ranma snapped awake, something about his last dream. he rubbed at
his head as he looked around the room uncertainly. he shook himself
firmly "come on, snap out of it." he breathed standing up and rubbed
his shoulders walking towards the door. he blinked seeing akane
exiting her room clutching fearfully at p-chan. they blinked at each
other for a minute before turning together and started down the
stairs.

ranma walked into the kitchen and after testing the tea pot on the
stove made them a glass of tea and took it into the den where akane
was curled up on the couch. she blinked when he handed her the glass
and nodded her thanks sitting up to let him sit next to her. ranma
looked at p-chans baleful glare for a second before looking at the
closed patio door. he took a sip of his tea and settled in as akane
leaned on him for comfort. he looked at her for a minute and sighed
calming down slightly "so.... why are you awake?" she asked after a
few minutes. he took a drink of his tea "i had a dream. it woke me
from a sound sleep." he said quietly and blinked at her when she
shivered moving closer to him "was it...about a man.... in dark
robes?" she asked in a squeek. he nodded slowly contemplating the
patio door "i was maybe four, or five in the dream.... i don't know
why... but you were there."

she nodded looking wide eyed at him "yes! we were in a sand box..."
she said in a hushed voice. ranma nodded "then the man came. he
handed me a cat.... after that i felt all funny, kind of like i did
when happosai used that moxabustion pressure point on me. i can't
remember what he said." he said softly taking another drink of his
tea. akane nodded "the man opened his robes and.... a little boy
came out and started bothering me. next he handed me a pig.... he
said.... i would live to curse men in all forms. for some reason he
ment p-chan too. he said that a friend would hide in an
animals skin to torment me. a wolf in a friends clothing."

he nodded scowling at p-chans shocked face "thats about right.
wait.... he told me.....you will live the acursed live, harshly
punished for crimes imagined and wrongs commited by others. you will
come to curse the existance of all things feline and dispize pork."
he said sitting up and after finishing his glass took her empty one
and left the room. akane looked troubled at p-chan "your my friend
right? you'd never hurt me.... right?" she whispered softly she
looked back up as ranma came back into the room and handed her a
refilled glass "thankyou." she whispered. he nodded sitting back
down and looked at her "what do you think this means? i don't
remember ever knowing you before pop dragged me here."

she blinked a few times thoughtfully "i don't know, but i do know...
i used to love that sandbox..... then after a time i refused to let
mom take me there, i was scared of the place." she murmured. he
blinked thoughtfully for a few minutes "i remember.... mom used to
take me to a park every now and then.... but its too fuzzy to
remember anything." he murmured softly. she looked down for a minute
before looking back "but what does it mean?" she asked holding
p-chan close. he looked at her "it means i knew i would come to hate
cats and pigs.... and that you would learn to hate men." he mused
softly. she looked at p-chan and felt a tingle of aprehention run
down her spine "and what about the other part? the friend in the
animal skin?"

he didn't answer for a minute then looked at her "it means that even
the most innocent of faces can hide the form of your enemy. think
about it akane. with all the jusenkyo curse victms we know of in
nerima.... who says the next dog you see in the street isn't someone
that wants to kill you? some would say shampoos cat form is quite
pretty, doesn't mean the amazon we all hate isn't under that skin. i
just think you should be careful, the next animal you take in might
be someone that is a little more serious about killing us then what
we already have." he squeezed her shoulder gently before standing
up and moved over to the doors and opened them. he sighed walking
out into the backyard and sat by the pond "aren't you coming back
inside?" she asked standing in the patio door, p-chan could be heard
scrambling down the hall. he looked at the lightning sky "its
starting to get light, pop will be up soon anyways." he
blinked looking at her thoughtfully then smiled slightly "you want
to help me annoy the hell out of pop?" he asked grinning impishly.
she smiled slightly "sure."


