Author's Notes: Not too much to say really. I really can't thank both Ayanami-chan and ranger5 enough for scouring through this chapter to raise it to a standard that I wouldn't have been able to reach on my own.

Disclaimer: As always, don't own anything dealing with Ranma or it's characters. If I did, I would have much more money to burn.

Chaining of a Curse

By: brindani

Chapter 2

"Ranma! Where are you, boy?" Genma screamed at the top of his lungs as he pounded furiously on the front entrance of Ucchan's.

Eventually, the door slid open, revealing Ukyo in a turquoise bathrobe, her eye twitching in agitation.

"What do you want, you jackass?" Ukyo shot out with a deadly glare, her hand edging towards the spatula hastily placed on her back.

"Where is Ranma? I know he's here somewhere." Whap! Genma suddenly found himself rubbing his head where it hit the street.

"What are you hollering for, old man?" female Ranma demanded fiercely, his fist shaking with annoyance at his rude awakening. He hadn't had that good of a nights rest in… a flash of a warm smile… a familiar looking red headed woman gently cradling his head, rocking back and forth … awhile.

"There you are! I've been looking everywhere. You have school today." Genma said, distracting Ranma from the brief vision with a quick jab aimed towards his stomach.

"School? Why the heck would I have school?" Ranma asked while dodging the jab, only to be caught in a throw over Genma's hip.

"Because, boy, we plan to stay here for awhile so we need to get you an education. If you hurry, Akane can show you the way," Genma answered while looking down at his son.

"Don't worry; I'll show Ran-chan how to get to class," Ukyo offered from the doorway where she watched both Ranma and Genma blur through various moves, each trying to gain an advantage over the other.

Genma, startled, turned towards Ukyo, a mistake which prevented him from seeing two petite hands grab ahold of his gi and roughly throw him through the air.

"Jeez, Pops, you're getting really weak lately," Ranma said as he patted his hands together as if just going through a tedious chore before turning back to Ukyo. "Anyway, when does this school we're supposed to go to start?"

Ukyo blinked before looking back at the clock in her store. "I'd say in about four hours. It's still four in the morning, Ranma."

Ranma shot a nasty look at the rapidly diminishing pinprick in the sky that was his father. "Damn old man… let's get back to bed."

"Sure," Ukyo replied, hiding a light blush caused by the various meanings that Ranma's statement could take.

With his hands behind his back, Ranma walked along a fence, Ukyo walking along the road below him. Every now and again, Ukyo cast curious glances towards Ranma before she decided to just ask.

"Ran-chan, what are you doing up there?"

"Balance training."

"Oh." Ukyo continued to walk, thinking about his answer. After a few paces, Ukyo turned to face Ranma once more. "Could I try too?"

Ranma paused; he had not expected Ukyo to ask something like that. Perhaps to demand that he come down and walk with her… wait maybe he was thinking about someone else. "Um, sure, hop up," he invited with a gesture of his hand.

Steeling herself, Ukyo leaped up onto the flimsy fence, only to flap her arms wildly as she lost her balance, dangerously tipping towards the canal on the other side. 'Oh no, I don't want to get wet before going to school.'

Just as quickly as it all started, Ukyo's momentum stopped. Looking down she could tell that she should still be careening downward. 'What….?' Looking back, Ukyo saw Ranma counterbalanced on the other side of the fence, keeping her from falling by one hand on her spatula.

Ranma was about to make a disparaging remark about how clumsy she was, but stopped when he saw Ukyo's face turn down in disappointment. Shifting gears, he gave a tug and easily pulled both of them upright onto the fence.

"I'm sorry Ran-chan, I guess I'm not ready for this after all."

Ranma stayed quiet for a moment as if thinking carefully about what he was going to say.

"No, you just need to practice some more. You did alright for your first time. Actually, when Pops had me try this, I fell off a few times myself."

"Thank you, Ran-chan," Ukyo said with a small smile.

"Now don't get all mushy about it," Ranma replied before getting ready to help. As he looked back on his training, Ranma realized that Genma could have taught him better if he had just thought about it for a moment. 'Then again, I guess just about anything is better then being thrown onto fence and told to walk along it.' "Let's try it again," Ranma said, turning to face Ukyo and slowly letting her go.

