Author's notes: Man, this chapter was really late in coming.*looks
fearfully around her* erm, I hope everybody enjoys this and I'll try not to
be so late next time! *runs frantically away* I swear I'll try to do
better!!!! *ducks various knives and daggers being angrily thrown*
The Circus Grows Bigger
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A large crash erupted the air, causing enormous waves of energy from two young women. A mallet crashed through the shoji door and landed in the pond with a splash. The impact on the door made it fall down to reveal a very angry Chinese girl and an equally angry Japanese girl. But if you looked off to the side, there was another lady who leaned against the far off wall with amusement in her eyes. She made no movement to stop the fight but only carefully observed every kick and punch given out.
"You-" CRASH. "No good flirt!!!" An immense spatula squashed a delicate tea table into tiny splinters. "Who are you to think that you are Ranma's fiance!" Ukyo yelled as she dodged another mallet attack, allowing it to hit a priceless antique painting. She grabbed three kodachi-like mini spatulas from her belt and flung them at where Shampoo was standing but the girl leaped up into the air. The spatulas embedded deeply in the wall, only several inches away from Akane but the girl didn't blink. She did, however, gave a sigh, and wondered when the fight was going to end.
"You liar!" Shampoo called out, sticking her tongue out as she kicked off from the wall to rush Ukyo with her mallet. "Ranma never engage to ugly tomboy like you!" Ukyo parried the blow with her spatula and the test of strength began. Ukyo pushed forward.
"Oh yeah?! Well, Ranma wouldn't engage himself to an empty-headed, snot- nosed child like you!" Shampoo pushed back, making the mallet come perilously close to Ukyo's delicate nose.
"Tomboy!!"
"Child!!!"
"Tomboy!!"
"Child!!!!"
A vein began popping on Akane's forehead as the two girls began to call out the very names that Akane herself despised. She walked forward and with a hard upper kick, disarmed both girls from their weapons.
"Would you two please stop?! You have already ravaged a lovely room over some boy who probably doesn't deserve either of you!" She caught both weapons in the air, mallet in her right hand and the spatula in the left. "Though you two may be free to spar..erm, fight whenever you like, it is us SERVANTS that must clean up the mess. So could you two take it outside or to the dojo, if you please?" Akane twirled the weapons in her hands and gave a warning glint of her eyes.
Ukyo and Shampoo marched up to Akane, shoulder to shoulder, suddenly growing ten feet. They both opened their mouths to say something but Ukyo's door slid open to show Ranma at the doorway. And all hell broke loose. Shampoo began to quiver with rage as her purple eyes sparkled animosity at her fiance while Ukyo drew her hands up to her mouth in the coy look of an infatuated teenager.
"Ran-chan! You came for me!" She sang out as she rushed the prince. Ranma put his hands up and closed his eyes, waiting for the impact but it never came. Instead, he heard more crashes like earlier and opened to see his two fiances engaged in fist-to-fist battle. Shampoo had Ukyo in a headlock while Ukyo was elbowing the girl in the stomach. His eyes caught sight of a blue kimono. It was the lovely maid from before! He sauntered up to her with a nervous grin on his face.
"Hey-"
He was quickly smacked off to the side as the maid ran to the two girls with the weapons still in her hands. In two simultaneously swift moves, she tapped Shampoo at the back of the neck with the handle of the spatula and laid a light bonk on the top of Ukyo's head with the mallet. With an inaudible grumble, she tossed the weapons aside and made her way outside of the room in search of servants to clean the mess. Ranma rubbed his chest where the maid had smacked him and ran to catch up with her, surprised at how hard she could hit.
"Hey, what was that for?!" He asked, annoyed. She gave a huff and only continued her own vexed grumbling. "Hey, the imperial prince is asking you a question!" He grabbed the maid's arm but was once again smacked at the chest, only by a different hand. He looked up to see his brother glaring down at him with the maid looking from behind.
"You need to control yourself Ranma and stop bossing around ladies like her!" Ryoga growled with a slight blush. What was this? Was Ryoga defending a lady's honor? Ranma sprang up and pushed his brother back.
"She's a maid, not a lady!" He argued angrily but was smacked on the head by the maid.
"This MAID is also human!" She snapped at him. "And does not like being tossed around like some child's toy!!!" She snapped at both of them and proceeded to stomp down the hallway in search of something that had slipped her mind in her anger. Ranma landed a well placed blow between Ryoga's eyes and ran to catch up with the maid.
"Hey, wait wait!" He grabbed her shoulder but was furiously shaken off as she whirled around to face him.
