Author's Notes, Warnings and Disclaimer
(Search or scroll down to the row of stars for begin of actual story.)

Summary:

"Prisoner of the Iron Mask" is a slightly lime-ish/perverted and romantic
Ranma comedy full of stubborn matial artists, foreign princes, abducted
tombodys, nudity and unlikely coincidences.

When Akane gets the foolish idea that she could defend herself from future
kidnappers, Ranma comes up with a cunning plan to show just how dangerous
it could be to get abducted by an evil perverted prince without Ranma
there to rescue her.

Author's Notes:

This story was originally posted to the Anime Addventure. This is my
second attempt to finish something that I started as an Addventure thread
as a normal stand alone story. Since a large part of the story is already
either written or at least plotted out I hope that I will have more sucess
with this one.

The existing episodes are rather small and I plan to post them in four to
six chunks before rewriting them and adding the rest. I would be really
grateful for constructive c&c about how to merge them into larger chapters
forming a story. Stuff like where to draw a chapter line and what parts
to cut out due to redundancy.

Warnings:

[Lime]

I have marked the story with an overall [Lime]-tag, but some people might
feel that individual parts cross the line into [Lemon] territory. I don't
really think that this is the case, but if you wish to avoid stories that
contain even a hint of lemon you might want to give this a miss. There is
some nudity and the characters perverted imagination in this story making
it somewhat more lime-ish than the original manga was.

[Spoiler]

This story is set after the end of the manga series. It will at the very
least spoil who is alive, married or in love with whom at the end of the
manga for those who do not know this. It also makes occasional throwaway
references to adventures from throughout the manga. Nevertheless I don't
think that this story warrants a spoiler tag since no realy big secrets
are revealed and almost everybody who might care to read this already
knows everything. 

Disclaimer:

Ranma 1/2 was created by Rumiko Takahashi. Her intellectual property is
used without permission, but also without the intent of making money.

Link:

My homepage: http://www.angelfire.com/anime6/loki-l/


                             * **  ***  ** *

                   Prisoner of the Iron Mask

            Part 1: No More Rescues For This Tomboy!


"Don't be stupid, you tomboy!" Ranma was not in a very charitable mood as
he dodged Akane's kicks and strikes through the Dojo.

"So I am stupid now, am I?" Akane was not very happy either. "And why?
Because I asked you to help me become a better martial artist? I guess it
was stupid of me to ask you for help."

"I am just saying that you don't need to be able to fight. You have me!"
Ranma tried to explain. "You just sit tight when some prince or pervert
abducts you, and your father will make me rescue you in no time"

"At Jusenko I swore, that I would no longer idly stand by while you
fight." Akane brought up the vow she had made while she was a prisoner of
the phoenix people.

"And look what it got you: You knocked out the poor guide and almost got
yourself killed when you got into a fight way over your head." Ranma did
not understand this. Couldn't she see, that she would only get hurt if she
started to take on the idiots by herself?

"If you don't want to train me I will find someone else," Akane declared.

Ranma really did not like the idea of someone else training Akane. Not one
bit. So he shot back: "Fine if that makes you feel better, do whatever you
want. Not that it makes any difference. We both know, that I will have to
rescue you again the next time some prince from a lost kingdom with a
tomboy-fetish comes looking for a bride."

"You think that I can't take care of myself? I am a martial artist, too!
I don't need your help you stupid pervert!" Akane was so angry by now that
she had stopped trying to hit him and was just shouting at him.

"If that is what you think, then no more rescue missions for you," Ranma
would make her admit that she needed him.

"I would not dream of it. In fact I forbid you to interfere in my fights.
And I will tell daddy not to waste any of your precious time by making you
go out and watch me defeat my next challenger!" Akane was in full stubborn
tomboy mode right now.

"Fine!" Ranma declared. Sooner or later she would back down and admit that
she needed him.

"Fine!" Akane did not sound like she would back down anytime soon.


                             * **  ***  ** *


Ranma had been regretting his fight with Akane for over a week now. Why
did she have to be this stubborn? Why couldn't she just get over her "I am
martial-artist, too!" nonsense?

What if she really tried to take on the next idiot to kidnap her? She
would get her ass kicked. And possibly worse.

Ranma would have to make sure to just be coincidentally in the area and
challenge the guy to a fight on a totally unrelated reason. Just because
the stupid tomboy was so stubborn he would have to make up some lame
excuse to ensure, that he would not be going back on his word.

And what if he wasn't there to save her? If Akane had managed to convince
her family, they might not make him go after her in time. She might even
convince her kidnapper not to send a challenge letter to him. Ranma might
never learn about her abduction until it was to late!

Ranma was really worried.

And it looked like the next idiot might already be in town. Ranma's
intelligence network (Konatsu) had informed him that a group of foreigners
from some tiny semi-mystical Kingdom were setting up a lair in Nerima.
They probably were looking to kidnap a bride for their prince.

Ranma thought that he might try to give them an alternate target for their
bridal search. Ranma's girlside was so much cuter than Akane after all,
but somehow this tactic had never worked very well in the past. All the
weird foreigners inexplicably zeroed in on the uncute tomboy instead of
going after any of the more beautiful and feminine girls in Tokyo. 

What would Ranma do? He couldn't just stand there and do nothing while
those idiots prepared to abduct his fianc�e.

He briefly toyed with the idea of simply letting them have the tomboy and
trust that sooner or later she would break down and scream for help
absolving him of his promise. Unfortunately Akane could be very stubborn.
It would take a lot to make her admit that she needed Ranma's help. It
would certainly take more than Ranma could allow anybody to do to her.

Eventually an idea occurred to Ranma. He might not have been as good as
Nabiki when it came to these things, but one did not grow up the son of
Genma Saotome without learning a thing or two about spotting loopholes.

Ranma had only promised not to rescue Akane once she got herself
kidnapped. Nobody had ever said anything about not going after potential
abductors preemptively.


                             * **  ***  ** *

                   Part 2: Birth of the Iron Mask


Who would be so stupid and build a secret lair in the middle of the
business district? You went with exotic locations and if you had to build
your secret lair in a big city like Tokyo, You went to the docks and got
yourself and old warehouse. The sewers would have been acceptable too, but
an office building was just totally wrong.

If Konatsu hadn't told Ranma about it when he had bumped into him a few
days ago, he would never have known where to look and even Konatsu had
only found out about them by accident.

Hiding their secret headquarters where nobody would look for it was a
cowardly move of the would-be tomboy-nappers. Ranma already disliked them.

As he entered the building Ranma had to revise his opinion of the
foreigners slightly. They did at least have style. What looked like a
normal office building from the outside turned out to be far more exotic
from the inside. Someone had removed all non load-bearing walls and
floor-parts and created a big open space crisscrossed by girders and beams
inside the building. In this space a small medieval looking castle had
been erected -- complete with a moat, turrets and several little flags on
top. It looked very impressive even with the occasional column, girder, or
fire escape stairway sticking out of it.

