so upset?" Ranma rubbed the back of her head, looking fairly nervous, and fixing an embarrassed unsure look on her face. The past few days Kasumi had been tenser than usual.... which was disturbing in and of itself.

        She had never seen Kasumi this serious and no-nonsense before. It was a startling contrast to how she USUALLY acted. Of course.... that morning had also been a little odd, with the shocked expression that Kasumi had worn.

        "...Ranma. I have to know something.... and.... and I don't want you to be offended by what I might ask you, because I know some things are very important to you to protect." Kasumi was worried beyond belief. 

        Her hands smoothed over the clean white apron in her lap as she fixed her eyes on the floor, a puzzled, and deeply perplexed look on her face, as if she was puzzling out some dreadful meaning of a puzzle or riddle. She fixed her gaze on a specific spot and stared at it, organizing her thoughts in a quiet moment of contemplation.

        She could see the concerned and worried look in Ranma's eyes.... could see the expression she wore that told her Ranma would listen to whatever she might say. To whatever was bothering her.

        The gray dusk of the setting sun seemed to fit her mood... some reds splashed across the sky to mix with the coming clouds.

        "...Sure, Kasumi. You know I'd love ta help ya in any way I can... talk to me..." Ranma felt a cold chill travel slowly up her spine..... something was slightly odd here, and she couldn't place what.

        Ranma took a careful seat by Kasumi on the older girl's bed.. and turned to face her, relaxing her body and calming her features to try and get Kasumi to relax as well. She brushed some of her long scarlet hair behind her ear and looked at Kasumi with her gentle blue eyes.

        "Ranma, you... you like Hiroshi a lot, don't you?" Kasumi asked.... finally bridging the topic of discussion. It took a lot more effort than her Mother had said. After the final words stopped in the air, Kasumi fixed Ranma with her soft brown gaze, a concerned, motherly expression on her face.

        Kasumi realized that this would be a hard discussion to sit through.... one Ranma might storm out of at any moment if the wrong words were said. Ranma was like a fragile flower�. If tended wrongly, it would break� yet if treated with kindness, love, and compassion it would blossom.

        Ranma thought about it for half a second, then nodded. "...Sure. Hiroshi's my best guy... I mean, he's been there so much recently, I've gotta care a little about him, right???" She sighed as she thought of Hiroshi. The images of his ever calming presence and his always ready supply of wisdom and care�

        Then Kasumi noticed, like a fog falling over her, when that dreamy smile slowly drifted into Ranma's features. There was a vague sense of dread that suddenly fell completely over the Eldest Tendo Daughter. It was like all the horrible nightmares of a dark night rolled into one disturbing thought.

        "....He's done a lot for me, ya know? I mean.... I don't think nobody has done so much for me ever... not Ukyou, not Pop, Not Akane even.... it's a little unnerving sometimes how much I rely on him, but he's m'man.... till the end." Ranma�s voice was cheery, wistful, distant. 

        Her eyes fixed on memories flashing in her own mind, some seeming distant recollections of happiness. Something Ranma had always been lacking since Jusenkyou.

        Something Ranma had seen very little of since a six year old boy was torn from his mother�s caring embrace and thrust into the cold embrace of the real world, with only the passion of the Art provided it.

        Ranma snapped out of her Reverie and looked at a slightly more pale Kasumi. "...Oh... wow, hey, Kasumi, Are you okay????" She reached over with a kind gesture, and touched Kasumi�s hand with her own in a somewhat feminine gesture of worry.

        Kasumi jumped, and wrenched herself back to the reality of the situation.

        Kasumi nodded, perhaps a bit too quickly... she might have never known afterwards. "Yes... Yes... I'm.... I'm just worried that you're spending far too much time with Hiroshi than you should."

        Ranma got a wary glare.... looking at Kasumi's fidgety motions.... Kasumi was NEVER fidgety, in Ranma's experience. Right now she was constantly straightening her dress, and avoiding Ranma's eyes. Ranma felt a sort of defensive wall building within her from Kasumi�s question, and she didn�t know why she felt threatened by the simple inquiry.

        "What's wrong with spendin' a little time with a great friend, Kasumi??? Hiroshi's been there for me, when I really needed someone t'listen. I don't think I could ever repay that," Ranma crossed her arms under her breasts... tilting her head to one side in a curious gesture as she wondered what Kasumi was driving at.

        Kasumi tugged a little on her pony-tail. "...Ranma...It's just... you seem to be acting like.... like Hiroshi was more than a friend?" Kasumi hated the way those words had come out� slightly strangled, hasty, and with more than a bit of fear in it� she was so unused to handling fear with someone else around.

        Ranma blinked. Genuinely stunned. "KASUMI!?" The walls grew thicker, higher�. Protecting Ranma from the hurtful implications.

        "...oh...oh my...." Kasumi looked abashed, red, and embarrassed.... as well as a little startled. Worried, Ranma might say...

        Kasumi's eyes were seeking anything and everything but Ranma.... and her hands were wringing in a nervous gesture.

        "What the heck are you talkin' about?" Ranma couldn't believe her ears. KASUMI thought that.....

        WITH HIROSHI?!?

        "....I'm sorry, Ranma... but you're scaring us all.... I mean, when you're with Hiroshi... and Akane.... now the dance... Oh.... Oh my, I'm not sure what to say," Kasumi looked back at Ranma with fear in her eyes.

        Fear of Retribution.

        "...Kasumi.... you KNOW me.... I would never-"

        "...but I don't, Ranma. I don't know you half as well as I thought.... That�s what you�ve been telling everyone lately, and quite often I must say." Kasumi seemed to have calmed. It was an uneasy calm. Ranma could see a storm behind Kasumi's eyes..... in her tense body.... there was a lot of worry Kasumi was holding back.

        She had just seen a bit of what Kasumi had been hiding.

        "Kasumi. You know me'n Hiroshi are just friends..... I don't believe you would think such a thing!" Ranma couldn't believe her ears. Kasumi was accusing her of being attracted to a MAN of all things!

        The idea was crazy..... completely ludicrous.

        "...You should talk to Akane, Ranma. I.... I think she was hurt by the way you were acting with 

        Hiroshi." Kasumi looked to the door... then back at Ranma.... who was looking out the window at the setting sun.

        The sun..... was slowly vanishing behind the horizon. Soon, Ranma knew, there would be a darkness.

        "...Yeah.... I guess I should, Kasumi." She scoffed, a bit offended by the implications. "....I.... I don't want to hurt Akane anymore. I want to get to know her better, let her get to know the real me."

        Kasumi nodded slowly.... opening the door and stepping out...... "...I will be downstairs, telling Memeko and Kaehmi goodbye."

        Ranma nodded absently.... looking out the window again.

        The Sun was setting... the darkness would be here soon.

        ".....absurd......" Ranma heard herself say, with her voice wavering slightly. She half wondered why it had wavered. She half wondered why "disgusting", "revolting", or "gross" had not come into her line of thinking on the subject.

        The darkness was coming.

        But would she be alone in it?

                                                                *                 *                 *                 *                 *                 *

        Akane stared down at the notebook she had snatched from Ranma's backpack.... her right eye was twitching slightly as she read it.....

        The flame flickered slightly, dancing gently atop the candle.... It's light providing much more illumination than irregular shining of the moon�

        Akane wasn't so much as surprised from the WRITING, although that was also shocking in some respects..... she was more surprised at what surrounded it.

        Ranma had never been too prone to doodle when he was bored, although on occasion she would see him sketch out something or other. He'd usually throw away the piece of paper, having gotten bored with THAT as well.

        No... no the writing isn't what surprised Akane.... it was the doodles. Some of them involving the daily Kuno-smashings, some of them involving Shampoo and Mousse.... but ALL of them were...

        Disgustingly cute Chibi-figures.

        With hearts.

        And Smiley faces.

        Akane's eye twitched for these reasons.... *What the hell did Nodoka and the others DO to Ranma?*

        She had taken the book from Ranma's bag as she had walked upstairs, with the vague dread that Hiroshi meant more to Ranma than a simple friend.

        She had discarded that thought, Ranma was so homophobic that that sort of thing was an IMPOSSIBILITY.

        She was, however, still worried about Ranma's growing sense of femininity. Akane had mentioned that morning that Ranma looked good with long hair, feeling a bit uncomfortable saying so at the time, too.

        Ranma had blushed... and said 'Thank you Akane, you don't know how much that means to me.'

        Akane snapped the book shut with a gasp as she came to a page that said "...Dear Diary..." her face going pale. She had noticed that it was Ranma's personal book, but he had NEVER referred to it as his diary in any of his notes.

        Not only did it say THAT, but it was written in a carefully scrawled out hand. "...Ranma....what is happening to you..."

        There was a knock at the door, and Akane jumped... taking the book and stuffing it in her pillowcase.... ".c...come in."

        The door slowly creaked open, snuffing the candle. "...a...akane? I...I think maybe we should talk..." Ranma said quietly, his voice much deeper and richer than his female side's. He sounded a bit uncertain, and from what Akane could make out, he seemed slightly worried...

        *At least he's male again... thank goodness...*

        Akane�s eyes traveled over to her clock, which read 2:37 a.m.. The sky outside was largely overcast.

        She sat up, stretching a bit and yawned. "�You can come in, Ranma�" She said in a somewhat upset tone.

        Ranma tentatively stepped into the room, shutting the door quietly behind him, his eyes looked around the room, taking it all in with a nervous precision. On almost every occasion he�d been in Akane�s room, he had always ended up going out through the window.

        "You know it�s 2 o�clock in the morning, Ranma� what the heck are you doing up so late?" She asked, tossing aside her blankets and sitting on the edge of the bed, her brown gaze locking with Ranma�s blue eyes.

        "�I�..I know, I couldn�t sleep� I got ta� thinkin� about what Kasumi had said to me, and�.. well, Akane, I think we need to talk. I mean�" Ranma rubbed the back of his head, still standing at the doorway, looking away nervously.

        Akane�s gaze softened a bit. "You know you can sit down, Ranma. I don�t mind�" She patted the bed beside her, relaxing her defenses that always seemed to go up around Ranma.

        Ranma walked a few steps in, uncertainly, then looked back up at Akane�s eyes.

        Akane put a smile on her face, trying to assure Ranma that she was sincere this time. "Come on, really�. I�m sorry about running out earlier, Ranma." She said, though it was a bit hard to admit out loud, it had always been hard to apologize to Ranma.

        The young Saotome boy looked at Akane, then the place offered, and turned, sitting gently� "..I� Actually, I wanted to come talk to you about that too�. Kasumi had some outrageous ideas about why you were upset� but I guess some of them make a little bit of sense."

        Akane tensed again. *�.could Oneechan have seen it too??? Oh Kami, please don�t let it be true�.* She could never believe Ranma would do that, with ANY man.

