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Uh... well, it's morning in some parts of the world, isn't it?  Chapters
15+16 coming up shortly.
Chapter 13

Ranma sat on the roof top, cradling Akane in his lap, stroking her hair
delicately.  She had not yet regained consciousness after their duel, and
he was a little concerned.  He hadn't done anything TOO dangerous, but
there were a couple of small bruises around her neck.  Every time Ranma
caught sight of one of those bruises, he had to blink to keep his eyes from
watering up.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, squeezing her gently.

"You're forgiven- but like I said, you owe me another favor," Akane
whispered back, her eyes closed.

"Akane?"

She smiled and opened her eyes, sitting up.  "Well, maybe getting Kunou off
my back is enough of a consolation prize for losing to you.  You don't owe
me a favor after all... but that doesn't cancel any of the other things you
owe me."

"One date for a kabuki play, one trip to visit people in the hospital, and
one walk through the park coming up," Ranma said.  "And are you sure you
want to forgive me for that favor?  I kinda, uh, bruised your neck when I
knocked you out."

Akane's eyes widened.  "Is it obvious?"

"Um... if you wear a high collar, it might hide it."

Akane nodded slyly.  "Oh... well, then, we're even for the hickey I gave
you that I didn't tell you about."

Ranma looked confused.  "The what?  What's a hickey?"

Akane's face quirked up in disbelief.  "Ranma... you can't tell me you
don't know what a hickey is..."

"Er... I can't?  Um... why not?"

"Because... because... you should know already!  I mean..."  Akane looked
around.  They were still on the rooftop.  It was the top of a REALLY tall
building.  She blinked.  "Why are we sitting on top of a building?  And...
where are we?  We seem to be a little high up."

Ranma smirked a little.  "Well, I carried you on to the hospital while you
were still, er, resting.  I figured if you wanted to have time today to
both visit Marie and go to the park, we needed to get here pretty quick." 
Standing up and offering Akane a hand, he continued, "So, what, exactly, is
a hickey again?"

Akane shook her head.  "I still don't believe you don't know what a hickey
is- are you sure you aren't just trying to embarrass me?"

Ranma blinked.  "Er... no, I'm not."

"Fine," Akane said, blushing.  Ranma noticed Akane's eyes lose a little
focus.  "Yes, yes, good idea," she muttered and started searching through
her purse for a mirror.

'Ah,' Ranma thought.  'She's chatting with Iria about something.  And she's
blushing.  And she said it was embarrassing....'  Slowly, as the
implications started to hit, he blushed as well.

Pulling out a small compact, Akane looked at him, a sly glare in her eyes. 
"Okay, Ranma- you want to know what a hickey is?  Let me demonstrate..."

With that, she grabbed Ranma and started suckling his neck.  Ranma was too
shocked to respond at first, and then found that she had pinned his arms in
such a way he couldn't reciprocate.  All he could do was concentrate on
that one particular spot Akane was working, and enjoy it.

When she finally stopped and leaned back a little, she inspected his neck a
little.  Smiling, she opened the compact and handed it to him.  "Look at
the spot I was kissing you.  The mark you'll see is the hickey."

Ranma's blush grew, but he looked anyway.  "Oh, those... I think I gave you
a few of those as well, but no-one should see them... um,  unless you, um,
take off your clothes."  He paused.  "I hope no-one notices any of the ones
that are in plain sight- that could cause a lot of problems."

Akane smiled.  "Well, Kunou didn't notice anything wrong- you shouldn't
have anything to worry about."

"Er, you think there's nothing to worry about because KUNOU didn't notice
anything?"

"Good point," Akane agreed sagely.  "But most people miss that sort of
thing unless it's REALLY obvious or unless they're looking for it. 
Besides, it goes away in a few days, anyway."  Retrieving her compact, she
smiled up at him.  "So, ready to visit Marie and Hideki?"  She held out her
arm.

Ranma took it, and they (figuring that climbing in through a window might
be frowned upon, since the windows didn't open) walked down to the lobby
and went up the elevator to the room their friend was in.

"Hi, Marie," Akane said.  Marie looked somewhat tired and unkempt, but she
stood up happily and greeted them anyway.

