The title of the arc finally gains its relevance.

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It was a rough night for Ranma, and consequently, a rough morning. He had a hard time staying asleep, with terrible thoughts running through his head and even more terrible dreams. When he finally got out of bed, it was only because Akane was yelling at him about being late for school.

Once Ranma was done getting ready at maximum speed and with minimal effort, the unhappy couple raced along the path to Furinkan High, side-by-side. At some point during the morning a question flit through Ranma's mind, one he had deemed too likely to cause conflict to be worth mentioning. He didn't need more yelling from Akane right now. Still, he couldn't help wondering: why had she not just left for school on her own? There was no reason she had to wait for him.

Passing the now familiar entrance to school grounds, Ranma felt a confluence of disparate emotions war within as he spied Kuno up ahead, sword in hand. One part of him wanted to start fighting her, while a second part wanted to hang out and get to know her. A third wanted him to slap himself for such absurd thoughts.

"Akane!" Kuno shouted as they neared, brandishing her sword. "Might you fight-"

"NO!" Akane and Ranma shouted simultaneously, speeding past the confused upperclassman.

A few moments later, while putting their shoes away, Akane rounded on Ranma. "I didn't need your help telling her no. I've done it just fine by myself tons of times before."

"Didn't do it for you," Ranma grumbled, not looking at her.

The sound of a foot tapping reached Ranma's ears. He turned his head to see Akane glaring at him, arms crossed. "Is this about whatever happened Sunday? Why won't you tell me about that?"

"It's none'a your damn business, that's why!" he cried, slamming the locker door closed. He stormed off, not offering Akane another glance.

{}

"Ah, Ranma, there you are!"

He sighed. All he'd wanted to do was to find an empty classroom where he could eat lunch in silence. "Whaddaya want, Nabiki? Another challenge letter from Kuno?" The bad mood Ranma had started the day with had only worsened as the day had gone on, and the look on his face made that abundantly clear.

Bright smile straining a little, Nabiki said, "Oh, uh… kinda, actually. She wants to meet you outside."

Ranma's eyes narrowed. "This me, or…" He glanced around at the other students, none of whom seemed to be paying attention. "The other me?"

She waved her hands placatingly. "Oh no, no! This you! No worries!" It had probably been obvious to everyone back at home how bad a mood Ranma had been in after his 'fight' on Sunday, especially to someone as irritatingly observant as Nabiki.

"Fine, tell me where to go."

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Again, Kuno was already there when Ranma arrived. This time, however, they met behind the school, rather than in an open field. Also, Kuno had her sword, though it was what she held in her other hand that grabbed Ranma's attention. She carried a big, cute stuffed bear, with large round eyes and a cute little bow on its neck.

"Well, whaddaya want?" Ranma said, glaring, eyes moving back and forth between Kuno and the bear.

Kuno, for her part, didn't seem happy to be there either. "That will be 'Upperclassman Kuno' to you, boor!" Before Ranma could roll his eyes, Kuno tossed the bear at him, which he easily caught, despite his surprise.

"Uh…"

"Tell me why I must give this to you!" Kuno demanded, her free hand now a fist.

"Wh-wha…?" The anger he'd been feeling all day melted away, replaced with utter confusion.

Looking supremely irritated that she had to explain herself, Kuno said, "Quoth Nabiki Tendo: 'If you want to give your bear to her, you've got to give it to Ranma Saotome.'" She leaned forward, teeth bared. "How do you know my pig-tailed goddess?"

Realization struck Ranma, immediately launching him back into his negative sphere of emotion. "Forget her."

"W-what!? How dare-"

"You'll probably never even see her again. So do yourself a favor and forget." Without another word, Ranma turned and walked around the corner. He glanced back down at the stuffed bear, and tossed it into a nearby group of bushes, scowling.

Liquid cold suddenly enveloped him, promptly followed by that familiar, dreaded tingle. Cold water had fallen from on high, and now he stood there shaking miserably, drenched and in girl-mode.

"Hey, what if someone was down there!?" a voice from above shouted.

"Eh, don't worry so much," said another.

Shit. Ranma had to get out of here, before-

A loud gasp sounded from behind. "M-my beautiful red-haired goddess! You're here!"

Slowly, Ranma turned, expression grim. Kodachi stared at him in glee, one hand covering her mouth, perhaps to hide her excitement.

"He said I would never see you again, and yet, miraculously, here you are!" She reached out, taking Ranma's hand in hers. "Truly, love conquers all!" Emotions warred within Ranma so hard that it felt as though his head might burst.