        Ranma loved her, and she knew it. He�d said so very few times, when he could have so many different times. It made those three special words all the more precious to Akane.

        "Akane�. I�m sorry, I know I�ve been spending a lot of time as a female, and that upsets everyone I guess." Ranma sighed, looking down at his hands, then up at the door of the room.

        "I-I think I understand why, Ranma, but you don�t have to be so brave about it. I just worry about you." Akane looked over at Ranma, and was startled to find his soft blue gaze looking into her own deep brown eyes.

        "I know, Akane. I know�" He touched her cheek gently. "It�s not about me, though. It�s about overcoming this�. This FEAR that I feel towards the curse. I guess I�ve kinda forgotten how much time I�ve been spendin� as a girl, but sometimes I�m more comfortable that way, I think." Ranma closed his eyes, holding back a wash of uncertainty at his own words.

        *How could I be more comfortable as a girl?? I�m not supposed to be comfortable as a girl�. But why doesn�t that seem so important?*

        Akane looked at Ranma, obvious care and compassion playing across her features. "Ranma, I know why you started doing this, but� but I am so afraid you�ll start drifting away from me, that you�ll become some person I don�t even know�" Her hand came up to his cheek, and caressed it gently.

        Ranma opened his gentle blue eyes, looking into Akane�s. "Are you so sure you know me so well, Akane?" He asked, his own hand coming up and holding Akane�s hand from his face. A bit of pain flashed across his gentle eyes as he stopped her loving caress.

        Akane looked a bit confused, but more hurt than lost. "�I�.I want to�" She felt something drip from her chin.

        Were these tears she shed?? They couldn�t be from her, she had so rarely cried in the years spanning her Mother�s death. "I�I want to know you, Ranma, I want to be with you, and walk with you� I want to get inside, but you� you keep us all out."

        Yes, they were tears, Yet that wasn�t the important part. They were HER tears� some dark lurking pain and emptiness welling inside her chest, like a wound that was bleeding itself larger and larger, soaking her with it�s dark feeling. It�s�.. loneliness.

        "No. Akane, No," Ranma took Akane by the shoulders, looking her directly in the face. "�Look at me, I don�t ever want to hurt you by what I say, but you need to know it�."

        Akane pulled her eyes up to Ranma�s, her tears still flowering and running down her cheeks. 

        That gaze was so hard to meet for her. A gaze filled with pain and torment, what REALLY resided in Ranma�s past? She had never known� she could never possibly begin to imagine what had shaped this man before her, this frightened wild creature that could so easily change everyone�s lives, but never it�s own.

        "I�ve never kept you out� NEVER� I�ve been crying silently inside myself, too proud, too brave to let it out, but that NEVER stopped any of you from simply sitting down and asking. I never kept anyone out, Akane, no� I can insult, and fight, and argue all I want, but that�s not keeping people from seeing who I am.

        It�s their own fears of what they could find. Ucchan is afraid she won�t find the love she has for me, Shampoo was afraid that I will reject her utterly, Ryouga always afraid that the friendship we once had is utterly dead, and you? You�re afraid of finding out I�m horrible, finding out you are so right about me and have always been." Ranma�s hands were gentle in their grip, but his eyes tore Akane to the bone.

        "No!! No!! It�s not! I want to, please�. I didn�t� it�s not true." Akane was shaking violently�. Tears and sobs tearing at her soul.

        Ranma took her into his arms, and just held her there for a long moment. "�Akane, Kami, I never want to hurt you. Never. With my words, or my actions, or my�. choices. You are the only one I 

        think about every time I�m forced to choose, wondering if you could forgive me if I chose someone else, wondering if we would be happy if we chose each other.

        I can�t know, though. You and I know so little about each other, about who we really are�"

        "I want to�. Ranma, I have always wanted to�." Akane said through a sob, wrapping her arms around Ranma as if he would be torn away forever and flung to the farthest wind, out of her reach.

        "No, Akane�. Please, oh Kami, Please just listen to the truth for once, listen to me� look at yourself�" Ranma felt his own hot, acrid tears welling up. The truth could hurt so much, could burn and destroy so much, But it had to be said.

        Akane shook her head, burying her face in Ranma�s chest.

        "�I never kept you outside� you chose to stay that way, you chose to toss aside what you could�ve known about me for your own pride. I�m sorry, Akane, I was silently asking for someone to understand, and you were never there to listen." Ranma shook a bit himself� and clenched his eyes shut tightly, a few tears running down his face and into Akane�s hair.

        "�Ranma�. Ranma.. please�.I didn�t�. no� I�m sorry�. Please.." She sobbed, looking up at Ranma.

        Ranma�s eyes, filled with tears, were understanding. "I know, Akane. I know you didn�t mean to� I know you�d always ached to see me, the real me. The only time you saw the real me was that first day in the dojo, I�m serious," He sniffed, and wiped his eyes with one hand� his bout of emotion having slowly passed by.

        Akane looked uncertain, gazing into Ranma�s deep blue eyes. Wanting to become lost in their soulful depths. "..Ranma� can� can we�"

        "Yes, Akane?" He asked, patiently. His hand slowly clasping Akane�s with understanding.

        "�.I�Let�s� let�s get to know each other." Akane smiled, a bit forced, but she smiled none the less.

        Ranma smiled in kind. He could feel something beginning, something wonderful, something new and glorious.

        It was like the dawning of a new day, where the world would be perfect and full of all the things that it so lacked before.

        "�Hai�" Ranma said with a gentle smile. "Hai, I think I�d like that, Akane."

        Akane smiled a bit, and nodded, and they both sat for a long moment, gazing at each other�. A decision had been made.

                                                                        *                 *                 *                 *                 *                 *

        "My Mother used to sit down at night and tell us Fairy Tales. I don�t know if Nabiki remembers, but Kasumi sometimes talks to me about some of them. When we�re here alone, and neither of us can sleep, we sometimes try and think up how they used to go."

        Akane walked quietly after her statement, her hand clasped in Ranma�s. Her eyes went up to the moon, a silent watcher that bathed the two lovers in a glowing light.

        Ranma looked at Akane as they walked, his other hand in his coat pocket. "She must�ve been somethin� Akane. I mean, you girls never talk �bout her."

        Akane reflected sadly for a moment, recalling the sickness that had swept down upon her mother quickly, without warning, and taken her within months from a loving family. A silent angel of grim servitude, collecting souls without compassion to those left behind.

        "She was everything to me, Ranma. She was a lot to many people around town�. But they never talk about her. I think it�s out of respect for her spirit that they pretend not to mourn." Akane looked up at Ranma�s silhouette, his soft blue eyes seeming to take in the moonlight.

        "Wish I could�ve known her, Akane� I really do. Was she anything like you?" Ranma said, smirking slightly.

        Akane smirked a bit, and leaned into Ranma, taking her hand from his and wrapping her arm around his waist. "�no� no she was nothing like me. She was a bit of us all, the best parts I think. Kasumi�s natural motherly instincts, Nabiki�s quick wit and financial skills, and my silent strength and inexhaustible reserves."

        Ranma heaved a sigh of relief in jest. "Whew, glad she wasn�t a terrible cook. That way I know it�s not inherited."

        Akane looked mock offended and poked Ranma hard in the side. "Baka!! You� Baka.." She whispered affectionately as she leaned her head against his chest. For some odd reason, Akane couldn�t get angry at his comment. She could find no rational reason not to, but the anger simply would not culminate.

        Ranma draped an arm around Akane, glad that they had brought their coats as the brisk chill of the wind picked up for a moment, tossing leaves around the park at random.

        "She would�ve liked you, Ranma. I really think she would have." Akane said sadly. Her eyes looking up at the tree�s and remembering a time so long ago when the blossoms were full, and a happy family had gone on picnics in the sun of the summer days.

        "It seems such a long time ago�. Like summer was all our Mother had with us, it�s what I remember the best, Ranma�." She could feel the sting of tears welling in her eyes again. "�now.. now it�s winter, and�. The pain still hasn�t stopped, even after so long."

        Ranma looked around at the skeletal tree�s, having already shed their leaves and getting ready for the long slumber of winter. His arm tightened around Akane for a brief moment, then relaxed, reassuring her that he was there if she needed to say something.

        "Ranma� what kind of music do you like??" Akane asked suddenly. Her head rising a bit.

        Ranma wasn�t surprised that she would want to change the subject, he couldn�t imagine losing his father so suddenly, or even his mother now that he was getting to know her.

        "�I don�t know. I listen to a lot of stuff. Recently, I�ve been listening to a lot of classical. It�s Okay, but I still love a good rock song on any occasion possible." He smiles and looks down at Akane.

        "�I Like Romantic songs. I don�t know, that�s silly, isn�t it? I mean, I�m so �tomboyish� all the time, it seems kind of silly to be attached to Romantic music." Akane blushed a bit, purposefully avoiding Ranma�s eyes.

        He laughed a bit, surprising Akane� she was startled at first from the sound, then the familiar veil of anger began to descend over her mind.

        "�That�s great, Akane!" Ranma said, calming down as he noticed the tense nature Akane�s body was taking on. "�I mean, I would never have guessed. That�s wonderful, Akane. I really mean that."

        Again, She was shocked. What she had thought had began an insult ended up a compliment. "�D� Domo, Ranma." She said� smiling a bit in return.

        "�This is great. I� I feel so alive, and happy all at once, I�m glad you asked to do this, Akane." He said, looking down at her as they came to the lake.

        "So am I, Ranma." Akane said, taking a seat on the bench. Ranma sat down beside her a moment later.

        Ranma looked at the water for a long moment. *Water�. It still makes me so uncomfortable, but�. At least I don�t feel helpless terror when I�m in it anymore.* He smiled and looked over at Akane.

        "�you were just wondering about your fear, weren�t you Ranma?" She asked, looking up at him.

        Ranma�s face took on a puzzled, and somewhat stung expression. "�..yeah� yeah I was." He said cautiously, as he leaned back, crossing his arms.

        "What happened, Ranma? I mean, you�re so different now that sometimes I�m so scared you�re slipping away." She looked down at her hands in her lap, and brought them to her mouth, cupping them then blowing into them to warm them from the chilled autumn night air.

        "�Akane, I know I�m different. I� I wish I could explain how much happier I am, how brightly I see the world nowadays. In such a short time, it�s like the world�s been turned upside down from some dark depressing nightmare into some dream world." Ranma picked up a stone by the bench, and launched it into the lake.

        *15�* He thought absently to himself, not really much caring about how many times it had skipped.

        Akane blinked at the amount, however.. then shook her head as Ranma�s words registered. "�how do you mean, Ranma?"

        "I dunno, Akane. I mean, so many little things I use�ta worry about are now things I don�t even think about. The world seems like such a better place, since I-" Ranma trailed off� looking down at the ground in a bit of embarrassment.