"Hi, Akane!  Ranma.  Haven't seen you for a few days, so you missed the big
news- Hideki woke up for a while."

"Oh, he did?!" Akane exclaimed.  "That's great!  Tell me everything..."

Ranma sat down and quickly lost interest in the conversation.  Soon, with
little else to do, he decided he'd just relax and admire Akane,
daydreaming.  He remained totally oblivious to everything else until he
heard his name.

"...and Ranma been the past couple of days?  I thought you were planning to
come and visit every day!" Marie was saying.

"Oh, well," Akane blushed, looking over at Ranma.  "Well, a few things
happened and we kinda were too busy with them to think about anything else
for a while."

Marie looked from Ranma to Akane and back and smiled impishly.  "Let me
guess- you two started making out and lost track of time for several days?"

Both Ranma and Akane blushed deeply.  "Wh... why do you say that?" Ranma
asked.

Marie smiled.  "Well, for one thing, Ranma, you've been mooning over Akane
since you got here.  For another... well, those hickeys are pretty, um,
obvious.  And I seriously doubt you would be here with Akane if she WASN'T
the person who gave you those hickeys, so I kinda realized why you two had
been missing for the past few days from the moment you walked in."

Ranma gagged.  "Argh...."  He turned to Akane, raising an eyebrow.  "This
is all your fault," he accused mockingly.

*	*	*	*	*

"Um, Ukyou?" Ryouga asked as she stormed into the Ucchan.  "What's, uh,
what's wrong?"

Ukyou growled at him, grabbing his umbrella and backpack and tossing them
at him.  "Come on, Ryouga.  Cologne wants us to help track down the Oni."

Ryouga blinked.  "I thought that Ranma and Akane were handling things..."

"They were.  But they can't be trusted any more- so come on," she said,
grabbing him by the elbow and dragging him along.

"But I'm waiting for Akari to arrive!  She told me to stay right where I
am!" he protested, digging in his heels.  "And what do you mean that Ranma
and Akane can't be trusted?"

"You don't want to know."

Ryouga hesitated.  "What do you mean I don't want to know?"

Ukyou sighed.  "I don't have time for this.  Are you coming, or not?"

"No- at least not until after Akari gets here.  Maybe after she
arrives...."

Ukyou fumed.  "Fine- if you won't help, you won't help.  Bye."  With that,
she stormed right back out of the restaurant.

Ryouga blinked.  "What the hell just happened?"

*	*	*	*	*

Akane and Ranma slowly finished their stroll through the park.

"Okay, Ranma... you're forgiven now."

Ranma relaxed a little.  "So we can just go home and finish off our wedding
night there?"

Akane nodded.  "We will have to explain our decision about not letting
everyone know of our marriage to your mother, first, but I certainly don't
have any problems with ending our day on a, er, pleasant note."

Ranma raised an eyebrow.  "Then the sooner we get home, the better, right?"

"Well, I guess, yeah."

"Okay."  Ranma picked Akane up into his arms, holding her to his chest. 
Instinctively, Akane put her arms around him.  With a leap, the two of them
started hopping from roof to roof, heading straight towards the Tendou
Dojo.

Ukyou, grumbling angrily about Ryouga, failed to notice the couple leaping
over her head until after it was too late to follow them, but the sight of
Ranma cradling Akane merely added to her rage.  With haste, she sped back
to Cologne.  The sooner this was all over and she could 'talk' with the two
of them, the better.  In the meantime, it was better to channel her anger
into something more productive.  Like destroying the thing that caused all
the mess in the first place.

That Oni was going to suffer.

*	*	*	*	*

Nodoka tensed a bit as she heard the door opening.  She hoped it wasn't
Cologne and her charges coming back- she didn't want to have to explain
without having the Oni there to help protect her if they decided to attack
suddenly.

"Hi, mom!" Ranma called, rounding the corner into the living room.  "We're
home!"

Her attitude changed.  'Ah, good- now I can ask them about their
marriage... and tell them about Cologne's visit.'

"Ah, good... Ranma, Akane- how was your day?"

Ranma and Akane smiled at each other.  "It went... rather well," Akane
said.

"Yeah... and we've got something to tell you," Ranma added.

