The Bad Cut

by Ozzallos

The whisper of wind. The hint of movement. That was all it took for Ranma Saotome's life to be turned upside down after the surprise engagement to one Akane Tendo. Ranma!chan.

2. Chapter 2

The Bad Cut
Chapter TWO

When the name Akane Tendo entered into Ranma's mind, the description that was called forth with it was hardly one of grace and agility. The last month had indelibly etched a different definition into the redhead's thoughts concerning the youngest Tendo, thoughts that contained such descriptive as 'clumsy,' 'loud,' 'tomboyish' and 'braggart' amongst others. The girl leapt to conclusions entirely too easily and had a streak of mistrust a kilometer wide that, when paired with her own curse, seemed to bring out the worst in the girl named her fiancée.

The latter part Ranma understood to degree since just having the curse for herself was by no means easy. Not that she would ever admit it to another living soul, but there were times when she could swear that the curse was playing tricks on her; making her see and do things slightly differently for no apparent reason what so ever other than its own twisted amusement. The martial artist would catch these errant patterns and force them back into alignment... Most of the time. Sometimes it was something innocent like stopping to admire a scenic backdrop or picturesque view he would have otherwise passed by. Other times it was in her face, like a full blown attack of the sweets.

Whatever the deviation, there was always something about it innocent or otherwise that unnerved that detached portion of her intelligence, and if it unnerved her, it undoubtedly unnerved others just to see a boy turn into a girl with a splash of water. People gave her the oddest looks and a handful had even lit the torches and distributed pitchforks looking to slay the witch. Akane Tendo was apparently going to side with the latter of those she encountered, but she'd be damned if she would take Tendo's scorn lying down. Her supposed 'fiancée' had laid down the ground rules at their first meeting and if there was one thing Anything Goes had lots of, it was verbal sparring.

Regardless, Akane Tendo was somehow defying most of the labels Ranma had placed on the black haired girl as she stepped gracefully across the dojo with reasonably quick and precise movements that were the antithesis of what Ranma had come to know. It was also a marked sight better than how she had began her foray into the world of Rhythmic Gymnastics Wrestling.

'Makes me wince just thinking about it,' Ranma acknowledged as she watched Akane from the doorway of the dojo, twisting and pirouetting to the encouragement of her coach. The coach was Yuki, if she remembered the name correctly, one of the girls from the lot beat down a week back. Since then she had performed a minor miracle, taking Akane from walking gymnastics disaster to somebody who could balance and twirl a ribbon at the same time without wrapping herself up like a mummy in the process. Ranma snickered at the thought.

That had actually happened.

The redhead watched as the girl twirled her ribbon on command and let it flow gracefully around her. She spun around ninety degrees, gave it a soft snap and pulled it back... And promptly tangled herself up in its coils. Akane squawked as she overbalanced and nearly fell to the mat, prompting Ranma to simply roll her eyes. 'So much for grace and agility.'

"Can I pleaseuse the dojo now?" She drawled in a bored tone.

Akane cast a dire look toward the redhead who merely yawned. Yuki sent a withering glance in Ranma's direction while attempting to extricate her friend from the ribbon's confinement. She turned a charitable smile on her partner. "Look on the bright side..."

"There's a bright side?"

Ranma dodged a throwing pin kicked in her direction by Akane. It skittered harmlessly out the door as her coach continued. "You only caught yourself up once this practice session!"

It was almost killing the Saotome to remain silent through that but she figured there was a small chance they would hurry the hell up if she wasn't antagonizing them at every step, much as they were all but begging her to do so. She remained silent and let the two work through Akane's disappointment, where upon they were finally ready to leave. Akane sniffed their disdain in passing the redhead, tossing a long tress of hair over her shoulder contemptuously. Ranma in turn tapped her foot impatiently as they passed. Finally they were gone. Ranma was alone.

"Bout damn time," she groused and all but hopped to the center of the dojo mat, putting experimental pressure on the tatami beneath her before releasing her pent up frustration with a deep breath. In. Out. Ranma closed her eyes, then exploded into motion seconds later. The kata she stepped through had been known since she was six and she paced herself evenly through the blurring punches and kicks, sliding across the mat in evasion against an invisible flow. It helped her relax. And concentrate on things...

...Things like what to do about the ceasefire 'encouraged' by their respective parents. It wouldn't last, of course, no matter how old man Tendo insisted that they just needed time to get to know each other or how the fat Panda insisted he just shut up and take it. 'Pervert, this. Pervert that,'the redhead huffed in irritation. After the proverbial side by side 'kiss and make up' meeting it was more akin to a cold war than a cease fire, though apparently even that was an improvement in their parent's eyes.

'Sure it is,' Ranma harrumphed as she sprung up, twisted around mid air and took the head off her imaginary opponent. Much as she loathed the fact, she was here to stay for the next few months or as long as it took her father to find a dragon whisker through his contacts. 'At least it's not so ungodly long,'she thought gratefully. The now neck length ponytail in place of the long unruly mane whipped through the air with her movements, reminding her of the days before the hair curse and before Jusenkyo; when it was simply tied off at the base.

'The good ol' days,' she revised mentally through a tuck and roll maneuver, dodging down to defeat an imaginary attack. Another wry thought chuckled morbid amusement. 'If you can count ten years on the road livin' hand to mouth with a father as likely to curse me as he would sell me the good ol days.'

A loud crash interrupted any further musings she had on the matter and Ranma fell out of the practice, gracefully sliding to a stop even as the cacophony of fragile items being smashed met her ear from beyond the dojo walls. She stepped lightly over to the door and watched as a lithe figure wielding an oversized mallet back flipped gracefully out Akane's second story window, followed shortly by the Tendo herself as she pursued the obviously female form. Ranma watched with interest as the girl silhouetted only by moonlight- and wearing a leotard if she wasn't mistaken -squared off against Akane in the middle of the property courtyard.

'Might just get interestin',' The redhead decided and leaned against the outside wall to watch. Akane charged, employing heavy handed chops and kicks while the other girl hopped nimbly out of range in spite of the hammer's mass, occasionally taking a swipe for herself. Ranma's tactical assessment of the newcomer continued while Akane netted little but air, then managed to kick the hammer out of her attacker's grasp. It spun through a ballistic arc and imbedded itself into the grassy dirt less than a meter from Ranma's feet with a solid 'thunk'.

Akane re-engaged even as Ranma wondered if the kick had been accidental or on purpose, while the girl continued to melt just out of the range of her combinations. After another minute, she flipped back completely out of hand to hand range, favoring Akane with a malicious smile. The face was hard to miss this time as the house lighting decisively illuminated it for the first time.

'It's that Black Petunia girl...?'

"So the rumors are true. You are good, aren't you?" She stated haughtily, sizing up her opponent from range. Akane remained in a tense guarding stance and Kodachi merely laughed. "Very well then!"

With that Ranma watched as she flipped back again towards her and landed precisely by the mallet, gathering it back in hand. The redhead's presence hadn't gone unnoticed and the leotard clad gymnast glanced casually back as if to question whether the redhead would be interfering or not. Ranma produced her own nonchalant shrug and the black haired girl smiled. Akane Tendo, however, did not.

"YOU'RE JUST GONNA STAND THERE?!" She all but screeched and Ranma sent a dull look back at her.

"Thought you wanted somebody ta 'fight you for real' Tendo?" Ranma motioned to the other girl as her case in point. "Well here she is."

The youngest Tendo gritted her teeth but had little time to take Ranma to task as Kodachi returned her attention to their standoff, pulling out a black gymnastics ribbon. The long haired girl gave it a reflexive snap and twirled it around menacingly, releasing a blizzard of black rose petals at the girl. "I shall return!"

She jumped up and landed on the property wall, leaping into the night with insane laughter with Ranma and Akane staring after her. The redhead fingered one of the many black rose petals landing about and on her, arching an eyebrow with their study. "Girl sure knows how to make an exit."

"She can't just leave!" Akane squeaked indignantly at the rose petals surrounding her. "Who's going to clean this up? And my room!"

Ranma pushed herself off the dojo wall and passed the youngest sister, emoting ambivalence. "Your rival this time. Not mine."

With that, she left the simmering Tendo to her own device and returned to the house.

---

A mistake.

That was the excuse she was forced to lean back on as Ranma Saotome returned to Furikan High School as a curvy redheaded female instead of a male. Of course that left scores of other unanswered questions for the teachers and classmates that had been exposed to her male aspect. Who was that? Why was he here? Was that your brother? Is he still engaged to Akane? What happened to your hair? Are you single? What's your sizes? Is that bandanna'd boy your lover?

The number of people Ranma had to restrain herself from murdering outright was simply amazing.

All in all, it created one gigantic headache for the gender cursed martial artist who endured her first day back amongst the flurry of questions and speculation. Fortunately the class bell signaling the end of the day sounded through the halls, allowing her some measure of reprieve as she walked wearily off the property while a number of girls tried to happily engage her in conversation and gossip. She couldn't exactly tell them off, so she weathered the storm the best she could with half hearted nods and one worded responses that feigned interest in whatever they were talking about. About the only saving grace in being the object of attention was that it gave the redhead an excuse to ignore Akane Tendo outright and even provided a physical barrier as to her on again off again scorn. Still, all the girl talk was absolutely killing her.

Fortunately, the unexpected arrival of a Bentley black stretch limo pulling up alongside their sidewalk changed that.

The eyes of over a dozen students tracked the limousine as it rolled to a stop next to Ranma and her trio of chattering girls, silencing them instantly as staring took the place of conversation. The door opened after a moment and a familiar face leaned out with a pleasant smile.

