Some time alone? Ranma 1/2 Type: Magna continuation ] interference from a higher power [ Somewhere somewhen we find a woman that bares a striking resemblance to all three of the Tendo sisters meditating in a black void beyond space and time. This woman is in fact the legendary misses Tendo and what she is meditating upon is her youngest daughter and her fiancé "As of now I can reach out with my powers and start affecting Nerima right now ... and both of them need my help now more than ever. Then there is the problem of Ranma's 'disease' which is about to manifest itself in full and cause spirit death and the only way I can stop that is through the use of spirit twine ... then there is my daughter who has forgotten who she is because of anger and Kasumi's views of how a woman should act not that Nabiki has been much help either ..." The mysterious misses Tendo said before smiling devilishly before she started to chant a spell a very powerful and complex spell ] awakening in a pocket dimension [ Ranma awoke to find Akane shaking him "come on baka wake-up" Akane complained "I'm up I'm up" Ranma mumbled as he sat up only to find himself sitting on the ground by a beach "what the hell is going on" "That's what I was saying" Akane mumbled before looking up that the sky where two suns burned The only response the two received after that was a light laugh when they turned around they faced a woman who Akane immediately identifies "MOM!" "Glad to see you still remember me my little tomboy" misses Tendo said from atop a palm tree Ranma said nothing as he studied misses Tendo The Tendo matriarch wore a bright red tube top, a pair of orange slacks, and a long purple cape. Her distinguishing features were her height which was six feet even, long sky blue hair, and a set of piercing Emerald green eyes which showed even to the most inexperienced that she was far far older than she looked also the Tendo matriarch was quite a muscular woman. Strangely the fact she looked buff only seemed to add to her already ample feminine beauty Brushing a stray strand of hair out of the way she spoke with a calm authority that not even Cologne would question "I am Hishizuka Tendo master magi born in the Avalon calendar year 102,054. I am 5035 years old and creator of the most powerful transformation magic ever known ... approximately 4000 years ago I had to do battle with an Ashura. I defeated her by transforming her into a statue with my magic. The statue then 'drowned' by shattering into a thousand pieces in a small spring. The magic water of those springs mixed with her powers and my magic resulting in the entire area being cursed which has led to what you know as the cursed springs .... The human to monster transformations never really take hold because the ki of alternate state is unstable ... the human to animal take over two years to become permanent ... however the human to human take hold immediately " Akane's mother said while looking off into space "Why" Ranma asked "The reason why the alternate body becomes permanent is because the person's ki takes it over. With a human to human transformation the person's ki immediately knows how to take over the alternate body because the alternate body is based upon your own genes. In other words your alternate body is a direct and true reflection of what you would look like if you were born as a girl Ranma" Hishizuka explained "So you can't get rid of the whole thing" Akane asked to make sure "No once the ki takes hold there is no way to get rid of it" Hishizuka said as she leaned back "but I can get rid of the water based trigger" "So what do you mean about alternate body" Ranma asked curiously "There are three types of transformation magic. Type 1 is the oldest. Type 1 magic only gives the appearance of changing into another creature ... In fact if someone touches you while under the influence of type 1 magic the magic is dispelled. Type two is very common it's the old which turns the Prince into a frog Magic" Hishizuka explained "But isn't that what happens" "yes and no. with a type two transformation a person's body is literally reshaped at the genetic and biological level into what ever that being transformed into ... this also results in the person's ki being wrapped somewhat ...the affect is permanent until they are returned to their natural form. ... type 3 transformation on the other hand never actually affects the person's natural body instead it uses standard type two magic plus my own special magic to create a alternate body which becomes permanent after a special ki binder spell is used causing the magical alternate body to become physical this along with a good old-fashioned faze shifting spell allows the person to have two bodies ...now the Springs botched the job of creating the magical alternate body in that every time you or anyone with a curse it splashed the magical alternate body is completely recreated ..... But that still won't stop the trigger from changing them back and forth or causing the alternate body to be reshaped every time ... even after it becomes permanent" "So I guess that means the springs have type 2 1/2 transformation magic" Ranma said absently to which Hishizuka replied by looking thoughtful "I suppose that's as good a way as any to describe it" Hishizuka replied "now Ranma considering you fell into the spring of the drowned young girl I have a little bit of work to do on you about four years growth of work if you get my drift" "This is going to hurt like hell isn't it" "no worse much worse" Hishizuka said before raising her hand and firing off and energy blast which instantly caused Ranma to shift into his female form which then began to grow at an accelerated pace and four excruciating minutes later Ranma-chan drops to the ground however Ranma-chan being Ranma-chan manages to pick herself up almost immediately The new and improved Ranma-chan stod as tall as Akane and looked just as strong "Damm you weren't kidding" Ranma-chan said while noticing that her voice had lost its annoying feminine squeak "it feels almost as strong has my normal body now" Ranma-chan said absently "Now for the water based trigger" Hishizuka said before firing off and energy blast at Ranma-chan "Is that it?" The no longer diminutive redhead said before the transforming back into a Ranma "Not quite yet" Hishizuka responded before raising her hand and firing another small energy blast at Ranma which instantly makes him fall back asleep after which Hishizuka's expression turns darker then a black hole "I'm very disappointed in you my little tomboy very disappointed I may have been trapped here in this dimension for 10 years but I can still watch you... and your behavior over the past year has been deplorable" Hishizuka said before Akane hung her head in shame "well at least you have the good grace to feel guilty about it however guilt only goes so far" "so what are you going to do" Akane said as she took a step back in subconscious fear "I think you already know" Akane's mother said as she raised her hand and fired off an extremely complex spell after which the now male Akane collapses to the ground unconscious Looking at Ranma Hishizuka sighed before Teleporting Akane-Kun away after which she hops off of the palm tree and walks over to Ranma who she awakens with a flick of her wrist "What the... What did you do to me?" "A simple sleep spell, Ranma. Now follow me I have something to discuss with you that is far more grave then your curse ever was" Hishizuka replied before walking off and through a gate that had appeared out of now ware leaving Ranma to follow her ************** As Ranma exited the beach he found himself in an open void of total blackness however at the center of this void he found Hishizuka standing over image of himself. This image however was broken into innumerable pieces of varying sizes. All in all it looked like a giant stained glass window that somebody had dropped more than one time "What in the world is this" Ranma asked "a look at your stained glass soul" Hishizuka replied before continuing "everyone and I mean everyone as a certain amount spirit fracture its only natural for little bits and pieces to break off but those pieces reattach themselves somewhere else. However when your father put you through the Neko-ken your spirit lost most of its ability to heal itself. In fact the only reason you haven't gone died because your ki is so strong it's managed to keep your spirit from completely fragmenting however even your massive power reserve is limited and in five days time your spirit will fragment. of course I'm not going to let that happen. However I warn you now after your spirit repairs its innumerable fractures you will be different person you will still be you of course but you will be different then you are right now" "Who will I be?" "That is up to you Ranma but I can help you by asking a few questions. The final answers to these questions however are for you and you alone" "Okay go on" Ranma said warily before Hishizuka asked her first question "Ask your self this when you do or do not do something do you do it because it is what you want or because of what your parents have told you" Hearing this question Ranma blinks more than one time before nodding silently and somewhat shamefully "ask your self this Ranma is it always necessary to win especially when the cost of winning is greater than the cost of losing and I'm not just talking about winning challenges" Hishizuka asked before Ranma started to get his standard reply however Hishizuka's previous question still rang in his mind clearly enough for him to remember that his father was the one that said winning is the only option in a challenge and so Ranma just stood there and thought wondering perhaps for the first time if winning was the only option in a challenge and so didn't reply. Hishizuka of course took this has her cue to continue on "now for my last question why do you allow your self to be so enraged by the idea that someone might be better than you" Again Ranma's amount almost got the better of him until he remembered something an old sansei had said to him ' there is always someone better if not now than there shall be in the future or perhaps there was in the past but the important thing is without people that are better than you how do you expect to be better your self for the challenge of becoming better than the best is always a sweet victory especially amongst friends' "well I can see I've given you a lot to think about" Hishizuka said before Ranma sat down "yeah you have" Ranma replied "well you just keep thinking and tell me when you're ready" "I'm ready now" Ranma muttered while thinking that it would be better to get his stained glass soul put back together before making any changes "ok" Hishizuka said before casting a deep slumber spell on Ranma "now my dear boy this is going to take a while a very long while" An unknown amount of time later Ranma awakens to find himself still in the Black void he was in when he lost consciousness "Ahh good to see your awake" Hishizuka said from the chair she was sitting on "so how are you feeling" "I'm not quite sure but I feel a lot more powerful" "Well considering over 75 percent of your energy went to keeping your spirit from falling apart that's not surprising" "You mean this entire time even when I've been fighting at full power I've only really been fighting with 25 percent of what I really have" "Yep now go back to the beach" Hishizuka said before waving her hand which caused the gates to the beach to appear" The only reply Ranma gave was silence as he left **************** As Ranma exited the gates he found himself on the beach he thought about his newfound power until he saw Akane-kun who was crying by the shore at which point he turned around only to find the gates missing. Fuming Ranma turned back to face the shoreline where he studied Akane-kun for a moment Akane's male form was as tall as Ranma's. In fact the only major change besides the height was Akane-kun's chocolate brown hair. Also Akane-kun was wearing a blue Chinese shirt identical in style to one of Ranma's red ones along with a pair of black Chinese pants "You ok" Ranma asked as he sat down next to Akane-kun "No" Akane-kun squeaked out "Why... why did she do this?" "Punishment for how I treated you amongst other things I figure" Akane-kun said after calming himself somewhat "Don't worry I'll get her" Ranma said before being cut off by Akane-kun's laugh "You don't know my mother Ranma she's as bull headed as both of us put together and then some" Akane-kun said before sighing as silence fell over the two "so what did my mom do to you" Akane-kun finely asked Ranma only replied by telling Akane-Kun about his broken stained glass soul which left Akane-kun more then shocked Akane-kun's only response was to shake his head as his mouth hung open "so can you change back or are you stuck like that" Ranma asked "probably stuck" Akane-kun replied before signing and walking off along the beach leaving Ranma alone "why" Ranma asked the sky to which Hishizuka replied from nowhere and everywhere at the same time "she is my daughter Ranma I can deal punishment out as I see fit" The only reply Ranma gave was an angered growl before deciding to explore the forest just beyond the beach ****************** ' have I really behaved badly enough to werent this' Akane-kun thought as he looked at his hands and flat chest before looking up to see his mother sitting on a palm tree "why" "Because my little tomboy you have forgotten who you were ....don't you remember how you dressed all the time in slacks or some such thing ... back then you were happy even when somebody insulted you. You didn't get angry you just teased them back and smiled as you continued on your way. And you never