Sachiko Scramble

by vechloran

What if Ranma met another student of the art in Junior high besides Ryoga? What if their training sessions weren't exactly what he thought they were and now four years later after the China trip finally ends, the student is at the Tendo's, along with a few others who are about to make Ranma's plans for the future change drastically.

22. Chapter 22

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Ranma stuff.

Chapter 22

Tuesday Morning,

"Konatsu, it's a pre-school, their going to get dirty…" Yuko sighed as she saw the outfits her friend had spread out and was currently debating with Hachiko on which one that should pick. Turning back to the stove, she flipped the simple omelet and gave a small cheer in her head as it seemed to hold together nicely. A minute later she was splitting and rolling it up to place into the bento's along side the various veggies, rice, and small sausages, before sprinkling some salt and pepper and putting the lids on the boxes.

Turning around, she saw that thankfully Konatsu and her daughter had gone with a simple pair of leggings and an only slightly frilly dress, though now Konatsu was busy in front of the mirror, braiding Hachiko's long hair into an intricate triple french braid that weaved together as it fell down her back. Yuko moved her hand to check her own far more simple braid was still in place, and that her hairclip to keep her bangs out of her face hadn't slipped.

"Okay, foods done, lets get going." She said as she headed towards the entry to get her shoes and jacket, and then help Hachiko with her own.

"Oh, I hope we're in the same class, it would be wonderful to have you there with us Mistress Inouye." Konatsu said with a hopeful smile.

"It's just Yuko Kon-chan, and me too, though at least if I'm with Sachiko I'll have friends there too." Yuko replied, hoping that didn't happen as she really wanted to sit with Ryoga if possible.

"Mama, will I be with Mirei?" Hachiko asked as she finished pulling the velcro strap across her shoe.

"Yep, you're all together so no worries there, I bet she'll be so surprised." Yuko said, extending a hand and helping pull the little girl up to her feet as a large smile broke out on the girls face.

Quickly double checking she had everything, Yuko then opened the door to let everyone out before locking it behind her, their small group waving to various neighbors who all had something to say about how cute a certain little girl was, leaving Hachiko blushing by the time they exited the main gate and found Ryoga looking nervous while Ukyo was barely holding back a fit of laughter at watching how nervous the poor boy was after realizing Yuko was going to be going to school with them.

"G...ggg...good morning Yuko!" Ryoga nervously said, a bit louder than he needed. She seemed to somehow make the fairly boring Furiken high girl's uniform flattering, though it was her bright smile as she came up next to him that was really making his brain feel like some static was short circuiting it.

"Good mo" Yuko said before a certain little girl ran between them.

"Look at my hair!" Hachiko said proudly, spinning around to show the intricate braid to Ryoga.

"Oh, wow, that looks complicated…" Ryoga replied, giving the girl a smile as he admired the work but his attention was still on Yuko.

"Kon-chan is AMAzing!" Hachiko nearly shouts as she skips over to show Ukyo.

"You're right, but we need to get going or we'll miss meeting up with the group." Ukyo says, Konatsu coming over and picking up Hachiko to hold against her in a secure piggy back for the roof top trip, Hachiko giggling as she prepared for the fun ride.

"Sure...but how's Yuko going to go with us?" Ryoga asks Ukyo with some confusion.

"That's between you and your princess!" Ukyo says laughing as she and Konatsu leap up to the roofs and head off towards the Tendo Dojo.

Ryoga, turning his attention back, see's Yuko blushing, but before he can say something, she wraps her arms around his neck and seems to finally lose her composure and begins gently laughing at how silly Ukyo's idea is now that she's waiting for Ryoga to figure it out, his eye's seemingly growing to the size of dinner plates as he finally understood he'd been setup.

"A...arrr...Are you sure…" Ryoga stuttered nervously, his arms straight against his sides as if standing at attention and not trusting where they should be.

"Yep, now come on, we need to catch up." Yuko says, using one hand to move one of his to her back, before she simply jumped up and forced him to catch her knees, then pulling her self in securely. There was a whistle of appreciation from somewhere back in the apartment complex, but neither teen looked to see just which one of the ladies watching had done it.

Ryoga was thankful his legs hadn't turned to jello as he felt her pressed up against him, and decided that giving chase after the others was the best distraction he had available. Leaping after them, Yuko soon had to keep her own mind from wandering a bit too far as the feeling of been held by such strong arms and Ryoga's cute little fang sticking out as he concentrated on their flight path was going to make falling asleep later that evening an ordeal. When they finally reached the Dojo a little under ten minutes later, she was fighting to keep her own blush from matching Ryoga's.

# # #

"So...not that I want you to exactly patch things up right away, but Ryoga looking like a sad puppy seems to be drawing quite the interest of the other girls in school. I mean, the "Girl's manga club" is over there practically running out of sketch books, and we all know what kind of stories they make...unoffically." Mako says watching the group of about ten girls who were seated out of ear shot of the boys, but with clear views of their subjects.

Yuko groaned as she watched the girls, one flipping over a page in her large sketch book, revealing what was clearly a drawing a Ryoga seemingly leaning forward at the viewer for a kiss, the bare shoulders threatening to ruin her ability to focus on why she was upset with the boy. "I'll...talk to him after class, I...I know it's not his fault, but right now...I just want to eat." Yuko replied, forcing her eyes back to her bento box, which then made her wonder what Ryoga thought of his before she tightened her grip on her chopsticks and speared a sausage in frustration.

"I just hope Ranma never finds out about some of their work...especially the ones that involve both of him…" Sachiko said shaking her head.

"They've got some talent though, I put in my pre-order for the Mousse special next week. Got lucky I ran into a pair of them at the restaurant over the break when they were making some sketches." Achika said, Mako immediately demanding she get to borrow it while the other two girls cringed.

# # #

"Ryoga, you're going to be fine, none of this was your fault, just give Yuko some time to calm down and talk with her after school." Ranma told his friend who kept glancing over at said girl, his expression gloomy mixed with an unhealthy amount of pathetic. "Besides, aren't you happy she got into your class, you get to see her all the time now." Ranma says, hoping that might perk up the boy but instead Ryoga just sighed deeper and picked at his lunch.

"You ask about going with us to the match on Sunday yet Ranma?" Yotaro asked, hoping to change the subject.

"Well, I've got a thing to do with my aunt Friday night that's probably gonna drag into Saturday. But mom says if I can show her all my homework's done than I can go." Ranma replied.

"Alright, well make sure you do, cause I managed to get us some amazing tickets, in the other schools section." Hiroshi said with a large grin.

"Why would you do that?" Yotaro questioned.

"Uh, cause the other school is an ALL GIRLS SCHOOL you idiot. We'll be surrounded by babes who have no idea who we are, and probably aren't even allowed to date due to their strict rich parents." Hiroshi explained.

"You're such a great friend!" Daisuki said, tears flowing from his eyes.

"You is stupid, rich girls no want poor idiots like you two." Shampoo said, rolling her eyes at the two boys.

"Ah, well I was going to invite Ryoga though…" Ranma said, feeling a little awkward now that they'd already gotten some tickets.

"I mean, I might be able to get another, Ryoga you wanna go watch the Martial Arts Rythmic Gymnastics match between our school and some rich girls school, they're the reigning champs." Hiroshi asked the solemn boy.

Ryoga seemed to dip deeper into his depression though at the request, leaving everyone confused and worried until he finally said "That's what my mother use to practice...taught me my first parts of the Art…"

The four around Ryoga panicked, not knowing what to do stumbling on such a land mine of a topic when Ryoga was already in a bad place. Looking between each other until they all turned to look over at Yuko with unsure expressions on their faces only too see her sitting with their back to them, likely still upset from the morning drama. Shampoo was the first to act, grabbing Ryoga by his bandanna and dragging him over to Sachiko's group before saying something to them and leaving the boy there laying face down, apparently not even interesting in moving as Shampoo came back.

"What did you tell them?" Daisuki asked as they watched Yuko begin to pat his back caustiously.

"I say, he too too sad and annoying, need girlfriend cheer him up." Shampoo replied, taking her seat and beginning to eat once more, her seat somehow now being right next to Ranma.

"Are they really dating though? I thought they just met?" Yotaro asked a bit puzzled.

"Whether sad boy want it or not, He boyfriend now." Shampoo said, having some respect for Yuko's almost amazon like drive to capture the boy.

"Man...this sucks. Why didn't my parents sign me up for karate or something when I was a kid…" Daisuki moans.

"They did, we had classes together remember, you spent the whole time looking at the teacher's daughter and got kicked out." Hiroshi says with annoyance.

"Wait...we did? Oh yea… well, she was cute in my defense." Daisuki says. The rest of the group groaning before finishing their meals and the boys agreeing on a time to meet up to go see the match Sunday.

# # #

Ryoga laid on his bed wondering if he could get away with not doing any of his homework and simply going to bed so that the day might simply be over finally. Yuko had gotten over the shock of the situation and they were talking, but she was obviously uncomfortable still and the whole journey home had been quiet, a simple good bye at the gate was all they really said after it. He'd tried to practice, but he found himself distracted and becoming overly frustrated at simple mistakes and knew he should find something else to do, which ended up being walking Shirokuro extra long until it was dinner time.

Now, looking over at his school bag, he was really wishing he could just pack up and head out on a trip. But the framed picture of him and his friends on the desk that they'd taken at the end of the summer trip to the amusement park reminded him that life was over with. Getting up and grabbing the bag, he dumped it out on the desk, textbooks spilling out along with some loose papers, and an envelope that now looked quite worn. His heart dropped as he saw it, memories of his mom mixing with the already frustrating day made him pick up the letter, intent on shoving it back into the bag but couldn't get his hands to agree.

Before he could do anything else though, a knock came to his door, followed shortly by Ukyo's voice. "Ryoga, ya in there?" Reacting without much thought, Ryoga replied he was while making his way over to open the door. Ukyo standing there with a look of concern on her face as she looked him over.

