Breaking the Cocoon

by FriendlyEl

The failed wedding has left the teenage martial artists to think over their life, and what to do with it now. However, things become even more interesting as a strange fighter comes to challenge the Tendo Dojo from the Amazons' enemy village. Please revie

6. Chapter 6

I'm just going to state first off that a lot of people seem to feel that Happosai is more of a minor nuisance than a real villain. This definitely has some truth to it. He's generally just a humorous panty stealing pervert, but he has also proven that he is capable of being quite spiteful when he is angered well enough (ask Ranma). Still, yeah, he's no Saffron, but starting this chapter he is going to have a more significant role.

Just as he promised his pigtailed friend, Qin had taken Nabiki along with him to the park after he finished washing the dishes for Kasumi. The two discussed the pathetic scene her father displayed today, crying over the ever so common workday of listening to the demands of concerned community over another epidemic of that underwear thief terrorizing the town's women.

"You know Qin," Nabiki called the male peer next to her, "Happosai isn't exactly the type to take rebellion from his disciples very well. Making him mad just makes him a much bigger pain in the neck. Ask Ranma."

"I myself would never rebel against a sensei unless I defeated them in combat," Qin coldly remarked in a "matter of fact" manner. "I'm sorry to say that my actions have brought me where I am."

"I heard the old geezer's not very well liked in China either, and now I guess the rumors are true," Nabiki sighed. "I never knew we had a celebrity living in our house."

"As I said, both the Amazons and the Xingu-an have written stories and poems of a demon in the form of a human man who feeds on his own perverted thoughts," Qin continue in his distant tone. "To have seen it myself at first, I wonder if the legends have overestimated him, though."

"Are you saying he's not that bad?" the Tendo sister asked. "You should see what Akane has to pay to replace the underwear he steals."

"I'm sure that's an annoyance, but exactly that, a mere annoyance. Many old men are prone to perversion and are not considered evil. I suppose it's due to frustration from loosing sexual attraction. It's just that Happosai is a particularly powerful fighter."

"It's not just the perversion," Nabiki laughed grimly. "Trust me on this. You haven't seen the worst of him. I'm sure there's a reason my dad and Mr. Saotome want him dead so much."

"I'll agree that he may be putting a nice act on around me." Qin narrowed his eyes as he glared away from Nabiki. "I won't lie. It makes me suspicious that he's up to something, but I am honor bound to servitude to him unless I defeat him in a formal match, which I don't see myself doing in any time soon. Either way I need someone like him to train me for a fight later." Looking up to the familiar figure approaching them, he took his mind off of the small talk with the guest he brought along. "He's here."

"So what's this about?" Ranma asked impatiently as he met up with the two by the lake. "And why IS Nabiki with us?"

"Oh Ranma, I'm so touched by how you care," Nabiki commented with sarcastic offence. "So touched I'm having second thoughts about helping you get back into out house."

"And just exactly why are you wanting to do that, may I ask? You're the one who kicked me out in the first place."

"That's a conversation you can have with her later, I'm afraid," Qin told the boisterous boy. "But I do recommend that you treat her with some respect. It is something you may find beneficial in the long run." Disinterested in Ranma's apparent need to argue, he decided to continue to the next subject. "You have met that Mousse person we saw when visiting your friend, today, right?"

"What about Mousse?" Ranma asked while he calmed down.

"I believe he has the desire to challenge you. He told me that he has a special feeling about it."

"He does, huh?" Ranma rolled his eyes. "That idiot just keeps coming over to me asking for punishment. Can't he try anything new?"

"Actually, for your information, Saotome, I myself have seen to it that he could be more of a challenge than you'd think," Qin stated, some amusement from his voice. "Let me put it to you this way. If you had the trouble you had against me in our previous fight, you will not stand a chance against Mousse tomorrow. I helped him become a lot stronger myself."

"You mean you trained him? Last I remember you just met him today. I have a hard time believing that you could possibly help him improve that much so soon." An evil smirk went across the boy's face while. "I get it. You're helping him cheat against me, ain't ya?"

"I didn't do much of what you would consider training, but no. The way that I'm helping him is very legitimate. You'll understand soon enough." The cloaked foreigner sighed in frustration. "Besides, even if it was cheating I have helped to find you a strong opponent. Isn't that what you wanted?"

"Look pal, I don't know what sort of dirty tricks you're planning but I'm not taking it! You wanna see me fight, fight me yourself."

"But there is a saying, give me a fish and I am fed for a day, but teach me to fish I am fed for life. I felt it might be good to give one of your rivals the chance to improve themselves and give you more of an even playing field. I myself would not be that challenging of an opponent."

"Well yeah. But I want them fighting with what they're capable of. Not with some stupid cheap trick that I could have used against them."

"What I have done for Mousse is unlock his true capabilities, not help him cheat. It's not something you would have found very useful. You don't have the abilities that Mousse does."

Ranma was starting to get really angry with the statements Qin was making. How could an idiot like Mousse have abilities that he didn't? "Let me put it this way, Saotome. I have heard from Happosai many of the methods of the Anything Goes Martial Arts. Weaponry is very common and widely accepted in the school, isn't it? what I have given to Mousse is much like a very sophisticated weapon. It's most useful when you understand how to use it, but otherwise is far more harm than good."

"If Mousse can use this weapon than so am I!"

"Probably not, considering the fact that you do not have the knowledge in dark magic that me or Mousse do." Ranma was becoming far too irritating for Qin's taste. All he did was tell the boy about a challenge. He was supposed to be pleased with the news. "I only came here to tell you this, not to argue. Mousse is challenging you tomorrow and you will accept it. I worked very hard to make sure that you find it a lot more interesting." The young man shrugged as he decided that he would not argue with the boy anymore. "That's all I have to say other than the fact that I recommend you find some time to practice. Now if you don't mind, I believe Nabiki has something she wants to say."

Coughing to get the pigtailed martial artist's attention, Nabiki began to negotiate with the boy. "Ranma, like I was about to say our daddy decided to have you come back home on a few special conditions."

Wincing back in defense, Ranma always knew that these special conditions Akane's middle sister had were never any good. "Like what?"

"Well, the antics you've caused around the house have always been the cause of a lot of property damage."

"It's not MY fault everyone around me is so damn crazy!" Ranma became quite offensive upon hearing that. "You don't help things either!"

"Well, maybe, maybe not. I won't say that it's all your fault." She knew from past experience how unpleasant it was to have three homicidally angry girls on her. She decided after that to try to keep herself out of harm's way next time. "Well, anyways, Daddy decided to start teaching classes again. Most likely Akane, Happosai, and maybe Qin here might teach them. He was wondering if you didn't mind teaching some in exchange for living with us."

"In other words, he's trying to get me to spend more time working with that uncute monkey girl I'm engaged with," he guessed bluntly. "Fine. I'll do it. I never liked wasting my time teaching the art to people who have no interest in it, but I better get used to doing it if that's what I'm going to for the rest of my life."

The money loving girl gave him a sarcastic grin. "Oh, now Ranma. You always could find a job as a waitress at the Cat Café again, or model for underwear magazines. Wouldn't that be fun?"

"No way! I think I'll stick to something involving the art over that any day!"

"Then it's settled, young man." Nabiki let her hand out to the martial artist. "Welcome back, Ranma. We missed you."

"Something tells me you were all planning on this from the beginning," Ranma mentioned with a threatening glint in his eye. "You were probably just kicking me out to make me miss it and happy to just go back."

"True," the girl smirked. "It does make you feel a little more willing to do your share around the house, doesn't it?"

"You little…" Rolling his eyes, Ranma softened his glare to a calm stare. "Fine," he stated as he shook her hand. "Damn, you two are sneaky."

"I'm sorry you feel that way about me," Qin stated flatly. "I was simply giving you an opponent with an upper edge. But if you don't mind, I would like to talk to Nabiki some. You should go tell Mr. Tendo if you accept."

"Geez, talk about making a guy feel wanted," Ranma moaned as he left. "You're probably going to be talking about how to make sure I loose so you make more money off of everyone betting on me."

When he felt that Ranma was gone, Qin turned to Nabiki with a serious face. "You were honestly planning on telling people about this match, weren't you?" he asked sternly. "That's why I made sure you didn't hear about it, to make sure you didn't do so beforehand."

"Moi? I can't believe you'd accuse me of doing such a thing."

Of course, she knew she wasn't fooling anyone. The young man with her knew all along just what she was planning. "I know as a fact that you've done it before. I figure these sorts of things out a lot faster than you give me credit. I'm warning you not to do it. This fight may become far more destructive than a usual brawl and I want to do whatever I can to keep the human deaths to a minimum."

Nabiki was quite perplexed by the words Qin had just told her. Deaths? "Wait a minute," she dryly asked of the foreigner looking at her. "You're telling me that you think people might actually die during this fight?"

"It is indeed a possibility, seeing as to how many of you are not used to seeing battles at the intensity I have." Searching through his robe, Qin finally found a golden necklace and showed it to the money hungry girl. All around it, the jewels had elegant drawings of yin and yang carved into it.

"Well," Nabiki huffed, speechless by the unarguably gorgeous piece of jewelry. "That's… very nice." Unfortunately, she found that the necklace was put back in the other's pocket just as she was about to grab it.

"You like money, don't you?" he asked her. "You're right. While this necklace is a dime a dozen in my home village, I am aware that here in Japan it would sell for well over one million yen. If you keep this fight a secret, and I see no one that I would not be expecting, then it will be all yours."

