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Insert Standard Copyright Disclaimer.
< The characters used in this work of Fiction are not owned by
  me.

 Ranma 1/2 and all associated characters, trademarks and
 situations are owned by Rumiko Takahashi, Shogakukan, Kitty, Fuji
 and Viz - Used here without permission. >

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[Ranma 1/2]:     Mirror, Mirror.

Before leaving China, straight after getting his curse, Ranma
utilises an Amazon treasure "The Phoenix Mirror" - the mirror of
rebirth - to try to cure it. Of course, this being Ranma, nothing
goes to plan. One mishap later and Ranma winds up controlling two
bodies, his original one and a copy of his cursed body.
Unfortunately for him he can only control one body at once with any
fine control... Or can he?

(A concise summary of previous Mirror, Mirror chapters is available
from www.upnaway.com/~ricketts/Summary.txt

Well, summary of everything except chapter 5, oh I wish I had the
time)

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Chapter Six: Bodies and souls.

Ranma blinked, opening his eyes. He stared around, looking left and
right, up and down. All he could see was steam, more steam, and,
"Water?"
     He stared about, trying to work out where he was. He appeared
to be floating, in a standing position, somewhere in a wide expanse
of hot water. Looking down, he tried to feel with his feet for the
bottom. There was none. He paddled to the side a little, trying to
see if he could find any ground.
     Keeping his head above water wasn't that difficult. In fact,
he suspected that he could stop swimming and he still wouldn't go
under. "But why am I in a hot spring?"
     The water in front of him swirled, creating a miniature
whirlpool. "Huh?" He stared as the small water disturbance moved
away from him, getting bigger and bigger as it went. It also, he
noted, got faster and faster, drawing his pigtail from behind his
head towards it. Wondering what the heck was happening, he quickly
tried to swim away from it, only to be dragged back as it picked up
speed.
     "Help! Someone! Help!" He screamed wordlessly as the water
funnel sucked him in, only to deposit him in the selfsame waterway.
The teenaged boy gulped air into his lungs, staring around for the
whirlpool. It was gone.
     "What the hell was that?" He looked around, trying to see
anything that stood out, anything that could give him a direction
in this place.
     A gigantic Tatewaki Kunou, while not exactly what he wanted to
see, at least provided some reference to his surroundings. He was
just beginning to wonder why someone would build a massive effigy
of the world's thickest Kendo practitioner when the giant spoke.
     "RANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNKOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The booming voice was
filled with longing.
     Ranma looked up at Kunou for a second before yelling to him,
"What'da ya want, ya moron?"
     The giant opened its gi, drawing from within a huge bouquet of
roses. Each rose bud was the size of a small car and glistened with
droplets of water the size of an average child. "I love you, Ranko!
You fill me with longing and desire. Tell me that you'll be mine
for the rest of your life."
     Ranma blinked again, "Kunou what the hell are you on? There
ain't no way Ranko is gonna... gonna..." The water in front of
Ranma rose up, glistening as it separated itself from the main
expanse. The huge bubble of hot spring water hung midair between
himself and Kunou, in fact he could see the giant through the
water.
     What was this? The water oozed and separated into six slightly
smaller bubbles - five joined to a central sixth - these now
hovered above the surface. These bubbles quickly firmed into
solidity, obscuring his view of Kunou. They turned hazy, then took
on the pinkish tinting before finally covering themselves in a
completely blemish free skin. Red hair exploded out of the back of
the topmost bubble, then knotted itself into a familiar pigtail.
     "Ranko?" The water figure turned and looked towards him,
gaining another level of detail as the black haired Saotome teen
spoke. Hands and feet formed at the ends of the four remaining
large bubbles. The fingers and toes that had looked like individual
water droplets at the start gained a measure of detail as nails and
knuckles appeared.
     Features emerged from the pink surface of what was going to be
the head. A nose, slightly hooked, pushed itself to the surface,
eye sockets sunk backwards into the sphere, revealing eyes of
brilliant blue. Her lower jaw split away from her upper, lips
appearing quickly around the edges of the split.
     On what was clearly her chest, two ovoid shapes quickly
formed, firming and lowering slightly as they became breasts. Her
hips rounded out, her knees and elbows formed and individual
muscles become apparent under her skin. Blinking her new eyelids,
she smiled, revealing that her teeth were lowering into position
inside her mouth.
     Ranma blinked. What was this? He could feel the person in
front of him. It was Ranko. Completely. The naked teenaged girl
giggled as she touched down on the water, clothes appearing on her
now completely formed body. Ranma gagged, the pink dress that clung
to her hips and showed off a large portion of her cleavage was
definitely not a choice that he approved of. The lipstick and
eyeshadow that appeared was even less so. He blinked again when she
stepped forward as though walking on dry land. "Oh Kunou!" She
mouthed breathlessly, walking slowly towards the samurai wannabe
with a grind that was clearly aimed at attracting his interest,
"For me? You're so sweet!"
     Ranma's jaw dropped. What the? He didn't want this! "Stop,
Ranko! Stop!" He tried in vain to hold his other self back. He
gulped as he felt a bra snugly form and raise her breasts just that
little bit more, almost pushing them out of her dress.
     Kunou was shrinking rapidly, becoming more and more normal
sized the closer the red head came to him. When she stepped into
arms reach, he stopped shrinking, his normal size attained. Ranko
giggled once more as she reached out to snag the bouquet away from
him and Kunou smiled as he drew her into his embrace. They stood
together on the top of the water, gazing longingly into each others
eyes.
     "Oh, Ranko Saotome, I love you with all my might. I wish to
spend from now to eternity with you and no other. I would have you
as lover and confidant for time immortal!" The kendoist smiled at
her, wrapping both arms around her.
     "Hey! Stopit! This isn't what I want!" Ranma felt the kendoist
put his arm further around her shoulders, drawing her closer and
closer. He felt Kunou's other hand making it's way down her back,
finally coming to rest on, and play with, her backside. Worse, he
felt her reacting to the touch, wanting Kunou. He felt her open her
mouth to speak, and though he knew what she was going to say, was
helpless to stop it. He saw through her eyes; watched in horror as
she stared squarely at his face, never moving from it, completely
involved in it.
     "Oh, you wonderfully manly man, Kunou. I love you too. I want
you to hold me forever!" She collapsed into his arms, draping
herself against his shoulder. She giggled, encouraging him, as his
hand firmly squeezed her ass.
     "Nooooooooooooooo! Whadda ya think yer doing with Kunou you
pervert!" Ranma yelled, swimming quickly towards the couple, he
tried to reach out of the water and pull Ranko back. His hand
reached the underside of the surface and was stopped. It was like
trying to push his hand through solid steel. With nothing under his
feet to push against there was no way he could overcome it. Both of
his hands were secured underneath the water. His chin hit the top
of the water, and found the same thing, he couldn't slip his head
underneath it either. His head was as securely trapped above the
water as his hands were below it.
     Ranma felt Ranko reach up to her straps with one hand, tearing
the pink dress from her body in one swift movement. He stared in
horror at the female undergarments that she was wearing underneath
it. He choked as she moved Kunou's hand from her shoulder to her
front, positioning it over her bra.
     "Oh Kunou!" She smiled and encouraged him to slip his hand
underneath the white cotton cup. "Yes, yes!" She pushed herself
against his suddenly uncertain hand.
     Ranma dry retched. Why was this happening? Why? "Kunou! Make
me a woman!" Ranma's eyes, though already the size of moderate
saucers widened even further as they saw Ranko's hand slip down to
her knickers.
     "NO! NO! NO! Stopit! I don't wanna be a woman! I'm a man! NO!
Stop it!" Again starting his useless struggle, Ranma strained to
stop the horror that was taking place, not only in front of him,
but in the innermost corners of his mind. He could shut his eyes,
and maybe ignore the sounds at least as they came to him. However,
that wouldn't stop her from being an active and willing
participant. And of course, whatever she perceived, so did he. The
absolute last thing that he wanted to do was participate in
something like this!
     He threw his head back and screamed,
"Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!" As it left his mouth, his
scream stopped, completely flat. Ranma blinked, the sound had just
vanished at the edge of his mouth. The movement stopped, stone
still. He tried to feel his other self but found nothing.
Desperately looking back to where he'd last seen them he saw two
human shapes, frozen in time, neither moving nor breathing.
     "Are you really this insecure?" A new voice, male and sounding
somewhat familiar, spoke from behind him. As he watched, the shapes
in front of him crumbled to dust, falling to the steaming water
where these last remnants were swept away by an unseen current.
     "Who said that?" Ranma stared as the water that had been all
around him vanished, replaced by nothingness. His normal apparel
wrapped itself about him, clothing him in an instant. He stared
below himself, where he could feel his feet resting on something.
     There was nothing there. Absolutly nothing was underneath him.
No ground, no colour, nothing. Nothing but a void that streatched
away forever.
     He blinked as something spun out of the nothingness below him.
Big fluffy grey things. Clouds. There were clouds below him. Far,
very far, below him. So far that he would have sworn he was looking
at the sky, except that he was staring down. Looking up he realised
that the same clouds were above him. Purple lightning flashed in
the distance, joining both sets of clouds for an instant in the
dance of the storm.
     Remembering that someone had spoken, Ranma stared around,
"Hello?" Where was the owner of the voice?
     "Yes?" The somewhat sarcastic tone caused him to spin about, a
full one hundred and eighty degrees, to see the owner of the voice.
Himself. Everything was exactly the same. The same red coat, the
same black pants, the same face and voice.
     "What the... who, um, who are you?" The question that came out
was greeted by another sarcastic smile.
     The mirror image shrugged, smiling to himself. "In a way,
I'm," he raised a hand, index finger extended in Ranma's direction,
"you."
     Ranma blinked. What the hell? "No, I'm serious, who are you?"
     Another smile was the prelude to the answer his question. "Oh,
if you want something specific, I guess I'm the you that the mirror
destroyed." He rocked back on his heels then copied Ranma's
confused stance. The mirror image laughed for a second, relaxing in
an instant, "And that would make you the me that the mirror
created." The smile slipped for a second as a thought struck it.
"Or maybe that should be the other way around."
     Ranma struggled with the concept. "You're me?"
     The other nodded, smiling once more, "In a way, you see, I'm
you, and you're me, but we're both individual."
     Ranma looked at his double with a dose of scepticism. "Are you
Ranko?"
     The mirrored double blinked. Then sweatdropped. "No, no, I'm
not Ranko. Anyway, this is pointless. If you're having this sort of
trouble with Kunou, you should be training. Hard. The amazons will
be here soon, if you're not ready then what? Training is the way to
the top." He paused for a second and then snarled, almost to
himself, "And you Must be the best."
     Ranma nodded, he knew who it was now. "Ahhh. You're pop."
     His mirror copy facefaulted. "Right, that's it. Enjoy." As he
stood again, he snapped his fingers and was gone.
     Ranma stared at the scene in front of him, a gigantic red
double bed in the shape of a heart had appeared, and underneath the
covers on it were two bodies. One male and one female. With a
sinking heart he realised that he knew both of them. He shuddered
as a hand ran up the naked female body, eliciting a response the
likes of which terrified him to the core. "Oh Kunou! I love you so
much!"
     Trying to run forward was useless, he couldn't move at all;
couldn't do a thing except watch and feel every minute of it. Bile
threatened to burn a hole in his stomach as he stood, mute and
powerless to the scene unfolding before him. His redheaded
counterpart was naked and running her hands down a likewise naked
Kunou, from the tops of his shoulders down past his stomach down to
his...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGH
HHHHHH!"
     Ranma and Ranko jerked up, out of bed, both sweating enough to
fill an Olympic swimming pool. They both blinked, looking around
for the bed that had been sitting right in front of them a second
ago.
     Small birds chirped to themselves outside the window, where
the dim, pink-orange light of dawn was slowly creeping over
everything. They looked at each other, breathing deep, calming
breaths. Then they looked around again, just in case Kunou was
hiding somewhere with a giant bed. Still not seeing anything, they
breathed a large sigh of relief.
     "Thank GOD! A dream! A dream! Wahoo!" The sounds of
synchronised relief came as both of them danced a small jig from
where they were sitting on their futons.
     "That damn pervert Kunou! I'm gonna kill him the very next
time I..." The rest of their sentence was lost as an irrate Panda
scooped them up with an oversized sign and threw them out of the
window, straight into the garden pond. The sign followed them
outside, landing atop them both. Stars flashed before their eyes
they as the both glanced at the sign, reading it to themselves, "BE
QUIET!"
     They shook both heads, clearing the stars away as they stepped
out of the pond. "Well, Ok. I just have to beat Kunou up a little
more now."

