"AAAUUUGGGHHH!!!" From outside. "Breakfast is ready." From downstairs. These are the sounds that woke Akane from sleep. 'Are they at it again?' she thought as she slowly and angrily got dressed for school. 'Can't they at least be quieter about it? It▓s not like they have to make so much noise when practicing.' This thought brought her all the way downstairs, where Kasumi was setting out her usual wonderful breakfast.

"Oh, good morning, Akane." Kasumi said as Akane came in. She sat down at her spot as Ranma-chan walked in, followed by a very wet and annoyed panda.

"Why do I always end up in the pond?" Ranma-chan grumbled, as he walked into the kitchen and came back out a few seconds later as a male Ranma. He then proceeded to speed eat his way through his own food, while fighting off the fat panda's attempts to steal his food. A few minutes later, Akane grabbed their bentos as they ran out the door on their way to school. She ran down the road with Ranma taking his usual spot along the top of the fence. "Hey, you think Kuno's gonna be outta the hospital yet?"

Akane replied," I hope not. I don't feel like putting him into lower earth orbit today. That would make me late for class again, and I don't want to have to stand out in the hall with a stupid baka like you."

"Well, who would-" Ranma next words were cut off by a bicycle bell and a "Nihao, Airen!" as Shampoo came along the fence behind Ranma and stopped with her tire on Ranma's head.

"Ranma no go school. Ranma go on date with Shampoo?"

Ranma calmly flipped the bike off of his head, but not soon enough to avoid an Amazon Glomp from Shampoo.

"No, thanks, I gotta go to school." 'Man, I can't believe this. School actually has a use┘ Getting me away from an insane Amazon┘.'

"Okay, Airen, Shampoo bring you lunch then." With a final glomp, Shampoo, jumped on her bicycle and returned to her deliveries. After she left, Ranma noticed that Akane had simply walked on ahead without him.

"Hey, Akane, wait up." Ranma yelled as he ran to catch up.

"Oh, are you done playing kissy face with Shampoo?" Akane asked. As they approached the gates, they found Kuno was, indeed, out of the hospital, and waiting for them.

"Oh, my lovely Tendo Akane, and the fiery Pig-Tailed Girl, both here together! What have I done to be graced by the Kami themselves with such a beautiful sight?" It was only then that Ranma noticed he was a she again. It only took a moment and a combined hit from Ranma-chan and Akane to send Kuno flying into orbit. As they were nearly late for class again, Ranma-chan decided to just go to class as she was and wait till class break to change back to his male form. Within five minutes of them showing up in class, Ranma was asleep at her desk, and Akane was quietly taking notes, hoping the baka wouldn't snore again today...

Newspaper Clippings from the Nerima Gazette-
Police are still baffled over the recent string of strange deaths that have been occurring in and around Tokyo for the last month. The bodies are all young females, each having been apparently eaten by a large creature. This reporter has seen a few of the photos of the bodies and is still wondering what kind of animal would be able to...

Lunchtime came as usual, but Ranma could still not shake the feeling that something was wrong. As usual, though, Ranma was too preoccupied to notice as there was presently a battle going on between Shampoo and Ukyo over who would get their food eaten first, Ukyo or Shampoo. While they were arguing, Akane sat down beside Ranma and handed him his bento.

"Here, I brought you your lunch. Made it for you last night." She smiled, not noticing the grimace on Ranma's face as he opened it, looking at the food within, and trying to figure out a way to get out of eating her usual dose of poison. But as she was looking on expectantly, he decided to put on a brave face and try it out. He immediately went pale as Akane asked, "Is it alright? I slaved over the stove for an hour..." 'I won't tell him that Kasumi made me do it, then watched me like a hawk... Still don't see why the stupid baka is worth all this trouble...' She noticed that he was still stiff and clenched her fist in preparation. As she was about to leave another Ranma-shaped hole in the ground, he spoke up, "Akane, is this your curry?"

"If you don't like it, baka, then say so!" She turned away, preparing to pound him into a thin paste, only to hear something she never thought she would hear.

"Akane, it's actually not half bad. Maybe a little too spicy, but at least I can eat it..." 'She seems to be getting better. Maybe she▒ll get this cooking down before...'

