Ranma was currently lost in the recesses of his mind, watching as the physical manifestation of the Neko-ken lay stretched out before him, lazily twitching its tail and ignoring his presence. Ranma sighed. He had been trying to get the feline to acknowledge him, but nothing worked. Attempts to pet or cuddle the animal were met with disdain, and trying to goad the creature to fight simply caused it to vanish into the darkness. The cat was content to allow Ranma to sit in its vicinity and be ignored.

Ranma stood and prepared to return to awareness. He was frustrated; Ranma had unconsciously accessed the power of the Neko-ken in his first fight with Happosai, but he hadn't understood the trigger that allowed it. He was no closer to understanding now than he had been at that time. The cat ignored him, as always. Slowly, awareness began to return to Ranma, and the dreamscape he floated in faded as reality began to intrude.

He opened his eyes and did a quick scan of his environment. Ranma had chosen a grove in the back of the temple he was staying at for his meditations. With nothing better to do, he produced three balls of ki and began to juggle.

Konatsu was currently cuddled up to her husband, basking in the afterglow of their most recent 'training.' She was resting her head on his left shoulder, watching Herb as he breathed. Konatsu traced the line of his jaw with the back of her hand.

"Herb?"

"Mm?"

"Care to switch?"

Herb gave her a lecherous grin as he shifted forms. Konatsu did the same, and they resumed 'training.' Afterwards, as the couple cuddled together, Konatsu asked, "Do you want to take a trip with me?"

"Where to, love?"

Herb frowned when he heard the destination, but agreed. "Do we tell Ranma?" Konatsu was silent, but eventually gave her answer.

Dinner that night was a quite affair. Konatsu and Herb both were subdued, and the monk Shinran had eaten quickly and left, claiming unexpected business. Ranma spoke just to break the silence. "Did someone die, or did Herb just not get it up today?"

The comment earned Ranma a backhanded blow from Herb and a flurry of miniature shuriken from Konatsu, but it had worked to break their moods. The pig-tailed martial artist pulled out a first-aid kit after picking himself up off the floor. He began the process of pulling the throwing stars from his body, and slapping on Band-Aids.

"That shit stings, Konatsu." Ranma pulled out yet another star lodged in his bicep. He briefly channeled some ki into the wound, closing it partially so that he could apply the dressing. "Anyway, what has you guys so down?"

Herb looked at Konatsu. With a small shrug, Konatsu got up and walked around the table to help Ranma finish up the rest of his triage.

"Konatsu and I have decided that we need to... go somewhere."

"Somewhere?" Ranma grimaced as Konatsu pulled out a star none too gently. Again, Ranma channeled some ki to seal the wound somewhat. "Care to share?"

Konatsu answered. "We are going to visit my father."

"Oh."

"And," Konatsu hesitated, "we wanted to go alone."

"Ah." Ranma handed the throwing stars back to Konatsu. Konatsu quickly made the stars vanish, and walked back around the table to join Herb. "Promise you aren't going to do anything stupid?"

Neither one replied.

"Either you promise me, or I will track you down. I made a promise to your father, Konatsu. I am not about to break my word."

The two looked at each other, then at Ranma. Ranma stared right back, concentrating on Konatsu until the ninja nodded her head in agreement. "So, when are you leaving, and how long will you be gone?"

"We were going to leave on Sunday, and be gone two weeks, maybe more."

"And leave me to deal with Happosai and Akane. Thanks. How am I supposed to train her with you gone?"

Herb reached into his robes to pull out a small roll of parchment. He placed it on the table and slid it across till it stopped in front of Ranma. Ranma picked it up, untying the bindings. He opened it and raised one eyebrow, looking at the couple across the table. "Is this a joke?"

Herb shook his head while Konatsu smiled. Ranma pocketed the scroll, and glared at the two. "You didn't do me any favors with this little stunt, you know." Ranma stood, never taking his eyes off the two. Konatsu demurely sipped her tea, while Herb was busy examining a spot on his robe. "You guys can clean the dishes, you ingrates." Grumbling, Ranma headed out of the room in the direction of the entrance hall. They heard Ranma stomp back in, and throw the sliding door open. "Just be careful, okay?" He quickly gave them a concerned look before remembering he was supposed to be angry. He again stormed away. Both failed completely conceal the smiles on their faces at the sound of the slamming door.

