Miss Ranma

Chapter Nineteen

!SPECIAL EFFECTS! "THOUGHTS"

"Yeah, time to make some cash!" Poison called out to the pigtailed girl, pointing her horsewhip in the girl's direction.

"I'm Ranma Saotome, and I accept your challenge. Your move," the pigtailed girl announced, getting in a stance with her knees slightly bent while on her toes as her hands moved slowly in front of herself.

Since the previous battle of Kenji against the gigantic Hugo, a large crowd had formed. The previous fight had garnered so much attention that the police had cordoned off that area of the street, directing the few oncoming cars to alternate routes.

Shaking back and forth from hip to hip, Poison had her hand on one side while the other held her horsewhip. Then she attacked! "Ore!" Swinging her whip straight downward, the stiletto-wearing starlet sent a pink-colored ki blast in Ranma's direction.

The pigtailed girl leaped over the boomerang-shaped attack and came down hard in a diagonal slant with both feet on her opponent's shoulders, knocking her down. While standing over her prone adversary, Ranma struck the ground with her right foot, creating a shockwave that sent the long-haired girl into the air and crashing down to earth with her hair going all over the place.

However, the downed wrestling manager wasn't out of the fight yet. As Ranma made her way to her at superhuman speed, Poison crossed her feet, drew herself inward, and shook her hips slightly as electric power surged upward and around her. Upon striking Ranma with her horsewhip, she executed a forward flip, kicking Ranma in the process before landing on her feet. Then she struck downward, stomping Ranma into the ground. Before the pigtailed girl could get up, Poison struck the hapless girl dozens of times at super speed with her ki enhanced horsewhip, her last hit sending Ranma up into the air then down to the ground.

Despite the brutality of the previous attack, Ranma landed on her feet, zoomed in on her opponent and attacked.

"Tenshin amaguriken!" Poison found herself struck hundreds of times with fists as well as feet, knocking her backward. Then the stiletto-wearing lady zipped back further with one hand on her hip and the other holding her horsewhip.

"Ungh! So you're tough," Poison said, wiping off the little bit of blood on her mouth with her fist. "But there's no way you're getting your hands on all that money!"

"I'm not fighting for the money; I'm fighting for my fiancé whom you struck from behind without any honor," Ranma explained dourly.

"Honor? That's a laugh. It's always about the money."

"I'm going to make you eat those words! Aaaah!" Ranma screamed, rocking her head back and breathing in as her battle aura increased. Then she attacked! Taking to the sky, Ranma came down on her opponent like a dive bomber, shooting off ki blasts in rapid-fire procession.

"Aaagh!" Poison screamed as the energy hit her, knocking her up into the air.

"Aaaah!" Ranma powered up her ki energy again, allowing her to create a much more powerful blast the covered the whole area Poison was in, engulfing her.

"Aiiieeeeee!" Poison came crashing to the ground. Upon getting to her feet, she took to the air, grabbed Ranma, and spun her around. After spinning her around countless times, the wrestling promoter slammed her opponent into the ground head first.

"Ungh!"

Faster than the untrained eye could follow, Poison grabbed the pot of money and leaped onto the rooftop of a nearby house. Then she scurried away running from one rooftop to another. Eventually, she landed on top of a moving metro rail train.

"So long, sucker!"

"You're not getting off so easy, sister!" Ranma called out as she pursued her. Flying towards her quarry, Ranma slammed into her causing her to drop the pot of money.

"Why you, bitch!" Poison screamed as the money fell downwards into the waiting hands of Nabiki.

"I got it, Ranma! Go ahead and enjoy beating that thief within an inch of her life!" the mercenary girl said several meters below the fast-moving train.

"You'll pay for that, little girl!" Poison stated coldly, point her horsewhip in Ranma's direction.

"You're the one who's going to pay for what you did to Kenji!" Ranma demanded as she gave some effort to keep from falling off the fast-moving train that moved at over 500 miles per hour.

"Ore!" Poison screamed, slashing the air in front of her, thus sending a ki blast in Ranma's direction.

"Whoa!" Ranma yelled as she both evaded the attack and kept her footing while the fast-moving train made a hard, half circling right turn.

Then the train made its way towards a dark tunnel. "Eh?" Poison commented, staying on top of the moving train.

"The money's gone, so this fight is a waste of time. But one day I will come back for you and your boyfriend, sweetie. And when I do, you're gonna pay. But for now, au revoir!" With a wave of her hand, the starlet leaped off the train into the darkness of the tunnel, sending another ki blast as a parting shot which Ranma deftly evaded. By the time the train had finished going through the tunnel, Poison was gone!"

"There's nothing to do now but go back."

Taking off to the air, Ranma lighted off the train. Flying higher and higher, Ranma halted when she was able to locate the street where the fight she had with Poison had begun, Kenji laying on the ground unconscious.

