An ordinary student of Furinkan High was grabbed by a 
bandanna wearing boy with a very strong grip on his way to lunch.
	"Where is Juuban high school?"  The strong boy demanded.
	"Ah, its in Juuban, but it was wrecked a week or so ago."
	"Oh," the boy replied and thought a moment, before 
tightening his grip and asking, "Where is Ranma Saotome?"
	Slowly, as if dealing with a wild animal, the student 
pointed over to where Ranma was starting on his lunch with his 
cousin Tenchi.
	"Thank you," the boy said, letting go of the student and 
drawing a large bamboo umbrella.  His cold smile revealed a set of 
fangs.

Chapter 6: No Need for Fianc�s!

	Ranma was peacefully eating his lunch when the battle cry 
"Ranma, prepare to die!" rang through the air.  He continued to eat, 
while Tenchi drew his boken and was already looking for Kuno 
when he realized that this battle cry had been directed at his cousin 
instead of him.  Kuno's lunch time attacks had already happened so 
often that Tenchi made sure to eat his lunch early and Ranma had 
learned to tune out the battle cries.
	So both were caught off guard when a bamboo umbrella 
broke the table they were sitting at in half.
	"Ah Ranma," Tenchi told his cousin, "I think this one is for 
you."
	"Oh, hi Ryoga," Ranma said, finally looking up at the boy 
who stood on the ruins of the table.  "Its been a while man, how 
you been?"
	"Don't try to buddy up to me Ranma!  Because of you I've 
seen hell!!"
	And with that Ryoga proceeded to pummel Ranma, or 
would have if Ranma hadn't been able to dodge.  Ranma had 
fought with Ryoga dozens of times before in middle school, but 
he'd never seen him so mad before.  It reminded him all too easily 
of his recent sparring matches with Akane.  "Why are you so angry 
Ryoga?  It is because we never finished our final fight?"
	"Finish our fight?" Ryoga practically screamed as he 
continued to attack, "This is revenge!!"
	"Revenge for what?  What did I ever do to you?"
	"Ranma, because of you I've seen hell!!"
	"You said that already!"
	"Shut up! Do you think mere words can convey the depths 
of my suffering.  I will destroy your happiness!"
	"Am I happy?"  Ranma asked his cousin.
	Tenchi could only shrug in response, wondering why these 
things had to happen to his cousin. Changing into a girl and having 
just about everyone out to get him, at least one way or another. He 
didn't envy Ranma's life, not one bit.  His own problems were 
enough for him to deal with.
	Ranma stopped trying to talk some reason into Ryoga, who 
was never very reasonable to begin with, and started to fight back 
in earnest, knowing that if he stuck to dodging he'd end up in 
trouble.  Their fight took them all over the school yard, but ended 
rather abruptly when Ranma encountered a broken fountain and 
was quickly drenched.  He felt only partially relieved that only 
Ryoga had witnessed the change.  He had managed to keep his 
secret from the kids at school so far.
	"Ranma?"  the lost boy said nervously.
	Ranma only nodded, squeezing the water out of his red 
hair.
	"Ranma, you turn into a girl?"
	"Of course I turn into a girl!  Are you blind you idiot!"  It 
was hard not to notice with the huge rip in his, make that her, shirt.
	"Not a tiger?"  Ryoga asked, a little too stunned to notice 
the shirt, or lack thereof.
	"Huh?"  Ranma was confused.  The boy that had been 
screaming death threats a moment ago was now completely calm, 
if a little confused.  Much more like the Ryoga that he 
remembered.
	Ryoga seemed to ponder something for a moment before he 
shrugged his shoulders and said, "Well Ranma, we've had our duel.  
Why don't we just call it a draw and start new, how about it?"
	"Sure Ryoga, that's fine with me."
	Ranma watched in surprise as Ryoga wandered away, 
wondering what the heck the whole fight had been about and why 
Ryoga had been surprised that he hadn't turned into a tiger.  A 
tiger?  Akane?  But what did she have to do with all of this?  As far 
as he knew Akane and Ryoga had never met.  He could ask her, but 
their recent conversations were limited to threats and insults, so he 
doubted that he could get much information out of that.