Suddenly, boiling hot water splashed against them both, prompting angry, surprised yelps.

"Akane Tendo, why would you do this!?" Kodachi cried, looking genuinely hurt by the attack.

"Sorry, went wider with that than I meant to," Akane said, grimacing, open kettle in hand.

Pulling his hand away roughly, Ranma waited for Kuno's eyes to turn toward him again, unsurprised to see her expression shift to outrage.

Ignoring her for a moment, he cast his eyes on Akane. "What're you doing here?"

"I overheard Nabiki talking to you, and, well…" She held the kettle up. "I figured you'd end up needing this again."

Ranma rolled his eyes, but couldn't deny she'd been right. Looking back at Kodachi, he said, "So, you get it now?" For some reason, it hurt his heart a bit to have disillusioned Kodachi like this, but he couldn't be mad at Akane. It was for the best, after all. He wasn't a girl, and Kodachi needed to understand that.

Kuno brought her bokken up to point at Ranma, and he prepared himself for her inevitable rage at the whole misunderstanding. "Saotome! What have you done with my goddess!?"

Ranma nearly fell over in surprise. She'd been right there! She'd been touching him! She had to have felt the size of his hand change!

Nearby, Akane sighed, and put the kettle down on the ground. " Goddess? I thought you said you two fought on Sunday."

Unable to meet her eyes, face flushing, Ranma said, "I, uh… that might not have been exactly what happened…"

"My goddess told you of my confession of love, and you lied and told dear Akane that we fought!?" Kuno seemed furious as she tightened her grip on her practice sword.

Sighing again, Akane said, "Look, regardless of all that, she's not gonna understand what's going on unless we spell it out, Ranma." Not waiting for a response, she continued, "Upperclassman, the pig-tailed girl and Ranma are the same person."

There was a pause. Kuno looked perplexed. "What madness do you speak? Ranma is tall, and has hair of darkest night! My beauteous goddess is far smaller, and has gorgeous red locks!"

"It's a curse," Akane explained. "He fell into a cursed spring in China."

At first, Kuno said nothing. Then, she began to laugh heartily. "My dear Akane! I never knew you had such a sense of humor! What a fantastic joke!"

Ranma stamped a foot. "It's not a joke! I've got an awful curse that turns me into a girl!"

Laughter ending abruptly, Kuno pointed her sword Ranma's way again. "The joke is far less funny when uttered by your lips." Lowering the sword slightly, her eyes shone with an unexpected intensity. "To become a girl is a choice one can make, but to change height so dramatically, and to change one's hair instantly without a wig? It would be magic! And magic, as we all know, does not exist!"

Silence. A particular part of that sentence was proving rather difficult for Ranma to parse.

"What're you talking about?" Akane said, expression bewildered. "It's common knowledge that magic, like curses and mystical artifacts, exist."

"It's okay if you didn't realize," Ranma said. " I didn't, 'til I ended up with this curse."

Shaking her head emphatically, Kuno shouted, "Enough of this farce! I am sorry, dear Akane, but I cannot allow you to cover for this cretin any longer!" Again she pointed her sword at him, as she barked, "Saotome! Where have you hidden her!?"

She was right about one thing - it was time for this to end. Moving into a fighting stance, Ranma said, "Maybe I'll tell you, if you beat me."

"Ranma, what're you-"

"Just trust me, Akane." His face hardened as he looked to Kuno. "If I win, though, you've gotta give up your passion for the pig-tailed girl!"

"And if I win, you will stop coming between us?" Kuno said, eyebrow raised.

There was no chance of him losing, he was sure of it. "Yeah!"

A grin grew on Kodachi's face, which, when combined with the gleam in her eye, resulted in a disturbingly malicious expression. She began to laugh, but it was nothing like the light, relatively normal one from before. This haunting sound quickly went high, and loud, and strangely dramatic, and as it continued her hand drifted to just below her mouth, palm facing out. After what seemed like entirely too long, the laughter stopped.

Neither Ranma nor Akane seemed to have any idea how to handle what had just happened. They stood stock still, like deer in headlights, faces scrunched in confusion.

"Saotome, I accept!" Without further warning, Kuno lunged at Ranma with her practice blade, which he only barely managed to evade. More shocking than the sudden attack, however, were the long, sharp spikes that momentarily protruded from the blade. When Kodachi pulled back, the spikes were no longer visible.

"Wh-what!?" Ranma shouted, eyes wide. He turned to Akane. "Did you see-?"