'And I believed I had good balance. Though I have to admit that I usually walk on things a lot wider then this fence,' Ukyo thought, when the fence shook under her steps, '…and a lot less wobbly too.' She mentally frowned as she took another semi-hesitant step forward. After two more, she almost lost her footing again, but Ranma's hand quickly found her own, steadying her once more.

"What styles does the school we are going to specialize in?" Ranma asked while walking backwards. A smile started to form as his hand had to reach out to her less and her hands slowly dropped to her side as she acclimated to the shifts in balance.

"Well, there is quite a bit of emphasis on written English," Ukyo answered as she concentrated on her next step.

"English? What do they do, fight with oversized pencils?"

"Fight? That doesn't have anything to do with school." Ukyo paused briefly to notice that Ranma, his back still turned, was heading straight for the end of the fence. "Ranma…" She continued walking while trying to warn him about the upcoming problem.

"Yes?" Ranma asked as his foot was about to step off the end. Dismissing her own precarious attempt at balance, Ukyo tried to reach out to stop Ranma from falling. In a blur of motion his arm whipped around her waist and he jumped to the brick lain wall on the opposite side of the street. "What's the matter?" he asked as he let her feet touch down again.

Ukyo could only shake her head as most of what Ranma did remained fuzzy. "Oh, nothing." 'I've got to admit, after that balance training, this brick wall is a piece of cake,' Ukyo thought while she reestablished her bearings.

"Are you sure we don't learn martial arts here?" Ranma asked, his eyes focused on something behind her. Turning around, Ukyo frowned as she watched the mayhem begin in the front school yard. From their vantage point, they could see a large group of boys being hammered by a compact blue blur.

After a moment Ukyo gestured offhandedly, "That's just Akane in her daily battle against the guys."

"What? Why are they fightin' her for?" Ranma asked as he analyzed the fight before him.

"A guy named Kuno said that anyone that wanted to date Akane would have to beat her in a fight first," Ukyo replied with disgust.

Ranma blinked several times. "Why would anyone want to date her with that kind of personality?"

"Akane isn't all that bad..."

"…when you're not male," Ranma finished with venom as he gingerly rubbed the bump on the back of his head from last night's encounter with said girl.

Ukyo hesitated for a second before nodding. She had to agree that Akane could be very brutal to guys, no matter how nice they were. 'Of course, that means if she is Ran-chan's supposed fiancée then I'll have no competition.' An immediate rosy hue developed on Ukyo's cheeks. 'When did I start to think of Ranma like that?'

Ranma was still focusing on the one-girl hurricane wading head-on into the clueless crowd of boys. "She isn't all that good, is she?" he asked as he finished his assessment.

Ukyo only shrugged. She felt that Akane was okay, though not in Ukyo's league. From what she had seen that morning of Ranma's skill, Akane was well beneath his level too. Of course, if that were true she didn't see how Akane could have hit Ranma with that table the night before.

By this time, Akane had massacred all the boys and was facing off against a long winded boy a year or two older than Ranma that wore an old fashion blue-gray kimono with a bokken held before him.

"…rising star of the Furinkan kendo team. The Blue Thunder shall defeat you this day!" the boy finished, as he pointed his bokken up to the sky where lightning dashed down as if on cue.

"What's up with this guy?" Ranma asked Ukyo while raising one eyebrow.

"That would be the guy I was telling you about."

"Oh, do you think we should help her or somethin'?"

"No, she would just get angry. She doesn't like it when someone interferes with her fights."

"That makes sense," Ranma said, casually back flipping off the wall to land lightly on the grass and proceeding to walk by the mangled forms of Akane's would-be wooers.

As the bell rang for school to let out, students spilled out of the doorway in search of the freedom denied them all day. Among the throng of students, Ranma came up behind Ukyo and lightly tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey Ukyo, I really should see what trouble Pops is getting into at the Tendo's."

Ukyo frowned. It had been really nice to have Ranma's attention all to herself. 'It was just too good to last,' she thought before spreading a bright smile. "Sure, but you'd better catch up with Akane unless you know the way to the Tendou dojo from here," she mentioned, pointing near the front gate where Akane waved goodbye to three of her friends.