Akane was having a very realistic dream. She felt like she was flying, cool wind whipping past her body as she soared gracefully into the blue sky. Below her was a vast lake, stretching towards the horizon, where towering peaks loomed in the distance. She blinked; the lake was now closer now, and water stretched as far as the eye could see. She struggled to gain altitude, but try as she might she was drawn inexorably towards the surface. Gravity reasserted its hold on her body as she picked up speed, now free falling towards the lake.

She snapped awake just as she hit the water's surface to find herself sitting in the shallow fish pond in her backyard, soaked to the bone and cold. Her t-shirt held no warmth, and the thin fabric clung to her skin, further drawing out warmth. A cough got her attention, and she turned to see Ranma perched on a rock by the edge of the pond.

Ranma had taken off his shirt, and was holding it out to her. "You might want to consider less... sheer fabric for your next swim."

She looked down in confusion, and slowly realized what the boy was talking about. She had fallen asleep in a white tank-top, and now that was wet, clearly showing that she was not wearing a bra. Embarrassed, she quickly stood and grabbed for the shirt, trying to turn it into a wrist lock to drag Ranma into the pool with her. He simply reversed the throw, sending her sprawling back into the water, never having budged an inch.

Akane sat up again, spiting out a mouthful of water. "Have I told you I hate?"

"Not today." Ranma smiled. He quickly jumped back as Akane attempted to splash him.

"Damn. Almost got me wet today. Anyway, up and at 'em, student." Akane sprang from the pool, doing her best to cause grievous bodily harm to the boy in front of her. Ranma was like a wisp of smoke; he flowed around her strikes, lancing out occasionally to land punishing blows where her defenses were lax. Occasionally, Ranma would offer encouragement or praise if she managed to close a hole in her defense before he could strike, but for the most part they were silent.

It had been almost two months since almost losing that fight at Furinkan. Akane had begun training with the three Chinese students in the mornings before school and again in the evenings afterwards. Akane had always assumed she was a tough, skilled martial artist, but Herb, Konatsu, and Ranma showed her just how far she had yet to go.

The experience was humbling and inspiring. She had improved vastly in the short time she had been training with the trio – her endurance was better, she was faster, and her control was better. And yet, no matter how much she improved, she was still manhandled in her sessions with anyone of her training partners. For the first time, Akane realized the vast gulf between her skills and those of Ranma, and by extension, how truly powerful Happosai must be to treat Ranma the same way he treated her.

She had come to understand a few things about the three students during her time as a student. All three were extremely gifted, but had very distinct styles of fighting and training. Herb had been primarily her main teacher at first. He was a force of nature, like a hurricane or an earthquake. He was implacable, indestructible, and utterly demanded every once of skill and effort during her morning sparring sessions. Hitting him was like trying to cause a mountain to move by punching it. She had always thought she was strong, but Herb was strength personified. You didn't ride out the storm that was Herb, you either ran away or suffered. She knew he was only using a fraction of his abilities, and that really terrified her.

Konatsu was like a shadow or a breath of wind. You couldn't hit it, capture it, or escape from it. She had yet to ever land a blow on him, but his strikes were invisible, punishing, and debilitating. He used cunning, subterfuge, and redirection in their spars, forcing her to carefully monitor every aspect of her body lest some stray movement or misstep betray her. He always used her own strength against herself – Konatsu often forced her to cause more injury to herself than he ever did. But his style of fighting had done more for her control and precision precisely because he always capitalized on the smallest of errors. She found fighting with him the hardest simply because his style opposed the core of her teachings.

Ranma was no different. Just as gifted, just as strong, he was almost two diametrically opposed elements, water and fire. He flowed like liquid, capable of exploiting the smallest hole in her defense and ripping it wide open. He could overwhelm like a rainstorm, or a tsunami. He was immutable and inimitable; blows were simply absorbed or redirected, or sometimes solid like stone. On the opposite extreme, he raged like an inferno, consuming all in its path leaving nothing but remnants. He was unpredictable and always in flux, constantly probing and retreating. To attempt to fight him in that state was to risk being utterly destroyed, because anything you threw into the fire only added fuel.