"Saotome-san, what a pleasant surprise." The visage of Kodachi Kuno was unmistakable, prompting Ranma to blink. Apparently the girl was just as loaded as Tatewake and she began to wonder at their relationship, which would have been just the right age for brother and sister.

"What's up, Ko-chan?" Ranma waved, taking up a subtle verbal offensive with the familiar form of address to counter the girl's overt display of wealth. The black haired school girl blinked with her new title as if considering its implications for herself before the smile returned.

"If it would be agreeable, I would like to discuss the upcoming match with you," Kodachi offered, inviting her inside the automobile with a gesture. Ranma glanced back and forth from the trio of girls around her and the promise of more gossip to the limo and Kodachi herself. In the end it was an easy decision to make.

"Catch ya later," She waved to her companions and stepped into the limo. Three girls were left gawking at the Bentley as it started to drive off while Ranma settled into a sunken leather miniature couch beside Kodachi.

"I do so appreciate your acquiescence," Kodachi began as she poured them both tea from a smallish table set before them from a silver pitcher into fine china porcelain that screamed money from every angle to the redhead. "I'm sure you are curious why I asked you to accompany me."

Ranma merely shrugged, looking about the well appointed interior of the vehicle she was sitting in. Leather. Wood. State of the art electronics. She returned her attention to the black haired girl. "Well, ya mentioned the match and Tendo is your opponent. Don't take much to put two and two together."

"Quite," Kodachi inclined her head in response, offering her the cup she had just poured. "And yet you are still agreeable to meet with me. I find this quite fascinating... And opportune."

"Okay...?" Ranma let the word hang, hoping to receive a response that would get to the point.

"Simply put, I wish to know more concerning my opponent." She continued as Ranma took her own cup of tea. The martial artist eyed the steaming liquid warily and set it aside while Kodachi explained. "You, of course, appear to be in a position to have this information. If you would indulge my questions, I would ensure your time is well compensated monetarily."

Ranma merely leaned back into the couch with a smile. "Nah, don't need no compensation. Might even be fun to watch."

Kodachi blinked at the flat refusal of compensation, staring at the redhead. After a moment taken to reassemble her thoughts, she nodded. "Very well. If you may, elaborate on Tendo-san's abilities; specifically those concerning rhythmic gymnastics?"

"Oh man, is that all?" Ranma rolled her eyes, answering in a near chuckle that confused the girl next to her. "This is going to be a pretty short trip if that's what you're looking for."

The perplexed look continued from Kodachi. "Meaning...?"

"She's all hand to hand. This Rhythmic Gymnastics thing is all about tools, right?" Ranma pressed, prompting Kodachi to nod slowly. "The moment you put something in her hand, she'll screw it up herself."

The St. Bacchus school girl tilted her head, trying to reconcile the fierce girl she had challenged over the weekend with the one from the redhead's description. "But she seemed so... so skilled."

"Only cuz you came at her with one-ton hammer," Ranma elaborated, shaking her head in amusement. "If this were pure martial arts she could probably hold her own, but it ain't. Besides, you've easily got her beat in the agility department from everything I've seen."

Again, Kodachi couldn't help but to blink with the unexpected compliment. "I... Thank you. Is there anything else I should know about Tendo-san?"

Ranma cocked her head, thinking on the matter. Akane's most defining characteristic instantly came to mind. "She's got a temper. A bad one. If you get in a pinch or just get bored, yank her chain. Do it enough and she'll probably end up fouling herself out."

Kodachi stared. After a moment, she couldn't help but to smile at the remarkably underhanded and devious tactic that the redhead had causally chosen to impart for her benefit and without need for compensation. A wistful expression involuntarily overtook the Kuno's features as she watched Ranma reach for the now cooler cup of tea sitting next to her. It was impossible to hope for since she hadn't had one for so very long, but here and now with the grinning redhead... She stared in silent contemplation for another moment, but frowned as the martial artist brought the tea to her lips.

That simply wouldn't do at all.

"I apologize," The school girl leaned forward and plucked the tea cup from ranma's fingers gently, setting it aside to Ranma's confusion. "I can't allow my guest to have cold tea, now can I?"

"Guess not?" Ranma shrugged, somewhat perplexed but uncaring for the most part.

"Of course not." Kodachi returned certainly, but eyed the girl regardless. "Still, I cannot allow you to endure my questions without recompense."

Ranma shook her head, smiling wryly. "Nah, don't worry about it. I'll get my 'recompense' the day of the match."

"Nonsense." The girl dismissed the notion outright. "If you will not choose a form of repayment, I shall."

Ranma crossed her arms, smirk on her face with the challenge. "Do your worst, then."

"Your hair." Kodachi gestured, prompting the redhead to stillness over the topic.

"My hair?"

"Indeed. it has been annoying me since your entrance herein," Kodachi eyed the red crop and ponytail with some measure of disdain. "Please do yourself a favor and fire the barbarian who took a hatchet to those vibrant crimson strands. In fact, it is an oversight I will take upon myself to correct for you."

"What?" Ranma was now flabbergasted. "You will?"

The black haired girl leaned off to the left and keyed a small button on the armrest closest to her. "Change of plans. Yukihama's please."

"Yes Mistress Kuno." The intercom replied as Kodachi returned her attention to Ranma.

"Unless you have something more pressing scheduled?" The schoolgirl pressed, forcing Ranma to reconsider her position.

'Hair cut or Tendo, tough choice.' Ranma thought dryly. It didn't help that Kodachi was also correct since she had been forced to cut it herself or avail herself to Kasumi's Tender mercies. She shivered at the thought of the overly eager sister and her obsession with her hair. The only option after that was self inflicted injury. The remembrance solidified her course of action.

"I'm thinkin' I can free up a slot."

"Then I will take the opportunity to indulge as well," Kodachi nodded with a friendly smile. "Together, as it were."

"Don't see why not." Ranma shrugged, unaware of the hopeful depths in Kodachi's words. The other thing she wasn't aware of was Kodachi's definition of haircut apparently included a full styling, makeover and spa treatment; nor could she bring herself to care as a masseuse' elbow pressed into her left shoulder as she lay all but naked on a table

"Oh God, right there..." Ranma groaned as the elbow dug into the muscle group, eliciting a sigh of relief as she lolled face down on the table. Sure she was bare save only the towel draped across her waist and yeah, Kodachi was similarly clad less than two meters away, but any concern she probably should have felt toward the fact had been washed away by the previous thirty minutes of pampering.

Granted getting to that point had been a rocky road, but Kodachi seemed to weather her obstinacy with that annoyingly affluent 'I know what's best for you' attitude of hers that Ranma couldn't back down from. From there it was a slippery slope of acceptance; from the cut and styling to the pedicure and massage. She angled her head up slightly to catch sight of her partner, who seemed to be serenely enjoying her massage without the same theatrics. The redhead studiously avoided roaming the naked flesh of her upper torso that- even though it remained face down -had several delightful curves when viewed from the side.

"So he's in Hawaii now?" She resumed the conversation that had continued piecemeal since starting the massage. The girl laying beside her produced the barest of nods, opening her eyes a mere crack to respond.

"Rehabilitation," Kodachi answered sluggishly, clearly enjoying the massage as much as Ranma. "They figured a less stressful environment and sun would do him good."

"Here's hoping," Ranma agreed, taking a moment to indulge in another firm press on her spine before continuing with the topic that they strangely both had in common. "Wish they had sent mine off for rehabilitation."

"I am quite surprised he has not been picked up by the authorities," The school girl returned leisurely even as another portion of her intellect marveled at just how much in common they shared. Mentally unstable father figures. Absent mothers. A socially deficient upbringing if she was being honest with herself...

"Oh, they've gotten him once or twice. Locals, mostly," The redhead commented in a lazy drawl. "Lazy bastard or not, he's still a damn good martial artist. Could never hold him for long."

"And thus continued to plague you as much as mine," The black haired girl nodded slightly, then closed her eyes, inhaling sharply. "Yes. That's good. Down a bit."

Her masseuse complied and Kodachi was jelly in her hands as Ranma watched, having noted the similarities in their lives for herself. Kodachi's mother had simply left with little notice and for even less reason, leaving their old man a basket case. 'Would explain ol' Tatewaki, I guess,' Ranma theorized silently as she reconciled Kodachi's own upbringing. And like Kodachi, her mother had been conspicuously absent throughout her childhood for reasons unknown. Ranma sighed internally. 'And the old man still won't give me a straight answer. Did she just up and leave like Kodachi's mom?'

It was an emotional quagmire with no clear answer, so instead of dwelling on the weighty topic further she followed Kodachi's example and let the hands on her back do their thing. Her worries over the dragon whisker, the curse, her amoral father and absentee mother all drifted away...

...for a little while, at least.

---

The day of the match. The Rhythmic Gymnastics match. Akane's match.

Ho hum.

Ranma Saotome heir to the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts could barely contain her boredom as Akane rushed to a fro, getting her gym bag and tools ready for the big day. For the redhead watching her, it was hardly big in any such way. In fact, it was a foregone conclusion that was almost painful to contemplate.

In went the ribbons. The collapsible hoops. The juggling pins.

While it was true the girl had gotten better in the last week before the big day, she still wasn't nearly as graceful and agile as her opponent. Given a few weeks of intensive instruction with somebody better than the entire Furinkan Gymnastics team combined- herself for example -Akane might have stood a chance. If it were simply hand to hand, all Akane would have to do is corner the other girl and wallop her with that gorilla strength of hers. Sadly there were tools involved in this particular match and Ranma was certain they would be her downfall.

