Miss Ranma

!SPECIAL EFFECTS! "THOUGHTS"

Chapter Eleven

"It looks like it's just you and me now," Kodachi Kuno said, regarding the last girl standing on the other team.

"No, Kodachi. Just me," Ranma answered with a smirk.

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean I'm going to kick your ass all over the place. But just to show I'm not a hard girl, I'm willing to let you walk out of here as long as you do one thing."

"What is that?" Kodachi asked with her usual arrogance.

"You have to promise to never bother Kenji ever again."

"What?" Kodachi exclaimed. "There's no way I'll ever give up on my love for Kenji Tendo!"

"I'm his fiancee so there's no way I'm giving him up to the likes of you!" Ranma snapped back.

"Then we fight for him. I shall destroy you and take Kenji for myself, winner takes all!"

"Ranma!" Akane yelled from outside the ring. "You can't gamble my brother like so much chattel!"

"That's not what I'm doing! Kenji doesn't want this nutcase anyway! Maybe if I beat the daylights out this fruitcake she'll back off from Kenji and leave us all alone!" Ranma answered, turning towards Akane, showing a great deal of intensity to the blue-haired girl.

"You won't defeat me anyhow. You're no match for me, you low class whore!" Kodachi countered.

"Shows what you know! I'm a high-class whore!" Ranma answered with a sense of pride, sticking her ample chest outward in an imposing manner.

"Ranma! That wasn't the way to answer her insult!"

"Whatever, Akane."

"You wicked, wicked girl! I'll bring you to your knees for daring to take what is mine,"

Then Ranma turned towards her opponent, seething with rage. "If you ever try that paralysis stunt you pulled on Kenji again, I'll do more than bring you to your knees."

"What exactly will you do, you silly girl?" the Black Rose answered unimpressed with Ranma's bravado.

"I'll bring you straight to your coffin! You got that? Kenji's my fiance!"

"Wow! She said that in front of everybody without any reservations at all!" Kenji exclaimed in his thoughts while he was sitting in the audience, having been watching the battle in earnest. "Ranma's a fighter after my own heart. I'm going to have to do something to prove to Ranma that I'm worthy of her love and loyalty. Not only does Ranma have so much spirit, but she's also beautiful. I just love how her bosom moves when she breathes in and out with such passion in her heart."

"Your fiance, eh?" Such ties are very weak. Thus I will do everything in my power to tear you and him away from each other. You have a lot of gall to defy my wishes; the Black Rose of St. Bacchus will not tolerate such sacrilege!" Kodachi immediately whipped out a razor hula hoop and threw it at Ranma.

!WHIRRR! "Yeow!" Ranma screamed, avoiding the deadly weapon by leaping into the air, doing the splits at the same time. As it passed under Ranma it kept on going, making its way towards the audience.

"Look out! It's coming this way!" But right before anyone in the audience came into contact with the deadly weapon, Kodachi tensed her hands, causing a string sized wristband on her wrist to glow a little bit, prompting her hoop to come back to her.

"So much for that attack. Now I'm going to..." "Wait! Something's coming from behind!" Ranma immediately leaped into the air again, avoiding the returning hoop which came back into Kodachi's hands.

"You evaded that pretty well. Let's see how you deal with..." !CHOP!SLICE!SHRED! "Aaaah! What have you done?" Kodachi screamed after Ranma used her ribbon in such a way that she was able to cut the razor-sharp hula hoop into bits.

"Let's see how you like a few raps on the head, eh?" But as Ranma moved in to attack at superhuman speed, her opponent whipped out a staff that had a sharp blade on each end. Whirling it like helicopter blades she knocked back the surprised Ranma, using the fan like wind force she created to blow her out of the ring.

"Whoa!" Ranma yelled as the wind of the makeshift-fan forced her back and off of her feet.

"I can't even fly back into the ring. If I'm not careful I'll get tossed out. Wait a minute! I know what to do." "Fweeet!" Upon Ranma's whistle, the ring moved in her direction, keeping her from falling out on to the ground.

"Huff! Huff!" Kodachi breathed out, exhausted from her efforts. "How dare you use my strategies against me?"

"If it bothers you so much, tell your girls under this ring to beat it. But I know you don't have the guts."

"Don't tell me what I have and don't have, you, you harridan! Fine then." Kodachi turned to one of the girls on her team. "Tell the girls under the ring to leave it."

"Huh?"

"You heard me, wench! I'm well capable of defeating this lowborn commoner without any help." At Kodachi's command, the girl went under the ring and followed Kodachi's orders.