"R-Really, Ranma? You're not just saying that to get out of a beating, are you?" She said as she hefted her still clenched fist and glared at him. At this point he continued to eat, oblivious to Ukyo and Shampoo staring at him, both with the same thought. 'Ranma's eating AKANE'S cooking? And enjoying it? Must be something wrong with him...' Ranma got up and walked back into the building.

"Come on, Akane, we're gonna be late for afternoon classes." Akane had to scramble to make it back in time for class, only to find out that her and Ranma both ended up with bucket duty in the hall for nearly running over Ms. Hinako. The day dragged on as usual, with Ranma falling asleep in class again, and Akane again taking notes and cursing Ranma for making them stand in the hallway. Finally the last bell rang, and Ranma walked out the door and started to head home with Akane.

'Maybe this is a good time to ask her what I've wanted to ask her all week,' Ranma thought as the walked. "Um... Akane... I got something to ask you. Um..." 'Damn, I'm no good at this so here goes.'

"Hey, Akane, wanna go get something to eat? I'll buy..."

'Is stupid asking me out on a date?' Akane thought. "Really, Ranma? You want to go out on a date with me?"

"No, I want to go out with some other uncute tomboy. Besides, it's just for some food. Not like it's that bigga deal..."

Akane held back her anger with a monumental effort by remembering that the baka had just asked her out, and she had something that she wanted to say to him anyway. "Ok," she said. "Where do you want to go?" Ranma was flustered for a moment then got the bright idea of saying, "I got it! Let▓s go grab some burgers and eat them in the park. It's been a while since we did that."

They walked together to the park after picking up their burgers, Ranma carrying the food and Akane with the drinks. They stopped at a familiar tree and sat down.

"Remember the last time we were here?" Akane asked.

"Yeah, you were talking about Dr. Tofu..." he said as he grabbed a burger and started eating. Akane did the same, and took a drink from her soda.

"Remember what he used to do with Betty? Think he still does that?"

"Nah, he ain▓t around, remember? He left the area... "

A paper wrapper bounced off of Ranma's head and Akane said, "I knew that, baka, I was just wondering. I mean he's been gone for so long... I wonder if he misses Kasumi..." At this point, they both reached into the bag to grab a burger, but instead ended up grabbing each other's hands. They both froze.

"Hey!" they both said at the same time. Ranma pulled his hand away first, leaving Akane's hand in the bag and a flush on both of their cheeks, but for different reasons.

"Sorry, you go ahead, Akane."

'Is the moron actually blushing?' Akane thought.

A few moments later, the flush disappears as a voice shouts out, "Ranma, I'll kill you for taking Shampoo from me!" Ranma pushed Akane out of the way as a large amount of chains tore through the bag of burgers and the space where both Akane and Ranma had been sitting moments ago.

"Ranma since you took away the one that I love, I'm gonna take away the one you love,■ he said as he managed to send several chains around Akane and starting to run off with her.

"Leave her alone, Mousse, I'm the one you want," he said as Mousse sent Akane into a tree and into unconsciousness. Ranma was starting to run towards Akane to free her from the chains, when Mousse pulled a dozen water balloons from his sleeves and started juggling them.

"Do you know what these are, Ranma? These contain some of the last unmixed water from Jusenkyo," he said as he started lobbing the water balloons at them. Without thinking, Ranma jumped in the way of the balloons, trying to destroy them without getting any on Akane. He destroyed the first volley of balloons with a few small ki blasts and went on the attack, knocking Mousse into low earth orbit with an uppercut. As he turned back to Akane to help her out of the chains, a single water balloon fell from far above, missing its intended target, but hitting Ranma instead.
Ranma was wracked with pain from the two curses fighting within his body for dominance. He let out a scream of pain that was enough to wake Akane from unconsciousness. She looked up to find Ranma in the throes of agony as his body contorted unnaturally in pain for a few seconds, then took on his female form, with a few differences. The most notable differences being some kind of leathery mass flowing from between her shoulder blades and the change in her hair color, which was now a deep brown with a thick red stripe down the center and seemed longer. She also had quite a few scratches along her arms and legs. As she continued squirming, Akane noticed that Ranma-chan was still unconscious. 'Great! Now I have to carry the stupid baka,' she thought with a sneer as she picked Ranma-chan up in her arms, noticing that she seemed somehow lighter...

News clip run on the radio-
⌠Police are still concerned over the recent rash of senseless deaths that have brought fear to the Tokyo area for the last several weeks and have now instituted a 9pm curfew for the safety of all┘