'No physical touching, no hand to hand blows,' Ranma recited the rules Kodachi had related to her during their spa treatment a week ago. All of the attacks would be indirect, denying the Tendo of her greatest advantage: Physical strength. It prompted a small smile from Ranma as she watched the girl from the sofa busy herself in preparation. 'Nice knowin' ya, Tendo.'

"Are you going?"

Ranma's attention was diverted from her thoughts to the next eldest Tendo just walking into the living room wearing a casual striped tank top and high cut shorts. She plopped down on the closest chair with her favorite fashion magazine, thumbing through the pages idly while waiting for a response. Ranma was happy to give her one.

"As if." The martial artist shook her head, her attention returning to some show she had been in the process of channel surfing through. "Got better things to do."

"Not going to support your fiancée, hmmm?" Nabiki Tendo prodded, earning an amused snort from Ranma.

"You mean the violent maniac over there?" Ranma used Kasumi's own descriptive of the sister in question. "I'm sure ol' gorilla hands will be fine without my support."

"'Ol Gorilla hands' is my sister, Saotome," Nabiki replied to the insult with an ever so slight edge of frost that did nothing to intimidate the Saotome.

"And when she can stop callin' me a pervert I'll cut her some slack," Ranma shrugged then turned to ignore her in favor of the TV.

'So much for the guilt angle,' The middle Tendo conceded as any moral high ground she could bring to bear evaporated thanks to her sister's own behavior. Instead, she went for subtlety. "So about this match..."

"Hmm?" Ranma responded absently as she flipped through the channels.

"I think my sister has a pretty good shot at this, don't you?" Nabiki broached conversationally and eagerly awaited the answer from what she considered an authority on such matters. Ranma glanced back at her as if to contemplate the question herself and after a moment, answered just like she had hoped.

"Oh yeah, it's in the bag." Ranma replied absently then tossed the remote back to couch as her interest in the TV waned. She hopped up and stretched, talking to nobody in particular. "Going out."

Nabiki watched the redhead depart from the living room and once out of sight let a shark's smile slip back onto her lips. 'Thanks for the payday, Saotome.'

If the middle sister was congratulating her luck, Ranma was cursing hers as she had apparently chosen the very same time to leave as the youngest Tendo. The pair stared at one another in awkward silence for a moment before Akane's eyes narrowed on the martial artist suspiciously.

"You had better not be following me."

"Cuz you're the center of my universe, is that it?" Ranma retorted back with a healthy amount of sarcasm, prompting a sniff of contempt from Akane. She then took it upon herself to open the door, leading the way out into the clear afternoon daylight.

"And when are you going to change back into a guy anyway? It's getting creepy." Akane asked with some measure of annoyance. While being stuck in his female aspect annoyed Ranma as well, she wasn't about to admit it or even bother with explaining why she was still a girl.

"You ain't still jealous of all this are ya, Tendo?" Ranma asked rhetorically, gesturing to the shapely package that was 'all this' She was instantly reward as the girl spun around on her with the gym bag swinging.

"I AM NOT JEALOUS OF YOU, PERVERT!" She screamed, hoping to nail the dodging martial artist with bag. Several swings later Ranma had taken the lead through the Tendo courtyard and out the gates where both stopped short, staring at a familiar black Bentley parked on the curb.

...Familiar to Ranma, at least.

A chauffeur standing just outside the Bentley spied them and adjusted his sunglasses as if to further confirm the identity of the pair. "Saotome, Ranma?"

Ranma cocked a curious look at the overly official looking driver, but responded to her name regardless. "Yeah?"

"Mistress Kuno sends her regards," He bowed formally for her and opened the door. "She has requested I convey you to the match personally."

"WHAT?!" Akane blurted at what she saw as overt betrayal. She balled her fist, turning back on Ranma. "I thought you said you weren't going?!"

"I wasn't," Ranma shrugged but took to the door regardless. "But a limo's a limo." Ranma paused just outside the threshold, as if trying to remember something then reconsidered, looking back at the girl. "Wanna come along?"

"Of course not!" Akane bit back furiously. "Why would I take Kodachi's limo to Kodachi's school for a match against Kodachi?!"

Ranma shrugged as her ill-thought peace offering fell on the rocks. "Suit yourself."

With that, Ranma climbed fully into what looked to be a luxuriously appointed interior from Akane's angle. The chauffeur sealed the girl inside seconds later and returned to the driver's side without a word. The car itself pulled away only seconds later leaving the youngest Tendo alone and simmering.

---

Whip-SNAP!

Ranma winced as another blow landed home on the girl involuntarily named his, now her, fiancée. Kodachi jumped out of range of the girl's reprisal easily enough, expertly evading the pin Akane Tendo was attempting to use as a cudgel. Even as St. Bacchus' star gymnast flipped through her escape arc, she still manage to guide the ribbon through the air as if it were a living entity, snapping the Furinkan stand-in painfully another three more times before landing on the other side of the ring.

"Another four hit combo by the Black Rose!" The female announcer yelled from ringside, her voice echoing throughout the stadium where it was met by raucous cheering. "Kodachi Kuno is simply dominating this match!"

"Tendo-san has managed to endure Kuno-san's offensive so far, but it really looks like she felt that one, Yoko!" Her partner commented as Akane circled her opponent warily, looking for an opening. "How much more can she possibly take?"

"Pins!" The girl in a pastel blue leotard called back to her corner and Akane's support contingent tossed her three more to replace the discarded one.

"Looks like Tendo-san is planning something..." The announcer continued as the crowd anticipated the promise of more action from the leotard clad gladiators. "AH! There she goes!"

Three pins flew through the air as Akane threw them directly at Kodachi, then charged in behind her, pulling her own ribbon out from behind her back. The light blue streamer unfurled like a whip even as her initial attack met resistance in the form of three sharp snaps. Kodachi's own black ribbon deflected each pin in succession and then pulled the black streamer around, meeting Akane's attack in kind. Both snapped midway between the pair as they clashed. This time it was a rapid machine gun staccato that met the ears of the audience as the pair furiously exchanged blows.

While the action was certainly entertaining enough from Ranma's special ringside seat, there continued to be a single overriding problem with the match itself that she had already summed up in three words: Too damn predictable.

Their expressions alone were all too telling for the martial artist as they tried to ensnare one another with the ribbons. Akane wore a mask of fierce determination... And exertion. She was fighting just to maintain parity according to Ranma's expert eye, while Kodachi simply watched with arrogant amusement. She controlled the match and knew it, which made her victory inevitable regardless of how it played out.

'The personal attendant was a nice touch though,'She decided, glancing back to the politely smiling lady wearing a maid's outfit. "Got another one of those sandwiches?"

The maid, Hiroko, merely smiled and nodded, pulling the silver cover off the platter she had been holding to reveal the ever so delicately made sandwich , which in turn promptly disappeared into the Saotome's mouth wholesale as if hours of consideration hadn't gone into its visual impact and aesthetic appeal. By the time the redhead attention returned to the match, Kodachi had pressed Akane back to her own corner even though both combatants' ribbons were in tatters. Kodachi merely smiled, discarding her own.

"Resilient, perhaps, but it is time you learn from your betters," She advised arrogantly. Her corner took the cue and tossed her a pair of throwing pins. She caught both easily, never taking her eyes off the Tendo. "Now witness the secret technique of the Black Rose... The Blow of a Thousand Hands!"

The ribbon in Akane's hand wasn't nearly enough as a flurry of blurring clubs descended upon and she intercepted maybe half of the strikes directed at her person. The other half hurt. The Furikan gymnast tried to apply her martial arts to the match and roll with the blows, but even so Kodachi was bound to get several solid hits; and she did just that. Akane Tendo retreated , rolling out of the attack to pick up a pair of the spent clubs she had employed only minutes earlier in desperate defense.

"That's incredible!" One of the students exclaimed as Akane was pushed back across the ring even with the aid of her new weapon. "It's like she's using twenty clubs!"

'That's because she is using twenty clubs,'Ranma observed from the edge of her seat now that special techniques were finally coming into play to make things more interesting. Twenty clubs or not, that didn't make the technique any less fascinating given the skill required to actually juggle twenty clubs fast enough to use as a melee attack. The martial artist watched with an expert eye, breaking the technique down piece by piece as Kodachi continued to press her opponent back to the Furinkan corner.

'Won't be long now,'She decided, instinctively knowing the match was winding down short of some last minute save by Akane. The youngest Tendo obviously lacked the necessary experience, or as a substitute, ingenuity and skill to rally against the St. Bacchus girl.

"Yield, Tendo-san!" Kodachi demanded as if to confirm Ranma's hypothesis. She paused in her offensive, pointing a single pin downrange at the long haired girl like a sword. Akane was panting heavily and favoring her left arm, leaning off to the side in obvious pain. If the Kuno felt any pity for her, it showed neither in her face or words. "Yield or suffer ultimate humiliation."

"Like... Like heck I will!" Akane managed between breaths, prompting the Black Rose to favor her with a bored look; one mirrored by Ranma who simply shook her head from ringside and out of the youngest Tendo's sight.

"Tendo-san has refused to give in!" The announcer yelled into her mic with the blow by blow narrative for the audience. "But can she take much more?"

"And what humiliation The Black Rose planning?!" her partner wondered aloud as the pair faced off.

"So be it." Kodachi declared arrogantly and stepped forward. "I shall brand you... With this!"

Click!

