Pretty much the same thing as the pre-release except I changed the date 
to get rid of them walking out, and I added a few lines dialogue in a few 
scenes on people's suggestion.  Maybe it's evil to put the story on the 
list, but I thought a few people might be interested and the way raas is 
working lately, it won't get posted until June or July.
"I can't believe...I can't believe he did that!  I can't believe I did
that!"
"Ha!  You should be glad to have that jerk out of your life!  He's
inconsiderate and dishonorable!  I am a much..."
"Go away, Ryouga."
Ryouga looked shocked.  He slowly turned to Nabiki.  "I thought
you...said you liked me."
"Ryouga, I said go away."
Ryouga didn't walk out.  He ran out.  He looked heartbroken.
"Nabiki-how could you...why did you take up with another when you are
engaged to Ranma?"  Soun was crying literal streams of tears.
"Because..." Nabiki stopped.  A single tear came out of her eye.
Soun, Genma, and Kasumi all took notice.  They couldn't remember the
last time they had seen her cry.
"Because I thought it would make Ranma jealous!  I thought he would
compete with Ryouga for me.  Now he...now he thinks he's free to date
Akane!"
"How could you go for such a foolish plan?" asked Kasumi.
"Because I...because I read it once in a magazine!"
Nabiki stopped trying to hold back her tears.  The whole family looked
out of concern as she went on crying for nearly a minute.  Finally
Genma went over to comfort her.
"There there Nabiki.  I know my son and I wouldn't worry about it.
I'll just beat some sense into him!"  the words didn't seem to comfort
Nabiki very much.
"Why don't you two go on a date?" asked Kasumi.  All assembled turned
and looked at her.
"Because Ranma doesn't even care about me!"
"Nabiki, stop telling yourself that, because it's not true.  Ranma
cares very much for you."
"He'd never go on a date with me, so he can't like me that much!"
"You don't have to worry about that!  Father and Mr. Tendo will make
him go!  Isn't that right?" Kasumi smiled.
"Why yes, of course." answered Soun.
"Great.  So he'll go on the date, but only if threatened."
"Nabiki...I don't know how to explain this.  But Ranma wants to go on
a date with you...he just doesn't know it."
"Yeah right.  That's why he only talks to Akane."  Despite her words,
Nabiki looked like her spirits were improving.
"You have to be nicer to him!"
"I act like myself!  If he doesn't like me for who I am, why am I
getting married to him?"  As soon as she said it, Nabiki wished she
could take it back.  She blushed, realizing what a thoughtless comment
she had made.
"I'm sorry...I didn't mean that.  I guess I should be nicer to Ranma."
"Love will make you lose control of your actions."  replied Kasumi.
Nabiki blushed, but Kasumi just smiled a ridiculously happy smile.
"So...I'll give Ranma five thousand yen and you two can go the Tenei
Moofu tomorrow night!" said a smiling Soun.
"Could you make that seven thousand five hundred yen, daddy?  The
Tenei Moofu IS a nice restaurant and all, and you don't want our date
to go poorly because we don't have enough to eat..."
"Nabiki!  You KNOW I can't afford to give you that much money!  Why,
with no regular source of income and two free-loading house guests..."
"Ok, Ok, I get your point, daddy."
"Nabiki, that reminds me."
"What, Kasumi?"
"I want you to promise me something."
"What?"
"That you'll never, not once, bring up the subject of money."
"Ok, Kasumi." Nabiki thought about what Kasumi said.  She did bring up
the subject a bit more than most people, she guessed.

