Chapter 51: The big release

In the midst of the chaos, that was the rest of their classmates chattering amongst themselves and fooling around, since their teacher was too busy sleeping. Ranma and Ranka both decided that skipping the rest of school was best. They let Ukyou and Akane know, before they cut out.

They were walking down the street, feeling a bit of relief, at having gotten away from school. Until Chriss showed up within their path, as she smirked at Ranka. She had caught sight of the mornings reaction, having put two and two together, figuring out how snapping your fingers, gave off the reaction. Ranka groaned at seeing her. " What do you want?" Ranma looked equally annoyed. " If you were gonna squeal on us, your doing the same damn thing.." Chriss laughed. " I'm no hypocrite, thank you." She smiled. " I just wanted to say hi, to red-hot."

At the same time, Ranma jumped away as a bunch of ropes were launched at him from the shadows. He groaned as Mousse showed himself. " Ain't ya got nothing better to do, Mousse?!" Mousse snickered as he launched a bunch more attacks, with random items at Ranma. " All my time is dedicated to beating you and your sister, so Shampoo will finally be mine!"

While they were busy fighting things out, Ranka started to turn to go help, until Chriss smirked as she snapped her fingers. Once Ranka, reluctantly hugged her, she stole a kiss. At the same time it was seen by another figure in the shadows, as Shampoo leapt down from the near by roof top, slamming her bonbori weapon down at the ground, at the girl. " What you doing, Ranka belong to Shampoo!" Ranka had already and nervously, shoved Chriss off from her. Chriss hahed at her. " Obviously I was taking advantage of the current situation." Shampoo vented in frustration, before she stalked towards the blonde girl menacingly. " What women interfere.." Ranka panicked and intercepted her path. " Shampoo, no.. no "kiss of death."

Shampoo tightened her fist. " Alright then I just skip to killing her!" Ranka waved her hands about. " No, killing her either.." Shampoo arghhed in anger. " She steal what's Shampoo's!" Ranka furrowed her brows at her. " Whose fault is that, for making me and Ranma eat your suggestive mushrooms!" She got more frustrated as she vented. " Do you know how many people were snapping their fingers at school? Do you, Shampoo?!" Shampoo had an angry pout on her face, not wanting to own up, to the fact she had put both her airens into such an ordeal.

She instead at seeing Mousse was harassing Ranma, swiftly took care of him, as she whacked him over the head with her bonbori. " Mousse!" She then giggled as she snapped her fingers, gaining Ranma's reluctant attention as he hugged her. Ranma nnghed. " Cut it out, Shampoo!"

Chriss smirked at the prospect. " I wouldn't mind fighting it out for you, red-hot." Ranka gahed. " Oh yeah you would, Shampoo's no light weight and I'm more than taken, okay.." Chriss shrugged her shoulders. " That doesn't bother me." Ranka groaned at her persistence. " Would you please, just leave.." Chriss chuckled. " Well I got what I was after, for the time being." She then walked off with a smirk on her face.

Shampoo then glomped herself around Ranka, going back and forth from her to Ranma. " We go on date, yes?" Both siblings groaned at hearing that, but also knew they couldn't go back home, just yet either. Ranka sighed. "On one condition.." Shampoo looked at her with big, bright eyes. " What that?" Ranka got a bit of a serious look on her face. " No snapping your fingers." Her and Ranma had just discussed that, amongst themselves and he left it to his sister to voice their demands, as she was able to be a bit more stern with Shampoo.

Shampoo gave Ranma a puppy dog look. " Is what you "both" agree on?" Ranma nodded with a bit of a stern look, making sure he stood his ground enough with her. Shampoo pouted for a second, before smiling and looping each of her arms, around both of her airens. "Aiya, Shampoo so so happy, we go see movie, yes?" Both siblings nodded in agreement.

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It wasn't long before they were seated in the movie theater, with Shampoo sitting in the middle, so she could sit next to both her airens. Of course much to their dismay, she had picked out a romantic movie for them to watch. Shampoo was enjoying having her arm wrapped around Ranma's. That is until she caught sight of an interloper.

A guy had spotted Ranka and had sat himself down next to her, with a cheesy smile. " Hey hot stuff, where have you been all my life?" Ranka tensed up, as she tightened her fist, trying her best to remain calm. " Buzz off." Of course the guy wouldn't. " How can I do that, huh?" He didn't get to finish as he earned himself a soft punch to his face, from Ranka, who held back just enough. It surprised him as he got knocked back a bit from the force. Shampoo then ended it as she got up and hissed at the guy. " Stay away from Shampoo's airen!"

Ranma had been glowering and about to do something but saw that it had been handled, as the other guy took the que to finally go away. While the reaction, just came natural to her, about punching people in the face, Ranka still felt a twinge of guilt, at knowing she wasn't adhering to the proper ways, her mother enforced. Shampoo could see her struggle as she sat back down and took Ranka's hand into hers. " Don't feel bad, you did good thing." Ranka looked a bit flustered. " Well, I'm glad you think so, but.. my mom won't.." Ranma put his two cents in. " That jerks lucky you held back and since you did, mom can't get mad. Also she won't get mad if she doesn't know, right?"

Ranka hmmed at she took things into consideration. Ranma was right, so as long as she didn't seem upset, then she wouldn't be on her mom's radar. Her brother and Shampoo were both right, she did, do a good thing, since the guy wouldn't go away and she gave him, more of pop to his face.

Shampoo ahemed a bit loudly from where she sat, holding the popcorn container. After a few minutes of not getting attention, she did it again and started to snap her fingers. Ranka took notice and grabbed her by her hand with a stern look. " Hey! You promised.." Shampoo giggled and gave her puppy dog eyes, before opening her mouth a bit. Ranka let go of her hand with a groan as she took a piece of popcorn and popped it into the amazon's mouth. Shampoo squirmed about in excitement, as she returned the favor, expecting the same from her airen. Ranka got more flustered as Shampoo popped a piece of popcorn off into her mouth.

Ranma was getting flustered from it, getting more so as Shampoo looked over at him with a puppy dog face as she ahemed at him, before opening her mouth some. Expecting the same from him. Ranma tensed up as he took a few, then tossed them, before he got himself a handful and went about to eating it. Shampoo ahhed as she got a few in her mouth, but more hit her in her face. She hmpfed at Ranma's botched attempt, but also couldn't complain really, because he had sort of listened. However embarrassed Ranma was, he was more stern about her behavior. " Pull that snapping again Shampoo and we're outta here..."

Shampoo pouted at getting her main airen's anger. She had to focus on how her other airen had at least delivered on what she had wanted and take that small win. Ranma eventually ended up falling asleep through the rest of the movie, because of how boring it was. Once the movie ended, Shampoo faced Ranma first with her eyes shut and her lips puckered up, until she heard him snoring. She then switched sides, doing the same. " To end date, we kiss." Ranka tensed up from where she was sitting, her eyes darted about, till she decided what to do.

She grabbed a piece of popcorn and stuck it to Shampoo's lips. " Okay, dates over." Shampoo opened her eyes and frowned as she ate the piece, before furrowing her brows at the red head. " You kiss other girl, but you no kiss me?!" Ranka looked all nervous at how serious the amazon looked. " That's not fair.. she ambushed me, because of your dumb mushrooms!" Shampoo had an angry pout on her face. " You still kiss other girl.. so I go kill her.." Ranka aahed. " I told you, you can't do that, Shampoo.." Shampoo hmpfed with her arms crossed. " No kiss, no deal." Ranka groaned as she tightened her fists and gave Shampoo a quick peck on her cheek, her face bright red. " Will you shut up about it, now!?"

Shampoo blushed with a giddy smile on her face. Of course she had wanted more but she got something at least, so she had to bow out. " Okay Shampoo no kill her now and date over." She giggled as she got up and set the popcorn bucket down on the seat, as she waved goodbye, before she skipped away all happy.

Ranma finally woke up as he stretched and yawned. " Is it over?" Ranka hung her head down. " Yeah it's over.." Ranma noticed there was still popcorn and got excited and started stuffing his face with it. Ranka just looked off the other way and took a sip of her drink, while she sulked.

Soon after they went off to the river bank, where they sat to pass some more time. Ranma chided his sister to share. Ranka groaned as she knew the nagging wouldn't stop and as usual it wasn't easy to hide anything from her sibling. She tried to hide her frustration, as best she could. " It's just, frustrating how.. Shampoo, always wins.." Ranma looked visibly frustrated as well, suddenly as he rubbed at the back of his head. " Yeah.. she always does." Ranka fussed more. " And Ukyou.." Ranma groaned in reply.

