Chapter 4

Akane threw her bag on the floor before she started pulling the sheets off of the furniture. Every once in a while a cloud of dust would fly up into her face causing her to choke. Waving her hand to clear it away, Akane took a deep breath before looking around at the room. On the wall to her right hung a few ancient weapons that looked to be over two thousand years old. Over to her left stood a suit of armor. "Wow, this looks to be very old and yet there's not a lot of rust on it. It looks just like dad's armor too," Akane murmured as she reverently ran her fingers over the metal buckles.

A fireplace stood directly in front of her with a decorative mantle. The decorations on the mantle resembled dragons in all of their forms. Some of them knelt while others looked to be flying through the air. Akane had noticed that the dragon theme was continued throughout the estate when she had walked through the corridors.

Sighing, Akane walked over towards the bed and stripped off its cover to reveal a yellow silken coverlet. The thing that caught her attention the most was the skillful embroidery running through it. It depicted a scene of a human helping a dragon. The colors were still vibrant after all of the years that it had lain there, no signs of wear or fading were evident to Akane's eyes as she gently ran her hand over the picture, smoothing out the wrinkles. Then grabbing her bag she started unpacking all of her clothes. Folding them neatly, Akane stored them away in the chest that sat at the foot of the bed. Then she put out her brushes and toiletries. Once that task was completed she headed back towards the great hall. On the way down she spotted Ranma at the bottom of the steps. Ranma, wait up! Akane yelled as she hurried down the stairs.

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Ranma opened the door to the chamber that was nearest to Akane's. Entering he took a quick look around to get his bearings before he gently lowered his pack to the floor. He noticed that the room held a lot of weapons on the walls and that there was a bookcase on the far left wall. Making his way over to the bookcase, he grabbed one scroll off of the top shelf, opening it, Ranma scanned the contents and froze at the one word that seemed to jump out at him. It was a scroll that held a martial arts technique that Ranma had never heard of before. "All right!" he exclaimed excitedly, then he started to read it from the beginning. "Warning? What the heck is this," he muttered and then continued to read further into the scroll.

* Warning! The Kami no Seppa technique is not to be used by anyone except the chosen ones. The chosen ones will be allowed to use this technique in the event of extreme danger and only if they have performed the Joining first. If the Joining is not performed, than the ones who seek to use this technique will die an extremely painful death.*

"Ah man, I thought I found somethin' good here and now I can't use it or practice it," Ranma muttered with a slightly dejected look on his face before putting the scroll down. "I'd better clean up here or I'll have nowhere to sleep later," he thought as he started to remove dust covers from the furniture and the bed. When he removed the sheet from the bed it revealed a deep red coverlet with a scene depicting a great battle with three dragons fighting in the sky. One of the dragons was black as a starless night. Its eyes were red, its mouth dripped blood and it appeared to be holding headless bodies in its claws.

"That black one must be an evil dragon then," Ranma said, as he turned his gaze to the two dragons that were fighting the big black one. Both of the dragons were different colors, one seemed to be a deep scarlet color, While the other was a gold color and it had a beard in its chin. The scarlet dragon was also smaller than its companion and didn't have a beard. "That one must be a girl then," Ranma thought as he finished unpacking his clothing and putting it away.

Standing up and closing the trunk, Ranma was just about to go back to the bookcase to read more of the scrolls there when his stomach growled. Covering it with one hand Ranma decided to go down stairs to see if there was anything left in the pack that his mother had brought along. "I know Kasumi and mom packed everything from the kitchen in there, so there's gotta be somethin' to eat," he said as he walked out of the room and down the hall at a jog.

Seeing a set of stairs leading down to the first floor Ranma sped up, taking the stairs two at a time. He almost fell as he landed on one step that seemed to be loose. Only his training saved him from a nasty fall, flipping in midair he landed on the fifth step down from the loose one. Wiping his brow in a gesture of relief, Ranma grinned. "I've still got it! Oh yeah! I'm the best," he said to himself as he made his way down the stairs, glancing back up as he heard someone call his name. Ranma, wait up!