	Mr. Tendo announcing that they wouldn't be training that 
night was enough of a shock to break Ranma out of wondering 
about Ryoga.  Ever since Nodaka had allowed Tendo to train him 
he hadn't wasted a day on pushing him and Akane.  He'd been an 
even harder master since they had come back from China, which 
was fine with Ranma.  That he would drop training for a day meant 
something major was going on and Ranma felt in the pit of his 
stomach that he wasn't going to like it.
	"Well son," Mr. Tendo told Ranma and the Tendo sisters as 
they were all sitting around the dining table.  He had a fatherly arm 
around Ranma and was using the voice he normally reserved for 
speaking of a new technique or an idea for a training trip.  Ranma 
felt a sudden chill when he remembered that he had used the very 
same tone in explaining their trip to China.  "Your father and I 
often spoke about raising you to be the grandmaster of Anything 
Goes and to that end we made many promises to each other, one of 
which is the reason you are here now.  Most of them you already 
know, but tonight I will reveal the final promise between him and 
I.
	"Long have I pondered how to present this to you, always 
waiting for the right moment, but unfortunately recent events have 
forced my hand and I have realized that delaying any further would 
do more harm than good."
	Ranma was already bored with the intro.  The whole bit 
with Ryoga was still on his mind and he just wanted to get this day 
over with.  He looked over at Akane wondering what Ryoga had 
meant by the tiger and why all his anger had suddenly vanished, 
but Akane's glare didn't help his thinking any.
	Soun seemed to sense everyone's impatience, so went to the 
heart of the matter.  "We decided that that with Genma training the 
grandmaster and I possessing the dojo that the two schools of 
Anything Goes should be untied.  We believed that the best way to 
do this was marriage between you and one of my daughters."
	Soun was somehow able to silence the uproar that 
happened.  "At first we had decided on a match between Akane 
and Ranma, since they were the students of the two branches of 
Anything Goes, but since Ranma has been learning under me and 
they no longer seem to get along, I've decided that Ranma should 
be betrothed to Kasumi."
	"Oh my," Kasumi said, "But don't you think I'm too old for 
him father?  I am three years his elder after all."  She had always 
thought of Ranma as the little brother that she never had, but to be 
married to him?  She didn't know what to think about that.  She 
had never considered marriage to anyone, much less to Ranma.  
Perhaps it would be better to convince father to pass this to Nabiki.  
They were getting along quite well recently, but it would be best to 
talk with Nabiki first and find out how she truly felt.  It was her 
responsibility to care for her sisters.
	Whatever Soun's response was drowned out by Akane 
when she stood up and shouted at the top of her lungs, "Ranma, I 
hate you!!!!"  And stormed off to her room, things settling in her 
wake.  Everyone winced as they heard her door slam with the 
splintering of wood.
	Ranma sat stunned.  Not by the news of the marriage or 
Akane's words, which were bad enough, but by the look that Akane 
had given him.  She had looked at him as if he were the most 
disgusting and revolting thing that she had ever seen.  She didn't 
even look at Kuno that way.  How could she hate him so?  What 
had he done to deserve this?  To him the sudden engagement was 
secondary to Akane's unexplained rage.  He had clung to the hope 
that Akane would forgive him eventually, but that seemed 
impossible now.  Ranma didn't have many friends, so to loose one 
hurt.
	Nabiki was feeling a little insulted, wondering why she'd 
been passed over without even a mention.  To her she seemed the 
most logical choice.  Ranma already knew martial arts and he 
could already cook and clean, but it was painfully obvious that he 
had absolutely no sense of business, while that was her strength.  
She'd been helping daddy with the dojo's books ever since it 
reopened and her advertising was one of the reasons it was doing 
so well.
It wasn't as if they weren't getting along anymore.  Sure, 
she knew that she wasn't as close to him as Kasumi was, but they 
talked just about every time he'd come over and once he'd gotten 
over the shock of she being nice to him they'd become pretty good 
friends.  And with only a year difference she seemed to be the 
perfect match, so why had she been passed over?  Not that she was 
sure if she wanted to be engaged to him, but Nabiki was the kind of 
person who didn't like getting passed over about anything.  She 
wasn't exactly sure how she felt about Ranma.  With him being 
away for the whole summer, Nabiki had been surprised to find that 
she actually missed him and the little war they had going.  She also 
realized their conflict was really petty and there wasn't any real 
reason for it to continue.
	Ranma surprised them all, for instead of asking all sorts of 
questions or threatening Soun, he simply stood up and said in a 
tired voice, "I'm going home."  And then he left.