"Are you sure about this?" another member of the team asked after getting out from under the ring.

"Yes! Now quit questioning my orders!" A few moments later, over a couple of dozen girls wearing rhythmic leotards came out from under the ring, blinking their eyes due to the light. Then they took their places behind their captain in her corner.

"I'm surprised she went for it!" "Now let's see how tough you are on a one on one basis," Ranma said.

"I'm more than tough enough for you!" Kodachi replied to the pigtailed girl. "I still have a lot of tricks up my sleeve, you man stealing wench. You'll rue the day you challenged me, Ranma. Kenji Tendo will be mine!"

"Oh, yeah?" Ranma immediately whipped out two clubs from subspace, juggling them faster than the eye could follow.

"Wow!" some of the people in the audience exclaimed. "She's using those clubs like they were a pair of nunchakus!"

"Feh! That's nothing. Now watch the secret techniques of the Black Rose, the attack of a thousand clubs!" Kodachi moved her hands so fast the clubs in her hands left hundreds of after images, seeming to be everywhere at once. She then came at Ranma in a frenzy.

"It's like she's using hundreds of clubs at once!" a member from the audience called out.

Ranma flew at her opponent, flaying her clubs at a superhuman speed much like a windmill. !CRACKLE! When the opposing clubs met, they clashed for a few seconds that seemed like an eternity to those watching the awesome battle.

But then out of nowhere, Ranma viciously increased her speed, forcing her opponent back a little.

!PLOPPLE!PLOPPLE! "Gasp! She did have over a hundred clubs!" the people in the audience exclaimed as Ranma knocked over a few dozen clubs out of the surprised Kodachi's hands.

"You can't stop cheating, can you, Kodachi?"

"Don't you dare judge your betters, you whore! I'll do whatever I want to win. But that was only the beginning. The true essence of martial rhythmic gymnastics is control of an endless arsenal of weapons!" Kodachi exclaimed, whipping out her ribbon and attacking Ranma with it, prompting the pigtailed girl to deftly weave and dodge.

"You missed me! Blah!" Ranma called out, sticking her tongue out.

"Oh?" Kodachi's ribbon went right past Ranma, taking hold of the ring bell. Then she maneuvered the ribbon that held the two-foot diameter round bell, attempting to strike Ranma with it from behind.

"Really!" Ranma countered back after having easily avoided the attacking bell. "That attack was sooo predictable."

"An opening!" Kodachi announced, trying to slam Ranma with an empty chair she had grabbed out of the audience with her ribbon. !WOOSH!

"Nope! You'll have to do better than that. This is for you!" Ranma used her ribbon to grab a nearby table, sending it Kodachi's way.

"What's Kodachi doing?" someone from the audience exclaimed.

"She's grabbing her brother and throwing him at Ranma!" another guy in the audience answered.

!SMASH! Kuno screamed as he used his bokken samurai blade to destroy the table about to collide into him. "My love!"

"Getaway!" Ranma demanded, grabbing the broken part of the table and using it to bat him away.

"This is one of the biggest rhythmic battles I've ever seen!" an audience member cried out, enthused over the match. "Neither of these girls are backing down."

"Surrender Kenji to me or else!" Kodachi demanded.

"Never!"

"You don't know when to give up, do you?" Kodachi snapped back.

"Nope. Don't know what the meaning of those words is."

"Kenji is mine!"

"Since when is he yours, anyway?"

"The time for talk has passed!" Kodachi said, thrusting with a spiked club that missed Ranma's head by four inches.

Then Ranma flipped herself over, grabbing her opponent's spiked club with her feet. "Let go!"

"Never!" Kodachi answered, holding on to her weapon even tighter.

"All right." Taking advantage of the current situation, Ranma stayed upside down and used her legs to throw the club out of the ring, Kodachi along with it.

But as the young lady flew out of the ring end over end as if she was doing somersaults, "Fweet!" Kodachi whistled, prompting the ring to move just like before, allowing her to land on it when she hit the ground.

"I thought you weren't going to do any more of that, you cheat!" Ranma protested vehemently.

"I play to win, you harlot!"

"So it's like that?"

"It's always been like that."

"I can't sense anyone there for the life of me. Kodachi must be controlling the ring from some kind of device on her person. That bitch planned it this way all along! There's only one thing I can do to hasten my victory in this match." Ranma looked down for a moment, regarding the ring mat. !RIP!SNAP!TEAR!

"No!" Kodachi screamed, leaping up into the air and landing on one of the ring posts. "How dare you?"

