I don't own Rnam 1/2. I don't own Ryoga either. Whahhh!

The next morning,Ranma thinks about the conversation he had with Ryoga moments before he got lost again. Ryoga had told him, "Ranma, I want you to do something for me."

Annoyed, Ranma asked with an exasperated sigh, "What is it, Ryoga?"

Ryoga's eyes became hard, as if the words he wanted to say disgusting, "I want you to protect Kayley for me."

Ranma's eyes went wide from suprise. He couldn't believe what he heard. The request was made with such importance, that Ranma knew that it wasn't a joke. Ranma asked, "Why me? You hate me, right? Then why would you ask me to do that?"

Ryoga responded, "I've never really hated you, Ranma. To tell you the truth, I think it was envy." His eyes went from hard as stone, to a soft thoughtfulness, "Listen Ranma, you're the best martial artist I know. And Kayley is just so precious to me. Because of my sense of direction, I can't bea able to make sure she's safe every moment. At least, not now. I need to know that she'll be protected. And I know that you can do it."

Ranma understood. He understood, because he would want Akane safe, if he was ever in a position of being unable to be there for here. Besides, Ranma knew that Ryoga had a real reason to worry. So he agreed, "Alright, Ryoga. I'll watch her for you."

A smile crept upon Ryoga's face as he said, "I thank you, Ranma."

Nabiki was chewing on the end of her pencil that say day, in class. She was a bit upset when she heard the news about Kayley, but she didn't let it get her totally down, "Another freeloader. Now, how can I profit from this?"

Suddenly, Kuno walks in with a dislocated shoulder, and he was in too much pain to talk. One of the girls came up to him and asked, "Let me guess, you were trying to date Kayley again, right?"

Painfully, Kuno responded, "GACK!" Which translates to, yes.

Then, it came to Nabiki, "Bingo!"

The end of the school day came and Ranma, Akane, and Kayley were walking together. When they came to a fork in the road, Kayley started to go in the wrong direction butRanma stopped her, "Where do you think you're going?"

She lood at him and started to say, "Why, I'm going..."Then the realization finally hit her as she finished her comment sadly, "H...Home."

Akane shook her head as she thought to herself, (Poor Kayley.)

That night, Kayley decided to take a shower. It had been rough on her today. She had to figure out where to get new clothes. She wanted to find another place to live soon. But most of all, she missed Ryoga. These thoughts led to be very distracting. After Kuno glomped on to her, she gave him more serious injuries than usual. Right now, all she wanted to do was relax.

She just finished rinsing her hair when she heard a click. She turned and saw that the door was partially open. Out in the hall, Nabiki walked back into her room, with a camera in her hand. She allowed herself a chance to whisper, "Gotcha!"

As Kayley entered the school ground, two days laterm she noticed the guys were flocking around her dressed in Karate Gi's, Hockey masks and such. In the midst of this mob was Tatewaki Kuno, who spoke, "Here, gentlemen, is a prize worth fighting for."

There was an uneasy calm, then the entire group shouted in unison, "I love you, Kayley!" That was just before they attacked her.

About 10 minutes later, all but Kuno lay unconsious. Why only 10? Well, Kayley did a good job of beating up the boys, but those who tried to hit her in the face, Kuno would start beating them up saying, "How dare you try to hurt the lovely Kayley! Now you shall feel my wrath!" Now there was only two combatants.

Kuno said, "I, Tatewaki Kuno, the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High shall prove myself worthy of dating with thee. En Garde!"

Kuno, at his best, is only an average fighter. So Kayley ended the fight pretty quickly. All she did was trip him and lace her thumb on the center of his neck, where the spinal cord is. And he passed out. All she did was cut the circulation going into his brain causing a temporary brain shut-down.

The Next Day...

The same scenerio as before, except Kayley doesn't use her pressure point technique on Kuno, just her fists. She leaves Kuno battered on the ground. Quite a mess.

The Day After That...

Kuno stood his ground. His face was wrapper up like a mummy and his eyes were fierce. Kayley told him, "Apparently, me hospitalizing you didn't give you the hint that I don't like you. Ranma and Akane told me what was going on, but I got news for you, I'm already in love with someone!"

Kuno started fumming, "Who is it! Who has stolen you from me!" Then he was reduced to wild, and ridiculous guesses, "It was that fiend, Saotome! He has entranced you, just as he has entranced the fair Akane and the pig-tailed goddess! This Venomous Slime! This worst of enimies..."