As a smirk went on her face, Nabiki knew that he had her directly under his control. She had no idea how he could have all of these great valuables and throw them around like they were everyday items, but she liked the results so she couldn't complain. Maybe she could make a betting pool worth that much, but it was really so much easier just to have someone give you a gift. "So, you're saying that it's all mine…"

"Tomorrow after the fight, assuming you do comply," Qin mentioned as he stood up. "I suppose I can't punish anymore you if you don't do it, but knowing you it is likely that I won't have to, will you?" Not hearing an answer, he walked off to the forest. "I have someone I have to see before the match. You can go home."

"Master, please," Soun begged the tiny blob running through the front yard. "Please don't do this. It's my job to make sure that this sort of thing doesn't happen!"

"Oh, don't be such a fuddy duddy, Soun," the mysterious fighter giddily asked of his student in a hormone induced bliss. "Some of us gotta make a living y'know!"

As he leapt away, Happosai made sure to bounce on top of Ranma's head as he entered. "Ow! Well, I miss you too ya' old goat… err… not!"

"Ranma, I think I have to do work overtime tonight! Take good care of Akane for me! Woahohoho!" And with that, the perverted sensei leapt off for another blissful night of "work". Once Ranma could no longer see or hear the troll, he watched as his father in law began to fall to the ground in a pitiful wail.

"What am I going to do?! I can't allow this to keep going on or I could loose my job! My poor daughters! Oh the humanity!"

"Hi to you, Tendo," the pigtailed boy cheered. "So I guess the old freak's been a little of a problem, huh?"

"You don't know the half of it, son," Soun raved. "I don't want to resign, but so much of my career depends on how the master behaves."

"Well, I guess you could see if you could try to tell them that we should have a formal holiday instead, where women just come to the house and give him 'gifts'."

Soun was clearly not amused by that comment, as he stared up to him in hate. "Son, you are aware that you are a guest in this house, right?" Sighing as he calmed down, Mr. Tendo stood up and coughed to clear his throat. "Son, why don't you go talk to Akane? Please. She may seem to be happy, but I know she misses you."

"Yeah, yeah. I guess I gotta," Ranma claimed as he opened the front door. "She's probably still all mad at me for loosing, isn't she?"

"No, son. She's actually quite forgiving about it," Soun assured him. "She's just upset that you left. My daughter is your fiancée, son. I would hope that you would have a higher opinion of her by now."

"Hey, hey! I didn't mean it that way. I just mean that…"

"Ranma!" Hearing his name called from inside, the returning Saotome son turned over to his side to see his fiancée suddenly run up to him and wrap him in a bear hug.

Ranma was perpetually confused with the situation. Was she, happy to see him? Having no clue what to do, he once again reacted in the way that he always did. "Hey, Akane, what do you think you're doing, just grabbing me like that?! I thought you…"

However, he was interrupted when Akane looked back to him, tears flowing from her eyes. "How can you talk like that? All I did was miss you!" She squeezed him tighter, putting her face tighter to him and locking him in a passionate mouth-to-mouth kiss.

Seeing the event take place, Soun gasped with a happy joy. "My daughter! I take so much pride in seeing you getting along better with your fiancée." The two lovebirds turned away from their kiss, watching her father point a video camera at them. "Go on, I'm so happy for you two," he cried in a cracked voice.

"Dad!" Akane blushed as she ran towards her father, pushing her hand on the lens. "Cut it out! It's embarrassing!"

"But my daughter! I'm just so happy that the schools are so close to being reunited. I need a reminder of its stepping block."

"Hey, Akane," Ranma called the irate daughter. "How about we go to your room?"

Akane turned back to him, once again that happy expression on her. "Yeah, sure." She walked along with him to her room, first staring her father down. "No peeking, Daddy."

As they left, Soun sighed to himself, happy and frustrated at the same time for the fact the event. He was happy that they were finally getting along better, but unhappy that they were still so embarrassed just to express their feelings for each other. If only they weren't so proud. However, his line of thought was distracted when he noticed another familiar person walk in.

"Oh, why hello Qin."

"Good day, Tendo," the relatively new guest greeted him back. It wasn't the normal friendly smile, but with a look of tire. "How has your day been?"

"It could be better, child," the middle aged man admitted. "I do hope that having a good young man like you will help to make the Master a better man. By the way, did you just see what happened between Ranma and my daughter?"

"I'm sorry. I don't know what event you're talking about," Qin shrugged politely. "Would you happen to know where Master Happosai is?"

Soun couldn't help but to have a slight blemish at the mention of the hated master, unable to comprehend what a sweet boy like Qin saw in such an evil man. "I'm afraid you came slightly too late to talk with him. It seems he will be gone until very late in the night. May I ask what you want from him?"

"Mousse challenged Ranma," the young magician answered as he walked inside. "I need to make preparations for the match."

"Whatta haul! Whatta haul!" The commercial district just seemed to have so many high rising apartments all littered with silky treasures, the small distance requiring far less effort on the two-foot old man's part. The only problem he had was that he couldn't holler his cheers out loud until he finished each building or sometimes just when he couldn't take the pounding excitement over his next new set of undies.

Once again, the old geezer dropped to the ground and untied his sack, quivering his paw as it fell into the heavenly cushioning of silk. Emitting an excited howl, Happosai began twirling his arm in it. "It feels so… so invigorating," the martial arts master declared like a museum hopper enjoying a good picture. "It's so relaxing, like an angel is grabbing my hand, and pulling me into her ever loving, maidenly bosom." Allowing his legs to fall to the ground, Happosai began rubbing the prettiest pink panty he could find to his head, tickling his bald forehead with the silky pleasure. It all was a pleasurable experience, rubbing the angelic fibers and absorbing the lustful

It had that disgusting man smell to it!

"Why?! Someone tell me WHYYYYYY!!!"

"Well, well, Ukyo!" a familiar, nerdy voice snarled from the front of the alley at the comatose body. "It looks like we have the culprit the apartment next to us was complaining about!"

"So I guess you stole some of Kontasu's underwear, too!" a tomboyish female bellowed. "This jackass got what he deserved!"

"It's not fair!" Happosai began vibrating on the ground as he regained consciousness and started a temper tantrum, a harsh thump sound sounding when he kept landing. "You took a poor innocent old man's only pleasure in life away! It's not fair! It's not fair! Why do you have to be so mean to me?!"

"Ain't my responsibility to tell you whose underwear is a guy's and whose isn't, Gramps," Ukyo jokingly argued to the old man. "I just beat you to a pulp when you take mine." Her mood darkened again when she noticed that the old man was no longer suffering in front of her and her backside became significantly heavier, tiny hands tickling the sides of her hips and a head ramming into her fanny.

"Fine!" Happosai snapped while hugging the teenage girl's lower abdomen while turning his head to the side with the expression of a spoiled three year old. "If you want to take my silky darlings away from me so much you have to give me something in return, most likely some quality time if you know what I mean!"

Both Mousse and Ukyo began to glow beet red, blood boiling from watching the terrible sight. Mousse, not exactly the best at controlling his temper anyways, became particularly fiery. "I should expect nothing better from one of the teammates of Ranma Saotome, but it's just not right to have to actually SEE it FOR MYSELF!" the myopic boy frantically grabbed a handful of the underwear similar to the pretty but deadly one that killed off the master before and pushed it into the horrified and paralyzed old man's face, ignoring his frantic pleas of mercy while emerging a sticky plastic from his other sleeve and letting it swoop around Happosai's head.

Acid began burning the face unfortunate victim of the Hidden Weapons "Deadly Hawk Bomb", a single shooting star swimming around his nose as the poisonous smell forced its ways up his nostrils. The facial pipes attempted to force the vapor away, reluctantly allowing it through in the end as the more reflexive part of his brain forced the lungs to take charge and force the unwelcome gas in.

Ukyo wasn't the most forgiving sort in her own way, but even she had to wince some in despair from the sight she saw. Still, she regained her composure as Mousse grabbed the old man. "Now you listen to me sugar!" she commanded the geezer while helping to hole him still. "You can't have those! We're giving them back to the women in those apartments you stole from, and when we're finished I'll take Kontasu's underwear off!"

"No, no!" the muffled screams of terror were erupted. "Ukyo, please! Take it off! I'll be good!"

"We take it off when we feel like it," Mousse coldly told the man with a soft and threatening tone. "Your fate, old man, is in our hands! Maybe next time you should consider a different part of town."

Hours later, Happosai had finally returned back home. Long, torturous hours of the horrific smell of a man directly lodged into his face, paralyzing him such that those two hateful, mean-spirited teenagers had their way with him. It was too much for him to bear. The door repelled away from him as he dropped to the floor, too exhausted and hurt to move. The entire front of his face had kicks and bruises of the multiple angry women who those two gave him away to so they could express their appreciation for his last visit. Scars appeared all over his battered face and one of his eyes was black. The horrible smell destroyed his entire battle aura, and the beatings were especially painful compared to before. Compared to what he dealt with today, the angry mob that made him decide to use the Moxibustion technique on Ranma was a slap on the wrist.

How he had the energy to go home afterwards was beyond him. Somehow, he managed a wobbling walk home while standing up, and seemed to loose his adrenaline surge once he reached the door to the Tendo house, and plopped onto his furo, blood smearing onto the "sheets" on it.

Happosai did not go unnoticed by the new disciple of his, who was originally peacefully reading a book by a lamp. Hearing the door open, however, and the painful thud to the ground, Qin looked up from his book to look at the zombified version of the master he adored. "Master Happosai," the young apprentice called his sensei in some concern, "are you all right?"

"I won't lie, kid," the old man laughed in a dark humor. "I've seen better days, but I'll live. I survived being tossed in a barrel of explosives." He began to stretch his arms out to the side, patting the undergarments around him as his sadness came. "I didn't get any more undies today. Some random no good punks used paralyzing poison on me and beat me up, and passed me over to other people that beat me up, too!"

