Brian Randall wrote:

        Ranma: Showoff.

        Akane: Bite me.

(Yes, I know this has been kinda done before; I hope this is a
different enough take.  ^_^;)

---

Akane slid the tray through the wall, letting go before it made it all
the way.  Sure enough, it shook as its contents were ravaged, with
force that would have pinched Akane's fingers had they still gripped
it.  Through the one-way glass, Akane watched her fiancee with an
intricate mess of emotions; her only coherent thought was a lack of
surprise that his table manners had not improved.

"Akane...I'm sorry it had to be this way."  Nabiki tried to hug her
sister, but was immediately shrugged off.

Akane steeled herself to try to say goodbye, but her vocal cords
refused to obey.

"He probably doesn't even know where the food came from, if he even
cares.  He looks so full of life, doesn't he?"

Akane nodded.  "Dammit, it's not FAIR!"

"I know."  Nabiki extended her arm again, and this time her sister
accepted, burying her head in Nabiki's shoulder and bawling like a
newborn.  "Diseases are rarely fair."  Which, Nabiki noted, was an
understatement.

Ryoga, Shampoo, and Mousse had already passed on, and many others were
barely clinging to life.  The disease was benign and undetectable for
weeks, spreading to all whose bodies would accept it.  Then a few days
of rabid activity, during which the body burnt itself out.  Those few
who survived this stage - usually by eating enough to replace the used
energy - then lapsed into a coma; if they woke up at all, it was only
to repeat the cycle.  No one had yet survived their second frenzy.

Martial artists, with bodies toned to burn energy, had it worse than
most, which meant Nerima was far and away the hardest hit district in
Tokyo...and not just in fatalities.  Nabiki still remembered walking
the rim of the crater Ryoga had made in his final suicide blast, still
numb from seeing Akari - desperately trying to calm down her new
husband so they could go on their honeymoon - vaporized in a second.
Genma's attack started in the middle of a shoji game; Soun and Kasumi
probably thought he was merely mad about the cheating, and Kasumi's
attempt to make light of it, when he...

Nabiki shuddered.  "Bloody" was Ryoga's nose when he caught Akane
undressed, both before and after her reaction.  This was...well, even
Kasumi would have thrown a fit to see the mess, if she had not been
part of it.

At least there was now a diagnostic.  Those who were infected were
still doomed, but quarantine could save the rest.  And thus it was now,
with Ranma inside a modified dojo, and Nabiki and Akane in the
observation room with free access to the outside.  Ranma would need at
least a week to blast out of his cage, by which time the doctors said
all current virus victims would be dead.

As if on cue, Nabiki felt Akane's skin grow clammy, her gaze locked on
Ranma.  Nabiki had long since admitted to herself that Ranma would not
have been that bad a catch after all.  Sure, he had been a good source
of money, but looking at him now she could not repress the same desires
she knew Akane felt, especially with the light reflecting just so off
his newly still form.

"Sis..."

"Shh."  Nabiki looked at her sister, watching the goosebumps slowly
rise from her flesh.  "It's time."  If they were going to die from
overexertion, at least the exertion would be pleasuring someone they
cared deeply for.  She gave a mental thanks to the Kuno siblings'
spirits: they had apparently had the same idea, but she did not think
of it until she discovered their bodies.

---

Ranma returned to his meditation.  The girls probably thought he was
unaware, but he knew all too well what they planned.  One week, then
the time locks would activate.  The food was actually edible - though
he knew he needed to act fast to ascertain that if he was to have a
useable week's supply; his suppliers probably had hours, if that, left.
The real problem would be concentrating his ki to form a shield, such
that the air - undoubtedly thick with noxious products from all the
dead bodies - would not poison him before he left the district.
Compared to that, explaining how he was the only survivor of Nerima
would be a piece of cake.
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