Disclaimer: I own nothing :)

 Akane was stunned, before she had only pictured Kodachi as a shadow that moved about, with a couple of bad things here and bad things there. She had never painted a picture of her so close to what Ranma had related. And suddenly, she knew why nobody liked her. She knew why she was being treated badly, "Then why are we still married?"

 "Divorce is out of the question. We've talked about this before. The dojo and Rose Brier is yours. You are a bargaining chip, an ace of cards, you are a tactical advancement and I HAVE BEEN ORDERED TO. For that, I'd put up with you." He turned around and walked towards the door. "I think my appetite is gone. Goodnight, Kodachi."

 "That's AKANE!" She shouted as she slumped down the chair. She held her tears back until Ranma had completely left the room, then let it flow freely.

 A mallet appeared quickly in her hands, but as it appeared, she quickly put it away. A destructive mood was not something she should get into right now. Besides, the way he moved she would never catch up.

 A sob escaped her, in all her years, only two had actually angered her enough to let her pull the damned mallet out. Ryoga was the first half, Ranma was the other. It seemed as if her husbands brought out the worst in her.

 Things were more grim now, but not hopeless. Not yet anyway. After all what motive could she have to pretend amnesia?



 Still burning with anger, Ranma had headed out to the dojo, not bothering to grab a lantern the way out, he knew the way even by night light. It was one of the places in the house that actually soothed is nerves. It had an immediate effect on him as he entered, the dojo was one of the few places Kodachi had entirely moved out of after their third year together. Only the box remained as her mark there at all.

 He sighed as he stepped in the middle of the large room, he didn't even bother with the gas lamps. He started on the easiest katas he knew moving on to the hard ones, that way, he'd have time to think about what had just happened.

 He didn't notice Hanae by the doorway until she spoke up, "Daddy, are you okay?" He stopped at the middle of the move to look at her, running up to him, "Oh, daddy. I didn't ve-s-drop on you and 'dachi. I just saw you go out."

 That was no surprise, Hanae was quite perceptive, and she knew where her father would go, he doubted that she did listen in, but it was a paper house after all... she didn't need to listen in, but wondered how she had spotted him in the dark. "You did, huh?"

 She nodded, then smiled, "I went down to the kitchen to see if you ate..." She looked at the doorway, "So I brought you dinner, daddy... Aunty Nabiki was the one who actually told me to... check on you."

 For the first time, he noticed the tray at the door. It shouldn't have surprised him since Hanae had started to bring him his dinner instead of Yuka since her third birthday, but it did. "You carried that big tray again?"

 Sometimes Hanae had given him dinner when she was home, and he came in late or something interrupted his meal like what happened this evening. Other times, Nabiki did this, sometimes, the cook, Yuka.

 "Not that big." She protested as Ranma pulled her up in his arms, then got the tray on the way out.

 "Where do you want to eat this?" He asked, he still wanted to avoid the dining room, and was glad she chose the library.

 Moving one chair for her to sit in front of him, Ranma looked at the contents of the tray. Some maki, a bowl of rice and miso soup. He then proceeded to dividing everything into two, giving half to Hanae. "My stomach and I thank you Hanae."

 "Save some thanks for Yuka-san, too." She piped up, she was in a talkative mood tonight. "Yuka-san sent up a tray to 'dachi. She didn't eat, too."

 When Ranma didn't say anything, Hanae tilted her head to look at him (something she'd gotten from her father) and resumed talking, "She doesn't eat that much though. Yuka says 'dachi is starving herself."

 There was a pregnant pause in the air and Ranma got the feeling Hanae was waiting for him to tell her what happened, as he usually did, but he didn't. Things between Kodachi and him were still too complicated, even for his brilliant daughter. She was after all -- genius or no -- still six years old.

 "Everyone in the kitchen thinks, she's starving herself." Hanae said after a while. Ranma filed that information at the back of his mind then steered the conversation to another topic, he'd had enough Kodachi for one day.

 Talking about the past, especially concerning his wife, didn't awaken good memories for him and Hanae understood his want to keep it at that. He didn't even know what he would do if Kodachi would continue with the charade of hers. At least he had told her what she thought about it, and then it would end soon.