	After Ranma had left, Nabiki found her sister breaking 
blocks of wood in the dojo with an almost casual ease.  She knew 
from the morning fights that her sister was strong, but was more 
that a little surprised on just how strong she was.  Kuno was lucky 
he didn't end up in the hospital.
	"Why are you so angry sis?  I mean its Kasumi that's stuck 
with the engagement, not you."
	Akane turned to look up at her sister.  Nabiki involuntarily 
took a step back in fear.  She now knew why Ranma had left so 
suddenly.  She had seen Akane mad before, often after sparring 
sessions with Ranma, and a lot more often since she had gotten 
back from China, but Nabiki had never seen the level of intensity 
that she was radiating now.  Akane's eyes burned with rage.  
Nabiki decided that it would be better to let Akane deal with this 
on her own and quickly left.
	In  so doing, she never saw the tears that fell from her 
sister�s eyes.

	Nodaka was sitting with a cup of tea in hand, waiting for 
her son to come home.  Some may have thought it unnecessary to 
wait up for a such a skilled martial artist, but another mother would 
understand.  No matter how able they become at taking care of 
themselves, a mother was always concerned for her child.  She 
knew how hard things had been for Ranma, with his curse almost 
being the least of his worries, and was proud of how well he'd been 
handling it all.
	She was understandably upset when her son returned with 
slumped shoulders and seemed to drag himself along more than 
walk.  Nodaka could tell that this wasn't do to exhaustion over an 
intense training session since she trained Ranma in kendo herself 
and often pushed him to his limits.  This seemed to be more of an 
exhaustion of the spirit than anything else.
	"Ranma, what's wrong?" she asked full of concern.
	At first he acted as if he hadn't seen her, but suddenly her 
son exclaimed, "Oh mom!" and was holding her tightly, bawling 
his eyes out.  By the time his tears had stopped, Ranma was fast 
asleep.  Nodaka was really worried now, her son hadn't acted like 
this since her dear husband had passed away.  It was clear to her 
that his burden had become too heavy to bear alone, but she'd have 
to wait for the morning to get the whole story.

	Ranma woke up groggily, having not felt this bad since he 
had the flu last winter.  He was surprised to see Tenchi's futon 
empty, already neatly folded, and his mother in a chair knitting 
quietly.
	"So you're finally awake," she said with a smile, "That must 
have been some day you had yesterday."  Tenchi had told her about 
what happened at school over breakfast, but Nodaka had a feeling 
that more had occurred when Ranma had gone to the Tendo dojo.  
She could have called Kasumi and asked her, since Soun would 
most likely be evasive, but instead decided to see what her son had 
to say.
	"Where's Tenchi?" Ranma asked in a gravely voice as he 
slowly sat up.
	"He left for school an hour ago."
	"Huh?" Ranma said as he scrambled to get ready, "Why 
didn't you wake me up?  I'm already late!"
	While she was pleased with his enthusiasm, she said, 
"Ranma, you're not going to school today."
	"Huh?" Ranma said again.  His mother didn't want him to 
go to school?  The world really must have gone crazy.  She used to 
carry him out of bed and dress him to make sure he was on time.
"With all that has happened to you lately I decided that you 
needed a day off.  So no school or training for today.  When you 
came home last night . . . well I haven't seen you that depressed in 
some time.  Something must have happened at the Tendo Dojo, 
now what was it?"
	Ranma wasn't really ready to talk about it yet, wanting to 
sort it all out in his own mind first.  Nodaka seemed to sense this 
and said, "Why don't you freshen up first and we can talk over 
breakfast?"
	Ranma nodded and started to gather up his bath things as 
Nodaka closed the door behind her.