Kayley just waled off, leaving Kuno to continue to rant. During thrid period, Kayley heard Kuno continue to rant. By now, his insults have gone from moderate to, Oops, that would change our stories rating.

Later, Kayley saw Kuno confronting Ranma about her. Ranma reacted, "You've got to be joking."

Kuno shouted, "It's no joke! Now you pay!"

There was a flurry of punches. Ranma had the upper hand of the battle, but Kuno was hanging in there. During the fight, Kayley saw something ficker out of Kuno's pocket and fall to the ground. She picked it up and saw that it was a photo of her, in the shower.

She turned pale. She was so embarrassed. How could this Hentai have a picture of her, like that? Her eyes swelled up with tears as she stopped the fight, "STOP! How did you get this! No! Why do you have it!"

She slammed the picture to the ground so both Ranma and Kuno can see. Kayley started to cry. She then turned and ran. She didn't know she was going, nor did she care. All she wanted to do was escape this humiliation.

An hour later, she was still crying and still running. She ran completely outof Nerima before she literally ran into Ryoga. When she realized it was him, she wrapped her arms around him and started crying even harder. Ryoga asked with concern, "What happened? Was it Saffron? Why wasn't Ranma there?"

She shook her head and said, "It's not that..." She didn't want him to know what really happened, so she just continued to cry.

When she finally exhausted herself, she fell asleep on Ryoga's shoulder. A little later, both Ryoga and Kayley were asleep. Ryoga had his arms around her protectively.

The next day, Kayley and Ryoga were trying to find the Tendo Dojo, but even between the both of them, they couldn't even find Nerima.

"Which way are we going, Ryoga?"

"Umm...This way, I think. No, that way."

Do you have a compass?"

"I'm afraid not."

Oh, great."

"Hey, look! A sign. It's says, 'Welcome to Okinowa?'"

Gawd! Where's a taxi When you need one?"

A the same time, another couple came out from the bushes and they were in the same predicument as Kayley and Ryoga.

"U, Honey. THis isn't our house."

"Get off my back, woman. So it isn't. So what?"

"If you had let me ask for directions, we would have been home a month ago."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah."

Ryoga recognized their voices, "Mom, Dad, is that you?" Sure enough, it was. Ryoga's mom had long, black hair and a pretty, youthful face. She was wearing a green dress too. Ryoga's dad also had black hair, much like Ryoga's and wore a black business suit with a yellow and black spotted tie.

Ryoga's mother asked, "Ryoga, Honey. What are you doing here?"

His dad cut in, "He's getting lost. Same as us. Hey, who's your friend, Son?"

Ryoga took Kayley's hand as he introduced her, "This is Kayley Ryne."

Kayley shook their hands and she commented about Ryoga's mom, "I see Ryoga has your eyes." ANd then to his dad, "Wow! I can see where Ryoga gets his good looks." It was true. Ryoga's dad was a handsome man.

Ryoga's dad gave his son an energetic punch on the shoulder, chuckled and said, "You did good, Ryoga. She's a real winner."

His mother added, "Yes, dear, she's very sweet. How long have you been dating?"

Ryoga was suprised, "How did you know?"

She said, "I'm your mother. I can tell when my boy's in love."

While everyone was talking, Ryoga's dad took out his cellular phone. Meanwhile, Ryoga asked his mother, "You know, Mom. All four of us have a hard time getting around."

His mom explained, "Well, Honey. I'm not suprised. All Hibiki's are attracted to people who also have directional problem. It's been like that since the first Hibiki."

Ryoga's dad quickly got off the phone and told his wife, "We gotta hurry, Honey, our flight leaves in 5 hours." One thing about Ryoga's dad is that he does give himself enough time to get somewhere.

Ryoga's mom said, "We better go, Sweety, but it was so good to see you again."

His dad gave Ryoga a quick heart-to-heart, "Now, Son. You take good care of her. You hear? She's a good one. She'll be good to you. I know it." Then they left.

5 hours later...

Mister and Mrs. Hibiki made the plane at the Okinowa Airport. Mr. Hibiki took his seat, while Mrs. Hibiki went to check her makeup. The stewardess announced where they were headed and Mr. Hibiki's eyes grew wide. When Mrs. Hibiki returned, her husbad had an embarrassed look on his face. When she asked what was wrong, he replied, "Uh, how's your German?"