The scene at the Furinkan school gates was going to be a little
different today.
     As normal, the group of boys had gathered to 'ask' for either
Akane Tendou's or Ranko Saotome's hand in the holy tradition of
datehood. As normal they stood right before the gates, intent on
their prizes. As normal, when the trio rounded that final corner
they advanced, yelling their battle cry of "I would date you!"
     What normally would have happened at this point is that Ranma
would sit out, content to oversee Ranko's progress from within her.
Today though was a little different. For today, Ranma Saotome had
had a fairly bad nightmare, the sort of thing that most people
wouldn't speak of without wincing for the rest of their lives.
     In other words, today was special.
     Instead of the normal fight, followed by a round of witty
banter, the Saotome twins crashed straight through the oncoming
wall of boys, disregarding them entirely. They had stopped paying
attention as soon as they'd seen their prey, standing just behind
the main force of boys, eyes closed in thought as he obviously
tried to decide who to inflict his version of poetry on.
     "Kunou. You pervert!" That one thought ignited them both. The
pig tailed teens stepped up their speed, intent on getting to him
before Akane did. They never noticed the fact that they'd already
all but left Akane for dead in the speed stakes, nor that they
bowled most of the onrushing boys out of the way with less thought
than slapping a mosquito. What they did count, however, was the
amount of kicks and punches of theirs that connected with the
kendoist. All 724 of them.
     As a finishing touch they both kicked him into the distance,
watching with fists still clenched as he disappeared towards the
horizon.
     The contented sigh that echoed straight away from the dual
throats came as somewhat of a shock to most. The teens looked
around at the observers, who were standing, shocked to silence. The
now familiar stereo tone asked in complete innocence, "What?"

Nabiki glanced from the scene two floors below her to her watch,
still in shock. Her finger was still poised above the "start
stopwatch" function; she hadn't had time to press it. Running the
betting pool from the second floor was certainly the best way to
go, it certainly provided the best view. Of course the double blur
that had just pounded the tar out of most of the male population of
Furinkan without even slowing hadn't provided much to look at.
     She coughed, looking at the two girls with her. "Uh, did
anyone get a time on that?" The two girls blinked then shook their
heads silently. "Well then, we round it up to an even thirty
seconds and go with that, alright?" The two nodded, still quiet.
That seemed reasonable, after all, thirty seconds was the smallest
time slot available. Still, no one had bet that anyone would get
to, let alone beat, Kunou in anything under a minute.

Akane stared in slight shock as the two teenagers scratched the
backs of their heads. She blinked at the synchronised question that
sprang from their mouths. They were so fast! So quick! They'd swept
through the ranks like they were a glowing hot knife and the other
boys were butter! And what was more, they hadn't even left any for
her!
     She stepped up to the pigtailed twins, looking from one face
to the other. "Uh, do you realise that you were glowing again?"
Glancing at the ground she murmured in a small voice, "Not really
brightly this time though."
     Ranma and Ranko looked back at her. "We were? I didn't see it
this time, either." They shuffled from side to side, ignoring the
groans of "Ranma! Wha'd we ever do to you?" coming from several of
the prone forms lying on the ground.
     Akane looked back up, a thought striking her, "Why the change
in pace, anyway? You sprinted ahead before I could do anything!"
She looked back at the boys on the ground some of whom were still
moving. I didn't have a chance to do anything, they were just gone
from beside me!
     "Uhh, just, um, highly motivated, I guess." Ranma and Ranko
glowered darkly for a second. If he shows up in my dreams again,
he's dead. Just dead. They smiled a little, "Anyway, nothing to
worry about. It's over now." Just let him show up in my dreams
again. Once more, that's all I need.

"Where am I now?" Ryouga sighed to himself as he stared around,
trying to orient himself. It's all Ranma's fault anyway, if he
hadn't disappeared back in the Amazon village, this wouldn't have
happened to me. I wouldn't be lost with only three raving psychos
for company.
     The fact that he'd just exited from a aeroplane weighed
heavily on his mind. After all, planes generally landed in only one
place. Airports. This was, to Ryouga's way of thinking, probably
the worst place of all to land. The reason that it was the worst
place was simple; there were more planes at airports, planes that
were bound for all sorts of destinations.
     The eternally lost boy was standing in a large room with plush
blue carpet and row upon row of chairs. He looked further, staring
at the details, as he was not making any headway into deciding on
where he was given those few clues. There were several tables with
various magazines and newspapers on them and at regular intervals
were potted plants, garbage cans and ashtrays. A few people were
sitting, reclining as they read, and every now and then someone
would leave.
     He finally decided that it had the look of some kind of
waiting room, after noticing one man look at his watch, curse and
then run off.
     A large window took up one side of the room, full glass, from
ceiling to floor. As he wandered over towards it, he stared with a
sinking feeling out of it. Sure enough, as he got closer, he saw
that the outside of the building held a large portion of tarmac,
along which aeroplanes of all shapes and sizes moved about, taking
off and landing. Despair hit him as he saw where he was.
     "An airport." The lost boy stared out at the amount of planes
on the runway, his worst fears confirmed. A major airport from the
looks of things. If he wasn't careful he'd end up on a flight to
Greenland or somewhere. Not that he minded Greenland, it was just
that the heat really got to him, and the camels that he'd met there
were really nasty beasts. Come to think of it, why did they call it
Greenland when the only thing there was sand?
     Ryouga blinked, and then slapped himself in the forehead, why
was he thinking of Greenland at a time like this? Better by far to
be thinking of a way to get out of here - without going anywhere
near a plane. Backing quickly away from the window, Ryouga tried to
find a way out of the waiting room, turning to the left, he saw an
open passage leading to what looked like exit. Thanking the gods
for this timely intervention, he stepped into it.
     After half a minute he stepped back out, cursing himself for
finding the only passage that actually led to a dead end. He looked
around and then cursed again, he'd lost the waiting room. He
panicked; any second now he'd find himself on a plane to Greenland
and those camels again. He wondered whether staying still would
help. Probably not he decided, he could already be on an aeroplane.
     Slowly he sunk to his knees, clutching his head. Why did this
happen to him? He had two choices; move about and risk getting on a
plane, or stay where he was and risk the fact that he might already
be on a plane.
     Opening his eyes he looked slowly to the heavens. "Saotome!
This is all your fault!"
     "Uh? Sir? Can I help you?" Ryouga turned, seeking the owner of
the voice.
     A small man sat behind a desk, looking at him with somewhat of
a worried expression on his face, after all, this sort of behaviour
wasn't quite what one expected when one worked for Tokyo Airport.
The sign over the top of the desk glowed, bathed in a blue neo
glow.
     Ryouga blinked. An information desk? He couldn't be that
lucky, could he? Getting to his feet, he walked slowly over to the
desk and looked at the man behind it. The attendant seemed to be a
nervous person, he appeared the type that wanted to jump at any
large noise. Ryouga scratched the back of his head, looking at what
the man was dressed in. That was the uniform around here? It mad
him look like a penguin. Well at least when combined with the
glasses that he was wearing, anyway. "Uhh, yes. Yes, you can help
me."
     The information attendant looked back over the desk at the
strange person in front of him. A definite look of panic was in the
eyes below the bandanna. Ahhh... "You're lost." It was not a
question, and, given who it was being spoken to, shouldn't really
be in doubt most times.
     Ryouga clenched his hand into a fist, staring past the
attendant's shoulder, thinking happy thoughts, like how nice it
would be to be cured of this stupid Jusenkyo curse. He heard his
own voice answer mechanically, "Yeah, I'm a little lost. It's all
Ranma's fault."
     The attendant nodded, he'd seen this sort of thing far too
often; a tourist to meet a friend that lived in the city, the
friend gives lousy directions and the tourist loses his way after
getting off the plane. "Well, you've come to the right place, sir.
I can direct you to any place in the airport. Where were you
supposed to meet this Ranma?" He glanced again at the teen in front
of him, and then realised that the boy hadn't heard a word he'd
said.
     "Um, Sir?" Trying to make eye contact the attendant stood up
and to the right, into Ryouga's line of vision.
     Ryouga blinked. "Oh, sorry, what was that?"
     "I asked if I could help you find Ranma, sir. Where were you
supposed to meet him?"
     Ryouga looked over the counter again. "Tokyo. This is Tokyo,
right?" Please let it be Tokyo. Or at least not Greenland.
     The attendant blinked, not having expected that particular
question. "Uh, yes, sir, this is Tokyo Airport. You are definitely
in Tokyo."
     "Good." The boy unshouldered his backpack and rummaged around
in it for a little while. The attendant watched him, curious as to
what he was looking for. Ryouga pushed something to one side and
the attendant blinking as whatever it was caught the light and
flashed it back at him for a second. He was still blinking sparkles
out of his eyes as Ryouga made a small grunt of recognition.
     The lost boy pulled his hand out of the pack, rebuckling it
and then hefting it once more onto his back before he turning to
the attendant. A small piece of paper was held securely in his
hand. He looked at it for a second then spoke, "Furinkan High
School. That's where I'm supposed to meet Ranma. Furinkan High
School." Nodding, he looked at the attendant and then added for the
now confused man "It's in Tokyo."
     The attendant sweatdropped. "I'm sure it is, sir. Uh, do you
know which ward it's in?"
     Ryouga nodded, "Nerima. Which way do I go?"
     "Ok, I can definitely get you pointed in the direction of
Nerima. Once you're there you can get directions from one of the
locals, does that sound alright?"
     Ryouga considered it for a second, on the one hand, he might
actually get to Ranma, on the other, he knew that most people lied
when they gave him directions. Still at least this guy seemed to
know what he was doing. "Yeah," he said, "that's fine. Which way is
it?"
     The attendant looked pleased, well at least he listened to
reason. "Alright, to get to Nerima, the first thing you do is..."
He stopped, staring at the person that was approaching. What the...
     Ryouga took one look at the man's shocked face and
spun, far too late to do anything. He gasped as someone slipped
inside his guard, flinging their arms out and... hugging him? What
the hell? He looked at the woman nestled to his chest, trying to
figure out who she was. The fact that she looked to be in her
middle teens was eerily familiar. Her hair was done up neatly in
buns on the top of her head, and she had a pair of something that
looked an awful lot like sais attached to her waist; well, sais if
the smith making them had been tripped out on acid at the time. An
obvious clue that he missed, due to the nature of it, was her
clothing. She was dressed in a form fitting Chinese style shirt and
pants, unfortunately, he noticed the form fitting part first,
thereby missing anything to do with the cut of it entirely.
     Ryouga's mind, which was normally quite easy going and
adaptable, had real trouble with one fact. Who she was hugging.
Himself. If someone could see the inner workings of it, the current
query running through his mind would be stuck in a loop. A loop
that basically asked, "Why is she hugging me?"
     "Husband!" Soap happily looked up at her future husband's
face, noticing once again the cute little fangs that he had. After
chasing him for the past two and a half weeks he'd started to look
even better each day. She had to admit that, not so long ago (about
two and a half weeks, surprisingly enough) she'd been a little
annoyed at him. But, in the intervening weeks her opinion had
changed. Probably something to do with his stamina. After all,
being able to outrun three amazons constantly meant that he had to
have terrific stamina. Right?
     "I'm ... uh ... sorry, but I'm not your ... uh ... husband."
Ryouga tried to remember where he had seen her before. As he tried
to decide, he had the sudden thought that maybe he'd be able to
better identify her if he could look at her completely. Trying to
disentangle himself, he almost missed the other two.
     Dish sighed to herself as she saw what Soap was doing.
Honestly, that girl was going to get herself into serious trouble
one of these days. "<Soap! How many times do I have to tell you!
After he beats you in combat! If the Matriarchs catch you like
that...>" She didn't have to finish that sentence. The punishment
was banishment. After all, if you can't abide the rules, get out of
the playground.
     Fork, who had been guarding the rear against sneak attacks by
the foreign, honourless men, heard the commotion that was happening
up the front. She looked ahead, wondering if one of the dogs had
been brave enough to attack at the front. It was about then that
she spotted her prey. What was more, Soap had him trapped.
Excellent. Reaching over her left shoulder she drew the sword that
had been her grandmother's, stopped for a second to kiss the blade
then advanced, yelling her war cry. "<PIG! BASTARD! PREPARE FOR
DEATH!>"
     Ryouga, who had just managed to shift Soap onto his arm,
looked up. Upon seeing a woman holding a sword and screaming for
his blood it suddenly clicked as to where he'd seen her before. She
was an Amazon. He chuckled, imagine, not remembering that. Then
something else clicked. If he stayed here, he'd be stuck with a
sword, probably several times. While one part of his mind was all
for staying here and maybe getting to know the limpet attached to
his arm a little better, the rest of it was screaming that dying
wasn't a good idea.
     Because most of his higher brain functions were in a complete
daze, one of the parts of his brain that had opted for living, the
movement centre, decided that it would act. Disregarding the
necessary chain of command, it turned him and dashed him straight
in the opposite direction of the screaming swordswoman.
     Straight into, and through, what most people would call a
nice, solid wall. The information desk attendant, who was one of
those aforementioned people, watched in horrified fascination as a
massive dust cloud formed where the wall used to be.
     Dish sighed to herself, and then stuck out a foot as Fork ran
past, tripping her.
     Fork yelped as she pitched forward, desperately trying not to
land on the edge of her own sword. Twisting it as she hit the
floor, she gasped in pain as her fingers were squashed between the
hilt and the ground. Luckily, nothing else came of her stumble.
Picking herself up and rubbing her sore fingers, she looked at the
now settling dust cloud. He would be gone by now, that much she had
learned these last few weeks.
     So, instead of giving pointless chase, she glared at Dish.
"<What in the nine hells did you think you were doing! I could have
been injured!>"
     "<Why? Did you fail your sword forms? One of which deals
directly with that situation, I might add.>" A small smirk settled
on Dish's face as Fork gaped at her. Even if Fork did have trouble
with that particular form she wouldn't admit it. Pride came both
before and after the fall in Fork's case.
     "<Ouch.>" A dust covered form rose from the floor. "<Well,
that hurt.>" Soap brushed herself off, having not quite made it
through the wall with Ryouga.  Sighing she stated, "<I don't
believe he got away again.>"
     "<And it's all your fault, Dish!>" Fork once again glared at
the other woman.
     Dish shrugged, "<I want a live husband to take home, not a
dead corpse.>" she smiled again, looking at the hole in the wall,
"<Besides, the chase is so much more fun.>"
     The attendant, who really wasn't feeling that good right now,
was still staring at the hole. He laughed nervously, "Uh, yes, yes,
that is indeed the way to Nerima." He laughed again, prompting the
Amazons to look at him, "Yes, not quite the way I would have used,
but that _is_ the way to Nerima."
     Staring again at the hole, and then down at the bench in front
of him, he fainted.
     Soap looked at his prone form for a second and then muttered,
"<What's his problem?>"

