A/N: Ok, I'm not going to linger here because there's not a lot to say other than you guys are amazing. The response to the last chapter was very uplifting and helped to remind me why I love writing; to write stories that people will enjoy so it makes me incredibly happy to know that my procrastinations were baseless. So thank you all!

I'm gonna try to be more proactive about my writing, to be more confident about what I've laid down and stop letting my OCD get the better of me.

That being said I hope this chapter lives up to the last one. Usually I wait to upload these until I've had a two or three friends read the chapter I can make changes - if any - based on feedback I get from them. However I've only managed to get one of these three to read it since completing the chapter. One has been on a lot to ask and another has been far too busy - and understandably so - with assignments of her own. So as I said, I hope this one lives up to the last.

Personally I have no real problems with this chapter apart from the usual procrastinations. I just hope you all like it as well.

I've tried to catch as many grammar and spelling mistakes as possible but there will no doubt be plenty still remaining, but I would also like to remind readers that there might be some words you THINK are miss spelt but chances are it's one of those words that are spelt differently in another country, so it's not that its spelt wrong it's just different spelling. But yes there will no doubt be plenty of mistakes and I am aware that they are there so please, you don't NEED to say in reviews that you found lots of spelling and grammar mistakes

Anyway, on with the chapter.

-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-

Chapter 28

Hell Hath No Fury Like Akane!

Nerima was silent as the sky shifted from dark orange to darker shades of pinks and purples before night finally descended across the ward, the sun dipping slowly below the horizon line like someone easing into a steaming hot bath. A sparse splattering of stars sparkled against the black canvas as a full moon lit up the sky with not a cloud insight. A chilled breeze whirled through the streets with a tiny whistling moan as it slipped over cracks in the road and holes in walls, a remnant of winter lingering on for as long as possible. Few people walked the streets, those that did were teenagers hurrying home for dinner, those coming home from work and some just out to enjoy the peaceful night.

Until...

'RANMA!'

The enrage screech split the silence of the night like the crack of a lightning bolt, followed by a scream of pure terror as the red head nearly shot past the corner, falling and slipping as she tried to course correct in mid run. She shrieked again as she saw the mass flying towards her out of the corner of her eye and shot off at the same time Akane smashed apart the ground with her massive mallet, narrowly missing the red head.

The dark haired girl exhaled sharply in a mix of rage and frustration. 'Get back here you jerks!'

Ranma's eyes were as wide as saucers as she ran, Ryoga and his clothes clutched in her arms. Akane's growling snarls of anger echoing after her. Of all the times she had seen Akane angry, she had never seen her this pissed before. Standing there before and watching her expression shift like liquid from frozen shock to pure white hot unbridled rage was terrifying in and of itself, but knowing that you were the focus of all that rage was something else entirely. Ranma tried to take comfort in the fact that the only way this could have been worse, would have been if "P-chan" had been sleeping in her bed and got doused with hot water. She shuddered to imagine what the short tempered Tendo sister would have done if she woke up to a naked teenage boy sleeping in her bed...

Again the ground shook as Akane swung and missed, her mallet leaving small craters in the road and networks of fissures of varying sizes spider webbing away from the impact point. If she managed to hit them with that thing while she was in this state they'd end up looking worse than bugs on a windshield! Not that Akane's anger wasn't justified but she didn't think the dark haired girl would go this ballistic. Akane wanted blood! She could only hope that if they kept running long enough the girl would eventually snap out of her shock induced murderous rage and give her a chance to explain themselves.

Not that she knew exactly what she was going to say...

Ranma screamed again as the mallet narrowly missed her head by a hair's width, breaking her train of thought, feeling the awesome pressure of the weapon against her back as it swung pass.

She hissed down at the terrified pig in her arms. 'This is all your fault!'

Even in the panic he was in, Ryoga looked up at her indignantly, squealing and grunting loudly as he made exaggerated geastures from his stubby little forelegs like someone playing charades, his expressive response shifting rapidly first from defensive to outrage; under any other situation it would have been hilarious. It didn't take a genius to figure out his meaning though.

'Why you little!' her eyes flashed angrily at him. 'You are not putting this back on me you little perv!'

Ryoga grunted something that sounded entirely too sarcastic for her liking.

'Oh bite me!' Ranma growled irritably back at him, but he just gave her pointed look like. She sighed in exasperation. 'Oh fine it's my fault too alright! She has just as much right to kill me as she does you! You happy now?'

At the same time she glanced back over her shoulder to see Akane suddenly close the distance between them with a boost of alarming speed. Ranma let out a strangled cry as the mallet whipped around on a slanted angle, coming up from the girl's hip towards the red head. Without warning her legs twisted up and the world spun as she fell, the mallet screaming past her so close she could have sword it grazed her nose. Ranma crashed to the ground with an oomph, her arms tightening around the pig and weathering the impact as pain shot through her; it was nothing compared to all the hits she had taken over the years or compared to taking a hit from that hammer. Stars exploded in front of her eyes though when the back of her head smacked against the asphalt.

The world swayed slightly as she blinked against the disorientation, before finding herself staring up at her furious ex-fiancée. The girl's nostrils flared, her pupils shrunken to pin pricks and her entire body trembling from head to toe with the mallet gripped in white knuckles as it rested against her shoulder.

Ranma gulped nervously. 'Akane, please, let's tal- Aiyeeeee!'

The mallet smashed down between her legs a fraction of a second after she split them apart to form a V, the ground shaking beneath her with the force of the impact. Ranma flipped up off her back and on the end of the weapon, her eyes locking momentarily with the other girl before her; she couldn't help but shudder at the hatred she saw there.

Akane whipped the mallet up with the red perched on the end, but at the same time though Ranma leapt into the air and gracefully flipped backwards over a wall and into someone's backyard, landing in a crouch. Unconsciously she panted heavily; not from exhaustion, but from her heart hammering with the rush of coming so damn close to having her head busted open like a watermelon.

Ranma sighed as her shoulders sagged with relief. 'There, that should buy us a couple of minutes.'

The words were barely out of her mouth when Akane suddenly leapt on to the wall, grounding her teeth and her eyes wild like a woman possessed.

'Oh come on,' Ranma whined with a heavy sigh.