Kodachi lunged once more, and again Ranma barely managed to dodge. As though in slow motion, he saw the bokken jab past the side of his head, which turned to follow the path of the practice blade. His face was uncomfortably close to the weapon, prompting him to pull back, his eyes going wide in horror as a spike jutted out, coming within a centimeter of his eye. When it retracted and the bokken pulled away without mangling his face, he breathed an audible sigh of relief.

Leaping backward to get some distance between them, Ranma yelled, "What the hell're you playin' at!?"

Smirking, Kuno said, "You are between me and the person I love, Saotome. I will do whatever it takes to defeat you!"

Her swipes and jabs came like lightning, giving Ranma almost no room to get in an attack of his own. After dodging a swipe that felled a tree, he finally found an opening, managing to kick his opponent right in the stomach. The kendo fiend reeled back, while at the same time pieces of paper burst free from her kendogi.

They fluttered about the two combatants, and Ranma grabbed for one, unable to push away his curiosity. What he held in his hand was a piece of notebook paper, upon which a crude drawing had been scribbled, seemingly with colored pencils. Two stick figures stood in a sparse background that included a flat green line, a sun in the right corner of the sky, and a single tree to the left. One stick figure had long dark hair drawn in a side ponytail, while the other had slightly shorter red hair drawn in a pigtail. The two figures were holding hands, and had little hearts drawn around them.

"The hell…?" Ranma muttered, unable to take his eyes off the sheet.

"You look elsewhere in the midst of battle! It will be your undoing." Despite the verbal warning, Ranma was too distracted to successfully dodge Kodachi's next attack. Though the bokken itself barely missed him, the spike protruding from its top did not, tearing into Ranma's skin through his shirt.

Gripping his wounded side, Ranma flipped away, inwardly cursing himself. And yet when another picture fluttered nearby, he grabbed it without thinking. Drawn in the same crude style as the first, this one featured the stick figure Kodachi and stick figure Ranma walking along what he assumed was supposed to be a beach. They were, of course, holding hands.

Despite the distraction, Ranma managed to dodge the next attack, even as he grabbed another drawing. This one featured Kuno again, but instead of stick figure Ranma, it was a figure with long dark hair in a style suspiciously similar to a certain unwanted fiancée of his. They seemed to be in a classroom, and they were definitely holding hands.

"Do you not take me seriously!?" Kuno cried, taking another swing at Ranma. His dodge proved too slow once again, and he grit his teeth as he felt something sharp tear into his upper arm.

"Ranma!" Akane shouted, using her hands as a makeshift megaphone. "Stop looking at whatever those pieces of paper are, or you're gonna lose!"

She was right, as much as he hated to admit it. Kuno was more dangerous than he'd originally thought, and him getting distracted wasn't helping matters. Shifting to the side to avoid another series of rapid jabs, his mind raced as he tried to determine a way to end this. Kodachi was obnoxiously quick, and that bokken was a formidable weapon now that she was using its hidden features.

The bokken - he had to get rid of it. Glancing about the battlefield, Ranma spied what might prove to be his savior.

While dodging Kuno's near-continuous flurry of attacks, Ranma moved steadily backward, until his heel bumped against the large stone statue he'd been working his way towards. Pressing his back against the flat surface behind him, he stuck his tongue out at Kuno.

"She's mine! I'll never let her go!"

Kodachi stopped, unbridled rage overtaking her features. "You… you… wretched enslaver of women!"

She launched her bokken forward, her full weight behind it. Right before it pierced through him, Ranma kicked his legs up off the ground, allowing himself to fall. The spiked sword just missed the top of his head, stabbing into the statue instead. He watched with a smirk as Kuno attempted to pull her sword back out; it didn't seem to budge.

"Gotcha," he said, right before he launched himself upward with his arms, kicking her with both feet directly in the gut. She went flying, landing a few meters away with a dull thud, right as Ranma's feet touched ground.

"We done now?" he said mockingly, hands on his hips.

Shakily, Kodachi rose to her feet. She screamed, "N-never! I will never give up, as long as I draw breath!" Balling her hands into fists, she tried to fall into what she must have thought was a defensive fighting stance, but it was obvious she didn't know what she was doing when it came to unarmed combat.

Sighing, Ranma let his hands drop. This wasn't going to end as long as the tenacious girl was still conscious.

The two bitter enemies charged at one another, but without her weapon, Kodachi was no match. Before she could get close enough to touch him, he managed to kick her in several weak spots across her body. She collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

"Why'd she fall?" Akane said, moving close to Ranma now that the fight seemed to be finished.

"Kicked her."

Akane seemed surprised. She glanced down at Kuno, who lay unmoving. "You did? I didn't even see it."

