I am back!  And now things are to be found good as I am back!  Backness is a good thing!  And I wonder how many ways I can find to say I'm back?

                O.o I don't know but I think you get the idea... -_-

                You know... it still feels weird to be home when I would normally be at school... oh well; I'll get over it.

                Now, to get over my short writer's block and get on with it.

                ~~~~~~***   A DAY GOES ON   ***~~~~~~

                I found my quarry in the living room.  Nodding to Akane, we stalked up to them.  "Now you two.  Let's 'talk'!"

                They were so afraid of the look in our eyes, and probably a bit confused as to why we were so angry, that they didn't even fight back.

                So... after we had them knocked out, I let Akane, who felt much better now, go watch Ranma.  I told her I had something I wanted to talk to the two about.

                Preparing quickly, I gathered the ingredients I needed.  I needed to keep them under control, and this seemed the perfect way.

                After about half an hour, the two of them awoke to a candle-lit room.  I was sitting across from them meditating Indian style.

                It didn't take them long to figure out that they were tied up.  "What is the meaning of this!?!?"

                "This, mister Tendo, is my way of making sure that you listen to what I have to say.  As for what Akane and I did earlier, well.  That was for something you did earlier today."

                The confused look on their faces was priceless, then Genma started getting up to his feet.

                I held up a vial of a strange yellow liquid.  "Please don't move."

                "What is that?"

                "This, is a rather potent potion that, if used, would create a rather painful experience for you."

                "How dare you hold us here in this manner!"

                "Well, if you listen, then I will no longer have any need to hold you.  But I do have the help of your other two daughters as well."

                Genma still stood, even with his feet bound together and his arms wrapped to his stomach.  "And what of my son?"

                I did my best to hold my anger in, but I think I may have failed miserably.  "HE'S IN THE HOSPITAL RIGHT NOW THANKS TO THE TWO OF YOU!!!"

                "What are you talking about!?"

                "You two nearly KILLED him earlier when you attacked him in the dojo!"

                "That boy is weak if we could do so much damage.  He is not THAT weak!"

                I was ready to pop, but I kept as much of my calm as I could.  "Look, that's something you're going to have to talk to him about when he can use his arm again." I SO wanted to shove that potion down his throat, but I held back enough to keep most of my cool.  "Right now, I have to talk to you two about Ranma and Akane."

                "My baby girl attacked her daddy!!" Suon suddenly started crying again.

                "Mr. Tendo, could you please stop?"

                "Why?"

                "Because I don't want you getting the floor wet.  And besides, I want to talk to you two."

                "About what?"

                I kept my fist to myself, I could almost feel the mallet again, but kept my calm.  "Okay... here's the point!" My look said 'SIT DOWN!!!', and they did.  "Right now, I am trying to get a stronger relationship between Ranma and Akane." Suon was about to cry, and probably shout 'OH!! THE SCHOOLS SHALL NOW BE UNITED!!' but I flashed him a glare that made him hold it in.  "But if you two don't cooperate, you will only continue to drive them apart!"

                Genma held his face into an emotionless state, but Suon was about to cry out.  Fortunately, he held it in.  "Here's what I need you two to do, and if you don't... just do okay?  Whenever something happens between the two of them, leave it to the two of them.  Do not make any plans for their marriage, do not speak about uniting the schools, do not tell Ranma to apologize, do not speak about them except as if they were someone else entirely."

                "But why?"

                "Because!!!  Each time one or both of you get involved, any kind of friendship between those two suddenly crumbles!  They're afraid to be friendly to each other because of you two!  Ranma avoids spending time around here because of you two.  I know Akane's anger IS a problem, but I'm helping to try and resolve that.  And the one thing that will make it a CERTAINTY that they WON'T be getting together is if YOU TWO make it hard for them!

                "Shampoo, Ukyo, Kuno, and Ryoga are problems that they could deal with only if they can find support here.  But only if they aren't bothered will they feel safe here!"