	Ranma was surprised when a familiar brown-haired bundle 
of energy tackled him as he came down the stairs.  "Ucchan!  What 
are you doing here?"
	Ukyo smiled back up at him.  "You mother called me, 
saying that you were a little blue today, so I'm here to cheer you 
up!  My parents aren't really concerned with me missing a few 
days of school, so I've been bored waiting for them to fix our old 
one.  You are going to transfer back when they're finished, aren't 
you?"
	"I think I'm required to finish the semester at Furinkan.  
Since our house moved Furinkan is a lot closer anyway."
	Ukyo frowned, but only for a moment.  "Then I'll just have 
to come and visit you more often.  Or maybe my parents will let 
me transfer to Furinkan too!  After all, you don't want to be 
separated from you best friend, do you?"
	Ranma actually let out a small chuckle a Ukyo's 
enthusiasm.  She was like him that way, boldly making 
declarations without thinking out the consequences, yet still 
following them to the end, despite the problems.  "No I wouldn't 
want that," Ranma replied smiling, "Feel free to come over 
whenever you want Ucchan, only call me first, okay?  I don't think 
I can take any more surprises."
	"It's a deal!" she enthused and then led him to the table 
where breakfast awaited.
	Aeka and Nodaka were already seated at the table by the 
time they arrived.  Aeka had not been happy when she woke up to 
find that brown haired floozy Ukyo to be at the house. She felt 
even worse when Nodaka had explained that the reason she was 
here was to cheer Ranma up who had come home depressed last 
night.  She wished that she could do something to cheer him, but 
had to regretfully acknowledge that Ukyo knew him far better than 
she.  They had a history together that Aeka envied.
	Ranma told them all what had happened at the Tendos last 
night as he picked at his food.  For him, the important thing had 
been the way that Akane had reacted, so that he passed off the 
arranged marriage as of lesser importance.  It seemed so 
unbelievable anyway.  He marry Kasumi? It would be too much 
like marrying an older sister.  Everyone there missed the part about 
Akane since they were so stunned in hearing about the fianc�.
	"I will not have my only son forced into an arranged 
marriage no matter who the person is.  Any woman should be free 
to marry my son if she wants to!"  Nodaka declared, fist upraised.  
How dare Soun do this behind her back, when she'd been working 
so hard this past week to get Ranma and Aeka together?  The nerve 
of the man, probably planning this for years and not telling her.  
Genma certainly hadn't mentioned anything like this, but she 
wouldn't have put it past him to arrange this and not tell her.  Not 
that she had anything against Kasumi, or any of the Tendo sisters 
for that matter, its just she didn't like being left in the dark about 
anything involving her son.  Besides, Aeka was a much better 
match anyway.
	"In that case," Aeka said, sipping at her tea to cover her 
own nervousness.  She was about to something bolder than she had 
ever done before, but this did seem the most opportune moment 
and she had thought it over for some time now.
No one outside of her own family had ever treated her with 
the level of kindness that Ranma had.  It was clear that he saw her 
not as an alien or a princess, but as a person.  Tenchi was kind as 
well, but he was distant, treating her as if she were as fragile as 
glass.  Ranma in many ways was the exact opposite, sometimes 
going out of his way to be friendly to her.  And the times she'd 
caught him looking at her, there was something in his eyes that she 
couldn't place, but decided that she liked it there.  It made her feel 
special and well . . . loved in a way.
Besides Nodaka was usually a very controlled woman and 
only extreme emotion had made her make such a statement.  She 
may retract it if Aeka didn't act.  "I've been thinking over Ranma's 
proposal and have decided to accept."
	Nodaka looked happy, Ukyo glared at Aeka deciding there 
could be only one meaning to the word 'proposal' in this context, 
and Ranma looked confused, mainly because he was.  "Ah, what 
proposal was that?"