"I'm quick," he replied, smirking. "Ol' 'Upperclassman Kuno' didn't have much, did she?"

Frowning, Akane said, "Cocky, aren't you. You took a hit or two, right?"

Putting his hands behind his head, Ranma said, "Psh, those? They don't even itch. They're nothin'."

Akane quirked an eyebrow, bending down to look at Ranma's side. "Nothing , huh?" Lightly, she poked his wound.

Immediately tears welled up in his eyes, and he fell to his knees, sobbing.

"Didn't have much, huh?" Akane said, unimpressed. Remaining crouched, she grabbed one of the pieces of paper that had fallen to the ground. "What was on these, anyway?"

She flipped the paper over. It was the first drawing Ranma had grabbed, featuring him and Kuno on a flat plain with a tree and sun. She broke out in a fit of giggles, which only seemed to grow when he tossed a glare her way.

"It's kinda cute, actually," she said, grinning at him.

Ranma grabbed another sheet of paper off the ground, glanced at its picture, smiled, then shoved it in her face.

"Wh-wha? Me!?"

Sticking his tongue out and pointing, Ranma said, "Yeah, how cute is it now?"

"But… but I thought she switched to you."

"Apparently she still likes us both." He glanced back and forth between the two pictures. Now that he was looking at it, there were more hearts on his drawing, weren't there? Laughing, he pointed at the hearts. "Heh, maybe she likes me more though. Lookit all those hearts! Way more than in yours."

Akane glared. "I- well-" She paused. "I'm sure she's been drawing pictures with me for way longer, so all the hearts aren't necessary every time."

For reasons Ranma couldn't really understand, a strange sense of jealousy was rising within him. He stood, brandishing the pictures at Akane, who stood to her full height. "Hey, don't they say new love is way more intense an' passionate? So, lookin' at it that way, she is more into me!"

Waving a hand, Akane said, "Even if that was true, it won't last. The newness will fade, but her love for me has weathered the test of time."

Ranma rolled his eyes. "Psh, what's she even see in such a dorky girl, anyway? I'm clearly the better catch. I mean, lookit this bod!" He gestured at himself, then looked Akane up and down. Smirking, he said, "'Specially compared to yours."

Without warning, though in retrospect he really should have anticipated it, a fist slammed into Ranma's shoulder with a sickening crunch. Falling to his knees again, Ranma gripped his shoulder tight, fighting back tears.

Worry in her eyes, Akane reached her hands out and said, "Crap, I'm sorry… I- I didn't mean to hit that hard."

"What did you do!?" Ranma said, sniffling, trying his best to endure the pain.

"I don't know, I'm sorry!" She looked around as if there was something or someone nearby that could help, then turned back to Ranma. "I can take you to Dr. Tofu's! I'm sure she can fix it."

Ranma glared. "Heh, yeah, and I'm sure you'd love to see her again."

Fist clenching, Akane said, "That's not-! It's not about that, I just want to help you! Now com'on." Moving forward with arms outstretched, she stopped when Ranma recoiled.

"The hell do you think you're doin'?" he said, staring at her arms as though they were vicious snakes.

She rolled her eyes. "I was just going to carry-"

"You can't carry me! I'm a guy!"

Akane's arms fell limp. Her face the picture of irritation, she stomped away, quickly returning, kettle in tow.

Eyes bugging, Ranma scrambled backwards, realizing Akane's plan. "W-wait, Akane, you don't gotta-"

"Apparently I do," she said flatly, right before tossing the remaining kettle water, which had long since cooled, onto the prone Ranma. Dropping the kettle to the ground, she smiled broadly, hands on her hips. "And now you've got nothing to complain about."

A gust of air blew past, sending a chill up Ranma's spine. He had plenty to complain about. But before he could, Akane scooped him up, cradling his smaller form like a baby.

"What about her?" she said, jerking her head toward the still unconscious Kuno.

Trying to ignore his embarrassment, Ranma muttered, "She'll be fine. Should wake up any minute now."

"Kay, let's go, then!"

As the two of them rushed away from school, Ranma grew more and more sullen. His body shook slightly every time Akane's sprinting feet touched ground. Beneath his back and legs, he felt her arm muscles shift occasionally as she maintained her hold on him. It was… comforting.

And he hated it. He hated that comfort. He hated that feeling of safety her warm, strong arms provided. He hated the way she glanced down at him every now and then, her eyes filled with worry, remorse, and... something else that he was too terrified to identify. But most of all, he hated himself, for not wanting the moment to end.

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If you've been wondering, let me make it clear now: there is only Kodachi, there is no Tatewaki. Not anymore.