 The next morning, Akane woke up early, before the servants did, before the sun rose, and probably before Hanae and her husband. Pulling over a green robe over her thin cotton shift she walked barefoot towards the kitchen. She smiled at the feel of the tatami.

 The apartment Ryoga and she had owned was carpeted and the Tendo household which had been appointed with tatami... was so long ago. She smiled a little complement on the floor and rushed to make out tea.

 She blinked outside and smiled because the sun hadn't risen yet. That was good, she wanted to catch the sunrise, and today it would be spectacular.

 In a world full of technology, you tend not to realize what beauty nature held. Her father had taught her that -- when he managed to take them out on training trips when they were smaller. Later, it was Ryoga who brought her around to loving outdoors, mostly because he usually got them lost on one of his trips.

 Putting the green leaves into the water, Akane smiled as she walked towards the porch and watch the day begin -- she just hoped her culinary skills were adequate enough for some tea.

 That was how Ranma-chan and Hanae saw her, looking at the sky's first light. Hanae couldn't resist teasing her father, "She looks like a different person. She's beautiful, don't you think, daddy?"

 "If you like the crazy lunatic types..." He muttered too soft to hear as he looked out Hanae's window, "How many times are you going to ask that?"

 "Until you answer me!" She giggled then looked at her father, tilting her head to the side. "So, shall I tell her you're my father, my foster mother or my first mother... what?"

 Ranma-chan scowled at her obvious joy from his discomfort, which made her laugh all the more, "Don't tell me you're believing what that woman says. You know better than that!"

 "Well, what should I tell her when she sees a strange woman in my father's clothes?" She pointed out rather smartly.

 "Ughhh...if she really has amnesia, I don't want to scare her. Not yet anyway." He said ruffling Hanae's unruly hair, "And if she's lying, she'd go with the flow or stop it. We'll loose nothing."

 "Oh goodie! We get to play pretend!" Hanae shouted happily clapping her hands together. "We don't get to do that much!"

 Ranma-chan nodded carrying Hanae off the shoji window, which miraculously enough, supported her, and walked towards the kitchen, they still needed that hot water. Somehow while they slept Hanae had managed to upturn a glass of water she had kept in the side of her futon over him.

 Kodachi didn't hear them enter, which was just as well, Ranma had wanted to get in, get the hot water, and get out. Unfortunately, it wasn't that easy. Kodachi used up all the hot water in her drink, which meant he had to boil another round, which ultimately meant, she'd notice them.

 Putting Hanae down, he got the kettle and filled it with water, then placed it over the charcoal brazier. At that, Kodachi turned around, and jumped at the two of them.

 "Sheesh, you scared me to death!" Kodachi said holding her hand near her heart. "Why'd you sneak up on me like that?"

 "We didn't." Ranma-chan said flatly leaning against the counter. "It's you who's been jumpy, you've done it twice already. At dinner and today."

 At that Kodachi turned to him, he had to hand it to her though, she was a pretty good actress, she managed to look at him as though she had only seen him/her only now.

 "How did you know that? I haven't seen you around here before..." She trailed then looked expectantly at Hanae.

 "Oh?" Ranma-chan raised her eyebrow in perfect imitation of Nabiki's, though she guessed that it was lost on Kodachi and that was when he knew she was pretending, any woman, even Kodachi, would blow up to see another woman in her husband's clothes. "I haven't been around lately."

 He would humor her though, if nothing else. And when she grows tired of this little game, she would get out of Rose Brier as she usually did. Besides, with Kodachi's usual ranting, she made the servants believe Ranko was his consort -- a lot of people believed he had a lot of consorts. He never corrected them.

 "Wait, you're one of the people who took care of me when I was unconscious!" Kodachi said smiling, "Thanks."

 That surprised Ranma-chan and Hanae took some moments before she finally re-introduced her father. They had never heard so much as a whisper of gratitude coming from Kodachi. It was startling.

 "Miss 'dachi meet one of my family, Ranko." Hanae said smiling, they had done this before, when her father didn't want anyone to know about the curse, and they had used that name. So far, only his family and a select few know about the truth. "Ranko, my daddy's wife, Miss 'dachi."