Akane braced for impact as Kodachi blurred forward, but the punishing blow she had expected was replaced by a light metallic sound instead, then a weight on her wrist. She blinked looking at Kodachi's cold smile then looked down at her wrist where a steel cuff now resided.

Attached to the cuff was a chain.

Attached to the chain was a pig.

A little black piglet to be exact.

Akane stared at the black piglet and the yellow bandanna it wore while the piglet stared back with wide eyes. A noticeable twitch accompanied Akane's left cheek even though the rest of her face remained expressionless. The pig, however, seemed to take that as a bad sign and began to squirm, seemingly desperate to escape its own entrapment.

"What a statement by the Black Rose," The female announcer shook her head with pity. "Equating her opponent to a helpless piglet!"

"And she doesn't look too happy about it!" Her counterpart concluded, adjusting her glasses to get a better view of the girl.

"YOU." The youngest Tendo growled, staring death into the terrified piglet. It redoubled its effort to break free while Ranma's interest in the match suddenly renewed.

"Oops." Ranma mumbled to herself, knowing the potential dire implications of Kodachi's actions even if she herself did not. "Bad move, Ko-chan..."

Sadly Kodachi was too far away to hear the redhead's missive and even if she had, there was no way she could have possibly know the significance of the forced pairing she had inflicted upon her opponent. Instead, she merely smiled, dangling a small skeleton key tied to a black ribbon before Akane's eyes. "I am feeling magnanimous, however. Admit defeat and I shall remove the blemish from your person."

Akane Tendo's fist balled in anger as she ground her teeth down. A fiery red aura sprang to life around the youngest Tendo sister and she began to swing the pig in a menacing arc. Kodachi blinked at the unexpected reaction, staring at her then glancing at Ranma. The martial artist warned her off with a subtle shake of the head. It was also her only warning before Akane's battle cry echoed through the stadium, launching herself at the St. Bacchus representative at high speed.

Armed with that split second's worth of warning, Kodachi jumped back as Akane cleaved the very air she stood with her improvised pig-born ball and chain weapon. A terrified 'squeeee!' accompanied its passing as she pressed her attack, spinning the piglet at high speed like a nunchaku. Kodachi sidestepped the attacks again and tried to counterattack. The forward thrust of her pin met solid resistance as Akane deflected it with the blurring black swine, eliciting several painful yelps with each successful deflection. Now it was Kodachi's turn to be pushed across the ring under the girl's renewed assault.

"She's a beast!" The female announcer roared as the action suddenly exploded in the ring once more. "Akane Tendo simply won't go quietly into the night!"

"And lord only knows the trauma that's being inflicted upon that poor piglet!" The other announcer could only stare at Akane's ferocity, then glanced off to matches' judging panel, wondering aloud. "Is the use of a piglet as a weapon even valid, let alone humane?!"

Three judges raised their green flags as one to make the call. "Valid!"

Kodachi flipped back to the corner adjacent to her own and Akane followed, splitting the very air with her improvised weapon just short of the mark each time, but lunged in as Kodachi landed on the post. The Black Rose jumped up and over Akane just in time and the post took the blow for Kodachi with a painful 'Oink!'. The Tendo whirled around before her combatant could resume her offensive. Kodachi was once more thrown on the defensive as the swine barrage continued in a blur, forcing her to change tactics. She took a precious moment to glance back to her corner to call out the order. "Hoop!"

The momentary distraction crucial and in the split second it took to return her attention to Akane, she found the girl airborne in a high leap that positioned her for a devastating overhead pig hammering. Time seemed to slow for that second as the stunned Kodachi wondered if she could withstand the unguarded blow from the mask of fury descending on her. The moment collapsed and the blow fell.

"Squeak!"

The entire stadium was silent. Both girls blinked, staring at one another first, then the piglet attached to Akane's wrist. It was out cold. Not only was it out cold, but it had failed to produce any sort of crippling attack. It had, in fact, simply bounced off Kodachi's head like a stuffed toy. Both girls eyes were inevitably drawn back to one another. Kodachi still had her pins in hand and favored the now insufficiently armed Tendo with a malicious smile. She began to twirl the clubs menacingly.

"I suggest you forfeit, Tendo-san."

---

Kodachi Kuno stared. Her head was, in fact, on a proverbial swivel as she took in the sights around her; from the brightly colored wall decorations featuring comically animated characters, to the long glass counter and colorful frozen delights inside. People meander about unable to decide which flavor they would partake in while Kodachi herself was unable to decide what to make of this decidedly new experience... It was, after all, the first time she had set foot in an icecream parlor.

"Tell me about it," Ranma chuckled, correctly interpreting the black haired girl's odd expression. "Believe it or not there was a day back when where I wouldn't even set foot in a place like this on principle alone."

"It's so... so..." The Kuno sister struggled for the word, finally happening upon it as she stared at the pimply teenage male clerk behind the counter. In fact the entire setting made her feel overdressed in black dress with white lace trim she had donned post match. It's price tag alone could have probably purchased all the ice cream behind the glass. It also made her next statement all the more fitting. "It's so common."

Where she was potential overdress, her redheaded counterpart likewise stuck out in her mandarin styling consisting of a blue silk shirt and black pants. Ranma silently acknowledged the fact that ice cream parlors like this one were in abundant supply and shrugged, unknowingly missing the thrust of Kodachi's comment. "Maybe, but this one's got a pretty mean banana split."

"But why are we here again?" The black haired girl wondered, still unsure of whether or not she should even be seen in such a place.

"Victory celebration, duh," Ranma rolled her eyes and left the small booth they were sitting in. When she returned five minutes later, two banana splits were in hand; one of which she slid across to Kodachi. The St. Bacchus star stared at the multi-colored creation as Ranma elaborated with a quirked smile. "'Cides, I can't just let you cart me around in a limo and take ringside seats without some 'recompense', right?"

That explanation left Kodachi's brain awhirl. 'Victory celebration?'The words echoed through her mind. Nobody celebrated her victories. Well, at least nobody she either hadn't paid in advance or feared her outright, and that was pretty much everybody. While she was far from certain of her social footing in the here and now with this redhead, some part of her instinctively knew they had moved beyond any facade of recompense into something she had little experience in. She was willing to try, however.

...Desperateto try, in fact.

"I think I would like that... Ma-chan," Kodachi replied carefully, testing the waters she now found herself immersed in. The Kuno sibling watched Ranma's reaction carefully, observing her note the title with a curious look before shrugging.

"I won't lie to ya though," Ranma commented with a secretive look, gesturing to the ice cream treat. "I'm a fiend for sweets like this."

Kodachi eyed the redhead as she dug in, sectioning off a generous portion of banana and ice cream to be savored. It invariably drew her attention to her own, but with more introspective accompanying its study. She took her spoon in hand and partitioned her own delicate slice of the dessert to be consumed. Banana saccharin flavor exploded in her mouth in a way that left her blinking.

"Gonna have to play with that Blow of a Thousand Hands for myself," The redhead continued her running commentary on the day's events. "I could probably match all twenty blow for blow with a single pin, but throwin' all twenty into a single attack was pretty impressive any way you look at it."

"I am quite dismayed that I never had the opportunity to employ the special tools." The St. Bacchus girl nearly sighed with the recollection. "It did make for a spectacularly boring match, did it not?"

"Knew that goin' in. Tendo's decent if you get her in hand to hand, but a match like this? Maybe it'll sink that she's still got a ways to go." Ranma shrugged with the matter of fact, then fixed her with a curious look. "Where did ya get the pig, anyway?"

"I found it wandering about the school yards. Fitting symbolism, if I must say," Kodachi smiled charitably, then posed her own question to the redhead. "But Tendo-san's reaction... You knew."

"Let's just say that she dislikes that particular pig." Ranma chuckled at the inside joke. "I'd have warned ya if I knew you'd actually stumble across ol' P-chan."

"The warning you were able to provide was quite sufficient in lieu of foreknowledge," The Kuno sibling inclined her head graciously while reflecting on the fact. Another thing freely given between them. It was... nice." Though how a piglet would produce such a violent reaction is beyond me."

"He ain't your ordinary piglet," Ranma sniffed with obvious disdain. "I'll have to tell you the story sometime."

"Then perhaps I shall feed him to Mister Turtle next he falls into my possession," Kodachi returned, picking up on her friend's mood. She then produced a sly smile with the redhead's overt confusion concerning the turtle in question. "A story I will have to tell you sometime."

"PIGTAILED GIRL!" The cry of joy followed the ring of the establishment's doorbell, all but causing Ranma to choke on her next bite at the well recognize male voice. "How fortunate it was that I should happen to spy-"

THUNK.

Tatewake Kuno's proclamation of love and his leaping advance to her seat were cut off by Ranma's outstretched leg and the foot painfully applied to his face. Ranma took her bite regardless of flailing kendoist stuck to the other end of her leg. After another moment of trying to reach her in spite of the impediment, the upper classman's brain kicked in and he pulled back and away. He opened his mouth to continue but she interrupted regardless.

"Save it Kuno. Not interested."

Kodachi stared at the girl and then the boy, cocking her head in an attempt to reconcile the meeting. She turned back to the redhead. "You know my brother, Ma-chan?"

"If constantly gettin' hit on then beating him down counts as knowing, then yeah, guess so." Ranma shrugged and took another bite of her banana split while the kendoist's head jerked back and forth from sister to redhead; the latter whom he noted no longer actually had a pigtail. In its place was a simple string tied ponytail of the same approximate length.

