Anime Addventure : Masters Way

by tutcat

Ranma found a book labeled Masters Way (Adult ) updated first chap (all stories up for adoption)

3. Kasumi

by Kender

Her elder sister pursed her lips. "Ummm... I think that Ranma really should have come to me if he needed help with something. But no worries. I'm here now, and I can start with helping him with this problem."

Both Ranma and Nabiki stared at her as if she had just had her skin turn red and her clothing turned skimpy. Something like this was unexpected, and they weren't quite sure how to deal with such an occurrence.

There was a very simple reason for that, and it had all to do with images. As far as any one could tell, Kasumi was the pure and innocent one of the three Tendo sisters, and the one most likely to go out of her way to help someone. But even something like this was a bit much to believe that she would do, as it was pretty close to the ultimate sacrifice that one could make.

What they didn't know was that she wasn't quite as she seemed. She did know what sex was, and the process by which a man and a woman came together, but she didn't really know about the act itself. Having never done it, she had no idea about it besides the basics, and what fantasies she did have as a healthy young woman were always pushed aside as being too naughty, and something that wouldn't happen anyway. After all, she had a family to care for, and had little time for such... wicked thoughts.

So basically, she was pretty in the dark about the whole deal.

However, she was a beautiful young woman with desires and wishes that had never been fulfilled. This was her chance to do so, and in a way that she could find acceptable. She had always been attracted to Ranma, though he'd always seemed so young to her. But now she could not only see him as a viable bed mate, but as someone to help. He could help her learn the pleasures between a man and a woman, and she could not only help him with his own needs, but join in their naughty little game.

Which pretty much meant that in an area where a pigtailed boy could feel embarrassed about being in situations where naked females were around, but not cover up his girl's side's 'attributes', she fit right in.

"Don't worry," Kasumi said with a smile, "Your game sounds like fun, and I've got an idea or two, but my main thought right now is to help him. So, I am going to take him to my room, and we'll... you know... And whenever he feels the need to, he can come to me, and I'll be available to do it again."

"EH?!" chorused the two teens.

"Come along Ranma. We really should do this in private, at least now..."

"Uh... Okay..," he reluctantly agreed, trailing after the eldest Tendo in a daze.

That left Nabiki standing alone in the furo area wondering when the pod people had gotten her older sister.

Following Kasumi into her room, Ranma waited until she had closed the door to really look at her. She basically looked the same, well, minus clothing that was, but this was rather odd behavior in his opinion. As he understood it, this wasn't something that Kasumi would do, but then again, lately things had gotten pretty wierd for him.

"Okay, now that we are alone," she asked, "how do you want to begin?"

"Ya sure that ya wanna do this?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Uh... 'cause... It doesn't seem..."

"What is it? Am I unattractive?"

Looking over her bare form, he noted the long legs, the slim waist, and the sizable breasts before finding himself shaking his head vigorously. "Nope. Not at all. You're really pretty. Hot, even. It's just... This is all so sudden!"

"I suppose it is..."

"Yeah..."

"Oh well, I guess that I'm not really that good at all this..."

"What?"

"I wanted to be there for you, but it looks like I'm failing..."

More panicked by a self doubting Kasumi than his own fears, the pigtailed boy moved over and took her in his arms. "It ain't that! You're very good lookin' and I'll be proud ta... ya know!"

"You will?"

"Yeah, sure. Definitely."

"Thank you," she murmured and gave him a solid kiss on the mouth. It wasn't a passionate one, but there was definite affection in it, and she wound up moaning as he recovered from his shock and got into it.

Pulling their lips apart, he laid her gently down on her bed, and slowly began stroking against her flanks. His hands came up to her head and cupped it so that he could give her a small kiss. Then he began trailing them down her neck and shoulders as he slid his palms over the flat of her belly, trailing them over the satiny skin.

Sighing in pleasure, she reached up to him and unbuttoned his shirt, helping him out of it before pushing on his undershirt so that she could touch the firm muscled chest that hung over her. It was something amazing for her, as she had never thought of it as something that would make her fingers tingle so much. She enjoyed just touching him so much that she never even realized that she'd gotten his undershirt off him.

He decided to return the favor, and began to focus his attentions on her chest like she had his. Grasping both full mounds with his hands, he played with them together and separately, bringing moans from deep within her as he manipulated the sensitive flesh. When his mouth went upon them, she couldn't help but gasp, and she arched when he dragged his tongue over one of her hardened nipples. It was more than she'd ever thought she'd feel, and she knew that this had to be something akin to bliss.

Her hands dug into his shoulders as she needed to hold onto him, but didn't want to dislodge him. It was too wonderful a feeling, and she wanted it to go on. As far as she could tell, there was no way to get any better, but she was soon proven wrong.

That was done when he reached between her legs and began to touch her slick folds. Her eyes shot open with pleasure as he started to move and touch her most intimate space, and in so doing created feelings that she didn't know that she could have. When his thumb it one certain spot, she was certain that she was going to die from the joy of the sensations, but instead she just whimpered out her pleasure.

There was a slight disappointment when he pulled back, but as she saw him pull off his pants and boxers, she knew that the best was about to come. Looking into her eyes for confirmation, he took the hard length of his manhood and sank it into her, forcing a cry of pleasure from her. He pushed into her womanhood up to a point, and despite a slight pain, she wouldn't have traded that for anything. As soon as he began to pump into her, she knew that this was what she wanted, and it was too wonderful for words.

At the final bounce on the bed, she instinctually squeezed her knees around him, just to continue that single moment of release in which gave a silent scream. His deep and feeling grunt told her that despite her inexperience, she had given him the same pleasure, and with that she was deeply pleased.

Having exhausted themselves, they lay there with him gathering her up in his arms, and she laying there as she enjoyed the passion that they had just shared. She cuddled up to his side, aware of the way that her breasts pillowed against him, but not about to really move, save for sliding one of her legs against his.

"So..," he asked once the pleasure had subsided to a manageable level, "How was it?"

Her blush was deep, but heartfelt. "It was... nice. Very nice..."

"Huh?"

"I won't mind doing this again at all, and I truly want you to come to me whenever you want. It will be nice to try some other position..."

"It will?"

"Yes, and I'm willing to try them with you if you want," Kasumi told him, knowing that she wanted to, but still afraid that pushing him would be improper and rude.

"Uh... sure... It ain't like I hated any of it. Bein' with ya was great."

"Really?"

"Yup."

"That is wonderful to hear. Then you won't have any problem coming to me?"

"Nah... I don't think so. It shouldn't be a problem..," he said, hoping that he wouldn't get bashed in his attempt to both keep this open, and not offend her.

"Good... I wish that we could stay here..."

"Why can't we?"

"Well, there are other things to do, and we do have duties. I do have chores to be done, including dinner to cook. And you have your pet."

"I do?"

"Yes," the eldest Tendo said, reluctantly pulling away to sit up. "Nabiki."

"Oh, yeah."

"Don't do that. She is your pet, and your responsibility. You shouldn't just use her and forget her."

"I'd never do that! I promised ta take care of her for as long as I can!"

"Then I am happy. You own her, and with you being so dedicated, I'm sure that you will take good care of her."

"Uhh.. Thanks?"

"You're welcome. But I have to go take a bath now, so we'll have to wait until the next opportunity when we can... you know."

"I can't wait."

"Me either," she told him, before seeming to remember something, "Oh, and one more thing?"

"What?"

"If you want to, you don't have to worry about letting yourselves show your new relationship. She can go around freely being your pet whenever I'm around, though I'm pretty sure that the others wouldn't like it if they saw it."

"Okay..."

"Alright then. Until later."

Watching her leave, he blinked and wondered dully about what was going on

by Kender

Nabiki sat on the bathroom floor not because it was comfortable, but because she hadn't thought of going anywhere else. It didn't matter that she had her bare backside on tile. She had things to think about, and they were more important than a little discomfort.

After all, her owner was in another part of the house making love to another girl. There was no problem with that in practice, but it was rather disconcerting in one respect. That was Kasumi up there with him, who was supposed to be the respectable and generally sweet one. Not someone that one expected to be boinking a boy three years younger than herself on a whim.

Things were certainly weird in the Tendo house, though she soothed her nerves with the knowledge that her elder sister would never lie about something like this, and that this was a house where the odd could be expected.

The sound of the door opening interrupted her thoughts, and she looked up to see her sister coming into the room.

"Oh, Nabiki," Kasumi said with a blink. "You're still here."

"Uhh... hi. And yes, I'm still here," the younger girl confirmed.

"That's good because I did have to talk you a bit."

"You did?"

"Yes, I did. I'm glad that you found something you like so much. It's nice to see you so happy with something. And don't worry, as I told Ranma, you can continue being his pet as long as you wish."

"Ranma? What happened with him?"

Her sister blushed. "Well, we got up to my room, and... He was very good about the whole thing. And he did some things... We plan on doing it again sometime. I hope you don't mind."

"Uh... I don't mind..."

"Ah, good. I wouldn't want to push you out, especially since you have become his pet."

"You really have no problem with that?" the younger girl asked.

"It does seem a bit daring, but as I said, it's quite okay. But I have also decided something else."

"What?"

"You can be the pet you are in the clear whenever I'm around. I thought it'd be nice for you, since it'd give you more opportunities to do so. Though, if Akane or someone else were there, I don't think you'd want to show it."

"What does that mean?"

"Just what is sounds like. You can run around doing whatever this being his pet is about. It sounds interesting, and I don't want to force into denying your fun, especially with my new relationship with him."

"Oh... Okay..."

"Well, if you want to join your owner," Kasumi told her, "He should still be in my room."

"Uh... thanks."

The elder girl watched her sister scurry off and smiled, happy that the other girl had such a passion. It was so nice that she had something that would give her such energy. Now the two of them would have the responsibility and pleasure of sharing Ranma, and she was certain that it would be a wonderful arrangement for them both.

Humming lightly to herself, she sat down on the wash stool and began to run the water so she could start the process of washing her sensitive body.

Ranma sat on Kasumi's bed, and wondered how he'd come to be doing so naked. It wasn't as if he didn't know, but the whole thing seemed to be a bit... surreal. The movements of a girl's mind were not something that he'd ever understood despite turning into one, and he was certain that he never would. But what he did know was that he had pleased Kasumi, and that she wanted to do it again.

Of course, that wouldn't be a chore in any way, shape or form, but the idea of the eldest Tendo girl deciding that he could make love to her any time that he wanted, as well as having Nabiki be his pet freely in front of her was a strange one. It was not exactly behavior that he associated with her, though at least he was sure that she was serious about this.

Sighing heavily, he slumped his shoulders, and looked around the room. It was soft, and gentle, like the girl that owned it, and was obviously a place of quiet comfort. There was nothing harsh about it, and the whole place was a perfect reflection of the girl that slept there.

And it also had Nabiki sneaking in there nude.

"Master?" she hissed as she came over to kneel on the bed in front of him. "What's going on?"

"Uhh... I'll tell ya when I figure it out myself," he said as he rubbed the back of his head.

"You mean that it's like it looks?"

"Like what?"

"'Like' you're taking Kasumi as a lover, and that's how she wants it?"

"Well... I suppose so. But would ya wanna disappoint her like that?"

"Er... Of course not."

He shrugged. "But what about this thing about ya bein' a pet in front of her?"

"I think she's serious about that too. As far as she is concerned, I can run around naked, rest my head in your lap, be touched by you, eat in a bowl... anything providing it's just a combination of the three of us in the house."

"Oh. That'd be nice, I guess... 'Nice'."

"Is something wrong with 'nice'?" his pet asked.

"Not with the word its-self, but Kasumi went and used it ta describe our... time together. I tried ta do somethin' pleasurable, and she called it 'nice'."

"She did?"

"Yup, but she looked much happier than just 'nice' while and after we did it."

Nabiki bit her lip as she considered his words, and realized that he hadn't considered the fact that 'nice' was her default compliment. If she hadn't anything else to describe it, that was what she fell back on. "I'm sure that she couldn't think enough for a better word."

"Yeah, but it didn't seem like she understood it all."

"She is inexperienced... which I just now realize is weird to say about my sister, but still... You know her. She isn't the most out going person."

"But to treat it almost like a favor... Well not a favor, since we both loved what we did, but it's close enough... I know."

"What?"

Standing tall, he pulled a dramatic pose that Kuno would have been proud of, which was amazing since he was naked. "I'm not only gonna to enjoy my times with Kasumi! I'm gonna ta make it so that she gets to the point where she can freely appreciate and enjoy the pleasures between guys and girls! I won't rest until she has the chance to enjoy whatever fantasies I feel able ta fulfill!"

"Oh really."

"Yeah! I'm not about to give up! She will discover the pleasures that I will give her!"

"Thank goodness we have you, Ranma Kuno."

"What?"

"You look like you should be holding a bokotu in your hands," she told him dryly.

"Oh. Yeah. Well ya get the idea, right? She might not have had a chance ta get herself ta really be how she'd like in bed, but I'm gonna give it ta her now."

"I'm... I'm pretty sure that she'd enjoy it."

"'Xactly. And I wanna be sure that I'll have your help if I need it," he told her.

"I would do anything I could for my sister..."

"Good. Now, I'll just have ta figure out somethin' that can do the job, without forgettin' my other important stuff, like ya."

"About that. First off, you already have a plan in place. Just treat her how she wants to you to each time you're with her, and she'll probably be okay."

"Gotcha," he said with a resolute nod.

"But there is one other thing."

"What?"

"You do realize that you had to take your clothes off earlier, don't you?"

Glancing down, he saw that his body was bare, and his clothing was decorating the floor. "Uh... Oops."

"Oh don't worry, Master."

"Why not?"

"I like seeing you this way," she murmured as she rubbed her body against his.

That was something that he could appreciate, and did

by Kender

Hikaru Gosunkugi sat in his seat and stared worriedly at all the customers around him. He'd expected to just come in and take a seat, so that within a few minutes he could talk to the girl of his dreams. But it wasn't to be that easy, as he'd come in one of his better outfits to discover that the place was thrumming with life. Customers filled the place, and after he'd been seated by that Chinese girl, he'd sat there wondering if his plan would work.

However, he never gave up hope, knowing that he would have to be served soon enough. The other guys could spread their attention between the two of them, but he was more concerned with only one of them. He'd even made certain to stay in her section just to have it happen. And he'd seen her face several times, so he knew that the stories were true.

"Hello, and welcome to the Nekohaten," said a voice that seemed to be from heaven, "May I take your order?"

Looking up shyly, he saw Akane Tendo standing over his table. While she was normal lovely in her school uniform, right now she was breathtaking that little dress she wore. "I... uh..."

"You do have an order, don't you?"

"Uh... yes, yes, I do."

"And what is it?"

"I'd like you..."

"Pardon me?" she asked.

"I'd like a number three, please," he squeaked, "If you could get it."

"Oh, is that all."

"Yes..."

She gave him a smile and nodded.

That stunned him as he stifled a goofy giggle. His entire mind was taken in by that single expression, and he couldn't do anything but think 'She smiled at me!'

Once he came off his cloud, turned to speak to her, sure that this time he could get the words out.

Except that she was already walking away in the intriguing dress of hers.

Groaning as mightily as his scrawny body could manage, he hung his head.

"You know, this is not so bad," Akane murmured as she stepped next to Shampoo at the counter. "I mean, it is hard work, but even the perverts are something I can handle."

The Amazon grinned. "This only one time. You no have do every day yet."

"Ah... I'm sure that I'll deal with it just fine. After all, you do it so, how hard could it be?"

"Can be very bad. Shampoo just happy you get orders mostly right."

"Now that can be a problem," the Japanese girl replied.

"Is so?"

"Yeah. I mean, some of them have like... five people ordering all different things. And there was this one guy who I had to have walked by ten times before I realized that he was there."

"Happen sometimes. Not good when do, but only can try not be forgetful. You do get order, right?"

"Just now. He seemed to be really happy about it too. Guess he really likes the ramen."

"Ramen very good," Shampoo drawled.

"If you say so," the other waitress replied and headed over to a table that was signaling for an order.

