A/N: Okay, guys, here's the deal. I've been spilling my soul into a project lately, and that's why this chapter took so long to get up here, BUT from here on out, here is my promise:

I, JenJen-chan, solemnly swear to update at least once on the weekends AND (if time and my schedule permits) once during the weekdays. (More if I'm really inspired, but expect at least this much.) I promise to stick to this unless something pops up, in which I shall tell all you happy (or depressed, you pick) readers out there otherwise.

This sound good to people? Feel free to yell at me if I don't stick to my promise (sometimes I need a good yelling at to get my butt in gear). Also, people have been talking about wanting longer chapters. It will probably take me more time then the shorter ones, but you guys tell me what you want, okay?

Wow, this was a long beginning author's note. I should have probably just put this at the end, but I'm too lazy. ANYWAY, since I've got a trend going on here, here is my little present to thank the reviewers. ::hands out Kazuma plushies:: Onwards, comrades!!

"When do we have to go back to the restaurant?"

"Eleven to open for the lunch crowd."

"And remind me why we're doing this again?"

"Hotaka, we've been over this thirty times, we are _not_ staying at the Tendo's for free."

"This stinks," Hotaka declared as he kicked a pebble on the road and watched it form a nice little hole in a near by stone wall.

[What is it with me and being mean to stone walls?! This must be the fourth time I've done damage to one in this fic alone!! It must be something in the water…]

Natsuko sighed. She had promised herself _not_ to hurt Hotaka no matter what; she needed his body to work and his wages to pay back you-know-who. Natsuko's fists clenched just thinking about her.

That cheap, scamming, ice cold, money-loving daughter of a bi--

"You hoo," Hotaka said, knocking on Natsuko's head. "Anybody in there?"

"Hotaka," Natsuko growled. "Shut up."

"Well, ex-cuse me," Hotaka huffed. Natsuko shot him a death glare.

CAN'TkillhimneedhispayCAN'TkillhimneedhispayCAN'Tkillhimneedhispay…

"Hey, is that Kazuma?" Hotaka asked, looking ahead.

"Huh?"

***

Kazuma was walking down the street, just trying to clear his head.

Actually, he was going to get things from the general store, mainly some coloring books and a board game for Banna (and everybody else, considering it seemed like _none_ of the Tendo residents would be home anytime soon and it was boring just sitting there for hours on end).

He was oblivious to his surrounds because he was lost in thought. Thought about his twin and her rival. He and Perfume had racked their brains and came up dry; the Tendo home seemed the most likely place for them to be, yet, they weren't there. Perfume _had_ found Hotaka's backpack, and, later, both Natsuko and Hotaka's uniforms in the hamper in the laundry room, meaning they were probably staying there and would come back soon. Now it was just a matter of waiting things out.

Kazuma was generally a good waiter. That's why he was good with little kids, he usually had a great deal of patience that he knew his twin didn't have. His twin. All of his thoughts came back to Natsuko. It just felt like a part of him was missing with her gone; they had known each other when the womb; they grew up side by side, literally; yet, he couldn't find his other half.

Where is she?

"KAZU!!"

Kazuma snapped out of thought the second he heard the voice, and soon found himself in, yet another, tight embrace. This embrace was different though; he was familiar with this embrace.

"NATS!!"

"KAZU!!"

"NATS!!"

"KAZU!!"

"What, no 'Hotachan?'" Hotaka asked, breaking up this loving twin to twin moment before he puked all over the side walk. Natsuko managed to let go of her brother, but stayed right next to him.

"Shuddup, Hotaka," she grumbled. Then, she turned her smiling face away from the frowning Hotaka to her beaming twin. "I'm so glad to see you! How did you get here?"

"Same way you did," Kazuma said. "When you guys didn't come back by morning, Ma and Pop and Hotaka's folks flipped out, so they sent me and Perfume here via her granny."

Natsuko stood, mouth agape.

"You _let_ her _throw_ you?"

"Anything for family."

Natsuko stood and just stared at her twin for a minute before she threw herself on him, hugging him tighter than before. When she let go, she looked at him with the biggest smile either of the boys had ever seen.

"I have the best twin in the world!!" she exclaimed as she grabbed onto Kazuma's arm and started to drag him towards the dojo. "C'mon, let's go to the Tendo's and I can tell you and Perfume what's happened to us!"

"Um, Nats, there's just one, slight problem…"

"Problem?" she said, stopping in her tracks and looking at her brother curiously. "What on earth could be the problem? You're here! I'm here! All is right with the world!"

"Well…"

***

In the next town, everyone stopped in the middle of what they were doing to listen to what sounded like a distant battle cry coming from the Nerima direction.

