Devils Child

by chikane-chan

The devil is sick of Ranma evading him, and he creates a clone of Ranma's girl side to frame him. But things don't go as he planned as the girl breaks away from his control. Ranma gains a sister from the after math, that sticks by his side and there for him and his mother. As well as the usual cast here and there and some other oc's and appearances from some lesser characters.

35. Chapter 35

Chapter 35: Strung along

The days went by until it was the day of the challenge, and the time of the challenge quickly approaching. Ranma had discussed with Ranka before, about how he didn't want want her doing the challenge and had gotten her to agree to let him take care of it. They kept that to themselves, with Nodoka and Ryouga being oblivious. Nodoka was busy fussing over them as they all arrived to the school, before she went off to go get a good seat.

After making sure Ryouga got to where he was supposed to go, Ranma went off to the bathroom and changed into his girl form, before going off with Ranka to the dressing room. Ranma-chan groaned at the skimpy outfit, but shook her head and pulled through it, as she also fixed her hair up into a pony tail to mimic Ranka. Ranka had a few things on her mind about the plan. " Don't you think Ryouga will know it's you." Ranma-chan huffed. " Oh well, he'll just have to deal with it." Ranka had her hand to her face. " And do you think mom will just deal with it, too then?" Ranma-chan sweat dropped at hearing that. " If she doesn't know, she won't have to, right." Ranka shrugged her shoulders.

Soon the time to appear had arrived, as the golden pair, Mikado Sanzenin and Azusa Shiratori skated out onto the ice rink, with their fan factions cheering them on, as the announcer announced them. Then it was Ryouga and Ranma-chan's turn as they skated out and were announced as well. Both skating partners met up on the ice. Ranma-chan tightened her fist. " Let's get this over with." She glared daggers at Mikado. Mikado laughed at her, making her taken back a bit at his response. He shook his head at the girl before him. "I'm afraid we can go no further." Ranma-chan gritted her teeth. " What do you mean by that, you jerk! You're the one who challenged me to this dumb match." Ryouga sweat dropped looking dumb, not understanding what was going on. Mikado pushed his hair back suavely as he pointed at Ranma-chan. " Because you are not the same girl that I promised to take as my prize." Ranma-chan growled at him. " Of course I am, are you blind?!" Mikado laughed a bit. " You may be able to fool most, but I have a keen eye, I notice things. Like your hair isn't as smooth as "hers" and you're not wearing a necklace." Ryouga blinked as he looked at the red head before him, as he got frustrated. " Ranma! I can't believe you!" Ranma-chan waved her hands about. " Shut up, let's just get this over with." Ryouga whacked her over the head. " Like hell I am!"

Nodoka had disappeared from the crowd as she had heard the commution. Azusa shook her head and her finger at Ranma-chan, imitating Mikado, then sticking her tongue out behind him, while he was busy. Mikado glared at Ryouga. " Didn't your mother teach you how to treat women? Anyways.." Now that he knew the name of the girl he was after, he shouted towards the sideline. " Ranka Saotome, if you don't show, then the match is mine by default!" Ranma-chan tried to protest, but eeped at hearing her very angry mother behind her. " RANMA! I cannot believe you.." She grabbed her by her hand and pulled her off from the ice rink with her, Ranma-chan was too anxious to say anything. " If you want to ice skate so badly, I will see to it, but you will not steal you're sisters spotlight."

Ranka sweat dropped from the side area where the back rooms were at seeing Ranma get dragged off by their mom and groaned at hearing Mikado call her out, but that's how it had to be, Ranma's plan had failed and she had to defend herself. She stepped out with her arms crossed. " I heard YOU the first time!" Mikado smirked in satisfaction as he called for a time out.

During which time Nodoka had Ranma go get changed back and had him join her in the audience. Once the time out was over, Ranka came out dressed in a light blue long sleeved and skirted ice skating outfit, with her hair her usual pony tail, with a light blue bow in it as she joined up with Ryouga, looking flustered. Mikado took notice that she was wearing the same red gem necklace from the last two times he had seen her, knowing he had the right girl for sure. " So I see, you're twins." He said referring to her and Ranma-chan. " That's not enough to fool me though and I intend to have that kiss." Ranka wrinkled her nose up at him. " The only thing you'll be getting is my fist, to your face." Ryouga shook his head as he snapped out of his daze, being stuck on Ranka's outfit. " And mine too!" Mikado smirked back. " We shall see, prepare yourself." He and Azusa skated away from them as they gained speed up.

Ryouga glared at them, especially Mikado. Him and Ranka had gone over their plan of attack, during the days of practice. Even though she hadn't experienced a challenge from the Golden Pair psychically like Ranma had, she had the memories and knew what moves they would likely use. They joined hands which made Ryouga blush, as they started skating and gaining speed, where he took her by both her hands as he lifted her up off the ice and swung her body at their challengers as she kicked her leg out at Mikado.

He stopped the attack after as he set her back down, as they still held hands and gained speed as they glided on the ice, before letting go of each other hands and skating off into opposite directions. This move confused their opponents some. Nodoka beamed from the audience as she watched intently, she tried to ignore the fighting part, taking in the elegant and graceful ness of ice skating. Ranma looked annoyed, as he didn't like Ryouga being so close to his sister. Akane was also there as well as others as they all watched on intently.

Ranka and Ryouga came from opposite sides as they sped by and landed some punches at the same time, to Mikado's side on each side, making him stagger some. Azusa glided on her skates with speed as she went to target Ryouga, as she jumped up into the air, only to get kicked away by Ranka. Her eyes went wide as she jumped back just in the knick of time, only getting grazed, but she blinked in disbelief, that her attack to blind side the other for their " couple clever" move was blocked. Mikado was making his move as he skated with speed towards Ranka, who slid down on the ice, sticking her leg out, as it connected with his foot, making him fall over face first on the ice. Ryouga skated over and pulled her up by her hands. Azusa launched herself with her leg out in mid air at them, making them let go of each other's hands as they both took a soft fall on their butts to the ice.

Nodoka put her hand to her mouth. "Oh dear.. less then a week of practice is just enough for basics.." Akane had a dull look on her face as she looked over at Ranma. " Still better then someone." Ranma gave her an annoyed look. Back on the rink Azusa was laughing and pointing at them. After both sides were back up, they were planning their next move. Mikado and Azusa tried to make another move, as Azusa skated towards Ryouga, before sliding with her foot out and knocking him off his feet. Mikado tried to make the same move on Ranka, that he had on Akane, but she was too quick as she avoided his move. He pushed his hair back as he hehed. " Playing hard to get, are we?" Ranka glared daggers at him as he kept her from getting over to Ryouga. She skated around in circles, which distracted Mikado as he laughed, until he spotted that she had glided towards him and punched him in his side, before then skating around him in a circle, as she gained speed, going around him like a merry go round, giving him a punch to multiple area's. No longer finding it as something that was cute and silly, he dropped to his knee's at how strong the punches had been.

Ranka then skated over to where Ryouga was, first skating around Azusa a few times. Azusa's eyes started to spin. " What are you doing to poor little Azusa.." Ranka gave her an evil smirk as she connected a softer but still strong punch to her side, making Azusa hold her side as she pouted. " No fair!" Her fan boys in the crowd were shouting in anger. Ranka had a cold look on her face as she skated back over to Ryouga, and helped him up. " All's fair in anything goes." Nodoka shook her head with her hand to her head in the audience.

Azusa whined and pouted as she skated off really fast, getting off the rink and running off to the back room crying. The announcer announced that the Golden Pair had forfeited the match. Mikado groaned and grumbled as he staggered to his feet. " That little brat.." Ranka gave him a colder look. " Guess you're not getting you're way, huh pervert." Mikado hehed at her. " This doesn't mean I've given up and my you're a vicious one." He said as he referring to how she went after Azusa with no mercy. Ryouga growled at him. " You lost, so stay away from Ranka!" Mikado laughed at him, as he skated off, taking his defeat as the announcer announced the Furikan side as the winners once again. The only ones cheering were from Furikan of course.

After getting off the ice and on the side lines, Nodoka was waiting. While she congratulated Ranka she also let her know she didn't approve of her methods. " Ranka dear, that was a bit much." Ranka sighed. " It was a challenge." Ranma nodded in agreement. Nodoka sighed back. " We'll meet outside after you get changed, and WE have a lot to talk about when we get home." She said referring to both the siblings. Ranka sweat dropped as she nodded and went off to the back room area to go do so.

Once she gotten changed, she went outside only to get surrounded by a group of girls from Furikan. Thrista was one of them as they all chattered on. "You were fantastic, Ranka!" One of the random girls. " Though if it had been me, I would've just lost." Ranka gave her a weird look. The others all carried on, till they noticed a bunch of gangs walking towards them, which sent them running off. The blonde haired girl known as Chriss came out from the flood of punks, as she smirked at Ranka. " Long time no see "red hot." Ranka sweat dropped at the giant group, that looked like a sea that could swallow you up. "What do YOU want? Another fight?" Chriss smiled at her. " Me? Not right now anyways." She signaled with her hand to the large group of punk guys behind her, as they all charged at Ranka.

