A Fianc�e in the Grass, Part 1: The Gathering Storm

a Ranma 1/2 fanfiction by Andrew Carey <apcarey@midway.uchicago.edu>  
____________________________________________________________
The characters and environment of Ranma 1/2 belong to Takahashi Rumiko,
and I would never claim to have any part in their creation; I am not
worthy!  I am simply borrowing them for this work of non-profit
fanfiction.  
This work may be transmitted, filed, or otherwise reproduced freely, as
long as this disclaimer and my name are not removed from it.  Feel free
to translate it, under the same conditions�if you're putting it into
Irish, French, Scots, Cadien, or Old through Early Modern English,
please email me, I'd love to talk about it.
____________________________________________________________
	Please email all C&C directly to me at <apcarey@midway.uchicago.edu>
I can't handle the amount of traffic the FFML generates, and have been
told this is acceptable practice.  I'll welcome any commentary, but
please, let's keep the discussion at the courteous level of literature;
flames will be immediately dispatched to the bit bucket.
	This work contains sexual situations, although all details take place
"off-stage."  In later chapters, violence is an increasing possibility. 
It is not intended for children.
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<> are used to indicate unspoken thought
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	It was a quiet evening in Nerima, Japan.  Quiet all over.  Ordinary
folk had for the most part retreated to their houses as night fell, 
gathering around hearths and televisions, closing doors against the
late autumn chill.  Even the martial artists who made up an unusually
large portion of the small Tokyo suburb's population were spending their
time quietly at home, not out challenging each other or searching for lost
treasures.  In a small dojo attatched to the home of the Tendou family,
two young people were engaged in their separate divisions of the art. 
Saotome Ranma was quietly practicing a set of wu shu forms he'd learned
in China, some years before.  He hadn't had call to use those techniques
in a while, and it certainly wouldn't do for the heir to the Saotome
School of Anything Goes Martial Arts to lose his edge in any way.
	In the opposite end of the hall, his fianc�e, Tendou Akane, was
breaking bricks.  True, she'd been breaking them since her infancy.  But
it was always pleasant to see the strong earthen bricks crumble beneath
her hands.  Anything could be broken, you just had to find the right
place to hit it.  Her techniques might not be as impressive as say,
Ryouga's flashy Breaking Point, but they did the job they needed to do,
without any great fuss or shouting.
	Ranma kept watching her, out of the corner of his eye.  She was
glorious, there was no question about it.  True, all of his fianc�es
were beautiful women, all of them were strong and talented martial
artists, but there was something magical about Akane, something that
made him shrug off her blows and insults with the thought that, well,
she'd had a hard life, and lost her mother young, and just needed to
work off some anger.  Ukyou was gorgeous, yes, and skilled, and he cared
for her deeply, but she was his childhood friend, and he could never
look at her without thinking of the little kid he'd tussled with in
Kansai all those years ago.  Shampoo was truly incredible, in some
respects, but just a little too brazen for Ranma's taste.  Kodachi's
beauty was only enhanced by her dangerous air, just like the short sword
that was her namesake, and he sensed at times that she wasn't half as
crazy as everyone thought, but she still frightened him.  No, Akane was
the one, there was no question.
	At last, he gave up his own practice and sat where he could watch her. 
Breaking her last stack of bricks, she turned to him, raising an
eyebrow.  "You know, Akane, you're kind of cute when you're breaking
things."  He cringed inside at the sheer banality of what he'd just
said, but to his surprise she smiled as if he'd written a poem to match
the best of Basho or Li Po.
	"You've certainly been being nice to me lately, Ranma."
	He smiled nervously.  She was his fianc�e, surely it shouldn't be so
difficult for him.  But somehow he always felt like a clumsy peasant
with her, always about to knock something over, accidentally break a
delicate piece of porcelain, step on a toe, use the wrong word.  "Well,
Akane, I've been tryin', I guess."
	"You mean you weren't before."
	"No!  I mean, it's gotten easier, no that's not what I mean, no...."
	She was laughing.  "Ranma, don't worry.  I think I know what you're
saying.  You've learned, haven't you?"
	"Well, yeah, I guess.  You know I didn't have much of a proper raising,
out on the road and stuff.  It's taken me a while to...pick up the
technique."
	"The technique?"
	"Well, that's how I think about it.  It took me a while to figure it
out.  But I think I've got it down, now.  Akane, I...like you a lot. 
More than that, I love..."  She cut him off with a kiss, full and hard
to the mouth; her hands reached behind his head to grasp his pigtail,
twining it around her fingers in a manner he found incredibly erotic. 
The kiss seemed to last forever, her tongue probing beyond his teeth,
seeming to almost reach his throat.  He wrapped his arms about her,
tried to give as good as he got.  When Akane pulled her face away, her
smile seemed to indicate that he had been more than successful.  
	"I wondered how long it would take you to say that.  Let's go
upstairs."
	Making love was a delight.  Even if they were inexperienced, they were
two martial artists, well used to new and difficult exercises, strong
and tireless, skilled in controlling their bodies.  They got through
most of Vatsyayana's basic positions before, exhausted, they could only
lie in each other's arms.  Akane smiled, kissed him one more time,
closed her eyes, and instantly fell asleep.
	Ranma lay awake a moment longer, thinking to himself <She never let me
say it, did she?>  He'd tried several times, but only gotten as far as
"I" or "Lo..." before she stopped his mouth with her fierce kisses.  And
she herself had never even begun to confess her love. <Ah, well, maybe
she thinks it sounds silly.  She surely did show it, didn't she?> he
thought as he followed her into slumber.