"Hey...you had English today right, could I take a look at your notes, I can't seem to find mine." She asked as she made her way over to his desk which she could see was covered in his school books.

"Huh...oh sure, yea, I was just going to get started on some homework." He replied, joining her next to the desk and going to shift through the pile when he realized he was still holding the letter which caught Ukyo's eyes.

"Or go through some more love letters the girls are all slipping you?" Ukyo said with a mischievous grin.

"WHAT!?" Ryoga said, panicking at the thought of more of those things showing up in his bag.

"The letter...the one you're holding…" Ukyo clarified, pointing at it.

"Oh...no. This is...from my mom." Ryoga said solemnly.

"That's great! What did she say?" Ukyo asked, glad to hear there was some communication between the two finally.

"I...haven't read it…" He admitted.

Looking closely at the envelope, Ukyo realized this was not a new letter, Ryoga had probably been holding onto it for a while now. "Oh…" She said, now feeling a bit awkward seeing Ryoga's reluctance at opening it. They stood there in silence for a few seconds before Ukyo tried to give him some space. "I'll uh...check back later, or you can come study with us in the kitchen…" She offered, heading towards the door.

Ryoga wasn't sure what came over him though, as his free hand suddenly reached out after Ukyo and grabbed her shoulder, a pleading look on his face as he tried to get his words out.

"Can...can you read it." He said, surprising both of them.

"I'm...not really sure I should." Ukyo said, getting involved not seeming like a good thing to do.

"Please...I...I'm too much of a co...I can't do it myself…" He admitted, thrusting the letter at Ukyo's hands.

Ukyo worried about Ryoga's current state of mind, he'd had a roller coaster of a day, for which she'd had ring side seats too, and felt like if this letter went badly it could shatter the poor guy. Eyeing the doorway, she had a thought wiggle it's way inside her mind though that stopped her from making a break for it. The thought of what might happen if he read it alone, and what dumb thing he might do with no one around to stop him. Taking a moment to calm her own nerves, she took the letter from him.

"Ryoga, I'll read this, but you need to agree that if this is bad news, you come down to the kitchen and talk, no running away or holing yourself up here. I'll call who ever you wanna talk too, but you don't get to just wallow in self pity alone, it ain't good for nobody, we both know that." She said firmly, watching him seemingly stand there frozen, before slowly nodding his head.

"Alright, take a seat, I think we're both going to need one…" She said, him sitting on his bed while she chose the chair at his desk.

Opening the envelope Ukyo unfolded the single piece of paper inside. She found it to be a hand written letter, though the penmanship looked strained and shaky, with many characters scratched out and some spots where water had obviously fallen onto the page and blurred things. It was short, looking to be no more than two paragraphs so she didn't try to skim it and quickly began to read.

"Ryoga, Mother says you're healthy, and have good friends looking out for you, which I am grateful for. I hope you can meet the rest of my our family.

I'm sorry. I wish I was stronger, and able to keep my mind fromscree at bay. I am trying to focus on our memories during my counseling, but everything in the world suddenly feels distorted, warped, as if I'm unable to trust even the ground I walk on.

I'm sorry."

Ukyo finished reading, her voice cracking at the end and she could feel the tightness in her chest that was probably only a fraction of what Ryoga's mother must of felt trying to write this letter. Looking up at Ryoga she wasn't quite certain how he was taking it, as he seemed to be trying to remain stoic, his hands in his lap and his head and eyes forward, but tears were streaming down his face. It reminded her far to much of Konatsu the first few weeks after the rescue, always hiding her feelings behind acting like a hostess and caring about Ukyo's more. She placed the letter down on the desk, stood up, and pulled the idiot's head into her stomach and hugged him as he finally broke down.

It was going to be a late night she knew, homework was going to take longer, and they'd probably not even get it started until they'd all had some tea and time to regain some composure. She wasn't sure how this was her new normal, from just a few months ago having been a loner seeking revenge, then help, and now...healing, her and the others. She wondered too what might have happened, if she'd had others to help her, after Genma's betrayal, or her mother's passing. But that made her shake her own head, refusing to drag herself into that when what she needed to be doing was getting Ryoga moving, and a kettle on the stove.

# # #

The next morning, Wednesday.

"Point!" Shouted Lotion from her seated position in the Dojo, her right hand extended to signal the side that earned it.

"Dang it, stupid wall…" Ranma grumbled as Akane helped pull him up after she got out of the pinning position she had him in.

"Well, if you weren't so use to just breaking through everything, maybe you'd have a few more points." Akane said with a grin before she turned to return to her starting position.

Ranma took his time getting back, stretching some as he considered where he'd lost that point and the previous one. Trying to not break anything had become harder after all their summer training, but now Cologne, and to a lesser extent Mr. Tendo and his mother, had insisted they all practice on keeping property damage to a minimum, with unpaid shifts at the restaurant as punishment for anyone that failed. This was causing Ranma's brain to practically overload as it instinctively seemed to default to tactics that didn't worry about a bill, and he had to fight to come up with some alternative, leaving him slower and less coordinated than he liked.

"Round 4, Match Point for Akane" Lotion announced as they were both back in place. Once they gave her the signal they were ready, she yelled "Begin!"

Both of Akane's points so far had come from her pressing hard, and getting Ranma against the walls or grappling on the ground, she decided that continuing this line of attack was still her best option, as going aerial was just foolish against Ranma. The moment the fight began, she launched herself in a forward diagonal angle to avoid a lightning fast attack that never came, then launching into a charging punch that missed, but she used the momentum to swing around for a back kick. Ranma though was playing things cautious and saw the kick coming and grabbed for her foot in hopes of flinging her to the ground.

Instead though, when he got hold of her foot, Akane seemed to coil like a snake and spin with so much torque that Ranma not only had to let go less he break a wrist, but that it pulled him forward and off balance as Akane recovered.

"Nice." Ranma said as he recovered too and they began to circle each other.

"Thanks." Akane said, trying to not let it go to her head that the move had worked so well, as Lotion had been merciless in teaching it too her. She almost dared to look at Lotion's face, but knew Ranma would immediately capitalize on any distraction.

It wasn't until Akane was back more to the center of the Dojo in their circling that Ranma attacked. Darting forward and unleashing a barrage of punches and kicks almost at chestnut fist speeds, but not using any Ki as this was just a spar. Akane blocked what she could but took a hit to her right hip and left shoulder as she pushed into the attack in an attempt to grapple Ranma and get him on the ground, where his smaller red head form was at a disadvantage to her now.

Ranma expected this though, and ducked and tried to sweep her legs, she saw this just barely in time and leapt, sloppily, sailing over his head. What he didn't expect though was that she'd manage to grab his pony tail as she flailed, and yank him along with her. In his panic to not get into a wrestling match with her, he shot his hands up to shove her away before she could get on the ground and find more leverage. In the next second though all he really understood before the darkness took him was that he was touching something quite soft, there was a loud scream, and then what he would later learn was Akane's hand slapping him in the face and sending him bouncing across the floor into the wall.

Waking up a few minutes later, Ranma found his head was resting in Lotion's lap, Akane looked like she'd been chastised, but anyone could tell she was still smoldering under her pouting, her arms covering her chest. Seeing him begin to stir Lotion leaned over in what he knew was an exaggerated way that forced her chest into his forehead, a quick look over and Akane was practically ready to explode before Lotion leaned back and laughed even more before finally saying something to him.

"It's good to see you still alive, but if you want to do that kind of maneuver, wait until its my turn to spar." Lotion said, before trying to stifle her laughter once more.

Reaching his hand up to feel the soreness on his cheek, he winced at how tender it was, and he could tell there was some serious swelling starting. Figuring he should probably apologize first for the mishap, he began to sit up and look at Akane who was giving Lotion an annoyed look.

"I'm sorry, about...I mean, you grabbed my hair and I kinda just reacted…" Ranma said, keeping his voice serious so Akane wouldn't think he was lying.

Akane wanted to yell at Ranma, for being a big stupid pervert boy who was in need of a swift kick to the only part of him that seemed capable of thinking, but the look she got from Lotion got her to breath first, and remember it was a sparing match they'd both agreed too. Looking at Ranma though she suddenly felt a blush cover her whole face as she saw Ranma for the first time with his red hair down, the strange string he used to tie his hair having broken when she'd grabbed the pigtail. It was falling over the shoulders, and was curled from always being tied up roughly, adding an air of femininity too Ranma she'd really never considered.

Ranma was worried when Akane didn't reply, and instead was giving him weird vibes as she looked at him. Should he apologize more, bow maybe, or just run for safety? He was saved though when Lotion seemed to stop laughing, and instead wrapped her arms around him and pulled him into her lap and gave him a tight squeeze.

"See, I tell you, Ranma your type!" Lotion said, a smirk on her face as Akane turned an almost cherry red at her girlfriends comment.

"WHAT! NO!, UH UH!" Akane quickly screamed back in defense of the accusations while wildly waving her hands.

"Small, strong, cute, curls, and an amazing pair of." Lotion said teasingly, her hands coming up to cup Ranma's breast as he was now thoroughly confused on what was going on and how his apologizing had lead to it.

"LOTION! Don't fondle him!" Akane said with some jealousy as she marched over next to the two.

"Oh, sorry, you wanted to be first, maybe ask that in exchange for apology?" Lotion said as she suddenly tossed Ranma up to his feat towards Akane and then bounced away from her angry girlfriend.

"N..N..NO!" Akane said, having to quickly look away from where Lotion's hands had just been as the unsteady Ranma almost fell on to her, catching himself at the last moment. Akane quickly giving chase to Lotion so she might convince her of just how completely wrong she was by pinning her. Lotion was still the quicker of the two, and managed to pop out of the Dojo with Akane in hot pursuit, leaving Ranma confused, sore, and once again convinced he really didn't understand what was going on in the minds of girls.