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Suddenly they both shuddered as they heard the familiar, banshee cry. Though to their relief, it wasn't Kodachi, instead it was their mothers best friend, Kalu. Kalu greeted them as she waved them over. Of course she had to taunt them. " My, should I tell Doka that her children skipped school?" She smirked as she could tell she had them in the palm of her hand. "Though if you two would come visit your auntie, I could look the other way."

Both siblings knew it was in their best interest to do what auntie Kalu, wanted of them, as they went off with her to her house. Once there it wasn't long before there sitting at a table, full of fancy foods, most of them baked goods like cakes, which neither siblings could resist. Even Ranka who usually tried to behave, knowing if they ate too much, it could get them in trouble with their mother.

Kalu just enjoyed the company, though there were also hidden motives. " So, why were you two skipping school?" She was also nosey about things. "How are things with your new little sister?" She just droned on, in between breaks from sipping her tea and having some baked goods, here and there. "Oh, and how are you liking the game system?"

Ranma was too busy stuffing his face to answer, as well as how he wasn't too big or good with it. Ranka was better at that sort of thing, where she knew when to be on her better behavior. While she could be just as bad as Ranma, she could also be very close to formal like their mother. As she made sure she was presentable after having a piece of cake, dabbing at her mouth with a napkin, the same way Nodoka did. " Well, a lot of bullying, basically." She figured that was the best way to put it.

Ranka sighed. " We're stuck with her basically." She smiled at the last reply. " We love it very much, just with Tenka, it's a fight for the tv." Ranma grumbled in reply with a nod, as he sipped some of his tea. Kalu nodded as she listened. "Well that just won't do." She pryed a bit more. " So do you two have any fun weekend plans?" Ranka played with her ponytail, as she ran her hands through her hair. " Maybe a sleep over."

Kalu looked thrilled, before she took Ranka's hands into hers. " Don't worry auntie Kalu will save the day. I'll be stopping by very soon to visit." Ranka sweat dropped as she looked around a bit nervously. " Ah, no it's okay, you don't need to do that." Kalu then looked into her eyes sternly. " Today will be our little secret, as long as you let me, save the day." Ranka and Ranma gulped as they both nodded.

They hung out with Kalu a bit longer, until school had let out. They then said their goodbye's as they took their leave. Ranma patted his stomach as they walked. " Oh man, that was so good." Ranka looked a bit distraught as she fidgeted with her necklace. " It really was, but all of auntie Kalu's food is. No matter how full you are, you still gotta eat mom's snacks and dinner." Ranma groaned a bit, but smiled back a bit nervously. " Hey, that's why we're walking it off, right?" Ranka gave him a dull look as they kept walking. " You mean, you're walking it all off. I may have had my fair share, but it still wasn't as much as you did."

Ranma retorted back. " Hah, yeah you still had your fill too." Ranka put her hands on her hips as she slung it back at her brother. " Like I said, if both of us don't eat mom's food, we'll "both" be hearing it." Ranma laid off as he groaned and hung his head. " Yeah.." Ranka then eyed him out of the corner of her eye. " You still wanna go ahead with inviting Thrista for a sleep over this weekend?"

Ranma rubbed at the back of his head. " Yeah, even though she can be, a bit too much at times, she's helped us out a lot. Maybe more than we really know." Ranka nodded in agreement, though she looked a bit apprehensive about it. " Well if we're going to make it official, now would be the best time to." Ranma thought about it for a minute, not realizing as she got splashed with cold water as they walked by a yard.

Once she did she grumbled. " Welp, I'm a girl so I guess it would be.." Ranka nodded in agreement as they made up their minds and headed off in the direction of Thrista's house.

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They hoped to catch her before she got home, as neither sibling wanted to go that far. To their relief she wasn't too far off, as they caught her before she got to her house. Ranka got her attention from behind. " Hey Thrista!" Thrista's ears perked as she spun around with big eyes, that got even bigger at seeing the two twins had been following her. "Hey! You two skipped school today, didn't you?"

Ranka laughed a bit nervously, before giving an intent look at the pink haired girl. "So, I don't remember but just in case, we wanted to invite you to a sleep over this weekend at our place." Thrista grabbed Ranka by her hands with big sparkling eyes. " You can keep asking me every day, I won't mind." Ranka made a dismayed face as she pulled her hands away from her. " Yeah, that's not happening.."

Thrista eyed Ranko all big eyed as well. " Ranko, it's been a while, it's like you're always hiding." Ranma-chan laughed nervously. " I'm just really busy with my own things." Thrista nodded in agreement as she smiled brightly. " Aaah I'm so excited, I can't wait for the weekend!" Ranka sighed. " Well you gotta and you can't tell anyone about the sleep over, or it won't be happening." Thrista pouted at hearing that. " Alright, I won't tell anyone. Hey since you two are here, why don't you come inside, I'll get you some drinks."

They had both backed up really fast with nervous smiles on their faces. Ranka laughed a bit. " Thanks but no thanks, we have to get back home, so see you tomorrow." Before Thrista could reply they had disappeared in a flash.

Thrista blinked for a few seconds before she went off inside her house, as she twirled around and giggled, with joy. She would get to spend time with the twin red head siblings. While she was excited she would also be with Ranka, she was also very happy to see Ranko. It seemed like Ranka's brother Ranma was always around, where as Ranko was hiding or busy. Which was a shame as she had made friends with her back at Asadaiba, though it had been short lived.

She skipped off to her room, as she had to record this joyful moment in her diary, to preserve such an occasion for years to come.

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The days went by until it was the day of the dreaded, sleep over. Luckily it seemed Thrista had skipped school, since her excitement would get the best of her, if she had attended. She couldn't settle down from the anticipation, as she rushed about back and forth, as she tried to decide on what she should bring.

The school day soon came to an end as the siblings made sure to head, straight home after wards as Aunt Kalu was coming over, as she had promised.

As they got back home, it had seemed that Kalu had already arrived and was busy smothering Tenka. Nodoka smiled and greeted her children, before turning her attention back to her friend. " Kalu, do keep in mind she is a demon." Kalu set the child down, before she went about to pinching her cheeks. " Oh but she's so cute, much too cute to be a demon." Tenka tried to protest the torture from the annoying human. " You should be fearing me!" Kalu mushed her cheeks together. " I fear how adorable you are, yes you are!"

Ranma and Ranka couldn't help but snicker at the little intruders, misfortune. Ranka then greeted Kalu, which made Ranma follow suit. Kalu's attention, shifted off of Tenka for the time being. " Oh how exciting for you two, having a sleep over." Nodoka fussed at that. " Oh it's not their first time Kalu, you don't have to make a big deal out of it." Kalu shook her finger at Nodoka. " But I must. Perhaps it's not but it's a friend from school, which is also a first."

Kalu watched the clock on the wall as it hit on the hour. No later than a minute after that someone knocked on the door. She smirked as Nodoka went to answer it, looking surprised, which turned to a bit of an annoyed look at Kalu. " Kalu.. what did you do?" Kalu waved her hand at her friend. " I told you, I'm making a big deal out of it." She signed for the large package and instructed the delivery man on where to go with it.

Once the package was opened and the television was revealed, it had both siblings all giddy. The delivery man took his tip for the extra help, before taking his leave. Nodoka shook her head in disbelief. " Kalu!" Kalu waved her hand at her. " Oh cmon Nodoka, your children were saying how hard it is with only one tv. You now have three children, is it so wrong to have more than one?" Nodoka sighed in defeat. " Kalu you always go way over board.." Kalu had big grin on her face. " Then you shouldn't be surprised." She then turned her attention to the two siblings. " Ranma, Ranka, I do hope you enjoy my gift and have a wonderful slumber party."

Ranma nodded all excited, while Ranka tried to thank her. She smiled sweetly at her. " You didn't have to aunt Kalu, but "we" really appreciate it." Kalu giggled in reply, while looking at the time again, at seeing how frustrated Nodoka looked. " Well I'd better be going." She bowed slightly before taking her leave respectfully. Once she was outside the house, she skipped about and laughed, the dreadful, " ohoho." that was almost the same as Kodachi's.

Nodoka sighed deeply as she put her hand to her head, sitting down on the couch. While she was upset, she also knew her friend meant well. Ranma and Ranka had already gone back upstairs to marvel at the new tv. Ranma had a clenched fist and big smile. " Alright now we can play video games and this sleep over won't be so annoying." Ranka nodded in agreement.

He wasted no time as he went about to hooking everything up, at a very fast pace. After that he went off to the bathroom to go take a shower, before their guest arrived. In the mean time Ranka was trying her hardest to psych herself up for the event, as she gave both sides of her cheeks, a modest slap. More of a pat, as she tried to enthuse herself enough.