 "Please, call me Akane." Kodachi said extending her hand, at first, Ranma didn't want to take it, she was still calling herself by that ridiculous name, but when Hanae glared at him, he grudgingly complied.

 "Why are you guys up so early?" Kodachi asked looking back out again.

 "Oh, we're always up early." Hanae informed her then realized something, "Though, you don't like that..."

 They have always counted on the fact that Kodachi woke up late to sneak out. Though Kodachi has never seen Hanae, Hanae always saw her, after she had learned those stealth tricks her father taught her. She had always wondered about the woman her father had married, and when she sneaked off to see her, she had gotten more than she bargained for when Kodachi spotted her...of course, that part she had kept from her father.

 "I love the morning, I sit here everyday and watch the sun come up." She looked outside and hugged herself. "I love it here."

 Ranma-chan stared at her back open mouthed then looked at Hanae. Kodachi had never expressed any love for anything except her reflection. She stepped out into the porch and tiptoed to reach Kodachi's forehead with mock concern. "Are you sick again?"

 Akane whirled around to face her, "What's wrong about..." She trailed off as she saw Ranko under good light. She was short, shorter than her so she had to step back.

 Her red hair was bed-rumpled and some locks of it fell across her shoulder. Two deep blue eyes, alert even though Akane could've sworn she just came from bed. But what caught her attention more than anything else was what she wore.

 Black silk pants which were obviously too long for her and a Red Chinese shirt with the top buttons opened revealing she wore nothing underneath. They continued staring at each other Ranko's eyes turned steely on her, and if she was like her husband, that meant she had just decided to be angry at her. At the corner of her eyes she saw Hanae wince.

 'What is *she* angry about anyway?' Akane fumed, she was about to speak up when Ranko beat her to it.

 "You *hate* Rose Brier." She spat out going back to the kitchen. "It's too quiet, it bores you. You hate this drafty house, the old dojo. You hate the crash of the waters and complain that *that* is too noisy. You hate the servants, you hate *me*. And now you're telling me that you love it?"

 Ranko had stopped in front of Hanae who had flinched at that, Akane guessed she had refrained from raising her voice in front of the child. She had started out softly but the end had been a shout.

 "And since when do you get up at the crack of dawn?" What is going on here?" The last was a question said towards herself than Akane.

 "You mean Ranma hasn't told you?" Akane asked curiously, anger disappearing at Ranko's bafflement.

 "What's there to--" She stopped herself, she didn't want to play Kodachi's game after all and threw up her hands. "Kodachi, let's stop playing games. You know very well that I know what your dear Ranma knows, so what is going on here?"

 Akane walked over to the kitchen picking up her mug from the porch. "Am-ne-sia." She drew each syllable slowly and clearly that clearly said she did not believe that.

 "Amnesia." Ranko repeated frowning and looking at the confused child taking everything in. "Don't tell me you're hanging on that ridiculous story of yours."

 "He told you?" Akane squeaked out, it must mean that he at least thinks it sane enough to tell anybody, the bad part about it is that of all the people he could have told it to, he told it to Ranko.

 "Yes! No! Well sorta. But that's not the point."

 "OK. Fine, amnesia it is then." She put down the mug and tugged the robe. "I'm going up to change then walk along the beach before breakfast. Either one of you want to come?"

 Hanae shook her head, and Ranko just stared at her blankly, she took some time before she said something. "I--uh, my mother is coming for a visit. Feel free to go to the city." She took Hanae up and got the steaming kettle--already boiling because she had left it alone and turned to go.

 "Why would I want to go to the city?" Akane asked bewildered at the odd request. "And what city?

 Ranko turned around slowly, Akane was surprised she could hold Hanae with her left hand alone while holding the kettle of water away from her body, Hanae seemed to almost be half as high as she was. "Surely it won't come as a surprise that you despise my family and they completely and passionately reciprocate the feeling. In fact I can't believe that you're still here. Do run along to Nagasaki now." She said that with biting sarcasm that Akane had to wonder what she had done to her.

 "Oh..." Akane bit her lip, something both Ranko and Hanae had not seen and took in with another puzzled glance. "I think I'll stay and meet them."

