[Continuation]

Akane was thinking about her failed wedding and the circumstances around it. She wasn't really surprised that it had been bombed —quite literally. No, she was thinking about was what had happened at the springs, the nannichuan, and the fact Ranma had said he was sure he hadn't said IT out loud. She found that particular outburst quite funny sense Ranma had admitted his love for her in his own dysfunctional way. The omission no matter how awkward made her smile.

However, the more and more she thought about things, the more she noticed that things were simply off in some areas of her and Ranma's lives.

She realized that if the wedding had gone through she most likely couldn't have gone through with the wedding night since thinking about being intimate with Ranma still brought her to anger. Akane absolutely knew this was wrong if you were in love with someone the idea of intimacy shouldn't bring you to any kind of anger especially after you married the person. There had to be something wrong with her. Akane really didn't know exactly what the problem was but she did know how to fix it: A Black orchid cocktail. It was a drink that her mother told her to make when quote 'You got in your own way'. If she drank one, all of her inhibitions and usual reactions to things would go away for six hours and after that time they would return in a weakened state. This would definitely allow her to get as close to Ranma as she wanted to.

This however wasn't her main concern no that was Ranma and his curse. She couldn't do anything about it but the way the curse affected him was becoming more and more disconcerting. Ranma was most definitely a man she had seen that the first day they met. However, Akane also saw that Ranma was very womanly. Most times, she wondered if she wasn't just seeing things but after the latest debacle with the cursed springs, she wasn't so sure.

The last thing she had realized was because of the argument she and Ranma had when he barged into her room. They had fought as they always had for a few seconds. Exchanging insults, threats and copious amounts of verbal venom but after Ranma ran off Akane found that: First, she felt dissatisfied with the argument it just hadn't been up to their usual fighting. Second, she didn't feel any real anger towards Ranma only towards the feeling of a dissatisfying fight. It was a truly odd sensation and Akane wondered about its meaning.

Shaking her head Akane decided that the fight didn't matter and left her room she had a Black orchid cocktail to make and drink before she went to bed.

********************

Eight hours later Akane awoke with a drunken *hic*.

'Hmm, I wish I'd taken that drink a lot earlier,' Akane thought herself. 'Those dreams were wonderful even if they were a bit on the weird side. Mhh ok a lot on the weird side I was a guy for a few of them after all,' Akane mentally added as she got up and got ready to take a bath. However, as she did so Akane found herself having rather perverted thoughts about Ranma. Shaking her head to clear it Akane mentally scolded herself, 'It's NOT perverted to want to sleep with the man you love,' before leaving to get her bath.

********************

Later after breakfast, Ranma and Akane walked along the road to Furinkan each really not wanting to deal with the craziness of school that day.

"I really don't feel like going today," Ranma said as he stopped about halfway to Furinkan.

"Neither do I," Akane responded. After all what was the point, school was only a half day and school wouldn't restart for another few weeks due to a combination of a short break and renovations to the school.

"It's too bad we don't have some kind of hide out," Ranma commented.

"I think I might know just the place we could use for a hide out," Akane said a moment later before whispering something Ranma's ear and running off.

Ranma's response was to smirk before running off in the opposite direction.

********************

An hour or so later Ranma made his way under a drainage canal bridge where he found a door hidden behind a large pile of rubble. Entering the door Ranma smiled if you didn't know about the door's existence you wouldn't suspect that it was their and that made the large service room he was now in a perfect hide out.

Smiling as he turned to Akane who was relaxing on an old and tattered couch Ranma said, "It's perfect! With this place we have a way to get away from the wrecking crew," as he flopped down on the couch with Akane.

"So now what?" Akane asked as she stretched out.

"Rest, the damn panda kept me awake again," Ranma grumbled out before yawning and falling asleep.

Akane's response to this was to frown for a moment however once the moment was over she pulled Ranma into her lap and began resting herself. "This I could definitely get used to," Akane said with a smile and she ran her fingers through Ranma's hair.

********************

When Ranma awoke around noon, he found Akane running her hand through his hair as she absently looked off into space.

"Ranma," Akane said thoughtfully. "Why did you say what you did at the springs after it started raining?"

"HUN! Why are you asking about that tomboy?" Ranma exclaimed defensively as he practically shot into a sitting position.

Akane's response to this was to bristle for a moment as she felt a strong desire to fight rise up from within. However, due to what she had drank the previous night Akane could force down the desire. She did make a mental note to think of it later though.

"Just curious," Akane finally said in response before repeating what Ranma had said that day.

"I'm not sure when, but somewhere along the line, I just stopped caring about it. .........I suppose in the end.... I understand that my girl side was always a part of me, anyway, maybe it was never a curse to begin with."

"...but the truth is you still do care about it," Akane added a few moments later.

Ranma's was response to this was a nod as he cursed his weakness at the springs under his breath.

Having heard Ranma because of their close proximity and quietness of the room Akane said, "You know my mother always said that the first step in overcoming weakness is admitting it," before she drifted off into her memories. "If you can't admit and then confront a weakness you can never hope to overcome it," Akane quoted from memory.

"Admit and then confront," Ranma repeated thoughtfully. It was a simple straightforward way of dealing with weakness. No dancing around the fact, no denying it just going at it straight on; it seemed like a simple solution to the problem but Ranma knew from experience that what sounded simple almost always was a huge challenge in disguise.

...and wherever a challenge was Ranma would go even if he should know better; especially where his curse was concerned.

As such, Ranma's usually unused gray matter started processing the challenge:

Admit: I don't care about it —it being the curse.

Admit: My girl side was always a part of me.

Admit: Maybe it was never a curse to begin with— It being my girl side.

Warning multiple logic errors: I DO care about the curse.

How can girl side not be a curse?

How can my girl side be a part of me?

Processing information to resolve logic errors:

Analyzing curse:

Curse components: Curse changes me into a girl

Curse is triggered by cold water and reversed by hot water.

Analyzing components of curse:

Transformation into a girl:

According to input, girl side is not a curse. Recategorize

Water triggers transformation:

Memories indicate that water causing the transformation has caused significant problems to self and even more problems to others with Jusenkyo curses.

Analysis of curse complete:

Data indicates water transformation is the true curse.

Final data processing yields that I don't care about my girl side by do care about the water transformation.

Processing of information interrupted...

Confrontation solution of curse: To eliminate curse eliminate water-triggering transformation (method of elimination to be determined). If confrontation solution is successful weakness to water well be eliminated.

Total processing time: 3 minutes, 47 seconds

'Admit then confront' solution to dealing with weakness is more effective in dealing with weaknesses then 'Deny until it goes away' solution therefore old solution method is to be discarded immediately.

Processing done Ranma came out of the trancelike state he had fallen into and almost immediately shouted, "I've got it! If I can get rid of the water thing, the curse wouldn't be a problem any more!"

Not understanding Ranma's train of thought at all Akane muttered, "What are you talking about?"

"Well now that I tried that 'Admit and then Confront' technique. I realize that I can get rid of the weakness to water the curse creates a getting rid of the water thing," Ranma said with his usual ego.

Not really knowing how Ranma came to this conclusion nor really carrying Akane said, "Ok now how exactly are you going to get rid of the water thing, baka?"

Ranma's response was his trademark dear in the headlights look.

"You have no clue do you," Akane finally said.

"Hey give me a break, you uncute tomboy, I just thought of it," Ranma grumbled out as he glared at Akane.

Bristling once again, this time because of Ranma's insult, Akane fought back the urge to fight with Ranma.

"I got it if anyone knows anything it's Cologne," Ranma finally said.

"True but she'll try to manipulate you to get what she wants," Akane responded.

"I know but it's not like I have any other options," Ranma said with a grumble. "There's no 'friendly wizards' anywhere around and even if there were they'd want something to."

"True," Akane admitted with an annoyed grumble. Still she didn't like the idea of dealing with the Amazons.

"So if there was a 'friendly wizard' would you go to them before the Amazons?"

"Yeah," Ranma replied absently not noticing that Akane has suddenly gone pale.

"Hmm, Ranma that wasn't me," Akane managed to get out with a gulp.

"Hun what are you..." Ranma got out before noticing they had company in the form of a feminine figure whose features were hidden by the shadows that were far too dark to be natural. "Who are you?!" Ranma demented.

"Oh just your 'friendly neighborhood magi'," the figure answered mischievously.

"What do you want?"

"Oh that depends on what you need and as things stand now I see you needing a few things the first of which is a sanctuary," the figure replied as the commotion of the wrecking crew was heard outside.

"What's the price of this sanctuary?" Akane asked. There was something familiar about this figure although Akane couldn't figure out what.

"For you Red One the prices are: respect of his judgment and abilities and true trust in him," the figure replied before turning to Ranma. "For you Wild Stallion the prices are: you will become her sensei and as such you will give her the respect a student deserves," the figure continued as the wrecking crew drew closer.

"I agree to the prices," Akane finely said surprising Ranma greatly.

Ranma's surprise quickly faded however as someone was heard pounding on the door "Ok I agree to," Ranma grumbled.

"A wise decision," the figure said before snapping her fingers and vanishing with Ranma and Akane seconds before the wrecking crew barged into the room.

********************

When Ranma and Akane regained their senses they found themselves in a room that was 10' square at the center of which was a gateway of some sort.

"You okay?" Ranma queried as he stood up and walked over to Akane who was also getting up.

"Yeah just a little dizzy," Akane answered as she looked around the room to find it completely unfurnished save for a large door and the gateway they were standing by.

"I wonder what this thing is," Ranma questioned as he looked at the gateway.

"This is the gateway it is the entrance and exit to the sanctuary," the mysterious figure said as she appeared from behind the gateway. "As to how to use it, read the manual," the figure added as she threw a book to Ranma.

After catching the book, Ranma looked back towards the gateway to find the figure had vanished. Grumbling Ranma said, "I hate it when they disappear like that."

"Agreed," Akane grumbled out before walking over to the door and opening it to reveal a huge 20' square tearoom that was modestly furnished with a few comfy looking couches and chairs along with a tea table, entertainment system and various board games.

"I'll say one thing for our 'friendly neighborhood magi'. She thinks big," Ranma commented as he as he entered the tearoom.

"It's more then a bit suspicious that she would give us all this for what she asked for isn't it," Akane commented as looked around noting that there were three doors out of the room other than the one they had just came through.

"The whole thing stinks if you ask me," Ranma commented. "...and why did she show up now and not earlier?"

"Maybe you beating Saffron attracted her attention," Akane replied as she walked over to the door on the left side of the room. "After all those staffs had to come from somewhere."

Nodding as he walked over to the door on the right side of the room Ranma commented, "So do you think she has something to do with the springs?"

"Yeah the timing is way to a convenient for her not to be," Akane replied as she opened the door she was standing in front of to reveal a huge library. Closing the door after looking around for a moment Akane continued, "...and you were just talking about the curse moments before she appeared."

"True," Ranma muttered as he opened the door he was standing in front of to reveal a kitchen that could make Kasumi drool. "...but why didn't she show up during the wedding fiasco?" Ranma added as he closed the door.

"Maybe she wanted to get us alone," Akane responded thoughtfully as she walked over to the other door.

"Why?" Ranma questioned as he walked over to the other door as well.

"I don't know. Maybe it's because we were the closest the Saffron," Akane answered sharply as she opened the door to reveal a hallway and another door directly across from the one she had just opened. "I'm beginning to think big is an understatement," Akane muttered as she looked down the hallway.

"Yeah me to," Ranma commented before opening the door on the opposite side of the hallway. "Ok now I know it's an understatement," Ranma said as he looked out into what appeared to be a massive indoor garden.

Walking into the garden with Ranma, Akane couldn't believe what she was seeing: fruit trees, vegetables, herbs, a pool, and two ponds one full of fish and the other full of some glowing viscous liquid.

At the far end of the massive plus shaped 2000 square-foot garden, there were two doors. The door on the right led to what appeared to be a training hall and the one on the left led to a room with a sunken pit that appeared to be for some sort of gladiatorial match. After looking both rooms over Ranma and Akane left via the indoor garden and returned to the hallway. To right of the tearoom they found two bedrooms and to the left of the tearoom they found a bathroom with a furo, a laundry room and lastly an indoor onsen.

"Ok this is a bit much," Akane commented as she looked at the indoor onsen.

"If this is what she considers a sanctuary I wonder what she considers a mansion," Ranma commented sarcastically.

"I don't think I want to know," Akane answered she closed the door to the onsen.

"So what now?" Ranma queried as he and Akane walked back to the tearoom.

As tempted as Akane was to ask Ranma to start training her immediately she decided it would be better to start figuring out a way to get the wrecking crew to back off and so she said so.

Surprisingly Ranma agreed immediately however he added, "I don't think we can be obvious about it."

"I don't follow," Akane responded as she gave Ranma a curious eye.

"Telling them off won't work. That should be obvious after they bombed the wedding," Ranma answered.

"Yeah you have a point there," Akane rumbled as she glared at a convenient wall. "So do you have any ideas?"

"An old and dirty trick; make them think it's their idea to leave," Ranma replied.

"...and why are you only starting to use this trick now?" Akane asked curiously and a bit sharply.

"I thought they were at least friends but after the failed wedding I see they aren't," Ranma said as he actually started to literally radiate anger.

Seeing this Akane mentally gulped, she had never seen Ranma so completely and openly angry.

"I what them all gone!" Ranma screamed as his anger-fueled aura began to grow. "If I ever see one of them again it will be too soon," Ranma seethed as his aura grew even more.

"Calm down ok," Akane said as she wrapped her arms around Ranma who's anger fueled aura immediately faded.

"Yeah, you're right I got to keep control of myself," Ranma said stiffly as if he really didn't believe his own words.

"So who do you want to target first?" Akane asked after Ranma had calmed down.

"Mousse," Ranma answered icily. "If we can get him interested in someone else he'll stay out of our hair."

"...but how do we get him interested in someone else he's obsessed with Shampoo," Akane asked curiously.

"Easy if he thinks giving attention to someone else will make Shampoo jealous enough to come after him he'll do it in an instant and if Shampoo does she'll be out of our hair as well," Ranma responded.

"So who do you have in mind for him to go after?"

"The poster girl of insanity Kodachi Kunou," Ranma answered.

Akane's response to this was to consider Ranma's plan for a long while. "You know the scary thing about this plan is I can see those two psychos together."

"I know," Ranma mumbled before the two started to plot out the details of their plan.

Several hours later the two finished their planning.

First, Akane would suggest to Mousse that the best way for him to attract Shampoo's attention was give his attention to someone beautiful enough to make Shampoo jealous.

Second, Ranma and Akane would stealthily manipulate Mousse and Kodachi into a tangled web that would eventually make them forget about them entirely.

Third, get the two to leave Nerima.

The plan wasn't perfect by any means but what it lacked in detail Ranma and Akane would make up for in improvisation.

...lots of improvisation.

********************

"I wonder what time it is," Akane queried as she looked at the high ceiling of the sanctuary's tearoom.

The answer to this query was provided by the 'friendly neighborhood magi', "Time flows differently here in the sanctuary. You can spend up to seven days here for every second that passes outside but once you do spend that seven days it will take the sanctuary a weak to recover a single day. My suggestion is you take full advantage of that schedule."

After looking around for the 'friendly neighborhood magi' who was found leaning against the door to the gateway Akane demanded, "...and how do we do that?"

"For every seven days outside will have an eighth day of rest," the Magi responded before vanishing.

"An eighth day," Akane echoed before turning to Ranma who shrugged.

"Hey any amount of time away from the wrecking crew is welcome," Ranma answered.

"True," Akane said flatly before her stomach grumbled.

"I'll start making dinner," Ranma said before walking off giving Akane no chance to object and leaving her alone to fume for a few moments.

'I shouldn't be getting angry I know my cooking's toxic,' Akane mumbled to herself before starting to review the events of the past few hours. She realized that her behavior had been heavily influenced by the black orchid cocktail not that this surprised her. However, what she had started to see because of it was surprising. Starting with the fact that when she refused to fight with Ranma he was actually quite easy to get along with.

Akane also realized that she wanted to fight Ranma and she really didn't understand why. It was starting to become very disconcerting and the more Akane thought about it the more she realized she had used any excuse to fight with Ranma.

'...but why?' Akane mentally questioned. It wasn't a matter of blind anger though Akane admitted her anger was the usual trigger ... or was her desire to fight Ranma what triggered her anger. Thinking back, Akane realized it was her desire to fight with Ranma that had caused her to fly into a blind rage.

She usually had a —reasonably— long fuse on her explosive temper but Ranma always seemed to burn through that fuse in an instant. Now she knew why he did, her desire to fight Ranma was using her temper as an excuse to pick a fight and Ranma always took the bait. For that matter so did she.

'I really am a violent maniac,' Akane thought to herself at this revelation. 'I'll pick a fight with him for nothing ...but the same is true for Ranma he'll use ANY excuse to get in a fight but he's really not a violent maniac. So that must mean it's something else but what?' Akane thought before concentrating on the feeling, the urge, the primal desire to fight Ranma. It gave Akane the shivers and not in a bad way it felt like ... it was an almost sexual feeling. This revelation had Akane blushing to the roots of her hair as she thought, 'Ok now I know why Shampoo calls me pervert girl and from now on if it goes that way I'm going to react appropriately.'

Shaking her head to clear it, Akane continued to think on the feeling this time making sure to keep her mind out of the gutter, which was a much bigger challenge then she thought was going to be. After a while, Akane managed to trace the feeling back to its origins and then name it; the feeling was her love of the fight and Ranma was the only one she knew that loved fighting as much as she did. She also realized that her fighting Ranma was how she had been expressing her love towards Ranma. However, that love had been tainted by her anger.

'No more, I'm not going to taint a fight with anger anymore,' Akane thought just as Ranma entered with dinner, which the two ate in silence.

"So what do you want to do now?" Ranma asked rather nervously after he had finished his dinner.

"How bout a fight," Akane answered she stood. "I hit you, you hit me and we keep going till we drop. It's a kind of endurance training."

"No," Ranma said immediately and definitively.

Rolling her eyes Akane responded by saying, "You promised to be my sensei, Ranma, you know that means you'll have to hit me."

Wincing at the truth of Akane statement Ranma reluctantly nodded.

"Come on then," Akane said with a smile before she ran off already looking forward to fighting Ranma.

********************

"I hate this," Ranma muttered to himself as he squared off against Akane.

"Don't," Akane responded before stretching and explaining what she had in mind. "Ok this training exercise designed to increase endurance. You hit as hard as you get hit and we keep going until we drop. So no dodging or blocking it's all about taking hits."

"Seems straightforward enough," Ranma responded.

"You first," Akane said as she dropped into a loose stance.

Gritting his teeth Ranma charged and hit Akane with a few small punches. The punches didn't even faze Akane.

"Ranma," Akane said with barely contained anger. "Nabiki can hit harder then that," Akane bellowed as she punched Ranma who surprisingly let Akane hit him. The force of the blow staggered Ranma for a fraction of a moment. "Now hit me back that hard," Akane demanded.

"No do you realize how hard you..." screamed out before Akane interrupted.

"That's how hard Kasumi can hit," Akane said calmly causing Ranma to blink. "Now come on I've taken plenty of hits from Kasumi."

"Ok ok, fine tomboy!!" Ranma screamed before hitting Akane who staggered back a little bit before returning Ranma's punch with one of her own. Ranma surprised that Akane had actually managed to take the blow barely had time to prepare for Akane's next punch which did a little bit more damage than it would have if Ranma had been totally prepared. The pigtail martial artist however quickly recovered and hit Akane again this time a little harder.

Akane's response as she took the hit was to smirk before striking Ranma again.

'Wow she's a lot tougher than I gave her credit for,' Ranma thought as he took another hit. 'I guess I really don't have to worry about hurting her.'

After an hour of nonstop fighting, the two finally collapsed, battered, bruised and thoroughly beaten.

Coughing up some blood Ranma said, "I think we got a little carried away," as he nursed a rib that had a hairline fracture.

Doing the same Akane cheekily answered, "Maybe just a wee bit," as she smiled at Ranma despite a black eye. "I haven't had a fight like that in ... well I don't think I've had a fight like that ever actually. I've broken bones practicing before but I've never had so much fun. ... I wish all our fights were that fun."

"Yeah, same here you violent tomboy," Ranma answered with a pained smile. He couldn't remember the last time he had such fun with a fight. Not even fighting Ryouga was as fun.

Ignoring the violent tomboy comment Akane stated, "I'm sorry I broke your rib."

"Same here," Ranma answered. "It's going to put a real damper on training," Ranma added truthfully. He no longer had any reservations about hitting or training Akane. She could take a lot of damage.

"Well, we can't have that now can we," the mysterious Magi said with a smirk from where she was leaning against the doorframe of the training hall of the sanctuary.

"What are you talking about it'll take weeks for Akane to recover," Ranma said with a glare.

"The glowing pond is actually full of a potion that can heal even the most severe injuries and it never goes dry," the Magi said with a smirk as she tossed two small vials to Ranma and Akane.

Looking at his vial Ranma found that it was full of the same kind of viscous liquid that was in the glowing pond outside.

"Well bottoms up," Ranma muttered before drinking the contents of his vial. A half a second later Ranma blinked and said, "Wow I'm completely healed!" as he jumped up and started doing exercises. Another half second later, however he abruptly came to a stop and mumbled. "Ok I'm healed but I'm still really sore."

Rolling her eyes Akane drank the healing potion she had received before standing up and saying, "The way things are going the onsen will have enough magic to solve that problem."

"True," Ranma answered as Akane walked off Ranma following shortly thereafter.

********************

A little later Ranma and Akane entered the bathing room that was adjacent to the onsen. Instantly Ranma noticed a slight problem; there was no divider in the room. "Hmm, I..." Ranma managed to get out before he noticed Akane was already starting to undress. Quickly turning around Ranma began to leave.

However he was cut off when Akane said, "Come over here, baka."

"Hmm, no, not going to; got to be some sort of trick," Ranma muttered nervously. "Or there was something in that potion!" Ranma exclaimed.

"Then how do you explain the fact that I've been acting weird all day," Akane responded smugly.

"Hmm..." Ranma responded rather dumbly. 'Now that she mentions it she has been acting weird all day.'