**

"So you see what this means!  I can't break my engagement to Nabiki,
but if she breaks her engagement to me I'm scott-free!"
"That's great, Ranma."  Akane didn't know how to react.  Ranma looked
so happy.
"Why you sound so glum, Akane?"
"Why shouldn't I?"
"Well, I thought you'd be happy!"
"And why's that?"
"Because that means you and I..." Ranma paused, blushing, "because I
thought you'd be happy for me."
"Ranma...I'm afraid Nabiki isn't going to break the engagement."
"Whad'ya mean?  You saw the way she was all over that Ryouga creep!
No way!"
"Ranma...I'm her sister, and I know these thing.  I'm almost certain
she had some scheme in mind.  She certainly didn't fall for Ryouga in
the space of a few hours.  She was probably trying to make you jealous
or something."
"Hmmmph.  Stupid Girl."
"Ranma, you cad!  How dare you treat Nabiki like that!  And then
sneaking off with her sister!  I'll punish you!"  Ranma turned to see
Ryouga jumping at him, a look of intense fury on his face.  Ryouga
threw a number of projectiles at Ranma.  Ranma grabbed Akane and
jumped only fractions of a second before the projectiles would have
hit them.
"Ryouga, back off!  If you have to fight me, at least let Akane get
out of the way!"
Ryouga didn't even respond.  He launched a kick attack.  Ranma jumped.
Using all his skill, he locked Ryouga's legs with his own and diverted
Ryouga's course to below his.  Ranma landed on top of Ryouga.  Ryouga
landed on top of his face, unconscious from the fall.
"Ranma...do you think he'll be all right?"  Ranma lifted Ryouga up by
the collar.  While he was knocked out, there were no signs of injury.
"Yeah, he oughta be OK.  I wonder why that jerk was so mad?"
"Well, he said because you treated Nabiki so poorly.  I hope she's not
too upset."
"Hey, I didn't do anything!"
"I'm not saying you did Ranma...just that's what he said."
"I wonder what he was throwing at us?"  Ranma picked up one of the
projectiles.  It was only a few feet from him.
"Now that's funny...just pieces of cloth."
"Why would he be throwing cloth?"
"I don't know, maybe it's really sharp cloth or something." Ranma
joked.  He inspected it briefly, and then playfully took a swipe at
Akane's hair.
Time froze.
"Akane...Akane!!!  I didn't mean it...I didn't know!!!  I had
no...Akane!!!"  Akane didn't react.  She was still staring.  Staring
at her ponytail, which now lay at her feet.  Ranma didn't say
anything...he realized she had gone into a state of shock.  What was
he going to do?  Should he bring her home?  Just let her be?  Maybe
even a hospital would be appropriate.  Ranma hadn't decided yet when
he noticed a glimpse of movement in Akane's face.
"Akane...you feeling all right?  It's just your hair...you don't need
to be so upset..."
Ranma noticed Akane's hand start to move.  It formed a fist.
"RANMA, YOU JERK!!!!!!" Akane yelled.  To accompany the word "jerk"
she let loose a punch that sent Ranma flying.

**

That night, Akane was awakened by the sound of rustling outside.  She
looked at the clock.  Great.  Three o' clock in the morning.  She
tried to get back to sleep.  She had been a little mean to Ranma.  She
had planned on cutting her hair, anyway.  And he couldn't have known
that the cloth was going to cut her hair.  Who ever heard of cloth
being sharp?  Sure, she punched him, but he seemed to understand when
she apologized about it later.  Still...she had been a little coarse,
even as she apologized.  But it was so stupid of him...why didn't he
think before he swiped at her hair!  Why would Ryouga have thrown the
cloth if it wasn't dangerous?  Why weren't the rustlings stopping?
Akane listened intently.  If she didn't know better, she would have
sworn there was a prowler outside.  She then heard footsteps.  This
had to be serious.  Grabbing her bokken, she went downstairs to
investigate.
Nabiki and Kasumi were already downstairs.  "Do you hear a prowler
outside?"
"I think so, sis." said Nabiki.
"Well, I'll check it out." Akane volunteered.
"No!  It's much too dangerous!" Kasumi looked worried.
"Don't worry Kasumi.  I can handle myself!"
"I mean attacking with a wooden sword.  Use this!"  Kasumi handed
Akane a fifteen pound barbell.  Akane suppressed a laugh.  Kasumi was
normally so placid, but she had a way of surprising Akane.
Akane grabbed the barbell and turned the corner.  Sure enough, there
was a prowler to be seen.  Without even thinking, she threw it at his
head.  A direct hit.  The prowler fell into the pond beneath him.
"Oh my!  It was Ryouga, Ranma's friend!"
Oh well.  Akane couldn't feel too upset.  She went back to bed.

**

Akane was woken up again.  She looked at the clock.  Four thirty.
What could it be this time?  She flipped on the light, and heard a
squeal.  A squeal?  She turned to see something barreling down at her
face.  She barely had time to block it and slam it to the ground.
"Oh.  A cute little pig!"
How did the pig get in her room?  Was it a gift from somebody?  It
wasn't like any other pig she had seen.  It was wearing a oddly
familiar black and yellow bandana around it's neck.
"Where'd you come from?"
The pig struggled to get away.  It was probably scared.  Oh well.  It
could get used to her.  Akane turned the light off and went to sleep.
The pig struggled, but she was so tired she went right to sleep
anyway.

