Breaking the Cocoon

by FriendlyEl

The failed wedding has left the teenage martial artists to think over their life, and what to do with it now. However, things become even more interesting as a strange fighter comes to challenge the Tendo Dojo from the Amazons' enemy village. Please revie

1. Chapter 1

Warning: While this fanfiction is by no means a dark fic, it will contain some scenes that are rather serious and emotional compared to the story, especially in the beginning during the aftermath of the failed wedding. I don't particularly hate any characters at all, but many of them will suffer some simply for the sake of the plot.

The massive explosions throughout the dojo rumbled through Soun's ears as he watched the chaos take place. He passively watched the horde of zealous teenagers stampede through, tearing down his wall, while others either beat on his perverted, evil master for his abominable deed of destroying the Nanichuaan that was a once in a lifetime gift to his son, while two particularly violent girlfriends of this son held explosive food in one hand and picking up another to most likely aim at his daughter, just like that Shampoo girl claimed she was wanting to do in the first place.

But they can't, the father thought to himself. Ranma himself was already knocked almost unconscious from two of these explosives. If they did that much damage to him, then there was almost no way that his little girl would survive through one of those attacks! If those girls didn't stop this now, they would kill Akane for sure!

Fortunately for Soun, one of the girls seemed to have taken a good look at the damage done from her previous attack by means of the tuxedo-wearing target from before. Upon the inspection, she nudged a painful elbow into the other who, wincing from the blow, barely managed to keep the potentially deadly pork bun from dropping out of her hand and exploding on the floor.

"Stupid spatula girl!" Shampoo cursed Ukyo. "What you do that for?! That hurt!"

"Look! This is going too far!" the spatula girl claimed, pointing back to their previous and now unconscious target, currently being watched over by a certain female Kuno in a wedding dress. "Look at what it did to Ranma-honey!"

If it hurt Ranma that bad, I don't want to think of what it would do to Akane. I wanted to stop the wedding, not kill her!

Shampoo looked back to the unconscious Airen, and then looked towards her other target currently trying to kick off two particularly determined perverts. "But Shampoo not hit Akane! That more important!" As Akane was still to busy to pay attention to the two other girls, the Amazon girl was about to retry aiming for the preoccupied bride, not caring about whether Kuno or the old troll Happy were innocent bystanders. "Stupid kitchen wrecker steal Airen! She try force him into marriage! Shampoo marry Airen, and let Akane taste yummy PORK BUNS!" However, just as she was about to toss it, she felt a sudden extreme pain in her throwing arm and finding herself unable to move her arm down. Looking back in annoyance, her face turned into pure shock as she saw the Lost Boy behind her grabbing her arm from behind.

Noticing her own arm was being grabbed as well, and the glare of berserker rage Ryoga used only when dealing with Ranma or another particularly contemptible enemy, Ukyo stood still. She was smart enough to know not to anger him any more than he already was. Especially with the advantage he already had over her, having her arm directly in his hand. Staring back at him in horror, all she was able to let out was a pathetic whimper. "I…"

The chaos around them, which had already somehow caused the roof to harmlessly collapse into the direct center of the dojo floor, had now been silenced as everyone stared at one of Ranma's most feared "friends" grabbing his two "other" fiancées and picking them up on the arm, staring at them with a borderline homicidal look. However, the scene became equally more disturbing as the young male martial artist stared up to their faces, with a cold, almost peaceful face. "Attempting to kill Akane on her own wedding? You two should be ashamed of yourselves."

Shampoo, however, who did not understand the true danger behind angering the Lost Boy, looked back and stuck her tongue out at him. Giving her own face of rage, Shampoo attempted a fast, painful kick into Ryoga's groin, which he easily blocked by raising his leg. "You let Shampoo go!"

"I'm the one who's in charge right now," he smirked evilly, grabbing harder onto both of the girls' arms, causing them to writhe in pain.

"Ryoga, stop it!" Akane called from behind. "Thank you for saving me, but you don't have to do this for me!"

Hearing the plead from the person he saved, Ryoga dropped the two on the floor, both barely keeping the explosives they brought with them from dropping out of their hands and causing them to get in even more trouble. The two girls stared back up to the boy who dropped them, unable to say anything after looking at his hateful glaze, his eyes beginning to grow red from the infamous emotion chi he was probably building inside of him. "Just go," Ryoga demanded the two coldly. "Get out of here, and be grateful you're both girls."

Ukyo sat still, trying to defend herself. "I wasn't trying to…"

"No excuses! Get out of my sight! NOW!!!" the looming boy scowled.

Even Shampoo now was not arrogant enough to not be somewhat scared. She inwardly admitted that as stupid as he may be Ryoga could pose a decent threat to her if he was angry enough. On top of that, her Airen was not currently able to save her. The Amazon stood up, fists clenched by her waste. "Shampoo show you!" With that, the girl stormed away, dropping her pork buns and causing an enormous, but harmless explosion as everyone was out of its way. Following her, Mousse called her name as he chased after her.

The other wedding bomber kneeled on the ground, staring aimlessly at the ragged top of what was the rest of the wall. This did not go unnoticed by Ryoga, who took a step closer to her, his face red as a lobster. "Yo! Ukyo! I told you to GET OUT!!!" The only response he got from her was a small tear from her left eye as she simply bounced her jaw up and down.

"Don't worry about her, Ryoga. I'll deal with her when I need to," Akane told him as she stood between the two, giving the irate male a polite smile. "But thank you for defending me."

Akane was right. Ukyo was not a threat to anyone anymore. Even if she was, maybe it wasn't his place to deal with her. After all, it wasn't like randomly breaking into the dojo like he did was much better. "Goodbye, Akane," Ryoga politely whispered to her. "I 'm sorry your wedding turned out like this." Jumping away, the bandana ran off to wherever fate decided him to go, leaving the bride to deal with the offenders.

"Oh, Ranma darling," Akane could hear Kodachi purr as she sat idly over him. "I suppose I see now why you are unable to be my bride. For if you did those brutish thugs would have attacked your loving Kodachi." The Tendo daughter looked back to the Kuno glomping sadly onto the unconscious groom quickly, but then glared back at the seemingly comatose spatula girl next to her.

That's such a disgusting act Kodachi's pulling, but trying to throw explosives at me? I expected that from Shampoo, but Ukyo?

Akane walked forward to Ukyo, so that she was being literally touched by the end of the wedding dress. Fuming in a hellish aura, she grabbed the supposedly unconscious girl by the collar, staring directly at the other with the eyes of a deer in the headlights of an incoming car. "You have SO much explaining to do! And you BETTER start explaining NOW!!"

Akane was successful in getting a response. Noticing herself being so forcefully grabbed, Ukyo gave the offender her own "death stare", complete with eyebrows forced as low as they could, tears slowly dripping from her eyes, and parted lips revealing her painfully clenched teeth. "Explain?" the lifted girl hissed quietly, keeping her teeth in position as she did so. "Let me get this strait. You just tried to marry my Ranma honey, who I spent ten years searching for, and you want me to explain why I won't let you do that?"

Akane did not expect the girl in her arms to attack, which was why she was thrown back so far when she was shoved away and why she was forced to let Ukyo go.

As her anger diminished, Ukyo gave a cold, arrogant smile to Akane as she pointed a taunting finger at her. "You wanna fight for my Ranma honey? Any time, sugar. But don't you DARE go trying to marry him without even telling me!" Turning away, the Okonomyaki chef walked towards her worker, folding her arm onto his and pulling him away from the door. "C'mon Kontasu! Let's get outta here!"

"Yes… Ukyo darling!" the male kuonchi squealed as he followed his leader out to the street.

Watching the entire event take place, Soun stood in shock until the two bullies had left. He reminded himself to have a good talk with those nasty girls for what they did to his daughter, and make sure to thank Ryoga for stopping them. As much as he hated what that boy did to his daughter with his Jusenkyo curse, he always knew he honestly cared for her. He cursed himself for shrieking his responsibilities as a father, and leaving her safety in the hands of some other watcher. It was the one time that his cowardice had almost truly cost him.

