Author's Notes: I updated! Everybody cheer and break out the wine!!!!

Progress or Postponed?

She ducked, just barely getting out of the way and the slash of wind above her head elicited a wince at the slowness of her body. Another battle plan was summed up in her mind and she retreated to her opponent's left, feinting a low kick then gave one that reached towards the head. An iron arm blocked her attack and proceeded to send a powerful punch towards her face but she forced herself a few steps back to get out of the vicinity. Faster, faster! She ducked down again as another fist flew centimeters past her right cheek. Her attacks weren't contacting and the failures were starting to irk her as eyes scanned for any openings. He was thorough and moved quick despite his larger body structure. His own attacks were flawless and it was only her short bursts of adrenaline that kept any of them from landing. Gritting her teeth she threw herself into the fight and methodically started to met out blows while still keeping her eyes wary for any openings. Her hair whipped her face as her entire body turned to give a swift kick. He caught her foot and proceeded to twist it when her other foot crashed into the side of his head. He immediately released her foot and promptly grabbed his head, letting her fall to the floor.

"OOWWW!!" He complained as he let his guard down. Still lying on the floor, she gave a snap of her leg and swept him off his feet.

"Best 3 out of 4?" She asked hopefully as she sat up. Ryoga looked at her with indifference in his eyes, obviously opposed to another bout. With a shake of his head he leaped up and began stretching out his neck.

"You're pretty good for a small guy." The prince commented as he wiped a towel across his face.

"I'm small so I can move quickly." She said modestly but her ego was blissfully happy. Ryoga threw the towel at her and left the dojo for breakfast. Lucky for her, one of Ranma's favorite hobbies was sleeping in till a strange panda comes in to knock him out of bed. After personally witnessing the oddity of a bitter fight between a human and a skilled panda, Akane had taken to escaping to the dojo. It wasn't much of an escape but few people came into the building at such an early hour. Only the desperately insane, such as herself. But who knew how long the building would hold out after all the injuries that were boldly given. She looked around her temporary haven of peace.

Pools of sunlight gathered in lazy circles in the dojo and the dismayed girl silently surveyed all the damage done. 24 holes in the walls (seven being man sized), 19 holes in the ceiling (the size of a head), and deep dents everywhere on the floor. It was literally a miracle that the dojo had somehow managed to stand throughout so much damage. She cautiously poked at a battered wooden beam holding the building up and a rumbling began to shake the area. Clouds of dust began to fall everywhere along with splinters of wood and the rumbling grew stronger.

"Uh-" She dove out of the door and hit the hard ground just as there was an enormous crash.

"Oh." She finished weakly. She brushed her long bangs out of the way and stared up at the heap of wood that had once been the dojo. She heard the patter of feet coming close and gave a groan as she sat up. Ranma was going to kill her…

"What the hell?!" Bellowed a familiar voice.

Akane sheepishly scratched her head and gave a grin as the prince looked down at her. She gave a shrug of her shoulders and began to unsuccessfully brush the dust off her clothes. He replied to her silence by grabbing the back of her shirt and hoisted her up to her feet with no effort.

"Eh, it wasn't me?" She said delicately. Curiously, he began to look her all over, turning her around so he could see her back. "Oy, what do you think you're doing?"

"I'm seeing if you have any injuries." He replied indignantly as he finished his inspection.

"Who are you and what have you done to the prince?" She asked suspiciously and the prince rolled his eyes. Without dignifying her sincere comment with an answer, he snapped his fingers and servants began to quickly pick up the mess.

"I was hoping it would happen when my brother is in it. What are you doing practicing so early in the morning anyway?"

"What do you think?! Don't' tell me you forgot already!" She exclaimed.

He slapped his hand with a fist. "Oh yeah, the bet!"

She began to release a furious burst of punches toward him. 'I can't-" Punch. "believe-" Punch. "you forgot!!!"

He nimbly dodged her punches, doing backflips and other aerial moves as she began to work up a sweat again. He landed behind her and flicked her in the head.

"Sorry, it looks like you're stuck forever with me."

Her life flashed past her eyes and she doubled her efforts in landing a hit, but it was no use and Ranma only stuck his tongue out as he narrowly missed a punch aimed straight for his nose. Akane stuck her hands in her pockets and tried not to glower as she walked towards the kitchen for a bite to eat. Luckily, Ranma had begged her to stop making him breakfast and instead, ordered her to clean up the mess she had dumped outside his window. Which she then hid in the far corner of the garden that was always covered in shadows.