                Genma looked at Suon, who nodded.  "For the sake of uniting the schools, we shall follow the couple-making advice given to us."

                "However.  There is one last thing." Their questioning glances said they wanted to hear the last thing.  "Don't expect a marriage until they are at least out of high-school.  Got it?"

                "ABSURD!!"

                "WHY?"
                "Because, if they marry while in high school, everyone will feel that they are rushing it.  And rushing into ANYTHING so permanent is always a bad idea."

                "But I was so looking forward to seeing my daughter in her mother's wedding gown!" Suon would have put his arm up to his eyes if he could have moved them.

                "Well, the last thing they need is to go down the halls of their high-school as a married couple.  People will start to think they are under some kind of SPELL or something!  And then that will create a general uproar among the populace that Ranma will probably have to deal with." I was rolling my eyes a bit as I thought about it.  All those boys charging him and all the girls trying to break Akane free from the spell she was under.  And then there was Kuno, who thought he had all three of them under his spell anyway.  And Kodachi how could probably PUT them under a spell!

                "Look, they will probably grow close enough, but that has to be completely up to them, or else it simply won't work.  In fact, about the only thing I can do is help Akane manage her anger.  So do we have an agreement?"

                Genma looked determined.  "I shall have to speak with my son about all this injury business, but I shall do as I must to unite the schools!" Getting up to his feet, he hopped over to the door.

                Seeing him ready to open the door, I tried to stop him.  "Uh, you really shouldn't..."

                As soon as his mouth touched the doorknob two-hundred ten volts of electricity suddenly arced through his body and he was thrown through the air and hit the opposite wall.

                As his friend fell to the ground, unconscious, Suon looked seriously at him and spoke his mind.  "Nabiki?"

                "Nabiki." I nodded my head and then pointed to the glass vial I still had in my hand.  "Kasumi too!"

                "I see.  Well, like my charred friend said, we shall do as we must to unite the schools."

                "Good.  And one last thing, I don't want Akane to know that I'm the one who told you to do this, she needs to know that you're doing this because you care about them.  Tell him that when he wakes up, okay?" Nodding in his direction, I stood up and knocked on the door, telling Nabiki that we were finished.

                "About time, how long were they out?"

                "Just long enough for my tastes..."

                "Hmm, did you tell them the floor was electrified too?"

                "No, but I did manage to keep Suon from crying anyway." Suon's surprise was evident in his bulging eyes as he looked from us to the floor, back to us again.  "Which reminds me." Walking over to the candles, I blew them out.  "Don't worry, this won't take too long."

                Walking out, I closed the door behind me and left the two of them in there tied up.  "It should only take about three minutes to take effect, then you have another twenty minutes before it wears off.  That should be enough time to drag their sorry butts back to the living room."

                Nabiki nodded.  "Don't worry, we'll have them out of there quick!"

                Smiling, I went over to the kitchen.  "Hey Kasumi!  I'm going over to the school real quick!  Don't wait up for me!"

                "Okay, don't take too long, okay?"

                "Don't worry!" And with that, I started off for the school.

~~

                It seemed like I had been doing a lot of running today, as opposed to building hopping.  But hey, it was a workout, and I liked the feeling it gave me...

                Even so, I was rather out of breath by the time I got to the school.  So rather than running down the halls to the Kendo room, I decided to drop some weight and jump to the roof, seeing as how it was closer.

                I made it to the large gym-like room that served as the practice room for the Kendo club and went to a back room, using a key I had gotten especially for this room to open the door.

                Walking around one table, I looked under another.

                'Perfect!  Look at how much clearer the water is now!  And the compression sharpener should do a really good job on it too.' Dipping my hand into the slightly red water I pulled out a wooden sword that was being treated in the water.

                'Kinda soggy... oh well.  Time to heat-treat it...'  Walking over to a large, timed machine, I set the slightly soggy stick into the basin to be treated.

                Turning it on I set the timer to slow-treat.  That should keep the water from simply rushing out and creating holes.