Qin quietly dropped the book onto the floor and sternly gave the master his attention. "You mean, master, that someone tried to assassinate you?"

"It's not fair! All I did was walk around the block, minding my own business. Then two of Ranma's friends just, they just came by out of no where and used some sort of self defense for babies to cripple me, and then they beat me and beat me for a really long time!" Even though they were fake, the tears of his master came through to the foreign boy. "I never did anything wrong to them! They just found a defenseless old man on the street and decided it would be fun to pick on him!"

"I can't believe someone would do such a thing," the boy muttered softly with a frown. It was the first time for a while that Qin was truly angry. This old man was one of the few and only friends that seemed to be opening up to him in this new, strange place. Despite the base rumors of everyone else, the kindly old man was the only one that seemed to care about him. The only other person that he thought possibly liked him here was Kasumi. He was a social outcast in his hometown due to his lack of martial arts abilities, so he didn't have many friends. Anyone who was nice to him, he would gladly return the favor. "I want to avenge you, my master."

This kid is something else, all right. You give him the least bit of attention and he laps it all up.

"But they're so weak! I'd NEVER!" Happosai wailed to the boy, pretending to have concern for his well being. "Qin, you don't understand! These kids that ganged up on me will tell Ranma on us and he'll kill us!"

His master was right. Qin knew himself very well that he was a scholar first, not a fighter. He was nothing much to look at even using the chi inducing pills he had in his fight with Ranma, and almost defenseless in is current state. He was always taught to avoid fights with outsiders when they were clearly superior to him in skill. It was one thing to have a friendly challenge with a friend in the tribe, but it was another entirely when dealing with a stranger from elsewhere. It would always be to the death. "What do we do, then?" Qin asked, slightly more impatient. "We can't let them get away with this! At least tell me what kind of a brute would do this to you!"

"Promise not to do anything rash when I tell you?" the hurt master asked with softer sobs. "For once I have a student that is nice to me. I don't want to loose that!"

"I won't attack them," Qin told his master to assuage his worry. "At least, not unless I am sure that Ranma will not be involved."

"You really promise?" Happosai begged the boy. "Really, really promise you won't get yourself killed?"

"I won't."

The sadness disappeared on the old man's face as he sat up, replaced with a bitter anger. "Actually, does the word okonomyaki ring a bell to you?"

"It does." A soft hum came out of his nose as a dark realization came across to him.

"That Ukyo girl may be a cutie, but she has no respect for her elders. She ruined perfectly good pretties, making a man wear them just to get his stink on them." A look of pure hate was on Happosai, sending a chill even to Qin. The student was sure that the sensei was more than willing to kill the girl mentioned. "And you know that nerdy little twerp Mousse, don't you?"

Qin looked to Happosai seriously. "Actually, I do. I was planning on helping him win a fight with Ranma tomorrow." He could see the two bitterly attempting to take out a friend of Ranma's, given the vicious feud that erupted here just a few days before he arrived.

"That little punk held me down and tied the contaminated pretties on my face. For all I know I think some of it got in my mouth. BLECH! There's nothing like the stink of a man, except of course for the TASTE of one!"

A light went on in the Dark Magic practitioner's head. "I have a plan to avenge you, master, and I think it will leave us out of harm's way."

"You do?" Happosai narrowed his eyes and stared at the boy. "Explain, Qin m'boy."

Meanwhile, Mousse and Ukyo had no idea of what was entailed for them the next day.

"I see. So these boys at school need to beat her in order to go out with her."

"Yes, but apparently she feels that none of them are strong enough to do so," Kontasu told his coworker while idly watching him set up the dishes. "I heard that Miss Akane had a similar situation happen to her before, and this Kuno person in particular was supposed to be the toughest one."

"If Kuno's the toughest one she'll fight then you have nothing to worry about," the myopic boy assured the ninja with a good natured laugh. "Believe me when I say this. All of us can beat him, easily. By the end of next week everything will be normal again."

"I hope so," the sexy ninja sighed while clasping his hands in concern." I couldn't stand the thought of my darling Ukyo forced to be with a man she doesn't love."

"Don't worry my good friend. The only thing you have to worry about is how much trouble she gets in after she sends them all to the hospital."

"I hope she doesn't go that far. That wouldn't be good."

And as they spoke, Ukyo was currently standing in front of the campus gates, wearing the female school uniform that she wore yesterday and staring in indifference. The crazy mob in front of her stampeded closer while she unsheathed the metal monstrosity she had on her back, bored by the "threat" of the boys in front of her.

"You're all pretty lucky I heard Akane beat you all every day," she yelled out to the pervert horde, only raising her voice to make sure they heard her. "If I actually felt threatened I don't think I would have been able to control myself. Ask Ranma what happens when I get stressed out." With that, she leaped into the air such that the boys could not reach her, and began skipping on each of their heads, knocking them unconscious with the light kicks. "But sorry about doing this. Don't take it personally, fella's," she claimed softly. "It's a martial artist's code to not to loose on purpose."

Within less than a minute, the boys fell to the ground, barely injured but unable to move and peacefully allowing the target walk by. "I really hope Kuno's training like his life depended on it. I was hoping for a little more of a challenge." Ukyo rolled her eyes while looking away from the pathetic sight and going into the school. "At least I don't have to worry about being late."

Above her, the entire school watched from the window, awed by the effortless takedown of the pervert horde. All the boys in the school who thought of possibly joining the effort tomorrow decided that their lives were more important than the chance of dating the beautiful but possibly deadly schoolgirl. Despite the relative restraint she seemed to possess for now, it was obvious to everyone how frightening Ukyo Kuonji would be if she were to become impatient over the week.

"If you ask me, I think she went easy on them," Akane shrugged indifferently, which caused everyone else in the classroom to back away. "Did I just say something?"

"Nah, they're just not used to seein' real fights," Ranma shrugged with boredom. "But yeah, maybe it's a good thing everyone knows about my curse now, or I'd have to really hurt some people here one time or another. At least Ukyo and you don't even come close to what I could do."

"I'm glad you think so highly of us!"

"So where is your son now anyways?" Ukyo asked the principal sitting on his highchair above her. "Is he even still in Tokyo? What kind of training are you putting him through anyways? I hope he gets better 'cause that was pretty sad having to beat up people who couldn't even defend themselves like that."

"He be off in different part of country and learning from really, really good samurai. When he come back on Sunday he be even better than naughty Saotome." The vindictive spite in the middle aged Kuno despite his friendly disposition towards her. "But that beside point," he told the girl with a more serious face. "Me worried about you little dear. Me hear depressing news that you thinking of leaving town and no making okonomyaki anymore. Why you even think of doing that?"

"How did you hear about that?" The delinquent chef stared suspiciously at the bizarre spectacle looming over her. "Were you spying on me?!"

"But me big kahuna and have files on all little kiki. Get paper that say you close Uchan's soon and move out of island with weird boy Kontasu. Me no want you to do that."

"I don't have a choice," Ukyo shrugged to Kuonchi. "I mean, unless you want me to kill Akane and Ranma, which I'm honor bound to do! I'm engaged to him and I know as a fact that he's in love with Akane! If I don't kill them, I can't call myself a Kuonji and I can't cook okonomyaki. That's the only skilled I have, so I know I'm not going to get anything more than a minimum wage job." She grumbled as she looked down in shame. Kuonchi noticed how his little kiki took his suggestion seriously and stopped calling her dream man "Ranma honey" and simply referring to him by his name. That was one of the first signs that she was starting to get over him. "That's why I flipped out like that at the wedding when I heard of that Amazon's stupid plan on the phone. I just let her walk all over me and let her use me as some sort of puppet. It's not about whether I love him or he loves me. It's about duty, and not living on the streets. I'm not stupid. He killed a god to save Akane, and sacrificed the possibility to cure his curse. Lay a finger on her and all hell will break loose. And I don't have the guts to fight him anyways. I know from past experience that I will never beat him. So I thought that the less extreme option was to give up on okonomyaki, which I just don't think I'll be able to do by the way, and try to go to school to be a chef. The only friends I have here are Ranma and Akane, and there's no way their family would put up with me when they have all the freeloaders they already have in the house and after what I did at the wedding. Besides, maybe I'm better off getting out of here and forgetting about it all."

"But Ranma be big part of yo' life fo' ten years, little kiki. That be really hard to forget about him." The generally sadistic principal honestly cared for his students in his own way. "Me no want to see you leave, so me say you live with Taki and Dacchi."

"You're serious? I have two other people that would be coming with me." Not to mention the fact that living with Kodachi and taking Mousse and Kontasu along would result in a chaotic household that would make the Tendo home look like a haven for people that wanted to keep their sanity, and she could easily see Kontasu dying of a heart attack upon getting a glimpse of such an extravagant lifestyle, and the fact that she herself still wasn't quite over the stunt the mentioned female Kuno pulled on her. "Wouldn't that be sort of imposing?"

"But, Ukyo, the Kuno family is the wealthiest in Nerinma," a familiar seductive voice called from behind while sand was crunching in she shadows of the palm trees. They finally ceased as Kodachi came out of it, dressed in a conservative white blouse and black skirt. "I apologize for the other night. Perhaps that was out of line."

"I'd say so," Ukyo snapped harshly at the new guest while standing up. "It's a good thing for your brother that he had the decency not to do what you thought he was going to do…"

"But are you sure that you want to talk like that to the people who could offer you a chance to stay here?" the gymnast asked with an annoyed hiss as her tone became more judgmental. "Ukyo Kuonji, do you mind me asking you an innocent enough question… are you unhappy with how your life has gone?"