Ranma waisted only little time admiring the view as he soon found himself
busy with other things like the castle guards who attacked him on sight.
That saved Ranma the trouble of taunting them about their silly
multi-colored jumpsuits to goad them into a fight. 

The guards might look funny in their colorful uniforms, which Ranma
thought would look better on a court jester, but there was nothing funny
whatsoever about the nasty pike weapons they carried. Or the way they used
them. They were all well trained in using their halberds and also all
extremely tall even for Europeans.

Europeans were a nice change of pace after all these mystical Chinese
kingdoms that nobody had ever heard about. At least Ranma assumed they
were Europeans. They could be Americans for all he knew even if they
looked more like knights than cowboys. Did they have any tiny kingdoms in
America?

Those question and others Ranma mused on as he slowly worked his way
through the guards.

Ranma was starting to have doubts about this being the lair of a foreign
noble with ambition to abduct himself a tomboy bride, when some of the
commanders started giving orders and the guards retreaded. Ranma could not
make out much of what they were saying, but it certainly sounded like they
had recognized his superior strength and were now preparing to flee back
to whatever micronation they had come from.

Ranma only made some token attacks as he allowed the remaining guards to
collect their unconscious fellows and flee upwards. Through the glass
ceiling of the office-building he could see them pile into an airship
anchored to a spire at the top of the building. He watched them flee with
satisfaction before he began to investigate the now empty castle.

Ranma soon found something that dispelled all his doubts about having hit
the right target. In a briefing room there were plans of the Tendou
compound and photos of its inhabitants pinned to a wall. They even managed
to get some good shots of the failed wedding. It felt good to be proven
right. Another threat defeated and Akane would never even know that he had
saved her again!

The downside was, that Akane would never know that he had saved her again.

This would not be any help in convincing Akane to give in and stop her
stupid act of claiming to be able to defend herself.

Ranma had been lucky this time finding out about the abductors in time.
Next time he might not get them before they got to Akane and she would be
end up getting hurt if she did not admit that she needed him to rescue
her.

Ranma needed a way to convince Akane....

As he sat in the empty room in the empty castle an idea occurred to him.
He picked up the shattered remains of one of the guards armor. Poking two
holes into the bend metal plate with a broken pike he held the result in
front of his face.

Ranma could show Akane how helpless she really was without endangering her
or breaking his promise not to interfere in her fights.

He had a secret lair that nobody was using at the moment and all the other
props he needed. A prince in an iron mask from some faraway country could
easily abduct Akane to this castle and show her how helpless she was. Such
things were known to happen. And once Akane realized that she could not
get out of this herself she would scream for help and Ranma would come to
her rescue.

Perfect! Nothing could possibly go wrong with this plan.


                             * **  ***  ** *

                        Part 3: Meet the Prince


"What do you mean, you won't go?" a menacing Nabiki wanted to know. "Your
fianc�e has been kidnapped and you plan to just sit here and do nothing?"

"Exactly! That is what I am saying." Ranma congratulated her for getting
it right.

The two older Tendo daughters and his mother had him cornered in the
Tendou living room. The fathers were at the moment out cold after a less
diplomatic attempt to convince Ranma.

"This hardly seems very manly, son." Nodoka reproached him.

"You heard her. She is a martial artist too, and can take care of
herself." Ranma defended himself. "She actually forbid me from coming to
her rescue. It is an honor thing. Until I hear otherwise from her herself,
there is nothing I can do."

Nodoka seemed to consider this. Nabiki was less easily convinced.

"And how is she supposed to tell you that when she is held a prisoner
somewhere?" the middle Tendo daughter demanded.

"I am sure that she will manage to get out a message if she changes her
mind." Ranma was indeed very sure of this as his entire plan rested upon
the fact that Akane would sooner or later do this.

Meanwhile Kasumi tried to calm things down a bit by changing the subject.
"Who was it that took her, somebody we know? If it is one of Ranma's
friends, maybe we could send a message and explain things them."

"No dice, Sis." Nabiki immediately crushed Kasumi's plan of solving this
crisis by peaceful means. "It was not somebody we know. Witnesses describe
the kidnapper as wearing an iron mask. He had what has been identified as
the crest of Lichtenburg on his cape and was dressed in European-looking
armor."

"Lichtenburg?" Kasumi wondered.

"The Duchy of Lichtenburg is a tiny European nation in the Alps." Nabiki
promptly replied. "Main exports: cheese, nail clippers and drunken
tourists. Main imports... err... sober tourists." She guessed the last
part, but was still clearly satisfied with having impressed everyone with
her vast knowledge of things she had just looked up.

"Actually," Nodoka corrected her. "Lichtenburg is a principality and they
are far more well known for their mercenaries than for their multi-purpose
manicure tools."

Ranma was glad to finally have found out where those idiots had been from.
He had fashioned a cape from one of their flags as part of his disguise.

"Do you remember making any enemies from there?" Nabiki addressed Ranma
wanting to bring this discussion back on track.

Ranma tried to look thoughtful for a minute. He had not had any enemies
from there until he stormed their secret headquarter and disrupted their
tomboy-napping operation. He probably had some enemies there now.

"Forget it Saotome," Nabiki obviously did not put great stock in his
powers of recall. "Just get out there and get back my sister!"

"I am not going" Ranma persisted.

"Do you want to find out just how miserable I can make your life if you
don't get out of here right now," Nabiki was getting better at
intimidating him.

"Fine then I will go on a training trip until this whole thing blows
over." Ranma made for his room where his already packed bag was waiting
for him.

"And if you happen to come across Akane's abductor, you can just, you
know, challenge him for looking at you funny or something." Nabiki
commented with a knowing smirk.

With the well wishes of Kasumi and his mother Ranma left the Tendo home
sprouting denials.

                             * **  ***  ** *

Later in his recently conquered castle Ranma was on his way to the dungeon
in which Akane was held. But not to rescue his fianc�e. Far from it.

Ranma was in his Iron Mask outfit: a metal mask covering his entire face
and muffling his voice, a red tunic with a high collar hiding his pigtail
from view. He wore black trousers and heavy boots that he had taken from
what the previous owners of the castle had left behind. Large metal
shoulder pads, a gilt breastplate and a cape completed the ensemble.

Ranma was certain that the shoulder pads made him look broader, and the
heavy boots made him appear both taller and disguised his walk. Nobody
would recognize him like this.

Confident in his disguise, Ranma opened the cell to tell Akane what would
happen next.

A chamber pot shattered on his armor and Ranma reflexively caught Akane's
fist in his hand.

Akane really appeared to be serious about this "fighting her own fights"
thing. Ranma was just glad the chamber pot had been empty.

After a brief struggle during which Akane tried to hit, kick, scratch,
bite and finally knee her captor in the groin, Ranma managed to subdue her
and chain her to some convenient shackles on the cell wall.