"Ranma, we're over here!" Nabiki called out to her from the ground with the pot of money in her hot little hands.

"Hmm. I see you got the money you wanted so badly."

"That's right," Nabiki said with a smile.

"How did you manage to move so quickly as to keep up with us? Both Poison and I were moving at inhuman speeds," Ranma replied.

"I can move at the speed of light if there's money involved," the mercenary girl answered.

"In addition to that, you look as if some guy has really made you happy," Ranma said with a wry smile. "I've never seen you with such a huge smile on your face."

Nabiki looked at Ranma quizzically for a moment; then understanding appeared on her face. "To tell the truth, Ranma, this much money is more satisfying to me than any guy could ever be."

"That's Nabiki for you."

"Kenji! Are you all right?!" Ranma exclaimed, running over to him and embracing him. Ranma had put her head on his chest, sighing deeply.

"I'm fine, Ranma," Kenji answered, returning his fiancée's embrace.

"What happened to the giant you defeated?"

"For some reason, he got up and walked away, even though he was still rather dizzy from the beating I gave him. Nobody knows where he is now. What happened to Poison?" Kenji asked.

"She tried to take off with the money, but Ranma took off after her. Then that thief dropped the pot of money that I was able to catch," Nabiki answered happily.

At that point, Akane came running towards them with Sayuri and Yuka right behind her. "Ranma! Where have you been?! And what are you doing here?!"

"Listen, Akane…"

"Nabiki! What happened here?!"

"I'll explain things later, Akane. Right now, let's all go home."

"I can't wait to get home, so I can roll around naked in my bed covered with all this money! I guess Ranma was right after all."

XXX

Later that evening:

!RRRRUUUUMM! !KRAK! It was a dark, stormy night, lightning raging above as Genma Saotome stood, facing a masked, young man with long brown hair done up in a ponytail, wearing a brown okonomiyaki chef's outfit. In addition to that, he wielded a large ki-powered okonomiyaki spatula which was translucently glowing and six feet long with the end being two and a half feet squared.

"Who is this guy?" Genma speculated. "How is it that weapon is made of pure energy?"

"It's been a long time, Genma Saotome," the bishonen said. Despite his impressive appearance, he had a serious, deadly look in his eyes that said he was all business.

"Have we met before?" Genma asked nervously.

"Don't pretend that you don't know me. I'm Yukio Kuonji, the one whose family you robbed and dishonored!"

"Yukio?!" the balding martial artist gasped in terror as his nemesis made his way towards him. !CRACK! "Noooo!"

The handsome, young man stood over his victim who lay on the ground unmoving. "Next is his no-good son, Ranma!"

XXX

The next day:

"Daddy got a challenge letter?" Ranma asked Kasumi who stood before him holding a round object in her hands as she took her shoes off.

"Yes," Kasumi answered. "It was a strange challenge letter at that. See?" the eldest Tendo daughter showed Ranma a six-inch diameter flat pastry that said, [Meet me at the empty lot at 8:00 PM.]

"A challenge letter on okonomiyaki?" Ranma gasped as she held up the pastry.

Making her way to the empty lot, Ranma touched down near her downed father who lay there with his mouth open and eyes wide staring into space.

"Daddy? Daddy." Ranma shook her father hard to snap him out of it. "Daddy!" Ranma screamed, slapping her father awake

"Enough!" the balding man screamed, waking out of his stupor and slamming the pigtailed girl into the ground.

Then Ranma's danger sense went off. "Look out!"

Both martial artists leaped out of the way of a large metal okonomiyaki spatula that came at them, wedging itself into the ground which had a note that said, [Ranma, your time to pay is coming!]

"You got that?!" a voice called out. When Ranma looked she saw a slender person wearing an okonomiyaki outfit and a mask. "I'll see you later!" With that, the assassin leaped into the air and took off.

"Come back here!" Ranma called out as she was about to take to the air.

"Whoa, girl!" Genma said, throwing an invisible ki net around his daughter and slamming her to the ground.

"What did you do that for?!" Ranma screamed as she broke herself free of the net, causing it to disappear.

"Let it go for your own good, Ranma. Trust me," Genma said somberly.

XXX

Later that day, Ranma was standing on her head in the Tendo training hall, doing some martial arts exercises while her father looked on. "I can't get that okonomiyaki guy out of my mind. Who was he?"

"Daddy, how is it that guy beat you so easily? Are you hiding something?"

Genma looked over his shoulder and said, "Ranma, will you promise not to be shocked no matter what I tell you?"

"Yes, all right. What is it?"

"Then come closer. The truth is that he is… HEEYAAHAA!" Genma screamed into the ear of her listening daughter.

"Hey!" Ranma protested, being bowled over by the loud yelling.

"I can't tell you; you're too easily shocked," Genma said, ending the conversation.