Ukyo looked down from the question that brought up such a sensitive subject, blushing from the inability to speak rashly. "Well, sometimes. I mean yeah, it's been tough and everything living on my own and being disowned, but I like to think that I made the best of it. I mean, I have my own business, doing what I love, I…"

"Don't tell me you enjoy working in that rat infested shack you call a business, dear." The words came harshly, showing the girl could care less if Ukyo was offended. "And don't for a moment, dear, tell me that you never wished for something better in life."

"Well of course I do," the Kuonji clan member explained, weakening even more from the statements of her peer. "I mean, no one's life is perfect."

"Do you honestly enjoy spending your entire childhood, when you should be enjoying your youth and the kindness of parents, laboring away while the only true release in life is a boy who has no interest in you?" Kodachi's words became increasingly bitter. It was obvious what the answer would be if Ukyo were to ask her the same question. Even if she at least had the love of a caring brother, and did not have to do such work, the rich girl was clearly damaged by the lack of a father. "Why do you spend your days without the basic love of a parent, and hold the delusional belief that you are happy?"

"I…" Ukyo stopped in apprehension. The bitter words of Kodachi were biting her barrier more, her words coming out slightly acidic as well. "Don't get me wrong. Maybe my life's not perfect, and of course I'm mad about Ranma not being in love with me."

"Aren't we all, dear," Kodachi wistfully sighed. "Aren't we all. I myself have an obligation to Ranma Saotome since the day he saved me from the roof that I don't ever think he will allow me to return, and I don't take that lightly." Clenching her hands, the wealthy gymnast continued with more anger, her voice increasing progressively until it became a full yell. "I have constantly watched myself outright rejected by the only person I thought of as worthy of me, the only man that was ever able to steal the heart of Kodachi Kuno, and to allow him to callously RIP it apart with NO EFFORT, NO CONCERN FOR MY WELL BEING, AND DUMBLY FALLING FOR THAT HUSSY AKANE TENDO!!!" Tears came out of the growling face of Kodachi as she looked down. "You've been through it all, haven't you? Don't try to tell me that you don't have that little glint of anger in your mind, thinking that maybe you wish that people would have treated you better!"

"You're right," Ukyo shrugged with an unhappy look on her face as she quivered in repressed emotions, the hatred that her two friends seemed to have for her before coming back. "You know, these last few days since the wedding haven't been a walk in the park for me either. Hell, you think that I LIKED watching Ranma so mad at me? And that guy with the glasses who's always after Shampoo, Mousse. If I didn't find him on the streets the other night after her great grandmother kicked him out I don't have a doubt in my mind that he would have just offed himself by now to end his misery." The negative emotions soared throughout, rearing their ugly face as Ukyo began shaking her head as it was hitting back. "And most of all, you think I LIKED watching ten years, ten HATE FILLED, MISERABLE years of searching for the person who promised to take care of me just walk out on me?! You're wrong, sugar! I couldn't stand it! So stop telling me that you're the only one who's suffering!"

"I'm not," Kodachi explained while nodding her head. "I'm just here to give you a mutual offer. I and my father dear are offering you and your friends the chance to stay at the Kuno Estate free of charge with the condition that you in return offer something to us."

"Go on," Ukyo asked suspiciously, still riled up from the emotions swirling through her. "What is it? What do you want from me?"

The unhinged principal reentered the conversation, not caring that he was not in the other's sight. "Ohh, all we ask is that little kiki marry my little Taki and be part of Kuno family, yeah? Poor little boy so lonely and have no girlfriend, so me find him one to make up for shaving head."

"What did you just say?" Ukyo turned her head back and forth to the two. So all along they were plotting her along to eventually get married to Kuno. The whole thing about dating him was just a cover up for the big plan. "So all along I was just a tool to please him? So that's why you're being so nice! I shoulda known you had some ulterior motive behind it all!"

"But we just trying to help you get over mean user Saotome, little wahini. Me think you could bring out best in damaged little Taki, yeah!"

"Indeed, Ukyo." Kodachi returned to the conversation as she felt the need to simmer the other girl's anger, talking in a grim voice. "I have watched my brother dear slowly grow more and more detached since the wedding. For the entire week since then, I don't think I have ever seen him smile or talk to me. He would simply stay in his room, throwing away his pictures of Akane and burning them, or playing the saddest melodies I have ever heard on his flute. I have grown more and more weary of his mental well-being since that day, and I feared that unless I did something soon, something to take his mind off of that pig-tailed girl and Akane Tendo, that the brother I have grown to care for would slowly deform into a sad replica of what he used to be. In fact, I have never seen him smile again, not until that night. I could see the excitement and new hope for life in him since then, as if you gave him a reason to live again, just as I'm sure that you want as well. Not to mention that you will never have to lift a finger. Are you really sure that you want to give up that?"

Why was it that the people that were helping with her problem and actually seemed to know what they were doing the people who she last thought were capable of any sort of thing? Kuno himself was never that bad of a person in her opinion. But this was so sudden. An engagement? Right after she gave up on Ranma? And with someone that she just thought was "never that bad of a person"? Then again, it wasn't like before. Maybe if he was willing to train for a week, and she made him that happy, maybe there was a way that she could force him into a part of her heart.

"I'm sorry. I just don't think I'm ready for this," Ukyo suggested with a calm, serious tone.

It was only a few minutes before school ended and the match was to begin, and Qin had decided that it was best for him and Happosai to wait in the wide grassy plain that the fight of the day would take place. Peacefully reading a physics book that he brought along with him, wearing his reading glasses, the younger of the two was the exact opposite of the old man sitting next to him, a fuming rage on the spiteful master's face. "Those brutish little punks are going to get what they deserve. No one angers Happosai and gets away with it."

"You can be rest assured that I will do what I must to ensure that they will be rightfully punished, master," the student claimed while not looking away from his book, a disturbingly polite smile on his face. "Do not underestimate the scorn of a Xingu-an seeking vengeance. That is a grave danger I recommend no one do."

"I'm sure you will, my lad," Happosai responded in higher spirits. "I know what your type could do if angered because I've seen it firsthand. And this plan you came up with is truly the work of an A student. Like I've said many times before, things are only going to be looking up for me now that I have a disciple that treats me with respect."

"Thank you."

"I really do appreciate having such a good nice young lad for a student," Happosai explained while producing tears. "My other students are so cruel. They never do what I say, and they always beat me up and tell me how much they hate me. That's why it's so good to have a sweet little boy like you, and I'd die to protect you even if you were weak."

"I'm very touched, master. And you and Kasumi have just as well shown me kindness that I have never experienced before," Qin explained as he became saddened. "I'm really not a very talented fighter. In fact, you could go as far as saying that I don't really consider myself a true martial artist such as yourself or Ranma. I find that I have proven to be much more competent in science, so I thought of possibly applying to a guild to learn it once I am allowed back into the village. Of course, living in a society where strength is valued among all other things, that is not a way of life that many people will look highly upon, and many of my friends are likely to look down on me." The increasingly distraught boy laid his book and wrapped it into a black and gold embroiled silk sheet. "My master has always told me that I had no potential to be a fighter. I didn't have the devotion; I lacked the hate, and so on. And maybe they were right. My skills are most definitely well below average, even after I worked as hard as I could to improve them. But no, I never really wanted to be a fighter anyways. I always wanted to be a scientist, but the drive to be loved drove me against that. Perhaps in my case it was meant for the woman to be the strong one and the man to be intelligent and docile. I suppose I just shouldn't have tried to stop fate."

Qin pushed himself up from the ground and began walking away. "Despite my weakness, you two have shown me care that no one has ever given me. I thank you for that." With that, the boy left the old man to himself as he disappeared, searching for something he needed to find.

"Such a great young lad that I have," the Anything Goes master wistfully sighed to himself. "It really is sad to watch him think so lowly of himself."

Mousse could feel the power flowing through him. It was almost like he had just got himself electrocuted after drinking dangerously high amounts of energy drinks. He couldn't help but to give out a loud, insane laugh as he strolled down the park and an even crazier evil smirk on his face. "Ranma is going to meet his doom today! He's going to see for sure just how terrifying one can be when their woman is stolen by them! By the time this match is over, his internal organs will be splattered all over the ground! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Kontasu was growing increasingly distraught by the apparent change in his new coworker's attitude. It was obvious that the pills he was given before clearly had their side effects. "Sir Mousse, are you sure that those pills you took are good for you?"

"Of COURSE they are! I can feel the wonderful things they are doing to me! I can feel the energy that will help me plummet the enemy to the ground!" Turning around to his ninja buddy, Mousse began dancing in his triumphant excitement. "Ranma's gonna go down the moment I go in and break every bone of his body! He'll be a tortured soul, suffering through eternity!"

"I see someone's ready to fight," someone smirked in a friendly fashion while approaching them, a familiar person appearing on the grassy path. "I suppose you're feeling the effects of the chi inducing pills quite fully. Looks like this fight may be rather interesting."

Those sort of vicious thoughts are a common side effect of them, but Mousse obviously took a dangerously high amount to become like this. I suppose I shouldn't feel too bad for what I am about to do, seeing as to how he's just about doing it to himself anyways.

"Well, hello Qin," Kontasu pleasantly greeted the new friend from yesterday. "It's such a pleasure to see you."

"Indeed," Mousse added with a gracious smile. "I must once again thank you for your help. In honor of your generosity and to ensure that it will not go in vain, I swear now that I'll make sure that by the end of this fight my loving Shampoo will hear about it and fall in love with her dashingly strong knight!"