Standing on the edge of the pond on the Kuno estate, Kodachi idly watched her pet swim around his space, seemingly happy with his lot. Which she had to admit was a good one, since he had a mistress who loved him, a wonderful home to live in, and all the delicious steaks he could eat. She just liked to watch him go, knowing that he appreciated all that she did for him, and seeing the beauty of his movements.

But today she was feeling the beginnings of a bit of restlessness. Things had been going well at school, both academically, and gymnastically. Home life was as it ever was, what with her idiot brother, and beloved father. And she had whatever she might want whenever she did. So she knew that she should be serene.

Then she realized that she hadn't visited her Ranma-darling in a while. Seeing him was always something that brightened her day. He was so strong and so handsome that she couldn't help but see wonderful things in him.

It was just that she had been busy recently, and she hadn't been able to pay him a visit. Well, that had to change, and she felt that putting him second was not for her. So she promised herself that at her first opportunity, she would go and see him.

Maybe that would be the time she would finally get him to treat her as she wanted him to.

Coming down the hallway, Ranma and Nabiki knew that this was not going to be easy for them. What had been rather nice had been the chance to have their time together in a room that they hadn't expected to. But this was very important to them, as they wanted to be able to confirm it. If it didn't work out, it'd be rather difficult for them to handle.

So it was with a bit of trepidation that they walked out into the dining area. He came in safely clothed, but Nabiki only wore a single item, and that was the collar around her neck that bore her tags. They knew that this was the test of the proposal that they had been given, and they wanted to know if it was really going to happen.

Kasumi didn't seem to notice their nervousness as she came out of the kitchen in her housedress and smiled. "Oh, I see you two have decided to come down."

"Uhh.. yeah..," Ranma said, seeing only open affection in her expression.

"I do think that it will be nice having a quiet afternoon with just the three of us, don't you? And that collar looks rather... Well, I could say it's cute. Even with the tags..."

"Ranma got them for me," Nabiki told her sister, tapping the mentioned items.

"You still call him that as a pet?"

"Umm... no... Well then... Master got them for me..."

"Hm. Okay. I thought that the two of you would be hungry, so I made something up," the eldest Tendo girl said.

"Great..," the younger girl replied as she went to sit at the table with her owner.

"I thought so. I'll just be a minute."

"No problem..."

"Just... different, I guess," Ranma murmured.

"Really different."

"You're telling me."

Coming back in, the elder held two bowls, one of which she put on the table, and the other sat on the floor by the pet. "I'm sorry about this, but I didn't have a proper pet bowl available..."

"I got one..."

"Oh good! Now eat up, and enjoy."

Nabiki peered at the bowl, which was full of good human food, though of a type that one didn't need instruments to use, and then glanced up at her Master. She saw a similar resignation in his eyes to the one that she was feeling, and knew that the situation had been confirmed. What was more important though, was that Kasumi was now part of their group.

Shrugging to each other, they set upon eating their food while Kasumi sat down at the table to eat from a bowl she had bought for herself

by Kender

Akane stepped out of the Nekohaten and arching her back to get the kinks out of it, and winding up giving a nice view to any males in the area. But it was only for a little bit, and she was too tired to really care any way. She was exhausted, and the only thing that she wanted to do was to go home, have a hot bath, a good meal, and climb into her comfortable bed.

"You work hard today," Shampoo observed as she leaned against the doorjamb.

"You better believe it," the Japanese girl replied as she put her hands on her hips. "I'm not about to skimp on work in the first place, and since this is training, I'm doubly going to push myself."

"No push too hard. Might fall over."

"Ha ha. But just you wait. Once this is all over, I'll be better than I've ever been."

"You better, or Shampoo discover you be worse than thought."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

The Amazon shrugged. "You fail, and either you be very bad student, or Great-Grandma teaching very bad. Since you want be taught by her, fail better mean you is problem."

"Oh, right. Well, I won't mess up. I'm going to train as hard as I can, and soon enough, I'll be running rings around you."

"That something Shampoo have to see to believe. Shampoo always going to be better."

"We'll see," Akane drawled with a smirk.

"Is so. You be here for training tomorrow?"

"Of course."

"Then you chose what wear. Suggest two thing though. First, get own clothing. More dress like that, and more pant suit. Make much easier when have no have wash every other day."

"That makes sense. And the other?"

"Wear pant suit given tomorrow," Shampoo told her, "No want be seen in dress again."

"Why not? I think I look good in it!"

"So do everyone else. Only it look bad if in same outfit two day in row, even if wear school uniform and wash between."

"Ah... got you. I'll have to go buy some."

"Is store nearby that sell. Cheap enough for easy buy, good enough to wear without worry," the lavender haired girl told her, handing over a piece of paper.

Taking it, the short haired girl stared at the other. "That's awfully nice of you... Are you trying to do something..."

"No. Shampoo just no want you come in wanting you embarrassing restaurant and Shampoo. Besides, who come in if you have take whole afternoon off just to find store that sell right outfit."

"Ahh..."

"Just thought be helpful."

"Well, it is. I'll see you tomorrow," Akane said as she started walking away, and waved.

"Bai Bai!"

Nodding, the Japanese girl headed off towards her home.

Shampoo watched her leave with a half smile and a shake of her head, knowing that she would see this plenty of times in the future.

Then she turned to look behind her and said, "Restaurant closed, Shampoo going to sleep, and Akane gone. You go now too."

The various boys who'd been milling around to be able to stare at the two revealingly dressed beauties made a collective sound of disappointment.

Shaking her head, the Amazon went inside and closed the door behind her.

As he put the last bowl in the cabinet, Mousse wondered just why he seemed to be so unlucky lately. First he'd accidentally grabbed Akane Tendo, and then she'd wound up bashing him. Then it had taken him some time to pull himself together and drag himself back to the Nekohaten, only to find out that he was being relegated to the kitchen and not let out.

What with his Shampoo undoubtedly causing a commotion in the dining area, and the old bat keeping watch over him as she cooked, life was not fair at all.

"What did I do to deserve this?!" he whined to the heavens.

"Would you like a list?" asked a creaky old voice.

"AAAHHH! Don't do that!"

"It's my restaurant Mister Part-Time. I can do what I want."

"Whatever. Would you please explain just why you're keeping me here already? My beloved is close, and I haven't seen her for too long!"

"And that is why you're not going to get to go. Besides, it's too later for your antics," Cologne told him, and pogoed away. "Get this place cleaned up and ready for the morning before you go to sleep."

"Ugh..."

"I will be checking up on your work before we open up. Remember that.

He sighed as he saw her leave. "This is awful! My beloved is so close, and I can't even go to her. I really should just see if I can make it to her bedroom anyway. What does that old bat know?"

Just then a pot flew into the room and smacked him in the head, sending him to the floor. "I know you, and the fact that it will take you many years before you can even start to surprise me.

Mousse would have retorted, except he was a little dazed and confused at the moment.

"Ah Tendo?" Genma said hesitantly.

Soun looked blearily at his friend. "Yes?"

"Weren't we in one of those bars where they had men in drag serving the drinks?"

"Yes..."

"Then where did all these lovely ladies come from?"

"Maybe you went to one of those bars where they only hire cute girls?"

"Ahh... I've got skills I didn't even know I had. Moving without even knowing it."

Hearing footsteps, Nabiki looked up from the dinner table as her younger sister came over and plopped herself down. "Hard day at work?"

"Yeah, but nothing I can't handle," Akane said, smoothing her hands down her bare thighs. "You wouldn't believe how hard it can be to carry those bowls! I'm just glad that I get to eat something other than ramen."

"I'd have thought that you would have gotten a freebie to bring home."

"Not everyone thinks the way you do..."

"But Elder Cologne does it all the time with Ranma," Kasumi said as she delicately lifted a pickle with her chopsticks.

"I'm not the one who beat her great granddaughter in one on one combat and wound up having to deal with that law of theirs. Besides... they offered, but I told them later."

"Ahh..."

"You try dealing with the stuff for hours and then try to eat it," the youngest Tendo commented as she filled her own bowl with her loose t-shirt moving as she did.

"Well, I suppose that's true. But I'm sure that after all that hard work, it was nice to take a bath."

"Was it ever. Soaking never feels so good as when you're sore."

"I know."

"Hey, where's Dad and Mister Saotome anyway?"

"Out," Ranma said succinctly, "Plans failed, thinking, and together."

"Which means that they're out getting drunk again."

"Probably."

"When did they leave."

"Early enough so they got a good start on all the salarymen."

"It's going to be one of those nights, isn't it? Ah well. More food for us," the short haired girl said as she reached over to get a dish on the other side of the table.

Which gave her fiancé a wonderful view down the hanging collar of her blouse and at the valley of her cleavage.

Needless to say the hunk of fish that he'd been eating didn't go all the way down.

"What's his problem?" Akane asked, sitting down with a surprised thump as he suddenly gasped, trying to mask her concern with tones of annoyance.

Grinning a bit, Nabiki thumped her owner on the back until the was breathing once again. "I think something just went down the wrong pipe."

"Oh. Maybe he'll learn to eat at a proper pace now."

"I don't think it's that, but it's good to know."

"Oh-kay... Still, did anything happen here?"

Kasumi caught Nabiki's eye with her gaze, and the two elder sister shared a knowing look. They knew that they could not tell their sister what had happened, at least for the time being. "We just sort of... passed the time as best we could."

"Oh? Sounds relaxing."

"That's one way of putting it," the middle sister drawled, remembering a time when she had been naked and laying with her head in her owner's lap as they watched television just before the youngest had arrived.

"Guess it was pretty boring then."

"Not so much. More like... enjoyable."

"Hmm. I see. Well, it's nice to have a meal like this, where it's quiet and we just get to talk."

"Ya got that right," Ranma managed to get out, "It is pretty nice, ain't it?"

"It is. Especially without you gobbling up your food."

"Gee, thanks for that compliment."

"You're welcome," his fiancee told him, "And..."

"What?"

"Thanks for coming along, but letting me alone. I really need to do this, and you letting me do it without arguing meant a lot."

"Uhh... you're welcome," he said with a blush as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Yeah... Just don't let it go to your head or nothing, got me?"

"Sure do. And don't worry. I'll only stop by to make sure that you're not messing up."

"Grr... I won't mess up."

"I only said I'd check up," the pigtailed boy said. "Besides, babysittin' ya isn't how ya are gonna learn anythin'."

"I know that. And this is going to get me better."

He nodded. "'Course eatin' is important too."

"Of course."

Nabiki and Kasumi shared a smile over the pair's actions as the four of them continued on with their meal

by Kender

Sitting on her bed, Nabiki grinned to herself as she thought about the day she'd just had. Sure it'd been rather dull for the beginning half, but the second part was rather interesting to say the least. First getting the chance to be with her Master, then the whole change of situation with Kasumi, and then the dinner which had been fun, made it all a day to remember. She knew that she wouldn't forget any of it, even if it was rather ridiculous at times.

After all, who would have thought that she would have had her big sister do something like that. Not only did the elder girl not react badly to her choice in life style, but she had encouraged it. In fact, she had even bedded Ranma.

All of which was rather interesting to say the least.

It did open the door to more things for her too. Now she'd have even more opportunities to indulge in her fantasies, and not only when her owner was there. So long as she had only Kasumi there with her, she'd get to just be his pet, and that'd likely give her a feeling for how it'd be to live truly like that, since she'd have to have times when she'd have to wait for him. Of course, Kasumi would likely be there, so that'd be an interesting situation in and of itself.

She didn't know if the newest changes were good, but she was sure that she liked them. It gave her more to do at least, and she was very happy with what she'd been able to do.

It made her realize that she was going to be busy for a long while. At least her exercise wouldn't suffer, since Ranma would likely be training her in both being a proper pet and exercising. Of course, the two could have instances of colliding...

Chuckling over the image of him trying to instruct her to train naked, she plopped down on the bed and wondered what the next day would bring.

Kasumi brushed her hair as she looked at her reflection and thought about how she'd changed things so much. She didn't like big upheavals, but this one was rather amazing and... exciting. For a long while she'd been curious about certain things. There had been all these girls willing to do all these naughty things, and she had always wanted to know what it was like. Not to hurt anyone, but just to do something a little... exciting.

It wasn't that her life was unfulfilling in any way. But she knew that there were things out there that she could do to give it a little 'spice'. There was just so much that she didn't know, and the chance to be with someone was alluring. Added to that was the fact that she'd had urges of her own, but never really plumbed them for a solid fantasy.

Yet now she had something solid. She didn't know if she could go for being utterly in charge of someone like Ranma was, or be a pet like her sister, but she was intrigued. Not just by it of itself, but by the idea that one could try and do something... different and get a source of pleasure from it.

'Ranma certainly gave me that,' she thought to herself as she put her brush down on the table and blushed. He'd been so kind and considerate of her, and made her first time a lovely experience. Which had fit into her image of him, as she had always seen him as slightly clueless, yet nice. As a young woman, she had been attracted to him, but hadn't even thought of really doing anything since it had been clear that he would marry Akane. This arrangement was better though, since they got to be together, and hopefully not hurt the ones that they cared about, since she couldn't bear it if her actions caused distress.

However, it seemed alright so far. Nabiki and Ranma seemed happy with her plans, and that was wonderful. She cared about them both, and wanted to make sure that they were comfortable, and at ease. Though his actions did make her want to please Ranma for some reason.

Sighing to herself, she pushed the thought aside, and decided to go to bed.

Ranma laid on his futon and stared at the ceiling as he tried to deal with what was going on. Things were changing a lot, and while it seemed good, he wasn't sure that he was going to survive it. After all, if his fiancees didn't kill him, all the excitement and panic would. Not that he'd ever give it up, but he did realize that there were some things that he had definitely to deal with.

Nabiki was his pet due to her own desires in that direction. Kasumi had opened her bed to him at any time that he'd want to join her in it. Akane was proving to actually be sexy. He was realizing just how attractive his fiancees were.

To say that he had some heavy stuff going on was understatement.

But as he tried to get his mind off of it, he attempted to think of other things, such as sleep. It was what he was trying to do after all, and he wanted to not be carried to class in the morning. This wasn't the most comfortable spot though, as he imagined himself in a bed... perhaps with Kasumi cuddling up to his side... and Nabiki laying draped over them...

He knew one important thing at that moment.

It was going to be a long night.

In her room, Akane Tendo had much to be happy about. She not only was getting training, but she was getting it from a group that had dismissed her previously. Sure, it was hard, and made her have to deal with perverts without hitting them, but it was worth it. Just during the time of her first shift, she'd already noted a drop in the number of guys who'd been able to manage a pinch, which meant that she was getting faster and anticipating better. And she'd found that she was not going to be expected to sit by if a jerk got to be too much trouble.

So, she slept the sleep of the happily exhausted. Having worked hard during the day, taken a nice soak in the furo, and eaten a good meal, that was was all that she needed. As soon as she dropped to the mattress, her eyes were already closing and yawns were dominating her mouth. Being so comfortable was wonderful, and she had barely been able to turn off the lights and set her alarm before she'd conked out.

Now she was spread out over the bed, sleeping like a baby with a smile on her face.

"Zzzzz... Zzzzz... Zzzzz... Zzzzz..."

She was also snoring like a battered chainsaw, but she would never notice, so she went on like that

by Kender

Sunrise was always the point where Ryoga Hibiki woke up. It was a natural choice for him, as he tended to camp out a whole lot. Thus it was easier just to wake up whenever dawn was happening wherever he was. After all, it was a regular occurrence, and it didn't really shift enough to be a real problem. And since it happened wherever he was, he could always count on getting up at the proper time.

Besides, it was always hard to keep an alarm clock around when people kept on moving things around on him.

He just hoped that Akane was okay, as he hadn't been able to get to Nerima for a while now. Heck, he'd been traveling through his forest for an entire day, and he still couldn't see an end to it. But he was certain that he was close to getting out, and that would allow him to have a full view of where he could go from there.

Then perhaps he could find his way to Akane's house and meet up with her again.

So he went and continued getting ready for the day, never realizing that he really was too close to getting out to have it be a problem.

A passing salaryman heading in for an early start to work had just seen his tent in the park after all.