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Hey Akane! Ranma replied, spotting her at the top of the stairs. "Be careful on the fifteenth step down from the top, it's a bit loose! Ranma yelled, waiting for her to catch up. Ranma watched her descend the steps faster than she should have but he noticed that she avoided the loose step like he suggested. Ranma nodded his head in approval when Akane wasn't looking. Akane was too busy to notice since she was concentrating on testing all of the steps to see if they were safe while staying close to the wall for support.

Once she arrived at the bottom of the landing, Akane glanced over at Ranma and asked, "Where are you going Ranma?"

"To get somethin' to eat since a certain tomboy I know ate most of my dinner today," Ranma replied with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. For some odd reason Ranma felt like fighting with Akane at the moment. He secretly liked the way her spirit would show up in her eyes when she was angry or excited and especially when she was happy. The one thing Ranma couldn't stand was when Akane was sad since her face clearly showed her emotions. It really hurt Ranma to see when Akane was in pain, be it emotional or physical. That was one of the reasons why he couldn't stand to physically fight her. He didn't want to take the risk of hurting her seriously. So he had developed a way to train Akane without her knowing it.

Ever since they had started with the arguments and the name calling, Ranma had been trying to get her speed and endurance up so that she would be able to keep up with him. He knew that Akane had enough strength, but she lacked control. When Ranma insulted her, it was to goad her into chasing him. He only let Akane catch him when she couldn't keep up any longer. Akane was improving but it was slow going and she would frequently get frustrated at her inability to catch him. Ranma often let her hit him to work out her anger, but Akane was the type of person who forgives easily and then forgets. Sure, it used to hurt to him to get hit, but now he was ten times more resistant to damage than the normal person. Not as much as Ryoga but just enough now that he didn't have to worry about serious injury when Ryoga hit him.

"Ranma are you trying to get me mad?" Akane growled at him a little bit annoyed at the food comment. She had been eating more than usual, but she couldn't seem to stop herself from eating it. Every time she sat down to eat it was like something came over her and she went into a daze. Akane wasn't worried since she didn't seem to be gaining any weight, but she couldn't figure out why she was eating so much in the first place.


Ranma was a bit disappointed when he noticed that she didn't take the bait but he grinned anyway and tried again. "Nah, why would a tomboy like you need to get mad since you're always mad at somethin'," Ranma said, tensing his body to run at the slightest hint of the appearance of Akane's' mallet.

His precaution was well founded as Akane's eye began to twitch in a sign that was unmistakable. He watched her closely as her hand made a grabbing motion and the mallet materialized in her hand. Where does she hide that thing? he thought to himself as he kept trying to figure it out. I'll pay better attention next time, Ranma muttered, he still couldn't figure out where she hid her mallet, but that didn't' stop him from trying.

"RANMA! NO BAKA!" Akane yelled as she brought her mallet around from behind her back and swung it at him, aiming directly for Ranma's head. Only to miss since Ranma was no longer there anymore.

The minute Akane brought her hand around to the front of her, committed to the swing, Ranma bolted. "Slow chick...thick chickcouldn't catch me on your best day," he taunted her as she stomped towards him seething. Seeing that he had her attention, Ranma started making faces at her. This served to goad Akane into chasing him down the corridors and throughout the estate as he tried to remember where the great hall was positioned. Finally, he spotted the huge double doors, skidding to a stop directly in front of them, Ranma forgot about Akane for the moment as he admired the carvings in the wood. Akane was unable to stop her forward momentum and slammed into his back, bounced off and fell, landing on her rear end. "Ite!" she yelped as he rear end met the hard stone floor.

"Oof" Ranma grunted as he slammed face first into the doors. "Ite," he moaned in pain as he tried to pull his face away from the door that he seemed to have been embedded in. When it didn't work he raised both arms and braced himself and pushed. He came unstuck with a slight popping noise and turned around to yell at Akane but stopped when she began to laugh.