And yet, for all their differences, she had found herself becoming friends with the three boys. Occasionally she would join them as they practiced on their own. She didn't take part because they simply practice at a level far above her, but she used it as an opportunity to watch and learn. She came to realize that the genuinely cared more about the art than anything else, except for Ranma. He also wanted nothing more than to be a good person, going out of his way to help others if possible. This behavior simply bemused Herb and Konatsu. Akane at first thought it was an act, but now, after nearly two months, realized that he was just honestly concerned about nearly everyone.

The morning fights at school had stopped about a month ago when it became apparent to everyone but Kuno that they stood no chance against Akane. Kuno had gotten better; he improved daily, and still sought to challenge her every morning. The fights were a real challenge for her. Kuno had always held back, but stopped doing so after Herb had talked to him long ago.

Kuno surprised Akane one morning when he had waived his right to date her if he should be victorious in combat. Rather, he simply called it a formal challenge to 'engage the lovely Akane Tendo in honorable combat' and attacked. While he still spouted horrid prose and poetry before and afterwards each challenge, he had stopped spouting poetry during the morning matches. Kuno had even managed to win a few bouts, but true to his word, had never forced her out on a date. He had asked a few times, but Akane had (politely) refused.

Herb had been very frank about admitting that he was responsible for Kuno's behavior. He had remarked that Akane needed a partner nearer to her level, and that the Kuno boy was the perfect training aid. Herb's only response to how he had accomplished such a dramatic change in Kuno Tatewaki was simply, "I made him see the error of his ways."

Ranma tagged her hard in the armpit. Akane tempted to compensate, but overbalanced and was rapidly pummeled for the mistake. Like rain, the blows came from every direction, and she knew she couldn't dodge all of them. She saw the front snap kick coming, and brought her arms up to block, and was sent flying back for her efforts. Before she could register that she had hit the ground, Ranma's fist loomed in front of her face, filling her field of vision.

"Game over." Ranma offered a hand, which Akane accepted. He pulled the girl to her feet, and together they began running through some katas. This was one of the other major changes. Nearly two weeks ago, Konatsu and Herb had left, leaving only Ranma as her trainer. With every passing day, the boy grew a little less talkative, and trained harder than before.

Herb had granted Ranma the title of Master of the branch of the Musk school of marital arts, and Ranma took his responsibilities seriously. On top of that, he was still training every day with Happosai, and unbeknownst to Akane, going out on pervert patrol every evening in his female persona. He was starting to feel a little frazzled, but tried not to let it show.

Ranma led the girl through some various katas, watching her from the corner of his eye. He would occasionally point out errors in form, but never stopped. Akane was caught off guard when he stopped and asked, "So, why the white tee? Hoping that distraction would make up for lack of skill?"

Akane pulled up short, fumbling the transition between a block and strike. Ranma motioned for her to continue, and she did as he sat on a near by rock to watch. "No... I don't have any more clean Pajamas," Akane replied.

"Why's that?"

"Well, let's see... Oh yeah, how about, I've been getting thrown in the pond every morning for nearly two weeks." The girl fumed as she remembered Ranma promising to continue to do so until Akane was good enough to either dunk the boy or otherwise prevent herself from being tossed in. "All my other sets are either ruined or in the laundry right now."

"Ah. Perhaps you can wear a bathing suit to sleep?" Akane just glared at the boy. "Anyways, you should go bath and change. It's almost time for breakfast."

Akane nodded, and quickly raced to the bathroom. Stripping off her wet garments, she put on quickly took care of her morning bath. After drying off, she changed into her school uniform just as Kasumi called that breakfast was ready.

Ranma joined the Tendo family for breakfast, as had become customary for Akane's morning sparing partner. Breakfast was yet another training opportunity, as Ranma would steal the food from the poor girl's plate, forcing her to attempt to eat and defend at the same time. When breakfast was finished, Ranma helped Kasumi clear plates as Akane ran upstairs to grab her books. The two departed, heading off in the direction of Furinkan.

"Are you sure this is the place?" Herb gestured to the gaudily lit tea house exclaiming the legendary Erotic Teahouse of the Kunoichi. Behind him, the now male Konatsu stood with a look of horror upon his face. The ninja walked past Herb, looking around before knocking on the door of the teahouse.

