Nabiki was both sad and happy. She was also physically straining. Ranma was leaning on her and trying to deal with the aftermath of Ukyo's departure. Unlike previous times he had leaned on her, he was actually putting a little bit of his weight on her now. He wasn't that much larger than her, but he was much heavier with muscle than she was. Still, she was very happy that he wasn't pushing her away this time. So she just stood there with her arms around his waist as his weight pressed down on her shoulders, and breathed in his flowery-cedar scent, and waited in his warm arms until he was ready to move on. His body heat felt nice pressed against her in the cool morning air, especially since the girls' school uniform was a dress. She was happy to stay pressed up against his warmth and his silky Chinese shirt for as long as he wanted.

He lifted his head up a few moments later and leaned back from her a bit as he took his weight off her. He kept his arms around her, and looked into her eyes as he leaned back. He didn't say anything, but he didn't have to, she knew what he was going through. She dropped all of her masks and let him see in her eyes and on her face what she was feeling for him. He nodded and lay his head back down on her shoulder as he let out a long sigh. He didn't put his weight back on her though. She squeezed him tightly and tried to help him feel better. She would be just as miserable as he was if she had needed to say goodbye to Riko forever. He responded by squeezing her back just as tightly. She sighed into him. She felt guilty about it, but she was enjoying that he was in her arms and seeking comfort from her.

A moment later he flexed his arms and lifted her off her feet as he buried his face in her neck. She was glad he couldn't see her face, because she was grinning now. She thought about asking him if he was ready to move on yet, but decided to let him set the pace. When he was ready to move on, he'd let her know. She didn't have to wait long. A moment later he gently set her down and whispered to her with his face still buried in her neck. "I'm sorry."

She knew that what he was sorry about was showing weakness in front of her. She sighed inwardly at that and just reached up and stroked his hair as she smiled at him. She didn't reply directly to what he had said, because she had nothing positive to say about the warped value system his father had given him. She could help him adjust it to come into line more with normal social values, if he committed to her. It wasn't a project she could just pick up and resolve in a weekend.

He smiled nervously at her, then looked over her shoulder at the sign Ukyo had left behind. He then looked back into her eyes before he spoke. "Would it be a bad idea ... if we went to see her at her new restaurant sometime?" He asked in a small voice.

She smiled tightly at him. "What do you think?" She asked.

"Yeah ... all right." He said softly as he turned away from Ukyo's shuttered restaurant. She could tell by his body language that he wanted to get away from Ukyo's closed restaurant, and the lingering smells of her cooking, as fast as possible. He needed to move on, and she was more than happy to move on right beside him.

She stepped right next to him and held her hand out for him. He looked down at her hand and nodded as he grasped it tightly and started walking. She matched his pace easily, and they walked in a comfortable silence in the cool morning air, as they made their way to school.

As they walked, Ranma's eyes drifted over to her occasionally, but for the most part he kept his eyes moving while he scanned the tops of buildings, and every other possible ambush location for threats. She knew he was worried about the Amazons. Shampoo's warnings couldn't just be ignored, even if they had just been a ploy. She didn't think they had been, though. She had been sure that Shampoo had been sincere earlier, and Doctor Tofu had agreed. She hated to admit it, but she was afraid of the Amazons.

Based on what Akane and Ranma had told her of them, and what she had seen with her own eyes, they were dangerous. Sure, when Shampoo had been trying to woo Ranma, they had been on their best behavior. But apparently that had only been because Shampoo had managed to convince her elder that Akane was an honorary Amazon.

Now that Akane was no longer officially engaged to Ranma, and the honor of Amazon status hadn't been given to herself, things were back to how they had been when Shampoo's elder had first arrived in Japan. She remembered clearly the old woman flatly telling Daddy that Ranma's prior engagements didn't matter, and that they would just have to broken. The Amazons didn't care about any law but their own, and they were good enough to back up their bluster. Only other world-class fighters like Ranma could stand up against them.

But if Ranma is worth three or four Shampoos, or even a dozen ... what happens if they send several dozen, or a hundred? She worried as she sneaked a glance over at him. He caught her looking and smiled at her kindly as he squeezed her hand reassuringly. She knew that he was probably going out of his way to make sure that she knew that although he was upset, he wasn't upset at her. At least my little talk with him this morning got his attention. She thought with no small amount of satisfaction.

She decided to shelve her worries and just trust him. Even if the Amazons did attack with a hundred fighters, they would still have to catch him, and he was very fast. He could get her to the safety of Daddy, Mister Saotome and Doctor Tofu. Between the four of them, even a hundred Amazons would have a hard time getting to her and her sisters. She wished she was as strong as they were, so she could help fight. But she wasn't. She was not, however, without resources. And she would call them up and use them if it came to that. If it did, though, then things would have gotten much more serious than they were at the moment.

She sighed and deliberately derailed her current thought process, and decided to focus on the rest of the day. Today was the day she would be going on her date with Ranma. She had to admit that she was excited about that. Ranma had already taken Akane out, and now it was her turn. She had been dying to ask Akane how Ranma was on an official date, but obviously she couldn't do that.