"I'll tell you what's up if you wash my back," Akane offered with a tone of voice more commonly associated with Nabiki.

Now sweating profusely Ranma began to disrobe determined to find out what was wrong with Akane. Akane however was smiling mischievously. She finally had Ranma alone and no one was going to interrupt.

Looking over her shoulder as Ranma sat down Akane smiled and said, "You know if the wedding hadn't been bombed you'd already had a few opportunities to do this," as Ranma nervously splashed some water over himself.

"Hun?" Ranma-chan queried cluelessly.

Glaring at Ranma-chan, Akane thought, 'He couldn't be THAT stupid,' before turning away from the still clueless looking Ranma-chan and mentally adding, 'Then again he could be baka enough not to know what you're supposed to do on the wedding night.'

"So hmm, why exactly are you acting weird?" Ranma-chan asked nervously as she barely touched Akane's back.

"I had a drink last night a very special drink my mother told me how to make," Akane answered.

"Your mom but why would she tell you how to make a drink when you were a little kid?" Ranma-chan asked curiously.

Blinking Akane responded by saying, "You know now that I think about it I have no idea why she did, but she did."

"So what's so special about this drink?" Ranma-chan asked suspiciously.

"It's made by using the pedals, stem and leaves of a dried black orchid mixed with vodka and a little bit of lime juice," Akane responded. 'Although I had to substitute lemon juice since there was no lime juice around,' Akane mentally added.

"WHAT!!!" Ranma-chan screamed in disbelief. "Why in the world would you drink something like that!!"

"Do you even know what it does?" Akane queried rhetorically.

"Hmm, I know if you sniff a black orchid you make a bitch in heat look tame," Ranma-chan answered nervously.

"A mild way of putting it," Akane said as she rolled her eyes. "As to why I drank it mother said that I should only take it if I got in my own way, and after thinking a lot last night I realize that I had," Akane added.

"So is that why you haven't lost your temper today," Ranma-chan asked curiously.

"Among other things," Akane answered distantly she leaned back Ranma-chan of course catching her before she could fall. "Now get on with washing my back."

"Hmm, ok," Ranma-chan said nervously before starting to actually wash Akane's back.

When Ranma-chan finished about a minute later, she backed away and began washing herself only to be startled when she felt Akane's hands on her back. "Relax, baka I'm just returning the favor," Akane said evenly though her eyes held a great deal of mischief. 'He's really skittish about being close so I'll have to take it slow. Ironic I always thought he was going to be aggressive,' Akane thought as she finished washing Ranma-chan's back. 'Oh well with his ego and ability to adapt I'm sure he get over being shy about it soon,' Akane mentally added before she finished washing herself. "I'll be waiting for a massage to work out the kinks," Akane said evenly and without the slightest bit of innuendo as she walked off towards the onsen mentally musing on the fact she was acting a little like Nabiki and Shampoo put together.

********************

'It feels better this way,' Akane thought as she sunk into the onsen. 'I'm so much more relaxed and I like being relaxed a lot more than I do being angry all the time. Still why am I acting so sexually loose it's not like me at all,' Akane thought before Ranma-chan entered and slipped in to the onsen transforming thanks to the hot water. After looking at Ranma — who of course blushed— with a smile Akane turned around and thought, 'Although I can see why Shampoo acts like this all the time. Still it isn't for me. So why am I acting like this? It doesn't matter I can I myself under control ... ironically better than I did before I had the drink.'

"You sure everything's okay?" Ranma questioned.

"As well as it probably can be after taking a mind altering drug," Akane replied sarcastically. "Now please get on with that massage. I don't feel like becoming a pretzel later," Akane added rather impatiently.

"Hmm ok," Ranma said nervously before starting to give Akane a massage. 'Soul of ice,' Ranma chanted to himself to keep control over his raging hormones. Thankfully, from Ranma's point of view he finished Akane's massage after a minute. A very small fraction of a second later he bolted from the onsen leaving Akane alone.

The indigo haired tomboy's response to this was to grumble something under her breath before thinking, 'He's a pervert so why is he running away,' Akane thought before shrugging it off and starting to relax.

********************

Early the next morning at around 2 a.m. Akane considered how she had acted the previous day. She had so admit she loved every minute of it, including being sexually loose with Ranma. That was what bothering her since that in Akane's own views made her a pervert. There were two ways of dealing with this Akane could see.

One except it and stop calling Ranma a pervert.

Two think about how she could possibly not a pervert.

She wouldn't even consider the first and she was having no luck with the second. This was why she was sitting alone in the kitchen of the sanctuary nursing a glass of saki ever so slowly. "I need help," Akane stated while fully expecting the mysterious Magi to suddenly appear out of nowhere.

The mysterious Magi did not disappoint. "I'm not even going to bother asking what you need help with sense you've been projecting your thoughts for the past hour," the mysterious Magi said as she stepped out of the shadows drinking something from a large tankard. "So why don't I get down to business."

Akane's response to this was a nod.

"Good, now for some visual aids," the Magi responded before creating four illusionary copies of Akane. The first portrayed her as a small child no more than 10 years old. The second also did this however; the second was a small boy. The third portrayed her as a grown woman in her mid-20s that was absolutely drop-dead gorgeous in a buxom Amazonian way. Finally, the last image portrayed her as a hansom and slightly rugged looking man dressed in a variation of Ranma's usual garb. "Now the smaller two represent your her childhood Yin and Yang and the other two represent your adult Yin and Yang."

"Ok," Akane said somewhere between curiosity and confusion.

"Now currently you have a problem getting from one to the other," the mysterious Magi explained calmly as she floated into a reclining position.

"Hun why?!"

"Well first of all you won't accept your own sexuality," Magi responded as she pointed to grow-up version of Akane. "Because of him," the Magi added as she pointed to the little boy version of her.

"Hun?!" was Akane's intelligent reply.

"It's true you're terrified of her," the Magi answered as the image of the grown-up Akane smiled sensually and relaxed in a pose, which would both make man's blood boil at the same time it terrified him. "...and everything she represents: sex, intimacy, womanhood, love, sensuality, commitment, and a hundred other things. So you do what you do any time something threatens you and that's hide behind your childhood masculinity. Of course that very thing prevents your masculine side from growing up as well."

Head now spinning Akane mumbled the first thing that came to her mind, "...but what about being a pervert?"

"Akane are you planning on having sex with anyone but Ranma?" The Magi asked as she swirled her drink.

"No," Akane responded with a blush. "...but what about all of the..."

"My dear you are a proud individual and as such not the type to conceal what you are proud of any more then is necessary. You know that deep down," the mysterious master of the arcane arts said with a chuckle. "After all things like revealing clothing are only derogatory to you when you allow them to be."

Akane's reply to this was a mega sized blush and severe stuttering. Nevertheless and despite her usual denial of such things Akane knew what the mysterious Magi had said was the truth. She was terrified of becoming a woman. Now that it had been presented to her directly, Akane could not deny it. She also realized that she constantly and subconsciously sabotaged her own efforts to become one. "So what do I do?"

"Be honest and true with your self," the mysterious Magi answered. "...and wear this for a few days," the Magi added as she cast a small spell at Akane as she vanished back into the shadows as what Akane was wearing changed magically.

A few seconds later Akane dared to look down. She found herself wearing a very short miniskirt and black leggings. She was also wearing a bright blue vest and under that, a snug yet supportive yellow tube-top that revealed her entire midriff. Interestingly the top revealed nothing in the way of cleavage from the top and thanks to what felt like an elastic band nothing from the bottom. Moving around and exercising a bit, Akane found the outfit to be surprisingly comfortable and she could definitely feel that there was a bra of some sort underneath the top. Curiously Akane pulled the top away from her chest and found a simple strapless sheer cyan bra that despite it's apparent flimsiness was as supportive as a sports bra while also being much more comfortable then any bra she had ever had. 'Weird bra but I'm definitely not complaining about it,' Akane thought to herself before letting the top snap back into place. 'Now what?' Akane questioned herself. A yawn was replied she received. 'Right sleep,' Akane thought before walking off to do just that.

********************

When Akane next awoke, it was because of a knocking on the door to the bedroom she had claimed in the sanctuary. Feeling rather irate Akane shouted, "WHAT!"

"Time for breakfast!" Ranma shouted from the other side of the door.

"I'll be there in a few minutes," Akane grumbled as she got out of bed.

"Ok," Ranma responded rather cheerfully before presumably leaving.

"I wonder why he's so cheerful," Akane muttered to herself before getting up.

********************

As Akane walked into the tearoom wearing the outfit she had gotten earlier she saw Ranma practically dancing around the room as he sat the table for breakfast. "So what are you so cheerful about?" Akane grumbled out as she sat down.

"No panda," was Ranma's cheerful response.

"Oh," was Akane's response, after all what more needed to be said on the subject of the panda.

"I see you had a whole bunch of weird outfits in your closet as well," Ranma said as he sat down.

"Yeah," Akane said absently while mentally wondering what exactly was in the closet in her room. "So are you going to start training me today?"

Ranma's response was a rather enthusiastic nod as he started to eat.

Starting to eat as well Akane smiled as she began to feel enthusiastic about the upcoming day.

********************

6 hours and five times that many healing potions later Akane's enthusiasm had actually increased despite — or maybe because of— the fact she and Ranma had been pounding the living daylights out of each other.

Even the mysterious Magi who had seen a lot in her time couldn't help but sweat drop that the two.

'I've seen fights between demon lords that are tamer,' the magi thought to herself as the two continued fighting. '...and shorter by at lest five hours.' Shrugging the Magi walked off to leave the two alone.

********************

Another six hours later around six o'clock Ranma and Akane finally stopped and limped into the tearoom where they both promptly collapsed into unconsciousness on the couch. The day had degraded into a full-scale brawl but the two had still had a lot of fun despite all of the plans for training going out the window.

That however didn't mean Ranma hadn't learned a great deal. He found that Akane when thinking clearly had an excellent grasp on a multitude of techniques. He also found the tomboy had no sense of style in which to use those techniques effectively. Ranma also saw even more clearly than usual that Akane's anger caused all of her talent and skills to head down the toilet. He intended to solve both problems as quick as possible.

Surprisingly Ranma also found he was very weak in something he thought he was strong in; defense. The reason he saw this was because he wasn't dodging every strike Akane made — being pounded by the tomboy's gorilla like strength was better endurance training then even the breaking point training after all. Ranma already had a simple and effective solution brush up on his knowledge of the best defensive/disarming style of martial arts he knew; Aikido. Ranma of course would modify it.

Stepping out of the shadows the mysterious Magi smiled as she conjured a blanket, which she draped over the two. 'They're beginning to grow up and none to soon the real challenges of their lives are yet to begin. Everything up until this point has been practice and once they grow into their real power it will begin in earnest.'

********************

When Ranma and Akane next awoke around nine, they found themselves on the floor bodies tangled in an interesting and rather compromising position. Ranma had his arm around Akane's waist and was groping Akane's right breast. Akane for her part was groping Ranma's rear and was pulling on his pigtail.

The situation was both extremely uncomfortable and strangely very comfortable.

Looking up and into Ranma's eyes Akane found him looking panicked Akane's response to this was to simply relax and enjoy herself. This of course confused Ranma immensely however being this close to Akane without her going crazy was nice. Still he was still nervous about Akane's behavior because of what she had done to herself.

"Relax, baka," Akane whispered.

"Hmm, ok," Ranma responded as Akane settled back down.

Sometime later, the comfortable silence that had settled between the two was interrupted when Ranma stomach growled. Followed shortly thereafter by Akane's.

Sitting up Akane rather reluctantly disentangled herself from Ranma who also seemed to be reluctant to get up.

"I'll go make dinner," Ranma said as he walked off.

Akane's reply to this was simply to smooth out her clothing and stretch a bit before smiling warmly as she thought, 'We have to do that more often; a lot more often.'

Watching Akane from the shadows, the mysterious Magi smiled and thought, 'Well Akane is moving along nicely. Still she hasn't started respecting Ranma yet. Although that's understandable considering he needs to do a lot of growing up,' before vanishing into the ether.

********************

Later after dinner as Ranma and Akane began to clear the table the mysterious Magi appeared out of the shadows.

"What do you want?" Ranma demanded.

"A few lessons," the Magi responded before snapping her fingers and vanishing with Ranma.

********************

As Ranma regained his senses, he found himself in what appeared to be a training hall without walls. Getting up and regaining his bearings Ranma found himself staring at a ninja enveloped in perfect blackness.

"You're more than just a magic user," Ranma stated as he slid into a battle stance.

"Magi is plural," the mysterious magi responded as Ranma was briefly given a glimpse of a few hundred shadowy figures each of whom was different. "First lesson: humility. You must know it less you take it to lightly," the Magi responded before charging.

Ranma didn't even have the chance to twitch before he had been tossed into the air by a brutal punch that Ranma knew should have broken his ribs, shredded his lungs to pieces, and instantly killed him.

"How does it feel to have someone toy with you?" The Magi asked as she waited for Ranma to recover. "To know your opponent cares nothing for what you have accomplished," she added as Ranma charged her eyes for once full of rage. Her response was to simply and calmly redirect Ranma's charge and snap his arm with such force Ranma knew it should have been ripped off at the shoulder. The Magi however wasn't done and whispered, "This is how you make your opponents feel this is why they want to do what you want to do right now," before tossing Ranma 10 yards like he was a sack of potatoes. The landing hurt Ranma badly and that pain only increased when he heard, "Do you yield?"

"NO!!!" Ranma screamed as he bolted up from the ground now crying. In all honesty, he knew he couldn't win but he would never give up never give in no matter what. So he let loose all of what he was feeling at the Magi in a huge emotional surge ki energy.

She took the blast without so much as flinching.

Not even the darkness shielding her was pierced.

A moment later, she waved a hand at Ranma and he found himself enveloped by a blast of pure ki energy. Again Ranma knew he should’ve been killed by the attack. It hurt terribly it hurt like nothing else Ranma had ever felt in his life and it broke him. He was beaten before the fight even began. She wasn't taking him seriously and why should she he was nothing: nothing at all to her.

"I... I ..." Ranma sobbed as everything in him broke. "...yield," Ranma whispered as he curled up in a fetal position and began to cry waiting for the insults, the taunts, and everything he knew was going to come.

None of those things ever came. Instead, Ranma found himself pulled onto the mysterious magi's lap where she patted him on the back a few times. "Remember always what you are feeling now less you inflict the feeling on someone else without meaning to."

Ranma's reply was a week nod.

"Good now for your second lesson: respect in life. It is a two-way street if you want respect you must give respect," the Magi said as she helped Ranma stand. "You must also respect a person for everything they do whether it is. If you don't you humiliate them and you know what that feels like."

Nodding weekly as he tried to pull himself together Ranma looked up at the mysterious Magi. He was confused by her words and actions but yet attentive. She after all had shown she was a great martial artist.

"I know respect is not always given or even wanted but if you want respect in life, you must always offer it. Even to those that do not want it. If they reject the respect you offer them then you do not have to respect them."

"I... I ... will try," Ranma choked out.

"Good now the third lesson: respect in battle. Always respect your opponent even if the opponent does not do the same for you. If you lack respect in battle you will grow overconfident and miss details you should easily be able to see. Even if your opponent is weaker and less skilled then you if you always respect them you can always learn something from the fight. It might be small and minute but it is always there."

A little bit more certain now Ranma nodded it made sense to always take careful stock of an opponent. He also knew he did have the habit of not respecting opponents.

No that wasn't right he never really respected any opponent to say nothing of someone who wasn't a martial artist at all.

"Fourth lesson: you may be a warrior but you are also a person and as such your life is more then just the space between battles. What your life is when you are not fighting is up to you."

Ranma's answer to this statement was to mumble, "I don't have anything besides the art."

"Then find something after all there is nothing you can not do if you try," the Magi responded.

His usual fire starting to return, Ranma nodded fiercely.

"Good," the Magi said with a smile before continuing, "Fifth lesson: pride must be tempered with wisdom and intelligence less it changes into blatant arrogance that leads to becoming someone like Happosai."

Ranma's only answer to this was to gulp.

"Sixth lesson: self-respect. You must respect your self as yourself and not by what you do."

"Hun?"

"Do you respect your self Ranma as an individual? Not as the heir to the anything goes school of martial arts, not as Akane Tendo's fiancé, not as a Jusenkyo curse victim, but only as you. Can you stand without everything you have accomplished and still respect your self? Especially with what you have done either by action or inaction," the Magi questioned as she stood. "Can you look yourself in a mirror and simply be happy with who you are underneath everything you do?"

Ranma's response was to clinch his hand over his heart as the broken feeling he had experienced earlier came back with even more force than before. After a moment, a few more tears slipped from Ranma's eyes as he said, "No."

The mysterious Magi's response to Ranma's plight was to place a hand on his shoulder as she said, "Seventh lesson: trust. You have to trust because without it you cannot gain help, love, happiness, friendship and many other things."

A simple nod of acceptance was Ranma's response.

"Eighth lesson: Truth. Always be truthful, to those you respect, to those you fight and especially to your self. For the worst lies are the ones you tell your self."

Ranma's answer to this was to look away shamefully.

"Ninth lesson: Honor. Honor can be many things but without mutual respect, truthfulness and trust there is NO HONOR in ANY FORM. Remember that always."

Ranma's response to this was a long moment of silent contemplation before he nodded sharply.

"Tenth lesson: admit and then confront. Remember this always," the mysterious Magi said before teleporting Ranma away.

********************

As Ranma reappeared back in the sanctuary, he found Akane pacing nervously. Once she noticed him she screamed, "Are you okay?!"

Ranma's answer was to think about the lessons for a moment before three numbers came to mind the numbers were 2,7,8. '2: Respect in life, 7: Trust and 8: Truth,' Ranma thought before shaking his head and clinching his hand around a small book that had appeared in his hand. "I need time to think, please don't disturb me," Ranma said before he got up and walked off.

Akane was of course dumbfounded by this. Ranma had actually asked her to do something respectfully and he'd trusted her enough to tell her the truth.

Still Akane was worried and followed Ranma. Out of respect to the respect Ranma had given her, she wouldn't disturb him but she would still wait and watch.

As Ranma thought about his past numbers swirled through his mind. If he had known the lessons, he knew things would most certainly have been different. This sent Ranma's emotions into a chaotic state. However, after awhile he simply shook his head stood up and dismissed his chaotic emotional aura. 'No use moping about the past it's time to move on and grow up,' Ranma thought before taking a deep breath and expelling all of his negative emotions in a column of emotionally supercharged ki energy. When it was done, Ranma stretched his neck before turning around and walking out of the training hall where Akane was waiting in the indoor garden.

"You okay now?" Akane demanded as Ranma started walking off.

"Yeah," Ranma said before smirking and joking, "Just had some sense beaten into me," as he tossed Akane the book he was holding.

After watching Ranma vanish into the hallway at the opposite side of the indoor garden Akane looked down at the book in her hands. Its title was Ten Lessons in life. Curiously, she opened the book and started to read.

********************

When Akane next found Ranma he was sitting in the tearoom silently staring off into space a look of silent contemplation on his usually blank face.

"2,3,9," Ranma finally said. "We'll give them that and if they don't accept then we'll get rid of them."

Akane's response to this was to quickly look over the book. Once she had done so she nodded rather dubiously as she said, "Ok," before sitting down next to Ranma and snuggling up against him. "8,10," Akane said after a moment of uncomfortable silence. "I love you, baka," Akane whispered as she climbed onto Ranma's lap and hugged him tightly.

"8,10," Ranma gassed as a suddenly found it hard to breathe. "I love you, tomboy," Ranma finally said.

Akane's response to this was to start crying as she smiled. A moment later, however she shook off her tears and pulled Ranma closer to her. Ranma for once not afraid what was going to happen did the same and pulled Akane closer to him.

The results of this were a featherlight kiss between the two.

A kiss that was sorely disappointing. There were no earthshaking explosions in the background. The world was not torn asunder by their passions being released. This was not how it was supposed to be and both knew it. Therefore, the two smirked and released their fighting auras as they grabbed each other in a passionate embrace kissing with reckless abandon.

The results of this kiss were a passion-fueled maelstrom that shredded everything in the room.

After they broke the kiss, the two smiled in satisfaction before noticing the devastation around them.

"Oops looks like we got a little carried away with the battle auras," Ranma said sheepishly to which Akane responded by nodding in embarrassed agreement. "Although that would make a great attack," Ranma added with a smirk.

Akane's response to this was to playfully hit Ranma although she was still smirking at the idea.

"Why don't you go take a bath, I'll start cleaning this up," Ranma suggested.

"I've got a better idea let's both take a bath and then start cleaning up," Akane said before dragging Ranma off to the bathroom. Once there she began to disrobe when she was finished she noticed Ranma looking nervous.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Ranma asked as he nervously looked away.

"Yeah," Akane answered as she walked over to Ranma and draped her arms over him in a hug. "Let's just say you're not the only one that got some sense beaten into them. Besides, I wouldn't do anything perverted in the bath. It's a place to get clean not to get dirty."

Turning around Ranma scowled and said, "2,7,8. I'm not a pervert," before shrugging Akane off and leaving.

Akane's response to this was to gape at Ranma's retreating form as a numb feeling settled over her senses. A moment later Akane started washing herself, when she finished she dressed and silently started to return to her room. "How bad?" Akane asked as she stood at the threshold to her room.

"You give him no respect, even less trust, and no chance to tell you the truth of what had transpired," the Magi responded. "There is no excuse for such behavior and no pretense you hold can overcome that fact. Especially when the pretense is based on something you did wrong. You walked in on him that first day. Even if Ranma really had been a girl, you still walked in on a perfect stranger taking a bath. The only reason you screamed pervert was to dodge the responsibility of the embarrassing situation of making a rather innocent mistake. The same mistake Ranma made later."

Hearing this Akane winced as if she had been slapped.

"You don't realize this but you hurt Ranma tremendously that day and he reacted in the only way he knew how. Insults, hostility, immaturity, and closing off he really is underneath a shell of macho bravado," the Magi continued. "Just as you did; you threw out insults, acted with extreme hostility and even more immaturely as you hid under the shell of the tomboy. It's really quite amazing how much alike you two are," the Magi added before vanishing into the shadows.