"I've grown tired of this drawn-out battle; so it's time to end this," Ranma replied, jumping off her perch and flying towards her opponent after having removed the ring mat.

"You're flying! No fair, you cheat! What kind of strings are you using?" Kodachi accused.

"You speak to me of fair? You know as much about fairness as Ryoga knows about following directions." Then Ranma turned her head towards the noise of P-Chan snarling violently at her.

"If I didn't know better, I'd think that pig understood me. No. That's impossible."

"I won't let you beat me. Kenji Tendo must be mine!" At her urging one of her seconds brought out another sharpened ring hoop and carefully tossed it up to her. "Now I'll destroy the strings that are holding you up!"

But despite Kodachi's best efforts, Ranma avoided being struck by the deadly weapon, literally flying through the razor hoop. After passing through it, she reached from behind herself, taking hold of it. "But how?" Kodachi exclaimed in surprise.

"Here's how!" Ranma replied, throwing the razor hoop towards the ring post on which Kodachi stood, slicing it off and sending the girl to the ground. But before Kodachi hit the ground she whipped out countless sharp, hand-sized daggers, attacking Ranma in a Hail Mary last-ditch effort. Despite Ranma's amazing agility, she wasn't able to dodge them all, being as there were so many of them flying at her like bullets in an autofire fashion.

!RIP!TEAR!SNAP! "Yeow!" "It's a good thing I learned how to resist killing attacks in the Room of Time from Pan and Bra. But this leotard is through and so is the string that held up my pigtail."

Ranma's sparkling red hair came undone, cascading down her shoulders, making the boys watching the spectacle sigh happily. "I hope the Furinkan Rhythmic Gymnastics Team captain keeps her word about promising not to bitch and moan about my wardrobe malfunctions."

"How is it you're still alive?" Kodachi exclaimed with shock and surprise from her spot on the floor. "You should be dead by now!"

"I'm a whole lot tougher than anything you can throw at me!" Ranma announced, pointing her thumb to her almost naked chest. Then she shoved the two-fingered symbol of victory in her downed opponent's face for emphasis.

"Ranma Saotome of Furinkan High has thrown Kodachi Kuno out of the ring, thus she has won the match!" the referee yelled into her microphone, raising Ranma's hand in victory as the crowd cheered.

"What a body!" a guy from the audience exclaimed.

"I'll say!" another guy commented.

"Her hair is so luscious!"

"That's right!"

"It would be great if she were to sneeze just about now!"

"Oh, yeah!"

"How is she staying in that thing? She's practically defying the laws of physics!"

"Way to go, Ranma!" Kenji cheered from the stands along with everyone else. Then he noticed Ranma's state of undress. "I better get over there. The guys around here probably won't be able to handle seeing Ranma the way she is right now."

"Are you going to give up on Kenji as you promised?" Ranma asked the morose girl who was crumpled on the ground in disgrace, all choked up at her first defeat.

"I've been beaten. Therefore I will abandon my previous passion for Kenji." Then Kodachi perked up, standing before everyone and proclaiming loudly, "however, as of now I have a new passion for Kenji Tendo!"

"What?" Ranma screamed.

"I'll never give up on him, never. You'll be seeing me in the future. And put some clothes on! No one wants to see you naked, you slut!" With that, Kodachi leaped away, laughing, leaving a trail of black rose petals in her wake.

"Sheesh! And to think I went through all that for nothing. What a waste of time this was!" As Ranma leaped off from the ring post to the audience below, there were huge cheers from the audience but glares from the girls on the Furinkan Rhythmic Gymnastics Team. "Hey, guys! Well, Akane and I won it." Then Ranma noticed the hostile looks. "What's the matter?"

"You ruined my uniform!" the captain said testily, her eyes widening with rage!

"I thought you weren't going to..."

"Must you always end up giving everyone a skin show?" another injured member of the team commented jealousy.

"What are you talking about? I know the leotard I'm wearing has torn, but I warned all of you that this might happen," Ranma answered.

"Ranma!" Akane exclaimed.

"What is it now, Akane?"

"The top of your leotard has been shredded. You're practically topless right now!"

"No, I'm not!" Ranma replied, looking down on herself, her bosom, straining against the one piece of cloth that barely kept the leotard from falling off of her. "It's shredded. But it's not as if I'm naked."

The captain of the team glared at Ranma, her normally pretty face, a contortion of rage. "Once again you managed to flaunt your good looks in all our faces. Couldn't you have kept some form of modesty?"

