Well folks, you asked for it.  Here it is!  Mind you, all characters of
Ranma 1/2 are the creation of Rumiko Takahashi and the characters of
Sailor
Moon are the creation of Naoko Takeuchi.

The Making of a Strong Heart
Be it ever so humble...


"Hold on, Akane!"

Ranma spun effortlessly in the air, touching down with the gentlest of
touches.  Behind him, Hinako-sensei giggled, her body shrunk into that of
a 10-year-old.  "Give it up, Ranma!" she sang.  "This time, I'm unbeatable!"

Ranma could care less of what she thought at the time.  Akane was
unconscious, her face buried deep in the crook of his neck, and though she
took deep, slow breaths in his arms, he had wanted to check to make sure
she was fine.  More importantly, however, he wanted to get his hands on
the one who was responsible for knocking her out in the first place, and it
wasn't his sensei.

"Ryoga!!!!"

The guy in question was standing stock-still in the open, water still
leaking from the now-empty bucket.  He looked at the bucket in his hands
and let it drop, clanging, to the ground. He turned towards Ranma, his
mouth working, his face turning a pale blue.

*Oh, great.  As if I didn't have enough trouble.*

Ranma crouched and leapt straight in the air.

Ryoga threw back his head and howled, "AKANNNNEEEE!!!"

Ranma shifted his grip on Akane (she really must be putting on weight; it
was hard getting a hold on her) as the blast from the Shi-shi-houshidin
propelled him up and over.  He alighted on a nearby roof, no more worse
for wear other than his mussed clothes.

In his arms, Akane stirred and muttered something huskily.

As the smoke cleared, Ranma surveyed the damage below him.  It seemed
Ryoga's blast had done less damage, unless you count the damage done
beforehand.  Ryoga stood, wild-eyed, in the center of a crater a good ten
feet across, smoke rising from his clothes.  A few buildings listed
dangerously, and as Ranma watched, a figure clambered woozily from a pile
of rubble where a shed used to be.  Hinako-sensei shook the dust from her
dress and looked about wide-eyed.  Catching sight of Ryoga, she strode up
to him and kicked him in the shin.  "What's the big idea, messing up my
dress?!" she hollered.  "That was my favorite, too!  Now I have to go get
a new one.  Phooey!"

Ryoga goggled at her as she marched off, her tiny fists balled.  Ranma
snickered to himself.  Looks like he was done trying to cure his sensei
for the day.  At least until tomorrow.  He would have to ask Happosai some
time how long he was going to humiliate himself to have her cured.

As for the present..."Hey, stupid," he yelled (after pulling more of
Akane's hair out of his mouth).  "What's the big idea?"

Ryoga glanced up at him, his face twisted in agony.  "Akane..."

"She's fine, you nincompoop.  At least she would've been if you haven't
threw water at her.  What the heck were you thinking?"

Akane groaned.  "Uhhh..."

Ryoga opened his mouth, just as Kuno towered behind him.  "My dear sweet
Akane! HOW COULD YOU!" *WHACK*

As Ryoga suddenly attained the ability to fly, Ranma shook his head as he
leapt back to the ground.  *And it just never ends, does it?*  Against his
neck, Akane groaned again and a bittersweet feeling swept unwillingly
through him.  *Akane...I hope you're okay.*

"What happened?," She murmured huskily.

Ranma frowned. *Wow, maybe that ki-blast burnt her vocal cords or
something.*

Akane was stirring harder now, pushing against his chest, her voice
muffled but uncannily deep.  "What--what happened?  Where..."

"It's alright, Akane.  Everything's fine."  He pulled away to look at her.
"Everything's just...just..."

Kuno reared up, tears pouring from his eyes.  "Oh, my dear Akane.  Such
cruel, cruel thing to happen to yo--"  

Ranma's foot connected with Kuno's face and he tossed the upperclassman
over his shoulder without thought.  His eyes were riveted to the sight
before him.

"Akane?"

He couldn't tear his eyes away, even as Ryoga came to the end of his
trajectory, bounced a couple of times, and slid forward to fetch hard
against Akane's lap.  Or rather...