Looking around the dojo to make sure they hadn't damaged anything, he felt strange but not quite sure why, as if there was something tickling his neck. Reaching his hand back to feel, he immediately became panicked, looking around the dojo only to see what he feared the most. Right where they had been fighting, he found the dragon's whisker he'd always used to tie up his hair, now ripped into multiple small pieces. Gathering them up, he tried to think of what he might do now, obviously his hair wasn't growing as a girl, and he had another two or three days before he could even turn back, but when he did...would he lose all his hair? Quickly running into the house, he grabbed a small plastic bag from the kitchen and placed the pieces inside, figuring he'd probably need to talk to Cologne about it after school.

"Oh my, what happened to your hair?" Ranma heard his mother say from behind him, not even thinking about how she'd be up already when he'd gone to get the bag.

"Uhh...training accident…" Ranma replied, inching towards the doorway before sprinting up towards his room, trying to figure out what he was going to do now.

# # #

"Sachiko, are you up?" Ranma said after knocking on Akane and her's door.

"Hold on!" He heard her shout from behind the door, leaving him to nervously wait in the hallway.

The door soon popped open, Sachiko was in her school uniform and once she saw his hair made an audible gasp. "Yea...look, Akane kinda destroyed my normal hair tie, you got anything I could borrow?" He asked, but before she could answer, a small giggle came from behind him.

"Pretty!" Mirei said, still rubbing her eyes a little and in her pajamas, she made her way over from the bedroom door to the two.

Sachiko got a grin as an idea came to her though. "Ranma, go clean up and I'll get her dressed, then I can help you both with your hair."

"Sure, thanks." Ranma replied, heading to the bath for a quick rinse off after the morning practice, though suddenly worried when he heard behind him "I want my hair like daddy's".

# # #

"Ranma, stop messing with it or I'll have to redo it." Sachiko said, pulling Ranma's hand away from the twin braids she'd managed to do in between all the chaos in the bathroom that morning. Mirei had wanted a long large braid, but realized Ranma's hair wasn't as long as her own, while Ranma just wanted to get it tied like before. After what felt like a lifetime of complaints, arguments, and some trial and errors, she'd gotten the two to agree to two simple braids on either side that then wove into a simple ponytail down the back. Ranma though almost lost it when he saw there weren't any simple black hairbands, and was now wearing some of Mirei's that involved two large cherry red balls at the top of the braids, while some small red rubber bands kept the braids secured to the ponytail.

If it wasn't for Mirei being ecstatic about having matching hair and showing it off to everyone at the table that morning, Ranma probably would of already bolted for school and ripped it all out as he could feel everyone's hidden laughter in his bones. Once they had dropped off Mirei though, Sachiko had to constantly keep Ranma from messing with it and remind him and the others that if he didn't keep it until after they picked up Mirei, the offending party was getting a weekend of baby sitting. Konatsu was really the only positive one, offering to help redo it if something unexpected happen, though Ranma worried Konatsu might get a bit out of hand judging from the gleem in her eyes and the mention of how there was a dire lack of red heads in Japan.

Entering the classroom, his friends who were around Yotaro's seat, looked up and seemed to panic and look at each other, clearly unsure of what was going on. Deciding he might as well just get it over as other's started to notice, he simply announced to his friends loud enough for the rest to hear. "Look, This ain't my idea, Akane destroyed my normal hair tie during a spar this morning, then Mirei demanded to have her hair the same as mine, and believe me, this was the compromise…" He said, pointing at the atrocity that was currently his hair.

The three just seemed to nod in response, not having anything they could think of that was remotely safe. The rest of the class descended into some murmuring, which was almost normal, while Mako and Achika burst into giggles before asking for the details from Sachiko as she took her seat. The three girls were basically in a fit as Sachiko retold the story of that morning, with many other girls in the class overhearing and beginning to giggle too.

Getting frustrated with all the laughing though Ranma stared down the class before shouting at them "I'm the best Uncle there ever was, okay!".

Before anyone could say much more though, the bell rang and the teacher entered the classroom, forcing everyone back to their seats. The teacher tripped slightly though upon seeing Ranma's hairdo and gave a very confused look before deciding to just ignore it like they'd been doing for most of the school year as nothing good for a teachers career happened around the young man.

# # #

"And when exactly did you eat this soup?" Cologne asked, looking at the small bag of shredded dragon whisker.

"Uh...before I met you all, so I was around thirteen." Ranma said, not really sure even what month it was at that point in their travels in China.

"And have you tested going without it since?" She asked, already thinking how interesting it was that if the curse was still active, the female side wasn't affected.

"Uh…" Ranma thought for a bit but didn't come up with much. "I still would wash my hair and then retie it, super quick though." he said.

"Humm…" Cologne said, already knowing what she'd say, but she did so enjoy watching Ranma squirm for a bit. "It's estimated that it has been almost four thousand years since any records last talked about such a dragon existing, well past the time for such an object to retain its potency according to our apothecaries. You are lucky that it's very likely expired, though if not...keep some cold water nearby. How soon until you can test?" She asked.

"Friday, probably." He answered.

"Alright, keep me informed son in law, the tribe may be able to find another, though the price could be exceptionally...high." She said with a cackle that left Ranma dismayed.

"On the bright side, these scraps should be enough to help out Soun, if not a full head of hair, at least enough to look presentable again." Cologne said.

"That's great, I'll let him know you might be able to help." Ranma said with a smile.

"Oh, and do continue with the cute hairstyles, that old pigtail was just so...boring." She added, cackling as she left to attend to the kitchen once more, leaving him at the table wondering what was so wrong about his old pigtail.

# # #

Friday Morning.

Ranma stared in the mirror, the red headed girl staring back causing a wave of anxiety as he waited for the water to warm up on his hand in the sink. It had been a long time, such an incredibly long time since he'd last changed and now he wonder not just about his hair, but if he even could. Maybe something went wrong removing the cat tongue, or staying female so long had locked the curse. These and other thoughts swirled around his head until he gave a startled cry as he felt and watched the curse activate.

He grabbed the cup of cold water and he turned sideways to watch his currently black hair in a simple ponytail for any signs of growth. Seconds ticked by and he had already almost nervously shaken the cup onto himself as he thought for a second he'd seen his hair move. But, after almost a full minute, he relaxed, the dragon whisker soup had obviously run its course. Putting the cup down, he began to feel all over, making sure the mirror wasn't playing tricks on him and that he was certainly back to normal.

After a hot bath that felt like he'd ascended earth and all his problems, he finished cleaning up and headed back to his room to dress, his now free hair hanging down to his shoulders, thoughts of what he might do with it now running through his head.

"Damn it…" Nabiki whispered to herself, only to realize Kasumi was standing right next to her in the hall as they watched Ranma head to his room. "Augh!"

"You're seeing his hair too right." Kasumi asked, ignoring her sisters startled reaction.

"Ugh...that gross tight wrapped pony tail was one of the bigger turn offs I had for him, now he's got free flowing hair like one of those covers on your trashy romance novels." Nabiki grumbled.

"The ones you are always borrowing… I wonder what Sachiko will think." Kasumi pondered, while giving her sister a knowing look.

"I...I just like the romance!" Nabiki stated, moving towards the bathroom now that it was free.

"Oh my, but the pages your dog eared were never the "romance" parts." Kasumi said in an air of innocence that she knew drove her little sister crazy, getting a loudly slammed bathroom door as the only response.

# # #

Friday late afternoon.

"Alright, repeat the plan back to me." Saki said to Ranma as they stepped out of the black SUV and headed towards the hangar.

"I make my way to the observation point on the north of the farm, check I've set my radio to channel 4351, and report any movements or oddities. I don't engage anything and should fall back to the emergency extraction point if things get out of hand." Ranma repeated, his hands making small adjustments to the black ninja like outfit he'd been told to wear when he'd arrived at the compound after school, Saki had already been in her own that she had worn the last time he'd seen her in action saving their bacon when rescuing Konatsu. The main difference between theirs though was his head and face were entirely covered while her face was still visible. While she hadn't said much about his hair, she had helped tie it up so it wouldn't get in the way.

"Good. Once we get inside, I'll talk to the rest of the team, and then we'll do the inspection on the Heli, once things look good I'll give you a crash course in being a navigator. Don't talk to anyone else, you're still a bit of an unknown and we'd like to keep it that way...for now." Saki replied, her often fun and relaxed mood completely gone, and Ranma could tell she was all business now.

Once inside, Saki headed over to greet two others dressed like them, while various others were working on the black helicopter, or had some clipboards and were walking around filling some sort of paperwork out. Watching, he saw a group of two men wheel an almost ancient looking chest over to the helicopter, and then using a small crane load it into the back. A little after that what looked to be some kind of shrine maiden was chanting and seemingly praying around the vehicle.

It was almost a half hour before Saki returned and began to walk him though a pre-flight checklist, followed by a course on how to read the map and its elevations, and then understand the course laid out for them. While it wasn't fighting, Ranma found it engrossing and even learned enough about the aircraft to be able to better explain to Mirei when he returned why it wasn't like the UFO ship of the evil queen.

When the sun began to set on the late summer day, things really picked up and Ranma was told to just sit in his seat and wait while all the paperwork was done, Saki signing her name no less than twelve times from his count before she was able to take her seat in the cockpit and a small vehicle began to tow them out of the hangar, the other two members of their team having taken their seats too. The engines whirring to life, and then shortly after the feeling of being lifted off the ground sent Ranma's senses into overdrive but he thoroughly enjoyed all of it, even if he was still stuck being a girl for all this.

It was almost two hours later when they arrived, Ranma grateful he'd not made too many mistakes while trying to keep track of their position, Saki having caught him somehow anytime he'd started to drift off course. He wasn't quite sure how, but about ten minutes before they set down in the field north of the farm, all the noise from the engines had disappeared, he hadn't even seen Saki flick a switch or anything. Quickly offloading his pack, he nodded to Saki who nodded back and he began his run to the observation point picked out by the scout team earlier in the week.