"Oh, yeah?!" Ranma screamed, splashing her father with cold water, instigating the Jusenkyo transformation. "You can stay that way for all I care!"

"I wonder if I should tell Ranma what happened," Kenji thought to himself as he listened in on the conversation.

XXX

Later that night, Kenji approached Ranma as she executed some katas. "What did you want to tell me about, Kenji?"

"It's about that guy who beat your father up," the young man explained.

"Yeah? What about it?"

"What I saw showed me that this guy was very skilled."

"What else do you know about it?" Ranma asked with enthusiasm, looking up at him with her eyes wide.

"He said something about Genma insulting his family."

"I'm not surprised. What did Pops do?"

"I'm not sure exactly, but this guy was really angry. You better be careful, Ranma," Kenji replied, regarding his fiancée with a sense of seriousness.

"When haven't I had to be careful? Don't worry about it, Kenji."

Kenji watched Ranma train, admiring not only her martial arts skills but the way her body shifted as she went through her paces.

XXX

The next day, Ranma and Akane walked to school, Akane walking on the fence more deftly than she normally did, wearing her usual school dress. Ranma also wore the regulation school dress that was tight in the bust, causing Ranma to make it a point to refrain from breathing out too hard.

"I heard about what happened with that guy who defeated your father," Akane recounted. "It sounds like this guy was in great pain. For all, we know your father stole something very valuable to them."

"Thanks for telling me that, Akane," Ranma answered as she practically glided on the ground, making it looks as if she was ice skating.

"Really, Ranma. How many different people have you and your father offended?"

"I didn't do anything to that guy, Akane. Sheesh! I think you just like the idea of busting my chops."

"That's not true, Ranma," Akane replied pertly.

"It is true! What else is new?"

Akane looked down on Ranma for a moment. "It's not like that, Ranma. You're not going to get out of this by pretending to be the victim. What did you do to that guy, anyway?"

"I already told you that I didn't do anything to that guy, and I'm sick of your baseless accusations!"

At that point, Akane leaped off the fence, doing an acrobatic flip and landing right in front of the pigtailed girl.

"Well, I'm sick of you all together, Ranma! It's bad enough you've shown up here and pranced around practically naked in front of a bunch of perverted boys, but now you've offended a very powerful martial artist. What will you do?"

"I'll cross that bridge when I get to it, Akane. In the meantime, stay out of my way!" Taking to the air and leaping over Akane, Ranma made her way to school.

For a while Akane stood there, dumbfounded. Then she took off after the pigtailed girl, running. "Ranma, wait up!"

XXX

"Class, I'd like to introduce all of you to a new student," the teacher explained as he motioned to the very attractive man with long hair on his left. Then the teacher backed away from the desk which had a hot, steaming griddle on it.

"Hi, y'all. I'm Yukio Kuonji. My passion is making okonomiyaki. Some might say it's only Japanese pizza, but there's more to it than that," the bishonen explained as he made enough single-serve okonomiyaki for everyone in the class, the servings being round and six inches in diameter with a sunny side up egg frying on it.

"Yukio?" Ranma thought to herself. "Where have I heard that name before?"

"Look at him!" one of the girls exclaimed happily. "He's gorgeous!"

"He looks even better than Kenji!" another girl commented.

"No, he doesn't," the girl sitting next to her replied pertly. "However, this okonomiyaki does taste great."

"We really won't know that until we can see him without his shirt on. That's when we'll know for sure," another girl commented with her eyes and mouth widening in anticipation.

As the various conversations went on, who the new student was finally hit Ranma, prompting her to stand up excitedly. "You're…"

"I've hunted you for years Ranma!" the young man yelled, violently tossing small, hand-sized spatulas at the object of his wrath, coming close to hitting some of the other students in the class while missing her target all together.

Casually dodging the flying utensils, Ranma closed in on the young man, getting face to face with him. "You're Yuuchan from that okonomiyaki cart!"

"You know this guy?" Akane asked from behind the pigtailed girl.

"Yes, we were for a while. I met Yuuchan while Pop and I were training back in the day. Yucchan was the nickname I came up with," Ranma recalled happily.

"That's interesting, Ranma," Akane replied. However, she noticed that Yukio was getting redder and redder with rage as Ranma talked.

"Yeah, whenever we passed by Yukio's family okonomiyaki cart I would fight Yukio, beat him, and get free okonomiyaki."

"That sounds like you robbed them," Akane commented, giving Ranma a sharp look.

"No, not really. Yukio used to draw little pictures on the okonomiyaki with the sauce. See?" Ranma showed Akane the pastry Yukio had tossed at her.

"Gasp!"

"What a beautiful relationship born of combat," a boy in the class said out loud.