"Look. I did the best I could, but Kodachi shot me with over a hundred daggers. I couldn't dodge them all; so some of them hit me and tore this leotard up," Ranma explained.

"You are such an attention whore!" another member of the team announced. "I wish Kodachi had killed you! I hate it whenever my boyfriend compares me to you!"

Before Ranma could say anything else, Kenji arrived there, coming from behind her, placing his shirt on her shoulders. "Here, Ranma. Let's cover you up. You're busting out all over." Despite himself, the young man could resist taking a peek down the bosom of his barely clothed fiancee.

"Oh. Thanks, Kenji. That's so sweet of you. But won't you be cold? The air conditioner in here is on overload. It's like the people here don't know how to turn it off even though it's much cooler right now." Then Ranma looked over her shoulder, regarding her now shirtless fiance. "Yum!"

"I'll be all right," the young man answered, breathing in and out in such a way that his muscles became even more prominent. This didn't go unnoticed by the girls in the vicinity who practically drooled all over themselves, panting. "You did well out there, Ranma. I feel as if you have my back sometimes. That's very important to me."

"Thanks, Kenji," Ranma blushed, smiling.

Then the captain of the team spoke up again. "It's bad enough you have to show off your body, but now you have to flaunt the fact that you have the gorgeous Kenji Tendo for a boyfriend! Life is so unfair!"

"Yeah!" another member of the team commented. "God, Kenji's gorgeous without his shirt on. Oh, wow! What did Ranma do to deserve having such a hunk? And he's not a jerk like Kuno. I can't stop looking at him!"

"Let's get out of here, Ranma. I have some homework I want to get to before dinner starts," Akane said, taking Ranma by the arm towards the locker room.

"Yeah, all right," the pigtailed girl answered. After the two girls had showered and changed into their normal clothes, Kenji was waiting outside of the locker room for them.

"Here's your shirt back, Kenji. And thanks for not judging me as those other girls did," Ranma said smiling, overtly admiring her fiance's naked upper body.

"What's wrong?" Kenji asked, putting his shirt back while Ranma looked on, not taking her eyes off of him.

"Nothing."

"Ranma! Stop staring!" Akane demanded.

"Uh? Oh! Sorry, Kenji. You got a great body."

"No problem, Ranma," Kenji said with a charming smile. "How about celebrating your victory with an ice cream cone, my treat?"

"All right, Kenji. I hardly ever turn down free ice cream. Lead the way!" Ranma answered, taking her fiance by the arm and allowing herself to be taken away as Akane followed after them, rolling her eyes.

"Are you sure about that, Kenji?" Akane asked her older brother. "It's normally embarrassing for boys to be seen at an ice cream parlor."

"It's not so embarrassing as long as I have my fiancee and sister with me. Besides, it's not as if we're going to stay inside for too long. Come on, Akane. It will be fun."

"All right."

XXX

"Yum!"

"I don't believe you flirted with the guy at the counter just to get an extra scoop of ice cream, Ranma," Akane said, regarding the pigtailed girl stuffing her face as they left the ice cream parlor while being in the parking lot. "Did you have to lean over in such a way that showed so much of your chest like that?"

"I didn't show that much! Besides, nobody made him give me that extra scoop. And don't be so jealous, Akane. If you wore a larger, more comfortable bra, smiled more often and shook your moneymaker you'd get more from men too."

"Ranma! What do you have to say about Ranma's ways, Kenji?" Akane asked looking to her right and giving her brother a sharp look.

"Well, as long as she's not doing anything."

"I can tell you're not thrilled with what she does, Kenji," Akane replied as if she had made a triumphant remark.

Ranma blinked her eyes innocently at her fiance for a moment. "Kenji, I'm not going to dump you for the guy behind the counter. I simply enjoy life. And more importantly, I enjoy my womanhood," Ranma explained, breathing in deeply with a sigh as she smiled at the man on her left.

"That's what I like about you, Ranma. But will you flirt with every guy you see from whom you want to get something? And how would you feel if I were to flirt with every girl I saw from whom I wanted to get something?"

"I don't know, Kenji. I guess as long as you came back home to me, I wouldn't have a problem with that."

"All right, Ranma. I'll keep that in mind," the handsome youth answered with a smile.

"Did I just agree to something I'm gonna regret later?" Ranma contemplated as she ate her Peanut Cluster Sundae ice cream.

!KROOM! !SMASH! "What is that?" Kenji exclaimed, turning back to the ice cream parlor, noticing a great deal of damage therein, the counter, the wall and the glass in the front of the store having been shattered.