	Kunou Kodachi woke in a sweat.  "Dearest Gods," she said aloud, "I'm
much afeared some evil doth stalk my lord Ranma."  The dream had been
horrid, and it hadn't been the first such she'd had of late.  

		Ranma lay in the arms of Tendou Akane, both of them nude...
	Ranma sat in a quiet dell, writing a poem, and she knew it was
	for Akane...Akane stalked Ranma with her mallet, creeping up behind him,
	and Kodachi wanted to scream, cry out to Ranma-sama to run, to
	block, to do something, but she could not utter a word...Ranma lay on a
	pyre, shrouded, only his face showing amid the white wrappings...Tendou
	Akane stood at the head of the wooden stack with a flaming torch, a 
	smile of obscene joy on her face...

	Kodachi couldn't fall back to sleep, so she sat up and turned on a
small light.  Pen and paper came from her nightstand, and she began to
write and sketch, to try and analyse her dream-images.  Something was
deeply wrong.  Not so much the vision of Ranma and Akane in bed�she had
dreamt of Ranma and the other fianc�es before, sometimes even of herself
joining them, and she accepted the possibility, unpleasant as she might
find it.  "Nay, �tis the image of Ranma on his burning mound that likes
me not.  Though �tis known that a dream may carry naught beside the
fears of the dreamer, the third night of the same dreaming beareth,
methinks, a darker reading." she thought aloud, falling back into her
cradle speech.  "I greatly fear this Akane doth intend my love some
injury." But how could any woman think to do him harm?  He was so
handsome, so dear, so full of life; she had always assumed that Akane
and all the others desired him for the same reasons as herself.

	In a small apartment above an okonomiyaki shop, another of Ranma's
fianc�es awoke from dire dreams.  "Akane, killing Ranma?" Ukyou Kuonji
said aloud to her empty room.  "I've always realised she had a sadistic
streak, but to kill him?  Why?"
	"Ukyou-sama?" said a soft voice from beyond her door "Are you unwell?"
	"No, Konatsu," she said "I'm fine.  I just had a strange dream�guess I
shouldn't have been experimenting with the okonomiyaki so soon before
bed.  Why don't you go back to sleep?"
	"Yes, m'lady." the transvestite ninja assistant cook said.  She
strained her ears, could barely hear his footsteps as he returned to his
bed.  <I guess he wants to reassure me that he isn't spending the night
across my door again> Ukyou thought absently.  She lay down and closed
her eyes, but sleep did not come readily to her.

	Even in China, one Xian Pu of the Amazons slept ill on her pallet,
despite the homey scent of herbs and earth and tea and woodsmoke that
she missed so much in Japan.  "I think the violent girl intends some
injury to my husband." she said in Mandarin.
	"What was that?" her younger cousin asked from her own bed.
	"Nothing, Lao Xin, nothing." she replied.  But though she closed her
eyes, the dream-image kept haunting her�Akane striking with deadly
force, striking a blow that the man who had so handily beaten Xian Pu
could surely have blocked with ease, but him doing nothing as the
Japanese girl took his life... <But why would she kill her own husband?>
Xian Pu thought to herself.  Sure, she could understand the occasional
application of a mallet or a fist; Amazon wives seldom needed such
measures to control their husbands, but it was accepted that a man might
require a mild amount of disciplining at the beginning of a marriage,
especially if he were a foreigner who might not understand the natural
order of things.  But killing such a wonderful catch would be the action
of a psychopath, and she had always thought that somewhere in her heart
Akane did truly care for Ranma; why else would she so resist Xian Pu's
claim to him? <And if she truly did not want him, she knows that I or
one of the others would have him in a heartbeat, and she could be free
to love whom she would.>