Nodoka who had been being pestered by a girl from Furikan from the newspaper club, who had kept asking her questions about her daughter Ranka. Ranma was busy dealing with his friends who were raving about his sisters performance. They both stopped as they heard what sounded like battle cries from outside and fighting.

Nodoka cut the forced interview short, as she pulled out politely, before running off outside, to catch Ranka beat up the last of the gang guys. Nodoka had an angry and stern look on her face. "Ranka, Onna, Saotome!" She said as she said her full name, letting her know she was in a lot of trouble. She then took in the area full of knocked out guys all over the ground, as her eyes widened and she put her hand to her mouth. " Ranka.. how could you.." Ranka froze up at seeing her mother and seeing the disappointment on her face, as she looked at her fist, before tearing up, knowing no matter what, she'd never be able to live up to being what was expected of her, and the shame and guilt she was feeling, as she bolted off running off as fast as she could, as the rain started to come down from the sky. Nodoka at realizing her error, dropped to her knee's as she started crying.

Ranka kept running a mix of emotions for quite a way, till she almost hit into someone, as she skidded to a stop, just as the rain shower let up some. Shampoo smiled from under her umbrella. " Aiya Ranka, is you okay? Come to cafe, I make you some ramen." Ranka sniffled some as she wiped away at her tears and nodded, as she went off with Shampoo. Cologne greeted her as they came in, and took notice of her state of mind. " Ranka, what's wrong, you look a mess." She motioned for her to follow her to the back area to the dining table, as they took seats. Shampoo came back with tea and served it up, taking a seat next to her. Ranka had her head down. " I just seem to keep disappointing my mom, because I'm too violent.. I thought she accepted me, but now I see I was wrong.." Cologne sipped some of her tea before setting the cup down on the table. " Well, you are always welcome here, as I said before and so is your violence." Shampoo cuddled up to her. " That right, nothing wrong with that." Ranka looked down at the ground as she teared up some. " Really? I just beat the crap out of multiple gangs.." Shampoo smirked. " Really, you do good thing." Cologne laughed. " Good job, a worthy successor for our family." Shampoo smiled as she took out a ring and slipped it on Ranka's finger. "Shampoo love Ranka, so you wear this for Shampoo, yes?" Ranka blinked at the odd looking ring on her finger, looking all flustered, but feeling very loved, nodded. Shampoo smiled sweetly as she made the next move, as she tied two "red strings of fate" around one of Ranka's fingers and the other end connected to hers.

Cologne smiled as she sipped more of her tea, that their planning had paid off. Shampoo smiled seductively at Ranka. "You all wet from rain, we should take bath together." Ranka's eyes glazed over for a second as the string started working, as she would usually protest, but under the spell like Ranma had been before, you did what Shampoo wanted. "Okay." Shampoo giggled and led Ranka off with her. Cologne puffed on her pipe as she smirked at how well the long thought out plan was working.

Back at the school outside, Ranma had gotten outside only to see the fallen gang punks all over the ground, more than he could count and more pressing was his mother kneeling on the ground and crying her eyes out. Akane had followed out after him as well as Thrista and Ryouga. Ranma felt a horrible feeling in his gut as he looked around for a second, not seeing Ranka any where. Akane ran over to Nodoka with a concerned look. " Auntie Saotome, what's wrong?" Thrista beat everyone to what they had wanted to say as she whistled at the huge amount of gangster guys laying all over the ground all beat up. " Where's Ranka?" Ryouga at realizing that as well, was looking around. Nodoka got more upset as she covered her face with her hands.

Ranma tried to link up with her, but couldn't, which upset him more as he figured out what had happened, as he had an upset but stern look on his face. " Mom, did you get on Ranka for being too violent again?" Akane's eyes widened as she realized what had happened as well. " Did.. Ranka beat up all these guys?" Nodoka choked up with guilt as she nodded. Ryouga looked off into the sky, as he decided to stay out of the matter, as this was between Ranma and his mother, so as upset as he was, he wouldn't dare say anything. Thrista also decided to as well, but not before she pulled out a pack of tissues, handing them to Akane for Mrs. Saotome, as she took her leave.

Akane tried to comfort Ranma's mother as she handed her the pack of tissues. Ranma still looked really upset. " She ran off didn't she.." He could tell from how his mother reacted, that she had. He tried his best to keep his anger in check as he continued. " I thought you accepted her for how she is, that she can't be the perfect girly girl that you want her to be.. Then you go and do "this.." He tightened his fists with his head down. " Akane can you take my mom home with Ryouga." Ryouga snapped out of his thoughts. " Huh? Wait a second, I was going to go look for Ranka!" Ranma gave him an angry and annoyed look. " You'll just get lost and I'm asking you to stay with my mom. I'm going to go look for Ranka." He then sped off as he jumped up onto a near by wall, gaining more speed as he leapt up into the air, onto a roof top, as he disappeared in a blur.

Akane meanwhile did what Ranma had asked as she made sure Ryouga stayed with them as they walked back. Nodoka tried to calm herself down as she wiped at her eyes with the tissue. A thought came to her, as she looked off in the direction of the cemetery. " Akane dear, I'd like to look somewhere before we go back." Akane nodded as she let Nodoka led the way. She walked at a steady and fast pace as she was hopeful, perhaps she'd find Ranka where she had originally found her, her eyes darted around the cemetery as she searched with her eyes frantically. At coming to the statue where she had first met her, she teared up at not seeing her, as she hung her head. " What.. have I done.." She decided to try further still having hope perhaps as she called out her name. " Ranka, I'm so sorry.. " After waiting a few minutes and not getting any kind of response she sighed heavily, knowing her daughter wasn't there, like she had hoped she might be. Akane gave her a concerned look. " Cmon auntie Saotome, let's get you home." Ryouga sighed as he tightened his fist, as he had wanted to go look for Ranka so badly, but deep down knew Ranma was right, he would've gotten lost. Akane smiled sadly as they walked back to the house, while in her mind she hoped that Ranma would have more luck at finding Ranka.

In the mean time, Ranma had looked a few places, before he thought of trying the Nekohanten. Cologne smiled at seeing him. " Well hello son in law, have you come to see Shampoo?" Ranma looked around, as he suddenly was able to sense Ranka, but still couldn't link up with her, which made him more angry. " Where's Ranka, I know she's here! No excuses, old ghoul!" He said as he slammed his fist down on one of the tables. Cologne chuckled. " My you're all fired up aren't you son in law. Calm down." Shampoo came out from the back room at spotting Ranma, she glomped onto him. " Aiya Ranma, come to see Shampoo." Ranma pulled her off him with a serious look. " Where's Ranka.." Shampoo smiled at him. " Is okay, she was very upset when I find her. You stay and have some ramen, yes?" Ranma grumbled but couldn't deny that he was hungry. Shampoo giggled in response as she went off to the kitchen to make some up. Colonge motioned for him to follow her to the back area where the main room was and to have a seat. "It as Shampoo said, she found Ranka while she was out on a delivery and brought her back here, she was very upset." Ranma tightened his fist again. " Okay, so WHERE is she?!" Cologne put her hand up. " Didn't I tell you to calm down, she's fine, she was soaked from being in the rain, so she's likely finishing up in the bath."

Shampoo came back in as she set down the bowls of ramen. " I go check on her." She said as she went off upstairs, coming back down a few minutes later with Ranka, as they sat down together at the ground table, she had her hair loose and was wearing a pink chinese outfit. Ranma was happy to see her, but could tell she was not in a good state of mind, which was likely why they couldn't link, as she had shut it down. "Hey Ranka, are you okay? What happened? I mean.. I kinda get it." Ranka had her head down. "I disappointed mom again and she's shown me, she'll never accept me, for how I am.." Shampoo held her hand, also she had made sure to put the red thread of fate link back between them. Cologne sighed as she finished sipping some of her ramen. " It's such a shame your mother can't see how great you are child." Ranka nodded in agreement.

Ranma sighed as he finished off his ramen quickly, setting the bowl down. " She regrets it and is really upset, so come on we'd better get back." He went to try to grab her by her hand, only for her to pull it away before he could, which was very strange to him. Ranka shook her head at him. " I'm not doing that." Ranma gave her an odd look. " And, why not?" Ranka smiled at Shampoo, who smiled back at her. " Because I have to stay with Shampoo." Shampoo put one of her hands to her face as she blushed. "Aiya." Ranma blinked a few times. " Whaat?! What about mom?" Ranka smiled some. " She has you. I need to be here for Shampoo and granny, they accept me as I am, violence and all, oh but of course I'll visit." Ranma shook his head in disbelief at what he was hearing. Shampoo smiled as she had her arm wrapped around Ranka's. " That right. Ranma you can stay too." Colonge set her ramen bowl down as she finished. " That's right son in law, you are always welcome here as well."