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It wasn't that much later that Thrista had arrived at the Saotome's abode, as she took in her surroundings with excitement. Nodoka smiled at the pink and blue haired girl as she greeted her. At seeing the twin redheads, she raised a pumped up fist in the air. " Whose ready for the best sleep over, EVER!" Ranma-chan rubbed at her ear and laughed nervously, as she started to have second thoughts. Ranka had tried her earnest to be enthusiastic about things, but Thrista was being, way to, " over the top" for her likes. She had a bit of an annoyed look on her face. " Just you, apparently.." That caused Ranma-chan to try to stifle a laugh. Nodoka shook her head in a disapproving manner towards Ranka.

Tenka couldn't help but get in on it as well as she shook her finger at her. " That's no way to act big sis." Thrista had suddenly dropped all her things, as she scooped up Tenka into an intense bear hug. " Oh my gosh, you are SO cute! I just want to eat you up!" Tenka bristled as she squirmed about, kicking her feet. " Let go of me!" Thrista dropped her just as suddenly as she had grabbed her up. " Okay."

Nodoka looked over at Ranka, giving her a subtle nudge with a motion. Ranka got the que. " So um come on upstairs Thrista and put your things away." She led the way, with Ranma-chan and Thrista, following in tow. Once they got to the room, Thrista set her bag back down again and was already looking around at everything, as she yammered on. " We should tell fortunes and do each others nails, oh and tell scary stories before bed!" Ranma-chan looked nervous as the pink and blue hair girl, droned on about everything she wanted to do. Ranka curled her lip some. " Sure, I mean if we have enough time anyways."

Unlike the past sleep over with Ukyou, who had led her astray, this time she tried to be respectful of her sibling's feelings. " Ranko really wants all of us to play some video games together though." Ranma-chan made a super cute looking face, with puppy dog eyes at Thrista. Thrista was overcome by the cute~ness and her wanting to make the twin siblings happy. " Sure, we should have time to do everything though."

Soon though they were back downstairs and Thrista had been insistent about helping with making dinner with Ranka, while Ranma-chan was stuck with Tenka. Not that she couldn't have gone to go help, just that it was likely safer for now, not to.

Luckily dinner was done pretty quickly, with so much helpers. Ranma- chan was too excited as she dug into her meal, earning her a stern look from her mother. Thrista couldn't help but giggle. After they had a simple dessert of shaved ice with syrup, before they went about to cleaning up. Then Nodoka went her separate way with Tenka and her children as they went off upstairs with their school friend.

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When they got back upstairs to the room, they started playing some of the video games together or took turns back and forth. It went on for awhile till Thrista had, had enough of it and let it be known, as she stuck her face in the way of the tv screen. " You know, " we" have so many things to do." Ranma-chan frowned as she tried to move around the obstacle. Ranka took her siblings side on the matter. " Yeah but Ranko really loves playing the video games."

Thrista pouted with sad, puppy dog eyes to the twins. " I'm your guest, you're not being very good hosts." Ranka felt a jab from that, as she could picture her mother lecturing her about it. " Okay, so what do you want to do then?" Ranma-chan looked annoyed as she got to where she could save and shut it off, having gotten the same vibe that her sister had gotten. Knowing damn well, if their mother found out, they'd both be in for it, but Ranma would be the one in the most trouble.

Thrista smiled as she rummaged through her back pack, before pulling out a magazine. " Let's do some quizzes!" They all sat at the ground floor table, as Thrista quizzed them with the questions and presented the multiple choice pick answers. Ranma-chan huffed. " How is "this" more fun than playing video games?" Thrista tallied up the answers with the key and looked at the twin red heads, over the personality quiz, more specially at Ranma-chan. " Ranko, the quiz says you are a boy." Ranma-chan got all flustered, which then turned into frustration as she swiped at the magazine. " Gimme that stupid quiz.."

Thrista tried to keep it away from the angry red head. " It's just a quiz and.. don't take it out on my magazine." She tried to make her feel a little better. " I think it just meant you're a bit of a tomboy." That earned her a glare from Ranma-chan. Ranka put the whole situation to an end. " Let's not do anymore magazine quizzes. So, now what do you want to do?"

Thrista nodded and smiled. " Oh, but Ranka didn't you want to know your quiz results?" That earned her a glare from Ranka and a very dark tone to her voice. " No.." Thrista eeped as she flipped through the pages of the magazine, till she came to the page she was after. " Oh okay, how about we see, which of these hotties we all like, huh." She pointed at one of the celebrity boy band members picture. " I like this one, how about you two?" Ranma-chan curled her lip at the pictures. " Yeah, I don't like any of them." Though one caught her interest as she pointed at the picture. " Well this one looks pretty tough at least."

Thrista giggled at that. " Oh I see, you like strong and buff guys, don't you Ranko." Ranma-chan nodded. " Sure do, I recognize a good opponent when I see em." Before she could bug Ranka, she pointed at the one that Thrista had with a dull look on her face. " I like that one too." Thrista smiled all big. " Ooh you have good taste." Ranka looked more annoyed. " Are we done with this, now?"

Thrista sweat dropped as she turned to a different page, full of pretty outfits. " Okay, so which one's do you two like?" She pointed at one she liked and got Ranka to point at one she thought was decent. Ranma-chan wrinkled up her nose. " I don't get what the big deal is?" Thrista hmmed. " Ranko, don't you like dressing up pretty?" Ranma-chan gave her a weird look. " No, not really." At that point Thrista decided to shut up about it, not wanting to bring up the quiz result.

She shut the magazine and stuffed it back into her back pack, before she rummaged about it's contents, pulling out a bunch of different nail polish colors. " Okay, let's do our nails!" That earned a groan from Ranma-chan, until her and Ranka communicated through their link. Ranka having scanned over the color choices, presented Ranma with the two that she thought weren't as bad as others. While Ranma-chan argued back how she didn't want to do any of it, but settled on the easiest on the eyes type. " A french manicure."

Thrista smiled as she set her sights on her first. " Ooh so fancy." Ranka walked her sibling through on what to do next, as Ranma-chan held her hand out flat on the table, as Thrista got to work. Ranka then had started on Thrista's free hand. They all took turns, till all their nails were painted up.

Then they set up their futons on the floor, as they went about to getting ready for bed. Thrista pouted at the fact that Ranko had distanced herself from her, making sure she was lying next to her sister, on her other side. While she was disappointed she couldn't have both twins on both side of her, she was happy that she was next to Ranka. She then launched into telling a scary story, which wasn't too scary, it was more silly.

When she was finished she passed it on. " Okay, now it's your turn Ranka and then Ranko's." Ranka sighed. " Well I could tell one but then who would help you from your nightmares? You can help others in dreams, but can you help yourself?" She said with a bit of a smirk on her face. Thrista gave a nervous half laugh as she gave up on that aspect. She kept chattering to the twins, before she finally fell asleep, much to the twin red head's relief.

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There was a few hours of peace, before they were both rudely, awoken by an excited Thrista, who kept chattering on. Ranma-chan was half awake, as well as annoyed as she tossed a pillow in her face and grumbled. Ranka groaned as she got up and took Thrista off with her.

A little later after being woken up by the delicious aroma of breakfast, Ranma-chan was finally up and more awake as she joined everyone at the dinning table. Thrista quirked an eyebrow as she watched Tenka spray hot sauce all over her pancakes. " Don't you like pancakes?" Tenka ignored her and stuffed one in her mouth. Ranka nibbled on a piece of hers with a dull look on her face. " Little demons don't like human food, unless it's as spicy as hell." Tenka hehed and kept at it. Thrista made a grossed out looking face. " But that's.. so wrong.."

Ranma-chan was too busy stuffing her face, which earned her a few glances from her mother, which prompted her to slow down a bit. Ranka nodded in agreement. " Let her destroy her food, however she wants, as long as she doesn't touch "everyone" else's food with her nasty hell spice." Tenka growled at Ranka. " That's just what a traitor would say.."

Nodoka slammed her fists down on the table. " TENKA!" Her eyes pierced into the small child's, with burning fury, which made the demon gulp and tense up. Ranma-chan couldn't help but snicker in between bites at how the little intruder, had done herself in.

After everyone finished, Ranka and Thrista went about to taking their dishes to the kitchen, or would've if Nodoka hadn't stopped them. Nodoka shook her head. " That won't be necessary girls, as Tenka will be handling the clean up with me." Tenka's mouth dropped wide open. Ranma-chan laughed as she finished her last plate off. Nodoka smiled at the elder girls. " Besides you have a guest, and things to do."

With that, the girls all went back upstairs. Thrista shook her head. " She's not very nice, is she." Ranma-chan hahed. " That's for sure." Ranka rubbed at the back of her head. " Well.. she is a demon." Thrista sighed. " But she looks so cute, it's so deceiving." Ranma-chan and Ranka were about to say something, but were cut off but an antsy Thrista. " Ooh, we didn't get to tell fortunes last night." She rummaged around in her bag, till she pulled out a paper fortune teller.

