Chapter 8. Of Ice and Amazons

The neighborhood watch rarely had to concern itself with the Tendo property, as only the most supremely foolish thief or vandal would risk encountering the residents thereof. Nonetheless, that address was a regular center of unusual occurrences which were frequently entertaining for those who lived nearby, and so the neighbors' eyes were drawn to it regardless. Consequently, the presence of the gaudily garbed young woman standing outside the gate of the Tendo home, looking in, did not go unnoticed. An elderly woman walking down the sidewalk paused at the sight and decided to see what was up. Clucking to herself, she crossed the street and approached the girl. “Excuse me, miss?”

The girl turned to regard the woman now standing beside her, revealing herself to be Chinese. Chinese, wearing clothes that no decent Japanese girl would ever think of wearing, and with purple hair even! The woman frowned over the sight. ‹Children these days,› she thought to herself with resignation. ‹Purple! Probably just wants to attract attention.›

However, she didn't allow these thoughts to show on her face. She smiled sweetly and told the girl, “I'm afraid the Tendos aren't home, dear. They're all over at Kolkhoz High School. The youngest is in some sort of skating match.”

“Kolkhoz?” the Chinese girl repeated questioningly.

The gray-haired matron pointed south and said, “About two kilometers that way.”

The purple-haired teenager gave a grim smile, and said something in Chinese while nodding her head in thanks. She then took off in the indicated direction.

The elderly woman continued down the street, wondering why the girl didn't just wait here, and whether she would be able to find the school. She then shrugged it away as being no business of hers. Besides, no doubt other people would provide the young woman with directions along the way.

Akane and Ranma entered the school building as part of a steady stream of students who were all chatting about the upcoming match, all heading down a hall which presumably led to the skating rink. They followed the crowd, and found a helpful individual who showed them to the dressing rooms. Ranma waved good-bye to Akane as she went through one door, then opened the next door to find Mikado Sanzenin already standing there, combing his hair while looking at himself in a mirror.

The tall boy turned to look at him, saying, “So, Ranma Saotome, you showed up after all. Frankly, I'm a little surprised. You must know you don't have a chance.”

Ranma sneered at Mikado but, naturally, said nothing. He put the bag he was carrying down on a bench and started to remove his street clothes.

Mikado chuckled. “You don't even dare to answer. Proof enough that you realize how outmatched you are.”

Ranma hung his head and clenched a fist, longing to loose a stream of insults, detailing his exact opinion of the skater. Unfortunately, the thought of pulling out his pad, writing it all down, then handing over the piece of paper ... it just seemed like it would lose a lot in translation. Instead he pretended to ignore the fool, and continued changing.

Mikado turned away scornfully, sliding his comb into a pocket and unzipping the bag containing his own outfit. Tauntingly, he remarked, “Your partner, what's her name? Akane Tendo, yes? I have not yet given her a proper greeting.” Mikado, watching sidelong, saw Ranma look up. “I need to correct that. I promise you, at some time during today's match, I shall steal Akane Tendo's lips!” With a sense of satisfaction, he saw Ranma's face darken.

As far as Ranma was concerned, Mikado had just stepped over the line. With a sudden flip, he was standing directly in front of the other boy, and his fingertips shot out and nailed Mikado right in the forehead. Sanzenin fell backward, banging the back of his head against the wall as he landed in a sitting position on the bench behind him. His hand shot to his forehead with a grunt of pain, as he shouted, “You cretin! The match hasn't begun yet!”

Mikado saw a piece of paper land in his lap just as Ranma turned away and walked back across the room. Picking it up, he read, “1. You're not worth talking to. 2. If I did speak, I'd tell you what an ignorant jackass you are, and that you will definitely lose today. 3. If your lips come anywhere near Akane's, I'll rip them off your face. 4. Look in a mirror.”

Mikado flushed with anger at his opponent's refusal to speak to him on top of the unprovoked, or at least premature, attack. Wondering at the last line, he stood up and walked over to the mirror on the wall, peering at his face. There was a bruise on his forehead. Staring at it, he thought it almost looked like ... no, it was writing, reversed by the mirror. His face grew dark with fury as he realized that it spelled out “hentai.”

All pretense at calm suavity was gone as Mikado snapped out, “I will have my revenge out on the ice! That, I promise you!” Disdaining any further words, he spun back toward his bag and changed into his outfit for the match.

A short time later, the lights were lowered out on the rink. Spotlights picked out Mikado Sanzenin and Azusa Shiratori as they skated onto the ice. The announcer cried out, “There they are! The Golden Pair of Martial Skating. Azusa Shiratoriiiii and Mikado Sanzeniiiiin!” The crowd went wild as Mikado lifted Azusa up and placed her in a kneeling position upon his shoulders. When he reached the other side of the rink and turned back, he extended an arm up and took Azusa's hand. She jumped down, skating beside him, and they came to a perfect stop with arms linked behind each other's backs.

Azusa looked up at Mikado's forehead as he stood beside her, and cutely asked, “Did widdle Mikey finally decide to advertise what he's like?” She was answered with a growl, although Mikado kept a smile plastered on his face for the crowd.

Ranma and Akane watched from the side with equally scornful expressions. Ranma was wearing a dark blue, almost black, costume on which a red and green dragon wound around his torso. Akane's outfit was a sparkling white patterned with large, colorful butterflies, and showed off her long legs to good effect. The spotlights on the Golden Pair suddenly turned off, and came back on with Akane and Ranma at their center. The two teenagers were startled as they realized that everyone was now focused on them.

“I, ah, guess we'd better make our entrance, Ranma,” Akane squeaked nervously. The boy beside her nodded with grim determination, and Akane suddenly found herself lifted up to a sitting position on Ranma's shoulder as he took off across the ice.

“Ranma! What are you doing?” she hissed.

The announcer called out, “And here are the challengers from Furinkan High School. Their names ... where's that card? Oh. Akane Tendo and Ranma Sodomi.” The sound of whispering was heard over the P.A. “What's that? Oh, excuse me. Ranma Saotome.”