"Shoot, I'll see you later," Ranma said, effortlessly hopping over the students' heads and landing next to Akane in only two bounds.

The sudden appearance startled Akane, who threw a punch at the pervert that would try to sneak up on her. Ranma yawned as he brought up his hand to catch it without effort. "Jeez, you greet everyone like this? And I thought you were only pretending to be such an uncute tomboy."

"GRRR!!! What do you want, you stupid perverted idiot?"

"Whoa, calm down there, Godzilla. I ain't angling for a fight just yet." Ranma's response only further infuriated the already steaming female. She quickly brought her left arm around, swinging her school bag for a quick knock to the idiot's head. Unfortunately for her, the strike was strong, but very predictable, making it and each after easy to avoid. This allowed Ranma to casually follow her all the way home.

As they entered the front living room of the Tendou household, Ranma finally began to tire of the endless swipes taken at his head.

"You know, you can stop now," Ranma informed Akane sourly.

Akane, who's logical thinking stopped somewhere just past the word Godzilla, did not take any notice of what Ranma was saying.

Seeing that Akane wasn't going to stop attacking him, Ranma decided to put a stop to it himself. On her next pass, Ranma lightly chopped a pressure point on Akane's wrist forcing her to let go of her bag. He then twisted around, taking ahold of her wrist and flipped her onto the couch, right next to her bag. To say that Akane was surprised by the sudden shift would be an understatement. Luckily, for Ranma, she was too surprised to become angry immediately.

"Thank you," Ranma said when he noted his tactic had worked in temporarily displacing her anger. "Now let me make this perfectly clear, I don't care what my Pop says, I'm not marrying you. I'm only sticking around here long enough to convince Pops that all of this is stupid." With that, Ranma left to take a bath.

Moments after Ranma's impromptu speech, Akane got over her surprise and her temper flared dramatically. "YOU STUPID PERVERT, I DON'T WANT ANY OF THIS EITHER!" Fortunately, Ranma was already up the stairs and in the bath, one of few places that Akane wouldn't attack him.

Once undressed, Ranma sat down and splashed himself with cold water. This ritual cold splash before getting into the warm bath was annoying, but necessary. He was really looking forward to the nice warm bath soon to come, but for some reason he felt like just sitting there. Maybe it was the warm contented feeling that seemed to rise when the cold water hit him. He kind of liked it.

Back downstairs, unbeknownst to either Akane or Ranma, Soun and Genma watched the exchange between the two while playing a game of shogi(1).

"Things are not going well," Soun commented absently as he pushed a pawn forward.

"True, Ukyo does seem to be causing problems. We may have to resort to desperate measures if things do not change soon," Genma replied heavily as he took Soun's offending piece with his rook.

"What do you plan to do?" Soun asked as he brought a knight to the front.

"For now, I'll try to keep Ranma away from her; I'm hoping that after Akane and Ranma get to know each other, their love will grow. With Ukyo here things could become difficult, especially with Akane's recent behavior."

"Do you think I should reprimand her?"

"It wouldn't do any good. To curb this would take much more effort then a simple reprimand." A small hint of dark determination flashed across Genma's eyes only to disappear as a female Ranma walked down the stairs, heading towards the kitchen.

"Didn't Ranma just take a bath?" Soun asked as he frowned at Ranma while watching him exit the living room.

"Yes, there shouldn't have been any cold water along the way. I wonder what he's up to."

"Hello, Ranma. How was school today?" Kasumi asked Ranma as he walked into the kitchen.

Ranma blinked; someone had actually asked how his day went.

"It wasn't all that bad I guess. Akane's little problem with the local boy population is kinda weird though," Ranma commented as he looked in the refrigerator for something to snack on.

"That's nice. Don't eat too much; dinner should be ready soon."

"Sure thing, Kasumi," Ranma replied as he walked out with a clear container that had a little pink pig sticker on top.

Ranma walked into the front living room opening the container while sitting down in a chair. Just as he sat, Akane returned downstairs after changing out of her school uniform, distracting Ranma as he dipped his chopsticks and randomly pulled a bite of food out, putting it into his mouth.

