A/N: I admit I've been trying to avoid putting these in my fics themselves, but in this case I've come to the conclusion that it's necessary. For those of you coming here from the (Surprisingly active) Ranma community who may not have been following anime for awhile, Love Live! has a surprisingly robust discography. Ranma 1/2's is a bit less comprehensive, but it's there. So, since I'm a terrible poet I'll be 'borrowing' some of the lyrics where it makes sense. Songs being sung from/performed will be listed at the start of each chapter. Per site rules, no challenge to any copyright is intended or implied.

A/N: Please note - this chapter has been re-edited and new material added. See my profile for details and posting schedule through November.

A-RISE - 'Private Wars' first released on 'Notes of School Idol Days' soundtrack.

Ranma - 'Kagayaku Sora to Kimi no Koe' from DoCo Second.

Spring in Nerima. The cherry blossoms may have fallen weeks before, but it would still be months before the heat and rains of summer would arrive. Unlike much of the rest of Tokyo, Nerima had managed to escape much of the transformations of the last twenty years. Most of the houses were still tiled-roofed, almost none over three stories. It was a good mix of traditional Japanese architecture with the sprawl of the 70s, none of which had yet to be bought up and converted into either high-end housing or apartments to accommodate the masses of people still living in the city. In short, a seeming island of suburbia right in the heart of one of the biggest metropolises on Earth.

But how could such a thing be? To get a partial answer to this, one would go to the Tendo Dojo. One of the largest of the traditional buildings in the district, it featured, not just the dojo itself, but a two-story house and even a small zen garden with koi pond. To a casual observer, one passing through, it might have seemed like the very picture of traditional living and tranquility.

There are people who look at the Apollo missions and conclude the moon landings were faked, too.

It takes a still-closer look to begin to understand how Nerima has survived the times so unchanged. For that, we must look to the living room, with its' low table, and cushions for seating to the sides and a small couch opposite a wide-screen television on a media stand. And on the couch, there was a girl. With her short hair cut neatly to frame her face, bangs trailing slightly over her eyes, and a fairly conservative pink dress over a plain white blouse, she could have been almost any Japanese girl in the country. However, her figure was beyond fit and trim and had a bit of muscle definition. At that exact moment, it was the only thing that betrayed there was anything unusual about her or this place.

This was Akane Tendo.

Currently she was watching a show with three girls in white, frilly mini-dresses dancing on a lit stage. The lead dancer had short honey-blonde hair, flanked by a slightly taller one with a longer, fuller style of chestnut brown, and an even taller girl with dark purple hair and green eyes. Their movements were fluid, and their singing voices clear as bells. Akane sat, nearly entranced by the scene in front of her.

She sighed with a mixture of envy and longing, only to hear a curious 'hmph' from behind her, Akane spun half around on the couch, only to see the boy of her dreams and nightmares behind her. About the only average thing about him was his height. His body was lithe and chiseled, evidence of long hours every day in martial arts practice. His messy hair was pulled back into a tight pigtail. His body language suggested that he was utterly at ease with his surroundings, but his slate-blue eyes held a certain tension, just beneath the surface, that was always ready to come out.

His mode of dress was unusual to say the least for the time and place. A traditional Chinese silk shirt, blood red, with long sleeves hung loosely over his shoulders, rolled up just enough to show off his arms. In similar fashion, he wore silken black pants and a sash around his waist, suggesting a study of Kung-Fu within the bounds of China itself. He wasn't much older than Akane.

This was Ranma Saotome.

"Don't know why yer watchin' that. Just some dolled up idol singers." Ranma commented.

Akane shook her head, speaking with a tone bordering on disgust with Ranma's apparent ignorance of the modern world. "Just shows what you know. Those are school idols. It's like a club, not that you'd know anything about those."

"Eh, thing like that's just boring, and it gets in the way." Ranma crossed his arms behind his head. "Besides, we did stuff like that last year. Wasn't too bad." He took a few moments to assess it. "Huh. A school put that on? Not too bad, I guess. We couldn't do more than sing karaoke, really."