everyone looked up as genma went flying out out the dojos door to
hit the pond. they gapped when akane came out next and glared at him
"he said he was sparring with me baka! go eat some bamboo and be lazy
like always!" she shouted at him before slamming the door closed.
she turned back to a weakly cackling ranma. he slowly forced control
on himself before standing strait then burst out laughing for real as
he looked at her. she stomped her foot but couldn't hide the smile
that she couldn't get rid of "oh will you stop it and finish showing
me that move?!" he nodded smiling as he beckoned her forward.

after an hour ranma and akane came back into the house and blinked
when ryouga appeared and quickly bustled ranma back out into the
dojo "what was that this morning?!" he demanded almost in a snarl.
ranma looked at him for a minute before sitting down "i don't know.
but her dream... it sounded a lot like you." ryouga snarled
grabbing his shirt "take that back!" ranma looked him in the eye
looking more stern then he'd ever seen him before "i will not.
think about whats you've done ryouga. you decieve her on a dayly
basis when you play p-chan, then you make true what the dream said
by using what you learned to make her like you. you tell me, in the
eyes of everyone that doesn't know you, is what your doing any less
dishonorable then if you did take advantage of her?!"

ryouga gapped moving away from ranma as if he had burned him "i- its
not... like that!!" he exclaimed looking pale. ranma nodded "we both
know that, you do it to thumb your nose at me. and to those that
would judge you, thats just as bad as if you did it for the other
reason." ryouga paled even more, too horrified to get angry "you....
thats what you think?!" he breathed feeling weak in the knees. ranma
crossed his arms "you never bothered to exsplain it to me ryouga,
how can i not think that?" he asked quietly. ryouga looked at ranma
for a minute before closing his eyes and shook his head "no wonder
your always trying to seperate us." he said almost in a sigh. ranma
shrugged "well... ya, i mean, that and.... i'm..... afraid..." he
rubbed at the back of his head "i know your honorable ryouga, and
i know you wouldn't do nothing to her.... but..... ok so it worries
me!" he stalked across the dojo away from the shock on ryougas face
"i would never...!" he bellowed. ranma looked back at him before
stalking over and got in his face "how am i to know that?!?!? what
am i supposed to think man?! you sleep with my fiancee while
pretending to be her pet pig! your always trying to make her like
you, always trying to take her from me! how am i supposed to know
you won't do something to make her like you?!?"

"what are you guys shouting about in here?" they jumped when the
door opened and akane looked at them questioningly, already dressed
after her bath, it was sunday so they didn't have to rush. ranma
cleared his throat getting an idea "we were talking about this guy
we both know." he said ignoring the threat ryouga shot at him, he
walked over "you tell me what you think of him." he glared at ryouga
after getting behind akane "this guy, we think he's a rather
honorable man thats got some rather strange ideas about whats
honorable." she nodded sitting down next to him and looked at
ryouga curiously until he came over "he's not doing it to be
perverted ranma." he growled. ranma shrugged "how are we to know
that? he refuses to exsplain himself. he does something almost
everyone but him would consider dishonorable and shameful. some
would see it like some of the things happosai does." ryouga jumped up
"they do not!!"

ranma crossed his arms looking curiously at him with akane "oh? how
do you know? have you listened to what those that know say?" he
snarled softly but akane cut him off "whats he doing?" she asked.
ranma stared ryouga down "he is taking advantage of a female friend
of ours and using the things he learns by listening to her most
private thoughts to ingrate himself to her. he doesn't see, or
refuses to see, that in doing this he is damaging his honor and
running the chance of making the girl hate him for the rest of his
life. she put a trust in him and he betrays it everytime he uses
the knowledge to make her like him more."

ryouga started to get angry when his heart crumbled at the angry
look on akanes face "whos this guy ranma?!" she demanded angrily.
ranma shook his head "we can't tell, it would be like you telling
us secrets about your best friends." he said shaking his head.
ryouga nodded quickly feeling paniced at the idea of ranma telling.
akane scowled at him but couldn't refute what he said "so hes a
friend of yours?!" she said scowling harder. ranma shrugged "i don't
know, somtimes i think we're enemies but then he does something that
makes me like him again. its hard to exsplain. what do you think? do
we ignore what he's doing and hope he figures out its wrong or do we
drag him into an alley and beat it into his head? its gone on long
enough, i'm just about ready to just kick his ass."