After another attempted kick below his belt Ranma even remembered to stay
out of the reach of her chains.

"Welcome to my castle, my bride to be," Ranma finally boomed over Akane's
chain-rattling and cursing in what he hoped would be a suitable pompous
voice.

Unless you counted a thrown chamber pot shard and continued demands to be
freed as an answer Akane did not respond to this.

"I am Prince Wildpferd Tarpan the First of Lichtenburg," Ranma continued
to introduce himself. He had tried to read some of the stuff the
Lichtenburgers had left behind to make up a suitable backstory, but could
not make much out of the foreign gibberish except for some names.

"You may address me as 'My Lord', 'Master' or simply Wildpferd if you
wish. You may also stand and don't have to kneel in my presence," he
allowed magnanimously. "I have come to this island in search of a woman
worthy to be my bride. Are you Akane Tendou, who proclaimed that she would
marry anybody capable of defeating her in battle?"

That made Akane take notice. "I never said that, it was Kunou who made
this stupid proclamation and it was only about dating," Akane evaded.
"Besides you never beat me in a fair fight. Ambushing me and knocking me
out to kidnap me does not count!"

Ranma did not understand this. Many of his fights started with an opponent
jumping him without warning, but he was willing to give Akane another
chance, if that was what it took to make her admit that she needed Ranma
to defend her.

"In that case we will have another match here in the courtyard of my
castle. You have two hours to prepare." Ranma declared.

Ranma was about to leave the cell to make preparations himself when Akane
complained. "Hey!" she rattled with her chains. "How am I supposed to
prepare like this?"

Ranma was tempted to leave her hanging. The tomboy was certainly a lot
more manageable this way, but he did not want to give her any way of later
claiming that it had not been a fair fight.

"Fine," he acknowledged. "I will let you loose if you promise to behave."

After a moment of weighing her options, Akane finally agreed. "I promise,
I will not fight you outside a challenge."

                             * **  ***  ** *

Two hours later prince Wildpferd returned to Akane's cell. She was already
regretting having given her word not to fight him, but she could not go
back on her promise. She would have to escape by following the prince's
rules.

As he wordlessly led her from the dungeon, Akane marveled at her
surroundings. Where was she? She could not have been out for more than a
few hours, but she appeared to be in a genuine European castle. None of
the windows she passed had a view of the outside, so she could not be sure
of its actual location. Had she been transported all the way to Europe?
Ranma would never find her, she despaired until she reminded herself that
she did not actually want to be rescued by Ranma. If Ranma came, she would
tell him to stay out of it.

Akane also wondered why there were no servants or guards about. The entire
castle being empty felt somehow very spooky.

Coming from the dark dungeon she had to shield her eyes against the glare
of the sun overhead when they finally reached the courtyard inside the
castle's walls. Not wanting to ruin her vision before the fight she kept
herself from looking up at the sky and studied the arena for her upcoming
fight instead. There were no spectators here either, maybe the prince was
afraid to have witnesses to his defeat?

"Here we are," the masked prince announced, bidding her to take her place
opposite him in the improvised arena.

"So, if you lose this fight, you will agree that I have rightfully and
fairly beaten you in accordance with your 'dating challenge?" the arrogant
noble asked her.

Akane considered repeating again that it wasn't her who had made the
challenge, but that would have sounded cowardly.

"I agree!" she simply said. She would win this fight.

Nothing happened for some time until suddenly a voice, that sounded
suspiciously like one out of a popular computer game, boomed from hidden
speakers: "Let the fight begin!"


                             * **  ***  ** *

                        Part 4: Wildpferd Wins! 


"Wildpferd Wins!" the unseen voice announced just as Akane came back to
consciousness again.

Ranma had hidden the remote for the sound system back under his armor
again before Akane's head had cleared enough to allow her to see. He
tried to look like he was not relieved that Akane appeared to be OK. He
had hated having to fight Akane. Ranma really did not like fighting
girls.. well, he hated fighting some girls...  OK, what he mostly hated
was fighting Akane, but this had been for her own good.

"Do you admit that I won the challenge?" Ranma asked.

"No fair! Let's fight best two out of three!" Akane demanded.

A little while later:

"Best three out of five!"

Another little while later:

"First one to win four matches?"

And then:

"I admit! It you win! Are you happy now?" Akane finally relented.

Ranma was relieved, he had been beginning to worry, but before he could
start to gloat over his fallen opponent Akane continued in a small voice:
"Are you going to make me marry you know?"

This was not how it was supposed to go! First she was too stubborn to
admit defeat and now she was kneeling in front of him defeated, looking
at him with big eyes like she was about to cry and willing to go along
with whatever her captor said just because she had lost a fight. Ranma had
to stop himself from either picking her up to hug and comfort her or to
shake some sense into her.

"I will," he told her instead, "but this match was only to satisfy your
own terms. The official match that will confirm you as my bride-to-be in
my own traditions will be later."

Ranma saw the renewed hope in Akane's eyes and quickly went for the kill.

"Of course," he explained, "you will be able to field a champion to fight
in your stead if you desire. Is there somebody you would like to have
notified? A close friend, family member or suitor of martial powers that
might be a match to mine?"

"No!" Akane called out, "I will fight my own fights!"

This answer hit Ranma harder than any of her hits or kicks during their
fights had.

"What do you mean no?" he angrily wanted to know almost slipping out of
character and calling her a stupid tomboy.

"You said that the official match is still some time of. That means I can
train and get better." Akane reasoned. "You will allow me to train won't
you? It is not like you are afraid that I might beat you, is it?"

Ranma could not believe it. True he had held back to keep from really
hurting her and he had looked less capable then he really was as a result
of disguising his style, but still it had been a clear and decisive
victory every time. What had given the stupid tomboy the idea that after a
loss like this all it would take for her to win were some time of
intensive training?

"Facilities and equipment for your training will be provided. I will
personally make sure that you are given every chance to improve your
fighting abilities. You can train all you want," Ranma declared, "but
there is no way you can beat me. Remember there is no shame in fielding a
champion and you can announce one any time you wish."

                             * **  ***  ** *

After Akane again was safely locked back in her cell Ranma planned his
next move.

Things were not going according to plan. It looked like Akane would rather
marry him than allow him to rescue her. Well marry him-Wildpferd and be
rescued by him-Ranma. Why did she have to be this stubborn?

And the worst part was the training. True he had only agreed to let her
train, but Ranma knew very well that Akane by herself had little chance of
actually improving. In order for the training to be meaningful someone was
going to have to train her and his honor did not allow him to not help her
in her training after what he had just promised. 

And refusing to train Akane was just the thing that had gotten him into
this mess to begin with. It wasn't just the fact that it would only
encourage Akane to take on enemies by herself and get herself hurt or
worse. There was also the problem that he could simply not bring himself
to train with Akane the way he had been trained.

