Centaur

a Ranma 1/2 fanfiction by Vince Seifert (seifertv@csus.edu)

Ranma 1/2 characters and situations are copyright 1987, 1999
by Takahashi Rumiko.  Publishing rights (Japan) by Shogakukan
Inc.  Publishing rights (North America) by Viz Inc.  This work
is not intended to infringe those rights.

Chapter 4: The Thrill of Victory

     ~~~~~

     "Saotome Akane-san."  Kogara-sensei pulled a test paper out
of the sheaf she carried and handed it to Akane.  Akane glanced
at the red-circled number on the front, grimaced, and quickly
placed the paper face-down on her desk rather than paging through
it to see what she'd gotten wrong.

     "Saotome Ranma-san."  The teacher returned Ranma's test and
moved on.

     "Eighty-nine?!  All RIGHT!"  Ranma looked around at the
faces turned her way, some annoyed, some amused.  "Oops--"

     "While I sympathize with your enthusiasm, Ranma-san, I
really must insist that you try to contain it until after class,"
Kogara said dryly.  "Unless you want to go stand in the hall,
that is."

     "Uh, not really, Sensei," Ranma replied, chastened.

     "Very well."  Ranma thought she saw Kogara wink at her as
she turned away to continue distributing the papers, but that
couldn't be... could it?

     ~~~~~

     "Wow!  89!" Ranma bubbled to Akane as they left the
classroom at lunchtime.  "Jeez, I never got an 89 before!  What'd
you get, huh?"

     "I don't want to talk about it," Akane said tightly, looking
straight ahead.

     Ranma didn't take the hint.  "C'mon, you must have got a
better score than me.  What, 92?  95?"  She belatedly noticed the
way Akane's lips were thinning.  "Whoa, you mean you didn't?  Now
I REALLY wanna know--"

     "I got an 85!  All right?!  Can we forget about it now?!"
Akane quickened her pace, but Ranma kept up with her easily.

     "Woo-hoo!  All that studying finally paid off!" she caroled,
dancing around Akane.  "89!  I finally did better than--"  WHAM!
"--you.  Ow."

     By the time Ranma had pried herself off the wall, Akane was
gone.  Ranma ran after her, figuring that she was heading for the
usual place outside where they ate when weather permitted, but
when she arrived in the courtyard Akane was conspicuously absent.
Someone else was there, though.  "Hey, Michi, seen Akane?" Ranma
greeted her friend.

     "I thought she was with you," Michi said, looking up from
her lunch.  "Isn't she always?"  She grinned and cocked a sly
eyebrow.

     "Ah, she's pissed at me 'cause I did better on a test than
she did," Ranma said, ignoring the eyebrow.  "I guess I better
find her.  Besides, she's got my lunch.  Later!"  She dashed out
of the courtyard.

     The grounds of St. Hebereke's were extensive and well-
landscaped, but Ranma was swift and knew them well; she found
Akane after only a few minutes, sitting in a secluded spot by a
small fountain decorated with a stone faun.  Had the school not
been a girls' school, it might have been a favored venue for
couples; as it was, Akane had it to herself.  She held out a
lunchbox as Ranma approached, but didn't look at her or say
anything.

     Ranma eyed the lunchbox; it suddenly occurred to her that if
she said one wrong word, it would be ammunition rather than
sustenance.  Hunger won out over outrage; she took the box, sat
beside Akane, and opened the lid.  *Oh, good, curry.*  Akane's
lunches hadn't made anyone sick for quite a while, but there were
still some things she did better than others.  Ranma dug in.

     "So, um, how come you didn't do so good?" Ranma asked
cautiously once the food was safe.

     "I don't know.  I think it was when we were studying Chinese
geography.  You started telling that outrageous story about the
time you got stuck in Shanghai, and I started tickling you, and
then... well, it was fun, but it didn't help my grade much."

     "Didn't hurt mine any," Ranma said cheerfully.

     "Well, you knew most of the stuff on the test already from
going there.  All you had to do was write it down the right way."

     "Yeah, and I'm getting pretty good at that."  Akane huffed
at her.  "What?"

     "If you're getting better, maybe it's because I'm helping
you, and I wish you'd appreciate it a little more!"

     Ranma frowned.  "Well, I wish you'd be proud that I got a
decent score on a test, instead of getting all mad that you
didn't!"

     They stared at each other angrily for a moment, then
deflated simultaneously.

     "I am proud of you," Akane admitted.  "It's just... well,
now there's one more thing that you can do better than me, and
how many things can I do better than you?"

     "I wasn't keepin' count," Ranma said uncomfortably.  "And
it's prob'ly just this one test... like you said, this was
something I knew already, and you didn't study it, and how often
is that gonna happen?"

     "Not too often, I hope," Akane muttered.  "All right, you
can have this one."

     Ranma grinned.  "Gee, thanks."

     "And thanks for coming to find me," Akane said softly.  She
looked around for prying eyes, then clasped Ranma's hand for a
moment.

     "No problem," Ranma said, blushing.  "Besides, you had my
lunch...."

     Swat!  "Ba-a-ka."

     ~~~~~

     Akane knelt in the dojo with the parts of a shinai spread
out in front of her for inspection.  The four bamboo strips were
in good condition, so Akane reassembled the mock sword, finishing
by knotting the string that both indicated the back of the
springy "blade" and held the leather coverings of hilt and tip
together.

     "Dunno why you bother with that stuff."  Ranma balanced on
his head on the wooden floor nearby with his arms and legs
folded.  His upside-down expression was sour.

     "I like it," Akane said firmly, standing up and assuming
chudan-no-kamae, the middle guard stance.  "Ha!"  She struck at
the air with the shinai and nodded in satisfaction.  "And I'm
pretty good at it, too.  You remember that time I had a kendo
match with Kuno and he didn't know who I was?  I might have won
if you and Mariko hadn't interfered.  Combat Cheerleading,
indeed."

     "It's not Musabetsu Kakuto."

     "Maybe it's not Saotome-ryu, but it's definitely part of
Tendo-ryu.  I've always done kendo, and kenjutsu, and kyudo.
Father taught me yari and naginata, too."  Sword, bow, spear, and
polearm: all the old--

     "Weapons."  Ranma's voice was disgusted.  "A true martial
artist doesn't need weapons."

     Akane frowned at him.  "You'd better not be saying I'm not a
true martial artist, Ranma.  I don't NEED weapons, and you know
it.  But it's good to be able to use them."

     "Hey, I can use 'em!"

     "No, you just fake it brilliantly.  You'd use them better if
you practiced."  Akane lit up suddenly.  "I could teach you!"

     Ranma snorted.  "Forget it."

     Akane whirled and lunged, prodding Ranma hard in the hip
with the shinai to knock him off-balance.  "Hey!"  Ranma rolled
sideways and flipped to his feet.  "Wanna fight?" he grinned,
already in a stance.

     "Well, since you're offering, I'm tired of attacking air,"
Akane said, eyeing him past the tip of the shinai.  "Just stand
riiiiight there--  HA!"

     Ranma had been on the receiving end of Akane's pet shinai
before, but this time she was attacking with precision and
discipline.  He dodged and wove around the blows, but there was
nothing wild about them; Akane's skill and spirit blended to form
style that he couldn't help but admire.  Still....  Ranma
suddenly caught the shinai between two fingers and held it,
smirking.  "Now what?  Woop!"  He dodged Akane's side-kick.

     "Ranma, play fair!" Akane protested, straightening.

     Ranma half-smiled.  "Fair's when I win."  Akane's
exasperated look told him in no uncertain terms that she didn't
appreciate his wit, but her retort was interrupted by the dojo
door opening.

     "Scissors stop shinai?  Funny way to play janken," Nabiki
observed, sauntering into the dojo.

     "Tell HER that," Ranma said, releasing the shinai and
stepping back.  Akane huffed, but lowered the shinai.  "What's
up?" Ranma continued.

     "Oh, just playing postman."  Nabiki held out a folded-paper
envelope with characters written on it.  "For 'Saotome', from
Kuno-chan.  Not so fast," she chided Ranma, drawing back the
packet as he reached for it.  "It might be for Akane, after all."

     "Not likely," Akane said.  "I expect that idiot still thinks
my name is Tendo."  Nevertheless, she drew closer and peered over
Ranma's arm as he opened the packet and unfolded the letter
inside.

     Ranma read the letter, frowning.  He read it again.  "I
can't make sense of this," he admitted finally.  "What's he
talking about?"

     Akane was frowning too.  "Something about regaining his
honor... I think.  'Lost through deceitful trickery at that hell-
spawned travesty of a wedding'-- I hope he's not talking about
ME."

     "Better not be," Ranma said darkly.  "It looks like a letter
of challenge, though."

     "I suppose.  'Deceitful trickery'?  Ugh."  Akane looked at
Nabiki.  "Did he say anything, Onee-chan?"

     Nabiki shrugged.  "We were in math class and Kuno-chan
suddenly jumped up, stood on his chair, and shouted 'I can endure
this disgrace no longer!'  He got bucket-duty, of course.  I
guess he wrote this out in the hall, because when he came back in
he handed it to me and said 'Pray deliver this to that foul knave
who no longer dares show his face in the realm I defend.'  Or
something like that."

     Ranma gave Nabiki a flat-eyed look.  "Doesn't sound like he
meant it for Akane... Onee-chan."

     "Details, details," Nabiki said, waving a hand casually.
"So, what are you going to do about it?"

     "Well, I can't ignore a challenge," Ranma said, "but it'd be
nice to know what I was being challenged TO.  I guess I'll just
have to ask before I kick his ass."  He smirked.  "Not much point
in asking him afterward."

     "Fine," Akane agreed.  "I'll come too.  I want to have a
word with him about this 'travesty' business."

     ~~~~~

     Kuno Tatewaki regarded the cherry tree.  Its branches were
still bare from winter, but many swelling buds told him that the
cherry blossoms of spring were only a few days away.  A rain
shower had just passed, and the myriad droplets of water adorning
the tree sparkled in the afternoon sunlight.  Fortunately, his
contemplation of their beauty was not disturbed by the apartment
buildings looming over the Kuno estate; with the ease of long
practice he blotted them from his mind, imagining himself and his
cherry tree far from the upstart tenants of the city.

     He felt an attack of poetry coming on, but was interrupted
by approaching voices:

     "Dammit, why'd it have to rain NOW, of all times?"

     "Oh, stop it.  You're the one who didn't think we'd need an
umbrella."

     Kuno wheeled joyfully.  "My pigtailed goddess!  My fierce
tigress!  Too long have I wended my woeful way, bereft of your
divine companionship!  Too seldom of late have I beheld your
cheerful countenances!"

     Neither of their countenances were, in fact, particularly
cheerful at the moment; Ranma had a flat-eyed look of impatient
disgust on her face, and Akane appeared to be equally annoyed
with Kuno, Ranma, and the departing rain-cloud.  As Kuno rushed
up to them they separated, whirling to elude his glad embrace,
then rejoined in his wake.  "Oi, Kuno," Ranma said roughly,
"knock it off with the 'my' crap, hey?  We ain't 'your'
anythin'."

     Kuno beamed at her.  "Ah, it pleases thee to jest, and my
heart is lightened thereby."

     Ranma scowled.  "Look, Kuno--"

     "Never mind, Ranma," Akane interrupted.  "This isn't what we
came here for."

     "Whatever purpose brings two such lovely maidens to tarry in
my presence, pray name it that I may sing its praises."

     The two girls blinked at him.  "Um, right," Akane said,
recovering.  She held up the letter.  "You sent this--"

     "To Saotome, curse his black heart!" Kuno fumed, looking up
at the sky and gesturing with clawed fingers.  "The miscreant
holds the ancient symbol of my honor even now!  Worse, he
ensorcelled two innocent souls to accomplish his nefarious
bidding!  I hold this not against you," he told them, in a sudden
switch from rant to reassurance.  "Certes it was not your will,
but his."