Arriving at the spot, an outcrop on a hill that sat above the tree line but had some rocks to keep concealed, he setup the radio, pulled out the large binoculars, and waited to either see something, or be asked to report in. There wasn't much to see though, the few outside lights at the farm were mostly off, just a light in the house, and one at the barn were the only things giving him light better than the moonlight. With that little though, he could still see the strange black wisps coating the area, practically the whole house and barn felt as if they were dimmed compared to their surroundings.

Watching the area he soon saw an older man leaving the barn, two large pigs following. He honestly thought the old man should look worse, but it was the two pigs that were giving off a much stronger demonic presence, the old man looking no worse than Ryoga had before they'd destroyed his demon. Ranma wanted to call it in, but had been instructed to maintain radio silence, and nothing was threatening anything yet, so simply watched as the old man led the two pigs into an outdoor corral before wandering back to the barn.

"Banshee to Robin, report." Saki said over the radio.

"Robin to Banshee, In position, observed older male bring two large pigs outside to a corral before returning to the barn structure on the east side." Ranma replied over the radio.

Getting no response, he continued to observe, soon seeing one member of the team appear on the side of the house, while another was on the roof of the barn. He had no way of really knowing who was who though. He kept his eyes scanning, but did notice the one on the roof throwing something into the barn, which seemed to cause all hell the break loose a few seconds later.

A green gas began to poor out of the barn, shortly followed by the old man now moving far faster than he should be able too towards the house, the two pigs in pins following and going out of his sight behind the house. The pigs inside were all breaking through the outside walls from their pens, causing the barn to being to collapse and the team member on top having to leap away. Ranma could hear the sounds of the pigs shrieking even at his distance, and noticed that the ones that had initially run in all directions, were suddenly all headed right back. Trying to take a quick count by the movements in the dark trees, he quickly made a call to the team.

"Robin to Banshee, pigs have all turned and running back to the farm. Counting at least nine." He called over the radio.

As he watched the pigs approaching the cleared edge of the farm, they strangely began to group up it seemed. A group of three heading for the person outside of the house, another trio towards the member that had landed near the now empty pens, and the other group seemed to be now circling around, possibly headed for the house. The pigs charged forward in V formations, with the lead seemingly tucking into a roll that the other two pushed along with them. The two women, both leapt in the air to avoid them, only for the back two to suddenly leap up after them as though they were as light as ballerinas, taking both women by surprise, one sent sliding along the house's roof, shattering clay tiles until she managed to stop herself, while the other was punted down into the mucky pen below, Ranma's stomach feeling a little queasy as he saw her quickly recover, but fully covered in the slop.

The group of pigs chasing after the woman on the roof were met by her as she charged their landing spot, she'd pulled some sort of weapon from her back, it wasn't gleaming and he didn't see a blade, but her first strike left him with spots in his eyes as an intensely bright green light appeared right where she struck the lead pig, sending it careening into one behind it, she must of followed up with a second strike as Ranma could still see a green strobe as he rubbed his eyes, and looking again the pigs were all on the ground, only one moving.

The other woman had also pulled something off her back, but was retreating as she tried to wipe it down for what he imagined would be a better grip. Before he could really even get the green dots to go away though, the whole house started to strobe light pink flashes, gettings brighter and shifting to a dark mauve before reaching its climax and what seemed like the whole back wall exploded outward, the two pigs along with something...black..ish, flew out. The house though didn't handle losing an entire side wall like that well, and before the person inside could follow up, the roof collapsed down at an angle where the wall was missing.

Ranma wished he could be down there, and almost lost track of what he was suppose to be doing as the fight developed, but he finally saw the group that had been hanging around the edge make its move.

"Another group headed in from the west! Robin to Banshee." He said, cringing that he'd screwed up the simple protocol but quickly engrossed again as the fight became one large melee. Green had finished off the last one from her group and was going to help who ever had fallen in the muck who was now near the collapsed barn with the trio of pigs charging, while Pink emerged from the side of the house towards the pens in the center holding some sort of mace like weapon and watching the new group heading towards them.

Pink decided to delay the charging pigs, and keep those she'd knocked out of the house down as she drove the mace into the ground, causing the ground in front of her to ripple as if a wave was running through it, the charging pigs quickly losing their footing and crashing into each other while the other two pigs and the black mass seemed to just steady themselves. Before the wave was enough complete though the fighter was on the three confused pigs, two bright red sparks once again forcing Ranma to close his eyes.

He was thankful he did though, as before he could get his hand in front of his eyes, it felt like he was looking at the sun as a white light poured in through his clenched eyelids. No sooner had it faded, than a feeling of dizziness hit him along with a gust of wind. The only reason he wasn't on the ground at this point was the week of training he'd spent with Grandma and Saki, as they worked to try and get him able to not only draw on his powers, but to defend against them.

He stumbled forward after finally opening his eyes, his balance gone and he managed to kind of lay down into the observation position he'd been crouched in, trying to get his head focused on what was going on. "Oh shit…" he muttered as he took in the battleground.

He was pretty sure it was Saki who'd set off the blast, with just about everything else that was near her knocked out or stumbling, that included the green and pink fighters who were holding their heads, one holding onto a piece of fence while the other was down on one knee. The black mass and the two pigs with it that were furthest away looking stunned, with one pig having fallen over but continuing to walk with hits short legs in the air, while the other looked like it had laid down, its head slumped but slowly moving still. The blackmass had lost some of what ever was covering it, and Ranma could finally make out a hand and leg, though as he watched they seemed to slowly be consumed back into the darkness.

Saki was already charging through the various bodies, a sword held in both her hands as she took a leap towards the monster, a leap that Ranma realized wasn't going to make it all the way. Instead landing a good ten feet away and thrusting the sword towards the thing. There was no large burst of light, but instead, it was more like a focused beam, as if a flash light was on the end of the sword. Ranma watched as the ichor like skin burst into blue flames and it began to roll in the dirt until all that was left was an old man that must be Akari's grandfather, no longer moving.

While Saki seemed to begin inspecting the man, the other two had regained their footing and split up, one headed back into the partially collapsed house, the other towards the mostly destroyed barn. Ranma knew from the briefing that once the fighting was done, they'd still have to find the cursed item that was allowing the demon to stay in their world.

"Banshee to Robin, you still with us?" Came Saki's voice over the radio.

"Robin to Banshee, Seeing Stars, but I'm good." He replied.

"Alright, sit tight, we'll pick you up on our way back to the landing zone once we find the totem. Banshee out."

It was another five minutes or so before the one that was checking the house reported they'd found it, some sort of sumo event ticket from over seventy years ago. A quick slash with Saki's sword did the trick as it too burst into a blueish flame and disappeared. The only thing delaying them from coming back was hosing down Saki, something no one argued about waiting for. Before the small group had even made their way to Ranma, carrying Akari's grandfather, Ranma observed multiple black vans pulling into the property and people piling out and beginning to examine and chain up the pigs.

The walk and flight back was devoid of any real conversation beyond what was needed, leaving Ranma anxious about how he'd done, and leaving him feeling unclear on how to even act. He had so many questions though, like how did they not blind themselves, how did that ground attack work, and what were they going to do next. But he'd already been told to keep his mouth shut, and he'd be told the things he needed to know, and nothing more. After landing he was sent to clean up and change before being sent to the debriefing room and told to just wait, it could be a while.

# # #

Ranma waited almost two hours before anyone even began to show up, it was almost three in the morning at this point so he was hoping it would be over soon so he could get back to the Tendo's and switch back to male and get his first nights sleep as one in a very long time. But as the briefing started to fill in, with what seemed more and more people, all of who were glancing at him, he started to get the feeling this wasn't going to be a quick meeting. For the first time in a while, he was honestly glad to see his grandmother walk into the room, even if her face looked staunch and she was probably the only one that didn't look his way, but at least it seemed to quiet the room down and Saki followed and took a seat next to him, only getting time for a single brief look at him as the meeting was called to order, Ranma did not find that look calming.

The actual debrief was quick, Saki blasted through the whole mission in a few minutes, and barely any questions were asked. A second person gave an after action report about the pigs having been transported to some containment place, while the property was blocked off and further searched for anything suspicious. Ranma didn't hear anything about Akari or her pig, and hoped that was a good sign. The trouble though started when Kofumi motioned to adjourn the meeting, to which an older woman, maybe in her fifties or sixties, objected.

"I believe there's still one...detail that needs to be clarified. That of this so called...Ranko Saotome." The woman said. The room fell silent and everyone looked at Ranma, while he watched his grandmother to see how she'd react.

The scowl Kofumi directed at the woman wasn't even hidden, which worried Ranma. "What detail is that?" Kofumi replied with a monotone voice.

"Why...who even is she? We know your bloodline, and we know for certain, that the only daughter of yours that could have had a child of this age, Nodoka, had but a SINGLE MALE child." The woman said, matching Kofumi's tone in mockery. "You do know, that hiding heirs from the organization is...ill advised." This the woman added a touch of venom too, while her face remained emotionless.

Kofumi muttered something unintelligible to Ranma, but then seemed to slump in her chair, a look of deep annoyance on her face. "Saki…" She said, giving the woman a nod of approval. As Ranma turned to look at his aunt, he got a face full of warm water from seemingly no where.

"Hey what'd ya do that for!" Ranma shouted out of reflex as he wiped his eyes clear of the water. The room itself though barely heard it of a multitude of swears, gasps, and screams as two women fainted onto others. Ranma now was glad he'd at least changed back into his regular clothes and a pair of boxers, even if the belt was now much too tight.

"This...is Ranma, Nodoka's only child, who was indeed born male. While in China training with his father, they ended up falling into an area called Jusenkyo, a valley with hundreds of springs, each one with a curse that turns who ever falls in, into what ever last drowned there when hit with cold water, hot water reverts the person back to their birth form. Ranma fell into the spring of drowned girl, hence we call him Ranko when in his female form." Saki said as if she'd rehearsed it. Ranma giving her a questioning look as this Ranko name was news to him.

Questions began to be shouted through out the room, a few close by even tried to touch Ranma but were stared down by Saki. Kofumi began to call for order over the noise but wasn't having any effect so she took her fingers and whistled, adding a bit of Ki into it, and quickly the whole room was grabbing their ears in pain.