"Oh?" Nodoka said, amused.  "Let me guess- the two of you got married."

"Huh?!" both of them said, puzzled.  "How in the world did you figure that
out?" Ranma blurted out.

Nodoka smirked, deciding to tease them a little when she noticed a certain
mark on her son.  "Well, you've got the signs written all over your face-
or should that be neck?"

Ranma glared at Akane.  "I TOLD you this would cause problems!" he accused,
pointing at the hickey.

Akane flushed.  "Well, I didn't know this would happen..."  Muttering under
her breath, she added, "I still don't believe that it's too obvious."  Then
another thought occurred to her.  "Besides, your mother already KNOWS we've
been intimate for a while- seeing a hickey shouldn't make her think that
we're married!"

Ranma frowned.  "You're right..."

Nodoka let a giggle escape her.  "I'm sorry, you two- it wasn't because of
the hickey Akane gave you, Ranma.  I was just teasing you.  No, it really
was because one of my friends told me..."

Akane blinked.  "Oh?  Who?  We haven't let anyone else know yet..."

"Well," Nodoka hesitated.  She didn't want to let them know about the Oni
just yet, but she didn't want to lie either- it wasn't honorable to lie,
after all.  "While my husband was... away... I had to make some decisions
that required I cultivate a relationship with various legal officials- some
of whom were in charge of filing marriage certificates."

Ranma and Akane looked at each other uncertainly.  "Well," Ranma began, "We
were planning to tell you anyway.  But, um, does anyone else know yet?"

Nodoka smiled.  "Not that I know of- I certainly haven't told anyone."  Her
smile fell slightly.  "But those two nice young girls who wrecked my house
stopped by with one of their great-grandmothers, and I'm afraid that I let
them know of your recent, er, intimacy."

"Ack!" Ranma cried.  "Why'd you do that?"

"Um... I wasn't entirely myself when I did, and they caught me off-guard."

"Well, that'll make everything more difficult," Ranma complained.  "But at
least no-one knows we're actually married yet."

Akane hesitated.  "Well... maybe it'll be a good idea to let everyone work
out their anger now.  Before the ceremony."

"Oh, yeah, that reminds me," Ranma began.  "Akane and I would like to keep
our marriage a secret for now....  We want there to be a ceremony that you
and Pops and Akane's family could all see and enjoy, but we're afraid that
if Pops and Mr. Tendou find out we're planning this ceremony they'll ruin
it."

Nodoka seemed confused.  "How will keeping your marriage a secret prevent
people from interfering with this ceremony?"

"Simple," Ranma said.  "If we keep telling everyone we aren't getting
married, then they'll continue to try and convince us.  Everyone will be
too busy trying to get us married to worry about planning the wedding.  We
wouldn't have time to plan our own wedding ourselves, but we were hoping
you could do that secretly while we deal with everyone else."

"But if they know we're ALREADY married," Akane added, "then we won't be
able to use that, er, diversion."

Nodoka nodded happily.  "Of course I'll help you plan your wedding!  But I
can already see one flaw.  You and my son are already sleeping together- I
can't see how you can convince any of the people who already know this that
you don't want to be married."

Ranma looked over at Akane.  "Well, we were talking about that.  We came up
with something to say that just might work...."

*	*	*	*	* 

Cologne continued to pace.  Ukyou had not arrived back yet.  That, however,
was not what was worrying her.  What WAS worrying her was that she had lost
all sense of the Oni being anywhere in the area- stretching her senses to
the limit should have found it anywhere in Tokyo, but she didn't catch a
whiff of it... and if it wasn't in Tokyo, then it was out of her reach. 
That was unacceptable- there had to be some way of bringing it back, so
that she could destroy it once and for all.

Chapter 14

Nodoka awoke to yet another of Akane's pleasure-filled screams.  Ranma was
indeed a very manly man, but perhaps she should discuss with the loving
couple techniques which would allow them to be a little quieter when he
demonstrated this manliness.  Preferably before everyone else came home the
next day.