When the dust cleared a beautiful and busty young woman with long purple hair, welding what looked like two large lollipops in her hands, dressed in Chinese clothes saw them and ran towards the group, screaming, "Ranma I kill!"

"Shampoo!" Ranma exclaimed.

"Ranma die!" !SWIPE!

"Listen, Shampoo. Let me at least finish my ice cream first. Why must you always attack me whenever I'm enjoying good food?" !SWIPE!

"That no matter. Ranma must die!"

"Hold it, madam," Kenji said, coming from behind and grasping the intruder with a full nelson wrestling maneuver that held the girl's arms up.

"You let go, stupid male!" the girl demanded, kicking the air as she tried in vain to escape Kenji's grasp. "This male is very strong. I think I'll attack him later to see how powerful he is. I haven't seen any man stronger than this one my whole life."

"You can toss her a few yards away in that vacant lot, Kenji. This girl constantly attacks me just because I kicked her ass some time ago," Ranma explained.

"Are you sure about that, Ranma? This girl's very strong."

"I'm sure. Just throw her into that vacant lot. I'll deal with her from there."

"All right." Kenji tossed the annoying amazon where Ranma had instructed him to. Then Ranma followed after Shampoo as the amazon warrior deftly landed on her feet and began attacking Ranma with her large weapons once again.

"I'm beginning to get tired of your property damaging attacks, Shampoo," Ranma said in Chinese.

"So what? You don't like it. Then just up and die!"

"I don't think so," Ranma replied, evading her opponent's extremely skillful attacks.

"Shut up and die!"

"No!" !KAPOW!

"Aaaaaaagh!" the amazon warrior screamed, flying into the sky via Ranma's powerful uppercut.

"Why does this Chinese girl feel the need to kill you, Ranma? I've had a few grudge matches, but it's been rare that someone would ever want to kill me over a defeat," Kenji explained.

"It's a long story." After explaining everything about Amazon law and how Ranma met up with the amazon warrior Akane and Kenji had looks of shock on their faces.

"She kissed you, Ranma? Is there something about you we don't know?" Kenji said with a laugh.

"No! That was the kiss of death like I was telling you. And on top of that, there's an amazon male who's after me as well. His name's Mousse. He's pretty skilled in the martial arts and his grandmother wants me to marry him to bring me into the tribe but I have no intention of living out in the boondocks out in the middle of nowhere in Mainland China," Ranma explained, giving Kenji a reassuring smile.

"Whew! I thought I had some serious competition for a moment there," Kenji exclaimed, wiping his brow, pretending to have sweat up a storm.

"There's no competition, silly. And there's no way I'd go along with someone like Shampoo even if I did swing that way!" Ranma stated, shivering at the thought. "Now let's go home. Hopefully, I won't see Shampoo again for a long time."

XXX

Kenji, Ranma, and Akane arrived home later, talking about several trivial matters on the way. "What the..." Ranma exclaimed as he noticed a purple-haired girl sitting in the living room of the Tendo home.

"Ranma, you have a guest," Kasumi said, sitting across from the "guest" at a small table.

"How did she get here?" Ranma demanded as the "guest" turned towards Ranma angrily.

"Uncle Saotome brought her in here," Kasumi answered calmly.

"Are you out of your mind, Pop?" Ranma screamed, grabbing her pandafied father by his thick fur.

[She followed me!] his sign said.

"Ranma die!" !SWIPE!

"What did you do to her to get her so angry at you, Ranma?" Ryoga inquired, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, looking on the pigtailed girl in judgment. "Did you welsh out on a fight with her too?"

"Never mind, Ryoga!" Ranma exclaimed, avoiding the offending bon boris. Then Ranma counter-attacked, knocking the weapons out of the amazon's hands.

"This has gone on long enough." At this point Akane came at the newcomer, sending a volley of well-placed kicks against her, attacking with punches as she closed in on the amazon, landing a couple of hits on her.

"Oof!" Stupid girl make Shampoo mad!" At that point, Shampoo stepped up her game. "Tenshin amaguriken!" After hitting Akane with more attacks than she could handle, the blue-haired girl went crashing to the ground, clutching her stomach in pain.

"Weak girl stay out of way!"

"Now that will do," Kenji said, taking hold of her.

"You get out of way, stupid man!" Shampoo yelled back, getting free of him, then throwing a few fast-paced kicks at Kenji, missing him all together. Then Kenji countered with a kick of his own that knocked the girl back.