Though she would have preferred to sleep until lunch, Akane knew that she had to get up. The afternoon and early evening might be for her waitressing, but early morning was the only time that she'd likely have free time to dedicate to learning new techniques. Just normal basic training would mean that she'd have to get up and actually work at it. But she was certain even if it was a big enough hassle now, she'd get used to the new routine soon enough.

Dressed and ready to get going, she padded down the hallway so that she could go out.

Except that she came across a bleary eyed looking Ranma and frowned.

"Are you planning on coming with me again?" she asked.

"Huh?" the pigtailed boy grunted. "Oh. No, I ain't. Just went ta make sure it'd be okay. Seems alright."

"Then why are you up?"

"Bathroom."

"Oh..."

"'Xactly. 'Sides, do I trail around while ya jog? Or stand there and watch every-time ya practice in the dojo?"

"Well... no..," she admitted.

"There ya go. Now, have fun and try not ta get inta trouble."

"I can take care of myself! And... thanks."

"Welcome."

Giving him a bright smile, she fairly skipped off as she waved. "'Bye!"

"'Bye," he murmured, wondering if she'd mind or even notice if he did secretly follow her to the Nekohaten. "Hmmm..."

Ryoga walked along the street certain that he recognized the area. Unfortunately, a lot of places would be familiar, and he knew that. It was a result of his... problem, and tended to make as many problems as it solved. That made him wary of any sort of assumptions about the place.

He just wished that it was Nerima, as that would be the best neighborhood to be in. There was even a feeling that he was there already. Why, he thought that he could hear her voice even now.

And could nearly see her trading punches with Shampoo.

Actually, as he looked at the scene just down the street, that was Akane on the defensive as the Amazon threw a kick at her.

"NO!" he bellowed, charging down the asphalt to defend the short haired girl. Her being in danger was something that had to be acted upon immediately, and that meant he had no time to waste. Since he would not reach her fast enough, he pulled out some bandanas and tossed them at Shampoo, sending the lavender haired girl spinning backwards to keep from getting sliced up, though at least a couple managed to score.

She barely had a moment to recover when he started his second attack, as she dodged and weaved before having to leap away. Normally he would have been satisfied somewhat, but this was someone who'd been attacking such a nice girl, and he wouldn't stand for it.

But apparently Akane wouldn't stand for his actions either. "RYOGA?! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"Protecting you. But don't worry. She won't be attacking you any more."

"She wasn't attacking me!"

"She wasn't?" he asked, relaxing his stance a bit as he blinked in confusion.

"Shampoo spar with Akane," the Amazon groused as she took in the ruins of her dress.

"Exactly," the Japanese girl confirmed. "She wanted to do it, and I was happy to agree."

"Not expect get attack by Lost Boy..."

"Oops," the boy in question replied, "Sorry."

"Why did you do that anyway?" Akane asked. "I mean, look what you did to her."

"I..," he said and really looked at the lavender haired girl. There were several large tears in her dress, including one in the front of her top. None of them showed any really deep wounds, though it was clear that it was close.

Oh, and the opening in the top was enough to let him know that, yes, Shampoo's breasts did jiggle when she moved.

Which he dealt with predictably.

"He fainted!" Akane blurted.

"Shampoo see that," agreed the Amazon.

"Is that all you have to say?"

"No. Shampoo say she go get changed before boys around get free show."

Blinking slightly, the youngest Tendo realized the truth of the words. "Okay. That'd probably be a good idea. But what do we do with him."

"Shampoo like if dump in with trash, but if want, you can pull in restaurant for care."

"I think that'd be a good idea."

"Is okay," came Shampoo's murmur, and the two of them dragged the Lost Boy's nonsensical form inside,

by Kender

By nature Kasumi was an early riser. It wasn't just habit or the need to take care of her family that made her want to get up as early as possible. She simply the hours of the early morning, which were quiet and serene, as well as being full with the possibilities of the coming day. Having the chance to stand outside and enjoy the peace before the storm of activity was something that she loved.

But she did have duties to take care of, and she wasn't about to skimp on any of them. Breakfast wasn't about to prepare itself, and lunches had to be packed. Then there were the various simple checks she had to do, like making sure the furo was ready for use, and the newspaper had been delivered.

One of the things she set for herself was to go and see if she could wake up Ranma and Nabiki. Their fathers were sleeping off their liquor, which meant that they wouldn't wake up until hours after the students left for school. And with Akane gone for her new morning training session, it was a perfect time to let the two younger teens enjoy themselves.

But as she slowly opened the door to the room that Ranma shared with Genma, she only saw one large lump there. The smaller one was missing, and that meant that the pigtailed boy had already moved. However, she hadn't seen him since she had awakened, which meant it was unlikely that he was walking around.

On a slight hunch, she made her way to another door, and opened it to find just what she expected.

Laying there on the bed was Ranma, his head on a pillow, and his body spread out on the mattress. On top of him was Nabiki, with her cheek pressed against his chest as she lay belly down upon him. With them both still clothed, it was more sweet than anything else. The two of them looked so cute there together that she couldn't help but smile.

Then she closed the door and let them enjoy the chance to lay together like that until it was actually necessary for them to get up.

Ryoga's eyes cracked open and he blearily looked up to see Akane and Shampoo sitting over him. "Is this a dream..?"

"If mean attacking Shampoo for no good reason, then answer be no," the Amazon grumbled.

"I really did?"

"Yes, you do. Not understand why, but you do."

"I... I'm sorry," he murmured as he sat up, "You were sparring?"

"That what we try do, but you come and..."

"But why? I mean, why were you two doing that..?"

Akane gave him a smile. "It's real simple. Cologne's training me."

"Is so," Shampoo confirmed, "We make Akane be too good girl, or at least try."

"Eh? You're... training her?" he asked hesitantly.

"Already tell you is so. We give her lessons in morning, and she waitress after school."

"Of course they drive me hard. I mean, we only just started, and they've already given me a lot of new things that I have to learn," the Japanese girl said as she pulled a face. "They even picked my clothes out for me."

His eyes got as wide as they could. "They did?!"

"Yeah, and it is kind of embarrassing, but I can handle it. I might not like wearing such a skimpy outfit, but if it'll help train me better, I'll do it."

"It do that," said the lavender haired girl. "It get you used to all sort of thing. This way you learn how deal with men and women at same time. Just know that everything made training."

"I know that. But all those hands... The pinching, grasping and groping... And I didn't even realize girls did that!"

"Have realize, there all sorts, and have be ready for all."

"I just don't have to want to deal with it," the shorthaired girl groused.

"If want be properly trained, have learn all lessons, and be ready to deal with all types, no matter what want. They not going to ask first."

"Don't I know that."

"Too true. Mousse already show can be surprising you," Shampoo reminded her.

"And since him, there's been so many others."

"Well, once learn new techniques, and be properly trained, you no have think about doing, just do."

"I'll be ready."

Now, Ryouga had been listening to this interplay and had started off thinking that it was simple martial arts training. But as he followed the conversation, he discovered that he'd been getting a whole other feeling off of it. The problem had been that he'd been trying to wrap his mind around it, and didn't like where it was heading. He wasn't a pervert after all, just a guy who occasionally turned into a pig that enjoyed being cuddled by a certain girl...

And passed out with a nosebleed due to the thoughts running through his head at the sight of female flesh...

And had once used a magical koi rod to go after a certain girl...

Okay, so he was a pervert, but a shy one and not the worst by far. And he was still able to come up with some... interesting delusions. So it was easy to see how he could come up with his idea, even with his own training with Cologne. Though coming to the conclusion that the Chinese girl was turning her into some sort of sexual trainee or slave or whatever was still rather out there.

"AAAHHH!" he yelled leaping to his feet and swinging around his pack. "How could you do that to Akane?!"

"I want them to!" the youngest Tendo responded insistently.

"It's gone that far?!"

"Yes!"

"Don't worry! I'll find some way to help you deal with these... these... Amazons!" he declared, and charged... out of the restaurant, which was odd because he'd been planning on grabbing Akane before he did.

"He gone," Shampoo observed as she looked at the door, "Just glad that door open..."

The Japanese girl stared at her. "Are you serious? He's obviously got something wrong with him."

"That definitely truth."

"Don't joke like that. We need to find out what happened."

"What happen is he get all excited, run out, and probably make big yell when realize lost," the Amazon said with a shrug. "Any more knowing right now, not possible."

"Not for me. I know that I'll figure him out soon enough."

"That so?"

"Yes."

"Then do Shampoo favor," the Chinese girl said, "When figure out boys, let Shampoo know. Better yet, put in book, make lot of money. Because no girl know why boys like that."

"I... oh..."

"Trust Shampoo. Big enough problem, he go for help. He do so, then we know what to do then. Right now, he strong enough handle on own. He not able, we find out without having go find out."

"Well... yeah..."

"Anyway, Akane have no time. If no go home soon, no get go to school. Shampoo get help all day then, but no think Akane want that."

"No, I don't," agreed Akane. "But I do have some time..."

"Then we get little practice in. It not much, but we get to do."

Nodding, the other girl went with the warrior to see what she could salvage of her training session

by Kender

Nabiki was not a morning person in any way, shape or form. Until recently, she had been the one to most likely to sleep in, and she tended to wake up only reluctantly. And when she woke up, it took some time for her to lose that bleary eyed look and get her mind working to its usual efficiency. So, she lay there enjoying the sound of Ranma's heart beneath her ear, and sighed happily as snuggled up to her owner. This was entirely too nice, not only physically, but in the fact that she was getting to live a bit more of her fantasy. Which had her content to just lay there and wait until her alarm went off to begin her day.

Except that the feeling of hands grabbing and squeezing her buttocks through her pajama pants told her that such a situation might not happen.

"You're awake," she murmured as moved her head to look up at him.

Opening his eyes, Ranma nodded. "Yup. I just sorta woke up, and found something rather nice layin' on me so I..."

"Hey, I don't mind that sort of greeting in the morning one bit."

"Me neither. It's rather nice ta be able ta do."

"I'd have to agree with that, but I have one problem."

"What's that?"

She gave him a mock annoyed look. "Didn't I go to be alone?"

"Heh. I got up earlier ta take care of somethin'... ya know, personal. But when I finished, I thought that it might be fun, what with our dads sleepin' off booze and all, if I found out what bein' in a real bed ta sleep would be like."

"And I was just a bonus?"

"A very great bonus. The kinda thing that makes gettin' somethin' really worth it."

"Oh... So, do you want to... I don't know, take your 'bonus' right now."

"Maybe... But I also got somethin' else in mind that I gotta do too," he said.

"Like what?"

"Kasumi."

For a moment, she blinked in confusion, and then gave him a knowing look. "You naughty boy..."

"I try."

"Let's see how naughty you can be..."

Knowing that he had to do something immediately, Ryoga ran. There was no time to waste. If he slowed, they might get even more of a chance to brainwash Akane, and by the time they were finished, they might have her going to do... terrible things. That was not something that he could allow, and he knew that to act fast was the best option.

He just had to find where they'd spirited her off to. During all the confusion, he'd lost track of her, and they'd obviously taken the opprotunity to hide her someplace. But he'd find her somehow, even if he had to check the giant pool of water they'd put in somehow...

'Wait a second..,' he thought to himself, 'There's not even a fish tank in the place...'

Looking around, he saw that the water 'pool' was a bay, and those metal 'shacks' he'd been running by were warehouses.

Which meant only one thing.

He was lost once more.

"AAAARRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHH!"

Breakfast wasn't as hard to make as some people might have thought, but Kasumi was one to do her best in such matters all the time. Even if she was giving merely leftovers, she would spice it up with something special to make it at least just a little different from the last time it'd been eaten. The idea of just putting any old thing on the table was not in her rulebook, and she didn't mind the extra work at all.

If she was honest, she was enjoying herself as she leaned over the counter at the moment.

Then it got slightly better as she felt a kiss on the back of her neck, which sent little shivers down her spine. Turning her head to look, she blinked, and smiled at the boy standing there. "Ranma... I thought that you'd be in the dojo practicing, or playing with Nabiki."

"Took care of both of those already," he said idly as he straddled her body. "And I figured that I'd come ta see ya before I took my bath."

"You did? That was nice of you..."

"Ya think so? Was kinda afraid that I'd seem selfish, ya know."

"Why?"

"Because I figured that if there's nobody here that could have a problem with it, I'd see if I could have some... fun with ya..," the pigtailed boy murmured as he reached up and began to massage her breasts through her blouse.

"I'm not sure..."

"'Bout us?"

"No... Is this... I didn't think people could do this..."

"Trust me. They can. Ya wanna see?"

"Umm..."

"I can stop if ya wanna."

Something about that bothered her, and she shook her head. "I don't want you to stop."

"Good," he replied, and began to stroke her flanks. Everywhere on her body seemed to be fair game, and there seemed to be no place where he wasn't. His hands touched her in tender ways, his chest rubbed against her back, and his mouth was on her skin and hair.

It was all a bit much for her to take in, but she didn't care. She was caught up in it, and couldn't help herself. Though she had to brace the two of them with her arms, she was able to push herself back at him, and brush herself against him. Soft moans slid from between her open lips, and her eyes grew hooded as she lost herself in the haze of pleasure. Her whole body seemed to respond, especially as she felt one certain part of him rub against her backside, and knew that she absolutely wanted what was coming.

Which he gave to her as he backed up to draw up her skirt, exposing and stroking her long legs as he did so. Each of his fingertips seemed to need to trail up her thighs and along the curve of her buttocks before they hooked under her panties and pulled them down enough to drop around her ankles. Then he gently parted those now bare cheeks in a shockingly erotic move as he moved down to rub his hand against her most intimate spot. The slick folds seemed to tighten at his touch, and she couldn't help literally crying a bit at the pleasure that he was giving her.

It was with a bit of relief that she heard his pants drop to the floor, as she knew what was coming. His manhood sprang up against her thigh and she could feel the hardness of it throbbing against her soft skin. Her heated flesh seemed to tingle from contact with it, and her mind threw out any medical definition as it immediately identified it with what he was about to do with her.

When he entered her, it was with a mutually satisfying grunt of pleasure, as both enjoyed hearing each other being pleased as much as they did what they were getting. But soon any remaining rational thought was gone as he began to pump into her setting up a rhythm that set both their nerves trembling. Knowing was done on an instinctual level, and not even when she had to bend closer to the counter did they stop.

Release gave them that joy, and they stayed there for a single wonderful moment as they just allowed themselves to stay as one. Even when the passion faded, and they came back themselves, they simply leaned against each other for rest and the chance to cuddle comfortably together.

"Ya liked that?" he asked her.

Glancing over her shoulder with eyes glittering with pleasure, she smiled. "Yes, yes I did. Very much."

"Good. 'Cause that's what I want ya know."

"I..."

Giving a crooked smile, he shrugged. "But don't worry. We can do this as long as I'm able."

"I... I think that I'd like that."

"Ya don't know how much I'm happy ta hear it. I just... Well, while I'd like ta see if we could just stick around doing this sort of thing, I've gotta take a bath, and 'bout the only way that I can get it done is if I go now."

"I suppose that you'll have to go then."

"But I don't wanna..."

"I don't want you to go, but..."

"I know..," Ranma sighed as he stepped back and pulled up his pants. "Still, I hope that there's one day we can just... ya know. Be me, you and Nabiki."

"Yes, that'd be nice."

"Wouldn't it though. But I do have an idea for somethin' else."

"What is it?"

"I'll tell ya later. Right now, lemme..," he murmured as he reached down and slid her panties back into place, making certain to touch her as much as he could while he did. The reading of that 'Master's Way' book had reminded him of doing such things, and he was definitely seeing an upside to that, as well as all those pressure points he'd learned to make it better for her.

"Th...thank you..."

"No problem. I liked doin' it."

"You really did?"

"Yup," the pigtailed boy said as he wandered off, "I really wanna make ya enjoy yourself. And your bein' happy is real important."

"I..."

"See ya in a bit..."

"See you..," Kasumi murmured as she watched him go with a bit of warmth growing in her heart. She stood there for a few moments, just enjoying the feeling.

"He really means it, you know," came a familiar voice from the doorway.

"Nabiki?"

"Yup," the younger girl said as she gave a shrug that set her bare breasts bouncing. "As I'm getting to know him, I've learned one thing. We might not be the loves of his life, or at least the girls he's probably going to marry, but he does care for us a lot. It's not just sex, or duty with him. If he's made such a personal connection, he doesn't give that up."