Ranma bristled in anger, as he had a sinking feeling that they had pulled something, as he slammed his fist down on the table. " What did you do to Ranka, old ghoul!?" Cologne played coy, looking surprised. " Whatever do you mean son in law? All I've done as Shampoo has since her change of mind, is support and encourage Ranka, accepting her for who she is." Ranma wrinkled up his nose at hearing that. " Oh yeah right, like you didn't use some kinda sneaky amazon trick. Cmon Ranka, we're going." He went to try to grab her by her arm, only to be blocked as her red gem lit up, putting up a defense barrier around her and Shampoo. She had a stern look on her face. " I told you Ranma, I'm not going anywhere." He looked angry until he spotted a weird looking ring on one of her fingers. " What's with the ring?" Ranka smiled as she admired it. " It's Shampoo's love." Shampoo smiled. " That right, Shampoo loves Ranka. Just like I love you too Ranma, you want ring too?" Ranma sweat dropped. " No thanks.." He decided it was best to leave for now, as he needed to get back and tell him mother about things, but before that he decided to try one last thing, to see if he could reach Ranka any better as he excused himself and went off to the bathroom, where he changed into his girl form with some cold water, then trying to link up with her again, but getting nothing.

Getting angry again, she tried one last time. " Seriously Ranka, mom's really worried about you and crying her eyes out, so come on let's go." She tried to grab her hand, only to be blocked by the barrier again, giving her twin a sad look. Ranka shook her head. " I'm staying here, where I belong." Ranma-chan sighed deeply. " Fine.." She then gave a stern look to Colonge. "Well I'm going now, but I'll be back and my mom's not going to let this go, you hear me old ghoul." Cologne puffed on her pipe with a smile. " I'll see you soon then son in law and of course I look forward to seeing your mother as well."

Everyone looked up at hearing the front door open, Nodoka teared up at seeing who she thought was Ranka, until she had to remind herself of their differences, once she saw the pigtail she knew. Akane had a concerned look on her face. " Ranma.." Ryouga cut her off as he finished what she was going to say. " Did you find Ranka?" Ranma-chan sighed as she tightened her fist. " Yeah I found her.. she's with the old ghoul and Shampoo.."

Akane sweat dropped as she looked around. " Why isn't she with you?" Ranma-chan gritted her teeth. " Because "they" obviously pulled some kind of amazon trick, she doesn't want to leave.." Nodoka eyes widened at what she was hearing, as she wouldn't put it past the amazons, as they had tried something before with trying to keep Ranka. Ryouga tightened his fists as he ran out the door in fury, intent on getting to the cat cafe and trying to talk to Ranka. Akane was all wide eyed at how fast he had sped off. " Ah, Ryouga.." Ranma-chan waved her hand off. " Let him go." Nodoka furrowed her brows with hands clasped together as she went off to the kitchen to make a phone call, as she left Ranma and Akane together.

Akane sat on the couch with an angry Ranma-chan, giving her a sympathetic look. " Ranma, what do you think they've done to Ranka?" Ranma-chan shook her head, with an upset look. " I'm not exactly sure, but I know they likely did something to her.. it adds up, why did all those gangster groups all know where to go to find her.." Akane sighed. " She's okay though, right?" Ranma-chan looked off the other way. " I can't tell, all I know is she wasn't acting right."

After getting off the phone, Nodoka had put on a kettle on the stove top to get hot, before offering it to Ranma, which she took and used outside on the porch to turn back into a guy. A few mins later a serious looking Kalu rushed in from outside, having let herself in. " Doka.." Nodoka teared up at seeing her friend and how fast she had rushed over. " Oh Kalu.." Kalu shushed her. Nodoka wiped at her tears. " Ranma, you should walk Akane home. Thank you Akane for you're help." Akane nodded, as her and Ranma left to let his mother and her friend talk.

Ryouga after some trial and error managed to find the Nekohanten as he let himself in. Cologne gave him an odd look. " Oh Ryouga, what are you doing here?" Ryouga looked angry. " Where's Ranka, Ranma told me she's here." Shampoo came over with Ranka as they were holding hands. " What you want, Ryouga?" Ryouga grumbled at the purple haired amazon girl and lit up at seeing Ranka. " Ranka, are.. you okay? Why didn't you go back home with Ranma?" Ranka had a blank look on her face for a second, before smiling as she held Shampoo's hand. " I'm fine, like I told Ranma, I belong here with Shampoo." Ryouga looked serious. " Ranka, Ranma told me that they've done something to you. I know you're upset but you're mother's so sad and misses you already." Ranka didn't change her look much. " It's fine she has Ranma, she'll never accept me." She then smiled at Shampoo. "Besides I love Shampoo and she loves me." Shampoo smirked at Ryouga. " That right, so you go away now Ryouga." He took notice that she was wearing a chinese outfit, which perplexed him and just like Ranma had said, she definitely wasn't acting right. He tried his best to get through to her. " Ranka, I know you're mother regrets getting so upset with you, you should go back home, she was looking for you sadly.." Ranka still had the same look on her face. " She would be able to accept me fully, if she really did, so I'm not going anywhere." Ryouga sighed as he took his leave, he agreed with what his rival had said, how it was apparent the amazon's had done something to Ranka.

Back at the house Kalu comforted her friend. "Nodoka, you need to stop expecting so much from you're daughter. She's perfect the way she is." Nodoka dabbed at her eyes with a tissue. "I know.. it's just so hard.. " Kalu rubbed her friends back. " You need to or you'll loose her. So what, she's not the perfect young lady, but she's a lot better than some other girls. You can't be so selfish or impose your traditional up bringing so harshly on her and should be thankful for what she has accomplished. If you can't do that all, then give her to me." She said with a cheesy grin. Nodoka laughed some. " I will NOT be doing that.." Kalu laughed back. " Such a shame." She leaned back on the couch. " Let's order out tonight, my treat." Nodoka smiled some. " If you insist.."

Ranma walked Akane to towards the front gates of the Tendo's. Akane looked upset as she looked at him. " Ranma, do you think maybe they used something that they had used on you before? Like maybe.. that red thread?" Ranma's eyes widened a bit at hearing that. " Well I didn't see that, but I also wasn't looking for that either." Akane looked concerned. "Keep me updated okay." Ranma rubbed at the back of his head. " Ah yeah, well if I don't, you'll bite my head off.." Akane gave him an annoyed look. " That's right I will! So you better not forget." They said good night to each other and he waited till she got off inside, before he headed back.

Once he got back to the house he was greeted by Kalu, as well as his mother who seemed to be a lot calmer. Though he could still tell she was still quite upset. Nodoka smiled some from where she was sitting on the couch with Kalu. " Welcome back Ranma dear, Kalu has insisted on ordering out, I'm sorry I didn't have a chance to ask you what you wanted, but I picked out some things I'm pretty sure you like." Ranma sweat dropped some as he wasn't super hungry, since he had eaten some earlier but was grateful, as he definitely never got the same hospitality from his father. He smiled some back at her. " Thanks mom and thank you aunt Kalu." Kalu waved her hand about at him. " It's nothing, as I just want your mother to relax for tonight."

Ranma nodded in agreement as he sat down on the couch next to his mother. Nodoka tried to not to tear up as she tried to keep her nerves calm. " I'm sorry I faltered, it's very hard for me, perhaps because I myself had such a strict upbringing. I knew as soon as I messed up.." Ranma couldn't help but still be angry about things, though he was a lot calmer than before. " But you still did, and that gave the old ghoul and Shampoo the perfect opportunity. It seems like they had their hopes set on YOU not accepting Ranka." Kalu sipped some of her tea. " Well, I likely would've done the same." Nodoka gave her friend an upset look. " Kalu!" Kalu waved her hand about. " What? Doka you set yourself up, that is the honest truth." Without hearing the whole story she already knew as she had same type of thinking. At hearing a knock on the door she got up and went to deal with getting the food and paying the delivery guy.

Dinner went by quietly and Nodoka had eaten some, but promptly put her chopsticks down. Kalu gave her an annoyed look. " Nodoka, don't tell me you're already done? I went and got you all this food." Nodoka hung her head. " I'm sorry Kalu, I appreciate it but I just don't have much of an appetite." Kalu shrugged her shoulders as she finished eating hers. " You'd better eat better tomorrow, as well as accept you're daughter fully for how she is, or you'll loose to those amazons." She excused herself as she said her goodbye's to them, before taking her leave.

Ranma having finished eating his dinner, laying back patting his stomach on the couch feeling full and happy for a second, before getting a serious look on his face. "She's right mom, though I'm not sure if Ranka will listen to you either.. though I did warn the old ghoul, you'd come." This angered Nodoka as she tightened her fist. " I will try my damndest to." She got up from where she was sitting and started to gather up the left overs with a small smile. " I'm going to head to bed, alright dear, as I plan to go over there as soon as possible." Ranma nodded with a serious look as he decided to go off to bed as well, knowing he needed to rest, as he said good night to his mother.