let anyone influence what you did ... much to me and your father's chagrin of course.... But still you were true to your self and what you felt was right but now you let everything influence what you do and you get angry and everything and do you know why" "no mom" "because you're not true to your self ... never deny your feelings and instincts child it will only lead to pain and pain will only lead anger and hate as you know too well ... you hate everything male just because it is a reminder of how boyish you are by Japanese standards and that hate breeds anger which only adds to the anger you feel towards your self for denying your feelings and instincts ............. then of corse there's Ranma I must say even in my long life I have only met two others like him and even they weren't quite as unique as Ranma" "the curse" "yes the curse ...and that is the reason you're in your current state you have been almost completely unsympathetic to this situation and so now you are in the same situation and you will remain in that situation untell I see fit to release you from it" Hishizuka said before vanishing in a flash of light leaving Akane-kun to stand by the beach ********** Meanwhile in the forest Ranma wonders aimlessly around thinking of his newfound power when he came across a large clearing. As Ranma walked into the center of the clearing he summoned his full power and just as Hishizuka had said he was three times as strong as he was however strength was not the only thing Ranma noticed in fact he felt more powerful in many ways needless to say this confused Ranma greatly "You didn't honestly think power was the only thing your stained glass soul prevented you from using" Hishizuka said from behind Ranma "Then what has it prevented me from using" Ranma said without turning around "Your intelligence for starters but as to all of the things it's prevented you from using I think I'll let you figure it out on your own" Hishizuka said before vanishing in a flash of light leaving Ranma alone until he decided to headed back to the beach once there Ranma found Akane-kun trying to boil a pot of water with moderate success "Mom said I can change back with hot water" Akane-kun said before Ranma examined the hot water finding it hot enough he poured on top of Akane- Kun's head instantly causing the transformation to happen Despite the heat of the water the look of relief on back on Akane's face was indescribable however that look faded quickly as she looked up at Ranma "now you know how I feel every time I pour hot water over my head" Ranma said before turning around "I'm going to go scout around and sense we're obviously on a island it shouldn't take me to long" Ranma said before walking off leaving Akane alone racked with guilt over all the times she had toward cold water over Ranma ************ Meanwhile Ranma explores the island finding a grove of fruit trees as well as many other plants that bear fruit and/or plants that he could make medicines out of after that he finds a refrigerator in the middle of nowhere which has an ample supply of meets then Ranma finds a field of rice ready for picking along with a field of corn and a field of wheat and lastly as Ranma heads back to the campsite he passes through the open field he had powered up in earlier realizing that this open field was a training ground and a large one at that "you thought of everything didn't you misses Tendo" Ranma muttered to himself before continuing on back to the campsite with a large quantity of food of varying types where he found Akane-kun crying and quite wet "Akane?" Ranma asked Akane-kun didn't reply at all he only continued to cry. Ranma deciding that it would be best to just make dinner. As Ranma did so Akane occasionally poured hot or cold water over her self. Ranma's newly awakened intelligence allow him to realize what she was doing and just left her alone as she did so Later just after Akane had pored some hot water over head she feels Ranma's hand on her shoulder and when she looks up she finds him handing her a plate of hot food with she accepts as Ranma takes away her bucket and kettle however just as he does so they mysteriously vanish leaving Ranma to blink before smiling as he sat down and served himself After dinner was eaten Akane spoke "why didn't you stop me" "You looked like you needed sometime alone" Ranma answered while knowing the real reason that Akane was drenching herself was an attempt to make herself feel less guilty about the numerous times she had poured water on him "Oh" Akane replied before staring off at the ocean "just us alone on a deserted island sounds like a plan our fathers would think up doesn't it" Akane said absently to which Ranma only laughed to as a reply Hearing Ranma's infectious laugh Akane couldn't help but join in After the laughter had died down both Ranma and Akane were in high spirits ] feminine problems [ Haunting memories played and replayed themselves over and over again. Memories of all the times he had used his female side. Memories of how Akane taunted him about liking being a girl more. Memories of the times he had been trapped in his female form and finally the memory a memory mixed with another more painful one the memory of what he had said while in his female form as he stared at the Springs which were overflowing in front of him the memory could be best remembered by his exact words which were ' 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' And as that memory finished playing itself in front of Ranma's mind's eye he woke to find himself in his female form and in a very cold sweat as Ranma-chan looked around she found her fiancée was sleeping nearby while two full moons hung above the island as Ranma-chan sat there the last memory the memory of the Springs kept re-playing in her mind over and over which left Ranma-chan to continue to sweat until she decided to walk off the dream. However as she walked along the beach she couldn't shake the dream at all and finally just sat down "did I really mean what I said do I really accept this" Ranma-chan said to herself sadly before trailing off into nervous and jittery silence before the first question Hishizuka had asked her echoed through her mind leaving her shaken "all I have ever defined myself by his what my father as told me to be but am I a girl or a boy" Ranma-chan said aloud as she hoped for an answer from the mysterious misses Tendo none came so Ranma-chan just sat there looking up at the moon until she heard footsteps behind her "come up with anything yet" misses Tendo asked from behind Ranma-chan "No" "Tell me how does it feel right now" Hishizuka queried "... For the first time it feels like it isn't there but at the same time I feel ...well more feminine than I ever have before" Ranma-chan admitted silently "and for the first time ever that femininity doesn't feel wrong" "it disturbs you that its becoming a part of you" "yeah it does" "maybe it's because of how you treated it" "how is being a girl supposed to feel" Ranma-chan asked to which Hishizuka only laughed "that Ranma is just like asking what it is supposed to feel like being a man ... every man and every woman is different and therefore being one is different for everyone however you have to deal with both sides of the coin" "the coin?" Ranma-chan asked while sounding confused "femininity and masculinity are part of human nature every man has femininity and every woman has masculinity however society and a person's soul determines how much of the opposite is shown ... Akane is a fine example of this after all she is a tomboy" Hishizuka said with a smile before continuing "then there are men that are compassionate and forgiving beyond anything you would expect even from a woman ... you Ranma are like that ... I have watched you over the past year and some of the things that have happened to you I would never forgive ... especially what Ryouga does every night he can .... But you forgive him. ...... but back to the coin as I said before femininity and masculinity are two sides of the same coin. In their life people are confined to one-half of the coin of sex and no matter how feminine a man becomes for how masculine a woman becomes they are still just a man or just a woman but you Ranma can flip the coin in full anytime you please" "so basically in the end I fall on the edge of the coin neither male nor female but somewhere in between" "that is one way of looking at it but the other way is that you are both" "both? ... or in between ..." Ranma-chan said while sounding confused "are you worried about truly feminine things" "yeah" Ranma-chan said while nodding silently "listen to me and listen closely a man's gift is the gift of giving the woman he loves a child. a woman's gift is holding the child until birth ... despite what some would say in my long life I have come to realize neither gift is more important than the other because it takes both gifts to create a new life" "..." Ranma-Chan's only response was to stare off into space at the two moons she saw "I can have a child can't I" "yes if you and when you decide to you can but just like any other woman you have the choice not to" "I wonder what it would be like" Ranma-chan muttered "that Ranma is something you'll have to answer for yourself" Hishizuka said before vanishing into nothingness "Physically I am both ... mentally I am becoming both ... according to misses Tendo spiritually I'm already quite feminine ... but according to society I'm just a boy in a girl's body ...hell when did I start caring about what everyone else thinks" Ranma-chan said before realizing she had always cared about what everyone else thought of her "gods I'm such a fool all of this time I've been so concerned with what others think of me I've been blind to what I think of myself so blind in fact I have no idea what I think of myself" Ranma-chan said quietly Meanwhile the few meters away Akane hides behind a palm tree and just gapes at the conversation that just took place when a hand falls upon her shoulder looking behind her Akane finds her mother who just looks at her before walking off into the forest As Akane does so the palm trees of the beach side fade into a forest of great oak trees and after a long walk the two enter a clearing both stop "you know spiritually Ranma is already both" Hishizuka said as she stared upward towards the heavens "but emotionally Ranma hasn't aged since the Neko-ken well that its untell I fixed his stained glass soul and now well let's just say that he won't quite be stable for a while ... not that he was very stable to begin when considering the condition of his spirit but still I'm sure you get the point" Hishizuka said before vanishing "He hasn't been able to grow up sense he was 6 ...gods all this time ... damm no wonder why he's acted like a six -year-old" Akane said before letting off a huge anima sigh **************** meanwhile back on the beach Ranma-chan sits alone still wondering about what side of the coin she falls upon when she makes a decision and decides that this question is not one that cannot be answered on a deserted island and heads back to the camp site where she finds Akane absent sighing Ranma- chan knew that Akane had probably spied on her "Why am I not surprised oh well" Ranma-chan muttered before transforming and going to sleep The sleep the pigtailed martial artist fell into was deep and dreamless however Ranma's mind was working very hard on many things ] training begins [ It has been approximately a week since Ranma and Akane awoke within misses Tendo's pocket dimension. In this time the two had been doing some serious growing up most of which involved silence and a great deal of thought concerning their individual behaviors. The change that this growth had caused left the two so different in character that most would not recognize them however their current behavior was still quite recognizable. The two were arguing about Ranma not hitting Akane during sparing matches Watching this seen from a top of a Palm tree was the legendary misses Tendo who just smiled. Her thoughts were along the lines of remembering her parents who argued probably just as much as Ranma and Akane did day after day. She knew by many years of experience that couples rarely argued like these two did. Their arguments may have been enough to make most think they hated each other's guts but Hishizuka knew that they were arguing because well just because they liked to argue. "I swear you two argue like you were already married for a hundred years" Hishizuka said with a smile causing both combatants to stop cold and blush furiously while Hishizuka smiled like the cat that ate the canary and had the gold fish for dessert After the two superpowered martial artists managed to stop looking embarrassed Hishizuka spoke once more "you know what Ranma Akane is right you should hit her while sparing" Hishizuka said to which Akane-kun smiled "however Akane Ranma is right as well you are nowhere near his level of skill or power and he could seriously hurt you with a misplaced punch ... but the fact still remains that you should be sparing with him after all you all are the airs to anything goes martial arts" "so what do you suggest then mom" Akane-kun asked nervously "well its quite simple really" Hishizuka said as she faced Ranma with a smile that Nabiki would cringe at "Ranma has to train you and I'm sure when you're ready you'll be able to spar with him he'll hit you" That leaves the two to stare at each other untell Ranma blinked and said "why didn't I think of that" Akane-kun's only response to that was to facefault "probably because your intelligence was doing something else" Hishizuka said with a laugh before causing a large quantity of hot water to appear over Akane-kun's head "well I have