**

"What'd you do that for?"
"I don't want to hear any complaints, Ranma!  You are to take her to
the Tenei Moofu tonight!"  The family was gathered around the table
for breakfast.  Fortunately, Nabiki had already left for school, and
didn't have to hear his complaints.
"But why?"
"Because she's your fiance!  People are supposed to go on dates with
their fiance!" answered Genma in a harsh tone.  "And NOT with their
fiance's sister!"
"Oh, cut it out already.  I told you, it wasn't a date."
"Accept some responsibility for your actions, boy." answered Genma.
"I told ya, I'll do things with who I want!  It's my life!"
"But you are engaged to Nabiki!  I already told you many times, and I
don't want to have to tell you again: Don't make Nabiki feel second-
best.  She's your fiance!"
"If she's my fiance, then why'd she go all goo-goo for that Ryouga
creep?"
"We've already discussed that, Ranma!"
"Well, I still say the whole thing stinks!"
"I'm sure you two will have a wonderful time!" Kasumi interjected.
The whole table was silent.  After a few seconds, Ranma decided to
change the subject.
"Your hair is very pretty, Akane.  I'm sorry it's my fault it got cut
and everything, but at least it's an improvement."
"Why thank you, Ranma!" Akane tried to look as happy as she could.
"Why can't you do that with Nabiki?" asked Kasumi.
"Cut her hair?" Ranma looked at Kasumi.  She didn't look her tranquil
self.
"No.  You can be so nice, but you don't even make an effort with
Nabiki."
"Well, maybe I don't want to."
"Or maybe you're afraid to" pointed out Genma.
"Afraid!  What do you mean afraid?"
"Afraid that you might start liking her."
"Hmmmph.  Afraid of a stupid thing like that?  You should know better,
pop."

**

Nabiki wasn't quite paying attention during class.  She had done the
calculations and re-checked them twice: her weekly gross income had
fallen steeply.  Twenty seven percent!  She couldn't believe it!  She
was unhappy with a ten percent weekly increase in gross.  And with the
operative she had formed, the twenty seven percent decrease was nearly
fatal.  Her finances were backed in large part on the faith of her
friends that the annual increases would remain constant.  This
compounded the negative cash flow.  While her financial empire
wouldn't be killed, it would be dealt a serious blow.  She needed to
come up with a quick profit.  But how?
Nabiki thought back to all the favors people owed her.  Then she
realized.  She didn't have any.  Not even minor favors.  Nobody owed
her money.  She hadn't even particularly nice to anybody lately; it
was doubtful she could get an interest-free or even a low-interest
loan.
Nabiki had never felt this compromised before.  She needed that money.
Her thoughts turned to Ranma.  He had promised her sushi.  Maybe he
could give her as much money as sushi would have cost.  And the date
that night...Ranma didn't seem to want to go on it.  Maybe she could
not go and keep her mouth shut and Ranma could do the same?  That was
five thousand yen.  Five thousand yen certainly wouldn't pull her out
of the disaster, but it would help...
But she wanted to go with Ranma.  It had been arranged for her sake.
And she knew the Tenei Moofu would be great.
Why had there been a twenty seven percent decrease in gross?  She
thought over the past few days and realized there was one reason:
Ranma.  Others had practically taken over the bookying business now
that she had to worry about Ranma.  And her high-interest loans to
friends were down, probably from debtor's reluctance to deal with
Ranma if they couldn't pay up in time.  So in a way this would be sort
of a...payback.
Her mind made up, she started taking notes in class.  When class came
to an end, she dropped by Ranma's locker to tell him the news.
"Hey, Ranma."
"Oh, hello Nabiki.  So I guess we're leaving our house at about five?"
Ranma asked gruffly.
"Well, actually..."
"Well, actually, you don't want to go on the date?  That'd be great
with me!" Ranma smiled.  Nabiki looked at him.  Did he really mean
that?  She looked at his eyes to see if he was telling the truth, a
trick she had learned a long time ago.  Hmmm...
"No," Nabiki replied, "I was just going to say that five sounded
great!  See you then!"
Nabiki smiled and went off to her next class.

**

"Hey Ranma!  If you're going to take a bath, can you wash up P-Chan
for me?"  Ranma-chan agreed by way of taking the pig in hand and
walking into the bath.  It seemed stupid to him.  Akane hadn't bought
the pig or even made an effort to find the real owner.  She should
have at least called the pound.  Or did the pound not deal with pigs?
It might have been understandable if the pig made a good pet.
However, the pig was funny looking and ill-tempered.  It seemed to
actively dislike Ranma, and it didn't seem to like Akane much either.
Still, if it made Akane happy, why not?
"Ok, here you go, pig!" said Ranma, dunking the pig in the bath with
his hand.  He only held the pig under for a second when something
unusual happened.  The pig seemed to grow.  To expand.  Ranma looked
down at the pig.
"Ryouga...what are you doing here?"
"Do you know the hell I've been through?"
"Don't tell me you went to...Jusenkyo springs.  Did you?" Ranma looked
about to laugh.  So there were worse pools to land in, after all.
"It's all your fault!  I went to China looking for you!  If you had
shown up for our fight this never would have happened!" Ryouga
snickered to himself.  "So you're the girl who knocked me into the
pool and made my life hell.  Somehow I'm not surprised!"  Ryouga
pulled back his fist and attempted to punch Ranma.  Ranma dodged
easily and countered with a punch between the eyes, knocking Ryouga
out cold.
Ranma got dressed and walked out of the bathroom.
"Why haven't you taken a bath yet, Ranma?"  asked Akane.
"Akane...about P-Chan.  Well, he..." Ranma stopped.  It was against
the samurai code to reveal another's weakness.
"What about him?"
"Oh...nothing." Ranma would have to think of what to do later.  Until
then Ryouga would remain Akane's pet P-Chan.