Sighing, she got out of bed.  This was the fourth time that night that they
had woken her with their passion.  Trying to go back to sleep seemed to be
pointless, so she might as well get up and do something.  She checked the
clock by her bed- four thirty in the morning.  It was only a couple of
hours before she'd need to start breakfast, anyway.  Assuming, of course,
Ranma and Akane were actually planning to get up for school.  Considering
what they were doing, they might just decide to skip classes for another
day to recover, which would mean they'd be getting up later than usual. 
Well, SHE was going to have breakfast at the time that she was used to
having it, regardless of their decision... and if they weren't awake to
join her, that was their loss.  They'd woken her up several hours earlier
than she was planning to get up- she was entitled to be a little cranky.

Grabbing a bath robe, Nodoka made her way down to the changing room.  One
advantage to getting up this early was that she'd have a chance to use the
furo before her son and daughter-in-law did- which was probably an
especially good thing today.  She made a mental note to clean the furo
after Ranma and Akane used it- they were probably going to make it a bit
messy.

Making absolutely certain to first put the occupied sign out in a place
where the loving couple wouldn't miss it even if they were blind (with
lust), she showered herself clean and slipped into the tub.  Relaxing into
the sensual heat of the tub, she sighed, and reflected on the past week.

A week ago, she'd feared that her husband, son, and their friends were all
dead, or at least lost at sea.  On that joyous day when they all returned,
Nodoka had been very happy.  Her son was back, she and her husband seemed
well on their way to reconciliation, and Ranma and Akane seemed to have
gotten a little closer.  All seemed right with the world.

But her son and his fiancee went out that night, and didn't come back until
she was asleep.  And the next morning, they left for the whole day, as
well.  All Genma did during that time was sleep, eat, drink, and play shogi
with Soun.  Kasumi did the things that Nodoka herself was used to doing-
cooking, cleaning, and that sort of thing.  Nabiki... well, Nabiki was as
unapproachable as ever.

It felt like people were ignoring her.  People she cared about.  After that
initial hug upon coming home, Genma had done nothing to try and reconcile. 
Ranma, after being so relieved to finally be able to face her as a man so
many months ago, seemed to pay attention to no-one but Akane unless he
didn't have a choice.  Kasumi took away from her the chores she had to do
of cooking and cleaning- something Nodoka never thought she would miss,
before.  And any other friends she had... well, after her house was
wrecked, they tended to avoid her, as if they were scared of being caught
up into the same destructive forces that hit her.

She was lonely.

She had thought that, being left alone to take care of her son and his
fiance, she'd be able to relate to them a bit more- at least as much as
they did to Kasumi.  However, they were too concerned with their own
problems to notice that it was her, and not Kasumi, who was doing the
cooking and cleaning.  She couldn't be certain, but she could have sworn
that she heard Akane say "Thank you, Kasumi," when she gave her their bento
box lunches for lunch a few days before.

But things had started looking up again.  First, the Oni had possessed her.
 That was... well, scary, at first.  After all, being possessed by a
demonic being was NOT her idea of a good way to spend your time.  But once
she got to talking to the Oni, she started to realize it wasn't really so
bad, after all.

To start with, the Oni wasn't really so bad, after all.  Oh, sure, it was a
member of a race of beings that were evil incarnate, was obsessed with
world domination, and didn't really care who it hurt... but it wasn't that
bad.

Now that she had some time to think about it, she knew that the Oni told
her about Genma's evils to try and get her mad at her husband, but that
didn't mean that what the Oni told her wasn't helpful.  Without its
influence, she no longer wanted him dead... in fact, she realized, deep
down, she still loved her husband.  Why, even she didn't know, but she did.
 He did need to be punished for what he had done to her son, though.  There
was no excuse for abandoning Ranma to the Yakuza, or performing on their
son the horrific tortures of the neko-ken training, or any number of other
things.  Killing him, however, wasn't the right thing to do.  Neither was
divorcing him.  No, she'd be in a much better position to punish him as his
wife.  And once she had judged him sufficiently punished... well, then
maybe they could go back to trying to reconcile.

Regardless of all that, the Oni paid attention to her- something no-one had
done in a long time.  And the evil in it, she could tell, was less than the
evil of several people she knew.  Her husband for one (she knew he wasn't
exactly a nice guy when she married him), and her husband's master,
Happosai.  She was able to get along with them- why shouldn't she be able
to get along with the Oni, just because it was supposed to be 'evil?'