akane and ryouga looked surprised at the grim sound to his voice
"its ukyo isn't it?! someones playing with her feelings!" she said
looking angry. ranma looked helpless "i can't tell." he said in
apology "well, i say confront him about it and demand to know his
intentions, and if he refuses, tell her." she said firmly. ranma
nodded slowly "thats a way to go, but what about the oath?" she
looked curious and he looked annoyed "he made us sware we wouldn't
tell about the thing he's using to spy on her, seems he thinks of it
as an embarressment." akane arched an eye brow at him "thats stupid
ranma." she snorted. ranma motioned for her to continue. she rolled
her eyes "it silly to uphold an oath that is harming someone you
care for." she said stoutly. ranma looked at ryouga with a small
smile on his face "what about you ryouga? we got the womans
perspective on this, you tell me what you think." he said looking
quietly smug. ryouga twittled his thumbs for a few minutes before
looking back up "i- its wrong to break an oath like that! and i'm
certain he has a good reason! he would never hurt her!" he protested
weakly. akane shook her head "thats stupid ryouga, if hes doing what
ranma said he is then he has already hurt her, if you guys say that
he doesn't know its wrong then i'll believe you, but i suggest
you confront him as soon as you can, men aren't to be trusted."

ranma winced as akane stood up to leave "thats rather harsh." he
comented. she snorted "you think so? in almost every case i've heard
of, when a man gets a woman in a position to do something, he always
does." she looked convenced. he looked hurt "hey! thats not fair! did
i do anything with you when that spirit took you over?!" he
demanded. she looked like she didn't want to admit it but nodded
grudgingly "ok, i admit, even though it looked like i... was
seducing you, you balked." she said it almost like it caused her
pain. he stood up "and what about at kirins castle?! you were
buck naked and all i did was give you my shirt!" he looked a little
upset "then too!" she grated out looking like she wanted to leave.
he crossed his arms "jusendo." he said pointedly. she scowled at him
for a minute before throwing up her hands "alright! i admit it! your
not like other men, happy?! i did say almost every case!" she pouted
turning away. ranma stood firm "thats right! you won't find people
like ryouga and me anywhere! i mean, the girls may cling, but i do
not encourage them. and ryouga faints when a girl trys to do
anything with him."

ranma chuckled bouncing away from the angry young man. akane
smirked "ok, i admit it, you two are better then the normal flock of
boys." ranma smiled after her before looking back at ryoga "we
know what akane thinks of this guy, what do you think needs to be
done about him?" he looked grimly at him. he looked down for a
minute before looking defencive "if i stopped she would get lonely.
shes always depressed when i come back after a long trip, and she
loves her p-chan." ranma nodded looking at the ground "i know. thats
why i didn't work to hard to stop it." he nodded "that and the
nightmares." he added. ranma blinked coming back over "like last
night?" he asked softly. he nodded "for the last four days she wakes
up and goes and sits on the couch." ranma looked wide eyed "so have
i."


akane looked up and blinked when ranma and ryouga sat in front of
her "i told ryouga about that nightmare last night, he thinks... it
might mean something. i wouldn't take it seriously..... if it only
happened once." he bit his lip and blinked at the shock on her
face "you've... had them before?" she whispered. he nodded slowly
"for the last few nights." she looked worried "ranma.... so have i.
it started... last sunday." he nodded looking slightly worried
"same for me. can you remember any of the others?" he whispered.
she shook her head "they scared me." she said softly. ranma nodded
taking her hand absently. after a minute they blinked realizing
the contact when ryouga cleared his throat in annoyance. ranma
blushed bright red letting her go "what do you think it means?"
she asked softly. ranma shook his head "i don't know, if you have
one tonight... i'll come out in the hall when it wakes me."