**

Ranma waited another half-hour.  He realized he was cutting time
close.  Only twenty minutes until he left for his date with Nabiki.
He went to take a quick bath.  Fortunately, Ryouga was nowhere to be
seen.  Ranma was in the bath about long enough to turn back into a boy
and then went to his room to get dressed.  His father had laid out the
clothes for him to wear: a tuxedo, with a blue cummerbund and necktie.
He hadn't realized the Tenei Moofu was such a formal restaurant.  He
had never really needed to wear that tuxedo before.  He got into the
clothes in a hurry.  He looked at the clock to see he still had a few
minutes left.  Just then his father came in.
"So, I see you're all ready for your big date, Ranma!"
"I don't want to do this!  This is all your stupid idea!"
Genma chuckled.  "Then why were you in such a hurry to get ready,
boy?"
Ranma stopped.  Why was he in such a hurry?  It wasn't like he cared
about the date or anything.  "I don't want to miss out on a good
dinner, pop."
Genma chuckled again.  "Here, boy, let me fix your necktie."  Genma
straightened the tie, and then stepped back a few feet to look at
Ranma.  He made a minor adjustment to the cummerbund, and looked
again.
"You look like a million yen, Ranma!"
"Gee, thanks pop.  That means a lot from you." Ranma said
sarcastically.  Genma either ignored or didn't notice the sarcasm.
"Thank you, my boy.  Now, give this to Nabiki and have a great time!"
Genma handed Ranma a small bouquet of flowers.  While nothing too
elaborate, the bouquet was very tastefully created.  Kasumi probably
made it.
"Here goes nothing" said Ranma.  Ranma walked out to the front door.
When he got there, he was taken aback.  He had always thought Nabiki
was rather good looking.  Not as cute as Akane, but good looking
nonetheless.  But now she looked...she looked...radiantly beautiful.
She was wearing a formal Chinese silk dress, red except for black
buttons and trimming.  She also wore black high heels and matching
elbow length gloves, accessorized with a black purse.  The effect was
to make her look like a goddess.  Ranma could recognize Nabiki, but it
was hard to believe she was the same person.
After a few seconds of gaping at her, Ranma came back to reality.  "I
guess I'm supposed to give you this" Ranma said, handing Nabiki the
bouquet of flowers.  Nabiki was already blushing.  "Thanks, Ranma."
She put the bouquet in an empty vase waiting by the door.
"Now, I just know you two will have a wonderful time." said Kasumi.
"Daddy's little girl is going on her first date!" said Soun.  He began
to cry heavily.
"Now now, father, you promised you wouldn't cry."
"Have a fun time!" offered Akane.  She was smiling but she didn't look
very happy.
"Well, see you later!" said Genma, pushing the two out front and
closing the door behind them.