Ranma and Ranko looked out over Furinkan's sports field and winced.
Physical education just wasn't what it used to be. Looking over to
the side, where the girls and boys were being separated by coach
Tanaka, they sighed. This was not going to be fun.
     Walking over to the girl's group first, Ranma dropped Ranko's
hand and closed her eyes, then turned and walked across to his own
group. Tanaka's eyes widened slightly as he glanced in their
direction. She was doing it again! That completely blank look on
her face and the twitching! What was she on now? He was about to
walk over and give her a talking to when she opened her eyes again.
Well, he'd just have to keep a watch on her.
     He looked at the two groups before him; they'd finally
finished dividing up. "Right. Boys; with me. We're going to be
doing gymnastics. Girls, softball. I'll be keeping a watch, but you
should be fine on your own." He motioned the boys towards the
uneven bars. Checking his list he scanned for one name. "Ranma
Saotome! You're up."
     Ranma blinked. It was a good thing that Ranko wasn't fielding
this time, otherwise there would have been trouble. Probably ending
with Ranko either being accused of not participating or flipping
all over the place with him. He glanced at where she was sitting
with the rest of her team mates waiting to bat. Thankfully no one
was trying to talk to her at the moment, so closing her eyes wasn't
exactly going to raise suspicion.
     Glancing across at her to make sure that she was still seated
as he walked across to where Coach Tanaka waited by the uneven
bars, he smiled in relief as he saw that she wasn't moving. He
stepped up onto the sandy dismount area and waited.
     Tanaka smiled. This was going to be fun. "Alright, Mr Saotome,
let's see what you've got."
     Ranma grinned to himself, noting the ill-concealed smirk that
was plastered on the coach's face. So, this was some kind of test
eh? Something to try the new kid out? Well alright then, time to
show you why I'm the best at what I do. Ranma crouched; stretching
his legs in the soft sand for a little, then quickly limbered up
his shoulders and arms as well. Just as the Coach had started
tapping his foot, Ranma jumped, easily catching the lower of the
two bars. He started off with a simple double flip up to the higher
one and then started to get serious.
     After a few seconds later the folder containing the names of
everyone in the class, which had been securely clasped in Tanaka's
hands, fell to the ground. Tanaka stared, his mouth open in shock,
mesmerised as the mid-air flips, twists and acrobatics continued
without a sign of stopping. Oh boy. This year's interschool
gymnastics competition was as good as his. Oh yes! It was in the
bag. Finally! Tears of joy streamed down his face.

The girl's softball match stopped as the pitcher gaped at the
display put on by the black haired Saotome. The rest of the team,
wondering what had stopped the game, turned to see what was up, and
then also forgot about continuing.
     "My god! That's incredible!" Sayuri stared at Ranma on the
uneven bars, feeling her mouth hanging low, "Ranko, your brother is
simply amazing."
     A few seconds passed in complete silence. "Ranko? Can you do
that as well?" She continued to watch as Ranma performed a backflip
off the higher of the two bars to land on the lower, legs split
apart at one hundred and eighty degrees, his hands catching the bar
a millimetre before his groin did. "Ohhh, that'd be a bad one to
stuff up. Ranko? I asked if you can do that as well?"
     When complete silence answered her yet again, she reluctantly
took her eyes off the spectacle in front of her and turned to the
redhead, noticing for the first time that the other Saotome had
both of her eyes closed. "Ranko?"
     Yuka, attracted by the concern in Sayuri's voice also turned,
looking at the girl beside her. "Ranko?" She reached over and shook
the girl by the shoulders. "Ranko? Are you alright?"
     Ranko's eyes flicked open for a second, a look of horror
entering them. "Oh shit." She closed them again, but not before
Ranma missed a grab, falling off the bars and landing headfirst in
the sand.
     "Ouch." the red head reached up and rubbed her head for half a
second before looking at her arm strangely and dropping it back
beside her. "Whadda ya want Yuka?"
     Yuka stared at where Ranma was planted in the sand for a
second and then turned back to Ranko, "Uh, never mind, I just
wanted to see if you were alright."
     "Great, I'm feeling great. 'scuse me." The pigtailed girl
closed her eyes again, groaning softly as she did so.
     Yuka and Sayuri looked at each other. Sayuri was the one that
spoke what they were both thinking. "Interesting..."

Ranma rubbed his head as he got up off the ground, shooting a
baleful glare over in the direction of the girls. He cut it short
as he realised that both of them were staring back at him.
     Sighing to himself, he looked over to the sidelines, where
Tanaka was picking something up off the ground. He scratched the
back of his head, a little embarrassed and then mumbled out, "Uh,
Sorry about that Coach, I, uh, musta slipped." He glanced across at
Yuka and Sayuri again, only to see them still looking at him.
Creepy.
     Tanaka grunted, brushing the grass and sand off the folder
that he'd just picked up. "You were ... pretty good, Saotome.
Nothing to get big headed about though." He coughed, and tried to
think of a reason to see it again. "Uh, for that stuff up, you will
stay behind after class and practice. I want to see every thing you
think you can do."
     Ranma groaned softly and then bowed, slipping off towards the
group of boys that were sitting, waiting for their turns. He sat
down a little to one side of the group, content to look across as
the girls played softball, waiting for Ranko's turn.
     "Hey Ranma!" The pigtailed boy turned, looking for whoever was
calling his name. A figure dropped down beside him. "That was
amazing! You were so good." Daisuke stretched his legs out in front
of him as he sat down. "Pity about the end tho'"
     "Uh, yeah, I..." He was interrupted as another person sat down
next to Daisuke.
     "Hi, Ranma, that was really good. Are you in training for the
Olympics?" Hiroshi made his presence known. "What happened at the
end there? There's no way that that was accidental."
     "Yeah, I got ... distracted." Ranma glanced across at where
Yuka and Sayuri were now watching the softball match. Why did
people have to touch him when he didn't respond? If they'd only
waited a few more minutes none of that would have happened. He
sighed to himself. Ahh well, such is life.
     Following his glance, Daisuke laughed, patting the other boy
on his back. "I hear you man, I hear you. Some of the chicks around
here are pretty hot, eh?"
     Ranma fiddled with the grass in front of his crossed legs.
"Nah, it wasn't by that." He glanced up as he heard Akane join the
group of sitting girls through Ranko's ears. It seemed that she'd
made it home. He thought about it for a second. Good for her.
     Daisuke laughed again, still watching Ranma who was in turn
still looking over at the group. "Yeah, sure. Akane's pretty hot
too, isn't she?" He was rewarded with a small flush that appeared
on Ranma's face.
     Hiroshi slapped his own forehead. "Dai, you're such a fool.
You're not supposed to say stuff like that."
     His friend leaned back, looking at him, "Hey, just because you
don't say it out loud doesn't mean you aren't thinkin' it." Daisuke
grinned smugly. He knew that Hiroshi was thinking it, and thinking
it most of the time he was around a certain person. That person
happened to have long black hair and soft brown eyes, and usually
hung out with Akane and Yuka.
     Hiroshi smiled to himself, determined to make a point. "Yeah,"
his smile turned a little smug itself, "I don't say it out loud and
I'm the one with a date this Friday."
     Daisuke blinked. Hiroshi had a date? This Friday? With Sayuri?
"No WAY! She said yes?!" Hiroshi had been working up the courage to
ask Sayuri out for the last few weeks. Apparently all that fretting
and worry had been for nothing. Daisuke pounded him on the back
"You da man Hiroshi! You da MAN!" Noticing the complete silence for
the first time, Daisuke looked up. Everyone was starting. At him.
He coughed as his cheeks coloured, "Uh. um. Sorry. Um. Little
carried away there."
     "Thankyou, Mr Keda." Tanaka drawled, looking at the three boys
for a second, then turned to see how the girls were doing in their
softball match.
     Daisuke groaned to himself. As the silence gradually faded
away, filled once more with small talk, he looked across at where
Hiroshi was trying - unsuccessfully - not to laugh, and groaned
again. Why did it always have to be him? He grimaced and then
turned to Ranma, "So Ranma, I hear you're living with Akane?"