"WHADDYA MEAN _SHE'S_ HERE?!"

***

Hotaka and Kazuma shakily took their hands away from their ringing ears.

"Kami, could you be any louder?" Hotaka grumbled.

Natsuko, her face beet red with angry, ran over so her face was right next to his left ear.

"THIS BETTER HOTACHAN?!" she yelled even louder, her volume increasing with each syllable. "HOW ABOUT NOW?!"

"DID YOU SAY SOMETHING?!" he screamed in her face. "I CAN'T HEAR YOU BECAUSE I HAD AN UNCUTE TOMBOY YELLING IN MY EAR!!"

That was the last straw.

"_JERK!!!_"

Hotaka went soaring through the sky, via the ever-popular 'Boot Airline.'

['The way the martial artists fly!!' Okay, I'll stop with my stupid comments. Continue.]

Kazuma shakily put a hand on his sister's shoulder. She whipped around to face him, her face still red.

"Was that necessary?"

"Yes," she responded coldly. "So what have you told _her_ so far?"

"Not much, Banna's been distracting her fortunately. They sent me out to go get a coloring book for her so Banchan wouldn't be jumping around anymore."

"Make sense," she whispered to herself. She turned back to her brother. "You go get that coloring book. Perfume's smart enough not to tell _her_ anything, and Hotaka… Well, Perfume's smart enough not to tell _her_ anything."

"Are you and Hotaka _ever_ going to get along?"

"No."

Natsuko pushed her brother in the direction of the general store.

"Go already! _She'll_ get suspicious if you're not back in a little while."

"Where are you going?"

Natsuko turned back to her twin, a serious look on her face.

"Furinkan. I have to go talk to Ranma and Akane, find out someway to divert _her_ suspicions. We'll say we're Akane's cousins or something."

"You think she'll buy it?"

"'Course, it's worked in the past, hasn't it?"

"Good point."

Natsuko and Kazuma started their separate ways, until Kazuma froze, thought finally dawning on him. He turned around to face his sister, who was walking towards Furinkan on a near by fence.

"Nats?"

"Yes, Kazu?"

"Don't do anything stupid."

Natsuko lost her serious demeanor, smiled back at her twin, and flashed a 'V for victory' sign with her fingers.

"'Course not, Kazu, 'course not."

Kazuma watched the laughing, retreating figure that was his twin run towards the high school.

Oh Kami, what have we gotten ourselves into?

***

Ukyo rushed down the hall, not even noticing if there was anything or anyone in the corridor. She burst into the classroom, bowing before the teacher.

"Sorry, Sensei, I was a little late closing down the restaurant this morning."

Her teacher waved it off and motioned for her to sit down. He was right in the middle of a complex math problem, and he didn't want to lose the class' focus because of her interruption. It wasn't like it mattered about Ukyo being late anyway; the faculty knew Ukyo was a good kid and that she ran her own business to support herself (which was actually pretty admirable considering her age). Her being late from the breakfast crowd every now and then wasn't a big deal. Now, if she would just stop running around with those martial artists…

Ukyo took her seat. Finally she looked around the room and noticed two familiar figures weren't at their desks.

Where's Ranma and Akane?

***

Outside the classroom, both Ranma and Akane stood holding buckets of water.

"This is all you're fault, ya know."

"Don't start with me, Ranma. I'm in no mood."

***

Ukyo shrugged it off, and started working on the math problem on the board. Though as hard as she tried to concentrate, she just couldn't focus. Her thoughts wondered back about how Natsuko and Hotaka were going to be tested on how they could run the restaurant at lunch time, and, if they passed, how she would get to go to school all day, at least for a day or two.

Go to school full time… It wasn't such a bad thought. Actually it was a pretty _good_ thought.

I can spend more time with Ranchan.

Ukyo looked up as she heard a slightly pounding sound coming closer and closer, and getting louder and louder.

*tap tap tap tap tap pound pound pound stomp stomp STOMP STOMP SHREEEEEEECH*

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!" a familiar female voice cried.

*BAM!! SPLASH!!*

"What'd you do _that_ for Natsuko?!" Ranma-chan cried, annoyed.

"Sorry, Ranma," a very sheepish sounding Natsuko replied.

Of course, the whole class had stopped to listen already, and merely stared at Natsuko when she entered the room. After her little sprint and slide down the hall, she was panting slightly, but not wet (unlike poor Ranma who couldn't avoid the bucket _or_ the girl sliding into him). Hushed whispers broke out among the class.

"Who's that?"

"Ranma's twin?"

"I wonder if she's related to Akane…"

"Think she's taken?"