"This wedding is over," the Tendo father claimed as loudly as he could without yelling, making sure he had all of the guests hear him. "You are allowed to stay in this dojo, but I ask that you do not wreck it anymore than it already is. However, as there is no wedding we will also not be serving any snacks or other such entertainment. I also ask that you stay in the dojo and do not enter the house."

Almost immediately after Soun's announcement, Ranma had just recovered from his sleep, noticing somehow that the sky was unblocked, sun shining directly in his face, and that an enormous crowd of people he knew were walking around, a good amount leaving or looking at him. However, the last part, and by far the most frightening, was the fact that he could feel and see Kodachi laying directly on top of him, complete with a wedding gown, wet eyes, and arms wrapped around his chest in a grip too strong to get out of.

"Ranma darling, you're all right! I can't believe how those wicked girls took it out on you that you were forced into this engagement! If you love someone, you do not hurt them in such a way!" Kodachi lifted the now conscious and clearly scared Ranma into a sitting position, sitting in his lap as she continued hugging him. "After what those nasty bwutes did to you Iw neverw wet you go, my pwecious wittle Wanma." Suddenly, to top it off, Ranma felt a painful force on the back of his head pulling him back while the wedding dress wearing gymnast continued to cling onto him, only making the pain worse.

"GET OFF, KODACHI!!!" Akane bellowed to no avail. "I HAVE TO TALK WITH HIM… ALONE!!!" Ranma pushed himself up, trying to run fast enough so that he could catch up with Akane on his own. Unfortunately, the deadweight on him made that difficult, and he slipped out of Akane's hands, at the same time forcing the girl on him to jump off and stare at the other bride.

"Akane Tendo! How dare you treat your own husband like that?! This is the man you are supposed to cherish for the rest of your life, not bully to your heart's content. And you have the nerve to treat him no better than those savages who threw explosives at him did. I will tell you now that I have spent much time thinking over this, and have decided to give up on my Ranma darling. However, let me warn you that if you do in fact love him that sort of abuse, not another one seeking his love, will drive him away."

I have already accepted that my Ranma darling is slightly masochistic and seems to like girls that enjoy hitting him. I never thought it was right to do that, so I suppose I have lost him a long time ago

"I'm sorry for causing you so much trouble. I shall now do as you ask and leave. Goodbye." Kodachi leapt into the sky, letting out her infamous laughter.

As she left, her brother followed in heed, giving his own insane cackle. "My twisted sister has finally come to her senses and gotten over the villainous Ranma Saotome! Perhaps she is not as ill as I have accused her of!"

"One down," Ranma commented in sarcastic grief, staring into the sky. "So no more Black Rose trying to poison me? Can't say I'm gonna miss the attention."

"Yeah right," Akane scoffed as she grabbed onto Ranma's ponytail. "Like I'd take advice on how to not scare boys from Kodachi! Get inside Ranma! We need to talk!"

Walking backwards in pain, the battered groom followed the bride to the house for their "honeymoon". "Ow! Hey! C'mon! I was planning on going with you anyways so could you stop pulling on the hair, uncute monkeygirl?!"

"I'm so uncute you tell me you're in love with me!"

"Dammit, Akane! People are listening you know!"

And listening they were. The small audience still there watched the "lovers' quarrel" with great interest, talking amongst themselves over what they saw. In particular, two scruffy haired, athletic boys from the couple's high school class added their own opinions.

"You see, Daisuke! I told you they're in love," Hiroshi cheerfully

"They love each other so much," Daisuke responded, "That Ranma's willing to give up so many other lovely girls to be with her. I'm so proud of those two."

Meanwhile, when Soun had finally assembled the entire household, he declared a mandatory family meeting in the kitchen. With his word, all of them sat attentively at the table, watching the father attempt meditation breaths with a cigarette in his mouth.

"So Daddy," Nabiki hummed, impatiently rolling her eyes. "Can we get on with this? Sitting here isn't exactly what I planned to do for the whole day."

Soun pulled the burning stick out of his mouth, allowing the remaining smoke flow from his nose. He glared at the sarcastic daughter, letting her know that she said the wrong thing. "If I feel like letting this family meeting go on until tomorrow morning, so be it! And considering the fact that your self-centeredness was what helped to cause this, you are among the people who I want to hear such complaints from the least! Understood?" Mr. Tendo pressed his cigarette into the ash try in front of him, rolling the torched end back and forth. "This wedding was supposed to be the greatest day of your daughter and her fiancée, and it was highly important that it was kept secret to prevent a disaster such as the one that we have seen." Soun's stare at his daughter more intensified, his lips pursed and scrunched together into wrinkles. "But, it was not kept a secret. In fact, the entire town knew about it. Now Nabiki, you said that you gave them invitations. Can you explain to your sister why you did that?"

Looking to the side, Nabiki still kept her sly, calm composition. "Well, I…"

"Go on, young woman," Kasumi entered the conversation, staring at the sister who continued to look away. "Akane is waiting."

Next to Nabiki, Akane hummed as she watched her sister turn away from her. "Daddy, Kasumi, I know the reason. She was planning on keeping it a secret, but all of them wanted information. They had money, which is her obvious weak spot. I'm sure she made a good amount off of it."

"We knew that, Akane," Soun assured her as he lit another cigarette and took a short breath from it, then taking it out to continue talking. "I want to hear your sister admit it herself." He continued staring the interrogated girl for about a minute, who returned a bored look back to him. "I see," he responded as he dropped some ash into the tray. "I suppose you're just shy. Well then, let's go on to my next question, which I personally am more curious about." The father shifted his head towards Ranma, who sat next to Akane. His face was mad when he looked at his daughter, but he was furious now! "Ranma! I want you to tell us why we were forced to keep this wedding a secret in the first place?!"

"Mr. Tendo has a point son," the questioned boy's unhappy mother added, the sheathed katana in her lap demanding special attention. "The fact that you had so many people so strongly opposed to the wedding is an interesting lesson to me. You seem to have many unresolved relationships, especially with the women in your life. Perhaps you need to be more direct with them about your feelings for Akane."

Akane stomped her fist onto the table, causing the father's ashtray to shake. "Of COURSE he didn't!" she bellowed. "In case you forgot he goes around grabbing at both of them and taking free food! I'm sure he'd be in heaven breeding with Shampoo and he has the body to be a waitress at Uchan's!"

Ranma made a silly face as he raised his hands, waving them in front of his face. "Whaddya mean by that?! I'm not bein' nice to them cause I love them!"

Akane gave a spiteful, arrogant grin as she pushed her face into the boy. "Aww, let me guess. Sweet little Ranma didn't want to hurt their feelings." As her face went back to a vicious rage, "SO IT WAS PERFECTLY UNDERSTANDABLE HOW THEY COULD BE CONFUSED AND TRY TO KILL ME!!!" She stood up as she accusingly pointed her finger down to the offensive fiancée. "Let me make something perfectly clear, Daddy! If that pervert's going to go around teasing other girls like that, let him. But I am NOT going to be a part of it! And don't start talking about joining the schools." She turned her finger to the other side as Nabiki stared at it with no interest. "Let HER marry him! Let's see how she likes it when she has to put up with some psychopaths chasing her because she has their prize!"

"Akane! Are you refusing your duty to this family?!" Soun stared at her daughter in a way completely different than his angry uncontrollable self, but more as a calm, cold father, upset with his child and willing to punish them even if they would become disliked. "You dislike him so much that you are willing to betray the Tendo clan?"

Grumbling, Akane made an attempt to make her point clearer. "Daddy, I thought you said he could marry any three of us. I'm just saying Nabiki should marry him. I refuse to put up with him anymore and Kasumi doesn't deserve to."

"I don't think Ranma would like that too much, sis," Nabiki. Besides, she knew perfectly well from before of how dangerous the other girls could be when "their" man was involved. Akane at least had the martial arts ability to defend herself somewhat. As her face returned serious, "It's like Daddy said, I don't think it's so much Ranma she doesn't like as much as the weirdoes that he keeps attracting."