 Ranko angrily raised her hand to swipe her hair, and realized that she had a steaming kettle in that hand and Hanae on the other. She looked at her frustrated, swallowed the anger she felt and said a prayer for patience and opened her closed eyes. "I don't think that's a good idea. And now that you've decided to meet my family, I am forbidding it. When I said you could go to town it wasn't a suggestion."

 "She didn't think you'd want to stay." Hanae offered. "They don't have the same pa-sie-se as daddy has with you. You put them through enough pain without having them sub-je-cted to your present state of mind."

 Akane would have looked at Hanae curiously and wonder how a child could come to *that* piece of conclusion, but since she was in the brink of her temper she pointed at Ranko, "This is my house, isn't it?" She was surprised that it had taken her this long to raise her voice. "And I *am* mistress of this household. Since you seem to be Hanae's relative and that Hanae is Ranma's daughter, I am allowing that, but I'm *not* going to be thrown out of my own house. By someone who doesn't own it at that!"

 She stopped when she saw that Hanae was hiding a smile behind her hand and Ranko was looking at the girl with a touch of irritation by that gesture. Akane folded her arms to her sides.

 "I am still your Master and you are married to--"

 "My master? Last time I checked... Ranma was doing that plenty."

 He stared at her... he had completely forgotten he was in girl form... he had here there. But then Kodachi knew as hell that he had a curse... all it takes to stir that memory of hers was cup of hot water... he started to upend the kettle over his head, but Nabiki's voice stopped him before the kettle could pour any water.

 "Stop that." Ranma-chan turned around to see Nabiki in her cursed form... which was male, and looked completely like his male form. She had grown her hair a long time ago since their foster father had forbidden her to cut it. It served as an advantage if she could pretend to be him. "Kodachi, I forbid you to meet Lady Nodoka. You are ordered to the Nerima house immediately. The kaga will be waiting for your departure after breakfast."

 Ranma-chan looked at Nabiki-kun who was presently in her China clothes, with the exception of her dampness she looked exactly like him. She winced, they must have woken her up.

 "You can not order me out of my own house!"

 "YES I CAN! I am the Master of this house and you are just my wife, your loyalties are to your liege lord, who has no say on this matter and then to me." Nabiki-kun was doing a fairly good impersonation of him that he just looked at them arguing, it was better than himself in there after all.

 "And then what? Make me commit Seppuku?"

 "Seppuku is an honor! You have no honor and therefore you are forbidden to seppuku."

 "Then what will you do? You can't do anything because this is my house. The contract of the Kuno estate safeguarded my death." Akane smiled, she still control the situation, the little bits of information she got from Ranma last night.

 Anger was showing in Ranko's eyes already, going against her own decision that she was not going to interfere with Nabiki she asked, "Why are you so interested in my relatives anyway?"

 "You brought up a good point, why should I let *your* relatives meet you here?"

 "You're making me answer my own question, Kodachi." Ranko answered evenly, as he turned to walk away from her yet again.

 "Whatever you say, I *will* stay here." Akane said forcefully bringing her hand to Ranko's shoulder. The girl ignored it but stopped. "I won't do anything bad to your family and I hope they don't do it to me. And my name is AKANE."

 She stomped past them and cursed the pig in anger. It was impossible.

 Reaching her room, she kicked the robe across the floor. "I have nothing to loose. NOTHING."



 Watching Kodachi go, Hanae sighed as Ranma-chan tested the water. It looked like it wasn't boiling anymore and he did pour it over himself. "She was pretty mad."

 "She always is." Ranma muttered leaving offering the rest of the water to Nabiki-kun, she smiled ruefully.

 "I swear if I had a koban for every time you wake me up fighting with Kodachi... I'll be richer than the Emperor." Her voice shifted octaves as she poured it over her head.

 He didn't speak until they reached the dining room and sat there looking out to the garden, the household help would be rising soon, it was against custom to be asleep when the master was awake, if the samurai didn't wake them, he was sure the fighting did.  "Why did you stop me, Nabiki?"

 His sister smiled as she stared at the koi pond that she could see from the dining room. "Because I wanted to see if she truly has lost her memory."

 Ranma nodded, that was wise, in an angry state... mind did not work... and at the way the conversation rang out in the kitchen, he was a little bit inclined to think she really had amnesia.

 "Did she?"