"A...A...Akane?!"

Something in Ranma's voice made Ryoga open his eyes groggily.  Ranma had
drawn back, his mouth hanging open in utter astonishment.  What he seemed
astonished about, Ryoga couldn't tell.  His eyesight was obscured by two
large, round humps...

Blinking, Ryoga raised his head.  Wait a minute...

His eyes took in what his face had been unceremoniously grounded into...or
rather......uh...

Oh, boy.

Blood immediately began rushing towards Ryoga's head as he scrambled back
with a squeak not unlike that of, well, a piglet might make when it
realizes, in running from its master, it had run straight into a butcher's
shop.

He yanked his eyes away, stammering, "Akane!  I, er, that is, uh,
gomen...gomen...nasai"  His voice trailed away as his eyes, if possible,
widened larger than, uh...

Her hair had grown.  Really, really, grown. A light hazelnut, it streamed
behind her in a long ponytail, except for two wisps framing her face.  Her
face had slimmed, but only a little, developing higher cheekbones and 
lighter eyebrows. As he gawked, her eyes slid open to reveal impossibly
deep pools of green, unfocusing on Ranma.  Her entire body seemed to had
increased in size...including...including...

Ryoga could feel the blood making a mad dash straight to his nose.  His
voice climbed higher. "I, uh,... I, uh..."

"Oh, my head..."  Even the voice, more common one might find on those
telephone chat lines they show at night...her eyes wavered to Ryoga, where
they focused.

"Where am I?"

As if to make the scene complete, Ryoga looked down to see the top button
on Akane's overly-stretched blouse pop off, bounce off his forehead, and
clatter to the ground with a slight plink.

This was followed by a less-audible pop, a faint gush as redness
fountained in the air, and a thud as Ryoga toppled backwards into a dead
faint.

Ranma, of course, was oblivious to all this.

"Akane?" He squeaked.

The girl looked back at him and struggled to sit up.  She raised a hand to
her head and rubbed her temples.  "Cripes, what a blast! How long was I
out, ten, fifteen minutes?"

"Uhh," replied Ranma.

She looked around, tugging at her ear unconsciously.  "Wow, I must've been
knocked further than I thought.  That blast nearly blew me into oblivion. 
The others...I have to..."  She lurched to her feet, causing Ranma to gape
before also scrambling up. *She's grown so much...her legs! Yikes! They go
on forever and ever! Better get up before she pounds me for gawking...*

"I have to go back...before those aliens..." she swayed, and lurched
forward, and before Ranma could stop himself, he grabbed her. 

"Akane...wait..."

She stared at him, her green eyes widening, her arms flung over his
shoulders.  It was disconcerting enough that he was holding her so close. 
It was even more disconcerting to notice that he was looking directly into
her eyes without bending his head.  *She's the same height as me!  What's
going on?*  Any moment she was going to smack him with a mallet for
holding her.  Good.  Maybe he'll wake up from this crazy dream...

Instead she continued staring at him.  For one brief moment, he swore he
saw stars enter her eyes.

*No way.  Uh-uh.  Akane would never look at me like that.  Never.  Would
she?*

Then, she pushed him away, albeit gently.  "Whoever you are, thank you."
She said.  "But, I have to go.  The others...they need me."  She flashed
him a stunning smile and pushed the hair from her face.  "Thank you
again."

She turned and walked off, her steps becoming less wobbly and more sure. 
Ranma gawked at her before weakness overcame him and he dropped to his
knees in utter astonishment.

That wasn't...how come...what the...

A low groan beside made him realize that Ryoga had come to and was now in
the same position and wearing the same dazed expression as he.  Two
reddening cottonballs were jammed up his nostrils.  "That wasn't--I
mean--what the--" he whispered nasally.

The girl (Akane?!) was still visible, head and shoulders taller than the
pedestrians, most notably men, who screeched to a halt and made no attempt
to hide their gawks at the tall woman weaving down the street in a school
uniform obviously several sizes too small for her.