        "�Go ahead, since you�ve gotten to know Hiroshi." Akane said in a level, almost half angry tone.

        "..Akane, please. I don�t wanna talk about him right now, Okay?" Ranma said, looking up with a bit of fear and pain.

        "Ranma, why is it you spend so much time worrying about Hiroshi when� When I�m here worrying about you. I�m always standing right beside you, but you never even notice." Akane said, looking away from Ranma at the barren trees.

        "Akane, I know, I�m sorry. It�s jus� that �Roshi�s been there for me. I mean, I feel so responsible for everything that�s happened to him, and I just want him to be happy. He did so much for US too, Akane!" Ranma gently took Akane�s hand into his, his eyes looking at her intently.

        Akane looked back, with tears. "I� I know, Ranma. If it wasn�t for Hiroshi, we would never�. And we�d be apart now. I�m so sorry. I don�t know WHY I just� I feel�."

        "Jealous?"

        "Yes� It makes no sense, I know that you�d never� I mean, with a man. But I keep having these feelings when you choose to spend your time with Hiroshi, instead of me." Akane suddenly hugged Ranma tightly.

        "�I� I guess it is somewhat my fault, Akane. I mean, I knew how you felt, heck, I knew how I felt. I was just afraid, and I still feel so unready for you. I spend so much time with Hiroshi because he�s helped me out of so much, that I was hoping maybe he could somehow help me get through to you." Ranma�s mind told him there was another reason, somewhere, but he ignored that part of his mind.

        Right now he was with Akane, and nothing was going to ruin that.

        "I�I guess I could�ve tried harder, Ranma�. Back at the Wedding, after Herb, or the Cat�s Tongue. I guess I should�ve tried to see it clearer when you spoke at the Skating Tournament, when you tried finding the cure for the shampoo that Shampoo used on me� all the times you saved me. Kirin, Toma� Saffron." She fell silent a long moment, looking down at the hands in her lap.

        Those hands had always been easier tools of punishment than they had been instruments of healing, her righteous anger always much easier to wield than a gentle caress.

        "Akane. We� both didn�t try hard enough. I�. I�m sorry about what I said a while ag-" Akane held a finger across Ranma�s lips, tears glimmering in her brown eyes.

        "..No. Don�t you ever apologize to me when you don�t need to, Saotome Ranma� don�t tell me something to ease my heart that is just a candy coated lie." Akane sounded angry, and close to tears.

        Ranma had rarely seen this combination in her mood. "..A..Akane? But I was wrong, it was partly-"

        "No. No, you were right Ranma�," Akane took her finger from his lips.. looking down slightly at her hand in his.. she squeezed it unsurely.

        "No� I was at fault. We all were. Ucchan, Shampoo, Ryouga, Mousse, and I. I�. It�s so hard to see that Ranma. It�s so hard to look at yourself and see how badly you�ve wronged someone." A gentle tear rolled down her cheek, it was a silent tear in a moment of grieving.

        Ranma gently brought his hand up and caressed her cheek, wiping the tear away with loving grace. "�the truth.. is always hard to see, Akane� I ignored it for a very long time, and I almost lost you because of it."

        Ranma could feel the sweet pain inside his chest�. That beautiful feeling that welled inside of him whenever he was near Akane. That feeling that, until recently, he didn�t know how to react to. It was a deep aching inside of him, a throbbing in his heart� something that made the entire world seem more real to him.

        "�I.. I don�t know why I didn�t see it, Ranma. I feel so ashamed for treating you like I did, never listening to your side, never waiting for you to� open up. Never trying to� to understand you." Akane sighs, another tear rolling down her cheek.

        Ranma�s hand, so gently, cupped Akane�s chin� lifting it as he looked into her brown eyes, the wind stirring his hair as he looked down into her eyes. "�Reaching out� is hard for me too, Akane. I�m just as guilty."

        Akane smiled a bit at that. "�I never had a reason to open up to you, Ranma. I never had your curse, or your life� I never had your� pain." She said quietly.

        Ranma nodded, his lips gently brushing Akane�s. "Well, I�ve given you the chance, Akane. I have to say, you�re doing well so far." His heart throbbed in his chest as Akane looked up, a gentle smile ghosting across her face for a brief instant.

        Akane leaned forward languidly, bringing her lips to Ranma�s and pressing gently in a kiss. Ranma responded with the same gentle, quiet passion that Akane displayed.

        For a brief moment, all was right with the world, all was perfect and all was frozen in that moment of solitude. Just for one instance, Ranma�s entire world made sense, his entire life was clarified.

        Akane could hear nor see anything else, only Ranma. There was nothing else for her... no lake, no trees, no sky nor moon. Her entire world included a single kiss and her arms around someone she 

        KNEW she loved... without a doubt.

        Yet... all things so perfect rarely last, the sky boomed it�s jealousy of the bliss and exploded downward in a full blow tempest.

        Ranma shrank, his body taking on curves and angles to rival Akane�s. In that moment... the kiss stopped.

        There was an almost sad look in Ranma�s eyes as she caressed Akane�s cheek, the emotion playing there was so intense that no words could ever be put to test in order to explain it. For one brief moment in the infinite, Ranma�s life was whole... for one single second in a lifetime of troubled thoughts, she was complete.. no longer a shattered, lost soul.

        "...akane..." She whispered softly, her soft, feminine soprano cutting through the night like some vile blade of reality. Snapping the blissfull moment in twain with harsh uncaring.

        Akane�s face was a mix of pain, fear, anger, and sorrow. "..R..Ranma..." she murmured softly.. holding tighter to the redhead in her arms... the woman who had somehow ripped the man from her arms.

        *NO!!! It.. will NOT be this way!* Through the fierce rain, a tear trickled down her cheek, mixing with those shed by kami which descended upon the two lovers from on high. *I won�t let it end... it�s the beginning, and I won�t waste it!!!*

        Ranma began to turn away... that painful darkness descending on her soul... that bleeding feeling inside her chest, where the sludge of depression slowly grew. *This curse... this curse and all it�s pain, will the hurting never stop???*

        Ranma flinched somewhat as Akane�s hand touched her chin.... and for a moment, she struggled... not knowing why, noticing a face flash through her mind that she could barely make out before it was gone.....

        "Ranma.... I Love you. I Think I have loved you since the moment we met.... yes, even as a girl. There was something about you, some spark... something that made the rest of the world unreal." Akane�s soft brown gaze seemed sad, but vigilant in their emotion.

        "I can�t lose you, not now, not ever. I could never give up on you, no matter how much we fight, or how much I hurt you... I realize that now. I understand, finally, what love truly is. It is you, Ranma. You are what makes my world worth living...." Akane could barely hold back the tears.

        They both realized they were being drenched... that they could possibly catch a cold. Yet, for once, neither cared. It was as if all the events of the past were but a mere dream compared to the reality of this profound truth.

        Ranma gazed a moment longer into Akane�s eyes... then smiled. It was a gentle smile, an understanding smile. "Akane.... I am so sorry about tonight, about.. about everything I�ve done. Is this real?? Are.... Are we going to try this time, to.. to make this work?"

        Akane nodded softly.... wrapping her hand around Ranma�s. "....You bet. We�ll get through all of this... no matter what."

        Ranma smiled inside and outside... it was a rare moment, one history would do well to note. It was a rare happening with Tendo Akane, with a one Miramoto Hiroshi it had happened often as of late... but hardly often with the fierce Tendo Akane.

        Somewhere, in Nerima, two lovers sat. Talking.

        Some might not find this odd.....

        Yet to the people who knew them best, it was a miracle....

        In another place... nearby, a boy lost in a dream sat weeping... for what might have been, for what may yet still be.

        Weeping his tears for a stone statue which sat unyielding, with a smile of love on it�s face.

        Icy Raindrops fell.... and as the two lovers began their long and winding road home a front of icy clouds moved in from the south....

        Winter�s bite was soon to be delivered.

                                                                *                 *                 *                 *                 *                 *

        "Did I come at a bad time, Niichan??" Memeko stood in the doorway of her brother�s room. Her brother was holding his head in his hands as he sat on his bed.... a freshly pressed and cleaned tuxedo beside him.

        Hiroshi didn�t acknowledge his sister�s presence, his mind�s eye clouded with a single picture of Ranma, her eyes locked on his as the sun rose early one morning. The wind seemed to play through her hair, her delicately framed face shining in the brillance of that rare, brief moment.

        "Hiroshi??" Memeko�s voice was uncertain, it wavered slightly as she took a step further in.

        "Don�t." He said with a powerful voice. It tore through Memeko like a shockwave. She hesitated for a moment.. a look of confused compassion on her soft face.

        "Hiroshi, I- you need to talk to someone," Memeko wanted to reach out, wanted to wrap her arms around her brother. To comfort him, to take away his pain and sorrow.

        She had had so much in her life, so much anguish and loss since her husband died... so much pain from friends and family about her choice of paths. It was destroying her delicate soul seeing her brother in such a dark pit of agony.

        "No, Memeko. I�m a dead man walking. To think that I Love her, and- and this happens. Why?? Why does it have to be me," There was anger in his voice, harsh, brutal anger. It was indirect, because Hiroshi did not know what or whom to aim it at. Fate was his disdainful enemy, but one cannot harm what cannot be touched.

        Memeko DID take a step back at that. *What.. has happened to him??* The Hiroshi she knew could never cry, he was always so happy and carefree, always so caring about people and their problems. The pain never touched him, LIFE couldn�t touch him. He was what many people wished to be.

        What had happened to that man? Where had this frightened, angry boy come from?? She could only guess.

        Hiroshi looked up at her, the headband of his grandfather�s Genjii outfit tight around his forehead. His gentle eyes were red and swollen from hours of crying, yet there was a fire in them that burned with a silent intensity.

        "It�s her damn Curse, Memeko.... it�s... it�s that damn fate that followers her everywhere she goes. I tried to help her become happy, so for that faith in her I am to be punished. Everyone who loves Ranma *MUST* feel pain." Hiroshi clenched his jaw, his fists tightened as he slammed his eyes shut, holding back another fierce torrent of tears.

        Memeko began to step forward, the brutal torment lashing at her soul too much for her to stay away.

        "STOP!" He cried out with fury, hearing her feet move towards him. His body suddenly slumped from anger directly to the sadness of dejection. "...How can I do this to her, Memeko, how can I do this to myself?? What is there for me with her???" There was a certain melancholy in his voice that leveled upon nothing Memeko had ever heard from her brother. This was some stranger with her brother�s voice, some person she didn�t recognize who had taken on his shape... his soul.

        She attempted to comfort the lost soul before her, not with gesture, but with words... "Hiroshi, I-"
"NOTHING!! That�s the answer, I have nothing!! My hope is baseless, my dreams a mockery! Ranma made her choice long ago, when I wasn�t even a twinkle in her eye!! What weapon do I have to combat such feelings??" Hiroshi opened his hands, looking down at them... demanding some answer from them that they could not give.