Back at Shampoo's, after they had dinner, they went off to bed, with Shampoo all snuggled up in a futon with Ranka. Cologne had made sure that Mousse was out the picture for the time being, having sent him out to pick up supplies for a few days. She puffed on her pipe at the table as she smirked to herself, knowing full well that Nodoka Saotome would be at the door as soon as possible and was ready for her. She had confidence that the plan wouldn't be broken so easily. She had earned Ranka's trust after all, and she was under the spell of the red thread two fold, as well as the special ring, that had a similar mushroom from the time they had used the suggestive one on Ranma, to hypnotize him. This one being a bit more suggestive, as it continually released it's spores in the air, making the effected listen to what their told to do. The trigger was using the fact that Nodoka always had fault with her ways, it was the perfect opening. Colonge chuckled to herself as she closed everything up for the night, before heading off to her room for the night.

The birds chirped outside as morning had come and Nodoka was ready as she finished making breakfast. Ranma had woken up shortly after he smelled his mother cooking and he was already shoveling it into his mouth, not thinking about manners, as his mind was else where. He was upset that he hadn't been able to get Ranka to leave the Nekohanten, having to leave her there. Nodoka wasn't going to lecture him at this time, things were tense enough as she herself ate a little faster than she normally would, as she wanted to get Ranka back as soon as possible and knew that's what her son must be thinking as well.

At the cafe after getting up, Ranka and Shampoo made breakfast up together. Once they were sitting, Shampoo tied the red thread of fate back into place, as she had taken it off for the night as it would've made sleeping hard. She smiled as she held up chopsticks with some egg " Say ah!" Ranka smiled and did so, letting Shampoo feed her, which she normally would not do. Cologne finished her breakfast, as she set her chopsticks down. "Ranka, I'm sure you're mother and Ranma will be coming very soon." Ranka looked annoyed. " I'm sure." Cologne smirked. " That's alright, we'll be ready for them, now won't we?" Ranka nodded as she finished her breakfast.

Just as Cologne had said, it wasn't too long after that Nodoka came in through the front door with Ranma. Cologne greeted them with a smile. Nodoka smiled back very quickly before having a stern look on her face. " Where is my daughter Cologne.." Cologne smiled back coyly. " Let's discuss things shall we." Ranma got annoyed at hearing that, but they followed her to the back area, where they sat down at the ground table. Nodoka tried not to tear up at seeing Ranka or loose her composure. "Ranka dear, I was so worried about you and I'm so sorry for how I acted.. won't you forgive me?" Shampoo was sitting next to Ranka happily holding hands, hiding the red thread. Ranka sighed at her with her head down. "I forgive you." Nodoka smiled as she went to try to hold her hand. " Alright then, let's go home." Her face looked shocked as she saw Ranka pull her hand away from her. Ranka shook her head. " Like I told Ranma, I can't do that, I'm staying here with Shampoo and granny, they accept me." Shampoo giggled. " That right." Nodoka bowed her head with deep regret. " Please Ranka, I promise I'll fully accept you, if you come back home.." She said with sad and pleading eyes.

Ranka had a cold look on her face. "Then you shouldn't have acted like you had.. I told you I'm not doing that, because I'm doing what you told me to, I am upholding my promise honorably." Nodoka's face paled at hearing that. Ranma stayed quiet as he was trying to focus on looking to see if the red thread was there, which was hard as they were constantly holding hands. Cologne nodded in agreement. " It is such a shame you never could accept how great Ranka is, Mrs. Saotome." Ranka had her head down. Nodoka furrowed her brows at the older woman. " I know you've done something to my daughter." Cologne chuckled in response. " It's more you've done it to yourself, as you can see she's very happy with Shampoo." Shampoo's hand got a little tired of hand holding, so she released her hold for a minute to give it a break, which Ranma spotted and like Akane had guessed, there was the red thread of fate.

He decided to make his move, while Nodoka and Cologne were locked in a stare down, as well as an argument. Knowing he would have to try to appeal to Shampoo, as well as knowing the thread may be involved, he had brought a pair of scissors with him. He went over and sat down next to Shampoo looking annoyed with his arms crossed. " So, I guess you like Ranka more than me now, huh." Shampoo looked upset at hearing that. " No of course not, Shampoo love you both, remember I say you could stay too." She glomped onto Ranma to show him she cared. " Woda Airen." Ranma kept her distracted. " Well I guess I believe you." He then quickly snipped the string with the scissors. Ranka took notice of the red string that was tied around one of her fingers, as she started to pull it off. Shampoo having realized it had been cut, un latched herself from Ranma and back onto Ranka, putting her hand on hers stopping her. " It's Shampoo's love." Ranka sweat dropped as she held up her hand with the ring on it. " But you said this ring was." Shampoo looked nervous as she smiled. " They both are, and you love Shampoo, right?" Ranka nodded, but with the red thread not connected she wasn't as lovey dovey anymore. " Yeah but I like the ring better, okay, wearing a red thread on my finger is weird.." Then it hit her as she connected the dots with the red thread, as she recalled it through Ranma's memories, making her furrow her brows at Shampoo with an annoyed look. " You, "red threaded" me!" Shampoo smiled nervously, looking to the ring. " Only because Shampoo love you and you love Shampoo too." Ranka had an annoyed look that seemed to be growing on her face. " Yeah.." She tightened her fist as her aura flared and her red gem lit up brightly, signifying how pissed she was, as the ring's loop cracked. " but you.. " red threaded" ME!"

Shampoo looked a little scared as she waved her hands about. " Only because Shampoo love you." Nodoka and Cologne had stopped bickering, and even Cologne looked a bit nervous at seeing both the items used to subdue Ranka had been cracked. Ranma had a big cheesy grin on his face, enjoying watching the amazon's get what they deserved. " Yep, that's exactly what she did.." Ranka growled angrily, Shampoo gulped as dealing with her, was a lot different from dealing with Ranma, he wouldn't hurt girls. Ranka gave her a soft but good enough whack to her head, before getting up and going over and whacking Cologne on the head as well, making her stagger back, but she was also impressed. Shampoo pouted as she rubbed her head.

Nodoka gave both the amazon's a stern look. " I was correct, you DID do something to her.." Cologne rubbed at her head and laughed. "Why don't you all discuss things, while I and Shampoo make up some ramen, as a peace offering." Ranka glared at her. " There better not be anything funny in it… or do YOU want some more?" Cologne waved her hands about. " I assure you there will be none."

They sat there in silence for a few minutes. Ranma felt a bit more relaxed as he was able to link with Ranka again and also able to look and see what had happened between her and their mother. Nodoka wrung her hands as she decided to try to get through to Ranka again, now that she wasn't under their suggestion. "Ranka, was everything you said to me before true?" Ranka had her head down still. " More or less.." Nodoka looked upset. " Won't you please come home, or will you still stay with them?" Ranka tensed up at hearing that. Nodoka moved her hand as she put it on Ranka's. " I meant it before, I promise I'll accept you for who you are. I never meant to upset you so badly. It's.. just very hard for me." Ranka had a sullen look on her face. " Really, so you won't get upset with me, for getting in fights.." Nodoka nodded as she pulled the cracked ring off her finger as she smiled some. " I need to try my best to understand that's just how you and Ranma are, but I also can't help but fuss some, but I promise I won't get like how I did before.. and how there's just some things you can't help."

Shampoo and Cologne interrupted as they came in with the fresh ramen bowls, before sitting down. Ranka's attitude changed drastically as they did, as she glared coldly at the older amazon. Cologne sweat dropped at the intense glare. " I promise it's just ramen." Ranka crossed her arms at her. " Better be." Shampoo took notice the ring was gone from Ranka's finger, giving her a poutie look with big eyes. " Ranka, you no love Shampoo no more?" Ranka hmpfed at her. " Not when YOU use me! So yeah, I'm mad at you and you better stay away from me for awhile. YOU sent all those gangs after me, didn't you.." She said with a very cold and serious voice, that made Shampoo shudder. Cologne came to her great grand daughters rescue. " That is not true, all we did was direct their attention to where you were." Ranma had his arms crossed as well. " Yeah, I'm sure, that's ALL you did." He then went about to enjoying the free ramen.

Nodoka and Ranka didn't touch theirs. Nodoka sipped some of the water. " Since things have been arranged the way they have, we should try to keep things civil, but I assure you Cologne, I will not put up with anymore tricks and ask that you and Shampoo stay away from us for a week, break "that", and I WILL abolish the engagement!" She said with a dead serious look, that made Cologne sweat and nod in agreement.

Ranka looked a bit hurt but still angry as she locked eyes with Cologne. " You took advantage me.." Cologne waved her hands about. " I assure you Ranka, all I've said is the truth, but we will give you space. Of course you are still always welcome." Nodoka put her hand up. " We're done here and we'll be taking our leave." She took Ranka by her hand gently as they got up and walked out the front door. Ranma knew that applied to him as well and left as well.

Shampoo started crying after she heard the door shut behind them. " Ranka hates me now.." Cologne shook her head. " That's not true my child, she may be angry with you and I, but she didn't say she hated you." Shampoo sniffled as she wiped at her tears. " But you hear what she say, she say she no love me.." Cologne gave her a tap to her head with her staff. " She said "not" when you use me and how she was mad and needed space. Yes she's mad, but she doesn't hate you or me, or she would've done more then just hit us over our heads." She then laughed some. " It's too bad though that the plan didn't work, but it was worth a try, though now we can't easily, if you don't want to loose your engagement to her and possibly Ranma as well. Shampoo hung her head as she had to admit defeat and do what Ranka had asked.

