**********

The Replacement

Chapter 04 - And so it begins...

By C. Rose

ertle2@msn.com

(c) 2001

**********

Ranma's eyes snapped open and he shuddered, that dream of Usagi and her friends had been plaguing him all night. It was like he was being punished

for not taking advantage of them or something. He had been dreaming about

one or more of the Scouts trying to seduce him, the ones about Ami were the

most unusual since she had come the closest to getting him and bore such a close resemblance to Akane when she was angry about one thing or another. Ranma rolled out of bed and yawned his way over to the bathroom the shrine sported. Through experience he looked to see if the occupied sign was out, but didn't see one, so he knocked on the door to the furo and waited. Still no answer.

He opened the door a crack and peaked inside, visions of Akane's mallet

fighting about his head. When nothing happened he opened his eyes and

sighed as he saw the room was ready for use, but empty. He stripped down and poured cold water over his head with a shiver as the curse took effect. She worked with the soap for several minutes before repeating the process, rinsing herself off, and settling down into the furo with a long sigh as she shifted back into a man once more. Ranma leaned back and wondered what this day would bring for him; he knew he couldn't stay here too much longer. The Tendo's and his parents were probably worried about him by now, not that they had ever shown that they cared about him personally, just the things that he could bring them. He was a bargaining chip to keep the schools going and allow two old men to retire early.

Rei had offered him a chance to stay at the shrine, but after what had

happened yesterday he was feeling unwelcome when ever the other girl's were

around. They had woken up and been very cold to him, barely tolerating his

presence whenever he was in the same room as them. Eventually he had left

and vanished for the rest of the day. He had spent it wandering around the

district and trying to come up with a way to survive without going back to

the Tendo's place and admitting defeat. That option didn't thrill him to much; he didn't want to go back to that painful life style again. He had made some friends here, though he was beginning to wonder if that one bright point was now in ashes do t what had happened yesterday and the way the girls were treating him. It wasn't his fault they were affected by that beam, only Usagi and Ami had been even remotely nice to him after everyone woke up, the others had been quite as they kept glaring holes in his back. He wondered if they were mad at him for not taking advantage of the situation or something. It wouldn't be the first time he got in trouble for doing what he thought would be the best for everybody.

By the time he returned to the shrine, he had snuck into the room Rei had given him for the night and quickly gone to bed. Now he was up and needed to make some decisions, the first had already been made. He would be leaving the shrine today, after yesterday he was sure he wasn't wanted around there anyway and he sure wasn't welcome here anymore. He sighed and stood up to grab his towel, the door to the furo opened and a naked Rei stepped inside. A flash of dejavu swept over Ranma even as Rei noticed him and her eyes took in every detail of his hardened body, she blushed and started to scream at the same time, and then she started throwing buckets and other nearby implements of destruction at him.

"DIE PERVERT!!!" Rei yelled as she dove for cover, her towel barely hiding

her naked body.

"Hey, stop that!" Ranma yelled, dodging a spear for some odd reason as it embedded itself into the wall behind him.

"DIE!!" A hair brush bounces off Ranma's head.

He twists and dodges for several seconds, hops out of the furo, grabs his

towel and runs out of the room even while he is tying it around is waist.

That's it, he hadn't asked to be treated this way, and it hadn't been his fault!

He makes it to his room just as Rei hits him in the head with a bucket of

water and turns him into a girl. Now a topless female with a towel wrapped around her waist, she grumbles about pissing off all the Kami in existence and crawls the last few feet and slams the door shut. Ranma groans as she pulls herself to her feet and dresses in the outfit that she had been loaned the night before. It was made for a girl's body, so it fit her better than his clothing usually did. She had been given a pair of black jogging pants, a black t-shirt, a bra from Makoto and the return of her boxers. She dressed quickly and jumped out the window.