The cheers were of much lower volume this time, coming from the small delegation of students who had trooped over from Furinkan, and led by Kasumi and Soun Tendo. Nabiki Tendo was too busy canvassing the crowd, taking bets on the upcoming match. The cheers abruptly cut off as Ranma went into an uncontrolled spin, forcing Azusa and Mikado to leap apart and skate out of the way in order to avoid a collision. Ranma fell forward, and they came to a rest in the middle of the spotlight with Ranma on his hands and knees, and Akane sitting astride his back as if riding a horse.

“And the challengers make an entrance to knock your socks off!” the announcer proclaimed over the P.A.

Azusa skated over to the pair giggling. Akane climbed off and helped Ranma to his feet while glaring at the other girl. “Oh, just shut up!” she told her.

Azusa fought her giggles under control. She told them snidely, but in a honeyed voice, “Azusa thinks you should give up now. Before you humiliate yourself. Any more.”

“What's the matter?” Akane sneered. “Are you so scared to face us that you need to talk us into quitting?”

Azusa didn't answer, and looked as uber-cute as ever, but something glittered in the depths of her eyes. As the lights came back up, she skated over to Mikado, and together they glided down to the other end of the rink. The two pairs faced one another, ready for the signal to begin.

In a sharply voiced aside, Akane whispered to her partner, “Stick to the plan, baka! We don't have to try to match them at skating. We just need to show them we're better at martial arts!” Ranma nodded, looking serious.

A bell rang, and instantly both couples were skating toward one another at high speed. Ranma gave Akane a signal whereupon she pivoted while holding his hands, swinging Ranma in a wide circle while his feet kicked out for the Golden Pair. Unfortunately this attack missed, as Mikado tossed Azusa into the air above it, and he himself ducked underneath.

Mikado slammed into Akane, wrapping his arms around her. Akane released Ranma's hands so that she could shove against Mikado's chest in an effort to prevent him from getting any closer. Azusa took advantage of this to grab Ranma and toss him across the rink, where he had difficulty bringing his skid to a halt before he could turn around to come to Akane's aid.

The announcer cried out, “Sanzenin goes straight to his specialty kiss attack!” Several girls in the audience shrieked in anticipation.

Akane was looking up into Mikado's face with a menacing snarl, while pressing both hands against his chest to force him to keep his distance. Unfortunately, the boy was stronger than he looked, and his arms around Akane's back were preventing her escape. A blow from her knee proved ineffective, as it impacted against some sort of protective cup.

Akane thanked Ranma for teaching her a technique for making effective short range punches, a skill he said he had learned in China. She drew one of her arms back several centimeters, then drove it forward like a pile driver. The breath whooshed out of Mikado's lungs. Taking advantage of his momentary distraction, Akane grabbed his shirt, falling backwards. She lifted her feet into Mikado's midsection and shoved with all of her might, sending the boy flying across the rink. With a bounce, she was back on her own feet before he even landed.

Mikado did several somersaults in the air, before landing on his feet facing Akane. A look of determination settled on his features. This was replaced a moment later by a look of intense pain, as he bent over clutching at his side and fell to his knees. Mikado had neglected to notice that Akane had thrown him in the same direction in which Azusa had thrown Ranma, and as Ranma skated past to rejoin Akane he had thrown a rock hard punch into Mikado's side.

Azusa skated over to where Mikado was kneeling on the ice, appearing concerned. She poked him in the side, asking, “Does him hurt here, sweetums? Does him hurt here? Here?”

Mikado spun around, shouting, “Aaah! Yes, it hurts there, so why are you pounding on it, you ditz?!”

Azusa feigned a look of innocence, and allowed a few tears to appear in her eyes. “But widdle Azusa is worried about him!”

Mikado ignored the girl. He looked down the ice toward where Akane was standing, glaring back at him. Sounding puzzled, he commented, “She must be very shy, to refuse my kiss like that.”

Azusa followed his glance, taking in the glare. “I believe that she's sincerely repulsed.” The girl turned and gave him a twisted smirk. “Azusa knows how she feels.”

Her partner turned to regard her, forehead wrinkling. “What's that supposed to mean?”

Azusa reached out and poked him in the nose. “I'm sure that smart widdle Mikey can figure it out for himself.”

Mikado growled, but did not respond. He climbed to his feet, wincing, and looked down the ice toward Ranma. He gave off a palpable aura as he called out, “To think that anyone could bring Mikado Sanzenin to his knees! You shall pay for that, Ranma Saotome!” The audience gasped in anticipation.

Ranma gave his opponent a dark, angry look, then skated over to where the announcer sat. He reached across the wall and grabbed paper and a pencil, upon which he wrote for a few seconds. He shoved the paper in front of the announcer and pointed to the microphone. As he turned back to face Mikado, the voice of the announcer came over the P.A.

“The challenger has written, ‘Any man who would force himself on a woman is no man. The next time you pull that with Tendo-san, I'll do more than bring you to your knees. You'll be leaving this rink in a coffin! If your lips so much as touch her, I swear I'll kill you.’ It seems that Saotome-san is upset over the attempt to kiss his partner.”

As Ranma skated back over toward Akane, Mikado regarded them speculatively. Speaking loudly, he proclaimed, “I see now! You are in love with Akane Tendo!”

Ranma suddenly tripped, and skidded across the ice on his belly until he came to a stop at Akane's feet.

Akane looked around wildly, blushing bright red. In a panic, she thought, ‹Oh no! Everyone heard him say that! Oh my God, I think I'm blushing! What if they notice? Why am I not yelling that it isn't true?!›

Mikado tilted his head back and laughed. “Such love is a fragile bond. I swear that I will do all in my power to shatter that bond! For you see, we, skating's ‘Golden Pair,’ are known by another name as well ... the Anti-Matchmakers!”

Ranma climbed back to his feet, blushing as brightly as Akane, not daring to look at her. Azusa and Mikado began skating toward them, accelerating rapidly. Azusa climbed onto Mikado's back in preparation for their next attack. Akane and Ranma simultaneously realized that they had to set aside their embarrassment and concentrate on the fight. Taking each other's hand, they skated toward their advancing foes.

The announcer was proclaiming, “Could this be ...? I think ... I think ... yes, I do believe that Mikado Sanzenin and Azusa Shiratori are about to perform their ultimate move! The Couple Cleaver!” Many of the Kolkhoz students gasped on hearing this.