"You really are the stereotypical arrogant prince that's always talked about in novels! You didn't do anything to stop the fight in there, leaving me to deal with it when it's all YOUR fault to begin with! Have you no responsibility whatsoever?! And just what were you doing going to Ukyo's room anyways? Not only are you arrogant but you're senseless too!" she blew up at him, making him lean back as she was almost nose to nose with him.
"Why don't you grow up for a change instead of spending your days tormenting your servant!"
"Huh? Servant? What are you talking about?" Ranma asked. His eyebrows shot up like lightning. "Unless you LIKE my servant?! What can you see in a scrawny underfed kid like that?" Ranma was on the ground a mere millisecond after the last word left his mouth, his head sporting a lovely bump from an equally lovely tempered lady. She gave a last huff and twirled around to storm down the hallway in search of servants.
"I can't believe him! He thinks I'm seeing myself! That stupid no good baka." She muttered angrily when she suddenly ran into a rock hard chest and banged her nose.
"Itei!!" She grabbed her nose and hoped it wasn't bleeding. Two heavy hands rested on her shoulders and she looked up into the vacant yet confused eyes of a young nobleman.
"I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going." He said apologetically. "Are you alright?"
"Yes, I'm fine, I, uh, wasn't watching where I was going either. Are you lost?" She asked. The man gave an embarrassed smile.
"Actually I can't even remember where I'm going, you wouldn't happen to know, would you?" He asked earnestly and a sweatdrop appeared on Akane's head.
"Erm, no, sorry. If you'll excuse me." She gave a quick bow and scurried off to find servants. That man seemed familiar, somehow. And wasn't anybody in this palace remotely normal? The answer to her question came in the form of a very angry duck with swirly eyed glasses throwing knives at a nimble panda. They sped past Akane, leaving her with rumpled hair and clothes and a very baffled look on her face.
"What's going on around here??!!!" She screeched.
"OH!!! Beautiful woman!" A callused hand grabbed hers and she looked down at a kneeling samurai dressed man who was rubbing his cheek against her hand. "So much anger and strength poured into every heartfelt word!! I felt your passion down to the depths of my tormented soul!!" He exclaimed and tried to plant a kiss on her hand but she tore away from him, kicking him off with her foot.
"What do you think you're doing?!" She yelled at him as he attempted to get closer.
"Such ferocity! You would be a tiger to tame! I shall reward you with the honor of courting me!" He lunged for her hands but was swiftly kicked off by Akane and another foot. Ranma had miraculously recovered from Akane's last hit and was glaring at the samurai man who was currently flying in the air.
"Ugh, that guy pisses me off every time I see him." Ranma commented.
"Go away, I'm busy." Akane said roughly and proceeded down the hallway in her persistent search for servants. Just where could all of them be right now???
"Hey wait!" Ranma trotted next to her. "What right do you have to ignore an imperial prince?"
"I'm too busy for formalities, if you want people begging and scraping at your feet, go someplace else because you aren't getting any of that with me." She said and her face lit up when she saw two maids aimlessly walking around. "You two! I need you to go to Lady Ukyo's room and clean up the mess there, got it?" The two girls gave a nod and quickly started to walk.
"Whew, with that done, I guess I should go back to my other duty."
"What duty?" Ranma asked.
"Did I not just tell you to go someplace else?" Akane complained. "Why do you keep bugging me?"
"Hm, good point." Ranma tapped his head for a second. He smacked his palm with a fist.
"I remember now," He bent close to her with suspicious eyes. "Are you in any sort of relationship with my servant?" He asked warningly.
Akane threw up her hands in defeat. "Just how in the-what can you be-oh forget it! Why don't you just jump to conclusions since you're already doing so." She snapped at him and looked around for an escape. "Hey, look, a huge okonomiyaki!" She pointed at the ground, and Ranma's eyes were glued to the floor, fervently searching for his favorite snack.
"Heeeyyy, there's nothing there." Ranma said indignantly and looked up to glare at the maid. "Eh? Where'd she go?"
~*~*~*~*~*
Akane took deep wheezing breaths as she struggled to slip into her servant gear. She pulled her long blue hair into a messy tail and was stepping out of her room when she bumped into Ranma. She gave a squeak and rubbed her nose, frowning at the prince.
"Ouch, that's the umpteenth time that's happened to me today, watch where you're going." She said as she stepped passed him.
Ranma was opening his mouth to argue when his shoji door slammed open. Then there were various crashes that sounded like someone was running into things."What the-"
"Raaaaanma!!!!!!!" A furious voice called out. Akane and Ranma poked their heads out of the bedroom to see a tall Chinese man who was trembling with rage. He had beautiful green eyes but they were slightly masked by the pure rage that was literally bulging them out. He had long black hair that hung untied, a strange sight for a Chinese man.