"You could say that," Ranma replied. "But it was a sad day when I had to go…"

"You don't know what happened? I find that a little hard to swallow, you jackass!" Yukio screamed, attempting to strike the nimble martial arts with his giant-sized, ki energy spatula and missing her entirely.

Ranma maneuvered with grace and finesse, closing in on her childhood friend and regarding him. "What's the matter, Yucchan?"

"Don't go calling me that! Cast your mind back to the day you left!"

"Hmm. Let me see. I remember how you were running after us, crying."

"I called out after you because your no-good daddy had stolen my family's okonomiyaki cart after he had knocked my father out cold when he wasn't looking!" Yukio screamed in a rage.

"Come to think of it, why were we traveling on your okonomiyaki cart?" Ranma asked bewilderedly.

"You and your no-good daddy dishonored my family! Now I demand satisfaction!"

"Satisfaction? What do you want from me?" Ranma asked the angry, young man., tilting her head to the side.

"Let me tell you another thing," Yukio answered. "I hate that girlie voice of yours, and what's with the fake chests you have there? Are you some kind of tranny-cross dresser?"

"Tranny-cross dresser?!"

"I'm talkin 'bout those girlie boys who put on dresses and make-up to make themselves look like women."

Ranma blinked her eyes for a moment. "Oh, that. Listen, Yukio. Why don't we all calm down? You see what happened earlier was…"

"Enough!" Yukio stammered. Then he stormed out of the classroom, looking over his shoulder while giving Ranma a harsh glare. "I have a special recipe in mind for you, Ranma. Step outside and find out!" With that, the angry bishonen left.

"Step outside?" a student parroted.

"That sounds like a challenge. What did you do to this poor guy, Ranma?" Akane asked, glaring at Ranma in a judgmental fashion.

"I don't know, Akane. This doesn't make any sense."

XXX

"I heard Ranma's going to fight the new guy!" a student called out as many of the student body surrounded what looked like a boxing ring that had a heated griddle surrounding it.

Yukio stood there in the center of the ring, contemplating what he intended to do to his childhood friend. "Prepare yourself, Ranma. Today's the day you meet your destiny!"

"Hi, Yuuchan!" Ranma announced, landing on the ring post opposite him.

Despite Ranma's friendly demeanor or because of it, Yukio attempted to hit the girl with his powerful ki spatula, swinging rapidly back and forth, creating zigzag after images of it. "We're here to duel, so quit calling me by that name!"

"Why not? I thought you liked it when I called you by that name. Can't we still be friends?" Ranma asked innocently as she kept on dodging the vicious attacks.

"You dare call yourself a friend?!"

Akane stood there watching the spectacle while everyone else there gasped at the event. "There's something about this that doesn't make a whole lot of sense."

"I agree, Akane."

Akane whipped around to see, "Kenji! What are you doing here? Didn't you have to do some kind of job Nabiki hired you out to do?"

"It was another demolition job that didn't take me long to finish. At any rate, I'm here now. I hope Ranma knows what she's doing. The guy she's facing is one tough customer."

"That's true; he said Genma and Ranma had dishonored his family," Akane replied.

Back in the squared ring, Ranma was still dealing with the newcomer. "The one who took your cart and left you in the dust was my father. Why are you angry with me?"

"Shut yo' mouth!" Yukio yelled, taking another missed swing at Ranma with his ki spatula.

"My, you're stubborn." Ranma leaped on top of the spatula, crouching and regarding the angry Yukio.

"Get off!" With a surprising burst of strength, Yukio threw Ranma off, tossing her up and out of the ring. However, he was surprised when Ranma hovered in the air several feet above him.

"What's the big idea?!" Ranma called out from her vantage point.

"Here's the idea, Ranma. Take a look at my special okonomiyaki recipe!" Yukio used his spatula to scoop up some nearby okonomiyaki dough and tossed it in Ranma's direction. Since it encompassed the whole area Ranma occupied at the time as it came at her, the pigtailed girl was engulfed in it.

"Ungh!" In moments, the soft dough hardened into something like cement, entangling Ranma and dragging her to the ground.

"Now you're trapped, Ranma." The okonomiyaki chef made his way to the entangled girl to smash her head in with his spatula, but before he could get to her. !SMASH! With a herculean effort, Ranma broke out of the concrete, smashing it into chunks. This prompted Yukio to use his weapon defensively to keep from getting hit by the flying shrapnel, but despite the youth's efforts, some of the jagged edges got through his defenses, slicing off the string that held his ponytail in place and shredding his shirt into tatters.

"Is that all you got?" Ranma announced with a gasping breath.

"No!" Throwing off the shards of what was left of his okonomiyaki shirt, the chef martial artist took a deep breath and regrouped.

"Oh, wow!" a few girls in the audience moaned upon seeing the topless, slender/muscular form of the flowing-haired young man.

"That confirms it," Sakura called out. "He's better looking than Kenji."