The red head turned to run as her ex-fiancée leapt from the wall after her. Ranma dived as the mallet crashed into the spot where she had been standing, and rolled easily to her feet as Akane's aggravated snarls of frustration filled the air, but was Ranma came out of the roll running, her feet tangled in a hose left lying across the grass; between the night and its dark coloring it was nearly invisible but it pitched Ranma forward all the same, sending the red head flying uncontrollably with a shrill shriek of alarm. Unfortunately with Akane's second swing the mallet flew from her hands and sent it spinning over the fallen girl's head and smashing into the hot water system attached to the outside wall of the house.

Ranma and Ryoga only had time to blink in surprise, before the hot water system split open and geyser of boiling water ruptured out with a blast. The red head squealed and rolled out of the way; only to find herself with her arms wrapped around a very naked Ryoga. She blinked in confusion up at the surprised dark green eyes, before screaming and instinctively kicked him off.

'Gee thanks,' he grumbled with a grimace as he started to sit up.

Ranma shoved his balled up clothes at him, her cheeks flushing scarlet as she snapped. 'Shut up and put your clothes on damn it!'

Both of them winced at the sound of metal warping in protest and turned in time to see Akane yanking her weapon free of the mangled hot water system and return her fury back to them.

'Oh crap,' Ranma hissed. 'Run!'

Ryoga barely had time to blink before the red head rushed past him, and found himself in the oncoming path of the enraged dark haired girl.

A few seconds later the neighborhood was shaken by the powerful impacts that resounded through the streets. Ranma and Ryoga broke through the expanding cloud of pulverized dirt and rubble and were back on the road running as fast as they could as Ryoga struggled to get his clothes back on without stopping, hopping along as he tried to pull his pants up. Akane wasn't far behind them, pausing only long enough to get her bearings when she emerged from the dust cloud and lock on to them, her grip tightening around the handle till her knuckles were white as bone.

'Where does she get those things from?!' Ryoga demanded as he hopped forward rapidly on one foot before triumphantly managing to yank his pants all the way up while juggling the rest of his clothes.

'Who cares where she got it, just run damn it! Run!' Ranma snapped, while at the same time struggling with the waist of her jeans.

Ryoga frowned in disbelief. 'What are you doing?'

'I can't run properly in these damn pants, they're too tight. My pan-' the red head caught herself as her cheeks colored lightly, before adding through gritted teeth. 'My underwear keeps crawling between my butt!'

Ryoga's face suddenly flushed bright scarlet as a trickle of blood dripped from his nose, something that didn't escape Ranma's attention as she ran beside him.

She clocked him over the back of his head without even slowing down. "Stop picturing it you damn perv!"

"As if I could!" Ryoga shouted back.

Between their bickering and Ryoga struggling with his clothes, neither of them noticed Akane until she was on top of them; her mallet crashed into them from behind and sent them rocketing forward with a chorus of screams as their limbs flailed wildly. The world spun around them as they flew through the air before slamming into the ground and skipping across the asphalt, rolling head over ass in a tangled mess of limbs before they came to a stop in a heap.

'Oww,' Ranma groaned loudly as the familiar ache of being Akane's personal punching bag filled her body.

Ryoga made a similar noise as he started to move. 'You should try being in the same bed as her.'

'Not the time to be bringing that up, you ass,' the red head hissed.

The two young martial artists untangled themselves, wincing gingerly as they pulled themselves into a sitting position. Their blood turned to ice when they found themselves staring up Akane, the young woman standing over them, patting the mallet's handle against her other hand. There was no mistaking the dark stormy look that raged across her eyes and the barely contained rage that trembled her entire body.

Ranma smiled with fear induced nervousness. 'H….hey Akane….. s'up?'

If it was at all possible the girl's aura of rage intensified a thousand fold.

'What's up? What's up!?' Akane screeched as her voice rose several levels higher, both of them wincing noticeably. 'What do you think is up!? How long have you known Ryoga was P-chan for? How long have you been lying to me?'

'It wasn't like that,' Ranma replied with a weary sigh as they climbed to their feet. 'We were go-'

'How long!' the other girl demanded shrilly.

Ranma's shoulders sagged. 'Since he first arrived in Nerima.'

The silence that followed was thick and heavy with tension as Akane stared at them in disbelief, her whole body quivering with fury; the look of betrayal in her eyes though hurt worse than the hit the both of them had just taken. All you could hear for the longest moment was the three of them breathing and the sounds of the night all around them as they stood there.

'Akane,' Ryoga finally broke the silence. 'I'm so sorr-'

With an almighty scream Akane smashed the mallet down in front of them with so much force that the hammer head embedded itself in the ground, the handle snapping at the head. Both Ranma and Ryoga jumped back in alarm. Before either of them had a chance to react she had turned away, before stopping and glancing back over her shoulder, her eyes hidden behind locks of dark hair that cast dark shadows over them…..

'I don't want anything, to do with either of you, ever again!'

And then she stormed off into the night.

Ryoga in all his infinite, inherent good heatedness went to go after her, only for Ranma grab his wrist and stop him. He looked at her in surprise, but she just shook her head sadly with a heavy heave of her shoulders.

'Let her cool down, we'll only make things worse if we push her now,' she told him with forced calmness. 'we've done enough damage already…'

-oOo-

But she didn't cool down.

A few days had passed, with the excruciating slowness of watching paint dry and it didn't seem like anything was going to change any time soon. Ranma stared gloomily at the deceptively beautiful sky and the drifting clouds. The red head leant against the railing, her chin resting on her crossed arms and listening to the myriad of thoughts stirring up trouble in her head. It had been three days and she had been sure that if she gave her ex-fiancée some space and time they would start talking again, but Akane barely so much as acknowledged her existence, let alone talked to her. And who could blame her? She had just found out that for nearly two years she had been lied to by two of the people she had trusted the most. If she had been in Akane's shoes she would have been pissed too, Ranma thought…

….Granted she didn't think it was entirely hers and Ryoga's fault though. How many things had Akane blatantly ignored since P-chan had come into her life? Hell, Ranma knew she shouldn't feel as guilty as she should have, given all the times she had tried to make Akane see the truth, but at the end of the day she hadn't really tried, not really…. so she wasn't sure she could take the highroad this time….