**

The date had been uncomfortably silent.  Ranma and Nabiki didn't seem
to have anything to say to each other.  Occasionally one of them would
motion as if they were about to talk, but stopped.  Eventually Ranma
broke the silence.
"So, how's your dinner, Nabiki?"
Nabiki looked at him.  Now was as good a time as any.
"Let's cut to the chase, Ranma.  I'm sure you've noticed our
engagement isn't going to well.  I admit I may have done some things
to upset you, but I place most of the blame on your shoulders.  Why
don't you take the engagement more seriously?"
"Wha?"  Nabiki's aggressive reply took Ranma by surprise.
"You know what I mean, Ranma.  You're always flirting with Akane.  You
never talk to me at school.  And how often have you gone out of your
way to be nice to me?"
"I took you on this date, didn't I?"
"I think we both know your motivation was your father's threats."
"Well...I still took you!  And who cares if I do stuff with Akane?"
"Considering you're engaged to me, I think it might be fitting that
you take me on dates instead of my sister."
"They're not dates!  I just do stuff with her!"
"Oh.  You mean you take her on dates."
"Well, maybe I don't want to do stuff with you because you're so
mean!"
"I am?  Pray tell."
"What about the time you sold those photographs of me?  Or when you
threw the water on me in front of everybody?"
"I already apologized for that, Ranma!  How long are you going to hold
that against me?"
"Until I'm damn ready!" Ranma looked so mad Nabiki was scared he'd
cause a scene.
"Now now, Ranma, I'm not trying to start a fight.  I'm just trying to
get our grievances out in the open."
"Whad'you want to do a stupid thing like that for?"
"I'd like to propose a deal."
"A deal?"  Ranma looked like he was beginning to calm down.
"Exactly.  If you agree to it, I'll stop...exploiting you."
"And what do I have to do in return?"
"Oh, nothing much."
"What?"
"You have to...you have to...do things with me."
"Like what?"
"Well...anything, I guess.  Just talk, or go somewhere, or something."
"That's it?"
"Yeah."
"No tricks or nothing?"
"Nope."
"Well, that's a funny deal."
"Maybe so.  Do you agree to it?"
"Starting when?"
"Starting now."
"For how long?"
"For as long as we feel like."
"Sounds...sounds ok.  Sure."
"Great!"  Nabiki smiled.
"So...whad'you want to talk about, anyways?"
"Uhhh...How'd school go today?" Nabiki said, suggesting a topic of
conversation.
"Oh, great, I guess.  That reminds me...you know how you dropped by my
locker between classes today?"
"Yes?"
"What was up with that?  It seemed like you wanted to say something,
but you didn't."
Nabiki paused.  Should she bring it up?  She decided to, despite any
promises she had made to herself and Kasumi.  "You promise not to get
mad, Ranma?"
"Sure."
"Well...I've been having a little difficulty with business lately, and
I was wondering if maybe you wanted to skip out on dinner."
"Really?  Well...what made you change your mind?  I mean...I'm glad we
went and everything, but I wasn't exactly enthusiastic about going."
Nabiki looked at Ranma.  Should she tell him what had made the
difference?  Perhaps not.  That'd be too...revealing.  Too
embarrassing.
"Oh...nothing."
"So what problems have you been having with your business?"
"Oh.  Well, my gross profits are a little down for the week, and it's
kind of a house of cards situation..." Ranma interrupted her.
"So how much money do you need?"
"Well, to keep a steady gross, I'd need about five thousand eight
hundred yen.  Why do you ask?"
"Oh, no reason.  Say, you know the carnival downtown?"
"What about it?"
"Wanna head over there when we're done?"
"Ok, but are we gonna have enough money left."
"We don't need that much.  Probably a hundred yen or so ought to do."
"What for?"
"I'll show you when we're there.  Are we gonna have a hundred yen?"
"Hmmm...well, after a fifteen percent gratuity we'll have
approximately...three hundred yen left."
"Great!  Money to spare."

**

Ranma and Nabiki walked down the aisle of games.  "Toss the ring on a
bottle, win a doll!" yelled a vendor.  Nabiki looked in admiration.
Quite a racket.  The doll was probably worth no more than two hundred
fifty yen in bulk, and there had to be only a five or ten percent
chance that the contestant would be successful.  And at 100 yen per
pop.  Quite a profit margin: You could quintuple your investment.
Still, why was Ranma here?  He wasn't going to run one of these
stands, was he?  She hoped he wasn't going to win her one of those
stupid dolls.  From the way he was talking she thought it had
something to do with her money troubles.
"Goldfish catching tank!  Show your talent at catching goldfish!"
Ranma and Nabiki walked on.  "Prove your martial arts abilities,
double your money!" shouted another vendor.  That had to be it.
Indeed, Ranma stopped.
"So, what do I have to do?" asked Ranma of the vendor.
"Oh, just a little test of your martial arts abilities.  If you win,
you double your money.  If you lose, well, you lose your money."
"Sounds good." said Ranma, slapping down eight hundred yen on the
counter.  Nabiki chuckled...it would have been three hundred fifty
yen, if they had left the fifteen percent tip.  She could use the
money a lot better than a waiter could.
"Great!  Just walk in there!" said the vendor, giving Ranma a ticket
and pointing in a small building.
"So what do I have to do?"
"Oh not much.  Just defeat fourteen highly trained ninjas in combat."
"Wha?"

**

"Thanks a lot for the money, Ranma.  With money to spare and no paper
records I can even apply the extra profit to next week!"
"No problem, Nabiki.  Just too bad they won't let me play again."
"Well, I hope you weren't too surprised.  It must be difficult on them
to pay injury compensation for fourteen highly trained ninjas.  I
couldn't believe they didn't kick you out after the second time you
played, actually."
Ranma and Nabiki walked back inside the dojo.  All the family was
gathered.  They must have been waiting for the two of them to get
back.
"What?  No goodnight kiss?" Genma looked disappointed.  He held a
camcorder at his side.
"Get a life, old man!  Don't you got nothing better to do?"
"So how'd it go?" asked Soun.
"It...it was a lot of fun." Ranma smiled.  Nabiki smiled with him.
Akane looked at the two of them and stomped upstairs.