	Aeka was flustered, but before she could stammer a reply 
Ryoko came to her rescue, "You remember, in the shed.  You said 
that she was so beautiful that she could marry anyone she wanted 
to.  She said that she had to marry someone of royal blood.  Then 
you said that she could marry you since you're a descendent of 
Yosho."
Ryoko for once was behaving herself and sitting down like 
a normal person instead of flying all over the place.  This probably 
had something to do with the fact that Tenchi wasn't there.  Or it 
could be the fact that Nodaka was showing her some sword katas 
when she 'convinced' the space pirate to behave when they had 
company.
	Aeka wondered why Ryoko was being so helpful all of the 
sudden, since it was no secret that they didn't get along.  Does she 
really consider me a friend, even after all that we've done to each 
other?  At one time she thought that she could never forgive the 
space pirate for stranding her on this remote planet, but now she 
wasn't so sure.  After all her brother was on this planet somewhere 
and also if she hadn't crashed she would have never spent that time 
alone with Ranma.  It was true that Aeka had few friends as it was 
and did feel a strange sort of bond to the space pirate.
Ryoko however, was doing this for purely selfish reasons.  
She remembered that Ranma had said that she could marry him or 
Tenchi and if Aeka was engaged to Ranma there was no way that 
she'd be going after her Tenchi.  While she would have liked to 
have both boys to herself, she realized that even if Ranma got 
engaged to Aeka they could still have some fun (not that kind of 
fun you perverts!).  Besides, Aeka herself was fun to be around and 
Ryoko grudgingly respected the way she would never give ground 
and could put up one heck of a fight.
	So that's went on in the shack, Nodaka thought, no wonder 
those two blushed whenever the topic came up.  She was quite 
surprised that Ranma had already proposed to Aeka, her plan 
seemed to have worked far better than she had expected it to.  Was 
that why he was forever watching Aeka?  Wondering what her 
answer would be?  She still wondered how Ryoko knew though, 
she doubted that Aeka had talked it over with her.
Ukyo looked ready to strangle someone, tempted to vent 
her rage on Ranma since he was closest at hand.  Then she 
remembered something and had to quickly hide a smile.  She 
wondered how she could have forgotten about that, since she 
carried a reminder of it where ever she went, close to her heart.
	Ranma was still confused.  He had uttered something like 
what Ryoko had said, but she couldn't be implying that he 
proposed marriage to Aeka, could she?  That hadn't been his 
intention at the time.  He had only wanted to cheer her up.  And 
she actually wanted to marry him?  She was the first princess of an 
interstellar empire and he was just Ranma Saotome, heir to a 
martial arts school with only a handful of members.  His legacy 
was to become a sensei like Mr. Tendo, while hers was to rule over 
billions.  Why would she ever considering marrying a simple 
Earthling like him?  He would have been surprised to know that his 
great-grandmother and Aeka�s aunt had also started out as a simple 
Earthling.
	While Ranma was still deep in thought, Ukyo spoke up.  "I 
was going to wait until we were a little older to tell you this Miss 
Saotome,"  Ukyo announced with a smile that Aeka didn't like at 
all, "but I guess now is the time.  You see, I am Ranma honey's 
true fianc�!"
	Everyone shouted surprise and disbelief, especially Ranma 
who already had enough shocks for the day and it was still 
morning.
	"Its true," she continued, "Ranma proposed to me years 
ago.  He even gave me this ring which I always keep close to my 
heart."
	She then pulled out a chain, on which dangled a ring that 
looked to be made of many flower stems twisted together and then 
gilded.  There was something about its simplicity and innocence 
that made it beautiful.  Aeka immediately felt envious.
	"I remember the day so well.  It all happened after Ranma 
had just turned eight years old and he was going to be transferring 
to an all boy's school far away. . ."