        Empty palms stared back at him, devoid of the soft curves and kind face of his beloved. Empty of anything important, and filled only with emptiness, much like his soul. He wondered if the chill was from the dropping temperatures, or from the cold void that was his soul.

        "Hiroshi, please, listen-" Her soft words once more were leveled with his stern tone.

        His eyes burned with a forlorn passion, yet stared at empty space as if looking to some far off place.

        "No. No, I can�t keep doing this. I can�t stop either. No way forward, and the path behind has been destroyed.... things can NEVER go back to the way they were. Ranma... Ranma, you�ve done it again...." he laughed a bit. There was a disturbing quality to his laughter.

        It was completely devoid of all humor.... absent of emotion and humanity. It was as if his soul was dead, or dying. It was, as Hiroshi had described, a laugh without hope. A laugh ignorant of sunlight and the calm sea breeze, as if never having known such small wonders.

        "Hiroshi!" Her voice rose with a faint bit of anger in it, piercing through the darkness into the empty confines of loneliness her brother had sheltered himself within.

        Her brother looked up, as if seeing her for the very first time. "...m..memeko... what am I supposed to do??" His voice was no longer one of terror and anger at some impenetrable foe, but one of calm recollection of an unsolvable problem. Overwhelmingly weary, could best describe it.

        Memeko felt the tension drain from her brother, and she stepped up beside him, taking a seat on the bed with him and putting a tender hand on his shoulder. "Hiroshi, do you love her?"

        Hiroshi shook his head in futility, feeling the anguished pain in his soul. "That�s not the-"

        "*DO* *YOU* Love her?" Memeko�s voice was firm now, but there was a large amount of love in her tone beneath the unwavering question. Her words had the desired effect as her brother�s eyes seemed to gaze far within his own soul.

        Those words struck coldly through his heart, those four words were something he had never doubted, not since the first moment of that harsh unwavering epiphany. The choice of that question was deliberate, he knew, because he could never lie about the answer. Not from this, for he had not the ability to lie to himself or the world about such a thing.

        It was as if all his life he had been blind, lost to the world�s grief�s and how truly such things could hurt him, lost to what True Love feels like. Then, without warning or just reproach, it was slammed into his being with full force in a single, violent awakening of emotions so powerful that to explain them would be to diminish them.

        "...Yes..." He found himself saying, for he could say nothing else. Ranma hurt him, she confided in him and hurt him more... She time and time again missed those brief and rare moments where he almost came close to saying it. She was oblivious as to how much Hiroshi�s world had changed since she took that first step towards something closer than friendship.... and all of it had hurt him. 

        Then why couldn�t he stay away from her?? Was there any other rational explanation??

        *Love isn�t rational..* Hiroshi told himself. *Oh Kami, how I wish it were..... how I wish that all things were so simple, for if they were, perhaps the world might hurt a little less.*

        Memeko took Hiroshi�s hand into both of hers, enclosing it within them, she looked gently at her young brother. "Then you have to have faith in that, Hiroshi. You have to put yourself above the hurt and the pain, and see for yourself that there is hope on the horizon."

        Hiroshi looked up with his red rimmed eyes. "..Memeko, how can I have faith when there is no way??? Ranma doesn�t even know.. if she did, then.. then she would be terrified. I�d never see or hear from her Again." His body shuddered at the thought of losing Ranma, a cold icy ball forming in the pit of his stomach at the very concept.

        The older Miramoto sibling squeezed her brother�s hand gently. "Hiroshi, you are like nobody I have ever met. I watched you grow into a young man of happiness and hope... you always were so joyous and dedicated that I could never be unhappy.

        I cried when Connor died.... and you came into my room. There were no words, do you remember that???" Memeko�s eyes shimmered with tears of remembrance... her mind tracing back to that dark moment of grief. She had heard over the phone that he had died suddenly from an embolism, only hours after she had last seen him.

        Hiroshi looked up at his sister, mirroring her sad complexion as he nodded. "...hai.... hai, I remember Memeko-oneechan... I was Twelve...." He added a gentle smile as best he could.

        Memeko wiped a tear away. "You came into my room when I was crying my heart out, when I was holding the box of letters he had written to me. You came to me, hearing that odd sound you never could relate to... you touched my shoulder...."

        Her hand drifted up to touch her own shoulder.... a tear running down her cheek and hanging from her chin. She shuddered an intake of breath, swallowing the rough lump that had appeared in her throat.

        "You tapped me on the shoulder, and I looked up at you with tears in my eyes... you never needed any words, Hiroshi. You were that rare magic for all of us....." She smiles through her tears as Hiroshi himself held another bitter flood of his own back as best he could.

        Memeko�s lip quivered for a moment and she sobbed... "..you touched a hand to my chin gently, and I could see so well the love in your eyes, could see so much of what the world was to you. Hiroshi, your eyes gave me life again. I saw Connor in them... I saw Grandfather, I saw so many people I had lost in your eyes, the best of them all..."

        Hiroshi could hold back no longer.. his arms wrapped around his sister tightly as he let out a wracking sob..... the memory was one he had always recalled, when his sister had needed him the most he had been there for her, when she had needed someone with hope and love.

        She buried her head into his shoulder, his hand resting on the back of it as she felt his hot tears on her own shoulder. "You smiled at me... and it was like everything else just vanished, only me and my little brother. My Little brother telling me without words that everything was going to be fine.... that he was here, and he wouldn�t let anything else happen to me...." Memeko sobbed again.

        The tears she had not wept for so long were now for her brother.... trying to cleanse him of the doubt and fear.

        "Memeko.. Memeko-oneechan.. kami... *Sniff*" His entire body was shaking, the force of his emotion suddenly enough to banish the darker thoughts of his mind.

        Memeko kept crying, the barrier of years long past, formed of the joyous magic of a brother�s love finally opening it�s floodgates and letting the grief out in a healing wave. "Please, Hiroshi.. please, Kami, don�t lose that hope, don�t lose that magic in your heart. You make the world a better place for being, you deserve happiness.

        Ranma smiles so much around you, because of that simple magic you have. That magic of life and joy. When she looks at you, I see myself... in such haunting familiarity, as I gazed upon my Connor. As I looked upon him that first time, and my whole world seemed perfect. There�s hope in her eyes, Hiroshi... some part of her can never let you go...."

        Memeko tightened her grip against her brother.... rubbing her eyes against his shoulder. "Hiroshi, don�t give up on her. Don�t you EVER give up on something that makes you feel so complete.... Because, Hiroshi, if you give up.... Then you�ll lose that magic. That light in your eyes will fade and you�ll become like the rest of the world.

        Oh, Hiroshi, there are so few of you in this world. People who see the beauty in things and not the hideousness that we all seem to see.... Kaehmi has that magic, too... she learned it from you, Hiroshi. She learned it from a man who took it upon himself to stop the pain of someone close.

        She learned that smile, that magic glow in her eyes from a man who risked his own life time and again for a friend, with no demands of recompense. Someone who�s soul takes pleasure in the simple things in life....." Memeko had stopped crying... and was now cradling Hiroshi in her arms.... his own tears flowing freely.

        Hiroshi calmed after so long, the memories of a life of kind understanding suddenly crashing upon him.

        "Hiroshi.... please, see the hope in this..." Her voice was calm again.. with the stern undertone, thick with love. "Please understand that if Ranma didn�t love you, I would know it.... if she didn�t love you, then I would never have seen that look of clear calm as she gazed at you, the sun rising behind you both." Her arms were wrapped around Hiroshi as he shook with his grief, protecting him as if he were a small child.

        Yet it was a different embrace than that, for Memeko was protecting him from the cruelness that the world had forced upon him, trying to create a bastion of hope in an otherwise dismal situation.

        *Hiroshi can do it.... I don�t know anybody else that can, but I know in my heart that he can make this work.* Memeko told herself, for she must have faith in her own words as well. Faith in Kami that somehow they were watching... that in some way, her brother had been granted a gift instead of a punishment.

        "Hope.... Memeko, I try so hard to keep hold of hope, but it just seems to get farther and farther away. Just like this dance, Ranma doesn�t even know what... what she�s doing to me by asking." Hiroshi shivered, and looked up at his sister�s eyes for a fleeting instant.

        Her eyes, now a bit red rimmed themselves, looked back with an unwavering love and compassion in her eyes. "....You are going to take her to the dance, Hiroshi, and you will enjoy that time you spend."

        She brushed a hand through her little brother�s hair.. sighing and looking at him as a mother might. *So grown up, so hurt and unsure, Kami give him patience and a light to guide the way.*

        "How..how can I go, Memeko-oneechan???? It only makes the hurting worse." Hiroshi could almost imagine dancing with Ranma gently wrapped in his arms. Not that the martial arts tournament of dancing would HAVE a lot of slow dances.

        Memeko shook her head... reaching up and brushing a strand of her own hair out of her face. "How can you not go?? Hiroshi, no matter how Ranma feels about you, never waste that time you have, because you might not get it again." Her face returned to a serious, almost contemplative mood. "I would never give up one second of the time I was with Connor, even though I was sometimes hurt by it."

        Hiroshi clung to his sister as a drowning man might attach his hope to a piece of driftwood in hopes that it might lead him to safety, "...I am afraid, Oneechan," He said, his emotions slowly subsiding as Memeko rocked him in her arms.

        She smiled gently, stroking his head she kissed him on his brow, "We�ve all been afraid, Niichan, but fear shouldn�t make you hesitate in what you must do.. it should only drive you harder towards what you know has to be done. The bravest people in the world have very often been afraid in the stories of fame they are recorded in."

        Hiroshi sighed, gathering himself carefully as he looked back up at his sister�s eyes. "I�ll go.. I�ll go because I love her, I will go because I wouldn�t be the man I am so proud of being if I didn�t, I will go because you deserve to be proud of your little brother, But most of all I will go because.. Because..."

        Memeko put a finger to his lips. "Because you have to know if she loves you, once and for all," Hiroshi stared back at his sister.

        She kissed him on the cheek, and pressed something into his hands, dry, cracked paper... parchment...

        She smiled softly at him, her eyes dancing. "And Hiroshi.. you are my brother, I will always be proud of you, no matter what happens," She carefully stood, gazing down at hiroshi, the yellowed parchment held gently in his hands.

        She walked out of the room, only glancing over her shoulder as Hiroshi broke the seal on her grandfather�s scroll....

                                                                        *                 *                 *                 *                 *                 *

        "YYYYYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWCH!!!!!" Ranma yelled as her Mother primped and pulled her hair, it reminded her of some very sick and painful chinese form of torture, and Ranma half wondered if her Mother had LEARNED it in China.