things to do so I leave you two alone" Hishizuka said before vanishing "And so do I" Ranma said before sitting down which left Akane to stand there "What are you thinking of" "a training program ... strength isn't something you need to work on at the moment ... speed on the other hand is something you're sorely lacking in and from what I've seen your form and technique are near perfect in... but style your style is absolutely atrocious and your emotions cloud your judgment to the point where you can't think at all" Ranma said with complete clinical detachment. This analysis of her skills and faults left Akane in a position in between anger and feeling like Ranma had just turned into a sansei Considering she really wanted to get better she voted to act as a student would towards a sansei and just waited for Ranma to continue "Well first let's work on your style ... then you should talk to your mother about keeping control of your emotions .. Once I'm satisfied that your style is good enough and you can keep a lid on your emotions I'll start working on speed drills" "Ok ... sansei" Akane said with a mischief's smile "sit" Ranma commanded to which Akane replied with a confused look before doing so "the first thing you have to do to form a good style is understand the basic principles of tactics and strategy ............" was Ranma's starting point to what promised to be a very lengthy lecture ******************* Later that day we find Akane lying on her back on the beach when suddenly her mother appears above her "Hmm so what did Ranma Do?" "A lecture on style a very looooong lecture on style" Akane said before closing her eyes "he told may I have to find a way to get control of my emotions" "And I assume he left me with the job of giving you the lecture on that" "Yep" "Well I'll let you recover from Ranma's lecture first" Hishizuka said before sitting down beside Akane "No go on I'm as ready as I'll ever be" Akane mumbled before her mother began her lengthy lecture ****************** Later that night we find Ranma cooking dinner while Akane-kun sat on the beach and let the water watch over his feet "I'm going to go practice" Akane-kun said before walking off "...... It's going to take her a long time to sort out the things we've helped her with today" misses tendo said from her Palm tree "Well I'm still sorting out things myself" Ranma admitted freely ********** About two weeks later we find Akane practicing at the middle of the training field trying to hit Ranma who was dodging like a grasshopper on speed surprisingly enough this had been going on for at least three hours 'hmm I think she's ready' Ranma thought before suddenly going on the offensive needless to say Akane finds herself on the ground in less than a second flat Needless to say Akane just gaped "now we work on speed" Ranma said before looking away "first running speed from now untell you collapse you're going to run got it" Ranma said flatly "and if I don't" "well there's always being eaten by this fire breathing dragon" Hishizuka quipped from the branch of the oak tree she was sitting in before Akane ran off at warp speed with a dragon hot on her heels "wow that's as motivating as a horde of angry woman with very sharp kitchen utensils" Ranma said as he watched Akane run from the dragon "so how long do you want that thing to chase her around" "till she can't run anymore ... and every day come up with something new to chase her around" Ranma said as he sat down underneath the oak tree "Variety is the spice live after all" Hishizuka added from the tree tops "so how are you going to work on arm and punching speed" "well she's not ready to learn the Amaguriken so I suppose I'll have to come up with something else in" Ranma said before the two sat back and watched Akane run from the dragon "I could use the beehive method for dodging and overall speed" "yeah that you could" "she's already fast enough that punching dummies into paste is a waste of time ...hmm" Ranma said before Akane jumps into the air while holding her butt and screaming "... the old catch the fly method works party well but it's too slow" Ranma added before Akane was seen running by avoiding dragon fire only by mm "hmm the method makes you catch fast moving objects so I suppose I could come up with ....I've got it I'll throw pebbles without the Amaguriken and she'll have to catch them or dodge them" Ranma said before Akane was seen holding onto her butt as she flew through the air once again "Sounds like a good idea to me" Hishizuka said before the two continued to watch Akane run from the dragon *********** Later that day Ranma exits the forest with Akane draped over his shoulder "You are a cruel cruel man Ranma Saotome" Akane said as she looked up at Ranma who only smiled as he looked at Akane who was smiling despite herself "Tomorrow will work on punching and dodging speed" Ranma said as he put Akane down "Yes" Akane replied as she lay on the ground ************ Thus began a cycle of Akane working on speed one day she would run from a monster or other some such creature created by her mother and the next day she would dodge or catch stones grown by Ranma this cycle continued until one morning Akane woke up to find Ranma sitting underneath the palm tree her mother so often sat upon Seeing that she was awake Ranma got up "today the cycle changes and I start teaching you moves ... when your ready you'll learn the Amaguriken and then the Hiryu-Shoten-Ha by that time I should be finished with the techniques I've been working on" "hai sansei" Akane said formally before Ranma motioned her to the training field where the cycle changed ************ ] The advent of the Buku-Jutsu and K?sen blast and the return [ 'It has been two months since we were dragged here by Akane's mother and that time I've changed so much I don't think even my mom would recognize me' Ranma thought to himself as he sat among the cherry trees on the far side of the island 'then there's Akane man she has changed a lot to .. And when we get back Ukyou shampoo and Kodachi are in for a nasty surprise a really nasty surprise and I haven't even finished with the techniques I've been working on' Ranma thought before Hishizuka appeared next to him "how she doing" "Still cursing loudly but she's getting better ... she'll probably have the Amaguriken down in a week ... so how are you doing with your new technique" "Still trying to figure out a way to focus my ki without emotions" Ranma answered "had any luck" "Some but not much it's still almost impossible to make my ki spheres solid" "Have you tried thinking of something that's heavy like say lead" "hmm I think I get what you're saying a heavy object may work like a heavy emotion" Ranma said before producing a powerful ki sphere however for some reason Ranma raises his eye brow at the sphere "I'm putting twice as much energy into this sphere as I do one of my usual Moko Takabishas but it's easier to maintain than one of them" "Guess focusing your ki without emotions has its benefits" Hishizuka said before looking up and mumbling something in a language even Ranma could tell was ancient "the freedom of the air" Hishizuka provided as a translation before vanishing leaving only a small book entitled the principles of flight behind Smiling at the subtle hint -subtle as an Akane's mallet actually- Ranma opened the book and began to read. The knowledge of the freedom of the air was in the book he held all Ranma had to do was create a real version of his favorite anima move the Buku- Jutsu ***************** Later that day Ranma returns to the training field to find Akane-Kun trying to learn the Tenshin Amaguriken. Seeing this Ranma only smiles reassuringly as he continues on to the campsite where he finds Hishizuka sitting atop her palm tree "So how goes it" Ranma's only response was the float into the air "still having trouble moving around had any reasonable speed though" Hishizuka's only response was to smile and throw Ranma a book on jet engines Raising an eyebrow Ranma began to read and after about an hour and a half Ranma throws the book back to Hishizuka and rockets into the sky and around the island with the greatest of ease "the freedom of the air" Hishizuka said with a smile before Akane-Kun was seen exiting the forest with a sad face and hands that were in desperate need of moisturizer seeing this Akane's mother threw a bottle of the aforementioned liquid to her neo-son who smiled thankfully before Ranma dive bombed the beach causing sand to go everywhere while shouting WEEEE HA at the top of his lungs The wide-eyed Akane-kun just watched Ranma zoom by again before looking up at his mother "he figured out how to fly" Akane's mother said matter of factly to which Akane-Kun only responded with a nod before sitting down and watching Ranma zoom around happily which left Akane-kun to smile broadly "I don't think I've ever seen him that happy" And so Akane-kun and Hishizuka watched Ranma fly around for the next hour until he landed looking quite happy "Gods that feels great" Ranma said with girlish delight before composing himself and looking over at the book on jet engines and smiling before cupping his hands after which a powerful ki sphere forms in is hands "hold on to your hats" Ranma warned before powering up which sends Akane-Kun rushing for a convenient hiding place while Hishizuka just materializes a hat and puts it on her head before creating a barrier spell around her "K?sen blast!!!!!!!!" Ranma bellowed as he shot off and energy blast that could easily level a city the size of Tokyo "Damm THAT WAS a big one" Hishizuka commented "Ranma?" Akane-kun asked warily as he climbed out of his hiding place "You know what Akane I think the Moko Takabisha just became outdated ... grossly outdated" Ranma said with a grin "Yeah I'd say so" Hishizuka said "So when are you going to teach me how to do that?" "After you learn the Hiryu-Shoten-Ha" Ranma said before taking off like a rocket "I suggest you get back to working on the Amaguriken" Hishizuka said before vanishing That said Akane-kun nods and runs off to work on said technique ********* And so that is why did find a beam of energy arcing over the horizon a month later "Not as big as mine but considering you're not as powerful as me yet that's not surprising" Ranma said approvingly as an Akane floated back down to the ground "So am I ready to pound shampoo" Akane asked to which Hishizuka and Ranma replied by looking at each other before laughing which left Akane to sigh heavily before her mother and fiancée regained their composure "Akane dear that last blast would have made Saffron into phoenix stew if you could hit him" Hishizuka said with a giggle "you mean I'm as powerful Saffron??" Akane said in complete surprise "yep you sure are you un-cute tomboy not as skilled fast or cunning but as powerful" Ranma said with a wide smile before Hishizuka looked up "its time ... back in the real world a week has passed and they're starting to wonder where you two are" Hishizuka said before flicking her rest which caused the world around them to fade away in a flash of light leaving the two to appear high above Nerima "I will be along shortly " Hishizuka's voice echoed from nowhere and everywhere at the same time "well back to the dojo" Ranma said flatly to which Akane only sighed too as a reply before she Ranma took off at sub sonic speeds and headed straight for the dojo where they landed on opposite sides of the koi pond much to the surprise of everyone gathered by the tea table "sis" Nabiki asked warily as everyone gathered looked at the two in shock "yeah" "so where have you been for the past week" Kasumi asked pleasantly "this might be hard to believe but we've been gone for three months in some kind of pocket dimension" Akane said raising everyone's eyebrow before taking a deep breath "mom was the one that dragged us their" "Anything else you'd like to tell us" Soun said with a raised eyebrow before Ranma splashed her with some water from the koi pond "she's also the progenitor and guardian of the cursed Springs" Akane-kun deadpanned to which Nabiki replied in the most unlikely of ways by attacking Ranma "you bitch how could you do this to my sister ... not only do you fly off and dump her in the Nannichuan but you convince her mother was responsible.. You don't even know my mother was" Nabiki screamed angrily however Ranma just stood firm" "Let me see about six feet tall slightly buff wears a bright red tube top orange slacks purple cape has long sky blue hair emerald green eyes and has a tendency to hang out in tree tops ... and is more mischievous then you any day of the week" was Ranma's near perfect description of the Tendo matriarch which floored Nabiki's jaw before she fainted "well she took that better than I thought she would" Ranma deadpanned before receiving a mallet to the skull "Baka" Akane-kun muttered as he punted Ranma over the horizon "sis would you go get me some hot water" Akane-kun added as Kasumi woke up Nabiki "hmm yes of course" Kasumi said before running off and retrieving some hot water which she quickly pours over her neo- brother "Thanks sis now if you'll excuse me I know two people that need a serious pounding for ruining my wedding" Akane said as she cracked her knuckles however she was interrupted by Ranma's airborne return "Going after them all ready" Ranma asked from 5 meters in the air "Yeah" Akane said before being interrupted by a dimensional rift opening by the koi pond Who stepped through the rift was obvious "Mind if I tag along then" misses Tendo said as the rift closed behind her "Not at all" Akane said with a smile before she and her mother left "I feel sorry for shampoo and Ukyou" Ranma muttered before sitting down at the tea table and accepting a cup of tea from Kasumi "thanks