Ranma-chan was about to reach for the button on the game console, as she pulled her arm back, looking annoyed. " Isn't that what that dumb magazine was?" Thrista shook her head. " No and it's not dumb." She puffed her cheeks. " Ranko, how would you feel if I called your video game's dumb?" Ranma-chan looked thoughtful for a minute before she shrugged her shoulders.

Ranka groaned as she waved her hands about. " Whatever, let's just get the dumb fortune teller thing done and over with." Thrista huffed at her. " Ranka! You.. think it's dumb too.." She shook her head. " You two are definitely twins.." Ranka sighed as she shrugged her shoulders. " Yes I do, but it's a dumb thing that's important to you, so you want to tell fortunes, then go ahead. You are the guest."

Thrista scratched at her head, feeling a bit confused, not sure what way to take what was said. " Okay." She played around with the paper on her fingers as she went thru the motions and told their fortunes. Ranma-chan went off out of the room for a bit, before coming back after having changing into her usual chinese outfits. Thrista couldn't help but chide her afterwards. " You know we're all girls here Ranko, you don't have to run off and hide." Ranma-chan looked a bit flustered, before she left the room again.

Ranka shut the door behind her as they went and got changed for the day. Thrista shook her head, after they opened the door again and Ranma-chan eventually came back into the room. Thrista had jumped Ranka and was doing her hair, much to her annoyance. " You two are twins, so why don't you wear the chinese outfits like Ranko does?" Ranma-chan put her hand to her face at the girls stupidity. Ranka tensed up and gave her a glare. " Why don't you mind your own business.."

Thrista seemed to ignore the response as she smiled at Ranma-chan, holding the brush. Ranma-chan tensed up as she saw the gleam in the pink, blue haired girls eyes, watching her movements, she countered as she jumped away from her pounce. Thrista fell flat on the ground, before springing back up. " Come on, don't be like that Ranko. I just wanted to brush your hair." Ranma-chan frowned at her. " I already did it.." Ranka grumbled as she was re brushing her own hair out.

Thrista pouted. " It's our first sleep over together Ranko, we're all girls here." Ranma-chan groaned as she slapped her hand to her face, biting down on her lip. " We're not all girls here though.." Thrista sweat dropped as she looked around the room. " Is there a boy, hiding somewhere in here then?"

While Ranma had wanted to try to ease the girl into it, she had also annoyed him too much. " I'm Ranma, okay!" Thrista blinked at hearing that. " Your, your brother?" Ranma and Ranka had been communicating amongst themselves with their mind link, as she took a glass of water, and used her gem's magic to heat the water up enough, before passing it off to Ranma-chan.

Ranma-chan sighed as she took it and dumped the contents over her head, with the transformation that took place as she turned back into a guy. Thrista's eyes widened as she watched the girl, turn into a boy, before her eyes. She applauded. " Wow, that's some magic trick!" Ranma slapped his hand to his face. " It's not a magic trick!" He was also very frustrated.

Ranka sighed and took another glass of water, tossing the contents on Ranma, turning him back into a girl. Thrista's eyes went even more wide, almost popping out of her head, as she applauded again. Ranma-chan growled at her. " It's not a damn magic trick!" Thrista's eyes shined. " Wow, so you really are Ranma?" She blinked and looked a bit puzzled. " And Ranko?" Ranma-chan tensed up and nodded. " It's not magic, it's a curse okay! But.. since you helped my sister out, I didn't feel right about.. well.. ya know.."

Ranka cut in for her sibling, seeing Ranma was at his limit. " It's not something Ranma likes to tell people either." Thrista had a big smile on her face. " Why not? You can do magic." Ranma-chan gave her a glare. " I told you, it's not! It's a damned curse! You never heard of Jyusenkyo have ya?! Not magic, it's cursed springs and I fell in the spring of drowned girl.. thanks to my no good father.." She clenched her fist. " A curse isn't magical, ya got that! I can't be around cold water and when I want to turn back, I need hot water.."

Thrista nodded as she listened. " Water magic!" Ranma-chan fell down on the ground, face first, before getting back up, with her hand to her face. " Whatever.." Thrista smirked as she looked at Ranka and the other glass of water, which made her tense up. Ranka gave her a glare. " Don't you dare.." Ranma-chan shook her head at the girl. " You better not, Ranka's not cursed, like I am."

Thrista pouted. " Why not? You two are twins, right?" She looked back and forth at the two red heads, who both looked sheepish. She went to her thoughts as she recalled what Ranka had told her about being a clone. Her mouth dropped open as she got all excited. "Oooh."

She thought about asking to do something girly, but then remembered they were not ALL girls there and settled on playing video games. It was a bit awkward now knowing Ranko was really Ranma. Ranka gave her a stern look, as she had a feeling what she was thinking about. " Don't tell anyone about Ranma and Ranko, got it?" Thrista gulped as she nodded.

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Time went by, and soon it was lunch time as they all sat at the table enjoying the lunch. Once they were done, Nodoka once again left the clean up to Tenka and herself. Thrista in the mean time, started to get her stuff together upstairs, while Ranma-chan was back to playing video games. She rubbed at the back of her head, feeling sheepish. " You know we can still be friends right? And we can still have sleep overs." Ranma-chan tensed up some. " Well.. yeah. Uh..yeah, sure whatever.."

Ranka was busy, looking through her outfits. Thrista popped up in her space with sparkling eyes. " Ooh was your fortune right? That you're going on a date?" Ranka gave her a gentle shove away from her. " No, it's NOT a date." Thrista giggled. "Okay, it's not a date." She peeked again at the outfit, and inserted herself in as she pulled out a cute dress. " This is nice." Ranka pushed her away from her closet. " I don't need your help.." Thrista ignored her as she was going through her dresser drawer, pulling out a pretty bow. " This will look really nice too." She rummaged about some more. " And some makeup."

Ranka huffed with her hands on her hips. " Aren't you leaving?" Thrista wasn't backing down easily as she decided to drag Ranma into it as well. " Ranma, don't you think.." Ranma-chan cut her off just as quickly. " No.." Ranka stopped what she was doing. " Are you all done packing up your stuff?" She said with an annoyed smile on her face.

Thrista smiled and nodded. " Yeah, I should get going, since you have an important "not" a date." Ranma-chan paused her game. Ranka looked irked as hell as she smiled back. " Right, well.. it's been fun." She started to walk Thrista out and downstairs, towards the front door.

A few more minutes later, farewells were exchanged as Thrista took her leave.

After that, Ranma-chan and Ranka went back upstairs and back to what they had been doing. Ranka huffed as she opened her closet back up and went back to looking through her outfits, while Ranma-chan went back to playing her video game. Ranma-chan shook her head. " "That" did not go the way I had planned.." Ranka settled on an outfit as she pulled it aside, tossing it on her bed. " Well that's just how annoying she can be.." Ranma-chan nodded in agreement. " Yep, totally made me lose it.." She couldn't help but prode her sister. " So, you're going out with Ryoga on another date?"

Ranka got a bit flustered and defensive. " It's not a date. You wanna come too?" Ranma-chan hahed. " Ryoga won't let that happen, or mom for that matter.."

Ranka looked annoyed as she went about to fixing her dresser drawer, that Thrista had rummaged about through, putting things back. " So, do you feel better now that you told Thrista the truth?" Ranma-chan sighed with a degree of relief. " Yeah I guess so, just not how I had really wanted to.." Ranka frowned a bit. " Well that's not your fault." Ranma-chan nodded in agreement. " No it is not.."

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Not too faraway, Ryoga trembled with anticipation as he could tell he had finally made it back to Nerima. He rubbed at his head nervously, as he talked out loud to himself. " I hope I'm not too late, but I did send her a postcard."

After a few hits and misses, he found his way to the Saotome's, as a big smile hit his face as he knocked on the door. Within a few seconds he was inside the house as Mrs. Saotome greeted him. His eyes widened as he spotted Ranka, wearing a casual outfit, with pastel colors. He also spotted an annoyed looking Ranma-chan, out of the corner of his eye. Ranma-chan held up her hand. " Yo Ryoga, where'd you come from?"

Nodoka shook her head at her son/daughter. " Ranma, that's no way to treat our guest." Ranka sweat dropped as she held up the postcard. " Got your postcard, a few days ago." Ryoga laughed nervously as he rubbed at the back of his head. " I uh meant to come back sooner.." Nodoka had a big smile on her face. " Alright well, you two have fun and we'll see you later." She gently pushed them off to the front door, before she went to go keep Ranma busy.

Ranka pulled on her sneakers, before they went out the front door. " So, where'd you want to go? I think Ranma wanted to come too. I mean you guys are friends." Ryoga shook his head a bout at hearing that. " Well uh, we're more rivals and we hang out in different ways." Ranka hmmed. " Right, like punching and kicking at each other."