                I had made three of these swords.  And I was rather proud of them, as I had made them myself.

                A half hour later, the machine was finished.  All the water had evaporated, leaving all the chemicals trapped within the now hardened, dried, and sealed wooden sword.

                Smiling, I pulled the next out and placed it into the machine and set it for a similar treatment.

                I wrapped the base in the standard tape for grip and took a look at my new weapon.

                As I held it, I could tell that it was different from the other swords that were made in this room.  Even though it was made on similar principles, and even had the same shape.  It was definitely special.

                As I waited, I picked out three sheathes for my swords.  Even though they were wooden, the police probably wouldn't take it too lightly if I went around the streets without a sheath.  They only tolerated it from Kuno because of his honorable up bringing.

                DING!

                I pulled out the second sword and put in the third, releasing the drain on the tank.

                "There you are!  What are you doing?"

                "Huh?  Oh!  Akane!  How's Ranma?"

                "Akane!  Could you wait up?  It's not exactly easy to run with this splint!!"

                "Well, that answers that question..." I put one hand to my forehead.

                "Are you making swords?"

                "Yeah, wanna see?" She nodded and I tossed the first one to her, the second still didn't have any tape on it.

                As I started taping up the second one she unsheathed the first and looked it over.  "It's a little redder than Kuno's..." She scrunched up her brow.  "And it smells funny..." Giving it a practice swing, she continued to keep her brow scrunched.  "It seems kinda funny when I swing it.  Like it's off balance or something."

                "Let me see." I smiled as Ranma took it in his free hand and looked at it.

                Swinging it around a couple of times he nodded.  "You're right... it does feel odd..."  Looking at it closely, he eyed me over as well.

                I smiled at him as I sheathed the other sword, which now had a full handle on it.

                Suddenly, he smiled, as if he had just figured something out.  "Oh!  I get it!  That smell, the way it feels so odd!"  He held it vertically as he looked at it.  "It smells like blood.  And it has an energy signature that matches yours!"

                "Oh good.  I was almost afraid all that work would be for nothing!" I smiled as Akane looked at me disbelievingly.

                "What?  What do you mean?"

                I looked at her with a prideful smile plastered across my face.  "I added some of my own blood to the mixture.  Soaking it until, like a sponge, it absorbed into the wood!  I was afraid it wouldn't work, but it looks like it's now the perfect weapon!"

                "What do you mean?"

                "By having her blood embedded into the sword, she can use it like a real extension of her body.  Even as a way of using her energy if she tried!" He smiled as he tossed it to me.

                "That's the plan!" Smiling, I grabbed the weapon and put it in its own sheath.

                Akane still looked slightly confused, and then decided to drop it.  "Whatever.  So how long you gonna be here?"

                "I don't know.  Whenever this last one gets done and wrapped, I guess."

                "Why do you need three of them?" Ranma was suddenly curious.

                "In case they break somehow!  I don't want to have to go through all this over and over because the original broke!"

                "Oh..." Ranma suddenly looked like he knew he should have thought of that... which he should have.

                "So... Akane."

                "Hmm?"

                "What do you say... you know?"

                She rubbed one arm and looked at the floor uncomfortably.  "I don't know... I'll have to think about it."

                I rose an inquisitive eyebrow.  "You mean you haven't been thinking about it all this time?" She shook her head no.

                "That's not it... I just have to see what daddy says."

                I sighed.  "He'll probably want you to apologize for attacking him... or he might start crying at the mention of the idea..."

                She sighed and the machine dinged almost simultaneously.  "Cool!  It's done!" I pulled it out and went to wrapping it, ignoring how hot it was.  "Now I just need to pick up my weights and we can leave!"

                "You mean these?" Akane held up a number of sets of my weights... I nodded.

                "Yep, those are the ones!"

~~ Later on ~~

                "Oh!  My little girl!!  WAAAHH!!" Suon was now crying, although it didn't seem out of place somehow...  "I'm so proud.  She wants to be even better!  To truly carry on the name of BOTH schools!!!"