Akane who was by this time seething with anger wanted to scream wanted to deny everything but she remembered how Ranma had looked at her. "2,7,8," Akane said before walking off to find Ranma.

As she entered the tearoom, she saw Ranma had finished cleaning up. Upon seeing, her Ranma looked and waited.

"I'm sorry," Akane said simply. "I should you give you the same respect I do the rest of my friends and trust you to tell the truth."

Ranma's answer to this was a simple nod as Akane sat down on the couch beside him. "I've thought about it and fighting each other is just giving everyone an advantage. A way for them to force us to do what they want. We have to stop that."

Sitting down Akane nodded and asked, "How?"

Ranma's response was to smirk in his usual cocky manner, "By making it our advantage by making them think they're doing it."

"That will just encourage them," Akane replied.

"I know," Ranma answered. "...but once we have control of the situation it will be easy for us to control it and when we have control we'll be able to get what we want."

Akane's response to this was to smile rather like Nabiki. A moment later, however she frowned and said, "Nabiki is going to be a problem."

Ranma's response to this was to laugh rather evilly and say, "How do you feel about Kunou dating Nabiki."

Akane's unusual response to this was to look sad and say, "They used to good friends before he lost what little mind he had."

Blinking Ranma asked, "Woah your joking!?"

"No," Akane said with a shrug. "As for getting them together I don't have a problem with it but how exactly are you going to do it?"

Chuckling Ranma said, "Easy pictures of Nabiki doing her aerobics routine."

"That's sick and twisted," Akane said with a glare.

"Ahh you're just jealous you didn't think of it first," Ranma said with one of his usual smirks.

Akane's reply to this was to glare at Ranma angrily as her battle aura flared. Ranma's only response to this was to hold up eight fingers. This caused Akane to fume and look away.

"Hey don't worry about it, tomboy, I'll make sure you get lots of training on how to be sneaky," Ranma said with a smile.

Akane's only reply was to roll her eyes.

"Well I'm going to bed. See you in the morning," Ranma said as he stood.

"Wait," Akane said as she grabbed Ranma's wrist. "About what happened? Would you have gone through with it?

"If everything had worked out the way they wanted it to I'd had no choice." Ranma answered after a long moment of thought. "Actually given one, I don't know, I do love you but I'm still only 17, and you know how bad I am at well..."

"Everything but being an insensitive jerk, martial artist, trickster, and a general sneak," the mysterious Magi offered simply form a doorway to the hallway.

Fuming Ranma nodded once.

"It's because of how your father brought you up," the Magi said as she entered the room and sat down on a broken couch. "You are a loving and caring person you always have been and you know it but you have no way to express those feelings properly. This reason for this is you have no balance between your Yin and Yang. In most men this isn't that much of an issue even when the balances as far off as yours."

"Why?"

"Because the balance they need comes to them with time and experience. It'll come to you as well if you LET it. However you should seek to find the balance."

"What kind of balance?" Ranma asked warily.

"You have three main issues with your yin. First you naturally — even without your curse— have an equal amount yin and yang. Second your curse. Third because of your father's training you have limited access to your yin," the magi explained as she stood. "The first, you can't and shouldn't do anything about since it is part of your nature. The second, you take advantage of without thinking of the consciences to your nature, your yin or what little feminity you have. The third, you should rectify immediately. Limited access to any part of your ki limits everything you do by blocking the proper flow of your ki through your body, mind and sprit and if you do not correct it will eventually lead you down the same path your father has gone down and that Happosai has finished going down."

"Happosai?!" Ranma questioned while looking shocked.

"Yes he cut himself off so completely from his yin that now he has to seal it from women to survive," the Magi responded. "I know you don't want to end up like I him. So, I suggest you get to work unblocking your yin as soon as possible but do not use your curse to help you."

"Why?" Akane queried.

"Because Ranma doesn't have enough access to his yin and if he sought it from his other form now the yin would be false," the Magi responded before vanishing.

"Let's go to bed," Akane suggested as she pulled Ranma to his feet.

"Yeah good idea," Ranma said rather distantly.

"Together?" Akane questioned shocking Ranma out of his daze.

"Why?"

"We love each other, and as your mother put it we're engaged so we can," Akane replied with a smirk.

"Hmm, ok," Ranma said nervously before and Akane walked off hand in hand towards the bedrooms.

However once they got to the bedrooms all they found was a single door. Upon seeing this, Ranma tensed angrily. Akane however just dragged Ranma into the now single huge bedroom.

Letting go of Ranma's hand Akane walked over to the bed where she began to disrobe pausing only briefly to look over her shoulder to see Ranma facing the other direction. When she finished Akane slipped under the silk sheets and waited for Ranma. A few moments later, he slipped under the sheets as well.

"Night," Ranma said rather uneasily.

"Night," Akane responded as she rolled half on top of Ranma. Ranma's response was to stiffen considerably as he started to blush. The reason for this was quite simple Akane didn't have any clothes on. "Relax baka," Akane said as she gave Ranma kiss on the cheek.

"but but," Ranma sputtered.

"Just go to sleep," Akane said before yawning and drifting off into a peaceful slumber.

Yawning as well Ranma drifted off into a peaceful slumber.

As Ranma awoke, he noticed a few things: Akane was pinned underneath him, the muscle shirt he slept in had been ripped to shreds, Akane was squeezing him in a tight hug and her legs were open enough to let his crotch rest on Akane's. The only thing separating them was the fabric of Ranma boxers. To make matters worse Akane's legs were wrapped around his legs.

If he so much as moved, it would be very bad for his heath and if he didn't it would definitely be worse sense his body was reacting to Akane's body.

'Oh damn what am I going to do?' Ranma mentally cursed as he looked around frantically for an escape route. His looking didn't last long as he was pulled closer to Akane who was now awake and looking at him in a 'hungry' manner that not even Shampoo could match.

"Naughty boy," Akane breathed huskily as she ran her hands across Ranma's back. "Wanting to play before we get up," Akane continued as she gave Ranma's rear a squeeze.

"Akane it isn't what it looks like," Ranma said frantically not really hearing what Akane had said.

"Then make it that way," Akane answered as she squeezed her legs around Ranma's waist. "...and I don't have any objections to it."

Now blushing from head to toe Ranma mumbled, "Hmm, I don't really know what to do."

"Just go with what fantasies you've had," Akane said as she kissed Ranma in the cheek.

"Hmm what fantasies?" Ranma queried completely ruining the mood of the moment.

"Fantasies of the sexual variety," Akane said bluntly while giving Ranma a strange look.

"I don't have any," Ranma answered.

"You are joking right?" Akane demanded.

Ranma's only response was a quick shaking of his head. Akane's answer to this was to twitch slightly. It was just WRONG for Ranma not that have any kind of sexual fantasy. Ranma was a guy after all and guys had sexual fantasies: lots of them. It was just a natural thing ... like the sun rising in the morning.

"Not even a little one?" Akane asked just to make sure.

Again, Ranma's only answer was to shake his head. "Things like that would just get me in more trouble then usual and it's a distraction from the art."

'Well doesn't this beat all: the great man amongst men is so wrapped up and martial arts to even have naughty thoughts. Although it does explain a lot of the stupid things he's done,' Akane thought before disentangling herself from Ranma, gathering up some clothes and walking off. '...and why his mother is so concerned about him being manly,' Akane mentally added just as she left the room.

This left Ranma to wonder how in the world he had managed to escape unscathed. Shrugging Ranma decided to get ready to train Akane.

********************

Around noon, Ranma finely broke from training telling Akane that she had the rest of the day to herself since he needed time to think of a training routine.

Akane response was to go to the kitchen for a small snack. Once she was finished, she entered the tearoom and sat down on the couch already thinking about her latest problem with Ranma. It was frustrating from Akane's point of view and entirely unexpected. She never ONCE considered Ranma wouldn't know what to do.

'If it's not one thing it's another,' Akane thought before getting up and walking off to the indoor garden where she found Ranma sitting by the pond writing in a book. "What are you doing?" Akane queried curiously, as she walked over to Ranma.

"Planning," Ranma said absently as he continued to write.

"Oh," Akane replied as she sat down beside Ranma and looked into the pond still pondering Ranma and her most resent problem with him. 'I've misjudged him in so many ways,' Akane thought to herself as she watched Ranma work. 'Oh well no use worrying about it,' Akane added as she leaned against Ranma's shoulder. 'Nap time,' Akane thought mischievously before closing her eyes and relaxing much to Ranma's obvious discomfort. "Relax, baka," Akane mumbled as she looked into the pond. "For once just relax, and let the world slide away. This is a sanctuary after all."

Nodding stiffly Ranma tried to relax. He didn't succeed and so went back to writing.

'So much for that idea,' Akane mentally cursed as she absently wondered what kind of training routine Ranma was coming up with. 'It doesn't really matter,' Akane thought with a smirk as she relaxed and asked, "So what do you have planned?"

"Well I figure you need to..." Ranma began.

********************

Ranma had finished training Akane for the day and so was meditating by the pond. The more he taught Akane the more aware he became of weaknesses in his own style. However, Ranma was also finding that most of the weaknesses had to do with how he thought and approached a fight. It was a game to him and that more than anything now disturbed him.

"First lesson: A fight can be many things," the Magi's said as she sat down beside Ranma. "...from a simple game to a life-and-death struggle. It can even be a life lesson."

Still focusing on his meditation Ranma only nodded in response. He was more than willing to accept more of the Magi's simple but powerful wisdom.

"Second lesson: know thy opponent. For if you do you already have an advantage," the Magi continued.

Again, Ranma's response was a nod for he already knew the truth of this statement.

"Third lesson: know what kind of fight you're having. In respects both to your opponent and what kind of fight is being fought."

A moment of silence later Ranma nodded.

"Fourth lesson: always expect the unexpected. This is something you can not forget."

After thinking about all the times the unexpected had happened to him Ranma could find no flaw in the lesson and so again nodded.

"Fifth lesson: always respect your opponent. If you do not you humiliate them."

Ranma's only reply to this was to wince.

"Sixth lesson: always plan for victory but always expect to lose. For if you don't you will grow over confident."

Ranma's reply was to open on eye and look at the Magi disbelievingly. Her only response was to nod her head. Ranma's answer was to warily agree.

"Seventh lesson: a loss is only truly a defeat if you cannot learn something from it."

After long movement of consideration, Ranma nodded. He after all had lost fights but the knowledge he gained from such losses always enabled him to defeat his opponent in the end.

"Eighth lesson: All fights are real no matter how big or small. As such all fights demand the same amount of respect."

A simple nod was Ranma's only answer.

"Ninth lesson: know the difference between an enemy and an opponent. If you don't you sign your own death warrant."

His eyes jerking open Ranma gazed disbelievingly at the Magi. Her only response was silence. After a long moment Ranma reluctantly nodded. He didn't like the sound of the lesson but he would remember it.

"Tenth lesson: your greatest enemy is your self. Remember this always," the Magi said with a tone that brokered no argument.

Again, Ranma's response was a reluctant nod. The Magi's response to this was to vanish leaving behind another small book. The title of which read: 10 lessons in battle. After reading through the book a few times Ranma began to meditate; series of numbers once again coming to mind. When he finished that night Ranma once again saw the truth the simple lessons provided.

Ranma had Akane running through a complex series of mental exercises meant to increase mental and spiritual awareness and as such had free time until she finished the exercises. This naturally led Ranma to being bored: so board in fact that Ranma had wandered into the sanctuary's library. Ranma figured it was an impressive place as far as libraries went although he really didn't know for certain.

After a few minutes of absent browsing, Ranma found a small reading area where the Magi was currently reading a book.

"Sit," the Magi said as she pointed to the seat next to her.

Somehow sensing the Magi was about to give another 10 lessons Ranma sat down on the comfortable chair the Magi had indicated.

"First lesson: There is never a time you cannot learn something."

Ranma using the same sort of reasoning that stated one could always train thought this statement made sense.

"Second lesson: Learn from all things. Life, books, observation, experience, and everything else."

Again, Ranma used the same sort of logic he approached training with and easily found the statement believable.

Third lesson: learning is not always a pleasant experience. There are things you will find that you will not like.

Hearing this Ranma blinked and after a moment of thought nodded. After all training wasn't always a pleasant thing.

"Fourth lesson: in learning never deny the truth. For if you do what you learn will weaken you."

After a moment of thought, Ranma nodded. He wasn't sure if he got the meaning of the lesson.

"Fifth lesson: Never judge a book by it's cover. Whether or not what you're judging is a book however is moot."

Ranma's response to this was to blink a few times before saying, "Just like you should never judge an opponent by what you first see."

The Magi's answer to this was a nod before she continued. "Sixth lesson: once you eliminate the impossible what ever is left no matter how improbable is the truth."

Scratching his head Ranma merely nodded while making a mental note to apply the lesson later.

"Seventh lesson: As you learn the truth can and will change. Remember this always."

A simple nod was Ranma's only reply.

"Eighth lesson: Always be willing to learn and relearn everything you know. For there are times when the only way to move on is to start again from the beginning."

Ranma's response to this was a curious gaze but he nonetheless nodded.

"Ninth lesson: never be afraid of the truth. Even if the truth is painful."

Being all too familiar with pain Ranma simply nodded.

"Tenth lesson: knowledge is power. This you must never forget," the Magi finished before vanishing this time leaving behind a small book entitled 10 lessons in learning.

Picking up the book Ranma started to meditate on the lessons there in.

It had been a hard day of training and shortly after dinner, Akane had fallen asleep. Ranma however wasn't at all sleepy. In fact, quite the opposite he was wide-awake. The reason for this was a comment Akane had made while he had been making dinner. The comment was he was as good a cook as Kasumi.

It was innocent enough comment but it got Ranma thinking about his yin ...his femininity.

The Magi had said it would come if only he'd let it but now that some of it had apparently shown up Ranma felt uneasy about it. "Learning: 3,9," Ranma mumbled rather disgruntlely as he nursed a cup of tea now completely understanding both lessons. That relation however didn't help him with finding his femininity so Ranma began to meditate on what he had felt while cooking. He really didn't know what he was looking for but he had never let such trivial things stop him in the past and he wasn't about to now.

After about an hour of meditation Ranma realized that when he cooked he got a similar feeling to when he helped people. He as a martial artist was supposed to help people but the feeling was as he saw it at the moment feminine.

"Learning: 8,6," Ranma said before walking off to bed making a mental note to cultivate the feeling. If part of femininity was helping people then as a martial artist, it was his duty to be well versed in it since it was always the duty of a martial artist to help people.

Ranma was watching Akane fight a horde of small creatures in the combat pit. The creatures —which the pit called goblins— weren't very powerful, bright, or skilled and as such made perfect moving training dummies for developing good style. He would constantly tweak what Akane was doing pointing out weaknesses and strengths. They usually stubborn tomboy soaked it all up like a sponge and Ranma was certain that she would soon be able to at minimum defend herself against Shampoo when they left.

As for himself, his meditation and review of his own style had let Ranma advance considerably in the art. As such, he was eager to match wits with the wrecking crew. So much so that he had decided to put plans of immediately getting the wrecking crew out of his life on temporary hold. In addition, his meditations on his yin were giving Ranma new perspectives on the world. Perspectives that allowed him to see things as never before and formulate stratagem that had the potential to solve problems in ways he had never thought were possible before.

Tomorrow he would dedicate the entire day to meditating on what he had learned and after he finished he and Akane would began making plans on what to do when they returned to Nerima; plans that would start with Nabiki.

As Ranma and Akane reappeared in Nerima they found themselves in an alleyway near the Tendo dojo and after looking around and making sure no one was about they walked back to the dojo. Both were already ready to implement phase 1 of their master plan: practical elimination of the mercenary of diamonds. This was to be executed on three fronts. A: have Kunou become her boyfriend. B: get blackmail material on said mercenary and use it. C: eliminate all blackmail material said mercenary had on them.

Ranma was to handle B and C while Akane would handle A. If everything went well the mercenary would be eliminated before midnight.

As the two walked through the gates of the dojo, they started their plan by having a mock fight. It was completely convincing and intended target suspected nothing was out of the ordinary and so left for her usual Saturday night shopping. Ranma of course immediately sprang into action and stealthily snuck into Nabiki's room where he procured all blackmail material Nabiki had on Akane and himself. Once he had done so Ranma also procured blackmail material on Nabiki herself and by the time he was finished he had enough to guarantee the mercenary's silence.

While Ranma was performing his assigned tasks, Akane put together a collection of photos to give to Kunou. Once finished she added one final touch —a bill from Nabiki— before running off to deliver the collection to Kunou.

Long after the two had finished their appointed tasks, Nabiki returned home just in time for dinner. She never suspected that she now had no power over Ranma and Akane. Nor did she have time to even consider it considering Kunou barged in and swept Nabiki up all while spouting off his usual drivel. The usually cold mercenary was for once at a loss for words. Unfortunately, for her Kunou took this as an invitation to spirit her away.

Seeing this everyone blinked a few times before returning their attention to their meal. After all Nabiki could handle herself.

********************

Later that night we find Nabiki walking home after being lavished over by Kunou. 'I don't know what got into him but I'm not complaining,' Nabiki thought as she looked at the multicarated hunk of ice on her ring finger. Nabiki's musings however were interrupted when Ranma stepped into view looking particularly dangerous.

"Nice rock," Ranma said conversationally.

"Yes it is," Nabiki answered coolly as she tried to hide her fear.

"If you want to keep enjoying it you'll do what I say from now on," Ranma said as he walked over to Nabiki his aura chilling her to the bone. "I'm feed up with you bitch," Ranma said icily as he held up Nabiki's little black book. "You don't do anything unless I say so understood."

A fearful nod was Nabiki's only response.

"Good," Ranma breathed his breath visible because of the frigidity of his aura. "Until otherwise ordered carry on as normal. Now out of my sight little bitch," Ranma added before Nabiki fled.

Once Nabiki was well away, Akane stepped out of the shadows and commented, "That was exceptionally scary, baka."

"I know, I didn't know I could be so nasty," Ranma said with a nervous chuckle before he and Akane walked off.

********************

As Ranma and Akane arrived home, they found Soun, Genma and Nodoka waiting for them. The three meddlesome parents immediately sprang into action with their latest plot, which was to have Ranma and Akane sleep together.

Ranma and Akane naturally had a huge argument about this but in the end they 'let' their parents 'convince' them to go along with the plan.

********************

Later that night long after everyone else in the house had gone to sleep Ranma and Akane lay in bed quietly whispering plans to each other. They thought of every circumstance they could, every stupid idiotic thing that could happen to botch a plan, every way to outsmart the plan and in the end the two fell asleep confident the plan would work; after at minimum the 20th attempt.

As Ranma walked into the Cat Café he deftly avoided Shampoo's usual greeting. "Show some dignity for yourself Shampoo and stop doing that," Ranma said as he walked on. This left Shampoo to blink in complete confusion.

Mousse of course noticed to this as well and he was totally flabbergasted at it.

"Yo, Mousse, if you have a minute I'd like to talk to you at the abandoned field later," Ranma proclaimed as he looked at the menu.

Mousse's only reply to this was to nod numbly.

Cologne however studied Ranma for a moment. Ranma's response to this was to look at Cologne with a piercing gaze. Cologne's response to this gaze was to mentally flinch. She had rarely seen such a look in her long life. The look of a True Master and while Ranma's gaze wasn't that of a true master's yet it was already close enough for Cologne to know Ranma was considerably more dangerous and powerful then he was even a few days ago.

'Something has caused the boy to start awakening into his true power but what?' Cologne thought to herself before walking off.

********************

Later that day at the abandoned field, Mousse arrived to find Ranma practicing an intense kata. Strangely, Ranma did not break from his practice immediately upon noticing Mousse. Mousse did not question this but instead took the opportunity to study his oblivious and over trusting enemy.

A half a minute later, Mousse realized Ranma was using his katas and far better than he had ever been able to.

A second after this realization Ranma queried, "Fight?"

Mousse's only response was to attack his usual hailstorm of hidden weapons. Ranma countered by deflecting all of the weapons to the left or the right. The inertia of the weapons then caused the chains that held them to wrap around Mousse.

"You should never attack an opponent head on that redirect blows like that," Ranma said with the same tone of voice he used to train Akane as Mousse untangled himself.

Grudgingly Mousse only nodded as he finished untangling himself and rehiding his weapons after which he began to study Ranma. His enemy was different: calmer, cooler, more in control and much more skillful. Mousse knew he was no longer facing an upstart boy that was to overconfident for his own good. No Mousse knew he now faced a True Master of the art and he didn't stand a chance. Nothing he could do and no trick he could come up with would save him if his enemy chose to kill him. Mousse just prayed to his ancestors that that wasn't Ranma's intent.

"Come on Mousse don't tell me you're just going to give up?" Ranma queried as he slid into a loose stance.

"What point is there to this fight? What ever has become of you has obviously enabled you to become far more skilled than I am," Mousse said shakily as Ranma circled him. 'Far more skilled than I can ever become,' Mousse added mentally while terror started creeping up his spine.

Smiling warmly and mischievously Ranma answered, "The point is the fight, Mousse. Just let go and give me everything you have."

"What are you talking about, Saotome?" Mousse demanded.

"Come on, haven't you ever just had had a fight for the pure pleasure of it?" Ranma queried. "A fight that is just about the fight and nothing else. A fight where nothing else matters. A fight where the world melts away."

Now feeling rather 'weirded out' Mousse shook his head while wondering what Ranma was going on about.

"Pity," Ranma responded before motioning Mousse to attack. "...but I'll try to make up for that."

Mousse's only response was to attack. He didn't know what was going on but he certainly wasn't going to back down from Saotome's challenge of giving him everything he had.

An hour later Mousse collapsed to the ground beaten and bruised.

Ranma for his part had suffered some damage but it was nothing in comparison.

"That was a good fight," Ranma commented as Mousse managed to pick himself up. "We should do it again sometime, Mousse," Ranma added with a friendly wave as he walked off leaving Mousse to collapse against a nearby tree.

"Anything broken?" Mousse heard Cologne query a few moments later.

"Don't think so," Mousse responded before opening his eyes and asking, "Who was that honored elder? It couldn't have been Saotome."

"It was," Cologne answered. "What was the fight like for you?"