Ryoga laughed nervously as he nodded. Ranka played with her ponytail. " So, where did you want to go?" Ryoga laughed through his nerves. " Well I wanted to keep it a secret.." Ranka quirked an eyebrow at him. " Okay.." She figured though it was likely somewhere around the shopping district as she helped guide him there.

Once they got close enough, he was able to lead the way as they entered the bowling alley. " I thought this place would be fun." Ranka looked around as they went up to the counter, where they turned their shoes over to the employee, who asked their shoe sizes, before giving them, their bowling shoes, where Ryoga paid the man.

While they sat down and put the bowling shoes on, Ranka was glad she had went with wearing sneakers and not her boots, in this case. She once again, observed things, while she was doing so. When they finished they went to an empty lane, where they took seats. Ranka looked over at Ryoga. " Have you ever done this?" Ryoga got a bit flustered as he laughed some. " Ah no, have you?" Ranka shook her head back and forth. " No, but it seems pretty straight forward. You take the ball and chuck it at those white things."

Ryoga bolted up from his seat, wanting to try to make a good impression on Ranka, as he went over and grabbed a bowling bowl. He fumbled about with it for a few seconds, before figuring it out. " Alright, here I go!" He put way too much force into his toss, making the bowling bowl go flying up high, as it hit the ceiling with a loud bang, before falling back down with a thud to the ground. Ranka's eyes widened a bit, before she giggled at him, which had him laughing and rubbing at the back of his head.

Ryoga sat back down, seeing that all eyes were locked on him, mainly the guy's intense glare from the front counter. " Ah, your turn." Ranka got up from her seat and went and grabbed a bowling bowl, as she took a few seconds to figure out the holes, before she gave it a toss. It smacked into Ryoga's ball, as they both slammed into the pins, very loudly. As well as the bowling balls smacking about loudly, from the force she had thrown with.

Again most eyes were on them, and they both got a warning from a disgruntled employee. Ranka rubbed at her head a bit confused, as she stuck her tongue out. " Whoops, I guess I threw it too hard.." Ryoga fwailed his hands about. " What? No, I threw it even harder." Ranka played with the end of her pony tail, showing she was a bit nervous. " It still.. wasn't gentle enough though, I guess.."

Ryoga scratched at his head, before getting up again to take his turn at it again. He stood there for a few minutes, before dropping the bowling ball, before going to sit back down. It took a while as his ball, slowly rolled down the lane, before it hit a few of the pins. Ranka then got up and did the same thing, before sitting back down in her seat, both of them looking flustered.

Ryoga laughed a bit, with a nervous smile. " I guess bowling wasn't a very good idea." Ranka was playing with her red gem on her necklace. " Well, who knew, right?" She shuffled her feet about a bit sheepishly. At seeing how un comfortable she seemed, Ryoga called it quits on the bowling, to which Ranka agreed to as well.

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After getting their own shoes back, they went to the food court area, where they got some food and drinks and sat down at a table to enjoy it. Ranka sipped on her drink, through the straw. Ryoga fidgeted about in his seat. " I'm sorry I wasn't gentle enough.." Ranka waved her hands about, as her face flushed some. " What? There's nothing you need to be sorry about, it's the bowling that needs to be sorry, for not being strong enough."

Ryoga blinked for a few seconds, while he was chewing on a french fry, before it hit him as he finished it. " What?! No, you were gentle." Ranka hmmed with one of her hands to her face. " I tried to hold back, sure.. but I wasn't able to make the cut." She sighed. " It's just not in me, to be gentle or for that matter.. normal like other girls are.." Ryoga waved his hands about. " You're fine." Ranka shook her head back and forth. " No, I'm not.." Ryoga rubbed at the back of his head. " Your fine to me." Ranka shuffled her feet about, as she felt her cheeks flush.

Ryoga smiled with a dumb look on his face. " Like you said, we're too strong for bowling." Ranka smiled back a tad as she munched on one of the fries. " Okay, but would you still feel the same if I wasn't a martial artist." Ryoga furrowed his brows with a serious look. " I'd still feel the same." Ranka hehed. " Well lucky for you, that I'm not normal then huh."

Ryoga laughed a bit as he finally sipped some of his drink. While it did help that they had that factor in common, both being martial artists and their strength being a factor for activities like bowling. He tried to make her feel a bit better about it. " Well, no one got hurt." Ranka smirked a tad. " Yeah, just the ceiling."

They both laughed over that. Ryoga liked how he didn't have to worry about scaring Ranka, or offending her. She was pretty understanding and would just joke back. It made him recall when he had gotten to go on a date with Akane and he had gotten too excited in his pursuit, with his over powered strength showing and how scared it had made her. It had taken him some time to realize that, as well as a lecture from Ranma. Ranka was more his equal, on such things. Though he also knew he was stronger and despite what she had said, she was a bit on the more gentler side, though still fiery and a force to be reckoned with.

He could also see that Nabiki's advice was paying off, by not pressuring her and not saying anything about their time out, being labeled a date. When they were done, they took their leave from the bowling alley.

Ranka stretched her arms out, when they were outside. " You know, you could've left your backpack back at the house." Ryoga got a bit flustered as he griped his large backpack. " I uh prefer to take it with me." Ranka wasn't paying attention to how nervous he looked, as her attention was drawn away to the near by alley. She frowned at seeing a group of punk guys, that had a lone guy student surrounded.

With bowling still fresh on her mind, she pictured the group of punks as the pins. Then looking around she picked her bowling ball, which was a trash can. She knocked it over on it's side, with the lid still on as she gave the group a glare. " Hey! Knock it off!" She then kicked it with a good amount of force, so it rolled down the alley, really fast as it plowed into the back of the group of thugs, knocking them all off their feet.

The terrified student, scrambled away, before getting up to his feet and running away. The group of thugs, started to get back up and focused on Ranka, as they stalked towards her. Ryoga got all amped up and followed suit, as he also used a trash can as a metaphoric bowling ball, as he gave it a kick off, sending it barreling off into them, knocking them away and off their feets, with a lot more force than Ranka's blow had.

Ranka smirked at Ryoga and gave him a gentle slug to his shoulder. " Alright, you told them!" She was also a bit giddy. " Now, that's what I call, " bowling!" Ryoga smirked back. " Yeah!" Ranka smiled. " You know you could've been a little gentler." Ryoga laughed in response and Ranka followed with a snicker.

He then had a big dumb, happy grin on his face. While he and Ranma had worked together, they would usually be bickering and competing the whole time. With Ranka it was vastly different, while she at times teased him like Ranma, it was a lot less snarky.

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They moved on from the area, but there was still action going on within that alley way. A group of dark figures walked towards the downed group of punks. One of the guys squinted through the sunlight, as he thought he spotted a long haired, blonde girl, that stalked over to him. Next thing he knew, she had him by the neck of his shirt. Chriss gave him a stern look. " Hey, so were you messing with that hot, red head girl?"

The guy huhed. " You two chicks, know each other or what?" Chriss gave him a glare as she dropped her hold on his shirt. " Indeed I do, that red-hot is OUR boss." She glanced behind her to the rest of her group. " Alright guys, let's teach these bastards a lesson." She cracked her knuckles as she got into a fighting stance, while her group, rushed over the other one.

Cut back to Ranka and Ryoga, who had stopped to take a break at the near by park at Ryoga's request. Ranka was busy, playing with the end of her ponytail and in her own thoughts. As she was feeling pensive of her actions, at the thought of it, getting back to her mother. Though, maybe she'd take some pity on her, since she did it to save someone.

While she was tapping her foot and thinking, Ryoga was rummaging through his back pack, until he pulled out a box, that had a nice bow wrapped around it. He held the box out to Ranka, with a nervous look. " Ah Ranka, here this is.. for you!" His sudden out burst had snapped her out of her thoughts as she blinked at the wrapped box.

She took the box from him. " You didn't have to get me anything.." She tried to twist the subject around, out of nerves. " Are you sure, you didn't mean to get this for Akane, hmm? You know she loves it when you bring her gifts from your trips."

Ryoga shook his head, with a stern but also nervous look. " Well uh, no.. it's for you, Ranka.." Ranka fussed as she sweated a bit. " Well, Akane's sure going to be disappointed." She could see how anxious Ryoga looked as his gaze was locked on her and the box. Ranka rubbed at her neck a second, before she went about to un doing the ribbon bow that was wrapped around the box.

Once that was done, she was able to lift the top, off the box. At seeing the contents inside, her eyes sparkled and she lost her cool as she had a big smile on her face as she looked down at the sparklie, purple boots. She was able to halt her excitement though as she had concerns, giving Ryoga a look. " How and why?" Don't tell me you were gone so long, over these?"

