Ahh, lovely attachments. Alas, 'tis the only way to send bigger files
through AOL...


-- Attached file included as plaintext by Listar --
-- File: r1.txt

And now for something completely different...

Many may remember this from a few years back, but a great many
others may not. Therefore, in preparation for the creation and
posting of new material on this story, it shall be once again
subjected to the public for approval or disapproval.

The whole story was once available on the Web, but the site appears
to have disappeared... But, we'll make a new one once the new chapter
is done.

Enjoy!

&&&[Begin Part One.]

	There was a quick flash of lightning and rain began to pour.

	"Great, just great," the blonde girl muttered, tossing back one
of her two long pigtails.

	She looked into the reflective surface of a darkened shop's
window, attempting to readjust her ornate, white gown to compensate
for the dampness. She looked at the golden crescent moon on her
forehead, then glanced to the two buns on either side of her hair.
Her appearance was surprisingly elegant, especially considering
that she was soaked at the moment.

	"THIS again," she muttered in annoyance, picking at the wet
material of her dress.

	Next to her, a much younger girl half-giggled. She was wearing
a loose, white gi and had a white bandanna tied around her head, just
beneath her 'rabbit-ear' style pink hair. "I don't know what you're
complaining about, odango-atama. It's just a little rain."

	She looked up to the cat-faced balloon that was following her
around and grabbed it. She dribbled it on the ground like a
basketball, then threw it into the air. "Luna-P Henge!"

	The balloon vanished in a puff of pink smoke, and was replaced
by a small umbrella, which the young girl caught. She opened it above
her head and continued walking.

	The young woman glowered for a moment, then trudged along in
the rain behind the small girl. "Please, just... stop calling me
'odango-atama.'" She glanced around. "Where was it you wanted to go,
anyway?"

	"I told you," the younger individual replied, "We're going
to visit an old friend of mine. Don't worry. It's only a little
further."

	The blonde sighed and shrugged. "Okay."

	The pink-haired girl paused. "First, though, I think you
should know something."

	The young woman wearing the flowing white gown frowned,
suddenly feeling a great sense of foreboding. "Like... what?"

^_^

	Tendo Soun read the postcard in his hands in joy. "They're
coming." He held the card to his chest and began to weep. "Oh, how
I have longed for this day..." He placed the postcard on the kitchen
table. "I must inform my daughters."

	Barely managing to contain his joy, Soun left in search of
his three beloved girls. He paused. "Where would they be now?" he
asked himself, then snapped his fingers in realization. "I know!"

	His middle daughter was probably out working on something...

^_^

	On the floor inside the garage adjoining the Tendo household,
a tall, somewhat androgynous short-haired blonde individual chuckled
as she finished tightening the last bolt on the back wheel of a
_very_ hyped-up motorcycle.

	"Nitro-powered motorcycles?" she asked herself, wiping the
sweat off her brow as she stood. She took an exhausted breath
and smiled. "Sure, why not? Could probably top one-fifty on this
baby now..."

	"Haruka!" a man's voice called.

	"Dad?" Tendo Haruka asked, looking toward the door to the rest
of the house as her father walked in. "What is it?"

	Soun had a very excited look on his face. "There's something I
need to tell you and the other girls. Could I see you in the dining
room in a couple of minutes?"

	Haruka shrugged, grabbing a rag off a tool shelf to wipe her
hands. "Sure, Dad. What's this about?"

	"I'll tell you when everyone's together," Soun said as he
hurriedly left the garage.

	The tall blonde blinked, frowning. "Hmm..."

^_^

	In the Tendo dojo, a raven-haired girl dressed in a white
practice gi took a deep breath as she relaxed, preparing to begin
her morning kata...

	"KIYAAA!!!" she shouted as she threw a one-foot-long knife
towards a circular target painted on a cement block on the opposite
side of the room.

	*Thunk!* The knife hit dead center, cleaving the block into
two perfectly equal halves.

	The girl calmly picked up two smaller daggers that were on
an unobtrusive wooden rack next to her, and flung them toward a
practice dummy, also on the other side of the room.