At a signal from Ranma's free hand, Akane jumped together with Ranma, and both of them lashed out with kicks toward the Golden Pair. Mikado tossed Azusa into the air, then ducked beneath the kicks, barely avoiding them. Reaching up, Mikado managed to grab hold of Ranma's ankle, halting his progress as Akane continued past. Coming back down from above, Azusa wrapped her arms around Ranma. She gave him a cute little kiss on the nose, eliciting more gasps from the audience.

Akane had turned around in time to see this kiss, becoming angry at the sight, although she did not stop to analyze the cause of her anger. She began skating back toward them at high speed, as Azusa slipped down to take hold of Ranma's ankles, tripping and throwing him down. Akane was just in time to grab hold of Ranma's hand and save him from smacking face first into the ice.

Mikado, seizing Azusa's ankles, suddenly stood, holding Azusa straight up above him. Ranma and Akane were also carried aloft by this move, since Azusa still had hold of Ranma's ankles with his feet sticking out in front of her, and Akane had not released Ranma's hands. Without warning, Mikado started spinning at high speed. The rotation was so rapid, that Ranma and Akane stretched out horizontally above the floor as they spun around Azusa.

The announcer was shouting, “There it is! The terrible Couple Cleaver, also known as the Good-Bye Whirl! If he betrays his partner and lets go, then he alone will be spared, while his partner will be thrown into the wall.”

“Release her and I'll stop spinning!” Mikado shouted.

A look of grim determination firmed on Ranma's features.

“L-let go, Ranma!” Akane called out. “If you don't let go, it'll only get worse!”

“Heh heh!” chortled Mikado. “Exactly. The more you trust each other, the greater the shock when he finally lets go of you. You are doomed to disaster, whatever you do!” With an effort, Mikado increased the speed of their spin.

Akane saw a look of unconquerable will in Ranma's eyes. His hands holding hers felt like they were made of steel and cable. The muscles in his arms bulged ominously with the effort they were making, stretching the fabric of his costume to the breaking point. In a flash of insight, Akane realized that she was seeing a side of Ranma which he had not yet shown her, a refusal to surrender no matter what the odds, an indomitable spirit which would win at any cost. With this realization she knew that any further pleas were useless, and she felt a fierce desire rise up within her to appear worthy in his eyes.

Summoning all of her considerable strength, Akane pulled against Ranma's grip, pivoting her legs forward against the force of the spin. With a loud “Kyaa!” she abruptly straightened underneath Ranma, thrusting both legs toward the axis of the rotation. Akane's feet slammed into Azusa's back with all the force of a mule's kick, with predictable results.

Azusa was already starting to feel a little dizzy when a pain greater than anything she had ever experienced exploded in her back, and all air vanished from her lungs. With no strength left in her muscles, she released Ranma's ankles, while fighting against the darkness that threatened to overwhelm her. She didn't even realize that she and Mikado were falling until she struck the ice, and the darkness succeeded in its claim.

Meanwhile, no longer held in place, Akane and Ranma were flying through the air alongside one another. They could see the wall rapidly approaching, and Akane knew that in bare seconds she was going to be in a world of pain, assuming she even survived the impact. Mercifully, there was no time to dwell on this knowledge.

At the last moment, Ranma's arms wrapped around Akane and pulled her into a tight hug. She felt their bodies twist in midair, and then came the impact she had feared. Only it wasn't nearly as painful as she expected, and when she landed on the ice she opened her eyes to see that Ranma had turned them so as to strike the wall by himself, cushioning her body with his own.

The audience was roaring. The announcer was shouting, “Amazing! Ranma Saotome is still holding his partner, Akane Tendo! They foiled the Good-Bye Whirl! But at what price? Will Ranma Saotome rise again?”

Akane pulled Ranma's arms from around her body in order to rise to her knees. Further down the rink, Mikado had climbed to his hands and knees and was looking over at Azusa lying unmoving on the ice. The announcer continued his oration. “But Azusa Shiratori is down as well! Only one partner remains for each team! Will the match end in a draw?”

Akane looked up at the wall where they had struck, eyes wide in disbelief. There was a massive crater in the wall, with cracks radiating outward from it. Some of those cracks descended to the floor, and the ice had cracks in it as well. As she watched, water started welling up through these cracks.

Akane turned back to the boy lying at her knees. “Ranma? Ranma!” She had a hand on his chest, her face close to his, eyes glistening, wondering how badly injured he might be. ‹He ... he sacrificed himself! All for my sake!› The threatening tears erupted, as Akane buried her face in Ranma's chest. “Oh Ranma! Why? Why did you do it?”

A soft touch caressed Akane's cheek. Her face turned to the side to see Ranma's hand, where it had attempted to brush the hair back from her eyes. In awe, Akane watched his eyelids flutter and open. Ranma tried to push himself upward, and Akane helped him to rise to a sitting position.

“I ... I was worried about you,” Akane whispered.

Ranma gave her a feeble grin, and made a sign which indicated, “I'm okay.” He shoved himself to his feet, but then froze in place, features twisted in agony, as his body made it clear that it was not happy with the treatment it had recently received. He sank back to his knees, dizzy with pain.

When Ranma jumped up, the announcer had declared, “Incredible! Ranma Saotome is back on his feet! How could he have survived such a crushing blow!” A few moments later, he informed everyone, “No, wait! He's back down! Perhaps he is only human after all!”

Ranma was trying to get to his feet once more, when Akane closed the couple of meters of distance between them and placed her hands on his shoulders. She was on her knees, face to face with him, tears welling in her eyes. As soon as he stopped moving, Akane took one of Ranma's hands in hers, saying, “Ranma, please ... don't push yourself. It ... the match ... isn't worth it.” Ranma was looking up into her face, searching her eyes. Akane went on, “Don't you see? You're hurt ... if you try to fight now, you might ... I couldn't bear that. You need to recover.”

Unnoticed behind them, the water was starting to spurt up through the cracks in the ice, which were becoming wider and spreading. As a fountain began to form, the audience started pointing, exclaiming. The announcer informed everyone, “That's right! This unique rink was created by freezing a swimming pool!”