Both Ranma and Akane stared at each other for very different reasons. Akane was stunned that Ranma was eating the food she made yesterday. Ranma, on the other hand, couldn't turn his head with the disgusting taste permeating his mouth.

"Ahhhhh!" Ranma yelled, throwing the container on the floor as he rushed to the nearest bathroom.

Anger boiled off Akane in visible waves of crimson. 'How dare that… that BOY throw the food I made so carefully!?' "Why you, IDIOT!" Akane screamed.

"If it was toxic, she should have told me, not hit me over the head," Ranma mumbled as he walked aimlessly about town. "Someone should have warned me that the tomboy couldn't cook a damn thing," Ranma said angrily as he kicked a rock out of his way. It was only then that he heard the sounds of combat coming from nearby.

Ukyo bade farewell to the only customer that inhabited the store. It had been far too quiet for her liking lately, with customers coming in less and less frequently. She wished that she knew why.

Just as she was about to clean the counter, Ukyo heard the door opened.

"Hello, welcome to…" Ukyo didn't manage to complete her greeting, for as she turned around she found Shampoo in the doorway with a large smile on her face.

"Hello, spatula girl. Shampoo come to challenge you to fight."

"Is this about Ranma again?" Ukyo asked suspiciously.

Shampoo frowned briefly. "This for honor," she stated with a serious expression.

Ukyo was never a person to allow a challenge go unanswered. "Fine then, let's go," Ukyo replied, quickly following Shampoo out the door.

Each stepped out into the middle of the street and turned to face the other. Unconcerned about the public's drastic rise in unease, Shampoo simply gave a wide smile of anticipation as she slowly drew a long sword from her back.

Following Shampoo's lead, Ukyo took off her spatula, setting it into a guard position. 'I won't be taken by surprise like last night,' she thought to herself.

Seeing the drawn and very deadly weapons all the other people on the street vanished from the scene as fast as they could.

Once they had the street to themselves, Shampoo casually walked to Ukyo and sloppily thrust her sword out at her. Ukyo easily blocked with her spatula immediately thanking Shampoo for her effort with a vicious kick aimed at her face.

The only problem was that Shampoo was no longer in front of Ukyo. Instead she was several meters to Ukyo's left just landing from a hasty jump.

Ukyo was a little surprised that instead of fear at her great prowess, Shampoo's smile only broadened. Shampoo didn't stay idle long before she dashed at Ukyo once more. The sweep with her sword, unlike the last time, was filled with skill and finesse equal to that of a master.

Ukyo barely managed to jump over the blade and block the upward strike that came directly after it. 'What the hell is going on here? Just a moment ago she could barely hold a sword and now she's an expert?' Ukyo thought all of this in rapid succession as she landed near the entrance to Ucchan's.

"You pretty good, spatula girl. Don't need as much work as Shampoo think." With that, Shampoo appeared to blur from sight. In slow motion, Ukyo saw Shampoo's frenzied approach. She tried to get her spatula up to meet the strike, but Shampoo was going far too fast. The sword arced towards her neck and…

"Stop!" The scream came from above as Ranma leapt down to stop Shampoo, but he was too late. Shampoo jumped to the top of the far building as he came down where she once was.

"Damn you Shampoo! How could you kill an innocent?!" Ranma shouted after her.

Shampoo simply turned and looked down at him only to shrug before looking past him. "Spatula girl worthy, Shampoo come back and play tomorrow, yes?" She turned and bounded away into the distance.

"That really hurt." Ranma turned around with lightning speed to find Ukyo gingerly rubbing her neck.

"Ukyo! You're alright!" Ranma grabbed Ukyo into a fierce hug, instantly shocking the pain out of Ukyo's mind.

"Uh, Ranma?" Ukyo's unasked question brought the situation back to his awareness. Raman immediately let go, standing several feet away while hiding a nervous blush.

"Um, yeah, I'm glad you're all right. What was that all about?"

"I'm not sure, honey. She definitely hit me hard though," Ukyo stated while rubbing her neck again to work out some of the pain that flared back to life, "but I'm still alive…"

"I wonder why she hit you with the reverse side of the blade," Ranma asked, confused about the situation.

