Here... a repost of a teaser to a dark-lemon fic I'm planning to post.
Will it get me fame or make me game?  I hear it's Switch season 
somewhere...?

Thanks to Gary Kleppe for C&C on ronin ML... gwah.  Yup, here's here, 
too, ain't he?

*****

One Man's Dream is Another's Undoing
by Nikholas "Switch" F. Toledo
Characters based upon designs in Ranma 1/2 by Rumiko Takahashi
No discredit or disfavor is intended upon anyone.

	<Some of the following dialogues has been translated from Chinese, 
in the dialect used by the Amazons of the Joketsozuko village, with the 
help of the Jusenkyo guide.  Any dialogue by the Amazons has been 
translated to Japanese for the benefits of those who follow the exploits 
of Ranma Saotome.>

What if...?

	"Kiss of what?!"  Ranma said to the guide.
	"Kiss of death," he said in his pidgin voice, "is promise to chase 
to end of earth, and KILL!"  
	Ranma just gulped.  She stopped suddenly.  "Where's Pop?"
	The Jusenkyo guide shielded his eyes and glanced about.  Then, he 
stared back the way they came.  He pointed.
	"Pop!"  The young woman ran back.
	"No!  Come back!  Is too dangerous!"  the guide shouted upwind.  He 
ran back;  they hadn't paid him, yet.

	Shampoo held aloft a bonbori and a curved sword.  She had been 
running for a while, but the outsider was as swift as she was strong.  
Truly a fierce fighter, and she deserved to die.  The true problem lay in 
the itchiness of her duty.  Any other day, she could have just chased the 
outsider and killed her, outright.  Today, though...  none-the-matter.  
The red-haired one will die, over, and over, and over....  She grinned in 
a feral manner.
	They'd been caught surprised, though, as their quarry came running 
through their ranks.  "POP!!"  She steeled herself as the girl in the gi 
just jumped from the top of one of the Amazons to the other, oblivious to 
the terror they meant to induce in her.  The guide was huffing a distance 
back.
	She jumped up to meet her opponent, but only met with knee.  She 
fell on her back, wheezing.  When she opened her eyes, the guide was 
offering a hand.  He is hoping for absolution, she thought.  Fool, we 
will not kill a countryman for an outsider's folly.  She took the hand, 
and immediately gave chase, without thanking the plump man.

	The panda hung upside down from a low tree.  A figure was standing 
below it.  "To think that I was planning to go somewhere today," it spoke 
in fluent Japanese, "I wonder what would have happened if I wasn't here, 
eh?"  A laugh.  

	Ranma ran as quick as she could, without noticing the accosting 
women, who were all participants in the tournament.  "Where are you, old 
man?"  She couldn't, no matter what had happened, just leave her father 
in the hands of madwomen.  "If anything happened to you..."  Her fists 
clenched.  Then, she turned past the large log, and saw the low tree, and 
the panda.  "POP!"  she ran full tilt into the beaten path to the tree.  
A beaten path?  she thought too late.  From the lower rooftops nearby, a 
group of three hefty women came down on her.  

	Back on the log, Shampoo waited with crossed arms.  At a close 
distance, the participants of the Annual Martial-Arts Tournament (15-21 
age bracket) needlessly fussed, and talked torture.  A panda tied up in 
rope was unconscious nearby, while the plump guide paced worriedly, 
unable to light his pipe.  
	An entourage made itself known, and they bowed down.  From a hidden 
position, a diminutive figure jumped up into view.
	She approached the bowed Shampoo, and brought the walking stick she 
had quickly.
	No one moved.
	The crone nodded approval, and removed the staff from its position 
merely inches from the back of the younger woman's head.  She beckoned 
them all to stand.
	She spoke, with conviction.  "I know that you are here for two 
reasons.  One of them is the just awarding of the champion of today's 
tournament:  Shampoo."  She raised a hand for her great-granddaughter, 
which was greeted by riotous applause.  
	"The other deals with the subsequent defeat of the intruder known 
as Ranma Saotome."  With the same amount of honor in the acknowledgement 
of the just victory of the leader's descendant, they merely kept quiet at 
the mention of the trespassing foreigner who was similarly tied-up, gazes 
daggers.  Little did they suspect, the elder mused.  
	She beckoned the guide, who was helpful enough to provide both the 
name of one who was about to die, and a substantial amount of hot water.  
"The outsider had defeated Shampoo in combat, and proper procedure is 
under the jurisdiction of our tribal laws."  She hefted the kettle on the 
end of her staff.
	"Should the outsider be female, the defeated Amazon must give the 
kiss of death, and kill the outsider without delay.  Which was delayed by 
the efforts of most of the population gathered here."  The group looked 
ready to protest, but was silenced.  "However," she then upturned the 
kettle on the redhead, amidst gasps of onlookers, "should the outsider be 
male..."
	A sudden outburst from the crowd was again stilled, but not before 
the rest of the statement was eaten up.  "And so, this Ranma Saotome must 
be wed to Shampoo."
	"A moment, Cologne," said the formidable-looking runner-up.  She 
waited for an audience.  "We were about to voice a reason to the efforts 
of capturing the outsider," she was drowned out yet again.
	"Silence!"  She wondered what had caused them to be so unruly.  
"Speak."
	"The outsider had defeated the champion of the tournament.  And the 
champion defeated all of us," she gestured to the crowd, "and so, we 
share in the loss, and ask thereby," she pointed to the black-haired 
young man, "to all be wed to the outsider."

*****

Next up:  Ukyo's Tale

Switch
Nikholas F. Toledo Zu
Vector, Switch, Yebah, Don Juan, goo, Pervert, Scruples, Hollie, NomaD,
Blitz, Gee
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Flats/3145