     "What ARE you babbling about, you moron?" Ranma burst out.

     "My katana."

     "What?" Akane and Ranma said in unison.

     Kuno sighed patiently.  "At that-- that--"

     "'Hell-spawned travesty'?" Akane supplied as the subject of
the discussion began to dawn on her.

     "Even so," Kuno replied, nodding.  "Fulfilling your dark
master's foul command, you deprived me of the instrument of my
vengeance, and it remains in his ignoble keeping to this day.  I
can endure this disgrace no longer, and so I challenged the churl
to appear before me, that I may defeat him honorably and regain
that which is mine."

     Ranma and Akane exchanged a look of comprehension.  Kuno had
interrupted their second wedding much as he had the first, with
different results: undistracted by other agents of chaos, Akane
and Ranma had defeated him swiftly and decisively.  They'd
disposed of the unconscious youth, but kept his sword.

     "Alas, I see that the cur Saotome is too craven to respond,
and has sent a pair of frail flowers in his place," Kuno added.

     Both girls bridled at that.  "Ranma is NOT craven!" Akane
hissed.  "If you want a fight, you'll get one!  Not that you have
any chance of winning!"

     "Uh, Akane--" Ranma put in uncomfortably, struck by a sudden
thought.

     Akane turned to her.  "What?  He called you craven!  He
called ME a frail flower!"

     "Yeah, but there might be a... problem."

     Akane boggled.  "Problem?  He challenged you, you clobber
him.  What's the problem?"

     "Uh...."  Ranma glanced at Kuno, then back at Akane.  "Not
here, okay?"  She addressed Kuno.  "Uh, we need to, uh, confer
with our dark master.  We'll be in touch.  C'mon, Akane."  She
bounded off, but paused atop the wall of the Kuno estate to look
back impatiently.  "C'mon!"

     Akane grimaced, then glared up at Kuno.  "This is for
calling my wedding a travesty."  POW!  She raced after Ranma.

     Kuno sat up slowly and folded his arms.  "Ah, she has not
lost one iota of her fierceness," he remarked to the cherry tree.

     ~~~~~

     "So what's this problem?" Akane inquired, joining Ranma on
the street outside the Kuno estate.  "And why did you spout that
'dark master' silliness?"

     "Where's the katana?"

     "Well, how should I know?  I thought YOU had it."

     "Me?  What do I want with a katana?" Ranma snorted.

     "Trophy, you said, didn't you?  But what difference does it
make?"

     "He challenged me for the katana.  If I don't have the
katana, I can't accept his challenge.  And I don't have the
katana."

     "Oh, I see.  Even though you're sure to win, it's not
honorable to stake something you don't have."  Akane thought for
a moment.  "But if you don't have it, what happened to it?"

     "Last I saw, Pops had it," Ranma said grimly.

     Akane stared at Ranma, then sank her face in her hands.
"Oh, no."

     "Oh, yes."

     ~~~~~

     "Katana?"  Genma looked up at the ceiling of the main room
of the Saotome house, frowning, and stroked his chin.  "Hmm.  No,
I can't say I recall it.  Perhaps if you describe this alleged
katana...."

     "It was about yea long," Ranma said with great restraint,
gesturing with her hands.  "It had a red scabbard, a bronze
tsuba, red cord, and white sharkskin.  IT WAS THE ONLY GODDAMN
KATANA AT OUR WEDDING, YOU OLD FOOL!"

     Genma removed his glasses, wiped them off, and put them back
on.  "Well, what makes you think I might know where this
hypothetical katana is, Son?"

     "I tossed it to you an' said it was a trophy!  I was kinda
busy at the time!"

     "Oh, that katana!" Genma exclaimed in sudden realization.
"What about it?"

     "Where.  Is.  It."

     Genma shrugged casually.  "I pawned it, of course."

     Ranma's eyes bugged out.  "You WHAT?!" she screeched when
she'd recovered her voice.  "My TROPHY?!"

     "OUR trophy," Akane corrected, glaring at Genma.

     "Oh, right.  OUR TROPHY?!"

     "Listen to me, Son," Genma said, frowning seriously.
"Trophies are worthless.  A true martial artist needs no symbols
to maintain the pride within.  Money, on the other hand, money is
useful.  What greater purpose can a trophy serve than to provide
a little cash to obtain the necessities of life, eh?  To keep
body and soul together?  And perhaps to purchase a few little
luxuries to make a man's life worth living--"

     "AARGH!"  Ranma stepped forward and picked Genma up by the
front of his gi.  "You sold our trophy for, for drink money?!"

     "How much did you get for it?" Akane demanded.

     "Twenty thousand," Genma croaked proudly.  "What a princely
sum, eh?  Your father's still a shrewd dealer, Son--"

     "You idiot!  It's gotta be worth five times that!" Ranma
yelled right into her father's face.

     "Ten," Akane said.  "Ranma, it might not be too late--"

     "Hey, yeah," Ranma said, brightening.  "Maybe we can buy it
back!"  She turned back to Genma.  "Cough up the cash and tell us
where you sold it, Pops."

     "Er, there's a problem with that...."

     "Another problem?" Akane said ominously.

     "What's the problem, Pops?"

     "Well, I don't actually have the money--"

     "YOU SPENT IT ALL ALREADY?!"

     "No, actually I did."  Ranma and Akane turned to see Nodoka
standing in the doorway.  "Please don't strangle your father,
dear, it's not ladylike."  She came into the room.

     Ranma dropped Genma with a thump and straightened.  "He gave
you the money, Momma?"

     "Yes, of course."

     Ranma looked abashed.  "Well, that's different.  Sorry,
Pops."

     "I accept your apology, Son," Genma said, straightening his
gi.

     "A good wife knows to extract any odd sums her husband might
be holding out," Nodoka continued blithely.  Ranma and Akane
renewed their glares at Genma.  "But only when the needs of the
household require it, of course.  Otherwise it's best to leave
them a little, dear."  She patted Akane on the arm and smiled
confidentially.  "In this case, I was able to retire some old
debts.  Why, is there a problem?"

     "Damn right there's a problem!  It wasn't his katana!  It
was ours!" Ranma protested.

     "Now, Ranma, what was I to think?" Genma said.  "After all,
you did give it to me."

     "I did not!  I ENTRUSTED it to you!"

     Genma shrugged.  "Well, when you didn't ask for it after
your return from your honeymoon...."

     "I was, uh, distracted," Ranma said, blushing and glancing
sidelong at Akane.

     "Ha, of course you were," Genma laughed.  "And then you got
all that money from the onsen... say, where are you keeping it?"
He peered craftily at Ranma.  "I hope it's in a safe place."

     "It's safe from YOU," Ranma spat.  Genma gave her a wounded
look.

     "Ranma, you do have a duty to the household, and the money
was very welcome," Nodoka interjected.  "Please consider that
your father was simply acting as your agent, and forgive him any
overenthusiasm on his part."

     "But--"

     "It's not that simple, Saotome-no-okaa-sama," Akane put in.
"Honor is involved.  Ranma has been challenged for the katana."

     Nodoka gained a worried look.  "Oh, my," she said finally.
"That does put a different face on things, doesn't it."  She
shrugged ruefully at Genma.  "Well, there's no help for it, dear.
I'll just go get the first-aid kit, shall I?"  She turned and
left.

     Genma looked up at Ranma and Akane, standing over him.  In
eerie unison their battle auras flared darkly around them, making
their eyes seem to glow in contrast.  He gulped.  The sound of
cracking knuckles echoed in the small room.

     ~~~~~

     Sato-ya Antiques and Loans occupied the ground floor of one
of Nerima's older buildings, its awning adorned by the character
for "pawn".  An old-style bell on a spring tinkled brightly as
Akane opened the door and went in, followed closely by Ranma.

     The short middle-aged man behind the counter looked up from
his newspaper.  "I'm about to close," he told them.

     "We won't be long," Akane assured him, looking around.  A
spear on the wall caught her attention.  "Um, about this
yari...."

     "Not for sale," the pawnbroker said.

     "Too bad.  It's made in the old way, and it's seen some
fighting, but it sure doesn't look as old as it must be... and it
doesn't look like a fake, either."

     The man straightened, regarding Akane with more respect.
"You have good eyes, Ojou-san.  That's just about what the
appraiser said.  My father bought that near the end of the war.
He told me not to sell it; said it was good luck."

     Ranma snorted under her breath and muttered something
derogatory about weapons and luck.  Akane elbowed her on
principle and fished out the pawn ticket.  "We're here to redeem
this," she said, handing the ticket to the pawnbroker.

     "Oh, no," the man said, staring at the ticket.  He looked up
at Akane and essayed a polite smile, but it didn't quite come
off.  "Er, there's a little problem...."

     Akane and Ranma exchanged glances.  "What sort of problem,
exactly?" Akane inquired.  "Do you have the katana or not, Sato-
san?"

     "Well...."  Sato looked nervously back and forth between the
two glaring young women, then thought of a way out.  "I accepted
the item as security from Saotome Genma.  You're not Saotome-san,
so you can't redeem the item," he said with satisfaction, then
switched to suspicion.  "Where'd you get the ticket, eh?"

     "From Saotome Genma," Ranma said.  "I'm Saotome Ranma, his
so--, er, daughter."

     "I'm Saotome Akane, his daughter-in-law," Akane added.

     "Oh.  Oh, damn," Sato said, rubbing his forehead.

     "You sold the katana already, didn't you?" Akane accused
him.  Sato nodded ruefully.  "But the time's not up yet!"

     "I know, I know," Sato said.  "But, I mean, Saotome Genma
never redeems anything!  If it had been Nodoka-san, I never would
have, of course, but it was such a good offer...."

     Akane frowned.  "You could get in a lot of trouble for
this," she told Sato.  "You're not supposed to dispose of
security before the loan comes due."

     "Yes, yes."  Sato looked like he was about to start pulling
out what was left of his hair.

     "How come you know so much about pawnshops?"  Ranma asked
Akane.

     "I don't, really, but Kasumi does.  How come you don't?"

     Ranma shrugged uncomfortably.  "That was Pops' thing, not
mine."

     "Kasumi?" Sato interrupted with growing horror.  "Tendo
Kasumi?"

     "Yes.  I'm her sister."

     "Oh, God," Sato moaned.  "Tendo Kasumi's sister and Saotome
Nodoka's daughter-in-law.  'Trouble' doesn't begin to cover it.
I'm going to hell for this, I just know it."

     "Could be," Akane said evenly.  She counted bills out onto
the counter.  "Twenty thousand yen, plus the interest, and
there's the ticket.  The katana, please."  She looked Sato right
in the eye and waited.

     "Er, could I interest you in a replacement of comparable
value?  This yari, perhaps?  I get the feeling it's not lucky for
me any more...."

     Akane did not relent.  "The katana, please."

     "I told you, I don't have it!"

     "Well, who does?"

     "I can't tell you that!"

     "Sure you can."  Akane smiled coldly.  "Or we can go to City
Hall and make a complaint.  Kasumi-oneechan and Saotome-no-
okaasama won't be happy either...."

     "No!  Not that!  Wait--"  Sato dithered a moment.  "Tell you
what I'll do.  I'll call the, er, buyer, and see if he's willing
to sell the katana back.  How's that?"

     "It's a start," Akane said.  She scooped up her cash from
the counter and took the ticket from Sato's unresisting fingers.
"We'll be back tomorrow at this time if we haven't heard from
you."