"He doesn't..?"

"Nope. Blame it on his father's stupid training journey, or just his natural protective side, but even if he stopped sleeping with us, he'd still feel some sort of need to be there."

"I see..."

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll go see if I can join him in the bath."

"Okay," Kasumi agreed and watched her sister run off naked to join her owner in what she likely thought would be a rather... intimate bath. Not that she could blame her, as she knew that both of them liked being with him in such a way very much. It was something that neither of them was likely to give up any time soon, if at all, as far as she could reckon.

In fact, she wondered what it would be like to join him in the bath for a little bit before turning back to beginning her breakfast making

by Kender

It had been a strange morning for Akane, as she had never quite seen her friend Ryoga act like that. He usually acted so shy and nice that she'd never ever considered him anything other than that. After all, he was the same boy who'd send her gifts from wherever he was at the time. So it was simply odd to see him freak out like that.

Then again, it was rather usual for her to get into situations that were strange.

But that had never stopped her from discussing such situations before.

So when she was sitting at the breakfast table, it seemed to be the perfect time to talk to her sister and fiancé about it. Such things weren't about to be something that she would keep to herself, as she needed reassurance, and maybe a little sympathy. She told them all about it, and let them know just what had happened.

After she was finished, she sat back and waited for an answer.

"What you're tellin' us is that Ryoga ran inta your sparrin' session with Shampoo ta protect ya, fainted, and he woke up, ya told him what ya were doin', and he got all... ya know," Ranma commented and made a circle with his chopstick points, "And then he just ran off?"

"Yes, he did, but you could be nicer about it!" she barked.

"Hey, I am bein' nice. 'Sides, I agree with Shampoo. Leave him 'lone. Knowin' him, he's probably gotten inta somethin' that's made him wacky for now."

"Why would you think he got into anything?"

"Hello? This is Ryoga we're talkin' 'bout. This is the guy who can find all sorts of wierd stuff, like magic junk, and guys with freaky techniques. Heck, he could find Shangri-La without even tryin'."

Nabiki nodded at his words. "I have to admit that I agree with Ranma on this. Ryoga does have a habit of finding places only the people who live there have heard of."

"See?"

"Of course, that's just the opposite of our male friend here, who has all that come to him."

"HEY!"

"Just teasing... Even if it true," his pet said, murmuring the last. "But you see the point?"

"Yeah..," the youngest Tendo reluctantly admitted, "But it doesn't change the fact that he's out there like that, and we can't find him."

"Ya don't have ta," the pigtailed boy said, "Sooner or later, he'll wind up here, and then we can deal with whatever junk he's gotten into."

"Okay..."

"I know!" Kasumi offered as she clasped her hands together, "We can always keep him here until he's better."

"That's a good idea!"

"Whatever. Just remember, he's gotta come her first," the sole male in the room reminded them.

"Well then, we'll just have to wait, won't we?"

"Fine by me," the teenaged boy commented, "It's not like we'll be bored with everythin' we haveta do until then. Like your new trainin'."

"Oh, about that. Would you..."

"What?"

"I've got to get some new outfits, for work and training, and Shampoo gave me the address of a store that I can get them at."

"What's that gotta do with me?"

"I want you to come with me jerk!"

"Ya do?"

"Yes," Akane ground out, "I'd like you to join me. Of course, knowing you, you'll have to visit someone or something, so you don't have..."

"Saturday."

"Huh?"

Ranma shrugged. "We've gotta half day of classes then. We can go ta classes, and afterwards, we'll stop by the store."

"We will..?"

"Unless ya don't wanna..."

"No! That's perfectly fine!" the youngest of the sisters blurted, "Saturday's good. But why then?"

"We have time off, and can get over ta there without worryin'."

"Then why not Sunday?"

"'Cause I have ta take Kasumi shoppin'."

"What?"

"Who, me?" the eldest girl murmured in surprise.

"Yeah, you. I'm gonna take ya out, and make ya shop for somethin' other than groceries," he told her.

The middle sister raised a brow. "You are?"

"Yup. When was the last time that ya saw her goin' ta buy somethin' for herself. Ya know, like an outfit ta make her look pretty. Or maybe a nice snack or a fun knicknack."

"You'd do that for her?" his fiancee asked.

"Sure. I mean, she deserves it."

"But, I..," began the girl in question.

"And I ain't takin' no for an answer. I'm takin' ya shoppin' if I have ta sling ya over my shoulder and carry ya."

Kasumi gave a deep blush, as her sisters giggled. "I... thank you..."

"No problem. Now, anyone else gonna eat? 'Cause if ya don't wanna, I can probably take 'em before we gotta go ta class."

Silently, the girls agreed, and started eating again along with the single male there, but each of them was giving long, pleased looks in his direction as they ate,

by Kender

Ranma was relatively happy about the way that his life was going. It was nice to be able to relax some and not have to worry about some things. He did have to deal with a lot of old worries, and a few new ones, but he was also getting a lot of happiness and pleasure from the changes in his life, and not all from his sexual endeavors. So he was welcoming what was happening, and able to enjoy his new opportunities.

Unfortunately, one wouldn't be able to see that at the moment.

Which had nothing to do with the fact that his life was changing, and all to do with the fact that 'he' was currently a 'she'.

"How the HELL does she always do it," Ranma-chan groused as she continued to walk to class.

Akane gave her a shrug. "Well, she's always cleaning her sidewalk when the weather's good enough."

"But it's always little splashes. Ya know, almost like she's just about droppin' it there. And when I come, bam, it's like she wants ta recreate rain."

"You know, I never thought about that.

The pigtailed girl pulled at her shirt and let it go when it was clear that the dampness wasn't about to go away. "I have. It just sucks, ya know."

"I'd suppose so."

"But at least there's gonna be a hot kettle nearby."

"There's always that," the youngest Tendo agreed before frowning at the various looks she was receiving at the moment. Many were directed from boys looking with rather perverted expressions at both her and Ranma, but there were still a lot more that gave her glances that she wasn't sure she could decipher.

"Yep. Soon I'll be back ta being a guy, without havin' ta worry 'bout showin' up like this for class."

"I wouldn't worry. I mean, who'd have to act when they saw you like this?"

"Pigtailed girl!" bellowed a familiar voice.

"Besides the obvious," the short haired girl muttered as she watched the idiot kendoist come up behind the redhead and grab around her in a bear hug.

"Oh my fierce goddess! You must have come forth to bless me with your presence! No doubt you have heard of Akane Tendo's attempts to free herself from the foul clutches of Saotome and wish to join her! It is only through the will of heaven that I am able to have such pleasures, and to have you in my arms is one of the greatest pleasures that I could have!"

With one eye twitching, Ranma knew that this was not something that she liked at all. Being held by Kuno was not on her list of enjoyable past times at all, and he seemed to be intent on squeezing her in his grip. Then there was this feeling on her chest, which when she looked down told her that, yes, he had his hands covering her breasts and was squeezing them so that the cloth covered flesh mashed in his palms. "Kuno..."

"Yes my love? Certainly the next words to come from between such lips will be words of devotion..."

"YOU SICK FREAK!" she bellowed, slipping out of his grip and flipping him to the ground in one motion. As soon as he hit the pavement, she began to show him just how much 'affection' she had for him.

"OW! OOH! EERK! GAH! OW! YOWTCH! MYAAII! EEEK!"

"There we go..."

"Nice," Akane commented as she idly stepped over and peered at the result. "Shape kind of looks familiar..."

"I heard a couple of American servicemen talkin' 'bout twistin' someone inta a pretzel, so..."

"Oh, and you managed it."

"Didn't I though," Ranma said with a grin, "'Course, it don't help with him gropin' me."

"True."

"Though, I just realized somethin'. Ya know how I said he should try and go after the other girls in school if he wanted a girlfriend?"

"Yeah..."

"I take that back. It's probably better if he just gave us the headaches."

"What?!" her fiancee blurted in surprise, "Why?!"

"Because he'd probably try grabbin' 'em like that, and they ain't martial artists."

"Oh..."

"Ya wanna get ta class?"

"Sure."

The students still in the yard watched the pair leave, and not a few conversations began.

Though not a few winced or smirked at the sight of the wannabe samurai being in the literal shape of a pretzel.

"He really deserved that, didn't he?" asked one girl as she looked out the window of the art class.

Another nodded. "Pretty much. He's always acting so stupid... Remember how he was yesterday?"

"Do I ever! Of course, he wanted what a lot of guys probably wanted to do. That outfit was skimpy."

"I know! I'm surprise that she was able to wear it without freezing up!"

The first girl giggled. "I'd be afraid to just wear it!"

"For sure!"

For Mousse, the end of the morning rush was a very good thing. It not only kept him working hard, but it kept his beloved from being near him. Though she hadn't seemed too keen on seeing him lately. The last couple of times, she'd either turned away from him, or simply bashed him without consideration.

Obviously she was offended by the thought that he'd gotten perverted towards Akane Tendo. But that had only been an accident, and something that had spiraled out of control. It had seemed that something had been trying to put him into the worst possible position possible. That seemed to have worked, as he'd lost the respect his Shampoo had for him.

He had to do something, but his attempts to explain it had gone... less than good. In fact, he was 'lucky' that the mop bucket had water enough in it to change him before he cracked the wall too badly. Just trying to deal with her disgust was bad enough, but she'd even tied him up and locked him in a store room when she'd had that practice session that morning. By the time he'd gotten free, the first salarymen were coming in for breakfast.

Now he had the time to think, and he knew that he had to figure out some way to deal with it.

The only problem was he didn't know what that could be.

The captain of the football team looked at his comrades and smiled. "Did you see what she wore?! I thought I'd just about go nuts!"

"I saw her panties!" called out another boy.

"To think that we'd get to see Akane Tendo's cotton heaven..," murmured a baseball player.

"And her top..," said a boy as he tugged on his uniform collar, "The way her chest bounced..."

"It was like a private little dance..," drooled the boy next to him.

A member of the martial arts club grinned. "What do you think she'll wear today?"

"Hopefully something even skimpier!"

"And maybe Ranma will join too!" said one of the boys in the back. "Just imagine if he decides to waitress in an outfit like that!"

"Just imagine the both of them!"

And the 'Hentai Horde' did so, as they leaned their heads back together and imagined three lovely waitresses each in similar revealing outfits.

Lunch was something that Nabiki enjoyed simply because she liked good food. It wasn't any sort of special thing for her, but she knew that her sister always put it in things that would never seem simple. Her bento was always supplied with a good selection of food, and was always tasty.

And this time, she had included a little bit of the food she'd given the pet in the bowl when it'd just been the three of them.

"Nice touch sis," she murmured with a smirk.

"What sorta touch is that?" asked a familiar voice.

"Ranma?"

"Yup," the pigtailed boy said with a grin, "I just figured that I'd come and see ya."

"You did? Maybe there's a reason..."

He took a look at her sultry expression and reluctantly shook his head. "Actually... I can't do that. I've gotta go ta join Akane for lunch."

"Oh..."

"But I was thinking 'bout some stuff earlier and I decided somethin'. Ya know 'bout that trainin' we were talkin' 'bout?"

"Yes..?" she asked as she started to rise out of hope.

"I figured that we'd start it today in the dojo."

"We will?!"

"Yup."

"Oooh... This should be fun. I mean, pet training..."

"Uhh... no," he interrupted.

"What? But you said..."

"I said that I'd train ya, and I meant it. In the Art."

"Oh."

"It ain't gonna be real fancy stuff. Just a few moves ta let ya defend yourself from perverts, jerks, muggers or somethin' like that."

"If you have decided that I'll take those lessons, then I will."

"Hey, just see it as gettin' more in shape," Ranma soothed, "It'll get ya better than just doin' some simple stuff ever will."

"I'm sure that it will."

"'Sides, the other sorta trainin' ain't gonna be forgotten. I figure we'll do that in private, maybe in your room unless we've got some time otherwise."

"Okay!" she agreed happily, her good mood more than restored.

"Then be ready late this afternoon, maybe this evening."

"I will be there."

"Good. See ya then."

"See you."

"So... you want to go to the Nekohaten again?" asked the captain of the Girls' Kendo team.

"Yes sempai," the younger girl replied, "I'd like to go there. It was very interesting, and we can see what Akane will be doing."

"I see..."

"You don't have to..."

"I'll go. I was planning on it anyway."

"Oh..."

"And while we're there, you can explain this 'club' idea of yours."

"Okay."

Genma pulled his head up from the dining table and looked at his oldest friend. "Why did we come down here?"

"Because we wanted to play shogi," Soun reminded him.

"And we thought this was a good idea... Why?"

"Because we thought that we could handle it since we are men."

"Remind me not to decide that again."

The Tendo patriarch nodded. "Alright. I'm going to lay down now... Even my backside hurts for some reason."

"Me too... I could really use a drink..."

"Multiple contusions, bruises, dislocations and breaks, and on top of what he'd already had," the school nurse muttered as she closed the file on her desk. "I really hope Miss Tendo'll be serving up a good bowl of ramen today..."

Still, it wasn't everyday one had someone come into such a place in the shape of a food snack, and walk out in time for classes.

She just wondered if she should put in for a transfer before they took her away

by Kender

This was his opportunity, of that Mousse was certain. He'd done all the cleaning that he possibly could, and had rearranged things so that he would be free for a bit. There weren't customers who hadn't been served at this point, which left Shampoo free.

So he moved out of the kitchen, heading directly for his beloved with wish to finally fix what had been bothering her.

Only to come face to face with Akane Tendo as she came in wearing something similar to the pants and top his true love had on.

"What do you want?" she growled as her face lost the smile it'd had on in favor of a scowl.

He blinked dumbly at her. "I... What are you doing here?"

"I work here now. Elder Cologne's training me. You don't have a problem with that, right?"

"Uhh.. No. Of course not."

"Good. Now stay away, understand?" she told him, and walked away with a sniff.

Shampoo gave him a long look. "You be listening to her. Shampoo no want stupid duck making trouble, or we be having duck ramen."

"But..," he began.

"No 'but'! You do, or Shampoo let Akane stuff you in garbage can and send rolling!"

"I... I won't bother her..."

"Is good. See that you don't," the Amazon warrior told him and sauntered after the other waitress.

Leaving him rather confused, as he'd seen them fight all the time. But now it seemed like they were buddying up, and he couldn't understand why. The Tendo girl was even working there without any problem. It was almost like...

No, it couldn't be. Akane couldn't have done anything to his beloved. After all, he was sure that she liked boys... Which meant that there was some sort of interference going on. And since they were getting so... close, he had to be the one to find the way to end it.

But he was going to need help, and there was only one way to do it.

He was going to have to talk to Ranma Saotome in order to free them from whatever magic was going on this time.

However, he just hoped that the pigtailed boy wasn't still ticked off about his last visit to the Tendo home.

Ranma had immediately left his books in the house, and headed out to the dojo. He knew that he'd have to take some time to get a work out of his own, so he'd gone in and taken care of his own practice session while giving his new student the time to train.

For which Nabiki was rather happy for. After all, it gave her plenty of time to change, and to get things like simple homework's out of the way so that she could devote the time to what he'd planned. She knew that it wouldn't be a free time, what with the fathers there, and her younger sister likely to show up before it ended, but she knew that she could get a lot of fun out of it without cluing in an outsider to their true relationship.

So, at the assigned time, she strode outside and slid into the dojo wearing the outfit that she'd selected to find her owner standing their idly waiting, with a small bag in his hand. "I hope that I haven't kept you waiting long."

"Nah," Ranma replied with a shrug, "Just finished up with my own stuff a little bit ago. Ya planning on wearin' that?"

"I always exercise in it, and since I don't own a gi, this seemed to be better than wearing something more silly."

"Yeah, that sounds good. I could just imagine someone decidin' ta practice in one of those ball gowns... But ya gotta know that ya gotta learn ta handle yourself no matter what comes up. No one's gonna ask ya if you're ready before they bother ya."

"I see. Then should I change?"

"Nope. This is fine. Ya just gotta keep that in mind. And this is real nice," he murmured as he took in her black leotard with orange top, which hugged her curves rather well.