"We'll be holding a briefing in an hour for those who need to know more. This meeting is adjourned." She shouted, before whacking the gavel down and making for the exit, Saki grabbed Ranma's arm and dragged him quickly out along with her. Other's looked to follow but were quickly left behind at the elevator.

"That stupid old goat, she knew we were having the meeting later, still wanted to make a show of it…" Saki fumed once they were alone in the elevator.

"Grandma, what the heck's goin on? Ranko?" Ranma asked, unnerved by the whole thing.

"Politics." She replied with a look that made sure Ranma didn't want to ask anything else.

# # #

Ranma wanted to just about swear off the whole thing with what ever the organization was by the time the second meeting was through. While it was a much smaller group, the questions being asked felt degrading, not to mention the touching and prodding being done while he changed back and forth so they'd believe it wasn't some illusion. He was thankful that his earlier hospital stay there after the fight with Ryoga's father meant they had much of the medical data they wanted, though that didn't stop request for fresh blood, urine, and one lady asking for a sperm sample which was thankfully shot down. The looks he'd gotten when they found out he was even a father already at his age ranged from the usual accusatory glares to something he was pretty sure he was glad he didn't understand.

He'd finally been let go around six in the morning, accepting the offer of a cab home from Saki as he really did just want to crash and forget about the whole ordeal with those old ladies. Arriving home at almost seven in the morning, he was greeted by his mother as they passed on the stairs, while he assured her he was fine, he also tried to cut things short and just get into bed. He was grateful that Mirei wasn't in the room as he slowly entered, ensuring he would get a bit of rest before having to get up and deal with the new day.

Waking up around one in the afternoon, Ranma still felt in a daze as he wandered down to see if there were any leftover from lunch. Finding a plate of food wrapped with cellophane and a note, Ranma found that his mom was over at the Nekohaten while it seemed everyone else in the house was gone, except Soun who was teaching a class from the sounds coming from the Dojo. Splat and Checkers whined a bit as they took up positions next to him at the table until he gave them just a little bit of the chicken, calming down and being happy to receive some belly rubs as he finished his meal.

After cleaning up from the meal and then heading to the bath, Ranma relaxed for quite a while until he heard the group returning to the home, with the three amazon's in tow for their study session. While he was happy to retale the mission, he found it far harder to concentrate on the lessons as Lufa's closeness was suddenly causing an almost forgotten physical reaction that once the others picked up on lead to some teasing and some arguments between Shampoo and Lufa in Chinese that he was glad Mirei couldn't understand.

Ranma was glad to be done with all the homework though, free to head to the match tomorrow with his friends and see what all this weird martial arts could entail. His exhaustion though once again caught up, and it would be just a while after Nodoka had sent him and Mirei up to get ready for bed that she'd find the two asleep, the light still on and the book they'd been in the middle of, laying on Ranma's face. This time at least, she remembered to go get the camera from Nabiki and take a quick snapshot.

# # #

"Hey Ranma!" Hiroshi shouted, seeing his friend appear down the street headed towards him and the rest at the bus station. The boy waving his hand in return, in addition to a smaller hand also waving back from his shoulders.

"Hey guys...sorry about this." Ranma said, as all three looked at him curiously, as well as the small girl on his shoulders who seemed to be examining them. "Mom got called in by grandma about something, said she couldn't get out of it, and Sachiko already had plans that weren't really kid friendly. So we've got Mirei with us today." He said.

"Hi Mirei." The three said, greeting the girl who was still looking between the three curiously. She was back in her overalls, with a yellow t-shirt and pink shoes, her hair tied up into a single pony tail that resembled Ranma's current one, though how much longer he kept it he wasn't sure, but having to get a haircut that would work for both his bodies was going to take some time to figure out. He himself had decided to keep things simple for the day, a pair of khaki shorts with an elastic hem, though also a belt, and a red polo shirt with the top button left loose, he'd kept his simple martial arts slippers as they were the most comfortable, his school and dress shoes still seemed so strange to him after all the years on the road.

"Okay...hopefully they let her in without a ticket. She's small enough to sit on your lap so they'll probably not care." Yotaro noted.

"Smart one?" Mirei asked Ranma, pointing at Yotaro.

"Yea, that's Yotaro, this is Hiroshi, and that's Daisuki." Ranma said, introducing his friends.

"Perpert!" Mirei yelled excitedly as she pointed at Daisuki. The boy in question going white at the accusation from the small girl while the others grimaced.

"Mirei...is that nice to say?" Ranma scolded Mirei.

"Big sister Shampoo say so…" Mirei answered with an innocent look Ranma was starting to believe wasn't quite so innocent.

"Well...I'll talk to Shampoo later, good girls don't say that okay?" Ranma said, hoping to prevent any more accusations from his daughter.

"Okay!" She said, looking back up and clapping her hands as she saw the bus coming. "BUS BUS BUS!" She chanted as they lined up and Ranma got her off his shoulders so they could pay and board.

The trip wasn't more than a quarter of an hour, and soon they were walking into the school grounds of what was a very pricey looking academy. Following the signs they soon reached the ticketing gate, where thankfully Ranma and Mirei were able to charm their way in with just the single ticket, leaving most of the girls near enough to see Ranma's smile in a daze.

"I knew I could use that smile to get some free grub in my girl body, guess it works kinda the same way when I'm a guy." Ranma mentioned as he joined his friends past the gate.

"Oh know...he's going to realize his powers and become a super playboy!" Hiroshi joked, giving the others a laugh as Ranma rolled his eyes.

"Playboy!" Mirei repeated, causing all four to sweat and realize they'd need to watch what they said today.

"Mirei...lets not say that either okay?" Ranma asked, hoping that at worst he might have to pay her off with some snacks from the concessions stands outside the large gymnasium.

"Popcorn!" Mirei said, seemingly ignoring what ever was just said and pointing at the stand.

"Alright! Lets get some snacks before the tournament starts." Ranma too now fully distracted by the smells coming from all around. The group made their way through the stalls, which it turned out were staffed by the various clubs at the school to raise money, leading to Ranma getting a sizeable amount of extra helpings from the girl's manning them, so much that both Mirei's and his hands were full as they entered in to find their seats.

What followed in the next two minutes might have out shown the whole tournament if more had been paying attention. From Ranma's friends perspective, the amount of food in front of him and his daughter would of taken a family at least a half hour to finish, but instead whole corndogs were devoured in the blink of an eye, Yakisoba noodles sucked up in a single pass, and the mountain of rice balls only took a little longer because Ranma had to help peel the plastic wrap off for both of them. After the pair gave a set of large burps, did they settle down and begin to slowly pick at their popcorn. The three companions decided that this was simply another thing to forget about, rather than question and began to eat their own food and comment about the various girls starting to fill into the arena.

It was another thirty minutes before things started to begin, which felt quite long for Ranma as he had to field questions from all the girls around him about Mirei and why they were in the section for their school, though most didn't seem to mind and the girl seated next to them just seemed to giggle and blush anytime Ranma looked at her. Daisuki on the other hand managed to get no less than two slaps for his attempts to flirt, and Hiroshi only just managed to persuade the girls around them to let them be because otherwise Ranma would have to go too. It was a relief to them all when the lights finally dimmed at the announcer and referee entered the ring. Ranma thought it odd that the referee was dressed more like a Ninja, with only his eye's showing, but maybe that was just the norm for this sport.

The teams began to fill into their spots, with cries from the crowd for both sides. While he couldn't quite make out the Furikan team due to one of the lights blinding them, he could see the St. Hebereke team were wearing leotards that were a glossy teal with the school emblem over the left breast, while one girl with long black hair and who Ranma suspected was the Captain had her own Black leotard with a finely embossed rose in a deep purple all along the right front to back. Mirei wasn't quite sure what was going on, but was standing up on his thighs so she could see better and clapping along with the crowd as the first round was announced and the two combatants entered.

"This doesn't seem quite fair…" Ranma said to Yotaro who was next to him. Both noticing the girl from Furikan had multiple bandages along her arms and legs.

"There's rumors that the St. Hebereke team doesn't exactly play fair, but no ones been able to prove it." Yotaro replied. Ranma's face went stern at hearing that, his focus on the Captain of the team as he studied her, though if she knew of such rumors she didn't seem bothered, focused on the match and calling out to her teammate something he couldn't make out over the din of crowd.

Predictably, the first match was over quickly, the girl in bandages not having the ability to dodge quickly enough and was wrapped up in a ribbon and then unraveled right out of the ring. While the crowd cheered, Ranma watched as the team didn't seem to even acknowledge the winner, the girl just returning to her spot on the bench as the next headed up.

The second and third matches were similar, with the girls from Furikan all being bruised and bandaged and unable to put up much of a fight. Ranma thought about going girl and taking a spot on the team just to show St. Hebereke that Furikan wasn't a push over, but quickly reminded himself he couldn't leave Mirei. Looking down he saw Mirei looking a bit bored with things too as it wasn't very exciting being so one sided. Suddenly though Mirei's face lit up as she pointed at the ring.

"Big sister Akane!" She shouted, getting Ranma to look at the ring and his eyes going wide.

"What's she doing there?" Ranma asked himself.

"Daaaa….nnnggg" Hiroshi said, reminding himself about midway through that thought as he watched Akane do some warm up stretches in the Furikan blue leotard.

"I can die now...truely this is the best my life will ever get…" Daisuki mumbled as he brought out a pair of mini binoculars.

Akane didn't seem to notice them though, even with Mirei's shouts, and got into position for the fight, the crowd quieting down as the Referee came to the middle of the mat. With a quick check that the two were ready, he then shouted for the fight to begin. Akane beginning with a pair of clubs in her hands while the other girl had a ribbon and hoop combo.

The St. Hebereke girl went on the offensive first, likely expecting another easy win. But after three attacks with the ribbon were dodged with little effort by Akane, she got a frustrated look on her face and sent the hoop in a spinning arc towards Akane and then simultaneously leapt off one of the ropes of the ring and up over her opponent, sending the ribbon down towards her targets neck.