"He's cute, but he's not as good looking as Kenji," Yuka denied.

"Those pecs are to die for! And those washboard abs, sigh!" Sakura moaned.

"You need to get out of the house more, Sakura."

"No, I don't, Yuka!"

As the girls argued back and forth, the fight waged on. "Here's my rubber yakisoba noodle attack!" With surprising quickness, Yukio whipped out a three-inch diameter and several yards long of entwined noodles, entrapping Ranma in them.

"Golly. This stuff is so flexible and sticky. It's going to take some time to get out of it." Ranma quickly squirmed out of the yakisoba rope entanglement to the point that it only held her by her ankles. However, these efforts tore the top of Ranma's dress, practically taking it off and leaving her only wearing the skirt of it in addition to her bikini underwear. Before Ranma could do anything else, Yukio leaped into the air right over her, coming down, swinging hard with the sharp edge of his spatula. Even though Ranma evaded the attack, for the most part, it sliced open the center of her top, causing her midriff to open up a little.

Recoiling backward in an acrobatic flip, Ranma broke out of the remaining yakisoba entanglement. Despite her impressive efforts, a sharp part of the sticky noodle mixture had flown into her hair, slicing off her pigtail string and causing her luscious hair to cascade down her bare shoulders. Ignoring her freed locks, Ranma tossed the yakisoba aside on the warmed griddle surrounding them, making the noodles sizzle.

"That yakisoba smells so good!" a student in the audience called out.

"It sure does! This fight is making me hungry!" another student announced.

Even though Ranma was now free, but her troubles were far from over. Yukio readied another attack and called out to her. "And just to be sure, here's some tempura flakes mixed with gunpowder!" All the area around Ranma exploded much like fireworks on the Fourth of July. Even though Ranma was relatively undamaged, her skirt wasn't.

"Gasp! Is this the end for Ranma?!" a guy watching the spectacle announced with surprise over what seemed like Ranma's demise.

White smoke was all over the place until Ranma clapped her hands together, creating a shockwave that dissipated the smoke. At this point, everyone could see Ranma was angry! "Since we were friends once, I'll be nice and settle this somewhere else that's much safer."

"What are you talking about?! I'm going to win this fight!" Yukio said, smiling as he made his way to his opponent. Then he noticed Ranma's wardrobe problems. "Tarnation! Had no idea sex change operations were done so well. Those things look so real and lifelike. They must be fake the way they're perfect and standing at attention like that. Why the heck would Ranma change his gender like that? Is there something about him I don't know?"

With uncanny speed, Ranma took hold of the yakisoba rope that had previously held her and lassoed Yukio with it. Then she swung the okonomiyaki chef around countless times at super speed and threw him miles away. Before Yukio was out of sight, Ranma took to the skies off after him.

"I have to see how this plays out," Kenji said, swinging his ki hammer and throwing it and himself skyward.

"I want to see what happens too!" Akane exclaimed, jumping on her brother's back and taking hold of him.

XXX

"Come back here!" Ranma called out as she flew after the okonomiyaki chef who was leaping from rooftop to rooftop to get away, so he could regroup.

"How has Ranma become so strong? He's stronger than he was before regardless of the fact he's a tranny or whatever," Yukio thought to himself as he kept moving.

"Come on! Fight me like a man!" Ranma called out.

"You're the last one to say something like that with those fake bazooms of yours, Ranma!" Yukio responded with a laugh. "What made you decide to get a sex change anyway?!"

Ranma face faulted. "I'm sick and tired of people making crude comments about my body when they don't even know what they're talking about! Maybe I'll explain it all to you after you've explained to me why you tried to kill me just now!"

"That's for me to know and you to find out!"

"Oh, yeah?!" Ranma then blasted her quarry with a ki blast, sending him into an abandoned factory building right through a large, gaping hole in the wall headfirst. Following him in, Ranma landed right near Yukio to find that his upraised hands were pinned down by a large box filled with heavy, out-of-date mechanical equipment.

"My arms are stuck!" Yukio thought to himself. "I'll just use my feet to kick Ranma when he gets here."

However, before Yukio could react, Ranma was on top of him, tying up his lower body with a leg to leg wrestling maneuver that locked him down. "I have you in a compromising position, Yukio. Are you going to talk to me, or am I going to have to get rough?"

"Never! I ain't telling you nothing!" the youth answered harshly.

Ranma breathed heavily more from emotion than from exhaustion. Yukio didn't fail to notice his opponent's heaving bosom which became more visible as the tear in her top had widened slightly. At the same time, Ranma also noticed Yukio's slender yet muscular form that showed a great deal of definition. Then a smile came on the girl's face as she realized how helpless Yukio was at the moment. "You better start talking."

"Never!"

"OK." With a look of triumph that prompted Yukio to give her a quizzical look, Ranma reached under his exposed arms and gently poked him. "Like that? Hmm?"