All the advanced training methods Ranma knew were close to torture. Not
just banging your students into rocks or having them burn their hands like
the Amazons did. All the techniques his father had used had been pretty
painful, too. Ranma really dreaded having to do anything like that to
Akane. It would be torture for the student and there was no way he could
torture Akane. 

Ranma thought about that for a while. He could possibly use some of the
lighter training methods on her. The ones that were mostly humiliating and
not really dangerous. No dark pits full of little monsters or anything. If
it came to that he could use it to convince Akane to give up and also
correct some of her worst habits in the dojo. Maybe he could even do
something about that temper of hers.... 

Before Ranma could get too enamored with that idea he reminded himself
that the plan was to make Akane say uncle as fast as possible. Wildpferd
by himself was apparently not a dreadful enough prospect to make her
change her mind.

A second character was needed a 'good cop' to Wildpferd's 'bad cop'
perhaps or maybe an 'even worse cop'. Ranma eyed a glass of water that was
standing innocently on a table nearby just waiting for the first unwary
Jusenkyou victim to come within splashing reach.

His curse could be useful in some situations.

Ranma could fashion himself a disguise for his girlside and use it to
influence Akane. Ranma knew he was good at disguises since Ryogua fell
for Ranma's acts every time. Having Akane meet another person would also
serve to dispel any questions about the lack of inhabitants of the castle
that Akane must surely have by now.

A sympathetic servant girl would be just the thing to start with. Someone
non-threatening and none too bright that she could trust. Ranma could
interact with Akane and make sure she was all right without making his
Wildpferd character look weak. He could tell her just how bad the fate was
that expected her if she did not give up and let Ranma take care of her
fights.


                             * **  ***  ** *

                            Part 5: The Maid


Some time later Ranma admired herself in the mirror. She had had less to
work with for a disguise for her girlside, but the results were certainly
impressive.

Ranma had decided on a servant's outfit fashioned from some parts of an
old apron and some very thin red cloth. The results looked like a French
Maid costume by way of the Arabian Nights. A black dye-job and a veil
covering most of her face would hide her identity.

In fact the veil was almost the least transparent part of her outfit. A
quick shave that Ranma really hoped would not carry over to her male side
had been necessary to keep from giving away the dye-job. Had Ranma been
trying to fool a boy the veil wouldn't even have been necessary. No male
would actually look at her face in an outfit like this.

All in all this was an outfit that only a complete and utter pervert of
the sort that Akane really despised would make a girl wear.

                             * **  ***  ** *

"Please, Mistress," Ranma begged as she carefully opened the cell door,
"don't throw anything at me. It is just me. I  bring you your food."

Keeping her head bowed she came in and set down the tray she had been
carrying in front of Akane and then wordlessly began to gather up the
shards of Akane's erstwhile chamber pot.

Akane eyed her and the food warily. "Who are you?"

"I am just me -- Little Ashes the kitchen drudge -- nobody of importance,
Mistress." Ranma replied submissively.

Normally Ranma would have felt uncomfortable acting this way, but she had
decided that this was a contest: Anything-Goes-making-Akane-admit-that-she
-needed-Ranma-to-protect-her martial-arts. It was a battle between Akane's
wrongheaded stubbornness and Ranma's ability to outwit her and convince
her of the truth. And with that justification Ranma threw herself with all
her being into the role even if it was that of a soft, slow and weak
servant-girl. 

Seeing Akane eyeing the door Ranma hastened to add: "Please don't try to
run, Mistress. The prince would recapture you very quickly and punish me
terribly for letting you escape."

Just as Ranma had expected this caused Akane to deflate. Had Ranma made
any boasts or threats to stop her, Akane would have been sure to try
something, but with a seemingly harmless opponent she did not know what
to do. And Akane would not want the servant girl to suffer for her escape
attempt. The Tomboy was just too sentimental at times.

After poking at her food for a bit Akane finally began to eat. Ranma
stayed with her head bowed watching her eat.

Obviously uncomfortable with the attention Akane tried to make some small
talk: "So you are a follower of this Wildpferd guy?"

"I am just a lowly servant of His Royal Highness." Ranma answered meekly.
"I am to serve the mistress. I bring her food and help her with anything
she needs."

"Can you tell me more about this prince of yours?" Akane asked between
bites. "Why does he wear the mask? Is he hideously scarred or ugly or
something?"

"No, no, the Prince has no scars. He is said to be quiet handsome." Ranma
assured her. "There just was a doppelg�nger of the prince and some
argument about the royal succession. Imprisonment, iron mask, you know --
the usual. It happens all the time back home."

This did not really explain anything, but it must have sounded like it
should make sense the way Ranma said it. Akane seemed to believed it did
or at least did not ask Ashes for any further explanations.

"And you, do you wear a veil because you have a doppelganger, too?" she
wanted to know instead.

"Oh no, The veil is part of traditional Lichtenburger women's clothing."
Ranma made up an excuse for her disguise. "All the women keep their face
covered back home. It is only proper."

This little bit of set up would come in handy if Ranma wanted to introduce
further female characters.

Akane gave no indication as to what she thought about this piece of
information. She had not spend much time trying to look at Ranma's face
anyway. Most of her attention had been focused on Ranma's breasts, which
were only hidden by some very thin cloth.

Had Ranma been Ranma in her eyes, Akane would have been sure to mallet her
for this perverted getup, but now with Ranma being a stranger Akane had
only been trying unsuccessfully not to stare too obviously.

Finally she asked: "And your get up is that traditional clothing too?" The
'or are you an exhibitionistic pervert'-part of the question remained
unspoken.

"This," Ranma gestured to herself, "is what the Prince likes his servants
to wear."

"He sounds like a pervert," Akane opinioned her gaze unwavering on
Ranma's assets.

This was exactly the opening Ranma had been waiting for!

"The Prince," she told her, "is a very manly man. It is only his right to
be delighted by the bodies of his female servants."

Akane did not seem so sure about this and was obviously wondering if the
delighting stopped at just looking.

"Of course," Ranma continued, "Your dress will be far finer and more
elegant than mine. Befitting a prince's consort. It will surely  be much
less covering."

"Huh?" Akane seemed to have problems switching from seeing the servant
girl in revealing clothes to imagining herself in them.

"As a future Prince's consort you must be far more beautiful than little
old me, so he would want to see much more of you." Ranma reasoned. "He
might even keep you totally naked."

On the inside Ranma was laughing. Akane's weakness was her loathing of
perverts and fear of perverts she could not beat. This guy was the
greatest pervert that Ranma could make him out to be. When Ranma was
through with Akane she would think twice about risking loosing to him. And
as an added bonus once this whole mess was over Akane would also think
twice of accusing her fianc� of being a pervert now that she had something
to compare his behavior with.

"Oh yes," Ranma mused further, "you're so beautiful, you're sure to become
the favorite wife out all the wives in his entire harem."

Two-timing and having a harem was another thing that Akane usually accused
Ranma of. She would make sure to give the Prince all of her supposed worst
traits that Akane usually got angry about and malleted her for.