She took to the woods around the shrine and made her way out of the area

via the trees, these soon developed into houses and she hopped over roof

tops and along fences until she found a small park to land in. It had a

small lake with several families using it as a quite spot to catch some

fish, it reminded her of the last trip she had made with her father and the

Tendos when she had been training. She found a good spot and sat down against a tree and thought about what she would need the most over the next few days. Money was the first thing she came up with after a few moments thought. With that she could get anything she wanted, food, shelter, clothing, but how to go about getting it, it wasn't like she had any kind of marketable skill and she needed money fast, not two to four weeks from now. Nabiki had always taken nearly every penny she ever earned as well.

That meant fast money and she had experience with that, the old man had

taught her to be reliant upon no one and shown her more than one way to make a quick buck. The fat idiot had also turned her into a first class thief, but she wouldn't take that rout just yet, there were easier ways to get the cash she needed. That meant she had to fall back on something else, after a few seconds she grinned as it came to her in a flash of memory. She could do what she did best, fight, or in this case, a pit fight. She had attended more than she cared to admit and they were always a good place to get easy and ready cash. As a

martial artist she was also well aware of these little matches too, they

were always looking for good fighters and had invited her to several matches

in the past. All she had to do was contact certain people and she would be

in the next fight that came up, but she would need a little operating capital in the mean time.

Feeling restless, she stood up and started to work through her morning

workout, steadily increasing her speed and skill as she went. Over the

years she had found it was always easier to think while she was training, so

she was soon making thirty foot jumps and pushing herself to the edge. In

her mind she was still thinking about the pit fights, she usually avoided

them unless she had no choice but to deal with them because the fighters that attended them were usually very dishonorable and nasty individuals. That meant she would have to be more careful than usual, in Nerima she dealt with fighters that, though they said otherwise, were not out to kill her, well except maybe Mousse, but he was an Amazon and who could tell with them anyway. If they had been she would have put them down long ago, permanently.

**********

That same morning Usagi had awoken from a deep, restful sleep, feeling a

little weird. She sat up and stretched, looking around her for any sign of a

pissed off cat sharpening her claws. Of Luna, there was nothing, not even her

tail sticking out from beneath the bed. She wasn't on her kitty chair or on

the floor, the door was locked so there was no way for her to have gotten

out easily. Usagi stood up and wondered why she felt so restless, usually

she had to drag herself out of bed at claw point. She shrugged and grabbed

her school uniform and looked at the clock to see how late she was.

The clothes fell out of her hands and she gaped, it was 6am in the morning,

the sun hadn't even come up yet. She started to gripe under her breath and

took a step back to the bed, but stopped when she realized that she felt

fully rested and was actually more hungry than tired. She giggled and

dressed in her pink sweats before heading down stairs and into the kitchen.

It had been a long time since she was up this early on her own and she

wanted something for breakfast that she rarely had time for, pancakes.

Even more amazing was that she remembered how to make them after all this

time, nearly two years or more had passed since those early days of her

cooking lessons with her mom. Soon the house was filled with the smell of

blueberry pancakes, it was all Usagi could do to keep herself from sampling

the raw batter. Her mother stumbled into the kitchen in shock and gaped at

her, blinked several dozen times, and had to stagger over to a chair to sit

down. Usagi giggled and sat a plate of pancakes in front of her.

"W-what a-are you doing up this early?" Ikuko asked in confusion.

"Got me, I just woke up and had this craving for pancakes."

"Y-your never up this early." Ikuko said as she sampled Usagi's pancakes

and grinned, they were pretty good.

"I know, isn't it cool?!"

Her brother stepped into the kitchen, stared at her, and stomped over to the

table to eat an early breakfast. Ikuko giggled, "I think you managed to wake

up everyone in the house."

"Aghhhhhh!" Came her dad's voice as he ran down stairs dressing as he went.

"Why didn't anyone get me up?!" Kenji yelled.

"Dear you don't have to be up for an hour or so, what are you talking

about?" Ikuko said, looking innocent.