She hoped that he had at least a few things up his sleeves that would be different than just hanging out with him at school. But she didn't want to get her hopes up. Hell, even if he is just the same as he always is, at least I won't have anyone else vying for his attention. And we won't be around anyone he will feel he needs to hide his feelings from, so those two things together will make the date worthwhile. She thought happily as they arrived at the school.

They made their way at an easy pace into the building their classrooms were in. They stopped in the hallway outside his classroom, across from the door, by the window. He spun to face her and held her hands loosely. She smiled at him and leaned in to his body heat and just stood there for a few moments enjoying that. On impulse she lifted herself up on her tiptoes and planted a tiny kiss right at the base of his jaw under his ear where it joined to his neck. He stiffened a bit but didn't say anything immediately. She leaned back from him and smiled softly with a twinkle in her eyes. She was feeling a bit light-headed and very devil-may-care.

"I thought we couldn't do that until the week was up?" He asked her quietly.

She grinned at him. "No, what I said was, if you want to kiss me again, you knew what you had to do. I never said anything about me kissing you." She said happily. That wasn't what she had told him the other night when her control had slipped and she had tried to lean in and kiss him for real, but she just didn't care at the moment.

"Man ... I really have to pay attention to what you say, don't I?" He asked with a hint of a laugh in his voice.

"You have no idea." She said happily as she slid her hands back so they were only grasping his fingertips.

"See you at lunch?" He asked.

"Of course. You want me to pick you up, or do you want to be gallant and pick me up today?" She said with an easy lilt in her voice.

"I'll ... I'll come get you, sure." He said with a bit of a flush creeping up the base of his neck. It amused her greatly how easy he was to embarrass.

"All right, then I'll see you then, Ranma." She said with a soft smile as she let go of his hands and moved to walk past him and continue to her classroom.

"Wait." He whispered to her urgently as she reached his side.

She looked over at him with quiet amusement. "What, forget your lunch or som— oop!" She started to say but was interrupted when he darted in and swept her up in a hug, and picked her up in the process. She found herself in his arms facing the doorway of his classroom.

Her body clenched in surprise, but that only lasted for a half a second, then she let herself melt into him as she rested her chin on the silky shirt covering his shoulder. She breathed in his subtle cedar and flower scent and smiled. It wouldn't do for him to know just how much she craved exactly what he was doing. At the moment nothing, absolutely nothing made her happier than being held by him. She was sure that if he knew that, he would get flustered and not do it as much. So she just enjoyed it and sighed with happiness.

It wasn't all that usual at all for students to show such open displays of affection for each other in Tokyo schools. Her eyes followed several passing students who eyed them with various levels of appreciation or disapproval. She didn't care. None of them would dare cross her, and they were all afraid of Ranma. She lay her head down on his shoulder and found her eyes resting on the doorway of his classroom. Akane was standing in the doorway and watching them with an unreadable expression on her face.

Her little sister was posed with her right foot in the doorway, and her shoulders turned towards the classroom. But Akane's left hand was clutching the door frame as she craned her neck to look at them. She couldn't read Akane, but if she had to assign an emotion to Akane it would have been either confusion or longing.

She sighed and buried her face in Ranma's shoulder and took her eyes off her little sister. There just wasn't anything she could do about Akane right now. Not that I have a plan for dealing with her ... at all. She reminded herself bitterly. She was officially out of time. With Shampoo and Ukyo dealt with, only Akane was left. Kodachi had never had an official claim on him, and she knew he wouldn't want to formally break things off with her. She would ask him about it just to make sure, but she seriously doubted he would want to do that. If anything that would just lend legitimacy to Kodachi's delusions. That, plus she had a feeling Kodachi wasn't going to want to be around him in the future much anyway.

Ranma set her down a few moments later and buried his face in her hair. His warm breath tickled her neck and ruffled her hair. She heard him inhale deeply and assumed he was smelling her hair. It's a good thing I washed my hair this morning. She thought to herself with a bit of her old flippancy creeping back in to her thoughts. She was finally starting to unclench from the terrible stress she had been under for the last few days. She could see the light at the end of the damn tunnel now. She just had to figure out a way for Ranma to break things off with Akane, and then it would be over. Sure, just a small thing like getting Akane to be all right with Ranma leaving her, but staying in the same house as her. No problem. And right after that I'll solve Cold Fusion for kicks. She thought sardonically to herself as Ranma stepped back and looked into her eyes.

He smiled shyly at her as he let his arms drop from around her. She could tell that turning his back on the hallway had helped his courage enormously. She filed away that little fact for possible use later.

"See you at lunch." He whispered to her as he turned slowly and walked into his classroom. She stayed rooted in place while she tried to control her body's strong response to him. He turned back once and smiled at her again as he reached the doorway. She returned the smile softly, and then he was gone.