"He better not be another fiancé." Akane muttered under her breath. Ranma heard and smacked his servant on the head with an irritated closed fist. "Itei! What was that for?"
"Don't get any funny thoughts in that empty head." Ranma snapped as he slid his bedroom door open all the way. "What are you doing here Mousse?"
The Chinese man peered around the room with squinted his eyes which set sight on Akane who was standing in front of Ranma. "You coward! Hiding from me for fear of your life, eh?!!" He stomped over and picked Akane up by her shirt. "Stand up and fight like a man!"
Akane's mouth dropped open in shock. Did everybody really think she looked like a man? She clenched her fist and was getting ready to let the punches fly when Ranma kicked Mousse's hand so he would release his servant.
"I'm right here, you blind moron." Ranma said exasperatedly as the Mousse plucked a pair of coke bottle glass from his sleeve. Upon placing them on his nose, he looked Akane up and down from where she stood.
"You're not Ranma...where are you hiding him? Are you an accomplice of his?" He asked.
"Geez, you're blind even with the glasses, I'm standing right here. Yoo hoo!" Ranma waved his arms and Mousse turned his head to the right.
"Ah ha! I see you have finally showed up! Did you pluck enough courage to finally face me down in a fair fight?!" Mousse exclaimed as he slyly slipped his hands into his wide sleeves. "Today is the day I will win back Shampoo from you!!"
"Eh, he's here for Shampoo?" Akane whispered at Ranma while keeping a cautious eye at Mousse.
"He must have snuck over when she came here. Which means..." He snapped his fingers in dismay. "All my other relatives are probably following right behind him."
Suddenly Mousse attacked in a white blur. "Hakuchoken!!!"
"Fist of the white swan?" Akane said fearfully as she watched the amazing speed Mousse delivered. But Ranma only gave a yawn and balanced on his two hands while catching the object in Mousse's hands with his bare feet. Her mouth dropped in shock again upon the object Ranma had caught. A potty trainer in the shape of a swan?
"Honestly Mousse, didn't you create any new techniques while I've been in Japan?" Ranma said as he pushed up with his hands to get back on his feet. Mousse only sheepishly looked down at his feet.
"It's a lot of work courting Shampoo." He admitted then shook himself. "But that's not the point!" He pushed his glasses up with one finger. "I'll learn a new technique Ranma! Just you wait! And then I'll win back Shampoo from your seductive hold on her!!!" Mousse threw down a small egg that exploded and made smoke filled the room. When it disappeared, so had Mousse.
"And you say you're related?" Akane asked dryly.
"Unfortunately. He's a 2nd cousin." Ranma plopped down and slapped the table. "Serve me tea."
"Serve it yourself." Akane sat down and poured herself a steaming cup. Ranma glared at her from across the table. "Oh fine, you incompetent child." She gave him her cup and poured herself another. "So you'll have more relatives coming here?"
"Most likely, when one goes, the others follow. I should probably start limbering up, I know Gosunkugi will be sneaking his way here soon."
"How do you live like this?" Akane asked blankly while staring the steam rising from her tea. "Or more importantly, how am I going to live with this?"
"Well, you can always practice so you can defeat me one day." He stopped in the midst of his drinking to give a snicker. "One day!"
Akane calmly placed her tea cup on the ground so she could stand up and bent over. "Could you hold the teapot up please?" Ranma did so with a puzzled look on his face and Akane swiftly lifted the tea table to smash it on Ranma's head.
"Oops, I dropped the table, I'll go get a new one." Akane sped out of the room while Ranma saw giggling Akane's running in circles around his head. By the time Ranma came to, he shook his head and scampered off to chase his servant.
"Oy!!!! You can't do that to a prince!" His agility came in handy as he easily caught up with Akane who was walking down the hallway in a leisurely pace.
"It's already been done." Akane pointed out.
"Shut up." Ranma said as he tucked his hands in his pockets and walked alongside her. "You need to learn more respect towards your betters."
"If I see one, I'll do so right away." She stated. She was going to say more when a laugh interrupted her.
"Ho ho ho! Ranma-sama!! So we meet again! It must be the work of fate!" A young woman with long black hair pulled into a side ponytail stood ramrod straight before them.
"Eh-uh-sorryI'mtoobusytotalkbye!" Ranma stammered and sprinted to the opposite direction while tugging Akane behind him.
"Hey! What are you doing?!!" Akane yelled as Ranma pulled her up to the palace rooftops.
"Ranma-sama! You can't run away from me forever! We were meant to be!!" The woman called out from right behind.
"Damn, she got faster." Ranma said under his breath as he ran quicker. He took a sharp turned and dropped into a courtyard. Scanning the area around him, he slipped into an empty room and was just sliding the door shut when the woman dropped into the same courtyard.