"She what?" Ukyo asked, equally confused.

"Yeah, I saw that sword she was using and if she used the sharp end you wouldn't be in one piece at the moment. That means that she had to have switched to the other side before striking."

"But why would she…"

"Ranma! What are you doing here again, boy? You should be back at the dojo helping Akane train." Ranma and Ukyo looked up onto the roof of Ucchan's where Genma was glaring down at the two.

"What the heck do you think you are doing, Pops?" Ranma yelled as he jumped up to get at the old man. Genma simply leapt out of the way of Ranma's fist, landing onto the next house where Ranma followed.

Ukyo could only shrug in frustration before going back into her shop.

The next day Ukyo blearily glanced around her once bustling restaurant, trying hard not to yawn. 'Since last week, there's been no one around,' she thought to herself. With even her regular customers recently disappearing on her, Ukyo had become very bored. 'At least having Ranma around has been nice,' she thought, which drew a slight smile.

Ukyo tilted her head as she heard what sounded like a large group of people passing by. With no customers around, Ukyo decided to see what was happening.

When she poked her head outside, Ukyo found something very disturbing. A large cart, nearly five times the size of her own, rolled slowly to a stop just outside of her restaurant with twenty people surrounding it. She saw a man in a spotless white cooking uniform whose hands were a blur over the grill, making various orders for the crowd as fast as they were called.

Ukyo then noticed that several of those people were her regular customers. She also realized just what the person was making: crepes.

"Who the hell do you think you are cooking right outside my restaurant?" Ukyo demanded of the meticulously dressed chief, who spared her only a glance as he finished his last order before turning towards her. The word had obviously spread about the previous day's battle because everyone around made themselves very scarce.

"Hummm…" The chief said as he looked the young woman up and down. "…you must be the great Ukyo Kuonji that I have heard so much about recently."

"Yeah, that's me alright, but you still haven't told me who you are."

"Why, I am the Crepe King."

"So why are you stealing my business?"

"Stealing?" The Crepe King frowned at the harsh insinuation, but an idea quickly formed in his mind. "Actually, I'm helping you, can't you see?" he finished smoothly.

"How does taking my business help me?"

"By making your quaint little shop a part of my new chain of restaurants that makes Wondrous Crepes, of course."

"I would never do such a thing. I challenge you."

"Challenge me?" He smiled; he had the young women right where he wanted her. "Why would I accept such a challenge? There is nothing in it for me; unless… you wanted to up the stakes a little?"

"What kind of stakes are you talking about?"

"If you lose, you give your shop to me to become apart of my new chain of crepe restaurants."

"And if I win?" Ukyo asked, not liking the sound of this.

"Well, then I'll turn over my cart to you to become an okonomiyaki stand."

Ukyo didn't like the odds. She was sure she would win, but if she lost…

The Crepe King could see the hesitance so decided to give one final push. "If you like, you can even stay on in my new store."

That did it. "I'd never make crepes; it is beneath my Art." Ukyo shouted, incensed by the insinuation.

"Well then, you should be able defeat my inferior Art easily, no?" He questioned with a smile badly hidden behind his hand.

"Sure thing! I'll defeat you, no problem!" Red hot anger flashed in Ukyo's eyes.

"Fine," he said, his smile becoming wicked.

Slowly, the Crepe King walked around his stand, stopping a few feet in front of Ukyo. For several intense moments, each analyzed the other. On an unannounced signal, both jumped forward, Ukyo whipping out her battle spatula and taking a quick swipe at the Crepe King's midriff.

The Crepe King lazily avoided the swing by pulling his legs up, stepping off the spatula, onto Ukyo's head, and then lightly stopping on the other side of the street.

"Come now, you must be capable of so much more than this."

The fire in Ukyo's eyes doubled as she blindly charged forward swinging her spatula wildly. Her opponent's body seemed to blur from view, making her swing go through empty air.

From her left, a swift kick struck Ukyo in the stomach, roughly throwing her into a wall on the opposite side of the street.

"I'm still waiting for your illustrious skills to make themselves known," he taunted..