Ryoga nodded with a smile on his face. " I wanted to and you really wanted them, when Picolet got them for you.." He rubbed at the back of his head. " And well.." He lost his train of thought as he laughed nervously and just stared, dreamily at her. Ranka's eyes were all big, with a big smile on her face as she hugged the box to her chest. " Thanks, I love them." She was so happy, she almost wanted to cry.

She had wanted them so badly when Picolet had sent them as a gift, but wouldn't dare fall for the trap. If she had to accept a gift from a guy, she was fine with it being Ryoga, being the one. She was grateful he had gone so far to get them, knowing they weren't cheap either. She quickly gave him a peck on his cheek, before she went back to taking another peek at them in the box. Ryoga made a happy noise, as he metaphorically melted into a puddle.

The sweet moment was broken up as Azusa Shiratori, popped up with her eyes transfixed on Ranka's boots. " Oooh Minnie!" She tried to make a grab for the box, but Ranka held it up higher than she could grab. " Hands off!" She bristled and growled. " I'm warning you.." Ryoga's moment was lost as soon as he heard Azusa's voice, which sent shivers up his spine, as he recalled how she had kidnapped him as P-chan and renamed him Charlotte. Also at how she knew about his curse, which he recalled how she had collared him as well, making him cover his neck with one of his hands some.

Azusa jumped up as she tried to grab at the box. " Minnie! Give me my minnie!" Ranka snarled as she handed the box over to Ryoga, then moving lightning fast as she gut punched Azusa with her fist, she held back going full force on her, but enough that it knocked the wind out of her. She hmpfed as she took the box back from Ryoga. " Cmon let's go, before she wakes up again." Ryoga nodded as they ran off towards the house, leaving Azusa in the dust.

A few minutes later she bolted up with a gasp of air, as she sat up with teary eyes. " Minnie!" A duck happened to be next to her as it quacked at her. Azusa's eyes sparkled as she grabbed up the duck. " Ooh Felicity!" The duck flapped it's wings about, trying to get out of her, death grip hug.

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Elsewhere, down in the depths of hell, Satan had been biding his time as he had been working on a new plot. While Nodoka had thwarted him from being able to go to earth, he still had an endless supply of minions and tricks up his sleeves. Alley sat on his one side in a chair, next to him in his throne, as she admired him. " Master you've finalized your newest plan, I take it?"

Satan smirked at her. " Indeed I have. I had been thinking, it was such a shame that you and Ivory were not able to fully corrupt the human, high school girl." He put his hand up some. " I do not fault either of you, you did well to bait her." He leaned back some. " I've also been thinking how, I should throw some "bread crumbs" the childs way, while at the same time, spreading the power of evil."

Alley was enthralled with what her master was cooking up, as her tail, swished back and forth. " You are too kind to that failure." She said as she was referring to Izzy. " But do go on."

Satan hehed at seeing he had her full attention. " My past plan with messing with the weather, but this time it's going to snow a blizzard of evil!" He shut his fist tightly with a sneer. " While true the girl did fail me, she can still be of some use to me. So, I want you to send a message to her and a gift, so she has a way to communicate with us."

Alley listened to his every word with devotion. Satan tapped his claws on his arm rest on his throne. " Use your crows now, so we can watch and wait for the right moment."

The she-devil jumped up from her seat, giving him a bow. " Yes master." She then ran off to do was she was told, as she made her way back to earth and to their base of operations, at the motel.

While back at the Saotomes, dinner had been served and Ryoga ended up staying for the night, at Nodoka's insisting. They were just sitting out on the porch, having some watermelon for dessert, when the phone rang. Nodoka got up, going off inside to answer the call, but not before telling Ranma and Ryoga to go take things outside.

All the while a crow had been sitting in a near by tree, which was watching with magical eyes, that were linked back to Satan, so he was able to see what was going on through a mirror as the medium. It just stayed perched in the tree.

Ranma had of course started it, by spitting a watermelon seed out at Ryoga, and gotten him started back. Nodoka soon came back, with Ranka running off with her to hastily get ready to go demon hunting, leaving Ranma in charge of watching Tenka.

A few minutes later, Nodoka and Ranka left the house in a rush as the sun was starting to set. As soon as they were gone, another crow came flying over to where Tenka was sitting on the porch, enjoying her watermelon piece with hot sauce. The crow landed next to her and gave her a caw, before lifting one of his legs, showing off the paper that tethered to it.

Having gotten her attention on it, she looked about, seeing the two dumb boy humans were still fighting with their food and fists in the background. She un did the band, taking the paper and the ring with a gemstone that had been wrapped up in it, making sure to hide both things as she finished the rest of her watermelon piece.

She then forced a yawn and rubbed at her eyes. " I'm tired, I'm going to bed." The boys were too busy as they kept bickering back and forth. She got herself up, as she rushed off upstairs with excitement as she breezed through getting herself ready for bed.

Having gotten to her room, she shut the door as she stripped off her clothes, quickly pulling on her pajama's. She had never been so excited about going to bed, as she hopped up into her bed, flopping down. She giggled as she pulled out the piece of paper and the ring, which she slipped onto one of her fingers.

She skimmed through the contents of the message that was on the paper, before she hugged the piece of paper to her chest with a big smile on her face. It was from lord Satan himself, stating he needed her and they would meet through being linked in dreams, by her wearing the ring.

She smiled as she admired the ring. This made her thoughts waiver, as she told herself, she was right not to listen to the traitor and her hideous lies about lord Satan, that she had tried to poison her mind with. That Ranka she was such a deceitful being, trying to make her believe Satan was such a hateful being.

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Much later on, Nodoka and Ranka returned from their demon hunting, as she went off upstairs to go get ready for bed. Nodoka made sure to check in on Tenka, before getting back to finishing things up, before getting ready for bed. Once Ranka finished getting ready for bed, she went off to her room, to see Ranma-chan was in her own bed.

Anytime Ryoga stayed over, it was a given that Ranma would stay with Ranka. They didn't get to talk like Ranma had hoped, as soon as Ranka got into her bed, she kocked out for the night. It wasn't too long after that Nodoka fell asleep, as soon as she got into her own bed.

Ryoga was able to let it go, that he hadn't gotten to talk to Ranka, once their outing had ended, he was still on cloud nine, with how happy he was about their " not date." He drifted off to sleep, dreaming about their time together, that day, though it was a bit more played up in his version.

Ranka tossed and turned in her bed some, while it wasn't a nightmare she was having, it was just strange. No matter the dream, it was snowing, and it just kept coming. It kept snowing, no matter where she went and people seemed to be acting strangely. Even stranger was it was summer and it was snowing.

It didn't stop, until the alarm went off, waking her up. She groggily, rolled herself out of bed, getting herself up to get ready for school. Ranma followed suit, not much later as he had changed back into a guy and was enjoying his breakfast, despite the fact that Ryoga was there.

He looked around the table, seeing Ryoga eating with a dumb grin on his face, which annoyed him. Ranka seemed a bit of out of it, and then more annoying to him, was that the demon, hell brat had a big grin on her face as she ate her hot sauced food.

A few minutes later, he and Ranka were walking to school, and he caught her looking up at the sky. He cleared his throat, to get her attention. " Hey Ranka, you have bad nightmares or something?" Ranka blinked as she turned her attention to him, looking a bit perplexed. " Kinda? If you count snow as a nightmare." She hmmed. " Though.. I think there was a demon looking clown in one of them.."

Ranma quirked an eyebrow at her. " That definitely sounds like a nightmare.." He then mentioned Tenka's chipper attitude. " I guess the hell-brat didn't have any nightmares." Ranka yawned as they got closer to the school. " I guess not. You two didn't end up fighting last night either huh."

Ranma rubbed at his head. " Huh, yeah I guess not." He grinned. " I was too busy fighting with Ryoga." Ranka shook her head, back and forth at him, on that matter as they made it to the school gates.

They were able to evade a confrontation with Kuno, as he was too busy to harass them this morning. Which was always a relief. Ranma was expecting Thrista to jump out of no where and jump on them, seeing at how she now knew about his curse. He just hoped she wouldn't run her mouth off to everyone else, about it.

He blinked at not seeing the pink and blue haired girl about. " Huh, I thought for sure Thrista would pounce today." Ranka looked around. " Well, I'm not complaining, that she's no where to be seen." They went off to their classroom.

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Elsewhere, Satan carried out his newest weather plan, using the same strategy with Mu mu-chan duck clones, as they flew up into the sky to the clouds and released the magic spell of evil off into the clouds.

As the day ticked by, when it came to gym class, Ranka felt tired and went to the nurses office to get a small nap in. Which in turn made her more grumpy as he came back after it was done. Ranma at seeing his sister as she exited from the locker room, gave her a frown, not that he was mad at her, as she had relayed how she was skipping gym to him. " You have more nightmares?"