"Wives? Harem?" Akane wanted to know, big eyes staring in shock.

"That's what His Majesty is being here in Japan for." Ranma explained.
"To collect an entire harem of strong fighting girls. The girls back home
are far too meek and weak for him, he says."

She gave Akane a moment to let that information sink in.

"He only wants strong warrior women. You are a warrior, right?" Ranma came
to the point. "Because if you wasn't, I'm sure the prince would let you
go."

"I am a martial-artist and I will not deny who I am to get out of this!"
Akane screamed.

Ranma could have smacked her. Why did this stupid tomboy refuse to take
this easy way out? All she had to admit was the truth: that she could not
handle herself in a real fight.

Akane mistook her reaction. "I am sorry, I screamed at you, but being a
martial-artist is something very important to me."

Ranma gathered up the remains of Akane's meal. This had been a failure.
Akane was shaken but not yet ready to call it quits. It looked like simply
verbal illustrations of the evils of Prince Wildpferd were not enough, it
seemed like she would require some more hands on encouragement to give up.

Luckily Ranma had already prepared a Plan B. She smiled evilly behind her
veil. Akane was about to get a workout that would make her regret ever
having asked anyone for training.


                             * **  ***  ** *

                              Part 6: Gymnos


"In that case, I will show you the gymnasium so you can prepare for your
match," Ranma said in response to Akane's stubborn insistence that she
was a real martial-artist who would fight her own fights.

Ranma would make her give up. If the threat of ending up in the hands of a
real pervert was not enough to make her say uncle, Ranma would be forced
to use his alternate plan. Luckily she had already prepared most of this
earlier.

The building, that housed the castle Ranma had conquered, had originally
contained a small company gym. When the Lichtenburgers had removed the
insides of the office building to make room for their castle, they had
left most the gym as it was and build the castle around it. Probably
because of all the support columns that its walls contained. Either that
or they had wanted to stay fit too.

Still in her kitchen drudge disguise, Ranma now lead Akane from the
dungeons to where the Gym was located. On the way they passed several
corridors and windows where guards could be seen from a distance.

But only from a distance. Ranma had made sure of that when she had plotted
this route. If you got to close it would be easy to tell that the guards
were mannequins. Ranma had found a whole batch of them stored in the lower
levels of the building and decided to dress them in uniforms the previous
owners had left behind to liven the castle up a bit.

Akane appeared to be fooled.

"This," said Ranma as they finally reached the gym, "will be your locker
room, mistress. The guards outside are forbidden from entering here and
the gym itself as long as you are in it."

"This door leads to the gymnasium and the showers are over there," pointed
Ranma out, "You can undress here. If you give me you clothes, I will wash
them while you are training."

Akane slowly began to undress as Ranma watched and waited. The effort
Ranma had put into playing her role really was paying off. Ranma hardly
could believe that she was for once not getting bashed for seeing Akane
undressed.

"The underwear too," she added after several moments deciding to go for
broke.

After Akane was completely naked and Ranma had collected all of her
clothes Ranma went to leave. She had almost reached the door when she was
brought up short by a cry from Akane.

"Hey! What am I supposed to wear for training? Where are my exercise
clothes?" the girl demanded to know.

"This is a traditional Gymnasium. You exercise 'gymnos' -- in the nude,"
Ranma explained innocently as she hastily made her escape. "Surely you
would not want to go in there clothed. They say it is unhygienic and
unaesthetic as to wear clothes while exercising."

"But... but... ,"Akane tried to stop her.

"Oh I see," Ranma acquiesced, "some girls get that problem when jumping
around all the time without any support. You can use this to bind your
breasts."

While Akane caught and inspected the item thrown to her, Ranma hurried
out of the room.

A cry of "This is a roll of cellophane!" could be heard just as Ranma
closed the door behind her.

A few steps further down the corridor Ranma opened the door of
maintenance closet. She carelessly dumped Akane's clothing into it, not
intending to give them back to the tomboy any time soon. Then she pulled
out two guard mannequins she had hidden there earlier and hastily put them
up with their backs facing Akane's locker room.

Unless she wanted to give her 'guards' a free show Akane was trapped in
the gym.

Getting out another bag of clothes and locking the cupboard again Ranma
hurried away.

                             * **  ***  ** *

Akane did not know what to do. None of the lockers had contained as much
as a handkerchief and there were no towels in the showers. She had briefly
considered fashioning some makeshift clothes out of one of the metal
lockers itself — she was strong enough to bend and punch holes in
the material where necessary — but she feared that the noise would
only alert the guards.

The door through which the stupid little maid had escaped was unlocked,
but a glance through the keyhole told her that there were two guards
standing to attention behind it.

Her only options were to either wait here in the locker room until the
girl returned or move on to the hopefully empty gym. And the only thing
she had found to cover herself were half a roll of toilet paper and the
roll of cellophane the maid had left her.

Akane decided to go without either.

Cautiously covering her crotch and breasts with her hands Akane shuffled
into the large hall. 

She was positively surprised. Not only was the gym empty of any peeping
perverts it also contained a good and surprisingly modern assortment of
training equipment: A weightlifting bench, a treadmill, several
exercycles, a multifunctional thing with all kinds of ropes and levers to
push and pull and stacks of weights. There also were some mats in the
corner, a large mirror covering an entire wall with a rail running along
it and enough open space to do all kinds of kata and exercises in.

The prince really had kept his word to allow her to train and if Akane had
had some clothes she would have gladly taken advantage of it. She
uncomfortably shifted from foot to foot as she stood alone and naked in
the large empty room.

Finally she let her arms drop to her side. There was no one here to see
her. She started to do some warming up exercises. Not because she
seriously planned to train in the nude as the maid had suggested, but
mostly because she wanted to keep warm.

                             * **  ***  ** *

Next door to the gym in a darkened room on the other side of the the wall
with the large mirror that was actually a two-way mirror Ranma watched as
Akane eventually began exercising in the nude. She had wondered what would
happen when she pitted Akane's desire to improve in the art against her
embarrassement and her almost obsessive fear of perverts. Ranma had half
expected Akane to stay in her locker room and forego the chance to train
rather than risking being seen naked. She was not to disappointed that
Akane had once again failed to give up on training to become a
martial-artist. The show Akane had unwittingly put on for her when she had
warmed-up had almost made up for her stubbornness.

At the moment Ranma was less concerned with seeing her fianc�e in the
altogether, although that was certainly an appealing sight. No Ranma was
interested in seeing just how Akane trained when she wasn't breaking
bricks or straw men or trying to hit a merrily dodging Ranma. Seeing the
answer delighted Ranma not nearly as much as it had seeing her stretch and
bend during her hesitant warm-up.

Akane trained stupidly!

She was using the weights and the exercise machines but she was not really
getting anything out of it. No wonder Akane had shown so little
improvement since they had first met. The tomboy was doing it all wrong!