     "What she said," Ranma added triumphantly, jabbing a finger
at Sato.  They walked out of the cluttered shop as Sato resumed
rubbing his forehead.

     ~~~~~~

     The next afternoon after school, Kasumi came out into the
hall while Ranma and Akane were taking off their shoes. "Welcome
back," she said pleasantly, holding out an envelope.  "A nice man
left a letter for you."

     "How nice?" Ranma asked as Akane took the letter.

     Kasumi lowered her head, blushing a little.  "He was very
polite."

     Akane looked up.  "Was he young?"

     "Well, not too young...."

     "Aha.  Handsome?"

     "Oh, my, yes."

     Akane broke into a smile.  "Go, Kasumi!  I knew you could
find someone better than Taro-kun!"

     Ranma looked back and forth between her wife and her sister-
in-law.  "This is weird," she said flatly.

     "Oh?  Why is that, Ranma-chan?" Kasumi asked innocently.

     Ranma ignored the diminutive.  "You never used to talk like
that, Kasumi."

     "Yes, she did," Akane put in.  "Just not where you could
hear."

     "Huh?  How come she's saying it now, then?"

     Kasumi smiled.  "Well, Ranma, for a long time there were
guests in the house, and I had to mind my manners."

     Ranma's eyes widened.  "But I--"  She stopped suddenly,
understanding.

     "Yes.  Now you're not a guest any more; you're one of the
family.  So I can be a bit more, mmm, open."

     "Huh.  So, what's the letter say?" Ranma asked Akane.

     "'I would be glad to discuss the matter of a certain katana
with you at your convenience.'  It's signed Kurumazaki Kotaro."
Akane frowned at the name; that certainly was an odd choice of
kanji--

     "Does that mean, like, right now?"

     "I don't see why not, but I'd like to change first," Akane
replied.

     Ranma smiled wryly.  "Me too," she said.

     ~~~~~

     The directions in the letter led Ranma and Akane to a
rambling semi-traditional mansion not far from the Kuno property.
Akane stopped in front of the gate and looked Ranma over
carefully.  She brushed at his silk shirt and reached up to
straighten his hair a little, then nodded in approval.  "You'll
do.  How do I look?"

     "You look fine," Ranma said, a little shyly.  "Why?"

     "I want to make a good impression.  It could make the
difference."

     Ranma smirked.  "Maybe I should have come as a girl after
all, then, assuming this Kotaro guy likes girls...."

     "Over my dead body," Akane told him.  "You're married now.
No more flirting with guys who don't know you're not a real
girl."

     "Jeez!  Bad enough you're jealous of other girls, but guys?
Gimme a break!"

     "What would you like broken?  I mean it, Ranma.  I never
liked the way you behaved when Kuno-kun had something you wanted.
I put up with it before, but now I don't have to."  Akane turned
away, opened the gate, and headed for the mansion's front door.
Her knock was answered quickly; the door swung open on a slender,
immaculately groomed man a few years older than they were,
wearing a man's kimono of dark cloth.

     "Good afternoon.  May I be of service?" the man asked.

     Akane held out the letter.  "We're the Saotomes.  Kurumazaki-
san?"

     The man smiled politely.  "I am Masanori, Kurumazaki-san's
vassal.  Please come in."  He stepped back, allowing them to
enter.

     "'Vassal'?" Ranma muttered to Akane, removing his shoes.

     "Shush!" Akane hissed back.  "Be polite!"  She smiled at
Masanori.  "Thank you for admitting us, Masanori-san."

     "Not at all.  If you would be so kind as to come this way?"
Masanori led them through halls exquisitely appointed in the old
style to a sitting room furnished with a low table.  He crossed
the room and slid open the shoji on the far side, revealing a
small garden.  "Please make yourselves comfortable.  I will
inform the young master that you are here."  He bowed and
departed.

     "Nice place," Ranma said, seating himself at the table.  "A
bit Kuno-ish for my taste, though...."

     "Well, I think it's very pleasant," Akane said.  "Before
certain people and their pandas started sparring in it, our
garden was almost this nice.  I'll bet his koi aren't terrified,
either."

     "Look, you--!"  Ranma heard approaching footsteps and shut
up.

     The interior shoji slid open, admitting a young man who
appeared on first glance to confirm Ranma's fears; he was about
the same age and build as Kuno Tatewaki, handsome, dressed
similarly in kimono and hakama, and carried a bokken.  He was a
little shorter, though, and his expression had none of Kuno's
haughtiness.  "Welcome," he said to Ranma and Akane, seating
himself across the table from them and bowing as Masanori closed
the shoji.  "I am Kurumazaki Kotaro."

     "I'm Saotome Akane.  Thank you for agreeing to see us,"
Akane said, bowing similarly.

     "Saotome Ranma.  Hello," Ranma said, nodding.

     "Oh, it's no trouble at all," Kotaro said.  "In fact, it's a
pleasure.  I don't get many guests, I'm afraid."

     "I can't imagine why not," Akane said warmly.

     "You're too kind," Kotaro protested, smiling.  He turned to
Masanori, standing by the door.  "Masanori, tea, please?"

     "Certainly."  Masanori bowed and left silently.

     Kotaro turned his attention back to Akane and Ranma.  "So.
Forgive me for asking, but are you brother and sister?"

     "Husband and wife," Ranma responded before Akane could
speak.

     "Oh, I see.  Congratulations!  You seem very young to be
married...."

     "It was an arranged marriage," Akane said.

     "Ah.  I may have to resort to something similar.  Perhaps,
if we become friends, you could tell me how it worked for
you...."  Kotaro trailed off shyly.  He picked a sheet of colored
paper off the table and began to fold it, his hands moving
quickly despite the fact that he wasn't looking down at them.

     "Friends?" Akane said, a little surprised.  "I don't see why
not... but why would you need to arrange a marriage?  You're well-
off if this house is any indication, you look healthy...."  She
stopped short of telling Kotaro he was good-looking, but glanced
sidelong at Ranma a little guiltily.

     "You're too kind," Kotaro repeated.  He set the small figure
he'd folded from the paper on the table before Ranma.  "There, a
horse for Ranma-san."

     Akane laughed in delight and clapped her hands.  "Oh, how
cute!  I'm no good at origami; they all come out looking like
rocks."

     "Oh, surely not!  Well then, for Akane-san... let me see."
Kotaro turned his head a little as Masanori came back in with a
tray.  "Ah, good, the tea.  Masanori, is this red?" he asked,
holding up a sheet of paper.

     "No, young master," Masanori said.  "The next one is,
however."  He began setting out cups and pouring as Kotaro picked
up the next sheet on the stack and began folding.

     Ranma frowned.  "What, can't you tell what color the paper
is?"

     "Not without Masanori's assistance," Kotaro said lightly.

     Akane winced.  Suddenly the kanji of Kotaro's name made
sense, as did certain oddities in his movements.  Her
embarrassment became anger, with its usual target; Ranma, opening
his mouth for another observation, suddenly lost his breath
thanks to Akane's elbow.  "Shut UP, Ranma!" she hissed.  "He
can't see!"

     "Huh?"

     "He's blind, you baka!"

     "I'm afraid Akane-san is correct," Kotaro said, holding out
a little red paper cloud complete with thunderbolt.

     ~~~~~

     Folding a little paper car, Kotaro spoke of the automobile
accident that had killed his parents and left him sightless.  In
turn, Akane and Ranma told the tale of Kuno's attempted
intervention in their wedding.  "So Ranma's father pawned the
katana when he had no right to," Akane finished.

     "I see.  And Masanori, knowing of my interest in such
things, purchased the katana for me.  We felt we were rescuing it
from a dire fate," Kotaro explained.  "Such an item should not be
sold, let alone pawned.  Masanori, if you would bring the katana,
please?"

     "As you wish, young master."

     "What's your interest?" Ranma asked.

     Kotaro shrugged.  "I collect fine blades.  I have some small
skill in their use, being the heir to the Kurumazaki Tobiuo-ryu
of kenjutsu."

     "Really?" Akane exclaimed.  "We're the heirs to the
Musabetsu Kakuto.  That's why we got married-- well, sort of."

     "So you have a dojo and everything?" Ranma said.

     "Everything except students."  Kotaro laughed a little.  "It
seems that the ryu will end with me, though; there's no one left
to grant me my mastership, and I doubt any students would come to
learn from a blind master anyway."

     "Oh, Kotaro-san, that's so sad," Akane said sympathetically.

     "Such is fate.  Would you care to see the dojo?"

     "You betcha," Ranma said.

     "Splendid.  Here comes Masanori with the katana."  Sure
enough, the shoji slid open a moment later, and the servant came
in carrying the sword.  He knelt and presented it to Kotaro.
Kotaro set it on a stand, drew on thin cotton gloves, and picked
the sword up again.  He slid it out of its scabbard and explored
it with his gloved fingers.  "A fine weapon," he said finally,
returning it to its scabbard and handing it to Masanori.  "Well,
shall we go?"  He picked up his bokken and rose to his feet.
Akane and Ranma followed him out of the room with Masanori
bringing up the rear, carrying the katana.

     ~~~~~

     The dojo was larger than the Tendo Dojo, and seemed larger
yet because of the gloom that dwelled there; the doors were solid
wood rather than translucent paper, and shut tight without cracks
to admit the light.  The wooden floor had been polished by the
passage of many bare feet, though, and the air was not musty;
evidently it was still used regularly.  "Not bad," Ranma said,
walking out to the middle of the floor and looking around.  "Who
uses it these days?"

     "Masanori is kind enough to allow me to practice my skill
against his," Kotaro said.

     "Huh."  Ranma took another look at Masanori, this time
evaluating his martial potential.  "Kenjutsu, or just kendo?"

     "Both.  I also practice iaido, as an aid to contemplation.
I have plenty of time for contemplation."  Kotaro's voice was
only slightly bitter.  "I guess from the name that Musabetsu
Kakuto is an unarmed style."

     "Yeah, that weapon stuff is too easy," Ranma said.  "I can
beat any kenjutsu."

     Kotaro smiled gently.  "Oh, really?  Would you care to test
that?"

     "Been tested," Ranma boasted.  "I can beat Kuno any day of
the week."

     "Yes, I know Tatewaki-san."  Kotaro laughed.  "Perhaps you
might find me more of a challenge."

     Standing beside Masanori, Akane slapped herself on the
forehead.  "Oh, great, the testosterone is flowing."

     Ranma looked at Kotaro in astonishment.  "But you're blind!"

     "I'm hardly unaware of that, Ranma-san.  Nevertheless."

     Ranma shrugged.  "Hey, if you wanna mix it up a bit, I'm
game.  I'll take it easy on ya."

     Kotaro smiled.  "Wonderful!  Shall I use shinai or bokken?
Steel is inappropriate between friends, I think...."

     "Bokken.  Shinai's a toy," Ranma said disdainfully.

     "Very well."  Kotaro walked out into the middle of the dojo
carrying his bokken and turned to face Ranma.

     "Wait!" Akane called.  She ran out to Ranma, grabbed his
ear, and pulled his head down.  "Don't you dare hurt him!" she
whispered fiercely.

     Ranma gave her an annoyed look.  "Hey, he asked for it."

     "But it's not fair!"

     "I could tie one arm behind my back," Kotaro offered.

     Both Akane and Ranma very nearly facefaulted at that.  "No,
I meant not fair to YOU!" Akane said to Kotaro.  "I know, you can
wear a blindfold, Ranma!"

     "Huh?"

     "If you're willing to meet me on equal terms, Ranma-san, it
is possible to darken the dojo completely," Kotaro suggested.

     "What?"

     "Sure!  That's much better!" Akane exclaimed.