"Heh, heh! Haha! Stop!"

"Be grateful I still like you after you were so mean to me, Yukio. Let's try over here, Tickle. Tickle. Tickle." Ranma's dancing fingers made their way downward, causing the bishonen to burst out laughing.

"Ha ha ha ha ha!" The okonomiyaki chef wiggled, trying hard to remove his trapped hands from the box they were under, causing his well-developed muscles to contract and his chest to expand, but despite his strenuous efforts, he was held fast.

"You got the cutest giggle. I can do this all day. Let's try this spot over here." "This guy is gorgeous! I bet I could run a quarter through his pecks."

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" Stop! Please!"

"Are you begging for mercy? Hmm? Like me to stop? Hmmm?" Ranma said in an esoteric manner as her eyes locked to his.

"Yes! Please!" Yukio gasped helplessly.

"Now start talking!" Ranma ordered, her fingers poised to attack his vulnerable, naked upper body.

"All right. Huff!"

"Why do you hate me so much?" Ranma demanded as she loomed over him with a look of triumph on her face. "Come on. Out with it!"

Yukio looked up, noticing that Ranma wasn't wearing much more than bikini underwear, her top having been sliced open in the middle.

"Maybe Ranma really is a girl," Yukio thought as he regarded the young girl's exposed pulchritude.

"All right. Do you remember when you left with my family's okonomiyaki cart?"

"Yes, I remember," Ranma answered. "What about it?"

"Your no-good daddy had beaten up my father and stole it. In addition to that, your daddy had stolen a lot of money and goods from the community, placing them inside the cart."

"I didn't know anything about that. I'm sorry," Ranma said, her countenance softening up.

"Not only did we lose a profitable business, everyone in the area blamed my family. Our family's honor was ruined. And it's all your family's fault."

Ranma's eyes moistened. "I'm sorry, Yukio. I feel really bad about all that. I wish there was something I could do to rectify your honor."

"There is a question you can answer for me," Yukio replied.

"What's that?"

"Why did you get a sex change, or did you?"

Ranma paused for a moment. Then she explained how her father had tricked her into believing she was a boy to have her marry one of his friend's daughters.

"Fooling you and everyone else is one thing, but how could he expect to have you marry one of his friend's daughters and impregnate her if you were a girl the whole time?" the helpless youth asked.

"He took me to a place called Jusenkyo." Then Ranma explained how her father had tried to get her to fall into the Spring of Drowned Boy and failed miserably.

"Oh. So you've been a girl all this time. How did you manage to defeat me all those times when you were just a girl?" the young man asked with a sense of bewilderment.

"You want me to tickle you some more?" Ranma asked with a little bit of menace. "Just because I'm a girl that doesn't mean I can't be the greatest martial artist in the world." Ranma got up from her captive with her head held up with pride.

"All right, Ranma," Yukio said in surrender. "You win. Now how about helping me up?"

"All right." The girl quickly lifted the box a couple of inches off Yukio's hands, helping him out of his predicament and getting him to his feet. Then Ranma stood there, looking up at him.

After a moment of staring at each other, Ranma spoke. "I'm really sorry about what happened to you and your family, Yukio. If you're still sore about it, you can take your anger out on me. I won't resist you."

"Is that so now?"

"Yes." Ranma closed her eyes and braced for the impact to come while Yukio regarded her shrewdly.

"I still have a hard time believing Ranma was a girl all this time, so I'm going to test what he or she said." Yukio gently raised the girl's arms upward. Then his hands reached over and caressed her sides.

"Hehehe! Hahahaha! What are you…"

"Even though you normally beat me when we were kids you were the one who was more ticklish, Ranma." Yukio smiled as his fingers worked their way upwards.

While this was going on, a little piglet made it's way inside, watching what was going on with interest.

"Hehehehehe! Hahahahaha! Stop that!" In her fit of giggling, Ranma tried to wriggle out of the youth's grasp while her flesh turned pink and her eyes welled up in tears.

"I guess you really are a girl, Ranma. There's no way a guy could act and sound the way you do. Let's try this area here, eh?"

"Mercy! Hehehehehe!" Ranma's cute and sexy laughter echoed through the large room of the abandoned building. As she backed away from her tormentor, she tripped, falling to the floor and rolling on the ground with Yukio going down with her, keeping up the pressure.

"Ranma's too cute for words. I've never seen a purdier girl. She's standing at attention despite the fact she's wriggling around so much. She couldn't have been born a guy. She also doesn't have an Adam's Apple the way all men do. Her essence is that of a female, a beautiful female at that. Is she deliberately enticing me with the fact that I have her helpless and at my mercy, or is she doing that unwittingly? Hmm. I better stop what I'm doing before I fall to her charms anymore than I already have."

"Whew!" Ranma gasped as the youth loomed over her prone form.