        "Be still, and be QUIET, Ranma!!! I will not have my child seen at the Prom in some half prepared mode of dress!" The elder Saotome woman said in a stern and chiding tone. 

        She clamped a lock of Ranma�s hair into the hot iron, curling it then holding it for a moment before pulling the hair out of the iron, leaving Ranma�s hair slightly curled underneath, with a bit of a wavy aspect... Nodoka clouded Ranma�s senses with a thick mist of hair spray.

        "Ahh..AHHHCHOO!" Ranma rubbed her nose. "Geeze, Mom, it�s only a stupid Dance!!! Well.. except for the martial arts part," The comment earned her a firm smack upside the head witha brush.

        "OW! Hey, whadja do that for??" Ranma asked with a scowl on her pretty face, earning her another firm wrap upside the head. "OW!"

        "Several things... for one, this is not just a DANCE, this is the PROM, when all the young ladies and men have to look their FINEST no matter what, showing up in a chinese shirt and slacks is NOT something you wear at the Prom," Nodoka�s tone was a firm and a parental lecturing one, as if speaking to a small child who didn�t know any better.

        Ranma frowned.... "Aww geeze... do I gotta wear THAT dress???" Ranma got smacked again. "OOOOW!!!"

        "You helped pick it out.. are you saying you don�t like it, after it�s always been payed for???" Nodoka asked, cinching more hair in a painful tug.

        "EEK!! NNn.... no.. I like it just fine, I just.. well, I dunno if I wanna wear a dress," Ranma said fidgeting, a pouty look on her face.

        Nodoka tugged on her hair again, putting it into the curler and working it down through her hair, "You will not pout, you will not frown, you will not ruin your pretty face tonight. You are to be on your BEST behavior, and act like a YOUNG LADY..." Nodoka yanked hard on some of Ranma�s hair, her patience slightly thin at this point in the day.

        Ranma had asked for it.. and asked for it very sincerely. So Nodoka was VERY obliged to get her ready for "The Night of Night�s" As some High Schoolers referred to it as.

        "OW!!! Cut it out, Sheesh!" Another smack of the brush delivered upside Ranma�s head.

        "OOOOOWWW!!!" Ranma replied in a somewhat predictable manner by now.

        Nodoka finished with her hair, Spraying it with a generous amount of hairspray, causing Ranma to cough and hack. "And three, you will use proper female japanese pronouns in public tonight, I will not have parents around here accusing me of raising you improperly, with no respect for ettiquete," Nodoka was finally finished with Ranma�s hair.

        "Aww... geeze... do I gotta?" Thump, "OW!! Cut that out! i don�t want to have a knobby head for the rest of the night!!"

        Nodoka smiled a bit. "You will speak in a normal manner, young lady.. now put your makeup on just like I showed you those THREE times this morning... I have to go get your dress," Nodoka bustled off to busy herself with preperations for the rest of the night, including helping Kasumi with dinner.

        Ranma sighed, looking back at the mirror at the girl with now slightly wavy and curled hair. Her face was plain, but very beautiful in it�s simplicity... bright blue eyes flashed with a slight bit of trepidation and excitement as she thought of what tonight would be like.

        *Why do girls have to put this stuff on anyways??? It�s just more of a hassle than it�s worth,* Ranma stared down at the small black box that she had become so familiar with only recently.

        Only the past several weeks had prepared her for the full female role of getting dressed and prepared, a crash course given by her mother to catch up for lost time. A crash course that almost drove her batty, till Nodoka had been forced to back off from the anger Ranma had begun exhibiting towards her.

        Ranma opened the small black box, a gift from her mother.... inside there were various shades of rouge, blush, base, eyeliner, eyeshadow, and lipstick. *Lipstick.. yikth...*

        She looked back up at the rather plain face in the mirror, and she tilted her head slightly to the side, looking carefully at the face staring back at her.

        Full, pouting lips, a delicate and round face... with slightly sharp features that seemed to add a statuesque beauty. There was potential in the image, after several long moments Ranma noticed this hidden beauty beneath, what is more, she began to work, as if unconciously, picking up the base and gently applying an appropriate amount.

        *Life is art,* She heard a familiar, gentle voice murmur in her mind, *The Art is Life* She heard her Father intone from what seemed ages ago. The two phrases clicked together, forming a unified idea as she began to gently use the tools given to her to bring the beauty out of the plain canvas of her face.

        Ranma wasn�t plain... there was potential, and she was pretty even without the crutch of facial paints. Yet perhaps it was an internal driving that seemed to urge her to try and bring the best out in her face, to try and ease that feminine look into her features even more.

        Ranma paused as she was applying Mascara, staring at herself as she came out of her distant, thoughtful mode.

        *Why is this not buggin� me?* She wondered, staring at herself. Yes.. yes, she was pretty, but she could always be prettier. There were girls she had met, she had seen that were far prettier. Such as her previous fiancee�s.

        They all had a sort of inner beauty, a self confidence that only came with growing up a woman... Ranma sighed, and finished with the mascara, setting it back in the makeup box as she applied lipstick, a shade darker and redder than her actual lips.

        *I can�t BELIEVE I am doing this.* Ranma looked at herself carefully, then shook her said, *No, I can believe I am doing this, but I can�t believe that I am doing this WELL.*

        She finished carefully outlining her eyebrows and lips. She smiled softly, the girl in the mirror still looked like the redhead of just minutes before... but somehow there was a more mature, more feminine look about her.

        The door slid slowly opened, and Nodoka walked in with a beautiful deep green dress on a hanger, a formal dress with spaghetti straps and silk embroidery. In Ranma�s opinion, it had been WAY too expensive to buy.. but her Mother had insisted.

        Nodoka stopped, looking at Ranma, blinking for half a moment. "That�s very good, Ranma.. much better than the last few times you did this, I could hardly tell if I didn�t know what to look for," She smiled gently at her daughter, hanging the dress in the closet.

        Ranma blushed, looking down at her hands, then back up at the mirror. "Thanks Mom, do I really got ta wear a dress?"

        Nodoka sighed, and fixed Ranma with a stern, matronly glare, "Ranma, of all the nights to have this argument, do NOT choose tonight. It was your choice to go as a... female, and if you are going to go as female, then you will be going as the best looking girl in the whole dance!"

        Ranma shook her head, her hair bouncing slightly around her face, "It�s just.. well.. I feel so NERVOUS for some stupid reason!!" Ranma saw the redhead in the mirror scowl, which certainly didn�t make her look very pretty.

        Nodoka pinched Ranma hard in one of her shoulders, causing Ranma to cry out again. "Cut that out!!!" Ranma said.

        "No scowling, remember??" Nodoka took Ranma�s face into her hands quite suddenly and seemed to carefully study her daughter�s features.

        Ranma blinked, staring back at her Mother with her own bright blue eyes. She stared at her own mother�s face, the slightly dull red copper tint in her hair, the same red that colored her own hair in her female form.

        There were almost no real signs of aging on Nodoka�s face, youthful yet mature, lines didn�t hamper her face as many women her age. Graceful age...

        Ranma half wondered, if she had been born female, if she would have aged as gracefully as her Mother had.

        Nodoka smiled a moment later, her own eyes dancing with pride, "You did a splendid job, Ranma... I am very proud of you," Nodoka smiled, letting go of Ranma�s face, and gently brushing a lock of hair from her daughter�s face.

        Ranma blushed slightly, "Urr.. Thanks again, I still feel nervous though, almost.. urr.. sorta giddy," Ranma idly picked at her slacks, looking down at her lap.

        Nodoka set a pair of panties and a bra on top of the counter in front of Ranma, issuing a bugeyed stare from the redhead.

        The previous weeks Ranma had accepted that she had to wear a sports bra, and on occassion a pair of panties. With what had happened with Happosai the other day, she had pointedly avoided panties.. but in front of her were a pair of panties, with an actual wire framed bra.

        "Urr.. Mother.... what is this?" Ranma asked, holding up the bra in front of her Mother, it was white and formed mostly of silk with lace trimming.

        Nodoka looked at the bra for half a moment, then back at Ranma, "It�s a bra that you are going to wear, or would you rather be flopping out everywhere while you dance?"

        Ranma growled, crumpling the bra in her hands, "Ma, I will wear a sports bra, but THIS is going a little too far, don�t you think???" Ranma�s words were received with a cool, calm expression from her mother.

        "Ranma, there are many situations that allow for a sports bra, and they have become one of the more popular trends recently... but there are still some things that require an actual bra that provides more stability than a sports bra provides," Nodoka reached around her neck and unlatched a chain, pulling a small necklace from around her delicate neck.

        Ranma blinked, looking carefully at the necklace. It was teardrop shaped, with a pale blue quartz hanging from a silver chain. The light seemed to dance inside of it, almost making it seem as if it was covered in liquid sunshine.

        "This was given to me by my Mother, if I had had another child... a daughter, this would be hers," Nodoka held it in her hand, looking down at the beautiful crystal as the light played off of it, "But.. since I never had a daughter born from my own body, I�m giving this to you.. the closest thing to a daughter I might ever have."

        Ranma furrowed her brow, looking up at her Mother, "I can�t take this, Ma... I wouldn�t feel right, I mean, it�s probably more important to you than it is to me."

        Nodoka shook her head, and gently took Ranma�s hand, pressing the piece of jewelry into her hand and closing her fingers over it, "Ranma, you are my child... and I love you. I want you to have fun at this Prom, even if you and Akane are supposed to compete against eachother, it doesn�t mean that the rest of the night has to be ruined."

        Ranma looked down at her hand enclosed around the necklace, "Mom... please, I-"

        "No, Ranma... take it," Nodoka gently lifted a finger and traced Ranma�s cheek carefully with the back of it, "You look so much like I did, at your age Ranma... Always be proud of who you are, my child... always be proud of who you are," She smiled and kissed Ranma on the forehead gently.

        Ranma felt a warmth spread through her from where Nodoka�s lips had touched her... for once since her Mother had found out, she truly felt loved. There had been moments that were SO close to what Ranma had imagined a Mother and Child being like... but never one that completely felt correct in Ranma�s own opinionated imaginings.

        A smile edged its way slowly into Ranma�s serious complexion, "Okay.. okay.. could you.. help me put it on??" Ranma asked tentatively, holding her hand open.

        Nodoka smiled, lifting the silver necklace from Ranma�s hand as the redhead turned the chair, looking in the mirror as Nodoka placed it around her neck carefully, pulling her hair out from beneath it after fastening it around Ranma�s neck.

        The tear shaped gem nestled itself between Ranma�s breasts, feeling cool against her skin. Her tanktop neckline low enough to show the glimmering gem off. It set off Ranma�s eyes, seeming to make them an even brighter blue, causing a striking contrast.

        Nodoka smiled.. "It looks nice on you... but I think your clothes need to be a little more appropriate," Nodoka smirked, holding up the panties and bra.