Both boys blanched at the face that opened the door and greeted them. The woman, if it could be called that, looked horribly deformed. Between her enormous lips she sported a cigarette, and a huge mole rested on her upper lip, only partially concealed by the facial hair she sported. She was smoking on a cigarette, idly patting her gray hair that was pulled back into a bun. Konatsu turned to Herb, giving the prince a quick nod. Together, the two stepped inside, herded by the hostess that had greeted them.

The hostess led them inside. The two were seated on cushions upon the floors, and the show began. The hostess pulled a Japanese harp from a closet, and began plucking a dance tune. The two dancers appeared on stage, one horribly obese and the second painfully thin, and began the show. They were every bit as ugly as the hostess, and it quickly became evident that that they were the only dancers in the establishment.

"Herb?"

"Yes, Konatsu?"

"Are you sure I can't just kill them all now? I'm sure Ranma would understand..."

The walk to school was quite. Akane was silent, reviewing the previous sparing session in her head, while Ranma walked along beside her, hands stuffed in his pockets. Akane was startled out of her reverie when she heard a splash and a stifled oath from Ranma. She looked in his direction, but the boy had disappeared.

"Oh, I'm sorry dear. Did I get you wet?" The little old lady was still holding the ladle she was using to wet her sidewalk.

Akane did a quick check to make sure. "No, I'm alright. Thank you for asking, though."

"Oh, good. I just would feel awful if I splashed someone."

The two parted, and Akane kept walking towards school. Akane glanced around, looking for Ranma. It wasn't unusual for him to take off ahead or disappear like this. She frowned. More often than not, it meant he had some weird surprise in store for her. Squaring her shoulders, she resolutely marched in the direction of the school. She had signed up for this, after all.

Ranma dropped the cloaking aura she had instantly summoned as soon as she was splashed. While she had been building up some form of control over the curse, she would still change when caught unawares, or in too much water. This last time had been particularly close. She briefly flared her ki and shifted to her male form. Ranma took to the roofs, trying to use the time between here and the school to think of some surprise for Akane.

When he arrived, Kuno was waiting outside as usual. Ranma jumped down, an idea already forming in his head as he approached the boy. This would work perfectly. While it might not allow Kuno to beat Akane, it certainly would throw her for a loop.

Konatsu and Herb walked away from the smoldering ruins of the Erotic Tea House. Behind them, three figures lay on the ground, moaning from the beating Konatsu had administered. He hadn't intended to, but his old 'step-family' had just plain bugged him, and when the fat one had kissed Herb, he lost it.

"Why is it you can't keep yourself from getting kissed, Husband?"

Herb recognized the tone. Gulping, he replied, "I didn't realize that is what she wanted?"

Konatsu glared at him through half lidded eyes. He sighed. "Anyway, let's go visit my father's grave, and then get back to Tokyo." The ninja turned and bounded away to the location he had been instructed.

Herb let a breath of relief escape him. An angry Konatsu was not fun to deal with. Breaking into a trot, he quickly caught up to the receding form of his husband.

Ranma was walking home with Akane along the fence tops to work on her balance. She was doing better, but she still going entirely too slow. With a sigh, he looked around and saw a flash of red in the corner of his eye.

"You keep this up, Akane. I want to go check something. I'll probably see you at the Dojo." With that, Ranma leapt off in pursuit. When he rounded the corner, his suspicions were confirmed when he saw Ryoga examining a map upside down.

"Yo, Ryoga! What's up! Long time no see!"

The boy spun, and his face lit up when he recognized Ranma. "Ranma! Do you know how to get to Furinkan from here?"

"Of course. But why do you want to go?"

Ryoga folded the map and took of his backpack. Flipping open the top flap, he rooted around and picked out a carefully wrapped box. Ranma examined the wrapping, and commented, "Ah... I see. Nagasaki Castella for Akane?"

The boy blushed, and nodded. "So, do you think you can show me the way to the school?"

Ranma shook his head. "School's out already. Why don't you come with me to the Tendo Dojo? Plus, you would be a good change for Akane as a sparing partner."

"Me?" Ryoga looked puzzled. He quickly shouldered his pack as Ranma explained what had been going on in the last few weeks since Ryoga had last been in the area.