"Why you!" Despite the fact the girl came running at him with inhuman speed, Kenji easily evaded his attacker, letting her zoom past him and striking her in the back. "Ungh!"

Then he grasped hold of the semi-conscious girl, putting her in a full nelson from which she couldn't escape. "Stop it!"

"Ooh!" Shampoo gasped in surrender, her gargantuan breasts heaving.

"Kenji! You've beaten her! That means she's going to want to kill you too!" Ranma explained.

"I'm not worried about that, Ranma." Then the long-haired young man turned back to the troublesome girl. "Do you give up or do I have to get rough?" Kenji demanded.

"Yes OK," the girl answered humbly. "You I love!" Upon being released, the girl turned around and kissed Kenji full on the lips to the shock of everyone there!

...

A few moments later. "What do you think you're doing?" Ranma demanded of the girl, putting her hand on her shoulder and tearing her away from the current object of her desire.

Then the two girls glared at each other for a moment.

"What's going on here?" Soun Tendo announced, walking into the room and sensing all the tension therein.

"I think this girl came from China looking for Ranma but as Kenji restrained her she decided she was in love with him and kissed him passionately," Kasumi explained, answering her father's question with a sweet smile.

"That's not what happened!" Kenji protested vehemently.

"Looks like that's what happened, Kenji old boy," Ryoga said with a chuckle.

"This wasn't my fault!"

"I don't blame you at all, Kenji. It's good that you've dumped that hebitch Ranma for a real woman. Welcome back from being on the other team," Ryoga said with a wry smile.

"Is that how all of you are reading this situation?" Kenji asked indignantly.

"It's hard to see you in any other way right now," Ryoga answered as the amazon girl had once again put him in a bear hug, clinging to him in a lovey-dovey manner.

"What the heck are you doing here right now, Ryoga?" Kenji asked angrily.

"That's right, Ryoga. Nobody's talking to you anyway!" Ranma interjected. "This is all just a big understanding, right, Kenji? Kenji? Kenji!"

"Looks like he's leaving you for a real woman, Ranma," Ryoga said with a sneer. "But don't worry about it. I've been to a place in America called San Francisco where guys like you are very popular."

Ranma looked at Ryoga quizzically for a moment then turned back towards her fiance and the young girl who was all over him like a cheap suit. "Are you going to break free of her grasp or are you going to stand there and let her have her way with you?"

"Oh." Kenji broke free of the girl's grasp, shaking his head. "Look, Shampoo. I'm engaged to Ranma. So why don't you go back to China? But hey, Ryoga's a decent looking fellow. Why don't you marry him?"

At that point, the Chinese girl shook her head violently. "No marry other boy. Look at amazon manual," the girl said, showing them a small hand-sized booklet.

As everyone sat down around the table in the living room, Soun was perusing the booklet. "Hmm."

"What does it say?" Ranma asked looking over his shoulder in anticipation.

"I don't know."

"What do you mean, you don't know. It's right in front of you!" Ranma exclaimed impatiently.

"I can't read Chinese!"

"Let me see that." Having taken the booklet Ranma began to read and translate it. "The law of the amazons states that if a woman warrior is beaten up by an outsider woman she has to give her the kiss of death, hunt her down and kill her. This is because she might bear children that can grow up and destroy the amazon tribe in the future. Gasp!"

"I didn't know you could read Chinese, Ranma," Kenji said, constantly freeing himself of the vice-like holds the amazon maiden kept on giving him.

"I learned while Daddy and I were on our training trip. One of the masters from whom I learned had a technique for learning languages fast. Now let's see what else is here," Ranma replied, looking into the booklet again. "But if a man defeats the amazon then she must make him her husband. Uh, oh."

"You gotta be kidding me, Ranma," Kenji answered.

"Nope. But if you don't believe me this little booklet is translated in Japanese near the end of it."

"Oh, no."

"Don't worry about it, Kenji. I'm going to have to simply explain the facts of life to this lady," Ranma replied, cracking her knuckles.

"No, Ranma. I better tell her. I think she still hates you."

Kenji took Shampoo by the arm outside and talked to her. "Now look, Shampoo, we're living in the 21st century so there's no way you should have to get married just because I managed to beat you. Heck, there isn't anybody I can't beat. And as far as killing Ranma just because she defeated you goes, well that's just nuts. Your laws leave a lot to be desired, Shampoo. You ought to marry someone you love."

"You I love," the girl answered, seeming to ignore everything the object of her desire was saying. Then she rubbed her larger than life bosom up against him, moaning lightly as she felt up his well-muscled back.