"Masaka," Ranma said.  "This can't be..."

"Akane," Ryoga continued.  "How did she..."

"It must've been when..."

"Hinako-sensei release the ki-blast..."

"It hit her at the same time as the water..."

"You don't suppose..."

"Hinako-senei's attack..."

"Did the same thing to..."

The two stared at each other in shock.

Then, Ryoga's face tightened.  Along with his fist.

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT, RANMA!!!!!!!!"

KA-POW!!!!!!!

=================================================================

Lita made her way down the street, trying her best to ignore the gawks and
mouths dropped open at her appearance.  *Sheesh! Those aliens must've done
some number on me. Wish I had time to glance in a mirror and straighten up
a bit.*

But the other scouts needed her.  If those aliens had enough power to
knock her into another neighborhood, she hated to think about what happen
to the others.  *If they've been getting their brains beat out while I've
been dozing in la-la land in the arms of that guy,* She broke out into a
run, scrubbing at her watering eyes.  *I'll never forgive myself.  Never,
never, never...*

She rounded a corner and screeched to a halt, blinking.

The square was empty.

Dazed, she walked out.  There were no sign of the aliens, or the other
Scouts, for that matter.  In fact, there were hardly any signs of battle. 
No scorch marks, no cracked pavement.  A few bums, whose eyes bugged at
the sight of her, but other than that, nothing.  As if nothing had happened.

She frowned, looking about.  Somehow, it just didn't feel...right.

"Excuse me," she leaned over a grandfatherly sort feeding pigeons from a
bench.  "But have you seen four sailor-suited girls around here?"

The old man looked up and promptly keeled over, breadcrumbs and all. 
"EEEE!!!!!"

As if he never seen a girl her size before.  What was wrong with men
today?  Lita sighed.  Or at least tried to. For some reason, she couldn't
take a deep breath, as if her chest was constricted somehow.

Perhaps they were able to defeat the aliens.  Or maybe they were defeated
themselves.  But if that was the case, she would've felt it.  Or one of
the cats would've hung around to tell her.  It wouldn't make sense for them to
up and leave, unless they were looking for her.  That would make more
sense.  They probably saw her sail into kingdom come and was right now
searching for her.  *Uh, oh.  I better let them know I'm all right.* She
chuckled as she dipped her hand in her dimensional pocket for her
communicator. *Serena never completely got over the day when we fought the
Doom girls.  She's probably sobbing buckets by now--WHAT THE--?!*

This last thought was said aloud as Lita stared down.

Her clothing was gone.

Well, it wasn't exactly gone.  It had changed.  She was no longer wearing
her Scout outfit, or her regular clothes for that matter.  She was dressed
in a light blue blouse and jumper that was *far* too small for her (well,
that would explain why she couldn't breathe).  Her toes peeked out from
busted white bobby socks; all that remained of her shoes was a loose strap
of leather encircling her right ankle.  No wonder the old man had freaked.

Him, and those two guys, and all those people...

*Oh, no!  I can't go around looking like this!*

It was a good thing her apartment was a few blocks from here.  She took
off, feeling horribly self-conscious and baffled.  *What's going on? Why
am I dressed in this--this getup?  This is so weird.  It's like some warped
dream, or--or--or--*

Her thoughts tumbled to a halt.

So did she.

It was the right street.  She had walked this way countless of times.
There was the corner store, there was the restaurant.  There was, however,
no apartment. There was not even a building.  

Lita found herself gawking at a parking lot.

======================================================================

Ranma peeked around the wall.  Akane...or whoever it was...had stopped in
front of a parking lot and was staring at it as if she was utterly
stupefied.  "Hurry up!" He hissed over his shoulder.

Ryoga looked up from where he had set up an impromptu campfire.  "Will you
wait?  It takes time to boil water!"