Ranma's head jerked around just as a chunk of ice broke free, throwing a deluge of freezing water over himself and Akane. To the astonishment of the crowd, the skater they had been watching in the match transformed into a female in front of their eyes. A shocked murmur spread rapidly through the crowd, as people asked one another if they had really just seen a boy turn into a girl.

Mikado had been examining Azusa's prone form and thus missed these events. He concluded that none of her injuries were serious, beyond some bruising and soreness which would probably last a few days, and that she would likely regain consciousness in a few minutes. As the noise from the audience abruptly changed, Mikado rose to his feet and looked around for the reason. With a delighted expression, he saw that the red-haired girl was standing beside Akane Tendo, looking with disgust at the water shooting up from the pool underneath the ice. He took no notice of Ranma's absence from the scene.

Abandoning his partner, Mikado skated across the rink to where Akane and Ranma were kneeling. As he skated past, he took hold of the redhead's hands, pulling her to her feet and away from the scene of destruction. He failed to observe the girl's look of agony at this handling, but did note the costume she was wearing.

“What's this?” he exclaimed. “You are wearing the same costume as Ranma Saotome? Are you perchance his sister? Oh, that one so fair as yourself could be related to that thug.”

Akane looked over to where Mikado was holding Ranma's hands, then skated in the other direction. She stopped directly in front of her family, then leaned across the wall. “Looks like I'm going to need it now,” she said to Kasumi as she reached out a hand.

Kasumi nodded, and pulled a thermos out of the bag beside her. Akane took it and turned around. Eyes narrowing at the nonsense Mikado was spouting from his mouth, Akane skated rapidly to join them.

As the crowd watched, they wondered whether Sanzenin knew that the one beside him was really a boy, or at least some sort of quasi-half-boy half-girl. Mikado continued to speak loudly, his words easily reaching the astonished ears of the spectators.

“I think you must be the most beautiful girl I have ever met,” Mikado told Ranma, exuding all of the charm of which he was capable. “From the moment I laid eyes upon you, I felt that we were destined to be together. At least for today. No barrier shall stand between myself and my love for you, this I swear!”

“You might want to rethink that, Sanzenin,” Akane called out as she skated up to them.

“Nay, for she has captured my heart,” Mikado replied. “I want everyone here to see that no words or actions can possibly turn aside my love for ...”

The words chopped off as Akane held out the thermos and poured. In a flash, Mikado found himself holding Ranma's hand, telling the entire audience that nothing could turn aside his love for this boy. He seemed turned to stone as Ranma forcefully folded the fingers back to free his hand. Akane reached out a fingertip and pressed it against Mikado's shoulder. The tall boy tipped over and crashed to the ice.

The announcer was on his feet, shouting. “Both Azusa Shiratori and Mikado Sanzenin are down! They seem to be out cold! The team from Furinkan High School, Akane Tendo and Ranma Saotome, are the winners!”

Akane slid up beside Ranma. “Can you make it back to the dressing room okay?” she asked him worriedly.

Ranma responded with a smile and a thumbs up. They skated across the ice toward the exit, while people came out with stretchers for their opponents. Azusa rose to a sitting position before they reached her, holding a hand to her head. “Ohhh! Widdle Azusa's head hurts!” Her back then informed her brain of how it was feeling. In a gruff voice with no trace of cuteness, Azusa exclaimed, “Shit! My back!”

As Akane and Ranma skated past the place where they had hit the wall, a slab of ice broke free under their feet and tilted them both into the water underneath. Ranma felt himself change into a female again, while he held his breath and looked around frantically to see if Akane was all right. Apparently she wasn't, since he saw her rapidly sinking toward the bottom of the pool, trailing a thin stream of bubbles.

Swimming rapidly, Ranma reached Akane and pulled her back to the surface. She was unconscious, and he lay her on her stomach, pressing against her back to force the water from her lungs. With a cough, Akane expelled a quantity of water, and Ranma was relieved to see that his friend seemed to be breathing all right, although she wasn't awake yet. He lifted Akane in his arms and carried her off of the ice.

Akane awoke in what was clearly a nurse's office, lying on a thin bed. Kasumi was standing nearby, smiling fondly, while Ranma was sitting cross-legged on a counter in the room in his female form. He had a blanket wrapped around himself, twin to the one covering her own body. He gave a sudden sneeze.

“What happened?” Akane asked of the room in general.

“Do you remember winning the match?” Kasumi asked. After Akane nodded, her older sister pulled out a key on a chain. “I got the key to the locket, since you won. Would you like me to deliver it to the Hibikis for you?”

“Yes, please, oneechan. But why am I here?”

“Well, when you and Ranma were leaving the rink, a large piece of ice broke off under your feet and tossed both you and Ranma into the water below it.”

Akane sucked in her breath, glad now that she couldn't remember. She wasn't able to swim, and drowning was a special fear of hers.

Kasumi placed a reassuring hand on Akane's shoulder, before going on. “Ranma pulled you out, got the water out of your lungs, then carried you here. By the time we caught up, he had you on the bed with the blanket tucked around you. He's been sitting on the counter over there ever since. I think he was a little worried about you.”

“Really?” She looked over at the damp, shivering girl. “Um, thank you, Ranma.”

Ranma turned his face toward her, producing a tentative smile. The smile vanished as he sneezed once more. He jumped down and walked over to Akane, holding a pad. When he showed it to her, Akane read, “Another victory, eh? Want to celebrate at a restaurant again?”

Akane smiled, and replied, “Uh, okay. That'd be ...”

Her words cut off as cracks blossomed in the wall behind Ranma. Akane and Kasumi stared, and Ranma spun around, as the wall bulged inward then shattered explosively. Standing in the hole was a beautiful Chinese girl, purple hair streaming behind her, two large maces in her hands. Her beauty was marred by the furious glare on her face.

The girl lifted one of her chui and pointed it in Ranma's direction, focusing his eyes on the large, mace-like weapon. Her words, when they came, dripped with venom. “Ranma! I kill!”

Akane and Kasumi were speechless. So, necessarily, was Ranma. The temporary girl backed up slowly, holding his hands out in a warding gesture. The Chinese girl sprung forward, striking as she shouted “Kill!” once more. Her chui smashed a hole in the wall behind Ranma.