"I agree, my boy. As long as we have these other girls confused about your feelings, they will continue to try to hurt your fiancée," Genma reminded him. As he pointed his finger towards his son, he went on with a more demanding expression and voice. "For Akane, you MUST tell them your feelings for her."

"Yeah right!" Ranma barked spitefully. In case you forgot, you're the reason their on my case in the first place. The only reason Ukyo's engaged to me in the first place is 'cause of your stupid stomach. Sort of the same with Shampoo, so don't give me that crap!"

The overbearing father stomped his other fist on the table, frothing at the mouth. "Foolish boy! Then why don't you cancel their engagements? Go tell them to leave you alone!"

"Because unlike you I got an honor code, and I won't just screw them over like you would! Besides, do that and you'll only piss them off and they'll be more dangerous. You want me to cancel the engagements; we do it in an honorable way. Just telling them to go is the stupidest thing you could possibly do!"

"They were like that at the wedding because you didn't get them off your back!" Akane pointed out, reentering the conversation. "Just tell them to fuck off and get a life!"

Kasumi winced back as she heard this. "Both of you watch your language," the young matriarch softly ordered, unheard by the two children who were staring a heated argument.

"Didn't you hear me, Akane? You want them stalking you an' trying to kill you everywhere you go?"

Even as she tried to give an uncomfortable laugh, tears began falling from Akane's eyes. "Ho HO, good one! They already do that! Let's count all the times Shampoo did!"

Pounding his own fists on the table, Ranma gave her a scared face that warned her not to jump to the wrong conclusions this time. "Not every damn day! She probably did it three, four times in a total! I go tell Shampoo or Ukyo now; they'll both team up and do it over and over again! Think this wedding sucked?! How would you like to experience it everyday at school! Shampoo bustin' in through the wall or blowing the whole building up! She'll probably do that every day!" He knew he could stop her, and if protecting Akane was involved he could easily get the entire family and maybe Ryoga involved, but he didn't want to admit that it was the whole reason.

"THEN GO WITH ONE OF THEM IF THEY'RE SO DESPERATE!!! WATCH TWO CUTE GIRLS FIGHT TO THE DEATH FOR THE RIGHT TO LET YOU BE A PERVERT WITH THEM!!! SCREW THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS OUT OF THEM!!!" After taking the necessary punch in the face towards the supposed pervert, the Tendo daughter softened her deadly anger into a truly hurt, scared and hopeless sob. Some time later, she sat back on her chair, continuing the light blubber, everyone watching in silence as she released the distress. No one was willing to stop her, out of both sympathy and fear for her. However, eventually she looked back to her fiancée, a tired, war-torn and desperate look. "I'm so tired," she whispered as a fake smile appeared. "It's so hard, being engaged to a pervert like you. To be brought so low when I used to be so high." Sighing bitterly, Akane tilted her head towards Soun. "Daddy, make him go away," she begged her father with a sweet, mother like tone. "He's bugging me."

Itching his head as he let out a deep breath, the father waved his other hand. "I need time alone with these two," he claimed. "The rest of you are free to go."

As ordered, everyone stood up and left to continue their daily plans. As soon as he knew everyone was gone, Soun looked towards his son in law, a harsh frown on his face. "Son," he shivered in agony. "Look what you're doing to my daughter. I swear that if I knew how much trouble you would be, I never would have accepted this engagement, but now I have no choice but to keep this engagement in place."

"Please," Akane pleaded again, her fake smile fading. "I just want this all to go away."

The father nodded his head, refusing to do that. "I understand exactly how you feel Akane, but we only have so much more money left in the inheritance will because the damage to this house has been so great. Once that runs out, how do you suppose we will be able to stay off of the streets once it runs out? Even if all three of you girls work in part time jobs, which could affect your school work, there is no way you could pay the bills, much less provide food on the table. The only possible way we will be able to do that is to do what the dojo was intended for in the first place, to teach martial arts classes. I haven't done any true training since I did so under Master Happosai more than twenty years ago, and no offence to you Akane, but I have doubts as to your current abilities to train by yourself."

Noticing his need for another, Soun pulled out his third cigarette and lit it as he addressed Ranma. "You are a good person by nature, Ranma. Unlike your father, I know I can trust you to take care of this dojo. I also know that you have become quite well known since you have come here. Because of that, I'm sure kids from your high school would probably be lining up to train under the great Ranma Saotome."

Nodding his head, the 'god slayer' took in everything he said, not knowing whether what he heard was an insult or compliment. "So you want to start teaching people?"

A laugh, albeit a light and serious one, was emitted from the old man. "Well, not now of course. I need to show you how to do it right, but you get my point. I can't have you leave on me now. I need you to stay engaged to one of my daughters, and I'm afraid Akane is the only one who would stand a chance of defending herself from those two if she needed to. Do you both understand?"

"I understand," Akane murmured painfully.

Obviously not by choice from the way she looked. "Akane, please. I know you're life has changed in ways you may not always like, and I know he usually seems like a no good freeloader, but he has done so much for you. All I ask is that you show him thanks, and treat him better. Think of the times he has been willing to save you, or simply allow you to hit him to make sure you didn't keep it inside." The father stood up, and walked behind the two children, giving a pat on their shoulders. Even if he wrecked the table with ash, it was worth doing it. "It took me a very long time to realize it myself, Akane, but you are engaged to a truly wonderful man, even if you don't agree. But whether you do or not, I cannot allow this break this engagement. But perhaps it was too soon for you two to be married. While it has improved, you two still constantly bicker with each other like children. If that is not dealt with, you two will never be able to be a functional couple. Second, Ranma is right. Simply marrying out of the blue has caused even more spite in the other kids. Perhaps it is best for you two to deal with your relationships first."

"Just remember, Ranma," Akane growled as she returned to herself. "This is mostly your fault!"

"Oh, it is?" Ranma snorted, offended.

Soun simply watched the argument in frustration, for once not acting too emotional.

If you two don't want to end up homeless, this will have to stop.

Akari Unryuu was, in her own way, an unusual girl. It wasn't every day that you risked turning diabetic hearing about pigs, or see hair with pink stripes in the front. Not to mention the giant animal she used for travel needs. However, the oddest of her oddities was one that was not so much her own fault was the way her friend was often difficult to find, oftentimes taking a matter of weeks to return home should he be asked to get groceries. It didn't usually matter to her, since they were usually happy being pen pals, but her grandfather seemed to disagree.

Akari had actually spent a good amount of time searching for him in Nerinma, sleeping peacefully with her giant sumo pig in the park since no hotels seemed to be particularly pet-friendly. Even though many people gave odd looks at the scene, amazingly the police simply walked by, not giving much of a glance. One time when she did see a policeman walk by she asked him if it was really okay for her to keep the animal around. All she got in response was a cry of laughter, then being told that it would take something a lot weirder than a giant pig sleeping in the park for police to notice, much less do anything about it. She herself didn't mind sleeping outside as long it was good weather. It wasn't uncommon for sumo pig trainers to spend entire nights outdoors with a herd, and the young girl herself had done that many times since her parents left. She also wasn't particularly worried about robbers either, since they were always easily dealt with by the strongest of the animals.

However, that didn't excuse the fact that she had just spent a week laying around miles away from home. Akari had first searched for the Lost Boy in his home, but simply accepting the fact that he was gone when she barely got out of the way of a wave of heavy objects sloshed out from the closet. Since then, the sumo pig raiser figured that if he wasn't home the next best place to look for him was in Tokyo. This area around her was the most common for him to him to stay around, mostly for the sake of dealing with his feud with that Ranma he kept talking about. She thought that maybe him and that Akane girl might be willing to help find Ryoga if it came down to that, but didn't know if it was an entirely good idea, seeing how he always seemed to irritate her friend.

Her luck seemed to take a turn for the better as she watched the familiar and sought after dirty, yellow and green clothes, clothing the person she had spent so much time searching for. Standing back up, she ran towards him in excitement, cheering his name.

After the failed wedding, Ryoga couldn't help but to feel a slight hint of depression. For once, he could have been cured. He could have been cured of the pig. But life just couldn't work that way. Like always, that dirty old man had to wreck it for everyone. At least if someone else caught it, the Nanichuan gift would have been salvaged. It wouldn't have gone down the tubes like a diamond ring you accidentally threw in the trash. He swore he would do whatever it took to punish Happosai.