Ranka smiled a tad. " Nah, just more snow." Ranma quirked an eyebrow at her, which in turn she shrugged her shoulders, as perplexed as he was about it.

The school day went by and before they knew it, the bell rang out the last class of the day. They walked out with everyone, seeing other students that were outside already, pointing up at the sky. Akane, Ukyou and Sayuri, all held out their hands in awe as the light amount of snow, fell from the sky into their hands. Ranka looked a bit frazzled, at seeing it was snowing, as did Ranma.

After saying their goodbye's to everyone, they walked towards home. Ranma frowned as they did. " I'll bet that demon-brat, has something to do with this freak snow in summer and your weird dreams." Ranka rubbed at the back of her head un sure. " Maybe, but you know she's not going to easily tell either of us." Ranma grumbled with his hands in his pockets. " Yeah well, it would make sense, since she messed with both of us before, through our dreams, right." Ranka gave a nod. " That, she did." Ranma looked a bit pensive. " You also said in one of the weird snow dreams, there was a demon clown, right?" Ranka nodded again.

Ranma looked around for signs of any clowns. Mousse happened to pop out of nowhere, wearing his clown like mask. " Prepare to die!" He un leashed his sleeve of tricks at both the siblings, without mercy. Ranma yelled at seeing what looked like an evil clown to him, before giving Mousse a glare, at seeing it was just him being an idiot, as he and Ranka jumped out of the way of the grappling hook with a rope attack. Ranma disappeared and reappeared in a flash in Mousse's face, giving him a punch in his clown mask. " Knock the crap off, Mousse!"

Mousse staggered back some, before pulling himself together. " How rude, can you be!" Ranka gave him a glare this time. " Say's the guy sneaking up on people with the creepy mask.." Mousse just chuckled in response and presented Ranka with what looked like a rose. Ranka gave him a dull look. " You really must think I'm stupid, don't ya?"

She in turn served up Mousse his own medicine, as she used his own trick against him, getting his attention to look up, down and around, before she slugged him. He had foolishly taken the bait, just as Ranma had fooled him in the past with it. Once he realized he had been fooled by her as well, he fumed. " You're just as dirty as he is.."

Ranma gave him a rough whack to his head. " Say that again, jerk?!" Ranka frowned at Mousse as she pointed at him. " Say's the "dirty" jerk, who attacked us out of no where." Mousse growled at her. " Shut up! I'll make you both shut your mouths!"

Ranka and Ranma communicated to each other, as Ranma distracted Mousse, while Ranka got behind him, where she snatched his glasses from him. Ranma got a punch to his gut in, as Mousse caught himself from tripping. Mousse gritted his teeth. " That's what I call "dirty!"

Ranka then cleared her throat and did her best to imitate Shampoo. " Mousse, what you doing?!" Mousse got all flustered. " Aah Shampoo!" He ran towards the voice, blindly. Ranka hopped out of his way, before placing his glasses on the back of his head. Then she and Ranma took off as fast as lightning, while Mousse was busy, hugging up on a phone post, he thought was Shampoo.

Having gotten close enough to the house, they slowed down. Ranka looked up at the sky as it started to grow darker, with more clouds as they started to block the sun, while the snow kept falling. Ranma grumbled as they got to the front door. They were both taken a back as Nodoka came out the door with Ryoga in tow.

Nodoka smiled as she greeted her children. " Oh Ranma, Ranka, welcome back, just in time. I'd like you two to watch Tenka, while me and Ryoga go to the store for a bit. Or well if you're not too tired Ranka dear, would you like to come with us?"

Ranka got a bit flustered. " I'm kinda tired.." Nodoka smiled. " Alright then, we'll see you in a bit then." Ranma looked annoyed. " Yo Ryoga, why are you still here?" Nodoka shook her head at her son. " Now now, Ranma, with this out of season weather, I don't want Ryoga staying outside." Ryoga gave him a fanged smirk in reply. Ranma grumbled. Nodoka smiled. " Or would you like to come help me with the shopping instead, Ranma dear? And Ryoga can stay here and watch Tenka with Ranka."

Ranma tightened his fists. " Yeah I'm too tired too.." Nodoka smiled as she gave a wave, as did Ryoga as they went off to the store. Ranma smacked his fist into his palm, after they went off inside. " Alright, now we can make the hell-brat talk." He took notice of the snacks out on the table. " After snack time." Ranka hehed at hearing that, as she went off upstairs, really fast to change out of her school outfit, before coming back down in casual wear to join Ranma at the table.

Tenka popped up shortly after as she sat at the table, enjoying some snack time, with the same chipper attitude she had from breakfast. Ranma wolfed down the rest of his, finishing off with his drink, before setting it back down, loudly. " Alright ya lil stinker, what's the big idea?! Why are you so damn happy, all of sudden? Spit it out, you pulled some weird trick on Ranka and her dreams with the snow, didn't ya?!"

Tenka ignored him till she finished eating. She was a bit annoyed at how the traitor had already had a premonition about Satan's plan. She herself, had been briefed through her own dreams. There was no way she would easily, tell them. She rolled her eyes at him. " What are you talking about, boy-girl? And how would I do that? I don't have anything from lord Satan, to do so, even if I wanted to."

Ranma gave her a glare. " Sure you don't.." Tenka had a dull look on her face. " You ever think maybe Ranka, just likes snow a lot." Ranka gave her an annoyed frown. " I really, don't.." Tenka waved her hand at her. " You just don't know that you do. You're a closet-freak, for snow." Ranka quirked an eyebrow at her. " Excuse me?!" Tenka giggled in response as she finished her drink and slid out of her seat, hopping down to the ground. " Or maybe, YOU, subconsciously used your magic to make it snow."

Ranma furrowed his brows at her. " I think your full of crap, hell-brat. Ranka may be able to use some magic, but we both know she can't do that." Tenka smiled with a fanged smirk as she pointed at Ranka. " How do you know, she's not full of crap and lying to you about it."

Ranma growled as he dove after Tenka, who jumped away from his lunge. " Oh, that's it!" Ranka sighed as she finished her drink, before going about to cleaning up the table.

8888

It wasn't too long, before Nodoka came back with Ryoga from the store. She had made sure to get a lot of food, as they went about to un packing everything. Once Ranka joined in, on helping them put things away, Nodoka announced to everyone she would be going back out.

Ranma looked frustrated. " Well maybe you should take Ryoga with you again." Nodoka smiled back. " Oh stop that, Ranma. No one can go to the neighbor hood committee meeting, except for me." She then looked to Ranka. " Ranka dear, in case I'm not back before dinner, you can order something if need be." Ranka nodded in understanding as her mother left her with the money to do so. " Don't stay out too late, it's still snowing.." Nodoka nodded back. " Alright everyone, I expect everyone to behave and I will be back soon." She then quickly took her leave.

Ranka went back to putting more groceries away. Ranma looked over Tenka's way. " Well, how about it, hell-brat, ya gonna talk? There's 3 of us and only 1 of you.." Tenka stuck her tongue out at him, in response, before running off giggling, with Ranma hot on her trail.

Ryoga kept helping Ranka out in the kitchen, with putting things away. Glad that Ranma was preoccupied, for the moment. " Ah, sorry about this.." He said as he referred to having to stay longer than he intended to. Ranka shook her head back and forth as they worked. " Don't be, there's some freaky weather going on out there, it's better you stay with us." Ryoga smiled a tad, before hehing. " Yeah, I doubt Ranma agree's with that though."

Ranka stuffed some more things off into the fridge. " More a less, he knows, he's just not happy about it." Ryoga listened as he could hear Ranma and Tenka, running around upstairs now and the yelling. " He's uh, really mad at "her" today huh." Ranka worked on putting things into the cabinets. " Well she's acting kinda "fishy" and Ranma feels she knows, why or is responsible for the freaky snow in summer.. and possibly for my dreams of snow on snow."

Ryoga hmmed. " Well I don't blame him, if that is the case. "She" did tamper with your dreams before." He looked concerned as he stared at Ranka. " Are you feeling okay?" Ranka felt her cheeks flush a bit, as she waved her hands about. " Yeah, I'm fine, no worries. I'm wide awake." She said as she tried to assure him.

She sighed as more clatters were heard upstairs, before they came running back downstair's, back and forth. " Regardless, Tenk's not going to tell us if she does know anything, she's a demon after all."

Ryoga looked into her eyes. " I hope you know, you're not, Ranka." Ranka looked away some. " It's hard, but.. dealing with a real demon, I am seeing how very different I am from her.." She rubbed at her arm. " But it doesn't change the fact, that I can be quite evil minded." Ryoga shook his head back and forth, really fast, as he anxiously and absent-mindedly, grabbed her by her hands. " Your not! Your not evil Ranka. You know the difference's. Now.. her on the other hand, she's always looking to make trouble.."

