BITTER END - PART ONE


Ira brevis furor est.  Anger is a brief madness.

This is so because anger is an intense, hot flame that consumes its 
fuel quickly, leaving only cold ash behind.

But for some, anger is a breeder reactor - the more it burns, the 
more it feeds itself, until the heat builds and critical mass is 
reached...


Ranma 1/2 - The Bitter End

Fanfiction by Zen

Based on characters and situations created by Takahashi Rumiko
Ranma 1/2 and characters copyright Shogakukan, Kitty Animation 
Circle, and Takahashi Rumiko.
This story copyright 1997 - Jaime Bateman



*****  ##  ***  ##  *****

"Akane?  Akane, you have a visitor."

The slender girl with the dark hair looked up at the man.  After an 
instant, her eyes seemed to focus and she smiled, a bright, childlike 
smile.

"A visitor?  How nice!"

The dark-haired young man sat in the chair opposite and smiled, as 
best he could.  To him, the smile was forced; a lie.  Lies did not come 
easily for him.

"Do I know you?"

"No.  Not anymore."  A pause.  "Tell me... how are you feeling?"

"Oh.  Feeling?  I feel fine!"  A flicker of doubt passed through eyes of 
dark chocolate.  "I... I feel like I should know you."

The man's voice caught as he answered her.  "We... were close once.  
A long time ago."

"Oh.  Was it a happy time?"

"Sometimes.  Not always."

"That's too bad.  You seem so nice!"

"That's a cute little stuffed animal you have there.  May I see him?"

A look of uncertainty crossed the girl's face.  "You won't hurt him, 
will you?  You won't tease him?  He doesn't like to be teased."

"No, I won't tease him.  I just want to look at him."

"You promise to give him back?"

"I promise."

Reluctantly, the girl passed the plushie to her visitor.  "Remember, 
you promised!"

The man turned the toy over in his hands, handling it as if it were 
made of glass.  It was a small, black piglet - ridiculously cute - with a 
yellow and black bandanna around his neck.  "Does he have a name?"

"Name?  I don't know... I never thought about it...  Will you give him 
one?"

The man passed the pig carefully back to its owner.  She took it and 
hugged it tightly to her chest, as if relieved to have it back.

"How about... P-chan?"  He choked on the last word.

"P-chan?"  The girl's eyes lit up.  "Yes!  That's perfect.  Thank you so 
very much!"

Slowly, the visitor got up to leave.  "I'm sorry.  I have... I have to go.  
Take good care of P-chan."

"Thank you!  I will!"

She smiled at him again as he left.  That same childlike smile - that 
same vacant smile.

##  ***  ##

"Does she remember anything?"

"Maybe in her dreams - or in her nightmares.  If so, she can not or 
will not remember any of them after she wakes.  We've tried 
everything that we can think of."

"But why?  *Why* can't she remember?"

"Our best guess is that she simply doesn't want to.  There isn't any 
organic damage.  She's just run so far away that we can no longer 
reach her.  We had hoped that she would remember you; that if she 
saw you, it would shock her back enough so we could help her to 
recover."

"Do you think she ever will?  Recover?"

There was an uncomfortable silence.  Finally, "We can always hope."  
The defeat in the doctor's tone said that he didn't believe it.

There were tears in the young man's eyes as he left.

*****  ##  ***  ##  *****
*****  ##  ***  ##  *****

Ranma sat by himself on the roof of the dojo, watching the sun set.  
The air was still, and the world was quiet.  If he tried, he could just 
make out the clatter of dishes as the dinner things were cleared 
away, and the occasional clack of a shogi tile striking the board.  For 
once, things around the dojo were truly peaceful.

As Ranma watched, the sun kissed the horizon, throwing the dividing 
line between earth and sky into sharp relief.  Gold ran through flame 
to the shimmering red of hot coals as the sun sank beyond the edge 
of the world.  The once bright sky grew dark, shifting from blue into 
indigo and violet to deepest black.  As the sun's last rays faded into 
the darkness, the stars began to appear, like diamonds on a velvet 
backdrop.

Ranma's eyes adjusted gradually to the darkness, and more stars 
became visible.  By the time the sun had been gone for an hour, the 
sky was flooded with the tiny lights of distant suns.  Idly, Ranma 
scanned for familiar constellations, wondering just how many of 
those stars also had worlds like this one, where life had taken such a 
tenacious hold.

Ranma sighed and lay back on the roof as his thoughts returned to 
earth, and more tangible musings.  He thought again about Akane, 
and how beautiful she had been in that wedding dress a few weeks 
ago.  Why had he been unable to say it?  Why had he been unable to 
tell her?

He had come so close to losing her - back at Jyusendou, he had been 
sure that she was dead; and he had never told her - told her that she 
wasn't cute - she was beautiful.  He had never told her that she was 
the center of his universe.  He had never told her... told her that he 
loved her.

But Akane had lived.  Ranma's heart had all but burst from joy as he 
had felt her move again in his arms, had heard the soft whisper of 
her voice.  And still, he could not tell her to her face.  Why was it so 
difficult?  What was it that held him back - that kept him from 
sharing the truth with her?

The joy from that moment had been washed away by the destruction 
of Jyusenkyou - and the knowledge that he was forever doomed to 
be no more than half a man.  It hadn't been fair!

There had been a brief, intense flair of hope when Tendou-san had 
revealed his wedding present - a cask of water from the Nannichuan, 
the spring of drowned boy, that he had secured before the floods had 
washed the training grounds back into the depths of legend.  But that 
hope too had been brutally crushed, when Happousai had drunk it 
all, thinking that it was sake.

The wedding attempt had been a disaster for other reasons as well.  
All of his fiancees had felt obligated to stop the wedding, by 
whatever means possible - and rivals for Akane had done the same.  
They had succeeded too, and the dojo had been all but destroyed.

But despite all of that, what had hurt the most was his inability to 
tell the girl he loved just how he felt.  He longed to hold her in his 
arms, to feel her heart beating, the warmth of her breath on his face.  
And he could not tell her.  He had tried so hard, and come so close, 
but in the end, they had always been interrupted, attacked, spied 
upon, or else he had just plain chickened out.

He hadn't been worthy of the cure.  He wasn't even man enough to 
say three simple little words.  But in his heart, he knew them to be 
true.  "Akane," he said softly, "I love you."

He wasn't sure when or how it had happened... perhaps it had been 
that first day.  When he had first arrived, hers had been the only 
friendly face in the house.  How long ago it seemed, though in reality, 
only a scant eighteen months had passed.  And full months they had 
been... full of angst and happiness, heartache and hope.

Ranma knew that Akane's father was going to try again - that his 
own father and mother were growing impatient, and that they all 
meant to see him married to Akane.  Ranma had bitterly resented 
the pressure that they had put on him and Akane to marry, but he 
was determined that, this time, there would be no disasters.  This 
time, the wedding would happen, and he was going to make Akane 
as happy as he possibly could.  The words could come later.

****  ####  ****

Ranma sat in the Ucchan, the plate of okonomiyaki in front of him 
untouched.  That in itself was unusual.  The somber air that hung 
over him was even more so.

Finally, Ukyou couldn't take the silence anymore.  She told Konatsu to 
watch the grill, and trotted over to where Ranma was sitting.  Sadly, 
Konatsu watched her go.  He could guess what was coming - Ukyou 
had given him the self-same speech just a couple of weeks ago.  It 
still hurt.

"Ran-chan?  Ran-chan, are you okay?"

Ranma looked up at her, and she flinched when she saw the sadness 
in his eyes.  "I don't know, Ukyou... but we have to talk."

Ukyou.  He'd called her Ukyou.  Oboy.  This was going to be one of 
*those* sorts of conversations.  She took the seat opposite him and 
spoke to him gently.  "Ran-chan... I'm sorry.  I... I didn't want to 
believe that you actually wanted to marry Akane.  I never wanted to 
hurt her... or you."

Ranma sighed, making a show of studying the tabletop.  "I know.  I 
just... there are so many things that I want to do... to say... and I just 
don't know how.  I don't like the idea of hurting people that I care 
about, but I can't see any way to avoid it."

Yes, this was *definitely* going to be one of *those* conversations.  
"Oh."  Ukyou could feel her heart sinking into the pit of her stomach.  
"Maybe you should just come out and say it..."

Ranma looked up at her, and took a deep breath.  She was not going 
to like this.  She could tell.

"I..."  He swallowed and started again.  "I... can't marry you, Ukyou.  
It's not that I don't like you...  I do...  It's just that I... I love Akane.  
You have to believe that I never wanted to hurt you... but I can't go 
on like this.  It's tearing me apart.  It's not fair; to me, to Akane, or to 
you."

"What do you mean..." began Ukyou.  But she already knew.  Deep in 
her heart of hearts, she had known for a long time.  She still didn't 
want to believe it.

"Ukyou...  Ucchan...  This has to stop.  There has to be an end to all 
this fighting... before someone really does get hurt.  There is just no 
way that anyone can come out of this with everything they want."  
Ranma hung his head.  "I'm sorry, Ucchan...  You've always been here 
when I needed a friend - and I can't give you what you really want.  
I'm sorry, but I just can't.  I hope...  I hope that one day you can 
forgive me... that we can still be friends..."  That probably sounded 
lame even to Ranma's ears, but she knew that he meant it - meant it 
with all of his heart.

Ukyou was quiet for a long time.  Finally, in a small voice she asked, 
"Are you gonna make a speech like this for Shampoo then, too?"

Ranma paused, and looked at the floor.  "No.  No, I'm not."

Ukyou was surprised.  Blinking back her tears, she asked, "Why not?" 
vaguely dreading the answer.

Ranma took Ukyou's hand in his, pausing to choose his words with 
care.  "Shampoo... is a nice girl, and I like her.  But I can't lie to her - 
I don't love her.  At all.  She is not my fiancee... and she is not my 
best friend.  She never had a chance."

Ukyou's head snapped up and she found herself staring into Ranma's 
eyes.  "What..."

"Ukyou... you're my best friend - maybe the only real 'friend' that 
I've got.  If... if I had never met Akane; if I didn't love her..."

If.  Akane.  If not for her...  She squashed that line of thought.  That 
was the sure path to madness.  She nodded at Ranma, more to silence 
him than anything else.  She did not think that she could bear to hear 
him actually *say* that her dreams would have come true, if only he 
had never met Akane...

So.  She was to be his friend.  It was not what she had longed to 
hear... she had wanted so much more.  She had hoped that she and 
Ranma would grow closer, and that eventually, he would see that she 
was the right one for him; that she was the one that really loved him.

Ten years!  Ten years she had invested in him, only now to come in 
second - in a race that could have only one winner.  The injustice of 
it tore at her heart.  She had been the one that loved him - she had 
been the one that wanted him, and had said so.  But she had been too 
late.  By the time she had tracked him down again, Akane had 
already won his heart.  Ukyou found it bitterly ironic that what she 
had most wanted now belonged to Akane - a girl who half of the 
time behaved as if it had no value to her.  It was just not fair!

Now, she was faced with a choice of sorts.  She could run away; she 
could shut him out and hide somewhere where she would never see 
him again, never be forced to think of him.  The trouble was that the 
world was just not big enough for that.  She could no more give up on 
him than she could cut out her own heart.  In fact, she reflected, the 
results would be about the same.

Her only other option was to accept it.  It was the only way that she 
could still be close to Ranma - could still keep what she already had.  
It was not going to be easy, but if that was what it took to stay close 
to him, then there really wasn't any choice for her at all.

Ukyou felt a part of her melting inside.  The heat and pain were 
almost unbearable, but at the center was the solid, cool certainty that 
Ranma meant everything he was saying; that while she could not be 
his wife now, she *was* his best friend, and nothing could take that 
away from her.  If that was all she could be, then she resolved that 
she was at least going to *be* his best friend - no matter what it 
took.

Besides, knowing Akane's temper, she was fairly sure that he would 
*need* a friend.  She would not abandon him.  But it hurt now, it hurt 
terribly, and she could no longer hold back the tears.  Ranma just 
held her as she cried.

After a time, the tears stopped, and Ukyou was able to regain some 
of her composure.  "I'm sorry..." she sniffed.

"No, I'm sorry Ucchan.  I..." he looked at her earnestly.  "I don't want 
to hurt you...  It's just that Akane and me...  It's just like fate, you 
know?  I don't know how to explain it really..."

"Love seldom makes sense, Ran-chan," she sniffled.  "Just take my 
word for it, okay?  You don't have to explain anything."  She wiped at 
her eyes while she tried to find the right words.  "But you have to 
know that I still love you, Ran-chan, and I always will.  If you ever 
need anything... if you ever *want* anything, I'll be here."

Ranma looked embarrassed.  "Ahhh..." he stammered.  "No... No, not 
that I can think of..."

Ukyou smiled sadly at him.  "What is it, Ran-chan?"

"It's nothing, really..."

"Ranma... I'm your friend.  I always will be.  Now tell me."

"Well... You know that old man Tendou is planning to have another 
wedding ceremony..."

Ukyou nodded.  She hadn't known, but she was not surprised.

"He seems to be kinda set on having a western style wedding, and... 
well... it's kinda traditional for the groom to choose his second... I 
mean a 'best man', and... I was kinda hoping..."  He trailed off 
sheepishly.

"Let me get this straight," Ukyou began.  "You want me...  to be the 
'best man'... at your wedding to Akane?"

Ranma cringed at her tone.  "I'm sorry, Ucchan.  I guess that I wasn't 
really thinking."  Ranma sighed.  "It's just that this 'best man' is 
supposed to be the groom's best friend, and, well, that's you.  I 
wasn't trying to be mean..."

"No, Ranma... I'm the one who was being mean, and I'm sorry."  She 
took a deep breath.  "I would... I would be honoured."

Ranma studied her for a moment.  "Are you sure, Ucchan?  I will 
understand if you don't want to..."

Ukyou managed a grin.  "I meant what I said, Ran-chan.  I won't lie.  
It hurts now - hurts like hell - but I will always be here for you.  No 
matter what."

Ranma sighed in relief.  "Thanks, Ucchan.  That really means a lot to 
me."  He paused for a moment.  "I guess that I had better get back to 
the dojo, before I get into too much trouble...  I'll talk to you again 
soon, okay?"

At Ukyou's nod, Ranma headed for the door.  He stopped on the 
threshold and looked back at her.  He sighed to himself - he hadn't 
wanted to hurt her; she was his best friend.  He hoped that she still 
would be.  He looked back toward the counter at Konatsu, who was 
watching him intently.  Their gazes locked for a few moments, and a 
wordless communication took place.  Finally, Konatsu nodded, and 
Ranma was gone.

It was several minutes before Ukyou came back to reality enough to 
realise that Ranma had not touched his okonomiyaki.  Her initial 
irritation at that dissolved as she realised the implications.  Ranma 
had come to see her - not for food, but to talk to her.  He really did 
care.  Even if it was not what she had hoped for, it was progress.  She 
allowed herself a sad little smile as she relieved Konatsu and once 
more turned to lose herself in her work.

*****  ##  ***  ##  *****

Some weeks later it came to pass that Saotome Genma and Tendou 
Soun had arranged another ceremony for Ranma and Akane to be 
married.  They had planned as carefully as they could, enlisting the 
aid of both families to see that, this time, it would go without a hitch.  
Well, with no more than one hitch.

Nodoka too, was eager to see her son wed, thereby truly completing 
his journey into manhood.  With this event, her duties as a mother 
would be largely complete, and she could begin to look forward to 
her future duties as a grandmother, and matriarch of the Saotome 
Clan.

Kasumi had been given responsibility for the decorations and the 
food.  The dojo had never looked more festive.  Brightly coloured 
banners lined the walls, the tatami mats were all freshly cleaned, 
and strings of coloured paper lanterns stretched from rafter to rafter.  
A stereo system played soft music through artfully placed speakers, 
and tables lined the walls.

At one end of the hall an impromptu altar had been placed, and been 
draped with a covering of rich cerulean silk.  Two strips of white silk 
accented the altar; wide stripes that bore the family crests of both 
the Tendous, and the Saotomes.

Invitations and entertainment had been Nabiki's task.  She had asked 
for, and been given, carte blanche; she could handle it any way that 
she wanted, so long as there would be no repeat of the disasters from 
the last wedding attempt.  Ranma was vaguely apprehensive about 
that, but he was kept far too busy to let it worry him all that much.

And so the great day dawned at last - the last morning that Ranma 
would see as a bachelor.  The house was abuzz as final preparations 
were made, the food prepared and set aside, the last of the 
decorations were hung.  Ranma and Akane were each centers of 
whirlwinds of activity.