No, they were all to blame.

Ranma sighed slightly, letting bright azure eyes drift to the students below having lunch. The red head was back on the shit list of most of the female student body after news had spread rapidly - as it aggravatingly did - around the school about the secret she had been keeping from Akane; though to be fair she wasn't entirely sure if most of that anger was directed at her for keeping the secret… or at Ryoga, who most of them had all fawned over more than once when he had hidden from her in the girls locker room during any one of their numerous fights.

Whichever it was, they were pissed at her and Ryoga was too terrified to step one foot inside the school; not that she couldn't fault him for that….

Somehow her mother had managed to be both sympathetic and unsympathetic at the same time when she told her what happened with Akane. In the end her mother had simply assured her that she needed to give Akane time and that she had done the right thing by not going after her given Akane's temperament and would have only made things worse if she had. That didn't really make Ranma feel all that much better though. Her mother had changed the subject soon after though and wanted to know how the date with Ryoga had gone before the encounter with Akane.

Thinking about the date brought a smile to her face, in spite of the rather spectacularly bad twist the end of their evening had taken. Having a couple of days to take it all in, to digest the memories of the day and night and the fun they'd had, she was surprised to find that not one part of her regretted it. Yeah it was still strange and she didn't think anything could change that, but it seemed to matter less and less the more she thought about it, and even the current problem with Akane couldn't put a damper on that… well not entirely.

'So this is where you got to.'

Ranma sighed wearily as Nabiki joined her at the railing. 'I'm not really all that welcomed down there at the moment. Sure you should be up here? If Akane finds out she'll probably have a fit.'

Nabiki waved her hand dismissively with an air of indifference about her. 'Please, she's already plenty mad at me at the moment, but we live in the same house so she can't give me the cold shoulder forever.'

Ranma cocked an eyebrow at her. 'I'm sorry, I thought we were talking about Akane?'

'Granted, I've never seen her this pissed before,' Nabiki replied thoughtfully. 'But, I know my sister better than she thinks. As mad as she is at father and me, she won't stay mad at us forever. She'll grudgingly forgive us in time or Kasumi will sort her out, whichever comes first.'

'She's not mad at Kasumi?' the red head asked in surprised, and this time it was Nabiki's turn to look at her like an idiot. Ranma snorted. 'Yeah, stupid question. It impossible to be mad at her.'

'So what are you going to do to fix this?' the middle sister asked finally, her attention once more returned to the people below.

Ranma frowned, more from frustration than anything else. 'I really don't know Nabiki. I knew this would happen eventually I just never thought about what to do after it happened. I didn't want it to end up like this though, not after everything we've been through.'

'Well what did you think was going to happen?' the other girl asked, a hint of exasperation in her otherwise calm and collected tone. 'Did you really think Akane was going to reaction rationally to finding out you let a teenage boy not only sleep in her bed for close to two years and who she changed in front of frequently?'

'I know, ok?' Ranma snapped, turning and sitting down with her back to the safety fence that ran along the edge of the school roof. 'It was stupid and if I could go back and change it I would but I can't and I don't know what I'm supposed to do to fix it. She won't let me apologize and quite frankly this is just as much her fault as it is mine. You know I tried to tell her the truth a heap of times and she just wouldn't listen. She's so stubborn and pig headed.'

'And here I was thinking that was what made you both a perfect couple,' Nabiki smirked.

'Ha, ha,' Ranma grumbled sourly. 'How do I fix this?'

Nabiki shrugged detachedly. 'You might have to accept that this may well be something you can't fix…'

The silence that followed was heavy as Ranma stared up at the older girl in shocked. The feeling of dread she'd had in her stomach since the other night suddenly felt all the more powerful, tightening like a coiled snake. Nabiki had voiced the thing Ranma hadn't wanted to voice herself, let alone think about. Truth was that Nabiki was right; this might not be something she could fix if Akane wouldn't let her.

'Suppose you're pissed about losing the extra income?' Ranma asked finally.

Nabiki frowned as she looked down at her. 'What extra income?'

'From extorting money out of Ryoga to keep his secret,' the red head explained off handedly.

Nabiki blinked blankly at her for a couple of seconds, before her face suddenly paled and her eyes widened dramatically in horror. Realization quickly dawned upon the red head as she exploded with laughter at the look on the girl's face.

'You never?' Ranma asked in disbelief. 'This whole time?'

When Nabiki didn't respond straight away but instead continued to stare straight ahead like a stunned fish gasping for breath, Ranma couldn't help but burst into another fit of uncontrollable laughter that echoed across the roof, clutching at her stomach as she threw her head back and basked in the glory of seeing the other girl at a loss for words for once.

Karma really was a bitch!

-oOo-

It had already been close to a week since she discovered the truth, and Akane was still seething white hot rage under the frosty facade she built around herself, as she made her way to school. Nearly a week and every time it crossed her mind felt like a fresh punch to the guts all over again, like she was watching that perverted son of a bitch transform into her beloved pet pig right in front of an unsurprised Ranma for the first time over and over again. Just thinking about it made her bristle with fury. The fact that everyone closest to her knew made it so much worse.

Her father, her sisters, Mr. Saotome, Mrs. Saotome, Ukyo, Shampoo... And Ranma... They all knew and they said nothing; they all knew and still they let her think that "P-chan" was nothing more than a normal pig!

With a furious snarl she punched the nearest telegraph pole she could find, her fist leaving a splintered blasted in mess of a hole that ran half way through. It was only with what tattered remains of her self control that remained that she didn't knock the whole thing down.

How could they not tell her!?

Akane grounded her teeth angrily as she stared at the splinted hole in front of her for the longest time, before taking a deep calming breath to try an center herself; it didn't help, not really. she still wanted to break everything insight until there wasn't a scrap of anger left inside her. Sometimes her tempered scared even her - not that she cared to admit that to anyone - and she knew that one day it was probably going to get her into trouble if she didn't find away to conquer it. Kasumi had tried to warn her so many times over the years, especially when their father had started training her and it failed to cool her hair trigger fuse. Right at that moment though it would have been so easy to let it take her. It took a great deal of effort not to give into it though.