"I'm glad you think so. I was hoping that you'd like it."

"I do."

"Then shall we get started?"

"Sure thing."

"Do you want to put away that bag before we do?" she asked.

"Definitely not. Ya see, I figured that I'd see if I could get a little of the... other trainin' too. And since pets get rewarded for doing what they're taught to, ya have ta be too."

"I do?"

"Yup. This bag holds a bunch of sweets. Nothin' ya have ta suck on, or hold in your mouth for long, which makes it perfect for this. Everytime ya do somethin' I like, then ya get one," he said in the manner of one giving important instructions, "Got it?"

"Yes..."

"Good. Then it's time ta teach ya how ta stand."

"Don't I know that already?"

"Ah, but ya have ta do it properly."

"Then I'm just waiting to for you to show me."

"Which is only the beginning."

She certainly hoped so.

Hiroshi followed Akane's movements through the restaurant and sighed. "She's not wearing that sexy dress again..."

"I know. And here I was hoping that we'd get a chance to see that long length of leg..," complained Daisuke.

"At least she's still bouncing in more ways than one."

"And those pants are close enough to enjoy watching her bottom when she bends."

"Still hot, isn't she?"

"Definitely."

"Idiots," Sayuri muttered from the next table over.

Yuka nodded. "Even when Akane covers up, they're still at it."

"Along with the other boys."

"Yeah. I'm just glad that she can deal with it."

"I wouldn't be able to."

"Me either..."

It had taken Soun a while to realize that it had been his daughter that had been passing by in that skimpy outfit. While it was not revealing, he wasn't quite sure just why she was going into the yard in it. "Wasn't that Nabiki earlier?"

"What old friend?" Genma asked from his position on the floor.

"That was my Nabiki going out to the yard in that black outfit with the orange top?"

"Why... yes, I do believe that was her."

"But why was she doing that?"

"Perhaps she wanted to sunbathe?"

"Maybe..," the Tendo patriarch muttered, "But then why not go in something more appropriate?"

"I don't know..."

"Hmmm... I wonder what she's doing out there..."

"We could check..."

"Oh, there's nothing wrong," Kasumi said as she brought in more tea for the pair to consume along with their aspirin, "Ranma's decided to give her martial arts lessons."

"What?!"

"He told me when he came home. It seems that he wants to show her how to defend herself, and probably get some practice for whenever he might teach himself. Isn't that nice of him?"

"Yes..."

"Well, I do have things to do..."

"What could this mean..?" Soun thought out loud as he watched his eldest daughter leave the room.

His friend made a grunt as he crossed his arms over his chest. "Obviously the boy has seen some reason to choose to train your daughter."

"He hasn't shown any wish to be a sensei before."

"Probably has come around to it, and decided to start small."

"Then why not just tell us?" the mustached man said, "We could have always helped him."

"Could be that he has just decided to be one, and is waiting to tell us."

"He would need a dojo for that."

"He is using yours," the portly martial artist pointed out.

"Which means that he's accepting his duties."

"And if he is, then others might not be so far off."

"Then he must be waiting to tell us that he is going to be marrying my daughter finally!"

"Obviously!"

"This must be a time to celebrate!"

"There's only one way to do this!"

"To the bars!" they chorused.

Ryoga walked along the road and wondered just how he was going to get back to save Akane. Here he was, lost and probably far away, and she was likely being brainwashed by the Amazons! It was awful, and his map seemed to be drawn by an idiot. Why, he hadn't seen one single sign of any chill the entire time he'd been in Hokkaido!

And so he walked past one of the beaches of Kyushu, he continued unaware that he wasn't on the island he thought he was, never mind actually getting to the one he wanted to be on.

"Just stand there. Hold that position," Ranma instructed.

Nabiki didn't bother saying anything as she balanced herself in the stance that she'd been trying out. She knew that he was the instructor, and even if he hadn't been her owner, she wouldn't have been able to talk back. But just following his instructions felt good, and she didn't mind it one bit.

"Good girl. Have a candy."

She sucked it into her mouth from his fingers and smiled both from the taste and the erotic undertones of the act.

"Now, ya see, this is why ya need balance. It's real important ta know that you're gonna be able ta stand up no matter what happens. And ya punch like this," he said, straddling her body closer than he had to as he firmly guided her through the movements. The challenge was to not note how the feel of him felt as he pressed his chest against her back and held his arms along hers, but she managed mainly because she pushed it aside, and didn't try to get rid of it. "See?"

"I think so..," she murmured uncertainly.

"Then try it."

"Okay..."

He watched her go through the motions and smiled. "That's it. Ya got the directions pretty much down. Ya might have ta work ta still do it when ya get faster and stronger with it, but that is a basic one. And ya get another sweet."

"Thank you."

"No problem. None at all."

"You really think that I'll be any good?"

"Good enough for what ya might face. Ya might have ta just run or dodge, but I seriously doubt that ya will need much more than that."

"Well then, I'll work hard."

"I'm sure ya will," he said as he patted her backside, "I know it. I ain't 'bout ta let ya do any less."

"I should have realized that..."

"Yeah, ya should've."

Her expression broke out into a grin before she got it back under control, and they continued the lesson while:

she learned the basic movements.

Akane continued waitressing.

Mousse was trying to find his way to talk to Ranma.

that evening, the teenagers who lived at the Tendo dojo were about to settle down for dinner.

Genma and Soun headed out for their celebration.

something else was happening.

Read the comments on this episode

Master's Way: Dinner Delay [Episode 111190]

by Kender

Akane walked down the hallway with a pleased expression on her face. She'd worked hard for yet another solid day, and proven that she could handle the load being dropped onto her. Plus she had been able to wear something a lot more concealing, but was still able to keep the customers happy. So she knew that not only was she going to become a much better martial artist, but she knew that she wasn't half bad a waitress either.

Still, it was nice to be able to get out of that outfit and into something more comfortable. A simple pair of shorts and a t-shirt were perfect to wear after her bath, and with dinner on its way, she was rather happy with the situation. It was nice to have things going so well, and she was glad that she seemed to be excelling, by her own opinion, of course.

Walking into the dining area, she frowned as she looked at the empty spaces there. "Where's Dad and Mister Saotome?"

"Oh, they decided that they were going out earlier, and haven't come back yet," Kasumi replied from where she was preparing the table for the platters to come.

"Why would they do something like that so close to dinner time?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure that wherever they are, they're having fun."

"I don't know..."

"You don't know what?" asked Nabiki as she and Ranma came inside.

"Why Mister Saotome and Dad would go out and stay out long enough that they'll probably skip dinner."

"Ahh... You know, they probably went to get drunk again."

"No... Well... Yeah, they might've. Knowing them, they would."

"So, no need to worry. They're big boys, and can handle themselves."

"Are ya talkin' 'bout the same guys that I think Akane's talkin' 'bout?" Ranma put in, "Your father who's gotta be the most emotional guy I ever met? And Pops? The guy who'd make up big schemes just for pocket change?"

"Okay, so they're not the most mature men, but they can handle themselves."

"If anyone can look out for himself, it's Pops, and I doubt that he'd go and let your dad get inta stuff alone. So I figure while they enjoy whatever meal the bar'll give 'em, we can eat too."

"If that's the case, then why are you leaving?" Akane pointed out.

"'Cause I've been trainin' Nabiki."

"You have? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I thought I did... Maybe I just assumed I would've done it, and simply didn't..."

"But why are you training her?"

Nabiki arched a brow. "Why sis, it sounds like I'm not worthy in your eyes."

"I didn't mean that! I was just wondering why he suddenly picked now to train you."

"Kuno," her fiance told her. "The idiot made me realize that a lot of girls at school can't defend themselves from any sort of attack. Heck, with the way that fights get, just bein' able ta dodge debris is a good thing. And since she's always gonna be 'round, I figured, I might as well get her ta be safe. Ya don't mind, do ya?"

"No..."

"Well then, there ya go. Nothin' to it."

There was a lot to it in Akane's opinion, but she was very pleased with his reasoning. Instead of being a jerk about it and deciding that he'd do all the protecting, he was allowing her sister to learn to protect herself. It might be really late in coming, but at least it was there. "So why are you going then?"

"Simple. I need a bath. Nabiki had one earlier, and ya went in right after her, so it's my turn. And I really don't wanna be all sweaty when I get ta Kasumi's table."

"Oh... Okay... Go then. Just don't take too long..."

"I won't," he replied and walked off.

From his position, Mousse knew that he could see a familiar figure walk by. It was a stroke of luck for him, since Ranma hadn't been alone before, and he didn't want to risk getting into more trouble. An opportunity to talk to him alone would be best, and this was the chance to do just that. All he had to do was follow him, and they could talk man to man.

And this time, he'd keep his glasses on all the way through.

After all, he didn't want it to be any more than just two guys sharing a furo.

Squeezing more soap out of the wash rag, Ranma rubbed it along her body in an attempt to get it clean. Which was always funny, since what he did in one form was like doing it in the other. But then she'd always tried to keep such ideas out of her head.

Instead, she simply turned her attention to the way that her breasts moved as she'd soaped them up. They tended to swing a bit, and though she'd never really analyzed their features, they were pretty nice. With her slim waist, firm backside and long legs, she could see how boys might like her body. Not that she was ever going to go beyond simple manipulations.

However, as she hefted her cleavage, she tried to comprehend how Nabiki and Kasumi had liked having their own pairs touched. She'd never wanted to actually see it for herself, even if it was her own body. Yet now, she was curious as to how she was actually doing when she touched them in those ways. It was clear that they were enjoying themselves, but she wasn't quite sure as to how that came about.

Bending over as she put her elbows on her thighs, she wondered if giving in and checking if her own girl side would do that sort of thing would be nice. Doing it with a guy was out of the question, and she wasn't quite sure if experimenting with Kasumi or Nabiki would be a good idea. Yet, the allure was there for seeing if those techniques in the book were really good for girls, including the ones for girls to do for themselves.

Taking a deep sigh, she decided that was a question for later, and went to return to cleaning herself up before her quick soak.

Which was when a certain Chinese boy burst into the room. "Ranma!"

She was so jolted by his sudden appearance she leapt off the wash stool as she was turning around to see who it was. It was quick, it was fast, and... it resulted in finding out that even if she was short as a girl, she was still too close to the wall. So she slammed the back of her head into the wall with the force of one of Akane's punches, and wound up crashing onto the floor unconscious.

"Huh? Ranma?" Mousse asked in confusion as he went over to the redhead and knelt over her. "Are you okay?"

Being unconscious, she was unable to do anything, and he tried moving her head around before realizing that this could be a problem.

"Soon our children will be in wedded bliss," Genma told his friend.

"And our dream will be finally realized," Soun agreed.

"It is a wonderful time."

"It is the future coming to us."

"Kampai!" they chorused as they tapped their glasses together.

'What could be taking him so long,' Akane thought to herself as she looked to see her sister about to finish dinner. By all means, Ranma should have come back by then, unless he had decided to take a long soak. Which was possible, since people did tend to forget time in the warm waters. But by any account, he should have already be on his way back.

Scowling, she headed down to the furo, knowing full well that she couldn't go inside while he was bathing. However, she could bang on the door and yell enough to get him to get a move on. A simple prodding would be all that it would take, and she could be sure that the meal would be started.

But as she strode over to the bathing area, she slowed as she realized that there was something definitely wrong with the picture. First off, the changing room door was wide open, which wasn't so bad, but it wasn't exactly done. Yet the furo door was open as well, and that should never have been the case.

Then, as she saw something that set her blood to boil.

Sprawled out, obviously unconscious was Ranma in girl form, naked and certainly having stopped in mid wash.

The real problem was the clothed pervert who was kneeling over her, with his hands on the redhead's shoulders. There were some cracked tiles in the wall, and a set of toppled over washing materials. All of which could only mean one thing.

Mousse had not just stopped with being a pervert towards her, but had expanded his ways to include assaulting Ranma's girl side!

"MOUSSE!"

Twisting around, the Chinese boy went white. "Akane Tendo, I..."

"I THOUGHT THAT YOU WERE A PERVERT BEFORE BUT THIS?! DIE!"

The nearly blind boy tried to explain himself, but unfortunately, he was a bit late with that. "It's not... AAAAIIIEEEEEE! AAAHHHHHH! EEEEEEK! OWWWWWWW! WAAAAAAAHHHHHH! EEEEEERRRRRRGGGGHHHHHH! owie..."

Satisfied by the jumbled mess that she'd made of the perverted duck, Akane took him outside and punted him off, smiling nastily as he went sailing off into the distance.

Then she went back inside and gently scooped up Ranma-chan's unconscious form so she could carry her to get some care

by Kender

Waking up was a rather hard thing for Ranma to do, not because she was tired or anything, but there was a throbbing in her head that she couldn't ignore. She wanted to stay right where she was, and lay there, but something told her that she had to get up. Slowly, memory began to return, and she remember that she had been bathing, and not napping, which meant that there was something seriously wrong.

Cracking her eyes open, she groaned lightly and saw nothing but blurriness.

"He's awake!" said a familiar voice, and as she turned to look at the speaker, she found herself able to focus enough to see Akane's face.

"Akane..?" she asked as she blinked and raised a hand from under the light sheet on her to rub her face. "What happened?"

"You were knocked out. How are you feeling?"

"Like ya decided ta give me a hit."

"Funny how he decided to describe it that way..," murmured Nabiki's voice.

"Nabiki!" the youngest Tendo snapped as he looked to the sister next to her.

"Well, it's true..."

"That... that doesn't matter! What does is the fact that we have to deal with what happened."

The pigtailed girl sat up and let the sheet fall to her lap as looked around at the three girls sitting around her. "What's goin' on? Why am I here?"

"I... I found you laying on the furo floor with that jerk Mousse over you. After I got rid of him, I carried you out here so that we could see how badly he'd hurt you."

"Ya did? Thanks Akane."

Her fiancee blushed. "Well, Kasumi did most of the medical stuff."

"Well, thanks to ya too Kasumi."

"You're welcome," the eldest girl said with a smile. "You should be fine, though you probably have a knot for a while..."

"Tell me 'bout it. I've got a headache that's just gotta be poundin' from that one spot."

"But what do you remember?" her pet asked. "I mean, Akane here didn't get to you before something happened."

"I ain't sure... All I know is that I was... washin', and the next in comes the idiot yellin' out my name. I jumped up ta face him, and then... bam. Nothin'. I wake up here."

"You're sure about that?"

"Pretty much. I can't be sure 'xactly, so..."

"You don't know quite what happened."

"Got it in one," Ranma replied.

Akane gave a sour look at the idea. "He probably surprised you just for that reason. Then we can't know if he tried doing anything worse..."

"True, but we do know that if he was gonna try anythin' ya stopped him."

"I... I did? Actually, yes, I did."

"'Course I coulda handled it if I'd been awake, but I didn't get a chance."

"Ranma..."

"Which means that ya did good. I really don't wanna know what he'd do if he's decided ta play 'Kuno'," the redhead said with a shudder.

"Ah... You're welcome."

"Ya didn't give me a chance ta say 'thanks' ya know..."

"But you are feeling okay..?" the youngest sister asked as she smiled at the comment she'd just received.

"This'd be only like one of your light punches. I'll be fine."

Nabiki gave a small smirk. "If you're feeling so good, then what do want to do?"

"Eat. I hope I wasn't out long enough ta miss dinner."

"It hasn't been that long..," Kasumi assured her.

"Good. So, let's go eat!"

"Just one problem," her pet informed her.

"What's that?"

"You never did finish that bath."

"Wha... huh?" Ranma said and looked down to see that she was still definitely a female without anything obscuring that view. "Uh... lemme just finish, and get dressed, 'kay? I'll be right back."

Giving the suddenly very alive redhead's retreating back a frown, Akane turned to her eldest sister. "Will he be really okay?"

Kasumi nodded. "It wasn't that bad, and it doesn't seem to be even really a concussion. His memory should clear up soon enough. And there doesn't seem to be any other injuries. We'll have to be careful with him, but I don't think there's any reason to worry."

"That's good..."

"Yes, it is."