Akane looked at Ranma. "What? I could too do that!"

The pig-tailed martial artist snorted. "Really? You? Just look at'em." Akane started her slow boil while Ranma prattled on, ignoring the warning signs. "Ya need grace, a sense of timin', charm...yer voice ain't bad, might do all right there. Oh, yeah, almost forgot. You'd need ta put in almost as much time as learnin' a new kata. Ain't somethin' you can just muscle yer way through like a gorilla."

"Oh, and you'd know all about it Ranma?!" Akane stood up and spun around to shout at him.

Ranma shrugged. "Ain't got a clue. I can just see an uncute girl like you'd never have what it takes to do that well."

"Oh really...then why don't you go CHECK IT OUT FOR YOURSELF!?" Ranma threw up his arms to defend against Akane's uppercut, but it was far too late. The blow landed, and he found himself being propelled up, through the roof of the house, and towards the horizon.

Akane sniffed as Ranma's voice echoed back "Ya uncuuuute tooooombooooooyyyy…"

As Ranma flew off beyond the horizon, Akane blinked a few times. "Great. I can't believe I smacked him off that way. Now he's going to be grumpy all week." She sat back down to watch the video, but her heart wasn't in it anymore. "Ranma, why are you still acting like this?" Her mind drifted back to that horrible day on Phoenix Mountain. I love you! Those were his words, the words it seemed they could never say to one another. That had been why she had gone along with the shotgun wedding their parents had thrown together when they got back from China.

But it seemed like it was just a momentary thing after all. Nothing had changed.

Meanwhile, in the Kanda ward near the borders with Akihabara and Jinbouchou, the terrain of the rest of Tokyo had long since taken over. But there were still islands of green. One such was Otonokizaka high school - a traditional building, renovated many times over the years but maintaining the look of a high school all the time. What was unusual was the activity going on on the accessible rooftop. Three girls, practicing their dance.

This wasn't the complicated displays of the aforementioned A-RISE. The comparatively simple choreography was challenging their skills as it was. It should have been simple. A bit of flair to catch the audience as they went into the chorus. The girl in the front of the trio seemed to be having difficulty, though.

Her auburn hair, a ribbon holding it up on one side, was matted to her head with sweat. She stood at about the same height as most of her classmates. She wore a cyan shirt with a kana symbol over her magenta tank top, paired with dark blue workout pants. There was a certain flagging of her movements telling of long exercise, but her bright blue eyes still had a spark of determination.

This was Kousaku Honoka.

And, unfortunately, she had just decked one of her two best friends for the third time that session.

Only barely noticeably taller than Honoka when not sprawled out on the ground, her light ash-blonde hair splayed out underneath her. Her face scrunched up in pain, amber-colored eyes just barely peeking out even as she had to cover her nose to keep a trickle of bloody from dripping onto her pastel yellow shirt or, worse, the much more expensive beige skirt she was wearing for her workout.

This was Minami Kotori.

Fortunately for her, this was not a common thing for her friends to be doing. That'll be important to note later.

"Owww! Honoka, whyyy?" Kotori's voice was a bit on the high-pitched side as she sat up. "Can't you look my direction first?"

"I'm sorry!" Honoka kneeled down to pick up the other girl. "But I'm supposed to keep looking at the audience!"

Kotori's hair fell in waves back into position as she retied her own green ribbon (for the second time this time.) "Maybe we should do something else there. I could lose some teeth!"

The third girl was about as much shorter than Honoka as Kotori was taller- not much. Her long black hair fell straight behind her. She seemed much less tired than the other two, physically anyway. Emotionally was another story, as her exasperation got the better of her and she brushed some imaginary dirt off her T-shirt. "Honoka, it's up. Not behind! You twist around at the waist and punch up into the air. And you're not moving enough before that, or you'd still not be hitting Kotori on that step!"

This was Sonoda Umi.

"...aaaAAAAHHHHH!"

And the lives of these three girls was about to get a lot more complicated.

"GET OUTTA THE WAY!"