Looking down on her with a smile, Yukio couldn't take his eyes off of Ranma's heaving pulchritude as she gasped for air. "Golly!"

"Gee, Yukio, did you have to tickle me so much?"

"You tickled me first," the bare-chested youth replied indignantly, holding Ranma's wrists up.

"I was trying to find out what your problem was after you had been so mean to me. Besides, girls are more ticklish than boys. I'd be furious with you if I didn't feel so guilty about what my father did to you."

As Yukio let her up, both of them stood to their feet. Noticing Yukio smiling at her, Ranma regarded Yukio shrewdly. "What's so funny?"

"You feel guilty?"

"Yes! What kind of unfeeling monster do you take me for?" Ranma looked up at her childhood friend with a look of petulance.

"Maybe you're not as bad a person as I thought," the youth replied, his countenance softening.

Ranma then looked up at him gently. "I hope not. There's no reason for you to be so hateful, Yukio."

"Why is that?"

"You're a gorgeous guy with great cooking skills. You're also a great martial artist," Ranma explained.

"Really?"

"With the ultra-cute body you have," Ranma said with a pause as she looked at his torso. "You can practically have any girl you want. All you have to do is smile a little bit more, and quit being so mean!"

"Don't fun with me now."

"I'm not making fun of you. All you have to do is walk around with your shirt off, and the girls will melt over you."

Yukio blushed a little bit. Then his expression became more serious as he regarded her. "Don't think you can sweet talk me into making letting bygones be bygones so easily, Ranma."

You're gonna hate me forever, aren't you?" Ranma looked up at the youth with puppy eyes, breathing heavily while the wind from the huge hole in the wall blew at her, tugging her radiant hair to the side.

Yukio regarded Ranma in all her totality for a moment. "Maybe, you're right."

"That's wonderful, Yukio! Can we be friends now?!" Ranma exclaimed, jumping up and down happily.

"Yes, we can!" Surprising the sparkling redhead, Yukio took hold of her, giving her a passionate kiss. Putting his hand on the small of her back, he caressed her spine, working his way upwards. Then he looked her in the eyes, prompting Ranma to pause for a moment.

"Yukio!" Ranma yelled as she regained her composure, blushing crimson red from head to toe and pushing the youth away. "When I said you could practically have any girl you wanted, I didn't mean me. I'm engaged to someone else!"

Yukio continued as if Ranma hadn't said anything. "You're the one who's cute, Ranma, irresistibly so."

"Listen, Yukio…"

"Call me Yuuchan. I've always liked it when you called me that." Looking Ranma up and down with a smile, Yukio regarded her not-so-clothed form. "You are the most beautiful woman in the world. A flower you are," the Kansai native said with all the charm he could muster.

Ranma backed away from her new paramour, noticing her wardrobe malfunction and covering herself up with her arms.

"Look, Yukio. I'm already engaged to a wonderful guy. I'm happy you're no longer angry with me, but let's be friends." Despite what she had just said, Ranma tried to take sneak peeks at the gorgeous chest and well-defined washboard stomach in front of her.

"Can't take your eyes off me, can you?"

Ranma's face went red. "Um."

"Ranma, you pervert!"

Turning around, Ranma noticed Akane and Kenji standing there. Then she noticed many of the students of Furinkan High making their way inside the large factory room.

"Woah! Ranma's practically topless!"

"Yeah, man! You can practically see her…"

"All right, that's enough!" Kenji stated with an authoritative tone, ending the unpleasant conversation.

"Here, Ranma." Then he took off his shirt and covered Ranma up with it. Upon putting the dark blue T-shirt on, Ranma's buxom shape was still visible, causing the boys in the room to swoon over the sight.

"Thanks, Kenji."

"Oh, my!" the girls swooned as they ogled the currently topless, muscular young man.

"I like the both of them," a girl called out as a few of the other girls there nodded in agreement.

"Oh! I can't handle so much beefcake at once!" a girl sighed at the sight of the two gorgeous men, fainting and falling into the arms of her friends.

"Ranma, what's going here? If I didn't know better, I'd think you were about to make out with this guy."

"No, Kenji. I was trying to calm down a volatile situation. Yukio isn't such a bad guy; he was just misinformed," Ranma related.

"Who is this interloper?!" Yukio demanded, regarding Kenji with a bit of hostility.

"This is Kenji Tendo, my fiancé," Ranma answered nervously.

"Well, well, well," Genma announced, appearing in the midst of them, making his way to Ranma and Yukio. "I'm happy to see you're getting along so well."

"Where's all the money you owe me, Genma?" Yukio asked disrespectfully.

"Give me some time, and I'll figure out a way to make it up to you, Yukio," Ranma answered for her father.

"I'm willing to let bygones be bygones if you'll have me, Ranma," Yukio explained, regarding the quizzical girl happily.