"Ranma-sama!!" She called out again as she moved away from the two.
"Fiance?" Akane asked dryly.
"I'm telling you, I don't have any fiancés!" Ranma hissed at her.
"Then who's Ukyo? And Shampoo? And Mousse? And her?" Akane numbered off from her fingers.
"Mousse?! What are you thinking of, you idiot?!" Ranma hissed again.
"Maa maa, I was just joking." Akane held up her hands. "Are we safe to go out now?"
Ranma poked his head and briefly nodded his head. "I should have put two and two together. If Kuno is here, than Kodachi must be too." He smacked his head.
"Kuno? Kodachi?" Akane asked.
"If you see a samurai flirting with all the ladies and walking around with a 'greater than thou' swagger, stay away from him." He explained as they walked back to where they were. "And his sister too."
"Oh, he was that man from earlier!" Akane exclaimed as she remembered the samurai who had harassed her.
"Weird guy? When did you meet him?" Ranma asked inquiringly. "And you're unhurt?"
"Forget it, it's nothing. I hope we don't meet any more of your relatives. I swear, if I meet another one of them today-"
"Ranmaaaaa!!!!!!!!" A deep voice bellowed out.
"I give up." Akane said and began to run away, leaving Ranma to deal with another person out for his head or his heart.
~*~*~*~*~*
Several hours later, Akane was hiding up on one of the tall bushy trees that masked her darkly clothed figure. She had hidden in the clothes making woman's room for hours while asking for a set of clothes that would help her blend into the night. Her honorable nature forbade her of running away from Ranma, so she had taken the next best action, disappearing from him. She climbed higher until she was nearly at the top and gracefully sat on a branch, tucking her hands into her sleeves. If every day were to be anything like today, she would be spending a lot of time up here.
"Stupid Ranma, how can anybody have so many fiancés and enemies at the same time?" She wondered out loud.
~In Ranma's Room~
The prince sneezed into his cup of tea and wiped his nose while warily looking around him.
"Someone's talking about me. Wait, where's Kane?"
~Back to the tree~
Assassinating the prince in his sleep? No, that would be dishonorable. Hiring an assassin to kill him in his sleep? She shook her head again. How was she going to be able to defeat him? He appeared to have greater skills than her. But she couldn't give up, not if she wanted to get to the king. Maybe he could grant her a week's vacation. But then, Ranma would probably tag along just to make sure she wasn't deserting him. And there was no way she was going to lose her cover. If he ever found out who she really was, he'd probably....well, actually, she didn't know what he would do. But it would be bad. The rebellion would already be starting by now, she was wasting time just sitting around and doing nothing! She had to find a way to defeat Ranma! She sighed and tipped her head up to look at the half moon hanging in the sky.
"Mother, what am I going to do?"
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Author's Notes: Ok, I made this chapter a bit longer than the last one to make up for lost time. I think in the next chapter, I'm going to start getting into the plot. The first few chapters was merely for introducing the situation and just for fun. I hope you enjoyed it, please don't kill me, and don't forget to leave a nice long review for me to read.
Queen Ali B: hhmm, I don't know if I am going to introduce Ranma's mother into this. We'll just have to see and I definitely recommend you reading the Ranma manga, they are ten times funnier than the anime. There's just a lot of extra stuff in the books and the illustrations are awesome.
Silliedreams: eh, really? I seriously never thought this story would go very far and I was more or less planning on writing it just for fun. I haven't read much ranma fanfiction so I don't know if my story is really that good
Shadow Knight2: thanks for the long review! I get so few of those, even though I beg readers to leave me one. And I'm glad this story is a new idea, I really am trying to create different stories from ones I'm reading all the time. And lol, yeah, 100 is a lot of reviews, I just found out a few days I had this much. Wow!
Chinagirl223: well, I have a good reason why it took so long to update! Really! I just moved and its taken time to adjust. Not to mention all my new teachers seems to love giving me tons of homework, leaving me little free time *sniff*
Lili boom: Yeah, I'm not really planning on going with akane's beginning of the anime personality, more like in the middle. Because when I read the manga book 22, 23, and 24, I noticed that she has really mellowed out and is a lot more mature. Besides, she's a spy, it's practically a given that she has to be cool and witty. ^^ and since ryoga is one of my favorite characters, of course he'll be in this story.
Flameraven1: wow, you read my mind! I just introduced kuno and kodachi in this chapter! Of course, he didn't come looking for, but now that he found her, we'll definitely be seeing more of him later on. And I'm still trying to figure out who it should that's going to help her. Maybe she'll learn a bit of something from everybody. Guess we'll have to see
Tigerrelly: yay, I updated! I'm glad you like my story so much! This was just supposed to be a fun story to write and I never figured it would generate so much interest! 100 reviews! At just four chapters!!