"I hope she does. If you are as knowledgeable as I heard you are, simply defeating Ranma shouldn't be completely out of your abilities," he claimed with a polite bow. "I came to wish you luck and claim that I hope that the effort on both our parts helps you come closer to winning this beloved Shampoo you speak of, but to warn you as well of the difficulties you may encounter."

"What exactly do you mean by difficulties?" Mousse asked, slightly sobered. "Are you saying that these pills have a side effect?"

"That's not what I mean." Not that they didn't. They certainly did, but Qin wanted to see that such side effects occurred. "These pills will by theory and practicality as well increase the right person's strength to levels that would otherwise be very difficult to reach from even years of meditation, but you must keep in mind that Ranma Saotome is by all means an extremely formidable opponent. Last I remembered, he has fought and defeated two apparitions that even the most skilled and wise elders of your village were unwilling to deal with. I know from firsthand that even with this sort of boost in power, defeating Saotome was still a daunting task. It's true that the pills may give you strength rivaling that of a village elder, but that won't be much help when you are fighting someone stronger than one."

Mousse was slightly offended by the comment, but did his best to stay calm, seeing as to how this was someone who was trying to help him. "And exactly what are you implying by that? Are you saying that I should just give up?"

"Quite the contrary, I'm offering to give you even more of an upper hand, in case my fears come true." The black robed dark mage searched through his large side pocket and pulled out a red marble, larger than the green ones he gave out previously, about the size of a ping pong ball. "These red chi inducing pills are most difficult to come by, and I'm being exceptionally generous giving this to you, but should you find that Saotome is too much for you to handle even in your current state, this will increase your power even more."

"But it sounds so dangerous," Kontasu warned them with concern. "Sir Mousse as it is seems to be changing."

"Relax. I guarantee that the side effects will at least stay stable," Qin falsely assured the two.

"If you're talking about the energy boost, I don't think of it as a side effect!" Mousse snapped while his body tremored uncontrollably. "I think of it as a sign of the fact that I'M BECOMING IMMORTAL!!!"

Mousse could go ahead and think that all he wants, Qin laughed on the inside. It just made his job easier. "I'm happy it doesn't make you feel too uncomfortable. Most people I know find the sensation most unnerving. You are after all putting your entire nervous system into overdrive." Shrugging in the harsh acknowledgement, he handed the four-eyed boy the pill. "I suppose we need to make difficult sacrifices if we are to reach our goals. That's the sad fact of life that many people seem to find out after they put so much determination into one."

"I still don't care what it takes to get Ranma out of the way and win my Shampoo! Even if these pills almost kill me that's all that matters!"

"Very well. I hope that this match goes well for you," Qin stated as he walked with them. "But, I do recommend that you only use it when the crowd is unable to see you. Otherwise some of the less knowledgeable individuals in the crowd may consider it cheating." He looked over to Kontasu, kindly letting him in the conversation. "I noticed from the way you dress that you are from the Kunochi tea shop, are you not? You understand the true nature behind this wouldn't you?"

"I do understand it, but I still don't think that sir Mousse should use it, especially not in a formal match. We used something similar to it…"

"But by all technicalities, it is not cheating," the older Chinese boy reminded the sexy ninja. "Like I said, it only reveals dormant powers that a person already has. I mentioned this to you because I thought you would understand."

"I won't tell, but only because I want to see sir Mousse happy. But I still don't like where this is headed. Nothing good ever comes from using those sorts of items," Kontasu warned with a grim expression quite rare for such an optimistic person. "I know that from past experiences."

The other two shrugged off the comment, Mousse being too excited by his newfound power and Qin was gladly letting the ignorant fool walk into Happosai's trap.

I'm sorry that I had to do this to you. We could have been good friends, but no one attacks my master and gets away with it. Such a shame you had to anger me when I was offering to help you.

Mousse looked over his shoulder to see his companion smirking lightly to himself, curious to the other's source of amusement. "Qin, do you have something you want to say?"

"Oh, sorry," the other dark magic practitioner shrugged with a good natured laugh. "I'm merely thinking trivial matters."

The three returned to the plain intended for the fight while noticing that a group of people were already there. The first group that they noticed was Ranma, Akane and Ukyo sitting and cheerfully chitchatting while they waited for the match, Mr. and Mrs. Saotome, Tendo and his two other daughters walking to another corner. Upon seeing the infamous rival, Mousse gave an evil stare to the boy who gladly gave him a happy wave "hello" back upon seeing it. When Mousse saw it, he slid his open hand across his neck to imitate a beheading.

"What an idiot," Ukyo hissed under her teeth. "He's taunting you."

"Yeah, let him," Ranma shrugged. "It just means that he's going to cry even harder when I kick his sorry little butt. Just like any other day."

"I wouldn't be so sure," Akane warned the pigtailed boy. "He had Qin train him. You remember how good he is, right?"

"Yeah, for one night," Ranma laughed sarcastically. "What did he teach him that could be so bad? Don't those Dark Magic attacks require insane amounts of time and effort to really learn right? So how the hell is a dufus like Mousse going to learn anything useful overnight?"

"I hope you're right Ranma," the short haired girl mentioned in concern.

"As much as I feel sorry for Mousse, I hope so too," Ukyo chimed in. Of course, whether he learned anything new or not wasn't the issue, she told herself. What was the issue was whether or not he really knew anything before, and what sort of things those pills would do to that birdbrain's internal organs. "Just make sure you don't go too hard on him."

"Gee, Ukyo. You almost sound like you're actually worried about Mousse," Akane commented from that response. "That's not like you. Usually you'd just be laughing with Ranma about what an idiot Mousse was." Giving a happy laugh, Akane soon came to a conclusion that Ukyo did not want to hear. "You're beginning to have a soft side for Mousse, aren't you?"

Ukyo shook her head in shock, blushing madly. "Of course not! It's just that, well…" Calming down some, the chef pointed a finger to the air. "I'm just starting to see things his way a little more now that I'm living with him. You never know. Maybe if I find him a nice girl he'll give up on Shampoo and stop picking on Ranma." Well, it was a half truth, she told herself. Mousse made it quite clear that she was not to tell anyone about the pills he was using.

"Who knows? I just hope he's going to make things a little more exciting than he usually does. He needs to learn to actually do something new so I can actually start looking forward to his challenges." Ranma stood up and walked toward the center of the field where Mousse was already standing with the usual arrogant grin of his.

Ukyo looked over her shoulder to Akane, concern showing in her face. "So Akane, if you don't mind me asking, just exactly how good is this Qin guy?"

"He was evenly matched with Happosai," Akane answered with slight horror in her face. "He had these snakes made out of fire floating from his hand that he controlled like part of his body. If he taught Mousse half of what he knows Ranma's in some serious trouble." Shrugging indefinitely, she looked back at the two contestants staring at each other. "Well, I guess all we can do is just watch."

"So he accepted the pill just like that?" Happosai asked his student, amused.

"Indeed," Qin chuckled while watching the two contestants fall into fighting stances. "He seems so far to see the side effects, his nervous system slowly destroying itself as some sort of pleasurable buzz. If the green pills somehow aren't enough, that fool will for sure use the bloodlust pill, temporarily giving him power maybe even the Pheonix people would envy for the right person, but it could cost him his life. Maybe I should have warned him about that part."

"Indeed not," Happosai scowled. "By the end of today both of those snot nosed punks will learn the hard way not to pick on a defenseless old man." Inhaling smoke from his pipe, the old man stared hatefully at Mousse. "I hope that brat suffers for what he did to me. The revenges where you don't have to lift a finger are always the best. Trust me on this kid."

"Indeed, master," Qin monotonously replied. Standing up again, Qin picked up his belongings and walked away, catching Happosai's attention.

"Hey there, Qin," the old man called the boy. "Tell Ukyo everything about what's going on, then allow me to deal with her after she hears of the pain Mousse went through."

"I shall," Qin obeyed while walking away.

Between the audiences, the two challengers stared each other down, wind flowing through the grass and their hair. Mousse allowed his right leg to cross over his left, elegantly holding his arms out perpendicular to his ribs. The fiery sunlight reflected off of his lenses, making one who stared at him from far away think they were staring at the sun itself. He could still feel the power from the boost Qin gave him flow though his body, its effects and the sheer excitement he felt causing his entire body to involuntarily shake. The shock in his system taking over his body, Mousse couldn't help but to turn his face to Ranma and give a violent hiss. "So then Ranma!" he murmured dangerously, "ARE YOU READY?! 'CAUSE I'M READY WHEN YOU ARE!!!" The blind duck pointed a menacing finger to the other, smirking tauntingly. "NOW WE JUST NEED TO WAIT FOR QIN AND HAPPOSAI TO START THIS MATCH, THEN YOU WILL DIE AND I WILL NO LONGER HAVE YOU BETWEEN ME AND MY SHAMPOO!!!"

Ranma just laughed at the vicious threat, allowing the fellow fighter to continue his rambling. "Well, pretty confident are we? I hope you have something to back it up, unlike the umpteen hundred other times."

"Oh, believe me Saotome, believe me. Something has changed in me that you will never be able to understand. Now, you will suffer in ways unimaginable as I show you just how much I have changed." The giant switchblades erupted from his pocket and Mousse began running towards his opponent with a loud battle cry. Slashing one of his arms in the air, Mousse couldn't help but to see Ranma dodge the blade from the air. Noticing his opponent easily walk away, Mousse viciously continued to swipe at the target that continued to easily dance around the blades.