"What's so funny," he growled, clenching his fists as he tried to control his temper.

"You are...your face...hahahahah......" Akane started to explain, but when she looked at his face again she broke down laughing even harder than before.

"Will you stop that!" Ranma yelled slightly annoyed. When Akane finally managed to control herself with the occasional giggle emerging, he asked again. "What about my face?

"Well, you have an exact duplicate of the carving embedded on your face. You do know that it looks better on the door," Akane said in a serious tone before she started cracking up again.

Ranma growled as he felt his face to confirm Akane's statement. Sure enough, it was there for everyone else to see. "Har...har, very funny Akane. You know, I wouldn't have this," he said pointing at the picture that stood out in bold relief. "If ya had stopped on time, but you managed to push me into the door."

"I wouldn't have pushed you into the door if you hadn't have stopped so suddenly you jerk!" Akane glared at him as she pulled herself up to a standing position.

"Well if ya hadn't..." Ranma started to say but was interrupted by his mother opening the doors.

"Ranma, that is no way to talk to your fiancée!" Noduka admonished him with a slight disapproving look on her face.

"But mom...," he started to say but was cut off again when her expression hardened. Ranma hung his head and wisely decided to shut up.

"No buts young man. I want you and Akane in the hall now. I need to test you two further. I have to get the book so you'll have to wait here. No fighting is permitted while you wait for me to return. While you're waiting for me, you can have something to eat," Noduka said as she pulled out a box of Toki yaki, a few pork buns and a container of sashimi. Turning around one last time she eyed her son and his fiancée before walking out of the hall and towards her room to retrieve the book.

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Ranma watched as his mother left the room before he proceeded to decimate the supplies laid out on the table. Akane, seeing Ranma wolfing down the food shook her head and started to turn around but her stomach choose that exact moment to make itself know. *GROWL* Slowly she turned around and eyed the contents on the table, unconsciously licking her lips, before rushing over and taking a seat. Akane started grabbing everything in site just as fast as Ranma.

When they were half way through the meal, the doors to the great hall opened once more, Akane glanced up, never pausing from devouring the food on her plate, to see Genma, her father and sisters enter the room. "Mmmph....," she greeted them before lowering her gaze back to her plate.

Ranma glanced up from his bowl, still shoveling food into his mouth, he nodded his head in greeting before returning his attention to eating. Genma, seeing the food lying on the table made his way over to see if he could get somethin to eat, "Mmmm....Sashimi," he thought as he reached for the bowl. Ranma and Akane both looked up from their bowls and growled simultaneously at him. Their growls had the effect of scaring him out of three years of his life, as the tone in them didn't sound like a normal human's would. To put it bluntlyit was scary.

"Eeep!" Genma exclaimed, quickly backing away from the table.

"Saotome my friend, I don't think it's a good idea to try to steal anything from them at the moment," Soun pointed out as he watched his youngest daughter and her fiancée eat.

"Yeah, otherwise you might loose a hand, Nabiki said dryly. The middle Tendo daughter narrowed her eyes while watching her sister and Ranma eat like they had just found the mother load. Judging by the way they're acting; I'd say it has something to do with those tattoos we found on them. You've seen them at the breakfast table this morning, not to mention dinner...now that was scary," Nabiki exclaimed as she pulled a chair over towards the fireplace. "I think it would be a good idea to leave them alone when they're eating."

"Oh my, yes. I think it would be wise to let them eat separately from us, because they seem to be eating more than usual," Kasumi pointed out in agreement. Turning her attention back towards her younger sister and Ranma, Kasumi asked. "Are you two still hungry or are you finished?"