Once Ranma had gotten dressed though, there was very little for him 
to do besides wait.  Ranma *hated* waiting.  The dojo was off limits 
for the time being, and all of the food was being saved for the 
reception; the family members were all busy with last minute 
preparations, and for some reason, he was not allowed to see Akane.  
Another one of those crazy western traditions, they told him.  But 
Ranma knew the truth - they were afraid that if he had too much 
chance to talk to Akane before the ceremony, he'd just make her 
mad and it'd all fall apart.  No one was taking any chances this time.

The guests started to arrive.  Ranma scanned the faces as they came 
in.  Friends from school were scattered about - Hiroshi and Daisuke 
were sitting and watching the girls, and Ranma thought he 
recognised Akane's friends Yuka and Sayuri.  Hinako-sensei was 
there, mooning over old man Tendou, and the Kunous were standing 
in the corner, looking aloof and aristocratic as always.  Even Ryouga 
had made it in time for the ceremony.  Just about everyone was 
accounted for, except... oh, bugger.  Cologne, Shampoo and Mousse 
were nowhere to be seen.  Ranma started to sweat.

Ukyou had arrived earlier and was standing nearby as they waited 
for the ceremony to begin.  She too, was watching the guests enter, 
looking for familiar faces.  Ranma leaned over and asked if she had 
seen any trace of Team China.  Shaking her head in the negative, she 
told him not to worry about it.  After all, Nabiki had promised that 
there would be no interruptions, and Nabiki *always* delivered.

Relaxing somewhat, Ranma tugged gently at his collar.  He was mildly 
uncomfortable, being used to clothes that gave him more freedom of 
movement.  His current outfit was a simple black tuxedo, though, for 
the jacket, Kasumi had used the wooden tie style closures that were 
common to his favourite shirts.  The jacket had short tails, and was 
worn over a scarlet silk shirt.  Black pants and black soft-soled shoes 
completed the outfit.

Ranma looked at his friend.  Ukyou was dressed in a straight cut suit 
of an androgynous design, though it did little to hide her figure.  She 
had stopped playing that game.  Her hair was drawn into a ponytail 
and tied with a jet black ribbon, leaving her bangs to hang over her 
slate gray eyes.  Her expression was serious - almost stern as she 
stared at nothing.  Ranma could feel the tension, could feel the effort 
that it was taking her to maintain that outward calm.

Ranma sighed to himself.  He knew how hard this was for her.  He 
still felt guilty for having asked it of her, but she really was the only 
one he could think of for the part.  He longed to be able to reach out 
and comfort her, but he dared not, for fear of disrupting the control 
that she had managed to hold.  Ranma appreciated her sacrifice and 
her loyalty more than he would ever be able to tell her.  He vowed 
that he would never forget it, and that he would never let her down.

Finally, it was time.  Ranma and Ukyou took their places before the 
little altar, and waited.  A silence that was almost tangible descended 
on the dojo as Nabiki entered the room.  Her gown was a rich shade 
of forest green that brought out the warm highlights in her auburn 
hair.  The dress was elegant and well suited to its wearer; designed 
to present the most dramatic effect with the least amount of effort.

Ranma was reminded of one of the reasons that Nabiki made him so 
nervous.  She was so much like a cat.  Predatory, but subtle - inclined 
to play with her victims before making the kill.  Elegant, and utterly 
self assured - with that feline air of superiority that so effectively 
put her in control of any situation.

After Nabiki had swept into the room, it was Akane's turn.  Ranma 
stared, mesmerized.  He had not seen her since breakfast, when she 
had been whisked away by Kasumi and his mother to be made 
ready.  He decided that it had been worth the wait.  She was the 
most beautiful thing that he had ever beheld.

Akane's dress was cut along similar lines to Nabiki's, but was a pure 
white so bright that it almost hurt Ranma to look at it.  She glowed 
like an angel, and the lace accents on the bodice and sleeves of the 
dress just enhanced the illusion.  As the ceremony got underway, 
Ranma found himself staring at Akane, his eyes drawn to her like a 
moth to the candle flame.

Once Akane and Nabiki were in position, the priest began.  Ranma's 
mind was in a fog for the entire first half of the ceremony.  He spoke 
his lines by rote, mindlessly following the priest's lead, conscious 
thought lost in the shadow of Akane's beauty.  Despite that, he 
retained enough of his martial arts training to snap back into full 
awareness when the priest got to that critical point in the rite where 
he asked...

"If there be any here present who know of good and just cause that 
these two should not be joined in the bond of Holy Matrimony, let 
them speak now, or forever hold their peace."

Ranma tensed.  If disaster was going to strike, it had just been given 
its invitation.  Ranma scanned the room for trouble, but they were all 
sitting quietly.  Not so much as a breeze broke the silence that hung 
over the makeshift chapel, and Ranma sighed in relief as the priest 
went on to say,  "Do you, Saotome Ranma, take this woman to be your 
wife - to the exclusion of all others - to have and to hold, for better 
or worse, in sickness and in health, so long as you both shall live?"

Ranma's breath caught in his throat.  God, but she was beautiful.  Her 
short, dark hair framed an elfin face dominated by brown eyes that 
he found hypnotic in their glowing intensity.  "I... I do," he managed 
to say at last.

"And do you, Tendou Akane, take this man to be your husband - to 
the exclusion of all others - to have and to hold, for better or worse, 
in sickness and in health, so long as you both shall live?"

"I do," she said, her voice holding only the slightest of tremors.

Turning back to Ranma, the priest asked, "Do you have the ring?"

Ranma turned toward his 'best man'.  Solemnly, Ucchan handed him 
the simple gold band that Soun had provided the night before - the 
ring that had belonged to Akane's mother.  Ranma took the ring and 
passed it carefully to the priest.

After blessing the ring, the priest gave it back to Ranma, who, 
slipping it onto Akane's finger, droned on after the priest - "With this 
ring..."

The priest repeated the sequence with Akane, securing the ring, 
blessing it, and passing back for her to slip onto Ranma's finger, and 
once more the words drifted through the hall - "...I thee wed."

"I now pronounce you..."

There was a pause, a hesitation, as if the universe were holding its 
breath.  For a moment, time itself stood still and a tension filled the 
air as if the collective mass of people present expected some form of 
violent interruption or chaotic event.  But nothing happened, and the 
clocks started once more as the priest concluded,

"...husband and wife.  You may kiss the bride."

Hesitantly, Ranma lifted the veil covering his wife's face, and leaned 
forward to brush her lips with his.  The kiss deepened as he felt her 
arms go around him, and then it was just the two of them; the rest of 
the world fading into nothingness.  Finally, they broke the kiss, and 
each stood, staring into the other's eyes, lost in their depths.

It was done.  After all the fights, after all the heartache, after all of 
the near misses and false starts, Ranma and Akane Saotome were 
finally married.

##  ***  ##

The wedding was followed by another western tradition - the 
reception line.  Ranma and Akane were obligated to stand there 
while their guests filed past, each offering their own best wishes for 
the future of the young couple.  Family, friends, acquaintances, all 
dissolved into a blur over the course of the event.

A few stood out - that much was unavoidable.  Kunou Tatewaki was 
a good example.  He wept loudly for Akane's misfortune, while also 
bemoaning the absence of his pig tailed goddess, much to Ranma's 
annoyance.  Ryouga seemed oddly subdued to Akane - he would not 
meet her gaze.  She was glad to note that, for once, Ranma did not 
seem inclined to tease him.

Kodachi had been stiffly formal - her expression oscillating between 
wistful longing when she looked at Ranma and tightly controlled 
hostility when she looked at Akane.  Yuka and Sayuri were both 
giggling like schoolgirls, sappy grins on their faces.  Akane asked 
what it was that amused them so, and, blushing, Sayuri whispered 
something in her ear.  Akane turned bright red.

Akane was still blushing deeply as the evening wore on, stealing 
occasional furtive glances at her husband.  Husband.  That was going 
to take some getting used to.  But he was hers now - none of his 
other fiancees could have him.  Not Shampoo, not Ukyou, not Kodachi 
- no one else.  Ranma had married *her*.  She had won.

Yes, won a rude, arrogant, sex-changing freak, a part of her mind 
chimed in nastily.  She squashed that thought.  Ranma was very 
handsome.  Indeed, even as a girl, he was devastatingly attractive.  
How many brides, Akane wondered ruefully, were jealous of their 
husband's figure?  Again, she brushed the thought aside.

She had long dreamed of this day.  Many of those dreams had been 
nightmares, but most of them had been a lot like this.  Though she 
would never have admitted it aloud, she had waited a long time for 
this day - for this moment.  Now that it had finally come, it seemed 
unreal - like it was all still just a dream.

Ranma was like no boy that she had ever met before, the obvious 
considerations notwithstanding.  He was often arrogant, abrasive and 
rude - at times it seemed like he was *trying* to make her angry.  
But in those rare moments when he let his guard down, she could see 
how much he cared.

No matter how much they had fought, no matter how many insults 
they had exchanged, he had *always* been there for her.  He had 
never let her down when it mattered.  He had never been able to say 
it in words, to Akane's intense frustration, but surely that was proof 
that he cared.  Ranma had fought for her every time - and he had 
always won.

There were occasions when he looked at her, times that he did not 
know she could see him, when he would let his feelings show.  In 
those unguarded moments, she could see in his eyes how much he 
loved her.

It had taken her a long time to come to these conclusions, and longer 
to accept them as reality.  There were times when she still doubted - 
times when she was sure it was all a dream, that what she *wanted* 
masked what *was*.  But here, now, gazing at her husband and 
seeing him smile, Akane was truly content.

##  ***  ##

The reception itself was an exercise in chaos theory.  There was food 
and drink, music and lots of noise.  For the most part, though, Ranma 
and Akane didn't even notice.  Though they drank each of the toasts, 
they really weren't paying attention.  They had eyes only for each 
other.

Ranma was not entirely sure what he was feeling... He was excited, 
and scared, (though he would never have admitted it) and nervous 
all at the same time.  When he looked at Akane, and saw how truly 
beautiful she was, it was almost more than he could manage to keep 
the tremors out of his voice, or his movements.  No technique he had 
learned, no battle he had fought had given him quite this same thrill.

Looking toward one end of the room, Ranma saw that his father and 
Akane's were well on their way through another bottle of sake.  The 
two men were still incoherent with joy now that the wedding they 
had so hoped for had taken place.  If only the damned fools knew, 
Ranma thought to himself.  If only they knew that it could have 
happened much sooner had they just minded their own damned 
business.  He would never have fought their wishes, nor his own 
heart with such ferocity, had they not been pushing so hard.  Ranma 
and Akane both hated to be pushed.

Still, maybe there was some good to be taken from all of it.  People 
never really appreciated things that came too easily.  If you had to 
fight for a thing, you generally took better care of it once you had it.  
Of one thing Ranma was certain.  After having struggled for so long 
to admit to himself his feelings for Akane, after having fought for her 
so many times, and after having come so close to losing her, he would 
never take her for granted.

Ranma's musings were interrupted somewhat as he was expected to 
pay at least minimal attention to some of the speeches that were 
being made.  Soun's comments were all but unintelligible through his 
joyful sobbing, and Genma's... well, Genma seldom made too much 
sense at the best of times.

Ukyou said a few words, and even managed to smile for Akane's 
benefit, though it seemed more than a little forced.  After several 
more rounds of comments from various friends and well-wishers, 
Nodoka motioned for attention, and announced that she had a special 
presentation that she wanted to make.

A shocked silence descended on the room as Nodoka brought out a 
carefully wrapped bundle - a bundle that Ranma knew well.  He and 
his father had lived in terror of that package ever since their trip to 
Jyusenkyou.  For an instant an instinctive chill went through Ranma; 
but that was over now... in the past.  His mother was still smiling 
happily, and so Ranma allowed himself to relax.

Carefully, Nodoka set the bundle down in front of her, and began 
unwrapping it.  A collective gasp went up as she withdrew the 
contents.  The katana was a work of art, from the long lacquered 
sheath that protected the razor sharp steel blade, to the tsuba that 
bore the Saotome crest, and the carefully wrapped handle; it was an 
elegant weapon from a more civilised age.

"This blade has been in the Saotome clan for generations.  Over that 
time, it has come to represent the honour of the line.  And now, with 
the marriage of our son Ranma to Tendou Akane, the time has come 
to pass that symbol on to the next generation, for they are the future 
of both our families."

Oblivious to the nervous muttering in the background, Nodoka 
gravely passed the sword to Akane.  "Saotome Akane," she said, her 
tone serious, "I entrust the fate of the Saotome clan to you.  May you 
find the wisdom to lead it well, and the patience and the peace to 
deal with its more... difficult members," she concluded with a dark 
look towards Genma.

Akane accepted the gift, her eyes wide, her face a mask of shocked 
disbelief.  After taking a moment to recover, she bowed deeply to 
her mother in law.  With equal formality, Akane replied, "Thank you, 
Mother-in-law.  I will make every effort not to betray your faith."

Nodoka smiled.  "I know you will, Akane.  My son is in good hands."

Akane blushed, and looked back down at the blade in her hands.  "I 
guess I'd better start learning how to use this properly, then."

Nodoka laughed.  "In time, Akane-chan... in time."

Ranma was saved the trouble of having to figure out how he was 
supposed to react to all of this by Nabiki's timely intervention.  The 
middle Tendou had a smile on her face as she drew each of them to 
their feet.  "C'mon, you two.  Party's over."

With a mental shrug, Ranma surrendered and followed his wife and 
her sister from the dojo.  He felt a little light headed in the cool night 
air, and was glad when Nabiki ushered them into the back of a 
waiting limousine, where he could sit down once more.  Ranma felt 
himself beginning to doze as the events of the day, and the drink 
caught up with him.  Akane had settled sleepily against him, so he 
put his arm around her.  She sighed and snuggled closer.  Ranma 
smiled to himself as the car drove on through the night.

****  ####  ****

Akane drifted back into consciousness slowly.  She felt warm and 
snug - the pleasant lassitude that follows a particularly deep sleep.  
She must really have been tired.  Gradually, more details filtered 
their way into her waking mind.  The warmth of the bed, the weight 
of the comforter, the arm draped over her waist, the morning light 
that reddened the insides of still closed eyelids, the...  waitaminnit.  
The arm draped over her waist?  Akane froze - panic seized her as 
she became acutely aware of the fact that she was not alone in bed.  
There was another person snuggled up against her - a decidedly 
masculine someone, from the feel of... things.

With a scream, Akane lashed out, sending her bed mate flying 
halfway across the room to crash into the table.  Akane drew the 
comforter around her as she turned to face the molester.

Ranma sat up groggily amidst the remains of the table, and the 
pitcher of water that had been sitting on the tray.  Shaking her head 
to clear it, Ranma looked up toward the bed.  Her usual cry of "What 
didja do *that* for?" died in her throat as she caught sight of Akane, 
wrapped only in the bedclothes.

"Yaaaaaaaah!" Ranma screamed and scuttled back to flatten herself 
against the wall.  She stared at Akane, a look of pure terror on her 
face.  As it dawned on her that she was also naked, Ranma could feel 
her face reddening.

Slowly, memories of the previous night began to assert themselves.  
There had been a party, with rather a lot of sake, and frequent 
toasts.  There had been food, and lots of presents - and when it had 
started to wind down, Nabiki had escorted the pair of them here.  But 
where was here?  Images, really no more than impressions, flashed 
across her mind... a long ride full of twists and turns, arriving at last 
to the roar of the surf and the sharp tang of salt in the cool night 
breeze.  The stars had been like diamonds against the ebony 
backdrop of the moonless sky.

Ranma seemed to remember something about having carried Akane 
through the doorway, but that didn't make any sense.  There had 
been a bottle on the table, with two glasses.  They had filled the 
glasses several times, talking nervously.  Finally, Ranma had worked 
up his nerve and leaned forward, and he had kissed Akane.  He had 
kissed her and she hadn't pulled away; she hadn't clobbered him.  
Instead, she had kissed him back.

That had gone on for a while, and then they had... they had...  
Ranma's eyes grew as wide as saucers, and her blush deepened.  
They had...  "Oh, my."

Akane's memory had returned at about the same time, and she was 
turning very interesting shades of purple.  With an inarticulate cry of 
rage, Akane leapt towards Ranma, grabbing one of the chairs that 
had been knocked over by Ranma's abrupt departure from the bed.  
Akane raised the chair over her head, ready to bring it down on 
Ranma, who threw up her arms to block, closed her eyes, and waited 
for the impact.

The blow never landed.  After several seconds, Ranma peeked up at 
Akane to see her standing, chair upraised, with a shocked expression 
on her face.  After deciding that Akane was not going to hit her just 
yet, Ranma looked on the floor where Akane was staring.  There, 
glinting in the morning light, was a plain, gold ring.  Ranma looked 
down at her hand and it hit her - her finger was now at least three 
sizes too small for the ring to fit.  It must have slipped off during her 
retreat.

Ranma dove for the ring and retreated again, clutching the simple 
gold band tightly.  She looked up at Akane, readying herself to ward 
off the dark-haired girl's anger as best she could.