"Huh?" Kenji said as he looked at the wall clock and gaped at it, looked at

Usagi, the clock, Usagi...and staggered over the coffee maker muttering evil

things under his breath. Usagi set another plate of pancakes out for him and

cooked up a few dozen more to add to her plate. She was feeling weird,

really energetic for some reason and the food was only making her fidget as

she worked. The Tsukino's watched her move about the kitchen restlessly for

several minutes before she finished off her breakfast and headed up to her

room.

She changed out of her sweats and into her workout clothes, a pair of white

spandex shorts and a tank top, with out even thinking about it. She hopped

out the window and went for a jog to the park just down the road. She could

feel something pulling her there and had the funny feeling that it was one

of her friends. The instant she entered the park she felt this feeling of

contentment wash over her and she gasped as she saw a female Ranma

practicing her martial arts. This was the first time Usagi had seen her

doing this with out a distraction or something interrupting her. Ranma was

the most graceful girl she had ever seen as she flowed from one set of moves

to another, the very sight of her as she moved awed Usagi as she watched. A

few seconds later Ranma looked at her from the top of a high jump and waved

to her as she landed.

"Good morning Usagi!" Ranma said.

"Hi Ranma, that was amazing."

"Thanks, what are you doing out this early?"

"I have no idea, just woke up and had to go and do something to keep myself

occupied."

Ranma laughed. "I'm like that sometimes, it usually allows me to get the

drop on my old man when we spar."

"Could you show me some of that stuff, it was so cool."

"Sure, has anyone ever taught you the basics yet?"

"Makoto taught me some stuff, but at the time I was...um...not really

interested. I did pick up a few things though." Usagi said, blushing a

little.

"Let me see what I have to work with here." Ranma said as she walked around

Usagi and looked at her with her Ki senses. The girl's aura continued to

fascinate him as she looked her over, she had tons of potential. She had

learned from the others that Usagi was a bit lazy and an air head, but she

hadn't displayed any of those traits so far and Ranma really wondered why

the other girl's thought that way about her.

"Well?" Usagi asked nervously.

"Usagi, you have the potential to be as good as me if you were to put your

mind to it, but even if you didn't, you could still be a very good fighter.

All it takes is practice and time."

Usagi's eyes glittered as she stared into Ranma's eyes. "Really?" She

whispered.

"Yep." Said Miss. Oblivious. "Here let me show you some stances and other

simple stuff." After about twenty minutes, Usagi had barely managed to pick

up even the most basic stance and Ranma was about to give up when he

remembered something one of his early teachers had told him. Some students

learn in different ways, some need to be forced and pushed to their limits

just to pick up the most basic move, while others require different and less

painful measures to achieve the same results.

Ranma let Usagi rest for a few minutes as she thought about how to change

the way she was teaching and what she knew about Usagi. It hit her like a

bolt of lightning and she grinned at her friend. "Okay Usagi, lets try

something a little different shall we."

"I'm sorry I'm no good at this stuff, I'm just going to go on home." Usagi

said as she slumped down and walked off dejectedly, her hair was limp as the

the tips dragged on the ground.

"Let's give this one more try Usagi, please?"

The blonde shrugged. "Sure, can't fail anymore than I am now."

Ranma just grinned. "Now take the stance I showed you, okay? Now since your having troubles learning the regular way, I've decided to use an alternative

method that I once saw used. The idea is to learn through instinct and

demonstration while defending "

"Huh?" Usagi got out just as Ranma took up the same stance, showed off a

couple of blocks and winked at her. Ranma grinned as she threw out a lazy

punch that Usagi failed to block, the grin turned evil as she looked in

Usagi's eyes...and tickled her ribs. The blonde backed away as she started

giggling, Ranma was without mercy as he continued to strike out and tickle

her friend.

"No nonononono...hehehehe...nonononono...hehehehe..."

