Shampoo decided to camp out in the trees near the Tendo house to pick the perfect moment to strike. If her and the mind controlled Ryoga's presence became known, their attack would be made a lot more difficult.

"So how do you feel this morning Akane?" asked Ranma.

"Very relaxed" said Akane.

Even though Akane could guess the answer she still couldn't help but ask, "Can I make you breakfast?"

There was a small pause and before Akane could even think about getting angry, Ranma and Ranko replied "Sure, that'd be great".

Akane was so happy that she ran over, gave both twins a big kiss on the cheek, and then darted to the kitchen.

As soon as she left the room, Ranko whispered in Ranma's ear, "I sure hope you got those pressure points right bro".

"Why do think I had to leave the date early. I needed to double check the chart".

Another twenty minutes later, Akane came out with two plates that held what appeared to be pancakes. With Akane's cooking, one could never assume. Ranma decided to be the brave one of the pair and slowly put a slice of pancake in his mouth. He chewed it, swallowed it, and waited for any signs of indigestion. When nothing happened, he smiled and looked up at Akane and said, "They're a little burnt but other than that, delicious".

The everyone in the room other than Akane and twins instantly froze. Naturally, Nabiki was the first to speak, "You're kidding right."

"If you don't believe me, that taste for yourself".

"No thank you"

The rest of the meal was eaten in relative silence. As soon as it was over, Nabiki pulled the twins aside and stoically asked, "What did you two do to Akane?"

"Ranma pushed several pressure points on her," said Ranko

"The points were to make her mind more relaxed. Now that her mind is relaxed, she took her time with her cooking and actually followed the recipe," said Ranma

"Fine, but I'll be expecting five thousand yen for not telling Akane," said Nabiki.

"Fine" said Ranko as she handed Nabiki her money.

"It was a pleasure doing business with you"

"I wish the feeling was mutual," said Ranma.

An hour later, the phone rang and Akane answered it. Several minutes later, Akane walked into the living room where she looked at her family and said, "If it's all the same to you, I'd like to be alone with Ranma and Ranko for a little while".

Soun and Genma came to their own conclusions, grabbed the girls, and ran out of the house leaving Ranma, Ranko and Akane alone.

Ranma and Ranko looked over at Akane and asked, "What's wrong".

Akane's strong façade broke and she started crying, "That was Doctor Tofu on the phone. He that since there was no definite way to tell what your dad used, he couldn't find a way to help you. I'm so sorry"

Ranma hugged Akane and said, "Don't worry, we'll get through this"

Ranko joined them, "For what it's worth, this has been the best week of our lives".

After Akane had calmed down, they decided to go to the dojo to work off some of the stress.

Ranko faced Akane and said, "You wanna spar?"

"You're not just going to dodge me this time are you" asked Akane.

"You'll have to find out"

Ranma and Akane then charged at each other. Akane didn't know it but her movements were more fluid and controlled. She was controlling her strength instead of unleashing it all at once. Ranko and Ranma watched every move she made. Now that Akane's mind was relaxed, her level of skill was virtually the same as when Ranma first arrived in Nerima.

After the sparing match, they decided to take a rest. Each of them had a glass of lemonade. Unfortunately, the twins started to feel drowsy and began to faint. To make matters worse, Shampoo used that moment to have Ryoga attack.

"Ryoga, what are you doing here" said a surprised Akane. However when she looked into his eyes, she saw no sign that anyone was home. Ryoga charged the twins who were barely aware of his presence only to be kicked by Akane.

"I don't know what's wrong with you Ryoga but I'm not going to let you hurt them," yelled Akane.

The twins even in there haze, still tried to get up. Akane traded blows with the empty shell that was Ryoga. The lost boy felt no pain and no matter how many times, Akane hit him, he just kept coming. She was starting to tire. Suddenly, Ryoga's hands started to glow and he fired a Shishi Hokodan blast towards Akane who wasn't able to dodge it.

Akane slowly tried to get up. Then Ryoga grabbed her neck and lifted her up off the ground. Ryoga drew his fist back and was ready to strike the killing blow when suddenly; he was blown back by Ranma's Moko Takabisha. The weakened Ranma slowly made his way to Akane.

"Are you all right?" asked Ranma.

"You shouldn't be fighting right now Ranma," said Akane.

"Well, I couldn't let you have all the fun"

Then suddenly, Ranma was grabbed by Ryoga and tossed aside. Then Ryoga continued his attack on Ranko.

Ranko, like her brother wasn't fully recovered. As Ryoga threw punches and kicks at her, she could only dodge. Even then, she still managed to get nicked every other attack. Ranko didn't have long, each of Ryoga's attacks became faster as she was getting slower. Eventually, Ryoga threw a punch that hit directly over Ranko's heart and pushed her threw a wall of the dojo.

Ryoga slowly started walking forward to finish off Ranko. Suddenly Akane and Ranma jumped in front of him, each of them barely standing. Ryoga blocked and countered each of their attacks and eventually knocked both of them towards the tree Shampoo was hiding in.

Shampoo saw her rival and her love tossed into the tree. They were barely moving and now was the perfect time to remove her biggest obstacle. Using a trick taught to her by Mousse, Shampoo pulled a sword out of thin air and came down from her spot.

Akane noticed something purple coming down towards her. However, when her vision started to focus, it was too late. Shampoo was close and she didn't have the strength to move out of the way.

Akane closed her eyes and waited for the end. Then, someone with a pigtail jumped in front of the blade.

End of Chapter 7

First, I'd like to assure you all that this story will have a happy ending. The reason why Ranma and Ranko were only working at essentially 25% strength was due to their auras getting getting weaker (see chapter 5). The reason why Ryoga keeps coming no matter how much punishment is inflicted on him is, his breaking point training, and the mind control ring. The ring made Ryoga a soulless zombie that doesn't think for itself or feel pain, essentially making Ryoga a terminator. I hope that clears up any misconceptions.