"Chasing the wind, dancing with fire, trying to catch water, and fighting a mountain all at the same time," Mousse answered. "...and something else something I cannot put into words. Something I've only experienced when my great-grandfather taught me, but that experience is nothing but pale shadow to what I just felt."

"I thought as much," Cologne said with a nod.

"Is he really ... a ...a True Master?" Mousse questioned as he managed to stand.

"I do not know yet but something has sent him well on the way to becoming such," Cologne responded. "You are not to speak of this fight with Shampoo."

"Why?" Mousse questioned.

"If she were to learn of this she would do something rash and I do not want risk angering Ranma. Even if he is not a True Master angering him now would be like waking a sleeping dragon and I needn't remind you what Ranma is capable of when his anger is awakened."

Remembering the battle with Saffron all too clearly, Mousse merely nodded. He no longer desired to have Saotome as an enemy. Such a thing was now simply suicide.

Once the two were well out of sight Ranma stepped out from behind the tree Mousse had been leaning against looking thoughtful.

********************

As Ranma arrived home, he made his way to the training hall where Akane was waiting.

"So?" Akane queried impatiently.

"Not sure yet but I think I scared him party bad," Ranma muttered. He hadn't really meant to scare Mousse. "He'll probably stay away from me for a while but after that I'm not sure."

"Not what we were planning but better than nothing I suppose," Akane grumbled.

"It's more then that he and Cologne were talking about me being something they called a 'True Master'," Ranma said as he sat down. "...and Cologne actually sounded worried that I was one. It's weird Cologne never gets worked up about anything."

"That does sound weird," Akane responded while blinking. Ranma may have improved over the past week in the sanctuary but this 'True Master' business was rather ridiculous. Shaking her head Akane asked, "So how did the fight with Mousse go?"

"He had a few surprises but it was still a really easy fight," Ranma responded as he scratched his head. "It way easier than any fight I've ever had with him. I know I've gotten better because of the meditation I've been doing and the Lessons but it was like I was fighting a white belt and not someone that's been fighting their entire life," Ranma continued rather gravely.

"That's just scary," Akane finally concluded. "You just don't improve that much overnight."

"Yeah, I know," Ranma answered nervously before shrugging and adding, "...and I hope it's nothing to worry about."

"Same here," Akane responded before getting up and stretching. "So what do you have planned for today?"

"Well you need to start working on your..." Ranma began.

********************

As Ranma and Akane entered the tearoom for dinner, they both noticed Nabiki's absence. Neither questioned this for they both knew she was avoiding Ranma.

"Where's Nabiki?" Akane questioned.

"Over at Kunou's," Kasumi answered pleasantly as she finished serving dinner.

'She must be really desperate to hang out with Kunou,' Ranma mused with a mental smirk as he started to eat. A moment later, however dinner was interrupted when Shampoo bonded over the dojo's perimeter wall. Ranma's response to this was to mentally grown as he tried to come up with a way to diffuse the situation before it could get out of hand. As such, he began analyzing Shampoo's behavior and by the time Shampoo entered the tearoom he had a simple plan.

"Nihao! Airen!" Shampoo exclaimed in her usual over cheerful way as she presented Ranma with a box of food. "Make this special for Airen!"

"Hey, thanks, Shampoo, you're a good friend to bring over some food," Ranma said cheerfully.

"Friend?" Shampoo questioned while looking slightly confused.

"Yeah," Ranma answered as he returned to the dinner Kasumi had served pausing briefly to add, "You really should get going or the old ghoul might get mad at you for being late."

Shampoo by this time had recovered nodded and ran off. Once she was long gone, Ranma set the box down next to his father and finished eating the dinner Kasumi had made. Genma of course stole the contents of the delivery box.

A few moments later, Ranma looked up and noticed his father looking at Nodoka with a lovesick look. "Well I guess there are useful things to do with Amazon love potions."

The reply everyone but Genma gave to this was a hardy laugh.

********************

Later after dinner, Ranma and Akane returned to the training hall: this time to make plans on how to get rid of Shampoo. Just defeating her in battle wouldn't be enough. No, they would have to figure out away get Shampoo to give up on her own.

"Maybe we could use her own laws against her," Akane suggested.

"I guess we could, but we still need to make sure she doesn't want me anymore or it all just cause more trouble," Ranma answered after a moment of consideration. "We need to find out why she's so obsessed with me. It's got to be more then the law. If it was she'd probably already found a way out of it herself."

After a long moment of thought, Akane nodded in agreement before querying, "How?"

Shrugging Ranma replied, "I'll just ask her."

Akane's natural reply to this was to facefault, "Come on even I know you have to be sneaky about something like that!"

"I am being sneaky, after all who would suspect that I would just come out and ask something like that," Ranma answered.

After twitching a few times Akane could only agree.

"Come on let's go," Ranma said as he helped Akane to her feet.

"Now!?" Akane demanded incredulously.

"Yep, after all we do need to find out what was in that stuff, Oyaji ate," Ranma replied as he dragged Akane off.

********************

Later at the Cat Café Ranma and Akane entered to find Shampoo cleaning tables while Cologne sat in her usual place.

"Shampoo I want to know what was in that ramen you brought over!" Ranma demanded.

"Love potion," Shampoo responded before mentally adding, '...which doesn't seem to have affected you at all.'

"Well that explains why Oyaji is all lovesick over mom," Ranma responded.

Shampoo's response to this was to fume as she muttered something about pandas in her native tongue.

Cologne however cackled madly in obvious amusement.

"So how long will it last?" Ranma demanded.

"Love potion permanent," Shampoo answered.

"So Oyaji is going to act like Mousse does forever now?" Ranma questioned.

Shampoo's response to this was to pale before running off looking slightly green.

Shaking his head Ranma sat down and waited for Shampoo to return. A moment later Ranma looked Cologne in the eye.

The look that passed between them clearly communicating a single message, "This ends now."

About a minute later Shampoo returned with a small vial that she handed Ranma as she said, "Antidote."

Ranma's response to this was a nod before he queried, "Why do you love me so much Shampoo."

The response Shampoo gave was frighteningly similar to how Mousse saw Shampoo.

Shaking his head as he got up Ranma said, "That's not love Shampoo its obsession. Obsession that's just as bad as Mousse's obsession towards you," as he started to leave. "You're a good friend Shampoo but nothing else," Ranma added just before he and Akane walked out the door.

Shampoo's response to being compared to Mousse was rather subdued and after she excused herself she went to her room.

Cologne on the other hand sat back and smiled as she smoked her pipe. "That boy ...no man... never ceases to amaze me," Cologne said calmly she wondered what would unfurl next. "Most likely more trouble!" Cologne cackled.

********************

"You think that will be the end of it?" Akane queried as she and Ranma paused in front of the gates to the dojo.

"Only officially," was Ranma's simple response.

Sighing Akane could only agree before noticing Ranma looking at something. When she followed Ranma's line of sight she saw Genma bounding over the rooftops Nodoka held tightly in his arms.

"I wonder where they're going?" Ranma finely questioned as he and Akane walked into the house.

"A second honeymoon," Kasumi responded with a smile.

"Oh," Ranma responded rather dully as he looked at the antidote to the love potion. "Then I guess I'll have to give this to mom when they get back."

The next morning a rather disturbed looking Akane — who was still wearing her pajamas— entered the kitchen and sat down. Seeing this Kasumi poured Akane a cup of tea.

"What's wrong?" Kasumi questioned as she sat down next to her sister.

"Something is going to happen today," Akane responded.

"Yeah I feel it to," Ranma muttered as he entered the kitchen.

"This seems like a bad omen," Kasumi responded nervously.

"That's probably going to be an understatement," Akane muttered before Soun was herd calling everyone to the tearoom.

Ranma and Akane's response to this was to shiver but nonetheless head to the tearoom. As they entered they saw the Tendo patriarch smiling broadly as he stood next to a cask clearly labeled nannichuan. "This was to be your father's cure Ranma but considering how things went I think you should have it!" Soun exclaimed brightly.

"What's the catch?" Ranma and Akane queried at the same time as they glared at Soun.

"None," Soun responded rather nervously as he started to sweat and back away. "Honest."

"On your honor Otouchan," Akane said as she walked over to her father and cracked her knuckles.

"On my honor no..." Soun agreed quickly only to be interrupted when an explosion, that everyone recognized as one of Happosai's bombs, rocked the dojo.

Because of this Akane lost her balance and promptly landed on the tea table catapulting the nannichuan into the air directly over Akane's head. Ranma being as fast as he was managed to catch the cask before hit Akane.

Akane's response to this was to breathe a sigh huge of relief.

The relief however was short lived considering at that moment the bottom band that bound the cask together snapped off and before anyone could react, the cask fell apart drenching and of course cursing Akane in the process.

The newly cursed neo-boy's rather underwhelming response was to mutter, "There was a catch."

Ranma who somehow hadn't even gotten a single drop of water on him responded to this by nodding solemnly as everyone heard the familiar sounds of a mob of angry women chasing Happosai.

"I'll go get you something to wear," Ranma muttered as he walked off looking downtrodden.

"...Imouto?" Kasumi said as she started to reach out to touch Akane-kun.

"Don't touch!" the brown haired neo-boy snapped scaring Kasumi. "I'm still wet and I don't want you getting any of this stuff on you," Akane-kun added a moment later.

Kasumi's only reply was to nod and back away.

"Are you ok," Soun asked while sounding and looking uncharacteristically concerned.

"I'm going to go take a HOT bath," Akane-kun muttered as he stiffly walked off silently thanking a few kami that his pajamas were oversized.

After watching Akane-kun go Soun began to remove the tatami mats that had been soaked by the nannichuan. "Why? Why has nothing gone right?"

"I don't know father sometimes I wonder if some Kami isn't playing with us all," Kasumi answered sadly before noticing Ranma looking at her with a strange look. "Ranma?" Kasumi questioned curiously.

"I'm fine," Ranma lied before walking off with the clothes — a yellow Chinese shirt and black draw spring pants— he had gotten for Akane.

********************

A little later Nabiki returned home looking rather frustrated. Unlike most, she didn't mind Kunou's attention quite the contrary in fact but she still wanted her childhood friend back.

"About the only thing I didn't try was a mallet," Nabiki mused with a wry grin as she walked through the Gates of the dojo where she found Kasumi who was actually frowning waiting. "What's going on, oneechan?" Nabiki asked as a strong feeling of dread washed over her.

Kasumi's response was to tell Nabiki what had happened. The normally reserved middle Tendo sister responded quite well. She started blaming everything on Ranma.

Kasumi's prompt response to this was to backhand Nabiki as she cried out, "Ranma almost saved her."

"Hun? What are you talking about?" Nabiki asked as she stared at a Kasumi in shock.

"When the cask went flying he caught it an inch above her head," Kasumi explained sadly, as a few tears escaped her eyes.

"Then how in the world did she get cursed!!?" Nabiki demanded.

"The bottom ring on the cask snapped," Kasumi answered as she pulled out the responsible band of circular metal which was rusted completely through. "After that happened the whole cask just fell apart."

"Oh kami," Nabiki responded as she rubbed her eyes. "Let me guess Ranma didn't even get a drop on him," Nabiki added as she regained her usual sarcastic poise.

"Exactly," Kasumi answered.

"How long?"

"About an hour now," Kasumi answered. "She's in her room and hasn't come out."

"... and Ranma?"

"He's been sitting at the tea table absolutely motionless sense he gave Akane some of his clothes to wear," Kasumi answered nervously. "The look on his face is.... Well it's just not like him at all."

"Come on it can't be that bad," Nabiki responded. Ranma may have revealed himself to be dangerous to her but Nabiki didn't believe for a second that Ranma was a bad person; just really really pissed at her.

"I don't know but I do know he's changed. There's a depth to him now that he even I can't even feel the bottom of it. It's a bit terrifying."

Blinking owlishly Nabiki stated, "You've got to be joking. Ranma deep?" with a slight chuckle

Kasumi's response was to shake her head before saying, "Go look."

Still not really believing Kasumi, Nabiki entered the Tendo home and after taking off her shoes, she walked into the tearoom and immediately focused on Ranma. As Kasumi had said Ranma was sitting unnaturally still and when she finally made eye contact with him Nabiki felt a shutter run through her as her mind, body and spirit screamed in denial. Denial that clearly stated that what she was looking at was not Ranma. After the moment of shock wore off Nabiki ran from the room.

"That can't be Ranma!" Nabiki screamed.

"You know that's not true," Kasumi responded. "No matter how much you want to believe it."

"What's happening to him?"

"I don't know," Kasumi answered before shaking her head to clear it. "I really don't."

Deciding a subject change was in order Nabiki stated, "Let's go talk to Akane."

********************

As Nabiki and Kasumi entered Akane's room they found the currently male tomboy laying on his bed looking at ceiling.

Turning his gaze away from the ceiling Akane-kun looked at his two nervous siblings for a moment before returning his gaze to the ceiling.

"Are you okay?" Nabiki queried as she sat down at Akane's desk absently studying her newly cursed sister who was eerily calm.

"Yeah, although I have no idea why," Akane-kun responded as he sat up. "It feels weird but it's not weird like it's gross. More like weird because it doesn't feel gross."

"That's just plain creepy," Nabiki responded with a raised eyebrow and she wondered about the significance of what Akane had said.

Shrugging Akane-kun said nothing after all what was there to say.

"So what are you going to do?" Kasumi queried.

"For the moment nothing," Ranma answered from where he was standing in the doorway surprising everyone. "As to why I'm fairly certain the springs have some sort of power to stop people from getting cured."

"So if that's true how are you two going to get cured?" Nabiki queried as she mentally considered the idea that the springs that some kind of intelligence behind them. It was a crazy idea but then again around Nerima that probably meant it was at least partially true. Not to mention the idea intrigued her.

"I don't know but there's got to be some way," Ranma answered before walking off.

"So what do you think of his crazy idea?" Nabiki posed nonchalantly.

"I don't know what to make of it," Kasumi responded.

"It's crazy," Akane replied definitively before shrugging and adding, "So it probably has some truth to it."

"That's what I was thinking," Nabiki admitted. 'How much should be more then a little entertaining to find out,' Nabiki added mentally before deciding to move on to her next question. "So when are you going to tell Yuka and Sayuki?"

Groaning as he rubbed his head Akane-kun said, "I'll go call them ... that is after I get some hot water," before walking off.

********************

Later that day, around noon Sayuki and Yuka arrived at the Tendo dojo. Both had been asked to come by Akane who had simply said that she had something important to show and tell them. The vagueness of the statement and the fact the Akane had sounded exceptionally tired was making them very nervous.

As they entered the dojo, they found Kasumi waiting. "Akane is in her room," Kasumi explained simply.

Nodding Akane's two friends entered the Tendo home and headed up to Akane room. When they entered, they found Akane sitting on the floor dressed in a yellow Chinese shirt and black draw spring pants. However, before they could question Akane about this she said, "There was an accident this morning."

"What kind of accident?"

Akane's reply was to tell her friends what had happened ending her tale by pointedly pouring a cup of water on herself.

The only reply Akane's friends gave was to gape disbelievingly as they started to cry.

"Oh kami Akane it must be horrible!" Sayuki exclaimed.

"Not really," Akane-kun responded with a shrug. "Of course I've only been cursed for a few hours and haven't had one completely embarrassing water-based accident happened to me yet," Akane-kun added mirthlessly causing both his friends to wince.

"So what are you going to do?" Yuka questioned.

"Well for starters I need some new clothes like these," Akane-kun responded as he picked at his shirt.

The response Sayuki and Yuka gave to this was to give Akane-kun a curious look.

"The reason Ranma wears clothes like this is because they work on both forms."

"Oh," Akane-kun's friends responded while not really understanding.

Rolling his eyes Akane-kun stood and walked off saying only that he was going.

********************

Late that day a bedraggled Akane-kun returned to the dojo cursing under his breath that he hated it.

"You ok?" Ranma queried as Akane-kun entered their room and sat down with his packages.

"I must have gotten hit by water at least 20 times," Akane-kun cursed as he ran his hand through his hair.

Nodding sympathetically Ranma said, "Go take a long HOT soak, then you can tell me about it."

"I'd rather just sleep," the brown haired neo-boy replied as he stocked off to go take a bath.

"Must have been one of those days," Ranma commented with a wince.

********************

Early the next morning Ranma-chan found herself staring at her reflection in the Koi pond contemplating her current form.

'Do I really accept this?' Ranma-chan questioned herself. 'Do I even have a choice anymore?' Ranma-chan added as she thought of Akane.

"Ranma?" Kasumi queried as she walked up. "Are you ok?"

"Don't know," Ranma-chan replied distantly before motioning Kasumi to sit down next to her. "Do you think this is a part of me?" Ranma-chan queried as she motioned to herself.

"Truthfully?" Kasumi queried to which Ranma-chan responded by nodding. "Yes ... but it's probably because I've never known you without the curse."

Ranma-chan's response to this was to give Kasumi a curious look for a moment before shrugging. What ifs didn't matter; especially one's concerning his curse.

"If I may ask why are you thinking about this now?" Kasumi asked curiously.

Ranma-chan's answer to this was the tell Kasumi what he had said at the springs.

The serene Tendo sister's response to this was to simply gape at the redhead. She quickly shook off the shock however and queried, "Do you really think that it's a part of you?"

"That really isn't the question anymore," Ranma-chan answered after all she had already admitted and been told twice that her current form was a part of her and as she thought about it something told her that if it wasn't a part of her she would know it.

"Then what is?" Kasumi queried while truly being curious.

"Acceptance of it and beyond that what it means to me," Ranma-chan answered. "Do I accept it now or wait. I don't know if it really makes a difference when I accept it since in the end I know I will. Then there's the whole thing about what this means to me and I've got no idea what it means to me."

"I'm sorry I don't think I can help you," Kasumi answered truly overwhelmed at the death of Ranma-chan's thoughts, feelings and concerns.

"It's ok this sort of thing probably isn't meant to helped with," Ranma-chan replied with a weak smile before getting up and walking off knowing that at least her current form was a part of her.

********************

Meanwhile in the training hall Akane-kun sat thinking about his current state or more specifically his transparent acceptance of it. He had no problems with his current form and that was to say the least disturbing. It also brought up and amplified old fears of not being feminine enough but even those fears were complicated when Akane-kun thought of what the Magi had shown her about her own femininity and masculinity. It was all very confusing to the neo-boy and the only thing he knew for certain was that he already accepted his current form.

"Ukyou?"

"Ukyou."

"Plan?"

"For the moment wing it."

********************

Ukyou was furious she just found out that Akane was cursed and to change into a guy no less. Ukyou knew this meant Akane had denied Ranma what was rightfully his and she swore she would make Akane pay for it. That is as soon as she got enough high-grade gunpowder to make up another batch of explosive Okonomiyaki.

********************

Ranma pondered. It was something the pigtail martial artist was surprisingly good at and the subject of his ponderings was what to do about Ukyou. After reviewing the past year he realized that Ukyou saw him through rose-colored glasses that were more heavily tinted them the ones the Kunou siblings wore. Ukyou after all knew all of his faults and yet from what Ranma had seen she refused to see him and anything that happened in his life in any negative light. It was now that Ranma thought of it quite disturbing and he knew that the first thing that had to be done was to make her see that his life was not a walk in the park. How to make Ukyou see that was the problem. A problem Ranma couldn't even begin to come up with a solution for, although that wasn't stopping him from trying to.

********************

Akane was aimlessly window-shopping —as well as bemoaning the fact she was extremely limited in her choice of clothing— when she sensed battle aura directed at her. Immediately Akane jumped out of the way barely avoided being blown to bits. As she landed from the jump she took, she saw Ukyou readying another gunpowder laced okonomiyaki bomb.

"You know attacking me isn't the best way of earning Ranma's affection," Akane said calmly as she slid into a battle stance next to a sign that had been broken by Ukyou's first attack.

Ukyou's response was, "You stole Ranma's cure," as she attacked.

After dodging nimbly, Akane kicked the broken sign at Ukyou. Ukyou naturally dodged the attack but this left her open to Akane's follow up attack in the form of a thrown mallet to the gut. Staggering back Ukyou lost her grip on the rest of her explosive okonomiyaki all of which detonated when it hit the ground. After the smoke cleared, Akane saw that Ukyou was badly injured and quite unconscious.

Shaking her head as she retrieved her mallet Akane said, "I'd better get you to Dr. Tofu's office."

********************

As Ukyou regained consciousness, she found herself in extreme pain. By her own guess, she had a broken rib, arm and leg.

'Ok maybe the gunpowder laced okonomiyaki is a bit much,' Ukyou thought to herself before opening her eyes and finding Akane of all people sitting by her bedside. "What are you doing here?!" Ukyou cursed.

Akane's response was to say, "Ranma's called off his engagement to you," before sadly adding, "He's also classified you as an enemy to the Saotome clan and Otousan has classified you as an enemy to the Tendo clan because of that."

Hearing this Ukyou started to scream but a hard look from Akane cut her off.

"You hurt him, Ukyou, by attacking to kill me you attacked his friend and we both know protective Ranma is of anyone he considers a friend," Akane practically shouted before adding, "You got him angry, Ukyou, really and truly angry. The last person to get Ranma angry was Lord Saffron the living kami of Phoenix Mountain. Do you know what Ranma did to him?"

Ukyou's response was to shake her head.

"Ranma killed him, tore his body apart with enough energy to rend a mountain," Akane replied seriously. "I know I was there I saw it," Akane added with a tear as she left.

********************

"Well?" Ranma questioned.

"A little stretching of the truth but I think it got through," Akane answered. "Whether or not it'll get through the delusions you think she has about you I don't know."

"It doesn't matter she's an enemy now," Ranma replied with more than a bit of steal in his voice as he walked off.

Akane's response to this was to shed another tear and follow. She hadn't been lying when she told Ukyou she had hurt Ranma and she hated to see Ranma hurting. Worse yet Akane had no idea how to help or Ranma or Ukyou.

'This isn't how it's supposed to end,' Akane thought as she clinched her fist. 'So it won't,' Akane added as she swore to make sure Ranma didn't lose anyone else he considered a friend. '...and I have to find a way to repair the damage between them.'