"Ranko!" Yuka spoke up, pointing out to the field, "you're up." She
hesitated for a second, then reiterated, "It's your turn to bat."
     She reached over, about to shake the red head's shoulders,
when she saw Coach Tanaka looking at her. At her. He was sooo
dreamy. He was waving at her? She sighed, and then waved back. Why
was he shaking his head? Oh, he wanted her to move away. She sighed
again, anything for Mr Tanaka.
     Stepping away from Ranko, she watched as the Coach crept
closer, when he was about ten meters away, he called out in a
singsong voice, "Oh Miss Saaaotooome! It's your turn to baaaat."
and then smiled, probably a little too viciously, as he got no
response.

Ranma gaped at Daisuke for a second, wondering what to say.
     "Yeah, that's what I've heard as well." Hiroshi piped up,
looking at the martial artist. "That you've been living with her
ever since you got here. Is it true?" Both boys' eyes were lit with
expectation.
     "Uhhh," Ranma stalled, scratching the back of his head with
one hand. What to say, what to say? If it came out wrong these
two'd probably be all over him. "Uh, well, um, where'd you hear
that?" Just as he asked the question, the answer popped into his
head.
     "Nabiki." Both boys spoke at once, grinning to themselves. One
thing about the middle Tendou daughter, of all the things she was,
the 'never wrong' aspect was the most important to her customers.
Daisuke stared at Ranma, "Heh, I paid a thousand yen to hear that."
     Hiroshi grinned, "Dai, you pissed her off before hand again,
didn't you?"
     Suddenly defensive, Daisuke looked over at his erstwhile
partner in crime. "Uh, no, of course not, why'd you ask."
     Hiroshi chuckled again, "Because all the rest of us only paid
three hundred." He grinned again. "Tell me you weren't asking her
to tape the change rooms again. You know that she doesn't want to
do it." There were a few things that money wouldn't buy from
Nabiki, and a video camera in the girl's change rooms appeared to
be one of them.
     "Hey! I was offering good money for that! All she had to do
was just not go in there, or edit the bits that she gave me!
Nothing wrong with that!" He turned to Ranma, "Anyway, it's true
then? I mean, we're pretty sure it is, but..." he trailed off,
Nabiki wasn't usually wrong, unless you annoyed her anyway.

Coach Tanaka took a few more steps towards the pig tailed girl,
halving the distance between them. He stopped, looking at her and
then shook his head. Why was she so stubborn, all she had to do was
stop taking the drugs and she'd be fine, he was sure of it.
     "Miss Saaaotoooome! You're up for baaaatting!" Again she
didn't respond. He smiled and once again stepped forward.

Ranma nodded reluctantly. Looking at what Nabiki was like, he
realised that she would indeed sell that sort of information. He
idly wondered if Nabiki had been selling pictures of Ranko naked
yet. Then blinked. She would sell pictures of Ranko naked? Where
had that come from?
     "Uh, yeah, I guess that's true." He scratched the back of his
head. Selling pictures of Ranko naked? Would she do that? He'd have
to ask.
     Daisuke grinned to himself. Well even if he had been ripped
off, at least the information was true.
     "You lucky dog, living with Akane." Hiroshi said, smiling.
Well, at least he doesn't want Sayuri.
     "Yeah, a babe like that..." Daisuke's eyes took on a far off
look, and a small droplet appeared at the corner of his mouth. He
shook his head, getting rid of the daydream and then looked back at
Ranma. "So, tell us, does she look as hot naked as she does
dressed? I'm sure you've had plenty of opportunities to look."
Ranma panicked. Surely Nabiki wouldn't sell that. Surely. "The furo
for instance."
     The pigtailed boy flushed red. "Uh..."
     Hiroshi scrambled around the still stuttering martial artist.
"You iiiiiiidiot, Dai!" He tackled the other boy, causing them both
to roll over each other down the slight slope of the embankment.
The ball of moving limbs landing with Hiroshi on top, looking down
at his friend. "How can you ask something like that? You pervert..."
     The funny thing about hearing is that, under stressful
situations, sometimes you only hear what you want to hear, or dread
hearing. In Ranma's case, 'pervert' was  pretty high up on the
'I-really-don't-wanna-hear-this' list. "Hey! I never saw nuthin',
alright? I had my back to her the whole time!"
     Dead silence, filled only with other people's conversations,
met his words as both Hiroshi and Daisuke digested this latest
piece of information. They both blinked. Then looked at him,
Hiroshi turning and Daisuke's head coming up off the grass.
     Hiroshi looked a little dubious, then asked hesitantly, "Uh,
you mean that it's true?" He didn't resist as Daisuke pushed him
off onto the grass and crawled back to Ranma's side.
     Daisuke pounded Ranma on the back, "You DA MAN! You did get a
look! Well, come on, tell me all about it! I want... no, NEED to
know!"
     Hiroshi glanced up at the two righting himself as he did so,
"You lucky dog! Yeah, tell us!" he scrambled back up the embankment.
     Ranma spluttered to himself. Who did these two think he was?
"I.."
     Daisuke, his imagination running wild piped up again. "Hey, if
you've seen her naked, and you're still here to talk about it...
She likes you! Damn! So you'll have done other things too, like..."
His eyes widened. "Does she kiss well Ranma?"
     Ranma blinked. Kissed? Him and Akane? The only time he could
think of, he couldn't remember anyway. Cats and him did not mix
well. He shuddered to himself. Then he blinked. Hang on a second.
Cats? What the hell? He couldn't remember any cats...
     Daisuke's eyes widened as he looked at Ranma's red face. Ahah!
He has kissed her! He watched as the embarrassment faded to
something else. Confusion? Why would he be confused? Unless... "Oh
My God! Have you two done the deed already! Sheeee-it!" He quietly
whistled in appreciation. "You really are the man, Ranma. I bow to
you." He bobbed his head in Ranma's direction.
     Ranma flushed bright red. If he'd been paying attention to
anything other than Daisuke's line of questioning, he would have
noticed the extreme quiet and the fact that everyone was watching
one particular part of the sports field. Instead he was thinking
more along the lines of: How the hell did that question come about?!

Tanaka leaned forward, still shaking his head. He'd given her all
the time in the world. Standing over her, waiting for her to wake
up. Oh well, have to do this the hard way. His mouth stopped
centimetres away from her ear.
     "MISS SAOTOME! WAKEY, WAKEY! IT'S YOUR TURN TO BAT!" He pulled
his head back quickly, not wanting it to be whacked if she spun
around quickly.
     Of all the things that Tanaka was thinking might happen, he
certainly wasn't expecting what actually happened. Ranko's eyes
opened and she screamed back at him, "No I've not 'done the deed'
you little pervert!"
     There was a field wide facefault.
     Ranko blinked a little. Coach Tanaka? What happened to
Daisuke? She looked down at herself. Whoops.
     "Uh, thankyou, Miss Saotome." Coach Tanaka blinked. That
really was not a good thing to happen. "We, uh, really didn't need
to know that. Please take your place and bat." He blinked again.
Why the hell had she yelled that?

Hiroshi glanced at where Ranma sat, his eyes slightly glassy. Was
it only me that heard him? Hiroshi looked across at where Ranko was
taking a few practice swings with her bat. Sure, she'd said it so
loud that most people had heard her, but Ranma repeated it, word
for word at exactly the same time. What was going on here? First we
have Ranko and Ranma doing weird stuff together, and now we have
them doing weird stuff apart.
     Hiroshi glanced across at Daisuke. "Hey, am I the only one
that thinks that there's something funny going on here?" He pointed
at Ranma, then at Ranko.
     Daisuke followed his finger to Ranko and sighed, "Yeah,
there's something wrong alright." His eyes followed Ranko's form as
she stepped up to the mat. "A hot babe with a body like that and
she hasn't done it yet. It's criminal Hiro, we'll have to show her
the way into the light. You and me ol' pal... Or me, certainly."
     Daisuke waved blithely as Ranko turned and glared at him.
     Hiroshi watched as Ranma twitched. "Uh, Dai, I don't think she
wants you to." And even if she does, I don't think Ranma would let
you.
     Daisuke spoke again, still watching Ranko. "Yeah, right. She
does so want me, she just doesn't know it yet. Are you watching her
gym shorts here? They are sooo tight!" He smacked his lips, kissing
the air. "Oh, god what an ass!"
     Hiroshi swallowed, looking at where Ranma was now twitching
uncontrollably. "Uh, Ranma, I'm, uh, sure that Daisuke didn't mean
that. He was just messing around. He didn't mean it, did you Dai?"
He tugged on Daisuke's sleeve, trying to diffuse the situation
before something permanent happened.
     Without looking Daisuke spoke up, "Yeah, Ranma. I'm just
messing around. You know me." He grinned, turning to look at the
pigtailed boy for a second, then muttered a little too loud, "Yeah,
right." He realised it was a little too loud somewhere between
Hiroshi's eyes widening slightly and when Ranma started glowing. At
this point the first thing to go through his head was a vision of
Kunou, sailing off into the distance. Followed quickly by the
question, "Is this a good day to die?"
     "Oh shit."