     "Hey--"

     "I'm impressed," Kotaro said admiringly as Akane ran back to
the wall.  "This is very sporting of you, Ranma-san."

     "Oh, sure, nothing to it," Ranma said nonchalantly, but
inside he was cursing.  Masanori moved around the dojo, closing
the shutters, and with the final one the dojo became pitch-dark.

     "Oh, rats," came Akane's voice.  "This isn't going to be
much fun for the spectators.  I can't see a thing."

     "Shall scoring be a solid hit?" Kotaro asked in the dark.

     "Fine with me," Ranma responded, locating Kotaro's voice.
*Keep him talking....*

     "Agreed.  Masanori?"

     "Begin," said Masanori.

     Moving silently sideways in the darkness, Ranma remembered
Genma's training, which had not neglected fighting without
vision.  *Use the other senses, hearing most of all.  Feel air
moving over your skin.*  He quickly stripped off his shirt to
bare his arms and threw it toward the nearest wall.  He heard it
fall and slide across the floor; he couldn't hear Kotaro's
breathing at all, though.  *Feel hostile intent directed at you.*
It was the whisper of cloth that alerted him just in time to
spring away; he heard the swish of the wooden blade, but the
intent that should have warned him... hadn't.  *He's masking his
aura!  Doing a damn good job, too.*

     Ranma took advantage of the sound of Kotaro's attack to
locate his opponent and darted in from the side.  His punch
struck air, and he heard the bokken an instant too late.

     Whack!  "Ow!"

     "I believe that counts as a point," Kotaro said.  "Are you
all right, Ranma-san?"

     "Fine, fine," Ranma said peevishly.  "Let's try that again."

     "By all means."  Ranma found the approximate center of the
dojo and listened to Kotaro moving into place opposite him.
"Ready."

     "Begin."

     Ranma immediately leapt into the air, planning to come down
right behind Kotaro and strike swiftly.  It almost worked.

     Whack!  "Argh!"

     "Point.  Again?"

     "You better believe it."  Ranma thought about his aura; he
could make a little light with it, enough to see by.  Against a
sighted opponent, it would be suicidal, but against Kotaro... it
would be cheating, he realized glumly, and Akane would never let
him hear the end of it.  There was another use for auras, though.

     "Begin!"

     Ranma expanded his aura as far as it would go, sweeping for
Kotaro with it, and immediately found that Kotaro was doing the
same thing.  "Yipe!"  He dodged the bokken and took the opening.

     Pow!  "Ugh!"

     "You okay, Kotaro?" Ranma asked, straightening.  He heard
the other youth getting up.

     "Yes, I think so.  Well struck, Ranma-san.  Once more?"

     "Sure," Ranma said happily.  *I got you now!*

     "Ready."

     "Begin!"

     Ranma's aura flared, but didn't find Kotaro-- and then did,
and Ranma dodged frantically and struck... nothing.  *Uh oh--*

     Whack!  "Yowch!  You sneaky bastard, you faked me out with
your aura!"

     "Very astute of you, Ranma-san.  I salute you.  Again?"

     "Damn straight," Ranma said grimly.  "I'm not quitting 'til
I get this figured out."  He heard Akane mutter something about
testosterone.

     "My pleasure.  Ready, Masanori."

     "Begin!"

     *I could beat this with Umi-sen-ken,* Ranma thought, *but do
I want to?  Nah.  Let's see who fakes who.*  He sent his aura out
again and sought for Kotaro.  When the false attack came he
evaded it, listening and feeling for body and blade, learning to
recognize the patterns of deception....

     Whap!  "Gotcha!" Ranma crowed.

     "So you did.  Another?"

     "Yeah!"

     "Ready."

     "Begin!"

     Swish!  Pow!  Thump.  "Ouch.  I think that will suffice.
Masanori?"

     "Yes, young master."  The shutters were opened again, and
light returned to the dojo.

     "But we're tied three to three," Ranma objected.

     "An outcome with which I am satisfied," Kotaro pronounced,
feeling his ribs carefully.

     "But--"

     "Cut it out, Ranma!" Akane demanded, bringing him his
discarded shirt.

     "Jeez.  And I was just getting the hang of it, too."

     "I'll come up with something new for our next meeting,"
Kotaro vowed.

     "Yeah, I'll bet you will.  Akane, this guy doesn't hit as
hard as Kuno, but he's a lot sneakier.  Was all that Tobiuo-ryu,
or did you invent it yourself?"

     "The family art isn't really intended for blind
practitioners, so I had to, well, adapt it considerably," Kotaro
admitted.

     "Yeah.  Akane, you should fight him; you might learn
something.  Oops, forgot, that'd take testosterone-- ow!  Heh."

     "What a fine idea," Kotaro said slowly.  "It doesn't seem
proper to return the katana to Sato-san for a refund, nor to sell
it to you.  I will entertain a challenge for it, though."

     "Hey, no problem-- oof!"

     "What challenge?" Akane asked, removing her elbow from
Ranma's side.

     "Kendo, match rules."

     "I accept," Akane said immediately.

     "Hey!  I accept too!"

     "Ranma, you don't do kendo!  And why should you have all the
fun?"

     Kotaro waved a hand, cutting off the growing squabble.
"Please.  There's the matter of your stake, though.  To be fair,
I should stand to gain if I win."

     "Um... like what?" Akane asked cautiously.  "We have some
money...."

     "No, not money.  What I would like most of all is... well...
this."  Kotaro gestured vaguely.  "Let us say that if you--
whichever one of you loses the match, you will be my guest here
for the next four Sundays to spar with me."

     "Jeez, for a minute there I thought you were gonna ask for a
date...."

     "I beg your pardon?"  Kotaro arched an eyebrow at Ranma in a
gesture which looked quite eerie when Ranma remembered that
Kotaro couldn't see him.

     "With, uh, with Akane, I mean," Ranma explained hastily.
"It's amazin' how often stuff like that happens.  Uh, used to
happen.  I hope."

     "Ah.  No, I dare not hope for such good fortune."

     "It's a deal," Akane said.

     "Splendid.  Not today, though; it grows late."

     "All right, tomorrow, then," Akane said.

     "I will be here.  Er... Akane-san...."

     "Yes?"  Akane looked at Kotaro curiously, wondering why he
was blushing.

     "I hope you will not be offended by this request, but... I
have not seen your face, and I would very much like to.  May I,
well, touch your face?"

     "Kotaro-san...."  Akane glanced at Ranma, who was looking
quite disturbed, then back at Kotaro.  "All right."

     "Now just a--"

     "Ranma, stop it.  Go ahead, Kotaro-san."

     Kotaro reached out slowly and touched Akane's face gently.
His fingers were not soft, Akane noticed, any more than hers
were, or Ranma's; they were hardened with smooth callus.  His
touch was delicate, though, and surprisingly pleasant.  *Oh, my.
I wish Ranma would touch me like this....*  The fingers traced
over Akane's face and withdrew.

     "Thank you, Akane-san.  You are as beautiful as your voice,"
Kotaro said wistfully.  "You are fortunate, Ranma-san.  I wish
you a long and happy life together."

     "Thank you, Kotaro-san," Akane said softly.

     Ranma coughed.  "Yeah, thanks.  Listen, we gotta go, it's
dinnertime."

     "Of course.  Thank you both for coming to visit me.  I look
forward to our next meeting."

     ~~~~~

     "What a nice guy," Akane remarked on the way home.

     "Yeah.  Nice."

     "Well, he's polite, but not deluded like Kuno-kun.  He's not
a lecher.  And I thought his offer was very gallant."

     Ranma snorted.  "Yeah, sure."

     "If we treat him right, he could be a good friend.  We need
all the friends we can get.  And he's a guy, too."

     "What's that supposed to mean?" Ranma asked suspiciously.

     "Well, you were complaining that all the guys you knew were
gone, and the only friends you had left were girls.  He certainly
seemed to enjoy sparring with you.  Maybe you can be friends.
The poor fellow must be awfully lonely."

     "Sure looked like it," Ranma muttered.

     "Well, hopefully it won't upset him too much when I beat him
at kendo."

     "You mean when I beat him at kendo."

     "I know exactly what I meant, Ranma," Akane said in an edged
voice.  "This challenge is mine.  You don't do kendo.  I do.
It's mine."

     Ranma muttered something that Akane chose to take as
grudging acquiescence.

     ~~~~~

     Around the middle of the next morning, it occurred to Akane
that she hadn't seen Ranma in a while.  She looked for him in all
the usual places, then went where everyone went when something
was missing: wherever Kasumi happened to be.  "Kasumi, have you
seen Ranma?"

     "Isn't he in the dojo?" Kasumi replied over a basket of
laundry.

     "If he is, he's perfected a new way to hide," Akane said.
"Was he male or female when you saw him last?"

     "Hmmm... female, I think.  Do you know, I don't really
notice any more?  How odd."

     "Well, we're supposed to go over to Kotaro-san's today--"
Akane broke off, struck by a compelling suspicion.  "Ranma, you
BAKA!"  She whirled and ran flat-out for the dojo.

     She was back in under a minute, fuming.  "He's gone," she
stated.  "He took my kendo bogu.  Oh, I'm gonna clobber him so
bad!"

     "What?"

     "HE took MY bogu!"

     ~~~~~

     Masanori opened the door of his master's house and looked
down at a figure wearing kendo armor and carrying a shinai.
"Good morning," he said without apparent surprise.  "Is that you,
Akane-san?"

     "Yeah, uh, yes, of course," the masked figure said in a
voice which was definitely female but didn't sound quite like
Akane's.  "Can't you tell?  Honestly, some people."

     "I beg your pardon.  Please come in," Masanori invited her.
He led 'Akane' to the dojo and went around opening the shutters.
"I'll go tell the young master you're here for the challenge."
He left, and the figure heaved a relieved sigh.

     Kotaro came in a few minutes later, attired in kendogi and
hakama.  "Good morning, Akane-san," he said.  "Masanori, help me
with the bogu, will you?"

     "Of course."

     "Hi, uh, good morning, Kotaro-san," the figure said.

     Kotaro paused in his armoring and cocked his head slightly.
"Are you feeling all right, Akane-san?"

     "Huh?  Sure, fine," 'Akane' said hastily.  "Why?"

     "Well, your voice sounds different," Kotaro said.  "If
you're not feeling well, I'd be glad to postpone the match until
you are...."

     "Ah-ha-ha!  No, I'm fine, really."

     "As you say," Kotaro agreed.  "I don't hear Ranma-san; is he
coming?"

     "Uh, no, he had to do something else," 'Akane' said.

     "That's too bad.  I was looking forward to meeting him
again.  It seems strange that he wouldn't come to see you
compete."  Kotaro cocked his head in a different direction.
"Masanori, I believe someone is at the door."  He listened again.
"Someone quite strong."

     "Oh, crap," 'Akane' muttered.  Kotaro raised an eyebrow, but
didn't comment.

     "Excuse me," Masanori said and left.

     "You all ready?" the figure in bogu said desperately.
"Let's go, quick--"

     "No, actually I'm not quite ready yet," Kotaro said
patiently.

     "Oh, hell...."  'Akane' looked around in despair.

     Masanori came back into the dojo with company; amazingly,
his composure had not cracked.  "Saotome Akane-san," he
announced.

     "RRRAAANNNMMMAAA!!"

     "That's definitely Akane-san," Kotaro agreed.  "But then
who's this?"  He gestured in the direction of his opponent.

     "Akane, this ain't what it-- uh, I guess it is.  Damn."

     Akane stomped over to the figure in bogu, who had retreated
to the far wall, and ripped off its mask.

     "It appears to be a pigtailed girl, young master," Masanori
observed.

     WHAM!