        A groan was her response, "You�re not going to let it drop until you get me in those, are you???"

        Nodoka let a slight smirk decorate her face, "Why not humor an old woman and just get dressed like all the other young ladies will be tonight??"

        Ranma rolled her eyes, smiling and shaking her head, "Geeze, I guess I have no choice," She took the Bra and Panties, looking at them for a brief moment.

        Nodoka smiled patiently... "I�ll be back in a moment, you need something to go with the necklace, and I think I know just the thing..." She once more hurried out the door, leaving Ranma to stare at the feminine undergarments that seemed to taunt her with their simple necessity.

        *Stupid bra.... and silk panties?!* Ranma rubbed the material with her hands. *Mom�s lost it... then again, Did she ever have it??* Ranma giggled quietly to herself.

        "Oh well.. I.. Guess it ain�t gonna kill me..." Ranma stood up, quietly shedding her masculine clothes, she put her feet into the panties, sliding the fabric slowly up her smooth, finely toned legs, pulling them up around until they fit snugly, hugging her wide flaring hips.

        Ranma then stared at the bra for several moments, and took several more trying to figure out how to fasten it.. then decided the best way was to put her arms through, fasten it in the back, and adjust the front.

        Afterwards she turned back towards the mirror, looking at the woman that stared back at her. Granted, still in her underwear, but that made the image seem even more feminine.

        Ranma frowned somewhat sadly, *..where did the male Ranma go all of a sudden? It�s like the real me has just completely vanished...* She suddenly found herself nervous again as she turned, lifting the green dress.

        It was a few shades darker than emerald, with the lace embroidery just a touch lighter than the rest of the dress.

        *It looks so.. ugh.. so girlish* Ranma held it up over her body, looking in the mirror... with the necklace dangling around her neck, it set off her eyes, and the green seemed to intensify the red color in her hair. *Gotta admit though... I�d look pretty good in it...*

        The door slid open again, and Nodoka returned with a small laquered box in her hands. Ranma turned, still holding the dress against her body, and bestowed her attention on her Mother.

        Nodoka stopped, looking at how the dress was pressed up against Ranma... for a moment she faltered, her cool facade cracked for a brief instant as the feeling of fear drowned out her joy.

        She could remember, very easily, a little boy of 6, and wondered if somehow she was killing that little boy. She shook her head, forcing the pain and fear back down. It would not do to upset Ranma, not at this point in things.

        She held out the box, as if in offering to her little girl, "...a matching pair of earrings, I bought them soon after Mother died from a pawner she had sold them to," Nodoka faltered, looking at the box in her hands for a long moment.

        Ranma noticed, worry creasing her brow as she reached out to her Mother, a question on her lips.

        Nodoka clenched her eyes shut, then opened them. She painted a smile on her face, albeit a bitter sweet one.

        "Why did she pawn them???" Ranma looked at the shiny surface of the box, it reflected a young girl of 17 with luxurious red hair brushing the tops of her breasts, and the tips of her shoulderblades.

        Nodoka opened the box, looking at the two teardrop-shaped earrings, "When your Grandmother fell ill, about 6 months into my pregnancy with you, the hospital care started eating into the family funds," Nodoka took out the two earrings carefully, her hands trembling slightly as she spoke.

        "Mother ended up insisting that her own belongings be sold to help pay for the costs of her medical bills," Nodoka stared at the colors that seemed to dance inside of the two gems, shifting and swirling in a furvent rainbow.

        Ranma looked with concern at her Mother, who just stared at the earrings for a long while, "Mom.. you really shouldn�t do this to yourself, I don�t need all this stuff for the Prom, what if I lose something??"

        Nodoka blinked, looking up at Ranma, her eyes slightly misty as her hands held the two gem earrings as if they might break by just resting atop her palm, "Ranma, I want people to see you and the beauty that you seem to miss so often when you look in the mirror. I know you never asked for this curse, and I know you have.. trouble looking at yourself as a female," Nodoka paused, holding out her hand with the earrings in them in an offering gesture towards Ranma.

        "I want you to learn, tonight, that there is pride in being beautiful.. not just strong. I want you to learn tonight that there is something very special about how a woman feels when she is complimented, I want you to learn to feel good about yourself and how you look, Then... Then I think that we might stop the training," Nodoka said in a wavering tone.

        Ranma�s eyes grew wide, "You really mean that Ma?? After tonight I can stop all this stuff??" Ranma hoped she didn�t sound too giddy, she also hoped her Mother did not catch the small bit of regret in her voice. She would have preferred to ignore it herself.

        Nodoka looked around at the room, the Vanity that she had bought just a couple weeks ago... the dresses that hung in the closet, various odds and ends that had accumulated since the training had began. *I should never have started this, it was a mistake in judgment, and a selfish mistake at that* The elder Saotome told herself sadly.

        "Yes, Ranma. After tonight, you don�t have to do any more training," She said in a slightly weary tone of voice, "Unless you want to," Nodoka amended, then blinked at her last few words.

        Ranma smiled and nodded. Perhaps her Mother was a woman she could truly look up to and love.

        "C�mon, Ma... let�s get me ready for the night of my life," She said grinning.

        The love in Nodoka�s smile could have warmed the coldest of days.

                                                                        *                 *                 *                 *                 *                 *

        Akane fidgeted with her dress, looking nervously on as Kasumi helped prep her hair for a hard night of dancing.

        Akane�s Ensemble was a sleeveless dress that had a modest neckline, matching choker with an embellished blue glass stone on it. It hugged her form like a standard dress gown, and had slitted sides starting at mid-thigh for better maneuverability.

        In the color of a dark blue, to contrast with her raven hair, the dress had matching pair of velvet gloves that covered her forearms.

        Kasumi continued styling her hair as she fidgeted nervously with the dress.

        Somehow, Kasumi had a way with feminine things. Whatever the eldest Tendou girl touched seemed to be gifted with a look of newly revealed beauty, yet understated so as not to take away from the rest of the Prom ensemble.

        "Akane, Dear, sit still. There�s no need to be nervous!" Kasumi said in that cheerful way that seemed to calm everyone down.

        "I can�t help it, Oneechan. I *AM* Nervous, This is the Prom.. THE Prom, maybe I made a mistake in challenging Ranma. Shouldn�t I be going with him to the Prom, I mean?" Akane said quickly, adjusting the Velvet blue gloves on her arms.

        Kasumi sighed that gentle, motherly sigh and smiled at Akane. "You are only now thinking about this?? Think of how poor Ryouga-san would feel if you just decided to cancel now, he�s so nervous that he hasn�t been able to get lost the whole day," Kasumi stifled a slight giggle.

        Akane sighed, slumping her shoulders, "I- guess you are right. Ryouga deserves to be treated with decency and respect," Akane looked back up at the face in the mirror, definitely not uncute, far from it. A woman stared back at her, a woman with strenght, with pride, with passion.

        "And I did make that challenge... as a Martial Artist, I suppose that I have to hold to my challenges," Akane said in a slightly annoyed tone of voice. *Why do I feel as if I�ve been tricked by Ranma into doing this?? Baka.*

        She scowled at the mirror, wondering what Ranma might be doing at that moment, probably bragging about how she was going to beat Akane.

        Regardless, Akane felt love as she envisioned Ranma�s face. No matter how upset she always got with Ranma nowadays, she could never shake that feeling.

        Akane felt her scowl slip from her face as she imagined how Ranma had kissed her just the night before.. how he had held her in his arms and told her how he felt. How he had listened, and how she had listened in turn.

        "I really do love Ranma... Somehow, I finally realize that," She said under her breath, her mind elsewhere to her mouth as it fired off those words that hadn�t been heard in anyone else�s presence but Ranma�s.

        And, for her mark, Kasumi blinked and proceeded to tangle Akane�s hair, "P-Pardon?" Kasumi said, her shock nowhere near being hidden. For once, the impossible had happened.

        Kasumi was stunned speechless! About 5 minutes passed with Kasumi simply staring at her Sister in the mirror, as if she had grown fangs and a third eye.

        She had HEARD Akane say those words! Those words!!!

        Akane seemed to awaken from her stupor, and then turned a bit pale, "I- I- I mean, what I- I meant to say-" Akane stared at her Sister in her own moment of shock. 

        *Go ahead, Akane.. open mouth, insert foot, chew vigorously, no complaints THERE!!! You call Ranma a Baka... Baka Kawaiikune!!* Her internal voice taunted. She then proceded to smash it�s head in with a sledgehammer, bind it, tie it, and throw it back into the corner it had escape from.

        Blush colored Kasumi�s cheeks as she smiled a gentle, knowing smile, "You shouldn�t be telling me, Akane.. you should be telling him," She said as a matter of factly, as she expertly repaired the damage she had made to Akane�s hair-do.

        "I... I do tell him, we�ve told eachother many times in private, but.. neither of us have been able to say it in public in front of anyone," She turned her gaze from the girl in the mirror, looking down at her lap.

        Kasumi pursed her lips in a thoughtful expression, still busy at work with Akane�s hair. Almost finished, she was concluding her work with touchups. "Why haven�t you said anything to Father or Mr. Saotome? Or even Auntie Saotome?"

        Akane groaned, exhaling a vexed breath, "Kasumi, we want to love eachother in our own time, if we told Father, or Mr. Saotome, or even Auntie, they would insist we marry right away without wasting any time," Akane brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, still staring down at her lap.

        Kasumi set the comb down, looking at how serious Akane had become. She frowned a slight frown, an expression of concern, "Akane, I know that you and Ranma have despised the arranged marriage from the beginning. I agree in some parts with why you both fight it so much, but in others," Kasumi paused for a moment, thinking of the right words.

        "I just worry that you might be pushing Ranma away with all this hesitation, that you and he might ruin what you have together by waiting so long before announcing to all of us that you will get married," Kasumi smoothed her skirt and apron, looking back up at the mirror with a pleasant smile.

        "I... I know, Kasumi, I know. Sometimes I am afraid of the same things... I think that if we keep up how we are going, in a month or so we might just be ready," Akane looked at her sister in the mirror, "Might, Oneechan, just.. please don�t press us, ok?"

        Kasumi seemed to consider for a long moment, her brow creased in stern concentration, her mind calculating if she should or should not listen to Akane�s plea. After a long moment of concentration, she fixed her gaze on Akane once more, her hands locked together in front of her, "I will do my best, Akane, to help you and Ranma be together the way YOU want to be. I want my little sister to be happy in her marriage, not just honorable."

        Akane smiled, rising from her seat and walking around, she wrapped her arms around Kasumi and hugged her tightly. "Domo, Oneechan, for everything," Her thanks meant more than just for Ranma, and just for tonight... it extended far beyond, into the past, where a young girl took up the mantle of motherhood to help raise her two baby sister�s.