**

Ranma got up around three thirty.  There was a little unfinished
business he wanted to take care of...
Ryouga was such a scum.  Masquerading as a pet pig.  Why was he doing
it?  Probably to learn something about him, and then exploit what he
learned.  It was terrible that his samurai code prevented him from
letting out Ryouga's secret.  However, there was nothing that
prevented him from confronting him about it.  All he had to do was
find him.  Ranma heated up a kettle of water and went to Akane's room.
He was about to knock when he stopped himself.  It was pretty late.
He didn't want to wake up Akane.  Maybe there was some other way.
Ranma went outside and looked at the side of the house.  With his
training, he figured he would be able to stick to the side using
cracks and inconsistencies as handholds.  Sure enough, he could.  He
climbed up to Akane's window and looked inside.  Akane was sound
asleep.  Where was Ryouga?  He looked and couldn't see him until he
saw him sleeping in Akane's bed!  So that's why the little scum was
pretending to be a pig!
Fortunately, Akane's window was unlocked and he went right in.  Ranma
grabbed Ryouga by the collar and was about to jump out the window when
Ryouga strained his way out of Ranma's hand.
"Come here you little runt!"  Ranma grasped at Ryouga, but missed.
Ryouga turned right around and aimed himself at Ranma's head.  Ranma
was hit.  Not too hard, and he only had to re-balance...but that
wasn't as easy at it would seem.  Akane had a barbell on the ground
that Ranma slipped on.
"Yeagh!" Ranma yelled, falling down.  He landed about four inches away
from Akane.  Akane woke up slowly.
"R...Ranma?"  Akane blinked.  Was Ranma really that close?  He must be
lying right on top of her.
"Is this a dream?" asked Akane.
"Uhh...well..."
Akane came to her senses.  "You're unbelievable!" she said, punching
him.  Ranma protested, but to not avail, as she whapped him over the
head with her bokken multiple times.  "Going on a date with Nabiki
wasn't enough for you?"
"No Akane...let me explain!"
"Get out of here!" Akane yelled, kicking Ranma through the window.

**

"You're quite the Romeo, aren't you, Ranma?" Nabiki smiled a wry
smile.
"It's not like that.  I was just trying to..."
"Just trying to WHAT?" Akane looked mad.
"Don't get me wrong.  It was a mistake!  I tripped on your barbell!"
"You shouldn't have been in her room at night anyway!  You're engaged
to Nabiki! And you're only in high school!  It's not right!"
"Kasumi, you too?"
"Son...after we gave you all that money last night...to seduce her
sister?"
"C'Mon pop.  I tell you, it was an accident."
"That's a STUPID excuse, Ranma.  I'm out of here."  Akane picked up
her bags, cradled P-Chan in her arms, and left for school.
"Wait for me!  I'd of left earlier but I didn't want to miss this!"
said Nabiki.
They both left the house before anybody said anything.  "A little
initiative goes a long way, boy" said Genma, winking.
"Pop, you've got to believe me..."

**

Ranma finally left for school.  It was an embarrassing situation, but
what was he to do?  He couldn't explain why he would be there at night
without revealing Ryouga's secret.
"Hello, Ranma."
"Oh, hello Nabiki.  What are you doing here?"
"Well...I figured I'd wait up for you."
"Oh...thanks a lot."
"No problem.  So, you're in a bit of a mess."
"Nabiki, I know it may seem suspicious, but I wasn't trying to do
anything funny.  I can't explain what I was doing there, but..."
"I believe you."
"...I mean, there's no...you do?"
"Yes."
"Really?"
"Would this beautiful face lie?  Of course I believe you."
"Why?"
"I can read you like a book, Ranma.  You couldn't lie to me if you
tried."
"That's...thanks a lot, Nabiki.  It's good to know somebody believes
me."
"Now let's hurry up, or we'll be late for school."

