Disclaimer: I don't own Ranma ½.

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Chapter 6: Ikuyo ½

"Hey Ranma, I'm going to Jusenkyo for a day. Alone thank you." Ikuyo said as she bowed to him and the recovering Akane. "Well, me and Saisai." She added as she pet the cat on her head.

"Come back soon!" Akane called after her.

"Don't try and be all girly now. It's too late." Ranma said to her.

"Shut up! I can be girly!" she argued.

"Yeah right, you uncute tomboy." He said back as he stuck his tongue out at her.

Ikuyo sighed as she and Saisai went on their way.

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"Okay Saisai!" she said as she poured hot water over her cat who in turn changed into a girl with short brown hair.

"Long time no see, Ikuyo." She said as she put some clothes on from out of Ikuyo's bag.

"Here we are, Jusenkyo. I'll turn you into a girl again." Ikuyo said happily as she trotted in front of her friend.

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"C'mon!" Ikuyo yelled as she and her friend stood on the bamboo poles in the springs. She lunged forward and they started their training.

After her first punch it was one nightmare after another. First of all she was kicked into a spring, her friend in one too. Then taken out by the guide and given away to a "loving" family were they were used as servant's and utterly misused as pets. For one reason, Ikuyo had fallen into the Spring of Drowned Dog and her friend, who had once again fallen into the Maonichuan (cat spring).

In the end Ikuyo ended up biting all the people who kicked them out and they ran for their lives toward Ikuyo's village.

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"I wonder where Iku-chan is." Ranma sighed as he sat on the roof, looking over the village.

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"Where are we?" Ikuyo looked around.

"No idea." Her friend said as she rubbed her bruised face.

Ikuyo turned to a man in a hat that was walking toward the forest. "你到哪里去？ (Where are you going?)"

"匆忙 (in a hurry)" he said sternly.

"近义词 (Answer me!)" she yelled at him.

He shivered and showed her a map, and then she smiled and pat him on the back.

"谢谢你。(Thank you)" she said happily.

"You're cruel." Her friend said grimly.

"Yup." She said as she skipped down the road in the direction toward their village.

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*woof woof*

A dog barked outside of the house as Ranma, Akane, Ikuyo's father, and Kiyoja sat down to eat. All was silent until…

*smash* *crack* *slam*

Ranma and Akane dashed toward the source of the sound and found a black and purple dog lying on the ground. Akane rushed over and pulled all the junk off from on top of the dog.

"The poor thing. It got crushed by this case." She said as she gestured toward the metal case filled with reeds all over the ground.

The dog squirmed out of Akanes' hold and dashed toward the bathroom with Ranma's sleeve in her teeth.

"Where y'goin' you little mutt?" he asked as he followed the dog.

"What're y'doin'?" he asked as he watched the dog turn on the faucet with its teeth and jump into the hot bath. When it emerged it was Ikuyo.

"I-I-Ikuyo?!" he yelled as he backed up against the wall.

"I fell in spring. Now I have the body of a dog." She said angrily as she ducked under the water. "Naunnichuan wasn't easily found but I got it."

"You did!" he cried as he almost jumped on her.

"What are you doing in here?!" Akane yelled from the door.

"I got Naunnichuan for Ranma-kun. You won't get him now." She said happily as she twirled a small bottle in her hand. "What you say Ranma-kun? I give it to you and you do me a favor." She slyly opened the top and sniffed the top.

"Fine!" he said and jumped into the water with her as she dangled the bottle farther away from him.

"One thing. You help he kill Kiyoja and I marry me after."

"What?!" Akane cried.

"He marry me." Ikuyo repeated.

"Okay."

"What?!" Akane cried again.

"Okay." He repeated as he grabbed her hands. "Although I'll divorce you right after."

Ikuyo's eye twitched as she pinched his hand, pulled her Chinese clothes over to her, put them on, and conveniently pulled out a flute. She lifted the flute and slammed him on the head, chasing him out yelling angry remarks in Chinese.

"Ranma'll never learn." Akane muttered as she shook her head.

"Ranma get back here!" Ikuyo called after him as she threw her reeds at him.

"Can't you take a joke?!" he cried as he ran as fast as he could away from the even faster girl.

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"Miss, me can't let you out. Bail fine for now but it seems your family canot afford it." The guard said.

"Then make them. I have done nothing and I wish to be freed. I have been kind enough to live out my time without blasting the place to hell and freeing myself by killing all of you." The woman said as she flicked an ofudo into the air carelessly. It burst into flames before it reached the ground.

"Y-yes ma'am." He stammered as he jumped out of the cell and into the safe hall.

The woman laughed as she opened a tattered book and started reading.

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"I wonder what Ikuyo's doing?" Kiyoja asked her minions.

"Would you like to know, milady?" one servant asked.