Ranma and Akane both glanced up swallowed and replied at the same time. "We're done, I think." They lowered their bowls to the table and were about to place their chopsticks on top when they both spotted the last pork bun sitting in the middle of the table. Their eyes became glued to it as if they were in a trance. Reaching for the piece of food ant the same time their chopsticks collided. Ranma and Akane glared at each other a moment before some unknown signal was given and a fight commenced over the remaining bun. The battle was fast and furious, Akane to everyone's amazement managed to keep up with Ranma as they fought. Soon their chopsticks began to blur as their speed increased. It was obvious to everyone watching, both were determined to win.

Kasumi sighed in exasperation and reached out before anyone could stop her and snatched the bun from the plate while they were busy fighting over it. This had the affect of catching Ranma and Akane's attention as their battle came to a screeching halt. Their heads snapped around and their eyes focused on the food Kasumi was currently holding in her hand. Kasumi, seeing this, quickly split the bun in half and handed each a half, before she backed away from the table. The remaining pieces were finished in less than a second.

Ranma and Akane sighed in contentment as they sat back from the table, their eyes started to close as their bodies natural reaction to too much food and a long night of travel finally took over, making them drowsy. Just as their faces were about to land on their plates, Kasumi, Soun, and Genma rushed to the table. Genma grabbed Ranma before his face connected with his bowl, while Soun held Akane as Kasumi cleared the table. "Oh my, they must have been exhausted. We should get them to bed," Kasumi said with a caring expression on her face.

"Nabiki grinned as she watched the proceedings with amusement. Standing, Nabiki grabbed a blanked off of one of the chairs and placed it on the floor in front of the fireplace. "Daddy? Mr. Saotome? Why don't you bring them over here to sleep it off while we have a bite to eat. We can wake them up later so they can go to bed," she said chuckling a little at the end.

Genma and Soun nodded their heads and grinned like the two idiots they were, while lifting their children and bringing them over to place them on the blanket. "Tendo my friend," Genma said. "They will surely marry now that they have slept together."

"Yes Saotome, let's start making the arrangements," Soun replied while pulling out two fans and started to wave them around as he danced around the room.

Kasumi and Nabiki both rolled their eyes at the childish behavior of their father and his friend. They were used to it so they wisely decided to stay quiet. Unfortunately for their father and Genma, someone else decided to stop them. "Ehem!" echoed in the great hall, catching Genma and Soun's attention faster than an angry mob of women chasing the master.

"No-Chan!" Genma exclaimed upon noticing his wife standing within the great hall doorway. Her face, full of disapproval, Noduka glared at her husband and Soun, causing them to hang their heads sheepishly.

"Really, you two," Noduka said frowning. "I would expect this kind of behavior when we are at home, but you must respect our ancestors and behave here," she said before switching her attention over towards Ranma and Akane who rolled over in their sleep, snuggling close to each other for warmth. "It is obvious that our children were exhausted and fell asleep after such a large meal. We can have our turn to eat while they rest. Although I was going to test them tonight, I see that I will have to test them in the morning."


"Yes dear," Genma replied as he made his way over to the table with Soun not too far behind. Kasumi and Nabiki joining them a few minutes later as the carried the rest of the meal out from the kitchen. After they had finished their meal, they sat around the table in quiet contemplation of the days events. Noduka opened the book and began to read up on the subject of the chosen ones and the clues to look for that would reveal them. Soun and Genma retired off to the side to play a quiet game of Go while Nabiki opened her books and started to do her homework.

Kasumi finished cleaning up the meal and the kitchen and sat down to read a book since she finally had some time to herself. Earlier, before they had left, she had grabbed the nearest book on hand and later found out that it was a romance novel she had mistakenly picked up at the market instead. She had intended to pick up a medical book, but ended up grabbing this by mistake while talking to Dr. Tofu. Fifteen minutes into the story Kasumi blushed scarlet as she came to a particular scene in the book. "Oh my!" she whispered slightly shocked and yet interested, she continued to read, biting her lower lip as her eyes roamed the pages.