As Ranma leaped over the strike, he yanked the blanket from around his shoulders. He threw it over his attacker, who promptly swept it aside with one of her weapons. However, in the brief moment that he had been out of her sight, Ranma had disappeared from the room.

Looking around the room which clearly held no one other than the two remaining girls, the Chinese teenager queried, “Ranma?”

Akane pointed out the hole through which the stranger had entered. The girl growled, and angrily swung one of her chui to the side, smashing the cabinets on which Ranma had recently been sitting. Wasting no further time, she jumped out through the hole, searching for her escaped quarry.

As soon as the other girl was out of sight, Akane jumped down from her bed. With an effort, she pulled the badly warped metal door off of the damaged cabinet, revealing Ranma cowering in one corner. The blow had clearly missed him by bare centimeters. She extended a hand to help Ranma climb out of the wreckage. Ranma sat down on the bed Akane had recently occupied, and took a deep breath to settle his nerves.

Akane was staring out of the hole through which the unexpected visitor had both entered and left. “Who was that, Ranma? And why did she want to kill you? And how many other people from your past are going to show up screaming ‘Die!’ or ‘Kill!’ or such?”

Ranma picked up the discarded pad and wrote, “More people are after my pop than me, but there might be one or two others.” On reading this, Akane vented a long sigh, and gave him a look which soon had him squirming.

“So who was this one?” Akane pressed. “Please tell me you didn't knock her into one of the pools at Jusenkyo as well.”

Ranma gave a snort and shook his head. He then began writing, handing Akane the sheets to read, while Kasumi looked over her younger sister's shoulder.

“This was the next day. After Jusenkyo. We were going someplace to pick up supplies. The guide called them the village of the Joketsuzoku. Pop and I were in our cursed forms.”

“They were holding a tournament. The girl's name is Shampoo. I think. That's what it sounded like to me. She was fighting when we arrived. She won.”

Ranma squirmed some more as he handed over the next piece of paper. “My pop and I were starving. There was this table piled with food. How were we supposed to know it was the first prize?”

Kasumi exclaimed, “Oh my!”

Akane found she couldn't stop a chuckle from breaking free. “I take it this Shampoo objected to you eating her prize? But isn't chasing you all the way here a little extreme?”

The next piece of paper read, “There's more. When she complained, I challenged her. Figured if I won, the prize would be mine. I won.”

“Unfortunately, her people have this weird law. She gave me something called the Kiss of Death.”

Akane looked up, eyes narrowed. “She kissed you? I thought you were a girl at the time?”

Ranma scribbled furiously. “On the cheek. The Kiss of Death. What were you imagining?”

Akane looked away, refusing to meet his eyes. Ranma handed her the next piece of paper. “The guide grabbed me. Dragged me away. Told me they consider losing to an outsider to be worse than death.”

“The Kiss of Death is a promise to chase someone to the ends of the Earth to kill him. She chased us all the way across China.”

“Thought I lost her when we came back to Japan. Guess not.”

Kasumi looked up from the paper and caught his eye, noting his mildly dismayed expression. “What are you going to do, Ranma-kun?”

At first his only response was a shrug. After thinking about it a moment more, he wrote, “Try to stay male as much as possible. I don't think she's figured out about my curse.” He stood and walked over to the sink, where he soon had the water running hot. Cupping his hands under the stream, Ranma splashed himself, triggering his transformation back to male.

Akane nodded, though she still felt a bit worried. Noticing her street clothes over on the counter, she was about to suggest to Ranma that he leave so that she could change. Then she looked once more at the large hole in the wall, leading to the outside. Picking up her clothes, she announced, “I'm going to go find the dressing room and change back. Then we can leave.” Kasumi and Ranma followed behind her, except that Ranma went into the boys' dressing room to change into his own street clothes.

Shampoo had finally paused in her running around, fuming that Ranma was nowhere in sight. Had the Japanese girl with the short hair lied? Yet it had been obvious that Ranma was nowhere in the small room. She must have simply made good her escape.

Shampoo settled to a cross-legged position on the grass, feeling immensely tired. She had been on Ranma's trail for several weeks now, and in some ways seemed no closer to completing her quest than she had been at the beginning. Furthermore, she despised this strange country with its outlandish customs and speech she only half understood.

The teenage girl worried over whether the fault might lie with her. She had never before killed another person, and although she felt reasonably confident that she was ready to do so, the thought nagged at her that she might find the act more troubling than she wished. She wanted it to be over with, so that she could go home.

Contemplating her next step, Shampoo decided to head back to the Tendo property again. Ranma would probably return there, to pick up her belongings if for no other reason. In fact, the girl decided she had best hurry, in case her enemy was already on the way there to do just that.

Shampoo jumped back to her feet and started running, ignoring the stares of the passersby.

Ranma and the Tendos walked home slowly, since Ranma was feeling less than stellar due to his impact with the wall. Akane was being rather solicitous to him in regard to this, and she was holding his arm just above the elbow as if she were afraid that he would topple over otherwise. The rest of the party affected not to notice. All eyes were also scanning the surroundings, looking for any sign of a Chinese girl with purple hair.

About halfway there a delivery truck drove through a puddle in the street beside them. A deluge of water drenched Ranma, while no more than a few drops fell on anyone else. Ranma stood there fuming, but there was little to be done so after a minute they continued on their way. Unfortunately, he had used all of the hot water in Kasumi's thermos at the skating rink, and none of them had thought to refill it afterward.

When they finally reached the front gate, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Ranma was looking forward to a long soak in the furo. They opened the gate and stepped inside.

“Ranma! I kill!”

Ranma dodged in the nick of time, and the mace shattered the gate behind him instead of shattering his bones.

‹Aww, c'mon Shampoo,› Ranma wanted to complain. ‹Why does it have to be today? Can't you come back tomorrow?› He jumped over another blow with centimeters to spare, and a large crater was blasted into the wall near the gate.

Ranma decided that he'd better take this elsewhere before any more of the Tendo property was damaged. He ran off through the ruined gate, followed closely by the swearing purple-haired girl. Akane yelled, “Hey! Wait!” then chased after them.