Umi was able to react to the sudden noise - a scream coming from above - in time, throwing her arms out to push her two friends away from where they had been standing, her legs coiling and springing with skills trained to the point of instinct through long sessions with her family school to carry her out of the way as a pig-tailed boy finished his descent from the sky, crashing into the roof.

When the dust-cloud cleared, the trio blinked. He should have been dead. No one could survive a drop like that, but all that had happened was the roof tiles had cracked and come loose under his landing.

Saotome rubbed some dirt out of his face as he addressed them directly. "I'm Saotome Ranma. Sorry 'bout this…"

Umi was the first to recover, posture straightening as she turned back around to shout. "You can't just fall from the sky HERE! This is a girl's school!"

The pig-tailed boy snapped back with "Well, what was I supposed to do! I got punted here from Nerima, ain't like I got that much of a choice where I land!"

Umi wanted to continue her tirade, but she was stopped when a restraining hand landed on her shoulder. Kotori finally brought her back around. "I don't think it was his fault…"

Ranma scratched his hand behind his head. "Yeah, sorry, I thought the roof would be clear ta land on, and by the time I saw ya there it was kinda too late. Whatcha doin' on the roof this time'a day anyway?"

Honoka sighed. "There's nowhere else we CAN practice. We're…" she was about to explain, but Ranma interrupted.

"...oh, yeah, Akane was talkin' 'bout that before she sent me here," he looked them over. "School idols, right?"

Umi rolled her eyes. "That's the plan anyway."

Ranma turned and crossed his arms behind his head. "Well, good on ya. If you're not put off by havin' no place to practice, you'll do fine."

Kotori had a sudden flash of inspiration. "How do you know about school idols?"

"Eh...did a little bit last year over at Furinkan," The boy's explanation was nonchalant, as he intended to go back down the stairs and leave, but he was stopped by the one thing that could get under his skin.

Umi's sly, slightly sarcastic voice cut in. "I didn't think boys could be school idols, and Furinkan doesn't have a group on the web site."

Ranma gulped, realizing he had no way out. "Eh...guess there's no choice. Mind if I borrow that water bottle? I'll pay ya back." Without waiting for anyone to object, he jogged over to where the girls had stashed their things in the shadow of the stairwell to keep them cool. He untwisted the top, and upended it over his own head.

All three girls gasped at the amazing transformation. Suddenly, his body seemed to melt away, losing almost 30 centimeters in the space of a fraction of a second. Hard muscle seemed to be replaced with soft curves, barely visible under the now bulky Chinese clothing. The black color seemed to wash out of her hair like a cheap dye, leaving it a vibrant red. It all happened of a speed of 'blink and you'll miss it' but where before there had been a boy, there was now a busty, red-headed girl.

Honoka blinked.

Kotori blinked.

Umi blinked.

They all blinked again, for good measure. There was much blinking all around.

Through practice born of long suffering, the new girl launched into explanations. "It's a weird Chinese curse, yes I'm a guy, cold water changes me, hot water to turn back, if Pops made any promises to your families I don't wanna hear about it, take it up with the Panda, there ain't no mirrors."

The girls of Mu's blinked again.

Finally Honoka seemed to find her voice. "...so you turned into a girl to become a school idol?"

"THAT AIN'T IT!" Ranma took a deep breath to calm himself down. "This was an accident, and there ain't no cure I've found."

Honoka only needed a moment to consider this. "Well, I think it's cool. Hey, can you sing something for us!"

"Honoka!" Both of her friends shouted at her, with Umi following up. "That's rude!"

The pig-tailed girl seemed to actually consider the request for a moment. "Yeah, I guess…" She took in a deep breath, thinking back to the party Kasumi had held for half the district over Christmas. At the time she hadn't really wanted to be a girl in front of all those people, but. . . well, it couldn't hurt.

Then she dismissed the idea. "Wait, not that one." Another moment to consider.

"Kagayaku sora to…." Her voice rang out, clear as a bell across the rooftop. It could even be heard from the grounds in front of the school, although not well.