        Kasumi smiled, her joy reflected in her eyes, "There�s no need to thank me, Akane. I never needed it before, and I don�t need it now. All the things I�ve done I have done because I love and cherish you, the same for Nabiki, although she can be difficult at times," Kasumis smiled and kissed Akane�s cheek softly.

        "Thank you, all the same Kasumi, for always being there for us when we needed you," Akane said, clasping her hands in Kasumi�s for a moment.

        Akane was proud of her sister, Kasumi had given up so much to help keep the family together after her high school graduation, some things which would have made her much happier in the long run than she could ever be stuck at home with her family.

        That sacrifice meant a lot to Akane... a sacrifice which she herself couldn�t make, she didn�t think she was strong enough.

        Kasumi looked Akane up and down, straightening her dress, then her hair, then looking at her with that proud, loving smile, "You are ready, Akane, and very beautiful I might add."

        Akane blushed, nodding slowly at her elder sister, "Thanks, that means a lot to me," She smiled an inward smile. Beautiful, not Kawaiikune, not even uncute... beautiful. Cute would have been enough.

        Kasumi smiled a knowing smile, "Go on.. I think your date is waiting for you downstairs," Kasumi watched with pride as her little sister walked out the door.

        Akane spared a look back at Kasumi... and she looked excited, alive, giddy. *Youth* Kasumi remembered her youth, was she ever that young?

        As Akane closed the door behind her, Kasumi sighed, looking at the mirror in Akane�s room. *Kami watch over her, keep her safe, and bring her safely home... and help her to enjoy this night for the memories it will be.*

        Outside, a snowflake fell, lighting on the Koi pond... ripples shimmered and cascaded outwards from the point of interception.

        The clouds were grey, and thick.

                                                                        *                 *                 *                 *                 *                 *

        Ryouga paced back and forth rapidly, his eyes frantic and panicked. *She is taking so long!!! What is taking her so long? She didn�t change her mind, did she??? She didn�t decide not to come, did she??? Did she decide to go with Ranma!?*

        Ryouga ran a hand through his hair, which had been dyed black the past several days... back to it�s original color. He was intenesly giddy and it felt as though knots had formed in his stomach.

        Memeko watched the Hibiki child pacing nervously, Kaehmi sitting in her lap humming a tune as she petted and sung softly to her stuffed cabbit.

        Ryouga looked down at the Tuxedo that Nabiki had "Loaned" him for the night, fidgeting and straightening the overcoat, then tugging nervously on the cuffs of his shirt beneath the coat.

        Hiroshi was dressed in a similar outfit, plus the white bandanna from his Grandfather�s Genjii outfit. Unlike Ryouga, however, he was calmly seated and playing a game of Shogi with Genma.

        Genma was sweating visibly, noticing that Hiroshi didn�t look away from the board like Tendou did. He had tried his best ploys to get the boy to drop his guard, but Hiroshi�s attention seemed primarily focused on the board.

        *Ranma must have warned him about me,* Genma grumbled inwardly while contemplating his next move. *It doesn�t help any that he�s good at this... tricking me with saying he�s a beginner, I should�ve known better.*

        Nabiki was playing solitaire on the table, already dressed in her own dark blue strapless dress and ready to go out to the prom.

        Nabiki HAD better things to do, but she had good reason to be going, since she arranged the location for the dance. A modest sum was required, of course, but Principle Kuno didn�t have half the brain�s his Son did, which was saying a lot in Nabiki�s opinions. Kuno himself was a dolt.

        She also had a vested personal interest in what happened tonight, though she didn�t let Hiroshi have the satisfaction of seeing her worry. Nabiki Tendou was harder than that. Nabiki Tendou had drawn the line, and it was up to her to see that line was not stepped over.

        She frowned as she stared at a card, the Queen of Diamonds. She had so much power, but could she really control what direction the night�s outcome would have??? She found herself doubting. What *COULD* she do to Hiroshi if he couldn�t keep his feelings to himself?

        Soun, in the meantime, was sitting at the table opposite of Nabiki, reading a book entitled, "The Art of Arranged Marriages: How to fix your Son-In-Law good," A self help book featuring 120 different ideas of how to trap your Son-In-Law in an arranged marriage.

        Hiroshi moved his piece a moment after Genma had taken his hand off of his own, taking one of Genma�s pieces in turn. Without looking up, or even glances at Ryouga, Hiroshi had noticed that the lost boy was quite lost as to what to think about Akane�s lengthy preperation.

        "Maybe she just is trying to look really really good, Ryouga," Hiroshi smirked after he spoke, Ryouga turning and looking at him.

        Ryouga blinked, turning towards the other boy, "W-what?"

        Hiroshi rubbed his chin as he stared at the board, waiting for Genma to move, "Ryouga, Akane is a martial artist, and would adhere to any promise she made with you... that includes asking you to the Prom, so you really have nothing to worry about. She is only taking a while to get ready, girls are notoriously nervous about prom night," Hiroshi grinned widely as Genma�s shaking hand moved the chosen piece.

        Memeko turned her head and cast a skeptical look upon Hiroshi, "And how, pray tell, do you know so much about the workings of a woman�s mind, Hon?"

        Hiroshi smiled, turning his head towards his elder sister, "Simple, I actually talk to girls and listen, instead of staring at their chest all the time, or fighting over them, or doing something to injure their trust in me," He smiled and slapped Genma�s hand hard as he tried to reverse the board.

        Ryouga frowned, fiddling with his bandanna in a habitual gesture, "I guess I am a bit.... nervous. I mean.. this is Akane, not just anyone!"

        Hiroshi laughed lightheartedly, "That is very true, I don�t think Akane could EVER be �Just Anyone�, if that happened I would wonder where they took the real Akane," He wondered if Akane had ever been a "Normal" girl. As far as he could remember she had always been a bit energetic as a child.

        "Is Miss �Kane goin� with Mister Ryouga to that dance thing, Uncle Hiro?" Kaehmi asked in a somewhat hushed tone as she pointed at Ryouga.

        Ryouga heard her, and laughed a bit nervously, "Hai... urr.. yes... I am, I hope, I pray I am-"

        "I�m sure everything will be fine, tonight, Right Ryouga?" Soun asked as he continued reading his book.

        "I sure hope she isn�t much longer, I think I�ll go mad," Ryouga murmured under his breath, twiddling his fingers in a circle.

        "I SAID, RIGHT RYOUGA!?!?!" Soun�s head seemed to inflate to gigantic proportions, the classic Tendou Demon Head Maneuver.

        Ryouga yowled in shock, making the "Away evil spirits" warding gesture and yelling as loud as he could, "SHE WILL BE SAFE WITH ME, MR. TENDOU, THIS I SWEAR!!"

        Soun turned the page, still sitting, "Good," Ryouga promptly fell over due to shock, his eye twitching.

        "I hope you didn�t kill the boy, Tendou," Genma looked over at the twitching Ryouga, "Then again, maybe it�s better if you did.. mercy and such."

        Ryouga was quite suddenly up and shaking Genma by the lapel of his gi, "That�s not funny!!"

        Kaehmi giggled silently, "This place is so much fun, momma, I like coming here," She tossed her stuffed cabbit in the air and caught it, hugging it to her.

        Two sets of feet slowly shuffled down the stairs, and everyone�s heart decided to stop for a moment, and all eyes were fixed on the steps.

        Excepting Genma, of course... he decided to pocket several of Hiroshi�s pieces while the boy�s mind was somewhat vacantly awaiting whoever was coming down.

        Kasumi�s dress peaked around the corner, and then the Eldest daughter was downstairs, looking at everyone with a proud, beaming smile. There was a glimmer of a memory in her eyes, of some of the dances she had been to in High School.

        "Hey Ryouga, I think it�s for you," Hiroshi said, turning and looking back at the board, then blinking and staring at the missing pieces. He turned an accusing glare on Genma, who simply sat there with a self smug expression on his face.

        "Never underestimate your elder�s," Genma grinned and winked at him, it was a sly, almost joking wink, as if the Saotome patriarch REALLY wasn�t meaning to insult, only to entertain.

        "Saotome-san, you really should�ve been a showman of some sort," Hiroshi chuckled, shaking his head and returning to the game at hand.

        Ryouga, however was standing straight as a board, staring at Kasumi, who was gesturing for someone to come downstairs.

        Tentatively, there was a flash of dark blue as part of Akane�s dress came into site, Ryouga fixated on the bottom of the dress as if a moth hypnotized by the seductive flame. His eyes were drawn upwards as he saw both of Akane�s shoes, drawn upward over the elegant beauty of her dress, across her body and up to connect with her sparkling blue eyes.

        Ryouga was almost at tears. Soun was crying, proclaiming how beautiful his baby girl was. Nabiki was staring at Akane with a much too impassive expression on her face, even Hiroshi and Genma were in awe of Akane�s beauty that was heretofore hidden behind the rough exterior.

        Memeko and Kaehmi were both now standing, the elder Miramoto sibling exchanging that proud gaze with Kasumi.

        "I really wish you all wouldn�t stare, I feel like I�m at some kind of pervert convention," Akane said in a level, slightly fuming tone, her hands on her hips as she spread the dagger throwing gaze at each person staring.

        "You�re real pretty, Miss �Kane," Kaehmi intoned without fear, she held up her stuffed animal, "Would you like to kiss it for good luck? I hear people kiss things for good luck," She gave a happy smile, all was right with the world.

        Akane�s slight irateness vanished in the barrage of the kawaii little girl and she smiled softly, "Sure thing, Kaehmi-chan," She kissed the nose of the furry little doll.

        Kaehmi giggled and whispered to Akane, "I think that man in the funny bandanna likes you lots, he was acting funny when he was waiting," She giggled as Akane blushed.

        Kaehmi bounced back with her stuffed animal, hugging her mother�s legs. Memeko in kind patted her back and smiled at a now blushing Akane.

        Akane looked back at Ryouga, noticing his slightly downcast eyes and the barely noticable flush to his cheeks. *Oh boy...*

        "A-Akane. You are very beautiful tonight.. I mean, I don�t mean to be more than- I guess I- Urr.. you look good," He said in that quiet, shy manner he always had, twiddling his index fingers as he spoke.

        Akane felt a bit of a sad sigh inside of her for Ryouga. *If only I had known before asking*

        She walked up to Ryouga, the shy, Lost Boy that had always been kind to her, always been nice to her. 

        She shook her head lightly, her eyes closed, then she lifted Ryouga�s hand, cupping her own around his. Hands that break rock, yet that seem so gentle at times.

        "Ryouga.. thank you, that means a lot to me, and don�t be afraid to tell me anything, okay?" She smiled that beautiful, sweet, Tendou Akane smile that seemed to lighten up the room, however rare it might have been.