As soon as they got back Ranma made sure to let Akane know how things went. While he was on the phone with her, Nodoka was sitting outside on the porch with Ranka. Nodoka sighed heavily. " I won't expect you to cook with me.." Before she could say more Ranka stopped her. " You're misunderstanding. I try my best to meet your expectations I really do mom, but I can't help how I'm wired.. I can't easily speak as proper or polite as you can, all the time. You're like level 100 and I'm maybe a 10?" Nodoka smiled and pulled her into an embrace. " I think you're a much higher level." She looked a a little sad as they pulled away from the embrace. " I know you've learned a lot un savory things and I know that's not your fault, but perhaps you could try to tone it down a few level with the vicious ness?" She said with hopeful eyes.

Ranka smiled with a sad look on her face as she kicked at the ground with her foot. "I'm sorry it's just how I am and sometimes.. it's just how I need to be." She couldn't help but inquire about things. " So, I hope that you Shampoo didn't do anything, the other night." Ranka got a bit red in the face. Nodoka continued on. " You don't hate her do you?" Ranka grumbled with her hand to her face. " It's hard to, but I am really mad at her and the old ghoul, right now.. but they didn't lie about accepting me.." Nodoka patted her on her hand with hers, before she got up. " I'm going to go back in." Ranka nodded. " I'll be in after I water the flowers."

After getting off the phone with Ranma, Akane couldn't help herself as she ran off downstairs, pulling on her shoes as she let Kasumi know she was going out, before she ran out the front door. She had been so upset that Ranka had just up and disappeared, but held it together as she had to be there for auntie Saotome at the time, but at hearing Ranka was back, she wanted to see her as she kept running all the way. At spotting Ranka in the yard, she let herself in as she teared up and hugged her and blabbered on about things, like how worried she was gone. Ranka looked flustered, which made Akane flustered as she realized she did it again, making her let go of her. " I just.. was really worried." Ranka quirked an eyebrow at her. " So do you hate me or what, because you can't ever seem to make up your mind." Akane started to get annoyed but was also still pretty flustered. " So Shampoo really did use that red thread again.." Ranka started watering the flowers with the watering can she had filled up, looking annoyed. " Yep.. listen I'd rather not talk about it, or I'm just going to get mad again.." Akane nodded. " I'm sorry I'm just glad you're okay." Ranka kept to her task. " Thanks Akane."

Akane could tell Ranka wasn't feeling too well. " Are you okay?" Ranka finished up as set the watering can down. " I'm still processing everything, but i'm okay, since me and my mom talked things thru." Akane looked a little annoyed. "You shouldn't have run off like that.." Ranka got flustered but also annoyed as she grumbled. "Like you're one to talk, acting like you haven't done the same thing.." Akane aahed as her face turned red and she looked frustrated. "Yeah well, so did you!" Ranka gave her a dull look on her face, before looking off the other way embarrassed. "I can't help it, I get over emotional sometimes.." This made Akane more flustered as Ranka was able to say it and she wasn't able to. " Are you coming in or not?" Akane nodded as she followed after Ranka as they went off inside.

She stayed for a while as they played a game together, while having snacks. When she tried to go, Nodoka had both her children walk Akane back home. After they walked her back close enough, they started walking back. Ranka kicked at a rock that was on the ground, kicking it along with her as she walked. "Thanks for the save." Ranma had his hands in his pockets as they walked. " You would've done the same if it were me." Ranka smiled a tad as she kept playing with the rock. "Of course." Then looked off some. " I should've known better.." Ranma shrugged his shoulders some. "Well know you do."

Ranka grumbled as she keep kicking the rock back and forth as they walked. "If I wasn't on high alert before, now I really am.." He moved his hands so they were behind his head. "Just really sucks you and mom let the free ramen go to waste." Ranka gave him a dull look. " Well " we" don't think with our stomachs and there was no way I was eating something from "them", after.. what they pulled.." Ranma shrugged his shoulders again. " Well maybe, just maybe "they" learned their lesson this time. So uh, did Ryouga happen to show up?" Ranka looked off the other way. "He did and then he left." They both sweat dropped at hearing what sounded like high pitched squealing. Ranka looked over to the side of the street where a water canal was, catching out of the corner of her eye a little black piglet getting carried away by the current of the water. She jumped up on top of the fence, before jumping down on the side line below, as she sped up as she ran to catch up to where she could see P-chan, grabbing him up by his bandana, as she scooped him out from the water. " Gotcha, Ryouga." P-chan who had been panicking, was all wide eyed at seeing who had saved him, as his eyes lit up.

After jumping back up to the street level with him, Ranma snatched him away. " Hey P-chan, so that's where you ended up huh?" P-chan glared at him as he opened his mouth to try to bite him, till he caught the annoyed and angry look on Ranka's face, which made him stop his attack. P-chan didn't want to be held by Ranma as he showed that by trying to get away as he fwailed his legs about, but to his disappointment there was no reaction from Ranka as they kept walking. He decided to try to appeal to his rival, as his eyes got all big and he made pouting noises. Ranma stopped walking, letting Ranka walk further a head enough as he addressed P-chan. " No way bacon breath, I know what you're up to." P-chan gave him an annoyed look as he opened his mouth to give him a bite. Ranma gave him an evil smirk. " You SURE you want to do that? You'll make her angry if you do." He said with a smug grin on his face as he poked him on his nose, just to irritate him more, as he started walking again, to catch up to his sister.

When they got back to the house, to P-chan's disappointment it was Ranma who went off upstairs with him and off to the bath, as he tossed him in. Ryouga surfaced from the water annoyed. " What's the big idea, Ranma!" Ranma had a dull look on his face. " That's my line.. Oh what, you thought I'd let YOU get your way, hah." Ryouga growled at him. "YOU just snatched me away from her, like that!" Ranma looked a bit annoyed. " Yeah, so what." He got a smug look on his face. " Oh, you think Ranka was mad about that, huh." Ryouga blinked. " You mean, she wasn't?" Ranma pfted at him. " She's not like Akane okay, who adores widdle P-chan." Ryouga suddenly remembered how he had been "played" at the ice skating challenge an grew angry. " Ranma, how dare you pretended to be Ranka back at that ice skating match!" Ranma shot back at him. "Will you shut up, man!"

Downstairs, Nodoka had her hand to her face. " My, they are loud and always seem to be arguing.. I suppose that is how boys are with their friends." She then went back to her part of the food prep. Ranka shrugged her shoulders. " I guess so." Nodoka smiled a tad. " Well I do hope they get it all out of their system soon."

Back upstairs the arguing continued. Ryouga tightened his fists. " YOU need to back off Ranma!" Ranma gave him an angry glare. " No, YOU do!" Ryouga growled. " So what, you're going to stop me from talking with Ranka." Ranma hehed with his arms crossed. " I told you before to stay away from "her". Ryouga glowered in anger as Ranma left the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.

Soon it was time for dinner and Ranma had made sure to block Ryouga from sitting next to Ranka. After finishing dinner Nodoka decided to try to make some conversation. " So Ryouga you and Ranka did a very good job with that ice skating challenge, despite only having a few days to practice and.. being a little too violent." She said as she directed that towards Ranka. Ryouga smiled nervously as he twiddled his fingers. " Well we did practice every day up until the match." Ranka scoffed some at her mothers remark. " I did hold back." Nodoka shook her head some. " I couldn't tell, and that wasn't very nice to hit that other girl like "that" Ranka." Ranka looked more annoyed. "So I guess I should've just let her beat me then, so her perverted partner could win me as a prize.. Or how I guess I should hold back and not slay ALL the demons that attack us and be a little less violent."

Nodoka fussed back at that. " That's" different, demons are an entirely different matter." Ranka grumbled as she got up from the table, going off to the kitchen to clean her dish off before setting it in the sink and going off outside through the porch door. " I'll be outside for a bit." After she closed the door behind her, she immediately leapt up on top of the roof top.

Back inside Ranma rubbed at his head annoyed. "Mom.. you're doing it again.." Nodoka looked a tad annoyed. " I did not reprimand her, I just let her know it was a bit too much." While they were busy, Ryouga took the chance as he followed after where Ranka had gone, outside on the porch, but at not seeing her out there he started letting his thoughts wander, until one reminded him, she was probably up on the roof. He then leapt up into the air and onto the roof and sure enough he saw her sulking.

He took a seat near to her as he rubbed at the back of his head nervously. She gave him a dull look. " What do you want?" Ryouga sweat dropped as he waved his hands about. " I just wanted to talk and um to say thanks for fishing me out of the canal.." Ranka quirked an eyebrow at him. " Is that all?" Ryouga laughed some. " Um well.. I.. I'm glad you're okay." Ranka sighed as she looked off at the neighborhood. "Thanks and I'm sorry if I said anything mean, while I was under suggestion.. though I dunno, it may have been better if I just stayed with them. Even though they pissed me off.. with their under handed tactics, they do accept me, violence and all.. They even praised me for beating the crap out of all those gang members."