Ranko twitched as she stepped up to the plate.
     What the hell was Daisuke thinking? What a pervert! She took a
few swings at the empty air in front of her, testing the weight of
the bat that she held. After the first two she decided that the bat
was pretty well weighted, even if it had been mass produced, and
probably thrown around several thousand times already.
     Listening through Ranma's ears the next comment nearly made
her drop the bat out of shock. The 'light' eh? She turned and
glared at Daisuke. What the hell! She grit her teeth as he waved
back. That pervert! She tried to listen as Daisuke spoke to Ranma.
     Ah, he was only joking. Good. She turned back to the
pitcher, nodding that she was ready as she did so. Idly she
wondered how many bones she should break for that joke. Grinning
ferally she decided that she could do them all. If, of course, she
wanted...
     Huh? She played back what had just come through from Ranma. He
did actually mean it? She turned slightly to the right, glancing
behind the plate, yelling at the object of her ire across the
field. "You pervert! I'm gonna come over there and stuff your head
up right up your own..."
     Of course, at about this time, the pitcher threw the ball.
Seeing, after she threw it, that Ranko was no longer in a position
to receive it, she yelled a warning. Turning slightly in response
to her name, the pigtailed girl saw the ball out of the corner of
her eye.
     "Eep!" Ranko swung wildly, managing to connect with the ball
out of sheer luck, and sending it straight towards the three people
that she had been looking at.

Hiroshi and Daisuke felt the air around them shift as the ball
passed between them. They both swallowed and flinched out of the
way, far to slow to have done anything if the ball had been coming
at them. Ranma, on the other hand, felt something far more solid.
The ball, that he himself had hit as Ranko, came smashing against
his skin, causing a stinging sensation that he couldn't believe --
in the palm of his right hand.
     What the heck? Ranma blinked, looking at his hand. It was
outstretched in front of his face, clutching the ball. I didn't...
It would have... I don't believe...
     Hiroshi stared up at the ball clutched in Ranma's hand. "Hey,
Ranma!" he began, noticing that Ranma had stopped glowing sometime
before he had spoken.
     Ranma blinked, still looking at the ball; still wondering how
he'd managed to catch it. "Uh, yeah? What is it? ..."
     "You've got really good reflexes, you know that?"
     "Um, yeah. Thanks." Ranma continued staring at the ball.

Nabiki stared out of the window, watching the clouds passing as the
teacher droned on out the front of the class. She smiled, the last
few hours had been pure bliss. Kunou hadn't been seen since Ranma
and Ranko had kicked him away - well before the start of school.
She'd have to thank them for that somehow, a whole day without
Kunou. No annoying prodding, asking for information on this or that
or pictures of the latest girl to catch his eye.
     She paused. Of course that did tend to mean far less money for
the day's take, but every so often you just had to take a break.
Berating herself for letting her mind wander, she turned back to
the board and just caught a glimpse of the person that stepped past
the corridor windows to the door of the classroom. Nabiki sighed,
it seemed that she'd been a little premature.
     The door opened, sliding open against the railing, stopping
with a thump that screamed 'overly dramatic'. The person outside
paused, trying to build what he would have called 'the suspense
appropriate to one of my standing', before making any move to
enter. Kunou strode into the classroom, looking none the worse for
his impromptu flight.
     "Ah, Kunou." The teacher nodded, looking over at the boy, "And
where have you been?" The teacher walked over to the desk, pulled
out the student register and flipped the pages over till he reached
today's date. Pulling a pen from the plastic cup on the desk, he
hovered over the last entry next to Kunou's name - "Absent"
     Kunou looked at the teacher, again pausing 'dramatically'
before replying, "I was temporarily relocated off campus by the
devil sorcerer Saotome and his" Kunou paused, thrusting a fist to
the sky and allowing his eyes to fill with tears, "captive goddess
of a sister. You may take it up with them if you so wish."
     "Ahhhhh... I see." The teacher nodded, and then wrote 'No
valid reason for absenteeism given' in the book. "Please, take your
seat so that I can continue with class."
     Kunou nodded. Yes that sounded fair, he would allow the
educator to do his work. After all, it was not his fault that
Saotome was a demon sorcerer. Walking over to his desk, he sat and
watched the teacher write on the board for a few moments before
remembering who he sat next to. Mayhap she would have information
regarding the new spell that Saotome had used on him this morning.
Reaching over, he tapped Nabiki on the arm.
     Nabiki blinked, silently cursing. Why me. He's not even in the
classroom for a minute and already he's bothering me. Looking first
at the teacher, who seemed involved in the board, she turned
slightly in Kunou's direction, nodding as she did so. If she didn't
deal with him now, he'd be bothering her for the rest of the day
until she did. So lowly that she was almost mouthing the words,
Nabiki asked, "What is it, Kunou?"
     Lazing back in his seat, the samurai wannabe answered in a
tone of voice that showed absolutely no concern for the teacher at
the front of the room. "Have you any further information concerning
my pig tailed goddess? Or the new devilries that Saotome used this
morning?"
     Nabiki rolled her eyes in frustration. Why couldn't he ask
something a little more intelligent? She paused. Of course this was
Kunou. She doubted that intelligence - or sanity for that matter -
was high on his list of things to acquire. She opened her mouth to
reply and belatedly remembered to check the front of the class.
Stuck with her mouth half open, she blinked, shutting it quickly as
her eyes came across the teacher, staring straight back at her.
     "Kunou, Miss Tendou." the teacher raised a hand, pointing to
the door, "Hallway, buckets. Now."
     Nabiki sighed as she rose to her feet. She took it all back;
this was not a good day. Not at all. Glaring at Kunou as he rose
she grated out, "Thanks, Kunou."
     Kunou nodded to her as she passed, oblivious to her meaning,
"Not a problem, I assure you."
     Nabiki slowly ground her teeth together.

Shampoo looked around, hoping for another person willing to
practice with her. Instead she found herself being stared at by
several passers-by. Stared at by several male passers-by.
     "What you look at?" The Chinese amazon spoke in her best
attempt at Japanese as she thrust her bonburi at one of them,
giving the subtle hint that perhaps she didn't appreciate them
looking. They abruptly found that they all had other things to do,
elsewhere. Hurrying along, the reluctant nosey parkers turned the
corner and were out of the way. After all, they'd seen what she
could do.
     "<Po Xion! Could you hurry up? This is starting to get
embarrassing! More people are starting to stare.>" It was true,
even though she'd managed to run off the last group of Japanese, a
new group was already gathering, following the small trail that led
would lead them inevitably to the to the pair of Chinese Amazons.
     Shampoo looked at where her pink-haired companion was kneeling
on the sidewalk. She sighed to herself at the sound of chipping
that had remained constant throughout her words. "<Po Xion? Could
you hurry up?>"
     The chipping paused for a second, as Po Xion turned and looked
up at the other warrior. "<Why, Shamy?>" she then turned back to
the concrete, switching her knife to her left hand as she did so.
     Shampoo replied flatly, "<Because no other sane warrior would
do it.>" Not deeming the nickname worth a mention, she tapped the
side of her head with her own weapon. Watching through the arch
made of her arm and the bonburi, she looked on as Po Xion rubbed
her right wrist for a second, then swapped the knife back into that
hand.
     Without bothering to turn this time, Po Xion replied "<My
mother would. Besides, after my little kitty,>" Shampoo rolled her
eyes as Po Xion sniffled for a second, "<ran off, I need something
a little more solid.>"
     Po Xion looked down at the concrete in front of her, a far off
light entering her eyes, "<My little Jean-Luc was trying to leave
me a message! He needs me! He wants me to take him home! Those
nasty foreigners aren't treating him right!>" She blinked, looking
down between her hands, "<Look! They made him walk in wet concrete!
Those beasts! Kachu Tenshin Amuguriken revised: One Handed Concrete
Freedom!>" The knife in her hand blurred, chipping away the
remaining concrete in a flurry of strikes.
     Shampoo sighed. Why didn't she just do that when she started?
Look at the amount of time that could have been saved. She watched
as Po Xion walked over to her now gigantic backpack and pushed the
footprint into a side pocket. "<Now, can we leave the rest?>"
     Po Xion turned, her eyes widening and her index finger
trailing down one cheek. "<Just one more? Pleeeeeeeeeease?>"
     Shampoo blinked, "<I really wish you wouldn't do that.>" She
sighed, then looked at the backpack, which seemed about to explode.
Maybe it'll fall apart if she adds another one. The lavender haired
amazon nodded, "<I guess it's alright, at least I'm getting some
practice here.>"
     Po Xion bounced happily next to her backpack, <"Thankyou,
thankyou, thankyou, thankyou!"> Skipping over towards the next
footprint, she deftly avoiding the unconscious body, crouched over
the panda print and extended her knife.
     Shampoo glanced at the body. Maybe she should do something
with that? What did the Japanese do when this happened? After all,
they had come along and tried to touch either her or Po Xion.
Perverts. Maybe she should just gather them up and leave them in an
alley somewhere? She glanced back along the line of chipped holes
along the ... what was it called? Footpath? At the five or so
bodies that lay at various intervals. She did have to admit that
they looked untidy, even in those uniforms. The flashy badges were
a little over the top too.
     "<Um, Shamy?>" Shampoo looked up, going to say something this
time about the nickname. "<Can I, uh, borrow your knife?>" Po Xion
held up her own, which now looked much like a spoon, shrugging
helplessly as she did so.
     Shampoo offered a long suffering sigh to the heavens and then
handed over her dagger.

Kunou hummed, rocking back and forth on his heels. He praised the
fact that he was out here in the hallway, right where he could more
easily obtain information from the woman that supplied him with
such. Now if only she'd stop moving. Thinking to try his luck
again, he moved across to her, watching as she immediately walked
across the hallway, away from him.
     Nabiki glared at him, feeling the water move around inside the
buckets that she held. Why hadn't she looked first? A simple
glance, and this wouldn't have happened. She grimaced. Correction,
this wouldn't have happened if he hadn't spoken to her in the first
place. "This is all your fault, Kunou."
     Kunou creased his noble brow in thought. Was she referring to
his Golden Goddess? How was he responsible for Saotome's spell?
Ahh! Of course! She meant that it was his fault that she had not
yet been broken from his spell. He nodded, "Indeed! I will
endeavour to correct that mistake as soon as possible.
     Nabiki blinked, trying to figure out what Kunou could do to
correct this, then said flatly, "I meant that we were out in the
hallway."
     Kunou ahhed in comprehension to himself, "Well, fear not,
Nabiki Tendou, for you at least have my noble body to admire with
your feminine hunger." He twisted, setting his buckets down and
posing with the bokken that had miraculously appeared in his hands.
"Surely this breath taking sight must lift you from the depths of
your depression!"
     Nabiki rolled her eyes, "Sorry, Kunou baby, you're not for
this woman." Thank God. She glanced at his bokken, "Now can you put
that thing away? I really don't want to spoil my day by vomiting
all over you."
     Kunou returned his bokken to somewhere inside his shirt.
"Well, never let it be said that I let a lady," he glanced at her,
narrowing his eyes, "though wench is a far more fitting term in
your case, be depressed in my presence." He withdrew his hands from
his shirt, bringing with them a few sheets of paper.
     "Mayhap you would like to tell me just what your noble sister
would think of this ballad, composed in her honour." He glanced
down at the page and then began reading, "Oh Akane, your hair
glistens, like the seas on a rough day, for yours is the power of
the ocean, wild and untamed..."
     Nabiki stared in astonishment. What did this moron think she
was? A poetry critic? She half listened, trying to ignore it, but
found that the words registered anyway. Good thing I'm not a
critic, I'd give him the most burning review I could think of.
Placing her buckets on the ground, she covered her ears, trying to
block the sounds out. Damn! It was still coming through.
     Humming to herself under her breath likewise did no good,
Kunou simply increased his volume a little bit. Oh God! Now he was
gesturing in compliment to his words. This was getting out of hand.
How could she stop him? Or better yet, get rid of... Her eyes
widened. Of course!
     "Oh, Kunou," Nabiki dropped her hands away from her ears,
trying to ignore the last few words that had been spoken, "I do
have some more information for you. Do you want it?"
     Kunou blinked, stopping his recital, then asked quickly, "More
information on my Golden Goddess?"
     Shaking her head, Nabiki answered, "No, not about Ranko, about
Ranma and Akane!"
     "What has that Demon done now?" Kunou frowned as he listened,
swiftly returning his ballad to its place inside his shirt, right
next to his heart. Surely this was not going to be good.
     Nabiki sighed dramatically, clasping her hands before her and
wringing them together. She turned her face downwards and allowed a
small catch to enter her voice, "Oh Kunou, it's so horrible!" a
small tear managed to make it out of one eye, "You see, our fathers
have engaged them to each other..." Nabiki paused. Where was the
kaboom? There was supposed to be an earth shattering kaboom! Kunou
should have gone absolutely ballistic. Without looking up from her
oh-merciful-god-please-save-my-sister position, she restated it,
even more blatently. "Yes, marriage is in the cards for the two of
them..."
     Still nothing. The complete silence that greeted those words
just wasn't what she had expected from Kunou. Wondering why he'd
said nothing, the middle Tendou daughter cautiously looked over to
where he had been standing mere moments before. The only thing that
greeted her sight was empty air. Looking up and down the corridor
and still not finding him, her eyes widened in surprise.
     "Wow, that was quick." She reached down and picked up her
buckets, humming happily to herself. Thank God that's over.