They had discussed (while zipping over rooftops, of course) the cause of
Akane's new form and came to the conclusion that the water mixing with
Hinako-sensei's ki-blast may have caused a reaction similar to the pools
of Jusenkyo.  Akane's body must had somehow absorbed the ki-blast, resulting
in the abnormal acceleration of growth (although Ryoga hardly called it
abnormal--they had nearly blown their cover when Ranma nearly kicked Ryoga
off a roof after he mentioned that his nights as P-chan would definitely
be interesting if she kept that form).  

It didn't explain why the girl striding confidently below them looked
nothing like a body-accelerated Akane (or a normal-sized Akane, for that
matter), nor did it explain her amnesia or her complete change of
character, but one thing they were certain about--if Soun Tendo ever saw
that his little girl was not so little anymore, they would be lucky to
escape Japan with just the clothes on their backs.

But how could they change her back?  Ryoga had suggested finding
Hinako-sensei and make her use her 5-yen to suck the energy out of Akane,
but Ranma pointed out that not only was that extremely painful, but she
wouldn't be able to do it anyway.  She was cured for the day--remember? 
The only other alternative was the Jusenkyo curse remedy.  A fuming,
drenched Akane was better than an Akane screaming as her energy got sucked
out of her.

"This better work, Ranma," Ryoga whispered as he handed him a steaming
teakettle.  "Or else..."

"Yeah, yeah.  I know, I know. Wish I had your talent for getting lost at
the right times."

"It's not a talent!" Ryoga hissed, but Ranma was already creeping up
behind her.

A simple splash on the shoulder should do it.  She wasn't moving at all,
as if she was petrified in shock or something.  It was a faint hope, but
if everything goes well--uttering a prayer, Ranma lifted the kettle...

A faint blur, and the kettle went flying into the air.  Ranma blinked
before he realized he was also traveling backwards at a remarkable rate.
His shout of surprise turned into a pained oof as his trip abruptly ended
against a brick wall.

He didn't have time to question, because an arm rammed to the left and the
right of his head, hemming him in, and he found himself staring into the
raging green eyes of the girl, her hot breath on his face.  "WHAT -- THE --
HELL -- ARE -- YOU -- DOING?!?!?!?!?"

He stammered  "Akane! It's -- It's not what you think--"

"The hell it's not!"  A hand slapped onto his chest, grabbed a good hunk
of his shirt, and Ranma was dragged even closer to those livid eyes. 

"You've been following me all this time!  My apartment's gone, the Scouts
are gone, and I wake up dressed in this--in this--"  She began choking on
her words, the hands on his shirt bunching tighter before she could speak
again.  "What are you, some kind of freaking pervert? What the hell is
wrong with you?!"

"I did nothing!" Ranma protested.  "I swear! It's all Ryoga's fault!  I
tried to warn you away from that ki-blast, but you ran right into it! And
Ryoga threw water at you...well, actually, he was throwing it at me, and I
told you to get out of the way, but Akane, you wouldn't listen, you were
running right towards me, and..."

"Ryoga?  Akane?  What are you talking about?"

Ranma's words were growing more desperate.  "Don't you remember, Akane?  I
was fighting with Hinako-sensei.  You were yelling at me, as usual..."

She frowned, loosening her hold on his shirt.  "Akane?  My name's not
Akane."

Ranma blanched.  *It's worse than I thought.*  Soun would never accept
this.  Stuck in a body like that, and with amnesia? Soun wouldn't beat him
out of town.  He'll make him commit seppuku.  The usual vision of himself
driving a sword into his stomach popped into his head, with the inflamed
head of Soun towering over where his mother would usually appear.  He
squeaked, "But...but...you're in shock.  That's it.  All of this must've
knocked out your memory, Akane.  Maybe you should lie down for a bit. 
Kasumi would fix some green tea for you..."

The girl blinked, then slowly released his shirt and propped her hand
against the wall again, using the other hand to point a thumb at herself. 
"Listen, pal," she stated. "I haven't the slightest idea what you're
talking about or who you are.  My name is Lita Kino, and over there is
what used to be my apartment building, except now it's a parking lot.  I
haven't the faintest clue what happened to me, except--" she hesitated a
little
"except I was in a fight, a really bad fight, and something happened...and
the next thing I knew, I'm waking up in your arms."