But Akane had dropped the chair, and was staring stupidly at the 
gold ring that adorned her own finger.  "I... We..." she managed 
helplessly.

Ranma nodded, eyes wide.

Akane sank to her knees, wrapping her arms around herself.  "Oh, 
Ranma, I'm sorry," she said at last.  After an eternity had passed, she 
continued in a very soft voice, "It's all different now, isn't it?  I mean 
we're married now - aren't we?"

Ranma nodded again.

Akane looked up at the red-head, tears in her eyes.  "I thought I had 
dreamed all of that."

Ranma saw Akane's tears and felt her heart sink.  It had been a 
mistake.  Akane had not wanted to get married after all.  Ranma 
hung her head.  "I... I'm the one who's sorry, Akane."  Her voice was 
little more than a whisper.  "Why didn't you say something?"

"Say?" Akane looked confused.  "What should I have said?"

"You could have said that you didn't want to get married - I'm sure 
that your father would never have really forced you into it..."  Ranma 
took a deep breath.  "If you had, you wouldn't be... wouldn't be stuck 
with me now."

Akane rocked back as if Ranma had slapped her.  "Ranma, is that 
really what you think?  That I don't want you?"

Ranma just looked miserable.  "It's my fault.  You've said it often 
enough to me.  I just didn't listen.  I didn't think that you really 
meant it.  I thought you were just saying those things because you 
were angry with me."  She looked down at herself in disgust and her 
tone turned bitter.  "Why should you want me?  I'm no more than 
half a man."

"Baka."  There was a warmth to Akane's voice.  "If I had wanted to 
stop the wedding, believe me, I would have.  I...  I've waited a long 
time for this," she finished softly.

That caught Ranma by surprise.  "You have?  But...  I thought...  I 
mean with this curse..."

"Oh, Ranma, what's so terrible about turning into a girl?  Do you think 
that it changes who you are inside?"

"But you said... I mean... pervert, and..." Ranma trailed off.

A troubled look crossed Akane's face for a moment as her own words 
came back to her, from all of those fights since she and Ranma had 
met.  "I know, and I'm sorry, Ranma.  I didn't like being forced into 
marriage any more than you did, and I'm afraid that I took it out on 
you a lot of the time.  I hope that you'll understand, and forgive me."

"Akane... I..."

"But what about you?  You could have married your 'cute' fiancee, 
you know."

It was Ranma's turn to look guilty.  "But I did." she said softly.  
"You're the only one that I ever wanted to marry.  I just wish... that I 
could have been..."

"Cured?  I know.  But being a girl's not so bad.  Trust me, I've been 
one all my life.  And hot water isn't all that hard to come by, after all.  
Besides," Akane's tone lightened to a teasing note.  "It could have 
been a *lot* worse.  Dad *could* have engaged me to Kunou."

Akane leaned forward to hug the speechless red-head, and their lips 
met in a kiss that seemed to go on forever.  After a moment, Ranma 
realised that they were both still naked, that Akane was awfully 
close, and she smelled good.  She could feel her own body responding 
to Akane's proximity, and she started turning red all over again.

Akane noticed too, but she just smiled.  "C'mon.  Let's get you into a 
hot bath."

****  ####  ****

The newlyweds spent the rest of the week at the ryoukan, all of the 
irritations and distractions of the past two years in the dojo all but 
forgotten.  Most of the days they spent walking along the paths in 
the forest that covered the little peninsula; or playing on the beach, 
running, swimming, laughing, each reveling in the other's company.  
Ranma didn't even mind being a girl at the time - all that mattered 
was being with Akane.

A lot of time was spent just talking.  For the first time since they had 
met, Ranma managed to keep from putting his foot in his mouth, and 
Akane refrained from punishing Ranma for his indiscretions. Their 
conversations would range over topics from the serious to the silly, 
though there were still subjects that neither would approach directly.  
They would dance around them, hints would be dropped, and even 
picked up on from time to time.  But both were confident that those 
barriers would come down, eventually.  If they could just keep the 
channels open, and the dialogue flowing...

In the evenings, there were long, luxurious soaks in the hot springs.  
Ranma silently sent his thanks to whatever forces, human or Kami, 
were responsible for sending them to a hot springs resort.  That had 
been a stroke of genius.

They would sit on the veranda late into the night, watching the skies, 
and the play of the starlight on the water... listening to the pounding 
of the waves on the beach, breathing in the scent of the ocean, and 
delighting in the contrast between the coolness of the night breezes 
and the warmth of their bodies.  Then the nights would grow warmer 
still.

When the week came to an end, both Ranma and Akane were sorry 
to see it be over.  After that first confused awakening, they had not 
fought once.  There had been one near argument over Ranma's table 
manners, or more precisely, his *lack* of table manners, but even 
that had been insufficient to spoil the moment.

Without all of the demands and distractions that plagued them in the 
dojo, they had, for the first time, truly found some measure of peace 
in each other's company.  They still had a ways to go, but they had 
made the first steps in the right direction.  And now, the time had 
come for them to rejoin the chaos and the madness from which they 
had finally, however briefly, escaped.

As they were waiting for the car that had been sent to pick them up, 
the manager of the inn came hurrying out to speak to them.  He 
handed Ranma an envelope, and bowed deeply.  Looking inside the 
envelope, Ranma was shocked to find a very thick stack of yen - it 
was a *lot* of money.  Ranma looked back at the manager, confusion 
evident in his expression.  "What... is this for?" he managed to ask.

The manager smiled.  "Honoured customer, that is the refund of your 
unused damages deposit."

Ranma could only gape at him.  "Damage deposit?"

"Yes.  The young lady who made your reservations referred to it as 
'insurance' - she said we were to refund any unused portion to you."

Ranma looked in the envelope again.  "But this much?"

The manager shrugged.  "I do not understand it myself - but she was 
insistent."  He bowed again.  "I hope that you enjoyed your stay, and 
that you will visit us again in future."

Ranma returned the bow and watched in astonishment as the man 
turned and returned to the inn.  Looking to Akane, he noted that she 
was similarly confused.  He passed the envelope to her, and watched, 
amused, as she realised how much was in it.

Enlightenment came like a bolt of lightning to the pair of them.  In 
near perfect unison, they cried out, "Nabiki!"  They were still 
laughing to themselves when the car came to take them home.

*****  ##  ***  ##  *****

Upon their return to the dojo, Ranma moved into Akane's old room 
with her.  It was a little tight, with the larger bed, but it served well 
enough.  Eventually, as things were re-arranged, they would move 
into larger quarters, but, for the time being, neither of them seemed 
to mind the extra coziness.

Communication between them was still awkward.  Neither Ranma 
nor Akane was really comfortable with letting their defences down, 
but they were getting closer.  Conversations were peppered with 
awkward silences and stuttering, but the nervousness was slowly 
starting to pass.  In time, Akane was sure that they would both be 
comfortable enough to share their feelings more openly.

He still hadn't said the words, but Akane was fairly certain that he 
thought them.  There was a light in his eyes when he looked at her 
that made her feel giddy and light headed - a curious warmth that 
started in the pit of her stomach and spread throughout her body.  
And despite his past vehement denials, the passion with which he 
held her implied that he did not find her unattractive.

Marriage, she decided, was a good thing after all.  Oh, they still 
squabbled from time to time.  "Uncute!" and "Pervert!" were still 
common refrains, but there was no heat in them, and they had 
discovered one of the real joys of marriage - the art of 'making up 
after a fight'.  It was not the sort of life she had expected - Akane 
chalked that up to having read too many shojo manga - but even as 
life dropped back into something of a routine, it promised never to 
be dull.

*****  ##  ***  ##  *****

On the outside too, life was as... interesting as ever.  While Kunou had 
been forced to accept the fact that Akane was now beyond his reach, 
he still went into endless tirades about his beloved 'pig tailed girl'.  
His sister, on the other hand, had gone into mourning over the fate of 
her Ranma-sama, and had taken to dressing in black.  No one noticed.

Shampoo had not taken the loss well.  She had gone into a desperate 
rage when she and her grandmother had returned from Hokkaido 
and Nabiki's decoys, and it had taken all of Ranma's speed and skill 
to prevent her from destroying the Tendou home, and trying to kill 
the middle Tendou daughter.  Afterwards, Ranma had explained to a 
tearful Shampoo that while he would always think of her as a friend, 
there was just no way that he could love her the way she wanted 
him to.

Shampoo had run off crying, leaving a distraught Ranma behind.  He 
hoped that he had gotten through to her.  Her great grandmother, of 
course, was another story altogether.  Cologne had never really cared 
how Ranma *or* Shampoo had felt - such matters were of secondary 
importance when measured against what she saw as the good of the 
tribe.  That Shampoo had loved Ranma was terribly convenient, but 
nothing more.

Cologne was the one that really worried Ranma.  While Shampoo was 
an excellent fighter, she was not the most subtle of creatures.  She 
preferred the direct approach whenever possible.  But she was very 
stubborn, and completely loyal to Cologne.  While Ranma didn't think 
that she would do anything now, there was really no telling what the 
Amazon Matriarch might try.

Ucchan, of course, had accepted his decision.  He knew that she had 
not been happy about it, but there had been little that he could do 
about that.  He was just grateful that she had understood - Ranma 
*needed* a friend that he knew he could trust.  Ucchan had become 
that friend, now more than ever.

The rest of their classmates at Furinkan High seemed to accept it all 
well enough, though opinions were mixed.  Some claimed that it had 
been inevitable from the beginning, and that they had known it all 
along.  Others were sure that it was doomed from the start and were 
waiting for the explosion that they were sure was coming.  A lively 
betting pool had sprung up, and once again, Ranma and Akane's 
relationship was the indirect cause of rather a lot of money changing 
hands.

There were still a few die hard nutcases that caused minor problems 
from time to time, but nothing serious came of it.  Most students just 
planned to enjoy the calm for as long as it might last, and things at 
school started to settle back into their normal routines - or at least 
what passed for normal.

Ranma and Akane set to the business of finishing up their senior 
year, and preparing for exams and graduation.  College was still a 
nebulous concept, but Akane in particular wanted to be certain that 
she kept her options open.  She decided to enroll in a cram school in 
an effort to reclaim some of the ground that the last year and a half 
of chaos had stolen from her.

Exam stress was making Akane a bit more snappish - her temper a 
bit more easily frayed, but that was only to be expected.  When she 
realised what she was doing, she would usually apologise, and they 
would share at least part of an evening together while Akane wound 
down and Ranma gave her his support and encouragement.  Ranma 
was confident that she would calm down once exams were over, and 
she had passed them all.

Ranma was not quite as worried about exams, and was left pretty 
much to his own devices.  With Akane so wrapped up in her studies, 
Ranma had a lot more free time on his hands, so he started looking 
for things to do.

For a while, he spent a good deal of time with Ucchan - talking and 
eating fresh okonomiyaki.  He had even offered to come in and help 
her in the store a couple of afternoons a week.  Ukyou had thanked 
him, but had said that with Konatsu around, she had things pretty 
well under control.

Ranma tried too, not to take up too much of her time - running a 
business and going to school left Ucchan little time for frivolity, so 
Ranma made an effort to be considerate.  He admired her ambition 
and ability, and was unwilling to impose too much, if he could help it.

Ranma didn't really have any other friends to spend time with and 
going to the Neko-Hanten was no longer an option.  Ranma decided 
that he ought to come up with something productive to do.  He went 
to have a talk with his father-in-law.

Two weeks later, Ranma started to teach a children's class in the 
dojo.  Ranma was surprised to find that he actually enjoyed teaching, 
and that he was pretty good at it.  There were occasional snags - at 
times his class would disrupt Akane's studies and she would take 
him to task for it.  Ranma tried to be understanding, but he *did* 
wish that she would wait until the class was over before she started 
yelling at him.  As things settled into a routine, Ranma was feeling 
pretty good about life for a change.

*****  ##  ***  ##  *****

It was awfully quiet around the dojo.  The hairs on the back of 
Ranma's neck were beginning to rise.  He was starting to get that 
feeling again - the feeling that something terrible was about to 
happen.  Ranma set out to investigate.

Soun and Genma were gone - off for the evening, the note had said.  
Nodoka had been at the Saotome home for the past week, and was 
not due back for a day or so.  Nabiki was gone - Ranma had no idea 
where.  Kasumi had left a note in the hall saying that she was going 
to be visiting a friend, and would be back in the morning.

Ranma started to sweat.  Every time the house emptied, it meant 
only one thing.  Akane was Fixing Dinner.  Ranma didn't know 
whether it was cause or effect, and didn't much care.  Whether the 
others had fled because Akane was cooking, or Akane was cooking 
because the others were gone, the results were just as toxic.  Ranma's 
only hope was the latter - if Ranma could beat Akane to the kitchen, 
then there was still hope for an edible meal.

That hope died a horrible death as Ranma neared the kitchen.  There 
were... sounds... coming out of there.  There were clangs and clatters 
as various pots were shifted about, and the occasional burbling sound 
as something lifted a lid and tried to escape.  That would be followed 
by pounding noises as Akane drove whatever it was back into its pot.  
A series of staccato pops like tiny explosions and an odour convinced 
Ranma that it might be a good night to eat out.  If he could only get 
away in time.

Ranma had almost made it to the back garden wall when a sharp 
voice brought him up short.  "And just *where* do you think *you* 
are going?" the voice inquired.

Ranma turned and flattened himself against the garden wall.  "Ah... 
Akane!" he managed.  "Umm... I was going to..."

"Well, forget it!  Dinner is almost ready!"  Akane stared hard at her 
husband, as if daring him to say anything.

Ranma sighed and surrendered to the inevitable.  He hoped that 
Tofu-sensei's stomach pump still worked.  Like a man marching to 
the gallows, Ranma followed his wife back into the house.

It wasn't that Ranma didn't appreciate Akane's attempts to cook - he 
knew how rare her free time was, and how hard she tried.  That was, 
he reflected, a large part of the problem.  Akane tried too hard.  She 
expected to be able to produce gourmet meals from the start - it 
never occurred to her that cooking was like the Art - that skill came 
only with patience, and with practice.

Akane in the kitchen was Akane in a hurry.  She had no time to 
waste on unimportant things, like labels or measurements.  If 
ingredients had the same general colour and/or consistency, they 
were considered interchangeable.  But as flexible as the "Anything 
Goes" style was, it had no place in the kitchen.

Ranma sat down at the table, apprehension gnawing at the lining of 
his stomach.  Idly he wondered if Akane would give him a blindfold 
and a cigarette; wisely, he decided not to ask.  He desperately wished 
that Akane had made curry - that at least would have been edible.

With a flourish, Akane set a tray in front of him.  Oh, no, thought 
Ranma, she's been experimenting again...  Steeling himself, he looked 
down at the tray.  There was a bowl that held rice - or what looked 
like rice, covered with some kind of dark sludge.  Another bowl held 
what Ranma assumed to be soup, if one could ignore the occasional 
ripple that flashed over its oily surface.  A plate contained some sort 
of cracker topped with what might have been wasabe, if it weren't 
for the blue spots.  The (custard?) whatever it was in the dessert 
bowl appeared to be moving...

Ranma stared at the meal for a long time - if he could just stall long 
enough, it might crawl away, and he wouldn't have to eat it.  Akane, 
however, was not going to give him the time.  "Well?" she asked, her 
foot tapping.

Ranma gulped, and reached slowly for his chopsticks.  Tentatively, he 
prodded the rice bowl.  When nothing prodded back, he took a deep 
breath, snared a bite of the rice and sauce, and put it in his mouth.  
Hesitantly, he began to chew.  Chopsticks clattered back onto the 
table as Ranma's hands covered his mouth.  It was all he could do to 
keep from spitting the morsel across the table.  He managed to force 
the bite down despite the violent protestations of his stomach.  
Gagging, he grabbed for the teacup, and chugged.

It wasn't tea.  Indeed, it was almost, but not quite entirely unlike tea.  
Again, Ranma fought for control as his gorge rose - he had to get to 
the bathroom.  He lurched to his feet and knew, with stomach sinking 
certainty, that he was not going to make it.  Instead, he stumbled out 
onto the veranda and leaned out over the edge of the porch.  He just 
made it before his abused stomach emptied itself.

Ranma knelt gasping after the purge, his breathing ragged.  He was 
dimly aware of the fact that Akane had followed him out onto the 
porch.  After several tries, Ranma finally found his voice again - or at 
least a weak copy of it.  "What," he gasped, "what *was* that?"

Akane's voice was tight. "It was *rice*, baka - with brown sauce!"

"Brown sauce?"

"It's one of Kasumi's recipes!" Akane shot back defensively.  "I did 
exactly what it said!"

Ranma looked up at his wife, the doubts he had showing plainly in 
his expression.  "Exactly?" he asked.