Tanaka clapped his hands together twice, yelling as he did so,
"Alright everybody, hit the showers!"
     Most of the students grinned to themselves, another sport
session over and done with. A few of the boys rubbed aching muscles
and sore bones from where they'd slipped, but overall it felt
pretty good. After all, now they could relax for a good fifteen or
twenty minutes.
     "Mr Saotome. Please remain behind." Coach Tanaka glanced in
the pigtailed boy's direction. He hadn't really moved since his
sister had started batting, but at least his eyes were open. He
blinked, Ranma was just staring straight ahead. Now that he thought
about it, he'd been twitching too. Surely they both didn't...
     Ranko sat down on the embankment, she'd wait for most of the
girls to change and shower before going into the female change
rooms herself. Besides, Akane always seemed to get agitated when
she went into the girls' change rooms, even if she was female. She
smiled to herself, watching as Akane, Yuka and Sayuri wandered over
to the change rooms. She really would look much better with short
hair. It'd suit her far more than that long hair does now. Closing
her eyes, she allowed herself to drift back to Ranma.
     Ranma stood up, making his way over to where Tanaka was
standing, wondering as he walked if he could get out of this early.
"Uh? Coach? Are you alright? You wanted to see me, remember?"
     Tanaka nodded, and gestured at the uneven bars. "Well, there
they are Mr Saotome. This time I don't expect any screw ups," He
paused for a second then continued, "and remember, show me
everything you've got. Hold nothing back."
     Ranma nodded, limbered up again, and then jumped up and
grasped the upper bar. Glancing across the field at Ranko, he noted
that there was no-one else near her now. Excellent. He swung across
to the lower bar, catching it with his legs and swinging around
underneath it. Letting go as he reached the zenith of his small
loop, he managed a small flip that placed his hands underneath his
body, grasping the lower bar.
     Tanaka clucked to himself. The boy has excellent form and
coordination, but are those moves legal? He watched as Ranma's
backflip off the lower bar allowed him to land feet first on the
upper bar. This, in turn, was the predecessor to a jump that turned
with a twist into another handstand.
     A shout rang out across the field, "Akane Tendou!"
     Ranma blinked, as he completed a back somersault with a half
twist. Kunou? What was that moron doing here? Better yet what did
he want with Akane? Ranma flipped with a twist again, grabbing hold
of the bars and facing in the direction that the cry had come from.

Akane, who had been right in the midst of walking into the girls'
change room, started as she heard her name yelled close by. Where
before the most she'd been worried about was what to do if Ranko
entered the change rooms while she was in there, she suddenly found
herself enveloped in a pair of arms. She stared for a second at the
arms, before gripping the hand around the meaty part of the thumb
and twisting, breaking the grip. Spinning she threw the attacker
away from her and fell into a defensive stance.
     Tatewaki Kunou stood, brushing grass and sand from his noble
vestments. "Akane Tendou. Know now that I shall never allow this
travesty to stand."
     Akane blinked, what was Kunou talking about now? She watched
warily as he glanced about, drawing his bokken as he did so. She
stared as he glanced around, looking for something. Or someone.
     "Know that the injustice that was visited upon you by your
family shall be undone. I shall rid you of this unwanted
arrangement." Kunou nodded. That should assure you fair maid Akane
Tendou. Now, where is Saotome?
     Yuka nudged Akane, "What's he on about now? Isn't it enough
that he's already after both you and Ranko?" She sighed. Honestly,
why couldn't the idiot just stop chasing after people that didn't
want him? Yuka'd always found it amazing that some people just
couldn't tell when the other person didn't return their affections.
She sighed, it was a male thing, she was sure of it.
     Akane shrugged, an uneasy feeling forming as she tried to
decipher the kendoist's words. "I'm not that sure." She started,
suddenly alighting on what he might have found out. No, surely
Nabiki wouldn't have told him that. She looked at Kunou, standing
with bokken at the ready and looking determined to fight.
     "Ranma Saotome!"

Ranma, having discerned that Kunou wasn't likely to harm Akane and
at the constant urging's of Coach Tanaka, had resumed his routine.
He sighed as Kunou yelled his name. It was like the guy wanted to
be pounded. Hadn't he learned anything this morning? As he saw the
bokken wielding moron advance, he prepared to drop; prepared to
beat the snot out of the annoyance that was once more heading his
way.
     He was almost as surprised as Kunou when coach Tanaka stepped
between himself and the oncoming kendoist. "Kunou. Sit down and
shut up. Now." The tone of voice that he used brooked no back talk,
but he received it anyway.
     "Nay! My vengeance shall wait for no mortal man!" Kunou
advanced, willing the man in front of him to move out of his way.
When he nearly ran into the Coach, he was forced to sidestep. He
was nearly past the older man when 'the voice' was used again.
     "Kunou, if you don't sit down and shut up, right now, I am
going to fail you in every class that I take you for." Kunou
stumbled to a stop and glanced at the Coach, looking into the eyes
of a man that was completely serious. Kunou gulped, he had never
failed a physical education class. What would people think if he
started now? That the magnificent Blue Thunder of Furinkan High was
some sort of gibbering, weakling idiot? He sat down, resting his
bokken against one shoulder and pushing his hands into the sleeves
of the opposite arm as he did so. Samurai do not, after all, want
to look stupid.
     Tanaka glanced back at Ranma, who was hanging with a slack
mouthed expression on his face. "Well? Get on with it Saotome!"
     Ranma nodded, swinging back and then forwards to work up
enough momentum to start again.
     Rather surprisingly, no one else interrupted for the remaining
five minutes that it took for Ranma to exhaust his repertoire of
tricks. Thinking to finish on a flourish, Ranma spun around the top
bar then dismounted with a triple flip that arched over the lower
beam, twisting to land facing the opposite direction. He didn't
stumble.
     Glancing up at the Coach, he grinned. "Well, that's all I can
do Coach." he smiled to himself. Bet the coach has never seen
anything like it before. Heh, I'm the best!
     Tanaka nodded, looking thoughtfully across at Ranko and
sighing for a second as he realised that once again she had her
eyes closed. "Can your sister do the same?"
     Ranma blinked, his train of thought effectively derailed by
the nearly off topic question. The pigtailed boy shrugged. "Uh,
yeah, she can, why?" At least he was fairly sure she could do the
same, after all he'd never actually tried it with her. She should
be able to do it though.
     Tanaka smiled, wondering how many medals he'd be able to get
out of these two. Well, as long as they didn't try drug testing
Ranko, anyway. He looked back at his newly risen star, "Oh, no
reason. No reason at all. Well then, I'm finished."
     He glanced over at the kendoist that he'd stopped. Maybe it
would be a good way to judge how good Ranma was at Martial arts.
More medals! "Kunou, he's all yours."
     Kunou nodded. Indeed the foul sorcerer was all his. "Well, yes
..." he uncrossed his hands, placing the left one on his brow and
grasping his bokken in his right. As he rose triumphantly to his
feet, he continued, "Now, where was I... Oh yes! Akane Tendou,
Ranma Saotome, know now that I shall never allow this travesty of
an engagement to stand!"

Akane blinked, shocked. Apparently Nabiki _would_ sell that sort of
information. She quickly looked around at the shocked faces in the
crowd. Well that blew that little secret. She was surprised at the
various thoughts that jumped into her own head after the
announcement.
     At least with it out in the open it isn't hanging over our
heads any more. That made sense, she could see that.
     She smiled, remembering some of Ranma's comments at the coffee
shop. Maybe the engagement wasn't a bad thing after all. This
thought lasted about half a second, after which it was beaten down
and then executed for treason.
     What was she thinking! Ranma was a pervert, like all boys! She
sighed to herself. Well, sort of anyway. At least nothing worse can
be revealed.

Ranma shrugged, hadn't they already been through all this? Geez,
Kunou was stupid. He glanced at the faces around him. Why did
everyone look so shocked?
     The crowd that was gathered around them acted as one would
expect. "ENGAGEMENT?!" Well, with one exception.
     "Ranma! You DA MAN! You DA MAN!" Daisuke yelled from the side
lines, "Not only have you seen her naked, but you're engaged to her
as well!" Daisuke blinked in the sudden silence. He looked to his
left side, where Hiroshi was gripping his head as though in pain,
shaking it silently in denial. The next stop for his eyes were the
others in the crowd, who were staring at him doing what appeared to
be credible impressions of a goldfish.
     He groaned. Why did this always happen to him? He waved to
Ranma apologetically from the sidelines. "Sorry, wasn't thinking."
Then he elbowed Hiroshi in the ribs. "You can stop now."
     Kunou, who was still at the stage of thinking platonic
relationships, didn't really take this news that well. He exploded.
"YOU CUR! NO DOUBT YOU USED YOUR SOCEROUS POWERS TO COMPEL THIS
LOVELY VISION TO STRIP!"
     Yes, He could see it all now! The sorcerer, knocking on
Akane's door, waiting respectfully to be admitted. Akane, smiling
with tender goodness, opening the door, and, upon seeing nothing
wrong, allowing the crafty demon in. And then, once he was in her
room, he wove a spell! A spell that, no doubt allowed him to
control her. He'd made her strip! It was all so simple! For
humiliating Akane this demon must die!
     "YOU ARE NO MAN! I ATTACK!" Kunou ran forward, striking out
with his bokken. He saw the bokken pass through where the black
haired Saotome had been, but failed to feel the satisfying 'thunk'
of wood on flesh.
     Ranma dodged, hardly thinking about it, "Hey! I never did
that!". He glared for a second at Daisuke, then returned his gaze
to Kunou. Why did he always use the same strokes? Ducking a high
blow that he'd known would follow, Ranma grinned. It was like he'd
been fighting Kunou for years, his fighting style was so easy to
see. Slipping a quick punch inside Kunou's guard, Ranma smiled.
Well, this was practice.