So it went for the next couple of hours, Ranma chasing Usagi as she tried

to run away giggling. Then Usagi tripped over her own feet and splashed

down in the lake, Ranma right on top of her as they both laughed at each

other. They surfaced giggling and Ranma threw a punch at her, but Usagi

blocked it with out thinking.

"See, alternative training methods."

Usagi blinked and realized that she had been defending herself at faster and

faster speeds as they 'played', she had moved her feet in the ways Ranma

showed her almost instinctively, blocked her strikes and dodged around her

strikes easily. "Wow! Is that what..."

"That wasn't like any kind of fight I've ever been in Usagi, I can't lie to

you, most fights are 'Fights' and deal in pain. But there are lots of ways

to work around the training, we'll just have to make it fun for you."

Usagi giggled some more as they made their way out of the water, dripping

wet. Ranma followed her and nearly tripped over her feet when she noticed

something about Usagi that made her blush. Usagi had been wearing a white

tank top, it was now soaked through and her sports bra was plainly visible,

her shorts were in the same condition. The sight was so provocative that

Ranma had to turn away and hold her nose.

"What's wrong Ranma?" Usagi asked worriedly.

"Y-your clothes...urk..." Ranma stuttered through a full face blush.

"Huh...EEEEKKKK!!!" Usagi yelled and wrapped her arms around her chest and glared at Ranma.

Ranma sighed and tried to think of a way to help Usagi out, but she wasn't

wearing her normal clothing. "Um...just pull the shirt away a-and wring the

water out of it, t-that should allow you to make it home to change Usagi."

Ranma said nervously, still blushing. Usagi ran over to the small grove of

trees and hid behind the trees as she took her shirt off and rang it out and

put it back on, it only helped a little.

"S-s-s-s-sorry about that Usagi." Ranma muttered.

Usagi sighed, things were always a little weird around Ranma, she thought

to herself. She grinned as she realized that she was actually having a lot

of fun with her friend, then she heard the sound that made her blood run

cold, the worst sound in the entire world...the final bell for school.

"Aghhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm late for school!!!!" Usagi screamed and took

off for school, skidded to a halt, glared at her clothes and did a 180 on

the tip of her toe and headed for home at full speed, leaving a dust cloud

behind her. Ranma sighed, she was impressed with Usagi's speed though. She

might be able to use that to the girl's advantage if she wanted to do this

again. Ranma hoped so, it had been tons of fun and even if Usagi hadn't

realized it, they had made great progress.

Ranma grinned as he saw Usagi run by the park a few seconds later and wave at her as she sped by, dodging obstacles as she went. There was this look of astonishment on a number of people's faces that said that she usually tripped over everything in her path. It was going to be a good day, Ranma decided after all. Now she had some rather bad people to visit and she had to prepare herself.

**********

He was big, he was strong, he was a 4th dan in Karate, and he was body slammed

into the wooden floor so hard that it shattered around him and sent pieces

flying everywhere. Ranma grinned down at him and smirked, she had been going easy on him since he wasn't that good. She looked over at the stunned gang member who had set up the pit fight and smiled at him evilly, he almost wet his pants he scrambled to pay her off. Ranma had stumbled across the fight several hours ago while heading to the more dangerous parts of town and

wormed her way into the fight. An idle comment about that that big guy being

pathetic had pissed off the right people and she had challenged him to a

fight. The stakes were simple enough, if she lost she had to 'service' all

of them, whatever that meant, or if she won, she would win all the money for

that days fights. They were that confident, but Ranma could tell that there

wasn't a fighter there in her class.

She had played with the big guy for several minutes, insulting his family

and friends, his body and so forth until he was enraged beyond belief. After

that it was a simple matter to take him out, but she used her fancy moves

just to use something different, the broken nose and shattered floor had

been quite impressive if she said so herself. The gang leader's hands shook

as he handed over nearly 500,000 yen, Ranma narrowed her eyes and started to

glow, he added 200,000 more and paled visibly. She was laughing internally

though, this was bringing back some good memories of the last time she had

done this, though she had never made this much before. Taking the money,

Ranma smiled and jumped clear to a window about twenty feet up and

disappeared through it like smoke.