Unknown to Ranma, and forgotten by the others, directly below the impromptu dance studio on the roof was Otonokizaka's music room. It was occupied, as it usually had been during the year, by a single student. She may have only been a year younger than the trio on the roof, but she was nearly the same height. Blazing red hair flared as she played at the piano in front of her, humming along to her newest composition. She paused in her playing, opening her violet eyes to look over the notes.

This was Nishikino Maki.

She was about to begin another run through when she heard a voice calling out from the window. "...ryoutte, hirogete! Kanjitai!" In her youth going up through the music world, she had heard a lot of girls singing. This. . . if she were to be honest, whoever the voice belonged to had no real training, but she had passion.

Maki thought for a bit, then decided she wasn't getting any more work done on this song today. She started trying to figure out the accompaniment to the tune she heard coming from the roof.

She'd be negligent to let a voice like that not be at her best for Mu's.

"...awww!" a sudden exclamation from Honoka broke off the pig-tailed girl's singing. "Our roof!"

Ranma's attention was drawn to the place where she'd landed. Right in the middle of the roof, there was a dent in the wood underneath the solid tiling. "Awww, dammit!" She groaned. "I'm sorry 'bout that. Look, where do ya keep the supplies around here?"

Umi raised an eyebrow. "You're telling me you can also . . . "

"Yeah, gotta fix up the dojo all the time." Ranma shrugged. "How hard could it be?" She barreled through the door at nearly top speed, surprising a fourth girl.

Had the younger Saotome been paying more attention, he'd have noticed that he had nearly knocked her off the stairs. She did manage to catch onto the railing without going over, however, and righted herself, checking to make sure she hadn't been noticed by those on the roof. Taller, with her long hair in ponytails, her normally serene face was marred a bit by a flush of panic and the slight pain of being pushed aside. She briefly reflected that it could have been worse, and really was her own fault for spying, blue-green eyes quickly returning to normal.

This was Toujou Nozomi.

She pulled out her ever-handy tarot deck and quickly shuffled the cards, checking the top one. "The Sun...Bright Apollo, huh?" She glanced down the stairs after the redhead. "This is going to be so interesting."

Ranma heard a few familiar chords on the piano as she passed by the music room. She turned, looking in to see another red-head playing, or more precisely puzzling over the keys. "Hey, whatcha doin'?"

"I heard someone singing on the roof, just trying to work out the HEY!" Maki jumped up in shock, before looking over the speaker, a soft blush coming to her cheeks. "I mean, uhm, hi. I was just…"

"Oh, yeah, that was me." Ranma scratched the back of her head nervously.

Maki gave the pig-tailed girl another look over. "Oh...uhm, do you think you could teach me the accompaniment to that one? I'm helping you guys out - "

"Oh, I don't go to the school," Ranma didn't catch the look of disappointment. "But I know Kasumi has some sheet music. If ya don't mind waitin' till tomorrow I'll see if I can borrow a copy for ya."

Maki swallowed, barely meeting the other girl's blue eyes. "Yeah. Do you want to listen to me play for real?"

Ranma blinked a few times. "Eh, maybe later. Gotta fix the roof right now."

Maki was so stunned by this declaration she didn't say anything when Ranma went off, whistling.

She was the tallest girl in the school, her Russian heritage plain in her features. The silky golden-blonde hair and bright blue eyes were something of a giveaway as well. With a remote, distant bearing, she had a large number of admirers throughout the school, although she was only tangentially aware of the fact beyond that it was somewhat responsible for getting her her position as the President of the Student Council. Her body, for all that she hadn't been in serious training for almost a year, was still lithe, and her steps graceful.

This was Ayase Eri.

And all of her work at maintaining a cool, dignified attitude went out the window in a nanosecond. But she was somewhat grateful for that.

When the pig-tailed girl in strange Chinese clothing ran right by her, she was so shocked she nearly went out with them! It took her only a moment to right herself, but by then the girl had nearly turned back into the stairwell. She did the only thing she could think of.

"H-hey! This is a school! You can't just run around here at random!"

The girl stopped, just for a moment, turning around to face her with intent eyes. "It ain't random. I'll be gone by the end of the day, promise!"