It would have been too easy.

'Well, I suppose the pole had it coming...'

Akane's jaw clenched as ther corners of her eyes tightened with volatile anger. Slowly, she turned around to glare coldly at the red head perched atop the chain link fence as though it was the most normal thing in the world. Like that the weak hold she had on her anger snapped and it all came flooding back more powerful than ever, regardless of the great deal of effort it took not to punch the red head in the face as she leapt down to the street.

'Hi, Akane...' Ranma added hesitantly, shifting awkwardly.

Akane turned away sharply. 'I don't want anything to do with you.'

'Oh come on Akane,' Ranma pleaded. 'Please, just give me a chance to explain.'

'Explain what!?' she spun with such a furious screech that the red head back away a couple of steps before she even noticed what she was doing. 'You don't get it do you? You lied to me! You let me make a fool of myself for nearly two years and for what!? Did you think it was funny? I bet you and Ryoga had a good laugh about it behind my back!'

Ranma shook her head rapidly. 'No it wasn't like that I swear.'

Akane snorted in disgust. 'Yeah right. Like I'm going to believe that. You're nothing but a two faced lying rat. You never even tried!'

And like that, Ranma's expression suddenly shifted from one of contrite to frustrated annoyance, her face turn a shade of angry scarlet.

'I did tell you damn it!' the red head snarled with such anger that Akane felt herself flinch. If Ranma noticed though she didn't react to it as she threw her hands into the air. 'For crying out loud, I tried over and over again to tell you the truth but you never wanted to hear it. I tried to drop hints, I tried to be subtle, I even told you flat out who P-chan was but every time you turned up your nose at me and told me I was just jealous, of a pig! Do you remember that Akane!? Do you remember all those times me and "P-chan" fought? Huh!? Did your seriously think I would lower myself to attacking an animal without a damn good reason? And what about his bandana huh? Didn't it ever seem strange that P-chan and Ryoga wore the exact same one!? Of course it didn't because apparently in the little world you live in everything revolves around you and to hell with what everyone else says or do! If you had stopped and listened any one of a thousand or more times even your pea brain would have figured it all out!'

'Pea brain!?' Akane bristled in disbelieving rage. 'If I'm so stupid then why didn't you just pour hot water on him then!? Was that so hard?'

'I tried!' Ranma screeched with growing exasperation. 'You always protected him and then called me a bully, you twit! Do you honestly think I wanted to deceive you?!'

'Well why not!? You did the first time we met,' the other girl pointed out. 'You were too much of a coward to tell me the truth then to.'

'That was completely different and you know it!' the red head replied accusingly.

'Just admit it,' Akane continued, ignoring her ex. 'You knowingly lied to me and now you're too much of a coward to accept responsibility for it.'

'Do you even hear yourself?' Ranma demanded. 'I said I was sorry but that wasn't good for little miss perfect now was it! Well I'm done. If you're too pig headed to see reason then I give up. I'm not going to stand here and let you accuse me of something that wasn't all mine and Ryoga's fault.'

Akane could feel the rage boiling away inside her like a pot about to blow its lid. She wanted to reach out and smack the red head with all her strength; it was only the knowledge that if Ranma wanted to she would stop her without breaking a sweat. So instead she stood there trembling and grinding her teeth in furious silence, meeting the other girl's fed up glare.

'Fine!' she finally snapped. 'Just leave me alone! You two perverts do deserve each other!'

The silence that followed was so powerful that even a pin dropping would have sounded like clattering thunder, as Ranma stared at her in shock. Akane stared back smirking triumphantly at finally putting the red head in her place, as the red head lowered her head so that her fringe cloaked her eyes in shadows, her arms hanging limb at her sides like they were being dragged down by a massive weight.

'So that's what you really think about us?' Ranma asked softly, her voice devoid of emotion, but at the same time filled with overwhelming hurt and betrayal. 'So you did have a problem with us being together…'

Akane's feeling of triumphant was forgotten immediately as she blinked blankly at the red head, studying the heavy, almost ominous air around her, wondering what she was talking about; and then, suddenly she heard her own words replay through her head and her eyes widened in shock as she realized how that must have sounded to the insecure girl.

Ranma snorted angrily. 'Of course you would. You thought I was nothing but a pervert from the first moment you found out about my curse, so you must think I'm a real freak now!'

'No, of course that's not what I meant!' Akane frowned as she replied rapidly; as angry as she was she still didn't want Ranma misunderstanding her about that. 'I meant th-'

'Save it,' Ranma hissed, cutting her off sharply. 'I'm done taking crap from you and having to suffer your pathetic melt downs whenever something happens you don't like…... You want me to leave you alone, fine!'

The dark haired girl watched as the red head spun away and started to walk off, too shocked to speak; at first at least.

'I wish I had never met you Ranma Saotome!' Akane finally snapped.

Ranma stopped and gave her a dirty look. 'The feeling is mutual!'

Both girls glared at each other for the longest time, everything seeming to freeze around them in a cold tense silence, before whipping their attention away in a huff and storming off in different directions.

-oOo-

The rhythmic scratching taps of the chalk against the black board was the only sound to break the otherwise ominously quiet class room, save for ramblings of the pint size Miss Hinako, who was naturally oblivious to anything amiss. The students however weren't that ignorant as they stole curious but hesitant glances at the two young women that seemed overly intent of making a point of ignoring one another. From the moment they had walked into class, it was obvious to everyone that something bad had gone down between two fo them. They had a good idea what that was probably about, but where Ranma had been eager to talk to her ex, now she seemed just as furious as Akane had been for days,

Since the start of class they had grudgingly sat next to one another and the looks that had passed between them like the opening salvo's on a war sub had been disturbingly cold. They had all seen the two of them argue and fight with one another before, but there had never been any malicious bite or sting to back up their insults with their feelings for each other - despite their insistent protests to the contrary - being painfully clear. This time however… this time something altogether different.

It seemed like an impossibly huge chasm had torn open between them, and it was only getting bigger…

Out of the corner of her eye, Ranma glanced over absently and frowned as she caught sight of Akane idly writing in the margin of her notebook. She had written jerk with a couple of exclamation next to it, the letters blocky and dark where they had been shaded in with the pencil. When she looked up, she realized Akane had caught her looking and smirked smugly. The red head bristled, grounding her teeth in annoyance.