Akane smirked as she used one club to shatter the incoming hoop, which turned out to be made of solid wood instead of just plastic. While she let the ribbon wrap around her other club and then yanked downward, sending the girl above on a harsh collision with the rings mat. The other girl wasn't bad though, and managed to not only let go of the ribbon before too much speed was gained and rolled out of the fall towards her corner. Akane was on her before she could even signal for a new weapon and for a split second Ranma was worried Akane might really hurt the girl with one of those clubs.

With a breath of relief, and a cheer of victory from Mirei, Ranma watched as Akane used the clubs to simply scoop the girl up and spin her like a plate on top of one club, after which she simply rolled the dizzy girl out of the ring. The crowd went wild at the spectacle and jumped to their feet, Mirei perched on Ranma's shoulders as she shouted, while the girls from St. Hebereke didn't exactly celebrate their loss, the whole thing was far more interesting to watch than the joke of matches before.

As people returned to their seats Ranma could feel the anger seething out of the team captain as she berated the girl who lost who was in tears and bowing before her. Memories of his own father behaving the same way flashed into his mind and he was only snapped out of them as the announcer shouted out the next combatants and completely flubbed Shampoo's name.

All four boys were left with their jaws hanging as said girl leapt into the ring, doing a fancy landing on the ropes before twirling into the air and landing in her normal fighting stance. The leotard though wasn't quite up to containing Shampoo's assets though, and Daisuki and Hiroshi were stuffing tissues up their noses to hopefully prevent them from bleeding out on the spot, while Yotaro had to take off his glasses that had suddenly steamed up.

"SHAMPOO!" Mirei screamed, managing to get it right, and be heard by the girl over the crowd.

Shampoo smirked, finally seeing where Ranma and the rest were seated. She hadn't told Akane and Lotion about Ranma's plans to be here when she'd help persuade them to be replacements for the injured team members. But seeing the crowds reaction to her looks, especially Ranma's inability to even blink, she had to thank her ancestors for such a great opportunity landing in her lap.

"Hi Mirei! Hi Ranma!" She shouted back to the two, Flashing a V sign to them while bending forward to give Ranma quite a view before taking her place and waiting for her opponent. What she didn't see was the raging aura of the rest of the girls in the stands around the boys as they all wondered just what kind of a relationship she had with the stud sitting near them.

"Shampoo's gonna kick butt!" Mirei said, flashing the V sign back to her friend.

"Mirei...language.." Ranma said instinctively, though not disagreeing as he watched the opponent enter the ring and the two gathered their weapons. Ranma thought Shampoo might of gone with double clubs like Akane, but instead she had two ribbons, while her opponent was bringing a hoop and club. This was definitely the vice-captain from the other team, seeing as she had been sitting next to the captain and looked to be the most skilled so far with a dizzying gymnastic dance along the ropes for her entrance, but Ranma wasn't worried, Shampoo was going to mop the floor with her.

With the shout to begin, Shampoo lashed out with her left ribbon while shuffling to the right, hoping to grab the girls feet, only to find her target already closing the distance having leapt backwards and using the ropes as a springboard to fly at Shampoo. Shampoo flicked up her second ribbon but it was caught by the hoop and she was forced to roll away and try to get distance to begin her attacks again. Both girls regaining their stances and beginning to circle each other.

Shampoo let the other girl make the first move, which involved her using the hoop to not only throw at her opponent, but to spin it like a sphere towards her target, following behind it ready to strike with the club. Shampoo tried to slap the hoop away with a ribbon, but its rotational speed simply slapped the ribbon away. If she couldn't attack through it, Shampoo decided to attack over it and leapt into the air, hoping to wrap her ribbon around a shoulder or neck. Unfortunately though, while the girl was obscured by the spinning hoop, she'd signaled for a ribbon of her own and soon their two ribbons were tangled and Shampoo was forced to let go before succumbing to the same fate as Akane's opponent. As she came down for a landing a sharp pain shot through her left shoulder as a club impacted it, almost making her lose her balance.

Shouts of encouragement from the Furikan crowd rang out above the cheers from the St. Hebereke girls. Shampoo was now a bit frustrated at her opponents ability, she had figured her lifetime of fighting would easily defeat these casual fighters, but having to deal with such strange rules and equipment was proving to be an issue. She signaled to Lotion who was next to the ring for her replacement weapons, using her remaining ribbon in one last attack that was really just to tie up the hoop and get it out of the equation and two clubs came speeding her way from Lotion.

Her opponent also was requesting new weapons, a club and ribbon this time, and barely got them in her hands before Shampoo was barreling across the mat at her, an unnerving amazon war cry screaming from her lips. The ribbon whipped out, Shampoo having just enough time to drop her shoulder at the last moment, before crashing her club down at the other girl who blocked with her own. To Shampoo's surprise, and anger, it was her club that seemed to shatter against the other, the wooden shards spraying into the other girls face, and two sounds Shampoo knew all too well rang out. The first was the sound of a wooden weapon hitting metal, the second was of a bone snapping, in this case her opponents wrist.

Shampoo immediately disengaged, not quite sure what the rules were for such injuries, and getting a confused look from Lotion who also wasn't quite sure what to do. The referee approached the girl, who had tears running down her face, but looked more scared than hurt as the team captain began to shout at her to stop whining and win. Nodding to the referee that she wished to continue, the girl winced as she let her arm dangle with the broken wrist and took a ribbon from the captain. Shampoo accepted a ribbon also, but looked unsure of how she was going to finish this fight without further injuring her opponent.

The fight resumed, and Shampoo dodged the initial ribbon strikes, as most were off aim and slow, but she realized her opponent was goading her as she made to decrease the distance between them and had to quickly block the strike with her club, only for the ribbon to slice clean through and strike her right shoulder, grazing the skin but slicing cleanly through the shoulder strap on the leotard. Gasp and cheers from the crowd erupted as the outfit just barely maintained some modesty.

"That ribbon no legal!" She cried at the ref, who now seemed to act like nothing had even happened, simply motioning to continue the fight. Shampoo gritted her teeth as she knew the other team were cheats, but this was now personal.

She chucked the now sharpen half club at the girl, startling her at the danger it presented when it stuck into the post she'd been standing in front of. She could feel her arm and shoulder starting to stiffen, spitting an amazon curse to their ancestors for using poison's in addition to illegal weapons. Charging into the girl she feigned an attack at her legs only to leap up and meet her in the air, a sadistic smile on her face and the girl realized her mistake and shampoo focused her power into the tip of her ribbons handle and launched the girl out of the arena and into her captain, before falling backwards on the mat and finding herself unable to move to soften the fall.

The arena was filled with murmuring as medics quickly attended to both girls, loading them onto stretchers and taking them back to the changing rooms to assess. Ranma could see Akane talk briefly to Lotion before following the medics carrying Shampoo. Looking back at the St. Hebereke captain, she was berating her team and anyone who even strayed too close as she paced back and forth.

"Is Shampoo okay?" Mirei asked, looking uncomfortable and worried as the medics exited their view.

"She's tough, we'll go see here after the final match so you can tell her how well she did." Ranma said, reassuring her, though the looks from his friends were filled with worry.

"The captain of their teams suppose to be a monster...but this is crazy. That ribbon sliced through wood like nothing." Hiroshi whispered to Yotaro, who was watching the captain's outburst.

"Shampoo lost control of her body, did you see how her arm just kind of drooped after that attack, and her landing wasn't anywhere near what she should have been able to do...I think their poisoning their weapons." Yotaro whispered back in disgust.

"The ref was ignoring it too, you saw how he didn't even check. Bet their captains rich and paying him off." Daisuki said quietly to the two, the air around them practically crackling from the upset girls watching their team lose two consecutive rounds.

Soon enough though, Lotion climbed into the ring, one of the less injured girls from before taking her place next to the ring to hand her weapons. Lotion didn't even acknowledge the crowd, simply getting into position with a club and for the first time in the tournament, a ball. The captain from St. Hebereke also took her position, and after seeing Lotions choice, decided to mirror it.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, for the final match, we have Furikan's exchange student from China, Lo Xian versus St. Hebereke's undefeated CHAMPION...Kodachi Kuno! The current scores for the teams are 3 to 2 with Hebereke in the lead, but Mrs. Kuno has offered to make this a Winner takes all. What says our challenger?" The announced asked, pointing the mic at Lotion.

With a look that Ranma knew all too well from his time in the village, Lotion happily agreed to the terms, as if Mrs. Kuno and given her the one birthday gift she'd been wishing for. "With pleasure." Lotion replied, her voice full of honey. The crowd erupted in cheers for their champions as the stakes were now the highest they could be, with Furikan threatening to dethrone the undefeated team.

The fighters could barely even hear the ref, but the moment his hand dropped both rushed each other, clubs clashing in the center of the ring. Kodachi though knew how to use the force from the club blows to artfully redirect herself, spinning in circles around Lotion's brute force attacks. But lotion's speed kept Kodachi from launching her own offensive, the two of them circling around the ring for a good two minutes with neither making any headway.

As Kodachi returned to her own corner after another set of unsuccessful blocks and attacks, she spared a glace to her corner before leaping backwards onto the post for the corner, sending her own ball towards lotion's feat to keep her from following up. Lotion took a defensive stance as she avoided the ball, but it didn't stop her from being shocked when it exploded into a cloud of gas, though she did quickly hold her breath as she didn't trust it to not be poisoned along with that ribbon from before.

"Insolent foreign peasant, witness the civilized beauty of my thousand club dance." Kodachi shouted as she began to send a torrent of clubs at Lotion.

Lotion managed to dodge and knock down the first few, but her own club started to break apart and when a spiked club hit and stuck into it, the balanced was so bad she abandoned it and started to dodge wildly. Clubs began to shoot out in to the crowd amid shouts of pain and others screaming as they took cover. It was when Lotion did a flying leap to dodge a group of clubs, sending them into the St. Hebereke crowd that Ranma finally lost his composure. Looking down at his hand that had reflexively plucked one out of the air, mear inches from Mirei, it's spikes fully deployed.