	*Shing*Shing* The daggers severed both cloth "hands" of the
dummy, pinning them to the wall behind it.

	She took three more daggers of exactly the same type and,
with calculated precision, threw them in rapid succession.

	*ThudThudThud* Each weapon was imbedded in the practice
dummy's forehead, mere millimeters from each other.

	The long-haired girl fluidly acquired eight more knives,
somewhat thinner than the others, and placed them between each
of her fingers.

	She held her hands up, poised to strike.

	Soun walked in and leaned against the wall, smiling at
his daughter proudly. "Ah, there you are!"

	The teenage girl instinctively whipped around toward the noise
and threw her weapons.

	*Th-Thud!*

	"Ah... Rei?" Soun asked, glancing nervously to the throwing
knives stuck in the wall behind him, which perfectly outlined his
head.

	Rei held a hand to her mouth in embarrassment. "Oh! I'm
sorry, Father. You surprised me."

	"I'll never do it again," Soun promised emphatically,
unmoving against the wall.

	Rei laughed as she walked over and pulled the knives out
of the wall, freeing her father. She casually tossed them over her
shoulder toward the practice dummy, where they made a sort of
rough "happy face" on its chest. As she tossed the final dagger,
it hit the side of the weapons rack with a little too much force,
tipping it over. The numerous bladed objects sprang towards the
dummy... and imbedded themselves in such a way around the "happy
face" to look like a perfectly texture-mapped rendition of the
Mona Lisa. "I thought you knew not to interrupt me while I'm
practicing."

	"I'm... sorry," the black-haired man said, still somewhat
dazed from his near-death experience.

	"It's alright, Father. It's alright," Rei said in a
comforting tone.

	"Oh... what a lucky man I am to have such daughters!" Soun
exclaimed, his eyes full of tears.

	"Now," Rei said, smiling at her father, "what made you forget
about my morning practice and just barge on in here?"

	Soun dried his tears. "There's something I have to tell
all of you girls... Can I see you in the dining room in a couple
of minutes?"

	"Of course," Rei replied. "Just let me clean things up around
here." She indicated the equipment rack and the daggers imbedded in
various things all over the place.

	Soun nodded. "Of course."

	Going back into his previous euphoric state, he left the dojo.

	"I wonder what he's so happy about..." Rei whispered.

^_^

	Soun climbed the steps to the upper floor, looking for his
eldest daughter. "Where could she be?" he asked himself, glancing
around in the darkened, misty hallway. "She can be so difficult to
find, sometimes..."

	"Hello, Father," a mysterious voice from behind him said.

	"Aah!" Soun shouted, jumping in shock as he whirled to face
the speaker.

	A somewhat tall, dark green-haired woman looked back at him,
an unreadable expression on her face. Her long hair was neatly
brushed back, and she was wearing formal woman's business attire.
"Hello," she repeated.

	Soun relaxed. "Oh, there you are, Setsuna." He took a moment
to catch his breath. "Could you come downstairs? There's something
important I need to tell you and the others."

	Setsuna smiled in such a way that made it look as if she was
aware of more than she was willing to tell. "I know, Father."

	Soun frowned for a moment. "You do?" He smiled and shrugged.
"Of course you do. You always do."

	Setsuna nodded. "One has to in my line of work," she said.
She began to walk off, then paused and turned back, adding, "I will
be there."

	She almost seemed to disappear into the shadows as she left...

	Soun, however, didn't seem to notice. He walked back down the
stairs, blissfully considering how to present the arrangement to
his daughters.

^_^

	"Okay, we're here, Dad!" Haruka called, drumming her fingers
on the table impatiently. She looked at her younger sister. "What
do you think he's up to?"

	Rei thought about it. "I'm not entirely sure, but if what
I saw in the fire at the temple yesterday is right... Then we're
probably going to have some new guests in our home very soon."

	Next to them, Setsuna shook her head and sighed. "I am afraid
that it is going to be far more complicated than that."

	Haruka chuckled at her older sister's sudden appearance and
turned to her. "Want to tell the rest of us anything...?"

	The green-haired woman just smiled at them.