"Exactly when is he going to shove her off of himself?" Ranma whispered to no one in particular, watching the event in earnest as she hid from behind a corner of the house.

"It's not as bad as all that, Ranma," Genma responded, standing quietly behind her. "This girl knows how high-quality Kenji is so she's trying to trap him into marriage. You need to up the stakes in your relationship with him."

"What are you trying to imply, Pop?"

"You need to show him more of your 'assets' in a seductive manner. I'm surprised I'd have to tell you that."

"Why would that surprise you? You've spent most of my life trying to turn me into a boy, and now that it suits you I'm supposed to pull feminine wiles out of thin air?"

"Quiet, Ranma! Listen to what they're saying."

"You understand now, Shampoo?" Kenji asked the overly affectionate girl.

"Yes!" !SMOOCH!

"Does Kenji like this girl or what?" Ranma complained. "That's it! I'm going over there!"

"Calm yourself, Ranma. Let him deal with the situation as he sees fit. Unlike you, Kenji has a strong sense of honor and understands the joining of the schools.

"Is that so? What do you know about honor, Pop?"

"Silence."

"Now that was uncalled for, Shampoo. We shouldn't get married just because, because." Kenji paused as Shampoo undid the wrap on her tunic exposing much of her upper body and breathing deeply in such a way as to almost coming out of what she was wearing.

"Holy Toledo! She has a larger bustline than Ranma! But Ranma's breasts tend to be a little perkier and stand at attention more," the muscular young man contemplated as he found himself unable to take his eyes off the woman's ample physique.

"Mmmm," Shampoo practically purred.

"W-we should get to know each other before anything happens. I-I..." As Kenji fumbled his words the beautiful young woman began to nuzzle up and down his neck, using her tongue to undo the buttons on his shirt.

"Grrr!" Ranma stammered. But before she could get over there...

"Son, you disappoint me!" Soun Tendo exclaimed, zipping over to him, whipping out his trusty ki hammer which was bigger than Akane's or even Kenji's and knocking the younger man into the sky.

!WHAM! "Aaaaagh!"

XXX

Later that night, Kenji sat on the roof, contemplating the day's events. "What's wrong with me? For some reason, I can't get Shampoo's chest off my mind." !SPLASH!

"Hey!" Kenji screamed, at the onset of his drenching. "What's up with that?" Then the young man looked to see, "Hikaru Gosunkugi! What are you doing here?"

"I hate how you've been treating Ranma, two-timing her for that amazon hussy." Hikaru Gosunkugi, a little better than the average looking seventeen-year-old boy with a slender yet wiry, muscular physique, hovered in the air a few yards away from Kenji, wearing what looked like a black and white, Western-style magician's uniform including the cape and top hat. Then he made the recently emptied bucket disappear.

"Listen, Gos. You're a fool to even imagine you can take me on."

"Is that so? While no one was the wiser I've been training these past few years not only in martial arts, like tae kwon do, wrestling and most notably ninjitsu but in alchemy and stage magic as well."

"Everyone knows your magic skills are a joke, Gos."

"Wrong, Tendo! I've learned a few things, using myself as a guinea pig for a lot of experiments at the urging of some mad scientists. Not only can I use my ki and chi to do a whole lot of things most martial artists cannot do. I can also do things nobody else can do."

"Like what, Gos?"

"Like this." The powerfully limbed boy appeared right behind Kenji, practically whispering in his ear.

"What the..." On an impulse Kenji attacked, taking a swing at the offending boy. !WIFF! "What? I could have sworn I hit you!"

"Maybe you did. Because I feel like it, I will tell you that I have ghost-like powers now with the ability to manipulate my density as to make myself intangible and even invisible. While I'm intangible I can even move faster than the speed of sound. I'm also a whole lot stronger and tougher than I look. But even if you managed to defeat me, it wouldn't matter."

"Why is that?" Kenji asked the apparition.

"Because I can always vanish into thin air if the fight isn't going my way."

"I'm not impressed with your tricks, Gos; so why don't you just make like a ghost and disappear?"

"I'll be doing just that. But I have a bone to pick with you. Ranma was so upset when she saw you practically make love to that tramp, Shampoo. I think I'm going to appear in her room and comfort her. And by the way, Ranma has a much better body than this Shampoo person. I should know, I've seen her naked."

"You lousy, stinking jerk!" Kenji violently threw his ki hammer at the boy only to have it pass through him.