"Exactly!"  She paused.  "Well, except for the fact that we were out of 
brown sugar, so I used coffee grounds instead, and I couldn't find the 
soy sauce, so I used mirin, but that didn't smell right so I added the 
vanilla..."

Ranma's eyes had gone wide, and he leaned out over the edge again, 
as his stomach tried to void an already empty tank.  After a few dry 
heaves, Ranma spit out what he could of the bile in the back of his 
throat and turned once more to his wife.  She was not smiling.

Akane bristled.  "It's not that bad, and you know it!"

"Of course!  I love food that comes up faster than it went down!  Why 
don't *you* give it a try?"

"You don't have to be so melodramatic about it, you know.  If you 
didn't like it, you could just say so."

"You think that I enjoyed that?  Believe me, if I had been given any 
choice in the matter, I'd never have tried it in the first place!"

"Is that so?  I go to all this trouble, just to cook you a special dinner, 
and *this* is the response that I get?"  This time, there was no trace 
of humour in her voice.  "Stupid, insensitive macho jerk!"

Ranma's eyes widened, and even as his voice bypassed his brain to 
issue the automatic retort, his mind was screaming - No!  Not this!  
Not again!  Please, can't this stop?  But it was too late - the damage 
was done as he heard himself drop back into well known territory 
with, "Uncute tomboy!  You *know* you can't cook!"

##  ***  ##

Outside the dojo, Nabiki was just returning from an expensive dinner 
provided by Kunou.  He was still a market for her backlog of photos 
of his pigtailed goddess.  She almost felt sorry for the goon.

As Nabiki was walking through the gate, she became aware of loud 
voices coming from the veranda outside the dining room.  All good 
things come to an end, she thought with a sigh.  The relative peace 
that had ruled the Tendou household since the marriage of its two 
most vocal and combative members was torn away with a shout - a 
thud - and a splash.  They always seemed to end with a splash.

It was such a pity too.  If they had only made it another two weeks, 
she would have stood to collect a fortune.  Two months - was that so 
much to have asked?  Still, deep down, she was surprised that the 
calm had lasted as long as it had.  At least she wasn't going to *lose* 
money.

****  ####  ****

"Dammit, Ranma, hold still!"  Akane punctuated her 'request' with a 
series of blows that passed through the spaces Ranma *had* occupied 
scant fractions of a second before.

Ranma dodged another flurry with a languid ease that only served to 
irritate Akane further.  Still, there was something about the intensity 
of her attacks that Ranma found disturbing.  "Akane, what are you so 
mad about?"

Akane tried for a sweep kick which Ranma leapt over.  "After last 
night, you can ask me that?"  She feinted to one side and lashed out 
with another kick, only to hear Ranma's reply from behind her.

"What about last night?"

Akane whirled, but again struck only empty air.  "I worked for 
*hours* on that dinner!  Hours!  And what do you do?  You act like I 
was trying to poison you!"  Jab - feint - jab jab.

Ranma's stomach cramped briefly at the reminder of the last night's 
'dinner.'  He dodged to one side, neatly avoiding another fierce rain 
of blows from Akane.  "I never said that!" he exclaimed.  "All I did 
was ask you what it was!"

Akane was not mollified.  "Sure!  *After* you went through that act 
of yours on the veranda.  Don't you think that was a little much?"  
She swung at him with a roundhouse and followed up with a kick.

"What was I supposed to do?" Ranma asked as her foot passed 
through an empty space.  "There was no way I was gonna make it to 
the bathroom!"

Akane's temper flared again.  "You... you... arrogant *pervert*!" she 
spat.  Her blows came fast and hard, but with her anger controlling 
her, Ranma could read her like a manga.  He decided that it was time 
to end this.

Ducking under another roundhouse, Ranma casually swept Akane's 
feet from under her, dropping her unceremoniously onto the mat.  
"Akane," he said, "You have *got* to calm down!  You know that you 
telegraph your moves when you get like this!"  Ranma reached down 
to help his wife to her feet, but she slapped his hand away.  With a 
shrug, Ranma turned to leave the dojo.  "We can start again later, 
okay?"

Akane watched him go through a red haze.  How *dare* he just walk 
out on her like that!  Didn't he take her seriously?  Seething, Akane 
got to her feet, took a Bo staff from the rack on the wall, and stalked 
off after her husband.  She would teach him...

****  ####  ****

"Ranma!  I haven't seen you in here for a while!"

Ranma grinned.  "Well, things have been pretty quiet lately... no 
battles, no kidnappings or anything like that for a change."

Tofu smiled back at his patient and began his examination.  "Say, you 
have a couple of pretty impressive dislocations here.  You must have 
really made Akane angry this time."

"Yeah, I guess she *was* pretty mad..."

Tofu stopped his examination and moved in front of Ranma.  Pulling 
up a stool, he sat facing the young martial artist, his face suddenly 
serious.  "Ranma, I was making a joke.  Tell me, did Akane really do 
this to you?"

"Well, you know how it is, Doc!  She gets ticked, and... well, I guess I 
sorta asked for it..."  Ranma looked sheepish.  "She made this special 
dinner and all, and, well, you know how she is in the kitchen..."

Tofu nodded.

"And, like an idiot, I couldn't keep dinner down, or my mouth shut.  
She was still a little sore about it this morning."

"I see," said Tofu.

The intensity of Tofu's interest was starting to make Ranma a bit 
nervous.  "Really, Doc, it's nothing..."

Tofu watched Ranma fidget for a moment, but said nothing more 
about it.  He finished his exam and performed a few adjustments, 
and Ranma was good as new.  Ranma thanked him and left.

Watching Ranma leave, Tofu shook his head.  Ranma was probably 
right - there was nothing to it.  Akane had certainly given him worse; 
but the need for that had passed, hadn't it?  Something about this 
just felt wrong somehow.  With a shrug, Tofu put it out of his mind 
and went to see about his next patient.

*****  ##  ***  ##  *****

Ranma was headed toward the dojo for a workout when he was 
brought up short by a shout, and several dull thudding sounds.  
Peeking into the dojo, Ranma was shocked by what he saw.  Straw 
and bits of shredded batting littered the floor.  Dust and wisps of 
cotton hung in the air like smoke from a smouldering fire.  At the 
centre of the fire was Akane.

Furtively, he watched Akane tearing the stuffing out of the training 
dummy with brutal efficiency.  Not the precise, controlled motions of 
a martial artist, but angry, savage blows that she punctuated with 
inarticulate snarls.

Akane was mad about something, that much was certain.  But what 
could it be?  Shampoo hadn't put in an appearance in weeks, Kodachi 
had been keeping to herself as well, and she had no reason to be mad 
about Ucchan anymore.  Ranma couldn't even remember having 
stuck his foot in his mouth within the past few days.  What had he 
done this time?

Ranma watched as another flurry of blows reduced the dummy's 
mass by half, and shuddered.  He could not imagine what could have 
happened that would leave her so very angry, but when she was in a 
deep rage like this, any attempts to calm her were almost certain to 
meet with failure.

As it was with Ranma when he was under the spell of the nekoken, 
very few things could bring Akane out of one of her rages before she 
was ready.  Unlike Ranma and the nekoken, her spouse was NOT 
among those things.  Where Akane was the cure for his own form of 
madness, he was more like fuel for the fire of hers.

Having decided that discretion was the better part of valour, and 
certainly the healthier part, Ranma backed slowly out of the dojo.  
There would be time for his own workout later.  Right now, he just 
wanted to avoid becoming the focus for his wife's 'attentions.'

Ranma was thinking about taking a good long run, when Kasumi 
came up behind him.  "Ranma-kun!  I thought that you were going to 
be in the dojo!"

Ranma started, but returned Kasumi's smile.  "No, Kasumi.  I was, but 
Akane is in there now.  I'll use it later."

"Why don't you work out together?  Wouldn't that be more fun?"

Ranma's smile faded.  "No...  No, I don't think so."  Ranma pictured 
Akane's rage filled expression in his mind and shuddered.  He 
remembered the *last* time that he'd sparred with Akane when she 
was in a bad mood.  "Not right now, anyway."

****  ####  ****

The fact that Ranma and Akane were fighting more often did not 
escape the attention of other members of the household.  Indeed, it 
was so obvious that it was even becoming a topic of conversation 
over the shogi board.

Even Kasumi's carefully constructed shell of oblivion was starting to 
show cracks from the strain.  Still, she handled it the way she always 
had - by diffusing the conflicts that she could with a gentle word, 
and the sheer force of her personality.

But Kasumi's magic was beginning to falter under the new wave of 
discord that pervaded the household.  While Akane had often been 
angry before, she was often furious now.  Everyone had hoped that 
once they were married, Ranma would be able to stop doing things 
that made Akane mad;  but it didn't seem to be working out that 
way.  In her exasperation, Kasumi had gone so far as to ask Ranma 
what he was doing to make Akane so angry.  He'd had no answer.

Nabiki, however, was not so sure that it was that simple.  Yes, Akane 
had spent a lot of the past two years angry - that was nothing new.  
Akane had always been an angry child.  But now that anger was 
taking on a new depth - an intensity that Nabiki found disturbing.

Nabiki was no stranger to emotional control.  It was, after all, one of 
the things that she had used so effectively all her life.  She knew how 
to keep hers and to make her opponent yield theirs.  That was what 
made recent trends in Akane's behaviour so alarming to her.  Akane 
was losing all of her self-control.

These were not the simple tantrums of a child, either.  Akane's anger 
was starting to really run away with her.  Considering Akane's 
training, that could be dangerous.  At the very least, it was going to 
be expensive.

The simple excuse, that it was all Ranma's fault, was also starting to 
wear a little thin.  Nabiki had been watching Ranma - she always had 
- and Ranma had been well behaved.  He certainly hadn't been doing 
things lately that warranted reactions as violent as Akane's.  At least, 
not often.

When they had first returned from their honeymoon, they had still 
been fighting - but they had made up afterwards with equal fervor.  
Now, they were fighting more, and making up less.  It was an ugly 
trend.

Ranma's mother was particularly dismayed by the lack of harmony 
in her son's marriage.  She had so wanted a happier marriage for her 
son than the one she'd had, and she was determined to see that he 
got it.  Nodoka vowed to put an end to the fighting - but first, there 
would have to be peace between the two of them.  She had to 
convince Ranma that there was no profit in antagonising his wife - 
she had to appeal to his sense of honour.

****  ####  ****

"My son, I would speak with you..."

Ranma froze.  He did not remember much about his life before he left 
home, but one thing stood out in his memory.  Whenever his mother 
adopted that overly formal tone, unpleasantness followed.  It was a 
sure indicator that she was NOT happy.

Slowly, Ranma turned to face his parent.  "Yes, Mother?"  His spirits 
took a dive when he saw her stern expression.  This was not going to 
be a fun conversation.

"Son, I am concerned.  It has come to my attention that there has 
been conflict between you and Akane... that there are often harsh 
words exchanged between the two of you.  I gather that some of 
your actions have even provoked her to the point of violence."

Ranma thought about just how easy it was to 'provoke Akane to the 
point of violence', but, wisely, did not mention it.  Matching her 
formal tone, he said, "I assure you, mother, that provoking Akane has 
not been what I have been trying to do."

"That may be, but good intentions are, by themselves, insufficient.  
To maintain your honour, you must maintain vigilance.  You must 
show the proper respect for your wife, Ranma... She is there to love 
you and support you throughout your life.  But you must also love 
and support her."

"Love..."  Ranma's stock retort never made it.  He could not lie to his 
mother - not anymore.  "I... I *do* love Akane, Mom.  I love her more 
than anything."  His voice was a bare whisper.

"I know you do, son.  But you must treat her like you love her.  Do 
you believe that insulting her, that calling her 'uncute' will really 
make her happy?"

"No, I guess not."

"Ranma... You have grown to be a man among men, despite your 
'curse,' and despite your father's influence.  But there are still things 
that you have to learn."

Ranma could not argue that point.  "So what can I do?  How do I keep 
from making her mad all the time?"

"You must not fight with her.  Do you enjoy it when she strikes you?  
Do you enjoy seeing her angry?"

"Of course not!"

"Then why do you antagonise her?  Why do you argue with her?"

"But it's not my fault!  She won't wait to hear my side of anything; 
she won't even give me a chance to explain!  She just gets mad, and I 
get a slam and a dunk."  Ranma said morosely.

"If you stop doing the things that antagonise her, Ranma, she will 
stop getting angry - and she will be more prone to listen to what you 
have to say."

Ranma was skeptical.  "Do you really think so?"

"I do."  Nodoka smiled, but it faded into a darker look as her gaze 
turned inwards.  "It would pain me to see you make the same errors 
that your father has.  His behaviour over the past years has not 
been... entirely honourable."

Ranma snorted.  That was an understatement, if ever he'd heard one.  
"Not bloody likely.  *Nobody* else could make some of the blunders 
Pop has!"

"Ranma...  He *is* your father..." Nodoka admonished him.

"Nobody asked *me* about that," Ranma said darkly.

"Ranma... it is true that you have cause to be angry with your father, 
but that is not the point of this discussion.  There are much more 
important matters that must be addressed."

"So what do you think I should do?"

"Promise me, my son.  I want your solemn word as a warrior that 
you will stop this fighting.  It is not... seemly for a husband and wife 
to carry on so."

Ranma started to protest, but his mother's stern expression silenced 
him.  Did she really think that all of this was his fault?  That he had 
been deliberately trying to anger Akane?  Sure, they had argued... 
they often did, but Ranma had looked on it as normal.

He and Akane had argued since the day they had met.  It didn't 
mean that he loved her any less.  Though Ranma had to admit, there 
were times, lots of times, really, that he wished the arguing would 
stop and that life could be like it had been on their honeymoon again.  
Ranma considered that.  Was he really the one to blame?  Was it his 
fault that Akane was always so unhappy now?

Tofu-sensei's first assumption when he had last been in the clinic 
had been that he had done something to make Akane angry.  At the 
time, it had not seemed significant.  The neighbors, tired of all the 
noise, had begged him to quit tormenting his wife.  Kasumi had asked 
him the same question, and now... and now his own mother.

"Promise me, Ranma."

Ranma's shoulders sagged.  It *was* his fault.  Everybody knew it - 
had known it.  Everybody but him.  He had been thoughtless, rude 
and cruel - to the person that he loved the most.  He *had* been 
turning into his father.  Ranma shuddered at the thought, and hung 
his head in shame.

"I promise." he said softly.  "I swear to you, on my honour as a 
warrior, that I will not fight with Akane again."

Nodoka smiled and hugged her son.  "Then the matter is ended."

*****  ##  ***  ##  *****

After the talk he'd had with his mother, Ranma's relationship with 
Akane started to change.  Ranma stopped insulting his wife.  When 
he opened his mouth, and felt himself starting to utter his familiar 
litany of 'uncute' or 'tomboy', he would stop and leave the room.  He 
did everything he could think of to avoid saying things that he knew 
would upset her.

Ranma still put his foot in his mouth from time to time, and Akane 
would pound him for it.  Akane's cooking skills, or lack thereof, were 
a particular sore point, but Ranma thought he could deal with that.  
What was hardest to take was the fact that Akane was still blaming 
him for things that he could not help, or things that were simply not 
his fault.

It was hard, so hard, but Ranma kept his word.  There were times 
when he wanted to tear his hair and scream at the injustice of it all, 
but at times like those, his mother's words would replay in his 
memory - "It would pain me to see you to make the same errors that 
your father has..." - and Ranma would choke back his angry replies, 
and let Akane rant on, unchallenged.  In the end, it didn't really 
matter, he thought to himself.  If he deserved it or not, if she was 
mad enough, he was in for a pounding.

His mother had been, in one important respect, wrong.  Akane had 
not calmed down once Ranma had changed his behaviour.  Indeed, if 
anything, she was getting mad at him more easily, and more quickly.

Ranma tried a new strategy.  When Akane would get mad, he would 
apologise.  It didn't matter what she thought he'd done, or if he had, 
in fact, done it.  Sometimes he didn't even have any idea just what he 
was apologising for.  It was just easier to say he was sorry and be 
done with it.

Appeasement had worked admirably, for a time.  Akane had been so 
shocked the first time he'd just apologised to her that she quite 
forgot what she had been yelling at him about.  A new hope surged 
through Ranma at that point.  It had thrilled him to see Akane smile, 
and her smile had grown when he'd said so.  She had been in such a 
good mood that night that neither of them had gotten any sleep.

It didn't last.  Gradually, even this tactic started to lose effectiveness.

It became a vicious cycle.  A certain level of irritation was sure to set 
Akane off.  So, Ranma would try to make sure that he did or said as 
little as possible that would exceed that threshold.  He was largely 
successful.  But then the rules would change, and it would take less 
and less to trigger Akane's wrath.