	Haruka returned a wry grin, reclining back against her seat.
"Didn't think so."

	Soun finally came in. "Ah, my daughters!" he exclaimed with
outstretched arms. "This is truly a momentous day!" He moved closer
to the table. "It is the day when the uniting of the Tendo and the-"

	"Cut the dramatics, Father," Rei said. "Just tell us what's
going on."

	Their father stopped. "Alright, alright..." he said, taking a
seat in front of them. "My old friend is coming with another to
fulfil an agreement we made long ago..."

	"What kind of agreement?" Haruka asked, leaning forward.

	Soun took a deep breath. "A betrothal."

	Rei blinked. "With... us?"

	Haruka coughed, wide-eyed. "Uh, Dad... please tell me you
didn't."

	"He did," Setsuna added in a very certain tone.

^_^

	"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU ENGAGED ME TO SOME GIRL, YOU LITTLE PINK
SPORE!!!!!"

	"Hmph. Have a little respect, odango-atama," the pink-haired
girl said, continuing to walk toward her destination. As she noticed
that her companion was not following, she stopped and turned around.
"Are you coming or not?"

	The other girl shook her head, her blue eyes wide in disbelief.
"NOT A CHANCE!"

	The smaller of the two narrowed her eyes at the taller and
let go of her umbrella, which turned back into a floating, cat-faced
balloon. She grabbed it and moved into a combat stance, dribbling it
on a patch of earth that didn't have a water puddle on it. "Okay,
princess, are you gonna come quietly, or am I going to have to use
force?"

	"I'm not the only 'princess' around here, PRINCESS," the
blonde princess muttered. "And I'm NOT going with you just so I can
be part of some crazy agreement you made who-knows-when!" She turned
around and started to walk away. "I'm going back to-"

	"Luna-P..." the pink-haired princess started, leveling her
balloon at the young woman.

	The pigtailed girl stopped and whirled around, moving into
a defensive posture. "Your mind tricks aren't going to work on me
THIS time!"

	The young girl grinned. "...ATTACK!!!"

	The blonde girl blinked, frowning. "What..."

	*WHAM*THUMP*SLAM*BAM*POW*WHAM*THUMP*THUMP*THUMP* All at once,
it seemed, she was hit from every angle by the Luna-P... AND an
assortment of umbrellas, baby bottles, vases full of violets,
medkits, wooden figures of humpback whales, fire hydrants, and
practically everything else imaginable.

	Somewhat battered, but still standing, the older princess
started to laugh at the pink-haired girl. "That was it? Hah! That
wasn't-"

	*CLANG!* A large, white porcelain sink slammed into her head
from behind. She stopped, and was only able to watch dazedly as the
younger girl approached her with the Luna-P in her arms.

	*WHAM!* The pink-haired girl hit her on the head with it, then
caught her as she fell limply forward.

	The young princess nodded to herself, looking very determined
as she carried the larger girl off.


	Off to the side, two old men sitting on a high balcony had
been watching the short battle.

	"Now THAT's what I call going at it like rabbits!" the first
said to his friend.

	The second man nodded. "Yeah, I'd say the situation down
there was getting a little... HARE-y."

	They looked at each other and laughed, pointing at the two
departing girls. "Oh ho ho ho!"

^_^

	"So, when are these people going to show up?" Rei asked,
looking somewhat fascinated at the idea of having a fiance. "I can't
wait to meet them."

	"Soon," Soun said, "very soon."

	"Rei," Haruka said to her sister in disbelief, "you're acting
like you actually _want_ to be engaged to someone you've never met."

	"Well, you never know," the raven-haired girl said, smiling,
"this one might be cute."

	Setsuna shook her head sadly. "There will be no need to worry
about that... but it could at least have been someone older than
me..."

	"Do they know martial arts?" Rei asked.

	Soun nodded. "Yes, as a matter of fact. One of the main points
of this engagement is to join our two fighting styles. They practice
something similar to what I've trained all of you in."

	Rei nodded, starting to like this idea even more. "It _would_
be nice to have someone equal to spar with..."