     "Sorry for the disturbance," Akane said tightly to Kotaro
and Masanori.  "Excuse me."  She stomped back out, dragging an
unconscious girl in bogu by the pigtail and carrying a mask and
shinai in the other hand.

     Kotaro and Masanori exchanged glances... or, rather, a
glance.  "I'll just see them out," Masanori volunteered.

     "By all means."

     ~~~~~

     Ranma regained consciousness to a sharp pain at the base of
her skull and bumping sensations from her hips down.  "Ow!
Leggo!"

     "So, you're finally awake," Akane's disgusted voice came.
She released Ranma's pigtail, dropping her flat on her back on
the street, and stood over her.  "It's just like you to be so
inconsiderate.  Honestly, waiting until we're almost home to come
around."

     "Well, if you didn't want me to be out so long, you
shouldn't'a hit me so hard!"  Ranma felt her head gingerly and
got up, wincing.  She met the full fury of Akane's glare and
flinched.

     "I should have hit you harder!  The only reason you didn't
leave Kotaro-san's dojo by air is that I didn't want to put a
hole in his roof!  Do you have ANY idea how INSULTING that little
trick of yours was?"

     "I was just--"

     "You were just treating me like dirt!  INCOMPETENT dirt!
STUPID dirt!  Not only did you DO it, you thought you could get
AWAY with it!"  Akane paused and eyed her.  "Why on earth did you
try to pretend you were me?  Why didn't you just take the other
bogu from the dojo and go as a guy?"

     "Uh--"  Ranma looked thunderstruck.  "I dunno.  It seemed
like the thing to do at the time?"

     Akane shook her head.  "You moron.  I can't believe the
nerve of you, just taking it on yourself to meet Kotaro-san's
challenge, when you knew I wanted it!"

     "What?  YOU were gonna do the SAME THING!" Ranma shrilled.

     "I--  I was not!"

     "Yes, you were!  You knew I wanted to take the challenge,
but you insisted on it anyway!"

     "But--  Nonsense!"  The accusation cracked Akane's
indignation, though.

     "Hey, fair's fair," Ranma said smugly, exploiting her thin
advantage.  "Tell ya what, I'll arm-wrestle you for it."

     "No," Akane said suddenly.  "Hasegawa-sensei's way is
better.  We'll settle this with a kendo match between us.
Whoever wins has the best chance of winning Kotaro-san's
challenge.  It makes sense."

     "Arm-wrestling," Ranma said stubbornly.

     Akane leaned forward and poked Ranma hard in the sternum
with her finger.  "Afraid you'll lose?"  She ignored Ranma's
intake of breath and pressed on.  "I challenge you to a kendo
match, by standard rules.  The winner gets to accept Kotaro's
challenge."  She poked Ranma again for emphasis.

     Ranma's face twitched, then settled into a hard, confident
smirk.  "You're on."  Looking into her cold gray eyes, Akane felt
two conflicting emotions: the now-familiar electric thrill of
Ranma taking her seriously, but stronger than ever before... and
the visceral knowledge that if Ranma really did take her
seriously, she would have all the chance of a rabbit cornered by
a tiger.

     ~~~~~

     "This is dumb," Ranma grumbled an hour later.  Resentfully,
he eyed the far wall of the dojo where Nodoka sat, summoned by
Akane's telephone call.  Genma stood by holding the men, the
kendo mask with flaring shoulder-pads.  He'd already helped Ranma
don the tare, do, and kote: armor-skirt, chest armor, and padded
gauntlets.  Soun had done the same for Akane, and now held her
mask.

     "I challenged.  You accepted.  You can forfeit if you like."
Akane's tone said quite clearly what she'd think of him if he
did.  "They're here to witness, and to judge; match rules require
it.  And I don't want any... misunderstandings."

     Ranma flushed; she meant cheating, or even cunning.  "Why,
you-- ow!  Dammit, Pops!"

     "Mind your tongue, Son," Genma said seriously, gesturing wth
the hand he'd just used to clout Ranma over the head.  "Insulting
your opponent is a foul, and will lose you the match."

     "Gaah."  Ranma fumed silently as Genma settled the mask into
position and secured it with its ties.  The metal bars obstructed
nearly half of his vision; worse, Akane's mask rendered her face
almost invisible, and her expression was impossible to read.
Genma slapped him on the back and moved over to the wall next to
Nodoka.

     Akane moved to the center of one side wall of the dojo and
waited for Ranma to do the same on the other side.  He bowed
slightly as she did and stepped forward to the correct distance
from the X of white tape in the middle of the floor.  Holding her
shinai at her hip with her left hand, Akane reached across and
drew it with her right, then assumed her ready stance.

     "Ready?" Soun said in a high, excited voice.  "Begin!"

     Ranma's initial stance was anything but standard kendo form,
and for a moment Akane was unable to decide how best to attack,
but then she remembered her training.  *Act, don't react.*  She
knew she might have only minutes before Ranma's astonishing
flexibility adapted to kendo equipment and his speed canceled out
her skill.  "HAAAAAA!"  Akane leapt forward, shinai blurring.
Tak-tak-tak-tak!  Ranma's shinai danced to and fro, defending,
and then he took the initiative and pressed his own attack.  Tak-
tak-WHACK!

     "Hah!" Ranma gloated, disengaging.

     "No point," Soun called.

     "Agreed," Genma said disapprovingly.  "The thigh is not a
valid target, Son."

     "What?  Oh.  I knew that."  Ranma moved back to the X on the
floor and waited.

     Akane came up to her side of the X, thinking quickly.  Even
hampered by the heavy bogu, Ranma was an unconventional handful;
only her reflexes, trained by many hours of solitary kata, had
saved her.  It was time to use her best tricks, attacks which had
won match after match for her in the long-ago days before Ranma.

     "Begin!"

     "HAAAA!"  Tak-tak-tak-WHACK!  "KOTE!"  Akane followed
through and stopped, grinning inside her mask.

     "Point!" Soun shouted.  "Did you see that, Saotome-kun?"

     "A cunning strike," Genma agreed.

     "But--  Oh, crap."  Ranma stalked back to his place and
waited, still as a statue.

     "Ready?  Begin!"

     Akane ran another attack sequence through her mind, but it
promptly derailed as Ranma's shinai lowered to angle down at the
floor.  *Wakki-ga-kamae?  Uh oh--*  Ranma leapt at her without
uttering a sound.  His shinai flicked in with uncanny speed,
seemingly in three places at once.  Akane retreated swiftly,
parrying, but-- tak-tak-WHACK!  She staggered, only partly due to
the impact on the top of her mask.

     "Men," Ranma said in a low voice.  "That's what that hit's
called, isn't it?"

     "Point," Soun said, a few seconds later than he should have.
"Next point is match."

     Akane assumed the guard stance again, but her mind was
awhirl.  *I'm going to LOSE!  At kendo!  If I can't win at this,
I can't win at anything!  That baka is even holding back--*
Another thought followed that one: *I don't have to hold back.  I
can't harm Ranma with a shinai, especially not while he's in
bogu.*  Then--

     *You're thinkin' too much.*  It was Ranma's sensei-voice in
her head, and in its wake the froth of her thoughts vanished like
so many soap-bubbles.  A decade of Musabetsu Kakuto and kendo and
six months of Ranma's idiosyncratic tutoring came together in one
instant flash of void.

     "Begin!"

     Akane was nothing, her hands were gone, even the shinai
didn't exist; there was only purpose, and the tiny opening in her
opponent's defense--

     "TSUKI!"

     Ranma flipped backward in midair with the strike and landed
on his feet, crouched; the hard thrust of Akane's shinai had
taken him squarely on the padded throat-flap of his mask.  Nodoka
gasped.  "Point and match," Soun said clearly.

     Akane recovered from her follow-through and straightened,
not yet all the way back from the void.  "I won?"

     "WHAT?!  No way!" Ranma shouted.

     "I won!"  Akane jumped up and down, waving her shinai.  "I
beat RANMA!"

     "THE HELL YOU DID!"  Ranma tore his mask off and flung it
aside.  His face twisted with fury and mortification, he stripped
off the armor with six swift motions and dropped back into guard,
holding his shinai.  "The hell with that junk!  Try it now, damn
you!"

     "Ranma--"  Nodoka began to rise, but Genma's outstretched
arm forbade her to continue.

     Akane ripped her own mask off, then tossed her shinai
spinning into the air and caught it as her armor fell in parts
around her.  She kicked them aside.  "You want it that way,
Ranma?  Fine."  She advanced, shinai at the ready.

     Ranma's snarl dissolved into uncertainty as he took in her
unprotected state.  He took a step back.  "But--"

     "I WON!  Why can't you ACCEPT that?!"

     "BECAUSE I CAN'T!" Ranma roared.  "You KNOW what I gave up
to get this good!  If someone who didn't sacrifice the way I did
can be BETTER, then it was all for NOTHING!"  Dead silence
answered him.  His tortured glance raked over the shocked faces
of his small audience.  He dropped the shinai and darted out the
open doors of the dojo into the spring sunshine.

     "RANMA!!  Don't you DARE use the Saotome Secret Technique on
me!"  Akane started after Ranma, but stopped before leaving the
dojo.  She stamped on the floor.  "No!  Not this time, dammit!"

     "Akane-chan...."

     Akane turned and saw that Nodoka was standing.  "No, Saotome-
no-okaa-sama!  He should have the guts to face me!"

     "His pride--" Soun began, still looking shocked.

     "What about MY pride, Father?!" Akane interrupted.  "Am I
always going to be following along in his shadow?  I can't do
that!  There'd be nothing of ME left!  He's so good at so many
things, he should admit it if I'm better than him at something!"

     "If he could do that, he might not be our Ranma," Nodoka
said calmly.   She looked out the open door of the dojo for a
moment, then back at Akane.  "My son is very strong, but he is...
brittle. I had hoped that you could lend him resilience, and
perhaps in time teach it to him, but if you can't, you can't."
She sighed and turned away.  "He's probably gone home-- to his
other home; if you won't go after him, I suppose I'll have to.
He needs one of us now."

     Akane grimaced, biting her lip.  Nodoka's words were
persuasive, but in the end it was something else that changed her
mind: memory of the times that one of them had gotten her
feelings hurt and gone off to sulk, and the other had persisted
through the misunderstandings and the mayhem until everything was
all right again.  But the awful hollow-bellied feeling in
between....  "All right, all right, I'll go!"  She started out
the door again, but stopped after only two steps.  Blushing, she
untied her hakama and let it fall, then jumped out of it and
bounded off.

     Nodoka picked up the discarded garment, shook it out, and
folded it, then gave Genma a neutral look.  "Dear, about your
training methods...."

     "They were necessary," Genma said gruffly, pushing his
glasses up his nose a little, the better to examine the floor
before him.  "If a martial artist is very fortunate, this will
happen: he will gain a student who has the potential to surpass
him, and eventually the student will harbor the thought that he
HAS surpassed his master.  Then they will vie for supremacy."  He
glanced at Soun.  "You remember how it was with us and the old
master, Tendo-kun."

     Soun looked uncomfortable.  "Well, you may have thought we
could defeat him, Saotome-kun, but--" Soun looked around quickly,
then lowered his voice-- "I just wanted to be rid of him."

     "Ah-ha-ha-ha!  That too."  Genma became serious again.  "I
remember well when Ranma surpassed me.  Your Akane-kun is a fine
student of the Art, Tendo-kun."

     Soun's and Nodoka's eyes widened.  "Then Ranma--" Soun
began.

     Genma held up a hand to stop his friend.  "I have said
enough.  In any case, Akane-kun isn't yet ready to challenge
Ranma, but if he thinks she is... well, let it stand that I am
pleased that Ranma has a student who can goad him, and that Akane-
kun has a sensei who can lure her.  They will hone each other's
skills to great heights."