"Indeed, I thought he was fixated on another?" Kodachi questioned as if her brother wasn't less than a meter away and wondering just how his sister had involved herself with his love interest. His other love interest.

"Yeah, that was Tendo too." The martial artist shook her head in feigned disappointment.

"Truly?" The Black Rose's head jerked to stare at her brother as if she couldn't comprehend such an outcome. "How low are you willing to sink, brother of mine?"

"My sister! The pony tailed goddess!" Kodachi's elder brother finally managed a word in edgewise and used it to express his incredulity. "How should such a confluence of events transpire that thoust are acquainted?!"

"Well unlike you, Ko-chan here isn't a head-case," Ranma commented with an offhanded gesture towards her table partner who in turn nodded with the complement.

"Perhaps you should take the subtle hint, brother," Kodachi teased. "Ma-chan is not interested and you would do well not to pursue the low stock of the Tendo line. Surely the outcome of the match is enough to make you reconsider."

"Nay!" Tatewake declared, folding his arms. "Her loss at your hands merely confirms the preeminence of house Kuno!"

"Yeah, and the two timing thing?" Ranma inserted dryly, only to watch the upperclassmen pump his fist.

"If the heavens gift me with two such exquisite flowers, who am I to refuse their blessing!" With that proclamation, Kuno lunged again and received the remainder of the redhead's banana split in the face, sending him blindly tumbling to the tile floor as the parlor's customers watched.

Ranma shook her head with disappointment, glancing back to Kodachi as she got up out of her seat. "Mind if I kick your brother's ass now?"

"As long as you do no lasting harm," She nodded and the popping of her friend's knuckles met her ear. "He is family after all."

Ranma smirked back. "I'll be real gentle."

---

For Ranma Saotome, currently female heir to the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts, a dojo had one purpose and one purpose only: It was a structure one used for the betterment of the art. As such, anytime one found Ranma in a dojo, he- in this case she -was usually engaged in some martial arts related activity. Katas, kicks, punches or the occasional smack down between her and her father were all within the realm of possibility, but there was one that Ranma found herself rarely engaged in...

...Silent introspection.

The black haired boy or redheaded girl was rarely seen to be stationary within the confines of the dojo and rarely staring at the tatame in thoughtful contemplation. This evening as the sun set unseen beyond the walls of the Tendo dojo, one would happen upon this rare event if they were they present; but nobody was. Ranma was alone with only her thoughts for company and those weighty thoughts were dominated by a single question.

"Would you like to be friends?"

Ranma let her eyes wander around the dojo without really seeing. The martial artist indeed would have liked to been friends simply because she had seen so few of them in her life. Of course, she had known a few here and there, but those potential relationships had always been cut short by life. Heand his father were always on the move and whatever acquaintances she made were invariably thrown to the wind within weeks, or if she was lucky, months down the road when it was time to leave.

Again.

'Ucc-chan,'The hazy memory floated to the surface, causing Ranma a twinge of remorse. He had been yet another casualty on the long road to martial arts mastery like many others. Ryoga, until recently, had been another. Ranma sighed to herself as the question dominated his thoughts yet again.

"Would you like to be friends?"

This time it took on a distinctly feminine tone, one reproduced directly from memory. The vision of a friendly smile accompanied it, causing a corresponding frown from Ranma. Akane had offered and she had been quick to accept. Friendship was precious. Rare. Fragile. The latter was a lesson learned over countless breaks on the road, but Akane was the first to purposely take a ball peen hammer to it.

Ranma produce a derisive snort with the memory. It wasn't as if she was a girl after all. She wouldn't go crying to momma because Tendo wasn't playing nice. She didn't need the girl's friendship, or anybody else's' for that matter. Friendship had always taken a backseat to the Art and Akane Tendo had shown her there was no reason to deviate from that pattern. Friendship was just another painful distraction on a long, literal road of disappointment.

"Would you like to be friends?"

And yet, maybe... Just maybe it was still possible from the very person that hadn't asked. Somehow it had just happened. A back lot fight. A limo ride. The massage. A gymnastics brawl. A banana split. None of it had been asked for by either participant but somehow the question had been answered by a name like the one she had so long ago as a child.

"Ma-chan?" Ranma mouthed softly, feeling out the new nickname for herself. It had a slightly humorous ring to it, one that only friends would share. There was, of course, a huge, potentially fatal fracture in that friendship and it went by the name of Jusenkyo. It had killed anything she felt for the seemingly cute girl known as Akane Tendo and eventually this fledgling friendship with Kodachi would endure the same test. Would it die off in the same violent manner?

'Probably,' Ranma thought dolefully, yet there was a spark of hope that persisted in spite of the odds. A friend. A real friend. One she wouldn't leave a few months down the road or whenever her old man found it convenient. She thought solemnly on the matter, indulging in a fraction of self-pity whether she realized it or not. For now, there was no male Ranma Saotome. There wouldn't be one for some time. For now she was just a girl...

...with a friend?

Of course, she'd have to tell Kodachi sooner than later. The longer she let the curse remain a secret, the harder it would be on her later. Akane had actually done her a favor by showing her true self so quickly. It made for a clean break even if the girl's temper was anything but 'clean'. She'd best handle Kodachi the same-

The scrape of the dojo door opening drew Ranma's attention to another Tendo entering. Ranma watched Nabiki merely loiter in the doorway with a dour expression on her face, staring at her person as if the act were likely to instill fear into her heart somehow. Ranma simply stared back and after several minutes of standoff, Nabiki finally spoke.

"You owe me, Saotome."

"And how do you figure that?" Ranma arched a red eyebrow, not seeing rhyme or reason to her declaration.

"My sister lost to Kodachi and I lost big because of you." She began ticking the points off on her fingers, as if adding damning evidence to a case. "You said she was going to win, so I'm going to make sure you make up for the loss."

The snort of laugher surprised her.

"Are you kidding? Akane never had a chance!" Ranma was beside herself with what Nabiki had just proposed. "Your sister should have never written checks her ass couldn't cash and neither should you."

"But you said it was in the bag, Saotome!" Nabiki stomped, her temper rising at the boy-girl's flippant attitude.

"It was," The redhead shrugged, suddenly realizing the thrust of her questioning early in the day. Ranma was happy to clarify her statement with an arrogant smirk. "It was in Ko-chan's bag. Don't blame me for the corners you cut."

"Listen you martial arts jock, I... I..." Nabiki's fury suddenly sputtered as a key piece of information was plucked from the girl's last sentence. It left her blinking at Ranma. "What do you mean, Ko-chan?"

"Go pump somebody else for information, Tendo," Ranma's patience with the girl expired and she brushed past her since she obviously wasn't going to move out of the dojo's only exit. "'Cuz between your pictures and your sister's temper tantrums, I'm startin to get tired of the way the Tendos treat their 'guests'."

With that parting shot and the rough physical contact of her passing, the redhead was gone out into the fading dusk light, leaving her alone, mind whirling with what had just happened.

'Ko-chan.'

The familiarity of the title echoed through her brain like a gunshot. It implied things. Bad things. The first bad thing it implied was that they were friends on some level. 'Friends with a psychopath,' Nabiki amended as she recalled Kodachi's defining personality traits. Taken further, it meant that Ranma had access to wealth and influence, another bad thing if leveraged against her own activities.

Then there was the third bad thing, perhaps worse than the other two... She had been played. She had been fed bad information by a friend of the very person her sister was matched against; a person she obviously stood no chance of winning against. It was a fact that Nabiki probably would have uncovered for herself if she had dug any deeper, but she hadn't. She had been lazy. Not only that, but Saotome knew she it and used that weakness against her.

In short, she just got taken to school.

"Sonofabitch..." Nabiki murmured as the full import of Ranma's intentional blindside settled down around her. Part of her was furious for having lost so much money. The other part of Nabiki could only blame herself. She had tried to get something for nothing against somebody she had clearly underestimated. 'Martial Arts Jock my ass,'the Ice Queen revised bitterly. The boy or girl or whatever was definitely smarter than she looked and had connections with money; facts that forced a concerned Nabiki to revise her estimation of Ranma Saotome...

...Ranma Saotome was clearly somebody to watch out for.

---

Blood was something the martial arts prodigy known as Ranma Saotome was well familiar with and as such was more or less inured to its sight. She had trained hard over the last ten years; hard enough to see all manner of cuts, scrapes and open wounds. It was the proverbial price of doing business for a martial artist of her caliber, especial one trained by Genma Saotome, a man renowned for sloth and corner cutting. Injuries at the hand of such negligence were inevitable, but Ranma Saotome took them and the occasional bloodletting in stride.

Bloodletting from the crotch, on the other hand was a bit more disconcerting.

Even that wouldn't exactly be a precedent for the redhead now trudging grumpily down the hallway with a bed sheet in hand. Ordinarily she would chalk it up to hard exercise or a sucker punch from the old man, but this particular bout of bloodletting was different and all too familiar. If the squirming in her gut hadn't told her so, the feeling of nausea did, causing the martial artist let loose a mental shiver. The last time she had spent enough time as girl to endure that was back in China and she knew exactly what was causing it.

'Just can't catch a break in this house,'Ranma groused as she was forcibly reminded that she was spending way too much time as a girl. Once inside the bathroom she found the nearest tap and began to clean the sheet up, then discarded her own clothing to help herself. The cold water wasn't welcome, but it did help wash the sleep away. The uncomfortable squirming in her gut remained, however. Her mood soured as she finished up the cold rinse and proceeded to ring the sheet out.