**

"So there you are, you little runt."
"Squeak!" answered Ryouga.
"Thanks to you, the whole family thinks I'm a pervert or something."
"Squeak!"
"I'm not going to let you get away with what you're doing.  I
challenge you to a fight, and if you lose, you gotta stay the hell
away from me!"
"Squeak!..." Ranma poured hot water on Ryouga, "Ranma, you cad!  It's
not fair that Nabiki should have to be engaged to a jerk like you!"
"Why should you care?" asked Ranma.
"Male jealousy is a terrible thing to see, Ranma!"
"What?  Huh?  Why should I be jealous of you and Akane?"
"Akane?  I'm talking about Nabiki!"
"That makes even less sense!  You're always with Akane.  And never
Nabiki!"
"That's only so I can stay under the same roof as Nabiki to protect
her from your vile clutches, Ranma!"
"Boy, you're doing a great job, Ryouga."
"So it's not as easy as I thought it would be!  Ranma, I shall take it
upon myself you punish you!"
"Yeah, good luck, pal."  Ranma dodged a meager punch and kicked
Ryouga.  Hard.  Ryouga flew through the roof and into the playing
field behind the school.
"Not much of a punishment." said Ranma, wiping off his hands and
walking out onto the field.
"Got any fight left in you?" asked Ranma.
Ranma was hit in the head with a basketball and was knocked over.
"Ouch!  What'd you do that for?"
"What are you picking on P-Chan for?" asked Akane.  It must've been
her who threw the basketball.
"Whad'you mean picking on P-Chan?  I was fighting Ryouga!"
"I don't see Ryouga!  I just see that somebody sent P-Chan flying and
now you're challenging him!  Honestly, challenging a pig to a fight."
Ranma looked over in the direction of Ryouga's trajectory.  A smug-
looking P-Chan lay of the field.  How had he got wet?
"Akane...it's not like that!"
"Ranma...you JERK!!!"

**

Ranma left the field, depressed.  His rapport with Akane wasn't going
too well.  In the last two days things had gotten so much worse.
The next time Ranma saw Akane was during lunch.  Kunou was making
another of what seemed to be nearly-constant challenges.
"Very well, I shall spar with you.  Should I win, you shall date with
me.  But should I lose, you will be permitted to take me on a date."
"But I don't want to spar with you!" yelled a frustrated Akane.
Kunou's advances got old quickly, and by now were extremely
antagonizing.
"So you wish to date me without a fight?  Very well, I shall permit
that."
"I don't want to do that either!  Get lost!" Akane punched at Kunou,
but missed.
"Ahh, though she is but little she is fierce!"
"Shut up!" Akane missed again, this time with a kick.
Kunou launched a series of attacks with his bokken.  Akane dodged them
all, but only by the slimmest of margins.  On the final dodge she
tripped on an exposed tree root.  She got up to fight but found she
couldn't balance on her ankle...it hurt too much.
Kunou noted what happened.  "Do you concede defeat?"
Akane cried.  She guessed she had to.
"Stay the hell away from her, Kunou!"
"Ranma Saotome! How dare you, you who are most accursed of women!"
"Yeah, and you're a lot better...picking on girls like that.  Can't
you tell she's hurt?"
"I don't need your help, Ranma" protested Akane.
"You're in no condition to fight, Akane.  What are you going to do,
bite his legs off?"
"Ranma, stay out of my business!"
"It's my business too!  I don't wantcha mad at me for the rest of your
life!  I gotta do something to make up for the...dumb things I've
done." said Ranma, biting his pride.
"Enough of this!  I shall destroy you, Ranma Saotome!"
"No way, you jerk."  Kunou was an okay fighter, Ranma guessed, but he
wasn't in the same league as Ranma.  Ranma dodged Kunou's meager
attacks easily.  With a single punch Kunou flew into a tree and fell
flat on his face.
"Guess that takes care of him." said Ranma.
"Ranma, thank you." said Akane below her breath.  Akane raised her
voice: "I could have taken care of it myself, Ranma."
"Yeah right, Akane.  First let's see you stand up."
"Fine." Akane stood up for a second, before she fell down in pain.
"I've got to see a doctor...I think I sprained my ankle!"
"Piggyback?" asked Ranma.
"What?"
"I'll take you piggyback to Dr. Tofu's."
"Ranma...everybody will talk!"
"Not if I'm a girl they won't."
"Oh...all right."
"I'll be right back." Ranma turned to leave.
"Ranma..."
"Yeah?"
"Thanks."