Pedestrians and drivers along the streets of Nerima were treated to quite a display. Three girls ran down the sidewalks at high speed, jumping over and dodging around obstacles and other people who were blocking the way. At one point the red-haired girl in front jumped up onto a lamppost, grabbing hold at a point about four meters above the ground, before pushing off with her feet to land a good six meters away. She was followed an instant later by a girl with long purple hair who did the same thing, and the action was repeated a third time a moment later by a girl with short black hair.

“Mommy, are they playing Follow the Leader?” a six year old girl asked.

“Um, I don't think so, honey,” her mother answered, nervously reflecting on the large maces which the middle girl had carried.

They finally reached an area containing warehouses and similar businesses, with far fewer pedestrians, allowing Ranma to gain a little distance on Shampoo. He was scanning the surroundings as he ran, looking for either someplace which offered a good chance of losing his pursuer, or an open area where they could fight without doing a lot of property damage. A quick glance over his shoulder showed that Shampoo was still in sight, but almost a block behind now. Ranma made a hard turn into an alley, hoping he could get out the other end before Shampoo had a chance to see which way he went.

As soon as he entered the alley, the sounds of the city became muted. Ranma's eyes were still moving over everything rapidly, seeking any advantage. ‹Wait, this place ...› Ranma suddenly felt as if someone had plunged an ice cold dagger into his brain, and he fell to his knees gasping for breath. He remembered this place, the feel of the cold pavement on his back, the man's hand on his body. He squeezed his eyes closed, trying to shut out the memories which insisted on replaying themselves.

Shampoo ran into the alley only to draw up short at the sight of Ranma kneeling on the ground, still as a statue. She moved forward slowly, warily, then saw that tears were streaming from the Japanese girl's eyes. Shampoo paused, perplexed, suddenly unsure of herself. On numerous occasions, the young warrior had indulged in a fantasy of bludgeoning the outsider girl as they fought gloriously to the death. She had never once pictured herself killing Ranma as the other girl knelt helplessly in front of her, weeping.

Akane pounded into the alley, barely avoiding a collision with Shampoo. At first she was confused, wondering why the Chinese girl was just standing there, weapons hanging aimlessly by her sides. Then she saw Ranma, and had to struggle with trying to understand what had set him off. It had been a long time since he had reacted this strongly, even after the worst of the nightmares.

When realization finally struck Akane, it came like a blow. This was the very same alley in which she had rescued Ranma that night. “Oh my God!” she exclaimed in a choked whisper, drawing a puzzled look from Shampoo.

Akane slowly stepped over to Ranma, kneeling beside him and placing an arm around his shoulders. She started murmuring words of comfort, too soft for Shampoo to make out, and apparently achieving little result. Akane stroked a hand along Ranma's hair, then wrapped her other arm around him and hugged the red-haired girl tightly.

“What wrong with her?” Shampoo wanted to know. “Why Ranma no fight?”

Akane turned a sorrow-filled look upon Shampoo, and spoke quietly, trying to avoid words the Chinese girl might not know. “When Ranma came here, she had an accident. She hurt her head, badly. She was knocked out. When she woke up, she was tied up, and three men were ... they were about to ...” Akane paused, considering the use of a euphemism for Ranma's sake, but decided clarity was more important. “... rape her. I found them and stopped them before they got very far. Ranma lost her voice that night. She hasn't been able to speak since it happened.”

Akane looked around, causing Shampoo to follow her eyes. “This is the same alley where it happened. I'm sure Ranma didn't realize when she ran in here. This is the first time she's been here since that night.”

The Amazon warrior looked poleaxed. The crime of rape carried severe punishment among the Joketsuzoku, a society founded by a group of women who sought to escape the tyranny of men. Traditions which arose from their origins still persisted millennia later, and Shampoo had learned the tales while sitting in her mother's lap, or as bedtime stories before falling asleep. Theirs was a hard and unforgiving culture in many ways, with little tolerance for outsiders, but on this one subject they were implacable. The first time Shampoo had ever left their village was only a year earlier, when she had joined her great-grandmother and a group of other warriors to hunt down three soldiers of the PLA who had assaulted an outsider girl from a neighboring village.

Now Shampoo looked with troubled eyes on the crying teenage girl in front of her and swallowed hard, finding it difficult to breathe past the lump which had lodged in her throat. In her mind's eye, the dimly remembered image of her mother's face looked down upon her sternly, lips pursed, taking in the entire tableau. Herself, standing threateningly over the other two. Ranma, kneeling before her, frozen, unresponsive beyond the tears. The other girl, arms wrapped around Ranma, trying to give comfort.

The young warrior of the Joketsuzoku looked down at the mace in her hand and tried to imagine herself striking Ranma with it, splattering her brains across the pavement. The image brought only a sense of revulsion. Her hands opened of their own will, dropping the heavy weapons onto the pavement with a clang, as she contemplated what she should do next.

Shampoo had spent several weeks arriving at this point, dwelling on the shame of her loss on the challenge log and the need to kill Ranma to redeem her honor. Now she had found Ranma, only to learn that the girl had been attacked and shamed herself by a group of males, scarred by the memory of that attack, and apparently bereft of the power of speech as a result. Fate had punished the girl more severely than Shampoo would ever have done, who would only have given her a clean death. The idea that Shampoo's honor would be served by killing the girl in front of her now seemed rather ... meaningless.

On the other hand, she must return to her people and inform them of her victory, else she would be outcast. Shampoo considered the matter for several minutes, before her features set, stony and grim. She stepped over to the two girls, determination echoing in her footsteps.

Akane looked up into the unreadable face above her. “You're not going to hurt her!” she said coldly.

Shampoo held up a forefinger. “Shampoo must report victory. Not kill.” Her hand slashed down and caught Ranma across the back of the head, behind the ear. The pigtailed girl slumped forward, unconscious.

“Shampoo go now. Tell Ranma not be back.” She turned around, collected her weapons, and strode out of the alley. When she returned to her people, she would tell them that her quest was successful, that she had defeated Ranma with a single blow to the head. Let them assume that she had killed the girl. Shampoo debated whether to tell the truth to her great-grandmother Cologne, deciding in the end that she would. She was confident that the matriarch would understand why she had acted as she had.