About an hour later, after finding some hot water, he was at the Juuban

mall buying several outfits at one of his favorite stores. Ranma was a

little irritated too, in his search for hot water he had remembered

something that Vulcan had told him, he was supposed to have control over his

curse. So far he had no idea how to get that control and was more than a

little irritated at that jerk hadn't bothered to tell him how to control it. Cursing under his breath he had decided to go the mall, it would make a great place to stop and pick up some much needed clothing, his usual red and black combination if he could find it. Ranma figured while he was there he would also pick up a few other things as well, and soon had a new backpack, tent, and a number of camping supplies. His final act was to buy several post cards, he was going to be gone for awhile and didn't want them coming after him. He had enough problems with the gang in Nerima and wanted to make sure they stayed there while he was gone. He filled the first one out there in the mall and tossed it into a convenient mail box, it said that he was going on a training trip and that he would be gone for a few months or so. He hoped it would keep them off his back, but doubted it, they had been to quite lately and his disappearance was going to make things worse.

"Ranma!"

He turned and saw Ami heading his way, she had an older woman with her that

was looking him over pretty thoroughly. She looked a little like Akane again and

walked confidently as they headed in his direction. He waved at them and

waited for them to reach them before smiling at Ami. "Hi Ami, what are doing

here?"

"Me and mom needed to pick up a few things for a trip she's taking in a few

days and we thought it would be a good idea to pick them up together since

we don't get to see much of each other anymore." Ami said, she missed her

mother wince behind her. "Mom, this is Ranma Saotome a friend of mine that I

met the other day."

Mrs. Mizuno smiled at him. "It's nice to meet you young man." Ami winced.

"It's nice to meet you too Mrs. Mizuno."

"Here Ami, can you run over there and pick me up some of those herbs?" Mrs.

Mizuno said as she gave her daughter and Ranma a push off in the right

direction. She had noticed her daughter turn a slight shade of red when they

had first spotted the boy a few minutes ago at the mail center. As a trained

doctor and a mother she also noticed the signs of a crush when she saw one

and figured they made a cute couple, anyway, this Ranma was bulging with

delightful muscles that rippled as he moved...blush.

"Sure mom, but where will you be?" Ami asked, she looked a little

flustered.

"Over there dear." The older woman said and gestured to the lingerie

department across the way and waved good by, but winked at her when Ranma wasn't looking. Ami blushed and looked at Ranma out of the corner of her eye, he had to be the most handsome man she had ever seen and it seemed her mother was encouraging her too make a move. Her libido surged and beat up her logical mind, she opened her mouth when...

"So what kind of herbs did she want us to pick out?" Ranma asked

innocently, though he was sweating nervously.

Ami giggled nervously. "...um...well...heheheh..."

"...heh..." Ranma said and blushed a little, rubbing the back of his head.

"L-lets go and grab those things for your mom."

"S-sure."

To avoid further conversation they grabbed up their various packages and

quickly headed into the store, but it became pretty obvious to both of them

that they wanted to avoid certain subjects. Every time they even came close

to each other or looked into each other's eyes they would turn away and

blush in embarrassment. For Ami she was having considerable trouble

controlling the fast-paced beat of her heart every time she even glanced at

Ranma. His very presence was making certain ignored parts of her body

tingle deliciously, it was making her knees shake as she tagged along beside

him picking up the various items on her mothers list.

For Ranma, his reactions were far different than Ami's, he was having

terror filled flashbacks of Akane's mallet coming down on his head out of

nowhere. As he walked along carrying his new backpack and supplies he was

growing more and more nervous with each passing second. His eyes were

shifting around the room constantly checking it for any signs of anything out

the ordinary, his danger sense on high alert, his muscles tensed and ready

for action had a moment's notice because he had been in situations like this

far too many times to count. At the same time he watched Ami out of the

corner of his eye and was reminded again of just how cute she was.