	But together in Akane's room on the upper floor of the Tendou home,
Ranma and Akane slept dreamlessly the sleep of the joyfully exhausted. 
Akane lay wrapped in Ranma's arms, her face pressed to his muscular
chest, and it would have been needful to pry them apart if any observer
were to see the strange smile on her face, a smile that might, at first
appearance, have been that of any well satisfied woman in the arms of
her lover, but a smile which had in some measure that quality which is
associated with a cat who has just gained entry to a nest of helpless
baby mice.
	
	The next morning, Ranma and Akane were late in coming down to
breakfast.  Their fathers found this a worthy subject of mealtime
discussion.  "Do you know where your son spent last night, Saotome?"
Tendou Soun said to his old friend.
	"Well, he wasn't in our room, so...did Akane leave him unconscious in
the dojo again?"
	"No, my friend, I think they're in her room."
	"Are you not upset?"
	"Surely not.  Don't you see this is what we've been dreaming of?  We'll
have them married before the week is out!  Our families will be united!"
	"Daddy, why didn't you let me make the announcement?" Akane said from
the doorway.  She had an arm wrapped around Ranma, as a child might hold
a pet or a favorite toy.  For his part, Ranma could seem to look at
no-one and nothing else, and his face bore the expression of a
worshipper who has been blessed by his favorite goddess.
	"Congratulations!  How soon do you want the wedding?  We could have it
today if you like."
	"Can't we wait a week and have a proper wedding?" Akane replied.
	"But what about...the others?"
	"Don't worry, Daddy, I'm sure they won't be any problem."
	Soun might have insisted, but then Kasumi chirped brightly "Surely you
don't mean to rush things so, Father?  A wedding should be special, and
I really don't see how we can do it right with less than a week to
prepare."
	Akane smiled brightly at her sister, and she and Ranma sat down at the
table, side by side.  They held hands whenever possible, and no-one
could help but feel happy when they saw the two so loving.  Even Nabiki
felt a glow of warm fuzziness in her heart.  But somehow, in the back of
her mind, she thought to herself  <This looks just a little too
perfect.  Ranma has all the subtlety and guile of a plowhorse, and as
near as I can tell he's been crazy about Akane in his own clumsy way
ever since we met, so I can't believe he's anything other than sincere,
but something about Akane worries me.>  As much as she loved her sister,
she knew she was a violent and temperamental person; this transition
from hammer-wielding fianc�-beater to perfect lovebird was just a little
too quick for her way of thinking.  <This situation bears watching.  I
don't know if someone's drugged my sister or if stranger things are
afoot, but I will get to the bottom of this.> 

	Later in the morning, Akane sat under the overhang of the roof with a
small book, watching while Ranma and his father sparred.  Kasumi sat
herself down beside her sister, said cheerfully "What are you reading,
Akane?"					
	"Just one of Mother's journals, Oniichan.  Since she's not here to
advise me, I figure that the only way to learn from her is to read her
thoughts."
	"That's nice." Kasumi said, beaming as usual. <But why isn't she
reading Mother's thoughts about marriage or love or good housekeeping?> 
Their mother's notes toward a history of the Tendou Clan were
interesting, but hardly seemed like the most appropriate reading for the
times..
	In all truth, Kasumi was a little bit puzzled by her sister's recent
actions.  She didn't feel the same suspicions that Nabiki did; Kasumi
believed in the basic goodness of most people, and most particularly
that of her sister, and she had always expected that someday Akane and
Ranma would stop fighting, but it did seem to her that Akane had been
behaving a little bit strangely of late.  This wasn't the first time in
the past few weeks that she'd found Akane reading their mother's
writings, which she'd never shown an interest in before, and then there
was the time she'd found Akane practicing her handwriting, and she'd
been writing in two different styles, neither of which was her own, Just
last week, it had been:

		"That's a lovely hand, Akane, but why aren't you concentrating 
	on improving the style you usually use?  You wouldn't need as much
	work to make it really beautiful."
		"Oh, I just felt like trying this one, Oniichan, that's all.  
	Just for fun." Akane smiled  up at her sister from her seat on the
	floor.
		"And why that other one?  It's really...unusual." In all truth 
	it was ugly and crude, but Kasumi would never say such a thing.
		"Oh, that's just a joke, that's all.  I thought I'd see how 
	badly I could make my characters.  Just for fun."
		"Well, if it really amuses you, Akane-chan."  Kasumi went back 
	into the kitchen.  She was sure her sister didn't mean anything by it,
 	but why was she trying to write so much like their mother, on the
	one hand, and Uncle Saotome, on the other?

	The morning's training ended, as usual, with both Ranma and his father
falling into the pond.  Also as usual, a panda and a redhaired girl
stumbled out of the water.  Also as usual, Kasumi called out "Your water
is just heating up in the kitchen, Ranma, Uncle Saotome.  Just a few
minutes and it'll be ready for you to change back."
	Akane, however, behaved differently.  Instead of making some remark
about her sex-changing pervert fianc�, she set the journal carefully
aside and rose to meet him.  And, ignoring the dripping clothing, not to
mention the female body and the presence of the rest of the family, she
kissed him full on the lips, saying "Oh, I'm sure Ranma-kun and I
ourselves can handle changing him in the bathing room, can't we?  Or
should I say Ranma-chan?"  She gently poked him in the nose with a
finger, led him off with an arm around his shoulders.
	"Oh, isn't it wonderful to see them so much in love?" Kasumi burbled.  
	"I'd suppose, Kasumi, I'd suppose." Nabiki said.  Some minutes later
she found an excuse to go out walking for a while.  As it happened, her
path took her directly to a local restaurant operated by certain members
of the Chinese Amazon tribe, certain members whose reasons for coming to
Nerima had little to do with a desire to sell ramen.
	There was little custom at the moment, it being the midafteroon,
between the lunch and dinner rushes.  She was able to select a table far
from the other diners.  Not that she really thought a pair of college
students flirting with each other or an old man reading a newspaper were
likely to be spies, but the habits of secrecy were as deeply ingrained
in Nabiki as in any KGB operative or Yakuza arms dealer.  The
waiter/cook, a young man with hair down to his waist and thick glasses,
smiled to see her; Mu Tsu was genuinely a friendly person, except when
it came to those who might threaten Xian Pu, and he rather liked Nabiki,
in spite of her mercenary habits and love of yen.  "What can I get you
today, Tendou-san?" he said, in fluent Japanese with only the slightest
hint of a Mandarin accent.
	"Oh, just tea and an order of dumplings, please."  When he returned,
she casually commented "I was actually expecting to see Xian Pu today." 
Nabiki had recently gone to the trouble of learning to pronounce her
Chinese acquaintances' names properly, at least when she spoke with
them.  Though they didn't seem to mind the nihonised forms, she
seriously doubted that anyone really liked being called by the same
names as hair-care and toiletry products.             
	"Oh, she and her great-grandmother have been gone for a couple of weeks
now.  I do miss them.  I even find myself missing Elder Ku Lon, a
little bit.  If nothing else, it's hard to keep up the restaurant
completely by myself.  Why do you ask?"
	"I was just wondering.  I don't mean to pry, but is there any chance
that any kind of spices or herbs might have made their way in the
direction of my household recently?"
	"No.  The Elder decided to give such methods a rest some time ago. 
Why?"
	"Will you swear to tell no-one, not even Xian Pu or Ku Lon, what I am
about to tell you?"
	"As long as it poses no threat of harm to my beloved Xian Pu or to my
people, I swear, upon my personal honour and that of my tribe."
	"Akane and Ranma have been...unusually affectionate towards each other
of late.  In Ranma's case, I'm not altogether surprised�all she ever had
to do was stop beating and insulting him all the time.  But in hers, I
am.  I have always believed that my sister had a good heart, but she is
also rather violent by nature, and I find this sudden mood swing rather
alarming.  I had wondered if you knew of anything which might have
caused it, either deliberately or accidentally."
	"No.  I cannot say that I regret anything which draws Saotome Ranma
away from my darling Xian Pu, but your concern troubles me.  If some
wizardry or druggery is afoot in Nerima, without any known source, it is
potentially a threat to all of us.  I will keep my eyes and ears open,
and report to you anything which I hear and may honourably tell.  I hope
you will do the same."
	"I shall, Mu Tsu, I shall."  He went to refill the old man's tea cup,
and then to serve another collegiate couple their udon.  Nabiki finished
her snack quickly, and left an extra-large tip beside her empty dishes. 
It felt odd to actually pay for a meal; she usually went to restaurants
with people she could convince to buy for her.  But this was an
investment.
	<If the Amazons known nothing of this, I must speak to Kodachi.>  She
hated to draw the warrior-gymnast into this matter, especially when it
might simply be that her sister had experienced a sudden conversion, but
something about this gave Nabiki goosebumps.  She had honed her
instincts over the years, honed them just as much as the others had
honed their martial arts, and she had learned to trust them.  When they
told her something was suspicious, she listened.  And she had never
experienced anything as suspicious as this, never.  Kunou Kodachi was
the only other party in Nerima who was at all likely to use drugs or
other forms of arcane persuasion, and if she had no part in this it
would mean that a new player just might have appeared on the scene.  New
players could be deadly; this could just be a feint in some elaborate
game, possibly one so vast that only Nabiki would be able to organise
the defense of her family.  And Nabiki did care for them, whatever the
image she might present to the outside world.  In her own way, she had a
sense of loyalty as strong and deep as that of any samurai.  Though a
conversation with Kodachi might potentially expose them to a bit of
trouble, Nabiki was confident that it would be nothing they were
incapable of handling.  A new enemy, on the other hand, could strike
without warning at any moment, and might be a threat even the combined
forces of all the Neriman friends and rivals couldn't handle without
preparation.