Kasumi" Ranma said as he sipped his tea "Boy aren't you going to go make sure Akane's all right" Genma bellowed to which Ranma raised his eyebrow "Pop she's as strong as Saffron was when I fought him now" Ranma replied calmly as he downed his tea "not to mention with Misses T there I doubt even Cologne would dare make a move" Ranma added "Boy if Akane is that strong how strong are you" Genma asked before Ranma blurred out of existence and appeared by the koi pond where he powered up to what everyone thought was his maximum The effects of Ranma's power where obvious as the ground underneath him buckled and cracked creating a creator as deep as the koi pond "This is a quarter of my power" Ranma stated calmly if before cupping his hands and pointing them at Genma who starts to look extremely nervous witch left Ranma to smile before powering down "then again maybe it isn't but don't be dumb enough to ask me again pop or I might demonstrate my newest technique the K?sen blast at something other and then the sky" Ranma said before turning around and firing off an enormous energy blast "so what else happened in this pocket dimension of mom's" Nabiki asked with a raised eyebrow "sit It'll take tell tonight for me to tell you everything" Ranma said before everyone did so ************ "Woh guess just Ranma just gave a demo of the K?sen blast" Akane commented as she and her mother walked to Ucchan's "I just hope Genma wasn't on the other end of that beam" Hishizuka muttered before the two continued on their way "have you given any thought to what will happen to them" "to who" "to Ukyou and shampoo after you defeat them of course" Hishizuka said to which Akane's only reply was to stop cold "no ... what will happen ..." "well knowing the Amazon mentality shampoo will just go off and train but you're too far ahead of her for that ever to make a difference Ukyou on the other hand well maybe she'll give up maybe she won't ... but in the end they will both be hurt if you just defeat them with your fists and I'm not talking about the bruises you'll give them either" "...oh" "Haven't given that angle much thought have you" "None actually" "Well you do have to beat them in a battle that much is certain they won't give up until you do ... and considering the reputation of people here in Nerima that might not make them give up at all" "So basically even if I do pound the paste out of them they will just keep coming back" "Probably ... but there's vary easy way to win the battle without winning the war just yet" "What" "when you challenge them make sure the challenge isn't officially on the topic of a certain pigtailed martial artists that way win you beat them into a paste the war will still be on however the rules will be different" "And that way I have time enough to peel them away from Ranma subtly" "Or not to subtly if you please" Hishizuka added before the two arrived at a certain okonomiyaki restaurant which the two entered without further ado. Once the door closed Ukyou immediately was found staring at misses Tendo. "hello you must be Ukyou my daughter has told me many things about you" Hishizuka said calmly as she sat down at the grill "But I thought you were ...well" "Six feet under no trapped in another dimension my oldest rival yes" Hishizuka provided as she sat down "So you're really Akane's mother" "With this much blue hair who else would I be" Hishizuka quipped to which Ukyou could only smile to as a reply "so I hear you two are rivals for Ranma's hand in marriage" "Yes we are" Ukyou said somewhat darkly "Well why don't you to have a friendly little match and see where you stand skill wise" "What's the prize for the match?" "Oh no prize after all in the end who Ranma marries is his decision and no one else's" "Try telling that the to Mr. Saotome and your husband" Ukyou reply darkly Cracking her knuckles menacingly as a Nabiki like smile developed on her face Hishizuka replied simply with one statement "I plan on it" This reply makes Ukyou take a step back as she realizes misses Tendo is definitely not a woman to be trifled with "Well back to the battle I suppose I could meet Akane at the abandoned lot tonight" Ukyou said after composing herself "Good me and Akane will be waiting there" Hishizuka said before snapping her fingers which caused her to vanish in a flash of light "Woh what just happened" "Some kind of Teleport spell" Akane muttered while looking at the menu before ordering her usual "she some kind of Wizard or something" Ukyou asked while not sounding terribly surprised after all it would be a huge disappointment if the legendary misses Tendo wasn't weird in some way "A master magi and progenitor and guardian of the cursed springs" Akane mumbled dropping Ukyou's jaw "You're joking sugar you're telling me your mom the one everyone says is nice beyond compare is responsible for the springs" "Yep" Akane replied before upending a glass of water on her self the result was Ukyou taking the standard shock position 123 "Shit you're not joking" Ukyou finely said "Nope and this is punishment for how I've treated Ranma" Akane-kun said as he adjusted his blue Chinese shirt "I still remember the look on mom's face when she zapped me ... I swear not even Kasumi looked that scary when she got possessed by that oni" "Damm sugar that must have been one dark look" Ukyou said as she handed Akane-kun a kettle of water "Black hole dark if you ask me" Akane-kun said before using the hot water ****************** Later that night at the challenge field Nabiki arrives to find her mother sitting in the loan tree in the field Looking down at her middle daughter misses Tendo's face was emotionless as was Nabiki's as she started collecting money and bets from those that were already gathering None saw Hishizuka unless she wanted them to As the rest of the Tendo and Saotome families arrived so did Ukyou and the Amazon's Cologne's response to misses Tendo was to smile and take a seat As the two combatants stepped into the center of the field Nabiki acted as referee and announcer and with the shout of fight the battle began with Ukyou throwing her small throwing spatulas all of which Akane caught before discarding then Silently Ukyou discarded her bandolier knowing that are throwing spatulas would be useless. After which she upholsters her combat spatula and charges The resulting series of attacks were completely evaded by Akane and with a subtle move Akane slips behind Ukyou and silently chops her neck knocking Ukyou out cold That done the crowd goes wild until shampoo shouts "Pervert girl no win that easy must have cheated" 'Oh shit I hope Hishizuka doesn't nuke her for that line' were Cologne's thoughts as she rolled her eyes "I dare you to calm down here and back that up Shampoo" Akane demanded to which shampoo only responded by jumping into the center of the field while Cologne looked over at Hishizuka who only shook her head before Nabiki started taking bets ... and after the bets were collected the battle began and ended when shampoo charged with her bonbori only to be punched in the gut as Akane ducked low The resulting blow sent the purple haired Amazon flying across the field however she quickly recovered and discarded her weapons in favor of unarmed combat As the battle progress shampoo and Akane traded blows and seemed to be on an even keel. However two hours into the battle it was apparent that Akane wasn't even about to break a sweat while shampoo was sweating heavily Dropping her battle stance completely Akane smiled in the same way many had seen Ranma smile at an opponent before starting to glow with a powerful aura "oh shit" Cologne mumbled to herself before realizing what Akane had been doing for the last five minutes as the cry of Hiryu-Shoten-Ha sent shampoo rocketing into the heavens via a ki powered tornado 'I win shampoo' Akane thought as shampoo was seen falling back to earth and just before she hit Akane jumped and snagged the unconscious Amazon right out of the air after which she deposits said Amazon on the ground Nearby Ukyou just gaped and shook her head knowing that neither she nor shampoo ever stood a chance as she looked over at Ranma he only nodded before leaving with his mother and father ******************** Later that night Ukyou nurses her neck as she soaks in her furo "damm how'd she'd get so good so quick" Ukyou mumbled to herself before a single tear fell from her eye "Ranma has chosen her as his student and considering how beautiful misses Tendo looks Akane will probably turnout the same way" Ukyou thought aloud before drowning out the part of her mind that was telling her to fight even harder by using mental gunpowder laced okonomiyaki bombs ******************* Meanwhile a certain Amazon warrior was not taking things very well as was apparent from her rantings 'Damm she's starting to sound like Kunou' Cologne thought as she adjusted her ear plugs which were keeping shampoo was angered rantings from permanently damaging her ears' Mousse on the other hand was wearing a set of industrial strength headphones which completely blocked out shampoo's rantings seeing this Cologne tapped the youth on the shoulder to which he only responded by materializing another pair of the aforementioned headphones Both knew the purple haired Amazon that was currently glowing bright red would not run down anytime soon ****************** Meanwhile at the Tendo dojo the two meddling father's sat inside of a stasis crystal that was now being used by Kasumi for drying some towels said stasis crystal sat by the koi pond. Meanwhile Hishizuka, Ranma-chan, Akane-kun, Kasumi, and Nabiki sipped some tea while Nodoka nervously looked at Ranma-chan and Akane-kun from by the koi pond 'How could she do such a thing to her daughter' Nodoka thought before looking over at her son who seemed completely indifferent to the obvious feminine nature of the conversations that were taking place around him seeing this Nodoka sighed and walked off to the training hall where she sat down and started to meditate only to be interrupted by Ranma-chan "Mom you ok" Ranma-chan said from the doorway of training hall "No I'm not how could she do such a thing to our own daughter" Nodoka said "I don't know why misses T did what she did but Akane's done a lot growing up because of it" Ranma-chan said as she looked outside at the moon "...and you what do you think about that form now" Nodoka asked Ranma-chan only shrugged her shoulders as a reply before looking back outside "it's different now than it was before ... a lot different" that said the neo-girl sighs before walking into the training hall after which a nervous silence fell over mother and neo-daughter "Tell me how complete is that form" Nodoka asked "Perfectly complete" Hishizuka replied from the doorway of the training hall causing Nodoka to go pale "Excuse me" Nodoka said before leaving looking rather shaking After Nodoka was out of sight Hishizuka sighed before following when she finds Nodoka in the guest room she is trembling "your traditional views make it very hard for you to accept this don't they" Hishizuka said "Difficult you've just told me that my SON can GIVE BRITH" Nodoka practically screamed "yes Ranma can but that doesn't mean he can't father a child" Hishizuka replied calmly before Nodoka sat down still shaking after which Hishizuka kneeled before her "tell me have you ever wanted a daughter" Nodoka only nodded "then think about this Ranma is now a man and a woman ... and all you have to do to have a daughter is accept that" Hishizuka said before getting up and walking off ] dealing with a curse [ Early Sunday morning we find Akane in the training hall when Kasumi walks up behind her "You ok" Kasumi asked "no tomorrow I have school and knowing mom she's probably set it up so just as much water finds me as it did Ranma" Akane said without looking away from the floor "Why don't I call your friends and have them come over later" Kasumi said to which Akane only nodded silently ************** And so later that day we find Sayuki and Yuka heading towards the Tendo dojo when they encounter Ranma walking along the fence with a large bag of rice "Hi'a girls" Ranma said from atop the fence "So what are you up to Ranma" Yuka asked "Not much just doing some shopping for misses T" Ranma said nonchalantly "Misses T?? ...you can't mean Misses Tendo" Sayuki said with a raised eyebrow "Yep sure do" Ranma replied before the three arrived at the dojo Shrugging their shoulders and muttering something about Ranma being crazy to themselves Sayuki and Yuka entered the dojo's gates to find misses Tendo sweeping the path between the door and the gates "Ahh thank you Ranma." misses Tendo said as she took the rice from Ranma while suspiciously the broom she was using to sweep the path kept sweeping on its own "oh hello girls Akane is waiting for you in the training hall" "Hmm yeah" Yuka said nervously before she and Sayuki ran off in the direction of the training hall **************** As Sayuki and Yuka entered the training hall they found Akane meditating in the middle of the training hall before her their sat two familiar objects to the Tendo dojo a kettle of hot water and a bucket of cold water "I'm guessing you've already seen my mom" Akane stated flatly as Sayuki and Yuka nervously sat down and nodded "the night after the failed wedding my mom pulled me and Ranma into a pocket dimension she had been trapped in since her disappearance" Akane explained as calmly as she could before taking a deep breath "once there she told us who she was before she became my mother" "And who was she" Yuka asked "a 5035-year-old master magi and the progenitor and guardian of the cursed Springs" Akane replied causing Sayuki and Yuka to almost scream in shock "mom had also been watching for the past 10 years and she knew how