"Then may I suggest that we get back to dinner," Nabiki asked idly, and got slight nods from her sisters. They straightened up the materials that they'd been using to care for the redhead and got ready to restart the interrupted preparations for the meal

by Kender

Akane was very proud of herself as she stood in front of her new sensei. Not only was she getting new training in the Art, but she was getting the opportunity to use what she already had. She'd done some saving, even it wasn't really much, and she'd managed to speak nicely with Ranma. Combined with the nice dinner they'd had with only a certain pigtailed boy's complaints about the girls' fussing, she was feeling very sure of herself.

So she'd gotten up with all the dedication of a soldier heading out for a mission. She made certain that all her clothing was straight, and her appearance was impeccable. There was nothing that she wanted to leave to chance as she went out.

After all, she didn't want to let herself be seen as sloppy when she went to find out just what the other Amazons knew about their male compatriot's activities.

And now she was there, ready for instruction, and to inform them of what was going on.

"Is there something wrong child?" Cologne asked as she stood on her staff.

The Tendo girl's answer started with a short nod. "Yes, there is."

"What is it this time?"

"Mousse."

"What of him?"

"He was at the house again and this time he was worse."

"What he do?" Shampoo asked with a frown of concern.

Convinced by their expressions that they had known nothing of what had happened, Akane launched into her explanation of the previous evening's incident. She told them of how Ranma had gone to the furo to take a simple bath before dinner, of how Mousse had surprised the pigtailed girl, and how she'd found the sometimes duck bending over the unconscious figure. Then she followed up with an edge of satisfaction in her voice as she described how she'd thrashed the duck, and protected the redhead.

And when she was done, she waited.

Now, she was used to feats of amazing skill and power. She'd seen explosions of anger which allowed individuals to destroy things in ways that made even experienced fighters wary. There had been points where she'd seen auras expand in size until the person was a veritable giant of energy.

What she hadn't expected was silence. But this wasn't just any sort of quiet. It was a dark and dangerous thing, the sort of emptiness that would make the bravest soul quake in their boots. With the definite chill that was growing in the air, it was clear that something very dangerous was coming.

The Elder merely gave her a steady look and said, "It will be taken care of."

"It will? But I..."

"Stopped any possible action, but now we must see what the intention was."

"Well..."

"But for now, I see that my faith in you was not misplaced. We will continue the training."

"Is so," the younger Amazon agreed, "Come Akane."

"Hmm? What for?" the Japanese girl asked.

"Shampoo show you how use Amazon sword, okay?"

"Lead the way..."

As she breathed the fresh air of the new day, Kodachi smiled to herself. It looked to be a beautiful morning, and she couldn't have been happier. Not only was her team training well and her grades satisfactory, but she was able to enjoy this wonderful early hour. It was nice and comfortable, with the most pleasant of scents, and she was getting to be able to enjoy plenty of it.

Of course, the fact that she had set up her calendar so that she would have plenty of time to visit her Ranma-darling in a few days. She wouldn't have anything to worry about save getting over to him and enjoying his company. There would be no interruptions, and nothing keeping her from showing him her feelings for him.

That meant not even having to go to school was a problem for her.

"Come Sasuke!" she commanded as she carried her book-bag, "Class awaits!"

"Yes, Mistress Kodachi," panted the diminutive ninja as he struggled under the weight of her gymnastics equipment.

"Then the Amazons didn't know?" Nabiki asked at breakfast.

Her younger sister nodded. "It seems that Elder Cologne is really mad too."

"Hey, if I were in her shoes, I would be too."

"Still, it's a good thing that they didn't know."

"Heck, I knew they didn't know," Ranma put in.

"And how can you be sure of that?"

"When has that duck ever really done anythin' that he's asked for permission 'bout?"

"Oh..," the two younger Tendo sisters chorused.

"Well, that's not very nice of him," Kasumi said with a frown.

The pigtailed boy smirked as he picked up a piece of fish. "Nope, it's not."

"Tendo?" Genma asked as he looked towards his friend.

Sound cracked an eye open and immediately regretted it. "Yes Saotome?"

"Why are we both in your room?"

"I have no idea."

"Let's not think about it."

"Good idea."

"Just how did this happen again?" the school nurse asked as she looked down on the figure on the bed.

The aide shrugged. "Apparently he up and decided that he'd go and disturb Miss Tendo and Mister Saotome while they were in class."

"I see... So they decided to make it so that he'd come back here?"

"Didn't have to. Apparently they were doing recitations of poetry and he started giving the chef grief about how she read it."

"That was a bad move, wasn't it?"

"She smacked him with that spatula of hers and sent him flying out the window. Bounced on the walkway and impacted the outer walls."

"Explains why he was sent here," murmured the nurse as she sighed.

Kuno would have commented, but he was too busy being unconscious.

There came a moment in every young man's life where he had a problem that he knew that his future depended on. It wasn't like he was turning back and realizing that he'd made a life altering decision. Rather, it was more that he was at a recognizable crossroads, and knew that if he didn't act immediately, his future would be taken on a path he didn't plan on. At the moment, that man would be able to see it, and all the possibilities that would come with it.

For Mousse, that moment came as he was hanging upside down by his ankles in a store room in the Nekohanten. With his wrists chained to the floor, he was all stretched out and helpless. Even the possibility of escaping in his duck form was out of the question.

And all because he'd come back to the restaurant in order to heal and regroup.

Unfortunately, he'd come into contact with Akane Tendo as she was about to start her shift, and had quickly been surrounded.

The next thing that he knew, he was hanging like a drapery while Akane idly swung bonbori and Shampoo sharpened her sword.

From her position, Cologne gave him a hard look. "You do realize that we can not allow any sort of assault of a sexual nature to go unpunished, even if the victim is a cursed man."

"'Victim'? But I haven't..," he blurted

"Really? Miss Tendo here found you over Ranma's girl form."

"But I didn't attack him!"

"Oh, then how did he get unconscious?"

"He hit his head on the wall! I swear!"

"Hah!" Akane barked, "Likely story. Still, even if he did, you were the one who surprised him into it! And you still went to see what you could do afterwards!"

The mostly blind boy shook his head wildly. "I only came to talk to him! And I just wanted to see what I could do to help!"

"And why should we believe you?!"

"Because I swear it's true! If it's not, then I'll give up on my Shampoo!"

"Like you'd really give up on her..."

"And I not your Shampoo!" barked the lavender haired girl.

Sighing, the Elder waved the two girls down. "I want to think that what you're saying is true, but either way, you did do something that you shouldn't have."

"But I didn't!" he protested.

"So you say. Girls? Go take care of the customers."

"Why? I want to bash that jerk some more," Akane replied.

"Because I instructed you to. Besides, the laws have been satisfied in regard to your witnessing what has been happening, but the customers' bellies likely have not."

"But what will you be doing then?"

"I will be instructing Mister Part Time here about proper protocols and behavior.

The two girls smiled as they left, locking the door behind them.

"Now, let's begin with your punishment, shall we?"

Mousse gulped.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEK!"

"What was that?" Mikado asked as the sound grabbed his attention.

His waitress smiled ruefully. "That be stupid boy who work here. He be too naughty and think he can bother girl and get way with it."

"But that was..."

"Much less than Shampoo want give him. Still, he go too far, and deserve get punished. You no have his problem, right?"

"Oh, no... Not really."

"Then what your order?" Shampoo asked brightly.

Squashing his immediate urge to ask for her 'lips in a kiss', the skater ran his finger down the menu and gave her a hopefully non offensive smile. "I'll take a number nine."

"Okay!"

Blowing out a breath, he sighed in relief, and was glad that he was only going to be flirtatious with the two really attractive waitresses. Which was a shame really as he'd love to be the center of their attentions. But he sure as hell didn't want to be that guy.

Ranma grinned as he watched Nabiki enter the dojo. "Right on time. Ready to start your trainin' for the day?"

"As soon as you are," she confirmed.

"That's good ta hear. Really."

"So what will be doing today?"

"Hmm... I thought maybe demonstratin' some kicks. Ya up for it?"

"Sure am."

"Good. So let's get started," he replied, and shook his bag of candies,

by Kender

Mousse was very aware that he was not out of the dog house in any way, shape or form. He might have been still breathing and able to walk, but he got a lot of dirty looks sent his way. It seemed that whenever he tried to see, there was another scowl in his direction, and that was odd since there were other three people doing it.

But since one of that trio was his beloved, it was a terrible situation in his opinion.

However, it wasn't like he could change it, especially considering what had been happening ever since he did.

"Where's that bowl of house ramen?!" Akane barked as she poked her head into the restaurant's kitchen. "I do want to be able to go home on time, but I can't do that if you are wasting time just staring into space."

"Oh, sorry..," he blurted as he ducked his head. "I was just thinking."

"About something perverted I bet."

"No! Of course not!"

"Yeah, right. Still, you have a job, and you aren't doing it!"

"I am doing it! It's just that I haven't had any time!"

She marched in and stood right in front of him as she poked him in the chest with one finger. "Listen here jerk. I'm pretty sure that Cologne's managed to punish you, but I'm watching you. I know that you're just as bad as Kuno and Happosai, so I'm not about to let you off the hook. So, even though you might be having it easy right now, don't think that you can just stand there and act like you haven't done a thing."

"But I haven't!"

"Who was it who jumped me while I was shopping? Who was it that jumped into the furo while I was soaking? Who tried to surprise Ranma in the bath? Who keeps on jumping at Shampoo every chance he gets?"

"Well... I..."

"Just shut up and give me the soup."

"Oh, alright," he replied and handed over the food order.

"Good. And no more delays understand?"

"I know..."

"Hmph."

Watching her go, he sighed and wondered how he was going to fix this mess, what with all the misunderstandings he'd been through.

And the fact that he was literally chained to the stove.

"Let us all give thanks that Akane Tendo decided to wear the short dress again," said a boy as he and his friends left the Nekohanten.

"Hell yeah..," agreed his compatriots as they all grinned lecherously.

"No matter what she wears, she is attractive. Shall we return?"

They looked at each other, back at the restaurant, and then at each other before giving firm nods.

"I thought so."

Genma and Soun were a pair of very happy men at the moment. They'd learned that Ranma had a long term plan with one of the daughters, which meant that he was planning on staying for the entire duration. As such, he obviously had to want to have everything else set up accordingly. By which they thought would mean that he'd marry Akane since he would obviously train his sister-in-law. So it was a matter of waiting for the two children to reveal their plans.

"Ya mind passin' the miso?" Ranma asked.

Akane nodded. "Sure thing. Here you go."

"Can I have some of that when you're done?" Nabiki put in.

"Sure thing," the pigtailed boy replied, "Kasumi's food's always too good ta keep ta one person."

"Why thank you!" said the eldest girl.

"It's only the truth."

The only problem for the two fathers was that the two teens just weren't saying anything. Since they had apparently realized just how right their fathers had been, they should have been jumping at the chance to get the family involved. But all they seemed to be doing was be polite to each other.

Genma looked at his friend and nodded before turning to his son. "Ranma?"

"Yeah Pop?" his son replied.

"Things have been different around here, haven't they?"

"You're tellin' me?"

"Yes, well, I'm sure that you realize your responsibilities..."

"I sure do," the younger Saotome answer as he frowned at his parent. "So..?"

"Don't you want to tell me anything..?"

"Mmm... not really."

"You're sure about that?"

"Yeah. Pretty much," Ranma said firmly.

"Listen, I think that you should know something."

"What's that?"

The elder Saotome drew himself up and tried to look as impressive as he could. "Ranma, I am your father..."

"Tell me somethin' that I don't know," his son interrupted. "Not like I enjoy it, but I've known that since I was little."

"Stupid boy! I'm trying to be serious here!"

"So am I!"

"Then why haven't you told us that you're training Nabiki because you've finally decided to buckled down and marry Akane?!"

"WHAT?!" chorused the engaged couple as the middle Tendo daughter gave the occasional panda a flat look.

"It's quite obvious," Soun inserted. "You have decided to marry Akane, so you want to make sure that your new relatives will be safe. As such, you decided to train Nabiki."

"Hell no!" Ranma barked. "I just saw how much trouble's around this area and decided that she needed ta be able ta help herself if she had ta!"

"That doesn't change the fact that you will be marrying Akane..."

"I am NOT draggin' her off ta some altar outta nowhere! I'd haveta be a jerk as big as Kuno ta do that!"

"BOY!" his father bellowed, "You will buckle down and do as you are supposed to!"

"I have! So why don't ya try it Pop?!"

"Oh, what rotten luck I have to have a son who's so disrespectful! But I won't let you hide your plans!"

"Hide this!" the teenaged boy snapped as he punched his father into a wall, sending him to dreamland.

Soun looked from his friend to the younger Saotome and opened his mouth.

"Daddy?" Nabiki instructed firmly, "Don't."

His jaw snapped closed, and he sat down with a slump to his shoulders.

"Well then. If he's not eatin', I guess we shouldn't let this food go ta waste," Ranma commented, and split his father's untouched food between Akane and Nabiki.

"Ranma?" his fiancee asked.

"Ya two are in trainin', so ya can used all the food ya can get."

"But what about your father?" Kasumi asked with a frown of concern.

"Ah, don't worry 'bout him. He'll be fine. He always is. 'Sides, if I know him, he'll find somethin' ta eat later. Knowin' ya, ya were nice enough ta probably have made extras just in case."

The eldest Tendo daughter blushed in pleasure at the compliment.

"Now, let's eat," the pigtailed boy suggested, and was joined in consuming the meal by the three sisters.

With only Soun wondering what had happened

by Kender

Over a few days time, Ranma learned some very important truths. First, it was nice to be able to not get into trouble with Akane what had seemed like every half hour. Second, it was wonderful to be able to make love to two very attractive ladies. Third, he now knew that he did have a libido, and that it apparently was something he could rein in much better than his contemporaries.

And to top it all off... his father was a complete and utter moron.

"It's real nice of you to come with me," Akane said as she smiled at him, "I mean, you didn't have to volunteer, but you did, and it'll be nice to have another's opinion..."

He shrugged and idly waggled his book bag. "Hey, don't worry 'bout it. I said I'd come, didn't I?"

"I'm not worried. It's just that you usually complain when you have to go shopping with me, and this is rather... refreshing."

"That's 'cause I ain't gotta be dragged off ta a hundred stores, just so Pop can think that he's gettin' me ta jump ta his drummer."

"Ooohhh..," she said with a nod, "So you don't mind this then?"

"Not really. I mean, it's only one store, we decided to go, and we already know basically what we want."

"You could have dealt with your father better though..."

"I dealt with him just fine," he pronounced as they continued their walk from the school to the store Shampoo had suggested.

"Tea Father?" Kasumi asked as she came up to the shogi game on the porch.

"Why yes," her father replied as he took his cup, "Thank you."

"You're welcome. Mister Saotome?"

The Saotome patriarch nodded. "Growf."

"Ah good... Here you go."

"Growf."

"You know Saotome," the mustached man commented, "You could just turn back."

Giving a sniff, the panda shook his head.

"I'm sure that the boy didn't mean for that to happen."

"Growf."

"Oh well. I suppose that we'll have to wait for Mister Takeda to come home so we can borrow those strong shears of his."

[I hope he comes home soon,] read the panda's sign.

Kasumi shrugged at the sight of the panda with the back of his head stuck in a pail, and wondered if he just wanted to be silly.

"Here it is," Akane said as she pointed out the spot, "It's the same as the one on the paper she gave me."

Ranma gave a thoughtful frown at the place. "Kinda small, ain't it."

"It's fine so long as it has what I need."

"That's true. Ya know, if it is really that small, then we won't have ta be there that long."

"You don't have to sound so happy about it. All you have to say is you don't want to go with me, and you can go home."

"It ain't that!" he protested, "I'm just sayin' that it shouldn't be that hard to get ya an outfit. Think of it. If they've got only a few items, then we just find the ones that'll fit ya."

"Well, I for one like some variety when I shop. Come on, let's see what's inside."

"Sure..."

Akane gave him a short nod, and the two of them walked over to enter the store. At first it was hard to see, and they blinked as their eyes began to adjust from the brightness of the outside to the look of the relative darkness of the inside. But as they got used to it, it wasn't hard to see just what was on sale.