She pulled in a shuddering breath and hurried up the hallway towards her own class as she tried to ignore the urgent signals her body was sending her to go jump on him and do things that would, for sure, get her thrown out of school. Every single student in her path rushed to quickly get out of it. News of her actions yesterday were still fresh in everyone's minds, and she was sure they didn't want to get on her bad side at the moment. She smiled at that thought.

She reached her own classroom and found Riko and Yui in their usual place by the window, drinking their morning coffee and chatting. She sighed with relief to find a safe harbor to hide in while she pulled her emotions back under control. She walked straight up to Riko and leaned her whole body up against her oldest friend and laid her head down on Riko's shoulder as she sighed mightily and closed her eyes while to tried to get her legs to stop shaking.

"Oh wow, you've got it bad, don't you, Kiki-chan?" Riko said happily as she set her coffee down in the window sill and pulled her into a side-hug.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. On an unrelated note, if you move I may fall over." She said with a repressed smile and her eyes still closed.

"Mmm hmm. Right..." Riko purred in a knowing tone. "I bet that I could take a certain item of clothing off you right now and throw it against the wall and it would sti—"

"Riko!" Yui interrupted in shock with her mouth and eyes opened wide.

"I'm just saying ... I bet our little Kiki-chan feels a bit like Monsoon season is starting early." Riko said with a grin.

"Riko! I ... I can't even look at you. What is the matter with you?!" Yui said as she buried her face in her hands.

She could feel herself blushing but refused to rise to Riko's bait. She knew the teasing would never end if she did. Besides, Yui's mortification on her behalf was amusing to watch.

"What? A girl knows these things. You'll notice Kiki isn't contradicting me." Riko protested.

"We need to put you into therapy, there's something wrong with you." Yui muttered.

"Everything about me is right, Yui. The sooner you accept that, the sooner I can set you free." Riko said happily.

"They'll probably need to use electroshock on you." Yui said with her lips pursed into a thin, disapproving line.

"Well, regardless, you aren't allowed to test your theory. But yes, Ranma has been a good boy today." She said to Riko with a smile as she continued to lean on her. She opened her eyes and found her oldest friend staring intently at her with a huge grin on her face.

"C'mon, Kiki, tell, what's Ranma doing now to get such a response out of you?" Riko asked in a heavy, seductive voice.

"That's classified." She whispered with a small smile.

Riko slid her arm down to her waist and pulled herself even closer as she started to move. "Walk with me Kiki, tell me about the wonders of the world you've discovered. Yui, guard my coffee please." Riko said as she pulled her away from the window and down the hallway.

"I am not your maid!" Yui yelled after them as she shook her fist at Riko.

"I'll give you a cookie!" Riko yelled over her shoulder.

"Six!" Yui yelled back.

"Done!" Riko yelled back with a grin.

Yui saluted to both of them as Riko turned the corner with her and she lost sight of her. Riko didn't say anything to her for a few moments as they walked together. Riko still had her arm around her waist and she was holding her tightly and looking over at her with a mixed expression every few steps. It was weird to her to have someone else holding her now. She didn't really understand it, but she felt the most right when Ranma was holding her now, and only Ranma. That didn't make much sense. Of everyone in her life allowed to touch her, Ranma had been around the least amount of time, and he had only been promoted to a physical relationship with her very recently. Riko, Akane, Kasumi, Daddy and even Doctor Tofu had all spent far more time in her life touching and holding her. But, for whatever reason, in her mind it was Ranma's touch that felt the most right now.

As she walked in step with Riko, her mind was now telling her that was wrong too. Riko wasn't warm enough. Riko's arm wasn't strong like Ranma's. Riko didn't smell like Ranma, and Riko didn't have Ranma's length of stride. In fact, Riko's stride matched her own, which felt weird to her now, because she was used to making her stride try to unevenly match his much longer one. It made no logical sense, but her mind wasn't in an agreeable mood to debate the subject at the moment.

Riko led her to a nondescript door down the next hallway that looked like every other door in the area. Except it wasn't a classroom, and it had no sign, and Riko had to use a key to open it. Once they were inside, Riko smoothly unwrapped herself from around her as she closed the door behind them, and relocked it. They were in one of the old rooms that had been a teacher's lounge and was now one of their unofficial club rooms. She had bought the key for, and secrecy about, the room from the school's janitor. Only she, Riko, Yui, Nanami and Chihiro knew about the room, and had keys to get into it. It wasn't much of a room, but it did have an old sofa in it, a small table, a fridge, a microwave and a small window. It smelled a bit musty, but it was clean. Compared to some of the official club rooms on campus, their little secret room was much better in a lot of ways.

Riko led her directly for the sofa and sat her down on it while she sat down on the small table in front of the sofa. Her oldest friend waited until she was seated comfortably while she held her hands and looked into her eyes earnestly. After a long pause, Riko broke the silence with a soft voice. "Are you okay?"

"I...I don't know." She answered, not sure where Riko was going with this.