**

"So it's kind of like a guitar, except the fourth string is raised an
octave."
"That doesn't help me.  I can't play guitar, remember?"
"Well, me neither.  I just thought it might help."
"You're going to have to do a better job of teaching me, Ranma!"
Nabiki said half-jokingly.  She couldn't believe Ranma.  He seemed
so...excited to teach her.  She had just mentioned in passing after
dinner that she'd like a little lesson, and he had dropped by her room
just a few minutes later.
"Arghh...ok, let me start over.  So you see this string?" said Ranma,
pointing to the rightenmost string.
"Yes?"
"That's the first string.  And the second, and the third, and the
fourth." Ranma said, progressing left along the ukulele.
"All right."
"And I'll call the space between the metal bars a fret.  So the first
fret on the first string would be here at the top, the second here,
and so on.  You don't have to press down on a fret if you don't
wanna."
"Got it."
"So play the second and then the fourth fret on the second string."
Nabiki tried, but the sound was muted.
"What'd I do wrong?"
"You have to push down harder."  Nabiki got it right the second time.
"Good.  So, when you play more than one note at a time, it's called a
chord.  Ukuleles are small so most chords use all four strings to make
it easier to play.  There's only one chord to this song really,
although you move it up and down.  It's a diagonal line.  Anyways, so
play the fourth fret on the first string, the fifth fret on the second
string, the sixth fret on the third string, and the seventh fret on
the fourth string." Nabiki had trouble getting her fingers on the
right places.
"Don't worry, you get used to it." Ranma helped her get her fingers in
position.  When they were as good as he could get them he stood back
and let her strum the ukulele.  Out came a hideous sound.  Nabiki
laughed.  Ranma held back, but couldn't help but join in.

**

"If at first you don't succeed..." Ranma said to himself.  He held a
kettle of hot water, and was looking through Akane's window at three
in the morning.  Akane was sound asleep with that little runt pet.
Ranma walked into the room.
"Come here, Ryouga." said Ranma to the now wide-awake pig.  Ranma was
fully ready for the pig to charge.  He didn't want to repeat last
night's mistake.  Make Akane think he was a pervert or something.
However, Ryouga didn't charge Ranma the way he was expecting.
Instead, he ran out and through a crack in the door.
"Stupid jerk!  What'd he have to do that for?" Muttered Ranma,
following Ryouga into the hallway.  He looked just in time to see
Ryouga sneaking into Nabiki's room.  Ranma followed him in, closing
the door behind himself.
"Come here, you pig!"  Where was he?
Suddenly Ranma felt a blow to the head.  Ryouga had surprised him.
Ranma couldn't help but fall.  Right on top of Nabiki.
Nabiki woke up quickly.  Ranma tried to say something, but he was
frozen in terror.  After what seemed like forever but was really only
a few seconds, Nabiki spoke.
"I think I'm beginning to notice a pattern here, Ranma."
"Oh...Nabiki!  This is an accident!" Ranma blushed, and sat up on the
bed.
"I'd love to hear your explanation for this one." Nabiki said snidely.
"I can't...I'm not allowed to tell you."
"And why not?"
"It's against the samurai laws to expose the weakness of another."
"Even when it's a pig?"
"There's more to this than just the pig."
"Is it against the samurai laws to not pay for a restaurant bill?"
"That's different."
"Ranma...I'm your fiance.  That's got to count for something."
"I can't."
"Ranma...I feel I have a right to know.  It's not honorable to sneak
into my bedroom without an explanation, right?"
Ranma thought about that for a second.
"Well, you see that pig?"  Ranma pointed over at Ryouga.  Ryouga
squeaked out of curiosity with what Ranma was going to say.
"Yeah.  Can you get rid of him, by the way?  I have this thing about
vermin in my room."
"Of course."  Ranma picked up Ryouga and threw him out the window as
far as he could.  "Anyways, that pig is Ryouga."
"What?"
"He fell in the same springs me and pop did.  Except the one he fell
into made him a pig."
"Why that sly dog.  Pretending to be Akane's pet so he can sleep with
her every night."
"That's not why he does it.  He told me he does it to...to keep us
apart."
"Really?  Why does he care?"
"I don't know, really.  He's just stupid or something.  But it
won't...he won't succeed."
Nabiki blushed in the moonlight.  Ranma looked down at her.  Then he
realized the situation he was in.  Late at night, in the dark, on his
fiance's bed, having a generally romantic conversation.  What was he
doing?  He didn't want to get married or nothing!
"Uhhhh...Uhhhh...I have to go now, Nabiki!  Sorry about waking you
up!"  Ranma turned and ran out the door.

** This concludes chapter four.

I think it'll take me a while to write chapter five as I have another
round of mid-terms coming up...hope you're not waiting on pins and
needles 'cause that'd get painful over a couple of weeks.  I'll
probably finish the next chapter over Thanksgiving weekend.

Jeff Rutsch



****jdrutsch@ucdavis.edu***********************Jeff Rutsch************* 
"Ranma's not a boy...he's a girl!"
"Nabiki is MY fiance!  You TOUCH her, and I'll KILL you!"
"Ranma, change back into a boy while I buy you some time."
"But if I seem to act unkind/it's only me, it's not my mind."
"Ranma [sic],/give your heart to Nabiki [sic]. /Soon,/right away."
**^_^*****^_^*****^_^*****^_^*****^_^*****^_^*****^_^*****^_^*****^_^**