As he was escorting her back to the main counter and to purchase their

items, Ranma was surprised to find that the store carried a very rare herb.

He grabbed a baggy and deposited several dollars worth of the rare

substance into the bag and grinned evilly as visions of his old man danced

in his head after being exposed to this stuff. He figured that if this

stuff was here maybe they would have some of the other items he would need

as well and after doing a quick search through a couple isles he found

several more herbs that he knew would come in handy eventually. Ami followed

him around with a bemused grin on her face.

"Ranma what are you buying?" Ami asked.

"I hadn't expected to find any this stuff actually. They are various items

that I have learned over the years can work wonders for toughing up the body

before and after a hard work out. When mixed together in various small

doses they can also work as a primitive bandage, they are also useful in

playing some very nasty practical jokes." Ranma said as she tried to look

innocent.

"What kind of jokes?" Ami asked in curiosity.

"Well, the one I was thinking of doing pertains to my father and getting

a little bit of revenge on him for what he's done its me over the last few

years."

"Your father is the one that turns into the panda right?"

"Yep, he's the one. Several years ago I was challenged to a Martial Arts

Practical Joke War, it was probably one of the weirdest battles I've ever

had to fight, but I learned a good number of things from the fight that

have taught me some pretty good lessons. As for my father, every now and

then I have to take him down peg or two or his arrogance begins to get out

of control and he's over do for one of our little lessons."

"What are you going to do to him?"

"The last time we fought like this we were staying overnight in this park

where we had decided to set up camp the night before. As usual he tossed

me out of the tent just before dawn and started to use me as a punching bag

while I was still trying to wake up, or sparring as he liked to call it.

That particular morning I was ready for him and managed to throw a handful

of sleep dust into his face while he was in close, the moron actually

inhaled most of it before he realized what he was doing. The fat fool

collapsed at my feet and I didn't waste anytime as I stripped him out of his

clothing and dropped him into the zoo primate exhibit in only his underwear

a few minutes later."

Ami giggled at the image that he was describing for even as they moved

through the checkout line and purchased all their various herbs and

medicines. "I'm thinking this time I'm going to do something more subtle to

him."

"S-so what are you going to do for the rest of today?" Ami said as she

tried to build up her courage again.

"I'm not sure just yet, but I have to find in place to live since I'm no longer welcome at the shrine." Ranma said a little harshly.

"What you mean, of course your welcome at the shrine." Ami said in

confusion.

Ranma shook his head. "Not after what happened yesterday, Rei and the

others have all been giving me the cold shoulder since that little incident.

They've even gotten a little violent and started to threaten me with bodily

harm and calling me a whole array of nasty names. I got enough of that kind

of abuse back with the Tendo's so I have no intention of tolerating it now."

"But that isn't..." Ami started she was interrupted by Ranma.

"Just this morning Rei walked in on me while I was taking a bath and

instantly lost her temper, calling me a pervert and several other names as

she threw everything in the up furo at me. I ended up ducking out of the

bathroom and leaving the temple before the sun was even up this morning.

Even Makoto and Minako were treating me quite badly yesterday, so I decided

to get out of there and start over while I still have a chance."

"Where you going to be staying?" Ami asked.

"I'm not to sure yet, that's the reason I picked up this tent and the

supplies since I figure I'll be camping out the next several weeks before I

make any final decisions where I'm going to stay. If things get really bad

I can always head back to the Tendo's, but I'd rather not get into that mess

again anytime soon."