In the alley, Akane checked over Ranma, reassuring herself that he was not seriously hurt. She scooped him up into her arms and left that place, not wanting to be there when he awoke. Akane was a little puzzled over how quickly Shampoo had changed her mind about killing Ranma, but saw no hope of understanding unless she were to chase after the other girl and demand an explanation. Best to leave sleeping dogs lie, she decided.

When Ranma regained consciousness, he found himself lying on Akane's bed, still female. It took him a minute to remember what had happened, but when he did he began shaking. Akane quickly stood from her chair at the desk and crossed over to the bed to put her arms around him. They remained like that until Ranma finally stopped shivering.

Ranma gave Akane a grateful, if awkward, smile, then made an interrogative sign for “girl?”

“Shampoo?” Akane asked, to which Ranma nodded. Akane answered, “After I explained what was wrong with you, what had happened, she knocked you unconscious and then left. If I understood her correctly, she said that she had to report a victory, but had decided not to kill you. She definitely said to tell you that she wouldn't be back.”

Ranma gave Akane a dubious look but then grinned. He mimed wiping nervous sweat from his brow with an exaggerated sweep of the back of his hand and breathed out a huge sigh of relief. Seeming to put the whole episode behind him, Ranma made the sign for bath and stood up.

Akane regarded him with worry showing in her eyes. “Ranma? Are you sure you're all right? Would you like to talk about it? The alley, I mean?”

Ranma stood and considered, biting his lip, then picked up a pad on the desk. He wrote, “Don't think I need to. Think it was just a shock — I just need some time. I'll talk to Mitaka-sensei about it tomorrow.”

Moving on to the next sheet, he added, “But if you don't mind, I think I'd like to sleep here tonight. Even if I was supposed to be in the guest room tonight.”

Akane read this and replied, “Sure Ranma. It's probably a good idea. Your subconscious may be planning something nasty, despite you thinking you're handling it okay.”

Ranma wrote another message. “So, we still on to eat out tomorrow night to celebrate winning today?”

Akane laughed. “You know, I'd completely forgotten that you asked earlier. Things got a little exciting right about the time you gave me the note. Of course we will. Maybe this time Kuno won't stumble across us.”

Ranma made a sour face at the thought, then gave Akane a thumbs up and left the room.

Alone in the furo, Ranma ceased projecting a brave front, struggling with the mess of emotions which had been churned up within him. The incident with Shampoo faded into the background, already seeming of much less importance to him than dealing with the leftover mental brittleness from the night of his arrival in Nerima. After all, people had attempted to kill him on several occasions — Shampoo was merely the latest, and doubtless wouldn't be the last. But he couldn't afford to fall apart in the middle of a fight like he had this afternoon.

He decided to confront this newly revealed weakness directly, although not today. In the meantime, after climbing out of the furo, Ranma went out to the dojo to meditate for the remainder of the afternoon. By the time he came inside for dinner, he was much calmer, in fact and not merely in appearance.

Far away in China a weary, grubby panda bear stood contemplating the pool of water at his feet. His eyes lifted to regard the sun nearing the mountain summit above. He'd only have time to test a couple more springs today, before it grew dark enough to be dangerous to walk around the pools.

Genma's thoughts turned momentarily to his son, as they had many times in the preceding weeks. ‹Where are you, boy? Why is it taking you so long to get here?› Putting the unanswerable question aside yet again, he reached into the cage at his feet and pulled out a rabbit.

Some days after arriving in the valley, he had been discussing the “unmapped pools” with the guide. There was an entire portion of the valley where the guide was unsure which pools were which, as the map of that section had been lost. Then the guide had mentioned a rumor of a Spring of Drowned Man, the Nanniichuan, which would curse a person to change into a man. Figuring that he would be cured if he could replace his current curse with a curse to change into a man, Genma immediately volunteered to undertake the task of mapping the springs.

So here he was, holding a rabbit over the water by its ears. Opening his paw, he released it, and watched as it vanished with a splash. Idly the panda wondered what it would change into this time. A fox? A mouse? A falcon? He still didn't know how a llama had managed to get to China to fall into a spring. Genma hoped it wouldn't be another creature like a dragon. That one had nearly proved fatal.

The water churned and a tall figure stood up out of it. Genma nearly fainted on realizing that it was human, male. Its nose tried to twitch. It hopped out of the water, landing on hands and feet. Looking around in fright, it bounded away on all fours.

The bear held up a sign which proclaimed in large bold words, “At last!” Thinking only of his cure, not hesitating for a moment, he jumped into the pool. As the water closed over his head, Genma felt the change take him.

The next day, Ranma insisted on leaving early for their session with Mitaka-sensei, although he would give no explanation to Akane. He also selected a different route to her office, one which took them considerably out of the way, which served to increase Akane's frustration. Her coalescing anger disappeared suddenly, however, when she finally realized Ranma's destination.

Looking over at the boy beside her, Akane worriedly asked, “Are you sure about this?”

Ranma nodded sharply. He pulled out his pad and wrote, “I need to do this.”

Akane remained silent for the remainder of the walk. Ranma paused outside of the alley to take a deep breath, then walked into it without hesitation. He did not close his eyes, but allowed the full impact to strike him.

Akane saw Ranma tremble slightly, and moisture appear at his eyes. She bit her lip, not knowing whether there was anything she could do that would help. She sensed that Ranma was waging an internal battle, and he probably felt that he should face it alone, without support. Akane reflected on her own feelings about such matters, and how angry she had initially been on the day Ranma had torn into the hentai horde in her defense. She also thought about how Mitaka-sensei had brought her to the admission that there were times when someone should accept help. Slowly Akane reached out and looped her arm through Ranma's, placing her other hand on the same arm, leaning up against him. She willed him to feel her support.

At first memories of that night had flooded into Ranma's mind, nearly overwhelming him. He had refused to suppress the memories, trying to diminish them instead. He felt the edge of the neko-ken in his mind, and his sharpened senses picked up on Akane's concern, her scent acting as a soothing balm. When Akane took his arm he almost pulled away, wanting to win this fight by himself.