Two could play at that game!

Ranma turned back to her own notebook and started scribbling furiously, causing Akane to frown suspiciously. Several minutes ticked by as the red head worked the paper with her pencil, but her arm hid whatever she was doing even when she occasionally glanced up to see if she was still looking.

Finally she sat back and held the note book up, revealing a crude scribbling little better than a small child's that vaguely resembled Akane; the only difference was that the Akane on the paper had exaggeratedly thick legs, and the words scrawled beneath it, gorilla thighs.

Ranma returned the smirk with a triumphant gleam to her eyes.

Without warning Akane struck the red head square in the face with her close note book with a resounding crack that drew the attention of everyone in the room; including Miss Hinako, who glared furiously - albeit it hilariously in her child form - at them both with puffed out cheeks.

Both girls found themselves standing in the hallway not long after with a bucket of water in each hand, and scowling angrily in icy silence at the wall opposite them…..

Till Akane hissed. 'This is all your fault!'

'My fault?!' Ranma demanded in outrage. 'You're the one acting like a stuck up gorilla! This is your fault!'

'Why you little brat!'

And like that their bickering argument started to rise in volume till almost everyone could hear them, as they slung insults back and forth….

-oOo-

Ryoga watched from the side as Ranma attacked the punching bag with barely contained frustration. Sweat beaded on her forehead, glistening like the stars in the night sky, before trickling down the side of her face, running down her neck to collect along her collar bones and between her breasts. The muscles in her slender and deceptively delicate looking arms and shoulders and her neck shifted with ever so slight movements beneath her skin as she danced around the object in a black, almost form fitting tank top and black slacks; hardly anyone would have expected that such arms were capable of pulverizing concrete if she was so inclined. It was almost hypnotizing watching the way she moved, something he had always been aware of before but had never allowed himself to pay close attention to knowing who she was, but things were different now. Now he never wanted to stop watching the way she moved, the way her misleadingly small form could turn everything she did into graceful dance; even if she wasn't aware of what she was doing half the time.

He had to stop himself from smirking and shaking his head helplessly; at the back of his mind he wondered if Ranma was aware of just how incredible she was. Even when she was furious she was still so beautiful. Her pigtail whipped behind her with every duck and weave she made around the pendulous bag of sand, striking out with punches so fast he barely saw them before her fists made loud thumps against the bag that caused the canvas to ripple like water from the impact. Suddenly she would shift from her hands to her feet, her legs cleaving arcs through the air as she flipped and somersaulted in mid air, twisting in ways no normal person could ever hope to as her feet made contact with the bag and used it as purchase to flip away from it again.

'You can't really be mad at Akane,' he said finally.

Ranma gave the punching bag an extra strong hit and grunted. 'Watch me.'

'Well you can't blame her for being mad,' Ryoga sighed. 'This is our fault.'

'I'm not mad because she's mad at us!' the red head hissed, ducking away from the bag as it swung back at her and struck it with a round house kick. 'I'm pissed, because she's nothing but a spoilt brat and a hypocritical, self absorbed bitch!' What did you ever see in her?' she demanded as she stopped suddenly and looked over at him.

Ryoga gave her a flat look; he wasn't the sharpest tool around, but he wasn't stupid enough to answer that question. 'What did you?'

Save for the creaking of the punching bag swinging on the metal hook, the dojo was suddenly very quiet as the red head's cheeks colored slightly in awkwardness. Without responding, she returned to beating the crap out of the punching bag.

Ryoga though sighed softly. 'This is all my fault. I know. I shouldn't have let this charade go on for as long as it did. You we were right at the ski resort when you said about telling her. I should have listened.'

'I don't care anymore, Ryoga!' she snapped with exasperation. 'Akane can do whatever the hell she wants from now. I'm done with being her go to person that she places all the blame on. If she wants to be the center of her own precious little universe, fine, but I am done! She wants nothing do with us then fine, I don't want anything to do with her anymore either.'

'You don't mean that,' he replied certainly.

'The hell I don't,' she hissed. 'I tried to tell her the truth so many times in so many ways and she threw it back in my face every time and now she's acting like it was some big master plan of mine to make a fool out of her. If that's all she thinks of me after all this time, after everything we've been through than fine, I don't want her as a friend.'

But it was obvious even to him how big a load of crap that was. In the past it had hurt so much to see how close Ranma and Akane were, how much they cared about one another when all he had ever wanted was Akane to look at him the same way she had with Ranma all the while knowing the only way he could ever be close to her was if he kept on playing the part of P-chan. Ranma could rave on and on all she wanted about how she didn't care or how she didn't want anything to do with Akane, but he could see the hurt in her eyes, the pain that motivated such obvious attempts to convince herself that was what she really wanted; but, the truth was that she did care, she cared so much that it hurt.

Try as she might to pretend otherwise, there was just no hiding it. It was one of the things he was finding more and more attractive about her. His shoulders sagged heavily; he just wished that he wasn't the cause of the hurt she was feeling…

'I'm sor-'

'Don't!' Ranma cut him off sharply as she stopped the punching bag abruptly, not meanly but with enough bite behind her tone to silence him. She touched her forehead against the canvas, letting the silence drift between them. '…Just don't, ok? It's done. She's made her choice and so have I…'

With one final punch born of frustration she sent the punching bag swinging back and forth in long arcs, before stalking out of the training hall in irritation.

Leaving Ryoga sitting there, deep in thought…

-oOo-

Try as she might to put everything out of her mind, Akane was still seething angrily as she walked home. She wanted to stop thinking about Ranma and Ryoga and all their lies; she didn't want to think about them anymore but every time she tried not to the image of him changing from a boy into a pig popped back into her mind and the anger started all over again, compounded by Ranma's juvenile behavior and the knowledge that she had been so stupidly blind this whole time. Even worse was that as much as she hated her for it, Ranma was right; the red head had tried to tell her many times who P-chan was but she had never listened.

And why should she?