	"What am I?" Haruka asked, glancing sideways at her. "Chopped
liver?"

	"It's nice to practice with you, Haruka," Rei said, then
held her shoulders up in a long shrug, "but it's not really a
challenge anymore. I'm so much... better than you at martial arts."

	"Oh, really?" the short-haired blonde asked, standing.

	Rei nodded, smiling as she folded her arms.

	Haruka smirked, motioning to the hall outside the dining room.
"Let's take this one to the dojo, shall we?"

	"Alright," the younger girl said. "If you like the horrible
agony of defeat, who am I to deprive you of that?"

	"We'll just see about that, won't we, Rei?"

	"Um, girls?" Soun asked, motioning for them to sit back
down, which they did. "There's something else I have to tell you
about my friend and h-"

	*Thump*Thump* There was a knock at the door.

	Soun brightened. "Ah! That must be them now! Setsuna, could
you please open the door for them?"

	"Whatever you say, Father," the green-haired woman said,
not moving to do anything.

	"I'm up," Haruka noted. "I could-" She stopped as a small foot
kicked the door open.

	Into the room rushed a small, pink-headed girl with her hair
tied up in rabbit-ear odangos. This wasn't her distinguishing
feature, however. The oddest thing about her was that she was
carrying a much larger blonde girl who was wearing a long, flowing
gown and whose hair was done into round odangos, from which two very
long pigtails fell.

	"Let me go!" the blonde shouted.

	A floating, cat-faced balloon with a crescent moon on its
forehead and an antennae out the top floated in behind them.

	"Hello, Tendo," the little girl said to Soun, then dropped the
struggling girl she was carrying onto the table. "I've come to fulfil
the agreement we made so long ago."

	"Errrr..." Soun began in bewilderment. "Do I know you, little
girl?"

	The girl laughed. "Of course you do! My old friend Tendo, don't
you recognize me?"

	"Yeah," the blonde said, climbing off the table, "don't you
recognize that annoying spore that engaged me to your-"

	The smaller girl narrowed her eyes at her. "Don't talk about me
like that in front of your future father in law!"

	"Whatever, you little fungus," the pigtailed girl muttered.

	"Odango-atama!"

	"Spore!"

	"Princess!"

	"Takes one to know one!"

	"Father," Rei began, trying to ignore the two arguing girls,
"would these happen to be the ones you were telling us about?"

	Soun attempted to speak, but found that his voice and
comprehension skills had just decided to make good on the vacation
time they had been earning for the past while. "Ummmm..."

	He fainted.

	"They are," Setsuna confirmed, catching her father as he fell.

	"Hey, maybe this won't be so bad after all," Haruka said,
beginning to smile as she looked at the girl in the white gown. She
glanced at Rei. "You were right. She IS cute."

	"Don't you already _have_ a girlfriend?" Rei asked, snickering.

	Setsuna pulled her unconscious father off of his seat and laid
him out on the floor. She took a few steps back.

	"Enough of this," the pink-haired girl said, turning away from
the verbal combat and walking toward Soun. She grabbed him by the
shoulders and started shaking him. "Come on, Tendo. This is no time
to be napping!"

	"Emmm..." Soun mumbled, sitting up, then looked into the girl's
eyes. "I... No, I don't know you, I don't think."

	"Think back to grade school. Early on," the young girl said.
"Remember, we both agreed that if you were to have any daughters,
they'd be engaged to my-"

	"Oh, oh my... It _is_ you," Soun whispered in shock, then
fainted again.

	"Soun-kun," the little, pink-haired individual whispered in
a high, blood-curtling, saccharine voice, "wake uuu-uuuup. We have
business to discuss!"

	Rei shook her head, and started to laugh. "Well, I guess
this plan has pretty much fallen through."

	"Too bad," Haruka said, chuckling. "I was beginning to think
that this was one of Dad's better ideas..."

	The pigtailed girl glanced around at the others in the room,
looking somewhat flustered. "Okay, look... Um... Sorry about this."
She grabbed the smaller girl by the arm and started to drag her
out.

	"Lemme go!" the pink-haired girl protested. "Luna-P Heng-"
she began, before the other princess silenced her by clamping her
hand over her mouth.