	Chibi-Ranma meets chibi-Ukyo in a flower field near the 
end of summer.  Chibi-Ranma wears a backpack.  There are tears 
in both of their eyes.
	"I have to leave soon," says chibi-Ranma in a too mature 
tone.
	"I know," answers chibi-Ukyo, "But I don't want you to 
go!"
	"Nor do I, but someday I will return and we can be together 
again.  Here, take this ring as a sign of my promise.  One day we 
will be together forever."
	Chibi-Ranma puts the ring on chibi-Ukyo's finger, they 
embrace, and chibi-Ranma departs with chibi-Ukyo looking off in 
the distance, tears in her eyes.

	". . . Ranma kept his promise, leaving the all boy's school 
behind to enroll in Juuban so we could be together once again."  
Ukyo finished her story with a small tear in her eye.
	Ranma's recollection of those events was a little different.  
He remembered being sad at leaving his friend and so promised her 
that they would be friends forever.  Ukyo had told him that he 
should give her something as a sign of that promise and suggested 
a ring.  Ranma didn't have a ring on him so he made one out of 
flower stems.  Also the real reason he transferred to Juuban was 
because he was kicked out of his old school for causing too much 
property damage, even though it really had been Ryoga's fault.  He 
hadn't even known that Ukyo had gone to his new school until he 
had seen her there, though he had been really happy to be with her 
again.
	Nodaka turned to her son.  "Well Ranma, do you have in 
explanation on how you proposed to two different girls?"  Every 
girl in the room was looking at him, waiting for his answer.
	Ranma opened his mouth, but nothing came out.  What 
exactly could he say in a situation like this?  School hadn't cover 
this.  He could tell the truth that in both cases he had been 
misinterpreted and that marriage was the last thing he had 
intended, but he could tell that both girls had taken the 'proposals' 
seriously and the truth might do more harm than good.  I guess 
Tenchi was right, Ranma thought with little humor, I guess Ukyo 
really thinks of me as more than a friend if she wants to marry me.
	Ranma did the only thing he could do in this situation.  He 
used one of the last things that his father taught him.  "Saotome 
School final attack:  run away!"
	The girls sat in stunned amazement as Ranma ran out of the 
house faster than a frightened rabbit.  Soon they were all chasing 
after him.
	Sasami emerged from the kitchen a few minutes later, Ryo-
oki perched on her head.  "I wonder where everyone went to?"
	"Meow," was Ryo-oki's answer.
	Where to go?  Ranma thought as he raced away from the 
house as fast as he could.  He knew that running away from his 
problems only made things worse, but he needed time alone to 
think if he was going to find a way out of this mess.  The shrine 
was out, grandfather was one of the last persons that he wanted to 
see.  Ryoko's cave?  The space pirate avoided it, but his mother 
would surely think of it as Aeka would think of the storage shed.  
Ranma decided it was best to get as far away from home as 
possible.
	He jogged through Nerima rather than run because he didn't 
want to stand out, but the way he kept glancing up at the sky even 
that there wasn't' a cloud to be seen ruined the effect.  When he 
stopped to catch his breath he found himself in front of a familiar 
clinic.  He hadn't seen Doctor Tofu in a while, not since getting 
back from China, because all of his recent sparring sessions with 
Akane had him running all the way home from a certain tiger.  The 
good doctor had helped him with more than just injuries in the 
past, maybe he could help with his current problems.
	Ranma caught a quick peek through the window.  Yep, 
there was Dr. Tofu tending to a patient.  Normally he was very 
reliable, but sometimes he would disappear for days at a time 
without explanation, but no one pushed him for one.  Also, it was a 
good thing that neither Akane nor Kasumi was there.  Akane he 
was avoiding on general principles since her explosion last night, 
and while he had plenty of reasons to avoid Kasumi at the moment, 
the real reason was the good doctor had a habit of going slightly 
mad whenever she was around.  Ranma didn't went him to start 
dancing with his skeleton Betty in the middle of a serious 
discussion.
". . . and that's the whole story," Ranma finished up telling 
Dr. Tofu just about everything that had happened since China.  
Even though he had gone in with the intention of talking about 
only the fianc� thing, somehow he started talking about everything 
that was wrong with his life recently.  He decided not to refer to 
Kasumi by name since even that could send Tofu into one of his 
episodes.
Dr. Tofu nodded as Ranma finished his story, taking a sip 
of his now lukewarm tea.  Somebody else may have had a hard 
time believing even half of such a tale, but he had some first hand 
experience with things even stranger.
	"Normally, one marries their fianc� eventually, but your 
case is far from normal.  In fact, I think that having multiple 
fianc�s gives you a sort of freedom.  No one can expect you to 
marry them all and if you decide to marry someone else all you 
have to do is make her your fianc� first since you have so many 
already no one will be able to argue one more."
	"That's not really what I'm concerned about right now," 
Ranma told him, since the idea of getting married was remote.  
"Just how do I explain how this all happened without them getting 
angry with me?"
	"It's simple really.  Tell the truth, that it was all a 
misunderstanding, but be quick to add that you plan on honoring 
those pledges regardless.  They both may be a little angry with 
you, but another response would alienate one of them and from 
what you've told me about Akane I'm sure you don't want to do 
that."

	The girls returned to the Masaki home empty-handed.  
Ranma had managed to elude them, at least for the moment.  They 
all sat around the dinner table.  Aeka and Ukyo exchanged glares, 
which Nodaka ignored.  Actually, she was feeling somewhat 
responsible for the bad feelings between them.  She had no idea 
how Ukyo had truly felt about her son, though in retrospect it 
should have been obvious.  Long ago she had declared them 
simply friends in her mind and didn't even think that it would 
change.  Also, she was the one who pushed Aeka on Ranma.  
There was a chance that if Tenchi had been the one to carry Aeka, 
he might be the one that she would be interested in.  Then Aeka 
would have to contend with Ryoko, but they fought so much 
already it wouldn't make that much difference.  Besides, it wouldn't 
be Nodaka's problem anymore.  She did care for Tenchi, but 
refused to take the place of her younger sister in his life.
	There was also the matter of Ranma's third fianc� Kasumi.  
In some ways Nodaka loved Kasumi as if she were her own and 
knew that her son and the eldest Tendo sister were very close, yet 
Nodaka had never considered marriage between the two.  Kasumi 
was three years Ranma's senior and so much more mature than her 
son that she had never thought it would be possible.  They just 
seemed too different to go beyond friendship.  Surely Kasumi 
wanted a man more her age and one with a little better sense of 
responsibility.  Nodaka would have to talk with each girl privately 
about all this, including Kasumi.
--
C&C Please, I�m begging ya!  Happy to answer any 
questions, make clarifications, etc.  Help with grammar, story 
structure, plot, whatever you can give is wanted.  Most wanted is to 
hear what people think of the ideas of this story and where they 
would like this story to go.

Ammadeau


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