Ryouga had a concerned look on his face. " Don't say that." He rubbed at his head. " Didn't you and your mother make up?" Ranka sighed heavily. " I'm not so sure, I guess she can't not say something. I can't help it, I think like Ranma does to a point, and I'm just altogether wired with violence. I mean I had multiple gangs coming at me, all at once, so I got them, before they could get me." Ryouga had a goofy smile on his face all love struck. " Well I think you're great." Ranka looked off the other way some. " So, it didn't bother you that I beat the crap out of all those guys?" Ryouga shook his head about furiously. " Not at all, I wish I could've seen it in action. " He then remembered what he really wanted to talk to her about, before they were interrupted. "Um Ranka, were you mad before when Ranma snatched P-chan away from you?" Ranka blinked at him for a second. " No, why would I be?" Ryouga's mouth hung open in shock that what Ranma had said was absolutely correct. He shook his head about as he smacked his face with his hands, before he talked more. "Don't you ever get mad at Ranma?"

Ranka looked a little miffed at how he had seemed to psych himself up. "Not too much, no." Ryouga felt a little better at hearing that it wasn't impossible, since she could get mad at him and decided to press on. " Weren't you mad that he snatched me away to the bath before?" Ranka gave him a bit of an annoyed look. " No.. Are you trying to get me mad at Ranma or something?" Ryouga could tell that he had gone a little too far as he started to get nervous, at seeing her expression harden, making him wave his hands about. "Um no.. I just.." Ranka turned her back to him. " You should go back inside, I'll be back in a while, I just need some time to myself." Ryouga nodded as he took his leave from the roof top as she had asked him, not wanting to anger her.

Inside Ranma tried to get through to his mother. "If you want to blame someone, you should blame pops, he's the one who taught me how to be violent, and so is Ranka and then she's more violent on top of that, because of that bastard the devil, so you should blame him too. And it's really not fair, you encourage her to be violent with the demon slaying and then still get on her about being violent." Nodoka sighed with her hands clasped together as she listened. Ranma sighed as well as he went on. " I can't say I know everything she went through, but what I did see, that'd make anyone violent, and then constantly dealing with that demon wenches attacks. I mean for awhile she was beating the crap out of Ranka and now she doesn't take her crap. Would you rather she not defend herself?" Nodoka shook her head. " No of course not, I understand a bit more, but it's hard for me to be alright with it, at the same time." She then got up from her chair, getting a bad feeling as it had been awhile since Ranka had come inside, her concern as she worried she had ran off again.

Just as Nodoka started to open the porch door, Ranka jumped down from the roof top gracefully, so when her mother came outside, she saw that she was there. Nodoka sighed heavily with relief as she put her hand to her chest. " Oh there you are Ranka dear, you had me worried for a minute there." Ranka looked over as she had spotted Ryouga wandering around the yard aimlessly, as he made his way near by, only for Ranka to grab him by the back of his shirt, facing him towards the porch. Nodoka sweat dropped. " Oh my Ryouga, have you been out here the whole time?" She sent him off inside, as she patted the porch for Ranka to come sit with her.

Nodoka wrung her hands about in her lap. "I'm sorry Ranka dear, I am trying to be understanding of things." Ranka looked off some from where she was sitting. "I get that and I'm trying to be, understanding of how you can't help yourself either." Nodoka sighed to herself. " We'll both try to compromise then." She gave Ranka a loving and gentle pat on her shoulder. " Now we best get back inside, before those two boys start fighting again."

When they went back inside, to put any fighting at ease, Nodoka served up ice cream for dessert, it was then she decided to make her announcement. " I think we all deserved a nice relaxing day tomorrow, so I was thinking we should go to the beach tomorrow. How does that sound?" Ranka blinked unsure. "I guess so." Ryouga fell into a dream like state as he was picturing seeing Ranka in a swimsuit, only to be broken out of it immediately by a whack to his head, from an annoyed looking Ranma. Ranma shrugged his shoulders feeling pretty much the same as his sister about it. " Ah yeah, sure." Nodoka smiled as she wagged her finger at Ranma. " Ranma dear, no fighting at the table. Oh yes and Ryouga you can come along as well if you'd like." Ryouga's eyes lit up at hearing that. " I.. don't know what to say.." Nodoka just smiled as she got up and started cleaning up. Ranma had a very annoyed look on his face for a few minutes until he thought about the fact that his rival would get wet and be stuck in his cursed form as a black piglet, most likely.

After the clean up was done they, they were all sitting on the couch. Nodoka smiled as she gave the remote to Ranka. " You can pick something for us to watch dear." Ranka's eyes lit up. " Even if it's violent?" Nodoka sighed in defeat as she nodded, knowing she was out numbered on that matter as she had three martial artist's in the same room. Of course Ranka picked out a violent one, but everyone was happy watching it. Ranma made sure that Ryouga was sitting next to him and away from his mother and sister. As soon as the movie was done Nodoka sent everyone off to bed, as she wanted to get an early start in the morning, to get ready and head to the beach.

After saying good night to each other and all in their own rooms, Ranma and Ranka were talking through their telepathy link. Ranma was fussing to her about the beach tomorrow. ("Do you have to wear a swimsuit tomorrow? You could just wear a tank top and shorts.") Ranka fussed back. ( " Yeah you know mom's not going to let that happen, you'll have to wear one too.") Ranma groaned to himself as he realized she was right and they soon shut down things for the night.

As soon as her alarm set off, Nodoka was up in a flash, getting herself up and together for the day ahead. Once she was ready, she fixed up a quick breakfast, which before she knew it, everyone was up and eating at the table. As she finished her breakfast, she dabbed with her napkin to her lips. " Ranka you should change before we go, same for you Ranma and you should too Ryouga." She then got up and started getting things together.

Not much later after everyone changed into their swim suits, having their clothes on top, they were on their way to the beach, on the local bus. Ranma had changed into a girl, knowing that he'd get wet at the beach, it was best to go as a girl. She looked over at Ryouga who was wearing a tank top and shorts with a quick smug look, knowing he'd get wet soon enough. Nodoka caught some of the strange looks that her son/daughter was making to herself. " My Ranma, you must be very happy about going to the beach." Ranma-chan sweat dropped at being caught by her mom and smiled. " Aha ha yeah, you caught me." She then turned her attention to Ranka as she smiled. " How exciting, this will be your first time going to a beach, won't it Ranka dear?" Ranka sweat dropped with a small smile. " Yeah, I guess it will, unless you count aunt Kalu's indoor beach?" Nodoka had a dreadful look on her face for a brief moment as she waved her hands about. " Oh no no, let's not think of "that" as a beach dear.." She then turned her attention to Ryouga. " And how about you Ryouga, will this be your first time as well?" Ryouga laughed nervously some as he rubbed at the back of his head with his hand. " Well I haven't really, but I've passed by some during my travels." Nodoka smiled back. " I see, so you haven't really spent a day at one." Ryouga nodded sheepishly.

After a few stops, they finally made it to the beach, with Ryouga carrying the heavier bag as they got off the bus. Nodoka had the less heavier one as she admired the sceneary. " Alright now we find a nice little spot for ourselves." She said as she looked around till she spotted one, where they set up. Ryouga finished putting up the umbrella as they sat around under it on the large picnic blanket. Nodoka insisted everyone have some sun block on, as she put some on Ranka and Ranma-chan's faces, as well as Ryouga's. She then had Ranma-chan go get some drinks for them from the near by vending machine.

Nodoka smiled at Ranka, who was taking it all in. "We should go by the water in a bit." Ranka nodded as she watched others near by. Ranma-chan came back with the drinks as she sat back down. Nodoka thanked her and had left the choices up to her. " I was just telling Ranka, that we should go by the water in a bit." Ranma-chan was already drinking one of the melon soda's. " Yeah, okay." She kept it to herself as she couldn't wait for Ryouga to get wet, though it wouldn't stop him from being a pervert, it'd satisfy her enough that he would be stuck as a pig.

After awhile Nodoka took off her lighter kimono she had worn on top of her kimono, that she put away into one of the bags, showing her pink one piece swimsuit. Ranma-chan tossed her tank top and shorts off, right into Ryouga's face, purposely to block him from seeing for a bit, wearing her one piece "Boy" swim suit. Ryouga fumbled to pull Ranma's clothes off his face, missing Ranka change but seeing her in her cute one piece pink swimsuit with a little skirt, made him fall over. Nodoka put a hand to her mouth. "Oh my, are you alright Ryouga?" Ranma-chan cut in before he could. " Yeah he just got a little too much sun." Nodoka shook her head as she fussed. " That's no good, please be careful. Well let's go take a dip." Ranma-chan cut in before Ryouga could again. " He'll stay and watch the stuff, right Ryouga." Nodoka smiled and thanked him before she went off with her children down to the water.