With a grunt of effort Ukyo stood up to face her opponent with as much dignity as she could muster while stooped over from the severe pain radiating from her stomach.

"That's it! FLOUR BOMB!" Ukyo screamed after a few hard coughs. Reaching into her vest, she pulled out a brown packet and threw it at the Crepe King's feet where it exploded. Smoke billowed out obscuring everything, sharp explosions coming from all around them.

"I thought you were better than this, but I guess I was wrong. You have a long way to go before you can match me in skill, cooking or otherwise. Ultimate attack, DEATH CREPE!" With the name of his attack ringing in her ears, Ukyo frantically glanced around, trying to find were the attack was coming from. Various shadows would appear only to disappear in the haze that her flour bomb created. 'Where is he?'

Suddenly, a slab of batter came from behind, heading straight at Ukyo's back.

"NOOO!!" Ukyo heard the cry before she was slammed from the right, sending her flying away from the deadly dough. As she flew through the air, time seemed to slow to a crawl. She saw the dough she hadn't noticed before come hurtling at Shampoo, who had just jumped to shove her out of the way.

Through her own experience, Ukyo knew ultimate attacks meant trouble. Unfortunately, Ukyo's assessment was all too correct. Shampoo's momentum combined with the dough's to fling the girl violently against the far building. At first, the dough did nothing, but soon an eerie glow grew to a brilliant blood red before exploding. The explosion caused the side of the wall facing it to crumble, falling directly onto Shampoo's prone form.

"Shampoo!" Ukyo yelled, rushing to the debris, and beginning to desperately dig through the bricks.

"Si…r." The small whimper was all that alerted Ukyo that she was getting close. After letting a final large slab drop to the side, Ukyo found the person who had just saved her life.

Shampoo was literally covered in cuts and bruises, a small stream of blood slowly spreading from under the rock pile.

"Shampoo!" Ukyo exclaimed as she saw the broken form before her.

'Why did she do it?' Ukyo asked herself as she watched Shampoo grow more limp by the moment. She would have called an ambulance, but somehow she knew that it was already too late.

While she was stooped over Shampoo's body, Ukyo heard several soft footsteps come to a stop just behind her.

"I didn't mean for this to happen," the Crepe King said as he looked down at the scene before him. "But I did win all the same," He finished before turning away from Ukyo.

Ukyo may have never known the girl before her, but she wanted to avenge her death. She wanted to hurt the Crepe King so badly. She tried to stand, to take him down for someone who sacrificed their life for hers, but her feet wouldn't respond, they wouldn't stand no matter how hard she tried to force them. 'I… can't move.' Ukyo thought with despair. 'Why can't I move!?'

With the last of her energy, Ukyo collapsed beside the still body of Shampoo.

Several minutes passed before Ukyo realized that there was another presence just behind her.

When she looked back, she didn't find feet as she expected. Instead, she found a stick standing perfectly upright. Bringing her eyes up, she found the small old woman from the night Shampoo had tried to attack Ranma, staring at the sight before her with a guarded expression.

"I…I…there was nothing I could do. I'm so sorry, I tried to get to her in time, but I just wasn't fast enough."

Ukyo stopped speaking as that intense gaze shifted from the rubble to her. Her eyes widened at the immense anger and sadness that flashed across them. As those eyes focused on Ukyo, they slowly became lighter, hiding the emotions behind a well-placed mask.

"Child, I know you had nothing to do with this. Are you all right?"

Confused that the old woman, who was apparently Shampoo's great-grandmother, didn't appear to hold the other girl's death against her, Ukyo didn't immediately respond. After a short time, the old woman slid down her staff, letting it drop haphazardly at her side, before walking over to Ukyo, giving her a small embrace.

"It is all right, just let it out." Ukyo tried to hold back the grief that struck her, but the floodgates soon opened wide, allowing tears of frustration, guilt, and despair to run freely.

"I tried so hard, but he was so fast and I couldn't keep up, then he threw that Death Crepe and Shampoo knocked me out of the way and then… and then…" Ukyo just couldn't continue. In less than an hour her great shop that had been her life for the past three years, was gone. Already the front of her shop held a new sign, 'Crepe King's Fantastical Crepes coming soon to this location.' 'What am I to do now?' Ukyo thought in despair.