Not to mention Shampoo and Ukyo, but that was a different story all together. He knew Akane would not appreciate it if he took matters into his own hands, but did he have a choice? As much as he hated to admit it, Akane was frail and in need of protection. There was no way she would be able to defend herself if the other girls attacked her. Even if they were still girls, they, like himself, were true martial artists. His only hope was that Ranma would guard her, even if it meant loosing the chance to string them all along. "Ranma," Ryoga scowled as he talked to himself, "I can only hope that Akane is in good hands now. Don't disappoint me, or I swear I'll make you regret it."

"RYYOOOGA!!!" The half pig looked back, an excited smile across his face as he recognized the voice.

Running towards the girl, Ryoga gasped in bliss. "Akari! It's so good to see you!" Accepting a hug from her as they reached each other, he refrained himself from doing the same, knowing the likelihood that he might hurt her. "Everything's just so much better when you're around," he sighed dreamily in her arms. "I got you some noodles, but I think they're expired. Sorry, I'll get you something better."

"It's okay," Akari chirped. "Why don't you come home with me? We'll have some dinner, then we can check back on the pigs."

Ryoga's jolly grin shrunk upon the last comment, but was not obvious to his friend. "Sh… Sure my love!"

"Also," Akari continued as her face became more serious, "My grandfather wants me to be around you more. He says he wants to make sure that you stay with us, and never go outdoors for a while."

"Okay," the bandana-wearing fiancée claimed as he bounced his head with a grin, showing his sharp canines. "I'll do that for you."

"That's good, because once we get married I will need you to stay with me," Akari pointed out, beginning to sound like a teacher. "I don't mind doing it, but who will take care of the kids if I'm too busy taking care of my pigs? My grandpa will only be around for so long, so we need to work on how to keep you from getting lost."

This was a completely different side of his sweetheart Akari, Ryoga thought. Usually, she couldn't care less about when she saw him again, and now she wanted to be around her all the time. Not that he was unhappy. After all, now that he was slowly getting over Akane, Akari seemed to be all he could think of to keep him going when he was stuck in some disgusting slum or seemingly endless forest, so why complain? It was just surprising. "Sure," he answered as he shrugged his shoulders. "I wanted to see you soon anyways. So, anything you want to do?"

"We really should go home," Akari warned. "My Grandfather wants to see you as soon as possible."

Seeing the giant sumo pig nod its head in agreement behind his girlfriend, Ryoga was beginning to truly see how serious this could be. "Well," he chuckled uncomfortably, "Let's go."

Unknown to them, on the other side of the trees someone had overheard the conversation. She wasn't intending to do so, and she was on her way home herself, but it always seemed that he had to be around when he was the most inconvenient.

It had already come across to Ukyo of just how much of a mistake she had made today. Despite her seemingly friendly personality, she hadn't managed to make many real friends since she transferred to Furinkan High School. She perhaps still intimidated most people from her first "meeting" with Ranma, not to mention the fact that most of her "free time" was spent working at her restaurant.

Akane was one of the few people besides Ranma that ever attempted to get to know her, and were willing to have any real 'small talk'. Even Yuka and Sakuri seemed distant around the Okonomyaki chef, only being around her at lunch simply because Akane invited her. Even if they occasionally chatted with her, they clearly didn't like her too much, probably because they wanted to see Ranma and Akane stay together.

Akane knew all along how much Ukyo wanted to have Ranma to herself, but somehow the fellow tomboy was willing to care for her. Unlike her other two rivals, Ukyo could stay around her without the constant need to beat the living snot out of her. And look what she did in return. When Ranma honey finally chose someone else, something she knew all along he would eventually do most likely, she ruined their happiness. They would probably hate her now, and in all honesty there was a part of her that hoped they did. It would make things a lot easier.

She was alone now. No one wanted to be around her. Who would want to be around someone who attacks their best friend? And simply to rub it in her face, the one person she always thought she was at least better off than, the one person who gave her Ranma more trouble than anyone, somehow managed to be happy when she was the worst off she had been in the longest time.

Staring at the tree in front of her aimlessly, Ukyo began to slide her finger across its coarse bark, feeling the heat as friction pulled on the skin. She continued to do so, waving her finger back and fourth. As she did so, the words of her Kuonchi servant while they walked home harassed her mind.

Dear Ukyo, you shouldn't have done that.

Ever since the infamous ruined wedding, a harsh bitterness between the legendary martial artist teenagers fermented. Unlike before, when they were all willing to at least express their distress in ways such as brawling or insults, all they were able to do was to ignore each other. Many who watched the situations were just the same as before.

For example, Ranma Saotome and Akane Tendo were always walking to school as any other day. However, as they saw a friend that they knew from before walking to the same place, the Okonomiyaki chef Ukyo Kuonji, rather than getting a friendly wave she would instead meekly look away. The two beforehand would have felt worried for their friend from such a reaction, but now they would do their best to just treat the lone classmate as another stranger. After all, maybe she'd be better off dealing with her own problems.

"Akane," Ranma asked to the woman next to him, "You really sure this is right? I think Ukyo learned her lesson by now. She paid for the damage done to the dojo a long time ago, and I think we talked to her."

Laughing bitterly, the female counterpart of the duo gave him an angry scowl. "Learned her lesson? In case you forgot, she could have killed me. As far as I see it, her and Shampoo are in the same category! I think we've been perfectly forgiving to her considering she's not in jail now!"

Noticing the topic of discussion beginning to run faster, the male counterpart began to sigh in frustration. He should have hated Ukyo for what she did, but for whatever reason he couldn't find himself to do so. Even if what she did do was wrong, she was his best friend. "I guess you're right," Ranma sighed. "I just… I just would have expected better out of her."

"Yeah," Akane shrugged sadly, "you're right. She really did seem better than the others, but she had to do that. I used to think higher of her, too. That's why it's so hard to watch."

As the two continued to walk on, they silently went on without the usual arguing that would continue between the two on such a day. Eventually, a Chinese girl known as Shampoo rode by on her bicycle, jumping into a flight and landing onto and bear hugging a very annoyed Ranma.

"AIREN!!!"

"SHAMPOO, GET OFF!!! I'm NOT in the mood deal with this!" He yelled as he began pushing against her.

"Airen!" the glomping girl cried again, "Why you do that?! Why you try to marry violent girl?!"

Growling impatiently Ranma pushed even harder. "I said get off of me and go away! Go back to China and marry that stupid duck-man." With that, he forcefully pushed her with a force he would before hand refuse to use, causing her for once to loose grip and painfully fall onto her bottom.

She looked down in a defeated tone, beginning to have a tear fall from her cheeks. "Ranma…" she cried. It wasn't the normal angry or demanding tone that she used when trying to get her husband's attention. "Why? Why you do this to me?"

Scowling spitefully, Ranma looked down to her. "It's against my honor code to hurt girls, but I guess with your type violence is the only way to get anything across! I don't love you! I never did! Frankly, I want you to get out of my life, for good! You EVER try to kill my fiancée like that again, I'll forget all about this stupid honor of mine just to deal with you!"

Did he just say what I think he did, Akane thought? He never would have stood up to Shampoo like this. Her mind was brought back to the world as Ranma walked away, leaving both of the girls to stand alone with each other. She watched with some sympathy as the downed Amazon kept quietly crying to herself about loosing her love. "Yo, Akane!" he yelled in a grumpy tone. "Thanks to her we're gonna be late for school if we don't hurry up!"

"Uh, yeah," she agreed meekly as she ran towards the boy calling her. As they continued, she couldn't help but listen to the wailing behind them. It sounded like someone was being painfully executed. "Ranma?" she asked shakily.

"What now?!" he asked in an angry snarl as he looked over to her. "Gonna hit me now?! Pissed off that that Shampoo keeps going all over me?!"

"Actually," she responded as shivers ran through her. "Don't you think, maybe, that you were a little hard on her?"