After a day of private planning Akane was ready to start building a friendship with Ukyou at the same time she chipped away at Ukyou's delusions. She'd have to keep it a secret from everyone until such time as she was sure Ukyou was better and even after the secret would be revealed she would have to help Ukyou and Ranma rebuild their tattered friendship. It would be a long and difficult process but she would succeed for Ranma's sake.

Akane had a conversation with Nodoka over the telephone earlier that day. A rather informative conversation; It seemed that Ranma was much like his father when he came to sexual endeavors, intimacy, and even realizing what certain attention from the opposite sex actually meant.

The way they were similar was; both had no sexual endeavors, didn't comprehend intimacy or sex beyond a purely mechanical standpoint, and were completely clueless and oblivious to attention from the opposite sex.

After thinking about Ranma's behavior over the past year Akane realized the only reason Ranma wasn't completely and totally oblivious to attention from women was because of his curse but even taking that into account he was still unaware and/or ignorant to the true meaning of 90% of the attention he got from women.

'...and to think I called him the pervert,' Akane thought sardonically as she looked over at Ranma's peacefully sleeping form. 'When in fact the most perverted thing he does is be a baka,' Akane mentally added as she started muse on how she was going to get Ranma to act even up to the normal male level of perversion. 'After all,' Akane thought. 'What fun is a guy that doesn't have a perverted bone in his body?' Akane finished with a smile more often associated with Nabiki. '... not to mention its just unnatural for a guy not to have a perverted bone in their body,' Akane mentally added before the clock struck midnight and both were teleported to the sanctuary.

After recovering from the disorientation of being teleported, Akane picked up her sleeping fiancée and haled him off to their bedroom. After she was done with that chore, she headed to the sanctuary's library with one objective in mind; to find a sex manual ... and the older the better.

A few moments later when she walked into the library, she found the mysterious Magi sitting on one of the comfortable chairs in a library. Blushing Akane began to ask where to find the reading material she was looking for. The Magi however just tossed her a huge book and said, "10,000 years," before vanishing.

After opening the book to a random page Akane blushed brightly before slamming the book shut and saying, "This will do," in a tone of voice that was ... calm.

A few moments later Akane reopened the book and began to read it from page one.

"Yes, it will definitely do," Akane commented as her blush increased. "Well it definitely looks like Ranma is going to get a crash course in sexual education ... as well as me," Akane added as she walked off wondering if perhaps a sex manual that was older then civilization as she knew it was a tad bit much. "Naa!!"

********************

When Ranma awoke, he found Akane reading a huge book. "What are you reading at this hour?"

"A training manual," Akane replied with factual truth.

"Really?" Ranma questioned now completely awake.

"Yep," Akane answered as she delicately turned a page.

"On what?" Ranma queried as he got up and walked over to Akane.

Akane's response to this was to turn the book around. This let Ranma see a detailed drawling and accompanying description.

Blushing madly Ranma stuttered out, "They've got training manuals for THAT!"

"Yep," Akane answered as she flipped back to the first page of the book that she had been absently flipping through. "Sit."

"Why?" Ranma queried while actually having some idea of what Akane was thinking.

"Well since you didn't know what to do. I got this for us to read and after we get done with the first chapter I want to practice," Akane answered.

"Practice?" Ranma queried nervously.

"Don't worry baka it'll fun ... unless of course you can't handle it," Akane replied mischievously.

Predictably, Ranma took the bait.

********************

They where bushed, fatigued, exhausted, wiped out, wasted and just plain tired. They didn't even know how much time had passed since they had started their practice. In fact, the only thing they did know was how good they felt.

Their bliss however was interrupted when their stomachs' demented they get food.

After laughing nervously the two managed to get out of bed and head to the tearoom. Surprisingly when they got there the mysterious Magi was waiting with a full 5-course meal as well as a mischievous smirk. "Six hours your first time, quite impressive," the Magi commented rather conversationally. "Most sex demons — despite rumors to the contrary— have less stamina then you two," the Magi continued before vanishing and leaving the now brightly blushing couple alone to eat their meal.

********************

Sometime later Ranma found himself sitting by the koi pond in the indoor garden thinking surprisingly not, of what had happened before lunch but the problems Akane had with her curse.

"You ok?" Akane asked as she walked up.

"Just thinking," Ranma answered.

"About what?" Akane asked as she snuggled up against Ranma.

"How much trouble you've been having with your curse," Ranma replied. "I want to do something to help you but I can't."

"Well I have an idea," Akane laughed. "Let's ask the friendly neighborhood Magi."

"You sure we should?" Ranma queried seriously.

"She's done nothing but help us, baka," Akane responded.

"Ok," Ranma answered warily before looking around for the Magi who had appeared out of nowhere and was now sitting on the other side of the Koi pond.

"I could simply get rid of the water triggered transformation and leave you both with the ability to change at will," the mysterious Magi said contemplatively. "...but I have a better idea. If you can guess and/or deduce three things about me I will give you a reward appropriate for each deduction. I will of course give you a vague hint to start with as well as letting you ask 10 questions on the hint. If you cannot deduce the information after the ten questions are asked you'll have to wait another week to ask more. Oh and if I refuse to answer a question it won't count against the total."

Ranma and Akane's response to this was a reluctant nod of agreement.

"Good," the Magi answered. "The first hint; it was I that drowned Ashura 4000 years ago."

"Does that mean you've got something to do with the springs?" Ranma questioned.

"Yes. First question used."

"What?" Ranma demented forcefully.

"Once you answer that you will get the reward. Second question used."

Grumbling at the obviously intentional vagueness of the response Ranma started to think of what question to ask next.

Akane however beat him to the punch and asked, "How old are the cursed Springs?"

"4000 years old. Third question used."

Hearing this statement Ranma immediately asked, "So does that mean it was your magic that's responsible for the cursed Springs?"

"Yes. Fourth question used."

"On purpose?" Akane questioned.

"No. Fifth question used."

"So you're the accidental creator of the curse Springs," Ranma stated while grumbling.

"Correct," the mysterious Magi answered with a smile. "Your reward will be the removal water-based trigger to your transformation."

"Can't you just get rid of it completely?" Ranma demand as he glanced at Akane.

"Do you want it gone?" The Magi questioned.

Ranma's reluctant reply was to shake his head before looking at Akane who blushed a little and shook her head surprising Ranma.

"Didn't think so," the Magi said rather smugly before relaxing and stating, "The second hint: I have been watching for a long time but why did I reveal myself now.

"Because of what Ranma did to Saffron?" Akane queried.

"No. First questioned used."

"Because of what was done to the headwaters of the springs?"

"No. Second question used.

"Does it have anything to do with Jusenkyo?"

"Jusenkyo was what drew my attention to you. Third question used."

"What kept your attention?"

"That is an answer best discovered by your selves. Fourth question used."

"Does your appearance have anything to do with Ranma asking for help from a 'friendly neighborhood wizard'?" Akane asked.

"Yes of course but that is not the reason I revealed myself only the catalyst. Fifth question used."

"Does it have anything to do with the failed wedding?"

"No, Sixth question used."

"With the wrecking crew?"

"No, seventh question used."

"Does it have anything to do with me wanting to get rid of the wrecking crew?" Ranma queried.

"Yes, that was half of the reason. Eighth question used."

"Does the other half have to do with a decision I made?" Akane queried.

"Yes, 9th question used."

"So because of something we both decided on after the failed wedding you decided to reveal your self?" Ranma queried uncertainly.

"Yes, last question used. Have you been able to come to a conclusion?"

Ranma and Akane's response to this was to shake their heads.

"Third hint: one of my selfs was important to one of you."

Hearing this Ranma and Akane each immediately demanded, "Who?"

"Akane. First question used."

"Does the reason why you that cloak of shadows have anything to do with this?" Akane asked.

"Yes. Second question used."

"Dead?" Ranma questioned after a moment of silence.

"Yes, third question used."

Hearing this Akane began to think who was important to her that was dead, female, and that she could identify on sight. She only came up with one.

"Okaachan?" Akane finely questioned as she began to cry.

"Yes," Magi answered as the cloak of shadows around her dissipated revealing a cyan haired, green-eyed woman that looked similar to the three Tendo sisters. "...and no."

"No?" Ranma questioned as he steadied Akane.

"She is a part of me," the Magi answered calmly. "So to simply call me by something that is a part of me would be inaccurate."

"Then what do we call you?" Akane asked.

"Hishizuka RelOrt," the Magi answered before standing and summoning a staff at the center of which was a huge diamond. "Now for your rewards," Hishizuka stated before raising her hand and summoning two bolts of energy, which then struck Ranma and Akane causing them to glow for a moment. "You're will now trigger the transformation," Hishizuka stated before turning to Ranma and adding, "The next time you transform your female body will age in seconds from a young girl to your current age and yes it will hurt."

Ranma's reply was to wince but nod nonetheless.

"Now for your other reward," Hishizuka said as she started to glow and chant in the dictum of magic.

As the chanting continued, Ranma and Akane saw a figure rising out of the ancient Magi. A full five minutes later, the figure resolved into a semi transparent cyan haired woman that Akane immediately identified as her mother. Moments after that identification the sound of the chanting changed and gradually over the next five minutes of form of Akane's mother solidified. Once it had done so Hishizuka started pouring energy into it when she finished Akane's mother jerked to life with a coughing spasm. Once the spasm had abated, Hishizuka clapped her hands onto the sides of Akane's mother's head and muttered a single syllable the dictum of magic, which caused a huge ark of energy to pass between them. Once the energy abated, Hishizuka stepped away from Akane's mother and vanished. This left Akane's mother to cough for a few more times as she held her head painfully.

"Okaachan?" Akane queried nervously. "Are you ok?"

Nodding Akane's mother shook her head to clear it. A moment later, she looked at Ranma and Akane. This let them see a very distinguishing feature. The newly resurrected Tendo matriarch had one green eye and one brown eye.

This naturally shocked Ranma. Akane's heart however skipped a beat if it was one in she remembered about her mother it was her eyes.

"Damn, what a headache," Akane's mother finely growled out in a vulgar manner that even Ranma was embarrassed by. A moment later however she collected herself, smiled, and said, "...but a migraine is a small price to pay for being back. Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to faint," before collapsing into unconsciousness.

"Okaachan!!" Akane screamed.

********************

When the Tendo matriarch next awoke, she found herself being watched over by Ranma.

"How long?" was her immediate query.

"A few hours, it's almost time to go," Ranma answered. "So are you feeling better?"

"Yeah," Akane's mother answered before standing and stretching for a moment, "I believe proper introductions are in order. I am Hishi Tendo."

"Ranma Saotome," Ranma answered.

"So where is Akane?" Hishi queried after looking around.

"The garden. She was mumbling something about another attack," Ranma answered rather nervously.

"I'll go handle it," Hishi answered simply, "Go and ready the gateway for the return."

Nodding Ranma walked off to the gateway room where he used the manual on the gateway operation he had received to set the return to Nerima. Just as Ranma finished Hishi and Akane walked into the gateway room.

"I've set the return for me and Akane," Ranma said from the control panel of the rear side of the gateway. "...but where do you want me to return you to?"

"My bedroom," Hishi answered plainly.

Ranma's answer was a nod before entering the proper destination.

********************

The next morning the Tendo dojo was awoken earlier then normal by the scream of the Tendo patriarch.

The reaction to this was predictable.

Everyone ran downstairs to find out what was going on. Although Ranma and Akane already had a good idea as to what caused Soun's scream, they were quite surprised to find a naked Hishi pining an equally naked Soun to the floor in an interesting position as she kissed him forcefully.

Closing the door to the bedroom forcefully the now blushing Kasumi said, "Oh my, it seems ... it seems..." before trailing all as she walked off rather stiffly.

"It can't be ...but it is... but how?" Nabiki stuttered out before walking off.

"Wasn't that from..." Ranma queried before Akane interrupted.

"The book. Yes," Akane said before walking off with Ranma.

********************

A little while later everyone had gathered around the tea table

Kasumi looked pale but otherwise composed.

Nabiki however looked nervous, jittery, and even a bit scared. What was happening was way off the weirdness chart even by her standards but the mercenary sister knew what she had seen was a real and somehow her mother was back from the grave.

Akane of course was completely calm as was Ranma. Kasumi and Nabiki of course noticed this but said nothing as they were waiting for the screening to die down.

"It's quite embarrassing," Kasumi said after the sounds of screening finally died down.

"I know," Nabiki commented as she shook her head. "Otouchan is such a screamer."

Ranma and Akane's reply to this was to blush faintly although not for the reasons that Nabiki thought they were.

"So what exactly is going on?" Nabiki queried as Hishi and Soun entered.

Ranma and Akane responded to this by telling everyone about the mysterious Magi Hishizuka.

"So Okaachan's a part of the person responsible for creating the cursed springs?" Nabiki queried just to make sure she had heard the story correctly.

"Yep," Hishi answered. "Oh and she gave me some of that magic," Hishi added as she pointed a glowing finger at Nabiki. "So behave, Usagi-chan."

"You wouldn't," Nabiki squeaked as she backed away. Hishi's simple response was to raise an eyebrow slightly. This caused Nabiki to gulp. "You would," Nabiki squeaked out before she ran.

"Usagi-chan?" Ranma and Akane questioned.

Giggling Kasumi provided, "Nabiki once had a pet rabbit."

Ranma and Akane's reply to this was to blink a few times before their eyes widened and they started laughing their heads off.

********************

A little while later Nabiki was found sitting on her bed looking through an old photo album as she thought of what had happened not even an hour ago. Her mom was back from the grave, a part of a creator of the cursed springs, and now had magic of her own. It was so far off the weirdness scale that she was going to need a whole new scale to measure it.

"Everything is connected," Kasumi said interrupting Nabiki's musings.

Blinking in response Nabiki considered the statement for a moment before nodding. "Yes I suppose everything is. So how are you handling things?"

Sitting down Kasumi responded, "Well enough and you?"

"I'm trying to come up with a whole new weirdness scale," Nabiki responded with all seriousness.

Giggling Kasumi said, "Yes it does seem like the old one has been shattered."

"To say the least," Nabiki responded with her usual sarcastic poise. "So what do you think is going to happen now?"

"I doubt even the gods know," Kasumi answered with a thin smile.

********************

To say Soun was nervous was a statement of the obvious akin to saying water was wet. The reason for this was the predatory grin on Hishi's face as she sat across the table from him.

"Don't worry dear, I'm not going to attack you," Hishi said as her grin softened into a smile.

'At lest until tonight,' Soun thought to himself. He knew Hishi well enough to know that there was an implied 'right now.' attached to her statement. "So what do you have planned?"

"Me nothing? I'm just who you remember. Only with a little added magic," Hishi answered with a coy smile she produced an illusion. "My over self however is most likely another matter."

"Oh," was Soun's rather flat response as he was now terrified. 'I wonder if it's time for a training trip,' Soun thought to himself as she started to get up only to be interrupted by a rowdy tackle.

"...and where do you think your going?" Hishi queried.

"Hmm, training?" Soun responded nervously.

"Mhh sounds good," Hishi purred.

Now sweating Soun quickly respond, "Martial arts training."

Placing a finger on her chin thoughtfully Hishi said, "Well there is that."

Soun's response was to start crying (#35 my wife is trying to kill me) as he was drug off.

********************

It had been an excruciating 15 seconds of pain but it was finally over.

"Damn," Ranma-chan cursed as she picked herself up off of the washroom floor immediately noticing a few things as she looked at her reflection.

1 she was now as tall as Akane.

2 her voice had lost its annoying childish high-pitched edge.

3 she was significantly stronger than she had been.

Ranma-chan's comment to that all of this was to stretch, disrobe, wash herself and then take a long soak in the furo. The accelerated growth had left her sore.

********************

'Well that was fun,' Hishi thought to herself as she exited the training hall after a couple of hours of training with Soun. As the matriarch entered the house, she heard someone in the kitchen. A half second later she entered the kitchen to find Akane holding a skillet while a nervous looking Kasumi stood nearby. Kasumi's response to her mother's appearance was to run. This of course left Akane to blink until she looked back at her mother. "So you want to learn how to cook do you," Hishi said as she looked at Akane with a smile Akane usually saw on Kasumi's face. Although for some reason, that smile was now bone chillingly terrifying.

"Yes," Akane managed to squeak out.

"Very well," Hishi answered in a pleasant Kasumi like voice as she closed and locked the kitchen door.

'Sense when does the kitchen door have a lock on it?' Akane mentally questioned before her mother turned around now looking surreally calm.

********************

"You sure everything's okay it's been awfully quiet in there?" Ranma-chan queried as she, Kasumi, and Nabiki sat the tea table.

"Yes," Kasumi replied with a smile. "Okaachan is a very stern sensei."

Hearing this statement Ranma-chan wondered what horrors and Akane must be going through before smiling. "She deserves it."

"Quite," Nabiki responded.

"How long?"

"You might as well get to bed early," Kasumi answered.

Smirking Ranma-chan walked off.

This left the elder Tendo sisters alone in silence until Nabiki stated, "You know now that there's a new weirdness scale things that register on it are bound to start happening."

"Like Akane learning how to cook," Kasumi replied.

"Exactly," Nabiki answered with a smirk.

********************

As Ranma-chan awoke the next morning, she found Akane hugging her tightly with her left arm while her right hand was groping her breast.

"Hmm, Akane," Ranma-chan said nervously as she shook Akane awake.

Akane's half-awake reply was to passionately kiss Ranma-chan as she squeezed Ranma-chan close to her. This of course started to stir Ranma-chan's passions despite her current form. After all, as Ranma-chan had said in the past she was still a guy despite her current form. However, with all the meditation on yin and femininity to say nothing of her acceptance of her current form, Ranma-chan could not ignore the feminine stirrings Akane was creating with her kiss.

Unfortunately neither could P-chan who had just wandered into Akane's room as was apparent when he tried to bite Ranma-chan. Surprisingly it was Akane who stopped the porcine menace from biting Ranma-chan and evicted him from their room. Still the redhead was more than a little peeved at the pig. Girl form or not she absolutely hated being interrupted.

********************

"DIE RANMA!!!!!!!!!" Ryouga shouted as he charged Ranma-chan who had just exited the tearoom.

The redhead's only reply to this was to redirect Ryouga's punch and throw him into the dojo's exterior wall with a simple and clean movement. Ryouga, of course, was not fazed by this and immediately launched another attack, which Ranma-chan again redirected.

'This is rather boring,' Ranma-chan thought before sensing Ryouga powering up for a Shishi-Hokodan 'Then again,' Ranma-chan thought with a smirk before Ryouga released his attack. Thinking quickly Ranma-chan focused her battle aura into her hands and redirected Ryouga's ki attack right back at him and a split second later the pigtailed martial artist launched off his own ki attack. The combination of the two ki attacks instantly KOed Ryouga.

'He's to easy to beat when he's angry,' Ranma-chan thought to herself before walking into that house and retrieving a kettle of hot water which she then poured on Ryouga who instantly woke up glaring at Ranma-chan. Ranma-chan's only answer was to pore water over her head and transform.

"What did you do to her!!!" Ryouga demanded.

"Nothing," Ranma answered with a shrug.

"Then why were you sleeping in her bed AND stealing her innocent lips!!" Ryouga screamed.

"First because she lets me after all that is the only way to get in her bed," Ranma answered nonchalantly causing Ryouga to actually look a bit embarrassed. "Second there's nothing innocent about Akane's lips."

This statement naturally got Ryouga's blood boiling. However before he could attack Ranma added, "After all she's the one that kissed me this morning."

"What?" The eternally lost boy queried with a lost tone of voice as he paused in throwing a punch that was an inch away from connecting from Ranma's face.

"You heard me," Ranma answered nonchalantly as he sat down next to the Koi pond.

"But but but," Ryouga sputtered as his brain tried to process the idea of an aggressive Akane.

"Listen Ryouga, Akane is more like her sisters then you think," Ranma provided while fingering a 5¥ coin.

Ryouga's answer to this was to blush mightily.

"...and we both know how stubborn she can be when she wants something," Ranma added meaningfully. "So don't worry about her she doesn't need any coddling."

"She you all the way?" Ryouga sputtered helplessly his brain still trying to process the fact Akane was the aggressive one.

"Yep," Ranma answered without the slightest hint of a blush and why should he be embarrassed about the love that passed between he and Akane.

"If you ever hurt her..." Ryouga started to threaten.

"The tomboy'll pound me into mallet mush like usual," Ranma finished with his usual smirk.

Despite his anger towards Ranma, Ryouga could come up with only one response to Ranma's statement and that was to laugh himself silly.

Ranma's answer to this was to calmly wait for Ryouga to wind down and when the lost boy finally did, he gazed at Ranma curiously for a while before stating, "You've changed sense that day at the springs."

"What of it," Ranma answered with a shrug.

"Hmm, nothing," Ryouga replied rather hastily before getting up and starting to leave. He however was stopped by a hand placed on his shoulder.

"2 things pal," Ranma said with a calm usually expected from Kasumi.

"What?" Ryouga squeaked out for some reason now utterly terrified of Ranma.

"No more P-chan and I want a good fight before you go," Ranma answered cheerfully.

"Umm, ok," Ryouga replied nervously while wondering why subconscious was telling him he should run as fast as he could and get lost for a very long time.

********************

After a 2 1/2 hour long fight Ryouga who was now thoroughly, beaten, bruised and otherwise roughed up had his answer and worst of all he couldn't be angry at the virtually unscathed Ranma who was pondering his victory since the pigtail martial artist had been respectful and nice to him.

"You know it doesn't make any sense," Ranma commented.

"What?" Ryouga queried rather impatiently.

"How much I've improved over such a short amount of time," Ranma answered with a nervous edge to his voice that scared Ryouga.

The eternally lost boy however quickly shook off the feeling and said, "We've all make great leaps in skill at one time or another Ranma."

"You do have a point but I can't help but wonder if this is something more," Ranma responded before getting up.

"Why?" Ryouga questioned.

"How bout the fact it felt like I was fighting a white belt for two hours and not my best sparring partner," Ranma answered solemnly.

"Ok," Ryouga relented now thoroughly spooked. "I can see why you're nervous now."

"Yeah, I hope It's nothing to worry about," Ranma replied before walking off and out of sight.