Ranma ignored the off-pink water that dribbled out and tossed the damp linen toward the corner hamper. Ranma got up and found her clothes for the day and slid them on thoughtlessly as another portion of her mind dwelled on the broken inner workings of the Tendo household, irritating her further. It would unfortunately be irritation that Genma Saotome would receive in its fullest measure only minutes later as they confronted one another in the hall.

"Apologize?!" The bald father figure reeled against the measure of scorn in her voice as her tone picked up heat and intensity. "There ain't no goddamn way I'm apologizin' to Tendo!"

Genma tired to open his mouth to insert a word in edgewise, but she denied him outright. Her blue eyes flashed crystal death as she continued unabated, jabbing a thumb at her person angrily. "She lost the goddamn match, not me and she's got the nerve to mope around the place for the last week like it's somehow my fault?!"

The patriarch's mouth opened once more, but his son turned daughter was far from finished.

"Maybe if little miss prima donna can admit she ain't God's gift to martial arts," Ranma huffed, putting her hands on her hips definitely. "I mean seriously! This is the way they treat their guests? I'm still waitin' for my apology for all the crap she's been calling me from the moment I stepped foot in this place. Pervert this, deviant that! If that ain't enough, I got her sister sellin' candid photos of me and the eldest callin' me half-girl like I'm some sort of freak show! And you want me engaged to these people...?!"

Genma didn't even bother this time.

"Fat. Chance." The martial artist spat vehemently. "And what the hell is your problem anyway? You couldn't think of a better way to pull this stunt than springin' it all on us at the last minute? Real smooth, old man. Real smooth. Cuz if you can't find a dragon whisker soon, I think I'm gonna go out and look for one myself and I leave this bad idea way behind."

The elder martial artist stared at his panting neo-daughter carefully as if she were rabid and liable to bite again if provoked. After a few minutes of silence under her smoldering stare, he decided to carefully clarify his question.

"What's for breakfast again, boy?"

"Hmmf. Rice and miso," She answered gruffly, as if the question had offended her in some way. "Goin' out."

Genma Saotome wisely chose to just let her go, watching her round the corner and hearing the door slam seconds later. Normally he would have taken her to task for such backtalk but the situation scarily resembled those he had witnessed many times over... Just not in the last ten years.

Outside, Ranma Saotome breathed a sigh of relief upon leaving the confines of the Tendo household. It was somehow more stressful and claustrophobic than usual and just being out in the open air made a world of difference. She was just starting down the path leading off the property when a door closed behind her, followed by a presence joining her side. She glanced left and found Nabiki Tendo falling in step beside her.

"Didn't we go through this last week?" Ranma decided to preempt any monetary claim the Tendo was about to make since the offensive was hers for the taking. "I ain't feelin none too charitable right now, so why don't you go take your photo hobby somewhere else."

Nabiki continued to simply walk beside her until they had reached the courtyard gate where Ranma stopped, staring at Nabiki. "What?"

"Rough morning?" Nabiki simply asked and earned another penetrating stare. Deciding small talk would get her nowhere, she decided on a more direct tack. "I made a mistake last week."

"And I made a mistake three weeks ago," Ranma commented dryly and began walking again. They crossed out onto the public sidewalk and began to walk the block. Oddly enough, neither knew exactly where they were going.

Nabiki continued her study of the redhead, who in turn was doing her best to ignore her. She broke the ice once again. "I'd like to propose a truce."

A truce implied they were at war according to Ranma's world view, something that didn't to fit at first glance until she took a second, recalling her own frustrations with the plainly dysfunctional family as a whole. It wasn't quite a war but it was close. 'A cold war,' Ranma decided and finally acknowledged the Tendo's presence.

"Such as?"

"Professional courtesy, for starters," Nabiki offered now that the redhead wasn't completely closed to her presence. "Something I should have extended you last week. For that, I apologize."

Ranma gave the girl a searching look and wanted to accept the apology outright, but between her and her sister, it just wouldn't come out of her mouth like that. Instead, something else did. "I'll think about it."

The well had been poisoned enough to where Nabiki wasn't expecting much better, so she merely nodded. "I understand, of course. I would also like to extend an olive branch as it were in order to maintain a working relationship between us."

"And what's that?" The martial artist asked with only mild interest, as if her mind were somewhere else.

"I've taken care of the-"

"RANMA!" The accented female voice rang out to interrupt Nabiki and she was just looking around to find its source when Ranma yanked her back hard as a large plate metal ball landed where she had just been about to step. Concrete shattered with the impact, but it was the second metal ball arcing horizontally for her head that occupied the majority of the Tendo's attention.

Where she was frozen in shock, the martial artist at her side was not. Ranma ducked under its arc, pivoting up on one foot and using the other leg to snap the chui's neck. The ball tumbled harmlessly away and when Nabiki had finally recovered her wits she found the redhead facing off again a girl. 'Chinese,' She wondered at the features and the silk clothing. Her elaborate lavender hair swayed with the light breeze, but for all her exotic beauty, she did not look happy. At all.

"Shampoo?!" Ranma exclaimed, pointing at the girl wildly. "Just what are you doing in Japan, anyway?!"

Chinese girl. Ranma wears Chinese clothing. Spent more than two years in china. 'Jilted love interest?' Nabiki speculated. It was speculation she would have to revise with the girl's next words.

"I KILL!" Shampoo discarded the broken shaft of her second chui and lunged at Ranma with the first. On any other day, the redhead might have distracted the homicidal Amazon and simply ran off like countless times before. After all, any stand up duel would mean stopping the girl in some permanent way since she didn't play nice. She played with swords, spears and bone crushing spheres of death. Today, however, Ranma wasn't in the mood for it.

"I ain't in the mood for it today, Shampoo!" One such sphere blew by the side of her head, kicking up her ponytail with the wind and she truly wasn't in the mood for 'it' or the spears or the swords. Not only was she up to her eyeballs in curses and Tendos, Ranma had now been a girl for over three weeks straight thanks to the latter.

To say her female biology was finally taking its toll on her was a vast understatement.

Ranma profiled left and evaded another strike, then stepped nimbly back out of the foot sweep that followed. The redhead's mood worsened. "I'm warnin' ya..."

Her warning went unheeded as the lavender haired Chinese girl pressed her attack. Ranma neatly evaded another combination, prompting a third when her patience finally expired. Ranma met the next chui swipe head on, stopping its forward momentum with a single hand and a dire glare.

"You're the only person..." She then gripped the ball with her other hand and literally yanked it out of Shampoo's grasp. "...I just can't..." Sufficiently disarmed, the irate girl threw the metal sphere to the earth and stomped hard, imploding the weapon outright in an amazing display of strength. "...Deal with!"

Ranma pulled her foot out of the destroyed weapon and kicked it off to the side as if it were little more than a broken toy. Shampoo stood fast against the redhead's now boiling temper. "Y'know, I let somebody else run around and obsess over revenge for a while when I shoulda just kicked their ass in the first place... so better late than never, right?"

Shampoo's answer was a sword that tore across the intervening space in a swipe that would have ventilated the Saotome's neck if it had connected. Ranma leaned back, letting it pass mere centimeters away before charging in as it passed. The hilt fell from her hands only seconds after deploying the weapon as Ranma chopped at her wrist and executed a reverse spin to evade the knife she had pulled with her right hand.

Shampoo was caught completely flat-footed in that moment as the redhead had never actively sought to engage her. Disarm, evade and run like a coward had always been the foreigners' tactical doctrine up until now; a tactical doctrine she had apparently chosen to abandon. It also left the lavender haired Amazon completely unprepared and by the time the Amazon had realized her miss, Ranma's leg had completed its rotation to line up perfectly with Shampoo's kneecap. To her credit, the girl merely grunted her pain at its displacement, though it merely paved the way for more pain. With the Amazon's guard terminally compromised, Ranma was allowed unrestricted access to her inner body and continued the tour of punishment, blindsiding her with an untraceable barrage of rapid fire strikes that seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere.

Ten seconds later the bruised and bloodied girl staggered back in a daze on one functional leg, no longer completely coherent of her target. Ranma simply folded her arms and watched the girl stagger for another moment before consciousness fled the girl completely.

Shampoo took a dirt nap.

Nabiki had watched the entire scene in simultaneous thrill and terror. This was the real thing, not Akane's morning brawls with the Furikan boys. This new girl had been out to kill, and would have happily taken her out if it meant getting to Ranma faster. Ranma in turn had played with her for a little bit then dropped the Chinese girl like a bag of rice. Even now she watched as the redhead picked up the Amazon's sword and spun it around as if to test the balance. Nabiki's alarm only increased when she started to move toward the unconscious girl.

"Uh, Ranma, what... what are you doing?" She questioned weakly. Half of her wanted to go over and delay the girl since it looked she was going to finish this Shampoo girl off like old samurai movie. The other part of her simply wouldn't move. Instead, she merely reached out with her hand, as if she would somehow stop the redhead across the intervening ten meters of space.

Ranma ignored or perhaps didn't even hear the middle Tendo's missive and instead stood above the unconscious Amazon for a moment before angling the xian point first at the girl's head, then buried it. Nabiki realized her choked scream was quite unnecessary seconds later as the martial artist walked away: The blade was now standing edge on just to the right of the girl's head; a quarter of its length imbedded in dirt, not flesh.

'That's one stone cold bitch,' Nabiki shivered as the redhead walked off, leaving both Tendo and Amazon behind.