"I thought that's what you wanted!" Ranma yelled while beginning to truly loose his temper. "If I didn't push her away like that you would have whacked me across the head like you always do and you know it!"

"I…" backing off as she knew he perhaps had a point. "I guess you're right."

"Look!" he said in a calmer state after a large exhale from his nose, "Let's just pretend this never happened and get to school!"

Finally, they reach their campus of destination as usual. Also, as usual, the Kendo champion known as Tatiwaki Kuno, known by multiple nicknames, age 17, rushed to them in a large fit of anger due to the "enslaving" of his two most beloveds. Actually, this situation wasn't far different than it would have gone before.

"Ranma Saotome!" Kuno screamed at the top of his lungs as he jolted towards the two kids. "How DARE you try to marry the fine maiden Akane Tendo without my approval! If you think for a moment that I will allow it you are sadly mistaken, fool!"

As the foul "enemy of women" watched the other approaching him, he rolled his eyes with an expression of disdain. "I just don't believe this guy," he thought out loud to his fiancée.

Actually, when I said it was just like any day, I lied. It actually was a lot more brutal than usual.

When Kuno's wooden blade was about to hit him, Ranma set a massive flurry of lightning-speed punches while yelling "Kachu Tenchin Armiguriken!!!" After he was finished with that attack, he sent an equally fast rapid fire of kicks all around the upperclassman's defenseless body.

One who watched close enough would know that this "fight" was more than simply hurting the target of these attacks, as he helplessly floated in the air with eyes closed and mouth opened as the muscles relaxed. The dark liquid forming on the shirt was another obvious sign. "Ranma!" he heard Akane yell from behind. "Stop it! You're going to kill him!"

With that, the swordsman dropped to the ground in an unconscious mess, welts completely covering his face and his shirt completely soaked. "Still disapprove something that's none of your business?"

The entire school body watched in shock from the window as they saw the fierce massacre that one boy gave to the other. A combination of multiple comments came from the group, from "Ranma may be cute he's such a psycho!" to "Kuno deserved that!" to "The ruined wedding must have really pissed him off!" One particular visitor, who had the unfortunate opportunity before to overhear the couple speak about her, simply stood in silence as she shivered in horror. Ranma must really be pissed, Ukyo thought to herself. Why did I ever help in destroying that wedding?!

Slowly walking backwards, the girl in a man's outfit shook out of control. "Oh Ranma!" she whispered almost silently as she bit her bottom lip and dropping her body onto a desk on the room's window side. "What have I done?! Is this all because of that one day?! Is that why you're so mad?!" All I wanted was to be Ukyo Saotome rather than just "Uchan", she thought to herself. Now, I'll probably be lucky if I'm "Uchan", or even a human being!

The school day after that event was pretty much like any other. Ranma and Akane just barely made it to class on time, literally making it into their seats about a second before the bell rang. Throughout lecture, Akane obediently listened to the teacher watching angrily as Ranma behind her rested his head and arms on his desk with a look of disdain. He must have really wanted to have this wedding, she mentally told herself. Any other time someone got in the way, he would have simply shrugged it off and went on. Now, he's letting it consume him the whole day. I can't say whether I should feel complimented by this or scared.

Ukyo didn't look any happier, Akane thought as she watched the depressed chef stare idly at her desk. Akane couldn't help but feel at least a little sorry for the girl she occasionally considered a friend. It was obvious that she was by far the most negatively affected by the attempted wedding. It was only a few days ago that she came back to school, and she still hadn't opened the restaurant. She heard once from Kontasu that he wanted to reopen the store and do all the work himself, but his boss claimed that he already proved he wouldn't be capable of doing that. She seemed so detached and unwilling to work that the kuonchi feared that they would eventually not make enough money and may end up going bankrupt, possibly becoming homeless.

The situation wasn't the same as it was with Shampoo, who Akane was never in good terms with. That Amazon bimbo could just be shoved away with a stick like any other time and just use it as another reason to hate her. Being someone she trusted, Ukyo was a completely different situation. She used to be seen as a rival at the absolute worst, and a good cook and future wife to look up to at best.

That's why it was so hard to hate her, and accept that it was in fact her that assisted in the attack the way she did. She did hate Ukyo now though. After all, it was unforgivable how she ruined a day that should have been the best in her life and almost killed her. Just looking at the other girl next to her made Akane feel disgust for the helpless girl. Noticing a bitter glance from the said classmate in return, she looked back to the lecture.

That dumb Akane, Ukyo thought bitterly. You got Ranma, who I knew long before you did. You honestly think I would have just accepted that?

Lunch and the rest of school after that was uneventful for the most part, as both Akane and Ranma chatted with their own school comrades, trying their best to change the subject when the infamous day was mentioned. Needless to say, Kuno was not around.

On a hill in the schoolyard, Ukyo hopelessly watched over the rest of the schoolyard, not daring to approach the group. Because she had not reopened the restaurant since that day, she simply ate the beef stew that was left over from dinner last night. Kontasu had been willing to cook since then, and he had actually proven to be very competent when he was given his own recipe to work on. Perhaps if he was given the right directions on how to cook Okonomyaki she could let him cook sometimes. Of course, that was assuming they stayed long enough in Tokyo to do that. If not, then maybe both of them could find jobs back in Okinawa as chefs or waitresses. It would probably be in both of their best interests though if she worked on teaching him to be, well, a little manlier than he was now. Just a little.

As Ukyo's thoughts continued dwelling inside her, she was completely surprised to notice two shadows looming over her. She looked up to see Yuka and Sakuri, giving friendly smiles. "Hey, Ukyo!" Yuka greeted her. "Why are you sitting around here? This isn't like you, you know."

"Yeah!" Sakuri agreed. "You really need to stop being so down. Akane already forgave you." The teenage girl looked down to the bowl of soup, giving a look of pity. "Oh, that's so sad that that's all you have to eat. Here, let me give you some of my lunch." Giving a pleasant smile, Sakuri searched through her bag, and eventually took out a half eaten sandwich. However, as she was about to give it to the less femininely dressed girl, she 'accidentally' dropped it into the cold soup, some of it dripping onto Ukyo's cheek. "Oops. Sorry. My hand must have slipped. Well, it has this really gross stuff called Spam in it, but you might like it, seeing how you like dressing up like a boy and all."

"But you must be really thirsty from eating such a big meal," Yuka gasped as she poured the last of her milk in the concoction, which once again bounced off some onto Ukyo's face.

"What the hell's your problem bitches?!" Ukyo erupted as she tossed the cup at the tree, a hefty battle aura around her as she stood up. "You want a fight?" she asked, taking the giant spatula from behind her back. "You got it!"

"Ukyo, bad little kiki!" As the female martial artist began to swoop her spatula into the two anger inducers, she was suddenly stopped as a tanned arm grabbed it, with sunglasses covered eyes staring at her, anger radiating from them. For once, it was not the nutcase principal's insane, maniacal smile of a predator looking for prey, but an honest authority figure rightfully punishing a disruptive student. "Wat little kiki be doin' pickin' on weak girlies at school?! Was bad when Ranma really hurt poor Taki, but when I see this, me truly think there many bad students here."

As the two girls walked away with laughter, the principal looked at her with his usual insane "Me know you get expelled from last school for dat sort of thing!" the Hawaiian headmaster warned her, pointing out of the campus. "I see you do dat again, I kick you out of dis school too, ya! Lucky you, I be nice and let you off easy. You spend whole week under my supervision in my office 'till you be good little girl, ya!"

Okay, it was a normal day for everyone else.

After school, Akane went to her after school sports as she usually would, and Ranma literally jumped away from the campus the moment he could, simply happy that he finally had some bit of freedom.

Meanwhile, about a few miles away from Tokyo another familiar couple sat on the back of a giant pig, riding through the sunny plains of Japan. However, despite the pleasant weather both of the riders had couldn't help but to look down in slight discomfort.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Akari asked in a concerned tone. "This Nerinma place always makes you feel so uncomfortable. You're so much happier when you don't think of it."