	"Whatever this scheme of yours is," the blonde half-growled,
"it won't work. I don't want any part of it."

	"Poor girl," Rei noted. "She looks so sad and confused..."

	"Yeah," Haruka said, starting to frown, "dragged in here in
the middle of the rain by her little sister or whatever... getting
told that she was going to be married against her will..." She shook
her head. "Isn't that one of those scenarios that has to have a
knight in shining armor coming in to rescue her or something?"

	Rei nodded slightly, then, as the visitors reached the door,
she stood, holding up a hand. "No, wait," she called to them.

	The blonde sighed, then stopped and turned around, holding
her struggling companion in a firm grip. "What _now_?"

	"Look, we'd hate to leave a bad impression," Haruka said.

	Rei nodded. "Right... I mean, you just got here... and you're
drenched." She glanced outside. "It's still raining, and it doesn't
look like you even have an umbrella. We can't just kick you out into
that."

	"In addition," Setsuna said, kneeling by her father, "you
appear to have with you our father's friend..."

	"So," Haruka said, maneuvering close to the blue-eyed blonde
girl, wrapping her up in a friendly--perhaps a little _too_
friendly--hug, and escorting her back into the main room, "take a
load off, stay a while."

	The girl in the damp gown frowned, deep in thought during this,
then shrugged. "Uh... Okay, sure. I don't really have anyplace I
need to be right noOOW-" She broke off as the smaller girl she had
been holding onto bit one of her fingers, forcing her to let go.
"Owowowowow..." she said in pain, shaking her hand. "Why you..."

	The blonde tore out of Haruka's grasp and started to chase
after the pink-haired girl.

	The chase ended when the younger one hid behind Setsuna.
"Don't hurt meeeeee!" she cried.

	"Don't think acting cute'll help," the pigtailed girl said,
narrowing her eyes as she approached.

	"Stop," Setsuna intoned, protectively putting her arm around
the little girl's shoulders.

	The blonde stopped. "Why?"

	"It is improper ettiquette to murder in another's home."

	Haruka chuckled. "Yeah, leaves too much of a mess."

	The pigtailed girl blinked, then gave a sheepish grin. "I
wasn't going to..." She trailed off, looking down at her ornately
slippered feet. "Um..."

	"Haruka, please assist me," Setsuna said, releasing the
young girl and taking her father around the arms.

	Haruka nodded, then picked up Soun by the legs and, with
her older sister's help, carried him off.

	The 'rabbit-eared' girl followed them out. "Poor Tendo...
He always did take shocks rather poorly."

	In the dining room, there were was silence for a few moments.
Neither Rei nor the other girl could think if anything to say.

	Finally, Rei spoke up. "So... you're a martial artist?"

	The blonde perked up and nodded. "You bet I am."

	Rei smiled. "So am I. Do you spar?"

	The pigtailed girl laughed. "All the time!"

	"Care to have a quick match?"

	"Sure!"

	Rei nodded. "Follow me."

	Rei walked into the hall, then paused and looked back at the
girl. "You aren't going to practice in that dress, are you?" she
asked, indicating what the blonde was wearing. "It looks like it'd
be kinda... cumbersome while fighting."

	The other girl fingered her gown. "Well... I don't have
anything else with me right now."

	Rei laughed. "Come on, I'll lend you a gi."

	"Umm... One of... yours?" the blonde asked, almost nervously.

	Rei frowned and nodded slowly. "Yes... That would be the idea."

	The girl frowned, looking somewhat uneasy at this, for some
reason.

	"It's not that big of a deal," Rei said. "I mean... it's not
like I'm lending you... underwear or anything like that."

	The shorter girl laughed nervously, her arm behind her head.
"Oh yeah... Um... Yeah, I... guess it's okay, then."

^_^

	From inside the bathroom, aside from the sounds of moving
fabric, there were some muffled muttering that almost sounded like
cursing.

	"Aren't you done yet?" Rei asked impatiently, tapping her
foot against the floor.