It sometimes seemed to Ranma as if the anger never really left her; 
as if it was always there, straining to get out.  There was a darkness 
to her anger that disturbed him.  He felt that there were forces 
driving her rage that he could not see, and could do nothing about.

That was, perhaps, the most frustrating aspect of the whole situation.  
He knew that his wife was hurting, and he had no idea what was 
causing it.  When he asked her what was troubling her, she would get 
angry and yell at him for some slight, real or imagined.  Ranma 
realised that she didn't always mean it - at least he hoped that she 
didn't.  It tore at his heart to think that he might really be the one 
that was making her so unhappy.

*****  ##  ***  ##  *****

Upon getting back from her usual morning jog, Akane went to the 
workroom under the dojo to do something constructive for a change.  
Akane had taken to manufacturing her own practice dummies.  The 
ones she made tended to last a bit longer, and there were one or two 
'custom' touches she added that made them particularly effective.  
Not the least of these was the pigtail braid that adorned the back of 
each dummy's head.

Akane looked thoughtfully at her latest creation.  High art it was not.  
Crude as it was, though, it did the job.  Akane set the dummy aside 
and reached for a new armature to start the next one.  As her hands 
busied themselves winding the straw and cotton batting into what 
would be the dummy's head, she allowed her thoughts to drift over 
more private paths.

Ranma had started being nicer to her - a lot nicer.  She had enjoyed 
it now for weeks, but it was, in an odd way, also starting to make her 
uncomfortable.  She had become so accustomed to his constant 
teasing and harassment that this sudden change seemed somehow 
jarring.  She was more used to Ranma's taunts and jeers - they had 
the comfort of familiarity, even if they did make her so mad.

Whenever the darkness in her soul had threatened to overwhelm 
her, Ranma's insults had given her a focus for those dark energies - 
allowing her to blow off steam and work off her frustrations.  And 
since they had married, she had discovered that making up after a 
fight could be the most fun of all.

Now, though, that release was gone - It was not that Ranma had been 
perfectly behaved - that would have stretched credibility to the 
breaking point.  But he wasn't fighting her anymore!  He had been a 
*lot* more polite, and he had managed to avoid saying some of the 
stupid things that really set her off.  In fact, she could not even 
remember the last time that he had called her uncute.

Akane finished the head, and started winding longer, wider strips of 
batting around the straw core of the dummy's torso.  Once the body 
was wound, bailing wire would hold it all together.  Then she would 
start on the arms.  The trick to making them last was in winding the 
strips tightly enough.  That could often be good strength training all 
by itself.

Why was Ranma acting this way?  It was so unlike the Ranma that 
had made the last two years so... so... infuriating.  In the past, when 
he had been nice to her, it had always ended in another fight as 
Ranma dropped once more into his role as an insensitive macho jerk.  
It had never taken long - if he was nice to her in the morning, by 
that evening he had stuck his foot in his mouth and they were back 
to snarling and snapping at each other.  She had been waiting for the 
other shoe to drop now for weeks, and the suspense was really 
starting to get on her nerves.

It was ironic.  Ranma was making every effort to be what she had 
wanted; more polite and considerate.  He was trying everything he 
could think of to get closer to her, but the more he tried, the further 
separated from him Akane felt.  In the past, even as he had been 
insulting her, Akane could see that Ranma cared.  She knew that a lot 
of his bluster was just there to cover his feelings - feelings that he 
was as yet, unable to express openly.  When they had squabbled, he 
would let his guard down enough so that she could see into his heart.

With the new Ranma, Akane was no longer so sure of her position.  
Ranma's guard stayed up and she could no longer tell what he was 
feeling with any measure of confidence.  Akane could no longer read 
him, could no longer trust her own interpretations of his words, or 
his actions.  That uncertainty fed the darkness that lingered deep in 
her - the darkness that taunted her with what she had lost before, 
and fed her fear that she was going to lose again.  And again, there 
would be nothing that she could do to stop it.

When Akane felt the darkness creeping in, she would snap at Ranma 
- and Ranma would just take it.  That made her feel bad, for trying to 
hurt him; which made the darkness press harder against her soul; 
which made her snap at Ranma, and so it continued.

She didn't *want* to hurt him, but she couldn't stop herself.  It was 
easier to lash out again than it was to apologise - easier to strike at 
him than to swallow her pride and admit that she was wrong.  It was 
FAR easier to keep him at arms length than to allow him to really get 
close; let alone close enough to hurt her.  She would not allow herself 
to be that vulnerable again.

But if she were honest with herself, she knew that it was far too late 
for that... and he had gotten under her skin so very easily!  He was 
an integral component of her life - she could no more imagine being 
without him than she could turn herself inside out.  He had become a 
part of her now, and a very important part.  In a very real sense, 
what she did to Ranma, she did to herself - and so the darkness 
continued to feed.

*****  ##  ***  ##  *****

Akane wanted to scream.  The evening had started so well - had 
been so pleasant - and yet, like so very many before, it had ended in 
disaster.  What made it all the more frustrating was that there was 
no reason for it.  It was so senseless.

It had taken almost a week for Ranma to work up to it, but he had 
asked her to go with him to dinner and a movie.  Akane had been 
delighted.  When the day came, the weather was perfect - it had 
rained earlier that evening, and the skies had cleared as darkness 
fell, leaving the air fresh, crisp and cool.

The restaurant was not Tokyo's finest, but the atmosphere was 
romantic, and the food was excellent.  Ranma had even forgone the 
new Jackie Chan picture and taken her to see the new Miyazaki 
romance instead.  'Whispers of the Heart' was not a film that she 
would have expected Ranma to be able to sit through, let alone one 
that he would suggest they see.  Akane had enjoyed herself 
immensely.

They had walked home, arm in arm, each enjoying the feel of being 
in the other's company.  When they had reached the Tendou home - 
out on the walk in front of the main gate, Ranma had taken her in his 
arms, and stared into her eyes for the longest time.  She had almost 
decided that he was never going to kiss her when he'd bent forward 
to her brush her lips with his.

Her arms had gone around him and she'd held him tight, lost in the 
ecstasy of the moment.  At that point, disaster had struck.  A car 
passed, and hit the only puddle that was left from the afternoon 
rains.  The puddle was small, the amount of water thrown smaller 
still, but it had been enough.

Akane felt her husband shift in her arms, growing shorter and more 
curvy, waist narrowing and chest expanding, as the transformation 
was completed.  Ranma held the embrace, not even seeming to notice 
that the change had taken place.

Maybe it was the suddenness of the change that startled her.  Maybe 
it was some irrational fear of being seen by people who didn't know 
that the red-head was really her husband.  Akane didn't know, and 
now it didn't matter - the damage was done.

Akane had pushed Ranma away with a startled scream and an 
almost instinctive slap.  "Ranma, you're a girl now!  Somebody might 
see us!  Pervert!"

Ranma had stared back at her, her eyes wide with shock and hurt.  
Then she had looked down at herself for a long moment, and she had 
shuddered.  Akane could almost feel the wave of self-loathing that 
passed through her husband at that moment.

Akane had turned away to try and regain her composure somewhat.  
The look of utter despair and hopelessness that crossed Ranma's face 
had torn at her heart.  She turned back to apologise, but Ranma was 
already gone.

"Damn," she muttered to herself as the tears came.

##  ***  ##

Ranma sat alone in the darkness and wept.  At least that was one 
advantage that the curse provided.  In this form, it was acceptable 
for her to cry.  Of course, she thought bitterly, if it weren't for the 
damned curse, she wouldn't *need* to cry.

Akane had said time and again that the curse didn't matter.  But it 
did.  Tonight had proven that.  And Ranma couldn't even find it in 
her heart to blame her wife for it.  Why *should* Akane have to 
settle for half a man?

That rationalisation did nothing to ease the pain that Ranma felt as 
Akane had pushed her away.  After all, hadn't she also been the one 
to tell her that being a girl wasn't so bad?  It was so confusing!

Ranma shuddered again and drew her knees up to her chest as she 
stared into the depths of the river.  One of these days, she was going 
to have to find a cure, or die trying.  It was becoming increasingly 
apparent that Akane was never going to be truly happy, that she was 
never going to fully accept Ranma, until that day arrived.

*****  ##  ***  ##  *****

Akane and Ranma had been sparring in the dojo.  The session went 
as they all had, from the first day she had met him.  She had struck 
and attacked, raining blow after blow upon her target, kick after 
kick, lunge after lunge.  Not one of them had connected.  No matter 
how quickly or carefully she had struck, by the time her blow had 
reached the target, the target was elsewhere.  She had never even 
come close.  Finally, thoroughly winded, she had called a halt to the 
exercise.

After complimenting her on her improvement, Ranma had gone back 
to the house while Akane, after catching her breath, vented her 
frustrations on targets that could not escape her every attack.  Akane 
did not feel like she had improved.  Compared to Ranma, she still felt 
like a clumsy beginner.

She didn't understand it.  She never had any trouble hitting Ranma 
when they weren't in the dojo - in fact, she cleaned his clock on a 
regular basis.  It was almost as if he were two people.  In the dojo, 
when they were sparring, he was a wraith - no material attack came 
near him.  He was calm, self assured and untouchable.  Outside of 
their training, she clobbered him at will.  Sometimes he would evade 
her first attacks, but in the end, her blows would hit their targets, 
and Ranma would go down.

Akane sighed, looking at the remains of the training dummy she had 
been pummeling.  She sat down with her back against the dojo wall 
as a snatch of a memory drifted across her mind...  "Sometimes, when 
a guy fights a girl, he... uh... *lets* her win."  Ranma's words.  She 
remembered them well - She also remembered how angry those 
words had made her.  She remembered how she had vowed to 
herself that she would make him eat those words.  It was one vow 
she had yet to keep.  She had tried - oh, she had tried - but every 
time she had beaten him, she felt that the only reason that she had 
been able to touch him was that he had allowed it.

The odd part was that he had never once retaliated.  No matter what 
she had done to him, she had never been able to get Ranma to hit her 
- to strike back.  Despite his curse, Ranma seemed to think that 
women were somehow less capable than men were.  Why else would 
he treat them as he did?  Why else would he hesitate to fight a girl?  
Even *as* a girl, there were lines that Ranma would not cross - the 
times that Ranma had been forced to fight against another girl Akane 
had gotten the distinct impression that he was holding back.

His condescension infuriated her.  Women could be just as good as 
men, just as strong.  But Ranma always treated them differently, as if 
they needed to be protected.  As if they were fragile.  As if they 
were somehow inferior.

One of the most galling aspects was that Ranma had been particularly 
protective of her.  That he kept singling her out for protection was 
enraging.  There had been a time when she had thought it was cute, 
romantic even, but it had done nothing to help her get over her 
feelings of inferiority.  As time passed, Akane started to get the 
feeling that Ranma was rubbing her nose in it.  The rational part of 
her mind dismissed that as nonsense, but of late, the rational side 
had often not been the winning side.

Before Ranma showed up, she had been the best martial artist in the 
area.  There had been Kunou, but he hardly counted.  He was a 
capable fighter as a kendoist, but if you took away his stick, he was 
harmless.  When Ranma had arrived, he had taken that away.  She 
was no longer better at anything, let alone the best.  She no longer 
had anything that she could call her own.

Ranma could beat her at *everything*.  Ranma could cook.  As a girl, 
Ranma was better looking.  Ranma could fight better, Ranma could 
swim, Ranma was faster, the list went on and on.  In her rage, she 
lashed out - if she could drive him to fight her, to *really* fight her, 
then she could prove that she was every bit as good as he was.

Akane sighed.  The trouble was, she was nowhere *near* as good as 
him, and she knew it.  And when her 'rivals' had started showing up, 
things had only gotten worse.  At first, it had been a joke to her.  She 
remembered how she had teased Ranma - pointing out just how cute 
Shampoo was, and taking some pleasure in his discomfort.  For some 
reason, it wasn't that funny anymore.

What had been funny once lost its charm in a hurry when it kept 
happening, again and again, and again.  First it was Kodachi - then 
Shampoo had decided that marrying Ranma would be better than 
killing him.  Then there had been Kaori, and finally Ukyou had shown 
up...  Even if she had been sure that she wanted to, how was she 
supposed to compete with the likes of them?

All of them were beautiful; all were strong fighters - stronger than 
she was.  Akane was sure that any one of Ranma's other fiancees 
could have beat the snot out of her any time they felt like it.  And 
with the exception of Ukyou, who had *tried* to be like a boy, none 
of the others had been considered any less feminine for their skills.

Indeed, not only were they better than she was at the martial arts, 
but at the feminine arts as well.  She had only been able to find one 
thing that she could do that the others could not do better.  Maybe 
that was why she kept hurting Ranma - it was the one thing that she 
could do that the others could not.

She had trained so hard, devoted her life, her very being to the Art; 
and yet, in her heart, she was sure that she would never be good 
enough.  She was *always* going to lose the important fights.  
Everyone else would always be at least one step ahead of her.  It 
made her want to scream.

That was it.  That must have been why Ranma had married her.  It 
wasn't that he loved her.  It had never been about love; it was all 
because he felt that she needed to be protected.  Ukyou... Shampoo... 
maybe even Kodachi... who knew which one he *really* loved?  Her 
heart twisted at the thought.  Damn that idiot!

Ranma's fault.  It was all Ranma's fault.  With an angry snarl, Akane 
got up and went to fetch another target.

*****  ##  ***  ##  *****

The sky was a leaden grey, the low hanging overcast swollen with 
the threat of the rains to come that afternoon.  A stiff breeze blew 
bits of debris along the street - scraps of litter and paper that bore 
silent witness to the harried carelessness of the masses.  Except for 
the odd pigeon, the street down which Ranma was walking was 
deserted - desolate; a perfect mirror for Ranma's current mood.

Ranma was at a loss.  It seemed that no matter what he did, or didn't 
do, Akane was going to get mad - sooner or later.  It was inevitable.  
Ranma had spent many long hours meditating on the problem.  What 
was it that she wanted from him?  He would give her anything in the 
world if it would make her happy, but everything he tried seemed 
somehow to fall short.  It was never enough.

She had said that she wanted honesty.  He gave it to her.  Since they 
had married, he had told her the truth.  Always.  That had caused its 
own problems, particularly when she had asked him to evaluate her 
cooking - but he would not lie to her.  He had given his word, and he 
*always* kept his word.

But what good had it done?  She still wouldn't believe him.  She 
seldom even took the time to *listen* to him, let alone grant that he 
might actually be telling her the truth.  It hurt Ranma deeply that his 
wife apparently thought so little of him.  Honour was very important 
to Ranma - he had put up with humiliation, degradation and pain, all 
for the sake of his honour.  To have Akane so casually dismiss that 
honour was like having a knife stuck into his back.  Every time she 
doubted him, she gave that knife a little twist.

What would it take to convince her?  What did he have to do before 
she would give him the benefit of the doubt?  There were so many 
things she had blamed him for that were not his fault.  When 
Shampoo had come and glomped onto him, he had fought her off - 
every time.  But did Akane see that?  No - Akane had blamed him.  
When Kodachi had drugged him, it had been *his* fault.  Where was 
the justice in that?

Whenever there had been trouble, hadn't he always been there for 
her?  He had fought for her time and time again.  He would willingly 
have died to protect her - what more could he do to prove his love?  
Ranma shook his head and sighed.  Maybe he was going about this 
the wrong way.

Despite his Don Juan reputation, Ranma's experience with girls was 
extremely limited.  Growing up on the road with his father had not 
provided the best examples in how to deal with the fairer sex.  Even 
Ranma knew that.

Truth be told, girls made him nervous.  Put him in front of a girl, and 
all of his wits deserted him, as well as most of his language skills.  If 
it was someone that he liked, it made matters worse.  He could never 
seem to find the right words - but the wrong ones came easily.  By 
the time his brain caught up to his mouth it was too late, and the 
damage was done.

Akane was the perfect example - as much as he loved her, he had 
never been able to tell her - not with words.  The words just came 
out wrong.  There had to be a way to get through!  Maybe if he got 
her a present - if he chose the *right* present, it could say the things 
that he had not been able to.

He was going to need help for this one.  He needed advice.  Rather 
than pay Nabiki's rates, Ranma decided to go see Ucchan.  She'd have 
an idea.  Besides.  He was hungry.

*****  ##  ***  ##  *****

Nabiki was sitting at the table with a number of books spread out in 
front of her, sipping a cup of cocoa, when a shout broke the stillness 
of the afternoon.

"Akane, WAIT!  It's not what you're thinking!"

"Just how stupid do you think I am, Ranma?  You're a pervert!"

"But Akane...  Yaaaa!"  Footfalls sounded in the hall upstairs as Ranma 
gave up on talking and ran.  Nabiki winced at the sound of metal 
striking flesh - and again as she heard Ranma half run, half bounce 
down the stairs.