        Ryouga looked up a bit unsurely and smiled back, "H-hai, I will Akane," He smiled, perhaps a bit encouraged and fueled by her words of assurance and trust. "I mean I won�t- I mean-"

        "Shh, I know what you mean," Akane noticed how Ryouga�s eyes glimmered for a moment, then turned into a dull, lost, wandering pain. *Always wondering how long it will be until you see me again.. I should have noticed sooner, I am such a fool, Poor Ryouga.*

        "Just enjoy the night, okay Ryouga?" She grinned, holding up a fist in front of him, "We�re going to beat Ranma no matter what!"

        Ryouga laughed, even though it felt a little hollow to his own ears. *Oh Akane, if only I could tell you my true feelings, if only I could say those words...*

        "Excuse me, Ryouga, Akane," Nodoka said, slowly making her way downstairs. There was a soft, loving gleam in Nodoka�s eyes, much akin to the vision of pride that seemed to be reflected in Memeko and Kasumi�s twin gazes.

        Ryouga and Akane took a step back, both looking up the stairs, both wearing a stunned and baffled expression upon their faces. Ryouga unconciously pinched himself to make sure he wasn�t dreaming.

        Nodoka composed herself at the bottom of the steps, looking up, "You can come down now, dear, Don�t be shy now. You look splendid!" Nodoka remembered her own Prom, Genma had looked resplendid in a suit. It was one of the few times she had truly enjoyed his company.

        Nodoka looked over at Genma, and they exchanged a warm, knowing smile for a brief moment, the board forgotten to Genma. *He remembers... both of us thinking of the same thing.* Sometimes she wondered why she married Genma. Other times... she knew.

        "Do I got to come down, Mom? I feel... well.. kinda silly," Ranma�s voice echoed down the stairs, and Hiroshi paused as well, standing up and waiting with apprehension. Nabiki�s expression seemed to drive nails into Hiroshi, yet even that seemed less important than what he was about to see.

        "Yes dear, you have to come down, unless you want to have wasted all that time preparing?" Nodoka smiled assuringly at Hiroshi, who smiled back in return, if a bit nervously.

        "Well, if you put it that way," Ranma�s feet barely made a sound as she slowly walked down the steps, Hiroshi�s breathe caught in his throat as he looked at Ranma. The green set off the fiery hue of her hair, and the gems that adorned her ears and hung delicately between her breasts made her eyes seem all the brighter.

        But what struck Hiroshi was a vision of loveliness as a whole, Ranma�s face seemed caught in the moment of perpetual youth and beauty, and for him.. for Hiroshi that moment would stay in his memory for as long as he was left breathing. Perhaps even after.

        Ranma likewise blinked in shock at Hiroshi, who was well groomed and prepared for the night, while she had seen him in his fighting garb, this was more of a mix of formal and battle issue clothing, leaning more on the formal side.

        *He looks almost regal, brave even...* She caught her train of thought, shaking her head. They both smiled at eachother for a long moment, while everyone stared on.

        They all wanted to savor the moment, none wanted to forget that night... the Senior Prom. A night to remember, something that is fondly coveted by all who attend.

        And for that long moment, as Ranma and Hiroshi both looked at eachother... Ranma felt the beginnings of some sort of understanding creeping into her mind, something about that look of unmitigated purity of emotion inside of Hiroshi�s depth filled gaze.

        "Mommy," The moment had been broken, "When is Uncle Hiro-chan and Auntie Ranma getting married?" Correction, the moment had been shattered.

        Everyone looked at Kaehmi, the innocent little girl who was looking around as if shocked that all the attention was suddenly on her.

        Memeko looked shocked and unsure at her child�s innocent words.

        Nabiki looked at the girl with barely suppressed anger, which she quickly swallowed. Only a monster would be angry at a small child for very long, and although Nabiki showed little emotion at times, she had a heart.

        Nodoka felt a twinge in her mind, then a tiny string snapped, which brought down the wall holding back the information she had kindly been withholding from herself.

        Genma looked hard between the two, Hiroshi and Ranma, but little else showed.

        Akane looked at the little girl as if she had sprouted horns and fangs, then at Ranma in a likewise manner.

        Ryouga was in shock, just staring at Ranma.

        Kasumi�s eyes were wide and fixed on Ranma, a flush on her cheeks, "Oh my," She intoned, those often heard words when other things would certainly not explain as well.

        Everyone seemed to stand like this for an eternity, though it surely could have been an eternity and a half, it in actuality was only 10 seconds.

        Then Hiroshi�s mouth twitched, and then he grinned, then he began laughing. He laughed loud, leaning over and holding his sides as he laughed. Ranma soon followed, catching everyone off guard.

        Looks were exchanged, people glanced between eachother in confusion. Nodoka snapped her mouth shut, as she was about to ask Ranma what the little girl meant.

        Hiroshi finally caught his breath, "Kaehmi, why would you ask something so silly???"

        Ranma kept laughing, wiping her eyes, "Yeah, you know that Hiroshi and I are just friends, Kaehmi-chan," Ranma felt her cheeks, which were flushed. *I shouldn�t laugh so hard* She thought, as she chuckled again to herself.

        Kaehmi blinked in confusion, "But you two are going out, and Auntie-"

        "Shhh, little bundle of joy," Memeko said, ruffling her daughter�s hair, "That is enough excitement for one night."

        Kaehmi blinked in confusion, and opened her mouth to comment further.

        "Say, would you like some icecream?" Kasumi inquired cheerfully of the little girl, instantly causing Kaehmi�s eyes to light up.

        "You bet, Auntie Kasumi!!" She giggled brightly and Memeko breathed a gentle sigh of relief.

        "You never know about some of these things kids say nowadays, I should really carry a tape recorder around, some of it is just too darling and funny to just let it pass by," Memeko said in a slightly wavering voice.

        "Yes, I know how that is. Ranma was a lot like that at Kaehmi�s age, right before the training trip," Nodoka looked at Ranma, smiling that bright smile.

        Ranma smiled back, unknowing that the one her mother wore was as false as black is white. "Okay.. well... I think us five had better be getting to the Prom, okay Mom?" She said, hooking her arm around Hiroshi�s arm.

        Nodoka looked at Hiroshi with a calm, speculative look, as if weighing him carefully. She then returned her gaze to Ranma, smiling once more, "Yes, and don�t forget your coat... Forcasts say there�s a 90% chance there will be snow."

        Nabiki noticed that Hiroshi turned a bit pale at the comment, although his expression didn�t change much. *At least he knows when to keep his mouth shut.*

        "Well, are you ready Ryouga?" Akane asked, linking her own arms with the taller, black haired boy.

        Ryouga swallowed, and nodded, "Always, Akane!" he grinned, bearing his fangs in his display of happiness. He picked up his own coat, as well as Akane�s and trudged for the door.

        Kasumi bustled off to the kitchen, "Someone has to make dinner for when everyone comes home!"

        Nabiki stood up as Nodoka and Memeko followed Akane and Ryouga to the door, "I forgot something upstairs... tell them to go ahead without me, okay Auntie?"

        Nodoka nodded, looking at Nabiki with the same calculating expression that she had given Hiroshi. "Yes, I will tell them Nabiki Dear," She said softly.

        Nabiki nodded absently, walking upstairs as Nodoka watched her.

        The Saotome Matriarch cast a glance at Hiroshi and Ranma, who were speaking silently with eachother about the dance, then turned, following Memeko out to the front door.

        "Are you SURE that you can handle it? I don�t want ya to get hurt, �Roshi," Ranma said in a gentle, concerned tone.

        Hiroshi smiled brightly in return, "I am sure, Ranma, I can handle it if you can. I never used to fight at all, I considered it below me, but now I know that sometimes fighting doesn�t have to be something violent and ugly."

        Ranma smiled in Return, zipping up her coat as Hiroshi the same, "And I�ve learned that life doesn�t have to be ugly all the time, sometimes it can be remarkable," She smiled that wonderful, sun filled smile and took his arm. "Shall we?"

        "I think we shall," Hiroshi chimed, looking her straight in the eyes and nodding.

        They turned to walk out of the dining room.

        "Son," Genma intoned behind them, still standing where he had since Ranma had come down the stairs.

        Ranma blinked, turning to Genma. She could faintly hear Soun sobbing at the front door about his little girl being all grown up.... "Yeah pop?"

        Genma walked closer, looking at Hiroshi carefully, with a stern and penetrating look. It shook the Miramoto boy to his soul.

        Genma then looked at Ranma, as if weighing Ranma and not liking what he saw there, judging himself at fault. This shook Ranma, who wasn�t used to her irresponsible father showing ANY form of concern for her well being.

        Then he looked at them both. "Good luck, Son," Genma said with an enigmatic smile, somewhat wistful as of what COULD have been, yet somewhat stern with the power a Father figure SHOULD have.

        Hiroshi blinked, and exchanged a look with Ranma. He was unsure if Genma had spoken to HIM or to RANMA in the manner he had said those last few words.

        Ranma also blinked, looking at her father oddly. "Thanks... Father," She said, in a more than respectful manner, rarely did she ever call Genma anything other than Pop.

        Genma nodded, as if approvingly, then Turned and walked back upstairs.

        Hiroshi and Ranma exchanged another silent look of confusion, then turned, striding carefully to the door.

        As they stepped to the threshhold, Nodoka wrapped a scarf around Ranma�s neck and kissed her on the forehead. "Have fun, my child, the Prom isn�t all about a martial arts contest, it�s also about-" She paused almost half a moment as she shot a glance at Hiroshi, and hoped Ranma had not noticed, "-Memories."

        Ranma grinned and nodded, "Thanks, Mom.. for everything," She hugged her mother for a brief moment, there was a tense feeling to Nodoka that Ranma really didn�t understand.

        "Do not thank me," Nodoka sounded a bit upset when she said it, and Ranma half wondered if she had MEANT to sound that way.

        Ranma took Hiroshi�s arm again and walked out the door, waving when they got to the Dojo gates back at her Mother who was in the doorway, then she was gone around the corner.

        Nodoka stared coldly at where her child had vanished, the chill winter air didn�t seem to touch her much icier exterior, her eyes narrowed in a burning, intense glare.

        She began to go over mentally exactly how the family Katana looked like, having spent 10 years familiarizing herself with the cold, harsh, unfeeling piece of steel.

        10 years where she memorized every fine detail of the old Katana, down to the the exact spots that had been worn away by time and the hands of previous Saotome�s.

        Nabiki began to brush past her in short shrift, and her hand snaked out like a viper, catching the girl by the strap of her dress.

        Nabiki looked up, and into the face of burning fury, and for what it is worth...

        Nabiki Tendou Flinched.

        "You will tell me everything, And you will tell me everything *NOW*"

        As the words were spoken, snow began to fall from the sky, full and lustrous in it�s lacy delicacy.

        It began to snow, while a cold fire was fueled in the heart of Saotome Nodoka.

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