     "If their bond survives this challenge," Nodoka said
quietly, turning to go.

     ~~~~~

     Akane dashed over the rooftops, looking for Ranma on the
straight-line course between the Tendo house and the Saotome
house, figuring that he'd stopped somewhere in between to fume--
and there he was, doing exactly that, by the look of it.  Ranma
saw her coming, but didn't continue his flight.  He stopped
pacing to and fro, folded his arms, and waited.

     "Go away," he said roughly as Akane landed on the roof he'd
chosen.

     Akane shook her head.  "I'm not going to do that.  If you
want to be alone, you're going to have to keep running.  You can
outrun me easily enough," she added reluctantly.

     Ranma's expression lightened a little at her admission, but
he turned anyway.  "Fine.  'Bye."

     "What are you afraid of?"

     Ranma arrested his leap and wheeled.  "I ain't AFRAID of
NOTHIN'!"

     "Then why are you running away?!"

     Ranma's mouth opened and closed.  "I-- you-- gaah!"

     Akane pressed her advantage.  "Why can't you admit I'm
better than you at anything?!"

     "Why do you gotta be better'n me, dammit?!"

     "Because you're the BEST, you baka!  Why would I want to be
better than anyone ELSE, when I could be better than YOU?!"
Akane shut up, kicking herself mentally from three different
directions.

     Ranma blinked, taken aback.  "Akane--"

     "You'll never ADMIT it, of course, but other people beat you
LOTS of times!" Akane yelled, flustered.  "Ryoga-kun can beat
you, and Cologne, and Happosai, and Taro-kun!  As long as you win
the LAST one, you don't care!  Why can't I win one?  What's
different about ME?  What's different about this match with
Kotaro-san?"

     Denied a chance to get a word in edgewise, Ranma's ire
finally exploded.  "You just want to take the match with 'Kotaro-
san' so you can LOSE!"

     "What are you saying?" Akane whispered, chilled.

     "You just want an EXCUSE to go 'spar' with the poor blind
guy, you and your case of hot-pants!" Ranma shouted, his face a
foot from Akane's.

     Akane went white.  "What a VILE thing to say!"  The mighty
slap she'd intended to punctuate her sentence with stopped short
of Ranma's cheek, caught and held in Ranma's fist.  Neither of
them noticed.

     "Yeah?  You say 'vile' things like that about ME all the
time!  You're always talkin' like I'm gonna screw Kodachi, or
Ukyo, or SOMEONE, any chance I get!"

     "That's DIFFERENT!"

     "The HELL it is!  It's the SAME!"

     "Well, if it's wrong for YOU to say that, then it's wrong
for ME to say that!  Um, I mean--"

     They both blinked.  "Uh...."  That suddenly, fury
annihilated with anti-fury, producing a burst of enlightenment:
the unpleasant suspicion that they were a matching pair of
idiots.  Their eyes drifted aside to Ranma's grip on Akane's
wrist.  Both of them stared at it.

     Ranma let go like Akane's arm was red-hot.  "Ah, heh-heh,"
he chuckled weakly, putting his hand to the back of his head.

     Akane shelved her belated astonishment at the fate of her
slap; she was already juggling too many emotions.  She picked one
at random.  "Ranma, you're JEALOUS!"

     "Jealous?  Who'd be jealous of a--" Ranma began
automatically.

     "You would!" Akane burst out, cutting him off before he
could say something they'd both regret.  "YOU would!  And after
all the things you said to ME because I was jealous! Sure, it was
easy for YOU, you had girls chasing you everywhere you went!  No
one was chasing ME!"

     "Kuno," Ranma muttered, then looked like he wished he could
unsay it.

     "Give me a break," Akane snorted.  "That's just plain
stupid."

     "Ryoga, then."

     Akane shook her head.  "He's just a friend.  And besides, we
haven't seen him in months."

     "Shinnosuke."

     That one was harder to deny; Akane's palm tingled with the
body-memory of the slap she'd delivered to Ranma to keep him from
harming Shinnosuke, a blow that had hurt him more than any other
she'd ever landed in all their long, violent association.  "I
just felt sorry for him...."

     "Do you feel sorry for Kotaro?"

     Some of Akane's anger returned.  She took a step forward and
seized the collar of Ranma's kendogi in her fists.  "Listen to
me," she hissed, puntuating each sentence with a shake.  "It
doesn't matter if I feel sorry for Kotaro-san.  Nothing I ever
feel about anyone else matters.  I made the same promises you
did.  I only make love with YOU.  I only feel that way about YOU.
I love YOU, you BAKA!  GOT THAT?!"

     "Yeah," Ranma said in a half-strangled tone.  Akane looked
down and suddenly noticed that his feet were dangling clear of
the roof-tiles.  She put him down with a thump.

     "Sorry," she said, blushing.  She put a hand on his arm and
looked up at him.  "Ranma... you have no reason to be jealous of
anyone.  Really."

     "Seems to me I said that to you, once or twice," Ranma said
dryly, but he looked a lot less troubled.

     Akane smiled.  "I think it's sweet that you're jealous,
though.  A little bit just means you care."

     "I think I said that too," Ranma muttered.

     "Now what's this about my 'case of hot-pants'?" Akane said
sternly, glaring at him.

     Ranma blushed and twiddled his fingers.  "I shouldn't'a said
that."

     "You shouldn't have been THINKING it, but you were, and
you'd better tell me why."

     "Well, you know, ever since the honeymoon you've been
jumpin' my bones every chance you get--"

     "Ranma, I thought you LIKED it!"

     "Well, I do, but--"

     "Then what's the problem?"

     "I dunno, it's like you're some kinda sex maniac or
somethin'...."

     Akane frowned.  "Ranma, you idiot.  I am NOT a nymphomaniac.
If you're going to be that way, when you want to get laid you're
going to have to--"  She broke off; it had occurred to her just
in time that finishing the sentence with "beg for it" would
result in a lot of cold and lonely nights.

     "To what?" Ranma asked after a few seconds.

     "Nothing."  Akane frowned again; now that she thought of
it....  "Ranma, how come you haven't made a move on me since that
time on our honeymoon?"

     "What?!  Sure I have!  I--"

     "No, you haven't.  Every time, it's me grabbing you and
dragging you to bed."

     "Well--  I would, but you always beat me to it!"

     Akane giggled suddenly, relieved.  "O-o-oh.  I see."

     "Why?  What difference does it make?"

     "Well, how does it make you feel when I come on to you like
that?"

     "Manly," Ranma said proudly.

     "And how do you think I feel that you never make a move on
me?" Akane finished.  "I wish you would, sometimes."

     Ranma eyed her, then smiled; he had a pretty good idea of
the effect that smile had on her.  "How about now?"

     Akane felt very warm all of a sudden, but controlled it,
hoping for something more.  "Ranma, I'm not going to answer
that."

     "Huh?"  Ranma looked puzzled and not a little apprehensive.
"How'm I supposed to know if you're in the mood, if you won't
answer when I ask?"

     "Maybe you could just make advances when YOU'RE in the mood,
even knowing that I'll pound you flat if I don't feel like it,"
Akane said carefully.  "Maybe I'd like to know that you think I'm
worth the risk."

     "Well."  Ranma's expression cleared.  "Since you put it THAT
way--"  He scooped her up in his arms and leapt.

     Akane held on.  Her delighted anticipation was making it
difficult to think.  *He really does want me, he really does
think I'm sexy!*  "Um, home's the other way...."

     "What, did you think I had Ryoga's problem?  Momma's house
is closer," Ranma's voice said over the rushing wind in her ears.

     "Oh."  Akane shut up for the rest of the brief, wild ride
over the rooftops of Nerima, only squeaking a little when Ranma
flicked the window of his room open and slipped inside with scant
centimeters to spare, seeming hardly to slow at all.  He set her
down on her feet and turned away as she collapsed, but had the
futon spread out in time to turn back and catch her.

     His hands blurred and suddenly Akane was naked; her kendogi
and underwear fell in a pile on the other side of the room.
Ranma tossed her into the air and caught her, and just that
quickly his clothes were gone too.  He pivoted, closing the
window with her big toe, then knelt and laid her gently on the
futon.

     "So, you in the mood now?" Ranma said teasingly.

     Akane forced herself not to retort, not to reach for him,
not to give any sign of her feelings.  She closed her eyes and
lay still with her head turned away a little, waiting for him to
touch her, knowing that wherever he touched her it would be like
air on fire... but what touched her first was his aura, sparking
and fizzing with excitement.  With a gasp she let her aura escape
to mingle with his, and everything was just as wonderful as she'd
hoped it would be.

     ~~~~~

     "KYAAAAAAAAA!"

     Nodoka heard the scream as she closed the front door behind
her; she dropped her bundle and hurried to where the katana
rested on its stand.  *That sounded like Akane-chan!* she
thought, rushing up the stairs with the katana.  *I can't believe
Ranma would mistreat her!*  She flung open the door of Ranma's
room--

     "KYAAAAAAAAA!"

     "Ah!  AH!  Akane!"

     Nodoka closed the door just as fast as she'd opened it,
blushing furiously and smiling proudly.  *My, how manly Ranma
is... and how resilient Akane-chan is.  It's a good thing they
were too, ah, busy to notice me....*  Her smile faltered a little
as she thought of Genma, still back at the Tendos'.  She glanced
ruefully at the sheathed katana in her hand and crept quietly
back downstairs.

     ~~~~~

     They lay tangled together, unwilling to move.  Finally Ranma
spoke.  "Wow."

     "Definitely wow," Akane agreed.  She tightened her grip a
little.  "I mean, it's always good, but sometimes it's...
better."

     "Yeah.  Man, it's almost worth fighting to make up like
that...."

     Akane giggled.  "I'll keep that in mind."  The issues they
hadn't quite settled yet began to niggle at her, though, and she
chose one.  "Ranma... why do you let me hit you?"

     "Damn.  I was hoping you'd forgotten about that."

     "I'll bet you were.  I can't imagine why I didn't think of
it before.  Ranma, you could easily block or dodge when I hit
you, but you usually don't.  You could even hit me back--"

     "No."  Ranma's tone was very final.  "Never.  Bad enough I
have to hit you when we're training, but I will not hit you when
I'm mad."

     Akane wasn't sure how she felt about that.  "But I hit you
when I'm mad--"

     "That's YOUR problem."

     "But you LET me!"

     She felt him grin.  "Well, maybe that's MY problem."

     "But WHY?"

     "I don't know.  I don't care.  It's just how it is."  His
tone made it clear that pursuing the matter would get her
nowhere, so she dropped it... for the moment.  Which left--

     "So about the kendo match...."

     "Jeez, can't you just relax for a while?"

     "Well, I'm not likely to find you in a better mood any time
soon...."

     "Heh."  Ranma paused.  "Akane, do you really want to be
better than me?"

     Akane sighed.  *Control.  Honesty.  They worked before.*
"Yes and no.  In Musabetsu Kakuto, I don't really want to be
better than you, but I really, really want to be as good as
you... but not because I want to defeat you.  It's just that
you're my sensei.  My example.  If I didn't want to be as good as
you are, I'd be a pretty poor student."

     "Huh.  Can't argue with that."

     "Ranma, we both know that I'm only better at kendo-- shush,
let me finish-- because I've studied it for a long time, and
because your training has made me faster and stronger than I used
to be.  You're faster and stronger still; all you'd need is a
little work on forms, and you'd be better than I am at kendo,
too.  I'm asking you to LET me be better than you are in this,
the same way you LET me hit you."

     "You mean, as a favor, like?"

     Akane gritted her teeth.  "If I can't get you to admit that
I'm better than you, in this one way, at this one time, yes."