She kept using her chi to boost her strength. And then she looked
satisfied with lifting what was little more than her own weight.

No wonder Akane mostly used her gorilla-strength when she was angry. She
was almost exclusively depending on her chi to perform acts of strength
and that was strongest when she was feeling extreme emotions.

Her muscles would hardly be stressed the way she was exercising. And if
she did not go to her limits she would never get stronger. Either she
should use much heavier weights — not that the gym had much in that
direction unless you counted lifting the machines themselves -- or she
would have to stop using her chi to boost her strength.

If she simply lifted normal weights with muscle power alone, she would get
stronger and the stronger her normal muscles got the stronger her
chi-boosted muscles would get.

Akane likely did not even know what she was doing. She probably would not
even know how to stop doing it.

Ranma could not watch it any longer. Something had to be done about this!

Since Akane would be unlikely to accept any helpful training advice from
the prince in her current condition and Ranma had played the maid as a
weak and harmless creature, she had created another character to act as
Akane's trainer. Ranma would enter the gym in the new guise of a harsh
instructor. She had originally just wanted to scare Akane away from
wanting training, but after seeing this sorry display, Ranma decided to at
least try to correct some of her worst faults while convincing her to give
up.
                             * **  ***  ** *

                            Part:7 The Trainer


As much fun as it had been to watch from her hiding place as her naked
fianc�e exerted herself, Ranma finally got fed up with Akane's useless
attempts at training. Stealthily Ranma entered the gym through a hidden
side door while Akane's back was turned.

Taking a moment to pose behind the unsuspecting girl in her newest
disguise  she finally announced her presence by loudly blowing a whistle.

Ranma made no attempt to hide her amusement as she watched Akane almost
jump through the roof. For a few minutes it looked like she could not
decide whether to cover herself, take a fighting stance or simply run. As
a compromise she finally opted for clenching her fists in front of her
crotch and breasts.

Stupid tomboy! Always focus on the fight. Survival first, modesty later!
That was another thing Ranma would have to teach her.

She finally decided to introduce herself. "I am Severa. I will be your
instructor. My job will be to make sure that you will be a worthy
challenge for our prince during the tournament. I can see that you will
require lots of training."

Akane gaped.

And she certainly should! Ranma had put quiet a lot of effort in creating
this disguise and the role she was currently playing.

Skintight black leather covered Ranma's female form head to toe. It
covered, but it did not actually hide anything from view, like for
example the fact that she did not wear anything underneath it.

The outfit only had a small hole in the back of her head through which
Ranma's black-dyed hair was hanging out in a loose ponytail and an
opening in the front for her face. Ranma had covered the lower half of
it with a black veil that distantly resembled the one she had worn as a
maid. A pair of mirrorshades that were totally useless indoors hid her
eyes.

Hanging from cords around her neck a stopwatch and a whistle were nestled
between her large leather-clad breasts. Since the outfit did not have any
pockets, she wore a leather belt around her waist that had several pouches
and items fastened to it. Most of them were for the benefit of Akane's
imagination rather than any practical use.

The look was completed by a pair of high-heel boots that seamlessly seemed
to merge with the rest of the outfit. The high-heels made it a bit
difficult to move but they gave her a bit of extra height and shifted her
entire posture. Ranma almost had not recognized herself when she had first
seen her mirror image and Akane certainly seemed equally impressed.

"Hey! How come you are not naked?" Akane demanded to know, "I thought this
was..."

But she was interrupted before she could finish her indignant complaint.

"Because," Ranma drawled, "I am not the one who will be doing all the
sweating, little one."

Neither Ranma's smirk nor her eyes roaming appreciatingly over Akane's
nude body should have been visible to Akane, but her reaction showed that
Ranma had managed to convey the general attitude of  'Severa' nonetheless.

"We have lots of work ahead of us," Ranma declared as she stalked towards
the nervous girl.

Ranma was getting the hang of playing this Severa character. She would
never have been able to act this way with Akane as herself -- mostly
because she would have been malleted for being a pervert, but also
because Ranma was genuinely not this forward. Hiding behind the guise
allowed her to do and say things that she would never have dared
otherwise. As Severa she even somehow could pronounced 'work' in a way
that made it not sound, but be understood as 'fun'.

"You are going to train me?" Akane asked frozen halfway in her
fight-or-flight reflex.

"I," Ranma told her invading her personal space, "am going to give you
Strength, Endurance and Discipline. You will need them if you want to
improve your fighting skills. You want to be a better fighter, don't you,
little one?"

Ranma managed to tower over Akane despite the fact that her girlside was
actually a bit shorter than her. The high-heels had little to do with this
feat; it was mostly done by dint of sheer attitude.

"Er... yes, I want to train to beat the prince, but...." Akane's hesitant
reply was again interrupted by Ranma.

"Fine, then put these on," ordered Ranma giving her four heavy metal cuffs
from her belt.

Ranma had found them in one of the unused dungeon cells. After removing
the attached chains she had originally planned to wear them as part of her
current costume, but seeing Akane train had made her change her mind.

"Those are magic shackles," Ranma lied, "they will make you become
stronger."

"Don't worry, I have the keys right here," she added patting a pouch on
her belt when she saw Akane look at them dubiously.

Akane hesitantly began putting the cuffs on her wrists and ankles as
Ranma walked around her. Finally after having secured the last manacle
she straightened up only to be surprised by a click as Ranma fitted a
collar around her neck. In fact she was so surprised that she did not
even notice that Ranma had hit a pressure point on Akane's back with her
other hand at the same time as she closed the collar.

"It is part of the set" Ranma placated her before Akane could protest.

Akane felt the collar with one hand. She looked like she really regretted
having gone along with Ranma's suggestion.

"Now that it is all on it should work. Try it out. Lift that barbell over
there."

Happy to get away from the leather clad girl Akane hurried to the
weights. 

"This tiny thing?" she wanted to know apparently already feeling more
confident now that she had Ranma out of her personal space, "I can lift
this with one hand. I don't need any magic shackles for that."

Ranma just stood there waiting as Akane reached for the weight. First
casually with one hand than earnestly with both Akane tried to move the
barbell, but only managed to make it roll around on the floor a bit.
Alarmed she tried other weights which proved to be just as uncooperative.

Enraged she turned around to face Ranma again. "What have you done to me,
you...."

Before Akane could find a suitable expletive Ranma was standing in front
of her. A leather gloved index finger sealing Akane's lips.

"I have done exactly what I have told you," Ranma told her in a voice that
was far too calm, "The shackles you wear will make you stronger if you
wear them while training. Every effort you make in them will be multiplied
manyfold. When you take them of for your match with the prince you will be
far stronger than you are now. The shackles are a magnificent strength
training tool and you should be grateful to be allowed to wear them."