Ranma-chan looked annoyed as she could see the many stares they were getting from random guys, hearing some of them panting about the hot redhead twins, making her grumble. Nodoka stuck her foot in the water a bit. " Ooh it's a bit chilly, but you get used to it." Ranka did so as well, getting exactly what her mother had said. After wading in a bit and taking their time, as she had said the water didn't feel as chilly. Ranma-chan on the other hand just jumped right in, then feeling the cold as she tensed up. " Ahh that's cold.." Nodoka giggled at her son/daughter for charging in like a bull, not listening to what she had just said. " Didn't you hear what I was saying dear?" Ranma-chan looked annoyed as she didn't want to admit it and just grumbled. She then smirked evilly back towards the beach where Ryouga was watching their spot and things from, waving her hand about in the air. " Hey P-chan, the waters nice and cool, you sure you don't want to take a dip?"

Ryouga got all flustered and annoyed from his spot on the beach as he tightened his fist. " Why you.." Nodoka gave Ranma a discontent look. " Now Ranma.. stop teasing him." Ranka rolled her eyes at the whole thing, knowing that wasn't going to happen. Nodoka ahemed as she stood still and enjoyed the ocean for a minute. " Just to brush up, let's practice some swimming exercises." She wasn't sure if Ranka knew much about swimming, or Ranma for that matter, figuring it would do them both some good to learn more about it as she coached them through some swimming exercises, that they did together for a bit. After that she was sitting with Ranka on the sand as they looked for shells and rocks together. Ranma-chan did as well but wasn't as into it. Nodoka chided her. " Maybe you'd like to find a nice sea shell or rock for Akane hmm dear?"

Ranka had a few pretty ones she had spotted and fished out already, as she quirked an eyebrow at her twin. " If you know what's good for you, you'll bring her back something, or you'll never hear the end of how.. we all went to the beach and didn't invite "her." I know I'm giving her something, that's for sure." Ranma-chan looked pale for a minute as she went back to looking, knowing her sister was right, Akane would be ranting away once she found out. Nodoka put a hand to her face. " Well I just wanted us to have a nice relaxing family day out, next time we'll invite her." Ranma-chan fussed back. " Why's Ryouga here then?" Nodoka smiled some. " Come now, he's your friend and close to being family, it would've been rude to go without him." Ranma-chan fussed back more. " He is NOT!" Nodoka couldn't help but let a small giggle escape her lips as she went back to searching. " Ranka dear, you should give Ryouga one too." Ranma-chan tensed up at hearing that. " Mom!" Nodoka gave her other daughter a some what stern look. " You should too Ranma, from you're fooling around, with him before.. it would be a nice gesture." Ranma-chan grumbled as she went back to looking through the water. Nodoka had made sure to bring a bucket so they had a place to put all their collected treasures.

After awhile they came back over to where Ryouga was, with Ranma-chan acting fast as she grabbed a towel and tossed it over the lost boy's face. He grumbled as he pulled it off his face, seeing that Ranka already had her towel around herself as well as Nodoka. Ranma-chan then grabbed the towel she threw over his face back, as she dried off with it as well. Ranka handed him a tiger eye looking rock, looking a bit flustered and annoyed. " Everyone's getting something from the beach, so that's what you're getting." Ryouga lit up with a happy smile, which was short lived as Ranma-chan chucked a shell off into his face. " That's for YOU." Nodoka put her hand to her mouth. " Ranma! That is NOT how we give something to someone.." She gave Ranka an annoyed look as she caught her giggling about it. " Ranka.." Ranka ahemed and acted like she hadn't. Ranma-chan groaned as she pulled the shell off from Ryouga's face and shoved it at him with an annoyed look. He wanted to chuck it at her head and yell and tell Ranma off, that he didn't want anything from the likes of him, but wouldn't dare to in front of Mrs. Saotome. He however clutched the light orange rock in his hand that Ranka had picked out for him.

Nodoka sighed as she went through one of the bags and got her hand purse out as she got some money together, giving some to Ranma-chan and to Ranka as well. " Surprise me with what you two bring back, just make sure you bring back enough for everyone." Ranma-chan drooled some. " I can get whatever?" Nodoka smiled and nodded. " Yes just as long as there's enough for everyone." Ranma-chan giggled as she looked around at where the food vendors were. Another thing about having a mom that she liked, "this" wasn't something that her father ever let her do. Ranka went off with her sibling as they walked around looking at what was to offer, where Ranma-chan let her nose bring her to a familiar scent.

Shampoo lit up at spotting both her airen's from the cart she was working. " Nihao, is small world we both end up at beach today." Ranma-chan laughed some. " Yeah it is, so whatcha got?" Ranka on the other hand had her arms crossed with an angry look. "I'm sure it is.. YOU better NOT be following me, because I'm still pissed at you." She huffed as she walked off really fast to go look at other vendors. Shampoo sighed with a sad look on her face. " Ranka hate Shampoo now.." Ranma-chan sweatdropped and rubbed at the back of her head. " Nah she's just mad, really mad I mean, that was really messed up what you and the old ghoul did.. you guys used her like the devil used her, by forcing her to do what you wanted against her will. It's going to take time, so I really hope you didn't follow us here.."

Shampoo shook her head. " Is truth what I say, is coincidence." Ranma-chan gave her a questionable look. " Really? Because you did put trackers on both of us.." Shampoo laughed a bit nervously. " Really, is nice day out and great grandmother say we come and try to make good business." She smiled some at Ranma. " Ranma no is mad at Shampoo." Ranma-chan frowned some. " Well, not half as mad as Ranka is, but yeah I'm still mad at what you and the old ghoul pulled, don't get me wrong, but you're lucky I'm hungry.." Shampoo smiled a bit more. " If Ranma no mad at Shampoo no more, I give you free ramen." Ranma-chan grinned at her. " You've got my attention."

Ranka meanwhile after looking at a few vendors heard a familar voice, as she spotted Ukyou waving and saying her name, which brought her over to where her cart was. " Hey Ukyou, did you know we'd be here today or what?" Ukyou smiled at her. " Not at all sugar, it was such a nice day I decided to try my luck at the beach for the day." Ranka sighed some before she smiled some. " I guess that's what everyone's thinking today then." Ukyou looked a little annoyed. " Don't tell me.. Shampoo's here too." Ranka nodded. " Bingo. Well since you're here, I know where I'll be getting lunch for everyone." Ukyou blushed some as she smiled. " I appreciate the business, so is Ranma huney here too?" Ranka nodded. " Yep." Ukyou then frowned as she could tell what was going on. " Ooh he is going to hear it from me later.." Ranka decided to warn her sibling as she linked up telepathically with her and let Ranma-chan know Ukyou was there and knew what was going on and she'd better come see her.

A few minutes later a nervous looking Ranma-chan was there as she acted all excited at seeing Ukyou. " Hey Ucchan, what a small world you're at the beach today. I'll take an okonomiyaki." Ukyou's frown then turned into a smile. " You got it, Ranma huney!" She started working on all the orders as she hummed happily to herself. Ranma-chan nodded. " Just put it with Ranka's orders, I gotta get stuff I ordered at a different vendor." She left her the money for hers as she ran back the other way. Ukyou didn't have anything to complain about since she was happy she had gotten to see Ranma and he even ordered from her. " So, you two are here with your mother?" Ranka nodded. " And Ryouga too." Ukyou finished up the order as she packaged things up. " Hey I'm due for my lunch break, do you think I could.. join you guys?" Ranka smiled at her. " Sure, I don't think my mom would mind."

Shampoo had dropped off the rest of the order with Ranma, not staying very long as she could sense the anger aura over flowing from Mrs. Saotome. She was however not happy at seeing Ryouga was there, but kept that to herself. Ranka came back shortly after with Ukyou behind her with the other half of the order. She set down the boxes and drinks on the blanket. " Hey mom, is it okay if Ukyou takes her break with us?" Ukyou looked all flustered as she twiddled her fingers. " If that's alright with you Mrs. Saotome.." Nodoka smiled and patted a spot on the large picnic blanket. " Please do." Ukyou got all excited and happy at the same time as she sat down next to Ranma-chan. Everyone was enjoying the mix of okonomiyaki and ramen and dumplings as they ate.

Ranka took notice of a sneaky sea gull as it snatched one of the dumplings off the plate, soaring up into the air or so it thought, until she grabbed a can of soda, chucking it so it hit the gull in the head, knocking it out of the sky. "Oh no, you don't!" Nodoka's mouth hung open at spotting what just happened. " Ranka!" Ranma-chan took notice as well. " Nice one, sis!" Ryouga had a dumb love struck look on his face. Ranka sweat dropped. " What? He was stealing our food." Nodoka gave Ranma an annoyed look. " Don't egg your sister on.." Ukyou stayed quiet, but she was also impressed at how Ranka had took out the thief. Ranka caught the can of soda in her hand and pulled the dumpling out of the sea gull's bills. Nodoka grabbed it back from her with a stern look on her face. Ranka puffed her cheeks at her in annoyance. " I just saved that.." Nodoka shook her head. " By killing an innocent bird.. the beach is not a place for violence Ranka, it's meant to be peaceful and relaxing." Ranka huffed. "I didn't kill it, I just knocked it out. I didn't start it, the "innocent" bird, attacked first." The sea gull woke up from being knocked out and Nodoka handed the dumpling over to it, which it nabbed up and flew off with. Ranka pouted with an annoyed look. " You just let it win.." Ranma-chan chimed in as well. " Yeah mom.. why reward a thief for bad behavior.." Nodoka gave them both a stern look. " For it's pain and suffering, that's why. Ranma.. what did I just say about egging your sister on.."