"I thought you said you were supposed to become good overnight!" Ranma complained while Mousse was helping him with his steps. Indignant, the Saotome son gave a harsh roundhouse kick back to the four-eyed boy, causing him to jump back two feet. "Why're you bein' such a pushover?! I thought you said you wanted to fight me for real!" Then, feeling a hot pain begin to flow through his body, Ranma discovered trickles of blood from his arms. He brought the arm to his face, looking at the wound with a perverse interest. "How'd he do that?"

That same question went through the entire audience's mind other than Qin and Happosai. They could have sworn that Ranma had dodged every attack of Mousse, so how could he be bleeding?

"Hey, Akane, I don't understand," Ukyo gasped to the other next to her. "You saw that, didn't you? Mousse didn't even touch him!"

"That's exactly what I was thinking, then all of a sudden Ranma's… bleeding. What's going on?"

"It's simple," a male voice told them from behind, causing them to look up to see Qin looking back to them. "He did hit Ranma. It's just that you couldn't see it."

Smiling politely, Akane greeted the newcomer. "Hey, Qin!"

Ukyo was not in quite as pleasant of a mood. "So sugar," she spat to the boy as he stood behind them. "Wanna fill us in as to what's going on? You DID train him, didn't you?"

Correction: you gave Mousse cheating pills that may end up killing him for all I know and sending him against poor innocent Ranma horribly overpowered and crazy.

Unfazed by the schoolgirl's bitter tone, Qin shrugged indifferently while continuing to speak. "Well, seeing as to the fact that Grandfather Happosai asked me to do so, that is exactly what I was planning on doing. Oh, I'm sorry. You do know who Happosai is, don't you Miss Kuonji?"

Akane was noticing her friend restrain herself very hard from attacking the young man, wondering why the mention the old man made her so angry. Not wanting to see Ukyo lunge at his throat, Akane decided to shyly change the subject. "So, Qin? You said Mousse really did hit Ranma, but it looked to me like he dodged it perfectly fine."

"Very simple, Akane," the standing boy answered. "Assuming that you have seen Mousse fight Saotome multiple times before, I am assuming that he has shown you the move called 'Scythe of Sorrow', correct? That move is a simpler version of the attack you have just seen. Rather than attempting to attack the opponent by directly aiming to hit them with the blade, the fighter concentrates a flow of chi onto it which dissipates much like heat from an oven. As you can see, it's not enough to be visible, but it's enough to hurt even a man of superior stamina such as Saotome if applied enough." He watched in amusement as Ranma continuously attacked using impressive roundhouse kicks and Chestnuts fists, only to find himself taking a backflip back every time Mousse blocked using the newfound deadly metal. "He's going to have to find a different tactic if he's going to win this fight, but knowing him I'm sure that he has many other tricks up his sleeve.

And Ranma did. He was frustrated by the new ability his second most annoying rival possessed, but he was far from giving up. He hadn't even started using the counterattacks he read about in the book he got from the old ghoul, and he was just playing around with the other. "I'll give you some credit, Mousse. You've improved."

"Of course I have, Saotome," the myopic boy boasted. "I told you. You underestimate me and I shall make you wish that you thought differently as you lie six feet under."

Ranma couldn't help but to realize a ring of green smoke developing Mousse, breezing around the Chinese boy while the latter stared him down. Saotome had fought too many fights before to not realize what was happening. Potentially, the battle aura he was seeing should be amazingly powerful, maybe even more than Happosai, but it was obvious that he was unable to stabilize it very well.

Shoulda' known. It's like the damn doji Akane used before; great power given to someone who hardly knows how to use it.

Mousse raised his hands in front of him while his palms radiated the familiar green power he remembered from before, the hot balls of chi pulsating as they grew progressively larger. Eventually, he pushed his arms out and the balls shattered, the small fiery bits of energy scattering away from each other and flying in random directions towards Mousse's opponent.

Ranma found the balls of energy significantly harder to run away from than the scythes used before, seeing as to how anytime he dodged them the energy packets continued to home in on him. He quickly jumped away from the swarm the first time it approached him, thinking that the pieces of fire would crash into the ground and disappear.

They didn't. The instant he landed on the ground, they took foot and veered into his direction. Ranma continued to back flip, making sure to keep an eye on the potentially deadly glows. His only hope now was to find a way to find an opening around Mousse and attack when he's not looking. That was the problem though; Mousse was always looking.

"If I didn't see it myself, I don't think I would have been able to believe it," Qin stated in mild awe while watching. "That is a move that I myself have trouble with. In order for it to be effective, the caster must concentrate their focus onto each of the small orbs to make sure that they have control over what the projectiles hone into."

"Wait a minute," Akane questioned the man giving her all this information. "So, what do you mean focus on them?!"

"I heard both you and Saotome comment that I seem to control my attacks much like one of my own body parts, and I will have to claim that that is in an sense true," Qin told the girl in a way much like a lecturing teacher. "That is because, in essence, chi dispensed from your body is in its own way a separate body part. It is your life essence that you dispend into a physical form. That's why it is known to become more powerful when someone is under some sort of extreme emotion."

"Okay, yeah." The Tendo daughter continued to watch the fight while Ranma hopelessly circled around the field, moving barely too fast for the mentioned weapons to catch up to him. "I remember hearing about that some before. My father told me some about chi attacks, but never really taught me any of them. I heard that it takes a lot of concentration to really do them."

"Indeed. To merely dissipate a significant amount from your body alone is tiring for your nerves, but to actively manipulate it is exhausting for the brain. The fact that Mousse is able to use such a complex move so effectively and still stand up proves that he has much potential."

The pills had nothing to do with his stamina. In fact, if they should do anything they should cause him to fall unconscious from using one attack. Anyone who claims that he is merely doing well because of the pills is sadly naïve.

As the two spectators were watching, Ranma was frantically circling the other fighter, seemingly standing still. While doing another flawless back flip to retain space, an idea flashed in his mind.

He's not looking at me! If I can just attack him from the backside these stupid fireballs chasing me will probably just disappear since he's not standing anymore.

Sliding to his side away from the spectacles again, Ranma narrowed his eyes towards the seemingly unconscious Mousse. "Here goes!" With that, he took a giant leap forward, screaming a fierce battle cry while dropping a powerful kick onto his target.

It seemed quite effective until he actually touched Mousse. Once he did, he found himself electrocuted, thrown back by the force field, and hurt even more as he fell to the ground and the previous energy balls fell down to him and explode on his chest.

"Oww…" Moaning pitifully as he stood up, the pigtailed boy looked up to his four-eyed opponent laughing in his soft, sadistic style. "How'd you do that?!"

Mousse stared down to the other fighter with a cold, uninterested look. "You have just experienced two particularly useful attacks from the school of Dark Magic. The first was the 'Snow of Fire', which will follow you to the ends of hell unless, as you guessed correctly, you knock out the user first. Unfortunately, that can prove to be quite difficult when that user has the 'Inferno Great Wall', which I happened to have on me all this fight by the way."

Pushing himself up, Ranma readied himself into a fighting stance again, the burn marks on his shirt and his heavy breathing showing his battle fatigue. "Shut up, Mousse," he panted. "I've already seen stuff like that before, so don't get too cocky. Now c'mon. Let's fight."

Mousse's smile shrank upon the demand while he nodded his head in disdain. "Saotome, you fool. I do hope that you have a plan in that stubborn head of yours. In case you forgot, I have managed to hurt you fairly significantly twice, while you have left me but without a scratch."

Chuckling despite the pain throughout his body, Ranma only continued to annoy Mousse. "Actually, I do. I won't lie, duck boy. But you know, that move of yours was pretty strong. You really oughtta consider using it on me again."

"I'll use whatever move I want to, Ranma Saotome!" Mousse hissed spitefully. "Besides, that's not the only move I have now that I'm not the weakling I used to be." Backing away, he extended only one of his hands this time as it gave that fluorescent glow. "I heard from Qin that this in particular was an attack that you came to dislike in particular. He told me that you were quite defenseless against it, so maybe you will be again this time, right? I guess we'll just have to see." The light in his hand exploded out of his hand like a green miniature supernova, as he screamed the move that Qin once used to annoy the living hell out of Ranma. "Serpent's Hellfire!"

With that, the ball of energy stretched out of his hand as it lunged towards Ranma, who one again gracefully jumped away despite the pain still flowing through his body.

"What a fool," Qin grumpily reprimanded the boy he gave his items to. "If he's able to use the 'Snow of Fire' use that over the 'Serpent's Hellfire' any day."

"What do you mean?" Akane looked up to Qin with more curiousity than before. "I don't understand. Why didn't you use it instead, then?"

"Yeah," Ukyo chimed in, an annoying grin on her face. "Jealous now? He's able to use an attack that you can't, huh?"

Qin laughed off the intended putdown from the okonomyaki chef. "Actually, no I'm quite proud of him quite the contrary. I'm happy to have a student that's already coming so close to surpassing me as it is. It's just that I obviously need to teach him some about tactic."

"It doesn't matter though," Akane said with a serious, scared expression on her face. "I don't get it. At this rate there's no way Ranma's going to win! It's like Mousse now doesn't have any weak spots."

"Well…" With a shrug and innocent chuckle, Qin continued. "Maybe for this fight, you're right. I WAS intending for it to go that way, after all."

"It looks to me though that that assumption may be wrong." The three teenagers looked back to see a small old lady about Happosai's height with the same beady eyes. Qin, noticing the ever familiar dress of an Amazon elder on her, gave a cold scowl, which she greeted him back with a jolly laugh. "Well, you're this Qin Mao I've been hearing about. The one who defeated my son in law? That's a feat that I must commend you on, but you are in your weakened state so I don't recommend trying to kill me off for right now. You'd be better off to regain your strength first."