                Akane and Ranma both had sweatdrops traveling down the sides of their heads, while I just sipped my tea.

                "Uh... so you're okay?"

                "Oh!  I'm so proud!"

                "You said that already..." Kasumi dabbed her father's eyes dry as Nabiki barely gave notice to her father's outburst as she poured over a book she had in front of her.  It looked to be a manual of sorts...

                "Oh yes.  Of course!  It's just that my baby is growing up so fast!!!" He managed to glomp her rather tightly.

                Akane shifted uncomfortably in his grip.  "Daddy?  Could you... let me go?"

                Genma stood and walked up to Ranma.  "Boy... don't think that this gets you out of our morning training..."

                Ranma smiled nervously.  "HAH!!  I wouldn't want it to!  But about that..." He turned his head and moved his hair out of the way as he pulled the collar of his shirt down.

                Genma's eyes widened as he saw the mark.  "Boy!  Did you know you had a mark on your neck!?"

                I found my face getting a little too close to the floor for comfort, in fact, it was rather painful.

                "Old man?"

                The two grown men immediately bowed as Happosai emerged through an open window.  "Master!  Why are you here?"

                "Keeping an eye on my latest student.  And I want you to watch yourself from here on.  If any more of what went on today happens, I won't be as lenient as those two girls..." He eyed them over as they suddenly shivered, but got the courage to look at him.  "And he does know, he asked me to put it there, and I agreed."

                "But why?"

                "Because, pops, like this, I can be a match with Akane, without having to worry about hurtin her.  Not only that, but this way training is that much more effective!" Ranma had his hands at his sides and was acting pretty smug with himself.  And then he realized his mistake as pain shot through his left arm and he let it swing back into place, grabbing it to steady it a little.  "But you had to go and put my arm out before we could even get started..."

                The two of them suddenly had sweat go down the side of their faces.  I only frowned at my spilt tea.

                Going back to the kitchen to get a towel, I heard some more of the conversation. "So when did the doctor say you could use your arm again, Ranma?" Happosai's voice wafted through the door.

                "What, you weren't there?"

                "Eh... no.  Once you woke up again I left...  I couldn't stay in there any longer..."

                I could practically hear Ranma frown, as I did.  I knew where he had probably gone... the darn pervert.

                "Well, he said I should be able to sleep it off overnight.  That's about it..."

                Genma stood and walked up to Ranma's side.  "Ah!  So you'll be ready for tomorrow morning!" He playfully hit Ranma's shoulder.

                The sound of Ranma's shout could be heard for blocks around.

~~ Furinkan High ~~

                Principal Kuno was looking over the papers given to him by a strange girl with long purple hair and big green eyes.  As he looked her over he thought of plans to get her to cut that two-plus-foot hair off.

                "Ah... tha Big Kahuna be seein no problem here.  I be thinking that it be a good thing that you be coming here.  You seem like good student really." Pulling an apple out of his desk drawer he handed it to her.  "Miss Natsume, would you like a tasty snack?"

                "Yeah!  Thank you!" The perky girl took the apple in one hand and took a big bite out of it.

                A frown crossed her face as she swallowed it.  "This apple tastes funny, here, you have it."  Standing up, she bowed to the man, who looked at the apple and went bug-eyed.  "Nuku Nuku needs to go tell Papa-san now.  Okay?"  Without even waiting for the man to nod she walked away.

                As she walked out, the little firecracker in the apple went off and spewed fire all over the Hawaiian obsessed man.

                As soon as he got over the shock, he pulled out the remnants from the still intact half of an apple.

                He looked at what used to be a cherry bomb.  It had tooth-marks cutting it directly in half.  "Tha Big Kahuna suddenly feel sick..."

~~

                Happosai was addressing Ranma.  "Ranma... don't you think that... well.  I think it would be a good idea to burn that mark off... for now.  You would heal better and faster that way."