"Excuse us!" Ranma and Ryoga kicked off their shoes in the entrance hall and neatly arranged them before stepping into the home proper. Akane peaked out of the tea room to see who it was before smiling.

"Ryoga! Good to see you!" Getting up from the table, Akane met the boys in the hall and showed Ryoga to the table. Quickly pouring some tea for the boys, Akane asked, "So, where did you get off to this time?"

Ryoga pulled the package of treats from his backpack and wordlessly presented them to Akane, head bowed and cheeks rosy read.

"Oh, Nagasaki! How nice. I love Castella! Thank you, Ryoga!" She smiled at the lost boy before getting up and going to the kitchen. "Kasumi, look what Ryoga brought us!" The sounds of conversation in the kitchen continued as Kasumi prepared to serve the treats.

Back in the tea room, poor Ryoga was clutching his heart and suffering from a minor melt down. Ranma just shook his head ruefully, and pushed one of the cups of tea in Ryoga's direction.

"Yeah, she's cute when she smiles, isn't she?" Ryoga could only nod in response to Ranma's comment, not trusting himself to speak at the moment. "You ever going to tell her how you feel?" Ryoga shook his head no, doodling on the table with his finger. "That whole rejection and afraid she'd break your heart of glass thing, huh?" Ryoga nodded. "So, feel up to a little training with Akane today?" Ryoga nodded again. "Good. Don't hold back, okay? I need to see how far a long she's come."

Akane returned, followed by Kasumi, bearing a tray of small plates with a portion of the delicacy on each plate. Serving one to each of the boys, she served one for Kasumi and one for herself. They girls sat, and began questioning Ryoga about his latest travels. After about half an hour, Ranma told Akane she could continue the questions in the dojo, because it was time to train.

Ryoga grunted as Akane landed yet another blow past his defenses. It wasn't particularly strong, but the girl was landing more than he liked, and it was starting to annoy him. She threw a punch, and over hesitated for just a fraction of a second. Ryoga capitalized, grabbing her by the wrist and shoulder and threw her to the floor of the dojo. Or, at least, that was his intention. She flipped in mid-air, landed on her feet, and reversed the throw, sending him crashing into the wall of the dojo.

"I told you not to hold back, Ryoga." Ranma was smirking.

Ryoga stood, and cracked his neck. With a nod, he assumed an attacking position and marched resolutely towards the girl. The fight didn't last too much longer as Ryoga simply pounded his way past Akane's defenses. She made sure that he was punished for doing so, however. By the time she tapped out and acknowledged being defeated, Ryoga was glad for to stop. His breath was ragged and his muscles hurt, and her last shot to his thigh was beginning to knot up painfully.

"You've gotten really good, Akane-san." Ryoga plopped down on the floor, massaging the knot in his thigh. Akane was sprawled out on the floor, waiting for the room to stop spinning.

"Thanks, Ryoga-san. I have Ranma to thank for that." She sat up, wincing as her head began to throb. "I am going to ache tomorrow."

"I'm sorry, Akane-san. I shouldn't have hit so hard."

"No, that was great! I'm glad you did it. I don't often get to do that, because during regular training Ranma pulls his punches. Yours are a lot harder than I'm used to, that's all. It was... educational." Akane began to catalog the various blows she had received; making sure everything was still working properly. "Thanks for sparing match."

"Stretch a little bit, and then go take a bath, Akane." Ranma extended a hand to help Akane to her feet. "You did great today. Really." She smiled as she took the offered hand, nodded at Ryoga, and moved to one corner of the dojo to begin stretching. Ranma also offered a hand to Ryoga, who allowed Ranma to pull him to his feet.

"She really has gotten much better. I really wasn't expecting that."

"Yeah, she's really improved a lot in a short time. She has a lot of potential." Ranma watched as Akane slowly lowered herself into a split, before rolling forward and pressing her stomach to the floor. Ryoga was staring as well, before the two realized what they were doing. Grinning at each other, Ranma and Ryoga walked to the other end of the dojo.

"Anyway, I have to go train with Happosai. You want to stay here with her, or do you want to come with me?"

Ryoga paused to consider. "I want to come. Akane told me how good this Happosai person is. I want to see how you do."

Ranma nodded. He turned to where Akane was stretching. "You want to come and watch Happosai and me?"