Then the Oni had returned to Akane for its curse to be lifted.  Once the
Oni left Akane, it approached her AGAIN, and joined with her so she could
continue to talk with it.  In fact, it almost seemed like the Oni was
lonely, itself.  It kept saying how 'unusual' the experience it had in
Akane was.  She could have sworn that the Oni was trying to say it liked
the couple who had just helped lift its curse, but wasn't entirely sure how
to do so.  Nodoka gave it a host with which it could remain close to them
on the pretext of 'getting revenge' on Genma.

But then her son and Akane eloped, and took that pretext away from the Oni.
 With no reason to stay with Nodoka that the Oni could accept, her
companion had decided to leave.  And so Nodoka feared that she'd be lonely
again.

But when her children came home, and they didn't just ignore her.  They
NEEDED her for something!  They wanted her to plan their wedding ceremony
for them, which undoubtedly would require that they talk with her more
often.  And- this was the big one- they wanted her to help them keep their
marriage a secret until the wedding.

The remarkable thing was that despite the fact that she knew she wouldn't
be lonely any more, she wanted the Oni back.  She didn't want it to feel
the same loneliness that she had to endure for so long, and if the Oni
returned to her then maybe it could help out, and lose that loneliness. 
How could she feel something like that for a demon, though?  Even if it
wasn't as evil a being as it was advertised to be...

Nodoka's thoughts were disturbed when, despite the sign on the door, she
heard someone entering the bathing area.  Peeking over the edge of the tub,
she saw a very shy Akane walking in.

"I hope you don't mind if I join you," Akane said quietly as she grabbed a
sponge and walked over to the shower.  "There were some things I wanted to
talk to you about.  About certain aspects of married life."

Nodoka almost couldn't speak she was so full of emotion.  It seemed odd,
but again- someone was trying to talk with her.  They were bringing her
their problems, and asking her to act like... like... a parent?  A friend? 
A member of the family?  Whatever it was, they weren't ignoring her any
more.  "Of course you may, Akane," she said, keeping her voice as quiet as
Akane's.  After all, it WAS rather early in the morning.  "Where's Ranma?"

"Asleep," Akane said, smiling wistfully.  "With the help of certain...
techniques... Iria suggested, I was able to wear him out before he wore me
out."

'Hmm, maybe I WON'T need to clean the furo today,' Ranma's mother thought.

Neither of them spoke as Akane cleaned and rinsed herself off.  When she
finished, she slipped into the furo on the other side from Nodoka.

"Funny," Akane said, closing her eyes and relaxing in the warm water. 
"This is the first time in almost a week I've taken a bath without Ranma."

Nodoka smiled, watching her daughter-in-law.  "You really DO love my son,
don't you?"

Akane nodded.  "Of course.  I wouldn't have married him if I didn't.  Nor
would I have even thought of sleeping with him."

Nodoka sighed in relief.  "I was worried about that."

Akane opened her eyes.  "You were?  Why?"

"Well, I found out about a few things that my husband did to my son- like
the neko-ken training that Ranma was put through.  So when I asked you if
you knew about the neko-ken, and you seemed so unconcerned about it, I
feared that you didn't care about his well-being."  Nodoka paused.  "Not to
mention how you used to get mad at him so often."

Akane smiled nervously.  "I don't get mad at him like that any more.  I
used to jump to conclusions about him, and I still do sometimes- but it
helps knowing how he really feels about me."  She sighed.  "His curse
didn't make things any easier, either- before he arrived, I'd never found a
guy I wanted to go out with.  Every boy at school wanted to date me so
badly they were trying to force themselves on me- by beating me in combat-
and I certainly didn't want that.  However, my... reluctance... gained me
the reputation of being someone interested in girls.  Ranma turned into a
girl- if I actually LIKED him, it might make some people think I was trying
to find a girl to marry instead of a guy."

Nodoka nodded.  "My son's curse has caused a lot of problems, hasn't it?"

Akane laughed.  "To put it mildly, yes.  My concerns about being thought of
as a... a lesbian, his father forcing him from you, some of our troubles
with Shampoo, and a lot of other things.  His curse has been quite a
problem-causer."