I had treated Ranma and well mom wasn't too pleased" Akane added as she began to shake "Gods she didn't" Sayuki said as she gasped and began to cry Akane's only reply was to pick up a bucket of water and pour it over her self Sayuki and Yuka's only response was to scream and faint Sighing Akane-kun waited for his friends to wake up ****************** Meanwhile by the koi pond we find Ranma dodging Mousse at super speed when Hishizuka steps outside and electrocutes the annoying master of hidden weapons who was then spouting about Ranma hurting shampoo Groaning as he adjusted his glasses Mousse managed to focus enough to see the Tendo matriarch who did not look happy "who are you" "Misses Tendo" Hishizuka replied to which Ranma replied by vanishing and Mousse by gulping as he saw the Tendo matriarch crush a wooden spoon that was covered in rice After throwing the spoon into the koi pond misses Tendo took a deep breath and calmed herself before looking at Mousse "your lack of vision is annoying Mousse very annoying" Hishizuka said before raising her hand which caused Mousse to float into the air as a circular ring of energy ran down the length of his body "...a clarity of vision energy block caused by pressure points and severe myopia ... well at least your vision problems aren't all caused by the elder Perfume's quote vision checkups" Hishizuka said with a sigh before Mousse was floated over to Hishizuka who pressed a complex series of pressure points before taking and crashing Mousse's glasses after which she places her hand over Mousse's eyes and starts to mumble something in an ancient language After she finished she removed her hand and for the first time since he was five years old Mousse saw clearly mousse mumbled in his native tongue "not only that Mousse those vision checkups elder perfume gave you every year were actually a series of pressure points to stop you from thinking clearly ...now as for your curse" Hishizuka said before firing off a small energy blast "now Mousse remember this I am a master magi over 5000 years old progenitor and guardian of the Springs so what I have just done for you I can just as easily take away and if you cross me not only well I take what I have done from you away but I will ... well just don't cross me" Hishizuka said before turning around and heading back to the kitchen leaving Mousse not sure whether to be happy or scared shitless and so he just decided to head back to the cat café where he found Cologne waiting "I see you met Hishizuka" Cologne said as the still very shaken Mousse sat down "told you not to cross her didn't she" Mousse only nodded "Good advice not even great elder Grape would even think about crossing her" "What happened to the last person that did" "Every hear of a black hole" Mousse's reply to this was to go wide-eyed and perform the largest gulp of his life before walking off to his room ************** Back at the Tendo dojo however Sayuki and Yuka nervously stare at Akane-kun and shake their heads "So are you going to say anything or just stare at me in shock" Akane-kun asked Akane's two friends just opted for something in between talking and staring at Akane-kun in shock they flapped their jaws in the wind After another few minutes Yuka finely managed to regain the ability to speak "why" "Punishment for how I treated Ranma amongst other things I figure" the neo- boy replied "So how does it feel" Sayuki asked nervously "The best way I can describe it is it's like a different pair of clothes it doesn't feel wrong or gross or anything else like that ... it just feels different" "so hmm what does it feel like when you know" Sayuki asked nervously "It hurts like hell unless I'm not wearing anything" Akane-kun said with a little bit of anger in his voice "only like hell. the first time it happened to you. You were practically doubled over in pain" Ranma said from the doorway "I was ... and I was really angry with you for not telling me that the stupid thing goes off for no reason in the morning" Akane-kun said with a huff as he turned his back to Ranma "now scram" "Ok ok" Ranma said before walking off mumbling something about Akane having a male period which confused Yuka and Sayuki immensely "Don't ask just don't ask ...it's Ranma's private little joke" Akane-kun mumbled "Oh" Yuka replied confusedly before continuing "so are you stuck with this forever or just till your mom thinks you served enough time in hell" "The latter ...and it's not that bad it's not like this body changes who I am ..." Akane-kun said before trailing off "What" Sayuki queried nervously "Nothing it's just that I know no one else will think that I don't change" Akane-kun said sadly "it's taken me this long to realize Ranma doesn't change ... much anyway" Akane-kun said as he smiled at a private joke which Sayuki and Yuka wisely decided not to ask about however Akane-kun quickly sobered and sighed deeply "so what to make any bets on how much hell I'm to catch tomorrow" Akane-kun said darkly as he tried to smile Silence was the only response the brown haired neo-boy received "I figured as much ... listen I..." "No Akane we will stand by your side where your friends and we won't abandon you even if you tell us to" Sayuki interrupted angrily to which Yuka replied by shouting something along the same lines "thanks you two" Akane-kun said before Sayuki and Yuka left the training hall after giving their friend a few more reassuring words of her as the two stepped into the greeting room of the main house they found Ranma-chan leading against the far wall For a moment Ranma-chan looked at the two before they got the hint and walked up the stairs to Ranma's room where Ranma-chan sat down and explained her current situation after which Sayuki and Yuka left ************** However at Ucchan's Ukyou quietly tends the grill while wondering why she gave up on Ranma so easily when Ryouga entered "hi Ryouga how's it going with you" Ukyou queried as she served Ryouga "The usual" Ryouga said as he ate "and you" "Well Ranma's been training Akane to wipe the floor with me and shampoo which she did last night" Ukyou deadpanned "How?" "Well let me see she caught my throwing spatulas like nothing and then snuck behind my defenses and KO'd me with one chop to the neck. By the time I woke up shampoo and Akane were going at it hand to hand that lasted for another hour and a half before Akane sent shampoo flying with a Hiryu- Shoten-Ha" Hearing this the eternally lost boy immediately develops a severe case of dislocation the jaw which Ukyou fixed while making a comment of her own "Sugar it's really not polite to let your jaw dangle in the wind" Ukyou said as she closed Ryouga's jaw "You're joking right no way did Akane learn the Hiryu-Shoten-Ha in a week" "Actually Ryouga that's only beginning of the story, now where should I began well first there's the fact Akane got cursed by " Ukyou managed to get out before Ukyou ran off screaming something about killing Ranma "ops I think I should've mentioned that last" Ukyou said before phoning the Tendo dojo ************** "I see Ryouga is on his way" misses Tendo said as she hung up the phone before the dojo's parameter wall was heard blowing a part as Ryouga yelled his generic attack phrase of die Ranma signing Hishizuka walked out side to wear Ryouga was fuming and Ranma was standing by the koi pond ready for battle "leave Ranma" Hishizuka commanded to which Ranma nodded before dropping his guard and walking off leaving the fuming Ryouga staring at her and her alone "How dare you interfere with" Ryouga managed to scream before being frozen by a Arctic wind Hishizuka summoned from nowhere "Quiet Ryouga" Hishizuka said calmly before Ryouga attacked her only to be engulfed in fireball "I mean it Ryouga quiet or my next spell will kill you in a most horrific manner understood" The flash frozen and barbecued the eternally lost boy calmed down decided to be halfway civil "Now Ryouga I assume your rather one track mind has blamed Ranma for something you haven't even gotten all of the facts on yet. Well let me give you the facts I am Hishizuka Tendo master magi progenitor and guardian of the cursed springs and Akane's mother" Hearing this Ryouga starts to look like he is about to become ham sandwich in less than a second "now either you tell Akane the truth or P-chan will be permanent got it" Hishizuka said with deadly calm before turning around to face Akane who was already looking nervous "Ryouga has something too tell you dear just try not to kill him after he tells you" A few minutes later the blood curdling cry's of Ryouga being well the exact details of this are something this author refuses to imagine so will skip to the point where Ryouga was booted over the horizon and Akane fell to the ground trembling "Shhh it'll be ok my little one" Hishizuka said as she dragged Akane onto her lap and into a motherly hug where Akane began to cry ******************* Later that afternoon we find Ranma sitting in his room looking out the window guiltily when Akane sits down next to him. Silently Ranma explained why he had said nothing. Akane's only reply to this was to clinch her fists a little tighter and mumbles something about wanting to destroy more than just bricks before silence fell over the two that silence was interrupted by Akane's mother who entered silently and stood behind the two youths and looked out the window with them before speaking "If you wish the island can be made available to you as a private training ground" The two only nodded as a reply to which the mysterious misses Tendo replied by waving her hand which caused an ornate set of gates to appear near the koi pond That done, Ranma and Akane walk outside and through the gates which close and lock behind them Of course that doesn't stop Genma and Soun from trying to get in "Mom aren't you worry they'll pick that lock" Nabiki asked as she watched Genma and Soun from that's the room with her mother, Kasumi, and Nodoka "It's a magically enchanted lock dear they won't be able to open it if they used a 20 megaton nuke" Hishizuka provided "Ahh ... so what are they doing in their" "Probably trying to nuke each other with K?sen blasts" Hishizuka replied "You mean Akane knows how to do that power beam thing to" "Yep she sure does" ************** However on the hidden island Ranma and Akane just sit back-to-back "So how mad are you with me" Ranma asked "Not as mad as I am with Ryouga .... He took shameless advantage of his curses lied about you continuously and used a Warriors promise in the most dishonorable way I have ever heard of ... You on the other hand just tried to tell me without telling me and in the end you forgive him don't you ... just like mom said your forgiving beyond reason" Stiffening a little Ranma responded "yeah I do forgive him ... but how mad are you with me" "I don't know really Ranma, part of me knows you were honor bound not to say and honor is very important to me as it is to you but another part of me feels so betrayed by the fact you knew and said nothing" "Well everyone else knew as well Akane ... I wish one of them would have told you but everyone was afraid of how mad you would be and what you would do to him" Ranma replied to which Akane replied by starting to glow with a red aura which she forcibly dispelled "I'm going to have the a few words with everyone that knew" Akane said as calmly as she could before silence fell over the two once again ' what should I do I really don't feel like pounding him over this' "If you want you can pound me" Ranma said in a whisper "no ... I have a more suitable punishment in mind you have to eat my cooking for a week straight" Upon hearing this Ranma stiffens considerably before speaking "only if I get to help you" "ok but no insults got it" "oh come on you know I'm only teasing you" Ranma said jokingly "I know but I really don't feel like being teased about something I can even seem to do the basics of without totally failing" said as she began to get angry "Ok no insults" Ranma said as he started to rub Akane shoulders "Thank you ... mhh a little to the left" Akane said as Ranma continued to rub her shoulders Ranma continued to do this for about 5 min. "Come on let's get back Ranma" Akane said as she got up and headed towards the gates that led back to the dojo ****************** Later that day we find Akane sitting by the koi pond looking at her father who was sweating profusely "Now tell me again why you didn't you say anything" Akane said menacingly as several powerful looking ki spheres floated around the aforementioned parental unit Said parent explained that he did it so that he knew Ranma really cared about her Akane didn't like this explanation as was apparent when each ki sphere grew in size by a hundred percent before all of them converged on Soun ... the results were well 1 extra crispy parent A few meters away in the tea room Hishizuka paraphrased her daughter's famous phrase/battle cry with the words of "Soun no baka" "Agreed mom" Nabiki said as Akane walked by, grabbing Ranma on her way to the kitchen "I do hope she is not thinking about cooking tonight" Kasumi said nervously to which her mother responded by shaking her head as she materialized a strange looking herb "Magi's strength indigestion relief" Nabiki asked as her mother ate the herb and washed it down with some tea "Yep" the Tendo matriarch replied before rising and walking out towards the koi pond where she waived her hand over her extra crispy husband healing him instantaneously after which she halls him of for a 'chat' leaving Nabiki, Kasumi, Nodoka, and Genma sitting at the tea table untell Hishizuka's chat with her husband was heard beginning The volume and venom of the Tendo matriarch's voice could not even be matched by Akane's most insane berserker range ****************** "damm and I thought you were angry at him" Ranma commented as he and Akane cringed at the sound of Hishizuka's little chat "I don't think mom's ever been that angry before" Akane said as she bit her lip "well let's get on with it ... ok now what's the first step" Ranma said as he leaned against the refrigerator "I'm not stupid Ranma the first step is to get ingredients out of refrigerator" "WRONG!" Ranma shouted making Akane flinch "try again" Getting angry Akane shouted "just tell me already" "no you have to figure out some of this for yourself Akane but I will say one thing losing your temper in the kitchen is a guaranteed way to ruin whenever you're going to cook. Now what is the first step in cooking" Ranma said while maintaining complete control Sighing has her temper failed her Akane tried to think before sitting down at the kitchen table "Good you figured it out first you sit down and think ... now what do you think about" Ranma said as he joined Akane at the table Blankly Akane replied "what you're going to make" "Yeah and what do you need before you make something" "Ingredients!!" Akane said before trying to make a break for the refrigerator only to be stopped by Ranma who forcibly sat her back down "No" Ranma replied as Akane rubbed her wrist more out of shock then pain "now what does Kasumi always do before gathering ingredients "Hmm nothing" Akane responded Silently Ranma banged his head against the table "No" "Then what does she do" Akane asked "She decides on a recipe" "Oh..." Akane said flatly before getting up and retrieving a recipe book "now since I'm teaching you tonight I'll pick out something" Ranma said before looking through the recipe book "ok we'll make a simple stir fry, some rice and a simple casserole. Now first we'll start on the rice...." ********* Meanwhile outside the kitchen Nabiki and Kasumi watch "I'll say one thing for Ranma he's got more guts than him gave credit for" Nabiki said before the two sister's nodded and left About 15 minutes later the loud thuds and many screams coming from the kitchen died down to a suspiciously low level so the Saotome parents decide to investigate what they found was Ranma holding Akane's hands as he stood behind her ********* "Yeah that's the way. Just like that Akane" Ranma coached as he helped Akane cut vegetables for the stir fry The only reply Akane gave was to mumble her agreement 'oh kami this is making me so wet' Akane thought to herself as she felt the bulge in Ranma's poke her in the butt of course Akane tried to ignore the feeling she was receiving every time she moved slightly 'Damm why did this have to make me so hard' Ranma thought while trying not to move a mm which was impossible considering the had to move to help Akane cut vegetables *********** Meanwhile outside the kitchen Genma and Nodoka just smile actually Genma plots while Nodoka just smiles "Is my kitchen still intact" Kasumi has nervously as Genma and Nodoka reentered the tea room "Yes dear" Nodoka answered before silence fell over the room A few minutes there after Soun entered looking rather meek followed by Hishizuka who still had a slight red aura around her "but dear" the Soun muttered only to be silenced by the appearance of several fire balls and do to the fact that his wife was now holding a lightning bolt "never mind" Soun added as he tried to crawl under the table With that little scene played out the foreboding silenced caused by the youngest Tendo sister being in the kitchen returned in full force About 30 minutes later Akane entered carrying a casserole dish followed quickly by Ranma who was balancing a stir fry wok on his head while he held a rice cooker "so who wants some" Akane said nervously before Ranma crossed his arms and looked at her with something reminiscent of a parental death glare "right I'm supposed to try it first" Akane said sheepishly before serving herself and after she nervously ate some of her dinner "So" Ranma asked "It's okay not great but still ok" Akane said before Ranma asked to be served and after he ate the food with no ill effects the rest of the family digged in without further ado ******************** Later that night after dinner with find Akane lying on her bed quietly crying when Kasumi enters "You ok" "No do you know how dirty this makes me feel knowing that my pet pig was really Ryouga ... I mean do you have any idea the things I told him" "No but I suspect a lot of it had to do with Ranma" Kasumi answered to which Akane only nodded to as a reply "no wonder why he hates Ranma so much" Akane's only reply to this was to get up and look out the window of her room "now I feel twice as used" Akane said confusing Kasumi "What do you mean?" "You know how Ryouga's chi attack is based on depression well he was using me to get more depressed" "But surely he wouldn't do that on purpose" "not on a conscious level Kasumi" Ranma said from the doorway "but on a subconscious level Ryouga makes himself more depressed so his attack strength would increase ... it's same thing with the Moko Takabisha and me ... only I was able to keep the effects to a minimum since I knew then emotionally based ki attack amplified the emotion but my ego was still out of control because of it ... and because of Pops bull shit" "Why does that happen" Kasumi asked curiously "Well because the emotion is the source of the focus for the attack and as you use a focus more and more it becomes stronger and you tend to do things that make the focus stronger like if the focus is depression you make yourself more depressed without even realizing it" "Oh my" Kasumi said before getting up and leaving "So what plot have they come up with this time" Akane asked flatly "Something about it being my duty to sleep with you to protect you from Ryouga" Ranma said while sounding board as he sat down Akane's only reply to this was to roll her eyes "so was your mom in on this" "Yeah she made me promise to at least ask you and your mom said that it would happen on its own time and interfering with only make that time longer" "I swear why do they all have to metal in our business" "Probably because they don't have anything better to do" Hishizuka said from the doorway as she entered with a tray full of watermelon slices which she sat down before leaving. Leaving Ranma and Akane to eat the watermelon slices alone and silently "Well" Ranma asked more to break the silence than anything "Why not, but no sex till after we get married agreed" "Agreed" Ranma replied with a smile which Akane quickly matched The reason for this mutual smile was the fact both knew the stipulation of their sleeping terms would bug their parents to no end ***************** ] an interesting day [ "ahh I see misses Tendo your little Keiki will be will be doing the water thing as a today instead of the delinquent Saotome ... may I ask why ...ahh yes da mallet, da insults, da screaming, da nucellar temper ... no ma'am you don't have to give me the long list ...and I'm glad to know you're back from the great beyond since you're the only Wahine that can discipline that bunch of delinquents" principal Kunou said in his thick Hawaiian accent before being interrupted by Chibi-Hinako "If this is the case may be we should ask her to come and teach here kami knows we need more firm teachers around here" To this statement principal Kunou only nodded before asking " ...ok you can have Ms. Hinako's home room class" "..." was all Chibi Hinako said before hopping off with a 5 yen coin in her hand ********************* Meanwhile back at the Tendo dojo Hishizuka just smiled darkly before leaving for Furinkan High once there she meets Hinako in Ranma and Akane's home room class "hello Miss Hinako" Hishizuka said calmly as she sat down "so misses Tendo what are some of your teaching skills" Materializing a pair of glasses which she puts on before looking over the top of misses Tendo speaks "I'm 5035 years old make a guess what some of my teaching skills are" Sweating a bit now Miss Hinako just nods silently "now as to your daughter" "I play no favorites in matters such as teaching" "good now how will you discipline your students" "as I did when I was head master of the Avalon academy of magic" Hishizuka said with a dark smile making even Miss Hinako shiver in sheer terror "I see ...Well me and the principal will expect a full report by the end of the day" "Agreed" Hishizuka said before she and Miss Hinako left the classroom to discuss the lesson plans That done the scene changes to vary early morning to late morning which brings the entire class to attendance and to attention when Miss Hinako enters "hello students I am proud to announce that you will be having a new teacher as of today" that said everyone in the class almost erupts in happiness however that eruption is quelled when misses Tendo enters is the room in a set of heavy robes and a stern look which causes even Miss Hinako to vanish rather hastily "Hello class .... Now how many here already know who I am" About five students other than Ranma and Akane raise their hands "Now for those of you who do not know who I am I will now introduce myself I am Hishizuka Tendo mother of none other than Akane Tendo. I am also a Master Magi that is over 5000 years old in similar terms that means miss behave at your own parrel. Now just let you know I'm better than that chi sucking vampire that's outside the door I will reward good behavior. ...now does anyone have any questions" "what does at your own parrel mean" a student asked to which Hishizuka only responded by smiling as the classroom faded away into a vast open field after witch Hishizuka said one word in an ancient language causing the mountain in the distance to explode in a mushroom cloud before the class was returned to their high school "Now does anyone else have any questions about miss behaving ...no now any other questions" *silence* "No then let us begin the day" Hishizuka said before sitting down at her desk while a piece of chalk wrote on the Black board behind her ******************* Later that day we find a few crispy students sitting outside eating their lunch while one extra crispy Ranma ate his "I told you mom wouldn't let you get away with sleeping in class" Akane said as she sat down Ranma's only reply was silence and a glare untell that is one Tatewaki Kunou started bellowing foul Magi speech number 1236 at Ranma of course at the end of said speech it started to rain While this did not affect Ranma everyone in the school yard did notice who was affected as Akane-kun ran off leaving Ranma to look at Kunou before pummeling the annoying kendoist/rainmaker into a pasty consistency before walking off to find Akane-kun leaving Kunou to twitch involuntarily every so often ***************** Meanwhile in the teachers lounge Hishizuka just sipped her tea while the other teachers including Ms. Hinako just gaped 'The punishment has begun' Hishizuka thought to herself before starting to grade some papers ***************** However and other parts of the high school Ranma finds himself being grilled and delayed by some of Akane's best friends only to be rescued by Sayuki and Yuka who quickly explain what just happened leaving Ranma to find Akane-kun who was hiding underneath the stairs "Go away please" Akane-kun begged before Ranma reluctantly did so After a few moments of silence Sayuki and Yuka and a few other of Akane's friends brought the currently male tomboy a kettle of hot water and silently left After using the hot water Akane headed back to class trying to ignore the ridicule and insults she heard All things considering she did a remarkable job of keeping herself cool ******************* The locker room something Akane had been dreading every sense she woke up that morning loomed in front of her Quietly she entered said room and tried her best to ignore the glances and whispers as best she could as she changed into a boy's gym uniform I unknown to her Ukyou raised her eye brow at the strange fact that uniform seem to make Akane appear more feminine than usual however no one else in the locker room save maybe Akane's best friends noticed this Gym itself was a quiet affair consisting of a softball game However as Akane entered the showers she found herself being stared at even more than in the locker room silently she headed to the corner of the showers where she turned on the hot water tap full force while ignoring the scolding temperature of the water which was the only thing that protected her from an on slot of cold water that hit her a second later Now glowing with fury that was buckling the ground beneath her Akane turned to face her oldest non-Ranma related rival who was smiling As Akane saw said rival smirk at her anger Akane's aura flared so powerfully that the entire shower room was destroyed simply by the flair Of course this left Akane exposed to a great deal of cold water which of course triggered the curse however faster than anyone but Akane could perceive Ranma-chan was by his side with a towel Walking away Akane-Kun's in the direction of the locker room anger was still powerful enough to cause the ground underneath his feet to buckle Surveying the scene of broken water pipes around her Ranma-chan only scowled before blurring out of existence leaving everyone amazed as the water pipes appeared to tie themselves in knots. After every pipe had been sealed Ranma-chan reappeared and scowled at the gathered girls "and you have the nerve to call me a pervert well I'll tell you one thing right now girls your no better than the boys you scream at ... how many times have each of you stared at a good-looking guy and indulged in a private little sexual fantasy ..." *guilty silence extremely guilty silence* "I thought so but that's okay because you're girls but when a guy wants to do that