                "You think so?" Happosai nodded and Ranma shrugged.  "If you're sure."  Pulling his right hand up he poked out his two primary fingers.

                After a few seconds they started glowing and he reached behind him.

                Using his energy as a way of generating heat, he burned away the mark, just like Happosai had shown him.

                Right away his power took a jump through the roof.  He could feel his strength returning to him as the marks effects were nullified.

                "And, in the meantime, that frees me up for... another run for my silky darlings!" Ranma felt as if he had been played, but let the old man go, as his arm felt better already.

                "Oh well..." He went back to his room as the old man jumped out the door.  "I guess I might as well get my stuff to the living room..."

~~

                "Papa-san!  I'm back!"

                "Oh great!  Nuku Nuku!  Did you see that principal guy?"

                "Yeah!  He was funny too!"

                "Well, that's nice..." 'At least that means I won't have to deal with her in school as well as at home...'  "Oh!  Nuku Nuku!  I've got something for you!"

                "Oh!?  What is it!?" The purple-haired girl could barely contain her excitement.

                "THIS!" Kyusaku held out a pink backpack and Nuku Nuku promptly fell over.

                "Papa-san!  What is it?"

                "Oh, right!  It's a back-pack!" WHAM!  She fell over again.  "But here... let me show you what else..."

~~

                Akiko Mishima was brooding over her latest failure.  Her office-lady assault squad had lost track of that girl somewhere in Nerima.  "Damn you Kyusaku!  I'll get my Ryunosuke back from you SOMEDAY!!!" Suddenly, grinding her teeth into a cloth napkin and pulling hard, literal waterfalls of water began pouring out of her eyes.  "RYUNOSUKE!!!!!!"

                "Lady Akiko!  What are you doing?" Kyoko sighed at seeing her lady crying so again.

                Akiko suddenly went into professional mode. "Nothing that is any of your business."

                "You're right, of course.  But your Grandfather would like your latest report on Mishima funds..."

                "Of course.  They're on my desk... I had them prepared earlier today." Her calm voice was a great contrast to the spastic whining she had been doing earlier.  She allowed her hair to stay in place, pointing down and forward in one single sweep.  Her often angry blue eyes showed no emotion.  She was perfectly detached.

                "And tell Arisa to get Poison One fueled up.  We will be setting out first thing in the morning..."

                "Of course, Lady Akiko." Kyoko took the report and walked silently out of the office.

                Akiko looked out of the window of her hundredth-story office.

                Only one word was uttered.

                "KYUSAKU!!!!!!!!"

~~

                I had cleaned up the spilt tea. (Suon managed to cry over it... okay... maybe not.  But it would have been ironic if he had!)  And since I had a few hours left in the day, and I felt that I had done enough running for the day, I decided to do something else instead.

                "Well, let's see." Looking under the sink, a place Kasumi had been protecting for the last few days, I found what looked to be a fish tank.

                Inside of it was slightly tinted water.  The other half-liter of my blood had gone into this.  Honestly, it still kinda surprised me that Tofu didn't even ask me why I wanted it...  Oh well.

                Within the water were several wooden pieces.  Four of them looked to be rather long and slightly curved at each end.  And the last was a simple wooden ball.

                Frowning, I pulled out the ball.

                This was going to be the simplest to finish.  All I really needed to do was put it in the oven with a ceramic bowl.  And since I had plans, plans that I had just remembered, I could have Kasumi watch it for me.  That would be the best course of action.

                Holding my eyes closed for a second, I took a deep breath.  "Kasumi?"

                "Yes?  What is it?" She stopped when she saw me holding the ball.  "Oh!"

                "Can you cook this for me?  Two-hundred ten degrees at five-minute intervals?"

                "And are you going to finish the others now too?"

                "No... I'll do those tonight.  There'll be fewer people bothering me then..."

                "Ah.  And how many intervals?"

                "It will take a while.  So a coupla hours should get it finished.  And after the first half hour you can probably just let it bake, maybe turning it once..."

                "How high again?"