"Are you sure? You're reacting so strongly to him ... it's like you're playacting ... or he has some kind of hold over you. You ... made me promise a long time ago to intervene if I think you're being blackmailed ... what's he have on you?" Riko asked softly as she squeezed her hand reassuringly.

"Nothing, he doesn't have anything on me." She said in a warm voice as she realized what Riko was concerned about.

"Look, I like Ranma, he's a lot of fun, and he's gorgeous, but ... I mean ... come on, you're not acting like yourself, Kiki. You're calling in favors and spending money, you're showing attraction in public. That isn't like you ... at all." Riko said nervously.

"I love you too, Riko." She said with a smile. "I know I haven't been acting like my old self, but that's because I don't want to act like her any more. I want to try things a little different now." She said happily.

Riko eyed her suspiciously for a moment before she spoke again with narrowed eyes. "Have you ever seen a dragonfly as beautiful as the ones at dawn?" Riko asked in a serious tone. It was one of their code phrases. The dragonfly one was their duress code. It was a way for one of them to ask if someone had some power over one of them, and they couldn't openly say anything about it, because they were being controlled or monitored.

She smiled and responded. "I have, but I'm all right with the butterflies I have right now, they aren't as hard to catch." She gave Riko the safe phrase that was the code to assure the asker that they weren't under duress and were speaking freely.

Riko tightened her hold on her hands and whispered to her fiercely. "All right, but I'm watching you."

She winked at her oldest friend. "Good, you'll have front row seats for more material to horrify Yui with." She said happily as they both stood up to head back to class.

"Well, that's always worth front row seats." Riko said with a smile.

"And Ranma and I are going on our date after school, so you'll have that to talk about too." She said happily.

Riko grinned almost ear to ear with her most evil grin as she looked back at her with delight while she closed and locked the door again. She smiled and leaned into Riko again and walked back to her classroom with her in a very happy silence. She knew that Riko was plotting inappropriate things to do and say with Ranma, and that made her very happy.

The day dragged on and she amused herself during class by making faces at Yui and Riko and playing with Nanami's hair while Chihiro ignored all of them. Her mind wasn't on her studies. She doubted it would be again until after the week was over. When the bell finally sounded for lunch, she stayed in her seat and waited. She wasn't nervous. Ranma had proven over and over again that unless something forced him, he could be counted on to keep his promises to her. But she didn't want to stand outside her classroom waiting for him like some pathetic lovestruck schoolgirl. She had her pride and her reputation to preserve after all, and it just wouldn't do to seem too eager. She wanted to at least present the illusion that she was more or less the same person she had been before everything had started. So she stayed in the hard plastic seat of her desk and chatted with her friends. Nanami and Chihiro excused themselves early to attend one of their many clubs, but Riko and Yui stayed with her. At this point in her little saga with Ranma, she didn't think armed soldiers could drag Riko away from watching it unfold. She smiled happily to herself at that thought.

Riko sat herself down on top of her desk, while Yui was content with sitting in the chair of the desk next to hers and simply pulling it closer to hers. Riko was busy braiding little designs into her hair while Yui held her hand and chatted with her. She wasn't really paying attention to any of it. The truth was that she was watching the door out of the corner of her eye like a hawk waiting for prey to move.

When Ranma finally stepped into the doorway a few moments later, she smiled and relaxed. Riko and Yui immediately waved him over. They had been waiting for him too, even though none of them had acknowledged that was what they had been doing. Poor Ranma was constantly being tested by them, and he didn't even know it. It's a good thing he keeps passing the tests, or they would tear him apart. She thought with a smile as she turned to face him and felt her mood lighten immediately. He smiled shyly at her as he approached her. He gave little nods of acknowledgment to Yui and Riko, but he kept his eyes on her, and only her. That made her insanely happy, she didn't know why, but she didn't care.

She absently held her arm out for him and he leaned up against her casually and let her pull him in to a one-armed hug. She could tell by how tense the muscles in his back were, that he wasn't fully relaxed, but at least outwardly he was willing to be physical with her. It was clear he was growing more accustomed to having a physical relationship with her. It was also clear that he didn't care much at all what the people in her class thought, as they were all strangers to him. Well, Kuno wasn't a stranger, but Kuno wasn't in the classroom at the moment.

She doubted he would be as casual with touching her surrounded by his own classmates. But she hoped with time he would be relaxed with her even around them. She really enjoyed their casual physical signs of their relationship. There wasn't much else he could do with her anyway. She went out of her way not to fight with him, so he had nothing else to work with at the moment. If he stayed with her though, she would start working on his social skills, and helping him with conversational skills, and other ways to interact with people besides fighting.

"To the tree of power?" Riko asked with a smile.

"The tree of what?" Ranma asked in a confused tone as he looked over at her.

"She just means the lunch tree." Yui said reassuringly.

"Yes, the seat of our power, where we hold court." Riko said gravely.

"Yeah, that." Yui said with a small smile as she gave up and went along with Riko.