Another button popped off Akane's blouse, smacking Ranma squarely in the
forehead.  He didn't even wince.

"Lita Kino?" Ranma said, utterly confused.  "Then, you don't know me?

Ryoga appeared next to them.  "You're really not Akane?"

The girl hesitated longer, as if she was deliberately choosing her words.
"I'm a...well, I live in Tokyo by myself.  I attend Crossroads High School.
 I was
with four other girls..." Her voice trailed off, but Ranma sensed that she was
hiding something.  She frowned deeply.  "Exactly how did you find me
anyway?"

This was no mere case of amnesia.  Something had happened, something
beyond Ranma's comprehension.  Perhaps, if he relayed what happened. 
"Well, you see, I was fighting with Hinako sensei, and Akane, this girl
you see," He might as well play along with this girl's delusions that she was
who she thought she was. "Well, Akane was trying to tell me to stop, and
P-chan here..."

"Will you quit calling me P-chan?!!!!" *THUMP*

"Ryoga here decided for some *bizarre* reason to turn me into a girl, so
he throws a bucket of water at me, and Akane got in the way just as Hinako
let loose this huge ki blast towards her, and then..."

"Hold it, hold it.  He threw water at you to turn you into a what?"

Ranma rolled his eyes.  "Please don't ask me about it, Kino."

"Please, call me Lita." 

"Why do you want to be called by your surname?"

"Lita isn't my surname.  It's my first name."

"Huh?"

"Never mind.  Just call me Lita."  She blinked suddenly and stepped back.
"Did you say this girl got hit with water and this ki-blast at the same
time?"

"Yeah.  The next thing I know, you come flying out, so naturally we
assumed that you..."

But the girl wasn't listening. She stepped away with a faraway look and
wrapped her arms around herself, her lips moving silently.  Ranma and
Ryoga looked at each other and shrugged.

=======================================================================

*No.  It can't be.  That's impossible.*

Lita never prided herself on being smart.  She would laugh with the other
girls when Serena brought home yet another lousy test score, but inwardly
she knew she would do just as badly, or probably even worse, if presented
with the same test.  She wondered oftentimes if the other girls laughed at
Serena just to cover up their own shortcomings in the brains department.

But she didn't have to have Amy's IQ to piece together what had happened.

(...he throws a bucket of water at me, and Akane got in the way...)

It was coming back to her.  Hazy memories of deep rage, of raising her
arms to release her own power.

And Serena was shouting something.  What was she saying? 

Pain.  Searing pain on her backside.  But it was shoved to the back of her
mind, she was so mad.  It hadn't registered.

(Lita!)

Serena had cried out something.  And just as she released her dragon, she
had felt something else, something before the world went boom.

Water splashing against the back of her legs.

(...the next thing I know, you come flying out...)

She looked down at herself.  The last button on her shrunken blouse was
trembling violently.  Gingerly, she touched it and it flew loose with a
pop of relief, followed by a rip as the jumper tore down the middle and a
sproing as the bra went flying.  But what caught her eye was the writing,
scrawled just inside the hem of the jumper.  It was scrawled in characters
that made no sense to her, but written just below it in smaller letters, 
in a jumpy hand unused to writing English, were the words TENDO AKANE.

=====================================================================

Ranma and Ryoga stared as the girl dropped to her knees and began pounding
the pavement with her fists, shrieking out a number of words.

"You know," Ranma said.  "I'm beginning to think that that's really not
Akane."

Ryoga frowned as he shoved two more cottonballs up his nose, then nodded. 
"I have to say it, but you're right.  Akane would *never* use language
like that."

============================================================================
/===\     LaShawn M. Taylor (shonnie@zeus.anet-chi.com) soon to have a web
|^ ^|\    page later this month. Watch for it, will ya?
 \v/\|    
    |\    Oh, Ladybird, I have heard you have to run to tend your children.
    \|    No flood can drown nor fire blacken purest longing for Ladybird...
							-XTC
============================================================================