     "All right, then."

     "Which?"

     "Pushy, pushy-- ow!  The favor."

     "Darn.  Ranma, what is it about losing to me?  Is it me?  Is
it that I'm a girl?"

     "It's just losing," Ranma said flatly.

     Akane studied him.  "I know you hate to lose.  I know about
your pride.  Well, I hate to lose too, and I have pride too,
Ranma.  You wouldn't be who you are if you weren't so stubborn,
and I guess maybe I wouldn't love you... I might not even be
alive to love you.  But what about my pride?"

     "What about it?"  Ranma's voice was more cautious than
challenging.

     "Ranma... I don't want to be your... inferior.  Your
subordinate.  Your sidekick.  I don't want you to be mine,
either.  I want us to be partners.  Equal partners.  There are
things you're better at than I am, so I want there to be things
that I'm better at.  I don't expect to have them handed to me on
a platter, but if I've earned it, I want you to admit it."

     "Well, sure.  You're better'n I am at all the school stuff,
you talk better, you're better with money.  I don't have a
problem with that."

     "That's because you don't think they're important.  For you,
everything you're good at is important, and everything you aren't
isn't," Akane said carefully.  "But anything to do with martial
arts, even something as-- as artificial as kendo, you just have
to be better at."

     "Yeah."  Simple assent, neither boastful nor apologetic.

     Akane felt a flare of temper, but against the combined power
of the afterglow and the intimacy of the moment, it didn't really
have a chance.  "Ranma," she said quietly, "I won't let you make
yourself bigger by making me smaller.  The things I do have to be
important too.  If you want to be stubborn and prideful to
everyone else, that's just fine with me; I'll be stubborn right
alongside you."  That image evidently amused Ranma, and he
chuckled.  "But not between us."  The chuckle died.

     "I dunno...."

     "I did it.  Are you saying you can't do it?"

     "Huh?"

     "Remember when I first asked you to train me?  I had to
admit to your face that you were not only better than I was, but
good enough to be my sensei.  Do you think that was easy?  Well,
it wasn't."

     "Uh...."

     "So many wonderful things came from that.  But it was so
hard.  If I hadn't known you loved me, if I hadn't been able to
imagine how happy we would be, I would never have been able to do
it... and it still took Kasumi to make me face it.  You didn't
know that.  You just saw me come in and meekly ask you to teach
me.  Dammit, Ranma, I HATE being meek!"

     "It was a hell of a surprise," Ranma admitted.

     "Well, good.  Now it's your turn to surprise me."

     "I don't like the sound of that," Ranma said lightly.

     "And why not?  Maybe it can be as good for you as it was--
as it IS for me.  You say you like being respected, like when I
call you 'Sensei'; well, don't you think I'd like you to respect
me too?"

     "What, you think I don't?"

     Akane bit back her honest opinion and chose a more tactical
response, using the quiet intensity of her voice as a weapon.
"If you do, it should be easy to prove.  Ranma, I've got another
challenge for you."

     "Uh oh."

     "We can both win this one... I hope.  I challenge you to do
just what I did," Akane said clearly.  "I challenge you to admit
that I can teach you something important, and let me do it."

     The silence stretched; Akane listened carefully, but didn't
hear any gears grinding over the concept of Martial Arts
Submitting.  Finally Ranma spoke, half joking, but only half.
"You suppose you could teach me to talk fast like that?"

     Akane laughed, pleased.  "I would, but I'm not sure I could.
It's Nabiki who's the master at that, not me."

     "Heh.  Forget that, then."  Ranma sobered.  "Let me think
about it, okay?  It's not that easy."

     "I know it's not," Akane said softly.  "All right."

     Ranma sighed.  "Jeez, I dunno about your pillow talk."

     "Well, this is the traditional time for wives to ask their
husbands for favors," Akane told him.  "Speaking of which--"

     "NOW what?!"

     Akane rolled over on top of Ranma, caressing the whole
length of his body with hers.  "I could really use a first-class
cheerleader for my kendo match this afternoon," she whispered.

     Ranma couldn't help but laugh.

     ~~~~~

     For the second time that day, Masanori found a figure in
kendo gear on the doorstep of his master's house, but this time
she wasn't wearing a mask.  "Good afternoon, Akane-san," he said,
bowing.  "Please come in."

     "Thank you, Masanori-san.  This is my father, Tendo Soun,
and this... um, this is my second.  If you don't mind, I'd like
to introduce her to you and to Kotaro-san at the same time."

     Masanori glanced politely at the resigned-looking pigtailed
girl wearing a Chinese shirt and black trousers.  "As you wish."
Inclining his head, he stepped back, allowing the guests to
enter; after they'd removed their shoes, he escorted them to the
dojo.

     Kotaro, still clad in kendogi and hakama but not wearing
armor, turned his head as they entered.  "Is it who I think it
is, Masanori?" he asked, lowering his bokken.

     "Yes, young master.  Saotome Akane-san, her father Tendo
Soun-san, and a certain young lady."

     "Aha," Kotaro said.  "Welcome.  I am Kurumazaki Kotaro."

     "Pleased to meet you, Kurumazaki-san," Soun said, bowing,
but his discomfort was evident.

     "Delighted, Tendo-san.  Your daughter is a young lady of
unusual qualities."

     "Speaking of which...."  Akane prodded Ranma forward.

     "You're not gonna believe this," Ranma said wearily, "but
I'm Saotome Ranma.  Sorry about that scene earlier."

     Kotaro displayed his incredulity for a moment before his
manners recovered.  "I beg your pardon?"

     "I know it's hard to believe, Kotaro-san, but it's true,"
Akane said.  "If you're going to be our friend, you deserve to
know... and it's his, um, her penance for trying to trick you
earlier.  Tell him, Ranma."

     "Yeah, that was me pretending to be Akane."

     Kotaro frowned.  "I know your voice from this morning, miss,
but I can't believe--  How can you be Ranma-san?"

     "Magic.  Real magic.  A Chinese curse.  It's a long story
which I'll tell you later if you really want to know.  Cold water
turns me into a girl, hot water turns me into a guy.  Bring me
some hot water, and I'll show you... damn."  Ranma cracked a
twisted smile.  "That won't work.  It's not like you're gonna
believe your eyes."

     "Ranma!" Akane gasped in outrage.

     "Well, he won't!"

     "You certainly sound like Ranma," Kotaro remarked.
"Actually, Ranma's blunt acceptance of my condition was one of
the things I liked about him."

     "See?" Ranma said to Akane.  She stuck out her tongue at her
wife and turned back to Kotaro.  "And stop talking about me like
I'm not here."  She grimaced.  "Look, come grope my chest.  Then
hit me with hot water.  You'll understand."

     Kotaro boggled momentarily.  "Grope?  I assure you, I would
never--"

     "I don't believe this.  The one time I want a guy to feel my
tits, and he won't," Ranma said in disgust.  "Jeez."  She stomped
over to Kotaro, unbuttoning her shirt, and grabbed the hand that
wasn't holding a bokken.  Goosh!  "There.  See?  I mean, get it?"

     "Ack!"  Blushing furiously, Kotaro retrieved his hand and
jumped back, then stopped.  "Ranma-san?"

     "Yeah.  But I haven't gotten the hot water yet--"

     Kotaro shook his head.  "Never mind the hot water.  Come,
attack me.  With your eyes closed."  He retreated swiftly toward
the middle of the dojo, raising his bokken.

     Ranma shrugged, mystified.  "If you say so."  She shut her
eyes tight and darted forward, sending out her aura ahead of her
to find Kotaro's.  Swish!  "Woop!"  Pow!

     "Great God in Heaven, you ARE Ranma-san," Kotaro gasped,
getting to his feet.  "I don't know what Ranma-san's chest feels
like, but I certainly know his aura, his style... and his fists."
He shook his head in wonder.  "Astonishing."

     "You're not kidding," Ranma allowed.  "I didn't know you
could do that with auras."

     Kotaro's usual humor returned.  "Well, I will admit that
your first idea was... entertaining.  You certainly have a fine
bosom, Ranma-san."

     "Gaah," Ranma muttered, blushing while Akane and Soun
laughed.  "Are we here for a challenge, or what?"

     ~~~~~

     "HAAAAA!"  Tak-tak-tak!  Tak-tak-WHACK!  "Kote!"

     "Point and match!" Masanori called.

     Akane recovered from her follow-through, then paced back to
her side of the dojo, turned, and bowed to Kotaro.

     "Thank you for the match, Akane-san," Kotaro said,
straightening from his bow and allowing Masanori to remove his
mask.  "Your skill is... formidable.  The katana is yours."

     "It was a pleasure to face such a worthy opponent," Akane
replied, taking off her mask.  She glanced at Soun and Ranma.  "I
had a good sensei... and have another."  Soun looked proud.
Ranma looked startled.

     "So it would seem."  Kotaro joined the others by the dojo
door.  "Well, I wish you luck with your next challenge.  Perhaps
we will meet again...."  He trailed off wistfully.

     "Well, of course we'll meet again!" Akane exclaimed.
"Honestly, did you think we would just vanish now that we have
what we wanted?"

     Kotaro looked abashed.  "Actually, I suppose I did have
something like that in mind, yes.  I did lose the challenge,
after all."

     "Since you lost, it wouldn't be right for Akane to spar with
you for the next month," Ranma said.  "But that doesn't mean I
can't.  I want to practice aura tricks, and blind-fighting."

     "And after the month has passed, I'd like to do kendo and
kenjutsu with you, if you don't mind," Akane chimed in.

     Kotaro blinked.  "Not at all.  That is unexpectedly kind of
you," he said finally.  "Of course you are welcome here."

     "And you're welcome to visit the Tendo Dojo," Soun offered.

     "Why not, everyone else is," Ranma said dryly.  "Now about
that hot water...."

     ~~~~~

     On the roof of the Tendo Dojo after supper, two figures
watched the sun set in a smoggy sky.  Ranma finally broke a long,
companionable silence.  "So, you gonna give me trouble about
Kuno's challenge?"

     Akane giggled.  "Tell you what, I'll arm-wrestle you for
it."

     "Tomboy."

     "No, I'll let you have it, unless you're feeling generous.
It's pretty clear that Kuno wants to fight you... male-you.  I
suppose I could pair up with female-you because that's how we
took the katana from him at the wedding... or I could be your
champion?" she suggested facetiously.

     Ranma laughed.  "I don't think so."

     "Darn."  She slugged him gently.  "I'd like to fight him,
though; I'm pretty sure I can beat him, even with kendo or
kenjutsu."

     "Well, I'd bet on you.  I noticed that you finally quit
messing yourself up by thinking too much."

     Akane looked away from the sunset, surprised.  "You did?  I
was going to ask you about that."

     "I couldn't hardly NOT notice it, seeing as you damn near
went all-out against ME," Ranma said dryly.  "About time, too."

     "Sorry...."

     "No, you did good.  You've done it before, in tight spots
when you didn't have time to think, but now you can do it when
your butt isn't on the line.  I don't want to talk about this too
much 'cause it'd mess you up again, but now you're gonna have a
different problem.  You're gonna have to decide how not to defeat
your opponents so badly they'll lose interest."

     "Ranma... hai, sensei."  In her own mind, Akane could feel
the need to avoid thinking about not thinking, so she thought
about something else.  "So how badly are you going to defeat Kuno-
kun?"

     "Dunno."  Ranma chewed on his lower lip for a moment.  "I
kinda miss the Joketsuzoku, now that they're gone.  I miss Ryoga.
I was even glad to see Pantyhose-Taro again.  I was thinking
about making Kuno promise to leave us alone if he lost, but I
don't really want that.  I doubt he would leave us alone even if
he DID promise.  He's a pain in the ass, but he's OUR pain in the
ass."