"Yes. Do now." she said to the Japanese servant.

The Japanese turned and ran out of the building.

A few minutes later he came back with bumps, bruises and scratches all over him.

"She beat me up. She's chasing the boy around and shouting about how rude his is about using her and things like that." He said as he winced.

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"I'll kill him! I'll kill him!" Ikuyo yelled as she grasped the dented flute in her hand.

"Ikuyo!" a voice called from behind her.

"Oh, Pop. What is it?" she asked in an angry voice.

"Your clarinet's finished." He said as he held up her best friend, a.k.a. her weapon.

"WOW!" she cried as she dropped the flute and pounced on her clarinet. She strapped it on her back and twirled around as she felt the keys from the back.

"谢谢你! 谢谢你 (Thank you thank you!)!" she cried as she hugged her father for the instrumental repairer.

"Well, I'll tell him--."

*splash*

"I so sorry Ikuyo, Mr. K…Where they go?" a village girl asked as she looked around.

"Moo-o-o!"

*woof woof*

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"I finally got away from Ikuyo. Man, and a good thing to, I can't feel my arms now." Ranma said as he rubbed his bruised arms.

"Ranma?!" Akane called. She stopped in front of him and frowned. "You idiot. Don't you know when not to say something in front of a girl?"

"Shut up! I have no intension of marrying anyone right now." He said as he fell down with a load thump.

Akane lifted a bucket of water and poured it over him. "I'll take you back so we can treat those wounds."

"Fine." Girl Ranma grumbled as Akane piggybacked him back to the Chinese village of Sang-wan-chi.

"Hey, Akane and girl!" someone called from above.

Akane and Ranma looked up. There was a girl with brown hair standing on a tree limb looking down at them. She was Chinese and had the outfit of an Amazon from Shampoo's village.

"Who are you?!" Akane called up to her.

"You know me as Saisai, Ikuyo's cat. I come from Amazon village. Looking for Ranma girl." She yelled down to them.

"I--!" Ranma started but Akane nudged her in the side and shook her head.

"Why do you wanna know?" Akane yelled to the girl on the tree.

"Ikuyo say he defeat sister Shampoo in time long ago." She said as she landed in front of them and smiled. Her eyes were green and shone with a light of power and strength. Her hair was as short as Akane's but was held in a bun. "I Shampoo's oldest sister, Xon-di-noir, but for now call me Condition." She said as she bowed.

"Nihao." Ranma said slowly as she took her hand away from Akane's shoulder to take Condition's hand.

"We were going to Ikuyo's village so we could fix up Ranma here. " Akane said in a friendly manner.

"Zhu ni yi lu shun feng!" she called after them.

"What?" Ranma muttered.

"Have happy journey!" Condition translated. "I see you soon!"

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"Wenhoa wenhao wenhao wenhao!" Ikuyo said quickly to Sutasai.

"Wenhao." He said once and smiled at the happy girl.

"Thank you so much." she said as she hugged him and skipped out of the house toward her home.

"Ikuyo. We have come to inform you that the bail for your mother ha been lowered to 600--." A guard said but Ikuyo had her clarinet to his chin and an angry look on her face.

"I pay for bail now." she growled as she shoved money into him hand.

"That good. She free now." The guard said in his horrible Japanese.

"Thank you."

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"She's out of jail?" Kiyoja asked.

"Yes, Milady. She was freed by Ikuyo today." One of her servants said in a tiny voice.

"This is bad. Call Condition. I want to ask her a favor." She ordered.

"What about Kahoka?" an important looking girl asked.

"Kahoka? She's working at Jusenkyo is she not? Ikuyo just went there, ask her to come here too and ask for info about her training." Kiyoja commanded as she rose from her chair and walked out of the room.

When she was gone all her servants seemed to get less tense. "I hate that woman. Poor Ikuyo."

"Poor Condition."

"Poor Kahoka. Kahoka?! We can't bring her here! She'll kill us all just for asking about Ikuyo!" one cried.

"Uh-Oh."

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"Ranma, we're almost there. Hold on." Akane said reassuringly.

"These cut's hurt. I don't need you to carry me, y'know." Ranma complained.

"They'll get worst if you put pressure on them. I don't mind."

"Of course not you ma…" Ranma stopped and sighed as she leaned her head against Akane's back. "I don't care."

"Would you really marry Ikuyo just for the Naunnichuan?" Akane asked.

"No. I'd steal it from her." Ranma said slyly.

Akane sighed in anger and kicked a rock. "I don't really care if you change back or not. I like you the way you are."

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I'm finished with this chapter! I liked writing this chapter. It was cool! As you can see I switched from Chinese characters to pronunciations of the word toward the end. That's alright though, right?

Anyway, I'll update as soon as I can:

Chapter 7: Mother's Insanity