Seeing that Nodoka wasn't going to pursue that line of questioning, Akane
closed her eyes again and settled down deeper into the tub.  For her, this
was the first break she'd had from Ranma since the Oni first possessed her.
 Not that she really needed one- she still wanted to be with him, even
then- but it was nice to talk with someone other than Iria or Ranma every
once in a while.

But Nodoka wasn't done, she had just been trying to think of a delicate way
to phrase her next question.  "By the way, why WERE you so unconcerned
about the neko-ken training?"

Akane thought about it for a moment and opened her eyes again.  "I'm not
sure, really.  If it had been something which happened to any other person,
I think I would have been horrified.  I guess part of it was that... so
many things have happened to Ranma in his past that just one more thing-
like the Neko-ken, like being stuck as a girl by Cologne at one point,
like... like the possibility of him being forced to commit seppuku by his
mom, like anything which affected Ranma- didn't seem to be so surprising
any more.  Looking back on it, I'm still not able to feel much anger
towards Genma about the Neko-ken training... I don't know what it was like
for him; for all I know, he doesn't even remember it.  I think I'm more
annoyed that the Nekoken made it impossible for him to remember our first
kiss."  She shrugged.  "Ranma doesn't open up much about his past, so I
don't think much about it.  Maybe I should, but who would I ask to find out
about it?  He doesn't seem to remember most of it, his father doesn't say
anything unless he has to, and no-one else has been there for most of it. 
It's the things that hurt Ranma NOW that worry me- I can't do much about
the past."

Nodoka relaxed, feeling a burden go off her shoulders.  Akane hadn't been
ignoring Ranma's pain- she was just more concerned with the present than
the past.  Considering that Ranma seemed to be happy at the moment, perhaps
that was all that was needed.

"I understand," Nodoka said.

Akane nodded.  "Good," she said, closing her eyes once again.  "Now, about
the reason I'm here..."

"You said you wanted to talk about 'certain aspects of married life,' as I
recall."  Nodoka paused.  "Are you sure I'm the best person to turn to?  I
mean, my husband and I aren't, exactly, on the best of terms."

"That's perfect," Akane noted, smiling slightly.  "Ranma and I get into so
many fights we'll NEVER be on the 'best of terms.'  We probably won't get
into QUITE so many fights any more, but we'll not be the most peaceful
couple ever, either.  I've accepted this, and so has Ranma.  Who better to
talk to about marriage, then, than a married couple more experienced in
being married without always getting along?"

Nodoka wasn't quite sure how to respond to that.  "Well... perhaps.  So
what do you want to talk about?"

Akane sighed.  "Cooking.  Ranma hates my cooking, and won't even try it
without a lot of complaint."

"You have to admit, Akane," Nodoka said, "That you are far from the best
cook Ranma knows.  I've been working with you, and it's taken me several
months just to get you to make a nice curried rice on a consistent basis. 
Most people can learn to do that in only a few days.  That, and Ranma's
been spoiled between my, Kasumi's, and your former rivals' cooking."

Akane growled slightly, but the relaxing warmth of the bath water kept her
temper from rising.  "Isn't a wife supposed to cook for her husband,
though?  I mean, Kasumi keeps calling it 'bridal training.'  I thought you
were supposed to cook to be a good bride."

Nodoka laughed.  "Kasumi is a little old-fashioned, dear.  My cousin's wife
has never cooked a day in her life- he has to do all the cooking in the
family.  My own mother shared the cooking duties with my father.  Do what
you're good at, not what you think you're supposed to be good at, or else
you'll end up annoying your husband and making yourself unhappy."

Akane hesitated.  "What AM I good at, though?  My one real skill before
Ranma showed up was martial arts, but I'm nothing compared to him in that
regard... and he doesn't seem to respect my skills very much, either."

"Ranma doesn't want you getting hurt, dear, and martial arts is quite risky
in that regard.  But perhaps you could apply the skills you know from
martial arts to helping your husband out.  Certainly you know how to treat
minor injuries such as splinters, cuts, scrapes, bruises, and the like from
the times you've accidentally injured yourself.  You can probably help
nurse him when he gets injured... he'll probably appreciate that."