"Now, wait a minute!" the girl announced sharply. "I don't need another suitor…"

"Quite, Ranma. I'll handle this," Genma ordered. "I'll engage you to Ranma as long as you forget about the past and what happened. I can't guarantee who Ranma will marry, but you'll have as much a chance to get with her as anybody else."

"What?!" both Ranma and Kenji exclaimed all at once.

"Done!" Yukio confirmed, smiling at Ranma as if he owned her.

"Daddy?!" Ranma questioned, turning towards her scheming father. "How am I supposed to be engaged to both Kenji and Yukio at the same time?!"

Genma looked askance for a moment. "That's your problem, Ranma. I'm sure you and these guys can work it all out." That having been said, the middle-aged man vanished into the crowd and disappeared.

"Don't worry about all that, Ranma. I know I'm a better catch than this overmuscled jerk. You can just dump him and marry me. Despite what happened to my family getting financially ruined in the past, I've recovered and I'm setting up an okonomiyaki restaurant. I'll have no problem taking care of you and our soon to be family."

"No!" Kenji interjected. "You don't need a skinny, pretty boy like him!"

"Skinny?!"

Both of the handsome, young men stood on either side of Ranma, prompting her to do a double-take between the two of them. "Um."

"Ranmaaaa!" Akane screamed, getting in the face of the redheaded girl. "How dare you two time my brother like that?"

"This isn't my fault, Akane. My father set all of this up for me."

At that point, all the girls in the room surrounded Ranma. "It's bad enough you have a hunk like Kenji all to yourself, but do you have to have Yukio too?"

"Um."

"Let's beat her up!"

"This wasn't my fault!" Ranma protested as the girls surrounded her.

"We don't care!" The girls had taken hold of some spare tools with which to hit Ranma. Then they attacked! Ranma evaded the girl's efforts which went from clumsy to skilled. However, none of the attacks connected.

"Ranma had this coming for a long time with the way she's been acting," Akane speculated as a cloud of dust appeared all around Ranma and the attacking girls. However, as the dust cleared, Ranma was there on her feet, the last girl standing.

"Did these untrained girls think they could beat me?"

Then Ranma took a look at the boys in the room who turned away from her gaze. Upon turning around she noticed that both Kenji and Yukio were gone. "Where did they…"

"They left the building, Ranma. They're probably fighting over you," Akane explained with her arms folded on her chest in judgment of the redheaded girl.

"Thanks, Akane."

"What are you going to do about all this, Ranma?" Akane demanded. "You better take responsibility for this."

"I'll figure something out." Ranma walked outside to see Kenji and Yukio facing off with each other. In addition to that, several other martial artists showed up as well.

"Who dares fight for the hand of the pigtailed girl without the Blue Thunder being present?!" the kendoist announced, appearing out of nowhere and brandishing his ki blade.

"If there's going to be a fight for Ranma, don't leave me out of it!" Mousse called out as he touched down near the other martial artists.

Then out of thin air, Hikaru Gosenkugi appeared in the midst of them in his astral form. "A fight for the hand of Ranma Saotome? You guys might as well hang it up. You don't have a ghost of a chance of beating me."

While the five warriors faced off against each other, Ryoga appeared, standing next to Ranma who was about to stop the upcoming fight until the lost boy took hold of her arm. "You don't need those guys, Ranma."

The girl turned sharply towards her newest paramour with a look of surprise on her face. "What are you talking about, Ryoga?"

"Um." The lost boy twiddled his thumbs nervously. "I actually like you."

Ranma regarded her Ryoga with her eyes widened. "Are you coming on to me?"

"Um, yes."

"Listen, Ryoga. I'm already engaged. Surely, you knew that."

"Yes, I knew that. But I saw what happened with you and that new guy. You practically made out with him."

Then Ranma's face gets red with anger. "That's not what happened! And how would you know what happened in there anyway? Nobody else was there!"

"Um. Well." Ryoga paused for a moment, unable to answer the question without telling the girl what he turned into. "I have good vision and there's a huge hole in the wall near where you were."

"Bull, Ryoga! There's something you're hiding from me."

"Uh."

"You know what? I really don't care. Right now I'm going to stop this brawl before somebody gets hurt."

"There's more, Ranma," Ryoga interrupted.

"What is it, now?"

"Kenji has been seeing another girl while he's been supposedly working," the lost boy stated with eyebrows raised.

"I don't have time for this, Ryoga."

"It's true. I'll explain it all in detail later." With that, Ryoga left the scene, leaving Ranma to deal with the fight that was about to start.

XXX

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I want to thank all of you for the reviews and hits you've given me for this fanfic. You can also feel free to give me any ideas as to the identity of the girl Kenji has allegedly been seeing. In addition to that, I'll be happy to see more reviews than I've been getting recently.