Eri was about to say something else, anything to get this...weirdness...out of her school, but by then the girl had rounded a corner at a full sprint and was gone.

A few minutes later, two more schoolgirls of note were at the athletic field. One was in the standard gym uniform of school T-shirt and bloomers, while the other wore the school uniform.

The first girl would have been about two inches shorter than Honoka, standing side-by-side. Her light green eyes were practically tearing up with sweat dripping into them from the exertion of her run on the track. With coppery red hair messed up by the wind, she was the very picture of 'tomboy' in a way Akane didn't really match.

This was Hoshizora Rin.

The girl near her, with a stopwatch, smiled brightly. "Rin, I think that was your best time today!" Her darker blonde hair was more neatly trimmed, but still short. The same height, her amethyst-colored eyes were shining with excitement. "I think you'll make the track team for sure." She made sure her thick-rimmed glasses were in place as well.

This was Kozumi Hanayo.

"Kayochi. . . " Rin used her nickname for the girl who had been her longest-time friend. "I'm more worried about you. Aren't you going to go for it?"

Hanayo was about to respond, the predictable blush of embarassment already starting to appear, when a blur wearing a pair of black Chinese pants and a red shirt with wood-fasteners went right by them. Both girls stared as the newcomer went into the maintenance shed. "Uhh…" Rin was stunned, to say the least. "...how fast was she going?"

That was answered when the girl came back out of the shed, still jogging at the same ludicrous speed. This time she had a number of ceiling tiles slung over her back, tied together with some twine, and a plastic bucket full of something so heavy it was straining the handle for her to grab onto it one-handed. She had a flat spade clenched firmly between her teeth, and on the whole appeared to be carrying enough to weigh more than she did.

Rin glanced back at Hanayo. "I've gotta get my time down,"

"...yeah."

Ranma jogged back up the stairs. She had considered briefly just making the jump, or running up the side of the building, but neither option seemed great when up against the relative fragility of her cargo. So instead she just started going back up the stairwell.

A plan that went awry when she very nearly ran into a certain blonde again. "All right, missy!" Eri shouted at her. "I don't know who you think you are, but you're not allowed here!"

Ranma spat her tool out, catching and idly balancing it on one foot so she could stick her tongue out at the bossy girl in front of her. "Don't know who you think you are but I got somethin' I gotta do before I go."

"I am the president of Otonokizaka High School's student council, and this school has enough problems without thi...thi...thi…" Eri trailed off into babbling as she took in the whole scene in front of her. "Wha...how are…"

Ranma flipped the spade back onto the top of her head. "Eh, just good balance. Not that ya'd know anything 'bout that. Now, ya gonna let me clean up or do you get ta do it, prez?"

Eri nearly felt steam coming out of her ears when a hand landed on her shoulder. She looked back at the familiar face with the twin ponytails.

"Erichi," Nozomi said quietly. "I agree it's against the rules, but is there really a problem if she just wants to fix something before going home?"

Ranma looked between the two. "Heh. You, I think I like. Seeya," And without another word, she was gone.

Eri stared at her best friend, then threw up her hands. "I don't get you lately," she finally decided on as a response.

Nozomi grinned, and revealed The Sun card. "The cards say we should be on the lookout for new opportunities. I think she may be the last thing we need."

"Then why let her stay?" the president took the opportunity to go on the offense, but was stymied when Nozomi just smiled back at her in that serene way she had.

"Well, for one thing," came the response "Look at how much that tiny girl was carting around. If she really wants to stay, do you think we have the slightest chance in the world of stopping her?"

Keys slammed down onto the piano in frustration. With the promise of the very thing she had been working on, she quickly decided to try to get back to doing something productive. Try, but she couldn't get the other redhead out of her thoughts. Something about the girl, whether it be her bright blue eyes or the obvious beauty of her figure even under the over-sized clothing was just driving her to utter distraction.

She tried again, playing one note at a time, when another flash of crimson hair drew her attention away from the piano - again - and she saw . . . uh, wow. She's. . . . strong. The strange girl had apparently stopped by for another quick listen, but seeing she wasn't really managing anything right now just gave her a rather sheepish grin and nod, her arms (and mouth) full, before turning and heading back towards the stairs.