	"Uh, just another minute!" another girl's voice called, then
continued muttering, "Stupid dress..."

	"That's what you said ten minutes ago," Rei said, rolling her
eyes. "It's a _gi_! You just sort of slip it on... It isn't supposed
to take _that_ long."

	"I'm sorry, I'm just... having some... problems here."

	Rei turned her back to the door and folded her arms, looking up
at the ceiling. "Hmm... Did you fall in or-"

	"-No!" the other girl cut in. "It's... Oh, whatever. I guess
I'll come out now. Promise you won't laugh."

	The raven-haired girl frowned. "Laugh at what?"

	The bathroom door opened, and the blonde girl tentatively
stepped out.

	As soon as Rei turned around, she coughed and let out a
disbelieving chortle. "What in the world?!"

	The 'odango'ed girl was wearing something that looked to be
somewhere between a sailor fuku and an ice-skating costume: It
included a white leotard topped with a red, sailor-style
ornamentation, blue bows on the chest and lower back, and a pleated
skirt made out of a rippling, ethereal white material.

	The girl's face fell into a pout as she noted Rei's reaction.
"I thought you wouldn't-"

	"Where did you get THAT outfit?!"

	The blonde sighed, holding her shoulders up in a long shrug.
"It's... It's a long story."

	Rei regained her composure and smiled. "I take it you're not
going to be wearing my gi after all, hmm?"

	The other girl returned half a nervous smile and looked down
at her bare feet. "I guess not..."

	"But," Rei began, examining the outfit, "I guess you could
practice in that. It doesn't exactly look... confining." She laughed.
"A little advice, though: Don't go near Haruka wearing that. You
might give her the wrong idea."

	"Who's Haruka?"

	"My older sister."

	"Oh... The one with the green hair?"

	"Blonde," Rei corrected. At the perplexed look the other girl
gave, she continued, "She walked you back in, remember?"

	The pigtailed girl blinked and frowned. "That's your... sister?
He... SHE looks kinda... Um... You know."

	"Kinda mannish?"

	"...Yeah."

	"It's just the way she likes to dress."

	"Oh..."

	Rei motioned toward the hallway. "If that's all, let's go to
the dojo, now, okay?"

	The blonde smiled, cracking her knuckles. "Now you're talking!"

---

	Now wearing a nurse cap with a red cross on it and carrying a
first aid kit, the pink-haired girl attended to her unconscious
friend, who was lying down on his bed.

	"You ever see a balloon turn into first-aid kit before?" Haruka
whispered to her sister as she watched the scenario with fascination.

	Setsuna smiled mysteriously.

	"Guess so, huh?"

	The green-haired woman's smile deepened slightly.

	The young girl rummaged through her kit, looking for something
to awaken her friend.

	She pulled out an oversized metal drill and toyed with it for a
second before tossing it over her shoulder.

	Haruka moved her foot out of the way as the drill landed. "Oh,
please... You'd need a MUCH bigger bit on that to wake up OUR dad!"
she said in jest.

	The pink-haired girl 'hmph'ed in response, and drew a large
plastic band-aid out of the kit and put it on Soun's forehead.
"There," she said sweetly, "all better."

	The man began to stir.

	Haruka winced. "That was so cute," she gagged, "I think I have
to go shoot myself now." She turned around to leave.

	"Just wait for another moment," Setsuna whispered. "We are
almost to the interesting part."

	The tall blonde had already stopped and returned to her
previous standing position. "Hold it... I wasn't _really_ going to
leave."

	Setsuna's eyes seemed to glitter. "Of course you weren't."

	Haruka chuckled softly. "I love this game."

	Soun sat up and looked at the little girl beside him...

	"AAAH! The pink-haired demon!"

	...then fainted once more.

	The girl narrowed her eyes. "That wasn't funny, Tendo." She
paused in thought, and smiled after a moment. "Ahem... Souuun-kun,
if you don't get up right now, I'm going to... GIVE YOU A GREAT,
BIG HUG AND A KISS!!!"