As Nabiki watched, Ranma came haring through the door, past the 
table, and out the sliding doors into the garden, Akane in hot pursuit.  
Akane stopped by the table, and hefting a barbell, hurled it towards 
the object of her wrath with as much force as she could muster.

Nabiki turned to follow the projectile on its trajectory - Ranma never 
saw it coming.  The barbell struck the fleeing figure in the back of 
the head, knocking him forward in a low arc.  Ranma ploughed face 
first into the garden pond, sending gouts of water skyward..  Akane 
'hmphed' in satisfaction, and dusting off her hands, turned and 
stalked back up the stairs.

Nabiki watched her go, shaking her head.  There was no telling what 
had sparked that - Akane had been so very touchy lately.  Nabiki 
almost felt sorry for Ranma.  

Nabiki turned back toward the garden expecting to see a wet, angry 
and female Ranma squelching back toward the house.  The garden 
was empty and the surface of the pond was calm.  She thought that 
was odd since she hadn't heard Ranma haul herself out of the water 
yet.  Jumping up, she hurried out into the garden and peered into the 
water.  Ranma lay on the bottom, her unconscious body held under 
the surface by the weight of the barbell.

With a yell toward the house for help, Nabiki jumped into the pool, 
and, pushing the barbell aside, started to drag Ranma toward the 
edge of the water.  Here was another reason to be glad of Ranma's 
'condition,' she thought; as a girl, Ranma was much lighter.

By the time anyone from the house arrived to help her, Nabiki had 
already managed to get Ranma out of the water, and was trying 
desperately to force the water out of the red-head's lungs.

"What happened?" asked Kasumi, as she dropped to assist her sister.

Between thrusts, Nabiki told her older sister about the spat that had 
led to Ranma's current position, and what she knew about how it had 
happened.  A dark look crossed Kasumi's features as she noticed that 
Akane was nowhere to be seen.

Working with Kasumi's help, Nabiki was finally rewarded with a 
choking gasp from Ranma.  The bedraggled girl drew a shuddering 
breath and started retching - coughing up brackish water and a little 
blood.  As her breathing stabilised, Ranma lapsed once more into 
total unconsciousness.

"We'd better get him to Tofu Sensei..." said Kasumi.  "You watch him 
while I get father."

A few minutes later, Ranma and a distraught Soun Tendou had been 
bundled off to Tofu's clinic, and the household was quiet once more.  
Kasumi announced that she was going to have to talk to her little 
sister.  After seeing the expression on Kasumi's face, Nabiki found 
that she had no interest at all in eavesdropping, and returned to her 
studies.

##  ***  ##

Kasumi reached her sister's room and knocked on the door.  There 
was no answer.  She knocked a little harder, causing the little 
wooden duck with Akane's name on it to jump.  There was a post-it 
note on the door below the duck on which was scrawled 'and Ranma' 
in a sloppy hand.  When she still received no answer, Kasumi opened 
the door, and entered the room herself.

Akane lay on the bed, the shades drawn, with a pair of headphones 
over her ears.  Her eyes were squeezed shut and her hands were 
clenched into fists.  She had her stereo turned up so loud that Kasumi 
could hear the music from her position by the door.

Shaking her head in exasperation, Kasumi walked over to Akane's CD 
player, and turned it off.  Instantly, Akane was up, whirling around 
with a shout.  "Leave that alone, you jack..." she started to say.

Akane's outburst stilled as she realised that her visitor was not her 
husband.  Calming herself with visible effort, Akane took off her 
headphones and hung them on the bedpost.  "I'm sorry, Kasumi," she 
said.  "I thought you were Ranma.  Is there something that I can do 
for you?"

Kasumi nodded.  "Yes, Akane.  I think that we need to talk."  There 
was no trace of a smile in her expression, or her demeanor.

Akane sat back on her bed as though she'd been slapped - in a sense, 
she had.  Akane literally could not recall the last time that she had 
seen Kasumi this upset.  It frightened her.  "What... what's wrong, 
Kasumi?"  She paused for a beat.  "Where's Ranma?"

"Ranma should be at Tofu-Sensei's clinic by now."

"Tofu-Sensei's?  What happened to him?"

Kasumi actually scowled.  "Akane... you *drowned* him.  If Nabiki 
had not been watching... if she had not pulled him out of the pond 
and cleared his lungs...  Ranma would be dead right now.  You would 
have killed him."

"But... but... how..."

"You threw a barbell at him!  He was unconscious when he hit the 
water.  The barbell pinned his girl's body to the bottom, and he 
drowned."

"oh...  no..." said Akane in a small voice.  A bitter cold washed through 
her, and she shivered violently.  "I never meant to..."

"Akane...  You promised me once that you would never strike another 
person in anger.  Do you remember that?"

Akane nodded.  "But... I have to defend myself!" she protested.

"Of course you must - but striking a fleeing figure in the back with a 
barbell is NOT a defensive action!  Just what did Ranma do that you 
felt you had to defend yourself against him?  Had he attacked you?"

"No... but..."

"Akane; you *must* learn control.  You are a trained martial artist - 
you have the ability to do a great deal of harm, if you are not careful.  
You cannot afford to let your anger control you."

Akane hung her head.  "You're right - I know... but Ranma is so much 
better than me - and he just doesn't take me seriously!"

"Of course he does - he loves you!"

"No!  He doesn't!  I used to think that he did, but now I know better!"

"He married you, didn't he?  Would he have done that if he didn't 
love you?"

"What did that have to do with love?  Our dads arranged that - he 
just did what they wanted - what his mother wanted.  He doesn't 
love me!"

Kasumi sighed to herself.  Akane could be so very dense at times.  
Couldn't she see what everyone else did?  The way Ranma looked at 
her when he thought no one could see - the way that he was always 
there - fighting for her, protecting her?  Was she really so blind?  "If 
you really believed that, then why did you marry him?"

"It was a matter of family honour!  I *had* to marry him!"

"Akane, there is no honour in marrying someone that you don't love.  
If you didn't love him, you should have let one of the others have 
him."

"But I..."

"Oh, Akane.  This isn't some sort of competition.  In a marriage 
without love, everyone loses.  I'll ask again.  Do you love him?"

Akane stiffened in another momentary burst of anger.  "Of course 
not!  How could I love an arrogant, fat-headed freak like him?"

"Akane..."

But Akane wasn't paying attention to her older sister.  As the anger 
passed, her shoulders slumped and she sagged forward, hugging 
herself against a chill that was more of the spirit than of the body.

"No.  That's not true.  I... I *do* love him..." Akane said miserably.  
"It's just that he makes me so mad!  He's always so mean to me!"

"Really?  What did he do this time?"

"The pervert was rooting around in my underwear drawer!  I caught 
him at it red handed!"

"That *is* odd.  What do you suppose he was doing?"

"Who cares?"

"Don't you think that you ought to at least give him a *chance* to 
explain things?"  Kasumi wandered over to the tansu, and opened the 
drawer in question.  Peeking out from under one of the garments 
was a small box, wrapped in brightly coloured paper, and tied with a 
ribbon.  She lifted the box carefully from its resting place.

"What's this?" she asked.

Akane eyed the box warily.  "I don't know.  Where did you get it?"

"Your underwear drawer."  Kasumi passed the box to her sister.

Akane hadn't thought that she could feel any worse.  Staring 
morosely at the bright little box, she felt tears begin to burn their 
way out of her eyes.  "He... he was putting this in there, wasn't he?  
Oh, Kasumi... what have I done?"

Kasumi softened her tone.  "You have to treat him more respectfully 
- he's a person, you know.  More than that, he is your husband.  He 
deserves your respect, and your trust."

Akane's voice was very quiet.  "You're right.  I...  What can I do?  He 
must hate me now... at the very least he must think that *I* hate 
*him*..."

"Ranma still loves you, Akane.  But you have to be patient with him.  
He isn't used to expressing those sorts of feelings.  You don't make it 
any easier when you won't listen to him."

"I'll try to do better.  Really, I will.  If it's not too late..."

Kasumi patted Akane on the shoulder.  "I know you will.  She headed 
for the door.  "If you need anything, call me.  Dinner will be ready in 
about four hours."

Akane just nodded.  After Kasumi left the room, Akane set the small 
box on the nightstand, and lay back on the bed.  She stared at it for a 
long time, making no efforts to stop the tears that flowed from her 
eyes.  "Oh, Ranma," she said to herself.  "Why must it always be like 
this?"  Akane got up, changed into her gi, and headed for the dojo.  
She had a lot to consider.

##  ***  ##

Akane sat in the dojo, leaning against the wall, staring morosely at 
the remains of a single set of concrete blocks.  The fragments seemed 
to be staring back at her, mutely accusing.  You break things, they 
told her silently.  You are always breaking things.  When are you 
going to *make* something?  When are you going to create, rather 
that just destroy?

Her whole life had centered around destruction - beating the world 
into submission - battering it until it let go of what she wanted.  She 
was Shiva.  Her anger had only made it worse.  When she was angry, 
things got broken; concrete blocks, tables, walls... she looked sadly at 
the set of weights in the corner and shuddered... and people.  She had 
come close to breaking Ranma today.  Too close.

When the anger overtook her, it was so easy... she hit something, and 
it would yield.  It was proof, in a way, that she did have some control 
over her environment.  It was also, she would later consider, proof 
that she had too little control over herself.  Too many times she had 
yielded to the mindlessness that came with her greatest source of 
strength.  And when her senses returned, she was surrounded by the 
debris.  Sometimes she felt as if everything she touched was doomed 
to be destroyed.

She had gotten to the point where she would no longer buy nice 
things for herself... what would be the point if they were just going to 
be destroyed the next time Ranma or someone else ticked her off?  
Sadly, she scanned the dojo, noting the numerous makeshift patches 
that adorned the walls.  Proper and careful repairs had long since 
been abandoned as hopelessly optimistic.  It was easier and cheaper 
just to patch, and patch again.

The only thing that she had ever tried to build, her relationship with 
Ranma, was on shaky ground at best.  She imagined that it was like 
trying to build a house on a hillside... if the foundations were not laid 
just so, and cared for afterwards, the house would slide down into 
the ravine.  Akane was afraid that the slide had begun.  She just 
hoped that she would be able to stop it in time.

##  ***  ##

Akane was still sitting, lost in thought, when Nabiki came wandering 
into the dojo, whistling tunelessly.  Nabiki stared at her sister with a 
mixture of pity and envy.  She has everything that matters, Nabiki 
thought to herself, and still, she spends so much time unhappy.  Why 
can't she see how good she has it?

After a time, Akane noticed her sister's entrance, but she did not 
look up.  When she spoke, her voice was low, her tone somber.  "You 
saved Ranma's life today."  It was not a question.

Nabiki thought about that for a moment.  Kasumi would have told 
her, no doubt.  "Yeah... I guess I did."

"Thank you, Nabiki."  Akane's voice caught in her throat.  "I owe 
you... more than I can ever repay."

Nabiki shrugged.  "He's too profitable to lose," she said.

Akane shook her head - the corner of her mouth quirked upwards.  
"What does it take, Nabiki, for you to admit that you care?"

Nabiki stared, dumbfounded.  "Of all the people in the world, YOU 
have the nerve to ask me that?" she asked, disbelief evident in her 
tone.

Bristling, Akane turned to her sister.  "And just what do you mean by 
that?" she asked.

"I mean you and Ranma!  Have you ever told him how much you love 
him?  For God's sake, you're *married*, and I've never heard either 
one of you say it to the other.  The two of you are unbelievable!"

Akane looked as if she were going to say something, but thought 
better of it.  She snorted, and let the irritation drain out of her.  "You 
know, I really hate it when you're right."

Nabiki sighed and walked over to sit down by her sister.  For a long 
time, neither spoke.  They just shared the silence, each taking some 
measure of comfort from the presence of the other.

Finally, Nabiki asked, "Why?"

"Honestly?  I don't know."

"You *don't know*?"

"I came into our room... and there he was, bold as brass, digging in 
one of my drawers...  I didn't know what he was doing...  I just saw 
him, and something inside of me snapped."  Akane drew her knees 
up against her chest, and sighed.  "The next thing that I can 
remember clearly is Kasumi telling me that you'd hauled him out of 
the pond."

Nabiki paused and shook her head.  "I'm sorry, Akane, but I'm afraid 
that I just don't see how the punishment fits the crime here."

Akane nodded miserably.  "That's the worst part of it.  There was no 
'crime'.  He wasn't doing anything wrong.  If I had only listened to 
him..."  Akane trailed off for a moment.  "Have you heard from Tofu-
sensei yet?  Ranma is going to be okay, isn't he?"

"He should be okay.  He was breathing more or less normally again 
when Dad hauled him down to the clinic."

Akane sounded relieved.  "Thank God..."

"Akane... let me give you a little free advice."  Nabiki ignored the 
eyebrow that Akane raised at her use of the term 'free'.  "You need 
to work on having a little more patience.  If you don't, you're going to 
keep making mistakes.  Expensive ones.  Or worse."

"I know..." Akane nodded.  "Do you think that Ranma will forgive 
me?"

Nabiki smiled as she got up.  "I'd feel pretty safe in betting on it."  
Her tone turned serious.  "He loves you, Akane.  Don't let that get 
away.  It's too precious a thing to lose."

Akane's answering smile was wan.  "Thank you, Nabiki.  For 
everything."

##  ***  ##

After leaving Akane in the dojo, Nabiki had gone back to her room to 
resume her studies, and to keep from being in the way of Kasumi's 
dinner preparations.  College had been easy for her so far, and she 
was determined to keep it that way.  She had finished her Statistics 
assignment and was just getting ready to start working on her 
Economics when there came a gentle tapping at her bedroom door.

"Come in," she called.

The door opened slowly to reveal Ranma standing hesitantly on the 
threshold.  Nabiki stood up, and motioned for Ranma to come into the 
room.  Nabiki flinched inwardly as she got a good look at her.

Ranma's clothes were still rumpled from her recent immersion, and 
she seemed a little pale to Nabiki.  There was a laboured quality to 
her breathing, an asthmatic rattle that Nabiki figured to be a mild 
case of pneumonia.  The air of confident assurance that Nabiki had 
come to associate with Ranma was gone - her manner was subdued, 
and she kept her head down, as though she were afraid to make eye 
contact.

"Did you just get back from the clinic?  Are you feeling better?"

The red-head nodded, but did not look up.

"Have you talked to Akane yet?  She's... she's been very worried 
about you."

Ranma stiffened slightly and shook her head in the negative.  Nabiki 
could all but feel the tension like a charge of static electricity.  Still, 
Ranma had said nothing.

"Was there something that you wanted?" Nabiki prompted gently.

"I... I just wanted to thank you, Nabiki..."  Ranma's voice was very 
quiet.  "Kasumi told me that you were the one that pulled me out of 
the pond.  I... owe you my life."

Nabiki laughed a touch nervously.  "Not to worry, Ranma.  I'll send 
you a bill."

Ranma nodded and reached into her pocket, withdrawing the small 
pouch in which she carried her money.  She held it out to the Tendou 
girl, but Nabiki made no move to take the pouch.  After a moment, 
Ranma looked up at her curiously.

Nabiki was staring coldly at the red-head, her expression a mix of 
anger, and of pain.  "That was," she said stiffly, "A joke.  You know.  
Like the funny kind?"

Ranma blinked uncertainly.  After a moment, she nodded slowly, and 
returned the pouch to her pocket.  "I'm sorry, Nabiki.  I didn't mean 
to make you angry, too."  She seemed to deflate a little, and, turning 
away, shuffled listlessly out of the room.  She paused for a moment 
on the threshold.  "Thank you, Nabiki.  I'm... sorry."  The door closed 
behind her with a soft click.

Nabiki had watched her go with tears in her eyes.  "I know, Ranma."  
Her reply was soft, but her voice was thick with emotion.  "I'm sorry 
too...  For a lot of things."

****  ####  ****

Akane found Ranma in the dojo that evening after supper.  He was 
working through a kata that was more a dance than an exercise - one 
pose dissolving fluidly into the next.  Akane just watched him for a 
time, admiring the way he moved, his calm precision, and the aura of 
quiet power that he seemed to radiate.  It was quite a contrast from 
the timid young girl that had kept shying away from her at the 
dinner table.

Akane shuddered.  Dinner had been a tense, almost painful affair.  
Despite the others' attempts to act like nothing had happened, Akane 
had still felt like a bug under a microscope.  She had not really felt 
comfortable trying to approach Ranma with the rest of the family 
present.  For her part, Ranma had seemed equally reluctant, even 
fearful.  She had remained silent throughout the entire meal, had 
eaten little, and would not meet anyone's gaze.

Ranma finished his exercise and toweled the sweat from his body.  
He moved to a corner of the dojo, sat down, facing the wall, and 
adopted a meditative position.  Taking a deep breath, Akane entered 
the training hall.  She had an apology to make.