Ranma hadn't exactly done herself any favors by acting like an irrational jealous jerk every ten seconds whenever "P-chan" was around. What was she suppose to think and why would she willingly let anyone pour boiling hot water over what she naturally assumed was a poor defenseless and innocent animal? She certainly hadn't expected Ryoga of being so underhanded as to trick her the way he had. No, Ranma may have been right about trying to tell her, but it still didn't make any of it right! This was their fault, not hers!' And if Ranma wanted to try and make her out to be the bad guy by putting words in her mouth than that was her problem and she refused to let the red head get to her.

If Ranma wasn't such a pig headed fool, she wouldn't have misunderstood what she had meant. It was just another way for the coward to try and wriggle out of taking responsibility for her actions. Why her father had wanted their family to join with the Saotome's in the first place was beyond her; Ranma was just as bad as her own father and they were better off without them as far as she was concerned!

….

…So why did it hurt so much to feel so angry with her?

Grounding her teeth in frustration she tried to push it to the back of her mind and forged on towards home, confident that a session of brick breaking was what she needed to vent the bubbling lake of anger inside her.

So focused on ignoring all the tormenting thoughts storming through her mind, she almost didn't see him when she rounded the corner to her street. Ryoga was sitting cross legged next to the front gate of her house, his expression equal measures serious and contrite as he turned and looked up to see her standing there. Immediately angry waves of betrayal and fury crashed through her.

'You've got some nerve showing your face around here!' she growled.

Ryoga climbed to his feet quickly. 'I know and I'm not here to justify what I did or ask for your forgiveness. I know that I can't ever make up for what I did, but that's not what I wanna talk to you about.'

'I have nothing I want to talk to you about Ryoga Hibiki,' Akane glowered darkly as she walked past him.

'Akane please, I just wanna talk about what's going on between you and Ranma.'

She whirled on him, her voice as icy as her glare. 'Anything that's going on between me and her is none of your business!'

'Well unfortunately it is my business since this all started because of me!' he replied with just a hint of frustration.

She jabbed him in the shoulder with finger. 'That's exactly why you should mind your own business and do what you do best Ryoga. Get lost!'

Ryoga winced under the verbal lashing, but he didn't back down.

'Look, I know your mad with us. You have every right to be, especially with me and I don't expect you'll ever be able to look at me the same way ever again and I deserve that. I broke your trust and believe me, I'm always going to regret that,' he explained softly with sagging shoulders, and his head hung low, but when he looked up to meet her gaze there was almost a pleading look in his eyes. 'But Ranma didn't keep the truth from you to hurt you or because she thought it was funny. She kept the secret because she had given her word, on her honor that she wouldn't reveal my secret and it was probably that more than anything that stopped her from really going out of her way to reveal it to you.'

Akane wanted to howl in exasperation; when were they going to get it!?

'That didn't give you the right to trick me!' she all but screamed, stamping her foot angrily. 'Don't you get that? You didn't just break my trust Ryoga you invaded my privacy and Ranma let you! You have no right to defend her! If you had told me from the beginning who you were I wouldn't have cared but you didn't! I would have been a little embarrassed, but that I would have gotten over! What could have possibly been so damn important that you would keep your real identity a secret from me all this time?'

Ryoga sighed.

'I don't think I can really make you understand,' he admitted sadly. 'Unlike Ranma who pretended to be ashamed and hateful of her curse, I still am. I always will be and when we first met, when you first found me as P-chan I hated myself and my curse more than I ever had, and despite all her teasing, Ranma knew that and was trying to protect me…'

Akane hissed. 'I used to change in front of you!'

'I never watched!' Ryoga replied quickly in a panic. 'I always had my eyes closed or looked away, but I never watched, I swear.'

'You used to come into the girls locker room!' she pointed out in disbelief.

Ryoga's face turned bright red. 'That was usually by accident when I was trying to get away from Ranma. I never meant for that to happen and I left as soon as I could. I'm sorry that it ever went as far as it did and I wish I could go back to the night you found me in the rain and tell you the truth there and then, but I can't.'

'You're only saying that now because you got caught,' she huffed. 'If you truly felt that way you wouldn't have lied about it for so long.'

Ryoga lowered his gaze as an almost haunted look filled his eyes, a heavy sigh heaving and dropping his shoulders like they were burdened with a ton of weight.

'You have no idea, just how lonely my existence has been Akane. With my sense of direction,' he replied with a quiet tone filled with emotion. 'For so long the only thing that kept me going was my need to find Ranma and make him pay for running out on our fight and then I blamed him for my curse, never knowing just how responsible Ranma was. Before that night, when you found me in the rain, I had forgotten what it was like to feel loved in any way or form, to have friends that cared about me. I was so much closer to being an animal than a person thanks to my curse. There were days sometimes when I'd be stuck in that accursed form, no hot water to change back into because I'd be trapped wondering aimlessly through some damn forest or jungle or what not with no way of starting a fire to boil water anyway. Sometimes I would end up living with wild boars and believe me, that's not nearly as fun as it sounds. You don't know what it was like.'

Akane gave him a cold hard look, but she couldn't denied that even as mad as she was she couldn't but feel - however grudgingly - sorry for him. He was right; she couldn't even begin to imagine what it was like to live that way.

'And then I met you,' Ryoga added, staring her straight in the eye. 'And you took me in, even if you didn't know it was me out of pure unselfish kindness and concern. I had forgotten what it was like to have friends. I had forgotten that people were even capable of being so generous and compassionate and as much as I wanted to tell you the truth, I was terrified. Not that you would try to kill me or anything like that. I was terrified of being alone again, of having nothing but my anger to fuel me. You saved me Akane…'

He trailed off, giving her a moment to digest his words. Although her expression remained unflinchingly cold as she continued to glare, determined not to give him the benefit of getting a reaction out of her. When it became obvious that she wasn't going to say anything he continued.