Ranma gathered up Mirei onto his chest, she was crying at the sight of the club, though he barely registered it in his fury at Kodachi. He couldn't hear anything as he stood up, his eye's solely focused on Kodachi as he pulled his arm back to return the club to its owner. Halfway through his throw though he realized his error, he was putting everything he had into it, enough that it could easily kill if it hit. With just a fraction of a second before the club left his hand, he managed to put a spin on it with his finger tips, just enough that the club sailed past Kodachi's head, and into the corner post behind her, shattering the metal club, the corner post, and sending shrapnel into the gymnasium floor.

Both combatants and the ref lost their footing to the sudden collapse of the ring as it tilted towards the destroyed corner. Everyone was confused, was it a bomb, poor construction, or something else as the club had been going so fast and away from the action that no one really knew besides those right next to Ranma.

Ranma saw Kodachi begin to get back up and looked to begin attacking once more. A single jump covered the distance from the stands to being face to face with Kodachi leaving a red streak in the air as Ranma's aura burst forth. Kodachi was still trying to understand what had just happened when there was suddenly a boy in front of her carrying a small crying child, his body glowing red and his eyes were staring at her, deep into her, a shudder going through her as her mind begged to flee while her heart seemed excited by the power.

"Kuno! You are no martial artist!" Ranma shouted, his Ki powering it to be loud enough to pause even the chaos in the stands as everyone wondered what was happening now.

"..." Kodachi began to retort, her eyes narrowing, her hand pulling back, ready to strike with her ribbon as she bristled from the accusation. She found no sounds coming out of her mouth though, and looking down at the club in her hand, it was shaking uncontrollably.

"Illegal Weapons! Poisons! Endangering CHILDREN! You're nothing but the most dishonorable girl I've ever met!" Ranma shouted over her, pointing his finger as he accused her of each grievance. His aura and anger causing Kodachi to slowly step back until she was right up against the corner post.

Kodachi was finding it hard to swallow, wondering if she could even breath as feelings she'd never had before crashed through her. This handsome strong young man was practically dominating her with his aura. While she knew she should feel disgusted that some peasant was even near her, let alone talking to her like she had done anything wrong, another part of her was aroused and wanted nothing more than for him to continue, to degrade her publicly and then take her back to her room for some private…Her body suddenly tightening and convulsing before she slumped down against the post, a warm feeling spreading through out as she barely kept herself conscious.

Ranma's anger cooled as he now looked down at the girl who seemed to collapse just from his yelling, wondering if maybe he'd been to harsh on her. He went down on one knee to check her pulse, only for Kodachi's hands to grasp his.

"Please…" She begged with a flush face. "What is your name…" she asked.

Now things were getting weird and uncomfortable for Ranma, he knew the look he was getting and didn't have any reason to know why this girl would be thinking about that when he'd just been screaming at her. He untangled his hand and quickly jumped back, only to bump into the ref who was making his way over.

"You! How dare you interfere, obviously a cheater for Furikan, I have no other choice but to disualify them and proclaim St. Hebereke the winner!" the man shouted.

Ranma reached out and grabbed the man's hood, ripping it off and spinning the man to face him. "CHEATING! You allowed every known form of cheating just fine from St. Hebereke, and you're going to say my school's the cheats! What's you're name, I'll report you for allowing this farce of an honorable match." Ranma screamed, though his attention was briefly drawn to the odd...was that a Coconut tree...on top of this man's head.

"Humph, I don't need to tell a keikii like you anything, give me back my uniform." The man demanded, holding out his hand.

"Principle Kuno? Hey...it looks just like him…" Shouts and murmurs began to be heard from the Furikan bleachers. A large sweat drop appearing on the man's head as he quickly made a run for it, Ranma only letting him go because he spotted Lotion's prone body and quickly made his way over.

"Lotion, are you okay?" he asked, seeing her eyes were open and blinking, he began to check her pulse, but didn't' get any response from her. "Let me get you to the locker room…" he said, having to awkwardly pick her up into an over the shoulder fireman's carry while still holding onto Mirei, who thankfully wasn't crying much but still looked scared and was using her hands to cover her ears. 'Shit...I'm going to be in so much trouble…' Ranma thought as he leapt towards the locker rooms.

# # #

"Lotion!" Akane cried as she saw the girl slung over Ranma's shoulder as she opened the door to the changing room for the Furikan team. Hurriedly taking the girl from Ranma and bringing her over to one of the benches to lay on. Lotion gave a smile to Akane but wasn't able to say anything it seemed. "What happened?" She said looking over at Ranma in the doorway and noticing Mirei. "Oh god! Did Mirei get hit too!" Akane asked, her blue aura bursting out at the thought.

"She's scared but I wouldn't let anything happen to her." Ranma reassured Akane who calmed down hearing that. "I ended the match, the Captain was throw clubs into the crowd and almost got Mirei, Lotion breathed in a bit of a smoke bomb, probably laced with what ever hit Shampoo. How's she doing?" He asked.

"All patched up from the small cut, she can talk but can't move yet." Akane informed him. "Once I get the medics to check Lotion, I'll let you know when you can enter."

Ranma spent some time helping calm Mirei down, promising her that everything was fine now, and no one was really hurt, well, no one on their team he thought.

"Why do people fight?" Mirei asked, pushing off of him and wiggling in a way that meant she wanted down.

Ranma thought about the various times he had to fight, versus some of the things he'd watched his dad do while they were traveling. "Well, not every fight is the same. Today was suppose to be a match of skill, but the other team decided they didn't want to be fair or honorable, that is why I said that girl was dishonorable, she would cheat rather then work harder to get better." He said, watching her mull over those words.

"Is she getting time out?" Mirei asked.

"I...don't really know what will happen, but I think she could be banned from competing. That means she can't do this anymore." He answered, honestly hoping that the ref be held accountable for more.

"Good, I don't think her mommy will be happy." Mirei said, then looked towards the door. "Can I see Shampoo?" She asked.

"I think that will be okay, but stay out of people's way, and listen to Akane." He said, letting the girl head in.

Ranma and his friends waited for a while, the rest of the Furikan team leaving, and soon enough Ranma was called in to help carry Shampoo, who managed to crack a wide grin at the fact that Ranma was going to have to carry her home while Akane helped Lotion who was up and able to walk with support and regained her voice. The return trip was awkward as the boys thought about giving some praise to the girls for the fights, but seeing as one of them was barely walking and the other being carried by Ranma, talking about the matches didn't seem like a good choice and so the conversation generally resolved around school.

# # #

Walking into the Nekohaten, the group minus Ranma's friends headed towards the stairs in the back to take Lotion and Shampoo to their rooms, it looked to still be before the dinner rush and so the restaurant was only about a third full. Cologne came out to greet and check on them, but once assured there wasn't any permanent damage was interrupted by Mirei.

"I'm hungry!" The girl said with a hopeful face and batted her eyes like she'd done at the food stalls earlier, the smells from the kitchen quite potent at the entrance to the stairs right across from it.

"Mirei." Ranma began to say, wondering how many times he was going to get in trouble for teaching her that.

"Oh my, well why don't you take a seat and I'll see what I can find for you, just a small snack though, we don't want to ruin your dinner." Cologne said, ignoring Ranma's request to not spoil her and shooing him up the stairs.

"I think you too too good a teacher." Shampoo said as she giggled at Ranma's obvious annoyance at being ignored. "Mirei going to get what ever she want, already have you wrapped around small finger."

"Yea yea...don't I know it. Though once mom and Sachiko find out about today, I'll probably be a bath full of hot water for taking her with me when I stopped the fight." Ranma complained as he opened her door and headed over to her bed to drop her off.

"Humm...well I like it when you in Hot water." Shampoo said sultry, as he was bending over to place her on the bed and causing him to turn bright red. "Just like you like see me in uniform today, maybe you even hope other shoulder get cut too?" her hand slowly brushing up his leg.

Ranma's brain was sparking while alarms blared as thoughts of that very thing occurring ran through his head, a single strand of sting just barely holding the top together… 'Soul of Ice, Soul of Ice…' he began to chant in his head as he did his best to gain back some control.

"Humm...looks like I right." Shampoo said with a sly look towards his crotch.

"Feelbetterbye!" Ranma quickly squeaked out before bolting out of the room and down the stairs to take a seat next to Mirei, thankful that the tables at the Nekohaten had extra long tablecloths to hide his current predicament. A few minutes later Akane came down too and joined them, debating on if she might just order something too as she was hungry after the match, but a large plate of dumplings soon arrived, Cologne having guessed the three would be hungry.

It was a quiet few minutes as the three dug in, with Ranma just having to remind Mirei to slow down, and properly chew each one and making sure she didn't try to wipe her hands on her clothes. They were down to just the last few when the door chimed and a familiar voice drew all of three's attention.

"Oh Touyou, I haven't had so much fun since I was a school girl." Nodoka says as she entered into the Nekohaten. She was dressed in one of her fancier summer Yukata's, its yellow's, oranges, and reds melting together like a sunset on a rippling pond. The man who Ranma recognized from the village but was having a hard time remembering who exactly, was wearing a modern pair of black slacks, a white button up shirt, and in his left hand had a black blazer, a dark blue bow-tie rounding the outfit out. It was that is right hand quickly came around to Nodoka's waist as he began to lead her into the restaurant that caused Ranma to drop his chopsticks with a clatter.

"Mom!?" Ranma said, his voice pitching upward in shock at the sight.

"Dad?!" Came another voice shouting from the kitchen. Causing Ranma and Akane to swivel their head to see an irrate mouse peering out through the steam.

"Grafamaba" Mirei shouted happily, through a mouth full of dumpling, waving her hand happily.

The older pair both looked quite unnerved at the sudden meeting, Nodoka both blushing and looking worried at her confused son, while Touyou tried to give his son a stern look, but realized it was futile as Mousse's glasses were completely fogged over once more.