	Saotome Ranma, however, had no such thoughts.  All he knew was that his
dreams were finally coming true. <And with Akane beside me, I can go see
Mother again!  Even if she finds out about my curse, surely she'll admit
that I have to be a man among men to catch such a lovely wife.>  "Akane,
after the wedding, how would you feel about visiting my mother?  Maybe
my father could even go home again!"
	"Oh, Ranma," she said, smiling, "we can worry about all that future
stuff later, can't we?  Let's go take a walk."  She slipped her hand
through his arm as they walked out the door.   <Ranma,> she thought,
<I've got you right where I want you.>

	Nabiki knew she must move carefully.  It simply wouldn't do to speak
with Kunou Tatewaki right now.  Although he was a good source of income,
and a rather dear boy in his own peculiar way, he was unquestionably
less rational than his sister, Kodachi. <Her sanity may leave something
to be desired, but she at least wouldn't go running off to rescue her
beloved from the Foul Sorcerer before I'd halfway explained the
situation.>  This was going to take something more than just walking up
to the gates of their family estate and asking to talk.  She
contemplated several stratagems, finally deciding that she would use the
offer of photographs of the Pig-tailed Girl, as the Kunous insisted on
calling Ranma's female form.  Fortunately, she always carried a few new
ones that were bound to attract his attention.  With any luck he would
immediately carry his latest icons off to his room, leaving her in peace
to deal with Kodachi.
	<Of course, I can't tell her about Ranma and Akane sleeping together
and practically making out in public.  That would make her blood boil. 
Perhaps to tell her about Akane and the Pig-tailed Girl?  It is the
truth, she and her brother just don't understand that Ranma and the
Pig-tailed Girl are in fact the same person.  And she thinks Ranma's two
"captors" perverted enough to do nearly anything.  The only concern is
that she might try to rescue her �Lord' from his durance vile, convinced
that this experiment with lesbianism is some new and exotic form of
torture.  Well, I can figure that out before I get there, I'm sure...>
	"Well, Tendou Nabiki, what brings you to this part of town?  No doubt
you intend to sell my brother more pictures of his True Loves?"  Kunou
Kodachi laughed and twirled her combat ribbon about her fingers.  As
usual, she wore a leotard beneath her skirt and open jacket.  Also as
usual, the look in her eye was to Nabiki's mind about one degree removed
from utter madness.  The wind sported with her black hair, playing it
about her shoulders and waist and back.
	<Shit>, Nabiki thought, <I never did have time to come up with that
cover story.  Oh well, I guess it's time to improvise.> "Ohayo, Kunou
Kodachi.  I was just this moment hoping to meet you.  May we carry on
this conversation in some more pleasant location than the street?"
	"There is a public park just down the road, and the leaves are lovely
this time of year.  I never thought you to have such a well developed
sense of aesthetics."  They walked there in silence; Nabiki had never
cared for small talk, and Kodachi generally considered herself above
such ridiculous gambits as talk about the weather and the state of the
flowers.
	"Well, why do you seek the Black Rose?" Kodachi said.
	"I seek your company for the sake of asking about the odd behavior of
certain inhabitants of my household.  Have you been experimenting with
your drugs or other potions in the vicinity?"
	"Certainly not.  I've sworn off such things, as true love cannot be
created with chemicals.  If Ranma were to cleave to me of his own free
will, I would be delighted; however, no potion will aid in that
endeavour."
	<Yeah, right> Nabiki thought to herself. <Lying through your teeth, you
are.>  She kept the friendly smile on her face through force of
long-trained will.  "I'm glad to hear that.  I don't suppose there's any