That was of course almost all a lie. The shackles and collar were very
ordinary restraints and the 'magic' had come from Ranma surreptitiously
pressing a special pressure point to block Akane from using her chi to
boost her strength. Being forced to do strength training with just her
normal muscle power would make Akane stronger in the long run, that part
had been true, but by  concocting a story about exactly how Akane would
benefit from the training, Ranma avoided having to explain all the finer
details to her.

Akane probably did not even know that she was using her chi to boost her
strength. Ranma would have had to convince her that she was actually doing
it and then find a way to make her stop doing it. Tricking her and saying
that it was something else was just faster for now. Besides it was exactly
the sort of training method that Akane would feel really uncomfortable
with.

Removing her finger from Akane's lips Ranma finished "Now, do you want me
to remove them?"

Akane's anger was gone again and she looked chagrined as she shook her
head, "no."

"Good," Ranma smiled even if Akane could not see it, "one other thing.
While I train you, you will always call me 'Mistress'. Is that clear?"

Ranma stood waiting for an answer in a way that was somehow very obvious
about not trying to draw attention to the whip clipped to the side of her
belt.

Akane felt her eyes drawn there nonetheless. She gulped.

"Yes," she answered and then added without prompting "...Mistress."

"Perfect! Now let's begin with doing some push-ups" Ranma told her.

This really was perfect, Ranma thought as she watched Akane go down on
the ground before her. As she loudly counted out Akane's push-ups Ranma
watched fascinated the rise and fall of her rear and the general play of
her muscles. Such a beautiful sight!

Ranma had not said how many push ups she should do. Akane was trusting her
to tell her to stop at some point. She was at her feet clad only in
shackles and a collar and willing to do whatever Ranma told her.

Ranma almost could not believe it.

If Ranma had come in here as himself he would have been immediately
malleted before he could even open his mouth. Had he tried to play the
role of a drill instructor and told Akane to 'give her twenty' and call
her Sir or Miss, Akane would have tried to fight. Violence and open
threats would have made matters worse.

But the way Ranma had played her role had left Akane unsure how to
respond. Violence and insults she could handle, sexuality was something
she did not feel at home with. The feeling of naked defenselessness and
the desire to actually advance in the art must have finally prompted Akane
to go along with her rather than call her a pervert and try to hit her.

And Ranma had every intention of not disappointing the trust Akane put
in her by submitting to her mistress' training . Ranma would make Akane
improve. Ranma would take her to her limits and beyond.

                             * **  ***  ** *

Several eternities later Akane had reached her absolute limit. Akane had
reached her limit several times before but the sadistic bitch of  a
trainer had not been ready to let her stop. Akane had come to the point
where she no longer cared about the pain she felt in every muscle of her
body. Akane could not remember ever having felt this exhausted or ever
having trained this hard.

Akane had done push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups and whatever else-ups mistress
Severa could come up with. She had run on the treadmill, rowed on the
row-machine, cycled on exercycle and stepped on the stepper. She had
pushed, lifted and jerked up all kinds of weights in all kinds of
positions. The weights her trainer made her use were childishly small,
they just did not feel that way to Akane.

Mistress Severa had shown special interest in the machine with all the
pulleys and levers. She had impishly removed the handles and clipped
Akane's  manacles directly to the cables. When Akane had reached her
limit and could not pull the cables down anymore, she simply hung from the
manacles unable to let go and collapse on the ground. Akane had begged to
be let down, but the Mistress had not relented she would only unfasten her
if she finished her exercise. And then she had swatted Akane on her bare
behind until she continued the exercise. So Akane had continued.

And later during a different when Akane had reached her limit again and
really could not go on anymore, her Mistress had done it again, forbidden
her to give up and forced her to continue.

By now Akane was so exhausted that it was simpler to go along with
whatever her Mistress demanded rather than try to convince her that she
was to exhausted to do it.

Mistress Severa stepped up to the treadmill that Akane was currently on.
Akane was not slowing down again, she was running as fast as she could!

"I see you are getting exhausted, little one," Mistress told her, "I think
we should finish for today. Of course tomorrow we will train a bit harder,
won't we?"

'Sadistic bitch!' thought Akane unable to feel relief about finally coming
to an end or dread about doing worse tomorrow. 

Leaning over the treadmill display mistress Severa reset the odometer.

"Just finish the lap you are on and then you can go hit the showers," she
said slapping Akane goodbye on the butt and left the room.

'Perverted sadistic bitch!' Akane affirmed in her thoughts but still
finished the lap that she had just been forced to restart.

When she was done Akane stepped of and slowly walked in towards the
showers. There were plenty of towels there now covering the seats of
various exercise machines Akane had used. Had Akane still been interested
in modesty she might simply have picked one up, but she was beyond caring
about these things by now. For all she cared the guards or the prince
might come in and look at her all they wanted; Nabiki could come and take
pictures; she would not have fought Happosai in her current condition;
even Ranma would have gotten off with no more than a token malleting if he
had peeped on her right now. 

Not that Akane wanted anybody to come. She did not need to be rescued
from this castle full of perverts. She would train and get stronger and
beat the prince on her own.

Little Ashes the Maid was waiting for her in the showers. The little girl
looked a bit silly wearing only her veil and not the rest of her outfit,
but Akane let it pass without comment. The maid scrubbed and washed her
as Akane was by now far to lethargic to do it by herself. Normally Akane
would have malleted, object or at least felt embarrassed about being so
close to another naked (except for the veil) girl. But after being exposed
to mistress Severa's attention for comparison she had problems accusing
Ashes with her buisnesslike scrubbings any ulterior motives.

Akane sat down as Little Ashes began doing her hair. Perhaps not so
little she mused as she watched the breasts swaying beneath the bend
over maid.

Something seemed strangely familiar about those globes.

Hadn't she seen them somewhere before?

But Akane was so exhausted and thinking felt so hard while Ashes hands
felt so good. Akane was slowly drifting off....

                             * **  ***  ** *

Ranma fondly watched the sleeping tomboy. She had really fallen asleep as
Ranma had finished washing her hair.

Gently picking her up he began carrying Akane back to the dungeon. She did
not brother with clothing herself or the passenger in her arms. There was
no one in the castle besides the two of them and an army of mannequins.

Luckily Ranma had managed to finish the Xi Fang Gao technique before
Akane dozed of. Ranma had been getting worried that Akane might recognize
her. Ranma might not have been as good as Shampoo and without the formula
it would normally be difficult to achieve anything, but Akane was so tired
that she already was half in trance and Ranma had taken the opportunity to
clean up her memory a bit.

Ranma did not want Akane to forget him completely or anything like that.
She just wanted to keep Akane from realizing how much the various females
in the prince's fellowship looked like Ranma's cursed form.

If anyone asked Akane what Ranma's girlside looked like she would still
be able to describe it, but if everything had worked she would not be
able to recognize her in Ashes or Severa unless someone ripped of their
veils and shouted: "Can't you see? This is Ranma!"