Akane blinked. Ranma had seen her naked? That pervert! And he'd
talked about it as well! That double pervert!
     Yuka and Sayuri turned to her, about to ask her if indeed it
was true. The sight that greeted them was somewhat expected. Akane
on the warpath. Not that bad a thing to see, sometimes - well, if
you were a girl anyway. Shrugging to each other, they decided to
follow her. After she calmed down, maybe they'd get some answers.
     Oblivious to the single call of innocence that Ranma had
mouthed, Akane started over towards where Ranko was sitting on the
grass. Sneak a peek at her would he? Her footsteps acquired a
sudden hardness. Talk about it to his friends would he? The
footsteps turned into footstomps.
     As she reached the red head, she looked out at where Ranma and
Kunou were still fighting. Too bad. Grabbing the smaller girl by
the collar, she hauled her up to face level. "What the HELL were
you thinking?!"

Ranma stumbled, just avoiding another swipe of the bokken. What was
Akane doing? Jumping backwards, and relaxing as he did so, he made
sure that Ranko was following his movements - completely relaxed -
before speaking. "Not right now, I'm fighting."

Yuka and Sayuri stared. What was Ranko on about?
     Akane shook the pigtailed girl, forcing her to pay attention.
She spoke once Ranko's eyes came to life. "You pervert! Peeking at
me! And then, you tell your slimy little friends! I don't believe
you!"
     Akane's two friends blinked again. Never mind Ranko, what was
Akane talking about? How was Ranko connected to Ranma looking at
her?
     "What?! I have to get back to...uff." Ranko breathed out. That
was the landing. Not too bad, except that Ranma was now standing
with a really shocking lean. She couldn't see Kunou with Ranma's
eyes, mainly because they were pointed at the ground. "I have to
go!" She closed her eyes, returning to Ranma, leaving two confused
and one extremely mad girl.

Ranma looked up, just in time to see the strike aimed at his ribs.
Flinging himself backward, he felt the tip of the bokken impact his
side.

     "Arrggh!" Ranko suddenly twisted out of Akane's grip and
hugged the left side of her body, right where Kunou had hit Ranma.
She could feel the skin under her fingers had already started to
bruise and so knew that whatever damage Ranma had, it was pretty
bad. Even worse, she knew that Kunou's next strike would probably
end this match. So why was she in Ranko? Trying desperately to stop
a strike that she knew would knock her out, or worse, she closed
her eyes.
     And felt nothing. Nothing. Where was Ranma? "Shit!" Surely
that strike hadn't killed him? Had it?
     As she gazed out onto the field, the pain stopped. She
fingered at her bruise, only to find nothing but unblemished skin.
Again. What the hell was going on around here? Why was she healing
instantly, and why did it only happen sometimes?
     She looked out onto the field where Kunou's bokken was locked
in the fist of another person. Ranma. Looking at the complete shock
on Akane's, Sayuri's and Yuka's faces, she took a wild stab in the
dark. "I'm glowing again, aren't I?"
     Akane nodded dumbly, not allowing herself to say anything, in
case her voice shook. Ranko was golden. That was all there was to
it. Sure, she was glowing as well, but her underlying skin and hair
had changed colour completely. She could even see herself reflected
in some of the patches of skin. The glow that was coming from her
body was also definitely golden in colour, not the simple yellow
that had been so prevalent a few days ago. It seemed that the only
thing that actually hadn't changed colour were her eyes, still that
same startling blue.
     Ranko blinked, looking at herself. She shook her hands,
staring at them. They were the same as always, slim, delicate,
girly fingers. Completely flesh and blood, as always. There was
even a little dirt under the nails. "Weird, I still don't see it."
She blinked. Why was she worried about something that didn't really
affect her? She should be more worried about Ranma. Her other body
was moving, and she wasn't controlling it. The once-redhead quickly
stepped past Akane and ran out onto the field.
     None of the other girls had the chance to comment, as the
sound of cracking wood was heard.

Kunou stared. His blade, his magnificent blade, had been caught. In
one hand. He'd not even seen the demon move. It had simply appeared
in front of him.
     Curse that Saotome and his evilly glowing hands! Just as he'd
been about to win! It wasn't fair. He blinked as the hand's skin
tone changed, going completely golden. What was this? Why was
this... He scowled. Of course! Ranma was drawing power from his
sister, forcing her innate goodness to shine through in place of
his obvious evil. That the Golden Goddess must suffer this ultimate
indignity was beyond wrong.
     Gritting his teeth against this latest sacrilege, he tried to
push the bokken through the hand that held it.
     The golden boy smiled, looking for the world like he was out
for a Sunday stroll. "Kunou, do you want to know something?" He
waited till the kendoist glanced his way, smiling even more when
the idiot's eyes widened as they met his. "Again and again, you
always manage to find ways to piss me off." The pigtailed boy
closed his hand, crushing the hardened wood as though it was paper,
then slammed the kendoist with his other fist into the ground.
     His 'opponent' didn't rise and the boy sighed, still smiling.
"Ah, I haven't been able to do that in such a long time." Turning,
he caught sight of Ranko running towards him. "Well, about time you
got here." He looked past Ranko at where Akane was also moving
towards them, meeting her eyes briefly. A somewhat more hesitant
Yuka and Sayuri followed the youngest Tendou sister. Suddenly
shaking his head, he turned back to Ranko.
     Ranko spoke as she dropped into a defensive stance out of arms
reach. "Who are you?"
     He raised an eyebrow, "Didn't we already go through this?" he
barked a short, bitter laugh. "Better to hope that you never find
out. Consider that a warning. Get better, you need a hell of a lot
more training." His eyes glazed over and, as suddenly as it had
began, it ended.
     Ranko closed her eyes, allowing herself to flow into Ranma's
body.
     Ranma moved around for a second, trying to see it anything had
been changed. He smiled hesitantly, nothing seemed to be changed,
or even damaged. He paused, fingering his side through the cut in
his shirt. There was nothing under his fingers, nothing at all. The
healing had happened again! What was it with that? Why didn't it
work when he an' pop were sparring for instance? No bruises would
be good.
     Akane stepped up, "Uhh Ranma?" She looked at both of his
bodies. They'd returned to their normal colour, which was good,
wasn't it?
     "Akane," he turned to her, suddenly serious, "I have a small
problem." Ranma's train of thought derailed as he looked at her
face. She looked so cute! Why hadn't he seen it before? Still, with
short hair, she'd look truly beautiful. He blinked, she was waiting
for something? What was it? Oh, that's right, he was saying
something, wasn't he? Ranma raised one hand, "That wasn't me."
     Akane stared at his pointing finger, which indicated the
unconscious kendist. "What do you mean?"
     "I mean, whoever it was that pounded Kunou in my body, it
wasn't me." He nodded, looking for the first time at the other
people on the ground. Most of them were looking at either him or
Ranko. Yuka and Sayuri had stopped a fair distance from them,
apparently not wanting to come closer. "Uh, what's with everybody?"
     "Ranma, we really need to have a talk about that
fight. You weren't just glowing this time." Akane nodded, in fact,
if she'd seen correctly when she'd come out, Ranma's eyes had
changed colour as well, like Ranko's the other day, they'd been
little golden mirrors.

Cologne nodded her thanks to the villager. Taking up her stick, she
bounced off in pursuit of Shampoo and Po Xion. After all, if her
grand daughter had not been able to find the miscreants that she
was following, at least she'd have company for the rest of the
search.
     She bounced along, content to make her own way. After all, was
not a warrior proud of her own body? She watched as mountains in
the distance were slowly covered by cloud. A rain would be coming
soon. She sighed, wondering if she'd be able to find a roof to rest
under tonight.
     As always, inevitably her thoughts turned to what she was in
Japan to do; recover the mirror. Even though the decision made in
the elders hut that night was final, there were still a few things
that bothered her. Only once, once in all of their tribe's history,
had the mirror produced a golden aura or golden eyes.
     Her mind re-ran that part of the meeting, hoping to find some
sort of clue as her body bounced along, coming ever closer to Tokyo
and the small group that was gathering there.

"Golden aura? Golden eyes? I have never heard of those results. How
do they point towards the mirror's use?" Ti Fu rocked back on her
heels, content that her point had been made.
     Lo Xion moved slowly forward, speaking as she did so, "That is
because there has been only one precedence of those side effects."
She stood, waving off the assistance that she knew would be
offered. Not bothering to move across to the bookcase that adorned
one side of the hut, she glanced at the other Matriarchs. "A
moment. The book has been moved into storage. It is well over one
thousand years old."
     She moved a rug on the floor aside and pulled on what looked
like an ordinary floorboard. It, and several of the floorboards
next to it, swung up easily, with nary a groan or a squeak,
revealing an opening into a lit basement.
     This particular basement had been built long before any of the
inhabitants of the room above it had ever drawn breath, long before
their mothers or even their grandmothers had drawn breath. It was
used to store any manuscript that would not fit in the bookcase
above, which, given that the Amazon history stretched back three
thousand years, was a lot. The reason that this basement was used
to store the books was that it would never get damp, mildewy or
anything else. Ink would never flake from the pages of a precious
book or manuscript stored in it. Glue would never give way,
allowing pages to fall out as age got to the books, not in this
basement. For in this basement, when the trapdoor was closed, time
stopped.
     Unknown to all but the Matriarchs, amazon history was recorded
twice. Once, into a public book that everyone in the tribe knew
about, placed as any other in the bookcase in the room above. The
second time in secret, by one of the four Matriarchs in another
book that would be placed in this room. When the public book was
unreadable, or there was no space left in the bookcase, the public
books could be thrown out, burned to ensure that no one ever read
the history of the tribe. The true history lived on, forever secure
in the basement of the hut.
     Mi Tsu, the closest of the remaining three, moved to the open
trapdoor, catching it as Lo Xion descended. As one of the safety
measures, the trap door would close after a few moments; as soon as
the final stair was stepped on. If there was someone inside when it
closed then they too would be frozen in time until the next time
someone opened it. Over the years a few people had been found down
here. Most had been too inquisitive for their own good. It was a
fatal mistake. No one bar a Matriarch was ever allowed into this
room, any found in it were put to death, no questions asked, no
mercy given.
     After a few minutes of searching, Lo Xion reappeared, bringing
with her a book in such pristine condition that it looked as if it
had just been written. She opened it and turned a few pages. "Here
it is. The incident occurred one thousand, five hundred and twenty
three years ago. A girl used the mirror to rid herself of a
Jusenkyo curse. Her name was No Xion, a sister to one of my
ancestors. Along with an almost unnoticeable golden aura, she
claimed that she heard voices."
     Mi Tsu moved forward slightly, looking thoughtful and waiting
for a chance to speak. The woman holding the book nodded, settling
back for a second. "What was the source of these voices?" After
asking, she too, moved back, allowing the floor to be freed.
     Lo Tion moved forward once more, "That fact was never
recorded. We can, however, guess. The cursed sometimes take on
another, separate identity to deal with their new form. Especially
in these cases. An older woman - a jealous romantic rival, had
cursed her a few months before. Nannichuan."
     Cologne winced. Being reduced to the status of male after
being cursed was not a pleasant thought, and in those days, it had
been the norm. She sighed to herself, wondering how old the girl
had been.
     Lo Xion flipped a few pages, forward and back, making a small
noise of annoyance as she did so. "That's strange, the name of the
rival was never recorded." She mused to herself as she flicked
through the book, "Was the shame deemed so great that they stripped
her of her name? No, none of the other cases of this type of
jealous attack have their names stripped."
     Ti Fu moved forward, wanting to get an word in. As she was
still flipping through the book, Lo Xion moved back.
     "Nice as this story is, could you get to the point? We have
yet to see anything to do with golden eyes, nor much about glowing
auras." she paused, waiting for Lo Xion to nod accordingly before
resting back, allowing the other woman to once more speak from the
book.
     The older woman flipped back to her previous position.
"Anyway, as it is, the elders at the time would not have known that
she'd used the mirror, except that they could sense the power of
it's use about her. They questioned her, until she broke down. The
Matriarch writing the history says that she feels that the girl
would still have protested her innocence then, except for the fact
that 'the voice' told her not to."
     "And yes," the ancient Matriarch looked at the three others in
the room, "other people could tell when the voice spoke, because it
was during those times that the girl glowed. It happened both then,
and a few times afterwards, definitely once in battle, and also
right before she died." Lo Xion flipped a few pages ahead, reading
directly from the book. "The girl was crouched over an uncursed
pool of water, claiming at once the fact that she'd done nothing
wrong and at the same time that she'd killed an infant. The faint
aura that surrounds her from time to time was glowing like the sun.
Some of the women gathered about her claimed her eyes were changing
golden as well, flickering back and forth between that and her
normal eye colour. Our warriors tried to restrain her, but she
fought with the strength of ten grown women. Proclaiming both her
innocence and guilt, she threw herself into the pool, but at the
same time caught at the edge, trying desperately to get out."
     Lo Xion looked around, "They pulled her from the pool, but
failed to revive her. It was as though she had breathed the water
in and refused to let it out, but at the same time wanted to live.
A very confusing death. The Matriarchs at the time couldn't make
head or tail of it." She frowned again, "Nor could they find any
trace of the infant that she had supposedly killed."
     Cologne leaned forward, waiting until Lo Xion moved back to
speak. "The pool, did it imprint on her?"
     Lo Xion nodded as she came forward again. "Yes, she was the
originator of the Nyannichuan."