The Circus Grows Bigger
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A large crash erupted the air, causing enormous waves of energy from two young women. A mallet crashed through the shoji door and landed in the pond with a splash. The impact on the door made it fall down to reveal a very angry Chinese girl and an equally angry Japanese girl. But if you looked off to the side, there was another lady who leaned against the far off wall with amusement in her eyes. She made no movement to stop the fight but only carefully observed every kick and punch given out.
"You-" CRASH. "No good flirt!!!" An immense spatula squashed a delicate tea table into tiny splinters. "Who are you to think that you are Ranma's fiance!" Ukyo yelled as she dodged another mallet attack, allowing it to hit a priceless antique painting. She grabbed three kodachi-like mini spatulas from her belt and flung them at where Shampoo was standing but the girl leaped up into the air. The spatulas embedded deeply in the wall, only several inches away from Akane but the girl didn't blink. She did, however, gave a sigh, and wondered when the fight was going to end.
"You liar!" Shampoo called out, sticking her tongue out as she kicked off from the wall to rush Ukyo with her mallet. "Ranma never engage to ugly tomboy like you!" Ukyo parried the blow with her spatula and the test of strength began. Ukyo pushed forward.
"Oh yeah?! Well, Ranma wouldn't engage himself to an empty-headed, snot- nosed child like you!" Shampoo pushed back, making the mallet come perilously close to Ukyo's delicate nose.
"Tomboy!!"
"Child!!!"
"Tomboy!!"
"Child!!!!"
A vein began popping on Akane's forehead as the two girls began to call out the very names that Akane herself despised. She walked forward and with a hard upper kick, disarmed both girls from their weapons.
"Would you two please stop?! You have already ravaged a lovely room over some boy who probably doesn't deserve either of you!" She caught both weapons in the air, mallet in her right hand and the spatula in the left. "Though you two may be free to spar..erm, fight whenever you like, it is us SERVANTS that must clean up the mess. So could you two take it outside or to the dojo, if you please?" Akane twirled the weapons in her hands and gave a warning glint of her eyes.
Ukyo and Shampoo marched up to Akane, shoulder to shoulder, suddenly growing ten feet. They both opened their mouths to say something but Ukyo's door slid open to show Ranma at the doorway. And all hell broke loose. Shampoo began to quiver with rage as her purple eyes sparkled animosity at her fiance while Ukyo drew her hands up to her mouth in the coy look of an infatuated teenager.
"Ran-chan! You came for me!" She sang out as she rushed the prince. Ranma put his hands up and closed his eyes, waiting for the impact but it never came. Instead, he heard more crashes like earlier and opened to see his two fiances engaged in fist-to-fist battle. Shampoo had Ukyo in a headlock while Ukyo was elbowing the girl in the stomach. His eyes caught sight of a blue kimono. It was the lovely maid from before! He sauntered up to her with a nervous grin on his face.
"Hey-"
He was quickly smacked off to the side as the maid ran to the two girls with the weapons still in her hands. In two simultaneously swift moves, she tapped Shampoo at the back of the neck with the handle of the spatula and laid a light bonk on the top of Ukyo's head with the mallet. With an inaudible grumble, she tossed the weapons aside and made her way outside of the room in search of servants to clean the mess. Ranma rubbed his chest where the maid had smacked him and ran to catch up with her, surprised at how hard she could hit.
"Hey, what was that for?!" He asked, annoyed. She gave a huff and only continued her own vexed grumbling. "Hey, the imperial prince is asking you a question!" He grabbed the maid's arm but was once again smacked at the chest, only by a different hand. He looked up to see his brother glaring down at him with the maid looking from behind.
"You need to control yourself Ranma and stop bossing around ladies like her!" Ryoga growled with a slight blush. What was this? Was Ryoga defending a lady's honor? Ranma sprang up and pushed his brother back.
"She's a maid, not a lady!" He argued angrily but was smacked on the head by the maid.
"This MAID is also human!" She snapped at him. "And does not like being tossed around like some child's toy!!!" She snapped at both of them and proceeded to stomp down the hallway in search of something that had slipped her mind in her anger. Ranma landed a well placed blow between Ryoga's eyes and ran to catch up with the maid.
"Hey, wait wait!" He grabbed her shoulder but was furiously shaken off as she whirled around to face him.
"You really are the stereotypical arrogant prince that's always talked about in novels! You didn't do anything to stop the fight in there, leaving me to deal with it when it's all YOUR fault to begin with! Have you no responsibility whatsoever?! And just what were you doing going to Ukyo's room anyways? Not only are you arrogant but you're senseless too!" she blew up at him, making him lean back as she was almost nose to nose with him.