Finally dismissing the whole thing as an exercise in frustration, at least for the day, she quietly started packing her sheet music into her school bag. Don't know why I keep doing this anyway, my music 'career' is all but over, she thought to herself, feeling a pang of regret. Still, it wouldn't hurt to at least introduce herself to the girl. It isn't her fault I'm distracted today.

She went towards the stairwell, only to catch a glimpse of the pig-tailed girl through the door. From one floor down. . . Maki went through a quick calculation in her head. She must be jumping straight up four meters!

A blush rose to her cheeks, and she quickly retreated towards home and an early bath to calm herself down.

Back on the roof, while Ranma was busy giving Otonokizaka a taste of her unique brand of chaos, Honoka decided that a boy turning into a girl after dropping out of the sky was not grounds to stop practicing.

"Honestly, you're taking this better than I thought you would," Umi confessed after the next run-through resulted in fewer injuries. "I'd heard rumors about Nerima for the past couple of years, and I really thought you'd want to check them out."

Honoka's eyes widened. "What kind of rumors?"

"Oh no," Umi groaned inwardly. Of course she's interested now. "You want to find out, you just ask this Ranma about it. The stuff I've heard is dangerous and he did just claim to get punched across half the city."

"All right, I will," Honoka gave a quick nod to her dark-haired friend. "And how did we do?"

"...better," Umi conceded. "We've still got a long way to go in two weeks if we're going to be ready in time for Orientation Day,"

"Well, I'm sure at this rate we'll manage," Kotori moved back to her starting position. "One more try? Umi, you should do it with us this time,"

It was in the middle of the next repeat that Ranma finally made it back to the roof. The martial artist decided it was better to not interrupt their work at the far end of the roof, so at first she just did the repair work quietly, the way she'd observed some of the guys who did the repairs to the Tendo home operating.

But Saotome Ranma was nothing if not a martial artist. And, to her mind, doing things the normal way was so boring. So, when she got to the last few tiles to put down, she slathered some glue on the back, and then leaped four meters into the air to get a good angle, tossing them perfectly into place before landing on top with a burst of ki pushed through her legs to increase the pressure on them. "There!"

Honoka found her attention drawn away from the dance by a flash out of the corner of her eye, looking up to see Ranma all but hovering in the air. Unfortunately, this came at a moment when she was supposed to be switching places with Umi. The other girl crashed into her face-to-skull, sending Honoka stumbling forward while the black-haired girl's hands flew to her nose and teeth with a sharp cry of pain.

Honoka tried to recover from the unexpected shove, planting her ankle at an odd angle and falling to the ground with a much louder shriek of pain.

The first pained sound was dismissed as the simple accident it was, but when Ranma heard the second she turned her head away from the stairwell to the dancers, and winced in sympathy. "Ah, dammit," She ran to Honoka's side along with the other two. "I been injured a few times," she explained to the other two, who were looking skeptical. "Part of bein' a martial artist." She turned her attention to Honoka, who was whimpering. "What hurts, 'zactly?" She suddenly sounded calming, almost gentle.

Honoka bit her lip. "Right ankle. It feels broken,"

"Let me take a look. . . " The red-headed girl pulled off the shoe and sock, giving it a quick look. "Well, it ain't broken but that's a pretty nasty twist. Uhm...hold on a sec," She pulled out an older model cell phone and quickly took a picture. She quickly sent it off attached to a text message, Hey, Doc. Girl's twisted her ankle, can you give me the basics?

The reply was almost immediate, showing three shiatsu points along with quick instructions. This will let her walk, but don't put more weight than necessary for at least 24 hours - Tofu,

Ranma quickly performed the described treatment, the whole process taking less than a minute. "Looks like we lucked out. Doc was between patients," he explained.

Honoka's eyes widened in amazement as the pain in her ankle suddenly receded completely. "How did you do that? It's like magic! Are you a wizard? Is that how you change genders? Could I learn to change my shape?! Oooh, what else can you do?"