"I don't want to go there," Ryoga sighed thoughtfully. "It's just that I need to talk to some people. If I leave too much unfinished business there, it will haunt me, us, again in the long run. You remember Akane and Ranma from before, don't you?"

"Of course," she answered with a jolly smile.

"They were supposed to get married the other day," he answered as he looked behind him. Noticing a look of sympathy from the girl, the Lost Boy gave her a reassuring smile and head shake. "No, don't worry. I really am over her." Returning to a serious face as he turned his full body to her, "The problem is that there were a lot of other people who weren't. A lot of them were very angry that the wedding was being done in the first place; so some of them came simply to make sure that it didn't go successfully. Some even used violence, and two particular girls who wanted Ranma came with explosives and tried to kill Akane with them." Of course, he added mentally, I only oversaw this when I crashed it too.

Gasping in shock, the pig-loving girl raised her hands to her mouth. "They tried to kill her during her own wedding?! And just because of that?! That's awful!"

"It was," Ryoga mentioned with the same grave expression. "That's why I need to do this. I may not really love her anymore, but…" looking down in with a look of anger, "I just can't bear it! Even if she's not my fiancée, it's my duty as a martial artist and Akane's friend to teach both those girls a lesson! You see what my point is?"

Backing away with obvious discomfort, Akari shyly nodded as she accepted the harsh truth. "You're not planning on… hurting them, are you?!"

"As much as they probably deserve it, no. They're terrible people, but the fact of the matter is that both Shampoo and Ukyo are girls." Remembering the way the first mentioned pretended to feed him to Ranma and the other forcing him into her insane schemes made him cringe. However, as he stared to his companion he softened to his usual shy stare. "I'm really sorry I had to do this, and that I had to get you involved."

"But if I didn't go with you you'd be lost for so long," she commented with a similar innocence. "Being pen-pals is nice and all, but don't you think we should try to be around more often?"

Laughing innocently from the last suggestion, Ryoga became flustered from the reaction. "S…sorry, I'll try to stop doing it!"

"I know you can't help getting lost," she chuckled. "That's why I think I should go with you sometimes."

"By the way," he asked shyly. "You don't mind if we stop by my house afterwards, do you? Since you'll be able to find our way there, I want to check on Checkers."

"Checkers?!" Akari cried with joy. "Of course. I love her! She's smart like a pig, loyal like a pig, and cute like a pig!"

Ryoga simply laughed inwardly from the comment. If it keeps her happy, it's best just to let her have her way. "Thanks."

Back at Uchan's, the kuonchi guest watched his landlord and boss return back home in her rotten mood as usual.

"Lady Ukyo?" he cried cheerfully. "How has your day been at school?"

Giving a fake cheerful laugh, Ukyo kindly waved a hand to Kontasu. "Hey! You must be going insane from boredom staying here all day!"

"Oh," the feminine boy shrugged, "No worry, Lady Ukyo. I have found my ways to…"

"Tell you what," she smiled as she went through her pocket. "I know you are, so don't argue." Handing a handful of paper yen to the servant, she signaled to the door. "Why don't you go shopping or see a movie? Stop spending so much time here?"

"But," he questioned skeptically, "Don't you think that since we are don't have any income that spending so much money would be unwise?"

Shoving the money into his face, Ukyo's smile was accompanied by a stare that said 'Do as I say or else'. "I'm the one in charge of the finances here, stupid! Now, I told you to go out there, spend this money, and have the time of your life!"

Taking the money from her hand as told, Kontasu willingly counted it. A thousand yen?! This was such a large of money! "But…" the cross-dresser stammered in shock. "I don't understand. Why are you being so kind to me?!"

"C'mon!" she laughed. "Stop being so suspicious of me and go!" Pushing Kontasu towards the door, "Consider this a vacation!"

"I'm so happy!" the boy cheered as he skipped down the streets. "My dear Ukyo has been so rewarding despite our financial strain."

Laughing to herself, Ukyo watched with a grin as Kontasu left. If she couldn't make Ranma happy, then she wanted to help make someone's day a little better. After all, she was getting tired of receiving nothing but cold stares from everyone.

I think we've been perfectly forgiving to her considering she's not in jail now!

I just… I just would have expected better out of her.

I really screwed up; Ukyo thought to herself, the harsh statements went through her mind. I only made Ranma think even lower of me! Why? She never does anything but argue with him! Wasn't dumping the 'uncute' fiancée what he wanted to do all along?

As she was about to go upstairs, she heard screams of shock and deafening squeals from a pig that was clearly as large as a small house. Thinking at first that it could have been a runaway monster, she was surprised to see the animal stopping in front of her window. She armed herself with the spatula from her back and yelled a command to the animal to show itself. Instead of the giant animal looking toward her, she found a familiar muscular boy wearing a baggy yellow shirt and brown pants, as well as a yellow bandanna with black spots. Afterwards, a cute black haired girl, slightly smaller than herself, with purple stripes in the front bangs and wearing a plaid skirt and white blouse jumped down behind the other.

"Hey, Ryoga," she greeted them wide-eyed, surprised by the weird situation more than anything. "So, I heard you have a girlfriend now. And she likes pigs, too? I'm really happy for you."

"We need to talk!" the Lost boy claimed firmly, but without raising his voice while walking into the store.

"Eh?" Eyes narrowing some, Ukyo became slightly more confused. As a realization came across about what Ryoga wanted, she gave a sad sigh. "Look, I don't have any ideas about how to break Ranma and Akane up. You may not want to hear this any more than I do, but I really think they wanted to get married to each other."

"I don't really want to break them up," Ryoga admitted. "Look. I've been through a lot these last few years, too. I'll also say right now that Akane was the first woman to have ever been a part of this fragile heart of mine. I don't know exactly when, maybe it was at the Ryugenzawa, maybe when fighting the Phoenix warriors, but I swore that even if she didn't love me back, even if I was nothing but a stranger, I would protect her, with my life if necessary."

"Good for you," Ukyo murmured sarcastically. However, she couldn't help but to back away in fear as the lost boy punched a table, causing it to split in half and fall to the floor. A few seconds later, Ukyo's shock was replaced with an angry fury. "You jackass! So you came here to break my restaurant!"

"I said I would protect Akane from any threat!" he snarled viciously. "I'm here to protect Akane from you and Shampoo! Don't think I didn't notice how you two tried to kill her!"

"Hey, stupid! I didn't try to kill her!" she defended herself. "You weren't behaving too well at that party yourself, so I don't have to take that from you!"

"Shut up! I saw it with my own eyes! You both threw explosives aiming for her, and you knew she couldn't survive it if she was hit by it!"

"I was aiming for Ranma! Ryoga, c'mon. I am friends with Akane. Why would I…"

"Because you're an untrustworthy, manipulative bitch who pretends to be a person's friend just to get what you want!" The lost boy barked. "You may say you're Akane's friend, but in reality you don't think of her as anything more than an obstacle in your way!"

"Oh, and I suppose pretending to be Akane's pet to go to bed with her isn't in the least bit untrustworthy and manipulative and pretending to be a person's friend just to get what you want!" Ukyo cried in defense. Noticing him clenching his fists and having an even angrier face, Ukyo assumed she was right about her assumption of Ryoga's alter ego. "Don't go blaming Ranma for this either, sugar! Just as you noticed what I was doing, I couldn't help but see you running after that Nanichuan water. Now, I myself was never aware of the fact that you had a Jusenkyo curse. Mousse, Mr. Saotome, and obviously Ranma, but never you. Then I remembered how, for example, P-chan always appears when you disappear and vise-versa," pointing towards Akari, "and how your girlfriend happens to like pigs, and added two and two together to figure out something I bet you really doesn't want Akane to."

"Ryoga?" the sumo pig raiser from his other side asked. "What would Akane not want to know?"

"It's… it's nothing, honey! She's just trying to get to us!"