"Why don't you grow up for a change instead of spending your days tormenting your servant!"
"Huh? Servant? What are you talking about?" Ranma asked. His eyebrows shot up like lightning. "Unless you LIKE my servant?! What can you see in a scrawny underfed kid like that?" Ranma was on the ground a mere millisecond after the last word left his mouth, his head sporting a lovely bump from an equally lovely tempered lady. She gave a last huff and twirled around to storm down the hallway in search of servants.
"I can't believe him! He thinks I'm seeing myself! That stupid no good baka." She muttered angrily when she suddenly ran into a rock hard chest and banged her nose.
"Itei!!" She grabbed her nose and hoped it wasn't bleeding. Two heavy hands rested on her shoulders and she looked up into the vacant yet confused eyes of a young nobleman.
"I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going." He said apologetically. "Are you alright?"
"Yes, I'm fine, I, uh, wasn't watching where I was going either. Are you lost?" She asked. The man gave an embarrassed smile.
"Actually I can't even remember where I'm going, you wouldn't happen to know, would you?" He asked earnestly and a sweatdrop appeared on Akane's head.
"Erm, no, sorry. If you'll excuse me." She gave a quick bow and scurried off to find servants. That man seemed familiar, somehow. And wasn't anybody in this palace remotely normal? The answer to her question came in the form of a very angry duck with swirly eyed glasses throwing knives at a nimble panda. They sped past Akane, leaving her with rumpled hair and clothes and a very baffled look on her face.
"What's going on around here??!!!" She screeched.
"OH!!! Beautiful woman!" A callused hand grabbed hers and she looked down at a kneeling samurai dressed man who was rubbing his cheek against her hand. "So much anger and strength poured into every heartfelt word!! I felt your passion down to the depths of my tormented soul!!" He exclaimed and tried to plant a kiss on her hand but she tore away from him, kicking him off with her foot.
"What do you think you're doing?!" She yelled at him as he attempted to get closer.
"Such ferocity! You would be a tiger to tame! I shall reward you with the honor of courting me!" He lunged for her hands but was swiftly kicked off by Akane and another foot. Ranma had miraculously recovered from Akane's last hit and was glaring at the samurai man who was currently flying in the air.
"Ugh, that guy pisses me off every time I see him." Ranma commented.
"Go away, I'm busy." Akane said roughly and proceeded down the hallway in her persistent search for servants. Just where could all of them be right now???
"Hey wait!" Ranma trotted next to her. "What right do you have to ignore an imperial prince?"
"I'm too busy for formalities, if you want people begging and scraping at your feet, go someplace else because you aren't getting any of that with me." She said and her face lit up when she saw two maids aimlessly walking around. "You two! I need you to go to Lady Ukyo's room and clean up the mess there, got it?" The two girls gave a nod and quickly started to walk.
"Whew, with that done, I guess I should go back to my other duty."
"What duty?" Ranma asked.
"Did I not just tell you to go someplace else?" Akane complained. "Why do you keep bugging me?"
"Hm, good point." Ranma tapped his head for a second. He smacked his palm with a fist.
"I remember now," He bent close to her with suspicious eyes. "Are you in any sort of relationship with my servant?" He asked warningly.
Akane threw up her hands in defeat. "Just how in the-what can you be-oh forget it! Why don't you just jump to conclusions since you're already doing so." She snapped at him and looked around for an escape. "Hey, look, a huge okonomiyaki!" She pointed at the ground, and Ranma's eyes were glued to the floor, fervently searching for his favorite snack.
"Heeeyyy, there's nothing there." Ranma said indignantly and looked up to glare at the maid. "Eh? Where'd she go?"
~*~*~*~*~*
Akane took deep wheezing breaths as she struggled to slip into her servant gear. She pulled her long blue hair into a messy tail and was stepping out of her room when she bumped into Ranma. She gave a squeak and rubbed her nose, frowning at the prince.
"Ouch, that's the umpteenth time that's happened to me today, watch where you're going." She said as she stepped passed him.
Ranma was opening his mouth to argue when his shoji door slammed open. Then there were various crashes that sounded like someone was running into things."What the-"
"Raaaaanma!!!!!!!" A furious voice called out. Akane and Ranma poked their heads out of the bedroom to see a tall Chinese man who was trembling with rage. He had beautiful green eyes but they were slightly masked by the pure rage that was literally bulging them out. He had long black hair that hung untied, a strange sight for a Chinese man.
"He better not be another fiancé." Akane muttered under her breath. Ranma heard and smacked his servant on the head with an irritated closed fist. "Itei! What was that for?"