'Same here,' Ryouga thought before he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand straight up. Turning around he saw a short cyan hand woman who had just cracked her knuckles.

********************

Meanwhile just outside the training hall Ranma smirked as he listened to Ryouga being pounded. A minute or so later the pounding stopped and entire training hall was briefly illuminated from inside by a bright flash of light. A few moments after Ryouga stumbled out of the training hall looking extra crispy and promptly collapsed onto the ground.

"Now that, had to hurt," Ranma commented with a smirk before walking off leaving Ryouga to twitch.

********************

When Ryouga next awoke, he found he was in the tearoom of the Tendo home with a very familiar cyan haired woman looking over him with a smirk the eternally lost boy usually associated with Nabiki.

"Who are you?" Ryouga queried while looking frightened.

"Hishi Tendo," the cyan haired woman said with a smirk that made Ryouga's blood run cold. "I don't think I need to tell you how hellish I can make your pitiful little life. So I'll just cut to the part where I tell you what to do."

Gulping Ryouga queried, "What do you want me to do?"

Eyes flashing with power as she pulled out a very sharp looking tanto Hishi stated, "Squeal like the pig you are," before getting within an inch of Ryouga's face. "Unless of course you want to become bacon in the literal sense," Hishi said with a Kasumi like inviting smile as she moved the razor-sharp tanto she was holding millimeters above Ryouga's face.

Trying his best not to move a millimeter Ryouga squeaked out his agreement.

Making the tanto vanish with a single deft motion Hishi pleasantly said, "Now be a good little boy and stay right here. We wouldn't want you getting lost now would we?"

Ryouga's only reply was to shake his head nervously.

"Good," Hishi said pleasantly before she started reading a book leaving Ryouga to nervously cower.

Watching all of this from nearby where Ranma, Nabiki, and Kasumi.

"Don't take this the wrong way but you're mom's scarier than most hard-core ninjas," Ranma said.

"She can make a hard-core ninja soil their gi in under a minute," Nabiki replied.

"Oh," Ranma muttered rather flatly before deciding to take a walk. He didn't want to be anywhere near the dojo when Akane returned.

********************

That night when Ranma returned to the dojo, he found Ryouga who had obviously been pounded by a very large mallet by the koi pond.

Wincing at Ryouga's condition which was worse then Ranma had ever seen he queried, "You alive?"

The only response Ryouga could give was a slight twitch.

"Better get you to Doc Tofu," Ranma said a shake of his head before he carefully picked up Ryouga and left for Dr. Tofu's clinic.

********************

"Do you happen to have any magic powerful enough to cure Kunou's insanity?" Nabiki questioned her mother who was making breakfast.

"Yes," Hishi answered as she produced what appeared to be a gumball out of thin air. "This will do."

"Ingested?" the middle Tendo sister asked.

"Yes with a 12 second delay."

With a nod, Nabiki departed for the Kunou manner.

********************

As Nabiki arrived as the Kunou manner, she was enthusiastically greeted by Kunou who as usual started spouting poetry. Nabiki naturally took advantage of his open mouth and easily shot the gumball into Kunou's mouth.

This of course naturally stopped Kunou's poetry as he was forced to chew on the gumball, which contained a measure of magical liquid. Kunou's immediate comment was, "Tiss an interesting flavor ... like sweet tomatoes and apricots." Before he turned to Nabiki and queried, "Mite I inquire as to where thou acquired such an interesting candy?"

"It's a magic gumball that should kick in right about..." Nabiki said before Kunou fell over leaving Nabiki to smile and add, "Now," before picking up Kunou and walking off.

********************

When Kunou next awoke, he had a splitting headache that felt like a result of very bad hangover. Opening on eye slightly Kunou found Nabiki smirking at him.

"Ahh so nice to see you awake," Nabiki said as her smirk broadened into a smile.

"Why does my head feel as if it has been split in twain?" Kunou queried.

"Because magic gumballs apparently pack quite a wallop," Nabiki answered calmly, "...but at the moment I have something more important to talk to you about."

"What."

"The pigtailed girl," Nabiki answered as she pulled out a videotape.

********************

Later back at the dojo Ranma had just finished another training exercise with Akane.

"Your doing..." Ranma said with a smile only to be interrupted by Kunou barging in with a drawn katana and a murderess expression.

"I demand a duel of honor with thee now Saotome," Kunou practically screamed.

"No," Ranma answered simply and without delay shocking everyone unconditionally. "There is no honor between us so a duel for honor is meaningless," Ranma added as he stared Kunou down.

Kunou's response to this was to actually growl before he returned his blade to it's sheath. "As much as I am loath to admit it, Ranma, thou are correct," Kunou said before turning to leave. However before he could Nabiki walked into view.

"Now that, that's done, Tate," Nabiki said with a smile. "Lets go."

"Yes of course, Nabs," Tatewaki stuttered out as he backed away from Nabiki.

"Good," Nabiki said with a warm smile more commonly seen on Akane's face as she grabbed Tatewaki by the arm led him off.

"Ok that was just creepy," Ranma muttered rather numbly.

"Yeah," was the only response Akane could think of giving. Her sister the ice queen actually looked like she was in a romantic and happy mood and as Ranma said that was just creepy ... colossally scary creepy.

********************

Late that night Nodoka returned and after being informed of what had happened when she was gone, she developed a rather large headache. Said headache was easily understandable considering everything that had happened.

Currently the Saotome matriarch was sitting in the kitchen having a cup of tea with Hishi.

"This I must say complicates a few things," Nodoka muttered as she rubbed her temples.

"Yeah but not in ways you'd expect," Hishi answered with a mischievous smile.

"What ARE you talking about Hishi?!" Nodoka demanded.

"Ranma is very feminine you know that," Hishi said as she created an illusionary image of Ranma-chan.

A simple yet reluctant nod was Nodoka's only reply to this.

"Ranma however is only now beginning to understand that," Hishi continued. "...and as Ranma begins to understand his real feminine nature he'll began to realize a lot of the things he does send out messages he doesn't want to be sending out."

"Like the fact Ranma acts like a flirt when he's a girl?" Kasumi questioned as she flipped through a cookbook.

"A prime example but the main thing is Ranma will start thinking about how others feel," Hishi answered. "...and once Ranma starts thinking about that he'll really get in touch with his feminine side. To say nothing of how much better of a person he'll become. Unfortunately there's a good chance Ranma will go just the slightest bit cuckoo he realizes all of this."

"Cuckoo how!?" Nodoka demanded frantically.

"Well," Hishi considered. "Anything from Ranko to a classic little scared girl. Then again it could be everything between those two extremes," Hishi continued with a shrug. "The real problem however is how Akane is going to react."

"Why?" Kasumi queried.

"Ranma has had several fine examples of female behavior and unfortunately — for Akane — he already patterns his 'female' behavior after them," Hishi explained.

"So Ranma's going to act like, Akane, Ukyou and Shampoo put together?" Kasumi said thoughtfully.

"Yep and then some," Hishi answered. "Then again he may be smart enough to listen to what my over-self said."

"I think I understand what you meant about unexpected complications," Nodoka said with a groan. "So what are we going to do?"

"Nothing," Hishi answered as she noted the hiding Ranma.

********************

Ranma-chan was musing on her current form as she sat in her and Akane's room. The more meditation she did on her current form and femininity the more guilt welled up from within. The feminine part of her soul was angry very angry with her. Angry for being ignored, shoved down, and suppressed and now that Ranma-chan was letting her feminine side out of it's prison it was demanding attention, lots of attention. It wasn't as if Ranma-chan was against giving the attention it was that Hishizuka's warning not to use her current form was still fresh in her mind. It was causing a deadlock within Ranma, and if it was one thing the pigtailed martial artist hated it was deadlock. She had to do something before it drove her crazy.

Still what could she do, especially when she didn't have the faintest idea what to do or even where to begin looking for ideas?

Just giving in wasn't an option like she'd been thinking. So what could she do? Sighing deeply Ranma-chan looked around the room for some sort of clue. Almost immediately, she spied the three books she received from Hishizuka.

Nodding to herself Ranma-chan began to think and almost immediately remembered the fourth lesson in life.

"That's what I have to do. I have to find out who I am beyond martial arts," Ranma said after transforming. "...but what?" Ranma questioned before smirking and shrugging. "I'm sure something will come up," Ranma chuckled before walking off.

********************

'Where to go?' Ranma mentally questioned as he looked around the market district not really caring nor knowing where he should go.

"Mite I suggest something," the Magi Hishizuka said as everything around Ranma became still.

"What?" Ranma questioned.

"That you take these," Hishizuka said simply as she gave Ranma a bankcard that surprisingly was in his name and a large leather backpack. "...and start over their and work your way down the street. Oh and don't worry about how much you spend not even your father could empty out that the card," Hishizuka finished before vanishing.

Looking to where Hishizuka had pointed as time resumed its normal flow Ranma saw a music store.

Ranma's response to this was to shrug his shoulders and enter the store.

********************

As Ranma entered the music store, he absently started to browse not really knowing what he was looking for.

Ranma's browsing however was interrupted when he heard Kunou curse, "What are thou doing here Saotome!?"

Turning to face Kunou, Ranma said, "Just looking around."

"For what?" Kunou demanded.

"No clue," Ranma answered with a shrug as he absently looked around.

Kunou was of course irked by this and replied, "You must have some idea!"

"Beyond getting an instrument, no," Ranma answered. "So have any suggestions?" Ranma queried after a moment of silence.

Nearly falling flat on his face Kunou shouted, "WHAT!???"

"You heard me," Ranma replied casually.

Kunou's response to this was simply to storm off.

"Respect in life is not always given," Ranma said with a shake of his head.

"That boy respects no one but himself," an old shopkeeper said as he walked up.

"Can't argue with that," Ranma commented before asking, "So do you have any suggestions?"

"Yes and one that well definitely make that boy quite jealous if you can pull it off," the shopkeeper said with a smirk.

"So what do you have in mind?" Ranma queried with a smirk.

"Follow me," the shopkeeper replied as he walked off Ranma following. A few moments later, the shopkeeper came to a display of violins and after a few moments of browsing the shopkeeper handed Ranma one. "This should do. Now to show you how to use it..." the shopkeeper said before starting to show Ranma how to use the violin. Once he was finished he said, "Ok now give it a try."

Nodding Ranma started to play at first horribly but like everything Ranma did, he quickly adapted and got better and minutes later Ranma was playing beautifully and quite lost in his music.

The shopkeeper responded to this by smiling as he nodded. It was a rare pleasure to see someone that played with their heart. "I do believe that that is your instrument," the shopkeeper said snapping Ranma out of his playing.

"Hmm, yeah," Ranma said nervously.

"Come on let's get you everything you need for it ... and a book on how to read and write music," the shopkeeper said as he patted Ranma on the back.

"Ok," Ranma said rather uncertainly.

********************

A while later Ranma exited the music store with a smile he now had an instrument and all other necessary things to go with it. Amazingly, everything that he had gotten fit into the backpack and a mysterious Magi had given him.

'Now what next?' Ranma mentally questioned as he looked around the shopping district. 'Hmm, that looks interesting and it does involve art,' Ranma thought to himself as he noticed a large art supply store.

********************

As Ranma entered the art store, he was immediately taken aback by the sheer multitude of things he saw. 'Wow this place is huge!' Ranma mentally commented before noticing a display of drawing tablets and books on how to draw. 'Well I do doodle all the time so I guess drawing isn't a bad place to start,' Ranma thought to himself before grabbing a tablet and a few books. 'Ok now what?' Ranma thought before noticing a display for beginning sculptors. 'Well I guess that's as good a place as any to start,' Ranma thought with a shrug before grabbing one of the kits off of the table. 'Hmm, that's probably enough for now,' Ranma thought after a moment of looking around.

********************

Sometime later Ranma found himself lounging in the shade of a tree in the park reading one of the books about music he had gotten.

Once he finished reading, the pigtailed martial artist pulled out his violin and started playing and this playing quickly attracted a large audience of onlookers who were stunned by Ranma is playing. After getting used to an audience, the pigtailed boy started to enjoy himself that of course was when his playing was rudely interrupted by Kunou spouting off some drivel about how he was defiling music and stealing the hearts of fair maidens.

Rolling his eyes Ranma looked up to find Kunou fuming in rage.

"What do you want this time?" Ranma asked while giving Kunou a rather annoyed look.

"Wretched cur I will not stand idlely by and watch this travesty!" Kunou shouted angrily toward drawing his blade.

Shaking his head Ranma put away his violin before walking over to Kunou and dropping into a loose battle stance.

Kunou's answer was to attack.

'This ends quickly,' Ranma thought before dodging Kunou's blade and then shattering it with a chop to it's broadside. Ranma immediately followed this move up by kneeing Kunou in the gut at the same time he brought his hands down on Kunou's back in a hammer blow. The combo was devastating and Kunou screened in silent agony for less then a tenth of a second before Ranma threw him to the ground where he bounced a few times as he regained his senses. Once he regained his senses Kunou saw Ranma standing over him. An instant later Ranma's fist was speeding towards his head.

A fraction of a second later everything was shaken by the explosive impact of Ranma fist.

When the dust cleared, everyone saw Ranma's punch had created a crater at least three feet deep and 6 feet wide.

After Ranma withdrew his fist from the ground, he walked off grabbing his backpack on the way.

Curiously, the onlookers walked over to the side of the crater fully expecting to see a headless corpse. However, they found Kunou was still alive and Ranma's punch had missed and struck the ground just to the right of Kunou's head.

Kunou for his part was terror-stricken. His hated rival had purposefully missed hitting him with a punch that carried the force of modern weapons like cannon and mortar. His rival had let him live. Worse yet Kunou knew his rival had pulled punch ... quite a bit.

As Kunou rose from the crater he had one question on his mind and that was why his rival had let him live.

"Because despite all of his faults Ranma is an honorable and decent guy that always tries to do what he sees as the right thing." Nabiki said as Kunou walked by her.

Stopping cold Kunou demanded, "How did you..."

"My dear Tatewaki, I know how your tiny little mind works," Nabiki responded with a coy smile that made Kunou sweat.

********************

A while later Ranma arrived at Akane's hidden retreat and after taking a while to calm down he pulled out the book on drawing he had gotten and started to read. Once he read a few chapters Ranma put the book down, pulled out his drawing tablet and started to draw.

An hour or so later Ranma stopped drawing as he realized he was really and truly happy. Despite appearances, bravado, and how he acted when he was a girl Ranma was rarely happy as he was now. In fact, it was such a rare sensation that Ranma hadn't experienced it for longer than he could remember. No that wasn't quite right he had felt as he did now when he was teaching or fighting with Akane but that was a different feeling and it had only been around since he and Akane had spent time alone in the sanctuary.

This realization led Ranma to think about other things in his life and he always came to the same conclusion. He was absolutely nothing beyond his martial arts, appearances and bravado.

With that revelation about himself, Ranma packed up and headed back to the dojo. He had a lot of thinking to do.

********************

Nabiki yawned as she walked down the stairs of her home for a midnight snack. However as she walked towards the kitchen she saw Kasumi in the tearoom. Blinking Nabiki walked into the tearoom and demanded, "Why are you up?"

Kasumi's silent reply was to motion towards the koi pond where Ranma sat looking not at all like himself.

"Ouch he looks even more depressed then Ryouga usually does," Nabiki commented him as she sat down. "So have gone out there and talked to him?"

"Me? No!" Kasumi exclaimed.

"...and why not?" a powerful yet familiar voice questioned.

Wiping around the two Tendo sisters found themselves looking at a beautiful and daringly dressed woman with long cyan hair and considering her poise and overwhelming presence the woman had to be the Magi Hishizuka.

"Why not?" The ancient Magi repeated as she walked over to Kasumi. "You are the comforter."

Looking away shamefully, Kasumi mumbled something under her breath.

"So you misjudged him," the ancient Magi said with a rather bored tone before picking Kasumi up as if she was a feather. "First impressions rarely show a complete picture of someone," the Magi continued as she let Kasumi go. "Especially when it comes to one like Ranma," the Magi finished before vanishing leaving Kasumi nervously standing.

"Come on oneesan let's go help our future otouto," Nabiki said with a smile. "After all angst and depression is Ryouga's gig."

"Ok," Kasumi said with a noticeable quiver to her usually steady voice.

********************

"So what's got you as depressed as Ryouga?" Nabiki queried with her usual dry wit.

Not bothering to look away from his reflection in the koi pond Ranma said, "I'm nothing," in a tone of voice neither Nabiki or Kasumi had ever heard. It was a haunted hollow voice devoid of the spirit both knew should of been there. "Nothing without my martial arts, appearances and bravado."

"That's not true," Nabiki said with a chuckle. "For starters you're definitely one for action of any kind," Nabiki started before elbowing Kasumi so she would continue.

"You're also caring, forgiving and loving," Kasumi offered soothingly.

"You think so? Even after..." Ranma queried before being cut off by Nabiki.

"Yes even after all of your macho bravado," Nabiki said with a sharp chuckle as she walked off.

"Kasumi?" Ranma queried.

"You're a lot more than you appear Ranma you just have to find it," Kasumi offered her words mirroring her feelings about the pigtailed martial artist. "... and like Nabiki said you are one for action so you should go look for who you are and not be depressed about not knowing," Kasumi added.

"Yeah you're right," Ranma replied before getting up and walking off already looking better.

This left Kasumi to breathe a sigh of relief. Seeing Ranma as he was was like seeing a forest burning or an ocean drying up. It was like seeing a force of nature being destroyed or having it collapse. It was just wrong.

'Ranma is like a force of nature. He looks so simple on the surface yet he's phantomlessly deep underneath,' Kasumi thought to herself. 'So very deep,' Kasumi added as she truly wondered who Ranma really was. 'Unlike me,' Kasumi thought before walking off as she tried to answer the same question about herself as Ranma had been about himself.

Who am I?

********************

Early morning at the Tendo dojo went along its usual pattern. Nodoka, Hishi and Kasumi made breakfast while Ranma and Genma 'practiced' by the koi pond, Nabiki was looking over her ledgers and Akane was watching Ranma play with the panda. Soun of course was reading his morning paper.

All of this was interrupted however when everyone heard the angry cry of an old pervert screaming about his 'beauties'. A few moments later the old pervert came running outside and shouted, "You've gone too far this time Ranma!! Destroying my beauties!" before attacking.

Ranma's response to this was to nimbly dodge Happosai as he fully prepared for a real fight.

Ranma didn't have long to wait before the fight began with a Happo-Daikarin being thrown at him. Ranma's response was to rush forward and kick the bomb back at it's thrower. The resulting explosion sent the perverted martial arts master flying. However, Happosai recovered in midair and threw out a volley of small Happo-Daikarins. Upon seeing this Ranma knew he couldn't dodge and so braced himself for the impact and thanks to the endurance training he had done with Akane he was able to hold his ground. This enabled him to counter attack with a flurry of blows that penetrated the old lecher's defenses.

The perverted master of course recovered from Ranma's assault and back flipped away to a standoff distance.

'There's something different about the boy,' Happosai thought to himself as he studied Ranma. 'No mater,' the ancient pervert thought before attacking only to have Ranma redirect his blows and then follow up with a powerful kick that sent Happosai flying. 'Ok maybe it does matter,' Happosai thought as he picked himself up and took a long look at Ranma. 'So the boy has started awakening to his true power. No matter I kill him now so he won't be a threat later,' Happosai thought before summoning his true strength and saying, "It's time to die so prepare your self."

'Fighting: 9,' Ranma thought before summoning everything he had.

Once he had done so Happosai attacked at blur inducing speeds. Unable to dodge Ranma redirected Happosai's punch and immediately followed up with a point blank Moko Takabisha, which hammered Happosai into the ground and left him open to a punch that Ranma did not pull. The result of this was a six-foot deep crater. Ranma who had no intention of letting up followed this up by focusing his mind and releasing a huge unfocused pulse of ki just as he withdrew his fist. The recoil from the blast knocked Ranma clear of the crater where he landed in a battle ready position expecting an attack from any direction.

He didn't have long to wait as Happosai counterattacked with a powerful ki bomb that sent Ranma flying into the dojo's exterior wall. Momentarily stunned Ranma was unable to defend himself from a direct assault from Happosai. Not that he needed to, considering Happosai's blows lacked enough force to break through the endurance Ranma had gained thanks to his training with Akane.

Recovering from being stunned Ranma forced Happosai off of him with an unfocused ki shout. A moment later, he fired off a Moko Takabisha, which Happosai dodged just as Ranma wanted him to sense it left him open for a vicious Amaguriken to as many pressure points as Ranma knew of.

Screaming in agony Happosai counterattacked with a full force kick that broke 2 of Ranma's ribs. Ranma however showed no outward sign of this and counterattacked with a joint lock followed by a palm strike that broke Happosai's right arm. Happosai respond to this with a ki shout that knocked Ranma high into the air. Ranma having several vials of healing potions hidden in his shirt took advantage of the situation by downing one before he hit the dojo's exterior wall, which he used as a springboard to charge Happosai and hit him with a vicious double punch that broke 3 of Happosai's ribs and sent him flying. Charging after and beyond the flying ancient pervert, Ranma took advantage of passing to his mother to grab her katana.

Less then a fraction of a second later Happosai hit the leading edge of the Saotome blade and was split in twain when he was unable to dodge Ranma.

"Fighting: 1, 3, 8, 9," Ranma said sadly as he turned away from Happosai's body to face his stunned family.

A few tense moments of silence, later Soun and Genma started celebrating. Ranma however just walked away passing only briefly to take the Saotome blade's sheath from his mother.

********************

Sometime later Ranma found himself cleaning his family blade using the water in a drainage canal. "To use anything better would be an insult to the blade," Ranma muttered.

"That I will agree with," Hishizuka said plainly as she appeared.

"WHY! WHY! Did I do it??!!" Ranma screamed after an oppressing silence had passed.

"You know why," the ancient Magi responded. "You knew it had to be done," Hishizuka continued with a grave and heavy voice.

Collapsing to the ground Ranma only nodded as he started to weep silently. The battle was 'kill or be killed' and he had done what he had to do to survive.

"It never gets any easier to destroy one you care about," Hishizuka said as she sat down. "...and once such as you that cares for everyone is hurt even more so."