Of which there was a lot. Racks filled the floor as much as regulations would allow. The walls were filled with clothing displays, and there were even items for sale in the counters. Instead of a small selection with many things, they seemed to have dozens of styles for each type of outfit.

"We... may be here a while."

"Isn't it great," she gushed and pulled him along by the hand. "Let's check it out!"

"Oh boy..."

Kodachi was humming to herself as she watched her team go through their practices. She knew that each of them was well trained, but she didn't want to risk anything. Still, she was happy that the next session would be for the morning, since she had other plans for the afternoon, and she didn't want anything else to intrude.

After all, she wanted to get all the time that she could with her Ranma-darling.

"She's smiling..," murmured one of the team members to another, "Do you think that we should be afraid Atsui?"

Nodding, Atsui frowned. "Yes, we should. Though whomever has gotten her like that should be extra worried."

"So... Which one do you think I should get?" Akane asked as she held up three different outfits in front of her.

Ranma gave each a careful look and shrugged. "I'd say lose the brown one. Ya will look horrible in it."

"You're not saying that I'm not good enough for it, are you?"

"No... I'm sayin' that it was made for heavier work or somethin' and has all the look of a rice sack."

"Oh... I see," she replied, "But what about the other two?"

"Hmm... The green one's kinda nice and ya'll probably look good in it. And this blue one'll be not only good lookin' but I can tell that it'll be good when it gets hot."

"Then maybe I should get them both. But what about this purple one?"

"Too much like Shampoo's. Unless ya wanna match."

"No... Do you have any suggestions?"

"How's 'bout this one? It's red, and ya can't go wrong there," he said and handed her a garment.

"The collar's nice, but the skirt is short..."

"Ain't any shorter than the one who already wore."

"True..."

Happosai would have given anything to be have been hiding in a woman's cupboard before. He knew that given half the chance, he would have hidden in a pretty woman's kitchen just to get the opportunity to greet her in the morning. That alone would have made it worth being forced to stay in there, and waiting to get out.

But right then, he wanted nothing more than to stay there forever.

"Oh, my little cupcake... Where have you gone..?" warbled a very feared voice.

Upon hearing it, the old pervert curled up on himself and shivered as he waited for the horrible kunoichi girl to wander away while he waited for his chance to make his break for freedom.

Ranma leaned against the wall and waited, knowing that it could take a long while for a girl to try on an outfit. He'd already shopped with Akane and her friends before, and with Nabiki only recently, but the fact that a girl took her time in making sure that an outfit was on as she liked it never changed. Not that he minded, as he was interested in the end result this time and only had a training session with Nabiki scheduled, but he knew that there was only so much time before she had to go in for work.

"Okay, I'm coming out," Akane told him as she pushed aside the curtain. "How do I look?"

He forgot to breathe. In the crimson dress that she'd been trying on, she was a bit much to take in. The dress hugged her curves tightly without being lewd, while the skirt, especially with its small slits, showed off a great deal of leg. The collar was high, but that only emphasized the column of her neck. Her arms were bare for the most part, but that was to their benefit. And the pattern on it was muted enough to be comfortable, but drew the eye to the fact that the person wearing the outfit was female.

"Come on, what do you think?"

"Nice..."

"Only 'nice'?"

"Very nice? Good? Thinkin's kinda hard..."

She stopped for a moment and looked at his expression. The dazed look told her all that she needed to know, and she felt a swell of happiness that she'd managed to get him to do that. But she merely allowed herself to giggle at his lack of wit at the moment. "Is that so?"

"Wha..? Er.. It's okay. Really."

"If you say so..."

"I do. It looks okay."

"Then I suppose that I'll get it."

"Ya do that..."

"Okay."

Watching her go back behind the curtain, he let out a sigh of relief. He might have been much more comfortable with giving sexual advances, but he sure as hell didn't want to risk a beating. Though he wouldn't have blamed her if she'd thrashed him but good if he'd gone after her. What had been going through his mind was bad enough.

Still, he just hoped that she didn't wear that save for special occasions.

Kuno was sure that there was something going on at Furinkan. He had noted that there was a number of damsels at the school who had for some reason were rather perturbed by him. He didn't understand why, for it was clear that he was the one that all the boys aspired to be, and all the girls aspired to be with. Then it stood to reason that it was not he who was at fault for his current dilemma.

Obviously the other girls were feeling deprived with his pursuit and dedication to his two loves. They likely were feeling annoyed with him for his lack of attention, for which he could not blame them. However, he could not give up his attempts to free the pair and bring them into his arms. That unfortunately left him with a problem.

He needed to figure out how he could show the girls of the school that he was remembering them, while sending most of his attentions into rescuing Akane Tendo and the pigtailed girl.

It was a problem that was most vexing, and he needed to think about it.

Knowing that some brisk exercise might be of assistance, he was walking as he pondered this mighty question.

Having finished with the shopping, Ranma headed outside as his fiancee paid for her purchases. She insisted on doing it, and he wasn't about to stop her. So he decided to wait for her outside, and headed out to the sidewalk to enjoy the weather after the previous night's storm.

And wound up getting splashed by a car as it passed.

"Oh just great!" Ranma-chan muttered, "I managed ta stay outta it all night, and now I'm wet after if finished. It figures."

"Ranma!" called out a voice that was definitely not Akane's and she turned to look to see who it was.

"Mousse?"

"Yes! I thought that I might catch you here! I overheard Akane and Shampoo talking about this shop, and knew that she'd have come here."

"Why was that so important?"

"Because I need to talk to you!" the Chinese boy declared as he stepped in front of her. "I'm sorry about getting you knocked into the wall, and about coming after you like this. But I need your help!"

"Ya do?"

"Yes! I do!"

"And just what might ya need from me?"

The nearly blind boy's breath deepened from excitement, and he leaned forward. "I need you immediatelllll...aiiieeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee..."

"And stay away!" yelled Akane as she appeared next to Ranma in the middle of pulling back from a kick that had obviously sent the sometimes duck into the air as a human. "Are you okay?"

"Me?" the redhead said with a blink, "Just fine."

"Good. I can't believe him though! Trying to go after you only a few days after he tried it last."

"Uhh... He wasn't tryin' ta attack me."

"He wasn't?"

"No. He was tryin' ta ask me ta do somethin'."

"It was probably perverted," her fiancee muttered.

"We can't know that now."

"I know..."

"He'll be fine anyway. And I'm sure the next time, ya'll get ta punt someone who we know can deserve it."

"Like who?"

"Pigtailed girl!" called out another familiar and unwanted voice, "Akane Tendo!"

Ranma punched Kuno and tossed him into the air, and Akane kicked him so that he sailed off into the distance.

"See?" Ranma-chan said.

"Yes," the Tendo girl replied, "You want to head home now?"

"Sure, but are ya sure that ya don't want me ta carry any of your bags?"

"I'm fine. Let's go?"

"Alright," the pigtailed girl agreed, and the two headed off,

by Kender

Ranma-chan and Akane stepped into the house, and kicked off their shoes after their trip. It had been a short attempt at shopping, but one look at their faces showed that it had been fruitful. They came inside both wearing grins, and without making any insults.

"We're home!" Akane called out.

Kasumi popped her head out from the kitchen and smiled. "Welcome home. Did you two have a nice time?"

"Yes, we did. And I got a lot of good deals on some nice outfits."

"Oh... You'll have to show me them."

"Maybe later," the younger girl replied, "Right now I have to go get ready for work."

"I understand. If you would like, I'll make a snack for you to take as you go."

"You would? That would be great!"

"Okay then. I'll have something ready before you leave," Kasumi told her and went back into the kitchen.

"And you were great too Ranma."

"I was?" the redhead blurted with a blink.

"Yes, you were. It was nice shopping with nothing seeming to go wrong."

"Or as close as it could get with idiots showin' up."

"Yeah, but they showed up at the end, and until then, everything went smoothly."

"If ya say so..."

"I do. Thank you," Akane said and impulsively gave her fiancee a peck on the cheek before racing upstairs to change for work.

The redhead put a hand to her cheek and got a slightly goofy smile on her face as she wandered off. It felt warm and tingled, taking up a lot of her attention. So she was a little out of it as she walked out into the dining area.

[It's about time you returned home,] a panda borne sign read, [So, have you done as you should have?]

"Oh, yeah, I've done a lot," she murmured.

[When's the wedding?]

"Huh?"

[You said that you did what you were supposed to.]

"But I never said anything about marriage."

[It's what you meant.]

"Yeah, right!"

[See? You'll marry Akane,] the panda's sign read, and then was flipped. [And you'll get this bucket off of my head.]

"Why should I do somethin' like that just for a stupid old panda?!"

[I deserve your respect boy!]

"Ya deserve this!" the cursed boy declared as she slammed a fist into the bucket and stomped away. "Stupid panda. Sure knows how ta ruin a guy's good mood."

Soun watched the shapely form leave the room and sighed. "Your move Saotome."

"GRWMF!" Genma-panda protested as he tried to pry off the bucket that was totally enveloping his head.

Unlike the last few times he'd been launched into the air, Mousse had been conscious for the results of Akane's kick. That meant that instead of waking up long after he'd landed, he was able to feel the blow, feel the air against his face, and see the ground coming up to meet him. It wasn't like he actually liked it, but it did make for a bit of a difference.

He still landed in water though.

Splashing down into the pond, he came back up, knowing that he had his stuff safe, even though he was now a duck. That wasn't so bad, as he had gone through it before, and could deal with it. This wasn't how he would have wanted things to go down, but at least he hadn't been thrashed once again.

Yet it meant that his plan had gone astray again. He didn't know why it kept on going on like that, but it seemed that every time he'd tried to fix things, he got into trouble. Mistakes and goof ups seemed to pop up, and he couldn't even blame Akane for her annoyance with him. As far as she could tell, he was too blame, and it was his fault, though he knew that it was in no way an admission of guilt, since he knew that it was just all a big misunderstanding.

All he had to do was go clear it up, and things would at least get back to wear they had been. Unfortunately, the two girls who most needed to be shown that he wasn't a pervert weren't able to respect him or his words. Only Ranma could get them to understand that he wasn't trying to be anything other than a rival, and that meant that he had to talk to the pigtailed boy. However, it seemed that events just kept on conspiring to keep him from convincing the other boy to help him.

But that was nothing insurmountable. He'd just keep on trying, and finally get to make things for the best. After all, hadn't Akane merely sent him flying into this pond.

Which seemed to have a rather large yard, and even a tiny bridge to one side...

Oh, and it had something green with a whole lot of teeth about to chomp on him.

'Wait a second..,' he thought to himself and flew back a bit as the croc snapped his jaws over the spot where the duck had been. 'He's going to try to eat me!'

The croc confirmed his assessment as he reared back and tried to eat the flying fowl.

"Quack!" Mousse said in a panic and began to race away, with a hungry reptile in fast pursuit.

Looking out of her window, Kodachi noted that her pet seemed to be agitated by something. He was racing around, trying to get his jaws around something, but didn't seem able to catch it. It was rather silly looking, and it brought a rather warm feeling to her heart. The fact that he was so obviously lively and happy meant that she was doing a good job in caring for him.

And as she peered out, it became obvious that there was a bird of some kind out there. No doubt it was one that had only recently come into the area. After all, most of the local flying population knew from experience, themselves, or by watching, that they should stay away from his pond. It was likely that this one had come from elsewhere and simply not known the possible dangers, even though she had done much to ward them away.

The bird did seem to get away though, and only left a bit in the way of tail-feathers behind.

Shrugging slightly, she went back to looking at the garment in her hands. The leotard might have been a bit more snug than the ones that she wore for practice, or matches, but this wasn't going to be worn for either. It was dedicated for her plans for the next day. She'd wear it when she met up with her Ranma-darling, and with the way that it would be the only garment that she would be wearing other than her slippers, he wouldn't be able to resist her. She would finally show him just how much she adored him, and wanted to be with him. And even if she couldn't have him to herself, she wanted a chance to at least be able to give him her most precious gift.

If it all worked out, it would be a most wonderful time for her, and she couldn't wait for it.

Right however, she had to go feed her pet. It was time for his lunch, and he was obviously going to be put out by his failure to catch the bird.

She'd soothe his pride, and go and get her own 'horse' the next day.

As she bent over a table that she was wiping off, Shampoo heard the front bell ring, and stood up so that she could turn to face the newcomer. "Welcome to Neko... Akane! You come work in new outfit?"

"Yup," the Japanese girl confirmed, and did a little twirl. "What do you think?"

"Is good. See that you go to store Shampoo suggest."

"With Ranma. We went after school."

"Really?"

Akane nodded. "We went after school. You should have been there. He was in a fog for a lot of it... I guess no boy likes shopping."

"Not so. Shampoo know boys... But is not time for that. Is time to admire outfit."

"Isn't it though? I was surprised to find something like this."

"Not think they make bad clothing?"

"Nope. I just expected the normal things..," the Tendo girl commented as she posed in the blue sleeveless dress.

"Look nice. Is comfortable?"

"Yes, it is. And I do have to admit that's good since it can get hot sometimes. I just wonder why they don't create other outfits..."

"What?" the Amazon said with mock seriousness, "You think in three thousand year Amazon history they take time and make shorts? Is easier sweat in pants!"

The two of them giggled and shared a smile.

"Still, have admit, you help make boys happy when come. They see two waitresses, and give too too big smiles."

"So long as that's all they do. They can smile, and I don't want to even consider what's going on in their minds, but if they try anything..," Akane trailed off.

"Then they get what deserve. You ready for today work?"

"You bet I am!"

"Good. Stupid Mousse take off again, and no come back."

"Oh... I saw him bothering Ranma earlier and kicked him off somewhere. He should be back sooner or later."

"Hope later."

"For sure," the shorter haired girl agreed, and the two set about getting the restaurant ready for the coming customers

by Kender

Soun looked at his friend and gave him an even look. "We could have simply done that in the beginning you know."

"I know that," Genma agreed as he sat there with his gi drenched in hot water.

"Then why didn't you just let me do it?"

"There really wasn't any point old friend."

"You wanted to have a bucket on your head?"

"I... didn't think anything of it," the portly man sniffed, "Besides, why would I give the boy the satisfaction."

"Ah... I see..."

"Well then, shall we finish our game?"

"We could... but we'd just have to restart it. You did kick it over when you were trying to get free."

"That was the boy's fault. Where is he anyway?"

"He went to give Nabiki her lesson."

The Saotome patriarch perked up. "Why don't we go check up on them? After all, with all our experience, we should be able to show him how it's really done."

"Hmmm... Not a bad idea, old friend," Soun agreed and the two of them walked over to the dojo. They strode in to find Ranma standing next to Nabiki as he showed her how to adjust her stance.

"Boy, what are you doing?!"

"Wha..? Pop?!" Ranma blurted as he spun to face his father, "What are ya doin' in here?!"

"You call this training? Why by this time I had you already dodging and running!"

"Yeah... from YOU!"

"Stupid boy! I trained you well, which is good, since now I can come and help you learn how to be a proper sensei."

"What? You teach me how ta teach the Art?"

"Yes, me," his father told him sagely, "And now I can tell you the right way since you obviously have to be told with your lack of experience."

"I don't think so. Why don't ya go back and play with a tire or somethin'."

"I will not! See here. This is the way that a true Master teaches..."

"A true screw up ya mean," Ranma growled, "I can handle it, so why don't ya get out?"

"Because you need to be shown how you should do this."

"I wasn't askin'. Just leave me alone."

"Or you'll do what boy?" Genma mocked as his son gritted his teeth. "All you have to do is step aside and I'll teach this girl better than a beginning teacher like you could."

"I can do this!"

"Wha..AAAAAAAAAAA!"

Nabiki merely watched as her owner punched his father out the door and into the yard, leaving her own father to trail after his friend. "You seemed to have enjoyed that."

"Ya know, I never knew why Akane liked doin' that until now."

"And now you do?"

"Yeah, I think so. Releases a lot of stress."

Out in the yard, Soun approached where his friend had landed. "How are you?"

"Just fine... I've taken worse..," Genma replied.

"I see. Why don't we go inside and rest before dinner? This way we can let your son do all the work."

"Good idea," the other man pronounced, and collapsed.