Ami was confused about how her friends were reacting to the mistake Minako

had made. She could recall that after everyone woke up they had all looked

quite embarrassed and spent most of the night hiding from Ranma and blushing

every time they even caught a glimpse of him nearby. This brought up the

memory of what she herself had done to him under the influence of Venus'

attack, but she quickly moved to push that memory out of her head as she had

been trying to do for the last twenty four hours. She giggled nervously and

looked back up at Ranma's chiseled features and had to again suppress her

raging hormones.

Ranma witnessed a number of expressions race across Ami's face as they

gazed at each other, some he recognized, but most were beyond his

understanding. He was about to say something else when he spotted something

up on the second level of the mall. At first it seemed like nothing, but

then his ears began to pick up one of a few sounds that brought joy to his

world. The sounds and motions of the crowd up above as it began to panic in

shock brought an evil grin to his face as he realized one of his toughest

opponents had decided to resurface after being gone for the last couple of

months. He still wasn't quick enough to deflect the black blur that

launched itself off the second level and bounced off his head and clamped

itself to Ami's breasts.

"Hehehehehehe...SWEETO!"

Ami blinked as she suddenly felt something grab onto her breasts and

squeeze them. She gasped and looked down at this old...thing with a tiny

mustache and a bald head sporting only a few hairs. It was covered in

wrinkles and looked more like a bug than a human being. Suddenly Ranma's

fist flashed through where the old pervert had been, but he had bounced off

her and she stumbled back and felt her breasts suddenly sag down. She caught

sight of the old man holding her...bra and gasped, he had stolen her bra,

without even removing her shirt...Ami seethed as he caressed her bra

lovingly before depositing it in the large sack of underwear on his back.

"Look at this little pretty, it's so soft and full of life, eh Ranma?"

"What are you doing here old man?" Ranma yelled.

"Why you little punk...oh...fancy meeting you here." Happossai said,

grinning lecherously.

"What are you doing in Juuban old man?"

"Where else to can I get away from little punks like you who are always

interfering in my training."

"TRAINING?! What kind of training involves stealing underwear old man."

"My kind of Training, Ranma-chan." Happossai says and produces a bottle of

water.

"You don't actually think that is going to scare me do you?" Ranma grinned

as she saw something coming down the stairs from the second level.

"Who cares about scaring you, I want that great body of yours my dear."

Happossai said and launched forward...

"Lecher!"

"Pervert!"

"Thief!"

"Bleeping little bleep!"

...and gets brained by the pack of angry women that had finally caught up

with him. They were all cursing and yelling, hitting him with various pieces

of sports equipment, what followed was to gruesome to detail. Much to

Ranma's surprise, Ami jumped in a fired off a spiel of cursing that would

have made a real sailor blush. He was suitably impressed and wondered where she had even heard such words before. Eventually the women retrieved their stuff and walked off in a huff. Happossai is contorted into a pretzel and embedded into the floor and groaning in pain. Ranma picks the old pervert up and drop kicks his carcass through the roof of the mall to the cheers of all the

girls the old fart had insulted or groped.

"Are you alright Ami? Ami? Earth to Ami?" Ranma says as he waves his hand

in front of her eyes.

Ami gazes at him, blinks, and...smiles. Her eyes light up and she blushes a

deep red, she gazes longingly at Ranma's hard muscled body and sighs.

Ranma pales and jumps back several feet, she had 'that' look, the one that

said that he done something his mother considered 'manly'. It was the same

look that Ukyo had given a few months ago when he called her cute to calm

her down. What Kami had he pissed off to make his life like this, he tired

to be a good person, he helped out, and what did it get him? Every girl in

existence chasing him around to marry or kill him for something.

"Ranma!" Yelled a familiar voice.

He twitched and looked around to spot Usagi as she came out of nowhere and

skidded to a halt between him and Ami. "Usagi, fancy m-meeting you here?"

"Actually I was supposed to meet Ami, hi Ami, but I got detention for being

late for school." Usagi said, scowled at Ranma, and punched him in the arm.

"What'd you do that for."