	The black-haired man jumped out of his bed and cowered before
the small individual. "Y-yes, master!" he exclaimed, then paused
and blinked at the girl before him. "If... if nothing else, this
proves it... No one else would remember the master's... morning
conditioning." He shuddered, then scowled. "And thank you for
bringing up such a painful memory."

	"Going to have to remember that one," Haruka whispered to
her sister, who nodded.

	"Tendo, Tendo," the little girl said, calmly waving the man
off, "we have more important things to worry about. Our agreement?"

	Soun nodded, beginning to look out the window with a far-off
expression. "Yes... the agreement. How long ago did we think of
this?"

	"Grade school," the girl reminded. "We lived in Juuban back
then. Then your family just picked up your entire house and moved
over here." She looked around. "How'd they move this place, anyway?
It's huge!"

	Soun sighed and held his hands up in a gesture of cluelessness.
"I don't remember." He looked down at the 'rabbit-eared' girl. "What
happened to you, old friend? You-"

	The girl had jumped up on the bed and started looking around.
"How much do you think it's worth? I know entire homes the size of
this room, and they're _expensive_!"

	Soun slowly shook his head. "You haven't changed a bit." He
paused. "Back to our agreement, though. How did it go?"

	The little girl cleared her throat. "If you, Tendo Soun, had
any daughters, they'd be engaged to my-"

	"Write that down," Setsuna whispered to Haruka. "It is going
to be important later."

	Haruka pulled out a pen and a small notepad. "You got it."

	Soun nodded as the girl finished the description of the
marriage contract. "For the family honor."

	The girl jumped into a sitting position on his shoulders.
"Yes! For the family honor!"

	The man pursed his lips as his mind took up another train of
thought. "How did this happen to you? Why are you...?"

	"Hmm," the girl began, and tossed her nurse cap onto the
medkit, which vanished in a puff of smoke and was replaced by the
cat-faced balloon. She looked at Setsuna. "Quick! Boil some water!"

	Haruka threw back her head and burst into laughter.

	Setsuna looked at the young girl with an amused expression.

	"Do you get it?" Haruka asked, snickering. "The bed... he was
lying down earlier... Boil some water?" She went to her knees,
continuing to laugh at some inner joke.

	The pink-haired girl narrowed her eyes. "Alright, fine!" She
turned to Soun. "You get it, then."

^_^

	"Are you ready?" Rei asked, currently in a ready combat stance.

	The sailor-suited pigtailed blonde was standing a short
distance away with her arms behind her back and her eyes closed.

	"First one to hit the floor," Rei said with a smile, "loses!"

	The other combatant nodded.

	"Ki-yah!" the raven-haired girl shouted, diving forward,
feinting a punch, then going down for a low, sweeping kick.

	The blonde stepped out of the way, almost casually.

	Rei frowned momentarily, then brought back an open, flat hand
and thrusted it at her. Her moves were swift, but without much
force. This was only practice, and she had no particular wish to harm
her new sparring partner.

	The other girl stepped aside, lightly tapping her on the
shoulder.

	Rei attepted to salvage the move with an elbow jab that could
easily have cracked the rib of an enemy... if she was going all-out.

	Again, the pigtailed girl effortlessly avoided the attack. Her
eyes still closed, she grinned at the black-haired girl.

	As the battle wore on, Rei began to get rather annoyed. Her
opponent was obviously much more skilled than she was, which was
something of a blow to her ego. Before this fight, she had been
the most powerful and skilled martial artist she had known... with
the theoretically possible exception of her sister... that is, if
Haruka was having an _extremely_ good day.

	With each new miss, Rei grew more and more impatient with her
current foe. It wouldn't have been so bad if the other girl didn't
seem to be making every effort to rub in how superior a fighter she
was. She hadn't said anything yet, but how casually she was dodging
and the fact that she hadn't pushed her down to finish the battle
showed that she was just doing this to taunt her.

	There was a difference between being a better fighter not
taking one's sparring seriously, and being a better fighter and not
taking one's sparring _partner_ seriously.

	And Rei did not appreciate being toyed with.

	"Alright," she said, narrowing her eyes, "let's finish this!"

	Rei crouched down, then jumped directly over the blonde's head
and landed behind her, chopping downward with both hands in a final,
powerful finishing move.