"Now this is a great place," Hiroshi commented as sat at his table and watched the rest of the resturant, "The Ucchan's is a good place, and does a lot of business, but this is great."

Daisuke grinned. "You're telling me. Two really cute waitresses, both in skimpy outfits? I think that I've died and gone to heaven..."

"Yup. Though it is nice to sit at the counter at Ukyo's place. Still, I like the changes here."

"So do a lot of the guys."

"Including Kuno apparently. Looks like he's heading for Akane straight from coming in."

"She just bashed him as she walked by," the darker haired boy commented.

The lighter haired boy nodded. "And now it looks like Shampoo's going to smash him as she walks by so that he flies out of here."

"I'm glad that we've never gone further than looking at any time."

"Me too..."

"You know," Yuka said as she finished her latest bit of ramen, "I've heard some of the girls talking about wearing stuff like Akane does. Not as... revealing, but still... It would be different."

"Like wearing one of those tops?" Sayuri said. "You've heard about it too."

"There were two girls in gym who were thinking about it."

"I was in the bathroom when I heard it. And it isn't that bad an idea. I mean, Shampoo wears it all the time, and now Akane does..."

"Hmmm... Maybe we could get a cute guy too..."

"I hope so," the darker haired girl agreed wistfully.

Hikaru knew that all he had to do was to get over to the restaurant as many times as he could, and he would have been able to work his way through to finally talking to Akane. Then he could establish a rapport with her, eventually winding up so that she would agree to go out with him. And from there, he could get her to become his girlfriend, and hopefully one day, he'd be able to get to marry the girl of his dreams.

But as did many boys his age, he had chores to do, and he had to get them done before he could get to go anywhere. That had taken a while, despite the fact that he'd worked to get it done as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, relatives had come to visit, and he'd had to spend time with them, which took a long while.

And when he'd left, he'd told his parents that he was going to see if he could talk to a girl, he'd found out that if he'd told them earlier, they would have let him go.

But in any case, he was there at that moment, and he was only meters away from getting into the restaurant. It didn't close for a bit of time yet, and so he could get there, sit down, and be able to talk to her as long as it took. Then maybe his dreams would finally come true.

It was in sight, and he could see the lights of the restaurant reflect the lights of his heart.

"So, you go now?" said a voice.

"Yes," came the wonderful tones of Akane Tendo, "It's Sunday, so I can come in at the beginning of the day, and work all the way through."

"Is good. Hope you no mind."

"Of course not."

"Okay. Bye bye!"

"'Bye!" the Japanese girl said, and started walking away.

Leaving Hikaru Gosunkugi standing there in the street as he watched his last chance to talk to Akane that day go up in smoke.

Kuno sat in his room and meditated. It wasn't easy for a man such as himself, who was used to action, but he knew that to be a truly great warrior, he'd have to embrace all aspects of being one. Which meant that he had to sit there and gather his focus, which at the moment, was one thing.

"Ohh... To have both the pigtailed girl and Akane Tendo..," he mumbled to himself, at which point his 'meditation' slipped into something else more primal.

And if anyone were to see his fantasies, they would realize that he wasn't as worldly as he though, since some of it wasn't even physically possible.

Especially the part about the carrots.

"Oh my!" Kasumi gasped as she turned to look at her sister, "I'm happy that you want to help set the table, but..."

Akane blinked at her sister. "What?"

"I usually only take one or two things..."

"Yeah?"

"Are you sure that's safe?"

"Huh?" the younger girl said before looking at the stack of bowls, the platter, and the pitcher that were her burden. "Oh... Sorry... I'm just used to it."

"You are?"

"Uh-huh. Don't you worry though. This makes good practice, and I'll be extra careful."

"Oh... okay..."

"Thanks sis!"

"You're welcome," her sister murmured as she watched her dishes get carted off and hoped they wouldn't be broken

by Kender

There was a nervousness in Kasumi in the morning that was quiet evident, and that was much different from usual. She tended to be able to react well to all sorts of situations, and the worst she would come up with would be a frown or a gasp. But she seemed fidgety, and unable to keep from looking around.

"Feeling the pressure, eh sis?" Nabiki asked with a grin.

"What?" Kasumi said, and then shook her head. "No... Well..."

"Hey, it's alright. You're going into the unknown. But you don't have to worry."

"I'm not..."

"No, you're not abandoning us. Akane's working, I'm just going to enjoy a day off, and our fathers won't have any problems watching themselves," the younger girl commented, "But that's not it."

"It isn't?"

"Nope. Ranma will take good care of you."

As the elder girl blushed, the pigtailed boy grinned. "I sure will. So let's go already. I wanna get as much time ta get ya some new outfits as I can."

"See?"

"Oh, okay..," Kasumi agreed shyly.

"She's all yours."

"And I'm happy for that!"

Both Master and pet shared a laugh as the elder girl ducked her head in pleasure and followed her lover out, and onto her way to the day's shopping.

"Tendo? My son is taking your eldest shopping, right?" Genma said as the two men looked at each other over their shogi board.

Soun pursed his lips and thought for a moment before nodding. "Yes, he is. So?"

"If he's so keen on helping them out, then why isn't he marrying their sister?"

"I'm not sure. It could be that he's still waiting."

"Yes, but for what? I mean, didn't we give him the perfect opportunity to say it?"

"Perhaps... He could have had his plans, only we screwed them up when he wasn't ready..," the Tendo patriarch suggested.

"Then he could be trying to wait for a chance to do it still! Then all is not lost."

"Indeed, my old friend. But what do we do about it?"

"We celebrate! To the bars!" declared the portly martial artist.

Standing next to Ranma had never been a major thing for her before, but Kasumi could almost feel the warmth of him collecting in her skin. Being on a train they couldn't help but stay together, as there were many people, but she felt safe with him there. It was odd, but just being near him was nice and comforting.

"Ya okay so far?" he asked.

She nodded back at him. "Yes... yes, I am."

"That's good ta hear. But don't worry. You'll be fine."

"I know. I just haven't ever done this really before."

"What? Shopped for yourself, or with a guy."

"Either. Both."

"And now you are," he said, and clasped his hand over hers.

The move surprised her for a bit, but then she smiled, and wrapped her fingers around his.

Sasuke stood in front of his master and gave the young man a grave look. "You want to do what?"

"I believe that I must ponder how I may go and save my loves from the dread Saotome," Kuno pronounced. "That foul cur has obviously decided that he would do well to use others to prevent my heaven declared mission. And so I must figure out a way to work through this all so that I might be able to bring the two doves of my heart into my hold, and free those who Saotome is forcing to work for him."

"What will you do?"

"I believe that sitting in meditation until an answer so brilliant that it can't help but work comes to my frightening intellect. And I wish for you to prevent any from coming to disturb me."

"Understood Master Kuno."

"Then go."

The diminutive ninja nodded, and left the room to prepare himself totally for his task. It could take a while.

"Are you sure that this is good?" Kasumi asked as she stepped out of the changing booth.

Ranma felt an urge to smack his forehead, and merely settled for sighing. "Ya look great. Really."

"I know, but..."

"Wha..?"

"I've never really worn anything like this before..."

"Ya've been stuck in a lot of house dresses."

"That's true..," she admitted.

"Figure it this way. It ain't like ya are goin' around in next ta nothin'."

"That's true... Though..."

"What?"

"It might be fun... inside and where no one can see..."

"Oh..," he said and grinned at her blush. He hadn't thought that she would have been able to say something like that, and yet she had. But still, she was already looking different as well. With the light sweater, knee high skirt and calf high boots, she looked like a sophisticated young woman. It was a definite improvement, and with things like this outfit, and the one with the shorter skirt, button up blouse and heels, she was getting a wardrobe that he thought reflected her age, personality, and looks.

And it had the benefit of keeping away from her just being a homebody.

"I know that I like it, but do ya like it."

She looked down at her sweater encased cleavage and nodded. "I think so. This is rather nice..."

"Then let's get it. Okay?"

"Sure."

"And now ta go forth and see if we can't get ya more!"

His expression made her giggle, and she slipped back inside the changing room to try on another outfit.

Stopping in the middle of her walk, Akane grinned at Shampoo. "Enjoy having the help for so long."

"Is very nice. Too bad no come weekdays," the Amazon replied, "Lot of salarymen need eat in morning before catch train."

"Yeah, well, I do have school."

"Yes. Shampoo understand. Have lore classes, and other responsibilities when she train too."

"Which had to be not a lot of fun," the Japanese girl observed, "But we have to do stuff like that."

"Is so. Get very boring at times. It get boring here too, but only have wait for Ranma, and now Akane. Where Ranma anyway?"

"He took Kasumi out shopping. Apparently he's decided that she needed to do something for herself."

"That nice of him."

"Yup. And I'm sure that wherever they are at the moment, he's taking good care of her."

"Ya really wanna get that?" Ranma asked as he looked at his lover.

Kasumi cocked her head at him and smiled. "Why not? You said that you liked me in it."

"But I didn't think that ya were thinkin' of buyin' it."

"What? You think it's too much?"

"Nah... What I think is that I'm a real lucky guy. Especially now."

"Really?" she asked happily.

"Definitely."

"Then I have to get it."

"Ya know ya won't be able ta wear that much."

"I know... But I could always get others outfits..."

"And here I was, worried that ya wouldn't find anythin' in the costume store," he said with an exaggerated sigh.

Favoring him with another bright expression, she headed back to change out of the maid's uniform that she was wearing so that they could purchase it.

Kodachi moved as quickly as she could. She knew that she had only a short amount of time before she had to head out. There were so many things that she had to prepare, from her appearance, to her perfume, to just making sure that they wouldn't be bothered by anyone on her end.

But it was all worth it in her opinion. This was the day that she would offer her Ranma darling the most precious thing that she could, and she couldn't wait to do so. He was so wonderful, and such a pure example of manhood that she couldn't imagine another in the position that she wanted him to be in.

So, there was no hesitation as she got ready to head over to greet what was to come.

"Have ya enjoyed yourself?" Ranma asked his lover as they walked along the street carrying their packages.

"Very much so," Kasumi replied with a soft expression on her face just for him. "I didn't know it could be so much fun, and be so... nice."

"Well, I think we can do better than 'nice'."

"How?"

"With this," he said, and gave her a deep kiss full on the mouth. Their lips pressed hard together, and as she moaned lightly, he deepened it even more. And when they parted, they were both panting deeply. "Like it?"

"Oh my... I do..."

"Me too... Gotta do that some more."

Heat rose in her cheeks, making it clear that she was not averse to that suggestion at all.

"C'mon. We've gotta get goin'."

"I'm right with you," she told him, and followed him

by Kender

"Oh my..," Kasumi whispered in a mixture of fear and wonder as she found herself pulled into the store behind her lover, "Oh my..."

Not that Ranma could blame her. After all, this was his second visit, and he still wasn't quite comfortable with being surrounded with a lot of things that in some way, shape or form had something to do with sex. It was rather... disturbing in a way, but alluring as well.

Of course, he wasn't about to let Kasumi go without what he'd gone out to do, and that included not leaving her without something similar enough to the type of thing he'd gotten her sister.

"Nice to see you again sonny!" cackled an elderly voice.

Unfortunately, that still made it so that he bounced against a shelf and wound up with his lover clutching at him. "Don't DO that! Man, what is it with old people and sneaking up on me..."

"What was that?"

"Nothin'..."

"Okay then..," the old lady who ran the store commented. "Have you come to get your pet some more toys?"

"Mmmm... Probably later. Right now, I'm here ta get her somethin'."

"You are? She isn't the same girl..."

"This is her elder sister."

"Does she know..?"

"Yup," he confirmed, "And well.., I've been... we've been..."

"Oooh... I was right about you boy. They don't have any problem with it?"

"It was her idea."

"I think that I'll like you girl. The name is Mrs. Ichinose, and I'm happy to have you in my store."

"Thank you, Ma'am," Kasumi said with a little bow, "It's nice to meet you too."

"Respectful too. You definitely know how to chose them boy."

"More like they know how ta choose me," he muttered.

"If you say so. May I suggest something for you to buy?"

"Nope, I've got an idea... there!"

"Oh... the massage oils and book... A good choice."

"Thanks," he said and turned back to his lover. "Now ya pick somethin'."

"Me?" the girl blurted with surprise written all over her face.

"Go on... I ain't gonna make it so that only ya can do it."

"Okay..," Kasumi murmured and minced through the offerings as she looked as if she was going to be about to wind up getting attacked. But she seemed to steady as she went, and managed to actually look at the things being offered. It was obviously not an easy thing for her, and they let her have all the time that she needed until she picked one. "This."

"Ya keep on surprisin' me."

"A bit shy is she? Well, if that's the case, I can understand your surprise," Mrs. Ichinose commented. "Picking something like that to wear..."

"Hey, I told her ta pick. It was her choice."

"So it was. Would you like to get something extra? Or maybe get some suggestions?"

Both teens flushed in embarrassment at her comments, and she grinned as she looked them over. They were so much fun, and were livening up an old lady's day. She was rather pleased with their reactions, and was happy to see that kids these days weren't the jaded worldly souls that they pretended to be.

Of course, that affection wasn't going to stop her from making some ribald comments to them as they made their purchases.

That was too much fun to give up.

The bar was old even by Soun and Genma's standards. It had an almost cave like feel, and the dark wood of the room was lit by lights that was as close as to torches as could be had. At a bar stood a frail old man who looked like his was about to tremble himself apart. Behind him was an assortment of bottles, glasses and cups of all sorts of sizes, shapes, styles and colors.

Stepping up to the bar, the Tendo patriarch looked the bartender over and frowned. "You look like you should be at home with your family. Why are you here?"

"I am the last of three brothers, the youngest, and the one left behind to take care of this place. We were once soldiers who fought together in the War, and found this special place long ago. They went off to return home to tell of what we did, and I was left here to guard this place, and it's special secrets."

"Really? And what sort of 'secret is that?" Genma asked.

"This bar is stocked with liquor from an untold amount of places from around the world. Some of it you might consider good, others you might say is bad. Yet all of it is wanted someplace. It was gathered here by the previous owner, and it was passed to my brothers and I. And now, it is but my responsibility."

"Liquors from all over the world, eh? Which one should I try first?"

"Whichever one you want. But know this. Choose wisely, or you may suffer a fate you'd rather not."

"Okay, okay... Give me... That one!" the portly fighter said, pointing at a clear bottle half filled with an amber liquid that was glinting impressively in the light.

"As you wish."

"I wish."

"Here."

Almost as soon as the glass was poured in front of him, Genma grabbed it up and saluted his friend with it. He admired the look of the liquid, and swirled it around for a moment before he took a deep breath. When he was ready, he gulped the contents down, and smiled.

Then the liquor hit back, and he felt like he was about to throw up. He gasped and choked as he tried to get past what felt like a bubbling up of his guts. His whole body shook and trembled, and he croaked out his disgust with the drink. Grabbing his friend's shoulders, he whimpered and tried to pass on his panic, which apparently did happen as Soun backed away from him. And in the end, he collapsed into a heap, swearing to himself that he'd never go near anything that would create a liquor as rolling as that.

The barkeeper simply sighed. "He chose... poorly..."

When she heard the front door opening, Nabiki raced over to the top of the stairs to see who it was, and peeked down to find that Ranma and Kasumi had returned. Happy to see the pair again, she raced down the stairs, and slid to a stop before them. "Welcome back. How was your trip?"

"Wonderful," her sister replied. "We... Nabiki!"

"What?"

"You're... you're... Naked."

"Ya mind tellin' us why you're not dressed?" her owner asked.

The younger girl grinned. "Daddy and your father went out again, so I figured that there was no reason to hide. I stripped and put on my collar so I could be a good pet for when you got back."

"That was nice of ya, but..."

"What?"

He gave her a swat on the backside. "Ya shouldn't run through the house like that. Ya might hurt yourself, or someone else."

"Yes Master..."

"Now that we've got that settled, and I have the two of ya here, it should be fun, right?"

"I think so."

"Good."

"But what did you guys get? I'll admit that I'm curious, and I'd like to see," the nude girl told them.

"Well?" he asked, looking to his lover.

Kasumi nodded. "We can show her. Maybe even do a little fashion show.