Nabiki looked up from her paper to see what was the matter. She saw Kasumi reading a book, her face seemed to be bright red as an apple. "This," Nabiki thought. "Requires further investigation." Nabiki crept close enough to see the title, her mouth dropped open in shock as the title of the book blared out at her. 'Passions Promise.' "Kasumi! What are you reading?" Nabiki asked, shocked at her often-placid sister reading something so explicitly sexual. Nabiki knew what the book contain because she had read it just last week.

"Oh Nabiki, um...I took this by mistake before we left. I had no idea what this was about, I thought I had grabbed one of Tofu's medical journals since they both have the same colored cover," Kasumi replied, covering one cheek with her hand.

Grinning, Nabiki decided to ask her sister a question. "So, are you enjoying it so far?"

"Yes," Kasumi replied in a dreamy tone. "I liked the part where the hero took the girl into his arms and kissed her silly."


"Well I..." Nabiki started to say but was interrupted by noises coming from Ranma and Akane's makeshift bed. This had the effect of catching everyone's attention. Genma and Soun glanced up from their game while Noduka closed the book, stood up and walked over to see what the commotion was about. As she got close enough to look, Noduka saw Ranma and Akane rolling around on the floor. Akane threw a punch, Ranma unconsciously avoided it. Then, Akane raised her leg and kicked. Ranma blocked it with his forearm. "Oh dear..." Noduka exclaimed as she watched her son and future daughter-in-law fight.

Genma walked over to see what had his wife's attention. When he saw both heirs sleeping and fighting at the same time he called Soun. "Tendo my friend, what is the matter with Akane?"

Soun watched as his daughter and Ranma sparred in their sleep. He tried to fight the uncontrollable urge but was unable to resist, he grabbed a microphone from hammer space and announced. Ladies and gentlemen, what you are witnessing tonight is the dreaded Tendo school of Anything Goes Marital Arts Sleep-fu! He would have continued announcing for another few minutes if Nabiki and Kasumi hadn't started laughing.

Soun sighed and answered Genma's question. Saotome, my daughter is a master at Anything Goes Martial Arts Sleep Fighting." Soun held up a hand to forestall Genma's question and continued. "I know it sounds weird, but I tried one time to wake her up and I ended up in the hospital."

"Daddy, do you remember the time she was sleepwalking and you tried to steer her back to bed?" Nabiki asked grinning with ill-concealed amusement.

"What is she talking about Tendo?" Genma questioned his friend.

Soun scratched the back of his head while laughing as he tried to think of anything to turn Genma's attention elsewhere. "Look a flying pink elephant!," Soun exclaimed as he pointed towards the opposite wall. Genma crossed his arms and refused to believe him this time. Soun noticed that Genma wasn't taking the bait and was forced to explain.

"Well, you see...there was one time that Akane was sleepwalking and I tried to get her back to bed. The problem was when she started dreaming that she was in a martial arts tournament and mistook me for her opponent. I ended up with a broken arm since she was using her full strength at the time."

How often does this happen, Tendo? Genma asked as he watched Ranma avoid a nasty kick to the head.

Well, If I remember correctlyit only happens when Akane is extremely stressed out, Soun replied as he rubbed his chin, thinking.

Genma's jaw dropped at his friends' explanation. Thinking for a few minutes he came to the conclusion that when awake, Akane unconsciously doubted her abilities as a martial artist, so she held back. But when asleep, Akane apparently held nothing back and by the looks of it she was almost as good as Ranma. "It appears that Ranma is just as good at avoiding her strikes when he is asleep." Genma pointed out.

"Husband?" Noduka said.

"Yes No-chan?" Genma responded, gazing at his wife.

"How are we going to get the children to bed if we can't get close enough to them to carry them to bed?" she asked her husband frowning.

"Ah..., we'll just leave them here for tonight." Genma replied in a hopeful tone.

"Genma, that is not good for our son's health! The cold floor is not a proper place to sleep. You...," Noduka started to berate her husband but was interrupted when Nabiki cleared her throat. Glancing over toward the middle Tendo daughter, she noticed that Nabiki was pointing back towards Ranma and Akane.