"I'll keep the offer in mind," the younger foreigner hissed to the elder. Turning away from her, he looked back to the scene farther away of Ranma gracefully circling Mousse while the latter continued to throw his fiery attacks at his enemy with his usual cheerier attitude. "For now, I prefer watching your 'son-in-law' being massively insulted as my ignorant but powerful new student fights with him in a definite win."

"Well, I'll admit you've helped that idiot have a lot of superficial powers, but I'm afraid it won't be that easy for him to take out the son-in-law. You'll see soon enough."

While they talked, Ranma was circling around Mousse, each cycle coming a step closer to him. Frustrated by his lack of success in catching his enemy, the half duck became progressively angrier as he continued to spin around like a toy top, the giant cylindrical weapon made of aura trying unsuccessfully to catch the target as it moved with an inhuman speed.

"I WILL hit you Saotome! And when I do, I swear to God you will beg for mercy! Now why don't you just stand still and let me hit you already?!" Furiously attempting a deadly lunge while his anger caused the green smoke around him to explode in a violent flame, Mousse was only allowing himself to become a pawn of his enemies plan. Finally, as Ranma came closer to Mousse a powerful gust of wind began blowing at them. The pigtailed boy finished his enemy off, landing a blue fist into the other's face, who found his feet lifting from the ground.

"HIRYU SHOTEN HAAA!!!"

The entire audience watched in awe as the enormous twister raised above the ground, everyone knowing from before that one of the challengers was in it, and the fact that Ranma was still in the air made it clear for everyone who the victim was.

Qin slapped his forehead as a migraine flowed through it. "What a fool. He really does need training if he was stupid enough to fall for that when he's been around Amazons for his whole life."

Amused by the irritation shown by the boy, Ukyo and Cologne both pointed at him, laughing at his expense. "I'm afraid that those pills of yours don't increase his brains, sonny boy. Now you on the other hand seem like a smart enough boy. It's too bad you couldn't retake the pills so you could have dealt with your grudge on your own, right?"

"That's right, sugar," Ukyo sarcastically scolded the irritated boy. "Oh, and by the way, sorry for revealing your little secret like that. I guess Ranma's going to beat you up when he finds out about it. Sucks to be you and all that."

"Hey, you two!" Akane berated the other two females. "Don't you think you're being a little harsh?"

"Well, they are right," Qin sighed. "I suppose I overestimated my student. After all I have only given him a cheap power boost. I suppose I should have trained him more."

However, all three of the females were shocked again to see the tornado in the air randomly vanish, Mousse still unseen by their eyes. Not to mention the fact that his aura seemed to be untraceable to everyone, even the experienced Cologne.

Qin sadly stared at the sight, shrugging. "Teleportation is a common method of escape for our people. I suppose he ran away."

Ukyo once again shoved her index finger at him, laughing at the failing master. "And the moral of the story is… you suck!"

"C'mon Ukyo!" Akane screamed at her friend, becoming seriously angry. "That's enough!"

Disinterested by the quarrel coming about, the Dark Magician passed the two girls sitting down and ran down to Ranma, noticing him frantically cheering himself. When the boy in Chinese slacks noticed the stoic man standing next to him, he pointed his thumb to himself and smugly cheered himself.

"Haha, Qin! I beat Mousse's sorry little butt! I hope you're not too mad at me, scaring him off and all."

"Oh, not at all my dear friend," Qin told the boy with a happy shrug. "In fact, I'm here to make sure that you really do win, as you seem to feel that you have."

Ranma bellowed a loud laugh, ecstatic by the supposed insult. "Whatdya mean if I 'seem to feel' that I won?! You're supposed to be pretty smart, right?! Take a look around you! You see Mousse around us?!"

"Well, no. Not for now at least, but that doesn't mean that he won't come back for sure." Keeping his cheerful smile, Qin pointed to the younger boy's face, pressing his index finger's tip directly onto the middle of the forehead. He watched Ranma, wide-eyed in horror; fall to his knees on the ground. His jaw dropped as far as it could, vibrating as rapidly as his involuntary muscles would allow. "The next part of this match, Mousse will prove to be far more interesting. I want to make sure that you do that, too." And with that, Qin jumped out of the scene as the other boy began to clasp his head with his hands.

And directly above him, fluorescent red flames were flickering in the sky. Despite not seeing them, Qin felt the presence of them.

So the fool took the Bloodlust pill has he? Even when he warped into another dimension you can feel the raw power emitted by that thing. I don't know what is supposed to make me prouder, the pounding he's going to give Saotome or the damage the idiot will do to himself. Either way, I do hope Master Happosai will be proud of my work.

And on the other side of the ring, completely by himself, Happosai watched the same flicker in the air, directly above a certain snot-nosed brat writhing in pain from the pressure point his new student gave him. He couldn't help but to give a sadistic chuckle while watching it.

That battle aura in the sky is all too familiar to me. Ranma, whatever you have on you better be something, because you're about to witness a force not even the Musk or Phoenix Tribe are brave enough to trifle with.

Where am I…

It's so soft, so warm, so why do I feel so uncomfortable…

I'm naked… and I'm in my girl form…

I'm under sheets…

As Ranma finally woke up, he, or she found herself very much in his girl form, and very much naked. She also noticed that he was laying in a comfortable furo, warmly tucked in covers up to her neck. Not to mention the fact that she felt a liquid running between the insides of her legs. However, the discomfort she felt from all this was nothing compared to the terror when she saw the array of bras and panties tied across the ceiling. Traumatized as it was, the busty but evidently ruined redhead stared in horror at her right at the familiar naked old man who cheerfully gave her a wide-eyed stare back while giving an energetic wave hello.

"Oh, how sweet it is! Ranma, you and me have become an item last night! Oh, happy day! Oh, happy happy day!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!"

"I BETTER NOT GET PREGNANT!!!" Now seemingly unconscious, Ranma began to frantically punch at the ground, small craters revealing the fact that he was not holding back his strength, in retaliation to the nightmarish hell he was experiencing. It was hard to tell whether he was really conscious or not, seeing as to how he was standing up, but was completely in another world right now.

And when Qin returned to his audience position in the field, he was understandably greeted by three women staring at him with glares that let him know that he was not going to be allowed to sit back down with too much ease. "Well, it's nice to see the three of you. If you don't mind I'd like to sit down again."

"Not until you tell us what you did to Ranma, jerk," the annoying ordered of him while unsheathing her spatula. She was really starting to get on his nerves and the next part of his and the master's plan involving her was becoming more and more of something he was looking forward to. Ignoring her, Qin moved from her side, which clearly irritated the irate girl since she leapt to the air and attempted hit him with her spatula. "I told you to explain yourself, you jackass!" Rather than an explanation, though, she found the target easily dodge the attack and hold the spatula down, staring coldly at her while she felt an electric shock pulse through her.

"I'm just going to give you this one warning," Qin claimed to the spatula wielder, using his free hand to pull up the sleeve of the arm holding the weapon down. The bottom half of his arm and hand were illuminated by electric sparks, implying the slight discomfort Ukyo had just felt. "You are correct. I am not at my full strength currently. Nevertheless, that doesn't mean trying to attack me with metal objects is a good idea. Now if you don't mind, I would like to sit back down."

"Ukyo, my dear, please do as he asks," Cologne asked of her, which she reluctantly did while still staring him down as he sat behind her. "However, I have to agree with her young man that that was a most inappropriate action you have just pulled on the son-in-law."

"I'm only making sure that when Mousse comes back, that Saotome is better prepared," Qin defended himself. "I will admit that he has improved his defense against these sorts of attacks some, but in his current state of mind he still seems to lack something that would be useful."

Cologne gasped, for once seeming to loose the cool that made her so respected. "Of all the… So that's why you used such a terrible shiatsu on him! Well, isn't that to be expected of a tribe whose entire school is based off of self-mutilation!" Sighing as she calmed down, the elder narrowed her eyes to him. "Young man, I know that maybe it's not in my authority to tell you this, being from a rival village, but there is a certain line that we are to cross; a path that I must say you have just gone well beyond just now!"

"What is she talking about?" Akane asked as she entered the conversation. "What have you done to Ranma, Qin?!"

"Last night, I have visited a fortune teller from your high school by the name of Miyo, asking how I could bring Ranma to his full strength," Qin informed the three, still lazily watching the boy in the field scream in agony while the flare above him continued to grow. "She said to do so, I would have to expose him his worst nightmare."

"And that's exactly what that pressure point does," Cologne interjected. "Qin has applied an enormous amount of negative chi into the son-in-law's sensory section of the brain, essentially overwhelming his brain with misery. Think of a nightmare, except rather than simply hearing and seeing your worst fears, you touch, smell taste everything that is going on as well."

"Wait a minute," Ukyo pouted. "I don't get it though. How is that supposed to make him fight better?"

Her question seemed to be answered as Ranma began screaming about how "the kitty cats are coming".

"You do remember the Cat Fist, don't you?" Akane pointed out to her school friend. "I know. It seems weird to watch this legendary martial artist scream at the sight of a little kitten, but he's practically invincible when he's pushed hard enough. But…" Stammering as she could feel the heat and blinding light given off by the neon fire exploding as it grew, Akane could only gasp in shock at the immense battle aura coming from Mousse. "What I don't understand is, what's happening to Mousse?!"

"Oh heavens! I recognize that glow from before!" Cologne was awestricken and terrified, the glow bringing back terrible repressed memories of that war ten years ago. "Don't tell me that you gave that fool one of those!"

Qin smiled pleasantly back at the old woman, shrugging with an innocent politeness. "If you think that I gave him the bloodlust pill, your assumption is correct."