At the Tendo Dojo, Ranma was doing his best to explain what had happened the other day, "And then she just freaked out."

Akane said, "I think Nabiki went too far this time."

"But what I don't get is why she got so upset over a picture?"

"Listen, Ranma. When someonelike Kuno has a picture like that of a girl, that girl tends to feel embarrassed. Now, I've never minded Kuno having pictures of me because they were never improper. And it just never bothered you because, even as a female, you still have a male's modesty. But Kayley is very modest about that."

"Yeah, but when I saw Kayley...well, you know...but she didn't react like that. She just threatened to kill me."

"But, Ranma, she knew it was an accident. That's why she let it go so easily."

Ranma finally admitted, "I guess it wasn't fair of me to hate her."

Nabiki chose that moment to walk in on the conversation. Both Ranma and Akane stared at her coldly. Nabiki said, "Oh, come on. She'll get over it. They all do." Then she walked off.

Kayley decided to cook up a good meal for Ryoga. You see, they found a small store and bought some beef, potatoes, and carrots. So she made a stew.

He became teary-eyed as he watched her fill his plate. Ryoga was so happy to have her cooking for her. And he didn't have to give her fake compliments, like he did with Akane.

That night, Kayley was trying to sleep, but the air was much too cold for her. She looked up to see Ryoga comfortably watching the stars. She walked over to him and he saw that she was freezing. He had her sit next to him and he, once again, wrapped his arms around her. Kayley felt his warmth go into her body and she soon quit shivering.

Early the next morning, Ryoga woke with a start. He felt a powerful, terrorfying presence nearby. He woke Kayley and whispered, "Wake up please. You've got to hide."

They saw a large patch of bushes and rushed into them. Frightened, Kayley asked, "Ryoga, what's going on?"

He said, "I think it's Saffron. You mean you can't sense him?"

She shook her head no. It had never occured to him that Saffron might not want her to know how to sense him. Ryoga said, "Stay low. If it is Saffron, I'll lead him away. What does he look like?"

She said, "He may look about our age and he'll have white hair."

Ryoga asked, "May?"

Kayley ignored the question but begged, "Ryoga please, you might get killed. Just stay here!"

Ryoga told her sensibly, "If we stay here, that just makes us sitting ducks." Ryoga felt him coming closer, so he quickly left.

Saffron was with two of his finest men. He complained, "You said you saw them here! Where are they!"

A man in blue, chinese robes bowed and said, "Master, they were here earlier. So they must still be nearby."

Saffron ordered them both, "Flush them out!"

The man in blue and a man in red robes pulled out swords that could slice through anything. Hmm, do you think they were trained by the same person who trained Mousse? Ryoga was up a tree, watching the two slashing bushes and trees until they came close to the bush Kayley was hiding in. He jumped down and shouted, "Come get me!" And he ran off.

Catch him, but don't kill him. Bring him to me." The ran after Ryoga.

Ryoga ran as fast as he could, but he came across a stream that he couldn't jump. He turned and faced his predators. Just by looking at them, Ryoga knew that he was stronger. But he had no idea of their skill. They attacked first.

Speed was deinately their forte as every punch connected, but thanks to Ryoga's training, he could easily withstand them. And his punches were like getting hit with a brick.

In a fair fight, the two men would be easily out-classed by Ryoga. But this was far from a fair fight. They jumped into the air and attacked him with various projectile weapons, which were only distractions for the real attack.

Chinese bombs flew at Ryoga's in such precise locations, that he couldn't avoid them. One of them exploded at his feet and sent him flying for several feet, incapacitating him.

They returned, each carrying Ryoga by his arms. Saffron smiled with approval. Then he called out, "Where are you woman! I have your boyfriend. Return to me and I will release him."

Kayley did everything she could to keep from crying. She had no idea whether or not Saffron could or even would keep such a promise. Plus, she was nowhere near powerful enough to beat him.

Saffron knew that he could get her back easier by keeping Ryoga alive, and he knew that she was aware of this fact as well. He offered, "Come to the Jusenkyo Mountains and I will let him go in exchange for you. Until then." They dissapeared, leaving Kayley alone.

She crawled out and started asking herself, fracntically, "What do I do now?" Then a thought came to her, (Ranma and Akane.)




What has Ryoga gotten himself into and can Kayley help him? Find out next time.