Their children, it seemed, were currently standing up with their eyes closed and were in the middle of what appeared to be a serious fight. This time it was Ranma who threw the punches and Akane who blocked with amazing ease. Both were locked in what appeared to be a serious dream. Neither knew that they were sleep fighting.

"We could we wake them up by throwing a bucket of water on them," Genma suggested.

Soun thought about it for a second, nodding his head in agreement and said, Good idea Saotome. Now why didn't I think of that myself? We should put a stop to it before they both get seriously hurt." Grabbing a bucket of ice cold water, Soun prayed that his daughter wouldn't kill him for this, and threw it on both combatants, drenching them instantly.

Ranma screamed as the water hit him.

Akane snapped awake the minute the water hit. she screamed in shock.

Turning, a promise of pain in their gazes, Ranma and Akane screamed at the same time. Whoever did that is dead!

Their reaction to getting hit with cold water was not normal, since Ranma and Akane were is such close proximity, their emotions had been feeding off of each other for the last few days, which caused them to overreact. This startled Soun and caused the patriarch to start one of his crying jags. Waaaaa! My daughter and her fiancée don't love me anymore! Waaaaa!" Soun cried.

Ranma and Akane blinked a few times before they managed to calm themselves down enough to think coherently instead of wanting to kill someone. Taking a deep breath, Akane asked, Dad, why did you throw water on us?

Soun was about to answer when Kasumi intervened. You were in the middle of a Sleep-fu match with Ranma.

Ranma blinked in puzzlement for a few minutes before he decided to ask, What the heck is that?

Nabiki decided to explain it to him, so she pulled him off to one side and said, It's like this she said, her voice lowering so that no one else could hear. Ranma nodded every few minutes, listening to Nabiki as she told him of the history of Sleep-fu, while Akane rushed over to her father's side and tried to reassure him.

Daddy! You have to calm down! she yelled to be heard over her father's continued wailing. When he wound down to a few sniffles she continued, We didn't mean it. We still love you, honest! Akane exclaimed, rubbing her father's back to calm him down.

Really? You're not going to kill me? Soun asked somewhat hopefully.

No, we won't kill you this time, but if you ever do that againI can't promise that you won't get hurt, Akane replied smiling a little to take the sting out of her words.

We were trying to wake you two up, so you could go to bed. But you were in the middle of a Sleep-fu match with Ranma... Soun tried to explain, but was interrupted by a shout from the left.

No way! Ranma yelled in disbelief.

You better believe it, Saotome. My sister may not be the best when she's awakebut when she's sleeping she could probably beat you with both hands tied behind her back, Nabiki told him as they came close enough for everyone to hear. she continued. Our fathers didn't want you two to get hurt, so they decided to wake you up. Nabiki yawned before she exclaimed, I don't know about you guys, but I'm for bed. See you all tomorrow or later today if you want to be technical about it.

Akane ignored the first part of Nabiki's explanation because she was too busy beaming at the later half of it. Imagine, me being as good a martial artist as Ranma, she thought while a silly grin appeared on her lips. Akane yawned, following Nabiki out the door; she bid everyone good night on her way out the door. Good night everyone, I'll see you later.

Ranma watched her go before he decided that they had the right idea. Hey Akane! Wait for me! he called after his departing fiancée.

Akane glanced over her shoulder to see what he wanted. Are you going to walk me to my room? she asked him.

Nah, I'm going with you because you're going to get lost and you need someone to show you where to go, he replied as he noticed both their parents watching them.

Akane's growl echoed down the corridors as they disappeared from sight. Genma, Soun and Noduka all sighed exasperated, as another one of their children's arguments started up. Well, I think our children have the right idea, see you in the morning everyone. Soun said as he walked out the door.

Noduka nodded her head in agreement, grabbed Genma's arm and dragged him towards their room. Smiling, Kasumi stood, and walked around the hall, turning the lights off and banked the fire before she went to seek her own bed.

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