Akane shook her head. "No, I want to bath and relax a bit. Plus, I need to catch up on some homework and sleep." Ranma nodded. He tugged on Ryoga's tunic, and together the two left to go seek out Happosai.

"Ah, Ranma my boy! Good to see you." Happosai was in his room, ironing stolen lingerie. "You ready for your daily dose of torture?" Happosai grinned as he tossed another freshly pressed panty on the sizeable mound behind him.

"Sure thing, ya' old goat." Ranma grinned as well, cracking his knuckles. He had paybacks he wanted to give the old master from last night's pervert patrol. Having an alternate identity allowed Ranma to study the pervert's style from two angles, dissecting it and learning counters before Happosai realized he knew them. Their 'training' sessions usually just devolved into an all out free for all, forcing Happosai to pull out more and more of his tricks and techniques to keep Ranma on his toes.

While Happosai still didn't know about his curse, it would only be a matter of time before he figured it out. Ranma fully intended to use the time he had to learn as much as he could from the pervert. Despite his panty stealing proclivity, he was one hell of a martial artist and a master of manipulating ki. He didn't have the massive quantities of ki that Herb did, so his usage was more efficient and more effective.

The two bounded out the window to head to a near by park to avoid damaging the Tendo house. Ryoga followed along to watch. The two faced off, and the battle began. Happosai kept a running commentary going every time he tagged Ranma. For his part, Ranma merely kept silent and concentrated on absorbing as much of the pervert's tactics as possible. Things were going well until it started to rain.

"SHIT!" Ranma immediately pulled himself into the Umi-sen-ken as the water triggered his curse, transforming him into a female. The cloaking technique effectively rendered him invisible. Ranma began to retreat, but was shocked when Happosai began to follow him.

"Impressive! I can't see you, but I can still figure out where you are. Unfortunately, you can't get away from me with just that, you little runt!" Happosai lashed out, attempting to tag Ranma and force him to drop the cloak. Ranma dodged frantically. His mind was racing. How was Happosai tracking him? The Umi-sen ken completely masked his ki and his presence, so the old goat shouldn't be able to track him that way.

Ranma dodged a blow that forced him into a back hand spring that placed his back squarely against a stone wall. He watched as Happosai slowly walked forward, scanning his head left and right, searching for the Ranma. The rain was still falling, so Ranma had no chance of transforming back. Silently, the boy cursed as he watched Happosai slowly approach.

"It's no use hiding, boy. I'll find you eventually."

Ranma realized the pervert couldn't see him in front of the stone. He puzzled over this until he looked around the park, paying attention to ki signatures. Everything had one, except the concrete. Happosai's was using Ranma's lack of aura to track him against the background 'noise' of the trees.

In desperation, Ranma resorted to his ultimate attack. He pulled a bra out of his pocket, and sent it sailing in the air away from his location. It worked. Happosai went chasing after the bra with a cry of, "SWEETO!" Ranma turned tail and ran. He needed to do some serious work to figure out this flaw in the Umi-sen-ken.

Ranma clutched his chest as he sat on the veranda of the temple. That had been too close. Shinran joined him on the terrace, and the two just looked outside until Ranma calmed down and the sun set.

"Care to talk about it, Ranma?"

The boy stared out at the setting sun, before releasing a sigh. "I've been lying to a lot of people, and today it nearly came back and bit me on the ass."

"Ah. Care to elaborate?"

"Got any cold water?" Silently the monk got up and returned a few minutes later with a glass of water. Taking a deep breath, Ranma upended the glass over his head and watched as shock registered on the monks face. Ranma quickly explained about the curse, and how he had been hiding it from the school, from Happosai, Akane, and his other friends.

"So, does that make me guilty of falsehood?"

The monk sat silent for a few moments, before raising a hand. "Let me tell you a story first, Ranma. Then, you can tell me what you think. Along time ago, in ancient India lived a very wealthy man who lived in a run down house. This house only had one entrance, because the man was too miserly to spend money to fix it up. One day, as the man was leaving the house, a fire broke out while all his children were inside. Desperate to save them, he called to his children, warning of them of the fire and urging them to escape."