Cologne looked up at the rain began, sighing to herself. She'd have
to find a place to shelter, or else she'd be soaked to the bone in
short order.
     Bouncing under a cluster of trees and trying to figure out
when the shower would end, she again thought to the perpetrators of
the crime. For one thing, the Matriarchs had no idea what the
mirror had been used for this time - it had to be something more
than the curing of a Jusenkyo curse, because they now had two
glowing warriors to deal with. Didn't it?
     Also, from the reports, that hadn't been a faintly glowing
aura, it had been fully blown. What did it all mean? And, probably
the most important two : where was the mirror now? And what was it
doing?

The gates to Furinkan High rattled slightly on their hinges as a
crowd passed through them. Minutes past, the final siren had rung,
announcing to all within the hallowed halls of learning that this
day was, as far as school went, over.
     Hiroshi walked through the gates, whistling to himself.
Wondering about what had happened today at the sports ground. After
all, it's not like it's every day that two of your classmates turn
completely golden and start glowing like that. He paused for a
second. Well the glowing part was actually happening fairly
regularly, now that he thought about it.
     He turned, looking for Daisuke in the classroom windows, he
waved as he saw him, carefully stacking tables and chairs. "HEY
DAI!"
     The other boy looked up.
     "I'LL BE WAITING FOR YA AT THE ARCADE, OK?" Daisuke nodded,
briefly pulled a finger sign at him and then went back to his work.
     Hiroshi laughed at his friend's frustration. Dai always did
manage to piss people off - teachers were no exception. He stepped
through the gates, fully intending to get himself to the arcade as
soon as humanly possible. The last thing he expected was a fist to
come out of nowhere and grab him by the collar, pulling him off his
feet.
     Ryouga looked at the boy before him, hoping that this would be
the one. "Where is Furinkan High?"
     Hiroshi blinked. Was this guy for real? He indicated with his
right hand the massive sign next to the gates. Watching as the boy
that held him looked for himself. The widening of his eyes was
accompanied by an almost goofy grin. Hiroshi was tempted to laugh,
but considering the fact that the boy was still holding him a good
half a foot off the ground he decided against it.
     Ryouga sighed in relief. Finally, he'd found Furinkan High!
Now, he could finally get cured. He frowned, well at least if Ranma
did find a cure. "Where is Ranma Saotome?"
     Hiroshi indicated with his left hand this time, not bothering
to turn to the tree to one side of the grounds inside the gates.
Ranma sat, resting against the tree trunk, eyes closed. What was
wrong with this guy? Was he blind or something?
     Ryouga opened his hand, allowing Hiroshi to land on the
ground. "Thankyou for your time." Turning, he picked something up
off the ground and strode towards Ranma, whistling a small tune as
he did so.
     Hiroshi paused, watching and thinking. The new boy was walking
towards Ranma with a bucket in his hands. Oh, this was going to be
good. He leaned up against the wall, waiting for the fireworks to
begin.

Ranko and Akane walked out of the nurse's office, talking to each
other as they did.
     "I tell ya Akane, one minute I'm in complete control, the next
boom! Someone's going psycho on Kunou in my body. It's freaky." She
looked at the taller girl beside her, wondering what might happen
next time. Would it attack Akane? And what did it mean, 'Didn't we
already go through this'? Go through what before?
     Akane nodded, "Well, I guess we're lucky that Kunou is
alright, even if he is a moron. If he'd been killed, I don't think
the courts would accept possession as a defence." She paused,
looking at the red head. "You know, you were both golden for a
minute there. Did you feel anything different?"
     Ranko shook her head, the pigtail whipping against her cheeks.
"Nah, I never feel any different. It's weird, ya know?" She laughed
for a second, "You know, I bet if Ranma'd come in there with us, he
would'a gotten straight out of bed, no matter what?"
     Akane nodded, smiling.
     Ranko shuddered for a second, looking around herself. "Aw man,
I'm drenched. No wait, I'm not." She looked over to where she could
just see Ranma. Standing before him was another familiar shape.
"Aw, crap, not now. Akane, watch out for bandannas alright?" She
sat down, closing her eyes as she did so.

Ryouga watched as no change overcame the black haired boy in front
of him. Aha! So Ranma did find a cure! He closed his eyes and
clenched his fists in pure ecstasy. He could finally be free! No
more curse for him! Opening his eyes, he saw Ranma staring at him
from his position at the base of the tree.
     "Ranma! You did find a cure! Share it with me too!" The lost
boy almost broke down. He'd finally be able to get rid of those
amazons on his tail. If he didn't turn into a little pig every
other day, he could get so much further! He was so anxious to get
rid of the curse that he missed Ranma shaking his head.
     Ranma spoke in a low voice, "Ryouga, trust me, you're better
off with the curse."
     "Once I'm cured, I'll..." Ryouga paused, running that last
sentence through he head once more. Surely that hadn't been right?
"Uh, Sorry Ranma, could you repeat that again? I thought you
said..." He trailed off.
     Ranma repeated, standing as he did so, "Sorry man, I'm not
going to cure you, you're much better off with the curse."
     Ryouga blinked. Surely Ranma didn't mean that he'd be better
off as a pig? "Funny, Ranma, real funny. Cure me, now."
     Ranma shook his head, "I can't, I don't have any of the
ingredients to what 'cured' me." Ryouga turned, crouching briefly
before his backpack and detaching the umbrella from the top of it,
"And even if I did have them, I still wouldn't do it. You're much
better off cursed. Trust me."
     Ryouga turned back, looking up at the pigtailed boy. Ranma,
whole and uncursed, was telling him that he'd be better off cursed?
Better off being half a pig for the rest of his life? He stood, his
fists clenched around the handle of his combat umbrella, forgetting
the reason that he'd taken it off his backpack. As Ryouga's world
disappeared into a murky, red haze he would later remember speaking
five, very distinct, words: "Ranma Saotome, prepare to die."

*************************************
[Author's Rant]

Yeah, I know, it's been ages, right? Well, if it helps any, this
part is almost one third the total length of Mirror, mirror at the
moment. It is by far the biggest of the lot, and it's still (as far
as I know) at the same quality as the rest of it.

Things that are weighing on my mind at the moment (aka Random
thoughts):

Yes, I know that the Amazon History scene is far too brief and is
very vague, especially for a society that loves to boast of the
fact that it can recall 3000 years of histroy. To expand it more
than it is was to give the plot away. As it is, the scene is
alright, just try to read around the text and see the story. :)

Yes, I know there is no summary for chapter 5 in summary.txt. I'll
get around to it sometime in the next week(s?) I guess.

Someone out there must have some theories on what happened with
Ranma and the mirror... Tell me about them, I like hearing them :)

Heh, as an overall, how does everyone think that the story is
coming? Good or Bad? Should I continue it? Drop it like a stone?
Would anyone notice? ;) I'm just messin' with ya, of course I'll
continue it... For me if no-one else. (Heh, I want to know how the
story turns out as well)

Anyone else want to see more of the Amazon trio that're busy
chasing Ryouga? :)

I'd _like_ to say that Chapter 7 will be out in 2 weeks... But,
unfortunately, it won't be. If anything, I'll be writing a lot less
in the coming month. Yes, it's end of semester time for me again...
:(

The good(?) news is, I have already written a little piece for the
up-and-coming newly revamped Pencils.

The bad(?) news is, I now have Pencils to work on as well, so
Mirror, mirror 7 will be even later-ish...

"Is it easier to wake a sleeping Dragon, or put to sleep a woken
one?" :)

However, just to show you what a nice guy I am, I'll give you a
preview as to what's up next... It's Ryouga's story: We've seen him
running around these last 6 chapters with his three little friends
and now he's finally at Furinkan. What can this little piggy tell
us to add to the overall story? Could it be something about the
original battle? Perhaps something to do with the person that so
nicely beat the crap out of Kunou? Something to do with the ever
mysterious Mirror? Will we find out more about the Amazons
following him? Heh, maybe, but then again, maybe not... :)

I'd like to thank my prereaders:

Cherry Tiger,
Chris Rowley,
H-Packrat,
Nathan Baxter,
The Eternal Lost Lurker.

These guys sit through the crap that I try to pass off as
prereading material and put up with my incessant questions,
(don'cha, guys? :) so try to be nice to them if you meet them in
the street... :)

Later,
    Mike.
--

Visit my website : www.upnaway.com/~ricketts

What is The sound of one hand clapping? I'm not sure,
but if you hum a few bars ... :)

.-----------------------..------------------------.
|  .-==-. <\-/> .-==-.  || In time, even those who|
| /_.-=-.\|^ ^|/.-=-._\ || appeared to lead fell  |
|  /_.--.\(o_o)/.--._\  || to the side, corrupted |
|   /_.--\/   \/--._\   || by their own power.    |
|     \/ {/.-.\} \/     ||                        |
|       /"(   )"\,--.   || You have risen in their|
|     __\ /'-'\ /__     || place, how long will   |
|   ///---'   '---\\\   || you walk undefiled?    |
'-----------------------''------------------------'
Dragons should ever change. Font width should not.



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