---

Ranma studied the crumpled napkin in hand once more, trying to fix her present location with that listed on the scrap she had unfolded. A quick glance around easily indicated she had moved from the average income spectrum of prefecture to the above middle class. She looked down her direction of travel and the increasingly expensive houses to the left and right assuring her that the trend of affluence would only continue upward as she walked.

Five minutes and a left turn onto the street indicated on her paper only confirmed the fact. The houses had turned from modest flats that subtly advertised their owner's wealth to monolithic, gated mansions promising any passerby that the residence had more money than God.

'Feel underdressed just walkin the sidewalks,' She thought self consciously. On the streets the traffic had thinned and those automobiles that did pass on occasion were invariably the luxury sort. Porche. BMW. 'Don't even know what kind that is,' Ranma paid the high end mode of transportation another moment's worth of attention before continuing on down the sidewalk. Finding the Kuno residence was ultimately much easier than she thought, as indicated by the giant gold 'K' set upon a pair of overly large iron gates whose bars had been twisted into intricate curves and scrolling. Ranma stared at the double gates, then at the innocuous little black box to the right.

After some study, Ranma pressed the green button hesitantly and it chirped politely back. The speaker within hissed and she leaned down toward it, speaking. "Ah, hello?"

Silence met her efforts and this time she pressed the red button. Electronic tones set to 'Mary had a little Lamb' began to play, prompting Ranma's brow to scrunch up in frustration. The chime finished seconds later and the redhead shrugged, abandoning any further attempt to manipulate the intercom. Instead, she hopped the fence, landing atop the block wall bracing the gates to have a look at the interior. What she found was a veritable park of trees, grass and flowers flanking the roadway leading up to the mansion itself. Ranma gave the curving roadway a quick glance before settling on a more direct route through the property itself. She hopped off the wall and walked, admiring the well kept greenery... at least until her foot snagged on spider web thin wire along her path of travel.

While the redhead hadn't registered its sight, she felt its tension and in turn the heard the audible click that accompanied it. Memories cascaded and experiences recalled similar circumstances from her days on the road with her father. Ranma's eyes widened with alarm and she ducked low in a blur even as the whistle of wind met her ears. She rolled out as four steel lengths flashed over her now prone person, thunking into a nearby mass. The martial artist flipped back up and found the thick steel senbon imbedded in a tree to her right, then eyed the branch spring launcher to her left with a raised eyebrow.

'Well that was fun,' She shook her head, resolving to be more aware of the path she had chosen. Ranma continued on along her way, picking through the underbrush warily. No trip wires were sighted and she breathed a sigh of relief. Ten steps later, that sigh of relief gave way to adrenaline fueled terror as the ground on both sides of the redhead erupted. Two giant planks replete with spikes exploded from the grass on either side, closing like a pair of jaws on her.

"What the hell?!" She balked and leapt upward in the half second she had to act before the plank trap crushed her wholesale. Her jump angled toward the left plank and she used one of the protruding spikes as a springboard to propel her up and over just as the mechanism snapped shut.

CRACK!

Ranma landed and felt the ground give way instantly.

'PIT!' Her intellect screamed and clawed for the edge even as the earth beneath her gave way, falling into an array of sharpened bamboo spikes. She pushed off even as the sun was blotted out and the second part of the trap was sprung. A giant rock fell even has she hit the opposite side of the pit's wall, bouncing out of it and narrowly missing entombment as the round boulder rolled down to seal the hole with a loud crunch.

The martial artist landed in a low, flattened crouch, senses fully primed for whatever would come next. She had managed to clear the heavier growth and now stood on flat, well manicured grass with little in the way of concealment for any further traps. She held her guard for another moment then sighed relief, returning to height.

'Some security system they got here,' Ranma sighed and continued along the open grass as it wound along a small, pristine lake. Even as she marveled at the destruction behind her she smiled. 'Good practice though.'

A small school of koi noted her presence along the water's edge and began to follow her, seemingly expecting food. Ranma chuckled at the colorful fish, almost wishing she had something to feed them. She paused to admire the lake and suddenly the fish scattered. Ranma blinked and almost didn't see the shadow in the deeper water until the very last moment.

"GRRRAAA!"

It was green. It was huge. It was a giant crocodile and it was looking to make a martial arts snack out of Ranma. The water erupted in a geyser as rows of sharp teeth exploded from the pond. The stunned martial artist could only gape as the reptile bore down on her, then finally dodged left in a last minute save as the alligator with dark green stripes wallowed ashore, tracking it's prey. It hissed menacingly, snapping its jaws and Ranma gave ground; if only to give herself more options for when hostilities renewed. The redhead eyed the silver plated collar bearing a little kitty sticker.

"Mister Turtle, huh?" Ranma smirked, reading the name plate and remembering her conversation with Kodachi. Slitted eyes tracked her as she cracked her knuckles. "Thinkin' Ko-chan might be sore if I busted up her pet, so you best you hop back in the pond."

A rumbling hiss met her advisement and the crocodile held its ground. Ranma shrugged. "Don't say I didn't-"

Whip-SNAP!

"Bad Mister Turtle!" The black blur of a gymnastics ribbon cracked against the reptile's snout, causing it to flinch. It hissed with the pain and turned back toward its newest potential meal. Mister Turtle eyed Kodachi Kuno with a tilted head, as if considering her position on the food chain when the girl made her next demand. "Back to the pond! Shoo! Shoo!"

Ranma watched as the crocodile's massive head seemed to swing indecisively between her and the girl in the white sleeveless blouse and black knee length dress until said girl pulled out a small black box and flipped a clear plastic lid open to reveal a small red button. She eyed her pet with a no-nonsense look. "Back into the pond with you Mister Turtle, or this encounter shall become unpleasant."

Another throaty hiss emanated from the bowels of the reptile. It snapped its jaws in challenge but gave ground, wallowing back along the bank before sliding into the water. Ranma watched the shadow sink into the depths then looked over at Kodachi with an arched brow.

"Mister Turtle, huh?"

Kodachi smiled for her guest. "Acquired during my childhood. I wanted a turtle, but my father thought a Nile Crocodile would be a more exotic pet. I'm sure you can understand my initial lack of enthusiasm."

"I'm thinkin' your dad's nuts." Ranma rolled her eyes and walked over to join Kodachi. "Ain't sure which is worse: Throwin' your kid into a pit to be eaten by starving cats or buyin' your kid a pet that will eventually eat you."

"Indeed," Kodachi replied in a dry tone, empathizing with her friend. "Mister Turtle started out small but quickly outgrew his couch beneath my bed. Needless to say studying homework with him on the loose was hardly dull."

"Can't imagine why," Ranma sniffed with knowing humor. The pair crossed over a bridge and proceed into the mansion. Finally having a clear view and not dodging booby traps and reptiles alike, Ranma studied the lines of the Kuno Estate. The architecture was classic; so classic that it looked to have come straight out of old Edo. She pulled her attention away from the building and back to the girl leading her. "Hope I ain't interrupting. You mentioned Saturdays were good."

"Nonsense." Kodachi waved her concern away. "I shall simply have one of the servants tend to the garden while we occupy our time with more important activities."

"What did you have in mind?" Ranma cocked her head curiously and the Kuno sibling smiled back.

"You mentioned interest in my Blow of a Thousand Hands technique?" Kodachi slid open a door and stepped into an alcove that would lead deeper into her residence. The black haired girl slipped off her heels and Ranma followed suit with her own Chinese slippers. Kodachi glanced back to her friend. "And perhaps introduce you to some of the more specialized tools of the art while we're at it."

"I'm thinkin' you read my mind," Ranma grinned and followed her deeper into the house. Sculptures and artwork adorned the various rooms and hallways they navigated while servants in classic black and white uniforms bowed at their passage. If the neighborhood and courtyard hadn't made it clear to the redhead, the mansion itself did: The Kunos were filthy rich.

Kodachi paused beside a maid with honey blond hair who in turn dipped into a low bow. "Mistress Kuno?"

"We will require use of the gym, Ariel-chan," The black haired teen advised easily. "Please ensure its readiness."

"Of course, Mistress," The maid bowed once more and turned away, beckoning another maid over to relay the request.

With the order dispatched, Kodachi continued back toward her destination, smiling easily back at Ranma. "Come. We'll change in my room, Ma-chan."

Ranma blinked as her thought process encountered its first hurdle since arriving. "Change?"

"You brought no exercise garments of your own," Her friend explained patiently. "Fear not, however. I have a closet full of leotards that you may choose from."

"Ah, heh," Ranma's mouth was suddenly dry. She fingered her own Chinese mao shirt to make her case. "You know I can practice just fine in this."

"Nonsense," Kodachi remarked, failing to notice her partner's trepidation. "Proper form follows proper attire."

"Right," Ranma murmured, not so much agreeing with the girl as unwilling to rock the boat of their fledgling relationship. Twenty minutes later it was a moot point either way. Ranma Saotome had been cajoled into wearing a purple leotard with a green vine lattice winding up her left breast and down the arm while Kodachi stood opposite of her in a dark emerald green leotard pattern with roses up and down the torso. Part of Ranma had to balk at the outfit on principle since it was about as feminine as one could get, while the other had to admit it was functionally perfect for the practice they were about to engage in. She stretched and flexed restlessly, testing the range of the new garment as Kodachi collected their tools.

In the end, the pros outweighed the cons. It wasn't as if anybody else was there to witness the act and a new technique was always worth and exception or two in Ranma's mind. Finally there was Kodachi herself who seemed to actually enjoy picking out a leotard for her. If the technique wasn't worth the exception, her new friend was and the redhead simply grinned and bore it like the martial artist she was.