Nodding Ranma sheathed the Saotome blade before walking off his heart heavy but resigned in the fact that he had done what needed to be done. Happosai was dead and the world was going to be a better place because of that.

Such facts however were of no comfort to Ranma.

"He now understands the un-teachable 11^th lesson of life; death is always to be taken seriously. A lesson Akane learned long ago," Hishizuka said before vanishing. She had preparations to make.

********************

Kasumi was drinking the absolute strongest saki she could find at 11:00 PM. The reason for this was because what she had seen that morning.

Ranma had sliced Happosai in half.

She simply could not believe it. Why exactly she couldn't believe it, she didn't know.

Wasn't Ranma was a dumb uncare...

'No he isn't,' Kasumi mentally corrected herself. 'Not by a long shot,' Kasumi thought as she remembered the look on Ranma's face when he returned.

"He carries too much," Nabiki said snapping Kasumi out of her slight stupor. "In fact," Nabiki said as she sat down and poured herself a drink. "He cares so much that if Ranma had been born a born a girl I have no doubt that she'd be in Juuban along with the rest of the magic girls."

Despite her mood, Kasumi had to laugh at this comparison.

"Where did we go wrong in judging him?" Kasumi asked after silence had returned to the room.

"Oh some where along the line of being freaked out that Otouchan engaged us to him," Nabiki quipped. "...and after that it was too easy just to look at what was on the surface."

Sighing Kasumi agreed as she poured herself another cup.

"We have to reevaluate him," Kasumi said after a long silence.

"No you just have to take him as he is," Akane said as she entered and sat down. "The good, the bad and everything in between. Believe me I know."

"So... how is he?"

"It's going to take a while," Akane answered sadly as she accepted a drink from Kasumi.

********************

"He's been hiding most of his power and skill," Soun stated.

"No that magi has to be responsible," Genma argued. "For how much I don't know," Genma added as he remembered Ranma's battle with Saffron. "The boy is changing every day."

"What are we going to do?" Soun queried nervously.

"With that magi around what can we do?" Genma responded.

********************

"Is there anything I can do?" Nodoka queried.

"No," Hishi answered sadly.

********************

Ranma-chan was staring into koi pond at around three am when a woman she thought she would never see again appeared behind her.

"She told me what you had to do," the woman said as she sat down next to Ranma. "How are you holding out?"

"Not well," Ranma-chan answered as she shed a few tears. "Not well at all. It hurts so much."

"I know the feeling," the woman answered as she gave Ranma-chan a comforting hug. "I've had to do what you did before. The only advice I can offer is that you accept the pain, learn that sometimes there is no other way, and that you have to move on without ever forgetting," the woman offered before standing and vanishing.

"Thanks," Ranma-chan said before walking off to the training hall to do some serious meditation.

********************

Akane-kun was absently walking along the streets of Nerima not really having any destination or purpose in mind other than staying away from the dojo for most of the day.

Why exactly he had chosen his current form Akane-kun really didn't know or even care.

Currently Akane-kun was —thanks to Ranma's training— walking along a fence top effortlessly as he thought about what to do. His thoughts were interrupted however when he saw Sayuki, Yuka, Rei and Ami walking towards him. Hopping off the fence he waited for them.

As soon as the exuberant Yuka saw Akane-kun she cheerfully shouted, "Over here Akane-kun!!" much to the shock of Rei and Ami.

Shaking her head at Yuka's enthusiasm Akane-kun said, "So what are you up to?"

"Shopping!!" Yuka exclaimed before blinking and querying, "What are you doing like that?"

Shrugging rather hopelessly Akane-kun answered, "For some reason I just felt like it and no I don't know why."

"Wired," Yuka commented before shrugging and saying, "...but a shopping trip should cheer you up!"

Sweat-dropping Akane-kun shook his head and said, "I'm not unhappy," as he started to walk off only to notice the weird looks Rei and Ami were giving him. Turning to Sayuki, Akane-kun queried, "Why didn't you tell them?"

"Hmm, well I..." Sayuki sputtered hopelessly to which Akane-kun responded to by pinching the ridge of his nose.

"Come on, I'll tell you everything," Akane-kun said after a moment.

********************

Akane's friends gaped aghast as they tried to process what Akane had told them.

Akane-kun however just looked out at the park from the hillside he his friends were on while he waited for his friends to recover.

Sometime later they usually exuberant Ami questioned, "How?"

"I stopped asking how a long time ago," Akane-kun responded with a simple shrug causing his friends to stare nervously.

"But ... but," Rei spotter to nervously.

Looking up at the sky as he laid back on the hillside Akane-kun said, "My life has always been chaotic you all know that and Ranma's life has also always been chaotic. Put us together with a couple of meddling fathers and the craziest ward in Tokyo and well you know the rest."

Blinking repeatedly Akane's friends nodded in complete understanding before Sayuki queried, "...but why are you all right with everything all of a sudden. I mean you usually well ... you know."

"I had a stout drink after the failed wedding and stopped getting in my own way," Akane-kun answered as he stood. "See you later, I'm going to go see what the chaos of Nerima has in store for today," Akane-kun said cheerfully as he walked off leading his stunned friends behind.

********************

Several hours and a mishap involving a certain crazy gymnast thinking he was cute later Akane-kun found himself fence walking when he saw a golden haired fox-tailed boy who was already injured running from a black-red fox-tailed man.

Jumping between the two Akane-kun immediately prepared for a fight. The black-red fox-tailed man however took one look at his opponent before fleeing.

Shrugging Akane-kun turned around and looked at the fox-tailed boy before querying, "You ok?"

The boy's response was to nod once before fainting.

"The chaos strikes once more," Akane-kun said simply before running a hand through his hair and whistling loudly.

A few moments later Akane's friends nervously walked into view.

"It's a kitsune, a real kitsune," Sayuki said nervously.

Rolling his eyes at the obvious statement Akane-kun picked the boy up and said, "Come on let's get him back to the dojo so we can get him patched up."

********************

"He's not a kitsune," Hishi said after looking over and healing the still unconscious boy.

"He's not?" Yuka questioned disbelievingly.

"No this boy is possessed by a kitsune," Hishi responded as she considered something. "...or more precisely possessed of a kitsune," Hishi added.

"Hmm, what's the difference?" Rei queried while looking completely clueless.

"A huge one," Hishi answered. "...and it basically boils down to the fact these two exist as one. Still that doesn't explain the tail and the ears."

"Hun? It doesn't?" Ami queried.

"Kitsune are masters of illusion and have only minor shape-changing powers," Hishi responded.

"So does that means the boy has to have transformation powers by himself?" Sayuki questioned.

"Most likely," Hishi responded before the boy groaned and awoke.

"How are you feeling?" Hishi asked.

"Thrashed," the boy replied as he sat up and scratched his head.

"So who was that thug chasing you?" Akane-kun asked.

"Hmm," the boy said nervously not sure he should reveal anything more then what was obvious.

"If you don't want to you don't have to but if I can I well help," Akane said reassuringly before adding, "...and don't worry about how 'weird' your problem is."

"Hmm, why?" the boy asked.

Akane-kun responded to this by transforming and saying, "Because around here we're quite experienced in weird."

The boy who was now taking up the full standard shock position managed to squeak out, "I see," in response to Akane's transformation.

Chuckling slightly Akane walked off telling the boy to take his time.

This left the boy looking at the rest of the occupants of the room who didn't look at all fazed by the transformation that had just taken place.

"Why don't you get some rest?" Hishi suggested.

The quick and simple response the boy gave was to faint.

"Well that went well," Sayuki mumbled sarcastically.

"For once, I'll have to agree," Yuka answered with a shrug.

"So what do we do now?" Ami queried curiously as she studied the boy.

"What can we do?" Rei queried in her usual serious manner before looking over at Hishi nervously.

The Tendo mother's gentle response was to query, "How much are you willing to do?"

After shifting nervously, Akane's friends started talking amongst themselves and after a moment Rei announced, "What ever we can without being a burden."

After nodding once Hishi said, "You can start by telling our guest about Nerima," before getting up and walking off.

"That is after he regains consciousness," Yuka giggled.

********************

Sometime later Akane was found sitting by the koi pond looking at the sky enjoying herself when Sayuki walked up.

"So are we ready?" Akane questioned.

"Yes we convinced him to talk," Sayuki answered before smiling thinly. "It's turning out to be like the old days in middle school with all kinds of crazy spirits popping up."

"Yeah it is," Akane answered with a smile as she stood and walked over to Sayuki.

"So is Ranma coming along?" Sayuki asked curiously.

"...he's not feeling very good," Akane answered sadly as she looked up at her and Ranma's room.

"Why?" Sayuki asked in genuine confusion.

"A fight with Happosai got deadly serious," Akane answered as she looked Sayuki in the eye.

"You mean Ranma had to..."

"Yeah," Akane answered with a simple nod. "...and while Ranma didn't even break a bone the fight hurt him in a different and far worse way."

"I see," Sayuki choked out.

"Tomorrow we get to work helping another wayward spirit," Akane said as she squeezed Sayuki shoulder reassuringly. "...and for once I won't be the reluctant one," Akane added as she walked off.

Sayuki's response to this was a laugh briefly before looking up at the window to Ranma and Akane's room for a moment.

********************

As Ranma awoke in the sanctuary with Akane he stretched and sat up.

"You ok yet?" Akane asked as she wrapped her arms around Ranma.

"No, but I'm going to move on and train even harder and with as many things as I can. That way I'm never left without an option again," Ranma responded. "Starting now," Ranma finish before standing and walking off.

This left Akane alone for about 5 seconds before she said, "Speaking of training," while smiling disturbing like her mother.

********************

Later after training —of multiple sorts— Ranma and Akane relaxed in the sanctuary's tearoom. Both were content just to stare aimlessly at the ceiling thinking of nothing more then how good it felt to be with the other.

"Feeling better?" Akane finally questioned.

"Yeah," Ranma answered quietly. "Thanks."

"No problem baka," Akane answered before stretching and saying, "I want you to do something for me."

********************

Ranma-chan was not a particularly happy camper. The reason for this was she had promised Akane to visit Ukyou while she was off dealing with the kitsune.

"Might as well get it over with," Ranma-chan grumbled before she headed for Dr. Tofu's office.

********************

Ukyou was relaxing, eyes closed and trying to enjoy herself as much as possible considering her current situation. While she was physically fine thanks to a healing potion Akane had brought her three days ago Dr. Tofu insisted she stay at his clinic for observation for another four days before he would release her.

Opening her eyes, she looked over at Ryouga who was in a body cast that went up to his neck. The eternally lost boy was currently asleep and unusually snoring to a tune Ukyou couldn't quite remember.

"Weird pig," Ukyou mumbled before she heard someone open the door to the infirmary open with its usual jingle. Turning to face the door Ukyou was exceptionally surprised to see Ranma-chan walking towards her. Although she wasn't surprised at the rather unfriendly look, Ranma-chan was giving her.

"Kuonji," Ranma-chan said simply causing Ukyou to mentally wince.

Ukyou knowing she was in a very dangerous situation merely nodded.

Snarling slightly Ranma-chan crossed her arms and said, "You have something to say."

Gulping Ukyou choked out, "For as little as its worth, I'm sorry ... for everything."

Ranma-chan's response to this was to pierce Ukyou with a gaze for an instant before saying, "Why?"

"I don't know, and I knew I would tell you," Ukyou queried sadly but seriously.

"However I have a good idea," Dr. Tofu said as he entered.

"Hun? You do?" Ukyou sputtered out.

"Yes which is why when Akane came in with a healing potion the other day I had her go back and get a significantly stronger one," Dr. Tofu said as he sat down and handed Ukyou his clipboard.

"Stress induced psychosis leading to temporary insanity. Bipolar mood disorder and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder probable underlying reasons reason for psychosis," Ukyou read as chills crawled up her spine.

"That's a gross oversimplification of my clinical diagnosis but it gets the point across," Dr. Tofu said as he retrieved his clipboard.

"How?" Ukyou questioned.

"The bipolar is most likely genetic since several of your relatives have had it and other similar mood disorders," Dr. Tofu explained. "As for the obsessive-compulsive personality disorder it's definitely due to the fact you've been chasing after Ranma since you were a young child," Dr. Tofu finished before taking off his glasses and cleaning them with a handkerchief. "I also have some bad news about your father Ukyou."

"He finally died didn't he," Ukyou responded simply as if she was expecting it.

"Yes," Dr. Tofu answered before he got up and left.

"I think you better get going," Ukyou said flatly as a shadow fell over her face.

Ranma-chan's only response was to nod and leave.

********************

"Ranma," Dr. Tofu called as Ranma-chan was leaving the clinic.

"Yeah, Doc," Ranma-chan answered as she stopped and turned around.

"I know she hurt you Ranma but you have to understand the mental problems she had were quite severe and under normal circumstances would have taken years to treat," Dr. Tofu explained gravely.

"I know doc back when me and Ryouga went to the same school we knew a woman with schizophrenia for a short time," Ranma-chan answered. "Hallucinations, seeing people, the whole horrible deal."

"Knew?" Dr. Tofu questions seriously.

"Yeah," Ranma-chan replied.

"I see," Dr. Tofu said with a nod. "Then I don't need to say anything else do I."

"No," Ranma-chan said before pausing and throwing a healing potion over a shoulder. "Give that to Ryouga," Ranma-chan at it before walking off.

********************

Meanwhile back at the clinic Ryouga, who had been awake since Ranma-chan had walked in, was also thinking of the woman he and Ranma had known.

"Ukyou," Ryouga choked out painfully.

"Don't talk baka," Ukyou interrupted sharply.

"...but," Ryouga insisted only to be interrupted by Dr. Tofu entering with a syringe filled with glowing liquid.

"What's that Doc?" Ukyou questioned.

"30 cc of an ultra-concentrated healing potion," Dr. Tofu answered as he walked over to Ryouga who he injected.

Immediately there after Ryouga began glowing with a powerful light green aura that actually lifted him off the bed he was on. A few seconds later, the healing aura abruptly abated leaving Ryouga to fall back onto the bed.

Dr. Tofu's answer to this was to walk off saying that he was going to go get a few diagnostic tools.

This left Ryouga to talk to Ukyou about his experiences.

********************

"Well I must say it took longer than I expected," Hishi commented as she, Nodoka, Nabiki and Kasumi watched Ranma-chan who acting as overly "feminine" as Hishi had predicted.

"So what do you think triggered it?" Nabiki questioned.

"The comment Sato-san made about Ranma-chan making a good mother," Kasumi said as she shrugged her shoulders.

"Oi," Nabiki commented as she shook her head.

"So how long is this going to last?" Nodoka asked nervously Ranma-chan's behavior was both disconcerting and strangely terrifying at the same time.

"Probably until Akane gets back and throttles some sense into her," Hishi answered. "Until then we should keep away from the unspeakable horror therein."

The response given to this was a nod.

"Tadai..." Akane-kun was heard calling only to be cut off by a loud tackle and overly energetic hello from Ranma-chan. A half second later Akane-kun screamed and reflexively pounded Ranma-chan.

About this time, Nabiki had walked into view and of course was smirking at what had just happened.

"What in the world is wrong here?!" Akane-kun demanded.

"Oh not much Sato-san down at the market made a comment about Ranma making a good mother," Nabiki commented offhandedly as she smirked at Ranma-chan. "...and that caused the baka to flip out," Nabiki finished before looking at Akane-kun only to find him frozen in shock. Seeing this Nabiki waved her hand in front of her neo-brother's face a few times before sheepishly calling out, "Okaachan, I think I broke them."

A moment later Hishi entered and after blinking a few times shook her head and said, "Leave them be."

"Aren't you going to do something?"

"No this is for them to work out," Hishi answered with a shrug before snapping her fingers and teleporting the two away.

As Ranma-chan awoke with a splitting headache, she found herself in the sanctuary and after shaking her head to clear it she started to remember what she had been doing over the past few days. A moment later, she raced off to the bathroom. This left Akane-kun who was silently thinking of what had been said to stand and walk into the tearoom.

A few minutes later Ranma-chan reentered and sat down next to Akane-kun still looking fairly green. Now that she had some sense beaten back into her Ranma-chan couldn't believe what she had been doing. Even Ranma-chan's feminine side was sick and disgusted by what had happened.

Still certain things stuck in her head such as the idea of becoming intimate with Akane-kun had stuck completely with her feminine side and Ranma-chan knew that and her love for Akane-kun would push her into it; sooner rather than later.

Looking up and at Akane-kun, Ranma-chan blushed faintly to which Akane-kun answered with a blush of his own.

"Funny how one little comment can cause so much," Ranma-chan mumbled as she turned away.

"Yeah," Akane-kun responded nervously.

Sitting back Ranma-chan began to analyze what had happened. The process was long and involved but in the end Ranma-chan realized one thing —one pinnacle thing— even though she had gone completely over the deep end one thing hadn't changed; her. Her feelings and emotions had become jumbled and chaotic to put it mildly but in the end, after everything had settled down, she still hated the things that she knew that she would hate and she still liked the things that deep down that she knew she would like.

All of that put together let Ranma-chan realized exactly how '...my girl side was always a part of me...'.

The realization wasn't something Ranma-chan could put into words nor did she want or need to.

"Ranma?" Akane-kun questioned as a small smile spread across Ranma-chan's face. "You ok?"

"Yeah," Ranma-chan answered before facing Akane-kun with a smile and Akane usually saw her own face.

'Oh boy,' Akane-kun mentally mumbled as his left eye twitched. "Ranma are you sure you're not still crazy?" Akane-kun queried nervously.

"Don't worry tomboy it'll fun ... unless of course you can't handle it," Ranma-chan replied mischievously.

After muttering a curse under his breath, Akane-kun predictably took the bait.

As Ukyou entered her shop with Ryouga in tow on a furniture dolly, she looked around for a moment before sitting down. The reason for Ryouga being on a furniture dolly was the fact he still had broken 2 legs and absolutely refused to go to Ranma for another healing potion.

Not forgiving the pun in the least bit, Ukyou had called Ryouga pigheaded over his resistance to ask Ranma for help. This had earned her a glare and the insult girly-boy. Ukyou was not impressed at the absolute weakest insult she had ever heard and it promptly called Ryouga buta-chan. This had infuriated Ryouga to such a degree that he had refused to talk.

Ukyou feeling mischievous had started dishing out more pig-based insults then even Ranma usually did. This of course was why Ryouga's face was contorted in absolute fury and the reason he was still glaring at Ukyou.

"I wonder what's Konatsu's up to?" Ukyou finally questioned as she sat back and relaxed. "He's been gone for a while now."

"I'm sure he's fine," Ryouga finally said.

"I'm not worried if he's fine," Ukyou responded. "I wonder what the baka is up to after almost a month," Ukyou continued. "After all he has a habit of getting into some weird things."

"Who knows maybe he found someone that'll accept him as is," Ryouga responded.

"Anything's possible but what he really needs someone that'll help him adjust to actually living as a guy. That or a trip to the Springs," Ukyou responded with a chuckle. "Either way I wish him well in finding his place in the world."

"Why exactly did he leave?"

"I told him to. Told him HE had to learn how to live on HIS own. I gave him a long speech about standing up for himself, being his own person, the whole bit," Ukyou responded. "He's a nice guy but he was starting to get the wrong idea about 'our relationship'."

"Really?" Ryouga questioned he had thought the two made a good couple.

"Yeah even if I hadn't been obsessed over Ranma I would never have seen him as anymore then a friend," Ukyou responded before getting up, stretching and picking up the store's phone and walking off.

A couple of minutes later a nervous Ukyou reentered and said, "Hmm, she's coming."

"Who?" Ryouga questioned.

The answer Ryouga received was the appearance of the magi Hishizuka from the shadows. "That would be me," Hishizuka said plainly before looking to Ukyou. "Why should I do as you ask?"

"Hmm," Ukyou said nervously. "Hmm, because it's the nice thing to do and most of his problems are tied to his curse or problem with getting lost."

"A very weak reason, but one nonetheless," the ancient magi responded before firing in energy blast at Ryouga which caused him to scream in agony until he collapsed shattering both his leg casts. "It has been done," Hishizuka said before vanishing back into the shadows.

"You ok," Ukyou asked as she helped Ryouga to a seat.

"Think so," Ryouga managed to mumble. "What did you ask her to do?"

"Heal you, get rid of your inner pig, and fix your problem with getting lost," Ukyou responded.

"Oh ... hmm, thanks," Ryouga responded nervously as he blushed faintly.

"Don't worry about it," Ukyou responded with a small blush of her own before walking off to get a broom.

Left alone Ryouga began to think about where he was going to go and by the time Ukyou returned he decided he didn't want to go home right away and so asked Ukyou, "Can I stay here?"

"I guess but why?" Ukyou responded.

Shrugging Ryouga replied, "I don't know."

"Ok ... if you say so," Ukyou responded with a shrug. "...but you have to work if you stay."

"I've got no problem with that," Ryouga answered with a shrug.

"Good," Ukyou responded before cracking her knuckles and saying, "Then let's get to work."

********************

Later that day a little after the lunch hour rush Ukyou and Ryouga sat recovering.

"Is it always like that?" Ryouga questioned.

"More or less," Ukyou answered as she worked the kinks out of her shoulder.

"Guess you don't need to go training that much with a workout like that," Ryouga joked before trailing off abruptly as he realized exactly how long it had been since he had actually joked around.

"You ok," Ukyou questioned.

Smiling Ryouga simply said, "Yeah. I'm ok," as he leaned back and relaxed.

"So what are you planning on doing?"

"I don't really know but I'll figure something out," Ryouga answered. "What about you?"

Laughing Ukyou responded, "The same."

Watching from the shadows Hishizuka smiled at the two before vanishing.

Mousse sat on the roof of the Cat Café contemplating his lot in life and his blind devotion to Shampoo. He had overheard Ranma and Shampoo talking when Ranma had come in for the antidote for the love potion. It had shaken him deeply and he could no longer phantom why he even liked Shampoo let alone loved her. He could still see her as a friend but no more. That was what left him questioning his lot in life and the only thing he had come up with was he needed to become a Wandering Amazon. Still with his curse, such a course of action was most likely suicidal. However according to Nabiki's information her mother was what the Amazons called a soul fragment of who the Amazons called progenitor and guardian of the curse springs. She was a legendary figure and could easily wipe away the curse but she was not known for being friendly with the Amazons.