way you could prove it, is there?  Just for my records, you understand."
	"Is not my word sufficient, Tendou Nabiki?  I swear that I have not
drugged any resident of the Tendou household in months, I swear it by
the blood of my ancestors and the Goddess Amaterasu."
	<I may have to take this a little more seriously.  I think that oath
really does mean something to her.>  The Kunous did believe in honour,
as much as they might be willing to manipulate and scheme, and in their
own way they were very devout.  
	"Tendou Nabiki?  May I ask you a question?"
	"Ah, sure.  It may cost you, though."
	"Question for question.  As I see it, you owe me three.  Then you may
start charging me."
	"Hey!  Only one."
	"Two, then."
	"Done."
	"Very well.  The first: has Akane treated Ranma-sama in any unusual
manner of late, either unusually well or unusually ill?"
	"Ah, well, she, ah..."
	"Please, Nabiki?  I swear to you that I will not harm her, no matter
what your answer might be."
	"Well, she has been a little bit nicer to him these past few days. 
Hasn't hit him even half as much as usual."
	"My second question: do you think it likely that she might attempt to
kill him?"
	Nabiki couldn't even answer for a moment. <Why would she kill him?  She
loves him, and he her, and they're acting disgustingly sappy.>  But in
some strange way the idea stuck with her, and wouldn't leave her.  This
sudden change of behavior, this burst of affection, this taking him to
bed and screwing his brains out, could it be part of some bizarre plan
to lose this meddlesome fianc�?   <Surely not.  My little sister's
smart, but she's never been that good at thinking ahead.>
	"Please, answer me truly.  I'll even pay you, if you like.  But I must
know.  I've been having fell dreams of late, dark and evil.  I worry for
him."
	"No, Kodachi, I can't believe she'd kill him.  There's no reason for
it, none at all."
	"I certainly wouldn't think so, either.  After all, if she wanted rid
of him, any of us would take him off her hands in a heartbeat.  But my
dreams are dark, dark, and I fear for him."
	"You're just worried about losing him, that's all." Nabiki said,
half-heartedly.  She was as rationalistic as the next person, and not
over-given to believing in dreams.  But it was hard to live in Nerima,
even harder to be a Tendou, and not accept the possibility of prophetic
dreams, given the ridiculous amount of magic that seemed to go on around
them.  But Akane killing Ranma just didn't make sense, did it?
	"I hope you are correct, I hope you are.  But if not, please, Nabiki,
will you call me to help him, if you can?  I understand not wanting your
sister to face the law, but if you called me she wouldn't have to, I'd
simply come and rescue him and take him out of your lives and you'd
never have to see him again if you didn't want to.  Nabiki, I'd happily
lose him to a wife whom he genuinely loved, your sister, Shampoo,
Ukyou...Gods, even you yourself, if you two were happy together.  But I
will do anything in my power to save his life, from anyone who tries to
kill him, whether that should be another fianc�e or even my own kin, for
the simple reason that I much doubt that I should survive him.  Do you
understand me?"
	"I guess so.  I don't think she's going to kill him, but if she does
try I'll happily call you.  I certainly don't want my little sister to
be a murderer."
	"If you wish some sort of retainer..."
	"No need, no need.  Ranma's one of my best sources of income, no?  The
favor of my informing you of any attempt on his life would be balanced
by your favor of keeping him alive so I could continue to make money off
him."
	"Very well, then, Nabiki, very well.  I hope to all the gods that you
are correct about your sister's intentions.  Good day."  Kodachi turned
and left the park, moving at a brisk walk in the direction of her family
property.  Nabiki shivered. <I hope I am, as well, Kodachi the Black
Rose, I hope I am as well, hope to all the Gods.>