Ryouga just laughed nervously as he rubbed at the back of his head as he finished his share of the meal. Ukyou decided to try to say something. " Well Mrs. Saotome it is true, the sea gulls are awful here, they've tried to steal things from my cart multiple times and yelling and shoo ing them does nothing, their quite relentless." Nodoka sighed as she rubbed at the temple of her forehead. " I see." Ukyou sweat dropped nervously as she finished her lunch, before she got up and bowed respectfully to Nodoka. " Thank you for letting me have lunch with you." Nodoka waved her off with a smile. " Not at all dear, you are Ranma's fiancee and Ranka's friend after all." Ukyou smiled. " Still thank you." She waved goodbye as she got herself back to her cart.

Shortly after a tall and handsome random guy came over. " Hey so I saw you ko that bird, you've got skills, why don't you join our game of volley ball." He said with a wink at Ranka. Ranma-chan balled her fists at the guy. Nodoka smiled at him and then at Ranka and Ranma-chan. " That's a wonderful idea, why don't you two go play." Ryouga kept his eyes locked on the guy that was quite obviously, flirting with Ranka. The guy keeping his cool in front of the mother smiled back. " Alright, we're right over there." He then took his leave knowing that they'd likely be coming over.

Ranka sighed. " Do we have to?" Ranma-chan chimed in as well. " Yeah.." Nodoka crossed her arms. " You were invited to play a nice game of volleyball, so don't be rude now." They both sighed as they got up and went over to where the game was going on. The guy grinned at seeing the red head twins come over. " Hey alright, glad you cuties could make it." The gang was mostly guys with some girls, which Ranma took notice of. The guy was about to say they could both play on his team, but to his surprise Ranma-chan went over to the other team's side.

Nodoka watched from where she was sitting as the game started up. " Ryouga dear you could go play with them too if you'd like." Ryouga smiled nervously as he was more into watching. " Ah oh that's okay Mrs. Saotome." Nodoka took notice of how nervous he seemed and left it at that. For a few minutes the game went by smoothly, until she saw Ranma-chan slap the ball off into the guys face, making her get annoyed. She wrote it off as the game went on until it happened more than twice, then she got up and went over there. " Ranma! Play nice.."

Ranma-chan smacked another guy in the face with the ball, as soon as she noticed them looking pervertedly at her sister, always acting like it was a slip of the hand. At hearing her mother's raised voice she put her hands up. " Well it's been fun, but we're beat." Ranka followed after Ranma-chan as they left the volleyball court with a bunch of guys laying on the ground as they hurried back over to their spot, back to an angry mother. Nodoka furrowed her brow at Ranma. " Ranma, you're setting a horrible example for Ranka.." Ranma-chan rubbed at the back of her head. " Yeah well.. we're both violent." Nodoka sighed and shook her head. " Even at the beach?!" Both the red heads looked away sheepishly. Nodoka looked into both their eyes pleadingly. " Can we just please have a nice, no more violence, rest of the day at the beach, for your mother?" They both sighed and nodded their heads. Nodoka got up from her spot as she gave them both a pat on the head. " I am going to go calm myself down now." As she headed down to the water to go for a little swim.

Ryouga let out a sigh of relief, glad that she wasn't his mother. He could tell that Ranka looked really upset, more so then Ranma and tried his best to say something, anything to try to help. " I see why you get frustrated with your mother." Ranma-chan gave him an annoyed look. " No one asked you bacon breath." Ryouga butted heads with his rival literally. " No one asked YOU, I was talking to Ranka!" Ranka sighed as she pounded at the sand with her fist some. " I guess I should've just let the dumb bird take the dumpling.." Ryouga waved his hands about. " No, you were right to attack it, despite what your mom was saying.." Ranma-chan gave him a quick whack to his head. " Butt out, it's bad enough you came along.." Ryouga hahed with a fanged smirk. " It's not my fault you're mom invited me." Ranma-chan grumbled for a minute before getting back to her sister. "No way, I agree the bird deserved to get knocked out, mom's just well.. what's the word.." She thought about how to get her to see things their way, getting an idea she snapped her fingers. "I got it! We'll bait those dumb birds to snatch something of mom's that would upset her, then she'd want you to knock their block off." Ryouga had to agree with his rival. " That's not a bad idea and that's something coming from you Ranma.." Ranma-chan just hehed at him. Ranka sweat dropped at the idea. " You better hope that mom doesn't catch you.." Ranma-chan waved her hand about. " She's out there swimming right now, it'll be fine."

She took her mothers light kimono and set up a left over dumpling in it, as she shoved it off to the corner of the blanket, just as she saw her mother coming back over. Nodoka started coming back over and to her horror saw a sea gull come swooping down from the sky and start flying off with her clothes, making her run over and wave her hands about. " My clothes!" She tried to reason with the bird, letting it know that her clothes were not food, only for it to ignore her and fly higher, making her panic more as she looked over with a distressed look on her face as she sighed, accepting violence in this case. Ranka grabbed another un opened soda can and chucked it up into the air, so it hit the sea gull in the head knocking it for a loop, as it became disorientated, letting go of kimono.

Ranka caught the soda can and the kimono before they landed, making sure to toss the dumpling over to Ranma-chan who caught it and shoved it off into Ryouga's mouth, to dispose of it. She then shook up a can of soda and opened it, spraying Ryouga with it as it triggered his change into his black piglet form, making sure he couldn't argue with her about the dumpling. An angry P-chan shook himself off from the soda the best he could as he begrudgingly ate the dumpling, before making angry noises at Ranma. Nodoka put a hand to her chest as the took the kimono from Ranka, then looking over to see Ryouga's curse had been activated. Ranma-chan passed it off by shrugging her shoulders. " Oops, sorry my bad Ryouga." Nodoka shook her head. " Ranka dear, be a dear and rinse poor Ryouga off before we head out, the poor dears all sticky from that soda i'm sure." Ranka nodded as she grabbed up P-chan by his bandana and jogged off to the water with him, where she put him down and poured some water over him to wash him off. Ryouga may have been mad at Ranma for his dirty trick but because of it, he was in heaven.

Some kids playing in the sand near by caught sight of the black piglet. The group sent over a small girl with twin tails as she shyly eyed Ranka and pointed at the pig. " Can we play with him?" Ranka picked P-chan up by his bandana. " Only if you play nice with him and ask if he wants to play with you guys." The little girl swayed her legs about as she asked P-chan if he'd play with them. P-chan nodded. Ranka smiled at her. " Okay, he says as long as you play nice he'll play with you guys." The little girl smiled as Ranka brought P-chan over for them. The little boys pointed shyly at Ranka. " You play too." Ranka sweat dropped but smiled at them. " Sure, but only for a little bit." One of the little boys grabbed P-chan and sat him on top of their sand castle as a decoration with a proud grin on his face. " Bacon castle!" Ranka giggled some at the name.

Nodoka smiled as she watched, while she dried herself off. Ranma-chan was laying down while she watched with her. " See, she's not being violent." Nodoka smiled genuinely with her hand to her face. " No she's not. Ranma why don't you go join them?" Ranma-chan made a face at hearing that. " Yeah no thanks, I'm having fun relaxing."

After awhile of helping the group of kids with their sand castle, Ranka started to dust her hands off from the sand. The one little boy pouted. " Do you have to go?" Ranka smiled and ruffled up his hair with her hand. " Cmon I played with you guys for a while and so did P-chan." He kept pouting. She smiled at him. " If I see you guys around again, we'll play again okay." That seemed to satisfy them as they let her and P-chan go as they waved goodbye. She took P-chan back over to the water to rinse him off from the sand, before heading back over with him. " Sorry about that, they wanted to play with P-chan."

Nodoka smiled at her daughter. " Not at all, that was so sweet of you to play with them." She had finished gathering up things. " Now we should head back, as it'll be a bit of a wait for the bus." Nodoka pulled her light kimono over her swimsuit. " And I'd like to make a quick stop at the grocery store before we go back home." Ranka and Ranma-chan pulled their clothes over their swimsuits as well. Nodoka sighed as she looked at P-chan. " It's too bad we can't change him back just yet." Ranma-chan waved her hand about. " Oh he'll be fine and I'll carry the bag that he was supposed to." Ranka held P-chan by his bandana. " Guess that means you're coming shopping with us too." P-chan nodded with a smile on his face. Ranka sweat dropped as she followed after her mother and Ranma-chan as they started walking towards the bus stop. " Better be careful and not let someone try to take you home and cook you." P-chan's eyes bugged out at hearing that. Ranma-chan poked at his stomach with an evil grin on her face. " Yeah, everyone will want that extra fresh pork." Nodoka furrowed her brow at them. " Both of you, stop teasing the poor boy.."