Ranma looked at her and she smiled and nodded. Riko wasn't actually straying far from the truth, she just hadn't exposed Ranma to it all yet. And she wouldn't, unless he fully committed to her. So she simply winked at him and stood up from her desk. "Shall we go?" She asked him softly. He nodded and stepped back to give her space to get out of the desk.

"Think fast, Saotome!" Riko chirped happily as her desk rocked side to side loudly.

Ranma made a startled noise and she heard an impact and the rustling of clothing. She looked up and found him awkwardly holding Riko in his arms. Riko had obviously jumped to him from on top of the desk. She rolled her eyes as she gathered her stuff and moved to stand next to Ranma as he set Riko down gently.

She leaned in and put her nose up to Riko's and growled playfully. "Riko?" She said in her best scary voice.

"Yeeeeees?" Riko asked happily.

"Be good!" She growled as she quickly swung her hip into Riko's and launched her away from Ranma. Riko squeaked out a startled yelp as she stumbled and caught herself. Yui laughed so hard at that, she had to bend over and brace herself on her knees while she tried to get her breathing under control.

Some of the rest of the students in her class were eying their antics with raised eyebrows, but most of them were studiously ignoring them. She and her friends were well known to them, and none of them wanted to tangle with her these days. The three of them made their way out of her classroom without further incident.

Ranma walked at her side and she chatted with him about what they were doing in his class. Despite the image he tried to cultivate for himself, he did pay attention in class. They discussed the highlights of the Mathematics he was working on, and what he thought of the poem his class was studying for their Language Arts work. She told him about some of the stuff her class was working on, that he would have to face next year, and Riko and Yui chimed in occasionally to either lie and tell him some of the things were much easier or harder than they were, or to just say they liked or disliked something.

They made their way out of the building, and into school grounds. As they headed for the field where their tree lived, they passed Akane and her friends sitting down and having lunch. Ranma went quiet as they passed Akane while he was surrounded by her and her friends. She watched him carefully as they passed while she nodded politely to her little sister. Akane returned the nod but kept her eyes on Ranma. Ranma, to his credit, didn't try to hide that he was with her, but he didn't do anything overt to show that he was with her either. That's all right, today I get my chance on our date, and I'm not going to blow it. She thought determinedly.

Riko and Yui noticed what was going on, and stepped up their antics to cover for the slight drag she and Ranma had put on their silly parade. As soon as they had passed out of sight of Akane, Ranma fully relaxed again and resumed chatting freely with her and her friends. Ranma was clearly still hung up on Akane, or at least cared what Akane thought. She would have to work on that. She sat on the bench and Ranma sat next to her. Riko sat cross-legged in the grass to her left, and Yui did the same to her right.

Surprisingly, Ranma spoke first. "Where's Nanami? Don't you miss her?" Ranma asked Riko quietly. She blinked at him. Was he really poking Riko?

"My crimson Goddess is like the sun. One dare not look at her for too long, lest one risk going blind." Riko said seriously.

"Well, that, and Nanami is crazy-busy. Chihiro too. They belong to like half the clubs and sports teams on campus." Yui chimed in with a smile.

"But ... you seemed like you and Nanami were so close ... why not do the same stuff as she does?" Ranma asked.

She smiled at him. It was sweet that he thought of relationships like that. It wasn't necessary to be joined at the hip with one's significant other. But showing an interest in being with them certainly didn't hurt anything either.

"If my crimson Goddess wishes to cuddle with me, she knows where to find me. In the meantime, I have you to play with." Riko said happily. "Riiiiight, Ranma?" Riko asked in a sing-song voice that caused Yui to actually lean away from her with a grimace on her face. That was never a good sign.

Yui frowned and turned her attention away from Riko, then smiled knowingly at Ranma. "Yeah Ranma, three days in a row, you must have it bad for Nabi-chan to endure Riko that frequently." Yui said with a small smile.

Riko darted her eyes over to Yui and scowled. "Maybe he secretly has a thing for me, ever think of that, little miss smarty pants? Maybe he's just using Kiki-chan as an excuse to get close to me?"

"I seriously doubt that." Yui shot back with a laugh. "You probably traumatized the poor boy with your display with Nanami yesterday." Yui said in her scolding voice.

Riko scowled at her then stuck out her lower lip and pouted. "You're the reason I have self esteem issues!" Riko said with a fake sniffle.

She burst out laughing at that. "Oh, Riko, c'mon, at least try to make it believable."

"I'm telling the nurse about all of you." Riko huffed as she scooted closer to Ranma and stuck her tongue out at them. "Only Ranma understands me, right, Ranma?" Riko said in a huff as she tugged at his pants leg.

He shook his head gently in reply, then shrugged.

Riko poked his leg sharply and repeated herself in a louder voice. "Only you understand me, RIGHT, RANMA?!"

"Nope." He said calmly.

"See that, he's learning how to tell you no." Yui said happily.

"He's obviously hysterical with desire for me, poor boy doesn't know what he's saying."