"Actually, she asked a very good question, Ryoga," Ukyo answered in a serious tone, some concern for Akari in her voice. "Especially if you plan to stick with this guy here. Like you know, Ryoga here has a curse that causes him to turn into a small black piglet whenever he touches cold water, and only hot water will turn him back into a human. How does this affect Akane? Well, Ryoga also had a crush on Akane, which I personally know since we actually teamed up a few times to break them up in our own ways since I happened to have my eyes on Ranma. Anyway, Pchan, who you now know is Ryoga, happened to be a personal pet for Akane that she was willing to keep with, hug close to her breasts, possibly tell all her secrets to, and even undress in front of. Now, I am fairly upset with Ranma myself for not telling Akane, but I know as a martial artist it's not right to reveal another's weakness and turning into a tiny pig I'm sure can be quite the weakness. That's why I'm willing to tell Akari since she already knows about his curse."

"Ryoga," Akari whispered in a shivery tone, "Is this true?"

"Uuuukyoooo…"

Pointing her finger towards Ryoga, who was now staring back with the desire for blood, Ukyo returned a spiteful expression herself. "Ryoga, you enemy of women! You talk about honor and pride then you use your curse to get a sneak peak at a girl like Happosai would."

"Hey!" Ryoga yelled defensively. "For your information I always look away when she's dressing. I'm protecting her against Ranma or Happosai, not being like them!"

"Okay then," Ukyo continued as she counted the bad doings with her fingers, letting go of that comparison between Ranma and that freak. "You let a girl unknowingly mention her personal secrets to you, you purposefully use the situation to create tension between her and her fiancée, and actually I think I already mentioned a lot of what you did. Just admit it! If you didn't have that girl next to you, who you don't deserve, you would have been right with us! You would have came barging in, which you already did that, and yelled 'Ranma, prepare to die!' and probably causing a lot more damage than Shampoo or me did! I heard about the innocent bystanders you hurt in your first fight here, and I'm not impressed! All in all, you're no better than I am so stop wasting my time trying to look all holy!"

"Dear Ukyo? Who are these people you're all talking to? They seem quite angry!"

"Kontasu?" Ukyo introduced the ninja in a questioning tone, "Didn't I just tell you to leave?"

"Yes," he sighed while pointing his finger, "but just as I was about to leave the block I noticed a giant pig running directly towards the restaurant and then I saw that you were discoursing with this boy rather viciously."

"I'm telling her that it's wrong to wreck another person's wedding and try to kill them!" Ryoga roared at Kontasu, causing the Kuonchi to back away in fear.

The 'female' ninja vibrated his head up and down, flustered from the intimidation. "Yes, dear Ukyo shouldn't have done that. I'm sorry."

"Ryoga!" Akari chided her boyfriend. "You're scaring her!"

"Oh," Ukyo laughed in a happier tone. "Actually, Ryoga's scaring HIM! This is Kontasu! He works for me."

"She treats me so much better than my evil stepsisters!" Kontasu laughed in joy while giddily leaping in a happy dance. "She just let me go on a shopping spree and she gave me one thousand yen!"

"Of her own money? She's sounds so nice to you," Akari giggled.

"Yes indeed! I have a nice warm bed under that staircase!"

"And Kontasu, these two are friends of mine." Chuckling in a friendly manner, Ukyo pointed at the female guest. "What's your name again, honey?"

"Akari Unryuu!" the guest cheerfully introduced while giving the cross-dresser for him to shake.

"And this young gentleman is Ryoga."

"Good day to you, sir Ryoga!"

"Good… day?" Ryoga waved, as he was still not over the fact that this person was actually a boy.

"Hey! I thought of a great idea!" Ukyo's smile widened as she thought of something. "If you two go outside and wait, I can treat you all to an Okonomiaki dinner! What do you say?"

"Ukyo darling makes some of the best Okonomiaki in all Japan!" Kontasu cheered excitedly. "Does this mean that you may open the store again?"

"I suppose we could talk about it later," Ukyo said while pushing Akari and Kontasu towards the door. After they walked out and she slid it closed, she turned back to Ryoga with an angry look on her face. "Sit," she commanded in a normal tone. "And try to keep the noise to a minimum."

As Ryoga sat down at the counter, Ukyo sat at a seat next to him. However, her face softened to a strait, serious look. " About what I said, I'm sorry. It was out of line."

"It's certainly the truth, though," Ryoga admitted. "But I'm warning you right now. I understand completely how you feel, but I still care a lot about Akane. I know it's Ranma's job to protect her, but I'll do my part to protect her if he doesn't do his." Leering towards her, he continued with a very important threat. "If you ever attack her again, I will hunt you down and punish you for her own good. I don't care if you're a girl!"

"Speaking of Akane," Ukyo mentioned, "She may have won Ranma from me, but she's one of my best friends. I know you don't believe me but I did NOT try to kill her. I know what you went through, because I've been through it, and still am. Still, if you love her so much, why would you do THAT?! I mean, I may be manipulative, but that's disgusting!"

"When I first came here, all I thought of was having revenge on Ranma. He was my entire reason to live. You're right. I hurt a lot of innocent people when I first met him. I just wasn't myself." And here I was criticizing her for doing something for a second when I did it for maybe three weeks. "In all honesty, I sometimes look back and wonder how I can call myself a martial artist. He ruined my life. All my suffering is because of him. I kept telling myself that, and that was all I cared about." As water began to form on his eyes, the lost boy continued with the hardest subject to discuss. "Pretending to be her pet wasn't the only thing I did to her. The first time I came here, at the end of that fight I had with Ranma, we accidentally cut her hair off. She was really mad, and I can't blame her."

"Get to the point, you jackass!" Ukyo egged him on. Internally, she had to admit that this was interesting to hear. And here she thought she was vindictive when she first came here.

"Later on, when I tried to wake him up at night for another fight…"

"You ambushed him in the middle of the night?!" Ukyo growled. "Fuck! You're beginning to sound like Mousse!"

"Like I said, some of the stuff I did makes me wonder if I'm able to call myself a marital artist. But that night after I ran off in the rain I was trapped in my cursed pig form. I finally made it indoors somewhere, but lo' and behold it's the Tendo household. I accidentally fall into Akane's room, and she decides to keep me as a pet, rather than try to kill me and eat me for dinner. On top of that, the moment Ranma found me transform into a human in the bathtub, I forced him to never tell anyone by word of the 'warrior's code'." Giving a sad chuckle, "After attacking him, discovering he was that stupid girl that kicked me into the lake, I led him to Akane in my pig form. She was mad at Ranma for hurting her pet, and with the promise he gave me he couldn't say a word as Akane kissed me on the nose and protected me from that jerk. At the time, maybe I really was falling in love with her, but the only real thrill I had at the time was that I was getting back at Ranma."

He looked back at Ukyo, whose mouth bobbled up and down in a speechless fashion. "Like you said," she murmured in a grave tone, "I can understand what you feel, too. I don't think I went quite as FAR as you went, but I wasn't in any good terms with Ranma when I first got here either. In the long run, I ended up doing a horrible thing that I don't think either one of them will forgive me for. And from the sounds of it, I'm beginning to see why you two don't get along so well now. I don't know you very well, and I'm sure not all your opinions of me are very high, but I've always had this problem that I like to be nice to people I don't even really know." Giving a light, tired smile, Ukyo protruded a "V" sign from her hand. "I'll tell you what. Let's just let bygones be bygones and forget about Ranma and Akane. Forgive me and I forgive you."

"Umm," Ryoga stuttered from the sudden transformation to kindness. "I guess so."

"So, I was just wondering," she asked out of curiosity. "If I didn't calm you down, what would you have done? Last I remember you don't hit girls."

"Not head-on at least. I thought of challenging you, Shampoo, and Kodachi at once, and claimed that none of you had any right to Ranma if I won."

Ukyo popped her eyes out, "Three at a time? That's pretty overconfident, don't you think?"

"Well, you're girls. I know Kodachi didn't really do nearly as much to destroy the wedding, but two against one wouldn't be very fair, and I still have a little of a grudge against her too."

"I gotta admit, I'm happy I talked some sense into you," Ukyo commented in shock. "That couldn't have gone well."

"Damn right it wouldn't! No offense Ukyo, but I've gotten a lot stronger since we last fought," he smirked.