Ranka's face was bright red as she pulled her hands away, as she backed away some. "Okay already.. I get it." She then blinked at hearing it was quiet. " Hmm, Ranma must've caught her."

Ranma hehed as he came walking back from the laundry room. " She's got 5 minutes, before she gets flushed." Ranka sweat dropped at him, knowing he had locked her in the washer. " If she doesn't talk before then, you'd better let her out before that, unless you wanna face mom's wrath." Ryoga shook his head at his rival. Ranka sighed. " So, if mom doesn't come back pretty soon, she said we could order out take out." Ranma hmmed. " Well you know what I'd want, but.." Ranka nodded, knowing he was talking about Shampoo and Ukyou, and no matter who they ordered from, it'd cause them problems.

Ranka had her arms crossed as she hmmed. " Or I can just make dinner." Ryoga had a big smile on his face. Ranma rubbed at the back of his head. " Yeah, I guess so."

Once five minutes were up, Ranma went to try to get Tenka to talk but ended up having to let her out of the washer. Tenka huffed at him, as she walked off.

A bit more time went by and there was still no sign of Nodoka returning, as Ranka looked outside, off the porch at the sky as the snow, continued to keep falling. It was started to accumulate as it stuck to the ground. She decided to make dinner for everyone, as it was getting closer to dinner time.

Ranma watched as his sister came back into the house and went off to the kitchen, feeling bad it was all on her. He got up from the couch. " Hey Ryoga, watch the hell-brat for a while." Ryoga gahed at hearing that and tried to protest, but Ranma had already left the room.

A few minutes later, after changing into a girl, Ranma-chan went off into the kitchen, where Ranka was getting everything together. " Hey sis, can I help too?" Ranka smiled at her twin. " Sure. I guess that means you stuck Ryoga with babysitting the demon." Ranma-chan just stuck her tongue out on the matter. " So, whatcha making?" Ranka hmmed with her arms crossed. " I was thinking, hamburger steak." Ranma-chan held up a thumbs up. " Sounds good."

While they worked on making dinner, Ryoga sat on the couch with Tenka, stuck watching whatever she wanted on tv. He did take note, she was really in a good mood, more then he had ever noticed before. He was on the same page as Ranma on the matter, that she obviously knew what was going on.

Closer to when they were finishing up with the cooking, was when Nodoka returned from her outing. The house was full of the delicious aroma from the food. Nodoka shook her head as she put her coat away and slipped off her shoes, before slipping into the house slippers. " Ranka dear, you know I said you could all get take out." She made her way into the kitchen and was surprised to see Ranma was also there, in his girl form. She smiled as she helped them, by setting up the table and assisting them with plating.

A few minutes later everyone was sitting at the table and enjoying the hamburger steak dinner. Ryoga and Ranma were both shoving it down their throats. Nodoka had taken a bite and smiled. " It's delicious, you two did such a nice job with dinner." She beamed proudly at her children. Ranma-chan looked a bit flustered, but kept eating. Ranka beamed from the compliment from her mother. At least she was able to make her proud with cooking, since she failed at the "not" being violent part, among other things.

Afterwards, it was Ranka and Nodoka in the kitchen as they handled the clean up, while Ranma and Ryoga watched Tenka. Ranka dried off the dishes that her mother washed. " So, how was the meeting?" Nodoka kept at her task. " Everyone is concerned about the out of season weather, of course."

Eventually everyone went off to bed, with Ranma-chan making sure she kept her sister safe from Ryoga. She was busy in her own bed, reading a manga, with an annoyed look on her face. " So, was the porker, flirting with ya while I was after the demon-brat?" Ranka scratched at her neck, looking a bit flustered as she flipped through one of her magazines. "He helped me put the groceries away." Ranma-chan quirked an eyebrow at her. " And flirted, right?" Ranka sweat dropped. " Not, really."

Ranma-chan groaned. " Man if I could get away with flushing that demon-brat, I betcha I could've made her squeal." Ranka sighed deeply as she turned a page. " And, like I said, she's not going to tell "us" anything." She looked off towards the window. " She's loyal to a fault to "him." She frowned at seeing it was still snowing, putting her attention back to her magazine. "I'm not sure she can help it."

Ranma-chan pfted. " She probably could if she wanted to. She's just plain evil." Ranka shut her magazine, putting it away, before lying back. " I'm not really sure.. It just seems like if you're a demon or she-devil, you can't help but believe "his" every word. I've tried so hard, to get through to, the "devil-wench." She rolled over on her side, to hide the pained look on her face as she held a clenched fist, as she curled up under her blankets. She grumbled. " Well, I'm going to bed, goodnight Ranma."

Ranma-chan had a concerned look on her face and felt a bit guilty, that she had triggered bad wounds for her sister. She put her manga away and said goodnight as well, turning off the light.

8888

Everyone was up and at for the new day, as they ate their breakfast. Nodoka fretted at the weather man on the tv, as they just seemed to be taking guesses about the sudden un seasonal snow. Tenka was smiling and kicking her feet back and forth in her chair as she ate. Ranma glowered at her as he got up from the table, having finished.

A few minutes later he and Ranka started to get ready to take their leave for school, only to be interrupted by their mother, who insisted they dress for the winter weather. Once she had done that, she sent them off on their way.

While the roads had been cleared some, the snow was still coming down and had grown in it's amount to where your ankle was in the snow. Ranma carried on as they trekked through the snow towards school. " That demon-brat is definitely hiding, that she knows what's going on.." Ranka sighed. " Definitely.." Ranma quirked an eyebrow at her. " Did you have more funky dreams about snow?" Ranka shook her head. " Nope." Ranma hmmed as they kept walking, with his hands in his pockets. " The demon-wench hasn't been around either. It's been way too quiet.." Ranka nodded in agreement.

Once they got to school, once again there was no Thrista to be found. Hiroshi whined in his seat. " Man this cold weather is bringing my summer time down." Daisuke retorted back. " Your just upset you can't see girls in bikini's." Hiroshi got annoyed at seeing Ranka give him a look, having heard. " Shut up, Daisuke.." He gave him a whack to his head.

Ranma also gave him the same look. A few of the girls were pouting about the same issue. Ukyou rolled her eyes. " Jeez, is that all matters." Ranka hahed. " Yeah, really.." Some of the girls chattered back at them, until Miss Hinako came in.

The day went by, until it was lunch time. A lot of the students kept chattering about the snow. Most stayed inside, including their usual group. Hiroshi pouted about how Thrista and her giant bento box wasn't there again. Akane sweat dropped. " Maybe she's not feeling well." Ukyou nodded in agreement as did Sayuri.

After lunch, they had another class before the vice principal announced on the loud speaker that they were dismissing school early, on the account of the weather. The students wasted no time as they fled the school happily. Most hurried off, to try to get back home as soon as possible.

Everyone had said their goodbye's and went on their way, aside from Akane. She had decided to walk with them, since she had to go on an errand to the near by food store by the Saotomes. Ranka gave her a concerned look. " I dunno Akane, the weather's not letting up, you should get back home and go another time." Akane huffed. " I will after, I get the things Kasumi asked for." Ranma rolled his eyes at her stubbornness. " Why not at store more close to the house?"

Ranka sighed at how much higher the snow had become, almost midway up to their boots. Akane hmpfed. " Because what she wants, is only at "that" food store and she wanted it for a certain recipe, okay!" Ranma was by this point annoyed. " Whatever.." He knew there was no talking her out of it. They trekked back towards the house, only to be ambushed by Mousse, as he jumped down mid-air at them, with his claws on his shoes out.

Ranma yelled at him. " Mousse, you idiot!" Ranka acted quicker as her gem lit up bright red, putting up her barrier around them, with Mousse slapping into it and sliding down off it, into the snow. Ranma had made sure to shield Akane, in the moment. He promptly backed away once he knew she wasn't in danger. Akane gave them both an annoyed look. " What did you two do to Mousse now?"

Ranka almost fell at hearing that, but caught herself. " What?! Nothing!" Ranma sounded in as well. " Yeah, why do ya always gotta blame me and Ranka?! Mousse's not innocent, okay!" Akane huffed as they continued walking through the snow.

Just as they made it to the house, the snow seemed to pick up a bit more. As Akane started to turn to keep going, Ranka grabbed her by her hand. " Hey, why don't you come in and join us for snack time." Akane's face flushed some as she fidgeted. " Okay, but then I'm going." Ranka nodded as she pulled her off inside with them.

I do not own Ranma 1/2 or any of it's characters, Rumiko Takahashi does.

Notes: I hope you liked it. Will the snow ever stop? Is Thrista upset with what she's learned? Find out next time.