"But that's just one thing... and I still want to BE a martial artist like
him, but it just seems so hopeless...."

Nodoka sighed.  "Have you ever told Ranma any of this?  Asked him what he
wants you to be as his wife, or told him what you want from him as a
husband?  You have skills, Akane, that I am sure he will appreciate.  I am
just as certain that he has skills which will compliment yours greatly. 
You might even be able to convince him to help you get better in those
things which you feel you are lacking in skill- such as your martial arts. 
If he agrees to help you, you may become the great martial artist you wish
to be as opposed to the slightly-less-great martial artist you are now.  If
he doesn't... well, then send him to me.  He'll listen to his mother... or
else."

Akane chuckled.  "I suspect just the threat will cause him to surrender,"
she said.

Together, the two women rested in the furo.  All that they had needed to
talk about had been discussed, and so they could just enjoy the peace and
quiet for a time.

Several minutes later, there was a tentative knock on the door.  "Akane,
are you in there?" Ranma's voice asked from the other side.

"Yes I am, but don't come in.  Your mother's here with me."

"Okay," Ranma answered.  "I'll just head back to bed.  Wake me when you get
out of there."

"I will," Akane replied.

"No, wait!" Nodoka called.  "I need to get out and fix your breakfast soon,
anyway.  Just wait a moment, and you can join Akane if you like."  Akane
smiled up at Nodoka gratefully.

"Sure thing," Ranma called back.  "I'll be waiting outside the changing
room."

Nodoka got up, toweled off, and dressed.  Nodding to Ranma as she passed by
him, she went to the kitchen and started fixing the miso soup and rice for
breakfast.

A few minutes later, Akane's loud, pleasure-filled shrieks rang through the
house.

"Looks like I'll have to clean the furo, after all," Nodoka sighed.

*	*	*	*	*

The Oni sighed as it approached the Gates of Hell.  It still had to give
Happosai its just vengeance, but right now it needed a short vacation.  All
these confusing feelings it was having, together with the stress of having
to arrange for its curse to be lifted, was a huge strain.  What it needed
right now was a nice, comforting bath in the lava pits to restore its
strength.  Then it could go hunting for Happosai.

As it walked through the gates, a voice called to it from the guard post.

"Eubuleus?  Is that you?"

The Oni, called by its true name, turned in surprise.  "Charon, is that
you?"

"Who else would be here on a day like this?" the other demon, a much more
powerful one, asked.  "I heard you were trapped in a box."

Eubuleus grinned ruefully.  "I was.  What was worse, after being released
from the box, I was cursed by an even more powerful evil."

Charon chuckled.  "Is that so?  Who was it- Hades, Lucifer, Loki?"

Eubuleus shook its head.  "No.  Happosai."

Charon scratched his chin in puzzlement.  "Happosai?  Never heard of a
demon named Happosai.  Is he one of the Japanese Shinto pantheon?  I've
never been too good at remembering them..."

"Er, no," Eubuleus said.

"Who is he, then?"

"He's a... a... he's a human."

Charon was silent for a moment, before he burst out laughing.  "A HUMAN put
a curse on you?  Bwahahahahaha!  That's one of the funniest things I've
heard of in years!"

Eubuleus growled, and shot a powerful energy bolt at Charon.  "Shut UP!"

Charon deflected the bolt casually.  "Man, you're pathetic.  I didn't even
feel that.  So, you still have this curse?"

Eubuleus shook his head.  "No... I managed to arrange a deal that allowed
me to lift the curse, thanks to a fallen succubus."

Charon froze.  "Did you say a... fallen succubus?"

Eubuleus nodded.  "Yeah, why?"

"What... what was the succubus' name?"

"Um... Iria, I think."

Charon darkened.  "Iria?  Does she know who you are?"

Eubuleus blinked.  "Um, no- she just knows me as the 'Oni.'  Why?"

Charon nodded.  "Do not make contact with her again.  That is an order from
the Lord of Terror herself."

Eubuleus frowned.  "I wasn't planning to.  Why is this order made?"

"You are not permitted to know.  Just obey."

Eubuleus narrowed his eyes.  "And what punishment is there if I DO make
contact?"

"Your complete and total destruction."

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