                "Two-ten."

                "Okay.  That's okay, I was cooking sushi tonight so that shouldn't be a problem..."

                "Thanks Kasu... This means something to me..."

                "Where are you going?"

                "I'm gonna take Ranma and Akane out for something.  Not really bonding, but I think they might have some fun!"

                "Ah.  Well, I suppose that should be okay."

                I smiled.  "Well, don't think too much into it!  I'm actually doing this for some pretty selfish reasons!"

                "Oh?" She looked surprised for a moment.  "And what would those be?"

                "Um, I crashed into someone's fence and I was hopin they'd help me rebuild it..." I put my hands behind my back and smiled.  "Besides!  I said I'd be back later so I pretty much hafta go!"

                "Oh!  That's so considerate!  Ranma and the others usually just destroy things and leave it at that." Kasumi sipped her tea as she waited for the oven to warm up, I nudged the drawer to the sink closed with my foot.

                "Yeah... well.  Thanks anyway.  I gotta go now..."

                "Take care."

~~

                "Say, where are we goin' anyway?"

                "Um, I got a pretty good look at the landmarks I could see from there.  And it was on the way to doc... There it is!!!" I pointed to a still-trashed fence straight ahead.

                I saw some thugs sneakin around, sticking close to the area as if they were thinkin of getting something.

                I smiled as I landed and turned to the other two.  "Okay, I'll go get the lumber... which one of you wants to get the nails?" Ranma rose his good hand.

                "I can make some from a boulder or something..."

                Akane looked over the destruction.  "Man, what'd you do?  Kick it?"

                "Nah!  I tripped and ran into it!  BAM!  I crashed right through it!"

                "Heh, so you've still got the grace of a cow!"

                "Hey!  My shoes lost traction with all the new weight!" My eyes crossed slightly as I came up with a thought.  "Which reminds me, if I'm going to be carrying all that wood, I better lose some weight!" I took a quick note of the thugs' reactions as I pulled off all my belts.  They were already rather skeptical just with me holding them all in one hand.

                Akane decided she could help in another way as I pulled off all my weights.  "I'll take down this destroyed stuff..." She walked over to the fence and started pulling out posts.

                As she pulled a good meter of wood straight out of the ground I saw several of their eyes bug out.

                As I dropped the weights, all at once, I saw some of them fall over as they slightly cracked the sidewalk.  "Wow!  That feels SO MUCH BETTER!!!  I feel like I could jump a mile!"  I decided to test that theory as I prepared to jump.

                Putting a whole lot into it, I jumped close to as high as I could.  Although there was no real reason to wear myself out doing so, I felt that there was no harm in showing off a little.

                I was almost surprised to find that I could now jump higher than a nearby office building.  It was one of the smaller ones of a chain that had emerged in recent years.  Across the side was M.H.I. written in huge letters.  And I could see the heli-pads on the top.

                Smiling with pride, I prepared to descend, which I did.

                By the time I landed those boys were already running away like they were being chased by the hounds of Hades.

                "Well they're no fun." I looked after them as I got up from my landing space.  Surprisingly, despite how high I had gone, I didn't make any kind of crater when I landed...  I must be really good at that.  I guess soft landings ARE about the only way to keep from going through the roofs of various buildings...  Which makes sense.

                Pulling sword one from its sheath I faced the edge of the destroyed section.

                "Let's see if this thing can really cut!" Pulling it back, in a position I had learned in a swords class I was taking (NOT with Kuno!!!) I prepared an under-thrust.

                "HYAAA!!" One sweep.  Two cuts.  Two major beams were cut, removing the damaged section from the still-standing stuff.

                The lady from before came out, having heard all the commotion.  "Oh!  Hi!  I'm back, like I promised!  We should have it finished in not-too-long!" She nodded, seeming to be a little shocked.  She also had a handgun hanging loosely in one hand.

                "Geeze, you could have cut it with a sharpened stick with how much force you put behind that!"