Mousse however didn't see much choice in dealing with her and so stood up and said the name of the progenitor and guardian of the curse springs.

The response was immediate and her imposing figure slipped out of the night in an eerie surreal manner.

"State your business Amazon tender," the ancient magi said stoically.

"I ask you to dispel my curse," Mousse said after he had kneeled before the powerful magi.

"Which curse are you speaking of young tender..." The magi queried. "...the natural curse on your senses of sight or the transformation?"

Looking up in shock Mousse gaped before sputtering out something incomprehensible.

"Very well both it is," Hishizuka said in response before firing off a bolt of energy that caused Mousse to scream in silent agony.

"What will this cost me?" Mousse asked as he recovered.

"Your wanderings shall last until you find your true soulmate and the only way you shall escape this geas before it has run its course is by death's hand," the ancient magi said formally, as she placed a divinely powerful geas upon Mousse; that done she vanished back into the shadows.

This left Mousse under the weight of the geas that was already compelling him to move and begin his wanderings.

Standing up Mousse nodded and went.

As Shampoo walked downstairs, she found Cologne looking outside.

"What wrong Great-grandmother?" Shampoo queried.

"It is time we return home," Cologne answered definitively. "Start packing immediately," Cologne added with a glare that communicated that was the only thing Shampoo was to do.

"Yes great grandmother," Shampoo complied before running off.

'The chaos is dispersing for the moment,' Cologne thought to herself. "...but what happens afterwards?"

Kasumi was doing something she rarely did practice with her practice blade, which was a dai-katana with a 3.5 shaku nagasa. Unlike most Kasumi used the massive blade in one hand. The unusual use of the weapon required her to alter its balance with a special heavy tsuka.

Most frowned or even laughed at her unusual use of the blade until that is she demonstrated her skill and power with it.

Still the eldest Tendo sister had always felt as if the sword wasn't enough and it often thought of adding something else.

"Something is still missing from your style," Hishi said as she made her presence known.

Sheathing her blade Kasumi nodded as she turned around while unconsciously flexing her free hand. "I know and I can't think of anything to add," Kasumi said she sat down placing her sword at her side.

Hishi's response to this was to sit down with a tray of food as she thought about Kasumi's style and what other weapons her daughter used. A moment later, she smirked raising quite a few alarm bells within Kasumi's mind. However before she could even open her mouth her mother had pulled a medium-sized stainless steel gun case and placed it in front of her.

"Open it," Hishi declared with a smug smirk as she sipped her tea.

Nervously Kasumi did as her mother said and opened the case to reveal a magnum sized handgun with a glowing channel of energy running down its side. The gun was also made of a made of an unidentifiable blackish gray metal that had an iridescent sheen to it. The weapon's lines were simple and stark yet they were meant to flow together beautifully by simple engraving. All in all, it was a beautiful weapon.

Picking the weapon up Kasumi found the weapon was as heavy as she expected it to be and after a bit of examination she realized the gun was not exactly what she thought it was.

"It's called a magicarm," Hishi provided. "It creates bolts of concentrated elemental energy instead of using explosives to propel a piece of metal."

"Not that I'm complaining but why?"

"In a world where people routinely throw around fire, electricity and concentrated blasts of sound an explosive compound isn't exactly the best choice for an energy source," Hishi responded matter-of-factly. "...and it's significantly stronger than any firearm of the same size."

"Ok but why did you give this to me?" Kasumi asked.

"Just try it," Hishi answered as she summoned up a few creatures Kasumi recognized as goblins through her readings and studies on folklore ... and playing D&D.

Nodding Kasumi turned to the goblins and readied her new magic arm.

"Don't forget this," Hishi said as she threw Kasumi her blade.

Catching it, Kasumi blinked a few times before realizing her mother's intentions. "Sword and Gun?"

The only response Hishi gave was a nod.

********************

A couple of hours and several times that many goblins later Kasumi stopped and looked over her shoulder at her mother who only smiled and threw her a black leather holster on a loose fitting black leather belt.

Nodding quietly Kasumi put the belt on and holstered her gun before turning around revealing that her blade had been severely and irreparably damaged.

"Well it was a machine made cheap blade," Kasumi said with a shrug as she thrust the blade onto the dojo floor resulting in it bending almost in half before breaking. "Very cheap; I shouldn't have let Nabiki get it," Kasumi added with a sweat drop.

Chuckling Hishi said, "Very true," before pulling out a blade made of the same blackish gray metal as the gun. "Still you need a blade."

Taking the blade Kasumi thanked her mother before asking, "What exactly is this metal?"

Smirking as she walked out of the training hall Hishi said, "I'm surprised you of all people haven't already recognized the legendary metal adamantine."

Kasumi's reply to this was to look to her new blade and quietly utter, "Oh my!" before sheathing her blade with extreme care. If the blade truly was the legendary metal adamantine —and she had absolutely no doubt it was— then it could cut through just about anything but diamond with the ease of a hot knife cutting through butter.

After placing her sword through her belt as if it was an obi Kasumi left the training hall and looked around for a while until Nabiki took a photo of her as she walked up.

"Ironically, together a big gun and big sword suits you quite well," Nabiki commented.

"Ironic?" Kasumi queried with a raised eyebrow as her hand rested on the pommel of her sword. "Yes I suppose it is considering how most see me."

"To say the least," Nabiki commented sarcastically as she leaned against the side of the training hall.

Chuckling Kasumi leaned against the training hall right hand in the pocket of her silver gray slacks before smirking rather like Nabiki and saying, "I'm going out," as she walked off hopping over the perimeter wall effortlessly as she came to it.

Blinking owlishly Nabiki said the first thing that came to mind, "Oh my."

********************

As Kasumi walked down the street, she absently studied peoples' reactions to her. Most were surprised but were too stunned to do anything but gawk. Those that knew her the best however gave her new weapon a clinical look before nodding.

As she stopped at the fruit vendor for an apple, the vendor roughly queried, "Are you actually expecting a challenge after all this time Ka-kun?"

"No," Kasumi responded before starting to look distant.

"...but you wish you where," the vendor Ringo Mino added as he threw an apple to Kasumi who caught it reflexively.

"Yes I suppose I do. What has it been now two years since I had someone challenge me?" Kasumi responded as she rubbed the apple on the sleeve of her heavy orange silk blouse.

"Yeah, not sense just before you graduated from high school," Ringo answered as he caught a few coins Kasumi had tossed over her shoulder.

"I wonder why?" Kasumi queried.

"Chaos in this town comes and goes around those that don't give it off," Ringo answered with a shrug. "I'm sure it will come back to you sooner or later."

"I'd like it to be soon I'm actually getting rather bored in the background," Kasumi said with a slight amount of annoyance in her voice before walking off eating her apple.

********************

Later that day as Kasumi continued to wander aimlessly about Nerima she found herself walking near a rather rough portion of the ward she actually frequented when she was in high school. Shrugging Kasumi walked right into the belly of the beast. If she was lucky, she'd find a few old friends and if she was extremely lucky she'd find a fight.

Five minutes later Kasumi found the first amidst unusual gangbang rape; consisting of five 'ladies' raping a familiar male friend.

Mentally shaking her head Kasumi readied herself as four of the 'ladies' drew long knives while the last drew a small gun. Kasumi's reply was to draw her weapons and ready them: the magic arm being set to a nonlethal firing mode and her sword being flipped around to strike with the blunt side.

An instant later Kasumi charged slashing three times and firing twice before stopping inches from the last 'lady' who now had Kasumi's blade at her neck and gun pointing right between her eyes. A second later, the four other ladies collapsed to the ground. This left the last 'lady' who was now holding a gun that had been cut in half to soil herself as she looked at the demon before her. The demon's response was to use a quick nerve strike that resulted in an instant KO.

Sheathing her weapons Kasumi turned to her old friend and promptly hit him over the head.

"Ita!!!" he exclaimed before grumbling out, "That's a fine hello Ka-kun!" as he scrambled around for his clothes.

Kasumi's only reply was to say, "Satoshi no Sukebe," as she walked away.

"Yeah, yeah what else is new," Satoshi answered sarcastically before smirking and getting ready to grab Kasumi.

However before he could he found himself staring down the barrel of Kasumi's magicarm as Kasumi said, "... and I see you're still as big of a pervert as you always have been," without even turning around.

"Hmm, yeah," Satoshi laughed nervously before querying, "So how long have you had that whacked out energy gun?"

"A few hours," Kasumi answered as she deftly holstered her gun.

"Really could've fooled me," Satoshi said nervously as he followed Kasumi down a nearby alley and out onto a street.

"The old hang out still in one piece?"

"No it got busted up about a year ago by old man Taichi's sumo wrestling panda," Satoshi responded. "It didn't really matter though everyone has already moved on."

"Everyone?"

"From the old gang anyhow. Heck the only reason I'm here is because I'm taking a break from college," Satoshi answered.

"You college?" Kasumi questioned sarcastically.

"Yeah, yeah laugh it up, I bet you haven't even gotten out of the dojo!" Satoshi exclaimed. "I on the other hand got into Tokyo U. Konton campus."

"I haven't gotten out as such but I have been preparing," Kasumi answered before sensing an attack and deftly catching a throwing star as she turned around to face an old enemy/friend a gaijin by the name of Misty Smith.

"I see you haven't lost your edge," Misty said icily from where she was sitting on a nearby trash dumpster.

"Of course not," Kasumi replied pleasantly as she threw the star back. "I do live at a dojo after all," Kasumi added before charging and slashing at Misty who dodged out of the way leaving Kasumi to slash clean through the trash dumpster.

Not wasting any time Misty pulled out her sword a broadsword forged of an ultrahigh strength titanium steel alloy and slashed at Kasumi who blocked with the back of her blade before spinning around and firing her magicarm.

The surprised Misty took the blast from the magicarm —which was not set to nonlethal mode— full force causing her to stagger back as she tried to shake off the effects of the blast while still defending against Kasumi and avoiding further shots from Kasumi's new gun. A few moments later, Misty was able to get inside of Kasumi's sword and gun only to be disarmed with a low kick that sent her flying back.

"Enough warm up Mi-chan let's get to the real fight," Kasumi said as she started channeling her ki.

"Agreed," Misty answered as she did the same.

"Ah crap!!" Satoshi cursed as he dived for cover just before Kasumi and Misty both shouted majinken.

********************

Later after a great deal of fighting and even more property damage Kasumi and Misty stopped, smiled at each other and Misty said, "A drink at old man Taichi's bar, my treat."

Smiling Kasumi nodded and followed Misty.

"Hey, wait for me!!" Satoshi screamed as he ran off after the two deftly avoiding the destruction the they had caused.

********************

That night Kasumi returned to the Tendo dojo a little bit before dinner to find Ranma and Akane practicing by the koi pond.

Upon seeing her, the two immediately stopped and stared at her agape causing Kasumi to look at them questioningly as she queried, "What's wrong?" as she dusted off her blouse which had been damaged by her battle with Misty to the point it now resembled a tank top.

However before the two could answer Kasumi sensed someone attacking her and barely dodged out of the way of a barrage of rockets.

Readying her weapons Kasumi calmly shouted, "Come out Kiyoko I know it's you!"

The response that was gained from this was the appearance of an effeminate man wearing some sort of high-tech body armor holding a multi-rocket launcher.

"Kiyoko what are you doing here?" Kasumi questioned.

"You know very well what, I won't let you have her, never in a million years," Kiyoko responded in a shrill voice as he stomped up and down.

Shaking her head hopelessly Kasumi cursed, "Chikusho, how many times do I have to tell you I'm not interested in Satoshi," while Ranma and Akane both took up standard shock positions upon hearing Kasumi actually curse. The response Kiyoko gave was a Kunou like rant to which Kasumi responded by calmly muttering, "Kiyoko no aho. I'm going to have to beat some sense into you as per usual aren't I?"

The only response Kiyoko gave was a rant about how he would be victorious with a long list of technological equipment.

After a sweat dropping Kasumi said, "Ranma, Akane stay out of this," after sensing Ranma readying himself for battle.

"...but!"

"Ranma do I get in the way of you fighting Tatewaki," Kasumi said gently.

"Hmm, no," Ranma said while looking rather clueless.

"Then don't get in the way of me fighting his older brother," Kasumi responded before turning to Kiyoko while Ranma and Akane entered the house. A moment later Kasumi bowed as Kiyoko did the same. An instant later the battle was on when Kasumi shouted, "Majinken!!" releasing a wave of energy from her sword which Kiyoko avoided by jumping into the air with a rocket pack as he fired off a barrage of heat-seeking missiles that Kasumi avoided by jumping out of the way at the last instant. Using the pressure wave the missiles created Kasumi flew by Kiyoko and fired three shots at his rocket pack causing it to explode. Landing gracefully on the perimeter wall Kasumi assumed an unusual defensive stance. An instant later, a laser beam pierced the smoke and was deflected off of an invisible barrier.

"Your suigojin won't protect you against this!!" Kiyoko cursed angrily as he pulled out a huge energy gun, which he immediately activated.

Sensing the power behind the weapon Kasumi prepared a countermove and then executed it when the massive gun finally fired six seconds later. The move she executed was a simple sidestep which she followed up with a single shot to Kiyoko's weapon causing it to explode catastrophically and propelling Kiyoko into the air where he again fired his rocket launcher at Kasumi who merely repeated earlier move only this time she used her blade to slash Kiyoko's rocket launcher to ribbons.

Landing Kasumi turned to face Kiyoko who still had his arm mounted laser rifle while she had her magic arm. A tense moment of silence later Kiyoko fired. Kasumi dodged by tilting her head a few inches and firing her magic arm destroying the laser rifle and then charging and slashing his high-tech body armor to pieces.

This revealed that the effeminate Kiyoko —now dressed in a spandex bodysuit alone— was in fact well endowed ... with breasts.

Screaming in rage Kiyoko cursed Kasumi before running off swearing he would get even.

Kasumi however serenely sheathed her weapons, entered the tearoom and announced, "After thinking about what has happened recently I've decided that I will be going to Tokyo University, Konton campus at the start of the next term," before walking off to her room smiling happily.

"What just happened?" Ranma questioned cluelessly.

"I'm sure Kasumi will explain tomorrow morning," Nabiki said with a smirk.

"You want to know what happened, Ok," Kasumi stated after Ranma, Akane and Nabiki had asked to enter her bedroom. Sitting down on her bed Kasumi began carefully honing her blade as everyone found a place to sit. "I suppose the best place to start is with Satoshi," Kasumi said after a moment of thought.

"The one Kiyoko was after?" Akane questioned.

"The same," Kasumi said simply before considering something for a long moment.

"Come on neechan there's no way to be tactful about Satoshi," Nabiki said with a smirk.

"I suppose you're right," Kasumi said with a shrug before continuing, "Satoshi is a shapeshifter who is most commonly male, he's also a sukebe who goes out looking to become the 'victim' of gang bang rapes, and before Happosai came along the biggest pervert in all of Nerima."

"That's why you two..." Ranma muttered with a slight glare.

"Yes it is, when we first met you we thought you were another shapeshifter like Satoshi. Of course, after about a month of watching the weird and perverted things that happen around and to you it became obvious that you're nothing like Satoshi," Nabiki commented with a smirk.

"Anyhow moving on," Akane grumbled while glaring at Nabiki.

"Yes to Kiyoko 'Double D' Kunou," Kasumi said with a chuckle. "Well to start off with his endowments are hereditary coming from his mother's side of the family and stretching back to some sort of curse involving an insult to a flat-chested witch. He's also Tatewaki and Kodachi's half-brother, a hair to a multi-trillion yen weapons company, and usually reasonably sane ..." Kasumi explained before stopping abruptly to catch an arrow with a note attached to it that had just been fired into her room.

The note read, [I'm always sane!!!]

Rolling her eyes Kasumi picked up a small rock out of the pot her bonsai tree was in and threw it out the window. A few moments later a angered, "Ita!!" echoed from outside which was followed by a loud crash and sailor like cursing.

"...unless of course it comes to matters of the heart then he acts up to the Kunou family norm," Kasumi finished nonplussed while Ranma and Akane sweat dropped.

"Why don't you tell them about the rest of your wrecking crew," Nabiki said with a smirk.

"Hmm, let me see there's; Misty Smith I guess she's my version of Ryouga as we alternate between trying to kill each other and being friends, then there's Taichi Suzuki a nice guy that has caused and been involved in more explosions then even Ranma and the last I heard Misty's fiancé," Kasumi explained.

"...and the cem-club still mourns his loss," Nabiki interrupted.

"True," Kasumi said with a smile before continuing. "Then there's Aya Kita, she's quite a colorful individual and she's constantly after Kiyoko who's absolutely terrified of her.

"She's also insanely cheerful and has a habit of popping up unexpectedly, heck I'm surprised she hasn't put in an appearance," Nabiki commented.

"ACK!!! GET AWAY FROM ME!!!" Kiyoko was heard screaming shortly before heavy weapons fire was heard.

"Never mind," Nabiki commented with a devilish smirk.

"...and lastly Hiraku Hensen a self proclaimed mad scientist who's also madly in love with Satoshi although she's too shy to say anything about it," Kasumi finished before a red squirrel mech wearing a multicolored scarf ran by at a high rate of speed chasing Kiyoko who was equipped with a new suit of high-tech body armor. "She's also the designer and builder of Aya's squirrel mech," Kasumi added just before Kiyoko took to the skies followed shortly thereafter by the squirrel mech. "Oh my, it seems Hiraku finally got the squirrel's flight system working," Kasumi commented with a smile.

"That has got to the most terrifying thing I've ever seen," Nabiki muttered.

"So what kind of fights did you get into?" Ranma questioned curiously.

"The usual; schoolyard battles, random challengers, Kunou battles, other people's suitors, mass property damage inducing fights, etc. etc," Kasumi explained calmly before looking at her wall clock, getting up grabbing her weapons as she did so, and using a ki shout to say, "Breakfast in 10!" That said she walked off while the members of her wrecking crew converged on the dojo.

"I didn't get to ask where she learned those moves," Ranma grumbled.

"Ranma, Kasumi won't give anyone a clue where she learned those moves, and I doubt even a goddess would be able to get the truth out of her," Nabiki chuckled as she walked off.

********************

As Kasumi walked outside, she sat down next to Hiraku who as usual had seemingly popped up out of nowhere.

"I see you finally finished the squirrel's flight system," Kasumi said pleasantly as Aya latched onto Kiyoko the instant he had removed his body armor revealing he was wearing an expensive tailored shirt and dress pants.

Smiling shyly as she tinkered with some sort of wired ray gun Hiraku nodded before continuing her tinkering only to be interrupted a moment later when Misty and Taichi —a brown haired bishounen that was a quarter inch shorter then Misty— walked up both looking thoroughly spooked.

"Ka-kun am I seeing things or did your mom really come back from the grave?" Misty asked seriously as Taichi hid behind her.

"No you aren't," Kasumi said earning her more than a few disbelieving stares from her friends that were interrupted when Satoshi landed in the koi pond. "He's early today," Kasumi commented absently

********************

Meanwhile inside Ranma and Akane watched curiously.

"So did you know that Kasumi had a wrecking crew?" Ranma curiously asked Akane.

"No the only one of her friends I knew about was Satoshi," Akane answered with a shrug.

"It's no surprise really," Nabiki said as she joined Ranma and Akane in their spying. "Kasumi is actually fairly private and it doesn't help matters much that she's also exceptionally fond of mystery. Heck even I don't know what she's doing most of the time," Nabiki added before turning her full attention to spying.

********************

Things were changing at a breakneck speed that defied all logic. Still such change was expected in Nerima so Nabiki wasn't worried about it. Still all the change had her thinking about the past as she wondered about the future.

********************

That night Kasumi relaxed on her bed smiling at the day's events but yet still asking herself who she was; the question was compounded several times by several secrets her family —save most likely her mother—didn't know. The first of which was the fact she remembered three lifetimes: one of being a powerful psychic, one of being a goddess, and lastly a powerful mystical queen. The second 'secret' was that she was a powerful and skilled warrior although this wasn't so much a secret as it was simply not that widely known. The last secret was of her relationship with Dr. Tofu and the most improper way it had started because of a black orchid. Kasumi herself being mentally a thousand years old thanks to her remembrance of three other lifetimes never once considered the incident with the black orchid and Dr. Tofu to be anything else but beautiful and wonderful. However, due to the fact she was physically only 13 at the time she knew others would never see the same thing as she did. Unfortunately, no matter how much she tried to convince him otherwise Dr. Tofu was one of those people that didn't see things as she did.

It had really become quite frustrating in recent years and she was on the verge of taking a page from her mother's book and taking her love to bed forcibly. In fact, the only thing that stopped her from doing so was the simple fact she knew such a plan would do more harm than good to Dr. Tofu.

Abruptly shaking her head to clear it Kasumi refocused her thoughts on who she was, but after a few minutes of silent contemplation Kasumi's usual serenity failed. This left her feeling twitchy enough to want to take up her youngest sister's favorite mode of stress relief: destroying cinderblocks. Upon realizing, she had actually been considering Akane's favorites form of stress relief Kasumi laughed and shook her head before returning to her thoughts.

"It's really quite pathetic, I'm mentally 1759 but yet I still don't know who I am," Kasumi muttered as she got up and stretched popping a few joints in the process. "Maybe I shouldn't be worrying about it at all. After all, I know I am myself," Kasumi added before shaking her head and saying, "...but who exactly is that? It is after all very easy to get lost in rolls and duties. None of which I have in this lifetime," Kasumi added with a rueful smile before realizing the simple truth of the matter. Her current incarnation as Kasumi Tendo was for her to find out who she was by herself beholden to no one but herself. "So I have an entire lifetime to answer my questions," Kasumi said thoughtfully before a yawn escaped her mouth. "Starting tomorrow with a certain doctor," the eldest Tendo sister mumbled as she climbed back into bed and fell asleep a rather crooked smile resting on her face.

********************

Meanwhile in the master bedroom Hishi smiled to herself mysteriously. The first part of her over-self's plan had worked flawlessly. Everyone had begun growing up and moving into adulthood, which meant the real fun would begin soon.