"Ranma."

In the blink of an eye, the frightened girl from dinner was back.  
Ranma faced her, his back pressed to the wall, eyes wide, watching 
her warily.  Akane's heart tore at the sight.  Was this what she had 
done to him?  Was he really so afraid of her?  A voice in the back of 
her mind nagged at her... "Are you satisfied now?" it asked.

Akane came into the dojo slowly, trying her best to project a sense of 
peace and calm.  Moving to the centre of the training hall, Akane 
knelt on the floor facing him, and put her hands in her lap.  Ranma 
twitched once, but held his ground.

"Ranma... I am so sorry.  I... I never wanted to hurt you."

Ranma settled into more of a sitting position, but he kept his back 
against the wall.  "Do you think that it feels *good* to be hit with 
flying barbells?"  Ranma asked guardedly.

Akane hung her head.  "No.  Of course not.  I was angry - I wasn't 
thinking.  I... I am very much ashamed of what I did."

Ranma was silent, waiting for her to continue.

"I just saw you rooting in that drawer, and... and I didn't know what 
you were up to.  I don't even know what I thought you *might* be 
doing.  After having had Happousai around for so long, I just..."

Ranma's eyes went wide again. "You're comparing me to that... that 
old freak?"  Akane winced at the hurt in his voice.

"No!  It's not that!  It's just...  Why?  Why didn't you just *explain* 
what you were doing?"

"Akane... when have you *ever* heard me out before clobbering me?  
I tried!  But you didn't give me a chance, did you?  You just jumped 
to a conclusion, and started throwing!"  Ranma turned his gaze to the 
floor.  "Besides.  It was supposed to be a surprise."

"It was that," Akane said dryly.

"You found it then?"

"Kasumi did."

"Did you... did you like it?"

"I haven't opened it... I wasn't sure... I wasn't sure that you would 
still want me to have it."

"I bought it for you."

"Oh, Ranma... will you... *can* you ever forgive me?"

Ranma stared into his wife's eyes for a long moment before he said 
anything.  Finally, he nodded.  "There is," he said, "a condition."

Akane nodded.  "Name it."

"The next time something like this happens, I want you to promise 
me that you'll *listen* before you decide to hit me.  Promise me that 
you'll at least hear my side of it first.  Okay?"

"I promise.  I... I don't ever want to come this close to losing you 
again."

After a moment, Ranma smiled tentatively and said.  "Why don't you 
go open your present?  I'll be up as soon as I bathe."

##  ***  ##

Sitting in the tub, Ranma let the heat soak in and burn away the 
tension of the days events.  There was still a tightness in his chest, 
but Tofu-sensei had assured him that it would be gone soon.

Ranma hoped that Akane would like her present.  This was not the 
way he would have chosen to give it to her - he had hoped that he 
could surprise her with it.  But maybe it would be better this way.  
Akane had promised to listen to him the next time.

If she would just do that - if she would hear what he had to say 
before she started to pound him, then she would see.  She would see 
that he DID love her - and that it wasn't his fault.  All it would take 
would be that one time, and the others would follow.

Ranma sighed to himself.  Yes, that was the answer.  The next time, 
Akane was going to listen before she hit him.  He would make sure of 
that.  Then everything would be okay again.  Ranma got out of the 
tub and toweled himself off.  Shrugging into his yukata, he headed 
upstairs feeling better than he had in weeks.

*****  ##  ***  ##  *****

The next couple of weeks were frantic indeed.  Finals, and the college 
entry exams were all coming up, and everyone was scrambling to get 
ready.  Even Ranma was spending most of his time studying.  And so 
a peculiar quiet descended upon the Tendou home.

Long hours, lots of tea, and piles of books became standard operating 
procedure.  For the N'th time, Ranma thought as he was studying his 
algebra, he wished there were such a thing as 'Martial Arts Maths'.

For the time being, he and Akane were getting along well, as long as 
the topics did not stray from their studies.  She helped him with his 
English and algebra, while he helped her with geometry.  Ranma's 
martial arts training had given him a good grasp of spatial relations.  
They worked out the calculus together.

Chemistry, physics, history, economics... there was *so* much to be 
studied that Ranma and Akane simply didn't have the time to be at 
each other's throats for once.  Strained as the relative silence was, 
those who were not tearing their hair out over upcoming exams were 
reveling in it.  They knew that it would be over all too soon.

When the tests finally came, they were something of an anticlimax.  
At first, Akane had been worried - they had been too easy.  She just 
knew that she had made major blunders on all of them, so she 
tended to be a little snappish while they were all waiting for the 
results.  For once, Ranma read her mood correctly, and made an 
effort to stay out of her way.  Though he *did* leave her a rose and a 
small box of her favourite chocolates on her pillow one night.  She 
decided that she would forgive him for that.

When the results were finally posted, the wave of relief that Akane 
felt was almost a physical force.  She had consistently scored in the 
98th percentile on all of her tests.  While there were one or two 
schools in Japan that would want better marks, they were more than 
adequate to get her into any school she was likely to want to attend.

Surprisingly, Ranma had also done very well.  His marks were not as 
good as Akane's, but he didn't have one below the 85th percentile.  
Several of them were even in the 90's.  Ranma's attitude was 
noncommittal.  Not a stellar performance, he decided, but he could 
live with it.

In reality, Ranma was just as relieved as Akane.  He knew that he 
had not been as diligent in school as he might have been, though he 
really did not expect to need what they had to teach for his chosen 
career.  He already had the training in the Art, and was learning 
more every day.

The night that the last of the exam scores were posted, there was a 
party at the dojo.  The mood was celebratory as Ranma and Akane 
were finally able to relax somewhat, and bask in the glow of their 
achievements.  It would start again all too soon if one, or both of 
them actually elected to attend college.

Ranma was happy for Akane - he knew how much she hated to do 
housework, and suspected that she would choose to go to college, if 
only to have career options besides being a martial arts instructor or 
a housewife.  An image of Akane in the kitchen flashed through his 
mind and he smiled.  Yes, college would be a good choice for Akane.

For his own part, Ranma suspected that he would continue teaching 
his classes at the dojo for the time being.  If he changed his mind and 
decided to go to college after all, there was always the next year.  
The hard part was behind him.  At least, he hoped it was.  He glanced 
at Akane, who was in a corner with one of her friends laughing.  It 
was good to see her smile again.  He hoped that it would continue, 
now that exams were over.

*****  ##  ***  ##  *****

It was late afternoon, and the rains had come to wash away the heat 
and dust of the day.  Occasional thunderclaps rumbled for attention, 
adding a base note to the gentle rhythm of the falling rain.

Ranma was relaxing in the tub, letting his mind wander as the heat 
soaked into sore muscles.  Why, he asked himself for the thousandth 
time, couldn't that old crone just realise that it was over?  That she 
had lost.  That there was no way he was going to marry Shampoo.  
What had the two of them hoped to gain by that stunt?  Ranma 
shook his head in disgust.

At least Shampoo had possessed the good sense to have been 
embarrassed about it afterwards.  Ranma was starting to feel that he 
had misjudged her... there was a *lot* more to the Amazon princess 
than met the eye.  He was sure that she'd be a lot happier if she 
could just get away from the old hag.  Ranma could not help feeling 
regret at the way Nabiki had insured her lack of interference at the 
wedding.  It had worked, but it had not been... honourable.

He was dimly aware that someone had entered the changing room, 
but it didn't really register until he heard Akane's voice shatter the 
calm.  "What in God's name is that *smell*?"

Ranma listened as Akane began rooting through the clothes bins 
until, finally, she thought to check the waste basket.  Oboy, thought 
Ranma.  Here it comes.  Almost as if by magic, Akane's shout 
followed that thought.

"Ranma!"  The door to the changing room was slid aside so forcefully 
that it almost jumped its track.  Akane stood framed in the opening, 
waving the shredded remains of one of Ranma's Chinese shirts in one 
hand while she covered her nose with the other.  For the second time 
that day, Ranma's senses were assaulted by the overpowering scent 
of cheap perfume and wet cat.  He shuddered.

"And just what is *this*?!" Akane bellowed at him.

Ranma blinked.  "That," he said carefully, "is what is left of one of my 
favourite shirts."

"You know," said Akane through clenched teeth, "what I meant.  Just 
what happened?  Why does it smell like a Chinese cathouse?"

Ranma flinched at Akane's choice of words, and tried to sink a little 
lower in the tub.

Dropping the tattered rag back in the wastebasket, Akane stalked 
towards the tub.  "I'll bet Shampoo had something to do with this. It 
was that Amazon bimbo again, wasn't it?"

"Now, Akane, you're not being fair.  You know what her grandmother 
is like!"

"So!  It *was* Shampoo!"

Ranma froze for an instant, then, reluctantly, he nodded.  "Yeah.  It 
was Shampoo.  I tried to..."

Akane reacted on instinct. "You pervert!  You're married now!  You're 
married to *me*!"  She aimed a vicious punch for Ranma's nose.

The blow never connected.  Ranma intercepted it, catching her fist in 
his hand.  Akane snarled wordlessly and threw another punch with 
her free hand.  Again, Ranma caught the blow.  "Hey!  You promised 
that you would listen to me for once, before you tried to beat me to a 
pulp.  Don't you remember that?"

Akane glared at him and tried to draw her fists back to strike again, 
but his grip was iron.  "You promised," he reminded her again.  
Sullenly, she nodded her acquiescence.

After studying her for a moment, Ranma nodded and released her 
hands.  She drew up the stool, adjusted the sash on her yukata, sat 
down by the tub, and waited for him to continue.

Akane remained expressionless as Ranma related the day's events.  
At several points during the narrative, Ranma had paused, as if 
waiting for Akane to say something, but she remained silent.  Ranma 
would shrug, and resume his explanation.  He told her everything; he 
left out no detail, no matter how small.

After he finished his story, he leaned back and waited.  Akane just 
sat there, staring at him, saying nothing.  Ranma was starting to get a 
bit annoyed and was about to say something when Akane got up and 
headed for the door.  She paused for a moment, and looked back at 
him, but he could tell nothing from her expression.  Then she flipped 
off the lights, and left the room, closing the door behind her.

"Well.  *That* went well..." said Ranma to himself.

##  ***  ##

Ranma sat alone, in the darkness, thinking.  Why was she so mad at 
him?  He hadn't done anything!  Heck, he'd been trying to get *away* 
from Shampoo.  It just wasn't fair!  She never believed him - even 
those times when she had seen it with her own eyes.  Why?

He had told her the truth - as he always had.  She had not wanted to 
listen at first - she never did.  But Ranma was determined that, for 
once, he would have his chance for a full explanation.  For once he 
was going to have his say before he let her pound him.  He had 
promised his mother that the fighting would stop.  If only he could 
get Akane to listen to him - to understand that it hadn't been his 
fault - it would all be all right.

So he had told her the truth - and what had it gotten him?

Ranma sighed to himself.  He would be a long time forgetting the look 
on Akane's face when he had caught her punch.  The burst of anger, 
the grim set of determination, and the second fist had come for him.  
He'd caught that one too - and Akane had agreed, reluctantly, to 
listen.  But the look on her face had hurt him more than her blows 
ever could.  There had been a flash of such anger, of such rage that it 
had bordered on hatred.  In a way, Ranma wished that he'd just let 
the blows land as he always had.

Despite the heat of the water, Ranma shivered.  Now he had hurt 
Akane.  Again.  Ranma got out of the tub, and dried himself off.  He 
dressed in a clean set of clothes and followed after his wife.  Maybe 
if he told her that he was sorry, he could repair the damage.  He 
hoped so.

##  ***  ##

Ranma came up quietly behind Akane.  Then he realised what she 
was doing.  All thoughts about apologies vanished from his mind, 
replaced by another hurt; an older hurt that was no less painful for 
its familiarity.

"Checking up on me?" he asked.

"You didn't really expect me to believe that story, did you?"

"As it happens, I did.  It was the truth!  You don't trust me at all, do 
you?"

"Well..."  She looked up at her husband - and flinched when she saw 
the hurt in his eyes.  "Ranma..." she started to say.

Ranma took a step back.  "Do you really think so little of me?  Do you 
think that I would make *up* a story like that?  That I would lie to 
my wife?"

Akane started to get defensive.  "Well, your father certainly..." she 
began to say, regretting the words the instant she spoke them.

Ranma stiffened.  Akane could almost see the shields he was putting 
up, the barriers that were once more rising between them.  The 
barriers that were shutting her out.  Why did it always have to be 
this way?  She started to reach for him, but he retreated from her.

Ranma's tone was cold.  "I," he said quietly, "am *not* my father."

Ranma spun on his heel, and was gone.

Akane almost went after him.  Almost.  Instead, she sighed and 
turned back to the phone.  She wanted to believe Ranma.  More than 
anything, she wanted to believe that he had told her the truth, and 
that there really was no reason for her to be angry with him.  But 
when it came right down to it, she just could not.  This sort of thing 
just happened far too frequently for her to believe that it was all 
innocent.

But every time she had checked his stories out in the past, they had 
been true.  Why couldn't she just give him the benefit of the doubt?  
Why not believe what he told her?  Ranma had told her on countless 
occasions that he was not interested in Shampoo...  Was it so hard to 
believe that he might have meant it?

An image of the bubbly amazon bounced through Akane's mind.  
Shampoo had a supple grace and an exotic beauty that she could not 
hope to match.  Whenever she compared herself to Shampoo, she 
always felt so plain... positively dowdy by contrast.

Of course Ranma was interested in her.  What man wouldn't be?  
What kind of fool did he take her for?  Angrily, Akane seized the 
handset on the phone and dialed the first number on her list.

Half an hour later, Akane hung up the phone and sighed.  Ranma had 
told her the absolute truth.  Again.  For a moment she almost wished 
that he had been lying - then maybe she wouldn't feel so bad for 
having doubted him.

##  ***  ##

A gentle rain was still falling when Akane found Ranma in the dojo, 
sitting quietly by himself, staring into the nothingness.  The remains 
of two training dummies and almost an entire pallet of concrete 
blocks lay scattered where they had fallen.  Ranma had been very 
upset indeed.

"Ranma..."  The figure before her tensed, but made no other response.

"Ranma..." she said again.  "I'm sorry.  I didn't mean to hurt you like 
that.  It's not... it's not that I don't trust you..."

"Isn't it?"  Ranma's voice was almost a whisper.  "Hasn't that been a 
part of the problem between us since the day we met?  You've 
*never* trusted me."

Akane remembered *that* day well.  "It might not have been, if you 
had told me that you were a boy from the beginning..."

"And you would have believed that?"

Irritation washed through Akane.  "That's not fair!  You never gave 
me a *chance* to trust you, let alone a reason!"

Ranma sighed.  "Look.  I know that I was difficult to deal with back 
then.  But I never wanted to hurt you."

Akane started to interrupt, but thought better of it when she saw 
Ranma's expression.

"You have to understand...  I was angry, confused.  This... *curse*," 
Ranma fairly spat the word, "this curse was still new.  And the first 
time Pop ever *mentioned* any engagement, we were almost to your 
house.  I only found out about it a few minutes before you did."

The memories of that day flowed past her mind's eye.  She was 
starting to get mad again just thinking about it.

Ranma, sensing her mood, shifted the topic.  "Do you have any idea 
how much it meant to me, that first day, when you asked if I wanted 
to be your friend?  How much I wanted that friendship... *needed* 
that friendship?"

Akane looked surprised.  Ranma looked at the floor again.

"And after our sparring session... do you remember what you said?"

"About how glad I was that you were a girl?  That I was glad that 
you weren't a boy?"

Ranma nodded glumly.  "After that... what was I supposed to say?  
There was no way for me to win.  And when you found out that I 
*was* a boy..."  Ranma seemed to sag.

Akane flinched as the pain in his voice struck her.  "Ranma..."

"Akane, tell me.  Have I lied to you since we've been married?  Have 
I ever given you a reason to doubt me?"

That caught Akane off guard.  "What?!  Of course you have!  Lots of 
times!"  she retorted.

Ranma just looked at her sadly.  "Have I?  When?  Just give me one 
example."

"What do you...?"

"A single event will do.  Name just one time that you can show that I 
lied to you."

Akane gaped at him.  The thousand and one examples that were 
always on the tip of her tongue seemed to have deserted her.  She 
could not come up with a single instance.  She could feel the rage 
starting to build inside her.

"You see?"  Ranma's tone was as mournful as his expression.  "You've 
been so angry at me ever since you found out that I was really a boy 
that you've never given me a chance to explain anything."  Ranma 
paused.  "And when you *did* hear what I was saying, it was always 
when I managed to put my foot in my mouth..."

"Well, *that* happens often enough," Akane replied, glad to be back 
on familiar ground.

Ranma shot her a dark look, but it did not change the wistful tone in 
his voice.  "Then there are the times that you let that anger go.  It 
doesn't happen often anymore, but in those moments you are so 
beautiful..."