"I do so I—"

"Hush now, your Riko's here." Riko said as she hopped up and pressed her finger to his lips. Ranma looked over at her in exasperation.

"Well, that's one way to get a date, just shout him down until he gives in." She said with a grin.

"Exactly." Riko said happily as she climbed into his lap.

"And you can demonstrate just how to do it on a new guy." She said sternly.

"But I'm so comfy." Riko said with a muffled sigh as she buried herself into his lap.

"Okay, let me rephrase, get off my Ranma, and it's your turn to deal with Kuno." She said sternly.

"Kuno?" Riko said with an evil grin as she poked her head up over Ranma's shoulder and looked the way she was looking. It did not escape her notice that while Riko was doing that, she had also wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed herself against him.

"Yup, he's on his way over." She said as she reached over and pulled on Riko's shoulder gently but firmly to peel her off of Ranma.

"Son of a bitch, he really is coming back for more. Unbelievable." Riko said as she allowed herself to be pulled back. "That boy is like the definition of sadomasochism." Riko said as she hopped from foot to foot and literally shivered with excitement.

"Oh, excellent. This will be very entertaining." Yui said happily from the grass.

"Think he's coming over to get revenge for what we did to his sister?" Riko asked.

"I doubt it, those two aren't exactly close." She said confidently.

"Revenge? What did you do?" Ranma asked.

"Don't worry about it." Riko said with a wink.

"But you'll protect us if he's cranky, right Ranma?" Yui asked sweetly.

"Even Kuno wouldn't attack people who aren't martial artists." Ranma said with confidence. Riko locked eyes with him and didn't blink. Ranma stared at her for a moment before he sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I'll protect you, but don't worry about it, it'll be fine." He said.

She didn't think Kuno had as much restraint as Ranma seemed to think he did, but it didn't matter, Kuno knew better than to go after her or her lieutenants, and even Kuno wouldn't be crazy enough to attack her with Ranma standing right next to her.

"This is gonna be epic, I'm looking forward to this." Riko said happily as she sat down on the bench and swung her feet back and forth happily while she watched Kuno approach. Ranma looked over at herself with wide eyes and an unspoken question. She shrugged.

Yui went ahead and asked anyway. "Why?"

"Because, my dear Yui, I've said it before, and I'll say it again, if one sticks enough heads on pikes, eventually the masses will pay attention. Sure, there will always be some harebrained moron who thinks that if they try it, it'll turn out different. Fortunately, in those cases, one can always make more pikes." Riko said in a happy, almost chirpy voice.

"I cannot stress this enough, you need to relax more, you're starting to get creepy." Yui said with a small shudder.

"Sometimes I just need to watch the world burn, Yui. You're just gonna have to make peace with that." Riko said.

"But hey, you've got a front row seat to watch me toss that stupid stick of Kuno's into a burn barrel to give it a proper Viking funeral, that's gotta be exciting, right?" Riko said happily.

"So ... we're agreed then, no more letting Riko be the enforcer?" Yui asked in a worried tone.

She nodded slowly. She knew Riko was kidding, but it was still fun to play the game. Ranma was looking at her with actual worry on his face. A moment later he leaned over and whispered a question into her ear.

"She's not ... actually gonna attack him, is she?" He asked quietly.

She shrugged as she replied. "I don't know. You'll find out when I do."

"So, Ranma, are you ready to take my little Kiki on her date tonight?" Riko asked over her shoulder without taking her eyes off Kuno's approaching form. Ranma leaned back away from her and looked at her with tired eyes before he replied. She could tell he was getting a little bit weary of having his actions with her questioned by her friends.

"Yup, Nabiki and I are gonna go right after school today." He replied neutrally.

Riko turned slowly back to stare at him with a disapproving frown on her face as she shook her head slowly at him.

"W-what?" He asked defensively.

Riko just stared hard at him for several moments before she finally sighed and rolled her eyes as she explained her disappointment. "Nabiki? Nabiki?! Really? You're still calling her by her actual name?" Riko said in a voice dripping with scorn.

Ranma darted his eyes at her, and she shrugged. She had no idea what Riko was on about either.

"Well ... I call her Kiki sometimes too." He said hesitantly.

Riko rolled her eyes at him. "That's my nickname for her. You have to come up with your own." Riko said as she looked over at Yui. "Honestly, it's like he's not even trying."

"Careful there, Riko, or someone might let it slip to Ranma what Kenta's nickname for you was." Yui said with an evil grin and a nod to herself.

Riko looked back at her with wide eyes. "You wouldn't." She said in a low, wary tone.

She smiled back at Riko. "I might."

"You pinkie promised!"

"I used my left pinkie, that one's cursed." She replied with a lazy smile.

"Listen, I have to at least frame Ranma for a felony, or at least light him on fire, before you tell him that, all right? We're talking about vastly different degrees of offense here!" Riko protested.

"Why do you care what we call each other?" Ranma jumped in.