It had been a week now, a week of practicing, and STILL, she was no longer closer to beating Ranma than she was before. And it was only her dignity as a martial artist (and perhaps her ego) that kept her from running away. She had to contact the king, but written messages wouldn't be trusted by the monarch and sending a messenger in her place was dangerous as well. She had already begged Ranma for a vacation, but he only smacked her in the head. She peeked behind to see a bored Ranma and scampered into a hallway as he walked by with half lidded eyes. Sprinting to her room, Akane loosed her hair from the high ponytail she used and expertly braided it while running. With seconds to spare, she donned her maid uniform and slipped into Ukyo's garden. The lady was forlornly sitting on the boulder by her personal pond, throwing bread crumbs to the koi fish below. When she saw Akane coming, she threw all the bread crumbs into the pond and leaped from the rock.

"Akane-chan! I thought I was going to die from my loneliness! Ran-chan hasn't paid me a visit since that nasty Chinese girl came by!" Ukyo wailed and Akane prepared herself for the usual barrage of teary complaints. Suddenly, an idea planted in her head.

"Ukyo-san, don't you feel like a nice long vacation? Perhaps in the fashionable hot springs in the Imperial City? I've heard rumors that women who bathe in the city's springs for two weeks straight magically acquire beautiful skin and hair." Akane said slyly. She gave herself a pat in the back as Ukyo's eyes bulged at the words "skin and hair".

"My cousin went to the springs for two weeks, and in the end, she got married to the love of her life." Akane added for good measure.

Ukyo grabbed Akane's hands with a bright smile on her face.

"Akane-chan! We're going to the Imperial City! Ran-chan will be mine after two weeks!" Ukyo cried out and ran into her rooms, bellowing for her servants. Akane felt a strange pang in her chest but she dismissed it as excitement and went into Ukyo's rooms to help pack. She stopped dead in her tracks as a terrible realization came over her.

Who was going to play Kane while Akane was gone???

Her delicate fingers twisted and untwisted the silk blanket in her hands in nervousness. She felt like she was ready to burst any second in her anxiety, but screams of impatience would bring attention on her, so she continued her crazed twisting. There was a tiny rip and Akane looked down to see a long tear in the blanket from all her twisting. Stifling a groan, she hid the blanket under the cushioned seats of the carriage and looked around for anything else that would take her mind off the trouble back at the castle. She had managed to beg the clothesmaker she had befriended to say that Kane had an illness that was very contagious and was being taken to another village for treatment. The lie would hold, unless Ranma was that much of a blockhead that he would check every neighboring village just for her. The knot of worry wouldn't go away and only tightened as each mile passed, torturously slow. Akane leaned back and tried to force herself to sleep. They would be near the Imperial City soon and she needed all the rest she could get before meeting the king.

A cacophony of voices jarred Akane awake from an uncomfortable sleep. She pushed back the thick curtain to see the Imperial City of Japan. The wide street had been cleared for Ukyo's small procession but few people stopped to watch the sight. Venders packed both sides of the road and the scent of commoner food reached her nose, making her stomach rumble in protest. Cloth sellers stood outside holding bolts of cloth and yelling prices at the top of their voices. Cooks beckoned at passing people to come in and have a taste. Women with children hanging to their skirts struggled through the crowd. A small boy with a street guard on his tail zipped by and Akane gave a grin, she was home. She spotted a familiar face in the crowd and gave a high pitched whistle with her lips. Another high pitched whistle was returned and Akane leaned back as her signal began to travel through the city, faster than a galloping horse.

"Ugh, what was the sound?" Ukyo grumbled as she too awakened. She slipped a mirror out from her obi and began to meticulously check herself. When the primping session was over, Ukyo looked out of the window with her maid.

"We should arrive at my house soon. I bought a house years ago because I wanted to meet the Imperial prince. I heard he was very skilled in martial arts. But since he travels abroad so often, I never got to see him once. He's very mysterious for being the youngest in the Imperial family." Ukyo sighed. Akane squashed down a giggle at the thought of Ukyo chasing after the Japanese prince, instead of Ranma. Then an unpleasant thought of Ukyo chasing after her slipped her mind and she squashed down her disgust before Ukyo could see it. Thank kami she took all those missions out of the imperial city when she was young! Though it didn't help her pride that even Ukyo had heard of the infamous "prince" of the royal family.