 Nabiki sighed, "I honestly don't know, I thought so, back when she was ordering me, but... she disobeyed the order, and you know as well as I do if she truly had amnesia she would obey that order."

 "We still don't know do we?"

 "Things are going to be interesting around here." Nabiki commented looking at the teapot that was at the small table and the cup she had brought for herself. She stared at the leaves.

 "Kodachi thinks that Ranko's your consort." Hanae piped up, not glad she had been left out of the conversation she lowered her eyes, "She thinks that Grandma Nodoka is Ranko's relatives."

 "They are." He answered truthfully motioning to Sasuke who had been standing in the shade of the garden, unnoticed until now, asking him to take Hanae to the bathing house.

 "What will she think if they walk in here and be all chummy to you?"

 "She doesn't have any business about who they are." Nabiki answered for him as she patted Hanae's head and requested for Sasuke to rouse Sei for his bath and morning practice as well.

 "She's your wife." Nabiki looked at him when Hanae was gone. She hadn't seen her brother confused like this about Kodachi in ages.

 Looking at her, he found Nabiki's words... "Why are you defending her, Nabiki?"

 Nabiki shrugged as she stood up from the cushions, "I'm not defending her, brother. I'm merely trying to sort the truth from distortion. Sickness of the mind is one thing a doctor can not prove." She smiled at the soft breeze, "Care to spar Ranma?"

 He cocked his head to the side at the unusual request. Nabiki had not asked that for a very long time... not since she married, not since she has returned, so he accepted.

 They stood at the garden the koi pond to the right the rock garden to Nabiki's back. She smiled, it was unsettling, they both knew that Nabiki could outwait Ranma, so the first move was his... he was much more impatient than his sister.

 The first blow came, Nabiki blocked it with her left hand. In the next one she wasn't so lucky, she grunted, "Why did we learn martial arts?"

 Ranma shrugged as he jumped backwards, Nabiki's roundhouse kick hit air, He let her take the offensive, "To serve Lord Happosai to the best of our abilities, through *any* ability."

 Nabiki was a respectable martial artist in her own right, but she was not as good as her brother she had not trained as he had... she had been given the lighter tasks by their foster father, Genma. She followed the punch with an aerial kick, she missed, she almost laughed her brother had a 'don't hit girls policy'... but then he had found out the hard way that he always had to strike first with a match with her... it took him a two-day staring match to learn that.

 Besides, she had other talents, her manipulative skills and her ability to be a spy for her lord just a few of them, "No aside from that."

 "To protect my vassals, as is my duty, and all under my house. To guard my fief..." Ranma danced around her blows, she wasn't at all irked at this, she had only one purpose for this match, and it wasn't to win.

 When tired of being in the defensive (since he noted that the koi was dangerously close already), Ranma went offensive, but his punches were slower than with a sparring match with Genma or one of his powerful playmates. Nabiki stopped when Ranma was in mid-punch. He was surprised, it took no little effort for him to stop it... but it did just centimeters from Nabiki's nose.

 "Am I your vassal, Ranma?" Nabiki asked solemnly, he shook his head.

 "Then why did you pull your blows when I merit no protection, and why did you stop that fist from connecting to my face? Why dishonor me by doing that? Why insult my abilities?"

 "Because in a way I decide who I hurt. You're not one of those people."

 There was silence, she had her brother now, "Kodachi, is she your vassal?"

 "In a way..."

 "She is your wife and she is under your household. No matter how foul her manner is, no matter how we both hate her and no matter how she makes our lives a living hell... you were ordered to marry her, to protect her... I was ordered the same thing... and no matter how we both detest those orders... we must live with it."

 Ranma let his hands drop to his side. For the first time Nabiki noticed the sheen of perspiration in Ranma's temple. She was sure, that wasn't from overexertion as hers. Her brother was more physically fit for him to be winded by an extremely slow sparring session. She had not been sure if he had time to stop that blow, but she had trusted him enough not to hurt her. Both of them stood there in silence waiting for the sun to rise. She heard him whisper to himself.

 "Yes... but that doesn't mean I have to make her life any easier."