'I know I can't make up for the damage my fear has caused, but I do know that as furious and hurt as you are feeling, you don't really want to throw away your friendship with Ranma… and I know that as angry and hurt as Ranma is at the moment, and as much as she pretends otherwise she doesn't want that either. I know a lot has changed recently but I think a part of Ranma is always going to love you no matter what you think of her or how much she tries to convince herself she doesn't care anymore. So if you have to hate someone, hate me but please don't think that Ranma did this to hurt you…'

The silence that followed was thick with tense emotion as he stared, watching and waiting for her to say something. Akane didn't let the hard look slip from her face, wearing it like a mask to hide the fact that his words had shook her. Honestly as much as she hated him at the moment, her heart went out to him trying imagine what it was like to live the way he had described. But, she pushed aside the feelings of sympathy she felt, but it did little to cool her anger. She was so furious with them both, humiliated and hurt; she just wanted to pummel them into a bloody mess for doing this to her, and now Ryoga had the nerve to stand there and try to take the high road. As far as Akane was concerned she would have been well within her right to smack him stupid or yell at him some more... but, she didn't.

As much as she didn't want to admit it though, he was right. She didn't want to throw away her friendship with Ranma, not when they were finally starting to act like civilized human beings with one another, but she was just so angry with them that she couldn't dismiss her feelings so readily and forgive and forget; she wasn't sure she could ever trust either of them ever again for this.

And that hurt; she thought of all people, aside from her own family that she could trust Ranma and Ryoga the most and now they had both betrayed her... And over what? A warrior's oath?

A promise made on the honor of a martial artist...

At the back of her mind she couldn't help but sigh. Here she was judging Ranma for keeping this from her, but if she had been the one to make the same kind of promise she would have been serious about keeping it too or else her word of honor wouldn't have meant diddly squat...

That didn't make what they did right though!

She wanted to howl in frustration; she was so frustrated!

On one hand she was outraged that this had gone for as long as it had and despite his claims to the contrary she was certain the pervert had watched her change more than once; but, on the other hand she was a martial artist too and if the secret was kept from her because of a promise made on the honor of another martial artist she was bound by her love and respect of the art to honor that as well.

Why couldn't things ever be simple?

'Look Ryoga, I kn-'

Before she could finish, a warning look flashed across the young man's eyes as his entire body tensed. Without warning he pulled her out of the way as his free hand whipped up and snatched something out of mid air. It was only a blur of movement at first before Akane's eyes as she stare in shock at his out stretched hand, but when it stopped wrapping around his fist she recognized the length of rope with two weighted ends. It was a bola.

'What in the world?" she exclaimed in surprise.

Ryoga growled angrily as his eyes flicked back and forth over the street and roof tops all around them. 'Show yourselves you cowards!'

Everything around them was deadly silent as his demand thundered across the area. Akane freed herself from his protective grip, feeling the hairs on the back of her neck stand with unease as she turned on the spot several times, the muscles throughout her body tensing and her fingers curling her hands into fists. Then, all of a suddenly they started to appear. Cloaked individuals that leapt from roof tops and emerged from behind walls and the ends of the street. There was at least a dozen of them and, hostility wafting off them like cheap perfume. From the way they carried themselves, Akane was certain they were all men.

Ryoga smirked darkly. 'And here I was thinking it had been too quiet lately.'

Before Akane had the chance to ask what was going on, the strangers charged with a coordinated attack. The bulk of them went straight for Ryoga, forcing him away, while the small few left turned their attention to her, smug and arrogant airs of over confident superiority gathering around them.

Akane hissed through clenched teeth, her furious igniting like a wild fire. 'You picked the wrong day to mess with me!'

The dark haired girl leapt at them like a wild animal, swinging her book bag in a wide arc that caught one of the men in the side of the face and sent him flying back. The other men rushed her, realizing too late that she was no helpless child. Akane side stepped one of them as he reached out to grab her, and trapped his offending arm in her grip and brutally heaved him over her shoulder and slammed him into the ground like a rag doll. Another attacker grabbed her from behind, hoisting her off her feet with a enraged snarl; Akane snapped her head back, wincing at the pain that spiked through her skull but smiling with satisfaction at the sound of his nose crunching from the attack and the cry that escaped his lips. With a brutal swing her foot flew up between his legs, eliciting a blood curdling scream as her let go. Akane whirled around and brought her book bag crashing into the side of his head and knocked him clean off his feet.

She turned as the other two that were left came at her at the same time, heedless of their comrade's fates but no longer treating her like they would a normal girl. Akane expertly skipped backwards, skillfully dodging and avoiding their punches and kicks almost as if she were gliding on air. It seemed like forever since the fight against the Preservation Society when they had gone to rescue Ranma, but it was like riding a bike.

'Not so fast missy!'

Akane eyes widened with surprise as the first man she had slammed into the ground was back on his feet and closing on her from behind. Without warning she came to an abrupt stop and ducked as the man in front of her threw wild round house kick that pass clear over her head. As she straightened she slammed her elbow into the man's gut coming at her from behind, knocking the wind out of him before whirling around in crouch and springing up to smash her open palm into the underside of his chin lifting off the ground and depositing him on his back. She had little time to appreciate the knock out, dodging back as one of the other two leapt forward, straight into the path of her knee as it came racing up and slammed into his stomach, before driving her cupped fists into the middle of his back and sending him crashing to the ground, his eyes rolling into the back of his head.

Akane turned a withering glare of ice cold fury upon the last remaining man, who stopped and stared, first at his fallen friends and then warily back at her. She stared unblinking at him, almost daring him to attack as she took a menacing step forward that he matched moving back, suddenly very unsure of himself. When she took another step what remained of his courage fled and he suddenly turned and ran, only to run straight into the path of a flying body as Ryoga easily sent one of his attackers sailing through the air, both men going down in a tangle of limbs.

She turned to watch him making short work of the goons surrounding him. Unlike with her they certainly weren't underestimating him. That did little to help them though. Ryoga was mowing through them without breaking a sweat. They weren't amateurs, they knew what they were doing and their attacks were precise and calculated, but they were still far from Ryoga's caliber. He easily threw them around like rag dolls; he didn't even need to block their attacks. Their kicks and punches bounced off his incredibly durable hide like they were attacking a wall of solid rock. The fight, if it could be called that didn't last long, the young making short work of his attackers with a cold impassive glare till there was only one left.

The man jumped as Ryoga suddenly turned his dark glare upon him. Realizing he was in trouble the man turn to flee, but Akane was quicker. She blocked his path, glaring in annoyance. She never liked being attacked at random by a bunch of lackeys, although it was surprising she hadn't gotten used to it by now.