Kotori and Umi just sighed while Ranma looked decidedly nonplussed. "It's just some pressure points," Ranma explained carefully. "Along with a bit of ki to stimulate them under the skin. I guess you could learn it, don't take much to get that to work, but you'd probably need ten years o' regular meditation if ya don't have the knack,"

The disappointment was palpable coming from Honoka, as was the relief from her friends. But it didn't take long for Honoka to bounce back. "Oh, well, thanks. One more time for good luck?"

Ranma's jaw dropped. "Hey, wait, ya can't do that!"

"Why not?" Honoka asked. "I feel great!"

Ranma's head smacked into her hand. "Yer still injured, ya dummy! I just numbed the pain. But if ya try ta dance again you'll be off your feet for weeks tomorrow."

"It's getting late, Honoka," Kotori decided to play peacemaker. "Maybe we should stop for the day,"

"Yeah," Ranma agreed. "Why don't ya do your cooldown stretches?" Everybody stared at her. "What?"

"Usually we just. . . finish up." Umi explained.

Ranma rolled her eyes. "Ya mean ya don't do any flexibility trainin'? That's gonna be just as important for dancin' as the Art, ya know. Here, let me show ya. . . ."

About an hour later, Honoka found herself leaning on Ranma for support. Not because her ankle hurt, but because it was proving pretty much impossible to disengage from the shorter red-head without tripping again. It would probably have been more annoying if that wasn't all she was doing, letting her chat with Umi and Kotori without any comment of her own, just a sheepish grin every now and again. But, they finally reached her home, a sweets shop named 'Homura,'

"Okay. This is my stop," she chirped, trying for the fourth time to get Ranma out from under her arm. Somehow, this ended up the same way as all the other times, a gentle stumble and then once again she was being supported. "Uh...did you hear me, Ranma? This is my home."

Ranma grinned up at her. "Yeah, I heard. And you live on the second floor, yeah? C'mon."

Honoka looked helplessly at her two other friends. "Uhm, little help here?"

"Hey, you invited her," Umi seemed caught between amusement and annoyance. "Besides, she still owes you a bottle of water."

Kotori just shook her head. "It's a bit late. We should probably head home and study,"

"...okay, bye," Honoka was left nervous with the prospect of. . . "Hey, Ranma, could you do me a favor and not mention you're really a boy? At least for today. I think it'd make too much noise with my parents to have you in my room."

Ranma looked decidedly nonplussed by that, but sighed. "Okay, yeah, I've put ya out enough I guess."

The door opened, and a woman with the same ginger hair as Honoka loomed over the pair. "And what's this about inviting a boy up to your room, daughter?"

"Aheheheheh…." two voices said in complete unison. Both distinctly feminine.

Mrs. Kousaka blinked, then leaned in and squinted really closely at the other redhead. "Honoka, do we need to get your eyes checked?"

"Aheh….no mom," Honoka found herself sweating bullets. "Uh, this is Ranma, kinda met her at school, and she is in no way, shape, or form a boy," at the moment she mentally completed, not saying it out loud.

"...and just why are you leaning on her like that?"

Ranma spoke up. "Just a twisted ankle. Doc I know says it'll be fine tomorrow if she stays offa it. So I offered to carry her home, but she didn't want that much help…"

"I see," Mrs. Kousaka just sighed. "Very well dear, why don't you go up to your room with your new friend and I'll bring up some sweet buns,"

Ranma's eyes brightened at that prospect. "Oh, thanks Ma'am! I am feeling hungry!"

Honoka was completely dumbfounded. On a plate in front of her sat her share of the sweets on offer, which had gone untouched. However, the shares that had originally been meant for Umi and Kotori before their late practice had both been placed in front of Ranma. They had lasted precisely as long as it took her mother to close the door. "Wow, these are really good! You make good stuff!"

"...ah, yeah. If you promise to taste them you can have mine too…" Honoka said slowly. Ranma picked up the first one and began to chew. "Ah, anyway, Ranma. You seem to know a lot about dancing,"

Ranma swallowed, nearly choking on the treat. "Nah," she said after a quick cough to clear her throat. "But I do know martial arts, and I can kinda see what you're doin' and how it relates."