     "I suppose, but I really don't like the way he keeps waving
a katana around."

     Ranma shrugged.  "It's not really that much more dangerous
than a bokken.  Hell, he cuts down TREES with a bokken.  Mousse
kept slinging sharp stuff at me, and I didn't hold it against
him.  Ukyo, too."

     "Ukyo's spatula is different.  You can hit with the flat of
it, and she usually does.  But a katana is all about wounding and
killing.  It's the principle of the thing."

     "You have a point."

     "And an edge," Akane quipped.  "I'll just have to pursuade
him to go back to a bokken somehow.  All right, you can play with
him-- but no flirting!"

     "Aw, c'mon, he's so much fun to tease, and it's not like I'd
DO anything.  Yuck."

     "Well, I wouldn't 'DO anything' with anyone else either, but
you still wouldn't want me to flirt with anyone, would you?"

     Ranma sighed.  "I guess not."

     "We could try demonstrating the curse... no, if he hasn't
got it by now, he never will.  Honestly, how someone can ignore
something like that when it's right under his nose-- are you all
right?"

     Ranma, still coughing, waved his hand.

     Akane frowned momentarily, wondering why the first cough had
sounded like "P-chan", then shrugged, dismissing the matter.
"Hmm... with a little effort, we could make this a really
memorable occasion for Kuno-kun.  I'll go make a couple of calls.
Leave all the details to me; you just be ready to go over there
and have fun kicking some Kuno butt."

     Ranma smirked.  "That's MY line."

     ~~~~~

     The procession that entered the courtyard of the Kuno
mansion in late afternoon was a sight to bring gladness to the
heart of any temporally-displaced samurai.  Saotome Nodoka,
wearing a fine kimono decorated with a tasteful spray of cherry
blossoms, seemed to invite the tree to bloom; she carried the
disputed katana with an air of grave ceremony.  She was followed
by the pigtailed girl in her usual bright Chinese silks; no doubt
in remembrance of her early meeting with the noble scion of house
Kuno, she bore a steaming kettle in one hand.

     The fair Tendo Akane also wore kimono for the occasion.
Tatewaki's eyes narrowed as he noticed that the cut of her
sleeves and the placement of her obi and cord were more
appropriate for a young wife than the innocent girl he knew her
to be.  Clearly she was suffering from some delusion.

     The two bringing up the rear were a surprise, but at least
they were properly dressed in dark kimono and hakama, adorned
with a crest that was known to Tatewaki.  "Kurumazaki-san," Kuno
intoned.  "I mean no offense, but pray, what is thy business
here?"

     "Good afternoon, Kuno-san," Kotaro said, bowing.  "I am here
as a guest of the Saotomes.  It seems that my destiny has
entangled with theirs in the matter of this katana, and so they
were kind enough to invite me to attend.  This is my manservant,
Masanori."

     "A pleasure, Kuno-san," the gentleman's gentleman said,
bowing.

     Kuno nodded brusquely to the menial and turned his attention
to Nodoka.  "Saotome-no-obasan, it pains me to be so blunt, but
why hast thou numbered these among thy party?"

     "Oh, I really couldn't say," Nodoka replied.  "I believe it
was my daughter-in-law's idea."

     Kuno frowned; an unpleasant suspicion was inveigling itself
into his thoughts.  "Daughter-in-law?"

     "Saotome Akane."  She nodded in the direction of the younger
woman.

     "Urk."  Kuno appeared to suffer a sudden brain-freeze.

     Akane spoke up.  "I invited them as witnesses, Kuno-kun."

     This unfroze Kuno, and he laughed.  "Nay, surely thou art
jesting!  How can a sightless man serve as a witness?  It flies
in the face of all good sense."

     "Fortunately only my eyes are blind," Kotaro said, smiling
gently.  "I have escaped blindness of the mind and the heart."
He bowed again and followed Nodoka.

     For a moment it seemed to Tatewaki that Kurumazaki-san might
have uttered criticism, or perhaps even insult, but he dismissed
the thought; there was a more important issue.  "Where is the
sorcerer Saotome?"

     He was not immediately answered; his guests were occupied in
settling themselves in a row along one side of the venue of
combat.  The pigtailed girl and Akane remained standing.  They
exchanged a glance, and the pigtailed girl shrugged.  "He's right
here, Kuno-kun," Akane said.  "Why do you ask?"

     "Surely it is obvious!" Tatewaki exclaimed.  "It is he whom
I must defeat to reclaim my honor, and it is even he whom I shall
defeat this day!"

     "Well, as I recall it, it was Akane and I who clobbered you
and took the katana away," the pigtailed girl drawled.  "You sure
you wouldn't rather fight us again for it?"

     Tatewaki forced a patient smile.  "Nay, as I said, I hold
the two of you not to blame.  It is your dark master with whom I
quarrel, in order to free you."

     The pigtailed girl shrugged again.  "Okay, you asked for it.
Uh, behold!"  Akane shook out the bundle she carried into a
length of brightly-colored fabric and held it up as far as her
arms would stretch, so that it formed a screen obscuring the
pigtailed girl from Tatewaki's vision.  There was a sudden puff
of steam.  "Yow!  Hot!"

     The onlookers murmured and applauded.  Akane whisked the
cloth away with a flourish, and there stood the demon Saotome,
panting a bit and blowing on his fingers; clearly he had just
come from the infernal regions.  "Oi, Kuno," he said cheerfully.

     "Thou!" Kuno snarled, his right hand going to the hilt of
the sword at his side and his left gripping the scabbard.

     Ranma held up his hands.  "Wait just a sec, moron.  What are
the terms of this, uh, duel?  You're not planning to use THAT,
are ya?"  He gestured with his chin at Kuno's sword.

     "Steel is the only fit remedy for such as thee!" Kuno
stormed, but he didn't draw.

     Ranma struck a relaxed pose and shook his head.  "You
brought steel to our first wedding, you brought steel to our
second wedding, you want to use steel now... you keep this up and
I'm gonna start to think you're mad at me."  He grinned at the
appreciative chuckles from his audience.

     Kuno flushed.  "Villain!"

     "Yeah, yeah.  Okay with you if I win by knockout, though?"

     "Aye, if thou'rt too lily-livered for blood."

     "'Lily-livered'?!"  Ranma took a deep breath.

     "Kuno-kun."  Kuno turned to see that Akane had approached
him.  She stared up at him with eyes grim beyond her years.
"Kuno-kun, you can play with bokken all you like, but I warn you
not to use steel, now or in the future.  If you wound him, I will
wound you.  If you kill him, I promise that I will kill you...
slowly."

     Kuno swallowed against a suddenly dry throat and essayed a
smile.  "Tendo Akane, this is but thy ensorcelment speaking...."

     Akane grinned suddenly.  "It sure is.  Remember what Nabiki
told you when you met the pigtailed girl?"  He did, and the next
words from her lips echoed them: "Listen, Kuno-kun.  My heart and
my body both belong to Saotome Ranma."  She held up her fist with
one finger extended: the one bearing a golden ring.

     "Are you sure that was wise, Akane-chan?" Nodoka whispered
as Akane rejoined her.

     "Oh, yes.  If he's using a katana, I want him too mad to
fight well."  Kuno stood motionless; Akane could almost see a
miniature volcano erupting atop his head.

     "Well, I must say that that taunt was not ladylike... but I
definitely approve the sentiment, Akane-chan."

     "AARGH!"  Kuno drew his katana hissing from its scabbard,
then flung the scabbard aside and lunged at Ranma, striking
furiously.

     "Woop!  Eek!  Yipe!  Ack!"  Ranma evaded the glinting sweeps
of the sword by bare finger-widths, inciting Kuno to greater and
greater effort.

     Nodoka sat still and impassive as razor-edged steel in the
hands of a deranged expert menaced her only son, but Akane's
sidelong glance noticed lines on her face that hadn't been there
before.  "Don't worry, Okaa-sama," she whispered, leaning
sideways.  "Ranma's just playing with him, really."

     Nodoka let out a breath.  "I do hope you're right, dear.
Oh, if only you were with child...."  It took all of Akane's self-
control to prevent a facefault.

     Bored with dodging, Ranma sprang up to crouch on the eaves
of the house.  "Biii-da!" he taunted, stretching his mouth with
his fingers and waving his tongue at his panting enemy.

     "Varlet!  Get thee down at once and fight like a man!" Kuno
shouted when he'd recovered his breath.

     "Okay-- woops!"  Ranma seemed to slip on the tiles and fell
into the shrubbery.

     "Have at thee!" Kuno yelled, dashing forward.  Snick!  A
camellia bush fell victim to Kuno's overzealous pruning
technique.  Ranma appeared around the next bush.

     "Oi!  Over here!" he called, beckoning.  Another bush met a
premature end, and another, and another, as Ranma led Kuno in a
wholesale slaughter of the landscaping.  Then Ranma sailed over
Kuno in an elegant layout flip and scampered back towards the
audience.

     Kuno charged after him, swiping madly as Ranma danced and
wove around him.  "HAAA!"  He unleashed a mighty thrust that
skimmed past Ranma's side and sank into the trunk of the cherry
tree.  He tugged at his sword, but it was well and truly stuck.

     Ranma, seemingly trapped between Kuno and the cherry tree,
looked down at the blade and whistled.  "Oh, bad luck," he said,
grinning up at Kuno.

     POW!

     Kuno toppled away from Ranma and fell to the ground, out
cold.  Ranma wiped his brow exaggeratedly and turned to carefully
work the katana out of the cherry tree.  "Good thing it wasn't
the haunted one," he said to no one in particular.  "Jeez, what
am I going to do with another katana?"

     "You could start a collection," Kotaro said, rising.  "At
this rate, it won't be long until Kuno-san runs out of
katana...."

     "Heh.  Good idea."  Ranma accepted a hug from his mother, a
kiss from Akane, and Kuno's discarded scabbard from Masanori.
The procession departed, leaving Tatewaki Kuno sleeping
peacefully beneath his cherry tree.  A note pinned to his sleeve
read: "Better luck next time-- not!  Saotome (Ranma & Akane)."

     ~~~~~

     Akane came into the kitchen after school, wearing her gi,
and paused when she saw that Kasumi was dressed for housework
rather than martial arts.  "Aren't you going to come work out
with us, Onee-chan?"

     "Not just yet," Kasumi said, more seriously than was usual
for her.  She glanced in the general direction of the dojo.
"Ranma asked me to give you a few minutes alone."

     Akane raised her eyebrows.  "Really?  I'd better go see what
he's up to, then."  She left the kitchen and hurried to the dojo.
When she got there, she was surprised to see that Ranma was still
female.  Then she noticed what Ranma was holding in her hands and
drew in a breath.

     Ranma half-smiled.  "Hey, Akane.  I was thinking."  She
paused to see if Akane had a wisecrack for that, but wild horses
couldn't have dragged a jibe out of Akane at that moment.

     "I was thinking about what our damn-fool fathers meant by
'joining of the schools', and what it ought to mean.  I've been
teaching you Saotome-ryu, but maybe there's some stuff in Tendo-
ryu that's worthwhile, too.  I was thinking about what you said
about me just needing to study forms a bit."  She held out one of
the two bokken in her hands to Akane.  "So I was thinking maybe
you could, uh, you could help me with that... if you wanted to,
that is."

     Akane's tears overflowed as she stepped forward and accepted
the bokken.  "Ranma... I would be so happy to, I can't even tell
you."  She sniffled and wiped her eyes with her other hand.
"Ranma, about that challenge...."

     "Yeah?"

     "You win."  *And so do I.*

     ~~~~~ end chapter 4 ~~~~~