it instantly makes him a pervert just because he has no control over a certain piece of his anatomy ..." Ranma-chan said with a great deal of sarcasm At this several girls start to pipe up but Ranma-chan quickly silences them with an angered scowl and a red aura "Don't you dare argue with me on that how many of you have ever asked your boyfriends or bothered to ask a doctor about it" *embarrassed and guilty silence* "I didn't think so ...." *silence* "And do you all want to know something else you're a lot of sexists treating boys and men just by stereotype and not what you know about the person ... I admit some deserve being call perverts *chucking his thumb in the general direction of where Hiroshi and Daisuke were hiding facilitating a halfhearted grin from a few girls* but it hurts everyone that isn't ..." Ranma-chan said before turning around "and you want to know something else if someone hears something like that enough times they start acting like it ..." that said Ranma-chan looked over her shoulder an added one last comment with a extreme sarcasm and anger "just like some of your parents telling you girls you have to be proper housewife's" With her speech concluded the neo-girl walked off while levitating Hiroshi and Daisuke into the air. The floating perverts complained greatly but Ranma-chan did not release them "Ranma's right you know" Hishizuka said from what was left of the doorway that led to the locker room before waving her hand which caused all of the destruction rot by her daughter to be repaired in an instant "and you would all do well to remember what Ranma said" Hishizuka added before leaving which left everyone in the showers in his stake in between shock, fear, and forced revelation ************************** "Hey Akane wait up" Yuka shouted as she and Sayuki trying to catch up with Akane-kun Akane-Kun obliged his friends by stopping his run long enough for Sayuki and Yuka to catch up with him "So what happened" Akane-kun asked as a few tears and escape his eyes "Damm you should have seen it Ranma gave a speech" "a speech Ranma" Akane-kun asked while blinking to which Sayuki and Yuka replied by telling Akane-Kun what Ranma-chan had said which left the neo- boy very surprised "All I've got to say is Ranma has changed a lot" Sayuki said after finishing "Yeah he has" Akane-kun admitted before the three continued on their way "hmm where do you think Ranma got that female sexism stuff from ... I mean I can tell Ranma's smart but ...well that stuff he talked about seems out of even his league" Yuka said sometime later "from misses Tendo" Ranma said from behind the three where he head had for the past 10 minutes "we were talking about my father and all of his stupid sexist ideas about women one day while Akane was running from a Panther that was the size of a car and I made a wise ass comment along the lines of all sexism being from men to women and well she enlightened me to the fact that there was sexism from women to men real quick" Ranma added as the four continued to walk along "So what did you do to Hiroshi and Daisuke" Sayuki asked just to make conversation "Oh nothing that important" Ranma said with a devilish smile to which the other three members of the wandering party didn't bother asking what Ranma head ment by that Actually the three didn't get a chance considering a certain purple haired Amazon chose that moment to glom Ranma Akane being Akane and not carrying she was currently male attacked the Amazon sending her flying into a nearby wall after which of course the Amazon bounds out of the creator and attacks Akane-kun only to be soundly defeated after which said Amazon kisses Akane-kun at which time Akane-Kun realizes, to late of course, that shampoo now considered 'him' her husband as did Ranma who was doing his best not to laugh and succeeding admirably has shampoo bounded off on her delivery "Come on we're going to go see Cologne right now" Akane-kun growled before walking off after which Ranma's resolve broke in a huge laugh that echoed throughout Nerima Later at the cat café Ranma enters still laughing to himself along with Akane-kun Blinking a few times Cologne looked at Ranma before looking at Akane-kun "and you are" Laughing Ranma replied for Akane-kun "shampoo's newest fiancé" "And why is that so funny" Cologne asked before Ranma retrieved a kettle of hot water from the kitchen and poured it over Akane-kun's head "oh ... oh!" Was all the ancient matriarch managed to get out before she too fell over in hysterics After about 10 minutes of laughing Cologne manages to compose her self "By the ancient elders I haven't laughed like that for 50 years" "Well" "well what ... son-in-law you're as stuck with her as Ranma is" Cologne said with a laugh as she hoped off on her staff leaving Ranma and Akane to stare at Mousse who was doing his best not to laugh Growling and glowing with anger Akane left mumbling "with my luck she'll start acting like Kunou" This statement broke both Ranma and Mousse's resolve ************ "..." was all a very angry looking Akane said as she stormed past her mother, Kasumi, Nabiki and Nodoka and off to her room A few moments later she stormed by again on her way to the gates to dimensional island "Do you think they had another argument" Kasumi asked "I dout it" Hishizuka answered before returning to the papers she was grading by the time she was done Ranma had just walked into the tea room chuckling in to himself "So" Nabiki asked impatiently to which Ranma replied by telling detail of what had happened to Akane-kun the results were conclusive as was apparent when everyone in the room broke down in hysterics After everyone had calmed down Hishizuka headed for the dimensional island where she found Akane high above the island blasting one of the many moons orbiting the island Floating up to her daughter Hishizuka just waited for her to acknowledge her presence however when she did so it was with a attack and an angry glare "well if you want to play it that way dear is fine with me" Hishizuka said after dodging a ki blast A total of 10 minutes later Akane finds herself in a crater conveniently shaped like herself "Now do you want to be civil or continue the fray" Akane's mother said from several meters in the air to which Akane only nodded to as a reply *************** Meanwhile outside the dimensional island we find Ukyou has just arrived at the dojo and is curiously examining the large gates in the middle of the Tendo dojo's yard. Deciding Akane's mother must have something to do with it she shrugs and continues on to the tea room where she finds Nodoka looking at the Saotome honor blade and a small but familiar piece of paper while a small cup of water and a closed bottle of aspirin sat nearby "Misses Saotome" Ukyou asked warily "don't worry about me just a headache" Nodoka said dismissively however even Kunou could tell something was bothering the Saotome matriarch however Ukyou had come to the dojo after much thought about her own problem namely her engagement with Ranma so all she did was nod and sit down "I've decided that the engagement between me in Ranma is off ... Ranma has chosen Akane as his first student and considering the way Ranma works that's a very strong sign if not the strongest sign that he loves her and for some reason knowing that I just can't hold on any more" Ukyou said after composing herself greatly shocking Nodoka and more than one way "are you really okay with this" "... I don't really know ...I love him I really do ... but obviously in the depths my own mind I don't love him as a husband ... but I still want to be there by his side loving him ... even when we were kids a fell like we were meant to be together but now I realize that what ever love I have for him wasn't what I thought it was " Ukyou said as she looked off "I see ... and what of the honor you will lose" "I don't know but I now that I've seen Akane using his techniques in the way he watched her during the match I can't live with the fact I would lose more honor if I forced him into a marriage with someone he did not truly love ... but unless my honor is restored I cannot return to my family" "what would restore your lost honor" "the dowry but I doubt my father would take just that ... hell Genma is the one most to blame he should be the one that has to repay the dowry" "I see ... I will make sure Genma is at your restaurant tomorrow morning there he will work until he has repaid the dowry as for the insurance all I can suggest is something that neither you or Ranma would probably agree to" Nodoka said as she looked at her own reflection in the Saotome honor blade "If you're suggesting what I think you're suggesting Akane would probably kill both of us and Ranma" Ukyou said somewhat gravely before getting up and leaving This leaves Nodoka to stare at the aforementioned piece of paper until that is Ranma enters and sits down "if you're thinking about making me into 'Ranko' then you can forget about girl training" Ranma said flatly "I am and that's why I have a headache because I know 'Ranko' isn't who you are ... But that is all I have to offer" Nodoka said sadly before misses Tendo exited the gates to the dimensional island with Akane draped over her shoulder Silently the Tendo matriarch walked off towards Akane's room leaving Ranma and his mother to continue their discussion however the discussion was one of silence until that is Ranma took his mother's hand and dragged her off to the dimensional island Once there Nodoka beheld a site she could never imagine a site of two stars burning on the horizon while moons of all descriptions dotted the horizon however one of the smaller moons looked a bit damaged "Gods it's beautiful" Nodoka said in awe as she looked at the sky before finding herself being lifted into the air along with Ranma "Don't worry Mom I'm just levitating you with a modified version of the Buku-Jutsu" Ranma explained before the two rocketed into the skies above the island "this was my world four 3 months Mom ... no one but me Akane and misses T .... During the time Akane was working on her speed I would sit underneath that tree down there by the clearing in the forest and talk with Misses T talk about anything and everything ... one time she even made a joke about being my shrink ... isn't too far from the truth either ............. mom I need to tell you the real reason she pulled me and Akane here" "go on" Nodoka said before Ranma recounted the events of 3 months ago when Hishizuka had shown him his stained glass soul this revelation left Nodoka more than terrified but relieved that the Tendo matriarch had been able to do something before it had been to late "right after she fixed me up I started changing .. First thing I noticed was how much stronger I was then there was the fact I could suddenly understand everything I learned at school ... ended just kept going on and on like that" "and you're female half was part of that" "yeah was one of the first things actually ....but it didn't happen like I expected to ... before there was always a feeling of being forced into something that was too small to much like a vice afterward there was nothing but the body itself ...and the loopy things going through a period causes if I don't keep my control up" Ranma said with a halfhearted smirk "but the main thing was it was like it wasn't there but yet was ... but my female body was the least of the things going on with me ... it'll take too long to tell you everything but basically the Ranma from what you consider a week ago is gone ... but not forgotten" "So what you're saying is you're completely different but yet the same" "Yeah good as way as any to put it" Ranma said as he looked off at the damaged moon "so how have you noticed the change" "mainly your speech while still a bit rough you aren't slurring any words and you're vocabulary is way up and you aren't using that overly macho dribble you were before and considering what I've seen from misses Tendo that's probably only the very tip of the iceberg" "sure is ... I learned more about life and living from her in 3 months than I have ever learned from pop of course that's not say much considering pop doesn't know how to live as anything but a thief" "true very true ...now son what are you going to do about you're female half" "I've got no idea yet ... and it's probably not a good idea to do anything till misses Tendo decides Akane's had enough punishment" "true very true but I think there is a certain urgency here" "Yeah I know but how am I my going to decide what kind of girl I want to be without any help" "maybe some of Akane's friends would help you after all from what Nabiki said you gave quite a speech this afternoon and it may have earned you a great deal of respect" "Sounds like a place to start at least" Ranma said before the two floated down to the beech where they found Sayuki and Yuka nervously entering the dimensional island Blinking as he saw the two Ranma spoke "why are you two in here" "Hmm we wanted to know what happened to Akane this afternoon after shampoo attacked" Yuka asked before Ranma realized that the two had run off the instant shampoo had shown up "Oh ... well its pretty funny" Ranma said with a smirk as his mother left the dimensional island in the background A few moments later Sayuki and Yuka are laughing their heads off while Ranma stands with his feet in the wet sand of the beech smiling but somehow also frowning After Akane's two friends and managed to contain there mirth they noticed Ranma had transformed into Ranma-chan "Ranma" Sayuki asked curiously before Ranma-chan nervously tried to explain girl training to the two which leaves Akane's friends looking at Ranma-chan doubtfully Not looking at the two Ranma-chan spoke "no I have not lost my mind and I have