"Don't get any funny thoughts in that empty head." Ranma snapped as he slid his bedroom door open all the way. "What are you doing here Mousse?"
The Chinese man peered around the room with squinted his eyes which set sight on Akane who was standing in front of Ranma. "You coward! Hiding from me for fear of your life, eh?!!" He stomped over and picked Akane up by her shirt. "Stand up and fight like a man!"
Akane's mouth dropped open in shock. Did everybody really think she looked like a man? She clenched her fist and was getting ready to let the punches fly when Ranma kicked Mousse's hand so he would release his servant.
"I'm right here, you blind moron." Ranma said exasperatedly as the Mousse plucked a pair of coke bottle glass from his sleeve. Upon placing them on his nose, he looked Akane up and down from where she stood.
"You're not Ranma...where are you hiding him? Are you an accomplice of his?" He asked.
"Geez, you're blind even with the glasses, I'm standing right here. Yoo hoo!" Ranma waved his arms and Mousse turned his head to the right.
"Ah ha! I see you have finally showed up! Did you pluck enough courage to finally face me down in a fair fight?!" Mousse exclaimed as he slyly slipped his hands into his wide sleeves. "Today is the day I will win back Shampoo from you!!"
"Eh, he's here for Shampoo?" Akane whispered at Ranma while keeping a cautious eye at Mousse.
"He must have snuck over when she came here. Which means..." He snapped his fingers in dismay. "All my other relatives are probably following right behind him."
Suddenly Mousse attacked in a white blur. "Hakuchoken!!!"
"Fist of the white swan?" Akane said fearfully as she watched the amazing speed Mousse delivered. But Ranma only gave a yawn and balanced on his two hands while catching the object in Mousse's hands with his bare feet. Her mouth dropped in shock again upon the object Ranma had caught. A potty trainer in the shape of a swan?
"Honestly Mousse, didn't you create any new techniques while I've been in Japan?" Ranma said as he pushed up with his hands to get back on his feet. Mousse only sheepishly looked down at his feet.
"It's a lot of work courting Shampoo." He admitted then shook himself. "But that's not the point!" He pushed his glasses up with one finger. "I'll learn a new technique Ranma! Just you wait! And then I'll win back Shampoo from your seductive hold on her!!!" Mousse threw down a small egg that exploded and made smoke filled the room. When it disappeared, so had Mousse.
"And you say you're related?" Akane asked dryly.
"Unfortunately. He's a 2nd cousin." Ranma plopped down and slapped the table. "Serve me tea."
"Serve it yourself." Akane sat down and poured herself a steaming cup. Ranma glared at her from across the table. "Oh fine, you incompetent child." She gave him her cup and poured herself another. "So you'll have more relatives coming here?"
"Most likely, when one goes, the others follow. I should probably start limbering up, I know Gosunkugi will be sneaking his way here soon."
"How do you live like this?" Akane asked blankly while staring the steam rising from her tea. "Or more importantly, how am I going to live with this?"
"Well, you can always practice so you can defeat me one day." He stopped in the midst of his drinking to give a snicker. "One day!"
Akane calmly placed her tea cup on the ground so she could stand up and bent over. "Could you hold the teapot up please?" Ranma did so with a puzzled look on his face and Akane swiftly lifted the tea table to smash it on Ranma's head.
"Oops, I dropped the table, I'll go get a new one." Akane sped out of the room while Ranma saw giggling Akane's running in circles around his head. By the time Ranma came to, he shook his head and scampered off to chase his servant.
"Oy!!!! You can't do that to a prince!" His agility came in handy as he easily caught up with Akane who was walking down the hallway in a leisurely pace.
"It's already been done." Akane pointed out.
"Shut up." Ranma said as he tucked his hands in his pockets and walked alongside her. "You need to learn more respect towards your betters."
"If I see one, I'll do so right away." She stated. She was going to say more when a laugh interrupted her.
"Ho ho ho! Ranma-sama!! So we meet again! It must be the work of fate!" A young woman with long black hair pulled into a side ponytail stood ramrod straight before them.
"Eh-uh-sorryI'mtoobusytotalkbye!" Ranma stammered and sprinted to the opposite direction while tugging Akane behind him.
"Hey! What are you doing?!!" Akane yelled as Ranma pulled her up to the palace rooftops.
"Ranma-sama! You can't run away from me forever! We were meant to be!!" The woman called out from right behind.
"Damn, she got faster." Ranma said under his breath as he ran quicker. He took a sharp turned and dropped into a courtyard. Scanning the area around him, he slipped into an empty room and was just sliding the door shut when the woman dropped into the same courtyard.
"Ranma-sama!!" She called out again as she moved away from the two.
"Fiance?" Akane asked dryly.