With a bit luck Akane would also fall for any disguises Ranma might need
in the future and not connect them with each other.

Ranma eased open the door to Akane's new room. The door was less sturdy
and the cell had more furniture in it, but with Akane being under the
effect of the strength-sapping pressure point there was less risk of her
breaking everything.

Gently she tucked her naked fianc�e in her bed and kissed her good
night on the forehead.

Smiling Ranma locked the door behind her and went to find some clothing
and a warm if empty bed for herself. 

Today had been fun even if she had not been able to make Akane give up on
being a martial artist.

                             * **  ***  ** *

                       Part 8: Rivals to the Rescue?


Nabiki was starting to get concerned. At first the fight between Ranma and
her little sister had been sort of funny. Ranma arguing that Akane should
continue to play the damsel in distress and Akane vowing to take on the
next stranger who would abduct her by herself. Then Ranma had threatened
not to rescue her anymore and Akane had countered by actually forbidding
him from rescuing her. 

Predictably Akane had been kidnapped soon after that. Ranma had acted like
he actually was not going after her. Hah, as if! Nabiki knew better, but
Ranma had this problem about publicly admitting defeat, so they had
allowed him to pretend that he was really just going on a training trip
instead of chasing after his fianc�e. 

According to Kasumi, Ranma had returned early this morning to fetch some
training props. Stuff from his room and a few books he borrowed from
Kasumi. 

Nabiki had no idea what Ranma would do with most of them. Kasumi's
anatomy and kinesiology books, Nabiki could see as being helpful, even if
Ranma should already know everything in there except for the big words,
but cookbooks on European cuisine or the family encyclopaedia volume IV
[J-N]? Maybe Ranma had gotten into a weird martial arts librarian contest
with Akane's abductor. 

Anyway, Nabiki was getting worried. Maybe Ranma was in over his head?
Maybe he really was serious about not intervening in Akane's plight?
Nabiki could not really picture this but martial artists were a stubborn
lot. 

And the last time Akane had been kidnapped it had been a really close
call from what she had heard. Not that Nabiki was overly worried about her
little sister's welfare, but if something happened to Akane Nabiki would
be next in line to unite the schools and that would simply not do. 

It was time to call in some reinforcements for Akane's rescue. 

                             * **  ***  ** *

Later On the phone: 

#Unryu Farm, this is Akari speaking, hello?# 

#Ah, Akane' sister, yes I remember.#

#I am sorry to hear that.#

#Ryouga? No he is not here at the moment.#

#He went for a walk a week ago, but I spoke on the phone with him just
yesterday. Apparently he met some of his relatives and with that being so
rare they are having any impromptu family reunion. I am so happy for him,
he does not get to see his family very often.#

#No he did not say where he was. I don't think anybody there actually
knows. They are all Hibikis there, you know?# 

#If Ryoga calls again I will tell him that you wanted to speak with him.# 

#Good luck with your sister. Bye.#

#CLICK# 

                             * **  ***  ** *

Later again: 

#...Look Sugar, Akane is my friend and everything, but I have a business
to run here. I can't just take off and chase her down all the way to China
or wherever else she has gone to this time#

#You said yourself that you don't even know where to start looking.#

#You know what, if you got a good lead or something I am game, just tell
me when and where and I will be there for the fight.#

#No problem sugar, that's what friends are there for. Bye#

#CLICK# 

#I know you have been listening in again, Konatsu. Don't try to guilt trip
me. You know that we can't just take off from work.#

#I am still angry about the stunt Akane pulled with her wedding, but I
promise I will come along as soon as Nabiki comes up with something solid.
OK?# 

#CLICK# 

                             * **  ***  ** *

And then: 

#...Pervert Girl got herself kidnapped again? And Ranma no rescue her this
time? This is too, too good news.#

#Why would Shampoo want to rescue, if Ranma no want her back?# 

#Every warrior to fight her own fight; is amazon custom. Shampoo would not
want to disturb someone-else's fight.#

#Besides Shampoo too, too busy with Neko-Hanten. You want order take-out;
is on house in celebration of Shampoo husband giving up on violent
tomboy.# 

#CLICK#

                             * **  ***  ** *

Finally: 

#... and so I pledge to put all the resources of the noble house of Kuno
behind your quest to free your sister. No thanks are needed, your sisters
gratefulness will be all the reward this humble samurai might ever ask
for. As soon as you have provided me with sufficient information on the
whereabouts of my Akane I will immediately begin my quest...#

Kodachi listened on as her idiotic brother was talking on the phone in the
next room. He was assuring the mercenary Tendo girl to do everything in
his power to rescue her sister Akane. Knowing her older brother and Nabiki
Tendou as well as she did, she suspected that everything in his power
would translate to everything in his wallet and not much more. 

Her brother was useless in mostly anything that did not involve slicing
melons and giving overly dramatic speeches. If Akane Tendo had to rely on
him for her rescue she would be doomed. 

Fortunately for Akane, the girl was blessed with an assortment of capable
friends who would not hesitate to come to her rescue. First among them
Kodachi's very own Ranma Saotome. 

Well, perhaps not exactly her Ranma Saotome. Kodachi had realized long ago
that Ranma was not and would not be hers. That was why she had actually
asked Akane to "borrow" him for her bet with the White Lilly. But just
because she stood no chance of actually winning Ranma's love was no reason
to give up the wonderful fight for him. 

The competition over Ranma Saotome was one of the few times when Kodachi
really felt like she belonged. She was no leader or outsider, just one
among others. The other girls would not just associate with her for her
families money and connections or exclude her over slight eccentricities
like her schoolmates did. They accepted her as she was and even respected
her as a rival. 

True relations between them were not always cordial, but that was part of
the game. And every now and then they united forces in some undertaking
like beating up the Panda when they had chased after Ranma's ring. That
had been fun. 

In a twisted way the other girls after Ranma were the closest Kodachi had
ever come to have true friends. 

That is why it hurt so much to be excluded from so many of their
adventures. Often she only managed to participate by chance. Just last
month several of them had gone of to far away China on an adventure that
by all the accounts she had heard, must have been remarkable. If she had
been told beforehand, Kodachi would have surely found some justification
to get involved. At least this time the Kuonji girl had also been left
behind. And the fun Kodachi had at the wedding soon after had made up for
a lot. It had been so thoughtful of them to invite her. 

Kodachi made a decision. This time she would not depend on chance or the
charity of others to be involved in the coming action. She would
proactively search out the kidnapper of Akane Tendo and be sure to join
the others when they arrived. 

With a carefree laugh Kodachi went to prepare for her adventure.


                                                              )  )" <
                                                             tsu zu ku

             .---Anime/Manga Fanfiction Mailing List----.
             | Administrators - ffml-admins@anifics.com |
             | Unsubscribing - ffml-request@anifics.com |
             |     Put 'unsubscribe' in the subject     |
             `---- http://ffml.anifics.com/faq.txt -----'