no ulterior motive's" "still you're track record isn't too great on things like this" Sayuki interjected "I know" Ranma-chan said as she stared off at one of the many moons above "but like I said before I'm stuck with it permanently so" "you have to find out what it means to you" Yuka interrupted quietly two which Ranma-chan only nodded to "so hmm what do you want to where" "I don't know something like what misses T. wares" Ranma-chan said with a shrug ******************* While all of this was going on Akane-kun had been lounging on his bed thinking about his day while rubbing bruises the he had received from his mother when Kasumi entered "are you ok" Kasumi asked while sounding concerned "no as they say payback is a bitch ...and Mom's delivering that payback impartially and as coldly as Nabiki does business but I do deserve it I've made his life miserable for the past year" Akane-kun said as a few tears escaped his eyes Hearing this Kasumi is shocked beyond believe but as she starts to retort her mother speaks "no Kasumi you have no retort neither does anyone in the dojo you have all treated Ranma badly in some why are another because of the curse, because of engagement and the chaos he attracts amongst many other things ... even I am to blame in part for his plight" Hishizuka said with a stoic calm before looking at her oldest and youngest daughter again "however considering how Genma has treated Ranma in the past you still have treated him with more with more kindness then he has ever had before" Akane's mother added before pausing and turning to Akane-kun "even with all of you're arguing all, all of the insults, and everything else you have done to him you have shown him more kindness then his father ever did" that said Hishizuka left. which left Akane-kun and Kasumi with a stick feeling in their guts untell Akane-kun got up and left and immediately headed for the dimensional island only to find Ranma-chan Yuka and Sayuki leaving seeing this Akane-kun didn't know what to make of it until Nodoka spoke "girl training" "ahh" Akane-kun replied in understanding as she took the kettle of hot water Nodoka offered her after the now female Akane just walks off to the dimensional island for some practice and meditation *************** Meanwhile in the training hall Soun and Genma just sigh as they spy the giant lock on the door "you know what old friend I get the distinct feeling that our presence isn't wanted" Soun said sadly as he spied the layout of the training hall which consisted of two futons a magically enchanted refrigerator and Soun and Genma's famous shoji table "I have a feeling your right Tendo" Genma said as he made a move "you think they'll let us out any time soon" "maybe I'll let you out the day before Ranma and Akane get married ... till then you can suffer the punishment of no meddling" Hishizuka said from outside causing both fathers to sigh deeply before they continued their game ************** Later that night as just as dinner was being served Ranma-chan is heard saying "thanks girls!!" Shortly thereafter The pigtailed martial artist enters wearing a open red vest in the same style as one of Ranma's normal red Chinese shirts, white tube top, and ultra short black miniskirt of the type and style Akane usually wore and lastly a pair of full-length skin tight black leggings The reactions the redhead receives are varied. Kasumi just smiles and complements Ranma-chan. Nabiki raises her eyebrow but otherwise says nothing. Nodoka can't help but smile at her neo-daughter, Akane mumbles something about wanting to where something similar, and Hishizuka just raises her eyebrow as she studies the redhead "It's missing something" Hishizuka said both as a statement and a question "well duu she doesn't have a purse" Nabiki said annoyedly as she rolled her eyes as Ranma-chan absently put her hands in her pockets which drew a more than a few raised eyebrows as the mental comment of ' leave it to Ranma to pick out a skirt with pockets' crossed the minds of every girl in the room except Ranma-chan "hmm no I think a purse would ruin the outfit" was Kasumi surprising statement "I mean it just wouldn't look right with that outfit it's just well ... it's feminine but yet ... " Kasumi said before trailing off "tomboyish" Ranma-chan provided to which Kasumi nodded and smiled to as a reply as Ranma-chan leaned against the door frame hands in her pockets "a construction belt" Nodoka said surprising everyone "well something like one anyhow" Nodoka added to which Ranma-chan agreed with a nod on her own "ok let's start with a belt" Ranma-chan said before Hishizuka raised her hand which caused a translucent leather belt to appear in mid air "no this has to be something modern so it should be made out of black nylon" Ranma- chan added to which Hishizuka merely responded by moving her hand slightly which caused the leather belt to change into a nylon one "now a large pouch about 10'x12' inches and four inches deep" "And four smaller ones 5x6 and 2 inches deep " Nabiki added to which Hishizuka replied by waving her hands which caused said pouches to appear "Hmm it's not balanced" Hishizuka mumbled before flicking her wrist which causes another large pouch to appear "Looking good" Kasumi commented "Good the things already as big as two purses" Akane said while sounding somewhat annoyed "ahh so what It still looks cool" Ranma-chan said before scratching the back of her head nervously "so umm how are you going to make it" Smiling Hishizuka just flicked her wrist causing the belt to materialize fully after which Ranma-chan grabs it and puts it on "Nice" Ranma-chan commented as the belt comfortably rested around her waist "yeah it does look good" Akane admitted Leaning against the door frame once again Ranma-chan sighed before sitting down "is their anything wrong Ranma" Nodoka asked warily "no just wishing my clothes changed when I did" Ranma-chan mumbled as she served herself "hmm" Hishizuka said so quietly no noticed *************** Elsewhere in Nerima we find Yuka and Sayuki walking "So what do you think of him" Yuka asked "I think Ranma is actually serious about it" Sayuki replied before signing "Wishing we were part of the action" Yuka asked "No wishing we had some kind of strange skill worthy enough to be part of the action" Sayuki said while sounding exasperated ****************** 'mhh what an interesting idea and an obvious one at that' Hishizuka thought to herself as she sipped a cup of tea by the koi pond later that evening 'but what form should I make in ... hmm something non-obtrusive something no one would think anything about ... a wrist watch' was Hishizuka's line of reasoning before materializing a wrist watch after which she gets up and heads off to give it to Ranma. Upon receiving said watch Ranma smiles and after Hishizuka leaves Ranma off handedly made a mental comment about having an interesting day before hearing shampoo screaming something extremely loud in Chinese "You know what Ranma I'm beginning to see the humor in what happened with shampoo" Akane said with a smile as she entered ]a mouth after[ 'It has been a month since mother reappeared in that time things have changed radically. The first change was obviously Ranma and Akane who have changed so much I hardly recognize them. Then there's Ukyou who'd thought she would get enough so easily. Then there's mousse who has all but stopped chasing after shampoo and of course there's shampoo herself *laughs* who has 'strangely' not been by the dojo. Ryouga hasn't been seen since that day. Kunou, Kodachi and the other crazies have been acting completely up to par' where the thoughts of one Nabiki Tendo as she sat in her room before Akane-kun was heard grumbling something about a water based accident. Hearing this Nabiki could almost see Ranma-chan following him with a silent smirk on her face "AND STOP SMILING LIKE THAT" Akane-kun screamed 'and write about now Ranma-chan is giving Akane HER who me look' Nabiki thought with a chuckle before Akane-kun was heard storming off and slamming the door to his room after which Nabiki got up and walked out a her room to see Ranma-chan half smiling half frowning "You know what Nabs I really wish she would play back" Ranma-chan said Leaning against the door frame of her room Nabiki responded "so do I your fights are getting quite boring with only you dealing out verbal blows" Nodding silently Ranma-chan walked off and into Akane's room Shaking her head Nabiki decided to walk around the dojo. The first person she encountered was her eldest sister Kasumi who was patching a hole in the wall like a professional construction contractor 'I swear the money I could make renting her out to do construction work would be astronomical *smiles* not to mention she loves it just as much as she does cooking' Continuing on Nabiki found Nodoka in the kitchen the only reply Nabiki gave to this was to continue on as it she had seen nothing As she stepped into the tea room Nabiki found her mother sipping some tea and grading some papers "Hello dear how goes the money making business" "The usual" Nabiki replied before sitting down "so when are you going to lift the curse on Akane" "hmm ... after she has had three more days like today I'll lift the curse" Hishizuka said after a moment of thought *************** "So what's been bugging you" Ranma-chan asked from the floor of Akane's room "Nothing it's just well" "so you've finally had a day where you found it almost impossible to find hot water" Ranma-chan said with a smirk "then there was Kunou attacking you this morning after that freak rain storm, Kodachi trying to well trying to do what ever she was trying to do, then there's the fact that the hot water heater blew up at lunch when principal Kunou was rigging it to boil everyone alive, then there was the boys locker room ...*laughs* I swear I only thought that girls got THAT jealous over someone else's body" was Ranma-chan's description of the day leaving Akane-kun glaring however the glare quickly turns into a sigh "So how was today compared to your worst day" Akane-kun asked "As far as school days go it was about half as bad as my worst" Ranma-chan replied solemnly "of course that's only because of one of our worst fights" Ranma-chan added quickly This added statement left Akane-kun to shed a silent tear as he remembered that day which was bad by anyone's standards and that included the Nerima gangs standards in which random unnamed challengers were considered perfectly normal "I'm sorry Ranma I really am till today I really didn't have any idea of what you went through ... after all you've had day's like mine all too frequently" Akane-kun said shamefully "Hay don't worry about it" Ranma-chan said dismissively before getting up and leaving presumably for some hot water **************** As Ranma walked into the kitchen he found his mother cooking dinner "Hello son" Nodoka said as Ranma filled a kettle with hot water from the tap "Hi'a mom" Ranma replied before Akane-kun entered and took the kettle before leaving "So how was your day" Nodoka said pleasantly "Fine Akane's day however ... well that's another story" Ranma said as he left heading in the direction of the training hall which was still sealed. Knocking on the door of the imprisoned fathers Ranma receives a reply "That you Ranma" Soun asked from inside the prison/training hall "Yep pops back from serving his time at Ucchan's" Ranma asked "No... so how was your day" Soun queried from inside the training hall "purtty normal the usual random unnamed challenger (or RUCs) with some bizarre style of martial arts ... I played with her long enough to learn everything then beat her using her own techniques" Ranma replied dryly "Her? ... that's the fifth female RUCs you've had in the past two weeks" Soun said in a way Ranma knew he was raising his eyebrow "Yeah I noticed that to. I guess that girls feel comfortable enough with me to challenge me now" Ranma said as he sat down "Perhaps perhaps or maybe they are after Akane" "No she's had five female RUCs and 2 male RUCs in the past 2 weeks" Ranma replied " 7 RUCs ... hmm the RUCs union must have heard about her being ready to fight" Soun said thoughtfully from inside the training hall before a large thud was heard "your back early today Saotome" Soun commented as Ranma stealthily left not wanting to talk to his father even through a magically locked door *************** Meanwhile at the cat café a certain Amazon goes about his daily business of tending to customers while Shampoo sulks angrily behind the counter mumbling something about injustices in her native tongue Watching this little scene was an ancient and musky elder named Cologne who couldn't help but smile at the predicament untell that is she looked at the letter that was in her hand 'well I hate to go Nerima has been good to us but it is time to move on' Cologne thought sadly before hopping off towards the Tendo dojo where she found Hishizuka sitting by the koi pond "I assumed that letter is a summons from the village" Hishizuka said as she looked at Cologne "yes it is our time here has finally come to an end" Cologne said sadly "I think even Akane will miss shampoo but for the moment it is for the best" Hishizuka said somberly before handing Cologne a letter with a royal looking seal "here this shall inform the elder's of Akane's heritage that will prevent shampoo from losing any honor or face from her time here" "I thank you ...and tell Ranma is often in the village anytime ... I made him my student a long time ago and I still have much to teach him" Cologne said before leaving '....' Was all Hishizuka said as she looked out upon Nerima realizing no one unless one counted the Kunou's stood in between Ranma and Akane 'I give it 2 more mouths 3 tops' end ... on this chapter