Ranma put the annoyance out of her mind and instead concentrated on her surroundings. Like everything else in the mansion, Kodachi's own private gym was absolutely huge; at least twice the size of the Tendo dojo itself and equipped with everything an aspiring gymnast could hope for. Some of that equipment was in Kodachi's hands and the martial artist watched as she handled six throwing pins.

"Multitasking is absolutely vital to mastering the Blow of a Thousand Hands," Kodachi began her instruction by tossing several pins into the air to juggle them in a low arc. Once the six were airborne, she turned back to the redhead, juggling the pins on automation. "Not only is it necessary to keep all of your pins in rotation, but simultaneously strike your opponent as well to saturate their defenses."

Ranma's eyes followed the pins through their arcs as the gymnast juggled them nimbly. After studying her activities for another moment, the redhead shrugged and picked up her own pins and began juggling them with the same ease. "Ain't so hard."

"Now strike," Kodachi nodded and demonstrated, snatching a pin from its rotation to be thrust out before her then threw it back up into its holding pattern. She watched Ranma easily pluck her own pin out of the air and duplicate the motion. The Kuno sibling smiled. "This time two pins."

The girls repeated the process together and Kodachi steadily upped the difficulty, adding three, then four pins. By six, Ranma's coordination began to falter. The grimacing redhead was still able to maintain the technique and deploy the attacks in a blur, but she was straining to the pins in the air, let alone maintain Kodachi's graceful speed. The gymnast watched with an appraising eye and tossed another pin into Ranma's rotation for a total of seven, watching her friend scramble to integrate it into the pattern and maintain her attacks. Pin number eight was where it all fell apart for the martial artist as she simply couldn't maintain the attacks or the juggling. One pin tumbled out of formation instigating a cascading failure that sent every last one of the gymnastics implements clattering down around the cringing girl.

The only pin that hadn't hit the ground was the one immediately in hand and Ranma stared at the rolling pins around her in dismay. "Well that sucks."

"Do not sell youself short, Ma-chan," Kodachi produced a friendly smile as the girl gathered her pins back in hand. "That was actually three better than I thought you would achieve."

"Ain't good enough," Ranma huffed and began to toss the pins airborne again with determination. "One more time, Ko-chan!"

All told, Ranma's one more time would last another six more times as the girl ruthlessly attempted to conquer the technique while Kodachi supervised with no small amount of admirations at the girl's work ethic. Yes, Ranma knew she could obtain superior speed with one or two pins in hand and to hand melee, but this technique had its own advantages and was pressing her skill. By round six she had nine pins tumbling through the air at respectable speeds. They still weren't nearly as gracefully employed as Kodachi who was juggling next to her in tandem, but she was getting-

"MY FIERY GODDESS!"

The martial artist twitched with the all too familiar voice and nine pins fell from the air. Ranma whirled on the source her eyes flashing angrily even as they bounced around her. "DAMMIT KUNO! I was almost on my tenth pin!"

"As soon as the arrival of your presence was related to my person I had to come!" The upperclassman effused, stepping briskly across the mat with outstretched arms. "Let me show how much I have missed thy!"

Whip-SNAP!

Tatewaki leapt back with wide eyes as a black ribbon snapped at his feet. He traced the ribbon's curvature back to its source: His sister. The upper classman's eyes narrowed. "Why do you seek to stay my passion, sister of mine?"

"I would think it is obvious that Ma-chan does not seek your favor," Kodachi stepped around the redhead, coiling the ribbon through air like a serpent. "And you have interrupted our practice with your incessant prattle."

"Stand aside so that I may console my crimson maiden," the kendoist folded his arms imperviously. "If I have intruded I shall thus make amends with a kiss!"

"My ass you will," Ranma rolled her eyes, then glanced over to her sister in arms. "Can I borrow the ribbon there?"

"Of course," Kodachi politely handed the implement over and Ranma began to coil it through the air herself.

"Figure if you're gonna show me a technique, I'd show you one too," She commented absently. "Got the idea for this one while you were mopping the floor with Akane."

"Oh?" The sister cocked her head, watching as the girl turned back toward her brother.

SNAP!

"Come to me, my- YOW!" The strike was a black blur that found Tatewake Kuno somewhere on the upper thigh of his left leg. Nothing seemed to happen beyond the pain and Ranma cocked her head in contemplation for a moment before employing the ribbon again with more force. This time Kuno stumbled and fell to the floor without feeling in his leg. He tried to struggle back up on his good leg when another lightning snap found his right leg. Tatewake flopped over on his side with another yelp, blinking. "What...what sorcery is this!?"

"Pressure points." Ramna commented for Kodachi's benefit, whose mouth was formed into an impressed 'oh'. "Normally you use 'em in hand to hand, but no reason you can't use a ribbon if you got enough accuracy. Didn't use enough snap the first time, looks like."

The black haired girl nodded with admiring appraisal, studying the results for herself while her own brother flopped impotently on the floor. She glanced back to Ranma curiously. "And you can use this on any body part?"

"This is my first time testin' it, but don't see why not," Ranma shrugged, handing the gymnastics ribbon back to her black haired companion as she elaborated. "Hands, legs, a few points that will drop 'em like a bag of rice."

The gleam in Kodachi's eye was readily apparent and Ranma could all but see the girl imagining the technique's practical application just as she had with the Blow of a Thousand Hands. "I don't suppose..."

"Duh, what are friends for?" Ranma didn't even let Kodachi finish, effecting an exaggerated roll of her eyes as she went all in with the interpersonal gambit. It was a gambit that paid off with an immediate smile.

"Of course," Kodachi nodded demurely, nearly as relieved as Ranma that the redhead had all but removed any remaining guesswork from whatever their association had become. She motioned grandiosely toward the gym exit. "Shall we depart? Brother appears to have more need of the gym than we."

"We shall," Ranma grinned, stepping lightly toward the sliding door past Tatewake. The pair of girls ignored the floundering brother and departed the private gymnasium, sealing him inside.

Kodachi took the lead, directing the redhead down another well decorated hallway. "We shall refresh ourselves. A hot soak will undoubtedly do us a world of good." It took another ten steps before she realized Ranma had stopped. She turned to find her friend's already porcelain skin paler, her eyes wide with alarm. Kodachi rejoined her friend slowly. "Ma-chan?"

The girl blinked as if Kodachi's words had broken a trance. The look of apprehension remained, however. "Ah... it's... ah, I can't..."

"Can't... use the furoh?" The black haired gymnast probed, attempting to ascertain the source of Ranma's consternation.

"Ah, I'm allergic to... I mean... I have an injury... I got a..." The martial artist stumbled as Kodachi waited patiently through Ranma's backtracking until she finally gave up with a labored sigh. "Ah, the hell with it."

Kodachi waited beside her with a concerned look and Ranma knew in that moment she would have to face the music. She took a deep breath and squared up her shoulders, looking Kodachi in the eye and asked in all seriousness.

"Ko-chan... Do you believe in magic?"

---

Author's Notes: So I cheated a bit with this chapter. Truthfully I had over 27kw in this fic before it started to get out of hand in terms of editing, so I split it into two chunks to keep it manageable. As such, Chapter 3 will probably be a bit longer in the making as I work it into my normal rotation. Hope you're enjoying it so far :D

Golden Pair; You've probably noticed by this point that I've skipped the Ice Skating Challenge entirely. While I probably could have contrived events to make it happen, consider that there is no love lost between Ranma and Akane, no P-Chan to get worked up over and thus no reason to even initiate the encounter. I may take the suggestion to work it in from a different angle, but the events will be completely different.

Timeframes, Take 2; I'd like to say just sit back and roll with this one, but apparently that simply isn't an option. First, the same disclaimer gave in the previous ANs- I know Ranma 1/2 timeline is screwy. I've merely chosen this route on a whim. That said, lets nitpick this bitch to death :D

So far every translation I've checked concerning the frame in question (Book 15, Ch 10, Pg 1; The Whisker's Secret) all translate out to a multiple of years, be it ambiguous or a specific number of years, but always more than one. While I've been unable to locate a direct Japanese copy (I used to own all 38 original books myself), this single frame cannot be that hard to translate and multiple sources collaborate the same approximate translation: Years in plural. Slade says: "'Several years' in English may mean more than two but as a translation of the Japanese phrase "Suu nen" it means more than one but fewer than ten years."

Unless somebody can find something to contradict the multiple sources, I'm taking the translations at face value.

The second criticism brought to my attention was that this timeframe doesn't mesh with other Ranma canon information, specifically Ranma and Ryoga's time in school together. If you go by the anime, that was Junior High. If you go by the manga, it was High School. Tackling High School first, it doesn't seem likely that Ranma transferred high schools and came from China when his age is only 15 years old at day zero. Ranma is either a child prodigy (fic material in and of itself) or this is a cultural error, probably meaning Junior High to begin with.

That leaves us with Junior High as the deal breaker... But not really. For Junior High to invalidate this timeline, Ranma would have to attend all four years of it. Conveniently, the duration of his schooling is never specified. In fact, Ranma could have attended only his first or second year of junior high with Ryoga before being pulled away China by Genma, which I might add is entirely plausible and in character given what we know of the man.

Finally, we again have evidence that his travels are broader than the scope of generally accepted canon. Three words: Girl-Away Packet. What's the point? Well, none really beyond addressing some concerns and illustrating that Ranma 1/2 canon gives people a lot more flexibility than they generally realize.

Special thanks; Everybody in chapter one and Dumbledork. Thanks Peeps!

Represent; And that, Ryvaken, is how its done.