"I'll be taking my leave right now." Thus Gos disappeared with creepy, resonant laughter, sounding as if it was coming from everywhere.

"Like I needed more complications just now."

"Huff! Who are you talking to, Kenji?" Akane asked, having used her ki hammer to propel herself upward to the top of the roof the way Kenji had taught her recently.

"Just nobody."

"Dinner will be ready soon. And don't worry about Ranma's reaction to what happened. It's not as if she's in any position to judge you with the way she's been acting anyway. Now let's come back inside."

"Yeah, all right."

XXX

The next morning everyone was seated at the breakfast table except for Ranma who was about to sit down and Kenji who was nowhere to be seen. "Ranma, please go and wake Kenji up," Kasumi asked nicely.

"Why should I be the one to wake him up?" Ranma said with testily.

"Get over it, Ranma," Akane called out. "Everyone else is sitting down."

"She's just jealous because for the first time in her life Ranma has a rival whose tits are bigger than hers," Nabiki said without turning away from the newspaper in front of her.

"Nabiki!" Kasumi admonished.

"Well, it's true," Nabiki replied. "It's also a good thing I got a few pictures of that half-naked amazon. Wait until the boys at school get a load of her! It's just too bad I've only set up my video surveillance cameras earlier this morning. But if anything else happens, I'll be able to record it by remote control."

"All you have to do is get a pushup bra and you'll look better than her, Ranma. It's time you got more competitive when it comes to your fiancee!" Genma called out to her.

"I'll go and wake the guy up. This way I won't have to hear all this speculation."

A couple of minutes later, Ranma was in front of the door of Kenji's room, knocking on the door. "Come on, Kenji! It's time to wake up!"

"Oooh!"

"What's going on in there? If I didn't know better I'd think there was a woman in there!" Then Ranma opened the door to see Shampoo's practically naked body draped over Kenji who was only wearing boxer shorts at the time. "Gasp!"

"Oh, Kenji. Me love you long time."

"What's going on here?"

"Huh? What's with all the noise?" the young man replied, waking up.

"You know, if you like Shampoo so much then why don't you marry her?"

"What? What are you talking about, Ranma? I told Shampoo that I wasn't interested in her."

Then Ranma pointed violently at the sleeping beauty in his arms. "Exactly how far did you go with this girl, Kenji? Both of you are naked in each other's arms. And everyone here thinks I'm such a pervert."

"Oh, my!" Kenji exclaimed as he regarded the girl on top of him. "Nothing happened, Ranma. I swear it!"

"Is that so? Do you like how her chest feels?"

Kenji then noticed where one of his hands was located. "Oh, my!"

"Giggle! Airen?" Shampoo said, waking up, her bleary eyes still radiating a beautiful allure that would have made most men happily helpless in her thrall. Then she noticed Ranma. "What you doing here? Ranma I kill!"

"You're welcome to try. Bring it on, bitch!" Ranma stated in anger.

As Shampoo got up she charged the pigtailed girl, moving faster than the untrained eye could follow but missed as Ranma sidestepped her, grabbing her by the hair. Then Ranma flew outside with superhuman speed, taking care not to damage anything in the home. In a matter of seconds, the two combatants were outside a few feet from the koi pond, Ranma having tossed her rival to the ground.

"Ranma I kill!"

"Why do you say this, when you know I will kill you for it?" Ranma replied coldly facing the half-naked girl.

"This is better than I could have hoped for. All Shampoo is wearing is something that covers as much as a sumo loincloth would, less even. She's not the least bit shy or embarrassed at her state of undress," Nabiki thought to herself as the two girls faced off, getting ready for battle. "Not only will I have pictures but video as well to sell to a lot of horny boys at school and beyond. I can see it all now. $$$$!"

"Redheaded girl talk too much. Haiyaaa!" But as the amazon warrior leaped towards Ranma with an inhumanly fast-flying kick, Ranma grabbed the offending foot, spun around at super-speed hundreds of times until she created enough momentum to toss her opponent outside the compound, several miles away. "Aaaaah!"

"And stay out!"

"That's my girl!" her father shouted as Ranma walked back into the house without looking back.

XXX

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Next chapter Kodachi tries to figure out Ranma's weakness. It won't be exactly what you think it will be. Now I'd like to give props to those who gave reviews for the last chapter.

Super Sailor Ganymede, Riniko22, DrTempo, They call me Bruce, luger 7, Sir Thames, sayalovesdiva, Redzorin, yukihime211, gen x, zilong-dragon, Radio Driver