"That was for making me late!" She punched him again for good measure.

"Now you owe me an ice cream to make up for it!" Usagi declared and latched

onto his arm.

"No way Usagi, he just saved me, which means he has to get me an ice cream!"

Ami said, latching onto his other arm. It must be understood that Ami spent

a good amount of her time repressing her hormones, so she wasn't exactly

thinking straight.

"What are you talking about Ami?" Usagi asked carefully.

Ami blinked, blushed and jumped back giggling nervously. Off to the side

her mother face faulted at the sight, her daughter was such a book worm

sometimes. Amy stammered out an apology and ran off, he mother in hot

pursuit. Ranma moved to stop her, but Usagi held him in place and demanded

an explanation. "Well?"

"Um...heheh...me and Ami stumbled across each other a little while ago

while...gulp...I was picking up some camping supplies. She had her mother

with her and she asked me to help Ami to pick out some herbs from that story

over there...hehehe...um." Ranma said.

"...and?"

"A pervert came by and stole her bra, felt her up to...I'm not to sure what

I did to make her act like that?"

"Looked like you had quite an affect on her Ranma? I thought you liked me?"

"Of course I like you Usagi, your my friend as much as Ami and the others

are."

"Friend?" Usagi said in a flat tone. "...but I thought you said..."

"Usagi, I know what your saying, but this is a new beginning for me and if

works out I will regain control over my life for the first time in a long

while. I like you, a lot, but I don't want to worry about a...gulp...r-relationship until after I'm out of school. Can't we just be friends until then?" Ranma said, calling on every last bit of his courage.

"I want more."

"I...I..."

"Ranma, I think I understand, but what if something changes between now and

then. I already care for you, deeply, because of the soul bond we share."

"What's a soul bond?" Ranma asked nervously.

"What are you talking about?"

"I don't know what that is."

"I told you all this Ranma. I explained it that day at the shrine."

"I don't remember a thing about it."

"We share a bond that connects us as soul mates Ranma, mother told me that

means that we are destined to be together. I'm not sure about that since

Mamoru is still around here somewhere and I'm still connected to him as well, but we are supposed to be able to complement each other."

"Huh?"

"Complement each other, we share or reinforce each other when we need it.

It also changes us in ways that make us better people Ranma, we can share

our emotions and stuff. For me, this bond has allowed me to grow more

confident and athletic I think. For you, I figure it will make you more open

and caring, we compliment each other."

"I don't know if I like something like that messing with my mind Usagi."

Ranma said carefully as they started to walk through the mall.

"It doesn't mess with your mind like that Ranma, it makes you a better

person so that you can understand your partners feelings better. When I'm in

danger you will be able to sense it and come to help me, I can do the same

with you when it is needed."

"Can it be removed if I want it gone?"

"No, it was put there by the Kami, we are soul mates Ranma and that sort of

thing usually leads to marriage, but not always. I was just hoping that you

felt the same way I did."

"That explains a few thing about what I have been feeling lately Usagi, but

are you sure it isn't influencing my mind in any way?"

"Ranma were like two pieces of a puzzle that go together, it's just the way

things work out sometimes."

"It's okay Usagi, it's just something I don't like having unless I can understand just what is happening to me. It's like I have no control and there is this thing in the background pulling my strings, it makes me feel weird. Lets go and get that ice cream, I'm in the mood for some all of a sudden." Ranma declared, grabbed his pack and headed off.

**********

End Note - So ends another chapter. I know it has been a while since I posted

the last one, but this story is a little harder to write than the others and

it takes more time to get out. After Minako's little fun last chapter I

decided to back off a little while for this one. The next chapter should get

things back on track and I hope to have it out sooner than this one. Usagi

and Ami are both falling for Ranma and he likes both of them and this time

he has more experience with the girls than he did in Nerima. He is a little

more cautious with them and will be trying to be a little more careful with

them. As for Rei and the others, they will be explained.