'Where do you think you're going?' Ryoga demanded, clamping a hand on the man's shoulder and slamming into a wall, growling dangerously as he reached up to the man's hood. 'Now you're gonna tell me what that was all about it!'

With that Ryoga yanked the hood back, and with a sharp hissing gasp he staggered back a few steps. Akane blinked in confusion as she watched him, watched the flicker of recognition that shot across his eyes.

'You know him?' she asked in surprise. "ACK!"

Ryoga suddenly snatched her up in his arms and took to the roof tops with a hop and a bound before she had time to scream or protest.

'Ryoga what are you doing!? Put me down this instant!' she screeched.

'I need your help Akane!' he snapped. 'Ranma's in danger!'

-oOo-

The sky was just starting to darken as the sun started it's decent when Ranma made her way to the training hall, savoring the refreshing coolness of the late afternoon breeze against her bare arms, still wearing the black tank top and pants she had been earlier. It had been a long day and having Ryoga poking at the hornets' nest that was her tattered relationship with Akane; she knew he meant well but she didn't need him being the voice of reason, although she knew she was going to have to apologize for snapping at him the way she did. He was only trying to help she reminded herself. Right now though, after all this crap with Akane what she needed most was a good workout to loosen the tension in her shoulders.

Even thinking about her made her frown, and tauntingly stoked her irritation like a camp fire and left her feeling all pissy again and grinding her teeth. If Akane wanted to throw away everything they had been through over this then that was her problem. As far as Ranma was concerned she had said she was sorry and she had meant it, she really had and if that wasn't good enough for Akane well too bad.

Ranma sighed as she stopped and leant lightly against the doors to the dojo; despite the fact that fighting with Akane like this hurt like hell and she didn't like it, and she a more reasonable part of her brain was willingly to bet that deep down Akane felt the same way but whenever she tried to put her anger aside she found herself thinking about what Akane had said, her poor choice of words. Ranma knew that wasn't what she meant when she had called them perverts deserving each other, but all the same it struck a chord in the red head that she couldn't easily dismiss and it ticked her off like nothing else in a way she couldn't control.

With a deep breath she pushed it to the back of her mind and slid the doors open with a weary push; she strolled into the dojo, ready to vent her anger out on some defenseless punching bags and training dummies and, if only for a short while rid herself of some tension she was feeling.

She would deal with everything else later.

Ranma was almost to the middle of the room when she stopped abruptly in the strip of light streaming through the open doors, a sudden wash of uneasiness passed over her as the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. The cold silence that surrounded her was ominously oppressive and hostile, sending an involuntary shiver through her.

'Believe me when I say I've had a really bad few days and I am in no mood for this bullshit!' she growled dangerously. 'I know you're there and I will just as happily take my anger out of your ass instead of the punching bags if you don't show yourself right now!'

Silence followed her tirade as she glared into the darkness around her. A floor board suddenly creaked at the back of the dojo and she snapped her eyes around with lightning reflexes, the uneasiness she was feeling increasing rapidly. In the shadows before her she glimpsed movement as every muscles throughout her body tightened wearily at the hostility bearing down on her.

She frowned darkly. 'I said, show yo-"

Without warning a great mass rushed out of the shadows and smashed into her. The tiny red head was lifted off her feet with a cry of surprise and sent her flying backwards, before a hand snapped out and clamped around her ankle in mid air. All of a sudden the world spun around her as she was whipped around and set sailing through the air. She screamed as she smashed through the wall above the door and crashed bodily into the hard packed ground outside.

Ranma groaned, wincing as she struggled to her feet, dazed and unsteady as she tried to balance herself; she felt like she had been hit by a truck.

Heavy footsteps echoed forth from the dojo and grabbing her attention. She glared up at the entrance as the figure emerged from the darkness, the shadows sliding away like black water and came to a stop at the top of the stairs with massive arms folded in front of him.

Ranma's eyed widened and her face paled…

…. before narrowing with a feral snarl of hatred.

'You!' she roared. 'You're supposed to be dead!'

The Guardian sneered.

'It is time to pay for your crimes, Ranma Saotome!'

…..

…..

To Be Continued…..

-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-

A/N: DUN DUN DUN!

The Guardian of the Jewel has returned!

Bet you didn't see that one coming?

I've been looking forward to this for a long time, since I first came up with the idea of TR back when it was a measly five chapter story, so this has been a long time coming. No doubt there are questions, but you're just gonna have to read the next chapter for those answers. Hehehehehe -insert evil grin here-

Have to admit though, I sorta struggled with how to start the chapter. I wanted to do a prologue eluding to the confrontation at the end but I just couldn't figure out how to do it. Everything I tried looked stupid, so I hope the chapter worked without it.

As for the rest… writing Akane finding out Ryoga's secret is always a hard task because there's so much expectation. Whenever I read stories where it does happen, its usually one sided with Akane being demonized all to hell, focusing more on her rage than anything else. I don't particularly agree with that characterization so I tried to focus more on her hurt so I hope that came across. It's hard not make her come off as irrational and unreasonable. I personally see both sides of the fence where Akane discovering Ryoga's secret is concerned. I can understand why she would be super pissed with them both, but at the same time she only has herself to blame.

Nabiki's misfortune didn't occur to me until I was writing the scene.

As for Ranma's misunderstanding Akane's meaning, well the way I figure it Akane gets to misunderstand everyone else and get away with it so I thought it was about time she got a taste of her own medicine. That aside, Ranma's still dealing with all the changes in her own life, everything's still raw and confusing for her and having someone call her pervert like that wouldn't help matters. Deep down she knows that's not what Akane means, but between heat of the moment and tempers running high, rational thought doesn't really come into play all that much. Even more so between two personality types like Akane and Ranma with how stubborn and hot headed they both are. Now in the manga and anime, Ranma however grudgingly usually backs down, he/she never really goes head to head with Akane in a real argument so I wanted to have her stand up to Akane's irrationalism for a change.

Anyway, with the next chapter we begin the final story arc of Tabula Rasa! The countdown is about to begin so buckle in…. its gonna be a bumpy ride. I hope to see you all around for it!

Until then…..