	The pigtailed girl opened her eyes and lightly hopped out of
the way, making her own overly showy frontflip away to the other
side of the dojo, where she folded her arms in front of her, and
smirked. "Ha! Is that all ya got?"

	Rei simmered for a moment, her fists clenched angrily at her
sides. Finally, she smiled at the blonde, a little too pleasantly.
"No... Here's something that should impress you." AND wipe that
annoying smirk off your face, she added silently. She clasped her
hands together with her index fingers extended forward.

	The sailor-suited girl looked on with a confident expression.

	"Kaki..." Rei began, a small, swirling ball of flame appearing
mere centimeters from her fingertips.

	The blonde's eyes widened as she watched the flame become more
intense, mesmerized like a rabbit in front of a car's headlights.

	"REIKON!!!"

	"Gaaah!" the blonde exclaimed as Rei released her strike, the
now-large fireball spiraling toward her. By the time she had thought
about dodging, the flame had almost reached her.

	She quickly dove to the right, barely being missed.

	In the process, she accidentally stepped on one of her long
pigtails, painfully dragging her head down and slamming her face
directly into the floor.

	The fireball dissipated just before it could hit the wall.

	Rei took a couple of deep breaths, exhausted from the effort of
using her ki attack, and collapsed into a sitting position on the
floor. She frowned as she looked over to see the girl roll over onto
her knees, eyes closed and red-faced, attempt to contain herself,
then burst into tears.

	"Oooooooooow," she whined, trying not to, but unable to prevent
herself from doing so, "that huuurt!"

	Rei winced. "Er... Sorry, maybe I shouldn't have done that..."

	The sailor-suited girl sniffled and rubbed her eyes, not
seeming to have heard her.

	The raven-haired girl sighed, shakily standing, then walked
over to her, holding out a hand to help her up. "Look, I'm sorry
about scaring you like that... but to be honest, you deserved it."

	The blonde looked up at her, frowning, appearing as if she were
muddling something over in her mind. After a moment of this, she
sighed, shook her head, and smiled half-heartedly at Rei. "Yeah...
I guess I'm kinda... sorry about... showing off and... Well, sorry."
She paused. "How did you do that?"

	Rei smiled slightly. "It's an advanced Ki technique. I've been
studying it for a while, but I don't use it that often. It _really_
takes a lot out of me."

	The other girl frowned, finally realizing an important detail.
"Wait, I just got beaten... by a _girl_."

	Rei nodded. "You sure did!"

	"A *GIRL*..."

	Rei raised an eyebrow. "Yes... your point being?"

	"I can't get beaten by some girl!" the odangoed girl ranted,
throwing her arms into the air. "Girls are..." She broke off as her
gaze fell self-consciously back toward herself. "Er... you know what
I mean!" She looked back at Rei. "Yeah... The only reason why I
lost is because I'm a girl."

	The raven-haired girl stared at the shorter girl for a moment,
then looked up and rolled her eyes. "I don't believe this..."

	The blonde got back into a fighting stance. "So... we have to
do it over. Right NOW."

	Rei sighed. "I don't know what goes on in that mind of yours,
odango-atama-"

	The blonde glared. "Hey! _Don't_ call me that!"

	"It's what that other girl called you."

	"I _hate_ being called that, especially by that little...
SPORE!"

	"Well, I wouldn't HAVE to call you that if you told me your
name."

	The pigtailed girl blinked. "Oh yeah..." She looked into Rei's
eyes. "What's _your_ name, by the way?"

	"Tendo Rei."

	The sailor-suited blonde nodded, pushing her pigtails behind
her. "I'm Ranma. Saotome Ranma."

^_^

To be continued. Next up: The Explanation!

...

Oh, come on! You've guessed it by now, haven't you?

-------------------------------
Benjamin A. Oliver
boredcollective@aol.com

	"We are the Bored. Lower your shields and surrender your fics.
	 We will add your standup and slapstick comedy to our own.
	 Your humor will adapt to entertain us.
	 Resistance is and always has been: Futile."
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