"Oh...Ranma, what brings you here…" Nodoka asked, her hand coming up to try and hide her blush.

"The Rythmic gymnastics match got out of hand, Akane and I had to help bring Shampoo and Lotion back..." Ranma said, his eyes looking over Mousse's father very closely, settling on the hand that was still resting on his mother's waist. His brain giving him a brief idea of what it would be like to remove the hand, and possibly arm from the man before he could stop it.

"Oh dear, are they all right?" Nodoka asked, a genuine sense of worry taking over.

"They're fine, just resting." Akane quickly answered. Ranma glancing over, saw she too wasn't fond of that hand on Nodoka's waist.

"Oh that's good…" Nodoka said, but didn't say anything further, leaving the group in an awkward silence until Mirei finally swallowed for food.

"Big Fight! Daddy stop bad girl!" Mirei shouted, drawing even more attention too the awkward group.

"Ahem!" Cologne coughed loudly, suddenly right behind Akane and causing her to jump in her seat. "Your "Private" room is ready." She said to the pair, and gesturing to the back.

"Oh yes...well...we'll talk later tonight, help Kasumi with dinner. Be good Mirei." Nodoka said as she quickly made her way past them, Touyou having to quickly catch up, simply giving the group a pleasant smile as he passed.

Ranma sat in shock as he watched his mom go into the room, only turning back to Akane and Cologne when the door was shut. Akane also seemed shocked and uncertain about what just happened, but it was Cologne's face that upset him. The old woman had her trademark smile that she wore when ever she managed to pull a fast one on someone, it was almost unnoticeable, if he hadn't spent so many years staying with her and Shampoo, but the moment she made eye contact, she might as well of whipped out the balloons and banners celebrating having kept things a secret for so long.

What surprised Cologne though, was that instead of his normal hot headed reaction, demands, and shouting, Ranma simply picked up Mirei, who just barely snagged the last dumpling on the platter with her hands before finding herself on Ranma's shoulders, and left without a word, a tale tell chill in the air.

"Elder what is…" Akane began to ask before being cut off.

"Go after him, and keep him busy so he can't think to much. His mother will be back after her meal." Cologne says, before hopping back to the kitchen and leaving no time for rebuttal.

# # #

While Akane was able to easily catch up to Ranma, she didn't know what she could possibly say as she was still feeling shocked herself. Arriving back at the house, Ranma didn't even say a word as he walked past the others, dropping Mirei off and then heading towards the dojo, only stopping when he opened the door and saw the lights on, and heard the noise coming from one of Soun's classes. Ranma made to leap towards the dojo roof before Akane's shout got his attention.

"Hey! You need to help with dinner!" Akane shouted, taking the others in the room back at the outburst, and wondering if the two had been arguing before they got home. Akane just hoped he'd agree, as she knew if he sat up on the roof alone he'd just get himself worked up on what if's, she knew she would. Ranma looked back at the dojo roof, contemplating it for a second before sighing and closing the door and making his way towards the kitchen.

"Akane...what happened with you two?" Sachiko whispered once Ranma was out of sight.

"We...ran into Auntie...who was on a date." Akane answered, even saying it feeling weird as she tried to understand how it had even happened.

"Oh, with Mousse's dad? I thought she was dressed up a bit nicer than she needed to be just to do some shopping." Sachiko answered, her worry leaving her as she went back to looking at her magazine.

"Why...why are you not shocked too?" Akane whispered back, taking a seat next to Sachiko.

"Because this is the…" Sachiko quickly counted on her fingers, "fourth time. You all were so busy with training and then school, I guess you didn't notice her being gone some nights?"

"I...but...then…" Akane stuttered as she tried to remember the last two weeks since the training was over, and she had to admit she hadn't really been thinking of Auntie, and only one of her nights for doing chores with her, Akane had spent the whole time talking about herself and the training. "Wow...I just...never expected her to. Why didn't she say anything though?" Akane asked.

"Cause of Ranma...and how he's obviously handling it so well…" Sachiko said, and as if on cue a loud snap is heard from the kitchen along with a cry of shock from Kasumi and a string of apologies from Ranma.

"Right…" Akane said, wondering if she should go in to try and help, before figuring that would just make things worse in the cramped kitchen. "Does everyone else know?" Akane asked, her face giving away that she wasn't going to like being the only other one left out of the loop.

"Mom and I talked about it and she didn't want to make any announcement, but Nabiki and Kasumi I think know somethings up." Sachiko explained. Another crashing sound coming from the kitchen made both of the pair wince.

# # #

That same evening,

Kofumi put down the report Saki had handed her, sighing as she felt her heart heavy with the news they must now tell a young girl who'd already suffered so much. Saki looked weary herself after the long day of meetings, accusations, and having to be around a bunch of ornery old women who didn't give a damn about her grandchild.

"When are you going to tell her." Kofumi asked her daughter.

"Tonight, before something happens and she can accuse us of hiding things from her. I tried to find someone, anyone that might be a friend to help her through this, but...she wasn't…" Saki stopped herself, not wanting to think about the last hour of phone calls she made to the few distant relatives she could find or people in the town. "At least I have one spot of good news, the sham marriage has been nullified." She said, showing Kofumi another folder of paperwork in her hand.

"Good." Kofumi says.

"Any thoughts on what to do with her, we can't keep collecting homeless teenagers…" Saki asked, also worried about putting Akari in the same house as Ryoga.

"For now, we have no other options. We haven't seen this level of contamination since the war, the other families are having similar issues too." Kofumi answered, lifting the report up to hand back.

Saki nodded and took the report back, her mother not saying anything else, she took that as a sign it was time to go, and probably do the hardest thing she'd done in a long time.

She walked slowly across the grounds, trying to think of the best way to hold the conversation with Akari, wishing they had time to get a counselor there that night but with what they'd been told, the pigs had very little chance of making it for even another 48 hours, her grandfather not much better. The girl trusted no one, which she couldn't blame her for, but it was going to make getting through this so much harder. Looking across the water at the building, she could see the lights were still on, a quick leap across and Saki knocked on the door.

"You can come in Saki." Akari answered from inside.

"How did you know?" Saki asked, a little amazed at the girls prediction.

"You're the only one that knocks…" She answered with a look of displeasure. "I'm also guessing you have some news, seeing how its almost past nine."

"Yes, I have some things to discuss with you, some are not good though I'm afraid." Saki said, taking a seat in front of Akari, who while no longer in the shackles, still stayed near Katsunishiki who was still chained up, simply due to them not wanting any property damage, though how Akari could stand the smell spoke to her lifetime on a farm.

"Any good news?" Akari asked, putting away the textbook she'd been going through.

"Some. You're no longer married, whole thing has been voided." Saki said, holding out the folder for Akari, who just waved her hand, probably not feeling like looking at a bunch of boring official documents.

"Good, hopefully it didn't break Ryoga's poor heart." Akari said with a sarcastic laugh.

"Well, you'll be able to see soon enough, as you'll be moving to the main house with him, Konatsu, and Ukyo in a day or two." Saki said, watching to see how she'd react.

"Why? Can't I just go back home, it's not like you have a place for Katsu-chan…" Akari said, looking suspiciously at Saki.

"It's the same reason they are all there...a life time of exposure to the demons, even if you're not the person directly possessed, leaves you with a kind of tainted soul. While we don't believe it will affect your health, you will attract more of them, as if you were giving off the scent of blood in an ocean teaming with sharks. This property, as you saw when Katsunishiki tried to jump over the walls, is protected against such things making their way in. Not to mention you will need to have significant therapy to help work on your falsified memories." Saki explained.

Akari considered Saki's words, and she wasn't happy about any of them, but she'd already begun to feel confusion at times, as if she was seeing old memories through a thick fog, or when she tried to remember one of Katsunishiki's sumo fights, only to find herself staring at an empty pen as if in a trance instead. Being unable to know how much of her life was real or a lie was the second most distressing thing going on for her at the moment.

"What about Katsu-chan...something's been bothering him, and the doctors wouldn't tell me anything." Akari asked, looking at her pig with worry. "And what about my farm?"

"It's not safe, for anyone. Even if we dropped a shrine, a priest, and a bunch of miko's to quarantine, it would take possibly half a century before the grounds would be considered livable. Your home was also severely damaged in the fighting, we're still combing through and collecting things, you'll be able to look through it all when its shipped here. Your farm will be purchased from you at the going rates, so you'll have money in addition to what ever your grandfather had, the bean counters are still working their way through his finances." Saki answered, unable to hide the sadness as she steeled herself to answer her first question.

Saki gripped the folder with the medical report tightly, her eyes looking directly into Akari's. "I'm sorry to say, but without the demon's power...the pigs bodies are too large for their hearts to support them now. We...we believe they only have one or two days left before they will succumb to heart failure, with many from the farm already showing circulatory problems in their legs." Saki said, her voice fading into a whisper as Akari gave out a shrill painful scream, startling Katsunishiki from his sleep and shaking the ground as he tried to leap to her side, only to be caught by the restraints and crash to the floor.

Akari began to beat the floor as she screamed and cried, Saki quickly moved to gather the girl up to prevent her from hurting herself, taking a few blows to the chest and back as she gathered her up. She managed to then scoot themselves over to Katsunishiki who was grunting pitifully, finally nuzzling Akari once close enough and the girl cried harder while one hand rubbed the pigs head. Saki cursed internally at the cruel fate of it all, that the demons still managed to cause such pain even after their destruction.

Saki never made it to her own bed that night, instead staying with Akari as she twitched and cried in a restless sleep on the floor next to the large pig. The sight of the light purple area's around Katsunishiki's legss bringing back a wave of disappointment as the first rays of sunlight began to fill the room. She felt her face, finding it to be dry, another feeling of disappointment finding its way inside. Slowly stroking some hairs out of Akari's face, she thought about how long it had been, since she had been able to break down and cry like this young woman, what it must be like to simply stop resisting and be consumed by the pain and anger from the losses in her own life.