	After dinner that night, Ranma and Akane went out to look at the moon. 
Nabiki did something she hadn't done in a while; she went to talk with
Kasumi in the kitchen.  "Do you think Akane's acting strange lately,
sister?" she said.
	"Why, Nabiki, why would you say that?  She's acting differently, yes,
but is that strange?"
	"I don't know, Kasumi, I don't know.  There's just something odd about
this.  I went and talked with Mousse and with Kodachi today."
	"And what did they say?"
	"Both of them insist that they know of nothing that could be causing
this.  And Kodachi seemed frightened.  She kept asking me if I thought
that Akane would, ah, do something to Ranma."
	"Kodachi has always been a little bit strange herself, Nabiki."
	"I know.  But I've never seen her so worried before.  I don't know what
this means, sister, truly I don't."
	"It probably means nothing.  Do you really think Akane would try to
hurt Ranma?  When he's so much in love with her, and they're being so
sweet?"
	"I don't know, Kasumi, I don't know.  But remember when we used to play
hide and seek?"
	"How could I ever forget, Nabiki?" Kasumi looked more than a bit
wistful as she stood still for a moment, the dishtowel and wok forgotten
in her hand.  "How could I ever forget our childhood?"
	"No more easily than I could, I think, dearest older sister.  Remember
how Akane won, that one time?"
	"The time she found that little space under the house, and she covered
herself with the plants?"  Kasumi's smile showed her thoughts were ten
years away.
	"No, the time she set us up, remember?  All those times that she put
the pillows under the rug, to make us think she was hiding there?  And
we always found them, and we thought it was so silly of her?"
	"Until the one time that we didn't check the lump under the rug at
all?"  Kasumi's expression changed slightly.
	"And she was right there all along, hiding in plain sight."
	They found other things to talk about for the rest of the night.

	Ranma and Akane shared her bed again that night.  There was no question
of their doing anything else.  This time she brought a kettle of hot
water in a teacozy, and a jug of icewater too, and switched his form
back and forth at least a half-dozen times.  Before, Ranma would have
said it sounded perverted.  But if Akane didn't mind making love to his
girl-form, how could he object to her desires?  Everything was perfect,
except for the little nagging feeling that she'd never let him finish
saying "I love you," and neither had she even begun to say any such
thing herself. <How could you think she doesn't love you?> he scolded
himself. <Hasn't she shown it?  How much do a couple of words mean,
anyhow?>
	
	"But Great-grandmother," Xian Pu begged "I truly think she intends to
kill him.  Shouldn't we go back to Japan to help him?"
	"Nonsense, Xian Pu, nonsense." the old woman said with a patient
smile.  "How could she actually harm Ranma?  You're a better martial
artist than she, and he beat you, didn't he?  Son-in-law will be fine. 
If she actually is plotting against him, so much the better for us;
maybe she'll drive him straight into your arms.  Now, stop your
worrying, dear, it doesn't become an Amazon warrior."
	"Yes, great-grandmother."

	During the middle of the night, the temperature began to drop.  Clouds
travelled in with the prevailing winds, promising a storm to come. 
Kunou Kodachi sat and watched the sky through the French doors that
overlooked her garden.  In her hands she held a rosary, the clicking of
the beads playing counterpoint to the soft murmur of her prayers.  In
the tiny bedroom above her restaurant, Kuonji Ukyou reread for the fifth
time a novel she hadn't particularly enjoyed on the first reading. 
Every few pages, her eyes fell again on her favorite photo of her
fianc�.  Xian Pu passed the night in mediation at her village temple. 
Tendou Nabiki sat up and did figures, a sort of mathematical mantra that
allowed her subconscious to wrestle unimpeded with the question of her
sister's recent behavior.  Even Kasumi found it hard to sleep, and woke
often.
	Only Ranma and Akane slept peacefully.  
____________________________________________________________
Afternotes:
This is the first section (chapter, part, etc; take your pick) of perhaps
two or three (I'm not quite sure how it's going to work out, but there
will be at least one more).  The next part (working title:"Wind and
Rain") is mostly written, in a crude form, but I think it yet unfit to
see public scrutiny. 
	Speaking of titles "A Fianc�e in the Grass" is merely a working title,
and one I don't particularly like.  It will probably change.