Akane looked at him in shock.  "Ranma..."

Ranma looked wearily up at her.  "Does that really surprise you so 
much?" he asked.  He shook his head.  "Our fathers arranged this 
marriage.  They made a LOT of mistakes along the way.  But I didn't 
marry you because of them.  I didn't marry you because of Mom."  
He paused.

"Then why..." began Akane.

"Dammit, Akane, I married you because I lo... I lo... oh hell.  I married 
you because I LOVE you!  I love you more than anything or anyone 
else in this world!  And I thought... I had hoped... that maybe you 
loved me too."  Ranma got to his feet, gave Akane one more sad look, 
and heedless of the rain, walked out of the training hall and into the 
night.

Akane was left doing a fair impersonation of a goldfish.  Her eyes 
were wide, her mouth would open and then snap shut, but she made 
no sound.  Those words... that admission had come hard for Ranma.  
For an instant, the shields had come down.  He had at last started to 
really share his feelings with her.  She had waited so long for this 
moment; prayed so hard for it; now it had finally come...

And she had spoiled it.

##  ***  ##

Damn!  Was it always going to be like this?  Were she and Ranma 
destined always to be at each other's throats?  She had known that 
he loved her - she had known for a long time.  But she had never 
been able to admit it to herself, any more than she had been able to 
admit her love for him.  There were still times that she was sure it 
was all an illusion - that none of what she felt was real.  It was all so 
very confusing!

Akane was beginning to feel like she was in over her head.  She 
needed to talk to someone.  She needed to get some advice.  With a 
sigh, she headed back into the house.  Maybe Kasumi would be able 
to help her.

Kasumi, however, was not at home.  A note in the kitchen said that 
she had gone to do the shopping, and run some other errands, and 
that she would be back directly, with dinner.  Akane hesitated for a 
moment, and then headed for Nabiki's room.  If she didn't talk to 
*someone*, she was afraid that her head would explode.

##  ***  ##

Nabiki was sprawled on her bed with her nose buried in a manga 
when there was a knock at the door.  "Come in," she called.

The door opened, and hesitant footfalls sounded as someone walked 
over to the chair at her desk.  The chair squeaked as the person sat 
down.  Then there was silence until Nabiki reached the end of the 
chapter in her manga, and turned to face her visitor.

"Akane!  What's wrong?" she asked.

Akane just sat there for a few moments, as if trying to collect her 
thoughts.  Finally, she said, "It's Ranma."

Might have known, thought Nabiki.  "Don't you ever get tired of 
fighting with Ranma?"

"I wasn't fighting with him!" Akane said, a little defensively.  "Ranma 
won't fight me anymore."

Nabiki blinked.  "And this disturbs you?  If he won't fight you, then 
why do you pound on him so?

"He's always making fun of me - causing trouble.  And he keeps 
sneaking around with other women!"

"Other women? What other women?"

"Ukyou, mostly!"

"Ukyou is his friend, right?  He probably doesn't even think of her as 
a woman.  Why do you object to him visiting her?"

"Because he spends more time with her than he spends with me."

"First of all, that's not true, and you know it."

"Okay, maybe not, but he spends an awful LOT of time with her!"

Nabiki was getting exasperated.  "Maybe he'd spend more time with 
you if you would quit kicking him out of the house!  If you weren't 
always hitting him, or yelling at him!"

"Hey!  Just whose side are you on, anyway?"

"I'm not on any side.  I want to see you two get along.  I want some 
peace around here for a change!"  Nabiki tried another tack.  "Akane, 
I wasn't your first choice to talk to about this, was I?"

"What?  Sure you..."

"Akane, I know better.  You went looking for Kasumi first, didn't 
you?"

After the briefest of hesitations, Akane nodded guiltily.

"Do you want to know why?"

Akane blinked.  Wasn't that supposed to have been her line?  "I just 
figured that she would have more time to talk..." Akane started to 
say.

Nabiki shook her head.  "Nope.  You went looking for Kasumi because 
you knew that she would pat you on the head, tell you not to worry, 
and that everything would be all right.  And I won't do that."

"That's not fair!"

"Isn't it?  I know that Ranma can be a jerk some of the time..."

"A LOT of the time!"

"Fine.  A lot of the time.  But he is not the sole cause of all of your 
problems."

"What's *that* supposed to mean?  I thought that you were going to 
help me!"

Nabiki sighed.  "Akane... you came to me for advice.  I'm trying to 
give it to you, but I'm not going to sugar coat things like Kasumi does.  
You have to take some of the responsibility here.  You can't keep 
blaming Ranma for everything.  You have to meet him half way."

"Why are you defending him?"

Nabiki had had enough.  "I'm *not* defending him!  But I know how 
the poor bastard feels!  I know what it's like to have everyone doubt 
your word - to have everyone suspicious of anything that you do or 
say.  I'm not proud of that, but I know who's fault it is!"

"Nabiki!"

"Dammit, Akane, listen to me.  You have *got* to learn to learn that 
you are the only one who can control yourself.  You can't blame it on 
someone else if you can't control your own temper."

Akane started to get up, fists clenching and a dark expression on her 
face.  She took a step toward her sister, but Nabiki froze her with a 
look.  "What are you gonna do, sis?  Hit me?  Will that make you feel 
better?"

Akane dropped back into the chair, an expression of stunned horror 
on her face.  "Hit you?  I almost...  I... I'm sorry, Nabiki..."

"There, do you see what I mean?  You were about to lose it again.  
Whose fault would it have been?  Mine?  Ranma's?"

"Yes, I see your point."  Akane shuddered and hung her head.

"Do you?  You didn't hit me - but you *do* hit Ranma.  All the time.  
Why should he want to spend his time getting pounded?"

"But he *deserves* it!"

"Does he?  How do you know?  You're never going to get along with 
Ranma the way you want to until you learn to listen to him.  You've 
got to learn to trust him."

"But how can I trust him?  How can I know that he's telling me the 
truth?"

"You have to take it on faith, Akane.  That's what trust is all about.  I 
can only tell you that for as long as I've known Ranma, he has never 
done anything to deliberately hurt you.  Not deep down.  He loves 
you, and he always has."

"Do you... do you really think so?"

Nabiki smiled.  "I know so."

"Maybe you're right..."  Akane slumped miserably in the chair.  "Oh, 
God, I've really messed things up now.  The last thing he said to me 
tonight was that he loved me.  He said it, Nabiki.  I heard him.  He 
finally said it."  Akane looked like she was about ready to cry.  "Now 
it may be too late."

"Akane, it is *not* too late.  I've told you before, you just need to 
open up a little.  You've got it pretty good, if you'd just open your 
eyes and see it."

****  ####  ****

*Ring*

"Damn!  Konatsu, can you take over here for a second?  Thanks."  
Ukyou grabbed for the receiver.  "Ucchan's Okonomiyaki Ya!  How 
can I help you?  Kasumi?  No, I haven't seen him for a couple of days.  
Why?  What's going on?"

Ukyou listened for a few moments, and her brow began to furrow.  
"That's not like him... have you tried the Neko-Hanten?"  A pause.  "I 
see.  Okay, Kasumi.  Don't worry.  I'll see what I can do.  Ja."

Ukyou hung up the phone and turned to see Konatsu regarding her 
with a curious expression.  "Ran-chan's missing." she said in answer 
to his unvoiced question.  "He missed dinner.  Apparently, he and 
Akane had a bit of a... disagreement this afternoon, and Ranma left.  
No one has seen him since."

Ukyou took off her apron and reached for a light jacket.  Then she 
buckled on her bandoleer of throwing spatulas.  For a moment, she 
considered taking her combat spatula, but decided to leave it behind.  
She turned back to Konatsu.  "Take care of the place, will you?  If 
Kasumi calls again, tell her that I'll bring Ranma home as soon as I 
find him."  At the kunoichi's nod, she walked out into the rain to 
begin her search.

##  ***  ##

Ukyou searched for hours.  Ranma was nowhere to be found.  He was 
not under his favourite bridge, he wasn't near the school, he wasn't 
in the park - none of his friends from school had seen any trace of 
him.  Ukyou widened her search pattern, and started checking in 
every open eating or drinking establishment that she could find.  She 
checked the kissatens, the pubs, the beer halls, and the bars.

Finally, over five hours after Kasumi had first called her, Ukyou's 
persistence paid off.  She had come across a seedy little cabaret on 
the south side of the district called the Cha Cha Maru.  She walked up 
to the bar, and asked the master the same questions that she had 
been asking all night.

Had he seen a dark-haired young man with a pig tail?  No, he hadn't.  
However, when she asked if he had seen a redheaded *girl* with a 
pig tail, she was directed to a little back corner booth, all but hidden 
in the shadows.  When she reached the indicated booth, Ukyou was a 
little shocked by the sight that greeted her.

Something inside Ranma had broken.  She looked okay physically, 
but a bit of the spark was gone, and there was a weariness about her 
that went well beyond her years.  Her face was flushed, her eyes 
were red and puffy, and it was apparent that she had been crying.  
Judging from the number of sake bottles on the table in front of her, 
she was more than a little sloshed.

Ranma didn't even look up; she just waved an empty bottle listlessly, 
and muttered, "Another one, please."

Ukyou eased into the booth, opposite Ranma.  "Don't you think you've 
had enough?"

Ranma looked blearily up at her visitor.  After a moment, her eyes 
seemed to clear a bit, and recognition dawned.  "Ucchan!  'sgreat!  
Pull up a seat an' siddown.  'ave a drink!"  Ranma started to pass a 
sake bottle toward Ukyou, then noticed that it was empty.  She 
frowned at it.  "'sfunny... coulda sworn it was full a minute ago..."  
Rapping the tabletop with the empty bottle, Ranma called the 
waitress.

While they were waiting for the waitress to return with more sake, 
Ukyou asked, "So.  What's up?  What are you doing here?"

Ranma smiled drunkenly.  "'m havin' a party!  'm celebratin'!"

"Really?  What's the occasion?"

"Finally told her, didn't I?  Yup!  Finally told her, I did!"

"Told her?  Told who?  What did you tell her, Ran-chan?"

"Told *Akane*.  Finally told her.  Told her I loved her, I did."  There 
was a pause, and Ranma seemed to fall in on herself, collapsing like a 
poorly inflated balloon.  "She didn't believe me.  She *never* believes 
me."

"Ran-chan..."

Ranma hiccoughed and wagged a finger.  "'S'not like I'm like Pop... 
nope.  Nothing like the ol' man.  But ya can't tell *her* that... oh, no!  
The high an' mighty miss Akane can do no wrong - and lil' ol' Ranma 
can never be right.  's'a perfeck match, inn't it?"  She paused to take 
a breath.

"What do I have to do, Ucchan?  Why won't she trust me?"  Tears 
welled up in the redhead's eyes.  "She never believes me...  I've tried 
so hard... but no matter what I do... she still won't take anything I 
say on faith..."

Ukyou had no idea what to say.  A silence descended over the little 
booth, and the waitress returned with another supply of sake.  After 
she left, Ranma took one of the bottles, and drained half of it in one 
gulp.

Ranma looked imploringly at her friend.  "I didn't *do* anything, 
Ucchan!  I swear, I didn't!  It was the truth!  Only an idiot would 
make up a story like that!"

"Whoa, I believe you, Ran-chan!"

"There, ya see?  I tol' her it was the truth, but no..."  The sake bottle 
in Ranma's hand exploded as she tightened her grip.  She didn't even 
notice.  "Whatever happens... it's always my fault.  It's always my 
fault...  my fault..."  Tears were flowing freely now.  "I don't know 
what to do anymore..." she said in a small voice.

Ukyou reached across the table, and took hold of Ranma's hands.  
"The first thing we do, Ran-chan, is get you home."

Panic filled Ranma's eyes.  "Home?  No... no... can't go there.  Akane... 
she's there.  It would be bad..."

Ukyou sighed.  "You could stay at the Ucchan, if you want.  There's a 
spare room in the back."

For the first time since she had found her, something like the ghost 
of a smile passed over Ranma's features.  "Thanks, Ucchan... I 
appreci... appreeshi... I'm grateful for the offer.  But you know as well 
as I do what Akane would do if she ever found out about *that*..."  
Ranma picked up another little bottle and tossed back its contents.

"Where else can you go?"

Ranma looked glum.  "I'm doomed..."  A brief flare of hope.  "I could 
live under the bridge for a while..."  Her face fell.  "No, I guess not."  
A heavy sigh.  "I really don't have a choice, do I?"

Ukyou smiled sadly.  "Now, Ran-chan.  You *know* that I can't 
answer that one for you."

"'S'not like it matters anyway..." Ranma's tone was bitter.  "It's never 
gonna be any different... it's never gonna change, is it?  She'll never 
trust me, no matter *what* I do.  'S'not fair!"  Ranma sniffled loudly 
and wiped her eyes on the back of her sleeve.

Ukyou's heart ached to see the emptiness in her friend's expression.  
Ranma had given up hope.  Not knowing what else to do, she 
squeezed Ranma's hand and said, "C'mon, Ran-chan.  Let's go home.  
It'll be better in the morning.  You'll see."  She hoped that the words 
would be true, but deep down, she doubted it.

Ranma nodded resignedly, and got to her feet.  As soon as she was 
out of her seat, she was starting to fall.  She caught herself on the 
table, and waited for the dizziness to pass.  Then, with Ukyou's help, 
she staggered up toward the bar and paid her tab.

They had just made it out of the bar, when Ranma spoke up again, 
her voice strained. "Ucchan?"

"Yes, Ran-chan?"

"M'gonna be sick..."

****  ####  ****

Five o'clock in the morning.  Normal people were all asleep, thought 
Ukyou disgustedly.  She sighed, and shifted her burden to the other 
shoulder.  Even as a girl Ran-chan could get heavy after a few miles.  
Fortunately, the dojo was just ahead.

Two blocks later, she was standing in the entryway to the Tendou 
home.  She hoped that there would be someone up...  She didn't want 
to be responsible for waking anyone, but she had made a promise.  
Hesitantly, she knocked at the door.

Seconds later, Kasumi answered.  Ukyou blinked.  Kasumi was not 
only up, but was dressed and acting as if she'd *been* up for hours.  
Did this woman never sleep?  Shrugging mentally, Ukyou smiled and 
said, "Good morning, Kasumi. I found her."

Kasumi smiled warmly and beckoned Ukyou into the house.  "Thank 
you, Ukyou.  You are a good friend to Ranma.  Would you bring him 
this way, please?"  She led Ukyou into the house, and to a vacant 
room on the first floor.  Ukyou set her load on the futon as gently as 
she could, then stood and stretched to relieve the cramping in her 
aching muscles.  Kasumi had set about tending to Ranma.

Walking to the end of the room, Ukyou sat down on a chest to rest 
and catch her breath before making the trip back to the restaurant, 
and her own apartment.  She was grateful that she didn't open until 
eleven.  Not that it mattered - she was planning on letting Konatsu 
handle the morning shift.  She was going to *sleep*.

There was a patter of footsteps outside the room, and the door 
opened to reveal a very worried looking Akane.  "Kasumi?  I thought 
that I heard voices..."  She trailed off as she caught sight of the figure 
on the futon.  "Ranma!" she cried, running forward.

Gently, Kasumi intercepted her sister's charge.  "Now, Akane... you 
must let Ranma sleep.  Unless I miss my guess, he has had rather a 
lot to drink and will, no doubt, be feeling the effects."  She looked 
briefly to Ukyou, who nodded confirmation.

Akane noticed Ukyou for the first time.  Her expression darkened, as 
she added two and two to make a well rounded five.  "So," she said, 
her voice dripping acid.  "She spent the night with you, did she?  I 
might have known it.  And to think that I was *worried* about the 
pervert."

"Hey, hey, calm down," said Ukyou.  "She wasn't with me.  I found 
her in a bar a couple of hours ago."

"You think that I'm gonna believe that?"

Ukyou shrugged.  "It's the truth.  There are witnesses, if you'd like.  
Though I'm beginning to see why Ranma was so upset."

"Then what took you so long to get her here?" Akane growled.

"Akane!" exclaimed Kasumi, scandalized.  "Don't be so rude!  Ukyou 
has been very helpful."

Ukyou stood wearily, and headed for the door.  "It's okay, Kasumi.  
Some things will never change, will they?"  She turned to Akane.  
"For your information, Mrs. Saotome, your husband over there was 
drinking herself into a stupor because she's convinced that you don't 
love her, and that you don't trust her.  If I were you, I'd be thinking 
about how I was going to convince her otherwise.

"And as for 'what took so long to get here,' I carried her back here 
over two and a half miles."  Ukyou was out of the room and on her 
way out the door before Akane had a chance to start thinking of a 
clever response.

*****  ##  ***  ##  *****

END PART ONE