"Oh." Honoka blinked. "What school do you study?"

"'s a family style. Saotome School of 'Anything Goes.'"

Umi's gonna kill him, Honoka thought to herself. Well, no, I don't think that's possible. But she'll try. Out loud, she said "That's really interesting. So, who managed to punch you that hard?"

"Eh, it was just my fiance. One of 'em. Got two that really count, I think the last count on total was up to twelve but got most of those settled."

...okay, that's terrifying. Honoka decided to drop that topic for the moment, or at least just accept it. "Sounds like you need some time away from her now and again. Maybe you'd like to come help us out after school some more? If you're not too busy anyway."

Ranma looked a bit startled at the question. "Just what is it you think I can do?"

"Well, you can't join up since you don't go to our school, but Umi's kind of overwhelmed actually running the practices. And your school's named 'Anything Goes' and you said you can see the similarities. Maybe you can learn something from watching us?"

Ranma was about to dismiss the idea, but then the memories of Martial Arts Rhythmic Gymnastics and Martial Arts Figure Skating poked up into the front of her awareness. With just how stupid some of the challengers had gotten, with this new School Idol thing. . . if she didn't take Honoka up on the offer she could end up completely blindsided later and begging for help. On the other hand, if she did take the offer it was practically a guarantee that there wouldn't be some kind of pop idol challenging her because that would actually be in her favor for once.

For once, that didn't seem like a downside.

"Hey, what's the worst that can go wrong, huh?"

With Ranma back late from his latest trip, Akane had finally gotten worried and went looking for him. Moreso than the rest of Tokyo, the streets of Nerima were safe to walk at night as long as you weren't somehow involved with a certain pig-tailed martial artist.

A pair of red eyes watched Akane from the shadows, attached to a figure with curves that would make a model jealous. Hard muscle underneath a chenogasm that didn't leave any of it to the imagination, with her long purple hair done up in side buns. She discreetly pulled out a pair of bonbori from..somewhere, sneaking up on the Tendo girl.

This was Xian-pu. Or 'Shampoo' to most of her current acquaintances in Japan.

One of many girls seeking Ranma's affections, it only seemed natural that she eliminate the things holding him back from leaping into her arms. Unfortunately, Ranma had a soft spot for the so-called 'warrior' in front of her, so it had to be done discreetly.

A plan foiled when she saw someone else in the alleyway.

She was taller than Akane, but only by a small amount. Her long brown hair was swept back with a white ribbon, and she was wearing, oddly enough, only an extremely short yukata in a navy blue color, trimmed in pale pink. Her modesty was preserved by a pair of black leggings. Her most unusual accessory, though, was a long bandoleer, currently empty, but holding a halberd shaped like a giant spatula across her back. "Hey sugar!" she said to Akane while, visible to Shampoo but not to the girl being addressed, she hid several small spatula that served her as throwing daggers. "Out late, aren't you?

This was Kuonji Ukyo.

Akane glared at her by way of reply. "Don't think I don't remember what you did at the wedding, Kuonji," she snapped. "As far as I'm concerned, we're not friends anymore."

"Hey, now!" Ukyo ground out. "I thought I was doing you a favor!" She glanced at Shampoo, giving a subtle nod. "We thought we were doing you a favor,"

Having been made, there was no point in hiding. Shampoo stepped out of the shadows. "Is too true. Violent girl say no want husband."

Akane blushed. "And what if I've changed my mind. I didn't say 'no' did I?"

Both of her rivals paled. Very quickly, they evaluated the options. As one, they came to the same conclusion – if they took out Akane now, the other could win the race by blaming her. Now was not the time. Shampoo sniffed first. "Not change anything. Ranma Shampoo husband."

"And he's my fiance," Ukyo confirmed.

Akane gulped. "Well, he's also missing. Either of you seen the jerk?"

"No." Both smiled at that. The patterns were coming back after all. There was nothing to worry about. Ranma would be back, and sooner or later he and Akane would be fighting again. Just like always.