And with that, the fire dropped to the ground, the force of its sheer power sending a gust of wind that blew so hard that the two girls in front had to hold onto the ground to make sure that they did not fall. As soon as the looked towards the field again, they watched as Mousse had reappeared, completely covered in the red fire, but somehow managing not to be burned. It was easily at least as large in diameter as a small bedroom, and erupted into the air so far up that most trees in the forest next to them would have been easily topped by it. As he came out, staring at the now turned cat, he let out a murderous, maniacal laugh that would give Kodachi ideas, sending shivers down the spines of the audience.

The hideous laugh. It echoed inhumanly, like you would expect of a phantom. Only with some sort of special effects from a movie studio would a person be able to make those noises. Not to mention the fact that if you looked close enough, you could see that Mousse's eyes, now that he was not wearing his glasses, were glowing the same red that was circling him. Finally, as he calmed down, he clapped his hands together, the fire above him growing even larger.

"SCARLET AVALANCHE!!!"

The pillar of energy toppled down, plummeting onto the boy that currently thought he was a cat, who easily leapt out of it. However, much to his chagrin, the chi continued to sludge towards the Cat Fist user, who continued to scratch away at the wave, which only regrouped itself much like water every time it was cut by his claws.

"Just as I feared," Cologne shook in terror, watching the possessed child attempting to take out the wave of horrible energy. "You not only used a forbidden form of torture on Ranma, but manipulated Mousse's simple mind so that he would take THAT out of a petty grudge! Of all the… girls, I would most highly recommend that you step back. This could end up being more of a disaster than a match." The old woman looked back to the old man her age on the other side of the field, blowing kisses at her the moment he noticed her glare.

Of course, this boy may be the fool himself, being the new disciple of such a great evil. I understand then why they are plotting against the son-in-law, but what he has against Mousse, I do not know.

The enraged Mousse continued to throw wave after wave of the neon fire at his enemy, furious that the boy who thought he was a cat somehow managed to hold his own against the flow. Somehow, despite the fact that Ranma was literally swimming in a pool of the horrible energy, he was able to continually stay afloat and unharmed as he continuously attempted to swipe it away.

"Die," he hissed to himself. "I want you to die! I want to see your BLOOD!!!" Moving his hand in a quick whisk, Mousse caused the miniature sea to flow one way, trapping the cat boy under the resulting wave and ultimately trapping him inside. Everyone could hear the agonizing growls of pain, knowing full well what was happening.

"You stole my Shampoo! You took everything that represents my happiness! I will never forgive you!" Mousse continued to cry pitifully, the echoing voice making the instability all the more frightening. "I WILL KILL YOU!!!"

Both Akane and Ukyo watched in hopeless horror, fearing that they could do nothing to stop the insane rage. The both frantically begged either one of the two in front of them to do something to stop it, but they knew just as well that it was a lost cause. Not even Cologne would have had the power to stop Mousse when he was that powerful, and it was quite obvious that Qin would not have been willing to do much.

Fortunately, or unfortunately in other ways, the power had seemed to cease existing, and Mousse fell head first into the ground. As the sea of energy near him fizzled away, they could see Ranma, unconscious as well with multiple burn marks throughout his body. Upon seeing that the fight was over, and the two injured fighters on the ground, the audience began to frantically run towards the fight.

As Qin was about to push himself up, he found that a wooden staff blocked his way, and a very angry Amazon elder stood behind it. "Young man, you stay out of this," she warned the boy. "I hope you're happy about the abomination you've done to those two, but I suppose I can't really hate you considering the fact that you're a pawn working under an evil such as Happy." Leaping away on her pogo stick, she also told the two girls to stay put. "I'll leave you to the mercy of these two. I'm certain that they are NOT happy with you."

So then, as the old woman left, Ukyo looked back to the robed boy sitting back down. "All right, buster! You got a lot of explaining to do!"

Qin gave a disinterested look towards her as he held out his hand and caused a katana to suddenly appear from it. "Miss Kuonji, I most highly recommend that you be quiet. Yes, I am in a weaker form, but if some overgrown spatula and smoke bombs are all that you have, as Master Happosai has told me, then you may want to consider not challenging me."

The chef gave an angry snarl as she once again lifted her spatula from her back. "You little…"

"Hey guys, c'mon," Akane called to the others, shyly attempting to mediate them. "Stop fighting. This was just a rough day. Let's not make it any worse than it already is."

"I don't think so," Ukyo refused as she stood up. "Look here, mister. I don't know what your problem is but if you think that I'm just going to let you get away with what you did, you got another thing coming! Don't think for a moment that I don't know you and Happosai are in cahoots against us!"

"You attacked my master, you pay the consequences," he stated harshly. "By the way, I've heard plenty about you young woman, so don't go playing the pure and noble doer of good. It's not your style."

"Hey, you! I don't go helping some underwear stealing sicko get even with people who did nothing but tell him to give them back!"

"On the other hand, I don't particularly feel like attacking a good friend simply because she took your love," Qin stated uninterestedly, lying in the ground while picking grass out. "By the way, Ranma and Akane kissed just last night. Well, Akane pushed him into it really, and I'm not sure that he wanted it, but…" He looked back up away from the ground as he heard a swishing noise, watching as Akane backed away from an angry spatula girl.

And I think I got the answer to that. I suppose Happosai wasn't joking when he told me these idiots are easy to manipulate.

"Hey, Akane, just exactly what did he mean that you forced yourself on my Ranma-honey?! What does that mean, huh?!" An insane rage came in Ukyo's eyes, clearly intending to hit a vital area should she in fact manage to aim correctly. "Remember that fight you were always talking about before?! Well, I'm ready when you are!"

"Come on, Ukyo! It wasn't like that! We both wanted it!" Akane was impressively dodging the dangerous weapon. Unfortunately, the Tendo girl's good luck streak was about to run out when the wide end of the spatula came directly into her face, but was fortunately stopped as Ukyo found another hand grabbing onto it, but when she looked up to see who the hand belong to, it was Soun Tendo, looming over her and about ready to use his demon head attack. Next to him, Happosai had just came by, sobbing and frightened as he tended to the welting bruise on Akane's forehead.

"Akane?!" the perverted sensei cried. "Are you all right?! Answer me, Akane! I was about to go help them with Ranma and Mousse, when I say Ukyo attack you out of the blue! What has that big bully done to you?!"

Akane sat down, rubbing the giant red welt on her forehead. It was obvious that her father came just in time. She was well aware that Ukyo was going at full strength, and that if her father didn't come just a second sooner her skull probably would have been broken. "Don't worry, Grandfather Happosai. I'm all right."

"I knew the moment I saw my girl around someone who was throwing explosives at her on her wedding day that she was potentially in danger," the father stated grimly when he brought his face closer to her. "I was willing to let it go and assume that you have improved your attitude, young woman, since I did not want to seem overbearing…" Somehow managing by adrenaline to grow more strength, Soun managed to tug the weapon from the now docile attacker. "But I'm afraid with people like you around; I need to be watching over my daughter literally twenty four hours a day. And of all times you would do this, when your 'Ranma Honey' is there probably dying on the field!"

Ukyo backed away, the same pitiful expression face from times before creeping onto her. "Look, I'm sorry Mr. Tendo."

"You're sorry?" Soun's left eyebrow twitched as he digested the answer. As soon as he seemed to have done so, he snapped and shoved his face directly into hers, truly angry at her. "You attack my daughter, after you destroyed my dojo while attacking my daughter and my son-in-law, after you helped to destroy my good friends' house, after you attacked my other daughter who isn't even a martial artist, and all you have to say for yourself is sorry?!"

"Look, Daddy, she…" Akane stopped when she noticed her father stare back at her, warning her not to interfere.

"Go away young woman," Tendo reprimanded the "friend" of Ranma, more cold and emotionless. "I don't ever want to see you around my daughter again, do you understand? I most highly recommend that you leave town, because with that sort of attitude you have Akane hasn't stolen Ranma from you. You did it to yourself."

Of course, Ukyo did become slightly offended by the remark as she once again became less humble. "Hey, fool! I'm engaged to Ranma too, you know!"

"I thought I told you to leave, Ukyo. I myself have no control over your engagement, other than the fact that when I and my good friend had finished under our master's training, he promised me that we would ensure our school's well being by engaging our children. I'm sorry to say, young woman that I feel that my daughter's claim is more valid than yours since you were engaged afterwards, when you were six. If you have an argument against that, I ask that you speak to Mrs. Saotome some time soon." Soun pointed to the trail leading out of the field. "But for now, all I want is for you to get away from my daughter."

"But, Mr. Tendo… I…"

"If you don't mind, I'd like to speak with her now." Mrs. Saotome became another person who was distracted by the main event, now approaching. Despite the lack of a katana, the cold tone of voice and restrained anger on her face let Ukyo know that she was not going to get out of this easy. "Miss Kuonji, if you don't mind I would like you to come home with me as soon as we can to see if there is a way that we can reclaim your honor, but frankly after the many events I have seen involving you, I don't see how we will be able to do that."

As was comforting Akane, checking over the bruise on her cheek, he inwardly laughed to himself.

Maybe we're being a little soft on Mousse, because after what we do to Ukyo simply because I can, it's going to seem like his day is a walk in the park. Just like I said, I always love the revenges where I don't have to lift a finger.

I know a lot of people don't think Happosai is really all that bad, but I have noticed that when someone makes him angry enough (ie Moxibustion arc) he can actually prove to be quite spiteful. There's a part of me wondering whether or not he was honestly planning on having Ranma killed by one of his rivals during that story. And despite what people claim, he can be competent and crafty.

How much shit Qin and Happosai are going to be able to get Ukyo in is up for grabs for now I guess?