Riko smiled at him gratefully and happily jumped onto the change of subject. "Lovers don't use their real names with each other, unless they are at work or something. You have to give your lover a nickname, it's a natural law of the universal."

"Is it?" Yui asked sweetly.

Riko glared at Yui for a moment before she swung her attention back to Ranma. "I guarantee you, before those two idiots offed themselves, they weren't calling each other Romeo and Juliet. Maybe Roro and Lili or something, but not their real names. It just isn't ... proper." Riko said sternly.

"Well, Nabiki still calls me Ranma, so I think we're even right now." He said as he looked at her with an uncertain gaze. Riko had managed to make him question whether she was as into him as he was with her. Wonderful.

"I'm working on a nickname for you, Ranma. But, it isn't like you've come up with one for me either. Like Riko said, using hers doesn't count." She said with a wink.

He nodded at her then poked Riko again. "I guess we're just gonna do things our own way."

"My life would be much simpler if everyone would just do as I say." Riko grumped as she sighed and turned back to watching Kuno approach.

"Wouldn't that bring about the end of civilization?" Yui asked sweetly.

"Only the parts I don't care about." Riko replied happily.

"You're like a terrifying toddler sometimes, you know that?" Yui asked.

"I'm much better after nap time, wouldn't you agree?" Riko said with a happy nod while she watched Kuno approach.

Yui stared off into the distance and watched Kuno approach as well for a moment and didn't react to Riko. That, of course, provoked Riko to try to get her attention.

"Yui? ... Yuiiiiiii? ... Yui? YuiYuiYuiYUIYUIYUI!" Riko chanted.

Yui swung her gaze over to Riko with an annoyed sigh. "You interrupted my thoughts!"

"Thoughts, really? Plural?" Riko teased.

Yui scowled at her for a moment, then hung her head in defeat. "OK, thought."

"That's better." Riko said as she reached over and patted her head. "What was your thought about?"

"I was just wondering if he's going to try for another date with Ranma again, or if he has a new angle."

"The mind reels, doesn't it? He's like a crazy pseudo-Samurai jack-in-the-box. You never know what he's gonna whip out next." Riko said happily as she settled back in to wait for him on the bench.

"Five'll getcha twenty that Riko makes him cry?" Yui asked her with an impish smile.

"No bet, too risky, it could go either way." She said with a wink.

"I'll take that action." Riko said absently as she reached over and handed Yui a five hundred Yen note.

Kuno arrived not long after that. He walked straight up to herself, and ignored Riko and Yui. He had a serious but pensive expression on his face. Riko stood up from the bench and glared at his back. She knew Riko would make him pay for bypassing her.

"Greetings, Nabiki Tendo." Kuno said in his usual baritone.

"Hey Kuno. I think Riko wants to talk to you." She said as she nodded her chin to Riko.

"I have no business with her." Kuno said as he looked back briefly at Riko then back at her with exasperation.

"If you have business with me, then you go through Riko today, that's the rule." She said as she leaned against Ranma. She was happy that Ranma wasn't trying to deal with Kuno for them.

Kuno opened his mouth to argue with her, then closed it when he saw the look in her eyes. "Fine." He snapped as he spun on his heel, put his hands on his hips, and glared at Riko.

Riko was sitting on the bench again, and in full monarchy-mode. Riko grinned predatorily at him as she laced her fingers together, placed her elbows on her knees, and rested her chin on them. "What is it you wish of us? Speak quickly, peasant, we grow bored with thee already." Riko said regally.

"Peasant?! How dare you?! I am a scion of the noble house of Ku—"

She cleared her throat loudly and interrupted his rant. He looked back at her, sighed heavily, then nodded. "Very well then, to business." He said as he turned back to Riko and played along. She kind of had a feeling that he secretly enjoyed it though. He knelt formally in front of Riko, splayed his hands obsequiously and spoke in a subdued tone. "I am here to formally apologize on behalf of my twisted sister, and to beseech thee to release the hold thou hath placed over her."

"Why would we do that?" Riko asked haughtily.

Kuno opened his mouth angrily to argue, then closed it again before he said anything, and tried again. "She went too far. She deserved to be punished. I have personally seen to it that she will never set foot in this school again, and I also personally destroyed all of her dangerous little toys." He said calmly, but she could tell he was straining to control his temper. She knew it must be killing him to abase himself like he was. It was a sign of the urgency he must be feeling, that he was making the apology and request at all.

"So what? She can make or buy more." Yui said in a cold voice. Ranma looked over at Yui sharply. She was sure he was surprised that Yui was showing her non-warm side. She and all of her lieutenants could be cold when the situation called for it. Yui was just usually the voice of reason around Ranma, so it probably startled him to see her diverging from that.

"I promise you, even if she does, she won't come anywhere near this school, or any of the Tendos ever again. You have my word." Kuno said through tightly clenched teeth.

"What about Ranma?" She asked.

"What about him?" Kuno asked wearily.

"I don't want her around him either." She said coldly.

"Why not? It isn't like he has anything to fear from her." Kuno argued.