Angered by the stupidity of the last comment, Ukyo gave Ryoga her own "demon face attack". "That's not what I meant, you jackass! Just how stupid can you be?! What do you think Shampoo would do if you won? Ranma's been through hell and back because he beat that that bimbo! Akari would be completely defenseless if she tried to kill her! Better yet, you could comply to those stupid Amazon rules and have your own side of a bed and robe and be some breeding material for a so called wife off in southern China!"

"I… didn't think of that," Ryoga admitted. "That would be horrible!"

"Akane is Ranma's problem, not yours. He wouldn't be too happy if he heard that," Ukyo stated sternly. "I know you don't always like him, but c'mon. He saved her from a god. He's certainly not going to let some crazy girls take her." Noticing her own stomach growling, Ukyo sat back in her chair with an embarrassed look. "Can we just eat?"

"Um, okay!"

As they invited the other two back in, who were already happily introducing each other with pleasant small talk, Ukyo discovered that they did not have any ingredients.

"Come to think of it," she laughed, "Let's just go eat out! It's on me!"

Akane was walking home, still even after a good basketball practice with her friends upset over the situations occurring over the day. I don't think I've ever seen Ranma so angry before, she thought to herself. Not that she could blame him. Why couldn't they all just leave them alone?!

As she continued walking down and approaching the bad memory of Uchan's, Akane couldn't help but notice the familiar giant pig. "What in the world is Akari's sumo pig doing at Ukyo's restaurant?! Don't tell me she's…" Running towards the store with all the speed she could muster, she watched in anger as four familiar people walked out. "Ahhh! I knew it!" Akane screamed as a battle aura flared around her, catching the attention of those mentioned individuals, slightly scaring them. "How DARE you try to set poor Ryoga on another one of your stupid schemes?!" Dropping her book bag and falling into a battle stance, she approached Ukyo. "I've had enough of you!"

Meanwhile, as Soun and Genma, in his panda form of course, were merrily playing a game of shoji while Kasumi happily unfolded the laundry outside to be put up. As in any game, Genma noticed that he had just made a fatal mistake in his last move, aware that one accurate response of his opponent would result in his loss.

As a result, the panda held up a sign saying, "Wait! Let me redo that."

Chuckling in a cocky tone, Soun refused. "No way, Saotome! You know the rules, no redo's once you let the piece go." As he set his piece for his victory, the piece suddenly snapped and broke once it touched the board, causing both players to look at each other in horror. "You don't suppose… an evil omen?!"

"Nonsense," the Panda companion said in the form of a sign. "You believe in those superstitions?"

"In case you forgot, those 'superstitions' weren't such nonsense when the Master came," Soun replied darkly.

Hearing a snap outside, they looked out to find a slightly irritated Kasumi looking at the fallen string with dirtied clothes on the ground.

"I think something terrible is about to happen!" Soun replied in a grave murmur.

Hearing the commotion between the two older adults from the living room, Ranma began to feel a slight shiver himself. He knew from past experience that something was bound to happen, and that it most likely involved a certain tomboy whose life was already in danger twice this week. Running out the front door calling her name, he got the attention of her already nervous father.

"Ranma! What's going to happen to my daughter?!" Watching frustrated as the boy ran out the door and not respond, Soun followed step and chased him.

Unable to catch up with the pigtailed martial artist, Soun continued yelling at him in a hysterical tone.

The two female martial artists looked at each other with fierce battle auras around them, causing Ryoga, Akari, and Kontasu to back away in fear.

"Uh, Akane?" Ryoga stuttered, "This isn't what it seems."

"It's EXACTLY what it seems!" Akane barked furiously, looming closer to her opponent. "I have HAD it with you! First you ruined my wedding, and then you're using poor innocent Ryoga to break us up!"

"Wanna' fight?" Ukyo smirked. "I don't have any weapons so you just might stand a chance."

Ryoga winced back. "Oh no." As he watched the two girls begin to lunge at each other, he ran in between the two, unharmed by both the punches. Looking down to Ukyo with an emotionless face, he watched her contort to anger. "I'm sorry! I won't allow you to hurt Akane! If you want to fight, fight me!"

"Hey! I'm not the one that wants to fight!" Ukyo screeched.

"Ryoga?" Akane asked in a confused tone, "It's okay. You don't need to defend me! I want to fight her."

"I'd want to fight her too after what she did at your wedding. But it's not right to bully the weak!" Looking down to the Okonomiyaki chef in spite, Ryoga began to scream in anger. "Ukyo! How dare you attack Akane like that?! That's like kicking a puppy!"

"Uh," Ukyo responded dumbly. "You're really going to regret saying that!"

"Oh, Ryoga?" he heard Akane merrily call his name from behind. Turning around, he saw her greet him with an evil grin. "What did you mean by referring to me as weak? I'm a martial artist, too!"

"B… but Akane," Ryoga muttered. "I'm just trying to defend you."

"EXACTLY my point!" Akane scowled. "I can defend myself!"

"You really think you could beat Ukyo?" Ryoga asked, quite confused. "But Akane, she's almost as good as me and Ranma."

Ukyo raised an eyebrow from the comment. Almost as good as you and Ranma? That's overdoing it!

Just then, they saw Ranma run up, panting out of breath and wide-eyed. Attracting the attention of everyone, he himself watched as Ryoga stood between Akane and Ukyo. All three of them together? This must have been interesting, he told himself. "Akane! What happened?" Ranma puffed.

"Well… I…" Akane began meekly.

"Ukyo was about to attack Akane!" Ryoga interrupted. "I stopped her!"

"She WHAT?!" Looking towards Ukyo in a sad expression, "No! Ukyo! You did it again!"

Gasping in fear, Ukyo shook her head attempting to explain. "Huh?! No! Ranma-honey, it's not LIKE that! She-"

"Akane! Let's go home," Ranma ordered in a calm tone, ignoring the Okonomyaki chef's explanation. "Oh, and Ryoga," Looking towards Ryoga with a grateful smile, "Thanks for the help, man! I appreciate it!"

The two walked away, Ranma giving Ukyo a cold glare as they left.

Ryoga became quite confused as he alternatingly watched the couple and a teary eyed, traumatized beyond words Ukyo, repeatedly whispering "Ranma? Don't go!" to herself.

He also watched as Kontasu and Akari both looked up to him in a disapproving expression. Trying to defend himself, "I…"

"Added salt to an open wound?" Ukyo finished bitterly. "Get out. Just go."

"Ukyo, I'm sorry!"

"GO!!"

"Ryoga, let's just go," Akari asked in a pleading manner.

"Ukyo darling feels rather ill right now," Kontasu added as he watched Ukyo sympathetically. "I think you two should leave."

"I'll go," Ryoga whispered in a melancholy tone as tears began to fall from his face. "We won't bother you two anymore." As he jumped onto the back of Akari's sumo pig, he looked down to his companion. "C'mon, Akari."

As the pig rode away, the two restaurant workers stood silently, staring at the sunset. "Why…" Ukyo cried as she stared at the sun. "Why does everyone hate me?!"

Kontasu turned towards his landlord, wanting to do whatever he could to comfort her. "But… Ukyo darling? I don't hate you." How could he? She was the one that took care of him when his stepsisters and stepmother shunned him.

"Can we just go back inside? Today really sucked."

Poor Ukyo. Everyone's mad at her. People say she tried to kill Akane at the wedding, but I doubt it. She's basically like Misato from Evangelion, pretty nice compared to the others in a story about jerks, but has a bad temper and can be selfish like everyone else.

Another point that people use against her is the way she treats Kontasu. She was generous enough to let him live with her, pitying the fact that it would be hard for him to find a home otherwise. I'm sure he's having it better with her than he did with his ugly stepsisters and mom (she lets him eat the same meal as she does, and was forgiven for ruining an entire day's worth of profit, and probably lets him bathe in her bathroom). Ukyo never forced him to stay with her.

Finally, if anyone thinks the way Akane's friends acted was out of character, even if it was in the anime they closed a lid on Gosinkugi, trapping him underground simply because he was "weird". If they're capable of that, they're probably capable of being vindictive to someone who screwed their friend over. Besides, you know how teens can be, right?