He hesitated before pulling away, as the thought came to him that he was fighting this battle in the wrong way. Directly attacking the memories wasn't the best answer. It lent them too much importance, and that would only give them greater weight. Instead he switched tactics and struggled to ignore the memories, not to suppress them but to relegate them to a minor status, inferior to more important memories.

Now he focused on Akane leaning up against him, and the friendship they had forged. He thought about the times she had held and comforted him, the training sessions in the dojo, even how they would study together as she helped him with schoolwork. He thought about shared fights, against Ryoga, Kodachi, the Golden Pair. He basked in memories of Akane's smile, Kasumi's cheerfulness, the pleasant atmosphere of the Tendo home. The darker memories brought forth by this alley were still there, like a small clawed creature in his mind, but they were on a scale that he could now deal with. He no longer feared a repetition of what happened the day before.

Ranma finally turned to Akane and gave her a smile, holding her arm even tighter. With his free hand he made the signs for “doctor” and “now,” and they turned around and left the alley. Many of the people they passed smiled at the sight of the young couple walking down the sidewalk, arm in arm.

Mitaka had quite a lot to discuss with the two teenagers, what with the ice skating match, the appearance and departure of Shampoo, and Ranma's attempts to deal with the alley in which he had been attacked. She was quietly impressed with how he had returned there this afternoon, and the things he described thinking about when he did so. In fact, despite his breakdown in the alley yesterday, she was overall quite pleased with his progress, and therefore also a little worried that he still showed no signs of recovering his ability to speak.

On the other hand, Mitaka scolded Ranma for not having mentioned Shampoo to her before. She pointed out how they had already discussed the need for her to fully understand his background if she was to help him to understand and resolve all of his reactions. Despite how much else they had to cover that afternoon, she insisted on taking the time to dig out some of the other events from his past which Ranma had not yet seen fit to mention, making notes of things she wished to delve into more deeply in later sessions.

In comparison, Akane and the therapist didn't spend nearly as much time together. Ranma felt that he had barely settled down in the waiting room before the door opened again and Mitaka requested that he join them. He got up and sauntered in, taking the offered seat.

“Very well,” Mitaka began, “first I would like to say that I regard your progress as more than satisfactory, Ranma-san, despite yesterday's episode. That you were able to face the situation again so soon afterward, with no more than a reasonable amount of emotional stress, speaks well of how you are healing. Of course, this is not the same as saying that you are completely healed, so try not to take it too hard when you still have occasional nightmares or distressful flashbacks. But things are certainly going in the right direction.”

Ranma gave the counselor a smile and a thumbs up. Akane looked pleased for her friend.

“In fact, I think that you should cut back to sharing Tendo-san's bed only once per week. On Sunday nights, say, that being the night that you are likely to be feeling the most stress. The current school term is due to end in a month. We will reevaluate things at that time, but by then I think you will be ready to sleep by yourself full time.”

Ranma gave a confident nod at these signs that his therapist thought he was coming along well, and Akane continued to look happy for him. However, on the inside both of them felt a little sad, as they had become rather accustomed to the comfort and companionship that they drew from those nights they spent together. Akane wondered if perhaps they might reclaim a little of that if they spent some time together right before bed, just talking, or writing in Ranma's case. She resolved to suggest it to Ranma and give it a try.

Mitaka had something else to say. “I've also decided to finally allow Ranma to start taking gym classes with the other boys.”

Ranma looked overjoyed, and mouthed the words, “Thank you,” several times.

Mitaka smiled. “I know you feel I've held off on this for much too long, but you've wanted to avoid any preferential treatment and the speculations such would arouse. You want to use the locker room, and act like, and be treated like, all of the other boys. We all know that sooner or later, you're going to get splashed in that locker room, either by accident or on purpose. I needed to feel confident that you would be able to act with restraint when that happens, and not hurt anyone seriously. I hope that you are not going to let me down in that regard.”

She gave Ranma a sharp look with this last statement. He blushed, and nodded without meeting her eyes.

“Good. One more thing. I expect you're planning to go by that alley again, to reassure yourself that reminders of that sort won't make you freeze again. However, I suggest you give yourself at least a few days before doing so. In other words, don't push yourself too hard. Besides, it's more likely to have the effect you want if you wait three or four days before facing it down again.”

Ranma considered this with his head slightly tilted. Then he shrugged and wrote “You're the doctor” on his pad, which he held out to Akane to read aloud. With that they said their good-byes and left.

Later on, as evening approached, Nabiki leaned against the doorjamb of Akane's bedroom. She considered the way Akane was deep in thought over two dresses, obviously trying to decide which one she was going to wear that night. Unable to resist, Nabiki drawled, “So the two of you are going out on another date tonight, eh?”

Akane's eyes flashed as she looked up, and her voice was filled with annoyance as she replied, “It is not a date! We're just celebrating the fact that we beat those two stuck-up skaters from Kolkhoz High. Stop trying to read so much into it.”

“Is it so hard to admit that you like him?” Nabiki asked mischievously.

Akane huffed, caught herself, then replied evenly, “Yes, I like him. He's a friend. There, I've admitted it. I, Akane Tendo, confirmed boy hater, am friends with a boy. But that does not make him a boyfriend! Got it?”

Akane made her selection, and hung one of the dresses back in the closet. While she did so, Nabiki shrugged and nonchalantly remarked, “Yeah, I get it. My only question is ... Are you stating it so strongly in an attempt to convince me? Or to convince yourself?” With that, she turned and left the room before Akane could reply.

The frazzled youngest Tendo stared at the empty doorway where her older sister had disappeared before she could respond. Akane was sure that there was an extremely cutting response that she could have made to Nabiki's question, if only she could think of it. With a toss of her hair she spun around and returned to her preparations for her dinner with Ranma.

Akane enjoyed herself that evening, which was thankfully uninterrupted by a delusional kendoist, or anyone else for that matter. The food and company were pleasant, and it felt surprisingly good to dress up and allow Ranma to treat her like a lady. The smiles from people who assumed they were a couple didn't even bother her very much that night. Really, the evening was perfect, or would have been, if it weren't for the fact that Akane found herself coming back to Nabiki's question from time to time, wondering why it was bothering her so.