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Author's rant:

Why doesn't Akane notice anything wrong with Ranko always wearing men's clothes? She came from the 20th century, she's pretty much dense (I mean look at that P-chan, Ryoga thing) and I don't want her to find out.

Sei: family name
   sex, gender
   spirit
   holy, sacred, saintly

Okay... here it means spirit (am I sounding like a dictionary already???) meaning the soul. But Nabiki chose this name for her son because... well... you need to proceed to the middle of the series to get this out of me.

What are eta? Eta (much filth) are the lowest caste in feudal Japan. Generally they do tasks, which to Japanese seem unclean. They work as tanners and leather workers, which in Buddhism is unclean, butchers, leather crasftmen and handlers of dead bodies. They could not marry outside their caste (which is hereditary) and are forced to live separately from the general populace. They were given family names that marked them as eta. In the Meji era, the caste was abolished renaming them barakumin (village dweller), but the caste still unofficially exists.

This means stepping on eta ground was a very BAD idea. Being buried in eta ground is a dishonor... :) or a punishment depending on how you see it.

Was Ranma going to kiss Kodachi/Akane? Quite frankly... no. I wasn't sure what he was going to do, and he wasn't sure what he was going to do anyway... besides... kissing is a Western idea. Kissing in front of the house even though with a lot of people is a bad idea. Kissing (if this ever happened in feudal Japan) is restricted to lemons in feudal Japan... :)

'Love is a western idea'? Yes, well in feudal Japan I found out that the word love/ai doesn't exist! (How nice!). I bended the rules a little I looked up ai and saw it also means affection. I have a suspicion they took it from the Chinese word... now though they have levels of how to say 'I love you'. Of course in the olden times, Japanese DON'T say what they feel out loud, you have to second-guess. (They still don't say what they feel out loud now...)

Where is Kanto? The Kanto district is located in S-Central Honshu. (This is where Edo, is.)

I am placing Briar Rose in the Kanto region in the Kanagawa prefecture, Kamakura City, Nerima ward. Nerima is... well... Nerima is the ward in Kamakura City... see it limits everything.

Edo is the city where Happosai holds his main donjon. (as daimyo) Edo... is more popularly known as Tokyo... (now that is) as some of you might know.

Koban and Koku: this is not the police box... a koban is roughly equivalent to 3 koku. It is a gold coin which weighs 18 grams. Koku is the measurement of rice, this is what liege lords pay to their samurai vassals. (Peasants own all the lands, but samurai own all the produce)

Is Nabiki really on Kodachi's side or Ranma's side? Ranma's. That's an uncquestionable fact, the reason why she's going to all this trouble is because she loves her brother dearly and doesn't want to see him punished by Happosai. And yes... she also detests Kodachi's guts. Why??? Well... an explanation on that on Chapter 5:)

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This is getting longer and longer... don't worry I know how this ends... I'll try to put the chapters shorter next time.

If you notice... what I'm trying to do is move two steps into Akane's future and one step back into Kodachi's past. This way you start to get why everybody hates Kodachi so much :) (Of course... you don't really need that to know that Kodachi is a lunatic :)

Tell me if I missed a few things in my explanation, I love to hear from people :) it's ysis@hotmail.com

Oh yeah... before I forget my sister is braining me for this one:
My research was from:

Shogun by James Clavell (this is such a good read)
Memoirs of Geisha by (I forgot....)
Japan Handbook by JD Bisignani

and I based this story from:
When there is Hope by Jane Goodger
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Previous Chapters supplied by the FFML archive :)
(I'm gonna stop doing this... it's so much space... after this I'm just gonna show the previous chapter :)

Thanks to those who set it up by the way

Prologue:
http://24.31.125.242/cgi-bin/RetrieveStory.exe?StoryID=149869

Chapter1:
http://24.31.125.242/cgi-bin/RetrieveStory.exe?StoryID=149870

Chapter 2
http://24.31.125.242/cgi-bin/RetrieveStory.exe?StoryID=149871

Chapter 3a
http://24.31.125.242/cgi-bin/RetrieveStory.exe?StoryID=149874
Chapter 3b
http://24.31.125.242/cgi-bin/RetrieveStory.exe?StoryID=149875

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I write when the spirit moves... and I make sure it moves everyday.
                                                     ~~~ unknown
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