"I'm telling you, I don't have any fiancés!" Ranma hissed at her.
"Then who's Ukyo? And Shampoo? And Mousse? And her?" Akane numbered off from her fingers.
"Mousse?! What are you thinking of, you idiot?!" Ranma hissed again.
"Maa maa, I was just joking." Akane held up her hands. "Are we safe to go out now?"
Ranma poked his head and briefly nodded his head. "I should have put two and two together. If Kuno is here, than Kodachi must be too." He smacked his head.
"Kuno? Kodachi?" Akane asked.
"If you see a samurai flirting with all the ladies and walking around with a 'greater than thou' swagger, stay away from him." He explained as they walked back to where they were. "And his sister too."
"Oh, he was that man from earlier!" Akane exclaimed as she remembered the samurai who had harassed her.
"Weird guy? When did you meet him?" Ranma asked inquiringly. "And you're unhurt?"
"Forget it, it's nothing. I hope we don't meet any more of your relatives. I swear, if I meet another one of them today-"
"Ranmaaaaa!!!!!!!!" A deep voice bellowed out.
"I give up." Akane said and began to run away, leaving Ranma to deal with another person out for his head or his heart.
~*~*~*~*~*
Several hours later, Akane was hiding up on one of the tall bushy trees that masked her darkly clothed figure. She had hidden in the clothes making woman's room for hours while asking for a set of clothes that would help her blend into the night. Her honorable nature forbade her of running away from Ranma, so she had taken the next best action, disappearing from him. She climbed higher until she was nearly at the top and gracefully sat on a branch, tucking her hands into her sleeves. If every day were to be anything like today, she would be spending a lot of time up here.
"Stupid Ranma, how can anybody have so many fiancés and enemies at the same time?" She wondered out loud.
~In Ranma's Room~
The prince sneezed into his cup of tea and wiped his nose while warily looking around him.
"Someone's talking about me. Wait, where's Kane?"
~Back to the tree~
Assassinating the prince in his sleep? No, that would be dishonorable. Hiring an assassin to kill him in his sleep? She shook her head again. How was she going to be able to defeat him? He appeared to have greater skills than her. But she couldn't give up, not if she wanted to get to the king. Maybe he could grant her a week's vacation. But then, Ranma would probably tag along just to make sure she wasn't deserting him. And there was no way she was going to lose her cover. If he ever found out who she really was, he'd probably....well, actually, she didn't know what he would do. But it would be bad. The rebellion would already be starting by now, she was wasting time just sitting around and doing nothing! She had to find a way to defeat Ranma! She sighed and tipped her head up to look at the half moon hanging in the sky.
"Mother, what am I going to do?"
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Author's Notes: Ok, I made this chapter a bit longer than the last one to make up for lost time. I think in the next chapter, I'm going to start getting into the plot. The first few chapters was merely for introducing the situation and just for fun. I hope you enjoyed it, please don't kill me, and don't forget to leave a nice long review for me to read.
Queen Ali B: hhmm, I don't know if I am going to introduce Ranma's mother into this. We'll just have to see and I definitely recommend you reading the Ranma manga, they are ten times funnier than the anime. There's just a lot of extra stuff in the books and the illustrations are awesome.
Silliedreams: eh, really? I seriously never thought this story would go very far and I was more or less planning on writing it just for fun. I haven't read much ranma fanfiction so I don't know if my story is really that good
Shadow Knight2: thanks for the long review! I get so few of those, even though I beg readers to leave me one. And I'm glad this story is a new idea, I really am trying to create different stories from ones I'm reading all the time. And lol, yeah, 100 is a lot of reviews, I just found out a few days I had this much. Wow!
Chinagirl223: well, I have a good reason why it took so long to update! Really! I just moved and its taken time to adjust. Not to mention all my new teachers seems to love giving me tons of homework, leaving me little free time *sniff*
Lili boom: Yeah, I'm not really planning on going with akane's beginning of the anime personality, more like in the middle. Because when I read the manga book 22, 23, and 24, I noticed that she has really mellowed out and is a lot more mature. Besides, she's a spy, it's practically a given that she has to be cool and witty. ^^ and since ryoga is one of my favorite characters, of course he'll be in this story.
Flameraven1: wow, you read my mind! I just introduced kuno and kodachi in this chapter! Of course, he didn't come looking for, but now that he found her, we'll definitely be seeing more of him later on. And I'm still trying to figure out who it should that's going to help her. Maybe she'll learn a bit of something from everybody. Guess we'll have to see
Tigerrelly: yay, I updated! I'm glad you like my story so much! This was just supposed to be a fun story to write and I never figured it would generate so much interest! 100 reviews! At just four chapters!!