The procession turned into one of the privileged streets that were close to the palace. Sprawling mansions the size of small towns tried their best to look impressive next to the immense palace that wasn't too far away. Akane only gave a quick side glance at the various mansions of upper nobility and then kept her attention on the palace. She had stalled and worried for weeks, but now she was finally here and she could feel a few knots of anxiety loosen. The trouble wouldn't start yet; the enemy couldn't begin the games until the sea storms had quelled. But the king had to be notified immediately so that he would be properly ready for what was inevitable. Now all she had to do was ditch-

"Akane-chan!!!" Ukyo squealed. "I-It's him!!!!"

Akane rubbed her ears at the intensity of Ukyo's shrieks. The carriage game to an abrupt stop and Akane had to brace herself with her hands. Ukyo flew out of the carriage like a lightning bolt and Akane followed slowly after. She was muttering complaints to herself when she stopped dead in her tracks. She jumped back in the carriage and tried to slow down her speeding heart. She took a quick peek outside and saw the familiar pigtailed prince hopping off his horse. It was impossible. No, it was… utterly, absolutely impossible that Ranma would be here. The chances… was fate playing tricks on her? How could it be?! She had everything planned out and now this?! She heard the two talking but she could only hear a few snatches of words here and there. Nearly twenty minutes later, Ukyo climbed back in with a beaming smile that Akane was tempted to smack off. The carriage lurched forward and the procession continued once more.

"He MUST be in love with me, to follow me all the way here!" Ukyo giggled demurely, but Akane gave a gulp at the almost predatory look the noble had in her eyes. Ranma had his hands full with this fiancé. "This trip to the springs could really change my life. Akane-chan?"

Akane looked fearfully at what Ukyo would say. She could very well ask Akane to attend to her every waking second, therefore increasing her chances of meeting up with him. She didn't have the time or willpower to put up with dodging tricky questions about the relationships between Akane and Kane

"Y-yes my lady?" Akane said as calmly as she could. She gave her sweetest smile and snapped out her fan.

"Don't take this the wrong way dear, but I'll-I'll be so busy beautifying myself that I won't be needing you throughout the whole trip. Sooo- just make yourself scarce and try not to be around when I'm having my lovely meetings with-"

Akane gave a cough to interrupt Ukyo and the woman gave a flustered look at her.

"If my lady wouldn't mind, I have some relatives in the city that I've been meaning to visit. I could stay with them until the trip is over." Akane left the sentence hanging.

Ukyo gave another joyous beam and embraced her maid with a strong arm around her neck. The procession soon arrived at the Ukyo mansion and dozens of servants quickly began to unload all of the luggage stashed in the wagons and carriages. Akane took the few belongings with her and scanned the courtyard for Ranma. She spotted him talking to a hostler and she sprinted across the courtyard and through the mansion's outer gates, hoping that he had been too occupied to notice someone running by.

"Hey! HEY!!!" A voice called out behind her.

Akane pumped her legs even faster and cut into an alley, hoping to lose whoever was calling out to her.

"Hey!" A voice called out behind her.

It was now or be caught. Akane gathered strength into her legs and used the wall beside her to help her jump onto a house's roof. With an extra burst of speed, she flew from one rooftop to another and hopped back to the street once she reached the main road of the city. Using the crowd to hide her, Akane ducked between groups of people and then slipped into an old, broken down building. Her breath came out in great heaves and she could feel the sweat pooling on her back. Kami, she hadn't done an escape like that for a few months and she was already out of practice. A finger tapped her from behind and Akane whirled around with a hidden knife already in her hands. She eased her guard and released the young boy she had grabbed.

"Hey boss, where've you been?" The boy asked cheerfully.

Akane affectionately tousled his hair and wiped the sweat on her head with the sleeves of her kimono. Her complaining muscles was a sore indicator that she was greatly in need of some tough practice.

"And why are you dressed like a girl?" The boy asked curiously as he stared at his well attired master.

"Cuz I am a girl, you little brat. Now, where are the others? Have they assembled in the room?" Akane asked as the two took a hidden staircase that went deep into the earth. Flickering torch lights lit an earthy path that took them even deeper underground. They finally arrived at a pair of broken down shoji doors and the boy pulled them open to reveal a worn room packed with men and women of all levels. Many were in the same grubby clothes that the boy wore, but a handful off in the corner wore the same armbands and ronin outfit that Akane had worn when she had first been caught. The room grew silent as she walked in and they all took a seat by the long table. Akane took her customary seat at the head and cleared her throat despite the fact that she had their unwavering attention. Her pride swelled at the competence of her spy network and she gave a wink at her second in command, Toma.