She didn't answer, she just looked back over at Riko and shook her head.

Riko jumped right back into it without missing a beat. "Your sister must stay away from Ranma as well. Otherwise, no deal."

"I ... fine ... I will arrange it. Anything to get her out of the house again. I love her well, but she is driving me crazy, and most of the servants have already quit. It has to stop." Kuno grumbled. Then he fumbled around inside his Kendogi and brought out a small little dolly that fit in the palm of his hand. The dolly was wearing a bright pink dress, and had blond hair with a white bow. In short, it was insufferably cute and meant for children. He held it out to Riko slowly, and lifted it above his head.

"What in the nine hells is that?!" Riko asked as she recoiled away from it with a look of disgust on her face.

"It is a peace offering."

"Kuno ..." Riko said in exasperation.

"Yes?"

"None of us are eleven."

"Oh ... I see ... well then, how about this?" Kuno said brusquely as he tucked the small little doll back into his Kendogi, then reached behind himself and pulled out something that had been tucked into his belt. She had thought it was just another of his little Kendo toys. It was a small cylindrical shape wrapped in a black cloth. Kuno unwrapped it and laid it at Riko's feet. It was one of the clubs Kodachi used in her Rhythmic Gymnastics. It had been cut in half.

"Very well, we will consider it and get back to you." Riko said haughtily, still in her Queen's persona as she accepted his much more appropriate peace offering.

Kuno stood up and glared at her. "I have bent about as far as I am willing to bend on this. Be reasonable. My sister's transgressions were not that severe."

Riko narrowed her eyes at Kuno and jutted her chin back to herself. She hardened her eyes and pulled back her sleeves and held up her darkly bruised arms for him to see. Ranma sucked his breath in when he saw it. She had been hiding it from him as well.

Kuno blinked in shock, then pulled himself up to his full height and came to rigid attention in the Kendo tradition. He then lowered his eyes and slowly bowed to her at the waist until he was a full ninety degrees down. He held the bow for several seconds, then slowly stood back up.

He met her eyes, and she stared back at him with her professional mask fully in place. "I'll think about it. Riko or Yui will tell you the decision sometime this week or next. We will wait and watch and see if your claims about controlling her are true or not. Fair enough?" She asked.

"I suppose so." Kuno said as he nodded and started to walk away.

"Kuno?" She called out after him. "Tell your sister ... she has no idea who she's fooling with. Nobody understands revenge better than me. I am a master of it. I am not someone to be crossed lightly. I don't handle things like Ranma does, but I pay my debts, as she now knows. And she should know I am much worse if anyone comes after my family. That won't end well for anyone who tries it. If she ever comes after me or my family again, and that includes Ranma, ... then the consequences will be far more serious." She stated matter-of-factly.

Kuno nodded sharply then continued walking away as nobly as he could. "I shall tell her. Until anon, Nabiki Tendo."

Riko stayed in character until he couldn't hear her anymore, then she lay down in the grass and giggled madly.

She smiled as Riko let it out. Yui sat down next to Riko's head and started playing with her hair. Ranma just looked at her blankly as she covered her bruises again. He moved even closer to her and wrapped his arms gently around her waist, very gently, like he was afraid he would break her.

"I'm sorry, I should never have left you alone, I had no idea it was so bad, I—"

"Calm down, Ranma. It looks worse than it is. I am sure you get bruised all the time." She whispered to him. She didn't make him let her go, though.

"Well ... sure ... but that's different." He said gently.

"Only difference between your fights and mine, is you have more experience than I do." She said calmly.

"I'm still sorry." He said softly.

"I know you are." She said just as softly as she rested her chin on his shoulder and wrapped her own arms around him.

"Hey Riko, you didn't torture him as much as I thought you were gonna." Yui said.

"That's what you think, I was in his head. The mind games were intense, Yui." Riko replied in a very serious but silly tone.

"But you lost the bet."

"Money well spent."

"What ... why?"

"I was in your head too, silly goose." Riko said happily.

Yui rolled her eyes, sat up sharply and argued with Riko about her delusions of mind games. She tuned them out. As Yui and Riko bickered happily she kept her head on Ranma's shoulder, and let her mind and body relax into his warmth. She was finally starting to feel like she was reaching equilibrium again. She hadn't quite found her center again yet, but she could feel that it was close. She was happy. Ranma was with her, and her friends were with her, and everything was settling down. Two of the three people chasing Ranma had been dealt with, and she had her date with him after school. Things were going well.

She watched the students walking around them, and tried to let go as she luxuriated in his warm arms. She couldn't though, because Akane and her friends chose that moment to walk by their group. Akane didn't say anything, and Ranma's back was to her, so he couldn't see her. Akane didn't break her stride or do anything though, she just looked at them together as she walked, she didn't even break her conversation with her friends. But she saw Akane's eyes on her in Ranma's arms, and her little sister's eyes didn't leave them until the last possible moment. Akane had looked ... thoughtful. She didn't know what to make of that.