                "Uh, hello?  Sharpened stick?" I knocked it against my head, as if to remind him that it was, indeed, made of wood.

                "Oh, right.  Let's just go get those things..." Ranma jumped off.

                "Go ahead.  I'll keep cleaning up here."

                "Okay.  We'll be right back!"

~~

                It took us a little while to get to where we were going.  Not too long, but it was longer than I would have liked.

                Oh well.

                We ended up in something of a park.  Not really a city park, as it was outside of the city limits.  But it seemed almost like a park, with how clean it looked.

                Ranma found a semi-large boulder, about a third of a meter across and about a decimeter (about ten centimeters, or five inches) thick.  It was in the middle of a river, so she was now rather wet up to the knees.

                I ended up looking for a little longer for my quarry.  And then I found one.  It wasn't too old, so it would still be strong.  And it wasn't too young, so it would have already seeded the area around it.  Not only that, but it was a bit too close to another, smaller tree.

                Taking my sword, I went to work.  Ranko watched me as I did as I had been preparing to do for a while.

                Jumping most of the way up the tree, I cut off about the top ten-feet with one extra-strong swing.  And then I went to work trimming off all the branches.  This took me about ten minutes, considering I had to keep jumping back up.

                Then, cutting it off at the bottom, I went about lifting it up.

                "DARN!!!" 'Stupid thing!' I now had it leaning up against me.  It wasn't really the weight that was getting to me.  It was more the way it kept wanting to sway with the wind.  "Ah!!!" I just let it fall over.

                "Now what?" Ranko had a slightly amused look on her face.

                "Now I trim it some more." Deciding I couldn't carry the whole thing, well, not yet anyway.  I went about cutting it down.

                First, I cut it into sections two-and-a-half meter segments.  And then I trimmed off the outside parts, until they were now little more than rectangular pieces about a third-meter wide.

                "I'm pretty sure I can carry these!" Lifting one up, I was almost surprised how much of a difference it made!  But it was still oozing liquid...

                "Oh yeah!  Ranma, could you do the honors?"

                "Ranko...!"

                "Oh, right... could you heat these some.  But not to the point of starting a fire.  Just to dry them out."

                Letting out a sigh, she jumped atop one of them.  After a few seconds of meditation, she brought out an aura.  A red one that produced a lot of heat.

                I had to guard my face as the confidence in her swept over the area.  But since most of that ended up just staying right there, it didn't really matter what it was.  Just that it was there...

                After a couple of minutes, she opened her eyes and leaned her head down.  Putting one ear to the side of the block of wood she knocked gently on it.

                "It's good." I heard the echoing thump that signified that it was now not-so-full of water.

                Putting the others on their trimmings so that they could dry a little, I picked up the dried one, which still felt rather warm.

                "Okay.  Let's go." Picking up her boulder in one arm, Ranko and I started back.

~~

                It took only a little while to get it done.  I did the cutting and the two of them did the putting-together.  Akane used her mallet to pound them into the ground, and to hit the nails that Ranko carved out of the boulder into place.

                I took a quick leave just before we finished to go somewhere.

                When I came back I had acquired some sealer.  "Hey!  Let's make a race out of it!  A free-for-all!!"

                "Ha!  I'll beat the BOTH of you even WITH my bum, arm!"

                "Yeah!  I'd bet you would!"

                "HA!  Let's go!" We each took a brush, something else I had purchased, and stood at ready.  Akane and I were on one side as Ranma took the other.

                "Ready... GO!" Akane and I started working toward each other as Ranko just stood there for a second.

                "Are you going to go?" I was sweeping it up and down rather quickly.

                She smiled a little.  "I got something.  Chestnuts technique revised: SWEEP OF A HUNDRED BRUSHES!!!  HAHA!!" Faster than even my eye could see effectively she started swinging that brush up and down, going nearly supersonic.

                Before Akane and I could even get most of the way across, Ranko announced that she was finished.  "Hehe, I told you!"

                "Hey, that was cheating!  You used a technique!"