The old woman noticed the direction Ukyo's eyes took before they quickly teared up further. "Do you have any place to go now?" the Amazon asked with sincere interest. 'Cologne,' Ukyo recalled, 'that was what Shampoo had called the old woman.'

"…No, all of my stuff, my whole life was in that shop and now… it's all gone. There's nothing left for me," Ukyo said, starting to feel despair overtake her.

For several moments the two sat there, the youth contemplating a life lost, while the elder contemplated the other.

"Why don't you come with me, dear?"

Startled from the spiral her dark thoughts were taking, Ukyo looked at Cologne as if seeing her for the first time. "Why would you do something like that for me?"

For several minutes Cologne looked Ukyo in the eye, considering her next words very carefully. "I have just lost my great-grandchild to the whims of fate. It would be nice to have someone there while I mourn the loss."

"But…"

"No buts. Are your parents close enough for you to stay with them?" Cologne asked cautiously.

Ukyo looked down, her sorrow becoming greater at the thought of her parents. "My mother died during my birth and my father… he died in an accident several years ago."

"I'm sorry, that must be a very sensitive subject for you. You must realize, however, that you have nowhere else to turn. If you are willing, I could even adopt you into the Amazon tribe." Ukyo looked up sharply.

"Why…?"

"The reason I came here, following Shampoo in her attempt to avenge her honor, was to make sure that she survived. She was my last recognized heir to take my place as tribal leader. By Amazon custom, if an Amazon warrior gives their life for an outsider then that person is worthy of becoming an Amazon." Cologne answered, her eyes not quite meeting Ukyo's.

Though it struck Ukyo as odd, this was obviously a great honor. At first, Ukyo was hesitant to accept, but she soon realized that with her restaurant now gone, her hopes and dreams had been shattered as well. Perhaps it was time to take up a new dream. Standing up on weak knees, Ukyo bowed to Cologne.

"I gladly accept this honor."

"Now, would you help this old woman honorably bury a fallen warrior?" Cologne asked as she took to her stick once more.

"Of course! But… shouldn't we call the police?"

"No, this is a matter of Amazon honor that will be settled by Amazons not outsiders."

"What do you mean?"

"You will avenge her death."

"Me? But I couldn't even touch him. How could I be able to defeat him?"

"I shall train you, child. We begin tomorrow."

End chapter 2

Post Author's Notes: What the hell is going on here you ask? Ukyo was always a match for Shampoo in the anime and now she is defeated by her easily? Yes, but there is a slight difference in the time stream within this fiction. After Ukyo's father died, she created her own okonomiyaki shop. That means three years of her life that were once spent in hard training to gain revenge on Ranma were instead spent on maintaining her shop. That also means she is not nearly as good as she was during the anime. As the ending of this chapter indicated, this will most definitely not hold true throughout the whole of this fic.

I'm very sorry about the long delay. Much of it was entirely my own fault. An additional aspect is due to my pre-readers raising some very valid points to help make the story make more sense. As such, I've spent quite a bit of time adding several additional scenes that will hopefully make the story both more understandable and more enjoyable.

To answer some of the reviews, Cologne knew that Ranma was cursed because she was the person that Ranma and Ukyo didn't notice spying on them when Ranma changed to female so that he could stay at Ukyo's. As to why Cologne protected Ukyo, in the words of a character from Slayers, 'That… is a secret,' At least for a few more chapters though I'm sure many will be able to guess as I'm trying to leave hints as I go.

As with all fanfiction writing, reviews are the lifeblood of both motivation and to making a better overall story. If at all possible, please keep reviews to the realm of constructive criticism and/or encouragement.

Thank you very much,

brindani

(1) I'll admit it, I'm most definitely not knowledgeable about Shogi and won't pretend to be so. From what research I've done on the matter many places use the chess equivalent names for the pieces. I've found the Shogi names, but they didn't make much sense to me while I was writing so I took them out. For any that are interested the pieces I used equivalents are listed below.

rook hisha

pawn fuhyou

knight keima