"We have a national emergency on our hands. And if all of you have been doing your homework, you should know exactly what will happen in a few weeks' time. District leaders should already have plans laid out so run them by me first before commencing any actions. And as for my group," she cast a gaze at the uniformed group of warriors still hovering in the back. "I have a special mission for you guys. I want daily reports on anything and everything from the rest of you, understood?"

Their united voices of agreement filled the room and then the meeting was over. All except the uniformed warriors quickly filed out of the room to get to work. Soon Akane was alone.

"Did you miss me?" She asked coyly.

Toma bopped her in the head as they all took close seats next to her. Despite being the youngest handful of spies in the network, they all played the most crucial parts in keeping the empire intact. Their intense knowledge of martial arts and weaponry made them essential in stamping out rebel groups and bandit clans. Youthful energy and intelligence also made them perfect for spy work. And it also helped that all of them were alluring enough to seduce any human being.

"Why are you dressed like a girl?" Toma asked curiously. The others all nodded their heads as they looked at her butterfly decorated yukata and elaborately tied obi. Akane gritted her teeth at their innocent surprise. Did it really have to surprise everybody that she was actually a girl?

"I'm currently in character for a spy mission," she lied smoothly. There was no need to tell them how a noble had managed to corner her into being a maid. "Now, can we get to more important matters than my appearance as a girl?"

"More like debut." Someone snickered and Akane threw a death glare towards the direction she heard it from. She let it slide by and prepared herself for the long session of briefing ahead of her. She needed some inside work done on the rebellion leader's inner group. Word from her contacts in China was that he kept a handful of elite advisors and generals close by, and every one of them possessed incredible powers in martial arts. So powerful was this group that they had called themselves The Phoenix Clan. Akane gripped her hands tight at the thought of her home coming to ruins because of such a faction. This mission would be lethal, extremely dangerous, and exhausting…perfect punishment for the ones who were still snickering about her outfit in secret. And she knew they would get the job done, even at the expense of their lives. She ignored a twinge in her heart at the thought of her friends dying in the foreign land and slipped a folded map out from her obi. All humorous banter and manner vanished as six pairs of eyes swiftly began to memorize the map's contents.

Author's notes: hahaha! At last! It is complete!!! And it's 7 pages of apology that it came out so late!! I hope you enjoyed and please leave a nice, lovely, long review on what you thought about it and such forth. Thanks!

Kaida: lol! I'm trying my hardest to put in as many ranma characters as possible. I covered all of the main characters and now I'm adding in a few lesser known characters as well (I hope people catch them and know who they are, especially ranma fans)

Chinagirl223: uh…well…..did I do better than half a year this time? I updated now! And its pretty long too! Yay!

Ladyknight: lol, have you noticed in the anime and manga how dense the characters can be sometimes? (kuno not noticing that girl ranma and boy ranma are the same) I figure I'd play on that and use it to my advantage to creates trouble for the other characters. and of course ranma will eventually find out about akane and kane

Andi-chan: I was thinking about putting in some ryouga and akane romance, but I'm still considering it. I'm glad you like my story! I love ranma!!!

Leina: lol, yup, the family is really messed up, and things will get more complicated later on as more characters show up!

Lady Mokodane: whee!! Thanks! I'm really glad people are liking this story! I was sort of cautious on this plot but I'm glad that its working out.

Kaoru-chan6: lol, ranma is always in denial when it comes to fiancés and such. And I was thinking about having akane pretend to like her other self to make ranma jealous, but akane isn't still quite in love with ranma yet.

Elle30: have no fear, this is a akane/ranma and there will be no yaoi of any sort. I don't even know how to write yaoi. And yay! I love it when people say that its different from the other stories they read! Because I look on sometimes and I see the same plot being used over and over again and it rarely comes out right.

Flameraven1: wow, do you know how many ranma characters there are? Well, I haven't counted, but there's a lot! And I'm trying my best to add all of them in. and as u can tell from reading this chapter, I'm putting in the phoenix people too (is that what they're called? I know the main guy is Saffron)

The Girl Who Cried Oro: uh, yeah, it really has been a while. I don't know how long, but I hope people haven't given up on this story. Life is hectic, my schedule is hectic, and I can't have my day centering on writing anymore. Though that would be nice…