                "Hehe, it's not really much of a technique.  The training just makes you faster!" She had one hand behind her head, the one that happened to have the brush.

                Jumping over the fence, I decided to have a look at her side.

                "Wow.  That's pretty good..." Everything was coated.  All of it, even the cracks, had white sealer on it.

                "Yeah... pops always said if you're gonna do something, do it all the way or you might as well not do it at all." I could sympathize.

                I then went back to the other side and decided to finish.  This time going at a slightly slower pace to get all the cracks.

                "I gotta try that training sometime..." Smiling, I kept at my work.

~~

                "Momma!  Look!  I can even kick it!!!" Kas kicked the new barrier and it didn't even creak.  "See?  It doesn't even make that sound that the old one made!"

                As the boy called Kas kicked the new wooden structure, the three of us went about cleaning up.  "Hey, do you think they might need this stuff back at the dojo?"

                "I dunno.  I guess it couldn't hurt?"

                "Yeah, you got a point..."

                "Hey, you gonna get your weights?" Akane was pointing to the place where my weights still sat, at the center of a cracked square of cement.

                "Oh yeah!  I guess I gotta get those too!" Setting the remnants of the wooden block down and bounding over to them, I went about putting them all back in their proper places.

                After a few good-byes we left with all our stuff.  Mimi still seemed a bit shocked, but that was okay... it was understandable after all.

~~

                When we got back I checked my watch.  There were still a few hours.  So, storing the leftovers in the back of the dojo, which still had rather large holes in the walls, I went to practice.

                Akane, for some reason, didn't feel much like practicing.  And neither did Ranma, though it was rather understandable for him.

                I was so tired!  But I went through my katas anyway.  I was at that for about a half an hour before I realized something.

                I had that sword!  I could practice that here now!

                "Ha!" Bringing it out, I went into my poses and swings.

                Things weren't exactly normal around here, and they never would be.  But I do believe I was making some kind of difference...

                "SHAMPOO!!!!!!!!"

                I sighed.  There were still some things that couldn't be predicted, or stopped.

                So as I went through my katas and forms, I tried to think of a way of tackling that problem.  'No!  That's a problem I can get to later!  The immediate thing is more important for now.'

                'Geeze, what is it with me?  Do I really have to help them all like that?' It didn't take long to come to a decision.

                Yes, I had to.  It was in my blood, or something...

~~

                Dinner was rather uneventful.  Akane and Ranma kept eyeing each other and the fathers kept eyeing their children.  I kept eyeing the stove and Nabiki kept reading some book she seemed rather engrossed in...

                Yep, dinner was uneventful.  But it was good!

                I never thought I would be eating Sushi.  And yet, there I was, eating it, and it was good!

                About halfway through Kasumi went over and turned off the oven.  I assumed that it meant that the ball was finished, but she cleverly disguised it as turning off the top burner as she also pulled the pan off the burner and put it in the wash.

~~ Later, that night ~~

                After everyone had gone to bed, I was still awake.  Well, I suppose Akane was there with me.  But that was it.

                When I pulled out the four longer sticks, Akane glanced questioningly.  With the first one, I wrapped up one end in a rag that I soaked in the same water.  I then took a special heated roller to the edge.

                By the time we were done, four knives, each with a handle in the middle and two blades, like helicopter blades, were finished at the same time.

                Akane helped me to put them in a box and to empty the tank out.

                After that, we went to bed.  By then it was eleven at night.

                ~~~~~~***   Sooo... LONG!!!   ***~~~~~~

                Wow!  That was a long one!  1.5 times the normal length!  I guess that's cool though...

                I know I didn't wrap up all the loose ends, but that's okay cause this story isn't anywhere NEAR finished!!!!  Like most of my stuff.

                Now that I think about it... I wonder how long this IS going to be?  O.o  I have no idea... but it's going to be really long...

                Wow, I have a flare for long stories...

Bringer of Hope and Creator of Worlds

                Alex and Alex Ultra

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