Ranma listened as Shinran paused to draw a breath, before he continued, "The man was getting desperate because the fire crept higher as his children refused to come out, consumed with playing with their toys. So, the man finally lied and exclaimed that he had various a chariot for each child, and they could have them if they only came and got them. The children, eager to claim these goodies, all come scrambling out of the house and are saved from the flames The three kinds of carts are nowhere to be seen, but instead the old man gives to each one a still more splendid chariot, beautifully ornate and drawn by a white bullock."

The monk then paused. "What do you think, Ranma. Was he guilty of falsehood?"

"No. Do you know why?" The boy shook his head. Shinran said, "It has to do with his intentions. The Buddha himself said once, 'I am also like this. Since I became a Buddha, for the sake of all the living I have declared by my power of skillful means that I must enter nirvana, and yet no one can rightly say that I have perpetrated a falsehood.'"

The boy looked slightly confused.

"If your intentions are not to deceive by rather to save, then certain amounts of leeway are given. If you had to tell the truth all the time, life could get pretty difficult."

Ranma nodded. The monk placed his hand on the boys shoulder. "I'm hungry. Let's eat."

The boy was lost in thought all throughout the dinner.

The next morning, Akane was awakened not by a flight through the air, but by a hand gently rocking her awake. She started awake to find Ranma standing by the side of her bed.

"Wha?" Sitting up, she rubbed her eyes as she struggled to focus. Ranma raised a finger to his lips, urging her to be quite. He pantomimed her getting dressed, which took her a second to understand. She nodded, and hopped out of bed. Ranma just stood watching. Angrily, she motioned for him to turn around. He had the grace to blush as he realized his mistake, and quickly turned away from the girl. When she was dressed, Ranma slid the widow open again, and leapt out.

It was very early in the morning, and Happosai had just returned from an all night panty raid. He was in his room, laying on top of a pile of underwear, idly fingering some freshly liberated lingerie, replaying the last sparring match with Ranma in his head. Something about it bothered him greatly, but he was unable to put his finger on it. It had started out just like any of their other innumerable fights, but then, it had started raining. The boy had vanished and run away, almost as if...Happosai stuck his caught his fist in his palm as he sat up. The soft sound of a window being opened from the outside caught his attention. That had to be Ranma, who had just arrived to start training Akane. As much as Happosai hated to admit it, Ranma had gotten the girl to improve considerably, and at her current rate she'd be ready for Happosai to take over her training by the end of the year.

Happosai went to his window, hoping to see Akane splash down into the fish pond again this morning. He still drooled over yesterday, when she had been wearing only a white T-shirt. Of course, Ranma had to go and ruin the view by being chivalrous and offering his shirt. The boy could never be his true heir – he didn't have a perverted bone in his body. Happosai sighed. Oh well. He had time. He was sure he would eventually corrupt the boy.

The expected splash in the fish pond in the backyard didn't materialize; instead, Happosai caught a fleeting glance of Ranma hoping over the back yard fence, followed by Akane. Intrigued, Happosai took out handkerchief and quickly fashioned a mask. He opened his own window and followed, carefully masking his presence to avoid detection.

Akane followed Ranma as he hopped the back yard fence and quickly took to the roofs, heading out to the park where he had sparred with Happosai only a day before.

"What's this all about, Ranma?"

"I wanted to show you something." He pointed to a park bench, and motioned to Akane to sit. He pulled out a bottle of water and a thermos, and set them on the edge of the bench. "Have you ever heard of Jusenkyo?"

"No."

"Well, get ready." With a sigh, Ranma tipped the bottle of water over his head.

This is a reposting, added some material to make the next chapter make a little more sense. Thanks to all my readers and reviewers. One beef - as long as a story is well written, does it matter with whom Ranma eventually ends up? Just wanted to get that out there.

Gahh.. That chapter took me a long time to write. I think I am better now... :)
I did some major work planning the story, so now I think things should flow a bit better. I trapped myself by starting out writing in compressed chunks of time, and then had to stretch the a very short period of time into the same amount of pages. I found it harder to write in the 'present' than recounting 'adventures' of the past.
i had the beginning and the end all planned out, but not much of the middle. oops. Now I'm trying to find my way to the end.

Anyway, hope you like it. R&R, questions, comments, welcome. Flames used to BBQ.
Oh, and I don't own any of these characters.