"Probably engaged to a martial artists already."

"Darn. They get all the good ones…"

"She's so pretty!"

"I wish _I_ had legs like those."

"So do I, heheh…"

"Pervert!"

Natsuko seemed oblivious to all this, and rushed up to the teacher.

"I'm sorry to disrupt, but I need to talk to Ranma Saotome and Akane Tendo. It's a family matter."

"And you are part of their family?" the teacher asked skeptically.

"You could say that…" she trailed off, glancing around the room at the peering eyes of the students before her. She turned back to the teacher, looking a little more determined and resolved. "I've been staying at the Tendo dojo. Now, may I please talk to Ranma and Akane?"

"They were in the same hall you came rushing through a minute ago.

Silence.

"…I knew that."

Natsuko turned on her heel and marched out into the hall. Ranma-chan was pretty much the same as she had left her, soaked wet and still female. Akane was leaning against the wall, looking at Natsuko curiously.

"What was _that_ all about?" Akane asked.

"Did you guys happen to see my brother Kazuma and two girls with him this morning, named Banna and Perfume?"

"Ya mean the guy who could pass for my mirror image with the hyper active kid and the girl with the creepy eyes?" Ranma-chan asked bluntly. "Yeah, we saw them."

Thank Kamisama, that makes my job easier, Natsuko thought in relief.

"Yes. Well, I saw my brother Kazuma little while ago, and the three of them are at the dojo," Natsuko explained, then turned to Ranma. "With your mother."

"M-m-m-m-m-mom?" Natsuko nodded. "Crap!!" Ranma started bouncing around nervously. "How the heck are we-- and Pop-- and you-- and them-- and, I don't wanna commit suicide!"

Natsuko watched just a tad confused.

"Did I miss something here?"

"Ranma's father made a promise that if he didn't make Ranma a 'man among men' they would both commit seppuku," Akane explained. "And because of Ranma's curse…"

"Ah ha, gotcha."

"So when Auntie Saotome's around Ranma becomes Ranko, my cousin."

"Well, Akane, you've got two more cousins and a foreign exchange student living with you now."

"Pardon?"

"Me, Kazuma, and Perfume!"

Silence.

"And, tell me why?" Ranma-chan asked.

"Okay, you said you're mom wants you to be a manly man right?"

"Right…"

"Well what type of man would you be if you let freeloaders--"

"Other than you and your father," Akane added. Ranma glared at her, but Natsuko continued.

"--living in your fiancée's house? I don't know about you, but I don't think that's manly."

"She has a point," Akane agreed.

Ranma-chan brooded for a moment, then grumbled an, "Okay."

"It's settled then, Kazuma and I are Akane's cousins, and Perfume is a foreign exchange student for China!"

"That works, because she's Chinese anyway, right?"

"Right, Akane!"

"What about Hotaka?" Ranma-chan asked.

Crap! Forgot about him.

"Um, Hotaka can be traveling with me and Kazuma for one reason or another." Ranma-chan looked at Natsuko skeptically. "I'll think of something! Like you have a better idea."

Ranma-chan sighed.

"Just don't let her know that Ranma and Ranko are one and the same, okay?" Ranma-chan asked.

"Deal," Natsuko replied, shaking Ranma-chan's hand. "Now I gotta get back to the dojo before Hotaka says something that royally screws us. Have fun in class guys!" Natsuko exclaimed, running down the hall, waving.

Ranma-chan and Akane slumped back up against the wall.

"What a day, huh?"

"You said it."

A/N: Are Ranma and Akane out of character? I don't know, I just think I might be a little off… Anyway, this chapter is a tad longer than usual. If you guys want longer chapters, tell me, okay? I really haven't done much characterization with Perfume or Banna yet, but I'll get to it eventually.

Like I'll eventually get to the karaoke place…

Also, I'm thinking of starting another fanfic. (Don't worry, this one is far from done, I just have a few other ideas that are screaming at me to be written.) I'll probably release teasers for them soon. Lately, I've been toying around with a 'Wizard of Nerima ½' or something along those lines (old cast only). Either that, or a martial arts tournament during the time when the new cast in this fanfiction were kids. Don't worry, old cast would be there too. Anyway, if you have any opinions on either of these ideas, feel free to speak up. And, as I said, I'll probably be releasing previews later on.

Just a side note, I AM FREE FROM THE MANDATORY LABOR CALLED SCHOOL FOR ONE WEEK!! WHOO HOO!!

Next time, Nodoka meets more of Akane's cousins, the foreign exchange student from China, and Natsuko's fiancée! Remember to review! Ja ne!!